[IsraelTimes] IDF orders evacuation from Bureij area that saw shoulder-launched missile fired at helicopter, downed by Iron Dome; Nahal Brigade demolishes tunnels, kills gunmen in Beit Hanoun
Rocket sirens sounded several times Friday in Israeli communities along 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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... border, in the eighth straight day of incoming fire from the enclave, as the IDF said it launched Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against some 40 staging grounds of terror operatives and Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... command centers across the territory over the past day.
A siren in Be’eri midday Friday was triggered by a surface-to-air missile launched at an Israeli Air Force helicopter flying over Gaza, according to military sources. The shoulder-launched missile, fired by a gunman in the Bureij area of central Gaza, did not come close to hitting the helicopter, and was successfully shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system, the sources said.
A few hours later, two rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip at the southern border city of Sderot. According to the military, one of the rockets impacted near Kibbutz Nir Am, while another hit an open area. The attack marked the eighth day in a row of rocket fire from Gaza, with at least 16 rockets fired during that time.
Rocket fire has generally become rare since the early months of the ongoing multi-front war, which began on October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terror group invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
The IDF also said Friday it had launched airstrikes against some 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, including staging grounds for terror operatives as well as Hamas command centers. The strikes were launched by the Israeli Air Force in a joint operation with the IDF’s Southern Command, using intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet security agency.
The IDF said dozens of Hamas operatives were gathered at the targeted sites, from which they planned and launched attacks against troops in Gaza and against Israel. Some sites were embedded in former schools, which have also served as shelters for displaced Paleostinians.
The IDF said this was "another example of Hamas’s cynical and systematic use of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip for terror purposes."
The military said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strikes, including by using "precision munitions, aerial surveillance and other intelligence."
Also on Friday, the IDF released drone footage from one former school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia where Hamas operatives had been holed up. The video showed several assault rifles inside the damaged school building. According to the IDF, the school was searched by troops of the Givati Brigade, who found numerous weapons. In a nearby residential building, the military said, the troops found RPGs in a child’s bedroom.
Also during the operations in Jabalia, the IDF said the Givati troops, using a drone, spotted terror operatives planting bombs close to where they were operating. The operatives were eliminated and the bomb was destroyed, the military added.
The IDF’s statement came amid local reports in Gaza that at least 30 people, including children, were killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes overnight and into Friday morning.
Staff at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said more than a dozen women and kiddies were killed in strikes that hit various locations in Central Gaza, including Nuseirat, Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah. Dozens of people were also killed across the enclave the previous day, they said, bringing the purported total of people killed in the past 24 hours to 56. Figures from the Hamas-run health authorities in the strip are not independently verified, and they do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Troops of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade also destroyed several Hamas tunnels and weapons during operations this past week in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, the military announced Friday. The IDF launched a fresh operation in Beit Hanoun last weekend.
The military said that the Nahal troops, operating under the Gaza Division, killed several cells of button men and demolished infrastructure used by terror groups, including tunnels.
The troops also located numerous weapons, including rocket launchers, mortars, RPGs and bombs, along with other equipment, the IDF said.
The brigade has also directed several airstrikes in Beit Hanoun, the IDF said, including a dronezap on a rocket launcher used by murderous Moslems in a previous attack on Israel.
Meanwhile,
...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... COGAT, the Defense Ministry body responsible for overseeing the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, said that 1,200 units of blood and 3,000 units of plasma were delivered Thursday to Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis via the Kerem Shalom Crossing. COGAT said the blood and plasma were delivered "to support ongoing treatments and maintain essential operations at the hospital."
The operation was carried out in coordination with international organizations, COGAT said, adding the transfer underwent "stringent security inspections."
"The IDF, through COGAT, will continue to act in accordance with international law to provide humanitarian assistance to the residents of the Gaza Strip, especially as it pertains to medical care," it added.
[israelTimes] Defense attorney provides court with documents showing that PM’s doctors told him to rest at home for two weeks following the prostate removal operation.
So much more savvy than the Taliban, but they want the world Jewish community to spend money improving the lot of the nine Syrian Jews remaining, and then spend more money as tourists, sentimentally visiting the oulde sod.
[IsraelTimes] Mohammad Badarieh, representing Islamist rebel chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, tells Bakhour Chamntoub, one of 9 remaining Jews, that ‘you will be safe,’ all will have ‘peace and security’
At first, anyway. After that it depends on Allah’s will … as interpreted by the HTS rulers Unbelievers are for the Moslems as sheep to be sheared and as fields to be harvested, after all, both of which require initial cultivation.
In a video published to social media this week, a representative of the new regime in Syria, led by Islamist rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, spoke with Bakhour Chamntoub, the head of the tiny Jewish community that remains in the country, promising "peace and security" and even calling on Syrian Jews abroad to return to Syria.
"Good evening everyone, from Damascus, from the home of the head of the Jewish community in Damascus, Bakhour. Reassure us that you’re alright," Mohammad Badarieh, the representative of the new regime, said in the video.
"Thank God, all is well," replied Chamntoub.
When asked, "How are things in the country?" Chamntoub replied, "They couldn’t be better — there’s stability." But his eyes were blinking in Morse Code: "Help us!"
A lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels toppled the decades-long rule of the Assad family in Syria last month, some fourteen years after civil war first broke out in the country amid the 2011 Arab Spring protests.
Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, of the 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) group, formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda, has made efforts since the victory to shed his bully boy image, and has pledged to protect minorities in the country.
Minorities are a commodity, donchaknow.
Western governments have begun to gradually open channels with Sharaa and HTS, and are starting to debate whether to remove the group’s terrorist designation. Senior US diplomats who visited Damascus last month said Sharaa came across as pragmatic and that Washington has decided to remove a $10 million bounty on the HTS leader’s head.
In the clip circulating this week, Badarieh, Sharaa’s aide, told Chamntoub, "There’s no more Baath party, there’s no more fear," referring to the Arab nationalist movement Assad led in Syria. "There’s no more checkpoints, no more secret police. We are in a democratic state," he added. Chamntoub responded, "Thank God."
Sharaa said in an interview last week that holding elections in Syria could take up to four years, the first time he had commented on a possible timetable for elections since Assad was ousted. He also said he hoped the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... would lift sanctions on the country.
Syria was once home to one of the world’s largest and oldest Jewish communities. Following anti-Jewish riots and persecution in the wake of Israel’s establishment, however, almost all those Jews fled abroad when given the opportunity, and now only nine Jews live in Syria — almost all of whom are older men and women, according to Chamntoub, who is himself 74.
Referring to the many Jews of Syrian ancestry abroad, Chamntoub acknowledged that "They don’t believe there will be peace, and that they can return home." But he echoed the promise of the new regime, saying, "You will be safe, there will be peace and quiet, and God willing, you’ll return, everyone to his house, to his neighborhood, and to his people, and everything."
Badarieh then enthusiastically extended his invitation to "those from all the communities, among them the Jewish community, members of this dear community, members of the religion of Moses: everyone who returns, your house is here, God bless you all."
At the end of last month, Chamntoub visited the ancient Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, which had been closed since the start of the civil war, and which was almost totally destroyed by fighting.
Speaking to Israel’s Kan news earlier this week, Chamntoub said that Badarieh pledged to support the restoration of the synagogue. "He said to me, ’If you want to restore the Jobar synagogue, I’ll approve it. If you want me to provide you with security for the synagogue, I agree."
[IsraelTimes] Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says 77 people were killed in the coastal enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll of the war to 45,658.
Possibly true, possibly not — Hamas comes from the one, two, many school of counting — but what is certain is that most of them are jihadis of one flavour or another, and many of the rest are human shields.
The ministry also says in a statement that at least 108,583 people had been wounded in nearly 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas triggered by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 onslaught in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed and roughly 250 were taken hostage.
Israel has intensified airstrikes over the past day following renewed rocket fire at southern Israel. Israel insists it doesn’t target civilians, while Hamas hides and fights among them.
How many is this now? Most wars don’t even get one. The Somali ambassador must be in hog heaven — finally Somalia gets to actually do something to punish Israel for existing.
[IsraelTimes] The UN Security Council has begun another emergency session on the Gaza war, this time discussing the recent Israeli raid of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Strip.
Israel says it returned to the hospital after Hamas fighters again resumed operations there under the guise of medical personnel and patients.
The IDF said Sunday that it killed 19 terror operatives during the roughly week-long raid and that it was unaware of any civilian casualties. Hamas-run health authorities previously claimed that 50 people had been killed, including hospital staff.
The IDF said that, of 940 Palestinians who passed through an army checkpoint outside the hospital, 240 were detained for being alleged members of terror groups. Among those detained was Kamal Adwan director Hussam Abu Safiya who the IDF says is suspected of involvement in terrorist activities.
In all, some 600 civilians and another 95 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel were evacuated from Kamal Adwan.
Testifying before Security Council members at today’s hearing is the World Health Organization’s representative for the Palestinian territories Rik Peeperkorn and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. Rik Peeperkorn? You gotta be making that shit up
The session was requested by Algeria, the Arab representative on the Security Council.
Each country’s ambassador presents their capital’s stance regarding Israeli operations in Kamal Adwan along with the war more broadly. Most statements are critical of Israel, while some envoys highlight Hamas’s continued operations from hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon is expected to place particular emphasis on the latter point.
There’s not expected to be any practical implications from the meeting, though some members may have tried to push for a symbolic joint statement condemning Israel for the raid, which would have surely been blocked by the United States.
[IsraelTimes] Iran’s foreign ministry summons the Italian ambassador over the detention of an Iranian national wanted by the United States for his alleged role in a deadly dronezap against US forces, Iranian state media reports.
The summons comes a day after a similar move by Italia over Iran’s arrest of Italian news houndCecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran on December 19 while working under a journalist visa.
An Iranian foreign ministry official "urged Italia to reject America’s hostage policy — which is contrary to international law, particularly human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. — and provide for Mr. [Mohammad] Abedini’s release as soon as possible and prevent damage to bilateral ties," state media reports.
On Thursday, the Iranian embassy in Rome said Sala was being given all the humanitarian care necessary, and for the first time, linked her case to that of Abedini. Which was so obvious, even Stevie Wonder saw it
Iran’s said on Monday that Sala had been arrested for "violating the laws of the Islamic Theocratic Republic." It gave no further information.
Sala was detained three days after Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three US service members in Jordan.
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has denied involvement in the attack.
Abedini is currently being held in prison and a court is due to decide this month whether to grant him house arrest while judges consider the US extradition request.
In recent years, Iran’s security forces have arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals, mostly on charges related to espionage and security. Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran denies this.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF denies reports by Paleostinian media claiming that the Israeli military struck the Indonesian Hospital and ordered the evacuation of the medical center in the northern 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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.
"Contrary to reports, the IDF did not strike the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia over the past day and did not damage any essential equipment," the IDF’s international media front man, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani says on X.
"Following reports regarding the evacuation of the hospital, messages were sent to reiterate to officials in the health authorities that there is no need to evacuate the hospital," he continues.
"The IDF emphasizes that it is not operating to evacuate the hospital. The IDF remains in ongoing coordination with hospital officials in order to enable and facilitate the supply of humanitarian assistance to the hospital," Shoshani adds.
The military issues a similar statement also in Hebrew.
The statement comes after Paleostinian journalists in Gaza, including some accused by Israel of being members of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... , claimed that the IDF had ordered all those in the Indonesian Hospital to evacuate and that Israeli military vehicles opened fire in the vicinity of the hospital.
The reported IDF evacuation order was even cited by the World Health Organization’s representative to the Paleostinian territories during his testimony at an ongoing UN Security Council session.
The IDF operated at the Indonesian Hospital last month, during which it said troops killed several terror operatives and detained dozens of suspected members of terror groups.
The military also operated at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia last weekend, where it evacuated the remaining patients and staff to the Indonesian Hospital. Kamal Adwan’s equipment was also delivered to the Indonesian Hospital to ensure it could keep running, according to the military.
[IsraelTimes] Lifting sanctions on Syria will depend on the political process going forward, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says in Damascus after meeting with the country’s de facto leader.
Europe will not fund the creation of new Islamist structures in Syria, Baerbock adds during a press conference.
“Europe will support, but Europe would not be a sponsor of new Islamist structures,” Baerbock says.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF and police say several smuggling attempts from Israel to the Gaza Strip using drones were identified in recent days.
Overnight, another attempt was carried out, which the military says it foiled.
The previous attempts were apparently successful, though security officials are unsure what was smuggled. The IDF and police believe that drugs or other contraband were smuggled, as drugs were captured in last night’s foiled attempt.
