Long story at Garowe Online, originally from the Economist. Read for yourself but it's mostly background. The map is what is interesting in this story: notice that Somali waters are becoming quite safe thanks to the continued efforts of western and Indian navies. It's the Gulf of Guinea that's the problem in 2014. As usual there is the usual hand-wringing about why no one can really do anything about it other than Uncle Sugar.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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#6
Also, distance may be a factor. It may be easier for Israeli companies to support operations at the southern end of the Red Sea than in the Bight of Biafra. It's prob. also more of a national security issue for Israel as well.
[AnNahar] A suicide and gun attack that killed at least 120 at one of Nigeria's most well-known mosques was extreme in its brutality but part of an increasingly familiar pattern that has spread fear even beyond Nigeria's borders.
Unsuspecting worshipers were blown up as they gathered for Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in the northern city of Kano; those who survived were cut down by gunfire as they fled.
The attack was widely seen as Dire Revenge for the Moslem Emir of Kano's call at the same mosque last week for civilians to arm and protect themselves against 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...
"Boko Haram has repeatedly threatened religious and traditional leaders in northern Nigeria, who are seen by the group as allies and instruments of the state," said Andrew Noakes, of the Nigeria Security Network of analysts.
But it was also in keeping with the Islamist group's brutal violence over a greater geographical area in the last few weeks -- and a likely wider strategy to further undermine national and regional security.
"Boko Haram are trying to create the perception that they are anywhere and everywhere," said Ryan Cummings, chief Africa analyst at the Red24 security consultants in Cape Town.
"It almost seems that the trend in the insurgency is reverting to that witnessed in 2012 when it seemed that Boko Haram was expanding rapidly westwards and southwards," he told AFP.
Just hours before the Kano massacre, a suspected remote-controlled roadside kaboom, buried in the dirt near another mosque nearly 600 kilometers (375 miles) away in Maiduguri, was defused.
Maiduguri, where Boko Haram was founded in 2002, was already tense after two women blew themselves up within minutes of each other at a crowded market on Tuesday, killing more than 45 shoppers and traders.
The previous day, up to 50 people were killed in Damasak, 180 kilometers north of the city near the border with Niger, when Boko Haram fighters overran the town and ambushed those trying to escape.
Four days earlier, the murderous Moslems slit the throats of and drowned at least 48 fish vendors in another town near Lake Chad.
Mass casualties from Boko Haram attacks are not a new phenomenon in the krazed killers' five-year insurgency. More than 13,000 people are thought to have died in total since 2009.
But the regularity of attacks and the widening range of tactics -- from hit-and-run strikes to suicide kabooms, holding territory and even, it seems, the new attempt to use Al-Qaeda-style roadside kabooms -- marks a shift.
Violence had been concentrated for the last 18 months in the three far northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
But there have been a string of suicide strikes since June across the wider north.
Neighbouring Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , Niger and Chad are also voicing fears about possible attacks there, particularly as the dry season approaches, which makes natural defenses such as rivers easier to breach.
One humanitarian source in Niger described a "psychosis of fear" about attacks in border areas, which this week forced the closure of schools and pharmacies.
Boko Haram is opposed to secular, "Western" style education and has regularly attacked schools, teachers and students.
Earlier this month, 58 schoolboys were killed in Potiskum, northeastern Nigeria, when a jacket wallahwent kaboom! before morning assembly.
Boko Haram is still holding 219 schoolgirls that it kidnapped in mid-April.
In Cameroon's far north, one military commander said they were "convinced" that Boko Haram's aim to declare a hardline Islamic state "is aimed not only at Nigeria but also at Cameroon".
The group has taken over more than two dozen towns in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... in recent months and declared some part of its caliphate, mirroring a similar declaration by murderous Moslems in Iraq and Syria.
The Kano bombing and attacks elsewhere could be designed to make any renewed counter-insurgency efforts more difficult, analysts say.
Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria were supposed to have had a 2,800 troops in place along their borders by November 1, to assist the Nigerian army, which has struggled to put down the rebellion.
But as the year-end approaches, no deployment has been announced.
The Kano attack and others outside its traditional heartland leave Nigeria's authorities with a dilemma.
