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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/2/2016 10:41:44 AM
	How the U.S. Lost the Kurds The Kurdish YPG, considered the strongest fighting force on the ground, has moved to a backer that can get it what it wants. Syrian Kurdish militia members of the YPG make a V-sign next to a drawing of Abdullah Ocalan, jailed Kurdish rebel leader, on Feb. 22, 2015, in Aleppo province, Syria. By Paul D. ShinkmanMarch 1, 2016, at 3:35 p.m America’s most effective ally on the ground in Syria is defecting to its chief adversary in the war against the Islamic State group, risking the very foundation of the U.S.-led effort to defeat the extremist network. At least some elements of the Kurdish YPG, the militant arm of the main Kurdish political body in Syria, are now operating with the Russian military in support of the regime of Bashar Assad and his Iranian backers. Sen. John McCain, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the Obama administration has mishandled the critical relationship with the YPG and now is paying the price. [READ: America's Preference Abroad Is Short-Sighted] “I’m confident it’s not all the Kurds, but there is a segment that has aligned with the Russians because they want to win, and they see the Russians succeeding where we have failed,” McCain told a group of reporters last week. “Now we are faced with a dilemma … because they think that’s the best way of winning.” The Arizona Republican is one of a series of coalition officials, analysts or observers who believe America’s self-imposed restrictions for the bloody conflict in Syria have forced the Kurdish fighters on the ground to look for other sources of international support to achieve their goals. Losing the Kurds would hurt whatever hopes the U.S.-led coalition has of finding victory on the ground in Syria. Fighting units like the YPG have been among the most successful in a war to which Obama has refused to deploy large ground forces. Amid the failed U.S. effort to build an army in Syria of its own, the Kurds are now among the only groups left capable of making such gains. This problem is magnified by the fact that the powers intervening in Syria have differing priorities. The U.S. wants to defeat the Islamic State group while keeping out of the ongoing Syrian civil war. Turkey, a NATO ally providing a critical base for American warplanes, wants to overthrow the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad, supported now by Russia and Iran and to keep the regional Kurdish population under control. Meanwhile, the chief priority of the Kurds – an ethnic group of about 25 million to 30 million spread out across Syria, Turkey, Iran and Armenia and a semiautonomous region within Iraq – is securing a territory they can claim as their own when the fighting stops. And they largely don’t care who helps them. “They would have rather confirmed the U.S. to be their partners, but now Russia is there with robust bombardments and strikes,” says Doga Eralp, a lecturer at the American University School of International Service who believes all warring parties are now jockeying for a position to determine who controls which areas in Syria after some form of cease-fire. “They know their eventual seat at the negotiating table would be secured if they start cooperating with the Russians on the ground. But they wouldn’t openly say that.” The Kurds don’t have to. Recent combat maneuvers indicate they’re at least coordinating with forces loyal to the Assad regime, trained and supported by Russian special operators and protected by Russian airpower overhead. (Some reports even indicate Syrian opposition fighters have heard Kurdish radio chatter calling in Russian airstrikes directly – but those are unconfirmed and would align with previous false claims the opposition has made.) For example, when the YPG liberated the Syrian town of Tell Rifaat in mid-February – less than 20 miles north of the opposition stronghold of Aleppo and roughly halfway from Aleppo to the Turkish border – regime forces simultaneously moved on the two villages of Ahras and Misqan to the south of the town, supported by Russian airstrikes. Neither set of forces engaged one another, which would have been a common outcome if they fought on opposing sides. This serves as enough evidence for Chris Kozak, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, to believe that the two sides are at least passively aligned. [ALSO: American Influence Abroad Is Crumbling] “They aimed at different military targets, but in a coordinated way,” Kozak says. For the Syrian regime and its international allies, this works well. They wish to create a buffer between themselves and the opposition in the north as well as the Turks. The regime doesn’t need to push toward the border and engage Turkey – possibly provoking other NATO allies in the process – if it can get the Kurds to do that for them. Regime support also helps Kurdish positions squeeze both sides of the Islamic State group’s sole remaining corridor to the Turkish border north of Aleppo, through which it smuggles fighters, money and supplies to its so-called caliphate. The extremists’ access to the border is abuted by opposition-controled territory also accessible to Turkey, through which it can receive weapons and supplies from Ankara. (A map generated by the U.S. led coalition earlier this month shows some of the different warring groups’ locations.) Further complicating the process is America’s sticky relationship with the YPG and its parent political organization, the PYD. The U.S. needs Turkish support, not in the least to keep warplanes at Incirlik air base as one of the only nearby hubs for its air war against the Islamic State group. But the Turkish government fervently believes the YPG is aligned with