[AnNahar] The Afghan Taliban said their annual "spring offensive" will begin on Friday, vowing nationwide attacks in what is expected to be the bloodiest fighting season in a decade as 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... forces pull back from the frontlines.
This year's offensive marks the first fighting season in which Afghan cops will battle the Death Eaters without the full support of U.S.-led foreign combat forces.
Continued on Page 49
[AnNahar] Kenya has appealed to donors after its plan to shut down the world's largest refugee camp and send Somalis back home ran into funding problems, reports said Wednesday.
Everyone seems to be tapped out, in these troubled economic and WoT times. Look at it as cutting future expenses, not to mention attack risks, and accept that what you've been given is all you're going to get,
Kenya threatened to close the Dadaab camps and send home more than 360,000 Somali refugees within 90 days amid security fears in the wake of this month's Garissa University massacre by Somalia's Shabaab murderous Moslems in which 148 people died.
But foreign minister Amina Mohammed has backtracked on the plan saying there was no timeline for closing Dadaab and that sending the refugees home "will depend on available resources."
Mohammed proposed holding a pledging conference at which Kenya would request international donors to provide funds for relocation, Kenyan media said.
Mohammed was speaking after meeting Somali and U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) officials in Nairobi on Tuesday to launch a tripartite commission on repatriating the refugees.
In November 2013 the same three parties signed a tripartite agreement on repatriating refugees from Dadaab after the Shabaab attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall in which at least 67 people died.
Since then 2,000 refugees have voluntarily returned to Somalia, said Mohammed.
Earlier this month Deputy President William Ruto said Dadaab would be shut down as part of a series of measures intended to improve Kenya's security, triggering dismay among aid agencies and human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... groups.
"We have asked the UNHCR to relocate the refugees in three months failure to which we shall relocate them ourselves," Ruto said on April 11.
Other measures include the construction of a barrier along Kenya's 700 kilometre (435 mile) border with Somalia and the shutting down of money transfer agencies and civil society organizations working with Somalis.
"The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa," Ruto said.
According to international law, refugee returns must be voluntary and not forced.
Somalia's U.N.-backed government has reclaimed control of most towns in recent years but much of the countryside remains under the sway of al-Qaeda-aligned Shabaab Death Eaters, meaning many refugees feel it is unsafe to return.
[LibyaHerald] The Libyan Red Islamic Thingy has reported that well over half a million Libyans are now displaced because of ongoing fighting and instability within the country. It put the figure at 557,212 individuals, representing 103,821 families.
According to a report issued by it, some 126,000 people have been displaced from 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... , the largest number of cities and towns in Libya. Benghazi comes a close second with some 109,000 displaced.
The number of internally displaced in Libya (as opposed to those in Libya from other countries) has jumped by nearly 70,000 since the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) released a report in the middle of December stating that there were 431,258 registered internally displaced people.
The figure does not include the several hundred thousand Libyans now outside the country, notably in Tunisia and Egypt.
In addition to displaced Libyans, the UNHCR also reported in December an estimated 37,000 refugees and asylum seekers of other nationalities inside Libya, including Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... ns, Iraqis, Paleostinians, Somalis, Sudanese and Syrians. This figure is, however, based on those who have registered as refugees and is believed to be a massive underestimation.
To help deal with the problem, the UNHCR initiated in July 2014 the Libya Protection Working Group (PWG) for UN agencies and NGOs working temporarily in Tunis. The PWG aims to coordinate protection activities and responses to the humanitarian needs inside Libya.
Specifically, the group is working to increase registration and refugee processing activities and promote national asylum legislation.
[LibyaHerald] Speaking on the recent Libyan delegation visit headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni to Moscow, Masoud Rahouma Muftah the Acting Defence Minister said that 90 percent of Libya's arms originate from Russia.
Muftah admitted that there was a fear by the Russians that Libya would not honour its arms purchasing agreements with Russia signed by the Qadaffy regime.
He said that Libya assured the Russians that agreements were signed by states and not individuals and Libya would be honouring them.
Muftah was speaking at the government presser held at the cabinet office in Al-Beida on Monday.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... Libya's Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs, Mehdi Al-Labad met with Russia's ambassador to Libya in Tunis today, Ivan Molotkov, and discussed the results of the Libyan-Russian talks held in Moscow earlier this month.
