Were they separate, segregated sessions? Were women allowed to mix or did they have their own session, or none?
[Breitbart] The White House senior staff reportedly held wellness meetings for aides who may be struggling with Israel’s defensive measures taken against the Hamas terror group.
The meetings, termed “listening sessions,” featured serious “discussions” about the war and its impact on White House aides, eight officials told Politico.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan conducted one virtual wellness check staff meeting on October 13. About 100 staffers attended, which Politico described as a review of the Biden administration’s position on the war while emphasizing that “not everyone agrees with it and has their own strong, personal feelings about the fighting.”
One official told Politico the wellness meetings focused on a pervasive “culture of fear” and a counteractive culture of support.
Some meetings were split between Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and Jewish aides. Senior leaders “wanted our team — many who have served in the region and have family or colleagues there — to know these are tough times across the board, and that we need to check on one another,” one White House official told the outlet.
Chief of Staff Jeff Zients also hosted a call with President Joe Biden’s cabinet secretaries “to ensure they are reaching out to their Muslim, Arab American and Palestinian staff along with Jewish staff,” one official told Politico.
The meetings come as many Democrats are unhappy about President Joe Biden’s approach to supporting Israel. Last week, the director at the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Josh Paul, resigned over the conflict.
The Department of State and the Department of Defense are reportedly taking measures to calm dissent. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted the conflict in a letter to aides last week and held meetings with Arab, Muslim, and Jewish employees. The DOD provided employees who are “struggling with the conflict” mental health resources, a department official told Politico.
A senior al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them... frontline leader surrendered to the Somali National Army [SNA] forces on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence confirmed, just as the military prepares for the second phase of operations against the group in Jubaland and Southwest states, where the holy warriors have camped for ages.
Muqtar Mohammed Ishaq Rabani, who is an active al-Shabaab member, surrendered in the Bakool region within Southwest, becoming the latest high-profile hard boy to drop violent mostly peaceful murderous Moslem ideologies which have significantly contributed to instability in the country.
According to the Ministry of Defence, his defection was a clear manifestation that military offensives across the country are yielding fruits as envisaged in the plan to liberate many regions in the country. The al-Shabaab holy warriors are still trying to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia.
"Muqtar Mohammed Ishaq Rabani, an active al-Shabaab front leader in Bakool region, surrendered today to our forces in Goof Gadud Burey," the Ministry of Defence, which has been giving such updates lately, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
"His surrender is a clear indicator of our effective counter-terrorism operations and dwindling morale within the Khawarij
...aka Kharijites, a deadly insult dating back to the first century of Islam, when the sect revolted against the rule of Caliph Ali, then murdered him, following which they spent centuries revolting against the Caliphate. Heretics might be a useful translation, though that lacks the anger at the effort necessary to keep them in check...
ranks. No escape," the ministry added, noting that such offensives will go on as planned despite a few setbacks the country encountered.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The court postponed the hearing in the case of the burning of the Koran by Volgograd resident Nikita Zhuravel due to the failure of imams from Grozny mosques, who act as victims in the case, to appear.
As the "Caucasian Knot" reported, on October 9, the court hearing in Grozny in the case of the burning of the Koran by Volgograd resident Nikita Zhuravel was postponed due to the failure of the victims and the defendant to appear.
The hearing in the case of Nikita Zhuravel in the Visaitovsky District Court of Grozny did not take place, since neither the victims in the case nor the witnesses appeared. The remaining participants in the meeting were present in court. The meeting was postponed to November 2, the Caucasian Knot correspondent reported.
“The reason for the postponement was the failure of any of the 13 victims and four witnesses to appear at the hearing,” Sota reported today on its Telegram channel.
The imams of the mosques in Grozny, who act as victims, did not appear in court, Volgograd Online clarified today.
Let us recall that on September 25, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, published a video of the beating of Zhuravel, who was arrested in the case of burning the Koran, in a pre-trial detention center. Zhuravel was beaten by Adam Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya said and praised his son for this act. Close leaders of Chechnya approved this act; a number of human rights activists were outraged by this act.
On October 2, a picketer with a poster in support of Zhuravel was detained in St. Petersburg. On October 20, Deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan Azat Khamaev apologized to his colleagues for critical words about awarding Kadyrov’s son the title of Hero of Chechnya after his beating of Zhuravel.
