Once the ISIS force surrounded the embassy, we would face a similar situation to that of the French forces in Dien Bien Phu, a French-held fortress in Northwest Vietnam in 1954. French forces retreated into the fort when the Vietnamese communists engaged in a concerted offensive. No one could get out of the fort and the ring of defenses around it made reinforcement or evacuation from air or ground impossible. The Vietnamese leaders made a strategic decision to target Dien Bien Phu as the best avenue to accomplish a strategic goal "-- get the French out of Vietnam. The U.S. Embassy with thousands of people in Baghdad could create a similar strategic target for ISIS.
#2
The General has it exactly right. Balad air base is currently under attack. This article needs to be run tomorrow for a full day's worth of comment.
#5
I'd said long ago that the nature of the Radical Islamist threat was such that the US may have to conquer the world irregardless of whether Washington + mainstream America likes it or not, wants it or not, because the enemy is going to come after you no matter the merits or how many concessions the US makes.
History says this idea of unilaterally leaving the battlefield to the enemy has never worked, + only serves to inspire the enemy to demand or take more.
E.G. America = Amerika is under threat because zealous ideologues would rather protect Failed-n-Still-Failing Socialism at any price than protect the borders + other.
#7
I kept stabbing the Tomorrow button, but it didn't seem to do anything. Is it a toggle? It doesn't highlight...
A number of bugs crept into the system when Fred made the changeover, KBK. I'll forward your comment to him for fixing. But you can also manually change the date, I think. Try that next time, if the button still hasn't been fixed.
#8
The U.S. Embassy with thousands of people in Baghdad could create a similar strategic target [Dien Bien Phu] for ISIS. Also the Communists believed that you should get close enough to your enemy to grab their belts to minimize the effects of air support. If they get that close, we have a problem.
#9
The same thing is true of Afghanistan, just delayed 3 years.
Joe is right.
Last week end our war movie club watched Battle of Algiers. In almost his first sentence Col Mathieu says there are 400,000 people out there. (in Algiers) They are not all our enemies. He was wrong. Look at history and the wars that effectively change things are wars in which they are all treated as enemies and the culture is broken. Germany, Japan, the American South, all were utterly and thoroughly defeated so that the culture could be rebuilt. We will need to do the same in the Middle East, at least to one country. Our effort in Iraq did not even come close.
Posted by: Vespasian Oppressor of the Visigoths8235 ||
06/26/2014 14:17
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#10
Benghazi II
There are a number of Iraqi heroes. An elected female member of their parliament, with the army retreating, acquired a bazooka and took out 3 ISIL jihadists before she was killed by an ISIL sniper.
A bad thing as the Quds guys were also on the ground during the ethnic cleansing in the past and worked together with the Shia JAM/Special Groups guys---we picked up eight of them but Malaki was adamant that we turn them over which we did because "we felt we could not damage the relationship"---basically we were played by Malaki.
This was being reported out of Baghdad but carried in the Saudi Online news---two things stuck me---the claim that al Duri is the mastermind between the current offensive and the killing of the Iraqi Kurdish judge who sentenced Saddam to death. That will not set well with the Kurds although it appears he was killed in Baghdad not in the north.
Noticed that al Duri has his own Facebook page.
Baghdad: Iraqi militant group ISIL has killed the judge who ordered Saddam Hussain's verdict of death-by-hanging in 2006, several Arab news media reported on Tuesday. Reports claim that Kurdish judge Raouf Abdul Rahman was executed by the militants in retaliation to Saddam's hanging.
The judge was earlier reported to have been kidnapped by the militants last week on June 16.
Although the Iraqi government has not confirmed the news, several media reports cited at least two important Facebook posts, confirming the report.
One of the FB posts cited, is that of Jordanian MP Khalil Attiehq who wrote that Judge Rahman, who had headed the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal during Saddam's trial in 2006, was arrested and sentenced to death in revenge for the tyrant's death.
The Jordanian MP added in his Facebook post that the judge attempted to escape by donning dancers' uniform but was caught and killed by the ISIS fighters.
Another Facebook post confirming the judge's execution by militants is that of Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, who was Saddam's former deputy and later emerged as a key figure among the militants. Al-Douri is reportedly one of the masterminds behind the latest ISIS offensive in Iraq.
Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman was born in the Kurdish town of Halabja, and was appointed the head of the five-member bench overseeing Saddam's trial in 2006 after the previous judge Rizgar Amin was criticized for being soft on the dictator.
US reportedly will disband anti-terror force in Philippines
[FoxNews] After more than a decade of helping fight Al Qaeda-linked militants, the United States is disbanding an anti-terror contingent of hundreds of elite American troops in the southern Philippines where armed groups such as Abu Sayyaf have largely been crippled, officials said Thursday.
But special forces from the U.S. Pacific Command, possibly in smaller numbers, will remain after the deactivation of the anti-terror contingent called Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines, or JSOTF-P, to ensure Al Qaeda offshoots such as Abu Sayyaf and the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah militant network do not regain lost ground, according to U.S. and Philippine officials.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
06/26/2014
10:18 ||
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#1
Flying under the political radar and getting the job done. Time to go...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/26/2014 12:32
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#3
It really started to wind down after the Burnams were freed and the original leaders were all captured or killed. The ASK leadership was originally hard core Islam Mujahedin fighters from the Afghan soviet war. They cane back and found the MNLF to be too soft and set their own priorities. They were more ideologically driven and much more violent. Once the leadership was killed, they digressed into criminal actions, kidnapping etc... I'm sure they will keep small elements for intel fusion and FMF advisors.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/26/2014 13:49
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#4
This is written by COL(R) Dave Maxwell. We called him Mad Max. He is the only guy I know that was as comfortable in the halls of the war college as he was on the ground in a combat zone, a true scholar warrior. He humored me and mentored me back then. Col "Mad Max" Maxwell, COL Fridovich, and the rest of the team were the architects of the JSOTF-P and the Basilan model. He and the rest are hero's to me and unsung hero's to our nation. These are his comments on the news reports of JSOTF-P shutting down.
My view on this is quoted in the article below.
Three additional comments that are not in the article.
First a better description of the organization and the mission is that this was a special warfare approach to counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. The majority of the units making up the joint special operations task force were special warfare forces that do not have counterterrorism as their primary mission but instead were focused on unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, psychological operations and civil affairs.
Second, one of the most important contributing factors to the success of the operation was that it was built on the foundation of a comprehensives assessment in October 2001 from the strategic to the tactical level conducted by a handful of special operations personnel, including supporting intelligence officers and logisticians. This assessment as well as the continuous area assessment conducted in accordance with SF/SOF doctrine informed the campaign plan and strategy to this day. One important lesson from this operation is the importance of assessment and it is heartening to hear the emphasis on assessment in Iraq from President Obama because although the conditions are vastly different one thing that can contribute to success in Iraq (or determining if success can even be achieved) will be the assessments conducted by the SF soldiers on the ground.
Lastly, when the assessment and recommended courses of action were briefed in October 2001 by then-Colonel now retired LTG David Fridovich, the CINCPAC (we called him CINC back then) ADM Blair asked how long would this mission take and LTG Fridovich said it would take about 10 years or so to achieve lasting effects.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/26/2014 23:52
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Economy Minister Naftali Bennett told Israel Radio on Thursday morning that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a "mega terrorist" for aiding Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons with the monthly transfer of funds.
Bennett stressed that by transferring Palestinian Authority funds terrorist prisoners, the PA was supporting the murder of Jews. That makes anybody who transfers funds to Palestinian Authority a what?
[Ynet] Morocco's Interior Ministry has dismantled a cell recruiting Moroccans to fight for myrmidon groups in Iraq and Syria, the ministry said on Wednesday.
Six men were placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in the central city of Fez, including one who had previously been detained under the terrorism law.
The statement warned that many of the fighters hope to return after being trained, to carry out attacks in Morocco.
Police say 900 Moroccans are fighting in Syria and 100 have been arrested upon their return.
[Ynet] Senior Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, official Mahmoud Al-Zahar said that Hamas can fire rockets at any city in Israel. "Today we have the ability to hit any city in occupied Paleostine," he said.
If true, then the current squiffs being shot off, many of which do not get as far as the security fence, really are boys playing with toys.
#2
But can you survive the response?
Current dealings between Israel and the PA is stuck at the 'teaching your child not to touch a hot burner on the stove' stage.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/26/2014 7:27
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#3
well the Presbyterian Church USA has taken a stand in favor of Hamas
Of course the PC-USA may be down to only a few thousand members in a decade or so as chruches renounce membership and church members die off or leave otherwise.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/26/2014 18:54
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a few reporters are commenting but almost every exec in news, almost every anchor, almost every newspaper columnist, almost every editor is still hanging on to the religion of peace mantra
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/26/2014 10:47
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#7
News reporting.... pay very low.
WH appointment.... pay very high.
#8
Dave D., we've had a lot of new Rantburgers in recent years, who therefore never saw your thinking on different approaches to dealing with the War on Terror, or rather in the jihadi menace. I would be grateful if one Sunday you would submit it as an original opinion piece.
I consider it the single most useful thing I have read on the subject, Richard Fernendez's "Conjectures" included,
#12
Thanks, TW. That's awfully high praise, I hope I'm worthy of it...
Going back through my comments, I found this one from May of 2006; is that the one you were thinking of?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/26/2014 19:02
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#13
That's not praise, Dave D, but my considered judgement on the subject. It was the pivot that changed my conceptual world.
Your link shows where you worked out the idea. It was the combination of comments 38 and 69 that ended up as a more polished version on your web page, but the link I had to that died some time ago.
Incidentally, on rereading that thread I find myself nodding my head and arguing with the posters once again, and then then when I came to 11A5S at #77 I had to stop for a moment. Because the worldwide craze for fracking is removing the power of petroleum from the Middle East right now, just as he predicted. The next stage of the War Against the Jihadis is going to be very different as a result.
#2
JosephM, the following headlines are on Drudge Report now:
ICE official: Court hearings for new illegals 'years out'...
*Backlog of 360,000 cases...
GOP Chairman: Likely to never be removed...
#3
Hey, I'm not playing JV here. You fok with me and piss all over my amnesty bill, you get the bat up your arse. Some call me spiteful, but it's the way I roll. By the way, I learned about these poor kids same time you did.
#5
The President is a felon. He has the DHS participating in the human trafficking of minors.
The number of children traveling without parents has overwhelmed Border Patrol detention centers along the Texas border, prompting officials to ship them to converted warehouses and military bases as far away as California. The situation is so bad that there is fear we would have no place to put American citizen refugees if another Hurricane Katrina occurs. Some have even called this alien-children invasion Obama's Katrina.
This is no act of love, as children are transported by cartels and other human traffickers from Central America and then through 1,800 miles of difficult Mexican roads. They are subjected to the worst abuse along the way, then dumped across the border, where they huddle on warehouse floors in conditions ideal for the spread of infectious diseases.
#6
They are keeping media away from the kids. We need the state authorities to investigate the condition of these kids. I will contact Austin and ask the governor to do so.
#7
Does anyone really believe that Bummer didn't instigate this crisis? As Rahm Emmanuel said, "Don't let a crisis go to waste." Check Harry Reid and his Dream Act also. Better check the entire Democrat Party come to think of it--some Pubs too.
[Libya Herald] The deaths of three security security forces members and 17 maimed have been reported in Benghazi after Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya and Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the domain name hasn't expired yet... forces opened fire on a Benghazi Joint Security Room (BJSR) convoy as it moved to protect polling stations
The spokesperson for Benghazi Medical Centre (BMC) told the Libya Herald that of the 17 maimed two were at death's door following the attack and that staff at the hospital were struggling to cope with the wave of casualties.
Head of Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... Investigations Unit Fadel Al-Hassi said festivities had now spread across city's Hawari district where the first shots were fired and appear to be concentrated around the headquarters of Benghazi Security Directorate.
Hassi said the security directorate had been hit by a number of anti-aircraft shells and stressed that no polling centres had been attacked during the fighting.
Spokesman for Operation Dignity Mohammed Hejazi told this paper that the military forces had been attacked by the Ansar Al-Sharia Radallah Sahati battalion, calling the assault a terrorist act. He explained that the BJSR convoy had been moving to protect polling stations in the Hawari and Gwarsha districts when it was attacked.
Hejazi said Operation Dignity had agreed to suspend all of its activities over the course of today's voting, allowing residents the opportunity to vote in safety. He added that Dignity forces would respond to the attacks with great force.
All roads to Hawari have now been shut by security forces in an effort to contain the fighting and Operation Dignity aircraft have flown over the area a number of times..
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] THE nation had not quite recovered from the shock of the deadly Death Eater assault targeting Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... airport earlier this month when a fresh incident, this time in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , has raised concerns about aviation security in Pakistain. On Tuesday night a PIA aircraft flying into Peshawar from Riyadh was shot at, resulting in the death of a passenger and injuries to two crew members. The aircraft apparently came under fire as it approached to land, being only a few hundred feet from the ground. The Peshawar airport, like many other public aviation facilities in Pakistain's cities, is located in a densely populated area. As cities in Pakistain tend to grow in a haphazard manner, it is not unusual for residential colonies and encroachments to sprout up uncomfortably close to airports. Shots and rockets have been fired at aircraft and at the Peshawar airport facilities in the past as well, while the airport was stormed by Death Eaters in December 2012. The reasonable expectation would have been that after the Karachi airport debacle, security at aviation facilities across the country would have been beefed up. But despite claims by the Civil Aviation Authority and other state actors, as the Peshawar incident shows, the required groundwork to make Pakistain's airports safer has not been done.
