[AA.TR] Despite Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... threats, millions of voters, including internally displaced persons, defied the scorching sun in Nigeria's restive north and walked long distances to vote in the general elections on Saturday.
"I was accredited as soon as the process commenced at about 8:15am and went back home," Abubakar Saliu, a voter in Maiduguri, the quiet provincial capital of the Borno State, told The Anadolu Agency.
"I came back four hours later not minding the hot sun to vote," he asserted.
Saliu said he had walked from his residence after accreditation to return to an IDPs camp, some two kilometers away, where he cast his ballot.
Voting went on smoothly with no incident of violence in Borno where Boko Haram had been carrying out attacks for nearly six years.
Voting ended in several polling units at about 4pm local time while counting started immediately.
Voting continues elsewhere in the state nonetheless.
Nigerians are elected a new president and parliament.
Voting is taking place at 119, 973 polling centers across the country and will end after the last accredited voter had cast his/her ballot.
Nigeria has a total of 68,833,476 registered voters, down from 73.5 million four years ago. The reduction has been attributed to the recent elimination of double registration.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) -- Yemen’s embattled president on Saturday called rebels who forced him to flee the country “stooges of Iran,” directly blaming the Islamic Republic for the chaos there and demanding airstrikes against rebel positions continue until they surrender.
With Egypt’s president also calling for a regional Arab military force and another Gulf diplomat separately warning Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen could go on for months, the spectre of a regional conflict pitting Arab nations against Iran also has been raised.
The comments by Arab leaders including Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who ran away fled his country only days earlier, came at an Arab summit largely focusing on the chaos there caused by Houthis.
Other leaders, including the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, obliquely referenced Iran earlier at the summit held in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh. They blamed Iran for meddling in the affairs of Arab nations, with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi saying, without mentioning Iran by name, that it was “spreading its ailment in the body.”
“This (Arab) nation, in its darkest hour, had never been faced a challenge to its existence and a threat to its identity like the one it’s facing now,” Sisi said. “This threatens our national security and (we) cannot ignore its consequences for the Arab identity.”
Hadi directly challenged Iran in his remarks and called for his supporters to rise up in peaceful protest against the Houthis.
“I say to the puppets of Iran and its toys: ... You’ve destroyed Yemen,” Hadi said.
You had a hand in this, as did Saleh, the Houthis, al-Qaeda, various tribes, and your uncle Mahmoud...
Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, though the Islamic Republic has provided humanitarian and other aid.
Via the Widows Ammunition Fund...
Officials in Iran had no immediate comment on Hadi’s remarks.
Hadi also said the airstrikes launched by Saudi Arabia and its allies against the Houthis must not stop before the rebels surrender and return medium and heavy weapons they looted from army depots across much of the country. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, earlier pledged that the military campaign in Yemen would not stop before security and stability are restored.
So it's a death march...
Sisi also endorsed a resolution adopted by Arab foreign ministers on Thursday for the creation of an Arab military force, saying the Arab world was currently facing unprecedented threats. He also described as “inevitable” the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.
Already, some backers of Iran have begun to step away from supporting it over Yemen.
On Saturday, the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, issued a statement offering support for Hadi, as opposed to the rebels.
Because Hamas, for all its serious and many faults, are Arabs and Sunnis...
Once again Hamas gives Persian Shiite patron Iran the finger. Or two fingers, if they're going British style.
A Gulf diplomatic official, meanwhile, told reporters that the airstrikes campaign was planned to last for one month, but that coalition nations were prepared for the probability of going on for five to six months.
“Ultimately the whole idea is to achieve the political objective, which is the return of legitimacy of Yemen and a return to the political process,” said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorised to brief journalists by name.
The official also claimed that around 5,000 Iranian, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi militiamen were on the ground in Yemen supporting the Houthis.
Aren't the Iraqis needed elsewhere?
They are trainers, group leaders and instructors, he added. His claim could not be independently corroborated. Around six weeks ago, he said, satellite imagery from Yemen showed the repositioning of Scud missiles towards Saudi Arabia. Airstrikes have so far destroyed 21 Scud missiles, he said. Meanwhile on Saturday, Yemeni military officials said an explosion rocked the Jabal Al Hadid military camp in Aden that houses a weapons depot and had been taken by pro-Saleh forces, killing and wounding several people. Security officials speaking anonymously said that three people were killed in different areas of Aden on Saturday.
Dozens of foreign diplomats, including United Nations staff, still were awaiting evacuation Saturday by air in Sanaa, airport officials said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
[AnNahar] Arab air strikes against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... could last up to six months, Gulf diplomatic officials said Saturday, voicing fears that they could face retaliation at home by Iran.