The beating of a defenseless person is contrary to Chechen customs, orientalist Akhmet Yarlykapov and Caucasus expert Ruslan Kutaev, previously interviewed by the Caucasian Knot, noted in connection with the beating of Zhuravel in a pre-trial detention center. “You can’t just take it and use violence. That is, a person who desecrated religion should have been judged according to religious laws and made a certain decision, which, I think, would not consist of beating,” Yarlykapov said, in particular.
The "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that on October 17, a video of one teenager beating another was published in Chechen public pages; the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament, Magomed Daudov , responded to the publication . He threatened punishment to the parents of the boy who had distinguished himself by cruelty.
The Republican Prosecutor's Office reported on the beginning of the investigation. Later, another video was published on social networks. It shows two schoolchildren in Chechnya, one of whom beat a peer, and the other filmed it on video, washing the floors as punishment. The ending of this story differed sharply from the story of the beating of the son of the head of Chechnya, Zhuravel, since Kadyrov’s son was not punished.
Information about who condemned and who approved the beating of Nikita Zhuravel by Kadyrov’s son, as well as versions for what purpose the Kadyrovs created a new hype around themselves, was collected by the Caucasian Knot in the reference “The beating of Nikita Zhuravel: why did the Kadyrovites need to publish the video.
[Breitbart] A top South Korean official told reporters on Sunday that his government is in the “final stage” of an agreement to foster “large-scale defense industry cooperation” between Seoul and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo made the remarks after his president, Yoon Suk-yeol, held an extensive meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his ongoing visit to Riyadh, the first-ever state visit to Saudi Arabia by a South Korean president.
Under Yoon, a pro-American conservative, South Korea has dramatically expanded its economic relationship with Saudi Arabia. South Korean companies are heavily involved in the development of Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship infrastructure project, the promised resort city of “Neom,” and bin Salman signed agreements worth $75 billion with Korean companies during a visit to the country in November.
The reported defense cooperation agreement would expand Seoul’s ties to Riyadh beyond the commercial, into potentially filling the void in Saudi offensive weapons sales left when American President Joe Biden halted such American sales when becoming president in 2021. As a presidential candidate in 2019, Biden promised that he would turn Saudi Arabia, a key American partner in the Middle East, into a “pariah” state in response to the killing of Islamist Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi. Riyadh’s foreign policy turned frigid towards the United States following Biden’s ascent to the presidency, including after Biden visited the country and greeted Mohammed bin Salman with a fist-bump, an awkward gesture that has become iconic of the bilateral relationship in the Biden era. He's not Blinken.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
10/25/2023 00:00 ||
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[11129 views]
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#1
It'll be interesting when the ROK's (Republic of Korea, So. Korea) bump into the ChiComs And NorKs while they're there.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/25/2023 18:50 Comments ||
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[Tablet] The Biden administration’s now-suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley helped to fund, support, and direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the United States and allied governments, according to a trove of purloined Iranian government emails. The emails, which were reported on by veteran Wall Street Journal correspondent Jay Solomon, writing in Semafor, and by Iran International, the London-based émigré opposition outlet which is the most widely read independent news source inside Iran, were published last week after being extensively verified over a period of several months by the two outlets. They showed that Malley had helped to infiltrate an Iranian agent of influence named Ariane Tabatabai into some of the most sensitive positions in the U.S. government—first at the State Department and now the Pentagon, where she has been serving as chief of staff for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, Christopher Maier.
On Thursday, Maier told a congressional committee that the Defense Department is "actively looking into whether all law and policy was properly followed in granting my chief of staff top secret special compartmented information."
The emails, which were exchanged over a period of several years between Iranian regime diplomats and analysts, show that Tabatabai was part of a regime propaganda unit set up in 2014 by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The Iran Experts Initiative (IEI) tasked operatives drawn from Iranian diaspora communities to promote Iranian interests during the clerical regime’s negotiations with the United States over its nuclear weapons program. Though several of the IEI operatives and others named in the emails have sought to portray themselves on social media as having engaged with the regime in their capacity as academic experts, or in order to promote better understanding between the United States and Iran, none has questioned the veracity of the emails.
