[FOX] A network of "hundreds of thousands" of people, including analysts using satellite imagery to locate Taliban checkpoints surrounding the Kabul airport, are coordinating to evacuate Afghan interpreters from the country, an Afghanistan war veteran and member of the coalition told Fox News.
These interpreters, now targeted by the Taliban, were essential U.S. allies during the Afghanistan war and played roles much larger than simply acting as translators, according to Matt Zeller. The Biden administration has faced fierce criticism that the U.S. hasn’t made their evacuation more of a priority.
"These people that we’re talking about ... they were our eyes and ears on the battlefield," Zeller told Fox News. He said they’d hear Taliban communications ordering fighters to shoot the interpreters first.
"From the Taliban’s perspective, they won," Zeller, a former CIA analyst, continued. The Afghan interpreters "are the people who have been helping us to kill them over the last 20 years."
"They want revenge, they want retribution," he said. "There’s no place for these people in Afghanistan."
There’s estimated to be at least 20,000 Afghan interpreters and family members trapped in Afghanistan.
Zeller described a "digital Dunkirk" campaign working to evacuate the Afghan interpreters. He said "hundreds of thousands" of people joined the movement after just a few weeks, but that it could grow into the millions by the time it’s over.
"If you served in the Afghan war and you still care about these people, chances are you’re probably part of the digital Dunkirk," Zeller told Fox News.
He said it started as an "army of veterans" getting pinged by Afghans, but that the network has grown to include organizations for human rights, faith and political advocacy.
"It’s incredible," Zeller said. "It’s not just veterans. Literally it’s pastors, it’s my mom, it’s my relatives, people who have never served in Afghanistan ... widows, widowers, children of people who served."
"We’ve had intel analysts who have come and started doing satellite imagery analysis and actually putting together products for people where they’re mapping out Taliban checkpoints in real time using social media data" to provide safe routes to the airport, Zeller told Fox News.
The Taliban have said it would forgive any Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war. But the extremist group has established checkpoints blocking the path to the airport in Kabul, and numerous reports have indicated that they’re either recording or killing anyone they find that allied against them.
#2
The Biden administration has faced fierce criticism that the U.S. hasn’t made their evacuation more of a priority.
The US Congress deserves a majority of the criticism for this laps. They had 20 years to prepare for this eventuality and did as little as they possibly could. The Afghan interpreters & their family's lives were at risk long before the fall of Kabul.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
08/22/2021 13:41
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#3
when, in the history of the world, have moslems forgiven anyone once they are in power?
Nearly 1,000 members of the @CalGuard are activated for fire missions in the air and on the ground.
At more than 630k acres, the Dixie Fire is the largest fire currently burning in California and the second-largest in the state’s recorded history ➡️ https://t.co/phwPG7ZO9Bpic.twitter.com/Be9dGVuOot
[INDEPENDENT.CO.UK] Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft ...knaves, footpads, and adjusters employed by the Biden Crime Family. They leave a trail of havoc everywhere they turn their attention, be it the nation's borders, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or epidemics, sometimes on purpose, most times through sheer arrogant ineptitude. They learnt this stuff in college, you know... under intense pressure to get those at risk out of the country
The Pentagon is to use 18 US commercial aircraft to relocate Afghan evacuees after they’ve left the country, according to reports.
According to Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby, the planes will not fly into Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, but instead will move passengers on from way stations once they’ve departed Afghanistan.
The US military will then be better able to focus on initial part of the evacuation out of Kabul, the Associated Press reported.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asked for 18 aircraft: three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines as he activated the initial stage of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet programme.
Intense criticism about the failure to plan adequately for evacuation has come from both sides of the aisle in the US. Republican congressman Peter Meijer of Michigan told The Guardian:
“When you’re talking to people every night who are moving from house to house because they’re being followed by the Taliban, and … we’re in exactly the situation that several months ago that we thought we would be in … and you are ignored, it tends to be frustrating,” he said, adding: “Enraging, enraging.”
Democratic congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts said in a statement: “For months, I have been calling on the administration to evacuate our allies immediately – not to wait for paperwork, for shaky agreements with third countries, or for time to make it look more ‘orderly.’”
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2021
12:18 ||
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For the first time in decades, Greenlanders have elected the pro-independence, Inuit Ataqatigiit party (IA), which ran on a platform of scrapping a controversial mining project and rethinking Greenland’s relations with Denmark.
KEY INSIGHTS
– China and the US are both looking to increase their supply of rare earths, which Greenland has in abundance and which are of critical importance to signatories of the Paris Climate Accords
– China and the US are both eager to expand their influence in Greenland as the effects of climate change affect shipping lanes and access to resources
– The IA is keen to push for more independence from Denmark, raising the risk of interference from China and the US and a dramatic realignment of Greenland’s budget
[Telegraph] Shortly after Soviet troops went into Afghanistan in 1979, M16 dispatched one of their best young agents on a special recruitment mission. With Moscow trying to prop up Kabul’s flagging communist regime, the West saw a chance to make it the Kremlin’s very own Vietnam. The agent’s task was to find Afghanistan’s "Napoleon": a commander who could unite its tribes in guerrilla warfare, and lead them in government afterwards.
It was a tall order, but from GCHQ’s eavesdroppings on Soviet battle chatter, M16 had already identified someone who was giving the Russians hell: Ahmad Shah Massoud, the so-called Lion of the Panjshir Valley. He was only 28, but his band of mujahideen fighters were fast turning the Panjshir into a giant graveyard for Soviet troops.
Nor, it seemed, was Massoud just another thuggish warlord. An alumni of Kabul’s Lycée Esteqlal — the Afghan Eton — he spoke fluent French, loved poetry, and wanted Afghanistan to become a moderate, multi-ethnic democracy. As a former M16 chief tells the veteran ITN correspondent Sandy Gall in his new biography of Massoud, "this chap up in the Panjshir" seemed just the man.
Alas, as so often happens in Afghanistan, a foreign power’s best-laid plans only got so far. Massoud did eventually prevail against the Russians, whose humiliating departure in 1989 spurred the Soviet Union’s ultimate collapse. But after capturing Kabul in 1992, he could not stop Afghanistan lurching into lawlessness, fuelling the rise of the Taliban regime. Two days before 9/11, Massoud was killed by two al-Qaeda agents, who posed as TV journalists and exploded a booby-trapped camera during an interview.
With the West’s own military venture in Afghanistan now unravelling, Gall’s book serves two timely purposes. One is to retell Massoud’s legendary campaign against the Soviets, which saw him dubbed "the Afghan who won the Cold War". The other, though, is to ask whether more Western support for him in the 1990s could have led to a better Afghanistan.
That, of course, is a hypothetical question — but one that Gall, now 93, is well-qualified to ask. During the Soviet occupation, he reported extensively from Afghanistan, interviewing Massoud on numerous occasions and watching him in battle. This was no small reporting feat, given that simply getting to the Panjshir could involve a 12-day trek across mountains the height of Mont Blanc. Indeed, some of Gall’s accounts recall Eric Newby’s 1958 classic, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, only with Russian bombing raids thrown in too.
Yet the risks were clearly worth it, because Massoud made compelling TV. His aquiline looks and trademark Pakol cap gave him the glamour of an Afghan Che Guevara. Interviewing him over tea and naan bread, Gall could see a man capable of defeating the world’s second superpower. "I was aware of an aura, a mystique that set him apart," he writes. "He had an air of authority and maturity remarkable in a man of only 28.
Massoud did indeed prove a good choice for M16. Helped by secret Western training for his lieutenants — some of it done in the grounds of British country estates — his forces withstood years of intensive Soviet assaults, killing thousands of Russians in the process. Thanks largely to their appalling casualty rate in the Panjshir, the Russians began contemplating withdrawal from Afghanistan as early as 1982.
True, Massoud’s men were accused of human rights abuses, but nothing on the scale of the looting and pillaging committed by other mujahideen leaders. Gall contends that he could have been a good leader: a Tito, perhaps, if not quite a Tony Blair.
He makes this case through access to Massoud’s private diaries, which reveal him to be a politician as well as a warrior. Massoud writes about fighting illiteracy and corruption, and frets when his troops lack decent bread to eat. He is also an astute tribal diplomat. When appointing a man of humble birth as a commander, he deftly avoids upsetting the social hierarchy by making sure to pay tribute to the man’s tribal chief.
The diaries, however, are also this book’s weak point, as they are quoted far too extensively. Much as it may have been a publishing coup to get them, only avid Massoud scholars will be interested in his day-to-day jottings about ammo supplies and local elders’ committees. I would have preferred to read more about Gall’s journalistic fieldcraft, which harks back to a lost age of foreign correspondents, long before the advent of risk assessments. Going with the mujahideen into Soviet-era Afghanistan meant spending months incommunicado, with little help if things went wrong. Gall is perhaps too old-school to put himself centre stage, but I’d like to have read more about just how bloody tough it felt.
Some may also accuse Gall of falling too much for the Massoud myth, which, in death, has turned him into a god-like figure. His portrait hangs in many Afghan homes, and there is even a national holiday in his honour. As a salvation figure, though, he is questionable. Massoud was an ethnic Tajik, so any government led by him would have struggled for acceptance by Afghanistan’s larger Pashtun group, which makes up the bedrock of Taliban support.
Few, though, could argue with the warning Massoud made in a letter to the British Government in 1997, in which he said that Afghanistan would become "a base for training terrorists" if left unassisted. Massoud’s old M16 handler, whom Gall tracks down, says he asked HMG to give more robust backing to "Napoleon" during those later years, but to no avail. "Had help been at hand," he tells Gall, "the recent history of Afghanistan would be very different."
Today, the Panjshir Valley is currently the only province of Afghanistan still holding out against the Taliban takeover; resistance there is led by Massoud’s Sandhurst-trained son, Ahmad. The Lion of the Panjshir, it seems, has not lost its roar.
#3
YouTube has a two part series on Afghanistan called “The Great Game”
Pretty interesting about history repeating itself time and time again
As for trusting the Taliband to help get our citizens out, remember that the Afghans massacred the British leaving Kabul after promising safe passage
I hope I am completely wrong on this but brace yourselves for some grim reality as our citizens try to leave Afghanistan
#7
Yup. That was a strategic victory. Had he not been killed, the Taliban would'be strutting around like peacocks. Hell there they wouldn't exist today
[DailyBriefForeignBrief] International Army Games 2021 (ArMI-2021) will kick off today under the organization of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
The 7th such games in a row, ArMI-2021 will see 277 teams from 42 countries compete to take home medals in 34 military contests—covering nearly every aspect of combat—which will be held over a period of 19 days. In addition to Russia, 11 other nations will host ArMI-2021 events.
These “Combat Olympics” are an important forum for developing combat tactics, sharing skills, and building rapport amongst the participants.
ArMI-2021 will coincide with Russia’s International Military-Technical Forum, Russia’s largest weapons and military technology exhibition. 15 foreign nations are anticipated to participate in the forum. Last year, Belarus, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and South Ossetia hosted national exhibition pavilions.
These events roughly sketch out countries allied with Russia or equipped with Russian military hardware. Notably, India is a regular participant in the games and the forum, despite India’s closer alignment with the U.S. led Quad. During the events, expect Russia to promote its Checkmate fifth-gen fighter to India and others, attempting to build international support for the fighter program.
Posted by: Daniel Rizcaeke8221 ||
08/22/2021
08:18 ||
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#4
Pull down comment box and hit the Foto grapic link. The following will appear:
img src= valign=top align=right
Copy the 'image adddrss' between = and valign. Any comments come immedately after the completed insert. Remember fo 'align-right'.... unless of course you wish to 'align-left.' Replace right with left if that is the case. Right makes a cleaner post howevr. Watch your sizing. Large fotos break the system.
#1
...The order has in fact gone out. Now, this next part is strictly RUMINT only, but I'm hearing noises to the effect that the airlines are giving some pushback this time.
In the end they'll do it - Uncle Sugar helped pay for those planes; that's the point of the CRAF - but they also need every seat they have in the air carrying paying passengers. It's only a comparative handful of aircraft, but it's a handful the major airlines simply can't afford right now.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/22/2021 12:23
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#2
I didn't think the problem was a shortage of aircraft (we have the largest air force in the world, no?)
This reeks of desperation--throwing anything and everything up against the wall and hoping to high heaven that something sticks.
