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Today: 65 articles and 165 comments as of 15:23.
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Armenians Storm Capital Demanding PM Resign After Azerbaijan Victory Parade
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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1 13:02 Sheba Protector of the Hohlraums47 [7]
Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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9 11:34 Flusing Darling of the Welsh7929 [9]
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4 13:42 Whusong Elmaviling9270 [9]
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Africa Horn
Trump said to offer $700 million to 9/11 victims to salvage Israel-Sudan deal
[IsraelTimes] Talks are ongoing to save agreement as Sudan pushes for removal from US terror list and future protection from victim lawsuits

The Trump administration reportedly offered victims of the 9/11 terror attacks some $700 million to drop their claims against Sudan as part of an effort to save an agreement that would see the African country normalize ties with Israel in exchange for a removal of Sudan from the US’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Lawyers for the 9/11 claimants asked for $4 billion, a price the administration and Senate Republicans rejected, according to an ABC News report on Friday citing sources familiar with the negotiations. The talks are ongoing, ABC News said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Amnesty International: Malta Violates Human Rights by Cooperating with the Libyan Government
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:09 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arab Parliament Reaffirms Support for Libyan Stability
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:07 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Erdogan Asks Turkish Parliament to Extend Troop Deployment in Libya
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:06 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


US adopts map of Morocco that includes Western Sahara
[ENGLISHBETA.ALARABIYA.NET] The US adopted Saturday a "new official" map of Morocco that includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the ambassador to Rabat said.
For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

"This map is a tangible representation of President Trump’s bold proclamation two days ago -- recognizing Morocco’s illusory sovereignty over Western Sahara," Ambassador David Fischer said before signing the "new official US government map of the kingdom of Morocco".


Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I noticed that Google Maps already reflected the changes.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 12/13/2020 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  ..does it already reflect Taiwan as part of China?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/13/2020 7:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Surprisingly, no it doen't. However the map shows it as Taiwan and no mention of it being ROC.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 12/13/2020 17:09 Comments || Top||


Russia condemns US recognition of Morocco's claim to Western Sahara
[ENGLISHBETA.ALARABIYA.NET] Russia on Friday condemned US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
’s decision to recognize Morocco’s illusory sovereignty over Western Sahara, saying it contravened international law.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov called the US decision "unilateral," Russian news agencies reported, adding that "there are relevant resolutions, there is the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara."

"This is a violation of international law," Bogdanov said.

Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco’s control, where tensions with the pro-independence Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s.

The Algerian-backed movement holds a fifth of Western Sahara and has campaigned for a vote on self-determination through decades of war and deadlock.

With barely a month left in office, Trump fulfilled a decades-old goal of Morocco’s by backing its illusory sovereignty in Western Sahara. The move was part of the outgoing US leader’s diplomatic push to bring Israel and Arab states together.

He announced on Thursday that Morocco was now the fourth Arab state this year to recognize Israel.

Russia’s Bogdanov said Moscow saluted better ties between Morocco and Israel.

"That Arab countries are building bridges with Israel is positive, we can only support this," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Israel is on 'our borders and awaiting to target Algeria': Algerian PM
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Algerian Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Djerad, said that his country is targeted from several directions, in addition to the imminent regional danger and instability in the area, calling for the union to confront the threats.During his participation in a historical symposium on the events of December 12, 1960, Djerad said, "There is a real will for the Zionist entity to reach our borders within the framework of an external scheme to target Algeria."

The minister stressed the need to intensify the efforts of all Algerians to solve internal problems.

The comments by the Algerian Prime Minister come just two days after Morocco announced its historic normalization agreement with Israel, which was mediated by the United States.

As a result of Morocco’s decision to normalize relations with Israel, the United States has agreed to recognize Rabat’s illusory sovereignty over Western Sahara, a move that received heavy condemnation from several countries.

Furthermore, the U.S. is in the process of selling Morocco their MQ-9 reaper drones, which Rooters said was close to be completed.

Morocco was the fourth 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...
country in the last three months to normalize relations with Israel; it is expected that a few more will do so by the end of U.S. President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
’s tenure.



Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Moroccan PM slams Trump plan, pledges backing for Palestinians after Israel deal
[IsraelTimes] Saad-Eddine El Othmani, who previously expressed opposition to normalization with Jewish state, lashes out at White House peace framework and alleged efforts to ’Judaize’ Jerusalem.

King Mohammed VI has the last say over major diplomatic decisions.
Morocco’s prime minister on Friday said the decision to normalize ties with Israel as part of a US-brokered agreement would not affect Rabat’s support for the Paleostinians.

Saad-Eddine El Othmani, noted Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s phone call Thursday to Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Arabia
Turkish military conducts exercises with Qatari Special Forces
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


‘Ma koreh?’ Dubaians cheerfully pick up Hebrew as Israelis see what’s up in UAE
Normalcy? How very odd.
[IsraelTimes] At the mall, Rafi and Nissim sip coffee and shop, while a Syria-born salesman at Sephora initially flinches but then decides his Israeli customers are in fact very nice.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trump's legacy: peace, prosperity

Obama & Democrats' legacy: Antifa, BLM, "defund police", soaring murder rates, economic devastation
Posted by: Clomoling Gray5077 || 12/13/2020 10:18 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Erdogan from Baku: ''May the soul of Enver Pasha be blessed''
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Wikipedia: Ismail Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا‎; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa; 22 November 1881 – 4 August 1922) was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. He became the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and in World War I (1914–18). In the course of his career he was known by increasingly elevated titles as he rose through military ranks, including Enver Efendi (انور افندي‎), Enver Bey (انور بك‎), and finally Enver Pasha, "pasha" being the honorary title Ottoman military officers gained on promotion to the rank of Mirliva (major general).

After the Ottoman coup d’état of January 1913, Enver Pasha became (4 January 1914) the Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire, forming one-third of the triumvirate known as the "Three Pashas" (along with Talaat Pasha and Djemal Pasha) who held de facto rule over the Empire from 1913 until the end of World War I in 1918. As war minister and de facto Commander-in-Chief (despite his role as the de jure Deputy Commander-in-Chief, as the Sultan formally held the title), Enver Pasha was one of the most powerful figures of the government of the Ottoman Empire.[2][3][4] Along with Talaat and Djemal, he was one of the principal perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide,[5][6][7] of the Assyrian Genocide and of the Greek Genocide and thus is held responsible for the death of between 800,000 and 1,800,000[8][9][10][11] Armenians, 300,000 Assyrians and 350,000 Greeks.

Prior to World War I, he was hailed at home as "the hero of the revolution", and Europeans often spoke of Ottoman Turkey as "Enverland".[12]
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:04 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Mercenaries from Syria who were used as 'cannon fodder' and who died fighting for Azerbaijan were not even acknowledged in today's military parade in Baku
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Ottoman Proxies


Fifth Column
Evicted Former Owners of 'Little Red House' in Portland Living in a Second Home They Own
[PJMedia] The ’Little Red House" in Portland has become another lightning rod for activists looking to upend the system and ordinary people wanting sanity to prevail. Essentially, a black family, the Kinneys, lost the house through foreclosure in 2018 and have refused to leave, leading to confrontations between police and protesters wishing to stop the "gentrification" of the neighborhood.

Another victim of capitalism, right? Well, not exactly. Instead of the poor black family getting thrown out into the street, as they are being portrayed by activists and the media, are doing quite nicely in a second home they own.

Fox News:

The Kinney family has continued legal challenges to their eviction, and they have stayed at a second home during the protests that’s located less than 2 miles from the "Red House," OPB reported.

When OPB news hounds visited the home, the Kinneys’ son Michael answered the door, confirming that the family owned it, but then told the outlet they needed to schedule an interview for any further questions.

Both the red house and the home the Kinneys are living in now were purchased by the mother, Pauline, in the 1950s. After paying off the house, the family was forced to take out another mortgage to pay for legal fees after a family member was arrested in 2002.

Roman Ozeruga, 33, bought the house through a foreclosure sale in 2018 for $260,000. Any family that owns two homes in a city with property values as high as Portland’s should not be pleading poverty.