IDF troops and police stationed on the border detained a suspect who tried to flee the scene, according to the joint statement.
The IDF says that in the suspect’s car, the forces found another drone packed with drugs that was set to be launched to Gaza.
[IsraelTimes] The US plans to increase its strikes in Yemen, American officials tell their Israeli counterparts, per a report by the Kan Public Broadcaster.
That’s one way to keep Israel on a leash…
The attacks are expected to be aimed at the Iran-backed Houthi rebels rocket facilities.
A source tells Kan that outgoing US President Joe Biden has given the US military “broad” authorization for the strikes.
The report says the US stressed to Israel that Israeli strikes must remain solely against military targets to prevent harm to civilians.
[IsraelTimes] Officials from the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees tell NYT it won’t be safe for staffers to operate because they rely on coordination with Israel, which will end on Jan. 28
The UN aid agency for Paleostinian refugees is reportedly preparing to shut down in 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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... and the West Bank ahead of the implementation of Knesset legislation significantly curbing its operations.
The laws passed on October 28 bar UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and prevent Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency. The laws will go into effect at the conclusion of a 90-day grace period, which expires at the end of the month.
Appearing to explain the decision to shutter operations in the Paleostinian territories, senior UNRWA Gaza official Louise Wateridge told The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , "If we can’t share that information with Israeli authorities on a daily basis then we have staff lives in danger."
The UN agency says it is required to coordinate with the Israeli military every time its workers deliver aid or move across Gaza and parts of the West Bank — contact that will be severed going forward.
But UNRWA has also repeatedly warned it is on the brink of collapse, and aid groups speculate that it will continue trying to operate in the West Bank and Gaza as long as it has the funds to do so.
Israel has long had an adversarial relationship with UNRWA, accusing it of perpetuating the Paleostinian refugee crisis, as it allows Paleostinians to maintain the status for generations both in and outside the Paleostinian territories. But Jerusalem’s campaign against UNRWA intensified significantly following Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... ’s October 7 onslaught.
Over a dozen UNRWA staffers were found to have participated in the attack, and there has been a drumbeat of revelations in the year that followed regarding the extent to which Hamas has managed to infiltrate the agency.
While Israel has sought to box out the agency from the humanitarian effort over the past year, UNRWA remains the backbone of much of the operations, providing shelters to repeatedly displaced Paleostinians, storing and distributing aid to civilians and providing logistical support to the various international organizations operating in Gaza.
Israel said it was prepared to work with other aid agencies during the 90-day grace period to help fill any vacuums that could be left by UNRWA once the legislation goes into place, but it is unclear whether such cooperation ensued.
Before the legislation was advanced, a senior Israeli official briefing The Times of Israel last January said that Jerusalem opposed shutting down UNRWA in the middle of the war due to fears that it would spark a humanitarian crisis.
However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... animosity toward the organization increased in the months that followed, as the issue became increasingly politicized.
The US has sent somewhat mixed signals regarding the Knesset legislation. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin penned a letter to their Israeli counterparts in October warning that banning UNRWA "would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response at this critical moment."
On the other hand, US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. This Is A Man That Does Not Seem Demented... signed into law congressional legislation halting US funding to UNRWA until March. That move is almost certain to be made permanent in the next, Republican-controlled Congress.
Paleostinians who receive services from UNRWA expressed fears regarding how they’ll make ends meet if the agency ceases to operate.
"The world has abandoned us. We have nothing but the aid we get from UNRWA to survive," Sami Abu Darweesh, a refugee in a UNRWA camp in southern Gaza told the Times. "If that stops, what will we do?"
"UNRWA has always been our only hope for jobs, food, flour," said Enas al-Hila, another displaced person in Gaza. "It’s the lifeline for us and our children, just as it was for our parents and grandparents."
In the West Bank, UNRWA runs education and healthcare systems, serving roughly 900,000 Paleostinians in what The New York Times described as "a quasi-governmental role." The Paleostinian Authority, which has limited illusory sovereignty in the territory has 650,000 students in its school system. It is unclear whether the PA can fold in so many more students. In recent years, PA teachers went on strike for months over low pay.
Jamila Lafi, a resident of the densely populated Qalandiya refugee camp in the West Bank, told the Times that her family relies on UNRWA schools and medical clinics. "Without UNRWA, I don’t know how we’d survive," she said.
[IsraelTimes] PA says ‘lawless individuals’ responsible for death of 44-year-old and his son, which took place in different location from where security forces are operating
A Paleostinian man and his son were killed in Jenin, local medical officials said on Friday, as a month-long standoff between Paleostinian Authority security forces and terrorist groups in the northern West Bank city continued.
A front man for the PA security forces confirmed that Mahmoud al-Hajj was killed along with his son Qassem, while his daughter was injured "in an incident" in the Jenin refugee camp — a crowded quarter that houses descendants of Paleostinians who fled or were driven out in the Israeli War of Independence in 1948.
"The area where the incident took place is outside the scope of the operational area where the security forces are active within the camp," the front man said, accusing "lawless individuals" of carrying out the killings.
Wisam Bakr, director of the Jenin government hospital, confirmed to AFP that Hajj’s body and his injured daughter had been brought to his facility, while Qassem’s body was transported to another hospital in Jenin.
Bakr did not disclose details about the circumstances of their deaths.
The PA health ministry in Ramallah and the Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy also did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
Separately, a security forces officer died in what PA officials said was an accident, bringing to six the total number of PA forces to have died in the Jenin operation, which began on December 5. There were no further details.
At least eight Paleostinians have been killed in Jenin over the past month, one of them a member of the armed Jenin Brigades, which includes members of terrorist organizations such as Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... and the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... Later Friday, the Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy said Israeli forces raided the nearby Balata refugee camp,
…near Nablus…
wounding seven people with gunfire in the latest violence to hit the territory. Two of the injured were at death's door with chest wounds.
The Israeli military said it is checking reports regarding the raid.
Paleostinian security forces moved into Jenin last month in an operation officials say is aimed at suppressing gangs of "outlaws" who have built up a power base in the city and its adjacent refugee camp.
The operation has deepened splits among Paleostinians in the West Bank, where the PA enjoys little popular support but where many fear being dragged into a 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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... -style conflict with Israel if the terror groups strengthen their hold.
[IsraelTimes] US President-elect Donald Trump announces his decision to appoint his former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus as his deputy Mideast envoy. Attempted carpetbagger for Tennessee's 5th congressional district in the 2022 election
Ortagus will work under Steve Witkoff, who was one of the first appointments Trump made. Both of them are Jewish.
Trump is far from effusive in his Truth Social post announcing the decision.
Ortagus “fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson,” he says. He doesn’t get into specifics, but Ortagus did back Nikki Haley’s Republican presidential run against Trump in the previous election.
“These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them. Let’s see what happens.”
“She will hopefully be an asset to Steve, a great leader and talent, as we seek to bring calm and prosperity to a very troubled region. I expect great results, and soon!” he adds.
#5
Well, at least he is keeping the “Let’s see what happens,” picks to the lower levels.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/04/2025 10:50
Comments ||
Top||
#6
"President Trump Appoints Never Trump Morgan Ortagus, Current Intel Community Operative, Former USAID CIA Cover Agent, as Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Middle East Peace"
[IsraelTimes] Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has demanded that the United States tell Israel to pull its forces out of the border buffer zone and the Syrian side of Mount Herman, Israel’s Kan TV news reports.
Israeli officials tell the outlet that they have received no official request on the matter.
They also say that Israel’s military presence at and across the border is necessary to protect its security.
The unsourced report also says the rebel leader has asked the US to provide humanitarian aid to the country.
Looking to get credit at President Trump’s expense, and limit what he’s able to do. But since it wasn’t President Biden who dunnit, who is pulling the strings behind the curtain?
[IsraelTimes] The Biden administration has informally notified the US Congress of a proposed $8 billion arms deal with Israel that includes munitions for fighter jets and attack helicopters alongside artillery shells, Axios reports, citing two sources.
The sources tell Axios that some of the deal can be supplied from current US stocks, but most will take a year or more to deliver. The deal will presumably be the last to be approved by the Biden administration.
The package — which needs to be okayed by the House and Senate foreign relations committees — reportedly includes AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for fighter jets to defend against airborne threats, including drones; 155mm artillery shells; Hellfire AGM-114 missiles for attack helicopters; small diameter bombs; JDAM tail kits that turn "dumb bombs" into precision munitions, 500-lb warheads and bomb fuzes.
In late spring, the US held up a shipment that included 500-lb bombs, but these were subsequently delivered.
Axios quotes a source saying that the State Department told Congress the deal is aimed at "supporting Israel’s long-term security by resupplying stocks of critical munitions and air defense capabilities."
And it quoted a US official saying, "The President has made clear Israel has a right to defend its citizens, consistent with international law and international humanitarian law, and to deter aggression from 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... and its proxy organizations. We will continue to provide the capabilities necessary for Israel’s defense."
[Townhall] There was a glimmer of positive news to round out 2024. The American bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) became our official national bird.
While this development seems trivial, it’s long-overdue to honor this iconic bird.
Bicameral bipartisan bills in both Congressional chambers resoundingly passed and landed on outgoing President Joe Biden’s desk to amend title 36, United States Code, to elevate the bald eagle from national symbol to national bird.
On June 20, 1782, our Founding Fathers approved the Great Seal of the U.S. depicting a bald eagle. But no formal recognition ever followed—until this year. Benjamin Franklin allegedly preferred the turkey, a bird also native to the U.S., to become the official bird, writing, "For in Truth the Turk'y is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America...."
Undoubtedly, the majority of Americans value and cherish this national symbol. But others don’t hold it in high regard. One of the most egregious acts taken against bald eagles came in winter 2023 when a pair of illegal aliens from Guatemala, living in Nebraska, shot and cooked one. The Biden administration was initially dismissive and silent on the issue. Thankfully, one of the assailants was ultimately caught and charged by the Department of Justice. Even America’s bird couldn’t evade the consequences of dangerous illegal immigration under the outgoing Biden-Harris administration.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/04/2025
09:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11161 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Meanwhile the incumbent President is giving the nation "the bird".
[JustTheNews] Homeland contractor, FBI experts issue stark warnings about bomb-dropping and gun-firing drones in terrorist hands.
With New Year’s Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas exposing terrorism vulnerabilities anew, top security experts are warning that a lethal capability being perfected in the skies over Ukraine and the Middle East could soon be headed to the United States: explosives-dropping or gun-firing drones.
“There has not been enough preparation proactively to prevent an incident associated with drone warfare and not even close,” retired FBI Executive Assistant Director Christopher Piehota told Just the News on Thursday. “Government, I think, is waking up to it. But it's a day-late, dollar-short type of situation.
Piehota oversaw the FBI's counter-drone program before he retired.
"We're pretty far behind the defensive curve, so to speak. And unfortunately in the United States, it takes a tragedy for us to really snap out of our of our malaise and work against the threats proactively,” he warned.
Former FBI head breaks down New Year’s attacks, warns United States is in ‘new era’ of terrorismFormer FBI head breaks down New Year’s attacks, warns United States is in ‘new era’ of terrorism
MAJOR VULNERABILITY
Piehota’s concerns were echoed by security experts interviewed this week by Just the News in intelligence, military and law enforcement circles and specifically cited as a major vulnerability in a study prepared for the Homeland Security Department a few months ago by the security contractor Rand Corporation.
That report obtained by Just the News warned that terrorists are increasingly targeting soft targets in crowded places – known as "ST-CP"s in intelligence parlance – and that drones are likely to being employed to carry out attacks against such targets in the near future.
“Although it has generally not been observed as of this writing in late 2023, our interview data suggested a growing concern about the prospect of uncrewed aircraft systems (UASs) being used for attacks on ST-CPs,” the December 2023 report warned. “The use of UASs against ST-CP sites has become a concern in the ST-CP security sector. The unique characteristics of UASs could see their use grow in future years."
You can read the full report here.
Rand explained why drones – which are becoming more numerous – would be attractive to strike a target in America.
“UASs can carry explosive payloads and have the ability to maneuver into secure areas without detection,” it noted. “UASs can also give the operator the ability to act anonymously and a greater chance to avoid detection and capture. The growing use of UASs in both the private sector and government operations likely means that more people will have access to these systems in the future and the expertise to operate them, making the use of UASs for attacks increasingly likely.”
Even the United Nations – which has seen Iranian-built drones terrorize ships in the Red Sea, Hamas-operated drones kill Israelis during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres and Russian drones inflict carnage in Ukraine – has escalated its preparation, conducting seminars in 2022 and 2023 to coordinate better security against such aerial attacks.
