A man approached two people at a bus stop in the Detroit suburbs, asked them if they were Muslims, and then stabbed them when they replied in the negative. The alleged assailant, one Terrence Lavaron Thomas, has been arrested and charged with assault with intent to murder. Whether Mr. Thomas went by any other name has not yet been revealed. However, it is absolutely certain that the incident had nothing to do with Islam.
In other news, ISIS mujahideen have reportedly burned 45 people to death in the town of al-Baghdadi in Western Iraq.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, K, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, 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.
Greece Handed Ultimatum as Eurozone Bailout Talks Collapse
Eurozone ministers have handed Greece an ultimatum to request an extension to its bailout programme after crunch talks collapsed, deepening a bitter stand-off that risks seeing Athens bid farewell to the euro.
Despite the acrimony, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Monday the different sides could come to an agreement on the bailout within the next two days, with the possibility of another make-or-break meeting on Friday.
“I have no doubt there is going to be an agreement in the end,” Varoufakis said after the talks abruptly ended after only a few hours.
Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Greece had the rest of the week to request an extension to the programme, which expires at the end of the month, challenging Athens to cave in on its dearly held position.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Can Survive Till Summer Without EU Deal: Analysts
(ATHENS) — Cash-strapped Greece can survive financially until the middle of the year after its EU bailout technically ends on February 28, analysts believe, despite the abrupt failure of talks with its eurozone partners on Monday.
But if Athens fails to broker a deal with its European creditors, there could be long-term damage to its recovery prospects, they warned.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the group of nations that use the single European currency, said after the fractious Brussels talks ended in failure Monday that Greece had the rest of the week to officially request an extension to its debt bailout programme, which expires at the end of the month.
The Greek government appears unlikely to do so, because it has rejected the Eurogroup’s demands that it continue the bailout, arguing that the attached conditions have plunged the country into poverty.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Parliament in Agreement Over Greek Bailout: Malta Wants Its €188 Million Back
The government and opposition are in agreement that Malta will not give in to any requests to re-dimension the Greek bailout, insisting that Greece must pay back Maltese taxpayers some €188 million.
Parliament this evening discussed Monday’s Eurogroup meeting which was cut short after Greece described an opening EU bailout offer as “absurd” and “unacceptable”. However, according to PN leader Simon Busuttil, it was Greece who was being “absurd”.
“It is unacceptable for a government to promise everything to everyone and expects other member states to foot the bill,” he said, urging Prime Minister Joseph Muscat not to give in to any requests not to re-dimension debt owed.
The €188 million Malta forked out is equivalent to 2.4% of its GDP. The maturity date and the interest rates were twice adjusted by parliament to offer some leeway to ease Greece’s debt burden.
Muscat confirmed that Malta would continue insisting for Greece to honour its bailout commitments but was ready to be flexible on other issues, such as extending the debt repayment period.
“Changing the amount is not an option,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain’s 2014 Public Debt at 98.1% of GDP, Exceeds Estimates
7% higher than December 2013
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 17 — Spain ended 2014 with public debt at 1.03 trillion euros, equal to 98.1% of GDP and higher than the 97.1% target. The figures were released on Tuesday by the Bank of Spain.
In December debt rose by 10.8 billion euros, a 1.06% increase on the previous month and 7% more than December 2013. Since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008, Spanish debt has increased from 40% of GDP to 98.1% as of December.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
BATFE to Ban Common AR-15 Ammo
In a move clearly intended by the Obama Administration to suppress the acquisition, ownership and use of AR-15s and other .223 caliber general purpose rifles, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unexpectedly announced today that it intends to ban commonplace M855 ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition.” The decision continues Obama’s use of his executive authority to impose gun control restrictions and bypass Congress.
It isn’t even the third week of February, and the BATFE has already taken three major executive actions on gun control. First, it was a major change to what activities constitute regulated “manufacturing” of firearms. Next, BATFE reversed a less than year old position on firing a shouldered “pistol.” Now, BATFE has released a “Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are ‘Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes’ Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(c)”, which would eliminate M855’s exemption to the armor piercing ammunition prohibition and make future exemptions nearly impossible.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Bloomberg Blocks Footage of His Calls for More Minority Gun Control
On February 7 2015 , I reported on a speech by Michael Bloomberg in which he suggested banning young minority males from gun ownership.
He made that suggestion during a February 5 speech at the Aspen Institute and has now asked the Institute not to release footage of the speech to the public.
According to the Summit Daily, “Michael Bloomberg representatives have asked the Institute not to distribute footage of…[the] appearance…where the three-term New York City mayor made pointed comments concerning minorities and gun control.”
Both the Institute and Grassroots TV, “the organization that filmed the event,” are honoring Bloomberg’s wishes and “will not broadcast the footage online or on television as planned.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Could the NSA Turn Your Hard Drive Into a Cyber Spy?
Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab have unearthed malware that can place spying software in hard drives, fueling suspicion that the National Security Agency may be behind a new breed of cyber espionage technology.
One of an arsenal of tools created by a shadowy collection of hackers dubbed “the Equation Group,” on account of their sophisticated encryption algorithms, the malware has prompted fears of widespread computer eavesdropping.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Genetic Condition Causes Man to Feel No Pain
Imagine breaking your arm, but not realizing you were hurt until you saw the bone poking out. For one Washington state man, this unusual situation is the norm— thanks to a genetic condition which causes insensitivity to pain and the inability to smell.
Steven Pete, 33, suffers from congenital analgesia, sometimes referred to as congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), which surprisingly has its advantages, news.com.au reported.
“I’ve had so many injuries over the years that it’s hard to recall,” Pete told news.com.au.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Government’s Anti-Extremism Initiative Divides Twin Cities’ Somali Community
The Twin Cities’ Somali-American community and religious leaders are divided over an anti-terrorism initiative that aims to deter young Muslims from enlisting with the Islamic State and other violent extremist groups.
Even while a delegation of local officials heads to the White House for a Wednesday conference about the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program, other local leaders plan to hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon to raise concerns about the same program.
At the Tuesday news conference in Minneapolis, representatives from various mosques and Muslim organizations in the state will outline several recommendations on how they think the CVE pilot program would best serve the community. One of their key recommendations: that the program be independent from the influences of all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Justice and the National Counterterrorism Center.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the program stigmatizes the Muslim community. “The Department of Homeland Security is not known to be providing funds to do after-school programs,” Hussein, who is organizing the press conference, told MinnPost last month. “There are other organizations that do that.”
“We don’t want police, especially law enforcement agencies — we don’t want them to be doing after-school programs because their job is to investigate, their job is not to run after-school programs or to monitor after-school programs,” he continued.
Speculation about the program and consequences for those who participate in it have dominated the conversations within Minneapolis’ Somali community for weeks. Though the program expands social services for Somali-American youth, there are also fears that information collected from youth participants will be used for surveillance and investigation purposes.
Many in the community grew cautious after news reports about two law enforcement outreach programs in the Twin Cities were used to gather intelligence. U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, however, said that CVE will have nothing to do with surveillance gathering.
