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Turkey asks NATO to provide air support for the operation in Idlib
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
11 19:50 Lex [3]
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
There is 'Chance' of Taliban Deal: Trump
The probability is greater than zero, but not by much.
[ToloNews] US President Donald Trump
...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election...
has told news hounds on Tuesday that there is a chance of making a deal with the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
, AP reported.

"So, we are negotiating with the Taliban. We've been negotiating with them for a while. We will see what happens. It's a chance of making a deal. It is a chance," Trump said.

This follows a public announcement by US Defense Secretary Esper last week that an agreement for a seven-day reduction in violence was on the table at the US-Taliban talks, and also an AP report citing high-level officials saying that President Trump had "conditionally" approved a peace agreement being discussed in Doha, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
The expectation is that a signed peace deal between the US and the Taliban will lead to intra-Afghan talks.

The Afghan government has begun work on forming a peace-negotiating team with the Taliban, said Waheed Omar, director general of the president's office of public and strategic affairs.

"The government will determine authorities of the negotiating team. The team will have about 15 members," said Omar.

The peace-negotiating team will handle the technical aspects of the talks and the final decision will be taken in Kabul, said Omar, amid reports that the peace deal between the US and Taliban will be "finalized" next week.

"The Taliban are fighting with the Afghan govt. If they don't agree to talk with the Afghan govt, there are no peace negotiations," said Omar.

Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco...
a number of politicians have said that the Afghan government should make sure an inclusive peace-negotiating team is formed to avoid any possible obstacles in the process.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1 
"We are betting a lot on the possibility the Pashtun brain could have evolved in these two decades."
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 3:18 Comments || Top||

#2  There are 2 chances, Slim...&...None.
Posted by: Winky Squank8124 || 02/20/2020 6:57 Comments || Top||


Hekmatyar Rejects Results: Ghani Chose 'Path of Crisis'
[ToloNews] Presidential candidate and leader of Hizb-e-Islami party, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
, at a presser in Kabul on Wednesday rejected Tuesday’s announcement by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) declaring incumbent Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
the country’s next president, saying Ghani "chose the path of crisis rather than the path of cooperation."

"We suggested that you (President Ghani) cooperate with us to resolve the crisis, but you (Ghani) chose the path of crisis," said Hekmatyar.

"Let's compete in any province you (Ghani) want, if you (Ghani) get 30 percent of the votes, I will accept you as president," Hekmatyar challenged Ghani.

Hekmatyar opposed the creation of a ’parallel’ government in the country.

"We do not support any parallel government, but we support an inclusive government where all see themselves represented, including the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
," he said.

Hekmatyar said that officials of both electoral commissions should be punished, because they have pushed the election process "into a crisis."
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar


An insight into wavering stance of the so-called Emperor of Balkh amid controversial elections
[KhaamaPress] Ata Mohammad Noor, one of the most prominent leaders of 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...
, who was once considered as the emperor of Balkh province, welcomed the re-election of Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
as the President of Afghanistan.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Africa North
#Algeria has issued an order to deport the country head of telecommunications company @ooredoo for the offense of sacking 900 Algerian workers
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)

#1  Wish we had people like this in America.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/20/2020 2:33 Comments || Top||

#2  C'mon, Herb. I kinda like the Indian accent you get when you call customer support.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:35 Comments || Top||


Erdogan: Since I set Turkish feet in #Tripoli, the progress of Hafter has been halted, and #EU has no authority to take a decision on #Libya
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  #EU has no authority to take a decision on #Libya

But, I thought he wanted NATO to bomb Syria?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:03 Comments || Top||


LNA Spox: There is no possibility of peace, and there is no sovereignty while we have foreign terrorists on our soil
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Libya: "foreign terrorists on our soil" = the Turks, McCains Moderates & NATO allies GNA, and Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the orgs MB birthed like Al Qaeda and ISIS types.
Posted by: mossomo || 02/20/2020 9:39 Comments || Top||


#UN envoy condemned the targeting of weapons shipment in #Tripoli sea port ,but didn’t condemn the shipment itself
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Britain
UK school textbook asks how creation of Israel caused 9/11 attacks
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/20/2020 11:29 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Publisher acknowledges problem, withdraws book from sale.

