Mass ISIS-related terror arrests are being made all over the place. The biggest story comes from Australia (more on that later), but supporters of the Islamic State have also been arrested in Finland, Kosovo, and Kuwait. The Kosovo story is not in the feed, but a video of it is here.
In other news, Russia has reduced the flow of natural gas to Europe by 25% on the pipeline that transits through Ukraine.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, LS, Mark H, Phyllis Chesler, RL, RR, Steen, The Observer, 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.
ECB Loans Could Boost GDP 0.5%, Says Visco
Central banker tells govt ‘create pro-investment environment’
(ANSA) — Milan, September 11 — New measures promised by the European Central Bank (ECB) could, if fully applied, boost Italy’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.5%, “a considerable sum,” Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said Thursday.
That could be a boon for the economy that slipped into recession in the second quarter, Italy’s third such downturn since 2008.
Speaking to a meeting of the Eurofi financial forum, Visco said that “the heart of the problem” plaguing economies in Europe is very weak demand and low investment. What’s needed from government is to “create a more favourable environment” to kick-start private and public investment in Italy and Europe, he said.
The need is great, he said.
Since the start of the global financial crisis in 2007, public and private has plummeted by 20% across Europe and even worse, by as much as 25% in Italy, said Visco.
Last week, the ECB unveiled new measures to try to boost economic growth including changes to its interest rates and the purchase of asset-backed securities.
Those measures, as well as earlier commitments by the central bank to increase loans to commercial banks, are designed to encourage those banks to, in turn, increase loans at reasonable terms to business and consumers.
Visco said governments must do their part, along with central bankers, in boosting economic expansion.
While Italy has slipped into recession, other European economies including Germany — the eurozone’s largest — are also struggling with sluggish demand, low growth and weak inflation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Industrial Production Has Fallen 25% During Crisis, Says EU
Commission calls on govt to create competitive environment
(ANSA) — Brussels, September 11 — Industrial production in Italy has dropped by around 25% on its 2007 level, after a 5% fall in 2013, the European Commission said Thursday in a report on competitiveness. In the report the EC put Italy in the second in four groups of countries on the basis of their competitiveness, alongside other “Member States with high but stagnating or declining competitiveness”.
The other countries in this group are Belgium, Britain, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Sweden and Finland.
Italy is currently in its third recession since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008 and the downturns have had a big impact on industry and unemployment, which has almost doubled to over 12% with over 40% of under-25s jobless.
“The toll taken by the crisis on Italian industry has been huge in terms of output and employment,” read the EC report.
“Industrial production is around 25% below the pre-crisis level, a general decrease that also affects sectors — such as automotive, consumer appliances and footwear — that have long been the backbone of Italian industry.
But the report also pointed out that Italian manufacturing still accounts for 15.5% of GDP, above the EU average of 15.1%, and is a key source of innovation and competitiveness, contributing 70% of private R&D expenditure and providing almost 80% of exports.
It said “niches” of scientific excellence existed in sectors such as advanced materials, nanotechnology, photonics, electronics, robotics and stressed that “the potential for Italian companies to become more global-minded is an opportunity to be seized”. The EC called on the Italian government to move forward on reforms that would boost competitiveness.
“The business environment and the public administration continue to weigh on Italy’s competitiveness,” the report read.
“The time it takes the public administration to pay its bills — 180 days on average — remains a problem; in the fourth quarter of 2013, 62.5 % of the value of invoices due had not been paid.
“Some progress has been achieved in the field of civil justice but proceedings are still lengthy and the number of cases pending remains high. “The anti-corruption law has strengthened the means to fight corruption, but its effective implementation needs to be watched closely. “Some progress towards administrative simplification has also been achieved. “But, overall, continued and comprehensive efforts are still needed for a competitive business environment to emerge”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Controversial DHS Adviser Let Go Amid Allegations of Cover Up
Elibiary let go after extremist rhetoric, claims he improperly used classified docs
By Adam Kredo
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) adviser long engulfed in controversy over his radical views was let go from his role in the department last week after a long fight by lawmakers and others to revoke the individual’s privileges at DHS.
Mohamed Elibiary was until last week a senior member of DHS’ Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). After years of controversy about his status at DHS, Elibiary announced his final day with the department on Twitter earlier this month and said he would remain close to the agency.
Media outlets have raised questions about the circumstances surrounding his departure, speculating that his provocative comments about the “inevitable” return of the Muslim “caliphate” may have played a role.
New documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon indicate that Elibiary had no choice in the matter, and that he may have been let go by DHS in order to minimize the fallout from an investigation into allegations that he improperly accessed and used classified materials obtained with his security clearance…
| — Hat tip: RL | [Return to headlines] |
Klinghoffer: The Beatification of Terrorism
by Phyllis Chesler
New York Jewish and anti-Jihadi activists are planning what they hope will be a massive demonstration outside of the Metropolitan Opera on September 22, 2014, at 4:30pm, when “The Death of Klinghoffer,” composed by John Adams with a libretto by Alice Hoffman, has its first performance. Although I am a serious opera fan and a strong believer in the First Amendment, I will be among them.
Here’s why.
The libretto presents a false and defamatory narrative of Jews and America; depicts an entirely untrue, unbalanced, and maliciously immoral history of the founding of the state of Israel— especially in Penny Woolcock’s filmed version of the opera which won a prize at the 2003 Brussels European Film Festival— an unbalanced narrative about the fate of refugees in the Middle East; flat-out blames the Jews for a massacre which Christian Phalangists committed in Lebanon; and explains and justifies why Arafat’s Palestinian terrorists murdered a wheelchair bound Jewish-American, Leon Klinghoffer (z”l), viciously, and in cold blood.
