[NYPOST] President Trump and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Monday that they had agreed a one-month pause on the imposition of a 25% across-the-board tariff by the US in exchange for concessions on border security by Mexico while a broader deal gets negotiated.
As part of the temporary pause, Sheinbaum agreed to reinforce the US-Mexico border with 10,000 personnel from her country's National Guard, to help crack down on fentanyl dissemination and illegal immigration into the US, per statements from the two leaders.
The US also agreed to ramp up efforts to prevent the trafficking of weapons into Mexico, according to Sheinbaum, who had a call with Trump earlier in the day Monday.
''I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico. It was a very friendly conversation,'' Trump said of the call in a Truth Social post. ''We will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... , Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico.''
''I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a 'deal' between our two Countries.''
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2025 00:00 ||
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[KhaamaPress] Members of the High Council of National Resistance® for the Salvation of Afghanistan, composed of key leaders from the former government, have stated that they met with an American delegation.
Mohammad Mohaqiq, leader of the Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan, told Voice of America on Tuesday, February 4, that several members of the High Council of Resistance®, including himself, met with a delegation sent by the Global Peace Operations Initiative.
According to him, the American delegation visited them around two days ago to discuss issues related to Afghanistan. The delegation was sent by the Global Peace Operations Initiative for this purpose.
The leader of the Islamic Unity Party added that several members of the High Council of Resistance® for the Salvation of Afghanistan, including himself and Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... , the leader of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, attended the meeting with the American delegation.
He also mentioned that senior advisors from the Global Peace Operations Initiative were part of the delegation, but he did not provide any details regarding the specific topics discussed during their meeting.
Reports suggested that the group had met with a Pak delegation, but Mr. Mohaqiq, in an interview with Voice of America, firmly denied any such meeting between the members of the High Council of Resistance® and the Pak delegation.
#1
Office of Global Programs and Initiatives
A Department of State agency The vision for GPOI is to promote international peace and security by reinforcing the global commitment to achieve and sustain effectiveness in UN and regional peace operations. In support of this vision, the GPOI mission is to strengthen the effectiveness of UN and regional peace operations by enhancing partner countries’ capacities to prepare, deploy, and sustain peacekeepers and reinforcing UN and regional organizations’ performance and accountability frameworks.
#2
GPOI in Africa The Global Peace Operations Initiative strengthens partner nations’ capability and capacity to execute UN, African Union, and regional peace operations by strengthening partner nations’ capabilities to generate peacekeepers and build operational capacity.
#3
The Naval Postgraduate School provides defense-focused graduate education, including classified studies and interdisciplinary research, to advance the operational effectiveness, technological leadership and warfighting advantage of the Naval service.
[IsraelTimes] Egypt, which agreed to serve as landing spot for murder convicts released in agreement, says Ankara issued visas at Cairo embassy; Qatar, Algeria said planning to absorb others
Fifteen Paleostinian security prisoners among hundreds freed by Israel as part of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... arrived in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... on Tuesday following their deportation to Egypt, officials confirmed.
"A few days ago, 15 Paleostinians came to Turkey via Cairo after they were released," Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, in a joint presser with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.
The former detainees were issued visas by the Ottoman Turkish embassy in Cairo, Fidan added.
The prisoners are the first taken in by a third country apart from Egypt under the ceasefire terms, in which Israel demanded that Paleostinian gunnies convicted of the most serious crimes not be released to Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... or the West Bank.
Egypt agreed to serve as a temporary landing spot for those murder convicts.
Apart from the 15 sent to Turkey, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... is expected to absorb many of the remaining prisoners, a regional official and an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel last week.
The decision on where to send the various Paleostinian murder convicts is made in coordination with Israel, the two officials said.
Turkey has been a vocal supporter of Hamas throughout its current war with Israel, which began when some 3,000 Hamas-led gunnies invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
In 2011, Turkey took in 11 Paleostinians who were freed as part of a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas that saw IDF soldier Gilad Shalit released in exchange for more than 1,000 Paleostinian detainees.
The first phase of the current hostage-ceasefire deal, agreed to last month, has seen Hamas release 13 Israeli hostages, while Israel has released 583 Paleostinian security inmates, of whom at least 79 have been deported to Egypt.
The terror group also released five Thai nationals outside the framework of the deal with Israel.
In addition to Turkey and Qatar, there are plans for some released prisoners to go to Algeria, a Hamas source said.
