ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of an economic disaster, while refusing to give political recognition to the country’s new Taliban rulers, the Taliban said Sunday.
The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.
The U.S. statement was less definitive, saying only that the two sides "discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people."
The Taliban said the talks held in Doha, Qatar, "went well," with Washington freeing up humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after agreeing not to link such assistance to formal recognition of the Taliban.
The United States made it clear that the talks were in no way a preamble to recognition of the Taliban, who swept into power Aug. 15 after the U.S.-allied government collapsed.
State Department spokesman Ned Price called the discussions "candid and professional," with the U.S. side reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on their actions, not only their words.
[ToloNews] Dozens of Afghan students on Sunday gathered in front of Pakistain’s embassy in Kabul to protest the recent shutting of Torkham Gate.
Most of today’s protestors, who are studying in Pakistain, declared that they will miss a semester if the gate remains closed, adding that border area tensions should not affect their learning.
"It is now four weeks that the gate is closed. We will miss the current semester if we don’t get there in four days," a protestor said.
"It is a month since the universities started and we are stranded here. Some have visa problems ... there are many difficulties," another protestor said.
After media news hounds were forbidden from covering today’s protest, the protestors filmed the gathering and sent it to the media.
In the meantime, officials at the Ministry of Information and Culture announced that some efforts are underway to reopen Torkham and Spin Boldak’s gates.
"We are willing to solve the problem. Both countries need to allow travel, we have to realize our necessities," said Zabiullah Mujahid, deputy minister of information and culture.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/11/2021 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
"Nestled into the mountainous valley of the Khyber Pass, used by traders and invaders from Alexander the Great to the British Empire, Torkham became a route that U.S.-backed mujahedeen took into Afghanistan in the 1980s. It is part of a region "caught between various empires," says Sarfraz Khan, a University of Peshawar international relations professor.
In recent years, Pakistan has tightened security. A 1,600-mile fence [!!] built in 2017 by the Pakistani military now climbs the dry, craggy mountain slopes and makes it harder to slip into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
[KhaamaPress] Officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said that they transferred nearly USD$18 million from the central bank of Afghanistan-De Afghanistan Bank- to the ministry of finance on Sunday, October 10.
De Afghanistan Bank in a statement said that the cash was seized from officials of the previous government in Kabul, Panjshir, Khost, and Pashtun-infested Logar provinces.
The money was kept in De Afghanistan Bank and was transferred to 3000208203041- an account of the ministry of Finance.
The statement reads that the money includes,
USD$ 15,995,377
AFS 86,164,350
Euro 7,450
Indian Rupees 30,350
UAE Dirham 300
In the meantime, the statement adds that a relatively large amount of gold has also been seized that is now kept in the central bank of Afghanistan.
[LIBYAREVIEW] On Saturday, Major General Khaled al-Mahjoub, Director of the Libyan National Army’s (LNA) Moral Guidance Department, confirmed that the 5 + 5 Joint Military Commission’s (JMC) established a plan to gradually remove mercenaries from the country. In statements to the al-Ain News newspaper, he added that this plan includes removing the mercenaries before the next elections on December 24th.
He stated that the remaining period of time, although it is short, is that the plan is set and has specific dates. He noted that the mercenaries will be expelled on time because this has become a local and international demand.
On the possibility of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s intransigence in refusing to expel its mercenaries, he stressed that this is no longer acceptable, neither internally nor externally. He explained that the United States (US), for example, issued the Libya Stability Law, which is very important and supports the JMC efforts entrusted with the security aspect.
Al-Mahjoub concluded by saying that the removal of mercenaries will ensure that there is no military pressure in conjunction with the elections. He pointed out that the next President will find a suitable ground for action to move Libya away from its ongoing crisis.
Since the 2011 fall of former ruler Muammar Qadaffy ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest... , Libya has descended into crises on multiple fronts.
Until recently, the country had essentially been divided between the Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... -based Government of National Accord (GNA), and a rival administration, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all. Actually, he is, but slowly... , who commands the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).
