[An Nahar] A group of 160 Chadian troops from the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... peacekeeping force in Mali have deserted their posts in a dispute over pay and conditions, a military source and the soldiers themselves told Agence La Belle France Presse on Tuesday.
A Chadian army captain claiming to be the leader of the deserters told AFP by telephone his men had left their posts in the northeastern town of Tessalit overnight from Monday to Tuesday and were heading to the city of Gao.
"There are 160 of us. We left the Amachache camp in Tessalit to claim better living conditions and demand our wages too," said the officer who did not wish to be named.
"We have been in Mali for nine months and many of us haven't been paid -- that is not good."
Asked whether the deserters were armed, the officer said: "A soldier always has his weapon by his side."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an officer from MINUSMA -- the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali -- confirmed that soldiers had deserted, saying "more than 150 soldiers" had left without permission and would be met in Gao by a Chadian military delegation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the National Assembly on Monday that some 100,000 foreigners live illegally in the slum settlements around Islamabad, and many of them were criminals.
"If I reveal the real facts to you, many among you will have sleepless nights," the minister said in a grave voice during the Question Hour.
"They are involved in all kinds of crime in the federal capital," he added, without elaborating, when asked about the nature of their crimes. But he did mention Bari Imam and the D-12 sector as their favourite abodes.
That could be a startling disclosure only to the recently elected MNAs. For the ordinary citizens of Islamabad, the presence of the 'dreadful foreign criminal elements' in their midst has been common knowledge, and a menace, for long.
"Soon after taking over the charge of my ministry, I initiated a registration process of the people living in katchi abadis, which, after a few hiccups, has been completed," Chaudhry Nisar informed the house with visible satisfaction.
"In the beginning, people with vested interests created the impression that the registration wasn't possible, and that if pushed the effort would result in an ugly law and order situation in the city.
"Undeterred by such misgivings, we directed the police officials to complete the registration process or face the music," said the minister, ruing that successive governments paid no attention to the mushroom growth of the illegal settlements on the fringes of Islamabad.
Now the interior ministry was mulling the options to best deal with the problem of undesperados in the city, according to the minister.
Without identifying the nationalities of the unwanted foreigners, the minister informed the National Assembly that the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) would be asked to help repatriate them to their native countries.
But the minister accepted that it would be a difficult task.
Already his ministry is working on a project to keep the 'foreigners' under surveillance and monitor their "each and every activity".
Additionally, the ministry is considering setting up special pickets outside the slums to keep a constant watch on the goings on there.
Sources in the interior ministry and local administration told Dawn that the suspect 'foreigners' mostly belong to Afghanistan and had been living around Islamabad for quite some time.
"That is why it wouldn't be easy for the government to uproot them. The notorious Afghani Basti in I-11 is a case in point. Other foreign nationals in the category belong to African and central Asian countries," the sources said.
According to a city police officer, Afghan refugees have organised gangs and are mainly responsible for crimes in the capital city, such as car lifting, planned robberies and kidnappings for ransom. African nationals mostly go for drug trafficking and fake currency business, he said.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the interior minister did not agree with PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi that unwanted foreigners could also be hiding in the private security agencies but promised "a full-fledged inquiry" into the possibility.
"I assure the house that I will involve all intelligence agencies, including the ISI, to determine whether any agency in the security business employs foreigners and take it to task if it does," the minister said reassuringly.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Pak Taliban on Tuesday insisted they were still at war with government troops because peace talks have yet to start and the military is still launching multiple offensives against them.
The statement came a day after Pakistain's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... said bully boyz would not be allowed to take advantage of the offer for peace talks.
Earlier on Sunday, two senior military officers were killed by a remote controlled bomb in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , where the military is fighting Al Qaeda and Taliban-led myrmidons.
"War is continuing, it was started by the government and they will have to stop it," Shahidullah Shahid, the main front man for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), declared from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... has called for peace talks, and managed to win the backing from main political parties last week.
However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... hopes that the talks would go ahead were dealt a blow when an IED (improvised bomb) went kaboom! in Upper Dir on Sunday and killed three soldiers, including a major-general.