[IsraelTimes] Ankara said to seek air bases in central Syrian desert as it seeks to replace Iran as the main power in the war-ravaged country after fall of Assad
Syria’s transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa and 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... are expected to discuss a joint defense pact in Ankara on Tuesday, including establishing Ottoman Turkish airbases in central Syria and training for Syria’s new army, four sources familiar with the matter said.
NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... member The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... has long backed Syria’s armed and political opposition to ousted leader Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... , who was toppled in late December in a lightning offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s forces. At the same time, Turkey has opposed Kurdish-led groups in Syria, and has supported militias fighting them.
Ankara is positioning itself to play a major role in the new Syria, filling a vacuum left by Assad’s main regional backer Iran, in an expansion of Ottoman Turkish sway that could spark rivalry with Gulf Arab states and put Israel on edge.
The sources — a Syrian security official, two Damascus-based foreign security sources and a senior regional intelligence official — spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media about the meeting.
This is the first time that elements of any strategic defense arrangement by Syria’s new leaders, including details of additional Ottoman Turkish bases, have come to light.
The pact could see Turkey establish new air bases in Syria, use Syrian airspace for military purposes, and take a lead role in training troops in Syria’s new army, the sources said.
Syria’s new leadership has dissolved the army and its various rebel factions, and is working on integrating them into a new military command.
The sources said the deal was not expected to be finalized on Tuesday.
TURKISH AIR BASES IN SYRIA
The regional intelligence official, the Syrian security official and one of the Damascus-based foreign security sources said the talks would include setting up two Ottoman Turkish bases in Syria’s vast central desert region, known as the Badiyah.
An official in Syria’s presidency told Rooters that Sharaa would discuss Turkey’s "training of the new Syrian army, as well as new areas of deployment and cooperation" with Erdogan, without specifying the deployment locations.
The Ottoman Turkish presidency and Syrian defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue.
The Ottoman Turkish presidency’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said on Monday that Erdogan and Sharaa would discuss the latest developments in Syria and possible joint measures to rebuild Syria’s economy and achieve stability and security.
A Ottoman Turkish defense ministry official familiar with the talks between both defense ministries told Rooters he did not have information on Ottoman Turkish bases in Syria and training for Syrian troops as part of a possible defense pact.
TURKEY’S AIR DEFENSE ROLE
The senior regional intelligence official, the Syrian security official and one of the Damascus-based foreign security sources said the bases under discussion would allow Turkey to defend Syria’s airspace in case of any future attacks.
Assad’s other main backer — Russia — is also in talks with the new Damascus administration about the fate of its two military bases in Syria, a naval base in Tartus and an air base near the port city of Latakia, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Assad’s other main backer — Russia — is also in talks with the new Damascus administration about the fate of its two military bases in Syria, a naval base in Tartus and an air base near the port city of Latakia, the Kremlin said on Monday.
In an interview in January, Syria’s defense minister Murhaf Abu Qasra told Rooters the country’s new leaders would seek to build strong ties in the region, "and that through these ties, we will be able to build our military force well."
If these ties lead to a partnership "on arming, training, air defense or other issues — we would welcome it," Abu Qasra said, without mentioning Turkey.
The regional intelligence official said the possible airbase locations were the Palmyra military airport and the Syrian army’s T4 base, both in the province of Homs.
MESSAGE TO KURDISH FIGHTERS
The official said Ankara was keen to set up bases there as a message to Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which lead the Syrian Democratic Forces coalition there.
Ankara views them as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Ottoman Turkish state since 1984 and is deemed a terrorist group by both Turkey and the US.
Turkey has threatened a military offensive against the YPG, but has held off as talks are underway to address the fate of the Kurdish forces.
The Ottoman Turkish defense ministry official told Rooters that Ottoman Turkish and Syrian military delegations exchanged views last week on "what can be done in defense and security matters, especially in the joint fight against terrorist organizations that pose a threat to both Syria and Turkey."
"Our meetings will continue within the framework of the needs that will occur in the coming period," the official added.
Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said in December that Turkey was "ready to provide the necessary support if the new (Syrian) administration requested it.
Ankara may discuss and reevaluate the issue of Turkey’s military presence in Syria with the new Syrian administration "when necessary conditions arise," Guler said at the time.
[IsraelTimes] Mufid Fawaz Alkhader convicted of hate crime and firearms charges over incident in Albany, two months after Hamas onslaught against Israel
A man who fired a gun in the air outside of an Albany, New York, synagogue while shouting "Free Paleostine!" has pleaded guilty to hate crime and firearms charges.
