Category Archives: Global Politics

Somali Al-Shabab threatens US attacks to avenge leader’s death | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Shongole’s message, which was released over the Internet, threatened further attacks in Kenya and Uganda.

“As you have killed (Godane), many Americans will be killed in New York and Washington. This is real. Men have already been prepared,” he added.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud told state radio he was confident Al-Shabab’s “lifespan is ending,” referring to a campaign launched by African force AMISOM and Somalian forces to drive the militants out of their remaining strongholds.

“We say to the terrorists, your time has ended,” he said.

via Somali Al-Shabab threatens US attacks to avenge leader’s death | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

JBTC – Just because they can – Palestinian teenager shot in head by Israeli forces dies – Autopsy announced for Monday

16 year old Muhammed Sunuqrut died in hospital on Sunday after being critically wounded by Israeli forces in an East Jerusalem protest last week. Relatives state that the teenager was shot in the head at close range with a rubber-coated bullet. 

Muhammed Sunuqrut was declared clinically dead at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, on Thursday before dying on Sunday.

He was wounded in the Wadi Joz neighborhood close to his home on the 31st of August. The teenager’s uncle, Motabi Sunuqrut, said the boy had not even taken part in the demonstrations and that the area was quiet at the time of the incident.

“Ten minutes earlier I returned home and nothing was happening. He left home and was talking to his aunt on the phone, when suddenly he was shot at close range. After he fell the soldiers went on beating him and wouldn’t let anyone come near him to treat him,” he said.

via Palestinian teenager shot in head by Israeli forces dies – Autopsy announced for Monday.

JBTC – Israel seizes 500 acres south of Hebron for military use

JBTC – Just because they can –

Israeli authorities notified residents of Wad Eben Zaid, north of Yatta and to the south of Hebron this morning that a military order will seize 2000 dunums of their land for army use.

The coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Yatta, Rateb Al-Jbour, declared  that  the Israeli authorities gave residents from the Wad Eben Zaid region a military order  dated from 1997 to colonize around 500 acres of their land.

Al-Jbour added that the residents did not know about this declaration and that part of these colonized lands had been used to build homes. The land belongs to the Al-Nameen, Al-Jbareen, Abu- Aram, Al-Doudra and Al- Hmamdeh families.

via Israel seizes 500 acres south of Hebron for military use.

DEVELOPING: Estonian Counterintelligence Officer Abducted to Russia at Gunpoint, Foreign Ministry Summons Russian Ambassador | News | ERR

An official from the Internal Security Service (ISS), Estonia’s national agency for counterintelligence and high-profile corruption investigations, was abducted at gunpoint at Luhamaa border checkpoint this morning where he was discharging service duties, and taken to Russia. There is no indication that the abduction is more than an isolated criminal incident, but on the backdrop of international tensions, the situation is being treated seriously.

The incident occurred at about 9:00 on the Estonian side of the border and was preceded by jamming of communications and use of a smoke grenade, the agency said; the interference was said to originate from the Russia side.

The ISS said the official was in the process of interdiction of a cross-border crime.

via DEVELOPING: Estonian Counterintelligence Officer Abducted to Russia at Gunpoint, Foreign Ministry Summons Russian Ambassador | News | ERR.

Mean and hateful – just because they have the power! Israeli soldiers set fire to olive trees in Hebron | Maan News Agency

Israeli soldiers set fire to Palestinian-owned olive trees near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron late Thursday.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers deployed in the area pushed a burning tire into an area of olive trees, causing severe damage.

Local Palestinians called the fire brigade to extinguish the blaze but were prevented from arriving in the area by Israeli forces.

via Israeli soldiers set fire to olive trees in Hebron | Maan News Agency.

Obama: ‘You Lost Your Independence Once Before. With NATO You Will Never Lose It Again’ | News | ERR

US President Barack Obama minced no words and left no doubts in his keynote address at the Nordea Concert Hall in Tallinn, Estonia, saying that the US would unconditionally come to the defense of its small Baltic allies in case of need and that the US would never condone or recognize the Russian invasion and annexation of any part of Ukraine.

In a speech largely dedicated to reassurance of newer allies and representing perhaps the most powerful expression of support from the US over the last 23 years of restored diplomatic relations, Obama made clear where the US stood on Baltic as well as Ukrainian independence.

“Just as we never accepted the occupation and illegal annexation of the Baltic nations, we will not accept Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea or any part of Ukraine,” he said. Among much else, he denied that NATO had second-class members. “The defense of Tallinn and Riga and Vilnius is just as important as the defense of Berlin and Paris and London.”

via Obama: ‘You Lost Your Independence Once Before. With NATO You Will Never Lose It Again’ | News | ERR.

