Caution - Please be comfortably seated before reading:
[Oversight.Gov] Department of Veterans Affairs OIG
Report Description:
The VA Office of Inspector General Administrative Investigations Division issued a report titled: Administrative Investigation of Conflict of Interest, Nepotism, and False Statements within the VA Office of General Counsel, Washington, DC. Date Issued: Thursday, March 29, 2018
Appears Admiral Ron Jackson has his work cut out for him.
SUBJECT: Administrative Investigation of Conflict of Interest, Nepotism, and
False Statements within the VA Office of General Counsel,
Washington, DC (2017-03324-IQ-0103)
Summary
The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) Administrative Investigations Division received an allegation that Mr. Robert Fleck (SES), Chief Counsel of the Procurement Law Group (PLG) within the Office of General Counsel (OGC), actively and openly
solicited, during a conference call with other Senior Executive Service (SES) employees, that the OGC hire his wife, Ms. KW (GS-14).One of the SES employees who participated in the conference call hired Ms. KW. The OIG found that Mr. Fleck had a
conflict of interest and engaged in nepotism when he used his position as an SES manager in OGC’s Contract Operations to advocate for the employment of his wife and help establish for her a GS-14 e-Discovery attorney position on OGC’s Contract Litigation Team, a team that he managed. And on, and on....
#1
Get your criminal referrals. Criminal referrals for all those False statements made under oath to the VA OIG. Get your referrals. Criminal referrals.
#2
So why is the VA HQ in Washington? Shouldn't it be centered in the country based upon the over all veterans population? Sort of making it easier to travel among the population served. The old advise applies - that which is not inspected, doesn't get done.
During their elementary school choir’s performance of the national anthem before a game between the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians at Safeco Field on Easter Sunday, two students kneeled.
The students got the attention of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who retweeted a photo of the students kneeling shared by Tacoma news Tribune reporter Ryan S. Clark.Kaepernick is credited with starting a movement in support of racial equality and social justice by kneeling during The Star-Spangled Banner before games during the 2016 season, his last in the NFL.
Video of the elementary school students kneeling also made it to Twitter:Kaepernicks movement caught on across the sports world and crossed over into national politics, earning him Citizen of the Year honor and making him a finalist for Times Person of the Year award. Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell, the son of a U.S. Army veteran, was the first baseball player to protest inequality and injustice during the national anthem this past September.
Students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School return to class Monday, their first day back since organizing one of the largest youth-led protests in US history.
But these teenagers won't be returning to a normal high school experience. Instead, they'll be met with strict security measures which are intended to protect them from another mass shooting but have some students feeling as if they'll be learning in a prison.
"Going to school is really so hard, and now it's going to be so much worse," said Isabelle Robinson, a senior. "A lot of the people I've talked to are dreading going back."
Constitutional issues are simple - geometry is complicated.
#4
I've mentioned it before. I drove past Columbine a few months after the shooting there. I looked like ADX Florence but without the fence and towers. The whole vibe had to contribute to what went down there. It's not practical, I know, but smaller, more manageable schools are something that should be getting a look. In the age of Amazon and social media, the brick n mortar school is probably obsolete.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2018 13:30
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#5
If only they got those few little gun law changes, they wouldn't need all these security measures that make them feel confined. Poor dears.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/02/2018 14:04
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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected with 97 percent of votes, the same proportion that the former military commander secured four years ago for his first term, official results showed on Monday.
However, turnout was lower at 41 percent, despite efforts to get as many Egyptians as possible to polling stations during last week's vote. Sisi had been virtually guaranteed a landslide win, confirmed by early tallies as voting ended on Wednesday.
[USA Today] "A black, grainy foul-smelling substance" coated the floor of an operating room at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, which also suffered from at least one "active leak" of sewage, according to a review by the District of Columbia health department last August.
That health department report was cited in a lawsuit filed against the hospital by the husband of a woman who died from a post-operative infection after surgery at the hospital, where the operating rooms had suffered from leaks of bacteria-filled sewage for months.
Carol Leonard, 70, had thyroid surgery February 2017 at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, which is the go-to hospital for Congress and the White House. The surgery was so routine, she was told she'd be out the next morning or possibly the same day.
[Townhall] McDonald's announced Thursday that it is expanding its "Archways to Opportunity" education benefits program for its workers, tripling the amount some employees qualify for each year for college tuition. The company will allocate $150 million to the global program over five years.
According to a statement from McDonald’s, there will also be a change in eligibility rules for the program which will allow 400,000 U.S. restaurant employees accessibility to the program.
The tuition assistance for McDonald’s crew members will be raised from $700 to $2,500 per year and will go up from $1,050 to $3,000 for restaurant managers.
The company explains that the expansion of their program was "accelerated by changes in the U.S. tax law."
#3
Public Relations Stunt. Still, if it helps one (1) teenager to pay for an education then isn't it better than giving the money to some 'fad' astroturf charity or criminal protest group like the Sea Shepherds?
[Bloomberg] Bahrain, the smallest energy producer in the Persian Gulf, discovered its biggest oil field since it started producing crude in 1932, according to the country’s official news agency.
The shale oil and natural gas discovered in a deposit off the island state’s west coast "is understood to dwarf Bahrain’s current reserves," Bahrain News Agency reported, without giving figures. U.S. consultants DeGolyer & MacNaughton Corp. evaluated the field, and Bahrain plans to provide additional details on Wednesday about the reservoir’s "size and extraction viability," BNA reported.
Bahrain’s energy industry is overshadowed by the world’s biggest oil and gas producers. It sits between Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter, and Qatar, the biggest shipper of liquefied natural gas. Bahrain has crude reserves of 124.6 million barrels -- fewer than Poland -- and 92.03 billion cubic meters of natural gas, according to the U.S. CIA Factbook. Saudi Arabia, by comparison, has 266.5 billion barrels of crude reserves, while Qatar has 24.3 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The find could "provide a much needed boost to Bahrain’s fiscal accounts," Ehsan Khoman, head of research for the Middle East and North Africa at Mitsubishi UFJ in Dubai, said Monday. "However, it is too early at the current juncture to estimate the potential increase in hydrocarbon receipts until further guidance is provided."
Is is just me, or is anyone else remembering that just about every square inch of that part of the world has been poked, prodded, and/or drilled for oil over the last hundred years?
The Bahranis ain't stupid. I think they may have been sitting on this for a rainy day.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/02/2018 15:20
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#4
This weekend they host the Formula 1 race which brings in big monied investors from both the Arab world as well as London... It is a "good week" for "good news".
#5
if Bahrain knew about this they should have drilled 15 years ago and took advantage of the high prices from 2006 to 2015 (average was about $100/bar).
My guess is that this field lies below a reservoir that was previously tapped.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/02/2018 15:34
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[Townhall] The Sunday Times reports that London, England has had a deadlier month of February than New York City for the first time in modern history due to a "dramatic surge in knife crime." In nearly word-for-word fashion from the current gun control debate in America, this has led some Brits to ponder whether the proper solution is a crackdown on knives.
Campus Reform's Cabot Phillips jokingly pointed out, perhaps it is time for some updated knife control legislation.
But believe it or not, some in London are actually claiming that is the proper answer to stopping these murders.
#7
No will. The intestates' bequeathal:
"Removal of tongues and of teeth'll
Leave Olde England harmless
To immigrants, gormless,
More pleasingly peaceful, less lethal!"
h/t Instapundit
...It has been decades since enlisted airmen had the chance to sit in the cockpit. But as the Air Force faces the greatest pilot shortages since its inception, service leaders are contemplating a return to a model that includes enlisted pilots. A Rand Corp. study, set to be completed this month, is exploring the feasibility of bringing back a warrant officer corps for that purpose. And another, separate Air Force study is examining, in part, whether enlisted pilots could benefit from new high-tech training that leverages artificial intelligence and simulation.
With these moves, the Air Force is inching just a few steps closer to someday getting enlisted airmen back in the cockpit, on a formal basis, for the first time since World War II. One more step to combating the tyranny of "higher" education.
#2
...When I read this yesterday, I quadruple-checked to make sure I wasn't falling for another date-appropriate story, but it appears to be accurate.
The USAF has, for the last seventy-three years, been wedded to the idea of the college-educated, commissioned pilot to the point where I firmly believed that any effort to change that would have led to the Chief of Staff His Own Self slitting every tire and throwing a thermite grenade in every cockpit before they allowed it. I go back far enough to remember a similar recommendation in the 80s, during the 'pilot shortage' of that era - IIRC only about 10-15%, depending on the aircraft type, and that in a much larger Air Force. At that time, USAF faced the idea of Warrant Officers with roughly the same attitude as the Devil being doused with Holy Water, and even then the report only suggested bringing them back to fly transports and helos.
The problem today is considerably more complex:
*The pilot shortage isn't a 'manageable' 10-15% - the USAF is admitting that only 35% of eligible pilots are staying in, and it may be getting worse. As a matter of daily ops, we are currently short something like 1200 pilots.
*There is no 'pilot career path' any more - years of administrative bloat and PC requirements have created a situation where what we actually have are thousands of highly trained administrative specialists who are occasionally allowed to fly airplanes.
*Finally, although the Fighter Mafia thought they had finally triumphed over the Bomber Mafia in the early 90s, they didn't know that as drawdowns continued - and we shrank the force even further to afford fewer and fewer aircraft that we can't fly anyways - the combat pilots would eventually be outnumbered by the transport/helo drivers and the admin types...and they're the ones making the rules these days, to the distinct detriment of the combat guys.
I hope that if the report suggests bringing back WOs, it's not dismissed out of hand - it may well be the last hope My Beloved Service has to have enough pilots in time to face an unpleasant world.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/02/2018 7:03
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#3
Mike - Are you sure it's not a created shortage and a gender flushing exercise?
#4
Given that most mid-grade NCOs have to have a bachelors degree to be promotion eligible these days, I suspect the college educated spanking new 2LT of 1950 was probably no better than a 2017 NCO with 7 to 10 years of service already under his/her belt.
What good does a college degree do for a combat pilot? Seriously, are there women's studies issues, anthropology issues or even STEM issues that couldn't be spun up on a training basis?
#6
What good does a college degree do for a combat pilot?
Operating multi-millon dollar aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons is a bit more complex than carrying around an M4 as an infantryman. You really do want 'your best and brightest.'
#10
#5 Okay, you guys that know of which you speak.
