Israel closed the Erez border crossing into Gaza today after repeated mortar attacks from the Palestinian side. Several people were injured in the attacks on the crossing, including Palestinian patients who were on their way to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
In other news, Boko Haram declared a Caliphate in the town of Gwoza, Nigeria, which is under their control.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Jerry Gordon, JP, RR, Steen, Vlad Tepes, 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.
California Governor Declares State of Emergency in Napa Earthquake
Gov. Jerry Brown of Caifornia declared a state of emergency for southern Napa on Sunday after a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 hit the region, causing scores of injuries and extensive damage and knocking out power to thousands of people across the region.
The temblor struck about 10 miles northwest of American Canyon — six miles south of Napa — around 3:20 a.m., according to the United States Geological Survey. It was the most powerful earthquake to hit the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, which collapsed the Bay Bridge. At least four aftershocks were reported Sunday.
| [Return to headlines] |
The Silicon Valley Mosque of the (Near) Future
August 23, 2014 by irfanrydhan
Recently, The Islamic Monthly Magazine had a contest for people to describe what a Mosque, 50 years in the Future (in North America) would be like. I submitted a piece called “The Silicon Valley Mosque” which was one of the winning entries, although the judges thought my description was more for a mosque 20 years in the future, rather than 50. I don’t have any spaceships or flying cars in my piece, so I guess they are right!:) Anyways, here is a portion of my piece. You can read my full article on the Islamic Monthly website (link is below). Enjoy:
It’s the year 2064. The United States of America, as well as the rest of the world is a very different place. Whites are now in the minority and Spanish is the second official language of the US after English. Islam has overtaken Christianity as the most followed religion in the world…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
“Nazis’ Biggest Demonstration of Strength in Sweden Since WW2”
Three people were still in police custody on Sunday morning after a violent clash between protestors and police in connection with a neo-Nazi meeting in Malmö yesterday, which is part of a multi-city tour the party leader is making ahead of general elections next month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
British Ebola Patient Flying to UK for Hospital Treatment
A British national who contracted the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone is being flown back to the UK on an RAF jet, the UK’s Department of Health has said.
The healthcare worker is being flown to London’s RAF Northolt in a specially-equipped C-17 aircraft and will be transported to an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in north London…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Call to Strip British Citizenship From ‘Traitors’ Who Fight for ISIL
David Davis says Britons who fight for Isil have committed “treason” and should never be allowed back
Britons who fight for Isil in Iraq and Syria should be considered traitors and stripped of their British citizenship, the former shadow home secretary has said.
David Davis said Theresa May’s response to “psychopathic” jihadists has been “uncertain and limp” and she must permanently expel them from Britain before they return to commit atrocities.
The Home Secretary should defy Whitehall lawyers who argue rendering a person stateless is a breach of international law, Mr Davis said, arguing it is “not our problem” if Jihadists are stranded abroad…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland Lowers Aviation Alert, Volcanic Eruption Report False
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland lowered its aviation alert level to orange from red Sunday, saying there was no sign of an imminent eruption at the Bardarbunga volcano. And scientists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said their announcement Saturday that the volcano had experienced a subglacial eruption was wrong.
But the office cautioned in a statement that seismic activity at the volcano, which has been hit by thousands of earthquakes over the past week, was not slowing, and an eruption remained a possibility in coming days.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Airbag Theft a Growing Problem
Airbags are a growing target for thieves, who want to steal valuable car parts.
Niclas Antonsson, who works for Larmtjänst, an organization that attempts to fight insurance-related crime, tells news agency TT that the airbags are stolen in Sweden and then shipped primarily to Poland and the Baltics.
According to him, a new airbag costs between SEK 10,000 and 20,000, depending on the auto brand, and that the relatively high price is why they make for desirable plunder. However, this is little compared to how much it can cost to repair a car after someone has broken in to steal the airbag. Antonsson the damages can wind up around 100,000 kronor.
Antonsson says it’s a “huge problem” and that organized criminals are even targeting car repair shops for airbags.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Dominic Sandbrook for the Daily Mail
Dawn on August 23, and in the early morning haze there are already queues outside Britain’s petrol stations.
Along the roads leading into major cities, the lines of cars snake for miles. Many drivers left while it was dark, hoping to beat the traffic through the anti-terrorist checkpoints.
