Hi there, !
Today Sat 07/20/2019 Fri 07/19/2019 Thu 07/18/2019 Wed 07/17/2019 Tue 07/16/2019 Mon 07/15/2019 Sun 07/14/2019 Archives
Rantburg
531691 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 67 articles and 167 comments as of 12:00.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Pakistani police arrest Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed (again)
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
1 21:03 Procopius2k [] 
4 12:20 g(r)omgoru [] 
2 14:50 jpal [1] 
0 [] 
5 11:44 Mullah Richard [] 
4 14:54 JHH [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
6 12:51 Dron66046 [2] 
0 [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 22:45 trailing wife []
0 [1]
1 01:22 Snavimble Bucket1794 []
5 14:24 Lex []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 [3]
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [2]
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 [2]
0 []
0 [1]
0 [4]
0 []
2 16:22 Lex []
4 14:46 JHH []
0 []
Page 3: Non-WoT
8 17:28 Alistaire Whinerong5775 [1]
2 11:36 g(r)omgoru [1]
2 17:38 Alistaire Whinerong5775 []
14 19:31 Frank G [1]
0 []
0 []
3 21:15 Hupoluck Bumble2274 []
1 13:38 warthogswife []
Page 4: Opinion
2 17:07 3dc []
8 19:35 Frank G []
7 16:40 gorb []
2 10:08 DarthVader []
3 18:35 USN, Ret. [1]
4 16:21 M. Murcek [1]
3 14:29 Skidmark []
10 18:34 USN, Ret. []
1 15:09 Dron66046 []
Page 6: Politix
6 16:47 Matt [1]
0 [1]
5 16:30 gorb [2]
18 19:34 Frank G [1]
1 05:41 3dc []
1 17:58 Alistaire Whinerong5775 []
0 []
3 07:34 Mercutio []
9 21:01 Lex []
6 13:00 Dron66046 [1]
2 10:25 Abu Uluque []
4 11:36 M. Murcek []
4 16:53 gorb [2]
Africa Horn
Jubaland Leader Holds Meeting With UN Envoy In Kismayo City
[RADIOSHABELLE] The United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
has said the attacks by al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
will not deter the progress achieved by the Somali government and its people.

James Swan, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia who visited Kismayo
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region...
just three days after al-Shabaab on Madina Hospital has held talks with Jubbaland authorities.

In a statement, the envoy said the terror attacks will not derail efforts to stabilize Somalia.

"Such despicable acts of terrorism cannot derail the progress that Jubaland made towards reconciliation and political stability, as a federal member state of Somalia," Swan said.

He expressed solidarity saying UN will stand with Somalia and its people.

"The United Nations stands with the people and authorities of Jubaland as they deal with this terrible tragedy," Swan said.

He extended condolences to the families of those who bit the dust in the attack and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

"The attack that took place on 12 July killed and maimed innocent civilians, including two prominent Somali journalists. There is no political or ideological justification for such atrocities," he stated.

On Friday evening, Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) rammed into Madina Hotel before heavily armed al-Shabaab fighters made their way into the hotel.
The attack which took place hours to be concluded left 26 people dead and over fifty other injuries.

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Africa North
US slaps sanctions on Al-Qaeda affiliate in Mali
[AlAhram] The US Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group in Mali that carried out deadly attacks on the west African country's armed forces.

The measures target Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin (JNIM)
...Mali's most prominent jihadi group, JNIM is an umbrella organization of regional terrorist groups including al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) Sahara Emirate, al-Mourabitoun, and local groups Macina Liberation Front (MLF) and Ansar al-Din (AAD)...
-- designated a terrorist organization by Washington last September -- and its commander Bah Ag Moussa, an army deserter who led a raid on a Malian military base that killed 21 former comrades.

"Treasury is targeting the leadership of JNIM, al-Qaeda's branch in Mali, for its destabilizing role conducting terrorist attacks across the country," said Treasury Under Secretary Sigal Mandelker.

"As a leader within JNIM, Bah Ag Moussa directly contributes to the violence and instability fueled by al-Qaeda's terrorism," he said.

The sanctions freeze all US assets owned by the group or its leaders, and block US citizens and institutions from having financial dealings with them.

Despite aid from French and UN forces, Mali struggles to quell unrest that began in 2012 in the north and spread to other parts of the country in Africa's Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
French forces in January 2013 intervened in northern Mali after the region was overtaken by jihadist forces and a peace agreement was signed in 2015 with some armed factions, but parts of the country remain out of the control of the government and the armed forces.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/17/2019 01:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  US slaps sanctions on Al-Qaeda affiliate in Mali America

When?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/17/2019 21:03 Comments || Top||


Turkish Embassy in Libya celebrates Democracy and National Unity Day
[Libya Observer] The Ottoman Turkish Embassy in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
marked on Monday Democracy and National Unity Day that marks the 3rd anniversary of July 15 failed coup attempt by US-based leader Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost...
Organization (FETÖ).

