[KhaamaPress] The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has reported a significant rise in the price of opium, reaching $750 per kilogram in 2024, ten times more than in 2022. Despite a reduction in production, high prices continue to benefit major narcos.
According to the UN, the reduction in drug production following the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... ’s ban on opium led to a decrease in heroin and opium trafficking, with seizures of these substances dropping by about 50% since 2021.
The UNODC stated that the high price per kilogram still generates large profits, mainly benefiting high-level traders and exporters within organized criminal groups.
The UN’s report estimated Afghanistan’s opium stockpiles at approximately 13,200 tons by the end of 2022, enough to meet demand for Afghanistan’s opium until 2027.
Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the UNODC, emphasized that the rising price of opium and substantial reserves indicate that drug trafficking in Afghanistan remains a highly profitable illegal business.
Waly added that the profits from drug trafficking flow to transnational organized crime groups, contributing to instability in Afghanistan, the region, and beyond. Addressing this issue requires a coordinated strategy that targets trafficking networks while investing in sustainable economic alternatives for farmers.
The UN highlighted that before the reduction in poppy cultivation, Afghanistan’s opium reserves could have been worth between $4.6 billion and $5.9 billion, representing 23-29% of the country’s GDP in 2023. This could help mitigate some of Afghanistan’s economic problems following the Taliban’s return to power.
Hossein Zolfaqari, the secretary-general of the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters, recently claimed during a Vienna conference that heroin and methamphetamine are being produced underground in Afghanistan, calling it a "serious threat."
[KhaamaPress] Italy has donated €3.5 million to support Afghan returnees, particularly those returning from Iran and Pakistan amid increased deportations.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Afghanistan has reported a €3.5 million donation from Italy to support Afghan returnees. This funding will specifically be used to assist those returning from Iran and Pakistan, addressing the growing number of Afghan migrants returning home under increasingly difficult conditions.
The organization further mentioned that its goal is to assist 25,000 returnees over the next 12 months. These efforts will provide critical support for reintegration, including access to housing, education, and employment opportunities. The IOM’s initiative aims to ease the transition for returnees and reduce the hardships they face upon returning to Afghanistan.
The IOM announced on Wednesday, March 12 that this financial aid would help facilitate the return of Afghan migrants who have been forced to leave their host countries. This funding is expected to address the needs of those facing challenges in reintegrating into Afghanistan society after returning from abroad.
According to the IOM, both Iran and Pakistan have intensified efforts to deport Afghan migrants, leading to a sharp increase in the number of returnees expected in 2025. This trend is seen as a response to mounting pressure to manage migrant populations within these countries, affecting thousands of Afghan families who had sought refuge there.
In 2024, the IOM registered over 1.3 million returnees, with 67% of them being forcibly deported. This statistic highlights the pressure that Afghan migrants are facing in host countries, often being sent back without adequate support or preparation for reintegration. These figures reflect the broader crisis facing displaced people of Afghanistan.
[KhaamaPress] The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) stated on its social media platform X on Tuesday, March 11 that it has been actively working to support drug use disorder treatment in Afghanistan. A major highlight is the donation from the Government of India, which contributed 32 tons of humanitarian aid.
This current support includes essential medicines, medical equipment, winter coats, social support items, and sports supplies, which will help strengthen drug treatment centers in Afghanistan.
India and Afghanistan share strong people-to-people ties. India has consistently demonstrated its readiness to address the urgent humanitarian and developmental needs of the Afghan people, including over the past three and a half years.
Since August 2021, India has provided significant relief to Afghanistan, delivering 27 tones of relief material, 50,000 tones of wheat, 40,000 liters of pesticides, and over 300 tones of medicines and medical equipment. This ongoing assistance highlights India’s commitment to supporting the country during times of crisis.
[ShabelleMedia] The Somali Federal Government has shut down 12 websites that were pro-Al-Shabaab, following a successful operation that had earlier resulted in the closure of more than 30 other websites linked to the militant group.
Authorities also seized critical data and identified numerous individuals involved in managing these platforms and funding their operations. This information is expected to aid in taking action against those supporting Al-Shabaab’s online activities.
As part of an ongoing campaign to dismantle the group’s use of the internet for propaganda, thousands of online posts and content created by Al-Shabaab have been removed.
Government agencies tasked with targeting Al-Shabaab’s online presence are also hopeful of soon gaining control over additional websites used by the group to spread criminal activities and radicalizing messages.
[Breitbart] The Trump administration has ejected South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool out of the country, declaring him persona non grata after he gave a lecture claiming that President Donald Trump is a white supremacist leader.
The Trump administration has ejected South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool out of the country, declaring him persona non grata after he gave a lecture claiming that President Donald Trump is a white supremacist leader.
Rasool also had a history of supporting Hamas, which reportedly led American officials to avoid meetings with him.
Rasool’s ejection is the latest chapter in a confrontation between South Africa and the U.S. over South Africa’s expropriation laws and its alliance with hostile regimes such as Chin and Iran. South Africa equivocated on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and led international efforts to isolate Israel after the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023.
The State Department did not have additional details about the ban, and it was unclear whether Rasool was even in the U.S. at the time the decision was made.
Rubio posted as he was flying back to Washington from a Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada.
It is highly unusual for the U.S. to expel a foreign ambassador, although lower-ranking diplomats are more frequently targeted with persona non grata status.
Rasool previously served as his country's ambassador to the U.S. from 2010 to 2015 before returning in January.
As a child, he and his family were evicted from a Cape Town neighborhood designated for white people. Rasool became an active anti-apartheid campaigner, serving time in prison and identifying as a comrade of the country's first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela.
He later became a politician in Mandela's African National Congress political party.
His ouster comes after Trump signed an executive order that cut aid and assistance to the Black-led South African government.
In the order, Trump said South Africa's Afrikaners, who are descendants of mainly Dutch colonial settlers, were being targeted by a new law that allows the government to expropriate private land.
The South African government has denied its new law is tied to race and says Trump's claims over the country and the law have been full of misinformation and distortions.
