Q&A With Ali Safavi on Iranian Regime’s Terrorism and the Case of Assadollah Assadi
#EUTime4FirmIranPolicy #ShutDownIranTerrorEmbassies
@eu_eeas @JosepBorrellF @GermanyDiplo @BelgiumMFA @francediplo_EN @DutchMFA @NorwayMFA @ItalyMFA @SwissMFA @SweMFA @MFA_Austria @FCDOGovUK

On February 4, a court in Belgium is expected to announce its verdict about Iran’s incarcerated diplomat-terrorist Assadollah Assadi who attempted to bomb the opposition rally in 2018 in France.
#EUTime4FirmIranPolicy #ShutDownIranTerrorEmbassies
@Ulkoministerio @CzechMFA

Q: One can argue that Iranian regime has been engaged in state terrorism for four decades. So why do you think this plot stands out? What aspects of the findings by the investigators you have found the most significant?
#EUTime4FirmIranPolicy

A: While it is true that terrorism has been part and parcel of the Iranian regime’s foreign policy, this plot stands out for three reasons.
1) it is the first time that an accredited senior regime so-called diplomat has been personally and directly involved in a terrorist scheme.

2) The Undeniable evidence, including seized documents make it abundantly clear that this was not a personal initiative of Assadi, but had been planned, approved, commissioned by the most senior regime officials all way up to the Supreme Leader, president, foreign minister.

This morning, His Excellency starts the 2020 Edition of the National Thanksgiving Ceremony at ZITF Grounds. This is the fourth such get-together of the faithfuls, with the President having attending all but one. Zimbabwe is a prayerful Nation of many faiths, all of which coexist

...harmony as dictated to by the National Constitution.

How the 36 Nigerian states got their names. A thread 🧵

1. Abia

Abia is an acronym from the four main groups of people in the state as at the time it was formed in 1991: Aba Bende Isuikwuato Afikpo.

2. Adamawa

Adamawa was named after a warrior, Modibbo Adama Bin Ardo Hassan, that conquered the region in the beginning of the 19th century.

3. Akwa-Ibom

Akwa Ibom is named after the Qua Iboe (or Kwa Iboe) River.

4. Anambra

The state got its name from the corrupted version of Oma Mbala (Ànyịm Ọma Mbala), a popular river in the area.

A thread
1/9
"Srinagar, January 4, 1990. Aftab, a local Urdu newspaper, publishes a press release issued by Hizb-ul Mujahideen, set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1989 .. asking all Hindus to pack up and leave."
by @KanchanGupta

2/9
"In the following days, there is near chaos in the Kashmir valley with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his National Conference government abdicating all responsibilities of the State."

3/9
"Walls are plastered with posters and handbills, summarily ordering all Kashmiris to strictly follow the Islamic dress code, ... masked men with Kalashnikovs force people to re-set their watches and clocks to Pakistan Standard

4/9
"Srinagar, January 19, 1990. Jagmohan arrives to take charge as governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah, whose pathetic, whimpering, snivelling government has all but ceased to exist and has gone into hiding, resigns and goes into a sulk."

#KashmiriHinduExodus

5/9
"As evening falls... three taped slogans are repeatedly played the whole night from mosques: 'Kashmir mei agar rehna hai, Allah-O-Akbar kehna hai' (If you want to stay in Kashmir, you have to say Allah-O-Akbar);
#KashmiriHinduExodus

THREAD
What is overlooked in analysis of #RussiaProtest after @navalny's arrest? It's sophistication that the Kremlin has developed in addressing such threats, and lack of realistic strategy by Putin's opponents. Let's put together some unpleasant facts 👇

2/ Of course, it's hard not to be impressed by @navalny's and his family's courage, as well as by energy and scale of protests on January 23. Good summary by @yaffaesque for @NewYorker here:

3/ @navalny's investigation about Putin's palace (>96 million views now!) and street protests are seen as a serious challenge by the Kremlin, which is visible in heavy-handed crackdown on Navalny's team&family, as @HenryJFoy & @maxseddon document here:

4/ Jan 23 protest had the widest geographic coverage (>120 cities all across Russia), and the crowd numbers were significant, particularly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It's important to note that the price tag for unsanctioned rallies is now higher than before...

5/... and protesters risk much more than 100k people who came to Bolotnaya Square in Moscow back in 2011. Add COVID, and 40k crowd (@Reuters estimate) in the capital will look like a success. But here comes the tricky part.

