A classic smear by the Daily Mail
It’s an all-too-familiar scene of war… an Afghan home reduced to rubble by an explosion. Yet this recreation of the horrors of battle is being marketed as a toy by Airfix.
British veterans of the Afghanistan campaign have described the model – which includes a pile of debris left by a bomb blast – as ‘sick’ and MPs too have expressed disbelief over the product.
The model is described by Airfix as ‘a typical single storey house found in Afghanistan used for both living space and storage. The collapsed wall and rubble adds to the diorama possibilities’.
[IsraelTimes] Prime Minister Lofven says ’moral responsibility’ to combat anti-immigration party with neo-Nazi roots that won nearly 18% of the vote.
After a campaign dominated by debates over immigration, the center-left Social Democratic Party emerged with the greatest share of the vote ‐ 28.4 percent as the count neared completion ‐ yet looking at holding fewer parliament seats and having its mandate to govern questioned.
The potential for an immigration backlash to result in a big boost for the far-right Sweden Democrats inspired fear among many Swedes before the election. It received a little more than one in six votes, or 17.6 percent. Its showing was not as strong as the one-in-five polls had predicted, but good for a third-place finish that had the party’s leader telling supporters, "We won."
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who brought the Social Democrats to power in 2014, said he intended to remain in the job. The leader of the Moderates party that came in second, Ulf Kristersson, already had called on Lofven to resign and claimed the right to form Sweden’s next government.
Final election returns were expected later in the week. The preliminary results made it unlikely any party would secure a majority of 175 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament. It could take weeks or months of coalition talks before the next government is formed.
Both the left-leaning bloc led by the Social Democrats and the center-right bloc in which the Moderates is largest of four parties have said they would refuse to consider the Sweden Democrats as a coalition partner.
Basra (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraq’s southern oil hub Basra has restored a state of calm after a week of bloody protests over unemployment and poor public services.
According to Al Ekhbariya news website, municipality workers, aided by staffers from the Ministry of Oil and the civil defense department, were seen removing debris from the streets of the oil-rich region.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/10/2018 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraq condemned on Sunday an Iranian artillery shelling on Erbil’s Koy Sanjaq district, in northern the country, stressing that it will not allow any country to violate its own illusory sovereignty.
"The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses its rejection of the artillery shelling that targeted Koy Sanjaq district in Erbil on Saturday, leaving scores dead and maimed," Sputnik quoted the ministry’s front man Ahmed Mahjoob as saying.
"The ministry strongly refuses the breaching of Iraqi illusory sovereignty without prior coordination with Iraqi military authorities to avoid the fall of civilian victims," added the front man.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards grabbed credit for the attack, which targeted Iranian Kurdish dissidents in Koy Sanjaq district on Saturday.
"In a successful operation, the Guards’ aerospace unit, along with the army’s drone unit ... targeted a criminal group’s meeting and a terrorist training center with seven short-range surface-to-surface missiles," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by the semi-official news agency Fars.
The statement said the attack was prompted by a decision of "group leaders to ignore serious warnings by officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government about Iran’s determination to dismantle their bases ... and the need for an end to terrorist and aggressive actions against Iran".
[AlMasdar] Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched a missile attack against an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based near the northern Iraqi city of Koya on Sunday, Iranian state media claimed.
Footage shows missiles being fired from mobile launchers, followed by aerial footage of targets being hit.
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) reported on their twitter account that 11 people were killed, and approximately 50 others wounded in the attacks on their bases and nearby refugee camps.
Koya is located the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/10/2018 00:00 ||
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[WSJ] Get on the bus or get left behind. Not playing around
The Trump administration is expected to announce Monday that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in Washington, administration officials said Sunday night, widening a U.S. campaign of pressure amid stalled Middle East peace efforts.
"The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel," national security adviser John "Darth" Bolton is planned to say in prepared remarks he is scheduled to deliver Monday, according a draft reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
"The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel," he is planned to add.
Senior Palestinian officials strongly condemned the Trump administration decision and described it as a "reckless escalation."
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian representative to Washington, said in an interview that the State Department informed the Palestine Liberation Organization of the U.S. decision to shutter its Washington office in a move that he said is part of the Trump administration's efforts to begin enacting its so-called "deal of the century."
"We don't think this is just about bullying...we believe this is about the implementing of Israel's grocery list, they are implementing it rather than pressuring us," Mr. Zomlot said in a interview on Monday, adding that relations between the Palestinians and Washington "are a historic low." Oh, they can go lower. Keep it up
He said the Trump administration's move to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in bilateral Define 'bilateral' for me. I just slipped in from an alternate universe. It means something different where I come from.
assistance to the Palestinians and to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency; its criticisms of the way Palestinian refugees are defined at the United Nations; the Jerusalem move and its policy on settlements are evidence that the Trump administration is pressing ahead with its yet-to-be-revealed peace plan.
"All of this is making sure the U.S. will never ever play the role of the peacemaker," Mr. Zomlot said. "peace" is not a goal of the Paleos
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2018 06:43 ||
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#1
But...but..but...where will Congress send the checks?
#2
All of this is making sure the U.S. will never ever play the role of the peacemaker
Israel is perfectly able to make peace with "Palestinians" on it's own. All is needed is to pull the teeth of Antisemites who masquerade as "defenders of Palestinian rights". And Trump is doing it for his MAGA reasons.
