Lots of high-minded principles snipped, none of which the exiled politicians have any way of making happen.
[AMUtv] The National Resistance® Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan made suggestions in an online meeting on Sunday as part of a plan to save the country and recommended both political and military solutions and also proposed various phases to reach its goals.
The National Resistance® Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan said it believes that the people of Afghanistan and the world can save Afghanistan from the crisis it is experiencing by creating a collective will and launching sincere political efforts before it is too late and all opportunities for political understanding are lost.
This process can protect the lives and safety of the citizens of the countries of the region and the world from reliving the bitter experience of terrorist attacks emanating from Afghanistan, the council noted.
The council, which is comprised of former politicians, including former vice president Yunus Qanouni, former Balkh governor Ata Mohammad Noor, as well as Mohammad Mohaqeq and others.
Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... , head of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, who addressed the session stressed the need for talks and asked the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... to enter negotiations to end the current crisis in the country.
Mohammad Mohaqeq in an online session said engagement with the Taliban will harm countries in the region. He asked the international community to review its engagement with the Taliban.
Mohaqeq thanked the international community for not recognizing the Taliban but said some countries have indirectly "recognized" the Taliban.
Former Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor in an online session said the international community has prevented them from political activities and has not allowed them to open an office abroad.
Noor blamed the international community, US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... for the current situation in Afghanistan and said that efforts are underway to "soften Taliban’s image" and move towards their recognition.
#1
Save what? Blah, blah,blah, guilt up the willing morons and promise some nice kickbacks and play the classic checkbook-milking scheme yet again. Miss Lindsey and Chuckie are willing to feed it in a bipartisan CNN fairytail revival, for a price. Apparently, even now, we aren't broke enough!
[Ariana News] IEA’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has banned officials from hiring their sons and ordered them to be dismissed and replaced.
The Administrative Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan issued the decree attributed to Akhundzada, stating that sons of IEA officials working in government administrations based on personal connections have been fired.
The decree was announced on Saturday, March 18, stating that the officials of the ministries, departments, and administrations should refrain from recruiting employees based on family and personal ties.
As per the new verdict, all government officials who employed one or more sons at the same institution they are working for, are dismissed effective from the date of this announcement and should be replaced with new employees.
Typically, the recruitment process in government administrations is executed based on the decrees issued by Akhundzada or other senior IEA members.
In another decree, Akhundzada banned the cultivation of cannabis plants and emphasized that hereafter no one is allowed to cultivate cannabis on their land.
Normally, the cannabis plant is cultivated in semi-tropical regions of the country.
[PajhwokAfghanNews] In yet another decree, Islamic Emirate supreme leader Maulvi Haibatullah Akhunzada has debarred government officials from participating in public tenders as bidders.
The Office of Administrative Affairs wrote on its twitter page that government officials could not participate in tenders to secure procurement and other contracts.
"The leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Amirul Momineen Sheikhul Hadith Haibatullah Akhundzada ...Former deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour, now The Big Man Himself... has prohibited (Islamic) Emirate officials from participating in procurement and contracts of ministries and institutions in a new decree".
According to the decree, Emirati officials could not directly or indirectly participate as bidders in the procurement of goods, services and building materials, mining and other contracts.
[KhaamaPress] The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) has apologized to Afghan applicants for the ’reckless’ error who were previously told to validate their documents with the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... -led government.
The British government confirmed on Sunday that 37 applicants to the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Police (ARAP) scheme, designed to relocate those who directly assisted British forces, asked to validate their documents with the Taliban government. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... the UK refuses to recognize the Taliban’s government.
Several applicants have received emails from officials requesting documentation to be sent with stamps from the Afghan government.
Following an earlier denial of the practice, the MoD has now expressed its "unreservedly for this error". One MP compared the request to "asking them to sign their death warrant", and charities said that individuals were trying to flee the country and were being put in danger.
However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... the Ministry finally admitted to the mistake "we corrected the mistake and urgently strengthened our internal guidelines to ensure this does not happen again". The MoD spokesperson said. "We apologize unreservedly and continue to work tirelessly to move eligible people to safety," he added, reported by Guardian.
The British government promised to relocate up to 20,000 Afghans, but 11,212 Afghans have already done so in the UK as part of the ARAP programme, according to UK Home Office data.
#1
Is it possible to be this stupid accidentally? For a government office, yes. It's SOP.
