[Aljazeera] With the help of China, the Taliban will fight for an economic comeback in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid tells Italian newspaper.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has told an Italian newspaper that the group will rely primarily on financing from China following the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and its takeover of the country.
In his interview published by La Repubblica on Thursday, Mujahid said the Taliban will fight for an economic comeback with the help of China.
#2
I'm just wondering how the Chinese would enforce any loan agreement with the Taliban. Threatening their credit rating doesn't seem like much leverage.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/02/2021 11:48 Comments ||
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#3
"We're liening all your rare earth deposits"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2021 12:04 Comments ||
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#5
They basically bankrolled the entire debacle, and now it's time to get to get the Tali's on the credit hook. How will they control them? They'll use 'third parties' from Iran, Pak, Syria and Yemen to whack any 'difficult' types.
All of these owe the Chinese money, and will willingly farm their rowdy boys out.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/02/2021 14:14 Comments ||
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#6
if the debt doesn't get serviced, the Chinese may be willing to take human organs
or they might just take them for grins and giggles
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/02/2021 16:26 Comments ||
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[OneIndia] Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai ...Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Head of the Taliban political office in Doha. He was a member of Rassoul Sayyaf's group in the war against the Soviets.... is one of the seven persons who calls the shots in the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... which recently took over Afghanistan. It was Stanikzai who met with Ambassador Deepak Mittal, India's envoy in 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... on Tuesday.
Stanikzai had trained under the Indian Army at its institutions in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The meeting between Stanikzai and Mittal was the first diplomatic contact with the Taliban.
Stanikzai is the head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar, a release from the Ministry of External Affairs said. The meeting took place in the Indian Embassy at Doha, the statement also read.
Stanikzai trained in the Indian Army in the Army Cadres College, Nowgaon as a Jawan between 1979 and 1982. He then trained as an officer at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun.
When the Taliban last controlled the country, he was the Deputy Foreign Minister. He is well travelled and a rare leader in the Taliban who is fluent in English. Stanikzai was Abdul Hakim Haqqani's deputy negotiator in the talks that were held with officials of the earlier Afghanistan government. He had also visited Washington DC in 1996 to convince the Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is... administration to acknowledge the Taliban government. He also led a delegation to China, a report in Bloomberg read.
[NYTimes] With help from China and many Moslem nations, the United States led a huge international operation over the last eight years to arm the Afghan guerrillas with the weapons they needed to drive the Soviet Army from their country.
The operation is one of the biggest ever mounted by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to American officials and foreign diplomats. It dwarfs American efforts to aid the Nicaraguan rebels, but its details are much less widely known because it encountered little opposition in Congress.
Indeed, Congress was continually prodding the C.I.A., the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department to provide more support for the Afghan guerrillas, who limped along with relatively ineffective weapons until they got Stinger antiaircraft missiles in September 1986. They used the missiles to shoot down armored Soviet helicopter gunships, and as a result, the guerrillas and their supply caravans have been able to move with much less fear of being attacked from the air. Cost Totals $2 Billion
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Harry Jinelet7642 ||
09/02/2021 00:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
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#2
It should be noted that most US arms were actually delivered to the Pakistan military at Karachi port. Their later distribution was controlled by Pakistan and its sinister ISI.
[BBC] The top US general has described the Taliban as a "ruthless group" and says it is unclear whether they will change.
Gen Mark Milley said, however, it was "possible" that the US would co-ordinate with the Islamist militants on future counter-terrorism operations.
US forces withdrew from Afghanistan on Tuesday, ending America's longest war 20 years after launching an invasion to oust the Taliban.
The Islamists are now in control and expected to announce a new government.
Gen Milley was speaking alongside US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, in their first public remarks since the last troops left Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden has been widely criticised over the abrupt manner of the withdrawal, which led to the unexpected collapse of the Afghan security forces the US had trained and funded for years.
The Taliban's lightning advance sparked off a frenetic effort to evacuate thousands of foreign nationals and local Afghans who had been working for them.
In the news conference on Wednesday, both Gen Milley and Secretary Austin praised the troops who had served in Afghanistan and the massive evacuation mission.
