After 9/11 all sorts of possible responses were considered, including nukes, according to the still-distressed leftwinger who was chancellor of Germany at the time. Der Spiegel, which published the interview, and Ha'aretz, the self-proclaimed "New York Times of Israel" share his distress at the things those dangerous Republicans consider. We'll be seeing more of these backward-looking warnings against voting for the candidate of the party being positioned by its opponents as The Party of Evil, I suspect.
#1
...It's no secret - though DEFINITELY not talked about much - that on the night of 9/11/01, President Bush specifically asked his military advisors to determine whether or not the force of the towers coming down was equal to that of a nuclear weapon. The result, had the answer been yes - and it was - went unsaid. Except President Bush decided that he would rather fight it out the old fashioned way than glass a hole in Afghanistan and kill mostly people who may never have even heard of New York, much less been part of the plot. Won't ever hear much about that part; doesn't fit the narrative of the nuclear-armed cowboy.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/29/2015 12:31 Comments ||
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#2
backward-looking warnings against voting for the candidate of the party being positioned by its opponents as The Party of Evil
Thus the recent 'boxcar' comment. Just more Freudian Projection. It's clear, they do not consider this 'politics', but war.
#3
Deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the enemy... the FEAR to attack.
That nukes were considered isn't a surprise. That the Bush admin would rather not cross the nuclear threshold isn't a surprise either.
The real surprise was that the Bush administration a few weeks after 9/11 made a conscious effort to convince the world, including enemies and potential enemies that even after an attack on the scale of Pearl Harbor there would be business as usual.
There would be a therapeutic intervention, first in Afghanistan.
The Taliban and Taliban ideology would be included in the future Afghan government.
Afghanistan would receive lavish aid. The West symbolically accepted Islamic states' dominance in the international pecking order. etc etc
If the goal had been to erase "the fear to attack" from the minds of real and potential enemies then what would they have done differently?
#4
The real surprise was that the Bush administration a few weeks after 9/11 made a conscious effort to convince the world, including enemies and potential enemies that even after an attack on the scale of Pearl Harbor there would be business as usual.
....and nobody within the Intelligence Community was fired, even though the Memorial Bridge should have been lined with their heads.
[DAWN] KHOGYANI: The self-styled Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group had ambitious plans for Afghanistan, but Taliban resistance, US drone strikes, and a society less scarred by sectarianism mean the turbans have so far failed to repeat their Middle Eastern breakthrough.
The jihadist group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq, has been trying for months to establish itself in Afghanistan's eastern badlands, challenging the Taliban on their own turf.
Its franchise in the war-torn country has managed to recruit disaffected Taliban fighters, as the fractious Afghan bully boy movement wrestles with a bitter power transition.
But the loss of senior commanders in drone strikes and the group's signature brutality, which repels many Afghans, has helped stem its advance.
Frequent festivities and firefights with Taliban Death Eaters have also hampered its bid to capture significant territory.
"In Iraq and Syria, you might say (IS) are in stage six or seven or eight," top US military officer General Martin Dempsey said last month. "In Libya, they are in stage three or four, and in Afghanistan they are in stage one or two."
His views are echoed by other NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... officials who say that IS in Afghanistan are not yet capable of carrying out the sort of coordinated operations they are conducting in Iraq and Syria, although the potential exists for them to evolve into a bigger threat.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs group in Afghanistan has claimed that the ISIS affiliates operating in Afghanistan are mostly Pak nationals with few young Afghan men recruited by the group.
Taliban also ruled out that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) terrorist group is based in Afghanistan, insisting that the krazed killer groups are fighting under the flag and policy of Taliban in Afghanistan.
"People under the name of Daesh are currently only operating in one or two districts of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. who are mostly Pak nationals with a very small number of young locals," Taliban front man Zabiullah Mujaihid said.
He was responding to questions of a local media outlet in Afghanistan. "They cross over the border from Pakistain and there is no one else operating anywhere under this name in Afghanistan," Mujahid added.
The remarks by Mujahid comes amid growing concerns that the ISIS affiliates are looking to gain foothold in Afghanistan.
This comes as Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) declared as a terrorist organization by the United States declared it is now part 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.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group.
The group recently released a video which purportedly shows the group's leader Usmon Ghazi and his fighters taking oath of allegiance to ISIS terror group and its leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... .
The allegiance by IMU to ISIS terrorist group was followed almost two weeks after the death of the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was confirmed.
IMU issued a statement earlier this month demanding clarification from the Taliban regarding Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... 's death while accusing the group lying his death.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Yemeni army has recruited 4,800 southern fighters following a presidential decision to integrate loyalist snuffies who helped push Iran-backed rebels out of second city Aden, a military official said Aug. 28.