Posted by: Tom ||
08/22/2021 14:26
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#3
You want your mil transports doing short haul to transfer stations for the 'civilian' craft to do the long haul. Remember all those in the West flashing their virtue about taking 'X' thousands. It's a long way to the West.
#4
#2 I didn't think the problem was a shortage of aircraft (we have the largest air force in the world, no?)
Not so much a shortage of aircraft as where those aircraft are heading. They'll be going to the places where we're dropping off the refugees (Qatar, Oman, etc) and taking them elsewhere on refugee-only flights. That way we've got some (though nowhere near enough) control on who's getting out, and they're going from Control Point A to Control Point B with (theoretically) folks processing them at each end and not airline crew saying 'Buh-bye' at the gate.
Likely we'll screw this up too, but it bears some resemblance to organization and planning, so we'll see.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/22/2021 15:12
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#5
but it's a handful the major airlines simply can't afford right now.
It would seem there is are lots of spare long haul airliners since international air travel has cratered.
#7
Those capable of eventually getting airborne will take months to get them in flying condition let alone mission ready. Most are there for spare parts purposes.
[PopulistPress] Osama bin Laden once warned al Qaeda not to target Joe Biden because he believed that his inheriting the presidency if something were to happen to Barack Obama would “lead the US into a crisis,” a resurfaced letter shows.
In the letter dated May 2010, the al Qaeda 9/11 mastermind wrote he had no assassination plots against Biden because he deemed him “totally unprepared” to lead the United States.
The Populist Press headline does not appear to be supported by the tweets posted there. But the second tweet at the link is useful to us to understand the situation around the airport:
David Fox, an American in Kabul, joins @ABCNewsLive to share his experience trying to leave Afghanistan.
Omaviper Lumumba3702 posted the following about the same video last night for the midnight roll-over. I’m consolidating it here so it can be included in the discussion:
[The Last Refuge] David Fox is an American trapped in Kabul who appeared on a video report with ABC to highlight the situation faced by thousands of Americans attempting to evacuate the region. While he was describing the dangerous situation around the Kabul airport, Mr. Fox also pointed out a very serious issue. ABC buried the lead....
According to his report, the U.S. State Department responded en masse to all the people trapped in Afghanistan reaching out for help.
The U.S. Embassy consular services department sent a document with instructions to assist Americans and eligible Afghans claiming Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) status. The document looks exactly like an approved VISA document except there is no filled in name, no serial number and no barcode.
As Mr. Fox notes, the document is easily able to be forged which makes the Kabul airport situation even worse, as it is likely the people who receive this response from the consular’s office will duplicate it and share it with friends or family who can then use it in an effort to get to the United States. It seems like most of the Federal government is working for America's enemies.
#1
USA WEEKLY FIGURES
Last updated: August 22, 2021, 12:20 GMT
US "Reported" Ranking in the World
WE'RE #1
957,732 Cases in the last 7 days
934,261 Cases in the preceding 7 days Note: The above figures include an overlap of already infected, still infected and newly found infected.
There was +3% growth in counted infected numbers fro the previous week
2,874 Cases in the last 7 days/1M pop.
5,622 Deaths in the last 7 days
4,735 Deaths in the preceding 7 days
+19% Weekly Death % Change
17 Deaths in the last 7 days/1M pop
333,209,597 US Population
ADDED FINGER POINTING
#1 State in the USA - California with 9,122 new cases and 58 Deaths.
Running roughly 1 in 20 persons tested were found infected.
#1 City in the #1 State in the USA - Los Angeles with 3,864 and 29 Deaths Running roughly 1 in 7 persons tested were found infected.
#4
COVID is a respiratory disease. It should not peak during summer, when people are out in the sunlight and vitamin d levels are high. Last summer it tapered off. So what's different this year?
#7
Cold and flu season soon. OH, what joy. Children starting school so covid alarms will sound. We will see at least eight years of this. Constant daily stress. So look for many more developments. All bad of course. Public is polarized as ever. Turn off the TV. Don't read the newspaper and avoid internet. A mass psychosis is occurring. The fun has just begun.
#9
#4 yes, indeed. I have met those who survived the Spanish flu. They speak plainly. No extreme views. Being outside did work without masks. 80% Higher death rate among those who wore masks and of course they shamed those who did not wear masks. Then of course to those who feel they are the anointed ones your words are blasphemous.
#10
It should not peak during summer, when people are out in the sunlight and vitamin d levels are high.
It peaks when people are crowded together indoors. In the American south, that would be summer air conditioning season. We went through this last summer, too.
#12
Appreciate your thoughtful comment, TW. AC is something I hadn't considered.
I kind of arbitrarily picked Florida. Numbers are here, but I'm open to other sources. Click on "historical" to get everything through Jan, 2020.
It shows a steep rise peaking on July 1. I suspect that has more to do with ramping up testing than with actual case numbers, but again, open to alternative interpretations.
I didn't see a good month by month of AC usage, so I, again arbitrarily, picked Miami average temperature. This breaks 80 in March and stays over 80 through November.
I don't see a clear connection between what I would think of as AC usage months and case loads, or hospitalizations or deaths. I do see a clear drop off in August which starts rising again in October which appears to better fit a seasonality interpretation. However, I suspect that teasing out AC numbers specifically might be tough. Lots of states use it, not all of them in the South.
I haven't put in the time, but it would be interesting to look at seasonality in poor, hot countries where we would not expect widespread AC usage, and seasonality of other respiratory diseases. Common cold (another coronavirus) and flu (because there is a vaccine) could provide useful insights.
Vaccines. These mRNA vaccines set the stage for increased infection rates. I'll be branded a kook, so be it. But soon you'll see a major die off of the vaccinated, exactly as intended.
#14
If there is to be a major die-off of the vaccinated, Speart Whealet3245, I’ll say my goodbyes now against future need. You’ll know what happened when there are no more articles posted by me for a few days in a row, and no periwinkle in-lines. Mr. Wife, trailing daughter #1, and final daughter also had the Pfizer vaccine, as did my 95 year old mother, so someone will need to stop by the house in Cincinnati to arrange for our bodies to be buried before the field mice and the raccoons get carried away with their feast.
[MedRxiv] - The short-term effectiveness of a two-dose regimen of the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA BNT162b2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine was widely demonstrated. However, long term effectiveness is still unknown. A nationwide vaccination campaign was initiated early in Israel, allowing for a real-world evaluation of the interaction between protection and time-from-vaccine. The Delta (B.1.617.2) variant became the dominant strain in Israel in June 2021, as Israel is currently experiencing a new surge of cases. Leveraging the centralized computerized database of Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS), we assessed the correlation between time-from-vaccine and incidence of breakthrough infection. We found that the risk for infection was significantly higher for early vaccinees compared to those vaccinated later. This preliminary finding should prompt further investigagions into long-term protection against different strains, and prospective clinical trials to examine the effect of a booster vaccine against breakthrough infection.
#7
It is a virus. It will always mutate rapidly and get around our defenses. They have for billions of years and we will always be one step behind and reacting.
Putting a nation on lockdown because of it is stupid and cultural and economic suicide.
#8
It was known to be a single strand virus, which are far more likely to mutate more often. This was talked about right after the DNA was sequenced. Why are people acting surprised now?
Also reminder that correlation is not causation, so be careful about jumping to conclusions.
[PJMedia] As the Taliban ...Arabic for students... begins to form a government in Kabul, elsewhere in Afghanistan, tribal resistance to the Taliban is rising. Word out of Panjshir Valley is that anti-Taliban fighters have scored their first victories and are organizing their own resistance to Taliban rule.
Panjshir has always been a hotbed of anti-Taliban resistance going back to before the U.S. invasion. When the U.S. arrived, it was fighters from Panjshir who smoothed the way for our special forces.
Even today, Panjshir is one of the few remaining pockets of opposition to the Taliban, and according to local leaders, the resistance fighters captured 20 Taliban soldiers and killed 30 in Baghlan province. The resistance overran three districts.
Washington Post:
Friday’s assault to retake the three districts of Puli Hisar, Dih Salah and Bano — which was confirmed by a former defense minister — came after Taliban fighters conducted house-to-house searches in the Andarab valley of the province, local commanders said.
As in most parts of Afghanistan, the Taliban had taken over the districts with little resistance in recent weeks. Shuja said that the local residents had told the Taliban fighters they can govern as long as they don’t enter their villages and homes.
So when the Taliban came to conduct searches, former Afghan military servicemen, along with civilians, decided to rise up. They drove out the Taliban in less than a day.
According to Fox News, one of the resistance leaders is Ahmad Massoud, son of Afghan mujahideen hero Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by al-Qaeda days before the 9/11 terror attacks.
Massoud heads up an organization known as the National Resistance® Front of Afghanistan, or the Second Resistance®. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Massoud pleaded for help from the West.
"I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban. We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time, because we knew this day might come...The Taliban is not a problem for the Afghan people alone. Under Taliban control, Afghanistan will without doubt become ground zero of radical Islamist terrorism; plots against democracies will be hatched here once again."
Where Pakistain was the epicenter of anti-Taliban sentiment prior to 9/11, today it appears that Tajikistan will fill that role. Ethnic Tajiks, bitter tribal foes of the Pashtun Taliban, are trickling into Afghanistan to join the resistance.
If the Panjshir resistance want any hope for external support, they may receive it from anti-Taliban sympathizers in neighboring Tajikistan. The Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan, Zahir Aghbar, rejects Taliban rule and said Panjshir Valley will serve as a resistance stronghold led by Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s First Vice President who declared himself the legitimate caretaker president of Afghanistan in Panjshir after former President Ghani fled the country.
[DW] The Panjshir Valley is Afghanistan's last remaining holdout where anti-Taliban ...Arabic for students... forces seem to be working on forming a guerrilla movement to take on the Islamic fundamentalist group.
The only access point to the region is through a narrow passage created by the Panjshir River, which can be easily defended militarily.
After the Taliban's swift seizure of power in Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley in the north is the last place that might offer any real resistance to the Islamist Death Eater group.
The region, located 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of the capital, Kabul, now hosts some senior members of the ousted government, like the deposed Vice President Amrullah Saleh and ex-Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi.
Saleh has declared himself the caretaker president after ousted President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury... fled the country.
"I will never, ever and under no circumstances bow to the Taliban terrorists. I will never betray the soul and legacy of my hero Ahmad Shah Mas[s]oud, the commander, the legend and the guide," Saleh wrote on Twitter.
A DECISIVE ROLE IN AFGHAN MILITARY HISTORY
The Panjshir Valley has repeatedly played a decisive role in Afghanistan's military history, as its geographical position almost completely closes it off from the rest of the country. The only access point to the region is through a narrow passage created by the Panjshir River, which can be easily defended militarily.
Famed for its natural defenses, the region tucked into the Hindu Kush mountains never fell to the Taliban during the civil war of the 1990s, nor was it conquered by the Soviets a decade earlier.
Most of the valley's up to 150,000 inhabitants belong to the Tajik ethnic group, while the majority of the Taliban are Pashtuns.
The valley is also known for its emeralds, which were used in the past to finance the resistance movements against those in power.
Before the Taliban seized power, the Panjshir province had repeatedly demanded more autonomy from the central government.
LONG HISTORY OF RESISTANCE
Panjshir Valley was among the safest regions in the country during the time of the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -backed government from 2001 to 2021.
This history of the valley's independence has been closely linked to Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan's most famed anti-Taliban fighter, who led the strongest resistance against the Islamic fundamentalist group from his stronghold in the valley until his liquidation in 2001.
Born in the valley in 1953, Ahmad Shah gave himself the nom de guerre "Massoud" ("the lucky one," or "the beneficiary") in 1979. He went on to resist the communist government in Kabul and the Soviet Union at the time, eventually becoming one of the country's most influential mujahedeen commanders.
After the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, civil war broke out in Afghanistan, which the Taliban ultimately won. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... Massoud and his United Front (also known as the Northern Alliance) succeeded in controlling not only the Panjshir Valley but almost all of northeastern Afghanistan up to the border with China and Tajikistan, thus protecting the region from the Taliban.
Massoud also espoused conservative Islam but sought to build democratic institutions and personally believed that women should be given an equal place in society. His goal was a unified Afghanistan in which ethnic and religious boundaries would be less clear. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the Human Rights Watch organization accused Massoud's troops of committing massive human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... violations in the battle for Kabul during the civil war.
