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Today: 54 articles and 173 comments as of 11:26.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Jordan army clashes with Islamic State militants fleeing Syrian forces
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
5 17:58 g(r)omgoru [1] 
2 23:40 texhooey [] 
2 17:04 Rob Crawford [1] 
6 19:29 Norwegian Legion [3] 
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1 12:39 trailing wife [] 
1 02:01 newc [2] 
1 06:50 Frank G [] 
3 12:21 Skidmark [1] 
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4 10:09 SteveS [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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5 22:52 irishrageboy [2]
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1 06:52 Frank G [1]
Page 3: Non-WoT
5 21:47 Frank G [3]
6 16:54 g(r)omgoru []
1 10:44 746 [2]
7 19:14 Thing From Snowy Mountain [1]
5 17:04 NoMoreBS [1]
12 20:56 Sloluque Ulairt3505 [3]
3 16:17 Skidmark [1]
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11 20:34 Zenobia Floger6220 []
4 21:45 Frank G []
Page 4: Opinion
15 21:30 Procopius2k [2]
2 22:44 DooDahMan [1]
1 03:13 Injun Bucket8891 [1]
2 17:45 magpie [2]
7 18:03 rjschwarz []
1 20:04 charger [1]
3 10:58 746 []
3 23:41 JohnQC [2]
10 23:43 JohnQC [1]
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Page 6: Politix
3 23:40 JohnQC [1]
8 21:06 Sloluque Ulairt3505 [1]
3 10:48 DarthVader []
4 07:12 Besoeker [1]
7 22:44 Frank G []
4 14:54 Bright Pebbles []
8 11:26 JohnQC [2]
Afghanistan
The bin Laden family says Osama's youngest son went to Afghanistan to 'avenge' his father
Weeding is best done when the plants are small.
[BusinessInsider] Relatives of Osama bin Laden, the Qaeda leader behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, spoke out in an interview with The Guardian published Friday about their family's dark legacy ‐ and they suggested that the family's involvement with terrorism hadn't ended with bin Laden's 2011 death.
As expected.
Living sheltered lives as a prominent but controversial family in their native Saudi Arabia, several of the family members opened up about bin Laden's childhood and his eventual transformation into one of the most notorious figures in recent history.
He was surrounded by Islamists and did what was expected. Only he had tons of money and family business experience. Otherwise he'd have been shuffling around in sandals and a turban with an AK-47 strapped across his back.
But while bin Laden's career as a terrorist and head of Al Qaeda came to an end at the hands of US Navy SEALs in a midnight raid on his hideout in Pakistan, his militancy seems to have taken root in his youngest child.
As expected given the culture he grew up in. Couldn't possibly have been his father's fault. That would be dishonorable. Gotta double down on it. Winner decides who was right until loser's kids get another chance to redefine "right".
Bin Laden's family believes his youngest son, Hamza, has followed in his father's footsteps by traveling to Afghanistan, where the US, Afghanistan's national army, and NATO have been locked in a brutal war with Islamic militants since shortly after the Twin Towers were destroyed.
Only Hamza has no money. So he will end up shuffling around in sandals and a bigger turban from command cave to command cave. Others will carry the AK-47 for him.
Hamza, officially designated a terrorist by the US, apparently took his family by surprise with an endorsement of militant Islam.
We were all shocked!
"We thought everyone was over this," Hassan bin Laden, an uncle of Hamza, told The Guardian.
I guess that's what you have to say. Mind if I interview Osama's widows?
"Then the next thing I knew, Hamza was saying, 'I am going to avenge my father.' I don't want to go through that again. If Hamza was in front of me now, I would tell him: 'God guide you. Think twice about what you are doing. Don't retake the steps of your father. You are entering horrible parts of your soul.'"
Maybe change the mosque he goes to.
After the September 11 attacks, some members of bin Laden's family remained in touch while others led a quiet life under the supervision of the Saudi government and international intelligence agencies.
One even went on to model for Playboy. I believe we can say she's cured.
Many of the bin Ladens have sought to put their history behind them by avoiding media and politics, but Hamza's apparent support of his father's ideas suggests Osama bin Laden's embracing of terrorism may have come back to haunt them.
Don't fuss about it. He will be taken care of by professionals.
Posted by: gorb || 08/03/2018 09:57 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


