[LIBYAREVIEW] On Sunday, Egypt Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, and his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra, discussed the latest developments in the Libyan crisis at the Ministry’s headquarters in Cairo.
The official talks touched upon several regional issues of mutual concern, including the Libyan file, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Ahmed Hafez, stated.
Shoukry stressed the importance of supporting a Libyan-Libyan solution to get out of the current crisis, underlining the need to stop any foreign interference in Libya’s domestic affairs.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister reiterated the importance of the withdrawal of foreign forces including mercenaries from Libya, to achieve the aspirations of the Libyan people for security, stability, and prosperity.
The meeting discussed ways to boost bilateral cooperation between the two countries, as well as the latest regional and international issues of common interest, Hafez tweeted.
Both sides praised the "distinguished" bilateral ties between Egypt and Algeria, underlining the need to continue cooperation and coordination efforts in various fields. They also highlighted the ambition to continue strengthening aspects of economic and investment relations between both sides during the coming period.
Hafez pointed out that they also further discussed the latest developments in Sudan, Mali, and the Sahel and Sahara region.
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[LIBYAREVIEW] A member of the High Council of State (HCS), Saad bin Sherada stated that it was not acceptable for Prime Minister, Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba to not pay the salaries of military personnel in the east of the country."Deliberately stopping the payment of military salaries in the east confuses the scene to a large extent," Ben Sherada said. He stressed that "there is a need for a real national unity government that can solve the current problems."
Earlier this month, the General Command of the Libyan National Army (LNA) stated that Prime Minister Dbaiba had suspended their salaries.
In a statement, it said that Dbaiba had suspended the paycheques of LNA forces, "while he and his family spent 20 billion dinars on developing corruption, instead of working to improve the lives of citizens."
The statement added that LNA forces are protecting the oil facilities, whose revenues amounted to 103 billion dinars in 2021, "despite that, Dbaiba and his family rewarded us by cutting salaries." It added that suspending the salaries means "cutting off half a million people, including soldiers’ families, and their children from their lives."
"We found ourselves obliged to borrow to meet for the soldiers’ daily needs," the statement added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo drew a bead on his old enemy and squeezed the trigger... several tribes warned the government that they would halt oil exports if they did not pay the salaries of the LNA.
The tribes in the cities of Sidra and Ras Lanuf, said in a statement that they would take escalatory steps if the government did not respond to their "legitimate" demands.
They noted that they are giving the Prime Minister, a deadline to pay the salaries, "otherwise, the export of oil from their areas will be stopped."
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#1
The track record shows that its a really bad move.
This PLA senior colonel threats nuclear war with the US for the sake of #Taiwan. He bets that #US dares not to "go back to the Stone Age" with the #CCP. 共匪国防大学教授房兵的核威胁。这才是真正的 #恐怖分子。 We should treat terrorists as terrorists, not "competitors". @POTUSpic.twitter.com/HZC48kOo9N
#2
...Somebody should gently remind the Senior Colonel that all it will take is a handful of warheads - maybe five or less - to pretty much erase the CCP's control over China. After that, you've got a bunch of warlords in the provinces and along the coast who will all be deciding that they are the Rightful Heirs, and acting accordingly.
Also, Senior Colonel, allow me to point out that I was standing in the crosshairs when the Soviets were ready to lay down two THOUSAND warheads here. I don't want to test the theory, but the system was designed to absorb a Soviet-era first strike and survive...and then strike back with the Trident force, one of which just the other day surfaced unexpectedly at Guam. Just to say 'hi'.
Now sit down, shaddap, and play nice.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/18/2022 6:11 Comments ||
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#3
Aim for the big (blue) urban areas and we might have a deal.
[Rudaw] Over 90 percent of the migrants colonists in Lithuania are from the Kurdistan Region, the Lithuanian foreign minister told Rudaw on Monday, while adding that the government has initiated a program to subsidize the migrants colonists voluntary return home.
"Now we have a bit more than 2000 people from Iraq currently in Lithuania," Gabrielius Landsbergis told Rudaw’s Shaho Amin in an interview, adding that the return of the migrants colonists is completely voluntary.
