Category: Middle East,

How Russia’s military campaign in Syria is helping Moscow market its weapons 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Middle East,Leave a comment

Major international networks have played the videos — along with the images of visually stunning, albeit militarily insignificant, launches of cruise missiles from Russian warships and submarines in the Caspian and Mediterranean seas. 

…The videos have served as effective promotional tools for Russian aircraft; air defense missile systems and missiles; “smart” bombs guided by lasers or satellites; diesel submarines; jamming communication systems; tanks; sniper rifles and modified AK-47s, analysts and other observers say. 

How Russia’s military campaign in Syria is helping Moscow market its weapons – LA Times

hmmm

Arabic signs face removal threat in Istanbul’s Little Syria 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Middle East,Leave a comment

Last week, Aksaray businesses and residents received a notice ordering them to declutter building facades and overhaul their signage. The order represents the latest salvo in an eight-year effort to standardize storefronts and require all signs to be in the Turkish language, which uses the Latin alphabet. It also seeks the removal of signs in Cyrillic lettering and all signs with neon and LED lights.

Some Syrian residents are vowing to ignore the order, seeing it as an assault on their culture. Turkey today is home to 3 million refugees, mostly Syrian.

…“This is not a project that we planned today,” Fatih spokeswoman Nurcan Albayrak said in an email to The Associated Press. She said Fatih was part of a historic peninsula that required “aesthetic consistency” and described the spread of ornately lit and non-Turkish signs as part of a wider problem of “visual pollution.”

Arabic signs face removal threat in Istanbul’s Little Syria – The Washington Post

“Visual Pollution.”

Oy…..

UNHCR – Burning trash to keep warm in Syria town cut off by war

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UNHCR delivers winter clothing to residents of Qudsaya as part of a drive to provide life-saving aid to 4.6 million Syrians and Iraqis displaced across the region.

….In coming weeks, UNHCR aims to reach 3.2 million Syrians and 1.4 million Iraqis, who have been uprooted within their countries’ borders or have sought refuge in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. The aid includes a mixture of cash payments, clothing, blankets, heating fuel and other basics.

In recent weeks, UNHCR delivered plastic sheets, thermal blankets and winter clothes to the besieged city of East Harasta in the eastern Ghouta district of rural Damascus. The delivery was part of a UN convoy which carried food and medicine for the 11,000 people trapped in the city.

Then in recent days, the UNHCR aid drive reached Qudsaya and the nearby village of Al-Hama, where staff delivered enough winter clothing kits for 30,000 residents, as part of an inter-agency convoy that also delivered badly-needed food and medicines. Aid, the first to reach Qudsaya as winter draws in, was welcomed by residents.

UNHCR – Burning trash to keep warm in Syria town cut off by war

Sigh…

Turkey withdraws child sex bill after protests

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Its withdrawal marked a rare concession to popular opposition by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has dominated politics since 2002. “We are taking this bill in parliament back to the commission in order to allow for the broad consensus the president requested, and to give time for the opposition parties to develop their proposals,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul.

Turkey withdraws child sex bill after protests

hmmm

Pakistan: India Attack Kills 12, 10 Troops Die on Both Sides 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Middle East,, Southern Central Asia,5 Comments

Artillery fire and shelling from India targeted several Pakistani villages and struck a passenger bus near the dividing line in the disputed region of Kashmir on Wednesday, killing 12 civilians wounding more than a dozen others, the Pakistani military and officials said.

Pakistan: India Attack Kills 12, 10 Troops Die on Both Sides – The New York Times

hmmm

 

British woman arrested in Dubai after reporting rape, group says 

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A British tourist has been arrested in Dubai on charges of extramarital sex after telling police she was raped by a group of British nationals while in the United Arab Emirates, according to a UK-based legal advice group called Detained in Dubai.

British woman arrested in Dubai after reporting rape, group says – CNN.com

Despite the glittery PR campaigns Dubai always sounds like a total shithole whenever it pops up in the news. What the heck do these silly tourists and ex-pats expect? The laws are in the stone ages.

A twice-divorced, feminist Saudi mother reinterprets Islamic law 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Middle East,, Religion,Leave a comment

When Souad al-Shammary posted a series of tweets about the thick beards worn by Saudi clerics, she never imagined she would land in jail.

She put up images of several men with beards: An Orthodox Jew, a hipster, a communist, an Ottoman Caliph, a Sikh, and a Muslim. She wrote that having a beard was not what made a man holy or a Muslim. And she pointed out that one of Islam’s staunchest critics during the time of Prophet Muhammad had an even longer beard than him.

