[DAWN] The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. , telephoned 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... on Monday evening and condemned the recent terrorist attack on PAF base near Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , said a statement issued by PM House.
According to details provided in the statement, the Afghan president denounced the attack on Badaber Airforce base and extended his "heartfelt condolences on the demise of civilians and military personnel in the incident".
Ghani reiterated his government's stance that "Afghanistan will never allow its land to be used against Pakistain by anyone".
Earlier this week, the government of Afghanistan had strongly rejected the claims as baseless that the attack on PAF camp in Peshawar was planned and controlled from Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Ghani reiterated his government's stance that "Afghanistan will never allow its land to be used against Pakistain by anyone".
Lulz. The irony, it burns
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2015 9:07 Comments ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan government could face new challenges from the unofficial religious Madrasas -- seminaries, according to a new survey report which suggests hard boyz thoughts have been adopted and are widely spreading among the students and teachers of these Madrasas.
The report has been prepared by Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies which covers 50 unofficial Madrasas in ten different provinces of the country.
At least 306 educators and students have been interviewed by the researchers of the report which covers Madrasas operating in southern, northern, eastern and central parts of the country.
Up to 15 percent of the Madrasas are under the impression of extremism and 8 percent of those who have been interviewed believes in Salafism and Wahhabism, an author of the report Abdul Ahmad Mohammadi said.
He said the footprints of radicalism could be found in these Madrasas and a large number of eductors and students believe that Salafism and Wahhabism truly reflects Islam.
Expressing concerns regarding the adoption of Salafism and Wahhabism ideology, Mohammadi said the majority of these students and educators are based in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... s.
According to Mohammadi Salafism and Wahhabism was one of the indicators of the survey while the other indicator included support to suicide kabooms where 17 percent of those interviewed endorsed suicide attacks in specific conditions but majority of them (80%) have opposed suicide attack against the Afghan forces.
He said the newly emerging phenomenon could create a major challenge for the Afghan government in security, political and social affairs.
In the meantime, 60 percent of those interviewed have suggested that the women should remain in their houses rather than focusing on education while 33 percent others have said that women should not have political activities.
Around 13 percent of the survey participants have opposed equal rights of men and women but in eastern Kunar 97 percent have said the rights of men and women are not equal.
The report also reveals frustration of the survey participants regarding the Taliban group activities where only 3 percent of them have endorsed their activities and 60 others have said that the group is fighting for the interests of the foreigners.
75 percent of the survey participants have said that the Afghan government is legitimate and Islamic and 80 percent of them have said they support role in the Afghan government affairs.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The funders and ideology come from Saudi/gulf countries who we support?
Posted by: paul ||
09/22/2015 9:13 Comments ||
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An official in Leego village of Lower Shabelle province says Somali troops are currently on high alert after intelligence reports indicated that Al shabaab was planning attacks in the area.
Abukar Al Adala, the administrator of Leego area has urged residents to remain in the village and ignore to the Al shabaab threats and warning messages to leave their houses.
Adala stated that Somali soldiers in Leego launched an operation to beef up the security in the areas identified as potential Al shabaab targets. Leego village lies some 90Kms northwest of capital Mogadishu.
Last June, Al shabaab militants have stormed the African Union troops base in Leego village and killed ‘scores’ of Ugandan peacekeepers of AMISOM contingent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"Heh" at Dr. Steve
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2015 9:10 Comments ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Ansarullah movement Commander Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badreddine Al-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 ... said that the Yemeni revolution won't stop until it achieves its legitimate rights.
"Our revolution will continue until we guarantee our existence, dignity and independence, these things cannot be compromised," Sayyed Houthi said while addressing Yemenis on the eve of the first anniversary of the Yemeni revolution.
Sayyed Houthi pointed to the immense of greediness that threatens 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 its wealth, stressing that the revolution saved Yemen from loss and from the invaders attempt to control it through several pretexts, including the influence of al-Qaeda. "The 21st of September Revolution represented a popular choice at the time previous political forces were a tool to pass the invasion of Yemen scheme."
