Influential Egyptian TV personality Tawfik Okasha has reportedly told Israel to bomb Iran.
Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “dear friend,” Okasha said that Israel should bomb the Bushehr Nuclear Reactor, Breaking Christian News reports.
"Put your trust in God and bomb it. We are with you and if you need fuel for the jets, we will give it to you,” Okasha said.
Netanyahu said Okasha’s words are proof Egypt cannot be trusted.
"In the last few days, Iran has shown again why it can't be trusted," Netanyahu said.
According to Breaking Christian News, the Israeli Prime Minister does not approve of the nuclear deal.
"Iran insists on maintaining its formidable nuclear capabilities with which it could produce nuclear bombs. Iran insists on removing all sanctions immediately. And Iran refuses to allow effective inspections of all its suspect facilities. At the same time, Iran continues its unbridled aggression in the region and its terrorism throughout the world," Netanyahu said in a statement.
"We must not let Iran, the foremost sponsor of global terrorism, have an easy path to nuclear weapons which will threaten the entire world," he continued.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2015 08:51 ||
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"Netanyahu said Okasha’s words are proof Egypt cannot be trusted."
roger fox dog this is lazy start dog, WTF over
[Libya Herald] The Zintan Municipal Council has said that it would refuse to recognise any government formed “against the will” of the House of Representatives (HOR) and “imposed upon” the Libyan people . . .
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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#2
This is where Champ's heart lies. His, and many other's cause célèbre. Been mentioned here more than a time or two.
Never a problem however, with turning a pious beltway back on evil, apartheid, colonial regimes or the systematic genocide of white farmers and businesses. The 'quiet' embrace of tyrants like Mugabe and Zuma, much more civilized and modern.
Firewalled by oceans; letting the noble savages burn themselves out, as it has successfully been done for 40,000 years, no longer an option. We must righteously intervene, wasting both lives and treasure.
#4
Who is funding our enemies in Africa? Saudi or Iran?
Posted by: paul ||
04/16/2015 7:29 Comments ||
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#5
Not just Africa. I know a number of SF guys who specialize in Africa and SE Asia. They seem to be gone on 'business' a lot these days.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/16/2015 7:40 Comments ||
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#6
War by State Department
(by people who really don't understand the nature of war or the military instrument they're employing. IIRC an old Guinness World Records noted that there has only been about 200 year or less of peace throughout the civilized world - those who keep records. War is a natural rather than unnatural state of human conditions but taught in 'institutions of higher learning' as an aberration rather then a constant.)
[AnNahar] Hundreds of American citizens and their families have fled Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... on foreign ships, joining an exodus of terrified people fleeing intense Arclight airstrikes against Iranian catspaws, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
They have been brought to safety on board Indian, Korean and Russian ships sailing from Yemen across a narrow channel of the Red Sea, only 30 kilometers (20 miles) wide, to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
Last week the United States admitted it had no immediate plans to rescue its nationals stranded in war-torn Yemen and urged them to flee the raging conflict by sea -- triggering angry claims that Yemeni-U.S. dual nationals had been abandoned by Washington.
Acting State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, who called such claims "offensive," said those arriving in Djibouti had been offered food, water and medical attention as well as shelter from the heat by U.S. embassy officials as they waited to be screened and processed.
U.S. embassy staff had also been increased to help process applications by family members of U.S. citizens as quickly as possible.
Homeland Security "has granted exceptional authority for the consular team in Djibouti to accept and approve immigrant visa petitions for spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens," Harf told news hounds.
U.S. ambassador to Djibouti Tom Kelly said in a tweet Tuesday that so far 178 U.S. citizens and 125 non-American family members had arrived in Djibouti on 12 ships and one plane.
"Thank you #Djibouti for your hospitality and humanitarian aid for #Yemenrefugees," he added in another tweet, with a picture of a boat docking.
U.S. officials say there has been concern that any U.S. operation to evacuate its citizens could become a target, amid the chaos in Yemen where Shiite Huthi militias are under attack from a Saudi-led Arab coalition trying to dislodge them.
