[Garowe] al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... , functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... Death Eaters disguised themselves as elite security officers from the Somali National Army [SNA] before gaining access to the highly fortified Mogadishu mayor's office, multiple sources have confirmed, leading to a six-hour siege that left over five civilians dead.
The six Death Eaters who were donned in what looked like Special forces' garments gained access at midday Mogadishu time in the company of a jacket wallah who let 'er rip outside the building, sources noted. What followed was an intense fight with security forces on the site.
Five Death Eaters temporarily controlled the complex as security forces focused more on evacuating hundreds of civilians who were seeking services in the building which hosts Hassan Jimale, the Banadir regional governor who also doubles as Mogadishu mayor for the last three years.
It took security officers over six hours to end the siege, shooting dead the Death Eaters who were causing havoc on Sunday in the busy town. At least five non-combatants were killed instantly while four others were critically injured in the attack which has been widely condemned.
"At about 12 noon they hit the back gate facing Hamarweyne [district] with a kaboom," Deputy Mayor Isse Gure said while noting that the attackers walked to the building masquerading as members of the security forces.
At the time of the attack, Yusuf Hussein Jimale, the mayor of the town was not at the site since he was outside the country for official businesses. It is not clear if he was the target of the raid but al-Shabaab usually targeted top government officials in such raids, along with innocent civilians.
The al-Shabaab Death Eaters grabbed credit through telegram messages but did not disclose the initial target. The al-Shabaab Death Eaters said they killed 34 officials including members of the administration but did not give evidence to support their claims.
"When the earth-shattering kaboom happened, I was in Hamarweyne, not that far from where the earth-shattering kaboom took place," said VOA Somali stringer Abdiaziz Ahmed Barrow.
He said people were preparing for midday prayers at the time.
"We heard a huge explosion, it was a powerful one that shocked the people," he said. "I saw people fleeing from the scene; the ambulances came to the scene. The security forces have arrived, and they have opened fire."
Barrow said people started running as the situation changed quickly.
"People I know were maimed [in the attack], some of them [are] my friends," he said. "I have seen some people with blood running away."
In 2019, the al-Shabaab targeted city mayor Abdirahman Osman alias Engineer Yarisow, who would later succumb to his wounds. The Death Eaters have been on the receiving end in the last six months, losing key strategic towns across rural central and southern Somalia.
[Garowe] The war against al-Shabaab ...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all of which have enough problems without them... has taken a new shape following the latest incorporation of religious scholars by the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who has vowed to use all opportunities at his disposal to dethrone the group from their traditional strongholds.
Al-Shabaab, who control sections of central and southern Somalia, have been losing their strongholds to the Somali National Army [SNA] which has a strong backing of the US Africa Command, the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] and lately, the local militia.
On Monday, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud opened a three-day forum which brings together religious scholars from across the country with the main aim being asking for their support in the fight against the bandidossnuffies who have been wreaking havoc in the country and across the borders.
"Somali Religious Scholars conference has commenced today in Mogadishu to discuss the role of Somali scholars in countering the holy warriors ’Khawaarij’ ideology, and express solidarity with the President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s rallying call to defeat international terrorism in Somalia," state media noted.
Since taking over in June 2022, President Hassan Sheikh has been insisting on collectivism in the fight against al-Shabaab, noting that the war cannot be fought only on military fronts. The country has been depending on the weak military to defeat al-Shabaab, thus dependency on the foreign military.
The president insisted that there is a need to invest in ideological tactics to overcome radicalization which usually targets the youth. And now, the pre says religious scholars will be indispensable in the war, noting that their role will significantly shape the approach to eliminating the murderous Moslems.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told the scholars that the government summoned them in order to listen to their advice. He urged the scholars to form Somali Scholars Council to give guidance on religious decisions, mostly on tackling the radicalization of youths by murderous Moslems.
After taking over, the president did not hesitate to pick Mukhtar Robow, the former al-Shabaab deputy as the minister of Religious Affairs and Endowment. Mukhtar Robow has been closely working with religious scholars and was instrumental in Monday's meeting.
This last makes me very uncomfortable. It feels like surrendering to the essence of Al Shabaab without surrendering militarily.