[Well that’s certainly a relief to some people, Mr. Luger. The question is — which ones? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
In Nod to Cartoonists, 2014 Polk Awards Honor Garry Trudeau
In a nod to a craft in the spotlight after the Paris terrorist attacks, Garry Trudeau will be the first cartoonist ever honored for his entire career’s work when the 2014 George Polk Awards in Journalism are given out in April.
Trudeau will join Jules Feiffer, a cartoonist cited for his work in 1961, and Django Gold, senior writer for The Onion, in a discussion about the role and impact of comics and satire in journalism after the attacks by Islamic extremists last month on the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish grocery store that left 20 people dead, including the gunmen. Charlie Hebdo employees had faced death threats for its depiction of the Prophet Mohammad.
[Excuse me — Garry Trudeau? The guy who in 2006 told the Santa Barbara Independent, in answer to a question on “the Danish cartoon mess,” that “At some point, common sense and sensitivity have to be brought to bear”? This is obscene: the Polk awards are supposed to be for courage, not a pusillanimous toeing of the establishment line. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Is Your Computer Hard Drive Hiding an NSA Spy Program?
According to Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker, the NSA has managed to insert spying software on most computer hard drives.
The program is hidden on hard drives manufactured by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, Reuters reports.
Kaspersky did not pinpoint the country responsible for the software, but said it is closely related to Stuxnet, the cyber weapon developed by the Americans and the Israelis, with help from the Germans and the British.
Stuxnet was used to sabotage Iran’s effort to enrich uranium for its nuclear program.
However, in addition to setting back Iran’s nuclear program, the sophisticated malware engineered by the U.S. and Israel at the Dimona complex in the Negev desert was exploited to push for restrictive cybersecurity measures in the United States.
A former NSA employee told the news agency the NSA values the hard drive spy program as much as Stuxnet.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Islamic Extremism’ Off Limits at White House Terrorism Summit
WASHINGTON — The White House will kick off a three-day summit Tuesday on combating violent extremism on social media — but the administration won’t focus on Islamic extremism and won’t even mention the term.
“You can call them what you want; we’re calling them terrorists,” a senior Obama administration official said Monday.
The determination not to mention Islam or Muslims comes as ISIS continues its murderous spree in the name of Islam, most recently beheading 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya.
The rub for the Obama administration is that while the murderers cite their faith as motivation, they don’t represent Islam and, therefore, shouldn’t be associated with the religion.
[George Orwell, call your office. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Man Released After Months in Jail for Possession of Vitamins
A Minnesota man was released from jail this week after spending close to three months in custody for possession of vitamins.
The man, 31-year-old Joseph Burrell, was arrested last November after police claimed that a vitamin powder found in his vehicle was actually illegal amphetamines.
Charged with two counts of felony drug possession, Burrell was incarcerated on $250,000 bail while the substance awaited final testing at the state crime lab.
“I told the judge I couldn’t plead guilty to something I knew wasn’t a drug,” Burrell told the Mankato Free Press. “They set my bail at $250,000 for vitamins.”
After spending weeks behind bars, Burrell was quietly released only days before his trial.
“I had been sitting in the jail since November with my bail set at $250,000,” Burrell said. “Then, two days before trial, they dropped the charges and let me go.”
Lab analysis corroborated Burrell’s claims after the powder did in fact turn out to be mere vitamins, not speed, as officers had claimed.
Even more concerning, Burrell stated that police waited more than a month to send the evidence to the crime lab after his arrest.
Similarly, the crime lab also waited one month after testing the substance to return it back to prosecutors.
As deplorable as Burrell’s situation is, many have not fared as favorably.
A multi-year investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab by the Department of Justice uncovered rampant tampering of evidence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow-Based Security Firm Reveals What May be the Biggest NSA “Backdoor Exploit” Ever
Since 2001, a group of hackers — dubbed the “Equation Group” by researchers from Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab — have infected computers in at least 42 countries (with Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Syria most infected) with what Ars Technica calls “superhuman technical feats” indicating “extraordinary skill and unlimited resources.”
The exploits — including the ‘prized technique’ of the creation of a secret storage vault that survives military-grade disk wiping and reformatting — cover every hard-drive manufacturer and have many similar characteristics to the infamous NSA-led Stuxnet virus.
According to Kaspersky, the spies made a technological breakthrough by figuring out how to lodge malicious software in the obscure code called firmware that launches every time a computer is turned on.
Disk drive firmware is viewed by spies and cybersecurity experts as the second-most valuable real estate on a PC for a hacker, second only to the BIOS code invoked automatically as a computer boots up.
“The hardware will be able to infect the computer over and over,” lead Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu said in an interview.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Admin. Says Muslims Join ISIS Because They Lack Job Opportunities — Video
Last night on the Chris Matthews Show, State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf demonstrated the mental disorder afflicting government bureaucrats.
“We’re killing a lot of them and we’re going to keep killing more of them,” Harf said. “So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs… We can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance. We can help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.”
Did the United States build the economy of Libya or destroy it? Is the average Libyan better off now or before 30,000 of them were killed and their country destroyed by NATO warplanes and al-Qaeda mercenaries supported by the U.S.?
Despite the fact Muammar Gaddafi was a dictator, the average Libyan was far better off prior to the invasion designed to install the neoliberal version of democracy. This sort of “democracy” levels a country, destroys its economy, and then moves in to hold fire sales and steal resources.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In the midst of recent horrific acts of terror, from burning the Jordanian pilot to storming the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a Danish café holding a free speech conference and the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen, many opinion leaders scratch their heads over President Obama and his administration’s refusal to couple the words “Islam” with “terrorism.” The result is the label “violent extremism,” awkwardly redundant in large part because what makes its referents “extreme” is precisely their use of violence. Many exasperatingly surmise the administration must be naïve, even delusional, and fails to understand the threat we face. Most then correctly warn that if we cannot accurately name the threat, we stand little chance of effectively dealing with it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Photos: Black Lives Matter Protesters Bully & Harass White Children at Restaurants
The Civil Rights movement in the Age of Obama has descended in to blatant anti-white racism and bullying of children.
On St. Valentine’s Day this past weekend ‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters targeted the “white utopia” of Walnut Creek, California.
This was abuse.
One photograph taken by the protesters shows a white family seated at a breakfast bar with very concerned looks on the faces of the parents. Their young son seated between them has his back turned to the protesters and his head ducked low while his father has a protective arm on the boy.
The photo, tweeted by BlackWomenUnchecked is mockingly captioned, “They mad?”
In another photo posted to Twitter by Sarah O’Neal, a little girl covers her ears with her hands as her table is surrounded by screaming protesters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Physics Teacher Develops Unit About Racism, White Privilege, Social Justice
A high school physics teacher is encouraging other teachers to use a unit he has prepared for his students about institutional racism, privilege, and social justice.