"They wanted to occupy the country and seize its wealth and its location and if this was achieved they wouldn't have hesitated to sow more discord," he said.
Sayyed Houthi stressed that the Yemenis welcome any efforts for peaceful solutions as long as they doesn't violate the Yemeni people rights.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
IIRC see also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SAUDI COALITION BEING TORN APART [destroyed] BY YEMENI FORCES [Houthis?] INSIDE SAUDI ARABIA, i.e. sovereign KSA territory just across or near the Yemen border.
TO AVOID ANY POSSIBLE US-IRAN WAR, CAN IRAN BE TRUSTED BY THE US-WEST [includ Russia] TO KEEP ITS PROXIES IN YEMEN UNDER CONTROL - DITTO AS PER THE KSA + COALITION VEE "GOING TOO FAR" AGZ IRAN???
[ARABNEWS] Four Yemeni pilgrims sustained minor injuries as a result of a fire that broke out in their room at 11th floor of a 15-floor hotel in Makkah.
Col. Abdullah Al-Orabi Al-Harathi, director of media and front man of Civil Defense, said the incident occurred at 2:45 a.m. Monday.
Al-Harathi said some 1,500 pilgrims are the hotel were evacuated as a precautionary measure, but were later allowed to return after Civil Defense teams put out the fire.
Initial inspections showed that the fire was caused by a short-circuit in one of electrical connections of a room.
Not a cooking fire in the middle of the floor that escaped to freedom? How unusual.
On Thursday about 1,000 Asian pilgrims were evacuated from their high-rise hotel in Makkah when a fire broke out. Two Indonesian pilgrims were maimed.
The Haj has been almost incident-free for the past decade but 108 people, including foreign pilgrims, died earlier this month when a construction crane fell on the circumambulation area of the Grand Mosque.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Yemen's Vice President and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah stressed that the rebuilding process and the re-formation of its armed leaders and forces would be "the most difficult stage" in Yemen's next steps.
In a speech before the leadership of the Fourth Military Region in Aden, the prime minister described the next stages in Yemen's history as the biggest challenge for its citizens.
He also pointed out that the armed forces must build and remodel away from partisanship and regionalism.
Bahah only recently returned, along with seven other ministers from his Cabinet, to Aden last week in order to formally run the affairs of the country.
His Cabinet's return from 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... follows that of several other Yemeni ministers who relocated to Aden from the Kingdom in the weeks after the city's recapture. Bahah made a brief visit to Aden on Aug. 1.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Houthis
A senior serving general has reportedly warned that a Jeremy Corbyn government could face "a mutiny" from the Army if it tried to downgrade them.
The unnamed general said members of the armed forces would begin directly and publicly challenging the labour leader if he tried to scrap Trident, pull out of Nato or announce "any plans to emasculate and shrink the size of the armed forces."
Why? They haven't done much in the way of challenging the current and several previous governments of both parties that have been steadily emasculating abd shrinking Britain's armed services.
He told the Sunday Times: "The Army just wouldn't stand for it. The general staff would not allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can't put a maverick in charge of a country's security.
"There would be mass resignations at all levels and you would face the very real prospect of an event which would effectively be a mutiny."
The general, who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, said he and many soldiers were sickened by Mr Corbyn's refusal to condemn the IRA, which killed 730 troops and injured 7,000 more during the conflict.
His shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, was forced to apologise when it was revealed he had called for IRA members, including hunger striker Bobby Sands, to be honoured by the British government.
The general said: "Many soldiers are disgusted by the comments of Corbyn and John McDonnell [about] the IRA -- men who have not only murdered British soldiers but also hundreds of members of their own community."
