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Over 2,000 militants fled to Turkey from Idlib: Al-Watan
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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9 21:48 trailing wife [10] 
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7 18:26 European Conservative [9] 
2 07:31 Dron66046 [5] 
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Page 3: Non-WoT
4 15:37 Fat Bob Javish1936 [4]
10 23:58 Tarzan Unilet6351 [9]
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25 21:41 trailing wife [3]
10 19:55 Frank G [5]
2 10:39 Frank G [1]
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6 17:08 swksvolFF [1]
5 14:53 Phaick Uneretle6310 [3]
9 16:32 Lex [3]
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17 16:00 Dron66046 [2]
1 02:20 Lex [7]
Page 4: Opinion
9 18:22 charger [11]
9 16:31 Bobby [2]
1 09:25 JohnQC [6]
10 18:20 Dron66046 [8]
Page 6: Politix
2 13:08 3dc [4]
7 13:10 ruprecht [4]
13 16:32 3dc [8]
11 17:30 Mike Kozlowski [6]
8 16:48 DarthVader [3]
2 02:24 Lex [4]
5 11:20 Bobby [8]
6 14:55 ruprecht [4]
-Land of the Free
Trump's Immigration Crackdown Starts to Gain Traction
[AnNahar] With a little help from the Supreme Court and Mexico, U.S. President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons......
's fitful crackdown on immigration is finally gaining traction.

Trump has spent his entire presidency promising to stop illegal immigration, shut out asylum seekers and wall off the Mexican border.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 03:17 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 4:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Foreigner entitlement organisations, not human rights.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/13/2019 5:25 Comments || Top||

#3  The language echoed his long-term characterization of Central American migrants colonists as potential rapists and gang members.

Not to be confused with the Left's characterization of America's largest ethnic population group as white supremacists. Bets on which is bigger, the number of immigrants arrested and convicted of rape and gang related crime and the number of actual (circa 1950s context) white supremacists?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/13/2019 7:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Bets on which is bigger, the number of immigrants arrested and convicted of rape and gang related crime and the number of actual (circa 1950s context) white supremacists?

Even factoring in multiple rapes, it's probably as much as a 10x difference. Look at data from Texas: thousands of illegal alien rapists booked over a 7-year period, vs probably not more than 500-600 white supremacists total in that state.

As reported by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), 251,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1st of 2011 and April 30th of 2018, according to DHS status indicators.

These criminal aliens were charged with:


More than 663,000 criminal offenses.

1,351 homicides.

7,156 sexual assaults.

9,938 weapons charges.

79,049 assaults.

18,685 burglaries.

79,900 drug charges.

815 kidnappings.

44,882 thefts.

4,292 robberies.

Nb. These numbers are only from Texas.
Additional conviction data can be found in the DOJ's report.
Posted by: Lex || 09/13/2019 11:52 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Dostum proposes 6-month plan to Govt, U.S. and NATO to defeat Taliban
[KhaamaPress] The First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
says he has proposed a 6-month plan to government, U.S. and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
for the defeat of Taliban
...Arabic for students...
in North of Afghanistan.

Gen. Dostum informed in this regard in a video message which he published ahead of the release of a movie which will depict his role in support of the U.S.-led invasion in Afghanistan in 2001.

In his video message, Gen. Dostum said he has proposed to President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. 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...
, the National Security Council, the U.S., NATO and international allies to consider his plan and implement it.

Furthermore, Gen. Dostum said his plan will not need the deployment of infantry forces of the United States and other facilities to defeat the Taliban group.

Gen. Dosum further added that the United States is facing a stalemate in the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
Gen. Dostum said he prefers a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in a decent manner and with achievements, insisting that ’We have the ability to defeat Taliban but the President, the U.S. and NATO should trust us.’

In other parts of his speech, Gen. Dostum said the purpose of his plan is not to decompose the North of Afghanistan from the other parts of the country but he wants to help the U.S. in a similar way he did in 2001 and that he wants the U.S. to withdraw from the country leaving behind a legacy of victory.

