[ToloNews] President 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... , in an address to the Afghan Army's Selab Corps officers in the eastern province of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , assured the forces about their funding and equipment, saying there will be no reduction in their number and facilities.
He also told the troops that the international community and Afghanistan have common interests:
"You should have no concern about the funding, equipment or training of our security and defense forces. We (Afghanistan and the international community) have common interests," President Ghani said. "Our international friends have been with us in the worst conditions and we appreciate their cooperation and sacrifice."
"God forbid that a situation comes about that some people are concerned with. If we stop building roads and schools for two years we will have enough money to not let any of you remain hungry even for a day or be without a facility," he said.
There will be "no reduction in the size and equipment of the security and defense forces, Ghani said, adding that "we have resources to survive" for two years.
Ghani called on the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... to come and open an office in Nangarhar if they are Afghans. He questioned why they have "councils" in Pakistain. He also criticized the Taliban for attacking Afghans while stopping their attacks against US forces ‐ as part of a peace deal that was signed in 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... on Feb. 29.
"Security threats cannot be removed in one day with the arrival of peace," Ghani said. "Our goal is that the Afghan Defense and Security Forces take away the voice of guns from the country."
He reiterated that the Afghan government has the will for peace.
"We will enter the talks with thoroughness. Our goal is to achieve a result. We have the will, the capacity and the power for peace; therefore, we should be ready for negotiations," he added.
The opportunity for peace, Ghani said, has been because of the sacrifices of the Afghan forces.
[ToloNews] Gen. Scott Miller, commander of US and 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... forces in Afghanistan, in a visit to Afghan forces in Kabul on Tuesday said the US-Taliban ...Arabic for students... agreement is a potentially historic agreement for the Afghan people and that "it is fragile if the Taliban are not going to lower violence" and "that causes a risk to the agreement."
He said there is a need for the Taliban to lower violence in Afghanistan "otherwise, it’s hard to have an agreement."
The Taliban in a letter on Monday asked their fighters to resume their attacks on the Afghan government forces, but not to attack international troops as part of a deal they signed with the United States.
"The period of reduction in violence across Afghanistan was an important period for the Afghan people," Miller said. "It’s a start for peace pathway and what I would say is that all sides--but especially the military of all sides--have obligations to make sure that pathway is achievable. We have shown restraint with the Afghan cops and we have shown restraint because we know that’s the will of the Afghan people."
He added: "The Taliban have obligations and we need them to live up to their obligations and if they don’t, we have the necessary responses."
In response to a question if the Taliban attacks Afghan forces, will they have the support of their foreign counterparts, Miller said: "Yes, we will send air support when they (Afghan forces) need it... That support continues and we will continue to defend the Afghan cops."
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Kinnison began his slow infiltration of the sewer system... Yasin Zia, the deputy minister of defense, said the Taliban will be responded to if they violate the agreement.
"The Afghan Defense and Security Forces are ready defensively and if the Taliban violates their obligations they will be responded to hardly," Zia said.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The Taliban’s chief negotiator Mullah Baradar Akhund held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump a few days after the two sides signed a troop withdrawal agreement in Doha, the Taliban’s spokesman said on Tuesday.
“The President of the United States Trump @realDonaldTrump held a phone conversation with the Political Deputy of the Islamic Emirate, the respected Mullah Baradar Akhund. Details later,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter, adding in an emailed statement the call lasted more than 30 minutes.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The forces of Libya’s internationally recognized government will shift from a defensive to an offensive stance against the militia of warlord 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... , said the government's interior minister on Tuesday.
Speaking on Libyan TV channel 218, Fathi Bashagha said the Government of National Accord (GNA) will take further steps to repel Haftar's militia from around 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... , Libya’s capital, where the GNA is based.
He added that Haftar's militia targeted Tripoli and the capital’s Mitiga Airport with nearly 60 rockets.
Two Libyan airlines confirmed on Tuesday that some of their planes were hit with shrapnel by Haftar shelling the airport.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2020 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
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As a result of its experiences in Syria, Russia is developing a newer variant called the Pantsir-SM, which will be better at tracking and engaging small, low-radar signature targets. When assessing the Pantsir's effectiveness, we don't have great data. 163/ pic.twitter.com/kObnt2nEfP
h/t Instapundit
[Washington Examiner] - Former Obama aide Ben Rhodes received blowback on Twitter for suggesting that Iran was able to triple its nuclear stockpile of enriched uranium in four months because of American Jews. MFA in Creative Writing and architect of Obama's traitorous Iran Deal
The United Nations announced Tuesday that Iran has nearly tripled the amount of enriched uranium it has since November.
Rhodes was President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser and helped craft the Iran nuclear deal with world powers, which placed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program at the time.
"I hope everyone at AIPAC can do a victory lap for tripling Iran’s stockpile," Rhodes said.
I hope everyone at AIPAC can do a victory lap for tripling Iran’s stockpile https://t.co/DUVEyrdxUK
#3
Ben Rhodes received blowback on Twitter for suggesting that Iran was able to triple its nuclear stockpile of enriched uranium in four months because of American Jews.
That does't make a lick of sense. Rhodes is moronic. I wouldn't be surprised to find someday that Uranium 1 uranium went from the U.S. under Hussein to Russia and then to Russia ally Iran.
#6
It's almost like they all went to that Italian brothel.
Posted by: York Harding ||
03/04/2020 13:11 Comments ||
Top||
#7
There was an article yesterday that had a headline that Iran had 12,000 cases of coronavirus, but every time I clicked on it, it brought up something else. Anyone else have any information about that?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/04/2020 14:22 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I found this earlier today, but I forget where. I do not know if this is true or valid. Maybe you can tell.
Text added at 4:40 p.m. ET for the link to attach to.