Good idea. Fake history.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/20/2020 11:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Why gummint run schoolz are a bad idea in one sentence.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2020 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  When we get a taxpayer claw back from Howard Zinn's publisher, wake me up.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2020 11:43 Comments || Top||

#4  When we get a taxpayer claw back from Howard Zinn's publisher, wake me up.

I was just going to comment 'We have a book problem like that over here, too.'

Fun fact - Howard Zinn taught at Boston University, the same place that churned out AOC. I doubt it's coincidence.
Posted by: Raj || 02/20/2020 12:50 Comments || Top||

#5  This is just one lie that's been caught. How many others are slipping through?
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 13:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Boston University is also the source of Marxist ideologues here in Portuguese education. Destroyed public school.
Posted by: Thorong Grundy1520 || 02/20/2020 13:38 Comments || Top||

#7  3,000 years ago, there was An ISRAEL.

Do you know what there was not? Fucking islams and all the bullshit they brought with it.

To me, this islams, just like the democrat, is just something that needs to be ENDED.

I question the existence of the islams and that whatever.
Posted by: newc || 02/20/2020 14:36 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Body overseeing Turkish judges and prosecutors has launched an investigation into three judges who acquitted philanthropist businessman Osman Kavala and eight other activists of terrorism charges
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  We might have a look at a few of our judges, Congress members and prosecutors as well after observing the rigged Mueller investigation and the impeachment.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/20/2020 11:45 Comments || Top||

#2  So, send 'em to Turkey for vetting?
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:34 Comments || Top||


#ERDOGAN: "#Turkey cannot be confined within its 780,000 km2 border
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Caliphate Lebensraum™
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 6:40 Comments || Top||

#2  The last time a country chose to explore its "emotional & physical limits", that didn't end very well.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/20/2020 8:23 Comments || Top||

#3  This man's deluded.
But more Mussolini than H., methinks
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 8:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Turkey__ " too small to be a republic and too big to be an insane asylum ".
(apologies to Petigru)
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Make Istanbul Constantinople Again
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/20/2020 17:43 Comments || Top||

#6  MICA!
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 18:19 Comments || Top||

#7  You asked for it
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/20/2020 18:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Heh, EC - I saw them in concert as an opener for Yes/Peter Frampton.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 21:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Donald Trump to make ambassador to Germany Rick Grenell acting director of national intelligence, making him first openly gay cabinet secretary in history
Worst Hitler Ever™
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:40 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Auf Nimmerwiedersehen.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/20/2020 14:15 Comments || Top||

#2  The fact that Trump *didn't* appoint a woman, a gay,, a POC, or an illegal immigrant shows you just how hateful he is.

BTW, how do you pronounce "POC"? Pock? Pook? Spelling it out as P-O-C seems awkward. I mean nobody calls NASA the N-A-S-A.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/20/2020 15:11 Comments || Top||

#3  As far as I can tell, a meaningless, titular position created to provide oversight to the intelligence community. Grenell will only know what they want him to know. If he had control of their secret budget, perhaps another story entirely.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 15:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Acting director
Gay cabinet election posturing.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 15:38 Comments || Top||

#5  POC = "poke"

POC me, Mon!
Posted by: Bub Marley || 02/20/2020 16:07 Comments || Top||

#6  I always thought POC meant piece of crap until I figured it has got to be something else and looked it up.
Posted by: JHH || 02/20/2020 16:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Regardless, Grenell is a great choice.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/20/2020 17:30 Comments || Top||

#8  pieceof crap
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2020 22:06 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Saipov threatened to decapitate corrections officer
[NYPOST] Accused bike path terrorist Sayfullo Saipov
...the Uzbeck lone wolf who rented a truck for the purpose of running over as many people as possible, though he only managed to kill eight for ISIS. He came to the U.S. under President George HW Bush’s Diversity Immigrant Visa program in 2010, one of millions of Uzbeks to take advantage of the offer...
threatened to decapitate a federal corrections officer for repeatedly waking him while he’s locked up at the Metropolitan Correctional Center,
...what a crabby little Hero of Islam he is, to be sure...
a new court filing detailing a trove of the government’s evidence against him alleges.