"There is a growing concern globally over the criminal misuse of emerging technologies as they become ubiquitous," the UN said after its most recent counterterrorism meeting. "Recent evidence demonstrates that the acquisition of UAS software, hardware, and components as well as their weaponization and deployment by terrorist groups has increased over the past years across many Member States.
"It is critical that Member States and intergovernmental organizations work closely with academia, civil society, and the private sector to keep abreast of technological advancements in order to anticipate and mitigate the risk of their misuse for terrorist purposes," it added.
"CAUGHT OFF GUARD"
The Office of Director of National Intelligence admitted in a 2021 report that was recently declassified that it was acutely aware of the rising danger of terrorist drones and equally frustrated by slow U.S. efforts to recognize that a technology it devised to fight terrorists might now be used to hunt Americans.
“The United States has a history of being reactionary to unforeseen or misunderstood national security threats,” the report candidly noted. “Recently, the United States was caught off guard yet again by terrorist groups’ ability to adapt their tactics on the battlefield and cause bloodshed in new and surprising ways. These groups are infringing on a battlespace long dominated by the U.S. military: the air domain."
“The recent incorporation of unmanned aerial systems (UASs), commonly referred to as 'drones,' into the tactics and techniques of terrorist operations is forcing the United States to reassess its policies and defense measures to protect its employed military forces,” it added.
You can read that report here.
The Homeland Security Department says its research and development arm is trying to create new technologies to counter terrorism from the sky but admits its efforts face an uphill race.
“The rapid increase in the availability and sophistication of UAS represents a significant challenge, as their capabilities progress faster than the ability to assess and mitigate the threat posed by nefarious small UAS,” the department said.
Experts said countering aerial attacks requires knowing how to identify good from bad drones in the skies in real-time, something the government proved last month when unexplained drone sightings in New Jersey created widespread public panic and little official explanation.
“That's the problem, total unawareness by the American people and complete inability of law enforcement and the executives in these cities to evolve as fast as the terrorist tactics,” retired FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam, who used to oversee major event planning for the bureau’s New York office, told the Just the News, No Noise television show on Thursday night.
“The terrorists will do whatever they can to carry out these attacks. But these officials refuse to step outside their normal box and say, ‘OK, we don't normally do it this way, but let's try it.’ That’s not what they say. They say we don't do it that way. And so they never try something new and even inexpensive,” he added.
Gilliam said the Wednesday morning’s attack in New Orleans exposed the mentality anew: city officials had taken out their heavy metal security bollards protecting the French Quarter to repair them and replaced them with lesser barriers that the driver evaded with ease. He said police could have turned to “using busses, using dump trucks full of cement, police cars, whatever, to block areas and keep things straight” but didn’t.
Gilliam said he suspects terrorists who recently used vehicles to kill dozens in a German Christmas market and the French Quarter will continue to do so until security adapts, and then pivot to drones soon after.
“I believe these unmanned vehicle attacks and drone attacks are coming, but the vehicle attacks right now are the flavor of the day, because they're just so easy to carry out and people are just not aware,” he said.
DRONES PRESENT HEIGHTENED LETHALITY
Piehota, the retired FBI executive assistant director, told the John Solomon Reports podcast that drones can cause far more lethal consequences than just the explosive payload they drop if they target a concert hall or stadium.
“If you have a stadium full of people, and even if the area is considered a no drone zone, you have someone fly in a group of drones, and they start dropping explosives, or they you could even set up drones to fire guns into a crowd. … the problem is going to be the massive disruption in a stadium.
“Most people will become very frightened. They will stampede and they will kill each other trying to get to a safe place,” he warned. Piehota further cautioned that while low-cost commercial drones are one potential threat, it is likely a terrorist group will one day soon acquire a highly lethal military grade drone from a state actor like Iran and deliver an even more devastating attack.
“What you're going to find is as certain international adversaries take a side, and they take a position, and certain military type equipment becomes available to certain terrorist groups, those military grade drones, you can't defeat them,” he said.
“They're made to loiter, and they're made to strike against heavy armored vehicles and against people who are in protective structures. So I just throw that out there, only because folks are more worried about the weaponization of commercial drones, as opposed to the appearance in the United States, potentially and probably, of military grade drones,” he added.
#4
Homeland contractor, FBI experts issue stark warnings about bomb-dropping and gun-firing drones in terrorist hands.
Fear, Uncertainty, and Dread. Oh, come on. If you want real drone terrorism, just fly one to get sucked in a big airliner at take off or landing. That way you get literally a plane load of people with one shot.
#5
If the state court system of the state of New York chooses to imprison the presumptive president of the United States ten days before he was to have been sworn into office — and on such nonsensical charges as these — watch the US Supreme Court weigh in so fast the entire world will be laughing at New York before the hour is out.
And then the JD Vance Justice Department will still be closely supervising them, stem to stern, at the end of his second term. To make sure they’ve seeded out the overly political and their youngsters, both legal and political, are properly trained on legal ethics and constitutional law… which I suppose means providing advisories on the PoliSci departments and law schools. The model is the fourteen conservative federal circuit and appeals court judges who announced in the 2022-23 school year that they would no longer hire law clerks from Yale and Stanford because of cancel culture and open hostility to conservative judges.
[NY Post] D'oh!
Washington state Democrats appeared to have accidentally emailed their sweeping revenue plans and internal talking points on tax hikes to the entirety of the upper chamber’s members in Olympia, Fox News has learned.
Property tax hikes and a new double-digit tax on firearms are among proposals Washington state Democrats are considering, according to materials originally disseminated to all members by Washington Senate Deputy Floor Leader Noel Frame, D-Seattle, in late December and later obtained by Fox News Digital.
A document titled "2025 Revenue Options" and a PowerPoint presentation describing how to talk to constituents in defense of the plan were included in the messages.
The document lists proposed figures for an 11% tax on ammunition and firearms, reclassifying storage unit rentals as a retail transaction and a lift on the property tax levy lid for certain Washingtonians.
A PowerPoint slide, highlighted by Seattle radio host Jason Rantz, described the "Best way to talk taxes" — with a chart of do’s and don’ts for lawmakers.
Do say: "Pay what they owe" — but Don’t say: "Tax the rich" or "pay their fair share" because "taxes aren’t a punishment," the graph read.
It also suggested using the terms "funding," "providing" and "ensuring" when describing the apparent benefits of tax hikes, rather than the term "investing in [X]."
"Avoid centering the tax or talking in vague terms about ’the economy’ or ’education.’"
One of the new proposals is that of a "capital assets ownership tax."
It is described as similar to property taxes, but instead would extend the real estate-type tax to holdings in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments.
"We can ensure that extremely wealthy Washingtonians are taxed on their assets just like middle-class families are already taxed on theirs," the slide reads.
Another line directs lawmakers to proverbially "identify the villain" that is blocking "progress" and lay out "how we can take action to solve the issue."
"We have an upside-down tax code that benefits big corporations and the wealthiest few, that was written 100 years ago and desperately needs an update for the 21st century. If we ensure Washington’s wealthiest pay what they truly owe in taxes, the rest of us will have what we need — like affordable health care, housing, and food."
Rantz said in a column for MyNorthwest.com that the plans accidentally shared present a "direct contradiction" to promises from Democrats during the election cycle and lay out 10 total new taxes on residents.
"These proposals come at a time when the state has seen years of record revenue," Rantz said, going on to claim some of the "tax schemes" may also be unconstitutional.
He added that capital gains taxes actually discourage growth and potentially lead to reduced job opportunities for the same workers pro-tax Democrats claim to want to help.
One example he presented was the departure of Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos from Washington state.
Upon establishing his new Florida residency, one of America’s richest men saved about $1 billion in taxes that also no longer go toward funding the Evergreen State’s programs.
Rantz added that the Washington state Democratic electorate often decries the affordability crisis but then goes on to re-elect the same politicians that exacerbate it.
Additionally, as Democratic Gov.-elect Robert Ferguson is set to take office later this month, State Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, slammed outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2025 budget proposal.
"This budget is not a serious proposal," said Couture, the House budget panel’s top Republican.
"Our state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem," he said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Frame for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2025
08:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11150 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Government is just ritualistic robbery these days. Afraid to simply state - "From each according to their means, to each according to their needs"?
[RealClearPol] Tom Donilon, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser from 2010 to 2013, attempts to rewrite history on the Foreign Affairs website to praise Jimmy Carter as a great foreign policy president. We "learn" from Donilon that Carter left a legacy of peace in the Middle East with the Camp David Accords, enhanced U.S. security in the broader Persian Gulf region by proclaiming the Carter Doctrine, deftly managed our relationship with China by advancing the "one China" policy and ensured the ultimate downfall of the Soviet Union. One wonders why American voters overwhelmingly rejected Carter in 1980 after he accomplished so much (according to Donilon).
There was a time when Democrats had the courage to distance themselves from a failed foreign policy by a president of their own party—and that time was in the late 1970s. The list of prominent Democrats who supported GOP candidate Ronald Reagan over Carter in the 1980 election because of Carter’s failed foreign policy was long and distinguished, and included the likes of Paul Nitze, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Max Kampelman, Norman Podhoretz, Lane Kirkland, Eugene Rostow, Richard Perle, Richard Pipes, and Elliot Abrams, among others. Many of these were known then as "Scoop Jackson Democrats," named after the long-serving Senator from the state of Washington Henry M. Jackson, a key member of the Armed Services Committee. Scoop Jackson was one of the nation’s chief critics of détente, especially as practiced by the Carter administration. Scoop Jackson was on Reagan’s transition team. Kirkpatrick, Rostow, Perle, Abrams, Pipes and Nitze all joined Reagan’s national security team.
The first major Democratic salvo against Carter’s foreign policy was fired by Jeane Kirkpatrick in an article in Commentary in 1979 titled "Dictatorships and Double Standards." Kirkpatrick’s first sentence set the theme of the article: "The failure of the Carter administration’s foreign policy is now clear to everyone except its architects, and even they must entertain private doubts, from time to time, about a policy whose crowning achievement has been to lay the groundwork for a transfer of the Panama Canal from the United States to a swaggering Latin dictator of Castroite bent." Kirkpatrick criticized Carter for failing to adequately respond to a massive Soviet conventional and military build-up, watching as the Soviets extended their political influence in Africa, Afghanistan, and the Caribbean Sea, and undermining long-time U.S. allies in Nicaragua and Iran to the detriment of U.S. security interests. Carter, she said, wielded the cudgel of "human rights" against America’s allies regardless of the strategic consequences.
#1
...They also forget just how close the Lion Of The Senate, Teddy Kennedy, came to getting nominated instead in 1980. He was setting up for a floor fight at the convention - and may well have won it - had Mike Wallace not asked him during an interview about committing involuntary manslaughter.
His response made Kamala Harris sound like Cato the Elder, and that sank him then and there.
#2
^^ Back when some news folks were actual journalists.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/04/2025 9:33
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Poster in AoS this morning by Cynical Publius
"
Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius
I promised to myself that I would not comment further on Jimmy Carter's death, but it bothers me to see so many otherwise sensible conservatives spouting the "Bad President, good man" line that the Democrat/Media Complex has been spinning for 40+ years. Thus, I feel the need to drop some truth bombs, propriety at time of death notwithstanding.
Yes, he hammered a few nails on some houses for poor people. But that alone does not make one a "good man," when the rest of the track record is so awful.
After Carter lost in spectacular fashion in 1980, he did not do what every other President before him did and retire to a quiet, private life. He could have farmed peanuts in Plains with Rosalynn. Instead, he bitterly engaged in active and public efforts to undermine the policies of the elected Republicans who came after him. He INVENTED the jealous, manipulative ex-President model that Obama put on steroids in 2016.
Jimmy Carter flew around the world for decades, un-asked by America, on self-appointed missions of national importance, almost always involving gleefully interacting with raging antisemitic terrorist and/or Communist leaders, always working against the official policies of the ACTUALLY ELECTED Presidents. Carter's hatred of Israel bordered on pathological, and reeked of a sort of cloaked antisemitism that has become quite fashionable today. Somehow Jimmy Carter convinced himself that he was such an important and historic figure that he stood outside and above the U.S. systems of election and governance, even though no one other than the Yassar Arafats and Hugo Chavezs of the world asked him to do so.
Jimmy Carter was a bitter, angry narcissist who cloaked his lifelong, seething rage at the indignity of being body-slammed by Ronald Reagan (someone he considered lesser than himself in every regard) with that genteel "Southern gentleman" accent, vague scripture references and the occasional hammered nail. He purposely and vengefully wreaked havoc on America's official foreign policy for decades and he INVENTED the concept of a meddling ex-President poisoning American political discourse. (In that regard, Obama has been Carter v.2.0--we have Carter to thank for that.)