Incidents such as the Karachi and Peshawar episodes make headlines across the world and unless there is a drastic overhaul of aviation security procedures in Pakistain, we may see our links with the outside world dwindle even further, as foreign airlines start pulling out. Already, decades of violence and instability have caused several major foreign carriers to abandon the Pak market. If the current state of official apathy continues, the carriers that remain — mostly Gulf-based airlines — may also abandon ship. Business may be fairly good in Pakistain, but if foreign carriers feel the risks are too high, they will be under no compulsion to stay. For the safety of aircraft and airports in Pakistain, several steps need to be taken. Patrolling in and around airports must be increased. Intelligence-gathering must also be beefed up in neighbourhoods adjacent to airports while staff working in aviation facilities should undergo background checks. It is the habit of the authorities to appear to strengthen airport security by adding more and more muscle to mainly the points of the public's entry and exit. Clearly, that does not deter those determined to wreak havoc.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] At least 13 suspected gunnies were killed and five hideouts were destroyed in fresh strikes carried out by Pakistain's military jet fighters on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The statement added that 12 suspected gunnies surrendered to security forces in North Wazoo tribal region.
Army chief visits Aviation Base
Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif visited the newly set up premier helicopter overhauling facility at Aviation Base Workshop today and witnessed the first batch of overhauled helicopters.
Addressing on the occasion, Chief of Army staff, congratulated engineers and technicians of Aviation Base Workshop for having developed the first ever inland helicopter overhauling capability in collaboration with Saint Petersburg Aviation Repair Company (SPARC).
He specially appreciated the team for cost effectiveness and time reduction achieved due to our own overhauling facility.
Chief of Army Staff emphasised on enhanced self reliance and continuous skill development to meet the growing challenges of maintaining high operational readiness of Army Aviation.
The ceremony was attended by a large number of serving and retired military officers.
The army launched its long-awaited major operation 'Zarb-e-Azb' in the tribal region a week after an attack on the airport in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , deploying troops, tanks and jets to the area in the crackdown on the Taliban and other murderous Moslems.
The operation resulted in an exodus of residents belonging to North Waziristan tribal region and according to official figures the number of internally displaced persons had crossed 450,000 persons.
The number of IDPS is expected to cross 600,000.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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"Thoughtfully considering the Kurds offer and declining so as not to get sucked back into Iraq would be one thing, but thats not what happened according to Barzani. Apparently, we simply didnt respond."
#1
Until earlier this year the United States had only a skeletal interests section operating in Kurdistan. They finally opened a Consulate and then staffed it with "short timers".
#4
[Obama's] genesis as a national figure was his opposition to military action in Iraq; hes not going to spend his last two years as president cleaning up a mess he didnt personally make, whatever responsibility his country may have had in making it. Except that he did help make this mess, whether he realizes it or not. Read Peter Beinarts indictment of O for refusing to do anything over the past five years to pressure the Iraqi government to reconcile with the Sunnis and Kurds.
The war was over for Mr. Obama back in 2008; nothing was going to alter that.
#6
Typical of this administration to ignore things that they can't use for immediate domestic political leverage. Obama is a Chicago ward boss writ large
[AnNahar] The gray Nissan Murano used in the bombing that targeted last week an Internal Security Forces checkpoint in the eastern town of Dahr al-Baydar was reportedly rigged with explosives in the eastern border town of Arsal, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The daily said that the army intelligence is investigating if any illegal border crossings between the Syrian town of al-Qalamoun and Arsal are still accessible or if the car was prepared with explosives in Arsal.
It reported that the analysis of the telecom data indicates that the jacket wallah driving the Murano planned to target a high-ranking official in the attack.
General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim had driven past the site of the kaboom in his convoy shortly before the blast.
According to the report, another booby-trapped vehicle was spotted in the area of Sawfar before it disappeared.
The suicide kaboom killed one person and maimed 30 others.
Early Tuesday another suicide kaboom in Beirut's southern suburbs, 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... 's main bastion, killed a security officer and maimed 20.
No one has claimed the attack, but an audio recording posted on YouTube by Abdullah Azzam Brigades ... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed... said there would be more "strikes" if Hizbullah does not pull out of Syria.
The Abdullah Azzam brigades is an al-Qaeda-linked group that has previously grabbed credit for other Syria-related violence in Leb.
The last kaboom to hit Leb occurred on March 29.
Earlier in the year, a series of boom-mobiles struck Shiite areas across Leb, killing and wounding hundreds of people.
Hard-line Sunni groups have grabbed credit for those killings, saying they are meant to punish Hizbullah for supporting Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... .
"The studies' [sic] were performed in the Economic and Political Studies Division (There's your problem, right there! - U.P.) of IDA under the direction of Mr. Samuel Ewer Eastman"
[AnNahar] In the Iraqi town of Taza Khurmatu, a motley brigade of Shiite Turkmen locals adjust their weapons and headscarves before heading out to defend their homes from encroaching Sunni myrmidons.
The men range from those in their teens, yet to grow a mustache or see combat, to elders approaching retirement and weary of war.
They are armed with assault rifles, machineguns and a few rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and describe themselves as members of a Sahwa or "Awakening" force -- a reference to the collection of largely Sunni Arab forces of Evil who helped U.S. forces turn against al-Qaeda from late 2006.
At the time, the shifting loyalties helped turn the tide of Iraq's insurgency.
"During the time of the Americans, the Sahwa force fought the terrorists, and our men here were part of that," says the local commander of the force, Issam Abbas.
"The force that is fighting today is built on that force."
Abbas, 45, used to work in commerce, but has committed himself fulltime to the Sahwa force in the town of Taza Khurmatu, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... for the past year.
Locals say the force was initially formed in 2009, after a massive truck bomb in the area killed dozens.
With a drop in violence, its members returned to civilian life, but in the past year the force regrouped as Sunni myrmidon activity in the area grew.
Then, this month, gunnies led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) group overran swathes of five provinces north and west of Storied Baghdad.
They attacked the area around Taza Khurmatu, seizing the neighboring Shiite Turkmen town of Basheer, and the Sahwa force swelled with new volunteers.
"We took the decision to form this force to protect ourselves because of the growing terrorism," says 45-year-old Amer Abu Qarar.
"We're fighting for the sake of the country and the honor of our religion," he adds, at a defensive line less than a kilometer (half a mile) from where the Sunni snuffies patrol.
There are no firm figures for Iraq's Turkmen population, which is largely concentrated north of Storied Baghdad and includes Sunni and Shiite Mohammedans.
In Taza Khurmatu, Shiite professions of faith and icons of the sect's most revered figures feature as prominently as the Iraqi Turkmen flag, a light blue banner with a white crescent and star.
Many of the men in the town cite religion as a reason for joining up, and particularly a call from top Iraqi Shiite holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Sistani urged Iraqis to "bear arms and fight terrorists," a demand many of the town's residents say they are religiously obligated to fulfill.
"He who fights to protect his money, to protect his honor and to protect his religion is a martyr," says another fighter, who gives his name only as Ahmed.
"I decided to join the Sahwa for the sake of the nation, my principles and my faith -- the religious call from Imam Sistani."
On the front line between Taza Khurmatu and Basheer, the Turkmen patrol with Kurdish peshmerga forces.
Publicly, both sides proclaim "100 percent cooperation" but the alliance is an uneasy one thanks to longstanding tensions between Iraqi Kurds and Turkmen in the region.
The Turkmen consider much of the territory now incorporated into the autonomous three-province Kurdish region of north Iraq to be their land, and reject Kurdish attempts to extend control over ethnically-mixed Kirkuk.
Out of earshot of the peshmerga, one Turkmen fighter who declines to give his name accuses the Kurds of taking advantage of the Sunni advance.
"The peshmerga come and say they are protecting us, but we know they want to hold this area and make it theirs," he says.
And the contempt is mutual, with a Kurdish fighter taking a news hound aside at the frontline to complain about the Turkmen forces.
"These fighters don't do anything. They lie 100 percent of the time," he says, glancing sideways to ensure the Turkmen forces cannot hear.
"When there is shelling or fighting, they run away. They have to say they are fighting because they don't want Kurds to be the ones in control."
For all their suspicion, the Turkmen are committed to the alliance for now, aware of the consequences if Sunni snuffies who consider Shiites heretics enter Taza Khurmatu.
Near the frontline lies a bloodsoaked door that was used to transfer the bodies of 15 Basheer residents killed when the Sunni snuffies moved in.
Peshmerga and Turkmen forces say they included a child and three women who were shot in the head.
Abbas has even committed his eldest son, 16-year-old Mohammed, to the fight.
"He has been on the frontline and he was face-to-face with the gunnies in Basheer," Abbas says proudly.
"It's his first war, but I'm not sure it will be his last."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/26/2014
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#1
Is ISIS Saddam's old Baath party regrouped? Seems like it must be - hard to explain the degree of efficiency unless there was a large group of experienced military people involved.
[ONLINE.WSJ] U.S. prosecutors and BNP Paribas have reached an agreement on the general outline of a deal that would require La Belle France's largest lender to pay between $8 billion and $9 billion in fines for allegedly covering up $30 billion in transactions that violate U.S. sanctions, according to a published report.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal would also require BNP plead guilty to a criminal charge of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and a temporary ban on making transactions in U.S. dollars.
Prosecutors claim that BNP used regional overseas banks between 2002 and 2007 to route funds linked to companies and government agencies based in Sudan. The Journal reports that most of the transactions were related to oil deals. In 2007, the bank announced that it would no longer do business in Sudan, which was being accused by the U.S. and its allies of committing genocide in that country's Darfur region.
In all, U.S. authorities scrutinized $100 billion in suspicious transactions before concluding that $30 billion was willfully hidden to avoid detection by sanctions enforcers. Investigators say that BNP also facilitated similar transaction for countries like Iran and Syria as recently as 2009.
Sanctions Sherlocks told the Journal that BNP went to extensive lengths to disguise transactions from the U.S. Treasury Department's screening system. The bank allegedly used a network of banks in East Africa, the Middle East and Europe to make it appear as if dollar-based transfers were unconnected to Sudan.
The Justice Department's prosecution of the case has brought protests from the highest levels of the French government. French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... blasted a proposed blanket ban on BNP trading in U.S. dollars as "unfair" and "disproportionate," adding that a total ban would threaten the bank's survival.
In addition, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius slammed a mooted $10 billion fine as "not reasonable" in an interview with French television.
"If there is a an error or a violation, then it's normal that there is a fine, but the fine has to be proportionate and reasonable," Fabius said that the time.
"What would be reasonable?"
"About a penny to the dollar."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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#1
Baby Assad's job is to keep Russia + Iran happy by hitting the Qaeda Boyz hard, anywhere + everywhere he can, in order to justify staying in power, + not be unilater removed by same.
Ditto as per SSSSHHHHH ... CCCCCCC the Bammer = USA, + NATO-EU.
[AnNahar] The army intelligence locked away Please don't kill me! on Wednesday the cousin of runaway Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir ...Leb Salafist holy man with the usual grouch against Shiites. Currently on the run, he seems intent on reigniting the Leb civil war... in Abra, a suburb of the southern city of Sidon, reports said.
Abdul Rahim al-Asir was apprehended at the pharmacy where he worked, they said.
Al-Asir went into hiding following deadly gunbattles with the Lebanese army in June 2013. Indictments were issued in February against him and 56 of his followers that called for the death penalty.
The 45-year-old holy man, who supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , is still nowhere to be found along with pop idol Fadel Shaker.
Al-Asir teamed up with Shaker, a onetime prominent singer, when around three years ago he began agitating for 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... to disarm.
Al-Asir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint near the holy man's headquarters in Abra in June last year. The attack and the fierce festivities that ensued left around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunnies dead.
The gunbattles concentrated in the area of the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque, where Asir was a preacher, and nearby buildings in Abra.
[DAWN] THE difference between governmental action and inaction can sometimes be difficult to discern — but often it is blindingly and shockingly obvious. Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people from North Wazoo have poured out of the region and the federal government and the politicianship would like the country to believe they are doing all that they can to ease the humanitarian crisis; but the facts, visible plainly to all, suggest that is clearly not the case. When politicians and the administration are in a purposeful mode and go into overdrive, doing absolutely everything they can within their powers to address a particular issue, there is one immutable aspect of whatever they do: publicity. But the handling of the IDP crisis has been left to junior ministers, committees and the like. No senior politician, other than the PTI's Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... , has even seen fit to visit the areas where the state is ostensibly doing all it can to ease the plight of the IDPs.
