Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/10/2014

According to one report, up to 70% of the Yezidi refugees surrounded by ISIS on Mount Sinjar are now dead, despite American air drops of food and water. However, according to another report, more than half of them — at least 20,000 — escaped through ISIS lines with the help of Kurdish troops.

In other news, the first suspected case of Ebola has been reported in Romania.

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

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

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

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

USA
» Rabbi Shot, Killed While Walking to North Miami Beach Temple
» Visiting Orthodox Rabbi Shot Dead While Walking to Synagogue on Shabbat in North Miami
 
Europe and the EU
» Belgian Politician Hassan Aarab Sorry for Holocaust Comment
» First Case of Suspected Ebola Reported in Romania
» ‘German Jihadists Should Not be Indulged’
» Germany’s Grand First World War Jihad Experiment
» Holy War Arrives in Germany
» UK: Baroness Warsi Warns Tories Over Attracting Ethnic Minorities
» UK: Baroness Warsi: ‘I Want to be Able to Live With Myself After Politics’
» UK: Tories Can’t Win, Warsi Warns
» Why, As a British Jew, I’m Terrified by the Anti-Semitism Suddenly Sweeping My Country
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Gaza Conflict: Fresh Fears for Ceasefire Talks in Cairo
» Israelis and Palestinians Agree to New 72-Hour Cease-Fire
» New Truce Agreed in Gaza Conflict
» Renewed Fighting Jeopardizes Gaza Truce Efforts
» Video of UNRWA Camps Showing Children Calling for Jihad Attracts Renewed Attention
 
Middle East
» Erdogan ‘Wins’ Turkey’s First Direct Presidential Election
» EU “Strongly” Condemns Attacks by Militants in Iraq
» Iraq Live
» Iraq Crisis: 150,000 Yezidi Kurds Refugees Surrounded by Islamic Extremists
» Iraq: ‘It is Death Valley. Up to 70 Per Cent of Them Are Dead’
» Iraq: Anglican Vicar of Baghdad: “Child I baptised cut in half by ISIS”
» Islamic Militants Advance Despite 2 Rounds of US Airstrikes
» Kurdish Rebels Help Rescue Besieged Yazidi Refugees From Iraq Mountain
» Recep Tayyip Erdogan ‘Wins Turkish Presidential Vote’
» So Wicked That Even Al Qaeda Disowned Them: Letter Found at Bin Laden’s Hideout Warned of Islamic State’s Extreme Brutality
» Syria: Cockney Jihadi Calls Out to Brits With Bizarre Recruitment Video
» US Conducts New Iraqi Airstrikes Against Islamic State Insurgents
» Washington’s Diabolical Agenda in Iraq: Are Token Airstrikes by the USA Against Its “Own” ISIS Mercenaries Being Done to Maintain “Plausible Deniability”?
 
Russia
» Ukraine Crisis: Army Pounds Rebels in Donetsk
 
South Asia
» Afghanistan: Suicide Car Bomb Kills 5, Wounds 35 in Kabul
» Pakistan: Mufti Muhammad Hassaan Kaleem Joins Dubai Islamic Bank as Sharia Head
» Pakistan: Police Seize Explosives in Di Khan Raid, Militants Escape
 
Far East
» Xiaomi Phones Secretly Sending Users’ Sensitive Data to Chinese Servers
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Somalia: Al Shabaab Commander Shot Dead in Mogadishu
» Somalia: Fierce Clash Erupts Outside Qoryooley Town
 
Immigration
» Ebola Threat Reaching UK Shores: Calais Migrants Screened for Deadly Virus on Our Doorstep
» Rising Migrant Tide Off Tunisia Threatens to Overwhelm Local Fishermen’s Best Efforts to Help
» Tunisian Coast Guard Intercepted Somali and African Immigrants Trip to Italy
 

Rabbi Shot, Killed While Walking to North Miami Beach Temple

Police are searching for two suspects who shot and killed an Orthodox rabbi while he was walking to his temple in North Miami Beach on Saturday morning.

