[ABC] President Donald Trump’s national security adviser addressed the idea of using private contractors to help fight the U.S. war in Afghanistan, saying he is "always open to new ideas."
In an exclusive interview Sunday, John Bolton responded to a question from ABC News "This Week" Co-Anchor and Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz about possibly privatizing some part of what is now America’s longest war, the nearly 17-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.
"Would you consider privatizing [in Afghanistan], with using contractors instead of U.S. military? There have been some reports about that this week," Raddatz said.
"There's always a lot of discussions," the president's national security adviser said. "I'm always open to new ideas, but I'm not going to comment on what the thinking is. That will ultimately be the president's decision."
#5
Explorers brought civilization to the new world savages not by bullets alone but by bringing in Christianity. Until then, Afghanïstan will always be under a savage idiology.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Kabul police forces have jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... at least 348 people on various criminal charges as well as on charges of plotting terrorist related activities.
The Kabul Police Commandment in a statement said the suspects were rounded from various parts of Kabul over a period of one month.
The statement further added that the suspects were arrested during the operations of the security forces belonging to 101 Asmayee Zone.
The police forces have also confiscated more than 30 kgs of illicit drugs and 30 various types of weapons and other military kits, the statement added.
According to the Police Commandment of Kabul, the police forces have also managed to send 406 vehicles to the customs department and seize 1000 fake registration plates.
The police forces have also stopped at least 700 cycle of violences which were being used in the city without having proper documents.
The Kabul Police Commandment also added in its statement that around 3 tons of munitions were also handed over to the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) process.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday welcomed the Afghan government's offer of a three-month provisional ceasefire to the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... ahead of the festival of Eidul Azha.
Hours after 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. .. declared the ceasefire with the Taliban in a televised broadcast, the FO said: "Pakistain fully supports all such efforts that contribute to achieving durable stability and lasting peace in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan deserve it."
The ceasefire offer, the FO observed, has an even greater significance as it was made on the Independence Day of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] [DAWN] 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. .. declared a provisional three-month ceasefire with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... in a televised broadcast on Sunday, but said the truce would hold only if the forces of Evil reciprocated.
The announcement followed a bloody week of fighting across Afghanistan which saw the Taliban launch a massive assault against the bustling provincial capital Ghazni.
Anticipation had been mounting ahead of Ghani's speech following mixed signals from the presidential palace over whether the government would offer a fresh truce, following a brief, unprecedented one earlier this year.
"I once again announce a ceasefire from tomorrow until the prophet's birthday provided that the Taliban reciprocate," said Ghani, referring to the Prophet Mohammed's birthday which Afghanistan celebrates on November 21.
Ghani said his administration removed "all obstacles" to peace with the announcement following consultations with religious scholars, political parties and civil society groups.
"We call on the leadership of the Taliban to welcome the wishes of Afghans for a long lasting and real peace, and we urge them to get ready for peace talks based on Islamic values and principles," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] An Egyptian man who hijacked an EgyptAir flight and ordered it to land in Cyprus has been extradited after giving up a drawn-out legal fight, authorities have said.
Cyprus Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency (AP) that Seif el-Din Mustafa
was transferred to Egyptian custody and flown back to Cairo on Saturday where prosecutors were investigating the incident.
Nicolaou said the extradition went ahead after Mustafa dropped a three-year court battle to avoid extradition.
The 61-year-old had previously challenged extradition on the grounds that he could face torture or an unfair trial in Egypt.
He hijacked the flight - an EgyptAir domestic flight from Alexandria to Cairo - in March 2016, using a fake suicide belt.
He surrendered to Cypriot authorities nearly six hours after landing, having gradually released all 72 passengers and crew unharmed.
A member of the cabin crew and a passenger by the name of Ben Innes even took a photo with Mustafa, which was later posted on social media.
'FASCIST REGIME'
Mustafa told a Cypriot court that he didn't mean to harm anyone and was trying to help secure the release of 63 female dissidents being held in Egyptian prisons and expose what he called the "fascist ...anybody not a leftist... regime" of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.
