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Al Qaeda Groups, Islamic State Both Targeted in Syria by U.S. Strikes


Khorasan and the Nusra Front have both been targeted by U.S. airstrikes in Syria, along with Islamic State. This January 2013 image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows rebels from al Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front, waving their brigade flag as they step on the top of a Syrian air force helicopter.
Associated Press

Al Qaeda Affiliates Khorasan and the Nusra Front Thought to Be More of a Threat to U.S. Than Islamic State

By Siobhan Gorman And Julian E. Barnes
Sept. 23, 2014 2:19 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The first U.S. airstrikes inside Syria, announced by the Pentagon on Monday night, went beyond hitting the Islamic State militant group, also targeting a second extremist group that U.S. officials say represents a more direct threat to the U.S. homeland.

The U.S. targeted camps and other buildings in Syria used by the Khorasan group, whose members have plotted attacks against Western airliners, officials said.

The strikes appear to represent an expansion of the U.S. mission beyond the goals outlined by President Barack Obama earlier this month, when he said U.S. military action would be designed to roll back the territorial gains made by Islamic State militants.

U.S. officials have viewed Khorasan with growing alarm in recent weeks and some have said it would be irresponsible to strike in Syria and not take aim at an al Qaeda affiliate long considered to be dangerous to the U.S. and its allies.

Islamic State militants are seen as primarily focused on taking and holding territory in Iraq and Syria, with attacks on the U.S. representing a secondary goal. It severed its ties with al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan.

Khorasan, on the other hand, has followed the direction of al Qaeda leadership and made strikes on U.S. targets its prime focus. Khorasan's plotting against airliners to target the U.S. prompted the U.S. to step up airline security over the summer, a U.S. official said.

Khorasan was one of two main groups mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article last week [ http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-tracks-threats-against-west-by-al-qaeda-affiliate-in-syria-1411083639 ] discussing dangers in Syria emanating from groups other than Islamic State.

In addition to attacks on airliners, U.S. officials have said that Khorasan has been setting up training camps in Syria for fighters who hold Western passports. Officials said the intent is to specifically to train militants who can avoid security checks, slip into the U.S. or Europe and mount attacks.

Khorasan's leader, Muhsin al Fadhli, is a longtime al Qaeda operative with long-running ties to the group's leadership in Pakistan. U.S. intelligence reports identify him as being involved with terrorist plotting out of Syria and Turkey that would target European countries, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Officials said that neither Mr. Fadhli nor other militants leaders were directly targeted on Tuesday in the first barrage of airstrikes.

Mr. Fadhli, believed to be in his 30s, is a senior al Qaeda facilitator and financier who has long been sought by the U.S., which in 2012 offered a $7 million reward for information leading to his capture.

According to the State Department, Mr. Fadhli spent years living in Iran, where officials said he helped moved money and operatives for al Qaeda. Mr. Fadhli also has an extensive network of Kuwaiti jihadist donors who have sent money to Syria through Turkey, the State Department says.

Khorasan works closely with al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, and many U.S. officials draw little distinction between the two, saying both pose a more near-term threat to the U.S. and Europe.

Intelligence officials have warned obliquely about the activities of al Qaeda's leaders in Syria for months. On Thursday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned specifically about that group, saying it may pose as much of a threat as Islamic State militants "in terms of threat to the homeland."

The step taken by the U.S. in expanding the bombing campaign so quickly to Khorasan and Nusra Front targets shows how quickly the U.S.-led campaign could expand. Some officials and counterterrorism experts doubted that the administration would be able to focus solely on Islamic State militants and believed the administration eventually would face pressure to expand the strikes.

The U.S. has been tracking Mr. Fadhli for some time, a person briefed on the matter said, adding, "He's very close to the Nusra Front."

Khorasan has become a way for al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan to wield influence in Syria, the person briefed on the matter said. "It is al Qaeda's effort to continue to influence what's going on with al Nusra and to keep general eyes on what's going on across the region," this person said.

