Why negotiating with the Taliban is pointless, unless it is secretly a nefarious plot to track them to their lair.
[ToloNews] A report issued on January 20 by the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... claims al-Qaeda continues to have "close and mutually beneficial" relations with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... despite the latter group's holding talks with US negotiators in Doha to broker a peace deal.
The report by the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, which is responsible for tracking terrorist groups around the globe, says that al-Qaeda supplies "resources and training in exchange for protection" from the Taliban.
The report points to a joint US-Afghan raid in the Musa Qala district of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province in September as evidence for this observation.
Asim Umar ...chief of al-Qaeda's Sharia Committee for Pakistain, named head of al-Qaeda in India. His video appearances are frequently accompanied by clips of al Qaeda's senior propagandist in Pakistan, Ahmad Farooq. Umar the author of The Army of Anti-Christ: Blackwater, Documentation of the Dreadful Terrorist Activities of America's Blackwater in Islamic Countries... , the first emir of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), and several other AQIS figures were killed in that operation, according to the report.
The monitoring group notes that the Taliban’s "shadow governor" for the district had "arranged for the protection of AQIS’s men."
The report says that "Al-Qaeda and foreign terrorist fighters aligned with it, under the protection and influence of the Taliban, pose a long-term global threat."
The UN’s monitoring team states that al-Qaeda "is concerned about the current focus of the Taliban leadership on peace talks." And therefore al-Qaeda "representatives undertook shuttle diplomacy, persuading various factions of the Taliban and field commanders not to support negotiations with the government of Afghanistan and promising to increase financial support."
The Taliban and the US have held ten rounds of talks in Doha over the past year and the two sides are expected to sign a deal that will pave the way for a gradual withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... the US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... allies have stated that they are committed to preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorists, and the Taliban links to al-Qaeda and other groups could affect the US-Taliban agreement.
Reports have emerged recently that a number of the Syrian mercenaries fighting in Libya on behalf of Turkey have already deserted their ranks and fled to Italy, according to a report in the French daily Le Monde, which quoted French intelligence sources.https://t.co/fPWmfhGQ8J
#Urgent. Al-Sarraj is under inspection and search at Paris charles de gaulle airport today while returning from the democratic republic of the Congo, and the #GNA embassy in #Paris submits a protest note to the #French Foreign Ministry. pic.twitter.com/IJxBWyYRUL
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that Turkey could resort to another military operation if the situation in Syria's Idlib is not resolved quickly. https://t.co/3z0hyilq6wpic.twitter.com/Q092NzdEBM
From gCaptain. The last audit does not look good for readiness of the surge sealift fleet, which affects our military readiness and performance.
On January 22, 2020, the Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Defense released a declassified and redacted report, entitled, Audit of Surge Sealift Readiness Reporting. The surge sealift fleet, those 15 vessels held by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) and the 46 by the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), are a key component of the nation’s ability to project military power from the continental United States. The recent Turbo Activation 19 Plus exercise in September 2019, tested the reliability of this fleet, and showed it fell far short of the 85% readiness rate required, with an overall performance of 40%. The new IG report indicates that there may be more systemic issues at the root of the problem but fails to adequately identify the underlying cause of these issues.
The IG undertook the audit to determine if the U.S. Transportation Command provided, “adequate oversight of the reporting on surge sealift activation requirements.” Specifically, they examined the 50 roll-on/roll-off ships (15 held by MSC and 35 by MARAD), that provide a total of 10.7 million square feet of cargo space for the combatant commanders. The information on the individual ships is reported through the Defense Readiness Reporting System. The information is inputted by MSC based on reports from the contract operators and via the Maritime Administration from their commercial companies.
#2
Been reading reports on the sealift ships having issues for years. We can get light units places, but haven't needed heavy armor since 2003 and the fleet has suffered from non-need with the war on terror.
#3
Rumsfeld famously said that that you go to war with the army you have. The 2020 version of that seems to be that you go to war with the army you have in the places that you have it. It's hard to imagine WWII-style troop convoys crossing the Pacific in the face of the Chinese naval threat.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/01/2020 9:47 Comments ||
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#4
Years? Decades, rather. As the US Merchant Marine had atrophied the problem has gotten worse and worse.
#5
But wait, doesn’t our ally Panama have a huge cargo fleet we can borrow? I’m sure those Filipino and Pakistani crews are ready to help? After all, they are only doing the jobs American workers won’t do since the unions and our government drove our merchant marine into non-existence. Problem solved!
Sarc off.
#11
It is time for Abbas to leave and go visit his money in Switzerland.
Speaking of tiresome colorful characters, here is a little bio about Suha Arafat. She was living in Tunis, but got into a bit of legal trouble with the government. Now she is living in Malta.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/01/2020 17:57 Comments ||
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#12
Tlaib won't be with us for much longer.
Don't want to be within 100 yards when Tlaib commits arkancide.
[Jpost] The measure marks a new step in a prolonged crisis after PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh prohibited the import of Israeli cattle and other livestock to the PA territories.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Friday that Israel would implement a ban on importing agricultural products from the Paleostinian Authority. The measure marks a new step in a prolonged crisis, as in September PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh prohibited the import of Israeli cattle and other livestock to the PA territories in the context of his plan for "economic disengagement" from the Jewish state.
According to a statement by Bennett, in the past months, Israeli authorities have worked to resolve the crisis, which has hurt the sector badly, but to no avail.
Paleostinian merchants and consumers have also been badly affected by the PA’s initiative, to the point that by the end of October, the merchants announced a series of measures to protest it.
