[IsraelTimes]The visibility of ties with Bahrain, Morocco and the UAE has changed since Hamas’s attacks on October 7, but Israel’s newest Arab partners remain committed to strategic choice.
When the Bahraini and Emirati foreign ministers stood proudly on either side of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... to sign the Abraham Accords four years ago, all four men — and their governments — imagined an era of steadily expanding ties between Israel and the Arab world.
"We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history," Trump beamed from a balcony overlooking the South Lawn. "After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East."
Netanyahu said the new peace momentum could end the Arab-Israeli conflict "once and for all."
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed predicted that the accord’s "reverberations will be reflected on the entire region."
"For too long, the Middle East has been set back by conflict and mistrust, causing untold destruction" and thwarting hopes of the region’s "youngest and brightest," lamented Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani. "Now I am convinced we can change that."
On the fourth anniversary of the Abraham Accords — which were followed by normalization between Israel and Morocco — it is clear that the nature of Jerusalem’s ties with its newest Arab partners has changed as a result of the war.
At the same time, while 11 months of war between Israel and Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... have put significant strain on the accords, there are also reasons for optimism about the durability of Israel’s relationships with the Arab world.
A STRATEGIC DECISION
Officials familiar with topic don’t deny the tension the war against Hamas has placed on its relations with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.
"Naturally, the war creates a very significant test in relations, and creates some tension with countries that have peace agreements," one official told The Times of Israel last week.
Since the war started, the only overt visits by senior Israeli officials were made by President Isaac Herzog and Finance Minister Nir Barkat. Both were in the UAE to take part in international events, not in a bilateral capacity.
New cooperation agreements, signed in highly publicized ceremonies before the war, have also been suspended. At the same time, officials emphasize that despite the "very low glass ceiling" the war has placed on the relationships, one fact is undeniable — the accords are here to stay.
"Despite the tensions, the understanding is that there is a clear ratification of the path from all of the partners, and that the strategic choice of peace and cooperation is the correct choice," an official involved in the Abraham Accords told The Times of Israel.
Despite regular criticism of Israeli policies in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and on the Temple Mount in official statements from its Arab partners, Jordan is the only one to officially recall its ambassador from Israel during the war. The Moroccan, Bahraini and Emirati envoys have avoided public events and the media, but regularly fly between the countries to continue their work behind the scenes.
The foreign ministries of all three countries declined to comment on the anniversary of the accords.
Notably, despite the change in the tenor of the ties, Israel’s bilateral trade has grown significantly with all three countries. Compared to the same period in 2023, bilateral trade with Bahrain in the first seven months of 2024 was up over 900%, with the UAE 4% and with Morocco 56%, according to the Abraham Accords Peace Institute.
The regional unrest has also helped cement Israel’s position as a hub for trade between Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and Gulf countries. Trade that once flowed through Beirut’s port onto trucks bound for the Gulf has been sharply reduced because of the Syrian civil war and instability in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... . The Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s have deterred much of the cargo that would sail through the alternative route, the Suez Canal.
"The land route through Israel became the safest trade route between Europe and Asia," said Ben Shabbat. "What was impossible before the Abraham Accords because of the boycott in the Arab world against Israel, became the preferred and most worthwhile route."
" The traffic jams and the congestion at the border crossings with Jordan and Egypt verify the dry numbers, and indicate that despite the war, business continues."
Though reduced, direct flights continue from Morocco and the UAE to Israel.
The war has also opened up new opportunities for the UAE, which has historically had a strained relationship with the Paleostinians, to say the least.
In May 2020, the Paleostinian Authority refused to accept medical aid from the UAE after it arrived on the first known direct commercial flight between Israel and Abu Dhabi, PA sources told multiple Arab media outlets. Paleostinian media quoted a government source saying the aid had been rejected, explaining Ramallah was refusing to be used as a "tool for normalization" between Israel and the UAE.
In April, a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... and a group of Arab counterparts in Riyadh deteriorated into a shouting match between the UAE foreign minister and a senior Paleostinian official. Bin Zayed said during the meeting that there was no real reform in the Paleostinian Authority, accused the Paleostinian leadership of being "Ali Baba and the 40 thieves" and said all of the PA leadership is "useless."
Despite the tension with the PA and Abu Dhabi, the UAE has used its trust with Israel and Egypt to become a leader in aid to the Gaza Strip, and has shown an interest in being a decisive player in rebuilding the war-torn territory, though with conditions like a pathway to a Paleostinian state. The Emiratis are deeply involved in all aspects of aid to Gaza, including desalination plants, aid convoys, airdrops and field hospitals. Think tanks in the UAE have also begun discussing the country’s role in post-war Gaza.
There are several reasons for the UAE to display a newfound and intense interest in Gaza and the Paleostinian theater. There is an economic benefit to be had from the assistance that will flow to the Strip when fighting ends. Taking the lead on reconstruction is also a sign of the UAE’s regional leadership. And, perhaps most importantly, it allows the Emirati rulers to show to the public the benefit to the Paleostinians that their ties with Israel bring.
REASONS TO WORRY
Despite the reasons for long-term optimism, there are warning signs.
Even before the war, the Abraham Accords were becoming less popular on the streets of Israel’s new allies.
Washington Institute polling showed 45% of Bahrainis holding very or somewhat positive views of the agreements in November 2020. That support had steadily eroded to a paltry 20% by March 2022.
The trend is the same in the UAE. The 49% of the country that disapproved of the Abraham Accords in 2020 has grown to over two-thirds as of August 2022. And only 31% of Moroccans favored normalization at that time, according to Arab Barometer.
Moreover, much of the trade is not truly bilateral. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics counts cargo from China and India that is transferred at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port to ships heading for Israel as bilateral trade with the UAE, explained Moran Zaga, an expert on the Gulf region at Mitvim — The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.
And the preexisting diamond trade also makes up a slice of the total.
Emiratis are avoiding Israelis and business opportunities with Israelis, said Joshua Krasna, director of the Center for Emerging Energy Politics in the Middle East. "Why take the risk these days?" he asked.
"Businesses seem to be holding back, for reputational — afraid of criticism and boycotts — and personal reasons," Krasna continued. "Some of the big anticipated deals have been abandoned or not come to fruition. And the people-to-people relationship seems to be frozen."
While Emiratis will not criticize government policy, said Krasna, "they as individuals sympathize with the Paleostinian suffering and are not enthusiastic about deepening ties to Israel at this time."
Moreover, the drastic change in the visibility of ties started well before Hamas’s attacks: "Things changed with the current government," Zaga argued.
Though the UAE signed the Abraham Accords with Netanyahu, it blocked a formal visit by the premier in 2021, as it did not want to be seen as interfering in domestic Israeli politics ahead of an election.
Ambassadors from Israel’s Gulf allies stayed away from an iftar dinner hosted by the Foreign Ministry in April 2023 to send a message to Jerusalem.
"The UAE did want ties to be warm, and worked with all ministries, students, NGOs," said Zaga. "The people-to-people relationship is disappearing. What is left is what truly interests the Emiratis — infrastructure, technology and involvement in Gaza."
WESTERN SAHARA AND DEFENSE
Morocco, whose normalization agreement with Israel isn’t officially part of the Abraham Accords, did not experience a significant downturn under the current government. Though Rabat refused to convene the second Negev Forum over West Bank violence, Netanyahu announced Israel’s recognition of Morocco’s illusory sovereignty over Western Sahara in July, after which King Mohammed VI invited Netanyahu to his country.
Israel also appointed its first-ever military attaché to the kingdom, and the Knesset speaker and interior minister made official visits as a series of agreements were signed.
After October 7, protests have been a regular feature on Morocco’s streets. Officials visits have been suspended, and many bilateral projects are paused.
But the defense relationship continued apace. Morocco reportedly signed a $1 billion deal with Israel’s Ofek spy satellites in July, to go with air defense systems and drones Israel sold to Rabat before the war.
A very incomplete listing of pro-Hamas activity in America’s universities this past week — things I happened to see and save as I wandered round the internet. But it gives a taste of what’s been going on.
UVa ends disciplinary proceedings against pro-Palestine protesters
[DailyProgress]Arrested students will not be tried before the University Judiciary Committee after agreeing to meet personally with Student Affairs officials. State police also dropped criminal trespass charges.
Georgetown University To Host Convicted PFLP Terrorist, Hamas Sympathizers, And Oct. 7 Apologists at Qatar Conference
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Dozens of speakers at the Doha event are anti-Israel advocates. The speakers at the "Reimagining Palestine" event will discuss the "ideological shifts" of Zionism, "art as resistance," and "anti-colonial struggles," and will engage in "dialogue that challenges the status quo," according to the Doha event’s website. Among the nearly 70 scholars is Shawan Jabarin, a former senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the general director of the Al-Haq organization, an Israeli-designated terrorist group. Another, Wadah Khanfar, was a local Hamas leader in Sudan.
The flyers featured a close-up photo of Solomon, who is Jewish, and a notice of “warning” in all-caps, as well as a yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark. Students were arriving for Solomon’s “Antisemitism and the Law,” an undergraduate class that covers the history of the law as both a “vehicle for institutionalizing antisemitism” and “for combatting” it, according to a course description. The class includes lessons on historical topics such as the prosecution of Alfred Dreyfus and the lynching of Leo Frank.
#1
You just know what's going to happen on Oct 7. If the administrators are not preparing for it, you know they are either incompetent and/or in on it. In that case, state universities should see their governors step in and remove said administrators.
[IsraelTimes] Analysts say Istanbul-based Zaher Jabarin, now in charge of West Bank terror activity, seeking to prove mettle with return to high-profile attacks
In late August, former Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... chief Khaled Mashaal delivered a speech in which he declared the terror group’s intent to revive suicide kabooms by West Bank Paleostinians against Israelis.
Over the next four days, a pair of boom-mobiles went off in a West Bank settlement bloc south of Jerusalem and a suspected third one was neutralized at the entrance to another settlement north of Ramallah. Weeks earlier, a jacket wallah walking the streets of Tel Aviv was killed when the bomb he carried in his backpack detonated by accident.
Though relatively ineffectual — four Israelis suffered non-life threatening wounds — the bombings still managed to send a fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... signal that the terror group was attempting to flip the calendar back two decades to the days when suicide kabooms were its hallmark.
At the forefront of orchestrating these attacks is Zaher Jabarin, Hamas’s newly appointed leader in the West Bank, analysts say.
Jabarin assumed the position following the liquidation of his predecessor, Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut in early January.
Based in Istanbul, Jabarin remains a lesser-known figure among Hamas’s senior command, though his background mirrors that of more prominent leaders such as Yahya Sinwar and al-Arouri.
Born in Salfit in the central West Bank in 1969, Jabarin joined a then-fledgling Hamas in the late 1980s, playing a crucial role in expanding the group’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, into the northern West Bank.
He was arrested by Israeli forces in 1993 and sentenced to life imprisonment, but was later among over 1,000 Paleostinian prisoners released in the 2011 deal to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from captivity in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Like Sinwar and al-Arouri, Jabarin is fluent in Hebrew thanks to the nearly two decades he spent in Israeli prison, and he is thought to possess a deep understanding of Israeli society. But in contrast to them, Jabarin, who was exiled to Syria, has remained largely behind the scenes and is unknown by most Israelis.
"Unlike Sinwar or al-Arouri, Jabarin is not viewed as particularly sophisticated or charismatic within Hamas, nor as a clever or brave leader," said Michael Milshtein, head of the Forum for Paleostinian Studies at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University. "This makes him eager to prove his capabilities, especially in light of the legacy of his predecessor."
From his base in Istanbul, Jabarin is believed to be orchestrating a new wave of suicide kabooms from the West Bank, seeking to strike at Israel’s core as its capabilities in Gaza have been heavily reduced. While no boom-mobiles or suicide attacks have been reported for the past two weeks, experts believe that the wave has not ended.
Does he have a cell phone? a pager? laptop? microwave? toaster? Does he know any nice squirrels? It recently became much more interesting to be an anti-Zionist jihadi than it used to be…
Suicide attacks were a hallmark of Hamas operations in the 1990s and early 2000s, with Jabarin himself recruiting the notorious Yahya Ayyash, known as "the Engineer." An expert bombmaker responsible for multiple deadly attacks in the mid-1990s, Ayyash was assassinated by Israel in 1996.
In the years since the end of the Second Intifada, Hamas appeared to move away from a focus on bombings, which require sophisticated planning and organization to carry out, though there have still been sporadic attacks with explosives.
In the last decades, the group has concentrated on building up its rocket capabilities and underground fortifications in Gaza and on shooting, ramming and knife attacks from the West Bank.
According to Milshtein, Jabarin’s turn back toward bombings comes amid frustration within Hamas over West Bank Paleostinians’ failure since October 7 to join in the fight against Israel.
"Since the first day of the war, Yahya Sinwar has repeatedly called for opening a second front in the West Bank," he said. "Yet despite nearly a year of conflict in Gaza, the West Bank has remained relatively calm. There’s now pressure to show that Hamas in the West Bank can contribute to the broader effort."
Israeli officials believe Jabarin was responsible for dispatching Hamas operative Jaafar Muna from Nablus to Tel Aviv on August 18 with a large bomb intended for a suicide attack, according to veteran Arab affairs commentator Yoni Ben Menachem, a senior analyst for the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs.
Following the failed Tel Aviv bombing, Hamas shared propaganda posters on social media featured posters depicting Ayyash’s image alongside bombed-out buses with the slogan: "Who will restore Ayyash’s glory?"
While the three attempted bombings in August were the first to come close to succeeding in years, the threat has never really subsided, experts say.
"The motivation and capacity for these operations never went away, as evidenced by the discovery of multiple explosive factories by the IDF in the West Bank over the years," said Guy Aviad, a Hamas expert and a former IDF historian. "Fortunately, many were thwarted."
MONEY MAN WITH A NOD FROM ERDOGAN
Jabarin’s influence extends beyond military operations. As the longtime head of Hamas’s Financial Bureau, which like him is based in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... , he controls millions of dollars that are funneled into terrorist activities, particularly in the West Bank.
After his release in 2011, Jabarin was exiled to Syria, then in the throes of civil war. Like other Hamas leaders who decamped from Damascus, Jabarin spent years living between Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... and Turkey, ultimately settling in Istanbul.
There, he assumed leadership of the Financial Bureau and acted as deputy to al-Arouri, who lived in Istanbul until 2016.
Under Jabarin’s management, the department has invested substantial sums in Ottoman Turkish real estate and stock markets,
…all sorts of potential for Mossad shenanigans there…
while laundering profits through a network of money changers in Turkey, Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... , and the Gulf, Aviad said.
These funds are then channeled to Hamas operatives in the West Bank and Gaza, Aviad said.
Hamas also benefits from donations collected by Widows & Orphans Ammunition Fund organizations based in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world.
Hamas’s lucrative financial operations in Turkey have flourished with the tacit approval of the Ottoman Turkish government under President His Enormity, 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. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... "You cannot run a Hamas office in Turkey without government consent," Aviad noted.
Turkey’s willingness to harbor Hamas leaders has long been a major point of contention affecting ties between Ankara and Jerusalem. In December, Turkey reportedly warned Israel of "serious consequences" if it targeted Hamas operatives on Ottoman Turkish soil.
With Erdogan’s protection, Hamas can operate largely freely in Turkey, where the group has situated some of its most vital branches.
Before Jabarin, al-Arouri was thought to have directed and helped finance terror activity in the West Bank from Turkey, including the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens, which sparked a large Israeli crackdown in the West Bank and a devastating war in Gaza.
In addition to Hamas’s Financial Bureau, Turkey also hosts part of the terror group’s technological arm, responsible for developing military capabilities for Hamas units in the Paleostinian territories. (The other part is in Lebanon.)
According to a 2021 report by the Alma Research Center, a note from a Hamas cell revealed that hundreds of thousands of dollars and euros transited through this bureau using money changers and were intended for use in training camps and to conduct a sniper course.
As Hamas suffers heavy losses in Gaza, experts predict that Jabarin’s position within Hamas will grow in importance, particularly as he pushes to rekindle high-profile suicide kabooms from the West Bank.
"One year ago, he was not at the top echelons," said Milshtein. "But today, I’d say he is one of the top five leaders of Hamas, especially after the death of Muhammad Deif, Marwan Issa, Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... and Saleh al-Arouri. He is the one responsible for the second most important arena after Gaza. He has become very prominent."
[IsraelTimes] Two panelists at Albany event would not share stage with Jewish moderator Elisa Albert, an outspoken Israel supporter, who says she is ‘not surprised’ by such reactions since Oct. 7
An authors’ panel at an Albany book festival Saturday has been canceled after organizers said two panelists refused to share a stage with the "Zionist" moderator.
Elisa Albert, who is Jewish, was set to moderate a panel at the Albany Book Festival on Saturday called "Girls, Coming of Age." But on Thursday, she received an email from a festival organizer informing her that the event had been canceled: Two of the three panelists — authors Lisa Ko and Aisha Abdel Gawad — objected to sitting on the panel with Albert because they did not want to appear with a "Zionist." The third panelist was to be Emily Layden.
The proper answer to such things is to continue the panel with new and improved participants, and blackball those so unprofessional as to try to bully the committee. Let them spend a few years out in the cold for it. To punish the innocent in the name of a pallid sort of political balance is sheer moral cowardice.
Albert said the cancellation is of a piece with her experiences since Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... attacked Israel on October 7.
"Unfortunately, I’m not surprised," Albert told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday. "I’ve been really vocal from the get-go, and I’ve lost many friends. I’ve seen my whole professional life wildly altered. I’m not surprised at all. I’ve seen all kinds of people behaving in all kinds of ways that are on the spectrum of this exact same kind of bigotry, complicity, fear — all of it."
Albert, who lives in Albany, first learned about the panelists’ objections on Thursday afternoon, when she got an email from Mark Koplik, the assistant director of the New York State Writers Institute, which is organizing the festival.
"We have a crazy situation developing and we’d love to talk on the phone," Koplik wrote in a message that JTA obtained.