"We actually think that if a U.S. military asset was brought into the port that would be a significant security risk," a senior State Department official said, adding there was concern such a move "could put everyone at risk."
"We are in contact with other countries, talking to them about what they have available."
Officials from the U.S. embassy in Yemen -- which has temporarily relocated to Jeddah -- have been posting messages on its website to tell U.S. citizens which boats are leaving and from where.
Some 41 American citizens who had been left stuck in war-torn Yemen announced last week they were suing the United States in a bid to get it to evacuate them.
[ARABNEWS] Civil war may be tearing Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... apart but every afternoon combatants set aside the struggle for the country's future to stuff their cheeks with wads of the narcotic green leaf, qat.
The national pastime of chewing qat is one of the few certainties in a nation jolted by Arclight airstrikes and street fighting.
From lunchtime to sunset prayers, shelling inevitably dies down and fighters from both sides put aside their Kalashnikovs to enjoy the buzz.
Craving for the mild stimulant has kept the qat trade going strong in an economy otherwise devastated by war.
Farmers rise to cut it, traders brave bombs to transport it and addicts scrape empty pockets to scoop up a bag of the soft green leaves chewed daily by millions of Yemenis. It costs between 2 to 14 dollars a bag, depending on the quality.
Three weeks of war aimed at stemming the advance of Iranian-allied 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 ... rebels have only increased Yemenis' desire for the relaxing escape provided by qat.
Mohammed Azal, a government employee rendered idle by battles in the southern city of Aden, strolled through an abandoned street chewing on the bitter morsels and storing them into a wad bulging inside his cheek.
"In a war situation like this, with the stress and kabooms, qat is the one thing in our day that can give us a bit of peace and comfort," he slurred.
One in every seven working Yemenis is employed in producing and distributing qat, making it the largest single source of rural income and the second largest source of employment in the country after the agriculture and herding sector, exceeding even the public sector, according to the World Bank.
Offices and banks have closed, depriving residents of cash, but the qat souks still bustle with loud bargaining as war rages.
Qat is one of the only commodities still flowing into the city, as fighting has struck water and power infrastructure while scaring off suppliers of milk and meat.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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Being curious, I did a quick google search on the subject of qat in Yemen. It seems that, just as Afghanistan has the opium poppy, Yemen has qat, whose stimulent properties range from that of drinking coffee to causing hallucinations and the inability to sleep, dependent on variety, growing conditions and the age of the leaves chewed -- 40 named varieties, to be precise, cultivated in the northern highlands, and every afternoon chewed by about 90% of men, up to 60% of women, and perhaps 20% of children, during which time they socialize and nothing else gets done. The stuff is so profitable that even Yemen's famous coffee trees are being torn out so the land can be turned to qat cultivation. And the stuff sucks up so much water that it is a major contributor to Yemen's serious water shortage problems. However, unlike tea or opium, which are processed before use, and therefore can be stockpiled, qat leaves are stripped from the freshly harvested branch by the user, who is thus dependent on frequent deliveries from the plantations as we do for fresh fruits and vegetables.
Interestingly, while the non-chewer is looked at askance in Yemen, in neighbouring Saudi Arabia the leaf is forbidden altogether, which is no doubt why Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemen instead of vice versa.
[ALMANAR.LB] Yemen's Powerful Ansarullah political group rejected on Wednesday the sanctions imposed by the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Security Council (UNSC) one day earlier on Yemen, a senior member of the party said.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday imposed an arms embargo on Yemen's Ansarullah movement and demanded it immediately pulls back from what it claimed to be "seized territory" and instead seek a political settlement.
"The sanctions are unjust, unethical, and illogic," Mohammad al-Bukhaiti said, stressing that Ansarullah believes that nothing good can come of the Security Council.
Worthy to note that Ansarullah has been calling the Yemeni political parties to meet for a national dialogue before the beginning of the Saudi-led aggression, in a bid to solve the domestic crisis without foreign interference.
"Council resolutions are never based on ethical or logical considerations," he added.
Bukhaiti said the UNSC should have issued a resolution suspending the aggression against Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... that targeted the country's infrastructure.
