[PRESSTV] The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... says an "unprecedented" number of non-combatants were killed or injured in the third quarter of 2019 across violence-wracked Afghanistan, calling the violence "totally unacceptable."
In a new report released Thursday, the United Nations said 1,174 people were killed and another 3,139 maimed from July to September this year.
July alone saw more casualties than in any other month on record since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) began documenting the violence in 2009, it noted.
The figures represent a 42 percent increase over the same time period last year.
The first six months of the year had seen casualties drop somewhat compared to previous years.
The UN recorded 8,239 civilian casualties in total in the first nine months of 2019 -- 2,563 killed and 5,676 injured. Some 41 percent of them were women and kiddies, UNAMA said.
The report laid most of the blame for the spike at the feet of "anti-government elements" such as the Taliban ...Arabic for students... Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN's special representative for Afghanistan, said "civilian casualties are totally unacceptable."
"Civilian casualties at record-high levels clearly show the need for all parties concerned to pay much more attention to protecting the civilian population," said Yamamoto.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11135 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Victory is right around the corner! Year 18 going on 19, and it's going to be a doozy!
But hey, I heard on Rantburg that if they're goat herders, it's OK to kill them with smart bombs. Because their lives are worth nothing. To hell with the inherent dignity of all life.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/18/2019 13:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The [UN] report laid most of the blame for the spike at the feet of "anti-government elements" such as the Taliban
That says to me that your quarrel is with the Taliban’s lack of respect for goat herders, Herb. Go argue with them.
Also, if we want to protect the lives and inherent dignity of Afghan goat herders, it is necessary to kill as many Taliban as possible as quickly as we can manage. Dumb bombs are better than smart bombs for that purpose. Arc lights are better still.
I'm willing to honor the inherent dignity of life... just as long as said life isn't trying to kill me. But without that reciprocity, all bets are off. Garçon, more Arclight for my friends!
Residents of Tarhuna city held a funeral prayer today for 14 pro-Haftar gunmen killed in south #Tripoli clashes yesterday against government forces pic.twitter.com/kYHd7ERhEQ
[Libya Observer] The Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj has confirmed that his government has submitted a complaint to Moscow about Russian mercenaries fighting alongside Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... 's forces that are leading an offensive against Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... Speaking on La Belle France 24 Channel on Wednesday, al-Sarraj said his government officials talked to Russian officials about the mercenaries and that his government trusts Moscow's role in Libya's stability.
He also denied that there are any mercenaries fighting alongside Libyan Army forces, saying: "We haven't used mercenaries. We defend ourselves with youths and regular army units."
"Our forces have detained African mercenaries fighting for Haftar's forces and belongings of Russian mercenaries as well." He added.
Al-Sarraj called on the international community and United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... to have a firm stance against the crimes committed by Haftar, saying his government is documenting all the crimes to file them at local and international organizations to hold the perpetrators accountable.
[AFRICANEWS] Nigeria’s government is under pressure to take urgent action against schools that are abusing children in the name of religion.
Over the last one month, police have conducted three raids on Islamic schools in the northern part of the country, where men and boys were chained to walls, molested and beaten, according to police sources.
The total number of people who have been freed from abusive conditions in these schools is nearly topping 1000.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who in June this year, said Islamic schools called Almajiris, would eventually be banned, is now under pressure to act.
THE POLICE RAIDS Last month, more than 300 boys and men were rescued in a raid on a building in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna. The two-storey house had a sign in Arabic at the entrance declaring itself "House of Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal for the Application of Islamic Teachings".
This week on Monday, a police raid on school in the Daura area of Katsina, Buhari’s hometown, freed nearly 300 boys and med. Police said they discovered "inhuman and degrading treatment".
On Wednesday, police freed about 500 men and boys in yet another raid on an Islamic school in northern Nigeria. Sources from the operation mounted by Katsina police and federal police from Abuja, told Rooters that not all of the 500 students had been mistreated.
GOVERNMENT REACTION Islamic schools, called Almajiris, are common in the mostly Moslem north of Nigeria. Moslem Rights Concern, a local organization, estimates about 10 million children attend them.
