Kabul police chief says Afghan authorities have executed five men convicted of armed robbery and gang rape in a case that galvanized the nation this summer actual outrage in a society of outrageous action?
In August, eight men, some dressed in police uniforms, stopped an Afghan family's car outside Kabul and sexually assaulted four of the women in the family, including one who was pregnant. Three of the suspects remain at large. find em and string em up
The five were convicted and sentenced to death last month. A sixth man who was executed on Wednesday was sentenced in a separate, unrelated murder case.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2014 07:56 ||
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[Tolo News] According to a statement issued Sunday by the Attorney General, the Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... administration's travel ban on former Kabul-based New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... correspondent Matthew Rosenberg has been reversed.
President Asharf Ghani on Sunday had a telephone conversation with a senior representative of the New York Times, who he reportedly told that Rosenberg would be allowed to return to Afghanistan.
The decision comes less than two months after the veteran journalist was expelled from the country, in what was Kabul's first removal of a foreign correspondent since the fall of the Taliban. At the time, the country was in the midst of an intransigent standoff between then candidates Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University. 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. .. and Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , and the Afghan government claimed Rosenberg wrote a story that threatened Afghanistan's national interests.
The article in question entailed comments from unnamed sources inside the government that discussed security officials considering the formation of an interim government to circumvent the stalemate between the presidential candidates. The Karzai government demanded Rosenberg reveal his sources, but he refused to do so. The Supreme Court issued the travel ban.
Supporting open media in Afghanistan, civil society group Nai has welcomed the decision to reverse the order. "When the supreme court placed the travel ban, it was an urgent decision, they didn't think about the results of that action, now the people who were involved in the travel ban of Matthew Rosenberg should be asked why they did took such action without enough research?" said Mujeeb Khelwatgar, the head of Nai.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Woolworths of South Africa said it may take the BDS lobby to court for threatening its staff and customers.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has held more than 40 protests at Woolworths stores throughout the country in recent weeks.
"Our employees, of all faiths and cultures, are telling us that they are feeling increasingly threatened by the protests," front man Babs Dlamini told the South African daily The Times on Sunday. "What's more, the families of our employees have reported being abused and sworn at by BDS.
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#2
Woolworths of South Africa - sounds kinda classy, eh? Maybe not exactly Harrods of London, but still your go-to place for no-brand generic drugs and ratchet knives.
[REUTERS] Yemen's president appointed a new prime minister on Tuesday as part of a deal with Shi'ite Moslem fighters who control the capital to start leaving the city, but they rejected the nomination, suggesting no end to the deadlock is in sight.
Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... fighters seized Sanaa with little resistance last month after overrunning an army brigade affiliated to the rival but moderate Islamist Islah party, making them effectively the power brokers in the country.
The Houthis' rejection of the appointment adds fresh uncertainty to weeks of political volatility following the movement's seizure of the capital of 2 million people.
The group, which has ties to Iran, has resisted demands to quit the capital, saying that an agreement they signed with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to make them a part of the government gives them the right to stay until a new prime minister has been named.
Hadi named one of his top associates to the post on Tuesday, his office director Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, state news agency Saba said.
But the Houthis, officially known as Ansarullah, rejected the appointment.
Abdelmalik al-Ejri, a member of the Ansarullah political bureau, said Hadi had suggested bin Mubarak as prime minister after a committee of advisers representing all major political parties failed to agree on a candidate among five names the president had suggested.
"President Hadi bears the responsibility of this decision," Ejri told Rooters.
The Houthis control government bodies and last week ordered the Finance Ministry to suspend all payments except salaries to state employees.
Bin Mubarak, who holds a doctorate in business administration from Baghdad University, was born in 1968 in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden. He previously served as a consultant for international projects in Yemen before becoming director of the presidential office.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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[ABNA.IR] The lower house of Britannia's parliament plans to hold a vote on a motion about the recognition of Paleostine as a sovereign state.
During the session, which is scheduled to be held on October 13, British politicians will be asked whether they believe the government should recognize the state of Paleostine.
"It's against the government position, but it's not an attack on them as such, we just feel that now's the time [to] shout out loud that this should be done," said Grahame Morris, a politician sponsoring the debate.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Not unexpected, after all, Brits are the ones who invented the "Palestinian Nation".
