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Today: 59 articles and 81 comments as of 14:03.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
4 dead as Saudi Arabia 'foils' attack on mosque
Today's Headlines
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Africa Subsaharan
Buhari Sworn in as Nigeria President after Historic Win
Backgrounder on the new (old) guy and the situation of the country as he takes the reins.
[AnNahar] Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as Nigeria's new president on Friday, vowing to tackle the country's many problems "head on", including Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, at a ceremony rich with military pomp and cultural tradition.

A 21-gun salute rang out across the capital, Abuja, after he took the oath of office before the chief justice of Nigeria to begin a four-year term beset with difficulties from the outset.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  "Good Luck"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2015 10:22 Comments || Top||


Arabia
US military: ISIS not significant threat in Saudi Arabia
Islamic State is not a significant threat in Saudi Arabia, the US military said on Friday, as it declined to speculate on the Sunni militant group's claim of responsibility for a deadly bombing at Shi'ite Muslim mosque.
I'm sure the Saudi Shia are reassured.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/30/2015 14:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  TRANSLATION: "They're doomed."

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/30/2015 15:51 Comments || Top||

#2  "In terms of Saudi Arabia and (Islamic State), we have no indication that they pose a significant threat at this time," said Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Central Command, which oversees US forces in the Middle East.

'No significant threat' to Ramadi or Mosul as well, hence the lack of strategic contingency planning at the Pentagon [or evidently CENTCOM], as announced this week by General Dempsey.

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/30/2015 15:58 Comments || Top||

#3  as announced this week by General Dempsey.

I am still boggling over Dempsey's admission earlier this week. I get that the Prez is boss and if the Commander in Chief says your mission is to stop global warming, get more girls through Ranger School and run carrier air wings on used french fry grease, then that's what you do. But your people will live and die based on how prepared you are for events that may be out of your direct control.

If I were me, I'd have a couple guys hidden away in a back office doing what-ifs, exploring the solution space. So when the poo hit some particular fan, I could say bring me the Collapse of Ramadi folder and not have to publicly admit I failed at my job. Or is there something I'm missing here?
Posted by: SteveS || 05/30/2015 16:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Why waste time on contingency planning if you are clandestinely aligned with ISIS outcomes ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/30/2015 17:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Didn't they say the same thing about Syria, Iraq and Yemen?
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/30/2015 17:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Tomorrow's (or next week's) headline: ISIS attacks Riyadh, US caught unprepared
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/30/2015 20:01 Comments || Top||

#7  One thing to keep in mind -- leftists believe that planning for something means you want it to happen. So I wouldn't be surprised if the Obama administration has forbidden the military to do contingency planning.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/30/2015 23:16 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin is not planning annexation of Ukraine enclaves, but diplomacy is flailing
[Rooters] Karl-Georg Wellmann, a representative in the German parliament, flew to Moscow Sunday night on a behind-the-scenes mission to help break the deadlock in eastern Ukraine. But when he landed at Sheremetyevo Airport, border officials denied him entry, without any explanation, until 2019. Wellmann, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, had to spend the night in a transit lounge and was escorted onto the first flight home the next morning.

Wellmann raised a storm in German and Russian media, and Merkel's government lodged an official complaint with the Kremlin. Although he was known as a critic of Russia's involvement in the Ukraine conflict, Wellmann said he had been invited by Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the Russian Federation Council's committee on foreign affairs, and Sergei Glazyev, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin. He didn't have plans to meet with Russian opposition leaders.

It's a worrisome sign when the back channels of German diplomacy clog up. Merkel, the main guarantor of the so-called Minsk protocol, is doing her best to save the shaky peace agreement between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian government. But as the war grinds on as a low-level conflict, the biggest weakness of the deal is becoming clear: None of the parties see it as the start to a lasting peace settlement.

The Minsk agreement, originally signed in September and amended in February, provides useful alibis to all sides: to Ukraine that it's pursuing the reintegration of breakaway regions by peaceful means; to Russia that it's just a concerned, peace-loving neighbor; and to the West that it did everything to end the fighting. With the exception of the rebel representatives -- who are motivated by Mad Max-style mayhem more than nation-building -- all sides tirelessly repeat that "there can be no military solution to the conflict." What nobody can say aloud is that Minsk is also not the solution; it was only intended to stanch Ukraine's bleeding.