Ottoman Turkish citizens and Libyan guests attended the ceremony including Ottoman Turkish Ambassador in Tripoli Serhat Aksen, President of the High Council of State Khaled al-Mishri, Vice President of the Presidential Council Abdul-Salam Kajman and member of the Presidential Council Mohammed Zayed.

Ambassador Aksen said in a speech that the coup attempt of July 15 was foiled by the national unity and bravery of the Ottoman Turkish people.

"The Libyan people and the Government of National Accord stood by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
in the face of the July 15 coup attempt and expressed their supports through messages and prayers." He recalls.

Ambassador Aksen also indicated that Libya had taken necessary steps to crack down on FETÖ by closing a school affiliated with the group, emphasizing the solid brotherly relationship between Turkey and Libya even in difficult times.

"Turkey will continue to stand by the people of Libya and its internationally recognized legitimate Government of National Accord." He reiterated.

For his part, President of the High Council of State Khaled al-Mishri drew, in his speech, similarities between July 15 coup attempt and military aggression by warlord Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
on Tripoli.

In his speech, Mohammed Zayed stressed that Libyan people are fighting against the hostilities of warlord Khalifa Haftar with the same spirit that Ottoman Turkish people showed on July 15, 2016, against the coup attempt. He also thanked for the support extended by Turkey and its President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
to the only legitimate executive authority in Libya - the Government of National Accord, in the face of Haftar’s attempt to reinstall military dictatorship in Libya.

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Britain
UK to send third warship to Gulf
[AlAhram] Britannia will send a third Royal Navy warship to the Gulf, the defence ministry announced Tuesday, while insisting that it did not "reflect an escalation" of tensions with Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
in the region.

Britannia has already sent the HMS Duncan, an air defence destroyer, to cover for frigate HMS Montrose while it undergoes maintenance in nearby Bahrain, and will also send frigate HMS Kent "later this year".

Reports said it would head to the Gulf in mid-September.

HMS Montrose last week warned off three Iranian gunboats that UK officials said were trying to "impede" the progress of a British supertanker through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

The defence ministry said the HMS Kent would be "taking over" from HMS Duncan, but added that an "occasional overlap of ships when one deployment begins and another ends... is not uncommon," suggesting that all three could be in the region at some point.

The ministry said the deployments were "long-planned" to ensure "an unbroken presence" in the crucial waterway and "do not reflect an escalation in the UK posture in the region".

Iranian officials have denied last Wednesday's incident in the Strait of Hormuz ever happened.

The British government has in any case raised the alert level for ships travelling through Iranian waters to three on a three-point scale, indicating a "critical" threat.

HMS Duncan is an air defence destroyer that carries a set of heavy Harpoon anti-ship missiles and has a company and crew in excess of 280.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/17/2019 01:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  3rd ship huh?

The next one have oars?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/17/2019 11:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Wouldn't all this military power of better use in places like Rotherham ?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/17/2019 11:45 Comments || Top||

#3  No strategic commodity in Rotherham like oil, just little girls. I think the Romans implied the Druids sacrificed young maidens to their god.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/17/2019 12:15 Comments || Top||

#4  :-)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/17/2019 12:20 Comments || Top||


Europe
Portugal suspends visas to Iranians for unspecified ‘security reasons’
[IsraelTimes] Portugal’s foreign minister says his country has temporarily stopped granting visas to Iranians "for security reasons."

Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva tells a Portuguese parliament committee about the decision but declines to elaborate on the rationale for it. He says he would provide details privately to politicians on the committee.

Portugal has long had diplomatic relations with Iran, though trade and ties are minor compared with other Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Union countries.

Online newspaper Observador reports that national news agency Lusa quoted Santos Silva saying, "Portugal doesn’t take lightly who it lets into the country."
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/17/2019 01:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  Portuguese gosta barcos e nao gosta piratas de mar. Chau!
Posted by: Angairong Flavigum3253 || 07/17/2019 10:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Lusa quoted Santos Silva saying, "Portugal doesn’t take lightly who it lets into the country."

Racists!
Posted by: jpal || 07/17/2019 14:50 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Russia’s S-400 is best missile system in the world: Erdogan
Just a hint: like the S-300, it works better when it’s turned on. Though as the Syrians discovered, turning it on has consequences, too.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Russia’s S-400 is the best missile defense systems in the world, Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
said on Monday.

