[FoxNews] The head of the U.S. Africa Command said Wednesday that the U.S. is very carefully watching what he described as “nascent” 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.... training camps in Libya --- but downplayed the threat they posed.
Gen. David Rodriguez said in a Pentagon press briefing that it is his belief that the camps may be made up of local militias that are trying to get on the map by working “the ISIS label.”
“We don’t have enough information to know how serious they are,” he said.
He also said the U.S. is also assisting in the search for the hundreds of schoolgirls who were kidnapped in Nigeria by 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... , and has found areas of interest. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... he said the Nigerian government has been unable to follow up on those leads.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I would prefer the "close eye" to be attached to something like a cruise missile or a large smart bomb.
#5
Washington doesn't seem to be able to determine whether or not we are at war with these guys (ISIS). It seems like they are leaning towards "not at war."
The Pentagon says a hostage rescue mission last month in Yemen failed to liberate American Luke Somers because he was not present at the targeted location. AGAIN?!?
The Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said in a brief written statement Thursday that the U.S. government was acknowledging the attempted rescue of the 33-year-old Somers, the only American among the roughly dozen hostages held by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot.
Kirby said the Pentagon wanted to "provide accurate information" in light of the fact that the rescue attempt has been widely reported. Eight hostages were rescued, as has been reported previously.
A Yemeni official said an American journalist and a Briton were moved before the raid.
Kirby said details about the mission remain classified. But todays announcement by the terrorists that he is now to be executed is not classified, yet.
White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the U.S. is aware of a video showing Somers. She said President Barack Obama authorized a rescue operation last month to free Somers and other hostages but "regrettably, Luke was not present."
Meehan said the mission was coordinated with the Yemeni government and undertaken by U.S. and Yemeni forces.
"The overriding concern for Mr. Somers' safety and the safety of the U.S. forces who undertake these missions made it imperative that we not disclose information related to Mr. Somers' captivity and the attempted rescue," Meehan said, adding that the mission was being disclosed now because of the video released Thursday.
Meehan said the White House's "thoughts remain with the Somers family, and with the families and loved ones of every other U.S. citizen being held hostage overseas." Since Benghazi, the Obama regime has a 100% failure rate at the rescue business. But at least all the Generals are finally regime people. Security Cronyism is the most important aspect of the new Obama military.
[IsraelTimes] Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen is threatening to kill an American hostage kidnapped over a year ago and has given Washington three days to meet several unspecified demands, a US terrorism monitoring group said Thursday.
The SITE Intelligence Group said it obtained a video by Yemen’s al-Qaeda offshoot featuring the hostage, identified as 33-year-old Luke Somers, an American photojournalist born in Britannia.
Somers was kidnapped in September 2013 from a street in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, where he had worked as a photojournalist for the Yemen Times.
He was likely among a group of hostages who were the objective of a joint rescue mission by US operation forces and Yemeni troops last month that freed eight captives in a remote corner of Yemen.
At the time, a Yemeni official said the mission failed to liberate five others, including an American journalist and a Briton who were moved elsewhere by their al-Qaeda captors days before the raid. The American was not identified by name and Yemen did not officially confirm the participation of US commandos in the rescue mission — a rare instance of US forces intervening on the ground in Yemen.
The three-minute video released by SITE on Thursday first shows a local al-Qaeda figure, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, reading in Arabic and speaking about alleged American crimes against the Moslem world.
Al-Ansi gives the US three days to meet al-Qaeda’s demands or “otherwise the American hostage held by us will meet his inevitable fate.” He does not specify the demands but says Washington is “aware” of them.
Then Somers is shown, giving a brief statement in English and asking for help.
“It’s now been well over a year since I’ve been kidnapped in Sanaa,” Somers said. “Basically, I’m looking for any help that can get me out of this situation. I’m certain that my life is in danger.”
Impoverished Yemen, troubled both by al-Qaeda and the advance of Iranian catspaws, has seen foreigners increasingly targeted in kidnap attempts. The US drone strikes, targeting suspected terrorist gatherings, have become increasingly unpopular in Yemen due to civilian casualties.
[AnNahar] Uruguay will make good before the end of the year on its offer to the United States to take in six Guantanamo prisoners, a media report said Thursday.
Have fun with that, guys. Really.
Uruguay's leftist President Jose Mujica had announced in March that the South American country would take in the inmates on humanitarian grounds in an effort to help U.S. President Barack Obama If you like your coverage you can keep it... fulfill his long-delayed promise to close the military prison in Cuba.
After months of delays, "both governments have begun arranging the details of the transfer and the goal is for it to take place in late December," reported weekly newspaper Busqueda, citing "sources with knowledge of the preparations."
Busqueda is the newspaper that broke the story in March of the negotiations for the transfer deal.
Under the plan, the men would be treated like any other resident and be allowed to travel freely, according to Mujica.
An interesting choice...
But the transfer had appeared to be in jeopardy after outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reportedly hesitated for months over approving it.
By the time Washington was ready, Uruguay was in the midst of an election campaign to choose Mujica's successor, making the issue a political hot potato.
But Mujica's Broad Front (FA) party has now secured its hold on power for another five years with the victory of his ally, former president Tabare Vazquez, in a run-off election Sunday.
Mujica, a former guerrilla who has become something of a celebrity for legalizing marijuana,
How's that going?
giving most of his salary to charity and living in a run-down farmhouse, has said he sympathizes with the Guantanamo inmates' plight because of the 13 years he spent as a political prisoner.
There are now 142 inmates remaining at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, set up in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Officials have not named the inmates who would be brought to Uruguay.
They have been described as low-level operatives who have been cleared for release but cannot return home because of conflicts or the threat of torture.
[Ynet] Australia's foreign minister used tough new counterterrorism laws Thursday to make it a criminal offense for Australians to travel to the Syrian province of al-Raqqa because 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.... movement's hold on the war-ravaged region.
The province is the first region in the world to be subjected to such a travel ban under the legislation.
Possibly because provinces don't generally have their own passport stamps, so it's difficult to prove a person went to one?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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This takes the WTF Award of the day, hands down. Hat tip: gCaptain.
A European court has ordered France to pay thousands of euros to a group of Somali pirates over a 48 delay in presenting the accused men before a judge upon their arrival in the country.
A judge at the European Union of Human Rights made the ruling Thursday, determining that France violated the European Convention of Human Rights by not immediately presenting the accused before a judicial authority upon their arrival in France.
The pirates to be compensated, nine in total, were accused and some even convicted of hijacking a French-flagged cruise ship and yacht in two separate incidents off the coast of Somalia in 2008. The nine Somali men were among of a group 12 initially taken into custody over the attacks.
The court ruled that because of the 48 hour delay, France did not do enough to protect the pirates’ rights to liberty and security and ordered the government to pay each of the men compensation ranging from 2,000 to 9,000 euros.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2014 13:34 ||
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#1
I can imagine the friggin' pirates pissing themselves laughing.
#2
determining that France violated the European Convention of Human Rights by not immediately presenting the accused before a judicial authority upon their arrival in France.
should've presented their remains after hanging at sea.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2014 20:48 Comments ||
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H8ters gotta h8te...And this one has no more elections to worry about.
[IsraelTimes] Senior officials at the White House and the US State Department held a confidential meeting to discuss the possibility of leveling sanctions against Israel to deter the Israeli government from launching new construction projects in settlements across the West Bank and in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, Israeli officials were quoted as saying on Thursday.
