https://www.europesays.com/1954630/ Finnish Ambassador Highlights Active Role of Iraqi Community in Finland » Iraqi News Agency #Ambassador #community #education #encouraged #equally #finland #Finnish #highly #Iraqi #Najaf– #Opportunities #professions #receive #respected #Sarela #Students #Suomi #teachers #teaching #their #uutiset #Which?
#Iraqi PMU Senior Official: “Not a SINGLE DROP of oil or gas will leave the Middle East if war breaks out”
A senior official from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) has warned that in the event of war, no oil or gas will be exported from the Middle East, signaling potential energy disruption for Europe. With winter approaching, the official emphasized the looming threat to Europe’s energy supply as tensions in the region escalate.
THERE IS NO SINGLE WEST CONDEMNATION OF THE TERRORIST ATTACK AGAINST #LEBANON
"Several resistance factions from Iraq, Yemen, Palestine and Lebanon along with Islamic scholars also condemned the heinous act, emphasizing that the Israeli regime attempts to cover up its failure in confronting resistance groups.
The #Venezuelan government condemned the cyber attack perpetrated by "Israel against the residents of southern Lebanon, Beirut, and its surrounding areas."
For his part, #Cuban Foreign Minister condemned the "Israeli cyber aggression against Lebanon"- deemed this Israeli aggression against Lebanon as a dangerous escalation in West Asia, with potentially severe and unpredictable consequences for the region.
#Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi strongly condemned the terrorist attack in a phone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart.
The #Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Damascus strongly condemns the aggression of the Israeli regime against civilians in Lebanon.
...Egyptian Foreign Minister expressed solidarity and conveyed the message of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
...#Iraqi Prime Minister ordered the dispatch of medical staff and emergency teams to Lebanon with the aim of providing aid and alleviating the suffering of injured Lebanese civilians.
Eleven Iraqi cities record scorching temperatures among world's hottest
https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq/Eleven-Iraqi-cities-record-scorching-temperatures-among-world-s-hottest
"On the 10th of June 2014 #IS captured #Mosul in Northern #Iraq and went on to swiftly capture other #Sunni #Iraqi areas. it then linked them up to areas it had already taken control of in #Syria , across the border. On the 29th of June the group declared itself a a #caliphate , rebranding as the #IslamicState and it named its then leader Abu Bakr al #Baghdadi as caliph. In August that year IS marched to #Yazidi areas near Mosul and killed and enslaved thousands of its residents. "
Almost no #Arab population remained west of the #GreenLine.
With few exceptions, the few places in central #Israel today with a significant Arab population were not actually conquered by the #IDF in the war; they were largely territories that were held by the invading #Iraqi army and that were ceded to Israel in the #armistice.
#raq passes #harsh #antiLGBTQ+ #law imposing up to 15 years in #prison, drawing #backlash
#Humanrights #groups and #diplomats #criticized a #law that was quietly passed by the #Iraqi #parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy #prison sentences on #gay and #transgender people.
#Iraq #Criminalises #SameSex #Relationships with Maximum 15 Years in #Prison
The #Iraqi #government says the new #legislation #criminalising #samesexrelationships, #gendernonconformity will combat #sexualdeviancy.
https://www.arise.tv/iraq-criminalises-same-sex-relationships-with-maximum-15-years-in-prison/
Aussie terrorist destinations need some timely revisions
I need to finish these emails… constructive feedback welcome… but I'm not looking for s heated debate.
THE LONG RANT VERSION…
Dear (Australian MPs or senators),
We need to revoke the permissions we have given Israel to wage a #war of total obliteration in #Gaza.
Thus #Australia should remove the political wing of Hamas from our designated #terrorist entity list. If we designate any related entity as terrorist, it should only include the divisions of the organisation that were directly involved in attacks on #civilians in Israel.
I don't like Hamas - I disagree with them on almost every issue - but the leadership of #Palestine should be chosen by Palestinians. Israeli or foreign imposed regimes will only exacerbate #violence.