But prosecutors said Mustafa admitted in a written statement to police that he only carried out the hijacking in order to be reunited with his Cypriot family, from whom he had been estranged for 24 years.
Mustafa dismissed the written statement as "purposeful misinformation" by the Cypriot and Egyptian governments put out to discredit him.
Doros Polycarpou, with the migrant support group KISA that assisted Mustafa, told AP that the Mustafa decided of his own accord to return to Egypt and face prosecution there, despite fears that he may be tortured.
Egypt and Cyprus have a 1996 extradition treaty.
Polycarpou said Mustafa told his legal team he was willing "to take the risk" of suffering mistreatment at the hands of Egyptian authorities because he could "no longer take" his holding conditions in Cyprus' prison complex.
He said Mustafa had complained that he was being held in "isolation" and put under "psychological strain" because authorities kept him away from the prison's general population.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights blocked Cyprus from extraditing Mustafa until it could rule on whether doing so would violate its prohibition on returning individuals to countries where they may face torture or inhumane treatment.
This article starring:
Seif al-Din Mohammed Mostafa
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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The article is in German. I'll summarize the part about former FM Sigmar Gabriel's remarks. The rest of the article is about the German domestic political debate re aid payments to Turkey.
[Welt] Gabriel says that it is in Europe's and Germany's own interest to make every effort to keep Turkey as part of the West. If not, a politically isolated Turkey might acquire nuclear weapons in the long term.
Germany and Europe must send a clear signal that they will not participate in Donald Trump's effort to economically destabilize Turkey.
The US is applying sanctions to push an economically damaged nation over the cliff. This is impermissible conduct amoong NATO allies.
In a Turkey distancing itself from NATO nationalist forces would acquire nuclear weapons to make themselves invincible - just as in Iran and North Korea. Sigmar Gabriel is a close associate of former chancellor Schroeder, who is Erdogan's closest ally in German mainstream politics.
During Gabriel's tenure as FM in 2017/18 he was criticized for being to accommodating, if not subservient to Turkey.
IMO Gabriel is relaying a direct message from the Erdogan regime.
Erdogan does not yet dare to openly threaten the West with nukes so he's using a deniable channel.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 ||
08/20/2018 01:42 ||
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#1
Threatening us with nuclear weapons. Wow, what a friend!
Oh wait he's only threatening Europeans. That's OK, they've repeatedly assured us they don't want and don't need American help. Ami go home, remember?
If only Europe wouldn't have been ripping us off on trade and funded their fair share of NATO...none of this would happen. But Europeans decided it had to be this way. So be it.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
08/20/2018 5:59 Comments ||
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#2
Lessee. Who would the likely vendor be?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/20/2018 8:34 Comments ||
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#3
Wiki: whilst the 2011 census states that 2.7 million German residents have at least one parent from Turkey, this may not be a true representation of the total ethnic Turkish population. In 1997 the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had already stated that there were 3 million Turks living in Germany.
#4
Nuclear weapons are expensive, I suspect, and Turkey has a bit of a debt and income problem. How does Herr Erdogan (given it’s a German publication) intend to square that circle?
Thank you for reading and translating the German press for us, Elmerert Hupens2660.
#7
Mussolini was a smarter man than Erdogan, brilliant on some accounts, and look where his Imperial Ambitions for Italy wound up. This will not end well...
#8
Nuclear weapons are expensive, I suspect, and Turkey has a bit of a debt and income problem.
Turkey wants to extort money which could in turn finance future Turkish nuclear weapons.
Specifically, Erdogan wants to scare Germany and Europe into paying danegeld right now, which would undermine present symbolical US sanctions and the threat of possibly serious US sanctions.
This is an irrational, vile and vicious move which also betrays the Turkish government's panic.
Which is why the Turks used this deniable channel.
I don't really doubt that this is an authentic message from the Turkish government. Gabriel would not idly talk about a nominal ally threatening Europe with nuclear annihilation.