What good does a college degree do for a combat pilot? Seriously, are there women's studies issues, anthropology issues or even STEM issues that couldn't be spun up on a training basis?
thanks
Posted by: AlanC 2018-04-02 07:39
Alan,
The overwhelming majority of USAF pilots today have an Engineering degree of one sort or t'other, and most of them are Aeronautical or Mechanical - the USAF feels that in order to properly fly the airplane, you have to be able to understand why and how it flies. This has changed drastically since the old days - I knew one of the first F-15 pilots with 1TFW at Langley, and his degree was in Theatrical Arts.
The thing to keep in mind is that the US military gets its officer training philosophy from the British - the well-educated gentleman. (or, of course, these days a well-educated Lady.) It's going to take a hell of a jolt to change that, and I suspect that even if the USAF accepts the RAND report, they will still insist on the college degree requirement.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/02/2018 9:50
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#11
Okay Mike I can see that. However when I think of British Gentlemen in the services I immediately flash on Kim Philby and the Cambridge 5.
Given the indoctrinalization trend in US Unis. I'm afraid that there is no distinctions to draw.
#12
Hey, if you can make it through 4 years waking up nearly every morning after hitting the frat bar/club and making the grades, you too have completed one of the rites of passages. /sarc (well, sort of)
#14
Warrior. Soldier. Officer. Three different Skill Sets described by using the following examples from ancient Rome: Gladiator (Warrior), Soldier (Centurion), and Legate (Officer).
The Air Force establishment seems to believe that by some mysterious alchemy that an Act of Congress can make a pilot an 'Officer and a Gentleman' when most of the pilots Just. Want. To. Fly. Jet. Aircraft. (...and in many cases honorable serve their country, of course)
The irony is that as they focus on being more and more "Transformational" and "Network Centric" there is less and less reason for pilot/officer/warriors to exist.
#17
And what about drone pilots? I agree that to fly a high performance fighter you need to be in excellent physical condition and have excellent eyesight.
However, to fly a drone, you still need to be smart enough to absorb the math behind flight physics. But you are unlikely to need to be able to withstand 7-9Gs, and spot a gnat on the ground from 35000 feet. So why not let us wimps fly drones?
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Navy fighter pilot. Then I got my first pair of glasses after 8th grade, and barely passed phys ed. So there went the dream. Of course, I also didn't have the obnoxious macho jock personality that a lot of fighter pilots have, but still...
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/02/2018 21:42
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[Breitbart] Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has proven himself to be one of President Trump’s greatest allies in the quest for economic nationalism with his defiance of the Washington, D.C., political establishment in deciding to add the citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Balding old white men. What can they possibly know ?
Ross’s Commerce Department announced this week that he would mandate that the 2020 Census ask respondents whether or not they are American citizens in order to gather more accurate data on the U.S. population and to better enforce the Voting Rights Act.
Since 1950, the citizenship question has not been asked on the full Census, leaving the nation without an exact estimate of how many citizens are in the country and how many noncitizens and illegal aliens are in the country.
On Friday, a group of panelists on the Census Scientific Advisory Committee wrote to the Census Bureau’s Acting Director, Ron Jarmin, to claim that the citizenship question would depress Census response rates.
#2
Since 1950, the citizenship question has not been asked on the full Census, leaving the nation without an exact estimate of how many citizens are in the country and how many noncitizens and illegal aliens are in the country.
In a country driven by polls and statistics, a number long overdue.
#3
We keep hearing the old estimate that there are 12 million illegal aliens in the country. What happens when they find out it's more like 50 million? But then, will the census workers have any effective and efficient way to confirm that people who claim to be citizens really are?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/02/2018 10:51
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#4
What if you found out that you're actually a minority? :-)
[Daily Caller] Every one of the 44 House Democrats who hired Pakistan-born IT aides who later allegedly made "unauthorized access" to congressional data appears to have chosen to exempt them from background checks, according to congressional documents.
All of them appear to have waived background checks on Imran Awan and his family members, even though the family of server administrators could collectively read all the emails and files of 1 in 5 House Democrats, and despite background checks being recommended for such positions, according to an inspector general’s report. The House security policy requires offices to fill out a form attesting that they’ve initiated background checks, but it also includes a loophole allowing them to simply say that another member vouched for them.
Among the red flags in Abid’s background were a $1.1 million bankruptcy; six lawsuits against him or a company he owned; and at least three misdemeanor convictions including for DUI and driving on a suspended license, according to Virginia court records. Public court records show that Imran and Abid operated a car dealership referred to as CIA that took $100,000 from an Iraqi government official who is a fugitive from U.S. authorities. Numerous members of the family were tied to cryptic LLCs such as New Dawn 2001, operated out of Imran’s residence, Virginia corporation records show. Imran was the subject of repeated calls to police by multiple women and had multiple misdemeanor convictions for driving offenses, according to court records.
#5
I'm wondering why these guys didn't come under the ultimate purview of the GOPe leadership.
If they had access to everything (not just Dem systems) then McConnell/Ryan bear responsibility as well. Not that Whinerman-Schnozz shouldn't be roasted.
#7
Um, since when do Congress critters get to decide who needs a background check to access information provided by Executive branch agencies?
Posted by: Boss Ghibelline1171 ||
04/02/2018 8:17
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#8
Criminals providing employment to other criminals. Little Debbie probably did her own background check and found the Awans had the street creds she was looking for.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/02/2018 10:27
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#9
Xavier Becerra, now attorney general of California, ran the House Democratic Caucus, and his server was physically stolen shortly after the IG report named it as evidence in a hacking probe, three senior government officials said
Strange how that conveniently happens to Dems. Some might suspect such a theft is getting rid of evidence.
[The Hill] China announced Sunday that it is implementing new tariffs on more than 120 U.S. imports in response to President Trump’s recent decision to increase taxes on imported steel and aluminum.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance announced that it will impose a 15 percent tariff on 120 products, including fruits and other commodities, according to China's state news agency Xinhua. It will also impose a 25 percent tariff on pork and related products.
The tariffs will reportedly go into effect starting Monday.
The Chinese had previously indicated they would unveil reciprocal tariffs after Trump announced that steel imports will be taxed at 25 percent and aluminum imports at 10 percent.
U.S. and international lawmakers warned Trump against implementing the tariffs, saying they could spark a trade war. Trump brushed aside those concerns, saying trade wars are "good and easy to win."
Several countries have since negotiated temporary exemptions from the steel and aluminum tariffs.
In addition, Trump announced late last month his administration plans to target China in particular with tens of billions of dollars in tariffs and penalties on imports to try to curb its efforts to steal intellectual property from U.S. companies.
[Breitbart] The Brooklyn Museum in New York City has sparked outrage among members of the black community after it selected a white woman to curate its African art exhibit. The museum announced Monday that it tapped Kristen Windmuller-Luna, 31, to be in charge of the museum’s African art collection.
Luna earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University in African art history, worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art as an educator "responsible for adult and college gallery tours" of the museum’s African galleries, and lectures at Columbia University.
But despite the woman’s impressive credentials, social media users have been criticizing the museum for hiring her because she is not "a person of color."
#2
None of this should come as a surprise. Affirmative Action only recognizes the capabilities and expertise of entitlement candidates. All others need not apply.
#5
IMO, it's long past time to stop affirmative action dead - I just hope it's not too late.
Posted by g(r)omgoru
Affirmative Action is now well established and has become a multi-generational social practice. Ending it would turn artificial achievement on it's head. It would be difficult if not impossible to end. I doubt we'll see it terminated in our lifetimes.
[SABANEWS.NET] The heroes of the army and popular committees repelled an infiltration attempt by the US- Saudi-paid mercenaries in al- Qabaytah district of Lahj province, a military official told Saba on Saturday.
Dozens of the mercenaries were killed and injured during the attempt to the infiltration toward the locations of the army and the popular committees in al- Qubaytah in the province, said the official.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2018
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#1
Saudi-paid mercenaries. Mostly, they hang out around targets for incoming missiles. Now they get murdered in some combat action. How much are these guys getting paid?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
04/02/2018 7:53
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#2
If you believe Sabanews the entire population of Saudi Arabia would have been eliminated by now.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Confirmed reports have emerged stating that two rebel commanders belonging to Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... have been killed in Damascus’ eastern district city of Douma.
The slain rebel leaders have been identified as Jaish al-Islam management chief Abu Ali Idara and treasury chief Abu Omar Maliyah. At the present time, it is unclear how exactly the two krazed killer commanders died.
In an official statement, Jaish al-Islam claimed they were killed in a Syrian Army artillery strike, however local opposition sources are claiming they were assassinated by their own ranks.
If the claims by Douma-based activists are true, then it is possible that a dispute over the recent agreement reached between Jaish al-Islam and the Syrian government may have been the reason for the liquidation of the rebel commanders; however, this is only speculation for now.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Despite the fact that Faylaq al-Rahman (Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... affiliate) rebels operated far away from Douma city in Damascus’ East Ghouta region, it has become apparent that some group’s fighters nonetheless got stranded in the Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... stronghold.
In any case, as of Sunday, all Faylaq al-Rahman that found themselves besieged in Douma alongside Jaish al-Islam faceless myrmidons have since been evacuated to Syria’s northern province of Idlib; hundreds of civilians departed with them.
It is unclear exactly how many Faylaq al-Rahman rebels (dozens or hundreds) left Douma, information on this may emerge later.
As for Jaish al-Islam, evacuation of its fighters (i.e. those who have chosen not to reconcile with the Syrian government) to areas of Aleppo province under Ottoman Turkish-backed rebel forces control so far only includes those who are injured; standing faceless myrmidons are yet to depart.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Militants defending Jobar ‐ actually part of Damascus city proper and not the nearby East Ghouta region ‐ resisted countless attacks by the Syrian Army from the earliest years of the Syrian conflict.
The sheer amount of tunnels and trenches connecting to Jobar from neighboring rebel-held districts meant that Syrian forces could never quite outflank the or surround it; many government troops fell during the battles for the east Damascus suburb.
In the end, a powerful Syrian Army advance from the eastern direction (where defenses were never prepared) threatened to completely overrun myrmidon forces and upon realizing this, forces of Evil capitulated.
On Saturday, the last rebel fighters present in Jobar along with those in Arbeen, Hazzah and Zamalka evacuated towards Idlib province; since then the Syrian Army has assumed full control over the district.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Alikhbaria Syria news channel has released an exclusive video report (below) showing what appears the be the largest rebel tunnel ever discovered in the Syrian War.
The tunnel, located in Damascus’ East Ghouta region, is twenty kilometers long. It connected rebel positions and underground bases throughout the once bully boy-controlled districts of Jobar, Ayn Tarma and Arbeen.
As the video shows, the tunnel is wide enough to allow the Syrian war news hounds drive through it in their van.