"The government has initiated a special program where we are offering a subside of 1000 euros for people to return. Obviously we are paying for their ticket or the whole flight," he said, adding that around 90 percent of Iraqi migrants colonists in the country are from the Kurdistan Region.
Landsbergis arrived in Erbil on Monday, following his visit to Baghdad where he met with his counterpart Fuad Hussein and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
He was received by the Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani upon his arrival to the Kurdish capital. Landsbergis later met with the Region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
Thousands of Iraqis and Kurds have traveled to Belarus in recent months with the help of smugglers, hoping to reach western Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... in a search for jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot access at home where unemployment is high and political tensions, corruption, and instability leave them with little hope for their future.
In response, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia have tightened their border security, and for those who manage to enter, chances of a better life are low according to the Lithuanian foreign minister.
"I would say that around 90 percent of people have their asylum status rejected," Landsbergis said, adding that less than 10 percent match the criteria to get Lithuanian residency.
The exodus of Kurds is part of a migrant crisis that has compelled European nations to fortify their borders. Tensions are high between Belarus and Europe. Minsk has been accused of exploiting the migrants colonists and using them as a pressure tactic against the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... in response to sanctions imposed upon the Belarusian regime. Amnesia Amnesty International in December said the migrants colonists stuck on the border were subject to violence, human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations and extortion at the hands of Belarusian forces.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has acknowledged the existence of systemic problems and financial hardships, but says it is working to address these issues. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... despite government efforts and the horrors the migrants colonists have faced in Belarus, they are still willing to risk it all to leave the Kurdistan Region.
Iraq began offering repatriation flights in November, returning thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish migrants colonists from Minsk.
Iraqi foreign minister, Hussein, on Sunday said that Iraq had repatriated four thousand Iraqis from the Belarusian-Lithuanian border in 10 flights, noting, "Some Iraqis remain in Lithuania and we are awaiting their decision to voluntarily return them to Baghdad."
[Rudaw] A Kurdish rights group has revealed that a former member of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... -backed militia group in Syria, accused of committing violations against Kurds in Afrin city, is seeking asylum in Germany.
Human Rights Organisation - Afrin said in a statement on Sunday that Bashar Abu Saleh, who had served as a member of Turkey-backed Levant Front (Jabhat al-Shamiyah) in Afrin city for years, arrived in Germany about a year ago with the hope of obtaining residency.
He is accused by Kurds from Afrin of "carrying out various brutal human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations against Kurdish villagers while serving under the commander of his ringleader, Ahmed Dibo, nicknamed Abu Asaad," the rights group said in the statement.
"He was involved in torturing and kidnapping local civilians for ransom and in the appropriation of locals' homes and property, imposing royalties, cutting down thousands of fruitful and forest trees owned by displaced Kurds," it added.
Lamaan Khalil, a member of the rights organization, which heavily covers violations by Turkey-backed gangs in Afrin but is based in nearby Shahba, told Rudaw’s Dilbxwin Dara late Monday that they have been closely monitoring the actions and movements of Abu Saleh.
She said that Abu Saleh served as a holy warrior in Afrin for two years but later moved to Turkey. After a while he returned to Afrin but did not stay long, deciding to migrate to Germany through Turkey. Khalil added that the former holy warrior used to capture and beat Kurds, demanding ransom.
Khalil named two of his victims: Gando Wahid Qambar and Mohammed Sido. The former was "captured and tortured. He was asked to pay $1,000 or else they would accuse him of being affiliated to the Autonomous Administration," she told Rudaw, adding that the same thing happened to Sido.
Afrin was occupied by Turkey and its Syrian proxies in March 2018 after these forces launched a military campaign against Kurdish forces.
Abu Saleh currently stays in a refugee camp in Germany’s Hamm city, seeking residency, according to Khalil.
The Kurdish rights group has not filed any lawsuit against Abu Saleh yet as all victims are in Syria, especially in Afrin and Shahba. "They are willing to bear witness. They have relatives in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... but we have heard that they should bear their witness through videos," Khalil said.