In central London, armed police are already on the streets, a familiar sight in these troubled times.
At major train and Tube stations, there are long delays at the barriers as commuters wearily show their ID cards and wait beside the full-body scanners.
In Hyde Park there are few signs of last night’s violence between police and protesters.
In the vast peace camp, which has stood now for some seven years, a few early risers are brewing mint tea, but most are still asleep.
At Britain’s few remaining synagogues, though, the mood is apprehensive. Though many rabbis have installed barbed wire to protect themselves from attack, they know they cannot afford to let their vigilance slip.
This is Britain in 2030: frightened, fractious and weary, its economy sunk in the longest depression in history, its people haunted by terrorism and war…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hardliners Being Paid Thousands to Advise Young, At-Risk Muslims
Home Office’s ‘deradicalisation’ scheme, Channel, has used at least three staff who are closely connected to hard-line Salafi groups
By Andrew Gilligan
Radicals with links to an extremist mosque are being employed by the Government to advise young Muslims at risk of travelling to Syria and Iraq, The Telegraph can disclose.
The Home Office’s “deradicalisation” scheme, Channel, has used at least three staff who are closely connected to hard-line Salafi groups — including a mosque whose main preacher backed key aims of the Islamic State (Isil) terror group and described Christians and Jews as “enemies”.
Tens of thousands of pounds has been paid to the radicals.
Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said: “This is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.”…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ISIS: We Must Have Confidence in Ourselves if We Are to Win
Statement by Peter Whittle, UKIP Culture Spokesman:
Nigel Farage’s call this week for British Islamic State jihadists to be stripped of their citizenship has rightly drawn huge public support. Again, he has shown himself to be more in touch with public opinion than all the political class combined.
With surprising frankness The Times, in a leading article this week, said: ‘For fear of upsetting what is seen as a delicate multicultural balance, Britain has allowed itself to become an exporter of terror.’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Multiculturalism Has Brought US Honour Killings and Sharia Law, Says Archbishop
Former Archbishop of Canterbury says multiculturalism to blame for Britons joining Isil, as David Davis issues call to deny
Multiculturalism has resulted in honour killings, female genital mutilation and rule by Sharia law, a former Archbishop of Canterbury has claimed, as he called for Britons fighting with Isil to be “banished” from the country. Lord Carey of Clifton said Muslim communities must “discipline” their young people or see them “banished” from Britain after leaving to fight in Syria and Iraq…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Portsmouth Jihadists: From Primark Worker to Enemy of the State
How a group of young men from Portsmouth, bored and desperate for change, transformed into terrorists with alarming ease and speed
One of them worked in a BSkyB call centre while another was a Primark shop assistant. The third man was a one-time council official turned swindler with a £200-a-night addiction to prostitutes.
All three were close friends from Portsmouth. Along with a further three associates from the city, they vanished from Britain 10 months ago, before reappearing as fully-fledged jihadists in Syria…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Biggest Single Trigger of Jihadism Has Been Our Adherence to ‘Multiculturalism’
by Professor Anthony Glees
The sadistic beheading of the American journalist James Foley by an ISIL killer apparently from Britain, just a few days ago, is the first such killing of an American by a jihadist with a British passport.
But it is the second ritual beheading carried out by British Islamists (the head of a British soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby, was hacked from his body by two of them in Woolwich, London last year in full public view)…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Menace of ISIS Confronts David Cameron With a Test of Leadership
by Andrew Rawnsley
The prime minister won’t be able to sustain for very much longer a posture of talking tough while doing little
Until quite recently, David Cameron gave the impression that the only thing he knew about Isis was that it was a river flowing through Oxford down which he used to punt his girlfriends…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Five Preliminarily Sentenced to Death for Managing a “Terrorist Cell”
Cairo — The Giza Criminal Court referred on Saturday five defendants to the Grand Mufti to consider sentencing them to death for managing a “terrorist cell” and killing a policeman.
The five defendants were arrested for opening fire on the Virgin Mary Church in October 6 City on January 28. The shooting left one policeman, sergeant Mohamed Taha Sayed, killed and another injured…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tripoli Bombed as Libya Descends Further Into Chaos and Egypt Denies Involvement
Libya’s capital bombed by warplanes as Egypt denies sending jets into Tripoli
War planes attacked targets in Libya’s capital Tripoli on Sunday, hours after forces from the city of Misrata said they had seized the main airport. Tripoli residents heard jets followed by explosions at dawn, but it was not clear who sent the planes.