"It basically stymies the reallocation of resources from such regions to counter-terrorism operations being conducted" in the three worst-affected northeast states, said Cummings.
If government forces were incompetent to defend the smaller area, what odds they will suddenly become competent to defend the larger one?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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I'm not sure why they bother, since each considers the other apostate at best, and will be approaching the thing with taqiyah and hudna (maximum ten years per the Prophet Mohammed's sterling example).
[AnNahar] Rival Shiite and Sunni groups have met for the first time for talks aimed de-escalating the crisis in Yemen since the former seized the capital Sanaa in September, they said Saturday.
The meeting between Ansarullah chief Abdelmalik al-Huthi and Al-Islah party delegates took place late Thursday in Huthi's northern stronghold of Saada, the Shiite forces of Evil said on the Internet.
The rivalry has intensified since Ansarullah moved beyond Sanaa and also seized territory in central and western Yemen.
The Shiite advance has slowed in the face of a counter-offensive by Sunni tribes close to Al-Islah and Al-Qaeda, plunging the country into an unprecedented political crisis.
Al-Islah issued a statement saying the two sides "expressed willingness to cooperate and coexist in accordance with the precepts of Islam advocating brotherhood, love and peace".
As opposed to the precepts of Islam which advocate conquest, forced conversion, and humbling of the unbeliever. Got it.
The statement said that because of "the dangers threatening Yemen, it was agreed to continue contacts to end the tension and contain the impact of recent events".
'Struth. Yemen has a long-standing shortage of food, water, and jobs coupled with a significant excess of uneducated population, much of it entirely too fond of chewing khat. Plus, they drove out almost all of their Jews. Fix all that, and they might have a chance.
An Al-Islah official told AFP the two sides were "negotiating a draft agreement" that, according to a source close to the talks, was meant to "defuse the risk of sectarian conflict" in Yemen.
Support for Al-Islah, previously a main political force with its tribal alliances, has wavered since president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... quit in early 2012 after a year of bloody protests.
[MCCLATCHYDC] The only thing as bad as being tortured for months as a captive of jihadists in Syria was dealing with the U.S. government afterward, according to one former American hostage.
Matt Schrier, 36, a freelance photographer held by Lions of Islam for seven months in 2013 until he escaped, has told McClatchy that the bureaucracy he endured upon his return home was a second kind of nightmare following the months of abuse he suffered while he was a hostage.
"I never thought it would get this bad," Schrier said.
The FBI never told his father that he had been kidnapped. It waited six months into his capture to produce a wanted poster, and only after his mother prodded. It allowed jihadist forces to empty his bank account ‐ $17,000 ‐ with purchases on eBay, even as the government warned hostage families not to pay ransom so as not to run afoul of anti-terrorism laws.
After his escape, the government made him reimburse the State Department $1,605 for his ticket home just weeks after he arrived in the United States. The psychiatrist assigned to help him readjust canceled five appointments in the first two months. And when he had no means to rent an apartment, FBI victims services recommended New York City homeless shelters.
The FBI declined to comment on the specifics of Schrier's complaints but said in a statement that "When an American is detained illegally overseas, the FBI's top priority is ensuring the safe return of that individual."
"To that end," the statement said, "the FBI provides support services to victims and their families, to include help in meeting short-term exigent needs, and shares information about their loved ones that is timely and appropriate."
There is no way to independently confirm Schrier's version of events, and emails he shared with McClatchy make it clear that his relationship with his FBI handlers was, at best, acrimonious. But his telling of his experience is consistent with the the anger relatives of other hostages have expressed in interviews with McClatchy when speaking of their interactions with U.S. government officials.
"The next time the FBI calls me will be the first time," said Schrier's father, Jeffrey, 67, who lives in Coconut Creek, outside Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "I thank God my son was able to escape, because if he was waiting for the government to spring him he would still be waiting in that hellhole."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
“They use us,” he said. “They use journalists as chum to bring sharks to the surface.”
Anyone with knowledge of the identity and whereabouts of these two men please call your Boston, Special Agent in Charge immediately. We need your assistance.
[DAWN] DIG Mirani claimed that the police are looking into several factors. He also hinted at the 'sectarian aspect' of the killing and that police are also looking into the aspect of 'insider involvement' as well.