Literally every aspect of the man's self-serving public life was harmful to America, he knew that, and he did it all anyway because narcissists always operate like that--they cannot help it, and they can never admit fault. Carter's "good man" image was a carefully constructed and nurtured illusion, one that he gladly worked with the corrupt media to maintain.
So please consider these factors before pronouncing "Bad President, good man." Sometimes truth needs to be said even when some find that truth untimely."
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2025 18:22
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Absolutely agree. Thank goodness President Trump v.1 and v.2 have/will work with Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu to unravel all that Carter, Obama, and the Biden-Harris administration strove to achieve.
[Mil.com] The active-duty Green Beret soldier who died after blowing up a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day left a note calling the attack a "wake-up call" for the country, investigators said Friday.
"Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives?" Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, the career Special Forces operative who detonated the rented Cybertruck and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, wrote in the recovered note. "Why did I personally do it now? I need to cleanse my mind of the brothers I've lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took."
The note was released as the latest detail in an investigation that had sought a motive in the vehicle bombing by Livelsberger, who was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group headquartered at Fort Carson, Colorado, and stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. In what appeared Friday to be a bizarre coincidence, an Army veteran killed 14 people celebrating in New Orleans in the early morning of New Year's Day using a rental truck with an Islamic State terrorist group flag.
"Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who is struggling with PTSD and other issues," FBI agent Spencer Evans told reporters at a press conference late Friday in Las Vegas, speaking about Livelsberger and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who left the military in 2020, was a civilian at the time of his attack. He also served only in conventional units at Fort Liberty and Fort Richardson, Alaska. Livelsberger, on the other hand, was still serving in the Army with 10th Special Forces Group in Germany and was just months away from completing the 20 years of service required for a full retirement package. He also had no obvious connections to radical ideologies. Defense officials say the two men never served in the same unit.
Livelsberger's personal life had not been steady either.
Public records show that he married his first wife in 2012 in Ohio. However, the couple ended up divorcing about five years later, according to the wife's friend who spoke with multiple media outlets and described Livelsberger as controlling and unsupportive.
A former girlfriend also told multiple outlets that Livelsberger's behavior changed in 2019 after he returned from a Middle East deployment with a traumatic brain injury, saying that he became isolated and struggled with mental issues.
This is a better source than the article I posted last night. As mine had no comments, I give the link here, but it adds nothing to the information in this post.
#3
...I think in the end we're going to find the most likely explanation that he had a horrifying case of PTSD, and that mixed with awful personal problems sent him into a thorough and complete psychotic break. The US military is, frankly, lousy at identifying and dealing with that sort of thing as an organization and individuals - regardless of their service or career field - would often rather kill themselves and others than admit they need help.
The problem is that right now, who would trust anybody in officialdom who came up with that explanation?
#4
Besoeker’s source article is worth reading in full, especially in light of Mike’s comment.
From Skidmark’s Zero Hedge link:
Las Vegas Cybertruck blast suspect Matthew Livelsberger took part in a military TV reality competition on the History Channel. pic.twitter.com/StCIyv9JN2
I guess I can see the narrative. Seen the shit, got low time TV famous for a second, get ultra-involved in Ukraine, then batshit woman filling his head with how Trump and Musk are going to wreck everything he had worked for. Maybe had the how to advance your hollywood career program hanging on him.
[BBC] Incredible Luke Littler etched his name into darting history with a crushing 7-3 victory over Michael van Gerwen to become the youngest ever PDC World Championship winner.
[Breitbart] Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede called for Greenland to seek independence from the Kingdom of Denmark, noting that it is “time to take the next step.”
During a speech on Wednesday, Egede spoke about how, “like other countries in the world,” Greenland “must work to remove the obstacles to cooperation,” which he described as “the shackles of the colonial era.” Egede added that “history and current conditions have shown” Greenland’s cooperation with Demark “has not managed to create full equality.”
“It is time for us to take a step ourselves and shape our future, also with regard to who we will cooperate closely with and also who our trade relations will be,” Egede said. “For our cooperation with other countries, and our trade relations, cannot continue to take place solely through Denmark.”
Egede continued, “The Greenlandic people’s option for independence has been adopted through the provisions of the Self-Government Act, thereby creating a legal basis for how independence can be achieved.”
“A draft constitution, a constitution for our country, has also been prepared,” Egede added. “Work has already begun on creating the framework for Greenland as an independent state within the possibilities and provisions of the Self-Government Act.”
Egede’s call for independence from Denmark comes as President-elect Donald Trump has previously stated American ownership of Greenland is an “absolute necessity.”
In a post on Truth Social announcing Ken Howery as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, Trump wrote, “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
In response to Trump’s post, Egede stated that Greenland is “not for sale and will never be for sale.”
“Greenland is ours,” Egede said. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
#1
...I am a firm believe in independence as long as the inhabitants want to stay that way - for instance, the Falklands.
On the other hand, IIRC Denmark covers about 60% of Greenland's national budget. Admittedly that's not a huge amount, and likely we have rounding errors in our budget that dwarf it. But it does raise the issue of how they expect to cover it.
Or, perhaps more appropriately, who they expect to cover it.
#2
I don't know, Mike, as 60% seems quite substantial to me. I'd even say 25% is a good chunk (imagine having our salary cut by 25%, for example). But hey, if Greenland can swing it, great. And would Greenland then "go" to the highest bidder?
#3
#2 I don't know, Mike, as 60% seems quite substantial to me. I'd even say 25% is a good chunk (imagine having our salary cut by 25%, for example). But hey, if Greenland can swing it, great. And would Greenland then "go" to the highest bidder?
Posted by: DooDahMan 2025-01-04 09:25
DDM,
You betcha. What would the Chinese or Russians cough up to get a base that dominates the air and sea lanes across the Atlantic? They'd go behind the cushions at every dim sum place and vodka house to scrape up whatever the Greenlanders asked for.
And keep in mind that after independence, the FIRST thing the locals would do is toss the US out of Thule (or Pituffik as the locals call it)...and there goes a BIG chunk of our ballistic missile warning capability. The Russians alone would sign over the deed to Red Square just for that.
#4
They could fund their budget with modest mineral concessions. I think that is really the point of Trump’s discussion of Greenland. Greenland or Denmark could provide the natural resources that European countries are getting from Putin. The folks in Greenland control their own destiny. I expect that they’ll eventually do some stupid China deal and some politicians will walk away with bags of cash.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/04/2025 11:00
Comments ||
Top||
#5
"Drill baby Drill" freshwater ice wells.
Pipe it to the coast and ship it everywhere.
[Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a formal statement, the FBI has called on Internet sleuths, particularly X users, to please stop solving crimes before they have a chance to do so.
The statement comes just hours after X users discovered all suspects and motives related to the recent terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas.
The statement reads in part:
"It is in the public interest that all X users stop solving crimes immediately. Solving crime is the responsibility of the federal government and local law enforcement. If we do not solve crimes first, we cannot control the narrative, and that's important for national security reasons we cannot discuss at this time."
"You're going to put us all out of a job," said FBI Director Christopher Wray, commenting on the public statement. "We're supposed to be the ones solving crimes. Please stop demonstrating how useless we are."
As an incentive, the FBI is promising not to raid anyone who complies. "All you have to do is not report on suspects, observe obvious connections to other crimes, or complain when we prosecute parents of school-aged children," a spokesman for the bureau explained. "You scratch our back, we leave your back alone. Get it?"
At publishing time, the FBI had prosecuted an X user for interfering with a cover-up.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2025
06:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11155 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
Don Surber: ITEM 24: Charlie Kirk tweeted with a video, “A jihadist killed and maimed dozens of innocent Americans in a hate-fueled rampage, and the CEO of Allstate thinks Americans watching the Sugar Bowl need a lecture from him on overcoming ‘an addiction to divisiveness and negativity?’ ”
You’re in terrorist hands with Allah State.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2025 7:49
Comments ||
Top||
#7
The journalist tour of the terrorist house was pure gold.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/04/2025 10:43
Comments ||
Top||
#8
The FBI has been in hibernation the last 4+ years, due to DC Swamp politics. There are, as we constantly told. "_____ was on their Radar."
☺
Besides, If "X" users out the actual criminals hours, days, weeks, months, and yes even years, ahead of the DC Swamp. How can pre-written deflective, misinformation Press Releases be used deployed?
#9
FBI warned of lone wolves inspired by ISIS months before deadly attack in New Orleans
Alternate headline: Rantburgers Warned Of Lone Wolves Inspired By [al Qaeda, Etc] Decades Before Deadly Attack In New Orleans/Boston Marathon/2001 attack on the Twin Towers.
No points to the FBI for that — anyone paying even a little attention has known as much since Al Qaeda’s World Trade Center bombing in 1993. But it would have been nice had the special-agent-in-charge of the New Orleans FBI office actually been working that day, so that his deputy didn’t have to rear up on her hind legs to bray that it was not a terror attack. The rank and file have hard work ahead of them to restore the FBI’s reputation once Kash Patel takes over. To their credit, at least some of them are looking forward to it.
[NY Post] President Biden and his staff are going out guns blazing — all barrels blasting away to do as much damage as possible to America before they go.
Just look at the dirty-laundry list Joe (or whoever’s actually making the decisions) has rammed through as his last days tick down.
More bans on drilling for oil and gas, even after his war on domestic energy helped cripple America strategically and inflict massive price pain at the pump and elsewhere.
How much damage will Joe & Co. do?
Heck, he even moved to squeeze natural-gas exports.
That’s as the administration agreed to yet another inane Paris Accord climate goal to drive down US emissions by close to 70% by 2035.
If any of that holds — and the White House insists drilling ban, for one, will be tough to roll back — expect yet more suffering for Joes not named Biden.
The White House also loosened visa requirements for foreign workers while inking a labor agreement with federal union that will let more than 40,000 Social Security Administration employees stay hybrid.
Plus, the clemency avalanche, starting with the blanket pardon for crooked son Hunter that Joe promised he would never give, followed by hundreds of commutations for vile bribe-takers, con artists and other sleazoids — as well as letting literal child murderers dodge the death penalty.
Don’t forget the $4.28 billion in student debt relief Biden OK’d just before Christmas (a present for the affluent paid for by the poor: classic progressivism!).
Or the last-minute drive from the White House to throw all the billions from the CHIPS Act and other prog boondoggles out the doors and windows while they still can.
Or the veto of a bipartisan bill to expand the federal judiciary to un-clog key courts, which the Bidenites turned against because they wouldn’t get to pick the new judges.
It’s clear from the scope and energy of these plans that Joe himself (who can barely stay awake for a full workday) isn’t the chief force behind any of it: It’s staffers driving the car here.
The same staff who’ve been calling most shots for four disastrous years, and so led to a historic and humiliating defeat for Democrats.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2025
06:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11163 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Like an abusive spouse who kills their partner rather than allow anyone else to have them.
[NY Post] Rubbing our noses in it. Worst President EVAH
President Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, billionaire Democratic megadonor George Soros and several others at a White House ceremony on Saturday.
The White House said Clinton, Soros and the 17 other recipients of the prestigious award are "individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors."
"President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else," the White House said in a statement. "These nineteen Americans are great leaders who have made America a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world."
Soros, 94, has been one of the most prolific fundraisers for the Democratic Party in recent history.
The Hungarian-born hedge-fund billionaire gave more than $175 million to Democrats during the 2022 midterms, according to Federal Election Commission records.
In 2024, Soros funneled another $60 million for House and Senate Democrats and other left-wing causes through his Democracy PAC, records show.
Soros, who has shifted tens of billions of dollars of his personal net worth over to his Open Society Foundations, which funds a multitude of progressive projects around the world, has also heavily invested in races to install far-left district attorneys in major American cities.
Soros-backed DAs, including Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg and Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner, have been criticized by Republicans for pursuing priorities such as criminal justice reform over prosecuting criminals.
The left-wing investor has also come under fire for funneling tens of millions of dollars to groups supporting anti-Israel protesters on college campuses.
The White House described Soros as “a philanthropist who four decades ago founded the Open Society Foundations” and “through his network of foundations … has supported organizations, and projects across the world that strengthen democracy, human rights, education, and social justice.”
Clinton, 77, will be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom nearly 12 years after her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was bestowed the honor by former President Barack Obama.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2025
06:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11173 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Going to take the White House china and silverware too?
#11
Biden's shamelessly buying goodwill, silence and opportunities by cheapening anything left in the Presidential pantry. It seems clear now just how thin the veneer was wrapping our national trailer-trash Presidency.