Here are some especially incendiary lines, sung and spoken by “Rambo” who is, in reality, not Sylvester Stallone, but Mohammed Zaidan:…
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Pimp Who Ran Teen Prostitution Ring Becomes First in B.C. Convicted of Human Trafficking
Reza Moazami was found guilty Monday on 30 of 36 charges, including one of human trafficking and multiple counts of living off the avails of prostitution with coercion, sexual assault and sexual exploitation.
VANCOUVER — A man convicted of luring girls as young as 14 into a life of prostitution has become the first person ever convicted of human trafficking in British Columbia.
“It is apparent … that Mr. Moazami created an atmosphere of fear among the girls who worked for him as prostitutes,” Justice Catherine Bruce wrote in her 188-page decision.
“Once (the victim) was a part of his prostitution business, he maintained strict control over her movements and her behaviour. He isolated her from her friends outside of the prostitution business. He made her fear the police.”
His trial heard that between February 2009 and his arrest on Oct. 7, 2011, Moazami lured, coerced and threatened 11 victims aged 14 to 19 into selling their bodies for his profit. Nine of the victims were under the age of 18 at the time.
He targeted vulnerable girls. At least one was a runaway from the foster-care system, others lived in dysfunctional families, the judge noted in her decision.
His repertoire of coercion included free drugs and even a puppy. Once they were working for him, the court heard Moazami used threats and violence to keep them under his control.
He threatened harm to the puppy, he physically and sexually assaulted them, and in one case he used bear spray on a victim who left the hotel without his permission.
The 30-year-old had the teens and young women work out of hotels in Vancouver, Richmond and North Vancouver. He also took some of the victims to Victoria, Nanaimo, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal to work.
During six months of testimony, Moazami testified in his own defence, saying he didn’t know the teens were underage. He also denied living off the money they earned while having sex with a dozen men a day on average.
The judge found his accounts self-serving…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Four Charged in Finland’s First Terror Case
Prosecutors have charged four people in Finland’s first terror case. The four are suspected of links to the al-Shabaab group in East Africa, but deny the charges.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Magistrates Association Rebuts Renzi Remarks
After Renzi said govt won’t be affected by ENI corruption probe
(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Italy’s National Magistrates Association (ANM) rejected remarks Tuesday by Premier Matteo Renzi suggesting that the judiciary could interfere with the economic policy of a particular company. “We also firmly reject the notion that we exploit lawful measures, whose omission would be unlawful,” ANM said. Renzi told the Lower House earlier that an ongoing corruption probe into executives at national energy giant ENI “will not change the business policy of this country”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Defends 80-Tax Bonus, Says Middle Class Deserves Break
Says Italy need labour reforms via lower taxes, not salary cuts
(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday defended his 80-euro tax bonus for low-income Italians, although he earlier acknowledged that it has not yet boosted consumption. He told the Senate that Italy’s middle class has paid the price of the economic crisis more than any other class and as an element of “social justice” deserves the 80-euro tax bonus. He also said that labour reforms in Spain don’t apply in Italy, where labour costs must by reduced by cutting related taxes, but salaries should not be lowered.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Appeals Court Cuts Alimony for Berlusconi Ex-Wife — Reports
Newspaper says Veronica Lario must repay 36 million euros
(ANSA) — Milan, September 16 — A Milan appeals court has ruled in favour of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi and against his former wife in an alimony dispute case, cutting Veronica Lario’s monthly support payments and ordering her to repay 36 million euros, an Italian newspaper reported Tuesday.
Berlusconi, one of Italy’s richest men, had initially been ordered to pay Lario three million euros per month in alimony, but that has been reduced to a two-million euro monthly payment, reported the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
The Court of Appeal of Milan also made the order retroactive, thus requiring Lario, who had been married to Berlusconi for more than 20 years, to repay the one million euro difference for each of the previous 36 months.
She can appeal the latest decision to Italy’s top Cassation Court.
Berlusconi had asked the appeals court to cut Lario’s alimony from an initial award of three million per month set in December 2012. A separate court ruling had suggested payment should be 1.6 million euros monthly.
The couple’s divorce was officially finalized in February, leaving Berlusconi,77, free to marry his 29-year-old fiance Francesca Pascale, a former shop assistance from Naples.
Their wedding would be the third trip to the altar for Berlusconi who, with Pascale, is a regular on Italian TV and in Berlusconi-owned gossip mags where they project a cozy image of a besotted couple, often petting their dog, Dudu’, who has become a celebrity in his own right.
Berlusconi has been married twice and has five children, three of those with Lario, 58, a former actress.
He married her in 1990 after being smitten several years previously when he saw her perform topless in a Milan play about a philandering husband called The Magnificent Cuckold.
Lario, who was born Miriam Raffaela Bartolini, completed her divorce from Berlusconi on February 17 after keeping out of the limelight since denouncing her then husband’s eye for the girls in 2009, claiming “maidens are being fed to the dragon”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi ‘Going Forward’ With Disputed TAV Rail Project
Premier says he will ‘soon’ visit Chiomonte site
(ANSA) — Turin, September 17 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday that his government is “going forward” with the controversial high-speed TAV rail project between northern Italy and France. In comments to La Stampa daily newspaper, Renzi said he will visit the construction site at Chiomonte in the northern Susa Valley “soon”, where many of the sometimes-violent protests have occured.
Renzi said he had heard of some looming problems with project financing on the French side.
On the Italian side, two major public works challenges are construction of the rail line in the Bremner Pass through the Alps and the Susa Valley, he added.