Russia occupied and annexed Crimea last year in the power vacuum following then-President Viktor Yanukovych's unexpected flight from anti-government protests in Kiev. When heavily armed pro-Russian fighters then began seizing administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine, the country's provisional leaders launched a haphazard "anti-terrorist operation"; they were soon caught in the dilemma of repeating the Crimean fiasco or provoking a full-scale Russian invasion. The Ukrainians only started to get a grip on the insurgency after the election a year ago of President Petro Poroshenko, who energized the fight against the separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

By the beginning of July, the Donetsk rebel commander, a former Russian special ops officer named Igor Girkin, was complaining that locals weren't interested in fighting and called for direct Russian military assistance. In late August, just as it looked as if the rebel supply lines would be cut, regular Russian troops poured across the border to the rescue, routing Ukrainian forces at the rail junction of Ilovaisk. With his army shattered and the strategic port of Mariupol under threat, Poroshenko sued for peace in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

As a peace agreement, there's nothing wrong with the Minsk document, which includes all the right words about the cessation of hostilities, de-escalation, local elections, and reconciliation. The problem is that Russia plays a double role -- as a disinterested observer on paper and an active party to the conflict in the field. Poroshenko has no choice but to play along in this charade or take the blame for a collapse of the peace process. Western powers cling to the accord because they have no Plan B.
The famous Russian "double role." Shocking! Absolutely shocking I tell you. So totally out of character for the Russians. And yes the absence of a "Plan B." I seem to remember the Champ - Medvedev missile talks. Yes, the ones where 'more flexibility will be available following Champ's upcoming election.' Or was that Plan A ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/30/2015 06:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
U.S. Think-Tank: Fresh Upgrades at N. Korea Rocket Site
[AnNahar] Fresh satellite images show substantial new construction at North Korea's space rocket launch site, mirroring leader Kim Jong-Un's recent vow to launch more satellites in defiance of U.N. resolutions, a U.S. think-tank said Friday.

The impoverished but nuclear-armed North sent an Unha-3 rocket into space in December 2012 from the Sohae satellite launch site -- a move the international community condemned as a disguised ballistic missile test and punished with further sanctions.

Two months later, the North conducted its third -- and most powerful to date -- nuclear test.

Using satellite analysis, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University had reported last year a substantial upgrade at Sohae -- allowing it to handle rockets up to 50 metres (165 feet) in length -- almost 70 percent longer than the Unha-3.

In its latest assessment of images taken in mid-May, the institute noted further modifications, including construction of a new support building next to the Unha-3 launch pad and a rail mobile platform between the two.

While the precise purpose of the building was not immediately clear, institute analyst Tim Brown said it could be a facility for assembling a launch vehicle and then rolling it to the launch pad.

There has been speculation that the North might launch a long-range rocket to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party in October -- a schedule Brown labelled "difficult although not impossible".

The ongoing upgrade at Sohae represents a "significant" investment, Brown said, and is "another indicator ... that the North is determined to pursue its space programme."

Visiting a newly-built satellite command centre earlier this month, Kim vowed to push ahead with further satellite launches to confirm the country's space power status.

"Space development can never be abandoned, no matter who may oppose it," Kim said.

The successful launch of a new, larger rocket would fuel mounting concern over the expansion of the North's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

Pyongyang recently hailed the "historic" test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, while boasting of its ability to miniaturise a nuclear warhead to fit on high-precision, long-range rockets.

Experts question both claims, but broadly agree that the North is moving ahead quickly with the development of both programmes.

Meeting in Seoul on Wednesday, the nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan highlighted the seriousness of Pyongyang's progress.

"Their intention is clear, and we should be concerned regardless of the stage of their development," said U.S. envoy Sung Kim.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Down Under
12 Australian Women have Tried to Join IS
[AnNahar] At least 12 Australian women from one city have attempted to join the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group, police said Friday, warning of a trend towards a "romanticized view" of violent jihadists.

