Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/14/2014

Tensions dropped in Ferguson, Missouri, after four straight nights of violent confrontations between youths and police. The youths were protesting the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed teenager. President Obama spoke up about the crisis, but was rebuked by the chief of the Fraternal Order of Police. The Missouri Highway Patrol was assigned to oversee security in Ferguson in an attempt to defuse the violence between the protesters and police.

In other news, North Korea fired five test missiles near South Korea as Pope Francis paid a visit to Seoul.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Fjordman, Jerry Gordon, JP, RR, Seneca III, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» #BBCtrending: From Ferguson to ‘Fergustan’
» Live Updates on Ferguson: Obama to Speak Soon
» Man of Steel Looks Like Money: Local Man Selling First Superman Comic for Millions
» Missouri Highway Patrol to Direct Security in Ferguson, Governor Says
» Obama Calls for Calm as Missouri Governor Pledges Shifts in Police Methods
» Rob Manfred Elected as New M.L.B. Commissioner
» Tear Gas Fired as Tension Rises in Ferguson After Shooting of Black Teenager
» Watch Part 1 of VFN-TV Interviews From the Pensacola Stand for Israel Rally
 
Europe and the EU
» Colossal Scandinavian Project Aims to Connect Copenhagen and Oslo
» Intifada and Jewish Defence in France
» Northern Ireland: Belfast Plaque Marking Birth Home of Former Israeli President Chaim Herzog Removed
» Record Growth for Swedish Population
» Scottish Jew Says He Was Fired for Wearing Magen David
» Sweden: Fermented Fish Bomb Thrown at Festival
» UK: ‘My Dad Was a Polygamist Who Had Four Wives’
» UK: Bid to Knock Down Historic Stags Head Pub in Deane Rejected Again
» UK: Claim: Five-Year-Old Girl Banned From Eating Chicken Sandwich by Nursery ‘Because it Was Not Halal’
» UK: Mosque Opening Plan Rejected Once Again
» UK: Matloch Brothers Search: Two Arrests Made
» UK: Sir Cliff Richard’s Berkshire Property Searched by Police
» UK: Theatre Church in Astley Bridge to be Demolished and Replaced With 9 Houses
» UK: This BBC Protection Racket Should be Shut Down
 
North Africa
» 1 Killed in Egypt Pro-Morsi Protests
» Morocco Dismantles Recruitment Cell for Iraq
» Mummies in Egypt Began Long Before Age of Pharoahs
» Mummifying-Balm Recipe is Older Than the Pharaohs
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Grumpy Old Man: What Remains Unreported
» ‘Human Wrongs Council’ — Israel Ambassador to UN on Schabas Appointment to Gaza Commission
» Live Updates: Tel Aviv Rally in Solidarity With Israel’s Rocket-Ridden South Draws Thousands
 
Middle East
» 25 Killed in Clashes With Sunni Insurgents in Iraq
» Barack Obama’s Half-Truths About US Intervention in Iraq Could Come Back to Haunt Him
» Exclusive: Islamic State Militants Grab New Weapon — Iraqi Wheat
» Iraq Crisis: Live
» Iraq Crisis: Obama Says US ‘Broke Mt Sinjar Siege’
» Iraq’s Prime Minister Agrees to Relinquish Power
» Iraq: Despite U.S. Claims, Yazidis Say Crisis is Not Over
» Iraq: Islamic State Continues Sweep Against Kurds Towards Baghdad
» Iraq: Islamic State Jihadists: Once You’ve Beheaded Someone for Fun, Where Do You Stop?
» Syria: British Jihadist Shows Off Bomb Prowess
» Uncivilized Behavior of Kuwaiti, Gulf Tourists
 
Russia
» 74 Civilians Killed in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region Over Three Days
» Almost 17,000 Children From Uraine Sheltered in Russian Temporary Settlements
» Russia Calls for Ceasefire in East Ukraine to Facilitate Humanitarian Effort
 
South Asia
» 3 Police Killed in Eastern Afghan Blast
» Malaysian Teen Investigated for ‘Liking’ Israel
 
Far East
» China is Developing Alarming High-Tech Weapons Systems
» Drinking Urine and Other Bizarre Chinese Medical Remedies
» Film-Maker Defies China’s Censors to Reveal Horrors of the Great Famine
» North Korea Test-Fires Missiles as Pope Visits South
» Xenophobia Alive and Well in Japan as Racist Books Fly Off the Shelves
 
Australia — Pacific
» Khaled Sharrouf Mental Health Problems Left Untreated in Prison
» Let’s Get Together and Hold Heads
 
Immigration
» Australia to Offer Emergency Refuge to 4,000 Iraqi Christians, Yazidis
» Denmark: Human Trafficking Feared Behind Asylum Boom
 
General
» The New Romantics
 

#BBCtrending: From Ferguson to ‘Fergustan’

After the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police in the US state of Missouri, and the violence that followed, questions have arisen about the police reaction.

