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Susan Rice: Obama Put Call Transcripts On Top Secret Server, Too
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
1 11:26 g(r)omgoru [11] 
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1 15:37 Tom [11] 
1 21:05 Zhang Fei [8] 
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5 10:35 trailing wife [7] 
4 10:19 g(r)omgoru [9] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
2 11:55 The peanut gallery [2]
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11 17:35 Rob Crawford [20]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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1 16:49 Skidmark [4]
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Page 4: Opinion
1 15:06 Abu Uluque [13]
2 16:55 Skidmark [8]
6 17:32 Rob Crawford [7]
Page 6: Politix
2 17:34 Bright Pebbles [14]
9 16:00 M. Murcek [4]
4 17:15 Frank G [4]
1 12:01 M. Murcek [11]
6 11:20 g(r)omgoru [7]
9 23:20 Lex [7]
9 16:25 Lex [5]
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20 20:09 Hupuling Sforza8933 [13]
7 10:21 g(r)omgoru [4]
6 20:12 Hupuling Sforza8933 [13]
8 20:43 DarthVader [8]
2 17:44 NoMoreBS [11]
9 18:27 ruprecht [9]
Afghanistan
Over 1.051m Afghans voted in over 2.5 thousand polling stations in today’s presidential elections
[KhaamaPress] The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced later tonight that more than 1.051 million voters cast their votes in over 2.5 thousand polling stations across the country in today’s presidential elections.

The IEC officials told news hounds that they have received the results of 2,597 polling stations out of 4,942 polling stations from across Afghanistan.

The officials further added that the information received by IEC indicate that 1,051,998 voters cast their votes in more than 2,590 polling stations.

Voting for presidential elections kicked off at around 7 am local time in Afghanistan on Saturday and continued until 5 pm.

The officials had earlier reported around 9.6 million have registered their names for the presidential elections.

No Major Challenge Reported As Polling Continues: IEC

[ToloNews] The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday said that they are currently not experiencing the challenges they faced in last year’s parliamentary elections.

"So far we have not faced the challenges we had in the parliamentary elections. We urge the people of Afghanistan to cast their votes and decide their fate. This is a fight for democracy." said Mirza Mohammad Haqparast, front man for the IEC.

"Sensitive material was delivered to all 34 provinces. Backup devices and technical experts are available to deal with any possible problem," he said.

Haqparast stated that around 137, 000 observers are observing the election process across the country, and asks for everyone involved in the process to keep their impartiality and stand alongside the people of Afghanistan.

Tolonews journalists have reported several incidents of technical problems with biometric devices (although backup plans were in place) as well as complaints by voters who participated in the last parliamentary elections but who are no longer on the registered voter list.

75% of polling stations are open across Afghanistan, says IEC Chief

[KhaamaPress] The Chairperson of the Independent Election Commission Hawa Alam Nuristani has said 75% of the polling stations are open across the country where the voters can cast their votes.

Speaking during a presser this afternoon, Nuristani said 75% or 4041 polling stations which are open across the country.

She also added that 481 polling stations remain closed across the country but emphasized that all the processes are going forward in a good manner.

The voting process is underway in various parts of the country amid tight security and reports of irregularities in various sites, including irregular lists of voters, malfunctioning of biometrics system.

Reports have also emerged from some parts of the country including Kabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Kunar and some other areas suggesting that small security related incidents have taken.
An Nahar has more here.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  1.051 million voters cast their votes

The population of Afghanistan was estimated at 32.2 million in 2019
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/29/2019 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  To be fair, g(r)omgoru, according to the CIA World Factbook’s Afghanistan entry, the median age of the population is 19, and only half the males and a quarter of females are literate.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/29/2019 1:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Median means 1/2 the population are above 19. And, is literacy a requirement for voting there?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/29/2019 3:10 Comments || Top||

#4  ...its not here, so why should they?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/29/2019 7:53 Comments || Top||

#5  The Jerusalem Post has more numbers, though no comment on a literacy requirement:

Afghanistan's presidential election turnout is unofficially estimated at a little over 2 million voters, said an election commission official on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

There were 9.67 million registered voters for the presidential election on Saturday, its fourth since the Taliban regime was defeated in 2001.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/29/2019 10:35 Comments || Top||


Iraq
#Iraqi PM approves reopening al-Qa'im border crossing with #Syria
[TWITTER]
The Iraqi state news agency INA quoted the Arab country's border agency chief as saying on Friday that the crossing will be opened for travelers and trade on Monday.

The crossing, which connects the town of al-Qa'im in Iraq's Anbar Province to the Syrian city of Bukamal in Syria's Dayr al-Zawr Province, was closed in 2013 to support Iraqi forces in their fight against al-Qaeda militants and later Daesh terrorists.