"This brigade has 4,800 fighters, including soldiers and officers. Most of the recruits are former fighters of the Popular Resistance" pro-government militia, Colonel Fadel Mohammed Hassan told AFP at a military base in Aden.
The majority of the recruits come from Aden province, where forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi pushed back Iran-backed rebels last month, aided by Saudi-led Arab coalition air power.
The Salman Decisiveness Brigade is named after the Saudi king, whose country has led the campaign in support of Hadi since late March.
An AFP correspondent in Aden this week saw new recruits carrying out training drills, dust rising above them as they exercised.
A sign on the base's front gate carried a poster of Gulf leaders, and a sign reading: "registration is closed."
"All members of the resistance have been taken in without any exemptions" following orders from Hadi, said Hassan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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An FBI "A-team" is leading the "extremely serious" investigation into Hillary Clinton's server and the focus includes a provision of the law pertaining to "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information," an intelligence source told Fox News.
The section of the Espionage Act is known as 18 US Code 793.
A separate source, who also was not authorized to speak on the record, said the FBI will further determine whether Clinton should have known, based on the quality and detail of the material, that emails passing through her server contained classified information regardless of the markings. The campaign's standard defense and that of Clinton is that she "never sent nor received any email that was marked classified" at the time.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
....F'r Gawd's sake, somebody just throw some water on her and be done with it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/29/2015 9:26 Comments ||
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#2
All part of the Biden for President campaign being run out of the White House. ValJar knows she can "control" Joe and Obama views Biden's presidency as another four years of his policies.
She is plummeting in the polls and the Chinese Water Torture/death of a 1,000 cuts being administered through slow leaks of negative info to the media are putting her out to pasture.
Look for a major indictment if she doesn't end her campaign. AND if she starts the Clintonistas on a smear Biden campaign which they are masters of mud slinging, the FBI will show up at her door with an arrest warrant.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
08/29/2015 13:10 Comments ||
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#3
Look for a major indictment if she doesn't end her campaign. AND if she starts the Clintonistas on a smear Biden campaign which they are masters of mud slinging, the FBI will show up at her door with an arrest warrant. Posted by Bill Clinton
Look for a major indictment if she doesn't end her campaign. AND if she starts the Clintonistas on a smear Biden campaign which they are masters of mud slinging, the FBI will show up at her door with an arrest warrant.
Posted by Bill Clinton
Look for a major indictment if she doesn't end her campaign. AND if she starts the Clintonistas on a smear Biden campaign which they are masters of mud slinging, the FBI will show up at her door with an arrest warrant.
Posted by Bill Clinton
Look for a major indictment if she doesn't end her campaign. AND if she starts the Clintonistas on a smear Biden campaign which they are masters of mud slinging, the FBI will show up at her door with an arrest warrant.
Posted by Bill Clinton
Sorry, I just wanted to see it.... again, and again.
#5
Without too much imagination, I could easily see a scenario where exactly that could happen Alan. How could the Champ NOT have knowledge of his Secretary of States use of unauthorized email ?
#6
If the Champ is in any way implicated; he decides to leave office a bit early, and Joe steps up, a presidential pardon would no doubt soon follow. If he lingers and a pub or the Beest gets into the White House, Champ might not see a pardon for quite a while.
Obviously an incumbent Joe Biden would not face as difficult a funding challenge. He might be a bit difficult to defeat. All of the previously stated 'Obama legacy continuation' theories still apply.
#8
It's not a real Game of Thrones (or War of the Roses) till real blood flows. If it was any other time in history, anyone else who had alienated the military retinue and their palace guard would be looking over their shoulders [and then they have the gall to say there is no American Exceptionalism].
[DAWN] Army Chief General Raheel Sharif ..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... visited the working boundary and Rangers Headquarters in Sialkot and appreciated the high morale of troops deployed there against the India's 'blatant violations', DawnNews reported on Friday.
According to the details shared by the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa ... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General... , the army chief lauded the efforts of troops deployed at the working boundary for replying to the Indian aggression in a befitting manner.
The army chief also visited the Combined Military Hospital in Sialkot to inquire about the health of civilians injured as a result of unprovoked by Indian border security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... in a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Friday said India was trying to sabotage efforts for peace on one pretext or the other and was putting regional security and stability at stake.
Discussing the regional security situation, Nisar said the incumbent government had a very clear view regarding peace in the region and on establishing friendly relations with neighboring countries, according to a blurb issued Friday.
But unfortunately the other side had not reciprocated the same, he said.
