Saturday, April 30, 2016
Muslim Schools in Britain Segregating Teachers and School Staff by Gender
The story comes from Times of India.
Staff segregated by gender at some UK Muslim schools
LONDON: Teachers and other staff at some independent Islamic faith schools in the UK are facing gender-based segregation, prompting the country's schools watchdog to write to the education ministry.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, said his inspectors found one independent religious school using dividing screens across the room to segregate men and women.
"I am writing again to report that Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) continue to find that staff are being segregated because of their gender in Muslim independent schools," Wilshaw writes in his letter sent on Wednesday to UK education secretary Nicky Morgan.
It adds that officials who inspected Rabia Girls' and Boys' School in Luton, east England, expressed their concern after the school insisted on "segregating men and women through the use of a dividing screen across the middle of the room" at the initial meeting.
"This meeting was not carried out in a religious setting but in a classroom. HMI also gathered evidence that male and female staff are segregated during whole school staff training sessions.
"Male staff sit in one room and the session is simultaneously broadcast to female staff in another part of the school," the letter adds.
The inspection was carried out earlier this month following the department for education's (DfE) request for Ofsted to carry out an emergency follow-up inspection of the school already assessed as "inadequate".
Ofsted was so concerned about the behaviour in the school that they told the owner that the "school would remain in the inadequate category despite improvements being made elsewhere".
"HMI will remain vigilant in ensuring that such behaviour, which clearly flouts the requirement to promote British values, is identified and reported. Any form of segregation, without a good educational reason, is likely to lead to an inadequate inspection judgement for leadership and management," Wilshaw said.
The private school was set up in 1996 to provide an Islamic education for young Muslims in Luton.
"It is completely unacceptable for women to be treated less favourably than men, and the advice note we have received from Ofsted on Rabia Girls' and Boys' School is concerning.
"We have referred this case to the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) so they can consider whether the school has breached the Equalities Act, and we will consider carefully the inspection report on the school to determine what action to take against any potential breaches in the independent school standards," said a DfE spokesperson.
Friday, April 29, 2016
De Mistura: Aleppo hospital strike appears deliberate
The story comes from Al Arabiya.
De Mistura: Aleppo hospital strike appears deliberate
United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday he did not believe the targeting of a hospital hit by air strikes in Aleppo overnight was by mistake, Al Arabiya al Hadath television reported.
During an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya’s sister Al Hadath, de Mistura said he does not believe the shelling of an Aleppo hospital earlier on Thursday was ‘a mistake’, describing it as a war crime.
He did not elaborate or comment on who might have been responsible.
De Mistura also warned that the ceasefire in Syria could collapse and called for bringing it back to the previous level ahead of the next round of peace talks.
He also called on the international community to create an inclusive Syrian government “that includes all parties.”
A wave of airstrikes and shelling killed more than 60 people in less than 24 hours in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, monitors and activists said Thursday.
The contested city is now one of the main battlegrounds of Syria's devastating civil war, with a cease-fire that has collapsed and peace talks in Geneva stalled.
At least 27 people died as a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee for the Red Cross and nearby buildings were hit overnight in the rebel-held part of Aleppo.
New airstrikes Thursday in residential areas in the rebel-held part of the city killed at least 20 while state media reported that at least 1,000 mortars and rockets were fired at government-held areas of Aleppo, killing at least 14 civilians.
The chief Syrian opposition negotiator Mohammed Alloush blamed the government of President Bashar Assad for the violence. He told The Associated Press that it shows "the environment is not conducive to any political action."
About 200 civilians have been killed in the past week, nearly half of them around Aleppo. There has also been shelling in Damascus, along with a car bombing - both rarities for the capital. The ICRC said the fighting, including the destruction in airstrikes overnight of a key hospital in Aleppo, is putting millions at grave risk.
With peace talks in Geneva completely deadlocked, Syrians are regarding the escalating bloodshed with dread, fearing that Aleppo is likely to be the focus of the next phase of the war.
Rebel commanders said government forces have been mobilizing soldiers, equipment and ammunition in preparation for a military action in Aleppo.
The well-known al-Quds filed hospital supported by MSF and ICRC and located in the rebel-held district of Sukkari was hit shortly before midnight Wednesday, according to opposition activists and rescue workers. Six hospital staff and three children were among the 27 who died there.
The Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer first-responders agency whose members went to the scene of the attack, put the death toll at 30 and said the dead included six hospital staff. Among those slain was one of the last pediatricians remaining in opposition-held areas of the contested city and a dentist.
The defense agency, also known as the White Helmets, said the hospital and adjacent buildings were struck in four consecutive airstrikes. It said there were still victims buried under the rubble and that the rescue work continued. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three children were among the 27 victims but it was not immediately clear if they were patients at the hospital.