#2 
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/03/2018 10:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Thought-provoking in-lines, gorb.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 12:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Or maybe he caught the Godfather series on disc.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2018 15:14 Comments || Top||

#5  You know, if George the halfwit had bin Laden family exterminated after 9/11, it would've ended WoT (with a victory) right there and then
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2018 17:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt-US joint naval drills: The Eagle Response
[AlAhram] Special forces from Egypt, the UAE, 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...
and the US took part this week in the joint Egyptian-US naval manoeuvres Eagle Response in the Red Sea.

Military Spokesman Colonel Tamer al-Rifaai said that in preparation for the drills lectures and other activities were held to familiarise participants with the theory underpinning the field skills and combat tactics used by special forces.

The exercises included marksmanship drills, explosive ordinance disposal training, practice in managing joint combat activities, including diving, carried out in daylight and at night, to secure maritime areas from a wide variety of threats, simulated search and rescue operations, underwater detonation drills and simulated visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) exercises.

The Eagle Response drills aim to hone participants’ skills, build on interoperability and promote the exchange of training expertise.

They began as soon as naval units from the US and the UAE arrived to take part in the joint Eagle Salute 2018 manoeuvres which kicked off with an inaugural conference.

The drills, which began on 25 July, are part of the Armed Forces’ strategy to hold increasing numbers of joint manoeuvres with friendly and allied nations. Their purpose, said al-Rifaai, is "to broaden the horizons of military cooperation and the exchange of training expertise using the latest combat systems".

"They seek to bolster cooperation between the Egyptian and US armed forces, to build familiarity with the latest naval combat techniques and optimise the mutual benefit of the forces participating in the drills in a manner that reflects the depth of the partnership and strategic cooperation among the participant nations."

In addition to the four participant forces (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US), three other countries took part as observers: Jordan, Pakistain and South Korea.

The US Defense Department reported that the US 5th Fleet’s mine warfare task force had been dispatched to take part in the exercises.

The Pentagon lauded the performance of the Egyptian forces taking part in the drills and added that their purpose was "to enhance interoperability and war-fighting readiness, fortify military-to-military relationships and advance operational capabilities of all participating units".

US Navy Lieutenant John James, the exercise’s commander, was quoted in the report as saying: "We are fortunate to have this opportunity to build strong relationships to strengthen our maritime security capabilities. Training opportunities like these give our sailors the unique chance to learn from different nations and show them what we can do."

The report added: "Eagle Response is one of numerous exercises vital to the US Navy’s theatre security cooperation efforts in building and enhancing solid regional and international relationships."

The focus on underwater naval exercises, including submarine detonation drills, unmanned vehicle operations and anti-terrorism/force protection dives complemented Eagle Salute 18’s surface exercises, said the Pentagon.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The exercise was commanded by a Navy lieutenant. That's O3. Army/USMC captain. ????
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 08/03/2018 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Richard A, this was definitely not a large scale effort.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/03/2018 10:10 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and the Russians have a Naval exercise blowing up vessels in the Caspian and the Iranians are having an exercise to block the Strait of Hormuz.

I love it when a plan comes together.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2018 12:21 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK Activist Shares Horrific Details After Being Arrested for Un-Islamic Opinions
[Daily Caller] Tucker Carlson had recently freed British activist Tommy Robinson on his show on Thursday night to discuss his arrest and subsequent imprisonment.

"All I’d done was read a BBC news article, a BBC news article that is still online now for millions of people to see. And I was taken and everyone would’ve watched the video, they said for a breach of the peace. They transported me to a police custody and then my solicitor contacted the police custody. Then they emailed my solicitor, my solicitor has this email, saying I was being released. Then they took me in a van back to the court through the back door and put me up before a judge," Tommy Robinson said.