Egypt’s president denied on Sunday any military involvement in Libya — a day after Islamist militias accused Cairo and the United Arab Emirates of bombing their posts in Tripoli…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Closes Erez Border Crossing With Gaza After Attacks Injure Civilians
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel closed the Erez border crossing with Gaza after sustained attacks on the crossing which injured three civilians.
At least a dozen mortars were fired on the crossing, used by sick and injured Gazan civilians to receive medical treatment in Israel, on Sunday afternoon…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Levels 12-Story Apartment Building in Gaza
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An airstrike by the Israeli military leveled a 12-story apartment building in Gaza City. The building housed a Hamas operations room, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF called residents of the building ten minutes before the attack and warned them to evacuate the building, according to the Palestinian Maan news agency. A warning missile was fired five minutes before the attack, according to reports…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Wanted to Watch Him Grow Up. He Was a Sweet Smart Sensitive Boy’
On Friday afternoon, 4 year old Daniel Tragerman died of shrapnel wounds from a Hamas mortar fired randomly at the Nahal Oz Kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev region hard by the frontier with Gaza. The IDF said the mortar round was fired near a school used by Gazans as a refuge landing outside the Tragerman home. The irony was that he was within minutes of leaving home with his parents and brothers to travel to safety at his grandparents in Kiryat Ono, near Tel Aviv. The mortar that killed 4 year old Daniel Tragerman was likely supplied by Iran. Hamas fired the mortar from a position near the grounds of an UNWRA School that provided refuge for Gazan civilians. We wonder what UNWRA spokesperson Chris Gunness would say at this time? He who cried tears over Gazan civilian deaths falsely accusing the IDF of war crimes, while subsequently it was revealed those casualties were caused by misfired Hamas rockets. Would he now protest the Hamas mortar men who fired the rounds that killed young Dan Tragerman in Nahal Oz? Perhaps we should tweet him and ask. I am reminded of a poster toted around by a pro-Hamas protester at our Stand for Israel Rally here in Pensacola that said Israel murders children in Gaza. When challenged he said that he was pro-humanity, not pro-Hamas. Some humanity! Our deepest rachmonis goes out to the Tragerman family for the loss of their son, the late beloved Dan Tragerman z”l. He will be laid to rest Sunday at the Hevel Shalom cemetery in the Eshkol Regional Council in the northern Negev.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
British Rapper ‘L Jinny’ Suspect in Foley Killing
A former British rapper who abandoned music to join the lines of ISIS is now being investigated by UK authorities following the execution of American journalist James Foley in Syria.
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary reportedly left his home in London last year to fight in Syria.
He was originally known as L Jinny or Lyricist Jinn when his music career started, a report by the Independent said. Some of his singles and videos were aired on BBC Radio in 2012, according to the newspaper…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Car Bombs Kill 21 in Iraq’s Kirkuk
Three near-simultaneous car bombs exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Saturday, killing 21 people and wounding 118, a senior police officer and a doctor said.
Two of the bombs exploded near buildings under construction that were used as observation positions by security forces, while the third struck the entrance to a market…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul Warns the West About Islam & Western Islamization
Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values.
Amel Nona, the 47 year-old Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, who fled to the Sunni “re-awakening,” IS-led jihad in northern Iraq, to Erbil, Kurdistan made the following statements to Corriere Della Serra, published August 10, 2014:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
by Muna Al-Fuzai
The US State Department has announced that 12,000 foreign fighters from 50 countries including some US citizens headed to Syria since 2011. How much do we know about these foreign jihadists and the reasons behind leaving their own societies? Let’s not be fooled that they did this for the sake of Islam, seventy wives and heaven! I think these foreign jihadists had problems in their societies and joining militant groups was an answer for their wish to move out of their societies and life. Why would these young jihadists abandon their Western countries to live in a desert surrounded with death and spend the day massacring people? Most media images do not show them living in luxury, so why did they do it? Can they be saved now or is it too late?
British and Australian officials are concerned about the involvement of their citizens in crimes against humanity. This simply means they are confronting homegrown terrorism. Foreign jihadists are now a problem for Arab as well as Western governments. It shows a dramatic failure and weakness in their domestic security. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has described the Islamic State as “beyond all known terrorist groups”.
