[Breitbart] The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) has confirmed reports that people-smugglers are now advertising crossings from Russia to Finland to migrants colonists, as many abandon attempts to enter the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... from Belarus in the face of strong border enforcement by Poland and the Baltic States.
Since the middle of last month people-smugglers have begun advertising the Russia-Finland route into the European Union, according to an intelligence research group who looked at Kurdish and Arabic forums on social media platforms like Facebook that are geared toward migrants colonists looking to enter Western Europe.
"Right now it is very difficult to say whether this will result in a new route for the migrant flows and whether we will see people arriving at the Finnish border, for example. But on social media, the reactions have been very positive," said Monika Richter, the head of research for the group, in comments reported by newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.
Finland’s intelligence service SUPO has confirmed the increase in marketing online for the Russia-Finland route, with communications director Milla Meretniemi telling Hufvudstadsbladet: "We are aware that this kind of marketing has occurred. As one of the EU’s external border countries, Finland is following the development stage very closely. But we cannot comment on our operational tasks any more than that."
[DW] More Afghans facing extreme poverty are turning to opium production as a means of survival. Despite promises to the contrary, the Taliban ...Arabic for students... are unlikely to oppose cultivation of the narcotic cash crop.
The cultivation of opium poppy as a medicinal plant has a long history in Afghanistan.
The milky sap extracted from the seed pods is dried to produce raw opium, an effective remedy for severe pain. Today, opium is used primarily as an intoxicant and as a raw material for the production of stronger drugs like prescription painkillers and heroin.
In the last harvest season, which ended in July, an estimated 6,800 tons of opium were produced in Afghanistan. This was an 8% increase over 2020, according to a recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
According to the report, Afghanistan accounts for 85% of global opium production, and Afghan opiates supply 80% of users worldwide.
The UNODC has calculated that the opium business will have generated between $1.8 billion and $2.7 billion (€1.6 billion and €2.4 billion) in Afghanistan in 2021, about one-tenth of Afghanistan's economic output.
The agency said the Taliban takeover in August 2021, and the resulting protracted economic uncertainty, drove opium prices in August and September to new highs. "This strengthens the incentive for opium cultivation," the report said.
'WE DIDN'T HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL'
"Opium production in Afghanistan will continue to increase," says a former Afghan army officer under the condition of anonymity. "Growing opium is a secure source of income for farmers and many unemployed people who are now returning to their villages from the cities," says the army officer, whose identity is protected for security reasons.
Up until the Taliban takeover, the officer belonged to a special unit of the Afghan army tasked with fighting drug-related crime.
"We didn't have everything under control at the time," the officer admitted. "Especially in remote areas, the Taliban had more influence and protected farmers growing opium poppies. If the Taliban wanted to, they could hinder opium production — they've done that before."
During the Taliban's first period of rule from 1996 to 2001, they cracked down on opium production, which consequently dropped to 185 metric tons in 2001. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... after the Taliban were toppled from power that year, opium production shot up again.
Even today, the Taliban claim they want to combat opium cultivation and drug trafficking in Afghanistan. After taking power in August, the Taliban announced their intention to reduce opium production to zero.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the Taliban are known for using the drug trade to finance bad boy operations. According to the US government, they generate up to 60% of their annual revenue from growing and trafficking drugs.
OPIUM TRADE LIKELY TO CONTINUE
Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network said the Taliban are not the only factor driving the drug economy in Afghanistan in recent years.
"The previous government struggled with the Taliban for influence in rural areas, and many of its people were directly involved in drug smuggling," he said.
The analyst said Western troops in Afghanistan often worked with warlords, commanders and government officials who were involved in the drug trade, and rarely did anything to stop it.
Ruttig added that he does not think the Taliban are serious about wanting to reduce opium production in Afghanistan to zero.
"They don't want to do it, and they can't do it, because they would lose key rural supporters," he said.
It’s the New Yorker, so I can’t judge how true versus truthy their claims might be.
[ToloNews] The New Yorker Magazine in a lengthy report with newly available source material shed light on the Afghan grinding of the peace processor--from its start in 2010 to the foreign forces’ withdrawal in August of this year. Titled, "The Secret History of the US Diplomatic Failure in Afghanistan," the report is the first of two parts and covers the failure of the grinding of the peace processor and the fall of Kabul, and is written by Steve Coll and Adam Entous.
According to the New Yorker report, the first attempts for making peace between the Taliban ...Arabic for students... and Afghan government started in November 2010. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the attempts did not materialize because the Taliban refused to work with the then-president Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance... government, seeing him as "an illegitimate puppet."
On the other hand, Karzai also objected to the US conferring legitimacy to the Taliban. "You betrayed me!" Karzai shouted at Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, during a meeting in late 2011.
According to the New Yorker, the peace talks did not bear fruits for many years because the Taliban objected to talking with the Afghan government, instead insisting for direct talks with the United States.
The peace talks got serious during Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... 's administration because the US president was determined to pull out US soldiers from Afghanistan, the report says.
Throughout the negotiations between the Taliban and the Trump Administration, Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-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. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury... and his government were sidelined.