#2
Another attack on Israel and the Jews by those oh so proper Brits.
I disagree with Dershowitz on most everything, except his equating of anti-Israel/Zionism as an anti-semitic motives. When the folks that hate Israel for its minor failings and let the rest of the world get a free pass...............
#3
With regard to the good professor, Mr. Dershowitz, esq: there is plenty of research over the decades showing that expressed feelings of anti-Zionism either quickly lead to expressions of equally strong antisemitism or are used as a fig leaf for the latter.
#4
Yup. I suppose it's possible for a person to be "anti-Zionist" without being anti-Semitic and a Jew-hater.
I've never met one, however...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2014 12:11 Comments ||
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#5
I also suppose it's possible for Bambi to grow a brain and a sense of honor, too, Steve, but I've never seen any evidence of it (nor has anyone I know).
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/08/2014 12:37 Comments ||
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SEOUL -- The U.N.'s food aid to North Korea has been on the rise in recent months, but its program remains seriously underfunded, a news report said Wednesday.
The World Food Program (WFP) provided North Korea with around 2,300 tons of food assistance last month, only half of its target amount, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA) based in Washington D.C. It marks a 10-percent increase from 2,075 tons delivered to the communist nation in August.
Don't send them so much as a single choco pie. Make the North provide for its own people or suffer the consequences. The only thing we should be sending them is piano wire -- and that we can deliver in those balloons from the DMZ...
The number of North Korean kids and pregnant women who received the aid also jumped from about 700,000 to more than 913,000, it added.
The WFP's assistance for the North grew for the third consecutive month since July, but it still suffers a lack of funding, Silke Buhr, the agency's regional public information officer for Asia, told the RFA. The WFP aimed to offer "nutritional assistance" to 1.8 million North Koreans in need last month, he added.
In 2013, the organization launched a two-year program to help 2.4 million people there. However, it has been forced to scale down the project due to low funding, which is apparently attributable to donor fatigue amid the communist nation's continued development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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A senior North Korean official on Saturday said leader Pudgy Kim Jong-un has "no health problems."
There has been global speculation about Kim's health because the corpulent obese leader has not been seen in public since the beginning of September, and he was last seen walking with a pronounced painful limp.
But Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said he asked Kim Yang-gon, the head of the United Front Department, during a surprise visit to the South on Saturday whether Fat Boy Kim Jong-un is unwell, and the official told him no.
"Something in his tone told me that Suet Face Kim Jong-un has no serious problems with his health," Ryoo told reporters Sunday.
Ignore the boils, he said...
Ryoo said, "It seems true that Suet Face Kim Jong-un has some problem with his health, as footage showed him walking with a limp a month or two ago, but rumors that he was seriously sick and there was a consequent popular unrest in North Korea aren't true."
If we had a CIA worth anything at all these rumors would be everywhere and there would be shooting in the streets of Pyongyang...
"We believe it was really a warning sign that he has to pay attention to his health," he added.
There have been news reports at home and abroad that American, French, German and Russian doctors have visited the North to treat him, together with speculation that he is suffering from an ankle injury, gout, or a cardiovascular disease, and that there has been a coup in the wake of internal power struggles.
Pray for sepsis...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
"E's just restin'"
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/08/2014 7:21 Comments ||
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#2
An extra 100 pounds of and high heels will do that to you.
[Xinhua] Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has expressed "frustration and anger" at "preachers of hate " who come to Australia inciting hostility, saying he will move to ban them.
Abbott said on Sydney radio Wednesday that he wanted to set up a "red card" system to stop these "hate preachers" getting visas to come to Australia.
But he said it was unlikely that the system would be in place in time to stop an upcoming lecture being promoted by the radical Islamic political party, Hizbut Tahrir
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
His butt, the rear?
Maybe I'm pronouncing that wrong.
[IsraelTimes] Turkey secured the release of 180 Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... -affiliated prisoners last month, including two British jihadists, in order to free 49 Turkish consulate employees taken captive in Iraq, The Times of London reported Monday.
The report contradicts a September report by Turkish media that originally claimed that the government had only secured the release of 50 Islamic State affiliates held by Liwa al-Tawhid, an offshoot of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... . According to The Times of London, the deal may have included IS fighters held in Turkish hospitals and prisons, and others detained by Syrian rebels.
