[AnNahar] Kenya's interior minister and police chief were removed from their posts on Tuesday, hours after Somalia's Shabaab rebels carried out a fresh massacre in the northeast of the country.
In a televised address to the nation, President Uhuru Kenyatta also vowed his security forces will "intensify the war on terrorism" after a spate of killings in the country by the al-Qaeda-affiliated murderous Moslems.
A group of Shabaab rebels stormed into a quarry near the border town of Mandera shortly after midnight, and police and officials said they weeded out non-Moslems and shot them in the head, while some of the victims were also beheaded.
The Shabaab said in a statement that their latest cross-border attack was fresh retaliation for Kenya's 2011 invasion and continued presence in Somalia, as well as its treatment of Moslems in the troubled port city of Mombasa.
The attack came just over a week after the rebels executed 28 people who were grabbed from a bus traveling from Mandera, a border town located on the frontier between Kenya, Somalia and Æthiopia, and the group vowed to conduct more "uncompromising, relentless and ruthless" attacks.
Kenyatta, however, vowed Kenyan troops would stay put in Somalia, where they are now part of an 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... forces battling the Shabaab and supporting the war-torn country's internationally-backed government.
"This is a war and a war that we must win, we must win it together," he said, calling the Shabaab "deranged animals" who had killed more than 800 people in attacks inside Kenya, including 500 civilians and 300 security officers.
"The ultimate aim of this atrocious campaign is to create an holy warrior caliphate," he said.
"We will not flinch or relent in the war against terrorism in our country and our region. We shall continue to inflict painful casualties on these Lions of Islam until we secure our country and region. Our stability and prosperity depends on a secure neighborhood."
The Kenyan government has been under fire since last year's attack by the Shabaab against the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, in which at least 67 people were killed in a siege involving just four gunnies and which lasted four days.
Worries over internal security mounted when Shabaab rebels massacred 100 people in a string of Shabaab raids against villages in the Lamu region on the Kenyan coast in June and July.
The sacked interior minister, Joseph Ole Lenku, has become a figure of public ridicule for his statements on the security situation, while national police chief David Kimaiyo has been accused of repeated lapses -- contributing to dwindling public confidence in the country's security apparatus.
According to Kenyan media, intelligence officials had alerted police to the presence of a group of Shabaab fighters in the northeast before last month's bus attack, but police had failed to react and were so slow in responding to distress calls after the murders that the assailants had plenty of time to escape.
Kenyatta announced that Ole Lenku had been replaced, and that Kimaiyo has been allowed to retire early.
He said he had nominated Joseph Nkaissery to take over the security docket as interior minister.
Laborers in the largely Moslem and ethnic Somali northeastern regions often come from Kenya's central highlands, where Christians make up about 80 percent of the population. Those working in the quarry attacked on Tuesday were also reported to have been from outside the region.
Several key unions including for civil servants have warned their members to leave the restive northeast until the government can ensure their safety, and there have been reports of people flooding out of the area or seeking army protection in the wake of the latest massacre.
The Shabaab meanwhile warned of more attacks to come, and boasted of having killed "nearly 40 Kenyan crusaders" in the quarry.
"This latest attack was part of a series of attacks planned and executed by the mujahedeen as a response to Kenya's occupation of Moslem lands and their ongoing atrocities," Shabaab front man Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement to Agence La Belle France-Presse.
The statement threatened more attacks on Kenyan soil by their "Saleh Nabhan brigade" -- named after slain Shabaab commander and Kenyan citizen Saleh Ali Nabhan, who was killed in 2009 by U.S. special forces for his role as al-Qaeda's chief in east Africa.
"As Kenya persists in its occupation of Moslem lands, kills innocent Moslems, transgresses upon their sanctities and throws them into prisons, we will persist to defend our land and our people from their aggression," it said.
"We are uncompromising in our beliefs, relentless in our pursuit, ruthless against the disbelievers and we will do whatever necessary to defend our Moslem brethren suffering from Kenya's aggression."
Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a U.S. air strike in September. The group has since named Ahmad Umar, also known as Abu Ubaidah, as its new head.
[AnNahar] Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... is increasingly a regional threat and the battle against the Nigerian Islamist sect is meant to be a regional campaign -- but that's not the way it feels for Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... 's soldiers on a desperate frontline.
"We are fed up with fighting this war all alone," a Cameroonian officer said as he described his army's resistance against Boko Haram and the lack of military support from neighbouring governments.
It's your country. Of course you're on your own. Expecting help from the Fighting 515th Heavy Belgian Barber Brigade?
"The attacks against our territory come from a neighbouring country, which calls itself sovereign and does nothing," said a defence ministry official who asked not to be named.
That's a legitimate complaint...
The official complained that Cameroon had been drawn into a "proxy war" against Boko Haram, which has stepped up massacres of villagers in Cameroon's far north at the same time as killing and maiming in Nigeria.
Last Friday alone, suspected Boko Haram fighters slaughtered at least 120 people in a suicide bomb and gun attack on the central mosque in the north Nigerian city of Kano.
Cameroon's army has been stretched in its attempt to check cross-border incursions by the group, whose name loosely translates as "Western education is a sin".
Recruit and train a larger army. Set up local home militias since the home lads will know the countryside.
And that task has become harder as Boko Haram fighters grow in strength and ambition.
"Each time Boko Haram captures a town in Nigeria, it recovers all the military equipment there. So now they really have heavy weaponry," a source in the intelligence services said.
- 'On our own' -
In mid-October, Islamist fighters equipped with a tank and a booby-trapped boom-mobile laid siege to an army position in Amchide, a town that straddles the frontier, while also attacking Limani in the north.
"Fighting of rare violence" left 107 Boko Haram members and eight Cameroonian soldiers dead, the defence ministry said, while a police officer told AFP that before the battle, the Islamists "cut the throat of many civilians, 30 at least".
"We're on our own at the front," said a commander of the elite Israeli-trained Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR).
Across the border in northeastern Nigeria, Boko Haram controls swathes of territory abandoned by the authorities, leaving the local population to its fate.
In Amchide, Cameroon's army faces enemy forces dug in around the far end of a bridge marking the border. Boko Haram routed local Nigerian troops and now is only separated from Cameroonian soldiers by a dusty and deserted no man's land.
When 500 Nigerian troops crossed into Cameroon in early August, the army command said the soldiers were "charging through the borders in a tactical manoeuvre".
But Cameroon is getting used to seeing Nigerian soldiers arriving for a quite different reason -- fleeing Boko Haram, which is estimated to have killed more than 13,000 people since 2009.
Organize them, feed them for a few days, and then send them back -- by bayonet point if required...
At the same time, Cameroon has come under criticism from neighbouring countries and former colonial power La Belle France for not doing enough to stop Boko Haram from using its territory as a rear base for its war in Nigeria.
