Interesting read.
Two months after Osama bin Laden was killed, the CIA’s top operative in Pakistan was pulled out of the country in an abrupt move vaguely attributed to health concerns and his strained relationship with Islamabad.
In reality, the CIA station chief was so violently ill that he was often doubled over in pain, current and former U.S. officials said. Trips out of the country for treatment proved futile. And the cause of his ailment was so mysterious, the officials said, that both he and the agency began to suspect that he had been poisoned.
REMARKS: Politics goes on everywhere, even in the military of other countries. In Pakistan, there are ties and arrangements with different groups and different military people that the US does not know about, it is for them about keeping internal peace. When the US went over there gung ho trying to take out the Pakistani Taliban, Pakistan had the task of of quelling the disrest from the entire tribal region, and they were told if they didn't stop harassing them, they would come to Lahore and Rawapindi and take down the govt. if necessary. The ongoing struggles that go on there, have left Pakistan wanting to mediate their own issues, which is why they want to do their own drone strikes and not have the US running all over their country. The way it is now, some of the Taliban have joined Isis out of disgust. Our presence and actions there have had a destabilizing effect on the country.
Many might say, well we couldn't just let Osama stay there could we, but it is hard to believe that Pakistan did not know of his presence and decide he was not a threat to them so they were not going to do anything about him. When officially asked both Pakistan and Afghanistan would both point their fingers and say, we think he is over there.
The article shows the conflict between forces the US and Paki, even those over there do not trust the people they are to be working with.
INDIA, OTHERS AND EVEN THE US accused of manufacturing parts used by ISIS AND SYRIANS STRANDED AT JORDANIAN BORDER
AND ISIS is IN SAUDI ARABIA
WEAPONS IN THE HANDS OF ISIS
Recently a European Union based, research institution named Conflict Armament Research (CAR), undertook a 20-month exhaustive study on DÂ’ish weapon supply chain and released its study report.
CAR has revealed that more than 50 companies from 20 different countries are legally supplying DÂ’ish with bomb-making material, which suggests that countries are failing to monitor what they are selling. The shocking aspect is that the study revealed that seven Indian companies are involved in provision of over 700 components used in manufacturing of lEDs by DÂ’ish. India is the second largest supplier of lethal material needed for fabrication of deadly IEDs for the murdering marauders who have created chaos and mayhem.
According to the study, seven Indian companies manufactured most of the detonators, detonating cord and safety fuses. These components are crucial to manufacturing of IEDs and are being legally exported under government issued licenses from India to entities in Lebanon and Turkey. The report said that CAR gained access to the components through partners including the US-backed Kurdish YPG in Syria, the Iraqi Federal Police, the Kurdistan Region Security Council and forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government. These components were seized during battles in the Iraqi towns of al Rabia, Kirkuk, Mosul, and Tikrit and the Syrian town of Kobani.
These findings support growing international awareness that IS forces in Iraq and Syria are very much self-sustaining, acquiring weapons and strategic goods without any difficulty. India€™s role in supporting DÂ’ish with lethal IEDs parts that too with the tacit approval of Government has raised eyebrows World over. This role of India is highly condemnable and a drag to international efforts on combating D’ish.
CAR investigated the supply chain of weapons used in Iraq and Syria and discovered that components used in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are built using commercial goods that do not require a government export license and fall under the radar and regulation of weapon sales.
Company headquarters in Japan, Switzerland and the United States manufactured micro-controllers and transistors used in remote-controlled IEDs by DÂ’ish militants in Iraq, the report also states. CAR approached representatives of the companies involved and said some were surprised and even shocked.
IEDs are now being produced on a “quasi-industrial scale†by the militant group, which uses both industrial components that are regulated and widely available equipment such as fertilizer chemicals and mobile phones, according to Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which undertook the 20-month study.
http://dailymailnews.com/2016/04/28/india-supplying-weapons-to-daish/
Remarks: Pretty disconcerting to think US operatives over there are getting injured by bombs from Isis made with US parts.
60,000 SYRIANS STRANDED AT THE JORDANIAN BORDER
AMMAN: Around 64,000 Syrians are stranded at the border with Jordan after intensified violence around Aleppo, Jordanian border guards said on Thursday. The kingdom, which is already home to more than 630,000 Syrian refugees, introduced additional security checks at the Hadalat and Rokbane border crossings at the start of the year, leading tens of thousands more to congregate along the frontier.
“The number of refugees has hit 59,000 at Rokbane and it’s rising,†the head of Jordan’s border guards General Saber Al-Mahayra told reporters on Thursday. Another officer told AFP that 5,000 others were massed at Hadalat, around 70 kilometres (40 miles) further west.
Mahayra said nearly 5,500 had arrived at Rokbane in the last 24 hours, an influx he attributed to increased fighting around Syria’s second city Aleppo, where more than 280 civilians have died in recent weeks.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/world/06-May-16/over-60000-syrians-stranded-at-jordan-border
Remarks: Where will all these people go, when there is no more room for them? Somebody really needs to figure that out.
ISIS FIGHTERS IN MECCA (MAKKAH) Yep
DUBAI: Saudi security forces undertook an operation against alleged Islamic State fighters in Makkah on Thursday, state television channel Ekhbariya said.
“The security authorities succeeded in their operation against a number of Daesh partisans holed up at a recreational area in Makkah,†the TV station said in a news flash, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic state. It gave no details, but al-Okaz newspaper reported that the forces surrounded a group of men in the Wadi Noman area south of the city and four wanted men were killed in a gun battle. In an earlier, two-day security operation that ended on Sunday, two Islamic State suspects were killed and a third was wounded in southwestern Bisha province.
State-owned Al Arabiya TV re-ported that the security forces surrounded the group in the Wadi No-man area south of the city, showing images of police trucks mounted with machine guns around a walled compound. No civilians or security forces were killed or wounded, the ministry said.
A simultaneous raid occurred on a hideout in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, where two people were arrested, ‘and they are being investigated for their involvement in this cell’, the spokesman said.
He added that the raids were part of surveillance and followup, ‘including to what happened in Bisha on Friday’. At that time, two suspects died in a shootout with security forces who foiled a car bombing in Bisha, southwestern Aseer region. A third suspect, Iqab Mujab al-Otaibi, fled but was later arrested wearing an explosives belt, the ministry announced last Sunday.
According to the ministry, Otaibi allegedly took part in a deadly shooting at a Shia mosque in 2014 and a bombing that targeted security forces at a mosque in Aseer last year.
http://khaleejtimes.com/region/saudi-arabia/4-dead-in-saudi-raid-on-terror-cell-near-mecca-ministry
http://www.gulf-times.com/story/492353/4-dead-in-Saudi-raid-on-terror-cell-near-Makkah
Remarks: Apparently they are not just in Syria. If you really wanna get paranoid, think about what would happen if they take over the Saudi oil fields. But since they haven't why are our gas prices going up every day here? The Saudis are so busy bombing Yemen and there are things going on right under their noses. But they are practicing. Video of their Special Forces doing terrorism training. [yes we know you cannot compare them to ours].
[Edited on 5/6/2016 by gina]
P.S. LIBYA & TURKEY, TUNISIA
Sirte is closed due to ISIS advancing on it.
TUNISIA is on alert.