This comes as the U.S. President Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
’s administration initiated peace talks with Taliban nearly nine months ago to end the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan through political negotiations.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
President Trump called off the peace talks on Sunday following a series of deadly attacks in Kabul city which left dozens of people dead including an American soldier. The Taliban group grabbed credit for the attacks amid ongoing negotiations.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  'Defeat'? Kill. Them. All.
Posted by: Cesare || 09/13/2019 9:59 Comments || Top||

#2  The "Gentle Hand and Healing Touch™" - The Dostum Way
Posted by: Frank G || 09/13/2019 10:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Since we will leave soon anyway... UNSHACKLE Dostum...
Posted by: 3dc || 09/13/2019 17:14 Comments || Top||

#4  The "Gentle Hand and Healing Touch™" - The Dostum Way

Is exactly what Afghanistan needs. And Tamerlane would be even better.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 17:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Start with spraying the poppy fields?
Posted by: gorb || 09/13/2019 23:10 Comments || Top||


NATO allies, partners will continue to train and advise Afghan forces: Stoltenberg
[KhaamaPress] The NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said the NATO allies and partners will continue to train and advise the Afghan cops.

He made the remarks in the September 11 commemoration ceremony at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.

Stoltenberg further added "Soon after 9/11, Allies deployed to Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of troops, from Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
, Canada and beyond, have served shoulder-to-shoulder with US troops."

Furthermore, Stoltenberg said "Many have paid the ultimate price. And many more have been seriously maimed. We remember them. And we must make sure that their sacrifice was not in vain."

He also added that the fight against terrorism is a global, generational fight, emphasizing that "We remain committed to Afghanistan."

Stoltenberg said "NATO Allies and partners will continue to train and advise Afghan cops. To make them stronger, so that they can fight international terrorism and create security and stability in their own country."

In other parts of his speech, Stoltenberg said "Our military presence is there to create the conditions for peace. But the road to peace is long and hard."
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If peace was the objective Afghanistan shouldn't have been invaded in the fist place because the Taliban had brought peace and stability to a good part of the country.

This peace and stability made it possible to use Taliban-Afghanistan as a staging area for attacks on the West.

"NATO Allies and partners will continue to train and advise Afghan cops."

Afghan cops are enforcing the laws of an entity that shows a generally hostile, passive aggressive attitude towards Western nations and whose guiding and organizing principles are incompatible with even rudimentary notions of decency as defined by Western civilization.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 09/13/2019 2:44 Comments || Top||


Afghan Taliban sends warning to Trump in bitter exchange
[DAWN] The war of words between the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
and United States President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons......
escalated on Thursday as the Afghan forces of Evil warned that the US leader had failed to grasp "what type of nation he is dealing with".

The latest salvo in the bitter exchange comes a day after Trump boasted during a 9/11 anniversary ceremony that US forces have "hit our enemy harder than they have ever been hit before and that will continue" just days after peace talks between the two sides collapsed.

"Trump (@realDonaldTrump) must tread carefully," tweeted Taliban front man Zabihullah Mujahid. "He has yet to grasp the type of nation he is dealing with. His advisers must make him understand and introduce the Graveyard of Empires #Afghanistan to him."

Until this weekend, there had been steadily mounting expectations of a deal that would see the US draw down troop levels in Afghanistan.

In return, the Taliban would offer security guarantees to keep krazed killer groups out. But then on Saturday, Trump revealed on Twitter that he had cancelled an unprecedented meeting between the Taliban and himself at Camp David and later said the talks with the forces of Evil were "dead".

The Taliban front man's tweet comes just hours after the group launched a suicide kaboom that killed at least four soldiers near Kabul, as the bully boyz ramp up attacks on security forces.

The incident occurred at a special forces base in Char Asiab district just south of the capital Kabul where an murderous Moslem driving an exploding car detonated near the facility's entrance.

"Four soldiers were killed, and three injured," said interior ministry front man Nasrat Rahimi.

Afghan special forces ‐ numbering around 17,000 ‐ represent a small fraction of the 300,000 strong Afghan armed forces but have been carrying out the bulk of offensive operations across Afghanistan in recent years.

Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Britain
Altaf Hussain leaves London police station as bail extended in hate speech case
[DAWN] Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain appeared before a police station in London after he was summoned for questioning in a probe related to his alleged hate speeches relayed from the United Kingdom to his followers in Pakistan.

Hussain arrived at the Southwark police station at around 10am local time and left after nearly four-and-a-half hours, Mustafa Azizabadi of the MQM-London told Dawn.

He was allowed to leave after his bail was extended. The duration of the bail wasn't immediately known.

In June, the MQM founder was arrested from his London residence as part of the investigation into his alleged hate speeches. However, he was released on bail a day later by the British authorities without filing charges relating to the probe.

Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Erm why is he allowed to stay in the UK?