- 'Operation Alpha' -
The 2013 abduction within Cameroon of French national Tanguy Moulin-Fournier and his family by Boko Haram led to a change in strategy.
The hostages were freed, as were two Italian priests and a Canadian nun seized early this year. But Cameroon's President Paul Biya ordered substantial military reinforcements to the far north to tackle the armed fundamentalists in "Operation Alpha".
Some 2,000 men were deployed, but security officials stress that more troops are needed to control the long, mostly non-existent border.
"We hope that aid from here and there, from the international community, will enable us to bring the swiftest possible end to this aggression," government front man Issa Tchiroma Bakary said recently.
During talks in Gay Paree in May, Nigeria and three neighbouring countries -- Cameroon, Chad and Niger -- came up with a battle plan.
They agreed to share information and coordinate their intelligence work, to keep joint watch over their borders and to develop the capacity to intervene swiftly in response to threats.
Each of the four countries pledged to send 700 troops to the Lake Chad region, where their borders all come close together. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... that promise has yet to be fully honoured.
"Cameroon has already sent 300 men from the navy. Chad and Niger are well disposed to provide troops, but it's less certain where Nigeria is concerned," a Cameroonian military source said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Supporters of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... Lion of Islam organization have released a video claiming responsibility for the shooting of a Danish citizen in the Saudi capital Riyadh last month.
The Al-Battar Media Foundation's video shows an unidentified gunman pulling up beside a vehicle and firing several times at the driver.
The video identifies the target as Thomas Hopner. It was not immediately possible to confirm the authenticity of the video.
Saudi security officials had said that a Danish man was shot while driving home from work on November 22nd and that he was treated for shoulder wounds. Security officials did not release his name and said the incident was under investigation.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
What a shock Saudi the home of religious tolerance has IS supporters.
Its a toss up between Saudi and Pakistan on who has the most radical/orthodox jihadis per 100 of population.
Posted by: Paul D ||
12/03/2014 17:24 Comments ||
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#2
See also WORLD NEWS >[Inquisitr] ISIS CLAIMS CREDIT FOR KILLING OF WILLIAM HENDERSON, AMERICAN OIL WORKER, in Egypt.
Prolly safe to say mainstream Amerika + World are waiting to see iff Globalist Obama is going to send US Milfors back into the ME for the multiple killings of Americans + the ISIS/ISL acquiring Uranium nucmats for one or more "dirty nuke"???
[STARTRIBUNE] In North Korea, there can be only one Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
A South Korean official said Wednesday that Pyongyang forbids its people from using the same name as the young absolute leader.
No more 'Kim'?
The measure appears meant to bolster a personality cult surrounding Fat Boy Kim, who took over after the death of his dictator father Kim Jong Il in late 2011. Seoul officials have said Pyongyang also banned the use of the names of Kim Jong Il and the country's founder, Kim Il Sung.
The South Korean official said Kim Jong Il in early 2011 ordered citizens with the same name as his son to get new names and demanded that authorities reject birth registrations of newborn babies with the name.
The corpulent Kim Jong-un made his international debut in late 2010 when he was awarded a slew of top political jobs. His crazed father, who reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, was seen as moving fast to hand over power so his family could rule for a third generation. Kim Jong Il inherited power in 1994 when his father Kim Il Sung died.
North Korea enforces maniacal strict, state-organized public reverence of the Kim family, which serves as the backbone of the family's authoritarian rule of the impoverished country. The North is locked in a long-running international standoff over its nuclear ambitions.
All North Koreans are required to wear lapel pins bearing the images of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and to put the leaders' portraits on the walls of their homes. Their birthdays are considered the most important holidays in North Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2014 00:57 ||
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[AnNahar] China will not step in to save neighboring North Korea if the Pyongyang regime collapses or starts a war, a retired People's Liberation Army general said, possibly signalling waning patience in Beijing with its wayward, nuclear-armed ally.
"China is not a savior," Wang Hongguang, formerly deputy commander of the Nanjing military region, wrote in the Global Times newspaper, which is close to the Chinese Communist Party.
"Should North Korea really collapse, not even China can save it," he said.
Instead, China and South Korea should carve it up...
Wang's comments came in a contribution to the nationalist tabloid's Chinese-language website.
The outspoken Wang has made critical comments about North Korea before and it was not clear whether his words indicated a policy shift regarding Pyongyang.
China has long been the isolated North's key ally and aid provider. Beijing came to the fledgling country's aid during the 1950-53 Korean War, when its intervention against U.S.-led United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... forces defending South Korea helped seal an eventual stalemate that has lasted to this day.
China's role has grown as the North's economy has shrunk in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union almost a quarter of a century ago, with which Pyongyang had close trade and aid ties.
But over the same period Beijing has moved to develop diplomatic relations and booming trade ties with Seoul, Pyongyang's bitter rival. Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye have exchanged visits, while Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have so far kept their distance.
Wang said China would not get involved in any new war on the Korean peninsula.
"China cannot influence the situation on the Korean peninsula," he wrote.
"China has no need to light a fire and get burnt," he added. "Whoever provokes a conflagration bears responsibility.
"Now there is no more 'socialist camp'. It is not necessary for China's younger generation to fight a war for another country," he wrote in the comments, published Monday.
Too bad you don't think of Taiwan the same way...
Wang criticized the North for its nuclear development, using it as an example of how its interests can differ from China's and saying it had "already brought about the serious threat of nuclear contamination in China's border area".
But he also slammed Western countries for what he described as "demonizing" North Korea and interfering in its internal affairs in the name of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. .
"China absolutely does not meddle," he wrote.
Beijing will "support what should be supported and oppose what should be opposed" regarding the North, he said, indicating China was not ready to completely give up on its troublesome neighbor.
China will neither "court" nor "abandon" North Korea, he wrote. "This should be China's basic attitude."
Neither court nor abandon -- but maybe 'incorporate'?
#1
First off, China already has sizable potent PLA forces or MilAssets in NOKOR, ostensib to "support" the Kim Family Regime.
Second, theres no way in hell that China will allow any de facto collapsed NOKOR state to exist such that an anti-China SOKOR or US-led International Coalition will take over the reins of post-collapse NOKOR governance.
Bear in mind that whomever controls or dominates NOKOR or the TWO KOREAS also controls the coasts of mainland China from KOREAS-TAIWAN to HAINAN ISLAND + NORTHERN PHILIPINE OPERAT AREAS.
Third, as said time before China wants TAIWAN, i.e. China's equivalent of what Pearl Harbor + Norfolk CENTCOMS, etc, are to the USDOD-Navy - Beijing is unlikely to accept any form of formal Inter-Korean Unification unless China gets Taiwan back first PERMANENTLY. Even iff Taiwan is successfully acquired, China will demand a much-reduced or no US Mil Presence in the Koreas, Japan, + NE Asia region.