The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown sparked often violent protests, looting and rioting across Ferguson, Missouri, over the past three days. Some commentators have now dubbed the suburb “Fergustan” on social media, suggesting the area now resembles a “war zone”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Live Updates on Ferguson: Obama to Speak Soon

Last update: 12:36 p.m. ET

The unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, has taken a dramatic turn. Mashable will be updating this story throughout the day. See below for the latest…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Man of Steel Looks Like Money: Local Man Selling First Superman Comic for Millions

Superman recently turned 75, and the superhero has never been more popular.

Now a Federal Way man is set to make millions off the Man of Steel. Darren Adams owns Pristine Comics. A few years back, he stumbled upon a copy of “Action Comics No. 1,” featuring the first appearance of Superman.

He recently turned down an offer of $3 million, and instead has opted to put it up for bid on eBay.com beginning Thursday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Missouri Highway Patrol to Direct Security in Ferguson, Governor Says

Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri moved Thursday to restore calm in a St. Louis suburb after the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer led to several nights of unrest, which were met by tear gas and rubber bullets.

At a news conference, Mr. Nixon said that the Missouri State Highway Patrol would direct the team providing security and crowd control during protests. The governor said that the highway patrol would work with local law enforcement officers.

[Return to headlines]
 

Obama Calls for Calm as Missouri Governor Pledges Shifts in Police Methods

Expressing concern over the “violent turn” of events in this St. Louis suburb, President Obama said on Thursday that he wanted an open and transparent investigation into the shooting death on Saturday of an unarmed 18-year-old black man by the police.

Speaking on Martha’s Vineyard, where he is on vacation, Mr. Obama said there was no excuse for the use of excessive force by the police that has persisted in the five days of protests since the shooting of the teenager, Michael Brown.

“Now’s the time for healing,” Mr. Obama said. “Now’s the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson.”

Minutes earlier, Gov. Jay Nixon promised that residents of Ferguson were going to see a different tone in the response by the police after five nights of unrest in which the authorities have used tear gas and rubber bullets to control the crowds.

Officials said that Mr. Nixon would soon remove the St. Louis County police from handling the unrest in Ferguson.

[Return to headlines]
 

Rob Manfred Elected as New M.L.B. Commissioner

Rob Manfred, a high-ranking executive in Major League Baseball for many years, was chosen Thursday by the league’s owners to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner, one of the most powerful positions in sports.

Mr. Manfred was confirmed after several ballots by baseball’s 30 owners, who convened in a closed-door ballroom in downtown Baltimore. In the initial ballot, he received 22 votes, one short of what he needed. Hours later, he got the 23rd vote.

[Return to headlines]
 

Tear Gas Fired as Tension Rises in Ferguson After Shooting of Black Teenager

Journalists arrested as police confront angry protesters in Missouri

Tear gas filled the streets of Ferguson, Missouri after the fourth successive night of protests at the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police.

The latest series of confrontations saw two journalists, one from the Washington Post and another from the Huffington Post arrested…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Watch Part 1 of VFN-TV Interviews From the Pensacola Stand for Israel Rally

On Sunday, August 10, 2014, a Stand for Israel Rally was held in Pensacola, Florida’s Historic Seville Square. The Rally was sponsored by the Pensacola Jewish Federation. More than 500 persons attended the event. The large polite crowd was composed of Jews from several denominations, Baptists, Pentecostals and other Christian groups. Mike Bates of Northwest Florida’s 1330amWEBY and this writer served as co-hosts for the rally. See our Iconoclast post on the Stand for Israel Rally and a Resolution for Israel that passed during a special session of the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee the following day, Monday, August 11th.

John Ramos of VFN-TV.com and radio conducted a series of interviews during the Rally. VFN is a regional Christian cable channel and 24/7 radio with an audience of 1.4 million on the Gulf Coast covering Northwest Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. VFN’s three prominent messages are “God, Country and Israel. VFN is especially supportive of Israel during Operation Protective Edge and concerned about the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East and globally.. Themes that were propounded by speakers at the Pensacola rally. Ramos posed two questions to each of the interviewees: “Why did we Stand for Israel” and “What three things came to mind when we thought of Israel”. Part 1 of the VFN-TV interviews aired on August 12 on the VFN daily radio show with Ramos, and co-hosts, Greg and Pat Hamilton. One of the interviews shown in Part I is with two pro-Palestinian, Save Gaza protesters who came to protest and film the Stand for Israel Rally. Watch their responses and how the VFN-TV provided graphic evidence rebutting their answers.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Colossal Scandinavian Project Aims to Connect Copenhagen and Oslo

In a bid to make Scandinavia more competitive on the global scene, the ambitious ‘The Scandinavian 8 Million City’ project is investigating the possibility of linking Denmark, Sweden and Norway by high-speed train.

Linking Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg and Oslo will connect the about eight million Scandinavians living in the area. So far, 14 partners from the three nations have taken part in the project, including Copenhagen City Council and the capital region, Region Hovedstaden.

“The Scandinavian cities and regions are individually too small to compete in the global market. Attracting competence and qualified labour demands a large population,” Floire Nathanael Daub, a project manager for ‘The Scandinavian 8 Million City’, told Metroxpress newspaper.