Saipov, who’s accused of killing eight people during his 2017 Halloween terror attack on the West Side Highway, allegedly threatened the officer on Dec. 17 last year for repeatedly slamming a door at night, making it hard for the ISIS follower to sleep, the filing states.

"During the course of this confrontation, the defendant threatened to kill the Officer. Indeed, as the defendant later admitted to the MCC’s disciplinary committee (the ’Committee’), he told the Officer that if the Officer dared to open the defendant’s cell, in two minutes ’other guys will be picking up your dead body,’" the filing states.

The next day, still angry from the prior incident, Saipov obstructed a security camera in his cell and said he wouldn’t remove it until "the Officer’s head was cut off" and then referred to the officer "as an animal," according to the filing.

"Again, the defendant unapologetically admitted this threat to the Committee, telling the Committee that he wanted to ’cut this animal head off,’" prosecutors allege.

The government’s motion, filed late Tuesday, describes all of the evidence it plans to introduce in Saipov’s April trial and all of the items it wants the court to exclude.

It plans to call on some of Saipov’s 11 living victims, some who were permanently disfigured following the attack, and will include the never-before-seen note that Saipov allegedly left at the scene.
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
IRGC-backed Al-Nujaba posted footage, saying it could easily target American airplane
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  I wouldn't do that...........
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/20/2020 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  True_ easy enough to do. Do you feel lucky, punk?
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:30 Comments || Top||


Iraq's outgoing prime minister urged political leaders to quickly approve his designated successor's cabinet
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese central bank is investigating transfers abroad, says its investigation unit, as the country's economic situation continues to deteriorate
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Chairman of Lebanon’s Association of Banks Salim Sfeir calls for an orderly rescheduling of a $1.2 billion Eurobond due on March 9
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Major Lebanese political parties and Palestinian factions in Lebanon rejects US President Donald Trump’s plan to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU.
Posted by: newc || 02/20/2020 2:14 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
12Sublime Porte
4Govt of Iraq
3Islamic State
3Hezbollah
2Taliban
2al-Nusra
2Govt of Iran Proxies
1Govt of Syria
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Houthis
1Islamic Jihad (Palestian)
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Moslem Colonists
1Palestinian Authority
1Govt of Iran
1al-Shabaab (AQ)

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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trailing wife
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2020-02-20
  Turkey asks NATO to provide air support for the operation in Idlib
Wed 2020-02-19
  Ashraf Ghani declared winner of Afghan presidential poll, Abdullah rejects results
Tue 2020-02-18
  LNA claims to destroy Turkish arms ship in Tripoli harbor.
Mon 2020-02-17
  24 Killed In Brutal Terror Attack On Burkina Faso Church; Local Pastor Targeted
Sun 2020-02-16
  Switzerland Thwarts Major Islamic State Terror Attack
Sat 2020-02-15
  Six Cartel Kidnappers Busted with Mexican Border City Victim in Trunk
Fri 2020-02-14
  US navy ship seizes 150 Iranian-manufactured anti-tank guided missiles after boarding a vessel in the Arabian Sea
Thu 2020-02-13
  Hafiz Saeed sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for terror financing
Wed 2020-02-12
  Sudan will hand over Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court
Tue 2020-02-11
  Russians bomb a joint Turkish & Jihadi column
Mon 2020-02-10
  Ehsanullah Ehsan sends greetings from Turkey, thumbs nose
Sun 2020-02-09
  Multiple US troops killed during shootout in eastern Afghanistan
Sat 2020-02-08
  Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah banged in Kabul
Fri 2020-02-07
  Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
Thu 2020-02-06
  Hazim Al-Halafi, a senior commander of Saraya Al-Salam dead


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