Mercenaries and other fighters from outside Libya have reportedly been operating inside the country for years, including some previously involved in the Syrian conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2021 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[LIBYAREVIEW] On Monday, the capital of the UK, will host a meeting on Libya. The meeting will discuss the issue of disarming militias and unifying security institutions. It will discuss ways to settle this file before the general elections at the end of this year.The meeting is sponsored by the UK Foreign Ministry and the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). It will be attended by Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla al-Mangoush, members of the 5 + 5 Joint Military Committee (JMC), military attaches and international parties concerned with the Libyan issue.
In a statement to al-Arabiya, JMC member Lieutenant General, Khairy al-Tamimi, said that the JMC will participate virtually, as they will remain in Libya. He added that the meeting will discuss developing a plan to dismantle the armed militias. It will also discuss ways of unifying the country’s security institutions under one authority.
Last week, a large explosion occurred South of the Libyan city of al-Zawiya. It came as a result of a conflict between two militias, seeking to establish greater dominance over parts of the Coastal Road.
A convenience store was blown up in the Bir Sardin area, which belonged to the brother of one of the leaders of the Muammar al-Dhawi militia, which is active in the Warshafana area, Southwest of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... . Sources accused militias from al-Zawiya of the earth-shattering kaboom, in retaliation for engaging in festivities last week.
The sources revealed that the two sides are fighting due to issues related to fuel smuggling. As Warshafana groups recently stopped several fuel smugglers belonging to the al-Zawiya militias, at a vital gate on the Coastal Road.
Notably, the Berlin Conference II on Libya reiterated the call for the immediate "withdrawal of foreign mercenaries from Libya."
The Conference also called for Libyan authorities to do their part to make the December elections possible, to unify the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) and ensure an equitable distribution of oil revenues.
The 58-point document is divided into six sections including the Introduction, Political Process, Security, Economic and Financial Reforms, Compliance with International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, and the Follow Up.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2021 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Authorities in Saudi 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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century... have arrested seven undocumented individuals for selling SIM cards belonging to existing citizens and residents, Saudi Press Agency SPA reported on Sunday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Media spokesperson for Riyadh police Major Khaled al-Kraidis said that the seven violators who were arrested were of Bangladeshi nationality, aged between 30 and 40.
The seven perpetrators were selling the SIM cards without the knowledge of the people who were registered under them, using stores in the city of Riyadh as a cover to carry out the illegal activity.
The police seized 1,461 SIM cards and four fingerprint readers.
They are currently undergoing initial legal procedures and have been referred to the Public Prosecution.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2021 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Rusvesna] In Rostov-on-Don, there is a trial of Aslan Gagiev, nicknamed Dzhako, who is considered the leader of one of the bloodiest criminal gangs in Russia. The accused and his opponents have already made loud statements.
The leader of the criminal group, Aslan Gagiev, at the trial in Rostov-on-Don, confessed to the murder of the Deputy Prime Minister of North Ossetia, Alania Pagiyev. He named the customers. But they don't believe him. What "shines" for the criminal?
[KhaamaPress] Daoud Wardak, son of Abdul Rahim Wardak-former defense minister of Afghanistan- has bought a super luxury house in Beverly Hills, Miami, Florida.
He already owns a $5.2 million Miami Beach condo at the prestigious St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort.
Through his businesses and wealth origins are not publicly well-known, public corporation records show he is the president of a Miami-based firm called AD Capital Group.
Other reports indicated that his older brother Hamed Wardak is also a successful businessman who runs military transportation company NCL Holdings.
The company is based in Virginia but operating primarily in Afghanistan.
The NCL had secured lucrative US government contracts that were reportedly worth $360 million.
Based on the contracts the NCL was protecting America’s supply routes in Afghanistan.
Daoud Wardak buys a house worth millions of dollars at a time as over twenty million people in Afghanistan are hand to mouth and millions of children are malnourished with hundreds of thousands more displaced internally.
#1
Sarcastic Humor On -
☺☻ I am sure he just happened to get rich from honest means and efforts.
After all, wouldn't the Biden Admin, FBI, NSA, CIA, DC Swamp or the UN raised concerns?☺☻
Sarcasm Off
Besides, surely someone out there is likely checking for any backdoor political donations, favors or $$$ pocket linings. By using sites like OPENSECRETS.ORG or 1/2 dozen others.