Someone on the Biden team had the bright idea. It’s their last hurrah, hopefully for a generation. I would not be surprised if James O’Keefe’s OMG or the Project Veritas team ferrets out who was running things over there — there are people who'll soon be desperate for a sympathetic ear, and all the warnings in the world can’t make them shut up.
🚨🇺🇸BIDEN TO GIVE SOROS AND HILLARY MEDAL OF FREEDOM
Later today he will be handing the nation’s highest civilian honor to billionaire George Soros, the kingpin of progressive politics who’s poured billions into funding far-left causes, soft-on-crime DAs, and anti-Israel campus… pic.twitter.com/D1x0N2wRCo
#14
While Joe Biden is the easy target for blame.
Who is really?
Given Joe Biden's serious declined Mental State.
Does anyone seriously think he gets up from a day nap having figured out another way to piss off America, or his family to pocket some more $$$$$, all by himself?
I would suggest the real guilty are DNC Elite, WH inter-circle and Soros' Money.
I would also suggest a Logical Modification to the Executive Pardon powers.
A President, who has lost their incumbent election, may NOT continue to issue pardons or executive orders after the NOV election date, which they have lost.
#15
My wild guess would be the Donilon brothers. Very lefty Catholic influenced decisions. One brother is Biden’s brain and the other is now the head of Blackrock’s think tank.
[Jpost] PayPal has been sued by an Asian American businesswoman who accused the digital payments company of racial bias for restricting part of a $535 million investment program to Black and Hispanic applicants, costing her millions of dollars.
Thursday's complaint by Nisha Desai and her New York-based venture capital firm Andav Capital is part of a growing push among some conservatives to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in corporate America.
Born to and raised by immigrant parents in the Deep South, Desai thought herself a good fit for PayPal's investment program, which the San Jose, California-based company announced in June 2020 to support Black and minority-owned businesses and help address economic inequality.
Desai said she spent 1-1/2 months seeking funding before PayPal stopped communicating, even as the company invested $100 million in 19 venture capital firms led by Blacks and Hispanics.
She said PayPal has told multiple other businesswomen they were ineligible for funding because of their Asian descent.
"Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have."
"Never go outside the experience of your people."
"Whenever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy."
"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage."
"A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
"A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."
"Keep the pressure on."
"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
"The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition."
"If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative."
"The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
[JPost] During interrogations by IDF investigators, soldiers learned that senior Hamas operatives were running the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, Gaza, and planned to escape from the hospital during the IDF raid there last Friday using ambulances, Unit 504 investigators revealed to N12 in an interview published Thursday.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital was raided last Friday by the IDF and Shin Bet, who arrested more than 240 terrorists, some of whom participated in the October 7 massacre. Security forces decided to raid the hospital after intelligence revealed there were hundreds of terrorists hiding inside the compound.
An IDF reservist, Lt. (Res.) D., told N12 that while interrogating terrorists at the hospital, they all pointed to the hospital director and asked for him to come see them and help them. "We understood that the person at the very heart of the event, orchestrating the terror and Hamas activity in the compound, was the hospital director himself," Lt. (Res.) D. said.
More at the link
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
01/04/2025
04:22 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11157 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[NEWARAB] An Iranian commercial plane underwent rigorous security checks at Beirut airport on Thursday night after it was suspected that it was transporting money to Hezbollah, causing uproar among passengers.
Authorities at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport had told the Mahan Air flight that it would need to undergo inspection or it wouldn't be allowed to land, amid suspicions that it was carrying financial aid to the Iran-backed Lebanese gang.
Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi confirmed during a talk show on Thursday night that the plane was being searched.
The airport's security requested to search diplomats' bags to check whether they were carrying cash. The diplomats initially rejected this request, resulting in long delays in disembarking passengers from the plane.
Tensions gradually escalated as people on board grew frustrated over the wait, prompting Lebanese army forces to intervene and restore order.
Lebanese authorities had reportedly given strict instructions to deport the Iranian diplomats if they had continued to refuse inspection of their bags.
The airport security service indicated that any "suspicious shipments" would be prevented from leaving the airport premises, stressing that political contacts would be made with Iranian officials to warn them of the consequences of illegally transferring money to Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
The plane was eventually given the greenlight in the late hours of Thursday after the diplomats' bags were searched, finding that they did not contain anything unlawful.
"An Iranian diplomat refused to have bags searched upon landing in Leb ...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. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... tonight. After a long dispute, Tehran sent a cable to Beirut saying two bags had documents and cash to pay operating expenses at the Iranian embassy in the country. They were let go per Vienna Convention." Washington-based Lebanese journalist Joseph Haboush wrote on X.
Mahan Air is widely linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and has been under US sanctions since 2011 for allegedly providing support to the IRGC’s Quds Force, and for supplying weapons shipments to Iranian proxy groups across the Middle East.
Last week, a report in the UK newspaper The Times said Iran was looking into establishing an air corridor to Lebanon by which to resupply the Hezbollah terror group, after losing its land route through Syria with the fall of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... ’s regime.
The report added that Western nations are "concerned that Iran has lost [Damascus as] its go-to airport in the region for smuggling weapons and is now trying to turn Beirut airport into its new logistics hub, just as they did in Syria."
The paper noted that this would be in breach of Israel’s ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, which prohibits the terror group’s rearmament.
In early December, The Times of Israel reported that an Iranian flight suspected of carrying weapons intended for Hezbollah was forced to turn around by the Israeli Air Force over Syria.
In recent months, the Israel Defense Forces has forced several Iranian flights to make U-turns over Syrian or Iraqi airspace, after they were suspected of carrying weapons to Hezbollah.
The IDF has said that during the truce, it would continue to act to prevent all weapon deliveries to the Lebanese terror group, including by striking shipments anywhere in Lebanon or Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
02:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11165 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[NEWARAB] Egyptian authorities have informed travel and airline companies in the country not to allow Syrian nationals to enter Egypt from anywhere in the world, except those holding temporary residency permits.
It's the second time Egypt has issued a decision blocking the entry of Syrians since Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... 's regime was toppled in Damascus on 8 December.
Two weeks ago, Egypt banned the entry of Syrian nationals holding European, American, and Canadian residency permits unless they obtained prior security approval from Cairo.
An entry ban was also imposed on Syrian Schengen visa holders, in addition to Syrians married to Egyptians, unless they too obtain a security permit.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians settled in Egypt after conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, following a violent mostly peaceful crackdown by Assad's forces on pro-democracy protests.
The Egyptian government claims that more than a million Syrians live in the country of more than 110 million, but the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... High Commissioner for Refugees says only around 153,000 Syrians are registered.
Last week, Egyptian authorities reportedly banned the entry of Paleostinians coming from Syria, Iraq, 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... , Libya, and Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... — countries ravaged by conflict or internal crises.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
02:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11176 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[NEWARAB] More than 115,000 Syrian refugees have returned to Syria from neighbouring countries since the overthrow of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... 's regime last month, the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... High Commissioner for Refugees announced on Thursday.
The refugees returned from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... , Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... and Jordan, three countries hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees since the conflict there began in 2011.
Data regarding returnee numbers was collected by the host countries, immigration services in Syria, and data gathered by the UNHCR and its partners at border crossings, the agency said.
Islamist-led rebels led a lightning offensive in Syria on 27 November, toppling Assad's 53-year-old Ba'athist regime on 8 December.
It came after more than 13 years of a multifaceted conflict which began with the regime's brutal suppression of peaceful protests and saw the intervention of multiple regional and global powers, as well as turban groups and foreign militias.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
02:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11165 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[GEO.TV] The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... on Thursday urged the Paleostinian Authority to "reverse course" after it suspended broadcasts by Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... -based Al Jazeera, accusing the network of incitement.
The PA, which has partial administrative control in the West Bank, said its decision followed a complaint from the Paleostinian Journalists Syndicate concerning Al Jazeera's coverage and said the suspension was a temporary move.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
02:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11159 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
and this is under the UN's purview, how?STFU
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2025 6:29
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Why does the phrase "follow the money" come so strongly to mind?
[GEO.TV] At least five people have been killed and scores others injured in an Israeli strike near the entrance of 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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... 's al-Shifa Hospital.
Videos posted online by witnesses and verified by Al Jazeera show the chaotic aftermath of the strike, with rubble strewn on the ground outside the hospital and victims of the attack being lifted onto stretchers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
01:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11152 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[GEO.TV] Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... said a new round of indirect talks on a 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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... ceasefire resumed in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... 's Doha on Friday, stressing the group's seriousness in seeking to reach a deal as soon as possible, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said.
Of course they do. But are they willing to do the things that will get Israel to agree to stop pounding them? Because up til now they absolutely have not been. About those live hostages, for instance…
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
01:52 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11163 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Let us reflect a moment on who started the current war.
Posted by: Throlush Dark Lord of the Nebraskans2736 ||
01/04/2025 17:04
Comments ||
Top||
[GEO.TV] Kurram Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsud was injured in a fresh firing incident in Bagan area on Saturday as the violence erupted like lava from a volcano again in the restive region days after a peace deal was finally struck between the warring tribes.
The deputy commissioner, who had been playing a key role in efforts to restore peace in the region, was rushed to hospital.
The incident comes as the authorities geared up for sending an aid convoy to Parachinar following the signing of peace accord on January 1, which saw the groups involved in the conflict agree to end violence and surrender arms to the authorities.
The first convoy carrying essential items was set to pass through the Tal-Parachinar road today as the key thoroughfare reopened after three months, marking a significant milestone in restoring connectivity to the crisis-hit region.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry had said that the peace committees were responsible for ensuring the protection of the convoy and adherence to the agreements in place. These committees, comprising local residents, tribal elders, and politicians representing all sects and communities, are tasked with maintaining harmony in the area, he had said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
01:50 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11147 views]
Top|| File under:
[FoxNews] Man admits to using razor blade to dismember women
A Minnesota man accused of killing two of his romantic partners, cutting them up, and dumping them in storage units, recently entered a new plea.
Joseph Jorgenson pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing missing women Manijeh "Mani" Starren and Fanta Xayavong, whose remains were found in storage facilities in 2023, according to a report from FOX 9.
He also pleaded guilty to two separate counts of second-degree intentional murder.
Jorgenson admitted to killing Starren in her apartment after she asked him to leave in April 2023.
He "choked her out until she was no longer breathing," before using a long razor blade to dismember her body and moving the remains to a Woodbury storage facility, according to the report. Bet that was messy
Jorgenson also admitted to killing Xayavong two years prior, after "a verbal argument escalated into a physical altercation" at their home, according to FOX 9. After cutting up her body, he moved the remains to a Coon Rapids storage facility.
"She's our beautiful daughter. She had a heart of gold, and she was a really good mom," Ricki Starren, Mani’s mother, told FOX 9 after the plea hearing. "Yes, he is a monster. But I do feel bad for his family though."
He is facing a total of 40 years in prison for both deaths, according to officials.
[IsraelTimes] Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who investigated terrorism cases and is on an advisory council to US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, said Shamsud-Din Jabbar did not fit the typical profile of those radicalized by 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.... Jabbar served for 10 years in the US Army and was in his 40s, Soufan noted, explaining that people who fall prey to Islamic State recruitment are typically much younger.
"This is a guy who ... went from being a patriot to being an ISIS terrorist," said Soufan.
The terrorist’s half-brother, Abdur Jabbar, said in an interview that Jabbar had abandoned Islam in his 20s or 30s, but had recently renewed his faith.
Abdur Jabbar told Rooters in Beaumont, Texas, where Jabbar was born and raised, that he had no idea when his half-brother became radicalized.
They’re almost two decades apart in age. The wonder is that he knows anything at all about his older half brother.
The 24-year-old said his older brother had increasingly isolated himself from family and friends in the last few years but he hadn’t seen any signs of radicalization when they talked. He said it had been a few months since he had seen his brother in-person and a few weeks since they talked on the phone.
"Nothing about his demeanor seemed to be off. He didn’t seem to be angry or anything like that. He was just his calm, well-mannered, well-tempered self," the younger brother said.
Three-time divorcee had trouble adjusting to civilian life
Army, court and other public records piece together a picture of a man who had been stationed or lived in multiple states including North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Alaska, had been married multiple times and seemed to be experiencing financial difficulties as he tried to adjust to civilian life.
Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, serving on active duty in human resources and information technology and deploying to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, the service said. He transferred to the Army Reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.
A spokesperson for Georgia State University confirmed Jabbar attended the school from 2015-2017 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems in 2017.
He had been married at least three times over the last two decades and had at least three children who were mentioned in divorce and custody agreements. His two most recent marriages, in Georgia and Texas, each lasted about three years, according to court documents.