The Interior Ministry received intelligence that "terrorist groups" affiliated with Daesh in Libya are planning suicide bombings against police as well as other attacks in Greater Tunis, Minister Hédi Majdoub said.
TURKEY
The Turkish Prime Minister is stepping down. Elections are May 22.
Turkey is crucial to the NATO U.S.-led coalition’s fight against Daesh (ISIS) and also is playing a pivotal role in stemming Europe’s migrant crisis. But Davutoglu’s announcement that he will step down comes amid increasing turbulence at home: a resurgent conflict with Kurdish militants, six major suicide attacks in less than a year and an increasingly shaky economy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was already Turkey’s dominant figure, but Davutoglu’s resignation effectively deprives the country of a moderating influence. Erdogan has taken an increasingly hard-line stance on issues ranging from freedom of expression to the peaceful resolution of a three-decade conflict with Kurdish rebels. He has ratcheted up his anti-Western rhetoric, accusing allies of trying to hold back a rising Turkey.
The president has launched nearly 2,000 legal cases against people accused of insulting him. He wants to expand the definition of “terrorist†to include anyone who supports or lends a voice to a terrorist organization, including scholars, journalists and legislators – which has alarmed human rights activists and Western officials.
Remarks: There have been allegations that Turkey provides an open supply line to ISIS, they refute that but it remains to be seen how things play out in the future.
[Edited on 5/6/2016 by gina]
EXPANDED SYRIA COVERAGE.
Bashar al Assad wants the rebels in Aleppo to be crushed and he wants Russia's help in doing that.
"Just a day after the start of the temporary truce, Assad sent a telegram to Russian President Vladimir Putin saying his army would not accept anything less than “attaining final victory†and “crushing the aggression†by rebels in Aleppo."
The US response has been
“We call on Russia to urgently address this totally unacceptable statement,†State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a briefing on Thursday. “It’s clearly an effort by Assad to push his agenda, but it is incumbent on Russia to assert influence on that regime to maintain the cessation of hostilities.â€
The 48 hour truce by Syria (Assad's Syria) will end and then?
SYRIA, SAUDI ARABIA AND OF COURSE AFGHANISTAN
The Islamic State's Bakr al Baghdadi's Right-Hand Man Killed in Clashes with Syrian Army in Deir Ezzur
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950229000710
Tarek Khalaf Abdullah, also known as Abu Hatem Albu Umar, was one of ISIL's most prominent field commanders in Syria. Khalaf Abdullah led several terrorist operations against the Syrian government and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
US special forces have killed two in Iraq.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/May-19/352836-us-kills-two-high-value-daesh-targets-in-iraq-raid.ashx
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi has threatened military action to remove Bashar al Assad
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/18/466155/Saudi-threatens-military-force--Syria-remove-Assad
AFGHANISTAN
KABUL: Afghanistan signed a draft agreement on Wednesday with the Hezb-e-Islami militant group in a move the government hopes could lead to a full peace accord with one of the most notorious warlords in the insurgency. Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is a veteran of decades of Afghan war and rights groups have accused his group of widespread abuses, particularly during civil war in the early 1990'S when he briefly served as prime minister.
NOTE: Gilbuddin does not represent the Mullah Omar's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in negotiations or agreements. The Afghan Taliban has not entered into agreements with the Afghan government or anyone else. IF or WHEN they do, THEY will say so. There is a new group of fighters called Tehreek e Taliban Afghanistan who have some members from the Paki Taliban who are now in Afghanistan and some Afghans who have split off from the original Afghan Taliban. There are several groups. Mullah Omar's group was, is the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Taliban and their official negotiators are in the Political Office in Qatar.
Bowe Berghdahl's trial has been put off till AFTER the Republican Democratic Conventions.
http://www.rferl.org/content/us-army-postpones-court-martial-sergeant-bergdahl-2017/27741970.html
[Edited on 5/18/2016 by gina]
BRITAIN
Interesting goings on abroad with points on how different issues would be effected if Britain left the European Union etc. Twenty-eight million UK households will be targeted this week in a mass campaign to encourage people to vote in the EU referendum, after David Cameron warned of “terrible†economic consequences if the country votes for Brexit. Vote is June 23rd.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/14/eu-referendum-households-told-sign-up
http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/
http://uk.reuters.com/subjects/eu-referendum
COMMENTS: The issue will have far reaching effects if Britain does leave the European Union due to the trade deals, and trade impacts the finance aspect. The London Stock Exchange is tied into the New York Stock Exchange [Wall Street] so it CAN effect the US economy also.
"The heads of GE, Cisco, Mars, EMC and Airbus, as well as Michael Bloomberg, have signed a plea for Britain to stay in the EU, according to the Financial Times." YET "More than 100 executives from Britain's financial services industry, including hedge fund managers Crispin Odey and Paul Marshall, have signed a letter backing Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, the main Brexit campaign group says"
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-city-idUKKCN0XQ1MM
[Edited on 5/18/2016 by gina]
EXPANDED SYRIA COVERAGE - Al Qaida's Central Command Challenging Isis for Control of Syria
Isis has been called the result of Al Qaida in Iraq, but Al Qaida proper has not supported the group, Ayman Al Zawahiri has disavowed on numerous occasions, but now he plans to start a new different group to challenge them in Syria.
There have been reports that Al-Qaeda commanders have been sent to north-west Syria to begin their operation. Saif al-Adel, a veteran Egyptian insurgent, seen as his deputy and operational field commander, is one of the men who has been sent there. The Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front) terror group, which is allied to Al-Qaeda, would be responsible for the plan to take territory in Syria. [Nusra is GOOD].
Zawahiri said he was 'proud' of Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front) and its link to al-Qaeda in the video.
According to the Daily Telegraph, he said: 'If they create their government, and choose their emir, what they choose is our choice.'
He criticised ISIS and compared them to a centuries old Islamic group, Khawarij, which was brutal against fellow Muslims. 'The Islamic nation in Greater Syria has backed [al-Nusra], realizing the difference between the correctness of its methods and the methods of the new Khawarij,' he said.
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1816434
Remarks: Al Qaida wants to rescue Syria and Iraq from Isis. That should tell you how severe things are over there. Isis recently executed people by putting them in cages and lowering those cages into Nitric Acid (while they were in those Orange jumpsuits, reminiscent of the Guantanamo inamtes). They were then electrocuted while in the acid. In Mosul.
PHOTO:
http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/isis-uses-nitric-acid-kill-torture-citizens-mosul/
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1819516
MAY 18, 2016
SYRIAN ARMY Killing Al Nusra fighters.
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1819473
Remarks: WHY are they killing the Nusra fighters? Jabhat al Nusra wants to get rid of Isis. So do we. So why don't we assist them doing that? Have the Syrian Army stop shooting at them. The Nusra fighters are NOT with Isis. Yes Nusra wants a caliphate in Syria, so what, if they do that Assad will be out of power, and we want him out of power. We will not have to fight Russia defending Assad. The logical peaceful resolution to the problem in Syria is much like it is in Pakistan, there needs to be an area where a caliphate can be maintained, one that will stay within those borders. In the tribal areas, they are more than happy to stay within those borders if the Army and others leave them alone. Nobody was fighting in Waziristan till we showed up.