To have leverage, Ghani maintained back channels to American politicians who were supportive of the war, the report says. Ghani, for instance, maintained ties with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham ...soft-spoken senator from South Carolina, former best buddy of John Maverick McCain. Since McCain's demise, Graham has become more outspoken, more Republican and more of a supporter of President Trump. The speech he gave in support of Brett Kavanaugh was downright manly and really cheesed off the Dems... , who was advocating for the US’s presence in Afghanistan.
Many US officials believed that Ghani had no interest in peace talks. "He preferred the status quo," Khalilzad said. "It kept him in power."
According to the New Yorker, Trump even had asked Zalmay Khalilzad, the then US envoy for Afghan peace, to provide the Taliban with money if that would encourage them to have a peace deal.
Trump asked Khalilzad if he could give the Taliban "something to make them cooperate."
"What are you talking about, Mr. President?"
"Like money."
"No," Khalilzad replied. "They’re on a terrorism list. We can’t give them money."
Finally, the US and the Taliban drafted a deal which was signed in February 2020. When Khalilzad told Trump that Ghani was not happy with the draft deal, Trump replied: "Why are you wasting your time going to talk to Ghani? He’s a crook."
When on July 2021 Ghani met President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S., who gives the term geriatric a bad name. He blames Afghans for losing Afghanistan.... in Washington, Shaharzad Akbar, the chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) was also in Washington, meeting with human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... groups. The report quoted her saying she was disappointed about peace when she heard that many Americans had already concluded that Afghanistan was a lost cause. "I ended up crying a lot that evening," Akbar said. She returned to Kabul and went from embassy to embassy requesting visas for her staff.
According to the New Yorker, Ghani asked for military assistance from Biden, such as more helicopters, and the continuation of logistical support by the American contractions. Biden’s response was vague, according to Afghan officials present in the room.
The New Yorker touched upon the release of Taliban prisoners, quoting American officials saying that Khalilzad wanted a deal to be signed and that he was ready to gives almost everything to the Taliban.
Khalilzad "plainly wanted a deal and seemed willing to give the Taliban almost everything," said Andru Wall, a Navy commander at the Resolute Support Mission. "It was not clear if we had any true red lines."
According to the report, the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a meeting with Ghani in Kabul urged him to be flexible about releasing the Taliban’s prisoners and assured him that "The United States is your leverage. If we do not get what we want, we will not leave," he said. "We will only leave when there is a political resolution."
"This clarity that you will stand with us in the negotiation is something that we have never had," Ghani told him, according to the report.
The New Yorker said the Taliban had agreed on terms over counterterrorism and restrictions on fighting, especially stopping Taliban fighters from attacking 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... troops as they withdraw based on the agreement. "If one American dies after the deal is signed, then the deal is off," Miller told the Taliban envoys before the Doha deal.
Based on the Doha deal, the intra-Afghan peace talks was scheduled for March 10, 2020, to seek an enduring peace in Afghanistan. The talks, however, started six months later than the date specified in the deal.
Abdul Matin Bek, an advisor to Ghani and a member of the republic negotiation team, had told Khalilzad that the Taliban were not willing to make a political settlement. He told Khalilzad "wake up." "Please, for God’s sake, the Taliban are not in favor of negotiations, they are not in favor of a political settlement," he said. "They’re really on a victory march," the report said.
The talks did not bear fruit, while at the same time war intensified in the country, which according to Miller was clearly "violations in spirit, if not the written word" of the Doha deal.
The intra-Afghan talks did not lead to peace and the Taliban continued overrunning provinces. Kabul finally fell on August 15th, 2021.
According to the report, on August 14, a day before Kabul’s fall, Hamdullah Mohib, the national security adviser, had learned that one of his colleagues at the Presidential Palace was on a list of at-risk Afghans approved by the US embassy for evacuation. "That afternoon, Mohib spoke by phone with a contact at the State Department. During a discussion about peace talks, Mohib paused to ask, "Is there an evacuation plan for us, for me and Ghani? The official asked for something in writing."
[ToloNews] In an effort to fight poppy cultivation and drug trafficking, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Saturday appointed counter-narcotics officials in all 34 provinces.
The counter-narcotics department of the MoI has ordered all newly assigned officials to stand strongly against poppy cultivation and narcos across the provinces.
"The counter-narcotics department of the MoI has started the process of appointments in order to seriously fight against cultivation and drug trafficking across the country," said Hedayatullah Hedayat, deputy front man of the MoI.
According to residents, because of the easy access to drugs, the number of addicts is increasing every day in the capital city of Kabul and in other provinces.
"Drugs addicts have increased in Kabul, they can easily find drugs, they are creating problems for the people," said Abozar, a resident.
Abdul Qader, a former Afghan National Army member, took to using drugs after losing his job after the political change in the country.
"I lost my job and could not find a new job, I got addicted and there is no possibility to abandon it," said Abdul Qader.
"Every day, he is selling something from home to pay for drugs," said the mother of Abdul Qader.
Afghanistan is one of the biggest producers of drugs in the world.
According to reports, drug trafficking has increased during the government of the Islamic Emirate, and the security forces on the border of Tajikistan said they seized nearly 500 kilograms of drugs at the border area during the last two months.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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[ToloNews] Donors agreed on Friday to transfer $280 million from a frozen, trust fund to the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF to support nutrition and health in Afghanistan, the World Bank said as it seeks to help a country facing famine and economic freefall.