Miami-Dade Police said 60-year-old Joseph Raksin was walking on the 800 block of NE 175th Street around 9 a.m. when two young males approached him. Raksin was shot during the altercation…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Visiting Orthodox Rabbi Shot Dead While Walking to Synagogue on Shabbat in North Miami

Yesterday, visiting 60 year old Brooklyn orthodox Rabbi Joseph Raksin was shot dead by two young assailants in full view of his son-in-law and grandsons while walking to Shabbat services at Bais Menachem synagogue in North Miami. It is alleged by Miami Dade police that it may have been a botched robbery attempt. The irony is that orthodox Jews carry no money on Shabbat. One of the assailants fled on a bicycle, while the other, on foot. Miami police are endeavoring to track down the alleged perpetrators. Last week an Orthodox synagogue, in the same vicinity, Torah V’Emunah, was vandalized with red swastikas with the word “Hamas”. After yesterday’s murder of Rabbi Raksin , that led a Jewish community activist to suggest there may have been a connection to the current Operation Protective Edge pitting Israel against renewed rocketing by terrorist groups Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian Politician Hassan Aarab Sorry for Holocaust Comment

(JTA) — Two Belgian Jewish groups said they would complain to police about a local politician who appeared to justify the Holocaust.

The Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, or LBCA, and the Flemish Forum of Jewish Organizations announced their intention to file a complaint for incitement to hatred against Assan Aarab of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party, or CD&V, on Thursday.

Aarab, a baker from the Antwerp suburb of Deurne who ran on the party’s ticket during the May municipal elections, wrote on Facebook earlier this week: “I think the Germans deliberately didn’t kill all the Jews so that we will be able to understand now why [Adolf Hitler] was destroying them.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

First Case of Suspected Ebola Reported in Romania

BUCHAREST, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — According to local television reports on Sunday, the first case of suspected Ebola patient was found in Ploiesti, about 70 km north from Bucharest.

The 51-year-old man showed Ebola symptoms and was sent to local hospital. The man, who recently returned from Nigeria where he had worked for a long time, will be immediately transferred to the National Institute “Matei Bals” in Bucharest.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘German Jihadists Should Not be Indulged’

As a new home to many migrants, global conflicts are increasingly being played out in microcosm in Germany itself. That is something that poses certain questions, says DW’s Kersten Knipp.

Yazidis living in Germany took to the streets of the Westphalian town of Bielefeld on Saturday (09.08.2014) — primarily to voice anxiety over the extremist militant group, “Islamic State” (IS), and its hounding of non-Sunnis across northern Iraq…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Germany’s Grand First World War Jihad Experiment

by Florence Waters

A little-known PoW camp just outside Berlin was dedicated to turning Allied Muslim soldiers into jihad warriors

If history is dictated by the concerns of the historian’s day, then it’s surprising more of us haven’t heard the story of the Halbmondlager, or “Half Moon Camp”, a small First World War prisoner-of-war camp in Zossen, near Berlin.

It was like no other PoW camp in history. Reserved primarily for Muslim prisoners, detainees lived in relative luxury and were given everything they needed to practise their faith. Spiritual texts were provided, Ramadan observed, a mosque erected — the first on German soil — and there were sermons by visiting spiritual leaders and academics…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Holy War Arrives in Germany

by Soeren Kern

“Never before have the sympathizers of Islamic terror appeared so openly in Germany.” — Editorial, Westfalen-Blatt.

“Anyone who thought the civil war in Syria or the barbarity of the Islamic State in Iraq does not affect us, you are wrong.” — Editorial, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“IS, Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Boko Haram—these four groups are the linchpins of the attempt to bomb an unstoppable modernity back into the Middle Ages.” — Editorial, Westfalen-Blatt.