Was it a gap in security not to monitor these people and allow them to fly freely to kill innocents? Did they have problems back home, and they can now release their anger and frustration by using savage means to demonstrate their power in front of the world and social media? The horrific execution of US journalist Foley last week was a clear example and UK statements showed that clearly.
Australian authorities believe that around 150 Australians are currently fighting alongside IS militants in Iraq and Syria, making the country the highest foreign per capita contributor to the violence, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the Australian Broadcasting Service last week. “There’s a real danger that these extremists pose a threat to our security,” she said. Officials are coming up with a plan to confront these fighters. The government plans to reportedly question suspects returning from overseas and reversing the onus of proof for people coming home from terrorism hotspots.
US Vice President Joe Biden said in an article published in the Washington Post that he is in favor of a plan to divide Iraq into three autonomous regions for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. Now I wonder if the Sunni sector includes IS and all those foreign jihadists as their new home. If this plan is implemented, many innocent people will suffer and die. Iraq then will not be divided but destroyed completely. Yes, Iraq is like a sick man now, but who says killing it is an act of mercy?
I believe IS is the baby of Al-Qaeda, except they now have become more sophisticated and aggressive. While the world was focusing on bin Laden, a new generation was born and trained to include foreign jihadists. I think every government should put its thoughts together on how to confront and eliminate terrorism from their homeland. Western governments must be aware that foreign jihadists are their creation and going to the roots of the matter is essential.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: 3 Killed, 15 Wounded in Car Bomb in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — At least three people were killed and 15 others wounded in a car bomb explosion in a Shiite district in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Sunday, a police source said.
The attack occurred in the afternoon when a booby-trapped car detonated near a popular restaurant in Shula district in northwestern Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Army Kills 50 Rebels in Daraa
DAMASCUS, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — The Syrian army ambushed rebel fighters in the country’s southern province of Daraa on Sunday, killing 50 of them, according to the local Sham FM radio.
The Syrian government forces ambushed an array of rebel groups between the towns of Hara and Zamrin in the western countryside of Daraa, the report said, adding that foreign fighters were among the killed rebels…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Conflict: Islamic State ‘Seizes’ Tabqa Airbase
Fighters from Islamic State (IS) have taken control of a key Syrian government airbase, activists say.
The Tabqa airbase was the last remaining stronghold of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Raqqa province.
Syrian state TV confirmed that its forces had “evacuated” the airbase but said they had now regrouped and were conducting airstrikes…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Journalist Held by Qaeda Affiliate in Syria is Freed After Nearly 2 Years
An American journalist held captive for nearly two years by Al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria has been freed, according to a representative of the journalist’s family and a report on Sunday by the Al Jazeera network.
The journalist, Peter Theo Curtis, was abducted near the Syria-Turkey border in October 2012. He was held by the Nusra Front, the Qaeda affiliate in Syria, which has broken with the more radical Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Another American journalist, James W. Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria the following month, was beheaded last week by ISIS, which posted images of his execution on YouTube.
A family friend confirmed on Sunday that Mr. Curtis, originally from Boston, had been handed over to a United Nations representative.
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US Studies Airstrikes on Syria Against ISIL
White House will ‘take action’ against threats as Turkey comes under pressure to halt flow of militants across its border
London: The United States was said to be considering air strikes aimed at eliminating individual leaders of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) as Turkey came under mounting pressure to stem the flow of militants across its border into Syria.
As Washington on Saturday debated extending air strikes into Syria, senior British politicians urged Ankara to act to block recruits from the UK and other countries from entering Syria via Turkey, en route to joining Isil. Last weekend large numbers of Isil militants were trying to secure greater control of the border area, pushing northwards in armoured trucks looted from abandoned Iraqi military bases…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Blast Rocks Prison in S. Afghanistan, Kills 3, Wounds 2
QALAT, Afghanistan, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — A bomb blast rocked the main prison in the southern Zabul province with Qalat as its capital 340 km south of Kabul on Sunday leaving three people dead and two injured, provincial police chief Rogh Lewanai said.
