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Today: 55 articles and 254 comments as of 4:18.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Switzerland Thwarts Major Islamic State Terror Attack
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
10 16:01 Frank G [4] 
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1 05:01 Woodrow [5] 
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3 10:30 Chris [6] 
2 10:33 Chris [11] 
5 09:41 Raj [5] 
7 20:16 Lex [10] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 23:54 Knuckles Spavins2792 [10]
2 07:57 Frank G [5]
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1 07:47 AlanC [10]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
1 17:16 Matt [4]
5 20:24 SteveS [6]
14 22:38 Lex [8]
6 17:59 Anomalous Sources [5]
2 08:02 b [3]
12 20:53 Thaith Elmeresing6163 [11]
10 18:53 Skidmark [6]
4 09:45 Raj [3]
3 12:51 ed in texas [4]
3 09:00 ranture [7]
1 11:27 ed in texas [4]
7 17:29 Abu Uluque [6]
3 08:09 b [9]
7 12:57 ed in texas [4]
1 04:44 Woodrow [5]
6 23:35 Lex [6]
Page 4: Opinion
18 23:14 Lex [5]
5 16:23 g(r)omgoru [3]
9 10:43 crazyhorse [5]
3 15:31 Lex [4]
6 15:22 magpie [3]
2 06:40 Dale [5]
2 17:15 swksvolFF [6]
19 16:43 Besoeker [3]
11 15:34 Papa Plugz [4]
5 19:11 Skidmark [7]
Page 6: Politix
12 18:50 DarthVader [6]
2 10:38 M. Murcek [6]
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15 20:59 Thaith Elmeresing6163 [6]
21 12:57 M. Murcek [8]
3 16:12 swksvolFF [6]
Afghanistan
U.S.-Taliban peace deal signing tentatively set for 29th of February: Report
[KhaamaPress] Washington is expected to sign a peace deal with the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group on 29th of February, provided that the group uphold their commitments regarding a seven-day reduction in violence.

An American official, privy of the development has told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the U.S. and Taliban have agreed to a temporary truce which would likely open the way for a deal for the withdrawal of the American forces.

The official further added that the agreement for a seven-day "reduction in violence" is "very specific" and covers the entire country, including Afghan government forces.

The Taliban had committed to a halt in roadside and suicide kabooms as well as rocket attacks, the official said, adding that If the Taliban uphold their commitments, a U.S.-Taliban peace agreement would be signed within 10 days.

Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, the gondola was dangling by a single thread of rope.

Jack! Cynthia cried. I just realized I'm afraid of heights! I don't even like high heels!...

a Taliban official has said the signing had been tentatively set for Feb. 29, with the start of the Afghan talks planned for March 10.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, further added that Germany and Norway have offered to host the talks but there has been no decision on the venue.

That Taliban official also added that the agreement would provide for the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners before the start of the negotiations.
Possibly that was actually agreed to. But possibly the Taliban are just adding things in the hope that the unbelievers are suckers,
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2020 02:43 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Using rare metals as bait.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/16/2020 4:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Why is a peace deal with the Taliban preferable to a hard Afghexit combined with hard sanctions?

Any deal with the Taliban will amount to an official recognition of the US' & NATO's defeat in the 9/11 war.

Liberated Afghanistan is only passive aggressive but also hostile and evil. Why negotiate with the Taliban for their benefit?

If the Democrats were smart they'd slam Trump for being soft on the Taliban.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 02/16/2020 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  it has been proven they are not smart
Posted by: Chris || 02/16/2020 10:22 Comments || Top||

#4  I propose the 30th of February. Less likely to violate the agreement.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2020 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Do you think “The Taliban”, which really is a bunch of independent groups looking to Pakistan's ISI for money and orders — only one of which is represented at these talks — is capable of avoiding violence until then?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2020 12:40 Comments || Top||

#6  "Washington is expected to sign a peace deal with the Taliban . . ."

