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Israel Police Arrest Palestinian Trying To Enter Court With Pipe Bomb
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Khalilzad Edges Closer to Pact With Taliban
[FP] Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative for Afghan reconciliation, is on the verge of an agreement with the Taliban that would pave the way for the withdrawal of some 14,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan in exchange for guarantees that the war-wracked nation would not be used as a haven for international terrorism, according to diplomatic sources.

Khalilzad will now mount a final push to persuade Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, to accept the agreement ahead of the country’s Sept. 28 presidential election. If a deal is clinched, the United States will hold a signing ceremony with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, before an audience of representatives from key world powers, including from the region, Europe, and possibly China and Russia.

After reaching a tentative deal with the Taliban during the ninth round of talks in Doha, Khalilzad is expected to travel to Kabul for two to three days to seek Ghani’s approval, according to a diplomatic source with contacts in the Afghan government and the Taliban. Khalilzad would then return to Doha to sign the pact with the Taliban’s chief negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the source said.

The final pact, which is being translated into Dari and Pashto, will call for the phased withdrawal of U.S. troops over the next 15 to 18 months‐just in time for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. It will include a cease-fire, detail verifiable assurances that the Taliban will not permit terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda or the Islamic State to maintain a toehold in territory under their control, and set a date for intra-Afghan talks in Oslo, Norway. In anticipation of a deal, a team of scholars and diplomats has already arrived in Oslo to prepare the groundwork for the talks.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/29/2019 00:35 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Since the current 'talks' involve former GITMO detainees, one might expect a TB condition to likely include the release of all TB personnel currently held at GITMO.

Not a visual or news headline we'll likely see before the 2020 election.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/29/2019 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  ...assurances that the Taliban will not permit other terrorist organizations such as...
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/29/2019 2:52 Comments || Top||

#3  It will include a cease-fire,

We know about hudnas. Maximum ten years, and must be broken as soon as the Muslim party is capable of returning to jihad.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 8:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Go ahead make nice with the Talibunnies. Simpler to have to deal with just the one Islamofascist group.
Posted by: jpal || 08/29/2019 9:58 Comments || Top||

#5  This is not good.

A mass fatality asymmetrical attack on political and economic centers in the US is not a fatal mistake.

The West is about to formally acknowledge a humiliating defeat in a war where nothing short of a clear victory should have been acceptable.

Putin, Kim, Xi, Khamenei, et al are watching this spectacle and they're drawing their conclusions.

Precipitous withdrawal would be problematic, but still preferable to this explicit humiliation.

'Liberated Afghanistan' is a sharia abomination antithetical to any notion of decency as defined by Western civilization. The only redeeming quality being its passive aggressive nature.

Let it sink.

</rant>
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/29/2019 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Echo that.

But maybe indirect help and assist can give the pro-democrat Afghans a fighting chance. Use the ISIS-Taliban feud to keep both islamist outfits in a certain vicinity and then strike them together. Or a coordinated nuke attack on the Afghan-Pak border where most Taliban power originates. In either case, everyone's troops shall have to clear out.

It's crazy to stay there if this half-measured 'management of expectations' is all you're gonna do. There is no solution to be had, except by exterminating millions.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/29/2019 14:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Except it’s not just ISIS vs Taliban. There are also the Haqqani group, Uighurs, Chechens, European jihadi tourists attached to other groups for training and general Muslim happiness... and probably others that I don’t know about or can’t remember. Afghanistan is a jihadi incubator — lots of groups are lying up there, either as a safe space for rest and recuperation or as a growing medium until they get big enough to go elsewhere.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 15:17 Comments || Top||

#8  The key here - what will lead Ghani to sign on the dotted line - is the continuation of US aid to Afghan security forces. That comes to $5b a year (page 16 below).

https://www.cbo.gov/system/files?file=2018-10/54219-oco_spending.pdf

Najibullah kept the Afghan Communist government standing until Yeltsin cut off his aid. He literally ran out of gas.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2019 16:27 Comments || Top||


Son of Famed Afghan Commander Massoud Steps into Spotlight
God grant he is clever enough to survive the maelstrom.
[AnNahar] Eighteen years after the liquidation of revered anti-Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, his only son is hoping to continue the mission against the bully boyz by jumping into Afghanistan's chaotic political fray.

