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ANZAC Day terror plot foiled in Melbourne
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Africa North
Al-Qaida-Linked Jihadists Claim U.N. Suicide Attack in Mali
[AnNahar] A jihadist group led by al-Qaeda-linked Mokhtar Belmokhtar has grabbed credit for a deadly suicide kaboom on the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
in Mali, in a recording released Friday by Mauritanian news agency Alakhbar.

Two non-combatants were killed and nine peacekeepers from Niger maimed when a myrmidon set off explosives as he attempted to drive into a camp used by the U.N.'s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Ansongo, in the northern region of Gao, on Wednesday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Mourabitounes


Arabia
Pakistan to help enforce embargo on Houthis
[DAWN] The government said on Thursday it had assured 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...
of its support in enforcing the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
Security Council's arms embargo on 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 ...
militia and forces loyal to former Yemeni 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...
, which could entail a role for the Pakistain Navy.

The commitment was conveyed to the Saudi leadership by Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
who visited the kingdom on Wednesday as special envoy of the prime minister, along with Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy...
, Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Ashfaq Nadeem and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry.

Briefing a specially convened meeting at the Prime Minister's House on the trip, the delegation members said: "They affirmed to the Saudi leadership that the government of Pakistain would fully participate and contribute to the implementation of the UNSC resolution."
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iran offers peace plan for Yemen
[AA.TR] Iran proposed a four-point peace plan forYemen
...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...
on Friday that calls for an immediate cease-fire and the formation of a unity government.

In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
, Iran's FM Javad Zarif urged the New York-based body "to get more effectively involved in ending the senseless aerial attacks," referring to the 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...
n-led air campaign that have pounded Shiite 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 ...
positions in Yemen since March 25.

The impoverished Arab country has been in turmoil since last September when Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa and have advanced to other parts of the country.

The current conflict is seen in some circles as a proxy war between majority Sunni Saudi Arabia and predominantly Shiite Iran.

The letter said terrorist groups were "gaining strategic foothold in Yemen aided by the foreign aerial campaign."

Iran's plan calls for the restoration of a "Yemeni-led" national dialogue among all factions, and says a cease-fire will ensure access to humanitarian aid for the Yemeni population.

"This critical situation is escalating and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is approaching catastrophic dimensions," read Zarif's letter.

"It may result in further exacerbation of the already tense circumstances in a region that has been plagued by one of the most barbaric types of extremism and multi-pronged vicious campaign of foreign-backed terrorists," it added.

The UN estimates more than 731 victims have been killed in Yemen since March 19.

On Thursday, the UN chief also called for an immediate cease-fire to allow for lifesaving humanitarian aid and the restoration of peace in the country.

The UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, on Friday appealed to international donors to provide $274 million in order to provide aid for 7.5 million Yemenis - more than 30 percent of the population - who are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

As many as 12 million Yemenis are food insecure, and at least 150,000 have been displaced, according to the UN.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Kerry and Obama signed on first, I'm sure
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 8:50 Comments || Top||

#2  "ROCK AND ROLL, HOUTHI-COUP!!!!"
Posted by: Harry Sproing6080 || 04/18/2015 10:39 Comments || Top||


NYT: US Reaper & Predator Drones Fly over Yemen
[ALMANAR.LB] The US army is flying Reaper and Predator drones over 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 transmits the data to the military coordination American team which is composed of 20 officers who deploy in Saudi, 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...
and Bahrain, The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported.

The US provides Saudi with the data in order to help them set the lists of their targets and achieve a high level of accuracy in their air strikes, the American paper added.

Yemen has been under brutal aggression by Saudi-US coalition whose warplanes are carrying out Arclight airstrikes on several areas across the country.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  Bububuuut... This was Obama's success story!

Notice how the press NEVER mentions that?
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/18/2015 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  ..we were always at war with Eastasia.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2015 9:00 Comments || Top||


Al-Sisi: Only air and naval forces took part in strikes against Yemen
[Egypt Independent] Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said on Friday that Egypt's participation in the Saudi-led strikes conducted against Shia Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
rebels in the restive country of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
has thus far been limited to sending air force and naval force.

