[ARABNEWS] The Arab Coalition in 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... has succeeded in securing the transfer of two sons of former Yemeni president former 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... from Sanaa to Jordan, Saudi state TV said on Wednesday.
A UN plane has taken off from the Sanaa international airport Wednesday after arriving earlier to take on board Salah and Medyen Saleh, who were released 10 months after they were captured following their father's murder.
According to official sources, a Saudi team inspected the UN airbus A320 at 8 AM on Wednesday when it landed at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, before taking off headed towards Yemeni capital Sanaa where it arrived around 12PM.
A Jordanian official confirmed Saleh's two sons had arrived at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport from Sanaa.
Five days ago, the Iranian-backed Houthis have prevented the UN plane from landing at Sanaa international airport to carry Saleh’s sons, as per an agreement reached with the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... .
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
[ARABNEWS] The UN children's agency on Wednesday suspended cash transfers to 9 million of Yemen's most impoverished citizens under pressure from Yemen's 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.
The move comes at a time when Yemen's local currency has been deteriorating, increasing prices of food and fuel, and sparking fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
UNICEF said the decision came after it was unable to set up a call center to get feedback from beneficiaries, without providing further details.
Two individuals familiar with the program said the Iran-backed Houthi militia who control northern 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... hindered the launch of the call center because they feared it might reveal their manipulation of the cash transfers. The two spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals from the rebels.
The militia have repeatedly been accused of diverting aid to their supporters.
Last week, Houthi security authorities banned the country director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency from returning to Yemen, according to two individuals familiar with the situation.
The agency has been under pressure from Houthis to use the rebels' beneficiary lists in aid distribution and to use Houthi-linked staffers in ADRA-run health facilities.
When ADRA chief Ephraim Palmero objected, he was notified that he wouldn't be allowed to return to the country, the individuals said.
ADRA is among the most active international relief agencies working in delivering aid to millions of impoverished Yemenis.
The suspended UNICEF payment is the third since the project was launched in August 2017. UNICEF has said the cash transfers are a "lifeline" to a third of Yemen's people and "contribute to avert the risk of famine and allowed targeted families to buy food and medicine."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
#1
Given how corrupt and wasteful UNICEF is, this actually is a good thing for the recipients.
[Washington Examiner] A group of cyberattackers generally regarded as an online arm of Islamic State terrorists are actually associated with Russian military intelligence agents, according to British officials.
"This pattern of behavior demonstrates their desire to operate without regard to international law or established norms and to do so with a feeling of impunity and without consequences," British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a rebuke accompanying the announcement.
Hunt’s team included the "Cyber Caliphate" among a list of a dozen cyber groups responsible for high profile attacks ‐ each an alias of the Russia’s GRU, according to the United Kingdom.
The release echoed U.S. assessments that Russian spies are associated with a group called Fancy Bear that carried out the 2016 hacks of the Democratic National Committee, for instance. They also blamed Russia for cyberattacks against Ukraine in 2017, and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which supported the ban of Russian athletes from the 2018 Winter Olympics.
"These cyber attacks serve no legitimate national security interest, instead impacting the ability of people around the world to go about their daily lives free from interference, and even their ability to enjoy sport[s]," Hunt said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s team denounced both the election interference accusations and the charge of state-sponsored doping for Olympic athletes as Western smear campaigns.
#1
Those dastardly Rooskis! Cleaning out the fridge the other day, I unexpectedly found a cucumber that had dissolved into microbial mush. You know who eats a lot of cucumbers? That's right, the Russians.
#2
Next thing we'll hear is that the Russians were behind the PLO and that they smeared the CIA as being behind the AIDS virus, which they alleged was concocted to kill black people.
[DAWN] High above Yemen's rebel-held city of Hodeida, a drone controlled by Emirati forces hovered as a sports utility vehicles (SUV) carrying a top 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 ... rebel official turned onto a small street and stopped, waiting for another vehicle in its convoy to catch up.
Seconds later, the SUV went kaboom! in flames, killing Saleh al-Samad, a top political figure.
The drone that fired that missile in April was not one of the many American aircraft that have been buzzing across the skies of Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept 11, 2001.
It was Chinese.
Across the Middle East, countries locked out of purchasing the United States made drones due to rules over excessive civilian casualties are being wooed by Chinese arms dealers, who are the world's main distributor of armed drones.
"The Chinese product now doesn't lack technology, it only lacks market share," said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military analyst and former lecturer at the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force University of Engineering.