She said if the witnesses were present in Germany the legal work against him "would be very easy."
[OneIndia] The National Investigation Agency has begun its probe in coordination with authorities in Bangladesh to unearth the larger conspiracy by Pakistain to pump fake currency into India.
Arpan Saha, the NIA's inspector posted at the Guwahati Branch office is the Chief Investigating Officer.
The probe was ordered last month by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the NIA Act of 2008.
While it was always clear that the ISI was behind pumping fake currency into India, it became even more clearer following the arrest of two fake currency smugglers Fatema Akthar Aapi and her associate Sk Md Taleb. They were arrested by the Bangladesh police in November 2021 and during their questioning they revealed the role being played by the ISI in the racket.
In this context it would be interesting to note how the ISI has over the years used fake currency as a means to destabilise the Indian economy and also use the proceeds from the racket to fund terror acts in India.
Among the many revelations that David Headley linked to the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack made, one was relating to fake currency. He said during his deposition that he had received fake Indian currency from an ISI official Major Iqbal.
Major Iqbal is part of the ISI and he was David Headley's handler during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. This makes it very clear that the Pakistain establishment is directly involved in the circulation of fake currency in India.
Fake Indian currency produced in Pakistain is a major money spinner. There is fake Indian currency to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore that is pumped into India every year. While India has repeatedly said that it is the Pakistain's ISI which criminal masterminds this racket there has always been an obvious denial.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... what Headley said does blow the lid of the ISI's claims. When Headley visited India several times to carry out a reconnaissance of the targets in Mumbai, he was paid money several times by various persons. He named Sajid Mir, Major Pasha, Tawwahur Rana and also Major Iqbal who had given him money.
In Pakistain it is expected that anyone visiting India has to carry a certain amount of fake Indian currency with them. At times it is the Death Eaters who bring it in and on other occasions it is the drug mafia.
While circulating fake currency gets the ISI a good amount of money the larger plan is also to disrupt the Indian economy.
[OneIndia] With elections in Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... and Uttar Pradesh fast approaching Pakistain is on overdrive mode to push its anti-India propaganda. The Intelligence Bureau and multiple agencies are keeping a close watch on the various social media accounts formed to spread hate and a disinformation campaign against India.
The Intelligence suggests that there has been a sustained effort by Pakistain and anti-India elements to disrupt the elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Last week, the bomb disposal squad destroyed an IED found near the Gate number 1 of a wholesale market in Delhi. The bomb disposal squad of the National Security Guards destroyed the IED through a controlled explosion. The Improvised Explosive Device comprised RDX and ammonium nitrate and was found at the gate of the Ghazipur flower market.
Officials part of the investigation said that the IED was planted by a terror group and was aimed at causing maximum destruction ahead of Republic Day. The Sherlocks are also not ruling out the fact that this could have been timed with the upcoming elections.
Punjab has seen scores of incidents in recent times where a thorough agenda by Pakistain has been attempted to be pushed. There have been assassinations and also the recent Ludhiana Court blast. On January 5, a major incident was reported when the Prime Minister's security was breached. PM Narendra Modi was held up for 20 minutes in Punjab due to a protest that was ongoing on the road. The Supreme Court ...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations... has even set up a committee headed by a retired judge to probe the incident and suggest ways of bettering securing the PM of the land.
An Intelligence Bureau officials tells OneIndia that there has been a sustained campaign being run by the ISI backed Khalistani forces to defame the government. The campaign has been a sustained one for long, but with the elections nearing the ISI and these Khalistani elements are in overdrive mode, the official cited above also said.
Groups such as the Sikhs for Justice whose bosses are seated in Canada continue to play a dangerous role. Punjab has seen a lot of activity of late including the security breach involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ludhiana Court blast.
Prior to these incidents, there were scores of incidents of assassinations. In addition to this Punjab has its own drug problem and Pakistain on the other hand drops off arms and ammunition in the state with the help of drones.
Political inside baseball dear Reader, should you be interested in such things. Otherwise skip down to the next interesting article.
