Algerian human rights activist, Zoulikha Belarbi, has been arrested by local police at Tlemcen, northwest of Algeria. No clear reason for her arrest has been communicated. The information was confirmed by lawyer and President of the Algerian human rights league (LADDH,) Salah Dabouz.
No UN denouncement? No statement from HRW?
“Human rights activists working on the ground have been, for some weeks, subject to a wave of harassments,” Dabouz said.
Can't be true: haven't read this in the New York Times, and there's been nothing on it at CNN...
Dabouz said many activists and journalists have been targeted by authorities across the country, including Kaddour Chouicha, and Hassan Bouras.
Chouicha, member of the LADDH steering committee, was recently denied exit out of the country and arrested as he was about to board a plane at Oran airport.
Bourras, an investigative journalist and member of the LADDH was arrested on October 3rd and accused of “inciting citizens to armed uprising against the state”. Bourras, who was put in prison, has been on hunger strike for two weeks now.
Many international human rights NGOs, including the Worldwide Movement for Human Rights, have denounced the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of the journalist.
Dabouz indicated that his league and other NGOs will discuss in a near future measures to address the growing harassment of rights activists by authorities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2015 00:00 ||
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Given what "Human rights activists" stands for nowadays, bully for the Algerians.
WASHINGTON -- Efforts to bring those responsible for North Korea's human rights violations to justice are key to improving the communist nation's human rights situation, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report released Wednesday.
Ban made the remark in the report to the U.N. General Assembly, calling on the international community to make "all possible and reasonable efforts to ensure that the systematic, widespread and grave human rights violations described in the report of the commission of inquiry are brought to an end."
"Efforts to engage the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to improve the human rights situation in the country must go hand in hand with efforts to hold perpetrators of crimes accountable," Ban said in the report.
Brilliant! Just brilliant! How do you do it?
In that sense, it constitutes a "significant development" for the U.N. Security Council to take up the North's human rights issue as an agenda item, he said in the Sept. 25-dated report that was posted on the U.N. website on Wednesday.
Ban also made a series of recommendations urging the North to take concrete steps to improve the situation, invite the U.N. special rapporteur to visit the country, engage meaningfully with all U.N. member states and provide unimpeded access to U.N. and humanitarian agencies.
Last year, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution calling for referring the North to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for human rights violations. The resolution led to the Security Council adopting the issue as an official agenda item for the first time.
Sources at the U.N. said that South Korea, the United States and like-minded partners have begun drafting a new resolution that would also call for referring those responsible for the North's abuses of its hunger-stricken people to the ICC.
Chances are not high for the Security Council to actually refer the issue to the ICC because China and Russia, which have friendlier ties with North Korea than any other countries, are expected to veto such a move. Still, such resolutions play a great role in drawing international attention to the issue.
North Korea has long been labeled as one of the worst human rights violators. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information. But the North has bristled at such criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
In June, the State Department said in its annual human rights report that the North's human rights record "remained among the worst in the world" last year with public executions, political prison camps, torture and other abuses.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2015 00:00 ||
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The word "delusional" comes to mind.
Posted by: chris ||
10/22/2015 0:08 Comments ||
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Loyalty to leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un is eroding among the North Korean elites, the National Intelligence Service said Tuesday evaluating Kim's first four years in power.
NIS chief Lee Byung-ho told lawmakers that if loyalty or a sense of common destiny was set at 100 points during the reign of nation founder Kim Il-sung, it was perhaps 50-70 under his son Kim Jong-il but is now a mere 10. The NIS claimed Kim junior has admitted how hard it is to run a country.
The spy agency believes it was pressure from China that prevented the North from launching another space rocket earlier this month to test long-range missile technology. But a lack of technical preparation also played a role.
There were widespread fears that the North would launch the rocket to mark the 70th anniversary of the Workers Party on Oct. 10.
Asked about "nuclear backpacks" that were shown off by some soldiers during the anniversary parade, the NIS said the North "does not have the technology to miniaturize nuclear weapons yet."
But an NIS officer later backtracked, saying the remark referred only to the backpacks, but the North does probably have the means to miniaturize nuclear warheads for missiles -- the official position of the government here.
Most experts do not believe that the North has the requisite technology.
The spy agency said it is constantly monitoring the North's nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and the North is still making preparations for a fresh nuclear test, if not anytime soon.
Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-un's aunt and the wife of the executed eminence grise Jang Song-taek, is being treated for chronic disease in Pyongyang but does not seem to be in particularly poor health.