Copyright ©2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-groups-islamic-state-both-targeted-in-syria-by-u-s-strikes-1411453187 [with comment]


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US air strikes against Isis and Khorasan in Syria – live updates
• US bombardment spreads from Iraq to Syria for the first time
• Damascus was informed before the air raids began
• Raids also aimed at stopping ‘imminent’ Khorasan attack
• British hostage John Cantlie appears in another Isis video
• Air strikes target Isis stronghold of Raqqa
• Britain to consider joining campaign
Live
23 September 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/live/2014/sep/23/us-air-strikes-against-isis-in-syria-live-updates [with embedded videos, and comments]


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Power Says Other Nations Will Join The U.S. In Airstrikes In Syria
09/21/2014 Updated: 09/22/2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/us-airstrikes-syria_n_5857164.html [with embedded video report, and comments]


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Robert Gates Says U.S. Will Need Some Boots On The Ground To Defeat Islamic State In Iraq

By Kate Sheppard
Posted: 09/21/2014 11:36 am EDT Updated: 09/22/2014 10:59 am EDT

WASHINGTON -- Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Sunday that it is unlikely the United States can accomplish the goals President Barack Obama has laid out for defeating Islamic State militant groups in Iraq without putting some "boots on the ground."

"What I believe, and what I suspect most military people believe, is that given the mission the president has assigned, which is degrade and destroy, that to be able to do that, some small number of American advisers, trainers, Special Forces and forward spotters, forward air controllers, are going to have to be in harm's way," Gates said in an appearance on ABC's "This Week."

Gates said he thinks the number of troops needed, however, "will be very small."

Obama said last week [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/17/obama-combat-iraq_n_5836882.html ] that U.S. forces "do not and will not have a combat mission" in Iraq. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a hearing [ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/16/us-iraq-crisis-usa-idUSKBN0HB21S20140916 ] earlier this week that there is no intention to have ground operations in Iraq, but also outlined some circumstances in which it could be necessary.

Gates said he agrees with Obama's assessment that the U.S. should wait until a new government is in place in Iraq to determine how to proceed. "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos noted that Gates has warned against getting involved in ground combat in places such as Iraq. Gates suggested the U.S. should proceed with caution.

"This is a generational conflict. And we need to understand that. We also need to be very modest about how we can shape the outcomes here," said Gates. "And I think one of the things we need to do is step back, look at this kind of cauldron of violence and instability that's going to be with us a long time and what is our strategy overall for the region? What do we want as an outcome?"

Gates also said that a mission of destroying the militant group ISIS would be "very ambitious," and the goal instead should be to keep the group from getting a "foothold" in Iraq. "I think destroying probably is ambitious, at least in the foreseeable future," said Gates. "But it is a realistic objective to try and push them out of Iraq and deny them a permanent foothold some place."

Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/gates-isis-iraq_n_5857274.html [with embedded video report, and comments]


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ISIS Urges Followers To Attack U.S., French Citizens

This undated image posted on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014 by the Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group, a Syrian opposition group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters of the Islamic State waving the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria.
09/22/2014 Updated: 09/23/2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/isis-attack-france-us_n_5860498.html [with comments]


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New ISIS Recording Urges Muslims to Kill Civilians in US-Led Coalition Countries

ISIS fighter identified in a July 2014 ISIS online magazine as Abu Muhammad Al-Andani.
Sep 22, 2014
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/isis-recording-urges-muslims-kill-civilians-us-led/story?id=25669372 [with embedded video report, and comments]


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Turkey clamps down on Syria border after Kurdish unrest
22 September 2014
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29306088


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UN: Kurdish refugees in Turkey 'need international aid'
22 September 2014
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29306488


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200,000 flee in biggest displacement of Syrian conflict, monitor says
September 23, 2014
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/22/world/meast/syria-civil-war/ [with comments]


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German Muslims Turn Out In Force For Nationwide Protest Against Islamic State


Muslims gather for Friday prayers on the street outside the Mevlana Moschee mosque on a nation-wide action day to protest against the Islamic State (IS) on September 19, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.
Sean Gallup via Getty Images

By Carol Kuruvilla
Posted: 09/20/2014 9:14 am EDT Updated: 09/20/2014 9:59 am EDT

German Muslims are fighting extremism with prayer.

