OPERATION BRASSTACKS
A Thread
Type: Major Indian Combined Arms Military Exercise
Target: Southern/Central #Pakistan
Goal: Military provocation leading to armed conflict
Result: Pakistani Counter Deployment; Exercises halted; Standing down of Indian Forces.
Date: 1986-1987
#India

Operation Brasstacks was the brainchild of then Indian Army Chief General Krishnaswamy Sundarji who wished to provoke a Pakistani response to a massive planned Indian army mobilisation in the guise of military exercises near Pakistan’s border. General Sunderji's strategy was

to provoke Pakistan to respond and this would provide India with an excuse to implement existing contingency plans to go on to the offensive against Pakistan and take out its atomic bomb projects in a series of preventive strikes.
It was the major and largest mobilization of

Indian forces on the Indian Subcontinent, involving the combined deployed strength of two Army Commands (Western and Southern)- almost 500,000 troops , plus 200,00-300,000 more reservists amounting to over 2/3rds of the Indian Army. The exercises would also involve a series of

amphibious assault exercises by the Indian Navy near to a Pakistan naval base in Korangi Creek. All these exercises were meant to be done within 100 miles of the Pakistani border.

The Indians knew that the military strategists of the Pakistan Armed Forces would regarded this

The Sunday Igboho I I know by Babafemi Ojudu.
By Babafemi Ojudu

1. It was in 2009. The Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin ordered a rerun in a number of polling units in the election between Segun Oni of PDP and Dr Kayode Fayemi of ACN.Oni had in the main election and the election

2.petition tribunal that followed been declared winner of the gubernatorial contest. Our party , ACN contested this , hence the declaration of a rerun. The election which came three months after the Appeal Court judgement was like war. The PDP ruling at the Federal level did not

3.want to loose Ekiti and the opposition ACN led and financed by Bola Ahmed Tinubu wanted to take Ekiti by all means. A few days to the election,we got an intelligence report that the PDP big wigs had perfected a plan to unleash thugs recruited from across Yoruba land on Ekiti.

4.The plan was to kill and maim as many as possible,snatch ballot boxes and win by any means possible.Tinubu summoned me to Lagos and said Femi,"I have conducted a scientific opinion poll. You people can win this election.The only snag however is they are deploying state security

5. as well as thugs against you. State security men we can handle ( and he did creatively handled them ) but how do you handle thugs?"
I then suggested we dissuade them by engagement and inducements. After all they are in the business only for the money and not for ideological

It has been some time since I reclaimed my title. I had dropped it when I moved industries but after seeing the sexism I meet, I decided to use it at least to give them a hint to step back or pause before one utters another BS to me.

Sexism in this 👇🏾 column and the fact that it passed through the editor and got published tells how much more fight I have to continue fighting.

Glad to be in good company, Dr. Jill

I had to write a chapter on what is interferometry as it was a new field and my research was assessing the data derived from interferometric processing of radar data for the purpose of generating 3D terrain and how good we can expect them to be 😀

Kids checking for “English mistakes”

Couldn’t help but look at my prof’s third edition which included a chapter on interferometry after & based on my research to look for acknowledgement - he had mentioned all PhD students “for good nature”. He sent me a signed copy to let me know of that chapter.

Behind our backs, world travelers are using Pakistan's unfrequented North as a pretty comfort couch while badmouthing & resenting the rest of Pakistan... without going in depth about our crises and issues that require an extensive attention and compassionate intersectional look.

So I called this kind lady traveler out. The casual disregard that the hedonistic, escape-seeking mostly-Western travelers flick towards "South Pakistan" is chilling in its disrespect and almost unintentional but certain cruel outcome. (See next).
CC: @samirashackle

Continued from previous.

Travelers who are causing a schism between "North and South Pakistan" are doing great disservice to "both", AND objectifying the people of the North by forcing them to act as prize catches in a trophy hunt.