Goodness. By the end of that time, the country will consist of rubble-filled empty cities and the back country. Still, Yemen had become overpopulated relative to natural resources and infrastructure, so that problem will be well on the way to being solved.
Initially Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and its allies had anticipated a one-month air campaign but "it could last five to six months," an official said.
He said the three-day-old campaign had been successful so far, destroying targets including 21 Scud missiles.
He accused Iran of providing "logistical and military support" to the Iranian catspaws.
"According to estimates, there are 5,000 Iranians, (members of the pro-Tehran Lebanese movement) Hezbollah and Iraqi militia on the ground in Yemen," he added.
It was not possible to independently verify the claim.
Gulf diplomats said Saudi Arabia and its allies had decided to intervene after satellite imagery in late January showed the movement of Scud missiles north towards the Saudi border, with the capacity to strike a large part of the kingdom's territory.
The officials said they feared an "Iranian reaction" to their air campaign -- not military action to defend the Huthis but in the form of destabilising measures.
"Iran will respond with terrorist acts in the Gulf," the official said.
He said an Iranian response could be felt in particular in Bahrain -- a Sunni-ruled kingdom with a Shiite majority -- and Saudi Arabia's Shiite-populated Eastern Province, or even in Gulf capitals.
[Ynet] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... says that multiple groups of Yemeni Iranian catspaws are moving toward the two countries' shared border. The Gulf kingdom is leading a coalition of countries conducting Arclight airstrikes against the rebels, known as Houthis.
Speaking from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Ahmed Asiri, a front man of the coalition campaign, told news hounds that the coalition was tracking at least two rebel groups. Asiri promises that Saudi Arabia and the coalition "will not allow" the Houthis to cross or threaten the Saudi border.
[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian politician has lashed out at Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... for its Arclight airstrikes against Yemen, saying such attacks will fail dismally.
"Saudi Arabia's policies in the region have failed," said the chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran's Parliament (Majlis), Alaeddin Boroujerdi, adding that the Saudi war in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... "has no logic."
"Saudi Arabia's military strike [on Yemen] is considered as a blatant violation of international regulations, and this aggression is a breach of Yemen's illusory sovereignty as a member of the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)," he told news hounds on Saturday.
Boroujerdi further said that Saudi Arabia has upheld an "arrogant approach" to regional states including Yemen and resorted to all means in imposing its policies on Sana'a, but has failed to achieve its objectives.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
#1
Maybe, but I---for one---anticipate a lot of popcorn moments while it lasts.
[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... in a telephone conversation with Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... bin Abdulaziz Al Saud discussed the recent developments on regional and international fronts.
According to a report issued by the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA), during the telephone conversation on Saturday, Nawaz expressed full support for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the 'Determination Storm' operation, asserting that "all potentials of the Pak Army are offered to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".
Pakistain must not join Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... war, says Imran
King Salman thanked the prime minister for his feelings and stressed on the depth of relations between the two countries, the report said.
According to diplomatic sources, Saudi Arabia has also assured its cooperation for the safe evacuation of Paks stranded in Yemen.
Nawaz Sharif on Friday had ordered the Pak mission in Yemen to take steps for the immediate evacuation of stranded Pak families in the troubled country.
Earlier, the prime minister had asserted that any threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistain.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in the National Assembly that Pakistain has only pledged to safeguard the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He stressed on Pakistain's role as 'controller' to end the conflicts in the Moslem world.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[AnNahar] A group of London teenage girls barred from travelling abroad attend the same school as three others who are thought to have gone to Syria, the High Court has heard.
Last week High Court judge Anthony Hayden barred five teenage girls from going overseas due to concerns they too would flee to Syria to join Islamist fighters.
He made the girls from east London -- two aged 15 and three aged 16 -- "wards of court", a legal move that prevents them leaving the jurisdiction of England and Wales without judicial permission.
He confiscated their passports and also those of a number of adults involved in caring for them, noting that in at least one other case a young girl travelled on a relative's passport.
Hayden said Friday it could be revealed that four of those girls were pupils at the Bethnal Green Academy in east London.
Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, who also went to the school, left their homes in February and flew to Istanbul, from where they are believed to have joined Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadists in Syria.
They followed a classmate who left about two months earlier.
"All involved must recognise that in this particular process it is the interest of the individual child that is paramount," the judge said.
"This cannot be eclipsed by wider considerations of counter terrorism policy or operations, but it must be recognised that the decision the court is being asked to take can only be arrived at against an informed understanding of that wider canvas."
