[DAWN] Afghanistan is poised to acquire four attack helicopters from India to help it fight a growing Taliban insurgency, a small but significant deal marking a shift in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... 's search for allies.
And won't that annoy their natural lord and master, Pakistan.
Soon after he took over, Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. held off military assistance from India while he courted Pakistain's political and military leadership to end years of mutual hostility and steer the Taliban, many of who live in Pakistain, toward negotiations.
But a wave of bombings in Kabul that Ghani said were plotted in Pakistain, followed by the Taliban encircling major cities including briefly taking over Kunduz in the north, has prompted a scramble to shore up support in the region.
Afghan National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar is due in New Delhi this weekend to finalise the transfer of the Russian-made Mi-25 helicopters, said sources in New Delhi and Kabul who are involved in the plans.
Afghan forces badly need air power to reverse gains by the Taliban and in particular helicopter gunships that have range as well as firepower, the officials said.
While the United States (US) has agreed to supply Afghan forces with light McDonnell Douglas MD 530 helicopters, which can be fitted with weapons, many Afghan officers prefer the bigger, sturdier Russian machines.
Atmar will be discussing with his Indian hosts the fight against terrorism as well as air force equipment issues, the Afghan National Security Council (ANSC) said in a Twitter post.
"We are going to give them the helicopters, this is a one-off arrangement," said an Indian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
many Afghan officers prefer the bigger, sturdier Russian machines.
When your hardware is going to be maintained by illiterate peasants it's hard to beat Russian stuff.
[AnNahar] The United States said Friday it was stepping up security screenings of U.S.-bound flights from some Middle East airports as a precaution after the crash of a Russian airliner in Egypt.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the United States also would review its assessments of certain foreign airports and offer them help with security, as well as take other measures, "both seen and unseen."
It came amid growing evidence that the plane that crashed Saturday in the Sinai, killing all 224 people, was brought down by an kaboom.
Sources close to the investigation told AFP that information from the airliner's flight data and voice recorders "strongly favors" the theory that a bomb went kaboom! on board the Airbus A321.
Russia halted flights to Egypt, while Britannia scrambled to evacuate passengers in the Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh after canceling flights following the crash.
Johnson noted that the facts and circumstances surrounding the crash were still under investigation, although U.S. President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... on Thursday acknowledged the "possibility that there was a bomb on board."
Johnson described the U.S. actions as "interim, precautionary enhancements to aviation security with respect to commercial flights bound to the United States from certain foreign airports in the region."
He said expanded screenings would be applied to items on aircraft, airport assessments would be enhanced in conjunction with U.S. international partners, and offers of help would be made to beef up aviation and airport security.
Johnson said they were designed to provide "an additional layer of security for the traveling public."
"At this time these security enhancements are intended only for certain foreign airports in the region," he said in a statement.
#1
Hoping to find another "clock boy" to visit the White House, no doubt...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/07/2015 11:07 Comments ||
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Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the United States also would review its assessments of certain foreign airports and offer them help with security, as well as take other measures, "both seen and unseen."
I foresee two additional weeks of cultural-sensitivity training.
[AnNahar] Some 150 schools with more than 12,000 pupils have been forced to close due to the deadly attacks in Niger's southeast Diffa region, the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... said Friday.
Most of the affected schools are near Lake Chad and on the banks of the Yobe River, which marks the border between Niger and Nigeria, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
The agency said 151 schools with a total of 12,631 pupils had closed due to "insecurity that has sparked the absence of teachers and panic in the population."
"The pupils are now at camps for displaced people," the agency said, adding that there are no schools at the camps.
Numerous local schools closed following 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... 's first attacks in the country in February, with more following suit following a recent surge in assaults by the Nigeria-based Islamist group, a local official told AFP.
Thirteen people were killed and three injured in an attack on the Diffa village of Ala last week, local officials said.
Niger's government has been working with the U.N. and other partners on a plan intended to allow children to go back to their studies in safer locations by the end of November.