In 2001, Massoud was assassinated by suspected al-Qaeda holy warriors.
SON FOLLOWING IN 'FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS'
Now, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, Ahmad Massoud, says he is hoping to follow in his "father's footsteps."
Massoud, who closely resembles his father in appearance and habits, commands a militia in the valley.
He said he has been joined by former members of the country's special forces and soldiers from the Afghan army "disgusted by the surrender of their commanders."
It is, however, not clear how strong this new anti-Taliban resistance movement is and how the new rulers in Kabul will react to it.
[AlAhram] Secretary of State Antony Blinken says 13 countries have thus far agreed to at least temporarily host at-risk Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan and a dozen more have agreed to serve as transit points for evacuees, including Americans and others.
Blinken says in a Friday statement that potential Afghan refugees not already cleared for resettlement in the United States will be housed at facilities in Albania, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, 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... , Rwanda, Ukraine and Uganda.
Transit countries include Bahrain, Britannia, Denmark, Germany, Italia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... , the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
Blinken says: ``We are encouraged by other countries that are also considering providing support. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas and to fulfill our commitments to citizens of partner nations and at-risk Afghans.''
#4
She went on to star in many great films in the 20th Century and was a very pretty young lady. Her real name was Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (R.E.D.), Born: April 5, 1908, Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died:October 6, 1989, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Resting place:Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Eighty-one years old is a long life.
I was an acquaintance of her fourth husband, Gary Merrill, who in my opinion was a very under appreciated Hollywood actor. He told me their marriage was very rocky and he joked with me, 'but with those lips, she was a hell of a kisser'.
Yes, those actors of the Hollywood System, having themselves traded back and forth between studios, will never be really understood, until they really didn't have a business life of their own.
Thanks for the memories Bettie & Gary.
Bettie's -IMDb Gary's - IMDb
Taking ‘em out as they rear up on their hind legs.
[OneIndia] Assam police have arrested 14 people, including an MBBS student, for alleged social media posts supporting the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... takeover of Afghanistan.
They have been booked under different sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IT Act and CrPC.
"We were on alert and monitoring social media for inflammatory posts," the officer said. Two people each were arrested from Kamrup Metropolitan, Barpeta, Dhubri and Karimganj districts, police said.
They were arrested from Darrang, Cachar, Hailakandi, South Salmara, Goalpara and Hojai districts.
Deputy Inspector General Violet Baruah said the Assam Police is taking stern legal action against pro-Taliban comments on social media that are harmful to national security.
"We're registering criminal cases against such persons. Please inform the police if any such thing comes to your notice," she tweeted.
[KhaamaPress] Taliban ...Arabic for students... officials in western 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 have ordered the government and private universities that girls will no longer be allowed to sit in the same classes with boys. Damn. No burka raids, I guess.
In a three-hour meeting between university lecturers, owners of private institutions, and the Taliban officials, the latter said that there is no alternative and justification for continuing co-education and must be ended.
Afghanistan has a mixed system of both co-education and separate classes with schools functioning separate classes while co-education is applied both in government and private universities and institutes around the country.
Lecturers in Western Herat province have reasoned that the government universities and institutes can manage separate classes but because of the limited number of female students in private institutions, the latter cannot afford to create separate classrooms.
Mullah Farid, head of higher education of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate who was representing the Taliban in the meeting in Herat province has said that co-education should be ended because the system is the root of all evils in society. Farid as an alternative suggested that female lecturers or elderly male ones who are virtuous are allowed to teach female students and for the co-education, there is neither an alternative nor any justification to be continued.
Lecturers in Herat province said, since private institutions cannot afford separate classes, thousands of girls may remain deprived of higher education.
There are reportedly around 40,000 students and 2,000 lecturers in private and government universities and institutions in the province.
[Breitbart] The Afghan media outlet Pajhwok reported on Friday that Taliban ...Arabic for students... jihadists announced a ban on all music and the broadcast of women’s and girls’ voices in at least one province.
The edict reportedly came down in Ghor province, following reports from Kabul that jihadists invaded major news network headquarters and banned women journalists from going to work. Taliban front man Zabihullah Mujahid promised in a presser on Tuesday that the radical Islamist terrorist organization would not interfere with media activities that did not contradict the group’s interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law.
Under the Taliban’s rule prior to the 2001 American invasion of Afghanistan, the regime forbade women from working, leaving their homes without a full-body covering (burqa), and denied women almost every basic right recognized by international human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... institutions. Current Taliban spokesmen have insisted that their rule would respect women’s rights this time, vowing an "inclusive" government.
The Taliban returned to power on Sunday after surrounding Kabul, the nation’s capital. Taliban jihadists launched a campaign to conquer the nation in April, following President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect hacked up by the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. The guy who single-handedly lost Afghanistan... ’s announcement that he would not honor an agreement brokered by predecessor Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... that required U.S. forces to leave the country by May 1. Between April and July, the Taliban launched 22,000 individual attacks, according to the former Afghan government.
"Media officials in Ghor say that although all local media outlets have been shut down since the Taliban took control of Ghor province, the group has been unable to resume broadcasting due to strict rules," Pajhwok reported on Friday.
"The head of culture information of the Islamic Emirate [the Taliban] in Ghor asked us not to publish music in our programs, not to hire female employees," Maroof Saeedi, the director of the regional Ghorbeh Border Radio, told Pajhwok, "and even the listeners who call in our programs should not publish the voices of girls and should not be published in commercial messages."
The outlet reported that Ghor hosts four media networks, all of which have been forced to broadcast jihadist propaganda since the Taliban took over the country last Sunday.
A Taliban representative told Pajhwok that the reports were false and that the jihadists had not imposed any new media rules in Ghor, urging the network not to report any news not coming directly from Mujahid, the front man.
#1
do they all have no fat chicks bumper stickers on their technicals?
Posted by: Titus the Tiny6941 ||
08/22/2021 10:39
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Gee how about punking them by placing speakers in hidden places playing classical music or Gregorian chants. Drive them nots when they can't find the source of the music.
[BREITBART] Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) told Breitbart News Saturday that President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S., who gives the geriatric a bad name. He blames Afghans for losing Afghanistan.... must resign following his major foreign policy failure in Afghanistan as thousands of Americans remain stranded, blasting his "arrogant callousness" and false assertions that Americans are able to access the airport in Kabul as the condition in the area, under Taliban ...Arabic for students... rule, worsens.
"Either he’s lying to us or he doesn’t know what’s happening on the ground or he’s not listening to the generals or our intel community. There seems to be a miscommunication. All this was already transpiring early on," Tenney said, referring to Biden’s "festering mess" in Afghanistan and blasting the president for initially taking a vacation as the Taliban took over Kabul.
Tenney said she and her team and colleagues have been consumed "actually working to evacuate U.S. citizens out of Afghanistan," as well as green card holders and interpreters while the Biden crime family administration ...knaves, footpads, and adjusters employed by the Biden Crime Family. They leave a trail of havoc everywhere they turn their attention, be it the nation's borders, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or epidemics, sometimes on purpose, most times through sheer arrogant ineptitude. They learnt this stuff in college, you know... "has done nothing." She also disputed Biden’s claim of there being "no circumstance" of Americans being unable to access the Kabul airport.
"President Joe Biden ...... 46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem mschine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family, the guy who bungled Afghanistan...... got up and said there really isn’t any issue at the airport. We have even more news accounts today. The condition is getting even worse. People are getting killed and shot at and we have casualties om the ground," Tenney explained. "We have video of casualties on the ground in the perimeter of the Kabul airport showing that people can’t get to the airport to get out of Afghanistan. And just the entire situation is botched, and yet the president comes out and continues to show an arrogant callousness. He just cannot lead, and we cannot have him in this position anymore."
"He just cannot be at the helm any longer," she continued.
#2
Oh, give it up with this kabuki displays of your righteousness. It's all about power, baby. Long gone are the days -
In a conversation between King George III of England and the American-born painter Benjamin West during the Revolutionary War, the king asked him what he thought George Washington would do if America won the war. West replied that he thought Washington would retire to his farm. According to West, King George then said, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."
[Portland Government] The elected leaders of Portland, Oregon, and Multnomah County, Oregon, sent the following letter to the Biden Administration on Aug. 20, 2021: I knew smoking pot was legal in Oregon, but I didn't know it was mandatory.
Dear President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and Secretary Blinken,
As we watch democracy collapse in Afghanistan, we urge you to take bold, decisive actions in support of the Afghan people. Just like we've taken bold, decisive action on crime and Antifa. We're in favor of both.
First, you must prioritize the most vulnerable Afghanis seeking visas, or refugee or asylum status. This includes, but is not limited to, minority ethnic communities, LGBTQ+ people, non-Muslim believers, those involved in the previous government, believers of other branches of Islam, and those who previously opposed the Taliban. The Taliban’s archaic, abhorrent, life-threatening treatment of women is also well-documented, and its ascendancy will likely destroy twenty years of expanding women’s rights in Afghanistan. Rough count, that's about ten million people.
These decisions belong to you as leaders of the federal government, but we recognize that you cannot admit more Afghanis without American communities willing to resettle them. Our community is willing.
Immigrants and refugees have made our region and our state better and it would be our honor to welcome Afghanis who are no longer safe in their home country. Please know that you can count on us to provide welcoming new communities to as many Afghanis as we can.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best,
Portland City Council
Mayor Ted Wheeler
Commissioner Carmen Rubio
Commissioner Dan Ryan
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty
Commissioner Mingus Mapps
Multnomah County Commission
Deborah Kafoury
Multnomah County Chair
Sharon Meieran
District 1 Commissioner
Susheela Jayapal
District 2 Commissioner
Jessica Vega Pederson
District 3 Commissioner
Lori Stegmann
District 4 Commissioner
There are thousands of "houseless" individuals on the streets of Portland now. Housing prices are sky high, and any attempt to build new housing is evil gentrification that makes Gaia unhappy. So where exactly are these people going to go?
On the other hand, I'd pay money to see some Afghan special forces guys, uh, discuss these issues with Antifa.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/22/2021
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#1
I smoke pot, and I can't conceive of coming up with harebrained, destructive crap like this...
(Raj rips a huuuge bong hit...)
I got it! Why doesn't Portland bring all these fine young military age future jihadis into that downtown area that used to be CHAZ, but now they can call it the Capitol Hill Urban Municipal Precinct (CHUMP)? Who's with me?
#2
It's all about the welfare dollars that will be presumed to follow when these people arrive.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/22/2021 6:26
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The foundation of the USA has always been the MELTING POT.
Not transplanting them in Large groups into the US Cities. Which tends to maintain their dark ages cultural issues of women and other issues vs. 21 century basic rights and commonsense.
So IF I may suggest. Shouldn't we use a Wider International Dispersal plan instead of allowing the Socialcrats to build more Islamic Mini-states within (D) cities and areas?
Eg. Google America's Muslim Capitals
#1 Detroit, Michigan
#2 Washington, D.C.
#3 Cedar Rapids, Iowa
#4 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
#5 New York, New York
#6 Atlanta, Georgia
#7 Peoria, Illinois
#8 San Francisco, California
#9 Houston, Texas
#10 Chicago, Illinois
Note: Based on current influx and births, by 2040 all indications point to the Islamic/Muslim population becomeing the #2 religion in the USA, replacing Judaism for that position.
I dunno. Portland's basically run by a collection of brownshirts building a fucking Nazi machine and talking about how they're fighting fascism. Maybe they need a bunch of religious fanatics they've betrayed in their midst.
can't quite work out how The Modern Western Communists can go on and on about how bad the Modern West is and then turn around and do something that in 1200's Italy would get you damned to the ninth circle of Hell.
I'm in one of my dark "Dandolo Did Nothing Wrong" moods.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. We get to suffer the consequences... met with his security team to be briefed on the on-going situation in Afghanistan after cancelling a weekend trip home to Delaware
Vice President Kamal Harris joined the meeting remotely on trip to Singapore
Biden also did not indicate whether he planned to travel on Sunday
It would've been his 19th trip to his home state since taking office
Cancelation comes amid U.S. Embassy warning to all Americans in Afghanistan not to go to Kabul airport, the only way out of the country
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Unfiltered Headline.