“Taliban militants sent a child with explosive device inside the Qalat prison as an attempt to set free the detainees but the conspiracy was foiled although three persons including the child were killed and two others injured,” Lewanai told Xinhua…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Borobudur: Islamists Target Indonesia’s Most Important Buddhist Temple
The complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, risks being destroyed like the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Authorities strengthen security measures. Citizens invited to participate in the defense of “cultural heritage”. President Yudhoyono declares jihadist violence “humiliating” for Islam.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Indonesian extremists supporters of the Islamic State (formerly Isis, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) want to target and destroy the most important Buddhist cultural center of the country: the temple of Borobudur, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Central Java Army chief General Sunindyo has stated that he is strengthening security to protect the highly popular site sacred to the Buddhist community throughout South-East Asia and major tourist attraction.
The risk is a repeat of what happened in Afghanistan in 2001,when the madness of Taliban extremism led to the destruction of the famous Bamiyan Buddhas. The local fringe of IS has announced plans to target Borobudur on a Facebook page called “We are an Islamic state”.
Indonesian media and social networks had recently warned of a possible attack on the temple. Meeting with journalists in Solo, Gen. Sunindyo recalled that “it is our duty to protect the nation’s cultural heritage which is a primary asset for tourism”; he has also called on all “citizens” to “protect our cultural heritage”.
The Borobudur temple complex is located in the heart of the province of Central Java and is now considered the largest and most important cultural legacy of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition of the eighth and ninth centuries. Built by King Syailendra, the temple features more than 2,600 carvings — for a total length of more than 5 km — and 504 statues of the Buddha. Already in 1985, the temple has been the subject of was brutally attacked by Islamic extremists with extensive damage to at least nine stupas on the summit.
Outgoing- president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, often accused of not intervening in decisive terms against Islamic fundamentalism, has stated that the violence of the Islamic State is “humiliating” to Muslims. He adds that “there is no room for them in Indonesia,” because “their philosophy is contrary to [our] fundamental values”. He has reiterated that Indonesia “is not an Islamic state” and respects “all religions”.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, is fast becoming one of the major centers of Islamic activism throughout the region. As AsiaNews has recently reported, fundamentalist movements and local Muslim leaders are inspired by the exploits of the Sunni fighters in Syria and Iraq and intent on supporting the struggle for the establishment and expansion of the Islamic Caliphate, even to Asia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
1,200-Year-Old Tomb Discovered in NW China
XI’AN, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — Archeologists said Saturday they have discovered a tomb with well preserved wall paintings, dating back more than 1,200 years, in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.
The Tang Dynasty (618-907) tomb of a high-ranking official and his wife in Chang’an District, Xi’an City, is 11 meters deep and about 40 meters long, said Zhao Rong, head of Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Administration. The grave had been raided by robbers.
The murals in chamber show great skill, according to the official…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China Executes Eight People Including Three Tiananmen Square Attack Leaders
China has executed eight people for “terrorist attacks”, including three it described as “masterminding” a suicide car crash in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 2013, state media announced…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China Targets Ordinary Uighurs With Beards, Burkas
Outside a mosque in China’s restive west, a government-appointed Muslim cleric was dodging a foreign reporter’s question about why young men of the Uighur ethnic minority don’t have beards when one such youth interrupted.
“Why don’t you just tell them the truth?” he shouted to the cleric under the nervous gaze of several police officers who had been tailing the reporters all day in the oasis city of Aksu. “It’s because the government doesn’t allow beards.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Dispatches From a China We Never See
A review of David Eimer’s ‘The Emperor Far Away,’ a look at the ethnic minorities at China’s less-seen fringes
by Adrian Lee
Think of China, and a vision is quick to emerge of a populous, burgeoning power whose polluted cities, cheap industrial goods and whims of monetary policy threaten the West as America’s glow begins to fade. But the life lived on China’s frontiers is a world away from those clichés…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Riddled With Australian Muslims Supporting ISIS
SOME go by the surname al-Australi or al-Astrali. They are Australian Muslims who have adopted the title, which simply means “from Australia”, to hide their identities as they fight for the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq.
Others use the pseudonym as they connect with friends of the Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS or ISIL, from within Australia on social media. And others appear to use their real names as they also link to supporters of the terror regime. Facebook is riddled with them…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Declares Caliphate in Nigerian Town Under Rebel Control
Boko Haram has announced that an Islamic caliphate has been established in a Nigerian town seized by the militant group earlier this month. It follows an attack on a police academy outside the town of Gwoza.
“Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brothers in Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate,” Abubakar Shekau, the group’s head, said in the 52-minute video, obtained by the news agency AFP.