Hamas is a political party, their militant wing is the Al-Qassam Brigades. Their relationship is roughly analogous to #SinnFein and the #IRA. The militant wing is the only division that is directly involved in attacks on Israel.
The rest of Hamas is a #civilian government. They were overdue for an election, but they have been in long term talks with the #Fatah opposition party to re-establish democracy in Palestine.
Designating the entire Hamas-led #government as terrorist lets the #IDF claim everything in #Gaza is a valid #military target. Including hospitals, police, banks, and every other facet of civilian rule. Even aid distribution efforts from Gaza's internal police force are being labelled "terrorist activity" by the IDF.
By designating the entirety of Gaza's governing party as terrorist Australia are effectively giving permission to the IDF to destroy everything in Gaza. Because everything is "Hamas infrastructure".
In in addition to the possibility of genocide (deemed "plausible" by the International Court of Justice) even the disingenuously alleged goals of this war - the total destruction of Hamas - will make the world less safe, and INCREASE the risk of #terrorism
If Australia's goal in shunning those listed entities is to reduce terrorism then including Hamas is unwarranted and possibly counter productive. In addition to the #undemocratic aspect of shunning an entire major political party based on the demands of outsiders.
Israel's current plan to completely exterminate the Hamas government is going to massively increase the real risk of #terrorism
The IDF are doing almost exactly what the #USA did (with Australian support despite massive public outcry) in #Iraq to the #Iraqi Ba'athist party. That disastrous attempt to completely dismantle a government and impose one from the outside ended up contributing to the rise of #ISIS
The IDF are using our excessively broad #terror designation (and others - by supposedly #democratic countries) to justify fighting the war in ways that would never usually be acceptable. They are looting millions of dollars "to stop it getting to Hamas" - #looting is a #WarCrime - they are systematically killing police officers who are not engaged in any offensive action against Israel, and they are trying to completely obliterate any #Palestinian civilian control of the Gaza Strip.
Arguably Australia should remove the special “terrorist” designation from #AlQassam military wing of Hamas as well. We can maintain normal measures (such as financial sanctions), like we would for any other violent organised crime network or a normal foreign military that has committed war crimes.But this giving them a special “terrorist” label, is acting like an endorsement of the IDF throwing out the rule book when fighting in Gaza.
The IDF have no intention of merely overthrowing Hamas or #demilitarising Gaza. They plan to execute nearly 40,000 suspected members of Hamas' militant wing, and the IDF are clearly willing to wipe out their entire families in the process. When the IDF talk about #HumanShields what this often means is the IDF barely bother trying to target actual combatants, they routinely kill their opponents by bombing family homes. Having a family is not “using human shields” it is simply being human!
Australia cannot claim to be unaware of the IDF using this strategy. The IDF killed two of our citizens this way in #Lebanon last year, Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi. Fighting for #Hezbollah is illegal under Australian law, and I am not saying we should change that, but summary execution for Ali's suspected involvement is in no way a #proportionate or morally acceptable penalty, especially when it directly causes the death of his brother Ibrahim in the process. Ibrahim was also an Australian citizen from #Sydney and he was due home shortly after he was killed, Ibrahim was not even suspected of fighting for Hezbollah.
We should not accept this total disregard for justice and morality. We ignored the summary execution of an Australian while he was at home with his family, meaning even Ali was NOT a #combatant, and now, predictably, it escalated to #Australian aid workers being murdered in Gaza.
We should hold Israel accountable for their violence. But ending the special terrorism designation of Hamas in Palestine and demanding justice for our citizens who were killed in Lebanon.
Sincerely,
(full name)
cc @kirt@aus.social @kirt@newsie.social @kirt@mastodon.social
The #Houthis are definitely backed by #Iran . We've also seen reports that #IRGC advisers are in #Yemen . But again in terms of the extent to which they take orders or not from Iran is not quite clear.
