Российская авиация нанесла удары по крупным объектам ИГИЛ в Сирии - Первый канал
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Российская авиация нанесла удары по крупным объектам ИГИЛ в Сирии
Первый канал Пожалуйста, уважайте труд журналистов: не перепечатывайте в блогах статьи целиком (они всегда доступны по этому адресу), не забывайте ставить ссылки на полный текст на нашем сайте. Раздел: Новости. Российская авиация нанесла удары по крупным объектам ИГИЛ в Сирии. Первый с лета гуманитарный конвой ООН прибыл в ДонецкВести.Ru Если враг не сдаётсяКрасная Звезда ООН: 35 тысяч человек близ Алеппо покинули дома из-за боевых действий РИА Новости Все похожие статьи: 121 » |
Iraqi Leaders Discuss Single Commander for IS Battleby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Iraqi leaders will begin a process Wednesday to select a commander who can serve as a central figure to better organize the various forces fighting Islamic State militants. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford said Tuesday during a visit to Iraq that the U.S.-led coalition needs one person who can speak with authority on the ground campaign in order to provide better support. While the coalition has been carrying out airstrikes, a collection of fighters from Iraq's army, Shi'ite militias, Sunni tribesman and Kurdish forces have all been battling the militants in various parts of Iraq with different levels of success. IS territory Overall, the Islamic State group has held onto much of the territory it seized more than a year ago. Dunford said he would not describe the situation in Iraq as a stalemate and would not be discussing specific timelines for the campaign. One recent gain was in the key oil refinery town of Beiji, north of Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi military officials said Iraqi forces retook "full control" after more than a year of fighting. U.S. military spokesman Major Mike Filanowski, speaking Tuesday in Baghdad, said 15,000 Iraqi troops and paramilitaries held Beiji and were driving pockets of enemy fighters from the area. Footage aired on Iraqi television showed Iraqi troops waving flags from rooftops in the town, which was overrun by Islamic State fighters in June 2014. Dunford also said that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi both had told him they were not seeking Russian military help against the Islamic State. 'Difficult for us' Abadi said earlier this month that he would welcome Russian airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq. “I said it would make it very difficult for us to be able to provide the kind of support that you need if the Russians were here conducting operations as well,” Dunford told reporters traveling with him after his talks. Iraq’s Shi’ite-dominated ruling coalition and Shi’ite militias have urged Abadi to ask Russia to strike Islamic State targets in Iraq, Reuters reported Wednesday. The news agency quoted two members of Iraq’s parliament as saying the Iraqi prime minister is under “tremendous pressure” from the ruling National Alliance to request Russian airstrikes. In addition to talks with Iraqi government leaders, Dunford also met with the head of Iraq's Kurdistan region, President Massoud Barzani, as part of his trip to assess the fight against Islamic State militants. Dunford told Barzani the United States and the Kurds "have a common enemy."
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 Financial Times |
Russia's Syria strategy poses challenge to Nato in Mediterranean
Financial Times But beyond the immediate outcome of the civil war there, Nato military chiefs are now viewing it as a wider strategic play by Vladimir Putin's Russia to challenge the west closer to home. According to a senior Nato civilian official, the Mediterranean ... Upstaged NATO searches for '360-degree' response to RussiaReuters UK Trident Juncture: NATO Starts To Show Muscles to RussiaDefenseNews.com As Russia reasserts itself, NATO opens biggest exercises in yearsReuters Mintpress News (blog)- Sputnik International all 274 news articles » |
 RT |
Russia calls for fairer UN, criticizes US, UK and France for 'usurping' key ...
RT Russia's ambassador to the United Nations has accused the US, the UK, and France of “usurping” top UN positions. Vitaly Churkin also slammed the US for abusing its powers as the UN's host country, including showing indiscriminate bias in issuing visas. and more » |
 Южный Китай_ особый взгляд |
9 человек пропали без вести в результате взрыва на китайском химзаводе
ИА REGNUM Пекин, 21 Октября 2015, 09:08 — REGNUM В Китае прогремел очередной взрыв: в уезде Пинъи (провинция Шаньдун, КНР) на химическом заводе два человека пострадали, девять — пропали без вести, передаёт НТВ. Rambler. Забавный инцидент Лаврова и Захаровой в ООН заметили ... После взрыва на заводе в Китае пропали без вести девять человекРоссийская Газета В Китае из-за взрыва на химзаводе девять человек пропали без вестиИзвестия В Китае при взрыве на химзаводе двое ранены, девять пропали без вестиКоммерсантъ Информационное Агентство "Хакасия"-ИА "Порт Амур" Все похожие статьи: 69 » |
Obama, Sharif Set to Discuss Afghanistan, Terrorism, Nuclear Issues by webdesk@voanews.com (Ayaz Gul, Aru Pande)
Four years ago, U.S.-Pakistan ties hit bottom when President Barack Obama stood before the American public and announced the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden during a covert U.S. raid in the garrison Pakistani city of Abbottabad. “It’s been well documented that there have been some peaks and troughs in the relationship between the United States and Pakistan,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged Tuesday. As Obama prepares to welcome Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the White House Thursday, Earnest said the president is looking to strengthen the relationship based on shared interests – namely countering extremists in the region. “This is something that Pakistan has to deal with on their doorstep,” the press secretary told reporters. “To the extent that the United States can be helpful in that regard, we would like to be, principally because we believe it’s in our interests for Pakistan to succeed in their fight against those extremist elements.” Security cooperation Despite the once-turbulent relations, the Wilson Center’s Michael Kugelman said the number one U.S. objective in Pakistan for years has remained constant – stability. “The U.S. simply worries about Pakistan being a very volatile country that is a haven for so many different types of militant groups, and also