Trump said land was being expropriated from Afrikaners — which the order referred to as ''racially disfavored landowners'' — when no land has been taken under the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2025 00:00 ||
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[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists
#1
Der Starmer: "What terrible stories
One hears of abuse of their houris
From Britishers true --
And Mohammedans, too!"
[cue irrational horror of Tories]
#10
Whoever uses the term "Islamophobia" is an enemy of Western Civilization because what they call "Islamophobia" is the normalcy of the free marketplace of ideas, the foundation of Western Civilization.
#12
I believe the nation once seen as the Mother Country of original American culture is lost, literally committed cultural suicide to become the new West Pakistan.
[KhaamaPress] Germany’s conservative election winner, Friedrich Merz, has announced that the new government plans to halt the refugee acceptance program, including the acceptance of refugees from Afghanistan. That was this week. Who knows what he'll say next week
He stated that after the formation of the new government, the focus will be on tightening immigration policies and border controls, particularly in coordination with neighboring countries. As part of the strategy, asylum requests at shared borders will be rejected. Merz emphasized that all legal measures will be taken to reduce illegal immigration.
On Saturday, March 8, during a meeting with potential future government partners, Merz highlighted the importance of strengthening border control right from the first day of the new government’s formation. This will be done in a "strong" manner to ensure the protection of national interests and security. He also pointed out that migration restrictions would be included in the new residence law, underscoring a shift in the country’s immigration policies.
Merz, referring to refugee acceptance programs from various countries, including Afghanistan, stated that these programs must come to an end. He made it clear that Germany will no longer prioritize accepting refugees from war-torn regions, signaling a major shift in the nation’s stance on immigration. This decision is likely to impact many individuals who have been seeking asylum in Germany.
German officials also reiterated the suspension of family reunification programs for individuals with only subsidiary protection. Additionally, it was emphasized that the federal police would be empowered to request temporary detention or pre-departure detention for asylum seekers who are obligated to leave Germany. This move is seen as an effort to enforce stricter immigration policies and ensure that those who are not eligible to stay in the country comply with deportation orders.
The incoming government’s approach to immigration represents a significant shift toward stricter border controls and reduced refugee intake. The decision to end the acceptance of refugees from Afghanistan and other countries highlights a focus on limiting asylum admissions in favor of strengthening national security. With measures like tightening border controls and suspending family reunification, the new policies are aimed at reducing illegal immigration and ensuring compliance with deportation laws.
This approach is likely to have significant implications for Germany’s future immigration strategy. It reflects growing concerns over immigration and the need to balance humanitarian responsibilities with national security priorities. How this policy shift will impact Germany’s relationships with other nations, particularly those affected by the refugee crisis, remains to be seen, but it is clear that immigration will be a key issue in the upcoming government’s agenda.
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] When Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... -supporting Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil appeared in court on Wednesday, he was represented by, among others, Ramzi Kassem, a lawyer perhaps best known for defending al Qaeda terrorists.
The Syrian-born Khalil had his green card revoked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on foreign nationals involved in pro-terrorist demonstrations at universities.
Kassem has represented murderous Moslems including Ahmed al-Darbi, an al Qaeda member convicted in 2017 for the bombing of a French oil tanker, as well as several other Guantanamo Bay detainees, including a "close associate" of the late Osama bin Laden ...... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...... . He went on to serve as an immigration policy adviser to former president Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. This Is A Man That Does Not Seem Demented... as a member of the White House's Domestic Policy Council.
Like his new client, Kassem was also involved in anti-Israel activism as a student at Columbia, where he lobbied to rename a sandwich called the "Israeli wrap" in the student dining hall, claiming the terminology was offensive to Moslems. He attended Columbia Law School on a fellowship funded by Paul Soros, the elder brother of Democratic megadonor George Soros ...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true. Maybe both.... His client, Khalil, who graduated from a Columbia graduate program in December, was a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which backed Hamas's "armed resistance" against Israel. He served as a lead negotiator for student activists' illegal anti-Israel encampment last spring and vowed that the group would "remain in this encampment until we achieve all of our demands," which included a boycott of Israel.
Columbia briefly suspended Khalil for his role in the encampment, but he continued to back the demonstrations on campus, which turned violent mostly peaceful in the spring, when students stormed and occupied campus building.
"What we will see [is] the students will continue their activism, will continue doing what they've done in conventional and unconventional ways," Khalil told The Hill in August. "So not only protests, not only encampments, kind of any—any available means necessary to push Columbia to divest from Israel."
"And we've been working all this summer on our plans, on what's next to pressure Columbia to listen to the students and to decide to be on the right side of history," Khalil went on.
Since then, pro-Hamas activists at Columbia have disrupted classes to distribute anti-Semitic flyers, violent mostly peacefully seized campus buildings, and physically assaulted university employees. The chaos led the Trump administration last week to cut off $400 million in federal grants to the university, citing the school's "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."
Khalil is expected to remain in the country after a federal judge, Jesse Furman, intervened on Wednesday to block his immediate deportation. Furman, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is a prolific Democratic donor who once threw out a terrorism lawsuit against the Paleostine Liberation Organization.
Furman, who has served as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York since he was nominated in 2011 by President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... , has a long history of involvement with liberal political causes. The brother of Obama’s former economic advisor Jason Furman, Jesse Furman has donated over $20,000 to Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... , including Obama, Crooked Hillary Clinton ...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do... , and the Democratic National Committee.
Furman also served as the treasurer of his family’s charity, the Furman Foundation, which has donated to Media Matters, the Alliance for Justice, and People for the American Way, according to his Senate confirmation questionnaire.
The Khalil ruling isn’t the first time Furman has staked out a controversial position on a case involving Israel. In 2018, Furman dismissed a terrorism lawsuit against the Paleostine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Paleostinian leadership in the West Bank, citing a lack of jurisdiction.
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Ari Fuld, an American-Israeli citizen who was stabbed to death by a Paleostinian terrorist outside an Israeli shopping center in 2018. The plaintiffs argued that the PLO and Paleostinian Authority were liable in Fuld’s murder under the Anti-Terrorism Act, because the Paleostinian government paid the terrorist’s family following the attack. Critics say this payment system, known as the "pay-to-slay" program, incentivizes terrorism.