Renzi said he respected the position of non-violent protestors — many of which have tried to distance themselves from the violent groups.
Last month, a militant group calling itself the Armed Operational Nuclei (NOA) called for TAV opponents to join its “armed struggle” against the Italian authorities.
In a letter sent to ANSA’s offices in Turin, the group added that it considered Renzi’s current government to be “more dangerous” than other administrations of recent years. “It is supported by pro-Zionist press that inflates its popularity, but the crisis is serious and it cannot last for long,” the group said.
Its threats come as a chilling reminder of leftist and rightist terrorist campaigns in Italy that left an estimated 2,000 dead between 1969 and 1981.
“It will be sufficient to land the first blow to make the system start to crumble. September will be a month of combat and fire,” the group warned. In February, police and officials received notice from a NOA that said its “revolutionary court” had condemned them to death for allegedly “repressing” protests against work on the TAV line north of Turin.
Opponents argue the TAV rail link is wasteful of public funds and destroys pristine countryside.
Supporters say it will cut down on automobile and truck pollution and make shipping and transit more efficient.
The Italian and French governments have insisted that the link will not only speed passenger and freight traffic but also boost both countries’ economies.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Open to Multinationals Says Renzi
‘Globalisation must become a friend’ says PM at L’Oreal plant
(ANSA) — Turin, September 17 — Italy wants to attract multinationals and must now see globalisation as a friend rather than an enemy, Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday.
“Italy is open to multinationals,” he said on a visit to the Settimo Torinese plant of L’Oreal, one of the French cosmetics global leader’s biggest facilities outside France. “For years we have thought that globalisation was the enemy of Italy while it is a friend,” he said on his way out of the factory, alluding to government plans to lure foreign groups with its privatisation programme. Renzi said it was important to “keep small and medium-sized businesses together and at the same time attract multinationals”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Milan Expo Official Acerbo Probed for Corruption
Fresh blow to World Fair
(ANSA) — Milan, September 17 — Milan finance police on Wednesday carried out searches and seized documents after Antonio Acerbo, the Milan Expo 2015 commissioner in charge of the ‘Vie d’Acqua’ (Waterways) project, was put under investigation for alleged corruption and involvement in bid rigging. The news is fresh blow to the World Fair, which was hit by a big corruption probe in May. Those arrested in May included Angelo Paris, who was Expo’s procurement and planning manager.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New State-of-the-Art Research Facility is Being Build in Scandinavia
Construction of the world’s most advanced neutron scattering facility is finally to begin after ten years of preparation.
After ten years of preparation, construction of the world’s most advanced neutron ‘microscope’ is finally about to begin.
The gigantic facility will constitute an entirely new research centre, the European Spallation Source (ESS). It will have a permanent staff of 400-500 and receive some 2000-5000 visiting researchers every year.
Denmark is co-hosting the research center with Sweden and will be investing almost 300 million euros in the project,
“It’ll be Denmark’s biggest investment in research infrastructure. The ESS will be a world leader in its field and will attract talented scientists and students from all over the world,” says Professor Henning Friis Poulsen from the Institute of Physics at Denmark’s Technical University (DTU).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Viking Fortress Discovered in Denmark
Archaeologists are excited as new finding could reveal more secrets about the Danish vikings.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Breivik Says Father Can’t Visit Unless He’s a Fascist
Anders Behring Breivik will not allow his father, Jens Breivik, to visit him in prison unless his father becomes a fascist, it was revealed on Tuesday.
In a letter the 35-year-old mass killer sent to his father from jail, Breivik wrote that his father must reject his social democratic ideology and instead join what he calls the Norwegian fascist movement, reported VG.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scottish Referendum Rallies Focus on Undecided Voters
Salmond ‘let’s do this’, Cameron ‘won’t quit’ if yes vote wins
(ANSA) — London, September 17 — Scottish Independence supporters and Pro-UK campaigners made final efforts to rally undecided voters on Wednesday before Thursday’s yes-no independence vote, local media reported.
In Glasgow, groups of Independence and pro-UK supporters held mass rallies as last ditch campaigns to sway undecided voters. Polls publiched by BBC showed that 48% of decided voters are in favor of Scottish independence, with 52% saying ‘no’.
Daily paper The Herald Scotland published a piece written by First Minister Alex Salmond, telling voters “let’s do this”, meanwhile UK Prime Minister David Cameron, in the “Let’s Stick Together” campaign, said he would not quit if the Scottish Referendum resulted in secession.
“My name is not on the ballot paper. What’s on the ballot paper is ‘does Scotland want to stay in the United Kingdom, or does Scotland want to separate itself from the United Kingdom?’.
That’s the only question that will be decided on Thursday night.
The question about my future will be decided at the British general election coming soon”, Cameron said.
Linda Colley of The Guardian Newspaper called the events leading up to the referendum vote “a catalogue of errors” and said London was “out of touch and inward looking”. Her opinion piece detailed measures that have brought Scotland to this tenuous vote including Margaret Thatcher’s Poll Tax, tested in Scotland and Tony Blair’s “pursuing his unpopular war with Iraq.
“Blair allowed nationalists to argue that the union was instead a machine that sucked Scotland into profitless and expensive exercises in overseas aggression”, it added while David Cameron’s believed that a “protracted referendum campaign would be cathartic”. Queen Elizabeth postponed her annual staff ball at her Balmoral residence until the day after the referendum vote, remaining impartial, Buckingham Palace said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Sex Abuse Was Endemic in Sheffield, Says Ex Care Worker
The sexual exploitation of teenage girls was “endemic” in Sheffield during the early 2000s, a former care home worker has claimed.