.@N12News assessment of Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi's tenure as IDF Chief of Staff at 2 yrs:

2-@n12news:IDF finishing 2 good yrs since Kochavi's appointment: few Israelis harmed by terror, terror attacks stopped at border, including sea and land penetrations from Gaza , bombs on Syrian border, rocket attacks, Cyber attacks

3-@n12news: On the offensive, IDF engaged in, intensifying "war between wars" -- most activity carried out by air or sea, small part through cross-border special forces ops. Not just in Syria, but also Iraq, Lebanon, Sinai, in addition to reported cyber attacks in Iran

4-@N12News: Significantly damaged weapons, bases, armament factories. "Iranians evacuated 50% of forces in Syria, moved bases east," mistakenly thinking this would complicate IAF missions. Damage also to Syrian Army, its missile factors and defense systems

5-@n12news: War Between Wars will expand in coming yr, but this brings Israel closer to point where opponents can no longer restrain themselves

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.

GHANA’S ELECTORAL COMMISSION AND WHY I KEEP DEFENDING THEM BUT THEY KEEP DISAPPOINTING ME

A thread

Ghana has had 8 general elections under the 4th republic and every election has had its challenges
I must say that, the EC, political parties and other stakeholders have always tried to bring in measures or reforms to make an election and its processes better than the previous

From voting with opaque ballot boxes in 1992 to using voter ID in 2000 to using a biometric system in 2012, the integrity of Ghana’s electoral system has been difficult to undermine or rig

However it seems as someone who has championed the course of the EC and its activities, recent events has me worried and reason I think Ghanaians must ask for the right and legal things to be done to protect the sovereign will of the people

I had never trusted election figures until 2012 and these are my reasons; From 1992-2008, the electoral system had frailties that could be manipulated to the advantage of one party
There were reported cases of over-voting, multiple voting and others not on the register voting

1] Hopefully, after this, I will be saying less and less stuff about @DMwonzora & the @MyMDC_T

In Africa, any serious politician has to be a charismatic orator.

Strategy & effective administration is actually anchored on that.

Sadly, Dougie ticks none of those boxes.

2] African politics is unique.

There are many brilliant politicians who failed to make a mark, simply because of their inability to command attention.

You need to be able to convince people to listen, if you have any chance at convincing them to believe in you & what you offer.

3] Of equal concern is the perceptions people have of a politician.

ZANUPF caused irreparable damage on Tsvangirai as a political brand, as State media "successfully" labelled him a stooge of Westen interests.

I've wondered if the MDC did enough, to shake this off early.

4] Another critical feature of African politics, is that parties are just as popular as their Leader(s), especially the inaugural one(s).

The party grows as the Leader becomes more popular.

Most times, the Leader fortunately or unfortunately becomes more popular than the party.

5] ZanuPF was just as popular as Mugabe

MDC-T was just as popular as Tsvangirai

MDC ALLIANCE is just as popular as Chamisa.

Whoever takes over usually struggles.

Funny enough, Dougie is attempting to bank on the popularity of man who actually politically died with his MDC-T.

1.I just hope that the Nigerian youths most especially the Soro So ke werey Generation will learn a thing or two from what is happening in America. That they will learn something about PATRIOTISM and LOVE of Country. Citizens has the rights to criticise or protest against the

2. gov't but allowing foreigners to help you destroy and burn down your Country while they protect theirs jealousy is the most stupid thing anybody can do.

The earlier you and all African youths understand that the problems you are facing and complaining about in Africa are

3. orchestrated by the same people you always call upon whenever there is a problem the better for you. Let me give you an example, every Country borrows, and the World Bank and IMF are created for these reasons. But when Countries like America and the other developed countries

4. borrows from them, they get the loans at 1.5 -1.9% interest rates. Meanwhile, African Countries will get those same loans at 9-10% interests. Loans they may never be ever be able to pay. This is because the plan is to make sure Africa never succeeds, because if we do the West

5. will be in serious trouble. Africa's success will mean their failure and our failure means their success. So they will do everything to make us never to succeed. Too sad that the African youth has failed to realise this even with the huge access to informations in this

Thread on Libertarianism

1.
Libertarians are useful for one thing: highlighting government inefficiency. Other than that, they’re almost useless and have little to no understanding of human nature.

2.
The fatal flaw of Libertarians is that they can’t see that their ideology contains a programming error that ensures the death of that ideology: an ironclad belief in democracy.

3.
Arthur Conan Doyle was correct when he said: “While the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty.”

Libertarians (outside of a few in the Mises Institute) all believe in democracy.