"At no point was I even asked whether I was guilty or not guilty. I was not even told, and I still to this point have not been told and don’t know what it is I am deemed to have done wrong. In a British court of law, for a fair trial for anyone, they have to understand what they are being accused of," he continued.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, was arrested for recording outside a court, reporting on a trial involving a gang of four Muslim men accused of grooming and raping a teenaged girl. (RELATED: Tommy Robinson Freed On Bail, Will Get New Trial)

Robinson then said that at one point while in prison he was told that, "’police are on the way to your house because there’s intel there will be acid attacks against your wife."
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2018 00:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Thank goodness for the new judge who had him released.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 12:39 Comments || Top||


Europe
Captain who tried to breach Gaza blockade whines Israel broke international law
[IsraelTimes] Norway asks Jerusalem to explain 'allegations of excessive use of force' in arrests of activists on boat en route to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run coastal enclave.

The captain of a Norwegian boat carrying pro-Paleostinian activists en route to Gazoo accused Israeli authorities of violating the law by boarding the vessel in international waters and using violent force against its crew.

Norway asked Israel to explain the circumstances surrounding the arrests and "the allegations of excessive use of force," a Norwegian government front man told AFP on Thursday.

"We were tossed in the slammer
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
in international waters and we were closer to Egypt than Israel," the boat’s captain Herman Reksten said early Thursday when he returned to Norway after being held for three days in an Israeli prison.

"Israel has broken all the rules; it’s horrific that they board a Norwegian ship in international waters and force it to moor in Israel," he told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

The IDF on Sunday announced the seizure of a boat off the Gazoo Strip with activists on board who were denouncing the land and sea blockade imposed by Israel on the Paleostinian enclave for more than a decade.

Egypt, too, has kept its Gazoo border crossing largely closed during several years of sour relations with the terror group ruling Gazoo.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Gazoo since Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, seized the territory from the internationally backed Paleostinian Authority in 2007. It says the blockade is in place in order to prevent weapons and other military equipment from entering the Strip.

The Norwegian-flagged Karstein ship had 22 people on board.

Several have been released since, but seven people ‐ two Norwegians, two Swedes, one French, one Spaniard and one Canadian ‐ were still detained on Thursday, according to the rights organization Just Future for Paleostine.

As he arrived at Oslo International Airport, Karstein captain Herman Reksten also accused Israeli soldiers of shocking the activists with tasers.

"I still have a headache from being hit in prison," he added.
In some circles that's considered foreplay. What a humourless little prude this captain is.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli embassy in Oslo was not immediately available for comment.
"I can say no more!"
"We’ve asked the Israeli authorities to clarify the course of events and on what basis they think they are entitled to intervene on the ship," Norwegian foreign ministry front man Frode Andersen told AFP in an email.
"Your ship was going to intervene with our country, so we intervened first. This isn't rocket science, dude."
"We will also raise the allegations of excessive use of force," he added.
"Y'all aren't dead, or even temporarily broken, so clearly the force was not excessive. Dude.”
Oslo said it had not yet received a response.
Be careful shat you wish for...
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 01:10 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another reason to abandon NATO.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/03/2018 2:00 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2018 4:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Israel should have just torpedoed the ship and let God deal with the survivors.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/03/2018 9:16 Comments || Top||

#4  "International Law... You keep using that word term, I don't think it means what you think it means!" -modern day Inigo Montoya
Posted by: magpie || 08/03/2018 11:39 Comments || Top||

#5  International Law(Westphalian Nation-state ver.): The Side with the bigger gun decides what the law is,
Posted by: magpie || 08/03/2018 13:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Be careful shat you wish for...

We shan't give a whit! Also, we numb our toes, etc.!
Posted by: Norwegian Legion || 08/03/2018 19:29 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish lira skids past 5 to the dollar on US sanctions news
Venting one's spleen against President Trump's America is a good deal more expensive than the same self-indulgence during his predecessor's tenure.
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
's lira slid to a record low beyond 5 to the dollar and stocks fell on Thursday, after the United States imposed sanctions on two of President Tayyip Erdogan's ministers over the trial of a U.S. pastor accused of backing terrorism.

The lira first touched 5 to the dollar on Wednesday, when the White House announced sanctions against Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu over Turkey's detention of Andrew Brunson.

The United States has blamed both for being involved in Brunson's arrest and detention. Brunson, an evangelical Christian pastor from North Carolina, has lived in Turkey for more than two decades. He is charged with supporting the group Ankara blames for orchestrating an attempted coup in 2016. He denies the charges, but faces up to 35 years in jail.