One of the people present with the Alikhbaria Syria news team (front passenger seat) was captured by Lions of Islam earlier in the war, only recently being released following the capitulation of rebel forces in East Ghouta. He claims that forces of Evil used civilian and Syrian Army hostages to dig the tunnel.
The tunnel allowed rebels to relocate forces throughout vast areas of East Ghouta without being detected and attacked by Syrian and Russian warplanes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2018
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Alexander Yakovenko, has officially accused British intelligence of carrying out the Sergei Skripal poisoning ‐ since blamed on Russian spies.
According to the Russian ambassador, there are two motivations for the false-flag attack by British intelligence: first, that the UK is trying to cover up the fact that Brussels has dictated to London almost all the terms of the Brexit agreement (a testament to the country’s dwindling influence in European affairs) and, second, that British Prime Minister Theresa May is attempting to present herself as a strong leader by attacking Russia.
Yakovenko draws his suspicion from the fact that UK intelligence refuses to cooperate with Russian authorities on any level to investigate the poisoning of the turncoat agent.
’This provocation has been carried out by UK secret services. We are not provided with any facts, they refuse to cooperate with us. Such a state of affairs brings us to the judgment that it is a provocation organized by secret services,’ Yakovenko said in his statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2018
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#1
......first, that the UK is trying to cover up the fact that Brussels has dictated to London almost all the terms of the Brexit agreement (a testament to the country’s dwindling influence in European affairs) and, second, that British Prime Minister Theresa May is attempting to present herself as a strong leader by attacking Russia.
Both points potentially true, but quite likely unrelated to the attack on Colonel Skripal. Please file under 'Russian half-truths make good lies.'
#2
Far as I'm concerned, the current leadership of the Western Europe (or the USA Deep State and its candidates) are not one whit better than the defunct Soviet leadership - they just don't have things organized to their satisfaction yet.
#5
Yakovenko draws his suspicion from the fact that UK intelligence refuses to cooperate with Russian authorities on any level to investigate the poisoning of the turncoat agent.
Translation: UK intelligence refuses to let Russia know where their leaks are and refuse to provide feedback on how the Russians can do assassinations better the next time. If the Russian's were not involved, why would they want to be part of the investigation?
Posted by: Boss Ghibelline1171 ||
04/02/2018 7:49
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#6
If the Russian's were not involved, why would they want to be part of the investigation?
#9
The U.S.A. has a Deep State but the Brits also do. Brexit was anathema to deep-statists in the UK. Trump was anathema to deep-statists in the U.S. Hillary was expected by the deep state to win the election. Despite using Steele and some Russians to gin up the fake dossier, she was hawkish towards Russia. Some say she wanted to get into a war with the Russians. I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the possibility of FF operations and blaming it on the Russians. "An evil person is like a dirty window, they never let the sun shine through."
[AlAhram] Islamist Lions of Islam battled for hours on Sunday with African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops after exploding a boom-mobile outside their base, Somali police, military and the Lions of Islam said.
Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... Lions of Islam attacked the African Union (AU) peacekeepers' base in the town Bulamarer, 130 kilometres to the northwest of the capital Mogadishu, around 9 a.m. local time, residents from the area told Rooters.
Since withdrawing from Mogadishu in 2011, the al Qaeda-linked group has lost control of most of Somalia's cities and towns. But it still retains a strong presence in regions outside the capital.
The Lions of Islam initially detonated two suicide boom-mobiles that hit one AU vehicle and one Somali military vehicle, Somali army major Farah Osman, who is stationed near the AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) base, said.
"Then a large number of al-Shabaab fighters began firing from under the trees ... it was a hellish battle," he said, adding there was an unknown number of casualties.
The phone of the front man for the AMISOM force based in Mogadishu was switched off on Sunday and Rooters was unable to reach any other officials from the force for comment.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, a front man for al-Shabaab said 14 of the group's fighters and 59 AMISOM troops were killed in the incident.
A police major stationed in a nearby town also said two boom-mobiles went kaboom! outside the base before the al-Shabaab fighters entered it.
Major Nur Ali told Rooters that Somali and AMISOM forces had attacked al-Shabaab in rural areas near the base on Saturday night. "Then al-Shabaab attacked this morning as a Dire Revenge," he said.
Click on the title link for lots of tweets with article links to major news networks like FT
[Reuters] Russian authorities on Saturday arrested billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov on charges of embezzling more than $35 million, in one of the highest-profile prosecutions of a Russian tycoon in years.
Discussion in the tweets about how this might be related to the above arrest:
[GRI] Ramazan Abdulatipov seems ready to close a sale of Dagestan’s state-owned port of Makhachkala to an Iranian-led group. The sale exposes the difficult balancing act elites are playing in the region.
Everybody’s fighting over a spoonful
The port of Makhachkala, the capital of the North Caucasian Republic of Dagestan, is home to Russia’s only ice-free Caspian port. As of 2014, the physical turnover of the port’s transshipments of oil and gas products, bulk cargos, car ferry service, and small grain shipments was optimistically expected to more than double to 15 million tons a year in a few years. This was welcome news to oligarchs interested in the region’s trade flows. Makhachkala’s facilities, Russia’s last state-owned commercial port, have been an ongoing prize for privatization as Makhachkala is Russia’s closest port to Iran and the two countries are set to deepen trade ties. As is normally the case in Russia, privatization is a smokescreen for personal and state-driven motives.
Dagestan is one of the poorest regions in Russia, struggling with endemic corruption, an Islamist insurgency, a large and untaxed shadow economy, and a long legacy of state-mandated economic underdevelopment. The region possesses considerable oil and gas reserves but is stuck paying Gazprom for natural gas from elsewhere, racking up non-payment fines for which Gazprom had the former CEO of local gas firm Dagestanregiongaz Magomedgusen Nasrutdinov imprisoned, and suspended further investment in gas infrastructure in the North Caucasus republics.
Lacking access to oil and gas rents, small-scale initiatives to increase trade contacts with Azerbaijan and Iran have been key to Dagestani leaders’ hunt for trade and growth. The current rush of infrastructure investment into Trans-Eurasian trade routes has opened up a new challenge for the Kremlin as it has long relied on economic isolation to keep Dagestani elites dependent on rents and budgets distributed from Moscow.
Dagestan’s location is vital to the growth of the North-South Transport Corridor between Russia and India as well as Russia’s ability to extract, export, or else transship Caspian oil supplies. Iran is front and center in this unfolding shift as it attempts to seize a greater share of Caspian trade and prevent Azerbaijan from dominating East-West transit of goods through the Caucasus and on towards Europe.
Abdulatipov’s appointment was linked to Dagestani oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, a Dagestani representative on Russia’s Federation Council and billionaire who sought ownership of Makhachkala’s airport and seaport from Abdulatipov’s predecessor. Kerimov, who successfully acquired the airport, has courted Chechnya’s strongman Ramzan Kadyrov as an ally. Kadyrov is seeking means of playing a role in Russia’s Caspian trade to further Chechnya’s contacts, exposure, and linkages with international actors in an ongoing attempt to improve his power base in order to gain more leverage with Putin and the elites in Moscow.
Most recently, he agreed to send battalions of elite Chechen troops loyal to him to Syria in his campaign to model Chechnya as a state within a state exempt from Russia’s governing structures.
Opposing Kerimov and Kadyrov within Dagestan is Ziyavudin Magomedov, the main owner of the investment firm Summa Group. Magomedov has sought buy-ins into logistical infrastructure across Russia and is most famous in the west for his vocal support of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop project. Much of last year’s drama revolved around who sat as the port’s CEO. A Kerimov-friendly appointee was replaced at the behest of Magomedov by his protégé Andrei Gormakh. In a rather pathetic slight, Kerimov denied Gormakh’s plane the right to land in Makhachkala in early June as several hundred armed seaport workers and supporters of both men faced off.
Despite the threat of violence and high tensions, Abdulatipov seems to have thread the needle, as reports surfaced at the end of December that Iran had beaten out interests from China, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, as well as rival oligarchs for potential majority control of the port.
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Two people were wounded in a bomb attack that hit northern Baghdad shops early on Sunday, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Baghdad Today, the source said, “An explosive charge went off near industrial shops in al-Taji district, north of Baghdad.”
“The explosion left two people injured,” he said, adding that ambulances rushed to the blast site and carried the injured to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Three people were wounded as a bomb blast targeted a bus in south of Baghdad, a security source said on Sunday.
Speaking to Baghdad Today, the source said, “a bomb, planted under a bus, went off while passing at al-Bayaa’ region, south of Baghdad, leaving three people wounded.”
Security services, according to the source, “transferred the wounded to nearby hospital for treatment.”
[RT] Human rights activists including Noam Chomsky ...intellectual and political theorist of a socialist persuasion. He is noted for being so far out in left field he can't see the shortstop on every issue he pushes... , John Pilger and Pamela Anderson have published an open letter demanding that the Ecuadorian government restore Julian Assange’s freedom of speech.
The WikiLeaks editor is living in virtual isolation within London’s Ecuadorian embassy after authorities at the State Office scrambled his internet connection. The decision was taken due to Assange’s critical remarks on social media regarding Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont’s arrest.
It’s understood that Assange will not be allowed to see visitors, after the Ecuadorian government said his recent actions had threatened good relations with nations like the UK and Spain.
A host of famous names have now come out in support of the WikiLeaks co-founder, and demanded that the Ecuadorian government reverse their decision to cut his internet access.
"We call on the government of Ecuador to allow Julian Assange his right of freedom of speech," the letter reads.
"[U]nder extreme pressure from Washington and its collaborators, another government in Ecuador justifies its gagging of Assange."
It adds: "This censorious attack on free speech is not happening in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... , Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... or China; it is right in the heart of London. If the Ecuadorian government does not cease its unworthy action, it, too will become an agent of persecution rather than the valiant nation.
"If there is no freedom of speech for Julian Assange, there is no freedom of speech for any of us ‐ regardless of the disparate opinions we hold."
Signatories of the letter including academic Noam Chomsky, musician Brian Eno, journalist John Pilger, and filmmaker Oliver Stone. Actress and animal rights activist Pamela Anderson has also endorsed the open letter, along with British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.
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#1
The WikiLeaks editor is living in virtual isolation within London’s Ecuadorian embassy after authorities at the State Office scrambled his internet connection.
Took long enough, but the Ecuadorians finally figured out that Ben Franklin was right about fish and guests. I would also not be surprised if Other Countries besides the UK and Spain were quietly letting them know that things have changed a little, and maybe it wouldn't be a good idea for Assange to be allowed to do whatever he wants.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/02/2018 6:37
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Hell, people (subjects) in the UK don't have freedom of speech guaranteed so why would some "guest" in a foreign embassy have it?
