Hi there, !
Today Tue 11/27/2018 Mon 11/26/2018 Sun 11/25/2018 Sat 11/24/2018 Fri 11/23/2018 Thu 11/22/2018 Wed 11/21/2018 Archives
Rantburg
531687 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 55 articles and 134 comments as of 10:04.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
U.S. Airstrikes Kill 50 Al-Shabaab Jihadis in Somalia
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
2 20:29 ed in texas [] 
4 16:53 Grease Omoluck1270 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
7 19:22 Knuckles McGurque7942 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
3 13:29 gorb [] 
1 11:32 M. Murcek [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
2 13:30 gorb [] 
1 07:59 Frank G [] 
1 11:30 M. Murcek [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 18:20 Frank G [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 [2]
0 [1]
0 []
1 13:17 gorb []
3 10:48 AlanC []
3 14:09 trailing wife []
Page 3: Non-WoT
9 19:47 trailing wife []
5 11:42 trailing wife []
4 10:16 Glenmore []
4 10:46 M. Murcek []
8 20:43 swksvolFF []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
10 18:32 Procopius2k []
2 13:39 gorb []
4 18:30 Procopius2k []
1 10:39 M. Murcek []
1 13:37 SteveS []
4 17:35 Frank G []
1 10:04 M. Murcek []
0 []
3 17:00 Bobby [2]
Page 4: Opinion
0 []
2 16:57 Besoeker [2]
1 10:07 M. Murcek []
5 12:48 Mullah Richard []
3 16:51 Besoeker []
Page 6: Politix
6 17:29 Frank G []
10 17:18 Bobby []
14 15:26 Bright Pebbles []
6 17:30 SteveS [1]
Afghanistan
Up To 290,000 People Displaced In Afghanistan This Year: Report
[ToloNews] A report by United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) shows that countrywide conflict displacements in Afghanistan is now touching over 289,867 in Afghanistan which the report says is quite concerning.

The report titled OCHA’s Displacement Tracking System shows that a total of 289,867 people have been verified as having been displaced by conflict in 2018 which shows an increase of 6,635 on the previous week’s total.

Overall, the number of people displaced so far is 33% less than the same period last year (431,871), the report says.

According to the report, 60 to 70 percent of people in Malistan and Jaghori districts of Ghazni province have been displaced from their homes as a result of war and violence.

The report says that 930 families (6,510 individuals approximately) have arrived in Bamiyan
...a place in Afghanistan that used to have some historically interesting statues of the Buddha carved into a mountainside. Then the holy men showed up and now all they have is some big holes...
City following festivities in Jaghori and Malistan districts.

Moreover, the number of IDPs from Malistan and Jaghori in Ghazni City had reached 2,660 families (15,820 people) as of 16 November 2018, the report said.

According to presidential delegation’s information, about 60%-70% of the population are displaced from Jaghori and Malistan following the armed clash, the report added.

The report says that IDPs continue to arrive in cities of Ghazni, Bamiyan and Kabul.

The Afghan government officials meanwhile said they continue their efforts to help the displaced families ‐ especially those of Ghazni province.

"We are covering the displaced people for 72 hours from our emergency budget. We provide them food and other stuff until they are settled in some areas," said Ahmad Tamim Azimi, front man for Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA).

Meanwhile,
...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow...
a number of displaced persons in Ghazni said government is not taking solid measures for security of their areas.

"There were bombardments and rockets were fired in our area. We took some of our goods from the war zone... Nothing left for us," said Gul Agha, member of a displaced family from Ghazni.

"Government should at least show us our way if it does not want to take action to help us," said Mohammad Ali, member of a displaced family from Ghazni.

"Our school was destroyed, our homes were destroyed. We cannot go to school," said Ezatullah, a resident of Ghazni.

Based on the UN report, the situation is also worse in the eastern and western parts of the country.

"Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
authorities reported of approximately 1,028 families (7,196 people) displaced due to the intra-NSAG festivities in Khogyani District. Majority of these people have been displaced within the district with the remaining moved to Surkhrod, Behsud and Jalalabad city. OCHA organized an OCT meeting in Nangarhar on 14 November and constituted joint assessment teams to conduct needs assessment and respond to the immediate needs of IDPs," says the report.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/24/2018 00:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Residents Protest Joint Military Operation In Parwan
[ToloNews] Some residents of Parwan province, in the center of Afghanistan, closed the Kabul-Mazar highway to traffic early on Friday morning to protest against a military operation carried out by Afghan and foreign forces in Jabal Saraj district in the province.

