[KhaamaPress] Since August 2021, China has increased its diplomatic relations and economic investments with Afghanistan’s de facto government. In the recent past, Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... -Khorasan and other terror outlets in Afghanistan have targeted these significant investments.
Sources reported that an attack on Chinese projects is considered a kind of retaliation for the cruel behaviour of the Chinese government against the Uyghur Moslem population in China.
Earlier in January, the Chinese company- China Petroleum Economics and Information Research Center (CPEIC) signed the extraction agreement of the Amu oil field with the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... -ruled government.
The investment amount on the said project would be more than USD 700 million, with a 20% share of Afghanistan within three years. This deal is a significant investment in Afghanistan’s since retook of power by the current regime in the country.
In December, the terror attack in a Chinese-run hotel resulted in the injury of several Chinese nationals, forcing them to leave the country immediately; it has been said that ISIS-K claimed the attack. Subsequently, the attack on Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry was thought to be targeting a Chinese delegation was also claimed by the same group.
The Chinese officials immediately shared their concerns with the Taliban’s government to ensure the complete security of Chines nationals, institutions and projects in the country.
On the contrary, the security of Chinese projects, citizens, and companies remain a challenge in the country. However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... Afghanistan’s security institutions always ensure the security of Chinese citizens and investors. They strongly reiterated that they would not allow any groups or entities to use Afghan soil to launch operations against such targets.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/31/2023 02:40 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[SAHARAREPORTERS] President Muhammadu Buhari has queried the origin of the Boko Haram ...Nigeerian Islamist group, formerly paying homage to al-Qaeda, then, when the money ran out, to the Islamic State, and headed by nutcase Abu Bakr Shekau. Once he exploded in a gunfight with ISWAP, many in the group surrendered to the govt and others went with their new overlords. The remainder are a shell of their former selves, stmbling glassy-eyed and lonely through the Sambisa Forest and the soothing waters of Lake Chad, asking themselves What is truth?, or maybe just I wonder what's for dinner? I hope it's not rhinocerous again! ... terrorism in Nigeria, noting that it appears that there are international elements that want to destroy Nigeria.
Buhari who rode to power in 2015 on the basis of fighting insurgency as the former military general, raised the concerns on Monday in Kano State during a lunch held in his honour at Government House.
He alleged that some foreign elements were suspected to be part of the conspiracy by using Boko Haram to destroy the country.
Buhari, who overthrew an elected president in a coup d'etat on December 31, 1983, lamented, "it is unfortunate that Boko Haram stopped the country from tapping its resources in Lake Chad Basin. We have shown Nigerians and the rest of the world that we have so many natural resources."
He recalled how Boko Haram bully boyz took over the control of 17 Local Government Areas in Borno State out of the 27 local governments.
"Half of Yobe State was in the hands of Boko Haram. I suspect there is an international group that wants to destroy Nigeria, if not how can Western education be haram?" he queried.
"We fight for our land from the groups that are trying to destroy Nigeria, but we are very lucky. I am very happy that Nigerians showed me support, they identified with me and I identified with them also," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)
[An Nahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... 's president has suggested his country might approve Finland's application for NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... membership before taking any action on Sweden's, while the Ottoman Turkish government issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-Ottoman Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... The travel warning published late Saturday followed demonstrations last weekend outside the Ottoman Turkish Embassy in Sweden, where an anti-Islam activist muppet burned the Koran and pro-Kurdish groups protested against Turkey. The events stiffened Turkey's refusal so far to ratify Sweden's NATO bid.
Sweden and Finland applied jointly to become members of the military alliance, dropping their longstanding military nonalignment following Russia's war on Ukraine. In a prerecorded video of an event released Sunday, President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important... indicated that Turkey might sign off on only Finland.
"If needed, we could give a different message about Finland. Sweden will be shocked when we give the different message about Finland." Erdogan said to a group of young people in Bilecik province.
Turkey has accused the government in Stockholm of being too lenient toward groups it deems as terror organizations or existential threats, including Kurdish groups. NATO requires unanimous approval of its existing members to add new ones, but Erdogan's government has said it would only agree to admit Sweden if the country met its conditions.