With America seemingly on the brink of a deal with the Taliban that would see the Pentagon slash its troop presence in Afghanistan, 30-year-old Ahmad Massoud wants to galvanise anti-Taliban groups and stop the emboldened fighters from ushering in a new wave of hardline Islam.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Omorong Black8889 || 08/29/2019 8:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Are the Massoud's considered "good" Moslems? If they're anti-Taliban guess they must be at least a little sane.
Posted by: jpal || 08/29/2019 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Are the”good”? Here is a search in the archives of Papa Massoud’s full name — draw your own conclusions, jpal. ;-) It does take a moment to load.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 10:48 Comments || Top||

#4  We'll have to see if he can fill his Pop's Curley-Toed Slippers and Piehat
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2019 11:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Get your limited edition Ahmad Shah Massoud 'Taliban Hunter' statuette at ebay. Christmas gift for any 'good Afghans' you may know in America.

Here is the most concise, intimate glimpse of this figure and how the clan is connected to the whole nasty business in Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah Masood.

Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/29/2019 12:17 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
FFC extends to Hamdok nominees for Sudan’s transitional cabinet
[Sudan Tribune] Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Tuesday received the list of ministerial nominees made by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) ahead of the formation of his cabinet on 28 August.

Hamdok who was also nominated by the FFC will lead a technocrat government tasked with the implementation of a political programme set by the coalition that led protests that toppled down the former regime of Omer al-Bashir.

"On the afternoon of Tuesday, August 27, 2019, I received the lists of the ministerial nominees submitted by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC)," said Hamdok in a short statement released in the evening.

The list of the Freedom and Changes forces include 49 nominees for 15 ministerial portfolios and 16 nominees to head four national councils.

According to the list released by the FFC, the 15 ministries are: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Energy and Mining, Ministry of Industry and trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Infrastructure, transport and bridges, Ministry of Irrigation and water resources, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Development and Labour, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs.

The four national councils are Federal and Local Governing Council, Culture and Media Council, Higher Education Council, Council of Religious Affairs.

The militaries have to nominate the Minister of Defence, Minister of Interior and the head of the General Intelligence Service.

Among the FFC nominees, three women are prioritized for the ministry of justice, Labour and Ministry of Livestock.

"I will meticulously and strictly consider all the nominations submitted under the agreed criteria, taking into account the fair representation of women," said Hamdok who has a discretionary power to pick his ministers from the nominees.

The nominees are generally technocrats who have no political affiliation, except, Madani Abbas Madani who is from the Sudanese Professional Association and was a member of the FFC negotiating team with the military council.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Sudan Islamists vow to form broad opposition alliance to interim cabinet
[Sudan Tribune] The Islamist Popular Congress Party (PCP) of Ali al-Haj said determined to form a broad coalition in coordination with other political forces that were allied to the ousted regime to oppose the transitional government led by Abdallah Hamdok.

The PCP-initiated Coordination of National Forces (CNF) officially launched its activities last June two months after the fall of the al-Bashir regime. It gathers seven political groups, most of which participated in the coalition with the National Congress Party of the deposed President Omer al-Bashir forged after the national dialogue process.

"We have decided to oppose and monitor the (upcoming transitional) government so as not to lead us to a new dictatorship," said Idriss Suleiman, the PCP political secretary in statements to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

Suleiman statements come six days after a press conference held by PCP leader to reject the formation of the new government after the appointment of Abdallah Hamdok as prime minister.

Al-Haj who had rejected calls by the PCP youth to join the revolution said the country would be ruled by a military government that will further isolate Sudan externally and maintains it on the list of terrorism.

He further said that some members of the transitional government are wanted for war crimes and will reach out to the International Criminal Court to investigate their alleged crimes.

Suleiman, for his part, accused certain FFC groups and some military leaders of excluding them and preparing a constitutional document on improper grounds.

"The constitutional document has not been shown to the public. The constitution is made by the people, but they even have not consulted some components of the Forces of Freedom and Change," he said about the Constitutional Declaration negotiated during four months by the FFC and the junta.

Suleiman reiterated that his party and other forces will not recognize the constitutional document and "will tear it up".

"We will strive to restore power to the people and hold free and fair elections," he added.