A "No controlling authority" donation tour?
[FoxNews] Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is in China for Easter weekend, speaking with dignitaries in Beijing about her reservations regarding President Trump's actions on the world stage and collective concerns about Sino-American trade relations.
Warren, a Democrat whose name has been floated as a 2020 Trump opponent, talked trade policy with Vice Premier Liu He, Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and another Chinese official named Yang Jiechi, according to Reuters.
"This has been a chaotic foreign policy in the region, and that makes it hard to keep the allies that we need to accomplish our objectives closely stitched in," Warren said.
She reportedly accused Trump of trying to "take the legs out from underneath [the American] diplomatic corps," which "Fox & Friends" discussed may have been a reference to the president's firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Posted by: Frank G ||
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Henry County abuts Clayton and Dekalb counties, which abut Fulton County and the City of Atlanta. Henry, Douglas, Fayette, and other counties surrounding Fulton have historically been conservative, republican enclaves. That is all changing.
#9
Any bets on who gets punished here - the teacher or the student ( for an 'illegal recording')? I got $5 on the student getting at least a five day suspension.
#10
...on that thought, if cops gotta wear cams with sound, then its long time past each classroom have the same. Like the copcams subject to Freedom of Information release.
#12
Parental supervision -- each schoolkid to wear a bodycam that parents may (if they wish) monitor during the kid's time at school. Might be a remedy for bullying too.
#14
Parental supervision -- each schoolkid to wear a bodycam that parents may (if they wish) monitor during the kid's time at school. Might be a remedy for bullying too.
#15
its long time past each classroom have the same
Many school buses have em. They are mostly to capture student passenger misbehavior but I believe in a couple instances bus drivers have been punished as a result of security cam footage (shouldn't it be bittage in the digital era?) Off course, just like cop cams, if you have classroom cams, they will conveniently mysteriously "cut out" at the strangest times. And if they don't, there will be many, many school district personnel rules and union shop rules that will still prevent use of the footage.
All that said, yes. Cams everywhere the taxpayer dime is being spent (I'm looking at you, FBI)
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/02/2018 12:24
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#16
Daughter and her husband are both teachers; they are not allowed to video/audio the class as it violates the students' privacy. Says nothing about protecting them against ramped-up charges.
[CNN Philippines] Two New People's Army militants, and one Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter were killed in separate operations during the Holy Week. A statement from the military said the NPA militants were killed in separate incidents on March 30 in Misamis Oriental and March 31 in Bukidnon.
Military spokesman Eric Vinoya said, "We offer our sincere condolences to the families and relatives on the death of the two NPA terrorists. This could not have happened if they heeded our call of surrender."
He called on NPA rebels to lay down their arms and "return to mainstream society."
Meanwhile, four NPA militants surrendered to authorities in Sultan Kudarat on March 28.
The NPA militants, from Guerilla Front 73, voluntarily surrendered. They were identified as Ariel Udas Apang, Iyoy Lebeg Nayam, Nicanor Nayam Apang, and Ariel Matog Apang.
A statement from the Western Mindanao Command said a BIFF subleader was also killed in an operation in Aleosan, North Cotabato on March 29. Buds Basilan, a bomb expert, was killed during a brief exchange of gunfire after he resisted arrest and engaged the authorities.
Major General Arnel Delavega said authorities had been tracking Basilan and was about to apprehend him when he shot at them. Delavegan said, "Basilan who is under the BIFF's Karialan Faction, was responsible in the manufacture of bombs and IEDs, which affected the areas of Aleosan, Midsayap and Carmen of North Cotabato. His neutralization will definitely weaken his subgroup that is operating mostly in the province."
[SABANEWS.NET] The army and popular committees carried out on Sunday an offensive against the mercenaries of the US-Saudi- led aggression mercenaries in Qifah, Bayda province, killing dozens, a military official told Saba.
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Magomedov detention: Magomedov owns Novorossisk Port, which is vital for Russian oil exports. Sechin has long wanted it. Next Sechin can seize control of state pipeline company Transneft & then Lukoil & Surgut, controlling the whole of Russia's oil industry.
[ALMASDARNEWS] It has become apparent that the Syrian Army intends to launch a major offensive against besieged rebel forces in the eastern Qalamoun mountains.
Moments ago, reports came through stating that the Syrian Army had, on Sunday, sent negotiation delegations to the murderous Moslem-controlled towns of Ar-Rahiybeh, An-Nassiryah, al-Atneh, Jaiyroud and al-Mansourah in eastern Qalamoun.
Three options were offered to rebel authorities:
Reconcile with the Syrian government;
Accept evacuation to areas of northern or southern Syria (choice given) under the control of allied murderous Moslem groups; or
Do neither and face a battle that they are guaranteed to not win.
According to al-Masdar News journalist Ibrahim Joudeh, the rebels are unlikely not to surrender given how they have virtually zero chance of surviving an attack by Syrian government forces.
Finally, reports state that Russian warplanes are to participate in the Syrian Army offensive; they have already conducted Arclight airstrikes against rebels forces in the eastern Qalamoun mountains before.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The missile and artillery force of the army and the popular committees hit gatherings of Saudi soldiers and mercenaries in a number of locations in Najran ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province and a favored target of Houthirocket forces.... and Asir, causing direct casualties in their ranks, a military official told Saba on Friday.
The operation took place in the censorship of al- Sudais , Silah , al- Boqa camp ,in Talaa Rejla and the west of the al- Makhrooq in Najran, said the official.
the artillery shelling also fired the mercenaries gatherings in al- Boqaa desert, while Saudi soldier was bumped off in al- Shabaka site including targeting the DShK machine gun of 50 calibre in Shaja and another in al- Shabaka site.
A military kit of the enemy soldier mercenaries was burned in the desert of al- Ajasher in front of Najran, and an artillery shelling targeted their gatherings in the same area.
In Asir, the artillery force targeted the enemy soldier mercenaries troops in al- Shabaka location , Alab border crossing and beyond the crossing causing direct casualties.
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[All Africa] Kenya has suspended the construction of the 700 km security wall at the Mandera-Somalia border to quell tensions.
Governor Ali Roba said the decision came after a consultative meeting with the Somali team led by Gedo Governor Mohammed Mahamud.
"We have agreed to temporarily halt the construction and border securitization pending the fate of about 64 houses that lie directly on the border."
The houses had been marked for demolition to allow the construction.
Roba accused the Somali government of spreading propaganda concerning forceful evictions and the demolition of the houses.
"Our Somali brothers have been misinformed that Kenya is plotting to encroach on their land, a situation that has led to a standoff between KDF personnel supervising the project and residents of Bulahawa."
Mahamud said: "We have agreed to stop the plan and invite both sides to discuss key issues including what effects the fence will have on the people."
The Governor noted the two border communities have co-existed and that separation may result in negative socioeconomic impacts.
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[TheBarrentsObserver] Only ships built in Russia will be allowed to carry oil, natural gas and coal along the Northern Sea Route, a new bill proposes. But there will be exceptions, government officials say.
The Putin equivalent of the US Jones Act. Exceptions will be probably handled by the appropriate fee.
The new bill follows up a law adopted in late December 2017, which bans Russian Arctic shipping under foreign flag. That legislation came after President Putin called for measures to protect the Russian shipbuilding industry.
The new bill, now elaborated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, says that the ships will not only have to carry a Russian flag, but also be built in Russia.
The bill will shortly be submitted to government and ultimately come into force in early 2019, newspaper Kommersant reports. It will apply to ships carrying oil, natural gas and coal on the Northern Sea Route.
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#1
Is there a lot of shipping crossing through the arctic circle?
It looks like it’s not a uniquely American problem.
[DW] Deutsche Post sold client microtargeting data to the Christian Democrats and Free Democrats before the 2017 elections. Is this a scandal along the lines of Cambridge Analytica in the US? That depends on whom you ask.
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ The Iraqi Health Ministry said on Sunday that it handed over bodies of 38 Indian workers, who were killed by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) forces of Evil in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , to the Indian Embassy in Iraq to be flown home later Sunday, according to Sputnik News.
Indian Ambassador to Iraq Pradeep Singh Rajpurohit said the bodies had been taken to Baghdad International Airport and would be flown back on a military flight, arriving in India on Monday.
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh had arrived here earlier in the day to bring back home remains of the 38 Indian workers, who were found buried in a mound of earth near Badush, a village northwest of Mosul, on March 20.
"I am going to Mosul to get mortal remains of 38 Indians," XNews TV channel quoted Singh as saying, adding that the body of another dead worker will not be reclaimed now as "his case is pending."
Singh stressed that the Indian government will hand over "coffins (of slain workers) to the family members with evidence so that they have no doubts about it." He also offered condolences to the families of the dear departed.
The Indian Express reported in June 2016, quoting Kurdish officials, that there was no sign of the 39 Indian workers in Iraq.
Last year, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj firmly said that she would not declare the 39 Indian workers, who were kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) forces of Evil in Mosul city three years ago, dead without concrete proof or evidence.
The kidnapped workers, mostly from northern India, had been found buried in a mound of earth near Badush, a village northwest of Mosul, on March 20.
They were employed by a construction company near Mosul when forces of Evil overran the Iraqi city and seized wide swaths of territory in 2014.
It appears this story got wilder and now everything shows "404"s.
That means China is disappearing it from the net.
The arrest of Duan Weihong is tied to former premier Wen Jiabao
interesting diagram from caixin of some of duan's holdings. the beijing airport/shunyi stuff sun zhengcai-related. but sun had a patron named wen jiabao, and that patron's family also obtained lots of beijing airport/shunyi related interests. really going to stop at Sun? pic.twitter.com/eYifnuQOSJ
[Radio Free Asia] Chinese Businesswoman Allied to Former Premier Wen Jiabao Detained: Report
Chinese authorities have detained a wealthy businesswoman with strong financial ties to the country’s former premier, Wen Jiabao, The New York Times reported, with political analysts saying her detention, if confirmed, could be the next move in a power struggle among the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s elite families.
Previous reports have indicated that Duan Weihong, who uses the English name Whitney Duan, is a key figure in the finances of the Wen family, with The New York Times reporting in 2012 that his relatives controlled assets worth at least U.S.$2.7 billion.
The paper cited business associates of Duan’s as saying that she was detained by unknown agencies ahead of the 19th Party Congress last October.
“It is not clear who detained her, why and whether she is still being held,” the paper said.