In its travel warning to citizens, the Ottoman Turkish foreign ministry cited an increase in anti-Ottoman Turkish protests by "groups with links to terror groups," a reference to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. Along with Turkey, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and United States also designate the PKK as a terror group.
Pro-Kurdish groups have waved the flags of the PKK and its affiliates during protests in Sweden organized as a response to Sweden and Finland's promise to prevent the PKK's activities in their countries in order to gain Turkey's approval for their NATO memberships.
Erdogan said he told the Swedish prime minister, "You will extradite these hard boyz if you really want to enter NATO. If you don't extradite these terrorists, then sorry." He said Turkey had provided a list of 120 people it wants extradited from Sweden, a demand that was part of a memorandum signed in June that averted Turkey's veto of the Nordic nations' joint application.
Turkey is demanding the extradition of alleged PKK Death Eaters as well as some followers of Fethullah Gülen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost... , the Moslemholy man accused of the 2016 attempted coup. In December, the Swedish Supreme Court ...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations... said the country cannot extradite Bulent Kenes, the former editor-in-chief of a newspaper linked to Gulen, angering Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2023 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
That Turkey, everyone’s least favorite ally is ready to green light the most provocative NATO add out of the two is proof positive that we need to bail out of the group that should have been disbanded when the Berlin Wall came down. Let Klaus Schwab instigate his depopulating apocalypse without us.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2023 8:43 Comments ||
Top||
[An Nahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... 's opposition vowed on Monday to crimp the president's powers and broadly expand democratic rights if they seize power in May 14 presidential and parliamentary polls.
The six parties that are united against President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important... also pledged to agree on February 13 to a joint candidate for the crucial vote -- widely seen as Turkey's most consequential in generations.
The opposition's long-awaited election program aims to roll back many of the powers Erdogan has amassed over his two-decade rule.
It limits the president to a seven-year term and makes a powerful new prime minister accountable to parliament.
"We will shift to a strengthened parliamentary system," the program says.
"We will put an end to the president's power to issue decrees."
Erdogan began his rule in 2003 as prime minister and was elected president -- at the time a more ceremonial post -- when his mandates ran out in 2014.
He then rammed through constitutional changes in 2017 that eliminated the premiership and created a powerful new executive that allowed the president to effectively rule by decree.
The opposition pledged to change the constitution back to the way things worked throughout most of Turkey's post-Ottoman history.
- CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM -
Constitutional changes can be ratified by 400 votes in the 600-seat parliament.
They can also be put up for a national vote if the opposition gathers the 360 votes needed to trigger a constitutional referendum.
The opposition's pledge to rewrite the constitution adds particular importance to the parliamentary vote.
Erdogan briefly lost control of parliament during his second decade in power and now relies on support from a far-right party that has seen its support slip in the past year.
Opinion polls point to a tightly contested election that is too close to call.
The opposition pledged to "urgently" amend the constitution and "put an end to the vague and arbitrary restriction of the freedoms of assembly and demonstration".
"We will strengthen the freedoms of thought, opinion and expression," it added.
Erdogan unleashed sweeping purges after a failed 2016 coup attempt that curbed many of the freedoms enjoyed under his more prosperous and publicly popular first years of rule.
Analysts estimate that 90 percent of Turkey's media are now under government or its business allies' control.
Thousands of activist muppets -- many of them Kurds -- are languishing in prison on terror-related charges that rights groups believe Erdogan is using to crack down on political dissent.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2023 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
A decade ago Erdogan used the Davos World Economic Forum to attack President Peres for Israel's 2009 war on the Gazan terrorists and he blamed Israel for indiscriminate attacks on civilians. In blocking NATO membership for Sweden and Finland, he continues a policy that included Turkey's many attempts to hinder all NATO activity with Israel. In decrying Israeli activity on the West Bank he omits his own miserable human rights record, which included the 1974 illegal occupation of Cyprus (a move respected by no nation); indeed, the European Commission of Human Rights has on numerous occasions attacked Erdogan's own record, including the massive attack on journalists which now has reduced Turkey's media opposition to near zero, and the continuing attacks on the Kurdish population. And attacks on Christians with the Muslim occupation of Hagia Sofia. And Washington allows Turkey to be the tail that wags the NATO dog. Ridiculous!