"Absentminded President caught before wondering off again."
[OneIndia] The mother of a girl from Kerala has once appealed to the Indian government to help bring her daughter back from Afghanistan. The mother of the girl who joined the ISIS in Afghanistan has been released by the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... it has been claimed.
This claim comes in the backdrop of raids that were conducted by the National Investigation Agency relating to the ISIS Kerala module. Two highly radicalised women from Kannur in Kerala were arrested by the NIA and the agency said that one had even travelled to Iran
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
Tch. Not just Kerala, it's all over India. But I guess, the commies are more vulnerable to Islam.
#2
#1 All weak self-loathing degenerates are vulnerable to Islam, not just faux Communists who have overrun Kerala. The actual Communists would send the Jihadis to gulags for prioritizing anything/anyone above the Party, and that includes Allah and Quran.
#4
#3 Hardly a Communist country anymore as far as economy is concerned, which is perhaps why you mentioned it in quotes, but it seems like some vestiges of the bygone era have persisted after all. And a step in the right direction too, if I may be frank.
bigwigs were gathering in the Afghan capital Saturday for talks with elders and politicians on forming a government after their stunning sweep to power last weekend.
The inner workings and leadership of the group have long been shrouded in secrecy -- even during their rule from 1996 to 2001 -- but here is a rundown of what is known:
Continued on Page 49
Henri is rated a 2 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes in the United States due to the anticipated rainfall, damaging winds and storm surge set to impact Long Island and New England. As of Sunday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Tropical Storm Henri was swirling over the Atlantic about 125 miles south-southeast of Montauk Point, New York, which is the very end of Long Island.
Posted by: Chris ||
08/22/2021 9:07
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#8
#6 - seen the letter of resignation? Nobody else has
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2021 9:10
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#9
Cuomo still Governor until Midnight 23 August.
New Gov takes over 24 August 12:01am
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/22/2021 10:18
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"Due to the impacts of Hurricane Henri, I feel I must rescind my resignation to lead the people of New York. I know they would want me to."
Governor "Party Nipples" Cuomo
/s
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2021 10:22
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Re: Henri,
at 800EDT, the Hurricane was downgraded to a Tropical Storm by the NHC
it was weakened when it moved north of the gulf stream and lost the oceanic heat
new alert will come out at 1100EDT
Not as dangerous as Hurricane Sandy which was a larger system, a stronger system and had a more dangerous trajectory, i.e., it hit from the east
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/22/2021 10:24
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#12
Maybe Henri will wash away the sour milk smell.
[KhaamaPress] Brother of former Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury... , Hashamt Ghani Ahmadzai affiliated the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... in Kabul by swearing allegiance.
Hashamt Ghani who is also head of the Grand Council of Kuchi (nomads) in Afghanistan did not have any official position during the eight-year tenure of Ashraf Ghani.
In a video clip aired from the ceremony, it is shown that Hashamt Ghani is pledging allegiance to Khalil-ur-Rahman, a key member of the Taliban.
Earlier, Afghan government provincial governor and national police commanders had also promised to be cooperating with the Taliban as they have grabbed control over Afghanistan.
The allegiance comes as the Taliban leadership is yet to fill the political vacuum but reiterates that speedy negotiations are ongoing in this regard.
Reports say that Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzi had announced his support to the Taliban in the presence of Taliban leader Khalil-ur-Rehman and religious scholar Mufti Mahmood Zakir. Ahmadzi is the chief of the Grand Council of Kuchis.
Hashmat Ghani is an independent Afghan politician, who oversees the affairs of the Kuchi nomads, and the Ahmadzai tribe. In 2002, he was appointed the Grand Council Chieftain of the Kuchis.
The Taliban ...Arabic for students... leader Haqqani, who was said to be present at Hashmat Ghani’s pledge, is one of America’s most wanted gunnies with a $5 million bounty on his head for links to al-Qaeda.
According to reports on Friday, the Taliban has put Haqqani in charge of security in Kabul.
The Haqqani network ...a branch of the Afghan Taliban, based in Pakistain. The network is a family business founded by the later Jalaluddin Haqqani... have been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in recent years, claiming the lives of civilians, government officials and foreign forces.
They have been designated a foreign terrorist group by the United States, and are also under United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... sanctions.
I had the privilege of watching the film on a Russian language video site about a week before its release.
By Maxim Voronov
21 August 2021 , 09:49 - REGNUM
More than seven years later, events in Donbass are no longer in the first positions in news feeds. The war that the Ukrainian authorities are waging with a part of their own population, which began in 2014, continues, despite negotiations in various formats and signed agreements that "have no alternative." In this war, people continue to die, including civilians, whose whole fault is that they do not want to live according to Bandera's orders, abandon the Russian language and allow their children to learn history from crazy textbooks.
Children also die, end up in hospitals with injuries from explosions, wake up from terrible dreams at night. Many of those who were children at the beginning of the punitive operation, mockingly called "ATO," and survived those years, have already grown up, but they never saw the real world and continue to live under the threat of a new Bandera leap. Smoldering wars tend to suddenly flare up again.
Film by Maxim Brius and Mikhail Wasserbaum- this is an attempt to refresh the memory of the events of seven years ago, to reflect on what a civil war is in reality, and not in the propaganda texts of one side or another, to see how it passes with iron wheels over human destinies, crushing bodies and souls.
"Sunshine" is a very tough film, sometimes extremely ruthless to the nerves of the viewer. You can protest against the "excessive" bloodiness and naturalism, close attention to suffering and death. But this is not a "dark" admiration for horrors, but an attempt to reach out to the fat-swollen soul of a modern "average" viewer, who is difficult to touch with something. The main thing in the film is not at all cinematic delights, although it was filmed quite hard and not flat, therefore it is unlikely to collect a collection of festival awards and will receive the attention of venerable film critics.
The heroes of "Sunshine" are very different people, and among them there is no clear division into major and minor. All the main ones, because each person is the whole Universe, and all the minor ones, because in a war at any moment this Universe can be extinguished as easily and casually as the wind blows out a match.
The film lasts more than two hours, and during this time we get to know a variety of people - former "Afghans" who found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades, former and current criminals, ordinary civilians who are simply trying to survive, children who have not yet finished their educational year, and their old teacher, newcomers in military affairs - militias and "Dobrobatovtsy" - and professional military, also from different sides of the elusive and mobile front line. Few will survive by the finale. The overarching theme in the film was how characters managed to ignore the ruthless march of events, until they became fed up, and chose sides.
The film is already accused of "propaganda", but there is just a little of it. We can say that there is much less ideology than it could be, the authors seem to be afraid to touch it or simply do not know how to approach it. Almost nothing is said about the attraction of the insurgent residents of Donbass to Russia, the St. George ribbon turns out to be just a symbol of the fact that "the grandfathers fought against the Nazis."...
There is no mention of the events in Odessa on May 2, although they have already occurred. We also hardly hear about Bandera's essence of the Maidan. There are anti-fascist slogans and crossed out swastikas, but the fascism of the Dobrobatists appears only in cruelty to prisoners, that is, from a very specific ideology, it is simply turned into a symbol of this very cruelty and hatred of foreigners and dissidents. It is not very clear in the end what kind of faith or set of principles drove the rebels. There was a reference to Odessa in news presented on film, but no blatant reference.
However, unprincipled toasts "to all the good" and the hope that "we are one country," and therefore "they won’t bomb," turn out to be an illusion, which in an instant is dispelled by a fiery wind with a hail of lead. Romantic boyish impulses and attempts of veterans to hide from everyday problems in the war or to escape from the war, having "gorged" on it in their youth, also cannot withstand the collision with reality.
Someone dies without having accomplished the feat, someone is killed by acute remorse, and someone still changes the steering wheel of an ambulance to a machine gun, having lost everything at once. "Sunshine", fortunately, is equally far from both pacifist preaching and saber-rattling, and this is its honesty.
Alas, the authors should have stopped right after the hero of Maxim Dakhnenko draws a line under his moral throwing, and the hero of Alexander Bukharovcomes to ask for the front line. Unfortunately, the authors suddenly remembered that in addition to the shrill and terrible human component of war, there is also big politics. Precisely suddenly, because the ending turned out to be not just crumpled, but as if stuck from a completely different, much more primitive film, from those of which there is no point in talking about.
Here is an imposing American general, and foreign mercenaries (among them, of course, the great-grandson of an SS man) who intend to eat corpses on whiskey, and a bold allusion to the "Wagner group", designed so vulgarly and crudely that it causes an attack of nausea. These most conventional "Wagnerians" are so disproportionately long and meaningfully removed into the sunset that it resembles a cross between the ending of a bad western with a specific commercial. The film ended with a squad of Wagner operatives ambushing a rocket artillery launcher unit, saving the day. If that is his beef, at least there was no reference to the "Green Men" AKA Russian special forces, who carried out the more difficult tasks in the Donbass.
Of course.
The film bears both pluses and minuses of modern domestic "war" cinema. On the one hand is sincere humanity, solicitude for the heroes, the desire to make them as alive as possible, moral tension. On the other hand, there is a fear of ideology as such, the replacement of ideology by “patriotism of the place”, a not very intelligible image of the enemy and only a slightly more intelligible image of our own people. Plus - sudden and very inappropriate attempts to speak in the language of political shows and jump on the armor of officialdom or memes popular in the “couch troops” (while still avoiding any ideology). Couch troops is a common slam against commenters on Russian social media who display less than knowledgeable data on the Donbas region.
Nevertheless, despite the obvious "flaws", the film took place. Having watched it, it is very difficult to forget what you saw, this is a rather strong, if not spiritual, then emotional experience. There is a hope that "Sunshine" will be shown not only in films, but also on television, will revive a keen interest in what is happening in the Donbass and will help establish a cordial connection with people who find it very, very difficult to live and defend their right to be themselves.
The only pity is that the film will be shown late at night - perhaps because of the 18+ rating, and maybe because of the "inconvenience" of the topic. One way or another, it's worth sacrificing a couple of hours under the covers for his sake.
#1
This sounds like something that would be too much for me, but probably would be very interesting for those with stronger stomachs and understanding. But I’ve learnt much just reading the review, which hearkens back to badanov’s reportage as the events of the film were occurring.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, 65, responded to questions about rising cases of the virus in his state in a Fox News segment Thursday night
He said 'Democrats like to blame Republicans' for Covid spikes but went on to say the most responsible 'are African Americans who have not been vaccinated'
His comments sparked immediate outrage as people denounced the governor as racist
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called Patrick's comments 'ridiculous' because they 'make no sense' and were 'contrary to the facts'
Meanwhile 1.9million black Texans are eligible yet unvaccinated compared to 5.6million white people in the state
The full vaccination rate among Black people in Texas is 29%, lower than the rates for Asian, Hispanic and white Texans.
Texas has reported race and ethnicity data for about 82% of people who are fully vaccinated.
BLUF:
Of 10.4 million white Texans 12 and older, 40.2% are vaccinated
Of 9.1 million Hispanic Texans 12 and older, 36.5% are vaccinated
Of 2.9 million Black Texans 12 and older, 29.1% are vaccinated
Of 1.s million Asian Texans 12 and older, 58.6% are vaccinated
A question not addressed is the age and health skew for the unvaccinated by race. I suspect that among white Texans the unvaccinated are mostly young and healthy, while among Black Texans they are mostly older and unhealthy or evenly distributed, which would increase their representation among the seriously ill and in need of hospitalization. Sadly, there are legitimate historical reasons for the African-American community to distrust novel medical treatments, and the way this thing has been reported drove increased distrust rather than calming fears.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2021 12:27
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The least vax"d demographic group.... Drum roll please.... According to the CDC is.... African Americans.
So if I were to use the same MSM stories and articles published about WHITE Anti-Vax'ers being the blame for the recent outbreak and insert Black would that be Racist?
[FoxNews] Elite Taliban unit wearing US gear appears to mock iconic American WWII photo. Propaganda videos show Taliban fighters carrying U.S. and U.S. ally-made weapons.
A Taliban fighting unit called the Badri 313 Battalion was spotted patrolling Afghanistan with U.S.-made gear, and posting one photo appearing to mock the iconic World War II photo, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
Propaganda videos posted this week on channels affiliated with the Taliban show soldiers in the little-known Badri 313 Battalion carrying U.S. and U.S. ally-made weapons and gear that appear to be stolen from allied militaries while patrolling parts of Kabul.
