Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/24/2015

Schools and the metro will be open tomorrow in Brussels, after being closed for three days under the general lockdown. The Belgian interior minister guaranteed the security of the subway and schools, and there will be a heavy police presence to protect vulnerable locations. Meanwhile, the hostage situation at a gas station in northern France near the Belgian border is said to be the result of a robbery rather than terrorism.

In other news, kinetic activists in Tunisia blew up a bus carrying presidential guards. At least twelve people were killed in the blast. The president of Tunisia declared a state of emergency, and the U.S. embassy advised American citizens to avoid downtown Tunis. The incident had nothing to do with Islam.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, Green Infidel, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, RRN, Srdja Trifkovic, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Bad Loans Still a Challenge for Italian Nouy
» Europe’s Banks Still Weighed Down by €1 Trillion of Bad Debts
» Federal Reserve About to do “Tremendous Amount of Damage” To U.S. Dollar
» Fractional-Reserve Banking is Pure Fraud, Part I
» Sprott Unleashed: “Everything is a Lie… They’ve Got to Pretend There is an Economic Recovery Happening”
 
USA
» 40% of Millennials OK With Limiting Speech Offensive to Minorities
» Ahmed Mohamed Demands $15m Compensation and Written Apology Following Homemade Clock Arrest
» Ahmed Mohamed: ‘Clock Boy’ Seeks $15m From City and School
» College Students Say Remembering 9/11 is Offensive to Muslims
» Dark Matter ‘Hairs’ May Surround Earth
» Donald Trump: Ben Carson Claim American Muslims Cheered 9/11 Attacks
» Donald Trump Came to Knoxville, TN
» If Trump Lied About 9/11 Celebrations in NJ, Why Did WaPo Report in 2001 That it Happened?
» International Bomb Plotter Jailed for 40 Years in US
» John Kerry’s Reprehensible Charlie Hebdo Comments Perfectly Reflect Obama Administration Policy
» Majority of Americans Feel Like ‘Stranger in Own Country’
» More Than 1 in 4 Americans Believe Government is the Enemy
» Most Violent Religion on Earth — Islam: Any-Town in America the Next Paris
» Pew: White Christians No Longer a Majority
» Record Number of U.S. Adults Now Dependent on Big Pharma Prescriptions, And the Most Popular One Causes Brain Damage
» Trump, Cruz Take Lead in Latest Poll Ahead of Iowa Caucus
» TV Networks Huddle to Fight Trump Treatment
» US Public Has Lost Faith in Obama’s Ability to Defeat ISIL
» Watchdog Sues Indiana for Attempts to Stop Resettlement of Syrian Refugees
» What’s Inside a “Hello Barbie” Surveillance Toy?
» Will Smith: ‘Racism is Actually Rare’
 
Canada
» Not a Safe Space — Canadian University Suspends Yoga Class After Students Become Offended
 
Europe and the EU
» “Brussels Metro to Reopen on Wednesday”
» “Schools Open in Brussels on Wednesday”
» Agriculture Linked to DNA Changes in Ancient Europe
» Archaeologists Revisit England’s Legendary Glastonbury Abbey
» Are French Civil Liberties Another Victim of Paris Attacks?
» Belgium: Interior Minister Guarantees Security at Schools and Metro
» Belgian Radicals: Bring Me Your Unschooled, Your Jobless
» Belgium: Molenbeek Broke My Heart
» British Muslim Abused by a Thug on a Train Who Said She Would ‘Bomb’ The Carriage Was Rescued by Fellow Passengers Who Stepped in to Defend Her
» Columbus ‘Didn’t Bring Syphilis to Europe’: Study
» Facebook Page Gives Details of What is Open in Brussels
» France: Thalys Trains to be Equipped With Security Gates
» France: Paris and Rennes Hit by False Bomb Alerts
» France: Paris and Lille Stations to Get Security Gates
» French Republicans Call for End to Anti-Russian Sanctions
» Italy: Is Selling Arms to Saudi Arabia Legal? Grillo Asks Renzi
» Italy: PR Chaouqui Says Will be in Court for VatiLeaks Trial
» Italy: PD Dissenters Object to Ban on Ex-Mayors From Running
» Italy: ‘Not Martyrs Just Reporters’ Says Nuzzi
» Italy: M5S Rome Candidacy Race Opened
» Italy: VatiLeaks 2 Defendant Vallejo Says ‘Protected’ In Prison
» Italy: Swiss Court Nixes Return of Frozen 1.2bn Riva Assets
» Italy Expels Tunisian National
» Italy Roadworks Unearth Frescoed Roman Room
» Medieval Bibles Made From Many Skin Sources
» Mistral Misfires: French Politicians Deride Pres. Over Russian Relationship
» MPs in Swiss State of Ticino Back Burqa Ban
» New Polish PM Removes EU Flag From Government Event
» Norway: WWII Hero Credits Luck and Chance in Foiling Hitler’s Nuclear Ambitions
» ‘Obama Does Not Trust Hollande’ — French Journalist
» Opinion: Belgian Charm Can’t Make Up for Incompetence
» Paris Attacks: Man Who Escaped Killings at Bataclan Had Survived 9/11
» Popularity of Far-Right Front National Party Boosted by Paris Attacks
» Portuguese President Accused of Political Meddling Amid EU Rebellion Fears
» Portugal’s New Prime Minister Seeks Alliance With Far Left, Greens
» Portugal President Asks Left-Wingers for EU and NATO Pledge
» Romania: EU-EBRD Invest in Four Wastewater Treatment Plants
» Spanish Police Arrest Prisoner Who Recruited Fellow Inmates for Jihad
» Sweden: Rape Clinic for Men, Publicly Funded “Virginity Tests”
» Swiss Region Set to Ban Full-Face Veil
» Taking of Hostages in Northern France Not Linked to Paris Attacks: Police Sources
» Three British Women Exposed as ISIS Supporters
» UK Poll Shows Shift in Favour of ‘Brexit’
» UK: ‘Rarest’ Medieval Panel Painting Saved by Recycling
» UK: Hard-Left Activist’s Plot to Seize Control of the Entire Labour Party
» War on Islamic State Brings $50 Billion Europe Defense Boost
» Why Did Premier Valls Raise the CBW Threat After the Paris Attacks?
 
North Africa
» Bus Carrying Presidential Guard Explodes in Tunis
» Egypt: Sinai Hotel Death Toll Rises to Six
» In Algeria, Heavy Metal Bangs Up Against Tradition
» Militants Attack Hotel in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Killing at Least 7
» Tunisia President Declares State of Emergency After Bombing
» Tunisia Bus of Presidential Guards Targeted in Blast
» US Embassy Recommends Americans to Avoid Central Tunis After Terror Attack
 
Middle East
» A Plan for Syria: 50,000 Americans to Fight and Die to Remove Assad
» EU Diplomat Voices Concern on Syria Children
» France’s Miscalculations and Impotence Over Syria Crisis
» Italy Wants to Help Fight Against ISIS, But Not With Raids
» Obama Points Finger at Russia Over Jet Shoot-Down by Turkey
» Public Outcry as Saudi Poet is Sentenced to Death
» Putin’s Courageous Anti-ISIL Strategy Earns Praise in Italian Media
» Putin Says Turkey Accomplice to Terrorism for Downed Jet
» Putin: Downing of Russian Jet Over Syria Stab in the Back by Terrorist Accomplices
» Putin: Downing of Russian Warplane by Turkey Was a ‘Stab in the Back’
» Russian Jet Down: Erdogan’s Reckless Gamble
» Russian Search Helicopter Downed Near Syrian Border by US-Made Anti-Tank Missile, Rebels Claim
» Saudi Court Sentences Poet to Death for Renouncing Islam
» ‘Severe Blow’: Al Qaeda Suicide Bomber Takes Out Leadership of Key ISIS Brigade
» Some 1,000 Belgian Citizens on List of Jihadists Linked to Syrian Civil War
» Teenage Islamist ‘Poster Girl’ Who Fled Austria to Join ISIS ‘Is Beaten to Death by the Terror Group After Trying to Escape From Syria’
» Teenage Austrian ‘Poster Girl for the Islamic State’ Killed by Group for Trying to Escape
» Turkey Downs Russian Military Aircraft Near Syria’s Border
» Turkey ‘Crazy’ To Down Russian Su-24 Jet — Italy’s Lega Nord Party Leader
» Turkey Raising Black Flag of ISIL by Shooting Down Russian Plane
» Turkey Reveals New Cabinet With Erdogan Son-in-Law in Key Post
» Turkmen Rebels Say They Killed Pilots of Downed Russian Jet
» WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton Claims Saudi Arabia is the Largest Donor to “Sunni Terrorists” Worldwide
 
Russia
» Eastern Europe Fears Closer French-Russian Ties Amid Ukraine Crisis
» Moscow: ‘If Kiev Doesn’t Pay, We’ll Close Off Taps’
» Why Russia Needs China to Buy Its Weapons
 
South Asia
» Afghans Seeking Asylum Buy Fake Taliban Threat Letters
» Why Pakistan Persecutes the Minority Ahmadi Group
 
Far East
» China Planning to Destroy U.S. Military Satellites as Part of a First Strike Attack
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Cheating Accusations Mar Zimbabwe’s ‘Mister Ugly’ Contest
 
Immigration
» Austria: Jewish Group Urges Limit to Refugee Influx
» Austrian Population to Grow by 60,000 a Year
» Bid to House Refugees on Swedish Cruise Ships
» Canada: Military Thrown Out of Barracks to Make Room for Syrian Refugees
» Commission Sets Up €3bn Fund for Refugees in Turkey
» Denmark Changes Its Mind, Breaks Refugee Resettlement Promise
» Difficult Situation Along Macedonian-Greek Border
» EU Officials Urge Rethink of Europe as Public Fear of Open Borders Grows
» Europe’s Latest Solution for the Refugee Shelter Shortage: Cruise Ships
» Finland: PM Sipilä Calls Crisis Meeting Over Kempele Rape Case
» Finland: Disappointed Iraqis Cancel Asylum Applications
» Fire at Algerian Migrant Camp Leaves 18 People Dead
» France: Calais Refugee Camp Hit by Another Blaze
» Germany Needs ‘Relief’ In Managing Migrant Inflow — Vice-Chancellor
» Germany: November Set to Break Refugee Arrivals Record
» Germans Opposed to Mass Migration Are “Free to Leave”
» Gov’t: Sweden’s Aliens Act to be Adapted to EU’s Minimum Levels
» Hampered by New Border Controls, Migrants Make Case for Asylum
» Immigrant Arrested for Repeatedly Committing Voter Fraud to Skew U.S. Elections, While Corrupt Democrats Claim Voter Fraud Never Happens
» Italy: Foreign Students 9.2% of School Population Says Ministry
» Italy: Police Raid Baobab Migrant Reception Centre in Rome
» Italy: Turin Honors Syrian Refugee Kicked by Hungarian Camerawoman
» Italy: Anti-Riot Police Raid Rome Migrant Centre
» Making Room for Turkey: Merkel Courts Ankara, Shames Germany Over Refugees
» Merkel Cancels Cabinet Meeting Amid Coalition Bust-Up
» Migrants: Serbian Media: Palestinian Ambassador’s Visa Scandal
» Norway: Freedom is a Bike for Migrants at Arctic Border
» Put “Refugees” In FEMA Camps
» Small Village of 40 to Receive 550 Asylum Seekers
» Sweden Tightens Rules to Curb Refugee Numbers
» The Church in Malmö Offering Refugee Accommodation
» Will Gay Christian Refugees be Allowed to Come to Canada?
 
Culture Wars
» Feminist Bullies and the Myth That Sexual Morality is Just About ‘Consent’
» Indonesian District to Ban Condoms in Convenience Stores
 
General
» Abrogation Explanation for Islamic Conflagration
» Black Hole Batteries Could Power Mysterious Radio Bursts
» Martian Moon Set to Form Ring Around Red Planet
 

Bad Loans Still a Challenge for Italian Nouy

Senior ECB official hopeful ‘bad bank’ plan can go ahead

(ANSA) — Milan, November 24 — Bad loans are still a serious challenge facing Italian banks and all potential instruments to tackle the problem need to be considered, including the creation of a “bad bank” structure, said Danièle Nouy, president of the supervisory council at the European Central Bank.

Nouy said the problem of non-performing loans was down to a series of factors including general economic conditions and failings in debt recovery systems.

When discussing the possibility of creating a bad bank, a vehicle that could isolate bad assets, Nouy said “we need to use all possible instruments and I hope that this structure can go ahead”.

She also said Italian banks needed to reassess their business model to address weak profitability.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Banks Still Weighed Down by €1 Trillion of Bad Debts

Europe’s banks are barely increasing lending because they are still weighed down by bad loans, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said, warning that the burden is greatest on the smallest lenders.

A total of €1 trillion of loans are non-performing, hampering efforts to get banks to make new loans to households and businesses that want to spend more or invest.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Reserve About to do “Tremendous Amount of Damage” To U.S. Dollar

For years, global economic growth was fueled by cheap U.S. dollars. But since the end of QE, the U.S. dollar has been surging, and according to Bloomberg it just hit a 12 year high…

The dollar traded near a seven-month high against the euro before the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s October meeting, when policy makers signaled the potential for an interest-rate increase this year.

A trade-weighted gauge of the greenback is at the highest in 12 years as Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other policy makers have made numerous pronouncements in the past month that it may be appropriate to boost rates from near zero at its Dec. 15-16 gathering. The probability the central bank will act next month has risen to 66 percent from 50 percent odds at the end of October.

But even though the wonks at the Federal Reserve supposedly know the damage that a strong dollar is already doing to the global economy, they seem poised to make things even worse by raising interest rates in December…

[Comment: By design. Banksters seek to tear America down. A strong constitutional republic would be a bulwark against the new socialist world order.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Fractional-Reserve Banking is Pure Fraud, Part I

This is a commentary which should never have needed to be written. What is euphemistically called “fractional-reserve banking” is obvious fraud, and obvious crime. By its very definition, it transforms the banking sector of an economy into a leveraged Ponzi-scheme, and as with all Ponzi-schemes, there is no possible “happy ending” here.

Mathematically-based principles are often illustrated best through use of an extreme, numerical example. We have no need to construct any hypothetical extremes, however, when we already have real-life insanity, in our current monetary/regulatory framework.

Here it is important to note that in order to conceal the fraud, crime, and insanity of our present system to the greatest degree possible, the bankers hide their dirty deeds within their own convoluted jargon. Thus presenting “fractional-reserve banking” to readers requires some brief investment of time in definition of terms, starting with this term, itself.

Fractional-reserve banking evolved literally based upon the temptation of all bankers to perpetrate fraud. Empirically it has always been observed, down through the centuries, that under normal circumstances, only a tiny percentage of depositors will come to claim their cash/wealth at any one time. Thus the temptation is for bankers to “lend” more funds than they actually possess, i.e. they are “lending” what does not even exist: “fractional-reserve banking” — the ultimate euphemism of banking and fraud.

It goes without saying that anyone or any entity which endeavours to “lend” something which does not exist is perpetrating fraud. But before examining this inherent fraud more closely, it is important to back-up, and look at the Law. Note that even when banks “lend” the money which they actually do hold on deposit (as trustees for the depositors) that this is already wholly/totally illegal. It is the crime known as “conversion”…

When your bank lends-out money you deposited, which it claims to be “holding” for you as trustee, does it seek your prior authorization before lending-out your property and thus putting it at risk? Of course not. The banks get around the naked criminality of their lending operations through general authorization. In the small-print of any/all bank deposit contracts is a clause whereby the depositor “authorizes” the bank to lend-out their property to Third Parties.

[…]

Suppose JPMorgan holds $1 billion in total deposits. In the original form of our fractional-reserve fraud, the fraud ratio was set at 10:1. This meant that for every dollar which a bank actually held, it was allowed to “lend” $10. Now the simple arithmetic.

JPMorgan is holding $1 billion of other peoples’ property, but it is allowed to “lend” a total of $10 billion. Where does the other $9 billion come from? It is literally conjured out of thin air , via fractional-reserve fraud. Thus, for many readers, this represents their first, actual glimpse of the full fraud, and full insanity of our current monetary system.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sprott Unleashed: “Everything is a Lie… They’ve Got to Pretend There is an Economic Recovery Happening”

If the government’s official statistics are to be believed the U.S. economy is moving full steam ahead. Consumers are spending, the job market is expanding, real estate has recovered, stocks are soaring and the U.S. dollar is stronger than it has been in a decade.

But if you have yet to realize it, it’s all a lie. So says billionaire investor Eric Sprott of Sprott Global, which manages hundreds of millions of dollars in contrarian investment funds for clients all over the world. Well known for his long-term bullishness on the resource sector, specifically precious metals, Sprott joined First Mining Finance chairman Keith Neumeyer in a must-see interview where the pair discuss everything from the state of the global economy and trade to gold market manipulation and the inevitable breakdown of highly leveraged paper trading exchanges.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

40% of Millennials OK With Limiting Speech Offensive to Minorities

American Millennials are far more likely than older generations to say the government should be able to prevent people from saying offensive statements about minority groups, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data on free speech and media across the globe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ahmed Mohamed Demands $15m Compensation and Written Apology Following Homemade Clock Arrest

The family of Ahmed Mohamed, the Texan schoolboy who was arrested after taking a homemade clock to school, has demanded $15m in compensation and written apologies from the local mayor and police chief.