According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the B.O. regime discussion took place following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?s October meeting with US President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... in Washington and against the backdrop of the subsequent public spat over Israeli building plans in East Jerusalem?s Givat Hamatos area.
The White House has not yet decided how or when to implement any such sanctions against Israel, the report said, quoting senior Israeli officials. US officials had no comment on the report.
The imposition of sanctions on Israel over its policies in the West Bank would mark a significant diplomatic shift for the US, which over the past years has consistently condemned building over the pre-1967 lines but has not taken concrete steps to try to curb such activity.
US-Israel relations were plunged into crisis in October, after news that a Jerusalem planning committee had signed off on the final stage of approval for construction of some 2,500 homes for Jews and Arabs in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood prompted the B.O. regime to issue some of the strongest language it had ever employed to criticize Israel. The condemnation included a warning that Israel was endangering its relations with ?even its closest allies.?
Nearly identical, stridently critical comments on the Givat Hamatos building plans were issued by the spokespeople of the State Department and the White House, only hours after Netanyahu and Obama held their session at the White House.
The US statements, which also came shortly after an ultra-nationalist Jewish group said dozens of settlers would move into six apartment buildings purchased in the heart of the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, suggested that Washington felt deeply embittered and blindsided by Israel?s moves, viewing Netanyahu as disingenuous when he said he wanted the US to help him win over Arab states to warm their ties with Israel and advance a two-state solution with the Paleostinians.
Netanyahu, for his part, rejected the American statements, stressing to news hounds upon his return from the White House that he did not accept the B.O. regime?s position on the issues of both Silwan and Givat Hamatos. He said the US had been informed of developments in Silwan, but not updated about the Givat Hamatos approval process, which he said was merely a ?statutory formality that does not require publicizing.? He said discussion of the settlement issue in the White House meeting was not heated.
The Israeli leader later said he would not accept restrictions on where Jews could live in Jerusalem, adding that he was ?baffled? by the American condemnation.
?It?s against the American values. And it doesn?t bode well for peace,? he said during an interview with CBS. ?The idea that we?d have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it?s anti-peace.?
[DAWN] In the dusty badlands along its disputed border with Afghanistan, Pakistain is carving out a massive trench to keep out separatists, smugglers and forces of Evil in an attempt to bring order to a lawless, tribal region.
But like the Berlin Wall or Israel's West Bank barrier, the planned 485-kilometer trench is giving physical form to a border that locals have long seen as artificial, dividing families and crippling trade.
And it is adding to simmering tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistain, US allies which have long accused each other of turning a blind eye to murderous Moslems.
The trench runs along part of the 2,640-kilometer Durand Line, named for British diplomat Mortimer Durand, who drew the now internationally recognised border in an agreement with Afghan ruler Abdur Raham Khan in 1893.
But the modern Afghan government has never accepted the border, and neither have the mainly tribal communities that straddle it.
They are accustomed to moving back and forth freely and in some cases own land on both sides.
The trench is being built in Pakistain's Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province, where Baloch rebels have been battling Islamabad demanding greater autonomy and a larger share of the region's oil, gas, copper and gold.
It's an eye-sore of construction, a massive furrow 10 feet wide and 8 feet deep that already snakes 180 kilometers across the desert landscape.
Pakistain's Frontier Corps said in a recent statement that the trench would "not only help in effectively controlling the movement of drug and arms and ammunition smugglers, but also will help in stopping the intrusion of Death Eaters and undocumented Democrats."
Pakistain fears that arms could make their way to any number of murderous Moslem groups, including the Taliban.
But Kabul sees the trench as the latest move in a new incarnation of the colonial-era Great Game, in which Pakistain hopes to destabilise its neighbor to extend its regional influence.
It already considers Pakistain as the source of the Taliban insurgency it has been battling with US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... support for the past 13 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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Good -- even if they are the enemy of our enemy. Hopefully the Afghan Taliban are also squeezed, since both rely on being able to freely cross the border to find safe havens on whichever side is safer at the moment.
[DAWN] Pak Talibs holed up in Afghanistan are being squeezed by a series of US drone strikes and a revolt against them, a trend that could disrupt the krazed killers' capability to strike inside Pakistain.
"Hold me, Fatima, I'm feeling squeezed!"
For years, Pak Taliban capos fighting against the Pak state have been hiding in remote areas of eastern Afghanistan, planning attacks and recruiting fighters. But in recent weeks, officials say the insurgency has been weakened by a spate of strikes by US drones and a rebellion by rustics in Afghanistan's Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... The presence of the Pak and Afghan Taliban on both sides of the border has long been a bone of contention between both countries, with the two trading accusations of sheltering murderous Moslems and not doing enough to stop them. But the ascent to power of Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. this year has raised hopes the neighbours could do more to tackle the insurgency together.
Four Pak Taliban capos said drone strikes and tension with rustics had forced them to move from small Afghan towns to mountainous border areas.
...it gets awfully cold in the mountains in winter. Lonely, too, 'cause Fatima doesn't like it up there. Ditto Ayesha and Ludmilla.
Two of them said they narrowly missed being hit by US drones last month.
Do stop whining. Are you not brave lions of Islam, braving all to conquer for your god?
There is no complete record of drone strikes in Afghanistan so it was not possible to verify their claims.
Of course.
A strike on Nov 24 hit a house where Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... had stayed the night before and killed two commanders, one Taliban capo said. Relations between Pak Taliban fighters and rustics have also deteriorated -- a trend Afghan forces are trying to exploit.
Kunar governor Shuja-ul Mulk Jalala said there was an uprising in the Dangam district 11 days ago. "Villagers, backed by a unit of Afghan police and army launched an operation against the Pak Taliban," he said.
Jalala said villagers had complained of Pak Taliban harassment and the holy warriors sometimes attacked Afghan forces. "Villagers asked for some support and weapons to fight them. Tribal elders complained that there were no difference between good or bad Taliban
...'cause there isn't. They trade personnel freely, depending on operational needs...
and decided to drive them out," Jalala said.
A krazed killer commander in Pakistain's Bajaur border region, opposite Kunar, said Afghan forces had recently detained a number of Pak krazed killers.
"Previously, they would avoid visiting areas where our people were staying and even provided food to some of our people but now they're creating problems," another krazed killer commander said of Afghan forces.
You cause problems, you get problems.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on Thursday termed recognition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan a blunder on part of Pakistan but blamed the West and United States for the birth of Al Qaeda and leaving Pakistan high and dry after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Speaking at the Youth Parliament Convention here, he said Pakistan suffered due to wrong policies of the US as the country had to fight on two fronts simultaneously in 1979, which led to an increase in the size of the armed forces.
Musharraf said efforts have been made to destabilise Pakistan right from 50s and 60s era.
"Some say Taliban are our children and we created them... but it's not true," said the former president.
He said Islamic Mujahideen were introduced to fight against the Soviet Union in 1979 and subsequently the Soviets were defeated and evacuated Afghanistan in 1989.
Musharraf regretted that Mujahideen were not looked after following their 'utilisation' against the Soviets. He said Taliban who were fighting in Afghanistan were ethnic Pakhtuns and that identity was given to them by Pakistan.