The lira hit a record low of 5.0630 to the dollar at 0720 GMT.
Ouch.
The currency has lost a fifth of its value this year, battered by rising inflation and concerns over the central bank's independence in the face of repeated calls by Erdogan for lower interest rates.

Istanbul's main share index, the BIST 100, fell 2 percent on Thursday, with banking stocks among the decliners.

Diplomatic disagreements with the United States, a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
ally and a major trading partner, have long weighed on investor sentiment and the latest move by Washington added to the tension.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry called Washington's action a "hostile stance" and said it would retaliate.

"We call on the U.S. administration to walk back from this wrong decision," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Relations between the United States and Turkey have plummeted over Brunson, who was in jug for 21 months in a Ottoman Turkish prison until he was transferred to house arrest last week.

On Tuesday a court rejected his appeal to be released from house arrest during his trial on terrorism charges.

The NATO allies are also at odds over the Syrian war, Turkey's plan to buy missile defences from Russia and the U.S. conviction of a Ottoman Turkish state bank executive on Iran sanctions-busting charges this year.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  If we haven't drawn down our mil/political people to the absolute minimum already, we better now.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/03/2018 6:49 Comments || Top||

#2  In 2007, the Lira was 85-cents worth US.

That was the high point. It's been in decline ever since.

PS, the hard turn by Erdo to isl*mism started in mid 2007.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/03/2018 8:40 Comments || Top||

#3  We'll see your pastor and raise you two ministers,
Posted by: Percy Peacock5205 || 08/03/2018 8:42 Comments || Top||

#4  The lira hit a record low of 5.0630 to the dollar

On its way to becoming the Ottoman peso.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/03/2018 10:09 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Top Hamas leader arrives in Gaza amid renewed reconciliation, truce efforts
[IsraelTimes] Egypt and a UN official said to receive assurances Israel will not harm terror chief Saleh Arouri while he is in Strip, a first visit since Israel expelled him in 2010.

Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chairman of Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede,’s politburo, arrived in the Gazoo Strip on Thursday for talks on renewed reconciliation efforts with Fatah and a truce with Israel, Hamas-linked media reported.

Arouri, who helped found Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank, has been based in various Arab and Islamic countries since Israel deported him from the territory in 2010 and is slated to visit Gazoo after holding talks with the Egyptian Intelligence Services in Cairo.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 00:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Trump administration releases millions in frozen aid to PA security forces
[IsraelTimes] The US has quietly spent some $42 million in the West Bank since May; State Department official says this serves US interests; other programs still being evaluated

The Trump administration recently released millions of dollars of frozen aid money to the Paleostinian Authority, but only for Israeli-Paleostinian security cooperation, The Times of Israel learned on Thursday.

While Washington says it will continue to review its assistance to the Paleostinians, it chose to allocate specific funds for the current fiscal year to specific PA programs that ostensibly serve American interests, including terrorist prevention measures in the territories, an official said.

"We recently decided to move ahead with FY2017 International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funding for Paleostinian Authority security assistance and Non-Proliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs (NADR) in the West Bank," a State Department official said Thursday.

"This assistance underpins Paleostinian Authority security cooperation with Israel, which remains in force despite recent tensions," the official added. "This decision does not in any way prejudge the outcome of our review of other funding streams and programs. It is simply the first decision to emerge from the review, which is ongoing."

The official gave no details on exactly how much money was given to the Paleostinians.

But the amount appears to be in the region of $42 million. Total US aid spent in the West Bank this year totals $92,796,646, according to the government’s online tracker, www.foreignassistance.gov. In mid May that figure stood at $50.5 million.

The total in bilateral aid planned for the Paleostinians in 2018 was $251 million, a figure that does not include an additional $65 million in frozen US assistance to the UN Relief and Works Agency that provides services to Paleostinians in the West Bank, Gazoo, Jordan, and Leb. The US aid pays for programs on education, health, good governance, and democracy promotion, as well as disaster preparedness and security.

NPR was the first to report that the US quietly released this funding to Paleostinian Authority forces a few weeks ago, quoting a State Department official who said the White House was weighing whether to unfreeze other programs it thinks provide "value to US taxpayers."