“The north’s most populous area is found in the corridor between Oslo and Copenhagen.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Intifada and Jewish Defence in France

by Shimon Samuels

Last month, I attended a Gaza solidarity march of 15,000 marchers through central Paris. Young French-born Muslims burned the Israeli flag, waving posters of the president of the Jewish community as a puppet-master pulling the strings of the French Government, while marching under the red banners of the Communist Party and trade unions…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Northern Ireland: Belfast Plaque Marking Birth Home of Former Israeli President Chaim Herzog Removed

JNS.org — A blue plaque marking the birth home of former Israeli president Chaim Herzog in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was removed following a series of anti-Semitic attacks…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Record Growth for Swedish Population

New statistics show Sweden’s population has grown by 49,330 people since the new year, making it the biggest increase in years. At the end of June, Sweden’s total population was 9,694,194, according to Statistics Sweden.

The reason behind the boost is because more people are moving to Sweden than are leaving the country. In the first six months of this year, 56,440 people immigrated to Sweden, many of them from war-torn Syria. At the same time the number of people leaving Sweden was the lowest in five years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Scottish Jew Says He Was Fired for Wearing Magen David

Under Scotland’s broad anti-racist laws, the incident will be investigated for anti-Semitism

Edinburgh native Jonathan McKean-Litewski told The Times of Israel he was fired from his job Tuesday because he refused his manager’s repeated requests to remove his Star of David pendant…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Fermented Fish Bomb Thrown at Festival

Festival-goers in western Sweden got a surprise when razor-sharp remnants of a fermented herring can exploded around them. Swedish police are now investigating the fishy incident.

The Uport Music Weekend in Ulricehamn took an unusual turn this year, as volunteers cleaning up the area after the concert one night were suddenly attacked by a homemade explosive device of the most peculiar kind.

Someone had taped a bomb onto a can of fermented herring (surströmming) on thrown it into the festival grounds.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘My Dad Was a Polygamist Who Had Four Wives’

A MENTAL health counsellor whose father had four wives has spoken about his harrowing childhood growing up in a polygamous family in Nigeria.

Chris Ozeku says he was beaten and physically abused by his step brothers — he was the fourth youngest of 16 children — and treated poorly by his father’s other wives…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Bid to Knock Down Historic Stags Head Pub in Deane Rejected Again

A DEVELOPER has failed in his second bid to knock down a historic Deane pub to make way for new houses, apartments and shops.

Mubarak Patel, of Mercury Forecourts, wanted to demolish the old Stags Head pub in Junction Road, so he could build 32 one-bedroom apartments, eight town houses and retail units. After failing to get planning permission in February, he applied again — but his second application was rejected last week.

Council planning officer Helen Williams said in a report that the pub, built in the mid-19th century, is listed as a building of “special architectural or historic interest” within the Deane conservation area…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Claim: Five-Year-Old Girl Banned From Eating Chicken Sandwich by Nursery ‘Because it Was Not Halal’

A mother has claimed that a nursery banned her five-year-old daughter from eating a chicken sandwich because it was not halal.

The Daily Mail reports that the allegation has caused a row, with the nursery now under investigation by school inspectors Ofsted, while police are also investigating numerous race and religious offences against the nursery by online commenters…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Mosque Opening Plan Rejected Once Again

Plans to convert buildings in South Shore into a mosque have been thrown out by councillors once again. Tasurraf Shah put forward plans to convert units in South Shore, for the Noor-A-Madina mosque.

He hoped for approval to be given to change of use of parts of 187-195 Waterloo Road to a mosque and community and education centre…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Matloch Brothers Search: Two Arrests Made

Police searching for three brothers missing from a foster home in Sunderland have arrested two people in connection with their disappearance.

Remus, 15, Janko, 12, and 10-year-old David Matloch were last seen in Newcastle on Monday evening.

Police arrested a 34-year-old man and a woman, 39, at an address in Birmingham at about 23:00 BST on Wednesday.

Detectives from the Northumbria force have been sent to question the pair, who are in custody.

The boys took the Metro to Newcastle then headed towards the Centre for Life

The brothers, originally from Poland, failed to return to their foster carers’ home on Monday after going to a local park for a bike ride.

They took a Metro train to Newcastle and were last seen on CCTV walking out of Central Station.

They were thought to have only £60 in cash on them at the time.

Police said they had received a number of calls from the public and searches were continuing in the Birmingham and London areas…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Sir Cliff Richard’s Berkshire Property Searched by Police

Police are searching a Berkshire property belonging to Sir Cliff Richard in relation to an alleged historical sex offence. No arrests have been made and Sir Cliff is not at the property. A police spokesman said the allegation involved a boy under 16 and dated from the 1980s in the South Yorkshire area.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Theatre Church in Astley Bridge to be Demolished and Replaced With 9 Houses

THE building that was home to Bolton theatre groups for more than 40 years is to be demolished to make way for houses. Owners of the former Theatre Church, in Seymour Road, Astley Bridge, have submitted an application to knock down Crystal Theatre, Function and Wedding Halls to build nine houses.