An employee who answered the phone at the Huadu Hotel in Beijing, one of Duan’s businesses, said she wasn't there.
Meanwhile a member of staff who answered the phone at her Beijing Taihong Holdings Co. said she wasn’t there, either.
“I haven’t seen her for really quite a while now,” the second employee said, suggesting that she may have “left the country.”
Beijing-based constitutional scholar and political commentator Zhang Lifan said Duan, as an entrepreneur with close ties to the ruling party elite, could bear the brunt of any corruption probe if Wen’s family becomes a target of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive.
“Wen [Jiabao] put a lot of effort into the fall of Bo Xilai, and it’s hard to say whether or not he is now being investigated,” Zhang said. “Unless it’s a power struggle. These sorts of detentions are often a way of threatening an opponent with evidence, as leverage.”
“Duan Hongwei is sure to be in possession of huge amounts of evidence, and that fact that they have brought her in will be enough to intimidate the people she is acting for,” he said.
“These ‘arms length’ entrepreneurs are in a pretty vulnerable position, because they can be bandied around as a bargaining chip in a power struggle at any time.”
Politics and business intertwined
According to Bao Tong, former aide to China’s late, ousted premier Zhao Ziyang, China’s richest business-people are inextricably entwined with the country’s ruling political class.
“These entrepreneurs have an extremely close relationship with the Chinese government, or officials within it,” Bao told RFA. “The entrepreneurs are basically the government’s sidekicks.”
“We can see the links in the chain, and so the companies must do what the leaders say; then they will last for as long as the leaders do,” he said.
“They could be a billionaire today and a prisoner tomorrow, a conspirator, a criminal,” he said.
Pin Ho, editor of New York-based Chinese news magazine Mingjing News, said Wen’s family may have been given an easier time by graft investigators in return for their close cooperation on the case of former Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai.
“Wen Jiabao put a lot of effort into the cases against Bo Xilai and [former security czar] Zhou Yongkang, and so the corruption case against Wen’s family was shelved,” Ho told RFA. “Crisis was averted, because Wen’s son was at the helm of Ping An Insurance.”
“Wen’s family made several billion U.S. dollars out of Ping An Insurance during Wen Jiabao’s term as premier,” he said.
Xia Ming, a political science professor at the The City University of New York, said Duan is also a link between the more recently fallen former Chongqing party chief Sun Zhengcai, who is under investigation for corruption, and Wen’s family.
“After Beijing won the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, Sun Zhengcai was the most powerful man in Shunyi county, Beijing,” Xia said. “He controlled all of the rights to the land near Beijing International Airport.”
“Duan Weihong and her ex-husband Shen Dong were running a business that acquired the land nearby that was needed for the widening of the airport expressway,” he said. “A lot of the shares in Duan’s property company were held by members of Wen’s family.”
“The investigation into Sun Zhengcai has become a massive case, although it’s as yet unclear how much of an impact this will have on Wen Jiabao personally,” he said. “But his two grown children are deeply involved, and they will definitely feel the impact.”
[RT] Donald Trump has said there will be no deal to give legal status to migrants who came to the US as minors. In a series of tweets on Sunday, he also told Republicans to take the “nuclear option” and eliminate the Senate filibuster.
The US president began his tirade by claiming that catch-and-release laws are hindering efforts at border protection. Trump then attacked Mexico, saying the country was doing “very little, if not nothing” to stop migrants from other Central American countries from crossing its southern border on their way to the US. As punishment for their perceived inaction, Trump threatened to dismantle the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
So, was that the game plan from the beginnings - or is the Don incredibly good at taking advantage of opportunities?
#4
They won't fund his wall so he won't give them DACA. He tried to make a deal but the donks blew it. Now he gets the wall and the donks get nothing. Works out pretty well as far as I'm concerned. Mexico won't fund the wall so they're gonna lose NAFTA. So when the wall is there and NAFTA is history it'll be win-win for the USA.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/02/2018 10:40
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Can't wait to hear how CNN / MSNBC spin this.
He gave them every opportunity to fix it - now he's going to (gasp!) enforce existing law...
[IsraelTimes] Some 350 people turn out to demonstrate along Strip's security fence, after Friday's mass march with 30,000 participants
At least 11 Paleostinians were shot and maimed by Israeli troops during fresh violent protests along the Gazoo border on Sunday, Gazoo’s Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",-run health ministry said, two days after the region was rocked by a massive demonstration.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that live rounds were fired at some of the protesters mentioned by the Gazoo health ministry, who it said approached the border fence.
According to the army, some 350 Paleostinians took part in Sunday’s demonstrations throughout the coastal enclave. On Friday, 30,000 joined a Hamas-backed mass march, and further mass protests against Israel are planned for this Friday and future weeks until mid-May, when Israel’s marks its 70th Independence Day and the Paleostinians what they call Nakba Day ‐ the "catastrophe" caused by Israel’s creation.
Protesters on Sunday burned tires and threw rocks at the Israeli troops on the other side of the border. The Israeli soldiers mostly retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets, but in some cases fired live rounds at those who approached the security fence, the army said.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, in northern Gazoo, five people were maimed in a protest along the security fence east of Jabaliya; in central Gazoo, one was injured one of Gazoo City and two east of al-Bureij; and in southern Gazoo, two were maimed east of Khan Younis and one near Rafah.
One of the teenagers maimed in Khan Younis was said to be at death's door. A graphic video from the scene appeared to show that he sustained a head wound.
The army confirmed that soldiers fired live rounds at seven of the 11 rioters ‐ five in northern Gazoo and at two in the south.
During Friday’s protests, 12 Paleostinians were rubbed out by IDF troops. Two more, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, were killed as they shot up Israeli soldiers and tried to breach the security fence. In addition, one Paleostinian man was killed earlier on Friday morning, before the start of the protests.
The Gazoo health ministry reported that over 1,000 people were maimed during the Friday protests, more than half by Israeli gunfire, the rest from tear gas and rubber bullets. These figures could not be independently verified. Israeli officials said they were inflated.
According to the army, in keeping with its rules of engagement, the Paleostinians who were shot Friday were either attacking IDF soldiers with stones and Molotov cocktails, were actively trying to damage the security fence, or were attempting to place improvised bombs along the security fence, which could later be used in attacks against Israeli patrols.
[IsraelTimes] Despite relative calm on the Gazoo border on Sunday, the IDF is continuing to prepare for more mass protests of the kind seen Friday, erecting new barriers on the border fence to keep Gazooks from being able to sneak into Israeli territory, Channel 10 news reports.
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s military liaison to the Paleostinians on Sunday confirmed that the bodies of two Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",button men who opened fire on IDF soldiers and were rubbed out on Friday were being held by Israel, along with the remains of 24 other slain operatives.
Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, wrote on his Arabic-language Facebook page that the remains of the 26 Paleostinians would not be released until Hamas returned the two Israeli civilians and the remains of two fallen IDF soldiers that it is currently holding in Gazoo.
The bodies of two IDF soldiers ‐ Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul ‐ are being held by Hamas, along with two live, apparently mentally ill Israeli civilians ‐ Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who entered Gazoo of their own volition in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
On Friday, Mussa’b Saloul and Muhammad Rubaiyah, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, shot up Israeli soldiers and tried to break through the security fence before they were rubbed out by troops. Israeli aircraft also later targeted Hamas positions in the Gazoo Strip.
Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at Australian National University, said the remnants of Tiangong-1 appeared to have landed about 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Tahiti.
"Small bits definitely will have made it to the surface," he told Reuters, adding that while about 90 percent would have burnt up in the atmosphere and just 10 percent made it to the ground, that fraction still amounted to 700 kg (1,543 lb) to 800 kg (1,764 lb).
"Most likely the debris is in the ocean, and even if people stumbled over it, it would just look like rubbish in the ocean and be spread over a huge area of thousands of square kilometres."
So much for the watch they’re keeping up in Michigan.
[Mindanao Examiner] Philippine soldiers captured an Abu Sayyaf commander who was wounded in previous clashes following an assault on his hideout in Sulu province, officials said Sunday. Military spokesman Ronald Suscano said troops captured Walton Juljirin, but five of his followers managed to escape during the fighting on Saturday.
No soldiers were hurt during the brief gunbattle in Taung village in Patikul town where Juljurin was tracked down. Juljurin, whose group was also linked to assassinations of soldiers in the province, was left behind by his men, according to Suscano.
This was confirmed by the battalion commander who said the fighting lasted about five minutes. He said, "Four Abu Sayyaf members were able to escape from the firefight while Walton was left behind due to his ill health condition brought about by infected wound incurred during the previous encounter with the government forces which he participated."
Mateo said villagers tipped off the location of Juljurin’s hideout. He said, "The cooperation of the civilians who reported the armed group’s presence in their area is a strong manifestation that civilians have long been tired of these Abu Sayyaf terroristc activities and now actively helping the military locate them to contribute for the total elimination of all terrorists in Sulu."
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[USNEWS] A Connecticut high school employee is accused of threatening to "execute" white men and stomping on an American flag in a classroom.
A police report says Harding High School in-school suspension counselor Carl Lemon was tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! Wednesday and charged with threatening and breach of peace.
The document says a teacher reported that Lemon said he "couldn't wait for the Panthers to give the OK and a revolution begins" because he would "execute every white man he gets his hands on."
Sixty-three year-old Lemon is black.
The police report says Lemon also stepped on a flag and told students: "This is what I think about it."
No phone number is listed for Lemon. It's unclear whether he has an attorney.
School administrators haven't returned a phone message seeking comment.
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#1
Nother reason to abolish the US Department of Education Commie Indoctrination.
#5
Yes, congratulations, you've won a super inclusive long term vacation to Johannesburg, South Africa where you and yours can enjoy the life style you long for.
[JPOST] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... 's President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... on Sunday after a war of words over Israel's actions on the Gazoo border, saying the Ottoman Turkish leader is in no position to be teaching Israel about morality.
"Erdogan is not used to being talked back to. He should start getting accustomed to it. Whoever occupies North Cyprus, invades the Kurdish belt and butchers civilians in Afrin should not preach to us about values and morality," said Netanyahu.
Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu issued a sharp response to his Ottoman Turkish counterpart's comments, saying his description of the IDF as "inhumane" must be the way they celebrate April Fool's Day in Turkey.
"The most moral army in the world," Netanyahu said of the IDF, "will not be preached to from someone who for years has indiscriminately bombed civilian populations. Apparently this is the way they mark April Fool's Day in Ankara."
Erdogan, who has turned strident anti-Israel comments into one of the trademarks of his rule, replied on Sunday by calling Israel a "terrorist state and occupier," and Netanyahu a "terrorist."