On Wednesday, the Security Council imposed sanctions on the 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 ... group and the son of former Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... .
It also imposed an embargo on weapon supplies to the group, opening the door for a wide military campaign against Yemen without allowing the people to defend themselves.
Bukhaiti, for his part, said that the Popular Committees and the Army will not abide by the decision.
"The Yemeni people will carry out their will," he emphasized.
A coalition of 10 countries, led by the Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and supported financially and militarily by the United States, launched three weeks ago a wide military offensive on Yemen, killing 20 civilians in one attack, wounding hundreds and causing so much destruction across the state.
Media outlets reported that Saudi Arabia has deployed "100 fighter jets, 150,000 soldiers and other navy units" for the military campaign against Yemen. It also sent 5000 takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... turbans to fight against the Yemeni army.
The national military - supported by the Popular Committees - has launched a wide-scale campaign in the attack-hit areas, and managed to drive al-Qaeda and ISIL turbans out of main neighborhoods of Aden and Sanaa.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is known for training and funding takfiri groups and sending them to the conflict-hit zones in the Arab and Moslem world, including Syria, Afghanistan and now in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Ansarullah is also accusing the Saudis of desiring to replace President Hadi wid his own pro-Saudi PM.
[AA.TR] The families of individuals that bravely ran away to join Daesh are preparing to file a lawsuit against the Dutch government, local media reported Wednesday.
According to Dutch media, families gathered together in order to plan to sue the Dutch government for not making the necessary efforts to prevent their children from traveling to Syria to join the krazed killer group Daesh.
Mohammad Nidalha, a resident of the southern city of Leiden whose son reportedly traveled to Syria to join Daesh, leads the initiative.
Nidalha claimed that he had informed the police as soon as he found out that his 20-year-old son had traveled to Syria to join Daesh. Yet, he said, the police did not do anything.
Nidalha, who claims he has spoken with nine families so far, said he started the initiative to prevent other families from suffering like him.
He was quoted as saying, "The lawsuit will not bring back my son back but I am doing this to prevent other families to go through the same problems."
According to Dutch security forces, 28 of 200 people that traveled to Syria to fight in the conflict have bit the dust in various festivities.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A group of Calgary imams is marking the first line of defence at the foot of the Rocky Mountains against the self-styled 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) group's recruitment of Canadians as fighters.
Several imams issued a religious edict against IS jihadists last month, denouncing its threats against Canada and its online recruitment after dozens of Canadians --mostly from Calgary --traveled to Syria to join their cause.
In the fatwa, the imams urge Moslem youths to shun the sway of the IS group, which they accuse of having violated Islamic tenets "in the most horrific and inhumane way."
"Some Moslems, having the fatwa against them, they will have second thoughts" before seeking to join an Death Eater group, said Khalil Khan, president of Calgary's Al Madinah Islamic center.
"(They) will wonder if this is right or wrong."
Khan is one of 37 imams and religious scholars from across Canada, plus one from Texas, who endorsed the fatwa.
The edict was motivated by a wave of recruitment, as at least a dozen people have left the oil-rich province of Alberta to fight with the Islamic State group abroad.
The call comes in the wake of the January 2014 death of Damian Clairmont, a 22-year-old Calgary man who was enticed to join the Death Eater group and who became the first Canadian casualty in the IS push to carve out an Islamic "caliphate" in the Middle East.
Zaheera Tariq, a director of the Al Madinah mosque, told AFP that recruits are being lured by misrepresentations of Islam.
"It's a lack of education, a lack of knowledge," she said, adding that young people are "being influenced by those people who are misrepresenting Islam, who are misquoting the Prophet."
She added: "They need to find proper imams."
Gathered at the mosque, Tariq, Khan and others say more resources are needed to address a growing religious education gap facing Moslems whose numbers are soaring in Calgary.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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Emma Sky is no warmonger. She is a British, Oxford-educated political analyst who served as a humanitarian worker in the Middle East for a decade before helping the US rebuild Iraq.
And her new book, "The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq," is not kind to the Obama administration's handling of Iraq.