As to the issue of 'but they won't stay within those borders in Syria, we know they want to take over Jerusalem'. The reality is EVERYBODY wants Jerusalem. The The Jews want it, the Muslims want it, the New World order and the anti-Christ want to rule the world from there. That problem will not be solved by any of us, Jesus himself will have to come back to oust the anti-Christ from the Temple, we all know this - that is the prophecy, it WILL happen. So what about everything else? Do you want Isis in charge of Syria, Iraq, Turkey, etc.? If not then stop shooting at the groups who also do not want them there. Yes it is more complicated than that, but that would be a good start to a peaceful resolution.
You could have a two state solution in Syria. The Nusra caliphate and then the rest of the country with it's run by secular laws /democratic ideologies.
This article sheds more light on Al Qaida's position with regard to Syria and Jabhat al Nusra.
http://www.rferl.org/content/al-qaeda-al-zawahri-plays-politics/27746829.html?ltflags=mailer
Al-Nusra Front and its chief, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, who made the same point in an interview with Al-Jazeera in June 2015:
“We’ve said to all the [rebel] factions: When we really come together and create an Islamic government -- and these are not my words, these are the words of Dr. Ayman [al-Zawahri] himself -- he said that when Syria has a righteous Islamic government approved by the consensus of its factions, when it is governed by consultation, when the law of Greatest God is the authority, then we will be the first soldiers of this righteous government.â€
Syria, Zawahri made clear, is now the center of the jihadist world.
“Syria today is the hope of the Muslim nation,†he said, “because it is the lone popular revolution of the Arab Spring revolutions that has adopted the correct path.â€
Syria’s fighters are on their way to erecting a righteous Islamic state -- not IS’s tyrannical, false “caliphate,†he suggested. But he warned against the conspiracies of what he termed Crusader enemies and their Arab puppets.
Zawahri did deliver at least one message aimed at the jihadist base, affirming that the IS’s members are “Khawarij,†a historical Muslim sect of hyper-extremist deviants. Labeling the Islamic State group as such has been controversial within Salafi-jihadism -- theorist Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi has resisted it -- in part because it requires jihadists to act on the Prophet Muhammad’s prescription for dealing with the Khawarij: “qatl Ad,†or total extermination. Zawahri has now come down firmly on one side of this intra-jihadist debate.
But much of the rest of the recording was implicitly directed at Syrian rebels outside the narrow circle of Salafi-jihadism, whom Zawahri attempted to reassure about Al-Qaeda’s intentions. Zawahri emphasized that Al-Nusra Front and Al-Qaeda are not interested in monopolizing power in Syria but rather in championing God’s law and an Islamic state chosen by Syria’s people.
“We are not -- by the grace of God -- seekers of power, but rather seekers of the rule of God’s law,†said Zawahri. “We do not want to rule Muslims; rather, we want to be ruled, as Muslims, by Islam.â€
REMARK: Al Qaida does not want to rule other Muslims, they want all Muslims to be ruled by Islam. The problem is whose interpretation of Islam? Going strictly by the Quran, or also by the hadiths, and what about other religions, many groups have refused to allow them to exist, but the Quran recognized the Jews, Sabians and Christians and did not seek to destroy them. The world needs understanding.
[Edited on 5/22/2016 by gina]
BRITAIN
Interesting goings on abroad with points on how different issues would be effected if Britain left the European Union etc. Twenty-eight million UK households will be targeted this week in a mass campaign to encourage people to vote in the EU referendum, after David Cameron warned of “terrible†economic consequences if the country votes for Brexit. Vote is June 23rd.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/14/eu-referendum-households-told-sign-up
http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/
http://uk.reuters.com/subjects/eu-referendum
COMMENTS: The issue will have far reaching effects if Britain does leave the European Union due to the trade deals, and trade impacts the finance aspect. The London Stock Exchange is tied into the New York Stock Exchange [Wall Street] so it CAN effect the US economy also.
"The heads of GE, Cisco, Mars, EMC and Airbus, as well as Michael Bloomberg, have signed a plea for Britain to stay in the EU, according to the Financial Times." YET "More than 100 executives from Britain's financial services industry, including hedge fund managers Crispin Odey and Paul Marshall, have signed a letter backing Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, the main Brexit campaign group says"
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-city-idUKKCN0XQ1MM
Staying in the European Union (EU) could increase Britain’s population by up to 5 million by 2030, putting the county’s health care system under "unsustainable" pressure, an organization that campaigns for the UK to leave the EU has claimed.
A document from Vote Leave says the EU's commitment to the free movement of people and the UK's new National Living Wage mean net migration from the EU to the UK will be between 170,000 and 430,000 a year, adding between 2.6 million and 5.2 million people to the British population by 2030.
The group Vote Leave calculates the NHS could have to contend with a new group of patients the size of "four Birminghams", and demand for hospital emergency services could increase by up to 57 percent.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/20/466603/Britain-Vote-Leave--population
Remarks: So financially Britain does not want the influx of more people to strain their already strained economy. Finding homes for Syrian refugees has not been resolved by the global community.
AFGHANISTAN
There have been reports that the successor of Mullah Mohammad Omar, Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US launched precision guided drone attack on the Afghan Pakistani border, that was launched under the orders of US President Obama. Obama informed the Pakistani and Afghan authorities AFTER after the attack(s) had been launched, NOT before. There are differing accounts of where military and intelligence authorities believe Mullah Mansour was. Some say Mullah Mansour was not in the region where the drone strike occurred. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive of Afghanistan tweeted that Akhtar was killed in Dahl Bandin area of Quetta.
https://twitter.com/afgexecutive/status/734314271484612609
Other reports indicate he was killed in Ahmed Wal in Afghanistan, other reports put him in Noshki in Balochistan, Pakistan. [source: Shahid Masood from ARY News]. Since there are differeing reports it would be best to wait for official confirmation or denial from THE Taliban. Ministry of Defence spokesman Maj. Gen. Dawlat Waziri said that Mullah Mansour did not want to join the peace process so they could not reconcile with him so they wanted him gone. THE Taliban have not issued a statement confirming his death, so it is best to wait for that before concluding he is dead.
SUMMATION: IF he was killed, it could be an opportunity to heal the divisiveness that occurred at the death of Mullah Omar, when different groups of Talibs had differing ideas as to who the successor should be. The challenge for the US and others is that if all the Taliban are gone, there will be no resistance to ISIS taking over Afghanistan. Maybe the drones should be launched at them.
[Edited on 5/22/2016 by gina]
AFGHANISTAN
The passport found near the car that the US drone blew up belonged to someone named, Wali Mohammad, the picture looks like Mullah Mansour, but it was NOT Mansour.
http://www.khaama.com/taliban-chief-mullah-mansoor-had-pakistani-passport-01033
According to the statement issued by the Foreign Office, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif were informed about the drone strike that some believe likely killed Mansour. [with the bodies now having been identified, these beliefs may be subject to change very shortly].
https://www.geo.tv/latest/106406-No-confirmation-of-Afghan-Taliban-leaders-death-PM-Nawaz
LONDON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday said that reports are still not confirmed that Taliban leader Mullah Mansour has been killed in a US drone strike. Speaking to media representatives after arriving here, the prime minister however confirmed that he had received a phone call from United States Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday night at 10:30PM. Kerry had informed him about the drone attack, he added, but maintained that he was informed about the strike after it had been conducted. “Afterwards, I spoke with the army chief as well,†he said.