He, however, admitted that recognising the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was a blunder on Pakistan's part.
'Constitutional role for Army'
Commenting on prevailing political situation, the former military dictator said that Army must have a constitutional role in Pakistan. Political parties do not take better decisions in the greater interest of the nation and democratic governments have never performed well in Pakistan, he claimed.
"Progress was only made during Ayub Khan's regime besides mine."
Musharraf claimed that military governments in Pakistan have always worked for the progress of the country. He said policies evolve according to changing environment and country's interest comes first.
"Protests and sit-ins start when justice is not delivered to the masses," said the ex-army chief.
"Without accountability, no political system can sustain. When the country is in turmoil then there should be a check and balance system in place for the government."
"No one knows what real democracy means," the former military ruler said.
Musharraf also said that sectarianism and separatism should be dealt separately in the country. He vowed to rid the nation from corruption if he comes into power.
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12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Outlining a nine-point plan for Afghanistan's development centred on strengthening regional economic ties, Pak 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... Thursday expressed his desire of fighting terrorism as a "common enemy" along with the neighbours. Bet that doesn't include massacring the Quetta Shura.
"Pakistain remains in strong solidarity with the people of Afghanistan," he told an international conference in London with President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. and chief executive officer Abdullah Abdullah. ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
"We fully support the government's forward-looking vision," said Sharif.
"I share with President Ghani my vision of a comprehensive and enduring partnership between Pakistain and Afghanistan," he said, where terrorism would be fought as a "common enemy".
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... , on the occasion, promised US and allied support for Afghanistan as the country's new leaders outlined reform plans, even as they struggled to bring peace while foreign combat forces withdraw.
"We have a government in Kabul that merits our confidence," Kerry said. "They can be confident of the support of the international community," he added.
The conference is not focused on new cash pledges but instead on providing a platform for Ghani and Abdullah, joined by PM Sharif and British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... .
It comes after the two agreed to form a national unity government in September and as US-led foreign forces end a 13-year combat mission amid a spike in Taliban attacks against international targets in Kabul.
Ghani wants to implement a national "strategy of self-reliance", including tackling corruption, improving security and governance plus boosting exports.
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12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Revelations about Iranian air strikes against 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.... bandidosforces of Evil in Iraq have illustrated how American and Iranian forces are operating in separate areas to avoid confrontation, part of a fragile alignment fraught with risk, U.S. officials and analysts say.
Air raids by Iranian F-4 Phantom fighters over the weekend reflect a pattern in which Iranian or U.S. military advisers have carved out separate spheres in Iraq as the two arch-rivals seek to defeat a common enemy -- the IS group, defense officials said.
"It was in eastern Diyala province," Pentagon front man Colonel Steven Warren said of the air strike. "We have not had any air activity there."
The bombing run in eastern Iraq marked the first time the Iranian air force had flown its F-4 fighters in a combat mission against the IS group, U.S. officials said.
Defense officials said both Tehran and Washington want to avoid confrontations or accidents that could spin into an international crisis or feed sectarian violence, and take pains to steer clear of the other nation's troops.
For the moment, the U.S.-led coalition is ready to tolerate Iranian military advisers and aircraft in eastern or southern provinces with large Shiite populations, defense officials said.
"There's a tacit understanding we're not going to operate in the same space. And they're not targeting American forces," a senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We know they have interests there. Iraq is their next door neighbor."
But the arrangement could easily unravel between the two enemies, and Washington is concerned that Shiite-led Iran's role could trigger an kaboom of sectarian violence.
"It's a delicate balance," the official said. "The main thing is that the Iranians are supporting Iraqis in a way that doesn't fuel sectarianism."
- Troops on the ground -
Iran's military presence in Iraq is nothing new, as Tehran rushed military advisers to the country in June after IS fighters swept through western and northern towns.
Iran's elite Quds force has sent advisers to Samarra, Baghdad, Karbala and al-Sahra air base near Tikrit, seeking to safeguard Shiite areas and organize local Shiite militias, analyst Farzin Nadimi wrote in a report posted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Iran also has flown surveillance drones in Iraq, U.S. officials said, and analysts say Iranian pilots have helped fly Russian-made Su-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft that Tehran supplied to the Baghdad government several months ago.
An Iranian pilot, possibly operating as a forward air controller, was reportedly killed in Samarra in July, Nadimi wrote.
"They've had troops and advisers on the ground for a long time. And they have been flying UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)," the defense official said.
The air raid involving the F-4 fighters represented "an expansion in capabilities," he said.
But Iran's fighter flights were also a show of power and influence, said AliReza Nader, an analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank.
"Iran doesn't have to conduct air strikes," Nader said. Iran's leaders "want to demonstrate that Iran is a force to be reckoned with."
The silent partnership suits both Tehran and Washington, as the United States is mindful that if it embraced open military cooperation with Iran, Israel and Sunni Arab allies would be enraged, Nader said.
Any degree of collaboration in Iraq between the two countries will hinge on the outcome of Western nuclear diplomacy with Tehran, he said.
"We'll have to see what happens with the nuclear negotiations. If theyre' not succesful, then the case for cooperation is not very strong," he said.
- 'Plenty of targets' -
US officials hope the Iranian air raids will pile pressure on the IS bully boys, who seized large parts of Syria and Iraq earlier this year as Iraqi army troops retreated in panic.
And they say there is little risk of competing over which IS units to hit.
"There are plenty of targets for everybody," said a second defense official.
After hundreds of U.S. and coalition air strikes since August -- and after weapons deliveries from both Tehran and Washington -- the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces have made some modest advances but the IS group has yet to be driven out of from strongholds in the north and west.
U.S. and allied aircraft renewed air raids in Iraq against IS over the past three days, the military's Central Command said. American and coalition warplanes conducted 11 strikes in Iraq since Monday in the north and west, including four raids against IS gunnies near djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , it said in a statement.
Unlike Iran, Central Command releases regular updates on its strike sorties, describing the geographic areas where IS fighters were targeted. But there has been no mention of coalition strikes in eastern Iraq, near Iran's border.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
The Globies never said that relations between the various future OWG Co-Superpowers had to be friendly or good.
"GREAT GAME" + POLITICAL DIALECTICISM = the above are broadly ALLIES, ENEMIES, + PROTAGONISTS, ETC AT THE SAME TIME PER THEIR STATE, UNION-PSECIFIC STRATEGIC INTERESTS.
It will roughly be the same ala US-VS-CHINA in EAST ASIA + GUAM-WESTPAC.
[IraqiNews.com] Eyewitnesses in Zap area reported that, the elements of the so-called 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.... in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) whipped a young man for allegedly insulting the ISIS leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... in public, in the framework of its barbaric practices to subdue the people of areas under its control, stressing that this act caused great resentment among people and increased their disaffection.
Eyewitnesses said in an interview to IraqiNews.com, ?Zab district (95 km west of Kirkuk) has become an arena for ISIS to implement its provisions under the pretext of applying Sharia to punish the violators.?
The witnesses, who requested anonymity, added that, ?Elements ISIS whipped the young man 40 times in front of people to implement the rule of ISIS Sharia Court, under the pretext of insulting their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in public,? arguing that ?The organization resorts to whipping its offenders and disobedient, in the framework of the barbaric practices to break their morale and control them.?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Here they just use the IRS and their agents in the media to do the flogging.