Boko Haram has carried out a string of deadly attacks in Diffa, one of its strongholds on the Niger-Nigeria border, as the army struggles to contain the group's regional advances.
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11/07/2015 00:00 ||
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Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir has held talks in Oman, a traditional mediator in the region, on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Al Jubeir and his Omani counterpart Yussef bin Alawi reviewed "the situation in Syria and Yemen and means of strengthening cooperation" among the six Arab states in the Gulf, the Saudi foreign minister said late on Thursday after their meeting in Muscat.
He told Oman's ONA news agency that "the view is one" between Saudi Arabia and Oman on "all the matters discussed today".
Alawi, for his part, said the sultanate was "exerting diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution in Syria and Yemen".
Oman is seeking through "calm diplomacy... rapprochement among all parties to achieve long-lasting political solutions", Alawi, who met Assad in Damascus last month, told ONA.
He said Riyadh and Muscat had "shared goals" on regional conflicts and "agreed to look forward and break from the past concerning regional issues".
His visit to Damascus had been "necessary", Alawi said, adding that the meeting with Al Jubeir had been scheduled before his talks with Assad.
Oman's discreet diplomacy has contributed to several breakthroughs this year, including the release in August of a French hostage held in Yemen and Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in July. The sultanate has also hosted closed-door meetings between Yemeni rebel leaders and US officials.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Three IS-affiliated Moroccan suspects tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! for plotting 'imminent attack on security forces, or against Jewish interests'
A suspected jihadist cell recently apprehended by Spanish anti-terrorist officers planned to kill Jews and coppers in Madrid, authorities said.
The three alleged members of the cell, who were arrested on Tuesday, were Moroccan nationals living in Spain on valid staying permits, the La Voz de Galicia daily reported on Wednesday.
According to the findings of the investigation that led to their arrest, they considered themselves affiliated to 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.... terrorist organization but never traveled to the Middle East to participate in fighting there.
The three remained in contact online and planned to carry out attacks similar to the ones perpetrated by Amedy Coulibaly, who in January murdered four people at a kosher supermarket in eastern Gay Paree a day after he bumped off a police officer south of the city.
The report, based on information provided by unnamed officials, did not name specific targets allegedly eyed by the suspects, aged 26-29. It said they had "planned an imminent attack on security forces or attacks against Jewish interests in the Spanish capital."
Separately, the Danish intelligence service, PET, said that a Danish national of Paleostinian descent who killed a Jewish guard and maimed two coppers outside a Copenhagen synagogue in February meant to leave the country, possibly for Syria, shortly before police caught up with him and killed him in a shootout.
Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein got a new Danish passport nine days before the Feb. 16 killings, according to the PET report on him compiled in February and obtained Wednesday by the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
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[Hurriyet] A coincidence or not, Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu's first visit abroad immediately after the parliamentary elections was to northern Iraq, where he held meetings with senior Iraqi Kurdish leaders, including Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani.
The minister's visit, as highlighted by media reports, was in a mood of direct support to Barzani's leadership in northern Iraq, although the region's iconic Kurdish leader is facing some in-house difficulties. In his address to a conference held by the Middle East Research Institute on Nov. 4, Minister Sinirlioglu recalled The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's continued support to the KRG in the face of growing danger posed by 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).
These following lines, however, displayed the importance and value Turkey pays to Barzani's KRG: "We are convinced that the people of the KRG have the necessary vision, strong determination and requisite ingenuity to steer this region back to the right track and once again assume its rightful role as a locomotive that can lead Iraq out of the dire straits it is in."
Sinirlioglu's meetings with Iraqi Kurdish leaders were not only focused on recent developments in northern Iraq and on the fight against ISIL. Media reports underlined the minister also asked Barzani to restrict the activities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the region.
The two men should also have reviewed recent developments in northern Syria, where the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), are in control. Barzani's affiliates and their armed forces in northern Syria have been expelled from northern Syria to northern Iraq on the basis that they refused to cooperate with the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , according to a Turkish source.