The PCP and its allies call for elections within a period not exceeding one year as they say that the formation of a government for more than three years without a popular mandate would lead the country to serious troubles.

During the strife between the FFC and the military junta after the attack on the pro-democracy sit-in in Khartoum, the PCP voiced its support for the Juna and had been approached by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Hemetti who at the time called to include the PCP and its allied political groups in the transitional parliament and government.

However, after the increase of popular pressure and the huge nationwide protest of 30 June, the military council abandoned this plan and worked with the FFC to finalize the transitional constitution and the formation of the transitional authority.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan

#1  Ali al-Haj (Muhammad) -- Birgit tribesman and Darfur-born. Since the 1980s an Islamist ideologue and self-described "expert on southern Sudan" Sometimes called a "black" Muslim from the South. In July 1993 became head of Bureau of Federal Affairs, a front for installing Islamist cadres in minority regions. The ministry was created specifically for him. He was also a deputy chairman of Bashir's Revolutionary Command Council. Held many positions in the military government and is considered an associate of the present military junta.
Posted by: Chereting Pelosi1889 || 08/29/2019 9:18 Comments || Top||


Africa North
3,340 families displaced in Murzuq since outbreak of clashes in August
[Libya Observer] The International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed on Tuesday, that a total of 3,340 families have been internally displaced from Murzuq town southwest of Libya since the beginning of August.

The IOM clarified in its report published on its official website that the initial needs for assisting the displaced families include medical supplies and health assistance, in addition to food, water, and sanitation service.

The report also indicated that the closure of markets and other services for a long period, on the backdrop of the festivities in the city, have affected the living conditions and created other problems such as the lack of water, electricity, fuel, and telecommunications services.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


NOC seeks stronger partnership with Pakistan in oil and gas sector
[Libya Observer] The Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah discussed with Pakistain Ambassador to Libya, Sajid Iqbal, ways of promoting synergies, especially in the oil sector.

During the meeting, the Pak ambassador affirmed his country's keenness to develop avenues of cooperation in the oil and gas sector in Libya.

Sanallah welcomed the Pak proposal and emphasized that the NOC is resolved to implement huge investment projects during the coming period, aimed at increasing production in a sustainable manner.

He also pointed out that tenders will be open and accessible for all interested parties on the NOC's website.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


UNHCR: 1,350 migrants in Libya sent to safe third countries during 2019
[Libya Observer] The United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Libya has announced that 1,350 migrants colonists have been sent to safe third countries.

The UNHCR explained via Twitter that the number given was for the evacuation and resettlement programs conducted during 2019, expressing hope for the migrants colonists who benefited from this program to have an opportunity to start a new chapter of their lives.

The UNHCR has demanded that migrants colonists rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard in the Mediterranean not to be returned in any way to Libyan-based shelters located in areas of festivities.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Libya and Turkey discuss security cooperation
[Libya Observer] The Libyan Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha met with the Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister on Wednesday in Ankara and discussed security cooperation between the two countries.

The Ottoman Turkish Defense Ministry said in Twitter that Bashagha is on a formal visit to Ankara to discuss latest developments in Libya and other issues of joint interest.

It added that the two ministers talked about the ongoing military cooperation between Libya and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
, touching upon the training of Libyan security cadres by the Ottoman Turkish army and security forces.

Turkey is a supporter of the Presidential Council's government and backs it up in the fighting to defend 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...
against Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
's offensive.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Presidential Council’s Twitter account has been hacked by what appears to be by warlord Haftar’s backers
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


The Grand Turk
Turkey mulls acquiring Russian electronic warfare systems, fighter jets
[ALMASDARNEWS] Moscow and Ankara are in talks on the delivery of Russian electronic warfare systems, as well as the Sukhoi Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev told news hounds on the sidelines of the MAKS 2019 International Aviation and Space Salon.

"Today’s talks with my Ottoman Turkish counterpart, head of Turkey’s Defense Industry Directorate Ismail Demir, will definitely be important. We will continue to discuss issues on our agenda, which concern the S-400 systems, we will also move forward in relation to the Su-35 and the possible delivery of the Su-57," he said.