It quickly gets very complicated because here we're talking about literally dozens of entities. they've entrenched themselves within #Iraqi society. It's a very dangerous situation going forwards where the army does not have the monopoly on the use of force.
(cont.)
#Soleimani ’s assassination seems to have given a new impetus to the so-called #AxisOfResistance - the network of groups in the region doing #ran ’s bidding. This network is far from homogenous - each group has its own agenda.
These range from pure proxies like some #Iraqi militias and #Afghan and #Pakistani #Shia mercenary groups, which are the absolute creations of the #IRGC with little independent decision making power and ideologically absolutely line of the Islamic republic.
(cont.)
the #IRGC was set up in 1979, directly loyal to the Supreme Leader, formed initially out of street fighters, street paramilitaries. They fought alongside the regular Iranian military when it came to the #Iran - #Iraq war from 1980 to 1988. what they're most famous for is for the tactic that they innovated of human wave attacks on #Iraqi troops. So you can imagine these waves of religiously inspired #Iranian teenagers running at well armed Iraqi lines of defence,
(cont.)
Salem Al-Issawi nominated for #Iraqi parliament speaker post
@iraq
https://www.newarab.com/news/salem-al-issawi-nominated-iraqi-parliament-speaker-post
The ship loaded around 145,000 metric tonnes of oil in the #Iraqi port of #Basra and was heading to #Aliaga in western #Turkey via the #SuezCanal, Empire Navigation told Reuters. It said it had lost contact with the vessel, manned by a crew of 19 including 18 #Filipino nationals and one #Greek national. #StNikolas #Israel #Gaza
UPDATE 9-#Iran seizes oil tanker involved in #US-Iran dispute in #GulfOfOman
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/update-9-iran-seizes-oil-tanker-involved-in-u-s-iran-dispute-in-gulf-of-oman/ar-AA1mPrIt?ocid=emmx-mmx-feeds&PC=EMMX01
ICYMI - 2010: From #DemocracyNow
The Nation: Docs Reveals #Blackwater-Linked Companies Provided Intel & Security to Multinationals Like #Monsanto, #Chevron
September 16, 2010
“Blackwater’s Black Ops” — that’s the title of an explosive new article in The Nation magazine that reveals how entities closely linked with the private security firm Blackwater have provided #security and #intelligence services to a range of powerful #corporations over the past several years. The companies include #Monsanto, #Chevron, #DeutscheBank and others. Blackwater has also provided intelligence and training services to foreign governments, including #Jordan, the Canadian military and the Dutch police. We speak with investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill. [includes rush transcript]
"AMY GOODMAN: “Blackwater’s Black Ops” — that’s the title of an explosive new article in The Nation magazine that reveals how entities closely linked with the private security firm Blackwater have provided security and intelligence services to a range of powerful corporations over the past several years. The companies include Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt #Disney Company, Deutsche Bank, #Barclays and #RoyalCaribbean Cruise Lines.
"Blackwater has also provided intelligence and training services to foreign governments, including the Kingdom of Jordan, the Canadian military and the Dutch police. In 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto worked with Blackwater when she returned to #Pakistan to campaign for the general elections. Bhutto was assassinated in December of 2007.
"The new revelations come from documents obtained by The Nation. They show that Blackwater’s work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies: #TotalIntelligenceSolutions and the #TerrorismResearchCenter. Both companies are owned by Blackwater’s owner and founder, #ErikPrince.
"Today also marks the third anniversary of the #NisourSquare massacre, when Blackwater guards gunned down seventeen #Iraqi civilians and wounded twenty in a fifteen-minute shooting spree in #Baghdad.
"For more, we’re joined now from New York by investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill. He’s a Puffin Foundation writing fellow at the Nation Institute. He’s a Democracy Now! correspondent and author of the book Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful #MercenaryArmy. His new article in online at thenation.com."
Listen / Read more:
https://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/16/the_nation__docs_reveals_blackwater