"Gunmen struck right at the time when Fajr prayer was about to commence and people getting ready for the prayer. So we are obtaining CDR [call data record] of those present there. The timing was so accurate and this makes us suspect the involvement of some insider at this point of time," Mirani added.
"Situation on ground regarding [the marks of] the car's wheels indicate it was reversed when the assailants fled," he said.
Police authorities are preparing sketches of the assailants on the basis of initial statements from those present at the time of the killing, while the scene of the offence has been preserved.
JUI-F activists blocked roads in protest in Sukkur and Larkana. Business remained closed in Sukkur, while traffic sparse and fuel stations were also closed as a mark of mourning.
JUI-F secretary general Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, Akram Durrani, JUI-F Sindh front man Maulana Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon reached Larkana following the incident.
"We are part of a movement and such movements do not stop. He laid down his life for the cause of Islam," said Nahiyoon. He said that Soomro always remained undeterred despite previous attempts on his life.
Soomro had been frequenting the seminary previously, where was staying in the room adjacent to the mosque. His two police guards were also staying there in another room. According to DIG Mirani, Soomro was provided ten coppers for his security.
"But he left eight of them in Larkana and two accompanied him on Friday night," he said.
A Sukkur special branch official claimed that assailants did not touch anyone except Soomro.
"We are collecting details regarding previous attacks on his life...[and] some speeches he delivered recently. We will also be probing a property dispute regarding the seminary land but it is premature to comment on it in definite terms," he said.
He claimed that Larkana police had provided him six coppers for security purpose and four were his personal security guards.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Assembly on Saturday adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the murder of polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... workers in Quetta and the killing og Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... -Fazl (JUI-F) leader Dr Khalid Soomro in Sukkur.
The assembly session began with Deputy Speaker Qudoos Bizenjo in the chair as the house discussed the worsening law and order situation. The opposition and treasury members lamented the poor situation of law and order in Balochistan province.
A joint resolution condemning the killing of Dr Khalid Soomro was tabled by opposition leader Maulana Abdul Wasey and other members of JUI-F. But the resolution was amended with the inclusion of polio workers by the house after thorough debate.
The house demanded the federal government to double its efforts for the arrest of Khalid Soomro's killers and demanded that the Balochistan government apprehend the murderers of polio workers in Quetta.
Gunmen had killed four polio workers including three female vaccinators in Quetta's Eastern Bypass area earlier this week.
Senior Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri however lashed out at his own government for its failure to protect the lives of citizens. "When I do not feel not secure, then what about the common man in the province," Nawab Zehri said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] HYDERABAD: IG Police Sindh Ghulam Hyder Jamali on Saturday formed a five member team to investigate the murder of Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, general secretary of the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... -Fazl (JUI-F) Sindh chapter.
The team, which has started its investigation, is headed by DIG Larkana Saeen Rakhio Mirani with DIG Special Branch Sukkur Sharjeel Karim Kharal, SSP Sukkur Tanvir Tunio and SSPs of Shikarpur and Khairpur as members.
Soomro was rubbed out in Sukkur early Saturday morning when he was leaving a mosque attached to a madrassah after offering Fajr prayers.
Authorities are looking at a number of probabilities relating to Soomro's liquidation. They have recovered six bullet empties and got an eyewitness account claiming there were three to four assailants who arrived in a white car and left in a hurry.
"We have got an eyewitness account of a mason who was present in the seminary-cum-mosque," said DIG Mirani, who holds the additional charge of DIG Sukkur Range police as well.
According to Mirani, the assailants struck just before the morning Fajr prayers.
"Gunmen sprayed Soomro with bullets while prayer was about to start," added Mirani from Larkana.
Soomro had addressed a 'Payam-e-Amn' conference in Qasim Bagh Sukkur and had stayed in Jamia Haqania which is an under-construction seminary-cum-mosque located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Site area.
Soomro, who was known for his fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... speeches, had been vocal on issues of Sindh and had worked with nationalist parties and the PPP over issues such as Kalabagh Dam, Greater Thal Canal and missing persons.
There were around seven to eight other people who had gathered to offer morning prayers. With serious bullet wounds, Soomro was taken to a nearby private hospital where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! His family did not allow medico legal officers to conduct post-mortem.
