[ToloNews] 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... on Wednesday repeated that he wanted to bring American troops back from Afghanistan, saying the US is acting as a police force and it is time for Afghans to police their country.
"We are acting as a police force, not the fighting force that we are, in Afghanistan. After 19 years, it is time for them to police their own Country. Bring our soldiers back home but closely watch what is going on and strike with a thunder-like never before, if necessary!" tweeted Trump.
Earlier, news agencies reported that Trump on Tuesday at a White House news conference renewed his desire for a full military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"We’re there 19 years and, yeah, I think that’s enough... We can always go back if we want to," said Trump.
Trump also said: "Well, I think everyone knows we're down to less than 8,000 troops. We're with leadership in many different fields and in many different parts of that country. We're dealing with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , we're dealing with the president. The president now has gotten himself straightened out with the two presidents, but we're dealing with - because they had, as you know, they had competing factors and factions."
The troop pullout discussion references the peace deal that the US signed with the Taliban on February 29, an agreement that also set a deadline for the US troops to leave the country.
But the Afghan government, which considers the US its strategic partner, has reacted with dismay to the troop withdrawal as the country still grapples with a Taliban insurgency.
During his election campaign in 2016, Trump promised to end the wars like the one in Afghanistan.
Courtesy of Lex:
Trump wants troops in Afgh. home by November [DEMPANIC]
[MSN] Senior military officials are set to brief President Trump in the coming days on options for pulling all American troops out of Afghanistan, with one possible timeline for withdrawing forces before the presidential election, according to officials with knowledge of the plans.
The proposal for a complete withdrawal by November reflects an understanding among military commanders that such a timeline may be Mr. Trump’s preferred option.
But they plan to propose, and to advocate, a slower withdrawal schedule, officials said.
The move is part of the Pentagon’s attempt to avoid another situation like the one in December 2018 and again in October 2019, when Mr. Trump surprised military officials by ordering the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Diplomatic chaos and violence followed, and the president subsequently modified each announcement. American troops remain in Syria, although in smaller numbers.
US ahead of schedule in cutting Afghanistan troop strength
[AlAhram] U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan is down to nearly 8,600, well ahead of a schedule agreed with Talibs in late February, in part because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... , U.S. and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... officials said.
A key provision of the Feb. 29 agreement between the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... and the United States, to which the Afghan government was not a party, involved a U.S. commitment to reduce its military footprint in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600 by mid-July and, conditions permitting, to zero by May 2021.
A U.S. official said the United States had focused on quickly removing non-essential personnel and those considered to be at high risk from the virus.
U.S. forces are in Afghanistan to conduct counter-insurgency operations. A few thousand U.S. soldiers work with troops from 37 NATO partner countries to train, advise and assist Afghan forces. NATO's mission in the country totalled 16,551 troops in February, according official data available on its website.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... there were "7,000-some-odd" U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan but officials clarified that number was slightly over 8,600 troops.
Trump renewed his desire for a full military withdrawal from Afghanistan but added that he had not set a target date, amid speculation he might make ending America's longest war part of his re-election campaign.
NATO DILEMMA
The faster-than-expected withdrawal has put NATO in a dilemma as to whether it should consider swiftly sending back some non-U.S. troops from Afghanistan as well, two NATO sources said.
"The drawdown by the U.S. was expected to be done in 135 days but it's clear that they have almost completed the process in just about 90 days," said a senior Western official in Kabul on condition of anonymity.
The official said that some other NATO soldiers would be withdrawn before schedule.
"All allies have to maintain a fine balance on troop withdrawal as we cannot forget the fact that the war in Afghanistan is far from over," he said.
The Taliban have recently increased attacks in a number of provinces, despite the Afghan government releasing prisoners as per the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in Doha. According to data from Afghan and Western sources seen by Rooters, the Taliban have mounted more than 4,500 attacks since signing the deal.
Officials are now looking at the pace of the drawdown beyond 8,600.
#3
"All allies have to maintain a fine balance on troop withdrawal as we cannot forget the fact that the war in Afghanistan is far from over," he said.
The cynic in me asks: "(1) Will the 'War in Afghanistan' ever be over? ...and... (2) Is the anonymous official more worried that he will have to be job hunting back home if he loses his 'phoney baloney job' in Kabul?"
[SYRIAHR] Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has obtained new information about the commander of "Al-Sham Corps", Mohammed al-Bowaydani, who was arrested by "Haftar’s forces" in battles in Libya. al-Bowaydani is from al-Jilani alley in Bab Amr neighbourhood in Homs city.