Fourth, there is the longstanding RUSSIA FACTOR = MURPHY'S LAW. China will go to war over NOKOR iff it believes Russia, etal. [Nippon?] will attempt to take it over.
The above being said, IMO the likelihood of a Sino-Japanese war over NE Asia strategic access for the PLA + Chinese geopol security is increasing almost every day.
* FYI CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > JAPAN INCREASINGLY WARY OF CHINA'S ECONOMIC AND MILITARY HEFT. SHINZO ABE AND XI JINPING MEETING ON ISLANDS DISPUTE DOES LITTLE TO THAW RELATIONS.
Both China + Japan see themselves as Asia's or East Asia's #1.
["HIGHLANDER" Movie = "There can Only be One"! here].
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [The Hindu] CHINA MAY BE ADDING [Aircraft] CARRIER MIGHT [=, > 3 CVS + Liaoning] TO MEET REGIONAL THREATS, espec in response to POTUS Obama's "Asia Pivot".
* YAHOO NEWS > [AFP] CHINA VOWS TO PROTECT TERRITORIAL INTERESTS.
Artic read, THE SOUTH CHINA SEA IS THEIRS.
* SAME > CHINA'S CHALLENGE TO THE GLOBAL ORDER [OWG-NWO]: TAKING THE "CAREFUL" APPROACH.
Wid more than a little help from Anti-US US Globalist POTUS Obama, OWG Globies, + Obama's "Red Lines".
OWG GLOBALISM = NOT "PEACE THRU STRENGTH" OR "TRUST, BUT VERIFY", BUT "RETREAT IS PEACE" + "SURRENDERING LIKE VICHY FRANCE IS A WAY OF LIFE, NOT JUST ANOTHER VERY PURDY WORD".
I believe the old technical term was vassal state. Rename Rebrand it Balhae. The earliest extant recorded mention of Balhae come from the Old Book of Tang, which was compiled between 941 to 945. See, linkage back to the Tang Dynasty. Extra good claim on Soviet Russian far east territory.
#7
"China supports norks with oil so they keep kimmie's regime alive."
China frequently uses generals and other expendable folk to make announcements they could officially distance themselves from. Could this be a warning that perhaps the oil will be stopping and don't expect China to clean up the mess.
#1
The paradox is that the people who want and need it the most aren't allowed to drink it.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/03/2014 8:17 Comments ||
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#2
The Q-Society is an interesting society. Their website has a section entitled: "Why we oppose Islam." The following two paragraphs and 3 subheadings are taken from their website "Q-Society."
Why We Oppose Islam
Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political, legal, financial, social and military doctrine which extends to all facets of Muslim life, the cultural and legal landscape of where Muslims live and how to treat non-Muslims. Islam makes it obligatory for observant Muslims to assist in extending the rule of Islam across the world.
For too long Islam has enjoyed immunity from necessary analysis, due criticism and debate because of its status as 'just a religion'. Unfortunately, if we continue to tolerate Islam without understanding it, Australia as a free, secular democracy will be lost. How so?
1.Islam tells Muslims not to integrate into non-Islamic countries,
2.Islamic culture is forced on the host nation,
3.Islam demands that Muslims obey and implement sharia law.
[AnNahar] French politicians voted Tuesday in favor of recognizing Paleostine as a state, sparking an immediate angry reaction from Israel which said such "unilateral measures" would harm efforts towards Middle East peace.
Following hot on the heels of similar votes in Britannia and Spain, French MPs voted 339 to 151 in favor of a motion urging the government to recognize the state of Paleostine as a way of achieving a "definitive resolution of the conflict."
The vote -- which is non-binding on the government but highly symbolic -- comes as European countries seek alternative ways to restart the stalled Middle East process.
Sweden's government has gone even further, officially recognizing Paleostine as a state in a controversial move that prompted Israel to recall its ambassador.
But the French vote result still prompted a swift and angry response from Tel Aviv, which said it would send the "wrong message" to the region and would be counterproductive to the drive towards peace.
"Israel believes that the vote in the National Assembly... will reduce the possibility of achieving a deal between Israel and the Paleostinians," its embassy in Gay Paree said in a statement.
A solution to the conflict will be achieved "only with honest and direct talks between the parties and not by unilateral measures taken by one of the parties or by third parties," it said.
The Paleostinian leadership, meanwhile, expressed its "gratitude" for the vote and urged Gay Paree to "translate its parliament's vote into action."
Paleostinians are seeking to achieve statehood in Gazoo and the Israeli-occupied West Bank with east Jerusalem as the capital.
With little progress on reaching a settlement, they have been lobbying foreign powers for international recognition.
The Paleostinian Authority estimates that 135 countries have now recognized Paleostine as a state, although that number is disputed.
During a debate on the issue Friday, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Gay Paree would recognize Paleostine if diplomatic efforts failed again and urged a resolution to the Middle East conflict within two years.
La Belle France is spearheading a drive at the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... to unfreeze the moribund grinding of the peace processor and the Paleostinian envoy to the U.N. said earlier Tuesday a draft resolution could be submitted to the Security Council by mid-December.
Riyad Mansour told Agence La Belle France-Presse the text was set to lay out a timeframe for negotiations on a final peace deal and possibly a deadline for Paleostinian statehood.
It would also pave the way for a last-ditch international conference that La Belle France has offered to host.
This European initiative was expected to be discussed in Brussels when U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... holds talks with European ministers during this week's NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... meeting.
"If these efforts fail. If this last attempt at a negotiated settlement does not work, then La Belle France will have to do its duty and recognize the state of Paleostine without delay and we are ready to do that," Fabius told MPs on Friday.
At a pan-European level, the European Parliament is expected to hold a vote later this month on recognizing Paleostine and EU foreign policy supremo Federica Mogherini is also pushing for the creation of a Paleostine state.
"Governments and parliaments are taking action. That momentum will grow," said United Nations chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... last month.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... politicians in Gay Paree were more divided on the issue than their British and Spanish counterparts, reflecting the sensitivity of the debate in La Belle France, which is home to Europe's largest Jewish and Moslem communities.
Senior politician Christian Jacob of the opposition UMP party told MPs ahead of the vote: "Who are we kidding? We are kidding the French people if we think that the parliament will have any influence at all" on the grinding of the peace processor.
La Belle France was the scene of several pro-Paleostinian demonstrations during this summer's 50-day offensive by the Israeli army in Gazoo that killed more than 2,000 Paleostinians and dozens of Israelis.
Some of these turned violent with looters in July destroying Jewish businesses and shouting anti-Israel obscenities in the Gay Paree suburb of Sarcelles -- sometimes known as "Little Jerusalem" for its large community of Sephardic Jews.