Furman tossed the suit, arguing that the court didn’t have jurisdiction over the PLO and the Paleostinian Authority. But Fuld’s family and other victims of Paleostinian terrorism have appealed the issue, and the Supreme Court agreed to take up the question of jurisdiction in December.
In Khalil’s case, the government is challenging the Southern District’s jurisdiction over the case, arguing that Khalil's lawyers should have filed it in either New Jersey or Louisiana, where Khalil was detained at the time.
Ted Frank, the director of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, told the Washington Free Beacon that there is a strong argument for challenging the jurisdiction and that he would be "surprised if the motion isn't granted."
Khalil's lawyers countered that there is legal standing to file his case in the place where he was arrested, if there is evidence that the government transferred him to prevent him from speaking with legal counsel.
"There is a two-track process here: habeas corpus (in federal court) and deportation (before an immigration judge)," Andrew McCarthy, a former prosecutor in the Southern District and columnist for National Review, told the Free Beacon. "The issue in the habeas case is whether Khalil's arrest and detention violate the Constitution."
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Aidan Parisi, the son of a longtime State Department official who emerged last spring as a Columbia University encampment leader and is best known for owning an "emotional support rabbit," was among the students Columbia expelled for storming Hamilton Hall, he announced Thursday night.
Is Dad one of those State Department officials who is being downsized or one of those valuable enough to keep on staff?
Parisi, a graduate student in Columbia’s School of Social Work, wrote on X that he was among the student activists expelled nearly a year after they stormed and occupied Hamilton Hall. Last spring, Parisi, the son of longtime State Department official Elizabeth Daugharty, emerged as a constant presence in the illegal encampment that plagued campus for weeks in April. He was also suspended shortly after his involvement in a pro-Hamas event, "Palestinian Resistance 101," held on campus in March 2024, which featured a number of terror-tied speakers who explicitly called for violence against Jews.
Columbia announced Thursday evening that it punished students who stormed Hamilton Hall with multi-year suspensions, expulsions, and temporary degree revocations. The university declined to say how many were sanctioned, but Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)—the Ivy League school’s most notorious anti-Semitic student group—claimed 22 students across Columbia and its sister school, Barnard College, were disciplined, including nine expulsions.
Grant Miner, the president of Columbia’s graduate student union who was arrested for storming Hamilton Hall, was also expelled Thursday. The self-described "medievalist" is the son of veteran California lobbyist and former Arnold Schwarzenegger aide Paul Miner, who owns a $1.8 million Sacramento home, the Washington Free Beacon reported. In October 2023, just two days after Hamas's terror attack on the Jewish state, the younger Miner was photographed at a New York City rally holding a sign that read, "Resistance against occupation is a human right."
Last spring, Parisi had pledged to "resist" what he called "institutional repression" at Columbia and praised the "intifada." He also has a long history of anti-American and anti-Israel activism, having posted a photo of the two nations’ flags burning on July 4, 2020. "No love for any colonizer flag," he wrote in his caption.
It’s unclear what role Parisi played in organizing the "Resistance 101" event, but when Columbia suspended him over his involvement, he refused to leave his university apartment, saying that doing so would require him to find "housing that would accept his emotional support rabbit."
That event, which CUAD hosted and the Free Beacon attended virtually, featured speakers who explicitly endorsed terrorism against Jews.
One speaker, Charlotte Kates, a leader of the Israeli-designated terror group and U.S.-designated terror financier Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, praised Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack for showing "the potential of a future for Palestine liberated from Zionism." Kates’s husband, Khaled Barakat, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) activist, also lauded the terror group's airplane hijackings as "one of the most important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in." Shortly after the event, Columbia student radicals launched the anti-Israel encampment and eventually stormed Hamilton Hall.
In October, the United States sanctioned Samidoun and Barakat for providing support to the PFLP, a terrorist organization that participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
Parisi also contributed to the mayhem that engulfed campus, serving as a leader of the unauthorized encampment zone and a participant in the overtake of a campus building, for which he was arrested on April 30.
Parisi, meanwhile, was spotted Tuesday at a violent anti-Israel protest in New York City against the detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia student activist and foreign national whom the Trump administration moved to deport over his pro-Hamas campus organizing. Police arrested several agitators after they refused to clear the roadway in front of City Hall.
In February, Parisi and two other Columbia encampment leaders sued the university, alleging that its disciplinary actions against them caused "severe emotional and psychological harm." One of their attorneys, James Carlson, stormed Hamilton Hall last spring and clashed with a facilities worker.
The defense attorney did? Oh dear.
CUAD is also organizing a campus protest Friday afternoon, vowing to "mass disrupt" Columbia and "all genocidal institutions."
[NYPost] Detained anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil worked for the controversial United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... agency for Paleostinian refugees while pursuing his graduate degree at Columbia University.
The campus rabble-rouser’s stint at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Paleostine Refugees came after he held a senior position at the UK office for Syria in Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... for four years, according to multiple reports.
The role would have required a thorough background check and "rigorous security clearance," Andrew Waller, one of Khalil’s former co-workers there, told The Guardian.
He was involved, too, with a British government program, known as the Syria Chevening Program, which dishes out fully funded scholarships to foreign students who "show potential to inspire" so they can study in the UK.
Khalil — a Syrian-born Paleostinian who is also a citizen of Algeria
Oh? How did that happen?
— stopped working there roughly two years ago — right before he relocated to the US in 2022 to enroll at Columbia.
Khalil, 30, was grabbed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Saturday at his Columbia-owned apartment building and later transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, where he faces deportation.
The new details about his trajectory before he became a student leader of last spring’s riotous campus protests emerged as Khalil, now a permanent legal resident, continues to fight the Trump administration’s push to revoke his green card and boot him from the US.
Born in 1995, Khalil was raised in a Paleostinian refugee camp in Syria after his grandparents were displaced from Tiberias, his lawyer has said in court papers.
More fully, they fled ahead of the invading five Arab armies, looking forward to returning afterward to get their share in the resulting loot. Only the untrained, self-organized Jews with their small arms beat back the armies, so there was neither returning nor loot, only half a million Arabs trapped by their hosts in “refugee camps”, living off the world’s largess and watching the unconquered Jews turning swamp and desert into a land of milk and honey. Bummer.
After civil war broke out in Syria, he fled for Lebanon at 18,
…just him? Where was his family?
the Guardian reported, pursuing an undergraduate degree in computer science at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
He then got the gig at the UK office for Syria, a diplomatic mission within the UK embassy in Beirut.
There, he worked in a support role that helped inform British foreign policy on Syria given his knowledge of the region, as well as his Arabic skills, the newspaper reported.
After rising up the ranks, he decided to pursue a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and moved to the US on a student visa in December 2022.
From June through November 2023, he was a political affairs officer with the UNRWA.
The infamous relief agency was stripped of tens of millions in federal funding after an explosive report that some of its members took part in Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Not so much some as lots. But do go on.
Following the bloodshed and the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Khalil became a driving force behind many of the anti-Israel protests, building takeovers and encampments that plagued Columbia for more than a year.
He had a leading role in Columbia United Apartheid Divest (CUAD) — an umbrella of radical student organizations that sympathizes with terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and has previously called for the "end of Western civilization."
Khalil acted as the main negotiator between CUAD and Columbia administrators during the encampment protests that saw scores of tents set up for weeks on the Morningside Heights campus.
The group also spearheaded the violent mostly peaceful takeover of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall last April.
He has been pictured at various campus protests over the past year — speaking into bullhorns, taking part in dance circles and marching draped in a keffiyeh head scarf.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, while defending the Trump administration’s move to deport Khalil this week, said "pro-Hamas propaganda fliers with the logo of Hamas" were handed out at some of the protests.
Khalil has also been a regular fixture on news programs discussing the group’s disruptive efforts — including an interview on Quds News Network where he spoke in Arabic.
At one point, Khalil was filmed telling CUAD members during a forum that "we’ve tried armed resistance, which is legitimate under international law, but Israel calls it terrorism."
He became a permanent US resident after marrying his wife, Noor Abdalla, in the Big Apple in 2023.
She’s been a dentist for a few years. Has he been letting her support him, or is someone paying him for all that protesting and organizing he’s been doing?
The pair had originally met in Lebanon in 2016 when Abdalla, a US citizen, was part of the scholarship program Khalil was overseeing at the time.
They had a seven-year long-distance relationship before tying the knot, she revealed in a Rooters interview this week.
The couple, who are expecting their first child in late April, live in an off-campus apartment owned by Columbia, where ICE agents detained him last week.
The Trump administration has argued it can legally boot Khalil given his role in the anti-Israel campus protests.
Officials have said that while Khalil isn’t accused of or charged with a crime, his actions are "contrary to national and foreign policy interests."
Khalil’s wife is a 28-year-old dentist in New York.
Protesters at UMass Amherst, Harvard, rally over detention of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil
[BostonGlobe] Protesters at Harvard University and University of Massachusetts Amherst campuses stood in solidarity Thursday with Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student and outspoken figure during the Gaza war protests last spring at Columbia University, who was arrested last weekend at the behest of the Trump administration.
About 100 demonstrators, including students, gathered on each campus, waving Palestinian flags, handing out flyers, chanting down the Trump administration, and calling for their universities to divest from companies tied to Israel. The administration is seeking to deport Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents and has a green card to stay in the United States. He is married to a US citizen. He has not been charged with any crimes.
At UMass Amherst, the protest took place outside the Whitmore Administration Building, where many were draped in black and white keffiyehs while others wore medical masks and sunglasses to conceal their faces.
One student hunched over a stack of cardboard posters, scrawling “sanctuary over suppression” across them with thick markers. Another stood with a megaphone by her side, greeting students as they arrived.
Just before 4 p.m., one student stepped forward with the stack of cardboard in hand. She placed the stack on the pavement and encouraged attendees to take a sign.
The protests are the latest iterations of the pro-Palestinian encampments built on campuses across the nation last spring, including one at UMass Amherst, which resulted in over 130 arrests.
On Thursday, students passed out small sheets of paper that outlined their demands. A “Free Palestine” chant filled the air.
“Don’t engage with Zionists, don’t engage with cops,” a student yelled to the crowd. “Who’s ready?”
Students at UMass Amherst said the police presence has increased on campus since Saturday’s arrest of Khalil.
Khalil’s detention has set off widespread uproar and daily protests in New York, including on Friday, when several hundred protesters gathered outside Columbia in support of Khalil.
The protest took place off campus on Broadway Ave., outside Columbia’s main gate. The campus is only accessible to those with a Columbia ID.
It was not clear how many of the protesters were students. Many had their faces covered with masks or keffiyehs. They held signs that said “Free Mahmoud” and “The people want the fall of the regime.”
Police set up metal barricades all around the protest area. Two helicopters hovered overhead, and onlookers watched from balconies and windows on campus.
The demonstration was backed by an array of Muslim and anti-Israel activist groups.
The coalition of Columbia protest groups, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, on Friday posted photos of an “anonymous submission” showing red paint splattered on the Columbia president’s mansion alongside graffiti that said “Free them all” and an inverted triangle, a Hamas symbol.
On Thursday, federal officials sent a letter to university leaders outlining steps Columbia must take to secure its federal funding. The Trump administration cut $400 million in funding for Columbia last week over campus antisemitism and threatened billions more.
The letter said the university must enact discipline against student protesters, institute a mask ban, adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, create a plan for admissions reform, and put the academic department covering the Middle East under academic receivership, meaning an outside figure, not from the department’s faculty, would take the helm of the department.
Amid the pressure from the administration, Columbia on Thursday said it had expelled, suspended and revoked the degrees of students who forcibly took over the campus building last year. There were no details about the number of students punished. Columbia University Apartheid Divest claimed that 22 students had been sanctioned.
The White House has said Khalil is being deported for distributing pro-Hamas propaganda. Days before his detention, he attended a protest at Barnard where activists distributed Hamas material. Federal immigration laws prohibit non-citizens from espousing support for terror groups. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, for which he served as an organizer and spokesperson, in the past also voiced support for terror groups and violence.
In a Thursday court filing, Khalil’s lawyers said he was a Palestinian who grew up in Syria. When the war broke out in Syria, his family was displaced and is now dispersed in Europe and West Asia.
Answering the question asked above. Are they now going back to Syria, or choosing to remain scattered abroad?
The Thursday court filing was an amended complaint that came after a judge ordered Khalil to be allowed phone calls with his lawyers.
The Student Workers of Columbia held a rally in support of Khalil and Grant Miner, President of UAW Local 2710 - Student Workers of Columbia, whom the union said Columbia expelled for his involvement in pro-Palestinian campus protests.
[KhaamaPress] Following the surrender of an ISIS member to the United States and President Donald Trump’s praise for Pakistan, Islamabad has become hopeful about renewed cooperation with Washington. However, this move is unlikely to quickly lead to a warmer relationship between the two countries.
Michael Kugelman, a prominent Southeast Asia expert, wrote on Wednesday in Foreign Policy that the relationship between the U.S. and India, alongside Pakistan’s alliance with China, and differing priorities make it less likely for the U.S. to seek deeper cooperation with Pakistan.
The article noted that recent cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan would not lead to a strategic partnership. After the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, relations and financial aid to Pakistan were increased due to Islamabad’s role in capturing al-Qaeda members and its strategic importance as a transit route for U.S. forces.
However, with the end of the war on terrorism and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan no longer holds a defined place in U.S. foreign policy. Islamabad is now attempting to redefine its position by cooperating with the U.S. to combat ISIS.
The U.S. sees cross-border attacks by ISIS-Khorasan as a security threat to itself and other nations. President Trump, in a joint speech in Congress on March 4, surprised many by thanking Pakistan for helping capture Mohammad Sharifullah, a member of ISIS-Khorasan, who is accused of playing a major role in the 2021 Kabul airport attack.
Despite recent efforts by Pakistan to work with the U.S., the seven-year suspension of U.S. security aid and reduced strategic focus on Pakistan since the U.S. exit from Afghanistan have limited the potential for bilateral cooperation. The U.S. and Pakistan may still find some areas for collaboration, especially through the existing counterterrorism dialogues and intelligence sharing on groups like ISIS-Khorasan, TTP, and the Baloch Liberation Army.
However, the deepening of U.S.-Pakistan security ties is limited by Pakistan’s alignment with China and its focus on TTP, which operates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, creating a complex situation where cooperation on ISIS-Khorasan may not be enough to overcome broader geopolitical challenges.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/15/2025 00:00 ||
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[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[KhaamaPress] The U.S. immigration detention centers for illegal immigrants are at full capacity, housing 47,600 detainees. According to Reuters, this was stated by a senior official from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a call with reporters on Wednesday.
The official mentioned that the Trump administration is seeking additional beds at these centers to increase detention capacity.
The official, who chose to remain anonymous, stated that ICE, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, is working to increase the detention facilities’ capacity to manage the growing number of detainees.
Currently, ICE’s budget has been allocated to house 41,500 migrants, but the Trump administration plans to expand this capacity further. The goal is to ensure enough space to handle the increasing number of detainees due to tighter immigration policies.
Tom Homan, a senior official in the Trump administration, stated that the U.S. needs at least 100,000 detention beds to enforce its deportation policy effectively. This would significantly increase the detention capacity to accommodate the anticipated surge in migrants.
Official statistics reveal that since Trump took office, over 32,800 migrants have been detained, with 27% of them having no criminal record. This highlights the government’s growing focus on detaining individuals regardless of their criminal background.
The Trump administration’s effort to expand immigration detention capacity comes as part of its ongoing commitment to aggressive immigration enforcement.
#1
Those are rookie numbers.
Anyone notice they quit posting the day-to-day numbers? Because they're pathetic.
20 million illegal aliens. They'll not be deported at this slow rate for 150 years.
#2
How much more effective will the raids be when Homeland Security and the FBI aren’t full of corrupt officers busily leaking the raid schedule to “activists”, so they can warn the targets?
Beyond that, it’s not even been two months — the tipping point is still approaching.
The inflow at the border has pretty much been stopped already, the money flow to illegal-supporting NGOs is being pinched off — USAID will turn out to be only one of many sources of government funding aiding and abetting the arrival and support of illegals in this country — and the measures to make America unwelcoming to illegal migrants and those legal migrants hostile to American life and culture are in the early stages, like the revocation of visas for those in the Black Bloc-Muslim coalition that’s been rioting through our universities and streets celebrating the war on Israel.
We’re already starting to see illegals self-deporting, which will accelerate as the loss of benefits and protection makes the whole thing considerably more risky and considerably less profitable.
#3
The deportation will mostly be voluntary. The welfare dollar spigot will be shut. Everify will reduce employment options. The threat of permanent banning from coming into the country will discourage more folks. Deportation will be needed for a much lower number of folks.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/15/2025 14:24 Comments ||
Top||
[KhaamaPress] FBI Special Agent Seth Parker testified that Mohammad Sharifullah
… a.k.a. Mohammad Sharif, alias “Jafar” of ISIS-Khorasan, he was identified by the CIA as the shot-caller for the suicide kaboom at Kabul International Airport‘s Abbey Gate during the fatally disorganized Biden pull-out, for which a number of American generals should be thoroughly ashamed…
was not a top level planner of the August 2021 Kabul airport bombing but played a supportive role. Captured by Pak forces and handed over to U.S. authorities, Sharifullah faces charges for conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.
President Trump announced Sharifullah’s capture in a joint congressional session, stating he was involved in the Kabul airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and over 170 Afghans. Sharifullah’s arrest, facilitated by intelligence sharing with Pakistain, is seen as a significant counterterrorism success.
Sharifullah’s defense argues he was not among the main planners and was not present during the bombing. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... Agent Parker noted Sharifullah’s role in conducting reconnaissance for the attack and his affiliation with ISIS-Khorasan. Sharifullah also admitted to involvement in other terrorist activities, including attacks in Moscow.
He had previously provided weapons training for two of the four jihadis who committed the March 22, 2024 Crocus City Hall concert massacre that killed 144, maimed 550, and caused $150 million in damage.
In court, Sharifullah claimed ignorance of the bombing details and denied being present during its execution. Despite these claims, evidence points to his active role in planning and facilitating the attack, leading to his detention without bail.
The Kabul airport bombing resulted in at least 182 deaths, including 13 U.S. service members. The attack, claimed by ISIS-K, occurred during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, highlighting the complex security environment during that period.
If this ISIS member is found guilty for his role in the suicide kabooms, he is likely to be sentenced to life in prison.
[GEO.TV] Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Friday termed India main sponsor of terrorism in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , saying the latest attack on Jaffar Express is the continuation of the same policy.
Addressing a media briefing flanked by Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, the DG ISPR said: ''The latest attack in Balochistan and other terrorist incidents that took place in the past—we understand that the main sponsor of these [attacks] is your eastern neighbor.''
The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), during Tuesday's attack on the Jaffar Express, blew up train tracks and held over 440 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security services in a remote mountain pass in Bolan district.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11139 views]
Top|| File under: Baloch Liberation Army
#1
Yeah, you gotta watch out for those Hindu pacifist terrorists. They're sneaky.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/15/2025 6:51 Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem this morning for the second Friday prayers of Ramadan.
The Islamic Waqf, which manages the site, estimates that some 80,000 people attended the midday prayer. Israel Police does not provide a number, only saying “tens of thousands” of people were in attendance.
Police say that prayers ended peacefully and without any unusual incidents, despite fears of unrest during the Muslim holy month due to tensions over Gaza.
In a statement ahead of last week’s Friday prayers, the Prime Minister’s Office said that it would be granting entry permits into Jerusalem to a “reduced number of Muslim worshipers” from the West Bank.
Though the Prime Minister’s Office did not disclose how many West Bank Palestinians were granted permits, the proposal issued by Israeli security brass reportedly recommended a limit of 10,000.
As was the case last Ramadan, Israel allowed only Palestinian males aged 55 and older, women at least 50 years old and children aged 12 and below to enter the city for Friday prayers.
[GEO.TV] Israeli forces stormed the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem as Palestinians gathered for dawn prayers, reported Al Jazeera.
Israeli authorities have placed heavy restrictions on Palestinians from the occupied West Bank travelling to the mosque — Islam's third-holiest site — to pray during Ramadan.
[IsraelTimes] 60 clerics pray at tomb of Nabi Shuaib, the most important Druze religious site, are set to meet leader of Israeli community; other Syrian Druze strongly oppose trip
Dozens of Syrian Druzeholy mans crossed into Israel on Friday for their community’s first pilgrimage to a revered shrine since Israel’s creation in 1948.
On board three buses escorted by military vehicles, the holy mans crossed the armistice line at Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and headed to northern Israel.
According to a source close to the group, the delegation of around 60 holy mans was due to meet the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, in northern Israel.
They then headed to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib near Tiberias in the Galilee -— the most important religious site for the Druze — where they arrived in the evening to pray.
Followers of the esoteric monotheistic faith are mainly divided between Syria, Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... and Israel.
A source close to the delegation said that the visit followed an invitation from the Druze community in Israel, but that it had been met with "strong opposition" from other Druze in Syria.
The Druze account for about three percent of Syria’s population and are heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida.
In Israel, there are around 150,000 Druze, with most of those living in Israel holding Israeli citizenship and serving in the army.
However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... of the some 23,000 living in the Golan Heights, most do not hold Israeli citizenship and still see themselves as Syrian nationals.
Dr. Amir Khnifess, chairman of the Druze and Circassian Movement for Democracy and Equality, welcomed the visit as a "historic and meaningful moment" for the Druze, in a statement quoted by the Israel Hayom news site.
The visit signified "the beginning of a new chapter in the country’s history with its neighbor," he said.
’BOLD ALLIANCE’
Israel seized much of the strategic Golan Heights from Syria in a war in 1967, later annexing the area in 1981 in a move recognized by the US but not by most of the international community.
The pilgrimage comes as Israel has voiced support for Syria’s Druze and mistrust of the country’s new Islamist leaders.
Following the ouster of longtime Syrian president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... in December, Israel carried out hundreds of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Syria and sent troops into the demilitarized buffer zone of the Golan in southwest Syria.
Government front man David Mencer said on Thursday that 10,000 humanitarian aid packages had been sent to "the Druze community in battle areas of Syria" over the past few weeks.
"Israel has a bold alliance with our Druze brothers and sisters," he told journalists.
During a visit to military outposts in the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israel and Syria on Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would remain in the area and ensure the protection of the Druze.
In early March, following a shootout between government-linked forces and Druze fighters in the suburbs of Damascus, Katz said his country would not allow Syria’s new rulers "to harm the Druze."
Druze leaders immediately rejected Katz’s warning and declared their loyalty to a united Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning that his government would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Islamist-led government near its territory.
Courtesy of Fred:
[X]
In a rare visit, a Druze delegation from southern Syria arrives in Israel, coinciding with Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri’s strong stance against Damascus. How will this impact Syria’s Druze community? #Syria#Druze#Israel#MiddleEasthttps://t.co/L90QQG5Boa
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) March 14, 2025
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The other day, the US President's special envoy for hostage issues, Adam Boehler, stunned the Israeli public with news of direct contacts with Hamas bypassing the main negotiating format. The news predictably caused a storm of criticism from official Tel Aviv and resulted in consequences for Boehler himself.
At first glance, it seems that the US got into a major diplomatic scandal and preferred to push the dubious negotiator aside, hushing up the matter. However, the escalation of the topic could also be part of a larger multi-move in the interests of the White House. Moreover, it is not the first time that Boehler has taken a blow for the sake of high goals.
"BOEHLER METHOD"
Adam Boehler is a seasoned negotiator and lobbyist who has advanced U.S. interests around the globe.
His track record includes negotiations on major investment packages in Latin America, South Asia and Africa; the total amount of contracts signed with his participation amounts to tens of billions of dollars.
Böhler is no stranger to political and diplomatic games. He was especially successful in them during Donald Trump's first presidential term.
For example, in 2020, Böhler took part in the three-way talks between the US, Afghanistan and the Taliban*, trying to convince the latter to lay down their arms in exchange for investment and integration into Afghan political institutions. The Taliban were never convinced, but the experience gained came in handy for Trump's lobbyist a little later, during the development of the Abraham Accords on normalizing relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries.
During the preparation of the first agreements (2020-2021), Boehler traveled to most of the Middle East and actively advised senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner. He also played a significant role in Morocco's entry into Israel's "club of friends" and the final reconciliation of the Arabian monarchies with Qatar.
In all of these cases, whether business negotiations or diplomatic processes, Böhler acted boldly (in some cases even brazenly), not being afraid to sometimes contradict previous agreements. Often, this is what helped him move the deal forward and bring it to the final.
Of course, Trump could not help but remember the effectiveness of his former consultant, and upon returning to the White House, he invited him to join his team, assigning him to work on hostages.
It is possible that the idea of holding direct negotiations with the “specially authorized” representative of Hamas belonged to Böhler, who is used to working on sensitive issues without additional intermediaries.
ERROR IN CALCULATIONS
It is not known for certain how many meetings Boehler managed to hold with Hamas representatives. Even he himself does not disclose the number, using the vague wording of “several cycles.” However, even this was enough to provoke indignation in Israel.
The attacks on Böhler were prompted by a series of interviews in which the lobbyist shared some of the results of his contacts with the Palestinians.
The Israelis were not pleased that the special representative for hostages effectively placed responsibility for the slowdown in the exchange on Tel Aviv, and also expressed hope that after the end of the conflict in Gaza, Hamas would be “reborn” into a handshake political force.
Israeli politicians, both those in power and those in opposition, unanimously rushed to insist that Boehler literally “planted a bomb” under the previous negotiating process and made Hamas “believe in itself” by calling the Palestinians an equal party in the negotiations.
Statements about the “rebirth” of Hamas were met with hostility – Tel Aviv does not want to see the movement in power in the enclave, even if it undertakes serious internal restructuring.
Restructuring is not the issue. The issue is Hamas’s genocidal goal to erase all the Jews of the world, finishing what Hitler started, and to accomplish the first step by repeating 10/7 over and over until Israel is conquered. Israel cannot allow Hamas to exist after this is over, nor for Hamas’ people to live anywhere within reach.
The scandal became so significant that at one point Secretary of State Marco Rubio had to intervene. He said that direct negotiations with Hamas were a “one-off situation” that “did not produce results.” He called Böhler’s public statements “ambiguous and in places wrong.”
And the very next morning, the American press published “government insiders” about Boehler’s removal from work on the Gaza agreement, which the Israeli press eagerly picked up. Tel Aviv took the news about the excommunication of the Trump lobbyist as a small victory.
However, despite the possible disagreement within the negotiating team, the US prefers not to officially air its dirty linen in public. Boehler continues to appear in press releases from the State Department and the White House, and gives comments to the media on the development of the negotiating process. And, more importantly, he still formally remains the authorized person for hostage affairs.
However, even a cursory comparison of his latest statements shows that his current statements are extremely general in nature, and all of his theses refer exclusively to the work of the official American negotiator on Gaza, Steve Witkoff. He no longer conducts independent work in this direction, at least not publicly.
VACCINATION AGAINST HARMFULNESS
Although Boehler's gamble quickly failed, the US attempts to launch a parallel negotiating track did bear fruit. In particular, the White House created in Israel the conviction that Tel Aviv was not the main link in the settlement scheme.
Washington, if necessary, can negotiate with the Palestinian factions independently – and not only from a position of strength. Is it a coincidence, but during the period of Boehler’s participation in direct negotiations with Hamas, Trump suddenly abandoned most of his own ultimatums and suddenly “changed his mind” about forcibly resettling Palestinians from the enclave.
Given that the US interest in the Gaza negotiations largely revolves around the release of several US hostages from Hamas captivity, such public flexibility is understandable. Tel Aviv was given a transparent hint that Washington has the opportunity to resolve the issue on its own.
This way of putting the question partly explains why Israel so easily agreed to the new version of the “Whitkoff plan” announced by the US delegation at the negotiations in Doha on March 12.
According to it, the number of hostages that Hamas is obliged to release in order to extend the "silence regime" was halved. Tel Aviv will receive five live hostages, as well as nine bodies of Israelis who died in captivity. In exchange, Israel is obliged to resume humanitarian aid deliveries to the enclave.
The temporary ceasefire is planned to be extended until April 20, covering Ramadan and Passover.
And although the Israeli Ministry of Health reports that at least 59 more people are in the hands of Hamas, Tel Aviv is not yet inclined to dispute the White House proposals.
This means that the “Boehler method” worked in some way.
[GEO.TV] Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, has demanded that Israel withdraw troops from the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, in line with its obligations under the first phase of the ceasefire deal, reported Al Jazeera.
''Reports indicate new proposals are being presented aimed at circumventing the Gaza agreement,'' Qassem told the AFP news agency.
[GEO.TV] In a statement, US special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... of making ''entirely impractical'' demands and stalling a deal to release an American-Israeli captive in exchange for an extension of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ceasefire.
''Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not,'' a statement from the Witkoff's office and the US National Security Council said.
''Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes,'' it said, adding that Trump had already vowed Hamas would ''pay a severe price'' for not freeing captives.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11164 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[Rudaw] A Kurdish politician on Thursday said that the number of Kurds returning to Afrin in northwest Syria has significantly increased after the agreement between the new Syrian administration and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as Arab settlers continue to leave the city.
