[AnNahar] The U.S. military will drastically increase drone flights over the next four years, in a bid to boost intelligence and strike capabilities across a growing number of conflict zones, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The Pentagon is planning to expand the number of daily drone flights from 61 at present to as many as 90 by 2019, a senior defense official told the Journal.
The move represents the first significant increase in the controversial U.S. drone program since 2011, reflecting the rise in global hotspots.
As well as providing extra surveillance in regions such as Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, the South China Sea and North Africa, the new plan would expand the Pentagon's capacity for lethal drone air strikes.
That program, which has expanded massively under President Barack Obama I bowled a 129. It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something... , is the subject of frequent criticism from observers who say the highly secretive drone raids have killed many innocent civilians.
Nonpartisan groups say U.S. drone strikes have killed at least 3,000 people, the Journal reported.
Under the new plans, the U.S. Air Force, which currently carries out the bulk of drone missions, would get help from the Army, Special Operations Command and government contractors.
[Libya Herald] The governments of La Belle France, Germany, Italia, Spain, the US and US, have issued a joint statements strongly condemning "the ongoing barbaric acts by ISIL-affiliated terrorists" in Sirte.
"We are deeply concerned about reports that these fighters have shelled densely populated parts of the city and committed indiscriminate acts of violence to terrorise the Libyan population," the statement read.
The six countries called on "all parties in Libya aspiring to a peaceful and unified nation to join efforts to combat the threat posed by transnational terrorist groups exploiting Libya for their own agenda".
They said that the events in Sirte accentuated the urgent need to reach agreement in the UN-brokered Dialogue process and produce a government of national unity. This, they said, would be able to partner with the international community to provide security against murderous Moslems intent on destabilising Libya.
"We reiterate that there is no military solution to the political conflict in Libya and remain concerned that the economic and humanitarian situation is worsening every day. We stand ready to support the implementation of a political agreement to ensure that a Government of National Accord and its national institutions can function effectively and meet the urgent needs of the Libyan people," the statement added.
The Italian government had yesterday separately condemned the IS slaughter in Sirte, but the absence until now of any comment, let alone a denunciation, from the West -- particularly the US, UK and La Belle France -- has bitterly upset and antagonized Libyans. Over the weekend, ordinary Libyans and political figures alike they have increasingly been expressing resentment at what they see is a western abandonment of them.
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[IsraelTimes] Director of crossing says 20,000 people applied to leave Strip, as border point opens for four days in both directions
The Rafah Border Crossing opened Monday for four days, allowing Paleostinians to travel in both directions. Crossing director Khaled al-Shaer says some 20,000 people have applied to exit the coastal strip. Gazooks seeking medical care and students are among those expected to cross.
Rafah is Gazoo's only gateway to the outside world not under Israeli control. Egypt has kept it mostly closed since the myrmidonHamas, always the voice of sweet reason, group seized control of the area in 2007. The closure worsened after Egypt's military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, a Moslem Brüderbund member, in 2013. Hamas is an offshoot of the Brotherhood.
The crossing has been opened for a total of just 15 days this year.
Egypt is opening the crossing as Middle Eastern media outlets reported over the past week that Israel and Hamas are close to signing a long-term ceasefire agreement.
While Paleostinian and Turkish media outlets described the ceasefire as a done deal and Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... said on Monday that Israeli officials recently met Hamas representatives in an African country he did not name, Israel on Monday denied the reports, saying it had had no contacts with the terror group -- "not directly, not through another country and not through intermediaries."
Egypt has claimed that Hamas in Gazoo is helping Sinai myrmidons, both by treating casualties from the battles in Sinai against the Egyptian army and in arms. Hamas is also affiliated with the Moslem Brüderbund, an Islamist movement that has been outlawed in Egypt.
[Libya Herald] A day after a group of armed men attempted to kidnap him in Khoms, Abdel-Moneim Al-Hurr who heads the Libyan branch of Arab Organization for Human Rights says those involved in the attempt tried to pretend they were member of Misrata’s Halbous Brigade . . .
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[Libya Herald] Britannia's ambassador to Libya has given the first hint that western air strikes may be unleashed 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.... (IS) bases around Sirte, aying bombing could be part of a "global plan" to stop the terror group.