The World Bank-administered Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund will this year give $180 million to WFP to scale up food security and nutrition operations and $100 million to UNICEF to provide essential health services, the bank said in a statement..
Using reconstruction trust fund money and channeling it through the WFP and UNICEF, both part of the U.N. family, appears to be a way to get funding into the country for basic needs in a manner that does not necessarily implicate U.S. sanctions against the Taliban.
ICRC Paying Health Worker Salaries, Buying Equipment
[ToloNews] The International Committee of the Red Cross is paying the salaries of 6,000 medical employees and provide medical equipment for at least 23 public hospitals, an official said.
“The ICRC is working to remove the obstacles in the health sector. The process of supporting the hospitals will go on for some days,” said Munqad Abdul Rahman Rodwal, a senior official at the ICRC.
“The ICRC is providing salaries for employees of 15 health centers across Afghanistan so far. It has provided health products as well.”
Afghan Airline Brings Indian Aid to Kabul
[ToloNews] Afghan airline company Kam Air brought an aid package of health supplies provided by the Indian government into Kabul on Saturday. It was the first flown-in humanitarian aid from India since the fall of the former government.
The aid consists of two tonnes of health supplies.
“India donated some health products via the Word Health Organization to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. We praise it and call on other countries to provide assistance to Afghanistan,” said Javid Hajir, a spokesman for the ministry.
India pledged to provide 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Afghanistan.
Analysts believe that India’s aid was politically motivated.
“India's trying to fill the vacuum and gain influence in Afghanistan to not allow its rival Pakistan to remain the winner of the game in the field. I think India’s presence in Afghanistan has more political value than economic,” said Abdul Naseer Rishtia, an economist.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] Sidelined after a decade leading Æthiopia's army, General Tsadkan Gebre-Tensae did not expect to don his uniform after retirement. But when war erupted in Tigray, the renowned military strategist was back, ready to fight the army he had once commanded.
Tsadkan's army was dominated by Tigrayans, as was the national government -- intensifying discontent among other ethnic groups that would eventually lead to the TPLF's ouster from power.
For many observers, there is little doubt that Tsadkan, whose face -- round, bald, moustached -- is famous in Æthiopia, is the man responsible for the advances of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group since June.
Thirty years earlier in 1991, Tsadkan led the TPLF's march on Addis Ababa, part of a coalition that ousted the autocrat Mengistu Hailemariam.
Continued on Page 49
[AlAhram] Father Tsige Mezgebu was leading an afternoon prayer service in August when a column of haggard-looking rebels entered Lalibela, prompting worshippers to cry out "God save our city!"
He immediately feared the worst for the 11 mediaeval rock-hewn churches that make Lalibela, in northern Æthiopia's Amhara region, a holy site for the country's tens of millions of Orthodox Christians -- as well as a top tourist magnet.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) holy warriors have a fearsome reputation, with officials and human rights
Continued on Page 49
[Breitbart] The British government has promised to help Ukraine fortify its Belarusian frontier amid worries Alexander Lukashenko could redirect illegal migrants colonists from Poland and the Baltic States to the Ukrainian border.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Affairs said in a blurb that the British government had "reaffirmed its readiness to assist the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in strengthening borders and combating illegal migration".
Ukraine borders both Poland and Russia-allied Belarus so it is not unreasonable for Ukraine to have concerns that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko may turn his sights from Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia to Ukraine following the largely unsuccessful Belarusian-sponsored border crisis inflicted on the three EU member-states.
Ukraine has an EU Association Agreement but is not an EU member, however migrants colonists could swing through Ukrainian territory and on into Slovakia to penetrate the bloc.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Some migrants advancing through Mexico vowed on Saturday to press onward towards the United States following a deadly accident in the south of the country that killed dozens of people, mostly from Guatemala.
At least 55 people were killed and dozens more were injured when a truck packed with migrants flipped over in the state of Chiapas on Thursday.
People spilled from the truck carrying an estimated 166 travelers after it crashed on a curve outside the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, causing one of the worst death tolls of migrants in Mexico during the past decade.
The incident comes as the Mexican government tries to stem the number of migrants crossing the territory on their way north toward the U.S. border.
News of the deadly incident rattled migrants who had made their way to the central state of Puebla, many of them families with children. Still, some said they were determined to push forward to the United States or other cities in Mexico despite the risks of the dangerous journey, which can include relying on people smugglers known as "coyotes."
In recent days, dozens of migrants were sent from the southern border city Tapachula to Puebla as Mexican migration authorities attempted to dismantle an improvised camp and head off potential caravans of migrants walking north.
The Mexican government previously promised migrants humanitarian visas and transportation to other cities.
A taste. The hour long video of the discussion can be seen at the link.