OTOH, this is likely a matter of malice aforethought on the part of a MoD employee hired to show the MoD does not discriminate.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
03/20/2023 0:55 Comments ||
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[Garowe] A Burundian national was directly linked to the recent al-Shabaab ...... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa... attack in Jana Cabdalle, a town located in Jubaland, the group has claimed in a statement. This development exposes the bully boys' recruitment strategy, which is expanding rapidly across East Africa and the Great Lakes region.
Recently, the group acknowledged that Kenyan and Tanzania nationals participated in an attack targeting US Naval base in Manda Airbase within Kenya which left at least three Americans dead. The attack was mainly engineered by foreigners with two Somalis also taking part.
Al-Shabaab says the attack on March 7 in Jana Cabdalle was conducted by a Burundian from Kibimba, who detonated a boom-mobile leaving at least five soldiers dead and a number of civilians. The town had been abandoned by Somali National Army under unknown circumstances after the hard boyz fled only for them to return days later.
The attacker was identified as Dnayizeye Isxaaq Khaalid aka "Showkaani" from Hutu tribe within the country. Born in 1992, Dnayizeye came to Somalia seven years ago, al-Shabaab said, adding that he has been coordinating the group's activities across the country and borders given his "experience" in handling explosives.
Burundi which is fresh from civil war, has also struggled with stability before a peace agreement was signed in 2005, effectively ending leadership wrangles. Several Burundians have been crossing over to the far East through Tanzania and majority of them have ended up in Kenya without proper documents.
Al-Shabaab has been taking advantage of desperation to recruit youths from outside Somalia who end up being commanders of various sub groups tasked with specific assignments. The group generates almost $120 million annually according to a report compiled by the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Burundi is one of the frontline nations in Somalia just like Djibouti, Uganda, Æthiopia and Kenya. The five countries have contributed obey 22,000 soldiers serving in the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] and the number is likely to rise after Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Djibouti pledged to add more troops.
Somalia has been coordinating crackdown against the hard boyz in the last seven months in an operation which has left over 700 dead besides liberating various strategic towns. The group may suffer revenue dip after the government of Somalia also started targeting money transfer firms linked to the bully boys.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Prisoner Abdul-Malik Albagachiev is being held under torture conditions in the colony of Astrakhan, the Public Verdict Foundation* said. A native of Ingushetia has more frequent epileptic seizures, and the doctors of the medical unit do not issue a conclusion necessary for the operation, human rights activists noted.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 21, the relatives of Abdul-Malik Albagachiev (also referred to in the media as Abdulmalik Albagachiev) announced that his health in the colony had deteriorated. The leadership of the correctional facility, where Abdul-Malik Albagachiev, a native of Ingushetia, is serving his sentence, subjected him to strict isolation, after which he had an epileptic seizure, his wife Maret Galaeva said. Albagachiev's uncle Ismail Mankiev stated that his nephew acquired epilepsy after being tortured.
A native of Ingushetia, Abdul-Malik Albagachiev, was sentenced in August 2018 by a court to nine years in prison. According to investigators, since January 2015, he fought in Syria against government troops, and after returning to Russia in March of the same year, he kept a homemade grenade with him. Albagachiev stated that during the preliminary investigation he was subjected to torture.
Albagachiev, who suffers from epilepsy, which developed after torture, is constantly placed in a punishment cell, and prison doctors do not interfere with this, although a person with such a diagnosis cannot be alone. In the last letter, Albagachiev said that his epileptic seizures had become more frequent - recently they began to happen twice a day, human rights activists informed in a release published on March 17 on the foundation's website.
The doctors of the medical unit do not sign the referral and do not send Albagachiev to the hospital for an operation, although the prisoner has an iron plate in his collarbone, which should have been removed long ago. Lawyer Irina Biryukova appealed to the prosecutor's office of the Astrakhan region, the release says.
The authors of the release noted that, together with specialists from Roszdravnadzor, the prosecutor's office conducted an inspection and revealed violations of the requirements of the Federal Law "On the Fundamentals of Protecting Citizens of the Russian Federation" in the activities of the medical unit of the colony in which Albagachiev is being held. In this regard, the prosecutor submitted to the head of the medical unit a proposal to eliminate the identified violations.