More than 100 Australians have left the country to support IS in Syria and Iraq, raising concerns about radicalisation and whether they pose a security threat on return, the authorities have said. At least 30 have been killed overseas.

Victoria Police assistant commissioner Tracy Linford said those attracted to IS were mostly young, isolated people swayed by slick social media propaganda.

In the case of women, they often had a romantic idea of what life would be like under Islamic State control, she said, adding that at least 12 had attempted to join from Melbourne, Victoria's capital city.

"We've got five (women) that we know are over there," Linford said, adding that two more were unaccounted for, four were turned back outside Australia and one was stopped at the airport before leaving.

"But we also suspect that there are probably more than 12," she told news hounds.

Linford's comments came just days after a Sydney mother reportedly abandoned her two children and fled to Syria for a new life under Islamic State.

"We think that the young women particularly get a romanticised view of what actually exists for them if they travel to the conflict zones," she said.

"There is a reach-back from people who are already in the conflict zone telling them, 'Come over... you will be well looked after, you will have an important position in growing the caliphate, bearing jihadi children in the future, growing the Islamic State'.

"And I think they think they are going to be put on a pedestal and treated very well once they are overseas, but the reality is, that's not the case."

Linford said some women were forced into arranged marriages and others pushed into sexual servitude, while living in often squalid conditions and on rations, with their movements heavily restricted.

"One of things we know about ISIS is that their social media skills are well advanced, and their reach through social media is obviously paying dividends for them," she said, using another acronym for the jihadists.

Earlier this week Prime Minister Tony Abbott said dual nationals linked to terrorism would be stripped of their Australian citizenship.

Australia raised its threat level to high last September and has since carried out a series of counter-terrorism raids, with several alleged plots foiled this year.

Australian Mother Abandons Children to Join IS

[AnNahar] The Sydney Daily Telegraph said Jasmina Milovanov, a 26-year-old Moslem convert, left her children, aged five and seven, with a babysitter earlier this month and never returned.

It cited her ex-husband as saying she sent a text message telling him she was in Syria.

"The only thing I can think about is my children. I can't believe she left these two beautiful children. My son was saying in the days afterwards that he hoped 'my mum is OK'," said the husband, who was not named.

"Before she (went) I talked to her (about her extreme Facebook posts). I said this is extreme, stupid. I was warning her about who she hangs out with."

Milovanov is Facebook friends with former Melbourne woman Zehra Duman, who is known in Australia as the "jihadi bride recruiter" and uses social media to entice women to join the myrmidon group.

Duman's husband Mahmoud Abdullatif was reportedly killed fighting with 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 earlier this year.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  sigh-some women like being treated badly it seems!
Posted by: paul || 05/30/2015 4:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Your green jillaroo and Muz ocker are
Found at the halal tucker snackbar
Where rapt rabble-rousers
Bend elbows with wowsers
And sheiks chat up sheilas who akbar.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 05/30/2015 16:42 Comments || Top||


Europe
Spain Approves Permanent U.S. Base for Africa Force
[AnNahar] The Spanish government said on Friday it had approved an agreement to host a permanent force of 2,200 U.S. Marines for deployment on missions to Africa.

Spain and the United States will formalize the deal by signing an amendment to a 1988 defense partnership during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
to Madrid on Monday.

Madrid agreed to permanently extend an agreement under which the force has been based at Moron de la Frontera, near Seville in southern Spain, said Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

"The deployment at the Moron base will be made permanent with a force of 2,200 military personnel and 500 civilian staff plus 26 aircraft," she told a news conference.

The base will be able to host temporary extra deployments of up to 800 more personnel and 14 more planes, she said.

Currently 800-strong, the U.S. force was first stationed at Moron in April 2013 after a deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya the previous year.

"The aim is to contribute to the stability of the region and common security in Africa, Europe and the Middle East," Saenz said.

From Moron the Marines will be able to launch missions in the region to protect their embassies or rescue other U.S. personnel in difficulty, evacuate civilians or intervene in conflicts and humanitarian crises.