#4
Thewitnesses, who requested anonymity, added that, “Elements ISIS whipped the young man 40 times in front of people to implement the rule of ISIS Sharia Court, under the pretext of insulting their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in public,”
What happened? Did he say that al-Baghdadi was a goat bugger? Must have hit a sore nerve.
So good of Iraq to once again provide a training ground wherein the world's Special Forces can compete.
[IraqiNews.com] Minister of National Defense in Singapore, Ng Eng Hen said that the Singaporean Armed Forces will send between 50 to 60 soldiers to join the multinational coalition to fight the terrorist threats in Iraq and Syria.
Today, media outlets quoted the minister as saying: 'The troops are already on their way to the central leadership of the United Nations.' ...an idea whose time has gone...
He indicated that Singapore's participation is welcomed by the coalition partners, and added that Singapore Armed Forces will go to the most vulnerable place.
#1
Earlier this month in Parliament, Dr Ng had said that Singapore's efforts will include deploying a KC-135R tanker aircraft for air-to-air refuelling and an Imagery Analysis Team. He said there will be no combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
So another Israeli coalition has crashed, necessitating new elections. This one lasted only 18 months.
The main distinguishing feature of this coalition was that it didn’t include ultra-Orthodox parties. Just about all Israelis on the left and center, and many on the right, see these parties as problematic. They demand welfare transfers and funding for seminaries that do not teach secular subjects, and they push strict religious laws that, for example, make it severely difficult to convert to Judaism.
But—at least ca. 2012—a coalition without ultra-Orthodox parties meant including two parties, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah (The Movement) that, while touting themselves as “centrist,” were leftist in essence. It was those two party leaders, Lapid and Livni, whom Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister from the right-of-center Likud Party, fired yesterday, putting a final end to the coalition.
Back when this coalition took office, optimists might have thought that with all efforts to make headway on the Palestinian issue having come up against a brick wall, the coalition’s right-left divisions did not have to loom too large and instead the parties could work together to tackle some economic and social issues.
But it was not to be. Over the past month or so in particular, Lapid and Livni have been slamming Netanyahu as openly and bitterly as if they were in the left-wing opposition instead of part of his government.
Among other things, they’ve been saying that the rather anodyne, probably not too consequential Jewish-state law is “racist” and marks the death knell of democracy; and that building apartments in parts of Jerusalem that the State Department, the New York Times, and the European Union believe should be Jew-free is an unforgivable “provocation” and destroys all hope of peace.
Lapid, as finance minister, has also been holding up funding for defense and insisting on a populist-socialist tax exemption on apartments that economists denounce as a destructive measure.
Strangest of all is that Lapid and Livni basically compelled Netanyahu to dissolve the government at a time when all polls showed that, if new elections were held, their own parties would plummet and Livni’s might disappear altogether.
The question, then, is if the coalition was able to creak along for a while, what has now led these two leftist faction leaders to politically self-destruct?
I see two main reasons for it, lying largely in the domain of the psychological.
The first reason is the demise of the John Kerry “peace process.” To the amazement of observers, in the summer of 2013 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was able to push Israel and the Palestinian sides into yet another “peace process.” Of course, it failed. But among the last remaining true believers in the “process” is the Israeli left, which internalizes foreign views and believes Israel must live up to the demands of Washington and Brussels.
So with “peace talks” once again in swing, the Israeli left—and especially Livni, who played a major role in the talks—again had something to live for. These flimsy negotiations collapsed last spring, but there was still talk—or for some, hope—of reviving them. Then, in the summer, came the major distraction of the Gaza War [6].
Since then, though, the Israeli left has been high and dry. Not only are there no further “peace talks” in sight, but Israel has been taking heat from all sides: vilification [7] from the Obama administration, a wave of Palestinian terror attacks, and European parliaments seeming to directly reward the attacks by voting in favor of a Palestinian state.
In other words, it’s a time when Israelis who have courage and character close ranks and refute the outrageous charge that, amid all the regional brutality, it’s Israel that prevents peace. But the Israeli left is not good at closing ranks with other Israelis and rebuffing foreign pressures. It’s the only Israeli sector that sees foreign liberal elites as having the real lowdown on the Middle East.
And that, I suggest, is the second reason for Lapid and Livni’s recent nihilistic political behavior: the psychological impossibility of standing up for Israel—and worst of all, of being identified with the much-loathed Netanyahu—at a time when Israel is under relentless assault. IMO, the existence of Jewish State is one of the things (e.g. individuality, masculinity/femininity, real democracy), totally unacceptable to "Western" Elites. So, no matter what Israel does, further concessions will be always demanded---until there's no one to make them on. Unfortunately, a substantial proportion of Jews---both at home and abroad---suffer from the mass form of Stockholm Syndrome
#2
Iff like 1990's CLINTONISM > GOP-Right is the New DemoLeft, Conservatism the New Liberalism-Progressivism, Fascism is the New Communism, Capitalism the New Socialism ["Communist-Capitalism" = "Commpitalism"] ... ...@etc.
Rightism is the New Leftism.
Fascism = also "Limited Communism",
WELCOME TO AMERIKA'S GOP-DEM UNITARIAN SOCIALIST ESTABLISHMENT OR GOVT, WHERE GOP HOUSE LEADER BOEHNER HAS A BONER FOR THE DEMOCRAT BAMMER [+ Dem Senate Leader Reid, Pelosi, ETAL].
The real or good news is that McDonald's still has their BIG MAC MONDAY meal promo.
[Ynet] New border fence meant to replace old one destroyed when the IDF entered Gazoo in the summer, but no progress has been made yet on the project.
Only three months have passed since the end of Operation Protective Edge, and southern residents already fear for their safety.
After 30 incidents of Paleostinians infiltrating from the Gazoo Strip into Israel, the heads of regional councils near the Gazoo border sent a letter on Wednesday to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, demanding that he expedites the construction of a special border fence meant to stop infiltration and tunneling.
"We expect and demand you to make the lives of residents a top priority and provide security to the residents of the area," they wrote.
The infiltrators were mostly Paleostinians who were allegedly looking for work, though the IDF believes this is Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' way of checking Israel's security at the border. It's clear to both Hamas and Israel that in the future, snuffies can infiltrate this way and commit terror attacks.
Following the end of Operation Protective Edge, the government decided to construct new security fences along the border with the Strip to replace those destroyed during the operation when the army entered Gazoo.
The plan is to build two parallel fences that will create a "prison" for infiltrators: the first will be an electronic fence that will call IDF troops to the scene. Some 50-300 meters away a regular fence will be built that will prevent infiltration from the ground. Meaning, as soon as an infiltrator manages to cross the electronic fence, he'll find himself in front of another, essentially imprisoning him between the two fences.
So far, however, there has been no progress made on the project.
The letter, titled "Advancing construction of fences to stop infiltration and tunneling," was signed by Eshkol Regional Council head Haim Yalin, Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council head Alon Shuster, Sdot Negev Regional Council head Tamir Idan and Hof Ashkelon Regional Council head Yair Farjun.
"There is an increase in infiltration attempts and they constitute a clear and immediate danger to the Gazoo border communities," they wrote. "Each such incident is accompanied by security alerts, sounds of kabooms and intense IDF activity, which raises residents' level of anxiety, which is high as it is at present over the lack of security solutions and the clear feeling the next round of fighting is only a matter of time.