According to Shugayev, Ankara is interested in purchasing Russian aircraft in light of Turkey’s suspension from the F-35 program. "We know that Turkey and the US have arrived at an impasse as far as the F-35 planes are concerned, so there is a great interest in our aircraft. It is too early to speak about talks on specific contracts, there have been no requests. As usual, we need to hold consultations first," he pointed out.

"In addition, possible deliveries and cooperation in the electronic warfare field are also on the agenda," Shugayev added.

Shugayev also said that Russia and Turkey are ready to discuss a project for creating Turkey’s fifth generation fighter plane TFX.

"You know well enough they have the TFX project. We are prepared to discuss this project with them within the framework of industrial cooperation as such. The more so, since the two leaders said yesterday that industrial and technological cooperation is possible and desirable. Our country and our industry are ready in principle," Shugayev said.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
Pakistan considering closure of land routes for Indo-Afghan trade, airspace closure for India
[KhaamaPress] The government of Pakistain is considering the closure of land routes for Indo-Afghan trade besides closing the airspace for India.

Pakistain’s Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday announced regarding the intentions of Islamabad amid growing tensions with New Delhi.

Chaudhry said in a Twitter post "PM is considering a complete closure of Air Space to India."

Furthermore, Chaudhry said "A complete ban on use of Pakistain Land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in cabinet meeting."

He also added that "Legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration."

Tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi escalated after India scrapped the Article 370, revoking the Special Status granted to Jammu and Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  We're coming to a closed room debate in Delhi on whether to initiate a POK Re-possession Plan, and when. The return of a Republican presidency in America is one important factor. The closing or continued attacks on our trade routes was another factor these idiots have clarified now. Although India's trade with the middle east does not depend on land routes, it's a good excuse to press for re-acquiring Gilgit-Baltistan.

If re-possession begins, there will likely be a war, China will have to protect the Aksai-chin. It might turn ugly, but now is the time if ever.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/29/2019 3:19 Comments || Top||

#2  POK? If India decides to do it, they better make it hard, fast and brutal. They better be prepared tu use a few tactical nukes as well. The pacification of the Pakis will take generations.
Posted by: Fat Bob Javish1936 || 08/29/2019 6:05 Comments || Top||

#3  ...if you don't want to make it one big parking lot.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/29/2019 9:10 Comments || Top||


500 Protests, Hundreds Injured in Kashmir Lockdown
[AnNahar] At least 500 incidents of protest have broken out in Indian Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
since New Delhi revoked its autonomy more than three weeks ago, a senior government source told AFP Wednesday, as authorities promised to create 50,000 jobs in the restive region.

The Himalayan valley is under a strict lockdown, imposed hours before India's decision to bring Kashmir under its direct rule. Movement is restricted and phone and internet services have been cut.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  only the few who got violent were maimed, these also have below the waist (non-fatal) injuries.

Probably from this. Standard interrogation of a Kashmiri protesterjihadist. Note the nifty 'butt-paddles'. We are so open-minded about torture that they are mass manufacture by a factory as 'police supplies'.

Right click on video and select Play. Not for wimmin though.



They're asking him for names of conspirators, who paid him to protest among other stuff. A wiseass also asks him to call on Allan for help.

Now imagine doing that to antifa.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/29/2019 7:41 Comments || Top||

#2  The video is here. I’m not sure why it isn’t visible, but it really isn’t for the wimmin sensitive. Three seconds was all I could handle, and I wish I hadn’t. If those moderators capable of fixing the thing please don’t, that would be preferred.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 8:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes. In retrospect, it was an upload in rather bad taste. I'll spare you from more in the future.

But you see now what we must descend to sometimes to protect unwitting bystanders and uniformed nine to fivers from being suddenly blown apart by these things. Actually, the military never tortures tangos, we call the police reserves to do that. Some of these police grunts develop issues along the way, most of them end up shooting themselves, divorced loners, broken minds in later ages. The best ones can compartmentalize and adjust.

The shying away from torture and liquidation by 'civilized' States has only led to more audacity over the years. Trump is not wrong when he talks about torture for these things, although even he's stopped stressing on that. They are low down, hedonistic criminals every one of them. Justifying their subjugation of the weak, extorting poor families, abusing women their whole lives, they are fighting for their right to live in a goon paradise. To rob, rape and murder anybody who dares even frown at them. To be Saddam Husseins in their own little Iraq. One has to dredge up this perspective when the screams hit the walls.