[PJMedia] The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) held a panel discussion on December 7, 2021, to describe the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the Darien Gap. This region of Panama sees a massive train of international migrants colonists crossing from Colombia, in South America, to Central America on their way to the southern border of the United States. Most Americans likely don’t understand the source of illegal immigrants colonists and assume most of them to be of Mexican descent. But as many as 100,000 migrants colonists have passed through the Darien Gap in 2021, many from state sponsors of global terror. A shocking number die along the way, and many more become victims of human trafficking. The United States doesn’t know who passes through this route on the way to our border—the border the Biden administration, the guys that caused the debacle in Afghanistan ...the pack of self-imagined masterminds of strategy and intrigue at the service of the Biden Crime Family and a grateful nation... has refused to secure.
The Darien Gap has been described as the most dangerous jungle in the world, and is known as a chokepoint for migrants colonists from all over the globe who are moving on foot to the north. One news hound says the area has the most vultures he’s ever seen in one place.
Vultures, of course, feed on carrion. In this case, human bodies.
The humanitarian crisis could be stopped immediately, one panelist said:
The Panamanian authorities will tell you they can’t close down the migration route, which is completely false because during the pandemic they shut it off. It was finished, right? I mean, there was not even a drop coming through during the pandemic. Panama locked down like North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... for the pandemic, right? So we know that they can shut it off, period.
The panel consisted of global war correspondent Michael Yon, Mayor Francisco Agape of the Panamanian city Cémaco, which is near Darien Gap, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.), possibly the only member of Congress who has visited Darien Gap.
Yon says he spent a large portion of 2021 in Panama, Colombia, and Mexico, as well as some European countries facing similar migrant crises. He described the dangers faced by migrants colonists trying to cross the Darien Gap on foot — many without shoes:
We think about 10 percent of the people that go through die. There’s no way for us to know the true numbers because we don’t know how many leave Necocli and we don’t know how many actually come out through Bajo Chiquito. But after being down there for months and interviewing just tons of people — hundreds — I’m going to guess 10 percent die out there. And if 100,000 people came through this year, that’s 10,000 people. So you can imagine how much those vultures have to eat. And I’m not sure if that’s why the vultures are there, but it’s a strange amount of vultures. But anyway, so you got a lot of people that get lost out there. They finally come through Bajo Chiquito. So the causes of death for the people that come through are usually the Mountain of Death, or they get lost, waterborne illnesses, something else might hit them — yellow fever — out there, anything. There’s all kinds of problems. And also floods. When they finally get to the river, their bodies come washing down in their tents wrapped up. I mean, flash floods are pretty intense there.
Bajo Chiquito is a community of 400 mostly Enbera Indians right over the border in Panama. Yon describes this as an area where the residents engage in widescale rape, murder, and theft against the migrants colonists who make it that far. The large number of migrants colonists cause acute and widespread environmental destruction to the small area, destroying agriculture, groundwater, and natural resources. Mayor Agape is a member of the Enbera tribe and is trying to stop what he sees going on.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The documentary film "This is happening with us" about female genital mutilation in the North Caucasus has received the right to rent, the premiere of the film is scheduled in Moscow. It is not customary to discuss the practice of female circumcision in the Caucasus, but while working on the film, the Muftiate of Dagestan issued a fatwa about the inadmissibility of such operations, the co-authors of the film said.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote , the problem of female circumcision in the North Caucasus is most acute in Dagestan, where, according to the "Legal Initiative", at least 1,240 girls annually become victims of such operations. Criminal punishment will not eradicate the problem until a general legal background is formed that will allow women to feel safe, the authors of the FGM project for Afisha Daily said.
#1
Criminal punishment will not eradicate the problem until a general legal background is formed that will allow women to feel safe
So they've been sexually mutilating girls for 2000+ years as a population control measure and can't come up with a legislative framework to address the act? Girls are less responsive and reactive so there are fewer pregnancies, but then the rapes go up and it to becomes a cultural practice, which increases the population.
People-Smugglers Now Advertising Russia-Finland Border Route to EU
[Breitbart] The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) has confirmed reports that people-smugglers are now advertising crossings from Russia to Finland to migrants colonists, as many abandon attempts to enter the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... from Belarus in the face of strong border enforcement by Poland and the Baltic States.
Since the middle of last month people-smugglers have begun advertising the Russia-Finland route into the European Union, according to an intelligence research group who looked at Kurdish and Arabic forums on social media platforms like Facebook that are geared toward migrants colonists looking to enter Western Europe.
"Right now it is very difficult to say whether this will result in a new route for the migrant flows and whether we will see people arriving at the Finnish border, for example. But on social media, the reactions have been very positive," said Monika Richter, the head of research for the group, in comments reported by newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.
Finland’s intelligence service SUPO has confirmed the increase in marketing online for the Russia-Finland route, with communications director Milla Meretniemi telling Hufvudstadsbladet: "We are aware that this kind of marketing has occurred. As one of the EU’s external border countries, Finland is following the development stage very closely. But we cannot comment on our operational tasks any more than that."
Meretniemi went on to note that the migrant crisis along the border with Belarus was largely directed by the Belarusian government, but said that "Right now we have no reason to assume that Russia would act in the same way at the Finnish border".
The tactic of using migrants colonists to try and destabilise rival states has been dubbed "hybrid warfare" or "hybrid aggression".
Last month, Finland’s Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo said that if the country were to face a surge in migrants colonists similar to the crisis along the border with Belarus, then Finland could close its border with Russia.