#1
My complements to the entire mess team. The Lobster Thermidor and Hanger Steak pairing was delightful. I should have stopped after that second piece of coconut pie however. Duty calls, back to the office I must go.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/02/2021 11:03 Comments ||
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#3
Apparently no one told Milli Vanilli the Taliban were the enemy? Explains a lot.
I am non military, I don’t know— are there forced resignations and/or court martials for this kind of thing
Posted by: Regular joe ||
09/02/2021 11:41 Comments ||
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#4
No, joe. It's all going according to plan. Maybe not the plan you would expect but nonetheless the general is to be congratulated and if he wants an extra helping of coconut pie he deserves it.
[Breitbart] U.S. weapons and military equipment abandoned by the Biden administration in Afghanistan will be reverse-engineered by China and Russia and then used against American interests, retired Lt. Col. Oliver North said on Wednesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.
The Biden administration leftist behind "some of the most sophisticated weapons and equipment we’ve ever made for the military," North stated. He warned, "It’s going to be reverse-engineered in China. It will be reverse-engineered in Russia. It will be used against us in other campaigns."
North predicted that the Taliban, ISIS, and Haqqani Network would collectively become "the best armed criminal enterprise in the history of mankind" due to the Pentagon’s abandonment of military equipment, vehicles, and weaponry in Afghanistan.
Heavy equipment transporters have been used to transport two M1 tanks (Doubtful. AFAIK, US removed them and Afghans weren't given any. Worry more about night vision devices and other electronics. Chinooks and at least one CRAM was left behind.)
from Afghanistan into Pakistan, North claimed. He remarked, "They’re going to be heading to the port where they will be loaded aboard a ship and taken to communist China for exploitation. That’s what’s happening to anywhere between five and ten of every piece of equipment. The Taliban, by the way, are getting rich on this. They’re — quote — selling them."
The Oryx Blog detailed the losses of U.S. military weapons and equipment provided to the Afghan military in a post entitled, "Disaster At Hand: Documenting Afghan Military Equipment Losses Since June 2021 until August 14, 2021."
#4
Wait til they get the "extended car helicopter/plane warranty" calls
A genius idea! If I ran the intel service, I'd have a couple interns working on this just to mess with the Talibs. But then, unlike the IC, I'm on our side.
Question: Isn't it traditional to toss a thermite grenade into any useful equipment forced to be abandoned?
#5
That'd be great; just a flash call, all cell phones and comms at once.
Afraid SteveS may be right; probably say (translated) "Your extended warranty has been purchased; please wait for our on-site maintenance representative to arrive with Hamad Karzai, at Hamad Karzai International, with your spare parts. If your serial number for rotary wing aircraft ends in 4835 your arrival is Monday, if it ends in ....."
#6
Any Afghan regime in possession of these systems would have sold access to the hightest bidder.
That should have been the default assumption, no matter if the Afghans were elements of the liberated 'Islamic Republic' or the 'Islamic Emirate.'
If the US political deciders were smart they would have turned this into an advantage by leaving behind subtly modified equipment that will equally subtly mislead anyone attempting reverse engineering.
[ToloNews] German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass met his 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 counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Wednesday in Doha and they discussed the latest developments in Afghanistan.
Both Qatar and Germany warned of the negative consequences of Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... isolation and urged the world to engage with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Al Thani said that the Taliban’s isolation benefits no one, and that engaging with them could bear positive results.
According to the Qatari minister, if the Taliban are cut off from the world, a new crisis will unfold in Afghanistan.
"We believe that isolation is not the response to this issue (the Taliban takeover by force) ... our assessment is that the Taliban was isolated in 1996 and it led to what happened next in those years. But we also saw that engagement can have positive outcomes," Al Thani said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors... Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas said that instability in Afghanistan is not acceptable.
"I believe there is no way except (to engage with) the Taliban, and we should translate it into action. For example, we should talk about the airport. We cannot accept instability in Afghanistan because this will benefit insurgency and will have big consequences for Afghanistan’s neighboring countries," he said.
The Taliban has also said they want to have good relations with the world’s countries, including the United States.
[ToloNews] The last two decades of major international presence in Afghanistan caused a huge influx of funds and investment which enabled Afghanistan's economy to grow, economic analysts say.
The economic achievements, however, according to the analysts, have become fragile following the hasty and full withdrawal of foreign forces and the closing of foreign diplomatic missions.