The British authorities are increasingly concerned by the numbers of young people heading to join jihadists in Syria, after a string of high-profile cases in recent weeks.
Three teenage boys and a 21-year-old woman were stopped in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in the past week on suspicion of trying to cross the border.
About 700 people are thought to have gone to Syria from Britannia, of whom almost half are reported to have returned.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Hurriyet Daily News] Airlines rushed on March 26 to change their rules so as to require a second crew member in the cockpit at all times, hours after French prosecutors suggested a co-pilot who barricaded himself alone at the controls of a jetliner had crashed it on purpose.
The United States already requires two crew members to be in the cabin at all times, but many other countries do not, allowing pilots to leave the flight deck, for example to use the toilet, as long as one pilot is at the controls.
That is precisely what French prosecutors suspect happened on the Germanwings flight on Tuesday. They say Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked the captain out and appears to have set the controls to crash into a mountain, killing all 150 people on board.
Airlines including Norwegian Air Shuttle, Britannia's easyJet, Air Canada, Air New Zealand and Air Berlin all said within hours that they had introduced a requirement that two crew members be in the cockpit at all times.
Canada said it would immediately impose such a rule on all its airlines while those that already had such rules in place, including Ryanair, rushed to reassure customers.
Among the companies that did not announce such a policy change was Germanwings parent Lufthansa, whose CEO Carsten Spohr said he believed it was unnecessary.
"I don't see any need to change our procedures here," Spohr told journalists. "It was a one-off case. But we will look at it with the various experts at Lufthansa and the authorities. We shouldn't lose ourselves in short-term measures."
His comments drew criticism on Twitter, with some people demanding the airline introduce the two person-rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The two-person rule seems so obviously helpful that I'm surprised it isn't done world-wide.
#2
Andreas Lubitz should never have near the cockpit at this time. A lot of people dropped the ball and allowed this to happen; doctors, regulators, the German government. The doctors who examined him apparently did not see him as fit for duty. Nothing happened at that point and he ended up in the cockpit. His license should have been jerked temporarily or permanently. Government regulation must have been lax and authorities must not have gotten the information from the doctors who said he was not fit to fly. No one connected the dots.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Iran on Thursday of trying to dominate the Middle East and said its efforts have begun annoying Ankara, as well as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Gulf Arab countries.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... earlier said it supports the Saudi-led military operation against Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and called on the militia group and its "foreign supporters" to abandon acts which threaten peace and security in the region.
"Iran is trying to dominate the region," said Erdogan, who is due to visit Tehran in early April. "Could this be allowed? This has begun annoying us, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. This is really not tolerable and Iran has to see this," he added in a presser.
Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies struck at Houthi forces in Yemen, who have taken over much of the country in their campaign to oust President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The Saudi-led intervention marked a major escalation of the Yemen crisis, in which Shi'ite Moslem Iran supports the Shi'ite Houthis, and Sunni Moslem monarchies in the Gulf back Hadi and his fellow Sunni loyalists in Yemen's south.
Erdogan said the conflict has evolved into a sectarian one and urged Iran to withdraw. "Iran has to change its view. It has to withdraw any forces, whatever it has in Yemen, as well as Syria and Iraq and respect their territorial integrity."
Erdogan's plans to visit Iran had not changed, his front man, Ibrahim Kalin, told journalists earlier on Thursday without giving a specific date.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
shorter Yippy: "WE should be running the Caliphate. The curly-toed slippers are ours by racial superiority"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/29/2015 10:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sunni Turkey is no fan of Shia Iran, + Sunni Egypt is no fan of Sunni Turkey = Ottomans.
The good news is they all want their own Nukes iff Iran gets 'em.
From Vox, no less. Cringe-worthy begets cringe-worthy.
Yemen is descending into chaos — and the Obama administration's response, at least in its public statements about the crisis, has been a total mess. The Obama administration, which just earlier this week was touting its "Yemen model" as a success in counterterrorism strategy, has not been eager to own up to the country's disintegration. And that has come out in a series of muddled, highly cringe-worthy statements given to the press to explain how the US is handling the crisis. It will not leave you feeling confident in the administration's grasp of what to do about Yemen's chaos.
1. "We're trying to beat [ISIS] — and there are complications. ... We have a partner who is collapsing in Yemen and we're trying to support that. And we're trying to get a nuclear deal with Iran. Is this all part of some grand strategy? Unfortunately, the world gets a vote."
— A senior Obama administration official to The New York Times's Mark Mazzetti and David Kirkpatrick, March 27.