In letters sent on Monday, the lawyers said if the City of Irving and Irving School District did not agree to the apologies and compensation, they would file a civil action.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ahmed Mohamed: ‘Clock Boy’ Seeks $15m From City and School

A boy who was arrested for taking a homemade clock to class is seeking $15m (£10m) from his city and school.

Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was held by police and suspended from his school in Texas because his teacher mistook the clock for a bomb.

His lawyer said in a letter that the incident, which made global headlines, sparked threats against the teenager and left him deeply traumatised.

The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community offered him a full scholarship in October. His family announced they would be leaving Texas and moving so he could attend school there.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

College Students Say Remembering 9/11 is Offensive to Muslims

How a proposed moment of silence to honor 9/11 victims became the latest victim of the would-be despots of America’s campuses.

The everything-is-offensive brand of campus activism has struck a new low: Students at the University of Minnesota killed a proposed moment of silence for 9/11 victims due to concerns—insulting, childish concerns—that Muslim students would be offended.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dark Matter ‘Hairs’ May Surround Earth

Earth may sport a thick coat of superlong dark matter “hairs,” a new study suggests.

Astronomers think dark matter — a mysterious, invisible substance that neither emits nor absorbs light, and is about six times more common than “normal” matter — forms fine-grained but incredibly long streams throughout the universe.

“A stream can be much larger than the solar system itself, and there are many different streams crisscrossing our galactic neighborhood,” study author Gary Prézeau, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump: Ben Carson Claim American Muslims Cheered 9/11 Attacks

Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ben Carson claimed on Monday they saw a video of Arab Americans cheering as New York’s twin towers collapsed on September 11, 2001.

Within days of the 9/11 attacks, police, fact-checkers and US media had debunked the rumors that people were cheering from rooftops of Jersey City, across the river from Manhattan.

But Trump, the billionaire frontrunner for the Republican nomination, suddenly revived the story on the campaign trail Saturday, eight days after deadly attacks in Paris…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump Came to Knoxville, TN

An honest man will continue to be so though surrounded on all sides by rogues. — Charles Caleb Colton

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Nathaniel Macon, Jan. 12, 1819

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. -Matthew 7:20

On Monday, November 16, 2015, Donald Trump came to Knoxville, TN. My good friend, Knoxville’s former sheriff, alerted me prior to the news hitting the media. I immediately sent the information to all TN contacts and ordered the free tickets.

Knoxville’s Convention Center was the site of Mr. Trump’s speech. It holds 12,000 people, and the entire room was full with wall to wall standing people. There were no chairs because there are only 10,000 chairs in the building. I was told that 16,000 people signed up to hear him. Mr. Trump was to speak at 7 p.m., and we got there at 4:30, and it was already filling up.

He gave a rousing speech, and he mentioned the fact that the room was crammed with folks, and more were waiting outside, who couldn’t get in because the room had reached capacity. He stated that the media never shows the crowds, so my husband took a 360 degree video of the Convention Center room. Turn up your speakers so you can hear Donald talking about the media. Notice everyone turns to look at them.

Here is a picture of the Knoxville media. Notice none were smiling when Mr. Trump spoke about them.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

If Trump Lied About 9/11 Celebrations in NJ, Why Did WaPo Report in 2001 That it Happened?

Powerline Blog’s Hindraker noted that after the dinosaur media announced their inability to confirm Trump’s tale, he thought he’d give it a go:

So NPR, the New York Times and the Associated Press searched contemporaneous news accounts and could find no evidence of Muslim-Americans cheering in Jersey City. That’s odd. Because it took me less than two minutes to find this story from the Washington Post dated September 18, 2001 . . .

If you want to read the entire Post story, you can do so here. You can quibble if you want with the details of Trump’s recollection — whether there were really “thousands” or a much smaller number, but as Rob pointed out earlier when we were talking instead of working, if that’s what your quibble comes down to, you haven’t exactly caught Trump in the yuuuuuuuge lie that the media’s headlines would imply.

And boy are they going to town with it, using some of the most twisted “fact checking” logic you’ve ever heard.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

International Bomb Plotter Jailed for 40 Years in US

A Pakistani man extradited from the UK to the US has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for plotting attacks in several countries.

Abid Naseer, 29, was sentenced by a federal judge in New York.

US authorities said he had been part of a plot to attack Manchester, New York City and Copenhagen.

In March, a jury found him guilty of providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiracy to use a destructive device.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

John Kerry’s Reprehensible Charlie Hebdo Comments Perfectly Reflect Obama Administration Policy

by Andrew C. McCarthy

I couldn’t agree more with my friend Charlie Cooke that the ineffable John Kerry’s remarks comparing January’s Charlie Hebdo massacre to the November 13 Paris terror attacks were despicable. What I don’t get is why anyone is surprised by Kerry’s sentiments. They perfectly reflect seven years of Obama-administration policy aimed at eroding the First Amendment in order to accommodate Islamic blasphemy standards.

As has been widely reported, Kerry initially said there was a “legitimacy” to the mass-murder of cartoonists and writers who satirized the prophet Mohammed. Instantly realizing he’d gone too far, Kerry watered “legitimacy” down to “a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, ‘Okay, they’re really angry because of this and that.’“ By contrast, Kerry claimed, there really was no “this and that” to rationalize what happened in Paris November 13, a terrorist strike he described as “absolutely indiscriminate” and not done “to aggrieve one particular sense of wrong.”

Of course, this contention is as absurd as it is offensive. Both sets of terrorist atrocities were driven by Islamic supremacist ideology.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Majority of Americans Feel Like ‘Stranger in Own Country’

Whatever failings there may be in his specific policies, Donald Trump’s campaign has tapped into a strong, visceral feeling of millions of Americans. Seeking to destroy Trump, the candidate, may further alienate the Republican party from a rapidly growing block of voters.

According to the Reuters survey, 58 percent Americans say they “don’t identify with what America has become.” While Republicans and Independents are the most likely to agree with this statement, even 45 percent of Democrats share this feeling.

More than half of Americans, 53 percent, say they “feel like a stranger” in their own country. A minority of Americans feel “comfortable as myself” in the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

More Than 1 in 4 Americans Believe Government is the Enemy

More than 1 in 4 Americans believe that the government is the enemy, according to a new poll.

Pew Research Center found that 27 percent of registered voters say they think of government as an enemy, up 8 points since 1996. The latest poll looked at general public opinion regarding the federal government.

The findings suggests that 57 percent of voters feel frustrated with the government, while 22 percent feel angry and 18 percent feel “basically content.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Most Violent Religion on Earth — Islam: Any-Town in America the Next Paris

When France opened its borders to unlimited Muslim immigration in the 1980s, French writer Jean Raspail penned a prophetic novel, Camp of the Saints, describing the consequences of that senseless choice, “You don’t know my people — -the squalor, superstitions, the fatalistic sloth that they’ve wallowed in for generations. You don’t know what you’re in for if that fleet of brutes ever lands in your lap. Everything will change in this country of yours. They will swallow you up!”

On Friday, November 13, 2015, those imported Muslim brutes executed 130 people as if they were chickens in a barnyard pen. Muslim terrorists executed French citizens sitting in restaurants for dinner. They executed them at a concert. They tried to bomb an entire sports stadium.

A few days earlier, Muslim terrorists killed 42 people in Beirut, Lebanon. After the Paris attacks, November 20, 2015, more Muslim terrorists killed 21 in a Radisson Hotel in Mali, Africa…

“Diversity within a nation destroys unity and leads to civil wars,” said social scientist Garret Hardin. “Immigration, a benefit during the youth of a nation, can act as a disease in its mature state. Too much internal diversity in large nations has led to violence and disintegration. We are now in the process of destabilizing our own country. The magic words of destabilizers are ‘diversity’ and ‘multiculturalism’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pew: White Christians No Longer a Majority

White Christians now make up less than half of the U.S. population, largely receding from the majorities of most demographic groups, with one notable exception: the Republican Party.

According to the latest results from Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape survey published Monday by National Journal’s Next America project, just 46 percent of American adults are white Christians, down from 55 percent in 2007.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Record Number of U.S. Adults Now Dependent on Big Pharma Prescriptions, And the Most Popular One Causes Brain Damage

The rise in prescription drug use cannot be fully explained by an aging population, Kantor said. Instead, she suggested that rising obesity rates might be largely to blame. More than two-thirds of the U.S. population is now considered overweight or obese.

The most widely prescribed drugs are those related to obesity: cholesterol-lowering statins are the most widely prescribed, followed by blood pressure drugs.

Yet, other studies have confirmed that in spite of ballooning obesity rates, statins are wildly overused. Because of their strong ability to lower blood levels of cholesterol, statins were immediately hailed as a miracle drug by the medical establishment. In the decades since their adoption, the threshold for statin prescription has been steadily lowered. In fact, in July 2014, the United Kingdom’s new statin use guidelines were so broad that if applied, they would put 40 percent of British adults on the drugs.

Notably, studies are now showing that while they do lower cholesterol, statins do not actually lower the risk of dying from heart-related disease. Some studies have suggested that the drugs might actually raise the risk of heart disease.

[…]

The other top drugs in the U.S. are also notorious for their overuse: antidepressants and proton pump inhibitors. According to a 2010 meta-analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association, antidepressants do not outperform placebos, and are significantly less effective at alleviating depression than talk therapy. At the same time, many of them actually increase a patient’s risk of suicide.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump, Cruz Take Lead in Latest Poll Ahead of Iowa Caucus

Donald Trump gets 25 percent of Iowa likely Republican Caucus participants in a too-close-to- call race with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas who is at 23 percent, double his support from four weeks ago, according to a new survey revealed.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US billionaire and Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have taken the lead in the latest public opinion poll ahead of the upcoming Iowa caucus, a new survey revealed on Tuesday.

“Donald Trump gets 25 percent of Iowa likely Republican Caucus participants in a too-close-to- call race with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas who is at 23 percent, double his support from four weeks ago,” the Quinnipiac University poll said.

The majority of likely Iowa caucus Republican voters said the candidates’ view on the US economy and labor market would determine who they will support. Only 15 percent of responders said terrorism and foreign policy would impact their choice, the poll found.

Meanwhile, 49 percent of respondents said that Trump is the best candidate to handle the economy, followed by Cruz who received 11 percent support. Thirty percent of the polled also favored Trump when it came to handling terrorism, while 20 percent supported Cruz.

The results of the poll come before candidates head to the Iowa caucus in February when delegates will be elected to take part in the national party convention to choose the Republican presidential nominee.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

TV Networks Huddle to Fight Trump Treatment

Top television network managers reportedly gathered for a meeting to discuss how they might launch a collaborative effort and fight back against what they perceive as unfair treatment from Donald Trump’ s campaign.

The Washington Post reported executives from ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox and NBC News are fed up with what they’ re characterizing as the Trump treatment — the purported harsh campaign coverage restrictions, impolite responses from staffers, the hostile environment and constant clashes — and they want it to stop.

[Comment: They should stop telling lies. Instead they want to keep telling lies and force Trump and his team to be nice to them.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US Public Has Lost Faith in Obama’s Ability to Defeat ISIL

A vast majority of US citizens think President Barack Obama has no clear plan for defeating the Islamic State, a new survey revealed on Monday.

WASHINGTON, November 23 (Sputnik) — Sixty-six percent of the US general public said Obama’s strategy to fight terrorism is unclear, a new CBS News poll found. Only 23 percent of Americans think the administration has a clear plan of action.

The popularity of the US administration’s approach to combat terrorism hit the record low, according to the poll.

Twenty percent of the polled said airstrikes alone will not remove the terrorist threat, the poll showed. More than 60 percent of US citizens believe ground troops would be necessary to defeat the IS.

President Obama’s opponents in Congress have repeatedly accused the administration of not having a strategy to defeat ISIL. Washington leads a coalition of 65 nations involved in the campaign against the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Watchdog Sues Indiana for Attempts to Stop Resettlement of Syrian Refugees

A civil liberties watchdog in the US state of Indiana filed a lawsuit against state authorities on Monday to stop attempts by the governor to suspend resettlement of Syrian refugees, according to a statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana claimed that actions by Gov. Mike Pence and the secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration violated the US Constitution and federal law.

“Decisions concerning immigration and refugee resettlement are exclusively the province of the federal government, and attempts to pre-empt that authority violate both equal protection and civil rights laws and intrude on authority that is exclusively federal,” ACLU Indiana legal director Ken Falk said.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Exodus Refugee Immigration, a refugee resettlement agency located in Indianapolis. In the past fiscal year, it helped settle 892 refugees, including some Syrians.

Approximately that number is expected to be resettled in the United States in 2016, including 19 Syrians approved for refugee status by the federal government. They are expected to arrive in Indiana in the next weeks of months, according to ACLU.

Judy Rabinovitz, deputy legal director of ACLU’s immigrants’ rights project, said that Indiana authorities had no legal right to “pick and choose” between lawfully admitted refugees or single out Syrians for exclusion.

A family of Syrian refugees was diverted from Indiana last week after Gov. Pence banned Syrian immigrants from entering the state. Similar bans were imposed in North Carolina, Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Massachusetts and Florida, following deadly Paris attacks.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

What’s Inside a “Hello Barbie” Surveillance Toy?

Mattel’s Hello Barbie has a microphone and a wifi interface, and it transmits the phrases it hears to a central server in order to parse them and formulate a response. Mattel claims that the data isn’t being retained or harvested for marketing purposes, and assures parents that they can make Barbie stopping eavesdropping on them at will. But does it work?

Somerset Recon has done a teardown on a Hello Barbie, examining its components and dumping its firmware. Part one of their report is online now, and it’s a little dry: Hello Barbie has some standard IoT chips — a sound codec, a wifi card, etc — but until Somerset posts their analysis of the firmware dump, this is pretty preliminary stuff.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Will Smith: ‘Racism is Actually Rare’

Will Smith, one of Hollywood’ s biggest acting stars, countered the message currently being sent around the nation from the Black Lives Matter crowd, and said during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that racism in America is actually pretty rare.

“My wife and I were just having this conversation and we were going to the dictionary for ‘ prejudice’ versus ‘ racism,’“ Smith said, Breitbart reported.

And his claim?

Prejudice is common; racism, not so much.

“Everybody is prejudiced,” he said. “ Everybody has their life experiences that make them prefer one thing over another. It makes them prefer blond hair over a brunette. If you see somebody with dark skin walking down the street, you have a different reaction than you have [with] someone who is 5-foot-1 and white.”

He went on, saying such reactions are completely different than racism.

“There is a connotation with racism of superiority,” Smith said, Breitbart reported. “ You feel that your race generally is superior. And I have to say, I live with constant prejudice, but racism is actually rare — someone who thinks their race is superior. I don’ t want to work for them. I don’ t want to work at that company. And the times I have come in contact with it, you get away from those people.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Not a Safe Space — Canadian University Suspends Yoga Class After Students Become Offended

Apparently yoga is no longer a safe space.

When I first saw this headline I dismissed it, thinking it had to be a joke. Unfortunately, the joke’s on us.

The Telegraph reports:

A free yoga class has been suspended at a Canadian university over fears the practice could be seen as ‘cultural appropriation’, it has been claimed.

Jennifer Scharf told the Ottawa Sun she was shocked after being told by Ottawa University’s student federation her class was being cancelled because of ‘cultural issues’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

“Brussels Metro to Reopen on Wednesday”

The Belgian authorities plan to reopen Brussels’ modest metro system on Wednesday. The network was shut down on Saturday in response to the terrorist threat posed by IS.

The metro is thought to be a prime target for terrorists. Guaranteeing security across the network is no easy matter as most metro stations have numerous entrances that all need to be guarded if they are to remain open.

A sizeable contingent of police officers and members of the Belgian armed forces will be deployed to guard the metro that will gradually be reopened to full capacity.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

“Schools Open in Brussels on Wednesday”

The Belgian authorities intend to reopen schools in the Brussels region as well as resume metro services, though this may occur gradually. Organising the reopening under the highest terror threat alert level is no mean feat.

In order to guarantee security in schools in the Belgian and Flemish capital its 19 mayors have asked for nearly 300 extra police officers.

Yvan Mayeur, the Mayor of the City of Brussels: “We’re reopening the schools, but this must happen amid adequate security measures.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Agriculture Linked to DNA Changes in Ancient Europe

The agricultural revolution was one of the most profound events in human history, leading to the rise of modern civilization. Now, in the first study of its kind, an international team of scientists has found that after agriculture arrived in Europe 8,500 years ago, people’s DNA underwent widespread changes, altering their height, digestion, immune system and skin color.