Compare and contrast the scenes and reports of the swelling number of IDPs appearing helpless and un-helped with the officials' claims. Remember also the reason why these Pak citizens have fled their homes: it is the enormous price the state and the nation have asked of them in order to take on Death Eaters threatening the safety and security of Pakistain. Given the level of sacrifice that has been asked of them, it is surely not too much to hope the state took more seriously its responsibilities towards the NWA IDPs — especially since the state has gained significant experience in recent years in dealing with Fata IDPs displaced by military operations. Moreover, it has been known for years that some kind of military operation in North Waziristan would likely be required at some stage — so theoretically the IDP management in the present instance should have been the best managed and most thoroughly planned of all. Instead, it appears to be one of the more miserable and haphazard IDP management programmes in memory.
Unhappily, the growing IDP crisis is having a double negative effect. The unfolding humanitarian tragedy is eclipsing the reason there are IDPs fleeing North Waziristan in the first place: the military operation. How do the goals of a military operation square with the resentment and unhappiness that the IDP crisis is sure to further stoke among the people of Fata? At great cost to state and society, some bully boy strongholds in NWA may be about to be overrun, but what is the long-term possibility of success against militancy if the sympathy of the locals ebbs and possibly even switches to the bully boys' side? Surely, whether from the point of view of morality or state responsibility or even just operational common sense, the North Waziristan IDPs need to be looked after and looked after well.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] Two pilots were killed Wednesday when a Pakistain army helicopter crashed in Multan while carrying out a training exercise, military officials said.
"Two army aviation pilots embraced martyrdom when their helicopter crashed during a night flying training mission due to a technical fault at Multan tonight," the military said in a statement.
The ISPR identified the dear departed pilots as Major Yasir and Captain Murtaza.
A senior military official told news agency AFP that a dust storm that hit the aviation base as the helicopter was taking off could have been a factor in the crash.
The official and the statement did not give the type of helicopter, but army has Russian and American helicopters in its fleet.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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Internet flooded with images and videos of executions from Sunni militants aiming to topple Iraqi government
At least five die in Kenya attack just days after Al Qaeda-inspired group Al Shabaab kill 60 in twin massacres
Islamist militants Boko Haram feared to have snatched 90 villagers in Nigeria after kidnapping 300 Christian girls
Attacks between Christian and Islamic militia in Central African Republic 'risk creating conditions for genocide'
Sudanese woman freed from death row for marrying a Christian is re-arrested for not using her Muslim name
Middle East security expert: 'All the evidence shows that extremism is on the rise - but Islam is not to blame'
Andreas Kreig, a Middle East security analyst at King's College London in Qatar, said he had noticed a rise in extremism in recent weeks and months, but said Islam wasn't to blame. "No. no! Certainly not!"
He told MailOnline: 'All the empirical evidence shows that it is on the rise. You're seeing it in all the headlines, then you're looking at Iraq, you're looking at Syria, you're looking at Nigeria. "Certainly I would be the last person to deny the undeniable..."
'But in all three cases this has nothing to do with Islam. "Tut tut, my good man!
I think people in the West may think it is because they feel alienated by Islam. There is alot of Islamaphobia,' ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... Mr Kreig said more and more communities - often disillusioned by austerity or other grievances - have turned to religious groups as an alternative to secular regimes in recent years. Why were they disillusioned before the austerity and such set in?
He said: 'When communities become disenfranchised - and lot of them are muslim - they use Islam to further their particular cause. Is there a reason Christians aren't the ones chopping people's body parts off?
'They adhere to a radical interpretation of Islam, but it has nothing to do with the religion.' That statement makes no sense whatsoever.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Lest we fergit, ...
* WORLD NEWS > [Examiner] CP [Clarion Project]: "THERE IS NOW WAY TO SEPARATE THE TERROR CONFLICT FROM THE SECURITY OF THE WEST".
By definition, the Terror Conflict is an EXISTENTIAL THREAT to the West.
[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] A deadly attack on troops and low turnout Wednesday marred Libya's general election on which hopes were pinned of ending three years of turmoil since dictator Moamer Qadaffy's ouster.
At least three soldiers deployed to provide polling day security in second city Benghazi were killed in what security officials said was an attack on their convoy by Islamist militia.
The eastern city, which was the scene of a deadly 2012 attack on the US consulate, has been tense since a rogue former rebel commander launched an offensive against powerful Islamist groups late last month, drawing many regular army units to his side.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[TabletMag] Many post-Orientalists, in the tradition of Edward Saďd, have predicted the outbreak of democracy any decade now, from the 1990s to the "Arab Spring." Thus, while Yasser Arafat's "no" at Camp David shocked Bill Clinton, Dennis Ross, and a public fed on the idea of a win-win peace process, those familiar with the values of Arafat's primary honor-group predicted that rejection. If "that which has been taken by force must be regained by force," then nothing Arafat "got" in negotiations could possibly wash away the shame of a cowardly stroke of the pen that legitimized Dar al Harb in the midst of Dar al Islam. As a result, while Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak (and, reportedly, some younger Palestinian negotiators) mourned, Arafat returned to the Middle East a hero.
Peace is what we want and will have plus a piece of anything that you have.
WASHINGTON - Time magazine revealed in an 8-page report a plan to divide Iraq into three states. Kurdistan in the north, a Sunnis state along with Syria, and a Shia state in the south of Iraq that includes large areas of it.
The Magazine added that this new Shiite country would be heading south to Kuwait, to deduct vital areas from it and include some parts of the north-east of Saudi Arabia. Anybody ask Kuwait and KSA about this?
Baghdad was considered within the Sunni state, while Kirkuk was according to the maps published by TIME inside the Kurdish state, but on the line of contact with the Sunni state, according to the report. The report speaks about the annexation of the Kurdish areas in Syria to a Kurdish state in addition to the inclusion of some Sunni areas of Syria's Sunni state.
It is worth mentioning that Time magazine is considered fish wrapowned byclose to the U.S. administration and express their point of view all the timemore often.
Josh Earnest, the White House mouthpiecepress spokesman, said that the decision of the Iraqi government is up to the Iraqi people who decide how it should develop its own maps, adding that Obama administration would prefer to work with Iraq's political leaders together to find a political solution. Little late for that.
#1
The Magazine added that this new Shiite country would be heading south to Kuwait, to deduct vital areas from it and include some parts of the north-east of Saudi Arabia.
Oh, hell no. The Saudis and Kuwaitis will draw down on US before that happens.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/26/2014 8:03
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#2
And which parts of Turkey are they going to contribute to Greater Kurdistan?
It's really sad when someone who's supposed to be a professional journalist lets themselves be played this way; I suppose since 'O' got in office, they've all got used to it.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/26/2014 8:19
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#3
Joe Biden, you magnificent bastard - they read your speech!
#6
Agreed, hell can't we just get the lazy ass British to get back to work and redeclare the damn empire? Things are going to hell in a hand basket, they know what to do, but they've gotten lazy. Let the RN know we are no longer going east of Bermuda.
#8
Guarantee one thing, the Kurds are NOT taking a single step back from the areas the control now, which are well forward of most of these map lines, especially around Mosul. And the City of Kirkuk will remain Kurdish as well. If you thought digging Sunni militias and AQI from Fallujah was bad, just try rolling in on the Peshmerga in Kirkuk. There's not a military in the region with either the muscle or the guts it would take. So granis salis regarding a lot of these maps
[BREITBART] Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) survived the most intense challenge he's ever faced in his 41-year political career, winning a runoff against conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel.
The News Agency that Dare Not be Named called the race for Cochran, who is up 6,880 votes with 99.9 percent of precincts reporting.
A source close to McDaniel told Breitbart News that he is considering legal challenges over ballots. Democrats who voted for Cochran on Tuesday but voted three weeks ago in the Democratic primary in the state were not allowed to vote in Tuesday's election.
Election results indicate Cochran's late appeal to Democratic voters paid off, with the incumbent senator picking up sizable vote totals in precincts with heavily black populations. Partisanship in Mississippi is largely polarized on racial lines, and Cochran allies paid key Democratic operatives to help turn out the vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Cochran ran a sleazy campaign that is more worthy of the Democratics. He warned certain segments of the Donk base that they were going to end up in chains, lose their freedoms, lose their vote, and lose their welfare benefits. What was it that Reagan said about speaking ill of fellow Republicans? He was opposed to it. If you act like a Democrat, speak like a Democrat, make phony promises, and demonize your opponent, then what have you become?
#6
Cochran will resign in a couple years. He was set to retire but the talked that senile asshole into running for his puppet masters. Cochran resigns, then Henry Barbour gets appointed, just like that scumbag Haley Barbour wanted when he paid for the lying bigoted Robo calls and flyers to scare democrats into voting contrary to the law [vote in primary only for candidate you support in the general]
That's the kind of bullshit you get in open primaries. Presidentially, you end up with McCain or Romney due to Dems in lblue states
[DAWN] At least 21 people were killed and 17 injured when an kaboom tore through a crowded shopping district in the Nigerian capital Abuja during rush hour on Wednesday, a police front man said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast. Two witnesses at the scene said it shattered the glass of nearby stores and sent plumes of smoke billowing into the air.
The kaboom rocked an area near the popular Banex Plaza shopping centre in the upscale Wuse 2 district, they said.
"After a preliminary investigation, we can confirm that 21 people were killed and 17 injured," police front man Frank Mba told news hounds at the scene of the kaboom.
"I heard a loud blast, it shattered the windows of the shop. We ran out. A lot of people ran too, some with blood stains," said Gimbya Jafaru, who was shopping nearby.
The blast came as the area was packed with shoppers and rush-hour commuters, an emergency services source said.
"This thing happened at a peak period," the source said, estimating that around 40 cars had been badly damaged.
Soon after the blast, emergency services were on the scene and the police and army had blocked off the surrounding area, a Rootersnews hound on the scene said. A haze of smoke lingered over the area as the bomb squad combed the area for explosives.
Separately, a roadside kaboom blew up in the northeastern Adamawa state, although no one was injured in that kaboom, local police front man Othman Abubakar said Nigeria has been hit by almost daily bomb and gun attacks, which are widely suspected to be the work of turban group 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... .
Posted by: Fred ||
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[AMERICASMARKETS.USATODAY] Barnes & Noble, the struggling bookseller, saw its shares jump 8% Wednesday after saying it will spin off its Nook digital book business.
The Nook business, which produced digital readers that were a constant also-ran versus offerings from Amazon, Google and Apple, required heavy investments from the company that it was ill-prepared to afford. Shares are up $2.13, or 10%, to $22.69 on the news.
The unit, to be spun off into a new publicly traded company called Nook Media, is 17% owned by Microsoft and 5% owned by publisher Pearson. The company plans to create a tablet in partnership with Samsung. The new business is expected to be pulled out of Barnes & Noble by March 2015.
The core business isn't all that healthy, though. Barnes & Noble said sales at stores open at least a year will fall in the low single digit percentage in the upcoming fiscal year. The company posted a loss of $36.7 million in the quarter ended May 3.
Yet, investors seem to be focused on the positives Wednesday. At least Barnes & Noble's quarterly loss is less severe than it was in the same quarter a year ago, when Barnes & Noble bled $114.8 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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#1
Considering that the book keeps trying to close on Barnes & Noble, you have to wonder who got the lifeboat here.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/26/2014 7:41
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...I suspect the market speculators who didn't get stuck with decaying paper and were able to unload their holdings (on other suckers) on the uptick in the shares.
[Annahar] Russia's upper chamber of parliament on Wednesday voted to scrap an earlier resolution allowing President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... to send troops into Ukraine, in a move Moscow says will help the grinding of the peace processor.
Only one senator voted against Putin's Tuesday proposal to rescind the March 1 decision granting him the right to intervene in Ukraine to protect Russian speakers, while 153 voted in favor.
1. The President of the Russian Federation shall be the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
2. In case of an aggression against the Russian Federation or of a direct threat of aggression the President of the Russian Federation shall introduce in the territory of the Russian Federation or in its certain parts a martial law and immediately inform the Council of the Federation and the State Duma about this .
"
We know Operation Zero Footprint was the covert transfer of weapons from the U.S to the Libyan "rebels". We also know the operation avoided the concerns with congressional funding, and potential for public scrutiny, through financing by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
We also know that officials within the government of Qatar served as the intermediaries for the actual transfer of the weapons, thereby removing the footprint of the U.S. intervention.
We know the entire operation was coordinated and controlled by the State Department and CIA. We also know (from the Senate Foreign Relations Benghazi hearings) that "Zero Footprint" was unknown to the 2011 Pentagon and/or DoD commanders who would have been tasked with any military response to the 9/11/12 attack �-- namely AFRICOM General Carter Ham.
However, it would be implausible to think that then Defense Secretary Bob Gates or Joint Chiefs Chair Admiral McMullen were completely unaware of the operation, this aspect remains murky."
#1
West is hot on the trail, but I believe there is more, much more.
Congressman [soon to depart the congress] Mike Rogers' wife, Kristi Clemens Rogers, was, until recently, the president and CEO of the U.S. branch of the British Aegis LLC a "security" defense contractor company, whom she helped to secure a $10 billion contract with the State Department. The company describes itself as "a leading private security company, provides government and corporate clients with a full spectrum of intelligence-led, culturally-sensitive security solutions to operational and development challenges around the world."
When I first learned of the Aegis connection, my horn went off. Aegis sets the world-wide industry standard on gun running and regime change. Appears to be tissue sticking to the bottom of a great many shoes.