[IsraelTimes] US officials tell NYT drone attack not aimed at stopping weapons exports to Russia; ex-PM Bennett says he intensified Iran strikes after plot to kill Israelis in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey, Cyprus
The drone attack on a defense facility in the Iranian city of Isfahan was carried out by Israel to protect its own security interests, and not to prevent weapons exports to Russia, according to a New York Times
... which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/31/2023 06:24 ||
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[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
“In November, a longtime ally of Netanyahu said in an interview that he believed the prime minister would order a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities if the US does not secure a new nuclear deal with Tehran and fails to take action itself in the near future.”
Not sure why any non-traitor in the US or Israel would want another Obama style Iran deal. Maybe someone who is insane and/or stupid, but giving money and concessions to someone who is cheating you is a hallmark of a graduate of the Mitch McConnell School of Negotiating Betrayal.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2023 8:36 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The "nuclear deal." "We will pretend you are not trying to get a nuke to kill the Jewish Nation. If and when you do, we will send an atta boy letter."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/31/2023 8:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Gee, now I suppose the Iranians are no longer "six months away" from a nuclear weapon.
Pardon me, Secretary Blinken, but your prejudice is showing.
[IsraelTimes] In shadow of judicial overhaul plan, secretary reminds his host US-Israel ties have always been rooted in shared values, including protecting minority rights and justice for all.
#3
Long past time for these people to mind their own business.
Posted by: Chris ||
01/31/2023 10:10 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The followers of Davos, SZ have decreed the end of Biden's reign. He's being moved to the garage just like JFK, Nixon, Trump, Boris Johnson, and Jacinda Ardern. His usefulness has ended.
[IsraelTimes] PA president tells CIA chief announced freeze aimed at pushing Netanyahu to moderate settlement expansion, said to fear condemning Jerusalem attack would be ’political suicide’
Abbas rebuffed Burns’s request that he condemn the Friday night attack, saying it would amount to "political suicide" amid heightened Paleostinian anger over the Jenin raid, Channel 12 reported.
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase.... told CIA director William Burns Sunday that parts of a security coordination apparatus with Israel have remained in place, despite announcing a total freeze on cooperation last week following a deadly IDF raid in Jenin.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Lawmakers vote 89-8 in favor of legislation that would apply measure to those convicted of terror offenses who receive payments from the Paleostinian Authority for their crimes.
Garnering rare cross-Knesset support, a bill to revoke the Israeli citizenship or residency of terror convicts who receive financial support for their acts from the Paleostinian Authority passed its first reading in the Knesset on Monday.
Coming up for a vote just days after a deadly terror attack outside a Jerusalem synagogue, the bill advanced 89-8. The proposed legislation also cleared its preliminary reading in mid-January with support from opposition politicians.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Security chiefs meet to try to predict how and when Tehran will respond to recent alleged Israeli strikes, prepare for possibility it will pursue targets abroad
The security establishment on Monday was reportedly bracing for a retaliatory strike by Iran, following a series of attacks against Islamic Theocratic Republic targets over the past several days that have been blamed on Israel.
The Kan public broadcaster reported Monday that security officials have held discussions over the past day to try to predict when and how Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites.... will respond to several strikes on convoys that reportedly were ferrying weapons and ammunition for Tehran-backed militias in Syria over the past 48 hours.
Channel 12 carried a similar report.
Those Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s followed a more significant drone attack on a key defense facility in the city of Isfahan. The site hit in Saturday’s strike was reportedly a weapons production facility for Iran’s killer Shahed-136 drones.
The series of attacks were widely attributed to Israel, which has a policy of not commenting on such operations.
In addition to retaliatory attacks against targets inside Israel, the security establishment was readying for the possibility that the Islamic Theocratic Republic would take aim at Israeli tourists, officials, and embassies abroad, Kan reported without citing sources.
This was the case last year following the liquidation of a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel issued a travel warning urging citizens to avoid traveling to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... and authorities there said they foiled an attempt to kidnap an Iranian cell seeking to stage a kidnapping in Istanbul.
