[Khaama Press] The Afghan officials expressed concerns regarding the growing rate of population in Afghanistan while celebrating the World Population Day 2018.
Afghanistan’s Minister of Economy Mustafa Mastoor said the population growth rate has been recorded at 2.14 per cent.
Mastoor further added that the growth rate is a matter of concern for a country like Afghanistan which has less economic growth rate as compared to its population growth rate.
In the meantime, Mastoor said the Ministry of Economy is working on a plan for the better management of population in Afghanistan.
The head of the Central Statistics Organization Habibullah Mohid warned that the country could face major problems due to the unjustified management of the population growth.
According to Mohid, the developed countries face the issues of declining population growth rate while the developing countries face the issues of the increasing population growth rate.
On the other hand, the deputy public health minister Dr. Ahmad Jan Naeem said the growing population will have negative effects on the environment, education, health, and social opportunities.
Dr. Naeem said the ministry of public health will introduce modern methods for family planning until 2020.
[KhaamaPress] The Taliban militants have said they are waiting to receive a formal offer from the United States for direct talks to find a solution to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
The group also shared a demand ahead of the talks with the United States, saying "We want names of our leaders removed from the United Nations sanctions list as a confidence building measure ahead of the talks," according to Daily Times.
"We will start official talks with the US about the withdrawal of foreign forces and their concerns," the Taliban representative told the Pakistan-based paper.
"We want direct negotiations with the US to find out a solution to the problem. We want talks on the withdrawal of the foreign troops first and then we will work for peace," he further said.
This comes as reports emerged on Monday suggesting that the Administration of President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered its top diplomat to seek direct talks with the Taliban group in Afghanistan in a bid to help kick start Afghan negotiations.
Sources privy of the development in U.S. and Afghanistan have told The New York Times that the Trump administration is considering a strategy shift to help the launch of a broader, formal negotiations to end the long war.
No date has been set for the likely talks between the US and the Taliban group with the US State Department and the Taliban yet to formally comment regarding the latest developments.
[KhaamaPress] The NATO-led Resolute Mission has rejected remarks attributed to US Forces and Resolute Support Mission Commander General John Nicholson regarding the direct US talks with the Taliban group.
"The United States is not a substitute for the Afghan people or the Afghan government," said U.S. Army Gen. John Nicholson, Resolute Support commander.
He said "My reaffirmation of Secretary Pompeo's statement in which he said peace talks would include a discussion of international forces and that the United States is ready to work with the Taliban, the Afghan government and the Afghan people towards lasting peace was mischaracterized."
According to Resolute Support Mission, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued his statement, June 16, days after the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's unilateral cease-fire with the Taliban was announced by H.E. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and began, June 12.
"As President Ghani emphasized in his statement to the Afghan people, peace talks by necessity would include a discussion of the role of international actors and forces," said Pompeo in his statement. "The United States is prepared to support, facilitate, and participate in these discussions."
"The U.S. is exploring all avenues to advance a peace process in close consultation with the Afghan government," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Martin L. O'Donnell, Resolute Support spokesman. "But this remains an Afghan-led process."
#1
There will be talks. The Tribes do not want you running them and the Religious Clerics are Horrified at you. This Brutality serves no purpose and we all know this is run through Pakistan too.
Aghans are decent people and you have rotted them with this constant surge of hate, fear, dogma, and horrible governorship.
I Pray you listen to the Village Chieftains from now on. Or I may sick something upon you more horrible than you could ever fathom in the realm of possibility with the Wrath of GOD.
You, Taliban, are not the boss of Afghanistan.
Start there. Or die.
#2
The group also shared a demand ahead of the talks with the United States, saying "We want names of our leaders removed from the United Nations sanctions list as a confidence building measure ahead of the talks," according to Daily Times.
Ummmm...NO
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2018 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
#3
as a confidence building measure ahead of the talks, Mattis DRONE STRIKES!
I disagree with this blanket statement. There may be decent Afghans but liberated Afghanistan is a hostile and evil entity because the Afghan people's mainstream opinion wants it to be.