Muslims from more than 2,000 mosques across Germany came out in force on Friday, using their traditional day of prayer to the counter Islamic State propaganda and draw attention to the rising tide of Islamophobia in their own country.

The show of solidarity was organized by Germany’s four main Muslim advocacy groups and attracted thousands of supporters in Berlin, Hamburg, Mölln, Bielefeld, Oldenburg, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart.

About 1,000 Muslims laid prayer mats down outside a Berlin mosque that had been damaged by an arsonist in August.

More than five German mosques have been torched in the past three weeks, Aiman Mazyek, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims told The Local [ http://www.thelocal.de/20140919/german-muslims-rally-against-extremism ].



Muslims in the country are trying their best to separate themselves from the actions of the so-called Islamic State, an extremist group that has spread their bloody reign of terror across large swaths of Northern Iraq and Syria.

“We want to make clear terrorists and criminals do not speak in the name of Islam, they have trampled on the commandments of our religion, and that murderers and criminals have no place in our ranks, in our religion," Mazyek said during a news conference.

German politicians and faith leaders from different religions also came out to show their support. Nikolaus Schneider, head of the Council of Protestant Churches, thanked the organizers for taking a stand.

"You have unequivocally said that Islam and terror don't belong together," Schneider said during a peace rally.

"We believe you," he added, drawing cheers from the crowd.

An estimated 400 Germans have fled the country to join the IS fighters in the Middle East, Reuters [ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/16/us-iraq-syria-germany-muslims-idUSKBN0HB24G20140916 ] reports. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière has urged Germany’s 4 million Muslims to be vigilant about the group’s recruitment tactics.

But Azize Tank, a parliament member, was regretful about the fact that Muslims in her country felt compelled to explain the actions of a terrorist group thousands of miles away.

"Normal Muslims shouldn't always have to apologize for everything,” Tank told Deutsche Welle [ http://www.dw.de/german-muslims-unite-against-islamic-state/a-17935900 ].

She hoped politicians would do more to make young Muslims feel welcome in Germany.

"You need to give young people jobs and make sure there's an environment that prevents them from joining extremist organizations,” Tank said.

Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/20/germany-muslims-islamic-state_n_5852342.html [with comments]


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ISIS threat: Americans are passengers on Titanic with Obama at helm

Video [embedded]

Will President Obama's ISIS strategy succeed?

Violence encountered by the West is but the tip of an Islamic iceberg. By failing to attack it, we become passengers onboard an ill-fated Titanic.

By Lt. Col. James G. Zumwalt (ret.)
Published September 22, 2014

President Obama’s recent speech on how to defeat the terrorist group ISIS — as America faces the greatest threat in its history — represented “one small step for man” but no “giant leap for mankind” in attacking the source of the problem.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey were on the hot seat defending Obama’s ISIS game plan at a Sept. 16 hearing in the Senate. Their testimony suggested a disconnect between the White House and the Pentagon on the need for ground troops, the former having said no and the latter now saying maybe.

ISIS’ destruction may be Obama’s goal, but he still lacks a strategy. The Senate testimony did nothing to suggest otherwise.

Imagine if BP had focused only on the cleanup and not on the source of the leak after the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf. BP would still be cleaning up the environmental mess today.

Similarly, as ISIS takes a human toll in the Middle East, its destruction fails to focus on the source.

Listing ISIS’ barbaric acts — torture, rape, beheadings, etc. — Obama said the terrorist group is misguided and does not represent Islam.

But by seeking to detach ISIS from Islam, it is Obama who is misguided. Every barbaric act he mentioned is sanctioned by Islam and, in fact, has been committed by Muslims during their 1400-year history.

Ironically, while Muhammad’s violence targets Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims, Muslims have claimed most of their victims through “cannibalization.” They’ve been “eating their own,” with Muslim sects relegating other Muslim sects to non-Muslim status.

Obama fails to understand that a Muslim world united under a single global caliphate, whether it be ISIS, Al Qaeda, Iran, etc., will fully project its violence against the Koran’s intended targets — non-Muslims — doing so not as a detached religion, but as Islam itself dictates.

