#2
Moved to the top of Page 1 and set as the headline. Thank you, Besoeker — we celebrate in the tradition of Mr, Wife’s family on Christmas Eve, so I’ve just poked my head in to get a sense of the world before cooking and all that. I promise to be more useful here tomorrow.
May you all have a wonderful, love-filled Christmas, whether you believe or not!
[ToloNews] Local officials blames the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... but no group has grabbed credit.
At least three people were killed and seven others were maimed in a kaboom at a funeral ceremony in Laghman ...Afghan province with a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a repution for great wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
After that it was mostly notable for the production of dirt, rocks, and holy men... province on Monday morning, said Asadullah Dawlatzai, a front man for the provincial governor.
The incident happened around 10:30 am local time while the victims were attending a funeral ceremony of a tribal elder and a kaboom occurred, Dawlatzai said.
The victims have been taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, he said.
No group has grabbed credit for the attack.
[ToloNews] A US service member was "killed in action" on Monday in Afghanistan, US forces in Afghanistan said in a statement.
In accordance with US Department of Defense policy, the names of the service members killed in action are withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete, the statement said.
Three weeks ago two US soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Pashtun-infested Logar province. The incident happened in Chark district.
Monday’s fatality brings the corpse count to 20 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year.
The US currently has about 12,000 troops in Afghanistan engaged in training, advising and assisting Afghan cops and performing counter-terrorism operations.
A U.S soldier was killed in the northern Kunduz province by the Taliban militants, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson claimed on Monday.
“Last night we performed a heavy explosion on the U.S occupiers and their slaves in the Safarbai area of Chahar Dara district in Kunduz, as a result of which an American soldier was killed, another U.S soldier an an Afghan special force member were seriously injured.”, Zabihullah Mujaheed tweeted.
[France24] France's armed forces said Monday it had carried out a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali at the weekend in which it said 40 "terrorists" were killed.
On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that French forces had "neutralised" 33 jihadists in the central Malian region of Mopti, in an operation that had started the previous night.
In a statement, the French military command said the drone strike happened during a follow-up operation Saturday in which another seven jihadist fighters were killed.
As French commandos were searching the combat zone in Ouagadou forest, 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the town of Mopti, "they were attacked by a group of terrorists on motorbikes," the statement said.
A Reaper drone and a French Mirage 2000 patrol opened fire to support the ground troops, it said.
"This is the first operational strike by an armed drone," the statement said, confirming an earlier report published in the specialist blog Le Mamouth.
The strike came just two days after the French army announced it had finished testing the remotely-piloted drones for armed operations.
It has three drones, based near Niamey, the capital of Niger.
[ALMASDARNEWS] A Saudi court has handed death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... s to five suspects charged in connection to the gruesome murder of journalist beloved martyr of journalism Jamal Khashoggi ......who was simultaneously a very well paid Washington Post columnist and a long time propagandist for the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda — he died while on the Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i payroll, but previously wrote at the behest of then-Saudi intel chief Prince Turki al-Faisal...... . Three others have received lengthy prison terms for their roles in the killing.
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... ’s public prosecutor announced the court’s ruling on Monday. Apart from the five sentenced to death, three additional suspects will spend 24 years behind bars. The prosecutor said that Saud al-Qahtani, a senior Saudi royal adviser, was investigated, but later released without being charged.
The Saudi consul in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... was also released. The investigation found that there was no past enmity between those convicted and Khashoggi, the public prosecutor said.
Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul in October. Grisly details about the killing, including allegations that the journalist’s body was chopped up, made headlines and strained relations between Riyadh and many of its western allies.
Germany, as well as several other Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an states, imposed a ban on weapon sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder. Washington refused to take similar measures, with US President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... stating publicly that he didn’t want to lose Riyadh’s business.
In September, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists... claimed the credit for the murder, but insisted that he did not order the killing.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2019 00:56 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[Ynet] Cyprus coppers rescued 34 Syrian migrants colonists Sunday after spotting their boat off the Mediterranean island nation's northwestern coast.
A police patrol vessel was dispatched to escort the boat to a harbor. Police said the boat had set sail from Alanya, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... The migrants colonists were all male and included a 17-year-old. All 34 were taken to a migrant reception center outside the Cypriot capital of Nicosia.
[Rudaw] Ottoman Turkish authorities arrested on Monday a pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) mayor for the central district of Sur in Diyarbakir (Amed) province, southeast The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... for terror-related charges after temporarily suspending her for three days.
Feyme Buluttekin assumed her role in March 2019 but was removed from her position and detained on Friday by the interior ministry for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). She was officially arrested on Monday, according to Ottoman Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA).
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/24/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[Jpost] Indian Moslems protesting against a citizenship law which they say is discriminatory are carrying national flags and copies of the constitution, aiming to prevent supporters of the Hindu nationalist government from painting them as anti-India. "Taqqiya!"