"S-400 deliveries to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
have begun. What has been said about this? It was said that we will be unable to purchase them and get them delivered. By April 2020, these systems will be fully deployed on the territory of our country. We hold true to our words as Ottoman Turkish people. S-400 is the best missile defense system. I hope that we will produce it together with Russia," Erdogan said.

The Ottoman Turkish president has repeatedly noted Ankara’s plans to produce S-400 missile defense systems jointly with Moscow.

On July 10, Erdogan told news hounds that he "reached an agreement on this issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. 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 him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
On June 29, Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov said that delivering S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey envisages transferring some technologies to the Ottoman Turkish side as well.

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  well it is probably a very good system if it is

- deployed properly
- staffed by trained personnel with operational authority
- attacked by a small number of aircraft or relatively slow missiles
- not disabled by a cyber barrage



Posted by: lord garth || 07/17/2019 6:31 Comments || Top||

#2  enjoy the S-400Turks; DJT just cancelled your purchase of the F-35.
You didn’t learn from the F-16 sale cancellation,so enjoy the empty hangars
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 07/17/2019 7:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Yah, Yipyip, keep going the way you are and you'll get a chance to prove that.
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/17/2019 7:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Yippy sounz like Mr Check-off in Star Trek 2.0.
Posted by: JHH || 07/17/2019 14:54 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
LHC's decision to grant bail to Khadim Rizvi challenged by Punjab govt in Supreme Court
[DAWN] The 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....

government on Tuesday challenged in the Supreme Court a Lahore High Court (LHC) decision to grant bail to Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who was booked for launching violent protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi last year.

The provincial government, in its appeal, has argued that the high court "did not fulfill legal requirements" in its decision to grant bail, which was made in May this year.

The petition said that there was enough evidence against the TLP chief and urged the top court to nullify the high court's verdict.

The appeal was submitted in the Supreme Court Registrar's Office and will be heard in the Lahore registry by a two-member bench headed by Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik on July 18.

Rizvi and TLP patron-in-chief Pir Afzal Qadri ‐ who is also nominated in the same case ‐ were granted bail in May this year. Qadri's bail expired on July 15 but was extended on medical grounds.

Civil Lines police had registered the FIR under Sections 290, 291, 353, 427, 186 and 188 of Pakistain Penal Code (PPC), Section 6 of the Sound System Punjab Ordinance 2015 and Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 after the TLP leaders led violent protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi in a concocted blasphemy
...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran...
case.

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
No relations with Syria and ties with Iran are at all time best: Hamas
[ALMASDARNEWS] Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,’ chief of international relations, Moussa Abu Marzouq, sat down for an interview with the Arabic-language version of the Sputnik News Agency on Tuesday to discuss a number of topics, including the Paleostinian group’s relations with Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and Syria.

When asked about Hamas’ current relationship with the Syrian government, Abu Marzouq responded that relations with Damascus are non-existent at this point.

"There are no developments regarding the relationship with Syria, despite rumors in the media or whether by speakers from inside the movement or inside Syria or from those around them or followers," Abu Marzouq said, adding "there is no movement with Syria and there are no relations with Syria yet."

Abu Marzouq did not specify if Hamas was planning on repairing relations with Damascus.

As for the relationship with Iran, Abu Marzouq explained that the movement’s relations with Iran are at an all-time best. He said: "There are strong relations with the Islamic Theocratic Republic and it has not been broken at all at any stage."

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Two-thirds of massive underground anti-tunnel wall on Gaza border completed
[IsraelTimes] Workers have completed some 40 kilometers (25 miles) of a massive underground wall along the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
border meant to prevent Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, and other terror groups from tunneling into Israel, Israel’s Defense Ministry says.

The wall is slated to stretch 64 kilometers (40 miles) along the border, and includes sensors that can detect existing tunnels and digging operations in Gaza, the Walla news site reports.

Construction work on the subterranean barrier has already helped unearth 18 cross-border attack tunnels, most of them uncovered since 2017.

The wall will work in tandem with a 3.5-meter-high (11.5-foot-high) aboveground border fence now under construction. The new fence is much heavier and taller than the fence it is replacing, and so will be more difficult to cross, the IDF says.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Sri Lanka
Drug gangs were behind Easter bombings, blabbers Lankan president
[DAWN] International drug syndicates orchestrated Sri Lanka’s deadly Easter Sunday bombings, the country’s leader claimed on Monday, despite earlier blaming the attacks on Islamists.

The statement comes amid a nationwide narcotics crackdown, with President Maithripala Sirisena aiming to reintroduce capital punishment for drug offences.

