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Today: 73 articles and 249 comments as of 15:32.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Lebanese Prime Minister announces resignation of government
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Pompeo: Arabs, Israelis are speaking with one voice on Iran
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/10/2020 07:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  One voice: "We need the hated Americans to do it..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/10/2020 12:53 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pakistan welcomes the release of Taliban prisoners approved by Loya Jirga
[KhaamaPress] Pakistain welcomes Afghan Loya Jirga’s recommendation on the release of prisoners, the Pakistain Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

"We hope that with the implementation of this step relating to the prisoners’ release, as envisaged in the U.S.-Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
Peace Agreement, the Intra-Afghan Negotiations will commence at the earliest", Pakistain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The statement also added that Pakistain has repeatedly emphasized that the Afghan leaders must seize this historic opportunity and work together constructively through Intra-Afghan Negotiations to secure a comprehensive, broad-based and inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan.
”And also blah blah blahdy blah,” the statement pontificated, at boringly predictable length.
The international community must also reinforce its support for the success of Intra-Afghan Negotiations for sustained and durable peace and stability in Afghanistan, the statement added.

Pakistain reaffirms its support for a peaceful, stable, united, democratic, sovereign and prosperous Afghanistan, at peace with itself and with its neighbors.

This comes as Pakistain is accused of supporting terrorist networks in the region.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Pakistan says:
Posted by: Frank G || 08/10/2020 2:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Portland catch and release, south asian edition.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/10/2020 3:21 Comments || Top||


U.S. plans to withdraw more than 4,000 troops from Afghanistan by end of November
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
LNA vs GNA: A guide to Libya’s Sirte-Jufra battle
[Al Ahram] Six years ago, Libya saw a division in power between two authorities in 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...
and Tobruk.

The ongoing Sirte-Jufra battle involves fighting between the two authorities, including the Libyan National Army (LNA) and the troops of the Government of National Accord (GNA).
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 08/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  after an uprising and loss of power by long-serving leader Muammar Qadaffy

An uprising? Is that what you call what Barry and Hill pulled off?
Posted by: AlanC || 08/10/2020 7:51 Comments || Top||


Egyptian ministry forms high-ranking committee to re-assess storage of hazardous shipments
[Al Ahram] The Egyptian government has decided to form a supreme committee to check all warehouses, shipments, and storage containers at all areas affiliated with airports nationwide in order to take all precautions for hazardous materials, Civil Aviation Minister Mohammed Manar Anba said on Sunday.

The committee will be presided over by the head of the ministry’s security section, Tariq Nosair, and will include representatives of all concerned bodies, the minister’s statement added.

The committee is tasked with "checking and enumerating all warehouses, shipments, and storage containers at cargo villages and storage arenas affiliated with Cairo airport and all airports nationwide, in order to take all preventative measures against hazardous materials and to release them immediately or transfer them to safe storage places away from airports and populated areas."

The minister said the committee will fully re-evaluate procedures adopted at all storage places to provide the highest standards of safety and security, in accordance with the instructions of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

He added that the move is aiming at addressing any risks before they arise and protecting all customers and workers in the civil aviation sector.

Posted by: Fred || 08/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Protip: The only reason the ammonite was 'stored' in Beruit was port authorities had seized it to shake down the ship operator. He eventually walked away and said "keep it".
There are some things you don't want to be left holding.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/10/2020 18:16 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey navy ops in eastern Med 'extremely worrying': EU
[Al Ahram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
's resumed search for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean is "extremely worrying", the EU said Sunday after Greece and Egypt set up an exclusive economic zone in the region.

"Latest naval mobilisations in eastern Mediterranean... will lead to a greater antagonism and distrust," foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, calling the development "extremely worrying"."Maritime boundaries must be defined through dialogue and negotiations, not through unilateral actions and mobilisation of naval forces," Borrell said in a statement.

The discovery of vast gas reserves in the region in recent years has sparked a prospecting scramble by Greece, Turkey and Egypt as well as Cyprus and Israel.

Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
announced Ankara's resumption of operations on Friday, accusing arch-foe Greece of failing to keep its promises.

His comments came a day after Athens and Cairo signed an agreement to set up an exclusive economic zone in the region.

On Sunday, Borrell said "disputes must be solved in accordance with international law," adding that Brussels was "committed to help solving such disputes and disagreements in this area of vital security interest".

He added: "The present course of action will not serve the interests either of the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, or of Turkey. We have to work together for the security in the Mediterranean."

The deal between Greece and Egypt aimed to establish maritime boundaries between the two countries and appeared to be a direct response to a similar accord reached last November between Turkey and the UN-recognised government in Libya.

The agreement considerably enlarged Turkey's maritime territory and drew accusations from several countries, led by Greece, that Ankara was trying to assert its dominance in the region.


Posted by: Fred || 08/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraq
One more meeting to go until joint ISF-Peshmerga attacks on ISIS: military spox
[Rudaw] An Iraqi Security Forces (ISF)-Peshmerga meeting to be held at the end of August will see the launch of "joint anti-ISIS [Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
] attacks", a Baghdad military spokesperson has said.

Maj. Gen. Tahsin Khafaji, spokesperson for Iraq’s Joint Operation Command told Rudaw on Sunday that the next meeting between the two forces, whose location has yet to be decided, will see as yet unsettled agreements resolved.