LATER:
The statement says: “According to the information gathered so far, a person named Wali Muhammad S/o Shah Muhammad carrying a Pakistani passport and an I.D. Card, resident of Qilla Abdullah, entered Pakistan from Taftan border on 21st May. His passport was bearing a valid Iranian visa. He was travelling on a vehicle hired from a transport company in Taftan. This vehicle was found destroyed at Kochaki along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The driver’s name was Muhammad Azam whose body has been identified and collected by his relatives. The identity of the second body is being verified on the basis of evidence found at the site of the incident and other relevant information.â€
[Edited on 5/22/2016 by gina]
IT WAS NOT MULLAH MANSOUR. The US assassinated 2 Pakistani civilians in the drone strike.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1259976
QUETTA: Two charred bodies and the remains of a car were found on Sunday in Balochistan's Noshki district near the border with Afghanistan. The bodies, which were transferred to the Civil Hospital Quetta, were later identified as Wali Muhammad, resident of Balochistan's Killa Abdullah district and Muhammad Azam hailing from Taftan town in the province's Chaghi district.
"Their bodies had been severely burnt from explosive material and there were iron marks on their faces," a senior doctor who declined to be named since he was not authorised to speak to media told Dawn.com.
Azam's body has been handed over to his heirs, who said the victim was a taxi driver. Haji Khudai Nazar, Azam's uncle, told Dawn.com Azam had been driving a taxi for almost a decade.
The militant-infested Pak-Afghan border region in Balochistan saw unprecedented American bombardment over the weekend, which was authorised by United States President Barack Obama, the Pentagon said on Saturday.
REMARKS: The US is operating a global assassination squad via the drone program, and this is an example of the collateral damage. What it looks like when they hit your car with a missle.
[Edited on 5/22/2016 by gina]
AFGHANISTAN update 6.1.16
THE Afghan Taliban have announced the successor to Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Haibatullah Akhundzada, confirming Mansour's death from a drone strike on 5.21.16.
“Haibatullah Akhundzada has been appointed as the new leader of Taliban after a unanimous agreement in the Shura (supreme council)” Haibatullah previously served as a deputy to Mansour and was a former head of the Taliban’s “judiciary.” Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of a network responsible for a series of powerful bomb attacks across Kabul in recent years, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, were also named deputies.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/25/new-taliban-leader-mullah-haibatullah-akhundzadah
REMARKS: He is a scholar, but also with an orientation as a hardline mujahid, based on his religious beliefs. He is the son of a scholar, but comes from a poor, pious family. Mullah Omar's second in command was Mullah Abdul Ghani Bararder, and then Haibatullah. Mullah Bararder is believed to still be in Pakistani authority custody, though they said he had been released some time ago. When they claimed Bararder was released nobody could find him, so they believe the Pakistanis did not release him. Mullah Akhtar Mansour actually (prophetically, about a week before the drone strike) issued in his will that if he should be martyred, it was his desire that Haibatullah be his successor. He has been in the madrassashs, teaching others. He is so well revered, for his religious knowledge, that his title is Amir ul Momineen Sheikh ul Quran [Commander of the Faithful, Scholar of the Quran]. There are at least ten madrassas in Balochistan (where the US has oil acquisition ambitions) where his teachings are occurring. Mullah Omar's son, Mohammad Yaqoob attended his old alma matr, Darool Ulooom Haqqani where Deobondi Islam is taught.
With the dissention that happened last time, this time there is no dissention, because Omar's son has been named as a deputy and is also working in Military Affairs. Sirajuddin Haqqani is also a Deputy Minister in the new regime, so there is no competition. They are united. The new Amir, like his former predecessors, has expressed no desire to negotiate with the US or the current Afghan government. The talibs have long believed in the sovereignty of Afghan soil, and do not think that US or any foreign forces being there is acceptable policy.
The best solution for peace in Afghanistan is a two state solution, allow the Taliban to live their way in the provinces largely under their control. (at least 17 out of 34). Allow the secularists to live in the provinces they live in.
[Edited on 6/2/2016 by gina]
SYRIA/IRAQ RUSSIA KSA
The US is launching strikes on Syria from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. This comes a day after Russia hit four oil fields under ISIS control yesterday in Raqqa.
Also, as noted Russia remarked that the US refuses to talk to them about the Missile defense shield.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/international/384183/russia-says-u-s-refuses-talks-on-missile-defence-system
Saudi Arabia is starting their own drone program. What kind of karma is this during Ramadan?
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/webtv/reports/2016/06/03/Saudi-deputy-crown-prince-inspects-drone-project.html
[Edited on 6/5/2016 by gina]
UPDATE ISIS AND THE SONS OF AL QAIDA
So Hamza wants the Syrians to unite. Khalid was aligned with Isis. IF Osama was NOT home in Abbottabad, he could be running things. If he was home, then hi sons have a lot of motivation in their fighting.
So Al Qa'ida central backs the new Taliban Amir. ISIS is against the Taliban. Will Al Qa'ida and the Taliban unite against ISIS? Might be difficult since Osama's sons are with Isis, and even some of the Pakistan factions of fighters now have divided loyalties and leanings. If they all united under one banner, they could become an unstoppable force, and there was prophecy about that happening one day.
[Edited on 6/12/2016 by gina]
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN BRENNAN, HEAD OF CIA
Nadia: There has been so much talk about these 28 pages of classified information in this report about 9/11. Do you see any evidence that links the Saudi government to supporting, financing, or being involved with the hijackers as claimed?
Brennan: These so called 28 pages that were part of the joint inquiry that was published in 2002. Just a year after 9/11, was a very preliminary review trying to pull together bits and pieces of information reporting who was responsible for 9/11. Subsequently, the 9/11 commission looked very thoroughly at these allegations of Saudi involvement, Saudi government involvement and their finding, their conclusion was that there was no evidence to indicate that the Saudi government as an institution or Saudi, senior Saudi officials individually had supported the 9/11 attacks. So these 28 pages I believe are going to come out and I think it’s good that they come out. People shouldn’t take them as evidence of Saudi complicity in the attacks. Indeed subsequently the assessments that have been done have shown it was very unfortunate that these attacks took place but this was the work of al-Qaeda, al-Zawahiri, and others of that ilk.
REMARKS: His answer is only what the 9-11 Commission Findings were, and there was much criticism of that commission, their objectivity etc. So the official statement remains what it always has been, even though news reports came out exposing everything from the wire transfers thru Deutsche Bank, from Saudi to Pakistan, and the passports being issued in Jeddah, etc. etc.
"Riyadh has threatened that it might sell up to $750 billion in US securities and other assets if it is connected to the deadly attacks that killed some 3,000 people. "
J. Michael Springmann, a former US diplomat in Saudi Arabia, made the remarks on Sunday over Brennan’s claims that Saudi Arabia will be absolved of any responsibility for the 9/11 attacks based on 28 classified pages of a congressional report into the incident. Springmann told Press TV that the spymaster was “absolutely mistaken,” as many key US politicians along with American intelligence agencies have acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s role in the attacks. The Saudis were indeed involved “either through money or through assistance or through participation by high-level government or well-connected rich individuals,” he added.
The New York Post claimed in a report last month that Saudi Arabia’s involvement was deliberately covered up at the highest levels of the American government.