#3
Question is, what would you do with the country once you had it?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/22/2015 16:15 Comments ||
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#4
AFAIC the danger is very real that the EuroCommies-Socialists + aligned OWG Globies will end up indirectly helping Radical Islam conquer the World instead of having US-World Secular LeftSocialist Order.
MORE ILLEGAL MUSLIM REFUGEES-MIGRANTS = MORE ANARCHY-N-CHAOS = MORE INTENSIVE REGULATORY SOCIALISM-GOVTISM AROUND THE WORLD.
Again, OWG-NWO + NATIONAL + GLOBAL SOCIALIST ORDER IS THE PRIORITY OR FOCII, NOT NATIONAL SECURITY.
IMO the BA sees the underlying EXISTENTIAL danger to the UK + EU + entire Non-Muslim World.
THE MAHA-RUSHIAN QUESTIONNE' IS WILL THE USDOD + OTHER FOLLOW SUIT AS A "JUST-IN-CASE"???
North Korea may be trying to obtain material for a hydrogen bomb by putting reactor at Yongbyon back into operation, a U.S. think tank speculates.
Just the kind of speculation we need right now...
In a report on the North's nuclear facility at Yongbyon on Wednesday, David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington said, "As part of the renovation of the reactor, North Korean technicians reportedly installed (or renovated) irradiation channels in the core."
"One candidate isotope that must be considered is tritium, which could be used in making more sophisticated nuclear weapons."
He speculated that the North may want to conduct another nuclear test to obtain tritium.
"Isotope production requires a facility to separate the isotopes. North Korea built such a facility years ago, called the Isotope Production Laboratory in the northern part of Yongbyon near the old Soviet-supplied reactor," Albright said but added, "This facility dates to the 1970s and its operational status is unknown."
"Tritium would enable nuclear weapon designs that could have greater explosive yields than weapons made from only plutonium or weapons-grade uranium," he added. "Whether North Korea can make nuclear weapons using tritium is unknown although we believe that it remains a technical problem North Korea still needs to solve."
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama to provide $150 billion in funding to Fat Boy within a fortnight...
#6
Time for the CIA to supply a H-bomb no delay detonator, at discount prices ....
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
09/22/2015 19:55 Comments ||
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#7
NOKOR desires to formally reunify wid SOKOR regardless of whether overlord China gets back TAIWAN or not.
Unless "Mahanist", OWG Co-Superpower Beijing = Mainland China gets back Taiwan, i.e. its desired future CENTCOM, etc. for the PLA in the Pacific, Beijing is more likely to formally ANNEX NOKOR as a new Chinese province than to allow its reunification wid the South.
[ARABNEWS] Hungary's parliament gave Monday the army and police sweeping new powers to keep migrants out as populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that Europe was being "overrun."
"They are overrunning us. They're not just banging on the door, they're breaking the door down on top of us," the right-wing Orban told politicians.
"Our borders are in danger, our way of life built on respect for the law, Hungary and the whole of Europe is in danger," the 52-year-old said in Budapest.
"Europe hasn't just left its doors open but has sent open invitation... Europe is rich but weak, this is the worst combination, Europe needs to be stronger to defend its borders."
The new legislation, passed with a two-thirds majority, allows the army to take part in border controls, to restrict personal liberties and to use "coercive weapons designed to cause bodily harm, although in a non-lethal way, unless it cannot be avoided."
"Similar to the police, the use of non-lethal firearms, rubber bullets, pyrotechnics, tear gas grenades, and net guns can be used," it stipulates.
Coming a week after illegal border-crossing became a crime punishable by up to five years in jail, soldiers can now also check ID papers and detain suspected illegal migrants.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Four suspects, including a columnist for daily Bugun, have been tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! as part of an investigation into an alleged terrorist organization.
The 2nd Criminal Magistrate of Peace in Istanbul arrested columnist Gultekin Avci and three coppers for "being a member of an armed terror group" on Sept. 20.