After horrific images of IS executions in Sirte as it tightened its grip on the city, ambassador Peter Millett told Radio La Belle France International that western bombing was now on the table to combat IS, saying "we need to put together an overall plan for dealing with it, which no doubt could involve air strikes".
Millett, who replaced Michael Aron in the early summer, was keen to emphasise that a return of western jets to Libya's skies, four years after they helped destroy the Qadaffy regime, could form part of a larger effort to now destroy IS. In the interview, however, he was at pains to point out that all efforts remained centred on finding a means to end the current civil war.
He was in no doubt that IS was a regional problem, and called for regional players to come together to oppose it. "We need a global plan which involves first and foremost the Libyans themselves but also the countries of the region and other countries threatened by the organization, and that means European countries as well," he told RFI.
Millett's comments came as Italian foreign minister Paulo Gentiloni said that IS's grip on Sirte had taken on "worrying proportions" and that Libya risked becoming "another Somalia".
Both statements are a recognition that, as Libya's war grinds down its own forces, IS is able to move into the gap.
Eight months ago, Sirte was a base for Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... from which it launched attacks on government-held oil ports at Sidra and Ras Lanuf. Now, Dawn forces have been pushed out of Sirte while the Libyan National Army, preoccupied with battling Islamists in Benghazi, has no spare strength to move on the town.
Western air strikes against Sirte are, however, seen as fraught with problems. A NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... , or possibly NATO plus Arab coalition, air campaign would face the same obstacles encountered in Iraq and Syria, which is the lack of identifiable IS targets.
IS would be likely to disperse from Sirte after the initial air strikes. Bombing could switch to tactical air power in support of an LNA, or even Libya Dawn, advance into the town but that would involve the politically difficult deployment of forward air controllers with one or both forces. The fact that Libya Dawn and the LNA are not talking to each other is seen as making a western air operation all the more difficult.
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[Libya Herald] More evidence, including defections and the deadly flight of a top commander, has today emerged suggesting a rift within the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shura Council, pitting IS and Ansar Al-Sharia fighters against other members of the group . . .
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#1
Perhaps, just perhaps, they + similar have nothing really to fear ???
* WORLD NEWS > [Noodls] 45 AM: UN WON'T STOP ISLAMIC STATE EVEN IFF IT BEHEADS EVERYONE IN LIBYA.
* SAME > "WE [US = American People, West] ARE GOING TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE" [for our inaction], SAYS GLEN BECK AMID REVELATIONS OF ISIS BRUTALITY.
ISIS/ISIL + ALIGNED are only becoming more inspired to wage Jihad + engage in widespread violence, e.g. mass beheadings + sex slavery/trade, etc.
VERSUS
* SAME > [Pravda] LIBYA ASKS ARAB STATES TO ARM IT TO FIGHT ISLAMIC STATE.
They can easily ask the Bammer Admin = USA, but at same time SSSSHHHHH ...CCCCCCC may prefer NOT to given how the Bammer failed miserably to support the anti-Assad Syrian Rebels.
[Libya Herald] Both sides of the political divide in Libya appear to have been galvanized into action by IS' repression of last week's uprising in Sirte but there is no sign of any cooperation.
House of Representatives member for Sidra Saleh Fhaima told the Libya Herald that events in Sirte would be the main issue in tomorrow's (Monday's) sitting in Tobruk although there were also plans to discuss the planned national unity government. He also said that that following an HoR appeal to the army's general staff for action, it was now preparing an attack force.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, the fiddler suddenly struck a sour note. The dancing stopped abruptly. Everyone looked at Bob... the head of Sirte military police which supports the Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... -based Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... regime is reported saying that western units were now on the outskirts of Sirte and were awaiting orders to launch an offensive 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.... (IS). This would happen, he claimed, within the next few days.
For his part, Ibrahim Jadhran based in Ajdabiya has also called for action, but says that his forces have insufficient equipment to fight IS. Calling for more arms, he said that his men had just enough to protect the oilfields.
Today, there were reports of fresh air attacks in Sirte, hitting IS targets at the university and the municipal buildings. Sounds of heavy kabooms were heard, although the outcome of the strike is not known.