understanding that the Pakistani security establishment has very unsavory relationships with some of these groups. All of this [is] compounded with the fact that Pakistan has nuclear weapons,” Kugelman said. In that context, the U.S. welcomed Pakistan’s military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and other al-Qaida-linked militants in the country’s North Waziristan tribal region in the summer of 2014. The ongoing, massive, counter-insurgency, army-led operation, dubbed as Zarb-e-Azb, has since been expanded to other parts of the country and has killed more than 3,500 militants while at least 400 soldiers also have died, according to military officials. Islamabad maintains the terrorist infrastructure in the Waziristan territory has largely been uprooted, leading to a significant decline in suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks in Pakistan. However, Afghan and U.S. officials insist the offensive merely flushed the militants across the border into Afghanistan, fueling the Taliban-led insurgency there. The Afghan conflict is also expected to be a focus of Thursday’s meeting between Obama and Sharif, which comes a week after the American president announced he was slowing the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, while keeping the training and counter-terror mission unchanged. White House Press Secretary Earnest last week said Pakistan has a role to play, particularly in helping bring about a political settlement in Afghanistan. Sharif will inform President Obama that Pakistan is determined to promote peace in Afghanistan but leaves it to the government there to decide whether they want Islamabad to play any role and use its limited influence with the Taliban to bring the insurgents back to the negotiating table, said Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the Pakistani prime minister on foreign policy matters. “And if they (the Afghan government) believe that this peace process is not in their favor then whatever other option they want to exercise they are welcome to exercise it. They are a sovereign and independent country. Pakistan as a friendly neighbor with multiple linkages is ready to play any role that can help promote peace process in Afghanistan,” said Fatemi ahead of the talks in Washington. An eye towards India South Asia analyst Kugelman said he has low expectations for Sharif’s White House visit – dubbing it a courtesy call that the Pakistani prime minister is making at the invitation of Obama. The two leaders last met in the Oval Office in October of 2013. The Wilson Center senior associate notes the president’s attention is focused on deepening the U.S. relationship with Pakistan’s neighbor and arch-rival, India. In January, Obama became the first sitting U.S. head of state to attend India’s Republic Day parade, a symbolic visit that included media reports of a budding friendship between the U.S. leader and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two met again last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, with Obama praising Modi’s efforts to fight climate change. “The Pakistanis, they want the U.S. to treat Pakistan in the same way that the U.S. treats India,” Kugelman said. “And for the Pakistanis to realize that Obama has not engaged with Pakistanis on as high a level and as often as he has with the Indians, it certainly is something that is noticed.” An area where Pakistan would like to see parity with India, Kugelman said, is on how the United States views its nuclear program. The U.S. and India struck a landmark civilian nuclear deal in 2007. But he called a similar U.S. agreement with Pakistan wholly unlikely. “Pakistan is not going to agree to the limitations and the conditions that would be placed on its nuclear weapons program,” the Wilson Center analyst notes. “The nuclear program in Pakistan is not just any old thing. It is something that is cherished and revered by the country as a whole, it unifies the country.” Press Secretary Earnest recently downplayed media reports the U.S. is serious about reaching a civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan. Pakistani officials dismiss safety concerns regarding the country’s nuclear weapons program and have vehemently rejected reports of discussions with the U.S. on ways to limit Pakistan’s development of its nuclear arsenal, believed to be the world’s fastest growing. Pakistan/India rivalry American newspapers reported just days before Sharif’s meeting with Obama that Washington is exploring ways to see whether Islamabad might agree to some curbs on its nuclear arsenal in return for paving the way for Pakistan to enter into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls the export and transfer of nuclear materials. “Our nuclear weapons are not the weapons of war. They are the weapons that are meant to discourage conflict and war from taking place,” said Fatemi. He reiterated that Pakistan’s nuclear program is India-specific and hence it will not accept any curbs on it because that would amount to comprising on national security interests. Deployment of Pakistan’s short-range nuclear-capable missile called ‘Nasr’ is of primary concern to U.S. policy makers. Pakistani officials maintain that their plan to deploy the missile with a range of 60-kilometer is designed to discourage rival India from imposing a surprise limited conventional war on the country under New Delhi’s alleged “Cold Start” doctrine. “Their tendency to fight or their doctrine to fight a preemptive limited conventional war against Pakistan is an issue. And that is why Pakistan has tried to plug that conventional level of operational threat by showing the capability in shape of ‘Nasr’ that we have a technology and you have to factor it in your calculus if you contemplate such a doctrine,” said Zahir Haider Kazmi, a senior official at Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal program named Strategic Plans Division. Pakistan's tensions with India have increased in recent months with each side accusing the other of indulging in "unprovoked" cross-border fire, while a wide-ranging official dialogue aimed at normalizing ties remains suspended. U.S. officials have long campaigned to prevent another war between India and Pakistan fearing it could escalate to a nuclear conflict. Those fears have intensified in the wake of development of Pakistan’s short-range missiles and their possible deployment, because critics believe "the intermingling of conventional forces and nuclear weapons in a battlefield theater" makes a nuclear war more likely.