“The religions of the world are increasingly being misused for ideological struggles and excesses of violence between people of different faiths. Religions are never violent per se, but the market criers of violence are using them to promote their own interests.” — Editorial, Neue Westfälische.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Baroness Warsi Warns Tories Over Attracting Ethnic Minorities

The former Conservative chairman, Baroness Warsi, says her party will not win the next election unless it does more to attract ethnic minority voters.

She resigned as a government minister over the UK’s policy on Gaza last week but has now broadened her criticisms. Lady Warsi told the Sunday Times and Independent on Sunday the Tories had left it “a little late” to woo ethnic minorities for the next election.

Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi said it was sad Lady Warsi felt the way she did.

Lady Warsi became the first female Muslim cabinet minister when David Cameron took office in 2010…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Baroness Warsi: ‘I Want to be Able to Live With Myself After Politics’

In the back garden of Sayeeda Warsi’s Wakefield home there is a child’s football net. You can see it from the windows of her front room, and recently, in the warm weather, her children have been using it a lot…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tories Can’t Win, Warsi Warns

David Cameron will not be able to win a majority at the next election because he has failed to woo ethnic minorities, Britain’s first female Muslim Cabinet minister has warned.

Baroness Warsi — who dramatically resigned this week over the Government’s “morally indefensible” policy on Gaza — said Tory bosses were ignoring “electoral reality” by relying on white voters…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Why, As a British Jew, I’m Terrified by the Anti-Semitism Suddenly Sweeping My Country

Last week, one of my oldest friends was walking with her young daughter in a north London suburb when she was approached by four Asian youths.

Guessing that she was Jewish — they saw her leave a bagel bakery and, like me, she has a mop of dark, curly hair — they began to make Hitler salutes at her.

When she crossed the road to get away, they followed her up the street, shouting the Nazi salute ‘Sieg Heil’ and mimicking the sound of hissing gas canisters, like those used in concentration camps. She was, not surprisingly, petrified…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Gaza Conflict: Fresh Fears for Ceasefire Talks in Cairo

Talks in Cairo aimed at securing a fresh ceasefire in Gaza are under renewed strain, with both sides in the conflict issuing warnings.

Palestinian negotiators said they would leave on Sunday if Israel did not attend without preconditions. Israel says it will not negotiate “under fire”, warning its military campaign “will take time”. The UK, France and Germany have called for a new truce, after a 72-hour ceasefire ended on Friday morning.

At least three people were killed in Gaza by Israeli air strikes on Sunday, including a 14-year-old boy, according to health officials. The Israeli air force struck at least 20 targets in Gaza overnight , Israeli media reported…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Israelis and Palestinians Agree to New 72-Hour Cease-Fire

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Sunday accepted Egypt’s call for a new 72-hour cease-fire in the Gaza fighting to start at one minute after midnight Monday and for a resumption of Egyptian-mediated negotiations toward a more durable solution for Gaza.

The Israeli government said in a statement that it had accepted the Egyptian cease-fire request. On Sunday evening, Azzam al-Ahmad, the lead Palestinian negotiator in Cairo, said the delegation, which includes Hamas, had notified the Egyptians “that we agreed on the cease-fire based on the Egyptian statement.”

The last cease-fire expired on Friday, and Hamas, the Islamic group that dominates Gaza, fired rockets into Israel, prompting Israel to resume its airstrikes.

[Return to headlines]
 

New Truce Agreed in Gaza Conflict

Israel and Palestinian factions have agreed to a fresh 72-hour ceasefire in the Gaza conflict.

Egypt brokered a similar truce last week, but fighting resumed after the three-day window. It is hoped the latest ceasefire, due to begin at 21:00 GMT, will enable negotiators to agree on a longer truce…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Renewed Fighting Jeopardizes Gaza Truce Efforts

GAZA/JERUSALEM: An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian man and wounded seven others on Sunday, medics said, in a third day of renewed fighting that has jeopardized international efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire in a more than month-old Gaza conflict…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Video of UNRWA Camps Showing Children Calling for Jihad Attracts Renewed Attention

A video of summer camps run by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, is making the rounds on pro-Israel social media networks again with footage that shows Palestinian children as young as 6 calling for “Jihad against the Jews.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Erdogan ‘Wins’ Turkey’s First Direct Presidential Election

Controversial Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayap Erdogan appears to have crossed the 50% threshold in Sunday’s national election, which, if confirmed, would enable him to avoid a runoff in his quest to become his country’s first directly elected president.