Researchers had found indirect clues of some of these alterations by studying the genomes of living Europeans. But the new study, they said, makes it possible to see the changes as they occurred over thousands of years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Archaeologists Revisit England’s Legendary Glastonbury Abbey

SOMERSET, ENGLAND—Researchers from the University of Reading reassessed and reinterpreted the history of Glastonbury Abbey, a site that has been called the burial place of the legendary King Arthur and the earliest Christian church in Britain. The team conducted chemical and compositional analysis of glass, metal, and pottery artifacts held in the Glastonbury Abbey Museum, and they conducted a new geophysical survey of the Abbey grounds. Lead researcher Roberta Gilchrist noted that a devastating fire in 1184 required the monks to keep the Glastonbury legends alive. “The monks also deliberately designed the rebuilt church to look older in order to demonstrate its ancient heritage and pre-eminent place in monastic history, using archaic architecture style and reused materials to emphasize the Abbey’s mythical feel. This swelled pilgrim numbers—and the Abbey’s coffers,” Gilchrist said in a press release.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Are French Civil Liberties Another Victim of Paris Attacks?

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, France has enacted a three-month state of emergency, widening the powers of police and security agencies. It has done so with relatively little public debate about the deterioration of civil liberties.

French lawmakers in both the National Assembly and upper-house Senate last week widely approved an escalation of security, which will allow authorities broader use of house arrests, electronic bracelets and warrantless searches. The law also allows the Interior Ministry to unilaterally shut down websites and social network accounts that are seen as justifying or inciting terrorist acts.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Interior Minister Guarantees Security at Schools and Metro

The Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon has promised maximum security at schools across the Brussels region as schools and the metro reopen on Wednesday amid a continued terrorist threat.

Some 300 police officers will guard the region’s schools, while a further 200 officers will be deployed in the metro. To free up these officers police zones in Brussels have requested assistance from the federal police and local police forces outside the capital.

The authorities are still decided which provinces and which municipalities will be asked to dispatch officers to Brussels.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian Radicals: Bring Me Your Unschooled, Your Jobless

Islamic State (IS) recruiters are targeting young and jobless Muslims in Brussels, the director of the city’s biggest mosque has said.

“Some of them are here recruiting young people. They give them wrong information about what they’ll find there [in Syria] and they’re trying to send them to hell. When they go there, they find out the truth by themselves,” Jamal Saleh Momenah, the director of the Parc du Cinquantenaire mosque, the largest in the Belgian capital, told EUobserver.

“If people had jobs and opportunities here, they wouldn’t go [to Syria], believe me,” he added.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Molenbeek Broke My Heart

A former resident reflects on his struggles with Brussels’ most notorious neighborhood.

Over nine years, as I witnessed the neighborhood become increasingly intolerant. Alcohol became unavailable in most shops and supermarkets; I heard stories of fanatics at the Comte des Flandres metro station who pressured women to wear the veil; Islamic bookshops proliferated, and it became impossible to buy a decent newspaper. With an unemployment rate of 30 percent, the streets were eerily empty until late in the morning. Nowhere was there a bar or café where white, black and brown people would mingle. Instead, I witnessed petty crime, aggression, and frustrated youths who spat at our girlfriends and called them “filthy whores.” If you made a remark, you were inevitably scolded and called a racist. There used to be Jewish shops on Chaussée de Gand, but these were terrorized by gangs of young kids and most closed their doors around 2008. Openly gay people were routinely intimidated, and also packed up their bags.

I finally left Molenbeek in 2014. It was not out of fear. The tipping point, I remember, was an encounter with a Salafist, who tried to convert me on my street. It boiled down to this: I could no longer stand to live in this despondent, destitute, fatalistic neighborhood.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

British Muslim Abused by a Thug on a Train Who Said She Would ‘Bomb’ The Carriage Was Rescued by Fellow Passengers Who Stepped in to Defend Her

A British Muslim woman who was abused by a thug on a train who said she would ‘bomb’ it has thanked the passengers who stepped in to defend her.

Ruhi Rehman, 23, was left terrified after the yob launched an unprovoked and vicious verbal attack on her as she and her sister sat on the Metro in Newcastle on Saturday evening.

The man told fellow passengers that Ms Rehman, who is from Newcastle and has lived in Britain all her life, that she should ‘get up out of that seat’ because ‘this is my country’.

But fellow travellers, many of them football fans, were disgusted by the man’s behaviour and rushed to Ms Rehman’s rescue, demanding he leave her alone before forcing him off the Metro.

As he left the train the passengers cheered and clapped.

[Comment: There has been a rash of such actions. Too many to be a coincidence. Perhaps those doing this are part of a psyop designed to demonize in the public’s mind those against mass migration.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Columbus ‘Didn’t Bring Syphilis to Europe’: Study

Italian explorer Christopher Columbus is often accused of bringing syphilis back to Europe from the New World, but new research shows he may not be guilty as charged.

A team from the Medical University of Vienna have identified what they believe to be cases of congenital syphilis — the version of the disease that is passed from mother to child — in skeletons found in Austria dating to 1320.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Page Gives Details of What is Open in Brussels

Terror threat level 4 still in force in the Brussels Capital Region and the capital’s schools, underground system, shopping centres and museums are closed. With this in mind a Facebook page has been launched that allows contributors to inform others of shops, parks, restaurants, bars etc… that are still open.

Since Saturday, the heightened terror threat level has been having a big impact on those that live in or visit capital.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Thalys Trains to be Equipped With Security Gates

Train stations in Paris and Lille will be equipped before 20 December with security gates to access Thalys trains, French transport minister Segolene Royal said Tuesday on French radio. She said that “of course” gates will also be installed in stations in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Cologne

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Paris and Rennes Hit by False Bomb Alerts

Metro lines in Paris were suspended and a central square in Rennes was cleared on Tuesday as two false alarms showed that France remains on edge after the November 13th terror attacks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Paris and Lille Stations to Get Security Gates

The French government announced on Tuesday that security gates will be installed at Paris and Lille train stations on the lines that head to Belgium and the Netherlands.

France’s environment minister Segolene Royal announced the measure on Tuesday after support had grown for the extra security in the light of the Paris terror attacks.

French authorities are in the process of boosting security in several areas with transport being a key area.

In the aftermath of the November 13th attacks Royal suggested she would be in favour of installing security gates with metal detectors, as seen at airports, at train stations in the country.

The idea of installing security barriers was first raised after the foiled attack on Thalys train between Amsterdam and Paris in August.

Royal told France Inter radio on Tuesday that the gates would be installed by December 20th. Similar metal detectors will be installed at stations in Cologne, Amsterdam and Brussels for the services to Paris.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Republicans Call for End to Anti-Russian Sanctions

The main French opposition party has reportedly called for lifting sanctions against Russia.

The Republicans, France’s main opposition party, has urged French President Francois Hollande to call on the European Union to lift its sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

“That’s the sensible position,” Reuters quoted Christian Jacob, head of the Republicans party, as saying.

He was echoed by Marie-Christine Dalloz of the Republicans party, who is also member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“Our party exressed a wish to discuss the lifting of the sanctions against Russia. I believe that it is a logical step aimed at developing bilateral partnership, “ Dalloz pointed out.

The remarks came in the run-up to a visit by Hollande to Moscow, where he is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week.

The Republicans is the party of the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy,who has repeatedly called for a more conciliatory approach towards Russia.

Earlier this month, Eckhard Cordes, head of the German Committee on Eastern Economic Relations, also clamored for the end of economic sanctions against Russia. According to the economist, the sanctions “deeply” affected the German economy with the trade volume between the two countries almost halving compared with the previous year.

The European Union and its allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russia sanctions since 2014, accusing Moscow of meddling in the Ukrainian conflict. The claims have been repeatedly denied by the Kremlin.

In response, Moscow has imposed an embargo on food imports from the countries that sanctioned it in retaliation.

Since September 30, Russia has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL militants in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while a US-led international coalition has been targeting ISIL positions in the country without the permission of Damascus or the United Nations.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Is Selling Arms to Saudi Arabia Legal? Grillo Asks Renzi

M5S chief calls for immediate halt on arms sales to Saudis

(ANSA) — Rome, November 23 — Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) chief Beppe Grillo asked Premier Matteo Renzi on Twitter Monday whether it’s legal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

“Is it really legal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia @matteorenzi?” wrote the comedian-turned-politician, who leads Italy’s second-largest party.

“The Saudis — whom everyone indicates as the indirect supporters of (Islamic Sunni) fundamentalists — have been bombing Shiite rebels in Yemen for months,” Grillo tweeted.

“These bombings have caused thousands of civilian casualties (including 830 women and children). Italian-made bombs have been found in Yemen. And yet Italy in 1990 passed a good law (…) explicitly banning the sale of military materials and components to countries in a state of armed conflict”.

Grillo went on to call on the government to immediately halt arms sales “to all the sheikhs” in the name of national security.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: PR Chaouqui Says Will be in Court for VatiLeaks Trial

‘I’ll fight for truth’ says one of five indicted at weekend

(ANSA) — Rome, November 23 — PR expert Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui on Monday said she intends to appear in the courtroom on Tuesday for the first hearing in a Vatican trial over a document-leaking scandal in which she and five others were indicted at the weekend.

Chaouqui was indicted with former secretary of the COSEA commission on the Holy See’s economic-administrative structure Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and his former assistant Nicola Maio.

The three are charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and with removing and distributing confidential Vatican documents.

Those indictments came together with those of two journalists, Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi, who are charged with using and distributing the allegedly stolen confidential information in their recent books, Avarice and Merchants in the Temple.

On Monday Chaouqui reiterated that she is innocent.

“I’ve decided that on Tuesday I’ll defend myself on trial, to show that not one paper ever passed from my hands to those of a journalist, any journalist, not only Emiliano and Gianluigi,” Chaouqui said on her Facebook page.

“Maybe it won’t do any good, but I’ll fight like a lion so that the truth emerges”.

Monsignor Balda was arrested over the weekend of October 31 and has been in Vatican jail since that time, while Chaouqui, who was arrested and jailed at the same time, was released after agreeing to cooperate with the investigation.

“I wouldn’t surrender myself to a trial based on rules from 1923. In the end I’m an Italian citizen upon whom nothing can be imposed from the Vatican so long as I stay on Italian soil,” Chaouqui said. The two journalists on Monday said they also intend to appear in court on Tuesday, Nuzzi in a tweet and Fittipaldi through a letter published in Italian daily La Repubblica.

Italy’s National Order of Journalists on Monday said that their professional code calls for journalists to “give news and not keep secrets,” adding that they must “adhere to the substantial truth of the facts”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: PD Dissenters Object to Ban on Ex-Mayors From Running

PD majority to change primary rules after Bassolino candidacy

(see related)(ANSA) — Rome, November 23 — Leftwing dissenters within the ruling center-left Democratic Party (PD) on Monday objected to proposed new rules banning ex-mayors from running for the same post again. Top PD officials said the party is considering the new rule after the former two-time mayor of Naples, Antonio Bassolino, announced he would run in the mayoral PD primaries next spring.

“Political problems should be dealt with politically, not by changing the rules,” said ex-PD Lower House whip Roberto Speranza.

“It’s never a good idea to change the rules in virtue of the candidacy of one individual,” said Gianni Cuperlo, who ran in the party primary that crowned Premier Matteo Renzi.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ‘Not Martyrs Just Reporters’ Says Nuzzi

Vatileaks 2 defendant wrote Merchants in the Temple

(see related)(ANSA) — Vatican City, November 24 — Freedom of information and of the press must be defended, journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi told reporters Tuesday as the so-called Vatileaks 2 trial kicked off.

“We are not martyrs, we are just reporters but some principles must be defended,” said Nuzzi, one of five defendants in the document-leaking case.

“You can criticize, appreciate, or blame but there is another level, which is safeguarding freedom of information”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: M5S Rome Candidacy Race Opened

We can take back Rome says Grillo

(ANSA) — Rome, November 24 — Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Beppe Grillo on Tuesday opened the M5S candidacy race for the Rome city council and mayor’s office.

The election, after the recent ouster of Democratic Party (PD) mayor Ignazio Marino and dissolution of the council, is set to take place in June.

Candidates, who have to be M5S members, can run on the Web from today until December 4.

Former comic Grillo said “we can take back Rome in a clean, honest and transparent way, handing it back to those who live it every day.” The M5S currently holds a big lead over the PD in opinion polls.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: VatiLeaks 2 Defendant Vallejo Says ‘Protected’ In Prison

Monsignor on trial along with four others

(ANSA) — Vatican, November 24 — Vatileaks 2 defendant Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda said Tuesday he is being treated well in Vatican prison. “They treat me very well and I am protected,” he told reporters on the first trial day. Balda, his ex-assistant Nicola Maio and PR expert Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui are charged with leaking confidential Vatican documents that allegedly ended up in two books documenting waste and mismanagement in the Vatican and lavish spending by clergymen.

The books’ two authors are also on trial.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Swiss Court Nixes Return of Frozen 1.2bn Riva Assets

Former owners of highly polluting ILVA steel plant

(ANSA) — Milan, November 24 — A Swiss court on Tuesday rejected a petition to release 1.2 billion euros belonging to the Riva family, ex-owners of ILVA steelworks. The assets were frozen by Milan magistrates. Former CEO Fabio Riva and his brother Nicola were indicted last summer along with 42 others for environmental disaster at the highly polluting steel plant in the southern Puglia region, which was blamed for high cancer levels in the area.

ILVA’s Taranto steelworks, linchpin of the pan-Italy group of the same name, has been one of the region’s top employers and is one of Europe’s largest steel plants.

The Italian government put ILVA Taranto under special administration in 2013 after judges seized more than eight billion euros in assets from the Riva family, who owned the company.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Expels Tunisian National

Was ‘willing to become a martyr’ for Islam says Alfano

(ANSA) — Rome, November 24 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday signed an order to expel a Tunisian resident of the Brianza area in northwestern Lombardy on suspicion of being a terrorist threat. This brings to 60 the expulsions carried out since last December, Alfano said. Wiretap surveillance revealed the suspect was “willing to become a martyr” (for Islam) and to murder his estranged Italian wife “in fear she might convert their children to Christianity,” Alfano said.

Italy guarantees freedom of religion but will expel those who don’t respect the law of the land, the minister said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Roadworks Unearth Frescoed Roman Room

Routine roadworks to install a gas pipeline under a busy street in central Rome have brought to light a 2000-year-old room plastered with frescoes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Medieval Bibles Made From Many Skin Sources

A multi-disciplinary, international team of researchers, led by Sarah Fiddyment and Matthew Collins of the University of York, examined the tissue-thin vellum used to produce pocket-sized Bibles in thirteenth century France, England, Italy, and Spain. Some scholars have suggested that the skin of fetal calves had been used to produce such fine pages, since many sources use the Latin term abortivum to describe them. To find out, samples of protein were collected from the pages of 72 pocket Bibles with an electrostatic charge generated by gentle rubbing with a PVC erasers. “We found no evidence for the use of unexpected animals; however, we did identify the use of more than one mammal species in a single manuscript, consistent with the local availability of hides,” Fiddyment said in a press release. The ultra-thin pages have since been reproduced by parchment conservator Jiri Vnoucek.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mistral Misfires: French Politicians Deride Pres. Over Russian Relationship

French President Francois Hollande has provoked a sarcastic response among the country’s political figures after deciding to re-consider partnering with Russia; in particular, they pointed to the ill-fated Mistral helicopter carrier deal.

President Francois Hollande was harshly criticized by some French politicians over his policy U-turn on Russia. His government currently sees Moscow as its ally in the fight against ISIL, but earlier France had reneged on a deal to sell its partner two Mistral helicopter carriers, according to RIA Novosti.

“Russia. We refuse to give them the Mistral [ships], but ask them to help us in Syria!!!!! Fortunately, laughter does not kill…,” French MP Thierry Mariani tweeted on Sunday.

For his part, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jean-Luc Melenchon also expressed surprise about the French authorities’ policy on Russia.

“As far as Russia is concerned, seeing the Russians as partners is a rather joyful sharp twist by Francois Hollande,” Melenchon said in an interview with the TV channel France 3.

He said that this is something that cannot help but raise one’s eyebrow.

“From now on, we will be cooperating with the Russians in the maritime sphere, whereas we [earlier] refused to sell the Mistral ships to them,” Melenchon recalled.

He was echoed by another French MEP, Nadine Morano, who pointed the finger at President Hollande’s “inconsistent policy” on Russia.

“Hollande refused to sell the Mistral warships to Russia. Now he wants a bigger coalition with Russia. What an inconsistency”, Morano told France 3.

France and Russia terminated a contract in August 2015 following Hollande’s suspension of the warships’ delivery late last year due to the Ukrainian conflict. Paris was obligated to repay Moscow over one billion dollars as compensation for the breached contract.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

MPs in Swiss State of Ticino Back Burqa Ban

Wearing a burqa in public in the Swiss canton of Ticino will be an offence punishable by a fine of up to 10,000 francs ($9,813).

The parliament approved a law banning the garment, which covers the body from head to feet and is worn in public by women in many Muslim countries.