#6
^ This! He is following through as I had hoped.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/10/2018 17:39 Comments ||
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#7
Next on the agenda is declaring CAIR a terrorist organization and declaring all members persona non grata in the US. If it takes revoking the citizenship of a few hundred Muslims, go for it. Anyone associated with the Muslim Brotherhood is guilty of terrorism, and CAIR is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/10/2018 20:46 Comments ||
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#8
Best of luck with #7. I seem to recall the Haqqani network not gaining official terrorist status by the U.S. until.... hmmmm, what was it, 2012 or so ?
[IsraelTimes] In Rosh Hashanah toast with IDF soldiers, defense minister says Israelis will be able to celebrate holiday with confidence and security following army’s recent operations
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday that the IDF has thwarted several terror attacks in recent days meant to disrupt Rosh Hashanah celebrations.
"In recent days, too, we have enjugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... suspects and prevented terror attacks," Liberman said, addressing a company from the Armoured Corps at a toast for the Jewish New Year that starts Sunday evening.
"The people of Israel will be able to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with confidence and quiet thanks to IDF soldiers and security forces who will continue to tour and protect us all during the holiday," he said, without divulging further details.
The defense minister also thanked the company of Armoured corps soldiers, who are also responsible for guarding the West Bank settlement of Nokdim, where he lives.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered similar praise of the Shin Bet security service at a new year’s toast last week where he claimed that "not a day goes by in which there is no thwarting" of an attack.
Netanyahu credited the work of the security agency with helping Israel to avoid much of the violence that has engulfed other countries in the Middle East.
"The Shin Bet deters, thwarts, and defeats on a daily and hourly basis those who want us dead," Netanyahu said at a toast with security chiefs for the upcoming Jewish new year.
Israeli security services documented 255 attacks last month, including 11 in Jerusalem, the Shin Bet security service said in its monthly report published earlier this month. The June tally was 220 incidents.
Despite the increase, the figures in July were well below those of May, when 365 incidents were documented ‐ the highest number in over two years.
Nearly two-thirds of the attacks recorded in July involved Molotov cocktails. Incidents involving the hurling of rocks at Israelis and their cars are not included in Shin Bet reports.
[AlMasdar] The Arclight airstrikes carried out by the US F-15s have caused major fires in Deir ez-Zor province, the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation said in a statement, noting that information about "people killed and injured due to the strikes is being clarified."
Two US F-15 jets on September 8 carried out strikes using banned phosphorus bombs in Deir ez-Zor province, the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation said in a statement.
"In Deir ez-Zor province on September 8, 2018, two F-15 aircraft of the US Air Force carried out strikes on the settlement of Hadjin with the use of phosphorus incendiary munitions. As a result of the strikes, major fires were observed. Information on victims and injured is being clarified," Major-General Vladimir Savchenko stated, stressing that the use of weapons with white phosphorus is prohibited by an additional protocol to the 1949 Geneva Convention.
The US-led coalition, consisting of more than 70 countries, is conducting military operations against ISIS* in Syria and Iraq without UN or Syrian permission.
Esmer reportedly stated that the Pentagon was preparing to set up a missile defense shield in Syria’s northeastern cities of Al Hasakah and Rmelan.
In April, media reported that ISIS had succeeded in seizing the oil fields in the province of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, which was its former key stronghold, with the group using the oil fields to raise funds for its terror state.
This is not the first time that the US-led coalition is accused of conducting airstrikes on Deir ez-Zor.
In June, the US-led coalition reportedly hit positions of the Syrian Armed Forces in the Al Bukamal area, killing multiple Syrian servicemen and injuring several others.
In 2017, US airstrikes claimed the lives of six civilians, including three children, leading to Damascus’ accusations of the US-led coalition of using white phosphorus, prohibited by international convention, to damage infrastructure and kill civilians.
#2
F-14s when their wings are retracted look a bit like F-15s from a distance...at twilight (when this supposedly took place). Doesn't Iran still have a couple F-14s?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/10/2018 9:03 Comments ||
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[AlMasdar] Russia is helping Syria restore and modernized its air defense system, Russia’s Ambassador to that country, Alexander Kinshchak, told TASS on Friday.
"We are helping our Syrian partners to restore, modernize and boost the efficiency of the integrated air defense system," he said when asked how well Syria is protected against possible Arclight airstrikes by Western nations.
"Much is yet to be done because everything was in utter devastation, but certain results can already be seen," he said.
In late April, chief of the main operations directorate of the Russian General Staff, Sergei Rudskoi, said that Syria would soon receive new air defense systems and promised that Russian specialists would help the Syrian military to master them. He refrained from details of the systems, saying only that the S-125, Osa and Kvadrat systems used by the Syrian army had been restored and modernized with Russia’s assistance.
In late August, the Russian Defense Ministry warned about a possible provocation plotted in the Syrian Idlib governorate by gunnies under supervision of British special services.
Thus, according to the ministry, gunnies were planning to simulate the use of chemical weapons against civilians by Syrian government troops to furnish the United States, the United Kingdom and La Belle France with a pretext to deliver an airstrike on Syrian government and economic facilities.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/10/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Estes rockets with M-80 warheads? They were great in high school!
#2
In late August, the Russian Defense Ministry warned about a possible provocation plotted in the Syrian Idlib governorate by gunnies under supervision of British special services
Something is going on with Brits. The Steele dossier, the wild Novichok accusations.
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.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraq condemned on Sunday an Iranian artillery shelling on Erbil’s Koy Sanjaq district, in northern the country, stressing that it will not allow any country to violate its own 
[WSJ] 