On Tuesday, 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... is to meet to consider Libya's demand for Arab Arclight airstrike against IS. The Libyan demand is said to be supported by Egypt following a meeting between Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Dairi and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.
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[ALMANAR.LB] Italia warned Monday that Libya risked turning into "another Somalia" as it signed a joint statement with the US and several European allies condemning "barbaric" acts carried out by the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... group, ISIL (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 Levant).
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said if peace talks did not succeed in ending the country's civil war within a few weeks, "we will find ourselves with another Somalia two steps from our coasts".
"Time is limited, particularly now that ISIL in Sirte has become alarming," he told the Italian daily La Stampa, referring to last week's bloodshed in the former bastion of late Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy ... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV... .
ISIL forces of Evil seized control of the coastal city in June with forces of Evil beheading 12 local bandidosbully boyz who had been battling them before hanging their bodies on crosses, according to the Libyan news agency LANA.
Italia has been badly hit by the chaos in the North African country, with hundreds of thousands of migrants attempting to reach its shores from Libya on often unseaworthy vessels -- 102,000 this year alone.
But the rise of the Takfiri insurgency in the centre of the country is now causing alarm on the other side of the Mediterranean.
"We are deeply concerned about reports that these fighters have shelled densely populated parts of the city and committed indiscriminate acts of violence to terrorize the Libyan population," said a joint statement by Britannia, La Belle France, Germany, Spain and the United States.
The governments want all sides in Libya "to join efforts to combat the threat posed by transnational terrorist groups exploiting Libya for their own agenda", according to the statement released by the US State Department on Sunday.
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[ARABNEWS] Libya's internationally recognized prime minister, Abdullah Al-Thani, has withdrawn an offer to resign, a move which would have added to the chaos in the conflict-strewn country, his front man said Monday.
"The prime minister didn't submit his resignation. He backed down from his previous announcement," Hatem el-Ouraybi told AFP.
"The government is working as normal, as usual, and is ready to go to the parliament for any possible questioning."
Thani announced he was ready to step down during an emotional live television appearance last Tuesday in which he faced a barrage of angry questions from ordinary Libyans.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... it was unclear whether he intended to follow through.
On television, Thani's government was blamed for the lack of basic services such as electricity, and poor security in areas it controls.
"If my exit is the solution, then I announce it here," Thani said. "My resignation will be submitted to the parliament on Sunday."
But the government front man said at the time that Thani's remarks had been conditional.
"The prime minister said during the interview that he would resign if people wanted him to. That's it," Ouraybi said, adding that no resignation letter had been submitted to parliament.
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[AF.REUTERS] Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi approved an anti-terrorism law that sets up special courts and protects its enforcers in the face of a two-year-old Islamist insurgency that aims to topple his government. Antiterrorism courts are a good idea because the judges within a few cases will have heard it all before, so that the "wudn't me," "working for an Islamic charity," and "studying Arabic" tales don't impress.
The law has come under fire from human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... groups who accuse Sisi, who as military chief deposed a freely elected Islamist president in 2013, of exploiting security threats to roll back political freedoms won in the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... .
Cleared on Sunday, the law details sentences for various terrorism crimes ranging from five years to the death penalty. It also shields those applying it, such as the military and police, from legal ramifications for what it calls the proportionate use of force "in performing their duties".
Sisi had promised a tougher legal system in July after a car kaboom in Cairo that killed the chief public prosecutor, the highest ranking state official to be killed in years.
The law allows for the establishment of special courts that the government says will process terrorism cases faster because they won't be bogged down with other criminal cases. It was not known whether trials would be open or closed to the public.
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[ALMANAR.LB] South Korea said on Monday that its neighbor, the North, loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across their heavily militarized border.
Pyongyang followed Seoul which turned the loudspeakers back on last week in retaliation for a landmine attack that maimed two of its soldiers while on a border patrol. South Korea accuses the North of being responsible for the attack, but Pyongyang denies such claim.
"North Korea resumed its own propaganda campaign using loudspeakers today at a site in the eastern section of the border," a South Korean defense ministry front man told AFP.
The two Koreas had blasted propaganda messages at each other across the border for years before the practice was discontinued by mutual agreement in 2004 during a period of rapprochement.