#BurkinaFaso ends its military collaboration with #France, the second West African nation to sever defense links that were forged to combat a decade-long extremist insurgency in the region.https://t.co/nMjQsj3QMe
[IsraelTimes] Foreign policy chief Borrell says move can only be made if a member country first passes a ruling condemning IRGC for terrorist acts.
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... is set Monday to impose sanctions on several more Iranian officials suspected of playing a role in the crackdown on protesters, but won’t add the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to the EU’s terror group blacklist.
There has been vociferous pushback from Iranian officials against the listing move, along with warnings that European countries would face retaliation if it went ahead.
The 27-nation bloc has already imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iranian officials and organizations — including government ministers, military officers and Iran’s morality police — for human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... abuses over the protests that erupted in Iran ...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence... in mid-September over the death of Mahsa Amini.
The 22-year-old woman died after being arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s strict dress code. Women have played a leading role in the protests, with many publicly removing the compulsory Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab.
At least four people have been executed since the demonstrations began, following rapid, closed-door trials. At least 519 people have been killed and more than 19,200 others arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the rallies.
The movement has become one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s Shiite theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
While EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, will target more officials with travel bans and asset freezes, they won’t move forward on blacklisting the Revolutionary Guard Corps, despite last week’s appeal from the European Parliament for them to do so.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who chaired the meeting, said that this could only happen once a court in a member country hands down a ruling condemning the Iranian guard corps for terror acts.
"It is something that cannot be decided without a court decision first," he told news hounds.
European officials also fear that blacklisting the Revolutionary Guard would all but end the slim hopes the bloc might have of resuscitating the Iran nuclear agreement, which has been on ice since the Trump administration withdrew from the internationally-backed accord in 2018.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg expressed regret about Tehran’s recent actions and backed the plan to impose new sanctions.
Iran, Schallenberg said, "is on a collision course, with not only the international community, as far as the safeties of the nuclear program are concerned, but also with its own people, with the brutal crackdown of the civil society movement."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/24/2023 00:28 ||
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#1
Europe can't afford another war. They're already being stressed by the NATO war in Ukraine. How are they going to maintain their fabulous welfare states?
Teresa Yue Shen, 31, was one of seven activists arrested in Atlanta last week
Mental health consultant Shen traveled from Brooklyn to Atlanta to protest the creation of 'cop city'
She was charged with domestic terrorism and aggravated assault of an officer, and was previously arrested during an anti-ICE demonstration at the Bergen County Jail in 2021
She previously worked for both CNN and Reuters as an intern before her arrest
DailyMail.com can reveal her father is a Chinese media mogul in New Jersey
Since June 2021, Antifa and other far-left extremists from across the US have occupied the area to prevent the construction of what they've dubbed 'cop city.'
It comes after Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, 26, was shot dead after allegedly opening fire at a Georgia State Patrol trooper during a 'clearing operation'. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) said a Georgia State Patrol trooper was shot and severely injured during the raid by a man camped in the area. Officers returned fire and killed the gunman, who allegedly used a pistol.
During the multi-agency operation GBI said approximately 25 campsites were located and removed from the site. Additionally, mortar style fireworks, multiple edged weapons, pellet rifles, gas masks, and a blow torch were recovered. Three people contacted in connection with the materials were asked to provide their names to authorities and then let go.
Activists previously called for a 'Night of Rage' and bloodshed against the police following the shooting – threatening to enact 'reciprocal violence' against the authorities.
Six more protestors were arrested on Saturday, after setting fire to items during riots and being found with explosive devices. The protestors, who call themselves forest defenders, are claiming that the police have 'murdered' one of their own and are demanding 'action'.
In a statement posted on social media, the Scenes from the Atlanta Forest account said: 'A call for retaliation. Consider this a call for reciprocal violence to be done to the police and their allies. On Friday, January 20th, wherever you are, you are invited to participate in a night of rage in order to honor the memory of our fallen comrade.’
In several posts sweeping social media, they claim that the police are 'lying' and 'refusing to release bodycam footage' of the incident. They are also angrily rejecting claims that the protestor who was killed shot at police first, and even claim that the trooper was shot in 'friendly fire'.
Some 'anonymous' members of the Atlanta Forest Defenders appeared in an Open Society Foundations-sponsored story about the autonomous zone in The Guardian. George Soros is the chairman of the OSF, and has given away more than $32billion of his personal fortune to fund the group.