In January, Washington announced it also would withhold the $65 million in assistance to the UN relief agency for Paleostinians. The move came after Paleostinians protested US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.

"We pay the Paleostinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect," Trump tweeted on January 3.

In the months since, Democrats in both houses of Congress have sent letters to Trump officials urging a resumption of Paleostinian assistance, particularly to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gazoo.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 00:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  money is fungible.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/03/2018 6:50 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.S. Issues New Warning to Europe: End Business With Iran or Face Harsh Sanctions
[Free Beacon] Congress and the Trump administration are issuing a stern warning to European partners: End all business ties with the Iranian regime or face harsh new sanctions in the coming months, a move that could impact international financial markets and U.S. banks tied to foreign monetary institutions, according to multiple senior U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon about diplomatic efforts to pressure Europe on Iran.

The Trump administration and many in Congress have been working in tandem to pressure European partners over their ongoing financial ties to Iran ahead of efforts by the United States to fully reinstate harsh sanctions on Iran, including on its lucrative oil sector and banking systems, U.S. officials said.

Key European partners have expressed opposition to the new U.S. sanctions in recent months and have held a series of meetings with senior Iranian officials to discuss tactics for evading the new American sanctions, which follow on the heels on President Donald Trump's decision to abandon the landmark nuclear deal.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2018 08:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Some friends. They'd rather do business with a fascist theocratic dictatorship than us. What assholes.

Remind me why we're allied with them again?
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 08/03/2018 22:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Right Herb. Like the US would never do business with a theocratic dictatorship like The House of Saud.
Posted by: texhooey || 08/03/2018 23:40 Comments || Top||


Russia says UN peacekeepers patrol Israel-Syria border for first time in years
[IsraelTimes] Moscow says it will deploy military police to 8 posts in Syrian Golan Heights after Assad troops gain control of region.

UN peacekeepers returned on Thursday to patrol the Israel-Syria border for the first time in years, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced ‐ the latest development in efforts to negotiate a solution to the crisis along the volatile border.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff told news hounds at a presser in Moscow that the UN peacekeepers, aided by Russian forces, conducted their first patrolling mission in the area earlier in the day.

The development also marked the first time that forces from Russia, a major ally of the Damascus government, were involved in the patrols.

The peacekeeping mission was halted on the Syrian side of the border back in 2014 amid the violence in the country’s civil war.

Rudskoy also said military police would be deployed in the border area and set up eight observation posts to prevent "provocations," Rooters reported, citing the Russian Interfax news agency.

"With the aim of preventing possible provocations against UN posts along the ’Bravo’ line, the deployment is planned of eight observation posts of Russia’s armed forces’ military police," he was quoted as saying.

"As the situation stabilizes, these posts will be handed over to Syrian government forces," he added.

The UN peacekeeping forces, known as UNDOF, first deployed along the frontier in 1974 to separate Syrian and Israeli forces after Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War.

After Syria’s civil war erupted, festivities broke out between Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
’s forces and rebels inside the disengagement zone. In 2014, al-Qaeda forces of Evil in the area kidnapped 45 UN peacekeepers before releasing them after two weeks. The UN withdrew from many of its positions shortly after that incident.

The IDF front man, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said in a telephone briefing with news hounds that he could not immediately comment on the deployment on the Syrian side of the border.

Also Thursday, Conricus said the military targeted and killed seven armed terror operatives who had crossed into Israeli territory in the southern Golan Heights.

IDF releases footage of Syria jihadists approaching Israeli border ‐ video can be seen at the link.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 00:27 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  I'm mixed but it seems solid. Iranian forces must keep 86KM from All Israeli Borders - especially Golan.

So, Russia holding Iran at bay? Is it temporary for Russia or are they dangling a rotting fish?
Posted by: newc || 08/03/2018 2:01 Comments || Top||


Amnesty accuses Turkey of tolerating Syrian rebel abuses in Afrin
[AlAhram] Amnesia Amnesty International on Thursday accused Ottoman Turkish forces of allowing Syrian gangs to commit major rights abuses in the northern region of Afrin, urging Ankara to immediately end the violations.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and allied Syrian rebels seized control of Afrin earlier this year after a military operation which ousted a Kurdish militia that is an ally of the United States but Ankara regards as a terror group.