Just get him to find another country.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/13/2019 5:28 Comments || Top||

#2  England is largely seen as the parking space for moolah and for seeking refuge from governments. This sample is not as evil as the news from DAWN will paint him though.

An army reject himself, he's against Pakistain's link to talibaners, using terrorists for political gain and violation of boundaries. And he advocated democracy and equal rights for minorities in the 'Stain and non-funding of the jamaats with funds begged from the world bank.

In '92 the Nawaz Sharif govt cracked down on his MQM and hounded him out. Chiefly because he would not toe the military-mullah line and was chased away by mullahs. He was even accused of being a R&AW guy once. I don't know about his personal motives, but he usually talks sense, which is anathema to muslims (mainly Pakis) and registers in their ears as 'hate speech'. He occasionally rouses the rabble in Pakistain to rebel and protest.

The UK courts may be daft but they're thankfully not totally owned by mullahs yet, so he enjoys their protection. There have been three attempts on his life by the ISI from 2014 to 2017.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 7:31 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico 'Disagrees' with Trump Asylum Restrictions
[AnNahar] Mexico said Thursday it disagrees with President Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
's decision to restrict the right of Central Americans to seek asylum in the United States, a day after the Supreme Court allowed it to go ahead.

The U.S. high court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can declare migrants colonists ineligible for asylum if they enter the country from the southern border without first seeking asylum in one of the countries they crossed to get to there.

The decision, which stayed a lower court's temporary injunction, will be in effect while a broader case against the policy plays out in the courts.

Mexico could see asylum requests soar under the measure, which dramatically changes the rules for the thousands of Central Americans fleeing poverty and gang violence in their home countries in hopes of reaching the United States.

"Of course we disagree" with the restrictions, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told a news conference, speaking alongside President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"We have a very different policy in Mexico, and we are not going to change it. Mexico's refugee and asylum policy is a tradition here," Ebrard said.

"What we need to do is create alternatives so that people don't have to take these risks ... (because) of the lack of options" in their home countries.

Saying that U.S. migration policy was already "very tough," he called the decision "unprecedented."

"It certainly draws one's attention. But it's their decision," he added.

He said Mexican officials would hold a series of meetings Thursday to evaluate the impact for Mexico.

Opponents argue the policy violates international law by forcing people fleeing for their lives to seek refuge in countries where they may also be in danger.

Despite his comments, Ebrard sought to send an upbeat message on U.S.-Mexican relations, saying he had positive meetings in Washington Tuesday with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to review Mexico's progress in implementing a deal to reduce irregular migration.

Under the deal -- signed in June to avoid Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods -- U.S. migrant detentions on the southern border have fallen 58.7 percent.

Lopez Obrador, who spoke with Trump by phone Wednesday, said relations were "on very good terms."
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 03:17 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Translation "we don't want them"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 3:21 Comments || Top||

#2  It says America, not mexico so that's irrelevant.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/13/2019 3:51 Comments || Top||

#3  "It certainly draws one's attention. But it's their decision,"

The key statement here.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 4:05 Comments || Top||

#4  "Mexico's refugee and asylum policy is a tradition here"

La tradicion in Mexico is to shunt to El Norte all of the millions of miserable peasants whose demands for a decent and secure life have been ignored by the corrupt, brutal and incompetent Mexican elite for nearly a century.

The Mexican elite bear the most blame for this mess. They do it because
1) they're enabled by American idiot lefties and Koch Bros.-style greedheads and
2) it pays enormous dividends in the form of literally billions of repatriated dollars that help to hide the failures and economic incompetence of Mexico's governing class.

Without the repatriations of millions of illegals, Mexico's GDP growth would be significantly lower than it is.

Cynical bastards. Finally, a US president is calling them out on their BS and rank opportunism.
Posted by: Lex || 09/13/2019 9:48 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey Court Orders Release of Former Opposition Paper Journalists
[AnNahar] The top appeals court in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
ordered the release of five former journalists from the opposition Cumhuriyet daily on Thursday, including prominent cartoonist Musa Kart, their lawyer said.

The journalists had been serving sentences of close to five years for "aiding and abetting terror groups without being a member".

"After the court order, we expect the release of five former staff this evening," lawyer Tora Pekin told AFP.

The five were among 14 former Cumhuriyet staff, including journalists and executives, sentenced in 2018 and their appeals were rejected by a lower appeals court earlier this year.

They were accused of supporting, through their coverage, three organizations that Turkey views as terrorist groups -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the ultra-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, and the Gulen movement blamed for the 2016 failed coup.