You can't fight them without hatred. But that always costs you more than the enemy. For the enemy it's easy. His bloody book tells him it's all A-Ok with the Man Upstairs. In his eyes he's doing great, to his wife and mother he's a bloody hero !

I wish Gawd would show hisself suddenly and clear things up... Gaaah !
[ rant dissolves into rambling, from here it gets incoherent ]
Posted by: Dron66046 || 08/29/2019 13:53 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand, Dron66046, truly. Which is why I offered your link in another form, one that doesn’t interact with my personal hypersensitivity. Bad guys don’t stop until they know themselves defeated, and physical humiliation is a quick road to accomplish that without major physical harm or death.

I am grateful to the rough men and women who do what must be done to keep us safe. My role lies in doing my bit to make sure there is something to come home to afterward.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 15:57 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq seeks alternative oil export route via Turkey amid Persian Gulf tensions
[Rudaw] Iraq’s oil minister said on Wednesday that his country hopes to construct a new pipeline with neighboring The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
as Baghdad seeks to establish oil export routes away from the Persian Gulf, currently plagued by high tensions between Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and the US and its allies.

Iraqi Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban met with Ottoman Turkish counterpart Fatih Donmez in Baghdad on Wednesday, where he informed the Ottoman Turkish minister "about the willingness of the [Iraqi] ministry of oil - with support from the Iraqi government - to construct a new pipeline to transport Iraqi crude oil from Kirkuk to Iraqi border through the same old track," he said during a joint presser with Donmez after the meeting.

He was referring to an old Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline between the two countries which came under frequent attacks by gangs after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is no longer used by Iraq because of the damage it sustained.

With 90 percent of Iraq’s government revenue coming from oil exports, the country is heavily dependent on safe navigation of the Persian Gulf for its subsistence.

Iraq exports about five million barrels of crude oil per day to world markets, including more than a hundred thousand barrels per day from Kirkuk to Turkey through the Kurdistan Region’s pipelines.

Kurdistan Region used to export more than 300,000 bpd from the province of Kirkuk to Turkey before October 16, 2017, when the Iraqi army and pro-Iran militia groups drove Kurdish Peshmerga forces out of the province following a Kurdish referendum for independence from Iraq.

With exports from Kirkuk to Turkey suspended, oil was instead sent to Iran via tankers. The venture proved costly, unsafe, and was ultimately ordered to a halt by the US because of Washington's imposition of oil industry sanctions on Iran.

However,
the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach...
Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement in late 2018 to export the Kirkuk oil via the Kurdistan Region’s pipelines to Turkey. The KRG charges Iraq for use of the pipeline.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


1300 displaced Iraqis returned from Turkey in past three months: ministry
[Rudaw] Ninety three displaced Iraqis returned home from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
on Tuesday, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displaced. A total of 1,299 Iraqis have returned from Turkey over the past three months with help from the government, according to the ministry’s director general of migration affairs.

"The ministry’s office in Turkey, in coordination with the Iraqi embassy in Ankara and the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, provided busses to transport Iraqi refugees from Turkey to homeland," Asghar Dousa said in a statement on Tuesday.

The refugees re-entered Iraqi territory through the Ibrahim Khalil border gate between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey. The returns were voluntary, according to the statement.

"He [Dousa] stressed the Ministry’s continuation in having Iraqis return from the Ottoman Turkish republic to their liberated areas without a cost," it read.

The destination of the returnees or where they are from in Iraq was not disclosed in the statement, nor were the reasons for their displacement.

More than 3,000,000 Iraqis were displaced when the 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....
(ISIS
...embracing their inner Islamic Brute...
) swept through northern Iraq in 2014, with more than a million coming to the Kurdistan Region. A total of 260,000 Iraqis are refugees in other countries, including Turkey, according to UN statistics.

Many of the displaced have since returned home, but more than 1,600,000 Iraqis are still displaced, according to the International Office of Migration (IOM).

According to the Kurdistan Region’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC), 763,277 displaced Iraqis currently live in the Kurdistan Region.

Iraqi displaced returnees receive 1,500,000 IQD (around $1,200) per family to help with their resettlement, according to the Ministry Migration and Displaced.