From 2007 to 2010, Sky was the political adviser to US Gen. Ray Odierno when he served as deputy American commander in Iraq and then the US-led mission's top commander. During Sky's time with Odierno, violence in the country plummeted after a US troop surge and crucial Sunni tribal cooperation stabilized the country.
Odierno "wanted US engagement with Iraq to continue for years to come, but led by US civilians, not the military," Sky wrote, according to a book excerpt published in Politico. "He believed that, in order to train Iraqi security forces and provide the psychological support needed to maintain a level of stability, 20,000 or so US troops needed to stay in Iraq beyond 2011."
The Obama administration, however, eventually went along with the plan backed by Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force. That plan called for no US troops beyond 2011 and relied on the continued support of the authoritarian Iran-backed regime of Nouri al-Maliki, then Iraq's prime minister.
"Iran's goal was to ensure that Iraq was not integrated into the Arab world, instead becoming a close ally of Iran," Sky wrote. "Maliki would be able to achieve this because all the neighboring Sunni countries hated him."
Obama called the removal of the last US troops from Iraq in December 2011 a "historic" moment, adding that the country they were leaving behind was "an extraordinary achievement."
Given the state of war-torn Iraq today, history has been unkind to that assessment.
Ali Khedery, the longest continuously serving US official during the Iraq war (2003 to 2009), has said America's continued support of Maliki in December 2010 made it so that "Iraq's path toward civil war was really inevitable."
That's because Maliki's new lease on life led him to steer Baghdad "toward a very pro-Iranian and sectarian agenda, which inevitably disillusioned and disenfranchised Sunni Arabs for a second time."
The rise and resilience of the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL, which rampaged across northern Iraq from neighboring Syria last summer, is partly a manifestation of this Sunni discontent.
At this point, the militant group is "fundamentally a form of Sunni-power political projection," as explained by Michael Weiss, coauthor of "ISIS: Inside the Terror Army."
In 2010, however, those in charge of the administration's policy -- namely, ambassador Christopher Hill and Vice President Joe Biden -- saw the trajectory of US policy differently.
Sky described a visit to Iraq from Biden at the end of August 2010:
"Biden had been persuaded by the arguments that there was no one but Maliki who could be prime minister and that he would sign a new security agreement with the United States," Sky wrote in the Politico excerpt, noting later that the security agreement was never signed.
"The Obama administration wanted to see an Iraqi government in place before the US midterm elections in November," Sky said. "Biden believed the quickest way to form a government was to keep Maliki as prime minister and to cajole other Iraqis into accepting this."
Despite the best efforts of Sky and her colleagues, she could not convince the administration otherwise.
"Biden was a nice man, but he simply had the wrong instincts on Iraq," Sky writes, according to a snippet published in The Wall Street Journal. "If only Obama had paid attention to Iraq ... But his only interest in Iraq was in ending the war."
Tim Arango, the Baghdad bureau chief for The New York Times, told Reddit in September that "after 2011 the administration basically ignored the country. And when officials spoke about what was happening there they were often ignorant of the reality."
For the region, the administration's choices seem to signal an accusation that would become part of Obama's foreign-policy legacy.
"In the Arabic media, there was confusion as to why the United States and Iran should both choose Maliki as prime minister, and this fueled conspiracy theories about a secret deal between those two countries," Sky noted.
Put another way, the US is SSSHHHH ...CCCCCC helping Iran to become its OWG Co-Superpower Sibling, or one of them - Nukes + Expansive Spheres + all that.
#4
Ms. Sky sees herself as part aid worker, part political operator, part cultural translator.
“I’m experienced in working in different cultures. The most alien culture I’ve ever worked in is the U.S. military,” she said with characteristic candor. “I was used to working in the humanitarian space, the diplomatic space. I came to Iraq and that space, the military, is all over it.”
Ah. One of those.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/16/2015 4:22 Comments ||
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#5
So much of what this regime does seems to be aimed at following Iran's lead that I wonder about the direction of the Yemeni civil war.
It's obvious that Iran backs the Houthi but then there are the supposed US connections to the KSA coalition.
