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Today: 64 articles and 201 comments as of 15:39.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Russian warplanes unleash massive attack against ISIS after ambush on Syrian Army bus
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
Afghan Army Pilot Massoud Atal Buried in Kandahar
That was fast. He was only killed yesterday.
[ToloNews] Massoud Atal, a military pilot, who was shot and killed by unidentified button men in PD14 of Kandahar city on Wednesday afternoon, wa laid to rest in his hometown in Kandahar province on Thursday.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch cautiously raised his hat over the edge of the horse trough on the end of a stick......
the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that Atal had pursued his education abroad and was expected to complete his training on nighttime flights in the near future.

After completing his education in Afghan Air Force Academy Atal went to Czechia and then to the US where he pursued his education.

"He was educated abroad. Investments were made on him and he became a pilot, but he is lost--simple as that. Was the government unable to give him a guard?" said Zabiullah, Atal’s cousin.

"The government has a responsibility to protect its cadres," said Bismillah, a friend of Atal.

"From the human perspective, the context of military power, and also from an economic perspective, such attacks are devastating," said Atiqullah Amarkhel, a military analyst in Kabul.

No group immediately grabbed credit for the attack.

Atal was 29 and had more than 50 hours of flight time in his career.

Over the past years, many pilots from Afghanistan have pursued their education in Czechia, the US and the UAE.

DEADLY WAVE OF TARGETED KILLINGS
Interior Affairs Minister Massoud Andarabi on Tuesday, while speaking to the Afghan senate about the security situation in the country and particularly in Kabul, said that the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
is behind the assassinations.

"The Taliban had major plans to overrun more areas in the provinces including Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
, but they were prevented, causing the group to focus on assassinations in Kabul," Andarabi said.

"The people who were arrested over the assassinations have confessed that a group was created by the Taliban under the name of 'Obaida' in Pashtun-infested Logar province to target babus government employees, journalists and civil society activists to raise the people’s voice against the government," according to Andarabi.

The National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS) Chief Gen. Zia Saraj addressed the Senate also, saying that "over 18,200" hard boy attacks have occurred in the last 10 months, "99% of them by the Taliban."

"The ISIS group was only responsible for one percent of the attacks," he said.

6,100 people have been arrested in the country and"3,600 of them were involved in the insurgency activities."

"70 of these arrested people was involved in murders while seven others were wanted to carry out suicide kabooms," he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  ...IRC, Islam requires burials as quickly as possible, so within 24 hours isn't unreasonable.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/01/2021 8:15 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Govt Vows to Restore Stability after Deadly Attack
[AnNahar] The new power-sharing Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
i government vowed on Thursday to bring stability to the war-torn country, a day after a fatal attack destroyed Aden's airport targeting cabinet members.

At least 26 people, including three members of the International Committee of the Red Thingy, were killed and scores were maimed when explosions rocked the airport as ministers disembarked from an aircraft in the southern city.

All cabinet members were reported to be unharmed, in what some ministers charged was an attack by the Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s
.

Video footage shot by AFP shows what appears to be a missile striking the airport apron, which moments before had been packed with crowds, and exploding into a ball of intense flames.

But it is still not fully clear what caused the earth-shattering kabooms.

Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak told AFP on Thursday the new unity government is up to the challenges facing a country that has long been the Arab Peninsula's most impoverished nation.

"The government is determined to fulfil its duty and work to restore stability in Yemen," he said.

"This terrorist attack will not deter it from that."

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in Yemen's grinding five-year war, which has triggered what the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

The cabinet ministers arrived in Aden days after being sworn in by Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi 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...
, which leads a military coalition against the Huthi Death Eaters.

Hadi fled to Riyadh after Yemen's capital Sanaa fell to the Huthis in 2014.

The new government includes ministers loyal to Hadi and supporters of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, as well as other parties.

While all oppose the Houthis, deep divisions have grown among them, including through sporadic military festivities in and around Aden between the secessionists and forces loyal to the central government.

Saudi Arabia has been encouraging the unity government to quell the "war within a civil war" and to bolster the coalition against the Huthi Death Eaters, which control Sanaa and much of the north.

Some ministers, including Mubarak, blamed the Huthi Death Eaters for the attack but other government officials remained more circumspect.