[OneIndia] A special court of the National Investigation Agency has convicted accused Nainar Abbas Ali alias Library Abbas in connection with the Mysuru blast case. It may be recalled that a blast had taken place in a public toilet in the court premises of Chamarajapuram, Mysuru in 2016. The court also convicted Karim Raja and Dawood Suleiman, both residents of Tamil Nadu.
Investigation had revealed that the kaboom in Mysore Court was one among the five series of kabooms committed by the members of Base Movement, an organization, owing allegiance to al-Qaeda, a proscribed Terrorist Organization. They had also executed the bomb Blast at Chittor Court, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, Kollam Court, Kerala and at Mallapuram Court, Kerala on. Al-Qaeda = The Base in Arabic.
Abbas and Dawood Sulaiman had formed the Base Movement, in Tamil Nadu in January, 2015, inspired by ideology of al- Qaeda and its leader the late Osama bin Laden ...... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...... . They had recruited the other accused persons and hatched criminal conspiracy to threaten government departments, especially Courts, holding them responsible for atrocities and injustice meted out to a particular religious group. In pursuance to the conspiracy, they had systematically issued threats to prison authorities and police officials of different states and to French Embassy in India.
#2
This smells like China/Pakistan. With the troubles China is now having Pakistan will be forced to tone things down. I am very impressed with India. I see better days for their people and country. I would argue a bond between India,Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Then let the others see the benefits an association would be. The results would be most impressive. I would toy with the idea of Bangladesh having a huge population would jump at the opportunity to participate. No labor shortage here. Overhead very low. The benefits to Bangladesh would be multifaceted and long term.
#4
For a drought-stricken country, Bangla offers a yearly supply of water as it seems to be perpetually under 10' of water during typhoon season
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/11/2021 20:10 Comments ||
Top||
#5
it seems to have a firm hold on the Islamist problem.
That alone would seem to have some value, in terms of development and investment.
Hey, I wonder if the excess moisture is what keeps Bangla muslims from being overwrought like their coreligionists in the ME who are no doubt over-heated and suffering from electrostatic discharge.
[OneIndia] The recent spate of killings in Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... have been claimed by a little known outfit called The Resistance® Force, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. With Pakistain facing the heat at the world stage for openly using outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... in Jammu and Kashmir the strategy now is to create new terror groups in a big to avoid the heat.
Continued on Page 49
[DW] As the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... lobby for international recognition of their "Islamic Emirate" in Afghanistan, the group's ideological allies in Pakistain are applying political pressure on Islamabad.
Powerful Islamist factions in Pak politics are putting pressure on the government to officially recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Country closes airspace and land border crossings as voters head out to elect a parliament many hope will deliver much-needed reforms after decades of conflict and mismanagement.
Polls closed across Iraq on Sunday evening in parliamentary elections that were held months ahead of schedule, in response to a popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement.
The voting was marked by a boycott by many of the young activists who thronged the streets in late 2019, and reports of low turnout. Tens of thousands of people took part in the mass protests and were met by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people were killed and thousands injured within just a few months.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/11/2021 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Lebanese TV channel cites sources in the terror group claiming it also wants IDF to stop all border incursions.
Lebanese pro-Hezbollah TV channel Al Mayadeen reported Saturday on the terror group’s alleged demands as it holds indirect talks with Israel for a long-term ceasefire in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip.
Unnamed sources cited by the network said Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, was committed to maintaining the calm "as long as the occupation adheres to it."
They said Hamas, in talks being mediated by Egypt, demanded that Israel not enter the border area in eastern Gaza and sought safety for Paleostinian farmers near the border. It also wanted freedom of movement for its own forces near the border.
The sources said Hamas also wanted Gaza’s reconstruction sped up following May’s war and previous conflicts.
On the issue of a prisoner exchange, the sources said that "the ball is now in the Israeli court," while adding that Hamas has clear demands on the issue, though they did not elaborate.
Ottoman Turkish state media reported on Tuesday that Hamas and Egypt have advanced agreements to strengthen the ceasefire, days after senior Hamas officials met with Egyptian intelligence in Cairo.