The violence encountered by the West so far is but the tip of an Islamic iceberg. By failing to recognize this, we become passengers on an ill-fated Titanic, with Obama at the helm, refusing to warn us. Politically correct, as always, he misrepresents Islam and leaves us apathetic and in the dark, blind to Muslims’ plan to destroy Western democracies.

Violence against non-Muslims, mandated by the Koran, is perpetual — or until the caliphate’s establishment. A newly independent America quickly discovered this when it fought an unprovoked war with Islam’s Barbary pirates, who justified their violence under the Koran.

In modern times, we open our doors to Islam, failing to understand that it is an ideology still dedicated to America’s destruction. We naively do so because Muslims, as well as Obama, claim Islam is a religion of peace.

If we open our doors to Islam and allow its influence to grow, its dark side will be revealed; but, meanwhile, those trying to sound the ship’s alarm are labeled as Islamophobes.

We have ignored many warning signs of Islam’s evil intent to destroy the West “from within,” which was the Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy over two decades ago:

• In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders repeatedly tries to educate us about Islam’s dark side — and his government calls him Islamophobic.

• In England, Brits watch Shariah evolve in parallel with their own legal system. They are only now awakening to the danger, and it may be too late to reverse it.

• In France, Muslims, using an undercurrent of anti-Semitism, encourage others to join them, successfully driving out Jews. Soon the Muslim focus will turn to the others, as well.

• In Germany, concerns arise about Shariah law encroachment, triggering a major confrontation yet to play out.

In a television interview last month, Anjem Choudary, a British-born convert to Islam who became an imam, gloated over the inroads Islam has made in England — and even supported ISIS’ brutality. Ironically, he spreads hate in Britain while he collects $43,000 in welfare — brazenly accepting it as England’s recognition of Islam’s superiority.

Choudary warns that Shariah is coming to America — a door now ajar.

Within Western democracies today, it is not ISIS that is the immediate threat. It is Islam’s dark side.

While naiveté opened doors for Islam’s Dr. Jekyll, the West now suffers the homicidal mania of Islam’s Mr. Hyde. Obama’s speech offers nothing to stop him.

Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (ret.), is a former Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war. He is the author of "Bare Feet, Iron Will--Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam's Battlefields [ http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Stories-Other-Vietnams-Battlefields/dp/0977788431 ]," "Living the Juche Lie: North Korea's Kim Dynasty [ http://www.amazon.com/Living-Juche-North-Koreas-Dynasty/dp/1937592189 ]" and "Doomsday: Iran--The Clock is Ticking [ http://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Ticking-James-G-Zumwalt/dp/1937592251 ]."

©2014 FOX News Network, LLC

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/09/22/isis-threat-americans-are-passengers-on-titanic-with-obama-at-helm/ [with comments] [and see e.g. "An open letter to Barack Obama: World War III is here", the last item at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=106342052 and preceding (and any future following)]


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State Rep. John Bennett Stands By Anti-Islam Comments: 'Islam Is Not Even A Religion'

By Chris Branch
Posted: 09/22/2014 2:51 pm EDT Updated: 09/22/2014 2:59 pm EDT

Oklahoma state Rep. John Bennett (R) has not shied away from the controversial, anti-Islam comments he's made both on Facebook and at rallies [ http://www.sequoyahcountytimes.com/news/local_news/article_9382c002-3e6c-11e4-b820-001a4bcf6878.html ] in the past, and it seems like he won't anytime soon.

Bennett again defended the statements in an interview with HuffPost Live on Monday and said he'd argue Islam "is not even a religion."

"I stand behind them wholeheartedly," Bennett told host Alyona Minkovski. "First off, I never said Muslims were a cancer, I said Islam ... I would even submit to you that Islam is not even a religion. It's a social political system that uses a deity to advance its agenda of global conquest. That's exactly what ISIS is doing now, and people that follow Islam are and will do the same thing."

Also joining the conversation was Adam Soltani, director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who said he received death threats [ http://kfor.com/2014/09/18/oklahoma-muslims-receive-death-threats/ ] after Bennett's comments.