In May, eight militants were arrested after police patrolling the land were assaulted and pelted with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Five people were arrested on December 13 for allegedly polotting terror attacks at the soon-to-be police academy: Serena Hertel, 25, of California, Leonard Voiselle, 20, of Macon, Georgia, Nicholas Dean Olson, 25, of Bennington, Nebraska, Francis M. Carroll, 22, of Kennebunkport, Maine and Arieon Robinson, 21, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Atlanta Police Department said Carroll was charged again on Saturday along with Nadja Geier, 24, from Nashville, Tennessee; Madeleine Feola, 22, from Spokane, Washington; Ivan Ferguson, 23, from Nevada; Graham Evatt, 20, from Decatur, Georgia; and Emily Murphy 37, from Grosse Ile, Michigan.
Left-wing groups used Twitter to fundraise bail for suspects after another six were arrested in August – charged with various crimes from burglary to criminal damage. Members of the group tried to burn a man to death after he drove into the area, and he was forced to run for his life after they torched it with him still in it.
After their members were arrested the Defend the Atlanta Forest group held a protest outside of Dekalb County Jail and let off explosive fireworks. The Atlanta Jail Support, a project of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, also issued calls to fundraise bail money for the terror suspects using Twitter.
Convictions of domestic terrorism carry with it sentences of anywhere between five and 35 years in prison.
#3
Being as there's enthusiasm for prosecuting the parents of some of the school shooters, maybe it's time to go after these red diaper doper babies' parents too.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/24/2023 11:33 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Call CPS, this is some messed up $h!t.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/24/2023 12:16 Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] Maher Ibrahim lost his job after he was seriously hurt by Israeli embassy guard’s gunfire, in incident that killed 2 people and strained ties.
A Jordanian court has ordered the Israeli embassy in Amman to pay $500,000 in compensation to a Jordanian man who was injured by an Israeli embassy guard in 2017, in an incident that saw two people rubbed out and caused a significant strain in bilateral relations.
Ziv Moyal, the guard, opened fire after one of the Jordanians allegedly attacked him, whereupon Jordan briefly refused to allow him to return to Israel and became irate when he was later warmly welcomed back to the country by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The incident prompted all diplomatic staff, including Ambassador Einat Schlein, to return to Israel, which had no diplomatic presence in Jordan for six months before a new ambassador was appointed.
Jordanian media reported over the weekend that the court had accepted the arguments of the plaintiff, Maher Fares Ibrahim, a furniture transporter who was maimed in the incident and recognized as handicapped, and suffered significant financial losses because he was unable to continue working.
In 2018, Israel agreed to pay $5 million in compensation to the Jordanian government, which transferred it to the families of the two people who were rubbed out in the incident. The kingdom had also demanded that Israel prosecute Moyal over the deaths.
Israel has maintained he acted in self-defense and hasn’t agreed to press charges against him.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Jordan briefly refused to allow Moyal to return to Israel or to acknowledge his diplomatic immunity. But a day later, Moyal and the rest of the embassy staff were allowed to return to Israel.
Netanyahu was criticized for his handling of the incident after his office released footage of him meeting and praising Moyal before either country’s Sherlocks had determined what had happened during the incident.
Relations have once again become strained since Netanyahu regained power last month and formed a hardline government with far-right factions.
A visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir earlier this month, and Jordanian Ambassador Ghassan Majali being delayed by police at the entrance to the flashpoint holy site last week, have angered Amman and sparked several dressing-downs of Israeli Ambassador Eitan Surkis.
Far right leaders in Sweden and the Netherlands destroyed Korans last weekend
Protests across Muslim world saw Swedish flags burned after anti-Islamic stunt
Tensions grow as Turkish demands mount during Swedish bid to join NATO
Parts of the Muslim world have erupted into protest over the last few days, demanding the closure of Swedish embassies after Sweden issued the permit for Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right Stram Kurs party, to burn the holy book at a rally.
Turkey also summoned the Dutch ambassador today to express upset with a separate stunt that saw pages ripped out of the Koran by far-right Pegida movement leader Edwin Wagensveld in the Netherlands on Sunday.