#9
America just might soon be backing a United Kurdistan - taking territory from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The Kurds are the best people in the region - 'tough as woodpecker lips, Islamic but secular, smart, dependable - even their (often gorgeous) women fight as infantry. Aside from the Israelis, the Kurds could be the strongest player in the region. And - if Turkey nukes up, we give the Kurds nukes (or at least a "nuclear umbrella". Heh, heh. Maybe it is time to reconquer Constantinople???
#10
Just be sure to activate cratering and demolition charges in all US built bases when we finally leave the Jerks Turks. Incirlik should definitely be missing some hangars, ammunition and POL facitlites, and the runways and taxiways should have multiple large and deep craters.
Posted by: Boss Spoper5850 ||
08/20/2018 12:41 Comments ||
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#11
Specifically, Erdogan wants to scare Germany and Europe into paying danegeld right now,
They've been paying Turkey millions for several years in order to keep the Muslim migrants from continuing into Europe, a flow Turkey has stopped or released ever since as the mood siezes them.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... announced earlier this week that his country will boycott US electronic goods in response to unfriendly US trade moves. He said that "they have iPhones but on the other hand there is Samsung" and that Turks can also use the local brand Venus Vestel.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a salesman from one of Ankara’s mobile phone outlets told Sputnik that "both prices and a balance of purchases [in the city] remain unchanged" and that three out of ten customers are still interested in buying an iPhone, while the remaining seven customers prefer Samsung models and those made by other manufacturers.
At another outlet, a cashier, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested that in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , iPhones are used by either rich businessmen or those who are ready to part with their last money to buy an iPhone in order look a well-to-do person.
"Look at me, I’m not a poor man but I use a Samsung, which is not the case with those young guys collecting scrap waste who have iPhones. We are such a strange nation!" the cashier said.
One of the young customers of the outlet named Batuhan said, in turn, that he dislikes iPhone models because he is "completely dependent on the actions of the manufacturer" when it comes to using the gadget.
"But I am against the state, not me, deciding on what brand of a mobile phone people should use and what brand they should give up," Batuhan said.
He also remained skeptical about a series of clips in the social networks which showed Ottoman Turkish citizens destroying iPhones with sledgehammers ‐ actions described by Batuhan as "pointless."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Ending the decade-long dominance of the Sharif family, Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... ’s (PTI) nominee, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has been elected chief minister of Punjab, the biggest province in the country.
In the election on Sunday in the 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.... Assembly, Usman Buzdar secured 186 votes ‐ the minimum required number to become the leader of the House consisting of 371 members.
His rival, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... , son of former three-time Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, could bag only 159 votes.
The seven members of the Pakistain People’s Party (PPP) abstained from the process.
The PML-Q politicians and Rah-e-Haq party members also voted for the PTI candidate.
The win of the PTI nominee, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has ended the 30-year supremacy of the Pakistain Moslem League - Nawaz (PML-N) in the political realm of the province.
The PML-N ruled the province from 1988 to 1990 when the elder Sharif, Mian 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, then by the courts... , served as the chief minister and gave a tough time to his political rival, the late Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , who was then prime minister.
The PML-N then formed the government in the province in 1993 and Ghulam Hyder Wyne was the party nominee for the slot of chief minister.
The PML-N again gained power in 1997 and the younger Sharif, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, became chief minister of the province.
The ruled continued until the bloodless coup of Gen. Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... .
During Gen. Musharraf’s regime, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi served as the chief minister from 2002 to 2007.
PML-N regained its glory in the 2008 elections and Mian Shahbaz Sharif became the chief minister. The rule continued for two consecutive terms (2008-20013 and 2013-18) ‐ 10 years.
In the 2018 election, though, the PML-N emerged as the single largest party in the province by securing 129 seats but the number was not enough to form the government and on Sunday PTI candidate Buzdar ended their supremacy in Punjab politics.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] An antiterrorism court on Saturday issued a notice to the investigation officer of the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case registered against former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and other police officials for his incessant absence during the hearings of the case.
The judge expressed extreme displeasure over the absence of SP Dr Rizwan Ahmed, the investigation officer, and observed that the court might be informed if the police officer was not interested in his duty.
The court ordered the investigation officer to appear in court along with a reply to the show-cause issued to him for his absence.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[Asharq Al-Awsat]The people took to the street to demand job opportunities and corruption.