The protesters wear Moslem caps and many of the women wear the hijab headscarves, but they also sing national songs, read out sections of the constitution and carry pictures of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar, who led the drafting of the constitution.
"This tricolor is our symbol against fascism ...a political system developed in Italy, symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. Its distinguishing philosophical feature is the Corporate State. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about... ," Asaduddin Owaisi, an MP who heads a Moslem party, said of India's saffron, white and green flag during a rally in the southern city of Hyderabad at the weekend.
He also asked the crowd to recite the preamble of the constitution in both English and in the Urdu language spoken by many Moslems, and urged them to fly the Indian flag at their homes.
In a column on Saturday, prominent editor and political commentator Shekhar Gupta said the protests had led to what he called the "rise of a new Indian Moslem... Not afraid to look Moslem, and not shy of flaunting her nationalism."
At least 21 people have died in the protests against the new citizenship law and a planned national register of citizens, which protesters say contravene the secular constitution and discriminate against Moslems.
The law gives non-Moslem minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistain who fled to India before 2015 a pathway to citizenship. It does not apply to Moslems.
India's Moslems, who form about 14% of the Hindu-majority country's 1.3 billion people, say they are often called anti-national and Pak. Moslem Pakistain was carved out of British colonial India when the countries gained independence in their bloody 1947 partition and have since fought three wars.
Protesters say displays of patriotism help dispel the notion that protests are a Moslem issue. Tens of thousands of Hindus have also joined.
"Making this a Moslem protest just gives another stick to the government to delegitimise the movement," said law student and protest organizer Hamza Tariq, 22, in the city of Bengaluru.
The demonstrations across India are the biggest challenge to Modi since he first came to power in 2014.
Modi himself appeared to make a veiled allusion to Moslems resorting to violence during the protests.
"You can tell who these arsonists are by their clothes," he said in an address last week, in comments condemned by Moslem leaders.
Moslem protesters at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi said that police who stormed the campus on Dec. 15 with tear gas and batons called them "Pak citizens" and "Islamic murderous Moslems."
Prabhat Kumar, a Hindu student at Jamia, said: "This law is differentiating between communities which is against the constitution.
"When will Moslems speak if not now? This is the right time to speak and we will stand with them till the end."
#1
Protective coloration, coloration or color pattern of an animal that affords it protection from observation either by its predators or by its prey. The most widespread form of protective coloration is called cryptic resemblance, in which various effects that supplement the similarity of color between the animal and its surroundings enable the creature to blend into the background of its habitat.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
12/24/2019 7:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Raj....please re-post. I accidently spam-copped u. My apologies brother.
#5
They're not anti-India. They're anti-Hindu, anti-Christian, anti-Sikh, and anti-Buddhist.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/24/2019 10:15 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Re "cryptic coloration", Just-So Stories aside I believe the tiger got his stripes in the same tall grasses where roam these predatory two-legged beasts
#8
Video fixed, g(r)omgoru. I’m not sure what you did wrong — I just pasted your URL into a successful video post, copied the whole thing, and pasted it over yours. Probably a typo somewhere - goodness knows you have plenty of experience successfully sharing videos here.
Thousands of protesters blocked roads and bridges across southern Iraq on Monday, condemning Iranian influence and political leaders who missed another deadline to agree on a new prime minister.https://t.co/MeK4sLfpPr
Officials say Iran wants to install Qusay al-Suhail, who served as higher education minister in the government of Abdel Mahdi.
A former key member of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr’s movement, Suhail rejoined the State of Law Alliance of former premier Nuri al-Maliki, who is close to Iran and an enemy of Sadr.
While pro-Iran factions and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi are pushing for Suhail, a source in the presidency says Saleh has vetoed his proposed appointment.
Demonstrators categorically reject Suhail’s candidacy and that of anyone from the wider political establishment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2019 00:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
[AlAhram] A parked car went kaboom! in Iraq's western province of Anbar early on Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding an officer close to an area that was once 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.... 's last stronghold in the country, the military said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamic State bandidosDeath Eaters have carried out a string of attacks there since they lost control of their Iraqi territory in 2017 and reverted to hit-and-run insurgency tactics.
The car went kaboom! as soldiers were inspecting it on a road leading to Anbar's Qaim district, 300 km (185 miles) west of Baghdad and close to the border with Syria.
"The search for the terrorist elements which committed this criminal action is ongoing," the military said in a statement.
Iraq reopened its Qaim border-crossing with Syria in September after eight years of closure. Qaim borders the Syrian town of Albukamal, which was also an Islamic State stronghold.
[IsraelTimes] Protesters in Iraq are blocking roads and bridges in southern Iraq, condemning Iranian influence and politicians who have missed another deadline to agree on a new prime minister.
