Tunisian Revolution and the Middle East--And Now, The Withdrawal From Afghanistan (M.E.T.)

[Cooked Crack]

 

[hail2skins]

Not saying what McCaul is saying is necessarily true, but if it is......unacceptable:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/570896-mccaul-says-taliban-wont-let-Americans-leave-from-Afghanistan-airport%3famp

 

Edit: CBS News is confirming this as well. Yep, seems like we have a hostage situation.

Edited September 5, 2021 by hail2skins

[TheGreatBuzz]

Quote

US admits Kabul strike killed 10 civilians and not Islamic State militants
 

A US drone strike in Afghanistan last month killed as many as 10 civilians – including seven children – and not an Islamic State extremist as first claimed, the Pentagon has announced.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/17/us-military-strike-afghanistan-civilians-islamic-state-pentagon

 

 

 

oh ****…..

[TheGreatBuzz]

Does no one here have a comment about this?  I feel like it is kind of a big deal.

[China]

Marine officer who criticized senior leaders on Afghanistan is now in the brig

 

A Marine lieutenant colonel who publicly criticized the Biden administration for last month’s chaotic evacuation of American and allied troops and civilians from Afghanistan is now in a military brig for violating a gag order last weekend, his parents said in a short statement.

 

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. was incarcerated early Monday, they said on LinkedIn, after ignoring orders to refrain from posting on social media. Scheller, who was relieved of his command after his initial criticism of the evacuations, has been put in pretrial confinement at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Sam Stephenson.

 

But Scheller doesn’t yet face charges, Stephenson said. “The allegations against Lt. Col. Scheller are merely accusations. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.” The lieutenant colonel stands accused of showing contempt toward officials, willfully disobeying a superior officer, failing to obey lawful orders and committing conduct unbecoming of an officer.

 

The time, date, and location of his proceedings have not yet been determined, Stephenson said. Scheller’s representatives could not be reached.

 

Scheller was relieved of command shortly after posting a video on Facebook that demanded senior officials be held accountable for the Taliban’s sudden takeover of Afghanistan and the deaths of 13 American service members killed in a Kabul attack last month. He has said he plans to resign his commission.

The video, which Scheller shared hours after the Kabul attack, has been viewed 1 million times and shared 66,000 times on Facebook. “I want to say this very strongly,” he said in the video. “I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.”

 

Scheller has been critical of both Democrats and Republicans in subsequent social media statements. But he has appeared to attract more support from the political right for criticizing the Afghanistan withdrawal, including from Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.) and former president Donald Trump, who shared a story about Scheller last month on his website.

 

Scheller though has distanced himself from the former president and his supporters, saying on Sunday in a Facebook post that he doesn’t want his help. “I was told by everyone to kiss the ring because of your following and power. I refuse,” he said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[TheGreatBuzz]

It's almost like when you're in the military, you can't just say whatever you want.  Who knew???

[China]

Erdogan orders removal of 10 ambassadors, including US envoy

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he had ordered 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared persona non grata.

 

The envoys, including the U.S., French and German representatives in Ankara, issued a statement earlier this week calling for a resolution to the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017 despite not having been convicted of a crime.

 

Describing the statement as an “impudence,” Erdogan said he had ordered the ambassadors be declared undesirable.

 

“I gave the instruction to our foreign minister and said ‘You will immediately handle the persona non grata declaration of these 10 ambassadors,’” Erdogan said during a rally in the western city of Eskisehir.

 

He added: “They will recognize, understand and know Turkey. The day they don’t know or understand Turkey, they will leave.”

 

The diplomats, who also include the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand, were summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday.

A declaration of persona non grata against a diplomat usually means that individual is banned from remaining in their host country.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

 

 

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[TD_washingtonredskins]

On 9/17/2021 at 10:55 PM, TheGreatBuzz said:

Does no one here have a comment about this?  I feel like it is kind of a big deal.