Federal and local authorities pledged to meet these demands, but nothing has materialized, increasing the people’s frustration. Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi had even visited Basra and ordered that employment opportunities be created and that services be improved.
Perhaps the greatest frustration felt by the people was prompted by the strict measures that the security forces adopted on Friday against protesters in the al-Hawir area that left two people dead. Dozens of others were wounded.
A source from Hawir told Asharq Al-Awsat that the protesters attacked the armed security forces after they used force to disperse the rallies.
Activists and youth revealed that they will escalate their actions after the Eid holiday and stage open-ended sit-ins.
Protester Ali al-Mahna said that the locals attacked police stations and shut down public institutions, including the provincial council, demanding that the security forces withdraw from the area and release detainees.
“We have lost our faith in everyone and all government pledges,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“We will continue our protest movement until our demands are met,” he vowed. “The developments in Hawir proved to us that the authorities do not shy away from committing any action against the people.”
[ASHARQ AL-AWSAT] Member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament Hishmat Allah Faht Bisha told Iranian news agency ISNA on Saturday that compensation is an open file and Baghdad will need to pay.
Iranian demands for reimbursements over damage caused by the Iran-Iraq war provoked Iraqi resentment. Stretching for eight years, from 1980 until 1988, the war ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire.
“It is unreasonable that after 30 years, the file on reparation to be reopened today with the survival of the Iranian regime and the demise of the former Iraqi regime,” said Iraqi MP Ahmed Abdullah al-Jubouri.
Former Iraqi government spokesman Ali Aldabbagh told Asharq Al-Awsat that “It works against Iranians interests to provoke hostility among Iraqis.”
“Iraqis cannot continue to bear responsibility for crimes committed by the former regime, whether they are made against Iran or Kuwait,” Aldabbagh said.
He went on to say that Iraqi people should not pay for the crimes of a regime they did not play a part in, saying that the Saddam regime’s decisions were autocratic in nature and did not represent the will of Iraqis.
“Iranians know this, especially that Iraqi factions were fighting with them against Saddam's regime during the war,” he added.
On the other hand, winning political blocs in the May 12 elections remain unable to come together for forming the largest parliamentary bloc.
“It is still very difficult because of the Shiite-Shiite divide, it is not about the larger bloc and how it should be formed, but about who is prime minister,” said former parliamentarian Rahim al-Darraji.
Deputy Head of the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies Dr. Basil Hussein told Asharq Al-Awsat that “there is no justification for Iranian demands for war compensation.”
“This issue is political and not based on international law or on UN Security Council resolutions, such demands have no real value,” he added.
Posted by: 3dc ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
That is not the way to create goodwill....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/20/2018 0:31 Comments ||
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#2
...that's not what the people here think when they talk about reparations. Extracting monies based upon guilt not the original parties. Just rationalizations for theft.
#3
It is still very difficult because of the Shiite-Shiite divide
Say what? I thought it was those Sunnis?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 8:52 Comments ||
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#4
Under the acres of Italian marble at the Iraqi-Iranian War Memorial in Baghdad (peanut memorial) lies scores of stone tablets with the names of the Iraqis maytyred. When I asked "how many names there were" the guide replied "you must count them."
[Al Jazeera] Iraq's Supreme Court has ratified the results of the country's May parliamentary election, setting in motion a 90-day constitutional deadline for the top parties to form a coalition government.
A nationwide recount of votes showed on August 10 that populist Shia leader Moqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... retained his lead, positioning him to play a central role in the government negotiations.
Many Iraqis, including Kurdish and Sunni Arab groups, had disputed the results of the vote, alleging widespread electoral misconduct.
In June, a huge fire destroyed a warehouse housing boxes containing ballots from the May 12 vote.
Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, said that the blaze was started deliberately with the aim of harming the country's democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Decision to release residents of Umm al-Fahm
... home of the outlawed northern branch of the so-called Islamic Movement, the Israeli branch of the Muslim Brotherhood...
to house arrest against police wishes is overruled by district judges
The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday extended by two days the detention of three men suspected of involvement in Friday’s Old City attempted stabbing attack, overruling the Magistrate’s Court which had released them to house arrest.