“It’s not just the army,” noted the general. “All branches are worried because Obama, when he finally makes up his mind about something, gets his advice from Gen. (Martin) Dempsey (Joints Chiefs of Staff Chairman), Susan Rice, John Kerry and Denis McDonough.”
#1
You can blame the Champ for a great many things, but the DoD "laboratory of social engineering" began long before the Champ arrived on the scene. He simply 'kicked it up a notch.'
The absence of an angry conga line of senior officer protestations, resignations, and early retirements provides clear evidence that the social engineering programme has WORKED !
#2
Hey Fat Bob brown, the coup was so slow that you missed it. A marxist, commie, socialist plan hatched in the mid 20th century took over education, labor unions, media, hollywood and the Democratic Party. The last steps are health care and military.
#3
Not just the military who is distrustful and miserable under Obumble. Well, maybe not the illegals who are here on this day and those who are still coming across the border every day.
#4
a lot of uniformed personnel are ticked off (not just the military but police, INS, public health officers)
however, there are some who see sucking up as a great way to advance and are going full speed ahead
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/03/2014 8:46 Comments ||
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#5
Nero and his cronies don't understand that these guys really don't have to be a threat, but just be neutralized or alienated enough to standby and watch when someone else does the dirty work.
It goes back to the hunting group or squad. You look out for each other's back. You have to in order to expand your chances of survival. When a miscreant is put in the team and makes enough trouble, the 'others' just 'look the other way' when that time comes. When you pick up that phone in an emergency and dial 911, you discover no one is on the other end of the line.
#6
Its the old Courtney Massengale vs Sam Damon battle - and Obama wants a military full of Massengales, whcih will end up with an incompetent military and a lot of dead soldiers. After all, us military are not "his" people, so what doe he care? For Obama, and ValJar, Reward his cronies, punish his political enemies, and who gives a flying f**k about the nation.
#9
I haven't heard of "Courtney Massengale vs Sam Damon battle?" I have heard of Massengill products which are disposable feminine douches. There's got to be a joke in there somewhere.
#12
I wuz betting James Jones, wrong again. Still I think my Uncle LJ. Had a partin the making of "From Here to Eternity". He was AWOL for the longest time before December 7, but then got his butt to the first Marine officer of note he could find. It happened to be Roy Geiger, stripped of rank and pay and send to Fleet Marine Force Pacific. For many years we thought the novel was "Some Came Running". But as it turned out "whistle" was closer to the mark.
Let us now praise famous men
[AnNahar] A draft resolution to revive talks on a final Israeli-Paleostinian settlement is expected be presented to the U.N. Security Council by the middle of the month, the Paleostinian envoy to the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... said Monday.
Paleostinian representative Riyad Mansour said the text being shepherded by La Belle France is expected to lay out a timeframe for negotiations on a final peace deal and possibly a second deadline for Paleostinian statehood.
"The French are moving more and more, trying to bring all the European colleagues together, and I think that eventually they will succeed," Mansour told AFP.
The French-led European initiative is expected to be discussed in Brussels on Tuesday when U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... holds talks with European ministers during a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... meeting.
The position of the United States, which has repeatedly vetoed U.N. resolutions seen as pressuring Israel, will be crucial in deciding if the latest push at the United Nations stands a chance.
The Paleostinians, backed by the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... , circulated a draft resolution at the end of September that called for ending the Israeli occupation by November 2016.
The text however ran into opposition from the United States and other members of the council, opening the way for the Europeans to try to present an alternative draft.
Mansour said he expected a new draft to be submitted to the council "soon, possibly in the middle of the month," with a vote to quickly follow.
The new resolution would pave the way for an international conference to launch what is widely seen as a final bid for an Israeli-Paleostinian peace deal, with the involvement of all key international players.
There has been growing international alarm over the spate of violent attacks in east Jerusalem and the stalled peace talks on settling Israel's borders and the fate of Paleostinian statehood.
U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... has warned of a possible new flareup in violence after the devastating 50-day war in Gazoo over the summer.
U.N. diplomats argue that the world can ill afford more violence in the Middle East at a time when Islamic holy warriors are waging war in Iraq and Syria.
[AnNahar] Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi flew to Brussels on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the 60-state coalition against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group and to call for funding, his office said.
Abadi, who is also due to meet French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... in Gay Paree on Wednesday, will brief his allies in the Belgian capital on latest developments on the ground.
Abadi told politicians on Monday that he would also call on the international community to set up a special fund to help rebuild regions ravaged by the jihadist offensive.
"It is not fair that Iraq should bear the cost of the war on its own," he said. "We were attacked by outside forces that entered from Syria and destroyed our country."
"An important reason for my visit to Brussels is that 60 states are gathered there and we will ask them: 'Are you standing by Iraq and fighting terrorism?'," Abadi told parliament on Monday.
"Fighting terrorism cannot happen without money, we need their help, at least to establish a fund for the reconstruction of areas that have been destroyed by terrorism."
Thanks in part to a campaign of air strikes led by the United States -- but in which nations such as La Belle France, Britannia, Australia, Belgium and Denmark also play an active role -- the tide has begun to turn on jihadist expansion.
The advance of IS fighters has stalled in Syria, while pro-government forces in Iraq have notched up a string of victories that have shrunk the jihadist footprint.
The statement from Abadi's office said that during his meetings in Europe he would discuss "ways to expand international cooperation to respond to the threat of terrorism."
Observers have argued that Iraqi forces would struggle to defeat IS fighters without the help of foreign ground troops but Abadi and his Western allies have so far ruled that out.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Now we come to the important part: The Money.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/03/2014 8:20 Comments ||
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#2
Iraq PM to Urge Reconstruction Graft and Patronage Fund at Brussels Meet
FIFY. What do they think they are, Detroit? Mexico City? Illinois?
[Ynet] General Assmebly passes non-binding resolution, backed by Arab nations, requesting Israel place its nuclear facilities under international oversight.
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an Arab-backed resolution Tuesday calling on Israel to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and put its nuclear facilities under international oversight.
The resolution, adopted in a 161-5 vote, noted that Israel is the only Middle Eastern country that is not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It called on Israel to "accede to that treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons" and put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the UN's ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency.
The United States and Canada were among four countries that joined Israel in opposing the measure, while 18 countries abstained.
Israel is widely considered to possess nuclear arms but declines to confirm it.
The resolution, introduced by Egypt, echoed a similar Arab-backed effort that failed to gain approval in September at the Vienna-based IAEA. At the time, Israel criticized Arab countries for undermining dialogue in the region by repeatedly singling out the Jewish state in international arenas. Israel's UN Mission did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
The UN resolution, titled "The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East," pushed for the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East and lamented that US-backed efforts to convene talks were abandoned in 2012.