Three other coppers, who were detained with Avci on Sept. 18 in the western province of Izmir, were released by the judge.
Avci, a former prosecutor and also the lawyer of Samanyolu Medya Group chairman Hidayet Karaca, was detained as a part of an investigation into what state-run Anadolu Agency described as the "Pro-Fethullah Terror Organization/Parallel State Structure," referring to the followers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, the government's ally-turned-nemesis whose followers are believed to wield influence in the judiciary and the police.
In the summer of 2014, dozens of Turkish coppers, including high-ranking officers, were detained and accused of spying and illegally wire-tapping then-prime minister President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... and his inner circle, in what the chief prosecutor said was a concocted probe of an alleged terrorist group named Selam Tevhid in a pretense to tap the phones of Erdogan, a minister and the undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Uludere air raid, which left 34 villagers dead, was caused by "erroneous" intelligence The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's National Intelligence Organization (MIT), daily Cumhuriyet has alleged.
Cumhuriyet has published what is claimed to be a correspondence between the MIT and the attorney general's office of Diyarbakir, a southeastern province of Turkey, which is leading the investigation into the massacre at Uludere.
According to the report, the Diyarbakir office of the attorney general has sent the MIT an official document on Dec.28, 2011 -- the day of the incident-- inquiring whether the organization had any intelligence on terrorist infiltration and, if yes, which institutions they had shared this information with.
The MIT sent a written response on Jan.10, 2012, denying the existence of any "notes, writings or information shared with any external offices."
Nonetheless, research by the prosecutor's office has revealed the MIT has in fact shared intelligence with the general staff on Nov.27, 2011 through the Operational Information Sharing System (OBIPAS).
The intelligence report in question stated an infiltration by forces of Evil of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was expected from the region adjacent with Iraq towards the Ortasu village of Sirnak's Uludere district, the site of the air raid which killed 34 civilians.
In addition, the MIT allegedly sent a second report to the general staff on Dec.21, a week before the air raid, warning against an infiltration by senior PKK leader Fehman Huseyin (code-named Bahoz Erdal) organizing a terrorist attack.
The report, categorized as "Most Probably Correct," claimed the terrorist attack would be conducted against military base camps between Dec. 21 and 30, 2011.
Cumhuriyet alleged that withholding this information started a crisis between the MIT and the attorney general's office in Diyarbakir.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] A probe has been opened into 94 people for participating in the Gezi Park protests more than two years after the events, with the suspects facing up to six years in prison.
Public Prosecutor Cevdet Aydemir opened a probe into 94 people who attended a protest in the western province of Izmir in June 2013, seeking prison terms up to six years for each with charges of violating assembly and demonstrations laws.
The incident took place on June 1, 2013, in Izmir's Gundogdu Square when a group of people organized via social media gathered to support the ongoing protests in Istanbul's Gezi Park. The group increased to around 10,000 people whom marched to Kibris Sehitleri Street. Around 2,000 people continued to protest by installing barricades on the streets against coppers. Clashes between the police and the protesters continued until late in the day and ended when the police detained 94 people.
The Gezi Park incidents began as a peaceful protest against a shopping mall construction project in Istanbul's central Taksim neighborhood before turning into country-wide protests against the government. Can't have that in a country with a "strong presidential system."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Maybe the voters don't want to be reminded that Erdogan Bey wants to be dictator. Debbie Downer's doing the same thing with Hillary here at home, and for the same reason...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) has appealed to the 'establishment' to forgo what it called the bitter past and grant it clemency like the general amnesty offered to the 'angry Baloch' people.
"Just as clemency is being announced for the estranged Baloch people, the establishment should also heal the wounds of Mohajirs by forgetting past bitterness," the MQM coordination committee said in a statement issued on Sunday.
Referring to reports about certain workers who had gone to India over 20 years ago and who allegedly confessed to having been trained there, the MQM said that any worker who had gone to the neighbouring country for saving his life after the launching of the June 19, 1992, army operation "did so without informing the party".