He declared that Gwoza, a town in Borno state, now has “nothing to do with Nigeria.”
“By the grace of Allah, we will not leave the town. We have come to stay,” said Shekau, who has been condemned a terrorist by the US and sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council.
The UN humanitarian office earlier this month confirmed reports that Gwoza was under rebel control…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: 35 Police Officers Missing After Borno Insurgency Attack
By Kingsley Omonobi
Abuja — Force Headquarters, yesterday, confirmed that following the deadly attack by suspected Boko Haram fighters on the Mobile Police Training School, Gwoza, last week, 35 of its officers were still missing.
The police, however, noted that search and rescue efforts had led to the recovery of scores of policemen, adding that the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, had ordered the tightening of security in police formations across the country to prevent future attacks…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Figures show thousands of illegal immigrants are disappearing through the UK’s porous borders every year, raising questions about Britain’s ability to catch jihadist terrorist suspects returning to the country
Major questions have been raised over Britain’s ability to catch jihadist terrorist suspects returning to the country, after figures showed that thousands of illegal immigrants are disappearing through the UK’s porous borders every year…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nobel Prize Winner: Let’s Find Dark Matter and Dark Energy
Dark matter and dark energy continue to be cosmological conundra for physicists worldwide. Nobel prize winner Brian Schmidt offers his perspective in an interview.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rupert Darwall: An Unsettling Climate
Global-warming proponents betray science by shutting down debate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
I’m making popcorn, sitting in my favorite chair, waiting for the “caliphates” to start knocking heads. Wheeeeeee! What fun!
David Davies might call UK jihadis traitors and state that they should be tried for treason but he would have trouble making it stick. One of the earliest pieces of legislation enacted by the Blair government was to repeal the Treason Act, presumably to avoid any action being taken against him and his cabinet as they systematically betrayed our country.
Oops, Just checked this and found that, under the Crime and Civil Disorder Act 1998, it was the death penalty for treason that was abolished rather than imprisonment for treason per se. So, at some time in the future, Blair and co will still get theirs. We won’t be able to string them up though.
The main thrust of the act was the introduction of Anti Social Behaviour Orders, a concept that was an abysmal failure. Ask anyone who lives on a council estate in London.
Another factor in the rapid radicalization of immigrant youth is that they largely don’t realize how hard Western people work to achieve success.
From birth they are programmed with the idea that you can declare yourself say, a rapper, and the riches will just fall from the heavens.
The Western media does not help with this at all, portraying families that live like millionaires as the average ‘middle class’ family lifestyle.
So, after a short period of giving it a go a lot of these youth grow frustrated and give up, making them prime targets for radicalization.
“So, after a short period of giving it a go a lot of these youth grow frustrated and give up, making them prime targets for radicalization.”
Absolute nonsense and an insult to the millions of young men in the UK that man-up to the socioeconomic conditions and media pressures.
This man freely reasserted a theo-political ideology and followed its well documented path to its inhuman and brutal conclusion.
“Absolute nonsense and an insult to the millions of young men in the UK that man-up to the socioeconomic conditions and media pressures.”
That was essentially the point I was making – there is a vast difference in the level of work ethic shown by the two separate groups.
Here in North Africa a good day’s work is about 4 or 5 solid hours. During Ramadan you’re lucky to see 1 solid hour, astonished by 2.
This is why the IS appeals to a certain portion of the immigrant community – why work at all when you can just oppress, rob, rape, and murder your way through life?
Only propaganda can shift a beheading from a jihadist to a socioeconomic agenda – a suspicious info game or what?
@UK Border Controls in Chaos
“Figures show thousands of illegal immigrants are disappearing through the UK’s porous borders every year, … ”
Looked on a map of the British Isles in an attempt to find those thousands of miles of porous borders and all I could find was deep blue sea.
How could the perils that threaten the West from Muslim immigration be put more succinctly and accurately than by the Amel Nona, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul? In those few sentences he encapsulates it all. If only that clarion call was broadcast widely and embraced as the unpleasant but unarguable truth by the Western political, media and academic establishment.
Regrettably it will be only when the water the frog is sitting in reaches boiling point. Hopefully the message from those outside the establishment: Farage, Wilders, the leaders of the Danish Peoples Party and its Swiss equivalent will gain greater and greater traction before then.