"Mr. President has directed the police to disband all such centres and all the inmates be handed over to their parents," a presidential front man said on Tuesday.
"The government cannot allow centres where people, male and female, are maltreated in the name of religion," he said.
Over the 3 raids, police have arrested at least 16 people including the proprietors and staff at these facilities.
Police is also working to reunite the freed members with their families, while many were taken to hospital for treatment.
"The inmates are actually from different parts of the country ‐ Kano, Taraba, Adamawa and Plateau States," police superintendent Isah Gambo told Rooters.
"Some of them are not even Nigerians. They come from Niger, Chad and even Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... and other countries."
[SANA.SY] Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Thursday affirmed the necessity of adopting joint measures by the EU against the Ottoman Turkish regime for stopping its aggression on the Syrian territories.
Babis said that during the Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an summit which will be held on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, he will suggest taking such measures in response to the demand of the Czech Chamber of Deputies in this regard.
Head of the Czech Parliamentary Group for Friendship with Syria Stanislav Grospic, for his part, reiterated his condemnation of the Ottoman Turkish offensive which "represents a crime against humanity and an outrageous violation of the international law."
Grospic, in a statement to SANA news hound in Prague, said that the Ottoman Turkish aggression comes in a time when the Syrian Arab Army is achieving victory over terrorism in an attempt to prolong the crisis and to delay the defeat of terrorist organizations and their backers.
One most sincerely hopes they can’t, but one feels cynicism flowing in through the cracks.
[DW] Pakistain has taken some steps to avoid the Financial Action Task Force's "black list," but experts say the country lacks a long-term strategy to deal with the terrorism issue. Shamil Shams reports from Gay Paree.
Earlier this month, Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality disorders... urged Kashmiri protesters not to cross the border between Pakistain- and India-administered Kashmir
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/18/2019 01:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Pakistan views the use of terror as a fundamental principle of its existence. They think that if they stopped funding terror, India would invade and, lacking any strategic depth, conquer and annex them. Thus the pure Islamic nation would cease to exist.
They'd rather die than stop terrorism.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/18/2019 9:06 Comments ||
Top||
#2
^ Quite right. P-A-K-I-stan = a bullshit nation
#4
Pakistan has taken some steps to avoid the Financial Action Task Force's "black list," but experts say the country lacks a long-term strategy to deal with the terrorism issue.
Their long term strategy regarding terrorism is to support it. It's worked so well for them up til now.
[PRESSTV] 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... Relief and Works Agency for Paleostine Refugees in the Near East ‐ the UNRWA - has signed an agreement with La Belle France and the French Development Agency. The French-funded project "WAHET"- will improve water access, health and education for Paleostinian refugees in Leb.
The French ambassador to Leb says in the face of the unprecedented crisis caused by the US withdrawal of funds, other states will shoulder the responsibility and should work towards renewing the mandate of the UNRWA.
Paleostinian children also expressed their content with the proposed project.
Paleostinian refugees have been living in dire humanitarian crisis since their expulsion from Paleostine by Israeli murderous Moslem forces in 1948. Now, hundreds of thousands are spread across 12 camps.
After the US cut funds to UNRWA, other countries found it necessary to increase their support for Paleostinian refugees. Projects like the one signed today could help provide some educational and health reliefs for 12 Paleostinian camps in Leb.
[IsraelTimes] Officials say groups decided to join state security forces without prior coordination to assist PM Abdul Mahdi.
Iran-backed militias deployed snipers to help Iraqi security forces quell a deadly wave of anti-government protests earlier this month that left over 100 people dead, Rooters reported Thursday.
Iraqi security officials said the militia leaders, who sometimes work in tandem with state security forces, decided on their own to assist Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, whose unwieldy government is propped up with the help of the Tehran-aligned groups.
"We have confirmed evidence that the snipers were elements of militias reporting directly to their commander instead of the chief commander of the armed forces," one of the Iraqi security officials told Rooters. "They belong to a group that is very close to the Iranians."