Analysts said the attack endangered the proposed peace talks with the krazed killer group.
Moreover, former cricketer turned politician Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... who heads 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) on Monday called for ceasefire by the government and Talibs along with immediate formation of delegations to kick-off talks.
The Taliban have said that they would carry out more attacks because peace talks have yet to be officially proposed.
"No one has contacted us for peace talks, not even a tribal jirga has approached us. If they (government) want to end this war, they will have to announce a ceasefire," Shahid said.
The Taliban on Sunday announced preconditions for talks on ending the insurgency that has killed thousands of people, demanding that troops withdraw from tribal areas and that prisoners are freed.
But Pakistain's military, in turn, insisted they would not let Taliban rebels set conditions for peace talks.
When the TTP front man was asked about his group's future plans after the attack which killed the officers, he said: "We will never miss any opportunity to attack the army like that."
Previous peace deals with the Taliban have quickly broken down and been sharply criticised for allowing the gunnies time to regroup for fresh attacks.
An editorial in this newspaper today said that although General Kayani spoke bluntly "about not caving in to the demands of terrorists" and underlined the military's resolve "to defeat the terrorists", words alone would not suffice.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
#1
The Pak army never attacks North Waziristan.
Too many assets there?
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/18/2013 8:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hard to tell the friendly Talibs from the unfriendly.
If the entire Paleostinian Authority leadership lives off an international welfare check that arrives only because the conflict still exists, there isn't much incentive for ending the conflict.
Ssssh! My common sense is .. tingling...
Of course it is. This comes out of former Ambassador John Bolton's new gig, the Gatestone Institute.
The Paleostinian people, according to a recent study by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, have received per capita, adjusted for inflation, 25 times more aid than did Europeans to rebuild war-torn Western Europe under the Marshall plan after the Second World War.
The Euros managed to rebuild Europe. The Gazooks managed to pillage Gaza. The West Bankers managed to build a tomb for Arafat...
Most of these funds, according to the study, reached the Paleostinian kleptocracy people through The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... Relief and Work Agency for Paleostine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Shortly thereafter deposited in the better banks in Switzerland and the Caymans...
UNRWA is the only UN refugee agency dedicated to a single group of people, and the only agency that designates individuals as original refugees if they have lived in areas effected by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, for a minimum of only two years, before being displaced. UNRWA is also the only UN agency that designates the descendants of the original refugees as refugees as well -- even though 90% of UNRWA-designated refugees have never actually been displaced.
The same people who wrote those rules also wrote Obamacare. You can tell...
UNRWA, furthermore, violates the UNHCR Refugee Convention by insisting that two million people (40% of UNWRA's beneficiaries) who have been given full citizenship in Jordan, Syria and Leb, are nevertheless still classified as refugees, and by encouraging them to act on a "right of return."
It's almost as if the UNRWA works on capitation...
Although, since World War II, fifty million people have been displaced by armed conflict, the Paleostinian people are the only ones in history to receive this special treatment.
[Jpost] In a statement, the PA security forces said that the women "flew in the sky like hawks to raise the name of our homeland high in the sky."
The Paleostinian Authority revealed on Monday that Russia has been training Paleostinian women as paratroopers. The PA security forces published a number of photos showing the women by trained by Russian experts.
This is the first time that Paleostinian women are trained as paratroopers.
[Jpost] The number of Syrian refugees crossing into Jordan jumped nearly tenfold last week to an average 900 people per day, its highest level in months, officials from the kingdom said Monday. At the same time, the number of Syrians returning home has also surged, climbing to 600 per day, said Col. Zaher Abu-Shehab, who oversees refugee camps for the Jordanian government.
So, plus 900 is 10x, minus 600 equals.... net 3x normal, yes?
Syrian families often move back and forth across the border multiple times as fighting ebbs and flows.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
Will they get the same preferential treatment Palestinians do?