4.
Democracy has proven to us that, regardless of what people say as _individuals_ about freedom or taxes, they _collectively_ vote for benefits and larger gov’t.

Example: simply look at US debt and what its government's largest expenses are.

5.
This ensures the death of the libertarian experiment because more benefits & bigger govt also expands govt authority and regulation. Govt has no reliable subculture of restraint to prevent this, because representative govts exclusively comprise those who WANT to be in govt

Sanyukt Kisan Morcha to hold a press briefing in a short while from now...

Farm union leaders addressing the pc with a masked man....the masked man admits on camera that he and his few accomplices were asked to disrupt the farm agitation by indulging in violence.....

Govt wants to disrupt the agitation, says a farm union leader......

Youth on camera admits that he and his accomplices were planning to disrupt Jan 26 tractor parade

youth was even tasked to kill four farm union leaders

Farm union leaders holding this press briefing to convey that govt and its agencies have activated the dirty tricks department to disturb the peaceful agitation...@ndtv

Masked man goes on to admit that he and his accomplices were involved in similar violence during Jat agitation in Haryana

"We, in police uniform, used to canecharge protesters," said the masked man...

#NigerianPolitics: The inter-tribal hostilities presently brewing in the south-west of Nigeria 🇳🇬 between Yoruba & Fulani people need not happen if all parties are ready to shun dishonesty & allegiance to primordial tribal sentiments. We must not allow an escalation.

That there is a problem of criminals hiding in SW forests is beyond a doubt.These criminals are known to disguise as Fulani people carrying out legitimate cattle herding business in the region. Some of the criminals have also been found to be fulani in times past & recently.

Previous engagements between governments of the region and leadership of the Fulani cattle herders association has not yielded the expected result of reduction in kidnapping along the highways of the region while survivors have always said the kidnappers look 'fulani.'

I have not been kidnapped before but I have had former co-workers who have been kidnapped along the Akure-Owo expressway. They gave similar reports about the ethnicity of their kidnappers.

We must not discount the harrowing experiences of these Nigerians in the name of politics.

Now the simple solution to this not too complex problem has been made surprisingly complicated by the peculiar nature of our politics in Nigeria:

1. We want all solutions to states' problem to come only from Abuja even though we run a federal system.

1/ I've watched (part of) Navalny's "Putin's Palace" exposé, and I suggest you do same. (It is subtitled.) It's half psychological profile/biography and half @60Minutes style follow the money report, citing rafts of documents, using drone footage. Now...

2/ I cannot verify its claims. You'd need to be a Russian speaker commanding a team of forensic accountants, for starters. But the pattern of Putin using "wallets"—old friends and cronies to horcrux his vast stolen wealth—is well known. He may be richest person in world.

3/ "Putin's Palace" hones in on one...palace...estimated to cost $1.3 BILLION. But it's the pattern of how the money is hidden that's more nefarious, esp put against what Russia spends on its people in pensions and otherwise. Here's a @CNN summary

4/ Also how Putin morphed from a Soviet intelligence agent to evoking more of a Russian Orthodox tinged version of Mother Russia. It's all about the money—he seems quite mad about exhibiting wealth—and the film's somewhat treacly comparisons to the Sun King, are apt.

5/ Navalny had a big base of support before this film, but his decision to come back, simultaneously release "Putin's Palace," which has outraged Russians, especially young ones—this is what people are protesting for, and likely dying for, today.

A "brief" recapitulation of monthly events/turmoil in 2020 :-

⚠ LONG THREAD

JANUARY
-US airstrike killed one of the most important leader of Iran, Gen.Qassem Soleimani
-Philippines Taal Volcano eruption
-Trump impeachment inquiry
-Iranian military by mistake downed a Ukraine plane killing all 176 on board

FEBRUARY
-Anti CAA riots in India
-Namaste trump event
-Coronavirus Spreading
-UK leaves Brexit
-US confirmed killing of Yemen AlQaeda Leader
-US-Taliban sign peace agreement (withdrawal of American Soldiers from Afghanistan, releasing prisoners)

MARCH
-India becomes observer of Indian Ocean Commission
-Finland topped the World Happiness Report
-Olympics Postponed
-Former CJI nominated in Rajya Sabha
-Syrian strikes kill Turkish soldiers
-Migrant exodus struck India

APRIL
-India supplies HCQ and paracetamol worldwide
-Hole opened up in Ozone layer in Arctic got closed
-Global surge in violence against women due to lockdowns
-Oil prices hit negative
-KimJongUn "dead or alive"