According to Turkey's Daily Sabah, Erdogan ‐ speaking at a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party in the southern Adana province -- said, "I do not need to tell the world how cruel the Israeli army is. We can see what this terror state is doing by looking at the situation in Gazoo and Jerusalem."
Israel, he said, "has carried out a massacre in Gazoo, and Netanyahu is a terrorist."
Netanyahu's "April Fool's" remark was triggered by remarks Erdogan made on Saturday, during a speech in Istanbul.
"I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane attack," Erdogan said of Friday’s incidents along the Gazoo border. "Have you heard any noteworthy objections to the massacre by Israel that happened yesterday in Gazoo from those who criticize the Afrin operation? This is the biggest proof of insincerity of those who fixate on us but say nothing about Israel using heavy weapons to attack people who are protesting on their own lands."
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#1
A bit off topic yet on topic since both parties are referencing the Turk invasion of Syria:
Even though President Trump has said he is freezing $200 million in Syrian reconstruction, French troops and US Special Forces reinforcements are coming into Manbij and occupying the front line opposite Turk troop formations.
[AFRICANEWS] Botswana braved early morning rains to swear in the country’s fifth president on Saturday. 55-year-old Mokgweetsi Masisi took the oath of office at the country’s National Assembly.
The rains came down in Gaborone this morning as the country waited to swear in its new leader. It turned out that people were not going to be stopped by the downpour ‐ be they politicians, security forces, the judiciary and even members of the public.
Masisi replaces immediate past Seretse Khama Ian Khama, a former soldier who has been at the helm of the country for the past 10 years. He will see out Khama’s tenure ahead of national polls in October 2019.
There was a lot of colour and style in the National Assembly and later when Masisi inspected a Guard of Honour by the Botswana Defence Forces. The official government portal shared photos on their Twitter handle.
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[AFRICANEWS] A Kenyan government official on Saturday said that anyone caught possessing ivory should be sentenced to life in prison as a headstone was unveiled for the world’s last male northern white rhinoceros.
Wildlife officials at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, about 250 km (155 miles) north of Nairobi, put down the 45-year-old rhino, named Sudan, on March 19 because of a rapid deterioration of his condition.
Kenya’s tourism minister Najib Balala was present at the conservancy to unveil the headstone and declared that ivory belonged to elephants and rhinos rather than humans.
’’We are very clear as a government punitive measures must be taken into punishing people who kill our wildlife and that’s why we are pushing for life sentences for people who kill for ivory because ivory belongs to elephants and rhinos better than taking it for human consumption’’, Balala said.
Sudan is survived by the last two females of his species, his 27-year-old daughter Najin and 17-year-old granddaughter Fatu. The only hope for preserving their species is through in vitro fertilisation using their eggs and stored semen, according to Ol Pejeta.
Thousand of southern white rhinos still roam sub-Saharan Africa, but decades of rampant poaching have drastically cut the number of northern whites. Poachers could sell northern white rhino horns for $50,000 per kilo, making them more valuable than gold.
Kenya introduced tough wildlife-protection laws in 2013 in an attempt to stop highly lucrative ivory smuggling, mainly to Asia, which has led to the slaughter of thousands of rare and endangered animals.
Kenya had 20,000 rhinos in the 1970s, falling to 400 in the 1990s. It now has 650, almost all of them black rhinos.
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[RT] The deaths during the 'Great Return' protest are the fault of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, says the Israeli Prime Minister's media front man. According to him, Israel was only defending from an "onslaught" of Paleostinians trying to cross the border.
Speaking to RT, David Keyes, Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign media spokesperson, said the 'Great Return' protests staged by Paleostinians along the security border fence separating the enclave from the Israeli-held territory are the "opposite of peaceful protests."
"The aim of this event is to swarm into Israel and overwhelm it, and it's a part of a long track record by Hamas of waging war against Israel, launching tens of thousands of missiles, conducting suicide kabooms against cafes, against civilians and in buses," Keys charged. He went on to argue that Israel essentially bears no responsibility for the deaths of 17 people and the injuries of hundreds more during the Friday festivities, as it only fought back against Hamas, which has been de facto in control of the Gazoo Strip.
Hamas is, consequently, the one with the ability to rein in the violence, by demanding that its supporters stay clear of the border fence, Keys argued.
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#1
Hamas: "Where's the fun in that?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2018 11:46
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[AnNahar] Indian forces have killed eight suspected bully boyz in disputed Kashmire, police said Sunday, in some of the fiercest fighting this year in the restive Himalayan region.
A civilian was also killed and four soldiers injured in the region divided between India and Pakistain but claimed in full by both.
Seven bully boyz were killed in a protracted overnight shootout with Indian forces in Dragad south of the capital Srinagar, where helicopters were seen swooping low over the battle zone.
One civilian died and at least fifty were maimed as police fired tear gas and pellet guns to disperse stone-throwing protesters.
Another man, described by Indian authorities as a holy warrior, was bumped off in a brief exchange of fire in a separate district.
Police said security forces were still taking fire from button men in the nearby village of Kachdora.
"It is a massive operation. The fight is still on," inspector-general of police Swayam Prakash Pani told AFP.
Many civilians in Kashmire -- India's only Moslem-majority state -- support rebels who have been fighting for decades for independence or for a merger with Pakistain. Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died.
Last year was the deadliest of this decade in the region, with more than 200 alleged bully boyz killed in a counter-insurgency offensive dubbed "Operation All Out".
That upsurge in violence has escalated in 2018, with 46 bully boyz already killed this year.
Last month a three-day skirmish in the forests of northern Kashmire left ten dead -- five unidentified bully boyz and five government forces.
[DW] A thousand Ottoman Turkish diplomats and civil servants are among the 15,654 people who have sought asylum in Germany since the failed coup in 2016. The figures exclude runawayOttoman Turkish soldiers.
Germany's Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) disclosed Sunday that 288 holders of Ottoman Turkish diplomatic passports and 771 Ottoman Turkish "green" (civil service) passports had sought asylum in Germany from 2016 until early March 2018.
The count included the applicants' children, said the Nuremburg-based BAMF, adding that its tally did not include asylum-seeking Ottoman Turkish soldiers.
On the back of the July 2016 attempt, Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... suspended or fired around 150,000 civil servants, and tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... some 50,000 people, claiming that a one-time ally, US-resident preacher Fethulah Gulen, was behind the failed coup.
Ankara has also called for Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... to send back Ottoman Turkish asylum-seekers allegedly aligned with Kurdish krazed killers.
Asylum grants rise
Updating its tally to 15,654 for all Turks who had sought asylum in Germany since 2016, BAMF said some 8,500 did so last year and 5,700 in 2016. More than 1,400 people had applied up to the end of February this year, the agency added.
The number of applications approved rose during 2017 from eight to 28 percent, and so far in 2018 climbed to 42 percent of those applying to stay in Germany, BAMF said.
Discreet assistance across Germany
Two German-Ottoman Turkish journalists, Huseyin Topel and Fatih Akturk, said asylum applicants were assisted across Germany by a diverse network of individuals, of both German and Ottoman Turkish origin.
Despite The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... 's recent release of Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel, a political sea-change inside Turkey was not evident, Topel and Akturk remarked.
"Whoever comments critically about the [Ottoman Turkish] government or government members is branded as a national traitor," said Topel.
Reporting concerns
A runawayOttoman Turkish lawyer, who reportedly spent six months in Ottoman Turkish custody, was identified by DPA as 43-year-old Murat T. He described how he and his wife sought help only within Germany via trusted intermediaries: "We avoid the Ottoman Turkish community, which has long lived here [in Germany]. Otherwise, we cannot be sure to avoid someone betraying us to the [Ottoman Turkish] government," said Murat.
The lawyer expressed concern in relation to some of Germany's 3 million Ottoman Turkish residents who he suggested were manipulated by the Ottoman Turkish media: "They seem to believe Erdogan's every word."
Another exiled Turk, a businesswoman identified only as 40-year-old Selina, told DPA that "mistrust is a condition that we have had to live with over the past two years."
"We were spied upon, lost good old friends, and were denounced as alleged Gulen supporters," she added.
Christian helpers
A third asylum-seeker, identified as Canan A., a teacher, told DPA that practical assistance, such as for recognition of his academic qualification, was provided via Christian church circles.
"I've been helped a lot by the Diakonie," Canan said, referring to the nationwide social welfare network run by Germany's Protestant churches.
Canan said he and his wife wanted to stay and contribute their talents in Germany.
Democracy in Turkey had been "shredded," its opposition intimidated and the country also faced economic ruin, Canan told DPA.
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[IsraelTimes] An Israeli bus driver was lightly injured after rocks were thrown at his vehicle on Sunday, while driving in the West Bank. The 31-year-old driver had injuries to his chest and cuts to his face from broken glass, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. He was taken to Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus for treatment.
Shortly afterwards, IDF soldiers tossed in the slammer Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! a Paleostinian believed to be responsible for the incident in which the bus windshield was shattered, the army said. A group of soldiers that had been positioned nearby quickly responded to the rock-throwing and arrested the suspect, according to the army. He was brought in for questioning.
The incident occurred on Route 60, north of Ramallah.
[IsraelTimes] A man has been taken to a Jerusalem hospital with light injuries after his car was pelted by stones in the West Bank. The man, 31, has injuries to his chest and cuts to his face from broken glass, the Magen David Adom rescue service says. The incident occurs on Route 60, north of Ramallah.
[Ynet] The IDF nabbed Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a Paleostinian who tried to cross the Gazoo border fence in the area of Kibbutz Kissufim. The Paleostinian was not armed and was taken for questioning.
[Ynet] During the night between Saturday and Sunday, security forces detained four wanted Paleostinians in the West Bank suspected of terrorist activity and violent disturbances. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said that the four were transferred for questioning.
[Ynet] Three Paleostinians were nabbed Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! on Sunday evening while attempting to cross the border fence from Gazoo into Israel at the southern end of the strip. The three were spotted by IDF forces and were taken in for questioning. They were carrying no weapons.
The army has been preparing for an increase in attempted infiltrations from the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,-ruled enclave after a series of failed and successful attempts, and heightened tensions following the "March of Return" attended by tens of thousands of Paleostinians on the border on Friday.
The IDF made it a top priority to prevent the successful crossings by Gazooks, while saying that it was endeavoring to keep the number of Paleostinian fatalities to a minimum.
[Ynet] Commemorating protesters killed in 1976 riots over expropriation of Arab lands, Arab residents hold a moment of silence in solidarity with Paleostinians rubbed out in Friday's Gazoo border festivities, say they're willing to sacrifice their lives for the 'deaders.'
