[SHABELLENEWS] In Somalia, a country long troubled by deadly violence, there’s a disturbing new trend: an increase in summary executions.
Somali military courts and the turban group al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... have each executed about a dozen people so far in 2017, all of them killed in public settings as crowds of between 30 and 300 people looked on.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
#1
have each executed about a dozen people so far in 2017,
that's a long hot weekend in Chicago
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2017 8:51 Comments ||
Top||
[Libya Observer] On the date of the third anniversary of Dignity Operation, which is being celebrated in eastern cities that are governed by military rule, journalist and political activist Mansour Abied, who has abandoned the operation, has crashed the party with heavy criticism and allegations that would rock any boat.
Abied, a media performer who has interviewed most Dignity Operation commanders and enjoyed access to all areas of the conflict in eastern Libya under the protection of Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... ’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), took part in a debate in his newly established Libya al-Watan TV on Monday night. He covered all aspects of Dignity Operation, from the reasons for its launch in 2014 to the way it was managed and the results after three years of death and destruction in Benghazi.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
In the name of safeguarding its 1.4 billion people, China has been collecting biometric information from millions of people whom it deems potential threats—among them, Uyghurs, migrant workers, and college students—as part of national DNA database.
China’s Ministry of Public Security, which oversees the database, has amassed information for more than 40 million people—the country says it has the world’s biggest database of DNA information (link in Chinese)—as of 2015, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday (May 15). For comparison, in the US, the FBI’s national DNA index has 12.7 million offender profiles.
“Mass DNA collection by the powerful Chinese police absent effective privacy protections or an independent judicial system is a perfect storm for abuses,”said Sophie Richardson, China director at HRW. “China is moving its Orwellian system to the genetic level.”
[Al Ahram] Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday said Germany must decide between its friendship with Ankara and alleged coup plotters, after Berlin granted political asylum to some of its military officials with suspected links to last year's failed putsch. "Germany must decide on one thing: if it wants to further improve its relations with Turkey..., then it must turn its face to the Turkish republic" not to supporters of US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, Yildirim said. Gulen is blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the failed coup in July last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
"Germany must decide on one thing: if it wants to further improve its relations with Turkey..., then it must turn its face to the Turkish republic"
actually, the Turkish Republic no longer exists. It is now a quasi authoritarian state trending toward autocracy.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/17/2017 8:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
If Erdy milks this coup thing any longer, its udders will get chapped.
[Ynet] Turkish prosecutors ordered the arrest of 85 staff at the energy and education ministries under a investigation targeting the network of a US-based holy man whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating last July's attempted coup, broadcaster CNN Turk reported on Tuesday.
No further details were immediately available. Some 50,000 people have been formally tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! as part of investigations targeting supporters of holy manFethullah Gulen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... . Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who is visiting Washington, is seeking Gulen's extradition.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Now if Trump and his crew of apologists had some backbone instead of just sharp tongues we might see some undesirables removed.
[DAWN] The deposed holy man of Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... Maulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... is set to stir another controversy as he has decided to preside over a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of Lal Masjid operation.
"Invitations will be sent to the president, prime minister, the director general of the ISI and the federal cabinet along with leaders of like-minded political and religious parties to attend the conference," said a close aide to the holy man.
The conference, scheduled to be held on July 7, will be organised by Shuhada Foundation at Lal Masjid.
The foundation announced that the conference would not only be a milestone towards the implementation of ’Sharia’ but would also prove to be a referendum towards the imposition of Islam in the country.
"We will file an application with the capital administration on Tuesday so that there is an ample time for them to clear all queries," the holy man’s aide added.
"Similarly, invitations will be forwarded to key religious and political personalities and the leadership of the country as well as the head of the intelligence agency this week."
He said extending invitations to key officials would help the organisers put pressure on the local administration to grant permission for the conference besides facilitating the guests to set their schedule well on time to attend the event.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... a front man for the Shuhada Foundation said there was no need to obtain any NOC from the government as the conference was being held inside the mosque.
"If they do not give us the NOC we will approach the Islamabad High Court to get out right to hold the conference to highlight the sacrifices rendered by our comrades for the implementation of Islam in the country," said Hafiz Ehtesham Ahmed, the front man.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
sounds like a target-rich environment dreamy
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2017 8:48 Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... 's (PTI) politician Shafqat Mahmood on Tuesday criticised the government over its 'handling' of Kulbhushan Jadhav's hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and urged the federal government to divulge details of the matter before the parliament so that it could be brought under discussion.
Asserting that matters regarding national security and foreign affairs should not be decided behind closed doors, Mahmood said, "It was important to ask how a 'clear' decision against a self-confessed spy and 'terrorist' was made controversial."
The ICJ on Monday heard the case brought to it by India pertaining to the sentencing of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was handed a death sentence by a Pak Field General Court Martial (FGCM) last month.
Implying that the government had 'deliberately' softened its stance on Jadhav, Mahmood said experts were drawing links between Pakistain's handling of Jadhav's case with Indian business tycoon Sajjan Jindal's visit to Pakistain last month where he met with the prime minister in Murree.
