[DAWN] Afghan President Ashraf Ghani demanded tough action from Pakistan against Afghan Taliban militants in a letter seeking greater anti-terrorism cooperation, after facing strong public criticism over a controversial intelligence-sharing deal between the neighbours.
The spy agencies of both countries this month agreed to trade intelligence and bolster cooperation in their fight against the Taliban, the latest sign of a thaw in once-frosty ties.
The Afghan government played down the significance of the deal, which triggered uproar in parliament and an avalanche of public criticism, with many accusing Ghani's government of selling out to Pakistan.
In the letter, whose contents were shared by officials with AFP on Sunday, Ghani asked Islamabad's civilian and military leadership to condemn the Afghan Taliban's annual spring offensive and reiterated Kabul's longstanding demand of denying insurgents sanctuary on their side of the border.
The letter also demanded that Pakistan place Taliban leaders in Quetta and Peshawar under house arrest and detain members of the Taliban-allied Haqqani network “responsible for recent terror campaign in Afghanistan”.
The letter comes as the Taliban intensify their annual spring offensive, launched in late April, which has sent civilian casualties soaring.
It marks the first fighting season in which Afghan forces will battle the insurgents without the full support of US-led foreign combat troops.
Afghan officials have frequently accused Pakistan of harbouring and nurturing Taliban insurgents, who are waging a 13-year war against local and foreign troops in the country.
But Ghani has actively courted Pakistan, which has historically backed the Taliban, since coming to power in what observers say is a calculated gambit to pressure the insurgents to the negotiating table.
Afghanistan's engagement with Pakistan in its fight against the Taliban is seen as a major policy shift from the previous Hamid Karzai government, which accused Islamabad of destabilising Kabul.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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HARGEISA, Somalia(land) -- Somaliland’s separatist administration in northwestern Somalia has rescinded its decision to profile Somalis fleeing from Yemen conflict at Berbera port after widespread condemnations on Saturday, Garowe Online reports.
Somaliland Resettlement Minister Ali Saed Reygal disclosed at media briefing in the capital Hargeisa that from now on they will receive people fleeing from Yemen crisis without regional profiling.
“After we confirmed that refugees wouldn’t harm Somaliland through [security] checks, we have decided to welcome Yemen influx,” said Reygal.
He added that UNHCR and IOM agreed to assist Somalis returning from Yemen in transport costs.
So someone got to wet his beak and now everything's okay...
Somaliland earned condemnations for refusing to disembark Somali children and women on account of their regions. Federal Government of Somalia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Abdisalan Hadliye Omar called the move ‘astonishing’ which goes against United Nations Refugees Convention.
Located in northwestern Somalia, Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of the country as de fact sovereign state in 1991 but it has not been recognized internationally yet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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Tripoli -- Libya’s Tripoli-based government on Sunday called for an armed “mobilisation” against the Daesh group after the militants claimed a suicide bombing that killed five fighters allied to the government. A statement by the Tripoli government, which is not recognised by the international community, urged “officers, soldiers... and all security forces and revolutionaries to mobilise” against Daesh.
It also urged the international community to help it fight the “takfiri” militant group, saying it posed a “big threat” to Libya’s security.
“The Tripoli government is determined to continue fighting extremism and criminal gangs who operate under what is known as Daesh until they are uprooted,” the statement added.
It came hours after Daesh claimed a suicide bomb attack against the militia alliance Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) that installed the Tripoli government, killing five of its fighters.
The dawn blast in northwest Libya is the latest in a series of attacks by IS in the politically divided North African country, where the militants have exploited chaos to gain a growing foothold.
“A car suicide bomber blew himself up near a checkpoint at an entrance of Dafniya,” between the town of Zliten and Libya’s third city Misrata, said a spokesman for Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn). The attack killed five fighters and wounded seven others, he added.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack in a message posted on Twitter, identifying the suicide bomber as a Tunisian named Abu Wahib Al Tunsi. The militant group also warned Fajr Libya to be ready for “war”.
“The apostates of Fajr Libya... must know that a war is coming to cleanse the land of their filth unless they repent and go back to their true religion,” said the extremist group.
Fajr Libya seized power in Tripoli last year, installing a new government and parliament in the capital opposed to the administration recognised by the international community and elected legislature.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[TIME] A college student who was killed in 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... on Friday after halting a jacket wallah who had attempted to enter a packed mosque is being remembered as a hero.
Abduljaleel Alarbash, an undergraduate who was studying electrical engineering at Wichita State University, and his cousin were working security at the mosque in the port city of Dammam, roles for which they volunteered after a recent mosque attack, The Wichita Eagle reports. Alarbash became alarmed when someone dressed in all black attempted to go inside--women had been told to remain at home due to safety. The bomber was reported to have blown himself up, in an attack claimed by 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 Greater Syria (ISIS), after Alarbash tried to turn him in.