John Burk, a physics and math teacher in Delaware, wrote at his blog that he met physics teacher Moses Rifkin of University Prep in Seattle at a People of Color Conference.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Police: Man Stabs Two After Discussion About Religious Beliefs
A Detroit man stabbed two people at a suburban bus stop after asking his victims whether or not they were Muslim, according to police. Federal authorities are now looking at the case as a potential hate crime, police said on Tuesday.
Both of the victims were standing at the bus stop outside of Detroit with the suspect on Saturday, Southfield Police Chief Eric Hawkins said. Several people there “engaged in conversation” until the suspect, identified by Hawkins as 39-year-old Terrence Lavaron Thomas, “asked some of the folks there if they were Muslims.”
Two of them answered, the chief told The Post on Tuesday: They were not Muslims.
“[Thomas] was not not happy with that answer,” Hawkins said. Shortly after, “without provocation,” Thomas pulled out a 3-inch folding knife “and attacked one of them,” Hawkins said.
Both victims are in their early 50’s. One was stabbed five times in the attack. The other was stabbed in the hand as he tried to stop the attack, Hawkins said. Both were released from the hospital with “non-life threatening injuries.”
Thomas then fled the scene, Hawkins said. Police arrested him “within minutes.” He was carrying two knives — one of which appeared to be the one used in the attack — and some marijuana, according to Hawkins.
Although authorities have not made a statement on the suspect’s motive, Hawkins added that “we do know that he was not happy that [the victims] indicated that they were not Muslims.” Thomas “said that he was a Muslim,” Hawkins said.
Thomas was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder, one count of carrying a dangerous weapon, and one count of possession of a controlled substance — all state charges.
Thomas could face a state charge of ethnic intimidation as well, Hawkins said, but county prosecutors were still determining whether it would be added or not…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
The King of Espionage Malware Revealed: The Equation Group
The Kaspersky Lab left its Moscow headquarters with its wintry grip behind to hold a Security Analyst Summit in sunny Cancun, Mexico. Kaspersky has already made it a torrid conference with disclosures last weekend of an estimated $ 1 billion stolen from 100 banks by a network of hackers. CNN reported what was revealed in the Kaspersky report:
…hackers surreptitiously installed spying software on bank computers, eventually learned how to mimic bank employee workflows and used the knowledge to make transfers into bank accounts they had created for this theft.
Yesterday, at the Summit, they introduced another cyber security bombshell, a super malware, The Crown Creator of Espionage: the Equation Group. Consider it the granddaddy of Zero-days Malware starting earlier than Stuxnet, and its offspring Duqu, and Flame/Gauss . Kaspersky dramatically announced:
The team has seen nearly everything, with attacks becoming increasingly complex as more nation-states got involved and tried to arm themselves with the most advanced tools. However, only now Kaspersky Lab’s experts can confirm they have discovered a threat actor that surpasses anything known in terms of complexity and sophistication of techniques, and that has been active for almost two decades — The Equation Group
Malware in the Group use tools that are very complicated and expensive to develop, in order to infect victims, retrieve data and hide activity in an outstandingly professional way, and utilize classic spying techniques to deliver malicious payloads to the victims.
To infect their victims, the group uses a powerful arsenal of “implants” (Trojans) including the following that have been named by Kaspersky Lab: Equation Laser, EquationDrug, DoubleFantasy, TripleFantasy, Fanny and GrayFish. Without a doubt there will be other “implants” in existence.As the Kaspersky report stated Enterprise Group could be a co-development of state sponsors. Given the connections to Stuxnet, Flame/Duqu Groups, it may be likely that it is a joint project of the US and Israel. For a useful understanding of the development and detection of Malware, read Free eBook: Stopping Zero Day Exploits for Dummies. Also read the fascinating chronicle of discovery of Stuxnet by a researcher at a small Belarus anti-virus firm and by international cyber sleuths from anti-virus firms like Kaspersky and others in , In Countdown to Zero Day by Wired cybersecurity writer Kim Zetter.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
The President’s Conference and Its Message, “Think Again, Turn Away”.
Today starts a three day conference in Foggy Bottom at which President Obama will appear before an audience of representatives from 60 countries dealing with the threat of “violent extremism”. The White House and State Department have made it abundantly clear that they refuse to identify the perpetrators and the victims of the Paris Charlie Hebdo and Kosher Supermarket attacks, this weekend’s attacks in Copenhagen, among them Jews, and the grisly beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya by ISIS. The critics of this no name policy suggest that if you cannot define the threat of radical Islam and its basis, Qur’anic doctrine and Sharia Islamic law, that you can’t develop a strategy for “degrading “and” defeating” the Islamic State.
Given what happened in Egypt’s Sinai and this past weekend in Libya , the area of conflict with IS might be expanded to include North Africa and, obviously, the West, given the attacks in France, Belgium and Denmark, as well as America and Canada. Thus the “violent extremism” conference will focus on warning potential IS recruits of foreign fighters from across the globe to “Think Again, Turn Away.”. That message is being refined by the State Department Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) set up under an executive order issued by President Obama in 2011. Otherwise, the recruits might end up dead either as suicide bombers or at the hands of IS masterminds. The CSCC has a daunting task.Our comment on the President’s “violent extremism” Conference this week in Washington is soft power is trumped by raw Islamic Jihad every time. That is embodied in failure to recognize the Qur’anic doctrine behind the rise of IS. To paraphrase the CSCC motto, “Think Again, Turn Away” from Taqiyya — lying for Allah.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Trust, Action Key in Minnesota’s Fight Against Extremism
WASHINGTON — Andy Luger was on a listening tour in Minnesota’s Somali community last year, hearing a string of complaints that ranged from mistreatment at the airport to a Minneapolis suburb’s rejection of a proposed Islamic prayer center, when something clicked.
A young person stood up and told the state’s newest U.S. attorney that he was tired of telling government leaders about problems; he needed someone to actually solve them.
“That moment … it really crystallized for me,” said Luger, who was sworn into the job about a year ago. “We needed action.”
So Luger sued the north metro city of St. Anthony for denying the proposed Islamic prayer center. He settled the case and now the prayer center is being built. He also got U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials from Chicago to fly out to Minneapolis to hear directly from the Somali community about racial profiling at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, including from an imam who was double-screened every time he flew.
He encouraged the recruitment of youth workers in several Minneapolis Public Schools with large African populations and growing behavioral problems. Suspensions dropped by nearly half. To combat high unemployment in one Somali neighborhood, Luger lobbied the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs to hold a local job fair for their dozens of openings.
The White House is interested in these efforts. On Wednesday, Luger will present his work, along with community, religious and school leaders from Minnesota, at a Washington summit on countering violent extremism.
[Question for Mr. Luger: While you were listening so intently to the Somali Muslim community, did you happen to hear anything about the New Year’s Day explosion above a halal grocery store on Cedar Avenue last year? The one in which the ruined building was demolished and all the evidence hauled away before forensic investigators could get to it? As the top federal prosecutor in this area, did you even ask about this prima facie evidence of “violent extremism” here? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Cops Turn Off Camera Before Beating Man
A dashcam video clip at the center of a lawsuit shows St. Louis police abruptly turning off the camera before they continue to assault an 18-year-old man, with one officer heard to announce, “Hold up, everybody, hold up. We’re red right now, so if you guys are worried about cameras, just wait.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Graduation Ceremony Cancelled Over “Radical” Speakers
By Robert Spencer
“Shahin has garnered headlines for declarations that Muslims need to place priority on sharia law over western law.” But that is standard teaching. What Muslim would be willing to say honestly that western law should have priority over Sharia?