Amnesty said that, since the takeover, residents in Afrin had been "enduring a wide range of violations" which Ottoman Turkish armed forces "turned a blind eye" to.

"These violations include arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and confiscation of property and looting to which Turkey's armed forces have turned a blind eye," Amnesty said.

Some of the Syrian groups as well as Ottoman Turkish armed forces have taken over schools, Amnesty claimed, which it said disrupted education for thousands of children.

Amnesty said residents told them that Afrin University was "completely shut down after it was destroyed and looted", adding only one school in Afrin city was accessible.

The rights group said that when contacted for comment, the Ottoman Turkish government questioned its impartiality for using the terminology of Kurdish-dominated forces to describe regions.

Turkey says the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia it ousted from Afrin is an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged an insurgency in Turkey since 1984.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara, the US and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
In the case of one woman, her uncle has been missing since an gang escorted him to his house after he returned to his village three months earlier.

"They wouldn't tell his wife where they took him," the unnamed woman told Amnesty, denying the man, head of a local committee, had any links to the YPG.

Amnesty said some homes have been "occupied" by displaced families from the central Homs province and the southern area of Eastern Ghouta which was recently recaptured by the Syrian regime.

Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty's Middle East research director, said the Syrian gangs continued to "wreak havoc on civilians, unchecked by Ottoman Turkish forces".

She argued Turkey was responsible for the welfare of civilians as well as maintaining law and order since it was the "occupying power" in Afrin.

"Without further delay, Turkey must end violations by pro-Ottoman Turkish gangs, hold perpetrators accountable, and commit to helping Afrin residents rebuild their lives," she added.

Ottoman Turkish officials insist that the takeover has proved popular, with Afrin residents tired of YPG rule and Turkey able to improve utilities services after similar operations in towns like Jarabulus and al-Bab east of Afrin.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Home Front: Culture Wars
Pallywood in the Aegean: Fake Migrant Drownings at a Cretan Resort
Gates of Vienna
The video below is yet another reason not to believe anything the Lugenpresse says. The footage being shot by these hoaxters will in all likelihood be presented as fact when shown on CNN or the BBC.

Our Czech correspondent LH, who kindly tipped us about this video, said this about it:

A Czech tourist on Crete spotted a team shooting a scene of "drowning refugees", and recorded it on his mobile. He comments sarcastically about the way this fake news will be soon presented on TV as a completely real event. It made a splash over the Czech internet, but so far has been ignored by the mainstream media.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2018 05:43 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, really a Cretin resort?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2018 9:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, the people faking drownings qualify.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/03/2018 17:04 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2018-08-03
  Jordan army clashes with Islamic State militants fleeing Syrian forces
Thu 2018-08-02
  Egypt police kill five members of terrorist group Hasm in Nile Delta shootout
Wed 2018-08-01
  Man arrested after suspected homemade explosive device found at Vereeniging, South Africa mosque
Tue 2018-07-31
  It was terrorism: Iran denies any role in deadly Tajikistan attack
Mon 2018-07-30
  2 killed in Gaza blast during attempted launch of projectile toward Israel
Sun 2018-07-29
  Duterte invites the Abu Sayyaf to peace talks
Sat 2018-07-28
  Police enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, clash with worshipers in Temple Mount riots
Fri 2018-07-27
  Imran to be next PM
Thu 2018-07-26
  Houthis send missiles at tankers transiting from the Red Sea
Wed 2018-07-25
  Russian Air Force launches more than 40 airstrikes over southwest Syria
Tue 2018-07-24
  2 Syrian missiles with half-ton warheads trigger Israel's anti-missile system
Mon 2018-07-23
  Several dead in Kabul suicide blast as exiled VP Dostum returns
Sun 2018-07-22
  Iraq protests death toll reaches 11 amid ongoing popular unrest
Sat 2018-07-21
  Rebels handover more towns to ISIS in southwest Syria
Fri 2018-07-20
  Senegal convicts 13 suspected Boko Haram fighters

Better than the average link...



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