An announcement on the Twitter account of Turkey’s Justice minister Bekir Bozdag read, “The chairman of the AK Party and the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has become the first president elected by the people.”

Turkish television claims the Islamist Prime Minister was leading several opposition candidates with more than 52% of the vote, more than twelve points in front of his main opponent, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

Turnout, however, in this widely watched poll was far lower than had been hoped by Erdogan and predicted by the Turkish establishment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU “Strongly” Condemns Attacks by Militants in Iraq

BRUSSELS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — The European Union on Sunday strongly condemn the latest attacks by the so called “Islamic State” (IS) and other armed groups in Iraq.

“We are appalled by the rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation with hundreds of thousands civilians, mainly from minorities, fleeing the areas of conflict as a result of persecution and violation of basic human rights,” the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s foreign policy arm said in a statement.

The EEAS noted that some of these acts may constitute crimes against humanity and must be investigated swiftly, so that the perpetrators are held accountable…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Live

Islamic State militants ‘bury 500 Yazidis, including women and children, in mass grave’ — follow latest Iraq updates

11.58 The Telegraph’s Jonathan Krohn is the first Western journalist to reach Mount Sinjar and is reporting from the ground. He flew in with a helicopter delivering aid and says that refugees on the mountain are being forced to eat raw meat.

“They have goats on this part of the mountain, but they can’t cook them so are eating them raw. They are also drinking disgusting unfiltered water which they usually give to the goats.”

11.10 Iraq’s human rights minister states the country has evidence 500 Yazidis buried in mass grave. Reuters reports: “Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said the Sunni militants had also buried alive some of their victims, including women and children. Some 300 women were kidnapped as slaves, he added.”

11.00 London, 13.00 Baghdad, 06.00 Washington Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Iraq crisis.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Crisis: 150,000 Yezidi Kurds Refugees Surrounded by Islamic Extremists

Thousands of Yazidi Kurds, including children, have been trapped in the mountains without food and water for days as a major international intervention gets under way

Up to 150,000 desperate refugees were on Saturday still isolated on a barren stretch of mountain in Iraq surrounded by Islamic extremists despite a major international intervention.

There were reports that thousands of Yazidi Kurds, including children, may have already lost their lives after being trapped in the mountains without food and water for days. There were fears the death toll can only rise.

David Cameron spoke by phone to Barack Obama, the US President, in which they agreed that aid drops alone will not be enough and the priority must be to “get these people to safety and avert a genocide”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: ‘It is Death Valley. Up to 70 Per Cent of Them Are Dead’

On board Iraqi army helicopter delivering aid to the trapped Yazidis, Jonathan Krohn sees a hellish sight

Mount Sinjar stinks of death. The few Yazidis who have managed to escape its clutches can tell you why. “Dogs were eating the bodies of the dead,” said Haji Khedev Haydev, 65, who ran through the lines of Islamic State jihadists surrounding it.

On Sunday night, I became the first western journalist to reach the mountains where tens of thousands of Yazidis, a previously obscure Middle Eastern sect, have been taking refuge from the Islamic State forces that seized their largest town, Sinjar.

I was on board an Iraqi Army helicopter, and watched as hundreds of refugees ran towards it to receive one of the few deliveries of aid to make it to the mountain. The helicopter dropped water and food from its open gun bays to them as they waited below. General Ahmed Ithwany, who led the mission, told me: “It is death valley. Up to 70 per cent of them are dead.”

Two American aid flights have also made it to the mountain, where they have dropped off more than 36,000 meals and 7,000 gallons of drinking water to help the refugees, and last night two RAF C-130 transport planes were also on the way. However, Iraqi officials said that much of the US aid had been “useless” because it was dropped from 15,000ft without parachutes and exploded on impact.