"Basically, not to sugar coat this, Aisha Gawad and Lisa Ko don’t want to be on a panel with a ’Zionist,’" he added. "We’re taken by surprise, and somewhat nonplussed, and want to talk this out."
By Thursday evening, Albert had been notified by Paul Grondahl, director of the Writers Institute, that the event had been canceled.
"We regret this situation, which was out of our control," Grondahl wrote in an email obtained by JTA. "It is unfortunate for everyone involved."
Grondahl added, "I wish this were otherwise. We will find a way to air these issues we have discussed in a deeper, more considered, more carefully planned event with intentionality and context."
The cancellation of the panel is the latest in a long series of literary events to be upended or nixed because of disputes over the Israel-Hamas war and Zionism. Activists have sought to hinder the careers of authors they deem "Zionist," many of whom have Jewish heritage.
In one notable recent instance, a launch event for Jewish journalist Joshua Leifer’s new book, "Tablets Shattered," at a Brooklyn bookstore in August was canceled because one of its employees objected to the event’s "Zionist" rabbi moderator.
Some of those facing the criticism have not expressed public support for Israel. Gabrielle Zevin, who wrote the bestseller "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow," for example, has faced calls for cancellation despite saying nothing publicly about Israel or the war.
Albert, on the other hand, has been an outspoken advocate for Israel since the outbreak of the war nearly a year ago, when thousands of Hamas operatives stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
On Instagram, she has posted aggressively and frequently in support of Israel and against Hamas and those she perceives as supporting it, including pro-Paleostinian protesters in the United States, whom she has called "terror apologists."
On Friday afternoon, following the cancelation, she appeared to embrace the cancellation, posting an image of her latest book — "The Snarling Girl," a collection of personal essays published last month — with the text, "Now’s as good a time as ever to promote Zio lit!" She later added a selfie with the text "Friendly local Zio bitch" over it.
Ko, Abdel Gawad and Layden did not respond to requests for comment, and as of Friday afternoon, their social media profiles do not mention the cancellation. But Ko has been involved in multiple pro-Paleostinian activist efforts since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. On November 6, she posted that she would be hosting a panel called "Unlocking Our Voices: Writing against genocide" later that month.
She described the event as "a space to clear our throats + direct reflections into action + solidarity." She added, "Free Paleostine."
On Friday, Ko’s online schedule of events still included a listing of the panel. The festival also did not put out a public statement about the panel’s cancellation, though news of it has spread on social media. The festival’s most recent post on the social platform X, which does not address the dispute, has drawn more than a dozen replies condemning the decision.
In a statement to JTA, Koplik criticized the panelists who objected to Albert and expressed dismay over the cancellation.
"We unequivocally condemn antisemitism," he said. "We never would consider removing Elisa, and we stood up to those who wanted to remove her. We no longer had a panel to be moderated. We fully support Elisa’s expression of outrage and disappointment. We believe in civil dialogue, and we condemn intolerance of any kind. I can’t tell you how sad and upsetting this is for me personally."
In his statement, Koplik also wrote that "one participant refused to participate, and another decided not to do so in support."
Albert told JTA she hoped that the festival organizers would put out a statement about the incident and was frustrated that they had not. She said she had proposed an alternative to the scheduled panel in which she would appear alone, without her co-panelists, to discuss their objections to her with whoever was in the audience. But the festival declined.
"They said, ’No, that’s not fair. People will be affronted. It’s a panel about girls coming of age. Nobody came to talk about antisemitism or the conflict in the Middle East,’" Albert recounted. "And I was like, ’Well, s—t, but this got hijacked by some bigoted people."
[Rudaw] Nearly 600 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) returned to their homes in the Nineveh and Salahaddin provinces on Thursday, and over 1700 have registered to return, an official from the Iraqi migration and displaced ministry told Rudaw.
Ali Abbas, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Displacement and Migration, told Rudaw that 599 displaced persons, residing in the Harsham camp for the internally displaced on the outskirts of Erbil city, left for their homes.
Abbas said that "a few days after the displaced individuals return and confirm their settlement, they will be given the benefits promised in exchange for their return."
The Iraqi government has offered four million Iraqi dinars (about $3,050), a fridge, a stove, and a television to families who voluntarily return to their homes.
In addition to Thursday’s returnees, over 1,700 more have registered to return to their homes, according to Abbas.
In April, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported there were 1,098,913 internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country, primarily in Duhok, Erbil, Nineveh, Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... and Sulaimani provinces. At the time, it had recorded 4,871,916 people who had returned to their homes after the defeat of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS).
Baghdad had set July 30 as the deadline for the Kurdistan Region to close its camps, though that timeline was later extended. Erbil refused to forcibly close the camps and in response, Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displacement Evan Faeq Jabro filed a lawsuit against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Abbas told Rudaw in August that there are still about 20,000 families residing in the IDP camps across the Kurdistan Region.
Despite the financial incentive, many families are reluctant to leave because of continued violence in their places of origin, a lack of reconstruction following the destruction of their homes, and little in the way of basic services.
Human rights advocates have expressed concern about Iraq’s push to close the camps, saying that all returns must be voluntary, safe, and dignified.
There are more than 630,000 IDPs in the Kurdistan Region, though most of them reside outside of the 23 camps established across Duhok, Erbil, and Sulaimani provinces, according to March figures from the KRG’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center.
IOM, citing data it collected in Iraq from April 1 to June 6, said that nearly a fifth of displaced persons "did not return to their location of origin and are considered secondarily displaced IDPs."
[Rudaw] Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council on Thursday announced that it had sentenced to death three Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) members it said were responsible for attacks on security forces.
The Lions of Islam carried out attacks on security forces in Anbar and Salahaddin provinces and wanted to "create fear and panic among civilians," according to the court.
They were sentenced to death for participating in the commission of a terrorist act as defined under the 2005 Terrorism Law.
Iraqi forces have intensified their anti-ISIS operations across the country in recent months, particularly in the disputed areas.
Thousands of people have been detained across Iraq since 2014 for suspected links to terrorist groups, including ISIS, and hundreds have been executed. Human rights monitors have criticized the trials, saying they depend on confessions obtained through torture, they do not investigate specific charges such as genocide, and they exclude the victims, thereby denying them justice.
Iraqi warplanes kill six suspected ISIS members in Kirkuk
[Rudaw] At least six suspected Islamic State members, including a leader, were killed in an operation carried out by Iraqi security forces in Kirkuk province on Thursday, the army said, amid a spike in anti-ISIS operations.
“Three painful strikes by F-16 aircraft today resulted in the killing of a terrorist detachment consisting of six members, including the terrorist Omar Salah Nima, codenamed Abu Khattab, one of the most dangerous leaders of the ISIS terrorists,” the Iraqi army’s Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
Iraqi counterterrorism and intelligence forces raided the site after the airstrikes, discovering a “number of explosive belts, weapons, technical equipment, and various phones,” the statement added.
The strikes are the latest in an intensification of anti-ISIS operations across the country, particularly in the disputed areas.
Despite its territorial defeat, ISIS has continued to pose security threats in Iraq through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, particularly in areas disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) which stretch across provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, Nineveh, and Kirkuk.
Two ISIS militants wearing explosive vests were killed during a clash with security forces in Kirkuk on Sunday, Iraq's interior ministry announced.
On Monday, Iraqi security forces arrested six ISIS members near the capital Baghdad and seized a pile of explosives.
Earlier this month, an Iraqi airstrike in the Hamrin mountain range in Diyala killed three ISIS militants.
In late August, a joint operation by the Iraqi army and US forces in the western Anbar province killed 16 ISIS militants, and the US military said on Saturday that the operation killed four ISIS leaders.
“The heroes of the air force carried out painful strikes on hideouts within the Kirkuk and East Salahaddin operations commands, which led to their destruction,” state media said, citing a statement from Yehia Rasool, military spokesperson to Iraq’s prime minister.
Rasool said that the strikes were conducted after “specialized aircraft carried out reconnaissance and surveillance” missions which revealed their locations.
No information on casualties was readily provided, and the strikes come as the Iraqi air force intensifies its anti-ISIS operations across the country, particularly in the disputed areas.
[Rudaw] Iraq’s ministry of migration and displaced announced on Tuesday that four thousand people have been repatriated from the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria housing Islamic State (ISIS) suspects, as Baghdad continues the repatriation of nationals from the camp.
“The Iraqi government has begun the process of rehabilitating the returned displaced –persons after conducting a comprehensive security check on them,” Karim al-Nouri, undersecretary for the Iraqi ministry of migration and displaced, told state media. “About four thousand Iraqis have been returned.”
Nouri said that individuals who have “blood in their hands” and are considered security threats are not granted a return to Iraq.
Iraqis and Syrians make up the majority of the 40,000 ISIS-linked people who have been held at the al-Hol camp in northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Hasaka province since the defeat of the jihadists in 2019. The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.
The repatriation of ISIS-linked citizens has sparked opposition in Iraq, with tribes unwilling to accept and welcome people associated with the group that committed heinous human rights abuses and war crimes from 2014 to 2017, when they controlled vast swathes of the country.
Most repatriated individuals are resettled in al-Jada camp in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, to be prepared for reintegration into their communities and then returned to their hometowns.
[KhaamaPress] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Agency for Asylum (EUAA) reported on Monday that 45,000 Afghans sought asylum in European countries during the first half of 2024.
The report, published on Monday, September 16, stated that by the end of July, a total of 513,000 people had applied for asylum in European countries.
The EUAA noted that while the total number of asylum applications remained steady compared to the first half of 2023, some regional variations were observed.
During this period, 71,000 Syrians made asylum requests, making them the most significant applicants in Europe.
The report also highlighted that Afghan asylum seekers predominantly applied in countries like Germany, Greece, La Belle France, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , Belgium, Italia, and others.
The number of Afghan asylum applications to European countries decreased by 18% compared to the same period in 2023.
Additionally, the report emphasized that European Union member states accepted approximately 65% of Afghan asylum applications.
However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... it is worth noting that many European countries have recently tightened their immigration policies to reduce the number of illegal entries, leading to stricter regulations and fewer approvals for asylum seekers.
The continued migration of Afghans to Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... underscores the ongoing humanitarian crisis, even as the number of asylum applications has declined. The tightening of immigration policies in European countries poses new challenges for Afghan migrants colonists seeking safety and stability in the region.
[KhaamaPress] Swedish prosecutors have charged a 52-year-old woman from the country with "genocide and crimes against humanity" for her actions against women and kiddies of the Yazidi religious minority in Syria.
It is reported that this woman traveled to Syria and joined ISIS.
Mikael Westerlund, her attorney, stated that the accused returned to Sweden in 2020 and is currently in prison, where she denies the new charges.
Prosecutors identified her in court documents as Lina Ishaq, a 52-year-old Swedish citizen facing charges of genocide and war crimes for her collaboration with ISIS between 2014 and 2016 in Syria. They stated that she traveled to Syria to assist in establishing ISIS rule.
Ms Ishaq was also the first person charged in Sweden for aiding in the recruitment of her minor son, age 12, as a child soldier. She was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. The boy died in Syria when he was sixteen, in 2017.
The Swedish prosecutor’s office announced that she is accused of "purchasing or receiving civilian women and kiddies from the Yazidi minority" in Raqqa, Syria, and mistreating them as slaves.
The prosecutor added, "In addition, they were subjected to severe suffering, slavery, or other inhumane acts. They were deprived of freedom and prevented from leaving, violating international law."
Under Swedish law, courts can prosecute individuals for crimes against international law committed abroad. The prosecutor emphasized that crimes against humanity may include murder, sexual assault, torture, and forced labor as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians.
This case highlights Sweden’s commitment to holding individuals accountable for their actions related to international crimes. As legal proceedings unfold, it serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for justice for the Yazidi community and the broader implications of accountability for war crimes.
[ToloNews] A clash between the forces of the Islamic Emirate and Pak military on Thursday evening at the Ghulam Khan crossing in Gurbuz district of Khost continued until midnight, local officials said, and that the clash occurred after Pak military personnel's inappropriate behavior towards some Afghans provoked a response from the Islamic Emirate forces.
Whistling at the girlies were they? For shame! No good Moslem would act so toward a Muslimah.
Bahauddin Jan Bilal, the commissioner of Ghulam Khan crossing in Khost, said: "The clash occurred yesterday evening at 6:30 PM. They were prepared from the beginning and were in a combat-ready state, wearing their helmets. When the clash occurred in the afternoon, both sides exchanged fire. We are investigating which side started the shooting first."
Following this clash, several families have been relocated to safer areas, and the road has been closed to cargo vehicles and passengers.
"When the clash started, it continued until about two o'clock in the night. These issues should be resolved through dialogue," said Khairuddin, a resident of Khost.
"Many families have been forced to move from here. War brings many problems," said Mubarak Khan, another resident of Khost.
Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had been cornered by the banditti... drivers report that with the onset of last night's clash, the Ghulam Khan crossing has been closed to traffic, and hundreds of trucks carrying fresh fruit and vegetables have been halted along this route.
"There was a clash at the Ghulam Khan crossing last night, and the road has been closed. Vegetable and fruit trucks have been stopped, causing significant losses to the people," Ismatullah, a driver, told TOLOnews.
On September 5, intermittent festivities also continued for several days between the Islamic Emirate forces and Pak military in Zazi Maidan district of Khost, along the Durand Line.
[IsraelTimes] Each of the pagers that went kaboom! on their Hezbollah owners across Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... on Tuesday, injuring thousands of the terror group’s operatives, was individually detonated, with the attackers knowing who was being targeted, where he was, and whether others were in close proximity, Channel 12 claims.
In a lengthy report quoting Israeli and foreign sources, the TV channel says those behind the attack were determined to ensure that only the person carrying the pager would be hurt by the blast.
"Each pager had its own arrangements. That’s how it was possible to control who was hit and who wasn’t," it quotes an unnamed foreign security source saying.
The report says: "They knew who he was with and where he was, so that the vegetable seller in the supermarket would not be hurt" when a pager went kaboom! on a man alongside him. This is a reference to footage from the pager explosions in which a man is apparently blown up by his pager next to a fruit and vegetable stand.
The TV report adds several other new details to what has been uncovered so far regarding the unprecedented attack, which Hezbollah has blamed on Israel and Israel has not officially confirmed.
It quotes an unnamed foreign security saying "tens of thousands of pagers" were produced, and manufactured with the knowledge that the client would check them carefully. Therefore, the pagers had to work properly and betray no indication that they had been primed with explosives. Their appearance and weight had to be unchanged.
Interviewed in the report, Ronen Bergman, an investigative news hound for The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... and Yedioth Ahronoth, says the whole scheme was dreamed up by a brilliant female intelligence operative, aged less than 30, somewhere in the Middle East.
Whoever was responsible, the report says, decided to set up a factory to build the devices from scratch — so that "it won’t be a device that we will tamper with; it will be a device that we will produce." The New York Times came to the same conclusion in a report on Thursday.
The ability to supply the device to Hezbollah was helped by the fact that the terror group cannot make purchases on the open market, because of suppliers’ fears of US sanctions, and therefore must routinely work with intermediary suppliers.
Channel 12’s report says that when, on October 10, the IDF and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had pressed for Israel to attack Hezbollah, rather than focus initially on Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... after its October 7 invasion and massacre, "it is reasonable to assume" that buttons detonating these devices would have been pressed, and very heavy air strikes on Hezbollah would have followed.
In the event, the IDF focused first on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , and Hezbollah has been pounding northern Israel ever since.
The report, which was approved by the Israeli military censor, says Hezbollah bought more pagers after its military chief Fuad Shukr was killed in a targeted IDF strike in Beirut in July, and thereafter used pagers even more widely because of its growing wariness about using mobile phones. Hezbollah, the report says, long assumed that Israel would be a threat to its cellphone communications in the event of a major escalation, and thus widely integrated the use of pagers.
While Channel 12 repeats the widely reported assessment that the pagers were detonated this week because of a fear that the Trojan Horse devices were about to be exposed by Hezbollah, it also quotes a foreign security source saying this was not the case, and that Israel decided it needed to step up its actions against Hezbollah.
Amos Yadlin, a former IDF intelligence chief, says more broadly that Israel’s goal is to cause Hezbollah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> to realize that his attacks on the north "are costing him more than he’s gaining," including in terms of support within Lebanon.
The report says it was regarded as "preferable" that the large number of Hezbollah fighters whose devices went kaboom! be badly injured rather than killed, in part because of the immense strain this placed on health services in Lebanon, and by extension the raised domestic pressure on Hezbollah.
A foreign security source tells Channel 12 that the detonating pagers operation is by no means considered a strategic attack, and that Israel has much more dramatic capabilities.
The source says Israel has spent years developing these far more extensive capabilities for use against Hezbollah and Iran, but not as regards to Hamas — apparently because it underestimated the danger posed by Hamas — and that this partly explains the failure to prevent the October 7 catastrophe. The capabilities used thus far in Lebanon are "relatively low-level," the source says.
Eyal Hulata, a former National Security Adviser, tells Channel 12 after the report airs that thousands of Israelis have been working for years to create capabilities to ensure security for Israel. "There are more capabilities like these," he says, referencing the recent events in Lebanon. Given the collapse of public faith in the security establishment after the October 7 failure, it is important for Israelis to know this, says Hulata, who is also a former head of the Mossad’s technological branch.
[8am] The Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... continue to impose severe restrictions and censorship on the media, recently shutting down Naraiman Radio in Badghis province. Last week, they arrested three employees of the station in Qadis district and released them after four days of detention, following a guarantee. In a separate action, the Taliban disrupted the flow of information by heavily jamming the satellite frequencies of the Afghanistan International News Network, severely curbing freedom of speech.
Sources in Badghis told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban halted Naraiman Radio’s broadcasts and arrested several of its staff. A week has passed, and the station remains off the air.
One local source, speaking anonymously, said, "For three days and nights, three Naraiman Radio employees were held in Taliban custody. Last week, the Taliban came to the radio office and stopped its broadcasts." The source added that the Taliban gave no reason for shutting down the station or detaining its staff.
Another source reported that the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) had recently supported Naraiman Radio and Oboor Radio TV in Badghis as part of a media protection program. The Taliban, aware of this support, then shut down Naraiman Radio and arrested its staff. They also ordered all media outlets and NGOs in the province not to accept donor-funded projects without informing the group.
