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Today: 57 articles and 184 comments as of 11:49.
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Elite Army units moving to Idlib for major assault
Today's Headlines
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Europe
Refugees allowed to leave ship as prosecutor investigates Salvini
[Al Jazeera] Italia's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is under investigation by a Sicilian prosecutor for refusing to allow more than 150 migrants colonists and refugees to enter Italia.

Salvini, who is also Italia's interior minister, is being investigated for abuse of office, kidnapping and illegal arrest, after forcing refugees to stay on a ship at the Sicilian port of Catania for almost a week.

Salvini blocked them from disembarking the Diciotti in the absence of an agreement from other European member states to share the responsibility of relocation.

Following the news of the investigation, Italian authorities allowed people to get off the ship, hours after Saturday's decision to let 16 people off who were unwell.

Salvini, leader of the far-right anti-migration League party, responded to the investigation into his conduct on his Facebook page.

"The prosecutor of Agrigento wants my information? Don't waste your time, I'll give it to you. Matteo Salvini, born in Milan on 9/3/1973, resident in Milan with Italian citizenship," he said.

"I'm proud to be questioned and locked away
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
if for defending and securing the borders of our country."

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


The Grand Turk
Turkey’s Erdogan says will bring ‘security and peace’ to Syria, Iraq
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Ottoman Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Sunday to bring peace and safety to Iraq and areas in Syria not under Ottoman Turkish control and said terrorist organizations in those areas would be eliminated.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
, which has backed some rebel groups in Syria, has been working with Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al Assad, and Iran for a political resolution to the crisis.

It has so far carried out two cross-border operations along its border with Syria and set up a dozen military observations posts in the northern Syrian region of Idlib.

The rebel-held Idlib enclave is a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as for powerful jihadist forces, but has been hit by a wave of air strikes and shelling this month.

The attacks posed a possible prelude to a full-scale Syrian government offensive, which Turkey has said would be disastrous.

Speaking in the southeastern province of Mus to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert of 1071, Erdogan vowed to bring peace and safety to Syria and Iraq.

"It is not for nothing that the only places in Syria where security and peace have been established are under Turkey's control. God willing, we will establish the same peace in other parts of Syria too. God willing, we will bring the same peace to Iraq, where terrorist organizations are active," he said.

Erdogan also linked regional conflicts and an ongoing currency crisis in Turkey, which he has cast as an "economic war", to previous attempts to invade Anatolia, warning that the this would lead to the collapse of surrounding regions.

"Those who seek temporary reasons behind the troubles we have been facing recently are wrong, very wrong. The attacks we face today... are rooted in history," he said.

"Don't forget, Anatolia is a wall and if this wall collapses, there will no longer be a Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Balkans or Caucasus."

Turkey's lira has tumbled nearly 40 percent this year as investor concerns over Erdogan's grip on monetary policy and a growing dispute with the United States put pressure on the currency.

Ankara has accused Washington of targeting Turkey over the fate of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor being tried in Turkey on terrorism charges that he denies.

"Some careless people among us think this is about Tayyip Erdogan or the AK Party. No, this is about Turkey," Erdogan said.

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  battle of Manzikert was between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Kingdom. The Seljuks won that one. It took about 30 years for the Byzantines to recover from that defeat.
Posted by: lord garth || 08/27/2018 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  "Some careless people among us think this is about Tayyip Erdogan or the AK Party. No, this is about Turkey," Erdogan said.

Not so careless people are pretty sure it's all about you, Gollum.
Posted by: Raj || 08/27/2018 0:39 Comments || Top||

#3  They make a desert, then call it peace.
Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.
--Tacitus, Close of chapter 30, Oxford Revised Translation
Posted by: magpie || 08/27/2018 1:01 Comments || Top||


Turkey detains two more suspects over US embassy shooting
[Al Jazeera] Ottoman Turkish police have nabbed
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
two more people for their suspected links to Monday's drive-by shooting on the United States embassy in capital Ankara, Anadolu Agency reports, in an attack coinciding with increased tensions between the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
allies.

Friday's arrests raise the total number of arrested suspects to four and they are being interrogated by police, the agency reported on Sunday citing a police source.

The detention period for Ahmet Celikten and Osman Gundas, the suspects arrested on Monday, was extended, it added.

Celikten and Gundas confessed to their involvement in the attack, the governor's office in Ankara said.

NO CASUALITIES
Assailants had fired six rounds at the embassy's security gate from a passing white vehicle at about 5am local time (02:00 GMT), with three bullets hitting an iron door and a window, the office said. There were no casualties.