Omar Shahin was one of the notorious “flying imams” who tried to strongarm US Airways a few years back with false claims that they were targeted for harassment because they were Muslims.
“Muslim school graduation ceremony cancelled over radical speakers,” QMI Agency, February 14, 2015:…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Ami Horowitz: What Do French Muslims Really Think About the Charlie Hebdo Attack?
The narrative sold to us by much of the global media is that French Muslims overwhelmingly condemned and were abhorred by the Charlie Hebdo and Kosher market killings in Paris. It is a wonderful kumbaya idea that I was hoping would turn out to be true. Just to be sure, I went to Marseilles, which has the distinction of having the largest Muslim population in France.
I visited different areas of the city from the posh Vieux-Port to the dangerous drug infested project of Air Bel, where I spoke to a diverse group of Muslims. One part of the storyline that the media has been peddling is true, the majority of French Muslims have a singular viewpoint on the slaughter in Paris. Although it’s not what you think.
The following video is what I discovered when I hit the street…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Anger of Suspect in Danish Killings is Seen as Only Loosely Tied to Islam
COPENHAGEN — When Aydin Soei, a sociologist in Denmark, met members of an inner-city gang in 2008, one teenage tough stood out as more intelligent than his peers, and more mercurial. He showed little interest in Islam, but a deep loathing for Denmark, the country where he was born and spent his entire life.
On Sunday, that former gang member, Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein, died in a gun battle with Danish police officers just a few hundred yards from his boyhood home in Norrebro, an immigrant area of the Danish capital. It was the final, bloody episode of a short and angry life that included street crime and macho violence and ended with a 15-hour explosion of militancy on the streets of Copenhagen.
Thousands of Danes bearing lighted torches and flags braved icy wind to gather for a mass memorial Monday evening in the Copenhagen neighborhood where the gunman sprayed a cafe with bullets Saturday afternoon. The cafe, whose name translates as “the powder keg,” was hosting a discussion about free speech at the time of the attack.
As the authorities across Europe try to figure out how radical Islam turns a tiny but dangerous minority of young Muslims into terrorists, Mr. Soei, the sociologist, said that Mr. Hussein, 22, was an exemplar of a phenomenon of Europe’s urban neighborhoods, not a product of the teachings of the Quran or their distortions by militant preachers.
“This wasn’t an intellectual Islamist with a long beard,” Mr. Soei said. “This was a loser man from the ghetto who is very, very angry at Danish society.”
[“Only loosely tied to Islam,” eh? Let’s see: he attacked a meeting at which a prime al-Qaida target was present, and mourners at his home cried “Allahu akbar” praised him, “as a Muslim,” as a man with a “heart of gold.” The NYT is doing its usual exculpation of Islam number here. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
British Man ‘Bought Ricin That Was Delivered in Toy Car But Was Caught in Online Sting by FBI’
Mohammed Ammer Ali, 31, of Liverpool, pictured arriving at court todayis accused of trying to buy £325 of the poison from a website in the United States using internet currency Bitcoins.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Copenhagen Shooter’s ‘Drunken’ Antics Fooled Police Outside Synagogue
The 22-year-old attacker responsible for the Copenhagen shootings over the weekend was able to fool policemen on Krystalgade near the synagogue by pretending to be drunk, reports Politiken.
Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein stumbled and weaved towards the synagogue, enabling him to get close to Dan Uzan, the man standing guard at the synagogue, and two policemen. He then pulled out his gun, killing Uzan and wounding the two officers.
[As Muhammad himself said, according to a hadith, “War is deceit.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: 30,000 Take Part in Copenhagen Memorial Service
Over 30,000 people flooded the streets of Østerbro, Copenhagen last night in commemoration of the two fallen victims from this weekend’s terror attack. Huddled together in freezing temperatures at Gunnar Nu Hansens Plads, people gathered with flowers and candles to pay their respects and listen to the speeches of the evening.
The prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, was first to speak, inviting the public to join her in a minute’s silence for the two victims, Finn Nørgaard and Dan Uzan.
The chairman of the Police Federation and the president of the Jewish Association also spoke, thanking Denmark for the overwhelming support they had received in the days following the attack.
In all of the speeches, one message was remarkably clear: ‘Denmark must stand firm on its democratic values. We must not let this act of terrorism affect us.’
“We have now experienced the fear that terrorism seeks to spread,” said Thorning-Schmidt, who called for national unity. “We must remain resolute at upholding our values and protecting our freedom.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Lego Builds Its Way to ‘Most Powerful’ Title
It is a banner time for plastic bricks. Lego is already the world’s largest toy company and now it has laid claim to the title of the world’s most powerful brand.
Lego bricks have been a go-to toy for kids worldwide for more than six decades, but the Danish company has never been in a better position than it is today.
Having recently overtaken Mattel as the world’s biggest toy company by sales, the Billund-based Lego has now also surpassed Ferrari as the world’s most powerful brand, according to the Global 500 study from Brand Finance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: From Petty Criminal to Cold-Blooded Killer
The presumed gunman in the terror attacks that shocked Denmark was vocally anti-Semitic and had expressed a desire to travel to Syria to wage jihad.
Omar El-Hussein, the Dane of Palestinian origin named in the media as the perpetrator of two deadly shootings in Copenhagen at the weekend, had several brushes with the law before attacking a cultural centre and a synagogue.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French and German Leaders Urge Jews to Stay in Europe
French and German leaders have urged Jews to stay in their countries, following a call by Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to emigrate to Israel.
“France is wounded with you and France does not want you to leave. … The place for French Jews is France”, said French prime minister Manuel Valls.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece to Review Airports Privatization Deal
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, FEBRUARY 16 — Greece is planning to review a 1.2 billion euro deal for German airport operator Fraport to run 14 regional airports, GreekReporter website writes quoting State Minister Alekos Flabouraris as saying. The deal was part of the previous government’s privatization program. Fraport along with the Copelouzos Greek energy group would run regional airports in popular tourist destinations like Rhodes and Crete.
“The deal has not been sealed. We said it will be halted and we will review it,” Flabouraris said on Mega television. “For us, airports are not a package to be sold, like the others did.
Some of them can be run by the municipality, others by private individuals, we’ll see,” he added. The state minister also said that the new government will review privatization contracts that have been already signed. Fraport expected to close its agreement with the previous government in October.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A 56-year-old doctor pretended to be paraplegic for three years after staging an accident in his hospital so he could secure a 1.2million euro (£888,441) payout.
Italian anaesthetist Danaje Ahmid Raza, 56, originally from Iran, faked falling down the stairs in 2012 and claimed the accident forced him into a wheelchair.