According to the numbers, Afghanistan's economy witnessed a growth of 21 percent in the last 20 years, especially in 2007, and huge private and public investments, especially in construction projects, have changed the face of major cities.
According to officials from the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI), the private investments on different projects reached around $4 billion a year.
As a result of aid money and investment flowing in, the rate of poverty decreased and hundreds of trade, transport, banks, and services companies started operations in Afghanistan.
"In the past years, around 50 to 60 billion USD has been invested in mining and other services in Afghanistan because there was the demand for such investments," said Khan Jan Alokozay, the deputy head of ACCI.
The United States figures show that the US government has spent around two trillion dollars in Afghanistan, an amount equal to the Marshal Plan which was invested in the rebuilding of Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... after World War II.
The former Afghan government, however, said that the on-budget accumulated US funds to Afghanistan amounted to around $80 billion.
A number of economic analysts say the huge amount of money spent in Afghanistan in the last 20 years could have resulted in much more economic development but most of the funds were either embezzled or funneled back to the donor countries. According to them, most of the implemented projects also have not been sustainable.
"Our economy had turned into a mafia economy. A limited number of individuals were in charge of most of--around 90 percent of--Afghanistan’s capital," said Sayed Massoud, an economic analyst.
"If someone does an assessment, it will clearly show that the former governments and the foreigners have failed (to implement projects) and have caused the promotion of corruption, an economic mafia and the embezzlement of aid funds," Alokozay said.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... the 20-year international presence has also helped Afghanistan build close economic and trade relations with world and regional countries.
In the past years, Afghanistan gained membership in several regional and international organizations and economic institutions such as the World Trade Organization and World Road Transport Organization.
Afghanistan also connected to the world with big regional projects such as the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistain and India gas pipeline (TAPI), the Central Asia-South Asia power project (CASA-1000), the regional railroad project, and the Lapis Lazuli Trade and Transport Route.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... despite the signs of progress and development, Afghanistan still struggled with economic problems and now the country’s economy is in a very bad situation, according to analysts.
"Several economic mafias and their competition" affected the mining industry, Massoud said.
"In Afghanistan, around 18 million people are struggling with poverty and lack of food, and we have to work hard for the continuation of international funds," said Tariq Farhadi, an advisor to the former president.
After 20 years of relative economic growth and aid, once again Afghanistan’s economy is experiencing an economic downturn.
Following the collapse of the former government, the United States and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... countries have closed their embassies in Kabul and suspended their economic support.
Now, according to figures, Afghanistan’s economic growth is below zero, the banks are unable to repay people’s deposits, investors are taking their money out of the country, most babus government employees are jobless and there are no public services offered to the people.
[ToloNews] The United States last week issued a license authorizing it and its partners to continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, a Treasury Department official told Rooters, after the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... , which is blacklisted by Washington, seized control of the country this month.
The specific license, issued by the Treasury Department last Wednesday, authorizes the U.S. government and its contractors to support humanitarian assistance to people in Afghanistan, including the delivery of food and medicine, despite U.S. sanctions on the Taliban.
The license, which expires on March 1, 2022, comes amid concerns that Washington's sanctions on the Taliban could speed an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country, which relies heavily on foreign aid.
"This is targeted humanitarian assistance designed to help the people of Afghanistan," the official said, adding the assistance is not going to Taliban authorities.
Specific licenses are generally not made public by the Treasury.
The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... says more than 18 million people - about half of Afghanistan's population - require aid and that half of all Afghan children under the age of 5 already suffer from acute malnutrition amid the second drought in four years.
President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier... 's administration has said it is committed to allowing humanitarian work in Afghanistan to continue despite Washington's designation of the Taliban as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of the Islamist murderous Moslem group and bar Americans from dealing with them, including the contribution of funds, goods or services. Those sanctions remain in place, the official said.
While U.S. sanctions frequently include humanitarian exemptions, critics say heavy U.S. sanctions like those on 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... and Venezuela ...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... can deter humanitarian groups from working in a country out of fear of running afoul of Washington.
A Taliban offensive as foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan after a 20-year war culminated in the capture of the capital Kabul on Aug. 15.
The Taliban have said they will respect human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... and not allow snuffies to operate from the country. The group has also encouraged aid organizations to continue their work, saying aid was welcome as long as it was not used as a means of political influence over Afghanistan.