Al-Qa'im and Bukamal lie on a strategic supply route and the crossing between them had only been open to government or military traffic.
Posted by: Fred || 09/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Iraq removes military commander who defeated ISIS on the ground
[Rudaw] After he liberated djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and defeated the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  ...Wonder if he was getting too popular for the crooks government down Baghdad way...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/29/2019 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  ..well, yeah. Unlike Saddam's day, they weren't shot or shoved into the paper shredder. There is a long long history in that part of the world about successful military commanders and their bosses.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/29/2019 7:51 Comments || Top||

#3  A Shia who's also a successful battlefield commander? He should retire and run for political office.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/29/2019 9:51 Comments || Top||

#4  There is a long long history in that part of the world about successful military commanders and their bosses.

Who shoots first?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/29/2019 10:19 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Why did Fatah close its own official Facebook page? Fear
[Jpost] Fatah closed its own Facebook page, according to page administrator Munir al-Jaghoub.
He often speaks for the party, generally described a Fatah bigwig in the West Bank...
In an interview with Israeli media, Jaghoub said that, "We decided to close it down for a period of time as a precautionary measure. We were worried that Facebook would shut it down permanently because of that Israeli organization’s campaign and complaints against it."

Jaghoub was referring to the watchdog organization Paleostinian Media Watch (PMW), which has run a year-long campaign against the official Facebook page of Fatah, the Paleostinian Authority’s ruling party. Since February, PMW has released two separate, roughly 45-page reports documenting the ways in which the page was being used to glorify mass murderers and terrorists, who were responsible for hundreds of deaths.

Itamar Marcus, PMW’s CEO, recently spoke with the head of Facebook’s global counterterrorism policy team, Brian Fishman, about the organization’s findings. Marcus likewise accused the accused the social media giant of being "Fatah’s partner by choice" and of "promoting Paleostinian terrorism."

Earlier this month, PMW also launched a viral social media campaign called #CloseFatahFB.

A spokeswoman for Facebook told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that it had not shut down the page, but was "in the process of reviewing that content to determine whether it violates our policies."

Marcus said that PMW views Fatah’s decision to close the page "as a striking indicator of the terror content" and that "there is no justification for Facebook to permit Fatah to reopen its page.

"We hope that Facebook will recognize what Fatah itself understands ‐ namely that its Facebook page promotes terror ‐ and keep Fatah’s page permanently closed," Marcus continued. "Facebook should not allow the Facebook platform to become once again a controller for Paleostinian terror promotion."
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/29/2019 10:45 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  Oh, you can keep your facebook page. You can even keep your lives. Just don't live in Judea & Samaria.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/29/2019 11:26 Comments || Top||


Palestinians protest in northern Dead Sea against PM’s West Bank annexation plan
[IsraelTimes] Scuffles break out between IDF soldiers and demonstrators; no reports of arrests.

Over a hundred Paleostinians gathered at an abandoned hotel in the northern Dead Sea on Saturday to protest a pre-election promise by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea and apply Israeli illusory sovereignty there.

The protesters climbed onto the Lido structure, which has largely remained empty since 1967 and is located south of the West Bank city of Jericho, and waved Paleostinian flags before they were dispersed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers. There were no reports of arrests, but videos from the scene showed scuffles between troops and demonstrators.

The Kan public broadcaster reported that protesters were also demonstrating against house demolitions in the area.

The prime minister said before the elections earlier this month that he would annex the Jordan Valley area and the northern Dead Sea (some 25 percent of the West Bank) immediately after he formed a new government, and then later, in coordination with the US, would annex "all the settlements" in the West Bank, the Jewish enclaves in Hebron and other unspecified "vital" areas.

"There is one place where we can apply Israeli illusory sovereignty immediately after the elections," Netanyahu said earlier this month, speaking with a map of the Jordan Valley on an easel next to him. "If I receive from you, citizens of Israel, a clear mandate to do so... today I announce my intention to apply, with the formation of the next government, Israeli illusory sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea."

Israel’s September 17 elections have produced political deadlock, however, with neither Netanyahu nor his rival, Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party, having a clear path to a Knesset majority.

Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
warned on Thursday that he would cancel all diplomatic agreements with Israel if the next Israeli government carries out Netanyahu’s campaign promise to apply Israeli illusory sovereignty over parts of the West Bank.
The Jerusalem Post adds:
Two NGOs – the Palestinian-based Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC) and the Israel-based All That’s Left: Anti-Occupation Collective – organized the event, which was designed to highlight both environmental issues relating to climate change and problems relating to the Israeli rule of the area of the northern Dead Sea, located over the pre-1967 lines.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Thailand appoints new chief peace negotiator
[BenarNews] Thailand’s National Security Council chief said Thursday he would take over next month as head of the Thai negotiating team in peace negotiations with southern insurgents, replacing his predecessor who was appointed only a year ago.