The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that Mufid Fawaz Alkhader,
…the Iraqi-born American pothead who took an Uber from his home in Schenectady, near Albany, to scream and shoot off a fancy shotgun bought by his buddy, Andrew Miller on his behalf. Mr. Miller was convicted of the straw purchase and sentenced last fall to 14 months in the federal pen…
29, had pleaded guilty to obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force as well as two gun-related charges. He faces seven to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of up to $750,000. He will be sentenced in federal court on June 6.
According to the Justice Department’s statement, Alkhader walked up the front steps of Temple Israel, a Conservative congregation, on December 7, 2023 — two months after Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... ’s attack on Israel and shortly before the beginning of Hanukkah that night. He then took a shotgun out of a duffel bag and fired it in the air twice while shouting "Free Paleostine!" He also attempted to take down an Israeli flag flying outside the synagogue.
The incident caused the synagogue daycare to lock down. Alkhader was arrested shortly afterward.
"The defendant’s violent mostly peaceful, antisemitic and terrifying act targeted the Temple Israel congregation, the larger Jewish community, and the right of every person to practice their religion without fear of violence," US Attorney Carla Freedman said in a statement.
Shortly after the incident, Temple Israel posted a photo to Facebook of congregants lighting the menorah on the first night of Hanukkah.
"In these challenging times, our unwavering spirit shines as a beacon of hope, proving that even in the darkest of moments, our light remains undimmed," the synagogue posted. "We are immensely grateful to our Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and civic leaders, whose swift and decisive actions have reinforced the safety and unity of our community. Happy Chanukah to all."
[IsraelTimes] Speaking at the scene of this morning’s deadly shooting attack in the northern West Bank, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the army will ramp up and expand military operations in the area.
“This is a difficult attack in which we lost two reserve soldiers. We will investigate and learn lessons, some of them have already been implemented,” he says.
“We will increase the operations to thwart [attacks], and expand them to additional areas,” Halevi adds.
[IsraelTimes] The perpetrator of yesterday’s deadly shooting attack at an IDF checkpoint near the northern West Bank village of Tayasir is identified by Palestinian media as Muhammad Daraghmeh.
Muhammad is reportedly the brother of Ahmad Daraghmeh, who was the commander of a local wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the area, known as the Tubas Battalion. He was killed by the IDF in February 2024.
Israeli defense authorities have not yet confirmed the identity of the gunman who killed two soldiers and wounded eight others in the attack.
[IsraelTimes] Former hostages were not aware of high-ranking position of captor, who apparently kept them as human shields, tried to extract information on border security
The five IDF surveillance soldiers recently released from captivity in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip were held hostage there by a senior member of Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... ’s military wing, according to a Tuesday report.
Naama Levy, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Agam Berger and Liri Albag were not aware of their captor’s rank at the time and only found out when they had been returned to Israel, Kan reported.
The unsourced report did not give the name of the Hamas member who was apparently using the soldiers as human shields.
According to the report, the five women were held in an apartment somewhere in Gaza City.
They have described the Hamas member as the dominant figure in the apartment, who issued orders to others who were there. He would also bring them food and make sure they could shower while "manipulating their feelings" and trying to get them to talk, the report said.
All five soldiers were kidnapped from Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led thousands of turbans in an invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The attackers kidnapped 251 people, also mostly civilians, as hostages to the Gaza Strip.
Kan reported that the soldiers have said that the senior Hamas official played "the good cop" role while trying to draw information from them about IDF activity close to the border in the days before the October 7 attack.
According to the report, the released soldiers have in the past few days undergone "simulations," though it did not specify what that entailed.
They are expected to be discharged on Wednesday from the hospital where they have received care since they returned to Israel.
Channel 12 reported that all five have asked to return to serve in the army, though not as surveillance soldiers. Relatives told the network that the army responded that they needed more time to recover, and it was still too early to take such a step.
A return to service would not be unprecedented. Ori Megidish, who was kidnapped from the same Nahal Oz base and then rescued by the IDF in October 2023, returned to serve in the army four months after her rescue.
Seven surveillance soldiers were kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base: Megidish; Noa Marciano, who was killed in captivity; and Ariev, Gilboa, Albag and Levy, who were freed five days before Berger. During the October 7 attack, 15 surveillance soldiers were slain in Nahal Oz.
Meanwhile,
...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... Merav Leshem Gonen, mother of hostage survivor Romi Gonen, gave a round of media interviews to Hebrew outlets that broadcast previews ahead of the full conversations that are to be aired on Wednesday.