Pointing to investigations by case agents interviewed at the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) in Washington and San Diego, along with police detectives who investigated the incident, the Post said, “Virtually every road led back to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, as well as the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles.” “What they are afraid of,” Springmann argued, “is essentially Saudis’ attempts to sell-off US securities and its blackmail as it did with the United Nations and its blacklist of Saudi Arabia for terrorism in Yemen.” The United Nations blacklisted Saudi Arabia after concluding in a report released last week that it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in Yemen last year, but quickly scratched it from the list after facing threats by the kingdom to stop funding UN programs.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/06/12/470151/911-Springmann-Brennan-Saudi-Israel-CIA
REMARKS: Selling off Seven Hundred Fifty Billion US Dollars worth of securities could have a profound effect on our economy. The are keeping if afloat. Now I understand.
[Edited on 6/13/2016 by gina]
IRAQ, LEBANON
IRAQ - unconfirmed reports of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi being injured
There was a report on Iraqi Al Sumariya TV cited local sources in Iraq’s Nineveh province that Al-Baghdadi and other Daesh leaders were wounded on Thursday in a coalition airstrike on one of the group’s command headquarters close to the Syrian border. A spokesman of the US coalition, Col. Chris Garver, said in an e-mail that he had seen the reports but had “nothing to confirm this at this time.”
http://www.arabnews.com/node/937681/middle-east
LEBANON
The blast at the Lebanese Central Bank was a retribution attack due to the bank due to their suspension of approximately 100 Hezbollah party-linked bank accounts upon the US requesting them to do that.
http://yalibnan.com/2016/06/12/hezbollah-targets-lebanon-central-bank-chief-in-new-attacks/
“The policy of blackmail and various type of pressures that US administrations practise against countries and forces that are opposed to their policies will never manage to arm-twist Hezbollah or change its stances against the US tyranny and injustice,” the Loyalty to Resistance bloc declared in a statement. It continued: “The current US administration’s targeting of the resistance and its supporters through the Lebanese banking sector is doomed to fail and will not succeed in achieving its objectives.”
On Wednesday, Salameh revealed on the American CNBC television station that one hundred bank accounts associated with Hezbollah were frozen in accordance with directives issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of Treasury. The Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, which threatens to sanction anyone who finances the group, prompted the Central Bank to take these measures to maintain the country’s financial stability.
On Friday, Saudi daily Al Sharq Al Awsat reported that “bank accounts linked to 3,000 people affiliated with Hezbollah are expected to be frozen in the coming days,” which would create a serious dilemma and, perhaps, upset internal stability. “The accounts that will be closed will include more than three thousand people between employees, partners, customers affiliated with the party,” an unnamed source told the Saudi newspaper, adding that account holders will not be able to open new accounts in any Lebanese bank in any currency.
Hezbollah operates a variety of social, educational, religious and medical centres — in addition to its militia that is currently deployed in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere — through direct funding from Iran and donations from sympathisers. Observers believe that most Iranian financial transfers, which are estimated to top the US$400 million mark per year, are in cash and go through Syria, precisely to avoid legitimate banking channels. Individuals and institutions in Lebanon, however, rely on mundane financial bodies to conduct their affairs that will become increasingly more difficult.
Pointing out to the latest Hezbollah campaign against the Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh for abiding by the U.S. sanctions law against the party, Geagea said: “The Governor has no alternative but to implement the international laws. Everyone knows that Lebanon’s banking system is closely linked to the international monetary system.”
REMARKS: US foreign policy is influencing actions being taken against groups like Hezbollah (Shiites) by other countries. Lebanon cannot win in an all out war between Hezbollah. The article also mentions Iran, but what they recently did was make a deal with with a London Bank and with Germany so they can still move their assets, getting around the sanctions imposed on them.
"Iran says one of its London-based banks has joined the euro payment system, in what could be another breakthrough for the country to remove technical hurdles created as a result of multiple years of sanctions. IRNA quoted Reza Meskarian, the managing director of Persia International Bank, as saying that his bank has joined euro payment system known as Target-II after undergoing “complicated banking procedures”. This, Meskarian added, was carried out through the German central bank - Deutsche Bundesbank.
“Persia International Bank belongs to Bank Mellat and Bank Tejarat and it is based in the UK as the first Iranian bank stationed in London with Iranian owners; it managed to join euro payment system known as Target-II after undergoing complicated legal procedures,” he said. Meskarian further explained that in the international payment cycle (euro zone), the central banks of the euro zone countries are members of Target-II network.
“Other European trade banks do the clearing procedure by connecting to one of Europe's central banks; it is quite evident that Deutsche Bundesbank is the most powerful and most important central bank of the euro zone in the European Union,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/06/10/469855/Iran-bank-joins-euro-payment-system
Further Remarks: Germany and London will not be considered terrorists for doing business with Iran, whom the US regards as a terrorist nation state.
[Edited on 6/12/2016 by gina]
UPDATE SAUDI ARABIA/US
Saudi Arabia’s powerful Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is traveling to the United States to meet with President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the wake of the kingdom’s recent diplomatic row with the UN and political differences with Washington.
The 31-year-old prince will meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday morning, CIA chief John Brennan on Tuesday and Obama on Thursday.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/06/13/470303/Saudi-Arabia-Prince-Mohammed-Obama-UN-US-Ban
Since this a thread about Foreign Policy, this needs to be brought up. There are stark differences in how Hillary would handle foreign policy and how Trump would.
Trump has made these remarks.
Her plan is to disarm law-abiding Americans, abolishing the 2nd amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns. She wants to take away Americans’ guns, then admit the very people who want to slaughter us."
Hillary would like implement banning at least some forms of guns, and she is for immigration and allowing refugees into the US. But the vetting process for refugees is quite thorough.
As Politifact reports:
“...once a case is referred from the UNHCR to the United States, a refugee undergoes a security clearance check that could take several rounds, an in-person interview, approval by the Department of Homeland Security, medical screening, a match with a sponsor agency, ‘cultural orientation’ classes, and one final security clearance. This all happens before a refugee ever gets onto American soil.”
http://www.state.gov/j/prm/ra/admissions/index.htm
What would the effects of either of their policies be upon the country and how we live our lives? People really need to consider the choice they have to make in November. With regards to the potential crimes/terror of people coming in here, the people who need to be checked with scrutiny Visa Waiver program. Maine Senator Angus King pointed that out. he sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he KNOWS these things.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/19/politics/angus-king-isis-visa-waiver-refugees/index.html
VISA WAIVER REFORMS. Why haven't they been implemented?
ISRAEL/LEBANON
"Israeli military forces have reportedly taken part in the largest-ever simulated war exercise against Lebanon and its resistance movement Hezbollah within virtual reality environment.
Ynetnews, the online publication for Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, compared the exercise to “a giant war videogame, which enlisted troops exercising “around the clock, for two days.”
It said the troops were drilling at the brigade level, which turned the virtual war game into the biggest yet held.
The forces simulated application of weapons systems, which are either yet to become operational or whose application in live-fire exercise is costly. “The majority of the new fighting systems being tested out in these simulators…are top secret,” the website added. Participants were from the Golani Brigade, an elite force which was formed in 1948, a tank brigade from the Israeli military and combat engineers. The exercise also featured a drone squadron.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah met with the resistance group's special forces to outline strategies for a possible war with Israel, media reports said.