Supporting Afghanistan may be expedient for reasons of realpolitik, but it is not a moral cause.
Talking to the Taliban is even worse, because it further undermines what is left of Western and US deterrence.
[KhaamaPress] The supporters of Junbish Milli party have warned the government of uprisings if their demands are not met.
Hundreds of supporters of Junbish party started protests in northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan today amid reports several roads connecting the northern and northeastern provinces have been blocked.
The protesters demand the immediate release of the acting police chief of Qaisar district of Faryab Nizamuddin Qaisari.
They also demand the immediate return of the First Vice President of Afghanistan General Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... The acting police chief of Qaisar district of Faryab Nizamuddin Qaisari was incarcerated You have the right to remain silent... by the security forces on charges of violating laws.
The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North had earlier said Qaisari was arrested following a scuffle with the security forces.
In the meantime, reports indicate that the protesters have blocked the roads connecting Takhar province with the northern Kunduz and northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan.
[AlAhram] Egyptian authorities said on Tuesday that the Rafah border crossing with the Gazoo Strip is still open in both directions to stranded travellers and humanitarian cases, despite a technical failure in the crossing’s communication system.
Authorities dismissed media reports on Tuesday that the crossing was closed.
Until it was closed on Monday, the crossing, the only pedestrian passageway between Egypt and Gazoo, had largely been open since late May.
The Paleostinian ambassador in Cairo, Diab al-Louh said the crossing has been facing technical issues related to its communications systems over the past two days.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
[SUNNEWSONLINE] The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), yesterday, reported that the disputed leader of 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... , Abubakar Shekau ... the lunatic leader of Boko Haram who has been reported dead at least eleven times, pledged his body and soul to ISIS, told his fighters to hang it up once or twice, and been fired by the Caliph and refused to step down ... , has said he is still in charge of the sect; despite a statement by so-called 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) that he had been replaced.
Shekau denounced the IS declaration that Abu Musab al-Barnawi is now leader and accused al-Barnawi of trying to stage a coup against him.
In the last 18 months, Boko Haram has lost most of the territory it had controlled; after being pushed back by an offensive by the forces of Nigeria and its neighbours.
Boko Haram aligned itself with IS in March 2015.
Shekau was last heard from in an audio message last August, where he affirmed he was alive and had not been replaced-an IS video released in April said the same.
In a 10-minute audio message in Arabic and Hausa, Shekau appeared to distance Boko Haram from IS but still called its leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart... caliph.
The BBC did not state when the clip was recorded.
He said that some in Boko Haram had stopped him communicating with al-Baghdadi.
"I was asked to send my ideology in writing to the Caliph but it was manipulated by some people, in order to achieve their own selfish interests," he added, and described that move as a coup attempt against him.
Shekau, according to the BBC, said he had sent eight different letters to IS leaders but they did not act on them, only to hear the news that he had been replaced.
He then described al-Barnawi and his followers as polytheist. Boko Haram has split before but this is the most serious division to date.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)
Two Donkeys jumped up on the stump,
Each shtupping the other one's rump,
And they bumped and they humped
And they thumped as they stumped,
So exciting the Trunks
And mass media monks
That their pompously preaching
And stomping and screeching
Soon summoned up Donald J. Trump.
Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... ians fleeing an increasingly bloody separatist conflict have received little aid as humanitarian agencies struggle to access the area, the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... said.
More than 200,000 people have fled their homes in the volatile western regions since late last year, in addition to at least 21,000 who have fled into Nigeria, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.
The regions have been gripped by violence since protests by the mainly Frenchie-loving country's Anglophone minority morphed into a secessionist movement last year.
There were no humanitarian agencies in the area before the insurgency, and bad roads, travel restrictions and unpredictable attacks have made it difficult for them to go in, said Modibo Traore, the head of OCHA in Cameroon.
Most of the people who have fled festivities are hiding in the woods, he said. Some have bullet wounds but are afraid to venture into urban areas for medical care.