#7
Odierno"wanted US engagement with Iraq to continue for years to come, but led by US civilians, not the military,"
Forgetting the success in post war Germany and Japan hinged on the Military Occupation Government running things for 'years' till they determined that condition were adequate for return to a civilian rule. State was subordinate to the War Department (DoD as an entity would be legislated later).
[DAWN] PESHAWAR: Speakers at a dialogue on the rights of non-Moslems on Tuesday called for speedy work on the Minorities' Property Protection Bill saying the proposed legislation will ensure protection of their land and action against land grabbers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... . The dialogue on 'religious freedom and minority rights' was organised by South Asia Partnership Pakistain (SAP-Pk) at a local hotel.
Noted among speakers were chairman of All Pakistain Hindus' Right Movement Haroon Sarab Diyal, Bishop of Church of Pakistain Arglican Orthodox, Augustin Jacob, Bishan Lal Sunil, Muqsood Salfi, Arif Saeed, Robina Masih, Shahida Shah and Saman Ara of SAP.
Condemning the publication of a blasphemous article against Hinduism in an Urdu magazine, the speakers expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over the 'irresponsible' attitude and policy of the magazine editors and owner and declared it an attempt to incite Moslems against Hindu community in the country.
They said the publication of the blasphemous article in the magazine was tantamount to pitting Moslems against Hindus and therefore, stern action should be taken against the writer in question.
The speakers also demanded that the blasphemous case be sent to a military court for trial. Diyal and Bishan Lal said the article writer tried to defame Hindus by using provocative words about their holy book, Ramayan.
They said Hindus currently living in Pakistain had not migrated from India at the time of Partition and instead, they were citizens of Pakistain. The speakers said the blasphemous article badly hurt religious feelings and sentiments of non-Moslems living in the country. They said non-Moslems faced discriminatory laws, insufficient educational facilities and job quota issues, while they were subjected to forced conversion, exploitation and assassinations.
The speakers appreciated the issuance of a notification by the provincial governor about domicile of non-Moslems living in Fata and regretted despite living in tribal region for centuries, non-Moslems had been denied local domicile.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A Kashmiri leader waved a Pak flag at a political gathering in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-held Kashmire. ... acknowledging the fact that Hurriyat is a Pak front organization...
According to reports in the Indian media, Hurriyat leader Masarat Alam waved the Pak flag on Wednesday to greet Syed Ali Shah Geelani at the rally.
Thousands of Kashmiris attended the rally, in the restive capital of state of Indian-held Kashmire, which was held as a show of strength to welcome Geelani on his return from New Delhi.
The Times of India reported that Alam also allegedly chanted pro-Pak slogans during the rally.
Alam was released from prison after four years on March 7 this year. Now, questions are being raised on his release and there are widespread reactions on social media platforms, demanding his rearrest.
The 47-year-old Alam, a likely successor to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, organised Kashmiri youth to welcome Geelani on his return from New Delhi. Alam is known to use social media to spread his views and distribute audio CDs in mosques.
India reacted furiously following the show of support for Pakistain at the Srinagar rally.
National Spokesperson Bharatiya Janata Party GVL Narasimha Rao said the act was completely unacceptable.
"We expect the state government of Jammu and Kashmire, headed by Mufti Saeed, to take cognizance of the matter," Rao added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Members of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) questioned death row prisoner and former Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) worker Saulat Mirza in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... 's Machh jail on Wednesday.
Security was beefed up in and around Machh jail in view of the JIT members' visit.
A 10-member JIT investigated Mirza for six hours. A Machh jail officer, who did not want to be named, told Dawn.com that Mirza was shifted from his death cell to the Jail Superintendent's office for questioning.
Following the questioning, Mirza was shifted back to his cell, the officer said. The investigating team then travelled to Quetta amid tight security.
Mirza had levelled serious allegations against MQM chief Altaf Hussain ...think of the head of the Barzini clan, only in Urdu... , Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad and MQM leader Babar Ghauri in a video broadcast hours before his scheduled execution on March 19.
Following the broadcast that changed the country's political atmosphere, President Mamnoon Hussain had extended Mirza's execution.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif warned foreign states and international agencies to refrain from creating anarchy in Balochistan by supporting terrorist elements in the province.