"Information and preliminary investigations show that the Huthi militia was behind this ugly terrorist attack," Mubarak told AFP, adding that missiles were launched from rebel-held areas.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  'Yemen Government' and 'Stability' in the same sentence does not compute.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/01/2021 12:29 Comments || Top||


Houthi forces demand Saudi Arabia release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for pilot
[AlMasdar] The Ansarallah Movement, also known as the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s, accused the Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
i government of thwarting a new round of negotiations on prisoners that the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
called to hold last November in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

The head of the Prisoners’ Affairs Committee in the Ansarallah Movement, Abdul Qadir al-Murtada, was quoted by al-Masirah TV as saying:

"We announced that we had received an invitation from the United Nations for a round of negotiations on prisoners in Amman in order to agree on the numbers and names of the deal, but unfortunately we were surprised that the Islah party refused to attend and failed the tour. "

He continued, "There is a detainee who we have invoked by the Islah party for not attending the negotiations, and he is being detained due to a criminal case ."

Al-Murtada criticized the performance of the United Nations by saying that it "did not exert any pressure on the other side to persuade him to attend the prisoners’ negotiations, even though the Saudi party and the party representing the southern front agreed to attend."

The leader of the Ansarallah Movement accused the government of "thwarting 30 exchanges during 2020 that were agreed upon through local parties, according to which more than 600 prisoners of war are freed from both sides."

He confirmed, "The liberation of 1,087 prisoners during the year 2020, including 670 prisoners during the operation through the United Nations (last October 16), and 417 prisoners through local mediators."

The group "released 150 prisoners during the year 2020, including 64 children who were brought in by the forces of aggression (referring to the Yemeni army) in the battles, and the rest were released for humanitarian reasons."

Al-Murtada announced his group’s refusal to "release Saudi pilots except in exchange for Paleostinian prisoners 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...
(referring to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, detainees in Saudi Arabia, according to a previous accusation made by the group’s leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, to Riyadh on March 26th).

This has been one of the demands by the Ansarallah Movement for over a year; however, the Saudi side has refused to release the Hamas detainees.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Fifth Column
Rittenhouse additionally charged with breaking curfew
Prosecutors throwing everything at the wall in the hope that something sticks.
[PostMillennial] Rittenhouse was hired by a Kenosha business to defend his property from rioters after Jacob Blake was shot in the back by a police officer in the city.

Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who shot three people while being pursued by armed rioters in Kenosha, Wisc. in August, has been handed an additional charge of breaking curfew, News Agency that Dare Not be Named reports.

Rittenhouse was hired by a Kenosha business owner to defend his property from rioters after Jacob Blake was shot and injured by a police officer responding to a domestic dispute. Video footage of the resulting protests and riots showed Rittenhouse putting out fires and offering medical aid to injured demonstrators.

At some point during the riot, Rittenhouse was chased by 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum.
...“Jojo” was a convicted child rapist overly fond of prepubescent boys who was out on bond for beating up his girlfriend. He was there that night to pick fights with those protecting local businesses, and chased Kyle thinking he was someone else he’d confronted earlier. He was trying to grab Kyle‘s gun when he was shot...
During Rosenbaum's pursuit of Rittenhouse, a gunshot was fired, prompting Rittenhouse to turn around and shoot Rosenbaum.

He was then pursued by a crowd of protesters until he tripped, shooting one member of the crowd who struck him with a skateboard
...Anthony Huber, 26, the sweet, avid skateboarder-cum-girlfriend strangler with a fondness for summer riots filmed trying to brain young Kyle with a skateboard. He also got himself killed when he tried to take young Kyle’s gun...
and another who was wielding a firearm.
Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, has convictions for felony burglary and waving a gun around while intoxicated, so it was illegal for him to have a gun that night. He was on staff as a “medic” for the People’s Revolution Movement, a faction of Milwaukee’s Black Lives Matter. He was shot in the arm while aiming his handgun at Kyle, who was on the ground. Gaige later posted on Facebook that he regretted not killing the kid...
Two of the three people he shot were killed in the altercations.

Rittenhouse was charged with homicide, endangerment, and underaged firearm possession. Prosecutors added the charge of breaking curfew on Monday.

The Illinois teen pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
, arguing that he shot the three men in self-defense. The incident has caused some conservatives to rally around Rittenhouse, who they argue was attempting to defend himself as the police abandoned a city to rioters.

#FightBack Foundation, a free speech group that has raised funding for Rittenhouse's legal fees, posted an 11-minute footage to change the narrative. As a result of these efforts, Rittenhouse was able to raise $2 million to secure his bail, setting him free while he awaits trial.