Handfuls of refugees have managed to escape on the helicopters but many are being left behind because the craft are unable to land on the rocky mountainside. There, they face thirst and starvation, as well as the crippling heat of midsummer.

Hundreds, if not more, have already died, including scores of children. A Yazidi Iraqi MP, Vian Dakhil, told reporters in Baghdad:

“We have one or two days left to help these people. After that they will start dying en masse.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Anglican Vicar of Baghdad: “Child I baptised cut in half by ISIS”

The five-year-old son of a founding member of Baghdad’s Anglican church was cut in half during an attack by the Islamic State1 on the Christian town of Qaraqosh.

In an interview today, an emotional Canon Andrew White told ACNS that he christened the boy several years ago, and that the child’s parents had named the lad Andrew after him.

[Return to headlines]
 

Islamic Militants Advance Despite 2 Rounds of US Airstrikes

9 August 2014: The Islamic militants reportedly expanded their drive near Iraqi Kurdistan Saturday despite two U.S. airstrikes aimed at mortar positions and a seven-vehicle convoy to stop the advance on Kurdish capital of Irbil.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the militants appear to have their sights on connecting towns seized along the Kurdish-control[led] territory. The most recent town to be seized was identified as Sheikhan…

[T]he U.S. launched the latest airstrikes to help defend the city of Irbil, where U.S. personnel are “assisting the government of Iraq.” The airstrikes were considered successful…

[T]he planes in this round of strikes, like those in the first, were launched from the USS George HW Bush in the Persian Gulf. A drone took off from an undisclosed land base and used hellfire missiles to strike its targets.

One Defense Department official summed up the one airstrike in The New York Times, saying, “you know that vehicle and the people in it don’t exist anymore.”

The aistrikes mark the deepest U.S. engagement in the country since the troop withdrawal in late 2011. The mission is part humanitarian. C-130 and C-17 cargo aircraft dropped 72 bundles of supplies for the refugees. Included in the aid were more than 28,000 meals and more than 1,500 gallons of water. U.S. cargo planes have also begun airlifting aid to civilians stranded in the mountains of northern Iraq after fleeing from the Islamic State group…

Hundreds of women from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by Sunni militants with “vicious plans,” an Iraqi official said, further underscoring the dire plight of Iraq’s minorities at the hands of the Islamic State group…

           — Hat tip: LH [Return to headlines]
 

Kurdish Rebels Help Rescue Besieged Yazidi Refugees From Iraq Mountain

More than 20,000 of the 40,000 people trapped by jihadists on a mountaintop in northern Iraq have escaped in the past 24 hours

At least half of the 40,000 people besieged by jihadists on a mountaintop in northern Iraq have escaped in the past 24 hours, aided by Kurdish rebels who crossed from Syria to rescue them.

The refugees, all members of the Yazidi sect, began streaming back into Iraqi Kurdistan after a perilous journey past Islamic State militants who had vowed to kill them and had surrounded their hideout on Mount Sinjar after storming the area early last Sunday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan ‘Wins Turkish Presidential Vote’

Outgoing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won his country’s first direct presidential election, provisional results show.

With almost all votes counted, Mr Erdogan had won about 52%, against 38% for his main rival, officials said. He said the people had “shown their will”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

So Wicked That Even Al Qaeda Disowned Them: Letter Found at Bin Laden’s Hideout Warned of Islamic State’s Extreme Brutality

Today, ISIS, which now styles itself as simply Islamic State (IS), has become a powerful military force that has control of an area larger than Great Britain.

Living under its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam are six million people, a population larger than that of Ireland, Denmark or Finland.

One Spanish fighter promised to upload a film of a man being crucified for his friends back home, but was quickly reprimanded by his superiors.

His later contrite posting simply read, ‘Our leadership forbade anyone filming it.’