"They saved a lot of lives," Yagoob "Jacob" Alsarouj, a close friend of Alarbash and recent graduate of WSU, said. "What he did was a selfless act ... that's something really to be proud of."
Abduljaleel, 22, had returned to Saudi Arabia to get married and was due back to school in the fall, according to a professor who taught him in the spring.
"I am not surprised that Abduljaleel did what he had to do to save the lives of all those people by giving up his own so readily," said Preethika Kumar, one of Alarbash's professors, in a statement. "In my faith, when someone is able to love God so deeply to the extent of putting their neighbor before themselves always, even to the point of laying their life down, he or she is a saint."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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More than 4,200 migrants trying to reach Europe have been rescued from boats in the Mediterranean in last 24 hours, the Italian coastguard said on Saturday. In some of the most intense Mediterranean migrant traffic of the year, a total of 4,243 people have been saved from fishing boats and rubber dinghies in 22 operations involving ships from nations including Italy, Ireland, Germany, Belgium and Britain.
On Friday the Italian navy said 17 dead bodies had been found on one of the boats off Libya. Details of the nationalities of the victims and how they died have not yet been released.
Migrants escaping war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East this year have been pouring into Italy, which has been bearing the brunt of Mediterranean rescue operations. Most depart from the coast of Libya, which has descended into anarchy since Western powers backed a 2011 revolt that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.
Calm seas are increasingly favouring departures as warm spring weather sets in.
Last month around 800 migrants drowned off Libya in the Mediterranean’s most deadly shipwreck in living memory when their 20-metre long fishing boat capsized and sank.
That spurred the European Union to agree on a naval mission to target gangs smuggling migrants from Libya, but a broader plan to deal with the influx is in doubt due to a dispute over national quotas for housing asylum seekers.
Around 35,500 migrants arrived in Italy from the beginning of the year up to the first week of May, the UN refugee agency estimated, a number which has swelled considerably since. About 1,800 are either dead or missing.
Most of those rescued on Friday and Saturday are expected to reach ports around southern Italy during the weekend. The British naval vessel HMS Bulwark offloaded more than 740 early on Saturday at the southeastern Italian port of Taranto.
European Union authorities have pressed member states to share the burden of housing refugees more fairly through a resettlement quota system.
How about resettling them in Libya? Lots of room there. If that doesn't work there's always Mauritania...
However, an EU plan to disperse 40,000 migrants from Italy and Greece to other countries met with resistance this week. Britain said it would not participate and some eastern states called for a voluntary scheme.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The government and the military on Saturday used Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... 's visit to the Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI) headquarters for a briefing on security matters, especially those related to concerns about suspected subversive role of India's spy outfit -- the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) -- and the controversial "fighting terror with terror" comment made by the Indian defence minister last week.
But something surprising was that Afghanistan's intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS), with which Pakistain signed a cooperation agreement earlier this month, was back on the ISI's radar, according to one account from the meeting.
Both the Prime Minister's Office and the military front man in statements on Mr Sharif's visit to the ISI offices said he expressed his concerns "over actions of foreign intelligence agencies in destabilising the country".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] The anti-IS coalition will meet in Gay Paree Tuesday after a series of shock battlefield gains by the jihadists, with Iraq under pressure to step up its fight by being more inclusive of the Sunni minority.
The main focus of the meeting will be the crisis in Iraq, where the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group seized the city of Ramadi two weeks ago in the biggest blow to the U.S.-led coalition since it began bombarding jihadist positions in August.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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Thick black smoke rising from the Baiji oil refinery could be seen as a dirty smudge on the horizon as far away as Baghdad after fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) set fire to the enormous processing plant just over 100 miles north of the capital last week. The decision to torch the refinery, which once produced around a third of Iraq’s domestic fuel supplies, was made as the insurgents prepared to pull out of Baiji, which they captured last June in a victory that sent shock waves across world oil markets.
A year on from the start of the siege and a shaky alliance of the Middle East’s major Arab powers, with the limited support of the reluctant US government, has failed to contain the expansion of Isil.
The problem for the US and the rest of the industrialised world is that the Middle East controls 60pc of proven oil reserves and with it the keys to the global economy. Should Isil capture a major oil field in Iraq, or overwhelming the government, the consequences for energy markets and the financial system would be potentially catastrophic.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#4
So IIUC, IOW the Arab League has to learn to fight together as a unified org or body to defeat the ISIS - will the US-West including Israel accept this???
[AnNahar] Iraqi security forces lost 2,300 Humvee armored vehicles when 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.... jihadist group overran the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday.
"In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons," Abadi said in an interview with Iraqiya state TV. "We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone."