It could be well said the current picture creates a sort of renewed alliance between Ankara and Erbil against the PYD's growing regional influence.
This alliance is in fact multidimensional. It has economic and energy aspects as well as political overlaps on many fronts. Turkey is eager to invest in energy reserves in northern Iraq and let the products be transferred to the rest of the world via its territory.
As Sinirlioglu put it, "We are also resolved to further improve our economic cooperation in every way. This will bolster the unshakable foundation on which our partnership continues to thrive. By developing the means to serve our peoples better, we will also be able to more effectively shoulder the burden that the extraordinary circumstances have put on our shoulders. In short, let me leave you with one simple message: Turkey is fully committed to assisting Iraq and the KRG in every way. We will stand with you as you march toward the bright future you absolutely deserve."
In a geography where two neighboring countries, Iraq and Syria, have been nearly dysfunctional as states, it's very normal for Turkey to seek new partners and allies to work with for its own national interests. With Sinirlioglu's promise that Turkey will continue its military and humanitarian assistance to both Iraq and the KRG in their fight against ISIL, it should be thought that one of the leading targets of this alliance will be ISIL, and then the PYD's growing role in northern Syria and the PKK presence in northern Iraq.
Ankara-Erbil relations should be read within this context, which signal a more concentrated and intensified alliance.
Fools go where angels fear to tread. May Canada's do less damage than ours.
[AnNahar] Canada's new prime minister Thursday vowed to make good on campaign promises to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the beginning of next year and bring home fighter jets battling 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 in Iraq and Syria.
In his first interview since taking office on Wednesday, Justin Trudeau told the Radio-Canada network: "The goal is still to have 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada before January 1."
Several government ministries have been mobilized to achieve this goal in such a short time, Trudeau said, adding the federal government would have to work closely with Canada's provinces and municipalities.
The refugees must be given ways to support their families once they reach Canada so they can benefit their community and the country as a whole, just like the "waves of immigrants and refugees that did so earlier," Trudeau said.
He also said his defense minister, Harjit Sajjan, was working to bring home Canadian warplanes from the fight against IS in Iraq and Syria.
Canada last year deployed CF-18 fighter jets to the region until March 2016, as well as about 70 special forces troops to train Kurds in northern Iraq.
During the campaign, Trudeau pledged to end Canada's combat mission in the region, but he vowed to keep the military trainers in place.
The fighter jets will be brought home quickly in a "responsible" manner that is "respectful of our allies," Trudeau said, adding that Sajjan will "look at different options to ensure that we keep our promise" to stop the bombing.
Canada's allies "understand very well that this government was elected on a clear mandate to end the strikes," Trudeau said.
Aside from bringing in refugees, Canada will provide humanitarian aid in the region and focus its military mission on training friendly forces instead of fighting, Trudeau said, emphasizing his country remained "committed to the fight against the IS."
#1
tw: I think you got it right when you said "Fools" as that's what we Canuckistanians surely are. We are about to have our own Canuckistanian Obama period and it won't be pretty.
#2
I feel for ya mate, but the past seven years of the Obama administration is yet another test on the resiliency of the American / English (Magna Carta) ideal of self-governance. Unfortunately you will now experience it for yourself. For what it's worth, this Yankee's with you.
[IsraelTimes] Administration officials tell Rooters that screening sites for refugees are to be opened in Iraq and Leb
The US is planning to increase the number of Syrian refugees it admits, and has opened "screening outposts" in Iraq and Leb to facilitate the process, Rooters reported Friday, citing B.O. regime officials.
The officials told Rooters that the US will begin screening Syrians at a new facility in Irbil in Iraq, and a reopened site in Beirut.
President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... promised in September that the United States would admit 10,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement over the next 12 months, after facing criticism that America was not doing enough in the crisis.
The change represents a huge increase in the number of families arriving on US soil. In the more that four years since fighting erupted barely 1,800 Syrians have been welcomed there.