Another security official said the militias deployed snipers to rooftops in Baghdad on the third day of the protests, when the corpse count jumped from half a dozen protesters to over 50.
The source said the orders were given by the leader of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a powerful network of mostly-Shiite, pro-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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... paramilitary units operating inside Iraq. He said Hashed leader Abu Zainab al-Lami was tasked with helping quash the protests by "other senior militia commanders."
A spokesperson for the Hashed on Thursday denied any of the Shiite militias took part in the bloody protests.
"No members were present in the protest areas. None of the elements of the Hashid took part in confronting protesters," the spokesperson told Rooters.
Iraq was gripped by anti-government protests between October 1 and 6, during which 110 people, mainly demonstrators, were killed in festivities with the security forces.
Abdel Mahdi has promised to address protesters’ demands. But the 77-year-old premier began his tenure last year facing a raft of accumulated challenges, including high unemployment, widespread corruption, dilapidated public services and poor security, and he has told protesters there is no "magic solution for all that."
The protests, when they started, quickly spread from Baghdad to the Shiite heartland in the south, including the flashpoint city of Basra. The government imposed a round-the-clock curfew and shut down the internet for days, in a desperate attempt to quell the protests.
The massive crackdown appears to have succeeded in whittling down the number of protesters for now, although sporadic festivities between demonstrators and security forces continue on a smaller scale, including an hours-long shootout last week near the volatile Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City.
Even before this latest wave of unrest, Abdel Mahdi headed an unwieldy government. His coalition includes Shiite populist holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... ‐ who won the most seats in the last parliamentary elections ‐ and Fatah, the political arm of Hashed.
As protests peaked last week, Sadr called for the government he helped form to resign, while the Hashed took the opposite position, saying it was ready to crush the "conspiracy" aiming to bring down the government.
Since then state institutions have been paralyzed by division, effectively preventing concrete responses to protester demands for jobs, services and ending corruption.
[PRESSTV] A Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,front man has accused some Arab states of rushing to normalize relations with Israel, which is engaged in stoking anti-Moslem sentiment and desecrating Moslem sacred sites.
Hamas front man Hazem Qasem said Thursday the Arab states are desperately attempting to advance ties with Tel Aviv at a time when the Israelis are hurting the religious sentiments of the Paleostinian people and Moslems. "Which only we represent!"
He went onto say that a series of recent mass break-ins into the al-Aqsa Mosque by hundreds of Death Eater Jewish settlers reflected "utter contempt for the feelings of the Arab and Moslem nations around the world."
The front man also said an unconditional support by the administration of US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... has emboldened Israel to violate Paleostinian rights in keeping with its occupation agenda in the region.
The front man stressed that the Paleostinian people, however, would continue to protect holy sites and uphold their struggle until the removal of the occupation from their entire land.
Senior Hamas leaders, in recent months, have repeatedly said moves by certain Arab regimes to normalize relations with Israel constitute a "stab in the back" of the Paleostinian people and their cause.
Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... , the head of the Hamas political bureau, earlier strongly condemned the US-led conference in Bahrain in support of President Donald Trump’s controversial "deal of the century," saying it amounted to Arab "normalization" of ties with Israel.
Looks a lot like several Rooters articles.
[Moscow Times] Russia called Turkey's military incursion into northeast Syria "unacceptable" and said on Tuesday the operation had to be limited in time and scale, a rare broadside that suggests Moscow's patience with Ankara is wearing thin.
In Russia's strongest criticism since Turkey launched its military operation last week, President Vladimir Putin's envoy for Syria indicated Moscow wanted Ankara to wrap up its offensive soon.
"We didn't agree with the Turks any questions about their presence in Syria and we don't approve of their actions," envoy Alexander Lavrentiev told reporters in Abu Dhabi during an official visit there by Putin.
He said Turkish troops had the right under an agreement struck between Damascus and Ankara in 1998, the Adana pact, to temporarily push up to a maximum of 10 kilometers (6 miles) into Syria to conduct counter-terrorism operations. No sanctuary for the PKK.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/18/2019 08:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Think those S-400's will work against Russian airstrikes? Me neither
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/18/2019 11:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Kinda reminds one of Germany and the USSR dividing up Poland in 1939.