In one propaganda photo, members of the Badri 313 Battalion are seen hoisting a Taliban flag in a similar fashion to the six U.S. Marines who raised the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.
#5
Yeah but that doesn't make them Western warriors. It's rather fascinating to see how the Taliban decked out in mufti and carrying American weapons think they've absorbed the Western way of war. In other words the superstitious primitivism of absorbing their enemies spirit despite 1000 years of Islam
[AlAhram] An attack by suspected jihadists on a village in western Niger's troubled "three-border" region has killed 17 people, a local elected official reported Saturday.
The attack happened in the village of Theim in the Tillaberi region, at around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Friday, the official told AFP.
"The toll is 17 dead and five maimed," he said.
A resident in regional capital Tillaberi said around 10 people had been killed.
Thiem is around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from three other villages where a series of attacks in May by jihadists linked to 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.... forced more than 11,000 inhabitants to flee.
MPs from the region called Friday for increased security measures for the area, saying that jihadists behind the wave of attacks in the vast Tillaberi region are able to operate freely in spite of strict government controls.
In one month, 98 civilians and 19 gendarmes have been killed in just three departments of the region, they said.
To combat rising attacks, Niger has declared a state of emergency, banned the movement of cycle of violences, regulated the sale of fuel and closed markets suspected of supplying gangs, they said.
The "three-borders" region is a huge territory straddling the frontiers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... that has long been troubled by land feuds, trafficking, desertification and fragile state presence.
The vast arid region, along with central Mali, has become the worst-hit area in the jihadists' nine-year-old campaign in the Sahel.
Thousands of people have died and tens of thousands have fled their homes.
[OneIndia] The financial resource mobilisation of ISIS has become more robust, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... on Thursday, emphasising that the flow of funds has continued for the dreaded terror group and rewards for killings are now even being paid in Bitcoins, news agency PTI reported.
I’d be more impressed if I thought Bitcoin could be trusted.
Addressing a UNSC briefing on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, Jaishankar said the latest report of the Secretary-General has provided another stark reminder that ISIS continues to pose a critical threat to international peace and security.
"ISIS (ISIS) remains active in Syria and Iraq and its affiliates are growing in strength, particularly in Africa. The financial resource mobilisation of ISIS (ISIS) has become more robust. The flow of funds has continued and rewards for killings are now even being paid in Bitcoins!" he said, according to a PTI report.
Jaishankar said the radicalisation of vulnerable youth by systematic online propaganda campaigns remained a serious concern.
He said ISIS' modus operandi has changed, with the core focusing on regaining ground in Syria and Iraq and affiliates functioning independently.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/22/2021
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[OneIndia] There is no denying the fact that the fighters of the Jaish-e-Mohammad
With the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and JeM playing a crucial role in Afghanistan, it must be noted that there are at least a 1,000 of their fighters who co-exist with the Taliban.
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... played a major role in the Taliban ...Arabic for students... 's fight to take over Afghanistan.
Continued on Page 49
[OneIndia] An Afghan national, who was deported to his country from Nagpur in June this year after he was found staying here illegally, has apparently joined the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... and his picture holding a rifle has surfaced on social media, a senior police official said on Friday.
The Taliban has seized power in Afghanistan as it swept into capital Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury... fled the country.
"The man, Noor Mohammad Ajiz Mohammad, 30, was found staying in Nagpur since the last 10 years illegally. He was living in a rented place in Dighori area of the city. Acting on a tip-off, [RING!] Cop shoppe! Sergeant Shafiq speaking! Lissen! Dis is Mahmoud da Weasel! I got a tip for youse... the police had started keeping a watch on his activities. He was finally nabbed and deported to Afghanistan on June 23," he said.
"After his deportation, he seems to have joined the Taliban and his photo holding a gun has emerged on social media," he added.
During the probe earlier, police had found that he had come to Nagpur in 2010 on a six-month tourist visa. Later, he had applied to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Human Rights Council (UNHRC) seeking a refugee status for himself, but his application was rejected. His appeal was also turned down by the UNHRC. Since then, he stayed in Nagpur illegally, the official said.
Another police official said that Noor Mohammad''s original name is Abdul Haque and his brother was working with the Taliban. Last year, Noor had floated a video on social media with a sharp-edged weapon.
After he was nabbed, police found that he had "entry and exit wounds" from a gunshot near his left shoulder, he said, adding that when his social media accounts were checked, it was found that he was following some faceless myrmidons whose videos of gun firing were available on social media.
"He was in the business of selling blankets and was unmarried. Police conducted searches at his rented accommodation, but did not find anything suspicious. His call details are also under the scanner of the police," the official said.
[Garowe] The African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia [AMISOM] has once again pledged swift action into the incident that left seven people dead at Golweyn, Lower Shabelle, in which the Ugandan army is accused of killing civilians.
Last week, AMISOM maintained that the Ugandan People's Defense Forces [UPDF] targeted al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... murderous Moslems, who had ambushed them while in routine operation within the region. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... various eyewitnesses and government officials disputed this claim.
But in a statement released on Saturday, AMISOM said preliminary investigations have established that the seven people killed were not members of al-Shabaab, a move that could question the commitment of the mission forces with regard to the safety of them civilians. If they were ambushed, how were the deaders civilians? Or did they shoot them because they didn't like them?
AMISOM said it investigating reports that its troops were responsible for the death of the seven. The team is currently meeting the local community as it seeks to understand what exactly transpired during the incident.
"The leadership has since the incident met with the elders, community members, and government officials and made it clear that they will not condone criminal activities against civilians by its soldiers. They also assured them of their commitment to identifying and punishing those who breach the rules of engagement," read the statement.
'To investigate this serious incident and recommend follow-on actions, AMISOM has constituted a seven-member Board of Inquiry (BOI), which has immediately commenced its work. This legal inquiry is led by a senior officer and two other members from the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa."
Others in the team include a bigwig from the Federal Government of Somalia, and a senior officer each from AMISOM Military, Police, and Mission Headquarters.
"The Mission is working directly with the FGS and the affected families and has given its commitment to a swift and transparent investigation, which should be concluded by September 6, 2021," AMISOM noted.
The BOI will establish the extent to which AMISOM troops were responsible for the death of the seven and the circumstances. The Board will recommend payment of amends to the affected families in the event AMISOM soldiers are found culpable and make recommendations to avoid a recurrence.
This comes just a few hours after Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble summoned the Ugandan ambassador to Somalia over the incident. Also summoned was the chief of AMISOM.
In addition, the Government of Uganda has assured the Mission leadership that in the spirit of transparency, if the Board establishes that its officers have a case to answer, a Court Marshall will be constituted and held in Somalia to try those implicated.
"AMISOM is taking a legal approach to these serious allegations in line with international best practice and is committed to conducting a thorough investigation as quickly as possible, hold accountable anyone responsible and abide by all the findings and recommendations of the Inquiry," added the statement.
AMISOM remains steadfastly committed to peace and security and the protection of the local population. The Mission leadership is deeply committed to carrying out its mandated tasks in Somalia in strict compliance with its obligations under the applicable International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Human Rights law, and its Rules of Engagement, it further noted.
#1
Sounds like Proxmire's "Golden Fleece" awards or the similar reports Rand Paul produces now. Just gummint wasting money as gummint is congenitally wont to do.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/22/2021 6:48
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#2
How does that stack up with all the failed Obama financed Green programs?
[OneIndia] With the Taliban ...Arabic for students... taking over Afghanistan, questions loom as to how the outfit's relations with the Islamic State
Currently, according to estimates there are around 2,000 ISIS turbans remaining in Afghanistan.
...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.... would be in the country. The ISIS which established the ISKP in the Nangarhar Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/22/2021
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[11157 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
The nascent Panjshir resistance has been bolstered by remnants of Afghan forces that refused to surrender and fled the Taliban takeover of the provinces of Kunduz, Badakhshan, Takhar, and Baghlan. Many of these forces regrouped in Andarab district in Baghlan. Andarab is a known hub for anti-Taliban activity. In 2011, The New York Times Magazine described Andarab as “an entirely Tajik district that is staunchly anti-Pashtun,” the ethnic group that makes up a significant portion of the Taliban.
[ToloNews] Local sources in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Saturday said that public uprising forces had retaken three districts from Taliban ...Arabic for students... control. The districts are Pul-e-Hesar, Banu and Deh Salah.
Sources said there are reports of heavy casualties on both sides.
This is the first instance of such fighting after the Taliban took control of Kabul following the fall of 33 out of 34 provinces.
The Taliban has not yet commented.
"With the support of God and the mujahideen, three districts were liberated, we are now moving toward Khinjan district and will clear Baghlan province soon," said Assadullah, the former police chief of Banu.
"With the help of Allah, we inflicted massive casualties to the Taliban, currently Banu district is under the control of public uprising forces," said Ghani Andarabi, the former police commander in charge of the highway in Baghlan.
Sources said that after entering Baghlan the Taliban went on house-to-house searches, which sparked the people's retaliation.
Although the Taliban officially has not commented, there are unconfirmed reports that the Taliban is preparing to retake these districts.
Desperate Crowds Gather for 7th Day at Kabul Airport
[ToloNews] Seven days after the takeover of Kabul city by the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... , thousands of Afghans continue to crowd outside Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ...One of the more egregious mistakes of the post 9-11 era... International Airport in an attempt to leave the country.
Most of the people waiting outside the airport do not have documents.
"All of the entrance gates to the airport were closed on Saturday morning because of the dangerous situation," the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported, adding that the U.S. embassy in Kabul is advising evacuees not to travel to the airport in light of "security threats."
"Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport," the embassy alerted on its website, "we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so."
The active security threats come as the New York Post reported the Taliban is "now attempting to take their U.S. passports and identification orders in an attempt to stop them from leaving the country."
"I got to the gates and was about to show my passport, but the Taliban got it, and he said you are not allowed to go through and wouldn’t give it back," one Afghan American on the ground told the Post. "I was lucky a U.S. marine was right there and forced him to give it back."
Former Navy SEAL Ephraim Mattos, who works to evacuate people on the ground, also confirmed the reports to the Post.
"U.S. passports, driver’s licenses — they are confiscating those pieces of documentation from American citizens," said Mattos. "They lose proof of who they are, and this has happened on multiple occasions in multiple places":
Kabul residents speaking to TOLOnews urged those at the airport without passports or documents to not create problems for those who do have proper documents.
Sayed Jawad and his six family members who are waiting outside the Kabul airport said that despite their having passports and other documents they have not been able to enter the airport.
"The foreigners have locked the doors and there is no movement into the airport," said Sayed Jawad.
A local resident named Sadat said: "All people that you see here have a problem."
"We tell all our brothers and sisters that nothing is happening here and to stay at home," said Sediq Habibi, a resident of Kabul.
Footage broadcast by CBS showed Afghans faced with money problems after being moved to a military base.
The footage showed Afghans living without access to medical facilities and other services.
JUST IN - ISIS operating at #Kabul airport according to unconfirmed French intelligence as reported by @suddafchaudry. Pentagon's Kirby: "We’re not going to get into specific details about the threat environment."pic.twitter.com/gyLFa3cr31
350 people evacuated by Pakistani embassy in Kabul
[KhaamaPress] Pakistain embassy based in Kabul announced on Friday that they have helped around 350 people including foreigners to leave Afghanistan for Pakistain.
As per the embassy, the people were flown out in two special flights of Pakistain International Airline from Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance... International Airport (HKIA).
Pakistain ambassador to Kabul Mansoor Ahmad Khan in a Twitter post said that the embassy had made arrangements for the passengers inside the compound of the embassy and were then flown out.
The 350 people include foreigners, Paks, and Afghans.
Pakistain is now another country after the US, La Belle France, Britannia, Spain, India, and other countries who are either helping countries evacuate their own nationals and their Afghan allies or are vacating their own nationals and Afghan colleagues.
Earlier, Pakistain had also opened a Torkham crossing-point to help stranded people cross the border into Pakistain.
Leaving Afghanistan is now one of the most challenging and difficult tasks as the HKIA is besieged by thousands of people desperate to leave Kabul.
The airport’s security is now manned by US forces who are deployed to evacuate thousands of their nationals and Afghans who have worked for them.