In summer 2012, the building’s owners, Bolton Methodist Circuit, rejected an offer of £300,000 raised by amateur dramatics groups and sold it for £500,000 to be run as a wedding venue by four directors — Amjad Kulasi, Aysha Bapu, Amna Pervez and Aadil Razzaq…

[JP note: See the Stop Astley Bridge Mosque facebook page for local reaction at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Astley-Bridge-Mosque-Bolton/244484865751262

Note the proposed demolition of the Theatre Church in Seymour Road is not related to the new Astley Bridge mosque in Blackburn Road.]

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: This BBC Protection Racket Should be Shut Down

by Dan Hodges

Imagine a fictitious country. Let’s call it Beebossia. It’s one of those small, eastern European states just off the Scandinavian coastline…

[Reader comment by blackpowder on 14 August 2014.]

Being hideously white I thought it my duty not to renew my TV licence.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

1 Killed in Egypt Pro-Morsi Protests

CAIRO, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — At least one was killed on Thursday in clashes between security forces and protesters who support ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in Giza’s Agouza neighborhood, state-run Al-Ahram news website reported…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Morocco Dismantles Recruitment Cell for Iraq

Moroccan police dismantled a nine-person cell recruiting volunteers to fight with the radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The network was operating in the Mediterranean city of Tetouan, Fez and Fnideq, a small town near the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, raising funds and sending people to Syria and Iraq, the police said.

A statement from the Spanish Interior Ministry, which was involved in the investigation, said the network also operated in its North African enclave of Ceuta.

While Morocco has experienced few terrorist attacks, it has become a fertile recruiting ground for extremist networks, sending fighters to places like Syria and Mali with authorities finding new cells every few months.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mummies in Egypt Began Long Before Age of Pharoahs

The earliest evidence of mummification in Egypt suggests that the practice of wrapping bodies to preserve them after death began around 1,000 years earlier than thought, said a study Wednesday.

The study in the journal PLOS ONE is the first to describe resins and linens used as funeral wrappings dating back as far as 3350 to 4500 BC.

Historians have long believed that the Egyptian practice of mummification began around 2500 BC.

But by applying modern scientific analysis to Egyptian collections that were already in British museums, they found that back then, people were using similar preserving materials in the same proportions as found in later mummies.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mummifying-Balm Recipe is Older Than the Pharaohs

Egyptians used the same general formula to soak burial linens as early as 4200 bc.

Carbon dating suggests that the oldest sample had sheathed a body interred around 4200 bc, and the most recent about 3150 bc.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Grumpy Old Man: What Remains Unreported

It’s not easy or even possible for today’s journalists to tell the whole story, which means news consumers should be forewarned.

The foreign press was all over Operation Protective Edge like mosquitoes on a summer- evening barbecue guest. I won’t say the coverage was one-sided, as many critics claim, but a certain aspect of it — Hamas fighters in Gaza streets, and rockets and mortar rounds being fired from built-up areas — seemed to have been pretreated with a stiff shpritz of insect repellent…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘Human Wrongs Council’ — Israel Ambassador to UN on Schabas Appointment to Gaza Commission

Ambassador Ron Prosor, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Tuesday said “the United Nations Human Rights Council set a new record for anti-Israel bias and proved once again, that it would be better named the ‘Human Wrongs Council’“ because of its “complete travesty of justice” by inviting Professor William Schabas, “one of the most outspoken critics of Israel to serve as its judge and jury.”

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Prosor said the appointment of Schabas is akin to “inviting ISIS to chair the UN’s World Interfaith Harmony Week.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Live Updates: Tel Aviv Rally in Solidarity With Israel’s Rocket-Ridden South Draws Thousands

Security cabinet convenes; Hamas delegation member says there is deal still possible; Labor chief accuses Netanyahu of destroying Israel-U.S. ties; Israel says prepared to respond to any breach of truce.

The Israeli cabinet was slated to meet at 5 P.M. Jerusalem time regarding the cease-fire which was extended another five days last night.

The Palestinian announcement was made as a previously agreed-upon 72-hour cease-fire neared its deadline on Wednesday night. According to an Israeli official, Israel had agreed to the extension but ordered the Israel Defense Forces to strike once rocket fire breached the truce.

Palestinian and Israeli envoys returned from Cairo on Thursday to discuss their next moves. They had been negotiating an end to the fighting, with Egyptian mediation, on Wednesday.

Latest updates [Thursday]:

9:46 P.M. Thursday’s security cabinet meeting dealt with the situation in Gaza and the cease-fire negotiations. The three-hour meeting mainly focused on briefings, and no decisions were made. The ministers will reconvene on Friday at 8:30 A.M. (Barak Ravid)

8:47 P.M. Speaking at the rally in Tel Aviv, Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi says: “We are tired of promises and declarations and we fear diplomatic agreements that will again result in compromise — compromise on our lives and future. Our blood is not cheap.”

Davidi calls on the Israeli government to set bringing back quiet and security to the south as its primary goal. “Not an illusion of calm and not a partial sense of security. As the mayor of Sderot and as a resident of the city I ask to bring an end to this situation once and for all.” (Ilan Lior)…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

25 Killed in Clashes With Sunni Insurgents in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — A total of 25 people were killed and five others wounded in separate clashes between Iraqi security forces and extremist Sunni militant groups in Iraq on Thursday, security sources said.