The discussions included the ability of the Russian side to support the Libyan issue at the UN especially with regards to the arming of the official Libyan National Army (LNA).
Libya's Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs, for his part, assured during the meeting Libya's desire in continuing its cooperation with Russia in various fields, and especially in the security field.
He added that Libya was currently reviewing all Russian contracts in order to reactivate them.
[LibyaHerald] In a bid to build bridges with the EU, the 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... -based "National Salvation Government" says it will cooperate with it to stem the flow of undocumented Democrats attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
Its "prime minister", Khalifa Ghwell met yesterday with several members of his cabinet and others said to be experts in the field of immigration to discuss illegal immigration and the smuggling operations happening on Libyan soil.
Ghwell's "Interior Minister" Mohammed Sheiter informed the group that detentions centres in Libya currently house some 8,000 undocumented Democrats from various nationalities.
For his part, Ghwell expressed his government's readiness to confront the migrant problems despite the lack of adequate resources. Any partnership with the EU had, however, to respect Libya's illusory sovereignty, he stressed.
The meeting comes on the heels of what is being called the greatest disaster ever in the Mediterranean, the drowning of hundreds of immigrants attempting to cross the sea. April 2015 has been confirmed by the UNHCR as the worst month on record with some 1,300 dying while attempting the crossing. It also estimates that there are between 600,000 and a million more migrants in Libya waiting to cross.
Almost all embark from Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... -controlled ports, such as Zuwara, Zawia, Tajoura, Garabulli and Misrata. It is thought that 2,000 migrants are taking boats daily from them. Very few migrants cross from eastern Libya, even though the journey to Crete is much shorter.
Until now, Dawn, the backers and masters of Ghwell's government, has shown no interest in stopping the smuggling and is said to be heavily implicated in the trade. Local leaders who are part of Dawn are reported to be making money out if it.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saw mill, Scarface Al had tied Little Nell to the log and was about to turn on the buzz saw... the Libyan Coast Guard, which is severely lacking in resources, says that it has asked for boats and other assistance from the EU and Italia to help monitor Libya's coastline but has received nothing.
There may be fear that boats provided will be stolen and used by the smugglers.
[LibyaHerald] Libya's Justice Minister, Mabruk Grera, said that he was unable to give an exact number of prisoners charged with terrorism offences, but that many of those held were foreign nationals from Yemen, Sudan, Egypt and Tunisia.
Grera said he was only speaking about those prisoners held by the legitimate and internationally recognized government based in the eastern city of Al-Beida.
The Justice Minister added that his Ministry has successfully, starting with nothing, set up a base and seven departments in 6 months and is operating fully despite all its archives and documentation being left behind 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... and despite the difficult circumstances it found itself in.
Very impressive, indeed. And very normal, in a country reportedly in the midst of a multi-party civil war.
Minister Grera reviewed the great amount of work done by his department in the repair, upgrade and maintenance of over 22 locations in different towns and cities under the control of the legitimate Al-Beida based government
These included judicial sites and prisons in the east and in the south, new prisons, a prison for women, guest houses for travelling members of judiciary, fridges for morgues, a prison bakery, a training centre, a prisoners' workshop, revenue-earning investment projects for a prison and prison cameras.
Contracts for purchases included contracts for vehicles, armored vehicles, fire engines, ambulances, side arms and uniforms.
He also highlighted the contract to purchase two DNA identifying machines for the first time in Libya, one for Benghazi and one for Tripoli, adding that in Africa only Egypt and Tunisia possess these.
Equally, highlighting his legitimate government's accountability and transparency, he pointed out that his government had opened up a prison for a recent media visit.
He also revealed that his Ministry has contracted to purchase special vehicles for transporting prisoners that comply with human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. standards, as well as rubber weapons for use internally in prisons.
Finally, a number of prisons had to be upgraded in order to bring them up to international standards that comply with human rights.
Grera was speaking during a wide-ranging presser held by the government on in Beida on Monday.
[AnNahar] Mali's Tuareg-led rebellion reaffirmed in a statement Wednesday its refusal to sign a peace deal agreed by other gangs and the government and due to be rubber stamped on May 15.
The U.N. Security Council has urged the main Tuareg rebel alliance, known as the Coordination for the Movements of Azawad (CMA), to initial the deal along with the other parties or face sanctions.