"We will unearth terrorists, their abettors, sympathisers and financiers. No offender will find a place to hide in the country. We will go to any length to establish the writ of state," the military chief asserted.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain test-fired on Wednesday ballistic missile Ghauri, which is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads up to a distance of 1,300 kilometres.
In a statement, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the launch of the intermediate-range Ghauri was conducted by a Strategic Missile Group of the Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) that was aimed at testing the operational and technical readiness of (ASFC).
The launch was witnessed by senior officers from Strategic Plans Division, strategic forces and scientists and engineers belonging to strategic organizations.
Director General Strategic Plans Division Lieutenant General Zubair Mahmood Hayat congratulated the scientists, engineers and all ranks of the strategic forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[Intel Briefs] The war against ISIS in Iraq has once again taken a new dimension despite the victorious battle against ISIS in Tikrit.
Iraqi forces on Wednesday warned that ISIS in Ramadi could soon take control over the city just like they did in Tikrit.
Ramadi, which is the capital of Al Anbar province and situated in the West of Baghdad is well known to be a Sunni's strategic land. Equally, most of the ISIS fighters are Sunnis.
Iraqi forces have engaged in fierce fighting with ISIS in Ramadi and it is now not certain whether the Iraqi forces will still be able to battle against ISIS in Ramadi, Iraq's Sunni heartland.
The Iraqi forces had previously warned the government of a possibility that the forces could be overpowered by the Lion of Islam groups. Deputy Head of the Anbar Provincial Council Falih Essawi has further called upon the Iraqi government to quickly reinforcement Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition for air support against ISIS in Ramadi.
The fight against the militia group in Iraq has lasted for several months despite the Arclight airstrikes conducted on their hide outs killing a number of these jihadists.
Their infiltration into Ramadi, south of Tikrit has driven a number of refugees out of the city, one of the most populated areas in Anbar province.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Top commander of an Iraqi Yazidi militia said Monday he dissociated his militia from fighting alongside with Iraqi Kurdish and Shiite militias, a statement comes hours after his release from detention by the autonomous government of Northern Iraq.
Haider Shasho, called his followers in Sinjar Mountain to cooperate with Beshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan to fight 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.... at the Iraqi-Syrian border areas.
Arresting Shasho by security forces in Iraqi Kurdistan on 5th April has incited unexpected reactions and media battle at political and social levels between the two main parties in Kurdistan territory "Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Barazani, and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Talabani."
The front man of Kurdistan Territory had the very next day of Shasho's arresting announced that he was trying to form an illegal military force uncontrolled by the Beshmerga Ministry in Sinjar Area, therefore he was tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! with others of his supporters to be trialed fairly.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Talabani demanded Barazani to free Shasho otherwise he would hold him consequences of such an act.
From his side, Barazani explained that they cannot accept any military forces outside the control of Beshmerga Ministry. He mentioned that Shasho had had external support and fund to conspire and implement a plan in Sinjar.
Sources reported that Haidar Shasho and his father Kassem had with their militia committed massacres against the Arab villages and they kidnappedwomen and kiddies beside robbing houses and burning them as a Dire Revenge from Arabs after the Islamic State's withdrawal.
Sources mentioned that Haidar Shasho is a leader in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and his militia is supported by the Iraqi central government and Iran besides that he joined the Militia of popular crowd in Sinjar after the government started paying salaries to his fighters to fight a the Islamic State (ISIS) besides Beshmerga in Sinjar in a battle to regain control on it after its fall under ISIS's control on 3rd August 2014.
Shasho's militia was formed in Summer 2014 from fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who entered Iraq from Syria, and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) came from Hasaka. All that caused suspicion and worries for Iraqi Kurdistan because it was planning to join the area to Northern Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[PRIMENEWS.BD] For the first time in almost a generation a handful of vehicles with Paleostinian plates have been allowed to enter Jerusalem.
The exception so far has been made for Paleostinian doctors from West Bank working in Israeli hospitals.