Israel has long argued that a full Paleostinian-Israeli peace plan must precede any creation of a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass destruction. The country also argues that Iran's alleged work on nuclear arms is the real regional threat. Iran denies pursuing such weapons.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they carry moral weight because it is the only body where all 193 U.N. member states are represented.
#6
In other news, the UN continues to urge Israel to get rid of one of the only deterrents it has against aggressive and genocidal neighboring nations.
The UN is continuing to push Israel into committing national suicide.
[IsraelTimes] The World Food Program on Monday suspended food aid to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, blaming a financing crisis caused by unhonored cash pledges.
The Rome-based UN agency said refugees in Jordan, Leb, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt risked going hungry this winter if donors do not urgently provide the $64 million (51 million euros) needed to finance the distribution of food vouchers through December.
"This couldn't come at a worse time," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "I urgently appeal to the international community â- support WFP now, don't let refugees go hungry."
While WFP didn't name which countries haven't made good on their commitments, foreign ministers from Germany, Finland and Sweden told news hounds in Copenhagen their countries could do more to fill the funding gap.
"We have to strengthen our engagement and give humanitarian aid for the refugees and strengthen the structure of those countries who are hosting the refugees," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
WFP said the refugees affected by the suspension of food aid included many children in Leb and Jordan facing harsh winters without adequate clothing or footwear, and living in tents already caked in mud that has made hygiene precarious.
Most in peril are the tens of thousands of families that are entirely dependant on international food aid, Guterres added.
Distribution of electronic food vouchers is to resume as soon as the pledged cash comes in.
The United States, which has stumped up more than $3 billion for the Syrian people including some $935 million for the WFP since the start of the conflict, also voiced concern.
Washington was urging governments "to do more," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki ...a valley girl who woke up one morning and found she was spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State... "Without additional contributions, the World Food Programme could be forced to reduce rations for Syrians throughout the region," she warned.
WFP says it has fed millions of displaced people inside Syria and up to 1.8 million refugees in Leb, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt in the three and a half years since the conflict erupted.
"A suspension of WFP food assistance will endanger the health and safety of these refugees and will potentially cause further tensions, instability and insecurity in the neighbouring host countries," said WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin.
He added: "The suspension of WFP food assistance will be disastrous for many already suffering families."
No end in sight
More than half of Syria's population has been forced to flee their homes since war began in their country in March 2011.
Some 3.2 million have fled beyond the country's borders, and more than 7.2 million have become internally displaced, according to the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit...
[QZ] Iraqi Kurdistan's days of smuggling tanker-loads of oil off the Turkish coast and through shadowy middlemen are over--at least for now. It has finally signed a deal with Baghdad that allows its oil to be exported legally, a concession by the Kurds, who have long sought a separate state, that they were not quite ready for independence.
Today's agreement, midwifed by a mutual decision to fight ISIL and save the state, allows the Kurds to ship a considerable volume--550,000 barrels a day--through a dedicated pipeline that they opened up in the beginning of the year to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. In exchange, Baghdad will resume paying the Kurds 17% of the state budget, plus fund the Peshmerga, the local fighting force.
The winners from the deal include foreign oil companies that have flocked to Kurdistan in recent years (and abandoned Iraq proper) because of better contract terms. Until now, it's not been clear how ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total, and others would legally export their oil. All year, the US and Baghdad vigorously threatened potential and actual buyers of more than 20 million barrels of Kurdish crude oil shipped furtively on tankers out of Ceyhan. One of the tankers, the United Kalavyrta, has been marooned off the coast of Texas for four months, locked in a legal battle with Baghdad.
The new agreement provides "another step towards de-risking Kurdish exports," an oilman working in the region tells Quartz.
By allowing for more export sales, the agreement also provides fiscal relief to both Baghdad--reeling from a 40% plunge in oil prices--and Kurdistan, which hasn't been able to pay government workers for months.
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12/03/2014 00:53 ||
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[IraqiNews.com] On Tuesday, the president of the al-Anbar Provincial Council, Sabah Karhoot announced, that the international coalition has agreed to form a military force of 50,000 soldiers from the people of al-Anbar, noting that the new armed force will be relevant to the Kurdish paramilitary Peshmerga in Kurdistan.
In an interview with IraqiNews, Karhoot said he received a phone call from the U.S. Embassy and he was informed, that the USA and its allies in the international coalition have agreed to form a militia of 50,000 soldiers from the tribesmen of al-Anbar province, noting that the force will be armed and trained by the coalitionâ??s military advisors.
Karhoot said, that the new militia will work in favor of the Iraqi Army and will be relevant to the Kurdish paramilitary Peshmerga in Kurdistan. He also added, â??All expenses will be covered by the international coalition.â??
[IraqiNews.com] On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Department announced, that nearly 250 American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division will be deployed in Iraq later this month.
None of whom, of course, will be wearing boots.
U.S. Defense Department front man, Army Col. Steve Warren said, "The deployment is scheduled to last 9 months and their mission will be carrying out security operations to support and protect American diplomatic facilities and diplomatic personalities."
Noteworthy, USA has about 1.550 soldiers in Iraq, including 800 military personnel of whom are responsible to protect American diplomatic facilities, and Warren confirmed, that the 250 additional soldiers will be deployed to mitigate for the ones stationed there.
#2
Pardon my ignorance, but the 82nd Airborne seems a curious choice if you are just looking for people to do facilities protection. Something bigger afoot, mayhaps?
#3
Not an ignorant question at all. Yes, this could be the ADVON (advance party) of a larger force. The current situation in Iraq cries out for airborne or airmobile hunter-killer teams supported by tactical air or helo gunships. [See the French battle for Kolwezi, Zaire, May 1978]
#5
Er....The 82nd doesn't have a Ranger Battalion. I have been out awhile, but I don't believe that has changed. Now a company of LRRSD might be the ticket.
#8
Eighteen inch rail gun, reconditioned and back from a loan to the Dutch, part of the celebrations of the important Treaty of Utrecht, not the other Treaties of Utrecht.
#9
There are only three Ranger Battalions - one at Ft., Stewart, GA, one at Ft. Benning GA, and one at Ft. Lewis, WA - along with a Regimental HQ and a Ranger support Battalion at Ft. Benning.
250 men sounds like a reinforced rifle company - perhaps with added commo, engineer, MP, transport and Intelligence elements.
#10
They're paratroopers. They'll snag their canopies in trees, just like at the Fryar drop zone at Benning. No boots on the ground.
(You also get that fresh pine scent.)
#11
Yes, an advance party. I've seen already media pre-prep for the "boots on the ground" announcement, which I would guess is not that long hence. To help Iran. Run by Rice. Dribble, dribble.
And as others point out, 82nd does not include Rangers. And very different cultures despite both being light infantry and airborne.
The Kurd-Iraq oil deal will provide opportunities. MacArthur once said there is no security, only opportunity. He is right.
