CAIRO – More than 98 percent of voters backed a new Egyptian constitution in a referendum this week, authorities said on Saturday, though the turnout was lower than some officials had indicated, with under 40 percent of the electorate taking part.
The vote advances a transition plan that the military-backed government unveiled after deposing Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July following mass unrest over his rule.
“Now that God has supported us in legalizing our constitution, we ask for his aid in achieving the remaining two stages of the road map: the presidential and parliamentary elections,” said Nabil Salib, head of the Supreme Election Committee.
The “yes” vote was 98.1 percent, and 38.6 percent of eligible voters took part, Salib told reporters. (more…)
( Hat Tip ctdar) MOSCOW — A Chechen rebel warlord who has plagued the region for decades and most recently threatened to attack the Sochi Olympics is dead, Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed strongman said Thursday, but he offered no proof and his claim couldn’t be verified.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on his Instagram that Doku Umarov, who urged his fighters to strike the Games, had died — a claim he has made repeatedly in the past. The information about Umarov’s death came from intercepted communications between other rebel leaders who were discussing his replacement, he said, but he didn’t make clear when the conversation took place or how it was heard. (more…)
His unit, and the military members who knew the motives of PFC Berghdahl were sworn to secrecy about his defection to radical Islam. They were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements which would preclude the military from discussing the facts of his desertion.
It was against that unknown backdrop that most support for Bowe Bergdahl existed.
CNN reporting: The U.S. military has obtained new video apparently made by those holding the lone American prisoner of war, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
A U.S. military official told CNN the clip shows the Wood Valley, Idaho, native in diminished health from the effects of close to five years in captivity.
He was seized in Afghanistan in June 2009 and is believed held by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Pakistan, the official said.
The so-called proof-of-life video, the first of him in nearly three years, has a reference to December 14, 2013. (more…)
I have not had the opportunity to review the entire report – this article below is from the Washington Post. All Senate Committees are chaired by Democrats.
WASHINGTON DC – A long-delayed Senate Intelligence Committee report released Wednesday faulted both the State Department and the intelligence community for not preventing attacks on two outposts in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador, about 16 months ago.
The bipartisan report laid out more than a dozen findings regarding the assaults on a diplomatic compound and a CIA annex in the city. It said the State Department failed to increase security at its mission despite warnings, and blamed intelligence agencies for not sharing information about the existence of the CIA outpost with the U.S. military.
The committee determined that the U.S. military command in Africa didn’t know about the CIA annex and that the Pentagon didn’t have the resources in place to defend the State Department compound in an emergency.
“The attacks were preventable, based on extensive intelligence reporting on the terrorist activity in Libya — to include prior threats and attacks against Western targets — and given the known security shortfalls at the U.S. Mission,” the panel said in a statement. (more…)
HAPPY DANCE – Way to go Egypt; this is good news to see published in Reuters. Egypt’s military commanders are all Western educated and trained, primarily in U.K and U.S. The tunnels from Egypt into Gaza have been a continuous source of terrorists moving weapons to attack Israel. If Egypt can squeeze Hamas, an off-shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, from their side of the border, that could potentially be a game changer toward regional stability and security for Israel.
CAIRO (Reuters) – After crushing the Muslim Brotherhood at home, Egypt’s military rulers plan to undermine the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the neighboring Gaza Strip, senior Egyptian security officials told Reuters.
The aim, which the officials say could take years to pull off, includes working with Hamas’s political rivals Fatah and supporting popular anti-Hamas activities in Gaza, four security and diplomatic officials said.
Since it seized power in Egypt last summer, Egypt’s military has squeezed Gaza’s economy by destroying most of the 1,200 tunnels used to smuggle food, cars and weapons to the coastal enclave, which is under an Israeli blockade.
Now Cairo is becoming even more ambitious in its drive to eradicate what it says are militant organizations that threaten its national security. (more…)
Iran and the White House are aligned in their demand the U.S. congress must not issue any further sanctions against the Iranian nuclear ambitions. However, the more alarming aspect is that the White House is refusing to let congress review the exact terminology of the previously announced arrangement.
Not passing proverbial sniff test….
WASHINGTON DC – Iran vowed to maintain its nuclear infrastructure and threatened to boost its uranium enrichment capabilities just hours after announcing that it had agreed to a deal to halt some aspects of its contested nuclear program.
Iran and Western nations announced on Sunday that they had agreed to an interim deal to halt portions of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for some $7 billion in sanctions relief.
Secretary of State John Kerry celebrated the interim agreement, which will officially begin on Jan. 20.
However, Iranian officials threatened to ramp up nuclear activities should they feel the West is violating the accord.
“We will in no way, never, dismantle our [nuclear] centrifuges,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the country’s state-run television station on Sunday, according to New York Times reporter Thomas Erdbrink. (more…)
(Via Stars and Stripes) The U.S. military secretly deployed a small number of trainers and advisers to Somalia in October, the first time regular troops have been stationed in the war-ravaged country since1993, when two helicopters were shot down and 18 Americans killed in the “Black Hawk Down” disaster.
A cell of U.S. military personnel has been in the Somali capital of Mogadishu to advise and coordinate operations with African troops fighting to wrest control of the country from the al-Shabab militia, an Islamist group whose leaders have professed loyalty to al-Qaida, according to three U.S. military officials. (more…)
…. another significant percentage would love to see the Islamists jailed, like Egypt.
Tunisia fell victim to dictatorial consequences stemming from economic strain as a result of mass migration. Like Egypt, the Tunisian Islamists (Muslim Brotherhood) promised great prosperity under Sharia. However, unlike Egypt, the Brotherhood still holds power.
TUNISIA – “Ben Ali, they fooled us! Come back soon!” is a slogan one could hear on Tuesday, January 7, in the streets of Tunis, Ariana, Mahdia, Sfax and other cities in Tunisia, as the country prepared to mark the three-year anniversary of the uprising that sent former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali packing.
The protesters were in the street to voice their anger at tax hikes affecting public and agricultural transportation vehicles, but many expressed a nostalgia for the Ben Ali days that seems to be increasingly common.
In the capital, “Vive Ben Ali” can be seen scrawled on walls of buildings, and a Facebook page entitled “Forgive us, Mr. President” has been flooded with messages of affection and tribute. (more…)
CAIRO – More than 98 percent of voters backed a new Egyptian constitution in a referendum this week, authorities said on Saturday, though the turnout was lower than some officials had indicated, with under 40 percent of the electorate taking part.