[Rudaw] It has become clear that the Sadrist movement dominated the new Iraqi parliament's first session last week. Despite their main Shiite rivals, the Coordination Framework, attempting to block the session’s progress, the Sadrists forced the legislative body to adhere to the constitutional deadlines and vote in a speaker and two deputies during the first session. As a result, the Framework resorted to the Federal Court, claiming the session was not constitutional. The Federal Court issued an injunction on January 13, which temporarily suspended the authority of the speaker and his deputies from performing their duties until they ruled on the two cases submitted by the Coordination Framework.
The political situation is further complicated by the latest attacks on the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Taqadum Coalition and Azm Alliance in Baghdad, coupled with an attack on the house of a new parliament member for Taqadum.
Y’all confessed and reenacted events for the nice Thai police even before the trial started. Really, just think of this as the beginning of your life sentence — however much longer that might be by the end of the trial — in the hands of those who strongly dislike you for good cause, and be grateful it isn’t considerably worse.
[BenarNews] Two Ugyhur men accused of bombing a Hindu shrine in Bangkok in 2015 told BenarNews through an interpreter on Monday that they have never been permitted to contact relatives, are not allowed time in a prison yard and are sometimes fed pork despite their Moslem faith. "Pork"
Dressed in brown prison uniforms and wearing handcuffs and leg restraints, Uyghurs Adem Karadag
...the name on the Turkish passport he had when arrested. Reportedly his real name is Bilal Mohammed...
and Yusufu Mieraili spoke to a BenarNews news hound as they left a scheduling hearing in the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court following their first court appearance in two years.
"We are not allowed to make any phone calls in prison," Karadag and Mieraili told BenarNews through an interpreter following the three-hour hearing. "Our families have not heard from us or are even aware of our arrests in 2015."
The defendants said they have no books to read or paper to write on to send letters.
"Some of the meals contain pork even though we are Moslems," they said. "The hardest part is that we are not allowed to step outside of the building and do not get to see the sky."
Karadag and Mieraili have been housed at the military’s Lak Si temporary detention center since their arrests within two weeks of the Aug. 17, 2015, Erawan blast which killed 20 people and injured more than 100 at the popular tourist site. It has been called the deadliest terror attack in modern Thailand.
A military court began hearing the charges against them in 2016 before the case was moved to a Bangkok civilian criminal court in 2019.
Karadag and Mieraili, who identified themselves as Uyghurs from Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in China, pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." before both courts. They could face death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... s if convicted of charges including premeditated killing and possession of explosives.
Chuchart Kanpai, the lawyer representing Karadag, said the defense and prosecution teams agreed that testimony would begin late this year.
"The prosecution requested interviews with 424 witnesses," Chuchart told BenarNews. "The next questioning of a witness will be on Nov. 1, 2022."
Mieraili lawyer Jamroen Panonpakakorn said the defendants will seek to question only five to 10 witnesses. The court scheduled sessions for Nov. 1 and 2, Nov. 22 through 25, and Dec. 6 through 9.
DELAYS
Over the years, the trial has been beset by delays linked to interpreters. A lawyer and an NGO worker assisting the Uyghurs with their defense previously said Karadag could not speak Chinese and would prefer a Uyghur-speaking translator while Mieraili can communicate in English, but not fluently.
On Monday, the Uyghurs met an interpreter proposed by the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok and signed documents accepting the arrangement. The interpreter was selected in August 2021 but was not able to travel to Thailand until this month because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chalida Tajaroensuk, director of the People’s Empowerment Foundation, a Thai NGO, expressed concern about the decision.
"The defendant should have a basic right to choose the interpreter because it has a great impact on the case and it is a matter of life and death," Chalida told BenarNews.
"We see that the court does not have an understanding of Uyghur and Chinese politics because the court should not employ an interpreter from the Chinese government under these political circumstances. It shows that this process of hiring an interpreter is not sensible."
[An Nahar] 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... said the Shiite Duo has decided to return to Cabinet "after Amal and Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... were blamed for the deterioration of the situation in the country."Berri told an-Nahar newspaper, in remarks published Monday, that "many" have accused the Shiite Duo of contributing to the worsening of the situation, and that they were "held responsible" for the Lebanese currency collapse.