Prosecutors also charged 19-year-old Dominick David Black, the suspected friend who allegedly gave Rittenhouse the rifle he used that fateful August night. Black is facing two felony counts of intentionally selling a gun to a minor.
How does that change if he only loaned the kid the gun — or can it be proved that money changed hands?
Police claim that 150 protesters were arrested for violating curfew during the riots.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Antifa/BLM

#1  ...I think it says something that five months after the fact, they threw the curfew charge on there.

That something being that there's a terror-stricken feeling in the DA's office that busting curfew might be the only thing they feel confident about nailing him on.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/01/2021 8:12 Comments || Top||

#2  1st of all He DEFENDED himself from 3 attackers.
Saying the wording "...shot 3 people" carries a heavily implied CRIMINAL Act presumption.

A lawyer might argue in federal court "selective enforcement & malicious prosecution by the DA". Based on openly bias political reasons by the local court system.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 01/01/2021 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  "we cant get him for murder lets try a curfew violation"
Posted by: irish rage boy || 01/01/2021 8:53 Comments || Top||

#4  And don't forget that overdue library book!
Posted by: Tom || 01/01/2021 10:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Here is a term we learned years ago from the Social Justice Warriors: Jury Nullification. Think it might fit here in even Minnesocold?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 01/01/2021 11:51 Comments || Top||

#6  How about the Antifa folks? Were they breaking curfew too?
Posted by: gorb || 01/01/2021 14:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Don’t confuse with the facts, gorb.
/sarc.

Heh
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/01/2021 15:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Sorry. I forgot.
Posted by: gorb || 01/01/2021 19:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Of things that go bump in the night
That progressives would rather not fight,
Some are baby-faced boys
With traditional toys,
Irrepressibly righteous and bright.
Posted by: Hupusoter Theremp1466 || 01/01/2021 19:08 Comments || Top||

#10  Complete farce. The boy never should have been charged.

This is a political prosecution -- a show trial
Posted by: Claiting Grotch4752 || 01/01/2021 19:12 Comments || Top||

#11  A bomb-throwing BLM p3do
Who couldn't resist his 1ibido
(or even his id),
Shouted, "Shoot me, er, kid!"
And one did. Adios, mi negrito.
Posted by: Hupusoter Theremp1466 || 01/01/2021 19:20 Comments || Top||

#12  This has to be seen in light of law enforcement's and the legal system's inaction against an arsonist mob that literally devastated parts of Kenosha.

Why aren't 'the normals' in Kenosha mostly peacefully protesting against their DA and law enforcement, if necessary in front of the DA's and police chief's private residence (see Antifa tactics)?

The government in Kenosha is literally siding with arsonist barbarians by persecuting citizens who had to defend themselves.

Where is the outrage?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/01/2021 22:54 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Set to amend ‘pay to slay,’ PA hopes Biden will shun law deeming PLO ‘terrorist’
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinians aim to fundamentally change relationship with US when new president takes office, hope to reopen PLO office in DC, including by overcoming a US law that hinders ties.

With just three weeks until US President-elect Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
...Candidate for president in 2020. When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'...
enters the White House, the Paleostinian Authority (PA) is putting together a strategy for a reset of ties with Washington after three years of boycotting the Trump administration.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Meet Rasha Mubarak, Finance Director for Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
Summary of Article:

Was a run of the mill Democrat Islamist but has now gone even further attacking Biden, Harris and Obama.

some samples:

Mubarak accused Biden of wishing to place "war criminals" in his administration. She tweeted, "Biden's cabinet looking like it will secure some top war criminals. My bad, ya'll still need some time to celebrate?"...

Mubarak retweeted a derogatory post portraying Harris, whose husband happens to be Jewish, as supporting "illegal Israeli settlements" and championing "Israel's occupation of Jerusalem."...

Mubarak tweeted, "So all of y'all who been missin' Obama – which part of his legacy exactly: when he was bombing Iraqi families, deporting immigrants, or undermining the people's call to #DefundthePolice? Y'all must be too busy reading his book over brunch."
The Corbynization of the Democratic Party continues apace.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  "y'all"?

From a Michigan Arab? She sounds as nutty as her boss
Posted by: One Eyed Barnsmell9786 || 01/01/2021 17:51 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ It's an urban thing. You wouldn't understand... unless of course you're one of those people who's been giddily gushing about "ghetto passes" for the past few decades... who thinks black slang's not a thing but the thing thang... who's spent their whole life in the afterglow of the glorious moment they first learned that bad means good... You know... Americans. ;-)
Posted by: Hupusoter Theremp1466 || 01/01/2021 19:59 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
US and Israel vote against UN’s 2021 budget
[IsraelTimes] Israel and the United States vote against the UN’s budget for 2021, citing the international body’s "bias" against Israel and its plan to hold an event marking the 20th anniversary of the World Conference against Racism. Israel and the US withdrew from the 2001 conference in Durham, South Africa after texts circulated at the conference censured the Jewish state.