"From our conversations with the Defense Ministry and the IDF, we've learned that completing the construction of the fences will take a long time, which unfortunately could exact a high price. In light of this, we demand you to act without delay to promote the construction of the new border fence, which is a central and meaningful tool in the protection of the communities."
Defense Minister Ya'alon said in response that "we're committed to the security of the area's residents and implement a wide variety of measures, both in infrastructure and in operational activity, in response to threats from the Gazoo Strip. This happens in conjunction with constant dialogue with the heads of the communities and the residents. As evidence to that is the decision to keep the security coordinators with the IDF in the area, and the ongoing activity coordinated with the communities."
[Israel] Hamas denied the presence of the Islamic State terror group in the Gaza Strip Wednesday, after fliers signed by the jihadist organization have emerged in the Palestinian territory in recent weeks, threatening women and intellectuals.
?We would like to reassure everyone that ISIS does not exist in the Gaza Strip, and the security agencies are in full control of the situation,? Iyad Al-Bozum, a spokesman for Hamas?s interior ministry in Gaza, told Lebanese news channel Al-Mayadeen.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is the former name of the Islamic State, a jihadist offshoot of Al-Qaeda headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which has succeeded in gaining control of large swaths of land in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq in recent months.
On Monday, reports of a flier signed by ?ISIS ? Gaza Province? emerged on social media websites, warning 18 Gaza-based writers to repent within three days ?for offending the tenets of Islam? or face the death penalty for apostasy. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority unity government of Rami Hamdallah rushed to condemn the communique, calling it ?a dangerous precedent that must be stopped immediately.?
Another pamphlet, dated November 29 and titled ?The hijab, the hijab? (the Islamic veil), instructed Gaza?s women to cover their heads ?in accordance with Sharia? or face an Islamic trial.
?The veil must be broad and loose, neither tight nor transparent. It must not draw attention by its beauty or perfume,? the statement read. ?Warning: the Islamic State allows one week to adhere by the Islamic veil. Any transgression will subject the woman and her guardian to an Islamic tribunal.?
Jerusalem-based daily Al-Quds tried to investigate on Tuesday whether the messages were authentic. It interviewed two Gaza-based militant Salafi leaders who have spent years in Hamas prisons. The two men, Abul-Aynaa? Al-Ansari and Abu-Nur Al-Maqdisi, rejected the notion that jihadist organizations had issued the announcements.
?All of our fighters in Aknaf Bait Al-Maqdis [the Islamic name used for Israel and the Palestinian territories] support the Islamic State in every move it takes, but so far there has been no real bay?ah [Islamic pledge of allegiance] to the leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. In other words, there is yet no province in Gaza belonging to the Islamic State.?
Ansari insisted that the fliers were fabricated, pointing to the name ?Islamic State in Iraq and Syria? which is no longer used by the organization. Al-Maqdisi accused ?collaborators with the occupation? of circulating the fake communiques in order ?to tarnish the name of the Islamic State.? He argued that relations between Gazas Salafis and Hamas have improved over the past year, following mediation efforts by a number of Arab clerics.
Salafi Jihadist activity is not unknown to the Gaza Strip. In August 2009, Hamas security forces stormed the Salafi Ibn Taymiya mosque and killed jihadist preacher Abdel Latif Moussa who had declared Gaza an ?Islamic emirate.? In April 2011, four Salafi activists kidnapped and killed Italian journalist and activist Vittorio Arrigoni. The four were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor in September 2012.
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12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Last thing Hamass wants is competition. Especially an organization that siphons off the hot-heads and crazies.
[IsraelTimes] The three children of Ghassan Abu Jamal, one of the two Paleostinians who carried out a deadly terror attack in a synagogue in Jerusalem?s Har Nof neighborhood two weeks ago, have been denied health insurance.
According to Haaretz, the National Insurance Institute, the Israeli equivalent of US Social Security, terminated health insurance plans for his 6-, 4-, and 2-year-old children the day after Abu Jamal and his cousin Uday stormed the Jewish place of worship, killing Rabbi Moshe Twersky, Aryeh Kupinsky, Rabbi Kalman Levine, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg on the spot, as well as Zidan Saif, a policeman who was critically injured during a shooting exchange with the turbans and later succumbed to his wounds.
The three children of Abu Jamal, who was killed by Israeli security forces during the attack, were all born in Jerusalem and live in the city?s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood.
Late last month, Interior Minister Gilad Erdan canceled the residency permit of Abu Jamal?s widow and stripped her of any financial or social benefits. Nadia Abu Jamal, a native of the West Bank, had been granted entry to Israel on the basis of the ?family reunification law,? which allows for Paleostinians to receive Israeli residency permits if they marry a permanent resident of Israel. Abu Jamal is set to be deported to Paleostinian Authority-controlled territory, Channel 2 reported.
The denial of health insurance coverage for Abu Jamal?s children is reportedly unrelated to the deportation of their mother, as the National Insurance Institute apparently initiated the move without consulting other government officials.
The institute, on its part, emphasized that its step was not meant as punitive action against the Abu Jamal family, but rather that following the death of the father, the children?s residency permits had automatically expired due to the fact that their mother was not a permanent Israeli resident. However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... according to the Hamoked Center for the Defence of the Individual, an Israeli human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... group, no other such cases have been recorded in the past, Haaretz reported.
Israel annexed what had been the Jordanian-controlled East Jerusalem after capturing the area in 1967?s Six Day War and offered permanent residence status to its inhabitants. East Jerusalem residents generally have Israeli papers that enable them to travel freely about the city and enjoy the same social benefits offered to Israeli citizens.
The moves by the NII and Erdan come on the heels of increased Israeli efforts to deter potential turbans by stepping up action against the families of Paleostinian operatives, including renewing the controversial practice of home demolitions.
Home demolition orders have already been issued to the families of three other East Jerusalem terrorists, while the Silwan home of Abdelrahman al-Shaludi was destroyed late in November. The 21-year-old Paleostinian from East Jerusalem had rammed his car into Israeli pedestrians in October, killing 3-month-old Chaya Zissel Braun and Karen Yemima Muscara, an Ecuadorean woman studying in the city, and was killed by security forces.
Erdan also recently revoked the permanent residency of an East Jerusalem man who drove a jacket wallah to his destination in 2001 to carry out a deadly attack that claimed the lives of 21 Israelis. At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would pass a bill that would to the same to East Jerusalemites who incite against Israel.
The punitive measures have been condemned by the international community, with US State Department front man Jeff Rathke saying the demolitions ?are counterproductive in an already tense situation.?
"The science is settled!" he added. "Never mind waiting for the results to come in before drawing conclusions."
?This is a practice I would remind that the Israeli government itself discontinued in the past, recognizing its effects,? he said.
Then Israel used only a single punishment. Now, courtesy of the Harvard MBA/Boston consultant, they're going multi-factorial.
[Ynet] With little oversight, Paleostinian hard boyz are recruiting online and publishing unfettered propaganda; the effects are already been felt on the ground in the form of a spate of recent 'lone wolf' terror attacks.
Everyone's looking for the third intifada out on the streets, but it's not only there; it has active and threatening offshoots on the Internet too.