She told the BBC that girls were passed around organised groups of men and trafficked to other cities.
Her claims follow the publication of a report showing 1,400 children were sexually abused in nearby Rotherham.
Sheffield Council said it had taken action and South Yorkshire Police said it was working on 173 abuse cases.
Ruth, who has used a pseudonym to protect the identity of those who were in her care, worked at a home in the city for two years from 2002 until 2004.
Offered to men
She said her colleagues were powerless to stop the youngsters, aged between 13 and 14 years old, meeting groups of older men she said were of Asian heritage.
In one instance, she said a perpetrator rang the care home to describe the location of a girl who had been raped and left in a park.
Ruth said: “In the unit I worked in, we had four girls and three of the girls were involved in the ring of abuse.
“They would go out with the one person they trusted and thought they were building a relationship with, thought they were in love with.
“They were told how beautiful and lovely they were… and then they would be offered to other men in the circle or taken out of the city to pre-arranged areas to be used.”
Ruth said many of the care staff she worked with tried to protect the girls.
But she said: “You can’t drag them back in, you can’t force them back in, all you can try and do is persuade them that you want to keep them safe.
“And occasionally some of the care workers would go out in cars and drive around and just see if we could see the girls, which put us at great risk, but we were so desperate and so frustrated with the lack of anything being done for them…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Up to a Point: A Free Scotland Would be a Hilarious Disaster
An independent Scotland would be a catastrophe as a country. But it would also be very entertaining for reporters like P.J. O’Rourke.
This coming Thursday the Scots will vote on whether to make Scotland an independent nation. And I hope they do because it will be a disaster.
I don’t say this as a prejudiced Irishman. Even though the thistle-arse sheep-shagger Scots swiped Ulster and sent a herd of Presbyterian proddy dogs and porridge wogs to squat on our land and won the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 by using unfair—indeed, unheard of —- organization, discipline, and tactics on an Irish battlefield. We Micks only hold a grudge about such things for 300 years or so.
Nor is Scottish independence a misery-loves-company moment for us Irish. True, Irish independence has been no bed of shamrocks, what with the Easter Rebellion, the black-and-tans, the civil war, the IRA, and the Celtic Tiger turning out to be a mangy barn cat drowned in the well.
We Irish don’t hate the Scots per se. They’re too much like us Irish, who all hate each other. So we’re just looking for a fine entertainment from across the Irish Sea as Highland Scots have a donnybrook with Lowland Scots, Glaswegians dust up with Edinburghians, and Clan Dewers unsheathes its claymores for battle with Clan Johnny Walker.
I, however, have a personal reason for wanting an independent Scotland. I’m an ex-foreign correspondent, vintage 1983-2003, who retired after the Iraq War, too old to be scared stiff and too stiff to sleep on the ground.
Yet once foreign correspondenting gets in your blood…
Ah, there’s nothing like a primitive, quarrel-torn, disastrous Third World country. And Scotland has everything it needs to be what old-school foreign correspondents fondly call a “shit-hole.”
Plus Scotland is conveniently located for aging journos like myself. It can be “covered” from the comforts of The Ritz in London, and there will be plenty of unemployed Scottish unionist refugees hanging around waiting to be hired as drivers and translators.
Scotland’s economy will be the requisite Third World shambles. Scotland’s two dominant political parties are the leftist Scottish National Party and the leftist Scottish Labor Party. These can be counted on to vie in out-lefting each other. Cuba-with-chilblains, here we come!…
| — Hat tip: Mark H | [Return to headlines] |
by Andrew Bostom
Since its founding in 973 C.E., Al Azhar University (and its mosque) have represented a pinnacle of Islamic religious education, which evolved into the de facto Vatican of Sunni Islam. Unfortunately, during that same millennium, through the present era, Al Azhar and its leading clerics have represented and espoused the unreformed, unrepentant jihad bellicosity and infidel hatred at the core of mainstream, institutional Islam.
Al Azhar’s contemporary espousal of sacralized Islamic animosity has been directed, unsurprisingly, against Jews and Israel, dating back to the 20th century origins, and ultimate creation, of the modern Jewish State. Despite nearly universal willful blindness by media, academic, and policymaking elites, this critical issue of sacralized incitement of Muslim Jew-hatred by Islam’s Sunni Muslim Vatican, remains center stage.
Islam’s canonical texts—the Koran itself (see here), and the “traditions” of Islam’s prophet Muhammad (the hadith, and sira; see here)—are redolent with Islamic Jew-hatred. This hateful material was catalogued—and extolled—by the late Sunni Muslim Papal equivalent, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, who served as the Grand Imam of Sunni Islam’s Vatican, Al Azhar University, for 14 years, from 1996, till his death in March, 2010. Tantawi’s “academic” magnum opus, a 700 page treatise entitled, “Jews in the Koran and the Traditions”, includes this summary Koranic rationalization for Muslim Jew-hatred:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Attacks the Foreign Press for Criticism Over ISIS
Ex-US ambassador accuses Ankara of aid to jihadists
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 17 — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday lashed out against criticism in the international press, especially in the United States, toward the Turkish government’s line on armed jihadists groups including ISIS.