The president paid the military academy a surprise visit on Friday, alongside Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi and a group of military leaders.

Sisi stressed that should the state send any other forces, it will be made public.

"I do not take decisions individually," Sisi said. "All my decisions are in the nation and its security's best interest."

Spokesman Mohammed Samir had denied in a statement on Tuesday the death or injury of any members of the Egyptian military during their participation in the Saudi-led operation. He said his statement comes in response to "information exchanged on social media."

Sisi stressed Egypt would like to see a political solution to the Yemeni crisis.

The Saudi-led coalition launched military operations against the Houthis in Yemen on March 26, after the Houthi rebel movement made advances onto the Yemeni south.

Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
says military operations by the coalition are in response to an appeal from Yemeni President President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Sisi's visit to the academy shortly followed a Lion of Islam attack which targeted a military students' bus in the governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh on Wednesday, killing two students and injuring three others.

The president offered his condolences to the students killed, adding that "the despicable terrorist operations have not and will not get at the [military] men's will."

Bombings and shootings targeting security forces have surged since the military ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi in July 2013, following mass protests against his rule.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Obama: Russia could sell defensive S-300 missile to Iran sooner
[Iran Press TV] US President Barack Obama
I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go...
says he was not surprised about Russia's decision to sell S-300 missile system to Iran because the sale was not prohibited by sanctions and the weapons are defensive.

"They actually stopped the sale, paused or suspended the sale at our request. And I'm frankly surprised that it held this long, given that they were not prohibited by sanctions from selling these defensive weapons," Obama said on Friday.

"When I say I'm not surprised, given some of the deterioration in the relationship between Russia and the United States, and the fact that their economy is under strain and this was a substantial sale," he added.

Obama's remarks contradicted the Pentagon's statement about the sale.

Pentagon front man Colonel Steve Warren announced that the US military is against 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...
's decision to sell S-300 missile system to Iran.

"Our opposition to these sales is long and public. We believe it's unhelpful," Warren said on Monday. "We are raising that through the appropriate diplomatic channels."
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Mr. O will probably co-sign the note.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/18/2015 13:04 Comments || Top||

#2  You're kidding Blossom, but---at least one of the reasons---Russia balked before now was because Iranians didn't have money.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 13:06 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish border guards accused of violations against displaced Syrians
[ARA] The Monitoring and Documentation Committee of the Human Rights Commission in Afrin Canton (established by the Auto-Administration) in the province of Aleppo, northern Syria, announced that they documented 16 assault cases committed against civilians by the Turkish border guards.

The committee released a report saying they had documented violations at the Turkish border-line near the villages in Sharra area last week.

"These people were either rubbed out or exposed to mine kabooms," reported the committee.

The committee said that 16 civilians had been assaulted on the border, 11 of whom were shot by the Turkish soldiers, especially in the village of Deir Soran where five non-combatants were killed, including a woman.

ARA News published several reports of killing Syrian civilians killed by Turkish border guards; the last victim was Nariman Mustafa, who was shot in the head near the border.

"Regarding the mine kabooms, we documented five cases in the Sharra area on the border with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
," the Human Rights Commission in Afrin added.

Added in its report, is the fact that many Syrians have been exposed to torture by the Turkish soldiers when crossing the border.

Noteworthy, dozens of Syrian non-combatants were killed during their passage into the Turkish territory adjacent to the areas with Kurdish majority due to the closure of the official crossings in those areas between Syria and Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Monitoring and Documentation Committee of the Human Rights Commission in Afrin Canton (established by the Auto-Administration) in the province of Aleppo

wow, any room on the business card for their names?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Auto-Administration

Cybernetic overlords?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 8:57 Comments || Top||


Turkey to provide $200 million to Gaza
[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
will grant $200 million for reconstruction of the Gazoo Strip and Paleostine's sustainable development in the span of two years, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Others have pledged as much and more... but follow up has been completely lacking. What odds the same will happen this time?
According to the Foreign Ministry statement, Turkey will donate $200 million as part of its pledge made at Cairo Conference on Paleostine for "reconstructing Gazoo," which was held in October 2014.