MSF said in a statement that at least 14 patients and staff were among those killed, with the toll expected to rise. "Destroyed MSF-supported hospital in Aleppo was well known locally and hit by direct airstrike," it said.
"This devastating attack has destroyed a vital hospital in Aleppo, and the main referral center for pediatric care in the area," said Muskilda Zancada, MSF head of Syria mission. "Where is the outrage among those with the power and obligation to stop this carnage?"
The 34-bed, multi-story hospital had an emergency room and offered services such as obstetric care, outpatient and inpatient treatment. It had an intensive care unit and an operating theatre. Eight doctors and 28 nurses worked full time in the hospital, the MSF said. It has supported the hospital since 2012, the aid group said.
An unnamed Syrian military official quoted on state TV denied reports that the hospital was targeting, saying they were false.
A video posted online by the White Helmets showed a number of lifeless bodies, including those of children, being pulled out from a building and loaded into ambulances amid screaming and wailing. It also showed distraught rescue workers trying to keep onlookers away from the scene, apparently fearing more airstrikes.
Shortly after midday, new airstrikes in rebel-held areas killed at least 20 people in two neighborhoods, the Syrian Civil Defense and the Observatory said.
Videos provided by activists show scenes of dust rising up from buildings on fire as men and women run away from collapsing houses and children cry, looking for their parents. In one clip, a man is seen lifting his daughter out of the rubble.
State media said at least 1,300 rockets and missiles fell in residential areas in government controlled parts of the city, killing 14 people on Thursday.
Alloush, who was one of the leading negotiators of the opposition in the Geneva talks, described the airstrikes as one of the latest "war crimes" of Assad's government.
"Whoever carries out these massacres needs a war tribunal and a court of justice to be tried for his crimes. He does not need a negotiating table," Alloush told the AP in a telephone interview.
"Now, the environment is not conducive for any political action."
The February 27 cease-fire has been fraying in the past weeks as casualty figures from violence mount, particularly in Aleppo and across northern Syria. Airstrikes earlier this week also targeted a training center for the Syrian Civil Defense, leaving five of its team dead in rural Aleppo.
Since April 19, nearly 200 people have died, including at least 44 in an airstrike on a market place in rebel-held area in northern Idlib province, as well as dozens of civilians in government-held areas from rebel shelling.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
New plainclothes morality police draws ire in Iran
The story comes from DAWN.
New plainclothes morality police draws ire in Iran
TEHRAN: Tehran resident Sousan Heidari has stopped letting her headscarf slip casually down over her neck and shoulders while driving in the Iranian capital. These days, the 22-year-old with a taste for bold makeup makes sure to pull it tightly over her dark hair, fearful of running afoul of a newly established undercover division of the morality police.
"Every single man or woman could be a member of the unit," she cautioned. "I don't know. Maybe some plainclothes have already reported me because of heavy makeup."
Tehran police chief Gen Hossein Sajedinia recently announced his department had deployed 7,000 male and female officers for a new plainclothes division ─ the largest such undercover assignment in memory.
Authorities say the division, which started work last week, will patrol major Tehran streets and intersections, policing transgressions including harassment against women and excessive car honking and engine noise.
Critics fear the unit's main focus, however, will be enforcing the government-mandated Islamic dress code, which requires women be modestly covered from head to toe.
They see it as the latest flashpoint in the struggle between relative moderates such as President Hassan Rouhani and establishment hard-liners who fear looser social norms will weaken the Islamic Republic's values and principles.
Iranian women these days, particularly younger ones, often forego the traditional long black long veil known as the chador and opt instead for trendy dresses and fashionable headscarves. More and more, they are daring to let their scarves slip down to their shoulders while driving.
Influential ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani alluded to those concerns about moral erosion during a recent Friday sermon in Tehran, saying that a woman driving without a veil "cannot be called freedom".
Avoiding sartorial trouble in Iran has been fairly straightforward up until now. Police assigned to the morality-enforcement beat normally wore the same dark green uniform of regular Iranian police, and were stationed out in the open at major squares and crossroads.
They would take a range of approaches to enforcing dress codes, including handing out scarves as gifts, giving verbal warnings or having female officers physically remove excessive makeup.
At worst, offenders would be sent to court and face fines of up to $250 or hauled to the local police station until their family members gave a written promise that they would never commit the same offense again.
Azizeh Shirazi, a mother of two college-aged daughters, said last week's announcement of the new force has left her worried that something might happen to them on the way to university. "When the girls do not answer my phone calls during the day, my heart beats faster," she said.
The outcry over the new undercover police force extends to senior officials.