The case has sparked criticism over the state of press freedom in Turkey. Cumhuriyet, the country's oldest daily founded in 1924, is a rare Ottoman Turkish paper that is not in the hands of a business tycoon, but by an independent foundation.

The daily has often had troubles with government authorities, with its former editor-in-chief Can Dundar fleeing to Germany after being convicted in 2016 over an article alleging that Turkey had supplied weapons to Islamist groups in Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 01:25 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Turkey Acquits Austrian Student on Terror Charge
[AnNahar] An Austrian student and journalist charged with membership of a leftist terrorist group in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
has been acquitted, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Max Zirngast,
...a Communist journalist who just happens to be a friend of the Kurds — the PKK, to be exact...
who wrote for international publications including a far-left German magazine, was arrested exactly a year ago, accused of links to the outlawed Ottoman Turkish Communist Party (TKP)/Kivilcim group.

The 30-year-old was also a political science masters student at Middle East Technical University in Ankara at the time of his arrest.
Why would an Austrian study PoliSci in Turkey instead of back home?
He had defended himself in Ottoman Turkish at the last hearing in April.

"A verdict was received that Max did not take part in any illegal activity or any activity constituting a crime," his lawyer Murat Yilmaz told AFP.

He said two Ottoman Turkish citizens, Mithatcan Turetken and Hatice Goz, who were arrested along with Zirngast, were also acquitted.

Zirngast had been free pending the latest hearing on Wednesday but had been barred from leaving Turkey.

He rejected the charges and denied the TKP/Kivilcim group even exists.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post last year, Zirngast wrote that his arrest was "a perverse confirmation of the authoritarianism I've spent the past several years chronicling and opposing".

He also criticised the attempt to "silence the entire democratic opposition in Ankara".

Zirngast had also published articles on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Ottoman Turkish state since 1984 and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 01:24 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
Prosecution seeks forensic audit of laptop of blasphemy accused Junaid Hafeez
[DAWN] The Prosecution on Wednesday filed three different applications in a blasphemy
...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran...
case against a lecturer and requested the trial court to summon Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) expert and sought permission to get forensic examination of a laptop and a cell phone belonging to the accused.

A Bahauddin Zakariya University visiting lecturer, Junaid Hafeez, was booked on blasphemy charges and was arrested by police on March 13, 2013. The trial of the case started in 2014.

The defence counsel had already completed the cross examination of the witnesses presented by the prosecution.

On Wednesday, the court was supposed to record statement of the accused under section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
the prosecution filed three new applications, including the one for sending laptop and mobile phone recovered from the accused at the time of his arrest in 2013, another for de-exhibition of some documents and the application filed under section 540 of the CrPC, along with section 94 of the CrPC, for summoning an expert working for the PFSA who prepared a report on the evidence gathered by police.

The defence counsel also submitted an application requesting the court to hold the trial proceedings on a daily basis.

The court sought arguments both from prosecution and defence sides on Sept 25 and adjourned the hearing.

Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Iraq-Saudi border crossing to reopen after nearly 30 years
[Rudaw] An Iraq-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...
border crossing is set to reopen after nearly three decades of closure, Iraq’s border crossing department announced on Thursday.

A meeting held between Iraqi and Saudi border authorities at the Arar crossing set October 15 as a test period for its reopening, a department statement said.

Anbar provincial council member Amira Odaie spoke to Rudaw on Thursday about the meeting.

"Early on Thursday morning, Iraq’s border crossing department met with their Saudi Arabian counterparts to discuss the opening of Arar crossing border, in order to boost trades and tourism between the two countries," Odaie said.

Opening the Arar crossing will also provide job opportunities to Anbar province’s young people currently suffering from high rates of unemployment, she added.

Arar crossing closed back in 1991, when relations between the two countries deteriorated after then-president Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Iraq-Saudi relations were further damaged under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s tenure.

Rapprochement between the two began in 2015, when Saudi Arabia reopened their Baghdad embassy after 25 years of closure.

A Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council was established in October 2017 with the aim of strengthening relations between the two countries.

Vying for influence in the country over regional rival Iran, Saudi Arabia opened a consulate in Baghdad in April 2019 after a visit from a 100-person Saudi delegation, including nine ministers. Riyadh pledged $1.5 billion in loans to Iraq during the trip.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi visited Saudi Arabia later that month, when the two countries signed 13 deals in the fields of political consultation, investment promotion and protection, agriculture, energy, electricity, and higher education.