The minister, who is on an official trip to the UK, said it was strange that India did not want to discuss the core issue of Kashmire, nor wanted Pakistain to hold consultations with Kashmiri leaders.
This, he said, was "unacceptable to Pakistain" and labeled it a major hurdle in efforts towards peace in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The actor who plays the Jamatud Dawa (JUD) Chief Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... -- alleged by India to be the Mumbai attacks criminal mastermind -- in Saif Ali Khan's upcoming film Phantom is in hiding for security reasons, IANS reported.
Phantom stars Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif in a story that revolves around the tragic November 26 Mumbai attacks at the Taj Hotel, which killed at least 166 people. The film is set five years after the attacks, when a retired army officer leads a mission to seek out and kill the terror criminal masterminds.
The film, which is based on the novel 'Mumbai Avengers' by S. Hussain Zaidi, was recently banned by the Lahore High Court after a petition was filed by Hafiz Saeed. The JUD chief was tried and acquitted by the Lahore High Court in 2010.
Saif Ali Khan's subsequent statement, saying that he has "lost faith in Pakistain", caused an uproar in Pakistain.
The actor, Shahnawaz Pradhan, is thus being kept underground as a precautionary measure.
"The security of all our actors is extremely important for us and now that his identity is revealed, there are precautionary measures being taken," the film's spokesperson said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Bestun Kelwrani, a volunteer fighter with Kurdistan's Peshmerga forces, has become something of a hero for offering water to a dying 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) fighter.
"I did not leave him until the last minute he died," Kelwrani, who is a Kurd, said in an interview with Rudaw. "He asked for water, I gave him my own water," the volunteer soldier said.
In the video, which has received more than 13,000 views since it was posted on Rudaw Thursday, an ISIS fighter on the ground appears to kiss Kelwrani's hand for his kindness.
Kelwrani is shown speaking in Arabic and telling the ISIS fighter: "Why did you do this to yourself? You do not feel pity for yourself? You are young, why should you be doing this? We are all Moslems."
He also reassures the ISIS fighter he will be taken to hospital. Later, he explained he could not fulfill that promise because ISIS had mined all the roads.
"There was no way to rescue him, all the roads were rigged with explosives," Kelwrani said. "I was thinking that he was indoctrinated and I had to help him," he explained.
Early Wednesday, Kurdish forces launched a large-scale offensive on ISIS strongholds in southern Kirkuk province, killing and capturing dozens of ISIS fighters.
"I don't want to kill anybody. War is devastating and despicable," Kelwrani said. "I have seen videos of war, and friends who lost their live sadden me profoundly," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A high-profile Iraqi commander of a Shia militia has vowed to slice the faceless myrmidons of 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.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in an online horrific video.
The soldier -- Ayyub al-Rubaie, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Azrael 'Father of the Angel of Death' is shown slicing the charred body of an alleged fighter of ISIS terror group.
The video was reportedly filmed in Beiji, a northern oil refinery town where Iraqi forces backed by Shia militias are battling ISIL.
Cutting up the charred body of the alleged ISIS fighter with a sword, Abu Azrael said "They sent their elite fighters they said, and look at the third one we got, slicing him off. Where will they run away from us?"
He also announced to the camera "ISIS this will be your fate, we will cut you like shawarma."
It is also claimed that the alleged fighter was burned alive and was hanged from an electricity pylon however Abu Azrael said the bad boy was killed during the shootout.
Abu Azrael is the commander of Imam Ali Brigades which are part of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, a coalition of Iraqi Shia militias sponsored and armed by the Iraqi government.
He has become something of an online celebrity after pledging to reduce ISIL fighters to "flour" with disappointed Iraqis putting their hope in alternative forces due to limited success by Iraqi army in fight against the terror group.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi on Friday ordered military commanders to make it easier for civilians to get into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone while improving access to streets across the country closed off by political and security factions.
Militias, political parties and influential figures have created many no-go areas in Baghdad and other cities in response to waves of boom-mobileings since the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Green Zone is a heavily defended district in central Baghdad that is home to many government buildings and several Western embassies.
The order comes in the third week of a reform drive by Al-Abadi aimed at combating rampant corruption and streamlining the bloated government, in response to weeks of protests and calls from top Shiite holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.
Ahead of fresh street protests expected in the capital and southern cities on Friday, Al-Abadi ordered commanders to implement a plan "to protect civilians ... from being targeted by terrorism," according to online statements. If the move actually goes ahead, it is likely to face significant opposition from embassies in the Green Zone -- including those of the United States and Britannia -- due to security concerns.