The contents of the emails are damning, showing a group of Iranian American academics being recruited by the Iranian regime, meeting together in foreign countries to receive instructions from top regime officials, and pledging their personal loyalty to the regime. They also show how these operatives used their Iranian heritage and Western academic positions to influence U.S. policy toward Iran, first as outside "experts" and then from high-level U.S. government posts. Both inside and outside of government, the efforts of members of this circle were repeatedly supported and advanced by Malley, who served as the U.S. government’s chief interlocutor with Iran under both the Obama and the Biden administrations. Malley is also the former head of the International Crisis Group (ICG), which directly paid and credentialed several key members of the regime’s influence operation.
#2
STATEMENT / MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA
International Crisis Group report: A Ceasefire in Gaza -- Whoever bears responsibility for the blast killing hundreds in a hospital, the toll of the Gaza war is far too high. Western leaders should join calls for a pause to save lives, prevent fighting from spreading and give diplomacy a chance.
#3
I wonder if they had Kalorama on speed-dial? Bet the WHCA knows.
As for this absurd comment - "actively looking into whether all law and policy was properly followed in granting my chief of staff top secret special compartmented information." I am certain that the servicing SSO for that TS-SCI-Codeword(s) authorized billet has an "exception to policy notation" in the clearance approval documentation with the name and signature of the SECDEF-appointed approval authority. In simple language, standards clearly were NOT followed based on political over-rides!
[Fox] Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in coordination with the chancellor of the state’s university system, has moved to crack down on student groups in the state they say have expressed support for "Hamas terrorism," which possibly involves terminating the student chapters and suspending school administrators.
"During a holy Jewish holiday, the recognized terrorist organization, Hamas, launched an unprovoked attack on Israel – among those killed were babies, women, and elderly," Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, wrote in a letter to the state’s universities exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.
"To date, approximately 1,400 Israelis have been killed, including 31 American citizens. Governor DeSantis, our State University System and the Florida College System have condemned these attacks."
The letter states that a student group present in at least two universities in the Florida system, known as National Students for Justice in Palestine (National SJP), published a "toolkit" that refers to the Hamas operation as "the resistance" and says that "Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement."
The letter explains that it is a "felony under Florida law to knowingly provide material support … to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
"These chapters exist under the headship of the National Students for Justice in Palestine, who distributed a toolkit identifying themselves as part of the Operation AlAqsa Flood," Rodrigues writes.
"Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated. These two student chapters may form another organization that complies with Florida state statutes and university policies. The two institutions should grant these two chapters a waiver for the fall deadlines, should reapplication take place."
#4
While there are some Free Speech issues at play...
ANY organization that calls for the DEATH & DESTRUCTION OF ANY person or group, should not be allowed on government operated properties funded by the Taxpayer collected revenues.
[GEO.TV] The sentence of Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, Nawaz Sharif ...served two three non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts... , in the al-Azizia reference has been suspended by the interim Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... cabinet, it emerged on Tuesday.
The decision by the provincial cabinet might raise concerns among other political parties in the country.
Caretaker Information Minister Aamir Mir confirmed the Punjab cabinet's move, saying the decision was taken while exercising its constitutional powers under Section 401 of the Criminal Procedural Code (CPC), which also authorises it to pardon any offender.
The approval was given through a circulation summary.
"The final decision of the case will be taken by the court itself," he added.
The development comes on the day ahead of Nawaz's multiple hearings at an accountability court at the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) and the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2023 00:00 ||
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Mostly stolen from Saddam Hussein’s Oil For Food program.
[Shafaq News] On Saturday, the head of the Federal Integrity Commission (CoI) announced the recovery of over 70 million dollars from a Swiss bank, and affirmed the recovery of billions of Iraqi dinars from individuals, including former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's advisor, local officials, and a former intelligence agency officer.
Haider Hanoun stated that CoI has achieved significant milestones and laid the groundwork for combating corruption. CoI has addressed many gaps that were exploited by corrupt individuals. This was accomplished through collaboration with the executive authority, especially the government led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... i, who has placed a new focus on the fight against corruption in Iraq.
Hanoun explained that Law No. 9 of 2012 on the Recovery of Iraqi Funds aims to recover Iraq's financial rights acquired by Iraqis and foreigners through unlawful means as a result of the misuse of the Oil-for-Food program and the use of sanctions on Iraq to achieve financial gains at the expense of the Iraqi people.