The younger generation of Paleostinians has learned well from 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.... 's staggering success when it comes to sowing the seeds of fear, and has moved the focus of its resistance to the social networks. The blogger has joined forces with the muezzin; the talkbackers are in cahoots with the stone-throwers; and the "share" buttons are working alongside the incitement leaflets.
The social network is the new mosque, and there's no need to remove one's shoes when entering; there are Border Police and there's no tear gas; and the police don't impose an age restriction on worshipers.
In recent months, this protected expanse has allowed the Paleostinians to establish a new terrorist infrastructure. Instead of recruiting activists on the ground and worrying about them getting picked up on the radar of the Shin Bet security service, they've moved over to online recruitment via popular campaigns designed to sow hatred and covey the sense that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is under threat – in the hope of prompting a terror mission carried out by a lone attacker, one who is not affiliated with any terrorist organization.
Such was the case with the recent terror attacks in Jerusalem; and such was the case, too, with the death of the construction worker in Petah Tikva in September. We're no longer dealing with a wave of religious suicide kaboomers who are waiting to be received by 72 virgins. The new deaders fall on the network, and get flooded with Likes.
Orit Perlov, a social media analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) who monitors and analyzes the discourse on the social networks in Arab states, says that the Paleostinian Internet is currently running a number of incitement campaigns at the same time.
"One of the leading campaigns calls for running down Jews with vehicles," Perlov says. "It uses the word, 'Idaas,' which is 'run down' in Arabic, alongside a picture of a car running down ultra-Orthodox Jews. Immediately after the shooting of Yehuda Glick, the networks began a more focused campaign that called for running down Knesset members who have encouraged pilgrimages to the Temple Mount.
"And there's also the popular 'Atan' campaign, which simply gives the instruction, 'Stab;' and there's the 'Atbah' – 'Slaughter' – campaign, in which you see a masked Paleostinian youth beheading someone. And there are Paleostinians who are replacing their Twitter profile picture with a picture of an ax. This doesn't mean that these people are going to go out tomorrow and take action, but that they identify with the notion and promote it."
Who posts this kind of material? Who's behind it?
"Individuals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem who understand the psychology of the Net, who know what works."
Gilad Shiloach, a network analyst who works at the American news website, Vocativ, which monitors social network activity, says that Paleostinian Web users respond quickly to developments on the ground. Such was the case, for example, in the affair of the dead Egged bus driver, Yusuf al-Ramouni, who Israel determined had did away with himself, whereas his family claims he was murdered.
"Shortly after he was found hanged, activists from East Jerusalem sent out a Tweet with the heading, 'Yusuf was strangled,'" Shiloach relates. "Within a few hours, we were seeing it in the thousands. Graphic designers used Photoshop to prepare a beautiful design of Yusuf on the backdrop of the Temple Mount, with slogans like 'The Jews are sullying Al-Aqsa.' This is how a blood libel spreads on the social networks; and this happened two days before the terror attack at the synagogue in Har Nof."
Prof. Yair Amichai-Hamburger, the director of the Research Center for Internet Psychology at the Interdisciplinary Center's School of Communication in Herzliya, explains that the discourse on the Internet functions as a breeding ground for hard boys.
"The Internet group is actually feeding your mind with its messages all the time, and then there's a kind of escalation," he says. "The group becomes a hotbed for an idea of a certain nature, and the individuals take it to the extreme in order to play a significant part in it. For the next terrorist, the Internet creates a media ghetto of sorts. He sees what is happening on the social networks, and it becomes his reality."
What does he experience there?
"The propaganda is absolute. We are perceived there as Satan's earthly representatives, who can take on the form of a Border Policeman, a 25-year-old woman or a baby of a few months. For him, every Jew represents a part of the threatening mechanism.
"Once the message has seeped in, the sense of solidarity becomes absolute, and the attacker's personal existence becomes meaningless. He turns into the long arm of Islam. This gives rise to a new profile of a terrorist, one who perhaps just a few days earlier had no intentions of driving his car into a group of soldiers or people at a train station, but ends up saying to hell with the world."
With its pants down
For many in Israel, up until a month or so ago, Yehuda Glick was an unknown figure; but he's been a target on the Facebook pages of Paleostinian activists for the past two years. "You'll be dead soon," said the caption alongside his picture on pages that dealt with visits by Jews to the Temple Mount.
Glick complained, but nothing was done; and one Internet surfer who internalized the message eventually shot him. Today, the social networks are carrying calls for another attempt on the life of the right-wing activist.
Glick now has bodyguards, and the same goes for others associated with efforts to visit the Temple Mount and who also star on the social networks; but the big question is can the Shin Bet foil the plans of the next terrorist – a terrorist who doesn't yet know he is one.
"The defense establishment has been caught unawares by the new kind of attacker that has emerged; it's been caught with its pants down," says Prof. Amichai-Hamburger. "The thought that a regular man with a family and children might suddenly carry out an attack doesn't fit its profile."
The Paleostinian masses aren't the only ones taking advantage of this security vacuum; the terror organizations, too, are entering the fray. "These organizations are using the networks to try in fact to find those who do not necessarily fit the classic profile – the introverted attacker, an individual on the margins of society," Prof. Amichai-Hamburger continues. "And it could be just about anyone from among this very large group. That's the scary thing."
Daniel Cohen, an expert in cyber terrorism at the INSS, names Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, as one of these organizations. "The organization is trying to join the masses and to encourage the lone perpetrator by means of incitement campaigns," Cohen says.
"We're talking about popular terror attacks of sorts, ones for which the organization doesn't have to claim responsibility and have less chance of being thwarted. Once you used to be able to monitor the phone calls of activists and try to identify the individual who would be going out to perpetrate an attack; now, however, the activity has moved to the Net and is directed at the masses, and you have no way of knowing which one it will be."
According to social media analyst Perlov, "Today, all the security mechanisms have software that monitors content on the Net, so you can see if there is a mass of activity and how many people support the campaign. But there is still no computer program that can analyze sentiment – in other words, the intentions of a specific person. Furthermore, the two turbans at the synagogue, for example, were not key figures who were active on the Net. People like that won't make an impression on the security mechanism's that are monitoring the Internet activity; they're small fry."
Despite the fact that the defense establishment has little chance of laying its hands on the lone terrorist, it still sees value in monitoring the social media sites – digging through the Facebook statuses and Twitter messages can at least offer an understanding of the mood among the Paleostinians in the territories.
"There's something called 'public intelligence' – intelligence that is gathered with the purpose of studying the public," explains an Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer. "The bottom line is that we want to have our finger on the pulse of the Paleostinian public; and in the age of the social media networks, you can't not add this piece of the puzzle to the picture.
"It has great value because it shows which way the wind is blowing among the public and allows you to know what pains it. 'How is the issue reflected on the Paleostinian social media sites' is a question that will always be asked in the relevant forums. Sometimes, by the way, it'll be the first question."
While the IDF merely monitors the Paleostinian social media sites without actually taking any action against the incitement campaigns and the like, the Paleostinian Authority adopts a more active approach, shutting down Facebook pages and conducting arrests when efforts are made to organize and affect change on the ground.
"During Operation Protective Edge, for example, one of the campaigns that went viral called for the liquidation of the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... ," Perlov says. "He was dubbed "the Zionists' dog,' 'a traitor' and 'a collaborator.'"