#16
Yes, the personnel people made it an advancement criteria. More output then just ranger units justify. Light divisions (10th, 82nd, 101st) get individual allocations/percentages.
#18
Used to be that all Regular Army commissioned 2nd Lieutenants were sent to Ranger and Airborne School...hence my tenure there.
Great training kept me alive for seven years doing crazy stuff in the "name" of national security.
Most LRP units are exclusively Rangers so except for the TOE, a LRP unit would be very similar to a Ranger company in another unit.
I commanded a reconnaisance platoon with the 8ID and there was not two whits difference between us and the Ranger Company at Livorno...the difference for me was we got sent places that NATO wouldn't let the Rangers go.
[AnNahar] The rise in the number of kidnappings poses a greater threat to Baghdad's security than the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, the Iraqi capital's top security official said on Tuesday.
"Kidnapping cases have increased recently as a result of the security mobilization and military efforts to fight terrorism outside the city," Lieutenant-General Abdelamir al-Shammari said.
"Wrongdoers have exploited this state of affairs to start carrying out abductions, mostly for personal gain but sometimes motivated by sectarianism," he said in a statement.
Dozens of kidnappings are believed to take place every week in Baghdad, the Arab world's second largest capital.
While some abductions are a direct result of the sectarian tension that has grown since IS jihadists took over part of Iraq this year, others are the work of extortion gangs that have prospered in the confusion.
In most recent cases, victims were released upon payment of a ransom, according to police.
"They are exploiting the wide availability of military equipment, vehicles and weapons," Shammari said.
The loss in June to IS of swathes of territory, including the key cities of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and Tikrit, led the top religious leader of Iraq's Shiite majority to call on civilians to join the security forces.
His appeal led to mass enrollment in Shiite militias that have both played a key role in stemming the jihadist advance but been accused of criminal and sectarian abuses in the process.
"Our view is that this criminality has a deep effect on general security and is currently a bigger threat (in Baghdad) than terrorist activity," Shammari said.
He said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had ordered the creation of a special anti-kidnapping unit within the Baghdad Operations Command.
The crisis cell has been active for a few days and Shammari said seven kidnapping rings had already been busted and several victims released.
In one recent high-profile case, members of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Shiite militia kidnapped a relative of the deputy prime minister, according to senior security sources.
Many kidnappings are also carried out by criminals posing as members of the security forces or of one of the myriad militia groups operating in Baghdad.
[Ynet] Iraq has reached a deal with the Kurdish government to exchange oil from the autonomous northern region for a nearly 20 percent share of the national budget, resolving a months-long impasse that had undermined national unity in the face of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group's onslaught.
The agreement stipulates that the semi-autonomous Kurdish government will cede 550,000 barrels of oil per day to the Iraqi oil ministry, more than half of which will come from the disputed Kirkuk oil fields, according to Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari. In exchange, the Kurds will receive the 17-percent share of the national budget allocated to their region, plus installments of as much as $1 billion to boost the capabilities of Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling the holy warrior group.
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[IsraelTimes] A US official confirmed that Iranian jets are bombing targets of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group in Iraq, although the operation is not part of the ongoing United States-led coalition effort to help local militias defeat the jihadist krazed killers.
The admission came a day after the emergence of video footage that appeared to show an Iranian fighter jet striking targets in northern Iraq.
"We are aware of that," the official told the Huffington Post on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... . "I wouldn't say we're necessarily concerned with it -- we kind of have our eyes on it."
On November 30 Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... published the grainy video, which showed what looked to be an F-4 Phantom jet on a bombing run near the town of Sa'adiya near the Iran-Iraq border. The video was later taken down.
The clip generated speculation among military pundits as to which air force the plane was from, as only two countries in the region still operate Phantom jets -- Turkey and Iran.
Turkey has been reluctant to provide direct military support for the coalition against IS, even though the jihadists, who have conquered large areas of Iraq and Syria, have also been attacking towns in the Syrian-Turkish border region.
That left only Iran as the source of the jet, a speculation heightened by the location of the incident, so close to the Iranian border. The Arclight airstrike seemed to be in support of a joint operation by Iraqi military and Kurdish peshmerga forces to retake the towns of Sa'adiya and Jawlala on November 25 near the Iranian border. It was Iraq's largest offensive against the terrorist group since June.
American-made F-4 Phantom aircraft have been in use in Iran since the 1960s, having been purchased from the US government by the Shah regime before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The US Air Force decommissioned its Phantoms in the 1990s, as did the Israeli Air Force in 2004.
IHS Jane's Defence Weekly identified the plane as most likely being Iranian and noted that recent weeks have seen increasing evidence of Iranian military equipment in the hands of Iraqi units.
The US official told the Huffington Post that the bombing took place in an area where coalition forces are not active, and that there were thus no expectations of any interaction between Iranian and allied aircraft.
In November The Wall Street Journal reported details of a letter sent by US President Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in which the president suggested working together against the Islamic State terror group in exchange for a deal on Tehran's nuclear program.
The West accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of a peaceful civilian energy program.
In September, Khamenei claimed he had rejected a private approach from the United States suggesting cooperation on the battlefield.
US officials have neither confirmed nor denied making a request in private, but US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said at the time that there was a role for Iran in the battle against the Islamic State.
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#1
Strange bedfellows indeed. The U.S., however, will be the one to go away with a new STD.
[AnNahar] Washington Tuesday reaffirmed its "crystal clear" stand that Paleostinians will only realize their dream of statehood through direct talks with Israel, just hours after a controversial vote by French politicians.
"The U.S. position is clear, that we support Paleostinian statehood but believe it can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties that resolve the final status issues," said deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
French politicians voted Tuesday in favor of recognizing Paleostine as a state, sparking an immediate angry reaction from Israel which said such "unilateral measures" would harm efforts towards Middle East peace.
The vote -- which is non-binding on the government but highly symbolic -- comes as European countries seek alternative ways to restart the stalled Middle East process.
It follows hot on the heels of a move by Sweden officially recognizing a state of Paleostine.
Harf stressed that Tuesday's vote by the lower house of the French National Assembly was non-binding and French government's position remained unchanged.
But she conceded: "I think what you're seeing are people around the world speaking out and saying the status quo is unacceptable."
"We've said that. Everyone has -- a lot of people have said that. But we very firmly believe that the way to achieve two states is through direct negotiations," she insisted.
Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... this year led an intensive U.S. push for Middle East peace, but his effort ultimately collapsed, undermined by steps taken both the Israeli and Paleostinian leaderships.
[Ynet] As talk of elections increase, prime minister decides to fire the finance minister and the justice minister; 'I won't tolerate ministers attacking from within the government the government's policies and its leader,' Netanyahu says.
The prime minister said he will call for the dissolution of the Knesset as soon as possible in order to go to elections and "receive a clear mandate from the people to lead Israel."