The Ottoman Turkish police said the suspects were drunk at the time of the attack.

The embassy was closed for a public holiday to mark the Eid al-Adha festival, when the incident happened.

The attack coincided with a deepening row between Ankara and Washington over the trial of a US pastor held in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
Ties have been severely strained over the case of Andrew Brunson, leading the US to impose sanctions and increase tariffs that sent the Ottoman Turkish lira tumbling last week.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
DG ISPR denies giving Miramshah protesters assurances to court-martial army personnel
[DAWN] Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor on Sunday rejected a media report claiming that the armed forces had assured protesters in North Wazoo tribal district that the army personnel responsible for the alleged killing of a man would be court-martialed.

On Friday, during the protest against the arrests made in connection with a remote-controlled kaboom a day earlier, security forced had allegedly opened fire, killing one and injuring 10 others.

The death had sparked a sit-in in Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
, which, according to newly elected MNA from North Waziristan Mohsin Dawar, was called off after their demands were accepted.

According to VOA (Voice of America) DEEWA, one of the demands of the protesters was to court martial "Captain Zarar, who allegedly killed a boy during a protest".

However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
the DG ISPR contested that claim on Twitter hours later, saying that "while an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain facts, no assurance given for any court martial."

Maj Gen Ghafoor denied that the forces had killed or injured anyone, and accused the media outlet of keeping up "its tradition of false reporting.

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


TLP to march towards Islamabad against blasphemous cartoon competition in Netherlands
[DAWN] Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) has announced that it will begin a "decisive march" from Lahore to Islamabad on Wednesday, and will "stay on the streets until either the publication of blasphemous cartoons in the Netherlands end or the govt immediately ends diplomatic ties with the Dutch".
Wouldn't it make more sense to march to Amsterdam?
Wildly indignant, as you'd expect, over an announcement by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders to hold a competition of blasphemous caricatures, the TLP held a meeting in Lahore on Sunday and came up with its line of action and demands.

The religiopolitical party urged the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI) government to not only "discontinue diplomatic and commercial relations with the Netherlands" but also "demand from other Islamic countries to do the same".

The TLP also demands that since the said competition's judge is an American national, "therefore, strict measures should also be taken against the US".

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Why am I thinking claymore (M18)?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/27/2018 14:34 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel to reopen Gaza crossing after week of calm on border
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Israel’s defense minister has announced he will reopen the country’s main personnel crossing with the Gazoo Strip following a week of relative calm along the border.

Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday that after consultation with the country’s security agencies, he ordered the opening of the Erez border crossing on Monday.

The decision to reopen the crossing comes amid efforts by Egypt to mediate a possible ceasefire between Gazoo’s Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", rulers and Israel following weeks of intense violence at the border.

The sides have come close to serious conflict in recent weeks, as Death Eaters have fired rockets at Israel, which responded with Arclight airstrikes.

Hamas, which rules the Gazoo Strip and doesn’t recognize Israel, seeks an easing of the decade-long, crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the Paleostinian territory in exchange for a lasting truce.

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  10 ... 9 ... 3 ...
Posted by: gorb || 08/27/2018 0:45 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Says It Has Full Control Of Gulf, U.S. Navy Does Not Belong There
Hat Tip, gCaptain.
Tehran has suggested it could take military action in the Gulf to block other countries’ oil exports in retaliation for U.S. sanctions intended to halt its sales of crude. Washington maintains a fleet in the Gulf that protects oil shipping routes.

Tangsiri said Iran had full control of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz that leads into it. Closing the strait would be the most direct way of blocking shipping.

"We can ensure the security of the Persian Gulf and there is no need for the presence of aliens like the U.S. and the countries whose home is not in here," he said in the quote, which appeared in English translation on Tasnim.

He added, "All the carriers and military and non-military ships will be controlled and there is full supervision over the Persian Gulf. Our presence in the region is physical and constant and night and day."

Separately, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said Iran’s enemies would not prevail in a conflict.

"The enemies are strictly avoiding any conflict with Iran because they know that it will not be beneficial for them," Jafari said, according to Tasnim.

Tension between Iran and the United States has escalated since President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May and reimposed sanctions.