Earlier Monday, Iran threatened retaliation over Israel’s reported involvement in the Isfahan attack, warning Jerusalem "not to play with fire."
An unnamed Iranian official told the Al Jazeera network that it appeared Israel was behind the attack, although he claimed it was a failure.
The Iranian official threatened that Tehran would seek Dire Revenge. "Israel knows very well that it will receive a response, as happened in the past."
"Those who play with fire are the first to get burned if they decide to start a regional war," the official said.
Iran has in the past believed to have launched drone attacks on US troops and their allies in Syria in retaliation to alleged Israeli strikes targeting Tehran’s interests.
In his previous term, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered numerous strikes on Iranian targets in Syria and operations on Iranian soil. He has been open about his intention to oppose Tehran’s nuclear aspirations at any cost, as Israel generally views an Iranian nuclear bomb as a near-existential threat.
Tzachi Hanegbi, who has since been tapped as National Security Council chairman, said in a November interview that he believed the prime minister would order a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities if the US did not secure a new nuclear deal with Tehran and fails to take action itself in the near future.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/31/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[An Nahar] Higher Judicial Council chief Judge Suheil Abboud and a group of judges who support Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar "have started implementing decentralization in the judiciary," al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.
Abboud and this group of judges "have started mulling the idea that Bitar practice his work from an office in Jdeideh’s Justice Palace, in an implication that this place is located in a Christian area and no one will dare to attack it," al-Akhbar quoted prominent judicial sources as saying.
The sources added that "this week will witness a strong continuation of the confrontation."
The newspaper also quoted sources close to State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat as saying that the latter is "determined to go to the end in the recusal of Bitar."
Bitar took Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...a strong argument in favor of European colonialism, even French colonialism... by surprise last Monday when he resumed his investigation after a 13-month hiatus, charging eight new suspects including high-level security officials and Lebanon's top prosecutor Oueidat.
Bitar said he based his decision on a legal review that he himself conducted, with a source close to him saying the judge "is convinced it's crucial to hold officials accountable and finish his mission."
But others in Lebanon point to foreign interference in the case. A top security official said that the Lebanese judiciary had come under U.S. pressure to free detainees in the case, including dual Lebanese-U.S. citizen Ziad al-Ouf.
The official said an American lobby group was pushing for sanctions against Bitar, Oueidat and another top judge, should they fail to comply.
The week before reopening the case, Bitar had met with two French judges for hours about his investigation. The delegation suggested Bitar should resume work, arguing that holding suspects in detention without trial is a human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... violation.
Bitar's surprise move sparked a judicial battle with Oueidat, putting Lebanon's notoriously politicized justice system to yet another test.
Oueidat retaliated by charging the judge with "usurping power" and insubordination, and slapped Bitar with a travel ban. A defiant Bitar meanwhile told AFP he would not step down, adding that Oueidat "has no authority" to intervene in the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2023 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Arab News: On Wednesday, Oueidat ordered the release of all suspects detained in the investigation into the blast and filed charges against Bitar. Among those released by Oueidat was Beirut port head of security Mohammed Ziad Al-Ouf, a dual-American Lebanese citizen who eventually left for the US.
Meanwhile, 41 opposition MPs released a statement on Friday denouncing Bitar’s dismissal as lead investigator in the case. The statement is seen as a challenge to Hezbollah and Amal, which support Bitar’s dismissal.
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.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...Nigeerian Islamist group, formerly paying homage to al-Qaeda, then, when the money ran out, to the Islamic State, and headed by nutcase Abu Bakr Shekau. Once he exploded in a gunfight with ISWAP, many in the group surrendered to the govt and others went with their new overlords. The remainder are a shell of their former selves, stmbling glassy-eyed and lonely through the Sambisa Forest and the soothing waters of Lake Chad, asking themselves 
...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
[IsraelTimes] US officials tell NYT drone attack not aimed at stopping weapons exports to Russia; ex-PM Bennett says he intensified Iran strikes after plot to kill Israelis in 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites....
...a strong argument in favor of European colonialism, even French colonialism...