The NIS said it has a confidential document issued by the North's Bureau 225, an intelligence agency for overseas operations, which calls on operatives to create public opinion that North Korean box mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers were a fabrication by the South Korean government.
North Korea has some 380 informal open-air markets, the NIS said. A U.S. dollar officially trades for 106 won but 79 times that in the black market.
Some 58,000 North Korean workers are working in foreign countries.
About 3.7 million North Koreans are using mobile phones, but no South Korean-models because the regime has warned that they could be hacked, the agency said.
"On the surface, the North Koreans look as if they are loyal to His Enormity Kim Jong-un. But they seem to be less loyal than before because of the influence of markets, mobile phones, and workers working overseas," an NIS official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2015 00:00 ||
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Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-un's aunt and the wife of the executed eminence grise Jang Song-taek, is being treated for chronic disease alcoholism in Pyongyang
...who is economically and socially Progressive/Socialist, but never mind that...
was Wednesday shouted down by protesters as he helped launch a new political party in Perth, the anti-Islam Australian Liberty Alliance.
The Dutch firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... and euroskeptic, who was controversially granted a visa, said the new party was modeled on his own Freedom Party in opposing "the Islamisation process".
The secular Australian Liberty Alliance was set up by the Q Society of Australia, a volunteer-run anti-Islam lobby group established in Victoria state in 2010. The size of its membership is not known.
"Elsewhere in Europe, like minded parties, such as in Austria, Sweden, La Belle France and even Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , have become big parties as well," he said after braving a small but vocal group of protesters chanting "say it loud, say it clear, racists are not welcome here".
"Everywhere in Europe the people, not the political elite, not the governments, are saying enough is enough," added Wilders, who was invited by the party to attend the launch in Perth.
"Let us reclaim our countries. Stop the mass immigration from Islamic countries. We say no more to the governments and the Islamisation process."
The party endorsed upper house Senate candidates for Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland states to challenge in the 2016 federal election as it looks to cash in on more vocal anti-Islam sentiment sparked by a series of attacks by radicalized youth.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett banned state-owned venues from hosting Wilders, who has been barred from entering other countries because of his anti-Islamic stance.
"I do not support him and I do not support the things he says," Barnett told ABC radio.
"However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... I do recognize the right to free speech. He can say what he wishes to but he will not have any support from the West Australian government at all."
Wilders is often reviled 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... rhetoric, but his Freedom Party continues to ride high in opinion polls in the Netherlands amid the European refugee crisis.
[AnNahar] Ali, a Paleostinian-Syrian banker desperate to reach the Netherlands, had to hide his surprise when he finally met a shadowy forger known as "The Whale" at an Arab-style shisha cafe near Athens.
"It turns out the guy I'd been speaking to, who sounded so big and scary on the phone, was actually tiny," said 31-year-old Ali, now living as a refugee in The Hague which he reached by plane several months ago using a forged Italian identity card that cost him just 30 euros ($34).
Unlike tens of thousands of other refugees and migrants, he was able to avoid the perilous, exorbitantly-priced land journey through the Balkans and central Europe, all thanks to "The Whale".
Continued on Page 49
They found the owners if the mystery drones, and it was us. I'm not sure if this is important or not, so I put the question to those who know more than I. What say you, dear Reader?
[AlAhram] The US Air Force lost control of two Predator drones in separate incidents recently in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Iraq, a US military official said Wednesday.
Predator drones are capable of being equipped with deadly munitions, but it was not immediately clear if they were armed at the time of the incidents.
In the first case on October 16, a Predator crew reported a "lost link and subsequent crash while the Predator was flying southeast of Baghdad," military front man Colonel Steve Warren said.
Local Iraqi police recovered the drone in the vicinity of Al-Kut. They returned the aircraft to US control and there were no injuries, Warren said.
Then on October 19, a different Predator "crashed" in southern Turkey, Warren said. Local media have said it came down in Hatay.
"The aircraft experienced mechanical failure. The Air Force in this case maintained positive control of the aircraft and brought it down safely in an unpopulated area," Warren said.
Again, the aircraft was returned to US control. Both incidents are under investigation.
The United States is leading a 60-plus member coalition targeting Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadists in Iraq and Syria and has been carrying out frequent warplane and drone raids for more than a year.
Turkey has permitted the United States to use a base at Incirlik in southern Turkey to conduct strikes against ISIS.