The source added, "Naraiman Radio’s broadcasts were fully censored and controlled by the Taliban. No event was covered without their approval. The only reason we found is that the station received a project to produce documentaries and informational clips about Afghanistan’s historical issues. Upon learning of this, the Taliban detained the staff and halted its broadcasts."
Hasht-e Subh Daily confirmed that Naraiman Radio focused on historical topics and documentaries, without violating Taliban policies. Despite this, the group stopped the broadcasts and locked away Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! the staff.
Another source revealed that local efforts were made to resolve the issue through dialogue after the staff’s detention. However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... according to the source, Matiullah Muttaqi, the Taliban’s Director of Information and Culture in Badghis, does not recognize media freedom, given his background in the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Muttaqi had repeatedly criticized Naraiman Radio employees in official meetings and in front of the media and ultimately shut down the station without providing any justification. The source claimed Muttaqi held the station hostage, refusing to comply with directives from Kabul. He also insisted that all commercial advertisements must be approved by him and decided which outlets would receive them.
The Taliban suspended Naraiman Radio’s activities just as they were heavily jamming Afghanistan International’s satellite frequencies, further restricting the flow of information and violating press freedom.
Afghanistan International condemned the jamming as a violation of press freedom and introduced a new satellite frequency to ensure continued access to free news for its audience.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) expressed grave concern, calling on Taliban officials to immediately and permanently stop the jamming of Afghanistan International’s frequencies and allow citizens unrestricted access to media.
The AFJC also reported that, over the past three years, the Taliban have issued at least 17 media-related directives that contradict media laws. These directives include prohibiting women from working at Radio Television Afghanistan, segregating men’s and women’s roles in the media, banning interviews between men and women, and other restrictions.
In addition to censorship and media restrictions, the Taliban have imposed several bans on female journalists. Orders have barred women from appearing on television without covering their faces, and many local radio stations have been instructed not to broadcast women’s voices.
Earlier, Reporters Without Borders noted that 2023 was marked by the continued exclusion of female journalists, with Taliban restrictions showing no signs of easing.
Over the past 19 years, 132 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan. The previous government attributed 67% of these killings to the Taliban. Afghan journalists have repeatedly expressed fear, repression, and despair, stating that they are forced to self-censor to survive.
[8am] The Taliban ...Arabic for students... have intensified restrictions against Shia Moslems by banning the import of Shia religious books and prayer texts into Afghanistan. Pilgrims returning from Karbala have voiced concerns over the Taliban’s harsh treatment and the prohibition on transferring these religious materials at border crossings. They report that during book collections, the Taliban insult Shia followers, calling them "polytheists and infidels." The Taliban also confiscate all religious books they consider contradictory to Hanafi jurisprudence from educational and university libraries, and this practice continues.
Several Karbala pilgrims have complained about the Taliban’s actions and the ban on transferring Shia religious books and prayer texts. They explain that after spending significant sums to purchase these materials during their visits to Shia holy sites in Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and Iraq, they face confiscation and derogatory treatment at the Islam Qala border crossing.
Some pilgrims have shared with the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban use harsh and offensive language while collecting religious books. These pilgrims say the Taliban refuse to acknowledge Shia religious freedoms and continually mock their religious practices and rituals.
Abdul Hussain (pseudonym), a recent pilgrim returning from Karbala, has voiced serious concerns about the Taliban’s behavior at the Islam Qala border crossing in Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province. He reports that the Taliban show little respect for Shia religious beliefs and practices. He explains, "The Taliban thoroughly searched everyone entering from Iran, both men and women. They even inspected clothing and bags for religious books and prayer texts, offering no explanation other than that bringing books was forbidden."
Another anonymous pilgrim describes how the Taliban confiscated his religious books and labeled him a "polytheist and infidel," subjecting him to insults and humiliation. He recounts, "They searched all of us pilgrims, seized two volumes of books from my suitcase, and threw away a pocket-sized prayer book. When I tried to protest, they used extremely offensive language, calling me a polytheist, infidel, and enemy of the religion."
This pilgrim initially believed that such behavior might not reflect the Taliban’s official policy and could be the actions of individual members. He approached a Taliban official at Islam Qala to explain the situation, only to encounter even harsher treatment. He says, "I spoke to a more organized Taliban official who was sitting in a corner with a communication device. He refused to listen to my concerns and claimed I had been treated well. He reiterated that bringing Shia religious books into the country was prohibited and insulted me further."
Over the past three years, the Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on Shia religious ceremonies, removed Ja’fari jurisprudence from universities, and barred followers of this sect from visiting pilgrimage sites. Additionally, the Taliban have annulled the Personal Status Law for Shia Moslems, enacted in 2008, which had allowed Shia Moslems to handle legal, religious, and procedural matters according to Ja’fari principles.
The Council of Shia Scholars has repeatedly raised concerns with Taliban officials about preserving Ja’fari jurisprudence and upholding the Personal Status Law. Despite these appeals, the Taliban have ignored their demands and imposed even more restrictions.
[IsraelNationalNews] IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari reveals that two of the terrorists who held the six hostages who were murdered in captivity have been eliminated.
IDF front man Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Saturday night reported that the IDF eliminated two of the turbans who killed six Israeli hostages held captive in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... During a live update, Hagari said, "In Gaza, we continue operating to dismantle Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ' military wing. We have not forgotten, even for a moment, the hostages, and we are doing everything possible to bring them home."
"This evening, we updated the families of Hersh, Eden, Ori, Alex, Almog, and Carmel, may their memories be a blessing, that we eliminated two turbans who had held them hostage in a tunnel in the Rafah area.
"The day after the hostages were murdered, troops from the 162nd Division identified two turbans emerging from an underground tunnel shaft in the Tel al-Sultan area and eliminated them during an encounter. After investigating the findings from the tunnel and equipment on the terrorists, we found DNA evidence and several items belonging to the turbans we eliminated. Based on the findings and the information available to us, these turbans that were eliminated were the same turbans who were in the tunnel where the bodies of the six hostages were discovered.
"The findings show they were there when they were murdered and we are investigating their involvement in the murder. Should we obtain further information, we will first update the families and then the public. We will pursue and reach everyone responsible for this heinous murder, and we will not stop until we reach them all."
[IsraelTimes] Doctoral student Leo Franks arrived in April as a tourist and began the aliyah process. But after arrests in the West Bank, his passport was confiscated, and now he’s being deported
When Leo Franks landed in Israel in April, he could see the next stage of his life taking shape.
A British Jew, Franks, 25, had recently started his doctorate in history at a prestigious American university. He came to a country whose legal history he hoped to make the center of his research. Franks had been to Israel many times before and even had an Israeli girlfriend. On this trip, he hoped to make aliyah — to become an Israeli himself.
Entering the country on a tourist visa, Franks, a graduate student at the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Berkeley, quickly began the paperwork to exercise his rights under Israel’s Law of Return, the guarantee of citizenship to Jews around the world that is at the heart of the country’s national identity. He then moved in with his girlfriend and prepared to start his new life.
Now, five months later, Israeli immigration authorities are showing him out.
Franks’ immigration troubles don’t stem from any doubts about his Jewishness, an obstacle that some aliyah applicants face. Rather, the problems began after Franks’ left-wing views took him to a West Bank flashpoint and an anti-government protest in Jerusalem, where he was briefly detained. Franks believes he was deliberately punished for his political activism and prevented from making aliyah by officials in Israel’s Interior Ministry, which handles immigration and citizenship.
"The story here is that the courts have given the Ministry of Interior free rein to make decisions about who can be a Jew in Israel on the basis of his politics," he said in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Or maybe you're just too much of a pain in the ass and a future provocateur that they made the call to avoid the obvious future issues?
The degree to which Franks’ activism factored into his immigration troubles — his citizenship application was mysteriously closed and he currently faces an order to leave the country by Sunday — is not clear. The Interior Ministry did not respond to questions from JTA. While it raised concerns about his entanglements with law enforcement and about his motivation for being in the country in communications with Franks, the ministry did not directly say it was ordering him to leave because of his political activity.
Still, he and his attorney, as well as a number of others who have been tracking the Israeli government’s handling of left-wing activists, believe there is a strong connection.
"Was the ministry targeting him because he is some kind of activist? I can’t say. It’s clear the police want these activists to leave the country, and that was the end result of the ministry’s actions," said Franks’ Israeli immigration attorney, Ira Rozina.
At this point one begins to wonder what — and how — Mr Franks was protesting at UC Berkeley. Israel has enough Antifa cadres here — it doesn’t need to import more anti-Israel terrorists, however much one might prefer to attack the police and those who disagree with them at the source of such things. Lots more detail about thr handling of his case at the link.
[IsraelTimes] Relatives say Netanyahu ‘sacrificing the hostages’ as northern front heats up without hostage-truce deal with Hamas; police arrest former IDF chief outside PM’s home in Caesarea
Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv and across Israel on Saturday night, in support of a hostage-ceasefire deal to enable the release of hostages held captive by the Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... terror group in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... since October 7 and amid the threat of a major assault from Hezbollah in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... Organizers claimed there were hundreds of thousands at the Tel Aviv protests and tens of thousands more nationwide, though there were no official figures on the turnout.
Tens of thousands it is — or perhaps even less. But if even the Times of Israel does not believe the protestors’ claims, then it cannot be so.
Protests calling for a hostage deal have been held every Saturday night since the first weeks of the ongoing war against Hamas, steadily growing in numbers.
Waxing and waning, actually, with increases when the marketing team can push something interesting to pique interest among the rubes. Otherwise it’s just the same cadre of professional protesters and their useful idiots that have been protesting against Bibi since 2015 and before. They really resent the labour socialists having lost control of the reins of government — they thought they’d driven him out of office in 1999, but ten years later he got himself reelected, just to bedevil them.
For months, they were held alongside separate, anti-government protests, but the two demonstrations joined together three weeks ago, after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages who had been murdered days earlier, sparking outrage across the country.
Eli Albag, whose daughter Liri was kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz base on October 7, told the Tel Aviv rally on Saturday that far-right ministers in the coalition have been intentionally preventing a deal. "It’s clear to us all that Hamas is to blame, but throughout the year there were opportunities for a deal, and you [the government] didn’t take them."
The rally was also addressed by Shahar Mor, whose uncle Avraham Munder was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and died in Hamas captivity after not receiving vital medication.
Police later arrested Mor, though it was not immediately clear why. Demonstrators — including Labor MK Gilad Kariv — surrounded a police cruiser in Tel Aviv and blocked it from moving immediately after the arrest. A statement from the police said Mor was arrested near the home of the defense minister, and that he would be released and summoned tomorrow for questioning.
In Caesarea, where Haaretz estimated that about a thousand protesters gathered in front of Netanyahu’s private residence, demonstrators blocked traffic until they were forcibly dispersed by police.
Among those arrested was former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz, whom police lifted by his arms and feet, as other demonstrators shouted at the officers, "Aren’t you ashamed?"
Police also made arrests in Jerusalem, organizers said.
In Tel Aviv, the central protest dispersed around 10 p.m., though organizers said some thousands of people continued to demonstrate on Namir Road, where police put out a small bonfire.
Also on Namir Road, on which a yellow ribbon was painted with the words, "Thou shalt not abandon," cars burned in the October 7 attack were carried by other vehicles in a procession, covered in banners denouncing the government and calling for a hostage deal.
A similar convoy of burned cars paraded through Caesarea.
In Tel Aviv, protesters stopped at the junction of Namir Road and Pinkas Street, near the private residence of MK Gideon Sa’ar of the New Hope party, who is considering leaving the opposition and joining Netanyahu’s government.
Earlier Saturday, Sa’ar announced that he would not accept Netanyahu’s offer to become defense minister in place of Yoav Gallant, a move that the Hostage Families Forum hailed in a statement blasting the potential new addition to the cabinet.
Sa’ar, the statement said, "is among the opponents of the sacred obligation for a deal to return the hostages." A man like Sa’ar, it said, "cannot serve as Israel’s defense minister and cannot lead the Israel Defense Forces, whose entire ethos is based on mutual obligation and the imperative to leave nobody behind."
Protests were also held in Haifa, Beersheba, Rehovot, Hadera, Kfar Saba, Netanya, and numerous highway junctions across the country.
#2
Jack Kennedy Employed The Mafia In Bugging The Republican Dining Room In The Early ,1960s,! The Same Mob Recruited, Mob ,In Trying ,too,Kill Fidel Castro ,! The Mob ,Mafia, Knows Who Killed Kennedy !
The Portland "zombie" who bit off an elderly man's ear & part of his face was given a sweetheart deal by the office of @DAMike Schmidt. The former Oberlin College student could be out by next summer.
Koryn Kraemer, 27, a former Oberlin College student who bit off an elderly man's ear and part of his face in a gruesome "zombie" attack at a Portland, Ore. train station on Jan. 3, 2024, was sentenced to only three years and four months in prison in a sweetheart plea deal negotiated by the office of Soros-funded District Attorney Mike Schmidt. The 78-year-old victim later soon died of pneumonia.
Bath salts or schizophrenia?
A source with knowledge but who is not authorized to speak publicly told me that Kraemer had bits of his victim's flesh stuck in his long beard after he was arrested.
Kraemer, who was photographed with bloody lips and a smile after the attack, could be given early release by next summer. Schmidt allowed him to plead guilty to second-degree attempted assault.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The U.S. State Department is urging tourists to avoid visiting a Caribbean nation amid a state of emergency. "and don't bring your pets, neither"
A 'Level Four: Do Not Travel' advisory for Haiti has been in place since March due to the country's ongoing civil unrest, gang violence and riots.
But on September 18, the U.S. State Department updated the advisory with details about the risk of traveling - including kidnapping, mob violence and armed robberies.
They wrote: 'Kidnapping is widespread, and U.S. citizens have been victims and have been hurt or killed. Kidnappers may plan carefully or target victims at random, unplanned times. Kidnappers will even target and attack convoys.
'Kidnapping cases often involve ransom requests. Victims' families have paid thousands of dollars to rescue their family members.'
#1
Save the airfare, just go to Springfield and try the "meat on a stick" at the new open-air markets for a complete Port-au-Prince cultural experience.
[FoxNews] No press conferences. Puddinghead's not able to do one White House media coverage is being kept to a minimum as Biden hosts the world leaders at his former high school for a dinner and small event
President Biden is meeting privately with the three other world leaders that make up the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue at his Delaware estate.
The White House released statements acknowledging the arrival of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida already, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was spotted arriving at the home on Saturday.
The meetings are taking place in the president's hometown of Wilmington — an excessively private affair that has sparked outrage from the White House Correspondents' Association.
The foreign leaders are invited to a low-profile dinner on Saturday night hosted at Archmere Academy, the president's former school.
"These are personal relationships that mean a lot to him. And he believes personal relationships are important to foreign policy," White House national security spokesman John Kirby previously told the press.
The meeting is expected to be one of Biden's final summits with foreign leaders after he dropped out of the presidential election earlier this year.
Readdressing yesterday’s disputed article Senate candidate Sheehy's book appears to contain four plagiarized portions, which removes it from Home Front: Politics to Short Attention Span. Unfortunately, at this point in the election cycle the question is which is the least bad candidate? I have no idea here, but since I am voting party line this election, I would vote for the plagiarizer. Your mileage may differ.
— trailing wife for the moderators ar 10:50 a.m. ET
#4
Remember MA had no problem with reelecting a Kennedy after Chappaquiddick and a long record of womanizing. They have no morality. They exploit your sense to defeat you time and again.
#5
If this is true (from a political email suggesting donating to Sheehy), then my mind is clarified:
Jon Tester has voted for the Biden-Harris agenda 95% of the time and accepted more cash from lobbyists than ANY other member of Congress in either the House or the Senate.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/22/2024 14:53
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#6
Testicle is past his expiration date. Sheehy is likely a Murkowski type character. Used Saturn or a used FIAT? It’s a Haitian buffet.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2024 15:17
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#7
^A republican scum may still vote along party line - n'est-ce pas?
[FoxNews] Four people were killed and at least 18 others were wounded during a mass shooting in a popular nightlife district in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday night.
Two men and a woman were killed at the scene in the 2000 block of Magnolia Avenue in the Five Points South area near the University of Alabama at Birmingham, while a fourth victim died at the university's hospital, the Birmingham Police Department told Fox News Digital via email on Sunday morning.
Police responded to reports of gunfire shortly after 11 p.m., police said.
Police said it is unclear who the suspected gunmen were targeting in the shooting. No suspects have been taken into custody.
Streets have been blocked off in the area as police continue to investigate in the Five Points South area, which contains entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and is often crowded on Saturday nights.
#2
I lived near there in 1983. Within walking distance of my house. It was a great place and there were frequent events attended by multiple races. Everyone got along very well. I can only guess what has transpired since. Restaurants, shops, a church. Really beautiful.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/22/2024 12:38
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#3
"Diverse and Vibrant™"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024 15:11
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#4
Lack of scene pictures, names of the victims and no post-incident local news video of witness reporting tells you all you need to know about reportage bias!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024 17:22
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#9
^ Prolly not my Uncle Daddy
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024 17:24
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#10
"popular nightlife district"
Funny, I just heard that exact phrase listening to NPR on the drive back from town. After the national story played, the local newsreader tacked on the phrase "The shooting took place in a popular nightlife district." Just that, nothing more. Must be part of the media kit or something.
M1 Supply y/y growth weakest/sharpest drop in decades
Suggests 20% collapse in imports
RED FLAG FOR RED CHINA
The advantage of tracking container volumes is that we can bypass inflation and price distortions.
Simply put, on a container volume basis, Chinese imports are struggling: -7% y/y. Container throughput has fallen 20% in the last 2 years.
The Chinese economic miracle is fading. Unemployment is 5.3% in the cities and 17% among youth 17-24 years old (ex students). Goldman, Citi, JP Morgan are all expecting growth of <5%.