Shahindokht Molaverdi, vice president for women and family affairs, criticised the decision and expressed concern that it would be "limited to giving warnings to women over improper attire", according to local media reports.
Molaverdi said many citizens have complained to her about the police decision, and she vowed that the Rouhani administration will review the proposed force.
Even the popular Hamshahri daily, which is linked to conservative opponents of Rouhani's government, raised questions about the plan in an editorial, asking why it was necessary now and whether there would be any way to verify the unit's reports.
Police responded to the criticism by saying that "demands by the people" led to the creation of the new unit and that concerned citizens could contact police about any ambiguities.
They have found support from hard-liners, including female parliamentarian Fatemeh Rahbar ─ who said the previous practice of uniformed morality police was too easy for violators to spot and evade.
"The police are thinking about a more precise, more effective and more functional method since the previous open method did not bear fruit," she said.
On Sunday, the spokesman of the hard-line dominated judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, added his voice of support, saying the "judiciary definitely supports the police plan to confront open social corruption".
Tehran-based political analyst Saeed Leilaz believes the new unit is a reaction to the resounding defeat of hard-line and conservative candidates in Tehran during recent parliamentary elections.
A bloc led by moderates and reformists won a majority of seats around the country, but captured all 30 seats representing the capital in the 290-seat parliament. A runoff election for 68 remaining undecided seats will be held Friday.
Leilaz noted that these new plainclothes units have only been announced for Tehran, not for any other major Iranian city.
"This is part of the establishment's reaction toward Tehran residents' attitude in the election," he said. "It's an expression of discontent and taking revenge, as well as applying efforts in restricting President Rouhani."
Leilaz said the new initiative suggests previous hard-line dress code policies have failed. And he questioned how effective the new division would be.
"The plan, as usual will have a short-term limited impact. Soon people will return to their routines," he said.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Afghan president calls on Pakistan to battle Taliban
The story comes from DAWN.
Afghan president calls on Pakistan to battle Taliban
KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in a sombre speech to the Afghan parliament on Monday, called on Pakistan to battle some factions of the Taliban rather than try to bring them into peace talks.
Ghani's statement comes a week after a Taliban assault on the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed 64 people and wounded another 340.
Although President Ashraf Ghani said Afghanistan faced a terrorist enemy led by Taliban "slaves" in Pakistan, his statement appeared to leave the door open to resuming peace talks with some factions of the Taliban as he suggested there was still some hope of compromise with at least some Taliban.
He said that the doors of negotiation would remain open for those Taliban ready to stop bloodshed but added: "This opportunity will not be there forever."
He said Taliban leaders finding shelter in Peshawar and Quetta were "slaves and enemies of Afghanistan who shed the blood of their countrymen" and he called on Pakistan to wipe them out.
Ghani stopped short of declaring a state of national emergency, pledging war against radical groups like the militant Islamic State (IS) and the Haqqani network.
Whose slaves?
The Afghan president did not say whose slaves he thought the Taliban were, but his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, has accused Pakistan of harbouring the Taliban and supporting other militant groups in the past.
Pakistan denies harbouring and aiding the Taliban but Ghani urged the Pakistan government to "fulfill promises and carry out military operations against those whose bases are in Pakistan".
Ghani said there are "no good or bad terrorists, they are just terrorists", and that "Pakistan must understand that and act against them."
The response from the Taliban, who have already rejected peace talks while Western forces remain in Afghanistan, was scornful.
"The nation is not blind, people understand who the slave is and who works for the interest of others," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a tweet.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States have been trying to revive peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban in recent months, but have made little progress.
Intelligence head, defence minister to be appointed soon
After a year that saw 11,000 civilian casualties and some 5,500 members of the security forces killed fighting the Taliban, the distinction may make little concrete difference to the fighting on the ground.
But two weeks after the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive and then followed up with the biggest single attack seen in Kabul since 2011, there had been wide speculation among politicians in Kabul that Ghani could declare the stalled peace process formally dead.
The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, are seeking to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul and reimpose Islamic rule.
Ghani's speech came at a time of growing apprehension in Kabul at the prospect of more intense fighting over the summer months.
Over recent days, Afghan security forces have fought back Taliban attacks on Kunduz, the northern city that briefly fell to the insurgents last year.
Large parts of the southern province of Helmand are now in insurgent hands and there has been heavy fighting in several other provinces from Herat in the west to Kunar in the east.
Ghani said security forces, fighting alone since the end of Nato's main combat mission in 2014, were in a stronger position than last year and said a permanent minister of defence and head of the main intelligence agency would be appointed soon.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Photo of the Day: Fight For 15 (more minutes of sitting on our asses)
This is the hardest these people have worked in 18 months.