Recall, on February 13, the fund reported that Abdul-Malik Albagachiev was transferred to the city hospital on February 6, but was returned to the colony on February 9. This coincided with the dates of the prosecutor's check in the colony.
The "Caucasian Knot" does not yet have any comments from the administration of the colony regarding the data of the fund.
Recall also that on January 24, 2022, human rights activist Zarema Barakhoeva held a picket near the building of the Astrakhan Region Prosecutor's Office, at which she announced a violation of the rights of Abdul-Malik Albagachiev, who is serving time in a colony.
On January 26, 2022, after a meeting with Albagachiev, human rights activists reported that the FSIN officers insisted on his transfer to a barracks with prisoners with whom he had a conflict. A native of Ingushetia, Abdul-Malik Albagachiev, is being unreasonably punished in the colony, the security forces are thus putting pressure on him, complained in November 2022, the mother of the convicted Marzhan Albagachieva. She asked human rights activists to protect the rights of her son.
[GEO.TV] While coming down hard on the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) chairman, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has said that Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... is not a politician but a "terrorist", his Zaman Park residence is a bunker of hard boyz and a laboratory for petrol bombs.
Addressing a presser in Lahore on Sunday, she said that if the writ of the state, judiciary and police would be challenged, a civil war would erupt in the country.
The police job is to provide protection to the courts which are the guardian of justice, she added. "If the courts compromise the police writ, then there will be a civil war in this country and every street of this country will have its own law."
According to the federal minister, if Imran was allowed to flout the law, gangs, hooligans and hard boyz would emerge from every street and attack courts and police. "If you think that by giving protection and this concession to a ’Ladla’ there will be a rule of law in this country, then you are wrong."
The courts, she further said, have been summoning a person since August 23 last year but he did not appear and when the court ordered to arrest and produce the person, he instigated his followers to attack the judiciary.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2023 00:00 ||
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Khan and Trump are at different ends of the political spectrum, but the corruptocrats in both countries are going after them the same way.
[GEO.TV] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality disorders... on Sunday yet again announced a power show at Minar-e-Pakistain on Wednesday (March 22) after yesterday's "high drama" as chaos erupted at his Zaman Park home and at the judicial complex in Islamabad where he appeared before a trial court in the Toshakhana case.
It is pertinent to mention here that the former ruling party had the same plan to hold the "historic" public rally at Minar-e-Pakistain on March 19 (today) but the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday barred the PTI from holding the Lahore rally.
A day earlier, the police and PTI supporters fought pitched battles outside Khan’s Zaman Park residence and at Islamabad Judicial Complex, wounding several on both sides.
The former prime minister had travelled back to Lahore from Islamabad after Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal cancelled his non-bailable arrest warrants in the Toshakhana case on marking his attendance.
The judge adjourned the hearing till March 30 and told the parties in the case that arguments would take place during the next hearing and also ordered Khan to ensure his presence.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2023 00:00 ||
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[Shafaq News] A Sulaymaniyah-based party has offered illegal assistance to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdistan Region's Security Council (KRSC) said in a statement on Sunday
According to the statement, "the anti-terrorism agency in Kurdistan initially reported the crash of one helicopter and the death of a number of individuals affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party. On March 17th, the Syrian Democratic Forces admitted to the crash of one helicopter and the death of nine individuals affiliated with their forces. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... we confirm that only one helicopter crashed, and seven individuals were killed. These helicopters flew between Rojava and Sulaymaniyah without notifying the official authorities in the region."
The statement continued, "based on available information, these helicopters landed at various locations in Sulaymaniyah and also flew to Rojava. The information indicates that a party in Sulaymaniyah opened up secret and unofficial channels of communication between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, providing them with assistance in various ways."
The Kurdistan Security Council called on the international coalition and the federal government of Iraq to clarify the nature of these helicopters' flight in the region and who is responsible for these illegal acts.
Earlier today, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, said a leading party in the Kurdistan region was an owner of Duhok's crashed helicopter.
Speaking at a meeting with consuls and foreign representatives, Barzani explained, "as you are aware, a helicopter crashed in the region, and there are many unanswered questions regarding the incident, particularly after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claimed that the helicopter and all its passengers were their own."
He went on to elaborate, "Our intelligence and security institutions have confirmed the crash of one helicopter, but we have no information about a second one. While we do not deny its existence, we can only say that we have no tangible proof of it. We have launched a thorough investigation to ascertain why these helicopters were in the area and what led to the tragic crash."