"Shtayyeh’s decision was taken at the request of the Paleostinian Ministry of Agriculture without any previous study and without our knowledge," said Omar al-Nabali, a representative of the Paleostinian Butcher Stores union. "This decision has negatively impacted many Paleostinians, including farmers and butchers."
Al-Nabali emphasized that thousands of Paleostinian families lost their livelihood as a consequence of the cattle ban.
More than 90% of the beef calves consumed in the West Bank came from Israel.
Israel threatened to halt the import of Paleostinian agricultural products in October.
According to the Defense Ministry statement, the ban will come into effect on Sunday at 6 a.m.
PA imports from Israel are worth tens of billions of shekels a year. Israel imports some 700 million shekels worth of goods, mostly fruit and vegetables.
So the Palestinian boycott of Israeli goods is yet another winning Palestinian decision. You guys do you — we’ll wait.
#3
Why are the Palestinians exporting agricultural products? I thought they were all on the verge of starvation.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/01/2020 21:11 Comments ||
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#4
^ Heh. But just to play devil's advocate human rights rapporteur...
Sez Sherlock O'Toole, "Let's examine
A case of pigs gorging on gammon,
Exporting our corn
In an access of scorn
For your scatterbrained cattle: The Famine."
[EN.ANNAHAR] Leb is on the brink of forming a new Cabinet after more than four months of political turmoil, caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said Thursday.
"We are on the brink of forming a government made up of experts," Hassan Khalil said after he attended a meeting with Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... and Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab.
Khalil confirmed that the government will include 18 "experts", yet stopped short of including the word independent, a core demand of protestors.
Diab, nominated almost a month ago, vowed that he would form a government of independent experts but has faced pushback from the Amal Movement, Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... .
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2020 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[EN.ANNAHAR] Iran’s nuclear energy organization called recent sanctions on the head of the agency by the U.S. an "unwise move" that won’t interrupt Iran’s peaceful nuclear policies.
The U.S. announced new sanctions Thursday against the Atomic Energy Organization of 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... and its director, Ali Akbar Salehi. The sanctions freeze any assets that Salehi has within U.S. jurisdiction.
The organization said in a tweet Friday: "The unwise move by @realDonaldTrump to impose sanctions on Dr. Salehi and AEOI will not in any way interrupt (Iran’s) peaceful nuclear activities and policies."
"Such cruel sanctions will further enhance the nuclear scientist’s motives in neutralizing hostile U.S policies," the organization continued.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido stepped from behind the suit of armor, rapier in hand. Ciccolini snarled and reached for his own weapon... Iran’s Foreign Ministry front man Abbas Mousavi said it seems U.S. officials imposed the sanctions to try to divert public opinion from Trump’s impeachment.
The new sanctions come amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May 2018. Since then, Iran has begun breaking terms of the deal, which limited its enrichment of uranium.
[IsraelTimes] US president to impose new visa restrictions on citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... , Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania, but stops short of total travel ban.
The Trump administration announced Friday that it was curbing legal immigration from six additional countries that officials said did not meet security standards, as part of an election-year push to further restrict immigration.
Treating shithole countries like they can't be trusted? “Preposterous!” sayeth the oh so superior members of the Deep State, as they gear up for the next temper tantrum like cats chasing a laser pointer. Update from the Daily Wire at 6:00p.m. ET:
In a statement, DHS outlined why the six countries were added to the list:
Burma: Burma has begun to engage with the United States on a variety of identity-management and information-sharing issues, but it does not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics.
Suspension of entry for Immigrants, except as Special Immigrants whose eligibility is based on having provided assistance to the U.S. Government.
Eritrea: Eritrea does not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics.
Suspension of entry for Immigrants, except as Special Immigrants whose eligibility is based on having provided assistance to the U.S. Government.
Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan does not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics.
Suspension of entry for Immigrants, except as Special Immigrants whose eligibility is based on having provided assistance to the U.S. Government.
Nigeria: Nigeria does not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics.
Suspension of entry for Immigrants, except as Special Immigrants whose eligibility is based on having provided assistance to the U.S. Government.
Sudan: Sudan generally does not comply with our identity management performance metrics and presents a high risk, relative to other countries in the world, of terrorist travel to the United States.
Suspension of entry for Diversity Immigrants, as described in section 203(c) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1153(c).
Tanzania: Tanzania does not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics.
Suspension of entry for Diversity Immigrants, as described in section 203(c) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1153(c).
Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf said, “The top responsibility of the President and the Department of Homeland Security is the safety and security of the American people, and these new vetting criteria accomplish that goal and are raising the bar for global security. It is logical and essential to thoroughly screen and vet everyone seeking to travel or immigrate to the United States. However, there are some countries from whom the U.S. does not receive the necessary information about its travelers and, as a result, pose a national security or public safety risk that warrants tailored travel restrictions.”
Wolf continued, “DHS has refined its robust security standards, including enhanced screening and vetting capabilities, that allow us to better identify terrorists and criminals attempting to enter the United States. These screening and vetting capabilities are most effective when foreign governments contribute to our ability to verify a traveler’s identity and assess whether they pose a national security or public safety risk. For a small number of countries that lack either the will or the capability to adhere to these criteria, certain travel restrictions have become necessary to mitigate potential threats. The new, additional restrictions are not blanket restrictions. These tailored restrictions will make the U.S. safer and more secure. And countries that make the necessary improvements will have their restrictions removed accordingly, as was done in 2018.”
#4
Until the flood of new illegals is plugged, magpie, they haven’t the manpower to go after those already here. The wall will help. Mexico refusing to pass them through is already helping.
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.
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
...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 