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Mus Governor's Office has launched an investigation into the distribution of pictures depicting the dead and mutilated body of a woman believed to be a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The governor's office confirmed in a written statement that the woman in the picture was PKK bad boy Kevser Elturk (Ekin Wan), who was killed in a clash with Turkish security forces on Aug. 10 in Mus's Varto district. The picture shows a naked woman, apparently dead, lying on the ground with bruises visible on her body, as well as blood around her midsection. Three men, whose faces are not seen, are seen standing near the woman.
"It has been determined that some images of a woman, a member of the terrorist organization PKK, who was neutralized during a clash with our security forces in a rural area of Varto district on Aug. 8, were shared on social media. An administrative investigation has been launched against those who took, released and shared these pictures which are unacceptable to the public and to our governor's office," said the statement released on the office's website on Aug. 16.
Elturk appeared to have been strangled while her hips were broken, according to Democratic Regions' Party (DBP) Van co-chair Hamiyet Sahin, who washed the bad boy's body in preparation for burial.
The DBP is a sister party to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and operates mostly in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's east and southeast.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Yellow Wolf clutched at his chest and fell from his horse... a protest was held on Aug. 16 in the Nusaybin district of Mardin against the treatment of Elturk's body.
A march was followed by a sit-in protest organized by the DBP that drew HDP deputies Gulser Yildirim and Enise Guneyli.
"People who have no sense of humanity and who have the understanding of Daesh [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.... of Iraq and the Levant] stripped [Elturk's] body naked and shared it on social media," said Yildirim.
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#1
Moslem Brotherhood, Erdogan, and ISIS are not that far apart. Jus' sayin'...
[Hurriyet Daily News] The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has started indirect talks with the United States, with a senior figure urging Washington to engage in mediation to solve the situation, the Daily Telegraph has reported.
Cemil Bayik, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council co-chair and a senior figure within the organization, said the PKK would accept a cease-fire under U.S. guarantees.
"Of course there are messages, there are meetings, letters and they are likely to develop more," Bayik said.
"I repeat my call that the U.S. mediate in this situation between us and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , and if they give us a guarantee, we would accept that role. Unless there are guarantees, we cannot take unilateral steps," he said.
Bayik said the international perception of the organization had been changed due to its success in the fight 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.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria.
He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... was responsible for the breakdown of the Kurdish grinding of the peace processor and the current crisis in the region.
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Hold on a minute.. you trust the US? With the Turks? With the people we have in our State Dept? And a Muslim Brotherhood backer (Obama) in office?
[DAWN] A report from an initial investigation given to Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... revealed that the home minister was killed in retaliation of the killing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... chief Malik Ishaq and others.
Two jacket wallahs affiliated with the Taliban carried out the bombing at Khanzada's office, a provincial government official familiar with the report, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Rooters.
Two additional suicide bombers had been deputed to Lahore to attack Khanzada's residence, the official said, but they were recalled after the Attock attack.
Speaking at a televised meeting of his cabinet on Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif vowed to "move forward with no holds barred" to take on the bandidosDeath Eaters responsible.
"Today it is the responsibility of the Punjab government to honour the debt of Shuja Khanzada's death and not to show any compromise or latitude to the terrorists," said the chief minister.
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[DAWN] Pakistain summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner on Monday to lodge a strong protest against the recent 'unprovoked ceasefire violations' by Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) in Jammu and Kashmire's Nakial sector (Kotli).
The Foreign Office in a statement released on Monday, said that it has asked the Indian government to investigate the incident and share the probe findings with Pakistain.
"The Indian Deputy High Commissioner was called in by the Director General (South Asia and SAARC) at the Foreign Office to lodge a protest against the unprovoked ceasefire violations on August 15 and 16 by Indian troops at the Line of Control (LoC) in Kotli," said FO Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah.
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[DAWN] The chief of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -- F (JUI-F), Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... , reached Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Monday evening where he is scheduled to hold talks with the disgruntled Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) leaders who resigned from Parliament last week in protest over excesses committed during the Rangers-led security operation in Karachi.
Fazl has been tasked to sooth the MQM politicians and convince them to take back their resignations. He is expected to hold a meeting with MQM officials tomorrow at Nine Zero.