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The leaders talked about their joint military campaign and a future political transition in Syria, a Kremlin spokesman said.
Assad, Putin Discuss Syria Campaign in Moscow Talksby webdesk@voanews.com (Carla Babb, Chris Hannas)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad returned home Wednesday after making a rare trip to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss the Russian military campaign backing Assad's army that began three weeks ago. Assad is not known to have traveled abroad since 2011, the same year security forces cracked down on peaceful protests and the situation in his country spiraled into a civil war that has left at least 240,000 people dead. During Tuesday's meeting in Moscow, Assad thanked Putin for Russia's help, saying that without it "terrorism" would have spread to more areas. The Syrian government routinely refers to rebel fighters as "terrorists" and Russia has been criticized by the United States and other countries for targeting rebels and not focusing its airstrikes on Islamic State militants. The talks came the same day Russia and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) providing a framework for both countries' aircraft to maintain a "safe distance" from one another while operating over Syria. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook declined to say exactly what that distance was in a meeting with reporters. But he said U.S. crews know exactly what it is. “It is safe to say that anything that could be deemed as threatening or hostile would be deemed a violation of this agreement,” he added. Cook said the Russians requested that the full MOU not be shared publicly. But he said it contains protocols that include “maintaining professional airmanship at all times, the use of specific communications frequencies, and the establishment of a communication line on the ground.” He said the ground communication would serve as a back-up in case mid-air protections failed. The agreement covers all types of aircraft over Syria, including drones, and it is specific to Syria. It does not apply to any other country. "The Russians now need to abide by these flight safety protocols" in Syria, Cook said. "We don't want miscalculation." Pentagon officials have stressed the air guidelines are not part of a broader agreement on how the two countries could operate in Syria. Nor do they indicate the U.S. is in any way supportive of what Russia is doing there. “We continue to believe that Russia’s strategy in Syria is counterproductive and the Assad regime will only make Syrian civil war worse,” Cook said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday that Russian airstrikes killed at least 45 people Monday in Latakia province. Cook asserted the United States will continue with its own strategy in Syria, attacking the Islamic State group and supporting Syrian moderates. The U.S.-led coalition has targeted Islamic State militants in Syria with more than 2,600 airstrikes since September 2014. The Russians asked the U.S. for talks on “deconfliction” after beginning airstrikes last month. The Pentagon has reported no major incidents in Syrian skies since Russia started airstrikes there, although there have been a couple of instances when coalition aircraft have had to change course to avoid getting too close to Russian jets.
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Bashar al-Assad travels to Russia to thank Putin for Syria airstrikes by Kareem Shaheen in Beirut
Syrian president makes first foreign visit since 2011 and says Russian intervention has held back spread of terrorism in region
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has arrived in Moscow in his first foreign visit since an uprising against his authoritarian rule broke out in 2011.
The Kremlin made the details of the visit on Tuesday evening public on Wednesday but did not say whether the Syrian leader was still in Moscow or had returned home.
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The Kremlin says Russian and Syrian presidents held long meeting on Russian military support in Syria
Vessels were spotted off RAF Akrotiri, the military facilitiy on the southern coast of Cyprus used to bomb Isis targets in Iraq
Reuters |
Syria's Assad flies to Moscow to thank Russia's Putin for air strikes
Reuters MOSCOW Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Moscow on Tuesday evening to personally thank Russia's Vladimir Putin for his military support, in a surprise visit that underlined howRussia has become a major player in the Middle East. It was Assad's ... US Agrees With Russia on Rules in Syrian SkyNew York Times Pentagon, Russia agree to Syria flight rulesUSA TODAY 'First Russia casualties' killed fighting alongside government forces in SyriaTelegraph.co.uk CNN -NBCNews.com all 3,203 news articles » |
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Syrian Government Offensives Trigger More Turkey-Bound Refugees by webdesk@voanews.com (Jamie Dettmer)
Turkish officials say 50,000 refugees have left the Syrian city of Aleppo and are heading to the border, but it remains unclear whether they will be allowed to enter Turkey after a hazardous journey dodging airstrikes and negotiating checkpoints manned by disparate rebel militias, including al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria. For months now border gates have been officially closed to new refugees, and those fleeing are forced to pay smugglers to enter illegally - sometimes using tunnels to escape the killing fields. The rich can bribe border-gate guards — the going rate is $700 per person — the poor may get across after paying smugglers $50 to $100 per person to sneak past Turkish border guards patrolling farm-fields and olive-tree orchards adjacent to the border. Russian airstrikes and a Syrian army ground offensive mainly in the countryside to the south and east of the city of Aleppo have triggered the surge in Syrians heading for the border. Syria Turkmen Council President Abdurrahman Mustafa said he also estimates about 50,000 people have left the city and are picking their way down pot-holed roads, through checkpoints and past ruined villages to Turkey. “A major migration has started from the south of Aleppo,” he said. An arduous journey The 68-kilometer journey from Aleppo to the Turkish border has become a dangerous undertaking. What would take an hour to drive before the war can take up to two days to navigate now with holdups caused by fierce bombing raids, flare-ups in fighting and checkpoints. “It is hard because of different factions on the road,” said Ahmed, a student who accompanied his sister and her three children ranging in age