Iraqi aircraft carried out two airstrikes on militants linked to the Islamic State group, an al-Qaida offshoot, near an airport outside the town of Duluiyah, some 90 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing 15 militants and destroying five vehicles, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Barack Obama’s Half-Truths About US Intervention in Iraq Could Come Back to Haunt Him

By Peter Foster

Barack Obama is playing a dangerous game of semantics with the America people right now, promising that there will be “no boots on the ground” in Iraq even as teams of “advisers” (including US Marines) yesterday landed for the first time on Mt Sinjar…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive: Islamic State Militants Grab New Weapon — Iraqi Wheat

(Reuters) — After seizing five oil fields and Iraq’s biggest dam, Sunni militants bent on creating an Islamic empire in the Middle East now control yet another powerful economic weapon — wheat supplies.

Fighters from the Islamic State have overrun large areas in five of Iraq’s most fertile provinces, where the United Nations food agency says around 40 percent of its wheat is grown.

Now they’re helping themselves to grain stored in government silos, milling it and distributing the flour on the local market, an Iraqi official told Reuters. The Islamic State has even tried to sell smuggled wheat back to the government to finance a war effort marked by extreme violence and brutality.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Crisis: Live

President Obama says the situation on the mountain has ‘greatly improved’ as Kurdish-Syrian militia source says there are only a few hundred left on the mountain after thousands were able to escape last night — follow the latest updates

Latest

18.08 More from Obama’s speech via Reuters.

“We helped vulnerable people reach safety and we helped save many innocent lives,” Obama said at a press briefing. Because of these efforts we do not expect there to be an additional operation to evacuate people off the mountain and it’s unlikely we are going to need to continue humanitarian airdrops on the mountain.”

18.01 Reuters: Obama says US will continue air strikes & calls on Iraqis to unite to defeat Islamic State

17.54 President Obama says the situation on Mount Sinjar has greatly improved…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Crisis: Obama Says US ‘Broke Mt Sinjar Siege’

President Barack Obama has paid tribute to US forces for an operation in northern Iraq that helped “break a siege” and rescue tens of thousands of displaced people.

Mr Obama said the situation on Mount Sinjar had greatly improved. Many of those displaced had now left the mountain and further rescue operations were not envisaged, he said.

However, Mr Obama said the US would continue air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) rebel group…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq’s Prime Minister Agrees to Relinquish Power

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki on Thursday night said he agreed to relinquish power, state television reported, a move that came after days of crisis in which Mr. Maliki’s deployment of extra security forces around the capital raised worries of a military coup.

While the country is not at peace, Mr. Maliki’s decision, nonetheless, appeared to pave the way for the first truly peaceful transition of power, based on democratic elections and without the guiding hand of American military forces, in modern Iraq’s history.

In stepping aside Mr. Maliki agreed to end his legal challenge to the nomination of his replacement, which was made on Monday when Iraq’s president nominated Haider al-Abadi, a member of Mr. Maliki’s own Shiite Islamist Dawa Party.

Mr. Maliki’s decision came after days of negotiations with his former Shiite allies, who urged Mr. Maliki to give up in the face of growing international opposition to his rule, including from the United States and Iran, and the sense among most Iraqi leaders that his removal was necessary to bring the country together in the face of an onslaught by Sunni militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Mr. Abadi, according to the constitution, has 30 days from the time of his appointment — which was Monday — to form a new government. During that time, Mr. Maliki remains the caretaker prime minister, and the commander-in-chief of the military.

[Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Despite U.S. Claims, Yazidis Say Crisis is Not Over

ISTANBUL — Yazidi leaders and emergency relief officials on Thursday strongly disputed American claims that the siege of Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq had been broken and that the crisis was effectively over, saying that tens of thousands of Yazidis remained on the mountain in desperate conditions.

On Wednesday, the United States military said that a small team of 18 Marines and Special Operations soldiers had completed an assessment of conditions on Mount Sinjar and found that most of the Yazidis, a small Iraqi religious minority, had succeeded in escaping, and the numbers remaining were in the low thousands.

American officials said that the assessment meant American airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops, along with efforts by Kurdish pesh merga militiamen, were working and “an evacuation mission is far less likely,” in the words of Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby on Wednesday.

Speaking from her hospital bed here, Vian Dakhil, an Iraqi member of Parliament and a Yazidi leader who was injured in the crash of a helicopter delivering aid to the mountain on Tuesday, said she was aware of the American claims and had discussed them with Yazidi leaders still in the area.

It’s not true,” she said.

“It’s better now than it had been, but it’s just not true that all of them are safe — they are not,” Ms. Dakhil said. “Especially on the south side of the mountain, the situation is very terrible. There are still people who are not getting any aid.”

She estimated the number of Yazidis trapped on the southern flanks of Mount Sinjar at 70,000 to 80,000.

Ms. Dakhil’s assessment of the seriousness of the Yazidis’ plight was supported by United Nations humanitarian officials, who on Thursday were unequivocal that there remained a major crisis among the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar.