The housing sector is the point of focus. Housing asset values supported the consumer economy but prices have collapsed. The latest month: -7% y/y. The Chinese consumer won't spend until housing prices stabilize. The housing bubble must be reinflated. Lots of stats and graphs follow
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024
08:13 ||
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[11162 views]
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#1
I've been hoping to dance on the grave of the PRC for many years, in fact, ever since Gordon Chang's book "The Coming Collapse of China" came out in 2001.
always disappointed
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/22/2024 8:50
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#2
ZH has sung the same tune for years. Imports have decreased because they make their own copies. Dramatic increase in workers pay also. Increased housing production was to handle future growth. Belt road and other major projects in the works. China is not Japan.
#3
Turn on printing press is the worst thing China could do. Purchasing gold is what they are currently doing. The trap of inflation as seen in the western world is the result of excessive printing of money.
Believe it or not, it takes a lot for the blue-state diehards of the Big Apple to start paying attention to a conservative commentator.
But when Steven Crowder published a secretly recorded video, it cut right through the jugular of our political divides, exposing the open hatred we seem to all share for one type of villain.
This human nature is best explained by the poet Dante in The Inferno.
Past the heretics, far-beyond the gluttons and usurers, and even below the murderers and blasphemers, the eighth circle of hell is the realm of false prophets and hypocrites.
Today, Dr. Jay Varma finds himself bobbing alone on a raft on the River Styx.
I hope he is wearing his mask.
We now know that while dictating the rules altering the lives of millions of New Yorkers, Dr. Varma was violating those very same dictates on distancing, lockdowns and presumably masks, all while secretly partying at underground dance clubs and sex parties.
The reason for New Yorkers’ ire is simple.
There can only be two reasons for his duplicitous actions.
Option "A" is that Dr. Varma had some secret Covid potion or genetic elixir that made him impervious to even the most virulent of strains.
Delta, Omicron, Tri-Lambda?
No difference for his special immune system.
Though I doubt this is the case, I wouldn’t be the least surprised if he spun this yarn to impress the woman in the video.
Option "B" is the more likely answer.
Dr. Varma, the Covid Czar of New York, implemented draconian regulations that he felt either did little to protect humans from the virus, or that the risk of the virus from these actions was not as ominous as he publicly claimed.
For we peasants, the penalty for violating any of his rules could be the loss of our freedoms or livelihood.
For him?
Dance clubs.
Fast forward to 2024 and unfortunately for Dr. Varma, the societal drama of this period has not faded from memory.
Who can forget six-foot signs in city parks telling us to "keep this far apart" in closed playgrounds?
Who can forget struggling to find childcare so our kids can sit home and fumble through zoom school?
Who can forget that restaurant they used to go to that isn’t there anymore?
Who can forget the mass firings of city workers who refused to get the vaccine or the unconstitutional private sector mandate?
Who can forget the senior prom they never had?
Who can forget watching a relative die from afar?
Who can forget having to order ’Cuomo Chips’ with your beer?
Who can forget losing their job?
Few have let those memories slip, and now no one is going to forget the words of our hypocritical Covid Czar.
Certainly not the 9,000 city workers who were placed on unpaid leave, most of whom eventually took an untested and unproven vaccine against their free will.
Certainly not the hundreds of city workers who are still unemployed and involved in lawsuits to get their old jobs back.
Certainly not the 1,400 Northwell healthcare workers fired from their jobs.
Certainly not the owners and employees of the 5,000 businesses closed in Manhattan.
Certainly not the parents who see the learning loss in their children.
That final point leads us to what was the most egregious revelation in the video — the admission that Mayor de Blasio, and in effect Governor Cuomo, gave in to the teacher’s union in spite of the opinions of the Covid Czar and others.
Dr. Varma was well aware that "when your 8 or 9, kids can’t sit in front of a f-cking zoom all day" but chose to share his opinion only two years later to some honeypot he thought he was dating, rather than irk elected officials at the time who "need them for votes."
Now it seems he is really sorry.
Well, many of us aren’t going to accept that.
Because even after the emergency ended and the current mayor relaxed the rules, our holier-than-though former Czar took to the media to denounce the actions to end indoor vax rules, allowing city workers back, and the easing of school openings.
Gotham Gazette called him "one of the most prominent critics of Mayor Adams’ unwinding of pandemic-era health measures."
In 2022, he outrageously demanded we add new lockdown rules on nail salons!
So, is he really sorry?
I don’t think so.
As he admitted on the secret video, he was more concerned that he would be spotted, found out, and taken to task for his hypocrisy.
He was not then, nor is now, sorry for implementing the rules that affected the lives of millions that he knew to be unnecessary and overkill.
Dr. Varma owes us a very public accounting of his record.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024
07:55 ||
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[NY Post] Michael Goodwin Op-Ed
The good news trickled out quietly, and despite the huge significance, is not getting the attention it deserves.
The White House now believes it won’t get a cease-fire deal in Gaza before Joe Biden leaves office.
"No deal is imminent," a US official told The Wall Street Journal.
"I’m not sure it ever gets done."
Hold the tears — cue the celebrations.
No deal is the best deal available.
Israel and the entire civilized world are saved from the awful consequences of an American bid to appease evil in the name of peace.
And politics.
For months, Biden and Kamala Harris have tried to force Israel to accept fatally flawed terms with Hamas in Gaza and, by extension, Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Democrats are motivated by fear that anti-Israel voters in the upper Midwest, especially Muslim Americans in Michigan, will abandon the party.
The result has been a relentless pressure campaign against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, complete with attempts to undermine him politically at home and hamper Israel’s military by withholding munitions.
Recall that Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat in on cabinet meetings to dictate which targets Israel could attack.
The disgraceful effort, which included following the same playbook as anti-Israel mobs at the United Nations, prolonged the war and gave Hamas incentives to hold out for better deals.
EMBOLDENING HAMAS
Although some details remain unknown, the US was pushing for Israel to get back the remaining hostages abducted during the horrors of Oct. 7, some of them American citizens.
In exchange, it would release thousands of Palestinians arrested on terrorism charges.
Even worse, Hamas would have survived in some capacity, letting its leaders again plunder international aid, gain government control in Gaza and attack Israel again.
Even as Hamas kept upping its demands, Washington kept the heat on Israel.
Finally, Netanyahu spoke in the only language terrorists understand.
He rejected the Biden-Harris demand to halt Israel’s ground operation in Gaza and green-lighted last week’s sensational beepers-go-boom operation in Beirut.
Like a story line from "Fauda," the hit streaming series about Israeli secret agents, disrupting Hezbollah’s communications delivered a psychological blow in addition to killing scores of fighters and injuring several thousand others.
Netanyahu followed with attacks on Hezbollah rocket launching sites and the targeted killing of one of the group’s top leaders.
Given that the leader, Ibrahim Aqil, was a US-designated terrorist linked to the 1983 bombings of our Marines barracks and embassy in Beirut that killed nearly 400 people, most of them US citizens, the White House should be celebrating.
Aqil had a $7 million American bounty on his head, and if Biden had any sense, he would send the check to Israel with a big thank you.
Instead, watch for long faces in the Harris campaign now that it’s clear she won’t get the Michigan political benefit of a pre-election cease-fire.
Shattered, too, is Biden’s fantasy of getting a Nobel Peace Prize for forging a deal on a Palestinian state.
The weakest link in the offers the White House pushed was that Iran’s malignant role would have remained intact.
It finances and directs Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, yet its money and vow to eliminate Israel were virtually ignored in the talks.
OCT. 7 REALITY CHECK
No prime minister of Israel could accept that fact given Oct. 7 and the displacement of 60,000 Israelis in the north by Hezbollah shelling.
For the same reasons, a separate Palestinian state is a pipe dream.
Palestinians used their self-rule to turn Gaza into a terror state, and Israel would be suicidal to believe an Arab state that included the much-larger West Bank would be a peace-loving neighbor.
Indeed, the significance of Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah, which includes moving ground forces north, is the message that it will no longer tolerate the daily tit-for-tat exchange of fire.
By one count, Hezbollah has fired some 7,500 rockets at Israel since October, making much of northern Israel uninhabitable.
Unfortunately, giving Iran a pass has become routine during the Biden-Harris term.
Copying the delusions of the Obama-Biden administration, the White House still harbors fantasies that the mad mullahs can be coaxed into playing a constructive role on the global stage.
The facts prove otherwise.
In recent years, Iran has helped Syrian butcher Bashar al-Assad kill his own people and, through Hezbollah, taken over much of Lebanon.
It is supplying arms to Russia, including short-range ballistic missiles for use against Ukraine.
Yet Biden still acts as if Iran is not central to the coordinated attacks on Israel.
Since taking office, he and Harris have lifted sanctions on oil sales, yielding Tehran hundreds of billions of dollars, much of which goes to funding its terror proxies.
The White House also paid $6 billion for the release of five American hostages, and released five Iranian prisoners in a deal widely seen as rewarding the hostage takers.
Iran has also plotted to assassinate Trump and several of his foreign policy aides, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the FBI says.
The mullahs also hacked Trump’s campaign website and sent the contents to the Harris campaign, officials say.
That’s obvious election interference and illustrates that Iran wants Harris to win.
The reasons are obvious: Its leaders view Dems as a soft touch and believe their aim to wipe Israel off the map will make more progress under a Harris administration.
Trump has been saying as much, including in a speech last week where he warned: "If I don’t win, I believe Israel will be eradicated."
It seems like eons ago that his administration countered Iran’s export of terrorism by droning Quds force general Qasem Soleimani.
He also moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, making him enormously popular in the Jewish state.
Trump’s Mideast hope
The historic breakthrough of the Abraham Accords likely would have expanded to include Saudi Arabia had Trump been re-elected.
But the Saudis now say a Palestinian state is required before they recognize Israel, which could be a roadblock to more normalizations.
Meanwhile, Trump has made some cringe-worthy statements about American Jews and their support for Dems.
Because of Biden’s terrible Mideast policies, Trump has accused Jewish Dems of being disloyal to Israel, which is an odd charge given that antisemites often accuse Jews of being loyal only to Israel.
Then last week, after promising to be the best friend American Jews have ever had in the White House, Trump added that if he loses, "Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss."
Ironically, he said that at an event billed as "Fighting Antisemitism in America," leading to complaints he was actually stoking antisemitism with talk of blame and disloyalty.
The crude remark suggests a good rule of thumb for voters this year: Judge the candidates by what they have done, not what they say.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024
07:46 ||
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[NY Post] Federal authorities raided the home of NYPD Interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon on Friday — just over a week after his predecessor, Edward Caban, resigned following an FBI raid at his residence.
Donlon admitted to the search in a brief statement released by the department late Saturday night — saying that authorities "took materials that came into my possession 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department."
He added that the department would not be commenting further, as it’s not an NYPD matter.
Donlon, who was pulled out of retirement from his federal law enforcement career to be the city’s top cop, did not specify which federal agency searched his home.
Sources told the Post authorities are looking into whether he took classified documents while he was with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, The feds are sending a message to Mayor Eric Adams that "no one is safe," as several members of his administration and inner circle are under investigation, another source said.
"As we have repeatedly said, we expect all team members to fully comply with any law enforcement inquiry," City Hall spokesperson Fabian Levy said.
Adams tapped Donlon, an NYPD outsider, to take over as New York City’s interim commissioner on Sept. 12 after Caban, an NYPD vet of 30 years, abruptly resigned amid a federal investigation.
Electronic devices were seized by federal agents at Caban’s and other city officials’ home as part of what sources described as a sweeping corruption probe involving potential influence peddling.
Caban cited the media frenzy surrounding the investigation, as well as a probe into his twin brother, as a "distraction" for the department in his resignation letter.
Others in Adams’ inner circle who are also ensnared by the federal dragnet were Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, former NYPD official Tim Pearson, Schools Chancellor David Banks and their brother Terence Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.
On Friday, the city’s head of asylum seeker services Molly Schaefer was subpoenaed by federal authorities as part of the probe into Pearson.
Donlon, a Bronx native, boasts a long resume in law enforcement at the local, state, federal and international levels.
The 57-year-old previously served as New York’s director of the Office of Homeland Security, ran the FBI’s National Threat Assessment Center and the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force.
When he accepted the position as interim commissioner, Donlon vowed to "uphold the highest standards of integrity and transparency, and support our dedicated officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe."
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024
07:15 ||
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#1
If this is the same FBI we've seen for the past couple of years, you have to assume the intent is to kneecap the NYPD before the November riots.
#2
If the FBI was interested in arresting corrupt politicians they could take the elevator to the 7th floor. They could take the stairs if they need the cardio.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2024 15:09
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[Rooters] Boeing (BA.N) said on Friday the head of its troubled space and defense unit is leaving the company immediately, in the first management change under new CEO Kelly Ortberg.
Ortberg who took over in August said Ted Colbert would be leaving and Steve Parker, the unit's chief operating officer, would assume Colbert's responsibilities until a replacement is named at a later date.
"At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world," Ortberg wrote in an email to employees. "Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments."
#2
They can't can the commercial aircraft guy right now. It would look bad during the strike.
The actual problem really lies a couple of layers down, with the planning and control staff.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/22/2024 11:22
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#3
Defenestration -Wiki:"the action of dismissing someone from a position of power or authority."
Come January, it's a pity some of the windows in DC aren't a bit higher...
[X] This one shows a visibly uncomfortable, 15 year old Bieber being forced to spend 48 hours with Diddy—doing things "we really can’t disclose," Diddy says. The ghost of Michael Jackson
Meanwhile, Diddy is showering Bieber with gifts, such as a Lamborghini and a new mansion.
It’s so obvious what’s going on here. It’s blatant grøøming of Bieber, and I truly believe whatever Diddy did to him during those 48 hours led to Bieber falling off the deep end soon thereafter.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Ukrainian kamikaze drone strike reportedly struck Vladimir Putin's Satan-2 nuclear missile, prompting an apocalyptic explosion yesterday morning.
A secret ammunition silo facility at Toropets in Tver region that housed one of the Russian President's nuke missiles was hit by Ukrainian drone, it was claimed yesterday.
It allegedly happened just ten miles from an 'indestructible' 30,000 ton munitions storage site that had been obliterated on Wednesday.
A huge explosion was triggered when the 'Satan-2' missile was hit, causing locals to panic over fears of a Doomsday detonation.
The claim that the missile was destroyed came from a Russian Telegram channel and a news blackout intensified the rumour.
It was also claimed that another site, which is reported to house North Korean missiles supplied to Putin by Kim Jong Un, was hit.
Mushroom clouds and igniting shells lit up the night sky at this facility in the Russian town of Tikhoretsk in the Krasnodar region in a devastating pinpoint strike by Ukrainian kamikaze drones.
An unconfirmed report suggested hundreds of Russian troops may have been based at the 23rd GRAU arsenal in the village of Oktyabrsky in Tver region.
If so, their fate is unknown, but there were Russian fears of casualties at both exploded arms depots.
NASA satellite imagery indicated ongoing fires at the Tver region site, and there was disruption on a main railway line and evacuation of Staraya Toropa station.
'The number of fires is increasing every minute,' reported the Crimean Wind Telegram channel.
Russia claimed to have downed 101 kamikaze drones from Ukraine in overnight work by air defences.
The three hits in as many days are a significant blow to the Russian war effort.
Russian sources maintained their usual line that the strikes leading to sky-high fireball explosions were from debris of shot down drones, while most experts - including pro-war Moscow analysts - suspect direct hits.
Russian officials rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by Ukrainian attacks.
Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of Krasnodar region, wrote on his official Telegram channel that Tikhoretsk was 'subjected to a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime.
The detonation site is believed to be a base of military unit 57229-41.
#2
toropets is about 300 miles from Ukraine border
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/22/2024 8:38
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#3
Technical support is quite obvious. Return will be necessary Russian response. The Russian people will demand it. Putin has shown restraint but he will be forced to dramatically respond. This Ukrainian effort is worthless. This was the use of armchair elites running the show. They want war everywhere.
#4
Timing is everything. "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the White House next week and meet with both President Biden and Vice President Harris to discuss the state of the war against Russia." Give me more, more and if you don't it will be your fault we lose this war.
[GEO.TV] Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... on Saturday rejected another debate with Vice President Kamala Harris who got her start in politix between former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's' knees before the US presidential election, hours after the Democratic candidate's campaign said she had agreed to an Oct. 23 matchup with her Republican rival on CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... "Vice President Harris is ready for another opportunity to share a stage with Donald Trump, and she has accepted CNN's invitation to a debate on October 23. Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate," Jen O'Malley Dillon, the chair of the Harris campaign, said in a statement.
Trump stuck to his previous position that there would not be another debate before voters go to the polls in the Nov. 5 election.
"The problem with another debate is that it's just too late. Voting has already started," the former US president told supporters at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Harris and Trump debated each other for the first time on September 10, in a contest that polls showed she won.
Related from Sarah Hoyt immediately following the debate:
Last night in the PJM liveblogging, it was taken as fact that Kamala was winning because her team was already demanding another debate. This didn’t make much sense, except under “oh, she wants to rub his face on it” maybe. But even so–
It wasn’t till this morning the full stupid of this hit me.
So, Kamala managed not to Biden it on stage. Great.
And yes, she, personally, might be stupid enough not to realize how much help she had from the mods and likely from her little friend in her ear. And think it would be fun to do it again.
But Que Mala’s team isn’t Que Mala. I suspect they treat her about like Biden’s team treated him. And they’re the same people.
They know she’s not that great. And they know that in the primaries in 16 she imploded in the debates. They’ve been carefully keeping her away from any opportunities to interact with press or even the public. And please keep in mind they allowed BIDEN to mingle. So, this is their estimation of her intellect and ability.
And yet, despite a supposedly HUGE bump from the debate in the polls, a bump such as puts her out of reach…. She’s asking for another debate, and apparently pressing the point.
People! I raised children. The kid who follows the other going “I demand a rematch!” is not the winner. Ever.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2024
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[ZeroHedge] In recent years, particularly around mid-July (the peak of the Northern Hemisphere summer), there has been a noticeable surge in headlines featuring the "hottest day" ever on record in corporate media outlets - which is of course pushed by climate alarmist journalists citing questionable studies. This timing coincides with hot weather, so naturally, it's quite convincing to persuade readers that the world's oceans are boiling and planet Earth will ignite into a fireball unless drastic actions are taken - such as more climate taxes, 'carbon credits,' banning cow farts, prohibiting new petrol-powered vehicle sales by X date, and pushing spending bills to procure more solar panels from China, to save the planet.