While the exact price of the vehicles varies depending on how they are armored and equipped, it is clearly a hugely expensive loss that has boosted IS' capabilities.
Last year, the State Department approved a possible sale to Iraq of 1,000 Humvees with increased Armour, machineguns, grenade launchers, other gear and support that was estimated to cost $579 million.
Clashes began in Mosul, Iraq's second city, late on June 9, 2014, and Iraqi forces lost it the following day to IS, which spearheaded an offensive that overran much of the country's Sunni Arab heartland.
The snuffies gained ample arms, ammunition and other equipment when multiple Iraqi divisions fell apart in the country's north, abandoning gear and shedding uniforms in their haste to flee.
IS has used captured Humvees, which were provided to Iraq by the United States, in subsequent fighting, rigging some with explosives for suicide kabooms.
Iraqi security forces backed by Shiite militias have regained significant ground from IS in Diyala and Salaheddin provinces north of Baghdad.
But that momentum was slashed in mid-May when IS overran Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, west of Baghdad, where Iraqi forces had held out against snuffies for more than a year.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"...and it seemed like such a good idea to get out of the Humvee with a full tank of gas and run away from the bad guys into the desert on foot."
#6
Iff the Anti-US US' future OWG Co-Superpower sibling RISING IRAN is intended to lead in the ME + any ME OWG Union(s), THEN THESE LOST US HUMVEES SHOULD RIGHTLY BE LOST "IRANIAN" VARIANTS OF SAME.
This Artic indirectly tells me that Iran's Economy = Military-Industrial Complex STILL has a lg Lg Long LONG L-O-N-G LLLOOOOONNNGGGG WAY TO GO BEFORE IRAN IS READY TO LEAD, LET ALONE DOMINATE, THE ME AS PER OWG-NWO.
REGIONAL POWER, TRANS-, GREAT POWER, "SOLE" SUPERPOWER, OR CO-SUPERPOWER, ECONOMIC POWER GOES HAND-IN-HAND WID EVERYTHING ELSE..
DITTO AS PER IRAN'S = AMERIKA'S OTHER CO-SUPERPOWER "SIBLINGS" IN OWG GLOBALISM CHINA + RUSSIA + OTHER.
Jerusalem -- An imprisoned commander of Hamas’s armed wing who is serving 67 life terms has been placed in solitary confinement for speaking to a radio station, Israel’s prisons authority said on Sunday.
Commander of that prison is about to be reassigned...
Abdallah Barghouti gave an interview to Hamas radio using a mobile telephone “smuggled into the prison where he is being held, and has been placed in an isolation cell,” said spokeswoman Sivan Weizman. The duration of his stay in solitary confinement has yet to be determined, she added.
Barghouti is a leading commander of the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement which is the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip.
Arrested in 2003 by Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency, Barghouti was sentenced to 67 life terms by a military court the following year over attacks in the Jewish state that killed 66 and wounded hundreds more.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
67 life terms? His life and who else's?
Should have been sentenced to one life term.....at the bottom of the Med.
[Rudaw] Kurdish and other opposition forces in Syria announced operation "Euphrates Volcano" on Friday, whose aim is to liberate remaining villages and countryside around the city of Kobane that are still controlled by the so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS).
The special operation involves the Shams al-Shimal, Siwwar al-Reqa and Syrian Free Army (FSA), fighting under the leadership of the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG).
The forces intend to push the Death Eaters out of areas around Kobane that have remained under ISIS control since the Kurdish victory in Kobane in late January.
Mission commanders called on civilians to keep away from war zones where the operation is being launched.
The "Euphrates Volcano" operations were kicked off at a formal ceremony Friday south of Kobane.
The first stage aims at logistical degradation of ISIS by cutting off all road links to its fighters. The goal is to liberate the region of "Til Ebyad" (Gre Spi in Kurdish), and put in place an administration comprised of all the different minorities and sects.
Abu Issa, commander of Siwwar al-Reqa, told Rudaw that his force will work hard to create a regional council from all minorities which would enable protection of the region.
A YPG commander said that the most important element of the operation was to have cooperation among all the forces, Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and all other minorities, in an effort to arrive at peaceful coexistence.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Deputy Head of Hezbollah's Executive Councilm Sheikh Nabil Qawouk, accused some Lebanese sides of betting on 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... myrmidons.
"Some Lebanese are covering these Takfiris. They deny their presence and their occupation to Lebanese territories in Arsal barrens, despite their rockets attacks on several Lebanese towns and despite the boom-mobileings which targeted our towns," Sheikh Qawouk said during a local ceremony in Leb's south.
These moves "contradict to principles of national illusory sovereignty and dignity, since they (these sides) are ignoring and turning a blind eye to the Takfiri threat," Sheikh Qawouk said.