Mikko Lehmus, the head of the Situation and Risk Analysis Centre of the Border Guard, stated that closing the border entirely could be difficult, as building a fence or border barrier would not be feasible.
During the migrant crisis of 2015, Finland — with a total population of under six million people — saw tens of thousands arrive in the country.
Teija Tiilikainen, director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, has stated that the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which has a European Union Association Agreement, could play a role in a potential migrant surge into Finland.
"At the moment, it is difficult to comment on whether Russia would like to make bilateral relations with Finland more difficult if it intends to conduct a military operation in Ukraine. But that’s not an impossible thought," Tiilikainen said.
Thousands of mostly Middle Eastern and South Asian migrants colonists have been pressing upon the borders of Poland and the neighbouring Baltic States of Lithuania and Latvia — all members of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 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... — for months, having been allowed into Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarus as tourists with the express purpose of having them head west as migrants colonists to destabilise the EU.
Low-level festivities have continued along the frontier since the last major attempt to force the border was made in mid-November, when hundreds of migrants colonists attacked Polish border guards, coppers, and soldiers including territorial reservists with missiles and even stun grenades and were beaten back with tear gas and water cannon.
Footage of one of the more recent smaller festivities was released by Poland’s Ministry of National Defence on December 9th, and shows migrants colonists who have become aggressive after being caught approaching Polish border fortifications from the Belarusian side under the cover of darkness.
Wczorajsza nieudana próba nielegalnego przekroczenia granicy w Dubiczach. Migranci wciąż zachowują się agresywnie i atakują naszych żołnierzy i funkcjonariuszy. pic.twitter.com/CT3TSkhRjA
— Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej 🇵🇱 (@MON_GOV_PL) December 9, 2021
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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#1
...Good thing for popcorn futures that the smugglers have never read their history. Otherwise they'd know that the Finns are very, very protective of their territory.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/12/2021 17:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
^^^^
The way "Woke" has taken over the world; I would not be too surprised if we very shortly discover they have been Mickey Finn'd
[OneIndia] More than a year after they arrived in large convoys of tractors, several protesting farmers on Saturday morning began returning to their home states, taking with them a victory to cherish and memories of a successful siege at Delhi's borders. The farmers lifted blockades on highways at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders and took out a 'Victory March' to celebrate the repeal of three contentious farm laws and the Union government's written assurance to fulfil their other demands, including constituting a committee for legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Emotions ran high as the farmers set off for their homes in different states, including Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, after a successful movement. Tractors bedecked with colourful lights rolled out of the protest sites blaring songs of victory while the elderly flaunted their colourful turbans and danced with youngsters.
The farmers are celebrating December 11 as 'Vijay Diwas'. Thousands of farmers had been protesting at the borders of the national capital since November 26 last year to demand the repeal of the three farm laws.
On November 29, a bill was passed in Parliament to repeal the laws, one of the main demands of the farmers. However, ars longa, vita brevis... the farmers refused to end their protest, demanding that the government fulfil their other demands that included legal guarantee on MSP and withdrawal of police cases against them.
As the Union government accepted the pending demands, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farm unions spearheading the stir, on Thursday decided to suspend the farmers' movement and announced that farmers will go back home on December 11 from the protest sites at Delhi borders.
Farmer leaders said that they will again meet on January 15 to see if the government has fulfilled their demands.
Parliament passed a bill on November 29 to repeal the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and the Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
We cynically will not ask how much of that money will actually reach the target group, nor whether the EU cares as much for having an impact as it does for looking generous.
[Rudaw] The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Children’s Funds’ (UNICEF) said Thursday that a European humanitarian aid agency has contributed over two million euros to its Syria programmes to help the war-town country’s vulnerable children and their families.
UNICEF said in a statement that with the €2 million ($2.3 million) funding from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), it "will be able to reach more than 126,000 children and their caregivers with essential protection, education, water and sanitation services as well as life-saving cash transfers to the most vulnerable families."
"Over a decade into the conflict in Syria, the humanitarian needs of more than 13.4 million people in the country - 6.1 million of them children - are being compounded by the day," said UNICEF Representative in Syria, Bo Viktor Nylund. "The continued, substantial support from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... has helped us to meet our commitments towards vulnerable children and families in Syria and ensure they can access critical services."
The ECHO’s total funding to the UNICEF has reached over €55 million since 2016, including to the Thursday one, according to the UN agency.
According to data from the ECHO’s website, the total EU assistance to the Syria crisis has reached more than €24.9 billion since 2011 while its assistance to the war-town country in 2021 was €130 million.
UNICEF said in March that nearly 2.45 million children in Syria as well 750,000 other Syrian children who live in the neighboring countries are out of school, adding that 90 percent of the country’s children need support "as violence, economic crisis and COVID-19 pandemic push families to the brink."
Syrians rose up against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... in March 2011, demanding an end to the rule of the Assad family who have been in power for half a century.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] A plane carrying over 400 Iraqi and Kurdish migrants colonists from Minsk arrived in Erbil on Friday. Some migrants colonists claim they were forced to return. And ...your point is?
So far, over 3,000 migrants colonists from across Iraq have returned from Belarus since last month. The majority of them are between the ages of 18 and 30.