Hezbollah has been successfully helping the Syrian army fight Takfiri militants in order to prevent the Syria conflict from spilling over to Lebanon. “One eye on the south (in Lebanon) and the other on Aleppo,” he was quoted as saying, referring to a northwestern Syrian city, which lies close to the border with Lebanon. Last month, Israeli daily Jerusalem Post quoted military commander Eren Makov as saying that Tel Aviv was training Israelis throughout the northern occupied territories to prepare them for future conflicts with Lebanon."
Remarks: Interestingly, non Syrian fighters have recently been reported as leaving the Syrian battlefield in droves. Either they know something is coming, or they have been ordered to go and get ready for what will be coming. The US being the ally of Israel would be drawn into any war that occurs, and Russia would be our adversary along with Iran. Any destabilization of the Middle East will have far reaching consequences not just 'over there', but here as well.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/06/14/470386/Israel-Hezbollah-Lebanon-Syria-Nasrallah-Aleppo
FRANCE Still in the Crosshairs of Isis
An Isis supporter who stabbed a police officer and his wife to death near Paris streamed a live video of himself calling for further terror attacks from inside his victims' home. In what appears to be a prepared speech, Larossi Abballa pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State and claimed the Euro 2016 football tournament being held in France would be turned into "a graveyard".
Speaking in a mix of French and Arabic as he held the couple's three-year-old child hostage, he pledged allegiance to Isis’ self-declared “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said he was obeying a call to carry out lone wolf attacks during Ramadan. Abballa broadcast his rantings using Facebook Live at 8.52pm, minutes after he killed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his wife at their home. At one point the footage showed him puzzling over what to do with their three-year-old child sitting behind him, who was unharmed in the ordeal. Police said Abballa had lain in wait outside the house in Magnanville, a commune northwest of Paris, and stabbed Mr Salvaing as he arrived home at around 8.30pm local time (7.30pm BST) on Monday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/14/europe/french-policeman-terror-attack/index.html
An edited version of the Facebook video was disseminated on the ISIS-affiliated website A'maq in which the attacker threatens that Euro 2016 would "be like a cemetery." The video showed Abballa smiling eerily after making the threat. He admitted to killing the police commander, Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, and Jessica Schneider, a civil servant who worked at a local police station. "Pledging allegiance to my emir, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, my first words are for the Muslim community: What happened to you? What kind of sentence did you receive? How did you get to this?" he asked.
The attack occurred shortly after 8 p.m. Monday. Abballa stabbed Salvaing first and then took Schneider and the couple's boy hostage in their home in Magnanville, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Tuesday.Abballa had been convicted and jailed in 2013 for being part of a recruiting network for radical Islamists to go to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Molins said.
REMARKS: So the recent problems at the soccer match between Russia and France seem to be a practice drill for what is yet to come. Perhaps it is NOT just a bunch of rowdy fans, but Isis doing a practice run.
[Edited on 6/14/2016 by gina]
ISIS Issued Hit List of 8,000 Americans - 600 in Florida
ISIS had been trying to inspire 'lone wolf' attacks in America for months before the Orlando massacre, including publishing a kill list with the names of at least 600 Florida residents on it.
Accounts linked to the terror group published the list back in April on anonymous messaging app Telegram, which contained the names of thousands of targets, mostly Americans.
Three days ago, as the list continued to circulate, former FBI agent-turned lawyer Stuart Kaplan warned that it was likely intended to inspire lone gunmen into carrying out attacks. He also warned that there is little authorities can do to protect those on the list.
Kaplan told CBS12: 'If in fact a sympathizer gets hold of this list and is readily able to identify you as being his neighbor and, then, decides to go out and do something horrific to you, there is no way to calculate the potential or to prevent that.' The list, published on Telegram by the United Cyber Caliphate, is believed to contain the names of more than 8,000 people, mostly American citizens.
Remarks: Some other articles had more details, but it mentions Khartoum, Sudan, and elsewhere it says "USA—You are our primary goal,” the hacking group posted in an English-language message on Telegram. “Your system failed to Tackling [sic] our attacks. Now we will Crush you again.” Well Isis has not really issued a crushing blow to the US. Al Qaida is said to have done that with 9.11.01. Again, I say IF Osama was not found in that raid in Abbottabad, he is most likely running Isis due to ideological differences with Ayman al Zawahiri, and the Afghan Taliban. Osama's goal was always stated to be a global caliphate, the same goal as Moqtadr al Sadr, and Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. He wanted the US to become the United States of Islam because even he regarded it as a great nation, that he thought could be brought to Islam.
[Edited on 6/15/2016 by gina]
PETER BERGEN AND GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS NYC MONDAY
Peter Bergen wrote a book called The United States Of Jihad, and there will be an interesting discussion with former General David Petraeus in New York City June 20th.
When: June 20, 2016
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Where:
Civic Hall
156 Fifth Avenue, Second Floor
New York, NY 10010
The War on Terror. ISIS and al-Qaeda. Cyber-warfare and the conflicts of the future.
The United States’ national security portfolio is as complex as ever. What will the next president’s national security challenges be? Join New America’s Peter Bergen as he talks with General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus about the key national security issues facing American policymakers.
PARTICIPANTS
General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus
Chairman, KKR Global Institute
Former Director, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
Former Commander, Multi-National Force – Iraq
Former Commander, U.S. Forces and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan
Peter Bergen
Vice President and Director, International Security Program, New America
National Security Analyst, CNN
Author, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists
The event has reached capacity, but there will be a livestream.
[Edited on 6/17/2016 by gina]
AFGHANISTAN/US FOUR MORE YEARS
The US announced Thursday June 17 of the intent for NATO to remain in Afghanistan for four more years. So what will they be doing?
By Thomas Gaist
"The continued NATO occupation of Afghanistan will be divided into three subsections, commanded by US-, German- and Italian-led contingents.
Together with the 10,000 American troops remaining in country, NATO will maintain six bases as part of a “hub and spoke” military network, centered on the militarized government compound in Kabul and the massive US base at Bagram airfield, which was established following the 2001 US-led invasion.
The NATO mission in Afghanistan is only part of a package of “enhancements” announced this week. In the lead-up to the July 8 Warsaw summit, NATO is preparing to ratify a laundry list of military preparations directed toward encircling Russia. On Wednesday, the US-European imperialist alliance announced new deployments and military aid to Romania, Ukraine, the Black Sea and the Aegean. NATO will also intensify its involvement in the European Union’s militarized refugee-policing operations in the Mediterranean, “Operation Sophia,” including a “new platform for a NATO role in the central Mediterranean,” NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.
In a sweeping commitment, NATO has agreed in general terms to “join the US war on ISIS,” Washington’s latest catchall neocolonial project, which, though originally centered on the Iraq-Syria war launched in 2014, has expanded to encompass growing areas of Africa and Central and South Asia. NATO advisers are already preparing to join the American intervention in Iraq, and NATO intelligence cadres have been sent to the US Central Command and US Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida.
In Eastern Europe, NATO is preparing openly for total war against Russia.
The Warsaw summit is expected to approve a permanent “rotational” presence of thousands of Western combat troops in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, along with the progressive buildup of massive stores of warehoused military hardware, and the maintenance of a 40,000-strong rapid response spearhead force against Russia.
The NATO “enhancements” are being announced in an aggressively provocative fashion. Every day brings more heated war rhetoric against Moscow. NATO leaders speak of war with Russia as an imminent reality. General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday that Russia is massing forces all along NATO’s lines.