Anti-government demonstrators burn tires in major cities across the south, forcing the closure of schools and government buildings, AFP correspondents report as political paralysis deepens in Baghdad.
Negotiations over a candidate to replace premier Adel Abdel Mahdi, who quit in November in the face of protests against corruption and unemployment, remains stalemated after a midnight Sunday deadline expired.
While a 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... camp has tried to impose a candidate, Iraqi President Barham Saleh has reportedly put up resistance.
Demonstrators announce civil disobedience campaigns in the southern cities of Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Hilla, Kut and Amara, where schools and public buildings are closed today.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/24/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
[Ynet] Border Police arrested on Monday a 16-year-old Paleostinian youth trying to enter the Cave of the Patriarchs in the southern West Bank city of Hebron with a knife.
The teen was arrested after impersonating a disabled person and raised the troops' suspicion during the security check.
[Ynet] IDF soldiers belonging to the Lions of Jordan Valley Battalion thwarted on Saturday an attempt to smuggle a mass cache of weapons across the West Bank into Israel, the IDF reports on Monday.
IDF forces identified the suspects while carrying tools close to the border fence, after which several fire teams were called to the scene.
After extensive scans of the area, about 50 weapons were discovered, among them several M-16 assault rifles and sorted ammunitions in duffle bags.
The suspects and the weapons were taken by intelligence security forces for further investigation.
[Ynet] A vehicle rigged with explosives blew up in a market in a northern Syrian town on Monday, killing five people and wounding others, state media and opposition activists said.
State news agency SANA said the blast occurred in the village of Suluk near the Ottoman Turkish border, putting the corpse count at five people and reporting several more were maimed.
Suluk is controlled by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... -backed opposition fighters and is near the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad in Raqqa province.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Militants attempted to attack Hmeimim, a Russian airbase in Syria, with drones, two such devices were destroyed, nobody was injured, Maj. Gen. Yury Borenkov, head of the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation, said at a briefing.
"On December 22, 2019, when it became dark, forces of Evil belonging to illegal groupings attempted to attack Russia’s airbase Hmeimim with unmanned aerial vehicles," Borenkov said.
Two drones that were directed toward the base from southeast were destroyed. The airbase has not experienced any damage and is functioning as usual.
In 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria after more than two years of successful struggle against terrorist organizations; however, a small number of Russian military units remain at bases in Hmeymim and Tartus in support of the Syrian army’s efforts to combat terrorists.
The Hmeymim airbase currently hosts about 30 warplanes and helicopters.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has captured more ground in the southeastern countryside of the Idlib Governorate, today, as they close in on the key city of Ma’arat al-Nu’man.
Led by the 25th Special Mission Forces Division, the Syrian Arab Army advanced further into the southeastern countryside of Idlib after seizing the small town of Khirbat al-Sirouni from the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... Following the capture of Khirbat al-Sirouni, the Syrian Arab Army began moving forces into the town to secure the area before the jihadist rebels launch a counter-assault.
At the same time, the Russian Air Force is launching a heavy attack over the southeastern countryside of Idlib, with most of the strikes concentrating on the jihadist supply routes to the Ma’arat al-Nu’man District.
Since the start of the Syrian Army’s attack on Monday morning, the military has captured at least four towns and villages from the jihadist rebels.
The Syrian Army is now working to completely surround the Ottoman Turkish military’s observation post in the town of Sarman.
Once this done, the Russian military police will move into the area to man the checkpoints that the Syrian Army briefly sets up.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2019 00:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: al-Nusra
The move was seemingly designed to intensify pressure on Europe to find an effective way around US sanctions that block Tehran’s oil sales abroad.
Starting up the Arak heavy water reactor’s secondary circuit doesn’t violate Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. But it does inch Tehran’s programme closer towards weapons-grade levels.
Ali Akbar Salehi explained to state TV that the secondary circuit transfers heat to the reactor’s cooling system. He said the entire reactor system will go online in 2021.
Britain is helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces. London has filled the role left after the US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal last year.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said last month that Iran breached another limit of the nuclear deal by stockpiling more heavy water than the accord allowed.
Also in November, Washington renewed sanctions waivers that allow Russia and other European nations to conduct civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran, specifically the redesign work to continue at the Arak reactor and at the Fordo uranium enrichment facility. Both sites are monitored by the IAEA.
[Rudaw] At least 100,000 people have fled Idlib in northwestern Syria following blistering attacks by the regime and Russian forces, according to a Ottoman Turkish aid group .
"The Syrian town of Idlib’s Maraat al-Numan and its surroundings are under a heavy bombardment. Due to attacks on the region, people are fleeing to Syria-The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... border. Only in the last week, 100,000 have fled from the south to the north," Selim Tosun, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation’s (IHH)
Continued on Page 49
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.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists...
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
...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 
...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 
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