The frank comments are typical of this twice-divorced mother of six and graduate of Islamic law. Raised a devout girl in a large tribe where she tended sheep, al-Shammary is now a 42-year-old liberal feminist who roots her arguments in Islam, taking on Saudi Arabia’s powerful religious establishment.

The Day – A twice-divorced, feminist Saudi mother reinterprets Islamic law – News from southeastern Connecticut

hmmm

Two U.S. Troops and at Least 30 Afghans Are Killed in Battle With Taliban 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Middle East,, Military,Leave a comment

Taliban insurgents killed two U.S. Special Operations forces during a firefight Thursday in northern Afghan, and U.S. airstrikes in support of the troops killed a number of civilians, officials said.

…The operation in the village of Buzi Kandahari came after the provincial capital was briefly overrun by the insurgents last month. The Afghan and U.S. forces were ambushed and encircled by militants and snipers with heavy weaponry and called for air support after several troops were killed and injured, a senior Afghan military official said.

The U.S. military then struck the densely populated area, said Mahmood Danish, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor. Many of the casualties were women and children, he said.

 

…A witness said he saw at least 15 bodies piled into trucks after families tried to parade them through the city to protest against the killings but were obstructed by police. Health officials said at least another four bodies were at the hospital. At least 30 other patients were being treated for injuries, 12 of them children and many in critical condition, they said. Military and government officials couldn’t immediately confirm the death toll.

Two U.S. Troops and at Least 30 Afghans Are Killed in Battle With Taliban – WSJ

Sigh….

Why the U.S. Women’s Chess Champion Refuses to Play in Iran 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,, Middle East,Leave a comment

In February 2017, the Women’s World Chess Championship will be held in Iran. The U.S. champion, Nazi Paikidze-Barnes, will not be there.

Nazi Paikidze-Barnes has refused to participate in protest of the Islamic Republic’s compulsory dress code, which mandates that all women wear hijabs, or headscarves, in public. The law is strictly enforced regardless of a woman’s religion or nationality, and therefore would include all 64 competitors at the tournament. “I think it’s unacceptable to host a WOMEN’S World Championship in a place where women do not have basic fundamental rights and are treated as second-class citizens,” she posted on social media. She also wrote that she wouldn’t “wear a hijab and support women’s oppression even if it means missing one of the most important competitions of my career.” (Based on the formula of the tournament, she will not be eligible to compete again until 2019.)

Iranian activist and journalist Masih Alinejad says…  “This is a discriminatory law, it’s not a cultural issue,” she told VICE Sports last week. “The government of Iran forces all women—non-Iranian, non-Muslim, and children—to wear hijab. All women should stand up and speak out. By accepting compulsory hijab, you are giving the Iranian government more power to oppress women.”

…”Nazi is not boycotting the games but it is the Islamic Republic which is boycotting Nazi,” Alinejad said. “She has earned the right to compete in an international tournament and it is the Islamic Republic which puts another hurdle in front of her and says, ‘You can only compete if you conform to our dress code.’ Where in the FIDE regulations does it say that countries can impose religious rules on players?”

Gary Walters, the president of the U.S. Chess Federation, agrees—and has expressed support of the U.S. champion. In Walters’s words, “We reminded FIDE that the forced wearing of a hijab or other dress is contrary to FIDE’s handbook.” (Statute 1.2 reads, in part, that FIDE “rejects discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social, or religious reasons, or on account of gender.”)

Why the U.S. Women’s Chess Champion Refuses to Play in Iran | VICE Sports

booo, FIDE!

Calais ‘Jungle’ camp to be cleared out by end of day 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Middle East,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The authorities have said that nothing will be left of the notorious Jungle, home to around 6,000 migrants until a week ago, by Monday evening.

Calais ‘Jungle’ camp to be cleared out by end of day – The Local

They came with nothing, to the promise of safety and welcome.

Instead they were greeted by fear, hostility, and indifference.

The little they built for themselves taken and destroyed and still they are offered no help, no relief, nowhere to go.

Humanity is a disgusting cesspool and politicians who refuse to help Satan’s playthings.

Soldier tries to bring Afghan father and daughter to UK from Calais 

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A FORMER soldier trying to urge the Government to allow a five-year-old Afghan girl and her father into the country says that he is worried for their welfare after losing contact with them as the notorious Jungle Camp was demolished in Calais this week.

Soldier tries to bring Afghan father and daughter to UK from Calais | World | News | Daily Express

So up-side-down!

So fucked up!