"Twenty years ago, the Durban conference convened with the worthy goal of combating racism. But, like many UN initiatives, it was promptly high-jacked by organization[s] and member states, that are interested in attacking Israel and delegitimizing its right to exist. They are not interested in human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
," Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan says.

"Today we must all speak out against commemorating the disgrace that was the Durban Conference," Erdan says. "Israel opposes any measure aimed at allocating a budget for this purpose — we all know that such funds will not be used to support human rights but to spread even more antisemitism and hate towards Israel."

"It is part of a wider anti-Israel bias at the UN," says Erdan. "I will not stand by when such lies and incitement against Israel and the Jewish people are freely given a platform."
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Rare videos show Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandis together in Iraq
[AlMasdar] Several brief videos can be seen at the link. They may be of use to those who might recognize some of the men in the groups or who understand the language — either Farsi or Arabic. I find it amusing that most of them are wearing baseball caps, accepting without question that mark of American fashion superiority.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  and now together in hell
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2021 9:48 Comments || Top||

#2  In a related article on the same site: On Wednesday, the Prosecutor General in Tehran, Ali Al-Qassi Mehr, accused the British company G4S , which is responsible for aviation security at Baghdad International Airport, of being involved in the assassination of Soleimani.

He said, “The British company has provided the US military in Iraq with the arrival date of the plane carrying Qassem Soleimani,” and also accused Germany of being involved in the assassination of Soleimani, noting that Iran “has granted 6 countries, namely Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon and Jordan, judicial representation to investigate the Soleimani assassination, and we recently received the result of judicial representation from Iraq.”


Iran does not appear to be willing to let Soleimani's death go...more to follow after Trump leaves office. They will likely either make an attempt on President Trump after he departs office or a senior US/UK Commander. Iran chumped ole sleepy Joe when he was VP and will do so again when he is POTUS.
Posted by: Tennessee || 01/01/2021 11:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Iran does not appear to be willing to let Soleimani's death go

That is a real concern, yes. Although they get a lot of mileage out of making threats, too.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 21:19 Comments || Top||

#4  And Frank G, once again beating me to the punch, posted about it here.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 21:22 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Fatah marks 56 years since its founding
We would wish it were your last, but you aren’t that accomodating.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian Fatah activists are marking 56 years since the movement’s 1964 founding with a series of memorial activities.

Fatah deputy chief Mahmoud al-Aloul — a key confidant of Paleostinian Authority Prime Minister 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....
— lights a torch in the tomb of Fatah founder Yasser Arafat.

"Our revolution...has seen a number of victories and achievements and perseverance, in Beirut, on Mount Hermon, in the Jordan Valley, and in the First and Second Intifadas," al-Aloul says.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Fatah


Hamas arrests Gaza man for tearing down poster of slain Iranian commander
[JPost] Hamas came under criticism from many Palestinians and Arabs for putting up the poster of Soleimani, who is held responsible for the death of many Palestinians during the civil war in Syria.

Hamas’s Internal Security Force on Thursday arrested Sheikh Majdi al-Mughrabi, an extremist Muslim Salafi jihadist, on suspicion he tore down a poster of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020.
Don't wanna piss off the puppeteers
The arrest of Mughrabi, a resident of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, came hours after Palestinians posted on social media platforms a video and photos of a man tearing down the poster of Soleimani.

Mughrabi is one of the leaders of the Islamic State (ISIS)-inspired Palestinian Salafi group in the Gaza Strip.

His brother, Musa al-Mughrabi, confirmed the arrest in a post on Facebook. "My brother, Sheikh Majdi al-Mughrabi, has been arrested by the Internal Security Force," the brother wrote. "He was arrested for tearing down the picture of a murderer. Why?"

A large poster of the slain Iranian commander appeared in the Gaza Strip earlier this week as Hamas and several Palestinian armed groups carried out a joint military drill in preparation for a possible confrontation with Israel.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Israel's 2 top int'l law officials take on ICC: Is Gaza ‘occupied'?
[JPost] Confronting delegitimization of IDF conduct in Gaza, the blockade and closures

Two of Israel's top international law officials have published a rare public article to challenge the International Criminal Court prosecution and others who say that Israel still illegally occupies Gaza.