Among the aircraft to be deployed will be MV-22 Osprey transport planes that can take off vertically with big wing-mounted propellers.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The deployment at the Moron base will be made permanent"

The Ace Of Spades Lifestyle Brigade™
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2015 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  The deployment at the Moron base will be made permanent…

Granted the correct pronunciation requires that zesty Spanish rolling of the R with the second O stressed as a long vowel but to simple Americans, like me, that’s funny. I don’t care who you are.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 05/30/2015 10:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Funny hell Depot, I thought that's the announcement of the Obummer library location.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/30/2015 13:11 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey Accused of Sending Arms to Syrian Jihadists
[AnNahar] Images and video footage allegedly showing trucks belonging to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's state intelligence service carrying weapons en route to jihadist rebels in Syria were published Friday in a Turkish daily.

The Turkish government has vehemently denied earlier claims that it is arming rebels fighting in Syria and accused dozens of prosecutors, soldiers and security officers involved in the searching of trucks of attempting to bring it down by suggesting that it is doing so.

Earlier this month, Turkey tossed in the slammer
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
four prosecutors who ordered searches in a similar incident in January 2014 and they are now in prison pending trial.

More than 30 security officers involved in that interception also face charges including military espionage and attempting to overthrow the government.

The footage published on opposition Cumhuriyet daily's website on Friday shows inspectors searching a metallic container watched by security officers, a prosecutor and sniffer dogs.

The officials first open cardboard boxes marked as "fragile" and full of antibiotics. But under those boxes they find dozens of mortar shells, the video, shot by an anonymous bystander, appears to show.

Cumhuriyet, which also published a series of still images, said the weapons were of Russian origin and had been supplied from ex-Soviet countries.

The daily claimed the trucks were carrying a total of 1,000 mortar shells, 80,000 rounds of ammunition for light and heavy weapons as well as hundreds of grenade launchers.

The Turkish authorities have sought to link the affair to U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
accuses of running a parallel state through supporters in the judiciary and police with the aim of usurping him.

Turkey has vehemently denied aiding jihadists in Syria such as 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....
(IS) group, although it wants to see Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
toppled.

Tensions are running high in Turkey ahead of June 7 parliamentary elections, with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) seeking to hold on to the dominance it has maintained since it first swept to power in 2002.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Home Front: Politix
Ratings Change: Kirk's Race Now Tilts to Democrats
At least with Duckworth, you know what you will be getting.
Link entered.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Link
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/30/2015 7:23 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Pew Poll: Nearly 60% of Americans Back Drone Strikes Overseas
[AnNahar]
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The rest want these drones equipped with WMD?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/30/2015 3:54 Comments || Top||

#2  ...probably as opposed to those who back strike Stateside (against things like Rush, Fox, Republicans, conservatives....)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/30/2015 8:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Think snooker - think numbers. Reds are necessary. But however ingenious the shot, the real scoring is found in the numbered balls, not the red ones.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/30/2015 8:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Rana Sanaullah back as Punjab law minister
[DAWN] LAHORE: Rana Sanaullah took oath as 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....

law minister on Friday at the Governor House in Punjab.

Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana administered the oath of office to the newly sworn-in law minister.

Additionally, Dr Aisha Ghaus Malik also took oath as provincial finance minister.

Rana had previously lost his ministry in the wake of last year's Model Town tragedy during which at least eleven Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) workers were killed and over a 100 people injured after festivities with Punjab police.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
had removed Rana and his own secretary Dr Tauqir Shah last year, saying "the difficult decision was necessary to make it visible to everyone that justice is being done" in the Model Town police clash case.

The move was seen as a step to offset the pressure the ruling PML-N was facing after the incident.

Last week, a joint investigation team (JIT) formed by the government of Punjab to investigate the Model Town incident had exonerated Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Sanaullah from charges of ordering or abetting the police action.