Romi, 24, was among the first hostages to be freed from Gaza as part of the current ceasefire, a long and uncertain process envisioned at eventually ending the war. Like many others, Romi, a civilian, was taken captive at the Nova music festival, where the attackers massacred 364 people. Leshem Gonen said her daughter was not given proper treatment for a gunshot wound to her right arm that she suffered during the attack, and was unable to use the limb during the more than 15 months she was a hostage. She also said that her daughter lost around 10 kilograms in weight and suffered significant muscle deterioration, symptoms that other released hostages have also shown.
"There was deliberate starvation," she told the Walla outlet.
Speaking to Channel 12, she spoke of mental and physical abuse Hamas guards inflicted on her daughter. Gonen said that her daughter’s guards mocked her about the open wound she had in her arm when she was brought into Gaza. When she was given something to clean the injury — but no anesthetic or painkillers — the turbans "stood around and laughed at her," she said.
Due to the injuries to her hand, which were not properly treated while she was in captivity, Romi will need to undergo complex surgery and a lengthy recovery, her mother said.
"We still don’t know anything, but from the little we have heard it is 99 percent difficult things that are not easy to listen to," Leshem Gonen said.
"You can’t explain what they went through," she said, adding that the hostages, whether aboveground or in the tunnels, were kept in darkness.
As a result, Romi looked gray in the first few days after her release, Leshem Gonen said. But she said Romi has talked about her captivity with "a lot of grace and a lot of smiles, so it makes it easier."
Seventy-six of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas has so far released 18 hostages — civilians, soldiers and Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January.
The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.
[Reuters] WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump pledged on Tuesday that the U.S. would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and develop it economically, a move that would shatter decades of U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump unveiled his surprise plan, without providing specifics, at a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The announcement followed Trump's shock proposal earlier on Tuesday for the permanent resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, calling the enclave - where the first phase of a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire is in effect - a "demolition site."
"The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too," Trump told reporters. "We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site." MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN GAZA
[X] Pres. Trump: “I’ll see your ‘No Gazans’ and raise you FAFO — it’s ours now, with lots of sunshine to follow.”
President Trump on securing PEACE in Gaza: "The U.S. will take over the Gaza strip ... and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site ... create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing… pic.twitter.com/sr3rnO0fE4
“Do a real job, do something different. Can’t go back, if you go back it’ll end up the same way it’s been for a hundred years.”
Sphincters are clenching across the world — “That horrid, vulgar OrangeManBad is going to see and reveal ALL the secrets. Anyone connected to Hamas will never be able to go back. And there’s absolutely nothing we can do to prevent it!!!”
I thought getting Mexico, et al to take back their illegals was huge. That shutting off the NGO spigot was huge. This is more than I ever imagined to dream of.
“The American racist stance aligns with the Israeli extreme right’s position in displacing our people and eliminating our cause,” Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou says in a statement.
Earlier, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump’s remarks were “ridiculous” and “capable of igniting the region,”
#3
In 1982 Turks did a census in "Palestine". 1/2 million people of them (approx) 80% Arabs. Today there are 14 million self-proclaimed Palestinians. Do the math.
#6
In this case it goes outside my usual vocabulary, dear Seeking Cure. It actually stands for Fuck Around and Find Out. That’s my editorial addition to the original headline.
#12
Truly crappy idea. So much for Trump's "I don't want foreign entanglements speech." Take a deep breath, Donny, and go back to what we're paying you for, terrorizing our bureaucrats.
I've been alive long enough to know that even though the Palestinians 'arent our problem' they are and will always be, until a solution is found. There is absolutely no way in the real world, the reality that we live, there's no way we can walk away from this without it haunting us and w/o us being dragged back in at some future point.
The reality is that Hamas lost their Oct 7 War, and losers dont get to dictate terms. And Israel has had 30 years plus get Gaza straightened out. Now America has a President with backbone, and we are the preeminent power on the planet, it is time to solve this once and for all.
#20
My understanding is that the idea is to remove every "Palestinian" from Gaza permanently, then creating an enclave for business and resorts akin to the celebrated Lebanese Riviera of the 60's. The business lure is to get Arab money with confidence of U.S. ensured political stability for the place to draw investment, and the extant Hamas/Palestinian population is removed. As has been suggested by Scot Adams I think, the core idea is to remove the physical boundary between Israel and the cancerous Gazan population in toto by their reintegration back into surrounding nations in return for a share of a huge economic zone of prosperity. Political surgery/relocation of the entire tumor that is the current Gazan population. The idea is big thinking out of the box, the problem is who has the money, becasue we sure don't!