More than four million people have fled the fighting in Syria since 2011 and most are living in camps in Jordan, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , Leb, Egypt and Iraq, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees registers them.
Some 18,000 of these people -- chosen because they are the most vulnerable whether through family circumstances, injury or disability -- have been referred to the United States for resettlement.
Once the US State Department receives their case files it employs NGO contractors to pre-screen them for eligibility for refugee status, then they are subjected to health and security checks.
Officers from the Department of Homeland Security fly from Washington to the camps and conduct interviews with candidates, seeking to weed out what a US official called "liars, criminals and terrorists."
Each case file is reviewed by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI's terrorist screening center, the DHS, the Department of Defense and "other agencies" -- US intelligence.
"Refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States," another State Department official told news hounds.
Meanwhile they receive medical tests and those with communicable diseases, most commonly tuberculosis, are given treatment before they can travel to the United States, often delaying the process.
Currently the procedure takes between 18 and 24 months from the time UNHCR recommends a refugee for resettlement and that person's flight to America.
[AnNahar] The U.S. Department of Treasury said that it placed sanctions on two alleged 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... members and their companies, and on two other companies freezing their assets, a report said on Friday.
"The U.S. Department of the Treasury targeted significant Hizbullah procurement controllers responsible for providing material support to enhance the group's military and terrorist capabilities," said a statement published on the Treasury's website.
The Treasury said that it placed sanctions on Fadi Hussein Serhan and Vatech SARL, of which he is general manager.
"Serhan is a Hizbullah procurement agent and General Manager of Beirut-based company Vatech SARL, which he has used to purchase sensitive technology and equipment for Hizbullah. Serhan has purchased unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and accessories, and various electronic equipment from companies in United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East," said the statement.
The Treasury also placed sanctions on Shenzhen, China-based Adel Mohammed Cherri and his company, Le-Hua Electronic Field Co, the report added.
"Cherri is a Hizbullah procurement agent who has purchased dual-use technology and equipment from suppliers in Asia on behalf of Hizbullah. He facilitated Hizbullah's efforts to procure a variety of electronics from China for transport to Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... for use in improvised bombs by the Houthis, a group that has engaged in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security, or stability of Yemen," said the statement.
Sanctions also included two other companies owned and controlled by Ali Zoaiter.
"Aero Skyone Co. Limited is a China-based front company created in 2013 and controlled by Hizbullah procurement agent Ali Zoaiter who has used Aero Skyone Co. Limited. to procure engines and other UAV equipment from Europe and Asia for Hizbullah.
"Labico SAL Offshore is a Leb-based company owned by designated Hizbullah procurement agent Ali Zoaiter," it stated.
"Hizbullah is a dangerous, destabilizing terrorist group, and Treasury is determined to maintain maximum pressure on this organization by targeting its many revenue streams," said Adam J. Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
In October, the United States slapped similar sanctions on prominent Lebanese businessman Merhi Ali Abou Merhi on charges of facilitating the activities of a Lebanese-Colombian narco and money launderer accused of having ties to Hizbullah.
[DAWN] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... said that issues faced by the country cannot be resolved till free and fair elections are conducted in the country.
"The only time transparent elections were held in the country was in 1970, elections held in 2013 witnessed a record level of rigging," claimed Imran Khan while addressing a presser at the PTI Secretariat on Friday.
Imran said that people blame him for continuously complaining about the rigging in elections rather than moving forward, "but that remains the root cause for all the problems faced by the country," he insisted.
"As the party leader, I lost by a margin of 8,500 votes, while my candidate Aleem Khan lost by 2,400 votes. Is Aleem Khan more popular than I am, no, I am more popular than him," stated Khan while referring to the recently held by-polls in NA-122.
The PTI chief went on to say that "it is not a matter of who is more popular, but a case of how effective the PTI was in controlling the rigging in the recently held by-polls".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif ..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... on Friday said Pakistain Army is the most battle-hardened army in the world and its achievements against terrorism are acknowledged globally.