“We are observing massive militarisation at NATO borders: in the Arctic, in the Baltic, from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany’s Bild.
“Russia is trying to build up a zone of influence through military means,” he said. “We are registering aggressive, unannounced, large-scale maneuvers on the Russian side. Therefore we must act,” Stoltenberg added, calling for “a clear signal of strength.” “NATO must be ready in the future to deploy forces in Libya, as it did in Afghanistan and the Balkans,” Stoltenberg said.
NATO’s commitment to five more years of war in Afghanistan is the latest in a flurry of signals that American imperialism is preparing a new outburst of militarist violence against Afghanistan, Pakistan, and throughout Central Asia. Spurred on by pressure from the Pentagon and the worsening crisis of the US-backed puppet government in Kabul, President Barack Obama is preparing to cancel further reductions of the US troop level in Afghanistan and authorize various expansions of the war.
Last week, Obama green-lighted new offensive operations against the Taliban insurgency. The US Air Force announced Thursday that it is intensifying bombing raids over Afghanistan, acting under expanded rules of engagement aimed at “shaping the battlespace,” the US Air Force chief of staff told media Wednesday. The new US Afghanistan Commander, General John Nicholson, is expected to receive still broader authority to launch preemptive strikes against the Islamist militias.
Decades of imperialist war, invasion and occupation by Washington and its European accomplices have already transformed Afghanistan into a killing field. From 1978 onward, US-backed militias and American and European troops have ravaged the strategic Central Asian nation, producing a body count that continues to grow by the year. The years 2014 and 2015 each set new records for civilian deaths in Afghanistan, with at least 3,500 civilians killed and 7,500 injured last year. Bolstered by NATO, Washington will plow ahead all the more boldly, unleashing new waves of chaos and violence in a Central Asian political tinderbox already menaced by the close prospect of a regional war involving nuclear-armed states.
The American and European soldiers sent to Afghanistan are being deployed into a cauldron of national tensions. The political order of Asia is being violently restructured under the impact of the Obama administration’s anti-China “Pivot to Asia,” which has massed American forces along China’s coasts, and inflamed conflicts between Beijing and a handful of its neighbors, including Japan, India, Vietnam and the Philippines. The longstanding and interlocking conflicts between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Pakistan and India, have been thrown into overdrive by the US-India alliance, and were further damaged by the May 21 assassination of Pakistani-backed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
Washington’s war drive against China, and the recruitment of India on its behalf, have trashed the US-Pakistani alliance, forcing Islamabad to align more closely with Beijing. On Thursday, Pakistan announced that it would join the Chinese-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). “A full SCO membership will help Pakistan strengthen its role in regional and global politics, economies and infrastructure by promoting regional connectivity through the One Belt One Road and Eurasian Economic Union projects,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said. The souring of relations between Washington and Islamabad has encouraged Kabul’s ambitions to pursue historic conflicts with Pakistan. In an apparent effort to contest the imperialist-drawn 1893 Afghanistan-Pakistan border, known as the Durand line, Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani forces and construction crews in the Torkham border area on Sunday. After an attempted truce, Pakistani units began firing artillery over the crossing on Wednesday. The situation remains tense and both sides are reportedly massing forces in the area.
The upending of the regional order by the US pivot is setting the stage for ferocious struggles over control of Central Asia’s vast natural resources and key commercial throughways. In “Eurasian Integration: Caught Between Russia and China,” the European Council on Foreign Affairs, a strategy network that includes a swathe of Europe’s political and business elite, outlines a plan to shape the Eurasian economy in the interests of sections of the European bourgeoisie, primarily through interventions targeted against Russia and China. “Europe should carve out its own role in Central Asia, deepening its relationship with key nations such as Kazakhstan. These countries need the EU’s market, and look to Europe to protect them from Russian – and to a lesser extent Chinese – control. Europe should ensure that no single country controls all energy routes through Eurasia, and back China’s projects in order to reduce Russia’s control over the region,” the Council wrote.
“The EU should play the role of an external balancer to China and Russia’s competition for power in Kazakhstan and Central Asia,” they wrote. “This will require strengthening cooperation in the field of energy trade and energy security between Central Asia and Europe.”
The European Council emphasizes the centrality of the Caucasus for Eurasian strategy, highlighting the centrality of Azerbaijan. “Azerbaijan is a crucial partner, since it provides the only means to bypass Iran and Russia, via the Caspian Sea,” the Council notes. “Azerbaijan is at the centre of three major integration initiatives – the European Union, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), and the recently established One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative championed by China.” The Council’s analysis underscores the strategic significance of moves to integrate Azerbaijan’s neighbor, Georgia, into NATO, a major item on the agenda for Warsaw. NATO will “strengthen our package of support for Georgia” at the Warsaw conference, Stoltenberg said, building on the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center and Noble Partner war exercises held in May, which included 650 American and 200 British soldiers. While Georgia is not formally a member of NATO, Tbilisi already maintains a full infantry company within NATO’s Response Force and has deployed nearly 900 Georgian troops in support of the NATO Afghan mission.
Pointing to the titanic contradictions brewing within the Eurasian mega-continent, the European Council notes that Eurasian integration is increasingly creating a pro-Chinese constituency with the less privileged sections of European capital in Central and Eastern Europe. The Council warns: “China’s engagement in Central and Eastern Europe threatens to turn the region into a strong advocate for China within the EU.” For the European elites, this can only offer another compelling reason for the maintenance of NATO military garrisons, on China’s doorstep, in Afghanistan.
For all its internal divisions, the imperialist bourgeoisie is united by its determination to prevent the formation of Chinese- and Russian-led economic blocs. This is necessary to insure that the vast resources and labor armies of the post-Stalinist countries, closed off from Western capital for the better part of the 20th century by the Russian and Chinese revolutions, are thrown open for exploitation by the ruling cliques in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin. "
[Edited on 6/17/2016 by gina]
FRANCE/BELGIUM WARNED OF NEW ATTACKS COMING
6.15.16
Belgian and French security forces have received an anti-terror alert about a group of Islamic State fighters who recently left Syria and are heading to Europe. They are allegedly planning attacks in Belgium and France, according to security sources cited by Reuters and AP. The terrorists in question "left Syria about a week and a half ago to reach Europe via Turkey and Greece by boat without passports," Belgian newspaper DH reported, quoting the alert. "We know there are fighters who are coming back (to Europe)," French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told a news conference Wednesday.
The latest news comes just days after an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighter attacked a French police commander and his partner at their home outside Paris. Tensions are also running high over the Euro 2016 football championship in France. Some 90,000 police and private guards have been mobilized to manage events in the face of the terror attack threat, and dual steel rings have been set up to ensure the maximum protection at venues..
REMARKS: They know when the fighters left, when they plan to arrive, can they stop an attack at the Football match, or anywhere else?
Link for the LiveStream
https://www.newamerica.org/nyc/events/conversation-gen-david-h-petraeus/
PETER BERGEN AND GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS NYC MONDAY
Peter Bergen wrote a book called The United States Of Jihad, and there will be an interesting discussion with former General David Petraeus in New York City June 20th.
When: June 20, 2016
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Where:
Civic Hall
156 Fifth Avenue, Second Floor
New York, NY 10010The War on Terror. ISIS and al-Qaeda. Cyber-warfare and the conflicts of the future.