"We [the authorities] have not yet been able to find those responsible for the suicide kaboom on our emir, Maulana Fazalur Rehman. Authorities are in a habit of issuing a cyclostyle statement through Twitter and Facebook to condemn something. But in the present case, even such a statement has not been issued," reacted Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a central leader of JUI-F, who had reached Larkana from Punjab.
Funeral proceedings of Soomro will be held in Larkana at his seminary and he will be laid to rest after Maghrib prayers at a nearby space available adjacent to his seminary. Party leaders from across Sindh have started reaching Larkana to offer condolences.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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[IraqiNews] Local Iraqi security sources revealed that the leader of the so-called 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.... in Iraq and Syria, His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... arrived in the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , coming from Syria at the head of a large force not less than two hundred fighters.
A senior Iraqi military official in the Defense Ministry said that the ministry received verified information from several sources about the arrival of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi to Mosul on his first visit to the city since two months ago.
The source, a Brigadier General in the Presidium of Iraqi Army Staff, said that 'al-Baghdadi-- who was limited to move inside Iraq, between Anbar and cities of Shirqat areas and Hamrin Mountains--arrived in the city of Mosul from Syria, taking advantage of low visibility in the border area due to rain and fog.
He pointed out that "the arrival of al-Baghdadi yesterday was preceded by a complete cut of mobile and internet communications networks throughout the day, while the holy warriors of ISIS were deployed all around the city. They wore a uniform and launched a campaign to clean up the main streets."
The source also revealed that al-Baghdadi arrived at the head of a large force of not less than 200 fighters, most of them were non-Iraqis, adding that "there are several hypotheses about the cause of his arrival to the city with this new issue of its fighters". It is likely that Baghdadi visited Mosul because of recent setbacks of the organization and its inability to prevent raids by the international coalition warplanes and severe differences that beset the field of leadership in that area.
He explained that al-Baghdadi had finally appointed Hussein Saud as a governor of Mosul instead of the Iraqi Radwan al-Hamdani, who was killed by a US raid west of Mosul, in 19th of this month, pointing out that the "3 US fighter jets with surveillance planes are patrolling the skies of Mosul, hoping to be able to besiege Baghdadi inside the city and prevent him from returning to Syria or going out to another city in Iraq".
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
"So how did you come up with the name?"
"Well, we took the first letter of each name."
"Annnd, that is where you got ABBA - Abu Bakr al Baghdadi...I see. Any interest or relation with Mahmoud Abbas?"
"Yes, and no. See, we are attempting the complete destruction of civilization, which requires a multi-abba deployment; MAD if you will. Mahmoud has the Voulez-Vous and Gimme divisions while I took on the light Dancing Queen."
"The...Dancing Queen?"
"Yes, as an impressionable eight year old, I remember when my mother turned seventeen and played this song. Love it."
[BBC] The northern Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... fell to 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) in June, bringing the population under the harsh rule of the jihadists. The Death Eaters swiftly introduced a regime in accordance with their radical version of Islam, including brutal punishments, strict rules for women and intolerance of any dissent.
jpal asked yesterday why the information coming from Iraq is so trivial. I offer this, these diary entries, as a partial answer.
[AnNahar] Three French Mirage warplanes have been deployed in Jordan to assist in the fight against 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, a military front man said on Saturday.
La Belle France, which is participating in U.S.-led coalition air strikes in Iraq, said this month it would deploy six jet fighters in Jordan.
Army front man Colonel Mamduh al-Amiri said three of the aircraft arrived late Friday as part of the "operational strategy to confront threats in the region", according to state-run Petra news agency.
Amiri did not say where the jets were deployed or when the other three would arrive in Jordan, a neighbor of both Syria and Iraq where IS jihadists have seized swathes of territory.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the deployment of the six fighters would "strengthen our presence in this theater of operations."
La Belle France already has nine Rafale warplanes in the United Arab Emirates, which along with Jordan is part of the international coalition fighting the jihadists.
[IsraelTimes] Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, named Friday night as the next IDF chief of the General Staff, firmly opposes Israeli military intervention to thwart Iran's nuclear program unless Iran poses an immediate existential threat to Israel, an Israeli television report said.