The suspects, all residents of the northern Israel Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, were tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in the hours after the attack after police identified them walking through the alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City close to the stabber, Ahmed Muhammad Mahameed, who is also from the same town.
On Saturday night, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ordered the three sent home due to lack of evidence, but police petitioned against the decision. They will now be held until Tuesday.
The three men said they are not connected with Mahameed and were not involved in the attack.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors... Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Sunday rejected claims by the Umm al-Fahm Municipality that the stabber was allegedly suffering from mental issues and that police had been too quick to open fire.
"I expect the Umm al-Fahm municipality to do some soul-searching ‐ this is giving a sermon with crocodile tears," Liberman told the Kan public broadcaster. "When a stabber charges at you, you have a few seconds to think and make a decision; does the policeman know the biography of the attacker?"
"They always say after the fact that there was no intention and that the attacker is disturbed. I have never seen in the Arab population that they take responsibility and say that they are guilty. They allow incitement against a country in which they have a good life."
Police said that Mahameed, who had come from the direction of the Temple Mount in the Old City, approached a group of coppers, pulled out a knife and attempted to stab one of them. The officers scuffled with the assailant and one of them shot him, killing him.
His family said that he struggled with mental health issues, and had not carried out the attack for nationalistic reasons. Mahameed, 24, had spent significant time in the Sha’ar Menashe psychiatric medical center in northern Israel, according to his brother Nissim Mahameed. "He was sick and could not function," Nissim told the Haaretz daily on Saturday.
The family condemned the officer who fired the fatal shot for being "light with his finger on the trigger."
The Umm al-Fahm Municipality released a statement Saturday condemning police for what it called the "cold-blooded murder" of its resident.
"The city condemns the incomprehensible conduct, especially in light of the young man’s mental and health condition," the statement read. It did not elaborate on how the officers at the scene would have been able to know the assailant’s state of mental well-being ahead of time.
Police said an initial probe of the incident had shown police fire was entirely justified.
[IsraelTimes] Before joint dinner, PM says talks with US national security adviser will focus on rolling back Tehran's 'aggression' in region.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday evening, telling the Israeli premier that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs were "right at the top of the list" of challenges facing the United States and the world.
"It’s been an exciting year and a half in the Trump administration," Bolton said, ahead of a joint dinner with Netanyahu. "Obviously we’ve got great challenges, for Israel, for the United States and the whole world. The Iran nuclear weapons program [and] the ballistic missile programs are right at the top of the list. So I’m delighted to be here, and look forward to our discussions."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Until China starts flexing its muscle, that is.
[IsraelTimes] Passage for pedestrians is sealed despite parallel reports of progress toward a ceasefire deal; no comment from Defense Ministry on how long closure will continue
The Defense Ministry confirmed Sunday morning that the Erez Crossing on the Gazoo Strip’s northern border was closed in response to Friday’s violent border festivities.
The decision was made by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman after an assessment of the situation on Saturday evening.
There was no mention of how long the closure would last.
The move was first reported by Paleostinian media sources in Gazoo and the West Bank, who said that Israel told the Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, terror group controlling the Gazoo Strip that it would close the border crossing on Sunday morning.
The border crossing, which acts as the only pedestrian crossing between the Gazoo Strip and Israel, will still be open for medical emergencies requiring the transfer of Gazooks to Israeli hospitals, according to Paleostinian media reports.
The majority of pedestrians who pass through the crossing are seeking medical treatment.
On Friday thousands of Gazooks demonstrated along the Israeli border near the Erez Crossing in weekly Hamas-backed "March of Return" demonstrations. Hamas leaders had urged the public to participate in Friday’s protests.
Rioters hurled rocks, improvised bombs and Molotov cocktails at soldiers and burned tires to create a smokescreen. Others launched incendiary balloons toward Israel.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gazoo reported that two men had been killed and around 250 injured, of which at least 25 were said hit by live fire.