#21
Doesn't England have an island that used to be full of Anthrax? It's supposedly safe now so the Gazans can live there. England is partly to blame for this whole thing anyway.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/05/2025 15:59 Comments ||
Top||
#24
I'm imagining how long this would take. If more than 4 years, there's a chance a different political party could be running the show here. If we were still responsible for the joint by then, how many names can you think of who'd say "Just let them come here; give them citizenship and iPhones!"
Posted by: James ||
02/05/2025 19:01 Comments ||
Top||
#26
Re #6: Thanks for your expiation TW, when an unfamiliar acronym is used, it should be explained up front.
Yes it appears I was wrong, but it took you to post what it really meant for us to find out, else it's up to our collective wild imaginations to up up with meanings for "FAFO"
[IsraelTimes] Trump thinks it’s ‘inhumane’ to force people to live there while it is being rebuilt, wants to work with partners on creative solutions, source says; Rafah resident: ‘Delusional’
US officials on Tuesday defended President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... ’s suggestion that more Paleostinians in war-shattered Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... relocate to neighboring countries, insisting he was trying to look at the problem realistically and not imposing a solution.
Previewing Trump’s White House talks later on Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the bigwigs sought to soften what was widely seen as Trump’s call for mass displacement of Gazooks from the enclave, which Arab states and Paleostinian leaders have vehemently rejected.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... , stressed that the US wants to work with its Arab partners and Israel to come up with creative solutions to the challenge.
The suggestion that Trump made last month echoed the wishes of Israel’s far-right, and contradicted former president Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity.... ’s commitment against mass resettlement of Paleostinians.
The officials stopped short of explicitly reiterating Trump’s call for Jordan and Egypt to take in more Gazooks, but also did not retract his suggestion.
"President Trump looks at the Gaza Strip and sees it as a demolition site, sees it as impractical for it to be rebuilt within three to five years, believes it will take at least 10 to 15 and thinks it is inhumane to force people to live in an uninhabitable plot of land with unwent kaboom! ordnances and rubble," one bigwig told news hounds.
Trump "is looking for solutions to help the people of Gaza have normal lives while the Gaza Strip is being rebuilt, and he is trying to look at this in a realistic way," the official added.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday, stressing the need to adopt a united position that would help achieve regional peace.
According to Sissi’s office, the phone call addressed "developments in the region," including the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the need for "the rapid reconstruction" of the territory.
The two leaders "stressed the need to commit to the united Arab position calling for reaching permanent peace in the Middle East," the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
Egypt and Jordan, both key US allies, have been under pressure to accept Trump’s proposal to "clean out" the Strip by sending Paleostinians to their territories, either temporarily or permanently.
Cairo and Amman have issued repeated strong rejections while making overtures to their Washington ally.
King Abdullah on Sunday accepted an invitation to visit the White House later this month, a day after Sissi and Trump exchanged mutual invitations for state visits.
Sissi had told Trump the world was "counting on" him for a "permanent and historic peace agreement" to end the conflict between Paleostinians and Israelis, calling him a "man of peace."
The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... have also voiced opposition to any forced displacement of Paleostinians, while stressing the need to implement a two-state solution to the protracted conflict.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has said that "any discussion of an alternate homeland... is rejected," while Cairo has repeatedly called the issue a "red line" that would threaten its national security.
Five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Paleostinian official sent a joint letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... on Monday, urging the Trump administration to back a two-state solution and rejecting suggestions that residents be resettled.
Many Paleostinians have been incensed by Trump’s remarks suggesting Gazooks should relocate.
"Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage — absolutely not," Rafah resident Hatem Azzam, 34, told AFP, attacking Trump’s choice of words when he told news hounds last week of his plan to "clean out the whole thing."
Calling him "delusional," Azzam said Trump "wants to force Egypt and Jordan to take in migrants colonists, as if they were his personal farm."
"Trump and Netanyahu must understand the reality of the Paleostinian people and the people of Gaza. This is a people deeply rooted in their land — we will not leave," Azzam said.
Ihab Ahmed, another Rafah resident, claimed that Trump and Netanyahu "still don’t understand the Paleostinian people" and their attachment to the land.
"We will remain on this land no matter what. Even if we have to live in tents and on the streets, we will stay rooted in this land," the 30-year-old said.
Ahmed told AFP that Paleostinians had learned lessons from Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. At the time, after rejecting the UN’s partition plan for two states, multiple Arab armies attacked the nascent Jewish state. In the ensuing war, hundreds of thousands of Paleostinians fled or were driven out of their homes and never allowed to return.