"I received a phone call from an individual who asked if I was the director of CAIR and I said yes. He said he thinks I should be beheaded and so should every other Muslim in America," Soltani said. "What he said about the holy Quran, the holy scripture of 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide is absolutely false. It's just lies, it's hatred, it's bigotry."

Watch the rest of the clip above [embedded], and catch the full HuffPost Live conversation here [ http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/free-speech-zone-alyona-minkovski/541b12b302a7600cab000262 ].

Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/oklahoma-john-bennett-islam_n_5863084.html [with comments]


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The banality of barbarism



Sep 17, 2014

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/17/1330355/-Cartoon-The-banality-of-barbarism [with comments]


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The Beheading Coalition
by Mark Fiore
September 17, 2014
Now that the United States is forming another military coalition to combat evil in the Middle East, maybe we should pause to take a closer look at the members of this coalition. Sure, ISIS is terrible and does awful things like behead people, but they’ve got nothing on Saudi Arabia, which beheads people as a matter of policy.
http://vimeo.com/106456166 [with comments] [embedded with additional introduction and transcript at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/19/1330558/-Cartoon-The-Beheading-Coalition (with comments)]


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A War Worth Fighting, But We're Not There Yet
09/20/2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/a-war-worth-fighting-but_b_5854034.html [with comments]


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Kerry Holds Rare Face-to-Face Talks with Iran’s FM
September 21, 2014
http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-holds-rare-face-to-face-talks-with-iranian-fm/2457552.html


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Exclusive: Iran seeks give and take on Islamic State militants, nuclear program
Sep 22, 2014
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/22/iran-nuclear-idINKCN0HH09I20140922 [no comments yet]


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White House: No nuclear concessions to secure Iran’s help against ISIS
09/22/14
http://thehill.com/policy/international/218512-wh-no-nuclear-concessions-to-secure-irans-help-against-isis [with comments]


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Kerry, Iran counterpart discuss nuclear talks, Islamic State

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Iraq at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 19, 2014.
Sep 22, 2014
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/22/iran-nuclear-kerry-idINKCN0HH09P20140922 [no comments yet]


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Kerry Meets Zarif on Nuclear Negotiations, Islamic State

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister.
Sep 22, 2014
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-22/kerry-meets-zarif-on-nuclear-negotiations-islamic-state.html [with comments]
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-09-21/kerry-meets-zarif-on-nuclear-negotiations-islamic-state [no comments yet]


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Netanyahu: Easing Iranian Sanctions for Help Against ISIS “Absurd”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that agreeing to ease sanctions against Iran in exchange for help fighting ISIS was “absurd.”
“Like a madman who throws Firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, ‘Was I not joking?’” (Proverbs 26:18-19)
September 22, 2014
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/21935/netanyahu-easing-iranian-sanctions-help-isis-absurd/ [with comments]


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Thaw in Saudi-Iran ties as FMs meet in US

23 September 2014
http://www.arabnews.com/news/634386 [no comments yet]


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Iran seeks expansion of all-round ties with Saudi Arabia
2014-09-23
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-09/23/c_127018713.htm


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Iran-Saudi flirtation may change coalition against Islamic State
Rapprochement may change U.S. objection to Iran's participation in campaign against militants in Iraq and Syria.
Sep 23, 2014
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/.premium-1.617300 [no comments yet]


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Cameron Ready To Work With Iran To Defeat IS

Mr Cameron hopes to mobilise support against Islamic State with Mr Rouhani
David Cameron is to become the first British Prime Minister to meet an Iranian President since 1979 in a historic encounter in New York.
23 September 2014
http://news.sky.com/story/1340454/cameron-ready-to-work-with-iran-to-defeat-is [with comments]


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Cameron to meet Iran's Rouhani for talks

David Cameron and Hassan Rouhani spoke by phone last year but have never had a face-to-face meeting
23 September 2014
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29319873


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U.S., Iran seek common ground against militants, but doubts persist

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (L) holds a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) on the second straight day of talks over Tehran's nuclear program in Vienna, July 14, 2014.
Sep 23, 2014


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in addition to (linked in) the post to which this is a reply and preceding and (other) following, see also (linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=106498436 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=106509510 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=106512135 and preceding and following