Again?
Posted by: Barbara || 02/16/2020 13:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Something oddly appropriate about signing a treaty with the Talipaks or Pakibans or whatever, on Sadie Hawkins Day.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/16/2020 13:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Declare victory and get out. This war has cost us a trillion dollars as well as the integrity of many generals. It's a gigantic lie at this point and the sooner it's over the better. Who cares about the Taliban? Not one more dead American. The whole of Afghan isn't worth it.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/16/2020 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  ^ Can't say I disagree. 19 years = enough.
Posted by: Lex || 02/16/2020 15:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Celebrated every year on...February 29th
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2020 16:01 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisia’s PM designate forms new government but future uncertain
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh on Saturday formed a new government but it immediately hit major hurdles after members of Ennahdha party pulled out of the line-up.

Fakhfakh was tasked by Tunisia’s president to form a government after a previous list proposed under the leadership of Ennahdha was rejected by parliament following October legislative elections.

Several of the ministers chosen by Fakhfakh to join the cabinet are from the ranks of the Islamist-inspired party.

But even before he officially announced the line-up, Ennahdha said it was pulling out of the government.

"Ennahdha’s decision places us in a difficult position," Fakhfakh said.

He said he had agreed with the president to search for a solution through legal and constitutional means, implying that his line-up could be modified.

Ennahdha won more seats than any other party in October’s legislative election, but was still far short of a majority.

Fakhfakh, 47, was named minister of tourism in 2011 before serving as minister of finance from December 2012 until January 2014.

He became involved in politics again after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, joining the Ettakatol party, which had allied with Ennahdha.

The Islamist-inspired party is demanding a government of national unity.

"Ennahdha has decided not to take part in the government or in a vote of confidence," senior party member Abdelkarim Harouni told AFP on Saturday.

In addition to its political crisis, Tunisia is struggling to meet the expectations of its population, while an assistance package started by the International Monetary Fund in 2016 ends in April.

Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Europe
Rebuking Russia, Turkey Pledges to Fund Ukraine’s Military
From a week ago.
[DailySignal] Ottoman Turkish President Recep Erdogan joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday outside Kyiv’s 18th-century Mariyinsky Palace to review an honor guard of Ukrainian troops. A band played the anthems of both countries. Along the nearby streets, Ottoman Turkish and Ukrainian flags hung side-by-side on light poles.

"Turkey has been one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and has been one of the only Moslem-majority countries in the world to criticize Russia’s treatment of the Crimean Tatars."
The Mariyinsky Palace originally was built as a residence for the Russian Czars. Thus, it was a fittingly symbolic place for the two leaders to meet on the day Erdogan announced $36 million in Ottoman Turkish military aid for Ukraine‐a country currently at war against Russian forces in its southeastern Donbas region.

"We fully support and will support the illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea," Erdogan told news hounds Monday in Kyiv, referring to a Ukrainian peninsular territory that Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Using what for money?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/16/2020 2:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Libya just donated all that gold to Turkey — in gratitude for brotherly friendship, or something.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2020 3:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Gold? Missed that one.

Popcorn!
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/16/2020 5:07 Comments || Top||

#4  16 tons of GNA gold

Also $1.5 billion from the GNA to be deposited in Turkish banks

And we had a post on 1. February that the GNA signed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of arms purchases from Turkish suppliers, but putting more than two links in a comment triggers Rantburg's anti-spam protections, so you can go look that up yourselves if you feel the need.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2020 13:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Ok — as an experiment, I added links to all three in a modified Related thingy at the bottom of the article.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2020 13:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Well done.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/16/2020 18:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Yip is out of control. Here's hoping Vlad i tak dalee take him out
Posted by: Lex || 02/16/2020 20:16 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey dismisses Russian accusations that it has flouted de-escalation agreements with Russia and Iran in Syria’s Idlib
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  I just don't care. More interesting in popcorn stocks when Turnkey gets roasted.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/16/2020 5:01 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Trudeau Criticized For Bowing To Iranian Foreign Minister As He Seeks UN Security Council Seat
[DAILYCALLER] Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
...hereditary prime minister of the Great White North...
is under fire for meeting with Iranian leaders on Friday.