Erdogan accused a Tuesday New York Times article of being “shameful, disgraceful and unfounded”. The piece dealt with a boom in Turkish recruits for the Sunni jihadist group responsible for numerous atrocities in Syria and Iraq. The Turkish opposition and the international press have repeatedly accused the Islamist Turkish government of supporting jihadist groups in Syria, and of permitting free passage of arms and militants across its borders. The Turkish government has always denied the charges, but in recent days the US ex-ambassador to Ankara, Francis Ricciardone, said the Turks have worked with these groups, including the Nusra Front. The Tuesday NYT article said the working-class neighborhood of Hacibayram, in the heart of Ankara, has become a recruitment centre for aspiring ISIS militants, and reported that between 1,000 and 3,000 Turks have joined ISIS. Several US media outlets in recent days have criticized Turkey, a NATO member country, for its refusal to support a military offensive that Washington intends to launch against the jihadist group. A Wall Street Journal editorial spoke of “our non-ally in Ankara” among other things.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
For Baghdad Patriarch, An Intervention by Arab States is Essential in the Iraqi Crisis
At the UN, the patriarchs and bishops of the Churches of the Middle East denounce the sufferings of Christians, victims of the violence of the Islamic State, a tragic situation that calls for action by the international community. Islamists must be defeated and peaceful coexistence restored. AsiaNews presents Mar Sako’s address.
Geneva (AsiaNews) — The patriarchs and bishops of the Churches of the Middle East spoke yesterday about the tragic situation of a people that has peacefully lived in the region for 2,000 years but is now targeted by the criminals of the Islamic State, especially in Syria and Iraq, for practicing their faith.
Invited to the Geneva offices of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, in the final statement the prelates slammed the systematic persecution of the minority, done “in the name of God”, in clear violation “of the fundamental right to religious freedom.”
The ideology behind ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, now the Islamic State) is contrary to human rights, the leaders of the Eastern Churches said, and leads “to genocide, the death of innocent people and other serious abuses.”
It represents a threat not only for Christians but “for all other groups and ethnicities” as well as “society as a whole” in the Middle East and the world.
“>In view of such abuses, “indifference” is a greater crime.
For the patriarchs and bishops, the international community has a “duty” and a “responsibility” to take action to protect communities at risk, as the General Assembly of the United Nations indicated in the past. Such a duty comes into effect, they explain, when “the state is unable to protect its own citizens,” as is the case today in Iraq.
Finally, as winter approaches, the prelates call for aid — food, water, shelter, medicine, blankets — for refugees ahead of their return home.
“>Meanwhile, the priority, they note, is to “defeat ISIL and restore peaceful coexistence.”
Here is the personal address by his Beatitude Mar Raphael I Louis Sako at the United Nations in Geneva, sent exclusively to AsiaNews:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am touched and grateful to you for your presence here. It shows that you are not indifferent to the tragedy of our people.
ISIS is an extremist organization, guided with blind principles of brutality, well-funded, well-armed with sophisticated weapons, widely present in the social media. The daily practice of robberies, gang rapes, torture and murder of all those who are seen as nonbelievers is common. They are able to recruit fighters from across the globe. Isis is a potential threat to the entire world.
So in the name of all the persecuted I beg and urge all leaders to find a strategy — a road map to end the present tragedy and prevent also future threats.
Here are some requests what should be done right now and later:
– To continue providing humanitarian aid of shelter, food, water, medicine and clothing to survive till the return of our people to their homes and villages.
– To liberate not only the plain of Nineveh, but also Mosul by a comprehensive political solution. An international coalition with the mandate of UN is needed to protect and defend the rights of defenceless displaced thousands in this region. Airstrikes only will kill innocent people. There should be troops on the ground and why not from the Arab countries. It is necessary to train the Iraqi central army professionally and to equip it and also the Kurdish Peshmerga.
– To support the safe return of the displaced people to their homes and villages and to ensure them of international protection. This should be guaranteed by a UN resolution otherwise we would have the same destiny like the Palestinians.
– To guarantee that the displaced persons are given adequate compensation for their lost properties and destroyed houses by the Iraqi Government. Here other governments, aid organisations and NGOs can contribute a lot.
– To put the Christian heritage sites which go back to the early centuries under the patronage and protection of UNESCO.
– All the mentioned measures are necessary. But the protection of human rights of every single citizen is the best and only way to secure a peaceful coexistence. War is always evil and bringing misfortune to the people. Let us examine our conscience what we are doing to prevent war. What about the arm sales? Instead of selling weapons, human rights and religious freedom of all should be promoted.
Thank you for your sympathy to the fate of our suffering people. Please take our case to your governments, to your political parties, to your institutions, to your churches and mosques.
* Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad and president of the Bishops’ Conference of Iraq
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
House Votes to Authorize Aid to Syrian Rebels in ISIS Fight
A House divided along unusual and unpredictable lines voted Wednesday to authorize the training and arming of Syrian rebels to confront the militant group Islamic State, backing President Obama after he personally pleaded for support.
The 273-to-156 vote was over a narrow military measure with no money attached, but it took on outsize importance and was infused with drama. Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader, actively and strongly backed the legislation, and both sought to portray it as a modest measure. The Senate hopes to pass it as soon as Thursday.
| [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Kurdish Peshmerga Free Some Christian Villages Occupied by Jihadists
US air raids fundamental. The Islamist militants mined many houses before fleeing. Syriac Christians return to the city of Alqosh, liberated days ago, and celebrate the feast of the patron saint.
Erbil (AsiaNews / Agencies) — At least seven Christian villages in northern Iraq have been freed after a series of clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga and Islamic State jihadists.
The seven villages are located west of Erbil, on the Nineveh plain. The Kurdish military commanders emphasize the fundamental contribution of the air raids carried out by the United States and report that the jihadists mined many houses before fleeing.