Citizens in the Italian-speaking canton in the south of Switzerland supported the ban in a referendum in September 2013, with around two in three voters backing the move.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Polish PM Removes EU Flag From Government Event

The new Polish prime minister Beata Szydlo has removed EU flags from the podium where she gives press conferences. Government press briefings “will be held only with the most beautiful red and white Polish flags,” her Law and Justice party commented on Twitter.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: WWII Hero Credits Luck and Chance in Foiling Hitler’s Nuclear Ambitions

ALESUND, Norway — For a man who saved the world, or at least helped ensure that Adolf Hitler never got hold of a nuclear bomb, 96-year-old Joachim Ronneberg has a surprisingly unheroic view of the forces that shape history.

“There were so many things that were just luck and chance,” he said of his 1943 sabotage mission that blew up a Norwegian plant vital to Nazi Germany’s nuclear program. “There was no plan. We were just hoping for the best,” Mr. Ronneberg, Norway’s most decorated war hero, added.

The leader and only living member of a World War II commando team that destroyed the Nazis’ only source of heavy water, a rare fluid needed to produce nuclear weapons, Mr. Ronneberg has had his exploits celebrated in a 1965 blockbuster movie, “The Heroes of Telemark,” starring Kirk Douglas, been showered with military medals and been honored, belatedly, with a statue and museum display in his hometown here on Norway’s west coast.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Obama Does Not Trust Hollande’ — French Journalist

US President Barack Obama does not trust France’s Hollande, and this could mean tensions at their meeting on Tuesday, French journalist Michel Colomes wrote.

US President Barack Obama does not trust French President Francois Hollande despite what appears in the media as a cordial relationship, French journalist Michel Colomes wrote in Le Point.

Obama and Hollande have a history of disagreements, according to Colomes, as a result of Hollande’s initially more hawkish stance on Syria, in which he aimed to bomb government forces before Obama called off the operation. In addition, France’s stalling on the Iranian nuclear deal made Obama lose the economic dividend from the lifting of sanctions before his term is up, Colomes wrote.

After the Paris attacks, Hollande had a change of heart, according to Colomes, seeking a closer relationship with Russia to help tackle ISIL.

“Obama obviuosly suspects that Putin wants to negotiate on a position where the situation in Ukraine and the war in Syria are connected. He is afraid of France, which has suffered more than others from the negative effects of the embargo imposed on the Russians, and does not advocate the lifting of sanctions if he was promised a war effort that would make the Islamic State less dangerous,” Colomes wrote.

In addition, while France now sees Assad as a key figure for the resolution of the Syrian crisis, Obama has nothing to stop him from thinking otherwise, according to Colomes, as he is not seeking reelection.

The issue may come up during the upcoming meeting between the two, according to Colomes, as Hollande may seek to lift sanctions against Russia. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s The Republicans party issued a statement on Tuesday, calling for a lifting of sanctions on Russia.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Opinion: Belgian Charm Can’t Make Up for Incompetence

Brussels has been on lockdown for several days, but nothing has come of it so far. And that is no surprise: If Belgium’s authorities are known for one thing, it’s incompetence, DW’s Max Hofmann writes.

You have to put up with a lot in Brussels: the architectural eyesores, the permanent traffic jams, the garbage on the streets, the nonstop rain in autumn. But, then, there are umbrellas and there is the oft-cited charm that covers up a multitude of this odd and lively city’s sins. The problem is, charm alone never caught any terrorists .

It’s now the third day in a row that a giant “closed” sign seems to be hanging over the capital of Europe: no subways, no big events, no school. The people of Brussels have abandoned their everyday activities, preferring to stay at home — far away from their windows, of course, as per the authorities’ instructions. They’re hoping that the police and the military will be able to prevent a “serious and imminent attack,” according to the government.

But it’s a mystery to me why anyone should have faith in Belgium’s authorities. Even before the district of Molenbeek became known across Europe as a haven for extremists, the police of this “charming” country were known for being arbitrary and incompetent. One of the most notorious examples of shameful failure was their botched investigation into Marc Dutroux, a barbaric pedophile whose crimes shocked all of Europe 20 years ago.

Of course, everyone wishes that it weren’t so. And the people of Brussels, with their legendary patience, are also prepared to give the police the benefit of the doubt. On Sunday evening, they followed a request by police not to share details of the anti-terror raids on social media. Instead, while the sirens rang out and smoke grenades flew, they posted silly cat photos under the hashtag #BrusselsLockDown on Twitter. And there it was again, that offbeat humor, the charm…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Paris Attacks: Man Who Escaped Killings at Bataclan Had Survived 9/11

An American who escaped from terrorists at the Eagles of Death Metal gig in the Bataclan the night of the Paris attacks had also survived the 9/11 attacks in New York.

The 36-year-old named Matthew was shot in the leg by attackers in the Bataclan, but pretended to be dead and dragged himself to safety as the killers reloaded their weapons.

It also emerged that Matthew’s lucky escape was his second — he had been in the street below the World Trade Centre in New York during the September 11 attacks in 2001.

“I sprinted across half of Manhattan,” he said. “But what I went through in the Bataclan was 1,000 times worse,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Popularity of Far-Right Front National Party Boosted by Paris Attacks

Anti-Islam sentiment in France following the Paris attacks on November 13 in which 129 people were killed and hundreds injured has led to a huge boost in the popularity of Marine Le Pen’s Front National party.

Although Marine Le Pen leads the party and is enjoying enormous backing, attention has fallen on her niece, Marion Marechal Le Pen, granddaughter of the politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the party.

A poll conducted just after the Paris attacks puts Marion Marechal Le Pen well in the lead to win the presidency of the southern Provence-Alpes-Cote-d’Azur region (PACA) in December’s regional elections.

Jean-Yves Camus, associate researcher at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs told France 24 her anti-immigrant and anti-Islam message resonates with the public in urban areas such as Nice “which is a big transit point for refugees entering France through Italy.”

The Front National has long campaigned for the reintroduction of border controls, stripping known jihadists of dual nationality and for the closure of mosques where imams advocate radical forms of Islam.

Marine Set for Presidency Challenge

Meanwhile, her aunt, Marine Le Pen is set to take her seat in the depressed Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, setting her on course to challenge for the presidency of France in 2017. She has seen a huge rise in the popularity of her anti-Europe, anti-immigration Front National party, spurred on by the deep unpopularity of Hollande and the continuing migrant and refugee crisis in Europe.

Marine has carefully pulled her party slightly towards the center from its ultra-far right position under her father, Jean-Marie, when he led it. He courted controversy through the years and was accused and convicted several times at home and abroad of xenophobia and anti-Semitism and made several provocative statements interpreted by the legal system as constituting Holocaust denial.

Eventually, in May 2015, he was suspended from the party, but he brought two legal challenges against Front National, before finally being expelled in August 2015.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Portuguese President Accused of Political Meddling Amid EU Rebellion Fears

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva has been accused of trying to “subvert” the country’s constitution after warning the Portuguese Socialists to stick to EU austerity policies in its quest to form a Leftist coalition government, sparking fears of a showdown with Brussels over spending rules.

Upon asking the Socialists to form a coalition government, President Silva called on Socialist Party (PS) leader Antonio Costa for clarification on how the party would pass national budgets, and how spending would be kept in line with EU budget rules.

“The president requested a formal clarification of questions that were omitted from different and asymmetric documents signed by the Socialist party with Left Bloc, the Communist Party, the Greens and therefore raise doubts about stability and duration of a minority Socialist government,” the statement said.

The call comes after the PS, along with other potential left-wing allies the Communists and Left Bloc, campaigned to either ease or abolish austerity measures that have been implemented in the country.

The center-right fear that reversing Portugal’s strict budget cuts would undo some of the economic improvements made in recent years, however Leftist groups have been highly cynical of the purported benefits, arguing that the general public are not seeing any improvement in their standard of living with continued rates of high unemployment and low wages.

The Socialists have said that while they will increase public sector wages, they will remain within EU budget rules. However, the fiercely anti-austerity Communists and Left Bloc, who the Socialists rely on to form government, have so far opposed such cuts in spending and have not committed to honoring EU budget rules.

President ‘Subverting the Constitution’

The President’s call to pressure the Leftist alliance to remain within EU budgetary guidelines drew derision from Communist Party leader Jeronimo de Sousa, who accused him of undermining the country’s democratic practices. He said:

“There is no reason for the president to demand conditions and guarantees… This is a new attempt by Cavaco Silva to subvert the constitution and will have a corresponding democratic response by workers and the people.”

In a further attack, Sousa said the president was now “responsible for the political and institutional consequences for decisions that contribute to worsening the national situation and promoting confrontation between different sovereign organs.”

Commentators have noted how recent political developments in Portugal, which was previously considered to be the poster child for European austerity, have potentially put the bloc’s austerity-driven agenda into question.

Following the rise of the Portuguese Leftists and the Greek anti-austerity party Syriza, many in Brussels are concerned that similar movements may gain more popularity across the continent and lead to heavier criticism of the EU insistence on austerity.

There are particular fears that the Portuguese Leftist coalition may end up in a confrontation with the EU, with both the Communists and Left Bloc previously campaigning for Portugal to leave the bloc and return to the country’s former currency, the escudo.

The incumbent centre-right party remains in office in the form of a caretaker government, but will be taken over by the Socialist-led Leftist coalition if the three parties come to an agreement that satisfies the president.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Portugal’s New Prime Minister Seeks Alliance With Far Left, Greens

The leader of Portugal’s Socialist Party, Antonio Costa, has been named as the country’s new prime minister after ousting the conservative minority. A leftist alliance now hopes to run the country together.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Portugal President Asks Left-Wingers for EU and NATO Pledge

Portugal’s political crisis entered a new phase on Monday (23 November), when president Anibal Cavaco Silva asked for guarantees from leftist parties, especially on next year’s budget, before allowing the formation of a government by Socialists. Silva did not name the Socialist leader Antonio Costa prime minister, but asked him to start work to form a coalition.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Romania: EU-EBRD Invest in Four Wastewater Treatment Plants

plan involves Mehedinti county, near Serbia and Bulgaria

(ANSA) — BRUXELLES — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) Cohesion Fund are expanding their efforts to upgrade water and wastewater services in Romania.

The EBRD is extending a long-term 5.7 million euros loan, while the EU is contributing a grant of 57.1 million euros from Romania’s EU Cohesion Fund Programme, to the investment plan by SC Secom SA Drobeta-Turnu Severin, a regional company supplying water and wastewater services to a population of some 300,000 in Mehedinti county, on the border with Serbia and Bulgaria. In addition, the state is providing 8.7 million euros and the remaining 1.4 million euros will be covered by the local budget.

SC Secom SA plans to expand and modernise its water and wastewater network in the 10 towns Drobeta Turnu Severin, Baia de Arama, Strehaia, Vanju-Mare, Simian, Cujmir, Braniste, Gura Vaii, Comanda and Rogova. The EBRD’s funds will be used for improvements to four wastewater treatment plants, 13 new water-pumping stations, 10 new reservoirs and 27 wastewater pumping stations, in addition to over two hundred kilometres of water and wastewater networks that will be rehabilitated and extended. According to the project, more than 15,000 people will be connected to the water network and almost 30,000 to the wastewater network. The improvements will also reduce water and energy losses, cutting 415 tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Spanish Police Arrest Prisoner Who Recruited Fellow Inmates for Jihad

A prisoner in jail in Segovia has been arrested for recruiting and radicalizing fellow inmates to fight for Isis on their release.

A 42-year-old man of Moroccan origin has been arrested in Spain for recruiting jihadists from inside prison.

The man, named as A. Chiaki, was arrested on Monday by Spanish police for the recruitment and indoctrination of jihadists.

He is also suspected of making bomb threats in Madrid and Barcelona in the name of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis, according to Spanish news agency Efe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Rape Clinic for Men, Publicly Funded “Virginity Tests”

by Ingrid Carlqvist

Stockholm opened what is believed to be the world’s first rape clinic for men. More and more men are being subjected to homosexual rape in multicultural Sweden. 370 sex crimes against boys and men were registered in 2014, although the actual number of incidents is thought to be significantly higher.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss Region Set to Ban Full-Face Veil

Switzerland’s Italian-speaking region has moved a step closer to banning the full-face Muslim veil, after its parliament gave the proposed law the thumbs-up this week.

The canton of Ticino thus looks set to become the first region in Switzerland to introduce such a ban.

Following the green light from the regional parliament on Monday, the bill, which was backed by 65 percent of the electorate in a 2013 referendum, could take effect in April, a parliamentary spokeswoman told AFP.

The regional government still needs to give its approval before it can be signed into law, she said…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Taking of Hostages in Northern France Not Linked to Paris Attacks: Police Sources

Armed men who took hostages on Tuesday in the northern French town of Roubaix appeared to have no link to the Nov. 13 attacks by Islamist militants in Paris but were probably planning a robbery, police sources said on Tuesday.

“This is apparently not a terrorist attack, it’s apparently a robbery,” one police source said.

France remains on high alert after the Nov. 13 attacks in and around Paris in which 130 people were killed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Three British Women Exposed as ISIS Supporters

In undercover footage of a meeting in London three ISIS supporters are heard glorifying jihadis and telling young Muslim women that Britain is waging war against them and they should join ISIS.

A group of British women have been exposed as ISIS sympathisers who are promoting extremist ideology in the UK and encouraging ‘impressionable young girls’ to travel to Syria.

Their behaviour came to light following a 12-month undercover investigation which saw a team of Muslim reporters infiltrate the group’s inner circle.

The three ISIS supporters are seen glorifying jihadis, telling young Muslim women that Britain is waging war against them and using racially abusive language to describe Jews and Israelis.

In a trailer for a documentary that aired on Monday one is heard saying ‘We do not submit to the law of any country, any nation’ while Syria is promoted on Twitter as ‘the best of Allah’s lands on earth’.

The British Women Supporters Unveiled was shown on Channel 4 this evening. It uncovered extremist ideology being spread both online and in person to women and ‘impressionable young girls’, often in front of very young children.

The investigation was brought to a close a month before the terrorist attacks in Paris when one of the female ISIS supporters became suspicious of an undercover reporter.

The trio identify themselves as Umm Saalihah, Umm L and Umm Usmaan on Twitter. Two operate in positions of authority within their circles and lecture women in secretive study sessions, the programme makers said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK Poll Shows Shift in Favour of ‘Brexit’

A majority of Britons want to leave the European Union, according to a new opinion poll released on Tuesday.

Fifty-two percent of 2,000 people polled by ORB International last week said they thought Britain should leave and 48 percent said it should remain.

There was no option for undecided.

Last month, 53 percent favoured remaining in the EU, down slightly from 55 percent in September, according to ORB, which conducts surveys for the Independent newspaper…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Rarest’ Medieval Panel Painting Saved by Recycling

A rare medieval panel painting could have been saved from destruction by a quick-thinking worshipper turned it into a noticeboard

A rare medieval panel painting survived more than 500 years, enduring the Reformation and Civil War, after a quick-thinking owner recycled it into the Ten Commandments, it has been revealed.

The painting, which depicts Judas betraying Jesus, dates from around 1460, and would originally have hung in all its glory in a local church.

But with the Protestant Reformation, the dissolution of the monasteries and the stripping of the altars, it was at risk of being defaced or destroyed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Hard-Left Activist’s Plot to Seize Control of the Entire Labour Party

Leaked email reveals plan by Corbynites to impose 1980s-style anti-war, pro-unilateral disarmament agenda

Hard-Left activists are plotting to seize control of local Labour parties across the country to impose a 1980s-style anti-war, pro-unilateral disarmament agenda, it emerged last night.

Supporters of leader Jeremy Corbyn are running ‘sectarian’ campaigns to seize control of every senior position in constituency labour parties (CLPs).

The warning, contained in an email sent to backers of a moderate Labour campaign group, lays bare the civil war raging inside the party.

Yesterday, in a further sign of the stranglehold hardline Corbyn supporters are taking on the party machine, it emerged that Labour’s ruling body will silence MPs and members who dare to criticise the leader on social media.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

War on Islamic State Brings $50 Billion Europe Defense Boost

Europe’s defense industry is set to reap a $50 billion windfall as the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks on Paris prompt governments to ramp up spending on military capabilities spanning cyber security to fighter jets, armored vehicles and drones in an effort to defeat Islamic State.

France, where Dassault Aviation SA’s Rafale fighter jet is made, has halted plans to cut almost 10,000 military personnel, while Germany will spend an extra 8 billion euros ($8.5 billion) on defense and Britain has earmarked a further 12 billion pounds ($18 billion), benefiting companies including BAE Systems Plc. Italy said Tuesday it would devote 1 billion euros more to security, after the draft budget called for 2 billion euros of reductions.

European governments are rethinking their defense policies after years of cuts tied to the draw down in Afghanistan and Iraq and austerity programs imposed after the global slump. The spending commitments will swell budgets that had already begun to revive amid heightened tensions with Russia following last year’s annexation of Crimea, with Britain committing in August to spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why Did Premier Valls Raise the CBW Threat After the Paris Attacks?