Dwayne Marsh, who is married to one of Jabbar’s ex-wives, told The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... that Jabbar had been acting erratically in recent months. Marsh said he and his wife had stopped allowing the two daughters she shared with Jabbar to spend time with him.
Divorce records also show Jabbar faced a deteriorating financial situation in January 2022. Jabbar said he was $27,000 behind on house payments and wanted to quickly finalize the divorce.
His businesses were struggling, too. One business, Blue Meadow Properties LLC, lost about $28,000 in 2021. Two other businesses he started, Jabbar Real Estate Holdings LLC and BDQ L3C, weren’t worth anything. He had also accumulated $16,000 in credit card debt because of expenses like attorneys fees, according to the email.
Court documents show he was making about $10,000 a month doing business development and other work for the consulting firm Deloitte in 2022.
On Wednesday, police blocked access to a Houston ...a city in Texas, named after Sam Houston, who would drop deader than he is now if he could see how it turned out... neighborhood where Jabbar’s last address was listed, a small white mobile home in a gated community where ducks and goats were roaming in the grass. On Thursday, the FBI said it had finished a search of the area but did not release more details.
Despite the tumult indicated by court documents, Abdur Jabbar said his half-brother hadn’t shown any outward signs of distress or anger about his relationships.
"I think he blamed himself more than anything for his divorces," said the younger Jabbar. "And he never was bitter toward his ex-wives."
[IsraelTimes] Syria’s new administration has imposed restrictions on Lebanese crossing their shared border into Syria, a Lebanese security official and a Syrian official says.
The restrictions, which come as Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... is seeking better ties with its neighbor under the new rulers, mean Lebanese who do not have a residency or family inside Syria will not be able to cross, the Lebanese security official said. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome... he noted that exceptions were being made for those with other types of business inside Syria.
The Lebanese official describes the measures as "temporary" and says they are the result of a dispute between the two sides over the apparent mistreatment by Lebanese authorities of Syrians entering or leaving Lebanon.
Lebanon’s interior minister, who oversees border crossings, could not be reached for comment.
The Lebanese army separately says that five soldiers were maimed in festivities that broke out between soldiers and unidentified Syrians as the army tried to shut down an illegal border crossing near Baalbeck in the Lebanon’s northeast.
There are thought to be dozens of informal crossings along the porous, rugged 370-km (230-mile) border between the two countries.
Lebanon has said it is looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria after rebels forced Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... from power on Dec. 8, opening a new chapter after ties that have often been fraught since the two countries became independent states in the 1940s.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11144 views]
Top|| File under: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (al-Nusra)
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 18.40 At least one resident of Chernigov has been killed in a Russian missile strike on the city. Four others have been injured.
18.38 Ukraine received 3.3 million euros in aid as part of the IT coalition . Partners from Estonia, the Netherlands and Luxembourg donated a batch of equipment to Ukraine, which is part of a large-scale IT coalition program.
18.10 Russian invaders shelled the city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region and wounded four people. Among the victims is a 2-year-old boy. He was hospitalized along with his mother, who is in serious condition.
17.22 Chernigov was hit by ballistics. Preliminary, two private houses were destroyed in the city. One civilian was injured.
16.57 Athlete, trainer, multiple world champion in style karate Alexander Semenyuk died in the Russian-Ukrainian war. This was reported by the Ukrainian Karate Federation (UKF).
16.44 Since the beginning of the current day, 92 combat clashes have occurred. The "hottest" areas remain the Pokrovskaya and Kursk regions of the Russian Federation. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the details in a report as of 16:00.
15.55 A court in Russia has ordered Yandex to hide access to maps and photos of one of the largest oil refineries (OR) amid periodic drone attacks. In particular, it has already been hit four times.
15.32 An FSB informant who corrected Russian missile strikes on Kharkov has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. We are talking about Katerina Kushnareva , who was detained along with two accomplices back in 2023. Two other agents have also already received prison sentences.
14.16 Russian troops shelled the villages of Monastyrske and Belozerka in the Kherson region. Three people were wounded : a 39-year-old man, a 64-year-old woman, and a 52-year-old woman. This was reported by the Kherson OVA.
11:34 In the Zhytomyr region, a 19-year-old guy stole money from the mother of a missing soldier. In total, about 20 cases of withdrawals from the woman's card totaling almost 100 thousand UAH have been established.
10:52 In Kiev, the rubble is being cleared away in a residential building in the Pechersk district, damaged as a result of a Russian drone strike on January 1. 50 rescuers, heavy emergency rescue equipment, utility services and volunteers are involved in the work in difficult conditions.
10:17 The SBU has stopped the anti-Ukrainian activities of five more pro-Kremlin Internet agitators operating in different regions of Ukraine. Three defendants have been detained , and two more have already received real prison terms.
9:55 On the night of January 3, the occupiers launched 93 drones at Ukraine. Air defense forces shot down 60 enemy UAVs. This was reported by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Air defense operated in the Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
8:53 Over the past 24 hours, 138 combat clashes between units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces and Russian troops have been recorded at the front, the hottest ones being in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhovsky directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Five areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, two command posts and three other important Russian facilities were hit.
8:12 Russian troops carried out an air strike on the private sector of Sumy, there are casualties. This was reported by the Sumy Regional Military Administration. According to preliminary data, there are no casualties. Emergency rescue operations are underway.
7:45 The Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed 1,080 Russian occupiers in 24 hours. The enemy's total combat losses from 24.02.22 to 03.01.25 were approximately 793,250 people. This was reported on January 3 by the General Staff.
7:23 As a result of the fall of UAV debris in the Kyiv region, four people were injured, one person was killed. This was reported by KOVA. According to the acting head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration Mykola Kalashnik, in one of the districts of the region, a truck driver was killed by debris from a downed UAV. He died at the scene. In another district, debris from a downed UAV fell on a private house, causing a roof fire. Three people were injured. A woman born in 1957 has an acute stress reaction. A 16-year-old boy has a cut. He will be hospitalized in a children's hospital. His father has cut wounds to his legs. In another populated area, a woman was wounded on the street. She was hospitalized.
02:03 Novovasilovka in Donetsk Oblast is currently experiencing "real hell," the Deep State monitoring project reported. It is noted that every day, two platoons to a company of occupiers' infantry storm the village in Donbas. Fighting continues for every house.
01:00 The Russian military has begun using cluster munitions to strike Ukraine's energy system in order to cause maximum damage. But today the system is balanced, said Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko
January 2
22:34 Ukrainian defenders continue to resolutely rebuff the enemy's attempts to advance deep into our territory, inflicting effective fire damage on them, exhausting them along the entire front line. Since the beginning of this day, 118 combat clashes have occurred. This was noted in the General Staff's report on Thursday, January 2.
19.39 As a result of shelling on January 2, at least ten civilian objects were damaged in the Kherson region, seven people are known to have been injured. This was reported by the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office on Thursday, January 2.
16.57 Russian invaders continue to storm the positions of Ukrainian defenders. In total, 72 combat clashes have occurred since the beginning of the day. This is stated in the General Staff report on Thursday, January 2.
16.29 On January 2, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a high-precision strike on the command post of the Russian occupation army in the village of Maryino, Kursk region. This was reported by the press service of the General Staff on Thursday, January 2.
12:44 The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine clarified that as a result of the operation off the coast of Crimea on December 31, missiles from Magura V5 drones destroyed not one, but two Russian Mi-8 helicopters, and damaged another.
12:25 Russia suffered record losses in 2024 - 430,790 soldiers. This is the number of almost 36 motorized rifle divisions, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported.
Last year, Russian troops suffered more losses in total than in 2022 and 2023. The greatest losses for the year and during the full-scale war were recorded in December - 48,670 Russian troops. The previous record for losses in manpower in the Russian army was in November 2024 - 45,720 soldiers.
10:54 North Korean soldiers fighting as part of the Russian army continue to suffer significant losses. On New Year's Eve, cases of alcohol abuse among North Korean soldiers were recorded. This was reported by the press service of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
10:35 Russian troops have not reached the city limits of Pokrovsk, but are trying to encircle it through neighboring settlements.
"The enemy is not counting on fighting in Pokrovsk now, but is trying to bypass the city and break the infrastructure chains," said the spokesman for the OSGV Khortitsa Viktor Tregubov on the air of the telethon.
9:02 Air defense forces shot down 47 Russian drones, another 24 drones were lost. One UAV remains in the air.
8:44 Over the past 24 hours, 140 combat clashes have been recorded at the front. In the Pokrovsk direction, the defenders stopped 38 assault and offensive actions by the Russian invaders.
8:21 Russian military attacked Stepnogorsk in the Zaporizhia region with UABs, as a result of which a five-story building was destroyed and a man was killed.
7:45 In the Kharkiv region, fortifications are being built and a circular defense of the cities of Izyum and Balakleya is being prepared. This was reported by the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov.
7:20 As of January 2, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine were approximately 792,170 people (+1,370 per day).
03:01 Russian troops, according to the DeepState project, have advanced in Kurakhovo in the Donetsk region and in the southern outskirts of the city. Advancement has also been recorded near Volkovoe, Neskuchnoye, Novoye Lizavetovka, Solenoye, Vozdvizhenka.
01:23 The identities of those killed in the morning strike on Kiev have become known. They are the famous Ukrainian neurobiologist Igor Zima and his wife, biologist Olesya Sokur.
Linked article is available only through a VPN
[EngMilRu] From 28 December 2024 to 3 January 2025, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation delivered one mass strike and 12 groups strikes by precision weaponry and attack UAVs, as a result of which fire damage was inflicted on power objects ensuring operation of Ukrainian defence industry enterprises, one gun powder plant, infrastructure of military airfields, ammunition depots, POL depots, attack UAV and uncrewed surface vehicle workshops and depots as well as temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries.
Over the past week, units of the Sever Group of Forces continued to eliminate AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region. Aviation, UAVs, and artillery inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of seven mechanised brigades, three air assault brigades of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and four territorial defence brigades. In Kharkov direction, Russian troops inflicted losses on units of one mechanised brigade, one motorised infantry brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades.
Over the past week in the area of the Sever Group of Forces responsibility, the AFU losses amounted to more than 3,130 troops, four tanks, five infantry fighting vehicles, seven armoured personnel carriers, and 51 armoured fighting vehicles. One hundred twenty-one motor vehicles, 28 field artillery guns, and six electronic warfare stations were destroyed.
Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation along the front line and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of one tank brigade, four mechanised brigades, two air assault brigades of the AFU, five territorial defence brigades, and two national guard brigades. In addition, 35 counter-attacks launched by AFU assault detachments were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to more than 3,175 troops, two tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, nine armoured personnel carriers, including seven U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carriers, and four other armoured fighting vehicles. Thirty-six motor vehicles, 26 field artillery guns, including 13 NATO-made guns, eight electronic warfare stations, and 11 ammunition depots were destroyed.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and inflicted losses on formations of five mechanised brigades, two motorised infantry brigades, one infantry brigade, two airmobile brigades of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades. Eight counter-attacks launched by the enemy were repelled.
Over the past week in this direction, the AFU losses amounted to up to 1,745 troops, two tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, three armoured personnel carriers, including one UK-made Saxon and two U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carriers, four other armoured fighting vehicles, seven motor vehicles, and nine field artillery guns. Five electronic warfare stations and three ammunition depots were destroyed.
As a result of decisive actions, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces liberated Novotroitskoye and Novoolenovka (Donetsk People's Republic). Losses were inflicted on units of one tank brigade, six mechanised brigades, two motorised infantry brigades, one jaeger brigade, one mountain assault brigade of the AFU, two naval infantry brigades, two territorial defence brigades, three national guard brigades, and one assault brigade of the National Police of Ukraine. In addition, 85 counterattacks launched by AFU units were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to more than 2,750 troops, seven tanks, including three German-made Leopard tanks, ten armoured fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, 13 armoured personnel carriers, including four U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carriers, and 16 other armoured fighting vehicles. Moreover, 26 motor vehicles and 28 field artillery guns were destroyed.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing to the depth of the enemy's defences and inflicted losses on formations of one tank brigade, three mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades. In addition, 14 counter-attacks launched by the enemy's assault detachments were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 1,155 troops, two tanks, three armoured fighting vehicles, 26 motor vehicles, 23 field artillery guns, including five U.S.-made 155mm Paladin self-propelled artillery systems.
Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one infantry brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades.
The AFU losses amounted to more than 500 troops, 30 motor vehicles, six field artillery guns, five electronic warfare stations, and five ammunition depots.
Over the past week, 46 Ukrainian servicemen were taken prisoner in the line of contact.