The residents claimed that three civilians have bit the dust in the military operation.

The military operation was carried out in Bain-e-Bagh Ha area in the district, the residents said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase...
provincial police chief Mohammad Mahfooz Walizada told TOLOnews that the military operation was carried out by Afghan Special Force and foreign troops in Bain-e-Bagh Ha area "without coordination with the police headquarters".

He said three civilians have bit the dust in the military operation.

Walizada said the military operation was carried out to target a group leader of illegal gunnies named Wazir, but according to him, the forces targeted another area instead of their main target which inflicted casualties to civilians.

Photos shared on social media from the province show a destroyed house which residents claim has been targeted by the Afghan and foreign forces during the operation.

Security officials in Kabul have not commented on the report so far.

A Resolute Support front man, Debra Richardson, said in a statement that neither Resolute Support nor US forces have conducted operations in Parwan over the past three days.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/24/2018 00:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Returnees Count Cost of Destruction in Libya's Tawergha
[An Nahar] Returning home after seven years in a camp for displaced people, Mahmoud Abou al-Habel's joy was eclipsed by pain when he surveyed his vandalized property in the Libyan town of Tawergha.

A burned out car, blackened date palms and damaged brickwork testify to the hostility that forced him and 26 family members to the relative safety of 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 outskirts, 240 kilometers (150 miles) away.

"I had planted 184 date palms -- but most of them were burned, like my 150 pomegranate trees and 28 olive trees," Habel said.

"It is heartbreaking to see them, because I planted them myself," he told AFP, as he watered surviving palms via a pump with power from a generator.

Habel and 40,000 fellow residents of Tawergha and its surroundings were banished because they were seen as supporting former dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
right up to his bloody 2011 demise.

After being chased away by militia from the nearby city of Misrata, the displaced townsfolk were forbidden from returning home, until a reconciliation deal brokered in June by the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram Turns into Poll Issue in Nigeria after Heavy Troop Losses
[An Nahar] Nigeria's main opposition party has called the government to account for its record on tackling 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...
, after at least 44 soldiers were killed at the weekend.

Dozens more were suspected to have bit the dust in the attack on the base in Metele village, in Borno state near the border with Niger, although numbers have not been confirmed.

President Muhammadu Buhari made defeating the Islamist murderous Moslems a key plank of his 2015 election campaign and has said the jihadists were "technically defeated".

But that claim has been called into question by repeated attacks, including suicide kabooms and raids targeting civilians and the military.

Neither the government nor the military has commented on the latest deaths, which were claimed by the IS-backed Boko Haram faction, the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
West Africa Province (ISWAP).

But Buhari's main challenger at next February's election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), sent a condolence message to the families of those who were killed.

He was also reported as saying on Friday that the losses were "a clear sign that our troops need to be better funded and better equipped".

On Thursday night, Senate leader Bukola Saraki, a Buhari critic who defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP earlier this year, also spoke out about the deaths.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Arabia
Syrian Held Trying to Smuggle 20,000 Captagon Pills to KSA
[An Nahar] A Syrian national has been tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport as he was trying to smuggle 20,000 Captagon narcotic pills to 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...
, Leb’s National News Agency said.

"The inspection unit at RHIA arrested yesterday the Syrian national A.Q., 28, after he attempted to smuggle 20,000 Captagon pills hidden in eight Abu Jabal tea bags," NNA said.

He intended to travel to the Saudi city of Jeddah aboard a Middle East Airlines flight, the agency added.

"He was referred to the administrative and judicial law enforcement unit where he confessed to smuggling Captagon pills," NNA said.