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Photo of the Term: What 8 Years of "Change" Can Bring You
Obama in Germany 2008
Obama in Germany 2016
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Sunday, April 24, 2016
Taliban touts Bergdahl swap as key ‘achievement’
Okay, so the million dollar question is this: When the Taliban achieved a lofty goal of getting back key Taliban commanders in exchange for America-hating traitor, Bowe Bergdahl, was it a case of President Barack Hussein Obama being dumb as a post and easily tricked by the terrorist Taliban or was Obama in on the scheme to aid the Taliban?
I doubt we will ever know but I would say that BOTH scenarios constitute treason against America by the Commander-in-chief and require impeachment. Every single member of the House of Representatives serving at that time deserves recall but in the least must be voted out of office for failure to carry out their oath of office for not impeaching this traitor sitting in the White House.
The story comes from The Long War Journal.
Taliban touts Bergdahl swap as key ‘achievement’
The Taliban says the exchange of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five top Taliban commanders in 2014 was a major “achievement” in its war against the West and its allies. The claim was made in a lengthy video released on the Taliban’s official website, Voice of Jihad, earlier this month.
Footage from the exchange is shown early on in the production. The scenes include Bergdahl as he is about to be transferred to American forces and the five Taliban leaders being warmly greeted after their arrival in Qatar. Screen shots can be seen below.
As The Long War Journal has reported, all five of the Taliban commanders exchanged for Bergdahl had ties to al Qaeda prior to their detention in Cuba. [See LWJ report, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl exchanged for top 5 Taliban commanders at Gitmo.]
Norullah Noori and Mohammad Fazl were both senior Taliban military commanders in Afghanistan. Khairullah Khairkhwa was the governor of the Herat province and one of Mullah Omar’s trusted lieutenants. Abdul Haq Wasiq was a senior Taliban intelligence official. And Mohammad Nabi Omari was allegedly part of a joint Taliban and al Qaeda cell that targeted US and Coalition forces. Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), which oversees the detention facility, deemed all five jihadists to be “high” risks to the US, its interests and allies.
Bergdahl was initially taken into custody by Taliban fighters after he wandered off an American outpost in the Paktika province in June 2009. He was then held for years by the Haqqani Network, which is part of the Taliban coalition and closely allied with al Qaeda. Siraj Haqqani, who leads the network, is one of the Taliban’s top two deputies and has also worked with senior al Qaeda leaders. Siraj has even held a seat on al Qaeda’s elite shura (advisory) council.
The Taliban’s video is intended to highlight the jihadists’ progress in Paktika, a province in southeastern Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan. The people of Paktika have long resisted foreign “invaders,” according to the Taliban, including the Soviets in the 1980s and the Americans beginning in late 2001.
The propaganda production highlights footage of “martyrdom” operatives training, a class on how to build improvised explosive devices, and a suicide bomber detonating a car packed with explosives.
A brief montage of the “infidels'” alleged crimes against the “Islamic nation” is also shown. A photo of American soldiers inside a mosque is included, as is an image of Florida pastor Terry Jones, who made a name for himself by burning Korans.
But much of the video focuses on the Taliban’s military operations in several of Paktika’s districts.
The Taliban’s shadow governor for Paktika, Hafez Belal Fateh (seen on the right), speaks at least twice in the video. In one clip, he is pictured sitting between two armed guards. Fateh portrays the Taliban as being united behind Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, who became the group’s emir after Mullah Omar’s death was publicly exposed in 2015. Fateh also claims that the Afghan people are aiding the Taliban’s fighters in their insurgency against the Afghan government and its coalition partners.
The video ends with a recording of Mansour, who vows that the Taliban will continue to wage jihad until an Islamic state is resurrected in Afghanistan.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
John Kerry Proves To the World That America Is Ruled By Morons by Signing U.N. Climate Deal
If anyone in the world was even a tad hesitant to resign themselves to the total collapse of reasoning and capability by leadership in the United States of America, they were pushed to that final realization yesterday by the clown-like, Keystone Kops-esque actions of Secretary of State John Kerry.
Yep, America has shown the world that we buy into the farce of global warming. The idiots have gone from ruling the village to ruling the world.
By the way, Mr. Kerry, we....THEE American people don't give one flying fuck WHAT the United Nations does.
The story comes from Times of India.
John Kerry signs UN climate deal for United States
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday joined a queue of world leaders and senior officials to formally sign the Paris climate deal at the United Nations.
Washington's top diplomat came to the podium cradling one of his granddaughters in his arms and triggered warm applause from delegates as he signed the historic deal.