Trudeau met with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif while attending the Munch Security Conference.

Trudeau’s handshake and quick bow were broadcast over Iranian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
and brought condemnation from many as the meeting came roughly a month after 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 a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
shot down a Ukrainian aircraft killing 57 Canadians on board. Trudeau said he was seeking updated information on the crash.

Conservative Member of Parliament Michelle Rempel Garner criticized Trudeau on Friday, suggesting it was part of the prime minister’s motivation. "If this is what it takes to get a seat on the UN Security Council I don’t want it. How’s that ’fulsome and complete’ investigation of the crash site going?" Rempel tweeted.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Only cuckolds get off on self humiliation.
Posted by: Pancho Chirt8006 || 02/16/2020 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  "Fulsome" is actually the appropriate term in this case.

Clue for Jolson: look up the meaning of the word, little one.
Posted by: Lex || 02/16/2020 1:05 Comments || Top||

#3  You reelected him. Bow indeed.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/16/2020 7:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Trudeau must have picked up the bowing groveling thing from Obama.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/16/2020 9:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Did he do it in black face? That would explain it.
Posted by: Raj || 02/16/2020 9:41 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq’s premier-designate Mohammad Allawi announces he will submit his cabinet to a parliamentary vote within days
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
#Turkey delivered tanks and anti-aircraft missiles to jihadists: Russian media
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Just for the record, those stylish Kirpi vehicles pictured above are powered by Cummins engines and Allison transmissions.
Link
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/16/2020 2:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Really B? Interesting. Could we maybe build a couple old school Detroit flaws in there.

Popcorn stock rising.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/16/2020 5:03 Comments || Top||

#3  who cares, let em kill eac other off.
Posted by: Chris || 02/16/2020 10:30 Comments || Top||


#Erdogan demands Syrian Army immediately leave #Idlib, refuses to wait until end of February
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  I keep saying it, invasion coming.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/16/2020 5:08 Comments || Top||

#2  how you gonna demand the syrian army to leave a city in their own country? Erdrogan really doesn't realize who Russia is going to take sides with.
Posted by: Chris || 02/16/2020 10:33 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
29[untagged]
7Sublime Porte
4Taliban
2Govt of Iraq
2al-Nusra
2Commies
1Islamic State
1Moslem Colonists
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
1Antifa
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iran Proxies
1Hamas
1Houthis

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2020-02-16
  Switzerland Thwarts Major Islamic State Terror Attack
Sat 2020-02-15
  Six Cartel Kidnappers Busted with Mexican Border City Victim in Trunk
Fri 2020-02-14
  US navy ship seizes 150 Iranian-manufactured anti-tank guided missiles after boarding a vessel in the Arabian Sea
Thu 2020-02-13
  Hafiz Saeed sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for terror financing
Wed 2020-02-12
  Sudan will hand over Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court
Tue 2020-02-11
  Russians bomb a joint Turkish & Jihadi column
Mon 2020-02-10
  Ehsanullah Ehsan sends greetings from Turkey, thumbs nose
Sun 2020-02-09
  Multiple US troops killed during shootout in eastern Afghanistan
Sat 2020-02-08
  Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah banged in Kabul
Fri 2020-02-07
  Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
Thu 2020-02-06
  Hazim Al-Halafi, a senior commander of Saraya Al-Salam dead
Wed 2020-02-05
  Trump acquitted by Senate on articles of impeachment for abuse of power
Tue 2020-02-04
  8 Turkish personnel, 13 #Syrian troops killed in north Syria festivities
Mon 2020-02-03
  Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula claims December shooting at Florida naval base
Sun 2020-02-02
  Iraq’s President Barham Saleh assigns Mouhammed Tawfiq Allawi with forming a new government


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