The Arar border crossing currently opens once a year, to allow Iraqi pilgrims to enter Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic rite of Hajj.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Trump Says He Does Not Believe Israelis Are Spying On The U.S.
[Jpost] Israeli officials are strongly denying allegations that Israel planted surveillance devices in the proximity of the White House.

US President Donald Trump
...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election...
said on Thursday he does not believe Israel is spying on the United States after a published report said Israel was most likely behind cellphone surveillance devices found near the White House and elsewhere in Washington.

Politico reported the miniature surveillance devices, colloquially known as "StingRays," were discovered and that they were most likely linked to the Israelis. Israel has denied the report.

Israeli officials are strongly denying allegations that Israel planted surveillance devices in the proximity of the White House and in other sensitive locations in Washington, as was reported by Politico on Thursday.

"A blatant lie," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. "There is a longstanding commitment, and a directive from the Israeli government, not to engage in any intelligence operations in the US. This directive is strictly enforced without exception."

Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who is also intelligence minister, also categorically denied the report.

"Israel does not conduct any spying operation in the US," he said in a statement. "The US and Israel share a great deal of intelligence information and act together to prevent threats and to strengthen the security of both countries.”

Israeli Officials Deny The Country Is Spying On Donald Trump - Report

[Jpost] Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, the executive director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies and former head of IDF Military Intelligence claimed that "Nobody is going to invest intelligence resources in a country where you can make a phone call to its president. I regard this as fake news."

According to Politico, a US government investigation concluded that Israel was behind several devices that were uncovered in the past two years, most likely aimed at spying on US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
, his closest circle and other government officials.

The American paper added that the FBI and other agencies working on the case believe that Israel is to be blamed because of the high level of know-how and budget needed for the operation.

"You can often, depending upon the tradecraft of the people who put them in place, figure out who's been accessing them to pull the data off the devices," a former senior US intelligence official told Politico.

"It was pretty clear that the Israelis were responsible," another former senior intelligence official said.

According to the paper, a number of so-called "StingRays" were found in DC. StingRays are phone trackers designed to track phones even when they are not being used to make a call.

The report added that the Trump administration chose not to hold the Israeli government accountable.

"The reaction... was very different than it would have been in the last administration," an official told Politico. "With the current administration, there are a different set of calculations in regard to addressing this."

Related: The Times of Israel has perspective.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 05:29 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  *cough* Jonathan Pollard *cough* to the courtesy phone.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/13/2019 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  This is the Politico story that started this shit. They claim three top officials from HS and the white house are their sources.

I say investigate this claim, subpoena these sources and have them explain why they're declaring sensitive information to hacks. Then prosecute Politico and set precedent for MSM bribing officials for the two-way flow of biased information to create news.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 7:56 Comments || Top||

#3  The origin of the rumor is Gantz's election advisor
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 09/13/2019 9:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Doesn't everyone spy on everyone?
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/13/2019 10:03 Comments || Top||

#5  There's an old saying that goes, "Gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail."
It's attributed to President Herbert Hoover's Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson, who in 1929 shut down the office in the U.S. State Department responsible for breaking codes to read messages sent between embassies of other countries and their capitals.


Then December 7th happens. We were reading it but no one made an effort (See - Flash Override) to act on it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/13/2019 10:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Of course we spy on you - if only to know that you learned by spying on us.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 10:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Yawn. Dog bites man.
Posted by: Lex || 09/13/2019 11:36 Comments || Top||

#8  But not in this particular case - that effort is just plain stupid. You'd do better to look to these who spied on Trump before. And I don't mean Russians.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 11:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Mark Levin on Hannity last night nailed it. Gantz advisor from Obama camp and former Obama era intel appointees in last minute dirty tricks. Quite a rant.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 09/13/2019 12:36 Comments || Top||

#10  #5 Eventually we did get the NSA out of that defunct State Dept program for all the good it's done us (9/11).
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 09/13/2019 12:49 Comments || Top||

#11  For banning the 'Squad' the left is trying to demonize Israel.
Posted by: Phaick Uneretle6310 || 09/13/2019 15:17 Comments || Top||

#12  I thought they were FBI Stingrays in DC gathering points.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/13/2019 15:39 Comments || Top||

#13  Polite or naive?