[Jpost] Paleostinian Religious Endowments Minister Mahmoud al-Habbash said in an interview to Egyptian television that ousted president Morsi planned to annex part of Sinai to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in order to expand the Gazoo Strip.
Interesting. What odds that it is actually true? And regardless, what on earth prompted the tone deaf idiot to say so?
Al-Habbash also said he supports destruction of the tunnels between Egypt and Gazoo. "Those who build these tunnels are a gang trading in the suffering of the Paleostinian people in Gazoo," he said.
#1
As per FREEREPUBLIC, Hamas + Islamic Jihad have set up a joint command.
As for the SINAI, sounds like both Hamas + IJ Boyz have decided that Egypt already has Egypt proper, i.e. the one in North Africa next to the Suez Canal; + Jordan-claimed West Bank is right next to sovereign Jordan, hence the Egypt-claimed Sinai is prime + expendable, + can be turned over to the PA along wid the Gaza Strip???
#2
Well that's one way to temporarily solve the tunnel problem. Let Gazooks have both ends and they'll just have to start digging all over again, easier to stop that. s/
A top Russian diplomat visiting Damascus says Syria has turned over material aimed at showing that a chemical weapons attack last month was carried out by rebels. And if you can't trust a Syrian government representative....
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/18/2013 06:39 ||
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#1
Strange as it feels to view Assad as a "good guy", I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned to be true---cui bono, etc...
#5
It's in the Russians' interest to force as many confrontations as possible while Captain Clusterfuck is still in charge and make the most of the next three and a half years.
#6
Islamic State of Iraq and Al Nursa Front are two top contenders Paul
In April 2013 , Turkey says it arrested 2 guys from Al Nursa with 2kg of Sarin which they later retracted
Al Nursa also overran a Syrian weapons dump reported to store chems .
Kinda makes ya wonder , add in the usual Middle East bull$hit and then Russian intervention combined with complete incompetence from Obama and we have a 'anyones blame game' going off
I cant believe Im about to quote Mitt Romney but : When it comes to pinning blame, pin the tail on the donkeys.
#8
Chem attack rumors have beein going around well before this one happened, ever since the Turks reported that islamists had overrun some of the chem wep storage areas.
As said from the past, the immortal Roman question: cui bono? Syrian government has nothing to gain militarily politically or territorily by using these internally (unlike Saddam against the Kurds, while "nobody was looking" or the Iranians where nobody really cared)) and quite a lot of local lessons to the contrary (look at the No Fly that happened to Saddam in the Kurdish areas bcause of that) - and a lot to lose in terms of forcing action by the west. They were doing well enough using lots and lots of artillery and airstrikes But if the "rebels" use them, especially since the use was in a Chaldean/FreeArmy (not Nusra) area [surprise surprise] and somehow all the casualties were well documented by people that just happened to be positioned just right to do that, and westerners were not in the attack but wre able to be shown the chem results... You do the math. I dont trust Syria nor Putin, but this is one where Obama and the US IC (but not military) seemed far to eager to produce and accept "firm evidence" that they havent actually sourced well or publicly. This whole thing stinks of manipulation.
#10
As I see it is in the US/Western/Saudi interest to blame Assad so they could get involved resulting in regime change which weakens Iranian influence in the middle east. With Assad out of the way the Iranians have no allies in the middle east of note which equals isolation keeping the Israelis happy and makes the West job of treating Iran like North Korea iea pariah state.
Look at the big picture. The end game is Iran which we start by taking out Syria. After Syria Iran and Hezbollah will be next in line.
The only problem we have is China and Russia support our enemies ie Iran, Syria and North Korea.
How do we deal with the puppet masters Russia and China who are pulling the strings?
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/18/2013 19:20 Comments ||
Top||
#11
which equals isolation keeping the Israelis happy
But Iran supports Shiite communities throughout the Arab world. Also, it seems to me that while Israel would appreciate Iran being less powerful, they will not be truly happy until Iran's nuclear weapons sites are destroyed, and Hizb'allah's and Hamas's missiles are significantly reduced as a threat. Removing Assad the Younger won't answer those needs.