The Lebanese pound had hit a low record of 33,000 for 1 USD to rise again to 24,000 after the Shiite Duo’s statement and a circular by the central bank that allowed banks to unlimitedly buy dollar banknotes in exchange of LBP.
Berri said the decision to return to Cabinet was taken "locally" by the Duo, hinting that there were no international pressures behind their move.
Passing the 2022 state budget is a prerequisite for launching the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and media had reported a possible international pressure.
The Shiite Duo had boycotted Cabinet since October to pressure the government into dismissing lead investigator into Beirut port blast, Judge Tarek Bitar.
"Our stand against the investigator into Beirut port blast, Judge Tarek Bitar, hasn’t changed," Berri said.
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[An Nahar] Dozens of Lebanese, including families of Beirut port explosion victims, rallied Monday outside the Justice Palace in support of Judge Tarek Bitar after he was forced to suspend his work as a lead investigator into the Beirut port blast.Protesters held portraits of their loved ones who died in the earth-shattering kaboom.
They also held posters of politicians accusing them of protecting the corrupted and of neglect, as they "knew" about the dangerous ammonium nitrate stored at the port but did nothing.
Protesters rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud as they burned tires and garbage containers to block the road outside the Justice Palace.
Bitar has been forced to suspend his probe repeatedly over lawsuits filed by officials he had called in for questioning on suspicion of negligence.
The lawsuits against Bitar will inevitably delay the presentation of his findings which were previously expected by the year's end.
Rights groups and relatives of blast victims say "flagrant political interference, immunity for high-level political officials, and lack of respect for fair trial" have rendered the Beirut blast probe incapable of delivering justice.
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[An Nahar] Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi on Monday stressed that the hole that was discovered in a plane belonging to Greece’s Aegean Airlines did not happen in Beirut."There was a hole under the cockpit. It turned out that it has nothing to do with any terrorist act and is not the result of a bullet. It was caused by a collision with a moving metallic object and it affected the plane prior to its arrival in Beirut," Mawlawi said at a presser.
"I have two foreign reports that confirm that the hole did not result from a bullet and one of them says that the hole was made during the preparation of the plane and this has become certain. The issue is not related to Beirut airport nor to a security or terrorist act," the minister added.
Aegean Airlines said Saturday it had suspended its flights to and from Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ... 's capital pending an investigation into the causes of damage to the fuselage of one of its aircraft discovered after it landed in Beirut.
The damage to the external fuselage of one of its aircraft was identified by ground staff after landing on Monday in Beirut international airport, the airline said. It didn't identify the extent or type of damage and said the suspension of flights was announced the following day after informing authorities in both countries.
Reports on social media, which were picked up by Lebanese media, suggested the aircraft may have been hit by flying bullets. Lebanese officials, including the minister of Public Works and Transport, vehemently denied gunfire was the cause of the damage.
Beirut airport is in a busy residential area where celebratory gunfire is not uncommon.
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[SANA.SY] Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Fayssal Mikdad, said that the Ottoman Turkish occupation is the biggest danger in northern Syria, adding that the US is one of the most states that exploit human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... issues.Mikdad added in a press dialogue at al-Wahda Establishment for Press and Publication that the US aggression has destroyed Raqq city and it is a live witness to its brutality.
He said that the US is one of the most countries that violate human rights and exploit this file.
Mikdad added that everything related to the Committee of Discussing the Constitution is a mere Syrian affair, and its success depends on guaranteeing the non-intervention in its work and the West has no genuine intention to make the task of the Committee a success.
He hailed the honest role played by the national media during years of terrorist war on Syria.
Mikdad stressed the importance of improving the inter-Arab relations, saying "Syria is in integral part of the Arab joint work."
"We are seeking to improve and restore the Arab/Arab relations and we have now 14 Arab embassies in Damascus," Mikdad said.
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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.
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.
[LIBYAREVIEW] On Sunday, Egypt Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, and his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra, discussed the latest developments in the Libyan crisis at the Ministry’s headquarters in Cairo.
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...
...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...
...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ...