Since early August, hundreds of thousands of Christians, Yazidis, Turkmen and Shiites have fled the plain conquered by IS militias, which kills anyone who opposes their fundamentalist Islam and force Christians to choose between conversion to Islam, payment of a “protection” tax or death. The jihadists have conquered about a third of Iraqi territory, including the cities of Mosul and Qaraqosh. The United States has intervened with airstrikes to aid the peshmerga fighters and launched an international coalition to defeat the IS.
The villages that have been freed are close to city of Bartallah and Qaraqosh. In recent days, the city of Alqosh was also liberated. It lies about 50 kilometers north of Mosul. According to Aina news agency, 75% of the Syrian Christians who had fled, have returned to their city, and on September 12 they celebrated the feast of the patron martyr, Mar Qardakh, with a Mass and a procession (see photo). Several people say that life Alqosh is returning to normal, although there is no water or electricity in nearby villages.
The economy, however, is disastrous. Just one example: For more than three months public employees have not received any salary and their families are living on donations from abroad.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Premier Appeals for Armed Raids Against ISIS in Syria
Kurds deny accusations of Syrian civilian deaths
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT/NEW YORK — SEPTEMBER 17 — Irachi Premier Haider al-Abadi on Wednesday appealed to the international community to extend its campaign against ISIS to Syria as soon as possible.
“The fight against the group which declared the birth of a caliphate will not be won until ISIS is attacked on both fronts, in Iraq and in Syria,” Abadi said.
Meanwhile, Syrian-Kurdish militias denied accusations of having killed more than 40 Arab civilians in northeastern Syria, claimed Monday by sources in the region of Qamishli and reported by pan-Arabian media. Local media reported a statement by Syrian-Kurdish militias blaming the Islamic State for the deaths of at least 16 civilians in the narrow area triangulated by Qamishli in the north, the Iraqi-Syrian border in the south, and Hasake in the west.
There were intense armed clashes in that area, as well as heavy air raids, made by the Bashar al-Assad regime September 13-16.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: IS Supporters Arrested in Jahra
Credible security sources said that there are over 30 Islamic State supporters and those calling for its support, most of whom are followers and students of religious propagandist (FF) who was arrested in Jahra recently. The sources said the arrested propagandist is a “valuable catch” for security authorities, as lots of data and names were found in his computer, especially those he communicates with, and were the key to reach many IS supporters.
Security sources arrested two bedoons suspected of being ideologically connected with IS, which is on the international terrorist list. The sources said the arrested are Fahad F N, also known as Abu Nassar, and his cousin Hamam Noun.
The two were arrested four days ago and are being questioned at the state security department. Earlier reports had indicated that Ministry of Interior security forces recently launched a major campaign to track down and arrest a number of Islamic State supporters in Kuwait following reports about their activity in promoting IS and its ideologies in Kuwait, such as during a Friday sermon in a Jahra mosque.
Wellinformed security sources said that 3 Kuwaitis were recently arrested and that special security teams had been formed in various governorates to follow up and track down supporters and members of this terrorist organization. “They will all be incriminated and legally held accountable,” said the sources, pointing out that daily security reports indicate that many people, mainly remnants of Al-Qaeda, sympathize with IS and that MoI would never tolerate when it comes to maintaining security. “Any person suspected of adopting this terrorist organization’s ideology will be arrested,” stressed the sources, noting that possible suspects include supporters, financiers and people recruiting young men to become jihadists fighting with IS.
The sources said that security authorities were doing their best to track down suspects by monitoring pro-IS social media sites and stressed that supreme orders were made to hold all Kuwaitis returning from Syria and Iraq legally accountable and refer them to prosecution.
Meanwhile, informed sources said that in a bid to impose security and have full control coinciding with international efforts to fight terrorism, orders had been given to set security checkpoints at certain locations along highways at the entrances of each governorate close to vital facilities and locations. Security sources said that in a bid to tighten security, MoI will have policewomen stationed at various checkpoints to check female drivers wearing niqabs. In a related issue, well-informed sources at the foreign ministry said that Kuwait had practically started coordinating with the international coalition including Arab, regional and international countries fighting terrorism, namely IS.
The sources added that coordination includes defining Kuwait’s role and the forms of its participation in this war that would include funding, logistics and intelligence support needed for the offensive.
The sources said that 10 Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq have already announced joining the coalition following a meeting held on Thursday in Jeddah between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts in the above mentioned countries in addition to Turkey’s foreign minister that ended up by signing a final statement by all attendees except Turkey. —Al-Anbaa and Al-Rai
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: UN Ambassador: Golan Heights Controlled by Al Nusra
Al Qaida-linked group are using peacekeepers’ weapons
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK — A number of Syrian rebels from the al Qaida-linked al Nusra extremist group have gained control of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights and are using the weapons, uniforms and vehicles of UN peacekeepers who have recently left their post, according to the Syrian ambassador to the UN, Bashaar Jaafari.
The UN Security Council will have to examine the situation at a meeting over the next few hours.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Biggest Attack on RT.Com: Website Hit by 10 Gbps DDoS
RT.com has been hit with the most powerful DDoS attack in the website’s history, which reached 10 Gbps in strength. No group has claimed responsibility. RT has experienced cyber assaults in the past, prompted by its reporting on Manning and WikiLeaks.
The Wednesday attack was successfully deflected, but resulted in a temporary slowdown of the site.
“Thanks to the website’s reliable technical protection, RT.com was unavailable just for a few minutes, even though the DDoS attack has continued,” RT’s press service said in a statement.
The attack was identified as a UDP-flood type, and reached 10 gigabits per second.