from eight to 14 years old. The lanky, dark-haired Ahmed draws heavily on a cigarette as he explains that they had to take a roundabout way to reach the Turkish border town of Kilis, first heading northwest from Aleppo for the mainly Kurdish border town of Afrin, hoping to sneak across the border there, and when failing, finding someone to drive them east through villages that are being targeted by regime airstrikes as well as ground attacks by Islamic State militants. “There were a lot of checkpoints,” he said. “Free Syrian Army, the regime, Daesh (the Arab acronym for IS), Jabhat al-Nusra — they are all on the road,” he adds. “We slept where we could on the street,” he told VOA. He said his 32-year-old sister, a former accountant, is still recovering from a breast cancer operation but is short on the medication she needs. The family is originally from the east of Syria, from Deir ez-Zor, but fled from there more than two years ago. Europe, Turkey trading blame In nearby Gaziantep, officials from a variety of European countries are monitoring the situation - trying to work out whether the Turks will allow the refugees to enter en masse and how that might impact Europe’s migration crisis. “With winter weather due to set in over the next month, the numbers heading for Europe are likely to lessen substantially,” said a European diplomat, who asked not to be identified for this article. “But the numbers will pick up again, I think, by March next year so we have until then to start structuring properly how we will cope and introducing an orderly, humane process,” he added. He places much of the blame for the war refugees heading to Europe in ever greater numbers on the Turks. “They have partly manufactured this crisis. Since January they have insidiously and incrementally made life harder for refugees here — denying them residency, making it difficult for them to work, blocking them from opening businesses. Of course, many of the refugees would have been thinking of heading west, to Europe, but in recent months the message from the Turks has been clear: Get Out,” he said. In recent weeks, Turkish authorities have introduced a series of new regulations, requiring refugees to secure permission to fly domestically or for travel between Turkey’s provinces. Turkish officials bristle at the accusation they are manufacturing the crisis, saying they are the ones on the front line and have been largely left to shoulder the refugee burden with inadequate assistance from Europe, which expects Turkey to be the EU’s buffer zone against the huge refugee flow. Another European official based in the Turkish capital of Ankara vented his frustration to VOA about the European Union’s reaction so far to the tens of thousands of refugees entering the bloc. “We have been speaking with several voices and not one unified voice and working against each other, not with each other,” he said. “We have four months or so to get our act together before the flood picks up again.” Some refugees return to Syria For some refugees the difficulty of life in Turkey means heading not west, to Europe, but south, back to war-wracked Syria, braving checkpoints and air-raids once again. Ibrahim, a rural worker from the Aleppo countryside, and his brothers worked illegally on the harvests this summer in Turkey but they along with their wives and five children are heading back to Syria. “We have not been able to find work, we have nowhere to live and not enough money,” the farmer explained. With a pile of burlap bags fall of spare clothing and cooking utensils, the disheveled extended family waited at the bus station in Kilis, a town that has doubled in size since the outbreak of the civil war, hoping to find a pick-up truck driver to ferry them for a few lira to the border for their trek back to an uncertain future.
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Russia, Syria and holy war
The Economist (blog) AT THE beginning of this month, when Russian jet fighters went into action in Syria, it was widely reported that Russia and its national church had proclaimed a "holy war" against Islamic State. In the Western world, some people groaned ("not another ... |
За последние три года это второй дружественный визит иранских военных моряков на Каспийскую флотилию. Предыдущий состоялся в июне 2013 года.
Clashes Continue After A Southern Afghan District Falls To Talibanby support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan)
Heavy clashes continued between Afghan government forces and Taliban fighters in the southern city of Lashkar Gah on October 21, a day after the militant group seized a district there.
РФ и КНР подчеркнули необходимость координации усилий по борьбе с терроризмом
Footage released by the Russian defence ministry shows a drone get uncomfortably close to one of its fighter jets over Syria
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 РБК |
Россия и Белоруссия создадут единый механизм вооруженной защиты
РБК Россия и Белоруссия в 2016-2018 годах намерены создать единую военную организацию для защиты Союзного государства, заявил глава Минобороны Сергей Шойгу. По его словам, план совместных мероприятий уже утвержден. Военнослужащие ВС Белоруссии во время совместного ... Шойгу: механизм вооруженной защиты Союзного государства создадут в 2016-2018 годахИнформационное агентство России ТАСС Сергей Шойгу отчитался о военных успехах Союзного государства России и БелоруссииКоммерсантъ Россия и Белоруссия работают над единым механизмом вооруженной защитыГазета.Ru Московский комсомолец -ИА REGNUM Все похожие статьи: 42 » |
Moscow Sending Chechens to Occupied Crimea as Draftees in Russian Army by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 21 – Many of the 774 Chechens slated to be drafted into the Russian--military during the fall draft – which in Chechnya will last until December 31 -- will serve in occupied Crimea and Sevastopol, a source in the military commissariat in Grozny says; the remainder will serve in units in the nearby Southern Military District.
The source tells the Kavkaz-Uzel news agency that there are currently “more than 80,000” young Chechens in the draft pool allowing the commissariat to be extremely selective, all the more so since many now want to be drafted because of the benefits military service has for them after returning home (kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/270999/).
There are two reasons why the draft pool in Chechnya is so large compared to other federal subjects in Russia. On the one hand, the birthrate there has been much higher than in predominantly ethnic Russian areas. And on the other, there was no Russian draft at all between 1992 and 2013; and only 500 men were taken in 2014.