But suspicions were aroused when he was seen driving, renovating his villa, pushing a supermarket trolley and going to the bar with friends, Il Messaggero reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Terna Opts Out of Energy Transport Deal in Greece
Due to Tsipras blocking privatization
(ANSA) — MILAN — The Italian energy transport leader, Terna, gave up on its project to enter the local market in Greece due to the decision of the Tsipras government to block the process of privatizations, the company’s managing director Matteo Del Fante said on the sidelines of a conference held at the Bocconi University in Milan. Del Fante added that the Group remains “very active in an important project in the railway sector”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muhammad’s murderous behaviors towards Jews, as well as “blasphemers,” validate Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein’s lethal attacks in Copenhagen this past weekend. Abu Bilal Ismail, imam at Aarhus’s Grimhøj mosque, and Mohammed al-Khaled Samha, an imam at a mosque run by the Islamic Society in Denmark (Islamisk Trossamfund) in Vollsmose, foment jihadism and Islamic Jew-hatred within the local Danish Muslim environment. It is critical to understand that the core anti-Semitic motifs imams Ismail and Samha have been promoting all derive from Islam’s canonical texts, especially the Koran. Moreover, these same themes were expounded—and acted upon—by Muhammad, validating their eternal, sacralized relevance.
[…]Muhammad’s lethal intolerance of blasphemers and Jews—as imbued in his followers since the advent of Islam—was manifest on the streets of Copenhagen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Charlie Hebdo Cartoons Banned at Dutch Train Stations: Too Dangerous
By Nicolai Sennels
Banning the ridiculing or painting of Muhammad is pure sharia.
Translated by Thomas from Telegraaf:
“When three political youth organizations wanted to organize a public show of support for the murdered cartoonists of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, this was refused by the companies operating the advertising pillars on train and underground stations in the Netherlands.
The youth organizations of the Liberal, Labor and Greens political parties wanted to put up posters on train and underground stations with the text “Freedom will always prevail” and one of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons showing the Prophet Muhammad. The two companies operating the advertising pillars (Ngage Media and CS Digital Media) refused to publish this campaign.
[…]
“The political youth organizations are upset about the refusal of the two commercial operators: ‘We wanted to make a bold statement, but both companies were too scared to put up the posters with the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. This proves that the terrorists who plotted the attacks in Paris have reached their goal: to spread fear and self-censorship.’ “
[Muhammad: “I have been made victorious through terror.” (Sahih Bukhari, 4.52.220) — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Progress Grandee Warns of ‘Creeping Islamization’
The influential former leader of Norway’s ruling Progress Party used a visit to Copenhagen’s show of unity on Monday night to call on Norwegians to “wake up to the creeping Islamization” of their country.
Carl Hagen, who led the populist anti-immigration party for nearly three decades and still represents the party on Oslo city council, posted his message on Facebook after joining a 30,000 strong crowd commemorating the two men killed in Copenhagen’s twin terror attacks, and demonstrating support for§ Danish values of democracy and diversity.
“Great ceremony from Denmark after the Islamist murders,” he wrote. “Where were you all when (Anti-Islamist leader) Max Hermansen in Oslo had to report sick because he was threatened by Muslim students…?”
“Must Max Hermansen be killed before the population wakes up to creeping Islamization and the increasing compliance with pressure from various Islamic pressure groups in schools, colleges, universities and jobs?”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Parthenon Marbles: Greece to Change Strategy on Repatriation
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, FEBRUARY 16 — The new Greek government is considering a different strategy for claiming the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum and will likely stop cooperating with Amal Alamuddin-Clooney and her law firm. The new Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs Aristides Baltas — as GreekReporter website writes — told foreign reporters that Greece is seeking a new strategy to bring back the sculptures. He was quoted as saying, “Our campaign will continue, but the strategy and how we go about that may be tweaked, if required. We’ll be looking over these details in the coming weeks and if we see a need to alter them, we will.” Deputy Culture Minister Nikos Xydakis told the press that the marbles issue has gained good publicity after the involvement of Mrs. Clooney, who is a lawyer for London’s Doughty Street Chambers law firm. According to the press, the new leftist government of Greece wants to cancel Greece’s contract with Amal Alamuddin-Clooney and the firm for financial reasons. However, former Culture Minister Constantinos Tasoulas told the press that there is no signed contract between the previous Greek government and the law firm.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Re-Enacting Muhammad in Copenhagen
by Andrew Bostom
Shouting the jihadist battle cry declared by Islam’s prophet Muhammad himself, “Allahu-akbar,” “Allah is greater,” on Saturday, February 14, 2015, a Muslim gunman opened fire on participants at a Copenhagen, Denmark conference on freedom of expression, killing 1, and wounding 3 others.
The conference entitled, “Art, blasphemy, and freedom of speech,” featured Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who aptly refers to himself as an “equal opportunity offender” when it comes to insulting depictions of iconic religious figures. Whether portraying Jesus as a pedophile, or Muhammad as a roundabout canine, Vilks has argued that, “You cannot make an exception. Islam is not more holy than the other ones (religions).” Yet with sad predictability, only the votaries of Islam have reacted with ceaseless threats—and now additional murderous acts—of violence.
Repeating the pattern of what transpired in the Paris, January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo killings of cartoonists who dared to lampoon Islam’s prophet, followed by a murderous attack on a Parisian kosher market, the Copenhagen jihadist—identified as Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein, whom the Danish intelligence service “knew in advance”—subsequently attacked the city’s Great Synagogue in Krystalgade. El-Hussein, who may have been assisted by at least two surviving suspects, is alleged to have undergone an “abrupt transition” from street crime to Islamic jihadism. He murdered a Jewish community member on security duty during a bat mitzvah celebration, and wounded two police officers, before being shot to death near the Nørrebro train station by Danish police.
This latest paroxysm of lethal jihadist violence against Western free speech—and Jews—began exactly 26-years to the day after Ayatollah Khomeini issued his February 14, 1989 fatwa (i.e., authoritative Islamic religious ruling) condemning to death Salman Rushdie, as well as his publishers, for producing the “blasphemous” novel, The Satanic Verses. Khomeini intoned,…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
(CNN) Whether you believe that religious violence is fueled by faith or is a symptom of larger factors — political instability, poverty, cultural chaos — one thing seems clear: Last week was hellish for religion.
Across several continents, including North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, scores of religious believers suffered and died in brutal attacks over the past seven days.
The causes of violence are complex, and reducing them to talking points only adds to the problem, scholars say. But if you want to rally troops to your side, few tools are more powerful than religion, said Michael Jerryson, co-editor of “The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence.”
[…]
Experts in religious violence say it’s too soon to tell whether last week witnessed more terrorist attacks than usual. It often takes several months, if not longer, to tally all of the assaults in a given period of time.
Even so, the brazenness of the attacks — a gunman shooting up a cafe and a synagogue in a European capital, ISIS decapitating 21 Christians — makes the past seven days stand out as particularly brutal.
Here are just some of the assaults carried out since last Monday.