another Kurdish group within Turkey, the PKK, which both the U.S. and Turkey consider a terrorist organization. Turkey acted on these fears after it finally succumbed to U.S. pressure to join the multi-nation coalition it’s built by immediately attacking Kurdish positions – not the Islamic State group. With Kurdish troops now moving toward the Turkish border, Obama is left in the impossible position of having to support two groups he needs as proxies but who oppose one another. “We believe the YPG is not affiliated with the PKK,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner repeated last week when pressed on the issue. He added a caveat indicative of how the administration has tried to avoid taking sides: “However, we recognize Turkey’s concerns over PKK and terrorism on the ground and its right to defend itself, but we have urged it to stop shelling over the border.” Toner said the U.S. has called on the YPG to stop “taking actions on the ground in and around Aleppo” that he called “counterproductive.” This straddling policy leads to awkward diplomatic incidents, such as when the U.S. denied a visa to PYD emissary Saleh Muslim last year. [MORE: U.S. Downplays ISIS Attacks in Iraq, Says Extremists Have Fight Left in Them] But the PYD has since expanded its diplomatic options. Earlier this month, it announced it had opened a delegation office in Moscow. “Our aim is to strengthen and develop relations with the Russian side, including its civil organizations, political parties, academics,” its chief delegate, Abd Salam Muhammad Ali, told Russian state-sponsored news agency RT. An envoy for the Syrian Kurds told Bloomberg that Russia had committed to protect Kurdish fighters from Turkey, a pledge it may have to fulfill following reports at the end of February Turkey shelled a Kurdish town near the border. The delicate balance the U.S. is trying to strike between the Turks and the Kurds has left a perfect gap for Russia to further harass the U.S. and to exact revenge on Ankara amid heightened tensions between the two countries, which nearly devolved into all-out war when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that briefly crossed over into its territory. Moscow, Tehran and Damascus also can now offer the Kurds something Washington can’t: a contiguous region across Syria’s north that would connect Kurdish-liberated areas from Afrin in the northwest, to Kobani, to al Hasakah province in the northeast. “We’ve over-relied on the Kurds,” says Kozak. “In over-relying on the Kurds, we’ve put our eggs in one basket, and that is a basket that’s limited our opportunities.” Kozak worries about what happens if the Kurds miscalculate and, as the Russians found out when they flew a plane too close to the border, incur a stronger military response from the Turkish government and President Recep Erdogan. McCain agrees. “I’m not a big fan of his, but if I were him, I could see why it’s logical the way they are behaving.” Watch video
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/2/2016 10:53:20 AM
	Out in the cold: Refugees get no good news at Greek border By COSTAS KANTOURIS and GEORGE JAHN12 hours ago A migrant mother holds her baby as they await on the Greek side of the border to enter Macedonia near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Macedonian police fired tear gas at hundreds of migrants after they stormed a metal fence along the border with Greece on February 29, as refugees were blocked from traveling between the two countries on the main route to Western Europe. Macedonia is restricting the entry of refugees to match the number of those leaving the country, allowing in only refugees from Syria and Iraq, in response to bottlenecks further up along the Balkans migrant route. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu) IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — Hassan Rasheed's papers have been cleared but the Iraqi refugee has spent days freezing in a tent with no tarp on the ground and flaps that don't close, one of 10,000 migrants stuck at a muddy camp on the border of Greece and Macedonia. They're hoping for a breakthrough in Europe's troubled negotiations on how to handle the deepening crisis. But there was little sign of that Tuesday. Austria's chancellor insisted he would not to let his country become a "waiting room for Germany," while authorities from four ex-Yugoslav countries on the migrant route vowed closer cooperation to keep people out. "I've been at Idomeni for 10 days and it's the fourth day I've been waiting to cross over," the 27-year-old Rasheed said. "Conditions are very bad. There are many ill children who are coughing, and we spent the night in this tent under heavy rain." The heavily policed border, marked by a twin fence and coils of razor wire, remained closed a day after migrants attempted to push through the barriers and were forced back by Macedonian riot police using tear gas and stun grenades. Before that, sporadic closures since Feb. 19 had slowed the number allowed through to just dozens a day. Overnight, rain soaked many families, who hung up clothing to dry Tuesday on the border fence. View gallery Refugees and migrants chant slogans as they protest on railway tracks in front of border gate that s … More exhausted refugee families continued to reach the burgeoning tent city in this Greek border town on foot or by taxi. Many walked up to 30 kilometers (18 miles) along Greece's northern highways. Ahmed Majid, a 26-year-old Iraqi, was traveling with his wife and two young children. "We have been walking for three kilometers. Police stopped our taxi on the highway, which is why we are going through the fields," he said. About 2,000 migrants are still reaching Greek islands from nearby Turkey every day, despite the recent deployment of NATO ships in the east