#3
So lemme get this straight. We arm and train Islamic radicals to fight a war in Syria and then we act all surprised when they invade Iraq and thereby nullify a hard fought victory in Iraq. Thanks a lot, Baraq. Are you really going to claim you didn't know these people were al Qaeda all along? And thanks, Hillary. Maybe the one silver lining in this whole mess is that Hildebeast's chances in 2016 are toast.
#4
Hey, so the plan went wrong. Yes, the Islamic radicals are SOB's, but they're OUR SOB's... and those of our pals in the KSA. Besides, we don't like Baby Assad or Vlad, they are ruthlessly evil homophobes.
#5
Gee, it so good to know our leaders have trained and armed the very same people who are now intent on attacking the United States as soon as they consolidate their takeover of Iraq. If they did just one thing right in the last 5 years I might be able to believe they are just inept and near sighted. The insurgents are now in possession of all of Saddam's WMDs (mostly nerve gas) and say they have a nuke; doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy.
#6
Col. West is onto something--explains a lot and ties a lot of loose ends up.
So we armed Abu Khattala who ended up attacking our embassy and killing Ambo Stevens and three others. Recently, the Abu Khattala was snatched in Libya and is now on his way to Washington for trial. What do ya bet he hangs himself along the way or has an a fatal aneurism or heart attack? Why would he turn on the hands that feed him? Did he go rouge and not follow the script? Frog and scorpion story? What's that all about?
[Washington Post] Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014... appeared to bow to U.S. pressure on Wednesday, striking a conciliatory tone as he called for political unity to tackle al-Qaeda inspired snuffies as they swept forward in the western province of Anbar.
Maliki called on political parties to lay aside differences before the first session of Iraq's newly elected parliament, expected to take place next week. Secretary of State John F. Kerry described the comments as "precisely what the United States was encouraging."
But while Maliki's comments may have gone some way to appeasing the United States, for most of his political rivals it is too little, too late. With conflict threatening to tear apart the country, some are trying to rally support around alternative leaders, raising questions as to whether Maliki can cling on.
As the prime minister spoke Wednesday, snuffies from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) pressed forward in Anbar, closing in on the placid provincial capital of Ramadi and on Haditha, home to a huge hydroelectric dam that is crucial to the country's power supply.
"The situation in Anbar is on the edge of a cliff," said Mohammed Fathi, a front man for the local Sunni al-Wafa political party based in Ramadi, which lies 80 miles west of Storied Baghdad. "It won't improve until we have a real political process. We are all partners in this country."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[ABCNEWS.GO] Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi says he is saddened by the deadly kaboom at an Abuja shopping mall shortly before his team played Wednesday at the World Cup, and that his team's progression to the second round is unlikely to offer any solace to the country as it suffers terrorist attacks.
"How much of a victory is football going to give for those lives?" he said.
Last week, a bomb struck a World Cup viewing site in Nigeria, killing 14.
Wednesday's kaboom was blamed on Islamic snuffies but it was unclear if it was timed to coincide with the match.
"What are they doing these guys? They did it the first game, and now they did it again. It is sad," said Keshi, who was unaware of the second incident when asked about it immediately after the match.
Nigeria became the first African nation to reach the knockout stages in Brazil despite losing 3-2 against Argentina. It earlier drew against Iran and beat Bosnia-Herzegovina, earning second place in Group F.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[NYPOST] A driver was decapitated while trying to flee police in Brooklyn — when his car slammed into the back of a flatbed truck Tuesday, sources said.
The gruesome wreck happened when police tried to pull over a black Infiniti G35 sedan on the Gowanus Expressway near Hamilton Avenue around noon.
When they tried to exit the highway via the ramp at Atlantic Avenue near Hicks Street, the car collided with the back of the truck, shearing the off the top of the driver's head.
"When he exited here he was driving 70 to 80 miles per hour, and the trailer was waiting for the light," said Joseph Vega, 59, who was riding his bike to work at the time.
"Highway patrol was chasing him," Vega continued, adding that both occupants were wearing seatbelts. "When I went to see what happened to the driver, he had no head. His head was in the back seat. It was horrible."
Vega said the shocked passenger got out of the car screaming and tried to run after the crash, but she was quickly captured by police, and taken to Lutheran Hospital, sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"So Cap'n, what's plan B?"
Final thought: "This always works in the movies."
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/26/2014 7:22
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#2
"Head in backseat" on the Gowanus. Probably not the first time.
#5
Some trucks trailers got good ones, others seems to be cheatin' more than a bit. Article also said "flatbed", and they don't normally have'm per my humble observation.
[Osun Defender] General Yakubu Usman (rtd) was the chairman of the Northern States Governors' Forum committee on insecurity. The retired general who contested the Bauchi South Senatorial seat in 2011 and lost in this interview speaks on the ongoing insurgency in the north saying it is not the presumed job of the military to confront the bad boys.
Excerpts:
Given your military background, do you think that the security forces in the country are doing their best in tackling the problem of insurgency in the Northeast?
You see when you talk of the military first and foremost, we have to be very clear on what the role of the military is. Their number one constitutional responsibility is to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria against external forces, therefore any other role given to them is secondary. This clearly indicates that the role the military is performing now is a secondary one.
They are just supporting the civil force to bring insurgency under control and by right, it should have been the responsibility of the civil force like the police and Department for State security Service but since the insurgency has grown beyond the power of civilian forces, the military was called in.
There are a lot of interventions here and there because the military is not operating independently and even though we are aware that military is not operating independently, they are under a constituted authority and the environment within which they operate is not a conducive one. Be that as it may, you will agree with me that the military has achieved quite a lot even though their achievements may not be 100% okay.
If the military had not intervened in this insecurity crisis, only God knows what would have been happening in the Northeast by now. These snuffies were attacking so many local governments in the north, but the military has now intervened as the attacks are now minimized compared to before. For instance, Maiduguri was a no go area before but now you can go to Maiduguri because life has come back to the streets and the snuffies have been pushed out to a restricted area around Sambisa forest. So if the 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... boys come into the city, it is a hit and run affair compared to the situation in the past where they would hit and remain. So given the environment and the situation they are operating, they have achieved a lot but they can definitely do better because there are areas that need improvements.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#4
That's so true Borg, but he fell in love with his army. Worst things I guess. The Army of Northern Virginia on the other hand fell in love with their Generals.
[FOXNEWS] The West Coast ports that are America's gateway for hundreds of billions of dollars of trade with Asia and beyond are no stranger to labor unrest and even violence.
Now, the contract that covers nearly 20,000 dockworkers is set to expire, and businesses that trade in everything from apples to iPhones are worried about disruptions just as the crush of cargo for the back-to-school and holiday seasons begins.
With contentious issues including benefits and job security on the table, smooth sailing is no guarantee.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Why aren't the anti trust laws used against the union since it has a defacto monopoly on the labor.
#5
Less(Far less, think Impeachment.)than two year remaining for Obama to screw things up, vote Republican and end this Obamafuckup.
Posted by: Redeck Jim ||
06/26/2014 7:00
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#6
With the Chinese expanding the Panama canal (for future shipping to the Gulf and East Coast) and the Mexicans actually expanding their shipping and rail system south of San Diego, this may be the last chance to extort make gains for the lower skill laborers who (like their brethren in Detroit) are making far more than likewise skilled workers elsewhere in the economy.
Not that we couldn't do without the lifeline of loads of Chinese plastic trinkets and textiles for long. Maybe if some of that stuff was actually manufactured Stateside, some of the business wouldn't be subject to such supply interruption.
#7
Combine this with the news that port deepening projects got the green light, and I see a lot more ships heading Gulf/East Coast.
Posted by: BA ||
06/26/2014 9:47
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#8
This has always been the problem with unions. They demand and demand until the company can't pay them anymore. Then business goes elsewhere and everyone that was in the union is out of a job.
[AnNahar] Troops searching for three teenagers Israeli says were kidnapped a fortnight ago by Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, hard boys, tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... 17 Paleostinians in the West Bank overnight, an army spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The arrests took place across the West Bank and included two Hamas members of the Paleostinian parliament, Paleostinian sources said.
The search operation sparked festivities south of the city of Hebron in which an 18-year-old Paleostinian was seriously maimed by a live round to the stomach, Paleostinian security sources.
Another Paleostinian, Mustafa Aslan, 22, who was maimed Friday in similar festivities in Qalandia refugee camp outside Jerusalem, died of his injuries, his family said.
Israeli security decided to continue its "massive operations," the army's biggest deployment to the West Bank in a decade, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
The latest detentions raised to 371 the number of Paleostinians arrested in the two weeks since the teens disappeared from a hitchhiking post in the southern West Bank.
Of that number, 282 are allied to the Islamist Hamas movement, an army front man told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He said soldiers had searched 1,955 locations and raided 64 Hamas institutions.
So far there has been no claim of responsibility and no sign of the missing students, with the search focusing on the southern West Bank.
[DAWN] A member of the tribal Khasadar force was killed and four security personnel injured early Thursday when hard boyz attacked a security check-post in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber agency.
Official sources said the attack took place at the Hawaldari Chowki on the Pakistain-Afghanistan highway near Sor Kamar area.
A reinforcement party of the Frontier Corps (FC) sent to support security forces also came under attack, they said.
The injured included two soldiers of the Frontier Corps (FC) force.
Intelligence officials confirmed the attack and claimed that a number of hard boyz were also killed but the exact number could not be independently verified.
Officials said the number of casualties is likely to rise as the gun-battle continues between hard boyz and security forces.
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Naperville. Ill. A snake invasion is making people's skin crawl in the western suburbs. Viewer after viewer contacted CBS 2 with photos of snakes along the river walk and invading yards in Naperville. Where's Saint Patrick when you need him?
CBS 2's Brad Edwards went to investigate.
"I'll have five and six of them on my bushes," said Nancy Quigley. "They were twice as big as they were last year. They're not afraid of me anymore." I can think of a few choice things to say here but won't.
It's scaring away her delivery drivers. Afraid of a few snakes? Weenies!
"He'll see them and drop the package and run back to his truck," said Quigley. Run away, run away!
Gina Cooper snapped a picture over the weekend of a northern water snake along the river walk. Odd, a water snake next to the water.
"It's unusual for them to be out and that prevalent," said snake expert David Drake of Aquarium Adventure.
He says that the garter snakes hibernated longer this year because of the polar vortex. He means "Climate Change".
"Now they're out feeding in larger numbers. Also the recent rains and the floods are gonna drive these animals out of their borough," he said. I think he means burrow. But maybe snakes do live in boroughs.
The city of Naperville Animal Control assures these creatures present no danger. Drake says if you can't identify it, don't touch it because there are venomous snakes indigenous to this area.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/26/2014
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#1
I haven't seen any in my yard, but lots of bunnies this year (and hawks looking for a good meal). But then I don't live near the river.
#4
Yeah! Whatever happened to the Occupy folks? Still camped out? Went home to Mama's basement?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/26/2014 11:18
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#5
Baby snakes
Late at night is when they come out
Baby snakes
Sure you know what I'm talkin about
Pink n wet
They make the best kinda pet
Baby
Baby
Snakes
#6
I live in the next suburb north of Naperville. To top it off large wetlands abut my property. I haven't seen a single snake! Not one! I have seen coywolfs, coyotes, foxes, all sorts of birds and insects. Oh, and we seem to have a huge population increase of crickets, toads and skeeters - but snakes? Nada.
#7
We got snakes, all four main varieties of venomous and every other kind that matter except large constrictors. For high comedy drop a live indigo snake in front of a healthy cat. Have someone with a camera and make sure it's not zoomed in. I had one cat that jumped 5 feet in the air ran into the house (to look for a hoe?) Then came back out and went all Riki Tiki Travi, I had to save the snake.
[LATIMES] At the end of the 1960s, the Los Angeles Police Department decided it needed a better way to handle situations, such as confrontations with barricaded gunmen or hostage takers, that presented a high risk of deadly violence. So it created Special Weapons and Tactics units, known thereafter as SWAT.
In the decades since, these units have spread nationwide, contributing to a startling militarization of local police agencies. The American Civil Liberties Union now raises troubling questions about the blurred lines that come with arming and training domestic law enforcement officers as though they are an extension of the U.S. military.
In a report released this week, the ACLU analyzed more than 800 incident reports from 20 police agencies in 2011-12 and found that eight of 10 SWAT deployments were not to confront barricaded suspects or to negotiate the release of hostages but rather to serve search warrants, primarily in drug cases. Two-thirds of the deployments involved breaking down doors, and many included tossing flash-bang grenades and rousting occupants at gunpoint.
The ACLU study looked at a tiny fraction of police agencies, so its conclusions should be treated with caution. Still, the routine use of SWAT units to serve warrants has been documented elsewhere and constitutes a worrisome example of mission creep: If police departments have the units, they tend to use them, even in scenarios for which they were not initially envisioned. Militarized teams were deployed about 3,000 times a year in the 1980s; by the mid-2000s, annual deployments reached 45,000.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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#1
Yes. Next question.
I've always subscribed to the notion of: If the job's too difficult or unsafe, why don't you look for a different job?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/26/2014 7:36
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#2
Put them under the 'militarized' state office of the National Guard. Once the chiefs and sheriffs lose control, they'll also lose interest.