"The MQM has nothing to do with the training of the people who had gone to India."
It said that the MQM was a patriotic political party and it would continue to be unconditionally loyal to Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman on Monday visited Pakistain Air Force (PAF) camp Badaber and said that the war against terrorism is the war for Pakistain's future.
"The enemies of Pakistain should remain cognisant of the fact that no one can shake our resolve," said ACM Sohail Aman, while addressing a gathering of PAF airmen during his visit to the PAF base. How's old Hafiz Saeed doing?
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The enemies of Pakistan are too numerous to mention Mr Aman?
Posted by: paul ||
09/22/2015 15:56 Comments ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The All Pakistan Ulema Council chief Mawlana Tahir Ashrafi who had called for ‘Jihad’ and ‘suicide attacks’ in Afghanistan and Kashmir was arrested with wine ‘which is strictly forbidden in Islam’.
Based on a report published on the website of Pakistan’s The News Tribe (TNT) on Monday, police were on routine checking in Islamabad when they recovered wine bottles from Mawlana Ashrafi’s vehicle.
According to TNT, Mawlana Ashrafi was sent to jail but a man whose name is not mentioned in the report released him.
TNT report further states that Mawlana Ashrafi had been detained on wine charges several times in the past but later released based on his connections.
The report adds that due to Mawlana’s connections, his case does not go forward.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Iran said Monday it independently collected samples at a suspect military site where illicit nuclear work is alleged to have occurred and later handed them to the U.N.'s absent inspectors.
The disclosure that international monitors were not physically present is likely to feed critics of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, who have poured scorn on measures used to check if Tehran's atomic program is peaceful.
In a mark of the high stakes at play it drew a quick reaction from the U.N.'s ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency, whose chief insisted that "the integrity of the sampling process and the authenticity of the samples" was not compromised.
The samples were taken under "established procedures", IAEA director general Yukiya Amano said, noting "significant progress" is being made in its long-running probe of whether Iran ever sought to develop a nuclear bomb.
The site at Parchin, east of the capital Tehran, has been at the center of international skepticism of Iran's activities, specifically that as late as 2003 it carried out work there aimed at developing an atomic weapon.
Iran says accusations from Western intelligence agencies -- including that it conducted explosives tests at Parchin -- are groundless and based on malicious information provided by its enemies.
The sample taking is linked to a so-called roadmap with a December 15 deadline by when the IAEA says ambiguities about past possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear activities must be resolved.
Much work remains to be done on that report, Amano said.
Iran's environmental sampling from specific parts of the Parchin complex took place in the past week.
"It was done by Iranian experts, in the absence of IAEA inspectors," said Behrouz Kamalvandi, front man for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.
IAEA and Iranian officials have previously said monitoring can be verified in real time by satellites and sophisticated geolocation technology.
Amano, speaking a day after he visited Tehran and was unexpectedly granted access to Parchin, appeared to reiterate that capability while acknowledging Iran's recent role.
"In the case of Parchin, the Iranian side played a part in the sample-taking process by swiping samples," Amano said in Vienna, adding his experts would analyze them in the coming weeks.
"The agency can confirm the integrity of the sampling process and the authenticity of the samples, which were taken at places of interest to the agency at the particular location in Parchin."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/22/2015 00:30 ||
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#1
I wonder if Mr. Obama also allowed his students to submit unverifiable/made-up source material with their papers?
Yeah, he was too distracted by his own greatness to check.
#2
I'm sure the lockstep traitorous Democrats who voted for this crap will allow Republicans to count the votes in 2016, amirite? After all, we wouldn't cheat or lie, just like the trusted Iranians.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2015 8:47 Comments ||
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[ARABNEWS] Justice will catch up with Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... even if he remains in power under a negotiated end to Syria's war, UN human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. investigator Carla del Ponte said on Monday.
