[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The passing of veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk ...British journalist who is invariably on the other side of any question. The logic of his prose is so shaky, the ideas so predictable, that he has given his name to the process of mocking a piece of poorly reasoned hackery. He was once beaten up by an Islamic mob and decided they had every right to thump him because he was so Western... this week prompted a mixed reaction from the public. Some celebrated Fisk’s award-winning career and varied life, while others saw him as an orientalist who ended his career as an apologist for Bashir al-Assad and the rest of the anti-Western dictator club.Fisk, who died aged 74, had acquired his fame covering the thorny and often dangerous politics of the Middle East, a career that led him to rub elbows with a range of leaders and often dictators of the region, ranging from Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to al-Qaeda leader, the notorious the late Osama bin Laden ...... who used to be alive but now he's not...... . For the Lebanese in particular, Fisk was someone who had covered the 15 years of their civil war (1975-1990) and was one of the first to uncover and publicize the Sabra and Shatila Paleostinian camp massacres that were carried out during the Israeli invasion of 1982.
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Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
He would probably aver "I deserve to be dead and certainly understand why I am dead..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/10/2020 1:56 Comments ||
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#2
He was the source of the term "fisking", of which his works were a frequent recipient here.
Despite the adulatory tone, the guy was regarded as a clown due to he's easily refuted crappy reporting. This was back when journalism actually had ethics and standards regarding facts.
(Cambridge dictionary defines it thusly: "the act of making an argument seem wrong or stupid by showing the mistakes in each of its points")
Sadly that is not the way things are now thanks to progressivism: a slurry of invective and namecalling against the individual (Racist! Orange Man Bad!) rather than addressing the arguments, reasoning, and/or facts.
#3
Fisk was trusted by Bin Laden. He was the first Western journalist to be granted an interview when the Saudi expat was resident in Khartoum in 1993.
Posted by: b ||
11/10/2020 10:58 Comments ||
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#4
"Bye, Felecia."
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/10/2020 19:11 Comments ||
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#5
The picture that should come up on a web search for "Useful Idiot'. R.I.P.
[KhaamaPress] Ministry of Defense believes the Afghan National Defense Security Forces have improved by 96% to carry military "operations independently", after being through years of theoretical knowledge and tactical training under direct supervision of foreign force in the country.
Since fall of the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... regime in 2001, Afghan National Army and Defense Forces having been trained by the United States military experts, including NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... ’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan since early 2015.
"ANDSF’s capabilities are improving day by day; currently they conduct 96% of operations independently," said the MoD in a tweet.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, the little lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. And what big teeth they were!... authorities said a huge number of the forces were deployed at different locations in Kandahar province amid growing insecurities and attacks by terrorist groups.
"Fresh ANDSF were deployed to Kandahar province," said the MoD. "These forces will defend the lives and properties of Kandahar residents."
Announcement came a time the United States is due to pulling out its troops from Afghanistan as an agreement signed with Taliban in early February for establishment of peace and security in the country.
— Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) November 8, 2020
More snippets of Afghan troops doing stuff:
Abdul Waheed, a young Afghan has returned to Afghanistan from the Netherlands to join #ANA, protect Afghanistan, and defend lives of Afghans. Abdul Waheed says that the purpose of his return to Afghanistan is to join ANA and he is ready to fight terrorist in every part of AFG. pic.twitter.com/RVROpC3lmt
— Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) November 9, 2020
[ToloNews] Following the US-Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... agreement, perpetrators for many deadly and assassinations have remained unclear, something that has raised questions by politicians and analysts who say the intelligence apparatus should be strengthened to prevent such incidents.
The attack on Kabul University last week and the IED explosion on Central Bank employees are the two recent incidents in which perpetrators are unknown so far. The Taliban has rejected their involvement in the university attack. ISIS claimed the responsibility, but the government blamed the Taliban for the attack.
"This shows intelligence weakness. Security forces should be more active in intelligence to prevent such attacks," said Khan Agha Rezaee, an MP from Kabul.
"We cannot make any progress unless we activate counterterrorism intelligence bodies," said Zia Yaftali, an MP from Badakhshan.
A senior UN official called the attacks complicated and said that any attack that harms the Afghan government is in favor of the Taliban.
"In terms of responsibility and the occasion we do see claims of responsibility from ISIS Khorasan, there are cases where the responsibility is not clear. I don’t want to comment in detail on the recent attacks because I don’t actually have a clear understanding of who is responsible but what I will say is that we certainly have seen some cases in the past where ISIS Khorasan has grabbed credit for an attack but this has not been clear whether that they were responsible for it," said Edmund Fitton-Brown, Monitoring Team Coordinator of the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... But the Presidential Palace has blamed the Taliban for these attacks.
"The war policy and denial are clear for the people of Afghanistan. The only way left for the Taliban is that they should accept a ceasefire and enter meaningful talks," presidential front man Sediq Sediqqi said.
[KhaamaPress] SIGAR’s new report says 876 non-combatants were killed and 1,685 were maimed between July 1 to September 30, 2020.
Report shows, this quarter’s casualties have increased by 43% compared to last quarter up to June 30.
Resolute Support attributed 83% of this quarter’s civilian casualties to anti-government forces (40% to unknown Death Eaters, 38% to the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , 3% to ISK 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.... -Khorasan, and 2% to the Haqqani Network), closely same as the last quarterly report.
The report indicates casualties are higher in the current quarter, which is notable because it happened during the ongoing grinding of the peace processor, despite the Taliban vow to reduce violence.
And another 8 percent of the civilian casualties have been referred to pro-government forces.
Last quarter’s report claimed 55% of the casualties attributed to unknown-insurgency as 42% were referred to Talibs.
The civilian casualties have become double to 212 than last quarter report.
IEDs continue to be accountable for the majority of civilian casualties 41% followed by direct fire 29% and indirect fires conclude the other 12% casualties.
117 Civilian casualties cover 5% of the total statistical figures, according to United States Forces-Afghanistan, daily enemy attacks have increased by 50%, and this overall increase of the festivities are above seasonal norms.
Violence remains high as efforts continue to push the peace negotiations forward.
MOD reports indicate, that the battle engagements are still ongoing in southern parts of Afghanistan.
Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province are the regions evident to festivities for weeks.
[Ynet] The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, hammered by U.S. cuts, said Monday it lacks the funds to pay full November salaries but is confident President-elect Joe Biden's administration will restore support.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) "never recovered" from the total funding cut imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018, agency spokeswoman Tamara Alrifai told AFP.
Before Trump's cuts the U.S. had been providing UNRWA $300 million a year, roughly a third of its core annual budget.
[Ynet] Hadassah University Hospital at Ein Kerem confirms the death of the PLO's Secretary General of the Executive Committee, who was in critical condition at Israeli hospital since mid-October; he underwent lung transplant in 2017.
Twitter suspends the account of Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander and the current secretary of an advisory council to #Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.https://t.co/31ZT6pZCgk
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.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The passing of veteran Middle East correspondent 
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...Arabic for 
[Ynet] Hadassah University Hospital at Ein Kerem confirms the death of the PLO's Secretary General of the Executive Committee, who was in critical condition at Israeli hospital since mid-October; he underwent lung transplant in 2017. 