Hackers have previously targeted RT with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, to prevent it from reporting on various controversial issues, such as the Chelsea Manning trial and WikiLeaks…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Gas Flow to Europe Reduced 25%
Ukraine minister says it can last through winter with help
(ANSA) — Kiev, September 17 — Ukraine’s energy minister said Wednesday that the volume of Russian natural gas transiting to Europe has been reduced by 25%, Ukraine media reported.
Yuriy Prodan also said that Ukraine can survive the coming winter with help from Europe and by reducing energy consumption, said Ukrinform.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda Wing in South Asia Claims Major Attack
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) — Al Qaeda’s South Asia wing has claimed responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani naval ship and trying to use it to fire rockets at U.S. vessels in the Arabian Sea, in the first major assault by the newly created group.
The SITE monitoring service quoted its spokesman, Usama Mahmoud, as saying a group of militants had succeeded in seizing control of the Pakistani frigate PNS Zulfiqar and tried to use it to attack nearby U.S. vessels.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
‘Rich’ China Still Needs Foreign Investment
(People’s Daily Online — english.people.com.cn)
(People’s Daily Online) — Beijing, September 12 — In the past 20 years, foreign owned companies have made a great contribution to China’s social progress and have become an integral part of China’s economy. Although China has enjoyed rapid development and a wealth of capital, it will never stop trying to attract foreign capital and it will never turn its back on foreign companies. China’s policy of investment and cooperation will not change, said Wang Yang, deputy Prime Minster of China’s State Council.
The basic policy of attracting foreign capital has not changed.
With China’s GDP ranking 2nd in the world, its companies are becoming more competitive. The pattern of attracting foreign investment inwards and encouraging domestic companies to go abroad is shifting, but China’s basic policy of attracting foreign capital has never changed. To date it has attracted 1.5 trillion dollars in foreign direct investment, topping the developing world for 22 years. In 2013 it attracted 124 billion dollars and ranked 2nd in the world. At the same time, foreign-owned companies have also gained great benefits in China — 85% of foreign-owned enterprises are making profits and 90% are willing to expand their investment in China.”Money” is not only the focus in terms of attracting foreign capital.
Foreign capital has two functions in reform and opening-up.
Foreign capital helps China to become the world’s largest trader, manufacturer and exporter, and plays a role in helping China to integrate into the world.
However, in the process of attracting the foreign capital China has not significantly improved its technology and scientific research level. Wang Yang noted that it is important to introduce advanced technology, sophisticated management techniqes, and intellectual resources. To set up an economic system consistent with international rules plays a key role in upgrading China’s economy.
Creating a fair investment environment is the key.
Creating a fair investment environment is an increasingly important means of attracting foreign capital. A fair competitive environment is more attractive to foreign companies than preferential policies. As a result, China will make its market more open to outside investors and supranational privilege will be eliminated in attracting foreign capital.
Private, state-owned and foreign enterprises should be treated equally.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Australia Police Launch Massive ‘Counter-Terrorism’ Raids
(Reuters) — Hundreds of heavily armed police raided homes in Sydney and Brisbane before dawn on Thursday, launching a large-scale Australian “counter-terrorism operation” just days after the country raised its national terror threat level to high for the first time.
Australian police said the raids were focused on a dozen suburbs in west Sydney, while local media said operations were also taking place in the Queensland city of Brisbane.
Last week, Australia raised its terror threat level to ‘high’, citing the likelihood of terrorist attacks by Australian citizens radicalized in Iraq or Syria, despite stressing there was no knowledge of a specific threat.
Australia, which is due to host the Group of 20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane in mid-November, is concerned over the number of its citizens believed to be fighting overseas with Islamist militant groups.
Up to 160 Australians have either been involved in the fighting or actively supporting it, officials said. At least 20 are believed to have returned to Australia and pose a national security risk, the head of the country’s spy agency said when raising the threat level last week…
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Cell ‘Planned to Behead a Random Member of the Public on a Sydney Street”
Evil plot revealed as 800 police detain 15 suspects following dawn raids in Sydney and Brisbane
The extremists arrested in Australia’s largest counterterrorism operation were planning to snatch a random member of the public off the street in Sydney and behead them, police told Daily Mail Australia, in an attack bearing the brutal hallmarks of Islamic State fanatics.
Fifteen people were detained in pre-dawn raids on homes in Sydney and Brisbane by NSW and Queensland state police and the Australian Federal Police. Just one man, Omarjan Azari, has been charged so far, with serious terrorism-related offences, and was due to appear in a Sydney court later today, police said.
‘Police believe that this group that we have executed this operation on today had the intention, and had started to carry out planning, to commit violent acts here in Australia,’ AFP Acting Commissioner Andrew Colvin told reporters in Sydney.
‘Those violent acts particularly related to random acts against members of the public.’
Police sources revealed more details to Daily Mail Australia, that the plot involved abducting a member of the public in Sydney and beheading them. ABC reported that the abducted member of the public would be draped in an Islamic State flag and beheaded on camera.
Channel Seven reports that the random beheading would have been carried out in the streets of Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed that he was briefed on the anti-terror operation on Wednesday night.
He said a senior Australian ISIL member has asked supporters in Australia to carry out ‘demonstration killings’.
‘That’s the intelligence we’ve received. That exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of supporters in Australia to direct demonstration killings in Australia. This is not just suspicion this is in intent,’ Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott said the information he has received shows Australia is at a ‘serious risk’ from a terrorist attack.
‘There are networks of people here in Australia who will do us harm and it’s very important that we are one step ahead of them and I think this morning we were,’ he added…
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
13 Dead in Attack on Nigeria College
Boko Haram suspected
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — Some 13 people were killed and 34 hurt in an attack at a teacher training college in the northern Nigerian city of Kano Wednesday, with Islamist group Boko Haram suspected.