The article, published in the journal Iyunei Mishpat (Legal Studies) recently but being reported now for the first time in English, is important both regarding addressing cases of alleged Israeli war crimes in ongoing fighting with Hamas, as well as regarding what humanitarian obligations Jerusalem has to Gaza, during coronavirus and other periods.

These issues ultimately have major long-term implications at the national security and diplomatic levels, including whether Israel's naval blockade and other periodic closures of Gaza are legal.

Just as important are the authors: Deputy Attorney-General (International Law) Roy Schondorf and IDF International Law Division chief Col. Eran Shamir-Borer, two officials who have led much of Israel's handling of ICC issues and humanitarian dilemmas with Gaza.

Schondorf rarely writes publicly or appears in public with the exception of specific conferences or at the Knesset, and Shamir-Borer appears even less often.

It seems that the impetus for their article was to address prior statements by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda as well as a current article by prominent Israeli prof. Eyal Gross in the same journal, declaring that Israel still legally occupies Gaza, despite having withdrawn in 2005.

If Bensouda, Gross and a number of Israeli critics in UN and international bodies are correct that Israel occupies Gaza, it could mean that the Jewish state might be restricted in what categories of force it could use to combat Hamas attacks, let alone protests or riots on the border.

Further, it could mean that any humanitarian crisis in Gaza puts Israel at fault.

When there are debates about Israeli blockades to prevent rockets and other weapons smuggling, these legal questions could have a decisive impact.

Essentially, Bensouda, Gross and much of the international community say that it is irrelevant that the IDF withdrew and that Israel withdrew its settlements from within the Gaza Strip.

Rather, they argue that UN General Assembly decisions, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) guidance, a decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and other points prove that Israel can "occupy" Gaza as long as it exerts functional control.

To support their argument, they note that Israel controls Gaza's airspace, maritime borders, wherever there is a blockade, and most of its land borders. Gaza does have one border crossing with Egypt.

They broaden these arguments by saying that Israel's ability to control Gaza's interactions with the outside world means it can also control the economic and humanitarian situation there.

In this light, they say that Israel is also obligated to maintain Gaza from a humanitarian perspective, whether with special needs during coronavirus times or with sufficient medical, food, utilities and other items during more normal periods.

IN CONTRAST, Schondorf and Shamir-Bohrer say that there is no basis to rely on the decisions of the UN General Assembly or other political bodies to decide international law.

Regarding the ICTY decision, they say that critics' understanding of the decisions is misplaced.

In the ICTY case in question, the court was dealing with a situation where a foreign state controlled an internal group within another state in order to impose its will on the other state.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Southeast Asia
Indonesia Bans Hardline Group Islamic Defenders Front
[BenarNews] Indonesia has banned the Islamic Defenders Front,
...headquartered in Jakarta, FPI began agitating for national imposition of sharia law in 1998. The group quickly attracted patronage — including funding and military training for its paramilitary arm, Laskar Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Paramilitary, LPI)— from Indonesia’s army and Jakarta’s police. They’re fond of vigilante actions and Antifa-style protests with violence...
a hardline group led by firebrand
...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments...
holy man Muhammad Rizieq Shihab,
...less formally Rizieq Shihab, he founded the FPI for nefarious purposes...
for violating the law and disrupting peace and security, the chief security minister announced Wednesday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Devout Moslems


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria War Killed 6,800 in 2020, Lowest Annual Toll
[AnNahar] The Syrian conflict claimed at least 6,800 people in 2020, the lowest annual corpse count since it began nearly a decade ago, a war monitor said Thursday.

According to figures compiled by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 10,000 people were killed in the conflict in 2019.

The deadliest year was 2014, when more than 76,000 people died, according to the UK-based organization, which has an extensive network of sources on the ground.

The overall tally since the start of the conflict has crept up to 387,000, including 117,000 civilians.

The fighting, which erupted in 2011 after the brutal repression of anti-government protests, has largely abated in 2020 as a ceasefire held in northwestern Syria and attention turned to containing the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
pandemic.

Violence continues to claim lives every week, however.

On Wednesday, fighters from 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....
jihadist group ambushed soldiers in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, killing 37 of them.

The attack was one of the deadliest by the organization since the end of its so-called caliphate in early 2019.