"The people living in the forest are asking for more assistance, saying that conditions are very difficult," Traore told the Rooters Thomson Foundation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Tajikistan and Russia have commenced joint military exercises near the Tajik-Afghan border in a bid to boost the Central Asian country’s readiness in warding off potential attacks by the Afghanistan-based Taliban ...Arabic for students... holy warrior group.
Tajikistan's Defense Ministry in a statement announced the news on Tuesday, saying that more than 10,000 soldiers, mostly Tajik reservists, had participated in the first such drills in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region.
Combined troops will practice "eliminating bully boyz who broke through" from Afghanistan in an imagined incursion, the statement added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the enormous newt was trying to decide if Gloria was edible... the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation said in a statement that some 400 troopers and 80 pieces of Russian military equipment were deployed from a military base in Tajikistan for the drills, which are scheduled to be concluded on Friday.
The two countries have intensified military cooperation since US-led forces began pulling out troops from Afghanistan in large numbers in 2014. The ex-Soviet allies also held similar drills in March 2016.
This is the first time that Dushanbe has held such military drills in the sometimes restive Gorno-Badakhshan, where festivities between government troops and rebel forces broke out some six years ago. Previous exercises had been held in the country's southern province of Khatlon.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
December 09, 2010
Russian border guards are up for returning to the Tajik-Afghan border if Tajikistan were to ask them to come back. According to Maksim Peshkov, director of the CIS department at the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russia's ex-ambassador to Tajikistan, the return of the Russian Border Guards Service to safeguard Tajikistan's southern borders has been discussed between the two countries' authorities.
Russian border guards were stationed alongside the Tajik border until 2006, when the task of guarding the border was handed over to their Tajik counterparts. A small group of Russian experts still remain there as consultants to the Tajik border services. Tajikistan shares a 1,200 kilometer border with Afghanistan, which is considered a major transit route for Afghan opium to Central Asia, and on to Russia and Europe.
[AnNahar] Ottoman Turkish authorities have stopped registering "all but a handful" of newly-arrived Syrian refugees, depriving them of essential services and putting them at risk of deportation, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... is hosting some 3.5 million refugees from the Syrian civil war and its generosity since the conflict broke out in 2011 has won international praise. But there have been growing social tensions over their continued presence.
A Ottoman Turkish official contacted by AFP said in response to the HRW report that "we have always welcomed Syrians and we still welcome them", adding "people who are in Turkey have access to all the services they need."
HRW said that the suspension of registration -- a key step for newly-arrived refugees -- "is leading to unlawful deportations, coerced returns to Syria, and the denial of health care and education."
It described the suspension of registration as "Turkey's latest effort to deny new asylum seekers protection", adding that Turkey's border with Syria was now effectively "sealed-off."
The registration suspension applied to nine provinces on or near the Syrian border and Istanbul, it added.
HRW noted that since late August 2015 "only registered Syrians who obtain a special travel permit have been allowed to travel within Turkey."
Its associate refugee program director Gerry Simpson said that the EU, which was keen to limit the refugee flow to Europe, was "turning a blind eye to Turkey's latest steps to block and discourage people fleeing Syria."
Turkey meanwhile has been assisting refugees return to areas in northern Syria where the Ottoman Turkish army and allied Syrian rebels ousted Islamist turbans and Kurdish militias in military operations.
"We never deport to Syria", added the Ottoman Turkish official. "Some Syrians are choosing to go back to areas liberated by Turkey."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists
#1
Strzok was born in 1970 and probably spent no more than a year or two in Iran (before the revolution) as well as a year or two in Africa and probably some time elsewhere.
Strzok went to high school and college in the US. Served in the US Army (probably in counter Intel so we won't be able to get any details) and joined the FBI in 1996. With respect to working for Obama and Brennan in Iran affairs we have only the word of an unidentified person.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/18/2018 14:16 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Dozens of people from different civil society organizations on Monday staged a demonstration outside the Election Commission of Pakistain’s office protesting against its decision of allowing banned outfits to contest polls with difference names.