A British official confirmed that reports detailing the release of the UK jihadists, 26-year-old Hisham Folkard and 18-year-old Shabazz SLearned Elders of Islamn, were "credible," the BBC reported.
It is unclear whether London and Ankara had communicated with each other over the alleged prisoner swap.
British media described SLearned Elders of Islamn as an "A-level" student, who had gained acceptance into a distinguished university. He had allegedly slipped into Syria when he abandoned his family while vacationing in Turkey.
According to the Daily Mail, SLearned Elders of Islamn attended the Moslem Education Center in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, a town in southeast England. The Islamic center was also frequented by one of the men involved in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, a jihadist plan foiled by British security services that was designed to detonate liquid explosives on a number of aircraft traveling between the UK, the US and Canada.
Folkard's father, who was described as a "devout Catholic," told the London newspaper that he had cut off contact with his son after his mother had allowed him to study Islam in Yemen.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... did not confirm reports that Ankara had negotiated the release of Islamic State-affiliated prisoners last month. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... he noted that "diplomatic bargaining" had occurred between his government and an unspecified group.
"Whether a swap has taken place or not, our 49 citizens returned to Turkey," Erdogan said in a speech that followed the release of the consulate employees. "Even if this swap took place, as the president, I always look after my 49 citizens. Nothing can be of more value than my citizens."
If the allegations are true, however, Turkey could possibly be in violation of UN Resolution 2170, which prevents member states from negotiating with the Islamic State or providing it with "political concessions" to secure the release of hostages.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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Long piece at Wired. Very interesting given the multiple uses that small surface 'drones' (what else do you call them in the vernacular) might have in force protection, search and rescue, supply, special forces missions and so on.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
So, they've done away with their small surface craft (FFG's, etc) and are trying out robotic replacements.
I keep thinking that the right sort of jamming, along with some creative hacking (none of that going on in Russia or China) could turn this into the cluster to end all clusters. Literally.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/08/2014 7:27 Comments ||
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#3
How hard would it be to develop little autonomous boats to attack ships?
[Pak Daily Times] A scuffle broke out at the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
They claimed it was a conspiracy to tarnish PTI's public image.
sit-in camp after their activists entered a brawl with each other during distribution of Eid-related items among them on Sunday. One activist was also injured in the clash and fainted after they exchanged fists, kicks and batons. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... his condition was termed out of danger. The activity to distribute Eid-related items, clothing in particular, among the participants was stopped shortly after the chaos erupted. No volunteers and security was deployed at the time of incident that provoked the rumpus. It is reported that some PTI activists wanted to get Eid items first, thus leading to provocation of fight. The sit-in management asked the fighting workers to move back to their makeshift settlements, adding items would be distributed among them in their respective shelters. Some PTI activists also misbehaved with the media persons during the incident. Speaking to media some PTI of dharna said some unknown elements, branding them as 'Gullu Butts' entered their camp and deliberately caused uproar. They claimed it was a conspiracy to tarnish PTI's public image.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) took back a legal notice served on Pakistain People's Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Baby Bhutto Zardari ...Pak dynastic politician, son of Benazir Bhutto and grandon of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As far as is known, Bilawal has no particular talents other than being pretty and being able to memorize political slogans, but he had the good luck to be born into the right family and he hasn't been assassinated yet... for his comments against PAT chief Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... , just a few hours after it was served.
Qadri had served a Rs 1 billion legal notice on the PPP chief "for abusive comments on Sunday". The notice was served by PAT's lawyer Ishtiaq Chaudhry on behalf of Tahirul Qadri. It asked Bilawal to either apologise or pay Rs 1 billion within 15 days. On Saturday, while criticising Qadri, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had called him a cartoon and said that the holy man speaks one thing one day and something completely opposite the next. The decision of withdrawing the legal notice was taken by Qadri, saying that Bilawal Bhutto was like his children. He said that the notice was issued by his lawyer without taking his consent.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain says that unfortunately all its efforts to secure peace and tranquillity on the Line of Control and the Work Boundary have elicited no cooperation from the Indian side.