I agree it's a big deal, but I always assumed this was the case. 

[visionary]

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by visionary

[visionary]

Wild news out of Iraq, including reports of an assassination attempt on the PM.  

 

 

 

[visionary]

 

 

[China]

THE MAIN DRIVER OF INFLATION IS A MURDEROUS MANIAC IN RIYADH

 

SAUDI CROWN PRINCE Mohammed bin Salman is enacting revenge on Democrats in general and President Joe Biden specifically for the party’s increasingly standoffish attitude toward the kingdom — by driving up energy prices and fueling global inflation.

 

Biden himself seemed to allude to this at a town hall event with CNN last month, during which he attributed high gas prices to a certain “foreign policy initiative” of his, adding, “There’s a lot of Middle Eastern folks who want to talk to me. I’m not sure I’m going to talk to them.”

 

Biden was making a not-so-veiled reference to his refusal to meet with Salman and acknowledge him as Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler due to his role in the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October of 2018. The move came after Biden vowed during a debate with President Donald Trump to make MBS, as he’s known, “a pariah” and represented a stark departure from Trump’s warm relations with the desert kingdom and the crown prince.

 

In June 2018, heading into the midterms, Trump requested that Saudi Arabia and its cartel, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, lower energy prices by increasing output, and the kingdom complied. Prices bottomed out in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, and usage sank to record lows. Prices surged once the pandemic waned and the economy reopened, and Biden in August 2021 requested that OPEC again increase output.

 

This time MBS refused, angry at having yet to be granted an audience with Biden and contemptuous of the U.S. pullback from the war in Yemen. As one of his first pieces of business, Biden had ordered the end of American support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’s war, though caveated it by barring only the backing of “offensive operations.” Saudi Arabia nevertheless received it as a grievous blow.

 

Ali Shihabi, a Saudi national who is considered a voice for MBS in Washington, made that clear in October, tweeting, “Biden has the phone number of who he will have to call if he wants any favours.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

 

[China]

Yemen war deaths will reach 377,000 by end of the year: UN

 

A new United Nations report has projected that the death toll from Yemen’s war will reach 377,000 by the end of 2021, including those killed as a result of indirect and direct causes.

 

In a report published on Tuesday, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that 70 percent of those killed would be children under the age of five.

 

It found that 60 percent of deaths would have been the result of indirect causes, such as hunger and preventable diseases, with the remainder a result of direct causes like front-line combat and air raids.

 

“In the case of Yemen, we believe that the number of people who have actually died as a consequence on conflict exceeds the numbers who died in battlefield,” UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Saudi Arabia puts 81 to death in its largest mass execution

 

Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history.

 

The number of executed surpassed even the toll of a January 1980 mass execution for the 63 militants convicted of seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979, the worst-ever militant attack to target the kingdom and Islam's holiest site.

 

It wasn't clear why the kingdom choose Saturday for the executions, though they came as much of the world's attention remained focused on Russia's war on Ukraine — and as the U.S. hopes to lower record-high gasoline prices as energy prices spike worldwide. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly plans a trip to Saudi Arabia next week over oil prices as well.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

 

[China]

F1 Saudi GP in crisis after terror attack causes explosion and blazing inferno in Jeddah

 

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has been plunged into chaos following a massive explosion near the track in the city of Jeddah.

 

As drivers were finishing their practice runs, a loud boom was heard before a huge inferno broke out at the nearby Aramco petroleum facility - a state-run oil company - sparking fears of a terrorist attack.

 

Houthi rebels - a Yemeni Islamist group - have claimed responsibility for a number of similar attacks across the kingdom in recent weeks. And they have now claimed they were behind the missile attack during the F1 practice session on Friday.

 

Footage of the explosion began circulating all over social media while flames and black smoke continued to billow out of the building, which is just a few miles from the circuit.

 

 

Click on the link for more

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Edited April 15, 2022 by visionary