Hundreds of people took part in a rally near Umm al-Fahm
...home of the outlawed northern branch of the Islamic Movement, the Israeli branch of the Muslim Brotherhood...
on Saturday marking 42 years since Land Day.
The participants held a moment of silence in solidarity with the Paleostinians killed in Gazoo border festivities the previous day, saying "they died as shahids (deaders)."
The rally was attended, among others, by Arab members of Knesset Ahmad Tibi, Ayman Odeh, Hanin Zoabi, Abd Al Hakeem Haj Yahya, Yusef Jabareen and Jamal Zahalka, as well as former Knesset Member Osama Saadi And other leaders of the Arab public.
The demonstrators in Umm al-Fahm waved Paleostinian flags and shouted, "We will sacrifice our lives for the deaders." Dozens called to take to the streets and demonstrate, saying "the Israeli government is murdering in cold blood. Speeches will not help, only protests blocking roads."
MK Zahalka echoed the demonstrators' invective, calling the state's actions on the Gazoo border a "massacre."
"Israel is executing people to intimidate and scare," he claimed. "We cannot sit and watch it on TV. We must come out and fight in order for Israel to stop the massacre in Gazoo. Every person must participate in this struggle. I suggested blocking roads and there are also other proposals. We will not remain silent."
Mohammad Barakeh, former MK and chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, an organization that represents Arab citizens of Israel at the national level and the body that organized the demonstration, said it is meant to send a message to Israel "that it must stop the massacre" on the Gazoo border.
At the same time as the demonstration in Umm al-Fahm, about 100 people, mainly women, from the Women Wage Peace movement demonstrated at Yad Mordechai Junction, calling to "lift the siege on Gazoo" and chanting, "We will not forgive and will not accept the murder of demonstrators."
Land Day marks events that took place on 30 March 1976 when the Israeli government, headed by Yitzhak Rabin, expropriated Arab lands in the Galilee. In the ensuing confrontations with Israeli security forces, six Arab citizens were killed, about one hundred were maimed, and hundreds of others were tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! Over the years, the day came to symbolize Arab national identity on which Arabs demand rights they say they are deprived of.
[Haaretz] Six Paleostinian demonstrators were maimed during festivities in the West Bank village of Abu Dis. Of the six maimed in the West Bank, five Paleostinians were reportedly hit with rubber bullets and one with live fire.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Rival Islamist militias Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (Al-Qaeda affiliate; better known by its former name, al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) and Jabhat Tahrir Souriya have called a temporary truce after six weeks of very violent infighting across northwest Syria.
The first-step ceasefire was announced for 6:00 P.M. this (Sunday) afternoon ‐ it is not known if an indefinite time period exists for the initial halt in hostilities.
Talks between delegations from the warring rebel groups are to begin immediately; here each side will state their terms and conditions for lasting peace. It should be noted that this is not the first time a temporary truce has been called (the last one failing after two days).
Over the last month and a half, Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham and Jabhat Tahrir Souriya have gutted each others’ ranks amid back and forth battles across rebel-held areas of Idlib and Aleppo provinces.
To this effect, hundreds of fighters have been killed and hundreds more maimed again; tens of armored vehicles and trucks have also been destroyed.
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Mosul (IraqiNews.com) A mass grave containing human remains of 48 civilians was found in Mosul’s Old City, an Iraqi military source said on Sunday.
“Nineveh Operations troops confiscated today a mass grave in al-Midan region in Mosul’s Old City. It included remains of 48 civilians, that had signs of torture. They were executed in a secret prison in the region,” the source added.
“Most of the victims were civil servants and candidates in Nineveh. The bodies were transferred to forensic medicine department in Mosul.”
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Security troops have killed seven militants in an operation carried out in southwest of Mosul, a security source announced on Sunday.
“F16 jets purged, for more than two hours, an area of more than four kilometers in the desert region linking between Qayyarah and Baaj towns,” Cap. Safwan al-Asali, of the Iraqi military, was quoted by news agencies as saying on Sunday.
“Security permissions from the air force operations command indicate killing seven militants and destroying nine tunnels, murdering those who were inside,” he added.
The operation, according to Asali, “depended on intelligence information as it was hard to purge some regions with only the ground troops.”
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[ALMASDARNEWS] A commander of Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (better known by its former name, al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) has been gruesomely assassinated by unknown assailants in Idlib province.
The Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham official, identified as Harb Abu Sa’eed, was both a commander and the bad boy group’s treasury chief for financial affairs in Hama province. Two of his bodyguards were killed along with him in the attack.
Reports state that Harb Abu Sa’eed and his attache where bumped off by five masked assassins in the countryside east of the town of Maraat al-Numan.
No information exists on the allegiance of the armed attackers or their motives ‐ all beat feet from the scene of the liquidation without being caught or identified. Often it is the case with such instances that a rival bad boy group or a government sleeper cell was involved.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian People’s Resistance group claimed their forces carried out an attack on a U.S. base in rural al-Raqqa tonight.
According to the pro-government group, their forces allegedly targeted the US-held Brigade 92 Base that is located just south of the border-town of ’Ayn ’Izza.
The pro-government group claimed that their forces had targeted the Brigade 92 Base with two mortar shells.
In addition to tonight’s attack, the group is vowing to continue targeting US-backed groups until they leave all of the Syrian lands they occupy.
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[AlAhram] The bandidosholy warriors were killed in two separate raids by the Egyptian army in North Sinai, as the armed forces continue their counter-terrorism operations, with two army personnel also killed on duty.
Six "takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... s" were killed by the Egyptian army during two separate counter-terrorism raids in North Sinai during the past week, with one army officer and one soldier killed in ongoing security operations, the military said on Sunday.
In one raid, an army unit destroyed a terrorist hideout, killing one takfiri in an exchange of fire, army spokesperson Colonel Tamer El-Rifaie said on his official Facebook page. Weapons and ammunition were found in the hideout, he added.
In a second raid, Egypt's Second Army Division led a military operation in North Sinai that resulted in the killing of another five faceless myrmidons in an exchange of fire, the military said.
No details were given of the circumstances under which the two army personnel died, nor any information on their identities.
In a video published by El-Refaie, the military provided updates on its ongoing Operation Sinai 2018 counter-terrorism effort, which was launched on 9 February.
The operation targets "terrorist and criminal elements and organizations" in northern and central Sinai, as well as parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert, the army said at the start of the operation.
Sunday's updates, which consitute the military's 17th communiqué on the operation, included news of Egyptian air force raids that destroyed a number of hideouts and other structures used by takfiri bandidosholy warriors in North Sinai governorate.
The Arabic word "takfiri" refers to Lion of Islam Sunni Moslems who accuse other Moslems and followers of other religions of being infidels, often as a justification for using violence against them.
The latest communiqué also said that army engineers in North Sinai had discovered and detonated 136 improvised kaboom devices in the past week. The armed forces also managed to destroy takfiri 930 structures, including hideouts, shelters and warehouses containing kabooms.
According to the communiqué, a total of 513 suspected criminals and runaways were enjugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! The border guards and police forces manned more than 600 joint checkpoints on the main highways and the desert roads in North Sinai. The borders guards also discovered and destroyed a tunnel in the border city of Rafah used to smuggle narcotics.
Security and military forces destroyed 84 farms used to produce hashish and marijuana in Central Sinai, according to the communiqué.
On the Egypt's Western borders with Libya, meanwhile, the Egyptian army stopped an attempt to smuggle a huge quantity of narcotics. The border guards also prevented 169 people of different nationalities crossing Egypt's borders illegally.
Along the southern borders with Sudan, the border guards also arrested people smuggling both drugs and gold.
During the same period the army prevented 169 people of various nationalities from infiltrating across the western border with Libya, the military said.
Since the campaign was launched, more than 100 jihadists and at least 22 soldiers have been killed, according to official figures.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Pakistain’s minister of interior affairs Ahsan Iqbal has expressed concerns regarding the persistent issues the country is facing on political level as he has warned that Afghanistan could overtake the country in terms of development if immediate steps are not taken to resolve the issues.
In his speech during a ceremony regarding CPEC, Iqbal said "If political stability is not ensured and people’s mandate not respected, all such initiatives could go down the drain. Even Afghanistan will move ahead of Pakistain in development if these crucial areas are ignored anymore," according to Dawn News.
He also pointed out the other issues the country was facing before including the menace but added that the PML-N had identified the major gaps in infrastructural development and energy crisis.
Iqbal also added that Afghanistan had major development on political level during the recent years as he also criticized the media agencies for remaining reckless to share a positive image regarding the efforts for the economic development.
"In the war-torn Afghanistan, Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ...One of the more egregious mistakes of the post 9-11 era... completed his term. Now President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. is set to complete his tenure. I fear even Afghanistan will overtake Pakistain in economic terms in the near future," he said.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan military has launched a large scale military operation in nine provinces in northern and northeastern parts of the country to suppress the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , ISIS and other hard boys.
The commander of the 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North Gen. Amanullah Mubin said the operations are jointly being conducted by the Afghan military, Afghan police, and Afghan intelligence operatives.
He said the Afghan military is leading the operations (Nusrat 97) which have been launched with an aim to suppress the anti-government armed hard boy and terrorist groups.
Gen. Mubin further added that the targets have been specified in the Nusrat 97 operations which will be conducted in the areas where Taliban and other bully boyz have destructive activities and presence.
According to Gen. Mubin, four brigades of the Afghan army, two brigades of the public order police and two brigades of the border protection police forces will conduct the operations in cooperation with the national police and intelligence directorates.
He also added that the operations have been launched taking into consideration the growing activities of the Taliban, ISIS and other hard boy and terrorist groups in northern and northeastern provinces of the country.
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[SABANEWS.NET] US-backed, Saudi-led aggression coalition’s fighter jets waged on Saturday five raids on Krash district of Lahj province , a local official told Saba on Saturday.
The hostile airstrikes hit Hamalh area in the district.
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[RT] The political chaos in Brazil is a result of collusion between local elites and the US, which doesn't want a strong new independent player in Latin America and beyond, former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told RT. Somehow it's always us, isn't it?
Lula da Silva, 72, who served as Brazil's president from 2003 until 2011 and is one of the most popular politicians in the country's history, is now eyeing another presidential term. Polls suggest this could be a possibility, unless his ambitions are quashed by a pending court decision, which will either uphold or dismiss a nine-year sentence for corruption.
Commonly known as Lula, the Brazilian Workers' Party icon spoke on RT Spanish show, Conversation with Correa, hosted by Ecuador's former president Rafael Correa.