"These helicopters were initially purchased by a group within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... the circumstances surrounding how and why the SDF ended up with them are shrouded in mystery. Moreover, the question of why they were present in that particular location and subsequently crashed there is one that requires further investigation," he added.
The revelation has raised concerns over the possibility of the SDF's involvement in the procurement and deployment of military hardware, raising the stakes in an already tense region. The investigation is ongoing, and further details are expected to emerge in the coming days.
The veil of mystery shrouding a March 15 helicopter crash in Iraq's Kurdistan was partially lifted on Friday when the United States' top ally in the fight against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... said that nine of its fighters were killed in the accident.
The Syrian Democratic Forces said two helicopters carrying its elite forces had crashed en route to Sulaiymaniyah, the Kurdistan region's second-largest city. Sulaiymaniyah is the stronghold of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the second most powerful party in the Kurdistan region. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Thursday that a single helicopter had crashed in the district of Chamanke in the Dohuk governorate.
The SDF added that the units were part of an "exchange of expertise" in the fight against the Islamic State. Among the victims was Sherwan Kobane, a cousin of the SDF's commander-in-chief, Mazlum Kobane, also known as Mazlum Abdi.
[Shafaq News] Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani on Sunday unveiled details of an agreement with Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites.... on border control and the extradition of wanted persons.
In an interview with al-Jazeera, al-Sudani expressed his hope that the agreement would contribute to stabilizing the situation along the shared border.
Al-Sudani said that the relationship between Iran, the United States, and some Gulf countries should not negatively affect Iraq's stability, reiterating his rejection of any attack on neighboring countries from Iraqi territory.
"We do not need foreign combat forces in Iraq. The friends in Washington comprehend this matter," he said.
The premier assured that "significant figures" who are implicated in corruption will soon face prosecution, adding that the next stage would be the disarmament of all armed factions.
Al-Sudani acknowledged the demands of the Arab Sunni community, noting that these demands are not impossible, but rather a "long-overdue obligation".
"The stability in Iraq is a shared responsibility among all Iraqis," he said.
Iran's top security official on Sunday signed a deal with Iraqi authorities for "protection" of their common border, the Iraqi prime minister's office said, months after Tehran struck Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq's north.
Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region hosts camps and rear-bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish factions, which Iran ...The nation is 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... has accused of serving Western or Israeli interests in the past.
In November, Iran launched cross-border missile and dronezaps against several of the groups in northern Iraq, accusing them of stoking the nationwide protests triggered by the death in jug last September of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
Ali Shamkhani, who heads Iran's Supreme National Security Council, inked the deal with his Iraqi counterpart Qassem al-Araji during a visit to Baghdad, the statement said.
It comprises "coordination over the protection of common borders", and will also see the "strengthening of cooperation in several areas of security", the statement from the office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani added.
Shamkhani denounced "vicious activities by counter-revolutionary elements" in northern Iraq, a reference to the Kurdish groups operating in the country, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA.
He said the agreement signed on Sunday "can completely and fundamentally end the vicious actions of these groups," which the Iranian government labels "terrorist."
After the Iranian strikes, Iraq in November announced it would redeploy federal guards on the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, rather than leaving the responsibility to Kurdish peshmerga forces -- a move welcomed by Tehran.
Factions based in Iraq's mountainous north have in the past waged an armed insurrection against Tehran, but in recent years their activities have declined and experts said they had ceased nearly all military activity.
Shamkani's visit coincides with the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq that toppled former president Saddam Hussein. His fall gave birth to a political system that granted the Shia majority dominance over politics. Many of these Shia factions -- including Sudani's backers in parliament -- are supported by Shia-majority Iran. Relations between the two neighbours have grown ever-closer over the past two decades.
Baghdad had also played a role in mediating a reconciliation between Iran and regional rival Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century... , hosting several rounds of talks between the two since April 2021.
Riyadh and Tehran had cut all diplomatic ties in 2016 before a surprise Chinese-brokered reconciliation deal was announced earlier this month.
Shamkhani also met the governor of Iraq's central bank and the deputy minister of foreign affairs, according to IRNA. Tehran is a key trade partner for Baghdad, which in turn is largely dependent on gas and electricity from Iran.