"He was later detained and referred to the Central Anti-Narcotics Bureau at the request of the relevant judicial authorities," the agency added.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  As far as I can tell, producing, smuggling, and using captagon is the regional sport. Wikipedia tells us a Saudi princeling was arrested a few years ago for smuggling two tons of the stuff on his personal jet, and all sides manufactured Captagon for sale and personal use during the Syrian conflagration. Mr.A.Q., 28, is a piker — often the arrests involve ton lots of the stuff.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/24/2018 11:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Seize them, dust them with fentanyl, and send them on their way.
Posted by: gorb || 11/24/2018 13:30 Comments || Top||


Yemen Rebels Agree to Talks for 'U.N. Role' in Hodeida Port
[An Nahar] Yemeni rebels have agreed to hold talks for the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
to play a "leading role" in running the lifeline port in embattled Hodeida, U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths said Friday.

Griffiths, who started a Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
peace mission in rebel-held Sanaa on Wednesday, said he has discussed with Huthi rebel officials "how the U.N. could contribute to keeping the peace" in Hodeida.

"I am here to tell you today that we have agreed that the U.N. should now pursue actively and urgently detailed negotiations for a leading U.N. role in the port and more broadly," he told news hounds during his first visit to Hodeida.

Griffiths urged Yemen's warring parties to "keep the peace" in the port city.

"The attention of the world is on Hodeida. Leaders from every country have called for us all to keep the peace in Hodeida," he said.

Griffiths was in the country ahead of planned peace talks in Sweden in December between the Iran-aligned Houthis and pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition.

Both warring sides have expressed support for the envoy's mission to hold discussions to end a war that has pushed the country to the brink of famine.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Counting on UN incompetence and bad faith to allow Iranian arms shipments in
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2018 7:59 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
'They've come here to create disorder': Migrant caravan faces hostility on both sides of U.S.-Mexico border
[CBC.CA]
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  pretty obviously the Mexicans are raaaaaaycisss!
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2018 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  "They'll kill us all just to stop the caravan," Ramirez said.

If you sussed that out maybe you might make the leap that you're not wanted here and should go home and fix your own nest before fouling others.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/24/2018 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Irritating, aren't they?
Posted by: gorb || 11/24/2018 13:29 Comments || Top||


Down Under
The moment a MAN in a burqa and a woman in a motorcycle helmet walk into a bank – so can YOU guess what happens next?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/24/2018 11:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now what would have caused some real cognitive dissonance would have been for the guy in the barbecue cover to say something in a male or falsetto voice while the other two were talking.
Posted by: gorb || 11/24/2018 13:25 Comments || Top||

#2  You know, when somebody wears a helmet, hoodie, or anything that covers their face walks into a bank around here, they get immediate attention from security. Possibly to include cops outside.
Posted by: ed in texas || 11/24/2018 20:29 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey indicts 28 people, including cleric Gulen, for 2016 assassination of Russian envoy
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor....
charged 28 people on Friday in relation to the 2016 liquidation of the Russian ambassador to Ankara, naming the U.S.-based Islamic holy man 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...
as the prime suspect in the case, the state-owned Anadolu news agency said.

Andrei Karlov was rubbed out by an off-duty policeman while speaking at an Ankara exhibit opening in December 2016. The gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "Don't forget Aleppo!" as he opened fire, apparently referring to Russia's involvement in Syria. He was rubbed out by police at the scene.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said Gulen's movement was behind the liquidation, a charge the holy man has denied. Erdogan also blames the preacher's network for an attempted military coup in July 2016.

Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, has condemned the coup and denied any involvement with it.

Authorities charged Gulen and 27 others of attempting to "overthrow the constitutional order", "being a member of a terrorist organization" and of premeditated murder, Anadolu said.

Prosecutors say the Gulen's organization was attempting to derail relations between Turkey and Russia with the killing. At the time of the December 2016 killing of Karlov, ties between the two countries had already been strained, after Turkey downed a Russian war plane over Syria a year earlier.