During the first phase of the plan to loosen restrictions on Paleostinian movements inside the ancient city, some 100 doctors from Bethlehem and Hebron in the West Bank will be allowed to enter Jerusalem in their private vehicles.
Paleostinian cars have been banned from entering Israel for "security reasons" since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000. It has taken 15 years for them to return.
The program began Tuesday and the first exception was made for doctors and medical personnel providing emergency treatment in Israeli hospitals, authorities announced.
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04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARA] 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 (IS/ISIS) imposed more financial taxes on cargo trucks loaded with fodder and agricultural materials entering and exiting the city of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, towards other regions outside the province, local dealers reported.
Speaking to ARA News in Hasakah, a grain market trader said that the IS radical group recently put portable balances on the road between Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor near the city of Shaddadi (40 km south of Hasakah) where the IS members calculate the shipments and impose 11,000 Syrian Pounds per ton on every trucker.
The source, who preferred anonymity, quoted truckers as saying: "There is news about the arrival of three IS leaders to Shaddadi, who want to raise the taxes to 20% per ton or pay the same value in cash."
A former staff member of the oil company in Shaddadi explained to ARA News that the oil wells that were used by the group, which the group depends upon as a financial resource, were exposed to major damage, prompting the jihadists to impose substantial taxes on traders.
The grain market between the cities in Hasakah province and the countryside of Deir ez-Zor is one of the most active markets in the region, where annually hundreds of tons of different types of grain are being transferred to the cities of al-Bukamal, Mayadeen and Soor in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor.
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04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARA] The Syrian regime has demanded that the Auto-Administration authorities in the city of Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, to remove all the banners of the administration (including those of the People's Protection Units "YPG"), locals reported on Tuesday.
Over the past week, the city of Hasakah witnessed a campaign by the PYD-linked Auto-Administration removing all banners and decorations in the city, particularly those of the municipal elections of mid-March, 2015.
Local sources from Hasakah told ARA News that a car belonging to the Auto-Administration marked by logos of the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) had removed all the flags that decorated the streets and public squares.
The removed flags belong to the Kurdish factions of TEV-DEM, PYD, and YPG forces, in addition to the photos of the Kurdish fighters who were killed while battling ISIS and whose pictures covered the public institutions of the Auto-Administration.
The same sources added that in every square there remained one or two banners of the Kurdish YPG forces, pointing out that a lot of shop owners removed these banners from their shops.
On the other hand, a source close to the Syrian security forces stated to ARA News that an implicit agreement has been reached between the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Syrian regime about the removal of all Kurdish banners in Hasakah province.
"There is most probably a bargain between the two sides," the source added.
The Syrian regime and the PYD-linked Auto Administration share control of the city of Hasakah, while 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 (IS/ISIS) is in control of the southern countryside of the city.
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04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARA] On Tuesday, the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... officials said that the special envoy for Suria, Staffan de Mistura, is planning a new round of peace talks between the Syrian regime and opposition factions to find a solution to the four-year-old crisis in Syria that has claimed lives of more than 215,000 people so far.
Stephane Dujarric, a U.N. official front man, said in a statement that de Mistura will proceed in May with "a series of in-depth and separate consultations with the Syrian stakeholders and regional/international actors to take stock of their views regarding the crisis."
In the meantime, Ahmed Fawzi, a U.N. front man, told news hounds in Geneva that de Mistura has been remarkably focused in talks about the grinding of the peace processor in Syria, which would be based on the Geneva communiqué, the June 2012 document that set out a path to peace and political transition but left unresolved the future role of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... in Syria's future.
According to a U.N. source in Geneva, Iran is expected to be on the list of invitees to the upcoming peace talks, due to its prominent role in support the Assad regime in the conflict.
Iran, a major ally of the Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, hasn't been invited to the first two rounds of Syria peace talks in Geneva, despite its significant role in the ongoing conflict in Syria, as it continuously provided the regime with military assistance to combat opposition factions.
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04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[AA.TR] The Iranian president has reiterated his call for lifting all international economic sanctions against Iran to conclude a deal over the country's controversial nuclear program.