Mohammad Ali, Khalid Rao, Asad Zaidi, Waleed Mehmood Sheikh and Asad Gokal leading the protest said removing proscribed persons’ names from the Fourth Schedule just 21 days before the election and lifting the ban on terrorist outfits raised many eyebrows.
They added that the banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations were involved in several killings and other criminal activities.
The protestors were carrying placards inscribed with the hate remarks made by the banned organizations and their leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
The poll workers find it distressing
But toss in the towel, acquiescing:
"Though smelling of salad,
That ballot is valid!"
She votes in chipotle ranch dressing.
[IsraelTimes] IDF drills to conquer all of Gazoo, as Israel said to have warned Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", it is prepared to embark on campaign in Strip if arson kite launches don't cease by Friday
Israel’s politicianship has reportedly instructed the army to prepare for a military offensive in the Gazoo Strip, to be initiated if the launching of incendiary devices from the Hamas-run coastal enclave into Israeli territory continues.
According to a Channel 10 news report Tuesday, Israel has set Friday as a deadline for the flaming kite and balloon launches to cease. If this does not happen, Israel may decide it has no choice but to embark on a military campaign in the Strip, the report said.
Israel sent a similar message to Hamas through Egyptian intelligence, Channel 10 reported, with the Paleostinian terror group in turn indicating its forces will work to stop the launching of burning materials by Friday.
On Sunday, the IDF’s 162nd Armored Division launched an exercise simulating a war in the Gazoo Strip, including the capture of Gazoo City. While the military said it was planned in advance and was not related to the weekend’s exchange of fire, the manner in which the exercise was publicized by the military led many to see it as a tacit threat to Hamas.
Hamas is manning some 60 percent of its positions along the border fence in order to stop the launches, according to the TV report, and is expected to dispatch its forces to all of its posts by Friday.
Citing Paleostinian sources, the report said Hamas would only put a complete stop to the flaming kite launches if it can achieve some sort of accomplishment, such as the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The Paleostinian Liberation Organization’s ambassador to Egypt said earlier Tuesday the crossing would reopen on Wednesday after being shuttered for more than 24 hours over technical issues.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, reportedly tells Egypt it is unable to halt the fire balloons and kites but is working to reduce the number
Egypt has told Hamas that it must work to halt the practice of sending flying incendiary devices from Gazoo into Israel within a few days, according to a Tuesday report.
Cairo sent a message to Hamas saying that it had a few days to clamp down on the kites, balloons and other objects with flammable materials being flown over the border, according to the Ynet news site.
The report did not say when the message was sent and there was no immediate confirmation of its contents.
Hamas explained to the Egyptians that it is unable to stop the attacks but is working to reduce their number, according to the report.
"Hamas cannot stop the balloons in one go, because it will harm its status vis-a-vis the residents of the Gazoo Strip and those who support it in general, because it would be a capitulation, so therefore it must do so gradually," a source in Gazoo told Ynet.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
They will never stop. Time to see what they have and haul some out of there.
You have a Green Light, but the decision is yours.
Just telling you, this will not stop.
Aside of taking it over again, which I know you do not want, this is a paws on operation.
[IsraelTimes] GOSHAWK, developed by Beersheba-based RoboTiCan, identifies and neutralizes airborne incendiary threats without need for human input
The Israeli military has begun using an autonomous drone system to counter the threat of incendiary kites and balloons in the Gazoo Strip, Hadashot news reported Tuesday.
The GOSHAWK system, developed by Beersheba-based RoboTiCan, uses optic sensors to identify the launch of airborne arson devices, then launches another drone to intercept the threat and neutralize it ‐ a process the system handles from start to finish without any human input.
The system has been deployed in the field in recent weeks and has seen some success.
RoboTiCan CEO Hagai Balshai told Hadashot the system was orginally developed to counter potential threats by drones, but has now been converted to deal with the arson problem.
On Tuesday, incendiary balloons from Gazoo landed in a preschool yard in an Israeli community, near the border as children played outside, and in an elementary school closed for summer vacation in another community. There were no injuries.
In total, 17 fires were sparked by arson devices flown from Gazoo in the course of Tuesday.