But the Coordination, which has already stated it could not accept the accord without "amendments", reiterated its position, saying it "shall not commit" to the document in its current form.
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... has described the March 1 peace accord as a "historic opportunity" for Mali following the Islamist takeover in the north in 2012 that brought the country to the brink of collapse.
The Malian government and a coalition of gangs from the north known as the Platform have signed the document, brokered by Algeria under U.N. auspices over the past eight months.
But the CMA has said it will not sign without an amendment recognizing "Azawad", the name used by the Tuareg for the northern part of Mali, as a "geographic, political and juridical entity".
A delegation of international and African diplomats who came to Kidal, the Coordination's northern stronghold, on March 17 rejected the demands, as did the Bamako government.
The CMA "reaffirms its commitment to respect the ceasefire of May 23, 2014 signed in Kidal and the declaration of cessation of hostilities of July 24 2014 in Algiers," Wednesday's statement added.
[AnNahar] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that 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 was Moscow's greatest enemy, notwithstanding the strained relations with the United States over the Ukraine conflict.
"I believe IS is our greatest enemy right now," Lavrov said in an interview with Russian radio stations when asked whether he considers China, IS or NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... Russia's greatest threat.
Lavrov said "hundreds of Russian citizens, hundreds of Europeans, hundreds of Americans are fighting for IS, along with CIS (former Soviet) countries."
"They are already returning home. They come here to rest after fighting and can get up to dirty tricks at home," he said.
"As far as (relations with the) United States are concerned, these are state issues, these are issues of the world order, which have to be resolved through talks."
Russia's relations with the West, particularly with the United States, have plummeted to a post-Cold War low over the war in Ukraine and sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in supporting pro-Russian bad boys.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/23/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
* See also DAILY STAR.LB > AMERICANS FEEL THREATENED MORE BY ISLAMIC STATE THAN RUSSIA, IRAN [+ North Korea]: POLL [CNN/ORC].
HMMMM, HHHMMM, is Lavrov backing away or "clarifying" his earlier statement that a "foreign hand", usually meaning the US or US-Allies, was sponsoring or prepping Radical Islamists to wage Jihadi attacks on Russia + China, in order to discredit the CSTO [SCO-CSTO]???
More from LAVROV ...
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > [RFE] RUSSIAN-IRANIAN MILITARY UNION [Alliance] IS "UNREALISTIC", "UNECESSARY": LAVROV.
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA'S [S-400 ADS] RUSSIAN MISSLES WILL NOT DETER [or Defeat] US [F-35] - TAIPEI TIMES.
* SAME > OBAMA: S-300 MISSLE WON'T PROTECT STRIKE ON IRAN FROM US | MOSCOW TIMES.
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > US TO STIR UP ANTI-RUSSIA "COLOR REVOLUTION" IN KYRGYZSTAN? US COOPERATION WID MUSLIM KYRGYZSTAN COVERTLY EXPANDS DESPITE INTENSE LOCAL RESISTANCE.
MOSCOW â The Islamic State is Russiaâs primary enemy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday during a live radio interview.
âI think the Islamic State is currently our main enemy,â Lavrov said.
The Russian head diplomat explained the reason for the estimation was that âhundreds of Russian citizens along with hundreds of citizens of the United States, European countries are fighting with the Islamic State.â
Lavrov elaborated that the Saudi-led Arab coalition airstrikes against the Shiite Houthi rebel militias in Yemen actually serve the interest of Sunni jihadist groups, which have since seized control of Houthi positions.
As a result, Lavrov praised the coalitionâs decision on Tuesday to end the al-Hazm Storm military operation against the Houthis.
[AnNahar] South Korea and the United States have agreed a new nuclear pact allowing Seoul to expand its civil atomic energy program, wrapping up more than four years of negotiations, a report said Wednesday.
A signing ceremony will be held at 4:15 pm (0715 GMT) in Seoul, a South Korean foreign ministry official said without revealing contents of the deal.
Yonhap news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying that under the agreement South Korea would be allowed to increase peaceful nuclear activity.
Talks began in October 2010 on revising the 1974 pact which banned South Korea from reprocessing spent fuel for fear of proliferation because it could yield plutonium, a key ingredient in building atomic bombs.