#3
During the horror at the University of Texas it was 2 cops climbing the tower has soon as they could get there. Whitman would have killed another 90 people with todays get to get started, call the swat team to get ready lets plan. Some times, you gotta get your damn gun and climb the tower and kill the SOB. When the time comes you need a damn cop doing his job, if it's more than that you call the National Guard.
[NYDAILYNEWS] The fate of a Sudanese mom who escaped a death sentence for being a Christian is now the center of a diplomatic tussle. Sudan has summoned American and South Sudanese ambassadors for their roles in attempting to help Meriam Ibrahim flee the country.
Ibrahim was detained at a Khartoum airport on Tuesday, after she allegedly tried to use an American visa and South Sudanese emergency travel documents to leave the country, NBC reports.
The U.S. State Department confirmed that the U.S. embassy in Sudan was "highly involved" in Ibrahim's case.
"The government has assured us of their safety," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. "We are engaging directly with Sudanese officials to secure their safe and swift departure from Sudan."
South Sudan confirmed that the South Sudanese travel documents were issued from that country's embassy in Sudan. But Sudanese authorities disagree on whether she is a South Sudanese citizen, so carrying the travel documents amounts to a crime.
Ibrahim's husband, Daniel Wani, is a naturalized American citizen who is originally from South Sudan, a Christian majority country that split from Sudan in 2011. Even though Ibrahim's death sentence was overturned on Monday, the government doesn't consider her marriage to Wani legal. She was raised a Christian, but her dad was a Muslim. Children are required to follow the faith of their fathers and Muslim women aren't allowed to marry outside the faith.
"The airport passport police arrested Abrar after she presented emergency travel documents issued by the South Sudanese embassy and carrying an American visa," Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services' media department said on Facebook, referring to Ibrahim by her Muslim name.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[AnNahar] Four makeshift bombs went kaboom! within minutes of each other at three Cairo metro stations during morning rush hour on Wednesday, wounding at least two people, Egyptian police said.
One bomb went off at the station of Ghamra, in central Cairo, while the others occurred at Shubra el-Kheima and Hadayek al-Kobba on the outskirts of the capital, a police official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The bombs were "very primary" and of "low intensity," the official said.
Militants have stepped up attacks in Egypt, mostly against security forces, since the army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July 2013 and the authorities launched a deadly crackdown on his supporters.
The attacks come nearly a month after ex-army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster, was elected president.
Since Morsi's ouster, a crackdown on his supporters has left more than 1,400 people dead and seen at least 15,000 enjugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! , while hundreds have been sentenced to death in speedy mass trials that have sparked an international outcry.
[Libya Herald] Two staff members of the Tunisian embassy who were kidnapped in two separate incidents in and around Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... in spring, Mohammed Ben Cheikh and Aroussi Gontassi, have been freed, a Tunisian Foreign Ministry official in Tunis has told the Libya Herald. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the two had been released over a week ago. He gave no further details on the day or the circumstances of their release.
The Tunisian Embassy in Tripoli would not comment.
On 21 March 2014, Mohammed Ben Cheikh, secretary to the Tunisian ambassador was kidnapped in Ain Zara, east of Tripoli. Aroussi Gontassi, a second Tunisian diplomat was kidnapped on 17 April in Tripoli.
This was the first time ever that a Tunisian diplomat had been kidnapped anywhere. The two are believed to have been taken by the same group.
A YouTube video, dated 19 April 2014, of a distressed Ben Cheikh pleading to Tunisian authorities to negotiate with the kidnappers was released by the Tunisian turban Islamic group "Shabaab Al-Tawhid". The group's demands have never been made public but it has been suggested that it wanted and Libyan colleagues wanted the release of two Libyans from Derna nabbed Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! by the Tunisian authorities in 2011.
Ansar Al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) rebranded itself in early 2014 as Shabaab Al-Tawhid ...the latest incarnation of Tunisia's branch of Ansar al-Sharia... (ST) in response to Tunisian counter terrorism operations to secure established networks and maintain its presence in Tunisia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[Ynet] German prosecutors have filed terrorism charges against a man accused of joining and fighting in Syria for a hard-line Islamic group that has since overrun parts of Iraq.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that the 20-year-old, identified only as Kreshnik B. in line with German privacy rules, was charged with membership in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... , which they say he joined in July. He's also charged with conspiring to commit an attack because he is accused of undergoing weapons training, acquiring a firearm and participating in fighting in Syria.
The suspect was placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in December after he returned to Germany.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/26/2014
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In 2012, Scott Downtown Scotty Brown was avoiding Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, the Publican nominee for president in 2012. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals.... like the plague as he tried to get reÂelected to the U.S. Senate amidst a tidal wave of Wall Street bucks and a million no-info Obamaphone-wielding voters washing over him to cast a ballot for the fake Indian.
Continued on Page 49
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[DAWN] The central leader of Awami National Party founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986. Part of the PPP-led cabinet 2008-13. The ANP is considered left wing, advocating for secularism, democratic socialism, public sector government, and economic egalitarianism.... , Asfandyar Wali Khan, on Tuesday called for conducting military operation in North Wazoo without any consideration for good and bad Taliban.
He said that displacement of tens of thousands of tribal people from North Waziristan Agency was a human tragedy that would affect adversely the post-operation scenario in the region.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] KARACHI: Three more coppers were killed in a gun attack on Tuesday in the city where more than 100 coppers have already been killed since September 2013 when the government launched the Rangers-led Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... operation that has yet to establish an abiding peace here.
The killings of the coppers took place in the Manghopir area not far from the place where only a few days ago the police and Rangers had killed seven suspected bully boyz in a joint operation, putting a question mark over the effectiveness of the operation of the law-enforcement agencies.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... (ASWJ) local leader was killed by unidentified gunnies at Khayaban-e-Sir Syed on Tuesday night, in what the ASWJ claims was an act of murder.
Earlier on Sunday, another local leader of ASWJ, Mufti Munir Ahmed Moavia, was shot and injured after being ambushed by unidentified gunnies in the same locality. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... he is stated to be in a stable condition.
Maulana Izhar-ul-Haq Farooqui, 28, an office bearer of the organization's local chapter was on his way to home after visiting Mufti Movia at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) when he was shot and killed by unidentified gunnies, who later disappeared from the scene.
The victim was removed to the HFH where the doctors pronounced him already dead.
When contacted, Inspector Ishtiaq Masood of Pirwadhai said no further details were available nor was the number of the attackers known yet. A front man for the ASWJ told Dawn that the killing of their local leader was an act of murder, which was continuing unchecked since a year.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... on Wednesday called for a meeting of all the like-minded parties on June 26, DawnNews reported.
A meeting between chief of the Awami Moslem League, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, leaders of the Pakistain Moslem League — Quaid (PML-Q) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, and Qadri was underway at the latter's Lahore residence.
During the meetings consultations and discussions were held over the next plan of action to be taken regarding the formation of an anti-government grand alliance, which would be announced tomorrow on June 26.
Earlier during the day, chief of Tehrik-e-Subah Hazara Baba Haider Zaman and Pakistain Peoples Party leader Shaukat Basra and Makhdoom Shahabuddin also called on Dr Qadri and discussed the prevailing situation and the future course of action to be taken.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM), Majlis-e-Wahdatul Moslemeen (MWM), PML-Q and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) have agreed to Qadri's invitation and will be attending the meeting.
The meeting headed by Dr Qadri will discuss a future joint action by all the parties.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... doesn't know any Qadri.
"I don't know which Qadri you are talking about as there are tens of thousands of Qadris in the country," the chief minister told a questioner while dispatching first consignment of relief goods from the Punjab government for internally displaced persons of North Wazoo.
He declined to talk further on the issue.
The CM briefed the media that Chief Minister's Relief Fund has been set up with a sum of Rs500 million for the Pakhtoon brothers and sisters displaced in the war against terrorism.
The Punjab cabinet and assembly members, he said, would donate their one month's salary to the fund.
On behalf of the provincial government, he said, relief items worth Rs100 million were being sent to the IDPs.
The first consignment of 50 trucks carrying relief articles including rice, flour, pulses and other commodities is being sent immediately, while more relief goods, if required, will also be provided.
He made an appeal to philanthropists and well-to-do segments of society to extend maximum help to their affected brethren and sisters and donate generously towards the relief fund.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[AvNahar] Security agencies detained a Syrian national accused of monitoring a number of streets while he was on his way to the eastern border town of Arsal, An Nahar newspaper published on Wednesday.
The man who is from Raad family was allegedly heading to Arsal to get paid for monitoring several streets in the capital Beirut.
The suspect confessed that he was paid $300 for each information he presented.
He also told security agencies that he was dealing with a man called Abou Mouhannad from the eastern Bekaa town of Majdel Anjar.
Early Tuesday a suicide kaboom in Beirut's southern suburbs, 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... 's main bastion, killed a security officer and maimed 20 others.
No one has claimed the attack, but an audio recording posted on YouTube by Abdullah Azzam Brigades ... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed... said there would be more "strikes" if Hizbullah does not pull out of Syria.
The bombing in Tayyouneh came three days after a suicide kaboom in eastern Leb killed one person and maimed 30.
The Abdullah Azzam brigades is an al-Qaeda-linked group that has previously grabbed credit for other Syria-related violence in Leb.
[NEWSWEEK] UNITED NATIONS (Rooters) - The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... on Wednesday issued an unusual call for military force, with a senior U.N. official saying the advance of Islamist forces of Evil throughout the north and east of Iraq must be dealt with militarily, though success will hinge on a broad political consensus.
Nickolay Mladenov, who as U.N. special envoy to Iraq heads the world body's political mission there, said Iraq's key southern oil reserves remained safe. But he raised the estimated civilian corpse count to at least 1,300 since the recent fighting began, up from Tuesday's estimate of more than 1,000.
His remarks came as hardline Sunni forces of Evil attacked one of Iraq's largest air bases.
"The part of the crisis that has been caused by the advances of ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) must be addressed militarily," Mladenov told news hounds at U.N. headquarters via video link from Storied Baghdad. But he cautioned that military solutions alone would not suffice.
He said political cooperation must improve between Iraqi Kurds and the Storied Baghdad government. Also, military solutions must be based on an Iraqi-led plan and reflect a national consensus.
"The threat that is posed by ISIL affects every community in this country," Mladenov said, reiterating previous U.N. calls for an inclusive Iraqi government.
He added that much of Iraq's oil supplies remain safe.
"The largest refinery in Iraq at the city of Baiji continues to be disputed," he said. "Government forces still remain in control of the refinery itself, however fighting is continuing."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Does the federal government have any systems at all to back its email archives? Maybe not, because the Environmental Protection Agency is now using the same excuse as the IRS is using in response to a Congressional subpoena: the computer ate our homework. If the government would like to give me lots of money I'll be happy to show them how to back up a database remotely three times a day in case of a hard drive crash.
In a hearing Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the agency was still trying to recover the emails from a now-retired employee who was involved in a controversial EPA evaluation of a proposed mine project in Alaska's Bristol Bay.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., asked McCarthy: "Were all of his emails preserved according to the Federal Records Act or was a law violated?"
McCarthy responded: "I think we have notified the appropriate authorities that we may have some emails that we cannot produce that we should have kept. I do not know yet whether we can recover all of these or not." She added that later: "We are not sure where the failure came from and what it is attributed to."
A committee aide told the National Journal that an apparent hard drive crash in 2010 is preventing the recovery. The crash reportedly happened right around the same time that the committee first started expressing an interest in the emails.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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#1
That homework eatin' dog certainly seems to get around...
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/26/2014 7:50
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#2
Just keep repeating the same lie until it becomes fact! Jeez, people, how hard is that?!?
[AnNagar] Jordanian police fired tear gas to disperse angry protesters in the Islamist stronghold of Maan on Wednesday after police potted a suspect in a shootout in the southern city.
"More than 100 people demonstrated to protest the killing of a man wanted by police," a witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstration after the protesters blocked roads with burning tires."
A security official confirmed the incident.
"On Monday, security forces raided an area of Maan to arrest two suspects. One of them was killed in a shootout. The second suspect bravely ran away," he told AFP.
"Three coppers as well as a woman were hurt in the shootout," he added, without elaborating.
In April, a 20-year-old man was killed outside his home in festivities with security forces after gunnies opened fire on police guarding a courthouse.
Six men are now facing trial for their alleged involvement in the violence.
Maan has a bloody and rebellious past dating back to the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
In April last year, armed festivities among students at the city's King Hussein bin Talal University killed four people and maimed more than 25.
[THEAUSTRALIAN.AU] PAKISTANI police have jugged I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! hundreds of people after gunnies opened fire on a passenger plane during its landing approach, as fighter jets hit turban targets in the latest round of an anti-Taliban offensive.
THE attack at Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. airport in the country's northwest killed a woman passenger and maimed two crew and will raise further questions about aircraft safety in Pakistain.
The Pakistain International Airlines (PIA) flight, landing in Peshawar from Riyadh in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , came under fire on Tuesday as it descended with more than 170 passengers on board.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but attention turned to the Pak Taliban, who have promised a bloody response to the army's assault on their strongholds in North Wazoo.