Last Sunday’s Lisa Benson Show had a segment on the possible Chemical and Biological threat posed by ISIS to Europe and the West in the wake of the November 13th Massacres in Paris and the battle in the predominately Muslim St. Denis banlieuse suburb. Belgium and especially Brussels continues under lockdown as there could be another series of devastating attacks by ISIS operatives given the significant presence in the significant Muslim population with radicalized elements in suburban Molenbeek. On the Lisa Benson Show segment we asked why French Premier Manuel Valls had raised concerns over possible ISIS operatives use of chemical and biological agents? Dr. Jill Bellamy, noted bio-warfare threat reduction expert, whom we have interviewed in the NER, provided some answers. See our January 2013 interview her, The Dangers of Syria’s Bio-Warfare Complex Should Assad Fall…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Bus Carrying Presidential Guard Explodes in Tunis

On central Avenue Mohamed V. Ministry, 11 killed

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 24 — A strong explosion took place on Tunis’s central Avenue Mohamed V near the former headquarters of Ben Ali’s RCD party on Tuesday, blowing up a bus carrying men from the presidential guard, eyewitnesses said, adding that there were victims and wounded on the scene.

Accrding to the Interior Ministry, 11 people were killed in the blast.

Several ambulances arrived in the area, and the entire central Avenue Mohamed V was closed off to traffic.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Sinai Hotel Death Toll Rises to Six

Two judges, three police officers, one civilian, 12 wounded

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 24 — The death toll has risen to six in the Tuesday bombing of a hotel in El Arish in northern Sinai, said Egypt’s Interior Minister.

The victims were two judges, three police officers and a civilian, with 12 others wounded in the attack, and security forces had killed the attackers, he said.

A military spokesperson said the attack was carried out by three terrorists.

ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said there were two.

Police are performing inspections to arrest suspects who may be linked to the terrorists.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

In Algeria, Heavy Metal Bangs Up Against Tradition

They came from all over conservative Algeria, clad in black leather, studded bracelets and even the traditional Muslim veil to revel in a rare heavy metal concert.

Organised earlier this month in the eastern city of Constantine — designated this year’s Capital of Arab Culture by the Arab League and UN cultural agency UNESCO — the two-day Fest 213 brought together metal fans from across this North African country.

Headbanging and mosh pits may seem incongruous in Algeria, where the government prefers to promote traditional music and events that bolster its Arab-Muslim identity.

But the country has had a solid core of metal fans for more than two decades and — despite occasional media charges of “devil worship” — the music is attracting a new generation of followers…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Militants Attack Hotel in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Killing at Least 7

Islamic State militants attacked a hotel in the northern Sinai Peninsula of Egypt with explosives and gunfire early on Tuesday, killing at least seven people, including a judge, according to security officials, Egyptian state media and a statement by the group.

The hotel, the Swiss Inn Resort in El Arish, was housing judges who were monitoring Egypt’s parliamentary elections, an important political milestone for the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The militants were able to penetrate the hotel despite the heavy security measures in place across the country, sending a suicide attacker driving an explosive-packed car and a gunman who stormed into the hotel and shot the judge.

Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate, known as the Sinai Province, claimed responsibility for the hotel attack in a statement circulated on social media by supporters.

The group, one of the more active branches of the Islamic State, has carried out numerous attacks in the northern Sinai. Last month, it claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian plane carrying tourists from the resort of Sharm el Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia President Declares State of Emergency After Bombing

An explosion has hit a bus carrying members of Tunisia’s presidential guard through the centre of the country’s capital, killing at least 12 people.

The blast took place close to Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the most famous boulevard in Tunis, and came 10 days after Tunisian authorities deployed security forces across the city in unusually high numbers.

Although official figures put the death toll at 12, local media suggested it may have risen as high as 22.

Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi immediately declared a nationwide state of emergency and curfew in Tunis.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia Bus of Presidential Guards Targeted in Blast

An explosion has hit a bus carrying presidential guards in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, officials say.

At least 12 people have been killed in the blast, the interior ministry said.

Tunisia has been targeted by the Islamic State group, including an attack by a gunman on the beach resort of Sousse in June, killing 38 people, mostly foreign tourists.

The North African state is believed to be the biggest exporter of jihadis, with the authorities saying at least 3,000 of its nationals fighting in Iraq and Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

US Embassy Recommends Americans to Avoid Central Tunis After Terror Attack

US citizens in the Tunisian capital of Tunis should refrain from going to the city center after a terrorist attack has been undertaken on a police bus carrying presidential guards, the US Embassy in Tunisia said in an emergency message on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier on Tuesday, 12 people died in a bomb attack on a police bus, according to media reports. Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi declared shortly a state of emergency saying the country is at war against terrorism.

“US Embassy personnel have been advised to avoid central Tunis, including the Medina, pending further updates and guidance from the Embassy,” the message stated.

The US Embassy in Tunisia advised Americans to exercise caution, avoid crowds and be alert to the possibility of being kidnapped.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

A Plan for Syria: 50,000 Americans to Fight and Die to Remove Assad

It will only require 50,000 American troops and billions of dollars.

The Wall Street Journal—what many of us called the “War Street Journal” during the invasion of Iraq—let Kagan spell it out for those of us who, as Karl Rove put it, are left to study history’s actors.

“First, it would require establishing a safe zone” that will need, at first, 30,000 troops to keep the jihadists safe from the Syrian military and Russian air strikes, followed by “a further 10,000 to 20,000 U.S. troops… to uproot Islamic State from the haven it has created in Syria and to help local forces uproot it in Iraq.”

Kagan suggests “an internationally negotiated and blessed process of transition in Syria should take place” to remove Bashar al-Assad who, incidentally, has indicated he is not going anywhere and rejects the idea that Kagan or anybody else not Syrian has the right to force him from office and decide who will run the country, least of all “moderate” sharia loving Salafists No problem, says Kagan. He writes the “immovable Mr. Assad would face an entirely new set of military facts on the ground, with the Syrian opposition now backed by U.S. forces and air power, the Syrian air force grounded and Russian bombing halted.”

[Comment: Total rubbish. Stopping ISIS without out troopsis easy. NATO/US/Turkey/UK/SA should stop supporting ISIS with arms and money from stolen oil.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

EU Diplomat Voices Concern on Syria Children

Hamdan, who comes from Lebanon, said his home country is “on the verge of exploding again,” following 25 years of peace since the 1975 to 1990 civil war. He said it’s also “on the verge” of a new Hezbollah-Israel war.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France’s Miscalculations and Impotence Over Syria Crisis

France has been one of the strongest voices pushing for the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but the past four years have seen its strategy fail and its diplomatic weakness exposed.

“At its heart, it’s a story of missed opportunities,” said a government source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We knew from the start what would happen in Syria — the refugees, the attacks — and we took the right stance, but we lost,” he said.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Wants to Help Fight Against ISIS, But Not With Raids

Foreign minister says ready to discuss requests with Paris

(updates previous). (ANSA) — Berlin, November 24 — Italy recognises its duty to collaborate with France against Islamic State militants and will be open to discuss requests for support from Paris, though participation in air strikes is not an option, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Tuesday.

Gentiloni said that Italy felt “the duty to collaborate with our French brothers” against organisations planning terror attacks. He said it was Italy’s view that in Syria “the only way to emerge from the humanitarian tragedy remains a political solution”.

He added “we respect those who are involved in air strikes, but Italy will not make choices of this kind”. Italy is taking part in air missions in Iraq — though not actual strikes.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Points Finger at Russia Over Jet Shoot-Down by Turkey

President Obama pointed the finger at Russia over its warplane being shot down by Turkey, suggesting the incident might not have happened if Moscow were more concerned with hitting ISIS targets than moderate opposition to Syria’s Bashar Assad — a campaign that puts them dangerously close to the Turkish border.

The president, speaking Tuesday alongside visiting French President Francois Hollande in Washington, stressed that officials are still gathering details on the international incident.

He and Hollande both said they want to prevent an “escalation,” as Obama urged the Russians and Turks to talk to one another.

But Obama also suggested the nature of Russia’s air campaign is contributing to such confrontations.

“I do think that this points to an ongoing problem with the Russian operations,” Obama said. “In the sense that they are operating very close to a Turkish border, and they are going after moderate opposition that are supported by not only Turkey but a wide range of countries.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Public Outcry as Saudi Poet is Sentenced to Death

A Palestinian poet has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for ‘spreading atheism and disrespecting the prophet.’ Users took to social media, calling for his release and questioning the country’s motives.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Putin’s Courageous Anti-ISIL Strategy Earns Praise in Italian Media

Last week saw an about-turn in the attitude of Western leaders towards Russian President Putin, which has been reflected by the Western mass media, mostly as a consequence of the G20 meeting in Antalya. Here are just several quotes from the Italian media praising Russia’s leader and his policies, mostly towards battling ISIL.

Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera:

“Sour Russian-American smiles needed to be transformed into real cooperation, both politically and militarily. Turkey must be mandated to launch anti-ISIL, and not anti-Kurdish operations, as it is now currently undertaking.

ISIL is intensifying its mass killing campaign with the only purpose being to draw us into a ground operation out of revenge.

It is a trap known only too well to everyone: for each “crusade” there will be a response in the form of a “holy war”, it will be a global conflict and the internal western fronts will eventually collapse.

A series of massive coordinated bombings are currently under discussion, as well as joint raids conducted by special forces and joint reconnaissance efforts. ISIL will then be crushed in Syria and Iraq.

It will be extremely hard. But if there is a victory, Putin will win twice.”

“Putin is the only one who has a ready strategy on how to react [to ISIL]. One of the strategies is to vocally reveal ISIL’s sources of finance. Probably, as the West thinks, Putin exaggerated, probably he was referring to African countries, where there are the ISIL branches. Maybe he was hinting at the Caucasian republics and at Central Asia. Probably he wanted to recall the past of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf monarchies? More likely though, he wanted to warn Turkey (which is keeping Europe on a tight leash over the migrant crisis) against the sale of oil, which is still in happening.”

Iltempo.it, in a follow up to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s comments on the outcome of G20:

“In short, the next day after the thaw between Russia and the US, for the sake of the common interest to destroy ISIL, it was Renzi’s turn to praise Moscow.

Only a few months ago, half of Europe was condemning Russia’s intervention in Syria, working alongside President Assad, not even mentioning Crimea.

It is a pity, however, that all the ideas of the young prime minister have already been voiced by Silvio Berlusconi previously, who repeatedly stressed the importance of Russia and warned against the US and EU pressure on Putin.”

Geopolitical outlet EasT Journal reveals the meaning of President Putin’s name and praises Russia for playing honestly and openly:

Vladimir consists of the derivatives of two Russian words “vlast” (meaning power in Russian) and “mir” (Russian for peace and world), meaning “the one who rules the world.”

The name requires a certain behavior. And the second, patronymic name Vladimirovich, only doubles the internal force.

Nowadays the name is being associated with authoritarianism. It has recently been used as a synonym of a so-called Western threat.

Vladimir Putin however is being respected by the international community and by the European society for his tough honesty. Putin’s Russia is pursuing its imperial goals, but is doing it without any pretense or hypocrisy. Moscow is pursuing its policy, not throwing a stone then hiding its hand.

At the G20 Summit in Antalya Putin courageously told to the whole world what is really going on. That ISIL is being financed by private individuals from 40 countries, even members of the G20. He blamed Qatar and Saudi Arabia for not noticing that many sheikhs are financing terrorist through the banking system of Kuwait.

Being in Turkey, Putin mentioned Erdogan himself, affirming that his country is supporting fundamentalists through oil purchases and arms supplies.

It is an uncomfortable truth and the question arises: why has the war against terror, headed by Washington, concentrated on false targets, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and hasn’t hurt the Saudi creditors?

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Putin Says Turkey Accomplice to Terrorism for Downed Jet

(ANSAmed) — MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 24 — Russian President Vladimir Putin called the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey on Tuesday “a stab in the back by accomplices of terrorism”.

Putin said the downing of the warplane is an “event that goes beyond the limits of the ordinary fight against terrorism”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Putin: Downing of Russian Jet Over Syria Stab in the Back by Terrorist Accomplices

‘ Turkey backstabbed Russia by downing the Russian warplane and acted as accomplices of the terrorists, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

The plane was hit by a Turkish warplane as it was travelling 1 km away from the Turkish border, Putin said. The plane posed no threat to Turkish national security, he stressed.

Putin said the plane was targeting terrorist targets in the Latakia province of Syria, many of whom came from Russia.

Russia noticed of the flow of oil from Syrian territory under the control of terrorists to Turkey, Putin said.

Apparently, IS now not only receives revenue from the smuggling of oil, but also has the protection of a nation’s military, Putin said. This may explain why the terrorist group is so bold in taking acts of terrorism across the world, he added.

The incident will have grave consequences for Russia’s relations with Turkey, Putin warned.’

[…]

One of the two pilots of the downed Russian warplane was reported killed by a rebel group as he was parachuting down on the ground after ejecting from the plane. The fate of the second pilot remains unknown.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Putin: Downing of Russian Warplane by Turkey Was a ‘Stab in the Back’

Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian jet Tuesday that Turkey said violated its airspace on the border with Syria, a major escalation in the Syrian conflict that could further strain relations between Russia and the West.

Russian officials confirmed that a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft was shot down but insisted it had not violated the airspace of Turkey, a member of the NATO alliance.

“A stab in the back,” complained Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to the plane downing.

Turkey’s military, however, said the Russian jet was warned multiple times before it was targeted by two F-16 fighter jets in the border zone in western Syria in mountains not far from the Mediterranean coast.

NATO allies with intelligence assets near the area confirmed Turkey’s version of events and rejected Russia’s claim that its aircraft was flying over Syria and had not crossed into Turkish airspace, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after an emergency alliance meeting Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Jet Down: Erdogan’s Reckless Gamble

In his latest RT interview Dr. Trifkovic considers the ramifications of Turkey shooting down a Russian war plane over northern Syria on November 24.

RT: For more reaction let’s go to Srdja Trifkovic, foreign affairs editor at Chronicles Magazine. Turkey says it’s taking a tougher stand against Islamic State, and yet it downs a jet of a country waging a war on terrorism in the region. What are your thoughts?

ST: It is perfectly consistent with Turkey’s behaviour since it ostensibly joined the anti-ISIS campaign last July. Over 80 percent of the tonnage of their bombs were dropped on the Kurds fighting ISIS in northern Syria and northwestern Iraq. Turkey has been consistent in pursuing its own agenda, which is to pretend to be fighting ISIS while settling scores with one of the two parties which are actually capable of fighting ISIS on the ground—the other being the Syrian army. This is a reckless move by [Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan to throw spanners into the works of Russia’s increasingly high profile as the only serious player from the outside who is trying to do something, and which is reflected in the consultations between France and Russia. Erdogan has been increasingly prepared to take serious gambles in recent years. He is now trying to up the ante and to force the rest of NATO into a gesture of solidarity with Turkey.

Of course if you have the F-16s ready in the air even before the Russian jet allegedly violated the air space, it was evidently a setup. It was a deliberate trap which Erdogan ordered down the chain of command because he wants to test Russia’s response, and also because he wants to use—more accurately, to abuse—Turkey’s membership of NATO to force the rest of the alliance to adopt an overtly anti-Russian posture, while at the same time sabotaging the war against ISIS, with which he secretly sympathizes. So there’s a number of motives for him to act this way. In my opinion, when you put it all together, it is quite clear why he did it.

RT: In your opinion, how is the downing of this Russian plane going to affect the atmosphere in the anti-ISIL coalition?…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Search Helicopter Downed Near Syrian Border by US-Made Anti-Tank Missile, Rebels Claim

The news is coming fast and furious out of Syria on Tuesday where, earlier today, Turkey decided to shoot down a Russian Su-24 which Ankara says violated its airspace while conducting operations near the border.

Russia says the fighter jet was in Syrian airspace for the duration of the mission while Turkey insists that the plane crossed the border and was warned several times before being engaged by two F-16s.

For his part, Vladimir Putin has now called Turkey a “backstabber” on the way to accusing Ankara of funding ISIS and derailing the war on terror.

Meanwhile, the FSA which is aligned with al-Nusra and is backed and funded by the US and Turkey released two videos depicting its fighters celebrating over the body of a dead Russian pilot.

Just in case all of that wasn’t enough, the FSA now claims to have shot down a Russian helicopter as it searched for the two missing pilots…

Do note: these are the exact same TOW missiles we discussed on Monday (see here) and that the US and the Saudis have been funneling to the FSA and its allies and that have been shared with al-Nusra. Here’s what we said just one day ago:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Court Sentences Poet to Death for Renouncing Islam

A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam.

A Saudi court on Tuesday ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, who has curated art shows in Jeddah and at the Venice Biennale. The poet, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling.