In Yemen, thousands gathered yesterday in Sanaa in protest of the Koran burning in Stockholm. Yemenis were also pictured burning flags of the United States and Israel.
Elsewhere, an Iraqi policeman and seven protesters were injured on Monday during a rally of dozens outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.
Indonesia also condemned the permit given for Paludan to burn a Koran on Saturday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Sweden could no longer expect support for its NATO membership bid following its decision to grant Paludan a permit to burn the Koran.
Relations between Sweden and Turkey have soured as the former seeks Turkish support for its NATO membership bid.
Sweden and Finland have sought to join NATO since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but their bids must be approved by all 30 NATO member states.
Both still rely on votes from Turkey and Hungary, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has to deliver in 2023.
Erdogan's warning prompted Finland, which applied to join NATO together with its Nordic neighbour, yesterday.
Rasmus Paludan said ahead of the book burning that he wanted to 'mark some freedom of speech' after the hanging of an effigy of Turkish President Tayyip in Stockholm by pro-Kurdish activists provoked a strong reaction in Turkey.
Turkish officials said the act went against an agreement made under which Sweden and Finland would crack down on Kurdish militants as both sought to appease Turkey in return for their support in joining NATO. Both Sweden and Finland have populations of ethnic Kurds, many of whom fled persecution in Turkey in the 1970s and 1980s.
State Department spokesperson for the United States said that the Koran burning may have been a deliberate attempt to sabotage unity in NATO on Monday. Ned Price told reporters that the 'repugnant' and 'disgusting' act was the doing of a 'provocateur' intent on putting distance between Turkey and Sweden.
[IsraelTimes] Siamak Namazi calls on Biden to consider plight of captive Americans, accuses successive US presidents of being more concerned with ’political thermometer’ than ’moral compass’.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/24/2023 01:21 ||
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Link ||
[21 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Everything I see, tends to points to Siamak Namazi working for, or with, the Iranian Government, or to help Iranian Businesses set up in the world .. right up to his arrest.
1st up.
Siamak Namazi, is an Iranian citizen who then added the U.S. citizen part in 1993.
2nd.
His father, former upper level Shah of Iran elite circle type.
Came to the US in 1983, a few years prior to Islamic Revolutionary Coup.
3rd. AFTER getting his US Citizenship, he has even flown back to IRAN in the mid 90's to served out his Iranian compulsory military service. Note: Wasn't the US Military having Iranian issues the 1990's?
4th.
From 1994 to 1996, he worked as a duty officer with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning in Tehran.
5th.
In 1998, Namazi founded Future Alliance International, a Washington, D.C.–based consulting company focused on the risks of doing business in Iran.
6th.
Namazi later worked as managing director at his family’s consulting firm, Atieh Bahar Consulting, which sought to assist Iranian businesses with developing ties with foreign firms seeking to operate in Iran.
There was more last week but it seems the Internet search engines sure have adjusted the "finds" since.
#2
Oh my. That is exceedingly interesting, Spising Elmomoque2230. But why would he have been arrested? Left hand not knowing what the right is doing, pretend arrest to manipulate the Americans, Mullah factions fighting among themselves with him as the pawn?
#Turkey's foreign policy in northern #Syria has been to threaten and attack the region under the pretext of fighting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (#PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (#SDF). #TwitterKurdshttps://t.co/2Mc8nAjZjr
Since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, Syrians chasing ‘the dream’ have flooded Europe, escaping an ever-deteriorating economy and growing insecurity. Today, Syria’s future remains as uncertain as ever.
The main problem is Syria’s northern neighbor – Turkey. Turkey’s foreign policy in northern Syria has been to threaten and attack the region under the pretext of fighting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The threat of war has pushed Syrian Kurds to take on the arduous journey to Europe.
“SAFE ZONE – DANGER ZONE”
Turkey is pursuing a two-pronged strategy: to expel Syrian Kurds from the border region and to resettle the area – which Ankara calls a ‘safe zone’ – with Syrian Arabs currently residing in Turkey. As it attempts to implement this grand plan, the Turkish government has made use of irredentist claims over Syrian territory that arch back to the post-World War I period and the founding of the Turkish Republic.
Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink, an expert on Kurds and Turkey, told North Press, “Turkey’s alleged ‘safe zone’ will be a ‘danger zone’. The international community is not convinced by Turkey’s rhetoric, but Europe is scared by the Syrian refugees. Europe has never cared or opposed anything Turkey is doing in Syria. Europe has never spoken up about even the big human rights violations, the war crimes, and the crimes against humanity.”
According to Geerdink, Europe is far from being convinced by Turkey’s claims of facing a security issue on its southern border, “but Europeans are not serious in addressing the issue”.
Yet Ankara’s antics are detrimental to the West’s plans not just in Syria, but on its own turf, too.
Last summer, Finland and Sweden initiated NATO accession procedures in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All member states have approved the Nordic bids, save for Hungary (which is set to do so in February) and Turkey.
Instead, Turkey outlined a set of conditions. It asked Sweden to hand over 33 (then 45, then 73, and finally 130) prominent figures in opposition to its government. Ankara claims a majority are PKK members. In a bid to comply with Turkish demands, reports suggest Sweden extradited a handful of wanted persons. More are set to follow, a Turkish official claimed.
The PKK has been outlawed in Sweden since 1986, though Turkey argues the Swedish government has only enforced the law sporadically.
Sweden also had a generally favorable position towards the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). That irritates Turkey. Erdogan has been playing his cards against European countries ever since.
“NOT ALL GOVERNMENTS CONSIDER THE PKK TERRORISTS”
Lindsey Snell, an American journalist covering north Syria, told North Press, “I don’t think governments [outside of Turkey] consider the PKK a terror organization in the real sense. Listing the PKK as a terror organization was a capitulation to Turkey in the first place.”
“It doesn’t make sense for the PKK to be listed internationally, as they solely target the Turkish state. And plenty of European parliamentarians have cited this when they’ve attempted to have it delisted over the years,” Lindsey argues.
Yet the legality of the PKK in foreign countries has had a real impact on the war in Syria.
Under the guise of fighting terrorism (both by the PKK and ISIS), Turkish armed forces and affiliated Syrian opposition factions have mounted three major invasions of north Syria. Hundreds of thousands of residents, particularly in Kurdish-majority areas, were displaced by the Turkish attacks. Ankara replaced native Kurds with Arabs from other parts of Syria in what human rights groups have called ‘demographic engineering’.
In northeast Syria, the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS has partnered with Kurdish forces (People’s Protection Units-YPG) since the battle of Kobani in 2014. Crucially, the US has been unable to protect its main partner in Syria – the SDF, of which the YPG forms part – from attacks by Turkey, even as Turkey, Russia, and Iran have ensured the security of their regional clients. While the Kurds have made up a significant chunk of the anti-ISIS forces, they have had their homelands attacked and occupied by the US’ main NATO ally in the region, Turkey.
In late November 2022, as Turkey engaged in a day-long aerial and artillery bombardment of the Kurdish-majority areas in Syria, threatening to invade more cities, the US released a meek statement calling on Turkey to “re-assess” its operation.
“TURKEY MAKES NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PKK AND SDF”
Oxymoronically, the US officials have, time and again, voiced understating for Turkey’s ‘security concerns’ in northern Syria. It was NATO antagonist Russia, rather than the US, that prevented a full-scale Turkish invasion last year.
“Multiple US officials said that Turkey had ‘legitimate security/terror concerns’ on its border with Syria. In one breath, the US is claiming to support its longtime partners in the SDF, and in the next, it legitimizes Turkey’s absurd claims of needing to ‘clear the terrorists’ from the border […] claims Turkey didn’t make when ISIS occupied these areas,” says Snell.
Wladimir Van Wilgenburg, a journalist with Kurdistan 24, says the international community opposes Turkey’s ground invasions in Rojava (the Kurdish name for Kurdish-majority northeast Syria), but does not see the anti-PKK operations in the KRI in the same vein.
“There were several statements by the Pentagon and the US State Department opposing a new Turkish military operation [in Syria]. So they make a difference between Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria and the PKK in the mountainous areas of Iraqi Kurdistan. But Turkey sees no difference and continues to threaten to launch a new operation,” Wladimir told North Press.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/24/2023 00:00 ||
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[17 views]
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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.
...... Somalia's version of the 
...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all of which have enough problems without them...
...The nation is noted for 