South Korea has strongly pushed for U.S. permission to recycle spent fuel for power generation, saying its storage facilities for spent fuel will reach capacity in 2016.
U.S. officials have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... that such a move might undermine global nonproliferation efforts and provoke North Korea and Japan.
As a solution, South Korea proposed "pyroprocessing", a new technology considered less conducive to producing weapons as it leaves separated plutonium mixed with safer fissile materials.
The two allies have already conducted a joint research into the process, but it was not clear whether the revised pact would reflect the results of their research.
South Korea relies on 23 nuclear reactors to meet about 30 percent of its annual power needs.
It has sought to become a leading exporter of nuclear power plants since it won a $20 billion deal in 2009 to build nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
[AnNahar] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Wednesday launched one of his strongest attacks yet against 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) jihadists, saying the group was a "virus" working to destroy the Moslem community.
Ankara has been repeatedly criticized in recent months for not doing enough to halt the advance of IS to its borders, but Erdogan said after meeting Iraqi President Fuad Masum that the group had to be confronted.
The IS group "is an important virus that is working to divide and destroy the ummah," Erdogan told news hounds in televised comments, using the term for the community of Moslems.
He said other groups had followed the same path but that IS had proved more adept and serious in using its resources.
"An international strategy is essential to drain this swamp. Even if Daesh is destroyed something will emerge under a different name," said Erdogan, using a pejorative Arabic acronym to refer to IS.
"Where do its weapons and financing come from? We need to focus on this," Erdogan said.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... had itself been accused of aiding IS in the early stages of its existence as a useful ally in the fight against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... , who Erdogan wants to see ousted.
The biter bit, and noisily indignant about it.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/23/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Recep is a bit slow on the uptake, but I think he now understands what Al-Sisi was saying three months ago.
The US government built "a not so secret replica of Iran's nuclear facilities" deep in the forests of Tennessee to gain an edge in its negotiations with Iran, reports The New York Times.
This "Manhattan Project in reverse" is situated on the grounds of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It uses placeholder centrifuges meant to represent Iranian equipment -- an assembly that including centrifuges once belonging to Libya's disbanded nuclear program.
Scientists there are dedicating themselves to figuring out technical formulas that could stop Iran from developing a weapon.
It's certain possible that the Times article is based on administration-authorized leaks of classified information -- Ernest Moniz, the Secretary of Energy, is quoted in the article, as are a range of named and anonymous scientists from US government laboratories.
But it's thin on the details of how the replica facilities were used to reach the one-year breakout determination. Because that assertion is total BS and its supporting evidence is still under development.
Scientists apparently proposed redesigns, centrifuge cascade configurations, limits on types of centrifuges, and other fixes that they believed would keep Iranian breakout at under a year. Eventually, they reached an equation that the Iranians could accept.
The Obama administration has premised its arguments for a nuclear deal with Iran on the claim that for a period of 10 years, limits imposed on the Islamic Republic would make it nearly impossible for the country to build a single nuclear weapon in less than a year without the international community learning about it and formulating a response.
The Times doesn't go into much detail as to what those fixes actually consist of, but reports that government scientists reached a high level of confidence that their formula could keep Iran at a one-year breakout.
For instance: "The question was whether a proposed design of Natanz [Iran's only uranium enrichment facility for the first 15 years of an envisioned nuclear deal] that allowed more than 6,000 centrifuges to spin would still accomplish the administration's goal of keeping Iran at least a year away from acquiring enough enriched uranium to make a bomb," the Times article states. "The answer was yes."
Some outside experts aren't so sure.
In a report issued on April 11th and authored by a group of scientists that included physicist and former International Atomic Energy Agency expert David Albright, the Institute for Science and International Security noticed a curious aspect to the administration's breakout estimates: they didn't seem to take into account Iran's supply of 20% enriched uranium, fissile material has undergone around 90% of the revolutions needed to reach weapons-grade.
Iran oxidized half of its 20% stock (and down-blended the other half to a lower level of enrichment) under the November 2013 Joint Plan of Action signed between Iran and a group of 6 countries led by the US.
As the ISIS report explains, in leaving the oxidized 20% stocks out of its breakout estimate, the administration seems to believe that reconverting that 20% to a state where it can be further enriched and weaponized would be such a time-consuming, intensive, and obvious process that Iran's 20% stocks simple don't need to be factored into weaponization scenarios.