"A very high-level meeting was held between the Joint Operations Command and the [Kurdistan Regional Government] Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs at the end of July, where several points were agreed upon while some other points remain up for discussion," Khafaji said. "There will soon be joint operations by Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga against ISIS [ISIS] in the disputed territories."

The Peshmerga ministry "requested some time" to review the agreed points with the Iraqi defense ministry, Khafaji said, the meeting between the two sides set for the end of this month.

At the height of its power between 2014 and 2016, ISIS controlled an area roughly the size of Great Britannia, spread across both Iraq and Syria.

Although Baghdad announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq in December 2017, remnants of the group have returned to their earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, kidnapping and executing suspected informants, and extorting money from vulnerable rural populations, particularly in territory contested by Erbil and Baghdad.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
Kurdish counter-terrorism units, who operate outside the control of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, and the Iraqi defense ministry launched the fourth stage of an operation against ISIS bully boyz last month in Diyala province.

Iraq's defense ministry and the KRG Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs agreed last month to establish three joint coordination rooms with the aim of eliminating ISIS cells active in Diyala, Kirkuk and Nineveh provinces, parts of which are disputed territory.

Iraqi Army-Peshmerga coordination between the two forces already took place earlier this month on a stretch of road between Kifri in Diyala and Tuz Khurmatu in Salahaddin.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  "We really mean it now" a Baghdad military spokesperson has said.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/10/2020 8:13 Comments || Top||

#2  "And they better remember to bring the guacamole this time!"
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/10/2020 18:11 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese Prime Minister announces resignation of government
[Jpost] "Today we follow the will of the people in their demand to hold accountable those responsible for the disaster that has been in hiding for seven years, and their desire for real change."

Lebanon's prime minister announced his government's resignation on Monday, saying a huge explosion that tore through Beirut and caused public outrage was the result of endemic corruption.

While the move by Prime Minister Hassan Diab attempted to respond to popular anger about the Aug. 4 blast, many Lebanese calling for a complete overhaul of the political establishment will not be placated.

The detonation at a port warehouse of what authorities said was more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate killed at least 163 people, injured more than 6,000 and destroyed swathes of the Mediterranean capital, compounding months of political and economic meltdown.

The resignation plunged Lebanese politics deeper into turmoil and may further hamper already-stalled talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a financial rescue plan.

The talks, launched in May, were put on hold due to inaction on reforms and a row between the government, banks and politicians over the scale of vast financial losses.

President Michel Aoun asked Diab's government - formed in January with support from the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group and its allies - to stay as a caretaker until a new cabinet is formed.
Playing hot potato — nobody actually wants the job, and who can blame them?
Ahead of Diab's announcement, demonstrations broke out for a third day in central Beirut, with some protesters hurling rocks at security forces guarding an entrance leading to parliament, who responded with tear gas.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/10/2020 14:15 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More honorable than those here.
Posted by: gorb || 08/10/2020 15:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Set at today’s headline.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/10/2020 16:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Who'd want to be PM of a human anthill like Lebanon in the first place? I wish him luck in his new life.
Posted by: jpal || 08/10/2020 18:14 Comments || Top||


World donors demand change before money to rebuild Beirut
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  They want the money laundering bank accounts in their capitals?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/10/2020 6:22 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ ...All grants (not disappearing in someone's pocket) going to pay their country's companies.
Posted by: magpie || 08/10/2020 12:45 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
37[untagged]
9Antifa/BLM
4Sublime Porte
3Hezbollah
3Islamic State
3Muslim Brotherhood
2Govt of Pakistan
2Taliban
2Arab Spring
2Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Iran
1Moslem Colonists
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Hamas
1Fulani Herdsmen (Boko Haram)
1Houthis

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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2020-08-10
  Lebanese Prime Minister announces resignation of government
Sun 2020-08-09
  Lebanese Army evacuates protestors from government buildings
Sat 2020-08-08
  Portland mayor unleashes police on violent demonstrations
Fri 2020-08-07
  Pakistain Borrows $1 Billion from Chinese Peter To Pay Back $1 Billion Saudi Paul
Thu 2020-08-06
  DOJ Atty reveals 300 domestic terrorists investigations have been opened since May 28th
Wed 2020-08-05
  Death toll from Beirut blast reaches 100 but is expected to rise even further
Tue 2020-08-04
  Beruit goes BOOM!
Mon 2020-08-03
  Israel army says it has foiled a terror attack at the border with Syria
Sun 2020-08-02
  Turkish brig.-gen. executed for revealing Qatari funding of jihadists
Sat 2020-08-01
  Turkey Sends Fighter Jets to Azerbaijan After Threat to Bomb a Nuclear Power Plant
Fri 2020-07-31
  Indonesian Court Convicts, Sentences Top 2 Jemaah Islamiyah Militants
Thu 2020-07-30
  ISIS claims responsibility for killing of top Iraqi commander
Wed 2020-07-29
  Iran launched several ballistic missiles from Iran to the Southern Arabian Gulf
Tue 2020-07-28
  Germany arrests ISIS woman who abused Yezidi woman in Syria
Mon 2020-07-27
  Islamic extremists in Nigeria execute 5 men as warning against converting to Christianity


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