The assistance will be provided in among other, for health and education services as well as regeneration of destroyed housing and will be launched in soon, the statement also said.

According to U.N., at least 2,000 Paleostinians -- mostly civilians - were killed and other 11,000 were maimed in the latest attacks in Gazoo in 2014; some 100,000 people remain homeless.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Might as well have lent it to Greece.
Posted by: Raj || 04/18/2015 0:53 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought Turkey is experiencing, the slightest, bit of economic trouble right now?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 2:34 Comments || Top||

#3  $1.76 will make it to the populace
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 8:54 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Indian police arrest Kashmiri leader over protest, raising pro-Pakistan slogans
[DAWN] Indian police said that a top Kashmiri separatist leader has been jugged
You have the right to remain silent...
for leading an anti-India protest march and raising pro-Pakistain slogans earlier in the week.

Police officer K. Rajendra said Masarat Alam was arrested Friday under India's unlawful activities act.

He said police put two other separatist leaders, Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest to prevent them from leading a planned march Friday to protest the killing of a bad boy commander's brother in India-held Kashmire.

The Indian army said the man was killed in a shootout along with another bad boy on Monday, while his relatives and angry locals said he was tortured to death.

The chief minister of Indian-held Kashmire (IHK), Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, termed the waving of Pak flag at a Hurriyat rally as 'unacceptable', saying "it was illegal and could not be tolerated", according to reports by Indian media.

Masarat Alam, a likely successor to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, had organised a rally in the restive summer capital of Indian-held Kashmire. The rally, which was attended by thousands, was held as a show of strength to welcome Geelani on his return from New Delhi.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  The Indian army said the man was killed in a shootout along with another bad boy on Monday, while his relatives and angry locals said he was tortured to death.

"Well, yeah, that too, but mostly the shootout"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 8:59 Comments || Top||


Iraq
U.S. Says Iraq's Largest Refinery Not at Risk from IS Group
All Iraq heaved a sigh of releif at those words, and started thinking about what to cook for dinner.
[AnNahar] Iraq's largest refinery in Baiji is not "at risk" despite an offensive 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....
group that has breached parts of the facility, the U.S. military's top general said Thursday.

The IS bully boyz have "penetrated the outer perimeter" of the vast oil refinery and the U.S.-coalition was concentrating bombing raids and surveillance flights over the area, General Martin Dempsey told news hounds.

"The refinery itself is at no risk right now, but ... we're focusing a lot of our ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and air support there," the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The U.S. and coalition aircraft had carried out eight air strikes near Baiji on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a statement from the military command overseeing the air campaign.

Iraqi officials acknowledged on Wednesday that the IS group had seized some roads and buildings at the refinery, and that the bully boyz were hiding among fuel tanks, complicating counter-attacks by Iraqi forces.

Asked about an IS assault in the western city of Ramadi, Dempsey said the Baiji refinery carried more strategic importance.

"I would much rather that Ramadi not fall, but it won't be the end of the campaign should it fall," he said.

"We got to get it back. And that's tragic for the people, as we've seen along the way."

Fighting in Ramadi has created a humanitarian problem and prompted a flood of refugees to Baghdad, he said.

Baiji, however, is crucial for the country's oil infrastructure and is the focus of coalition efforts, the general said.

"Once the Iraqis have full control of Baiji, they will control all their oil infrastructure, both north and south, and deny ISIL the ability to generate revenue through oil," said Dempsey, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.

The IS jihadists repeatedly have tried to seize the refinery over the past 10 months but Iraqi security forces have fended off the assaults.

Iraqi troops recaptured the nearby town of Baiji in October but the IS forces of Evil have since taken back the town.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi -- who has said his government forces would be focusing on taking on IS in western al-Anbar province -- discussed war strategy with U.S. officials during his visit this week.

Dempsey also said the United States was monitoring reports of possible looting or atrocities by some Iraqi militia forces in the battle for Tikrit.

He said so far "there is no evidence of widespread activity" but "there was likely to be some isolated instances," possibly in a village south of the town of Tikrit.