2. "The truth is, you can dwell on Yemen, or you can recognize that we're one agreement away from a game-changing, legacy-setting nuclear accord on Iran that tackles what every one agrees is the biggest threat to the region."
— A senior State Department official to Politico's Michael Crowley, March 26.
3. "We have not seen that kind of progress in terms of strengthening the central government, I think you could make a pretty strong case that we've seen the opposite of that, but we do continue to enjoy the benefits of a sustained counterterrorism security relationship with the security infrastructure that remains."
— White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, as quoted by ABC's Mary Bruce and Jonathan Karl, March 25.
4. "The White House does continue to believe that a successful counter-terrorism strategy is one that will build up the capacity of the central government to have local fighters on the ground to take the fight to extremists in their own country. ... That is a template that has succeeded in mitigating the threat that we face from extremists in places like Yemen."
— White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, as quoted by ABC's Mary Bruce and Jonathan Karl, March 25, the day Yemen's president went missing. He later turned up in Saudi Arabia.
5. "There's a sense that the only view worth having on the Middle East is the long view."
— A senior State Department official to Politico's Michael Crowley, March 26.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) said on Wednesday that the Air Force has failed to allay concerns about the deactivation of the 440th Airlift Wing, a vital support unit for training U.S. special operations and airborne forces.
The Air Force has signaled in recent months that it plans to phase out the 440th, which has shed about 200 airmen and reduced its flights in response to budget cuts. The Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit, flies the only C-130 planes that are permanently stationed at the Pope Airfield at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Critics of the Air Force’s move say it does not make strategic or financial sense to remove airmen from the base that serves some of the Army’s top airborne units, including the 82nd Airborne Division and special operations forces.
After meeting with Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, Tillis said in a statement that “questions I have been asking for months regarding the Air Force’s short-sighted plans to deactivate the 440th Air Wing remain unanswered.”
“The Air Force continues to state that removing airmen from the 440th does not constitute an attempt to shutter the air wing, despite the fact that C-130s cannot be flown without pilots and maintainers,” he said.
“I will continue to require Air Force leaders to be more transparent with the public and Congress regarding their decision-making, and hold them accountable for decisions that lack a strategic justification or violate the spirit of last year’s [National Defense Authorization Act], which mandates that Congress be informed before the Air Force acts to close the 440th,” he added.
Last year’s defense bill required the Air Force to submit a report to Congress on its plans for the fielding of C-130 aircraft before taking any action. The 440th was originally slated to receive new C-130J planes to replace its older C-130Hs, but Air Force officials shelved that program and opted to deactivate the airlift wing.
The Air Force has said it is permitted to move airmen, though not planes, before issuing the report to Congress. That position previously elicited sharp criticism from Tillis.
“That does not pass the laugh test unless the Air Force Reserve Command expects the Pope C-130s to be converted to drones—no pilots, no air wing,” he said.
The Air Force Reserve Command declined to comment on the concerns raised by Tillis following his meeting with James.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, commander of Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne Corps, said last month that the 440th “should not go.” Air Force officials have admitted that they did not consult Army leaders at Fort Bragg before proceeding with the dismantlement of the 440th, though they said the Army did not previously protest the decision.
The 440th has about 1,200 airmen. Air Force Reserve officials have opened a clearinghouse to begin moving reservists from the unit.
Anderson noted that it would be more difficult to train airborne and special operations units stationed at Fort Bragg without permanent planes there to assist them.
“Of all places in the world, why would we take that capability away from Fort Bragg?” he said.
It makes perfect sense if you have a certain world view. Like the one held by Champ and ValJar...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
“Of all places in the world, why would we take that capability away from Fort Bragg?” he said.
Time tested USAF funding strategy. Oh, you don't like beans and cornbread? Fine! Dinner is over forever.
1) Who in NC pi$$ed off the Administration?
2) The USAF is so damned obsessive over the F-35, that they're about to slit the throat of the last real rapid forced-entry capability we have left so that they can afford the overruns on the Block 1 cupholders for the blankety-blanking things. And if that's the case, then the USAF leadership is literally out of control.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/29/2015 7:52 Comments ||
Top||
#4
another comment seen on the AF:
The Air Force is offered a better (cheaper) mouse trap, they agree to to buy said mouse trap if you make it just like the expensive mouse traps we have been buying all along. This is why the private sector has raced ahead of the military, Darpa, and other government research programs in many critical areas.
#5
I know I will take some heat for this but maybe the Air Force should be subsumed into the Army Air Corps again. They seem to be enamoured in winning wars solely through air power again. Which doesn't happen.