One byproduct of this "playing favorites" in the house of Pakistan by our honorable guests who often enjoy near complete laissez-faire as the colonial-minded us sit around is the entrapment of mountain people in the objectified hero roles... and it prevents them from having

Navalny’s return, his arrest and the protest. A first quick thread
1. Navalny in Germany had rot make a difficult choice: to stay in exile and become insignificant or to return to stay significant (and may be even rise more), but under risk for his freedom and life. /2

2. I can’t imaging that Navalny and his team thought that his return and even his arrest might provoke a „revolutionary situation“ in Russia like we’ve seen in Ukraine earlier or Belarus now. he’s a too experienced politician for such a misjudgment. He’s playing the long game./3

3. He had to wage his wishes and the risk. His preferred the possibility of a rather long imprisonment to the perspective of insignificance in evil. He’s more than 20 y. younger than Putin. The next medium-term goal will be „smart voting“ in the Duma elections next September. /4

4. Nobody can with certainty predict the tipping point of political developments. No revolutionary moment was ever predicted.Lenin did not know that he will succeed, when he returned to Russia in 1917. What he knew was that there is a crises. There is a multiple crisis in…/5

…Russia now, too. No really worrying for Putin. But worrying enough to be afraid of an upcoming challenger to try to not let become him too strong. So far Putin’s strategy was to use only as much force as needed. This is a strategy that demand first certain skills…/6

Thread: Have just realised it’s the traditional season for journalists & ‘opinion writers’ to trot out their ‘science v religion’ rants. Science is not a religion; if u think it is you’re not a scientist. Scientists are generally not all atheists either. 👇

I once had a chat with a respected & heroic Scottish professor of science (won’t be too specific as I don’t want to share his identity) which turned into a real heart to heart. This man was a personal hero to me.

He was born into extreme poverty as a child in the Gorbals in Glasgow. His dad died when he was 14 & he got a job to support his mother. Later he put himself thru A-Levels & was awarded a scholarship to a famous University. That’s heroic.

His abilities, kindness, understanding & support to colleagues, staff & students was legendary. As were the books & papers he wrote. His campaigning ranged from social issues to conservation. It’s no exaggeration to say he changed his adopted country.

So in the heart to heart, amongst ancient oak bookshelves, I asked him what did he make of ghosts (rather than how I’d ask now - what does the scientific community think of ghosts). Maturity means thinking how you pose questions (& maybe one day I will!).

A US delegation led by General Joseph L Votel, Commander US Centcom, called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
#PakForcesExemplarySacrifices

The US Commander appreciated Pakistan Army’s efforts for regional peace and stability.
#PakForcesExemplarySacrifices

A press release issued here by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the COAS reiterated that peace in Afghanistan is vital for regional peace.
#PakForcesExemplarySacrifices

Gen Bajwa said that Pakistan, despite constraints, had contributed to all efforts for regional peace and would continue to do so, it said.
#PakForcesExemplarySacrifices

It added that geo-strategic environment, regional security and Afghanistan peace and reconciliation process were discussed inthe meeting.
#PakForcesExemplarySacrifices

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

""Mafia's In Pakistan"

It is the unfortunate of Pakistan that we have double of the mafia's than the laws to control them.
Start any business and you will have to to face different mafia's,

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

Let's start with poultry business and take a quick look,
1.
First you have to purchase a land in a town and there would be a group of people in that town who used to sue new buyers to blackmail ,

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

and earn easy money.
They will file a suit and gradually withdraw it when you pay them some money. Believe me they would've ties with the local political personality.

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

2.
Now you want to transfer that land in your name. For this purpose you went to land revenue office and you will face a mafia of Government employees and their touts.

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

3. Now you have to made a shed and you try to tender for the construction.
You will face the construction mafia which will force you to construct your shed with their rates.
It's a fact that every construction firm is backed by a political party.

@aamn__r

The dust hasn't yet settled, but we can draw some early conclusions from today's protests in #Russia. TL;DR: The Kremlin and the opposition are at a stalemate.

/1

I don't see reliable nationwide turnout figures, but this feels similar in size & scale to the 2017 Dimon protests, which brought out 60-100k nationwide. This may be bigger. Either way, more than the Kremlin was hoping to see, but probably less than the opposition wanted.