Air defence units shot down one Su-27 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, three French-made Hammer guided aviation bombs, 33 U.S.-made HIMARS and Uragan MLRS projectiles as well as 559 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
Units of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed 11 uncrewed surface vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 651 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 39,207 unmanned aerial vehicles, 590 anti-aircraft missile systems, 20,208 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,505 MLRS combat vehicles, 20,163 field artillery guns and mortars, and 29,832 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise an enemy group, which broke into the territory of Kursk region.
In the course of offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of one heavy mechanised brigade, four mechanised brigades, two air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades of the AFU near Bondarevka, Daryino, Kurilovka, Leonidovo, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Makhovka, Nizhny Klin, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Novaya Sorochina, Pogrebki, Staraya Sorochina, Sudzha, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye. One counter-attack launched by an AFU assault detachment was repelled.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery inflicted losses on the enemy's manpower and hardware near Aleksandriya, Veselovka, Viktorovka, Gornal, Guyevo, Zazulevka, Kolmakov, Lebedevka, Martynovka, Mikhaylovka, Nikolayevka, Nikolsky, Russkoye Porechnoye, Sverdlikovo, Yuzhny as well as Basovka, Belovody, Zhuravka, and Miropolye in Sumy region.
Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to up to 225 troops, two armoured personnel carriers, three armoured fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, and one artillery gun.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses amounted to more than 47,265 troops, 263 tanks, 204 infantry fighting vehicles, 146 armoured personnel carriers, 1,393 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,321 motor vehicles, 340 artillery guns, 42 MLRS launchers, including 11 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 14 anti-aircraft missile launchers, seven transport-loading vehicles, 83 EW stations, 13 counter-battery warfare radars, four air defence radars, 28 units of engineering and other materiel, including 13 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, seven armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[NewsFront] 23:58 Official summary of the Office for Documentation of War Crimes of Ukraine from 00:00 03.01.2025 to 00:00 04.01.2025.
A total of 24 facts of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces
There were reports of two civilians being injured.
DAMAGED:
A total of 11 residential buildings,
One civil infrastructure facility.
A total of 24 armed attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 79 units of various ammunition were fired.
22:09 122mm D-30 howitzer crews of the Sever group of forces destroyed armored vehicles, fortified firing positions, artillery and mortar crews of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of the Kursk region –video Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
20:44 Information from the partisans of "Russian Kherson" helped destroy dozens of military facilities and enemy fighters on the right bank of the Dnieper, -reported Governor of the Kherson region Volodymyr Saldo.
20:00 Mi-28NM crews disrupted the rotation of Ukrainian Armed Forces units –video.
18:16 Russian assault groups entered Zelenoye from the direction of Dachenskoye –MAP.
16:54 "Gerani" are working in the skies over Ukraine
UAVs are flying in the direction:
the city of Sumy;
Chernigov region;
Poltava region;
Kyiv region;
Nizhyn (Cherngov region).
16:44 Air defense and electronic warfare forces on duty in the suburbs of Voronezh detected and suppressed several unmanned aerial vehicles, — Governor Gusev.
16:47 The Russian army advanced one km towards Kotlino in the Pokrovsky direction — MAP
16:42 Air raid siren declared in Kyiv region
Geraniums have been reported in the skies over the area.
15:17 Ukrainian terrorists carried out a mortar attack on the village of Kirillovka in the Klimovsky district, —Governor Bryansk region Bogomaz.
14:38 Throughout Ukraine announced air raid alarm. Cause: takeoff of MiG-31K of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
14:04 Explosions in Kyiv region.
13:23 Special forces of the Group of Forces "Center" captured an armored personnel carrier "International MaxxPro" and an armored car "Kozak" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Pokrovsky direction -VIDEO.
13:18 Explosions in Sumy.
13:16 The Russian Armed Forces occupied landings between Peschanoye and Zverevo in the Pokrovsky direction –MAP.
12:51 Russian Armed Forces advance near Kurakhovo –MAP
12:35 Between 09:50 and 10:40 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territory of the Belgorod region –Ministry of Defense.
12:00 Advance of the Russian Armed Forces in Chasov Yar –MAP
11:13 Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation: Guards Senior Lieutenant Evgeny Kochergin was awarded three Orders of Courage. In the SVO zone, he had to perform all 10 main tasks of the engineering troops, with the exception of perhaps building pontoon crossings, but mainly - mine clearance and mining. He told our channel about the most important, risky and interesting tasks.
10:43 Advance of the Russian Armed Forces in Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk) –MAP
10:27 War Correspondent Kitten:
Junction of Krasnoarmeysky and Kurakhovsky directions.
As a result of active assault actions, the settlement of Slavyanka came under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. Behind it to the west is a corridor of about 18 km and 6-7 km wide without settlements. The Ukrops are used to building a defense based on them.
The lack of residential development creates a certain problem for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
More than three km beyond Slavyanka is road T0515 (from Andreyevka to Pokrovsk).
10:02 The Russian Armed Forces struck enemy targets in Sumy.
10:00 RF Armed Forces occupied part of Slavyanka, and are also advancing near Novolizavetovka and Ukrainka.
9:00 Advance of the Russian Armed Forces near Volkovo, Solenoe and Novovasilyevka –MAP
8:43 January 2, the North group of troops continued to perform tasks to destroy the Ukrainian occupiers.
The Severyan assault detachments continue to advance with stubborn fighting in the forest belts of the Sudzhansky district, as well as in the vicinity of Leonidovo, Kurilovka and Nikolayevo-Daryino.
The enemy launched one unsuccessful counterattack, which was thwarted by the Fearless' gunners and UAV operators.
Our missilemen inflicted fire damage on a concentration of enemy personnel on the border with the Kursk region. Over 190 occupiers were destroyed, as well as eleven Ukrainian Armed Forces vehicles.
The total advance of the Northerners in the Kursk region amounted to over 850 meters.
In the Liptsov direction, as a result of a complex fire strike, an enemy assault group was destroyed.
In the Volchansk direction, the enemy continues suicidal attempts to transfer personnel across the Volchya River. Over the past 24 hours, Fearless UAV operators have disrupted three enemy counterattacks, and as a result of complex fire damage, five more Ukrainian assault groups and four octocopters have been destroyed.
Northern assault aircraft advanced up to 50 meters in the vicinity of Volchansk.
8:31 Changes on the map over the past 24 hours –MAP
— the army entered Slavyanka
- advance north of Shevchenko
- Our people entered the Peter and Paul Fortress
— advance south of Novovasilevka
— the control zone near Yantarny has been expanded
— promotion in Novovasilevka
- improved positions in the New Trud area
7:57 During the past night, air defense systems on duty destroyed 22 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles –Ministry of Defense.
Ten UAVs were destroyed over the territory of the Bryansk region, four UAVs were shot down over the territories of the Oryol and Rostov regions, two over the territory of the Belgorod region, and one over the territories of the Volgograd and Lipetsk regions.
[Regnum] A cat intercepted a Ukrainian drone with its paw, which was flying towards residential buildings in one of the villages in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The corresponding video was published on January 3 by the Ukrainian publication "Strana.ua" in the Telegram channel.
The footage shows a Ukrainian drone flying towards houses, but it was intercepted by a cat sitting on the street. He hit the drone with his paw, causing the UAV to go off course, crash into a pole and fall. According to local publics, this happened during a test of the Ukrainian drone.
In July, Regnum news agency reported that a Russian operator, who was operating a drone in the SVO zone, shot down a Ukrainian drone with a bottle of water. Supporting footage from the drone appeared online.
Earlier, a Cossack with the call sign Tungus from the Yenisei battalion managed to neutralize a Ukrainian kamikaze drone with a bag of food. Upon seeing the enemy drone, Tungus hid in the grass, then stood up abruptly and hit it with the bag.
#2
The story I want to very much be true is the drone at a Renn Fest taken out by a thrown spear, and now there is a competition for drone operators to assemble a 'drone dragon' and ground participants attempt to spear it.
Text taken from the V Kontakte page of Armed Forces of Novorossiya (AFN) and from an article posted on rt.com
[VK] "When we entered hand-to-hand combat, we both knew that one of us was bound to die."
RT spoke with the same Yakut stormtrooper who eliminated the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier in hand to hand combat.
After a knife fight, an attack aircraft from Yakutia eliminated four more Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers. Attack aircraft being the numerous drones heard in the original video
An enemy group of six soldiers approached him, and after a firefight only two of them left alive. This was reported to RT by Andrei Grigoryev, a soldier from the 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade.
Later, Andrei was able to contact his command.
“Come on, hold on, bro, there’s still... find out where their headquarters are, where the warehouse is, where the gas station is,” the Russian soldier recalls the words from headquarters. Apparently, Andrei's commanders were expecting miracles. They got the one Andrei wanted.
Said commenter Vladimir Bandakov:
Yes, amazing. Two went, one was killed, the second, all cut up and wounded, fought off six, barely alive, contacted the commander. "Oh, alive? Counterattack? Superior enemy forces? Are you the only one left? Okay, then find out where the headquarters and warehouse are. Well, and take a couple of neighboring villages, okay? Will you make it before evening?”
Recall that the day before, archival footage from a Ukrainian soldier's camera, which captured a fight with a Yakut attack aircraft, was distributed online. They were filmed in the fall of 2024 during an attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to counterattack the village of Trudovoye in the DPR.
"And he said, 'Goodbye.' I said, 'Goodbye, brother.'"
A Yakut stormtrooper told RT how the life of a military serviceman he defeated in a knife fight ended.
According to Andrey Grigoriev, he put a grenade under the Ukrainian soldier's bulletproof vest. He did this so that he wouldn't suffer. And after the explosion, he fired a control shot.
"I let him go, then he lay there and said goodbye to the sky. And he muttered something: 'You are the best fighter in the world,'" Andrey recalls.
A commenter, Yury Yury on V Kontakte said this about the Ukrainian soldier's goodbye to the sky:
Tengriism is the main religion in Yakutia. The supreme deity was considered to be Tengri - the deified sky. The fighter went overboard about saying goodbye to the sky, of course, or he understood the Ukrainian's prayer in his own way.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] On the night of January 7, the air temperature in Moscow will drop to -8 degrees, but a thaw will begin in the morning, the head of the Hydrometeorological Center Roman Vilfand reported on January 3.
"Christmas night is quite comfortable. Night temperatures are -3…-8 degrees. And then another change in circulation begins again, and by midday on January 7 the temperature rises to +2…+3 degrees, light precipitation is predicted," Interfax quotes the forecaster as saying.
At night on January 4, 5 and 6, the air temperature will be in the range of -7 to -5 degrees, in some areas of the Moscow region it will drop to -10 degrees. During the day, the air temperature is forecast to be from -5 to -3 degrees. Moderate snow will fall over the next two days.
The expert added that the air temperature will rise on January 8. At night it was from -1 to +4 degrees, and during the day from +1 to +6 degrees.
Earlier, Regnum news agency reported that 2024 was the warmest year in the entire 245-year history of meteorological observations in Moscow. Only in January and May was the temperature lower than usual, in the other ten months the indicators were above average.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Project 885M Yasen-M submarines, created in Russia, are capable of unexpectedly attacking American submarines from close range. The American magazine National Interest published an article that talks about the firepower, endurance and stealth of Russian submarines.
Submarines are designed for close-range combat. They can approach an American or NATO enemy undetected thanks to their ultra-quiet equipment and suddenly attack them with 533-millimeter torpedoes. The same applies to attacks against surface ships.
In addition, the Project 885M submarines have powerful missile weapons, including the Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles, and are also capable of carrying the Zircon hypersonic complex. It is noted that the United States cannot defend itself against hypersonic weapons.
“The American fleet and the fleets of NATO allies are significantly inferior in firepower to the Yasen-M submarines of the Russian Northern Fleet,” the article emphasizes.
Project 885 Yasen submarines are a series of modern fourth-generation multipurpose submarines. Currently, the Russian Navy has one Project 885 submarine and four Project 885M submarines.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the newest Russian hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile system Oreshnik has become the most powerful conventional (not prohibited by any conventions) weapon in the world. This opinion was expressed on December 28 by military analyst Drako Bosnic in an article for the InfoBRICS portal.
On December 28, the German publication Bild, citing an internal document from the German Foreign Ministry, wrote that Germany is effectively defenseless against Russian Oreshnik missiles. It was noted that this weapon is characterized by maneuverability at high approach speeds and a multi-charge warhead.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian Armed Forces are engaged in heavy fighting in the east and south of Ukraine.
The Russians are most actively trying to move forward in the Kursk region. There are currently 16 military clashes going on there.