The problem is that corporate media only focuses on recent history - and not "in context" (as they love to say). Context is particularly important when it comes to climate change - as their narrative collapses when looking at a long enough timeline.
To wit... a funny thing happened when the Washington Post tried to map out half a billion years of global temperatures and the "disaster of global warming" ...
WaPo journalists cited a new study about Earth's global surface temperatures over the last 485 million years. In 2023, Earth's average temperature reached 58.96 F (14.98 C), well below the average 96.8 degrees F (36 degrees Celsius) the study showed around 100 million years ago. The trend shows Earth's temperatures have been sliding for 50 million years.
A funny thing happened as the WaPo tried to map out half a billion years of global temperatures and the "disaster of global warming" pic.twitter.com/HA6yxpf9V7
Of course, all they can focus on is the most recent blip (supported, as astute readers know, by faulty data).
[A] growing chorus of climate scientists are saying the temperature readings are faulty and that the trillions of dollars pouring in are based on a problem that doesn’t exist.
More than 90 percent of NOAA’s temperature monitoring stations have a heat bias, according to Anthony Watts, a meteorologist, senior fellow for environment and climate at The Heartland Institute, author of climate website Watts Up With That, and director of a study that examined NOAA’s climate stations.
“And with that large of a number, over 90 percent, the methods that NOAA employs to try to reduce this don’t work because the bias is so overwhelming,” Mr. Watts told The Epoch Times.
“The few stations that are left that are not biased because they are, for example, outside of town in a field and are an agricultural research station that’s been around for 100 years ... their data gets completely swamped by the much larger set of biased data. There’s no way you can adjust that out.” -Epoch Times
Maybe, just maybe, the level of human-caused global warming doom porn pushed by the government, corporate media outlets, global NGOs, and far-left billionaires is not as apocalyptic as they make it sound.
Which of course means (and as we knew), all those idiot kids running around the West, throwing paint on private jets and artwork, and gluing their hands to highways, are doing it for nothing - and are indeed in a cult.
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
09/22/2024
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Worthless people looking for meaning in their lives.
#2
But it looks like the Original WaPo story, dated Sep 19, could draw no conclusions, just hinting it was more evidence of the dangers of climate change.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/22/2024 7:38
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#3
Don't confuse them with actual science, their brains will explode.
[AFRICANEWS] As torrential rains across Central and West Africa have unleashed the most catastrophic floods in decades, residents of Maiduguri, the capital of the fragile Nigerian state of Borno — which has been at the center of an Islamic extremists' insurgency — said they have seen it all.
The floods, which have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands across the region this year, have worsened existing humanitarian crises in the countries which have been impacted the most: Chad, Nigeria, Mali and Niger. Over four million people have been affected by flooding so far this year in West Africa, a threefold increase from last year, according to the U.N.
With rescue operations still underway, it is impossible to give an accurate count of lives lost in the water. So far, at least 230 were reported dead in Nigeria, 265 in Niger, 487 in Chad and 55 in Mali, which has seen the most catastrophic flooding since the 1960s.
While Africa is responsible for a small fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it is among the regions most vulnerable to extreme weather events, the World Meteorological Organization said earlier this month. In sub-Saharan Africa, the cost of adapting to extreme weather events is estimated between $30-50 billion annually over the next decade, the report said. It warned that up to 118 million Africans could be impacted by extreme weather by 2030.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2024
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[AFRICANEWS] As Somalia advances in its journey towards self-reliance and sustainability in national security, the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) remains critical. Their impact on local communities and national armed forces is devastating: in the last 12 months, about 600 IEDs resulted in about 1,500 casualties throughout the country.
The Somali National Army (SNA), with support from the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Mine Action Service (UNMAS), has been leading the fight against the persistent threat posed by IEDs.
''I think everyone in the room knows how serious this threat is. The primary targets are your fellow soldiers in the SNA. It's crucially important that a solution be found to address this threat,'' said the UN Acting Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia, James Swan.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of a month-long 'train-the-trainer' course aimed at enhancing the SNA's capabilities in countering IEDs.
Many of the guests at the training launch experienced first-hand the perils faced by soldiers.
''We encountered numerous dangers, including enemy blockades and remote-controlled IEDs. We lost many comrades,'' recalled Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mohamud Awale from his many years of operational experience in the Hiraan and Galgaduud regions.
Another official, Colonel Faisal Ali Noor, shared a vivid memory of tragic IED incidents.
''At times, IEDs detonated while we were digging, resulting in casualties. Due to our limited knowledge, we even resorted to lighting fires to defuse the IEDs, which led to further fatalities,'' he explained.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2024
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[GEO.TV] Palestinians said an Israeli strike killed at least 22 people in a school sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza City on Saturday, while the Israeli military said the attack targeted a Hamas command centre.
The Hamas Gaza health ministry said most of those killed were women and children.
The media office said 13 children, including a three-month-old baby, and six women were among the dead.
The hospital may go out of service in ''less than 10 days'' as a result of depleted ''quantities of oil and generator spare parts''.
Situation poses a threat of ''a real humanitarian disaster'' for more than one million residents in central Gaza under fire by Israeli forces.
The hospital has been operating on generators for a year without pause during the continuing war.
World Health Organization, Red Cross, and other international organisations are urged to ''immediately and urgently'' address the hospital's deteriorating conditions.
The Israel Defense Forces carried out an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on Saturday against a group of Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... operatives at a command room embedded within a former school in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , the military said, in an attack that reportedly killed more than 20 people.
Hamas was using the al-Falah School in the Zeitoun neighborhood to plan and carry out attacks against IDF troops and against Israel, the military said. The school, inactive amid the war, had also been serving as a shelter for displaced Gazooks.
According to the Gaza civil defense agency and health ministry — both run by Hamas — 21 people were killed in the strike.
"Civil Defense crews recovered 21 people, including 13 children and six women," one of whom was pregnant, agency front man Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
There were "around 30 injured, including nine children [needing] limb amputations, as a result of an Israeli bombing on al-Zeitoun School C" in Gaza City, he said.
To mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, the IDF said it carried out "many steps," including using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
"The Hamas terror organization systematically violates international law, brutally exploiting civilian institutions and the population as a human shield for terror activity," the military added.
It said the target was "embedded inside" the al-Falah School, adjacent to the al-Zeitoun School buildings. An AFP news hound at the scene confirmed that al-Zeitoun School C had been hit.
Witnesses told AFP that before the strike, orphans had gathered there because they were due to receive sponsorship from a local NGO for humanitarian assistance.
Human shields, forbidden under the Geneva Conventions. Any harm to them is laid at the feet of those hiding behind them, in accordance with international law.
The IDF has repeatedly hit Hamas operatives at schools, civilian shelters and hospitals, frequently drawing international condemnation. The military says it is doing so because terror operatives regularly hide behind civilians, and argues that it takes pains to avoid harm to innocents.
Earlier Saturday, the military said the Israeli Air Force carried out some 20 airstrikes during the previous day. The strikes targeted buildings used by the Hamas and its operatives, the IDF said.
In another recent airstrike, the IDF said Saturday that it had killed Muhammad Mansour, a prominent Hamas intelligence officer who the military described as a "significant source of technological knowledge in Hamas’s military intelligence."
Separately, the military released footage Saturday showing dronezaps in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip against button men who had attempted to loot a humanitarian aid convoy. The footage showed the button men climbing onto the trucks carrying humanitarian aid as they drove on a designated route.
The IDF said the button men were spotted by troops, who directed a dronezap against them as they tried to flee in a car. Another gunman was killed while trying to flee the scene.
The IDF has said Hamas operatives frequently try to hijack aid deliveries before they can be distributed to civilians.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, a separate incident on Saturday saw an Israeli airstrike hit a warehouse in a "densely populated" area of southern Gaza, killing "three ministry of health personnel and a passer-by" and injuring six others.
"The warehouse was directly targeted with several missiles while doctors and staff were performing their duties, preparing to transport the medicines stored there to hospitals under the ministry of health that are facing severe shortages of medicines and supplies," a statement said.
The war has badly battered Gaza’s health sector, and the World Health Organization said earlier this month that only 17 of its 36 hospitals were partially functional.
All those hospitals were doing fine on October 6th. Next time don’t start a war with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2024
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#1
The war has badly battered Gaza’s health sector, and the World Health Organization said earlier this month that only 17 of its 36 hospitals were partially functional.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Divers who are exploring the wreckage of the luxury yacht Bayesian that sank off the coast of Sicily have called on the Italian authorities to ensure the protection of the safes found on the vessel, as they believe that they contain classified information. This was reported on September 21 by the CNN television channel.
"Experts have requested increased security measures to protect the vessel over concerns that confidential data locked in its safes could be of interest to foreign governments," the publication says.
The vessel is at a depth of 50 m. An official involved in the plans to raise the yacht told reporters on condition of anonymity that the vessel contains two watertight safes containing two highly encrypted hard drives containing highly classified information, including passwords and other sensitive data.
Survivors told the prosecutor that Michael Lynch, a British millionaire and founder of computer security company Darktrace who was on the yacht, did not trust cloud services. He always kept his data disks in a secure compartment on the yacht.
Initially, there was concern that thieves would try to get to the wreckage of the yacht to steal valuables. Now there are fears that foreign intelligence services will take an interest in the vessel.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the yacht Bayesian was wrecked during a storm. There were 12 passengers and 10 crew members on board. Nine crew members and six passengers managed to escape. A criminal case was opened in connection with the disaster.
A total of five bodies were found, including those of Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] During the past day, 217 combat clashes were recorded along the entire front line.
by Ivanna Kapustyanska
The 941st day of large-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has begun. During the past day, 217 combat clashes were recorded along the entire front line.
This is stated in the summary of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to detailed information, yesterday the enemy launched five missile strikes on the positions of Ukrainian units and populated areas, using six missiles, 73 air strikes, using 108 anti-aircraft missiles. In addition, he fired 5,300 shots, 215 of them from MLRS.
The aggressor carried out airstrikes, in particular in the areas of Yastrubyne, Iskryskivshchyna, Khotyn, Pavlivka settlements of the Sumy region; Oleksandropil, Staromlynivka, Bogoyavlenka, Chasiv Yar, Ivanivske, Kalynivka, Bila Gora, Toretsk and Kleban-Byk of the Donetsk region; Novodarivka and Pyatikhatky, Zaporizhzhia region.
Over the past day, the aviation and missile forces and artillery of the Defense Forces made eight strikes against concentrations of enemy manpower, two control points, one anti-aircraft defense device and seven artillery systems of the occupiers were hit.
In the Kharkiv direction, there were three enemy attacks in the Vovchansk region.
According to detailed information in the Kupyan direction , the occupiers carried out 19 attacks during the day. The defense forces stopped all enemy assaults in the areas of Stepova Novoselivka, Synkivka, Stelmakhivka, Kruglyakivka and Lozova settlements.
In the Lymansky direction, our troops repelled ten attacks by invaders near Cherneshchyna, Grekivka, Druzhelyubivka, Novosadovo, Terni and Zarichny. The main efforts of the enemy were directed towards Nevsky, where he carried out eight more attacks.
On the Siverskyi direction, the Defense Forces of Ukraine repulsed one assault near Vyimka.
With the support of aviation in the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy tried nine times to break through the defenses in the Chasovoy Yar, Kalynyvka, Ivanivskyi and Bila Hora areas.
The enemy launched nine attacks near the settlements of Dachne, Toretsk and Shcherbynivka in the Toretsk direction .
Our defenders repelled 36 enemy assaults in the Pokrovsky direction of varying intensity in the areas of Zelene Pole, Marynivka, Krasniy Yar, Vozdvizhenka, Novotoretsk, Myrolyubivka, Grodivka, Chervone, Selidove and Novogrodivka settlements.
The defense forces repelled enemy attacks in the Kurakhiv direction in the areas of Tsukuryne, Zhelanne Pershe, Georgiyivka, Hirnyk, Dalnye, Oleksandrivka, Katerynivka, and Kostyantynivka, where the occupiers tried to break through the defenses of our troops 58 times. The enemy was most active near Georgiyivka, carrying out 21 assaults in one day.
With the support of aviation, the aggressor attacked Ukrainian positions in the areas of Vugledar, Prechistivka, Novodarivka and Bogoyavlenka 18 times in the Vremivsk direction .
In the Orihiv direction, six combat clashes took place near Mala Tokmachka, Lobkovo and Novodanilivka.
Three attacks by the occupiers were unsuccessful in the Dnieper direction.
On the Volyn and Poliske directions, the operational situation has not changed significantly. No signs of formation of enemy offensive groups were detected.
In the Kursk region, since the beginning of the past day, enemy aviation has carried out 22 airstrikes, dropping 25 guided air bombs on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Our soldiers continue to actively inflict losses in manpower and equipment on the invading troops, exhaust the enemy along the entire line of battle and in the deep rear.
In general, Ukrainian defenders neutralized 1,440 Russian invaders in the last day. Also, the enemy lost 21 tanks, 38 armored fighting vehicles, 58 artillery systems, 4 anti-aircraft guns, 92 operational-tactical level unmanned aerial vehicles, 68 vehicles and 10 units of special equipment.
[IsraelTimes] Green Party candidate, who is Jewish, leads among Muslim voters in swing states of Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin amid anger at Democrats for support of Israel in war against Hamas.
Hezbollah fired at least 10 missiles at northern towns and cities in the Jezreel Valley late Saturday night, marking the terror group’s deepest rocket fire into Israel since the beginning of the war in October, as Israel Defense Forces jets carried out a series of strikes in southern Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... throughout the afternoon and evening.
The IDF said the majority of the 10 rockets fired from Lebanon were intercepted by air defenses, and that it was investigating at least one rocket impact in the area. One man in his 60s was very lightly injured by shrapnel following an interception, according to medics.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the barrage, claiming to have targeted the Israeli Air Force’s Ramat David Airbase, located some 50 kilometers from the Lebanon border.
Earlier on Saturday night, the IDF carried out a wave of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against some 110 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including rocket launchers, with the army saying it had identified preparations by the terror group to launch major rocket attacks against Israel.
The strikes came after several waves of attacks on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon earlier in the day, which the IDF said hit some 290 Hezbollah targets, including rocket launchers and other facilities.
In all, thousands of rocket launcher barrels were hit in the strikes, the IDF said, while vowing to continue striking Hezbollah to "dismantle and degrade" Hezbollah’s capabilities.
The latest Israel strikes came after fighter jets struck some 180 targets in southern Lebanon on Saturday afternoon, taking out thousands of rocket launcher barrels that were primed for imminent attacks on Israel, according to the IDF.
At the same time, officials issued new restrictions on residents of the Haifa area and northward as the country braced for the possibility of an imminent large-scale assault by the Lebanese terror group after it suffered heavy blows in multiple attacks in recent days.
Over the course of the day, the IDF struck more than 400 Hezbollah rocket launchers, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday evening in a presser.
Some 100 rockets were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel on Saturday, according to the IDF. Hezbollah grabbed credit for the attacks.
Hezbollah has named 502 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 79 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
502 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 79 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians
[GEO.TV] Pakistain's polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set. Currently the disease is only found in Pakistain and Afghanistain... virus tally for the ongoing year has reached 21 after Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) reported its first case whereas two more children were detected with the disease in Sindh and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... The latest cases were confirmed after the diagnosis of the disease in a 15-month-old boy in Balochistan's Killa Abdullah, a three-year-old boy in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
's Keamari district and a nine-month-old girl in KP's Mohmand district.
Poliovirus primarily affects children under the age of five years, who are malnourished or have weak immunity because of being under-vaccinated or not vaccinated for polio and other childhood diseases.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Russian Ministry of Defense has declassified documents testifying to the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and Estonian fascists in the occupied Estonian SSR. The relevant documents are presented in the historical section “Liberated Tallinn was Drowned in Flowers,” dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Tallinn.
Were the Estonians truly better off after being liberated, or only differently tormented?
"The Omaskaitse units carried out the main repressive work. The murders of children, old people, women, torture and abuse of civilians largely lie with these units," says the statement accompanying the report of the political department of the Leningrad Front on the activities of the Estonian fascist organization Omaskaitse.
Also on the territory of the occupied Estonian SSR there were concentration camps, where the slave labor of prisoners of war, political prisoners and Jews was used, mass shootings and executions were carried out. Most of them died at the hands of guards, among whom were ethnic Estonians.
One of the concentration camps was located in the area of the village of Klooga, 30 kilometers from Tallinn. The concentration camp held about 2 thousand Jews.
"On the morning of September 19 of this year, a special SS or Gestapo team of 60 Germans arrived at the camp and during the day shot more than 1,600 people - men, women and children of Jewish nationality. No more than 80 people were accidentally saved from death," the special report of the NKVD of the Estonian SSR says.
In addition, the Russian Ministry of Defense presented documents showing that the Nazi occupiers did not hesitate to conduct vile and false propaganda among Estonians, in which they intimidated the local population with the arrival of the Red Army.
The capital of the Estonian SSR was liberated on September 22, 1944, during the Baltic Strategic Offensive Operation by troops of the Leningrad Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov, with the support of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and the 13th Air Army.
#3
Murder of the Jews of the Baltic States The day after the German invasion of the Soviet Union and even before the Germans arrived at the major Jewish settlements, murderous riots perpetrated by the Lithuanians broke out against the Jews . At the encouragement of the Germans, the riots continued and thousands of Jews were murdered.
[JPost] These are the first alarms that have been activated in Afula for more than 9 months, according to Israeli media. The IDF detected 10 launches.
Hezbollah sent rockets into the Jezreel Valley at around 01:10 am on Sunday morning, with alerts in and around Haifa, Nazareth, Afula and the lower Galilee. At 2am, Army Radio announced that Israel was striking southern Lebanon in response.
