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Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Iran's leader blames enemies for stirring unrest in country
Iranian Protesters Attack Police Stations, Raise Stakes in Unrest (VIDEO)
January 02 2018
Iranian protesters attacked police stations late into the night on Monday, news agency and social media reports said, as security forces struggled to contain the boldest challenge to the clerical leadership since unrest in 2009.
Videos on social media showed an intense clash in the central town of Qahderijan between security forces and protesters who were trying to occupy a police station, which was partially set ablaze. There were unconfirmed reports of several casualties among demonstrators.
In the western city of Kermanshah, protesters set fire to a traffic police post, but no one was hurt in the incident, Mehr news agency said.
Demonstrations continued for a fifth day. Some 13 people were reported killed on Sunday in the worst wave of unrest since crowds took to the streets in 2009 to condemn the re-election of then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The protests have put pressure on the clerical leaders in power since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. President Hassan Rouhani made a televised call for calm on Sunday, saying Iranians had the right to criticize but must not cause unrest.
In the central city of Najafabad, a demonstrator opened fire on police with a hunting rifle, killing one and wounding three others, state television said.
Earlier, state TV said armed demonstrators on Sunday had tried to seize police and military bases but were stopped by “strong resistance from security forces.” It gave no further details and there was no independent confirmation.
State TV had reported that 10 people were killed in protests on Sunday. On Monday, that death toll rose when the deputy governor of the western Hamadan Province, Saeed Shahrokhi, told ISNA news agency that another three protesters were killed on Sunday in the city of Tuyserkan.
“NO TOLERANCE”
Hundreds have been arrested, according to officials and social media. Online video showed police in the capital Tehran firing water cannon to disperse demonstrators, in footage said to have been filmed on Sunday.
Protests against economic hardships and alleged corruption erupted in Iran’s second city of Mashhad on Thursday and escalated across the country into calls for the religious establishment to step down.
Some of the anger was directed at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, breaking a taboo surrounding the man who has been supreme leader of Iran since 1989.
Video posted on social media showed crowds of people walking through the streets, some chanting “Death to the dictator!” Reuters was not immediately able to verify the footage. The Fars news agency reported “scattered groups” of protesters in Tehran on Monday and said a ringleader had been arrested.
“The government will show no tolerance for those who damage public property, violate public order and create unrest in society,” Rouhani said in his address on Sunday.
Unsigned statements on social media urged Iranians to continue to demonstrate in 50 towns and cities.
The government said it was temporarily restricting access to the Telegram messaging app and Instagram. There were reports that internet mobile access was blocked in some areas.
TRUMP, NETANYAHU VOICE SUPPORT
Iran is a major OPEC oil producer and regional power deeply involved in Syria and Iraq as part of a battle for influence with rival Saudi Arabia. Many Iranians resent those foreign interventions and want their leaders to create jobs at home, where youth unemployment reached 28.8 percent last year.
Among reported fatalities, two people were shot dead in the southwestern town of Izeh on Sunday and several others were injured, ILNA news agency quoted a member of parliament as saying.
“I do not know whether yesterday’s shooting was done by rally participants or the police and this issue is being investigated,” Hedayatollah Khademi was quoted as saying.
Regional governor Mostafa Samali told Fars that only one person was killed in an incident unrelated to the protests, and the suspected shooter had been arrested.
Almost nine years since the “Green movement” reformist protests were crushed by the state, Iran’s adversaries voiced their support for the resurgence of anti-government sentiment.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted: “The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the “brave Iranians” taking to streets to protest a regime that “wastes tens of billions of dollars spreading hate”.
“I wish the Iranian people success in their noble quest for freedom,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel urged “all sides (to) refrain from violent actions”.
Reported by: Michael Georgy – Reuters
Trump Cuts Off Pakistan Cash Over Terror Backing
January 02 2018
Pakistan is an Islamic terror state.
That point can’t objectively be disputed. Pakistan’s political and religious elites promote terrorism. Its government funds and directs terrorists. It even hid Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan ended up being a member of the anti-terrorist coalition in two ways.
- The Bush administration used blunt force intimidation after 9/11.
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan says the United States threatened to bomb his country back to the Stone Age after the 9/11 attacks if he did not help America’s war on terror.
Of course, that was during that brief period after 9/11 when we had woken up enough to start acting like America again. And we literally went hunting for terrorist heads.
But that’s also a little useful context for the inevitable media outrage over President Trump’s tweets. As time went on, the Bush admin softened. The Condoleezza Rice era of American foreign policy was almost as bad as the Clinton\Kerry era that followed. And by then, the only reason Obama approved the Osama bin Laden operation was a two-fold political agenda, one of which was electoral and the other about aiding Islamic terrorists in Gitmo by putting a live Osama bin Laden through a civilian trial. (What the men on the ground delivered was quite different than what Hussein expected.)