Ozeruga has offered to sell the house at cost back to the Kinneys if it will cool off the situation.

"We appreciate the opportunity to listen to what people have to say," Ozeruga said in a statement to Portland TV station KGW. "We are very much open to listen to proposals that can de-escalate and prevent violence that would benefit the neighborhood & community."

It’s amazing that the Kinneys are trying to make this a BLM issue.

"The tactics we are facing, of sneaky and illegal foreclosure tactics, predatory banking and loans, elected judges who take campaign contributions from the real estate industry, coupled with violence from law enforcement and no real due process, have been used across this historically Black neighborhood to displace Black and poor people," Julie Metcalf Kinney, the family matriarch, said in a statement. "If Black and Indigenous lives matter in Portland, this must stop."

Did they miss any left-wing catchphrases? "Illegal foreclosure tactics"? "Predatory banking"? Judges who "take campaign contributions from the real estate industry"? Nope, they didn’t.

They don’t have to prove any of that. They don’t have to cite examples. They don’t even have to offer any evidence. We must believe every word they utter because...well, just because.

Like many shootings of unarmed or poorly armed black kids, this issue hasn’t been created to help a family or even prove a point about "gentrification." It’s been made into an issue because it will draw national attention and, with expert enough spinning, it can be twisted into an issue of race.

A not-very-poor family was evicted for not paying what they rightfully and legally owed on a house. How that translates into racism is a matter for the expert propagandists at Black Lives Matter.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2020 00:12 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Antifa/BLM

#1  We are at the point where in many places just being black is considered sufficient cause to feel that criminal and civil law shouldn’t apply, and any remedy is inherently racist. Once this privileged status is imprinted its never going to be completely erased. Society with a numerical majority of white people being assigned inferior rights will inevitably split in violence. Sadly, with voter fraud, they have seized the government powers which will hasten civil war I think.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/13/2020 13:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Derbyshire: Some are "above the law." Others are below the law.

Democrat officials, left wing activists, trannies and black Americans are in the former group.

White Republicans, Christians, and other white religious or otherwise normal Americans are in the latter group.
Posted by: Knuckles Hatfield8626 || 12/13/2020 13:58 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel inks deal establishing diplomatic relations with Bhutan
Everyone wants to get things tied up with a ribbon before a hypothetical Biden administration starts throwing its weight around?
[IsraelTimes] Israeli envoy to India hosts signing ceremony with Bhutanese ambassador; small Himalayan kingdom maintains full ties with just over 50 countries.

Israel has established full diplomatic ties with Bhutan, a small, majority-Buddhist landlocked kingdom in the Himalayas neighboring India and China.

The agreement was signed on Saturday at a ceremony held at the residence of Israel’s Ambassador to India Ron Malka, with the ambassador of Bhutan to India Major General Vetsop Namgyel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the development, calling it an "additional fruit of the peace agreements."

"We are in contact with additional countries that want to join and establish relations with us," Netanyahu added.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday that Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi spoke with his Bhutanese counterpart, Foreign Minister Tandy Dorji, last week, where the two agreed on the signing date as well as a joint work plan to collaborate in the areas of water management, agriculture, and health.

"The circle of recognition of Israel is growing and expanding," Ashkenazi said in a Foreign Ministry statement. "The establishment of relations between us and the Kingdom of Bhutan will serve as another milestone in deepening Israeli ties to Asia."

Israel’s previous lack of relations with Bhutan was not linked to the conflict with the Paleostinians nor to the US-brokered agreements seeking normalization with Israel from Moslem states, but rather a result of Bhutan’s isolationist policies. The remote kingdom has a population of just over 770,000 people and only began allowing foreign tourists into the country in 1970. TV and internet were legalized in 1999.

The foreign ministry said Israel has maintained secret contacts with Bhutan in recent years that have included visits by delegations from Israel to the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu, and by Bhutan officials to Israel.
This secret contacts thingy is a leit motif in each of the reports thus far...
Bhutan has diplomatic relations with just over 50 countries, a list that includes Canada, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Brazil, Argentina
...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita...
, and Cuba. The US and the UK, countries that don’t have full diplomatic relations with the kingdom, maintain informal contacts with Bhutan via India.

