THREAD: Presidential Spokesperson @attyharryroque holds a media briefing in Malacañang | LIVE https://t.co/0X6MAKcUyB

Tweets by our digital producers @pplmanuel and @lisbetesmael

Roque recaps the recent hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole on the government's COVID-19 vaccination plan

Roque: Magkakaroon po ng legal na pananagutan ang drug companies 'pag nagbenta sila ng bakuna for commercial use kahit Emergency Use Authorization use pa lamang meron sila

Roque reiterates government is not favoring Sinovac or any particular vaccine: Dahil napakataas po ng demand, gagamitin natin kung ano ang available

Roque: Kung gusto mo makakuha ng supply, dapat bultuhan ang order mo. Halos lahat ng bansa centralized ang purchasing. Wala pa tayong alam na pribadong kumpanya na bumibili dahil hindi pa pwede

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

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

1 \ BREAKING: Saudi Arabia, Qatar & other Gulf states to sign tomorrow an agreement towards ending the Gulf rift. Jared Kushner who mediated between the parties traveled to Saudi Arabia to participate in the signing veremony which will take place during the Gulf leaders’ summit

2 \ BREAKING: Kuwaiti Foreign Minister announced Saudi Arabia and Qatar will open their land, air and sea borders starting tonight ahead of the signing of the agreement tomorrow

3 \ Why it matters: Saudi Arabia and Qatar were under pressure by the Trump administration to sign the deal. Both countries see the signing of the agreement as a gesture to Trump & also as part of their effort to “clean the table” and prepare for the incoming Biden administration

4 \ The state of play: Kushner traveled to the Gulf Cooperation Council summit which will take place in Al Ula. White House envoy Avi Berkowitz and adviser Brian Hook who helped negotiate the agreement joined Kushner on his trip

5 \ The summit tomorrow will be the first time the Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani visits Saudi Arabia since the crisis erupted in 2017. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait are going to attend

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.

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

The Presidency is worried by reports of non-compliance with just signed Executive Order that makes mask wearing and observation of social distancing in the public mandatory, appealing to Nigerians to give their maximum cooperation for success of the policy.

President Muhammadu Buhari introduced the order with the best of intentions and not with any motive to punish citizens.

The Presidency appeals to State Governments, traditional rulers and religious leaders to play active roles in the sensitization and enforcement of the Executive Order.

To achieve this, COVID-19 task forces and committees should persuade members of the public to cooperate with the government in achieving compliance and avoid crude methods that may create resistance and resentment, thereby defeating the primary goal of the Executive Order.

The Buhari administration is most reluctant to lockdown the country and continues to emphasize the non-pharmaceutical measures and the only way to avert lockdowns is to observe these measures as put in place by the Presidential Task Force.

Burma or Myanmar? What's the difference? Does it matter? A thread on political linguistics in Southeast Asia 👇

First, what's the difference between "Burma" and "Myanmar"? You might be surprised that these are basically the same word, borrowed into English twice from two different registers of the Burmese language. (A "register" describes the level of formality of a language)

Burma comes from "Bama." Myanmar comes from "Myanma." "Bama" (pronounced buh-mah) is a colloquial version of "Myanma", which incidentally has two syllables (myuh-ma), not three

How do you get "b" from "my"? Well, make a "b" sound and notice where your lips are. Then do the same with an "m" sound. Both of these are voiced bilabial consonants, and such sound changes are pretty common

For a rough analogue of Myanma/Bama, say the name of the country that is the six counties in the northern part of Ireland. Is it called "Northern Ireland"? Or is it "Norn Iron"?

Syria:

Just how unusual is last night's Israeli attack in the Al Zabadani area, close to the Syrian-Lebanese border?

The rural town of Al Zabadani is located close by to the Syrian-Lebanese border (approximately 8km from the border) (1/10)

is in the center of green valley surrounded by relatively tall mountains. Authorities did not bother updated the population number, as of 2004 the town had a population of some 26k residents, most are Sunni Muslims and the rest are Christian. (2/10)

Ever since the very beginning of the last decade the town (which is roughly 70km from the Israeli border) is used as a very important and comfortable weapons and munitions smuggling point. (3/10)

Those weapons and munitions are transfered from Iran to Syria which is used as the entry point to Lebanon. When the Syrian civil war broke in 2011 Hezbollah stood by Assad and fought alongside the Syrian army against the rebels. (4/10)

In 2015 Hezbollah successful took over Al Zabadani Hezbollah is still very active and present in the area to this day (5/10)

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

NOTE FOR (IN)HUMAN RIGHT GROUPS IN NIGERIA🇳🇬

I bring you good tidings (may be bad for you) @HURIWA_NIGERIA. I want to inform you that for the past eight years, the people of RAFI LOCAL GOVT, KAGARA, NIGER STATE have been batting with incessant attacks by bandits, cattle rustling

kidnapping for ransom and unprovoked arson.
These cases were duly reported to appropriate authorities.

What interest the good people of the area is that none of the #HumanRightsWatch either spoke for or sympathize with us, in any form or at any occasion.