Earlier, Kerry had addressed the General Assembly to hail the agreement, which he said was the last chance to slow the devastating pace of human-generated climate change.
"We learned that 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history — by far," Kerry said, recalling last December's Paris summit where the agreement was finalized.
"And we learned that after knowing that the past decade was the hottest on record, and the one before that was the hottest on record," he continued.
"And now we know that this year is already on track to be the warmest of all, and last month, March, was the hottest recorded March in all of history.
"This past winter, the maximum extent of Arctic sea ice was the lowest ever reported breaking the record that was set just one year ago.
"So the urgency of this challenge is only becoming more pronounced."
Friday, April 22, 2016
Death toll from Taliban attack in Kabul rises to 64
The story comes from DAWN.
Death toll from Taliban attack in Kabul rises to 64
KABUL: The Afghan Interior Ministry says the death toll from Tuesday's Taliban attack in Kabul has risen sharply overnight to 64. The Afghan healthy ministry yesterday said at least 320 people were wounded in the attack.
The attackers targeted an agency that provides protection for high-ranking government officials, similar to the United States Secret Service.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck outside the compound, and a pair of gunmen entered the compound in the aftermath before being killed in a battle with military forces.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
The New $20 Bill
Okay, so I'm not really interested in getting on a soap box to deliver a fiery speech as to why Andrew Jackson should be on the 20 dollar bill and NOT Harriet Tubman, but I did find it very interesting what Jack Lew, one of Obama's closet Marxists, said about WHO he heard from regarding this tidal wave of support for Harriet Tubman.
Look at this from Business Insider:
"The decision to put Harriet Tubman on the new $20 was driven by thousands of responses we received from Americans young and old," wrote Lew.
He continued:
I have been particularly struck by the many comments and reactions from children for whom Harriet Tubman is not just a historical figure, but a role model for leadership and participation in our democracy. You shared your thoughts about her life and her works and how they changed our nation and represented our most cherished values.
Okay, so let me make sure I have this straight - little school children from all over America know ALL there is to know about Harriet Tubman who lived in the mid 1800's? Are these the same school kids who can't recite a single word from the Constitution? The same kids who don't know who the Vice President of this country is? The same kids who think we are governed by a Democracy? Isn't that amazing? Who would have thought that school children from ALL FOUR CORNERS of this country know Harriet Tubman like the back of their hand but think George Washington was a peanut farmer who invented peanut butter.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Let's Make a Deal
@SEIU Let's make a deal - you and the govt tell us businesses how much we have to pay u and we tell you where u can spend your money. Deal?— HolgerAwakens (@HolgerAwakens) April 19, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Netanyahu Vows Revenge For Jerusalem Bus Bombing By Islamic Terrorists
The likes of Hamas and the PA will feel the effects of coordinating a bus bombing in Jerusalem, they will feel the wrath of Israel. Netanyahu promised it today.
The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.
Netanyhau after Jerusalem bus explosion: We will settle accounts with terrorists
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed a stunned crowd of the suspected Jerusalem bus bombing during a speech he delivered in Binyamina on Monday evening marking 85 years to the founding of the Irgun.
“We will find whoever prepared and dispatched the explosives, as well as those who helped them,” he said. “We will settle accounts with those terrorists.”
Police confirmed that a bus explosion in the industrial area of Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighborhood early Monday evening that wounded 21 people, including one critically, was the result of a bomb, but still stopped short of declaring it a terrorist attack.
President Reuven Rivlin offered his prayers for those wounded in the incident. He referred to the IDF's uncovering in the morning of a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.
"On a day like this when in the morning, our dedicated security forces uncover a tunnel of destruction in the South and then in the evening shocked civilians are taken to the hospital at the end of a routine day, it is clear to everyone that our fight against terror will not end. We will chase and catch any person that seeks to do us harm until quiet is achieved," Rivlin said.
Head of the Joint List Ayman Odeh condemned the attack as well but he also attacked Netanyahu.
"I forcefully condemn the explosion today in Jerusalem in which many civilians were wounded. Harming civilians is unacceptable and it also harms the just Palestinian struggle to end the occupation," Odeh said.
"The Netanyahu government feeds the cycle of violence, and is fed by it. Desperation is the fertile ground for terror and only a diplomatic settlement will bring security to the two nations," he added.
Monday, April 18, 2016
His Majesty's Tax Day
Make sure you pay your Taxes today OUR KING needs a vacation pic.twitter.com/rN8xNJxW0K— AppSame (@AppSame) April 18, 2016
Turkey Continues Its Slaughter of Kurds
The story comes from DAWN.
Turkish army kills 23 Kurdish militants
DIYARBAKIR: Turkey’s armed forces killed 23 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in the latest clashes in eastern Turkey, including three militants who died in an air strike, the general staff said on Saturday.