According to the report, all JIT members had unanimously declared Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah 'innocent' and dismissed allegations levelled against them in the FIR lodged by Minhajul Koran's director administration as 'baseless and without any evidence'. Neither the federal government had any role in law and order of the province nor was any evidence found to support the abetment charges.
Posted by: Fred || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Corps commander seeks ideas from traders to revive economy
[DAWN] KARACHI: In a meeting aimed at an ‘exchange of thoughts’, a delegation of traders and industrialists on Thursday put before Corps Commander Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar their concern over and suggestions related to the city’s dilapidated infrastructure, poor utility services and issues related to law and order as well as the ‘inability of police’ to deal with them.
Just a thought, but shouldn't a corps commander concern himself with running a corps?
Apart from expressing his resolve to fix law and order, the corps commander sought their suggestions to revive the economy, the traders said.

The traders and industrialists’ delegation, originally representing the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) were led by Businessmen Group chairman Siraj Kassam Teli, who said such meetings between the two sides were expected to be held in future as well to understand each other’s points of view.
Posted by: Fred || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


CII wants Arabic, Persian, local languages taught at primary level
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has recommended that children should start schooling at the age of seven in their local language, but should also be taught Arabic and expected to learn certain chapters of the Holy Koran by heart.

Speaking at a seminar on primary education organised by the CII, its Chairman Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani on Thursday read out the recommendations, which included, among others things, the stipulation that primary education should include the fundamentals of Islam, including the Holy Koran, hadith, fiqh, and the history of Moslems with the help of modern information technology (IT).

"We have suggested that by learning the Persian and Arabic languages, students can attain a command over local languages and Urdu as well," Maulana Sheerani said.

At the CII seminar that dealt with primary education up to the fifth grade, participants finalised 38 recommendations, of which, recommendation number seven contained nine suggestions for changes in the curriculum.

These included suggestions for what should be taught until the fifth grade level: stories from the Holy Koran, history of the independence movement in the sub-continent, responsibilities towards individuals and human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
, science -- in the form of experimentation and critical thinking and character building. The recommendations also suggest that the syllabus should include examples from Islamic history in other subjects as well, such as discussing zakat and inheritance in mathematics. They also suggested a focus on students' physical development and said that education in seminaries should be attached with formal school curriculum. It was also suggested that all schools in a city, if not the whole country or province, should have the same uniform.

The seminar was also attended by senior educationists, retired and serving government officials and members of the clergy belonging to different schools of thought.

Reading out the recommendations of the seminar, the CII chairman said that at the primary level, students should be taught historic events from their respective province and the reasons that led to creation of Pakistain.

However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
in conclusion, the CII chief said that young students should not be overburdened by their studies.

"We have suggested that there should be exams, but they should not be a burden on the students," Maulana Sheerani said.

In response to a question regarding co-education, Maulana Sheerani said that it was not a good idea to continue co-education after students attain maturity.

'Khula' definition

Talking to Dawn after the seminar, Maulana Sheerani explained one of the decisions taken at a CII meeting on Wednesday, regarding the definition of the act of 'khula', saying that the commonplace use of the term to define a separation sought by a woman was incorrect.

"Khula is an agreement between a woman and her husband in case the wife wants to seperate," he said adding that, "Under Islam, husband can divorce his wife, but if a woman wants to end her marriage, she should enter into an agreement with her husband, which is called a khula."

He explained that the khula arrangement is usually characterised by a give-and-take. The wife usually pledges money or property if the husband demands compensation in exchange for releasing her from their marital bond.

"However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
if the husband is not willing to release the woman their bond and she approaches the court or any arbitration council seeking separation, the term that applies in this case is 'faskh-e-nikah' (annulment of marriage), not khula."
Posted by: Fred || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Iraq's Parliament Votes to Sack Governor of Nineveh
[ALMANAR.LB] The Iraqi House of Representatives voted to sack the governor of Nineveh Ethel Nujaifi by vote of 169 deputies.

A member of the National Alliance Sabah al-Saadi said the House of Representatives voted to approve sacking the governor of Nineveh Ethel Nujaifi from office.

The MP of the coalition of state law Haitham al-Jubouri said earlier, the House of Representatives received a formal request from the prime minister to dismiss the governor of Nineveh province.

