#1
If the world experiences a major unplanned oil production outage in any oil producing area in the next 60 days or so, we have no replacement!
AMERICAN FRACKERS: "Hold my beer."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/27/2019 4:19 Comments ||
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#2
Crude Oil Production in Libya increased to 1188 BBL/D/1K in November from 1166 BBL/D/1K in October of 2019. Crude Oil Production in Libya averaged 1337.98 BBL/D/1K from 1973 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 2370 BBL/D/1K in October of 1973 and a record low of 7 BBL/D/1K in August of 2011. source: Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
[American Military News] Since taking office, President Donald Trump has been meeting with enlisted troops to get a better understanding of how they feel the war in Afghanistan has been progressing.
Trump did not want to meet with higher ranking officers, instead choosing to meet with enlisted troops to get a more candid assessment of the America's longest-running war, Business Insider reported.
"I want to sit down with some enlisted guys that have been there," Trump reportedly told advisers, according to Peter Bergen, author of "Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos."
"I don’t want any generals in here. I don’t want any officers," he added.
Enlisted members of the military may have been seen as better able to critique the war effort as their roles tend to place them closer to combat and the consequences of a command. Enlisted members are also less concerned with the day-to-day politics that might affect higher ranking officers.
Trump reportedly compared the opinions of senior military officers to those of a restaurant consultant. Rather than taking the advice of the consultant, who would suggest expanding a kitchen for renovations, Trump argued it would be more prudent and cost effective to ask the advice of the waiters who see the day to day operations and can identify the most basic problems in a restaurant's functions.
One of the first groups Trump reportedly met with were enlisted Navy SEALs who criticized the war and said the war in Afghanistan is "unwinnable."
"NATO's a joke. Nobody knows what they're doing," the SEALs reportedly told Trump. "We don't fight to win. The morale is terrible. It's totally corrupt."
On another occasion on July 18, 2017, Trump held a White House meeting with four more Army and Air Force senior enlisted service members.
"I've heard plenty of ideas from a lot of people, but I want to hear it from the people on the ground," Trump said at a press conference for the July 2017 meeting.
Following that meeting, Trump reportedly gathered senior military officials to the White House situation room, where he then warned that the enlisted members he spoke with know "a lot more than you generals," and said that "we're losing" the war in Afghanistan.
Many senior military officials expressed similar misgivings about the war when speaking candidly with U.S. government agency Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in an effort to identify failures in Afghanistan. Those candid assessments of those officers, coupled with their more positive public views of the war effort, formed the basis of the ‘Afghanistan Papers;' which have identified dishonest official views and reports of the war in Afghanistan.
The Trump administration has since gone back and forth on how to bring about an end to the 18-year war. Trump had engaged in peace talks with the Taliban, but called off the negotiations after deadly Taliban attacks throughout the process. Talks briefly resumed in December but were again paused over renewed attacks.
Recent reports have also alleged a Trump decision for the withdrawal of up to 4,000 U.S. troops in the coming weeks and months, though no Trump administration officials have publicly confirmed the reporting.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2019 13:21 ||
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#1
The WaPo will criticize this somehow, within 2412 6 hours.
#3
Trump did not want to meet with higher ranking officers, instead choosing to meet with enlisted troops to get a more candid assessment of the America's longest-running war, Business Insider reported.
#8
Navy SEALs Told Trump: ‘Nobody Knows What They’re Doing’ in Afghanistan
Playing CIA whak-a-mole just like they have been doing for the past 18 years, and many years in Iraq before that. The US military is not in charge of that conflict, I can assure you.
[Rudaw] Iraqi President Barham Salih submitted his resignation letter to parliament in the face of pressure from the Bina coalition to name Basra’s current governor as the next Prime Minister of Iraq.
The pro-Iran Bina coalition claims to be the largest bloc in Iraqi parliament. According to the Iraqi constitution, the largest bloc in parliament has the constitutional prerogative to select Iraq’s new prime minister.