Aryan Khalil, a returnee, told Rudaw on Friday he was deported by force by Belarussian police.
"They brought a bus the day before yesterday and filled it with migrants colonists by kicking them. They then sent us in three taxis to the airport and locked us up. They made us get on the plane tonight and then returned us," said the man.
Every migrant has a different story to tell. They have spent between $5,000 and $30k en route to Europe.
"[Making it to Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... on] this route is by chance. Some have been returned by force while some could make it. We’re the victims of this route," said migrant Hawkar Bahadin at the airport.
Many come back to the Kurdistan Region with wounds from police brutality at the border.
"They [police] fractured my leg," said Jumaa Mohammed, who said he left the Kurdistan Region in search of a better life.
Thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish people traveled to the Belarus-Poland borders in recent months to make it to Europe.
The difficult conditions at the border zone caught the attention of international media and leaders. Several migrants colonists have died on the border so far.
Erbil and Baghdad began offering free flights to those who chose to return voluntarily last month.
According to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Department of Foreign Relations, more than a thousand migrants colonists are waiting to be sent back to Iraq in Belarusian camps.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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#1
Where does all the travel money come from?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/12/2021 9:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The majority of them are [males] between the ages of 18 and 30.
They couldn't make it at home or change the ruling political environment so they joined the migrant hoard. They couldn't make it in their adoptive nation protesting borders or just being ne'er-do-wells so they were rounded up, beaten and booted out of the country, at some cost.
Apparently the money comes from savings, sale of assets like homes and cars, and loans. Some of the loans are from traffickers, to be repaid from earnings upon arrival at their final destination.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] The first photo was taken on July 9, 2017 (even before the official end of the Battle of Mosul - it officially ended on July 10).
The second photo was taken on December 11, 2021.
From the second photo, you can't even say that until recently there were solid ruins here after carpet bombing of the districts held by ISIS. The Battle of Mosul, along with the Battle of Aleppo, is one of the largest land battles of the 21st century in terms of duration, losses and number of forces involved.
PS. And also about Iraq. Recently, the US announced that it would end its military mission in Iraq and withdraw its troops. This is, of course, caused by a well-known law passed under pressure from the Shiite factions after the assassination of Soleimani. Despite numerous attempts to cancel or disavow it, the United States did not succeed. Therefore, the strategy had to be changed.
The bases and military equipment are transferred to the Iraqi army, the remaining forces are relocated to Iraqi Kurdistan, and their very status will formally change to "advisers and instructors", so there is no talk of a complete withdrawal from Iraq.
The United States is not abandoning its attempts to undermine Iranian influence in the country, but now it will rely on attempts to oppose the government to Shiite factions, as well as to cause a rift between pro-Iranian groups and Sadrists.
This will ensure that the US-Iranian hybrid war on Iraqi territory continues (both the US strikes on Hashd Shaabi and Iranian proxy attacks on US bases and convoys), and the local government remains dependent on the course of this war. At the same time, both Iran and the United States will strive to establish such a government in Iraq, which would definitely take the side of Tehran or Washington and put pressure on the opponent.
In the case of the United States, a right-wing military dictatorship led by some general in the spirit of Al-Sisi, who is not afraid to start a civil war against the Shiite militias.
In the case of Iran, the sovereignty of the Shiite bloc and the Shiite prime minister loyal to Tehran with the purge of cadres loyal to the United States and the complete expulsion of any American and NATO presence from Iraq.
In light of the threat of a breakdown in negotiations on the resumption of the nuclear deal, it cannot be ruled out that in the foreseeable future, Iraq will face serious shocks caused by this hybrid war on its territory.
[IsraelTimes] At a massive rally Friday celebrating the 34th anniversary of Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw,’s founding, co-founder of the terror group Mahmoud al-Zahar said Paleostinians will not relinquish "an inch" of the land they view as theirs.
"The participation of thousands in these marches commemorating the launch anniversary [of Hamas] confirms that the Paleostinian individual cannot give up his right, and refuses to forfeit not an inch of his land," al-Zahar said, according to Paleostinian media reports.
Hamas does not recognize Israel and often declares its intention of setting up a state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, eradicating Israel.
The anniversary comes as amid a string of recent Paleostinian terror attacks, with four taking place in Jerusalem alone, including a deadly shooting committed by a member of Hamas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] An investigation into last year’s Beirut blast is set to resume after a court rejected the last of several lawsuits that had led the probe to be suspended for more than a month.
The investigation into the blast, one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded, has faced pushback from a political system where impunity has become entrenched since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Here’s what you need to know about the standoff:
WHAT IS THE JUDGE INVESTIGATING? The explosion that was caused by chemicals left at the port for more than six years and which killed more than 215 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Beirut.
Judge Tarek Bitar, 47, wants to interrogate several senior politicians and security officials.
High-level security and government officials "foresaw the significant threat to life ... and tacitly accepted the risk of deaths occurring," Human Rights Watch has said.
Bitar’s efforts have become a rallying cry for many Lebanese against decades of unchecked corruption and mismanagement.
WHO DOES THE JUDGE WANT TO QUESTION? SOME VERY POWERFUL PEOPLE.