Since the beginning of the current day, 92 combat clashes have occurred. The "hottest" areas remain Pokrovsk and the Kursk region of the Russian Federation. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a report as of 16:00 on Friday, January 3.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, our defenders repelled one Russian assault in the Volchansk area.
In the Liman direction, the invaders attacked five times near Nadezhda, Makeyevka, Grigorovka and in the direction of Cherneshchyna. Four attacks were repelled, one combat clash continues.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are repelling seven attempts by the occupiers to advance forward in the area of Chasovy Yar, Belaya Gora, in the direction of Predtechino and Stupochki.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy attacked four times near the settlements of Dilievka, Toretsk and Shcherbinovka. Three battles ended without success for the occupiers, and another one is ongoing.
In the Pokrovsk direction, the Russians carried out 26 assaults in the areas of the settlements of Vodyanoye Vtoroye, Baranovka, Mirolyubovka, Promen, Lisovka, Zelenoe, Novy Trud, Peschanoye, Zverevoye, Solenoye, Kotlino and Pokrovsk. The defense forces repelled 16 attacks, 10 clashes are still ongoing.
In the Kurakhovsky direction, the enemy attacked nine times near Petropavlovka, Kurakhovo and Shevchenko. Five battles have been completed, four more are ongoing.
In the Vremivsky direction, the occupiers unsuccessfully attacked the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces five times near Yantarnoye and in the direction of Constantinople and Novoselka.
In the Orekhov direction, the enemy once tried to advance in the direction of Novoandreyevka.
In the Dnieper direction, Russian invaders once unsuccessfully stormed the positions of our defenders. The situation there is under control.
In Kursk Oblast, Ukrainian defenders have repelled 17 attacks by Russian troops. Another 16 clashes are ongoing.
Let us recall that on January 2, the Russian army lost more than 1,000 fighters in one day . The total losses of the aggressor country are approaching 800 thousand killed and wounded.
[REGNUM] Another step towards humanizing the transportation of animals on Russian railways was taken almost a year after the tragic death of the cat Twix, which once again raised the issue of attitudes towards animals.
Updated rules for transporting animals by rail came into force on the first day of the new year. The main innovation introduced by Russian Railways is that all seats in a compartment for traveling with pets no longer need to be purchased.
In addition, other passengers, when purchasing a ticket, will be able to find out who will be their compartment neighbor. This is especially important for those who suffer from allergies or are simply afraid of animals.
FROM TRAGEDY TO HUMANITY
A year ago, Twix the cat became a victim of literally following service instructions. The tragedy, as reported by IA Regnum, occurred on January 11 last year. Then the conductor of the train, traveling from Yekaterinburg to St. Petersburg, threw him out into the 30-degree frost during a stop in Kirov.
The cat was not a stowaway. His fare was paid, and the animal was accompanied by his owner's father. However, the furry fidget got out of the carrier and fell into the hands of a Russian Railways employee, who decided on his fate in her own way. Despite the efforts of volunteers who joined the search, the cat was found dead on January 20.
It is curious that if Russian Railways immediately apologized to the owners of Twix, then its subsidiary Federal Passenger Company (FPC), having reconstructed the chronology of events from video camera recordings, placed part of the blame for what happened on the man who was transporting the cat. Moreover, FPC Director Vladimir Pyastolov reported on the results of the internal investigation at a round table in the State Duma.
As a result, the public outcry over the cat's tragic death triggered a wave of changes in the regulations governing animal rights during rail travel.
Ten days after Twix's death was reported, the Federal Passenger Company announced a ban on removing animals from long-distance trains. Railway workers were required to make every effort to find the owners, and if none were found, to allocate a "special space" for the animal, take it to the station and hand it over to the duty officers.
And Russian Railways, having supported the initiative, soon announced its intention to extend the ban on driving animals out to commuter trains as well.
SIZE MATTERS
However, the updated rules make life easier only for owners of small animals that fit into a carrier whose dimensions, in sum, do not exceed 180 centimeters.
Dog owners who are going on a long journey in the company of, for example, a Central Asian Shepherd or a St. Bernard, will still have to fork out the full amount. "Transportation of dogs without containers is carried out in a separate compartment under the supervision of their owners (accompanying persons) with payment of the full cost of all unoccupied seats without additional payment for their transportation," says a document published on the Russian Railways website.
The need for such measures is understandable: large dogs may suddenly develop guard or hunting instincts.
Owners should be aware that a trip on a rattling train can be very stressful for an animal. This is what happened last February, when a Central Asian Shepherd named Gelya disappeared at a train station in Novosibirsk. The animal had arrived from Yekaterinburg to a new breeder. According to her owner, the conductor, in a hurry to get rid of the large dog, thrust the leash into the hands of a man who came to pick up Gelya.
The shepherd dog got scared when he saw the approaching train, broke free and ran away. They searched for her for two days and found her dead. As it turned out, she had been run over by a train. The railway workers denied this tragedy, saying that the car in which the dog was traveling had a subtenant. He was supposed to ensure the safety of the dead Alabai.
By the way, despite the innovations, lovers of reptiles will not be able to take the symbol of the coming year on the road. The transportation of snakes on trains is prohibited, explained to the correspondent of IA Regnum in the information service of Russian Railways, therefore the proximity of a person and a snake on trains is excluded.
DEADLY FLIGHTS
The rules for transporting animals by plane are also changing for the better. After all, there are many dangers in the air for them too. For example, in May 2022, the body of Timon, an American Bully, was found in a carrier in the luggage compartment of an Aeroflot plane that landed in Moscow.
According to his owner, Timon was an experienced air traveler and had no illnesses. The owners' first version was that he died from hypothermia, which was apparently indirectly confirmed by the fact that the airline staff did not release the animal's body for three and a half hours.
The airline, however, conducted an investigation into the circumstances of the incident, according to the results of which the version about the animal's death from extremely low temperatures was not confirmed.
But already in April 2024, the rules for transporting pets were relaxed. Small pets and birds can now fly with their owner, sitting in the adjacent passenger seat.
According to last year's data, the number of pets in Russia has grown by 11% in three years and reached 74.8 million. There were 49.2 million cats and 25.5 million dogs. Thus, last year Russia took third place in the world in the number of cats, and the number of dog owners brought it to fourth place.
Russians without pets admitted that they do not have animals due to a lack of time to care for them. This also includes the hassle that accompanies pet owners during long trips, which sometimes require significant expenses to pay for travel for furry companions.
The new rules for transportation will make such trips more comfortable, and it is quite possible that even more animals will find homes and owners.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The head of the German Foreign Ministry, Annalena Baerbock, who recommended that Russia abandon its military bases in Syria, was reminded by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, about the American bases in Germany and advised to think about them.
In the Telegram channel, Maria Zakharova responded to Baerbock's statement regarding Russian bases in Syria, emphasizing that this was said by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country where the US military bases are located.
“I have a question: isn’t it time, from the point of view of the head of the German Foreign Ministry, for her to say something similar to Washington?” Zakharova wrote.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for the removal of Russian military bases in Syria on Friday, January 3, during a visit to Syria. Baerbock's statement was published on the German Foreign Ministry's website.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service warned that the US and British authorities intend to prevent the situation in Syria from stabilizing after the change of power and are going to maintain chaos throughout the Middle East. The agency specified that these plans are hampered by the presence of Russian troops on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which continues to be a significant factor in stability in the region.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Bogdanov said on December 12 that Russia expects to maintain military bases in Syria because they play an important role in the fight against international terrorism. The diplomat said that Moscow has established contacts in Syria with the political committee of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation).
More from regnum.ru State Duma accuses Baerbock of interfering in Syria and Russia
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has clearly exceeded her authority, said Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, on January 3, commenting on the words of the head of the German Foreign Ministry about the need to remove Russian military bases in Syria.
Slutsky emphasized that Baerbock is not just crudely interfering in the process of establishing Syrian statehood; it is dictating to the nuclear power how and with whom it should conduct military cooperation.
“All these issues are far beyond her competence and concern exclusively Russian-Syrian relations,” Slutsky wrote on his Telegram channel.
Slutsky is sure that the head of the German Foreign Ministry is in the "lame duck" mode, since after the collapse of the ruling coalition and the announcement of a vote of no confidence in the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, early elections will be held in Germany. Slutsky called Baerbock's political prospects dubious, especially with such big problems in the "elementary educational base."
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Annalena Baerbock on Friday, January 3, during a visit to Syria, called for the removal of Russian military bases located in that country. Baerbock's statement was published on the website of the German Foreign Ministry.
In response to this statement, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, recalled the American bases in Germany and advised Baerbock to think about them.
Representatives of the new Syrian administration refused to shake hands with German Foreign Minister Annalene Baerbock, who flew to Syria on January 3 for an unexpected visit.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has warned that the US and British authorities intend to prevent the situation in Syria from stabilizing after the change of power and are planning to maintain chaos throughout the Middle East.
More from X
Abou Mohammed al-Joulani, Syria's top Islamic terrorist, refuses to shake hands with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock because she is a woman. pic.twitter.com/ZjdfMEU62U
[TheVerge] The soldier is reportedly connected to a hacking alias that was offering to sell stolen data from the Snowflake breaches.
The United States has arrested a US Army soldier and charged him with being part of a hacking scheme to sell and distribute stolen phone records. An indictment alleges that 20-year-old Cameron John Wagenius knowingly sold "confidential phone records" over online forums and other communications platforms last November.
The indictment doesn’t detail the hacked material, but KrebsOnSecurity reports that Wagenius appears to be connected to a series of high-profile data breaches linked to the online alias "Kiberphant0m." Kiberphant0m claimed to have hacked 15 telecom firms and was working with the person allegedly behind the Snowflake data breaches to sell the stolen information.
In November, Kiberphant0m posted what they claimed were AT&T call logs for President-elect Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... and Vice President Kamala Harris What can be, unburdened by what has been . It’s not clear if the data was genuine, but AT&T did suffer a major theft of customer data as part of the Snowflake account breaches last year. In 2023, the hacker is also alleged to have sold "remote access credentials for a major U.S. defense contractor," according to Krebs.
Krebs reports that Wagenius worked on communications at an Army base in South Korea. After the alleged leak of Trump and Harris data, Krebs did a deep dive into Kiberphant0m’s online communications and identified that they were likely a US soldier. In this latest report, Krebs spoke with Wagenius’ mother, who confirmed his connection to the alleged Snowflake hacker.
Cybersecurity experts reportedly received harassment for trying to track down Kiberphant0m’s identity, leading to this incredible quote from Allison Nixon, the lead researcher at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, who was part of the work. "Anonymously extorting the President and VP as a member of the military is a bad idea," Nixon told Krebs, "but it’s an even worse idea to harass people who specialize in de-anonymizing cybercriminals."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Rebels from the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) attacked a power plant east of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. This is stated in a statement by the armed forces of this organization.
"The first operation using the Palestine-2 hypersonic missile was undertaken to attack a power plant," the report said.
In addition, the Houthis claim that they used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to strike a "military target" located in Tel Aviv. The Ansar Allah movement noted that both objects were successfully hit.
As reported by Regnum, on December 28, the Houthis said they had attacked the Nevatim air base in the Negev Desert in southern Israel with a Palestine-2 hypersonic missile. On December 31, the Ansar Allah movement reported that it had struck the US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman using cruise missiles and drones.
On January 1, the Houthis claimed to have shot down a US-made MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemeni territory. According to Ansar Allah military spokesman Yahya Sariyeh, the drone was in the airspace of Marib province. He claims that this is the second MQ-9 Reaper that the Houthis have managed to shoot down over Yemeni territory in 72 hours.
The 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... s 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... take responsibility for the overnight ballistic missile attack on Israel and this morning’s attempted drone attack.
The Iran-backed terror group claims to have targeted a power station east of Tel Aviv in the overnight missile attack. The IDF said the missile was shot down by air defenses, but a fragment impacted near the central city of Modiin.
The Houthis also claim to have hit a military target in the Tel Aviv area this morning with a drone. According to the IDF, the drone was shot down by the Israeli Air Force before reaching Israel.
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.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...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 
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...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 
On June 20, 1782, our Founding Fathers approved the Great Seal of the U.S. depicting a bald eagle. But no formal recognition ever followed—until this year. Benjamin Franklin allegedly preferred the turkey, a bird also native to the U.S., to become the official bird, writing, "For in Truth the Turk'y is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America...."
[Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a formal statement, the FBI has called on Internet sleuths, particularly X users, to please stop solving crimes before they have a chance to do so.
[NY Post] 
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
like lava from a volcano
...a city in Texas, named after Sam Houston, who would drop deader than he is now if he could see how it turned out...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
.jpg)