Fayadh’s supporters believe he is being punished by hardliners for posting a video online showing the religious police (mutaween) in Abha lashing a man in public. “Some Saudis think this was revenge by the morality police,” said Kareem.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Severe Blow’: Al Qaeda Suicide Bomber Takes Out Leadership of Key ISIS Brigade

A recent suicide bombing in southern Syria shows the rivalry between Al Qaeda and ISIS is more than just a contest to see who can kill the most infidels — the groups are using classic terror techniques on each other.

The Nov. 15 bombing came at a top-level meeting of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a key ISIS militia known for its bloody and vicious hold over parts of the Golan Heights. Six of the group’s top men were killed, including Muhammad “Abu Ali” al-Baridi, the shadowy head of the group who went by the nickname “The Uncle.”

Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, quickly took credit, gloating on Twitter about the “heroic” attack.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Some 1,000 Belgian Citizens on List of Jihadists Linked to Syrian Civil War

The Belgian authorities made up the list with the names of at list 945 Belgian citizens who have links to a terrorist list with links to the four-year Syrian civil war.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — At least 945 Belgian citizens are on a terrorist list with links to the four-year Syrian civil war, local media reported Tuesday, citing government sources.

The list includes militants currently fighting in Syria, fighters that have returned to Belgium, extremists on their way to the war-torn country and people who say they only intend to move there or were simply stopped by Belgian security services, the Derniere Heure newspaper said, citing sources in the office of Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens.

Syrian government forces have been fighting opposition factions aiming to overthrow President Bashar Assad, as well as various Islamist groups, including Islamic State and the Nusra Front.

Belgium has the highest number per capita of EU countries with Islamists who have traveled to fight in Syria, according to the UK-based Aon plc insurance company. Some 440 Belgian citizens are estimated to be fighting on the side of militants in Syria.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Teenage Islamist ‘Poster Girl’ Who Fled Austria to Join ISIS ‘Is Beaten to Death by the Terror Group After Trying to Escape From Syria’

A teenage Austrian girl who fled to Syria along with her friend is believed to have been beaten to death after being caught trying to flee the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

Samra Kesinovic, 17, and her friend Sabina Selimovic became ‘poster girls’ for ISIS after they arrived in Syria in April 2014.

A number of Austrian newspapers have reported that Samra has been beaten to death for attempting to leave Raqqa, although official government sources are refusing to comment on individual cases.

According to The Local, one newspaper quotes a Tunisian woman who lived with Samra and Sabina in Raqqa.

The Tunisian woman, who was not named in the report, said she was able to escape from ISIS.

Earlier this year, a United Nations official says one of the two Austrian girls who fled their middle class homes in Vienna earlier this year to fight in Syria has definitely died in the conflict.

They first went to the Turkish capital Ankara by plane, and then on into the southern Turkish region of Adana. After that, their tracks were lost.

But they appeared on social networking sites branding Kalashnikov rifles and surrounded by armed men — photos which Austrian police said acted as recruitment posters for young girls.

David Scharia, a senior Israeli expert of the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTED) said: ‘We received information just recently about two 15-year-old girls, of Bosnian origin, who left Austria, where they had been living in recent years; and everyone, the families and the intelligence services of the two countries, is looking for them.

He added: ‘Both were recruited by Islamic State. One was killed in the fighting in Syria, the other has disappeared.’

His confirmation comes three months after the Austrian government said it had informed both sets of parents of the girls that one of them might have been killed.

An Islamic preacher from Bosnia living in Vienna, Mirsad O., known by the Islamic name of ‘Ebu Tejma’, was allegedly responsible for the radicalization of the two young girls. Authorities say he brainwashed them into joining the jihad. He denies this.

Mirsad O. was arrested for his role in an alleged terrorist funding network based in Austria in November.

It is believed both Samra and Sabina married IS fighters soon after arriving in Syria. The two couples initially lived in the same room but the 15-year-old has reportedly now moved out to a different flat.

Speaking by SMS messages to French weekly Paris Match, Sabina denied claims she was pregnant and insisted she was enjoying life in Syria, where she felt free to practise her religion in a way that she did not in Austria.

The magazine did manage to confirm the teenager had only been allowed to speak to them with the permission of her husband, who was in the room as she wrote her answers.

She said after arriving to Turkey from Austria they crossed over the border into Syria on foot. They ended up in the city of Raqqa, she said, after arriving in the country with nothing other than the clothes they were wearing.

Sabina said her husband was a soldier and added: ‘Here I can really be free. I can practice my religion. I couldn’t do that in Vienna.’

As many as 130 people from Austria are now believed to be fighting as jihadists abroad. Experts say at least half of them originally come from the Caucasus region of Russia and were granted asylum in Austria after the bloody Chechen war.

Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Marakovits said they were noticing an increasing problem with youngsters wanting to leave the country to fight in the ranks of ISIS.

He said: ‘If we can catch them before they leave we have the chance to work with their parents and other institutions to bring the youngsters out of the sphere of influence that prompted them to act in this way the first place.

‘Once they have left the country, even if they then changed their minds, it is then almost impossible to get them back.’

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Teenage Austrian ‘Poster Girl for the Islamic State’ Killed by Group for Trying to Escape

An Austrian teenager who became a poster girl for the Islamic State has reportedly been beaten to death by the group after she was caught trying to leave Syria.

Sabra Kesinovic, 17, was murdered after she was caught attempting to escape from Raqqa, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’s (Isil) de facto capital in Syria, according to reports in two Austrian newspapers.

She appeared extensively in Isil propaganda material after leaving her native Vienna to join the group together with Sabina Selimovic, a 16-year-old friend.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Downs Russian Military Aircraft Near Syria’s Border

BEIRUT — Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian jet Tuesday after NATO-member Turkey says the plane violated its airspace on the border with Syria, a major escalation in the Syrian conflict that could further strain relations between Russia and the West.

Russian officials confirmed that a Russian Su-24 fighter had been shot down, but insisted it had not violated Turkish airspace.

“A stab in the back,” complained Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

Turkey’s military, however, said that the Russian jet was warned multiple times before it was shot down by two F-16 fighter jets in the border zone in western Syria in mountains not far from the Mediterranean coast.

The downing brings renewed attention to a scenario feared for months by the Pentagon and its partners: a potential conflict arising from overlapping air missions over Syria — with Russia backing the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes the Islamic State.

NATO and Russia have been at odds over a series of flash points since the Cold War — including the NATO-led bombings in Bosnia in the 1990s and NATO support for Ukraine last year against pro-Moscow separatists — but the Syrian conflict has now put the two powers in possibly dangerous proximity.

It also could complicate a diplomatic push to bring greater international coordination to the fight against the Islamic State.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey ‘Crazy’ To Down Russian Su-24 Jet — Italy’s Lega Nord Party Leader

Ankara was “crazy” to down Su-24 military aircraft in Syria, the leader of Italy’s eurosceptic Lega Nord party said Tuesday.

ROME (Sputnik) — Matteo Salvini said that Russia is the only one that is truly dedicated to fight the Islamic State:

“Turkey has downed a Russian fighter on the border with Syria. They are crazy!!!! Instead of helping [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, the only one, who is really fighting against the cutthroats of ISIS [IS], the ‘allies’ down his planes,” Matteo Salvini posted on his Facebook.

Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish F-16s shot down the Su-24 fighter jet with two people on board over alleged violation of the country’s airspace. Contrary to Ankara’s accusations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the aircraft was 0.6 miles from Turkey when it was hit.

Russian jets commenced precision airstrikes against IS targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Raising Black Flag of ISIL by Shooting Down Russian Plane

French international relations expert Jean-Vincent Brisset and parliamentary deputy Gilbert Collard told Sputnik that the downing of the Russian warplane while fighting ISIL terrorists is an indicator about the priorities of the Turkish government, which has shown little support for fighting terrorism in neighboring Syria.

Shooting down a Russian airplane in Syria was an act of support for the Islamic State terrorists being targeted by Russian airstrikes, Gilbert Collard, deputy for France’s Front National party, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

“I consider the fact that a Russian plane was hit, while fighting the Islamic State is a recognition of the state Turkey is now in,” said Collard.

“Turkey destroyed people and a plane that were fighting the Islamic State. In doing so, it chose its side, and that is the side of terrorists.”

“Turkey can call for an extraordinary meeting, but that doesn’t change the fact that in the fight against terrorists, you have to pick your allies. Unfortunately, Turkey has not done that.”

Jean-Vincent Brisset, international relations expert from the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), said that the reaction of Turkey is now critical.

“I don’t think that Russian planes violated Turkish airspace. Now it is becoming clear, who is supporting who (in this war). It wasn’t completely apparent until this event,” said Brisset, who added that Turkey’s position in the fight against terrorism is becoming more and more contentious in the West.

“The Turks have been more aggressive to the Kurds than to the Islamic State. Now, when everybody is talking about forming coalitions and talking about cooperation, it is necessary to define a common enemy.”

“I think that the Russians have conducted themselves well enough to avoid serious confrontation. The time has come to the put cards on the table: either we are with the Russians and the other members of the coalition fighting the Islamic State, or its foul play.”

“I suggest that now Erdogan is obliged to either openly support the Islamic State, or proclaim neutrality and not take any more actions against those who are fighting the Islamic State.”

On Tuesday, a Russian Su-24 fighter jet was shot down by Turkish forces while in Syrian airspace. It was tasked with carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets and had never entered Turkish airspace before it was downed.

According to reports, the two pilots inside the Su-24 were able to eject from the plane before it crashed, though it is currently unknown where they landed.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Reveals New Cabinet With Erdogan Son-in-Law in Key Post

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday unveiled a new cabinet stacked with loyal allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including his son-in-law who was named energy minister.

Davutoglu won approval for his cabinet at a meeting with Erdogan and the Turkish strongman is expected to keep tight control over the government.

The announcement of the new lineup comes after the snap November 1 election where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) co-founded by Erdogan stunningly regained the majority it had unexpectedly lost in a June vote…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Turkmen Rebels Say They Killed Pilots of Downed Russian Jet

Commander says pilots were shot while landing with parachute

(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, NOVEMBER 24 — The commander of a group of Turkmen rebels in northern Syria said his group killed the pilots of a Russian warplane downed on Tuesday, according to Turkish press agency Dogan.

“We shot both pilots while they were landing with the parachute. Their bodies are here,” the commander said.

Alpaslan Celik, deputy commander of the 2nd Brigade in the Coast, affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, said he has the bodies of the two Russian pilots.

Commander Baser Molla added that the group has taken military control of the strategic zone of Kizildag, in the northwestern region of Bayirbucak.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton Claims Saudi Arabia is the Largest Donor to “Sunni Terrorists” Worldwide

Wikileaks has struck again; this time, they have revealed a U.S. government cable sent from the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to the U.S. Treasury office that specifically alluded to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s substantial financial donations to international terrorist groups fighting the U.S. Armed Forces.

According to an introductory cable that discussed Saudi Arabia’s background:

“Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”

Secretary of State Clinton followed this statement up with the following:

“Continued senior level USG engagement is needed to build-on initial efforts and encourage the Saudi government to take more steps to stem the flow of funds from Saudi Arabia-backed sources to terrorists and extremists worldwide.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Eastern Europe Fears Closer French-Russian Ties Amid Ukraine Crisis

Several Eastern European countries are becoming increasingly worried that the West may abandon Ukraine in return for Russian backing in Syria, as Paris, Moscow and Washington develop closer ties in the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group.

The three Baltic states, which were under Moscow’s thumb until 1991, were particularly spooked by Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year and are concerned about the Kremlin’s territorial ambitions.

Together with Poland, the Baltic trio — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — are proponents of exercising the utmost firmness regarding the Kremlin. They also fear that the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine will be lumped together…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Moscow: ‘If Kiev Doesn’t Pay, We’ll Close Off Taps’

It could happen ‘today or tomorrow’

(ANSA) — MOSCOW — Russia may close off the gas taps “today or tomorrow” since Ukraine has not paid in advance for supplies, according to Russian Energy Minister, Alexander Novak.

Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement on gas supplies for the coming winter at the end of September in Brussels, after months of negotiations under EU mediation.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Why Russia Needs China to Buy Its Weapons

Despite intellectual property concerns, Russia recently agreed to sell 24 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets to China — a deal worth $2 billion. But what is driving Moscow to seek deeper trade ties with Beijing?

Russian sales of advanced weapons to China, including modern combat aircraft, are not new. Indeed, throughout the post-Soviet period, China has been one of Russia’s most important customers for arms exports. The Chinese have been purchasing systems, such as the Su-27 fighter jet, and advanced surface-to-air missiles, from Russia for over a decade.

“The arms relationship serves both countries, as Russia has depended on foreign sales to maintain parts of its defense industrial base, and China, with a steadily growing military budget, has been in search of advanced weapons that Western nations are unwilling to sell it,” David Ochmanek, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, told DW.

What makes the latest deal particularly noteworthy, however, is that the Su-35 is one of Russia’s most advanced military aircraft, and had not been previously sold to any foreign buyers. Until recently, Russia was actually quite reluctant to sell China the very most sophisticated of its weapons systems.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Afghans Seeking Asylum Buy Fake Taliban Threat Letters

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Threatening letters from the Taliban, once tantamount to a death sentence, are now being forged and sold to Afghans who want to start a new life in Europe.

The handwritten notes on the stationery of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan were traditionally sent to those alleged to have worked with Afghan security forces or U.S.-led troops, listing their “crimes” and warning that a “military commission” would decide on their punishment. They would close with the mafia-style caveat that insurgents “will take no further responsibility for what happens in the future.”

But nowadays the Taliban say they have mostly ceased the practice, while those selling forged threat letters are doing a brisk business as tens of thousands of Afghans flee to Europe, hoping to claim asylum. Forgers say a convincing threat letter can go for up to $1,000.

“Of the threat letters now being presented to European authorities by Afghans, I’d say only one percent are real and 99 percent are phony,” said Mukhamil, 35, who has forged and sold 20 such letters.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why Pakistan Persecutes the Minority Ahmadi Group

An angry mob in the Pakistani city of Jehlum burnt down a factory and a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadi group on blasphemy charges. What are the reasons behind continued persecution of the Ahmadis?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Planning to Destroy U.S. Military Satellites as Part of a First Strike Attack

(NaturalNews) The Chinese military continues to perfect its anti-satellite warfare capabilities with a recent flight test of a new ASAT missile, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

For almost two decades Beijing has increasingly boosted its annual defense budget to improve weapons systems for the People’s Liberation Army, Navy (PLAN) and Air Force (PLAAF). But despite advances, the Chinese military remains far behind the United States and, to a lesser degree, Russia, in terms of technological capabilities.

In fact, as noted by Paul Dibb, writing in The National Interest in October:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cheating Accusations Mar Zimbabwe’s ‘Mister Ugly’ Contest

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Pageant judges have crowned a new winner of Zimbabwe’s 4th annual “Mister Ugly” contest, upsetting supporters of the crowd favorite and prompting rioting at the event.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Jewish Group Urges Limit to Refugee Influx

The Jewish Community organisation (IKG) in Austria has called for a limit on the number of refugees entering the country, warning of the risk of growing anti-Semitism as many of the migrants are from Middle Eastern countries.

“The question is how many refugees can a country accept. We have reached the end of our capacities,” IKG president Oskar Deutsch told journalists in Vienna on Monday.

“Some of these so-called refugees will have grown up thinking anti-Semitism is normal,” he said. “It would be terrible if this were to happen in Austria.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austrian Population to Grow by 60,000 a Year

Austria’s population is set to grow by 60,000 people a year mainly due to immigration, according to a new report by Statistik Austria.

Statistik Austria boss Konrad Pesendorfer said that by 2030 Austria is expected to have 9.31 million inhabitants. Currently, the population stands at around 8.54 million.

Statisticians had to revise figures from last year due to the large number of refugees arriving in Austria this year, who are claiming asylum.

In 2014, 1.45 million people born in a foreign country lived in Austria, around 17 percent of the total population. The number of foreign residents is expected to rise to 2.07 million by 2030, and to 2.51 million by 2060.

Vienna is experiencing the strongest population growth of all the nine states as a result of immigration. Currently foreign-born residents make up 33 percent of the population, and this is expected to increase to more than 40 percent by 2035.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bid to House Refugees on Swedish Cruise Ships

Refugees could be housed on Swedish cruise ships in a bid to ease the urgent asylum accommodation shortage as winter sets in, migration authorities have said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Canada: Military Thrown Out of Barracks to Make Room for Syrian Refugees

The new hard Left Canadian government is hell-bent on bringing in 25,000 Syrians in a little over a month. Apparently unable to find housing for them, they will be housed in military barracks across Canada.

From CTV News:

[…]

There is more, read it all! The story mentions “health” concerns, so it appears they are a little worried about containing some potentially contagious diseases. Lucky Canadian citizens!

Note in the story that the UN is picking their refugees, so the vast majority will be Sunni Muslims.