"The world must understand this message: We will not leave, as happened in 1948."
Standing near crumbling building blocks destroyed by war in the northern Gaza city of Jabalia, Raafat Kalob was concerned about the consequences that Tuesday evening’s Trump-Netanyahu meeting will have on his life.
"I expect Netanyahu’s visit to Trump to reflect his future plans to forcibly displace the Paleostinian people and redraw the Middle East," he said. "I sincerely hope this plan does not succeed."
Behind him, rows of tents provided by charity organizations lined a patch of land at the foot of concrete buildings whose facades still bear marks of war: bullet holes, blown away windows and facades stripped of their stone finishing.
The war broke out on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... -led turbans broke through the border and carried out massacres in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 to Gaza.
In Jabalia and Gaza’s north, areas that were hit particularly hard in the war, displaced Paleostinians who returned after a ceasefire took effect on January 19 have taken residence in tents next to their destroyed homes.
Some were nevertheless optimistic, like Majid al-Zebda, a 50-year-old resident of Jabalia.
Trump "will pressure Netanyahu to end this war" permanently, he said.
The first phase of the ceasefire brought a fragile end to fighting in Gaza and started the process of a hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, but negotiations have yet to begin for a permanent end to the war.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff criticizes the ceasefire and hostage release plan put together by former US President Joe Biden, which is currently in place, taking particular issue with the proposal’s envisioning of a five-year reconstruction period for Gaza.
“Part of the problem is that it wasn’t such a wonderful agreement that was first signed. That was not dictated by the Trump administration. We had nothing to do with it. Now we’re working within that rubric, and we’re figuring things out,” Witkoff tells reporters outside the White House.
“What [I] and the national security adviser are identifying — which, by the way, President Trump identified — is that phase three, the reconstruction, is not going to go the way that the agreement talks about, which is a five-year program. It’s physically impossible. We’re trying to be transparent with these people,” he says.
“In any city in the USA, if you had damage that was 1/100th of what I saw in Gaza… nobody would be allowed to go back to their homes. That’s how dangerous it is,” Witkoff explains.
“There are 30,000 unexploded munitions; there are buildings that could tip over at any moment; there are no utilities there whatsoever; no working water, electric, gas — nothing. God knows what kind of disease might be festering there,” he continues.
“If you go to Gaza today… you see people going there, picking up a tent, and in some circumstances, turning right around again, because there is nothing left there,” Witkoff says.
“When the president talks about ‘cleaning [Gaza] out,’ he talks about making it habitable. This is a long-range plan. They dug tunnels underneath there that degraded the stone that would form foundations. We have to examine that… You do it with subterranean surveys,” Witkoff says.
“We estimate that the disposal effort alone in Gaza [will take] three to five years… before… you get a master plan done. The president is intent on getting it all done correctly. To me, it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That’s just preposterous,” he adds.
#1
This is all a part of the same perception shift. Third worlders are not entitled to occupy industrialized countries. Nobody owes them nothing - if anything, it's the other way around.
#3
It is a great idea from Trump who is fast becoming the greatest US president of all time
I was wrong about him - he is not just a con artist he means to clear out the corruption amd actually be a great US President
Sunni Arab Muslim states will all try to block him because of Islam. They all think they are entitled to destroy Israel as jews cannot have a homeland especially on land once stolen by islamic conquest
It was sunni arab muslims that devlared war in 1947. Backed by british lawrence of arabias, against israel, with the US dragged in to defend israel from islam's murderous designs.
Trump - do it. It is genius. Do it fast and establish it!
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] During his long political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly become a defendant in criminal cases, most of them with a pronounced corruption component. However, the prosecution has never managed to unequivocally prove the politician's involvement in gray schemes.
Despite this, the "prosecutor's subpoena" remains a favorite tool of the current prime minister's opponents. They do not abandon the hope of sooner or later finding a weak spot in Netanyahu's defense and undermining the position of his government.
However, in pursuit of sensations, the opposition often loses previously gained advantages in cases that have not yet been closed.
HUSBAND AND WIFE
Although previous cases against the Israeli prime minister either fell apart or (like the Feldshein affair about controlled leaks from the prime minister’s office) did not cause significant damage to his reputation, the attacks on “the unsinkable Bibi” (as Netanyahu is ironically called in Israel) continue. He remains acquitted of charges of corruption, fraud and breach of public trust in three separate cases.
In addition, checks are constantly being carried out in relation to the prime minister’s “inner circle”.