Senior U.S. officials have said they aim to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most senior authority in the Islamic Republic, said last month that he supports the idea that if Iran is not allowed to export oil then no country should export oil from the Gulf.
Well, maybe resolution of this issue will have a positive effect on the NORKS.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/27/2018 14:50 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  How much do you wanna bet as soon as a couple aircraft carrier groups move into the region Iran declares victory and runs home?
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/27/2018 15:00 Comments || Top||

#2  We should start calling it the Arabian Gulf when we respond publicly to this.
Posted by: lord garth || 08/27/2018 15:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Personally, I kind of like the Gulf of Rumsfeld as a name.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/27/2018 16:21 Comments || Top||

#4  I didn't think it was possible to block the Strait with a few hundred speedboats.
Posted by: Raj || 08/27/2018 17:18 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 I didn't think it was possible to block the Strait with a few hundred speedboats.
Posted by: Raj 2018-08-27 17:18


...Well, theoretically, yes. On the other hand, FAEs and CBUs would serve as a big, strategic Drano....

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/27/2018 17:50 Comments || Top||

#6  The Iranians could seize a Western civilian vessel attempting to pass the Strait of Hormuz.

If there was a timid response such a move would greatly deter civilian commercial navgation in the area, obviating the need for an outright blockade.

Iran is a somewhat rational exploratory aggressor.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/27/2018 18:57 Comments || Top||

#7  *shrug*

Our oil doesn't need to get into the gulf; theirs needs to get out. Put a cork in the Straits of Hormuz, no Iranian oil gets out. See how long until they start whining.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/27/2018 20:21 Comments || Top||

#8  Iran may come to illustrate the old adage that "...any ship can serve as a minesweeper ..." ... ONCE.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 08/27/2018 20:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Sink a couple of tankers incoming to fuel up.
Block the deep water channels. All done.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/27/2018 22:57 Comments || Top||


Macron: France Ready to Conduct New Strikes on Syria if Chemical Weapons Used
[Sputnik International] France is ready to conduct further airstrikes in Syria in response to Damascus' alleged use of chemical weapons, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday during his speech to French ambassadors.

At the same time, the French President noted the first results of the joint Russia-French mechanism on the Syrian settlement.

"The mechanism of coordination with Russia, created in St. Petersburg, has produced its first results, in particular in the humanitarian sphere," Macron told ambassadors in Paris, according to his official Twitter account.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/27/2018 08:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure ISIS freedom fighters will be more than happy to arrange some - however, Emmanuel (who's a man - or, at least, a male) remember Russian AA.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/27/2018 10:24 Comments || Top||


World Court hears Iran lawsuit to have U.S. sanctions lifted
[Al-Rooters] THE HAGUE - Iranian lawyers asked the International Court of Justice on Monday to order the United States to lift sanctions imposed by the Trump administration against Tehran.
Hahahahahahaa ...NO
The presiding judge of the U.N. body informally known as the World Court began the hearing by calling on Washington to respect its outcome. During their decades of animosity, both the United States and Iran have ignored some rulings at the court.

The lawsuit filed with the ICJ says the U.S. sanctions, which are damaging the already weak Iranian economy, violate terms of a little-known friendship treaty between the two countries.
I think they already did
"The U.S. is publicly propagating a policy intended to damage as severely as possible Iran's economy and Iranian national companies, and therefore inevitably Iranian nationals," said Mohsen Mohebi, representing Iran, at the start of four days of oral hearings. "This policy is plainly in violation of the 1955 Treaty of Amity."

He said Iran had sought a diplomatic solution to the countries' dispute but was rejected.

The United States said in an initial written reaction displayed in court that it believes the ICJ has no jurisdiction in the case, and that Iran's assertions fall outside the bounds of the treaty.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/27/2018 07:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  It's at times like these I feel the warm glow of finally having a president with the balls to stand up to the UN and tell them to go fuck themselves.

Feels good man.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 08/27/2018 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  The presiding judge Cartman of the U.N. body informally known as the World Court began the hearing by calling on Washington to respect its outcome

"Respect mah authoritay!"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/27/2018 10:15 Comments || Top||

#3  To paraphrase Andrew Jackson, "The UN Court has made its decision. Now let us see them enforce it."
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/27/2018 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  I would send the world court a note saying, "Eat a dick."
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/27/2018 12:06 Comments || Top||

#5  nuts
Posted by: 746 || 08/27/2018 12:51 Comments || Top||


Keep a close watch over Iran, Qatar and Hezbollah, urges US Congressman
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Those who thought that President Trump was not serious when he threatened to pullout of the Iran nuclear deal have been surprised by the consistent moves by the present US Administration to confront Tehran over its errant behavior.

This is the opinion of Republican Ted Budd, who is a member of the US House of Representatives from North Carolina. Budd also serves on the Financial Services Committee and its Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee.

Ted Budd represents North Carolina's 13th Congressional District and is serving his first term in the 115th United States Congress.