Even after the Chechen war ended, many Chechens have not wanted to serve. When it was announced two years ago that the Russian draft would resume, there were protests; and the size of the Chechen contingent in the draft is still relatively small given the size of the draft pool, the result of continuing opposition among Chechens and Russian commanders.
According to Kavkaz-Uzel, atttitudes among Chechens toward service in the Russian army have improved in recent years both because service now lasts only one year and not the two or three it used to and because Chechen officials frequently give preference to those who have served when choosing new employees.
But opposition to the Russian military remains deep. A student at one Grozny higher educational institutions told the news service that he “does not understand those who are rushing to serve in the Russian army. During the two wars,” he says, his own “father, uncle and many relatives not to speak of acquaintances and fellow villagers” were killed by that army.”
“How can I serve in an army where my commander may be the one who killed here?” he asked rhetorically.
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US Policy Changes to Address Heroin, Prescription Drug Abuseby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
President Barack Obama will take steps to improve doctor training and ease access to drug treatment as part of an effort to help communities battling the scourge of heroin and prescription painkiller abuse. A White House official said Obama will detail the moves Wednesday on a day trip to Charleston, West Virginia. Obama is due to meet with law enforcement officials, drug counselors and advocates at a community center. West Virginia has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the U.S. -- more than twice the national average. That's according to a report by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nationally, the number of people who reported using heroin within the past year almost doubled from 2002 to 2013.
 CNBC |
This is how much Russia's 'war' in Syria costs
CNBC Sanctions provoked investor caution over Russia which saw capital outflows and a fall in the ruble's value as a result. That, coupled with the sharp decline in oil prices, has contributed toRussia's parlous economic situation, yet, still it has ... Bashar al-Assad travels to Russia to thank Putin for Syria airstrikesThe Guardian Syria's Assad flies to Moscow to thank Russia's Putin for air strikesReuters Assad shows up to thank Putin for the saveCBS News New York Times- New York Post-Fox News all 1,004 news articles » |
2 Chinese Diplomats Killed in Philippines Shootingby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Two Chinese diplomats were killed and another was injured during a shooting Wednesday at a restaurant in a central Philippines city, according to local police and news reports. Consul General Song Ronghua was injured and two of his staff were killed in the shooting at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Cebu City, police say. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported the consul general is in stable condition, adding that two suspects – a man and a wife – have been detained. A Chinese woman is suspected of carrying out the shooting, according to the Philippine Sun Star. No motive for the attack has been given. Chinese officials have not commented on the incident.
После выполнения боевых задач все российские самолеты успешно вернулись на авиабазу «Хмеймим».
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The Islamic State remains one of the most well-armed and well-funded terrorist groups in the world, raking in over $1 billion in revenues last year and capturing up to $50 billion in Iraqi weapons, according to a State Department security report.
“ISIL’s sophisticated military skill and brutality has been key to its success in Iraq and Syria,” states an Oct. 19 report by the Overseas Security Advisory Council.
“However, its ability to generate cutting-edge propaganda to promote its ideology and gain sympathizers and members across the globe, added to its largely self-reliant, robust financial system, has contributed heavily to its success as well.”
ISIL, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is an acronym for the Islamic State, as are ISIS and IS.
Russian military intervention is the latest twist in the five-year-old Syrian conflict where the Islamic State “remains a violent, capable force,” the seven-page security report states.
Foreign nationals continue to join the group, spurred on by sophisticated Islamic State propaganda and recruitment efforts through some 46,000 Twitter accounts used by members and sympathizers.
“Halting the flow of foreign fighters is incredibly difficult,” the report says, noting that travel bans imposed by western countries have not been effective at curbing foreign fighters from joining the group who can easily enter Syria.
The report provides a detailed breakdown of the group’s income, which comes primarily from sales of oil, extortion and ransom, seized bank assets, taxation, artifact smuggling, and agricultural theft.
Last year, the Islamic State raised $100 million from oil trafficking from seized oil facilities in Syria and Iraq. The amount is expected to decrease slightly this year because of the decline in oil prices on international markets.
U.S. airstrikes have targeted oil transportation networks, the report said, noting that Turkish government efforts to stem oil smuggling across the Turkish-Syrian border.
According to the report, the terrorist group’s revenues for 2014 included between $500 million and $800 million in seized state-owned bank assets, $20 million to $70 million from taxation of controlled territory, $100 million in oil revenues, and $25 million to $45 million from kidnapping and ransom.
Theft of agricultural products brought in between $10 million and $50 million last year, and border tariffs imposed by the group raised between $10 million and $50 million. Funds from smuggling of artifacts could not be estimated, according to the report, but private estimates have put the figure at “tens of millions.”
Those figures do not include a more modest sum—up to $40 million—that the Islamic State received from foreign donors in the Persian Gulf, including financial backers in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, as well as some in Europe.
The capture of equipment and weapons from Iraqi security forces, who fled and left their arms and equipment after the Islamic State attacked Iraq in 2014, includes between $20 billion and $50 billion worth of arms.
The weapons were taken after the group took over the Iraq Second Division, based in Mosul, which included a motorized brigade and several infantry brigades.
The weapons include Russian-made T-55 tanks and some M-1 Abrams tanks, along with towed artillery, armored vehicles, and troop transports.
“Since ISIL declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria in July 2014, the group has become one of the world’s most well-financed terrorist organizations,” the report said.