Eizenkot, the current deputy chief, holds to the view that Israel should not strike at Iran "unless the sword is at our throat," Channel 10 reported. That phrase was first used in the Iranian context almost four years ago by Israel's former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, and Dagan subsequently declared that the idea of an Israeli Air Force attack on Iran's nuclear facilities was "the stupidest thing I have ever heard" and that anyone seriously considering any such strike needed to internalize that he would be "dragging Israel into a regional war that it would not know how to get out of. The security challenge would become unbearable."
Eizenkot subscribes to the assessment that Israel must only act against Iran as a last resort, "as do all of Israel's security chiefs," the Channel 10 report said, referring to the outgoing chief of General Staff Benny Gantz, current Mossad chief Tamar Pardo, and Shin Bet domestic security chief Yoram Cohen.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed that Israel will "stand alone" to stop Iran if necessary, has publicly fumed as world powers negotiated intensively with Iran in recent months, and has demanded the dismantling of Iran's entire "military nuclear" capability.
The prime minister delayed naming Eizenkot as Gantz's successor for the past two weeks, the TV report said, in part because he toyed with the idea of finding a candidate with an outlook less similar to that of Gantz.
Netanyahu partly blames Gantz for the sense that Israel emerged "with a tie" from the summer's 50-day war with Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers, and looked around for a top officer to succeed Gantz "with more of a knife between his teeth."
Eizenkot, the report said, is a "moderate" like Gantz, who wants to keep any wars Israel has to fight as short as possible, and aims not to enter conflicts without a clear exit strategy.
Eizenkot was the clear choice as next army chief of both Gantz and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and ultimately Netanyahu decided not to antagonize Ya'alon, and to go ahead with the appointment, which will be formalized in the next few days. He is set to take up the post on February 15.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... said Saturday that the Paleostinians would never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and accused Israel of establishing an apartheid government.
The Paleostinian leader was speaking in Cairo at an emergency session of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... with foreign ministers from around the Arab world. His remarks came following a week of intense debate among Israeli politicians about a Knesset bill which would enshrine Israel's status as a Jewish state in law.
"We will never recognize the Jewishness of the state of Israel," Abbas was quoted by Channel 10 saying. The news outlet also reported that Abbas threatened to terminate all security cooperation between Israel and the Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank unless peace negotiations are revived. Talks collapsed in April, and Israel will not resume them so long as Abbas is partnered with the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror group in a Paleostinian unity government.
Abbas charged that instead of advancing the grinding of the peace processor, Israel was working to set up an apartheid state, including Jews-only buses, establishment of Israeli legal illusory sovereignty over West Bank settlements, the proposed "Jewish state" law, and requirements of declarations of loyalty by citizens.
"Return to negotiations is possible if Israel agrees to a full freeze of settlement [construction], including Jerusalem, release of the fourth group of long-term prisoners, and setting a timetable for negotiations which will begin with setting borders," Abbas said.
Israel agreed to release four groups of Paleostinian prisoners as a precondition for the American-mediated negotiations that began last year, but refused to free the final batch in March in a dispute over Paleostinian demands that Israeli Arab prisoners be included, and having failed to secure Abbas's agreement that the talks would continue beyond the original April deadline.
Abbas said Saturday that the Paleostinians weren't willing to wait any longer for progress and were determined to petition the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Security Council to demand a timetable for the end to Israel's occupation of the Paleostinian territories.
"It's impossible for us to wait any longer, because Israel continues its aggression and expropriation of lands and setting facts on the ground by continuing to build settlements," Abbas was quoted saying. "The government of Israel doesn't want, for internal reasons, to define its borders and we can't continue with this situation."
Abbas was expected to receive Arab League approval to lodge the UN petition in the coming days, but did not say when he would do so.
According to Channel 10, Abbas said he asked US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... to cooperate in drafting the Security Council proposal, in order to put pressure on Israel to cease settlement construction.
The resolution is likely -- but not certain -- to fail, either because it falls short of the needed votes or because the US will veto it. But it will likely add momentum to international backing for Paleostinian statehood.
Abbas warned that the Paleostinians could take other steps, including joining the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , if the Security Council rejects the resolution.
The PA president said he would take these steps unless Israel "takes responsibility for the situation."