“The crisis on Mount Sinjar is by no means over,” said David Swanson, the spokesman for the United Nations coordinator of humanitarian affairs in northern Iraq, interviewed by telephone from Dohuk, in northern Iraq. “Although many people managed to escape from the north side, there are still thousands of others up there, under conditions of extreme heat, dehydration and imminent threat of attack. The situation is far from solved.”

Mount Sinjar is about 60 miles long, and five to ten miles wide…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Islamic State Continues Sweep Against Kurds Towards Baghdad

The fundamentalist militia continues its advance as the UN declares its highest level of emergency and fighting erupts west of the capital

Islamic State gunmen are continuing their sweep across Iraq and are poised at the gates of a town just north of Baghdad — despite American air strikes intended to thwart the extremist group’s advances.

Commanders from the fundamentalist militia are massing near Qara Tappa just 70 miles north of the capital, according to Iraqi security sources and a local official…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Islamic State Jihadists: Once You’ve Beheaded Someone for Fun, Where Do You Stop?

by James Delingpole

While President Obama works on his golf swing, British Prime Minister David Cameron has cut his summer holiday short to preside over an emergency crisis meeting about the Islamic State in Iraq. Perhaps Cameron’s mind has been concentrated by stories like this one — a transcript of an interview with a British-born jihadist on the popular teenage chat-room Ask.fm…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: British Jihadist Shows Off Bomb Prowess

A British jihadist who once warned the UK to be afraid of his terror skills has apparently posted photographs of his handiwork with homemade bombs

A British schoolboy-turned jihadist who appeared in a recruitment video for Islamist militants in Syria has apparently boasted online of blowing up a building with his own homemade bombs.

A Twitter account believed to belong to Nasser Muthana displayed before-and-after photographs of a building at a Syrian army base that had been reduced to rubble.

The photographs come a month after the 20-year-old from Cardiff warned that the UK should be afraid of the terror skills he has learnt in the Syrian war…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Uncivilized Behavior of Kuwaiti, Gulf Tourists

By Shamlan Y Al-Essa

We read in the international, Arab and local press, as well as social media, about the shameful and improper behavior by some Gulf tourists, most of whom are from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait.

I am disturbed by the video clips I receive through WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook about the behavior of Kuwaiti youth who drive their cars recklessly while carrying Kuwaiti flags on the green lands of Europe, and they damage lands and disturb people with their screams and boasts of the names of their tribes in a civilized European country, thinking that they are in the Empty Quarter desert or Wafra.

Another image was of a Kuwaiti youth, who caught a white swan in one of London’s lakes, without respecting the privacy of this peaceful animal as well as the laws that protect it against harm by humans.

Other scenes show Gulf tourists and families who sit on the grounds of beautiful gardens grilling and eating while their children swim in beautiful fountains — these people do not collect their leftovers, bottles and rubbish in bags and throw them in garbage containers.

The Western press has published news about banning some tourists from the Gulf from entering some cafes and restaurants because they do not pay attention to public etiquette laws such as disturbance, cleanliness and other things. There may be some who may say that this behavior is individual and does not represent all Gulf tourists.

This is true, but how is it possible to deter someone who harms his country in front of the civilized world? Some people think that it is the responsibility of Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid to withdraw the passports of those who harm Kuwait, and this is difficult work and effort, and needs decisive evidence with audio, video and date of the incident.

The question — why some of us behave in an uncivilized manner when they leave their country for tourism? The answer to the question is very clear, which is that these youth were raised in a social environment that does not respect the law and does not care about public funds and the country’s reputation, does not respect plants and public parks and does not sanctify Kuwait’s environment, as they throw their rubbish in the form of bottles, paper and plastic bags in the desert and sea.

The social environment that these youth are raised in is uncivilized, uneducated and backward. They do not respect human rights and privacy and do not care about land and sea environment.

Demands for intervention of the interior minister are not acceptable because “those who lack a thing cannot give it”. They do not respect laws of their country, so how do you want them to respect others’? Convicting these people requires evidence and systems that are not available in Kuwait.

Why do we always blame the government and hold it responsible, or the National Assembly.

Why continue with the chaotic trend during which citizens deliberately damage public property, beat teachers, doctors and policemen?

The problem is the lack of proper upbringing and strong deterrent laws, because as long as there is security chaos, lack of commitment to work and absence of responsibility, the issue will only be solved by implementation of the law away from wasta and deference to tribes, sects and families, because implementation of the law requires a strong government and civilized people and this is not available.

— Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Watan

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

74 Civilians Killed in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region Over Three Days

KIEV, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — At least 74 civilians were killed in clashes between government forces and independence-seeking insurgents in Ukraine’s Donetsk region over the past three days, local authorities said Thursday.

According to the press service of Donetsk City Council, another 116 people were wounded as a result of fighting since Monday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Almost 17,000 Children From Uraine Sheltered in Russian Temporary Settlements

MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) -Almost 17,000 children from southeastern Ukraine are staying in temporary accommodation settlements in Russia, the Russian Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief (EMERCOM) said Thursday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Calls for Ceasefire in East Ukraine to Facilitate Humanitarian Effort

MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in violence-torn eastern Ukraine to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to civilian population suffering amid armed clashes between Kiev-led forces and independence supporters…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

3 Police Killed in Eastern Afghan Blast

MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Three police were killed and four others wounded in a bomb attack in eastern Afghan province of Laghman on Thursday morning, sources said.