I'll go with polite.
Posted by: charger || 09/13/2019 18:16 Comments || Top||


UN slams Israeli leader's annexation vow
Of course they did. Also everything else Israel has ever done.
[DAWN] A front man for United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
Secretary-General António Guterres said the Israeli leader's vow to annex the Jordan Valley would be a "serious violation of international law".

The particularly strong rebuke from the world body follows a chorus of criticism against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his promise to annex the area if he wins re-election next week.
Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: PLO

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 2:46 Comments || Top||

#2  And in other breaking news....water is still wet and bears do $hit in the woods.
Posted by: AlanC || 09/13/2019 6:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Wars have consequences. The UN seems to have forgot its own origin.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/13/2019 7:16 Comments || Top||

#4  The UN stopped being relevant and useful around late 1949
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/13/2019 9:07 Comments || Top||

#5  "Mr. Guterres, meet my friend, Foad ..."

F-O[ff]-A[nd]-D[ie]
Posted by: Lex || 09/13/2019 9:39 Comments || Top||

#6  "International Law, you keep using that term. I don't think it means what you think it means."
...another time where life imitates The Princess Bride.
Posted by: magpie || 09/13/2019 18:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Guterres proclaimed in the UN, "there is no communalism in India".

Everybody should have realized right then that he was either an idiot or a liar.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 18:26 Comments || Top||

#8  And a hundred years ago "International Law" allowed you could total freedom to oppress, pillage and murder Third World Countries as long as you only did it in your "Sphere of Influence".
Posted by: magpie || 09/13/2019 18:26 Comments || Top||


'You will never break our will': Palestinians react to Netanyahu's annexation pledge
[DAWN] Palestinians tilling the fertile Jordan Valley said on Wednesday they have been rooted for generations to the West Bank land that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to annex, and they vowed never to give it up.

“We tell Netanyahu, and whoever follows him, you will not break the Palestinians' will, you will never break our will, never, never,” said Hassan Al-Abedi, a 55-year-old farmer who lives in the village of Jiftlik.

“It's our parents' and grandparents' land. We will hold onto it no matter what it costs.”

The right-wing Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he plans to "apply Israeli sovereignty" to the Jordan Valley and adjacent northern Dead Sea if he prevails in what is shaping up as a tough battle for re-election on September 17.

The plan drew condemnation from Arab leaders and from Palestinians, who seek to establish a state in all of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The office of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the plan "would constitute a serious violation of international law". Palestinian leaders said it would also effectively nullify interim peace deals from the 1990s that included security cooperation.

Against the backdrop of Jordan's desert mountain range to the east, Palestinian farmers tended their crops and worried about their future in an area where the town of Jericho and the River Jordan are reminders of a biblical past.

“This is not Netanyahu's land to give,” said Ismael Hassan, a 75-year-old Palestinian from Zbeidat village. “Whether or not Netanyahu succeeds (in the election) we won't accept it. This land is for Palestine, for the Palestinians.”

Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: PLO

#1  "We will never give up on stealing, raping, and killing!"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 3:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Ha ! We don't want to break your will. GawD knows that's impossible. We'll just make it impossible for you to use it.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 3:59 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and make you live on your own dime, not others.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/13/2019 7:15 Comments || Top||

#4  and make you live on your own dime, not others

That's genocide, that is.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 11:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Mossad should spread rumors that the waters in the Palestinian areas cause gayness and infertility. The Pals will readily bleieve the Jews pulled off some weird miracle/war crime and will move out of the area into Egypt and Jordan.
Posted by: ruprecht || 09/13/2019 14:57 Comments || Top||

#6  I think the UN will fly in thousands of gallons of gatorade for them instead.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 15:16 Comments || Top||

#7  And in the caves in the mountain
Thousands of suns shine -
We will once again descend to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho!
Posted by: European Conservative || 09/13/2019 18:26 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
New sanctions could extend to allies of Hezbollah in Lebanon: US envoy
[AlAhram] Future US sanctions could target allies of Hezbollah in Leb, extending beyond direct affiliates of the Iran-backed Shia Moslem group, a US envoy said on Thursday.

"In the future we will designate, because we have to, individuals in Leb who are aiding and assisting Hezbollah, regardless of their sect or religion," the new US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Schenker said in an interview with Leb's LBCI television.

When asked by the interviewer if this means sanctions will target allies of Hezbollah, Schenker said "absolutely", adding that the United States is constantly reviewing its sanctions lists.

The proposed targeting of allies of Hezbollah has been a sensitive subject for Leb in the past.