State Department front man Ned Price said on Friday the United States would remain a "very generous" donor of humanitarian aid to the Afghan people and would aim to prevent any of its assistance from passing through Taliban coffers.
[The Last Refuge] According to the data provided by the U.S. State Department in the last few days, the total number of people evacuated from the Kabul airport was 122,000. Of those, 6,000 were American citizens (AmCits), and 116,000 were Afghan refugees.
Today the State Department admits the "majority" of the qualified Afghan people who assisted the U.S. during operations in Afghanistan, Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants, did not get evacuated. That admission begs the question: then who the heck are those 116,000 refugees?
[...] The U.S. still doesn’t have reliable data on who was evacuated, nor for what type of visas they may qualify, the official said, but initial assessments suggested most visa applicants didn’t make it through the crush at the airport. "I would say it’s the majority of them," the official said. "Just based on anecdotal information about the populations we were able to support."
[...] The Biden administration has said that from the end of July, the U.S. and allied nations evacuated more than 122,000 thousand people from the country, most of whom were Afghans.
The State Department estimates that fewer than 200 Americans that wanted to leave Afghanistan have been left behind. Pentagon Press secretary John Kirby said on Friday, near the end of the evacuation effort, that the U.S. had been able to evacuate about 7,000 Special Immigrant Visa applicants by that point.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/02/2021 7:57 Comments ||
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#5
Miss Liberty, immigrant farmer.
So lovingly willing to harm her,
He's spoiling her culture
On foie gras of vulture.
[fat lady at Walmart shops armor]
Posted by: Herman Thravirong8361 ||
09/02/2021 12:43 Comments ||
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The #Taliban confirm that the group’s Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada will be the top authority in #Afghanistan and a president or prime minister will run the country under his authority.https://t.co/rwdsSqG5a8
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The new, Taliban ...Arabic for students... -appointed head of Afghanistan's central bank has sought to reassure banks the group wants a fully-functioning financial system, but has so far provided little detail on how it will supply funds to sustain it, said four bankers familiar with the matter.
The acting central bank governor, Haji Mohammad Idris, met members of the Afghanistan Banks Association and other bankers this week, and told them that the Taliban viewed the banking sector as imperative, said two bankers who attended the meeting.
The holy warrior group which now controls the country was working to find solutions for liquidity and rising inflation, they quoted Idris as saying.
"They were very charming and asked banks what their concerns were," said one of the bankers who requested anonymity.
Under the Taliban's previous rule between 1996 and 2001, Afghanistan had little functioning banking sector and although a handful of commercial banks retained licenses none were operational and few loans were made.
Idris, a Taliban loyalist who has no formal financial training or higher education, was appointed to head the central bank last week.
He and his team did not tell the bankers how much cash Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the central bank, had access to, nor did they give any indication about how the Taliban would approach its relationship with the US, one of the bankers said.
The central bank provided liquidity to banks in recent days, said two of the bankers, with one adding that DAB paid a portion of the amount each bank requested.
It appears unlikely that the holy warriors will get quick access to most of the roughly $10 billion in assets held by DAB, which are mostly outside of the country.
"Around 80 percent of transactions done by banks are in dollars, so it's very critical the new government should make the relationship with the US," said the banker.
Another banker who attended the meeting said an initial rush by customers to access bank accounts after the Taliban captured Kabul had eased slightly. A key priority for the central bank was now to have its international accounts "unblocked" and get access to its reserves, to allow it to keep enough money circulating.
"We are in close contact and negotiations with the central bank," said the second banker.
Banks have mainly re-opened this week, but are operating with limited services, including $200 weekly limits on withdrawals and few wire transfers amid liquidity worries and correspondent banks cutting ties, say bankers.
Idris also offered reassurances about banks' female staff, telling them that the Taliban was not planning to stipulate whether they could employ women or not, said one of the bankers.
Women account for around 20 percent of staff in some banks, but some have stayed away from offices amid concerns the movement will repeat the stance of their previous government before 2001 when women were not allowed to work.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA
#1
Ideally, she would never get any job in the education field for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, she's probably even more in demand now.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/02/2021 11:39 Comments ||
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#2
She's on 'administrative leave' not fired.