           — Hat tip: RRN [Return to headlines]
 

Commission Sets Up €3bn Fund for Refugees in Turkey

Five days before an EU-Turkey summit to finalise a joint action plan to address the refugee crisis, the European Commission set up a Refugee Facility for Turkey Tuesday effective on 1 January 2016. The commission put €300 million in the fund and expects member states to add €2.5 billion.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark Changes Its Mind, Breaks Refugee Resettlement Promise

Denmark has become the latest country to refuse to rehouse any asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, backtracking on a promise made in September by Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen to voluntarily take in 1,000 refugees.

“When we made the offer it was because we needed to solve what was viewed in Europe as the ultimate solution: that if you could distribute those 160,000, the problem would be gone. It is not,” Rasmussen told broadcaster DR.

RT Anonymous artist in Helsingør, Denmark, dedicated to drowned #refugees. City council decided to keep it… pic.twitter.com/bXO39fcVma

— The Progressive Mind (@Libertea2012) November 19, 2015

The Prime Minister told parliament that the decision to renege on a promise to take in 1,000 refugees was because of the sheer numbers of people arriving in Denmark on a daily basis. Danish National Police estimate that more than 10,000 refugees crossed into Denmark in the first week of November.

Border controls in effect between Denmark and Sweden. So sad to see so many refugees on the train, away from home with no belongings 🙁

— Steve M (@ModernDaySinbad) November 21, 2015

Rasmussen also hit out at other European countries that have failed to grasp a handle on the situation, namely Greece and Italy as a reason for going back on what he said.

“The assumption that they would be distributed was based on the fact that Greece and Italy had a control of the situation, but they don’t.”

Eight thousands refugees, migrants and asylum seekers arrive in Greece each day. The Greek islands are at breaking point and trying to cope with the number of risky rescue operations at sea, as well as struggling to process huge numbers of asylum seekers’ claims.

Hundreds of migrants have been left stranded on Greece’s mainland border with Macedonia, where police recently repelled them with tear gas.

Lashing out at Germany and Brussels over the refugee crisis, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras recently told his parliament:

“Greece is the first reception country, and Europe has unfortunately not taken steps to protect reception countries from a (migration) wave which has taken on uncontrolled dimensions.”

Thousands of migrants are making their way to Europe from the Middle East, Africa and south Asia, which according to former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, is threatening the future of the EU.

Varoufakis told London newspaper The Guardian:

“Europeans are a people divided by a common currency. The euro crisis has fragmented Europe, turning Greeks against Germans, Irish against Spanish etc.”

“It makes it hard for the EU to function as a political entity, as a unified entity. The centrifugal force of monetary union has made it harder to deal with the refugee crisis. In a sense, it is the straw that has broken the camel’s back.”

Europe’s inability to reach a solution through consensus can be seen at every unofficial border with razor wire fencing; on the faces of migrants with their lips sewn together; and in scenes of refugees held in pens, being thrown food by riot police.

Tents to house refugees are being erected in Denmark, but the reality of the situation is biting and weather conditions worsen as winter approaches.

Denmark granted asylum to 6,703 people in July this year — more than the sum total for the whole of 2014. More than 10,000 refugees crossed into Denmark in the first week of November en route to Sweden, where 10,201 refugees applied for asylum.

The divisions in Europe on how to deal with the refugee crisis have been exposed, once again, with Denmark’s latest decision.

As European leaders continue to bicker over quotas, numbers and borders — those seeking asylum in Denmark — men, women and children, living in freezing conditions, with nowhere to go, have become victims of a broken promise.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Difficult Situation Along Macedonian-Greek Border

‘Economic migrants’ have sewn their lips in protest

(ANSA) — SKOPJE/BELGRADE — The situation along the border between Macedonia and Greece is getting more and more difficult.

A growing number of ‘economic migrants’ is locked out and stranded in ‘no man’s land’ after the authorities in Skopje decided to take in only those refugees who are fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

This decision is similar to that made in recent weeks by Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Many migrants from other countries — Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kurdistan, Morocco, Congo and other African and Asian countries — have sewn their lips together in protest.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU Officials Urge Rethink of Europe as Public Fear of Open Borders Grows

The pressure to dismantle the EU’s Schengen ‘borderless’ agreement is gathering momentum in response to the growing atmosphere of fear of another European terror attack.

In the aftermath of the November 13 Paris attacks, European officials began calling for a rethink of the principal of freedom of movement within the continent.

On Tuesday, a new survey by ORB pollsters reveal that for the first time the majority of British people, 52%, want a clear break from Europe.

It’s being seen as a reflection of public anxiety about the EU’s migration crisis.

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s director for Europe and Central Asia, has serious concerns about how the influx of refugees to Europe is being perceived. Speaking to the Nation, he said that “the Paris attacks have fundamentally changed the politics of this issue.”

However, he argued that Euroskeptic politicians are misguided to call for European borders to be closed. He said that wouldn’t be tackling the issue at hand.

He said the backlash “will rub up against the fact that numbers will just keep coming… whether people want it or not.”

Although not a part of the Schengen agreement, the UK is subject to an EU directive allowing economic freedom of movement for some EU members.

However, right-wing groups such as UKIP are increasingly drawing a link between Europe’s current migrant crisis and national security.

This has increased after claims from the Greek authorities that one of the Paris attackers entered mainland Europe after arriving by boat on the Greek island of Leros.

It’s a blow to UK Prime Minster David Cameron who wants the UK to stay in the EU, albeit under a renegotiated settlement.

There are also fears that refugees fleeing from devastating conflicts like the civil war in Syria, may be used as convenient scapegoats by nationalist groups across Europe.

The ongoing political fallout is even hurting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, once thought of as one of the most powerful world leaders.

This summer she opened Germany’s borders to receive 800,000 refugees, a gesture that is now receiving mounting criticism.

Former French justice minister Rachida Dati, speaking days after the Paris attacks, said that although she believed Merkel to have been motivated by generosity, she “made an error of judgement” by letting so many migrants into Europe at once.

She said there needed to be controls on exterior borders of Europe, or criminals will take advantage of easier travel. “If there is no security there can be no freedom.”

A referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU is to be held in 2017, but with more attention on the threat of terror spreading around Europe, there are calls for it to brought forward.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Latest Solution for the Refugee Shelter Shortage: Cruise Ships

Cruise ships, ferries, and even oil platforms might be used to provide temporary shelter for refugees.

As Europe hastens to find housing for a tidal wave of refugees, some countries are starting to look at waterborne shelters.

Sweden’s Migration Board is in discussions with several cruise ship owners to provide shelter for several thousand of the 360,000 refugees forecast to enter the country in the next year. The vessels could be docked in Swedish port cities by early 2016, according to an official statement from the Migration Board.

Germany is already hosting 180 refugees aboard two ships docked on the Emscher River in the city of Dortmund, and the country is actively searching for more. “We have an obligation to provide humane accommodation to all refugees who come to us, and we have to explore all the options,” Lorenz Caffier, interior minister of the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania region, told the newspaper Ostzee Zeitung in an interview earlier this month.

Germany currently has housing capacity for about 500,000 refugees, according to a report by Ernst & Young, far short of the 870,000 forecast to arrive during 2016. Sweden is already housing asylum-seekers in summer camps, a tent city, and even a Wild West theme park called High Chaparral. Many of those facilities are now filled. As winter approaches, the search for shelter has become increasingly urgent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: PM Sipilä Calls Crisis Meeting Over Kempele Rape Case

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä has called a crisis meeting with the Interior and Justice ministers over a suspected rape in his home town of Kempele, near Oulu. MTV reports that the two suspects are asylum seekers from Afghanistan.

Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä has called a crisis meeting to discuss a rape case in his home town of Kempele, just south of Oulu, in which a 14-year-old girl was attacked. The two suspects in police custody are both foreign and aged under 18, with MTV reporting that they are asylum seekers from Afghanistan, aged 15 and 17.

Two bystanders intervened during the attack, which took place around 10:30 pm on Monday, before police dogs traced the suspected attackers’ tracks to a residential building where the two men were found. They have not yet been interviewed as there is a shortage of interpreters.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Disappointed Iraqis Cancel Asylum Applications

In recent weeks the Iraqi Embassy in Helsinki’s posh Kulosaari neighbourhood has been busy as Iraqis have queued up for temporary passports to leave the country.

Some of the Iraqi asylum seekers who have arrived in Finland this autumn have decided to return to Iraq. In September and October, for instance, more than 700 Iraqis cancelled their asylum applications.

Officials at the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) say that some Iraqis have apparently had incorrect assumptions about Finland’s asylum policy.

“Many of them have arrived in Finland with an idea that everything would be arranged quickly and that family reunifications would be easy. For many it may have been a shock when the truth emerged about how long the asylum process takes,” says Migri communications officer Kaisa Härkisaari.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fire at Algerian Migrant Camp Leaves 18 People Dead

At least 43 people injured in pre-dawn blaze at camp housing about 600 migrants 500 miles south-east of Algiers

A fire sparked by an electrical fault has killed 18 people and injured 43 others at a camp in Algeria, emergency services and the Red Crescent said.

The blaze began before dawn at the camp housing about 600 migrants in Ouargla, 800km (500 miles) south-east of Algiers. The emergency services rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire.

The authorities have opened an investigation. The victims’ nationalities were not immediately known.

“The fire broke out at 3am (0200 GMT), killing 18 people and wounding 43,” said Col Farouk Achour, a civil defence official.

The president of the Algerian Red Crescent, Saida Benhabiles, said the fire was sparked by a short circuit which triggered the explosion of a heater. She said 27 people were still being treated in hospital.

Since Libya descended into chaos in its 2011 uprising, Algeria has become a top north African destination for sub-Saharan people seeking a better life.

Benhabiles said more than 4,000 migrants from Niger had been returned to their country by Algeria since 2014. She said 400 more migrants were due to be sent back to Niger from Ouargla, but it was not clear if any of them were from the camp hit by the blaze…

           — Hat tip: Green Infidel [Return to headlines]
 

France: Calais Refugee Camp Hit by Another Blaze

Photos have emerged from a fire that swept through the New Jungle migrant camp in Calais, injuring two and burning down numerous tents over 250 square metres. The blaze marks the third at the camp in under a month.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning in the camp, which is home to an estimated 6,000 refugees hoping to cross the Channel to the UK.

Two Eritrean migrants — a 25-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man — were injured in the blaze, which burned down an area of 250 square metres, authorities said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Needs ‘Relief’ In Managing Migrant Inflow — Vice-Chancellor

According to German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, the country needs to improve control over the refugee flows.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — Germany needs “relief” in the process of accepting migrants on its territory, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Tuesday.

“Relief [in accepting migrants] is absolutely necessary for Germany,” Gabriel said, as quoted by Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper.

He added that Germany must initiate new protocols to decrease the number of asylum applications received by the country, as well as to improve control over the refugee flows.

Europe is struggling to manage hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety and shelter. Many seek to reach wealthy EU states such as Germany.

According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany expects over a million refugees during the course of 2015.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: November Set to Break Refugee Arrivals Record

November is set to break the record set in October for the highest number of refugees to arrive in Germany in one month, police reported on Monday.

The stubbornly high number of new arrivals also means that the government’s forecast that 800,000 refugees will arrive in the whole of 2015 is set to be clearly overstepped.

By the end of October 758,500 refugees had already been registered, raising the probability that by the year’s end more than a million people will have sought refugee in Germany from poverty and war.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germans Opposed to Mass Migration Are “Free to Leave”

by Soeren Kern

After factoring in family reunifications, the actual number of migrants could exceed 10 million, and some believe that Germany’s Muslim population is on track to nearly quadruple to an astonishing 20 million by 2020.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Gov’t: Sweden’s Aliens Act to be Adapted to EU’s Minimum Levels

Sweden’s Social Democrat-Green government announced Tuesday tighter border controls and asylum rules to drastically reduce the number of refugees who seek asylum in the country.

Sweden, known for having one of the world’s most generous asylum policies, will now downsize it to meet the European Union’s minimum requirements, as it struggles to cope with a record 190,000 asylum seekers expected this year.

“The current situation is unsustainable, so we must drastically reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to Sweden,” Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven told reporters.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hampered by New Border Controls, Migrants Make Case for Asylum

As Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans pass through Balkan states, asylum-seekers from other nations remain stuck in Greece and protest against new border controls.

Late Friday night, Mohamed Abdul-Kadir sat uncomfortably by a campfire as his four children slept on cardboard boxes nearby. For three days he had been waiting there, 25 meters from the Macedonian border in Idomeni refugee camp, watching Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans pass through.

A Somali citizen, Abdul-Kadir was barred from entering Macedonia on Wednesday under new border regulations that ban migrants from so-called “non-conflict zones.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Immigrant Arrested for Repeatedly Committing Voter Fraud to Skew U.S. Elections, While Corrupt Democrats Claim Voter Fraud Never Happens

The very Left-wing organization Media Matters portrays the entire subject of “voter fraud” as little more than a “right-wing myth” in this post on the group’s web site.

Yet, there are plenty of documented instances of actual voter fraud and they surface nearly every major election cycle — the most recent case in in Tarrant County, Texas.

As reported by CBS DFW, the county’s criminal district attorney, Sharen Wilson, is currently working with the Office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (who has been indicted on charges of securities fraud) “to prosecute a case of repeated voter fraud against the state.”

Rosa Maria Ortega, of Grand Prairie, Texas, has been indicted for voting illegally in Tarrant County, officials said. The indictment alleges that Ortega — who is not even a U.S. citizen and, therefore, is barred from voting or even registering to vote — fraudulently did the latter in Dallas County after claiming to be a U.S. citizen.

Also, CBS DFW reported, Ortega allegedly attempted twice to register to vote in Tarrant County, but her applications were rejected by Tarrant County Elections Office personnel.

What’s more, records in Dallas County indicate that Ortega voted in multiple elections in that county, beginning in 2004, and most recently in the 2014 GOP primary run-off.

“Protecting the integrity of elections is essential to our democracy and a top priority of my administration,” said Paxton. “As long as there are criminals seeking to exploit our system of elections, we stand ready to investigate, prosecute and restore confidence that the will of the people of Texas is heard.”

“This is a big deal,” added Wilson. “People insist this kind of thing doesn’t happen, but it’s happening right here at home. The principle of one citizen, one vote is one of our most fundamental rights as U.S. citizens, and must be protected.”

There have been other cases of voter fraud as well — many other cases. Here are just a few:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Foreign Students 9.2% of School Population Says Ministry

Albania, Morocco, Romania top three countries of origin

(ANSA) — Rome, November 23 — There were 805,800 foreign students in Italian schools in the 2014-2015 academic year, the education ministry said Monday.

Students born in Italy of foreign parents make up 51.7% of the total foreign student population, which in turn makes up 9.2% of the total school population.

The number of foreign students is on the rise in elementary and secondary schools and declining in nursery and middle schools.

Albania, Morocco and Romania are the top three countries of origin, the ministry said.

The wealthy northern Lombardy region hosts 201,633 foreign students or 25% of the overall total.

Of those who enroll in university, nearly 20% of foreign students matriculate in economics and statistics, followed by engineering at 17% and languages at 13.2%, the ministry said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Police Raid Baobab Migrant Reception Centre in Rome

40 people taken to central immigration office for checks

(ANSA) — Rome, November 24 — Police raided a migrant reception centre in Rome on Tuesday, carrying out searches and checking the documents of the migrants present.

Roughly 40 migrants from north Africa, Eritrea and Ethiopia staying at the Baobab centre in Via Cupa near Tiburtina station were taken to the central immigration office for further checks after it emerged their paperwork was not in order. Thirty migrants were instead allowed to remain at the centre, which began life as a cultural association and is run entirely by volunteers.

Around 60 police officers and carabinieri turned up with sniffer dogs around 6.30 am local time, blocking the access routes with armoured vehicles. Volunteers at the centre said their guests put up little resistance and that police had found noting in the searches. “It is the first raid at the Baobab centre and it comes at a specific moment in history,” they said.

“But we expected recent international events to have repercussions for our centre hosting refugees and people in transit, some without documents. It was in the air,” staff continued.

However they reaffirmed their “concern” over “rumours” that the centre is to be cleared “in the absence of a real alternative for accommodating the migrants staying there”. In recent months the Baobab centre has been at the forefront of solidarity efforts on behalf of refugees and migrants in the capital.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Turin Honors Syrian Refugee Kicked by Hungarian Camerawoman

Moshen, a pro football coach, dedicates prize ‘to all Syrians’

(ANSA) — Turin, November 24 — The city of Turin on Tuesday awarded its Ethics and Sports prize to a Syrian refugee who was deliberately tripped by a Hungarian camerawoman while fleeing a police charge at the Serbian border. Osama Abdul Moshen was running with his young son Zaid in his arms when Petra Laszlo — who worked for the rightwing, anti-immigrant Jobbik party’s N1TV local TV station — stuck her foot out and tripped him, making father and child crash to the ground.

The incident was caught on camera, and the video went viral.

Laszlo was fired, and when members of Spain’s Cenafe national football coaching centre found out through the media that Mohsen had been a coach for a first division club in Syria, they offered him transportation, a place to stay, and a job as a youth league coach.