Authorities have said local jihadist group National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) were responsible for the suicide kabooms in churches and hotels that killed at least 258 people in April. The attacks were later claimed by the bully boy Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

Sirisena’s office said the day after the bombings that local Death Eaters and international terror groups were responsible for the attacks.

But in a statement issued by his office on Monday, Sirisena said the attacks "were the work of international drug pushers".

"Drug barons carried out this attack to discredit me and discourage my anti-narcotics drive. I will not be deterred," he said.
he said, further discrediting hissowndamnself
Sirisena is waging a battle against efforts by his governing coalition in parliament to abolish capital punishment, which has been subject to a moratorium since 1976.

A front man for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe discounted the president’s claims. "Police completed the investigations within about two weeks," Sudarshana Gunawardana said.

"There is no mention of drug pushers being involved. We have no reason to doubt our Sherlocks."

He said speedier justice would be a bigger deterrent to narcos than the threat of capital punishment.

"We don’t believe hanging people will address the issue, especially considering that it takes several decades to get a conviction." Sri Lankan courts take on average 17 years to complete criminal trials for grave offences such as murder and rape.

Gunawardana said Wickremesinghe was opposed to capital punishment as it was against the policy of his United National Party, and noted that there was cross-bench support in the legislature to completely abolish it.

Police officials said investigations into the April 21 suicide kabooms were still ongoing, and all the more than 100 people in jug were Sri Lankans.

"We are going on the basis that this was a crime planned and executed by a group of radicalised Sri Lankan Moslems," a senior police official said, asking not to be named.

"Everyone involved in the attacks is either dead or in jug." Sirisena has marshalled public support for an end to the moratorium on the death penalty
, saying that hangings would deter the illegal drugs trade.

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Next he'll say the Catholics did it.

Islamic terror connection with SL Drug-Trade.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/17/2019 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Saying the 'Drug Gangs' were responsible would also give him Carte Blanche to run the miscreants through a meat grinder without HRW, and their ilk, getting the vapors.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 07/17/2019 10:52 Comments || Top||

#3  why does everyone bow down too these pieces of shit. Fuck the "moderate" muslims , there is no such thing. Behind closed doors they all hate everyone who isn't muslim.
Posted by: chris || 07/17/2019 11:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Because some Muslims (e.g. Saudis before fracking) were very generous to their friends, Chris.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/17/2019 12:01 Comments || Top||

#5  anyone i have ever been generous too forgot very quickly. fuck em
Posted by: chris || 07/17/2019 12:07 Comments || Top||

#6  I believe the 'drug gangs' device was cleverly inserted by this guy in the middle of deals with China, to secure more moolah to "fight crime".

There were eight blasts in all, at churches in Negombo and Kochchikade in the country’s west, and Batticaloa in the east. Three luxury hotels drug dealers don't kill their market, I mean they do, but not like this ! in the capital Colombo were also targeted.

Three of the blasts occurred at churches, timed for Easter, at least part of the attack was aimed at the country’s more than 1.5 million christians. The almost simultaneous blasts left no time to warn other churchgoers or people going to service. Until recently the Srisena govt has been in a tussle with Rome and the local diocese over church properties, land that may have been encroached by christian residential societies and church buildings. After the blasts, it becomes necessary to police these areas for their own protection. While the insinuation sounds far-fetched to me, the actions of the Jamaat did eventually curb the diocese land-grabbing and put christians at the mercy of the police.

Sri Lanka’s economy has grown at merely 4% since the power shift in 2017 It wasn't no Luxembourg anyway , the currency has weakened, and Colombo has struggled to repay loans from the IMF. There has been an austerity drive for officials while Srisena regularly visits his bankers in Doha. China parleyed for a port and took 15K acres of prime land away, also leveraging rights to use Lankan ports for its naval vessels. Srisena is beset from all sides in his own govt because of The investigation of the blasts resulting from his soft policy of dealing with the muslims. Conformist liberal appeasement of minorities for his image or diktats from Qatar ? We don't know yet. But someone does. And the corruption scandal that is yet to erupt, information already doing the rounds of his cabinet. Between this, he needs the media and civil groups to avert their scrutiny from him. What better target than... drug gangs ! Those expendable profiteering bastiches. While it's a good thing that some who deserve it will hang now, but they have nothing to do with blowing up churches. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese suggested it to him.

"Drug barons carried out this attack to discredit me and discourage my anti-narcotics drive. I will not be deterred," he said.