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[RUDAW.NET] Following a recent Amnesia Amnesty International report that accused peacekeeping troops of raping a 12-year-old child and murdering two in Central African Republic, the U.N. Secretary General vowed to start "naming and shaming" countries whose troops have been involved in sexual abuse.
"The ultimate responsibility rests with governments who send their people, personnel," said U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... in a presser. "Before they are being deployed, they should educate and train them properly for the importance of human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... and human dignity,"
Rudaw asked the UN spokesperson if peacekeeping officials had covered up cases of sexual abuse in Africa, as it was widely reported in the media.
"I don't dispute the facts that you've just said," replied U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. "Basically, the Secretary‑General himself became aware of this yesterday [August 11] and so did the big shot... you know, the peacekeeping officials here in New York became aware on 10 August, the day before the issuance of the blurb."
The U.N Chief asked head of the peacekeeping troops in Central African Republic Babacar Gaye to resign a day after the release of the Amnesia Amnesty International report.
"He has tendered his resignation at my request yesterday," Mr. Ban told news hounds. "Of course this may look like a very strong action for SRSG who has been working so honorably during many, many years in the UN system. But I really wanted to show a strong example and message to all the international community."
The U.N. Secretary General has meanwhile ordered a thorough investigation into all allegations of sexual abuse by the organization's peacekeeping troops in Africa and other regions around the world.
According to Dujarric, since the start of the UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic in April 2014, there have been "11 cases of sexual abuse and possible sexual abuses,"
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#1
res ipsa fiskitur
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08/18/2015 1:50 Comments ||
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#4
Granted my info is old but a friend served in Haiti and said it was pretty much Pakistani (or Bangladesh?) soldiers involved in a lot of pedophilia. Most were draftees and Pakistan (or Bangladesh) got cash for every boot on the ground so nobody ever thought they were quality soldiers. Just a fig-leaf to make things look more international, provide welfare for a nation that can't support the big military it would like, and the poor Haitian kids were the price.
[RFE/RL] Moscow and Tehran plan to expand military and economic cooperation after international sanctions against Iran are lifted under a pending nuclear deal.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in Moscow that both sides hope the nuclear agreement will enter into force "in the nearest weeks."
Lavrov said, "There are all the opportunities today to bring Russian-Iranian relations to a new, more advanced level in the spirit of the agreements reached by the two presidents and taking into account those decisions that were made to resolve the situation around the Iranian nuclear program."
Russian media sources report that among items discussed was the possible delivery of S-300 surface-to-air missiles from Russia to Iran.
Russia is eager to get a head start in what is expected to be an international race for lucrative contracts with Iran once sanctions are lifted. Of particular interest is Iran's nuclear power sector.
Lavrov and Zarif said they also discussed a joint initiative for a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian civil war. They reaffirmed that they both reject calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down from power.
#2
"MANO-E-MANO, CO-SUPERPOWER-TO-CO-SUPERPOWER", albeit Russia is NOT the US, Putin is NOT Obama, + Russia likely won't be as quick to accept Iran's new status.
Leader-Nation of future OWG Persian Gulf, Middle East, andor Islamic Union(s) meets the Leader-Nation of OWG PAN-SLAVIC UNION, PAN-ORTHODOX UNION, + EURASIAN UNION AKA EURASIAN CUSTOMS UNION.
ALL THATS MISSING IS CO-SUPERPOWER CHINA AS LEADER-NATION OF FUTURE OWG EAST ASIA ANDOR ASIAN, ETC. UNION.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Iraq's parliament on Aug. 17 referred to the judiciary a report calling for the trial of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and dozens of other brass hats in connection with the fall of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... to 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.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) last year, two politicians said.
Lawmaker Mohammed al-Karbouli said the vote in parliament was taken by a show of hands and passed by a majority. He said the report was now due to go to the public prosecutor and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has the right to refer officers for court martial.
The panel's report, the most drastic step yet taken by Baghdad to provide accountability for the loss of nearly a third of the country's territory to the Islamist insurgency, alleges that Maliki had an inaccurate picture of the threat to the northern city because he chose commanders who engaged in corruption and failed to hold them accountable.