Speaking at the concluding ceremony of the Third Physical Agility and Combat Efficiency Championship held near Attock, the COAS said Pakistain Army's overwhelming achievements in the war against terrorism speak volumes of its professional competence.
"It is great to note that Pakistain Army soldiers are way above the international standards laid down to judge physical efficiency," said the COAS.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistain Army's overwhelming achievements in the war against terrorism speak volumes of its professional competence.
[DAWN] Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... on Friday said Pakistain has suspended readmission agreements with western countries, except the United Kingdom, because of "blatant misuse", reported Radio Pakistain.
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, the minister claimed most countries have been deporting illegal Pak citizens "without verification", whereas under readmission agreements Paks travelling illegally to any western country have to be deported after proper verification.
He added that at least 90,000 people were sent back to Pakistain during the last year.
Nisar also shed some light on another "dangerous trend" that had emerged over the last several months, under which Paks travelling abroad without documents are deported on charges of terrorism without proper verification.
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[AnNahar] Iraq has received the first batch of Czech L-159 jets, which can be used for both training and combat, the defense ministry said on Friday.
The first two L-159s arrived at Iraq's Balad Air Base on Thursday, defense ministry front man Naseer Nuri told AFP.
L-159s can be equipped with munitions for both air-to-ground and air-to-air missions, with the former being the more important for Iraqi forces battling 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.... jihadist group.
It is the latest in a series of aircraft deliveries that have bolstered the country's air force since IS overran large parts of Iraq last June.
Iraq received four F-16 warplanes in July, the first batch of a much-delayed order for 36 aircraft.
And Baghdad obtained Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack jets last year that it has used to carry out strikes against IS.
The Czech government approved the sale of 15 L-159s -- 13 with one seat and two dual-seaters -- to Iraq last March for 750 million koruna ($30 million).
But Nuri said that the deal was for a total of 12 aircraft.
Per Wiki: "The L-159A is a single-seat light multi-role combat aircraft designed for a variety of air-to-air, air-to-ground and reconnaissance missions. The aircraft is equipped with a multi-mode Doppler Grifo-L radar (a variant of the Grifo-F x-band multi-mode, pulse-doppler radar), for all-weather, day and night operations. It can carry a wide range of NATO standard stores including air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and laser guided bombs. "
This is exactly the sort of aircraft the Iraqi Air Force needs: The F-16 is too advanced for them right now, both in terms of the training / maintenance demands and in the operational requirements. In fact, old A-1 Skyraiders would do the job but those are long gone. The Iraqis need an aircraft that can loiter, do ground attack, come back to base and be refitted quickly for another mission.
The price is right as well. Not clear to me if this order is for used aircraft or new -- the Czechs have had these in their inventory for a while and so may be clearing out an old block.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Czech, U.S. And Russian.
Inshallah the aircraft will fly and spare parts will arrive in Allahs own time.
Ya know, a private military company with sufficient means to do air, artillery and helibourne assault could make a pretty good living calming the world's trouble spots. Places like Iraq and Nigeria that are long on oil money and short on capability/will. The British East India Company, but with more air power.
So at the moment we have floods, locusts and beetles...and no doubt ISIS is experiencing the same.
[Rudaw] Masses of black beetles have spread in the Peshmarga forces' strongholds in Tel Askof, in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... province, Kurdish military authorities in the area told Rudaw.
Commanders are concerned the insects could harm the Peshmarga if proper measures are not taken.
It is horrible. We cannot even take a rest,. We cannot have our meals. If they are not stopped, then they might get to the town of Tel Askof. We are waiting for the medical team to come and check the state of the Peshmergas' health," said Jalal Mohammed, a Peshmerga fighter.
In another location, grasshoppers have descended on farm land in Duhok province.
The Peshmerga on the scene say this is the first time they have ever seen such an incredible number of beetles in the same place. They said the beetle swarm has spread over 7km long of Peshmerga frontlines.
Still, the Kurdish fighters won't let the infestation deter the mission to defeat ISIS.