[IsraelTimes] In leaked tape, terror group’s West Bank chief says strategy, as Ramadan approaches, is to keep ongoing tensions in territory high to deal Israel a ’strategic blow’
As Israel’s security establishment was gearing up for the sensitive Ramadan period, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,’s West Bank leader said that the group wants terror activities to be restrained in 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 an iron fist by Hamaswith 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... for the time being to escalate violence in the West Bank, in a leaked recording aired by Hebrew media on Sunday.
Saleh al-Arouri, a founding commander of Hamas’s military wing, said that the "resistance" in the West Bank "needs restraint" in Gaza "if we are talking strategically and in terms of [the] proper management of the campaign," he said in the recording aired by the Kan public broadcaster, in reference to the Ramadan period.
The Moslem holy month of Ramadan has historically added an extra layer of tension between Israelis and Paleostinians and has often been a period of increased violence and flare-ups, particularly in Jerusalem’s Old City, with its flashpoint holy sites. In 2021, events in Jerusalem surrounding the Temple Mount and looming evictions of Paleostinian families from the capital’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood snowballed into an 11-day war between Israel and terror groups in the Gaza Strip. Following weeks of tensions, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at Jerusalem, which became the opening salvo of the conflict.
Al-Arouri said Hamas has an interest in keeping ongoing tensions high in the West Bank, while "Gaza should govern itself" and wait for the opportune moment. He said calls to escalate the conflict from within the coastal enclave were well-intentioned but "exaggerated," and that the group needed to act strategically.
"In order for the enemy to not be at peace when the resistance in the West Bank escalates, it may be that it will get to a situation in which Gaza can’t continue to be silent to the enemy. If the resistance in the West Bank escalates and gets to a certain level, the violence will likely expand to all of Paleostine and outside of it," he added.
"The future of resistance in the West Bank is likely to lead to broad regional violence with the Zionist enemy, and God willing, will create here, for the first time, an opportunity to land a great strategic blow," al-Arouri said.
Violent incidents and escalations in the West Bank have repeatedly led to rocket fire and confrontations with terror groups in Gaza. In August, the arrest of Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... ’s leader in the West Bank city of Jenin led to a 66-hour conflict between Israel and PIJ, including rocket fire, but Hamas stayed out of the round of fighting.
Tensions between Israel and the Paleostinians have been high for the past year, with the Israeli military conducting near-nightly raids in the West Bank amid a series of deadly Paleostinian terror attacks. Those tensions have ramped up even further in recent weeks, which saw a cycle of deadly Israeli raids and Paleostinian attacks, as well as an uptick in settler violence.
[IsraelTimes] Police say they are gearing up for the holy Moslem month of Ramadan in Jerusalem, anticipating thousands of visitors to the city.
"The purpose of the preparation and police activity in Jerusalem during Ramadan is to enable freedom of worship... while maintaining security, law and public order," a police statement says.
Officials at the police’s Jerusalem district have held meetings in recent days with various local officials and community leaders to coordinate the holiday activities.
On Fridays, there will be an increased presence of coppers throughout Jerusalem, especially in the Old City and near the Temple Mount, as numerous worshipers are expected to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Police say they are also preparing for Passover and Easter, which will take place during Ramadan this year. "Police will act to secure all the worshipers who will arrive at the holy places on these days, Moslems, Jews and Christians, with the aim of allowing everyone freedom of worship," the statement says.
Additionally, police officials warn of "those who try to take advantage of the holidays to spread inciteful material on social media, false rumors and disinformation, in particular in relation to the holy places."
Police say terror groups and other terror elements have in the past used Ramadan to incite and cause rioting in Jerusalem. The statement says police will act "without compromise against rioters and those breaking the law, who harm or attempt to harm those who pray and celebrate, or who use the holidays to harm civilians or security forces."
Since when do soldiers travel in Israel-identified rental cars?
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinians who attacked German tourists in Nablus yesterday had feared they were Israeli forces, a front man for the Paleostinian Authority security services says.
The two tourists drove yesterday through central Nablus when they came under attack.
"A group of young men... hurled stones at a civilian car with Israeli license plates," a local Paleostinian security official says on condition of anonymity.
Talal Dweikat, front man for the Paleostinian security forces, tells AFP that "we clearly have zero hostility towards a country whose citizens visit our cities."