"We call upon Indian government to immediately announce a ceasefire and help us preserve tranquillity," Adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz said in a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
"UNMOGIP must also be enabled to play its due role in monitoring ceasefire to secure peace and tranquillity on the Line of Control and Working Boundary," Aziz remarked.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like neither side is interested in de-escalation, i.e. not shooting back at the other side, just yet.
Of all the current three, Globalist-n-aligned desired future OWG Co-Superpowers Russia, China, + Iran, only CHINA has yet to use its military power to PCorrectly but forcibly expand its sphere of influence vee neighboring sovereign countries [ read, overseas US Allies andor pro-US, West Neutrals].
As China continues to find itself surrounded by more + more US Milbases, as PAK is China's BFF IMO we should expect INDO-PAK border clashes like this to increase both in ferocity + levels of casualties.
IMO Xi Jinping's instructions to the PLA to remain combat-ready, to obey CCP directives, + to be prep to fight limited regional wars, is really about China using the PLA to wage OUT-OF-THEATER, MULTI-FRONT MIL CONFLICTS [Limited Conventional-Tactical Nuclear War(s)?]IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE ITS DESIRED STRATEGIC ACCESS, TO INCLUDE AGZ SOVEREIGN "NEUTRAL" COUNTRIES NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED OR INTERESTED IN THE US-CHINA ANDOR VARIOUS EAST ASIAN TERRITORIAL DISPUTES.
Its the Year 1939 or 1940, + XI/CHINA = NAZI GERMANY + WEHRMACHT = PLA HAS BEEN ORDERED TO PREPARE DE FACTO PLANS TO ATTACK ENEMY FRANCE + POWERFUL MAGINOT LINE VIA NEUTRAL BELGIUM, HOLLAND, + ARDENNES.
[Haaretz] The new United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... envoy to Syria is calling for an urgent international response to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group's assault on a Kurdish town by the Turkish border, saying the global community can't sustain another city falling to the myrmidon group.
Staffan de Mistura issued the demand for "concrete action," after Turkey's president declared that Kobani is on the brink of being captured.
De Mistura's statement says: "The world, all of us, will regret deeply if ISIS is able to take over a city which has defended itself with courage but is close to not being able to do so. We need to act now."
The attack has forced more than 200,000 people to flee, one of the largest single exoduses of the three-year Syrian conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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[PJ Media] Psaki noted that the coalition is "going after" a number of ISIS targets but did not specify whether the airstrikes have actually hit or destroyed any of them. Ah, the Klingons are not sharing BDA with Foggy Bottom ?
At that point, Psaki says "Let me just tick through these and then we can go to your next question. Some of the, uh, successes we have seen on the ground by the, uh, Iraqi security forces." ...next question. An easier question please.
Psaki flips through a few papers on the podium. Pauses. "Sorry. Um. I'll find these. I wanted to highlight them." Um....fok, I'm busted! (wonder if I can just go take a pee)
Lee asked, laughing, "Does that mean that there aren't any?"
"It does not mean that at all," Psaki responded, pledging to find that list of Iraqi successes and get them to Lee at the end of the presser. But, but, but we're really not focused on outcomes and results, only optics. Have you not been watching the gun cam Full Motion Video (FMV) Matt ?
#7
...maybe she could, but with Dear Leader flip flopping like a cod in the bottom of the boat, you don't know what will be in today and out tomorrow. Dude, that was so two years ago.
[Xinhua] Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi told his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu that Iraq rejects any presence of foreign troops on its territories, stressing that Iraq's illusory sovereignty must be respected despite international action against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) Lion of Islam group in the country, the Iraqi government said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi expressed his rejection to the presence of any foreign forces on Iraq's soil, and that all countries need to respect Iraq's illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity," the statement quoted Abadi as saying when he received a phone call from the Turkish PM on Monday.
Abadi's comments came five days after the Turkish parliament approved a motion that gives the government new powers to launch military incursions into Syria and Iraq and to allow foreign forces to use its territory for possible operations against the IS group.
For his part, Davutoglu asserted his country's respect to Iraq' s illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity, saying that the Turkish troops "will have defensive duty, not offensive," the statement said.
"Turkey did not and will not take any military action without the approval of the Iraqi government, as it respects Iraq's illusory sovereignty," Davutoglu told Abadi, according to the statement.