Posted by: paul ||
10/22/2015 9:52 Comments ||
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#2
Very difficult to actually observe and shoot down [but not impossible] with ground based small arms fire (SAF) when aloft at altitude 5k-15k feet or higher. My guess and only a guess, without examining the wreckage would be technical difficulties or weather.
#4
Also a lot of hours being put on the operators.
Plus, as a bonus, anything that that glitches the comm service (similar to intertube outage) sends the birds into "huh" mode. They're supposed to go into orbital routine, but if the flight profile is in an iffy situation, that air-ground interface sometimes comes into play.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/22/2015 13:34 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] The number of U.S. recruits trying to join 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.... murderous Moslem group has declined, FBI Director James Comey told the U.S. Congress Wednesday.
How about the numbers joining other jihadi organizations?
But he said there could be multiple explanations for the drop-off, including new recruits leaving the United States undetected.
I'm confused.
"Just in the last few months, we are seeing fewer people attempt to travel to join ISIL in Syria," Comey told the House of Representative's Homeland Security Committee, using an alternative name for the jihadist group. "We have seen six in the last three and a half months. We were seeing nine a month in all the months before that."
But the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said he didn't "know what to make of that."
"One possibility is we are not seeing it the way we were before, (and) they are still going," he said, adding that it was also possible "efforts to lock people up and punish them" or cooperative efforts with Turkish and other countries are making a difference.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/22/2015 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Or they could have been convinced to become moles to be activated later... Do you remember Telefon(1977) ?
#2
...sort of. Just sign up on line. No travel needed. Just wack some kaffirs when directed or the opportunity presents itself. Besides, the number of available local sex slaves has been diminished in the region.
[Wash Times] The State Department initially approved a weapons shipment from a California company to Libyans seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 even though a United Nations arms ban was in place, according to memos recovered from the burned-out compound in Benghazi.
The documents, obtained by The Washington Times, show U.S. diplomats at the Benghazi compound were keeping track of several potential U.S.-sanctioned shipments to allies, one or more of which were destined for the Transitional National Council, the Libyan movement that was seeking to oust Gadhafi and form a new government.
At least one of those shipments, kept in a file marked "arms deal," was supposed to come from Dolarian Capital Inc. of Fresno, California, according to an end use certificate from the State Department's office of defense trade controls licensing that was contained in the file.
The shipment was to include rocket launchers, grenade launchers, 7,000 machine guns and 8 million rounds of ammunition, much of it new and inexpensive hardware originally produced in the former Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe, according to an itemized list included in the end use certificate.
Dolarian Capital, part of a small network of U.S. arms merchants that has worked with U.S. intelligence, confirmed one of its licensing requests to ship weapons via Kuwait to Libya was approved by the State Department in spring 2011 and then inexplicably revoked before the armaments were sent.
#2
"The shipment was to include rocket launchers, grenade launchers, 7,000 machine guns and 8 million rounds of ammunition..."
Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!
Posted by: Major Kong ||
10/22/2015 8:43 Comments ||
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#3
Diverted to Al-Nusra and other Syrian "rebels"? I've always speculated the Benghazi op was to re-purpose Libyan weapons we provided to Syrian fighters against Assad. I know I'm not alone in that
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/22/2015 9:01 Comments ||
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#4
“It’s amateur hour,” said another former CIA official.
[AnNahar] The UN's cultural body approved a resolution from a group of Arab states on Wednesday criticizing Israel for failing to protect heritage sites and rebuild regions destroyed by war.
It's a day that ends in -day, so we oughtn't be surprised.
The final version of the draft resolution was changed at the last minute to remove a controversial clause saying the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the holiest site at which Jews can pray, is an "integral part" of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
To be fair, if the wall weren't there, the entire edifice would fall down... which is why Herod, king of the Jews built it that way. The mosque was added about a millenium later.
Israel had denounced the statement as "a clear endeavour to distort history" and appropriate the site.
Elsewhere they destroyed pre-Islamic Arabian archeology, the Afghan Buddhas, and turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
It was opposed by six countries: the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Estonia.
The flashpoint compound, which is considered sacred to both Islam and Judaism, is located in the southeastern corner of the Old City in Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem. Muslims call it Al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) while Jews rever it as the Temple Mount which housed the First and Second Temples.
Clashes between Israeli police and Paleostinian protesters at the compound in September are widely thought to have led to the current wave of deadly violence in Israel and the Paleostinian territories.
The resolution approved on Wednesday -- which was drafted by Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates -- condemns Israeli actions at the compound, including restricting access to Muslim worshippers during Eid celebrations last month on security grounds.