Bhutan famously measures quality of life by Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
'Israel's end is nearing after the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist': IRGC commander
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1 
Most unoriginal. Famous last words since BCE.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 12/13/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  "Youze guys are SO gonna get it!"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/13/2020 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  "The walls are closing in"
Posted by: Jeremiah Hupaick1801 || 12/13/2020 9:09 Comments || Top||

#4  You've never managed it before, Jack@ss. What makes you think (and I use the word loosely) you'd manage it this time?

More likely your personal end is coming. :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 12/13/2020 19:36 Comments || Top||


Lebanon recruitment agencies benefit from sponsorship system, lobby against reforms
[ENGLISHBETA.ALARABIYA.NET] Various attempts to dismantle Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s heavily criticized domestic worker sponsorship program have failed over the years, and now, new research shows that some in Lebanon benefit financially from the system, leaving little impetus for a corrupt ruling elite to abolish it.

Activists estimate that one to two migrant workers die in Lebanon every week, yet the kafala system persists as it props up a financially lucrative industry where recruiters, government entities, and service providers benefit, argue researchers Jonathan Dagher, David Wood, and Jacob Boswall.

The primary beneficiaries from the kafala system are local recruitment agencies who earned approximately $57.5 million in revenues in 2019 alone, according to the findings of Beirut-based Triangle Research, Policy and Media Centre.

This is assuming the minimum recruitment fee is earned, estimated to range between $1,800 and $4,300 by the Syndicate of Owners of Recruitment Agencies in Lebanon (SORAL); the fees depend on the agency and the worker’s nationality.

There is no definitive data on the profit generated by beneficiaries of the kafala system due to lack of transparency in the industry, but "it is definitely profitable," said Boswall, who is an economic researcher at Triangle.

Deemed as a form of "modern day slavery" by Human Rights Watch, the kafala system excludes migrant workers from Lebanon’s labor laws and gives authority of their immigration status and employment to a sponsor (kafeel) instead.

There were attempts to reform aspects of the current system over the past months, but they have been struck down.

"The lobbying led by SORAL against reforms in the last few months was motivated by private economic interests," he told Al Arabiya English. SORAL was the main group that lobbied against reform attempts.

Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
6Sublime Porte
4Ottoman Proxies
3Antifa/BLM
3Govt of Iran
2Taliban
2Arab Spring
2Govt of Iran Proxies
2Islamic State
1Govt of Syria
1Hezbollah
1Commies
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Sudan

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2020-12-13
  Armenians Storm Capital Demanding PM Resign After Azerbaijan Victory Parade
Sat 2020-12-12
  Killer of Lebanon's Hariri sentenced to life in prison, remains at large: UN court
Fri 2020-12-11
  Trump hails Israel & Morocco establishing relations as 'massive breakthrough' — and recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over W. Sahara
Thu 2020-12-10
  Yet Another Muslim Country Joins Abraham Accords With Israel
Wed 2020-12-09
  Hooray! We're back!
Tue 2020-12-08
  Antifa super spreader in Portland.
Mon 2020-12-07
  Italian police round up migrant-smuggling ring, arrest 19
Sun 2020-12-06
  US Congress Moves to Block Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal
Sat 2020-12-05
  GNA Signs Military Agreement with Italy
Fri 2020-12-04
  Turkish-backed factions’ violations Al Hamza Division storms village in Ras al Ain countryside
Thu 2020-12-03
  Hezbollah's Nasrallah to move to Iran amid regional tensions - report
Wed 2020-12-02
  Appeal opens against reversal of Briton’s conviction in Daniel Pearl killing
Tue 2020-12-01
  James O'Keefe To Release Months Of 9AM CNN President Jeff Zucker's Conference Calls Today
Mon 2020-11-30
  Ethiopia says military operation in Tigray region is over, hunt for Tigray leaders begins
Sun 2020-11-29
  Militant attack on farm in Nigeria leaves 40 dead


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