The most prominent include former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who is the right-hand-man of Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... and an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, and Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial... ’s General Security.
The judge has also sought to question Hassan Diab, an academic who was prime minister at the time of the blast.
Many of them could face prison time if convicted of negligence or causing deaths, although Lebanon has almost no track record of holding to account people in top positions.
All deny wrongdoing.
HOW ARE BITAR’S EFFORTS BEING STYMIED? All of the current and former officials Bitar has sought to question as suspects have resisted, arguing they have immunity or that he lacks authority to prosecute them.
This resistance to his actions has played out in the courts, in political life and on the streets.
Suspects have swamped courts with more than two dozen legal cases seeking Bitar’s removal over alleged bias and "grave mistakes", leading to several suspensions of the probe.
The ex-ministers say any cases against them should be heard by a special court for presidents and ministers.
That court has never held a single official accountable, and it would pass control of the probe to ruling parties in parliament, likely burying hopes of accountability.
Sectarian sensitivities have been brought into play.
The move against Diab, for example, prompted objections from Sunni Moslem political and religious leaders who said it was an attempt to target the position of prime minister, which is reserved for a Sunni in Lebanon’s sectarian political system.
WHY DOES HEZBOLLAH CARE? Bitar has not charged any known members of Hezbollah, the Shia Moslem group that has powerful political influence and a heavily armed militia. But the judge’s actions, including his attempts to question powerful figures allied to Hezbollah as suspects, have prompted the group to accuse him of bias.
In September, a senior Hezbollah official sent him a message warning that the group would "uproot" him.
Hezbollah and its allies have pushed for Bitar’s removal via the executive branch, sparking a row that has paralyzed government.
Together with its allies, Hezbollah called for an anti-Bitar protest in October that escalated into deadly violence.
Hezbollah has accused the United States, which lists the group as a terrorist organization, of meddling in the probe. The US ambassador has denied this.
Hezbollah dismissed accusations made at the time of the blast that it had an arms warehouse at the port and says it had nothing to do with the earth-shattering kaboom. Its adversaries have long accused the group of controlling the port - something it also denies.
WHAT’S AT STAKE? ANY HOPE OF ACCOUNTABILITY.
For advocates of reform, the tussle over the probe is part of a wider struggle about the rule of law and bringing to account officials for corruption and bad governance responsible for other catastrophes too, including Lebanon’s financial meltdown.
Critics say the elite are using their influence to block any attempt to set a precedent of holding officials to account and want to bury any scrutiny of the port’s management, which is a microcosm of the sectarian system which parcels out public resources to serve the interests of major players, not the state.
Beirut’s already strained ties with Western governments, whose help could prove vital in lifting Lebanon out of its economic crisis, may suffer further if the probe is torpedoed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian terror group rails at ’misleading media campaign,’ says fire that set off explosions was caused by electrical short-circuit
The Paleostinian terror group Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, claimed Saturday that explosions that shook a refugee camp in southern Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...The land area formerly occupied by the state of Lebanon, before that Phoenicia... were caused by an electrical short-circuit in a storage area for oxygen bottles used to treat coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... patients.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) had reported that arms stored for Hamas went kaboom! Friday in the Burj al-Shamali camp, killing and injuring a number of people. A security official also said the earth-shattering kabooms caused casualties but did not give a breakdown.
Hamas in a statement Saturday described the earth-shattering kabooms as an "incident," adding that a fire in the refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre caused limited damage. It gave no word on casualties but residents in the camp said at least one person was killed.
Hamas said the oxygen bottles and containers of detergents stored at the camp were to be distributed as part of its aid work.
"Hamas condemns the misleading media campaign and the spread of false news that accompanied the incident," the terrorist group said in its statement. It added that reports about the cause of the blast and the "deaths of dozens" were baseless.
The denial came after a Hamas source told a Lebanese newspaper the arms cache that went kaboom! was "for defense." The source also confirmed the blast was caused by a fire.
Initial reports said a fire had started in a diesel tanker and spread to a nearby mosque controlled by Hamas. The fire triggered explosions of some weapons that appeared to have been stored inside the mosque, according to the residents.
Immediately after the blasts, Lebanese troops deployed around the camp and briefly prevented people from entering or leaving.
NNA said the state prosecutor in southern Lebanon has asked security agencies and arms experts to inspect the Hamas arms storage site inside the camp.
Lebanon is home to tens of thousands of Paleostinian refugees and their descendants. Many live in the 12 refugee camps that are scattered around the small Mediterranean country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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[JPost] Negotiations between world powers and Iran are at a deadlock and cannot continue indefinitely, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Saturday.
"Time is running out," Baerbock, who was sworn in last week, warned.
Iran "has shown in the last days that we do not have any progress... due to the offer of the Iranian government, negotiations have been thrown back six months," Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in Liverpool, England.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss similarly said last week, ahead of Thursday and Friday’s talks, that they are "really the last chance for Iran to sign up" to return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal.
In those negotiations, Iranian officials insisted on sticking to a tough stance from last week, while the E3 — as European parties to the talk Britain, France and Germany are called — were working from texts discussed five months ago, before Iran left the talks.Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that Tehran was serious in its nuclear talks, as indicated by the very proposals that European negotiators said were unrealistic.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that Tehran was serious in its nuclear talks, as indicated by the very proposals that European negotiators said were unrealistic.