#6
Flying transports into combat areas isn't glamorous like flying around as a zoomie. Well, being part of a team for a mission bigger than all of you is a pretty neat thing.
I do this as an engineer designing a water treatment or a waste heat recovery project. We are a team, including drafters, planners, procurement people, construction superintendents, local laborers.
We don't have room for hyper inflated egos or ulterior motives. Just basic honesty. The Air Force needs to do some serious soul searching. They are part of a big team. Should be an integral part.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/29/2015 14:44 Comments ||
Top||
There are growing concerns that Hillary Clinton’s decision to use a private email server to conduct State Department business may have allowed foreign spies to access her correspondence, according to the chairmen of three major Senate national security oversight committees.
The Senators are about a month behind Rantburg but it's always good to see our elected officials exercise a little obvious common sense, eventually...
Clinton’s personal email could have become “a priority target for foreign intelligence services,” according to a letter sent to the State Department inspector general by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R., N.C.), and Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) on March 12.
“We write to you today concerning the recent revelations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top aides used non-State Department email addresses and servers to conduct official U.S. Government business,” the senators wrote. “We are concerned that diplomatically sensitive, and possibly classified, information may have been transmitted and stored in an insecure manner.” Duhhhh! All USG official communications are 'high priority targets' for foreign intelligence, or what was formerly known as 'Hostile Intelligence Services (HOIS).' The senators noted that overseas intelligence agencies “continuously probe our government’s information systems for weaknesses and attempt targeted intrusions.”
Hillary's privater server would have been catnip to foreign intel services. It's just not possible that they would have resisted, and they almost certainly would have known about it...
“The use of privately maintained information systems that are not protected by federal government experts and key technical capabilities raises serious concerns as those networks may be less secure,” they wrote.
In Hillary's defense, her server might have had an old copy of Norton installed...
The senators asked the State Department inspector general to provide the names of any other officials who worked under Clinton who used personal email for government correspondence, details about the security of Clinton’s private email, an assessment on whether any official emails were deleted by Clinton or her staff, and information on whether Clinton or others withheld any emails that should be publicly available. This is not the first time Foggy Bottom has been involved in inappropriate handling of classified data, loss or theft entire systems or individual documents. They have a history of communications security (COMSEC) violations and breaches. COMSEC is a joke for these people, an inconvenience to be ignored if possible. Check the attitude and comments of the Beest. She thinks it's a big joke. “We ask that this be an unclassified report, and that a classified annex be provided if necessary,” said the letter.
The senators warned that “if a non-government server was known to be a repository for the secretary’s emails, it would almost certainly become—if it is not already—a priority target for foreign intelligence services and others.” To assume the Beest's communications were not compromised would amount to negligence. Secure communications [SIPR] and 'high-side' are there for a reason.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Holding soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines to one communications security standard, and these arrogant wankers to yet another is absolutely maddening. Excellent people in uniform have had their careers damaged and even terminated for a tiny fraction of the violations produced by this blatant ignorance and negligence.
#3
One might suspect the private server was intended to make interception easier. Wasn't Billy Jeff Clinton the one that gave away so much sensitive technology to China?
"Dual-use" rocket technology and submarine propeller milling technology. Yeah, I seem to remember something like that.
That's about the closest they've gotten in a long while.
Most everyone's incoming knowledge about many things is delayed, deferred or deleted by the 'standard information sources'. That's why Rantburg and other 'aggressive news aggregation' sites are so important in order to actually know what's going on.
'Tomorrow's New Today!'
If you haven't already, hit the tip jar.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/29/2015 11:01 Comments ||
Top||
#7
After looking at some of the foreign money coming her way from some questionable sources, IMO it was all part of the plan. The dupes who might be thinking of voting for her because she is a womym will never see the sleaziness because of a sleazy MSM that provides cover for these slimy politicians.
[DAWN] The recording of a phone call purported to be a conversation between PTI Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... and a key party politician, where Mr Khan appears happy with the news that PTV's broadcasts had been shut down in August of last year, remained the top news story across all private news channels on Friday.
Although both the PTI chairman and the MNA in question, Dr Arif Alvi, have denied the content of the conversation, the government's spin doctors have been following the development feverishly.
The media wing of the Prime Minister's Office even shared a list of cell phone numbers of ruling party politicians who could be contacted for input on the issue of the leaked tape.