It was supported by 26 of the 58 member countries on UNESCO's executive board, while 25 members abstained.
It was opposed by six countries: the United States, Britannia, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Estonia.
The resolution "deeply deplores the recent repression in East Jerusalem, and the failure of Israel, the Occupying Power, to cease the persistent excavations and works in East Jerusalem particularly in and around the Old City."
It also calls for the "prompt reconstruction of schools, universities, cultural heritage sites, cultural institutions, media centers and places of worship that have been destroyed or damaged by the consecutive Israeli wars on Gazoo."
[Rudaw] Russia will provide the Kurdistan region's Peshmerga forces with protective equipment to counter the effects of chemical weapons used by 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.... , according to sources close to the Russian Information Center in Baghdad.
The sources said the equipment arrived Monday in Baghdad, and will be delivered to both Peshmerga forces and armed forces of the central government, both of which are in great need of chemical protective equipment due to ISIS' increased use of the weapons. Photos purporting to show the equipment being offloaded from a plane by Iraqi military personnel were also released.
The move by Russia to equip forces in Iraq follows Moscow's intervention and air campaign in neighboring Syria in support of its ally, Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... . Russia also recently announced the establishment of its Baghdad Information Center to cooperate with Syria, Iraq and Iran in fighting ISIS.
During the past few months, Peshmerga have been exposed multiple times to chemical-loaded rockets and shells fired by ISIS. International tests have confirmed ISIS has been using mustard gas.
A lack of equipment to counter chemical attacks has been a growing concern for Peshmerga and Iraqi forces, who have frequently called on the international community to provide countermeasures. A French medical team under the supervision of one of the founders of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) recently visited the Kurdistan region to deliver equipment and medicine to treat chemical attack victims worth $500,000.
Though the chemical weapons gear delivered by Moscow has been promised to reach the Peshmerga, in the past the Kurdistan Regional Government has claimed foreign military shipments do not reach its Peshmerga forces after being delivered to Baghdad.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/22/2015 00:00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] The Pentagon vowed Wednesday to continue working with Syrian opposition groups, including the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), despite uncertainties about the Kurds' participation in the battle for Raaqa.
"We continue to work with all partners who are interested in defeating ISIL," said Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman Colonel Steve Warren.
Warren who spoke to news hounds in the Pentagon via teleconference from Baghdad said that the US has not supplied the YPG with weapons and ammunitions but that coalition partners have.
My impression is that the Kurdish Peshmerga is the senior partner in that part of the world, with various religious, ethnic and tribal militias being trained and armed by them, then fighting alongside.
"We have not -- we, the United States of America, has not given ammunition to the Kurds. There was an airdrop, but that was donated ammunition from other coalition partners," he added.
Earlier this month US C-17 transport planes dropped 50 tons of ammunition into Syria's Hassakeh province with much dispute ever since as to which groups recovered the packages.
The US Defense Department said the airdrops were intended for Arab rebel groups who had been vetted by the US military.
The US military made its made ammunition airdrop to Syrian Kurds last October when the YPG was fighting a fierce battle with 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.... (ISIS) in Kobani.
The YPG is hailed as the most effective fighting force against ISIS in Syria though the Pentagon remains unsure if the group will join the battle for Raqqa.
"As far as pressure on Raqqa, you know, this -- is why our partnership with the Syrian Arabs is so vital, because the Syrian Arabs really have the ability to pressure Raqqa heavily. Whether or not Kurdish fighters are willing to move that far south, frankly, is an unknown at this point. We have not seen Kurds operate in Arab territory very much," he explained.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... unconfirmed reports this week suggested that Russia too has promised Syrian Kurds arms supply while Kommersant newspaper wrote Tuesday that the Democratic Union Party (PYD) is in talks with the Russian foreign ministry on opening a diplomatic mission in Moscow.
[AnNahar] Syria's Kurds have incorporated a mixed town they captured from 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 into territory they claim in the country's north, a leading party said Wednesday.
The move to bring the border town of Tal Abyad into the autonomous administration led by Kurdish forces in the country's north and northeast comes as the Kurds work increasingly closely with Arab forces against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's regime.
According to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Tal Abyad's local council agreed Wednesday their town would be ruled by "autonomous administration, formally part of the autonomous administration in the Kobane canton."
In June, Kurdish forces and their Arab rebel allies expelled IS from Tal Abyad, in Syria's northern Raqa province, after fierce festivities.