"The fact that we presented the text of Iran's proposal to the negotiating parties shows that we are serious in the talks, and if the other side is also serious about the removal of sanctions, we will achieve a good agreement. We are definitely after a good agreement," IRNA quoted Raisi as saying.
The talks resumed on Thursday with the United States and Israel - which is not a party to the 2015 deal - piling rhetorical pressure on Tehran about the possible economic or military consequences if diplomacy fails.
Asked whether new draft proposals that Iran had put forward last week were being discussed, Iran's top negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani told Reuters: "Yes, the drafts we proposed last week are being discussed now in meetings with other parties."
Bagheri said last week that "all the issues that had been drafted during the previous negotiations until June can be negotiated."
"Iran backs result-oriented talks and we are determined to reach a deal that guarantees our nation's interests," Bagheri told reporters in Vienna.
A European source, speaking on condition of anonymity, appeared to suggest that Iran had agreed to continue talks from where they left off in June. This would be put to the test in the next couple of days, the source said, but made no mention of Iran's new proposals. Iranian officials denied it.
"We will definitely agree to nothing less than the JCPOA and this will certainly be a red line for Iran," Bagheri Kani told Iran's Press TV on Saturday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a "productive" meeting with counterparts from the E3 in Liverpool on Friday, discussing the way forward for talks on the Iran nuclear deal, a State Department spokesperson said on Saturday.
The JCPOA restricted Iran’s uranium enrichment until 2030 in exchange for gradual sanctions relief from the US, EU and the UN. The US left the deal in 2018, under former president Donald Trump, while current US President Joe Biden seeks to return to it.
Israel opposes the JCPOA because it insufficiently limited Iran’s uranium enrichment, and, in fact, legitimizes further enrichment after the agreement expires, which paves the way for an eventual nuclear bomb. In addition, the JCPOA did not address Iran’s other malign actions in the region.
The indirect US-Iranian talks, in which diplomats from France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China shuttle between them because Tehran refuses direct contact with Washington, aim to get both sides to resume full compliance with the accord.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2021 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] Ziad Hilweh knew his family might die on the way. But the risk was worth it, he said, to reach the shores of Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... for a new start with his wife and three kids, away from the daily humiliation of life in Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. ... The country's economic meltdown had destroyed him. The currency crash meant that the value of his salary from working at a private security company fell from $650 a month to about $50 after the Lebanese pound lost more than 90% of its value in less than two years. It reached the point the 22-year-old could no longer afford milk and diapers for his children.
But the young father's hopes of a better future were shattered last month, when the boat they were on board headed to Italia broke down in the Mediterranean Sea, hours after they set off from the outskirts of Lebanon's port city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... . Along with dozens of other would-be migrants colonists on the boat, they were towed back to shore by the navy after a terrifying attempt at escaping.
For years, Lebanon has been a host for refugees, mainly from Syria, but now it is a departure point. Hundreds of Lebanese have tried to reach Europe this year on boats from their country's shores, spurred by a devastating economic crisis that has thrown two thirds of the population into poverty since October 2019.
It is not a route on the scale of the main sea path from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... to Greece used by many refugees and migrants colonists. But it is a startling shift as Lebanese join Iraqis, Afghans, Sudanese and other Middle Eastern nationalities in leaving their homelands.
Sea departures from Lebanon have increased starting in 2020, compared to previous years, said Lisa Abou Khaled, spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency. According to UNHCR figures, more than 1,570 people embarked or attempted to embark from Lebanon between January and November, most heading for Cyprus. The majority have been Syrians, but Abou Khaled said a notable number of Lebanese have joined them.
``It is evident that these are desperate journeys undertaken by people who see no way of survival in Lebanon,'' said Abou Khaled.
The country is witnessing a frightening convergence of multiple crises, including political instability, the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... pandemic and a massive explosion at the capital's main port in August last year that have all added to the financial unravelling of the country.
The rest of the article details the failed attempt, which nonetheless cost Mr. Hilweh a discounted $10,000 and the sale of his car and apartment. But he is so desperate he intends to try again.
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.
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
...Arabic for 
A ten percent increase in TB profits for sure. 
...46th president of the U.S., who gives the term geriatric a bad name. He blames Afghans for losing Afghanistan....
[Breitbart] The British government has promised to help Ukraine fortify its Belarusian frontier amid worries Alexander Lukashenko could redirect illegal 
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Some migrants advancing through 
...the pack of self-imagined masterminds of strategy and intrigue at the service of the Biden Crime Family and a grateful nation...
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
Recently, the US announced that it would end its military mission in Iraq and withdraw its troops. This is, of course, caused by a well-known law passed under pressure from the Shiite factions after the assassination of Soleimani. Despite numerous attempts to cancel or disavow it, the United States did not succeed. Therefore, the strategy had to be changed.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] An investigation into last year’s Beirut blast is set to resume after a court rejected the last of several lawsuits that had led the probe to be suspended for more than a month.
Hezbollah
...The land area formerly occupied by the state of Lebanon, before that Phoenicia...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. ...