More inside details at the link for those who are interested.
[Ynet] High-ranking Jordanian sources said that some of the 21 members of the Moslem BrÃüderbund who where were placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in Jordan a week and a half ago were accused of smuggling arms and money to the West Bank. Additionally, the suspects were charged with establishing an armed secret organization with the Jordanian Moslem BrÃüderbund, according to reports on Monday by Jordanian newspaper Al Hyat.
Two of the men were charged with training in Gazoo and attempting to train activists to carry out attacks within the West Bank. The Jordanian sources also revealed that the name of a high-ranking Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leader in Turkey, Saleh al-Arouri, came up during the investigation of the activities of the detainees. Al-Arouri himself has stated that Hamas does not operate militarily in Jordan.
[IsraelTimes] Jordanian security forces jugged You have the right to remain silent... 20 men on suspicion of forming a military wing and planning to smuggle arms into the West Bank to be used in terror attacks against Israelis, an Arab news channel reported this week.
The men, all members of the Moslem Brüderbund or Jordan's engineers' guild, were arrested after two of the 20 returned from a solidarity visit to the Gazoo Strip where they received military training, according to Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... -based al-Jazeera.
The satellite channel reported Sunday that the men attempted to train others in military operations to be carried out against Israelis in the West Bank.
They also collected money for the purchase of weapons to be smuggled into the West Bank, or bought in the Paleostinian territory.
It was not clear from the report when the 20 were arrested.
The arrests come as tensions between the Jordanian regime and the Islamist organization peaked last month, when the Moslem Brüderbund's deputy secretary-general Zaki Bani Irsheid was arrested on November 21 over derogatory comments he posted on Facebook against the United Arab Emirates.
According to Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... , the Jordanian arrests coincided with a similar Israeli crackdown in the West Bank, where a ring of 30 operatives guided from Turkey was exposed late last month.
Two of the operatives arrested, engineers Abdulla Zeitawi and Muhammad Jabara, have Jordanian citizenship.
The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, cell had planned a series of terror attacks, including on Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium during a soccer match, according to the Shin Bet security service.
Saleh Al-Arouri, the Turkey-based Hamas official accused of financing the cell, rushed this week to deny that his movement was active anywhere outside the Paleostinian territories.
"Hamas has committed not to operate from Jordan or in Jordan," Arouri told Al-Jazeera. "Jordan is not an area of activity for it, and Jordan's security agencies know our commitment to this. Our sphere of activity and resistance is Paleostine, and our enemy is the Zionist occupation."
Hamas is considered a Paleostinian offshoot of the Moslem Brüderbund, which originated in Egypt.
Jordanian mainstream media has downplayed the arrests, likely fearing backlash from a general public extremely hostile to Israel.
But Moslem Brüderbund newspaper As-Sabeel reported that an engineering student, Muhammad Qandil, was arrested on Sunday night at his home in Suwaylih north of Amman, and his personal computer confiscated. The newspaper reported that 15 other engineering students and activists had been arrested and were undergoing investigation.
During a meeting with a visiting British parliamentary delegation, Jordanian Interior Minister Hussein Al-Majali said that the kingdom is "exerting great effort to maintain its security and the security of the region by protecting the borders with neighboring countries to prevent crimes and decrease the threat of terror organizations," the official Petra News Agency reported on Tuesday.
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#2
Ya' mean the same Brudderhood that is not a "Terrorist Group?"
Oh no, Tholung Noodleman4539, that's the original Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. This is the Jordanian branch, which only got encouragement and training (prob'ly) from the home office, but otherwise -- like Hamas -- is "completely" unaffiliated.
[AnNahar] The Syrian regime and several key opponents have agreed to move towards new peace talks mediated by Russia, sources on both sides told Agence La Belle France-Presse.
The initial agreement came after separate delegations led by prominent opposition figure Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem visited Moscow in November.
Buthaina Shaaban, government delegation member and adviser to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , called meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "very positive."
"The Russians want to take the initiative for a real search for political solution through dialogue. They got the agreement from the Syrian government," she said by phone from Damascus.
Alongside Iran, Russia is the Assad regime's main backer in a civil war pitting loyalists against Western and Arab-backed rebels.
Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, a source who accompanied the government delegation last week said: "There is no schedule yet. The Russians only wanted to know if the idea seems acceptable to us. We said we have no problem."
The source added: "The Russians are trying... They have contact with several people. They told us that if we accept the idea they would like to start steps to prepare for dialogue in Moscow. We said that we don't mind, that we have no problem."
Early in 2014, government and opposition delegations met in Geneva for two rounds of failed talks sponsored by Russia and the United States.
The main obstacles to progress then were whether Assad would remain in power, the war against "terrorism" and a possible transitional government.
But now things have changed. Assad is still in power after a June election denounced by the West as a "parody of democracy."
Meanwhile the war against "terrorism" has become a priority for both sides because of the rise of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group, despite the regime labeling both rebels and jihadists "terrorists."
The main Syrian National Coalition, which represented the opposition in Geneva, opposes a possible resumption of talks, but has lost sway on the ground.
Former coalition chief Khatib, who resigned from it in 2013 but remains an influential opposition figure, traveled to Moscow along with other military and political dissidents in early November.
"It is in the Syrian people's interest for us to sit down together once and for all, and to find a way to save the people from this pain and suffering," Khatib told AFP.
Speaking by phone from Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... , he added: "We want to solve the problem, because the problem now affects each and every Syrian. The regime is suffering, the opposition is suffering and the people are suffering."
He also said a deal could see Assad remain in power for a limited time.
"Of course (Assad) has to leave," Khatib said. "But the idea that his mandate would finish on a given date, this idea could make sense."
Other opposition figures are also expected to take part in any talks, among them Gay Paree-based dissident Haytham Mannaa and Moscow-based Qadri Jamil, a former member of the tolerated opposition.
Kamil told AFP he too was invited to speak to the authorities in Moscow.
"But I cannot confirm that any meeting is being scheduled for December," he said, adding that there are several "nuances that need to be figured out."
Waddah Abed Rabbo, chief editor of pro-regime newspaper al-Watan, told AFP: "The Moscow meeting marks a turning point because it is clear that Russia wants to make progress. Much of the Syria file is in Moscow's hands, and it has a lot of weight on the international scale."
The possible resumption of talks comes as the opposition faces its most difficult challenges yet since the outbreak of the 2011 revolt.
Asked whether a U.S. role has been discussed, the source that accompanied the government delegation said: "We haven't asked the question to our Russian contacts, but I don't think any (talks) would kick off without the knowledge of the Americans. They want to try to get everyone on board."
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[AnNahar] It's aimed at children, but instead of princes and princesses, fairies and magicians, the heroes of Leb's "Mahdi" magazine are the "fighters who fell resisting the Israeli enemy".