"And the US restricting its arms exports is precisely what gives China a great opportunity."
The sales are helping expand Chinese influence across a region vital to American security interests.
"It's a hedging strategy and the Chinese will look to benefit from that," said Douglas Barrie, an airpower specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"I think the Chinese are far less liable to be swayed by concerns over civilian casualties," he said.
At the start of the year, a satellite passing over southern 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... photographed US-made surveillance drones at an airfield, alongside Chinese manufactured armed ones.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Spokesperson for the Ottoman Turkish President, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Wednesday that the U.S. was purposely delaying the implementation of the Manbij roadmap.
"The delaying tactic started becoming a growing problem. Manbij roadmap should be implemented as soon as possible," Kalin said.
Kalin continued that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... "can take steps at any time to ensure its national security against terror groups in Syria".
Kalin’s comments come just a day after Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... blasted the U.S. over their failure to remove all the YPG elements from Manbij.
Both Turkey and the U.S. have already begun joint patrols inside of Manbij; however, the former has repeatedly accused the latter of not removing the YPG personnel from the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[ARABNEWS] Ottoman Turkish inflation surged to nearly 25 percent in September from a year earlier, official data showed on Wednesday, hitting its highest in 15 years and sharpening focus on whether the central bank will be able to deliver another hefty rate hike.
The size of the increase ‐ prices jumped by 6.3 percent from a month earlier ‐ far outpaced expectations and underscored the deep impact of a currency crisis on the economy and consumers.
The lira has lost nearly 40 percent of its value this year against the dollar, hit by concerns about President Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over the central bank and a rift with Washington.
That sell-off has pushed up prices of everything from food to fuel and eroded confidence in what was once a high-flying emerging market.
"The central bank will need to react to this," said Inan Demir, senior emerging markets economist at Nomura. "This is not something that could be ignored and they will have to hike at their next meeting."
The lira weakened slightly after the release of the data and was at 6.0500 to the US dollar, about 1 percent weaker on the day, at 0748 GMT. It has been underpinned in recent weeks by the central bank’s massive September rate hike and hopes for an improvement in ties with the United States, particularly over the fate of a jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! American pastor.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[ARABNEWS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s parliament has voted to extend by another year a mandate that allows the military to intervene in Iraq and Syria when faced with national security threats.
The mandate approved Wednesday allows Turkey to send troops over its southern border to battle Kurdish rebels, ISIS group forces of Evil and other groups that Turkey views as terrorists.
The vote comes as Erdogan has suggested Turkey could take steps to create "safe zones" across northern Syria, including in areas held by Kurdish fighters who are allied with the United States.
Turkey has previously used the mandate, which it has renewed every year since 2014, for cross-border operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq and to clear IS forces of Evil and Syrian Kurdish militia from border areas inside Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[Al Jazeera] Saudi and Ottoman Turkish officials have made conflicting statements on the whereabouts of a prominent journalist who has reportedly gone missing while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident critical of the country's crown prince, entered the consulate's premises at around 1pm (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday in what seemed to be a routine visit to sort out paperwork, before disappearing.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday that Khashoggi remains inside the Saudi consulate, a day after his fiancee reported he had failed to emerge from a meeting in the mission.
"According to information we have, this individual who is a Saudi national is still at the consulate as of now," Ibrahim Kalin said.
He also said that Ottoman Turkish authorities were in contact with Saudi officials and he hoped the situation would be resolved.
In contrast, a Saudi official quoted by Rooters news agency said the journalist was "not in the consulate nor in Saudi custody".
"Mr Khashoggi visited the consulate to request paperwork related to his marital status and exited shortly thereafter," the official said.
The US State Department said on Wednesday that it was monitoring and seeking information on Khashoggi's disappearance.
"We are closely following reports of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance and continue to seek information," a State Department official said.
Khashoggi, who has been living in self-exile in the United States, is a prominent columnist for the Washington Post. He has long criticised the Saudi government's reform programme under the auspices of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...Crown Prince of 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... as of 2016.... .
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
Because it’s not as if they can go against Allah and the prophet Mohammed’s example to do anything more than a ten year hudna at best, and that to be abrogated at the first opportunity...
[Ynet] The Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", delegation, headed by deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, eneded its visit to Cairo Wednesday, after four days of discussions with senior Egyptian intelligence officials.
The talks dealt with a possible reconciliation with Fatah and a cease-fire deal between the Paleostinians and Israel.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Israel’s Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told his nation’s Army Radio on Wednesday that the S-300 system will not have much of an affect against their warplanes.