[Whereupon the reporter proceeds to list ten of them, of which ONE — the shooting of three Muslims in North Carolina by a drool case who’d expressed sympathy for Muslims on his Facebook page — WASN’T at the hands of Muslims. The MSM are getting almost comical in their efforts to avoid inculpating Islam. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Police Arrest Four ISIS Fund-Raisers
Swedish police detained four people Tuesday on suspicion of having used six companies to help fund the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, the Dagens Nyheter daily reported.
Police said a “large raid” took place in Stockholm as part of a probe into money laundering and undeclared work but declined to comment further.
Sources close to the investigation told Dagens Nyheter the suspects had ties to Syria and ISIS.
The paper said Tuesday’s arrests targeted three men and a woman aged between 31 and 50.
Swedish government agencies estimate that up to 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.19 million, 1.05 million euros) are sent to violent extremist groups every year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Alan Turing’s team of wartime code breakers at Bletchley Park cracked the Nazi Enigma machine, the greatest encryption device of its time. But their triumph was built on the pioneering work of Polish mathematicians, and a bit of espionage.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A top judge has accused a local council of ‘social engineering’ after it took a baby away from his father over claims that he held ‘immoral’ beliefs.
The toddler was placed in foster care at birth when Darlington Borough Council raised concerns over his father’s ties to the English Defence League and a sex caution he received as a teenager.
Social services staff said they revealed the man, who is now in his 20s, to be ‘immoral’ and should therefore not be given custody of his child.
Sir James Munby, the most senior family court judge in England and Wales, today criticised the council, saying it should not see itself as ‘guardians of morality’.
In a written ruling, he stated the father could be ‘immature’ and ‘irresponsible’ but said there was a risk of ‘social engineering’ if the toddler was to be permanently removed from his care.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MI5 Accused of Covering Up Sexual Abuse at Boys’ Home
MI5 is facing allegations it was complicit in the sexual abuse of children, the high court in Northern Ireland will hear on Tuesday.
Victims of the abuse are taking legal action to force a full independent inquiry with the power to compel witnesses to testify and the security service to hand over documents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
West Funds the Terrorists to Take Your Liberties
Alex breaks down radical Islam’s war on free speech in light of two shootings in Copenhagen, Denmark, one at a free speech debate and the other at a synagogue, and how the West, who has been importing jihadists, will undoubtedly call for increased surveillance and suppression of the First Amendment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: 7 Years Independence, More Shadows Than Light
(ANSAmed) — PRISTINA, FEBRUARY 16 — Kosovo is celebrating on Tuesday the seventh anniversary of the proclamation of its independence from Serbia in a situation that is still critical from a political and economic standpoint, and with corruption and crime rates still high.
Poverty is widespread and unemployment is around 40%, inducing tens of thousands of ethnic Albanian Kosovans to leave the country to look for a better life, seeking asylum in vain in several northern European countries, primarily in Germany, Austria, Sweden and France.
This mass exodus has also raised concern in Serbia, a country crossed by Kosovans to reach Hungary and other EU countries.
Belgrade, which has never recognized Pristina’s independence, has urged EU intervention, claiming that neither Serbia nor Hungary are the final destination of Kosovan migrants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: 120 Graduate From First EU Farming Course
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 17 — One hundred and twenty Lebanese and Syrian students have graduated from the first farming course across seven districts of Lebanon, funded by the European Union with 700,000 euros and organized by the Avsi Foundation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The disputed fate of the 21 Coptic Christians abducted in Sirte, Libya is now clear and visible for all to see on video: while holding them down, Islamic State members shove their fingers in the Christians’ eyes, crane their heads back, and slice away at their throats with knives—all in the name of Allah and Islam, all as the slaughtered call out on the “Lord Jesus Christ.”
Earlier, the BBC had falsely reported that 13 of these now slaughtered Copts were “released.” (Such downplaying of Muslim persecution of Christians is, of course, standard for the BBC.)
In the video, the lead executioner waves his dagger at the camera while boasting of the Islamic State’s savagery: “Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of as-Sham and Dabiq’s plain [Syrian regions], chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time. And today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message.”
[I have seen this video. It is utterly fiendish. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt to Table Arab Anti-Terrorism Force at March Summit
Anti-ISIS coalition to meet in Riyadh on Wednesday
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 17 — Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aty said Tuesday that Egypt would be willing to lead an Arab military alliance to fight terrorism in the region, report local media. Abdel-Aty noted that the proposal would be discussed at the Arab summit in late March in the Egyptian capital. The armed forces chiefs of the anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition will be meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in Riyadh to discuss operations.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Al-Azhrar Bans Coptic Christians’ Beheading Video
Religious institutions says clip can boost Islamophobia
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 17 — Cairo’s al-Azhar University, one of the main centers of Sunni Muslim learning, has issued a decree stating that Muslims must not watch nor publicize a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians carried out by ISIS in Libya.
The institution, Egyptian media reported on Tuesday, called on the media not to publish “crimes by terrorists” to avoid the “evil objective” of influencing the morals of Muslims, justifying the propagation of Islamophobia and defaming Islam worldwide.(
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
El-Sissi Asks for UN Mandate Against Libya is
The president of Egypt has called on the UN to authorize an international coalition to fight “Islamic State” in Libya. El-Sissi said the coalition that fought Moammar Gadhafi.had “abandoned the Libyan people.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Warns Italy Not to Embark on Libyan ‘Crusade’
Bardawil tells Rome not to use fight on terror as ‘excuse’
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 17 — A senior member of Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, Salah Bardawil, on Tuesday warned Italy not to embark on a military intervention in Libya, saying this would be considered “a new Crusade against Arab countries and Muslims”. Last week Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that Italy was ready to participate in a United Nations-mandated operation in Libya, amid concerns about advances made by jihadists linking themselves to the ISIS Islamist group. But on Monday Premier Matteo Renzi ruled out an Italian operation in Libya for the time being and called for calm after the beheading of a group of Egyptian Copts in Libya on Sunday and threats that ISIS was now “south of Rome”.
In response to the tensions, Italy closed its embassy in Libya and brought back about 60 Italians early Monday.
Bardawil was quoted by the Palinfo agency as warned “some countries, such as Italy” against using the “excuse of fighting terrorism” to meddle in Libya.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The video appears to show a fleet of Toyota Land Cruisers carrying the notorious black flag of Islamic State as they drive in perfect unison through the streets of Libya.
Men, women and children cheer and salute the pick-up trucks as they drive freely through what is believed to be the city of Benghazi.
The carefully produced propaganda video was uploaded by terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia on February 5.
The group declared city an ‘Islamic emirate’ in July 2014 before pledging allegiance to Islamic State just three months later. In November of that year, the UN blacklisted it as a terrorist organisation.