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#1
So another foreign wannabe tyrant trying to distract "his" people by pointing at "the great satan" as the cause of all problems.
#3
Would love Latin America to police themselves but they seem incapable of recognizing and modeling success (Chile) and hell bound to try different flavors of failure.
#5
A corrupt communist with a possible jail sentence hanging over his head - what's not to love about Lula? Might want to consider cleaning up your own back yard before fingering the Great Satan for most of your problems.
#6
My whole life there have been predictions of Brazil and India rising into the first world. Nobody predicted Chile would. Yet the roadmap is laid out and all they have to do is follow it.
Anbar (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Iraqi Special Forces carried out on Sunday an unexpected military operation in Anbar province, managing to kill 10 Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) bully boys, including a big shot, who is code-named as the IS slaughterer, intelligence sources were quoted as saying.
The sources said, in statements to Shafaq News, that the troops launched the operation after receiving information about a plot by IS snuffies to target security forces in Anbar desert.
"Immediately, the troops geared up to hunt for IS plotters, who took the Anbar desert as a shelter, managing to kill 10 of them," the sources pointed out, noting that among those killed in the operation is "Abu Taha al Tunsi, also known as the IS slaughterer, and nine of his lover companions."
According to the sources, the troops also found a secret tunnel that was used by IS bully boy in Anbar desert.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] On Sunday, the Syrian Air Force carried out preliminary strikes against besieged rebel forces in the eastern Qalamoun mountains amid early preparations by the Syrian Army to storm the region.
Around half a dozen Arclight airstrikes involving bombs and rockets targeted turban tactical positions and movements across krazed killer-controlled areas of the region, mostly so atop Jabal (Mount) al-Batra.
Earlier it was reported that the Syrian Army had already sent negotiation delegations to eastern Qalamoun to talk with rebel authorities and organize the evacuation and or reconciliation of anti-government fighters.
Reports state that Russian airpower will also participate in support of the Syrian Army anti-insurgency operation when it is launched.
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[AFRICANEWS] Multiple reports indicate that Sierra Leonean authorities temporarily shut down the internet after close of polls in the presidential runoff. The service has since been restored as at Sunday morning.
The shutdown was also corroborated by internet censorship outfit, Open Observatory Network Interference (OONI). The group said according to google traffic statistics, there was a noticeable decrease in traffic from Sierra Leone to search.
An election monitoring group, Sierra Leone Decides reported on Sunday morning that Internet Service Providers said the measure was to stop the elections body (National Electoral Commission) and affiliates from sharing results data to party affiliates.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2018
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Earlier reports that Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (better know by its former name, al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) forces evacuating from Damascus’ East Ghouta region took with them tens of rival bully boyz of the Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... faction have now been confirmed.
According to reports, the hostages ‐ a total of 21 say sources ‐ had been captured Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham during previous infighting across East Ghouta.
During the evacuation, Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham managed to sneak the hostages on buses bound for rebel-held areas of northern Syria without being detected at first. Later when it became apparent that the al-Qaeda affiliate had Jaish al-Islam prisoners in its possession, violence involving the use of belt bombs was threatened.
The buses carrying the myrmidon prisoners have since arrived at Qalaat al-Mudiq after which Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham loaded them into their own trucks and disappeared to an unknown location in Idlib province (presumably).
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2018
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[Dhaka Tribune] Describing arson attacks by the BNP-Jamaat clique in the recent past as terrorist acts, Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. said on Saturday that she does not want to see their recurrence in the country anymore.
"These are absolutely terrorist acts. We don’t want such terrorist acts to occur again... We want peace in the country," she told a rally at Chandpur Stadium, organized by local units of her party.
Hasina said Awami League wants development of the country, not the nightmare of killings. "We want to make sure people of the country will live in a peaceful environment.
"Destruction is the character of BNP-Jamaat nexus."
Turning to the "embezzlement" of money from the Zia Orphanage Trust and punishment of BNP Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... , she alleged that it is the character of BNP to loot other people’s money.
"They’re involved in money laundering, terrorism, militancy and bombing attacks. Their characters have been unmasked through these evil activities," she said.
Hasina, also the president of Awami League, said BNP never believed in the country’s independence as they had "rewarded" the killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and handed over the national flag to war criminals.
"They never believed in development of the country, they were never involved in development and will never be in the future."
She said: "Stay careful with our children. They must not be involved in terrorism, militancy and drug addiction. Our children will be there on the path of development and education," she said.
The prime ministes reiterated that the special quota for freedom fighters, their children and grandchildren will continue.
"You have to remember one thing ‐ these freedom fighters brought independence to us through a war by risking their lives. Many of them made the supreme sacrifice and many embraced disability. I think it’s our duty to show respect to them and their families. That’s why we’ve made the arrangement," she said.
Expressing her desire to see the country in a dignified position by 2021, where there will be no hunger and poverty, she said the continuation of development has to be ensured to make it happen.
"Boat [Awami League’s electoral symbol] is actually your election symbol. To help maintain the development spree, I want you to vote for Boat [in the upcoming general election]," she urged people.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Kader, Chandpur district unit president and municipality mayor Nasir Uddin Ahmed, and the party’s big shots Dr Dipu Moni, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Dr Abdur Razzaq, Maj (retd) Rafiqul Islam, Dr Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir and Sujit Roy Nandi also spoke at the event.
Upon arrival at the venue, Hasina inaugurated 23 development projects and laid the foundation plaques of 24 other schemes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2018
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
[AMERICANTHINKER] At first I kind of felt sorry for him, because his mental instability is our fault as a society. We allowed this to happen. We said it was all okay, and it wasn't.
For instance, my city – his city – boasts a thriving drag culture that administrators have proudly worked to make "mainstream." A recent newspaper article reported that drag is the ultimate "anti-establishment" thing to do. Local groups gushed that it is now embraced by the heterosexual community as an "accepted art form" and that everyone is scrambling for a spot in the Miss Drag 2018 pageant. Between that and the complicated but super-popular lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, intersexual, and asexual agenda, it's a wonder we don't find our kids wandering naked, dazed and confused, down the middle of our streets.
On any given day, this poor boy doesn't know what sex he is, how to dress in the morning, what his name is. He's holding down a job that's probably the only static thing in his life. One day, he might just become so overwhelmed with the chaos that he hangs himself from the highest tree...and society will blame people like me for not coddling him enough instead of blaming the culture that fried his brain.
As I drove off, I realized I was watching a pouty snowflake begin to melt. I thought of how much energy he must waste thinking of himself every day. He had been trained to be the center of his own universe, and it was with himself that all his empathy and sympathy lay.
The LGBT agenda is a large entity with wide-ranging implications in religion and politics – but watching its singularly tumultuous effect on the mind of one young man has been truly heartbreaking.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2018
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Top|| File under:
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Militants affiliated with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group have suffered casualties in the Arclight airstrike conducted in southeastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan (MoD) said Saturday that five snuffies affiliated with the terror group were killed in Khogyani district.
The source further added that six snuffies affiliated with the terror group were also maimed during the airstrike and some of their weapons and ammunition were destroyed.
The anti-government armed holy warrior and terrorist groups including ISIS loyalists have not commented regarding the report so far.
This comes as counter-terrorism operations are underway against the terror group in certain provinces of the country in the North and in the East.
But fewer reports emerge regarding the operations of the ISIS snuffies in Ghazni province although Taliban ...Arabic for students... and snuffies affiliated with the other groups are active in this province as well as the other neighboring provinces in the South.
Earlier, reports had emerged suggesting that the ISIS loyalists are attempting to expand their foothold in Ghazni province with the first signs of the activities of the group noted in Andar district.
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04/02/2018
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] With direct flights between Tehran and Belgrade resuming after 27 years, up to 600 Iranians could soon be arriving in Serbia every week.
Until six months ago, the Lovimi family from Iran had never heard of Serbia. But here they are, currently in Belgrade, after arriving without visas last August, waiting to continue on to Germany, where they plan to build a new and better life in the future.
The family of four comes from the town of Ahvaz in the province of Khuzestan in Iran’s south west, where the majority of the population is Arab. They complain that, as Arabs, they have few rights in Iran, their children are forced to learn Farsi and not Arabic in school, and they are treated as second-class citizens, with little hope of finding a job.
Continued on Page 49
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While the numbers cannot be compared with hundreds of thousands who passed through Serbia in 2015 and 2016, EU officials are nevertheless concerned. Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said recently that the EU and Germany were already asking why the country had abolished the visa regime.
"Hey, you guys bombed us to save Muslims, so how can you object when we send 'em on through to you? Enjoy the world you made."
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.
[USA Today] "A black, grainy foul-smelling substance" coated the floor of an operating room at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, which also suffered from at least one "active leak" of sewage, according to a review by the District of Columbia health department last August.
[Bloomberg] Bahrain, the smallest energy producer in the Persian Gulf, discovered its biggest oil field since it started producing crude in 1932, according to the country’s official news agency.
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Alexander Yakovenko, has officially accused British intelligence of carrying out the Sergei Skripal poisoning ‐ since blamed on Russian spies.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
...intellectual and political theorist of a socialist persuasion. He is noted for being so far out in left field he can't see the shortstop on every issue he pushes...
[CNN Philippines] Two New People's Army militants, and one Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter were killed in separate operations during the Holy Week. A statement from the military said the NPA militants were killed in separate incidents on March 30 in Misamis Oriental and March 31 in Bukidnon.
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ The Iraqi Health Ministry said on Sunday that it handed over bodies of 38 Indian workers, who were killed by 
[RT] Donald Trump has said there will be no deal to give legal status to migrants who came to the US as minors. In a series of tweets on Sunday, he also told Republicans to take the “nuclear option” and eliminate the Senate filibuster.
[IsraelTimes] Some 350 people turn out to demonstrate along Strip's security fence, after Friday's mass march with 30,000 participants
[Mindanao Examiner] Philippine soldiers captured an Abu Sayyaf commander who was wounded in previous clashes following an assault on his hideout in Sulu province, officials said Sunday. Military spokesman Ronald Suscano said troops captured Walton Juljirin, but five of his followers managed to escape during the fighting on Saturday.
[USNEWS] A Connecticut high school employee is accused of threatening to "execute" white men and stomping on an American flag in a classroom.
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
[Ynet] Commemorating protesters killed in 1976 riots over expropriation of Arab lands, Arab residents hold a moment of silence in solidarity with Paleostinians 
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as 
[AMERICANTHINKER] At first I kind of felt sorry for him, because his mental instability is our fault as a society. We allowed this to happen. We said it was all okay, and it wasn't.