“An Afghan Local Police (ALP) vehicle set off a roadside planted bomb, and the explosion killed three ALP cops and injured four other police,” the provincial government said in a statement…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Malaysian Teen Investigated for ‘Liking’ Israel

Police in the Muslim-majority country of Malaysia are investigating a Malaysian teenager for “sedition,” after he “liked” a pro-Israel Facebook post.

The 17-year-old student in the northern state of Penang “liked” a post that read “I love Israel,” and featured a picture of the Jewish state’s flag, Penang police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi was quoted as saying Wednesday by Malaysian media.

Abdul Rahim said that under the harsh police crackdown, the student claimed to accidentally clicking “like.” Sedition charges can hold a three-year jail sentence in the Muslim-majority nation.

On the other hand, police also are investigating death threats made against the student. In response to the threatening backlash, he has deactivated his Facebook account.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China is Developing Alarming High-Tech Weapons Systems

Over the past month, China has showed how its approach to its own rising superpower status applies to its defense policy. The results aren’t exactly reassuring.

Outside of its borders, China has forged a wide-ranging policy of outreach and investment in Africa. China claims the offshore extractive resources, and even the offshore territories, of nearly all of its immediate geographical neighbors in the South China Sea (see this Business Insider graphic for more). The country holds substantial American debt, and commands an enormous trade surplus with the world’s largest economy — a label that it hopes to seize from a wheezing U.S.

In the military realm, China’s ambitions have a tendency to manifest themselves through weapons technologies that skirt the boundaries of international legality.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Drinking Urine and Other Bizarre Chinese Medical Remedies

Recently, the media reported that there are individuals in China drinking urine with the claim that it can cure disease, and that there exist nearly 10,000 loyal followers. The head of the “Chinese Urine Treatment Association” claimed that drinking urine can treat many illnesses, and can even help patients regrow lost lung tissue. Looking at the domestic healthcare trends in recent years, miracle treatments, miracle medicines, miracle health therapies, and the like have been commonplace, with various healthcare products promoted under the pretense of being traditional Chinese medicine, resulting in frequent episodes of hysteria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Film-Maker Defies China’s Censors to Reveal Horrors of the Great Famine

For modern Chinese students it is not the Great Famine but the Three Years of Difficulties. The catastrophe remains so sensitive that their history books do not document how many starved to death, or why. Yet more than 50 years ago, at the height of the disaster, a handful of their predecessors published an underground magazine bluntly accusing Communist leaders of causing the devastation. “The dead couldn’t tell,” said one of the authors, Xiang Chengjian. “I decided to sacrifice myself … I was ready to die.”

The story of Spark, and the boldness of the students, is the latest piece of China’s past unearthed by film-maker Hu Jie. His documentaries have traced the Maoist excesses of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and the extraordinary individuals who swam against the tide.

“I want people to have a chance to get to know real history,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

North Korea Test-Fires Missiles as Pope Visits South

Francis calls for renewed efforts to forge peace in speech in Seoul on first trip to Asia

North Korea test-fired five missiles on Thursday as Pope Francis began a visit to its southern neighbour with a call for renewed efforts to forge peace.

Pyongyang, which has a long history of making sure it is not forgotten during high-profile events in the South, fired three missiles into the sea less than an hour before the pope landed in Seoul, and two more a short time later…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Xenophobia Alive and Well in Japan as Racist Books Fly Off the Shelves

by Jon Day

TOKYO, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Books and publications carrying disparaging content about South Korea and China have been growing in popularity in Japan to the point that some bookstores even have a dedicated corner for such xenophobic literature.

But to fully understand the recent rise in this trend, beyond Japan’s recent trials and tribulations with some of its closest neighbors over territorial and historical issues, anthropologists advocate looking at the situation from both a historical as well as a psychological perspective…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Khaled Sharrouf Mental Health Problems Left Untreated in Prison

Sydney jihadist Khaled Sharrouf’s mental health issues were left untreated for almost all of his four-year incarceration and would only have worsened while he was in jail for terrorism offences, the psychiatrist who treated him says.

A shocking failure in service provision left Mr Sharrouf languishing in jail until just before his release in 2009 and exacerbated the mental issues that a judge said drove him to radical Islam…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Let’s Get Together and Hold Heads

by Tim Blair

Labor’s Andrew Leigh considers today’s junior jihadi head-holding image, and decides to “celebrate the Australian Muslim community”:

“We need to celebrate the Australian Muslim community to recognise that there are many peoples of different faiths in the world and extremism comes in all sorts of guises. The Oklahoma bombing was carried out by a Christian.”

Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in 1995. Get back to us, Andrew, when you’ve added up all the deaths due to Islamic extremism since then. That should keep you busy for the rest of this parliamentary term. Current Labor leader Bill Shorten thinks it’s a parenting issue…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Australia to Offer Emergency Refuge to 4,000 Iraqi Christians, Yazidis

CANBERRA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — The Federal Government will open its humanitarian refugee program to as many as 4,000 Iraqi Christians and Yazidis in response to the crisis in Iraq.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday the Federal Government was “deeply concerned” by the ongoing crisis in Iraq and has now listed Iraqi Christians and Yazidis as eligible for Special Humanitarian Visas…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Human Trafficking Feared Behind Asylum Boom

The number of asylum seekers from Eritrea went from a monthly average of ten to over 500 in July, leading the justice minister to put a halt to granting asylum to Eritreans until human trafficking concerns can be addressed.

