[Garowe] The al-Shabaab ...... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa... hard boyz have released a new video purportedly of its leader Ahmed Umar alias Abu Ubaidah, the Emir who is on the US list of most wanted terrorists, allegedly addressing fighters in an undisclosed location just moments before the deadly attack on a Ugandan military base in Somalia.
Last week, an estimated number of over 800 al-Shabaab hard boyz ransacked Bulo Marer Forward Operating Base in southern Somalia, killing several soldiers who were on duty. This was the first single-largest attack on a military base by al-Shabaab since 2017 when they raided Kenya Defence Forces [KDF] base in Kulbiyow.
The face of Abu Ubaidah in the video appears blurred as a customary practice whenever he addresses his fighters and is heard sending the hard boyz to raid the base. The video comes a few days after the hard boyz released a similar one in which he insisted that the operations against the group had "fatally failed".
Also appearing in the footage which was taken in an undisclosed sending-off forest area, are al-Shabaab holy man Sheikh Jama Abdisalam and top official Hassan Yaqub. The video also suggests that five jacket wallahs [at least one of them a foreigner] detonated VBIEDs at the base at the UPDF base.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni ...President-for-Life of Uganda. He assumed office in 1985. His primary virtue is being prefereable to both his predecessors, Idi Amin and Milton Obote... revealed that at least 54 Uganda People's Defense Forces [UPDF] soldiers were killed while insisting that the group will "regret their actions". The veteran leader also said two commanders would face a court martial for ordering the troops to "run away".
Al-Shabaab maintains that over 137 soldiers were killed in the incident while the group's third in command Mahad Karate claimed over 200 bit the dust. According to preliminary reports, a total of 221 soldiers were in the base when the group invaded, but a number of them managed to run to a nearby UPDF base.
The attack came just a day before the US Africa Command confirmed injured the group's external operations coordinator Moalim Osman, who is said to be the head of recruitment of imported muscle in the country. Moalim is believed to be the man organizing attacks in foreign lands besides targeting mission troops in the country.
Currently, there are close to 22,000 peacekeeping soldiers in the country drawn from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Burundi, and Æthiopia but the number will be slashed by the end of this month in compliance with Somali Transition Plan [STP]. Already, 2000 soldiers have been earmarked for exit according to African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Abu Ubaidah has over $10 million bounty on his head and has often evaded the dragnet, but to date, his whereabouts remain a mystery.
The Emir took over from Ahmed Godan, the Emir who was killed in a US-coordinated Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in Somalia in 2014, leading to succession wrangles in the group.
[AlAhram] The new flight route between Cairo and New Jersey’s Newark city will strengthen business ties between Egypt and the US and allow more American tourists to visit Egypt, the US embassy in Cairo said on Tuesday.
The intended result. Will America see more Copt escapees or Moslem colonists going in the other direction?
In a post on its Facebook page, the US embassy congratulated Egypt on the first direct flight between Cairo and Newark earlier this week
The embassy added that the new connection will help US tourists visit Egypt and Egyptian tourists and students go to the US.
EgyptAir now operates direct flights from Cairo to four US cities: New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Newark, the embassy affirmed.
The first direct flight coming from Newark landed in Cairo International Airport on Sunday morning as part of the new flight route announced in mid-April.
The plane was given the customary water salute.
EgyptAir has recently announced plans to operate three direct flights per week between Cairo International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport using its latest Boeing B787-9 aircraft.
Tens of thousands of Egyptian immigrants colonists to the US who live in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Metropolitan area use JFK in New York to fly back home.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... prior to the pandemic, more than 500,000 Americans visited Egypt anually.
Egypt received a record-breaking 1.35 million tourists in April, marking a significant milestone for the country’s tourism sector that has been recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa said on Monday that the country expects a total of 15 million tourists in 2023 — a figure which, if met, would break the 14.7 million record set in 2010.
#5
The most dangerous direct flight line on the planet. Should get something like a hiking patch for the transit. Though, the Cairo part sounds interesting.
How effective will he be, given President Erdogan’s hatred of all things Kurdish — or was he just added to dilute the Kurdish vote?
[Rudaw] Cevdet Yilmaz, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s new vice president is a Kurd from a village called Saban in Bingol province, southeastern Turkey (Bakur).
Rudaw has spoken to his relatives who hope the vice president will play a key role in resolving the country’s issues.
"Congratulations to all of us for Cevdet Yilmaz’s [designation as deputy president]. He was a successful person who graduated top first from primary school to university. He did his internship in the US and graduated top first from Bilkent University," Kemal Burulday, Yilmaz’s relative, told Rudaw’s Ali Haydar Gozlu.