Security sources said warplanes and attack helicopters fired on a mountainous, forested area in the eastern province of Tunceli after military drones spotted a group of about 20 PKK rebels there on Friday.
The armed forces’ statement said three of the militants were killed in the air strikes.
Thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed since the PKK resumed its fight for Kurdish autonomy last summer, ending a 2-1/2-year ceasefire and shattering peace efforts.
Turkish warplanes have frequently struck PKK targets since the conflict revived, mainly hitting the group’s bases in northern Iraq.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Is Obama planning his revenge on Netanyahu?
The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.
Is Obama planning his revenge on Netanyahu?
"During his final year in the White House, US President Barack Obama is preparing a metaphorical roadside IED for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It cannot be that the tainted relations between the two leaders will not end with Obama exacting some sweet revenge." Variations of the above statement have been uttered for a while now by senior American and Israeli officials since Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress last year during his campaign against Obama and his nuclear agreement with Iran.
This week, the New York Times brought the fraught Obama-Netanyahu relationship back into the headlines when the paper expounded on the US president's possible future revenge against the Israeli leader that will be served up cold in the form of a UN Security Council resolution on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Several officials have said that Obama has grown so frustrated with trying to revive Middle East peace talks that he may lay down his own outline for an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution, in the form of a resolution in the United Nations Security Council, the Times reported.
“There will be a great temptation to do something in the final year. “For a president who came out faster and more aggressively on the Middle East than any of his predecessors, there is a gnawing sense of incompletion and perhaps even failure,” Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told the Times last month.
Israel's former envoy to the UN Ron Prosor says that in recent days there are meetings in the White House on how to end
Obama's second term and discussions are taking place on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well.
"I believe that a US proposal for a UN Security Council Resolution is just one idea that was floated. The idea of an independent draft US resolution seems unlikely to me because the Americans are not interested in leading the negotiating process," Prosor said.
"It seems like a more concrete concern that the US will not use its veto in the Security Council to stop French or other countries' proposals on the conflict," he said.
Prosor added that in his opinion to bring the sides to the negotiating table by force is a mistake and is unlikely because "it will not bring peace."
"But Obama will have to do something. It may be that he will be satisfied with delivering a speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but in any event he will not leave office without making reference to the diplomatic process. That will not happen," Prosor said.
This is not the first time during Obama's tenure that the issue of the US not using its veto power at the security council has been raised.
Last year, US Senator John McCain pushed back against US threats to reassess its relationship to the Mideast diplomatic process.
McCain warned that if Obama would support a UN Security Council resolution calling for a Palestinian state, something he said would contravene the basic Mideast policies of the last 10 presidents – Congress would “have to examine our funding for the United Nations.”
McCain’s statement came a day after an interview Obama gave to the Huffington Post in which he continued to slam Netanyahu for saying on the eve of his election victory that a Palestinian state would not emerge under his tenure.
One of the options available, Obama administration officials have made clear since Netanyhau's election win, is not vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that would call – and perhaps try to impose – a two-state solution.
Asked by the Huffington Post if there was any reason to believe Netanyahu is serious about a Palestinian state, Obama said, “We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn’t happen during his prime ministership, and so that’s why we’ve got to evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don’t see a chaotic situation in the region.”
So how likely is it that the US will bring forward a proposal to the UN Security Council? It depends who you ask.
Alon Pinkas, Israel's former consul-general to New York, argues that a US move at the council is only one option of many that it can exercise.
"The feeling in Israel that the Obama revenge is imminent stems from the Israeli illusion that we interest Obama and occupy him. We are an ally of the United States but not the principle interest in its foreign policy and we should not get confused in this regard," Pinkas said.
According to Pinkas, there are three options open to Obama on how to act on the matter.
"The first option is that before Obama's departure in January he will deliver a general policy speech on the Middle East and and will reveal everything that we don't know about US Secretary of State John Kerry's peace efforts in 2014. We will hear about the [unpublicized] understandings reached between the Israelis and the Palestinians during those US brokered talks and in the second half of the speech Obama will set out his vision for the Middle East."
"The second option open to Obama is the one desired by Netanyahu because the prime minister likes the appearance that he is battling against the entire world. Under this option the US, in an unprecedented move, will not use its veto against a French resolution at the Security Council on the conflict. This option of non-exercise of the US veto can only be used between November and January 2017 so as not to hurt the campaign of the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton."
"The third option is that the Americans will tender their own resolution at the Security Council, as described in the New York
Times report, but in my opinion Obama will not go this way because he knows that it supports Netanyahu's narrative that everyone is against us, that only he can stand firm against the entire world."