The ISIS report is skeptical. It says Iran could render its 20% stocks usable in just a few months and that it's hugely relevant to any breakout scenario.
"The near 20 percent LEU stock, unless largely eliminated or rendered unusable in a breakout, could be an important reserve in reducing the time to produce the first significant quantity of weapon-grade uranium (WGU) and rapidly producing a second significant quantity of WGU," the report states.
Mohammad Javad Zarif discuss seating arrangements for a meeting during a new round of nuclear negotiations in Montreux March 2, 2015. Kerry and Zarif held the first of what could amount to three days of meetings in Montreux about restraining the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
According the series of fact sheets released after the Lausanne, Switzerland nuclear talks concluded, Iran would be allowed to keep a stockpile of 300 kilograms of uranium enriched to 3.67% under a final deal. Even a small amount of uranium at 20% enrichment would far surpass this stockpile in weaponization potential: "a rule of thumb is that 50 kilograms of near 20 percent LEU hexafluoride (or about 33 kilograms uranium mass) is equivalent in terms of shortening breakout time to 500 kilograms of 3.5 percent LEU hexafluoride," the report says.
And Iran has plenty of convertible 20% on hand -- around 228 kilograms of uranium mass of near-20%, which would come out to 337 kilograms of near-20% if it were "converted back to hexaflouride form."
#2
Secret replica deep in the Tennessee forest? Most people around here would get a laugh out that. The facility during WWII was secret; in fact it was called the Secret City or the City Behind a Fence. The facility sprung up in a relatively short time--overnight as some would say. There were guard houses at every entrance and the entire complex was behind a fence. Period photographs of Oak Ridge facility.
K-25 occupied most of what is the The East Tennessee Technology Park today. K-25 got torn down a few years ago. I went through K-25 before that. It was a vast structure but empty at the time I went through. I had to suit out with protective garb with radiation badge. The concern at the time was PCB leakage from transformers over the years more than radiation.
[Dawn] ISLAMABAD: Pakistain on Wednesday welcomed 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... 's announcement on the end of the kingdom-led military operation in Yemen.
"This will pave the way for a political solution of the crisis in Yemen," Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said in a statement, adding that Pakistain shared Saudi Arabia's desire for a "peaceful settlement of the crisis".
Continued on Page 49
[AnNahar] India's government took Al Jazeera news channel off the air on Wednesday for five days after officials insisted it had repeatedly shown wrong maps of disputed Kashmire.
Al Jazeera in India showed a blue screen on Wednesday with a sign saying "as instructed by the ministry of information and broadcasting, this channel will not be available."
An official said the order was made earlier this month over the maps that showed parts of the Himalayan Kashmire region in arch rival Pakistain and China, an extremely sensitive issue in India.
"The ban has been imposed for five days and it was done on instructions of an inter-ministerial committee, who took cognizance of an incorrect map of India in which the channel showed parts of Kashmire in Pakistain and China," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The order comes amid a simmering censorship row in India over a series of recent bans that have sparked accusations of a growing climate of intolerance under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
They include a ban on screening a BBC documentary on the fatal gang-rape of a student that sparked mass protests in Delhi.
Al Anstey, managing director of Al Jazeera English, called the ban "a disproportionate response."
"Unfortunately, this is the latest in a series of ongoing issues. Our journalists have not been granted visas for years now," Anstey said in a statement to the media.
"We have though been severely hampered for too long by constraints placed upon us when trying to tell Indian stories to the world," the statement added, urging the information minister to hold talks "that will help us move forward in a constructive way."
According to local media reports, Al Jazeera breached India's broadcasting code over the maps shown in 2014 and 2013 which on some occasions also did not include the Lakshadweep and Andaman islands.
Kashmire is divided between India and Pakistain but both claim the whole of the region and have gone to war twice over its control since partition in 1947.
New Delhi imposes tight restrictions on all printed maps, insisting they show all of Kashmire as being part of India.
The government in 2011 ordered The Economist magazine to cover up a map of disputed borders in Kashmire. The news weekly placed white stickers over a diagram of the borders on 28,000 copies on sale in India.