Addressing a gathering in Rasht, the capital of Iran's northern Gilan province, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said: "The end of the negotiations and the signing of a final deal must include a declaration on cancellation of cruel sanctions on the great nation of Iran."
According to Iran's official state agency, IRNA, the president also said that Iran would not pay heed to internal disputes of the U.S. Congress because its agreement would not be just with the U.S., but the entire world powers' group, P5+1.
"It is none of our business to heed to the current disputes at U.S. Senate and their mercenaries as Iran expects goodwill and respect in return. We explicitly declare that we are not dealing with the U.S. Senate and Congress, but we are now negotiating with P5+1
"Current disputes between the U.S. Senate and their mercenaries have nothing to do with us,' Rouhani said.
His comments came after a U.S. Senate committee Tuesday unanimously approved a compromise bill that gave Congress more say in the final agreement with Iran. Lawmakers in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the bill in a bipartisan vote, 19-0.
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04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that US President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... was 'responsible' for making sure that Washington respects a final agreement over Iran's nuclear program even though Congress has been given a say on the accord's fate.
"It is the obligation of the government of the United States to implement its international agreements. And we will hold the US government, the US president accountable" for the application of the treaties that they sign, Mohammad Javad Zarif told journalists in Lisbon.
He was reacting to a move by the US Senate foreign relations committee on Tuesday giving the green light to a bill that would give Congress the right to review a possible final agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue.
Zarif, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said Iran would study the bill "to see if it infringes upon or hinders the capability of the president to carry out the obligations that he is going to assume with Iran."
Global powers reached a framework agreement for a deal with Iran on April 2. They must now resolve a series of technical issues by a June 30 deadline for a final deal, including the steps for lifting sanctions on Iran.
Iran wants sanctions lifted immediately the deal is signed, while the powers are saying they will be eased gradually.
Zarif also said that Russia's decision to go ahead with the sale of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran is "fully legal" and has no impact on the talks for a nuclear deal with major powers.
"Russia is fulfilling its contractual treaty obligation to deliver the S-300 defense capabilities to Iran. It had nothing to do with the negotiations," he said during a joint news conference with his Portuguese counterpart Rui Machete.
"I think it is the right decision that Russia has made, it is a contract that we have with Russia which is fully legal and will have no impact on the negotiations."
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04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Hezbollah Media Relations issued on Wednesday a statement in which it considered that Future movement's attachment to the Saudi leadership and its efforts to satisfy and desperately defend it will not make us remain silent over the aggression on Yemen.
The statement added that the regime of the Saud family is purchasing consciences, importing armies and soldiers, and sowing discord and divisions in order to fragment countries and murder innocents.
Asking whether Future movement is dissatisfied with Hezbollah rejection for the Saudi aggression on Yemen, the party noted that the rhetoric of Future movement gives the impression that it supports the extermination operations and mass murders that are being committed by the Saudi aggression's warplanes against innocent civilians.
Hezbollah stressed that regime of ignorance and murder in the Arabian Peninsula which is exporting terrorism, turbans and subversive ideologies cannot be put in an unjust comparison with the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran, which the world has acknowledged as an advanced and developed state.
Iran has been accumulated numerous scientific and technical achievements and its Supreme leader is facing all the unjust states and supports the vulnerable people and the liberation movements across the world, according to the statement.
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04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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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.
Influential Egyptian TV personality Tawfik Okasha has reportedly told Israel to bomb Iran. 
[AA.TR] The families of individuals that 
Nidalha, who claims he has spoken with nine families so far, said he started the initiative to prevent other families from suffering like him. 
[DAWN] A group of Calgary imams is marking the first line of defence at the foot of the Rocky Mountains against the self-styled 
Emma Sky is no warmonger. She is a British, Oxford-educated political analyst who served as a humanitarian worker in the Middle East for a decade before helping the US rebuild Iraq.
[DAWN] PESHAWAR: Speakers at a dialogue on the rights of non-
[DAWN] A Kashmiri leader waved a Pak flag at a political gathering in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-held 
Alam was released from prison after four years on March 7 this year. Now, questions are being raised on his release and there are widespread reactions on social media platforms, demanding his rearrest.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