The Iraqi government launched an investigation into what happened during and after the Tikrit offensive, he said.

If a unit was shown to have carried out abuses, the United States would withdraw any support for that particular unit, Dempsey said.

Abadi "declared he was taking responsibility for that investigation," he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  ...which means it'll be torched in three weeks.
Posted by: Raj || 04/18/2015 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  "If you like your doctor".
"America has Israel's back".
"Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should heed U.S. warnings".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 2:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Because they're "JV?"
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/18/2015 13:05 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Amnesia International: Palestinian Factions Committed 'War Crimes' in Gaza Conflict
Palestinian militants committed direct and indiscriminate killings of civilians in the Gaza conflict last summer in acts that "amount to war crimes", according to a new report from human rights group Amnesty International published today.

The report, entitled "Unlawful and deadly: Rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian armed groups during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict", states that armed groups in the enclave--such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad--disregarded the lives of civilians in both Israel and the Gaza Strip in its fire of rockets and mortars.

"Palestinian armed groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, repeatedly launched unlawful attacks during the conflict killing six and injuring civilians," said Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. "In launching these attacks, they displayed a flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law and for the consequences of their violations on civilians in both Israel and the Gaza Strip."

"The devastating impact of Israeli attacks on Palestinian volunteer human shields civilians during the conflict is undeniable, but violations by one side in a conflict can never justify violations by their opponents," he added.

The report alleges that six civilians within Israel, including a four-year-old boy, were killed by militant attacks while 13 civilians, including 11 children, were killed in Gaza's al-Shati refugee camp on 28 July when a projectile, believed to be fired by Palestinian militants, exploded next to a supermarket.

Some Palestinians claimed that the Israeli military was responsible for the Shati explosion but Amnesty's reports claims that an independent munitions expert concluded it to be caused by a Palestinian rocket after examining the available evidence.

In one particular attack carried out on 22 August, which Hamas' armed-wing the al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for, militants fired a mortar at the Kibbutz Nahal Oz in Israel, striking the family car of the Tregerman family, killing their four-year-old son Daniel.

"My husband and son were in the living room and I was yelling for them to come into the shelter. Shrapnel [from the mortar] entered Daniel's head, killing him immediately," his mother, Gila, told Amnesty.

Israel's Iron Dome defence system intercepted many of the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip but, out of more than 4,800 rockets and 1,700 mortars fired, 224 hit Israeli residential areas.

On the Palestinian side, at least 16,245 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacks in their operation, entitled "Protective Edge", which the military claimed was carried out with the aim of rooting out a network of tunnels used for smuggling and the plotting of attacks against Israeli targets.

Luther added that the international community should "prevent further violations" by "ending transfers to Palestinian armed groups and Israel of all arms and military equipment that could be used to commit serious violations of international law".

Amnesty has also released reports on Israel's "callous indifference" in attacks on the family homes of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the military's destruction of multistorey buildings in the territory last year. "This is one of a series of reports that we are publishing on the last conflict as part of our effort to get out the information about the violations and crimes committed by both sides and to push for accountability," Deborah Hyams, Amnesty International's researcher on Israel and Palestine, said of the new report.

In last summer's 50-day conflict, over 2,100 Palestinians--at least 1,585 civilians of which 530 were children--were killed, according to UN and Palestinian accounts, and 72 Israelis--all but five soldiers--were killed, according to Israeli accounts.
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2015 01:48 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Really hurting for funds?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ what he said.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2015 9:01 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a Yes, but. Notice the remedies proposed:

Luther added that the international community should "prevent further violations" by "ending transfers to Palestinian armed groups and Israel of all arms and military equipment that could be used to commit serious violations of international law".

In other words, don't give Palestinian fighting wings funding (but the political wings are fine), and disarm Israel. This is not a momentary lapse into reason, but fighting the same fight on a different tack to take advantage of the current direction of the American wind.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 10:02 Comments || Top||

#4  ending transfers to Palestinian armed groups and Israel of all arms and military equipment that could be used to commit serious violations of international law

They want us to use native weapons?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 11:03 Comments || Top||


Israel to Install Revolutionary Tunnel Detection System on Gaza Border
Israel's defence establishment has successfully tested a tunnel detection system which aims to prevent cross-border attacks by Palestinian militants, a former Israeli commander dealing with the dismantling of the tunnels has revealed.

