World View: Afghan Taliban Launches Last Spring/Summer Offensive Against NATO

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Saudi farmers kiss their camels in defiance of MERS warnings
• Afghan Taliban launches last spring/summer offensive against Nato
• Summit of Asian nations splits on China

Saudi farmers kiss their camels in defiance of MERS warnings

Health officials in Saudi Arabia are telling people to drink onlypasteurized camel milk, to eat only well-cooked camel meat, and, forthose who handle camels, to wear masks and gloves in doing so. Camelshave been identified as the “reservoirs” of MERS-CoV (the MiddleEastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus), which has been continuingto spread, especially in Saudi Arabia. Studies show that it’s beencommon in camels for at least 20 years without spreading to humans.However, apparent mutations in the MERS virus have allowed it to spread tohumans and have allowed some human to human transmission, raisingpandemic concerns.

However, some camel farmers in Saudi Arabia have been calling thewarnings ridiculous and have been posting photos and videos ofthemselves defiantly hugging and kissing their camels. Some farmersare demanding that evidence be produced that their camels have thevirus, and others point out that they’ve lived for decades with camelsand have never been infected by them. Gulf News and Reuters and Recombinomics

Afghan Taliban launches last spring/summer offensive against NATO

The Afghan Taliban is announcing its final offensive against NATO prior to NATO’s withdrawal. 

According to a statement by the IslamicEmirate of Afghanistan:

In order to fully complete our religious obligationin attaining the gratitude of Allah (SWT) and in defense of ourIslamic homeland, we once again announce our annual springoperations under the name of ‘Khaibar’ with the onset of the newmilitary year against the invaders and their spineless backers!

The upcoming ‘Khaibar’ operation shall begin with the cries ofAllah u Akbar throughout the country at 5am local time on Monday… 12th May of 2014.

Like previous years, the main target of the current year’s blessedJihadi operation shall be the foreign invaders and their backersunder various names like spies, military and civilian contractorsand everyone working for them like translators, administrators andlogistics personnel.

Similarly the blessed ‘Khaibar’ Jihadi spring operations shalltarget all high ranking government officials, cabinet ministers,members of Parliament, security officials, occupation backingofficers in the Interior and Foreign Ministries, attorneys andjudges that prosecute Mujahideen as well as agents in the NationalDirectorate that pursue and torture Mujahideen.

Various modern military techniques shall again be utilized in thecurrent annual ‘Khaibar’ operations. Back-breaking martyrdomstrikes, infiltrator operations (insider attacks), targeting largeand well fortified enemy bases with heavy weapons and missiles aswell as carrying out head-on offensive operations against enemygatherings shall be some of the main techniques used in thesespring operations.

The main targets of the annual spring ‘Khaibar’ operations shallbe the military gatherings of foreign invading forces, theirdiplomatic centers and convoys as well as the military bases oftheir internal mercenary stooges, their convoys and the facilitiesof foreign, interior, intelligence and Arbakimilitia.

The Battle of Khaibar was fought by Mohammed in 629. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Khaama Press (Afghanistan)

Summit of Asian nations splits on China

Anti-China protests are generally prohibited by the Vietnamesegovernment, but apparently the government approved hundreds of peopledemonstrating in front of the Chinese Embassy on Saturday to protestChina’s installation of a mobile oil rig in waters near the ParacelIslands that Vietnam claims are in its exclusive economic zone.They were demanding that China remove the rig from Vietnamese waters.

There was a major naval confrontation last week when Vietnam sent aflotilla of about 30 ships to blockade the rig. China responded bysending 60 ships to break the blockade. Vietnam has released video ofChinese ships ramming the Vietnamese ships and spraying them withwater cannons. 

There was another confrontation last week, when the Philippinemaritime police arrested eleven Chinese fishermen hunting sea turtles in Philippines waters. The Chinese have demanded that thefishermen be released, but Philippines officials are saying that thefishermen will be tried in court on the charges of hunting endangeredspecies. 

This week’s meeting of ASEAN (the Association of South East AsianNations) was dominated by discussion of these two confrontations withChina. Vietnam and the Philippines wanted ASEAN to issue a strongstatement criticizing China, but the other members don’t wish to riskantagonizing China. China has indicated that it will use its vastmilitary power to take control of the entirety of the South China Sea,and all islands and properties in it, despite that fact that partshave been historically belonged to Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia,Indonesia and the Philippines, often for centuries. China’s actions indicate that it is using a “salami-slicing strategy,” by which itannexes one region after another, each one too small to expect theU.S. or anyone else to react militarily. Reuters and AP

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