He probably started back when Prince MbS was a "pariah" rather than Joe's fist-bumping bro. Opps.billy.pilgrim wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:22 amMerrick doing his job, unlike turning his back on the more serious trump Administration and family crimes.
trumps crimes occurred mostly before Merrick assumed officeVrede too wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 2:42 pmHe probably started back when Prince MbS was a "pariah" rather than Joe's fist-bumping bro. Opps.billy.pilgrim wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:22 amMerrick doing his job, unlike turning his back on the more serious trump Administration and family crimes.
Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting women's oppression
... Narges Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the second Iranian woman, after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi won the award in 2003
It’s the fifth time in the 122-year history of the awards that the peace prize has been given to someone who is in prison or under house arrest. Last year, the top human rights advocate in Belarus, Ales Bialiatski, was among the winners. He remains imprisoned.
Mohammadi was in detention for the recent protests of the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been picked up by the morality police for her allegedly loose headscarf. More than 500 people were killed in a heavy security crackdown while over 22,000 others were arrested.
3,000! Are there 21 or more Towers?Tower 22 drone attack: Background
... Approximately 3,000 US troops are currently stationed in Jordan.
That didn't work out very wellAmerica has used the Tower 22 outpost since 2015 in an "advise and assist" mission, initially training rebels fighting the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad
That went better, but then TRE45QN betrayed the Kurds.and later aiding Kurds fighting the Islamic State.
Essentially defunct now, right?Tower 22, which hosts American engineering, aviation, logistics and security personnel, lies 20 kilometers from the Al-Tanf garrison in Syria, where US and local forces collaborate in combating the Islamic State.
Not our deepest thinkers.As of 2020, Tower 22 had an operating AN/TPS-75 transportable 3D air search radar. At the time of the attack, there were about 350 personnel from the US Army and Air Force at Tower 22....
Responsibility
In the aftermath of the attack, U.S. officials assessed that one of several Iranian-supported groups had launched the attack, although it did not specifically identify the precise group responsible....
Reactions
... Republican senators John Cornyn and Lindsey Graham called on the White House to directly target Iran in response to the attacks....
Wishful thinking, or is it?Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the attack was a message to the US administration that "unless the killing of innocents in Gaza stops, it must confront the entire [Muslim] nation," and warned that the conflict could lead to a "regional explosion."
Jordan condemned the attack and said it was cooperating with Washington to secure its borders. However, the Jordanian government spokesperson Muhannad Al Mubaidin insisted that the attack had happened outside of the kingdom across the border in Syria's al-Tanf base.
Is drone "terrorism" dependent on the owner of the drone?Egypt's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, expressed solidarity, and affirmed its stance against any terrorist acts that threaten the stability and security of Jordan. It also emphasized the necessity of confronting all forms of terrorism and rejecting violence to maintain security in the region. The attack was also condemned by Bahrain.
The former is iffy and the latter is true, though whether the response is appropriate is debatable. This is not looking good for the region and world.Iran denied involvement in the attack, but said "resistance groups in the region are responding [to] the war crimes and genocide of the child-killing Zionist regime." ...
True dat.
) I guess a few women have freedom in Iran:Vrede too wrote: ↑Fri Oct 06, 2023 9:39 amJailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting women's oppression
"Woman, Life, Freedom"!
زن، زندگی، آزادی
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman,_Life,_Freedom#Iran
Artwork of Woman, Life, Freedom slogan in Persian
Naked hypocrisy: leaked wedding video sparks new scandal for Iran’s rulers
A video showing the wedding of the daughter of Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, has reignited public anger in the country, with social media users accusing officials of hypocrisy amid worsening poverty and revived hijab patrols.
The video leaked on X on October 17 shows Shamkhani, a member of Iran's Expediency Council, escorting his daughter, Fatemeh, into a grand wedding hall.
The footage, reminiscent of Western-style weddings where the father walks the bride down the aisle, drew immediate attention for the bride’s revealing gown and her mother’s low neckline — both unusual in a country where mandatory hijab and modesty laws have been enforced for decades....
Opps.A video purportedly showing the wedding of the daughter of Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, has sparked widespread reactions on social media.
Users are criticizing the Islamic Republic officials’ hypocrisy and double standards, pointing to the lavish nature of the ceremony amid young people’s inability to afford marriage and the recent return of morality patrols to the streets.
$60 million!A Navy warship mistook US fighter jets for enemy missiles and opened fire. The targeted pilot saw his life flash before his eyes.
* A US Navy warship fired missiles at two American F/A-18 fighter jets above the Red Sea last year.