The coalition, headed by Hadi al-Ameri and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, nominated Basra governor Asaad al-Aidani. They sent a letter to President Salih requesting that he assign al-Aidani to lead Iraq’s new cabinet.
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Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/27/2019 00:12 ||
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[Rudaw] Internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugee families in Iraq will benefit from 5.6 million dollars in aid donated by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The donation was announced Thursday in a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) press release.
UNHCR announced that the Dutch government has donated 5.6 million dollars to help refugee and IDP families in Iraq as part of the United Nations' multi-agency PROSPECTS Partnership, which aims to “develop a new paradigm in responding to forced displacement crises.”
The UNHCR press release further explained that the PROSPECTS partnership, initiated and financially supported by the Netherlands government, is “aimed at strengthened cooperation of humanitarian and development partners, in order to achieve durable solutions for the 1.4 million displaced Iraqis and the 286,000 refugees on Iraqi soil."
The donation will be used to provide legal assistance and civil documentation for internally displace families in Iraq, provide psychological support for child survivors of violence, exploitation and abuse, and increase access to education for refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
“The generous contribution from the Kingdom of the Netherlands will ensure the provision of legal assistance and civil documentation for IDPs across Iraq, along with the provision of specialized individual and group-based psychosocial support for children,” the press release reads. “The donation will contribute to improve the access to formal primary and secondary education for Syrian refugee children in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”
Comments by H.E. Mr. Eric Strating, the Dutch Ambassador to Iraq, emphasized the importance of “urgent recovery and strengthened resilience” for those displaced by conflict.
He is quoted in the press release as saying, “If we truly want to assist Iraq in achieving durable stability, we cannot leave anyone behind. Assistance in the field of civil documentation, access to education, but also psychosocial support, is part of the most basic needs for people who are trying to rebuild their lives.”
While the majority of Iraq’s IDPs have returned home, there are more than 1.4 million internal displaced persons across Iraq currently, according to the International Organization for Immigration. There are approximately 286,000 refugees in Iraq, mostly settled in Kurdistan Region.
At the height of ISIS violence, some six million Iraqis were displaced across the country. Displacement was particularly pronounced in the north and west of the country, including the provinces of Anbar, Kirkuk and Saladin.
Many refugees have also entered the Kurdistan Region and other parts of Iraq due to the ongoing civil war in Syria and the more recent Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria which caused many Syrian Kurds to flee their homes.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/27/2019 00:02 ||
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#1
Netherlands to donate $5.6 million for keepingdisplaced and refugee people in Iraq:
... Netanyahu received 41,792, which was 72.5% of the vote and Sa'ar 15,885 votes, which was 27.5%. Cause not "public servants" going to decide who will be Israel's PM
[Jpost] ‘Decision linked to ceasefire deal with Israel, fatigue.’
The organizers of the "Great March of Return," the weekly demonstrations near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, decided on Thursday to suspend the protests until the end of March 2020.
The decision, which goes into effect January 3, is seen by some Palestinians as the beginning of the end of the protests, first launched in March 2018 by several Palestinian factions, including Hamas.
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[Rudaw] Arab tribal leaders in eastern Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor province have called on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to release women and children in camps under their control.
“We, the sheikhs and prominent individuals signatories of the al-Uqaydat tribe, call on the SDF forces command, in the strongest terms, to release all women and children held in camps,” read a December 20 document reported by local news outlet Deir Ezzor 24.
The al-Uqdaydat tribe is composed of various clans and is the largest and most influential tribe in the eastern province.
The tribal leaders called for the release of the women and children due to “the difficult circumstances” faced in the camps, and described the women as representing “the honor and dignity of Arab tribes.” The statement also called for the release of imprisoned tribal members, and humanitarian and agricultural support to locals.
Tens of thousands of women and children linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) are held in camps across northern Syria, including the notorious al-Hol. The camp is now home to 69,000 people, many of whom fled the last ISIS holdout of Baghouz in Deir ez-Zor when it was liberated by the SDF in March 2019.