Aegean Sea. European Council President Donald Tusk was in Austria on Tuesday to try to persuade Chancellor Werner Faymann to change his mind about the country's decision to accept no more than 80 asylum requests a day at Austria's southern frontier with Slovenia. View gallery Macedonian soldiers patrol between two lines of protective fence reinforced with barbed wire along t … But Faymann said Austria was determined not to accept the "policy of waving through" migrants to the rest of the EU. "Austria is not a waiting room for Germany," he said. "This disorganized chaos must end. ... It's important to have clarity on the EU's external borders. (Otherwise) Austrians have to be active on their borders." Meanwhile, Austria's interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, announced plans by her government to launch an advertising campaign in Afghanistan — including billboards, TV ads and public bus banners — to discourage Afghans from trying to reach Europe. Tusk added a stop in Ankara to his schedule, ahead of next week's summit of leaders from the EU and Turkey on migration. To prepare for the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to meet French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Friday, and she remained vocally opposed to the Austrian border closure. View gallery Children walk by a painted container as people wait in line for food handouts outside an overcrowded … "We must stand with Greece," a spokesman quoted the chancellor as saying on a Twitter post. "I am therefore in constant contact with (Greek Prime Minister Alexis) Tsipras." In Athens, the government said it has requested 480 million euros ($520 million) in aid for the refugee crisis from the EU, under an emergency plan to cope with as many as 100,000 stranded refugees — roughly three times the number now stuck inside Greece. Athens is pressing EU countries to honor pledges to accept asylum seekers directly and for Turkey to help speed up deportations. The government said 69 people from North Africa considered ineligible for asylum were deported to Turkey, with another 230 people due to be sent back by Wednesday. The impasse in Greece drew strong criticism from the United Nations refugee agency, which warned that Europe "is on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis." A UNHCR statement said inconsistent policies on the continent, which faces its worst immigration crisis since the end of World War II, "are causing unnecessary suffering and risk being at variance with EU and international law standards." View gallery Migrant children await by the fence on the Greek side of the border to enter Macedonia near the sout … New York-based Human Rights Watch blamed "discriminatory border closures" and the cap imposed by Austria for the crisis. "Trapping asylum seekers in Greece is an unconscionable and short-sighted non-solution that is causing suffering and violence," said the right's group's Greece specialist, Eva Cosse. "It demonstrates once again the EU's utter failure to respond collectively and compassionately to refugee flows." ___ Jahn reported from Vienna. Associated Press writers Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, Macedonia; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia and Derek Gatopoulos, Nicholas Paphitis, and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report. ___ Follow Kantouris at https://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/2/2016 1:38:40 PM
	Violence kills 670 across Iraq in February, UN says People gather at the scene of deadly bombing attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP / Ali Abdul Hassan) Sinan Salaheddin, The Associated Press Published Wednesday, March 2, 2016 3:05AM EST BAGHDAD - Continuous violence has left at least 670 Iraqis dead in February, of whom about two-thirds were civilians, the United Nations said. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, put the number of the killed civilians at 410, a figure which according to UN methodology includes the federal police, civil defence forces and personal security details. The rest were security forces, including Kurdish peshmerga and paramilitary troops. It added that a total of 1,290 people were wounded, including 1,050 civilians. The worst affected area was Baghdad, with 277 civilians killed and 838 injured. Citing its local health authorities, the UN said at least four civilians were killed and 126 others wounded in the western province of Anbar, which has large areas under Islamic State extremist group control. The U.N said it could not fully verify the Anbar figures due to the increased volatility of the situation on the ground and the disruption of services. In January, overall causality figures were at least 849 killed and 1,450 wounded. "This conflict continues to exact a heavy toll on the population," the UN Special Representative for Iraq, Jan Kubis, said in the statement. "This is deeply worrying and disheartening. Civilians should not pay the price in this conflict," Kubis added. February saw significant deterioration in Iraq's security situation, with two massive bombings in as many days by the Islamic State group in the town of Muqdadiyah and in Baghdad that killed at least 110 people. The Islamic State group seized much of northern and western Iraq, including the second largest city, Mosul, in the summer of 2014. The extremists have declared a caliphate in the areas of Iraq and Syria under their control and have imposed a harsh and violent version of Islamic law. With heavy backing from U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Iraqi troops scored key victories against IS since last year. But a long-awaited campaign to retake Mosul, the main city held by the militants, has yet to begin. (ctvnews)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel

1162

61587

Lima

RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?

3/2/2016 2:24:29 PM

Mysterious 'meteor' lights up Scottish sky, rumbles dramatically (VIDEO)

Published time: 1 Mar, 2016 11:34Edited time: 1 Mar, 2016 14:17

© Bill Jones / YouTube
A mysterious fireball made a dramatic entrance into the Scottish sky, lighting up the night and making a loud rumbling noise, which left residents somewhat confused. The object is believed to have been a meteor, though that has yet to be confirmed.

Police in Scotland said they received a flood of calls at around 6:55pm on Monday, after a bright flash was seen dancing across the sky, Mail Online reported. Residents said they spotted blue, white, and green lights, with many saying they heard a rumbling sound.

The fireball was filmed by several dashcams, with drivers posting the footage online.

Police and astronomers said the fireball was likely to be a meteor, which burned up as it entered Earth's upper atmosphere. However, that speculation has yet to be confirmed.

The Met Office ruled out the possibility of a weather-related cause, stating that there were no thunder storms over Scotland on Monday night.

The unexpected fireball shocked those who witnessed it. Resident Jenni Morrison summed it up with a shout of: “What the hell was that?” in dashcam footage as her car drove underneath the flashing light.

Others took to Twitter to express their amazement.

Kim Paterson ‎@kp_x_

Proper massive rumble, ground shaking, folk seeing the sky flash blue and sirens going off everywhere....is this the end?!

2:27 PM - 29 Feb 2016 · Brechin, Scotland, United Kingdom

Ross McKay ‎@RossMc11

This 'meteor' in Scotland had better not have been the work of aliens. Imagine the fight over "Take me to your leader..."

5:07 PM - 29 Feb 2016

There were suggestions that the alleged meteor could have been a sonic boom from an aircraft or a flare from a satellite. However, there were no reports of an aircraft in distress and the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was unaware of any events in the area, Mail Online reported.

The mysterious fireball comes two years after a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, causing damage within an 80-kilometer (50-mile) radius. The meteor was found to be 30 times brighter than the sun, with a force of 40 Hiroshima atomic bombs. Scientists concluded the meteor was the biggest in a century.

(RT)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

Luis Miguel

1162

61587

Lima

RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?

3/2/2016 4:04:50 PM

Indonesia earthquake: Tsunami warning issued as 7.9 magnitude tremor hits south-east Asia

The USGS initially reported the magnitude at 8.2

Tsunami warnings have been issued by national authorities around the Indian Ocean after a shallow 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck off the southwest coast of Sumatra island in Indonesia.

The US Geological Survey, which initially reported the tremor at 8.2 magnitude, said the massive earthquake hit at 12.49pm GMT at a depth of just 10km (six miles), some 600km (370 miles) off the coast.

The size and depth of the quake has led the Indonesian, Thai and Australian national authorities to issue tsunami warnings, though the latter stressed that a tsunami was not yet confirmed and cancelled its watch for Western Australia.

People gather outside a high-rise building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Specific warnings were issued by Australia for the Christmas and Cocos islands, while Indonesia put out alerts for West Sumatra, North Sumatra and Aceh, its National Meteorological Agency said. The Thai National Disaster Warning Centre also issued an alert, though the details are yet to be confirmed.

Reports from the ground in Indonesia suggest damage from the earthquake itself will be limited. Local media outlets described people rushing out of their homes upon feeling the quake before returning inside.

But the tsunami threat has led to evacuations in Sumatra at least, local journalists said, with residents urged to make their way to higher ground.

The area, and the province of Aceh in particular, was badly hit by an Indian Ocean tsunami most recently in 2004.

That quake was significantly more powerful still than Wednesday night's however, recorded at around a 9.0 magnitude. The tsunami in the wake of that incident killed more than 200,000 people across 14 countries.

Watch video

(independent.co.uk)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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How the U.S. Lost the Kurds

The Kurdish YPG, considered the strongest fighting force on the ground, has moved to a backer that can get it what it wants.

Out in the cold: Refugees get no good news at Greek border

Violence kills 670 across Iraq in February, UN says

Mysterious 'meteor' lights up Scottish sky, rumbles dramatically (VIDEO)

Published time: 1 Mar, 2016 11:34Edited time: 1 Mar, 2016 14:17

Indonesia earthquake: Tsunami warning issued as 7.9 magnitude tremor hits south-east Asia

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Forums

How the U.S. Lost the Kurds

The Kurdish YPG, considered the strongest fighting force on the ground, has moved to a backer that can get it what it wants.

Out in the cold: Refugees get no good news at Greek border

Violence kills 670 across Iraq in February, UN says

Mysterious 'meteor' lights up Scottish sky, rumbles dramatically (VIDEO)Published time: 1 Mar, 2016 11:34Edited time: 1 Mar, 2016 14:17

Indonesia earthquake: Tsunami warning issued as 7.9 magnitude tremor hits south-east Asia

Like us on Facebook!

Mysterious 'meteor' lights up Scottish sky, rumbles dramatically (VIDEO)

Published time: 1 Mar, 2016 11:34Edited time: 1 Mar, 2016 14:17