Al-Bowaydani started his military career by joining al-Farouq battalion in Bab Amr. After regime forces captured the neighbourhood, al-Bowaydani moved to al-Qalamoun, then he returned to Homs again through a battle under the name "Qademoun Ya Homs" (We Are Coming, Homs), which aimed at that time to capture the area from Sha’er to Homs old neighbourhoods.
After "Al-Sham Corps" had been established and the factions of the northern countryside of Homs had moved to northern Syria, al-Bowaydani was appointed as the commander of artillery battalion in al-Sham corps and participated later in "Olive Branch" operation in Afrin on the side of Ottoman Turkish forces. In Afrin, he committed various violations including thefts, looting and imposing levies. SOHR sources say he is notorious.
Al-Bowaydani has been transported to Libya as a Ottoman Turkish-backed mercenary, where he participated in military operations there on the side of the "Government of National Accord" against "Haftar’s forces". He was arrested a few days ago with nearly 26 other members under his command, mostly from Homs, after being recruited and sent to Libya by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2020 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
April 9, 2020: For his part, al-Habib al-Amin, GNA ambassador to Malta, said that GNA failed in all fields due to a lack of vision and strategy. He added in a statement that al-Sarraj should be aware of what is happening to avoid losing his legitimacy..., pointing out that the people are not proud of the government. Moreover, it has been rather obvious from statements made by Islamist politicians that Islamists are not pleased with the performance of the Fayez al-Sarraj government. Mahmoud Abdul Aziz, a member of the Justice and Construction Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, is not pleased with the Government of National Accord’s forces on the military battlefield in Tripoli.
[Jpost] The Nigerian military is unlawfully detaining boys and men at a rehabilitation center for alleged members of the Islamist hard boy group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , Amnesia Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday.
In the latest allegations of rights abuses since Boko Haram began its insurgency in Nigeria's northeast, Amnesty criticized Operation Safe Corridor,
...a residential deprogramming program that finishes its hundreds of former Boko Haramniks with vocational training. Among the skills acquired by the ex-combatants include tailoring, carpentry and shoemaking....
a program that receives financial and technical support from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , Britannia, the United States and the UN International Organization for Migration.
Nigeria's military did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in response to such accusations during a decade of conflict.
"For almost everyone held (at Safe Corridor) to date, it amounts to unlawful detention," Amnesty said of the program which is based in Gombe state and aims at reintegrating former Lions of Islam into their communities.
"Many people there are not former fighters who committed crimes, much less were charged or convicted of any crime," it said in a report that also listed alleged rights abuses by Boko Haram and criticized conditions at other military detention centers.
Amnesty said Safe Corridor "includes positive elements," including adult education and psychosocial counseling described favorably by people formerly held there.
Ground reports from Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh say that Chinese troops continue where they were, digging trenches and preparing bunkers above Pangong Lake and 3 points in the Galwan valley. No sign of pullout from Indian territory, despite Beijing’s statement y’day!
#1
Some 1,800 new employees are being trained up to replace hundreds of older tradesmen who retired over the past several years after being hired during the last shipbuilding binge in the 1980s. Training the new group has taken time, and slowed some projects down. “Those people are leaving in groups, requiring us to replace them in big groups,” Lesko said.
Now WHO could have predicted that predictable event?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2020 11:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Betcha, their MBA told them not to bother before there's an absolute need.
#3
/\ The same MBAs that list Preventative Maintenance as a 'Profit Loss' and suggest that machines should be run until they totally break down... those people.
#6
Sneering liberals who look down their noses at the trades are just now realizing thair freedom rides on "those people".
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
05/28/2020 16:44 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I don't know whether to laugh, groan, or scream. This is the definition of stupidity (not training the new employees, but refusing to train them ahead of time).
#9
/\ Want to bet one Management guy said to the other while playing golf: "My Silicon Valley buddy says that we're okay ... just hire some H-1B's and no problems!"
[IsraelTimes] Pompeo says administration will revoke all but one exemption, accuses Tehran of continued ’nuclear brinkmanship’ and ’extortion’.
The Trump administration announced Wednesday it is ending nearly all of the last vestiges of US sanctions relief provided under the 2015 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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... nuclear deal.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/28/2020 02:52 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Right. Pakistain complaining about the way somebody else treats minorities. Pot, kettle, fill in the blanks.
[The News (Pak)] Prime Minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... on Wednesday said the fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... Modi government was not only a threat to India's minorities by relegating them to 2nd class citizens' status, but also threat to regional peace,"
In a series of tweets, the prime minister lashed out at the "Hindutva Supremacist Modi government" by saying that it was becoming a threat to India's neighbours.
He cited India's border disputes with China and Nepal as well as the adverse impact of the Modi government's Citizenship Act on Bangladesh.