The closure of the Erez Crossing comes as senior members of Hamas say that negotiations for a long-term ceasefire deal are in "the final stretch."
Damascus (Syria News) The international coalition command announced, on Sunday, that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had pledged 50 million US dollars for the reconstruction of East of Syria.
Brett H. McGurk, the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said that the Emirati fund is a part of the US plan to gather 300 million US dollars to reconstruct the areas recaptured from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , northeast of Syria.
Furthermore, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... announced, yesterday, providing 100 million US dollars for the reconstruction of the areas located east of Syria, especially Raqqa
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Iran will unveil this week a new jet fighter and upgrade its missile defenses to meet threats from Israel and the US, Tasnim news agency said Sunday quoting the defense minister.
"Our first priority is our missile capability and we must enhance it... given the enemy’s efforts in missile defense," said Amir Hatami in an interview on television late Saturday, according to Tasnim.
He added that a new fighter jet "will fly on National Defense Industry Day," which falls on Wednesday.
Hatami said the defense program was motivated by memories of the missile attacks Iran suffered during its eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, and by repeated threats from Israel and the United States that "all options are on the table" in dealing with the Islamic republic.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Lemme guess - the flight equivalent of the infamous Iranian speedboat?
[ALMASDARNEWS] Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. recently stated that he is relying on an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... to ’protect’ Leb.
According to Naharnet, Hariri said he is "putting Russia in the picture of the Lebanese situation’s developments" as well as "his stance on the file of the relation with the Syrian regime," a media report said.
Hariri is reportedly relying on his Russian counterparts to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees because he does not have any diplomatic relations with Syria.
"By relying on an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the PM-designate is trying to protect the country from any plunge into the conflict of axes in the region, especially that Moscow, with a green light from the U.S., is playing the role of the regulator of the Syrian file and its related issues," the al-Rai News reported, citing diplomatic sources.
"This would provide further balancing elements for the Lebanese situation, which would prevent it from deviating from the constraints of political stability," the sources went on to say.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are willing to continue cooperating with US-led international coalition after defeating fighters of the self-proclaimed 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; formerly ISIS/ISIS) in SDF controlled areas, confirmed the SDF spokesperson Kinu Gabriel during an interview filmed in Derek and aired on Sunday.
"The works and programs we perform with the international coalition are not related to the military operations that will soon end with the final IS stronghold in the basin of the Euphrates River," he said.
Gabriel also noted: "We will continue implementing these programs, whether with local security forces, local councils, or even with the Syrian democratic sources, so as to continue the support and training programs to develop the capabilities of the forces to defend these areas and permanently prevent the appearance of IS elements again."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Lebanese Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, told the Al-Intichar newspaper on Sunday that Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s stance on restoring ties with Syria is ‘unrealistic.’
“This is unrealistic and unhelpful,” the veteran politician told Al-Intichar in response to Hariri’s refusal to restore ties with Syria.
According to Berri, Lebanon has asked Syria to help provide their country with electricity.
Furthermore, Berri said that the Syrian government is working with the Lebanese authorities to return the refugees currently living across Lebanon.
“The Syrian government is especially concerned with the return of displaced Syrians to their country. These issues would not have been solved without coordination between Lebanon and Syria,” Berri added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Lebanese President Michel ’Aoun told the Emirati newspaper, al-Khaleej, on Sunday that he believes foreign meddling is behind the failure to form a government.
President ’Aoun told the Emirati newspaper that foreign meddling is behind the ’inflexibility’ shown by the leader of Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... , Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... , and Progressive Socialist Party chair, Walid Joumblatt.
"President Aoun absolves PM-designate Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. of the obstruction accusation and believes that he is confused, seeing as he (Hariri) fears a clash with these foreign forces at this stage and is trying as much as possible to avoid a clash with Geagea and Jumblat," the sources added, as quoted by Naharnet.
"President Aoun does not want to cause irreversible damage to his ties with Hariri and has not pressed him to accept a government format based on majority rule, but he is questioning the delay and regretting that foreign forces have interfered in the crisis," the report added.