The army says hundreds of incendiary devices have been brought down through the use of drones ‐ though most have been operated by human handlers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Mmm, autonomous flying killbots. That would be a fun project to work on.
#3
Kites and balloons can be in nearly infinite variations and materials. The terrorists launching them are a finite resource. Eliminate them
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2018 11:09 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The Israeli IDF already has a super-smelly non-lethal weapon in Skunk. Arm the drones with paintball guns , hand out controllers and make it into a tournament for the IDF drone operators. It is hard to be a super-cool jihadi after you have been "skunked".
#6
It should be tied into an autonomous counter-battery system, so that launching a kite earns you say, 8 155mm WP rounds in return. You get your fire and everyone is happy.
[AlAhram] A number of armed Syrian opposition factions in the coastal region of Syria have signed on Monday evening a cease-fire agreement in Cairo under the sponsorship of the Egyptian General Intelligence, guranteed by the Federal Republic of Russia, and by Sheikh Ahmed al-Jarba, the head of the Syrian Tayyar al-Al-Ghad current.
The deal included an agreement on participation in efforts to combat terrorism, and working towards reaching a political settlement to the Syrian crisis, the return of refugees and displaced to their residences, and the releasing of detainees.
Other Syrian armed factions in the North Homs country side, including Gaish al-Tawhid, have also signed an agreement under the sponsorship of Egypt, guaranteed by Russia and through the mediation of Sheikh Ahmed al-Jarba to join the efforts to combat terrorism in Syria and found a peace and security force in the area.
The leaders of the Syrian factions, which signed the agreement in the meetings in Cairo, thanked the Egyptian President's Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for the efforts Egypt is exerting to resolve the Syrian crisis and alleviate the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people.
The front man of the Syrian Ghad Current, Munzir Akbik, said in statements to journalists that the Cairo agreement concerning the countryside of Homs deals with residents' concerns about the Syrian regime’s intervention in those areas, and the fears that the displaced would be returned but without the young men who were conscripted by the regime.
The agreement states that a security force will be established of 1,000 personnel, mainly from Gaish al-Tawhid members, to maintain security in the Homs countryside, and this guarantee the young men will return to the area to complete their military service there.
Akbik cited serious moves from the Russian side, who pledged to communicate with Bashir al-Assad’s regime to prevent any intervention, in addition to guaranteeing the safe return of displaced people to their villages and cities.
Regarding the other agreement involving the coastal region, Akbik stated that the ceasefire deal included the first coastal division faction, which pledged to halt its exchange of fire with regime forces and join counter-terrorism efforts against al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[PRESSTV] The International Court of Justice has confirmed Iran's filling of a lawsuit against the United States over its re-imposing sanctions against the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) made the confirmation on Tuesday, one day after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced that it had been requested.
Following the ICJ's announcement, a State Department official claimed that the lawsuit was meritless and that Washington would attempt to counter it in court.
"While we cannot comment on the specifics, Iran's application is baseless and we intend to vigorously defend the United States before the ICJ," said a State Department spokesperson on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[DAWN] Iran is ready to boost its uranium enrichment to higher levels if talks fail with Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... on salvaging the nuclear deal, a top official said on Tuesday.
"We have of course adopted some measures in order to prepare the ground for eventually increasing the level of enrichment if it is needed and if the negotiations with the Europeans fail," Behrouz Kamalvandi, front man and vice-president of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told a news conference in Tehran.
"We are of course continuing to carry out and implement our obligations based on the JCPOA," he said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that put strict limits on its atomic programme in return for sanctions relief.
"But at the same time, taking every scenario into consideration, we are preparing ourselves," he added. The United States announced in May that it was abandoning the 2015 agreement and reimposing nuclear-related sanctions, threatening global companies with heavy penalties if they continue to operate in Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
... 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...
... the lunatic leader of Boko Haram who has been reported dead at least eleven times, pledged his body and soul to ISIS, told his fighters to hang it up once or twice, and been fired by the Caliph and refused to step down ...
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
[DAWN] Iran is ready to boost its uranium enrichment to higher levels if talks fail with 