—trailing wife
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/04/2020 15:08 Comments ||
Top||
[AlAhram] 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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November in violation of its deal with world powers, UN atomic watchdog agency said Tuesday, while raising new questions about possible nuclear-related activities and undeclared nuclear material at three locations.
The ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency made the statement in a confidential report distributed to member countries that was seen by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
The agency said as of Feb. 19, Iran's total stockpile of low-enriched uranium amounted to 1,020.9 kilograms (1.1 tons), compared to 372.3 kilograms on Nov. 3, 2019, noted in its November report.
The current stockpile puts Iran within reach of the amount needed to produce a nuclear weapon, which it insists it doesn't want to do.
The nuclear deal that Iran signed in 2015 with the United States, Germany, La Belle France, Britannia, China and Russia, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, allows Iran only to keep a stockpile of 202.8 kilograms.
The JCPOA promised Iran economic incentives in return for the curbs on its nuclear program, but since President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... pulled the US out of the deal unilaterally in 2018, Iran has been slowly violating the deal's restrictions.
With the violations, Tehran has said it hopes to put pressure on the other nations involved to increase economic incentives to make up for hard-hitting sanctions imposed by Washington after the American withdrawal.
In a second report issued Tuesday, the IAEA said it had identified three locations in Iran where the country possibly stored undeclared nuclear material or undertook nuclear-related activities without declaring it to international observers.
It said it had sent questions to Iran in three separate letters, but Tehran maintained it wasn't obliged to respond.
The IAEA asked for access to two of the sites, but was denied. The activities at all three sites are thought to have been from the early 2000s.
According to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, Iran would need roughly 1050 kilograms (1.16 tons) of low-enriched uranium _ under 5% purity _ and would then need to enrich it further to weapons-grade, or more than 90% purity, for a weapon.
With the nuclear deal in place, Iran's so-called breakout time _ the period Tehran would need to build a bomb if it choose _ stood around a year. As Iran has stepped away from the limits of the 2015 nuclear deal, it slowly has narrowed that window.
However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... that doesn't mean that Iran would immediately rush toward a bomb if all materials were in place. Riiiigghht...pull the other one
Prior to the nuclear deal, Iran enriched its uranium up to 20%, which is just a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. In 2013, Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was already more than 7,000 kilograms (7.72 tons) with higher enrichment, but it didn't pursue a bomb.
Iran has been violating other restrictions in the JCPOA, including the stock of heavy water it is allowed and the number and type of centrifuges it operates.
It has announced the violations as they have occurred, and allowed IAEA inspectors access to verify them. Iran has also said the measures are all reversible if it gets the economic incentives it needs.
In the latest case, Ali Asghar Zarean, an aide to Iran's nuclear chief, on Jan. 26 announced that Iran's enriched uranium stockpile had exceeded 1,200 kilograms (1.32 tons).
``Iran is increasing its stockpile of the enriched uranium with full speed,'' he said.
So far, the pressure from Iran has failed to produce the economic incentives from the JCPOA countries that Tehran has hoped for.
The Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an nations involved in the deal _ Germany, La Belle France and Britannia _ in January invoked a dispute resolution mechanism, designed to resolve issues with the deal or refer them to the UN Security Council, which could result in a ``snap-back'' of international sanctions.
The three sites in Iran cited by the UN agency, where nuclear activities were thought to be, date from before the JCPOA was signed. They come in addition to one outside Tehran where the IAEA had previously said that uranium particles of man-made origin had been discovered and hadn't been declared, which appeared to confirm allegations made by the US and Israel about Iran having a secret nuclear warehouse.
The agency said Tehran responded to its latest concerns in a letter on Jan. 28 that ``Iran will not recognize any allegation on past activities and does not consider itself obliged to respond to such allegations.''
The IAEA responded that its requests for clarification were in line with Iran's broader commitment to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities and weren't tied into the JCPOA provisions.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2020 00:00 ||
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[BREITBART] Security forces deployed drones and water cannons across 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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... on Tuesday in a bid to contain the coronavirus, a sign of the severity of the country’s outbreak.
Footage broadcast by Iranian state media showed water cannons, usually used to disperse anti-government demonstrations, spraying the streets with disinfectant. A banner on the side of one of the vehicles read: "Operation Crackdown on Corona." I'm sure that's clever with a great acronym in Farsi
The use of these measures comes as Iran grapples with the most severe levels of contagion outside China. Iran’s Health Ministry confirmed that 77 people have now died of the disease, while there are now over 1,500 confirmed cases nationwide. Multiple reports from both within Iran and in international news agencies have challenged these statistics as significantly lower than the real numbers. This weekend, BBC Persia cited health sources claiming that at least 210 people may have already died, far above the official figure.
An #Iranian cleric is running away from #Qom city in Iran where #coronavirus is rampant. A follower asked him to bless her. He said a prayer & blew air in her water bottle! Their ignorance has no limits#BaghdadPost#COVID19
Video shows emergency services bringing in more #coronavirus patients to the Imam Hossein Hospital of Tehran, as #Iran confirms 11 more people have died from the disease in the past day, bringing the Islamic republic’s overall death toll to 77.#COVID_19https://t.co/4kZV5pcJQapic.twitter.com/8Po1QevFGt
“This calamity is not that big of a deal in our view. There have been bigger ones in the past and we have had such cases in this country,” #Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says on the #coronavirus outbreak as Tehran says its death toll jumps to 77.https://t.co/YQkpQeaA5Ppic.twitter.com/2LcGreZAKw
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...Arabic for 
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The Taliban’s chief negotiator Mullah Baradar Akhund held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump a few days after the two sides signed a troop withdrawal agreement in Doha, the Taliban’s spokesman said on Tuesday.
...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...
...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 
...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 