The Lebanese President has not blamed Prime Minister Saad Hariri for the failed government formation initiative; however, he does believe he is under immense pressure from a foreign power.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] With its air raid simulator and battlefield reconstructions, the state-of-the-art Holy Defence Museum in Tehran seeks to glorify the Iran-Iraq war as a time when the country faced down "the whole world".
As Iranians prepare to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the devastating conflict on Monday, they are being urged to display the same steadfastness as country after country falls in line with crippling unilateral sanctions being re-imposed by Washington after its abandonment of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers.
"The message of the museum is perseverance, resistance and the protection of our honour," deputy director Seyyed Mohsen Hajbabian said. "We teach younger generations the spirit of combat. Iraq was backed by the whole world and Iran was alone in defending itself, but thanks to God... we were victorious in this war." For Iranians, it is "the imposed war", started by Iraq’s then-leader Saddam Hussein on Sept 22, 1980 and ended by a ceasefire on August 20, 1988.
The Iraqi dictator sought to present himself as a bulwark against the revolutionary ideology of the fledgling Islamic republic, which had tossed the pro-Western shah only a year earlier, and which was seen as a major threat to the Gulf monarchies and other Arab autocracies.
The resulting war was the longest of the 20th century, a ruinous conflict of attrition that has often drawn parallels to the First World War in Europe. It ultimately led nowhere, ending with zero territorial gains for either side ‐ even if it reinforced Saddam’s grip on power in Iraq, as well as that of the Islamic republic in Iran.
RECONSTRUCTING HORROR
But the human cost was horrifying.
Although the often-cited figure of a million dead may be an exaggeration by both sides, according to French historian Pierre Razoux, he still estimates a total of 680,000 lives lost.
Of those, Iran bore by far the heavier losses, with around 500,000 dead or missing, he said.
Built by the Tehran municipality, the Holy Defence Museum opened its doors in 2012 and receives more than 300,000 visitors per year, Hajbabian said.
On a recent summer afternoon, it was mostly young men and groups of schoolchildren on trips organised by Islamic institutions.
In the first halls, the visitor is plunged into the ruins of Khorramshahr, the border town in the southwest that was seized by the Iraqi army on Oct 24, 1980 and still bears some of the worst scars of the war.
The "bombing raid simulator" recalls the terror of air strikes suffered by Iranian cities, replete with trembling walls and floors.
There are models of the refineries targeted with missile strikes by both sides, as the belligerents sought to sap each other’s energy reserves and main source of income.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Faced down the whole world?
My recollection was everybody but Iraq sitting over in the shade, pointing and giggling.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 8:03 Comments ||
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#2
As Kissinger said, "It's a shame one of them has to win."
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 8:04 Comments ||
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#3
Do they show the boys wrapped in blankets? IIRC, they used to use kids to "clear" minefields - the kids were forced to walk ahead of the troops, and set off any mines. After a while the soldier got disturbed seeing all the body parts. So they had the kids wrap themselves in blankets, so when they set off a mine, they wouldn't be spread all over the battlefield.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/20/2018 8:17 Comments ||
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#4
Good news! The coming wars with the US and Juice won't last anywhere nearly as long
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 9:13 Comments ||
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#5
I thought the African "Civil War" in the Congo was the longest major war with millions dead?
Longest war might well be the one between the Polisario Front and Morocco over the old Spanish Sahara.
The Columbia Civil War is in the running as longest too.
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 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. ..
...anybody not a leftist...
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
... 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, then by the courts...
Pervez 
[DAWN] An antiterrorism court on Saturday issued a notice to the investigation officer of the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case registered against former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and other police officials for his incessant absence during the hearings of the case.
Member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament 
Under the acres of Italian marble at the Iraqi-Iranian War Memorial in Baghdad (peanut memorial) lies scores of stone tablets with the names of the Iraqis maytyred. When I asked "how many names there were" the guide replied "you must count them." 
Moqtada 
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
Samir Geagea
[DAWN] With its air raid simulator and battlefield reconstructions, the state-of-the-art Holy Defence Museum in Tehran seeks to glorify the Iran-Iraq war as a time when the country faced down "the whole world".