@GovNiger @SSGNGSG

Many villages and communities that were attacked fled to Kagara, the headquarters of the LGA as refugees. As a result of this bandits took over most of these villages & converted them as their places of abode with some few villagers who have connived them as informants and allies

remaining in those villages.

Sadly, whenever any aerial raid or military operation takes place that's when we hear noise from this unfortunate human rights groups against any of the operations so conducted to dislodge these top notch killers & arsonists.

@humanrightslaw

So far the people of that area have lost, in momentary terms, cattles, houses, motorcycles, farm produce, looted provision stores, patent medicines stores etc worth more than three billion (N3b) aside of human lives killed as well as traumatized women that were raped.

@abusbello

Today, we salute and honor the #Veterans of the #OperationDesertStorm. Listen as SFC (Ret.) Fred W. Brown Jr. recounts his experience from thirty years ago.

Let's celebrate their service! Share a photo or a story or your favorite #DesertStorm Vet.

#ArmyHistory

The #PersianGulfWar (1990–91), was an international conflict that was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent aim of acquiring that nation’s large oil reserves.

#DesertStorm

By January 1991, the allied coalition against Iraq had reached a strength of 700,000 troops, including 540,000 U.S. personnel and smaller numbers of British, French, Egyptians, Saudis, Syrians, and several other national contingents.

#DesertStorm

The allied coalition’s military offensive against Iraq began on Jan. 17, 1991, with a massive air campaign that continued throughout the war.

Over the next few weeks, this sustained aerial bombardment, destroyed Iraq’s air defenses and several key targets.

#DesertStorm

By mid-February the allies had shifted their air attacks to Iraq’s forward ground forces in Kuwait and southern Iraq, destroying their fortifications and tanks.

#DesertStorm

I have seen the visuals of #किसान_नहीं_गुंडे ,so called #FarmersProstests ! The visuals are infuriating. But I unilaterally back Modi-Rajnath-Doval-Shah n entire Central govt n will not indulge in targetting them with bad language ! Do read this thread once and RT if agreed (1/n)

Criticising is 1 thing, here what I have been seeing is some using words like weak ,coward and some even worse things. When there is a big success these same people would be at the other end and heaping unrealistically huge praises. (2/n)

Flashback 2013: UPA rule and for Breaking India Forces (BIFs) ,RDX Bomb blasts are the norm. Whether it is Hyderabad (Dilsukhnagar) or Bodhgaya or Patna , blasts keep happening. People accustomed to serial blasts so a single bomb blast doesn’t even shock anyone. (3/n)

Flashback 2014: Modi ascends to PM chair and Rajnath is HM,Doval NSA. Security agencies given free hand, right men picked for the right job.
But terrorists network are entrenched and busting takes time. Besides attacks in J&K, we have a bomb blast in Bengaluru. (4/n)

But as agencies given free hand, attacks’ frequency reduces.
Flashback: 2015 and 2016: Coast Guard foils a 26/11 repeat around new year.
Outside J&K, we have 2 attacks in Punjab, Gurdaspur and Pathankot. Timely intelligence ensures no damage to assets in Pathankot. (5/n)

I look at young Nigerians from not-so-privileged homes despising those with privilege. You’re short changing & limiting yourself. In life, there will always be those born with privilege, those who grow into it, and those who get it from relationships. Let me explain. Thread

Those born with privilege don’t start from ground zero-they attend good schools(quality education), they don’t struggle with physiological needs for their family, they have resources to fund their passion w/o having to labor or save, & ultimately they have strong social currency.

Those without privilege have little - no legacy funds or elite education, at times even no decent shelter & living conditions for their families. So your journey is longer, laced with struggle to improve the lives of your parents & yourself. You have to first work to survive.

So as someone without privilege, your fastest way to privilege is competence/value/talent and a painstaking attempt at building your social currency by yourself. Top on the list of those you need to build networks with are the privileged. They already have larger networks.

So as you’re growing in your capabilities, you focus on creating value - value you can offer to those with privilege- you build sufficient wealth from that value. You can’t afford to stay hating those with privilege, when you should be sweating to build privilege for your kids.

Last October, Israelis were rightly horrified to hear that ~400 acres of forest burned down as a direct result of an IDF training exercise carried out in a nature reserve,despite warnings.
Now look at what happened when the IDF insisted on training in a Palestinian village today:

This is Jinba, a village in Firing Zone 918. Large-scale artillery forces arrived there this AM w/ armored vehicles. In response to @acri_online who reminded them of the damage caused last time, the IDF promised to avoid damaging residents' property. But somehow, this happened:

And this is what some of the agricultural lands looked like this morning, after the heavy armored vehicles flattened them. The residents depend on this land for their livelihood. Several months of hard work can be destroyed in a matter of minutes. (Video: Guy Botavia)

Destroying agricultural fields isn't new. Here's what a Nahal Brig soldier saw in 2004-05: "There was wheat that overflowed beyond the fields, so the instruction [...] that the platoon commander got, or at least what he said to us, [was] to trample."

Here's another picture from this morning, this time from fields belonging to residents of the neighboring Bir al-Eid: