[al-Emarah] At least 17 puppets were killed and 7 more were maimed when Mujahideen seized 2 of the enemy posts in Dashti Archi district of northern Kunduz province last night.
Two Arbaki commanders, Ahmad Shah and Zabit Khalil were among those killed in the operation.
Similarly, Mujahideen seized 5 machine guns from the enemy in the operation.
In another report, 4 coppers were maimed when Mujahideen ambushed the enemy vehicle in the placid provincial capital of Kunduz province last night.
Two of the enemy vehicles were also seized by Mujahideen during the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2019 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The corruption trial for two former Algerian prime ministers, prominent politicians, and automotive industry tycoons started Wednesday in Algiers, with defense lawyers boycotting the proceedings.
The trial is the first resulting from sweeping investigations into graft allegations launched after the resignation of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika ...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out... in the face of mass protests in April.
The accused face charges ranging from money laundering to abuse of office and granting undue privileges in the vehicle assembly industry.
The trial had been adjourned on Monday and the defense vowed to boycott further hearings, criticizing the case as "politicized" and marred by a climate of "settling accounts."
Lawyer Mohammed Madjdoub, speaking on behalf of the defense, told the judge that "conditions... do not allow for lawyers to accomplish their mission and therefore, I inform you that the defense has decided to boycott the trial."
The judge asked the lawyers to leave the small, crowded courtroom and said the proceedings would continue.
The nascent Algerian automotive sector got its start in 2014, via partnerships between foreign groups and large Algerian corporations, often owned by businessmen linked to Bouteflika’s entourage.
Two former prime ministers who served under Bouteflika appeared as defendants on Wednesday: Ahmed Ouyahia, an unpopular four-time former government head, and Abdelmalik Sellal, who was premier from 2014 to 2017.
It is the first time since Algeria’s independence from La Belle France in 1962 that former prime ministers have been put on trial.
The two men argued that the court was not competent to try them, the constitution stipulating that crimes and infractions committed by prime ministers while in office fell under a "High Court of State."
But the organic law to establish this court was not passed and the prosecutor responded that they had to answer for their actions before the ordinary court.
Called first to the stand, Ouyahia was accused of "misappropriation of public funds, abuse of office, granting undue privileges, conflict of interest, corruption, money laundering, and false statements."
He was charged with favoring certain manufacturers in the automotive sector ‐ even if they did not fulfill brief specifications ‐ to the detriment of competitors.
"There is no misappropriation (of public funds) and the choice... was based on the market. These manufacturers were already present and we wanted to keep them", the former prime minister said in his defense.
Former ministers Bedda Mahdjoub (industry and mines), Youcef Yousfi, who succeeded him in the post, and Abdelghani Zaalane (public works and transport) are other defendants in the case.
Also standing trial was Ali Haddad, former head of the main Algerian employer organization, the Forum of Business Leaders (FCE).
The 54-year-old businessman is also the founder and CEO of private construction firm ETRHB.
Among the other businessmen being tried is former FCE vice president Mohammed Bairi, CEO of the Ival group, which owns industrial vehicle plant Iveco.
Ahmed Mazouz, president of the eponymous group that assembles and distributes Chinese-brand vehicles in Algeria, and Hassane Arbaoui, head of Global Group which runs an Algerian factory for South Korean company Kia, are also defendants.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2019 00:53 ||
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[Haaretz] A Navy warship has seized a "significant cache" of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen, U.S. officials said Wednesday, marking the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war there.
The seizure from a small boat by the U.S. Navy and a U.S. Coast Guard boarding team happened last Wednesday in the northern Arabian Sea, and the weapons have been linked to Iran.
Officials said the incident illustrates the continuing illegal smuggling of weapons to Houthi rebels and comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were meeting, with Iran as the main topic.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive military mission.
The U.S. has consistently accused Iran of illegally smuggling arms to Houthi rebels battling the Yemeni government and has seized smaller and less sophisticated weapons in transit.
According to officials, the USS Forrest Sherman was conducting routine maritime operations when sailors noticed a small wooden boat that was not displaying a country flag. The Navy and Coast Guard personnel stopped, boarded the boat for inspection and found the weapons.
Officials did not provide the exact number of missiles or parts but did describe it as a significant cache. They said the small boat was towed into port, and the people on the boat were transferred to the Yemeni Coast Guard. The weapons are still on board the U.S. ship.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2019 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies
Two customs agents have been charged in connection with Australia's largest ever onshore seizure of the drug "ice", a bust worth a record US$840 million, police said today.https://t.co/HmIjO7LDJi
[NBCNews] "Tornike K." was making his way to a terror hq mosque when he was shot twice in the head in Berlin's Tiergarten park shortly before midday Aug. 23, prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday.
There were "enough indications" that the killing was "either contracted by government offices of the Russian Federation or the autonomous Chechen republic as a part of the Russian Federation," spokesman Markus Schmitt said.
Prosecutors said Tornike K., who had previously fought alongside jihad anti-Moscow separatists in Chechnya, "was classified and sought by Russian authorities as a terrorist."
The Kremlin had accused the 40-year-old of being a member of a terror organisation called "Caucasian Emirate." The Boston bombers were members, so thank you, Vadim.
The Tsarnaev boys? The Caucasian Emirate was first nominally attached to Al Qaeda, then to ISIS, when they called themselves Caucasus Province, but all the while the Russians were hunting them down. Those who made their way to the Syrian civil war via Turkey became known as good fighters, but their organizations frequently splintered, a good way to get killed. It looks like Russia is still hunting them.