The United States’ national security portfolio is as complex as ever. What will the next president’s national security challenges be? Join New America’s Peter Bergen as he talks with General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus about the key national security issues facing American policymakers.
PARTICIPANTS
General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus
Chairman, KKR Global Institute
Former Director, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
Former Commander, Multi-National Force – Iraq
Former Commander, U.S. Forces and the International Security Assistance Force in AfghanistanPeter Bergen
Vice President and Director, International Security Program, New America
National Security Analyst, CNN
Author, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists
The event has reached capacity, but there will be a livestream.
[Edited on 6/17/2016 by gina]
Just an FYI, undergoing geopolitically induced harassment that is beyond the pale. Accordingly, I may be more quiet than usual while I do damage control. I am so tired of the rendition like harassment, but that's all they know. Pathetic bastards.
BREXIT and the effect on our stocks and economy
We’re down to the wire. Tomorrow’s the day the U.K. decides on whether or not to stay in the European Union. According to a recent Bank of America research piece by Joseph Quinlan, Managing Director and Chief Market Strategist at BoA’s U.S. Trust Private Wealth Management unit, since 2000, U.S. multinationals have generated 9% of their global foreign affiliates’ profits from the U.K.
Output of U.S. affiliates in the U.K. was $153 billion in 2013 alone.
American Companies With the Most to Lose
Some of America’s biggest companies have huge exposure to the U.K. and Europe.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) employs 16000 people in the U.K. and generates substantial revenues from banking services and deal-making in the U.K. and across the E.U.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) employs 14,000 people in Britain and gets 18% of its revenue from the U.K. It is the number one auto brand there.
The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF), The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS), Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) all derive huge revenues and profits form the U.K. and countries all across the E.U.
Remarks: People don't seem to have the realization that we are in a global economy and what happens with other countries can have big effects on our economy here. If Britain leaves the European Union tomorrow, it will effect us here.
BRITAIN Brexit - Yes They Left The European Union
UPDATE: They have voted to leave the European Union. David Cameron is resigning as Prime Minister. Scotland and London want to vote to remain in the Union. Britain may be a nation divided in two.
Dow Jones down 500 points.
Donald Trump weighed in on it and said that they have taken back their country. With Wall Street being tied to the London Stock Exchange, Americans too can be impacted by this.
Interestingly it is an American, who revoked his own citizenship to live over in the UK, who may become one of the new leaders.
[Edited on 6/25/2016 by gina]
ISTANBUL
There was a terror attack in Istanbul. Istanbul has been the site of attacks this year including:
January 2016
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35290760
February 2016 attack and then a Controlled Explosion in April
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/659591/Turkey-terror-warning-Avoid-Istanbul-Antalya-warns-US
March 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/19/istanbul-hit-by-deadly-bomb-a ttack
June 7, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36466744
June 28, 2016
http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/reports-of-an-explosion-at- istanbul-airport/489200/
Turkey and Syria play a big role in wars that lead up to time before Judgement Day upon the earth. Some of the things have already happened, others are still to come.
http://english.islammessage.com/articledetails.aspx?articleId=2852
Signs Before the Major Signs (i.e. before the emergence of Imaam Mahdi)
Christain Rule Will be dominant
ANOMALOUS INCIDENTS WILL OCCUR
Occurrence of red winds, disfiguration of faces (man to pig), and people being swallowed into the ground.
GENOCIDE
A man from Abu Sufyaan’s progeny massacres descendents of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam and rules over Syria and Egypt.
WAR
A major war between Muslims and Christians: Half the Christian army will sign a peace treaty with the Muslim army, while the second half of the Christian army remains the common enemy.
ISTANBUL CONQUERED BY CHRISTIANS
The enemy half of the Christian army conquers Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey.
ISTANBUL RECONQUERED JOINTLY BY MUSLIM AND CHRISTIANS
The Muslims and the good half of the Christian army conquer Constantinople together, against the enemy Christians. Thereafter, a Christian will say the victory was due to the cross, and the Muslim will say it was due to Islam. A battle between both sides will ensue, and the Muslim Ruler will be martyred.
SYRIA CONQUERED BY CHRISTIANS
The two Christian armies reunite, conquering Syria.
CHRISTIAN DOMINATION
Christians dominate the world up to Khaiber (near Madinah), and they will pursue Muslims with 80 flags, with 12,000 men under each flag.
MUSLIMS AWAIT Imaam Mahdi
IMAAM MAHDI EMERGES
At age 40, Imaam Mahdi appears in Makkah, then flees to Madinah.
MUSLIM ARMY MARCHES
The army of Mansoor from Khurasaan will head towards Makkah to aid Imaam Mahdi. They will win many battles on the way. No force will be able to stop them. They will carry black flags.
SUFYAANI ARMY SWALLOWED BY THE EARTH.
The Sufyaani army (an Anti-Muslim force) from Syria singles out Imaam Mahdi for execution. On the way to Makkah, they get swallowed into the ground. A second Sufyaani army is created with 960,000 men (of 80 nations).
CONFRONTATION IN SYRIA
Imaam Mahdi and the Muslim army go to Syria to confront the Christians. The Christians, before the battle, will ask Muslims for the return of their prisoners-of-war. The Muslims will refuse. The battle will begin. One-third of Imaam Mahdi’s army will flee (their repentance will not be accepted), one-third will be martyred, and one-third will gain victory over the Christians.
MUSLIM ARMY UNDER IMAAM MAHDI CONQUERS PALESTINE
JIHAAD ON INDIA
A jamaat of Muslims wages Jihaad on India and be successful.
SYRIA UNDER MUSLIM RULE
Imaam Mahdi returns to Syria and establishes Muslim rule over the lands he passes.
ANIMOSTIY RIFE AMONGST THE PEOPLE
At this time, Muslims will be weak and there will be very few pious people.
3 RUMORS OF EMERGENCE OF Dajjaal... 3 YEARS OF DROUGHT
Before the emergence of Dajjaal there will be three years of drought. The first year, the skies will retain 1/3 of its water, the second year 2/3, and all of its water the third year.
DAJJAAL APPEARS [antichrist]
Dajjaal appears. His followers, the Yahudis, will number 70,000 and will wear expensive silk attire and carry double edged swords.
Hadhrat Eisa alayhis salaam (JESUS) APPEARS
Hadhrat Eisa alayhis salaam descends during the lifetime of Imaam Mahdi.
REMARKS: All that is going on is part of the prophecies revealed thousands of years ago. There will not be a victory and subdual of the lands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, because if there was, the others prophecies would not be fulfilled. For a jihad to be successfully waged on India there has to be people in the areas where they would be able to do that, and that means Pakistan. (which is a nuclear armed country).
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SYRIA
US airstrikes killed at least 250 Isis fighters. Will they retaliate in our country? Why do we need to risk that? Why don't we let Syria manage their own problem. We are provoking terror attacks to be conducted in this country by going over there attacking those fighters. Let Assad and his ally, Russia manage the people and security problems in his country, or sit back and watch bombings and shootings come to this country. That is what will happen. By the way we just accepted 10,000 Syrian refugees to come here. By October 1 right before the election - oh the pre-meditated coincidences are just too easy to guess. Will Isis fighters be coming in as Syrian refugees and just happen to disrupt the election if Trump becomes the candidate, is that what's going to happen?
[Edited on 6/30/2016 by gina]