An explosion in the number of asylum seekers from Eritrea has Denmark’s justice minister worried about human trafficking.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The New Romantics

by Denis MacEoin

It is terribly easy to romanticize. Human beings do it all the time. But romanticizing can get out of hand. Think of all those millions of German women who swooned as Hitler drove past; the groupies of Stalin, the steadfast admirers of Osama bin Laden, or the women who offer to marry murderers on death row. Charisma, as Max Weber told us, is not so much an innate characteristic of a leader or guru as something brought to him by others…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

9 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/14/2014

  1. Epigram to introduce the Gatestone “New Romantics Essay” by Denis MacEoin.

    “Because perfect democracy does not exist anywhere, the imperfect democracies of the West can be damned and the worst forms of political power legitimated.” — Pascal Bruckner, The Tears of the White Man.

    (mutatis mutandis, Voltaire’s “The Perfect is the enemy of the good”)

    An important read! The “nouveaux philosophes” of France (Bruckner, Michel Garfinkel, Alain Finkielkraut), disciples of Raymond Aron, Jean Francois Revel and Emmanuel Levinas. An important intellectual force and heritage in fighting Islamism, the Counterfeit Humanism of the Left and in support of Israel and the West.

  2. Erratum: Michel Gurfinkiel (sp)…and add Andre Glucksmann–but, dismiss the superficial B-H Levy.

  3. @Scottish Jew Says He Was Fired for Wearing Magen David

    Recently Boyle told McKean-Litewski she had participated in a anti-Israel protest, saying it was “a marvelous experience,” with “a carnaival atmosphere.” She told her Jewish subordinate it “felt good to belong to something that’s going to make a difference.”

    A politically frivolous and nihilistic desire to belong – the cure a big doze of political reality.

  4. Just to add to your comments Baron about Furgeson MO; the highway patrol showed up in POLICE uniforms, not cammos and battle rattle like they were patrolling the streets of Falujia. Oh, and they also left their armored tanks and snipers at home.
    I have been concerned for many years about the militarization of local police depts. in the US. I can tell you that if a militarized force showed up in my community I would be really angry.
    I do not excuse the looting and damage to public property. Opportunists use events like peaceful protests to cause anarchy and they should be condemned. I’m sure the UK readers on this site could name a dozen times that looting and property damage have taken place during a peaceful march or rally. I just think that tanks, snipers, tear gas and rubber bullets should be the last response and I am very concerned about the state of policing in the US.

    • Wrong. The cop appears to have actually shot a robber.

      The vibrant population rioting in Ferguson are professional troublemakers (and often Muslim).

      The cops, during the rioting killed NOBODY. That’s a good performance by riot cops in such a dangerous and exposed situation. I salute St Louis County cops.

  5. The events in Ferguson called for specialised riot police, not military/SWAT teams of the sort that were dispatched in the first place. The threat was one of looting, vandalism and possibly arson, not of massive firepower directed against the police.

    Putting a sniper on top of an armoured truck serves no policing purpose and angers the potentially violent protesters. What is needed in such cases is tear gas (which, contrary to many pundits, is not a sign of militarisation of the police), shields, batons, non-lethal ammunition and water cannon.

    Obviously, regular police is not enough in those cases, and highway police even less. The new chief on the ground was chosen because he was black and a local boy, but all his hugging of protesters and walking with them did not magically defuse the situation, contrary to the official line : he did have to use tear gas again, which is a perfectly legitimate technique to control violent crowds.

    • The racial tension in that area of Missouri has been festering for a long time, just as it has been in any Democrat machine majority urban area in this country. The fact that the place had only three black policemen in a largely black area was asking for trouble – but it’s a set-up by the political party in charge. The game is to keep blacks out of positions of authority and then sit back and wait for the inevitable. Cynical and ugly using people that way but wait for more all over the urban areas that Democrats control. That’s the kind of community-organizing at which they excel. More than divide-and-conquer, it’s divide-and-destroy.

      The police in this country are becoming increasingly SWATTED-up, too.

      Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces

      If you do a search on the author’s name, Radley Balko, you’ll get even more up-to-date info. Small rural police are being given free surplus tanks and other such military oddments as BHO decimates the military. Is the central govt expecting trouble or what?? No one I know respects or trusts “law enforcement” anymore. And that is a huge cultural change, cutting across the spectrum of political alignments.

      Ferguson is a moveable feast. Especially with the race-obsessed attorney general and president we have. Their inappropriate intervention in local affairs is alarming. Obama is armed to the teeth – i.e., he’s always shooting off his mouth. I expect him to continue to increase his interference in order to heat things up so he can go out in a cloud of gun smoke.

      • I don’t understand, Dymphna. What are the Democrats trying to achieve this way ?

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