Believing in the veracity of the taped conversation, Information Minister Pervez Rashid criticised the PTI chairman for not effectively responding to the allegations.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar took a jibe at the beleaguered party, saying: "It seems the PTI chairman is disturbed by the leaked tape. The government, however, is sticking to its agreement on the judicial commission."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[AnNahar] Retaking the city of Tikrit, where jihadists have rigged streets and buildings with explosives, will require "major sacrifices" on the part of Iraqi forces, a senior intelligence officer said Saturday.
Iraqi forces and allied paramilitaries have been fighting to retake the city since March 2, but halted ground operations for more than a week in what officials described as a bid to curb human and material losses before pushing forward again.
"The task of liberating Tikrit requires major sacrifices and street fighting, and our forces are ready for these sacrifices," the officer told AFP on condition of anonymity, indicating that the pause in operations only deferred the inevitable cost.
The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) jihadist group has planted bombs in streets, rigged houses and other buildings with explosives, and built defensive works including berms and tunnels, also booby-trapped, the officer said.
Perhaps the answer is to turn the city into fine rubble, trusting that most of the explosives and other traps will be triggered in the process.
IS spearheaded a sweeping offensive last June that overran much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland, and the operation to retake Tikrit is Baghdad's largest to date against the krazed killers.
A U.S.-led anti-IS coalition began carrying out air strikes in the Tikrit area on Wednesday, a move that increased available firepower in the air but has at least temporarily curbed it on the ground.
Key Iranian-backed militia forces that have done much of the heavy lifting in the drive to push IS back suspended offensive operations after the strikes began, commanders told AFP.
The Pentagon conditioned its intervention on an enhanced role for regular government forces and Friday hailed the withdrawal of "those Shiite militias who are linked to, infiltrated by, (or) otherwise under the influence of Iran".
Iran had been the most prominent foreign partner in the operation, but Baghdad eventually requested the U.S.-led strikes after the drive stalled.
The battle has continued in the absence of the militia forces, with an army colonel saying there was heavy fighting on the southern outskirts of the city.
The advance was slow due to bombs planted by IS but security forces have gained some ground, the colonel said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
I doubt that most of the Iraqi army is capable of this. Maybe they have one or two good divisions but would it be sane to use all your best soldiers to take just one town.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/29/2015 0:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I wonder if that statement is meant as a code word for "a bunch of you mustache bristling militia guys are gonna get hurt"???
I suspect the Iraqi Army would prefer the various tin hat militias deplete their manpower and resources on the defenses so the Iraqi army can march into town relatively unscathed.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/29/2015 21:59 Comments ||
Top||
[RUDAW.NET] Leaders of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... now in control of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... are demanding residents pay a tax of $80 per month for the protection of the Death Eater group, a member provincial council member has said.
"[ISIS] bully boyz have forced families in Mosul to pay 100,000 dinar [$80] each month, claiming that their gunnies are protecting people so they must pay for the service," Ibrahim Tati, member of Mosul provincial council, told Rudaw on Friday.
"No matter rich or poor, all families are forced to pay the amount required by the myrmidons," Tati added.
Mosul, Iraq's' second largest city fell to ISIS bully boyz in June. Iraqi security forces are planning a future operation to retake the city with air support from the US-led coalition formed to fight the Death Eater group. The city's dwindling civilian population is reportedly still more than one million.
Tati announced earlier that ISIS bully boyz in Mosul have introduced their own education system with material designed to teach young children the Sunni Death Eaters' ideology.
"In order to brainwash young children with violent ideology, the bully boyz have opened a school called a 'reformation' school. They force families to send their children there," Tati said.
According to Saeed Mamozini, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party branch 14 in Mosul, the Islamic group also forces young men from Mosul to join their forces and fight in the ongoing war.
Women in Mosul are held captive for "Jihad al-Nikah," a sexual from of slavery in which women are forced to offer themselves in sexual comfort roles to fighters, Mamozini explained.
The Islamic State, which occupies parts of Iraq and Syria, claims it has created a "caliphate" and is governing its territory under strict religious laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[RUDAW.NET] The consequences of the al-Jabouri tribe's decision to ally with Iraq's Shiite-led government against their fellow Sunnis in the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group are etched on row after row of gravestones in this palm-shaded town by the Tigris River.
As Khamis Daari paces the cemetery he points out the final resting place of his son Ali, killed in December alongside scores of others who battled the ISIS group. A few plots over lies Yazen al-Abeelah, a playful three-year-old killed when a rocket hit his home. Mahmoud Salama, 80, is said to have battled bravely alongside fighters half his age, only to die in an kaboom.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[RUDAW.NET] A Kurdish official has expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over the presence of Shiite militias in a Peshmerga-controlled area that spans the northeast of Diyala province and southern part of the Kurdistan Region.