In 2017 a draft copy of proposed, tighter US sanctions on Hezbollah caused disquiet in Leb because the wording, seen by Rooters, implied the legislation could target the Shia Amal movement of parliament speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
sock puppet...

for investigation.

Leb's Maronite Christian President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
is also a political ally of Hezbollah.

Targeting both Amal and Hezbollah and their associates - the two parties representing Leb's Shia population - risked marginalising a large section of society, banking and political sources said at the time.

The legislation that was eventually enacted did not mention the phrase "Hezbollah, Amal, or other associated entities" as contained in the draft section on who would be the focus of the regulations.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 05:29 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Western Couple Travel to Middle East to Prove It ‘Gets a Bad Rap' ‐ End Up in Iranian Prison
h/t Instapundit
A blogger couple who traveled from Australia to Asia and the Middle East in an attempt to "break the stigma" surrounding developing countries was reportedly arrested in Iran.

The duo were recently identified as Jolie King and Mark Firkin, the BBC reported on Thursday. Although the couple was arrested 10 weeks ago near Tehran, it wasn’t until Wednesday that the news became known.
Stupidity is not a crime, but it is a capital offense - old Russian saying
We now have names for this story from a few days ago.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 01:37 || Comments || Link || [17 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  from Darwin?
Posted by: Lex || 09/13/2019 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  ^LOL
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 1:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Iranian local news :

Tehran - A spy ring composed of one man and an overexposed woman were detained by authorities. Australian agencies attempting to show Iran in a bad light seem to have inserted the team, posing as an indecent, selfie snapping couple. Items confiscated from them included plastic cases full of dung beetles, expensive bottled water, foreign beer cans with lewd kangaroo pictures, cameras and chewing gum.

Reportedly, their aim was to depict Iran as a 'tourist destination', lax on discipline and total sissies like their own governments.

/sarc
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 3:54 Comments || Top||

#4  I hope no one tries too hard to get these two out.

West is better off
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/13/2019 4:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Now they're a bargaining chip for Iran to use. Let them rot in jail. Westerners keep doing this stupid shit, going to North Korea, Turkey, the Stans, you name it. Search for Pippa Becca who did the same thing, going to prove that the world is a nice place.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 09/13/2019 10:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Apparently they were caught flying a drone, making videos, encamped near an IRGC cantonment.

The stoopid meter is in the red. I don't think they'll go back home any time soon.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 12:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Is it possible to have the next Democratic debate in Tehran?
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 09/13/2019 13:06 Comments || Top||

#8  See Erb, was that so hard?
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/13/2019 15:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Mark Firkin,
Firkin idiot I'd say.
Posted by: Classer || 09/13/2019 18:10 Comments || Top||


Poll: Most Americans don’t want their troops to leave Syria
[Rudaw] While most Americans are opposed to their government’s military interventions in the Middle East, more than half of Americans want to keep or increase the US military presence in Syria, according to a poll published by a prominent think tank Monday.

In a report entitled "Rejecting Retreat," the reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
Council on Global Affairs published the results of a poll showing 56 percent of Americans are in favor of maintaining or expanding the US military presence in the Moslem-majority country. The US military is in northern Syria as part of the international coalition to defeat the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Polls - the prime example of fake news.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/13/2019 7:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Why, because they'll come back as heroes ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 7:59 Comments || Top||

#3  But why would democrats say this ? I don't understand.

Of course the ISIS is beat down, but more can be done, like strengthening the Kurdish peshmerga.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/13/2019 8:02 Comments || Top||

#4  The same group who said: "Poll: Majorities of Americans Support TPP, Say Trade is Good for US Economy." According to fake polls, Trump was said to be going to lose in 2016 but won. He was against TPP. He mentioned this often in his rallies. It appears that the Chicago Council on Global Affairs is an organ for getting out Dem policy talking points.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/13/2019 10:01 Comments || Top||

#5  A poll from the Chicago Council on Global, internals unknown, supports this. A bio on the President of the Council Ivo H. Daalder:
In 1995–1997, Daalder served as a director for European Affairs on the National Security Council staff under President Bill Clinton, where he was responsible for coordinating U.S. policy toward Bosnia.

Daalder was U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO in February 2011 when the Libyan Civil War began with uprisings against Muammar Gaddafi in several cities, followed by a military crackdown by the Gaddafi regime. (...) Daalder then led U.S. efforts to persuade NATO to take over command and control of the operation.