“Unlike other terrorist groups, ISIL is largely self-financed, and operates mainly outside of the formal financial system.”
With tens of millions in its coffers, the group also must make large funding outlays, unlike most other terror groups.
“ISIL’s governance of a large swath of territory necessitates a structured, growing economy,” the report said. “By targeting the group financially, its ability to support itself and those living under its rule will be heavily impacted, and its ability to operate outside Iraq and Syria may be limited over the long term.”
The Islamic State has become adept at using social media, according to the report.
The group “makes heavy use of social-media platforms like Twitter to deliver the message that Sunni Muslims have a duty to either fight under the Caliphate or live under it, and to fight against Shia domination in the region,” the report said.
The Islamic State is also using an Islamic “hadith,” or saying attributed to Mohammed, that predicts that three armies will emerge prior to the apocalypse in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, with the greatest army appearing in Syria.
Slick, high-quality videos and magazines also are part of its recruitment and propaganda programs.
The United Nations estimates that there are around 20,000 foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq from about 100 countries, mainly in the Middle East and North Africa.
“ISIL relies strongly on a constant stream of foreign fighters to bring with them money and technology, and to maintain the image that the group is constantly expanding,” the report says.
The report concludes that the Islamic State poses an international threat of producing terrorists who can strike around the world.
“ISIL’s success on the ground, militarily but also financially and ideologically, translates into ongoing support for home-grown violent extremists who may conduct attacks in ISIL’s name,” the report said.
“It also has led to the growth of ISIL-linked groups abroad, such as Sinai Peninsula in Egypt or Najd Province in Saudi Arabia.”
Last month, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 30 people linked to Islamic State funding programs, including 15 people identified as supporters who provided technical, logistical, or financial backing.
However, blocking the outfit from using its funds to buy weapons and spare parts and supporting affiliates around the world remains difficult, according to Adam J. Szubin, the Treasury’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
“When you look at a group like ISIL compared with a group like al Qaeda, the financing challenges are night and day, given the territory that ISIL controls, and its ability to extort funds from people and its territory, and to draw on the natural resources, oil or otherwise, in the territory it controls,” Szubin told the Senate Banking Committee Sept. 17. “It is a massive challenge.”
The Treasury Department held a meeting of what it calls the Counter ISIL Finance Group, led by U.S., Italian, and Saudi officials and including representatives from 25 other nations, on Oct. 7.
Daniel L. Glaser, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department, said in a blog post that officials at the meeting discussed the Islamic State’s financial structure and how it can be undermined.
Among the issues addressed during the meeting were cross-border illicit financial flows, oil smuggling, financial connections with affiliates, and the looting and sale of antiquities.
Western states are trying to prevent the Islamic State from using the international financial network, to counter its extortion schemes, and to cut off funding from abroad. The states are also trying to prevent IS from providing its funding and resources to affiliated groups.
The Islamic State has spread from Syria and Iraq to the Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan, and Libya.
Glaser said he was encouraged by the counter-financing efforts and that “we will continue to use every tool available to disrupt ISIL financing and make it more difficult for ISIL to operate.”
A Treasury Department spokesman did not return emails seeking comment.
The post Islamic State Raked in Over $1 Billion in 2014 appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
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Barack Obama’s volte-face on US troop withdrawals may be driven in part by concern over Moscow’s motives
In a disturbing echo of its Syria intervention, Russia is stepping up its military and security involvement in Afghanistan following Nato’s withdrawal and subsequent, dramatic advances by the Taliban and Islamic State.
Moscow remains wary of the Afghan quagmire, with memories still fresh of the disastrous 1979-89 war that cost the lives of 15,000 Russian soldiers and uncounted Afghan civilians, and ultimately contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian leaders are alarmed, however, at the rgrowing threat Isis poses. They say it has established international training camps in Afghanistan, and they are concerned at the prospect of jihadis infiltrating the former Soviet states of central Asia and Russia’s mainly Muslim Caucasus region.