- Distinguishing between local and global Islamic terror
Israel is the most frequent victim of this distinction. But India has been victimized by it as well. The distinction says that some Islamic terrorists are just local. And they aren’t really ideological, but just fighting over territory. Obama made this same excuse for ISIS back in the day. But Pakistan’s Islamic terrorists aren’t just local. Islamic terror is never just local.
But now the foreign policy butcher’s bill is coming due.
President Trump opened 2018 with a social media salvo against Pakistan, accusing the Muslim-majority nation of harboring terrorists while expressing frustration that the United States has “foolishly” sent billions in aid to the country.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” Trump tweeted Monday morning. “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”
The New York Times reported last week that the Trump administration is considering withholding $255 million in aid to Pakistan to demonstrate its dissatisfaction with how they confront terrorism in their country.
Pakistan, like most Muslim countries, plays a double game. And it will go on playing a double game. Pressuring it just means that it will play the game harder.
Reported by: Daniel Greenfield – FrontPageMag. com
China Spotted Illegally Selling Oil to North Korea
December 29 2017
U.S. spy satellites reportedly captured photos of Chinese ships illegally selling oil to North Korean boats some 30 times since October.
Satellite images released by the U.S. Department of Treasury appeared to show vessels from both countries illegally trading oil in the West Sea, The Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday, citing South Korean government sources.
North Korea was barred in September by the United Nations Security Council from importing natural gas and had its crude oil imports capped in response to Kim Jong Un’s nuclear missile program.
The U.S. Treasury in November also sanctioned North Korea’s Maritime Administration and its transport ministry, in addition to six North Korean shipping and trading companies and 20 of their vessels, in an effort to block the rogue regime’s transportation networks.
The satellite images appear to identify the ships. One of them — Rye Song Gang 1, seen “connected to a Chinese vessel” — was included in the Nov. 21 sanctions as a vessel of Korea Kumbyol Trading Company possibly transferring oil to evade sanctions.
While Russia exports some oil to North Korea, China is the main source of oil for the rogue nation, according to Reuters. However, the country exported no oil products to the North during the month of November. It was reportedly the second consecutive month China didn’t export diesel or gasoline to North Korea.
“This is a natural outcome of the tightening of the various sanctions against North Korea,” Cai Jian, an expert on North Korea at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the news organization. Cai added the “tightening … reflects China’s stance.”
It’s unknown if China supplies crude oil to the North, but it’s believed by industry insiders that China provides the cutoff nation 3.8 million barrels of crude oil each year through an “aging pipeline,” Reuters reported.
A government source told the South Korean newspaper that, “We need to focus on the fact that the illicit trade started after a UN Security Council resolution in September drastically capped North Korea’s imports of refined petroleum products.”
Robert Kelly, a professor at Pusan National University in South Korea, told The Telegraph that China trading oil to North Korea could be possible.
“There is a lot of under-the-radar on the Chinese side,” Kelly said. “Beijing does not police the border strictly or enforce the sanctions toughly. This could be that.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she had no information following Chosun’s report, but said “the Chinese government has been completely and strictly enforcing Security Council resolutions” aimed at discouraging North Korea from developing nuclear and missile technology.
Hua questioned whether any country could make sure “not a single breach will happen,” but noted: “We are taking a sincere and serious attitude and forceful and effective actions.”
Reported by: Nicole Darrah – Fox News
Clay Seals From First Temple Found, Hint at Kings of Israel (VIDEO) January 02 2018
Clay Seals From First Temple Found, Hint at Kings of Israel (VIDEO)
January 02 2018
A collection of dozens of sealings, mentioning the names of officials dated to the days of the Judean kingdom prior to the Babylonian destruction, was unearthed during excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the City of David National Park in the area of the walls of Jerusalem.
A rare, well-preserved piece of clay dating to the First Temple period with the Hebrew inscription “governor of the city” was also recently discovered during excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the City of David National Park.
“The Bible mentions two governors of Jerusalem, and this finding thus reveals that such a position was actually held by someone in the city some 2,700 years ago,” said Dr. Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, excavator of the site on behalf of the IAA.
The finding of the sealing with this high-rank title – in addition to the large assemblage of actual seals found in the building in the past – supports the assumption that this area, located on the western slopes of the western hill of ancient Jerusalem, some 100 meters west of the Temple Mount, was inhabited by highly ranked officials during the First Temple period.”
Weksler-Bdolah added that this is the first time such a sealing has been found in an authorized excavation.
Reported by: The Jerusalem Post
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