There has been no official accounting for how Mosul was lost, or of who gave the order to abandon the fight. Maliki has accused unnamed countries, commanders and rival politicians of plotting the city's fall.
The report's findings also placed responsibility for the fall of the city on Mosul Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, former acting defence minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi, former army chief General Babakir Zebari and Lieutenant General Mahdi al-Gharrawi, former operational commander of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.
Others accused include Nineveh police commander Major General Khalid Hamdani, former Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi, former army intelligence chief Lieutenant General Hatam al-Magsousi and three other Kurdish members of the Iraqi security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
Nearly 10 months after Chana and Shmulik Zissel's only child, three-month-old Chaya Zissel, was killed in a Jerusalem vehicular terrorist attack, the parents announced the birth of a daughter.
During the October attack, a Palestinian man from Silwan drove his car into the toddler's stroller and other pedestrians at the Ammunition Hill light rail stop.
The Zissel's were returning from the Western Wall at the time. Within weeks of the murder, Chana became pregnant again, giving birth last week. "We are grateful to the Almighty for everything," Shmulik told Ynet. "We thank him today for bringing us a daughter."
[IsraelTimes] PMO: 'There have been no meetings with Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, not directly, not through another country and not through intermediaries'
It was all very exciting for a few days, though, while Turkey and Hamas tried to spin straw into gold...
Israel has not held any recent ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, the Prime Minister's Office said Monday evening, after days of reports of an imminent comprehensive agreement on removing the Israeli blockade on the Gazoo Strip in return for a long-term truce.
"Israel is officially clarifying that there have been no meetings with Hamas, not directly, not through another country and not through intermediaries," said the PMO in a statement. "Regarding relations with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Continued on Page 49
[Ynet] Indictments filed against Death Eaters behind murders of Rosenfeld, Danny Gonen; leader of terror cell, released in Shalit deal, used PA monthly stipend to train and arm cell members.
The Military Advocate General filed indictments on Monday against the Death Eaters involved in the murders of Israelis Danny Gonen and Malachi Rosenfeld a month ago in the Binyamin area of the West Bank.
The Shin Bet investigation into Rosenfeld's murder found that the Paleostinian Authority, which incarcerated Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! two members of the terror cell and maintains security cooperation with the IDF, actually inadvertently funded the attack.
Ahmad Najar, the head of the terror cell that murdered Rosenfeld, was imprisoned in Israeli jail for the murder of six Israelis in 2004. After his release as part of the Shalit deal, he received a monthly stipend from the Paleostinian Authority, which he used to train and arm his terror cell.
After his release, Najar moved to Jordan. For the attack, he recruited his brother Amjad, who withdrew the money the PA deposited for Ahmad in a bank account in the West Bank.
On June 29, the terror cell's members shot Rosenfeld to death and maimed his three friends near the settlement Shvut Rachel. Before that, they made sure the road was clear and that it was safe for them to commit the murder.
Even before murdering Rosenfeld, they attempted to commit another attack but ran into a police roadblock, they also shot up a Magen David Adom ambulance near Beit El, in an incident that ended without injuries.
Two of the cell members, Mu'ad Hamed and Ahmad Shibrawi, have been arrested and are held by the Paleostinian Authority because of their involvement in the attack.
Terrorist committed murder without cell members
Muhammed Abu Shaheen from Qalandiya was indicted for shooting Danny Gonen to death near the settlement Dolev and wounding his friend Netanel Hadad.
According to the indictment, he was a part of a cell with three other people who planned the attack for several weeks, scouted the area for weeks, and waited for the right time to act.
The indictment reveals that the members of the cell arrived to the Bubin stream, where the murder took place, several times in the month prior to the attack with an FN semi-automatic 9mm handgun, and followed the comings and goings of those who came to bathe in the stream, using binoculars.
In one instance, they came near a group of armed soldiers who came to bathe in the stream in civilian clothes, but decided not to shoot at them because they were outnumbered. In another instance, the cell members stopped a vehicle and intended to kill its passengers, but stopped when they realized they were Arabic speakers.