/2

The Kremlin went to extraordinary lengths to keep people off the streets - including preventive arrests, online censorship, and threats to workers and students - and there's little indication it worked (though, I suppose, turnout could have been even higher).

/3

The opposition demonstrated that it can turn out significant numbers of people nationwide, even when its leaders are in jail and there is a credible threat of violence.

/4

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is sticking to the tactics it used against the Moscow protests in the summer of 2019: random but not overwhelming violence, enough to create fears of bodily harm, but not enough to keep people off the streets.

/5

President Mnangagwa has arrived at the PPC plant in Msasa industrial area, Harare, where he will tour the facility. The President is being accompanied on the tour by VP Kembo Mohadi and several Cabinet Ministers.

Official proceedings have started with the PPC board member Stanford Moyo giving his welcome remarks.

PPC managing director Mr Kelibone Masiyane says the company is committed to the Zimbabwean market since it started production 107 years ago.

Says the company welcomes Government efforts to create an enabling environment. He says the company is playing a big role in the country's infrastructure development especially road construction and rehabilitation.

He ends his remarks and invites Industry and Commerce Minister Sekai Nzenza to the podium.

Thread: Brazil is ranked number two in the world lists of Covid fatalities, behind the USA. But that is almost certainly wrong. Mexico is almost surely number two. And in this story, we explain why. https://t.co/xeKgkMU1kJ via @WSJ

Mexico is failing to accurately record the majority of those who die from Covid. How do we know? Because the surge of excess deaths in 2020 in Mexico was roughly 2.4 times the official Covid toll. On Dec 12, excess deaths were 274,486 compared to Covid toll of 113,704.

Some of the additional deaths, of course, may not be Covid but from people who put off treatment for chronic disease, for instance. But health experts say the majority of those were likely killed by Covid. Other countries have a far smaller gap between excess deaths and Covid.

In Brazil, excess deaths for last year were 200,270 by Nov 21. The Covid toll by that date was 168,989, a far smaller gap than Mexico. That means Brazil is likely doing a far better job accurately counting its Covid dead.

A big difference is testing. Mexico carries out fewest tests in the Americas. It has only done 3.6 million tests during the entire pandemic. Brazil has done nearly 29 million. Mexico's coronavirus czar @HLGatell says widespread testing is a waste of time and resources.

Treasury Targets Billion Dollar Foundations Controlled by Iran’s Supreme Leader https://t.co/JCoE8NKD19 The Execution of Khomeini’s Order ‘EIKO’, is the richest and highest revenue-generating enterprise controlled by Khamenei. The other is The Astan-e Qods-e Razavi Foundation.

"EIKO and AQR control large swaths of the Iranian economy, including assets expropriated from political dissidents and religious minorities, to the benefit of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian government officials." EIKO was also designated in 2013 under E.O. 13599.

EIKO, also known as SETAD, has been able to take possession of some of the most profitable and largest commercial and financial firms, thanks to the direct and daily backing of Khamenei himself. The most conservative estimate of SETAD wealth is $95 billion.

EIKO board members, handpicked by Khamenei, include mullah Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, a judge during the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners; Hossein Shariatmadari, an interrogator and torturer and now Khamenei’s rep & Mohammadi Golpayegani, Khamenei’s chief of staff.

Tadbir Economic Development Group, one of EIKO’s main holding companies, and its subsidiaries own dozens of enterprises in oil, gas, refineries, petrochemicals, electronics, telecommunications, construction, mining, auto industry, and financial sectors.

Quick thoughts and thread on the recent barrage of articles seeking to push the view that all of Israel, and the West Bank, and Jerusalem and Gaza are “apartheid”...implications of this is to roll it out on eve of Biden admin to try to shift narrative (again)

First of all the whole “Zionism is racism” and “Israel is apartheid” has been a talking point for decades pushed first by the “anti-imperialist” crowd and then later in the 1990s after end of Cold War and end of actual apartheid in S. Africa.