Still being paid, accumulating senority and benefits. Prediction: She'll be back at a different school in a semester or so.
Teachers in California charged with felonies can't be fired until they're convicted; it's happened.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/02/2021 14:19 Comments ||
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#3
Correct She'll be back - if she wants to go back. As of now, she wields serious Lib Cred, and can prolly go wherever she wants to for a "teaching" gig. Except Idaho.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/02/2021 15:46 Comments ||
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#4
future Union head
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2021 15:50 Comments ||
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#5
What did they fire her out of?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/02/2021 19:29 Comments ||
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#1
For $20 billion we could solve the homeless problem in America permanently. But no, there's no money in the budget for that. Too expensive! And a total waste of money. Good thing the deep state decided we should buy this instead. It worked out so well.
#2
So long as there are drug addicts and the untreated mentally ill (overlapping sets, I realize, but still), there will be the homeless. Many of them will not be able to handle living long term in even free motel rooms.
#3
It is not a money problem. There was a survey of the homeless in Houston some years back. Basically, 1/3 were homeless due to financial setbacks, 1/3 were mentally ill, and 1/3 just didn't want anyone telling them what to do - it was a lifestyle.
#5
That's about what we see around here, SteveS. Although the numbers skew as less from the 'financial' and more to the 'substance abuse/mental illness' a bit.
The 'lifestyle' portion is about the same percentage.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/02/2021 9:08 Comments ||
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#6
Biden makes up for $83billion debt! He's Amazing! You know, we probably owe an apology.
[Breitbart] Wicked Witch of the West House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday blocked the House from publicly reading the names of the 13 killed U.S. service members in Afghanistan, House Republicans said.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) told the Floridan that Pelosi ignored the Republicans’ request to read the names, instead she "just closed the House down."
"We gaveled in, had a prayer, said the Pledge of Allegiance, took a moment of silence with pretty much all Republican veterans, then asked to be recognized to read names and bring up Afghanistan legislation," Mast told the Floridian. "They did not acknowledge us, and just closed the House down."
Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-FL) tweeted a rhetorical question of whether Pelosi is attempting "to cover up" the Afghan debacle by not allowing the names to be read publicly on the floor.
"How badly do Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats want to cover up this Afghanistan debacle?" Gimenez asked. "They just blocked Members of Congress from reading the names of the service members who sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan last week. Don’t you think our military deserves better?"
#1
A diversion made more complex by a follow-on diversion.
Notice how the crisis at the border, State 2020 election audits, inflation, the so-called 'infrastructure bill', the increase in urban crime, and Hunter Biden's problems have has suddenly fallen out of favor with the media.
Then each Congressional Rep that had a Service Member Killed should "just happen" to mention the former voter names. As they VOTE on whatever next bill the Socialcrats try to push thru.
"I raise as the Congressional Representative elected to represent "________ that was killed on __/__/___ in ________."
BLUF: Hambali and two Indonesian associates, who have been in American custody since 2003, were arraigned in a court marshal at GITMO without entering a plea. At some point the next stage of the proceedings will be scheduled.
[BenarNews] The arraignment of three Southeast Asian terror suspects before a U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay wrapped up on Tuesday but without any of the defendants entering a plea and their lawyers expressing frustration and doubt about the fairness of the proceedings.
The two-day court appearance was the first for Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, who is more commonly known as Hambali ...real name Riduan Isamuddin, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, one of the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah and the planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. He was captured with the help of a mid-Eastern intel service, shipped to Guantanamo to rot but he'll likely be released eventually because that was a long time ago and we were all so much younger then... , and for Malaysians Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Mohammed Farik bin Amin since they were locked up at the American navy base in Cuba 15 years ago. All three men were arrested in Thailand in 2003 and sent to secret CIA-operated "black sites" before being moved to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
Continued on Page 49
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq’s electricity ministry said on Wednesday that Iranian gas supplied to the central and southern regions was reduced from 49 million to 8 million cubic meters per day, causing a risk of serious power shortages.
A reduction in Iranian gas supplies led the national power system to lose about 5500 megawatts, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that there has been contact with the Iranian energy ministry and Iran’s embassy in Baghdad to clarify the reasons for the reduction, the statement added.