[PRESSTV] The Syrian government has strongly condemned the ongoing ground offensive by Ottoman Turkish soldiers and allied Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... turbans against Kurdish forces in the northern part of the war-battered Arab country, saying the military operation has its roots in the "expansionist ambitions and illusions" of Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, 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. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... 's administration.
"Despite widespread international condemnation, Erdogan’s regime still insists on its naked aggression towards Syria, and wreaks death and destruction through gross violation of all international regulations and principles in a way that clearly exposes the real face of Erdogan’s fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... regime," an unnamed official source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates told Syria’s official news agency SANA in a statement on Thursday.
The source added, "This treacherous Ottoman Turkish aggression is the outcome of the expansionist ambitions and illusions of Erdogan’s regime, and it affirms that the regime is classified among terrorist groups to which it has provided all forms of support. The offensive deals a heavy blow to the efforts aimed at finding a solution to the crisis in Syria. It makes, therefore, the Ottoman Turkish regime lose its position as a guarantor of the Astana grinding of the peace processor as its aggression completely contradicts the principles and decisions of the process."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11133 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Is the Assad government really willing to give up sovereignty of a large slice of its northern border to Turkey?
Is Turkey going to be allowed to occupy this slice?
I have my doubts on the willingness of the US the Eurpeans, the Russians the Kurds and the Assad government to permit this.
Posted by: Daniel ||
10/18/2019 11:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What's Assad (and Putin) think about Kurdistan?
#3
After Turkey's foray, 1974 to the present day, into Cyprus and establishing the quisling "Republic of Northern Cyprus" that only the Turks recognize... Does anyone think that Sultan Erdogan will give up what he has taken?
#5
I wouldn't bet on Erdogan giving anything up. I also wouldn't bet on him being able to keep it, considering that he seems about as incompetent as a dictator can get. He is openly delusional when it comes to economics, seeming to think that merely shouting louder will change everything (kinda like Bernie Sanders actually) and has destroyed his own military for political reasons while alienating more and more of his own citizens. That doesn't spell "renewed empire" so much as "brand-new regional basket case".
[PRESSTV] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... says the Damascus government will respond through all legitimate means available to the ongoing ground offensive by Ottoman Turkish soldiers and allied Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... turbans against Kurdish forces in the northern part of the war-battered Arab country.
During a meeting with visiting Iraqi National Security Advisor Falih al-Fayyadh in Damascus on Thursday, Assad said foreign schemes in the Middle East region have been foiled throughout history, and the Ottoman Turkish criminal aggression, launched by President His Enormity, 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. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... ’s administration, on Syria falls within such plots.
"No matter what false slogans could be made up for the Ottoman Turkish offensive, it is a flagrant invasion and aggression. Syria has frequently hit (Ottoman Turkish-backed) proxies and gunnies in more than one place. Syria will respond to the assault and confront it anywhere within the Syrian territory through all legitimate means available," the Syrian leader said.
And how, pray tell, do they plan to get that large sum of money?
[PRESSTV] Iran’s minister of industries and trade says the country will spend nearly 300 million euros to build 200 large vessels as an ailing shipbuilding sector keeps growing only because foreign companies avoid offering services to the country due to the American sanctions.
"We have defined a target for construction of 200 cargo vessels as part of the development plan for maritime industries," said Reza Rahmani on Thursday, adding, "Some €300 million will be invested in this field."
1.5 million per ship implies small ships
How small?
Speaking to news hounds in the southwestern port city of Bushehr, Rahmani said shipyards in the region and other coasts south and north of the country had been experiencing a boom in activity since last year when the US imposed its sanctions on Iran.
"Our ships and vessels no longer sail abroad for repair and restoration," said the minister, adding that shipyards in 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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... had carried out more than 100 maintenance operations on vessels in various sizes since March 2019.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
1.5 million per ship implies small ships
How small?
200 yachts for the ruling class. They will be smuggling ayatollahs and liquor via Dubai.
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.