Thus, the Israeli prosecutor's office recently announced the launch of a criminal investigation against the wife of the current Prime Minister, Sara Netanyahu. At the same time, according to the same press release, police investigations into the case began back in December 2024.
The initiator of the procedural investigation was Naama Lazimy, a Labor Party (Avodah) MK. Lazimy insists that the Netanyahu couple and some of their close associates (in particular, the former head of the Prime Minister's political office, Hani Bleiweiss ) secretly created a "militant wing" from among activists of the ruling Likud party.
The organization's goal, as noted, was to use social networks and other digital tools to "crush and divide" Netanyahu's political opponents, as well as influence investigative measures against him. Among those who suffered from the actions of the "military wing" is Hadas Klein, who was a key witness in corruption cases in the prime minister's office.
Considering that Netanyahu, when he was the leader of the Knesset opposition, really did use popular protests (especially on the Internet) extremely effectively to split the liberal coalition of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, and then to destroy the arguments of the investigation and return to the prime minister’s chair, the conclusions about the existence of a special mobilization resource in Likud (under the strict control of the party’s leader) are not without foundation.
On the other hand, the "Sara Netanyahu Affair", like previous investigations into the "secret Netanyahu empire", are based mainly on investigative journalism and anonymous sources. The opposition has not yet managed to win over any of the former activists of the ruling party.
POLITICAL GAMES
Lazimi’s attacks are clearly motivated by political interest – in the last elections, Avoda won only four seats in parliament. Even the tactical alliance with Meretz, which resulted in the creation of the inter-party platform HaDemocratim in the summer of 2024, did not greatly strengthen the left’s position.
Early elections could improve the party alignment, especially since after the long war in Gaza and the military adventure in southern Lebanon, the ruling coalition's position has been somewhat undermined, while the opposition, on the contrary, has increased its influence on the potential electorate.
Considering that Lazimi is one of the most significant figures not only in Avoda, but also in the entire HaDemocratim, early elections could well bring her a ministerial portfolio. However, to launch the procedures, ironclad arguments against the current cabinet are needed. And a major corruption scandal “at the top” partially solves this problem.
PRESSURE ON THE ACCUSED
While Netanyahu's enemies are looking for new reasons to accuse him of exceeding his authority and abusing his power, previous investigations, which could well have provoked a split in the ranks of supporters of the "unsinkable Bibi", are falling apart at the seams.
Thus, the other day, the former Director General of the Ministry of Communications Shlomo Filber filed a civil lawsuit against the state. In 2015, he was appointed to a senior position in the ministry, which was headed by Netanyahu himself.
Today, Filber accuses a large group of high-ranking officials from the Securities Authority, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the police of perjury in a case about the current prime minister's corruption connections.
The lawsuit claims his original testimony was "severely altered" under pressure from securities regulators, allegedly "on orders from above."
A former prosecution witness paints a very grim picture of the “testimony-coordination” process. According to him, investigators did not hesitate to use torture and even sexual violence against Filber “to make him more compliant,” as well as psychological pressure. The official was held in the Hadarim interrogation prison “under special conditions” and was subjected to psychological pressure during the 60 hours of interrogation – the lights in the interview room were turned off and he was forbidden to sleep.
Filber, although he felt remorse for his perjury, could not challenge his own testimony under threat of “career consequences” and possible criminal prosecution by influential participants in the “legal deal.”
Among the persons against whom the former official is demanding proceedings be opened are both retired and current officials. And despite the fact that the lawsuit is of a purely civil nature (with a demand for compensation in the amount of 10 million shekels), it is possible that it will soon turn into a serious multi-level investigation.
Moreover, the prime minister’s supporters are unlikely to miss the opportunity to intercept the “prosecutor’s subpoena.” The public defeat of the prosecutors’ camp (even if some of them have already resigned and have little to do with the remaining investigations against Netanyahu) will allow the prime minister’s supporters to claim that all the cases against him were fabricated and were a “political order.”
Such a turn of events is already fraught with image losses for key Israeli oppositionists, especially those who supervised the work of law enforcement agencies and "orchestrated" the investigations into Netanyahu during the Bennett-Lapid coalition. The prime minister himself will be able to exploit the image of an "innocent victim" with impunity in his zeal for the interests of the country.
The advisability of the opposition's fight for early elections in this context raises questions.
Both the carrot and the stick in one brief statement.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump says he’s given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him.
“If they did that they would be obliterated,” Trump says in an exchange with reporters while signing an executive order calling for the US government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran. “I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”
The Justice Department announced federal charges in November that an Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted.
The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.