"Exact statistics are not available, but after the March 10 agreement, Kurdish returns have significantly increased, to the point where people are returning to their areas minute by minute," Ahmed Hassan told Rudaw. He is the head of the local council for the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) - a coalition of Kurdish political parties that is considered the main opposition in northeast Syria (Rojava).
"Arab settlers are also returning in large numbers, and there are villages where no Arabs remain," Hassan added.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi signed a landmark agreement on Monday to integrate the SDF into the Syrian state apparatus. The agreement recognizes the Kurds as an integral part of Syria, includes a countrywide ceasefire, and stipulates the return of displaced Syrians to their hometowns.
In 2018, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and its allied Syrian militias seized control of Afrin, a Kurdish enclave in northwest Syria. Thousands of Kurds fled, many moving to the nearby Shahba region and families displaced from elsewhere in Syria moved into Afrin.
International organizations have recorded numerous human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations against Afrin’s Kurdish population since 2018, including killings, kidnappings, looting of agricultural crops, cutting down of olive trees, and imposing taxes on farmers.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Afrin in mid-February and met with locals, the majority of whom were Kurds. He pledged to remove gangs and put an end to the violations, a representative from ENKS who attended the meeting told Rudaw.
Kurds returning to Afrin are no longer subjected to imprisonment or forced to pay levies. Displaced families returning to their homes had been forced to pay fees, ranging from $1,000 to $1,500.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran using drones, facial recognition software and public vigilantes to identify women not wearing head covering; report points to ‘disturbing pattern’ of deaths of protesters
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 increasingly relying on electronic surveillance and the public to inform on women refusing to wear the country’s mandatory headscarf in public, as hard-liners push for harsher penalties for those protesting the law, a United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... report released Friday found.
The findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran come after it determined last year that the country’s theocracy was responsible for the "physical violence" that led to the death of Mahsa Amini.
The 22-year-old’s death led to nationwide protests against the country’s mandatory hijab laws and the public disobedience against them that continues despite the threat of violent mostly peaceful arrest and imprisonment.
"Two and a half years after the protests began in September 2022, women and girls in Iran continue to face systematic discrimination, in law and in practice, that permeates all aspects of their lives, particularly with respect to the enforcement of the mandatory hijab," the report said.
"The state is increasingly reliant on state-sponsored vigilantism in an apparent effort to enlist businesses and private individuals in hijab compliance, portraying it as a civic responsibility," it added.
Iran’s diplomatic missions to the UN in New York and Geneva did not respond to a request for comment on the findings of the 20-page report.
Mission chair Sara Hossain cited two new areas of investigation this year: One involved "the disturbing pattern" of deaths of some protesters, including girls, which the state dismissed as cases of suicide. Families faced "judicial harassment" such as being prevented from mourning loved ones who died, she said.
The mission was also looking at the use of mock executions. "We found that detainees men, women and kiddies had been held — in some cases at gunpoint or had nooses put around their necks — in a form of psychological torture," Hossain told news hounds in Geneva.
The team found that "chronic impunity" exists for those responsible for the repression, she added.
DRONES, SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS MONITOR WOMEN
The Sherlocks outlined how Iran increasingly relies on electronic surveillance. Among the efforts include Iranian officials deploying "aerial drone surveillance" to monitor women in public places. At Tehran’s Amirkabir University, authorities installed facial recognition software at its entrance gate to find women not wearing the hijab, it said.
Surveillance cameras on Iran’s major roadways also are believed to be involved in searching for uncovered women. UN Sherlocks said they obtained the "Nazer" mobile phone app offered by Iranian police, which allows the public to report on uncovered women in vehicles, including ambulances, buses, metro cars and taxis.
"Users may add the location, date, time and the license plate number of the vehicle in which the alleged mandatory hijab infraction occurred, which then ’flags’ the vehicle online, alerting the police," the report said. "It then triggers a text message (in real-time) to the registered owner of the vehicle, warning them that they had been found in violation of the mandatory hijab laws, and that their vehicles would be impounded for ignoring these warnings."
Those text messages have led to dangerous situations. In July 2024, coppers shot and paralyzed a woman who activists say had received such a message and was fleeing a checkpoint near the Caspian Sea.
The Sherlocks found that 8,000 vehicles were confiscated because their drivers weren’t wearing the proper hijab.
"What’s unusual and extraordinary about this is the kind of activity that is being monitored through the use of this app... what a woman wears or doesn’t wear," Hossain said. "She shouldn’t have to be sanctioned for that."
TENSIONS REMAIN AFTER 2022 DEATH OF MAHSA AMINI
Amini, 22, died on Sept. 16, 2022, in a hospital after her arrest by the country’s morality police over allegedly not wearing her hijab to the liking of the authorities.
Amini’s death sparked months of protests and a security crackdown that killed more than 500 people and led to the detention of more than 22,000. After the mass demonstrations, police dialed down enforcement of hijab laws, but it ramped up again in April 2024 under what authorities called the Noor — or "Light" — Plan.
At least 618 women have been arrested under the Noor Plan, the UN Sherlocks said, citing a local human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... activist group in Iran.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there... Iran executed at least 938 people last year, a threefold increase from 2021, the UN said. While many were convicted of drug charges, the report said the executions "indicate a nexus with the overall repression of dissent in this period."
As Iran continues its crackdown over the hijab, it also faces an economic crisis over US sanctions due to its rapidly advancing nuclear program. While US President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... has called for new negotiations, Iran has yet to respond to a letter he sent to its 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> . Social unrest, coupled with the economic woes, remain a concern for Iran’s theocracy.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/15/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The hijab stuff will be their Tea Tax. Trump will drop the price of oil and cripple the Iranian economy. The economic stuff could be weathered with a patriotic push, but you can’t play the patriot card while you are bullying the population about religious adherence. The mullah’s will fall.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/15/2025 10:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Brent Crude is already down to just over $70/bbl from over $80 last month.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/15/2025 10:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
They will fall.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/15/2025 12:01 Comments ||
Top||
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.
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
[Breitbart] The Trump administration has ejected 
[KhaamaPress] Germany’s conservative election winner, 
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
Khalil is expected to remain in the country after a federal judge, 
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...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 