Israeli defence electronics company Elbit Systems is cooperating with the Israeli ministry of defence to develop the world's first detection system for tunnels built across the Gaza border, some which are used by Gaza factions, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to attack IDF soldiers and conduct kidnapping attempts against Israeli security personnel.

The system, which the company promises will give "no false alarms", allegedly uses sensors to accurately detect tunnelling activity, before the information is deciphered by a series of algorithms, revealing the location of the tunnels. The total cost and the timeframe of the project could not be confirmed.

Col. (res) Atai Shelach, the former IDF commander of the elite Yahalom unit whose focus is on destroying the tunnels, told Newsweek that the "classified" system will provide the "golden answer" to preventing tunnel attacks from Gaza militants.

"It will be solved by an evolution of technologies, intelligence and operational acts. This is the triangle," he says in reference to preventing the tunnel raids. "We won't find the golden answer in technology, we won't find the golden answer in operational acts and we won't find the golden answer in intelligence. It's a combination and the missing link is technology."

"As long as we can keep it quiet it's better because it's an operational act and to terrorists it is like water, they are looking for the hole that they can lick," the former commander, now an IDF reservist, adds. "Sometimes me and others make mistakes and talk too much."

The technology has already been trialled in some parts of the Israel-Gaza border and will eventually extend along the entire frontier, the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Aharonot reported. Speaking to the newspaper, Alon Shuster, chief of the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council which borders eastern Gaza, said that the new technology would provide "an additional layer of security for the residents" of border areas.

The Israeli military said it launched its Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last July to destroy a vast tunnel network created by Palestinian militants for weapons smuggling purposes and cross-border attacks.

Earlier this month, Israeli analysts claimed that Hamas was preparing for the next conflict with Israel following the uncovering of an Israeli-Palestinian smuggling ring which attempted to transport high-tech equipment, such as infrared cameras and remote control security cameras - into the blockaded enclave.

In last summer's 50-day conflict, over 2,100 Palestinians--at least 1,585 civilians of which 530 were children--were killed, according to UN and Palestinian accounts, and 72 Israelis--all but five soldiers--were killed, according to Israeli accounts. Eleven Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian gunmen entering into Israel via the cross-border tunnels.

An Elbit Systems representative was not immediately available for comment.
Maybe sell the system to South Korea. And the US.
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2015 01:42 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trained Hebrew Honey Badgers.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/18/2015 4:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Why I'm always reminded of Sturgeon's Microscopic God?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 9:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Dig a moat. then drill wells in the bottom of any areas that are not sand and call in Halliburton Special Projects Division to frac them.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/18/2015 9:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Like Glenmore's solution. Simple, Direct, Effective.
Posted by: 3dc || 04/18/2015 11:14 Comments || Top||

#5  not hard.
Set up a servo system.
Seismic monitoring. The best way.
Posted by: newc || 04/18/2015 13:04 Comments || Top||

#6  In my opinion, they should have kept this under wraps. The tunnelers should have silently disappeared.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/18/2015 13:55 Comments || Top||

#7  RiV haven't you grasped yet that we like to hear ourselves talking.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 14:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Also, Soodies are probably already inquiring about that---quietly. Also, Indians and some others. And, hell, who knows---if a miracle happens and you'll elect Walker...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 14:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Fill the tunnels with H2S. Leave them in place. They'll figure it out eventually.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 04/18/2015 20:39 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
James Baker: Iran Cannot Be Trusted
James Baker, who served as the American Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush, said Friday that there should be no final agreement with Iran if it continues to insist that all the sanctions against it be removed once a final deal is reached.

In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, Baker wrote that there are "substantial misunderstandings" about the deal reached between Iran and six world powers and added that it was clear that much work needs to be done before a final agreement.