Authorities said the Airbus A310 landed safely but a catastrophe was only narrowly avoided when it was hit by eight AK-47 bullets from the unidentified attackers.
PIA front man Mashud Tajwar said the plane was between 200 and 300 feet (60 to 100 metres) feet off the ground when it was hit.
"The shots were fired from outside the airport, one lady passenger and two stewards were maimed, the woman later died in the hospital," Tajwar said on Wednesday.
Tajwar said the reason for the firing was not yet clear but the airline had not received any threats.
In response to the incident, Emirates cancelled a flight to Peshawar on Wednesday, while Air Arabia and Etihad Airways diverted planes to Islamabad.
Police conducted search operations through Peshawar and arrested "more than 200 suspects" in connection with the incident, according to senior police official Najeeb Ur Rehman.
"Police commandos and sniffer dogs are taking part in the operation that is still going on," he added.
Mass arrests are commonplace in the aftermath of major terror incidents in Pakistain but most suspects are often let go quickly.
Police hailed the pilot for remaining calm and landing safely.
The attack came two weeks after a bloody raid on the international airport in the southern port city of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... that left dozens dead and sank a largely fruitless grinding of the peace processor with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP).
Posted by: Fred ||
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"This is a glaring example of the erosion of our street craft and our tradecraft and our capability to operate in a hard place," said Maguire, who helped run CIA operations in Iraq in 2004. "The U.S. taxpayer is not getting their money's worth."
Easy to stay in the HUMINT loop when you're running 'kill or capture' operations and US SOF or Brit SAS are doing the hard work in the bush. [sometimes we ride along, if it's not an over-niter]. Loco and Daisy running around the FOB in their Toyota 4x4, returning to their comfi compound to read traffic, write contact reports and sip gin from the embassy. No FOB Chapman shit here, nobody gets inside the wire. Hot shower and pipe cleaning to follow. Tomorrow, it starts all over again with the 'Tuesday morning weekly update' and seeing what big Army intel is up to....the poor clueless buggers. Punching our deployment tickets.
And by the way, this isn't just Klington SOP in Iraq and Afghanistan, it goes back to the 1960's. Good work if you can get it, and the pay is ridiculous. In all fairness, there are... or were exceptions, Mike Spann being one such exception. Loco and Daisy are not entirely to blame. The attitude at 'main' is low risk/no risk, just keep the reports coming.
[Loco and Daisy are pseudonyms of my own creation].
Posted by: Redeck Jim ||
06/26/2014 6:53
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#7
Did you ever get the impression that when they spun NSA out from CIA, all the competence went with NSA?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/26/2014 8:15
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#8
A few heads poled on Potomac Bridges after 9/11 would have 'encouraged others' to be more attentive to their mission. Instead they would expended their efforts to undermine the elected president of the United States with leaks and counter position papers that just so happened to get into the press.
#11
Where's Gen. Stan McCrystal and the network he set up in Iraq to roll up these guys. Oh never mind, I forgot, we left there in 2011 and McCrystal is gone.
#14
OK, so they miss little things like the war in Syria flooding into Iraq and the recent title transfer in the Crimea. But they are on top of the big stuff, like the collapse of the fUSSR. Well, OK, not that. But other stuff, I'm sure.
#16
Loco and Daisy have you figured out where they went to school? Princeton maybe? Turned down a job at Dad's partnership to do wild and crazy things? (With Daisy).
#18
I'll wager they both have professional candid shots of themselves in Balaclavas and maybe even Paleo dinner cloths amongst safe locals, along with photographs of mystery people on their walls.
#19
Just wait until they get the shocking news that night follows day
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/26/2014 20:18
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#20
Ship - I used to cringe when I saw one of our people wearing a shemagh [man scarf]. Posing for happy snaps with the locals, bad juju. Bad for you, potentially very bad for them. People who need memorabilia on the walls or a "hurrah for me room" suffer from Low-T. I don't even care for bumper stickers. Probably a bit radical or narrow minded on my part.
#22
One quibble. The ISIS didn't seize the cities, the Shia-led military abandoned them in a cowardly run, and some of the local Sunni quisling tribal leaders delivered the towns to them.
[Ynet] Jordanian sources say kingdom's cooperation with Israel has only increased as situation in Iraq has tanked amid ISIS offensive.
Cooperation between Israel and Jordan is growing as armed Sunni men from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) make additional gains in Iraq, near the Jordan border, Jordanian sources told Ynet, detailing Jordan's position regarding the ongoing crisis and potential US intervention.
"There is a very good cooperation between us regarding ISIS' growing presence in Iraq and Syria, but also on issues relating to other radical forces in the Middle East which have their sights set on Israel and Jordan," the diplomatic source said.
ISIS is affiliated with al-Qaeda and together with the aid of Sunni primitive has in recent days managed to take over — albeit only for a short period — parts of the tribal border between Iraq and Jordan. And a recent report in Al-Arabiya claimed Jordan will send military forces to the area.
Speaking with Ynet, the source said cooperation with Israel has only increased as the situation in Iraq has tanked.
"The developments on the other side of the border (between Jordan and Iraq) are still unclear, but the Jordanian army is already doing whatever it can to quell any threat from the area.
"As of now the border crossing is operative. Jordan is holding talks with regional forces to find a solution to the political conflict in Iraq. This is not just the ISIS issue, but a deteriorating political situation," the official said.
What is Jordan's position regarding US military involvement?
"The US has a military agreement with Iraq. This is a illusory sovereignty related issue between two countries and has nothing to do with Jordan. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... there are some regional players who think the US must become involved to neutralize radical forces. We have no preference, it is not our issue."
Last weekend saw a pro-ISIS demonstration in the Jordanian capital of Amman. What significance do you attribute to this event?
"It is no secret there are radical forces in Amman. The developments in Iraq have helped encourage fanatics to admit they support the organization. Nonetheless, as of now, we have seen no real connection between those who expressed support and ISIS in Iraq. "
Oil and death in Iraq Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called the chief of staff and complained that the artillery was keeping him awake... US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... visited Iraq as fighting continued in a number of key cities.
On Monday, two Jordanian officials said the border crossing almost 575 km (357 miles) from the Iraqi capital and nearly 320 km (199 miles) from Amman was effectively closed after gunnies took control of the crossing
An army source confirmed that army units had been put in a state of alert in recent days along the 181-km (112-mile) border with Iraq, redeploying in some areas as part of steps to ward off "any potential or perceived security threats".
The UN, meanwhile, said more than 1,000 people, most civilians, have been killed in Iraq so far this month, the highest corpse count since the US military withdrew from the country in December 2011.
A weeklong fight for control of Iraq's largest oil refinery stretched continued Tuesday with helicopter gunships attacking what appeared to be formations of Sunni Death Eaters preparing for another assault on the facility in Beiji, a top military official said.
Chief military front man Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi has denied reports that the facility has fallen to the rebels.
Government air forces also reportedly bombed the town of Qaim near the Syrian border on Tuesday, days after it was seized by Islamic Death Eaters in Anbar province, west of Storied Baghdad. Provincial government front man Dhari al-Rishawi said 17 non-combatants were killed.
West of Storied Baghdad, authorities found the bodies of 12 coppers killed as Death Eaters seized the Anbar town of Rutba this weekend. Militants also stole at least 6 billion Iraqi dinars (about $5 million) from the town's state-run bank, the authorities said, declining to be identified because they were afraid of retaliation by the murderous Moslems.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/26/2014
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FALFURRIAS, Texas--Volunteer police officers and deputies from across South Texas have responded to the need for help in Brooks County, Texas. The deaths of many illegal immigrants have created a huge financial burden on this small county's budget. The county is a choke point for the trafficking of illegal immigrants, narco-traffickers, and foreign gang members. Smugglers often leave women and the injured to die if they are unable to keep up with the group while traversing the rough, isolated terrain. The off-duty law enforcement officers are donating their personal time and even money to make sure "everyone goes home" at the end of their shifts.
On June 22, Breitbart Texas reported about the impact of the mass graves on the Brooks County government. The fallout from the cost of burial of over 120 illegal immigrants in the last year had caused the department to cut pay and health insurance from its deputies. This caused some officers to quit in search of greener pastures and left Brooks County with four patrol deputies to cover an area roughly the size of Rhode Island, about 1,000 square miles.
Because of this, law enforcement officers from across South Texas are now volunteering their off-duty time to fill the gap and make certain these deputies have backup when they are needed.
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[Libya Herald] After a week of captivity, the grandson of retired General Khalifa Hafter's sister has been released by his kidnappers and returned to his family.
Mahmoud Mustafa Ahbeel Al-Zawi, age 22, was kidnapped last week near a petrol station in Ajdabiya. Gunmen reportedly fired shots at the car he was driving to force the car to stop, then grabbed Al-Zawi.
After a phone call was made by the kidnappers to the family, detailing the location of where he had been left, he was found alive, with his hands tied, near a power station in Zueitina on Monday.
It is not known if he had been beaten or otherwise abused. Al-Zawi reportedly did not know who his kidnappers were.
The kidnappers demanded a ransom of a million dinars. Security personnel suspect the kidnapping was not motivated by Hafter's Operation Dignity campaign but was perpetrated by a criminal gang looking to make money. It is not known if any ransom was paid.
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06/26/2014
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[CNBC] The U.S. economy contracted at a much steeper pace than previously estimated in the first quarter, but there are indications that growth has since rebounded strongly.
Unexpectedly!
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday gross domestic product fell at a 2.9 percent annual rate, the economy's worst performance in five years, instead of the 1.0 percent pace it had reported last month.
While the economy's woes have been largely blamed on an unusually cold winter, the magnitude of the revisions suggest other factors at play beyond the weather. Growth has now been revised down by a total of 3.0 percentage points since the government's first estimate was published in April, which had the economy expanding at a 0.1 percent rate.
The difference between the second and third estimates was the largest on records going back to 1976, the Commerce Department said. Economists had expected growth to be revised to show it contracting at a 1.7 percent
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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#1
While the economy's woes have been largely blamed on an unusually cold winter
Hot Cold weather, and the need for people to stay warm. Obviously then, it's the PEOPLE and their need to stay warm, who are to blame.
#2
and since employment grew slightly, productivity decreased at about a 3.6% annual rate, the worst reading since records have been kept
we have had cold winters before but the amount of ice in the Great Lakes and on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers was more than anytime in the past two decades and this probably was much of the reason for the big decline in construction and the slightly less of a decline in manufacturing
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/26/2014 6:58
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#3
expect bogus sunny numbers prior to the election.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2014 9:19
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#7
It would seem that people aren't buying the Little Miss Sunshine BS that Bummble is putting out. Money is worth less because more and more is printed. Food has gone up considerably. Gasoline has gone up. The labor participation rate is way down. Can't say that is all George W's fault but the Donks will do. The transparency may be starting to come through.
#8
When you raise taxes dramatically and roll out gobs of new, burdensome regulations a contracting economy is only a surprise if you are an idiot, a member of the Press, or this Administration. But I repeat myself.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/26/2014 16:26
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[Washington Post] Two senior Veterans Affairs Department officials will be stepping down this week as a personnel overhaul continues in the wake of the resignation of former VA secretary Eric K. Shinseki.
Will Gunn, who has served as VA general counsel since 2009, will be stepping down from a job he's held since the start of the B.O. regime. And Robert Jesse, currently the acting undersecretary for the Veterans Health Administration, will be stepping down and rejoining the department's medical ranks.
The forthcoming changes are according to two people familiar with the shakeup who were not authorized to speak publicly about them. A formal announcement of the departures is expected later Wednesday or Thursday, the two people said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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"A formal announcement of the departures is expected later Wednesday or Thursday..."
Or maybe Friday say around 1750 -ish at the end of 17 page press release.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
06/26/2014 9:49
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06/26/2014
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Happy Birthday to Jennette McCurdy, 22 Today !
Actress and Singer who became admired by many iCarly and Sam & Cat fans for her roles as Sam Puckett and Melanie Puckett. Her 2011 single "Generation Love," peaked at 44 on the U.S. Country chart. She starred in Malcolm in the Middle with Jane Kaczmarek in 2003 and 2005.
Posted by: Alexander ||
06/26/2014 4:02
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Happy Birthday to Rebecca Budig, 41 Today !
She portrayed Greenlee Smythe on the soap opera All My Children appeared with Susan Lucci. A highlight of her career was in 2003, when she won a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress for her role.
Posted by: Alexander ||
06/26/2014 4:14
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[AnNahar] A man went kaboom! at a hotel in the Beirut area of Raouche on Wednesday as General Security members stormed his room.
TV footage showed broken windows and flames shooting from the third and fourth floors of the Duroy Hotel, located in Raouche, close to the sea.
According to Lebanese Red Thingy director George Kettaneh, eleven people were maimed in the blast, including seven civilians and four General Security members.
They were all rushed to the American University of Beirut Medical Center.
"Ambulances have been scrambled to the blast scene where a jacket wallahwent kaboom! inside his room at the Duroy Hotel in Raouche during a General Security raid," al-Jadeed television reported.
MTV said the suicide bomber was a Saudi national and quoted security sources as saying that "there are no other snuffies in the hotel."
Later on Wednesday, state-run National News agency said "it has been confirmed that the suicide bomber is 20-year-old Saudi national Abdul Rahman al-Humaiqi."