Boko Haram, which has been waging an insurgency in Nigeria since 2009 in a bod to carve out an Islamic state in the north.
In July the city — the biggest in the north — suffered a spate of five attacks in four days, one of which also targeted a college and killed six people.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Welfare Cost of ‘Non-Westerners’ Up £200 Million. Benefits for Natives Down
Danish current-affairs magazineMandagMorgen has published a report on welfare and benefits which reveals that while the cost of supporting immigrants and their descendents has exploded, the cost of keeping native Danes is falling.
The magazine, which is a publication of one of Scandinavia’s leading think-tanks differentiates between “immigrants and descendants from non-Western countries” and ethnic Danes in its report. The revelation that the cost of welfare for the immigrants has increased by two billion kronor (over £200 million) since 2010 has prompted a bout of soul-searching amongst the leaders of Denmark’s Social Liberal pro-immigration party, who are presently part of the ruling coalition.
Denmark has experienced a sudden rush of immigration from these non-Western groups in past decades, and over one-in-ten Danes is now an immigrant or the descendant of one. Two thirds of immigrants, some 400,000, are non-Western, with Somalis, Turks, and Iraqis forming large, visible groups.
The arrival of large groups of immigrants from cultures unlike Denmark has caused friction within the country. An opposition politician was reported saying in July: “It is primarily Muslim immigrants who do not value democracy and freedom. In certain environments, they directly oppose it.. Too many non-Western immigrants with Muslim backgrounds do not want our freedom-orientated society model.
“There is a danger that the cohesion of our society can be threatened in the future if we do not dare put right and reasonable requirements for those coming to Denmark”. This report will confirm these concerns that immigrants aren’t pulling their weight in Danish society…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Has Rescued 23,000 Migrants in Territorial Waters Since October
As of 12 September, 2014, Italy’s military search and rescue operation has rescued 23,337 migrants and assisted another 38,263 shipwrecked migrants in its territorial waters since October last year, according to a spokesperson from Italy’s military of defence. Territorial waters stretch 12 nautical miles from the coast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Africans Arrived Here in Last Decade Than During Entire Slave Trade
By Steve Sailer
According to the NYT: Between 2000 and 2010, the number of legal black African immigrants in the United States about doubled, to around one million. During that single decade, according to the most reliable estimates, more black Africans arrived in this country on their own than were imported directly to North America during the more than three centuries of the slave trade.
There are about 100 times more blacks in the U.S. today than arrived via the slave trade.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Most Malta Boat Victims Were Gaza Refugees
Palestinian people fleeing Israel’s occupation of Gaza were most of the victims in the Malta boat incident last week, when hundreds were left to die by human traffickers.
The information comes from survivors interviewed by the Palestinian embassy in Greece, which spoke to two men from Gaza who made it to the Greek island of Crete.
Two other men from Gaza, who made it to the Italian island of Sicily, also gave details to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a Swiss-based institute.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo. Birminghamo. Londono. Bruxelleso. Islamo immigrationo. Are we bright sparks.
My own studies in demographic distribution have now been confirmed by no less than the Daily Mail and Telegraph. We have around 5 – 6 million Moslems in UK. I did this through an Ethnographic study, being a trained Archaeologist. My estimates based on travelling around UK for 5 years and more at mine own expense, posited a foreign population in England alone of 31% and this seems to have ironically confirmed by the 2011 UK population census. The real population of UK is around 70-77,000,000 and supermarket sales of halal and other foreign tastes in food seem to confirm this. The indigenous population of UK are already minorities in London and all urban centres like Birmingham but nationally in the under 25 age range-military age. If anybody wants a write up on my findings please ask via this website, if The Baron would be so kind?
Like the Saudi client government in Westminster rules “Who cares as long as that cash keep flowing”. The EU has well and truly deballed the bouncers. Call off all soccer matches until the savages are rehoused.
Mark, Thank you for posting the article by PJ O’Rourke. I swear that this morning, I was going to Google him to see what he had written lately to bring some humour to our dismal and islam-sodden world.
It is a pity he could only pick on the Scots as a target as any commentator doing the same with arabs or muslims would, in the words of Jasper Carrott, end up in a flat share with Salman Rushdie.
May islam reap what it sows.
A little NZ information about some US citizens
Snowden appeared on big screen in New Zealand, 5 days before New Zealand elections, to bring revelations about the NZ Prime Minister. No actual proofs,, just claims.
This was arranged in conjunction with another small NZ opposition party created by multi millionaire flamboyant Kim dot com, wanted by the FBI.To unseat the current government about the national security
Assange also gave a speech and again more supposed information, and again no facts.
Also Glenn Greenwald was on stage and gave a speech, and claimed many things that were already refuted by documents released by the Prime Minister.
It was done in the Auckland town hall and called the “Moment of Truth”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325158
The Prime Ministers party has climbed and hovered around 50% for the past 2 months of the campaign.
An aside from me is that the media have been running with the opposition parties, and you can see that in the above link to the Herald, and only a few exceptions.
Blogs is where the running is and both sides can be over the top, but still it is a sight easier to deduce balance and sift the facts and information.
Just thought you might find this of interest.
Thank you for all your writings
Simpleton
PS a lot of interesting debate here in NZ as elections coming up on Saturday and this issue of NSA and NZ’s version need a warrant and also from the Prime Minister and not just a general fishing data search.
Really the Australian catch up of terror suspects has hotted the debate up.
Scottish Referendum twitter trend interesting to watch the YES trends from other European separatists.
Result around 6am.