Retired ambassador and former deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry Gideon Meir argued that the arrival of judgment day, when the US turns to the UN Security Council on the Middle East conflict, is just a matter of time.
"I predicted that this would happen. There is a pattern of behavior for the US administration. The Obama-Netanyahu relationship is not straightforward. Obama will not harm Israeli security by way of the US economic security package. But Obama wants to leave a legacy of peace. Where can he do this? Only at the UN. He will go to the UN because there, in his world view, he will not be harming Israel but rather will be helping it. This view is shared by the majority of liberal American Jews," Meir said.
Meir said he doesn't think that a move by the US at the Security Council should be interpreted as being against Israel.
"Just because the Israeli government believes that the US would be acting against Israel does not make it anti-Israel. It can bring our government to a new way of looking at the situation. It is legitimate not to agree with Netanyahu and act accordingly. Not everyone is against us. The West Bank settlements are a trigger and the world does not like Netanyahu's policies. I see great difficulty in trying to prevent the US from acting at the United Nations. "
Next week, Vice President Joe Biden will be the keynote speaker at the left-wing Israel lobby group J Street's conference. The group is hoping that Biden will deliver a headline in line with the news reports of Obama's intention to bring a Security Council resolution.
"We support, encourage, and urge the US president to set out out parameters or some kind of framework that will ensure the continuation of diplomacy and the two-state solution and the American commitment to this idea. The reports of such a US intention are encouraging but it is dependent on the contents of a resolution if it is brought before the Security Council." Yael Patir, the Israel Director for J Street said.
"It is fairly certain that Netanyahu will oppose such a resolution. During his eight years in office Obama blocked all Security Council resolutions that were critical of Israel, which was unprecedented even compared to the Bush and Clinton administrations, so I don't think Obama can be accused of being anti-Israel," Patir said.
"On the backdrop of the diplomatic deadlock here, we think that any endorsement of the two-state solution serves Israel and we hope that Biden does this in his speech at our conference," she added.
Until Obama decides how to act, Israel is focusing on frustrating Palestinian diplomatic efforts at the UN. The Palestinians are planning to bring their own resolution to the UN Security Council declaring that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are illegal and that calls on the sides to return to the negotiating table with a time frame of one year to reach
a final status agreement. The UN vote is set for April 22, Passover-eve, and Palestinian media reports that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is set to be present in New York for the vote.
The Palestinian draft resolution declares that "all of the settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are illegal and are serious obstacles to achieving peace on the basis of the two-state solution."
"The Security Council condemns the continuation of building in the settlements and any other act meant to change the demographic balance or the character of the land," the draft resolution reads.
The last time that the Security Council voted on a settlements-related resolution was in February 2011. At that time the Palestinians had the support of 14 out of 15 Security Council members, including Britain, France and Germany. The US opposed the Palestinian move and tried to stop the Palestinians from bringing the resolution. When the efforts to convince the Palestinians failed, Obama used the American veto power.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Jaw Dropper: Pakistan's ISI Paid Haqqani Network To Massacre CIA Personnel In 2009
I remember the suicide bombing attack in Khost, Afghanistan that killed a slew of American CIA personnel like it was yesterday and for now, the news to come out that Pakistan's intelligence group, the ISI, paid the Taliban-associated Haqqani Group to carry out that suicide bomber mission is incredible and jaw dropping.
And there is yet to be any response from the Obama administration. Oh wait, it was in 2009. Maybe it was a joint effort by the ISI and the Obama administration....
The story comes from CNS News.
No Comment From U.S. on Claim That Pakistani Intelligence Agency Funded Deadly Attack on CIA Personnel
(CNSNews.com) – It was the deadliest attack sustained by the CIA in 26 years, and according to a just-declassified U.S. intelligence cable, Pakistan’s military intelligence agency paid a notorious Islamist terror group $200,000 to carry it out.
State Department spokesman John Kirby, asked about the claim Thursday, declined to “speak about intelligence matters.”
The shock allegation – that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate financed the Haqqani network’s suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees at Camp Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan on December 30, 2009 – is contained in a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document, marked secret and dated February 6 of the following year.
It was obtained, in heavily-redacted form, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute at The George Washington University.
Claims about collusion between the ISI and terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan are not new, but the document indicates that the military intelligence agency of a major recipient of U.S. military funding directly financed the costliest attack against CIA personnel since Hezbollah bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983. (Eight CIA personnel were among 17 Americans killed in Beirut, where a total of 63 people died.)
The Haqqani network (HQN), a militant Taliban faction founded by a veteran anti-Soviet mujahideen leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, has its stronghold in Pakistan’s North Waziristan, just across the border from Khost province. It is led by his son, Sirajuddin, who has a $10 million dollar U.S. reward on his head.