The group was widely blamed for the death of US Ambassador Christopher Stephens in Benghazi in 2012. And only this week, it was linked to the bloody executions of 21 Egyptian Christians on a beach in Libya.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ISIS Will Threaten Egypt if Libya Falls, Says Professor
(AGI) Rome, Feb 16 — Egypt will be the next country to be threatened by jihad if Libya collapses, said Raffaele Marchetti, professor of International Law at Luiss University in Rome. He told AGI that only an international coalition including Arab countries and Islamic movements could solve the Libyan crisis and curb the rise of ISIS in North Africa. Islamic militia were “supported financially and militarily from the outside, from ISIS, and from countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“Riyadh seems to be working on two sides. It would be important to have Saudi Arabia in the front line against extremism. [That is] A move that could change the rules of the game.” The worst mistake in the past few years was “being obstinate in supporting authoritarian non-religious regimes, excluding Islamist movements” as in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood, and with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, said professor Marchetti. “The political choices across the Arab world have not been too farsighted, and it could be difficult to call in the Muslim Brotherhood, considered as outlaws in Egypt, to join the international coalition in Libya. On the Libyan scenario, there is a game regarding the hegemony of the Sunni Arab world, and the fight against ISIS is a political challenge.” He said he was sceptical about whether military action could be a solution in Libya. A political solution was needed and would take a long time to achieve.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Bolster Libyan Military Presence, Says Specialist
(AGI) Rome, Feb 16 — Italy intends to bolster its military presence in southern Libya, amid fears that Islamic State (IS) militants in the country may launch airstrikes against Italy, the research head of the IAI Institute of National Affairs Security & Defence Programme, Alessandro Marrone, told AGI on Monday. He said there were 1,500 armed groups in Libya with sizeable weapons arsenals, far more of them than those held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. There was a risk that the missiles would be aimed at Italy, but whether they would be able to get as far as Sicily and dodge the anti-missile defence system remained to be seen. Italy observed NATO defence standards, with integrated radar stations and interceptors, but the armed forces had been hit by defence cuts for many years. There was no chance of acquiring equipment from one day to the next in the case of a crisis such as this. Should Italy decide on military intervention, it was unlikely that significant results could be achieved with airstrikes alone, as in 2011. The only solution would be a ground operation, which could cause more Italian casualties than in Afghanistan, and within a shorter time, if things went wrong. All missions had to be preceded by an agreement with regional stakeholders and political and diplomatic preparation was needed in order for them to succeed, Mr Marrone added. Libya had become a safe haven for terrorists, there was no control over the country and arms, drugs and migrants were circulating freely.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Vatican’s Parolin Urges Action Soon Under UN on Libya
Secretary of State speaks after meetings on Lateran Pacts
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Tuesday that action was needed on the crisis in Libya but only through the United Nations.
“Something must be done soon, but under the UN umbrella,” said Parolin. He spoke after meetings with Premier Matteo Renzi on the anniversary of the Lateran Pacts of 1929.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Sisi Urges UN Mandate for International Intervention
Hamas warns Italy not to embark on Libyan ‘Crusade’
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi has called on the UN Security Council “to adopt a resolution” for “international intervention in Libya”, the website of Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram reported exclusively on Tuesday.
Ongoing air raids on Libya “are part of Egypt’s right to self-defense to protect our children”, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shouky told broadcaster Al Arabiya.
The minister said that after the video in which ISIS on Sunday showed the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians, “a strong and accurate reaction was necessary”, according to the network’s website.
Seven other raids with “dozens of victims” were carried out by the Egyptian air force against ISIS “strongholds” in the eastern Libyan city of Derna last night, Egyptian media reported on Tuesday, citing official Libyan sources.
An unspecified number of injuries were also reported following air raids carried out “by Egyptian and Libyan jets”, said Libyan air force commander, Saqer al-Joroushi.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi huddled with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano and Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti at his office to discuss the situation in Libya on Tuesday. During the meeting, Italy’s commitment to a strong diplomatic campaign to get the United Nations to take action was reiterated.
A senior member of Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, Salah Bardawil, on Tuesday warned Italy not to embark on a military intervention in Libya, saying this would be considered “a new Crusade against Arab countries and Muslims”.
Last week Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that Italy was ready to participate in a United Nations-mandated operation in Libya, amid concerns about advances made by jihadists linking themselves to the ISIS Islamist group. But on Monday Premier Matteo Renzi ruled out an Italian operation in Libya for the time being and called for calm after the beheading of a group of Egyptian Copts in Libya on Sunday and threats that ISIS was now “south of Rome”. In response to the tensions, Italy closed its embassy in Libya and brought back about 60 Italians early Monday. Bardawil was quoted by the Palinfo agency as warned “some countries, such as Italy” against using the “excuse of fighting terrorism” to meddle in Libya.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Shura in Derna Vows ‘Harsh Response’ To Egyptian Raids
City-ISIS caliphate assures Egyptians safe
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 17 — The shura council of mujahidin in Derna has promised a “harsh response” to Egyptian air raids, Egyptian and Libyan media reported on Tuesday, citing a statement by the organization. The shura council claimed that the raids killed women and children, backing reports denied on Monday by official sources from the army controlled by the internationally-recognized government in Tobruk.
The council has threatened the “criminal” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi but has promised it will ensure that Egyptians living in Derna stay safe.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi Meets Ministers on Libya, Calls for UN Action
Hamas warns Rome against embarking on ‘Crusade’
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — Premier Matteo Renzi huddled with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano and Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti at his office in Rome to discuss the situation in Libya on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Italy’s commitment to a strong diplomatic campaign at the United Nations level was reiterated. On Tuesday Renzi ruled out for the time being the possibility of Italy conducting a military intervention in Libya to head off the threat posed by jihadists linked to ISIS on the other side of the Mediterranean.
“It’s not the time for a military intervention,” Renzi told Mediaset television Monday. “We’ve been saying at every level that Libya is out of control for three years and we’ll keep doing so,” Renzi added.
“The international community has all the necessary instruments to intervene if it wants to. Our proposal is to wait for the UN Security Council. “The strength of the UN is decidedly superior to that of the radical militias”.
Last week Gentiloni had said that Italy might participate in a United Nations-mandated operation in Libya. But on Monday Renzi called for calm after the beheading of a group of Egyptian Copts in Libya on Sunday and threats that ISIS was now “south of Rome”. In response to the tensions, Italy closed its embassy in Libya and brought back about 60 Italians early Monday. On Tuesday a senior member of Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, Salah Bardawil, warned Italy not to embark on a military intervention in Libya, saying this would be considered “a new Crusade against Arab countries and Muslims”. Bardawil was quoted by the Palinfo agency as warning “some countries, such as Italy” against using the “excuse of fighting terrorism” to meddle in Libya.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
By Robert Spencer
Maybe Pope Francis said something about the people who actually did kill these Christians, and why they did it, in some other part of his homily that isn’t reported here, but I couldn’t find any such reference in any news account. The jihad murderers who murdered these Christians declared: “And we will conquer Rome by Allah’s permission, the promise of our prophet, peace be upon him.”
In response, the Pope decries the evil in the heart of man, which is unarguably the root cause of all this, and apparently says nothing about Islamic jihadists or the doctrines of jihad that gave rise to these murders, but instead excoriates…arms traffickers. So apparently if we just had more control on the sale of weaponry, there would be no jihad — since after all, as the Pope has explained, “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.” A little gun control, and all will be well.