The terror group and Egypt saw "progress" in "understandings to stabilize the truce in Gaza, speed up the pace of reconstruction, and efforts to ease the siege," according to the Anadolu news agency.
In a rare scene, senior Hamas officials, including Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... , gathered in Cairo on Sunday night for the current round of talks with Egyptian intelligence officials, aimed at procuring a long-term ceasefire with Israel.
An official in Hamas told The Times of Israel that some movement in the talks has been "expected," but added: "These meetings are often just talk. But obligations are later borne out if each side does what it has pledged to do."
Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect negotiations, moderated by Egypt, on stabilizing the fragile ceasefire since the 11-day battle between the two sides in May. Israel has vowed not to allow a full reconstruction of Gaza without a prisoner swap between the two sides.
Israel leveled higher restrictions on Gaza for months following the 11-day conflict, effectively preventing substantial reconstruction of the battered enclave.
Hamas currently holds two living Israeli civilians as prisoners in Gaza — Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed. The terror group is also holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war: Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed the prisoner exchange issue with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during a recent state visit to Sharm el-Sheikh.
For months, Israeli officials vowed that they would not allow a full reconstruction of Gaza without a prisoner swap. Despite the absence of an agreement, however, Israel has slowly relaxed the additional sanctions following low-level exchanges of fire with Paleostinian bully boyz in Gaza.
[IsraelTimes] Abbas has been meeting with senior embassy personnel, but Paleostinian official says policy unchanged and Ramallah won’t meet local US diplomats until consulate reopened
.
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.... has been meeting with senior US officials based out of the embassy in Jerusalem in recent months, despite ordering his own diplomats not to do so, officials in Washington and Ramallah have confirmed to The Times of Israel.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Arabic media claims man nicknamed ’Sabri’ was a senior Iranian official in Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady days of human sacrifice to Baal Moloch... when Ron Arad was captured there, leading Jerusalem to hope he’d have info on airman’s fate
If it’s Arab media, especially a source we don’t use, it has equal odds of being completely made up as it has of being all or partially true.
An Arabic-language newspaper published new alleged details over the weekend on Israel’s supposed kidnapping of an Iranian general as part of efforts to find new information on the whereabouts of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/11/2021 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Posted by: Black is a form of dirt ||
10/11/2021 1:59 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Clean up on aisle #3 please.....
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
10/11/2021 6:16 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Thus demonstrating the dangers of jogging.
Or being in Damascus.
Or being an Iranian general.
Or something...
(See sunny South Africa on no dollars a day.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/11/2021 12:22 Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] UN agency in September estimated that Islamic Theocratic Republic has 84.3 kilos of uranium enriched to that level
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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has enriched more than 120 kilograms of 20-percent enriched uranium, the head of the country’s atomic energy agency said on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Saturday evening.
"We have passed 120 kilograms," said Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. "We have more than that figure."
"Our people know well that they (Western powers) were meant to give us the enriched fuel at 20 percent to use in the Tehran reactor, but they haven’t done so," he added.
"If our colleagues do not do it, we would naturally have problems with the lack of fuel for the Tehran reactor."
In September, the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had boosted its stocks enriched above the percentage allowed in the 2015 deal with world powers.
It estimated that Iran had 84.3 kilos of uranium enriched to 20 percent (up from 62.8 kilos when the IAEA last reported in May).
Under the deal, Iran was not meant to enrich uranium above 3.67 percent, well below the 90-percent threshold needed for use in a nuclear weapon.
Under the 2015 agreement China, La Belle France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States had agreed to lift some sanctions against Iran if Tehran cut back its nuclear program.
But since then US president Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... pulled Washington out of the deal in 2018, Tehran has progressively abandoned its commitments under the agreement, and the United States has imposed fresh sanctions in response.
On Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he was optimistic that talks on reviving the 2015 deal would make progress, provided Washington fully resumed its commitments.
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.
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
...... who is no longer with us, and won't be again.......jpg "Kashmir")
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
Hezbollah
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady days of human sacrifice to Baal Moloch...
...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 