And then he got $15m in aid for upgrading police resources and a frigate to combat 'import of drugs by gangs through the Indian Ocean', from China Only too happy to oblige dictators and sell-outs .
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/17/2019 12:51 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran to unveil new armored military vehicle
[ALMASDARNEWS] Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
is preparing to unveil their new armored military vehicle that was manufactured inside the Islamic Theocratic Republica, Minister of Defense Brigadier General Amir Hatami said on Sunday.

According to the Tansim News Agency, Hatami said that the Iranian military had signed contracts with Iranian carmakers to manufacture the critical auto parts whose production has been hampered after the withdrawal of foreign contractors from Iran.

In November 2018, the Defense Ministry unveiled a homegrown armored military vehicle, dubbed Toofan (hurricane).

The armored, mine resistant and ambush protected vehicle has been designed to carry out logistical and combat missions in the theater.

Toofan has been delivered to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force.

The four-wheel drive truck is protected against land mines and improvised bombs (IEDs) with explosion power of several kilograms of TNT equivalent.
The high mobility multipurpose truck is also resistant to steel-core bullets and can move in difficult terrain, drive through 1.5 meters of water and climb barriers as high as 50 centimeters.

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Something about the phrase 'cutting edge of Iranian technology' fails to inspire confidence.
Posted by: Cesare || 07/17/2019 7:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Eastern Euro technology transfer.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/17/2019 8:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Be fair, Cesare. They do make pretty good beheading swords - 10th century I believe.
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/17/2019 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/17/2019 11:07 Comments || Top||

#5  You can tell those launchers are stressing the rear ATV suspensions, Skidmark.

Probably not 'off-road-ready'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 07/17/2019 11:44 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
ISIS leader Baghdadi now hiding in Libya: ex-Iraqi minister
[ALMASDARNEWS] The infamous Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS/ISIS/IS/ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is allegedly hiding in Libya, former Iraqi minister Baqr Jaber al-Zubeidi told the Baghdad Post news website this week.

The Iraqi political said that the Islamic State has shifted its attention to North Africa, where they are hoping to carve out a new caliphate in countries like Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia.

Baghdadi has been rumored to be hiding in several regions now, including Syria’s Badiya al-Sham, Iraq’s Rutbah District, and most recently central Libya.

Some rumors claim that the terrorist leader is actually dead; however, ISIS has never corroborated these reports.

The Arabic-language al-Ma’aloumeh news website quoted an intelligence source in Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) command center in the al-Anbar province as saying that according to the latest intel, al-Baghdadi is hiding in a tunnel in the al-Husayniyat region in the northern parts of the Rutbah District in western al-Anbar.

He added that the security forces are mulling operations to take control of the tunnel, and said that given the heavy deployment of security forces in Rutbah region near the border with Syria and closure of all roads, Baghdadi and the bandidos holy warriors under his command cannot escape.

Posted by: Fred || 07/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
7Taliban
7Islamic State
6Sublime Porte
3al-Shabaab (AQ)
3Govt of Iran
3Narcos
2Hamas
1Govt of Pakistan
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Govt of Iraq
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1al-Nusra
1Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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

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

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

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2019-07-17
  Pakistani police arrest Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed (again)
Tue 2019-07-16
  United Arab Emirates oil tanker vanishes after drifting into Iranian waters
Mon 2019-07-15
  Car bomb and all-night hotel siege kill 26 in Somalia's Kismayo
Sun 2019-07-14
  African Migrants Turned Church Into Base to Deal Heroin
Sat 2019-07-13
  Kismayo attack: 26 dead as gunmen storm Somali hotel
Fri 2019-07-12
  Labor Sec. Alex Acosta Resigns Amid Pall of Jeffrey Epstein Investigation
Thu 2019-07-11
  Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats tried, failed to seize British oil tanker in Persian Gulf
Wed 2019-07-10
  Egyptian Court Convicts Al-Azhar Professor, Others For Spying For Iran
Tue 2019-07-09
  Hafiz Multan, Taliban’s deputy Red Unit commander killed in Kandahar
Mon 2019-07-08
  Bouteflika’s ex-party chief detained in Algeria corruption probe
Sun 2019-07-07
  Radioactive material worth $72m seized from car in Turkey
Sat 2019-07-06
  Deal between protest leaders and Sudan’s ruling generals
Fri 2019-07-05
  Second ‘son of Hamas’ leaves terror group, exposing corruption, Turkish spy ring
Thu 2019-07-04
  Wishing all Rantburgers a happy and safe Independence Day!
Wed 2019-07-03
  Airstrike hits migrant detention center in Libya, 40 killed

Better than the average link...



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.
3.92.84.253
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (25)    Non-WoT (8)    Opinion (9)    (0)    Politix (13)