Wanlop Rugsanaoh, the outgoing NSC director-general, told reporters that Udomchai Thammasarorat had resigned as the top negotiator to assume his role as a senator. He said, “Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has appointed me to be new the peace-talks delegation chief in place of Gen. Udomchai Thammasarorat."

A low-ranking southern insurgent said the change in leadership would have no impact on the peace process unless the rebel groups fulfilled their goal of merdeka, the Malay word for independence.

“I personally think no matter who becomes the chief of peace talks, it won’t make any difference if we can’t achieve Merdeka. The (Thai) government set up the peace-talks panel on a lark and played, so we also play our game,” the insurgent who identified himself as Fadueri, said.

He claimed he was a member of Barisan Nasional Revolusi (the National Revolutionary Front, or BRN), the largest among insurgent groups in Thailand’s southern border region.

Wanlop, an ex-director of the Ministry of Defense’s Office of Policy and Planning, has extensive experience dealing with top-level security officials from the United States and other countries.

The Thai cabinet endorsed Wanlop’s nomination as secretary-general of the National Security Council in August 2017. During a cabinet meeting at the time, Prayuth described Wanlop as “well-grounded in security and defense.”
Posted by: ryuge || 09/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Trump rejected Iran’s conditions for meeting Rouhani: Zarif
[PRESSTV] Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says it was US President Donald Trump
...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election...
who wasted his chances for a meeting with Iranian officials on the sidelines of a United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
gathering in New York by rejecting Tehran’s main conditions for such a meeting.

Zarif said on Saturday that Trump was merely trying to hold a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
...Iran's moderate president, which he is, relative to his predecessor, which doesn't mean he's anything but a puppet of the nearest holy man...
during the latter’s stay in New York this week, adding that the US president was unwilling to accept that sanctions imposed by his government on Tehran should be lifted as a main precondition for talks with Iran.

He said, however, that a direct meeting between Trump and Rouhani had never been on agenda and Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
basically wanted a meeting between heads of states signatory to a 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear activity which has suffered since Trump’s administration withdrew from the deal in May 2018.

"Mr Trump did not say that this (lifting of sanctions) would be done after the meeting, but he was more inclined to have the meeting done and said there is also the possibility that sanctions would be lifted after the meeting," Zarif told the Persian service of the IRIB News as he was preparing to leave New York for Tehran.

The comments come after more than a month of speculations about a potential détente between Iran and the US amid growing tensions between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred || 09/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Good for Trump. You don't negotiate by giving away the store at the start.
Posted by: Tom || 09/29/2019 15:37 Comments || Top||


#Turkey plans construction project worth $27 billion in #Syria 'safe zone': TRT
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 09/29/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Turkey's newest province.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/29/2019 21:05 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
5Taliban
4Commies
2Islamic State
2Govt of Pakistain Proxies
2Govt of Iraq
1PFLP
1PLO
1Sublime Porte
1Thai Insurgency
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1Fatah
1Govt of Iran
1Hamas
1Houthis

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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2019-09-29
  Susan Rice: Obama Put Call Transcripts On Top Secret Server, Too
Sat 2019-09-28
  Egypt Armed Forces kills 118 takfiris in anti-terrorism operations in north, central Sinai; 10 army personnel killed, injured: Statement
Fri 2019-09-27
  US deploys air defense systems, troops to Saudi Arabia
Thu 2019-09-26
  Israeli woman stabbed near Modiin; 14-year-old Palestinian arrested
Wed 2019-09-25
  High Alert In India As JeM Cells Feared Active | Balakot Camp Reopens For Business
Tue 2019-09-24
  Iraqi court sentences 6 IS militants to death over 2013 car bomb attack
Mon 2019-09-23
  Aramco’s Repairs Could Take Months Longer Than Company Anticipates
Sun 2019-09-22
  Greek police make arrest in 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847
Sat 2019-09-21
  US to send troops to Saudi Arabia, hold off on striking Iran
Fri 2019-09-20
  NJ man charged with scouting landmarks for Hezbollah, trying to kill Israeli spy
Thu 2019-09-19
  Man arrested in terrorism probe told FBI he'd execute a US service member for ISIS
Wed 2019-09-18
  Half of Saudi Aramco production restored
Tue 2019-09-17
  Special Forces kill 14 Taliban militants; destroy multiple weapons caches in 3 provinces
Mon 2019-09-16
  Iran seizes another oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Gulf crisis erupts
Sun 2019-09-15
  Turkey orders arrest of 223 military personnel over suspected Gulen links: State media


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