Burulday added that he is optimistic that there are Kurds in positions of power and they hope they will work towards improving the economic and social situation.
His relatives and people from his village say he had previously served the village and is able to serve the country.
"Cevdet Yilmaz is from our village. He attends all wakes and we see one another. We are very glad and I hope Allah makes him successful," Ramazan Bulmus, a villager, said.
Yilmaz was born in 1967 and obtained a PhD degree from Bilken University’s department of political science. He served as a politician for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) five times then in 2016, he became the deputy prime minister of Turkey. Yilmaz speaks Kurmanci and Zazaki dialects of Kurdish as well as Ottoman Turkish and English.
Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... on Saturday announced the members of his new cabinet in a ceremony in Ankara after his inauguration for his third term.
Speaking in Cankaya Palace in Ankara, Erdogan named 19 ministers and Yilmaz as the vice president who, according to him, will shape the next century in Turkey’s history.
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06/07/2023 00:00 ||
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Any chance they’ll give up funding jihad until they get back on their feet?
[Dawn] Ministry of Commerce has announced a list of 57 products for barter trade with Afghanistan, 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... and Russia to save the country’s foreign exchange at a time when its foreign exchange reserves are running low.
The commerce ministry through SRO642 on Tuesday notified a list of goods eligible for import and export under barter trade with Afghanistan. However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... only imports are allowed under the scheme with Iran and Russia.
The items which can be exported to Afghanistan under the barter scheme are milk, cream, eggs and cereals, meat and fish products; rice, confectionery and bakery items, pharmaceutical products, essential oils, perfumes, cosmetics, toiletries, soaps, lubricants, waxes and matches, tanning, dying extracts and misc. chemicals products.
Plastics and rubber articles, finished leather & leather apparel, articles of wood, articles of paper & paper board, textiles (inter-mediates), readymade garments, textile’s made-ups and carpets, footwear, iron and steel, copper and articles thereof, tool and cutlery, electric fans and home appliances, electrical equipment, cycle of violences and tractors — excluding components — surgical instruments, furniture items, and sports goods can also be exported to Kabul.
At the same time, the items allowed under the barter system from Afghanistan are fruits and nuts, vegetables and pulses, spices, oil seeds, minerals and metals, coal and its products, raw rubber items, raw hides and skins, cotton, iron & steel.
No goods are allowed to export to Iran under the barter system. Only fruits, nuts and vegetables, minerals & metals, spices, coal and its products, petroleum crude oil, LNG and LPG, miscellaneous chemical products, fertilisers, articles of plastics and rubber in primary form, raw hides and skins, raw wool, articles of iron & steel can be imported from Iran.
Items allowed for import from Russia are pulses, wheat, coal and its products, petroleum oils (including crude), LNG and LPG, fertilisers, tanning and dying extracts, articles of plastics and rubber in primary form, minerals and metals, wood and paper, chemicals products, iron and steel, and items of textile industrial machinery.
Smuggling across Pakistain’s borders with Iran and Afghanistan is going on at a massive scale. Much foreign exchange is lost to this illegal trade. Reports indicate that smuggled Iranian oil has captured 25-30 percent of Pakistain’s diesel market.
The smuggling of fertilizer, sugar, and wheat to Iran and Afghanistan has become another problem for Pakistain. The Afghan Taliban ...Arabic for students... ’s ban on Pakistain’s rupee as legal tender in Afghanistan has contributed to this smuggling problem, which has forced exporters to trade in dollars. By reducing the costs associated with traditional trade, the barter system can reduce smuggling. It could emerge as a more attractive option to traders in both countries.
This is especially important given Pakistain’s current economic situation. The country is facing one of its most severe economic crises in recent years. With only a month’s worth of import cover, Pakistain could be pushed into a situation where it will not have enough money to pay its debts or provide basic services to its citizens. This would have far-reaching implications on the economy and people’s livelihoods.
The barter system will help strengthen Pakistain’s economy by increasing its exports and reducing its dependence on the U.S. dollar. Over the years, Pak business groups and barter trade operators have underlined the importance of transacting in currencies of friendly countries and reducing reliance on the dollar. Easing Pakistain’s dependence on the dollar could reduce its fiscal deficit and external debt incurred from international imports.
Analysts believe that the implementation of Pakistain’s decision on barter trade "in letter and spirit" could usher in a new era of regional integration. Dr. Zainab Ahmed, chairperson of the Department of International Relations at Lahore Garrison University, told The Diplomat that "barter trade would not only relieve this region of dependence on the dollar and export regulations but also promote people-to-people contacts that are crucial to regional economic integration."