Army radio and KAN reported that Hezbollah specifically targeted the Ramat David base near Haifa for the first time in the war. Hezbollah confirmed this on Telegram, saying they had targeted the Ramat David base and airport in response to IAF strikes in Beirut which killed some of its top commanders.
The IDF confirmed that ten missiles were launched. Most were intercepted, but they announced that a fall was detected in the area.
Social media reported falls in Moshav Sde Ya'akov, and a fire breaking out as a result of a fall in Kfar Baruch, which was later confirmed by Israeli outlets. Emek Jezreel regional council said one fall was detected in the area and there was minor damage to property.
According to KAN, a rocket fell in Nazareth, and a large fire broke out elsewhere in the city. MDA reported that a 60 year old man was slightly wounded by shrapnel in the Lower Galilee.
Israel Police urged the public to stay away from rocket shrapnel or fragments, as they may contain explosive material.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024
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#1
Two houses were hit in Kiryat Bialik following a fourth wave of rocket attacks from Lebanon into Israel on Sunday morning, according to Israeli media.Three people sustained light injuries, Magen David Adom (MDA) reported, and fires have broken out in the area.
[SUDANTRIBUNE] A cargo plane landed at Nyala airport in Sudan's South Darfur region early on Saturday, two sources in the city told Sudan Tribune, raising questions about who was operating the flight and its purpose.
The western region has been under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since conflict broke out across Sudan in April between the RSF and the army.
The plane, a Russian-built Ilyushin IL-76, landed at around 3:10 a.m. (0010 GMT) and remained on the ground for about an hour and 15 minutes, one of the sources said.
It was unclear who operated the plane or what cargo it was carrying.
The Sudanese army has previously accused the United Arab Emirates of sending military aid to the RSF via Nyala airport, a charge the UAE has denied.
The army regularly bombs what it says are RSF targets in Nyala, and residents have reported numerous civilian casualties from air strikes.
Sudan Tribune could not independently verify the details of the reported plane landing.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2024
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[IsraelTimes] Only 39% of respondents in Strip now say assault on southern Israel that sparked war was correct move, though in West Bank 64% still think terror group made the right call.
Next time figure that out before your lords and masters drag you nose-deep into the swamp and get lost. Now y’all are stuck until they surrender to the hated Zionist Entity. Think of this as a teachable Annus Horribilis, to be burnt on your heart in letters of flaming poo.
#4
The grand lesson of the twentieth century was about wars being started by the party that eventually lost.
That would imply that the reasoning for going to war was BS. Maybe you shouldn't have started this $hit.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/22/2024 11:14
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#5
Regret - you mean they regret the decision. Good. Plenty more regret to come.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/22/2024 11:33
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#6
What is it with the regrets? When your leaders bring martyrdom nearer and thus paradise, should hoot not rejoice?
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 20:43 Russians have struck Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region - two people were killed, including a 12-year-old child, two more were wounded, including a four-year-old child, the head of the OVA, Serhiy Lysak, reported. The enemy used a kamikaze drone to strike a car with people in it.
20:16 Zelensky praised the Defense Forces in an evening video address for striking Russian ammunition depots and emphasized that "we are doing this thanks to our capabilities, our weapons - without the means that our partners can provide and which can significantly speed up the end of this war by destroying Russia's offensive potential."
18:23 Russians carried out airstrikes with KABs on Sumy - according to preliminary information, one person was wounded, OVA reported.
17:41 The damage as a result of Russia’s appropriation of Ukrainian grain has reached more than 30 billion hryvnia, and this figure is not final, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
16:08 SBU drones hit the Shaikovka airfield in the Kaluga region tonight, Ukrainian media reported, citing sources. The strike targeted the infrastructure of the airfield, where TU-22M strategic aviation aircraft are deployed, which regularly shell Ukraine.
15:55 The General Staff confirmed that the Defense Forces have hit two military arsenals of the Russian Armed Forces. One of them, the Tikhoretsk arsenal in Krasnodar Krai, is one of the three largest ammunition storage bases in the Russian Federation and is one of the key ones in the logistics system of the Russian troops. According to available information, at the time of the strike, another train was on the territory of the arsenal, which delivered at least 2,000 tons of ammunition, including from the DPRK. The Podlet radar station, which detected air targets in the direction of the arsenal, was also attacked.
In addition, the SBU struck the 23rd arsenal of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry near the settlement of Oktyabrsky in the Tver Region.
Fires and detonations are recorded in the areas of both military arsenals.
15:32 The Russians are preparing strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities on the eve of winter, said Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha: "We are talking about open switchgear of nuclear power plants and transmission substations, which are critical for the safe operation of nuclear energy. Damage to these installations creates a high risk of a nuclear incident with global consequences." According to the head of the Foreign Ministry, this information has already been received by Ukraine's partners, including the IAEA. Sybiha also called on the IAEA to speed up the expansion of missions to Ukrainian nuclear facilities.
11:31 In the Krasnodar region, the 719th artillery ammunition base near Tikhoretsk, where the Russians were transporting ammunition from the DPRK, was attacked at night, Defense Express writes. The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Andrey Kovalenko, said that North Korean KN23s, as well as artillery and ammunition for Smerch missiles, were stored at the warehouse in the Tikhoretsk region of the Russian Federation.
11:24 Zelensky denied information from The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine's losses in the war allegedly amount to 80 thousand soldiers: "80 thousand? That's a lie. The real figure is much smaller than the one that was published. Substantially."
11:16 Zelensky signed a law increasing the budget by UAH 500 billion for military needs. Total state budget expenditures will amount to UAH 3 trillion 737 billion, revenues - UAH 1 trillion 911 billion.
09:32 In Donetsk region on September 20, 17 people were wounded as a result of Russian shelling: five in Konstantinovka, three in Andreevka, two each in Druzhkovka, Bogoyavlents and Novoukrainka, one each in Toretsk, Mirnograd and Selidovo, reported the head of the OVA Vadim Filashkin.
09:23 In the Kherson region, over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, two people were killed and seven were injured, reported the head of the OVA, Oleksandr Prokudin.
09:17 Air defense destroyed 11 out of 16 Shahed-type attack UAVs at night. Another five drones were lost due to EW countermeasures, the Air Force reported. All five Kh-59/69 guided air missiles were also destroyed. In addition, the enemy attacked the Dnipropetrovsk region with four Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles. Air defense was active in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Sumy, Poltava, Odessa and Nikolaev regions.
09:01 Late in the evening of September 20, Russians shelled Kharkov, reported the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov. In the Kholodnogorsk district, private houses were damaged, seven people were injured, including three children from ten to 17 years old. Another four people were injured in the Shevchenkivsky district, the building of the regional hospital and a hotel were damaged.
08:36 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of September 21:
personnel - about 640,920 (+1440) people,
tanks - 8746 (+21),
combat armored vehicles - 17,170 (+38),
artillery systems - 18,270 (+58),
MLRS - 1193 (+4),
air defense systems - 949 (+0),
aircraft - 369 (+0),
helicopters - 328 (+0),
Operational-tactical level UAVs - 15,561 (+92),
cruise missiles - 2593 (+0),
ships/boats - 28 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 24,966 (+68),
special equipment - 3125 (+10).
08:13 At night, drones again attacked an ammunition depot near Toropets in the Tver region. According to the Russian opposition publication Astra, the 23rd arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate in the village of Oktyabrsky was attacked. NASA satellites also recorded a fire on the territory of almost the entire 23rd arsenal of the GRAU in the Tver region. Tver Region Governor Igor Rudenya said that UAVs were shot down in the southwest of the region.
Another ammunition depot has been attacked in the village of Kamenny in the Tikhoretsky District of the Krasnodar Territory. Residents of the village are being evacuated, there is a fire and detonation at the site. The governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Veniamin Kondratyev, said that the Tikhoretsky District was attacked, two drones were suppressed by air defense and electronic warfare forces, "due to the fall of debris from one of them, a fire broke out, which spread to explosive objects, and a detonation began."
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 101 drones overnight: 53 over the Bryansk region, 18 over the Krasnodar region, five over the Kaluga region, three each over the Tver and Belgorod regions, one each over the Smolensk, Kursk regions and Crimea, and 16 drones over the waters of the Sea of Azov.
07:38 Russians attacked Krivoy Rog at night - three people were killed, including a 12-year-old child, and three more were wounded. More than 20 residential buildings were damaged, two were destroyed, reported the head of the OVA, Serhiy Lysak. In addition, one person was wounded as a result of enemy shelling of the Nikopol district.
03:20 The new package of military aid to Ukraine may include Joint Standoff Weapon (AGM-154) medium-range cruise bombs for F-16 aircraft. The announcement of the new package worth $375 million is expected on Monday, September 23, Politico reports. The package also includes artillery ammunition, rockets, and air defense missiles.
00:29 The Times reports, citing sources, that the US and UK will likely grant Ukraine permission to strike Russian territory with Storm Shadow missiles next week, but it will be non-public so that Russia is not warned of possible attacks. According to the newspaper, the US is holding off on granting such permission until it sees the victory plan that Zelensky wants to present to Biden during a meeting next week.
00:12 As a result of the Ukrainian drone strike on an ammunition depot in Toropets, Tver Oblast, Russia lost a stockpile of ammunition designed to last two to three months, said Ants Kiviselg, head of the Estonian Defense Forces Intelligence Center. According to him, about 750,000 rounds of ammunition weighing 30,000 tons were destroyed. On average, Russia spends about 10,000 rounds of ammunition weekly, Kiviselg noted: "This was a stockpile for two to three months. In the coming weeks, we will see the consequences of these losses at the front."
Article Linked Is Available Only Via VPN.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have carried out a group strike with precision-guided weapons and strike drones, as a result of which the following have been hit: power facilities that supported the work of enterprises of the Ukrainian defence industry, UAV production workshops, and positions of AFU manpower, weaponry, and materiel.
The goal of the strike has been achieved. All assigned targets were engaged.
In Liptsy and Volchansk directions, the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of the 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 113th Territorial Defence Brigade near Liptsy, Volchansk, and Volchanskiye Khutora (Kharkov region) and the city of Kharkov.
Three counter-attacks launched by an assault detachment of the AFU 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade, 71st Jaeger Brigade were repelled.
The enemy lost up to 135 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, two 152mm D-20 guns, and two 122mm D-30 howitzers.
The Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the 14th, 43rd, 44th, 54th, 66th Mechanised brigades of the AFU, 110th, 117th, 125th Territorial Defence brigades, 1st National Guard Brigade near Petropavlovka, Zagryzovo, Izyumskoye, Vishnyovoye, Kolesnikovka, Kovsharovka (Kharkov region), Nevskoye, Novoyegorovka (Lugansk People's Republic), and Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The Russian units repelled two counter-attacks of 116th Mechanised Brigade and 3rd Assault Brigade of the AFU. The AFU losses amounted to up to 435 troops, for tanks, two U.S.-made M113 APCs, five motor vehicles, two U.S.-made 155mm M-777 and two U.S.-made 155mm M-198 howitzers, two 152mm D-20 guns, and a 122mm D-30 howitzer. One U.S.-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar and seven field ammunition depots were destroyed.
The Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions as well as inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 24th, 28th, 30th, 54th, 93rd Mechanised brigades, 56th, 59th Motorised Infantry brigades, 144th Infantry Brigade, 81st Airmobile Brigade, 10th, 128th Mountain Assault brigades, and 114th Territorial Defence Brigade near Seversk, Kramatorsk, Serebryanka, Verkhnekamenskoye, Chasov Yar, Predtechino, Belaya Gora, Ostroye, Kurakhovo, and Katerinonka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses are up to 840 troops, two tanks, two Kozak armoured fighting vehicles, 22 motor vehicles, four UK-made 155mm FH-70 howitzers, a U.S.-made 155mm M-777 howitzer, a 152mm D-20 gun, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, and a U.S.-made 105mm M-119 gun. Russian units destroyed three Anklav-N EW stations.
The Tsentr Group of Forces continued advancing to the depth of the enemy's defences and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the 23rd, 31st, 150th Mechanised brigades, 144th Infantry Brigade, 46th Airmobile Brigade, 95th Air Assault Brigade, 78th Air Assault Regiment of the AFU, 109th, 112th, 119th Territorial Defence brigades, 14th, 15th brigades of the National Guard, and 3rd Border Security detachment near Pokrovsk, Dimitrov, Grodovka, Krutoy Yar, Selidovo, Ukrainsk, and Gornyak (Donetsk People's Republic).
The Russian units repelled nine counter-attacks of 100th Mechanised Brigade, 68th Jaeger Brigade, 25th Airborne Brigade, 425th Assault Battalion of the AFU, 2nd, 12th brigades, and 5th Regiment of the National Guard. The Ukrainian formations losses are up to 520 troops, two pickups, two 152mm Msta-B howitzers, four 122mm D-30 howitzers, a 100mm Rapira anti-tank gun, as well as U.S.-made a MaxxPro armoured fighting vehicle, a 155mm M-777 howitzer, and a 105mm M-119 gun. One AFU field ammunition depot was destroyed.
The Vostok Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line and engaged formations of 72nd Mechanised Brigade, 58th Motorised Infantry Brigade of the AFU, 105th, 241st Territorial Defence brigades, 21st National Guard Brigade near Ugledar, Novoukrainka, Zolotaya Niva, Velikaya Novosyolka (Donetsk People's Republic), and Novodarovka (Zaporozhye region).
The enemy losses amounted to up to 160 troops, an armoured fighting vehicle, two motor vehicles, two French-made 155mm Caesar howitzers, a 152mm D-20 gun, and an EW station.
The Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware 141st Infantry Brigade of the AFU, 37th Naval Infantry Brigade, 124th Territorial Defence Brigade, and 3rd National Guard Brigade near Nesteryanka, Pyatikhatki, Kamenskoye (Zaporozhye region), and Antonovka (Kherson region).
The enemy lost up to 60 troops and four motor vehicles. One AFU field ammunition depot was destroyed.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces destroyed two missile and artillery ammunition depots, a cargo ship carrying missiles and ammunition provided to the Kiev regime by the West states, as well as clusters of manpower and materiel in 153 areas.
Air defence units shot down six Neptune long-range missiles, three French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, ten U.S.-made HIMARS rockets, and 177 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, 646 airplanes and 283 helicopters, 31,983 unmanned aerial vehicles, 579 air defence missile systems, 18,317 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,457 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 14,963 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 26,328 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:00 Ukrainian Armed Forces militants launched several strikes on the territory of the Kakhovka District
Ukrainian militants sent four UAVs to the territory of Malokakhovka. As a result of the attack, the drone damaged the roof of a residential building, said the head of the Kakhovka district Pavlo Filipchuk.
In addition, three attacks from the Ukrainian Armed Forces were recorded in Lyubimovka in the morning. The militants used mortar rounds in the areas of summer cottages. Kakhovka was also subjected to artillery attack throughout the day.
19:50 Artillery strikes and subsequent “FAB” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in a forest plantation near the village of Plekhovo, south of Sudzha –video.
19:23 Kursk direction, Korenevsky district: assault on the Kalinnik tract near Lyubimovka.
Footage of the work of our paratroopers during the assault on the Kalinnik tract, where the enemy had concentrated serious forces: three 120mm mortar crews, three UAV crews (10 people in total) and about 30 infantry.
18:45 Artillerymen of the "North" group in the Khar'kov region destroyed self-propelled artillery unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Aerial reconnaissance by one of the units of the North group of forces in the Khar'kov region discovered a firing position of a self-propelled artillery unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The artillery was immediately directed with the help of the UAV. During the counter-battery battle, the self-propelled gun of the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants was destroyed along with its ammunition by a direct hit.
17:55 RF Armed Forces erected flag over Nevsky in the Krasnolimansky direction.
17:45 The armored group of Ussuri tigers is “working” on enemy strongholds in the Kursk direction –video.
17:00 Snipers of the "Southern" group of troops intercepted rotation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk direction.
Reconnaissance revealed hidden firing points of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. One of the sniper units was tasked to move to a designated square and destroy the enemy. As soon as the enemy attempted to rotate personnel, the snipers worked from a distance of 400 meters and destroyed the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants with precise shots.
16:49 UAV calculation of the Dnepr group of troops revealed and destroyed the Plastun electronic intelligence station of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the right bank of the Dnieper.
The soldiers work in pairs. The first number prepares the attack drone for launch, and the second carries out reconnaissance using a quadcopter. After the FPV drone is launched, the second number corrects the attack UAV's flight for precise targeting.
16:08 An explosion occurred in the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine, the Ukrainian publication "Public. News" reported.
15:54 Russian helicopters Ka-52M struck Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel and armored vehicles in the Kursk border area, targets were destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
15:30 Advance of assault units of the Russian Armed Forces in the central part of the settlement of Makeyevka –map.
15:20 Ukrainian media reported that the Russian Armed Forces have hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv-controlled Slovyansk. It is claimed that the territory of the Boiler and Mechanical Plant has been hit
14:45 Footage of work from the Kornet ATGM on the M2A2 ODS-SA Bradley BPM in the Pokrovsky direction.
14:40 FPV drone operator of the Russian Sever group destroyed in the Kursk region, a combat armored vehicle of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
14:05 Application of RBK-500 ammunition at Ukrainian army strongholds to the west and southwest of Yuzhnodonbasskaya No. 3.
13:52 Mi-28n struck enemy equipment. Army aviation is systematically "mowing down" the hidden armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
13:14 Explosions occurred in the Kyiv-controlled city of Kherson, the Ukrainian publication "Public. News" reported.
12:55 Hit by FPV drone on a pickup truck with Ukrainian infantry, in the area of the village of Lyubimovka, Kursk region.
12:17 Summary of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the progress of the special military operation (as of September 21, 2024):
Tonight, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike with high-precision weapons and strike unmanned aerial vehicles on energy facilities that ensure the operation of enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, workshops for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles, and locations of personnel, weapons, and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The strike's objectives were achieved. All designated objects were hit.