Since Karlov's liquidation, ties between Ankara and Moscow have made steady improvement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/24/2018 00:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Wasn't the main character in "Usual Suspects" a Turk? Life imitates art.
Posted by: Angavinter Bluetooth3132 || 11/24/2018 4:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Gulen also killed Khashoggi, twice
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2018 7:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Gulen is Turkish for Immanuel Goldstein.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/24/2018 11:03 Comments || Top||

#4  I heard he killed Bambi, too.
Posted by: gorb || 11/24/2018 13:27 Comments || Top||

#5  "Common Cold a Gulenist Plot!" 'sez Turkish Health Minister...
Posted by: magpie || 11/24/2018 16:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Ya know, I'm starting to reconsider having Turkish towels in the house.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/24/2018 16:08 Comments || Top||

#7  I already boycott Turkey for Thanksgiving.
Posted by: Knuckles McGurque7942 || 11/24/2018 19:22 Comments || Top||


Turkey Says EU Overstepping Brief by Calling for Kurdish Leader's Release
[An Nahar] Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday accused the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
's top diplomat of overstepping her brief by calling for the release of enjugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas.

"She exceeded her limits a little," Cavusoglu told CNN-Turk television, a day after Federica Mogherini expressed hope that Demirtas, who has been held in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
for two years on terror charges, would soon be freed.

Demirtas, 45, one of two former co-leaders of the leftist Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), was tossed in the clink
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
in November 2016 over alleged links to Kurdish holy warriors.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday urged Ankara to release Demirtas -- which was hailed by the enjugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
leader as "legal acknowledgement of my status as a political hostage".

The court accepted Demirtas had been arrested on "reasonable suspicion" of committing a crime, but said the reasons given for keeping him behind bars were not "sufficient".

At a presser with Cavusoglu in Ankara, Mogherini said on Thursday: "We hope he will be released shortly."

Demirtas denies all the charges and claims the case against him is politically motivated.

Ottoman Turkish President 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...
rejected the European court's finding.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  But Gulen's rendition extradition, huzza huzza!
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/24/2018 11:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Our 'eastern neighbour' has crossed the red line through their proxies: Khawaja Asif
[DAWN] The former foreign minister and PML-N stalwart, Khawaja Asif, on Friday said "our eastern neighbour has crossed a red line through their proxies", while referring to holy warriors allegedly operating on Pak soil with the "patronage of India".

Asif made these remarks during a television appearance on DawnNewsTV talk show News Wise.

Condemning the "blatant" assault by button men 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...
on the Chinese consulate earlier in the day, the former minister said a "very ominous thing has happened".

Asif said a very big example of this "patronage" is Kulbhushan Jadhav and that the "so-called secessionist movements" in the country also have the same backing whether it comes from people operating within Pakistain or from those residing in Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
or UK.

While lauding the opening of Kartarpur as a positive step, whereby Sikh pilgrims can physically go and pay their respects at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib rather than look at it from afar through binoculars, he regretted that no way has "India's venom scaled down" when it comes to Pakistain.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


‘Engineered protests’ won’t be allowed, says army chief
[DAWN] Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Thursday that “engineered protests” would not be allowed to reverse the gains of counterterrorism operations and cautioned the nation against forgetting sacrifices of “real heroes”.

The army chief was speaking to notables in Peshawar and at an investiture ceremony at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Gen Bajwa did not name the social movement for the rights of Pakhtun people, Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), but it was abundantly clear from his remarks, which included references to PTM’s demands for clearance of mines and removal of check-posts, that he was referring to their protests.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


War against terrorism, militancy not over yet: Bajwa
[DAWN] Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that war against terrorism and militancy is not over yet.

The army chief’s remarks came during a visit to Multan Garrison on Friday where he witnessed training demonstration on combat readiness by an armour formation of the strike corps.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Gen Bajwa underlined that an army deterred war through professional competence and readiness.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Murad orders intelligence-based operations against militants, abettors
[DAWN] Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed law enforcement agencies to speed up intelligence-based operations against forces of Evil in the city.

"The attempt to attack the Chinese consulate general shows that still there are abettors of forces of Evil in the city," he said while presiding over a special meeting on law and order here at the CM House on Friday.

The CM directed the inspector general of police (IGP) to investigate the incident like the police had previously investigated some other high-profile cases including the Safoora bus carnage so that the abettors of forces of Evil in the city could be eliminated.

He also directed the IGP to conduct a security audit of all the diplomatic missions/consulates and install most sensitive CCTV cameras in the vicinities of the foreign missions.