Wahab Mohammed, a district official in the ethnically mixed district of Qara Tapa, said Friday the presence of fighters from the Shiite militia group known as the Popular Mobilization Units, or Hashd al-Shabi in Arabic, was not needed in the area and the local people did not ask them to come.
"We don't need the Hashd al-Shabi forces in Qara Tapa," Mohammed told Rudaw. "They are not a threat to us, but their presence is in no benefit either"
The Hashd al-Shabi have been fighting ISIS bandidossnuffies in parts of the disputed areas despite a strong presence of Peshmerga troops in the same area.
According to officials in Qara Tapa, more than 2,000 Kurdish Peshmerga and an estimated 450 Shiite fighters are based in the district to fend off ISIS.
A Peshmerga commander on the Qara Tapa frontline said the two fighting groups had established a joint defense.
"They are now responsible for the protection of some parts of the region and they are in full coordination with Peshmerga forces," the commander said.
Hadi al-Ameri, head of the Badr Organization and a leader of the Hasd al-Shaabi, organized a militia comprised of Shiite-Turkmen residents when he visited Qara Tapa last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
Of course not. The Kurds have long seemed to be the only decent ppl in that neck of the neighborhood.
Posted by: chris ||
03/29/2015 1:06 Comments ||
Top||
[Iran Press TV] Israel is treated as a form of "domestic policy" in the United States due to the power of the Israel lobby despite the growing tensions between the two countries, a political analyst says.
President Barack Obama It’s very rare that I come to an event where I’m like the fifth- or sixth-most interesting person.... is distancing himself from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because he is an obstacle to peace in the Middle East, said Ian Williams, a senior analyst at Foreign Policy in Focus, a policy think tank based in Washington, DC.
He made the comments after US Republican Senator Bob Corker accused the B.O. regime of moving away from Israel in favor of stronger relations with Iran.
"What the White House is doing -- they're obviously moving away from Israel towards a relationship with Iran," Corker told CNN on Friday.
Williams said "there is some truth" to Corker's remarks but "one should never trust a Republican congressman of any kind on foreign relations because they don't know much about the rest of the world."
"The point is that Iran is a question of foreign policy for America where Israel is a question of domestic policy because of the strength of the [Israel] lobby," Williams told Press TV on Saturday.
Last week, Obama warned Netanyahu about his opposition to a Paleostinian state and for making racist comments about Arabs living in the occupied territories.
"Obama is moving away from Netanyahu obviously because Netanyahu personally snubbed him and is politically rendering any Middle East solution which Obama wanted to achieve before leaving office almost impossible," Williams said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Pentagon, military, and intelligence officials outlined plans on Wednesday for warfare in space and warned China not to attack U.S. satellites in any future conflict.
#2
Go to spaceX with their huge Falcon Heavy and pay them - without oversight and other costly bs - to launch bunches of Rods From God attack weapons pod. Oh and since its not nuke it really doesn't violate the no space weapons treaty.
#5
All this Artic means to me is MORE NASA-DARPA TRIANGLES, SPACE-TO-EARTH LASER BEAMS, + SPAWAR Satellites - Global Strike/Prompt Strike + Orbital-Space Strike - TO BE SEEN BY GOOD MADONNA FANS OVER GUAM-WESTPAC.
OOOOOPPPPSSSSIES, my bad, almost fergot the Mini/Micro-Drones buzzing the Agana/Hagatna area.
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] An Iranian journalist writing about the nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran has defected. In an interview Amir Hossein Motaghi, has some harsh words for his native Iran. He also has a damning indictment of America's role in the nuclear negotiations.
"The U.S. negotiating team are mainly there to speak on Iran's behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal," Motaghi told a TV station after just defecting from the Iranian delegation while abroad for the nuclear talks. The P 5 + 1 is made up of United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, La Belle France, plus Germany.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 11:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Most bidnessmen, be they American or Lebanese, are familiar with "Deal Fever", where you get so focused on the idea of making a deal that you become willing to overlook serious flaws in the deal you're making. (Underling: "The FDA just said that this company's product is lethally toxic to all carbon-based life forms. Are we sure we want to buy them?" Boss: "Point No. 1, no problem, we'll just dump it in the Martian market. Point No. 2, shuddup.") The kindest interpretation I can put on all this is that Champ and his underlings have a really bad case of Deal Fever. Possibly a terminal case.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/29/2015 12:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Deal or not, it's no deal without senatte confrmation, and is only good as long as Barky remains in office.