[An Nahar] Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations on Tuesday to refer the conflict in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
The statements came after a report by U.N. chemical weapons inspectors confirmed that sarin gas was used in attacks on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21.
Under a Russian-led deal, Syria has agreed to give up its chemical arsenal, but the groups warned that the deal must not allow war crimes to go unpunished.
"Crimes under international law are being perpetrated on a daily basis in Syria. Accountability for the 21 August attacks and other violations are long overdue," Amnesty said.
It urged the U.N. Security Council "to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court and to insist that the Syrian government grants cross-border access, as well as cross-line access, to humanitarian aid."
Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch's international justice director, said referring the conflict to the ICC was "essential for justice."
"To lock up the chemical weapons and not prosecute those who used them is an affront to the civilians who died," he said.
"Referring Syria to the ICC is essential for justice for the tens of thousands of civilians killed in Syria by all sides since the conflict there began," he added.
Security Council members are trying to draw up a resolution on the Syrian chemical weapons disarmament deal, but there are disagreements about whether it will allow the use of force for implementation of the agreement and if it will include an ICC referral.
HRW noted that both the Syrian regime and the rebels fighting against it are accused of committing abuses in the conflict that began in March 2011.
"An ICC referral would send a strong message to all parties to the conflict in Syria that grave crimes in violation of international law -- including war crimes and crimes against humanity -- will not be tolerated," HRW said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] MP Marwan Hamadeh on Tuesday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... over remarks related to Hizbullah's controversial telecom grid in Zahle, accusing ministers loyal to Aoun of employing "Hizbullah cronies" at the Ministry of Telecommunications.
Aoun "protected Hizbullah's May 2008 coup against the Lebanese government, which tried back then to prevent Hizbullah from installing its illegal telecom network," Hamadeh said, noting that the party "invaded the capital Beirut and attacked Mount Leb" to thwart the government's efforts.
Hamadeh reminded the FPM leader that former telecom "minister Jebran Bassil was the one who assumed the telecom ministry portfolio after the Doha settlement which followed the May coup, and it was him and the minister who succeeded him (Nicolas Sehnaoui) who brought Hizbullah cronies to the heart of the telecom ministry and technically abolished the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority."
The MP, who served as telecom minister in Fouad Saniora's cabinet, hailed "the residents, MPs and dignitaries of Zahle for their steadfastness" and lauded the municipality and residents of the Bekaa town of Tarshish, where a similar confrontation over Hizbullah's grid had taken place in the past.
Hamadeh called on the military and security institutions to "draw lessons from the vigor of the Lebanese public opinion and prevent any May 7-like coup."
Earlier on Tuesday, Aoun said: "Whoever allowed Hizbullah to expand its telecommunications network in the Bekaa town of Zahle must resolve this issue to prevent unrest similar to that of May 7, 2008."
"What did former Premier Fouad Saniora and then Ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr do on May 5 and 7, 2008?" he asked.
Gunmen belonging to Hizbullah and its allies swept through Beirut's neighborhoods on May 7, 2008 after the government of then PM Saniora tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network, which Hizbullah says is for purely military purposes related to its conflict with Israel.
The fighting that left scores dead brought the country to the brink of a new civil war.
Tensions were running high in Zahle after members of Hizbullah attempted to expand the party's telecommunications network in the area on Sunday evening.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The United States said Tuesday that Russia is ignoring "the facts" in Syria when it accuses the rebels, rather than the regime, of staging the August 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow believes the August 21 gassing was a "provocation."
The sparring comes even after the United States and Russia reached a sweeping weekend agreement designed to rid Syria of chemical weapons by mid 2014. That surprise deal headed off U.S. military strikes that had seemed imminent just two weeks ago as a way to punish Damascus for the chemical attack and prevent another.
A U.N. report released Monday says chemical weapons were used in Syria, but it avoided saying by whom.
But the United States and its allies are fervent in their belief that the forces of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... used the banned chemical weapons against its own civilians.