Indians questioned by Taliban: Evacuation soon say sources
[OneIndia] All Indians who were reportedly kidnapped by the Taliban ...Arabic for students... are safe and their documents are being processed for evacuation, local media reports said.
Earlier, local media reports said that 150 people including many Indians were captured by the Taliban a claim that the outfit's spokesperson Ahmadullah Waseq denied.
Other reports quoting Taliban sources said that the group did not abduct Indians. They were escorted to a safe gate by the Taliban, the report also said.
A few hours back, an IAF special aircraft landed in Tajikistan after evacuating 85 Indians stranded in Kabul. They will be flown back to India in an Air India flight.
Local media reports said that the Taliban had taken more than 150 people from near the Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance... Airport in Kabul. A number of them are Afghan citizens and Afghan Sikhs. There were many Indian citizens, the reports also said.
India has so far evacuated all its embassy staff. However estimates suggest that there are 1,000 Indian citizens who remain in several cities of the country. India has been trying to locate all of them, but it proving to be a challenge as not all of them have registered themselves with the embassy.
#4
If the TB permit the airport to remain open, the evacuations can continue. If the TB closes the airport with gunfire, mortars, car bombs, shoot down an airplane, etc. things will begin to rapidly deteriorate. Whoever controls the ground, controls events. At this point we are at the mercy of the TB.
The French disaster at Dien Bien Phu turned South when use of the airstrip was eliminated.
#6
A senior US official said that small groups of Americans and possibly other civilians will now be given specific instructions on what to do, including movement to extraction points where they can be gathered up by special operations teams.
#7
Many years ago, SF operators using orange taxis and dressed in local attire (Hajji mufti) were able to get around in Baghdad, Iraq and vicinity at any hour.
#8
Well, ISIS doesn't care for us, the Brits, or even the Taliban... A VBIED(s) anywhere near the airport or its approaches is the worse case scenario.
Its a good thing all of the really bad actors and planners are detained in the Bagram DFIP and Pul-e-Charkhi...then again maybe not thanks to Austin and Milley's jackassery.
It is likely a race against time to stay inside the ISIS operational planning and IED prep timeline to get our folks out of the Kabul AO before they are prepared to strike.
#10
One thing I don't understand is how we're going to extract the Marines, airborne, SOF, and other mil guys we've recently sent to Kabul if we lose the ability to fly men out and supplies in. But I'm sure General Milley has thought that through.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/22/2021 13:05
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They’ve been busy lately in Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
JeM terrorist who killed BJP leader gunned down by security forces in Tral
[OneIndia] A Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... terrorist involved in the killing of a BJP leader was among the three bumped off by the security forces in an encounter that took place in Tral earlier today.
The terrorist Wakeel Shah was rubbed out by the security forces. He was involved in the killing of Rakesh Pandita, a BJP leader. Pandita, a municipal councillor of Tral in Pulwama district was killed by turbans on June 2 when he was visiting a friend Mushtaq Ahmed.
The Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... Zone Police said that the encounter took place at the upper reaches of the forest area of Nagbareen, Tral.
Officials said that the search operation turned into an encounter after the faceless myrmidons fired upon the search party of the security forces, who retaliated. "In the ensuing shootout, three turbans affiliated with JeM outfit were killed," the officials said.
3 JeM terrorists gunned down in Pulwama on Saturday
[OneIndia] Three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) holy warriors were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday, officials said, according to a PTI report.
Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the upper reaches of forest area of Nagbaeran Tral in the south Kashmir district following inputs about the presence of holy warriors there, the officials said.
They said the search operation turned into an encounter after the holy warriors fired upon the search party of the security forces, who retaliated.
"In the ensuing shootout, three forces of Evil affiliated with JeM outfit were killed," the officials said.
The search operation is going on, they said.
This is the second encounter in the district in as many days.
Pulwama: 2 terrorists killed in encounter on Friday
[OneIndia] Two bandidosholy warriors were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Friday, officials quoted by PTI said.
Security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Khrew in Pampore area of the district following information about the presence of bandidosholy warriors there, the officials said.
They said the search operation turned into an encounter after the ultras shot up the security forces which was retaliated.
In the ensuing encounter, two bandidosholy warriors were killed, the officials said.
They said the identity and group affiliation of the slain ultras was being ascertained.
Incriminating material including arms and ammunition have been recovered from the site of the encounter, they added.
#2
Obviously tribal domestication and cultural integration remain a challenge. I personally think it's something in the waters. Perhaps someone should check the waters.
[NYPost] To the surprise of only the Biden administration and its top brass, the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan last week after 20 years of frivolous American adventurism. It was a spectacular failure of American diplomacy, statecraft, intelligence and, most of all, military capability. In short, mission very much not accomplished.
But that’s pretty much standard operating procedure for the nearly useless behemoth called the Pentagon, which hasn’t won a war since the kinder, gentler American government changed its name from the War Department to the Defense Department shortly after World War II. If you’re always on defense, you’re losing.
Largely thanks to the CIA and special forces, the punitive expedition against the launching pad of 9/11 was swiftly completed, the primitive Taliban scattered, and an example made. But then that soft-headed American notion of mission creep and “nation building” took hold, abetted by a succession of weak presidents and a careerist military utterly unfamiliar with the sweet smell of victory.
The result? Thousands of dead Americans and trillions of borrowed dollars down the drain. The demise of a sham “nation” that never existed in the first place. And another military humiliation as the world’s major superpower piteously is reduced to begging Islamic fundamentalists not to abuse our nationals trapped in the country and please, pretty please, don’t be beastly to the Afghan women and, by the way, please put one or two in your cabinet.
It’s easy to blame the craven civilian leadership that pushed us into this morass, starting with the naïve and weak-willed George W. Bush; the feckless Barack Obama, and now the senile Joe Biden; only Donald Trump, who rightly criticized the “forever wars” and had put into place a carrot-and-stick approach to resolve the situation, had any grasp of the problem.
But the real villains here are the throne-sniffing Pentagon brass who failed in the one mission every commanding general has: to win the damn war. The argument is made that — in Vietnam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan — the politicians wouldn’t let them win. But, throughout history, generals who understood the larger strategic situation even when their nominal superiors didn’t — or couldn’t admit it for political reasons — went ahead and won anyway.
During the Civil War, Lincoln cycled through general after general until he found Ulysses S. Grant, who frequently rejected his commander in chief’s tactical suggestions, for which Lincoln was ultimately grateful.
In World War I, the American Commander “Black Jack” Pershing ignored British and French insistence that his men serve in a supporting role. Under Pershing, the US First Army smashed through the German defenses at Saint-Mihiel in September 1918; two months later, the war was over.
With America reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army and Navy came up with an audacious plan to attack Tokyo, and in April of 1942, Jimmy Doolittle’s B-25s were raining bombs on the Japanese homeland.
By contrast, the Failure Generals in Iraq and Afghanistan such as David Petraeus, Jim Mattis, Stanley McChrystal, and Mark Milley (currently the embarrassing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), have consistently failed upward despite divulging classified information to their mistresses, sabotaging President Trump’s military policy, and fretting about “white rage” in the ranks.
Just last month, Milley was airily dismissing reports of an imminent Taliban victory in Afghanistan, where he once served: “I don’t think the end game is yet written,” the clueless commandant said. He would have been sacked or tendered his resignation by now if a concept like honor still existed among our military brass.
But the “defense” industry’s addiction to taxpayer dollars has ensured there will be no end to low-level “unwinnable” conflicts as long as victory is always secondary. Amazingly, losing has become our official war-fighting strategy.
What’s needed now is a wholesale rethinking of the uses of the military that returns us to first principles. As William T. Sherman famously said, “War is cruelty. There’s no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
It was another American fighting man, the great George S. Patton Jr. — who won his stars on the battlefield and not in the halls of Congress — who best exemplified how winners think.
Ordered in March 1945 to bypass the historic city of Trier in the Third Army’s lightning thrust into Germany because it was likely to take at least four divisions, Patton seized the town anyway: “Have taken Trier with two divisions. Do you want me to give it back?”
Until we return to prizing our Shermans and Pattons over Milleys, expect more Afghanistans.
#2
Largely thanks to the CIA and special forces, the punitive expedition against the launching pad of 9/11 was swiftly completed, the primitive Taliban scattered, and an example made.
Oh thank you Klingons and Klingon funded SOF handmaidens.
Absolute, total bullshi* scapegoat article, likely penned in McLean, VA. The military can ONLY do what the feckless bureaucrats in the White House, Foggy Bottom, and McLean permit them to do. US generals a cadre of WOKE 'yes men?' Well of course they are, that's what Washington has cultivated and promoted for decades.
#3
Some say China’s Xi Jinping is about to take Taiwan while we have such weak President and military leaders. I say China’s Xi Jinping is about to take Taiwan AND a couple of US Territories in the Pacific to put a stretegic buffer between the US and China.
#6
My last comment was to support Besoeker's comment. Commenter above saying China has no amphibious capabilities see China's ZBD-05 and ZTD-05 beach assault ships. Only low IQ cockroaches like you use name calling (nutbaggery???) because you are clearly too stupid to do your home work and has to spew rude insults to other commenters.
#8
CF that picture shows the progression from ribbons with meaning to ribbons as a display of one's personnel file, where the wearer has been, how many tours, and events they were around for. In the old days, General Officers(GO) could choose their own uniforms and select which earned ribbons they displayed.
Eisenhower was a Lieutenant Colonel in 1936. He was promoted in the then peacetime system. When the Army expanded just before WW2 the peacetime promotion system was set aside and people were 'temporarily' promoted. They carried a Regular Army rank and a Army of the United States rank, a dual system which reverts back when demobilization happens. Those 'temporary' promotions did revert to many in the demobilization.
That get us back to the 'cultural' problem in the service. Our group today is the protect of a peacetime promotion system, block checking careerism. It is suppose to be the next best thing to try to identify leaders for time of war. However, when you are in a war, that should determine promotions and rank. However, they never switched back to wartime over 20 years ago. They kept the same old bureaucratic system with the most frequent excuse being what today we refer to as 'equity'. War is not fair. War is not equitable. The actual leaders we needed were the ones who delivered on the battlefield. Well, everyone doesn't get a chance at command. War doesn't care.
It's compounded by the size of the service and the GO corps. They didn't have to kick people up the ranks quickly because they had enough sitting around. Check the ratio of GOs to troops in WW2 and the ratio today. Talk about mission creep, we have had rank creep for decades.
One of the more influential work in the Vietnam lessons learned examination was On Strategy by Colonel Harry Summers. He makes the point that during the entire war not a single GO resigned/retired in protest on the conduct of the war. We're back to square one.
As late as the 80s, the Chief of Staff of the Army was selected by the White House which had a habit of picking officers who came from OCS or ROTC and not West Point. 'Ring Tappers' were usually favored over others for most of the high level GO billets, but the ultimate one was often not open.
#15
I have mentioned this before:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/sukhomlinov-effect.htm
The Sukhomlinov syndrome speaks of the need for increasing display of successes/prowess/experience as a symptom of those who need display to assuage professional self doubt.
#16
My favorite story about Colonel Harry Summers was that he reportedly was at the negotiating table during the negotiations with Giap and the North Vietnamese. During a break he was reported to have said to Giap directly, something to the effect of "You know, you never once defeated us in any major battle or campaign", to which Giap reportedly replied "That is true, it is also irrelevant..."
[Jpost] Please hit us! Iran enjoys the FUBAR AFG ops and stirs shit up The attacks came after an Israeli Border Police officer was critically injured along with dozens of Palestinians Saturday night during riots along the border fence.
The IDF carried out airstrikes within the Gaza Strip on Saturday night after a Border Police officer was critically injured during the riots along the border fence.
The police officer is 21-year-old St.-Sgt. Bar'el Hadariya Shmueli of Be'er Yaakov, according to Israeli media.
Dozens of Palestinians were injured in the riots, as well.
Fighter planes targeted four different sites throughout Gaza which were manufacturing and storing weapons, the IDF announced shortly after the attacks.
Machine gunfire directed at the Israeli aircraft hit Sderot houses after midnight, causing damage, according an IDF statement.
A 16-year-old Israeli civilian was lightly wounded while running to a bomb shelter, Kan reported.
Two companies from the IDF's officer training base and three teams from the Maglan commando unit have been sent to the Gaza Division, according to Army Radio.