On June 19, Friday afternoon, Abu Shaheen headed to the stream without the other cell members and scouted the area for an hour until Gonen and Hadad arrived. When they got closer to him on the dirt road near the stream, he cocked his weapon and hid it, according to the indictment.
He indicated to Gonen, the driver, that he wanted them to stop and asked him if he knew whether there was water in the stream. Gonen responded in Hebrew, and drove on.
Then, according to the indictment, Abu Shaheen called out "listen!" in Arabic and Gonen stopped again. Abu Shaheen walked towards the car and fired two bullets from half a meter away at Gonen's upper body.
According to the indictment, Abu Shaheen then moved to the front of the car and fired eight additional bullets that maimed Hadad.
He then escaped in his car to Qalandiya, met with his terror cell friends, and told them he had murdered a Jew. According to the indictment, the other members of the cell were angry that he did so without their knowledge.
It will be interesting to see if this means Islam is evolving to be able to give up the faith militant, and accept being one of many equals.
[AnNahar] Top Moslemholy mans gathered in Egypt on Monday to address bully boy religious edicts in the face of an unprecedented threat 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 jihadists who have declared a "caliphate."
The muftis -- usually the official interpreters of Islam in their countries -- are meeting alongside other holy mans over two days in Cairo to cope with what the holy mans described as a rash of bully boy fatwas, or edicts.
"You do not need to be reminded that leniency (in dealing) with fatwas that ex-communicate" Moslems has resulted in "murder and bloodshed," Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the head of the prestigious Cairo-based Islamic Al-Azhar institution, told the conference.
But it was not immediately clear how effective the holy mans' proposal to realistically address the problem would be, especially in the age of the Internet where many Moslems consult religious websites.
And for the first time in Islamic history, the entire corpus of Islamic scholarship is available online, a Google search away for those seeking a quick answer to a religious query.
The dilemma has particularly been highlighted by the Islamic State group's atrocities in Syria, Iraq and other countries where they have a presence.
In February, the jihadists announced they had immolated a captured Jordanian pilot, Maaz al-Kassasbeh, prompting an outcry among Moslems.
IS supporters circulated, among other justifications, a collation of classical fatwas taken from the website of a major Saudi university in support of such execution-style killings.
"The goal of this conference is to unite the message of muftis in light of the challenges faced by the region and world in the shape of bully boy fatwas and groups that talk in the name of religion," Ibrahim Negm, an adviser to Egypt's mufti, told AFP.
Negm said the conference could decide to form a general secretariat for the region's muftis, centers to monitor and rebut bully boy fatwas and training for aspiring muftis.
The holy mans also aimed at "creating a new strategy for Moslem communities in the West to confront bully boy thought," he said.
The Islamic State group, which follows a strict interpretation of the Salafi sect in Sunni Islam, had added to the challenge of traditional Moslem authorities such as al-Azhar.
[NEWS.YAHOO] A congressional vote of disapproval would not prevent Obama from acting on his own to start putting the accord in place. While he probably would take some heavy criticism, this course would let him add the foreign policy breakthrough to his second-term list of accomplishments.
Obama doesn't need a congressional OK to give Iran most of the billions of dollars in relief from economic sanctions that it would get under the agreement, as long as Tehran honors its commitments to curb its nuclear program -- at least for now.
"A resolution to disapprove the Iran agreement may have substantial political reverberations, but limited practical impact," says Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It would not override President B.O.'s authority to enter into the agreement."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
If congress passed a law declaring sanctions on Iran, Obama, legally, cannot violate that law. Will he ignore the law? What do you think?
#2
The laws on the books govern 'legal' immigration, what's stop him from ignoring them? Congress is a fig leaf to get the rubes to follow the law and pay their taxes, but is as effective as Caesar's Senate in the false notion of 'checks and balances'.
#5
Obama doesn't need a congressional OK to give Iran most of the billions of dollars in relief from economic sanctions that it would get under the agreement,
So this isn't about nukes, or peace in our time --it's about Mullah money. Where's my fainting couch so I can properly stage my shock and dismay.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/18/2015 14:07 Comments ||
Top||
#6
More like giving the Iranian Mullahs billions to help finance terrorism.