Washington has repeatedly extended by 90 or 120 days a sanctions exemption to allow Baghdad to import Iranian energy after Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran’s oil sector forbidding countries from purchasing Iranian energy.
The United States has insisted that oil-rich Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, move towards self-sufficiency as a condition for its exemption for importing Iranian energy, yet Baghdad has struggled to do so, in part due to low oil prices.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
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Six prison wardens at Tehran’s notorious #Evin prison will stand trial “soon” in response to the leaked videos showing prison guards abusing inmates, #Iran's Judiciary spokesman Zabihullah Khodaian says.https://t.co/DxewZS1Umbpic.twitter.com/30GFo3UziO
[NPASYRIA] On Wednesday, an official in the Child Protection Office of the Raqqa Civil Council revealed that in coordination with Lien Charity, they released a plan to establish a special center for orphans and unaccompanied minors in Raqqa city, northeast Syria.
The plan to establish the center aims to embrace those children who were orphaned are without a guardian as a result of divorce, the death of the parents, or losing them during the war, said Amira al-Hassan, co-chair of Child Protection Office of Raqqa Civil Council.
The center will handle all issues related to children, she said in an exclusive statement to North Press.
This idea will be implemented according to the available limited capabilities due to the wide spread of unaccompanied children who lost their parents during the war, and "through this center, children will receive the necessary care and protection as well as all types of support," al-Hassan added.
Last week, a center for orphaned and unaccompanied children was been opened in the Jazira Region, which was preceded by another one in Kobani, according to Children Protection Office.
The idea to establish the center was posed by the office in cooperation with Lien Charity, and it has been very widely welcomed by residents as a result of the wide spread of this phenomenon in the city, al-Hassan indicated.
On August 23, in an attempt to find radical solutions to children labor phenomenon, Lien Charity in coordination with the Child Protection Office launched a volunteering initiative to reduce the spread of this phenomenon and its impacts on the community and children.
[NPASYRIA] On Wednesday, the Central Committee in Daraa, southern Syria, issued a statement specifying the terms of the agreement reached with the Syrian government forces under Russian auspices, which started to be carried out in Daraa al-Balad, the Tariq al-Sadd neighborhood and the camps.
The statement stated that among the terms of the agreement was an immediate ceasefire, the entry of a Russian Military Police (MP) patrol and its stationing in Daraa al-Balad, and the opening of a center to settle the status of wanted persons and their weapons.
It added that the agreement stipulated checking the identities of those in Daraa al-Balad to deny the presence of any strangers, and the deployment of four security points in the neighborhood of Daraa al-Balad.
Yesterday, an agreement was reached between the dignitaries of Horan, the Central Committee in the western neighborhood, the Fifth Corps, and the Daraa al-Balad Committee on the one hand, and the Security Committee of the government forces on the other hand, with the guarantee of the Russians.
The agreement also included the lifting of the cordon around the perimeter of Daraa al-Balad, the return of the cop shoppe personnel and the restoration of services to Daraa al-Balad.
Additionally, to release the detainees and clarify the fate of the missing, five days after the implementation of this agreement.
This morning, the Russian forces and members of the Eighth Brigade of the Fifth Corps entered Daraa al-Balad and the besieged neighborhoods to carry out the terms of the agreement.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his shoulder. Ow! he exclaimed, with feeling...... a settlement center was opened in Daraa al-Balad, and the government forces started to settle the situation of 34 residents of Daraa with the delivery of a number of light weapons, in the presence of Major General Hussam Louqa, head of the security committee of the government forces.
The Syrian government forces and the Iranian-backed factions have been besieging the Daraa al-Balad and other neighborhoods and closing all roads leading to them for more than two months.
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.
[Aljazeera] With the help of China, the Taliban will fight for an economic comeback in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid tells Italian newspaper.
My complements to the entire mess team. The Lobster Thermidor and Hanger Steak pairing was delightful. I should have stopped after that second piece of coconut pie however. Duty calls, back to the office I must go. 
...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...
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...46th president of the U.S. 
...Arabic for 
...real name Riduan Isamuddin, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, one of the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah and the planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. He was captured with the help of a mid-Eastern intel service, shipped to Guantanamo to rot but he'll likely be released eventually because that was a long time ago and we were all so much younger then...