Davutoglu also told Abadi that he is willing to pay a visit to Iraq soon to discuss bilateral relations with the Iraqi leaders, the statement said, adding that the two leaders tackled the cooperation of their countries in fighting against terrorism.
Earlier this month, Turkey's stance was to refrain from becoming part of a group of countries that have pledged support to the central government in Baghdad in its fight against the IS. It also refused to sign a communique that supports a U.S.-led international campaign against the Lion of Islam group.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Death wish? Or good understanding of DC psychology?
Secretary of State John Kerry will take part in a conference on rebuilding Gaza, devastated by a 50-day war with Israel earlier this year, a US official said Monday.
Kerry "will be attending the conference" to be held in Cairo on October 12, State Department spokeswoman and fool Jen Psaki told reporters.
He'll wreck it...
The Palestinian government on Thursday unveiled a 76-page reconstruction plan for Gaza, calling for $4 billion to rebuild the war-battered territory, with the largest amount going to build housing for some 100,000 left homeless. The report said $4 billion (3.2 billion euros) would be needed for the "direct costs" of rebuilding the besieged coastal territory. It would include $1.9 billion for public and private infrastructure repairs, and $1.2 billion for "reactivating economic productivity."
The priority will be to remove rubble and unexploded shells, while also repairing Gaza's power station and improving access to water, health care and education.
Rebuilding the tunnels and resupplying with missiles will be the higher, unstated priority...
Last month, the US unveiled an additional $71 million in emergency aid to Gaza, highlighting that "more than 580,000 people are still sheltering in United Nations facilities."
It brought the US total funding since the start of the war to more than $118 million.
"Basic necessities like food, clean water, and fuel remain in short supply throughout the territory," the State Department warned in a September statement.
Next time don't start a war...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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For those who deny the existence of "moderate Muslims"
On the other hand, there is a great man, Ayatollah Hossein Kazamani Boroujerdi, about whom I have written many times. The son of a famous ayatollah, Boroujerdi attracted a mass following when he advocated freedom of religion (and non-religion) and called for the traditional Shi'ite separation of mosque and state (FOOTNOTE: for those who deny the existence of "moderate Muslims," his example suggests you should do more study and think more deeply). When the regime arrested him several years ago, his followers blocked the roads taken by the security forces in a desperate attempt to save the ayatollah.
Boroujerdi has been treated atrociously in Evin, and his family and supporters have been warning for many months that his health was failing. Now they are telling us that he has been transferred to a cell that is typically used for prisoners about to be executed.
I can well imagine the frustration of the hollow men atop the Iranian regime. They've had Boroujerdi arrested and tortured, they keep hoping that he'll finally die. But he won’t -- his will to live is extraordinary. And unlike Jahanbegloo, he's remained defiant, and has even smuggled letters and, I am told, the manuscript of a devastating critique of the Islamic Republic, to the outside world.
I don't think the Rouhani/Khamenei regime, which has killed substantially more Iranians than Ahmadinejad in his prime, is going to execute Boroujerdi, any more than I think they will take any formal action against the arrested Green leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. I think the tyrants fear these men, who have inspired millions of Iranians to reject the regime and plan for its removal.
[Khomeinists break] decisively with traditional Shi‘a doctrine, which held that the pious should defer to earthly rulers on matters of state.
... they have sought to radically reengineer the Persian soul—with its love of wine and erotic poetry—by regulating every sphere of Iranian life. The mullahs thus closely resemble the totalitarians of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.
[Ynet] Concerns Syria hasn't been fully open about chemical weapons program increase after Assad regime declares three research facilities and one for production.
Syria has declared four chemical weapons facilities it hadn't mentioned before, a special representative of the UN secretary-general told the Security Council on Tuesday. The news heightened concerns that the Syrian government hasn't been fully open about its chemical weapons program.
Diplomats said Sigrid Kaag told them during closed consultations that three of the facilities are for research and development and one is for production, and that no new chemical agents have been associated with the four sites.
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, tweeted: "Must keep pressure on regime so it doesn't hide CW capability."
A joint mission between the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was tasked last year with eliminating Syria's chemical weapons program after the Security Council found rare agreement on Syria. The deal was reached under threat of US Arclight airstrikes after images of civilian victims laid out after an attack on a Damascus suburb shocked the world. Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's government denied involvement and blamed rebel groups.