Jubouri said that "the province of Nineveh Council voted earlier on Najafi dismissal from his post and asked the Cabinet to activate it."
Posted by: Fred || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Local Kurds dig security trench in key Diyala town
[Rudaw] Officials in the disputed town of Sadiya, in Diyala province, have ordered a massive defense trench be constructed to protect residents against the vehicle-borne suicide kabooms of ISIS krazed killers, a city official told Rudaw.

Ahmed Sabir Zargushi, a top local official, said on Friday the security trench to would "enhance security and stability of the town and protect civilians from Daesh [ISIS] suicide attacks."

Zargushi said that no cycle of violences or vehicles can cross the trench, making the area a safe zone for residents who are returning to their homes after fleeing ISIS.

"That can be a guarantee for displaced people coming back to the town," Zargushi added.

Kurdish forces and Shiite militias, known as Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), have engaged in heavy fighting with ISIS around the towns of Sadiya and Jalawla.

The towns were liberated by Peshmerga units backed by US-led coalition Arclight airstrikes on November 23, an operation in which at least 18 Peshmerga soldiers were killed.

The area around Sadiya is still marked by sporadic attacks from ISIS.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Dehqan: ISIL Unable to Threaten Iranian Borders
[ALMANAR.LB] Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hussein Dehqan downplayed the possibility of ISIL's threat to Iran, but said Tehran would give a crushing response to any kind of threat posed to the country.

"The ISIL terrorist group doesn't have the power and capability to threaten the Iranian borders and we don't assume this group to be a threat to us because presence (and growth) of ISIL is never tolerated by the Iranian society," Dehqan said in Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf on Thursday.

"Yet, the Iranian security, military and law enforcement forces are definitely so powerful that they can foil any move by this group before it starts," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Arsal Youth Join Militants to Prepare for Battle against Hizbullah
Let the red on red continue for the improvement of the gene pool.
[AnNahar] Several youth from the northeastern border town of Arsal allegedly headed to its outskirts to join jihadists despite the heavy deployment of the Lebanese army in the village.

Concerned sources informed As Safir newspaper Friday that during the past two days at least ten youth from Arsal headed to its outskirts to join the ranks 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 the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front.

The sources presumed that they aim at participating in any confrontation with Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
in the area.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy's udder had begun to ache...
a prominent security source said in remarks published in al-Joumhouria newspaper that the army is "present in Arsal."

The source denied that the army reinforcements in Arsal a "message to certain political sides," stressing that they aim at soothing the residents of the area and "signal that the military is present to safeguard them from any assault."

"We want to send a message to snuffies that the army is present and ready."

The source noted that Arsal "will not be a conduit or a safe haven for snuffies and will not allow any side to partake in preserving Leb's illusory sovereignty."

On Thursday, the army deployed heavily in the restive town, stepping up its security measures, a move that was welcomed by the anxious residents.

Troops erected checkpoints inside the town and at the entrances of Syrian refugee encampments and staged mechanized patrols.

Jubilant residents "warmly welcomed" the soldiers and "threw rice on them."

The deployment comes after Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
Sunday hinted that his group would try and eliminate the turbans of the IS and al-Nusra from Arsal's outskirts if the Lebanese state failed to do so.

Hizbullah backed by Syrian forces has recently controlled strategic areas in Qalamoun that abuts Leb's eastern border, amid continuing festivities in the region.

Hizbullah cites fear of turbans from the IS group and al-Nusra Front sweeping through Shiite and Christian border villages as one of the main reasons for its involvement in Syria.

Some observers however fear the Qalamoun offensive could prompt Islamist turbans to launch attacks in Shiite areas of Leb itself, including Beirut's southern suburbs.

The IS and Nusra Front have infiltrated Leb in the past, and last August briefly overran Arsal, taking with them several soldiers and coppers hostage, four of whom have been executed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  Popcorn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/30/2015 3:53 Comments || Top||


Iranian Opposition: Iran, N. Korea 'Collaborate' on Nuclear Arms
[AnNahar] An exiled Iranian opposition group accused Tehran Thursday of a "vast collaboration" with North Korea in developing nuclear arms, alleging that experts from both countries made regular intelligence-sharing visits.