Clearly.
According to Dweikat, those involved were "wary" of a "foreign" car, fearing it may have been used by undercover Israeli forces.
Undercover soldiers driving an Israel-identified rental car? Are they that stupid or do they think we are?
[IsraelTimes] Joint statement from follow-up regional meeting includes new recognition of Ramallah’s ’legal right’ to security control over Area A, where IDF has been operating regularly.
Israeli and Paleostinian Authority delegations reconvened Sunday for a relatively rare, albeit low-stakes regional summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where they recommitted to de-escalating tensions days before the start of the holy Moslem month of Ramadan.
Sunday’s meeting with accompanying delegations from the United States, Jordan and Egypt was a follow-up to a similar gathering held in Aqaba, Jordan last month — the first such high-level confab of Israeli and Paleostinian leaders in years. The sides have also agreed to meet for a third time next month.
The Sharm el-Sheikh summit, like the one in Aqaba, was marred by a terror attack that unfolded in the Paleostinian town of Huwara. Sunday’s shooting on an Israeli-owned vehicle traveling through the northern West Bank town left a settler seriously injured.
Two Israeli brothers were killed in the attack last month. One Paleostinian was killed during a settler rampage through Huwara hours later.
The attacks further highlighted the limited impact that such meetings are having in actually de-escalating tensions when the most hardline government in Israeli history is coupled with a historically weakened PA, alongside an ever-frustrated Paleostinian public disillusioned over poor governance out of Ramallah and continued Israeli military rule.
Israeli and Paleostinian leaders agreed to meet Sunday amid significant pressure from the US, Egypt and Jordan, which are aiming to lower tensions before the start of Ramadan, which in recent years has set the stage for further violence between the sides.
Since the start of the year alone, 14 people have been killed in Paleostinian attacks. Over 80 Paleostinians have been killed during that same period — most of them in festivities with Israeli troops, but others in more questionable circumstances.
Most of the recent violence has unfolded in the West Bank, but Ramadan poses the risk of the violence spreading further into East Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of Paleostinians will gather daily at the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary, potentially adding a religious element to the tensions.
As they did after the Aqaba meeting, the sides issued a joint communiqué on Sunday in which they committed to the "prevention of further violence."
The communiqué highlighted the "legal right" of the PA to exercise its security responsibility over Area A of the West Bank.
That territory with predominantly Paleostinian contiguity makes up roughly 20 percent of the West Bank and was placed under PA security and civilian control in the 1995 Oslo II Agreement.
The IDF regularly enters Area A, however, and such incursions have increased significantly over the past year as Israel seeks to combat an ongoing terror wave stemming largely from the northern West Bank, where the PA has lost significant control.
In the previous regional summit last month in Aqaba, Israel urged the PA to do more to regain control over the northern West Bank, telling participants that the more Ramallah acts against gangs in the region, the less the IDF will have to enter Area A for raids that have become particularly lethal in recent months, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel at the time.
The PA has countered that the IDF raids further harm its legitimacy. While the clamping down on gangs is in Ramallah’s interest as many of them oppose its rule, the PA has argued that cooperating with Israel on this front without parallel steps by Jerusalem to boost Paleostinian illusory sovereignty only further weakens it in the eyes of the Paleostinian public, which has been highly critical of Sunday’s summit with the hardline government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Despite Israel’s assertion at the Aqaba summit that the PA security forces play a more active role in the West Bank, the issue was not included in the joint communiqué that was issued after that meeting. The decision to include it in the release after the Sharm el-Sheikh summit indicated a degree of progress on the issue.
"The two sides reaffirmed... their unwavering commitment to all previous agreements between them, in particular, the legal right of the Paleostinian National Authority to carry out the security responsibilities in Area A of the West Bank, in accordance with existing agreements, and will work together toward realizing this objective," the Sharm el-Sheikh communiqué stated, putting the onus on the PA to act in Area A while subtly acknowledging by omission that Israel doesn’t have the legal right to operate there.
The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement after the Sunday summit saying that the Israeli delegation "emphasized that in order to prevent an escalation during Ramadan and after [the parties] must act decisively against terrorism without compromise."
The joint communiqué said Israel and the PA also agreed to establish a "mechanism to curb and counter violence, incitement and inflammatory statements and actions," which will report back to fellow Sharm el-Sheikh participant countries the US, Egypt and Jordan when the sides reconvene for a third session in the Sinai resort town next month.