In the past fortnight they have fought on five fronts: against the Iraqi army, the Kurdish peshmerga, Bashar Al-Assad’s Syrian regime, the Syrian opposition and the Lebanese army.

When he was released by the American military police from the Camp Bucca detention facility in Umm Qasr, where he was held as an insurgent, al Baghdadi said ominously: ‘I will see you guys in New York.’

[Egghead: Note the Tiny Minority of Extremists (TMOE) meme in the title of the article. Can anyone take seriously the idea that groups comprised of such ‘Spaniards’ and his ‘friends back home’ in Spain are going to assimilate in the West — even if such ‘Spaniards’ conveniently agree to be willing?]

           — Hat tip: Egghead [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Cockney Jihadi Calls Out to Brits With Bizarre Recruitment Video

A WHITE British Muslim convert fighting alongside jihadis in Syria has called on others Brits to join the fight.

The fighter — who has a strong London accent — makes the chilling call to arms in a five-minute video posted on YouTube.

Wearing a black mask and dark Arabic headscarf and sitting next to a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle, the Islamic extremist claimed he has dodged death on the battlefield after Allah sent angels to protect him. He boasted the incident proves other British Muslims should follow him in battle as they “will enjoy the protection of angels”.

Using the pseudonym Abu Abdullah the self-declared jihadi is a member of a brigade of Britons who operate in Syria under the name Rayat Al-Tawheed, meaning Banner of God…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

US Conducts New Iraqi Airstrikes Against Islamic State Insurgents

The United States carried out a new round of airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq on Sunday.

The U.S. Defense Department said its forces conducted a wave of attacks over three and a half hours. The Pentagon said fighter jets and drone aircraft destroyed an armed truck that was firing on Kurdish forces near Irbil, and then followed up with four more attacks on other armed trucks and a mortar position…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Washington’s Diabolical Agenda in Iraq: Are Token Airstrikes by the USA Against Its “Own” ISIS Mercenaries Being Done to Maintain “Plausible Deniability”?

8 August 2014: The US has pledged assistance for victims of and even possible “airstrikes” against terrorists who have surrounded and threaten to eradicate thousands of religious minorities in Iraq. However, the terrorists themselves are a product of US foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa, and instrumental in achieving Western objectives across the region. Punitive strikes and aid to the victims of what is essentially a Western mercenary army is part of maintaining plausible deniability.

The terror hordes originated from NATO territory and have inundated Syria, Iraq, and now Lebanon. The goal of this well funded, heavily armed, professionally organized mercenary force is clearly to supplant pro-Iranian political and military fronts across Tehran’s arc of influence — from Baghdad to Damascus, to Lebanon and Hezbollah along the Mediterranean. In the process, the heavily indoctrinated rank and file have committed horrific atrocities … it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover up similar crimes beyond Syria’s borders under narratives of “civil war” linked to the so-called “Arab Spring.”

Instead, various stories have been used by the West to explain the appearance of ISIS in Iraq, the unprecedented scale of its operations, its convoys of matching vehicles and now military trucks, artillery, and even tanks. While the world is meant to believe ISIS spontaneously rose from the desert and “stole” billions in cash, weapons, and gear, a much simpler and documented explanation exists — Western state sponsorship — and state sponsorship that continues even as the West denounces the monsters of their own creation… [It] should be remembered that this conflict was engineered, set in motion, and perpetuated intentionally by the West for at least the last 7 years. The West knew the sectarian genocide now unfolding in Syria, Iraq, and soon in Lebanon was the inevitable result of their efforts to raise this regional mercenary force…

The feigned dithering of the West in the face of their growing mercenary force is to allow it to overrun the Iraqi government if possible, create more havoc within Syria, and spread the chaos to Lebanon.

ISIS is a standing army that requires state sponsorship — billions in cash, gear, weapons, and logistical, intelligence, and political support. … [T]he US, UK, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and even Israel, have from the beginning, intentionally created a mercenary army composed of Al Qaeda extremists of unprecedented dimensions and capabilities.