Other displaced Iraqis have returned home as well recently. The ministry announced that 4,325 came back to the Nineveh province from camps in the Saladin province in August, for example.

However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
other returnees are now going back to the camps in the Kurdistan Region again, including some from djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, citing a lack of security and ability to make a living in their home areas.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.S. Blacklists Suppliers of Iran Missile Programs
[AnNahar] The U.S. Treasury placed two Iranian business groups on its sanctions blacklist Wednesday, saying both were important suppliers of Tehran's missile program and controllers of its alleged proliferation activities.

The Treasury, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the "Dehghan Network" of Hamed Dehghan and Hadi Dehghan, had procured and supplied "military-grade electronic components" to an Iranian engineering company that works with the military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Dehghans work through their company Ebtekar Sanat Ilya, and a Hong Kong front company Green Industries (Hong Kong) Limited, the Treasury said.

A second group dubbed the "Shariat Network," controlled by Seyed Hossein Shariat and focused on his Asre Sanat Eshragh Company, was also blacklisted for supplying aluminum alloy products to Iranian entities already sanctioned for their missile proliferation and nuclear weapons programs.

The sanctions freeze any property those names have in US jurisdictions and aim to lock those blacklisted out of global commercial and financial networks by banning U.S. individuals and companies, including international companies with U.S. arms, from doing business with them.

The Treasury threatened sanctions against "any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for any of the individuals designated today."
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1 
Posted by: Omorong Black8889 || 08/29/2019 9:05 Comments || Top||


Amnesty Says Lebanon 'Forcibly Deported' Nearly 2,500 Syrian Refugees
The war is practically over, guys. Go home and let your own government take care of you.
[AnNahar] Leb has "forcibly deported" nearly 2,500 Syrian refugees back to their war-torn homeland since May, Amnesia Amnesty International said Tuesday, calling on authorities to end the expulsions.

Amnesty cited data from Leb's General Security agency and the Lebanese government showing that some 2,447 Syrians had been expelled between mid-May and August 9, the rights group said in a statement.
"Git!"
General Security on May 13 started implementing an order from Leb's Higher Defense Council to deport refugees who had entered the country illegally after April 2019, it said.

It was not immediately clear whether all those expelled had entered illegally.

"We urge the Lebanese authorities to stop these deportations as a matter of urgency," said Amnesty's Middle East Research Director, Lynn Maalouf.

Any attempt to forcibly return refugees is "a clear violation of Leb's non-refoulement obligations," she said.

Non-refoulement is a principle of international law that bars governments from deporting people to countries where they would face persecution.

The Mediterranean country of around 4.5 million people says it hosts some 1.5 million Syrians, of which nearly a million are U.N.-registered refugees.
So 25% of your population are illegals or displaced Syrians? Get em out!
Lebanese politicians routinely blame the country's economic and other woes on Syrian refugees and the government has ratcheted up the pressure to send them back.

Rights groups have decried measures to make the lives of refugees increasingly difficult.

Since June, more than 3,600 Syrian families have seen their shelters demolished in the eastern region of Arsal, according to local authorities.

Homes made of anything other than timber and plastic sheeting are not allowed.

Earlier this month, the army destroyed a further 350 structures in the north of the country and arrested dozens of people for lacking residency documents, humanitarian groups said.

The labor ministry, meanwhile, is cracking down on foreign workers without a permit, a move activists say largely targets Syrians.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't that rayciss?
Posted by: AlanC || 08/29/2019 8:09 Comments || Top||

#2  This is ridiculous. Why would they not send people home after the war is over? Refugee camps are TEMPORARY! Not permanent. Temporary. I would ask what is wrong with these people, but there are just too many things to count at this point...
Posted by: Vernal Hatrick || 08/29/2019 14:39 Comments || Top||


Iran publicly hangs murderer of Friday prayer imam
[DAWN] Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
on Wednesday hanged in public a man convicted of murdering the leader of main weekly prayers in the southern city of Kazeroun, state news agency IRNA said.

Hamid Reza Derakhshandeh was executed at the scene where he killed the holy man on May 29, IRNA reported, citing the chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi.

Mohammad Khorsand suffered fatal injuries when attacked with a "cold weapon" while returning from a ceremony during Ramazan, IRNA said.

The holy man had been the leader of Friday prayers in Kazeroun, the capital of Fars province, since 2007.