The joint UN-OPCW mission has said all 1,300 tons of declared chemical weapons have been removed, and attention now turns to destroying Syria's chemical weapon facilities.
Concerns remain that Syria has not made a full declaration of its chemical weapons. The United States has said it is worried that the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, which has seized large parts of Syria, and other terrorist groups could get hold of chemical weapons if Syria is hiding any stockpiles.
The OPCW has said the dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons facilities is expected to begin this month, and the first of the 12 facilities should be destroyed by the end of November. The global chemical weapons watchdog also has said it is still working with the government to resolve discrepancies in its chemical weapons declaration.
Kaag also told diplomats Tuesday that an OPCW fact-finding mission found chlorine had been used "systematically and repeatedly" in attacks as recently as August, Power tweeted.
Lithuania's mission to the UN tweeted: "Connect the dots: @OPCW sure chlorine used in #Syria, witnesses saw it dropped by helicopters, which only Assad has. Who's responsible?"
The fact-finding mission last month said it was virtually certain chlorine had been used as a chemical weapon in northern Syria this year. The mission did not assign blame, but British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said its findings "corroborate allegations that the Assad regime is continuing to use chemical weapons in Syria, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention."
Both sides in Syria's conflict, now in its fourth year, have blamed one another for using chlorine and other chemical weapons. The fighting has killed more than 190,000 people and sent millions fleeing into neighboring countries.
The UN's mandate for the joint mission with the OPCW ended Sept. 30, and the OPCW will handle work from now on.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/08/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
A critical Kurdish city on the Syrian-Turkish border may be about to fall to the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) after a three-week siege that has pitted lightly armed Kurdish YPG rebels against a jihadist onslaught that includes tanks and artillery. Despite US airstrikes along the Turkish border with Syria aimed at disrupting the jihadist advance, ISIS has continued its push toward Kobane. Kobane is a major border crossing, and a useful potential asset for ISIS.
By taking the city, the jihadists would be able to travel almost uninterrupted from Aleppo to the border with Iraq. And controlling such an important border crossing would prop ISIS' bottom line and deepen the group's control over its so-called caliphate. "Seizing border crossings, controlling trade, aid shipments, and smuggling will help Islamic State control society and stabilize their rule," Aron Lund, editor of Syria in Crisis, told Bloomberg Businessweek.
The latest reports place ISIS militants in key mountain positions surrounding the city. At the same time, ISIS fighters are within a mile from Kobane's center as the siege has turned into a building-to-building street-fight. Despite Kobane's importance, little in terms of concrete help has been given to the Kurdish fighters defending the city. The US carried out airstrikes on Sept. 24 near the Turkish border in an effort to blunt ISIS's advance — a move that did little to stop the jihadists.
There is no shortage of potential US and coalition targets surrounding Kobane. But there is a lack of reliable human intelligence that would make the strikes as effective as possible. The US simply doesn't have the same kind of on-the-ground intelligence presence and capabilities in Syria that it has in neighboring Iraq. The success of the airstrikes in Iraqi Kurdistan owed in part to the mission being conducted in close coordination with US aerial intelligence — American attacks were assisted using coordinates of enemy positions supplied by the Kurdish peshmerga and Iraqi Security Forces.
The US lacks those kinds of partnerships in Syria, and the resulting shortage of intelligence is a major strategic shortcoming — something that may plague the coalition's overall goal of disrupting and destroying ISIS' network within Syria.
Of course, without boots on the ground to confirm targets, bombing from the air is pretty much a random act of violence. When we finally did a little gratuitous bombing in Libya, our guys on the ground were very impressive with their target selection and location. Too bad we lack the resolve to do this correctly.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
10/08/2014 15:29 Comments ||
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#4
Well there's the story of the guy who twittered the precise location of a IS bunker from which they fired into town.
Can't really miss that bunker located in an empty landscape.
It's still standing tall.
Posted by: European Conservatives ||
10/08/2014 16:58 Comments ||
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#5
"Never have I witnessed an US administration being such a disgrace."
Neither have we, EC, and that includes Jimmah. Take a number and get in line. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/08/2014 18:53 Comments ||
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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.
Secretary of State John Kerry will take part in a conference on rebuilding Gaza, devastated by a 50-day war with Israel earlier this year, a US official said Monday.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