"Iranian leaders quickly disputed key points about the White House's description of the terms of the agreement. Among them was Iran's demand that all sanctions be removed once a final deal is signed. That is a far cry from the U.S. understanding that sanctions will only be removed over time, as Iran meets its obligations. This different Iranian position may have been aimed at Iran's domestic audience. But if Iran holds to it, there should be no final agreement," wrote Baker.

"Arms-control negotiations are rarely easy, and there remain serious questions about more than the phasing out of sanctions. These include verification mechanisms (including access to Iran's military bases for inspections); the "snapback" provisions for reapplying sanctions; and Iran's refusal so far to provide historical information about its nuclear-enrichment program so that there is a baseline against which to measure any future enrichment. The proposed snapback and verification provisions, while still being negotiated, look like they will be particularly bureaucratic and cumbersome," he continued.
So far, Kissinger, Shultz, now Baker. Any other former SecState?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 15:09 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sort of a fair assessment given Obama can't be trusted either.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2015 15:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Now what does the last former SoS have to say?
Think anyone will ask Hill?

No, I don't either.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/18/2015 15:49 Comments || Top||

#3  One of my very left liberal aquaintences let slip today what I believe is the position of the truly far left. He said he would trust Iran over Israel because Netanyahu is a serial liar. Also, he's a Jew.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/18/2015 17:29 Comments || Top||

#4  The devil is in their details.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 04/18/2015 17:35 Comments || Top||

#5 

Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/18/2015 20:14 Comments || Top||

#6  So far, Kissinger, Shultz, now Baker. Any other former SecState?

Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, are either one still alive ?
Posted by: Crorong the Obscure7387 || 04/18/2015 21:46 Comments || Top||


Kurdish forces emphasize U.S. role in anti-ISIS operations in Kobane
[ARA] On Thursday, Kurdish military sources reported that the U.S.-led coalition warplanes targeted several locations of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group (IS/ISIS) south and southeast of Kobane in the province of Aleppo, northern Syria, coincided with festivities between the Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the IS group in Kobane countryside.

Speaking to ARA News in Kobane, Sarhad Abbas, a fighter in the ranks of YPG said that the coalition's warplanes bombed Thursday several IS locations in the vicinity of the villages of Qirat and Khatouniya south of Kobane, while festivities continued in southern villages amid remarkable advancement by the joint forces (YPG, Peshmerga and FSA).

The source confirmed that at least five IS Lions of Islam were killed when festivities broke out between the Kurdish forces and the radical group in the area.

"The joint forces liberated several villages in Kobane's south on the Rodko Highway," Abbas added.

In the meantime, the YPG Media Center announced that their fighters carried out Wednesday evening a strategic operation against the IS murderous Moslems who are stationed in the village of Khani southeast of Kobane city, killing five terrorists, and destroying an IS-manned armored vehicle.

Sources in Kobane reported that the festivities between Kurds and IS group continued until Thursday midnight.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


President Assad: Terrorism Has No Borders, Will 'Bite' its Backers
[ALMANAR.LB] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
said that terrorism has no borders, stressing that it will hit back at its backers.

In an interview with the Swedish Expressen Newspaper, President Assad Terrorism is serious and dangerous because it doesn't have borders and limits.

"It could hit anywhere; it's not a domestic issue. It's not even regional; it's global."President Assad during interview with Swedish newspaper

The Syrian leader noted that the seriousness of terrorism is because it has "political umbrella by many countries, many leaders, many officials, but mainly in the West."

"It's more dangerous this time because we don't have international law, and you don't have the effective international organization that would protect a country from another country that uses the murderous Moslems as a proxy to destroy another country. That's what's happening in Syria."

While talking about the terrorism's backers, President Assad stressed that Turkey, Qatar and 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...
are not independent countries, "so they won't have their own agenda."

"Sometimes they have their own narrow-minded behavior or vengeful behavior or hateful behavior that's been used by others' agenda, let's be frank here, sometimes the United States," Assad told the Swedish newspaper, SANA news agency reported.