Units of the North group of forces in the Liptsov and Volchansk directions defeated the formations of the 36th Naval Infantry Brigade and the 113th Territorial Defense Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Liptsy, Volchansk, Volchanskie Khutor in the Khar'kov region and the city of Khar'kov. They repelled three attacks by assault groups of the 57th Motorized Infantry and 71st Jaeger Brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The West group of forces improved the tactical situation, inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the 14th, 43rd, 44th, 54th, 66th Mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the 110th, 117th, 125th Territorial Defense brigades and the 1st National Guard Brigade in the areas of the populated areas of Petrovpavlivka, Zagryzovo, Izyumskoye, Vishnevoye, Kolesnikovka, Kovsharovka in the Khar'kov region, Nevskoye, Novoyegorovka in the Luhansk People's Republic and Torskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic.
Units of the "Southern" group of forces occupied more advantageous lines and positions, inflicted defeat on the formations of the 24th, 28th, 30th, 54th, 93rd Mechanized, 56th, 59th Motorized Infantry, 144th Infantry, 81st Airmobile, 10th, 128th mountain assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 114th Territorial Defense Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Seversk, Kramatorsk, Serebryanka, Verkhnekamenskoye, Chasov Yar, Predtechino, Belaya Gora, Ostroe, Kurakhovo and Katerinovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The servicemen of the "Center" group of forces continued to advance deep into the enemy's defense, inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the 23rd, 31st, 150th Mechanized, 144th Infantry, 46th Airmobile, 95th Airborne Assault brigades, 78th Airborne Assault Regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 109th, 112th, 119th Territorial Defense brigades, 14th, 15th brigades of the National Guard and the 3rd border detachment of the Border Service of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Dzerzhinsk, Nelepovka, Pokrovsk, Dimitrov, Grodovka, Krutoy Yar, Selidovo, Ukrainsk and Gornyak of the Donetsk People's Republic.
Units of the "East" group of forces improved their position along the front line, defeated the formations of the 72nd Mechanized, 58th Motorized Infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 105th, 241st territorial defense brigades and the 21st National Guard brigade in the areas of the settlements of Ugledar, Novoukrainka, Zolotaya Niva, Velyka Novosyolka of the Donetsk People's Republic and Novodarovka of the Zaporizhia region.
Fighters of the Dnepr group of forces inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the 141st Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 37th Marine Brigade, the 124th Territorial Defense Brigade and the 3rd National Guard Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Nesteryanka, Pyatikhatki, Kamenskoye in the Zaporizhia region and Antonovka in the Kherson region.
Operational-tactical aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of the groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed two warehouses of missile and artillery weapons, damaged a dry cargo ship with missiles and ammunition supplied to the Kyiv regime by Western countries, as well as concentrations of enemy manpower and military equipment in 153 districts.
Air defense systems shot down six long-range Neptune guided missiles, three French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, 10 US-made HIMARS rockets, and 177 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.
12:00 Soldiers of the 18th Army calculated on the right bank of the Kherson region, a communications center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and later “destroyed” it with precise strikes.
11:52 The central part of Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk) came under the control of the Russian army, including the building of the former executive committee of the city.
11:46 According to operational data, Selidovskaya correctional colony No. 82 has come under the control of Russian forces.
11:40 Russian troops entered Nevskoe in the Liman direction. Nevskoe and Novolyubovka are the two remaining settlements in the Luhansk region under Ukrainian control.
10:49 The Tsukurino-Selidovo highway is physically cut off by Russian troops. The Russian Armed Forces have taken control of school number 17 in Gornyak, as well as the further advance of our troops along the Zhukovsky-Vatutina quarter.
10:44 The calculation of the FPV-drones-kamikaze strike of the Dnepr group of troops was successfully applied in the Kherson direction, new attack drones with new frequencies "deceived" the electronic warfare of the Ukrainian army and destroyed the strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper
10:31 Russian Armed Forces advanced near Tsukurino and Nikolaevka in Donetsk Oblast and Makeyevka in Luhansk Oblast, - Ukrainian resources.
09:52 Kurakhovskoye direction: Russian Armed Forces are advancing towards Tsukurino –map.
09:33 The Ukrainian Armed Forces have left their positions near the village of Andreyevka in the Artemivsk direction, the security forces reported. They added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to gain a foothold on the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal.
09:05 Special forces of the "Vostok" group discovered and destroyed the enemy's camouflaged SPG at the Ugledar dachas.
08:54 Russian Aerospace Forces are actively artillery attack enemy positions in the Khar'kov region with FABs
On frames: The Russian Aerospace Forces "razed to the ground" the location of Ukrainian Nazis from the 115th TPO brigade, which was set up in the village of Senkovo in the Khar'kov region.
08:11 Destruction of M-198 VSU:
The strike and reconnaissance division of the 238th Artillery Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces detected and destroyed a Ukrainian M198 gun near the settlement of Dalneye. The target was hit using a Lancet X-51 UAV in support of the offensive of the 20th Motorized Rifle Division. A precise strike on the enemy position resulted in the destruction of the American gun and the enemy crew.
08:07 The Ukrainian militants' 122mm 2S1 "Carnation" was "blown to pieces" after a Russian drone strike. Footage from the Ugledar direction was published by the Ministry of Defense.
08:00 Su-34 crewhiton the accumulation of manpower and armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of the Kursk region
The strike was carried out using aerial bombs with a universal planning and correction module.
[AFRICANEWS] A show of force designed to project power. But don't nobody answer the phone!
Iran's armed forces have held a parade annually since 1980. But this year's event takes on special importance and symbolism given the high tensions in the region prompted by Israel's war on Gaza
During the parade, Tehran displayed its latest missiles and drones, including the Shahed 136B drone and the Fattah hypersonic missile. "Now with MOAR ISLAM!"
An older version of the Shahed drone has been reportedly used by Russia during its war with Ukraine.
President Masoud Pezeshkian appealed for unity in his address to the crowds.
"If we are united, if we join hands, Israel the usurper will not be able to commit the crimes it's committing now in the region," said Pezeshkian.
"No evil (country) has the courage to even harbour the idea of invading our soil in their mind," Pezeshkian added.
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[SUDANTRIBUNE] Artillery shelling by Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... ’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed four people and injured dozens in the city of Omdurman on Saturday, the health ministry said.
The shelling hit several neighbourhoods in the Karari district, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the corpse count could rise as some of the maimed were at death's door.
The shelling "extended to several neighbourhoods, where shells fell," it said, confirming the deaths and injuries.
Shells also struck the Omdurman Technical School in al-Thawra, currently sheltering hundreds of displaced people. Four people bit the dust in the attack..
A health ministry front man said the casualties did not include those who may have died before reaching hospitals.
The RSF and the Sudanese army have been locked in a power struggle since April 2023, triggering a conflict that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
The two sides regularly exchange artillery fire in Omdurman, the army, from its positions north of Omdurman, and the RSF, from Khartoum Bahri across the Nile.
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[GEO.TV] Sri Lanka's Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayaka took an early lead in Saturday's presidential election during the counting of postal ballots, official results showed.
Dissanayaka had 60.21% of the 164,000 votes counted, out of just over 700,000. Public servants involved in conducting the election are entitled to post their ballots, which are the first to be counted.
About 76% of the 17.1 million person electorate turned out for Saturday's vote, and final results are expected later Sunday.
The election has turned into a referendum on incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe's austerity measures, implemented in line with a $2.9 billion bailout loan he secured from the IMF early last year.
The 55-year-old Dissanayaka had vowed to renegotiate the unpopular IMF agreement under which Wickremesinghe had doubled income taxes, removed energy subsidies and raised prices.
The initial results showed opposition leader Sajith Premadasa had 19.98, almost neck-and-neck with Wickremesinghe who had 18.59%.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A fair and sustainable settlement of the Ukrainian conflict is impossible without taking into account Russia's interests. This was stated on September 21 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
"Without Russia and taking its interests into account, it is impossible to achieve a fair and sustainable settlement. However, Kiev and the West do not think about peace. They need war," Zakharova's words are quoted on the MFA website.
She noted that Russian representatives do not intend to participate in any meetings within the framework of the so-called “Bürgenstock process,” since this has nothing to do with the settlement.
The diplomat pointed out that this is yet another manifestation of fraud by the Anglo-Saxons and their Ukrainian puppets, since the so-called second summit is pursuing the goal of pushing through the unviable “Zelensky formula” as an uncontested basis for resolving the conflict and, on behalf of the world majority, presenting Russia with an ultimatum to capitulate.
"We will not participate in such "summits". But we do not reject the political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis, we are ready to discuss truly serious proposals that take into account the situation "on the ground", - added Zakharova.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on September 20, Zelensky, during a speech at a conference with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Kiev, stated his desire to end the conflict with the Russian Federation. To do this, it is necessary to strengthen Ukraine as much as possible and hold a second “peace” summit, he added.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly noted that they are ready for a peaceful resolution of the situation in Ukraine, provided that all the demands set before the start of the special military operation are met, as well as provided that the new territorial realities are recognized.
On September 20, State Duma Defense Committee member Viktor Zavarzin said that Russia would not negotiate a settlement to the conflict on the terms of the Kiev regime. The deputy recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin had already outlined the terms.
Putin said on June 14 that Russia was ready to resume negotiations on Ukraine, but first the Ukrainian Armed Forces must withdraw from the territory of the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. He promised to stop the fighting as soon as the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops begins and Kiev announces its refusal to join NATO.
On September 6, Putin once again confirmed Russia's readiness for dialogue if Ukraine shows a desire in deeds, not in words, but first it is necessary to dislodge the Ukrainian Armed Forces formations that have invaded the border areas of the Kursk region. He also recalled that the government in Ukraine is currently illegitimate, since Zelensky's presidential term has ended, and he canceled the elections, citing martial law.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Russian-Chinese naval exercises "Beibu/Interaction - 2024" began in the Pacific Fleet (PF) in Vladivostok. This was reported on September 21 by the Pacific Fleet Information Support Department. Sounds like fun. May much that is useful be learnt by all involved.
A joint detachment of warships set out to sea from the city's port.
“Before the detachment of warships from the two countries left the base, a ceremonial formation of the crews took place, at which the senior officers from each side announced the start of the bilateral exercise,” the Pacific Fleet said.
The military events in the Sea of Japan will last a week. During this period, they will practice repelling an attack by a simulated enemy from the air, water and underwater, joint maneuvering and defense when moored in an unprotected roadstead. The ships' crews will have to perform artillery fire and a set of combat exercises, using anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons.
The Russian side is represented in the exercises by the anti-submarine ships Admiral Panteleyev and Admiral Tributs, the small anti-submarine ships MPK-82 and MPK-107, and the small missile ship Smerch. The People's Liberation Army Navy of China is sending the destroyers Xining and Wuxi, the frigate Lin Yi, and the comprehensive supply ship Taihu to participate in the training. No word on who will provide the salvage tows
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on July 13, Russian and Chinese ships in the Philippine Sea conducted practical artillery and simulated missile firing at sea targets. The corvette Sovershenny of the Russian Pacific Fleet and a detachment of PLA Navy warships, which included the destroyer Yinchuan, the frigate Hengshui and the universal supply transport Weishanhu, participated in the training on the use of standard systems.
On July 8, the corvettes Rezkiy and Gromkiy left Vladivostok to conduct joint exercises in the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the exercises, the ships were to conduct a number of activities in the Asia-Pacific region, including searching for and destroying submarines of a simulated enemy.
[ZeroHedge] In the days and weeks leading up to January 6, the nation's highest-ranking military officer, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley,
…for a general he went to the right schools, ticked the right career boxes, and looks good in a uniform. Unfortunately, nobody required reality-based insight of him, so he never thought to question the assumptions of his class — and so moved himself from patriot to effectively a traitor…
was moving in lockstep with the political anxieties of top Democratic leaders.
These Democrats grew anxious as over 140 House Republicans planned to contest the election results during the electoral college certification that day. Milley was then deeply engaged with a circle of confidants including
... his Chinese counterparts…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, among others—all of whom shared a unified disdain for President Donald Trump.
At a House Oversight Committee hearing in April addressing the 3-hour and 19-minute delay in mobilizing the D.C. National Guard on January 6, Colonel Earl Matthews, one of four Department of Defense witnesses, testified about an “irrational” fear among a “clique” of senior military officers concerning the potential misuse of the National Guard by the president. He indicated that these concerns were influenced behind the scenes by Milley, who often made disparaging remarks about the president and regularly referred to his fear of a so-called potential “Reichstag moment.”
Meanwhile, Milley has insisted he maintained a posture of strict neutrality, vocally distancing his leadership of the military from the political turmoil surrounding the 2020 presidential election. "My job is to stay clean by ensuring that the uniformed military remains out of domestic politics," Milley stated during his testimony before the January 6 Select Committee. "The United States military has no role in domestic politics, period, full stop."
Nevertheless, accounts of Milley’s approach to the unfolding situation during the late days of the Trump administration, as detailed in Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker's I Alone Can Fix It and Susan Glasser and Peter Baker’s August 2022 report in The New Yorker, present a picture of Milley that is much different from the disinterested persona he has disingenuously cultivated.
Some excerpts follow:
Considering resigning in the summer of 2020 during the height of the George Floyd riots, Milley ultimately decided against it. “Fuck that shit,” he told his staff, “I’ll just fight him.” Despite assurances to confidants that he would never openly defy the president—a move he considered illegal—he was “determined to plant flags.” Milley envisioned a scenario involving either a declaration of martial law or a presidential invocation of the Insurrection Act with “Trumpian Brown Shirts fomenting violence.”
Embodying a self-styled narrative of heroic defiance, Milley was prepared to face severe consequences to counter what he perceived as a grave threat. “If they want to court-martial me or put me in prison, have at it,” Milley told his staff, “but I will fight from the inside.”
Milley saw himself as “tasked” with safeguarding “against Trump and his people” from potentially misusing the military, something he confided in a “trusted confidant” to ensure he remained true to this plan. “I have four tasks from now until the twentieth of January,” he affirmed, “and I’m going to accomplish my mission.”
MILLEY’S COHORT OF CONFIDANTS
I Alone Can Fix It highlights how Milley, as the joint session approached and more than 140 House Republicans were pledged to contest the election results, shared his anxiety with “senior leaders” in Congress who sought his “comfort” amid fears of “attempted coups.” The New Yorker’s August 2022 report further reveals Milley’s communications with key Democrats, specifically Pelosi and Schumer.
Additionally, the New Yorker report describes Milley’s continued outreach to "Democrats close to Biden," which included “regular” interactions with Susan Rice, former Obama national security advisor. Known for her role in helping to orchestrate the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, Rice’s expertise in activities aimed at undermining the former president raises this question: What was it about her that made Milley want to seek her guidance in the days leading up to January 6?
The report also references Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense during both the Obama and Bush administrations, as another key figure in Milley’s circle of confidants. Gates reportedly advised Milley to remain in the Pentagon as long as possible, citing President Trump’s “increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior.” I Alone Can Fix It also depicts Gates as a mentor to Milley, urging him not to resign during the final months of the Trump administration. He’s quoted advising Milley, “Don’t quit. Steel your back. It’s not going to be easy, but you’re the right guy in the right place and at the right time.”
LIZ CHENEY AND MILLEY’S “NIGHTMARE SCENARIOS”
During Trump’s final months in office, the New Yorker report notes that Milley had two “nightmare scenarios” running through his mind: One was that Trump might spark an external crisis, such as a war with Iran, to divert attention or to create a pretext for a power grab at home, and the other was that Trump would manufacture a domestic crisis to justify ordering the military into the streets to prevent the transfer of power.
On December 26, 2020, the two “nightmare scenarios” then preoccupying Milley transitioned from his personal concerns to the public domain in a column by Washington Post reporter David Ignatius—a journalist with close ties to both (you guessed it) the Obama and Bush administrations.
#1
Milley envisioned a scenario involving either a declaration of martial law or a presidential invocation of the Insurrection Act with “Trumpian Brown Shirts fomenting violence.”
It was the Donk street anarchists arm of Antifa and BLM that was in full insurrection. The only Brown Shirts were in your imagination.
If they want to court-martial me or put me in prison, have at it
If they allow Trump to return, you should be so treated.
[Breitbart] A study by the Manhattan Institute’s Daniel Di Martino finds that mass deportation of the millions of unskilled, uneducated migrants who have flooded this country thanks to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s disastrous border policies would greatly improve the national deficit.
In his study, titled “The Lifetime Fiscal Impact of Immigrants,” Di Martino found that the onslaught of Biden’s unskilled, uneducated migrants is a net loss to the U.S taxpayer, costing up to $130,000 per migrant over the migrant’s lifetime should they choose to stay in the U.S.A., he explained in an op-ed published by Fox News on Friday.
Illegal aliens that came here before the recent Biden waves are an even greater drain on America, imposing a net cost of $196,000 per migrant on the U.S. taxpayer.
Di Martino went on to explain that the reason his analysis differs so sharply from the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) claims, which state that migrants will reduce the budget deficit by $900 billion, is because the CBO does not bother to add up all the welfare and freebies that migrants receive, all of which are paid for by taxpayers and which seriously impact the deficit.
“The immigration status quo is a threat to America’s national interest. Most recent immigrants have entered unvetted and illegally and are likely to cost taxpayers trillions of dollars in the long run,” Di Martino wrote.
Di Martino does not call for an end to immigration, though, and noted his analysis found that importing more educated, white-collar migrants into the U.S., will actually have a positive impact on the deficit.
The researcher said the U.S. could reduce the deficit by $150 billion after just one year of being more selective in the criteria for allowing migrants to enter the country and another $25 billion a year for many years afterward. But leaving the door wide open for millions of poor, uneducated, and unskilled migrants is a disastrous policy.
Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would move to greatly increase the number of deportations if he were to retake the White House. Early this year he even said he would authorize the National Guard to help man an expanded deportation system.
The former president’s ideas on deportation are very popular with voters, too. In June a poll found that a strong majority of 62 percent support an increase in deportation of illegal border crossers, and another poll that same month found the number favoring deportation was even higher. And in August, half of respondents of another study illegal migration is a “critical threat” to the U.S.A.
As to Trump’s plan to initiate mass deportations of unskilled, uneducated — and often dangerous — illegals, Di Martino says it would absolutely not be the disaster Trump’s critics claim it would be.