Produced by Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... for the last 11 years, Mahdi aims to teach a new generation the group's ideology of "resistance" to the Jewish state.
Packed full of stories inspired by the lives of Hizbullah bad boys, its cartoons represent bearded fighters and its puzzles teach children how to avoid Israeli landmines.
Critics accuse it of glorifying violence, but its publishers insist the monthly magazine is not about indoctrination or military propaganda.
"What we want to do is teach children the values of the resistance," the magazine's general manager Abbas Charara told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We don't encourage carrying of weapons, we're just making sure they know about the exploits of the resistance," he added.
"We tell them: 'Just as these great people resisted and were victorious, so too can you resist and be victorious, and that starts with your education'."
The magazine is part of broad youth outreach -- schools, scout troops and summer camps -- for Hizbullah, the powerful movement that detractors accuse of being a "state within a state" in Leb.
Established in 1982 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hizbullah has been a key nemesis for Israel.
The group carried out numerous attacks against Israeli forces during their 22-year occupation of Leb, which ended in 2000 with a withdrawal that Hizbullah claimed as a victory.
- 'It's something really dangerous' -
In 2006, Hizbullah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers prompted a massive military response by the Jewish state, but it failed to deal a death blow to the group.
The group is the only party in Leb that failed to disarm after the country's 1975-1990 civil war, and it remains a powerful political and military institution, with supporters revering its leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... Mahdi is named after the ninth-century Imam al-Mahdi, the last of 12 imams venerated by Shiite Moslems who believe he will reappear as a savior at the end of the world.
One recent edition of the magazine featured stories set in the three decades when Israel occupied southern Leb.
One told of a fighter who detonated a bomb against an Israeli patrol in his occupied village, another of a "hero" Amer, who confides in his mother that he will participate in "a martyrdom operation".
Amer blows himself up, killing and wounding 25 Israeli officers and soldiers, and his name is not revealed until 2000, when Nasrallah praises his bravery.
Hizbullah's strong Iranian influence is also reflected in the magazine, with the Islamic republic's founder Ayatollah Khomeini hailed in its pages in a feature on "the best leaders".
Critics have said the magazine exposes children to violence and teaches them that their identity as Shiite Moslems takes precedence over being Lebanese.
"It goes too far in making guns and violence part of the kids' imagination. It's something really dangerous," said Fatima Charafeddine, an author of children's books.
The magazine also emphasizes "religious identity with virtually no mention of their Lebanese identity," she told AFP.
- 'Resistance and fun games' -
Charara said Mahdi is not exclusively focused on religious and political issues, noting its articles on figures like Alexander the Great, Victor Hugo, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison.
Still, there is little ambiguity to a game encouraging children to color in grenades and automatic weapons, nor to a puzzle in which readers draw a route around mines and bombs left by the Israelis in south Leb.
The magazine's monthly circulation of 30,000 issues includes three editions -- one aimed at four- to seven-year-olds, one at eight- to 12-year-olds, and one for 13- to 17-year-olds.
Eight-year-old Zahraa, who was born while her father was fighting in Hizbullah's ranks against Israel in 2006, told AFP she enjoyed Mahdi's "stories on the resistance and fun games".
"I like the stories about imams, and especially those talking about victory," the veiled girl added, a smile on her thin face.
An eight year old girl, veiled?! That's obscene -- she's still jailbait until she's nine.
[AnNahar] A high-ranking military source denied on Tuesday that British troops are present in Leb to monitor the country's border with Syria to prevent fighters from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group to infiltrate into the small Christian town of Ras Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa.
The source stressed in comments to al-Joumhouria newspaper that the a report published on Sunday in the British Telegraph is "no secret."
The Telegraph reported that a British team has secretly saved Ras Baalbek from advancing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) forces by constructing a network of watchtowers.
The source said that the British team only helped the Lebanese army in building 12 towers to facilitate the monitoring of the border and combat terrorism.
However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... the source stressed that "there are no British forces in Leb," pointing out that "only British technical teams are present to aid in constructing the towers."
The source presumed that the report aims at convincing the British public opinion that their country "is still strong in the Middle East and its army is distributed across the world, but it doesn't mean they are present inside Leb."
The towers were built in 17 days in July and finished less than two weeks ago, the Telegraph said.
The army and security forces had been carrying out in recent months raids in various regions throughout Leb in search for wanted runaways and suspected terrorists.
Jihadists from the IS group and al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front briefly overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in August. The Islamists withdrew from the town, abducting a number of troops and security forces.
Three hostages have already been killed by their captors, and the country has been on edge for months over the fate of the remaining soldiers and coppers.
#1
Well that probably means it is the SAS and no one in the British Government ever talks about what those guys are up to...EVER.
I do know from anecdotal information that the SAS was in downtown Tripoli calling in airstrikes during the 2011 revolution and were in Benghazi calling in airstrikes also.
#2
The SAS are running ops in Lebanon, but are only actually there 10% of the time, so they're not really there unless there's 10 of them present.
Sort of like Heisenburg's commandos.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/03/2014 8:02 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Heisenbergs' Commandos! Awesome!
Also: WMAGNFAB one that occasionally got over choomed and lost between gigs.
[AnNahar] The General Security Directorate stressed on Tuesday that head of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... command council Colonel Abdullah Rifai is in its custody, denying that he was handed over to Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... to swap him with Imad Ayyad.
"Rifai is still in our custody and his fate is linked to the negotiation process" of the kidnapped Lebanese soldiers and coppers, the General Security said.
The directorate denied that he was handed over to Hizbullah to exchange him, along with another Syrian, with its fighter Ayyad.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr handed over Rifai in November to the General Security without charging him.
Lebanese army tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! Rifai who was trying to enter Syria using fake documents.
The FSA is the Western-backed moderate group fighting to topple Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... An Nahar newspaper had reported earlier that the release of Ayyad last week was in exchange for two Syrians, one of them was in the custody of the Lebanese authorities.
Sources told the daily that the Syrian detainee could have been used in negotiations with the Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group to secure the safe release of the kidnapped servicemen, who were taken hostage when the two groups withdrew from the northeastern border town of Arsal in August.
Hizbullah said last Tuesday that one of its members, Ayyad, was freed in exchange for two gunnies who were in the party's custody.
Ayyad had been in the custody of Syrian groups in the mountains of the Qalamun region near Leb's border.
The party has been fighting alongside troops loyal to Syrian President Bashir al-Assad against rebels seeking to topple him.
The matter drew the ire of the families of captive servicemen, who expressed regret at Hizbullah's ability to engage in a prisoner swap with Syrian gunnies and the failure of the Lebanese government to do so.
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.
North Korea
North Korea
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Please, let us not assume that renouncing nuclear weapons makes one civilized. 
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