The IDF also reinforced its Iron Dome missile-defense unit, according to Israeli media.
On Thursday, Hamas and other Palestinian factions urged Palestinians to mark the anniversary of the burning of the pulpit of al-Aqsa by heading there to “defend” it against Israeli “attacks.”
[IsraelTimes] Assailants seen trying to snatch soldier’s gun as hundreds approach fence, some hurling stones and burning tires; rally held despite Thursday deal to allow Qatar funds in. ...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...
At least 24 Paleostinians were maimed during festivities with Israeli soldiers during a march on the border fence with Israel on Saturday afternoon and evening, the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",-run Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Health Ministry reported.
Two Gazooks, including a 13-year-old boy, were critically maimed by Israeli bullets during the march, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers had confronted hundreds of rioters near the border fence in the northern Strip. Alongside tear gas, soldiers used Ruger bullets, a smaller form of live fire the army deems less lethal than standard-issue rounds.
"Israel Defense Force soldiers are prepared and are utilizing riot dispersal means, as well as Ruger fire when necessary," the army said.
According to videos streamed by Paleostinian journalists on the scene, a few hundred Gazooks could be seen approaching the barrier. Some Paleostinians seemed to attempt to clamber onto the fence, while others huddled alongside a concrete barrier.
In one video widely circulated on social media, Paleostinian rioters could be seen hurling stones at an Israeli gun sticking out of a slit in the fence. At one point, some Paleostinians sought to wrest the gun away. Another Paleostinian ran over with a pistol and fired several bullets towards the opening.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Channel 13 news that Israel "will not accept any harm to our forces. The incidents at the fence are grave and we will respond to them."
Gaza factions had organized the Saturday protest in al-Malika Refugee Camp near the border with Israel as a part of a series of activities to pressure Israel.
"Our mobilizing masses have come to announce that the path of the Sword of Jerusalem is renewed," said senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, using the terror group’s name for the May fighting between Israel and Hamas. al-Hayya serves as the group’s deputy Gaza chief.
The protest marked the first time Gazooks have conducted a daytime march toward the Gaza border since December 2019. A series of demonstrations in 2018 and 2019 — some of which saw Hamas and Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... members clash violent mostly peacefully with Israeli soldiers — left hundreds of Gazooks dead.
The demonstration took place despite a Thursday agreement that would return millions in Qatari subsidies to the Gaza Strip via the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... . The agreement was seen as a significant breakthrough in attempts to strengthen the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
A few held slingshots, while others burned tires and rolled them towards the border, setting off clouds of smoke. But most of the demonstrators appeared to stay back, remaining a few hundred meters from the barrier dividing the enclave from Israel.
Tensions have risen between Israel and Hamas in recent weeks, as negotiations to strengthen the ceasefire appeared to hit a brick wall. On Monday, two rockets were fired at southern Israel for the first time since the May escalation, allegedly by Islamic Jihad.
For months, Israel and Hamas have held indirect negotiations to lay the terms for a new status quo. In the aftermath of May’s fighting, Israel has maintained heightened restrictions on Gaza, significantly limiting imports and exports and complicating the reconstruction of the battered enclave.
Israel also decided to block most of the millions in Qatari cash that entered the coastal enclave every month before the war. Prior to the May escalation, Israel had allowed the money to enter Gaza in exchange for quiet along its southern border.
During the recent 11-day war, Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s and Paleostinian rockets caused at least $290 million worth of damage to the Gaza Strip, international assessors reported in early July.
The Israeli government has also sought to condition any easing of restrictions on progress in talks to reach a prisoner exchange with Hamas. The terror group currently holds two Israeli civilians, as well as the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... it has slowly eased restrictions on the Strip as of late, despite an apparent lack of progress on that front, at the behest of international bodies.
Hamas hopes to swap the Israelis it holds for thousands of Paleostinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The terror group has repeatedly rejected the Israeli attempt to tie the prisoner exchange issue to Gaza’s reconstruction following the recent escalation.
The first significant progress in the ceasefire talks came on Thursday night, when the UN, Israel and Qatar announced a framework to return some of the Qatari money to Gaza. According to the agreement, the Qatari money will go through the UN before reaching banks in Gaza Strip.
The Qatari projects in the past funded fuel for Gaza’s only power plant and hospitals to shore up the enclave’s damaged healthcare system. They also brought in hundreds of millions in cash payments to 100,000 poor Gazook families and to Hamas’s civil servants. But Thursday’s agreement will only provide salaries for the poor Gazook families, not for Hamas’s employees in the enclave. And Israel and Hamas have yet to publicly conclude an agreement to ease restrictions on the enclave and allow Gazooks to fully rebuild.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2021
00:00 ||
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[11147 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
money is fungible
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2021 6:58
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[FoxNews] 9,337 lbs of fentanyl have been seized in FY 2021 so far
Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas sits down with New York City's special narcotics prosecutor to discuss the growing opioid crisis.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is suing the Biden administration over a key immigration policy reversal he says has fueled a "devastating" flow in the deadly drug fentanyl.
The state is suing over the reversal of the Trump-era "Remain-in-Mexico" policy, which kept migrants in Mexico while they awaited their hearings. The Biden administration began dismantling it in January and ended it in June.
Critics had called the policy – officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) -- ineffective and cruel, while the Trump administration had said it ended "catch-and-release" by which migrants were released into the interior, reducing the pull factors bringing migrants north.
The lawsuit accuses Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of having failed to consider "the consequences for the ongoing devastating deadly flood of fentanyl across the Southwest border into this country."
"When they modified [Remain-in-Mexico], they utterly failed to consider what was going to happen to drug trafficking and didn’t even mention it in their documents," Morrisey told Fox News in an interview. "And when it comes to immigration issues, it’s not only about stopping undocumented aliens from coming across the border, it’s also critical to be mindful of the drug trade which affects every state in the United States."
Fentanyl, an opioid for pain treatment, is between 50 and 100 times more potent than morphine. More than 36,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl in 2019, according to the CDC.
The lawsuit claims that ending MPP burdened and distracted Border Patrol, therefore decreasing border security more broadly against the trafficking of fentanyl "leading directly to both increased numbers of smuggling attempts and increased rates of success in evading Border Patrol."
Mainstream media largely ignores raging border crisis in JulyVideo
It accuses the administration of having violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by not having considered the consequences of the policy on drug trafficking when it ended MPP.
There have so far been 9,337 lbs of fentanyl seized in FY 2021 compared to 4,791 in FY 2020 and 2,804 in FY 2019. While most of those apprehensions take place at ports of entry, it is unclear how much is getting past agents between the ports. NBC reported in June that an increasing amount of the drug is being found in the desert.
Morrisey said that his state has seen an increase in the drug in recent months, although it has been becoming more of a problem for years.
The lawsuit is the latest to target the termination of Remain-in-Mexico. A federal judge ordered the Biden administration last week to resume the program after he found in favor of a lawsuit by Texas and Missouri which also accused the administration of violating the APA.
An appeal for a stay was dismissed by an appeals court, but late Friday Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary stay that will be in effect until Tuesday night so he and the other Supreme Court justices can review the filings submitted in connection with the case.
Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. SOld, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant... or is that an act?... and his inner circle were in an ebullient mood.
It was Wednesday morning, Aug. 11, and they were basking in the glow of back-to-back legislative wins...
The mood was dramatically different from the celebratory spirit on display just hours earlier in the dining room. "It was a serious moment," recalled a senior official.
Events were growing so dire that the president ordered Austin and Milley to prepare a plan for deploying additional troops to the region,...
But by Thursday morning in Washington, more population centers were falling to the Taliban by the hour, including the provincial capitals of Ghazni and Badghis.
In the Situation Room, Austin was now recommending that Biden send in troops to evacuate the embassy and protect the main international airport in Kabul. Sullivan asked each Cabinet member in the meeting to weigh in. They unanimously agreed.
That was the "oh, shit" moment, said the U.S. official...
"By Friday afternoon, it was clear to me that we were rapidly losing control of the situation at the capital, in the airport, and that the evacuation operation was in jeopardy," Crow said. "More seriously, our polling was slipping"
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/22/2021
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[11138 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA
#1
Like Crazy Fool mentioned yesterday, this is another MSM attempt an in insincere change of tack, and a half-assed one at that. "We're doing our jobs now!"
It's that, or the news is so bad they have no choice but to report it.
#2
They are just trying to get back ahead of the spin cycle. It won't be easy.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/22/2021 6:49
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Given how the MSM starting to do a complete 180 on the DC seat holders. Heck even Social Media has eased up on censoring filtering comments against the DC Seat holders, and Top Liberal Political Blogs are even reaming the currently puppet seat holders in DC.
Are we seeing the next step in this orchestrated mess?
Will we soon start reading, how the "people" want the current DC seat holders impeached/removed and (insert a well known name) "temporarily" asked begged and reluctantly willing to head up a "Transitional" Administration to save America?
[AlAhram] Pakistain, a Cold War ally of the United States, worked with Washington in the 1980s to back Islamic guerrillas who fought out Soviet troops
After the September 11 attacks, the United States gave Pakistain a harsh ultimatum to break with the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... . Pakistain offered help but insisted -- it will not be abandoned again, as in the 1990s after Washington lost interest in Afghanistan.
Continued on Page 49
#1
"Pakistain is too important to be permanently ignored by the US but this time Americans will take longer to determine the depth of their relationship with Pakistain," said Husain Haqqani, Pakistain's former ambassador to Washington.
"sure, we're duplicitous terror-loving bastards. It's genetic. Give us boodle"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/22/2021 9:18
Comments ||
Top||
I can already hear BLM and the thugs mothers on the news.
BLM
there was no need to shoot these men trying earn recover things the White community has stolen from US the Blacks of America.
MAMA's
Why did they shoot my innocent baby... he was a good provider.
ADDITIONAL DATA
Suspect #1 is described as a Black male with a dreadlock hairstyle, wearing a red bandana, black t-shirt, red Adidas pants, black shoes, and black rubber gloves. He was carrying a black duffle bag.
Suspect #2 is described as a Hispanic or Black male wearing a dark t-shirt, jeans, black baseball hat, a dark bandana over his face, and fingerless gloves. He has a sleeve tattoo on his left arm.
Suspect #3 is described as a Black male who was wearing a dark bandana and a dark hooded sweatshirt with lettering on it.
Suspect #4 is described as a Black male who was wearing a black clothing covering his face and head. He was wearing a white t-shirt.
[IsraelTimes] Statement seen as message of deterrence to West, as Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... warns of nuclear deal violations and the likelihood of renewed accord fades.
The Iranian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it was expanding its defense efforts beyond the borders of the country, in an apparent message of deterrence to Israel and the West, as hopes for a return to the 2015 nuclear deal continue to fade.
"Our country has an important role to play in strengthening the resistance front and expanding the radius of defense of national security beyond the borders of the country," the ministry said in a message for Defense Industries Day, the Moj News Agency reported.
The ministry stated that Iran’s military plan includes "strengthening the defensive force and constantly updating the ability to deal with the threats of our enemies."
"We will not hesitate to strengthen our military capabilities, including the missile program designed solely for defense purposes," it added.
The statement came as the foreign ministries of Germany, La Belle France, and Britannia expressed "grave concern" over Iran’s growing violations of the moribund 2015 nuclear accord.
The ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna confirmed last week that Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has produced uranium metal enriched up to 20 percent for the first time, and has significantly increased its production capacity of uranium enriched up to 60%.
[OneIndia] A worker of the Jammu and Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... Apni Party was rubbed out by holy warriors in Kulgam district, officials said here. Ghulam Hassan Lone was shot at by the ultras
...no doubt they have a formal name, but I’ve no idea what it might be...
in his native Devsar area, they said, adding he was rushed to a hospital where he departed this vale of tears.
Police said they have taken cognisance of the incident.
This comes just two days after holy warriors rubbed out BJP leader Javeed Ahmad Dar in the same district. Before that, two Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... holy warriors on August 9 barged into the house of a BJP sarpanch in Anantnag district and killed him and his wife. Lone's killing also evoked widespread condemnation from mainstream political parties including the PDP, the National Conference and the People's Conference.