"The Iranian regime continues to collaborate with North Korea on nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles," the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a report citing sources close to the Iranian government.

North Korean experts spent a week in the Iranian capital in April this year, the report said, staying at a site close to the country's defence ministry.

It was the third such visit by a North Korean nuclear delegation in 2015 alone, according to the report.

Senior Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was meanwhile in North Korea when it held a third nuclear test in February 2013, the NCRI said, and Iranian experts went to the country on a regular basis.

Impoverished but nuclear-armed North Korea is heavily sanctioned following a series of nuclear and missile tests staged in violation of U.N. resolutions.

Tehran has always denied seeking to develop nuclear arms, saying its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.

But the opposition group said Iran had "no intention" of renouncing what it said was an active strategy to acquire a nuclear bomb.

The NCRI is a political umbrella of five Iranian opposition groups, the largest of which is the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, which was once banned in Europe and the United States as a terror group.

U.S. State Department front man Jeff Rathke said the report was unlikely to alter the progress of ongoing negotiations with Iran on curtailing its nuclear program.

"We're examining the report. But we don't have any information at this time that would lead us to believe that these allegations impact our ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.

"We have not been able to verify (the allegations) thus far," he said.

The People's Mujahedeen has long opposed the nuclear negotiations, and with the NCRI has made several important revelations of the existence of secret nuclear sites in Iran.

Iran on Thursday warned global powers against making "excessive demands" in talks aimed at sealing a deal, after La Belle France demanded access to its military installations.

U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
will once again meet Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Geneva on Saturday, after weeks of behind-the-scenes technical discussions in Vienna seeking to narrow the gaps on curtailing Iran's nuclear program.

June 30 is the deadline for a comprehensive agreement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Obama trusts iran for some reason?
Posted by: paul || 05/30/2015 4:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Obama trusts iran for some reason?

Yes. They will provide his foreign affairs legacy, as promised by his trusted advisor, Valerie Jarret, who grew up there.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 12:56 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
ISIS' favorite tactic for overrunning cities is brilliant, devastating, and insane
"There is little defense against a multi-ton car bomb; there is none against multiple such car bombs. ... the Islamic State is able to overwhelm once-thought formidable static defenses through a calculated and concentrated use of suicide bombers," The Soufan Group notes. "The Islamic State has neither a shortage of such explosives nor a shortage of volunteers eager to partake in suicide attacks."
"JV" = "Jiggy Victorious?"
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  23 of them with the force of OKC bombing, followed by intense ground-fire is enough to end a check on route of passage.
Posted by: newc || 05/30/2015 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  There is little defense against a multi-ton car bomb; there is none against multiple such car bombs

Yet, everybody---except for glorious Iraqi army---somehow manage.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/30/2015 3:51 Comments || Top||

#3  A couple of months back a Peshmerga took one out. He stood in the middle of the road and hit the front with an RPG at close range.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/30/2015 3:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Just think what ISIS could accomplish with a suitcase nuke.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/30/2015 6:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Or something similarly sized, Mr. B.

Coming soon, I fear.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/30/2015 7:24 Comments || Top||

#6  #5 Or something similarly sized, Mr. B.
Coming soon, I fear.


Yes, and our Intelligence Community will be caught totally unawares.... yet again. Unforeseen strategic surprise, unthinkable deed, no contingency plan, a more advanced capability than previously estimated, dastardly and unavoidable.....

The standard spin. Did I miss anything ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/30/2015 8:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Besoeker, "authorities have ruled out terrorism"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/30/2015 12:11 Comments || Top||

#8  There is little defense against a multi-ton car bomb

Basically, the kamikaze approach.

You hit them as far out as you can to diminish the number that arrive on station. Close in you zero elevate the big guns to throw as much lead into their vector.

For landlubbers, mines, wires and obstructions are available. You have to do away with straight roads, forcing the vehicles to decelerate to make turns. Trenches with bridging elements that will only support only so much weight will also reduce delivery capacity.