"The situations in the [West] Bank is dangerous, and can't continue," Abbas said. "All signs point to [the fact that] the American mediation [of peace talks] failed with the end of negotiations."
#4
"we look at this as a positive note. The Paleos have agreed to recognize Israel, but with reasonable conditions"
Jawn Fn Karry
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2014 12:14 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"Return to negotiations is possible if Israel agrees to a full freeze of settlement [construction], including Jerusalem, release of the fourth group of long-term prisoners, and setting a timetable for negotiations which will begin with setting borders," Abbas said.
did he say this before or after he said that he would never recognize Israel?
Because there isn't enough pointless drama in the world at the moment:
[Ynet] Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday, citing "reliable Paleostinian sources," that Jordan's king, Abdullah II, threatened to sever diplomatic ties with Israel if the "attacks" on al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem continue.
What will you do for an encore, your worshipfulness?
According to the paper, Abdullah made his threats during the meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Kerry in Amman two weeks ago.
The Jordanian king reportedly threatened to "close the Jordanian embassy in Israel and recall the ambassador for good."
Netanyahu, the Paleostinian sources said, committed to maintaining the status quo and prevent the entrance of "extremists" to the Temple Mount compound.
[IsraelTimes] Another winter in the Balata refugee camp. And as the years go by, nothing here changes for the better. The same poor infrastructure, overcrowding, and poverty.
Dozens of people fill the streets. It's not a holiday, just a day like any other. Overwhelming youth unemployment rates -- 56 percent, according to Paleostinian Authority statistics -- explain why there are so many people idly wandering the alleyways.
The largest and one of most notorious of the camps, central to the anti-Israel violence and terrorism of the first and second intifadas, Balata sits only a few kilometers from the heart of Nablus. But the gap between the camp's 30,000 residents and the city's has never been greater.
Continued on Page 49
A top official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) revealed they have formed a "principled" regional political party so they could run candidates in the new Bangsamoro autonomous region in the 2016 election as part of the Mindanao peace process.
Mohager Iqbal, the MILF's peace negotiator, said it would be known as the Bangsamoro Justice Party (BJP) and would not be identified with any of the big political parties participating in the election. He said, "It's being registered right now. There have been a lot of engagements towards creating a truly political party that is principled. It has been a difficult process."
Iqbal said several Mindanao politicians he did not identify have expressed interest in joining their party. He pointed out top MILF leaders, including their chairman Al Haj Murad, were not interested in running for elective positions in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission that is to govern the new political entity for one year after the passage and ratification of the law.
Posted by: ryuge ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I can't wait for the slogans:
MILF is the word! Spread the word!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2014 14:14 Comments ||
Top||
[WashingtonPost] The U.S. military will subject Syrian rebels taking part in a new training program to psychological evaluations, biometrics checks and stress tests under a screening plan that goes well beyond the steps the United States normally takes to vet foreign soldiers, a sign of the risks the B.O. regime faces as it expands support for gangs in Syria.
Officials said the screening program, developed chiefly by the U.S. Central Command, will rely on what was described as a "common core" of screening protocols, including running trainees" names through U.S. and foreign intelligence databases, collecting biometric data and, when possible, seeking information from fighters" home communities. Rebel commanders will be subject to additional screening.
We understand the Islamic mind so well that psych evaluations can't possibly fail...
"In the special operations community, we have a pretty long history of vetting and screening surrogate forces that we"ve worked with," said an official at CENTCOM, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe planning.
But the new plan "is unique to Syria, because we"re going to work with folks that we won"t accompany once we employ them," he said. "So vetting and screening becomes even more important."
Not to mention building up a humungous data base of the various parties involved, and their interconnections, the kind of thing Big Data methods are uniquely designed to pull useful information from.
The effort to develop a layered vetting process is an attempt to mitigate the hazards associated with deepening U.S. involvement in Syria"s chaotic battlefield, where a dizzying array of gangs have been accused of abuses against soldiers and civilians alike. Although the B.O. regime has sought since 2011 to foster a competent force to fight Syrian troops and, now, 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.... , U.S. officials remain wary even of fighters whose objectives currently align with their own.