95% of its residents are women and children.
The camps population has swelled since the defeat at Baghouz and is under-equipped and underfunded. In October of 2019, Human Rights Watch reported dire conditions in the camps. Close to 340 children have died due to malnutrition and diarrhea, according to International Rescue Committee.
At least 10,000 of al-Hol’s residents are foreign nationals. Their repatriation from Syria and Iraq has sparked intense debate in Europe and beyond, particularly in cases involving children.
Smugglers are reportedly charging up to $15,000 to smuggle women and children out of al-Hol, which has seen increasing violence since the Turkish incursion in Northern Syria began in October.
Guards have been attacked and women accused of not adhering to ISIS ideology have been beaten and murdered.
European countries, fearful their radicalized citizens could pose a security risk if they are permitted to return, have in many cases refused to repatriate the women and children in the camps. However, France, Belgium, Germany and Denmark are some of the several countries who have taken back children born to ISIS-affiliated parents.
The tribal demand is nothing new, and Deir ez-Zor tribes and locals have been working on having their family members back for sometime now. In early December, 200-ISIS linked women and children were to be moved out of al-Hol following a local Deir ez-Zor initiative.
In May of 2019, more than three weeks of protests were led by the local Arab population in Deir ez-Zor, just months after the defeat of ISIS. Besides improved services and better living conditions, locals also demanded the release of tribal members held in SDF-detention centers for alleged links to ISIS, as well as women and children linked to the terror group.
The locals have many things to be upset about. ISIS activities in the area are on the rise, especially in Deir Ez-Zor countryside.
Locals have demanded funding for development projects from oil revenue held by the SDF. Tribal leaders are also facing pressure due to local opposition to the re-entry of Syrian regime forces into the area, following a deal with the SDF in light of the Turkish invasion.
On December 6, Ali Mamlouk, a top Syrian security chief, visited Qamishli city in Northern Syria, to tell tribal leaders to stop supporting the SDF.
[Al Masdar] Syria is considering filing an international suit against the American government over its actions in the eastern part of the country, Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said in an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV.
“Syria is looking into the possibility of filing an international lawsuit against the United States, due to the fact that they steal Syrian oil”, she said.
Posted by: 3dc ||
12/27/2019 00:47 ||
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[SyriaHR] The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the Turkish-backed factions have opened centers to register the names of people who desire to go and fight in Libya.
Oh? How very interesting — we wondered where the next hot spot would be for the really kewl jihad tourists...
Sources informed SOHR that four centers have been opened in Afrin north of Aleppo, within headquarters of Turkish-backed factions.
One of these centered has been opened in the former headquarters of Asayish, under supervision of “Al-Hamzat Division”, another one in the former headquarter of the Local Administration, under “al-Jabha al-Shamiyyah” supervision. The third has been opened by “al-Mu’tasim Brigade” in Qibariyah village, and the last was in Al-Mahmoudiyah neighborhood under supervision of “Al-Shamel Brigade”.
The Syrian Observatory has monitored tens of people heading to these centers to join battles in Libya under Turkey’s protection.
Sources confirmed that the Turkish-backed factions attract youth to join war in Libya offering temptations and rewarding salaries range between 1800 and 2000 US dollars for a single fighter per month. In addition to that offering additional services to be guaranteed by the host country.
Other sources confirmed that two fighters were killed in Libya days ago, they are of those who had displaced from Damascus and joined the Turkish-backed factions.
#3
I think Iran might have the most naval combat experience of the three? The Czar's navy got in a big battle against japan a century ago but I can't really think of anything more recent. I'm sure I must be missing something.
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.
[American Military News] Since taking office, President Donald Trump has been meeting with enlisted troops to get a better understanding of how they feel the war in Afghanistan has been progressing.
[Rudaw] Internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugee families in Iraq will benefit from 5.6 million dollars in aid donated by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The donation was announced Thursday in a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) press release.