"Eventually India might realize how idiotic this looks," the magazine's South Asia bureau chief Adam Roberts tweeted over the order against Al Jazeera.
[AnNahar] The Philippine Justice Department on Wednesday recommended murder charges against 90 Moslem rebels, even though such a move could jeopardize a grinding of the peace processor championed by President Benigno Aquino.
The department said the Moslem rebels could be charged over the January 25 incident which left 44 police commandoes dead in the rural district of Mamasapano.
"It was murder all the way and around," the report said, charging that members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which agreed to a ceasefire with the government last year, and other Moslemgangs had banded together to kill the commandoes who were on a mission in the strife-torn south.
This could affect the government's grinding of the peace processor with the 10,000-member MILF which is aimed at ending a four-decade old separatist struggle that has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives.
In a summary of its investigation, the Justice Department said MILF and other Moslem bands attacked the commandoes even though they knew they were coppers.
The report charged that the attackers continued to shoot the coppers even when "the latter already raised their arms in surrender.
"After the firefight, MILF elements crossed the river over to the cornfield to finish off the dying (coppers)," the summary added.
The Justice Department said it had to withhold the names of witnesses and suspects as this could make it difficult to make arrests.
The government peace panel, which hoped to seal a peace deal with the MILF before Aquino steps down next year, said they were studying the report and would issue a reaction.
The MILF has previously said it would not surrender men wanted in connection with the incident despite impending criminal charges.
"We maintain that our combatants involved in the Mamasapano incident defended themselves so they did that in self-defense. As far as we're concerned, they did not commit any crime," MILF vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar had said earlier.
Aquino had originally hoped to pass a law authorizing an autonomous region for the nation's Moslem minority -- the key part of the peace pact, before the end of his term.
But outrage over the killing of the coppers has delayed the law's passage with numerous politicians now challenging it.
However Aquino said in an exclusive interview with Agence La Belle France Presse earlier this month that he still believed the law could be implemented during his term as opposition was now softening.
The raid apparently succeeded in killing an alleged top terrorist, Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin Hir, one of the United States' most wanted.
The Justice Department said further investigation was also needed into allegations that coppers had killed Moslem civilians and that the United States played a role in the botched raid.
Aquino has warned that failure to implement a peace accord could radicalize the MILF's moderate base and cause further bloodshed in the south of this largely Catholic nation.
[AnNahar] Iran and major powers on Wednesday began the difficult process of finalizing by June 30 a historic deal putting an Iranian nuclear bomb out of reach, three weeks after agreeing the main outlines.
Following a negotiating marathon in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , Iran agreed on April 2 to what U.S. President Barack Obama
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/23/2015 00:00 ||
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#3
Not too 'tricky' at all. Just have the Persians do it as it will end up being their 'deal' anyway.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/23/2015 15:52 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The effort by the Champ regime to lift Iranian sanctions [at any cost] appears to be an attempt to now make legal, Clinton Foundation contributor's business arrangements with Iran.
The Clinton's could be circling the drain on this one.
[AnNahar] Arrest warrants were issued on Wednesday against detainees Bilal and Omar Miqati for belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group, reported the National News Agency. It said that Military Tribunal Judge Imad al-Zein issued the warrants after interrogating them over their terrorist links. If convicted, the suspects could face the death penalty.
Bilal also confessed to executing serviceman Ali al-Sayyed, said NNA.
Earlier in April, the detainees were charged with belonging to ISIL in order to carry out terrorist attacks. They were also charged with fighting the army in the northeastern border town of Arsal in August.
The suspects were arrested by the Lebanese army on March 24 near a checkpoint in the eastern town of Hrabta.
Sayyed and a number of other serviceman were abducted from Arsal in the wake of the clashes between the army and jihadist groups. Three other hostages were also executed, while the rest are still being held.
Later on Wednesday, Zein issued arrest warrants against detainees Nabil al-Siddiq and Ali Ayyoub on terrorism charges.
Siddiq, a Syrian also known as Abi Sayyaf, and Ayyoub were charged on April 15 with belonging to ISIL and forming cells for the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks. These cells were also trained to carry out assassinations and combating the Lebanese army during its clashes with extremists in Arsal in August.
Their case was referred to the military general prosecution.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/23/2015 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.
North Korea
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
The US government built "a 