“I looked at whether the mass deportation program promised by former President Donald Trump would be the disaster that its critics claim,” Di Martino wrote in his op-ed. “My study shows that mass deportations would actually reduce the debt over the long run by over $1 trillion. But again, selectivity is better: Were a mass deportation policy combined with legalization of college-educated Dreamers, the U.S. could potentially reduce the federal debt by $1.9 trillion — nearly doubling its savings.”
What percent of the college-educated Dreamers studied something useful instead of X Studies? Because the latter are marching around with the Hamas-loving Antifa, screaming about burning it all down and killing the JewsIsrael the Jews just like their native-born siblings-in-arms.
Di Martino concluded, “As the federal debt keeps rising toward unsustainable levels and the border stays wide open, America cannot afford to ignore the fiscal consequences of immigration.”
It seems to me the primary criteria we should want in immigrants are that they are law-abiding, hard-working, and love the idea of America. It’s the criminals who are expensive, and those who want to be supported in the style to which they demand to be accustomed. The law-biding educated who come here only because they will have a better lifestyle than they would back home, but sneer at what they think of as American vulgarity? We grow enough of our own of that — we don’t need to import it like Canada does.
[Breitbart] Federal authorities subpoenaed the director of New York City’s services for asylum seekers on Friday as part of an investigation into one of Mayor Eric Adams’ (D) senior aides, the New York Post reported.
The feds served NYC Office of Asylum Seeker Operations Director Molly Schaeffer at her Brooklyn residence, law enforcement sources revealed to the outlet. According to insiders with knowledge of the incident, the subpoena is related to the probe of Timothy Pearson, a senior adviser to Adams on public safety.
Pearson, a retired NYPD inspector, was one of multiple members of the Adams administration who had their homes raided and devices seized by the FBI in early September, Spectrum News reported.
Questions have arisen regarding Pearson’s interest in city contracts after he allegedly said to a colleague, “Do you know how these contracts work? People are doing very well on these contracts. I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs?” "Texas state troopers encountered 36 illegal immigrants near the southern border Friday, including a group from Turkey who said they each paid $12,000 to cross illegally in an effort to meet a "sponsor" in New Jersey, authorities said."
The official oversees security deals for migrant shelters and “may have allegedly interfered with picking contractors in exchange for illegal kickbacks,” the Post said of claims from sources.
Adams confirmed that Pearson oversaw certain contracts, including ones related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We asked him to go in and look in, and we saved hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the costs, everything from security contracts to other contracts,” the mayor said Tuesday, according to Spectrum.
Schaeffer told the Post that she was not raided but did not deny that federal investigators went to her home in a Friday phone call before “hanging up abruptly.”
When asked about the subpoena, Deputy Mayor of Communication Fabien Levy said, “We have repeatedly said we expect all team members to fully comply with any ongoing inquiry.”
“Molly Schaeffer is an integral part of our team and works hard every day to deliver for New Yorkers,” he added.
Pearson is also facing four lawsuits for sexual harassment and retaliation.
“Tim Pearson used City Hall as his own personal tinder to sexually harass women and try to have sex with them, and when they refuse[d] his sexual advances he would retaliate and essentially end their careers,” said the alleged victims’ attorney, John Scola.
[FoxNews] He urged caution with the Pentagon's demands for budget increases
After nearly four decades of military service, it was one small task that pushed Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., to the brink and brought an abrupt end to a long, successful career.
"I kind of slowly saw it coming," the Pennsylvania Republican told Fox News Digital in an interview. He was talking about a trend toward progressivism that he saw as antithetical to a military that was designed to strip soldiers of their individual wants and needs and rebuild them into one fighting force.
"The culminating point for me is when my boss came to me and said, ‘You're going to be in charge of enforcing the gender reassignment policy in the command,’" he said.
"The military is an organization where you take orders," Perry said. "So, I decided that that was an order I wasn't willing to take. And so I told my boss that I was going to be retiring.
"At that point, the military no longer reflected my value, sad to say, and I just didn't want to be a part of it… Kind of the low point for me about what I was doing there, why I was there."
In another instance, Perry, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Intel Committee, said he was given a sheet on which to rate his fellow officers’ performance.
"I kind of slowly saw it coming," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital about progressive policies in the military.
"Over the course of my tenure, it came to a point where you had room for about one sentence to talk about the officers' war-fighting functions, because the whole rest of the space was filled up with things like, 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' sexual harassment, equal opportunity," he explained.
"The military is designed to be lethal, and it's about lethality and readiness. And it was clear to me that we had long since left that focus."
Perry, 62, retired from the Army National Guard in 2019 as a brigadier general after 39 years of service. A fighter pilot by craft, he'd commanded units through deployments to Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Iraq. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2013.
The congressman said he believes he is not unique in leaving due to a politically charged environment. "Many, many good members were just leaving because they no longer, I think, felt like the military reflected their values," Perry said.
Recruitment issues in recent years have led to the smallest U.S. fighting force since before World War II.
"They act like they don't know what the problem is, but to me, it's as clear as the nose on my face," he said. "For a lot of people, the military was the great equalizer of societal differences."
This week was the House’s "woke week," where Republicans passed party-line messaging bills that would root out such ideologies within corporations and industries. It came amid a failed continuing resolution (CR) that left no clear path forward to funding the government beyond Sept. 30.
[NY Post] "I'm Tom Bodett Bob, and your IT specialist as well"
A hotel operator based in India is buying a classic piece of Americana — budget motel chain Motel 6.
Oravel Stays, the parent company of global travel technology company Oyo, will pay current owner Blackstone $525 million for franchisor G6 Hospitality and its Motel 6 and Studio 6 extended-stay brands, the New York-based investment firm said.
Blackstone purchased G6 in 2012 for $1.9 billion and it has since generated “over $1 billion in profit,” Rob Harper, head of Blackstone Real Estate Asset Management Americas said in a news release.
Sounds like Blackstone milked the business.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024
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#1
Blackstone is a non public company so who know what the numbers really are.
For a while they held the LaQuinta chain. I think they still own the Hilton chain.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/22/2024 0:23
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#2
Blackstone pawned all the hotel lobby pictures of Eisenhower and Carter and probably replaced all the copper pipes with plastic…. Time to sell.
Price of 525million seems low for a company that made a billion over the last 12 years.
#5
Trump winning signals the looming end to subsidized "slum-lords-r-us" level housing for immigrants, and the deferred maintenance overhang will be catastrophic, so take the low-ball and dump now!
[GEO.TV] Pakistan and China have agreed to strengthen strategic cooperation in key areas, including counter-terrorism efforts, cross-border cooperation, and measures to combat smuggling.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and a high-level Chinese delegation led by the Minister for Political and Legal Affairs, Chen Mingguo, in Islamabad.
The Chinese delegation included Xinjiang's Deputy Secretary of the Committee of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs, the Executive Director General of Police, and the Vice President of the Xinjiang Police Academy.
During the meeting, both sides agreed to conduct joint police and paramilitary exercises in Gilgit-Baltistan or Xinjiang, with GB police officers set to train at the Xinjiang Police Academy.
In this regard, a Pakistani delegation, led by the Federal Secretary of Interior, will soon visit Xinjiang to enhance cooperation.
It was also agreed that comprehensive measures would be taken against terrorism, which is a global issue. Speaking on the occasion, Naqvi said that Xinjiang province is of vital importance for Pakistan in its relations with China.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2024
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[11153 views]
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#1
A goat strengthening collaboration with a dragon?
[LegalInsurrection] A single Israeli airstrike on Friday eliminated the entire command structure of the terror group Hezbollah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) disclosed in a press statement Saturday. This is undoubtedly the most devastating blow to the Iran-sponsored terrorist militia in its 40-year history.
On Friday afternoon, Israeli fighter jets targeted an “underground” terrorist hideout “in the heart of Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut,” the IDF revealed.
The prime target of the strike was Ibrahim Aqil, head of Hezbollah’s terrorist operations and mastermind of the deadly 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine Barracks in Beirut.
Apart from Aqil, the airstrike killed 15 other commanders of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force and several other terror operatives, thereby taking out the entire leadership structure of Hezbollah’s terrorist fighting force, an infographic posted by the IDF on X shows.
Hezbollah’s military chain of command has been almost completely dismantled after a dozen significant terrorists including Ibrahim Aqil were eliminated yesterday.
We will continue operating against any terrorist organization that poses a threat to our civilians on all fronts. pic.twitter.com/F2Ewyx4WdL
“IAF jets, guided by the Intelligence Directorate, targeted and eliminated Ibrahim Aqil, head of operations and commander of the Radwan Force of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, during a meeting with Radwan Force commanders in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Saturday. “Additionally, 15 other Hezbollah terrorists were eliminated in the strike, including senior commanders in the Radwan Force chain of command.”
“Among the terrorists eliminated, was Abu Hassan Samir, who served as the head of the Radwan Force training unit. He held various positions within the terrorist organization and was commander of the Radwan Force for a decade until early 2024,” the Israeli military disclosed in a press release Saturday.
Hezbollah announced this morning the Death of Two more Officers that were Killed in yesterday’s Precision Strike by the Israeli Air Force on the Suburbs of Beirut; meaning that since Monday, Hezbollah has Lost at least 60 Officers and Fighters, as well as a Senior Leader of the… pic.twitter.com/EfqyAkY7O9
… a Senior Leader of the Organization. This is likely the Worst Week for the Terrorist Organization since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, with 500 Hezbollah Terrorists having now been Eliminated since October, and 12% of those Losses were sustained just this Week.
The slain Hezbollah “commanders had been leading and planning the Radwan Force’s attack and infiltration plan into Israeli territory for years, to be executed when given the order,” the IDF statement revealed. “Additionally, senior officials in the organization and within the Radwan Force headquarters were eliminated.”
They were also responsible for relentless rocket and drone attacks that forced tens of thousands of residents in northern Israel to flee their homes since October 7. “Aqil and the commanders eliminated in the strike were responsible for planning, advancing, and executing hundreds of terrorist operations against Israel, including the planning of Hezbollah’s murderous scheme to raid the communities of the Galilee,” the IDF said.
Following the October 7 massacre, Hezbollah –in a bid to back Hamas — fired more than 8,000 rockets on towns and cities across northern Israel. The terrorist strikes killed dozens of Israeli civilians, including 12 children, at a soccer field in the Golan Heights.
Friday’s precise and devastating strike leaves Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah lonely at the helm of a hollowed-out terrorist organization. The strike came a day after Hezbollah suffered two deadly waves of pager and walkie talkie blasts that decimated the rank and file of the Shia-Jihadist group. in late July, an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed Hezbollah’s ‘number 2’ terrorist Fuad Shukr.
The Iran-backed group said Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi led the military operations of its elite Radwan Force in support of Hamas between October 7 when the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel, triggering the Gaza war, and the start of this year.
The Israeli military said that its air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday eliminated Radwan Force chief Ibrahim Aqil and several other commanders.
Death toll from Israeli strike on Beirut rises to 37
[GEO.TV] The death toll from an Israeli air strike targeting Hezbollah military commanders in Beirut's southern suburbs has risen to 37, Lebanon's health ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry statement added that rubble was still being removed from the site of Friday afternoon's strike.
Other top Radwan Force commanders killed in the strike are identified by the IDF as: Hassan Hussein, commander of special forces in the Aziz regional division; Samer Halawi, commander of the coastal region; Abbas Moslemani, commander of the Qana region; Abdullah Hijazi, commander of the Ramim Ridge region; Muhammad Reda, commander of the Khiam region; Hassan Madi, commander of the Mount Dov region; Hassan Abd al-Satar, head of operations; Hussein Hadraj, chief of staff; Mohammad al-Attar, commander of the training department; and Mahmoud Hamad, a senior operations officer.
"These commanders had been leading and planning the Radwan Force’s attack and infiltration plan into Israeli territory for years, to be executed when given the order," the military said. "Aqil and the commanders eliminated in the strike were responsible for planning, advancing, and executing hundreds of terrorist operations against Israel, including the planning of Hezbollah’s murderous scheme to raid the communities of the Galilee."
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the overall toll from the strike had risen to 37, including three children and several women. Abiad said emergency services worked "through the night" to recover dead and maimed from the debris, adding that the "residential building collapsed on top of occupants" after the Israeli attack.
Abiad told news hounds 68 people were also maimed, of whom 15 remained in hospital, adding that search and rescue operations were still ongoing, with the number of casualties likely to rise. Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie told news hounds at the scene that 23 people are still missing.
Following the strike, Hezbollah appointed senior officers Ali Karaki and Talal Hamia to jointly lead the terror group’s operations division following the killing of Aqil, the Saudi news outlet al-Hadath reported.
Both officers already sit on the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s top military body. Karaki is the head of Hezbollah’s southern command, responsible for the terror group’s military activity in south Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... , and Hamia is the head of Hezbollah’s Unit 910, the terror group’s foreign operations unit, responsible for attacks abroad.
The Jihad Council was believed to have had seven members, although now it was down to five following the killings of Aqil and Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s military chief, who was killed in July.
[Breitbart] I can’t imagine half a percent will be enough to make a difference to the voters — but anything financial is not what I’m good at. Still, one wonders why the Fed waited so long…
#1
They're Democrats. They buy votes. It's all they know.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/22/2024 7:31
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#2
Too late to make an appreciable improvement in the economy before the election, and Kamala's tax on "unrealized gains" will destroy 401Ks, IRAs.
Still and all, expect to hear MSM happy talk about her hand in greatly improving the economy before November 5th
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024 7:36
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#3
Like giving a diabetic a Pepsi.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2024 14:37
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#4
/\ Too late to make an appreciable improvement in the economy before the election, and Kamala's tax on "unrealized gains" will destroy 401Ks, IRAs.
Unrealized Income Gain taxes will make 401K's and home equity a distant memory. "You didn't actually build that" portfolio. The Deep State has been planning to seize these assets for decades.
Thousands of new IRS processing agents will be required to calculate the Unrealized Income updates and changes.
#5
We pay unrealized gains taxes now. They are called property taxes.
If this hair-brained idea comes to fruition, you will see a massive stock market sell off. Probably an everything sell off if investors must sell to pay the taxes.
Remember: the federal income tax (thanks to Thomas Woodrow Wilson) was only supposed to be for "the rich". Uh-huh.
An elderly widow let out screams of anguish during the sentencing of a couple whose dogs mauled her husband to death and left her seriously injured.
Juanita Najera wept as she told a court in San Antonio, Texas, of her devastation since the loss of 81-year-old veteran Ramon Najera.
Najera was savaged last year by a pack of dogs including two pit bulls which belonged to Christian Moreno and his wife Abilene Schnieder. The pair were jailed for a total of 33 years Friday.
'You both took a big part of my life away. You took my better half away. I feel that you're serving what you deserve for the crime you committed,' his wife sobbed.
The couple were handed almost two decades in jail each after pleading guilty to allowing the fatal dog attack.
Moreno received an 18 year sentence, while Schneider was given 15 years. As the offense is not considered violent under state laws, they will be eligible for parole after serving just 25 percent.
The couple was also fined $5,000 each by 226th District Court Judge Velia Meza on Friday.
Najera died from his injuries while trying to shield his wife, 74, from the vicious animals after they broke free a yard and began attacking in February 2023.
Police were told that the dogs had been trained with meat to encourage aggression.
The animals named Snow, King and Legend had been the subject of numerous complaints by neighbors and had attacked people twice before.
They were confiscated by the authorities before their kids begged them to take them back.
The incident took place on February 26, 2023 and saw Najera mauled to death, while his wife and two other men were injured.
Flailing, because she's an imbecile
[NY Post] This is no joking matter
Vice President Kamala Harris has decided to dodge former president Trump and skip this year’s Al Smith Dinner — a major election year event that generations of candidates have attended — becoming the first presidential hopeful to duck out since failed presidential wannabe Walter Mondale in 1984.
While Trump has agreed to go to the 79th iteration of the Archdiocese of New York’s dinner on Oct. 17, Harris’s camp spokes person Lance-Bottoms
says she will instead campaigning in key battleground states on the final stretch before election day, her campaign told The Post.
It has been a tradition for both presidential candidates to attend the dinner — at whch the contenders take turns giving speeches roasting eachother — since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy appeared together in 1960.
Archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwillng told The Post they learned that Harris would not be there on Saturday.
"We are disappointed that she will not be with us, as this is an evening of unity and putting aside political differences in support of a good cause of helping women and children in need regardless of race, creed, or background," he said.
"We hope she reconsiders."
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2024
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[11147 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Al Smith was a Catholic.
Keeping abortion Barbies on the plantation is why she is not attending.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/22/2024 7:33
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#2
You're probably not too far from the truth, no mo.
#6
Their plan is to have her talk as little as possible. An environment where she tries to be funny is the worst of all situations in the view of her handlers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2024 14:43
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[SUDANTRIBUNE] At least 14 people were killed in the capital of North Darfur state on Saturday as the army battled paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters attacking the city, medical and military sources said.
The RSF has been trying to capture El Fasher for weeks, defying international calls for a ceasefire.
The fighting in Darfur has taken on an ethnic dimension, with the RSF and allied Arab militias targeting the region's non-Arab ethnic groups, according to rights groups and the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... On Saturday morning, the RSF launched artillery and dronezaps, followed by a ground assault from the north and southeast using a variety of weapons, the army said in a statement.
The army and allied forces said they repelled the attack, killing hundreds of RSF fighters and destroying many vehicles.
A medical source at the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher said at least 14 people had been killed by indiscriminate RSF shelling.
The RSF controls much of eastern El Fasher, including the stock exchange and a children's hospital. The army holds the west, including government buildings, the airport and a university.
The conflict in Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... , which erupted in April 2023 between the army and the RSF, has killed thousands and displaced millions.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2024
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[11157 views]
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...Arabic for 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
[NY Post] Hypocrite, thy name is Varma.
[Rooters] Boeing (BA.N) said on Friday the head of its troubled space and defense unit is leaving the company immediately, in the first management change under new CEO Kelly Ortberg.
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set. Currently the disease is only found in Pakistain and Afghanistain...
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans....jpg)
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