"Assad is the president, so let's deal with the institution of president. If we can achieve a cease-fire with the president, why not? But afterwards, justice will come," del Ponte said.
"You remember in former Yugoslavia, Milosevic was president, and it was a peace negotiation at Dayton and they achieved an agreement? And Milosevic was still president, but justice could be done. Just an example from the past."
Del Ponte was chief prosecutor for the international court which put former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic on trial in 2002, seven years after he signed a peace treaty to end the war in the former Yugoslavia. Milosevic died in his cell in 2006, before his trial was concluded.
This month European countries and the United States have moved away from demanding Assad's immediate ouster, saying instead that the timing of his exit could be part of a negotiated peace deal.
Asked if she thought justice would catch up with Assad, Del Ponte said: "Yes. It must be done."
Del Ponte is a member of the UN independent commission of inquiry that has been investigating human rights abuses in Syria for four years.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Um, Milosevic died while waiting for the trial to ensue, Carla. He was laughing in your face the whole time.
#2
Assad will not face anything other than to stay in power now that Russia and Iran are his allies. Who's going to do anything about it? The feckless U.N.? They're not.
[ALMANAR.LB] Russian 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... told the visiting Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Zionist concerns that Syria would provide advanced weapons to the Lebanese Resistance movement of Hezbollah are exaggerated, considering that the country is fighting for survival.
Netanyahu was in Moscow on Monday to discuss the security situation in the Middle East and clarify Russia's position.
"Israel and Russia have common goals -- to ensure stability in the Middle East," Netanyahu said, claiming that Damascus and Tehran are working to "create a second terrorist front in the Golan Heights."
"The Israeli concerns are exaggerated," Putin assured Netanyahu.
"We have always condemned the rocket attacks on Israel, but as far as I know those rockets are home-made," Putin said. "As for Syria, we know and understand that the Syrian army and the country in general are not in a condition to open a second front. The Syrians are busy fighting for their own statehood."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"The Israeli concerns are exaggerated," Putin assured Netanyahu.
Must be embarrassing for Vlad, using an Obama line like that.
#2
Putin has more definitely stolen an Obama line. There is still Hezbollah (supported by Iran) to the north, Hamas to the south and various other Islamic terrorist groups.
#3
It almost sounds like Putin is offering security guarantees to the Israelis vis a vis Syria. Does this leave the Israelis free to concentrate on Iran/Hezbollah?
[ARABNEWS] More than half of Paleostinians no longer support a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, a survey released on Monday showed, rejecting the goal that has underpinned four decades of international diplomacy.
The poll by the Paleostinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, a leading research group in the Paleostinian territories, found that 51 percent of Paleostinians oppose the two-state solution while 48 percent support it.
The figures were down from 51 percent support and 48 percent opposition three months ago. The survey was carried out on 1,270 people in the occupied West Bank and in Gazoo from Sept. 17-19.
The two-state solution -- an independent Paleostine existing side-by-side with Israel -- has been the broad objective of negotiations since the mid-1970s and the overriding focus of US-led diplomacy for the past 20 years.
Perhaps more worrying from a sentiment point of view is that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed (65 percent) said they did not believe the two-state solution was any longer practical because of Israel's settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Had the Palestinians actually been willing to make peace any time along the way, they would have had their state. But they tolerated leadership that was not willing, and so now they look forward to having nothing.
The survey was conducted at a time of heightened Israeli-Paleostinian tension, particularly over a Jerusalem shrine holy to Moslems and Jews.
It also comes amid deep rifts in Paleostinian politics between the Fatah party of President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which is in charge in Gazoo.
"Additionally, the developments indicated in this poll might have also been triggered by anger at the Arab world as the overwhelming majority believes that Arabs no longer care about the fate of the Paleostinians," the director of the poll, Khalil Shikaki, wrote in a commentary.
The Arabs never cared about the fate of the Palestinians. Clever of the Palestinians to notice after sixty-eight years.