"We cannot say that they have their own agenda, but they haven't changed. They still support the same terrorists, because this behavior is not related to the crisis in Syria. They supported the murderous Moslems in Afghanistan, they supported the Wahhabi ideology, the extremism that led to terrorism recently in Europe, for decades, and now they are supporting the same ideology and the same factions under different labels and names in Syria. So, there's nothing to change because this is their natural behavior."

When asked whether there were effective results of the meeting which took place recently between the Syrian government and opposition on Moscow, President Assad said "yes."

"It was first time to reach an agreement upon some of the principles that could make the foundation for the next dialogue between the Syrians."

"The schedule of that meeting was very comprehensive. It wasn't enough to finalize the agreement, but because when you have a breakthrough, even if it's a partial breakthrough, it means that the next meeting will be promising in reaching a full agreement about what are the principles of Syrian dialogue that will bring a Syrian, let's say, solution to the conflict."
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  And he's talking from experience.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 6:13 Comments || Top||

#2  It also eats it's young. But not, regrettably, fast enough.
Posted by: ed in texas || 04/18/2015 10:51 Comments || Top||


Champ says US open to talks with Iran on immediately lifting sanctions
[Times of Israel] U.S. President Champ on Friday left open the door to "creative negotiations" in response to Iran's demand that punishing sanctions be immediately lifted as part of a nuclear deal, even though the initial agreement calls for the penalties to be removed over time.

Asked whether he would definitively rule out lifting sanctions at once as part of a final deal aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Champ said he didn't want to get ahead of negotiators in how to work through the potential sticking point. He said his main concern is making sure that if Iran violates an agreement, sanctions can quickly be reinstated -- the so-called "snap back" provision.

"How sanctions are lessened, how we snap back sanctions if there's a violation, there are a lot of different mechanisms and ways to do that," Champ said. He said part of the job for Secretary of State John Kerry and the representatives of five other nations working to reach a final deal with Iran by June 30 "is to sometimes find formulas that get to our main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their body politic that is more acceptable."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Creative negotiations" = accepting the case of condoms & K-Y jelly from Tehran...
Posted by: Raj || 04/18/2015 1:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the Ayatollahs will insist on USA providing that as a good will gesture.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 9:58 Comments || Top||

#3  He said his main concern is making sure that if Iran violates an agreement, sanctions can quickly be reinstated -- the so-called "snap back" provision.

Not gonna happen. The lure of money to be made will be too powerful for any "snap-back."
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2015 11:30 Comments || Top||

#4  I find Mr. Obama's pursuit of "talks" without first securing the releases of our four citizens being held by Iran to be especially perplexing.

It would be my pre-condition for even making eye-contact, but I'm not a world-class negotiator...
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/18/2015 13:02 Comments || Top||

#5  ^ you gotta break a few eggs to make a Legacy™
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 13:32 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
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2Arab Spring
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2015-04-18
  ANZAC Day terror plot foiled in Melbourne
Fri 2015-04-17
  Top Saddam aide Izzat al-Douri killed
Thu 2015-04-16
  BIFF names new chief
Wed 2015-04-15
  Syria-bound British councilor's son arrested in UK
Tue 2015-04-14
  Ajnad Al Sham 'declares war' on ISIS south of Damascus: statement
Mon 2015-04-13
  U.S. drones kill 2 leaders in Pakistan
Sun 2015-04-12
  Paks free Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, terrorist behind Mumbai attacks
Sat 2015-04-11
  Fierce fighting in south Benghazi as LNA 'masses forces' outside city
Fri 2015-04-10
  Saudi warplanes pound military airport in southern Yemen
Thu 2015-04-09
  Red Cross Says Situation 'Catastrophic' in Yemen's Aden
Wed 2015-04-08
  Teams Exhume Tikrit Mass Graves Suspected to Hold Bodies of 1,700 Iraqi Soldiers
Tue 2015-04-07
  27 Houthis reportedly killed in S. Yemen ambush
Mon 2015-04-06
  Shaboobs attack two checkpoints in Bossaso, wound mayor
Sun 2015-04-05
  Civilians flee as militants seize most of Yarmouk camp
Sat 2015-04-04
  Qaeda advances on Syria army base near Idlib: monitor


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