Second this argument has shifted from seeking to encourage Israel to leave the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” which means Gaza and West Bank and East Jerusalem; to arguing all of Israel is “apartheid”

Essentially this seeks to re-write the partition plan that the colonial power and UN put in place in 1940s and the resulting armistice lines of 1948; shoehorning Israel and the Palestinians into One State, which neither communities actually want.

The goal of this paradigm is to move from trying to encourage Israel to withdraw, making it IMPOSSIBLE for Israel to withdraw because even if Israel does...the next goal will be to dismantle the rest of Israel as an “apartheid” state inside the Green Line

Russia is at war with Ukraine. A tactic of Russia’s invasion, especially in Luhansk and Donetsk in 2014, was to send mobs to seize public buildings. The mobs were indoctrinated by TV and Internet disinformation, seeded with Russian agents.

This is how Trump attacked the Capitol.

Over 74 million Americans voted for a Russian asset, Trump. They have been indoctrinated to believe Democrats are a greater threat to the U.S. than aggressor Russia. American democracy is as unstable after 4 years of Trump as Ukrainian democracy was after 4 years of Yanukovych.

Most Americans don't know and don't care about how a mob was organized to seize the Security Service of Ukraine building in Luhansk or the Donetsk Regional State Administration Building. But they should. This tactic of Russia's global war against democracy has come to the USA.

#PutinAtWar is not a secret war, whether it's using Yanukovych in Ukraine or Trump in the USA. "Russia if you're listening…" is what Trump said in 2016, inviting Russia to attack American democratic institutions. Trump praised and encouraged the insurrectionists last week.

It is the nature of Russian imperialist warfare to attack weakness. Russia attacked the United State's weak election institutions in 2016. Weak national security allowed the insurrectionists to seize the Capitol. Weak news media allows Russian disinformation to spread unchecked.

Out they go!
A CLEAN HOUSE is very important.

In today's final session, we are discussing the "Geopolitics of Europe and European Defence" with @Isabelle_kumar (@euronews), the French Minister of State for European Affairs @CBeaune, and experts from the TEPSA network

Here are the best bits⤵️

/THREAD

"It feels like Europe is at a watershed moment, when we look at all the crises we face. I will ask each of our speakers asking where we think Europe is today"

- @Isabelle_kumar, from @euronews

/2

French Minister of State for European Affairs @CBeaune is the first to speak, clarifying the French perspective of European Security: "Our aim is not to go out of the existing frameworks, the idea is to get the tools to act - ultimately - when we need to act"

/3

"It is clear that in the next years we will have to recognise that the US itself goes beyond President Trump. It is prudent to have frameworks for action which are independent of the White House"

- @CBeaune, French Minister of State for European Affairs @francediplo

/4

"We need to start with common budgetary tools at the EU level. Already we have funds to co-finance research in this area"

- @CBeaune, French Minister of State for European Affairs @francediplo

/5

THREAD: Why do Kenyans view anti-BBI sentiment as an endorsement of Ruto? Githeri media journalists are projecting our refusal to adopt a misguided constitutional review, as part of a mock cock-fight between political rivals.

Far from it. Ruto is a thief and we know it.

We are currently paying high electricity prices because of Ruto. During his first term, he planted Kalenjin thieves in the energy sector, beginning with Chirchir and then Keter, who have cause nothing but misery and untold suffering on young Kenyans.

The “last mile” KPLC project consumed resources to electrify peasant households, yet the same energy could have been diverted to industries. Industries create jobs and wealth. Peasants and slum dwellers don’t.

The social carnage inflicted by KPLC’s arbitrary power hikes is astronomic. Job losses for young Kenyans, turning once enterprising folks into beggars. Salons, Kinyozi’s, DVD joints, Cyber Cafe’s, photocopy, car-wash, etc. over 5 million informal jobs lost because of Ruto.

Don’t forget that Ruto also panders to religious hypocrites. He endorsed Uhuru’s misguided war against “illicit” alcohol, a lie crafted by Githeri media. Essentially they only wanted to forcefully acquire Keroche & Humphrey Kariuki’s business empires.