"The raid was a continuation of the security operation that started at Hamra's Napoleon Hotel and security forces are still tight-lipped over the information," LBCI TV said, noting that "the security operation is still underway in search for possible bombs and booby-trapped cars in the hotel and its vicinity."
Quoting reports, LBCI said "another suicide bomber might be inside the hotel and negotiations are ongoing to thwart him from blowing himself up."
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq inspected the blast scene, saying "three General Security members were lightly maimed."
He confirmed that a Saudi would-be suicide bomber was maimed in the blast, describing the security raid as "a preemptive strike by the General Security agency."
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart... the shadowy Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade grabbed credit for the bombing on its Twitter account, saying "other jihadists" managed to flee the blast scene.
"Our blessed operations will not be merciful on (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... ), the Crusader army (Lebanese Army) and anyone targeting the free jihadists," the group threatened.
"The victory that is being achieved by the Islamic State of Iraq (and the Levant) against (Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki's army is a motivation for every jihadist in the world," the Brigade added.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr said a suspect was incarcerated Please don't kill me! at the hotel, revealing that three General Security members were maimed.
"Two Saudi suicide bombers were at the hotel in Raouche and security forces arrested one while the other went kaboom!," al-Jadeed TV said.
It added that two General Security members were "critically maimed."
The TV network said three men of Arab nationalities were arrested at the hotel.
OTV said "two suicide bombers of Gulf nationalities" blew themselves up as their room was raided.
It said the raid at the hotel had to do with "the cell that was arrested in the North."
LBCI said "a suitcase containing seven kilos of explosives was found in the possession of the two suicide bombers at the Duroy Hotel."
For its part, NNA said a booby-trapped suitcase was discovered in the vicinity of the Duroy Hotel.
"The arrested would-be suicide bomber is from the al-Swainy family and he was born in 1995," MTV said.
The General Security raid followed the arrest last Friday in a hotel in the nearby Hamra district of the capital of a Frenchie of Comoran origin on suspicion of plotting to carry out suicide kabooms in Leb on behalf of the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... group.
That is the same group that has spearheaded the offensive by Sunni Arab Death Eaters that has swept up a big swathe of northern and north-central Iraq over the past two weeks and also made gains in neighboring Syria.
On Monday, the al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Sherlocks suspected the detained Frenchie was part of a cell of four would-be suicide bombers who had entered Leb.
The same night, a young, off-duty General Security inspector was killed as he stopped a car driving the wrong way up a street towards a cafe in the Tayyouneh district of south Beirut whose driver then blew it up.
[DAWN] The Emirates airline has officially suspended its flight operations to and from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. in the wake of yesterday's attack on the city's Bacha Khan International Airport.
In an email to Dawn.com, the airline's spokesperson said the decision was made keeping in mind the safety of passengers and Emirates staff.
"Emirates has suspended flights to and from Peshawar effective 25 June 2014 until further notice, due to the security situation at the destination. Affected passengers will be rebooked on alternative Emirates' flights and are asked to check on emirates.com for further updates. We apologise for the inconvenience caused — however, the safety of our passengers and crew is a top priority and will not be compromised," the statement said.
On its website, Emirates said, "As this situation is beyond the control of Emirates, liability towards our passengers is limited in accordance with Emirates' Conditions of Carriage for Passengers and Baggage. Additionally passengers are advised to contact their travel insurers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[DAWN] A GROWING proportion of economic activities in Pakistain are now taking place in what is called the informal sector. This has three major consequences that possibly present a threat to the future viability of the state.
The biggest consequence is how much of this activity is able to escape the state's revenue machinery. With a declining ability to capture economic output in the revenue apparatus of the state, there is a diminishing pay-off for the state in the economy's growth.
This is no minor issue. With amongst the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world, the state in Pakistain is already critically dependent on subsidised foreign inflows in order to be able to pay its own bills. With all of the growth that the country has experienced since 1990, when its first opening up to the outside world began, the proportion of taxes collected has failed to keep pace. Simply extrapolating this trend into the future shows quite clearly that a point will arrive when subsidised foreign inflows could become larger than the total quantity of revenue collected from taxing domestic activities. Of course we are far from that point at this stage, but give it another decade or two more and we'll see how the totals tally up.
Beyond revenue, we can see an increasing quantity of wealth now accumulating outside the formal economy. Consider some other important ratios where Pakistain lags tremendously: total cash in circulation to bank deposits, for instance, where out ratio is amongst the largest in the world. This shows that increasingly money prefers to remain outside the formal depository and payments system of the country. As capital accumulates in the grooves of the informal economy, it restricts the balance sheet of the formal economy and remains inaccessible for investment purposes, at least investment in fixed capital. Consider that total mortgage lending in Pakistain is somewhere around Rs70 billion, probably less than the value of the housing stock in one elite neighbourhood in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , meaning much of our property market, even though it is the preferred asset for collateral when taking a bank loan, remains off the balance sheet of the formal economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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[FOXNEWS] Republican voters on Tuesday opted for U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez to challenge Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in November, pinning their hopes to end a long electoral drought in Colorado on a candidate who lost his previous gubernatorial bid by 17 points.
Beauprez, a buffalo rancher who grew up working on his father's dairy farm, defeated three other Republican candidates in a sleepy primary with little advertising thunder. That will change fast: Hickenlooper, who has raised nearly $3 million for his re-election bid, already has bought $1.4 million in television advertising for the weeks leading up to the general election.
The victory punctuates an eight-year journey for Beauprez back to the Republican Party spotlight, and shows that despite his past defeat the GOP establishment still views him as the most formidable candidate against Hickenlooper.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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#1
I remember when Hickenlooper was a bartender. Then he bought the bar with some patron/partners and began the Colorado microbrewery boom. Then he organized the renovation of lower downtown (LODO) Denver. He went on to become Mayor of Denver, then Gov. of CO. Something Pena couldn't do...Goes to show you what industry and financing can do for a lad with a thirst.
#2
Lickenpooper is a lying scumbag lefty who has managed to fool just enough Coloradans with media help and Gills Gay Gangsters bankrolling him. He is an asshole who should be driven from office. Problem is the GOP in Colorado is run by the country club bunch and manages to screw up nearly every election lately, and who will sabotage and refuse to support any candidate they don't control even if that costs them the election. Greedy stupid bastards.
Yada yada.
By noon, only 200,000 had cast their vote, election officials said, blaming hot weather. Yada.
Without a functioning government and parliament, Libya is struggling to impose authority over heavily-armed former rebels, militias and tribes that helped oust Gadhafi but who now defy state authority and carve out their own fiefdoms.
Libya also has a budget crisis. Protests at oilfields and shipping ports by armed militias have reduced oil production, the country's lifeline, to a trickle.
Tripoli's partners in the West hope the vote will help it to begin rebuilding a viable state. Its nascent army, still in training, is no match for fighters hardened during the eight-month uprising against Gadhafi.
Many Libyans fear the vote will produce just another interim assembly. A special body to draft a new national constitution has still not finished its work, leaving questions over what kind of political system Libya will eventually adopt. Yada.
Divisions need to be bridged between Libya's west, once favored by Gadhafi, and the neglected east where many demand autonomy and a greater share of the nation's oil wealth.
The vast desert country has several power centers. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, rooted in rural western coastal cities, is vying with tribal areas in both the west and east for control of the oil producer.
Electoral authorities tightened registration rules by requiring voters to show a national identification number, which many Libyans lack given the collapse of state services.
The new parliament will again be made up of 200 seats, but will be called the House of Representatives. Thirty-two seats are allocated to women.
Around 1,600 candidates were on the ballot, about 1,000 fewer than in the previous parliamentary vote. Some candidates put up street posters or platforms on social media, but the announcement of the election a month ago left little time before voting began, and there has been no real campaigning.
[Guardian Ng] THE Akasoba of Kalabari and Chairperson, Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ACPCR), Her Royal Majesty, Queen Akasoba Duke-Abiola, has expressed deep concern that the 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... Death Eater sect has not released the Chibok school girls despite local and global pleas that the girls be freed unharmed. We all have to hope, really really hard!
In a statement signed by the Secretary, Dr. Jen Clarence, ACPCR noted that in order to facilitate the release of the school girls, Queen Akasoba had directed the investigative arm of the ACPCR (the Strawberry Group) to quietly negotiate with the Boko Haram representatives in Borno, Chad and Niamey pleading with them to "Let the Chibok Girls Go". You're not hoping hard enough! Poor Tinkerbell! She's flickering!
According to the statement: "In the course of the negotiations, Boko Haram representatives promised to do so stating that the Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution's (ACPCR) approach was pragmatic and sincere, avoiding publicity and advising against the use of violence.
"The ACPCR therefore expresses concern that the Boko Haram members, rather than free the girls are seeking for an exchange of captured snuffies and making other demands like the change of the National Anthem, national flag, prosecution of ex-president Obasanjo and the resignation of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
"The ACPCR is not a political organization, it is, as the name implies a Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The continuous and harrowing abduction of the Chibok school girls is not only abominable but it is unprecedented in the history of mankind.
"Let it be known that the ACPCR will continue to demand on very peaceful terms that Boko Haram must "Let the Chibok Girls Go".
"The ACPCR's position, therefore, is that it is ready to provide food and medication to both the girls and their captors until the safe return of the girls.
The ACPCR further urges Boko Haram to drop their guns, arms and ammunition, submit themselves to the laws of the land and embrace peace. Members of the ACPCR's Strawberry Group are doing their best and ACPCR assures Nigerians that very soon the Boko Haramists will have to simply "Let the Chibok Girls Go."
"The ACPCR is a success story. We did it before with the Niger Delta Death Eaters. We will prevail against Boko Haram," the statement concluded. Ummm... Boys and girls? I think Tinkerbell's about to peg out...
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06/26/2014
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Suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels have freed a woman they kidnapped in Zamboanga City early this year following a successful negotiation in nearby Basilan province. Former Basilan Vice Governor Alrasheed Sakkalahul, who helped in securing the safe release of Sabrina Voon, said the victim was freed in the coastal village of Baliwasan.
Sakkalahul said the woman’s family sought his assistance. He said, "I hurried back to the Philippines to find a way on how to get in touch with the kidnappers after Voon’s family sought my help in securing the safe release of Sabrina. Through a third party, we were able to make contact with the kidnappers and secured the freedom of Sabrina Voon. We negotiated with the kidnappers and the authorities were well aware the negotiations and we did strictly on humanitarian grounds."
He said he was not aware if ransom was paid to the kidnappers.
Police have filed criminal charges against Abdul Hassan Yusop, who was among those who kidnapped Voon. Police said he had been identified through his photo on a fake driver’s license he used to hire the van in Zamboanga.
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/26/2014
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[NEWS.YAHOO] Congressional Sherlocks say they uncovered emails Wednesday showing that a former Internal Revenue Service official at the heart of the tea party investigation sought an audit involving a Republican senator in 2012.
The emails show former IRS official Lois Lerner mistakenly received an invitation to an event that was meant to go to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
The event organizer apparently offered to pay for Grassley's wife to attend the event. In an email to another IRS official, Lerner suggests referring the matter for an audit, saying it might be inappropriate for the group to pay for his wife.
Continued on Page 49
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Hezbollah's past operations in Iraq show that a limited number of experienced "consultants," working with Iran's Qods Force, could significantly increase the lethality of the local Shiite militias currently gearing up to counter the ISIS offensive.
[AnNahar] The army intelligence detained the members of a terrorist network, who are suspected of planning to assassinate a high-ranking security official in the North, the military said in a communique issued on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the army intelligence apprehended a terrorist cell in the Lebanese Qalamoun region.
The network was seeking to assassinate a prominent security official in the North.
The detainees were identified as: Wassim Ahmed al-Qass, Wissam Ahmed al-Qass, Dani Ahmed al-Qass, Amjad Nouhad al-Khatib and Nabil Kamel Bayda.
"The army intelligence will continue to pursue suspects to arrest the remaining members of the cell and reveal their connections and schemes," the statement said.
Security forces began recently enforcing strict measures and carrying out raids in several areas after obtaining information on a plot to target hospitals and high-ranking security officials.
On early Tuesday a suicide kaboom in Beirut's southern suburbs, 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... 's main bastion, killed a security officer and maimed 20 others.
No one has claimed the attack, but an audio recording posted on YouTube by Abdullah Azzam Brigades ... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed... said there would be more "strikes" if Hizbullah does not pull out of Syria.
The bombing in Tayyouneh came three days after a suicide kaboom in eastern Leb that killed one person and maimed 30.
The Abdullah Azzam brigades is an al-Qaeda-linked group that has previously grabbed credit for other Syria-related violence in Leb.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea, one that didn't involve kerosene... media reports said that the Anti-Terror Bureau apprehended overnight Wednesday Abdullah and Ahmed Salah Eddine, Wiam al-Mustapha, Mohammed Khaled Salah Eddine, Bilal al-Mustapha and Abdul Rahman al-Sayyed in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... 's al-Zahiriyeh area.
Ahmed al-Mustapha meanwhile managed to escape.
The six men hail from the northern town of Fneideq and are charged with opening fire after the arrest of a man from the Zahraman family.
They are also charged with carrying out other security violations.