The Times of Israel has more on the internals of the poll:
The number of Russian military personnel deployed to Syria has reached 1,700, consisting mainly of naval personnel, according to Russian language news accounts.
According to a report in Regnum.ru, a Kommersant news report said a tweet by an unidentified individual associated with a private firm assisting the Russians in the port of Tartus places the number of naval personnel at 1,700. Current English language news accounts citing US government sources say the number of Russian naval infantry troops in the region is about 500, which including the logistical tail would equal a rifle battalion.
Most of the activity associated with the buildup in Tartus is intended to provide a defense and to improve the base facilities to service Russian surface combatants such as destroyers and troop carriers, according to the regnum.ru report.
Reports also say that some Russian combat troops were in Latakia, where an airfield the Russians use is located. One video shows a tank unit firing its main guns into a position in the hills, but little indication exists if the shooting was an exercise or actual combat. Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin remarked that the video was faked.
A Syrian rebel group, reportedly Al-Nusra Dzhebhat, fired rocket artillery into Latakia last Saturday killing 14 and wounding 40. The rebel force fired 30 rockets and some "charged gas cylinders" into town, according to several Russian language news reports.
A separate report which appeared in regnum.ru, said that the Syrian air force attacked positions of Al-Nusra Dzhebhat on Monday in response to the attack. The air raid, claims the report, "wiped out" a headquarters and killed 24 combatants near Zakhia.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter.
A new impressive satellite image has just been released.
It shows at least 12 Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes lined-up on the secondary runway at al-Assad airbase near Latakia, the same airfield hosting the four Russian Air Force Su-30SM multirole combat planes.
It's one thing to fly them there and line them up; it's another thing to do operations; and it's another thing to supply and sustain an ops tempo.
The Russians do not use the SU-25 designation for newer aircraft. They use SU-39s, which is actually a much more advanced ground interdiction aircraft. The old moniker for the SU-25 is the Stormovik, like the designation for the venerable IL-2 ground interdiction aircraft of WWII vintage.
It should be noted that the Russian Navy does deploy a number of SU-25/39s, and some of those are navalized for use in aircraft carriers. If these are Russian naval aircraft chances are they will be used in a defensive role at Tartus and Latakia.
It looks like the Frogfoots, the Russian aircraft most suitable for Air Interdiction and potential Close Air Support missions against ISIS have eventually arrived in Syria. They will operate alongside the Su-24 Fencer jets spotted trailing an Il-78/76 plane over Homs on Sept. 20 (not visible in the latest satellite snapshots). The IL-76 is similar to the US E-3 AWACS, an radar/airborne control platform for directing air combat operations and for air traffic control. The introduction of the IL-76 into Syria by the Russians is significant for those reasons.
According to the most recent reports, as many as 28 Russian planes have already been deployed to Syria. The question is: where are those not exposed by satellite imagery yet. The bird has long legs, can be refueled in the air, and can be deployed from anywhere.
This is not the first time the Su-25 is deployed in the region to fight IS militants: on Jul. 1, 2014 seven Frogfoot attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (informal name of the IRGC -- the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution) deployed to Imam Ali Airbase, in Iraq, to join the ex-Russian Air Force Su-25s already delivered to Iraq in the air war against ISIS.
#3
This Russian opposition to ISIS seems like a good thing on the surface - but it would give them a permanent base in Syria, and a powerful means of defending Iran's nuclear program from Israel.
#5
The Su-25 is the Russian answer to the A-10: low, slow, heavily armed and heavily protected. The Russians want to give Assad's ground troops some protection and punch as they maintain a defensible perimeter, and perhaps some punch for any ground offensive. Given that the ISIS doesn't have an air wing and few (apparently) SAMs, the Su-25 is a good choice. The Russians have a lot of them and by now have figured out how to maintain them in the field. Can they sustain a high ops temp? That remains to be seen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2015 12:00 Comments ||
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#6
#3, they don't need to defend Iran. Champ is doing that for them.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Rebels who have inflicted big losses on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad say Russia's intervention in support of its ally will only lead to an escalation of the war and may encourage the rebels' Gulf Arab backers to pour in more military aid.