* The warship mistook the fighter jets for Houthi cruise missiles, the investigation shows.
* One of the fighter jets was shot down. The other barely survived the friendly fire incident.
... The command investigation into the late December 2024 friendly fire incident, which Business Insider reviewed prior to its release on Thursday, reveals that the warship's crew mistook two Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets for anti-ship cruise missiles fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In a catastrophic failure, the cruiser USS Gettysburg launched surface-to-air missiles at both F/A-18s, shooting down one and nearly hitting the second. It also targeted a third friendly aircraft but never pulled the trigger.
A hit and a near-miss
... Early on December 22, just seven days after entering the Red Sea, the Gettysburg accidentally shot down a Super Hornet from the Truman's air wing in what the US military described as "an apparent case of friendly fire." Both aviators, the pilot and the weapons officer, ejected safely from the roughly $60 million fighter, part of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 (VFA-11), the "Red Rippers."
Hellaflying, real Top Gun stuff.The command investigation reveals that the friendly fire incident nearly resulted in a much larger disaster. While initial reports centered on the aircraft that was struck, the investigation reveals that a second narrowly avoided a catastrophic end, and a third was in the crosshairs....
They watched the missile climb and then suddenly change course. As the weapon rushed toward them, the pilot suddenly saw his life flash before his eyes, he told investigators. Seeing no other choice, the two-man team ejected just before the missile struck the plane.
In that chaotic moment, the Gettysburg fired another missile at a second American fighter jet. The aviators on board issued multiple mayday calls but opted to outmaneuver it rather than bail. The missile gave chase, course correcting in pursuit of the jet.
It narrowly missed, the jet shaking as it passed just a few feet away before burning out and exploding in the water.
4 x $60 million =... The captain had low situational awareness, and his combat information center team was unable to help him regain it, the investigation said.
This shootdown incident wasn't the Red Sea battle's only friendly fire incident, though it was the most serious. Earlier in the Red Sea conflict, in February 2024, a German warship accidentally targeted a US MQ-9 Reaper drone, but the missiles never reached it because the warship's radar system suffered a technical malfunction.
The December 2024 friendly fire incident was one of four major mishaps that the Truman strike group experienced during its monthslong deployment in the Middle East.
The aircraft carrier collided with a cargo vessel in February and also lost two more F/A-18s to accidents — one fell off the side of the warship along with a tow tractor in April, and another experienced a failure while landing and slid off the flight deck in May....
‘A f***-up of epic proportions’: Blame game begins after Iran-backed Houthis’ lightning advance down Red Sea coast
... The source said he contacted the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and was assured the US was "watching the situation closely and that Saudi air support was coming."
"But the air support never came," the source said. "And Mocha has now fallen."
Hours later, on Friday, the Houthis captured another key coastal asset, Perim Island, at the mouth of the Red Sea. The island splits the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in two, giving Tehran de facto control over another key shipping route.
... Now, Yemen and the Red Sea have the potential to become a true second front in the Iran war.
Iran's effective control of the Strait of Hormuz plus its tightening grip on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait threatens to push oil prices even higher, weeks before November's midterm elections in the United States.
... Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke twice on Thursday with US President Donald Trump and urged him to strike the Houthis, another source familiar with the matter told CNN Friday. Trump declined to intervene, according to that source....
"The failure this time is not with the Yemenis," a regional source told CNN on Thursday. "It's a disaster made in (Washington) DC and Riyadh.
The regional source told CNN that it was "a complete failure of political leadership" amid fierce squabbling and delayed decision-making in Riyadh.
"There was not one air strike throughout the day yesterday (by Saudi support forces), although there were minute-by-minute updates," the regional source added. "It's a Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions."
... The failure to defend Mocha and Perim is even more confounding in light of the recent news – reported exclusively by CNN – that more than 100 US military advisers were sent to Saudi Arabia providing intelligence and targeting support to the Kingdom in its military campaign, according to five sources familiar with the operations.
The US military personnel are working as part of a newly established joint forces command, which was formed in recent weeks amid signs Iran was ramping up its own efforts to aid Houthi attacks, said one of the sources, a US official. That official estimated the total number of US personnel in Saudia Arabia at roughly 200 troops.
The capture of the Red Sea assets gives the Houthis far greater maneuverability and leverage, as it opens up new locations from which the Iran-backed rebels can launch boats and attacks.
... An adviser to Iran's supreme leader on Friday described the Houthi advance on the west coast of Yemen as a "clear victory," writing in a post on X that "the American people and Washington's allies are paying the price for the economic crisis and Trump's ambitions."