Police said they arrested Vadim K., a 48-year-old Russian national, shortly after the murder. Prosecutors say facial recognition technology was used to track and identify him.
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was an asylum-seeker of Chechen descent from Georgia who fought against the Russians as a separatist during the Second Chechen War from 1999 - 2009. He was also known by a second identity "Tornike K." which was the one used by German prosecutors. After the war, he reportedly worked in both Ukraine and Georgia against Russian interests.
He applied for asylum in Germany in 2016 following multiple attempts on his life in Georgia. His asylum application, however, was denied and he was slated for deportation. Khangoshvili's ex-wife, Manana Tsatieva, previously told DW: "We were warned that this would happen eventually."
A senior Russian lawmaker, Leonid Slutsky, said on Wednesday Germany should expect to have two of its diplomats expelled from Russia as a "symmetrical" measure.
However, as Mark Galeotti, a British historian and expert on Russian intelligence, pointed out in an interview with DW, "It personally suits the Russians that they are thought to be behind this."
"Part of the Russian calculus is to present themselves as being so unpredictable and dangerous that the West really needs to make a deal with Moscow," such as over Ukraine, Galeotti added.
#2
"Part of the Russian calculus is to present themselves as being so unpredictable and dangerous that the West really needs to make a deal with Moscow," such as over Ukraine, Galeotti added.
Ok, so the Russians are "unpredictable."
Two Q's:
1) Is the behavior of America's current POTUS "predictable"?
2) Has US policy toward Ukraine since the end of the Cold War been predictable, rational, sober, honest?
Re #2, consider that history. In 1991 our president told the Russian president, and soon thereafter harshly warned the new government of independent Ukraine, that Ukraine should not join NATO and should not pursue an independent foreign policy so as to avoid creating fears in Moscow of anti-Russian encirclement by the West and its proxies.
Then NATO was expanded to include not just Poland but also the Baltics and Romania. Hmmm. Didn't we tell the Russians otherwise?
Then US officials, most notoriously Victoria Nuland, openly involved themselves in Ukrainian political disputes, siding with a government and a movement which, however appealing to Western sympathies, was defined in part by its hostility to Russia.
At least the Soviets' behavior toward the anti-American new Cuban regime in 1960-61 wasn't "unpredictable."
Maybe it's time we looked in the mirror and set about creating an orderly, stable, consistent and intelligent policy toward Ukraine that does not threaten Russia in its back yard for no discernible benefit to anyone.
#3
I don't disagree with anything you said Lex, except.
(a) Far as Russians are concerned, Ukraine is not their backyard. Ukraine IS Russia.
(b) To some Russians, Kosovo was a rehearsal for attack on Russia.
#4
The American intervention in Kosovo was because the Euros (who told Bush they'd handle it) had bungled it so badly, that the facade of NATO was about to collapse and Deep State couldn't allow that.
#5
I'm not arguing that it was and that it wasn't. I'm saying that Russians thought. For that matter, as an Israeli during the Kosovo war, I was pretty happy about Dimona mushrooms.
#6
We have zero national interest in the shithole that is Ukraine any more than Russia has any national interest in the shithole that is Cuba. We should stay out of their backyard and v-v. (Note that the analogy breaks down when you consider that Kieran Rus was / is the cradle of Russian Orthodox Christianity. Maybe Boston, not Cuba, would be a better analogue.)
We gave zero national interest in Podgorica (Q: Where? What? A: Exactly).
At least three people were injured, two of them critically, when a gunman opened fire at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii before taking his own life, according to local news reports.https://t.co/8pS3oFldwapic.twitter.com/vyiVrVmreg
Iran is using the current upheaval in Iraq to secretly move and stockpile short-range ballistic missiles in its neighboring country, the New York Times reports citing US intelligence and military officials.https://t.co/MEWBAJnJsA
[Jpost] The IDF, Shin Bet, Border Police and Israeli Police forces arrested 15 wanted suspects for involvement in terrorist activities and violent disruptions against civilians and security forces in the West Bank overnight, the IDF said on Wednesday. The suspects were brought in for interrogation.
Lebanese demonstrators are blocking a main road in central Beirut known as the Ring Bridge for the second night in a row, with many protesters saying they are against suggested nominees who might form the next government.https://t.co/rBMY73XIH9pic.twitter.com/2cAe5BzZMA
A deadly car bomb targets a Turkish convoy in an area of northern Syria controlled by Turkey-backed fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.https://t.co/Xp9FsTKwWO
[Jpost] Large explosions were reported at an Iranian base in al-Bukamal in eastern Syria after unidentified aircraft targeted a weapons depot at the site, according to the Step news agency.
A correspondent for Step reported that Iranian militias fired anti-aircraft fire at a reconnaissance aircraft that was spotted shortly before the attack. Shortly afterwards, unidentified aircraft attacked the weapons depot and large explosions were heard and fire could be seen from a distance.
No information about the extent of the damage or any casualties has been reported.
Continued on Page 49
A global crackdown on money laundering results in more than 200 people arrested in 31 countries, according to the European Union’s police agency Europol.https://t.co/d44Go9TdKB
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.
...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out...
[Haaretz] A Navy warship has seized a "significant cache" of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen, U.S. officials said Wednesday, marking the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war there.
[Jpost] Large explosions were reported at an Iranian base in al-Bukamal in eastern Syria after unidentified aircraft targeted a weapons depot at the site, according to the Step news agency.