The meeting was attended by CM’s Adviser Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Dr Kaleem Imam, Home Secretary Kazi Kabir, Commissioner Iftikhar Shalwani, 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...
police chief Dr Amir Sheikh, representatives of Pakistain Rangers, provincial heads of intelligence agencies and representative of the army’s Corps 5.

He said that after the recent kaboom in Quaidabad Friday’s attack was the second such incident in the city.

He said that the heavily armed snuffies must have stayed somewhere in the city and travelled from their place to Clifton. He questioned why they were not checked anywhere.

"This shows that our snap-checking system needs to be more effective and strict," he said, directing the city police chief to ensure snap checking of vehicles in the city.

Briefing the CM, the IGP said: "On Nov 23, at about 9.30am unknown armed forces of Evil armed with heavy weapons and grenades attacked the Chinese Consulate General near the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, in Block-4 Clifton. The Sindh police’s special security unit and Rangers reached the scene and killed all three terrorists. Two civilians died, one private security guard was maimed. All were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre."

The chief minister directed the IGP to get the incident investigated properly. "This must be worked out as the police have worked out high-profile cases like Safoora carnage and others," he said.

The chief minister was told that the Clifton police and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) were investigating the case.

The CM directed the IGP to look after the families of the slain coppers, who valiantly laid down their lives in the line of duty.

He also asked to make necessary arrangements for shifting of the bodies of the two civilians to their native town in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


First 100 days of PTI were a failure: JI chief
[DAWN] The nation had high hopes from the PTI, but the steps taken so far by the new government has only led to disappointment, said Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq
...current head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. Siraj was born in 1962 and entered politics shortly after that...
on Friday.

Talking to mediapersons at the residence of party leader Ghiasuddin Balban, he said the first 100 days of the new government were a failure.

The JI chief said the rulers talk a lot about bringing improvements to the country’s economy but do not take practical steps.

Asked if the PTI government will be able to complete its five-year tenure, Mr Haq said people are upset about massive price hikes and increase in the prices of utilities, especially gas, electricity and petrol within the first 100 days.

The senator said there had been no change in protocol rules despite tall claims made pre-election.

Condemning the terrorist attacks on the Chinese consulate 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...
and in Orakzai, Mr Haq said the recent terror incidents were proof that security agencies had failed to plug the security loopholes.

He said the Karachi attack was aimed at putting a dent in Pak-China relations and that he believed foreign elements were involved in the incident.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Iraq
Top Kurdish Leader Meets Iraq PM in Sign of Thawing Ties
[An Nahar] Prominent Kurdish leader Massud Barzani met with Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi in Baghdad on Thursday during his first visit to the capital in over two years.

Barzani's visit is seen as another sign of an improvement in relations between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan that deteriorated sharply after the autonomous region held an independence referendum last year.

The prime minister's office announced the meeting just after noon on Thursday, sharing a photograph of Barzani dressed in a dark grey suit instead of his usual Kurdish garb.

Barzani previously served as the Iraqi Kurds' president and now heads the prominent Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which emerged victorious in regional parliamentary elections in September.

Last year's independence vote saw more than 92 percent of Kurds back secession, but the federal government rejected the poll as "illegal," imposed economic penalties and seized the disputed Kirkuk oil fields, halting exports.

But since Abdel Mahdi was appointed premier in October, relations appear to have improved between Baghdad and Kurdish leaders in the regional capital Arbil.

Barzani's favoured candidate Fuad Hussein was appointed Iraq's minister of finance later that month, and the two sides announced a deal last week to resume Kirkuk oil exports.

"It's very important for us to have good, smooth relations between Arbil and Baghdad. We've seen a huge improvement on all levels," Abdel Mahdi told news hounds on Wednesday.

According to an Iraqi official with knowledge of the visit, the pair are expected to discuss the lagging government formation process and the Kurdistan region's share of the federal budget.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hero RAF Typhoon pilot obliterates four ISIS trucks a mile apart in same blitz
[Mirror] A hero RAF Typhoon pilot who destroyed four ISIS suicide trucks laden with bombs in a record nine-hour mission in Syria has been awarded a gallantry medal.

Flight Lieutenant Thomas Hansford's targets were more than a mile away from each other during a coalition blitz in September last year.