[Shafaq News] On Tuesday, Pir Dian Jafar, director of the Department of Migration, Displacement and Crisis Response of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Duhok, announced the successful return of 57 families from Sharya camp to their areas in the Sinjar district.
The repatriation process was part of a program initiated by the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... (IOM) organization, which focused on restoring and constructing homes for those wishing to return to Sinjar. Approximately 1,000 families had registered their intention to return to their homes in Sinjar.
Jafar emphasized that the repatriation process was ongoing in other camps as well. Recently, 38 families had returned from Bersavi 1 camp, and an average of 10 to 15 were leaving the camps and returning to their areas in Sinjar. Currently, 159 families have returned to Sinjar from the camps. Additionally, more than 900 registered families still wanted to return to their homes.
Duhok Governorate is currently home to 16 internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, accommodating a population of over 1,137,000 individuals. Furthermore, around 1,189 IDPs are residing outside the camps.
The repatriation efforts represent a significant stride in stabilizing the region and facilitating the return of displaced families to their homes in Sinjar. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... challenges remain as authorities strive to address the needs and aspirations of the families eager to return.
[Rudaw] AmnesiaAmnesty International on Monday called on Iraqi authorities to reveal the fate of over 600 people "forcibly disappeared" by government-linked Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Anbar province in 2016.
On June 3, 2016 thousands of men and boys in the city of Saqlawiyah in Anbar’s Fallujah district were put into buses and trucks by gunnies believed to be members of the PMF as part of military operations and under the pretext of suspected affiliation to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS). The whereabouts of at least 643 of them are still unknown.
The human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. watchdog criticized the Iraqi governments’ failure to provide clarity on the whereabouts of these men and boys over seven years from their disappearance, saying that their families are entitled to redress and reparations.
"There is no bigger of a disaster than losing someone dear to you. We lost our loved ones, husbands, uncles, fathers. Everyone left. I don’t remember anything other than sadness," Amnesty cited a woman kidnapped by the PMF forces alongside six of her family members on June 3, 2016.
The rights monitor called on the authorities to reveal the findings of the committee formed by former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi back in 2016 to investigate these disappearances, and ensure that the information is shared with judicial authorities so that the suspects can be subjected to fair trials "without recourse to the death penalty ."
It also urged Iraq to criminalize enforced disappearances, which is still not identified as a crime under Iraqi law.
ISIS seized control of vast areas of northern Iraq in 2014, killing civilians and enslaving others across Sunni-majority provinces. Fallujah was the first major urban center seized by the turban group. The Iraqi army and the PMF launched an offensive on May 22, 2016 to retake the city.
According to the International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC), Iraq has one of the highest numbers of missing people in the world, to a point that every Iraqi family has firsthand experience or knows someone who was forcibly disappeared.
The PMF was formed when a group of militias responded to a call-to-arms from revered Shiite holy man Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to stand against ISIS in 2014. While the force has been officially incorporated into the Iraqi security apparatus, militias within their ranks operate outside of Baghdad’s control and receive support from Iran.
[Rudaw] The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a network of entities and firms in China and 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... that it claimed were involved in the advancement of Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
Seven individuals and six entities in Iran, China, and Hong Kong were sanctioned "in connection with Iran’s ballistic missile program," the US Treasury said. "This network has conducted financial transactions and facilitated procurement of sensitive and critical parts and technology for key actors in Iran’s ballistic missile program."
Washington targeted the Chinese companies for shipping centrifuges, dual-use nonferrous metals, accelerometers, and gyroscopes to government bodies and private companies such as Parchin Chemical Industries (PCI) as well as P.B. Sadr, PCI’s key intermediary.
The treasury also placed sanctions on Davoud Damghani, Iran’s defense attache in Beijing, saying he coordinated the procurement of supplies from China to Iran.
"Today’s action reinforces our commitment to respond to activities which undermine regional stability and threaten the security of our partners and allies," Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.
"The United States will continue to target illicit transnational procurement networks that covertly support Iran’s ballistic missile production and other military programs," he added.
On Tuesday, Iran unveiled its first hypersonic ballistic missile, Fattah, with a range of up to 1,400 kilometers and the ability to penetrate all anti-missile systems, according to Iranian state media.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Codenamed Bluster Pretty pictures at the link. How fortunate that Israel has several other layers of defense beyond Iron Dome, both shorter range and longer. I seem to recall they also have a satellite or several looking down...
Posted by: Skidmark ||
06/07/2023 00:00 ||
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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.
President-for-Life of Uganda. He assumed office in 1985. His primary virtue is being prefereable to both his predecessors, Idi Amin and Milton Obote...
...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
...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 
...Arabic for 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...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 