With attorney approval
Just in case you were wondering, Israelis are no saints either. "Only live ammunition saves lives," "Jews, Dire Revenge," "Arabs are murdering you," "Enemies aren't given jobs" – these are just a few examples from numerous incitement campaigns that have appeared in recent months on the social network sites in Israel.
The Jewish public has not sat by idly and has also reached the Internet boiling point. It happened this week with regard to the deliberations on the proposed Nationality Law, after the attacks in Jerusalem, during the 50 days of Protective Edge, and at the time of the search for the three teenagers who were kidnapped in Gush Etzion.
And while the Israeli public isn't swept along to the same extent as the Paleostinian public, we are seeing racist and provocative campaigns on the part of right-wing groups, threats against the left, and the undermining of fundamental values of a democratic state. It turns out that this open expanse is actually closing the most mouths.
"If radical right-wing groups were once on the margins of the margins of the Israeli public, hidden deep on the Net, the opinions of such organizations today have become legitimate," Shiloach says.
"Their presence on the social networks has grown at least four to fivefold in relation to the period prior to the abduction of the boys. It was very noticeable during the war; we saw the emergence of groups such as 'I'm also in favor of death to terrorists' or 'I also support killing the Arabs of Israel.'"
One of the major sources of the fire that has spread through the Israeli social media networks is the extreme right organization, Lehava. Its principal agenda is to prevent marriages between Jewish women and Arabs; but in the wake of the recent terror attacks, it has embarked on a new campaign against the employment of Arabs. "Don't hire enemies," Benzi Gopstein, head of the organization, corrects me. "Saying 'Arabs' is racism; there are Arabs who aren't enemies and they can be employed."
In the framework of the campaign, Lehava posted an announcement with pictures from terror attacks under the slogan, "Fire tomorrow's terrorist today," and the organization has also distributed stickers bearing the slogan, "Firing the enemies."
Gopstein says they block left-wingers who curse them. "So most of the comments are positive, and some things get 80-90 thousand views," he says. "Many stores are firing their workers thanks to this. Sometimes they want us to publicize them, but not on Facebook, so as not to face legal action, so it gets around on WhatsApp. I have 60 WhatsApp groups. And there's Instagram too."
Facebook has shut down a number of your pages because of content you have posted.
"We had 40,000 members on the Lehava page; we're now at 23,000 and I assume this page will also be closed down in the next week or two," Gopstein says. "We'll open a new one. The more they torture us, the bigger we will grow.
"There are many people who sit on our page and complain about a specific picture and then Facebook takes us down. I've only been questioned about one of my posts: There was a story about Naftali Bennett saying he was in favor of bringing Arab into the hi-tech world, and I wrote that I'm in favor of sending them into the next world. But it was all in humor."
Humor?
"Like you see on comedy shows. That's what I was questioned about. I'm at the police once a week or two; we have talks; but the only connection to Facebook was about the Bennett post. I'd prefer to see them entering the world to come – not that I would put them there. Freedom of expression is very infuriating, but sometimes stands on our side. We are very careful, and every post I put up is checked by a lawyer."
Who?
"Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir and several others. When it comes to the more problematic posts, we ask Itamar; he knows all about it."
[Ynet] A second group of 150 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces has entered the Syrian border town of Kobani from Turkey to replace a first group helping Kurdish forces fight off a siege by 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 Islams, peshmerga sources said on Thursday.
"The first group has left Kobani and is en route to the airport right now," one peshmerga source told Rooters, referring to the 150 Iraqi Kurdish forces who arrived in the besieged town in early November.
The second group of peshmergas arrived in Kobani late on Tuesday, the source added.
It's all very confusing, but I think we are meant to conclude that the changing of the guard, first reported over last weekend, is now complete, with the new guys settling in and the old ones heading for home as quickly as their trucks and the Turks will allow.
#1
The returning Peshmerga have already arrived home. There is I believe misinformation on purpose. With ISIS now in Turkey and attacking from Turkey, the Kurds are sending out false information to cover what is really going on, while at the same time indicating a rotation is occurring.
Picture of Pesh having returned to Iraq safely.
YPG/YPJ now has an excellent human smuggling operation that is effectively by passing the Turkish army through out the Kurdish region.
[AnNahar] Iran's reported air strikes 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.... group in neighboring Iraq further underline Tehran's determination to defend its regional interests and ward off the threat from jihadists.
When IS launched its lightning offensive in northern and western Iraq in June, Iran moved swiftly by arming Iraqi Kurdish fighters and supporting Baghdad with military advisers.
It has also provided training for Shiite militias engaged in a counter-offensive against the Sunni murderous Moslem group.
But it has consistently denied having troops on the ground and was never invited to join the U.S.-led military coalition assembled against IS, dismissing allied air strikes in Iraq and Syria as ineffective and aimed only at serving Western interests.
"Without awaiting anything in return, Iran is doing all it can to help the Iraqi people as a humanitarian and Islamic duty to eliminate terrorism in that country," military Deputy Chief of Staff General Massud Jayazeri was quoted by Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam television as saying Thursday.
The Pentagon said this week that Iranian F-4 Phantom jets -- acquired from the United States before the 1979 Islamic revolution -- had started attacking IS fighters in eastern Iraq's Diyala province, on the Iranian border.
Tehran refused to confirm or deny that.
"There has been no change to Iran's policy to provide support and advice to Iraqi officials in the fight" against IS, foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.
A website affiliated with Leb's Tehran-backed 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... says an Iranian elite unit commander has been at the forefront of the counter-attack in Iraq after the IS advances.
Major General Qassem Suleimani landed in Baghdad on June 10, hours after IS overran the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , "leading a group of Lebanese and Iranian military experts," Hizbullah's al-Manar website said.
Suleimani, who heads Iran's elite Quds Force, jointly worked out with the Iraqi military and Shiite militias a strategy "to secure Baghdad and its surroundings," at a time when the jihadists appeared unstoppable.
In early October, Iranian media published several photographs of the general standing alongside Iraqi Kurdish fighters, army officers and Shiite militia members.
Iran's ties with Iraq have been transformed since the 2003 ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein that resulted in power in Baghdad being transferred from Sunnis to the majority Shiites.
Predominantly Shiite Iran has a strong interest in defending Iraq, where IS' declared aim is to topple a regime dominated by Shiites, whom the jihadists regard as heretics.
"They are scared," a Western diplomat posted in Tehran told Agence La Belle France-Presse.
He noted that the Islamic republic has reinforced border defenses and vowed to attack the jihadists "deep inside Iraqi territory" if they should dare to approach its territory.
Another diplomat said Iran cannot officially announce it has initiated air strikes when Tehran has condemned the U.S.-led coalition as ineffective without a ground component.
Historic enemies, Tehran and Washington deny any military cooperation despite finding themselves on the same side in the war against IS, the diplomat said.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... he said Iraq is acting as an intermediary to ensure that operations carried out by one do not interfere with those of the other.
Regarding Syria, meanwhile, Iran is a long-time ally of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Tehran has sworn to stand by Assad in the civil war that has raged for nearly four years and in which IS is a major threat to him.
While denying it has any troops on the ground in Syria, Iran has acknowledged sending military advisers to help the regime. Hizbullah fighters have also openly played a key role in recapturing rebel-held towns.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
AFAIC Iran's "regional role" = synonymous wid being a future OWG Co-Superpower.