Russia's deployment is prompting a reassessment of the conflict among insurgents whose advances in western Syria in recent months may have been the catalyst for Russia's decision. U.S. officials say Russian forces are already arriving.
Rebels interviewed by Reuters say they have already encountered stronger government resistance in those areas - notably the coastal heartland of Assad's Alawite sect - and now predict an even tougher war with Russian involvement.
Some see an opportunity in the Russian deployment, predicting more military aid from states such as Saudi Arabia. That signals one of the risks of Russian involvement: a spiral of deepening foreign interference in a conflict already complicated by a regional struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Hoping to galvanize more support, rebels are evoking the Soviet failure in Afghanistan as a model for their struggle, and depicting Russia as a new occupier. But they also say this means the war, already in its fifth year, will go on even longer. They might have a closer look at Chechnya, then consider where their safe havens and lines of supply are. There's no Pakistain next door to supply weapons and cannon fodder.
"It is in our calculations that the battle will now extend for more years than it would have without the Russians," said Abu Yousef al-Mouhajer, a rebel fighting in the Latakia area where Russian forces have deployed at an airfield.
"The Russian intervention has come to save the regime," said the fighter with the Ahrar al-Sham group, part of an alliance that has advanced in the Assad-held west. Like other rebels interviewed for this article, he spoke via the internet.
U.S. officials say Russia is undertaking a significant military buildup at the airfield, including fighter jets, helicopter gunships, artillery and as many as 500 naval infantry. Dear Vlad ~ Please use 100-127 volt, at 60 hertz frequency generators. It will save us a great deal of time and expense when it comes our turn.
While Russia has not been specific about its goals - saying its support for Damascus aims to fight terrorism - rebels in the west believe their area of operations is the priority because it poses the biggest immediate risk to Assad.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2015 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[NBC] NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia -- Israel and Russia agreed on Monday to coordinate military actions over Syria in order to avoid accidentally trading fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to Moscow.
Recent Russian reinforcements for Syrian President Bashar Assad, which regional sources say include warplanes and anti-aircraft systems, worry Israel, whose jets have on occasion bombed the neighboring Arab country to foil suspected handovers of advanced arms to Assad's Lebanese guerrilla ally Hezbollah.
Briefing Israeli reporters after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin, Netanyahu said he had come with the goal of "prevent(ing) misunderstandings between IDF (Israel Defense Force) units and Russian forces" in Syria, where Assad is fighting Islamist-dominated insurgents in a civil war.
#2
Champ has abdicated any semblance of leadership other than petulance, whining, throwing tantrums and irritating the hell out of nearly everyone. Never did understand the "leading from behind" narrative--just another phrase for doing nothing or turning it over to the evil imp, VJ.
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.
An official in Leego village of Lower Shabelle province says Somali troops are currently on high alert after intelligence reports indicated that Al shabaab was planning attacks in the area.
[ALMANAR.LB] Ansarullah movement Commander Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badreddine Al-
[ARABNEWS] Four Yemeni pilgrims sustained minor injuries as a result of a fire that broke out in their room at 11th floor of a 15-floor hotel in Makkah.
A senior serving general has reportedly warned that a Jeremy Corbyn government could face "a mutiny" from the Army if it tried to downgrade them.
North Korea may be trying to obtain material for a hydrogen bomb by putting reactor at Yongbyon back into operation, a U.S. think tank speculates. 
[ARABNEWS] Hungary's parliament gave Monday the army and police sweeping new powers to keep migrants out as populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that Europe was being "overrun."
[DAWN] KARACHI: The 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...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...
A new impressive satellite image has just been released.