While attacks have dropped in Baghdad compared with the first half of last year, bombings that are sometimes claimed by Daesh are still a frequent occurrence in the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[US News & WR] In the four years since the start of the civil war in Syria, Shiite groups have been fighting militant Salafists alongside the Syrian army. The most prominent of these groups is the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, whose presence has had a direct impact on developments on the ground in Syria.
Recently, however, another Shiite group in Syria has caught the media's attention. Quwat al-Ridha has stepped into the limelight because unlike other Shiite militias, whose ranks are made up of people coming in from abroad, members of this group belong to Syria's small Shiite community.
According to a report by Orient News, which covers Syria-related news from the United Arab Emirates, Iran is behind the creation of this new Shiite militia. However, it has not been able to provide more details regarding this new brigade. No information has been provided by Persian-language websites either.
However, in an interview with Al-Monitor, Hussein al-Diyab -- who hails from a Shiite district of Homs -- offered some details on Quwat al-Ridha.
Diyab says Hezbollah is responsible for organizing, training and equipping the group and that Quwat al-Ridha can be considered the core of what he calls "Hezbollah in Syria."
Diyab, who long ago moved to Iran to study at the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, says both of his brothers -- one holding a master's degree in mathematics and the other with a bachelor's degree in Arabic literature -- are members of Quwat al-Ridha. He told Al-Monitor, "Our family lived in the city of Homs, but when the crisis started, considering the opposition's violent treatment of Shiites, our family decided to return to our ancestral village of Thabetiya. There are a lot of Shiite villages in the western part of Homs province, and our family thought that it would be safer there."
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Al Arabiya News reveals more information as the former Paleostinian Ambassador Atef Abu Bakr said that the reason behind the attempt to blow up an Israeli airliner in Heathrow airport in 1986 was in retaliation to Israelis previously hijacking a private plane carrying Abdullah al-Ahmar and other Syrian leaders on its way back from Libya.
Abu Bakr gave his version of events by saying that Tel Aviv thought that the Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP), Dr. George Habash, was on board the plane.
It released the hostages later on but the Syrians felt greatly humiliated
And so they were. The Israeli targetting was off, but their execution was spot on, undeterred by the vaunted Arab fierceness in battle.
and wanted to "restore their dignity." The Air Force Intelligence plotted an act of Dire Revenge and the Secretary-General of Fateh Revolutionary Council, Sabri al-Banna (also known as Abu Nidal) proposed to carry out the operation.
It was agreed that the Abu Nidal group would take responsibility for the operation whether it succeeded or failed.
Spoiler: it failed. Was it then known that it was Abu Nidal that dunnit, or is the responsibility-taking only happening thirty years later?
Ex-ambassador Abu Bakr believes that the operation failed because Nizar al-Hindawi leaked information about it and questions a relationship between al-Hindawi and the Mossad. He said that Nizar was a "multi-loyal person who worked with Syrians and others and even with the "enemy"... His father was a cook at the Jordanian embassy and was revealed as a Mossad agent."
Had Heathrow's operation succeeded, it would have lead to serious consequences between Damascus and Tel Aviv. It could have even caused an Israeli invasion of the Syrian capital, according to the former ambassafor.
How fortunate for certain parties that it failed so abysmally.
In his interview on Al Arabiya News Channel's "Political memoirs", Abu Bakr further revealed that one of the members in Fateh Revolutionary Council heard Abu Nidal saying: "We will accomplish a mission that will prompt an immediate reaction from the Israelis. They may even invade Damascus."
Golly. Witnesses to the mortifying failure, increasing the mortification. A lovely thought, however belatedly thunk.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was selected on Thursday as the new president of the Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... , following an internal settlement blessed by the party's founder MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... .
Aoun congratulated the competitors from his home in Rabieh and stressed that "there is no victor or vanquished as this is the will of the absolute majority."
He also announced that he has not and will not prevent other members from submitting their candidacy for the party's presidency.
As part of the settlement resulting in Bassil's ascendancy, substantial changes will be made to the party's internal bylaws. The powers of the politburo will be increased and the president's powers will be curbed, in an attempt to foster inclusive decision-making. An assessment of party officials is also expected to take place.
Bassil has been active in the FPM since its inception. He began his political career as communications minister, from July 2008 until November 2009, before serving two terms as water and energy minister, from 2009 until 2014. He is currently Leb's foreign minister.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
An FBI "A-team" is leading the "extremely serious" investigation into Hillary Clinton's server and the focus includes a provision of the law pertaining to "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information," an intelligence source told Fox News. 
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
[US News & WR] In the four years since the start of the civil war in Syria, Shiite groups have been fighting militant Salafists alongside the Syrian army. The most prominent of these groups is the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, whose presence has had a direct impact on developments on the ground in Syria. 
Michel Aoun