* FYI WORLD NEWS > [News24] JORDAN'S KING SAYS ISIS FIGHT IS WW3.
At this stage I would say its more akin to Japan's invasion of China include Mao-vs-Kai-Shek Chinese civil war + Mao's "long march".
It won't officially be "WW3" until the shooting starts ala CHINA-VS-EVERYBODY [Japan, SCS, India, etc.] in East Asia-Pacific + the US becomes involved; + hell breaks lose in the ME as regional Sunnis poten hire the ISIS in order to stop local Shia Militants + preempt the domination of OWG Co-Superpower Rising Iran.
[AnNahar] jThe EU offered 180 million euros Thursday to help Leb and Jordan cope with a massive influx of refugees from Syria, where there is no end in sight to the civil war.
The European Commission said the aid package would help deal with the longer-term problems of the 1.1 million refugees in Leb and 630,000 in Jordan.
Some of the funds will also go to Syria itself where the conflict has displaced around half of the population -- nearly 11 million people.
As the conflict rages, with the corpse count mounting steadily to now some 200,000, there is little prospect that the more than three million Syrians who have fled to neighboring countries and beyond will be able to return home any time soon.
The package "addresses in particular the education of children and young adults... as well as measures to improve the resilience of the refugees as well as the communities hosting them through economic development activities," a Commission statement said.
The announcement comes after the U.N.'s World Food Program said Wednesday it was halting food aid to some 1.7 million Syrian refugees because of funding shortfalls.
The WFP said it needed $64 million (51 million euros) to fund its food voucher program for December alone and that "many donor commitments remain unfulfilled."
The EU is a major humanitarian aid donor in the region. It has provided about 1.5 billion euros since the conflict erupted in 2011 while the 28 member states have separately provided about 1.4 billion euros, according to Commission figures.
"We are ready and willing to bring a continued support to the people of Syria and to the neighboring countries hosting Syrian refugees," EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said.
"We are determined to play our role to the full and bring a lasting political solution to this regional crisis," Mogherini said.
[AnNahar] The detention of the Washington Post's bureau chief in Tehran has been extended for up to 60 days, the paper said Wednesday, quoting his family.
Jason Rezaian and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, also a journalist, were nabbed Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in July. Salehi was freed on bail in October.
The Post said hopes for Rezaian's release rose in late October when a senior Iranian official said possible charges under review by the judiciary might be thrown out.
But last week Rezaian was shown a document signed by the judge overseeing his case and authorizing the extension of his detention, the family said.
The document was dated November 18 and said the investigation against Rezaian continued, the Post said.
Rezaian holds dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship. But Iran does not recognize the news hound's American citizenship, the Post said.
It remains unclear why Rezaian, 38, and Salehi were arrested on July 22 or what charges they are facing. One conservative newspaper in Tehran has accused Rezaian of espionage.
A lawyer hired by Rezaian's family has not been allowed to meet with him, the Post said.
"If authorities had evidence that Rezaian had committed a real crime, they should have charged him shortly after his arrest," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... "At this point, they should simply release him," she added.
The Post said that Ali Rezaian, Jason Rezaian?s brother, said in an interview "there seems to be a disconnect" between elements of the Iranian government.
His brother has now been held longer than any other accredited Western journalist in the past, Rezaian said. "There have not been any charges against him, and there is no reason to think he is guilty of anything."
"We have never had a clear view of why Jason is being held, how long he would be held, what might lead to his release, or when. We still don?t," said Post Executive Editor Martin Baron.
"The key thing to remember is that he should never have been arrested and imprisoned in the first place, and he should be released immediately. There was no legitimate reason for him to be held without charges or explanation for more than four months. We again urge the Iranian authorities to give him his freedom and allow him to reunite with his family."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/05/2014 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] The men and women of Kobani call one another heval ? Kurdish for ?comrade? ? and fight with revolutionary conviction, vowing to liberate what they regard as Kurdish land from 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 krazed killers.
Amid the wasteland and destroyed buildings, a sense of camaraderie has developed among the town?s defenders who have for more than two months doggedly fought off the advances by the murderous Moslems.
Often, members of the same family can be found on the front lines.
Nineteen-year-old Shida?s father was a fighter before her. After he was killed, she gave up hopes of becoming an artist and decided she must follow in his footsteps to honor his example. She says her mother supports her decision. One of her six brothers is also fighting; the rest of her siblings are living in Turkey.
?I will not allow the enemy to take away my land and its soil,? she said. ?I will not leave my land.?
An exclusive report shot by videojournalist Jake Simkin who spent a week inside Kobani late last month offered a rare, in-depth glimpse of the men and women fighting to expel the IS Death Eaters from Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish town in northern Syria by the Turkish border.
Backed by small numbers of Iraqi peshmerga forces and Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... rebels, the Kurdish fighters, whose political founders espouse a firm left-wing ideology, are locked in fierce battles to push back the Islamic State group, which swept into the town in mid-September.
In a surprising display of resilience, the Kurdish fighters in the frontier town have held out against the more experienced jihadis more than two months into the krazed killers? offensive, hanging on to their territory against all expectations.
?We are fighting for freedom,? said a Kurdish sniper who goes under the nickname Zinar, Kurdish for ?The Rock.?
?Freedom isn?t something you can easily get or something that someone just gives to you,? he said. ?Freedom is only achieved when you go out and get it yourself.?
The krazed killers? advance was part of the Islamic State group?s blitz this year that overran large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq. Kobani, once a town of about 50,000 people but now virtually deserted except for the fighters, has seen some of the fiercest urban warfare in the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year.
Abu Layla, commander of a Free Syrian Army-linked group in Kobani called Shams al-Shamal (Sun of the North) Brigade, said he is proud of what the FSA and the Kurdish fighters have achieved together in Kobani so far.
Their alliance is called ?Burkhan al Furat,? which translates as Volcano of the Euphrates.
Abu Layla?s group has over a hundred fighters, mostly ethnic Arabs and Turkmens from Abu Layla?s hometown of Minbej.
He said he is not fighting for the Kurds, Arabs or Turkmens, or for Christians or Moslems.
?I?m fighting for a free democratic Syria, not an Islamic Syria but a free democratic Syria,? he said.
He has not lost sight of the real goal of the rebels, which is toppling Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... . But he says the priority now is to get rid of the Islamic State group.
After that, taking down Assad ?will be easy for us, if we have support.?
#6
I wouldn't worry about ammunition quite yet Ebbo, the Kurds are bleeding ISIS dry in Kobani. Long as their doing that they will be supplied. The thing the Pershmerga need to worry about is Turkey coming over that border and crushing them at the moment of victory. I certainly hope their keeping an eye on those troop deployments of the Turks.
Posted by: Charles ||
12/05/2014 19:39 Comments ||
Top||
#7
And who said that animals could not use tools?
Posted by: Sir Lindley ||
12/05/2014 19:48 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Animals? Do explain, Sir Lindley, as I'm clearly a bit slow this evening.
#9
Sir Lindley faced being a fool
By linking animals and tools.
He endangered his life
When our own "trailing wife"
Queried him in a voice rather cool.
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.
Former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on Thursday termed recognition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan a blunder on part of Pakistan but blamed the West and United States for the birth of Al Qaeda and leaving Pakistan high and dry after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Secretary of State 
David Cameron
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