"He's swimming against the tide of international public opinion, but more importantly, the facts," State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said, referring to Lavrov.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Russians' reply uses letters x,y, and umlaut u, a lot.
#2
"He's swimming against the tide of international public opinion, but more importantly, the facts," State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said, referring to Lavrov.
Never bothered a Russian much before, why should it now? Too bad she could not have examined a bit of history before making such a ridiculous statement.
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... stated on Tuesday that Hizbullah's expansion of its telecommunications network can be attributed to the failure to address this issue back in 2008 when this case first arose.
He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: "Whoever allowed Hizbullah to expand its telecommunications network in the Bekaa town of Zahle must resolve this issue to prevent unrest similar to that of May 7, 2008."
"What did former Premier Fouad Saniora and then Ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr do on May 5 and 7, 2008?" he asked.
"We did not allow the establishment of this network and I cannot resolve problems that emerged in the 1990s," he declared.
Asked what the residents of Zahle should do to confront Hizbullah's actions, Aoun replied: "Let them block roads."
Commenting on stalled efforts to exploit Leb's offshore oil and gas wealth, he remarked: "It seems that there is a conspiracy to prevent the country from exploiting this wealth.
"We all know who is responsible for calling the government to convene," he added.
"It would be a disaster if we fail to exploit our oil wealth. It would be a shame if this wealth is not exploited due to some official's negligence," the MP noted.
Gunmen belonging to Hizbullah and its allies swept through Beirut's neighborhoods on May 7, 2008 after the government of then PM Saniora tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network.
The fighting that left scores dead brought the country to the brink of a new civil war.
Tensions were running high in Zahle after members of Hizbullah attempted to expand the party's telecommunications network in the area on Sunday evening.
Residents of the city protested the move and temporarily blocked the road in the area.
The army soon intervened and set up checkpoints in the industrial zone and security forces deployed patrols in the city, which led to Hizbullah's withdrawal from the area.
There was an uproar in October 2011 when Hizbullah allegedly attempted to expand its telecommunications network in the Tarshish region on the outskirts of Zahle.
The residents thwarted the attempts and Telecommunications Ministry at the time denied any party actions in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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[CHRON] Russia insisted Tuesday that a U.N. Security Council resolution governing Syria's handling of its chemical weapons not allow the use of force, but it suggested that could change if Damascus reneges on the deal to give up its stockpile.
The main Syrian opposition coalition, meanwhile, urged the international community to take swift action against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... in response to a U.N. finding that the nerve agent sarin was used in a deadly attack near the capital last month.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country "spoke clearly" about rejecting the use of force when the chemical weapons agreement was worked out Saturday in Geneva between Washington and Moscow. The plan calls for an inventory of Syria's chemical weapons within a week, with all components of the program out of the country or destroyed by mid-2014.
But if signs emerge that Syria is not fulfilling the agreement or there are reports of further chemical weapons use, "then the Security Council will examine the situation," Lavrov said, suggesting the issue could be reconsidered.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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[YNETNEWS] Hinting at possible diplomatic 'flexibility' in upcoming nuclear talks, Khamenei says 'wrestler sometimes shows flexibility for technical reasons, but does not forget about opponent nor main objective' Twisting, turning, and wiggling demand lots of flexibility.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
if the inspection of assad's chem weapons becomes a shell game quagmire (shaquagire) the Persians are gonna think 'gotta get me some of that'
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/18/2013 14:58 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.
Nawaz Sharif
If the entire Paleostinian Authority leadership lives off an international welfare check that arrives only because the conflict still exists, there isn't much incentive for ending the conflict.
Michel Aoun
The MP, who served as telecom minister in Fouad Saniora's cabinet, hailed "the residents, MPs and dignitaries of Zahle for their steadfastness" and lauded the municipality and residents of the Bekaa town of Tarshish, where a similar confrontation over Hizbullah's grid had taken place in the past.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[YNETNEWS] Hinting at possible diplomatic 'flexibility' in upcoming nuclear talks, Khamenei says 'wrestler sometimes shows flexibility for technical reasons, but does not forget about opponent nor main objective'