[APNEWS] The Russian ambassador in Kabul says the Taliban ...Arabic for students... have asked his embassy to convey their offer of a deal to a remaining pro-government holdout in northern Afghanistan. Oh. Well, in that case hang it up, mujahideen.
Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov said on Saturday that a senior member of the Taliban’s politicianship has asked Russia to tell fighters in the Panjshir Valley that the Taliban hope to reach a political agreement to settle the situation there.
The diplomat says the Taliban claim they don’t want bloodshed in the region.
The Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, a stronghold of the Northern Alliance militias that were allied with the U.S. during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, is the only area that hasn’t fallen to the Taliban.
Afghan government figures who have sought refuge there as Kabul and the rest of the country fell to the Taliban include Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who asserted on Twitter that he’s now the country’s rightful president, after President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury... fled to the United Arab Emirates.
Moscow, which fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with the Soviet troops’ withdrawal in 1989, has made a diplomatic comeback as a mediator during the past years, reaching out to various Afghan factions, including the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2021
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[11148 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA
#1
The US should be providing aid to the all opposition groups such as the Northern Alliance and pockets of resistance and all tribal groups in opposition, immediately.
The Taliban should not be allowed to run Afghanistan as a central government.
And the US military should have contingency plans ready to retake Bagram Air Base if necessary, if things go south in Kabul, and the air base an hour to the north should be necessary to continue evacuation and to exact revenge and to aid opposition allies.
The Taliban is responsible for allowing ISIS to infiltrate and bomb the crowds trapped outside Kabul airport.
The Taliban cannot be allowed to consolidate control over the whole country.
China cannot be allowed to use Afghanistan like it uses North Korea to advance its goals in Southeast Asia against our allies there.
[FoxNews] Greece announced on Friday that it has extended its border wall with Turkey as part of its efforts to stop migrants coming up from Afghanistan -- amid European fears of an Afghan migrant wave sparked by the Taliban takeover.
Reuters reported that the 40km fence is accompanied by a new automatic electronic monitoring system to stop migrants who might be coming through Turkey in the coming months.
All sorts of useful graphs and tables at the link, for those who prefer looking to reading.
[Garowe] SUMMARY
The year 2020 started with AS on the defensive and ended with the group’s operations starting to pick up, especially in urban areas. Attacks on its main gateways into the capital disrupted its operations in Mogadishu in the first and second quarters. This saw a significant reduction in the group’s operations in the capital until the third quarter. During the final quarter of the year, it increased its attacks, after adapting to the situation, and positioned itself in a better situation by the end of the year. Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the pastor had finally been wrestled from the pulpit. Y'got the wrong guy! he yelled just before Sergeant Malone's billy club landed... the SNA was the most active anti-AS force, while AMISOM was the least active attacker although it was the most attacked by AS.
The below map shows the incidents that occurred in 2020, the areas of control by all actors, contested areas, and the status of Main Supply Routes:
INTRODUCTION. Google map of incidents in the Al Shabaab area of operations. Click on each icon for details.
The year 2020 saw mixed results across Somalia. Compared to 2019, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks decreased by 35% while liquidations increased by 15% and hand grenade attacks more than doubled. Likewise, direct military attacks on allied positions remained almost at the same levels as 2019 while ambushes reduced by a third and mortar attacks increased by two-thirds. An increase was seen in Suicide Vehicle-Borne IED (SVBIED) attacks, rising by 42% while non-suicide VBIED attacks were reduced by 70%. A significant increase was registered in the use of Personal IEDs — bombs strapped on to individual attackers — which rose by 550%, up from two in 2019 to 11 in 2020.
These mixed results can be explained by looking at the situation from two angles: first, from al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... ’s warfighting departments and how they adapted to the battlefield changes; and second, from how the allies have responded to AS’s attacks. This report will therefore divide the attacks between those conducted by the Amniyaat and those conducted by the Jabahaat to better understand the trends of each.
The Amn department is responsible for intelligence, liquidations by pistol, IED attacks in urban areas, hand grenade attacks, and VBIED attacks. The Jabahaat are responsible for all conventional military operations: raids on allied bases, ambushes, and mortar attacks. Suicide attacks are part of the Istish-haadi — "martyrdom" — sub-department, which is run in collaboration between the two departments. This sub-department is responsible for SVBIED and PBIED attacks. When the jacket wallahs work in urban areas, they are controlled by the Amn; in the rural areas, they come under the Jabahaat.
TREND IN ATTACKS
In 2020, AS was under intense pressure from the air by US Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s, and from the land by SNA’s Danab and Gorgor battalions. From the number of attacks it still managed to conduct in that harsh environment, the group’s explosives makers seem safe and its explosives supplies are abundant; however, the new reality has made it difficult to risk sending S/VBIEDs into urban areas controlled by the allies. This is apparent from the below, showing how PBIEDs are used to complement and replace S/VBIED attacks. A reduction in S/VBIEDs for a quarter is followed by a PBIED attack.
While S/VBIED and PBIED attacks garner much media attention, these are a tiny part of AS’s overall campaign. While 2019 saw Amn and Jabahaat operations almost mirror each other, 2020 saw Amn operations take center stage in the group’s overall strategy. By the end of the year, almost all attacks were by the Amn department.
AS FOCUS
Most AS attacks targeted AMISOM and the SNA. It also targets civil servants to continue eroding the government’s ability to govern. Similarly, it continues to target elders that have rejected its amnesty or refused to work with it.
Urban targets — the police, elders, civil servants— are targeted with sticky IEDs, PBIEDs, S/VBIEDs, and liquidation by pistols. The SNA and AMISOM are subjected to raids, IEDs, SVBIEDs, and ambushes.
RESPONDING TO AS
Most attacks against AS were conducted by the regular SNA and special SNA units, sometimes assisted by airstrikes. Some of the airstrikes were independent and seemed to target AS forward bases, especially in the Mudug region where AS was attempting to spread towards Bacaadweyne and Hobyo.
Unchanged from 2019, AMISOM was the least active against AS in 2020. Its guns were quiet against AS throughout most of the year, conducting 3 attacks against the group while AS attacked it 197 times. The result of this timid posture has resulted in AMISOM maintaining bases that are only supplied by air, with most Main Supply Routes cut off by AS.
On the other hand, the SNA was the most active against AS, conducting 78 attacks against AS while AS attacked it 205 times. The SNA managed to recover towns along the Shabelle River from AS and forced the group’s finance department to move further away from Mogadishu, further disrupting AS’s operations.
CONCLUSION
The year 2020 saw all sides make mixed gains, with AS increasing its reliance on urban operations to adapt to its waning fortunes in the rural areas. Under pressure from relentless SNA attacks sometimes assisted by airstrikes and urban checkpoints that made it harder to attack government strongholds, the Amniyaat was forced to rely more on PBIEDs and liquidations by pistols. This also meant that the Jabahaat could make use of more SVBIEDs to assist its attacks on military bases. As the SVBIEDs find it harder to enter urban areas, their use in rural operations has increased and is expected to continue increasing.
In the urban areas, PBIEDs and liquidations increased to cover for the reduction in SVBIED and IED attacks. Assassination by pistols occurs in a place where it is possible to escape, while sticky IEDs and PBIEDs are used in areas where security presence does not permit an escape.
I have never supported the use of US Troops being used to play UN Peace Keeper in Africa. All so some DC type beat his chest claiming to be stabilizing / feeding and protecting some African nation every 10 or 20 years.
Look I lost friends and people I worked around, back on Oct 3rd & 4th 1993, due this Political stupidity.
Let African settle its own F#$%ing problems. We have enough REAL THREATS to deal with here the USA. Like JUNTA's open borders, giving Taliban Visas and transportation the USA and constantly changing Covid-19 data and retractions.
BTW: Rumor has it, Aidid's skull somehow found it way to a has nice new showcase here in the US. In the hallway near the mess-hall.
But IF true.... well done, well done.
Note: I would have put it in a Urinal used by S&T or TEOR like was alternatively suggested.
#3
Yeah, study that culture in detail. The ones doing the penetrating often don't consider themselves "ghey" compared to those being penetrated. It's old news.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/22/2021 6:51
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Kabul is so gay, it is said that eagles cover their ass end when flying over
#8
You'd think the oppressed might be willing to fight. But then again here we sit with mask nazis everywhere and very little in the form of civil disobedience.
[Garowe] The US Africa Command on Friday released a civilian casualty report in Somalia, which assesses operations of the troops who have been assisting local forces especially through the aerial surveillance in the fight against al-Shabaab ...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them... Civilian casualty assessment was introduced in 2020 following complaints of deaths targeting innocent civilians from the Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s. The US said the move would improve transparency in such exercises besides helping those who may be accidentally affected.
In the latest quarterly civilian casualty assessment reporting period ending June 30, 2021, U.S. Africa Command received one report of civilian casualties on May 31, 202, the Command said in a statement.
The report was a duplicate of May 2018 reports previously assessed by the U.S. Africa Command and found to be unsubstantiated. The command closed out and substantiated one additional case that was carried over from the previous civilian casualty assessment report. There are currently no open civilian casualty assessments.
This was the sixth quarterly civilian casualty assessment report since U.S. Africa Command began releasing reports in April 2020 as part of its commitment to increased transparency and accountability.
The command said it continues to study recommendations made during the March 2021 non-governmental organization (NGO) roundtable in order to refine the civilian casualty assessment process.
With every airstrike, we conduct a thorough pre-strike assessment to reduce the likelihood of civilian harm," said U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, in a statement.
"Unfortunately, our Jan. 1 airstrike, which was designed to protect re-positioning U.S. troops and precisely hit its intended target, likely also caused injuries to three civilians nearby."
Jan.1, 2021, a civilian casualty incident has been reported to the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu, the U.S. Congress, and the Federal Government of Somalia.
US army left Somalia in January 2021 following an order from the Department of Defense but since Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S., father of Hunter. He blames Trump for losing Afghanistan.... took over, there have been plans to redeploy the troops to the Horn of Africa nation. Currently, a number of US Special Forces are in Wajir, Kenya, where they are assisting KDF in the al-Shabaab war.
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.
[FOX] A network of "hundreds of thousands" of people, including analysts using satellite imagery to locate Taliban checkpoints surrounding the Kabul airport, are coordinating to evacuate Afghan interpreters from the country, an Afghanistan war veteran and member of the coalition told Fox News.
...knaves, footpads, and 
[Telegraph] Shortly after Soviet troops went into Afghanistan in 1979, M16 dispatched one of their best young agents on a special recruitment mission. With Moscow trying to prop up Kabul’s flagging communist regime, the West saw a chance to make it the Kremlin’s very own Vietnam. The agent’s task was to find Afghanistan’s "Napoleon": a commander who could unite its tribes in guerrilla warfare, and lead them in government afterwards.
...Arabic for 
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...Arabic for 
...46th president of the U.S. Former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect hacked up by the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. The guy who single-handedly lost Afghanistan...
...knaves, footpads, and 
As we watch democracy collapse in Afghanistan, we urge you to take bold, decisive actions in support of the Afghan people.
...46th president of the U.S. We get to suffer the consequences...
[OneIndia] The mother of a girl from Kerala has once appealed to the Indian government to help bring her daughter back from Afghanistan. The mother of the girl who joined the ISIS in Afghanistan has been released by the 
...Arabic for 
...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 
[OneIndia] The financial resource mobilisation of ISIS has become more robust, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the 
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
As per the embassy, the people were flown out in two special flights of Pakistain International Airline from 
Many years ago, SF operators using orange taxis and dressed in local attire (Hajji mufti) were able to get around in Baghdad, Iraq and vicinity at any hour. 
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] 
The IDF carried out airstrikes within the Gaza Strip on Saturday night after a Border Police officer was critically injured during the riots along the border fence.
[IsraelTimes] Assailants seen trying to snatch soldier’s gun as hundreds approach fence, some hurling stones and burning tires; rally held despite Thursday deal to allow 
[FoxNews] 9,337 lbs of fentanyl have been seized in FY 2021 so far
...46th president of the U.S. SOld, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call 
...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 .jpg "Kashmir")
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...Arabic for 
[FoxNews] Greece announced on Friday that it has extended its border wall with Turkey as part of its efforts to stop migrants coming up from Afghanistan -- amid European fears of an Afghan migrant wave sparked by the Taliban takeover.
...
...46th president of the U.S., father of Hunter. He blames Trump for losing Afghanistan....