The bomb attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman was, according to subsequent book by Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick, carried out by a Jordanian, Humam Khalil al-Balawi, who claimed to have inside information about al-Qaeda and was allowed into the base to share that purported intelligence.
Instead he detonated a bomb, killing himself, the seven CIA employees, his Jordanian military intelligence officer handler, and the base’s external security chief, an Afghan named Arghawan, who had driven al-Balawi from the nearby Pakistan border to the camp. The attack was memorialized in the movie Zero Dark Thirty.
The declassified Feb. 6, 2010 DIA document includes a heading: “PAKISTAN INTER-SERVICES INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE AND HAQQANI NETWORK INVOLVEMENT IN THE 30 DECEMBER 2009 SUICIDE ATTACK ON FORWARD OPERATING BASE CHAPMAN.”
Following a redacted portion, the cable continues, “During discussions at an unknown date between Haqqani, Salar and an unidentified ISI-D officer or Officers, Haqqani and Salar were provided USD 200,000 to enable the attack on Chapman.”
(Haqqani is not otherwise identified. The cable may refer to Sirajuddin or possibly his younger brother Badruddin, another HQN militant who was killed in a 2012 U.S. drone strike.)
The cable says Haqqani gave the $200,000 to the individual named Salar, who is not further identified. It says Salar passed on the planning details to someone named Mullawi Sakh, who in turn contacted Arghawan.
“Arghawan was promised USD 100,000 by Salar for his assistance to enable a suicide mission by an unarmed Jordanian National,” it continues. “Following the attack, Salar was believed to have kept the 100,000 promised to Arghawan because Arghawan died during the suicide attack.”
‘It’s not going to discriminate against a terrorist group’
Asked about the allegation of ISI support for the HQN attack, State Department spokesman Kirby said, “I’m not going to speak about intelligence matters.”
“I would just say that we’ve been consistently clear with the highest levels of the government of Pakistan that it must target all militant groups, including the Haqqani network, al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e Toiba,” he said.
Asked specifically about the claim relating to “one of your friendly countries paying money to terrorists to kill your personnel,” Kirby said, “I understand the question. I’m not going to speak to intelligence matters or leaked documents.”
After some back-and-forth about the provenance of the documents, Kirby was asked, “Do you think the ISI still has links with Haqqani network?”
“Listen, I’ve already answered that question,” he replied. “We’ve made it clear what our expectations of the government of Pakistan are, and the government of Pakistan has made it clear publicly, repeatedly that it’s not going to discriminate against groups.”
Pakistan is currently the fifth-largest U.S. foreign assistance recipient, with the administration requesting $742 million in aid in fiscal year 2017.
A second declassified DIA cable obtained by the National Security Archive, dated Jan. 11, 2009, reads in part, “As of late December 2009, at the end of every month, senior Haqqani network leadership met with the ISID in Islamabad. The meetings were attended by Siraj Haqqani and Badruddin (Haqqani). ISID Col (Nasib) chaired the meetings. ISID Major (Daqud) and Sobedar (Zarim) were also in attendance.”
“An unknown amount of funding was provided to the Haqqanis for use in unspecified operations during these meetings. There were two meetings between the ISID and the Haqqani network leadership in December 2009. The first discussed funding for operations in Khowst province. These funds were later provided to tribal elders in Khowst province for their support of the Haqqani network,” it says.
“The second meeting involved ISID direction to the Haqqanis to expedite attack preparations and lethality in Afghanistan,” the cable states.
Aside from the Chapman attack, the U.S. believes the HQN was responsible for or involved in a number of major terror attacks in Afghanistan, including the deadly July 2008 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul (also reportedly carried out with ISI involvement, according to communications intercepted by the U.S.); a May 2010 suicide bombing in Kabul that five American soldiers, one Canadian soldier and 12 Afghan civilians; a Sept. 2011 bomb attack on a NATO outpost that killed five Afghans and injured 77 U.S. soldiers; and a Sept. 2011 assault on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
In September 2011, then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told a Senate committee that the Haqqani network was a “veritable arm” of the ISI. The statement caused an uproar in Pakistan.
The ISI’s main focus through its more than 60-year history has been India, Pakistan’s rival. Governments in New Delhi have long accused the agency of sponsoring groups fighting to end Indian rule in disputed Kashmir.
In Afghanistan, the ISI served as a conduit for U.S. aid to mujahideen fighting the Soviets during the 1980s. It subsequently played a key role in setting up the Afghan Taliban – and only cut ties with that group under U.S. pressure after 9/11.
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