In particular, officials want to lessen the risk that U.S.-trained fighters sent back into Syria to combat the Islamic State will use their weapons on civilians or -- like the Afghan mujahideen fighters Washington backed in the 1980s -- later turn against the United States and its allies.
And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
Wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
Guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, kill,
Kill, kill." And I started jumpin' up and down yelling, "Kill, kill," and
He started jumpin' up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
Yelling, "Kill, kill." And the Sargent Imam came over, pinned a medal on me,
Sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."
[IsraelTimes] A new study of posts from Arabic-speaking social media users has uncovered that support for the brutal 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.... terrorist organization is higher in Belgium, La Belle France, the United Kingdom and the United States than it is in Iraq and Syria -- the two countries partially controlled by the jihadist group.
The Italian study analyzed over two million Twitter and Facebook posts related to Islamic State in Arabic in a three-and-a-half month period starting in July 2014.
According to a report published Thursday by the Guardian, 19.7 percent of the analyzed posts originating from Iraq and 7.6% of posts from Syria were supportive of the Islamic State, compared to Belgium (31.0%), the United Kingdom (23.8%), the United States (21.4%) and La Belle France (20.8%).
Germany (15.7%), Canada (15.3%) and Israel (13.4%) were also the source of a significant proportion of posts supportive of the terror group, which has carried out widespread ethic cleansing, suicide kabooms, mass killings of prisoners, beheadings, torture, and other bad boy violence.
The Shin Bet estimates that some 30 Israelis have actually gone and joined the fighting in Syria since the eruption of the civil war in the country in March 2011. The vast majority of such recruits come from fundamentalist Salafi backgrounds and are affiliated with jihadist organizations such as the Islamic State and al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front, both internationally recognized as terror groups.
The Islamic State has established a non-recognized religious caliphate in the area between Iraq and Syria it currently controls and has brought vicious law and order tactics based in Sharia law to its subjects.
Rights groups have strongly criticized the group for human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... abuses and radically repressive measures against women and religious minorities.
Although most posts about the group were largely negative in nature, posts from 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... (47.6%) and Pakistain (35.1%) were the most supportive of IS, while posts originating in Iran (5.8%), a country with a large Shiite majority currently at war with the Sunni rebel group, were the least supportive of all the countries listed in the report.
It should be noted that the study only analyzed posts about the Islamic State in Arabic, so the group's popularity was not measured in posts written in different languages.
Dr. Luigi Curini of Voices from the Blogs, a company founded by academics at Milan University, has been on the forefront of a new form of analysis of online opinions and postulated that those closest to IS were more likely to harbor negative sentiments about the group.
In conjunction with statistician Stefano Iacus, political scientist Andrea Ceron and host of translators, Curini also uncovered a range of polarizing opinions about the Islamic State's legitimacy and religious authority.
The team also compared the content of 90,000 news articles on IS from a host of countries analyzed in the study to the posts of Arabic speakers about the group, discovering little to no correlation to the opinions of official and state-run media sources and the sentiments of social media users.
"By analyzing social media we can see there is not always this homogeneous sentiment against [the Islamic State]," Curini was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
A detailed dissection of the study has shown that posts in support of the Islamic State often lauded the group's perceived ability of "defending Islam" (37.5%), spreading the Islamic faith (26.2%) and state building (17.4%), while posts that expressed negative opinions of the group chided the Islamic State for using religion for political aims (32.8%), violence (28.9%), and attacking personal and religious freedoms (17.0%).
Only 8.3% of posts in favor of the group expressed support for fighting the West, while merely 4.7% of posts deriding the Islamic State criticized their widespread use of terrorism.
The Islamic State has arguably the most pervasive online presence of any bad boy group in history and relies heavily on the Internet to build international support and recruit operatives.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/30/2014 00:00 ||
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job or jihad?
Posted by: Paul D ||
11/30/2014 0:21 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[IraqiNews] Local Iraqi security sources revealed that the leader of the so-called 
International Criminal Court
[IsraelTimes] Another winter in the Balata refugee camp. And as the years go by, nothing here changes for the better. The same poor infrastructure, overcrowding, and poverty.
A top official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) revealed they have formed a "principled" regional political party so they could run candidates in the new Bangsamoro autonomous region in the 2016 election as part of the Mindanao peace process.