In an Opinion piece on Fox News website, Budd has written on the that the Trump administration "deserves credit" for pilling out of the disastrous deal, and according to him, "It is clear that Iran is promoting the expansion of military and terrorist activities across the Middle East."

In this context, Budd goes on "to examine the actions of the Iranian government on several fronts".

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  While Trump is honoring NcSchtain's wishes to "not attend his funeral" the president should sign an executive order removing US forces from every place McSchtain advocated for being involved in.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/27/2018 7:18 Comments || Top||


Rouhani's woes mount as Iran economy minister impeached
[DAWN] Iran's parliament impeached Economy Minister Masoud Karbasian on Sunday in the latest blow to embattled President Hassan Rouhani as he struggles to face down a mounting economic crisis.

Karbasian is the second cabinet minister to be sacked this month, following the impeachment of Labour Minister Ali Rabiei on August 8.

Critics say the government squandered the opportunities presented by the 2015 nuclear deal and have failed to tackle high rates of inflation and joblessness.

With the United States abandoning the nuclear deal in May and reimposing sanctions, Rouhani's hopes of attracting vast sums of foreign investment appear dead in the water.

Major European firms, including La Belle France's Total, Peugeot and Renault, and Germany's Siemens and Daimler, have all announced their departure since the US announcement.

Rouhani's conservative opponents ‐ who long-opposed his outreach to the West and efforts to improve civil liberties ‐ say the primary blame lies with government corruption and mismanagement.

"Inefficiency and lack of planning have nothing to do with sanctions," said one politician, Abbas Payizadeh, in a speech ahead of the vote.

"Wrong decisions have harmed the people and led to individuals looting public assets," he added.

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  I wonder how much Allan had to do with their decision making along the way.
Posted by: gorb || 08/27/2018 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Iran is now about 30% under the control of the mullahs and about 40% under the control of the Republican Guard. About another 10% is in the hands of tribal leaders or criminal gangs. This leaves Rouhani with not much to work with even if he wanted to and knew how.
Posted by: lord garth || 08/27/2018 10:07 Comments || Top||

#3  I assume the Dems are studying this for future Trump impeachment.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/27/2018 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Starting a war to wag the dog seems on the horizon?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/27/2018 10:51 Comments || Top||


Zarif accuses US of waging 'psychological war' against Iran
[Al Jazeera] Iranian FM says the US was targeting Iran and its business partners but Washington would not achieve its goals.
The day's emission of vitriol.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Zarif accuses US of waging 'psychological war' against Iran

...over chants of "Death to America"
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/27/2018 6:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Guess it's working.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/27/2018 22:58 Comments || Top||


Millions in Idlib brace for Syrian government assault
[Al Jazeera] Nearly three million Syrians living in the northwestern province of Idlib are bracing for a possible government assault, which neighbouring The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
has warned would result in a large-scale humanitarian disaster.

Idlib is the last remaining opposition stronghold in the country. It is home to about three million people, half of whom are internally displaced.

If the forces loyal to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
press ahead with an offensive, observers say as many as 2.5 million Syrians could try to flee to the shuttered Ottoman Turkish border, creating a new refugee crisis.

On Friday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned against the possible assault, while offering to work with Syria's ally, Russia, to pursue a ceasefire in the area and prevent a mass exodus.

Many in Idlib are already preparing themselves for the worst case scenario.

"We won't leave our nation alone again, we will defend our people until the last breath," Ahmad Ghajar, an Idlib resident, told Al Jazeera.

Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns to prison in Iran
[Al Jazeera] Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman who has been held in Tehran for more than two years on sedition charges, has returned to prison after a temporary three-day release.

The move on Sunday dashed her family's hopes that Iranian officials were clearing the way for the dual national to return to her residence in the UK, where her husband has been working for her release.

"We have just heard the sad news that Nazanin's extension has been refused and she has returned to prison," read a tweet on the official "Free Nazanin" Twitter account.

"Here is the moment she said goodbye to a distraught Gabriella," it added, along with a picture of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her four-year-old daughter, Gabriella.

Speaking of separating from her daughter, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said: "I couldn't bear her tears. Nothing is worse than her tears. I cannot forget her face", according to the Twitter account.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Government
U.S. Set to Reject Palestinian Fantasy of 'Right of Return'
[PJMedia] According to an Israeli TV news report, the Trump administration is preparing to formally reject the long-standing Palestinian demand of a "right to return" to lands lost since the 1948 war for Israel's independence. The administration will also change the U.S. position on Palestinian refugees.