Almost 10 years of war have devastated Syria's infrastructure, crippled the economy and led to the displacement of more than half of its pre-war population.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Iran begins first response to scientist’s assassination by raising uranium enrichment
[AlMasdar] The Director of the Iranian Presidency Office, Mahmoud Vaezi, said on Wednesday, that the Iranian Atomic Energy Commission is preparing action plans in accordance with the law to cancel restrictions imposed on the nuclear file approved by Parliament, including raising uranium enrichment to 20%.

In statements to Iranian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
, Vaezi said, "The Iranian Atomic Energy Authority is preparing action plans in accordance with the law to cancel restrictions imposed on the nuclear file approved by Parliament, and the various bodies must implement all the items listed in the law, including raising enrichment to 20 percent." .

"After preparing the appropriate ground, 120 kg of uranium enriched to 20 percent must be enriched within a year," Vaezi added.

Last Sunday, the Iranian parliament voted in favor of obliging the government to raise the rate of uranium enrichment, in a new development that follows Iran’s previous decision to reduce its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal in response to the US withdrawal from it.

The head of the Energy Committee in the Iranian Parliament, Fereydoun Abbasi, announced that work will be done on enriching uranium at 20 percent, removing inspectors from the International Atomic Agency, ending cooperation with it, and withdrawing from the nuclear agreement.

This move comes in response to the liquidation of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh near Tehran on November 27th.

Following the liquidation, 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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
accused Israel of playing a role in the killing of Fakhrizadeh, as the scientist was previously mentioned in a speech by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel has not responded to the accusations from Iran.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Iran accuses British company of involvement in Qassem Soleimani’s assassination
[AlMasdar] The Attorney General in Tehran, Ali al-Ghassi Mehr, accused the British company G4S, responsible for aviation security at Baghdad International Airport, of its involvement in the liquidation of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani

The Public Prosecutor said during a legal and judicial follow-up session for the liquidation file of Soleimani and his accompanying delegation, which was held today in the presence of the Chief Justice, Ibrahim Raisi, and officials of the judicial, military, security, intelligence and political agencies, he said that the British company provided the US military in Iraq with the arrival date of the plane that was carrying Qassem Soleimani.

In addition, the Public Prosecutor stated that investigations also indicate German involvement in the liquidation of Soleimani.

He explained that the US Air Force base in Germany is responsible for directing the American plane, which targeted Soleimani’s convoy, and providing flight information and data to the US forces.

The Public Prosecutor confirmed that the Iranian authorities are working to pursue the British company responsible for the security of Baghdad Airport.

He stressed, "The identity of 45 American individuals responsible for the liquidation of Soleimani has been identified, and we have submitted an order to summon them to the International Police — Interpol."

He added that 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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
"granted 6 countries, namely Iraq, Syria, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
, Kuwait, 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...
and Jordan, judicial representation to investigate the liquidation of Soleimani, and we recently received the result of judicial representation from Iraq."
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/01/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2021-01-01
  Russian warplanes unleash massive attack against ISIS after ambush on Syrian Army bus
Thu 2020-12-31
  Turkey hands aggravated life sentences to a dozen alleged putschists
Wed 2020-12-30
  FBI Found Port Blast Caused by 500 Tons of Fertilizer, Says Diab
Tue 2020-12-29
  ICE: 104K illegals arrested in fiscal 2020, 185K illegals deported, including 4200 gangsters and 31 terrorists
Mon 2020-12-28
  Nasrallah Says MBS Pushed for His Assassination, Israel Still Cautious
Sun 2020-12-27
  Hamas-Linked CAIR Demands Biden Dismantle Counterterror Operations
Sat 2020-12-26
  Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq terrorist militia prepares to attack GreenZone in Baghdad, Iraqi army ordered to deploy
Fri 2020-12-25
  Merry Christmas!
Thu 2020-12-24
  Court orders release of man charged in Daniel Pearl killing
Wed 2020-12-23
  Iraq arrests several suspects, officials in connection with US embassy attack
Tue 2020-12-22
  Paktia Police Chief Resigns over Corruption, Negligence
Mon 2020-12-21
  North Carolina police officer recovering after latest shooting in Charlotte area
Sun 2020-12-20
  Turkey rejects Belgium’s Nagorno-Karabakh resolution; upset that Belgian parliament referred to a genocide as a genocide
Sat 2020-12-19
  Erdogan tells Merkel Turkey wants to turn over new leaf with EU
Fri 2020-12-18
  21 facing federal charges in 'large-scale' drug ring involving UNC fraternities

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