A globalist "interventionist" (dare we say neocon?) and Deep State Denizen?
Posted by: magpie || 09/13/2019 10:02 Comments || Top||

#6  ISIS has been defeated. Time to get out. No to globalism. The USA is not the world's police. The entire Middle East isn't worth a single American's life. And if you think it is, grab a rifle and get out there.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 09/13/2019 10:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Didn't realize most Americans owned troops.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 11:53 Comments || Top||

#8  As long as they can get R&R in Tel Aviv!
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/13/2019 16:47 Comments || Top||

#9  ISIS has been defeated.

ISIS has changed tactics, returning to guerrilla warfare instead of ruling vast tracts of territory. Not at all the same thing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 21:48 Comments || Top||


US slams Iran for ‘web of lies’ over oil delivery to Syria
[ALMASDARNEWS] The U.S. State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus slammed the Iranian government to news hounds on Thursday after she was asked about their recent delivery of oil to Syria.

"I think the importance here to our friends around the world in the international community is to note that once again you have been lied to and misled by the Iranian regime," Ortagus told news hounds.

In regards to the Adrian Darya 1’s (formerly Grace 1) departure from Gibraltar in mid-August, Ortagus said Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
blatantly lied about the ship’s destination in order to deliver the oil to the Syrian coast.

"The Iranian regime broke its word and appears intent on fueling the Assad regime’s brutality against the Syrian people, who continue to face widespread violence, death and destruction," Ortagus stated.

"This fits into the web of lies perpetrated by the Iranian regime for 40 years," she said.

"Their deception and broken promises are not just aimed at the international community but the Iranian people, too," she added.

Posted by: Fred || 09/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Terror Networks
U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Four Members of Hizbullah
[AnNahar] The United States Department of the Treasury issued new sanctions against four members of Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
, a statement issued by the State Department said Thursday.

It said that US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
has signed on Tuesday an executive order "modernizing sanctions to combat terrorism."

It announced a wide range of new terrorist designations against leaders or operatives of organizations with close ties to Tehran, among them Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hizbullah.

The US also designated leaders of groups within the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
and al-Qaeda, and the operational arm of Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,.

Hizbullah senior members subject to sanctions were named as follows: Ali Karaki, Mohammed Haider, Fouad Shokr and Ibrahim Aqil.

According to the U.S. statement, Karaki is a leader of Hizbullah’s Jihad Group and is responsible for military operations within southern Leb.

Aqil is a senior member of "Jihad Group" and is responsible for Hizbullah’s military operations.

Mohammed Haider, it said, runs Hizbullah’s networks outside Leb, while Fouad Shokr is "the supervisor of Hizbullah’s weapons and missile units in Syria, and is the military adviser close to Hizbullah leader Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
," according to the US statement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/13/2019 05:29 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Israel also imposes sanctions on members of Hizbullah - the Loo Sanction.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/13/2019 10:43 Comments || Top||

#2  What do they care about sanctions they're terrorists. The best kind of sanction is one through the brain pan.
Posted by: jpal || 09/13/2019 11:29 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2019-09-13
  Over 2,000 militants fled to Turkey from Idlib: Al-Watan
Thu 2019-09-12
  Illegal Alien Sentenced to Six Years for Having Enough Fentanyl to Kill Half a Million Americans
Wed 2019-09-11
  18 Years Ago...
Tue 2019-09-10
  Bolton FIRED!
Mon 2019-09-09
  Inner Harbor buildings evacuated in downtown Baltimore after vehicle found with 1,000 gallons of gasoline
Sun 2019-09-08
  Pakistan denies Indian president's request to use its airspace for overflight
Sat 2019-09-07
  Taliban loses deputy intelligence chief, dozens of militants in Farah city clash
Fri 2019-09-06
  Comrade Robert ''Bob'' Mugabe Finally Croaks at 95
Thu 2019-09-05
  Arrested Terrorist Admits Being Pak National, Says Many Waiting At Launching Pads
Wed 2019-09-04
  Libya's Coast Guard rescues over 100 migrants off the coast of Sabratha
Tue 2019-09-03
   Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen rebel-run prison kill over 100
Mon 2019-09-02
  Haftar's forces strike Murzuq in southern Libya
Sun 2019-09-01
  Live blog at this link on IDF vs Hezbollah current battle.
Sat 2019-08-31
  Islamic State claims suicide bomb attack on separatist fighters in Yemen's Aden
Fri 2019-08-30
  28 Taliban militants killed, wounded in Balkh operations


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