#3
Best of all, it's an "unwritten" deal, so it means whatever Champ and the Iranians say about it today. Or tomorrow. Or yesterday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/29/2015 13:12 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It is becoming more and more obvious that this is all Obama's "leading from behind strategy"
He is trying to goad Israel to attack Iran possibly using its nuclear arsenal.
What else could be meant by calling Netanyahu a coward, and distancing the US from Israel?
How better to do this than signing an unacceptable agreement?
Israel might be forced to pull the West's chestnuts out of the Iranian's fire. And the US would apparently be totally innocent!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/29/2015 13:52 Comments ||
Top||
#7
By the way the Mullah's behavior seems to be based on their worries about the future. Iran's birth rate (1.7 children per woman) is not sufficient to sustain itself very long. They need something new for the country to survive.
Also they would be insane to attack Israel which is the one country able to and prepared to destroy Iran.
Their real threat, as everyone knows, is to its Arab neighbors, and to Europe. The latter are the ones who need to prevent a nuclear Iran, and the Arab neighbors know it.
#11
State has been representing foreign interests for decades rather than that of the average non-connected non-Ivy League American. A large rogue unregistered foreign lobbyist concern. Why wouldn't they sell out knuckle dragging, gun clinging, bible thumping inbred flyovers?
#12
..of course, when they royally screw up they ask those same people for fork over their sons and daughters (not theirs mind you) to spill their blood and guts to stabilize everything.
[Iran Press TV] High Representative of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini says the six countries engaged in talks with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program have never been closer to a deal.
"As you know, we have never been so close to a deal. We still have some critical points that need to be solved, and we are working over the hours, over the weekend to bridge the gaps. I will not go into the details of the negotiations. It's not the right time to do it. I hope we manage to do it in the coming days," Mogherini told reports in Lausanne, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , on Saturday evening.
She added, "We are always optimistic... As I said, we have never been so close in the last weeks. I think we've made substantial progress so the work of the last weeks has been very positive. There still are some points on which we have to work hard to find solutions."
"I think if there is the common ground that unites us all in the negotiations, we can have a good deal -- a deal that can be solid. A good deal for everybody and having a good deal would be obviously very important for us," the EU foreign policy chief pointed out.
Mogherini's remarks come as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier on Saturday held separate talks with his German and French counterparts over the outstanding issues between the parties to the negotiations.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Jpost] Journalist says he no longer saw any "sense" in his profession as he could only write what he was told, The Telegraph reports.
"The US negotiating team are mainly there to speak on Iran's behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal," the British daily reported him as saying.
Just to balance the ledger, maybe we could send Iran (5) "reporters" from NYT, MSNBC, etc?
Tom Friedman isn't a reporter, but it would be lovely were he included.
More from The Telegraph, which apparently is the original source. I'm wondering if Champ will return him to the Iranians.
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp52169 ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[RUDAW.NET] A senior Russian official says about 1,500 residents of Russia's North Caucasus are fighting alongside Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... Death Eaters in Syria and Iraq.
Sergei Melikov, President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... 's envoy to the North Caucasus, says at least five Death Eaters who came back after fighting in Syria were killed in security sweeps last year.
Melikov said Thursday the Islamic State group poses a "very serious threat" to the North Caucasus, Russian news agencies reported. He said efforts are needed to prevent young people from joining the ranks of bully boys.
Melikov's comment echoed Putin's speech to bigwigs of the Federal Security Service ... the successor to the KGB... , the main KGB successor agency, in which he said one of its top priorities should be tracking Russian citizens who have left to fight alongside the Islamic State group.
"It's important to take additional measures to cut international links and resource base of the terrorists, block avenues for their entry and exit from Russia," Putin said Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
IMO Artic read, AKA WHY VLADIMIR PUTIN = RUSSIA TOOK THE CRIMEA BACK.
Please pardon the equestrian stand-in. The Swedish Dala is on holiday.
The writer is correct: it's much easier to push around the small countries. Sweden is paying the price for not being willing to stand on principle. Now that it's been demonstrated that the Swedes don't have any, they'll be led by the nose based on their economic vulnerabilities and their corrupt ideology.
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.
Something in the chicken, or fish sticks ? 
[DAWN] The recording of a phone call purported to be a conversation between PTI Chairman 
[RUDAW.NET] Leaders of the 
rowing tensions between the two countries, a political analyst says.
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] An Iranian journalist writing about the nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran has defected. In an interview Amir Hossein Motaghi, has some harsh words for his native Iran. He also has a damning indictment of America's role in the nuclear negotiations.
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