"The operational abilities of the air force are such that those (S-300) batteries really do not constrain the air force’s abilities to act," he told Israel’s Army Radio.
"You know that we have stealth fighters, the best planes in the world. These batteries are not even able to detect them," he continued.
The Israeli minister said that Russia already had their S-300 systems inside of Syria, so the weapon had already been factored in.
Furthermore, he said that Israel made it clear that they will not back down and will continue conducting their operations inside Syria.
"We have clarified to the Syrians more than once that we will not step back from our commitment to prevent Iran’s entrenchment in Syria," Hanegbi said, adding a veiled threat to take action against the S-300 on the ground: "We were already forced, a few months ago, to destroy Syrian missile batteries, and I hope they won’t challenge us in the future."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
but I bet it works well against Russian aircraft
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/04/2018 16:03 Comments ||
Top||
[PRESSTV] Israeli minister for military affairs Avigdor Lieberman has expressed Tel Aviv’s discontent over Russia’s delivery of an S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Syria, stressing the move will not deter the Israeli regime from military operations in the war-ravaged Arab country.
"I cannot say that we are pleased with the deployment of the S-300. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... this is the very topic where we have no way out. There is no way not to make decisions," he said.
Lieberman further stated that it was important for Moscow and Tel Aviv to restore normal ties despite their disagreements over the recent downing of a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft off the coast of Syria’s western province of Latakia.
"I think the most important thing for us today is...to return the working relationship to normal. It is today the most important task ‐ to return to normal operation, coordination, to more actively use the "hot line" to prevent conflict situations. We need to work," he commented.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
The plans remain to be about three a week, in the frequency you bring it in, Iran.
[ISRAELNATIONALNEWS] US National Security Adviser announces US exit from optional protocol of Vienna Convention, slamming the 'so-called state of Palestine.'
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Sure is great we're finally exercising our options to get out of these horrible deals. Man, it's about time.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/04/2018 4:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Just because a toilet has a seat doesn't make it a chair.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The leader of the Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... Party Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... sat down for an interview with the Central News Agency on Wednesday to discuss a number of topics, including the recent media tour of the alleged Hezbollah "missile sites."
Geagea told the interviewer that the recent diplomatic tour conducted by Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was a media stunt that is not beneficial.
"Amid all of this, verbal responses and media stunts are not beneficial. The president and the prime minister must deal very carefully with what is happening and must warn all parties against taking any step that would pose the least risk to Leb," Geagea said.
The Lebanese Forces leader has long been a critic of Hezbollah and has often called on the government to push for the disarmament of the organization.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[PRESSTV] US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Washington is canceling a 1955 treaty with Tehran after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the United States to halt the unilateral sanctions it recently re-imposed on "humanitarian" supplies to Iran.
"I’m announcing that the United States is terminating the 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran, this is a decision that is 39 years overdue," Pompeo told news hounds Wednesday at the State Department.
"In July, Iran brought a meritless case in the International Court of Justice alleging violations of the Treaty of Amity," Pompeo said.
"We're disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States, which is doing its work on Iran to protect its own essential security interests," he added.
"Iran has attempted to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions as necessary to protect our national security and Iran is abusing the ICJ for political and propaganda purposes," the top American diplomat said.
He claimed the United States would work to ensure it is providing humanitarian assistance to the Iranian people.
US abrogated JCPOA -a multilateral accord enshrined in UNSC Resolution 2231- arguing that it seeks a bilateral treaty with #Iran. Today US withdrew from an actual US-Iran treaty after the ICJ ordered it to stop violating that treaty in sanctioning Iranian people. Outlaw regime. https://t.co/soi0CGOhO0
[PRESSTV] Russia says it remains determined to continue cooperating with Iran even if new US sanctions are slapped against the country.
"If new sanctions are imposed, we will continue our cooperation," Russian media quoted Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying in Moscow. "We are interested in continuing our cooperation with Iran, which is our long-term economic partner. Certainly, we need to further find the forms of cooperation to fulfill joint projects," he added.
Novak said he constantly maintains contact with Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zangeneh over issues of mutual concern.
Last month, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow and Beijing were working together with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to counter US sanctions.
Ryabkov said a special agenda had also been devised to counter Washington’s efforts to undermine a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran ‐ the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
A second rate country supporting a rock bottom country. Oh, yes, that'll be entertaining.
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.
...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...
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
Crown Prince of 
Samir Geagea