“I dedicate this prize to all Syrians,” said Moshen, who was in Turin with Zaid and his teenage son Mohamed. His wife and third child are still in a refugee camp in Turkey.

Moshen called for “coordinated European action” to deal with the refugee crisis. Before that, the Syrian civil war must be stopped, he said.

“Russia and Iran could have done so a long time ago by forcing Assad to step aside,” he said. “The situation is a lot more difficult now”. Asked to comment on the November 13 Islamic terror attacks in Paris that claimed 130 lives, Mohsen answered that “no Muslim would accept the killing of a human being, because Islam is a peaceful religion”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Anti-Riot Police Raid Rome Migrant Centre

Police clad in anti-riot gear and with sniffer dogs in tow raided a refugee centre in Rome on Tuesday, searching for undocumented migrants amid a tightened security effort in the capital since Paris attacks.

Twenty-three of the 70 migrants, mostly from north Africa, Eritrea and Ethiophia, staying at the Baobab centre near Tiburtina station were detained, La Stampa reported.

Some 60 police officers, surrounded by sniffer dogs, arrived at the centre in armoured vehicles at around 6.30am.

Baobab, which is run by dozens of volunteers, is mostly used by migrants transiting through the capital before making their way to northern Europe and has often been at the centre of refugee solidarity efforts.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Making Room for Turkey: Merkel Courts Ankara, Shames Germany Over Refugees

The migrant crisis and Syrian conflict have forced German chancellor Angela Merkel to face a host of tough decisions in order to avert the “end of Europe,” warns a German newspaper.

Political expediency will force the German chancellor to make bargains with the Turkish government that she would not have countenanced before the migrant crisis, and the reaction of individual countries to the migration could signal the “end of Europe,” Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) wrote on Saturday.

“The European Union has become a one way street: there is money, but not solidarity,” says DWN, referring to warnings from Merkel and French President Francois Hollande that the “end of Europe” threatens, if the union cannot find a joint solution to the migrant crisis, which they believe involves a “further deepening” of the EU.

In opposition to such calls for solidarity, however, DWN remarks that European governments are either building walls on their border, like Hungary and Slovenia, or preparing to do so, like Croatia and Austria. Other states, including Sweden and Bavaria, want to impose entry restrictions.

The newspaper remarks on the importance of resolving the Syrian crisis, because most of the refugees in Europe are fleeing the conflict there.

“Shauble said that politics is a rendezvous with reality. The fact is, that Bashar al-Assad was elected president in 2000 with 97 percent of votes, and again in 2014 with 89 percent. It is obvious that he is not a political leader according to our expectations. His regime is authoritarian and inhumane. But it is also a fact that all religious communities can function undisturbed under Assad.”

In order to solve the migrant crisis, the German leader will have to make bargains with Turkey which she would not have countenanced earlier, the newspaper writes, calling the idea of designating the country a safe country of origin for refugees “grotesque”.

“Turkey is now further away from international law and ‘European values’ than ever before … someone who puts the constitutional bar as low as our chancellor will struggle to find a country not to designate a safe country of origin.”

Despite previously being firmly against Turkish accession to the EU, Merkel is now giving Turkish president Erdogan hopes of speedy progress in accession talks, as well as billions of euros in payments, and visa exemption for Turkish citizens, in return for not allowing refugees to travel beyond Turkey.

By engaging in such negotiations with Ankara (despite them being forced by political expediency), the Chancellor has done more to accommodate Turkey than she has to come to terms with public sentiment in her own nation, writes DWN, remarking on the “courage” she showed by going against her party on the refugee policy.

“With Lutheran straightforwardness she has waged war against her own people. Will she also have the courage to have a clear word with the foreign nations, which have triggered this recent migration?”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Merkel Cancels Cabinet Meeting Amid Coalition Bust-Up

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has canceled a cabinet meeting after being publicly lambasted for 13 minutes by the leader of her coalition party partner and Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer over her handling of the refugee crisis.

At the annual congress of his CSU party — which is in coalition with Merkel’s CDU party — Seehofer made the German leader look like “a schoolgirl”, according to local media. In a 13 minute tirade, he lambasted Merkel over the handling of the refugee crisis, demanding she set a limit on the number of asylum seekers the country would accept.

The German chancellor is reported to have listened to his tirade looking deeply unhappy. A planned cabinet meeting Monday night was canceled following the public spat as rumors began spreading that Merkel is about to U-turn on her refugee policy in an effort to keep her coalition together.

“This big historical task, the integration of refugees and securing the approval of the population, will not be achievable in the long term if we don’t get an upper limit,” said Seehofer to a huge round of applause.

Bavaria has been at the center of the refugee crisis ever since Merkel said her country’s doors were open to Syrian refugees fleeing the war-torn nation. Her announcement precipitated the largest mass movement of people since the Second World War, plunging Europe into crisis.

The tide of refugees led to some countries closing their borders, others erecting razor wire fences and a huge row over whether countries would be forced to take in a set quota of refugees. The crisis has called into question a central pillar of the European Union — freedom of movement of people — as well as the Schengen borderless agreement and the Dublin rules, which say migrants must be processed at the point of entry.

Merkel’s Climbdowns

Germany originally said it would envisage 600,000 refugees from Syria, but the number is estimated to rise to 1.1 million by the end of the year. However, Merkel has constantly refused to put a cap on the number, saying that — constitutionally — Germany’s basic right to asylum has no upper limit.

Her popularity ratings have fallen this year from more than 70 per cent to below 50 percent.

Merkel has already backpedaled over her policy of setting up transit zones to house the refugees while being processed, which was opposed by the other coalition party, the SPD, which likened the idea to setting up concentration camps.

At a crunch meeting in early November, Merkel backed down over transit camps and agreed to set up refugee centers and speed up processing, as well as the deportation of those refused asylum.

Following Seehofer’s very public dressing down of Merkel, she is reported to be poised to go back on her refusal to put a cap on the refugee numbers. She was reported to have talked of “fixed” quotas at the G20 summit in Turkey last week, telling lawmakers, “I cannot guarantee that you will already see a change in the coming weeks,” but conceded that the current situation could not continue as it was.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants: Serbian Media: Palestinian Ambassador’s Visa Scandal

For wealthy Middle Eastern migrants,prices up to 5000 euros

(ANSA) — BELGRADE — According to Serbian daily Blic, since the migrant crisis began, Palestinian ambassador to Serbia Mohamed Nabhan — using his diplomatic position and high-level contacts — has provided a large number of wealthy migrants from the Middle East with visa to enter the country at high prices, between 3,000 and 5,000 euros.

The daily reported it was wealthy citizens — mostly from Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Jordan — who took advantage of Serbian visa, apt to facilitate and shorten the journey to the countries of Western Europe, and in far less precarious conditions.

Between January and June, according to the daily newspaper, quoting sources inside the security services, the Palestinian Embassy in Belgrade forwarded to Serbian Foreign Affairs Ministry at least 43 notes (for 122 people) applying for a visa, and ambassador Nabhan has personally intervened to favour 24 Middle Eastern citizens.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Freedom is a Bike for Migrants at Arctic Border

Neither snow nor freezing temps have put off the thousands of migrants who have crossed in to northeast Norway on two wheels.

Pedalling a bicycle through a freezing blizzard, Rehman finally crosses the border between Russia and Norway where he hopes to be given asylum, half a world away from his home in Pakistan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Put “Refugees” In FEMA Camps

At best, criminal negligence — at worst, treason

First consider that Syria’s ambassador to India, Riad Abbas, has warned that more than 20 percent of Muslim migrants entering Europe may have ties to ISIS-linked groups. As he put it, reports Sputnik, “Among the refugees, who went to Europe, maybe more than 20 percent belong to ISIL groups. Now Europe has received bad element[s] into their ground. They will face further problem[s] in future.”

Then consider Dr. Mudar Zahran, a Muslim asylum seeker and leader of the Jordanian opposition residing in the U.K. On an October segment of “The Glazov Gang” he warned that Europe should not accept the Muslim migrants, as they were ushering in the “Islamic conquest of the West.” Furthermore, he stated that 75 percent of the migrants were not even Syrian and then said that seventy-five percent of those arriving from Syria come from safe area[s]; actually, the ones in disaster areas cannot…leave. So, actually, as much as there’s a disaster in Syria, most of those people arriving do in fact do not need the protection; they arrive from Turkey, they arrive from Jordan, they arrive from other places which are safe. In addition, those people are…bypassing poor European countries; they’re going to Turkey, Hungary, and other places like Bulgaria and settling in Germany, where there is a rich nation with a generous welfare system.

He also characterizes the migration as the fulfillment of “the Islamic…dreams of fascism of some” and says that what Muslims “couldn’t do in the last 20 years, now the West is doing for us for free—and even paying for it.” In addition, Zahran delivered this shocking news about the “invasion”: “I have to be honest,” he said, “you read Arab magazines and Arab newspapers; they are talking about, ‘Good job! Now we’re going to conquest [sic] Europe.’ So it’s not even a secret.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Small Village of 40 to Receive 550 Asylum Seekers

A hotel has already been converted into an asylum center.

Several residents of the village Bolkesjø in Telemark, Norway, are in despair over that they can be forced to receive 400 new asylum seekers. A hotel has already been converted into an asylum center.

Gran hotel Bolkesjø has been converted into emergency rooms for 150 refugees, and now the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) is negotiating with the owners of the village’s other hotel, Bolkesjø Hotel, about making it into an asylum center too.

A report from TV2 states that several of the 40 residents in Bolkesjø feel overrun and fear that the small village will not cope with such a massive increase in population.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Tightens Rules to Curb Refugee Numbers

Sweden has introduced a series of measures designed to stem the flow of asylum seekers into the country, after Prime Minister Stefan Löfven admitted the current high number is unsustainable.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Löfven said Sweden would be handing out residence permits to no more than the “EU minimum level” of refugees.

The move spells a dramatic U-turn for the Nordic humanitarian superpower, which has previously said it would do anything possible to aid people fleeing armed conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.

Löfven, leader of the centre-right Social Democrat party, spoke alongside Åsa Romson, Deputy Prime Minister and one of the heads of the government’s junior coalition partner, the Greens. One of the architects behind Sweden’s hitherto generous asylum policy, she was visibly upset, choking back tears at one stage.

Before announcing the measures, the Prime Minister told reporters, “It pains me to say that Sweden is no longer able to accept the high number of asylum seekers we’re seeing today. […] The situation is unsustainable.”

Löfven was very critical of other EU countries who he felt were not taking equal responsibility for the refugees.

“Now we must show that we can do no more. The aim of the measures we are implementing is to create a respite for Sweden.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Church in Malmö Offering Refugee Accommodation

The Swedish church in Malmö has stepped in to provide a roof over the heads of 100 migrants and refugees who had been sleeping at night outside the Swedish Migration Agency office in the city.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Will Gay Christian Refugees be Allowed to Come to Canada?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is sticking to his plan not only to bring 25,000 Syrian “refugees” into Canada but to have them arrive in the country before December 31.

A lot of people, including security experts and those involved in helping refugees, said it cannot be done. But of course it can. With sufficient aircraft available and an unlimited supply of other people’s money, the proposal is absolutely attainable.

The government plans to fly 900 refugees a day into Montreal and another 900 to Toronto every day beginning December 1. That is more than enough time to meet Junior’s arbitrary deadline.

Instead of taking sufficient time to do security checks, they will be vetted only as much as they can in order to meet Trudeau’s artificial deadline.

In a recent poll, more than 60% of those surveyed were opposed to bringing so many refugees into Canada without sufficient time to vet them. A sensible leader would have simply extended the unrealistic deadline to properly address security concerns but no one will ever accuse Lil PET of being sensible. It is difficult to see how extending the deadline would meet any serious opposition.

Facing criticism, the government has now announced the first wave of “refugees” will not include single or unaccompanied males. This should solve all our security concerns because we know that just like the Catholic clergy, Islamic terrorists cannot be married or have children. And since it is physically impossible for a woman to be a terrorist, everything is good…

Yesterday, the Ottawa Citizen reported it learned gay men will now be included in refugees allowed to come to Canada unaccompanied because gays are subject to persecution.

As proof positive the Trudeau government does not have a clue about what it is doing, in a short few days, they have gone from just 25,000 people to no unaccompanied males to no unaccompanied males except gays.

Trudeau, like Barack Obama. has no use for Christians despite the fact they are at greater risk of real persecution because of their religion. The government refuses to say anything about Yazidis, other Christians, or even members of minority Muslim sects. Not only do Christians face persecution but they are at a greater risk from violence from Muslims while in the refugee camps where Justin’s beloved 25,000 will come from.

[Comment: Following banksters plan to destabilize western countries.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Feminist Bullies and the Myth That Sexual Morality is Just About ‘Consent’

Pity today’s male undergraduate, tasked with navigating his way through the thorny thicket of university gender politics, writes BELINDA BROWN.

For surely Oliver Cromwell himself, history’s most notorious puritan, would have admired the zeal of the new generation of self-styled feminist campaigners, with all their fury over perceived grievances.

The latest target of their rage is George Lawlor, a second-year politics and sociology student at Warwick University, who dared to question the effectiveness of sexual consent workshops run on his campus.

The brainchild of the Left-wing National Union of Students, these consent classes are being rolled out across the higher education sector.

Oxford and Cambridge hold mandatory sexual consent workshops for students during Freshers’ week to discuss ‘myths and misunderstandings’ around rape and harassment.

But Lawlor made the mistake of challenging the feminist orthodoxy by writing on an internet blog that he was offended by the invitation to attend since the vast majority of men ‘don’t have to be taught not to be a rapist’.

He claimed — and, I believe, quite rightly — that this student union initiative would do nothing to address the real issue of sexual crimes against women, since every workshop would ‘just be an echo chamber of people pointing out the obvious and others nodding’.

But the validity of George Lawlor’s points did nothing to quell the tempest that engulfed him. Like someone labelled a heretic in the 17th century or a Communist in Fifties McCarthyite Washington, he was deemed to have offended the dogma of our times.

So he was subjected to a relentless campaign of personal vilification, abused on a bus travelling to the university and hounded out of a bar in Leamington. So ferocious was the condemnation that he even stopped attending lectures.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesian District to Ban Condoms in Convenience Stores

A staunchly Islamic district in Indonesia plans to ban the sale of condoms in convenience stores in a bid to halt premarital sex, an official said Tuesday, but activists criticised the move as misguided.

The local administration in Luwu on central Sulawesi island will soon send a notification to convenience stores, giving them a week to remove condoms from their shelves, district head Andi Mudzakkar said.

“We are concerned that premarital sex is on the rise among teenagers,” he told AFP from the district capital Belopa…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Abrogation Explanation for Islamic Conflagration

When the doctrine of abrogation is applied to the dichotomous peace/violence content of the earlier/later Quranic verses, the non-Muslim can easily and immediately grasp 95% of the Islam pertinent to the non-Muslim.

The Quranic doctrine of abrogation provides a rational explanation for Islam’s mysterious duality, its simultaneous nature as a religion of domination/partnership, violence/passivity, supremacism/egalitarianism, and violent jihad/spiritual jihad.

In fact, the doctrine of abrogation provides the only option for understanding Islam, at least the portion of Islam posing a threat to the non-Islamic world. Understanding abrogation permits a non-Muslim to understand how the transformation of Islam’s prophet from gentle religious leader in Mecca to conquering warlord in Medina followed the change in his earlier peaceful divine revelations to his later violent divine revelations*, the shift from “there is no compulsion in religion” in Mecca to “slay the unbelievers wherever you find them” in Medina. Abrogation is the linchpin to understanding Islamic violence, terror, and conquest.

It is impossible to understand Islam if you don’t understand abrogation. Period.

Abrogation is the Islamic doctrine proclaiming some newer verses in the Quran replace or erase some older verses. The Quranic basis for abrogation is found in Chapter (Surah) 2, Verse 106 of the Quran: “Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allah is able to do all things?” (Hilali and Khan English translation).

The newest verses of the Quran are the violent verses* — the verses compelling all Muslims to commit violent jihad against all unbelievers, until all unbelievers are dead, subjugated, or converted. These verses are a problem for the majority of earth’s citizens who are not Muslims.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Black Hole Batteries Could Power Mysterious Radio Bursts

It’s the ultimate alternative energy source. Some of the mysterious radio signals flashing far outside our galaxy may be powered by cosmic batteries. Black holes and neutron stars may hook up into a kind of circuit just before they collide, producing ultra-short, ultra-bright blasts of radio waves.

Astronomers first detected a fast radio burst (FRB) in 2007 — a big flash that released more energy in a few milliseconds than the sun does in a month. Since then, we have found 10 more. Their origins remained a mystery, with theories ranging from star flares to messages from ET.

Now a study suggests that some of the bursts come from black holes in orbit with neutron stars, the dense cores of collapsed stars. When these duos spiral towards each other, their close approach creates a sort of battery, which creates the power that sends these strange bursts into space.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Martian Moon Set to Form Ring Around Red Planet

In 20 million years, Phobos is likely to tear apart to form a ring system — as other moons may have done.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]