"Nobody should be allowed to trade personal interests with national interests," he maintained.
Mahmood urged the prime minister to disclose information regarding Jadhav's hearing at the ICJ before the parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2017 00:00 ||
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[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson needs to rein in these people hard. Their job is to present President Trump's views, not impose their adoption of the Palestinian position on him and the U.S.
[IsraelTimes] TV report says David Berns principally responsible for incident that embarrassed Trump administration; 2nd US diplomat, economic counselor Jonathan Shrier, also reportedly involved in spat.
The American official who sniped at his Israeli counterparts that the Western Wall, the holiest place for Jews to pray, is not part of Israel and not Israel’s responsibility was named Tuesday in a TV report as David Berns, the political counselor at the US Consulate in Jerusalem. A second US official, the consulate’s economic counselor Jonathan Shrier, was also involved in the bitter diplomatic incident, which deteriorated into an angry shouting match, Channel 2 said.
The TV report predicted that Berns’ job might now be under threat, since the incident embarrassed the Trump administration ahead of US President Donald Trump
Continued on Page 49
#1
Consulates are staffed by the bureaucrat heading up the state department's personnel department. - Not true actually not even close.
It sounds like the embassy staff needs to be cleaned out, too. - I'll bet you the "staff" was WH staff not Embassy. Site advances like this are done by WH staff. Embassy folks are not the ones saying what POTUS will or won't do - only WH staff does that.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
05/17/2017 0:22 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Nikki Haley basically completely reversed this at the UN.
“I don’t know what the policy of the administration is, but I believe the Western Wall is part of Israel and I think that that is how we’ve always seen it and that’s how we should pursue it. We’ve always thought the Western Wall was part of Israel,” Haley said.
[IsraelTimes] Fatah member Jamil Hawil downplays images of him participating in festivities, says ’entire Paleostinian nation throws rocks’.
Hawil, who represents the northern West Bank city of Jenin in the Paleostinian Legislative Council, was first elected as a MP while serving in an Israeli prison, according to the Ynet news site.
Hawil served a six-year prison term for his membership in Fatah’s armed wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which Israel, the US and Western nations consider to be a terror group for its role organizing suicide kabooms against Israeli civilians during the Second Intifada.
[IsraelTimes] Group broadcasts video in which 3 alleged suspects recount how Israeli intelligence ordered them to shoot Mazen Faqha.
Mazen Faqha, one of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",’s top terror criminal masterminds, was killed with a silenced pistol in the garage of his apartment building on March 24.
In a presser broadcast on its television channel, Hamas official Tawfiq Abu Na’im, director general of the Hamas-controlled Gazoo interior ministry, said, "The security services were able to arrest the direct killer of Mazen Faqha." They identified him only as a 38-year-old with the initials A.L.
Continued on Page 49
After carrying the M16 or one of its cousins across the globe for more than half a century, soldiers could get a peek at a new prototype assault rifle that fires a larger round by 2020.
Army researchers are testing half a dozen ammunition variants in “intermediate calibers,” which falls between the current 7.62 mm and 5.56 mm rounds, to create a new light machine gun and inform the next-generation individual assault rifle/round combo.
The weapon designs being tested will be “unconventional,” officials said, and likely not one that is currently commercially available.
Some intermediate calibers being tested include the .260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor, .264 USA as well as other non-commercial intermediate calibers, including cased telescoped ammo, Army officials said.
If selected by senior leaders, the weapon could resolve a close-quarters weapons debate about calibers that critics say dates to the 1920s and has influenced military small arms ever since.
If successful, the new rifle and round combination would give troops a weapon they can carry with about the same number of rounds as the current 5.56 mm but with greater range and accuracy in their firepower — with little change in weight.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/17/2017 13:54 ||
Comments ||
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[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
[SHABELLENEWS] In Somalia, a country long troubled by deadly violence, there’s a disturbing new trend: an increase in summary executions.
[Libya Observer] On the date of the third anniversary of Dignity Operation, which is being celebrated in eastern cities that are governed by military rule, journalist and political activist Mansour Abied, who has abandoned the operation, has crashed the party with heavy criticism and allegations that would rock any boat.
[Al Ahram] Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday said Germany must decide between its friendship with Ankara and alleged coup plotters, after Berlin granted political asylum to some of its military officials with suspected links to last year's failed putsch. "Germany must decide on one thing: if it wants to further improve its relations with Turkey..., then it must turn its face to the Turkish republic" not to supporters of US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, Yildirim said. Gulen is blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the failed coup in July last year.
[Ynet] Turkish prosecutors ordered the arrest of 85 staff at the energy and education ministries under a investigation targeting the network of a US-based 
[DAWN] The deposed 
[DAWN] Pakistain 
After carrying the M16 or one of its cousins across the globe for more than half a century, soldiers could get a peek at a new prototype assault rifle that fires a larger round by 2020. 