[AnNahar] A senior army officer said on Wednesday that Jordan can defend itself against "any aggression" after Sunni Arab turbans seized large swathes of neighboring Iraq.
"The Jordanian-Iraqi borders are safe. The Jordanian armed forces are capable of defending the kingdom from any aggression," border guard commander Brigadier Saber Mahayrah told news hounds as they toured the border area.
"We will not allow anyone to cross illegally," he said as armored personnel carriers, Humvees and tanks deployed to the area.
Four military helicopters hovered over the border.
Mahayrah made his remarks two days after Jordan reinforced its border.
"The Jordanian army has dispatched more troops, tanks, rocket launchers and armored personnel carriers to the border with Iraq," a security official told AFP on Monday.
"The army will not tolerate any kind of infiltration."
Sunni snuffies led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) overran swathes of land north and west of Storied Baghdad this month.
There is only one official crossing between Iraq and Jordan, at Trebil, some 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of Amman.
There was confusion over who controls the Iraqi side of the crossing, with some reports saying ISIL fighters have overrun it and others saying it is under the control of Sunni tribes.
"The crossing post on the Iraqi side is run by Iraqi government officials. It is working normally," said an Iraqi driver as several trucks crossed into Jordan.
The Sunni murderous Moslem offensive in Iraq has sparked fears in Amman that the jihadists will take their fight to Jordan.
Already struggling to cope with hosting more than 600,000 Syrian refugees, Jordan has long faced a challenge in dealing with its own jihadists, many of whom have joined ISIL or Al-Qaeda-linked groups in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/26/2014
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[AnNahar] A suicide kaboom and shelling killed 12 people and maimed at least 23 south of Storied Baghdad Wednesday, officials said, as Iraq struggles to stem a major hard boy offensive.
The bomber detonated explosives in a market in Mahmudiyah, while shellfire struck various areas of the town.
A major Sunni jihadist offensive, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... , has overrun chunks of five provinces north and west of Storied Baghdad since June 9.
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... a boom-mobile in a Kurdish-majority neighborhood of the ethnically mixed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed five people on Wednesday evening, security and medical officials said.
Twenty more people were maimed by the blast in the northern part of the tinderbox oil hub, which lies at the heart of territory Iraq's Kurds want to incorporate into their autonomous region over the objections of Storied Baghdad.
Two of the dead were Kurdish security force members.
While the federal government has not abandoned its opposition to Kurdish claims, Kurdish peshmerga forces are now responsible for its external security after the army abandoned its positions in the face of a Sunni Arab hard boy offensive led by the ISIL.
The krazed killer onslaught, which began on June 9, has overrun swathes of five provinces north and west of Storied Baghdad, including mainly Sunni Arab towns in the west of Kirkuk province.
After initially wilting when confronted with the hard boy advance, security forces have improved their performance. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... that has been limited to maintaining territory, rather than launching any major counter-offensive.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/26/2014
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[AnNahar] The United States on Wednesday designated the finance chief and a senior public relations official of Pakistain-based krazed killer group Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... as "global terrorists," placing tight economic sanctions on the two.
The U.S. Treasury said Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry, one of the two hit with sanctions, has been a big shot and strategist for LeT since the early 2000s, while the second, Muhammad Hussein Gill, is an LeT founder and its chief financial officer.
Both were labeled "specially designated global terrorists," freezing any assets they might have in U.S. jurisdiction and banning Americans from any transactions with the two.
"We will continue to target LeT's financial foundation to disrupt and impede its violent activities," said David Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
LeT, already officially named a "foreign terrorist organization" by the U.S. government, has carried out attacks on India and Indian forces in the Indian Kashmire region since the early 1990s.
It was blamed for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that left 166 people dead. The group has denied responsibility Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. .
More recently, LeT was blamed for an attack last month on an Indian diplomatic mission in Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... , Afghanistan that left two coppersmaimed.
But the group subsequently denied involvement in that attack.
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] Veteran New York congressman Charlie Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Rangel Congressman-for-Life from Harlem, who became what 20 terms in Congress turns you into ... seems to have held on in Tuesday's Democratic primary. The third-longest serving member of the House has a lead over just about 1800 votes over his top challenger, state senator Adriano Espaillat. Rangel has claimed victory in the primary, although Espaillat has not yet conceded the race.
Rangel, long known as the congressman from Harlem, faces changing demographics in his Manhattan district. His natural black base there has been largely replaced by Hispanics, particularly Dominican Americans like Espaillat. Add to that Rangel's ethics problems and charges of unreported income and unpaid taxes (which forced him to step down as Ways and Means committee chairman in 2010), and it's no surprise Rangel found himself in a fight. In fact, Espaillat nearly beat him in the Democratic primary in 2012, with Rangel escaping by just a thousand votes.
But as the Washington Post's Wesley Lowery reported, Rangel seemed more ready this time to shore up support in his changing district:
But, vowing to not be taken by surprise, Rangel has campaigned hard and boasts the endorsements of many of the nation's top Democrats. Former president Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of is... , House Minority Leader Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of professional politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace... (Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) have lent their names to Rangel's reelection bid which, if successful, is likely to make him the second-longest-serving current House member, behind Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who also is seeking reelection. Rangel's campaign has worked to underscore his links to local Hispanic communities, rolling out endorsements from Latino leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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But, but, but I thought the Dems were pro-Hispanic ?
[IBTIMES] Despite more than $1 billion in annual funding from Bill Gates and others to eradicate polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... , the disease is still endemic in some regions of the world that are dominated by anti-Western murderous Moslem groups like Nigeria's 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...
Boko Haram, which is thought to be responsible for the kidnapping of 91 people from villages in Nigeria's northeast on Saturday, is responsible for thousands of deaths in the region over the past few years, including children who never receive vaccinations against polio and the health workers who try to help.
"The polio program is operating in the face of targeted violence, with more than 25 front-line workers having been killed because they are associated with the polio program," says a report from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Even though doctors created a vaccine for polio in 1955, the crippling and potentially fatal virus is still endemic in Nigeria, Pakistain and Afghanistan. Extremist groups such as Boko Haram and the Taliban have targeted health workers they view as possible spies for Western governments, a theory supported by the fact that the CIA used a fake vaccination campaign to track down the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... in 2011.
"Things took a turn for the worse as far as direct targeting of vaccinations workers after it came out that the U.S. used a polio vaccination campaign in Pakistain to locate Osama bin Laden," said Amy Pate, expert on Boko Haram at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
"Once that information came out, it sort of justified some of their earlier narratives that these organizations were just stooges for foreign governments," she added.
Worldwide, more than 2.3 billion children around the world have been immunized against polio since 1988, bringing global cases down by 99 percent, according to the GPEI. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... since 2013 there have been 53 reported cases in Nigeria and 93 in Pakistain. Last month, World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan officially declared the situation a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2014
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#1
Even though doctors created a vaccine for polio in 1955, the crippling and potentially fatal virus is still endemic in Nigeria, Pakistain and Afghanistan
Lands of the Devout
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2014 12:07
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They Kill Polio workers?
OK, let their children die.
One day they'll face facts, If they survive.
If not well, Allah wouldn't help them.
Posted by: Redeck Jim ||
06/26/2014 16:39
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Arab worries: Dr. Salk (a Jew) discovered the antidote.
[AnNahar] The local unit of Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch in the tinderbox town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border pledged loyalty Wednesday to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... , giving ISIL control over both sides of the frontier.
The move is also significant because it reflects how ISIL is fast gaining the upper hand in eastern Syria, where it has been locked in combat with fighters from Al-Qaeda franchise Al-Nusra Front and allied local rebels virtually all year.
Al-Nusra's oath of loyalty in Albu Kamal comes days after Iraqi security forces abandoned Al-Qaim, just across the border, and ISIL and other Sunni snuffies seized it on Saturday.
ISIL, which aspires to create an Islamic state that straddles Iraq and Syria, has spearheaded a lightning jihadist offensive that has already captured swathes of territory north and west of the capital.
ISIL waded in to Syria's civil war in the spring of last year on the side of rebels seeking to oust Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... , but its systematic abuses and quest for hegemony quickly turned Syrian rebels, including Islamists, against it.
As a result, fighting broke out in January between ISIL and Syrian rebels, which eventually drew Al-Nusra in against its fellow jihadist organization.
Despite the fighting, which has killed hundreds, activists say the offensive in Iraq has empowered the group, partly because its fighters have captured large amounts of heavy weaponry from fleeing Iraqi troops.
On Wednesday, Al-Nusra's Albu Kamal branch "pledged loyalty to ISIL," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
"They are rivals, but both groups are jihadist and bad boys. This move will create tension now with other rebel groups, including Islamists, in the area," said Abdel Rahman.
An ISIL jihadist confirmed the reports on Twitter, posting a photo showing an Egyptian Al-Nusra Front commander shaking hands with an ISIL leader of Chechen origin.
An opposition activist in Albu Kamal told AFP via the Internet that "there is a lot of tension, and the situation is only going to get worse."
Using a pseudonym for security reasons, Hadi Salameh also said the merger would "cause a big problem with the local tribes, who will not welcome this change."
Another activist said the move comes days after local rebel brigades who had been working with Al-Nusra signed a declaration demanding that it take a clear stance against ISIL.
"The loyalty oath (to ISIL) comes after tension between Al-Nusra and the local rebels," said Abdel Salam al-Hussein.
He also said hundreds of thousands of people, including displaced families from neighboring Iraq as well as flashpoint areas in Syria, are living in Albu Kamal, and that it would be a "catastrophe" if fighting broke out in the town.
Hussein said: "ISIL fighters are now positioned at the entrance of Albu Kamal, on the Iraqi side."
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... Deir Ezzor province's rebel front man Omar Abu Leyla warned that "Albu Kamal is a red line." If ISIL fighters cross over from Iraq, he said the opposition "Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... will fight them."
Rebels fighting ISIL and the Assad regime distributed amateur video footage of a rebel parade in Albu Kamal, which Abu Leyla described as a warning to the jihadists positioned just across the border.
Abu Leyla complained that "the FSA has received no external support at all, even though we are fighting ISIL."
Separately Wednesday, the Syrian air force raided ISIL-controled Raqa in the north of the country and Muhassen in the east.
In Raqa, "12 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed in the air strikes. Not one strike directly hit an ISIL position."
The Assad regime has rarely targeted ISIL-held areas, except in recent days after the group and other Sunni snuffies launched an offensive in Iraq, wresting control of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and other pars of Iraq.
A Syrian government newspaper reiterated frequent regime claims that the United States and Israel are behind the rising violence, and that they are vying to "divide Syria along sectarian and religious lines."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/26/2014
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How come 2+ million Alawis could kick ISIS ass, but 20+ million Iraqi Shia can't?
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.
[DAWN] THE nation had not quite recovered from the shock of the deadly.png)
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...time to think
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] A deadly attack on troops and low turnout Wednesday marred Libya's general election on which hopes were pinned of ending three years of turmoil since dictator Moamer Qadaffy's ouster.
[DAWN] At least 21 people were killed and 17 injured when an 
[AMERICASMARKETS.USATODAY] Barnes & Noble, the struggling bookseller, saw its shares jump 8% Wednesday after saying it will spin off its Nook digital book business.
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Nouri al-Maliki
Now, the contract that covers nearly 20,000 dockworkers is set to expire, and businesses that trade in everything from apples to iPhones are worried about disruptions just as the crush of cargo for the back-to-school and holiday seasons begins.
[DAWN] A member of the tribal Khasadar force was killed and four security personnel injured early Thursday when .jpg)
[DAWN] KARACHI: Three more 
[DAWN] Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) chief Dr 
[DAWN] Punjab Chief Minister 
Wazoo
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Does the federal government have any systems at all to back its email archives? Maybe not, because the Environmental Protection Agency is now using the same excuse as the IRS is using in response to a Congressional subpoena: the computer ate our homework.
[THEAUSTRALIAN.AU] PAKISTANI police have 
Wazoo
FALFURRIAS, Texas--Volunteer police officers and deputies from across South Texas have responded to the need for help in Brooks County, Texas. The deaths of many illegal immigrants have created a huge financial burden on this small county's budget. The county is a choke point for the trafficking of illegal immigrants, narco-traffickers, and foreign gang members. Smugglers often leave women and the injured to die if they are unable to keep up with the group while traversing the rough, isolated terrain. The off-duty law enforcement officers are donating their personal time and even money to make sure "everyone goes home" at the end of their shifts.
I recommend closely monitoring urban dog pound population trends. 
[Washington Post] Two senior Veterans Affairs Department officials will be stepping down this week as a personnel overhaul continues in the wake of the resignation of former VA secretary Eric K. Shinseki.
[DAWN] The Emirates airline has officially suspended its flight operations to and from 
[DAWN] A GROWING proportion of economic activities in Pakistain are now taking place in what is called the informal sector. This has three major consequences that possibly present a threat to the future viability of the state.
[Guardian Ng] THE Akasoba of Kalabari and Chairperson, Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ACPCR), Her Royal Majesty, Queen Akasoba Duke-Abiola, has expressed deep concern that the 
Charlie 
Nancy 
[IBTIMES] Despite more than $1 billion in annual funding from Bill Gates and others to eradicate 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