Trump also says he would be willing to meet with his Iranian counterpart to try to persuade Iran to give up Tehran’s perceived efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.
Trump also says Iran is too close to having a nuclear weapon and that the United States has the right to block the sale of Iranian oil to other nations.
#1
Trump is using very imprecise language in a matter of utmost importance.
A President can not issue binding orders to his successor.
Should Iran stage a deadly attack the highest ranking survivor in the line of succession would be the successor President with all powers, immediately.
A logical move to bolster deterrence would be to issue a joint declaration of all persons in the line of succession that they will order an overwhelming and devastating retaliatory strike if Iran attacks not only the US government but the US in general.
This should normally go without saying but after 9/11 this isn't true anymore.
As for the meeting, I'd hope it would be in the spirit of this:
[X]
The details of the National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-2) on the Islamic republic of Iran signed by U.S. President Donald J. Trump are now out. As we covered before, the memo green lights the resumption of the “Maximum Pressure” approach towards Iran, with the goal of “denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and countering Iran’s malign influence.”
The memo directs the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, Secretary of Commerce, and the Attorney General to all exercise their respective authorities to impose a multifaceted and comprehensive sanctions regime on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Posted by: 3dc ||
02/05/2025 02:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11137 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[IsraelTimes] Qatari PM Al-Thani visits Beirut, promises economic support, urges Israel to keep to terms of ceasefire with Hezbollah
Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... ’s prime minister said during a visit to Beirut on Tuesday that Doha would help Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... rebuild after a devastating war between Israel and terror group Hezbollah, but only after a new government is formed.
Reeling from years of crisis and conflict, Lebanon has pinned hopes on wealthy Gulf states to fund reconstruction, with Qatar having been heavily involved in such efforts after the Second Lebanon War of 2006.
"When it comes to economic support and support for reconstruction, there is no doubt that the State of Qatar will be there," Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani told news hounds after meeting Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun.
"We look forward to ongoing efforts to form a government, and after that, we will discuss these files," al-Thani said, adding that he looked forward to forming "a strategic partnership" with Lebanon.
Al-Thani is set to meet other bigwigs during what he described as a "visit of support," including prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam, who has been tasked with forming a government, though efforts have stalled.
Qatar was among five countries, alongside the United States, La Belle France, Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , and Egypt, which lobbied heavily for Lebanon to elect a president last month and end a two-year vacuum due to political deadlock.
A fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war. The conflict began with Hezbollah cross-border attacks on October 8, 2023, the day after the Paleostinian terror group Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... led thousands of forces of Evil in a devastating invasion of southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and triggering war in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah said its attacks were to support Gaza. By the time the ceasefire came into effect, Israel had decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and depleted its fighting capabilities.
Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are all avowed to destroy Israel.
Al-Thani said it was crucial for Israeli troops to "adhere to the agreement on the withdrawal... from southern Lebanon."
He also called for implementing a Security Council resolution that states United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... peacekeepers and the Lebanese army should be the only forces present in the country’s south.
Under the truce deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
The withdrawal period was extended to February 18 after the original January 26 deadline was missed.
Israel has said that it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not deployed to all areas of southern Lebanon, as agreed, to ensure that Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence there. The Lebanese army has said it cannot deploy until Israeli forces withdraw.
Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violations of the truce deal.
On Thursday the IDF said it shot down a drone launched by Hezbollah for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect. Later that night, Israeli fighter jets carried out Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon.
Al-Thani also said Qatar would continue to provide humanitarian aid, alongside support for Lebanon’s cash-strapped army.
Washington is the main financial backer of Lebanon’s army but it also receives support from other countries including Qatar, which has granted in-kind and monetary aid.
#1
Qatar is Muslim.Brotherhood and owns 14% of the world's known gas reserves
Qatar, Saudi, Turkey. Jordan amd Egypt -- all Sunni Arab Muslim states, just said No to Teump's excellent plan of US takeover of Gaza.
Shows you who was really behind Oct 7 and Hamas.
That is who really wants the "Palestinian" to replace Israel
I am very impressed with Trump ' i had thought him a huxter after his first term
But he and musk are really going after the corruption amd getting it out. I am in awe
If kennedy gets HHS and clears that out, and Gates is locked up and the mRNA murderers exposed then i will be truly amazed and say Trumo is the greatest president since the founding fathers and should go on Mount Rushmore
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...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...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
[IsraelTimes] Trump thinks it’s ‘inhumane’ to force people to live there while it is being rebuilt, wants to work with partners on creative solutions, source says; Rafah resident: ‘Delusional’
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