A local council of Kurds and Arabs has since overseen the town's affairs.
Quoted in the PYD's statement, local official Ferhad Derek said Tal Abyad would become "a model of peaceful coexistence for all the Syrian people."
A Kurdish-led autonomous administration has ruled parts of northern and northeastern Syria since government troops withdrew from majority-Kurdish areas in 2012.
The territories are divided into three "cantons," Jazira in Syria's northeast, Kobane in the north, and Afrin in the northwest.
Kurdish affairs analyst Mutlu Civiroglu told AFP that Kurds, Arabs and others in Tal Abyad had agreed to "democratic autonomy."
"However this does not mean they will be separate, but part of Kobane canton," he said.
Earlier this month, Kurds and allied rebel groups formalized their alliance by announcing a joint military force called the Syrian Democratic Forces, which included Kurds, Arabs, and Syriac Christians.
Whew! I know we all were worried that the Iranians would change their mind at the last minute.
[AnNahar] Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei explicitly endorsed a nuclear deal with world powers for the first time Wednesday, but warned his president it contained weaknesses that must be guarded against.
Despite more than two years of negotiations that culminated in a July 14 accord between Iran and world powers, Khamenei had never before said openly that he backed the diplomacy. Nor had he said he was against it.
The agreement with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany will see a raft of trade sanctions against Iran lifted in return for curbs lasting up to 15 years on its atomic activities.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/22/2015 00:00:00 ||
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Ankara had earlier hoped that a transitional government would be formed in Syria to settle the crisis in that country, and after that President Bashar Assad would hand over all of his powers in six months.
But Assad’s visit yesterday to Russia, where he had talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin gives grounds to say that Ankara’s hopes haven’t been justified.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed Assad’s visit to Moscow with Putin. There are no doubts that, in case of a total elimination of the terrorist organizations in Syria, which is very unlikely, President Assad will remain in power, which is not in Turkey’s interests.
For Ankara, such a situation means a complete failure of its Syria policy. At the same time, Turkey also fears a new wave of Syrian refugees, as well as the strengthening of the PYD – the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Moreover, earlier Assad promised autonomy to Syria’s Kurds who are currently fighting the Free Syrian Army and the “Islamic State”.
It should be noted that the PYD is also actively supporting the PKK.
The plan of Russia and Iran for Assad to remain in power is also not in the interests of the Kurdish administration in Iraq- a true and first ally of Turkey in the region. Earlier, the head of the Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani repeatedly stated that the PKK must leave the autonomy’s territory.
It is worth noting that, previously armed clashes broke out between the PKK and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in the territory of Iraq’s Kurdish administration. Barzani also warned the PKK and the PDKI that they shouldn’t use the administration’s territory as a place for a violent conflict.
According to some political experts in Turkey, the recent events on the territory of the administration occurred because Erbil (the capital of the administration) actively cooperates with Ankara.
For this reason, some analysts do not rule out that Iran stands behind the events in the territory of the Kurdish administration in Iraq. Iran wants to weaken the influence of Ankara in the region amid the military operations in Syria.
An interesting fact is that the armed forces of the Kurdish administration are only nominally united under a common command. Some warlords in the administration obey the party leaders. This makes the administration’s army more vulnerable.
It is not ruled out that the conflict with the central government of Iraq, military operations in Iraq and Syria, as well as the activity of the PKK, PYD can lead to a civil war in the territory of the Kurdish administration. Earlier in the mid-1990s, a civil war was waged in the territory of the administration.
The Turkish media reported that Erbil is ready to hold a referendum on the status of the administration amid the current events and afterwards, it will consider the issue of joining Turkey. Erbil has not officially confirmed this information. But it is not a secret that the administration has repeatedly stated that sooner or later, a referendum on the status will be held.
Not likely: I can't imagine that the Turks want more Kurds inside Turkey...
Even if the administration holds a referendum, the further situation in Erbil will still depend on Turkey.
The future situation in the region is unknown. But even if the crisis is resolved in Syria, a new conflict will occur in the region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2015 00:00 ||
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Pan-Turkic Union versus Pan-Iranian/Persian Union versus Kurdish Union???
As the Kurds rise. somebody's OWG "Sphere of Influence - real or desired - will have to shrink.
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.
WASHINGTON -- Efforts to bring those responsible for North Korea's human rights violations to justice are key to improving the communist nation's human rights situation, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report released Wednesday.
Loyalty to leader 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