After his arrest, Derakhshandeh stood trial and "confessed to the premeditated crime in the presence of judicial authorities," Mousavi was quoted as saying.

The death sentence
...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...
was upheld by the supreme court and carried out after the holy man's family decided not to spare the life of the killer who refused to express regret, Fars news agency reported.

Under Iranian law, a murder victim's family can spare a convict's life by accepting blood money.

"Due to the sensitivity of the case and the public sentiments in this regard, efforts were made for the case to be investigated promptly," Mousavi said.

Imams who lead Friday prayers in Iran are appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


At least 3,000 ISIS terrorists remain inside Syria: Russia
[ALMASDARNEWS] Russia estimates that some 3,000 individuals with links to the ISIS
...embracing their inner Islamic Brute...
terror group and its affiliates still remain in Syria, but there are other terrorist groups operating in the country, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to 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...
Gennady Kuzmin said on Tuesday.

"Presently, the overall number of 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....
[ISIS] members and their affiliates in Syria amounts to approximately 3,000 people", Kuzmin told a UN Security Council meeting. "Furthermore in Syria, there is a multitude of other terrorist groups that are present, the most combat-ready of which is still Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Kuzmin said that the ground in Syria remains fertile for further destabilization an announcement of a coalition draw-down.

The Islamic State had seized huge territories in Syria and Iraq in 2014 and created the so-called Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.

The organization has also grabbed credit for a number of terror attacks across the world.

By March 2019, Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s, retook all the territories occupied by the ISIS terrorists. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
the terror group is still present in Iraq and Syria and continues to stage sporadic attacks.


Say $300 a month pay, for 3,000 people = $10,800,000 a year, just for pay. 9000 meals per day at six bucks per = $54,000 per day x 365 = $19,710,000 for groceries. Total $30,510,000 before buying weapons, ammunition, transportation, equipment, and clothing. Who's writing the checks? Why aren't they being traced and the writers terminated?
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iran may try to launch two satellites in the coming days
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Satellite photos show burning Iran space center launch pad
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2019 19:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Satellite photos...

Hmmm, 3rd launch failure this year. Speaking as your Rocket Science Advisor, either you are doing something wrong or your aerospace program is deeply infiltrated by saboteurs.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/29/2019 19:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Note: Posted #1 as a post for tomorrow's Burg
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2019 19:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Oops!
This will push them on other front(s) to prove some illusion of superiority.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/29/2019 22:27 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
25[untagged]
6Taliban
4Arab Spring
4Govt of Iran
4al-Nusra
3Govt of Pakistan
3Islamic State
3Sublime Porte
2Hamas
2Govt of Iran Proxies
2Hezbollah
2Govt of Iraq
2Govt of Sudan
2Commies
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2019-08-29
  Israel Police Arrest Palestinian Trying To Enter Court With Pipe Bomb
Wed 2019-08-28
  Drone belonging to #Haftar destroys an ambulance
Tue 2019-08-27
  VIDEO LINK MUSK DID IT! Starhopper flys and LANDS!
Mon 2019-08-26
  IED exploded outside holding area of Pak Consulate General in Jalalabad
Sun 2019-08-25
  Taliban militants kidnap a member of Provincial Council from Samangan-Baghlan Highway
Sat 2019-08-24
  Afghan Special Forces storm the hideout of a key ISIS facilitator of suicide bombings
Fri 2019-08-23
  Gaddafi-loyal commander killed by pro-Haftar forces
Thu 2019-08-22
  Iran moves to strike 4 zeroes from its battered currency
Wed 2019-08-21
  Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah was the primary target of Quetta bombing
Tue 2019-08-20
  Furniture, books 'torched' at girls school in Gilgit-Baltistan's Diamer
Mon 2019-08-19
  Another prayer leader killed near Quetta
Sun 2019-08-18
  Explosion Targets Wedding Hall In Kabul; Casualties Feared UPDATE: 63 dead, ISIS claims it
Sat 2019-08-17
  Two killed in Pakistan mosque bomb blast
Fri 2019-08-16
  Special Forces arrest Khalifa Daud, Haqqani network’s key member in Kabul
Thu 2019-08-15
  Iraq anti-terrorism troops kill 10 IS militants, capture 5 others in Anbar

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