Israel and the PA also agreed to "establish a mechanism" to improve the economic conditions of the Paleostinian people as well as the financial situation of the cash-strapped PA. That mechanism will also report back to representatives from the US, Egypt and Jordan at the April follow-up meeting.
The communiqué did not elaborate further on the nature of the "mechanisms," but a senior Biden administration (aka the Wilmington comorra) ...knaves, footpads, and adjusters employed by the Biden Crime Family. They leave a trail of havoc everywhere they turn their attention, be it the nation's borders, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or epidemics, sometimes on purpose, most times through sheer arrogant ineptitude. They learnt this stuff in college, you know... official briefing news hounds later in the day said a series of measures aimed at improving the "financial viability" of the PA were discussed in addition to several measures aimed at boosting the PA’s security presence in the West Bank.
PA Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh, who led the Paleostinian delegation, told The Times of Israel earlier this month that Israel committed at the Aqaba summit to release millions of dollars in tax revenues that it has withheld from the PA.
The rest of the communiqué reiterated agreements reached at the Aqaba meeting, including a commitment by both sides to refrain from unilateral measures for three to six months. For Israel, this means no advancing settlement plans for four months and no advancing the legalization of West Bank outposts for six months.
These commitments were quickly dismissed after last month’s summit by Netanyahu, who noted that the Defense Ministry body that authorizes settlement construction only convenes on a quarterly basis anyway. The panel also green-lit the largest-ever package of settlement homes — nearly 10,000 — days before the Aqaba gathering.
The unilateral measures from which the PA must refrain were not specified in either communiqué, but an Israeli official told The Times of Israel earlier this month that they include initiatives targeting Israel in international arenas such as the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... and the International Criminal Court.
Also reiterated in the communiqué was a commitment to upholding the status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites, which included a new disclaimer in which Israel and the PA agree to "actively prevent any actions that would disrupt the sanctity of these sites, inter alia during the upcoming Holy Month of Ramadan, which coincides with Easter and Passover this year."
The parties also reaffirmed the importance of such formatted meetings "and are looking forward to cooperating with a view to consolidating the basis for direct negotiations between the Paleostinians and the Israelis" — a goal that various ministers in the Netanyahu government have largely dismissed.
The Israeli delegation on Sunday was led by National Security Council chair Tzachi Hanegbi and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. The PA delegation was led by al-Sheikh and Intelligence chief Majed Faraj. The Egyptian and Jordanian delegations were led by their respective Foreign Ministers Sameh Shoukry and Ayman Safadi. The US delegation was led by White House National Security Council Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf.
The sides did not issue a joint photo after either the Aqaba or Sharm el-Sheikh meetings.
[NPASyria] A Yazidi woman who was enslaved by ISIS confirmed seeing Shamima Begum at a terrorist training camp in Syria in 2015, and described ISIS bride’s new persona as ’fake’, Daily Mail reported.
The 20-year old woman, Dila, a pseudonym, belongs to Yazidi people of Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) who were subjected to genocide by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS), was unconvinced by Begum’s more recent efforts to show herself as a victim, and confirmed that her new persona is fake.
"It is fake by Begum. Living with ISIS women and ISIS in general I understand how they think, how loyal they are to their Sharia ideas," Dila confirmed in an interview made by soldier-turned-journalist Alan Duncan.
According to the report Dila was kidnaped, sold, raped and kept by ISIS for seven years from the age of 13.
Dila said that Begum participated in the "Students of Sharia" lessons in 2015, in which women were taught to use guns and told how to wear suicide belts.
The escaped Yazidi woman noted that Shamima was friends with a slave dealer who sold girls aged just 14 into a life of sexual servitude, including Dila’s own sister, who has never been found since.
The most famous ISIS bride, Begum, a British-born woman who traveled to Syria at the age of 15, joined the group in Syria with two friends in 2015. She does her best to return to Britannia, which had stripped her of her citizenship in 2019.
Since the fall of the ISIS caliphate, Begum has been held in various camps run by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Currently, she is being held at Roj camp, which holds around 2,600 former ISIS members. A majority are foreign nationals. The AANES has repeatedly called for their repatriation.