So the real trade off is inconvenience for security. Being dead is probably most inconvenient, but there will always be whiners who refuse to contemplate the cost of making their job easier.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/30/2015 12:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Drawbridges and portcullises.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/30/2015 15:04 Comments || Top||

#10  We never solved the kamikaze problem in 1945. We ended the war with a nuke.

As long as they have trucks, APCs, and the like they can keep doing this. There is really scary video of a massive car bomb using a ready mix cement truck. It killed two marines who stood in the road and emptied their weapons at the driver, who died triggering the dead man switch on the bomb.

When our Air Farce takes this all seriously and makes it impossible to put a vehicle on the road for fear of an A-10 saying hello, we might have a solution. As long as it takes an hour to get the white house to approve an air strike in Iraq, the Iraqis and their allies are basically screwed.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 05/30/2015 22:58 Comments || Top||

#11  the Iraqis and their allies are basically screwed Allahu Fubar!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/30/2015 23:48 Comments || Top||


The Bergdahl Five Can Return to the Battlefield to Kill Americans on Monday
Bowe Bergdahl is still free as the wind despite deserting his comrades in Afghanistan and causing injuries and deaths to those sent to look for him. The Bergdahl Five will soon be joining him in freedom. Many people don't realize that their detainment in Qatar was only for one year, but Obama was well aware of it. So as of Monday, they can return to the battlefield and are free to kill as many Americans as they want to. They have Barack Obama to thank for that. Obama is no stranger aiding and abetting murder. Just ask the Benghazi Four or the three hundred or so Mexicans butchered by Obama and Holder supplied weapons. And don't forget the dozens of Americans who have been murdered by illegal aliens that Obama released from custody when he decided to let them stay.

The Bergdahl Five aren't just ordinary Taliban fighters. No, two of them have been responsible for the killing of thousands of Muslims, who were not considered radical enough. Maybe we need to review who this five is and what they've accomplished:
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You gets what you vote for---free stuff!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/30/2015 3:52 Comments || Top||

#2  A 'deal' was hatched here somewhere, and it had little to do with Bergdahl.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/30/2015 6:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Qui Bono?
Posted by: Pappy || 05/30/2015 10:23 Comments || Top||

#4 


Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 05/30/2015 11:29 Comments || Top||

#5  The Bergdahl Five - great name for a band.
Posted by: Raj || 05/30/2015 12:17 Comments || Top||

#6  The band of Murderers Row is back.
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 05/30/2015 13:00 Comments || Top||


Truck Bombs: The Islamic State's 'Air Force'
[AnNahar] They're easy to drive and hard to stop, can be made on a farm and destroy a city block: 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's monstrous truck bombs are reshaping the battlefield.

The jihadists used about 30 explosives-rigged vehicles in the Iraqi city of Ramadi this month, blasting their way through positions government and allied fighters had managed to hold for more than a year.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/30/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2015-05-30
  4 dead as Saudi Arabia 'foils' attack on mosque
Fri 2015-05-29
  Rebels seize Assad's last stronghold in Idlib
Thu 2015-05-28
  Airstrikes kill at least 80 in deadliest bombings of Yemen war
Wed 2015-05-27
  Shiite militia claims ISIS leader killed near Fallujah
Tue 2015-05-26
  Suicide bomber blows himself up during Rangers operation in Karachi
Mon 2015-05-25
  Syria: IS executes hundreds in Palmyra
Sun 2015-05-24
  Prayer leader explodes in mosque
Sat 2015-05-23
  Kunar Drone Strike Kills Four Taliban
Fri 2015-05-22
  Air strikes kill 15 militants in North Waziristan
Thu 2015-05-21
  Kurds advance against Islamic State in northeastern Syria
Wed 2015-05-20
  IS Attacks Syria Druze Village, Battles for Palmyra
Tue 2015-05-19
  US drone strike in North Waziristan leaves six 'militants' dead
Mon 2015-05-18
  ISIS confirms Ramadi capture
Sun 2015-05-17
  US special forces kill senior IS leader in Syria: Pentagon
Sat 2015-05-16
  Jury sentences Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for marathon attack

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