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Американский истребитель разбился в Британии
РИА Новости Истребитель FA18 разбился в графстве Саффолк вскоре после вылета с авиабазы Лейкенхит. Пилоту удалось катапультироваться, самолет упал в поле. Американский истребитель FA18. Архивное фото. © AP Photo/ Gary C. Knapp. ЛОНДОН, 21 окт — РИА Новости, Ирина Чумакова. Появились видеокадры с места крушения истребителя FA18 в СШАМосковский комсомолец Американский истребитель разбился в ВеликобританииLenta.ru СМИ сообщили о крушении военного истребителя на востоке ВеликобританииФедеральное агентство новостей No.1 Аргументы и факты -Известия -ТВ Центр - Официальный сайт телеканала Все похожие статьи: 16 » |
Walter Mondale Honored for Changing VP Roleby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Former President Jimmy Carter cracked jokes at his own expense and waxed philosophical about the world's humanitarian challenges on Tuesday as he honored his former vice president, Walter Mondale. The 90-year-old former president appeared spry and energetic as he lauded Mondale in a packed ballroom in Washington. Carter made no mention of his ongoing battle with cancer, opting instead for nostalgic reflections on his four years with Mondale in the White House. "As a Georgia peanut farmer, I needed a lot of help," Carter said of his decision to empower Mondale as a key adviser, eliciting laughter from the crowd of about 400. Cancer battle Carter revealed in August that cancer had spread to his brain, but declared he was "perfectly at ease" with whatever might follow. Although doctors had removed melanoma from his liver, Carter said they found four small tumors in his brain, prompting a treatment regimen of four injections of a recently approved drug. "You possess so much grace," said Vice President Joe Biden. "The way you have dealt with every difficult moment in your life -- including now -- is a model to which I think few people can compare." The glitzy gala at a hotel near the White House closed out a nearly daylong forum honoring Mondale and hosted by the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where Mondale teaches. The event included panel discussions about how Mondale changed the vice presidency, social justice, civil rights, national security and Carter-Mondale breakthroughs in foreign and domestic policy, local media reported. As Carter sat in a semicircle with Mondale and his former chief of staff, Richard Moe, the event took on the feel of a campfire, a trio of old friends passing time by reminiscing about days past. Turning serious, Carter said the greatest human rights violations in modern times are targeting women and girls, including sexual slavery he said occurs in the U.S. He also threw his unequivocal support behind the nuclear deal with Iran, and said he had conveyed as much to Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting earlier Tuesday. 'Perfect partner' But Carter reserved his most effusive remarks for Mondale, who under Carter's leadership became the first vice president to have an office in the West Wing, steps away from the Oval Office. "He was a perfect partner, and I don't believe we ever had a serious argument during the four years -- which was better than my relationship with my wife," Carter quipped. Although Carter has acknowledged that his condition would force him to scale back his humanitarian work, he's continued making public appearances, teaching Sunday school in his hometown and joining his wife, Rosalynn, at an event for The Carter Center, the humanitarian organization he founded in Atlanta. He had planned to travel to Nepal this November for a Habitat for Humanity project until the group canceled the trip, citing supply shortages and civil unrest.
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Лама и ФСБ by SvobodaRadio
ФСБ России выдворяет из россии одного из духовных лидеров буддистов Тывы - ламу Шивалха Ринпоче. О причинах такого решения не известно ни ламе ни его адвокату.
Ссылка на источник - http://www.svoboda.org/media/video/27318434.html
Ссылка на источник - http://www.svoboda.org/media/video/27318434.html
Last week, Taliban militants launched a series of coordinated attacks, capturing a key district on the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border and scorching numerous government buildings in their wake.
As the northern border of Afghanistan becomes a flashpoint for a revitalized Taliban insurgency, President Obama has extended the presence of U.S. troops in the country, and leaders from several Central Asian nations, including Turkmenistan, are scrambling to deal with the deteriorating security situation.
In this edition of RFE/RLive, we examine the Taliban's resurgence in northern Afghanistan, and its implications for Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbors.
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers but has warned the country needs to be vigilant, saying the United States cannot be trusted.
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Экс-президент США заявил, что передал РФ карту с позициями боевиков ИГ
РИА Новости Джимми Картер рассказал, что обсуждал ситуацию в Сирии с президентом России и счел возможным передать ему копию карты с позициями ИГ. Если Россия будет бомбить не там, где нужно, то, заявил Картер, "это вина не Путина, а моя". Самолет российских Воздушно-космических ... Джимми Картер рассказал о своем предложении Путину поделиться картами СирииГазета.Ru Джимми Картер предложил Путину американские карты СирииРБК Джимми Картер отправил Путину американские карты СирииBFM.Ru Lenta.ru -Вести.Ru -Радиостанция ЭХО МОСКВЫ Все похожие статьи: 81 » |
Collapse in Gastarbeiter Transfer Payments Pushing Central Asians to Look to ISIS by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 21 – Declines in transfer payments from Central Asian gastarbeiters to their families in their homelands is leading to “a decline in the level of the loyalty of the population to the existing authorities” there and prompting Central Asians to ask then “uncomfortable” questions that ISIS can provide answers to, Gevorg Mirzayan says.
As a result, many of the tactics that Russia and the Central Asian states are trying to put in place to stop the spread of ISIS influence may go for naught, the Moscow commentator says, because as of now, no one has come up with a way of compensating for these losses (m.lenta.ru/articles/2015/10/20/khorasan/).
Because of Russia’s economic difficulties and the outflow of gasarbeiters, the Russian Central Bank reports that in the first quarter of 2015, transfer payments to Uzbekistan were 49 percent lower than the same period a year ago, those to Tajikistan 44 percent lower, and those to Kyrgyzstan 41 percent down.
Those are critical declines, Mirzayan argues, because none of the three governments has been able to come up with jobs for most of the gastarbeiters returning from Russia and consequently, that is hitting the population and the governments (from declines in tax revenues) extremely hard.
In response, at least some in Central Asia are likely to listen to the ISIS message especially since, as Vladimir Putin pointed out in his speech to the CIS summit meeting in Kazakhstan, “up to 60 percent” of those fighting for ISIS from CIS countries are “from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and even relatively well-off Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.”
“We of course cannot allow that they will apply the experience they’ve obtained in Syria at home,” Putin said.
After neglecting Central Asia for some time, Moscow is finally focusing on it as a security matter, “literally at the last moment,” Mirzayan says. There has been a flurry of Russian military missions to the region to talk about what can be done, but “the main problem is that military means for the stabilization of Central Asia will be insufficient.”
It will be possible “to defend the region against chaos only if there is a real transformation and modernization of the Central Asian regimes.” Otherwise the radicalization of their populations will only increase with all the instability that will involve.