"We are not in a good health condition [due to the beetles], but this cannot affect our morale. We will keep on fighting [the Islamic Sate hard boys]," said Mohammed Hussein, another Peshmerga dealing with the beetles.
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[IsraelTimes] Arab daily has also accused Abbas's Paleostinian Authority of torturing Paleostinians
Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank shuttered the local office of a pan-Arab newspaper over its reporting on Paleostinian security coordination with Israel.
As Paleostinian-Israeli street violence surged last month, Al Araby Al-Jadeed daily accused the administration of jailing "dozens of (Paleostinian) political prisoners on charges of resisting (the Israeli) occupation," Rooters on Friday reported.
The newspaper, which publishes a broadsheet in London, Beirut and Doha, also accused the PA of torturing prisoners in Paleostinian jails. The paper branded the closure on Tuesday as politically motivated.
Such domestic scrutiny is touchy for the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , the president of the Paleostinian Authority, whose forces have helped Israel curb violence in the West Bank while he publicly condemns Israeli crackdowns and alleged bad boy policies at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The Paleostinian administration closed Al Araby Al-Jadeed's Ramallah bureau on Tuesday "as it lacked a license to operate," Deputy Information Minister Mahmoud Khalifa told Rooters. He did not elaborate.
An Oct. 20 letter from the Information Ministry to the attorney general, a copy of which was seen by Rooters, said the newspaper had published a report that was "offensive to the State of Paleostine and its security services."
[Prachatai] A Buddhist monk from a well-known temple in Thailand recently suggested that the government should burn a mosque for every Buddhist monk killed in the far South.
Venerable Aphichat Promjan, chief lecturer monk at Benjamabophit Temple, a temple in Bangkok under royal patronage, last month posted on Facebook that authorities should take strong measures to stop the violence in southern Thailand. He suggested that the government should arm the local Buddhist population as a measure to protect defenseless Buddhist monks and people from being targeted by what he called "Malayu bandits."
Many Thai media outlets use the term "Malayu bandits" to refer to insurgent groups in southern Thailand.
The monk said that for ten years Buddhists have fallen victim to regional violence and that Buddhists should no longer have mercy for Malayu bandits because they have never been merciful to Buddhists. He said further, "If a [Buddhist] monk in the three southern border provinces dies from an explosion or being shot at the hands of the "Malayu bandits", a mosque should be burned, starting from the northern part of Thailand southwards."
Many people posted responses in support of the monk. However, many others posted comments against it.
[AnNahar] Activists accused 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 Friday of being behind a deadly gas attack in northern Syria this past summer, which the global chemical weapons watchdog said was mustard gas.
Mustard gas was used in the town of Marea in Aleppo province on August 21, a source from the Organization for the Prohibition for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told AFP.
"We have determined the facts, but we have not determined who was responsible," the source said.
But activists and a monitoring group said it was clear that IS was behind the attack.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said "IS used toxic gases during its attack on Marea in August."
He said IS had likely gotten the gas through The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... or Iraq.
Journalist Maamun al-Khatib, who was in Marea at the time, said: "We knew it was IS because all the shells were being fired east of Marea, and that area is totally under the control of IS."
IS has attacked Marea for months in an effort to cut off a supply route into the country from Turkey.
For activist Nizar al-Khatib, OPCW's report "comes too late and isn't enough, because it doesn't identify IS as the one responsible for firing the mustard gas."
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which operated a nearby field clinic, treated four members of a single family for "symptoms of exposure to chemical agents."
The Marea residents told MSF they saw a "yellow gas" when a mortar round hit their house.
An MSF front man said Friday that the Gay Paree-based group did not have enough evidence to finger IS.
After a chemical attack that killed hundreds in the Eastern Ghouta region east of Damascus in August 2013, Syria agreed to declare and hand over its chemical weapons in a deal overseen by OPCW.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/07/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[DAWN] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General 
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
[Prachatai] A Buddhist monk from a well-known temple in Thailand recently suggested that the government should burn a mosque for every Buddhist monk killed in the far South.