"The Hindutva Supremacist Modi Govt with its arrogant expansionist policies, akin to Nazi's Lebensraum (Living Space), is becoming a threat to India's neighbours. Bangladesh through Citizenship Act, border disputes with Nepal & China, & Pak threatened with false flag operation," he tweeted.
He said that India was a threat to its minorities "by relegating them to 2nd class citizens' status" and to regional peace as well.
"All this after illegal annexation of IOJK, a war crime under 4th Geneva Convention, & laying claim to AJK. I have always maintained the fascist Modi Govt is not only a threat to India's minorities by relegating them to 2nd class citizens' status, but also threat to regional peace," he tweeted.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2020 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Cobra hisses, Muslim speaks - what's the difference?
[The News (Pak)] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi ...a Pak political shape-changer. He is undistinguished except for his habit of periodically needing to have his lips reattached... on Wednesday lashed out at New Delhi for "threatening regional peace via its aggressive attitude" as tensions between China and India grew surrounding the Ladakh region amid reports of both countries' soldiers engaging in disputes.
"India's intentions do not look good," said FM Qureshi, speaking to Geo News. "India has already heated up the Indian Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... e front and you know very well its attitude towards Nepal [on border issue]," he said, adding that New Delhi was also sabotaging peace in Afghanistan.
He blamed India for giving rise to tensions in the region by carrying out construction activities in territory that was considered disputed between it and China. "A war was fought between India and China in 1962 and again, India is resorting to aggressive posturing in the same territory," he said.
The foreign minister urged the Indian government to exhibit responsible behaviour by making use of the "mechanisms of dialogue and consultations to solve disputes".
Commenting on Prime Minister Modi's meeting with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and tri-services chiefs on the border dispute with China, Qureshi said that it remains to be seen what India's intentions in the region are.
"Pakistain has said this over and over again. I have said this to the UN Secretary-General and written letters to the UN Security Council that India is threatening peace [in the region] through its aggressive behaviour," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2020 00:00 ||
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[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
it should be "urges China to 'behave responsibly' in border dispute with India! It sounds like Qureshi is in the pay (pocket) of China.
China started this mess in the first place, I believe that India did the right thing in dealing with this issue.
Note, I tried to do a search for "China, India, border" (without the quotes) and got mostly irrelevant results that had nothing to do with my search keywords so I can link to the relevant articles. How can I narrow the results to just the keywords and not have to search through a couple thousands posts to find the one I'm looking for?
#2
All this nonsense is happening in the Ladakh region, Seeking cure. I did a quick related search for you on that, now appended at the bottom of the article. I’m sure a proper search will yield plenty of relevant articles for you. Happy reading!
#5
Try using in your search string the acronym that apparently is used by the parties to describe the border, "LAC" (Local Area of Control). That should filter out most of the irrelevant results.
Maybe you'll pull in a few Liberal Arts Colleges but I doubt it...
[ALMASDARNEWS] According to a new report, there are diplomatic efforts made in secret by Tehran to change its policies towards Iraq after the liquidation of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani during a U.S. raid near Baghdad International Airport.
Citing unnamed sources, Rooters reported that the goal of the new methods pursued by 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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... is to break the political deadlock in Baghdad, and to accelerate the departure of nearly 5,000 US soldiers from Iraq, according to three senior Iranian officials involved in the process.
"Sometimes you should take a step back, monitor and plan based on the facts on the ground," said a senior Iranian official, who asked not to be named.
He added: "We want the Americans to leave the region. If there is chaos in Iraq ... the Americans will use it as an excuse to extend their stay."
According to the report, since the killing of Soleimani, Iranian officials had held "serious talks" with Iraqi President Barham Saleh for the first time in years to build confidence and pressed Iran’s allies inside Iraq to reach a compromise to end the impasse that prevented the formation of a stable government.
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... some Iraqi sources indicated that the officials who come to Iraq also have links with the Revolutionary Guards, and they have years of experience in dealing with Iraqi affairs and significant influence with many political and armed factions.
A senior Iraqi official said that President Saleh opposed the preferred candidates for parties allied to Iran to succeed Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who resigned from the Iraqi government last November against the backdrop of protests, as they are highly divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... for Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2020 00:00 ||
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[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
...Arabic for 
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
[SYRIAHR] Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has obtained new information about the commander of "Al-Sham Corps", Mohammed al-Bowaydani, who was arrested by "Haftar’s forces" in battles in Libya. al-Bowaydani is from al-Jilani alley in Bab Amr neighbourhood in Homs city.
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
...a Pak political shape-changer. He is undistinguished except for his habit of periodically needing to have his lips reattached...