This law applies to funds acquired by Iraq before 2003. There are many funds that were stolen and the former regime used Iraqi, Arab, and foreign companies to create funds and give money to Arabs and foreigners to establish companies that served the previous regime. The law has several advantages and exempts those who cooperate with the fund.
Hanoun explained that the Iraqi Money Recovery Fund managed to recover a sum of $70,610,000 from a Swiss bank. An earlier $800 million had been recovered from the same person who has since passed away. This money had been imported from the Central Bank (CBI). The funds have been transferred to the Ministry of Finance.
Moreover, $26 million was recovered, which had been hidden in the Rashid Bank. These funds belonged to the Huda Religious Tourism Company, which was established in 2000. It previously managed Iranian visitors and was linked to the former intelligence agency. The company was dissolved in 2004, but the bank did not return the money to the Tourism Authority. The funds were hidden, and they have been recovered and will be transferred to the Ministry of Finance.
CoI also managed to recover six billion Iraqi dinars from the United Investment Bank, part of the 15 billion dinars misappropriated by the bank. This resulted from corruption in the Iraq Export Support Fund, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Trade.
Hanoun noted that an additional five billion Iraqi dinars were recovered from Haytham al-Jubouri, the financial advisor to former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. al-Jubouri, who is currently imprisoned, is accused of having received a total of nine billion dinars. All the recovered amounts will be transferred to the state treasury.
Finally, Hanoun reported the recovery of 1.5 billion Iraqi dinars from the defendant Raed Jaber Imran, the former Director-General of the Middle Oil Refineries. This is a recent recovery and represents a portion of the total misappropriation of seven billion dinars that is currently in the possession of the state treasury.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/25/2023 00:00 ||
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[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
Now available to be stolen again. Recycling Works!
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/25/2023 11:11 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Bombing of the Canal Hotel, best thing to have happened for Saddam's 'oil for food' program. Those people were useless Euro pricks.
If the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees needs fuel, it can ask Hamas for some, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said on Tuesday, in response to UNRWA’s appeals for humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"These fuel tanks are inside Gaza. They contain more than 500,000 liters of fuel. Ask Hamas if you can have some," the IDF said on X, formerly Twitter, accompanied by a satellite photo of a dozen objects near Rafah.
It was a direct reply to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which had posted earlier, "If we do not get fuel urgently, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip as of tomorrow night," meaning Wednesday.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza after the October 7 incursion by Hamas, which claimed the lives of an estimated 1,400 Israelis, with another 200 or so taken hostage. The IDF has also bombed Gaza with artillery and airplanes, vowing to "dismantle" Hamas.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
10/25/2023 04:16 ||
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[11133 views]
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Any forced displacement of Palestinians is a war crime. This opinion was expressed by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi , speaking at an open debate in the UN Security Council on the topic of the Middle East.
The forced displacement of Palestinians both within and outside their occupied territories is a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Convention, the minister said. Hello? Black September?
Safadi assured that his country will do everything to avoid being drawn into the crisis that the Israelis created and are aggravating.
“Any attempt to transfer the crisis to neighboring countries poses a threat to our national security, which we will resist with all our might,” the minister said.
As Regnum reported , Jordan and Egypt cannot accept refugees from the Gaza Strip, whom Israel is trying to push out of the enclave. The refugee problem must be solved in the Palestinian territory, in the Gaza Strip or in the West Bank. He called not to impose a solution to the crisis on other countries. The King of Jordan also expressed the need to unite to reduce escalation in the region, stop the fighting and decide what to do next.
The refusal of King Abdullah II of Jordan and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to meet with US President Joe Biden indicates the failure of the American leader's trip to the Middle East, said journalist and political commentator Anna van Densky.
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.
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
[Tablet] The Biden administration’s now-suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley helped to fund, support, and direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the United States and allied governments, according to a trove of purloined Iranian government emails. The emails, which were reported on by veteran Wall Street Journal correspondent Jay Solomon, writing in Semafor, and by Iran International, the London-based émigré opposition outlet which is the most widely read independent news source inside Iran, were published last week after being extensively verified over a period of several months by the two outlets. They showed that Malley had helped to infiltrate an Iranian agent of influence named Ariane Tabatabai into some of the most sensitive positions in the U.S. government—first at the State Department and now the Pentagon, where she has been serving as chief of staff for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, Christopher Maier.
...served 
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