He had to navigate his fighter jet through thunderstorms as he wiped out the suicide trucks in a series of air strikes on his first Operation Shader mission as lead pilot.

Flt Lt Hansford has now been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which recognises an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2018 09:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Good guy with a fighter bomber and a good smart weapon load-out.

Liberals everywhere sick to death...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/24/2018 10:31 Comments || Top||

#2  ...One more reason there will always be an England....

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 11/24/2018 10:39 Comments || Top||

#3  May be tried for war crimes once he's back home.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/24/2018 11:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Dammit. Not a Hawker on a heckuva gun run?

A daydreaming prince in his Tiffy
Addresses his camel: "How spiffy
To slip off one's trousers
And rocket some bowsers,
Arriving for tea a bit squiffy!"
Posted by: Grease Omoluck1270 || 11/24/2018 16:53 Comments || Top||


Army Patrol Shoots Fugitive in Baalbek
[An Nahar] A Lebanese army patrol shot and wounded a fugitive near the Baalbek area of al-Taybeh, LBCI TV station reported on Friday.

The suspect, identified by his initials as A.Z., was shot in an exchange of fire while being pursued by the army troops.

He was taken to hospital for treatment, added LBCI.

Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Qaouq Says Hariri Harming Aoun's Presidency, Lebanese Economy
[An Nahar] A senior 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...
official on Friday accused Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
of "harming" President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
’s presidency and the Lebanese economy.

"By insisting on denying the right of independent Sunnis, the PM-designate has harmed everyone. He has harmed the presidential tenure, the anticipated government, the Lebanese economy and the political atmosphere, which has become more tense and polarized," Hizbullah central council member Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said.

"The solution is ultimately with the PM-designate and any procrastination or disregard for the course of representing all political forces would aggravate the problem," the Hizbullah official warned.

He added: "Is it in the interest of the government, the people, the Lebanese and the political forces to form a government of political divisions or a government of political accord? From our position we say that it can’t be a government of political accord if a broad segment of the Lebanese society is excluded and eliminated."|

The new government was on the verge of formation on October 29 after the Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
accepted the portfolios that were assigned to it but a last-minute hurdle over the representation of pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs surfaced.

Hizbullah has insisted that the six Sunni MPs should be given a seat in the government, refraining from providing Hariri with the names of its three Shiite ministers in a bid to press him.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs

I don't think a scorecard is any help, Toto...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/24/2018 11:30 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
28[untagged]
4Govt of Pakistan
3Hamas
3Commies
3Sublime Porte
2Taliban
1Arab Spring
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Govt of Syria
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Hezbollah
1Govt of Iraq
1Islamic State
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Houthis

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2018-11-24
  U.S. Airstrikes Kill 50 Al-Shabaab Jihadis in Somalia
Fri 2018-11-23
  Terror attack on Chinese Consulate in Karachi foiled; 2 policemen martyred
Thu 2018-11-22
  PA court sentences Palestinians to 15 years hard labor for selling land to Jews
Wed 2018-11-21
  US military says strikes killed over 30 suspected militants in Somalia
Tue 2018-11-20
  Daesh suffers devastating defeat as Syrian Army liberates entire Al-Safa region
Mon 2018-11-19
  Key Taliban commanders among 7 detained by Afghan Commandos in Takhar
Sun 2018-11-18
  43 civilians killed by anti-ISIS coalition strikes in east Syria
Sat 2018-11-17
  Taliban kill 30 policemen in Farah province
Fri 2018-11-16
  Saudi Arabia will BEHEAD Khashoggi killers
Thu 2018-11-15
  Maute brothers' teen cousin surrenders in Mindanao
Wed 2018-11-14
  Ceasefire Goes Into Effect In South Following Unprecedented Rocket Barrage
Tue 2018-11-13
  Gaza factions agree to cease fire if Israel halts attack - Palestinian official
Mon 2018-11-12
  IAF have begun air strikes on Gaza.
Sun 2018-11-11
  Yemeni forces 'seize Hodeidah's main hospital' amid air raids
Sat 2018-11-10
  Yemeni forces, Saudi-led coalition launch 'vast' Hodeidah push

Better than the average link...



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.
54.234.143.240
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (9)    Non-WoT (18)    Opinion (5)    (0)    Politix (4)