The UK has struggled to prosecute its citizens who joined the jihadist outfit due to the high bar on criminal liability. Instead, the UK government has preferred to strip those who traveled to Syria and Iraq of their citizenship where possible.
"Even if they are not in ISIS — I don’t think they have open mentality, I am certain, women of ISIS will never change, they still believe in what they believe," Dila stressed.
Duncan believes that Dila’s testimony to be some of the ’compelling’ he has come across, and warned that returning ISIS brides could be "ticking time bombs".
On Feb.22, a judge ruled that UK citizenship would not be restored to Begum.
The judges dismissed Begum’s appeal, ruling that while there was credible suspicion that Begum had been trafficked to Syria for sexual exploitation, this was not sufficient to whitewash her case.
The ruling means that she will not regain her British citizenship and will not be allowed to return to Britannia, and she is now in the Roj camp in northeastern Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/20/2023 00:00 ||
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[NPASyria] The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) says it is facing immense difficulties in rehabilitating Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... -linked children. The AANES has established specialized centers for these children, which use educational and psychological programs in order to pull them away from the Islamic State’s bad boy ideology.
Even though many NGOs are operating in the region, education centers in the camp lack expertise and a proper foundation from which to teach these children.
Islamic State (ISIS) women continue to reject the idea of letting their children be taught in AANES schools, arguing that there is no future for them while they languish in Hawl camp, near Hasakah.
Moreover, ISIS families demand education for their children, stressing the necessity of having a degree, as schools present in the camp do not serve them, according to wives of ISIS turbans.
An Iraqi refugee in Hawl camp told North Press under the condition of anonymity that "the atmosphere of the camp is not appropriate. Our children know nothing. We want them taught in schools. Most of them have not learned reading and writing yet."
Commenting on the schools in the camp, she said, "There is no future for them."
There are around 27,000 children in the camps and rehabilitation centers in northeast Syria. The AANES has worked to rehabilitate them. However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... due to a lack of support from NGOs, constant threats to the region, and the bad boy ideology instilled in the children, it has not yet been successful.
The AANES established two centers to rehabilitate ISIS children — Hori and Halat — but they lack staff specialized and experienced in child psychology.
Nearly a year ago, a secret tunnel was discovered at Hawl camp in which children were being taught ISIS’ bad boy ideology after returning from AANES rehabilitation centers.
Multiple times, UNICEF has called on all relevant member states to take responsibility and urgent action for the sake of the children, and to repatriate them along with their mothers.
One wife of an ISIS turban from al-Qa’im governorate in Iraq, who lives in the camp, demanded to return to Iraq, saying, "Our children do not have a future if we stay in the camp."
A refugee from Aleppo demanded to leave the camp. "We have been in the camp for five years. The children learn nothing but hate and resentment," she said.
UNICEF has repeatedly warned that these children are at risk of turning into future ISIS Death Eaters if they remain in the bad boy environment within the camp.
The camp’s administration said that frequent murders inside Hawl cause psychological disorders in the children and immensely affect the development of their personalities and future.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/20/2023 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Hezbollah chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... has met with a senior Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, delegation led by Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of the Paleostinian movement’s political bureau, Hezbollah said on Sunday.
According to a Hezbollah statement, Nasrallah and the delegation discussed "the latest developments in occupied Paleostine, especially the heroic and brave resistance in the West Bank and Jerusalem."
They also tackled "the domestic events in the usurper Israeli entity, the political developments in the region and the responsibilities of the resistance movements and the entire Axis of Resistance® in this historic period," the statement said.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah met with the Secretary General of Paleostine’s Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , Ziad Nakhala, and the accompanying delegation.
During the meeting, they reviewed the general situations in the region as well as the challenges facing the Paleostinian resistance, reiterating coordination between the two sides to confront the Zionist enemy.
They also hailed the heroic feats of the Paleostinian people and resistance fighters facing the Israeli gangs in the occupied al-Quds and West Bank.
Sayyed Nasrallah is scheduled to address the memorial service held at al-Mujtaba Complex in Beirut’s Dahiyeh on Wednesday at 15:30 to mourn the late Hezbollah commander Hussein al-Shami, the director-general of al-Qard al-Hasan Association.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2023 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
...Former deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour, now The Big Man Himself...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa...
...aka 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites....
...The nation is noted for 
...knaves, footpads, and 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
Hezbollah