The direct war with Iran the West has for so long attempted to sell the world is now clearly being replaced with an immense proxy war. It will feign ignorance to the genesis of ISIS and the fact that no other explanation beyond state-sponsorship exists to explain its continued success on the battlefield. Token airdrops and even “airstrikes” against ISIS positions will admittedly do nothing to disrupt ISIS’ ongoing campaigns across the region.

Depending on ISIS’ ability to achieve the West’s goals by proxy will determine the level of direct intervention the West seeks across the region. “Buffer zones” and “humanitarian interventions” to “relieve” areas plagued by ISIS will conveniently leave terrorist safe havens extending far beyond their current boundaries in NATO-member Turkey, Jordan, and northwest Iraq.

           — Hat tip: LH [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Crisis: Army Pounds Rebels in Donetsk

Ukraine’s military has pounded the main pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk with artillery fire, damaging buildings but few casualties are reported.

A military spokesman said the rebels were in “panic and chaos” and had begun to desert en masse.

Ukraine is mulling the possibility of allowing a humanitarian mission into the area, as residents struggle without power or reliable sources of food…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Afghanistan: Suicide Car Bomb Kills 5, Wounds 35 in Kabul

KABUL, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — At least five persons including the suicide bomber and four civilians were killed and 35 other civilians sustained injuries as a suicide car bomb rocked the fortified Afghan capital city Kabul on Sunday, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here.

“A suicide bomber riding explosive-laden car blew it up next to a convoy of foreign forces on Darul Aman road at 11:30 a.m. local time today killing himself and four others, all innocent civilians, “ said the statement…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan: Mufti Muhammad Hassaan Kaleem Joins Dubai Islamic Bank as Sharia Head

Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan (DIBPL) has appointed Mufti Muhammad Hassaan Kaleem as the Bank’s new country Head of Shari’a. Mufti Hassaan has also been appointed a member of the Bank’s Shari’a Board by the Board of Directors of DIBPL, subject to approval of State Bank of Pakistan.

Mufti Hassaan has vast experience in matters of Shari’a teachings and advisory and has been teaching various courses in Islamic Studies and Arabic at Darl-ul-Uloom Karachi for the last 17 years. He is a member of Dar-ul-Ifta, JamiaDarul-ul-Uloom Karachi, Chairman Shari’a Board of Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Shari’a Board Member of Pak Kuwait Takaful Company Ltd., Shari’a Board Member of Pak Qatar Family Takaful, Shari’a Consultant for Deloitte (Global Islamic Finance Team) and Shari’a Council Member of Al-Ameen UBL Funds…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan: Police Seize Explosives in Di Khan Raid, Militants Escape

Security officials raided a militant hideout in Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday and seized a huge cache of ammunition, including suicide jackets and hand grenades.

The raid was part of a search operation that started after an attack on former MNA Faqir Jamshed who was also the Sajjada Nashin (Pir) of Dera Ismail Khan’s Noori Darbar Kulachi shrine.

During the raid, the police seized two suicide jackets, 17 hand grenades and 13 remote control receivers. An exchange of fire also took place between security officials and four suspected terrorists but they managed to escape on motorcycles.

Faqir Jamshed was a geologist-turned-Sufi who then raised his own militia against the Taliban before he joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Jamshed’s death was the second major political assassination in DI Khan over the past two years…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Xiaomi Phones Secretly Sending Users’ Sensitive Data to Chinese Servers

by Mohit Kumar

Chinese telecoms equipment suppliers have previously been criticized by some countries due to suspected backdoors in its products, and if United States has banned its several major government departments, including NASA, Justice and Commerce Departments, from purchasing Chinese products and computer technology, then they are not wrong at all.

Recently, a German security firm claimed that a popular Chinese Android Smartphone, the Star N9500, came pre-installed with a Trojan that could allow manufacturer to spy onto their users’ comprising their personal data and conversations without any restrictions and users knowledge.