#7
Are they crazy in Washington or what? Maybe the much of the rest of the country is nuts too since we keep electing those who make bad decisions. We buy oil from the Saudis and they end up financing virulent Salafism/Wahhabism movements with the profits and then they pull off 911. Now we are giving our's and Israel's sworn enemy, the Iranians mucho dinero of hard-earned taxpayer's money to do what? They can't be trusted so far as nukes go or anything else. And the verification arrangement to determine whether they are or aren't building nukes sucks. They have lost their collective minds in D.C. Complicate this by the fact that our southern border is porous and we don't know who is coming into the country. That is an invitation to disaster.
#8
Once again, wid feeling - "MANO-E-MANO, OWG CO-SUPERPOWER-TO-CO-SUPERPOWER"???
* FYI BIGNEWSNETWORK > IRAN STILL CLOSED TO US [Mil, Econ, Political, etc.] INFLUENCE, FATE OF NUCLEAR DEAL UNKNOWN: KHAMENEI.
No approval of Nuke Deal by mighty Unitarian US Congress = IRAN GETS TO DEV NUKES.
Technically speaking, UNTIL THE NUKE DEAL IS DE FACTO FORMALLY APPROVED BY THE US CONGRESS IRAN IS FREE TO CONTINUE ON WID ANY-EACH-N-ALL OF ITS VARIOUS NUCPROG ACTIVITIES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, OR UNTIL US-LED ATTACK-N-INVASION WHICHEVER COMES FIRST.
* Also FYI TOPIX, BVIGNEWSNETWORK > KERRY: IRAN SHOULD BE THANKED FOR NOT BUILDING NUKE BOMB, right now despite having the ability to do so.
"STRATEGIC DEPTH" = OWG CO-SUPERPOWER "SPHERE OF INFLUENCE", at least for time being.
* SAME > "AL-SHARQ AL-AWSAT" COLUMNIST: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S DEFEAT IN [P5+1-vs-Iran] NUCLEAR
DEAL COMPELS ARABS TO RELY ON THEMSELVES.
ISLAMIC WORLD = JAPAN = PHILIPPINES [ASEAN] > PH ASSOCIATE JUSTICE ANTONIO CARPIO = "PHILIPPINES SHOULD NOT COUNT ON US SUPPORT OR ASSISTANCE IN SOUTH CHINA SEAS DISPUITE DESPITE US-PH [Etal.] SECURITY TREATY; US CARES OR IS CONCERNED ONLY ABOUT STRATEGIC OR UNRESTRICTED INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION + TRADE THRU REGION, NOT WHOM IS THE RIGHTFUL OR SPECIFIC OWNER OF DISPUTED ISLANDS".
IIUC, unless I'm mistaken PH Assoc Judge Carpio is inferring the PHILIPPINES NEEDS NOT JUST MODERN ARMS + ECONOMY BUT ALSO NUKES???
Ordinary/Mainstream Filipinos are all IRANIANS now.
As long as CHINA [Iran] doesn't fire/shoot first agz Regional US Allies, + adheres to UNCLOS = international Laws, US IS UNLIKELY TO INVOKE SECURITY TREATY PROVISIONS + INTERVENE ON BEHALFD OF ALLIES ANDOR UN, INT'L LAW.
* RELATED YAHOO NEWS > HOW CHINA CAN DEFEAT THE US IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA WIDOUT FIRING A SINGLE SHOT.
Anti-US US OWG Globalist POTUS Obama + aligned notwithstanding.
US-LED ANTI-US OWG + GLOBALISM = ITS FOR THE US-N-ONLY-THE-US TO PROUDLY SURRENDER LIKE FRANCE, NOT FIGHT TO BITTER END LIKE BRITAIN, GERMANY, OR RUSSIA.
1990'S POTUS BILL CLINTON/CLINTONISM = THE US-N-ONLY-THE-US MUST BE RESTRAINED AND CONTROLLED.
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
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[RFE/RL] Moscow and Tehran plan to expand military and economic cooperation after international sanctions against Iran are lifted under a pending nuclear deal.
[NEWS.YAHOO] A congressional vote of disapproval would not prevent Obama from acting on his own to start putting the accord in place. While he probably would take some heavy criticism, this course would let him add the foreign policy breakthrough to his second-term list of accomplishments.