IRIN Africa | Mistrust of government spurs Ebola spread | DRC | Liberia | Nigeria | Sierra Leone | Senegal | Aid Policy | Conflict | Governance | Health & Nutrition | Human Rights

(Government needs to connect with the informal communications network rather than go over it or around it)

Susan Shepler, an associate professor at American University and a specialist on education and conflict in Sierra Leone and Liberia, said it is easy to understand why many Liberians tend to doubt government information.

“People are not acting out of ignorance, they’re acting out of experience,” she told IRIN. “In Liberia people have historically used community information and rumours as a way of getting information at times when they weren’t sure whether to trust the government,” she said.

“Information was vital during Liberia’s conflict but official sources were often so unreliable that people relied on informal networks instead,” Shepler added. “At times the media and authorities reported one thing and the rumour network said something else, and it turned out that the rumours were right.”

As the Ebola crisis escalates throughout West Africa, the Sirleaf administration is now faced with plugging an information gap that grew from such a legacy.

Establishing stronger channels of communication is vital, say observers. But Russell Geekie, chief of public information for the UN Mission to Liberia (UNMIL), said the nature of Ebola has made many communication methods difficult.

via IRIN Africa | Mistrust of government spurs Ebola spread | DRC | Liberia | Nigeria | Sierra Leone | Senegal | Aid Policy | Conflict | Governance | Health & Nutrition | Human Rights.

Ebola, Experimental Drugs and Informed Consent: Should Those At Risk Simply Take What The Doctor Orders?

West Africans have nothing to fear from European nations and firms who want to experiment and maybe find a cure, for which they will charge billions? lol White Europeans and White Americans have never taken advantage of or lied to West Africans before have the? rotflol Tests on African-Americans without their informed consent were OK, until people found out what was really going on – giving men VD and seeing how long it took to die, giving massive radiation to dying people saying it might cure them, when they were really testing the amount of radiation soldiers might be able to endure before dying? wtf!

Ebola, Experimental Drugs and Informed Consent: Should Those At Risk Simply Take What The Doctor Orders?.

It seems that if we’re fortunate enough to find a drug that works, soon, treating Ebola will require trust that approximates a leap of faith (in medicine), and beneficence – that doctors will order and give these drugs because they think they’re more likely to help than harm those affected. Without that trust, we’ll be stuck, unable to give therapy to most people infected or at risk. Is it possible that meaningful consent can be a barrier to care?

The Brits Spin is beating out the Blair spin to get Brits into Iraq last time! Britain Raises Terrorism Threat Level to ‘Severe’ – NYTimes.com

Friday and the spinning is easy – The new designation is the second highest after “critical,” meaning that an attack is expected imminently.

The assessment is made by a panel of security experts and officials, independent of government officials. Several European nations have voiced fears that their citizens who have joined the Sunni militant Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, will return home trained and equipped for terrorist acts. But the British response seemed to be among the most drastic.

“The increase in the threat level is related to developments in Syria and Iraq where terrorist groups are planning attacks against the West,” Ms. May said, without offering direct evidence of those plans.

“Some of these plots are likely to involve foreign fighters who have traveled there from the U.K. and Europe to take part in those conflicts,” she said. “The British public should be in no doubt that we will take the strongest possible action to protect our national security.”

She added: “We face a real and serious threat in the U.K. from international terrorism. I would urge the public to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to the police.”

In what seemed a related development, Mr. Cameron told a news conference that new laws would facilitate the seizure of the passports of suspected British jihadis. He said he would provide more detail in a statement to Parliament on Monday covering what he called legislation to fill “gaps in our armory.”

He drew a distinction between previous assessments that the main threat to British security came from Al Qaeda, which has broken with ISIS because of its extreme tactics.

The group spilled across the border from Syria in June to strike at north and central Iraq, leaving a trail of executions and beheadings and threatening minority groups. “What we are facing in Iraq now with ISIL is a greater threat to our security than we have seen before,” Mr. Cameron told a news conference, using an alternative name for ISIS.

via Britain Raises Terrorism Threat Level to ‘Severe’ – NYTimes.com.

Yellow Cake Spin times 10! Bubonic plague data found on Islamic state computer – UPI.com

Neo-Cons in heaven with nasty IS computer to claim planning of a bubonic plague bomb! Oh my!

 

An Islamic State laptop computer found in Syria allegedly contains plans to build chemical weapons for spreading bubonic plague.

The computer, now in Antakya, Turkey, belonged to a Tunisian militant named Muhammad S., who studied university-level chemistry and physics. It was found at an abandoned IS base in Idlib, Syria, by moderate rebel forces, and contains detailed instructions on explosives construction, the use of disguises while travelling, and chemical weapons plans, according to the magazine Foreign Policy, whose reporters were shown the laptop.

via Bubonic plague data found on Islamic state computer – UPI.com.