His eminence noted that "those who asked Israel in 2006 (July War) to occupy Bint Jbeil and to destroy Beirut's southern suburb (Dahiyeh) are those themselves who are betting on these Syrian-based Takfiris."
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, the pilot and the copilot had both hit the silk.
Jack! Cynthia exclaimed. Do you know how to drive one of these things?
Jack wiped some of the blood from his knuckles.
No, he said. Do you?... Sheikh Qawouk stressed that the resistance equation is superior to all stances announced by March 14 powers that are defending these Takfiris and trying to create sectarian strife in Leb.
Historic achievements which taking place today in Qalamoun is for the sake of the country, as they defend it against the Takfiri threat, Sheikh Qawouk added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] The families and tribes in Bekaa asserted on Saturday their full support to the Lebanese Army and the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... in their fight against the takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... forces of Evil in Arsal barrens.
The tribal delegations held several meetings to mull the measures that should be taken to confront the takfiri threat, announcing the formation of The Castle Brigade (Liwa'a al-Qala'a) to encounter the terrorists.
Bekaa families called on the government to take the necessary decisions which can protect all the Lebanese from the takfiri peril.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Tehran's pursuit of regional hegemony caused current Yemen civil war, may threaten Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, says defense minister
Israel's defense minister on Wednesday warned that Iran, an ostensible partner in the US-led fight against the Islamic State, has nothing but ill intentions toward Iraq and has cynically perpetuated the conflict in order to ensure that the country remains a failed state.
"He who did not allow stability in Iraq since 2003 is Iran," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies' annual security conference.
Ya'alon said that Tehran's primary goal is to perpetuate the conflict, meaning that it often aids Shiite militias against Sunni forces, and at times, he asserted, has even funded Sunni forces fighting the United States.
"The important thing [to recognize] is that the coalition, as led by the United States, has not be able to stabilize Iraq since 2003," he said.
"Make no mistake," he continued, "Iran does not intend to bring a blessing to Iraq."
Ya'alon admitted that Israel may appear to be "obsessive" in its focus on Iran as a central force of ill in the Middle East, but said that the Islamic Republic is the "center of gravity" in terms of exporting terror around the region. Iran destabilizes states by supporting internal terror with arms, money, training and advice, he said. Iran's pursuit of regional hegemony, Ya'alon added, brought about the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the current civil war in Yemen, and may well threaten Bahrain and perhaps even Saudi Arabia in the future.
And yet, he continued, the P5+1 states are set to sign an agreement with Iran that grants it legitimacy as "a threshold nuclear state" without so much as shutting a single nuclear facility or destroying a single centrifuge.
The deal, which may be finalized by the end of June, would grant the regime more money while it continues to develop missiles that cover every inch of Israel and large swaths of Europe and, in the future, the United States, he said. It's interesting to finally read this posted somewhere else than the comments section.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
06/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Someone finally noticed.
But its about more than keeping Iraq a failed state....
#3
Ditto JohnQC. It takes me a bit longer to get there, but there's no ridiculous airport parking fees, checking bags, long lines, firearms prohibitions, or worn out seats. My F-150 puts me 95% in control.
#10
No - what it is about is getting you accustomed to submitting to Big Government domination of your physical person - in a very direct, unambiguous, and invasive manner.
TSA employees are some of the sorriest examples of humanity out there. Perhaps it is a training ground for future prison guards.
It obviously has nothing to do with actually protecting against meaningful threats.
#11
So the 19th group was disguised as Republicans?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/01/2015 22:37 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Right after 9/11 a TSA idiot confiscated my dog tags and P-38. I carried that P-38 through a lot of hard times, crap, and privation and it astounded me that he thought a P-38 qualified as a weapon.
TSA runs periodic random checks on employees and contractors at LAX. They have nabbed me about four times. Same story, they swipe my badge to see if it is real, pat me down and swab my clothes for explosive residue. I asked them why me and all I got was a shrug
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.
Thick black smoke rising from the Baiji oil refinery could be seen as a dirty smudge on the horizon as far away as Baghdad after fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) set fire to the enormous processing plant just over 100 miles north of the capital last week. The decision to torch the refinery, which once produced around a third of Iraq’s domestic fuel supplies, was made as the insurgents prepared to pull out of Baiji, which they captured last June in a victory that sent shock waves across world oil markets.
Jerusalem -- An imprisoned commander of Hamas’s armed wing who is serving 67 life terms has been placed in solitary confinement for speaking to a radio station, Israel’s prisons authority said on Sunday.
[ALMANAR.LB] Deputy Head of Hezbollah's Executive Councilm Sheikh Nabil Qawouk, accused some Lebanese sides of betting on 