“One must understand that ISIS arose not as a project of the United States … but as a reaction to the failures of national elites in their attempts at the creation of stable secular states in a large part of the Muslim world,” including in Central Asia, the Moscow commentator continues.
The flow of Muslims “into the ranks of the radicals began precisely with disappointments in those forms of secular governance which exist in their countries – in the widespread corruption, total poverty, ineffectiveness of government, and what is most important with the lack of hope that these problems will be solved in the framework of the existing system.”
“And as a rule,” Mirzayan says, the Muslims “are right.”
The Central Asian leaders have destroyed much of the progress made in Soviet times, shuttering schools and failing to protect economic development. But still more important, they have created authoritarian systems which deny the population any possibility of speaking out on issues of their concern.
“The absence of a legal opposition” in most Central Asian countries and the tendency of rulers to call any opponents “Islamists” have meant that an increasing number of people there view the Islamists not as something alien but as the only group prepared to speak up on their behalf.
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'Halal Tourism' Emerges as Businesses Serve Muslim Travelersby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
A rental company in Orlando, Florida, is offering "halal vacation homes" with curtained pool decks and rooms with prayer mats and copies of the Quran. A British company's app lists gourmet restaurants serving halal meat in London and Dubai, while a Boston-based developer's app offers travel guides for 90 cities with local prayer times and a compass pointing Muslims toward Mecca for daily prayers. Catering to wealthy travelers The so-called "halal tourism" market was once seen as a niche revenue stream, limited to pilgrimages like the multi-billion dollar-a-year revenue stream generated by Muslim travelers to Mecca. But now there's a movement in the tourism industry to widen the "halal tourism" market to cater to Muslim travelers worldwide, particularly those from wealthy Gulf Arab states. Travelers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman will spend $64 billion traveling this year and are expected to spend $216 billion by 2030, according to a 2014 study for the travel tech company Amadeus. The study found that, on average, a traveler from these countries spends around $9,900 per trip outside the Gulf. For Emiratis, the figure reaches $10,400. Reem El Shafaki, a senior associate at the advisory firm Dinar Standard, said Ritz-Carlton hotels in Dallas and New York offer a good example of what hotels are doing to better serve Muslim guests. They provide halal meals upon request, have Middle Eastern chefs on staff, offer rooms with spaces that allow for gender-segregated settings and have trained frontline staff on other cultural norms. Dinar Standard has conducted webinars for Marriott hotel staff on how to take care of Muslim guests, but El Shafaki says the hospitality industry can also market to Muslims without alienating non-Muslims. "What some hotels and destinations are doing is that they're using the term 'family friendly'," she said at a conference this week in Abu Dhabi, which brought people from across the budding industry to explore the topic. It's about permissibility Halal in Islam literally means that which is permissible. Observant Muslims typically avoid alcohol and areas where there can be excessive nudity, like beaches and nightclubs. For women who adhere to Islam's modest dress code, swimming can pose a challenge. That means resorts that offer gender-segregated beaches and pools have an advantage. Roberto Silva of Florida Reality Investments says the company took 50 of its rental properties and outfitted them with a few changes, like curtains around the pool deck, to make them more comfortable for their many Gulf Arab customers, who often travel as large families to Orlando for several weeks at a time and want to be near Disney World and other parks. "I would love to do more ... Los Angeles and San Diego, there are a lot of people going there, and also New York," he said from his stand at the World Halal Travel Summit and Exhibition in Abu Dhabi. Along Turkey's southern coast, several all-inclusive resorts have expansive private beaches and pools for women. One resort even built a structure in the sea to keep people on boats from catching a glimpse. Malaysia is also aggressively seeking more Muslim tourists, promoting itself as "Muslim-friendly Malaysia" in brochures at the Abu Dhabi conference. Elnur Seyidli, chairman of a website called Halal Booking, says his company has served 43,000 customers from 75 countries. The website can filter requests to find hotels that do not serve any alcohol, or hotels that only serve alcohol in some restaurants. For meat, which should be slaughtered according to Islamic rules, the website offers filters ranging from food that is all halal, or halal meat available upon request. "It's about permissibility... Nothing is 100 percent halal in my opinion and nothing is 100 percent non-halal," he told an audience at the summit. "Even for individual travelers for different trips, requirements may change." For those not interested in a shawarma (grilled meat) wrap on the go, Halal Gems is an app that lists gourmet halal eats in London and Dubai. The app's founder Zohra Khaku says she's raised money by charging listed restaurants an annual fee. In Dubai, though, the challenge isn't so much finding halal food, but finding the best gourmet options, or as she calls it, "curated halal dining." Irfan Ahmad is another app developer tapping into the Muslim market. His app, called Irhal, lists sightseeing and shopping as well as maps for mosques and halal restaurants. It also comes with a compass to help Muslims find the direction of prayer toward Mecca. The app, available in both English and Arabic, has been downloaded more than 25,000 times, he said, and covers 90 cities worldwide, ranging from Amsterdam and Athens to Beijing and Bangkok, as well as U.S. cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, New York and Washington D.C. The idea was sparked by his personal struggles finding halal food in Europe, as well as not knowing when it was dawn or dusk in different cities, which affects Muslim prayer times. He's looking for around $1 million in investment to expand and include more cities. "Just like any startup, one of the biggest challenges is funding ourselves," he said. "We've been able to fund the entire project on our own by bootstrapping."
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