Times of Israel:

According to the Hadashot TV report Saturday, the US in early September will set out its policy on the issue. It will produce a report that says there are actually only some half-a-million Palestinians who should be legitimately considered refugees, and make plain that it rejects the UN designation under which the millions of descendants of the original refugees are also considered refugees. The definition is the basis for the activities of UNRWA, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

The US ‐ which on Friday announced that it had decided to cut more than $200 million in aid to the Palestinians ‐ and has also cut back its funding for UNRWA ‐ will also ask Israel to "reconsider" the mandate that Israel gives to UNRWA to operate in the West Bank. The goal of such a change, the TV report said, would be to prevent Arab nations from legitimately channeling aid to UNRWA in the West Bank.

Created in 1949 in the wake of the 1948 War of Independence, UNRWA operates schools and provides health care and other social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Hadashot said the new US position represented a further endorsement of Israel’s positions, months after the administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocated the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.


The Palestinians have been playing the long con with the "right of return" issue, which was always more of a fantasy than reality. They conned the UN for years about the number of "refugees," when in fact, the vast majority of Palestinians in refugee camps have no "right" to return to anything. Many were urged to leave by Arab leaders in 1948, others were abroad and never lived in Israel.

Tallying the number of individuals considered Palestinian refugees today is a matter of intense debate. UNRWA, classifies Palestinian refugees as those who left Israel in 1948; those who left the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967; those who were abroad but were subsequently not allowed to return to Israel; and all of their descendants. According to UNWRA, this totals five million Palestinian refugees. UNRWA’s statistics include those residing in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (Note: UNRWA’s policy of including the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who left in 1948 and 1967 into the refugee population for demographic and aid purposes is unique among refugee populations, and is not a done for any other refugee group.)

Israel believes the UNRWA statistics are exaggerated and further distinguishes "refugees" from "displaced persons" and from "expired permit Palestinians" who were abroad at the time the conflicts ensued and were not allowed to return.


This doesn't lessen the misery of Palestinians in those refugee camps, but whose fault is that? Arab nations refuse to grant Palestinians in the camps citizenship, preferring to pen them up in rancid conditions and treat them as non-people. The UNRWA facilitates the misery and the UN and international community are accessories to the crimes as the Palestinian people are under the delusion that a "right of return" will be part of any settlement with Israel.

The administration's change in policy will be a splash of cold water on Palestinian illusions and should cheer the Israelis.
Long past time. They are little more than leeches and a cancer on the area.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/27/2018 10:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seething in 5...4...3..
Posted by: Frank G || 08/27/2018 10:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Children of the ethnic cleansing of East Prussia and Silesia (1945 vs 1948) could not be reached for comment about the 'right of return'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/27/2018 11:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Surely most of them are returning to Lebanon?

You know the ones that got kicked out for trying to overthrow the country.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/27/2018 12:32 Comments || Top||

#4  If this actually comes to pass it will will be revolutionary. One seriously hopes the Israeli news report is correct.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/27/2018 13:37 Comments || Top||

#5  If I remember correctly, the UNRWA Charter is up for renewal in 2019 and it was said/leaked that the Trump White House will not renew it.
Posted by: mossomo || 08/27/2018 18:38 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
31[untagged]
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1Moslem Colonists
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2018-08-27
  Elite Army units moving to Idlib for major assault
Sun 2018-08-26
  John McCain dies at 81
Sat 2018-08-25
  Syrian Army launches powerful assault in northern Hama
Fri 2018-08-24
  Arab coalition thwarts Houthi boat bomb targeting commercial ships off Yemen
Thu 2018-08-23
  Syrian Army cuts all supply lines to ISIL’s last stronghold in southern Syria
Wed 2018-08-22
  ‘IS militants’ launch attacks in Chechnya; five killed
Tue 2018-08-21
  U.S. Rejects Turkey's Offer to Release Ransom Pastor, Report Says
Mon 2018-08-20
  ‘Allahu Akbar!': Knife-Man Shot Dead After Attacking Spanish Police
Sun 2018-08-19
  Yemeni army inflicts heavy casualties on Houthi militants in Taiz
Sat 2018-08-18
  HTS executes 6 people accused of being ISIS members in Idlib
Fri 2018-08-17
  American Couple Dies Tragically While Biking Through ISIS Territory Trying to Prove Evil Does Not Exist
Thu 2018-08-16
  ISIS Killer Caught in Sacramento
Wed 2018-08-15
  101st Airborne, US Special Forces Called Into Ghazni Battle
Tue 2018-08-14
  Islamic State member sentenced to death over killing security personnel in Nineveh
Mon 2018-08-13
  The FBI Finally Makes Peter Strzok Redundant

Better than the average link...



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