Now, the latest claim against Chinese smartphone manufacturers is the allegation that the popular Chinese smartphone brand, Xiaomi has been suspected of “secretly” stealing users’ information — including SMS messages and photos —from the device without the user’s permissions and sending it back to a server in Beijing, despite of turning off the data backup functions, according to Apple Insider.

China-based smartphone company Xiaomi recently marked a successful entry into the Indian market this month. Earlier this year, the company also announced its Redmi Note, which, just like Xiaomi’s other handsets, was an affordable with almost all features that an excellent smartphone provides. However, the handset might be doing more than what it has been advertised.

Kenny Li of Hong Kong forum, IMA Mobile, recently noticed something odd with its Redmi Note smartphone. He discovered that the device continued to make connections with IP addresses in Beijing, China. The device kept trying to make the connection, even after switching off the company’s iCloud-like MiCloud service.

Although it was pointed out that the transmissions occur only over Wi-Fi, though the device does stay in contact with the servers via small “handshakes” while using cellular data. Li then tried erasing the version of Android and installed a new version of Android, But the problem still persisted.

Security Researchers from F-Secure Antivirus firm also confirmed that Xiaomi phones (RedMi 1S handset) send quite a lot of personal and sensitive data to “api.account.xiaomi.com” server located in China, including following information:…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

Somalia: Al Shabaab Commander Shot Dead in Mogadishu

By Maalik Som

Somali National and inelegance security services has shot and killed a senior commander of Al Shabaab militant in Mogadishu’s Hiliwaa district, according to Gov’t officials.

The killed commander identified as Nur Baraxow fighting with Somali National forces before he was killed in northern in Somali capital, locals told Shabelle Media in Mogadishu…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Somalia: Fierce Clash Erupts Outside Qoryooley Town

By Maalik Som

Somali National Army forces together with AU peacekeeping troops fought against Al Shabaab militants outside Qoryooley town of lower Shabelle region, witness said.

The witness said the fighting erupted after Al Shabaab fighters armed with launchers propelled grenades and machine guns attacked on allied forces, conducting security operation in Xero 1-aad and Xero 2-aad at outside in the town.

Reports indicated that the Somali forces with AU — AMISOM troops warded Al Shabaab militants off from the areas. The forces are controlling in the town.

So far, the exact casualties on both warring sides are remaining unknown. With allied officials and Al Shabaab did not comment on the fighting.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Threat Reaching UK Shores: Calais Migrants Screened for Deadly Virus on Our Doorstep

AFRICAN migrants waiting in Calais to cross the Channel for Britain are being screened for Ebola.

Medical experts believe it is only a matter of time before a migrant in the French port town shows signs of infection. Some may have come from the worst affected West African countries like Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

The virus spreads rapidly through contact with bodily fluids, a serious risk in the port camps as bloody fights between rival migrant groups break out almost daily.

Some 1,200 men, women and children live in disgusting, unsanitary conditions in woods and bushes just by the main ferry terminal…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Rising Migrant Tide Off Tunisia Threatens to Overwhelm Local Fishermen’s Best Efforts to Help

ZARZIS, Tunisia — The fishermen of this small North African port are used to catching sea bass and sea bream in their nets, but lately they’ve been hauling in something else: shipwrecked migrants fleeing war-ravaged Libya on flimsy boats…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisian Coast Guard Intercepted Somali and African Immigrants Trip to Italy

Tunis (DIPLOMAT) — Tunisian coastguards on Saturday intercepted 90 African migrants whose makeshift boat heading from Libya for the Italian island of Lampedusa broke down off Zarzis, the Red Crescent said.

“At 0500 GMT the Tunisian coastguard rescued 90 African illegal migrants from a makeshift vessel after it broke down off Zarzis” in southern Tunisia, Red Crescent official Mongi Slim told AFP…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/10/2014

  1. “Living under its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam are six million people, a population larger than that of Ireland, Denmark or Finland.”

    Ultra conservative interpretation? This is the big lie. Islam is Islam is Islam. Right?

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