[Be it noted that the jihad commander Umar imposed weapons control on the Christians he conquered, in the infamous “Pact of Umar”: We shall not mount on saddles, nor shall we gird swords nor bear any kind of arms nor carry them on our- persons. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Pope Celebrates Mass for the 21 Copts Killed in Libya, “For Sole Reason of Being Christian”
We are all “capable of doing good, but also of destruction”. “In arms trafficking … ‘But, we are businessmen!’ Yes, but of what? Of death? And there are countries that sell weapons, are at war with one side but also selling weapons to them, so that the war continues. A capacity for destruction”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) — “We offer this Mass for our 21 Coptic brothers, whose throats were slit for the sole reason of being Christian”. This is how Pope Francis began his homily at Mass this morning at Casa Santa Marta.
“Let us pray — he continued — for them; that the Lord welcome them as martyrs, for their families, for my brother Tawadros, who is suffering greatly.” A thought, the latter, which already yesterday afternoon had pushed Francis to call the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Tawadros II, to express its deep sympathy for the pain of the Coptic Church for this barbaric murder.
Continuing his reflection, the Pope returned to condemn the arms trade, “of death”. Francis was inspired by the biblical passage on the Great Flood to say that “man is capable of destroying all that God has done.” The Pope noted with regret that man, “seems to be more powerful than God”, because he is capable of destroying the good things that God has made.
Pope Francis pointed out that in the first chapters of the Bible we find many examples — Sodom and Gomorrah, the Tower of Babel — in which man reveals his wickedness. “An evil that lurks in the depths of the heart”.
The Pope noted some people would urge him not to be so negative, but — he continued — “this is the truth. We are also capable of destroying fraternity: Cain and Abel in the first pages of the Bible. They destroy fraternity. This is where wars begin. Jealousy, envy, so much greed for power, to have more power. Yes, this sounds negative, but it is realistic. You only have to pick up a newspaper, any newspaper — left-wing, center, right-ring … whatever. And you will see that more than 90% of the news is news of destruction. More than 90%. We see this every day”.
Pope Francis then asked the question: “What is happening in man’s heart?”. He said Jesus reminds us that “from within, out of the heart of man, comes evil.” Our “weak heart is wounded”. He observed that man always “desires autonomy”: “I do what I want and if I want to do something, I will! So, if I want to make war, I will!
“Why are we like this? Because we are capable of destruction, that’s the problem. There are wars, arms trafficking … ‘But, we are businessmen!’ Yes, but of what? Of death? And there are countries that sell weapons, are at war with one side but also selling weapons to them, so that the war continues. A capacity for destruction. It’s not coming from our neighbors: it’s coming from us! ‘Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually’. Everyone has this seed within, this possibility, but we also have the Holy Spirit who saves us! We must choose, in the little things”.
Pope Francis went on to warn against using gossip or slander against our neighbor: “Even in parishes and associations”, “jealousy” and “envy” can push people to go to their pastor to speak ill of others. He warned: “This is evil and we all have this ability to destroy”. As Lent begins, the Church “invites us to reflect on this”. Pointing to today’s Gospel where Jesus rebukes the disciples who are arguing among themselves about having forgotten to bring bread. The Lord tells them to “watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod”. He gives the example of two people: Herod who “is bad, a murderer, and the Pharisees who are hypocrites.” In doing so, Jesus reminds them of when he broke the five loaves and urges them to think of the Salvation, of what God has done for all of us. Pope Francis went on to note that “they did not understand, because their hearts were hardened by this passion, by this evil need to argue among each other and see who was guilty of having forgotten the bread”.
Pope Francis said we have to take the Lord’s message “seriously”. “There is nothing strange in this, these are not the words of a Martian”, “man is able to do so much good”, he continued citing the example of Mother Teresa, “a woman of our time”. All of us, he said, “are capable of doing good, but we are also all capable of destruction; destruction great and small and even within our own family. [We are capable of destroying] our children”, not allowing them to grow “in freedom, not helping them to mature; cancelling out our children”. We are capable of this and this means that we need to constantly “meditate, pray, discuss things with each other, so as not to fall into this evil that destroys everything”:
“And we have the strength, Jesus reminds us. Remember. He says to us today: ‘Remember. Remember Me, I shed my blood for you; remember Me, I have saved you, I have saved you all; Remember Me, I have the strength to accompany you on the journey of life, not on the path of evil, but on the path of goodness, of doing good to others; not the path of destruction, but the path that builds: builds a family, builds a city, builds a culture, builds a home and much, much more”.
The Pope concluded: “We ask the Lord, today, before the beginning of Lent for this grace: to always choose the right path with his help and not be misled by temptations down the wrong path.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
White House Avoids Mentioning That 21 Beheaded Christians Were Christians
On the eve of a White House summit on “countering violent extremism” that has already drawn complaints from some Muslim groups, the administration in its response to the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts has not mentioned the religious affiliation of either the killers or victims.
Absent from a 192-word statement from White House press secretary Josh Earnest condemning the brutal killings were the words “Christian,” “Coptic,” “Islam” or “Muslim.”
There was a single reference to “faith” — “ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds. It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity.”
“ISIL” is one of several acronyms for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also called simply “Islamic State” or “Da’esh,” an Arabic acronym. Earnest’s statement did not spell out the group’s full name — thus sidestepping the word “Islamic” altogether — calling it merely “ISIL.”
In a gruesome video posted online the jihadist group claimed responsibility for the mass beheadings of Christians abducted in Libya.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Gives 212 Mln to Palestine, First Installment in 2015
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 17 — The European Union has allocated the first part of financial aid to the Palestinian Authority in 2015 and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) for a total of 212 million euros.
The new aid will be used to provide basic services to the Palestinian population, like education healthcare and social services. The aid is funded as part of European neighborhood policies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: ‘Save the Last Bullet for Yourself’ In Islamic State Fight, SAS Soldiers Warned
SAS soldiers fighting ruthless jihadis in Iraq have been warned not to be captured alive, the Daily Star Sunday can reveal.
The elite troops have been ordered to “fight to the last man” rather than face being taken prisoner by the Islamic State militants.
The soldiers have also been told “save the last bullet for yourselves” if they are “surrounded and without hope of being rescued”.
The orders follow the murder of a Jordanian jet pilot who was burned to death after his plane was shot down.
SAS commanders have told their troops it would be virtually impossible to rescue them because the militants move prisoners daily.
Their capture would be a major prize for the jihadis, who would inflict weeks of torture before executing them.
One source said last night: “The SAS have been told that if they are captured they can expect to be tortured before being beheaded, disembowelled or burned alive. They know there is virtually no chance of being rescued.”
[…]
Sources told the Daily Star Sunday that SAS troops have almost been captured on two occasions but managed to escape with the help of a US Reaper drone which halted a jihadi attack.
[Did even the Nazis and Japs prompt such a warning during Big Two? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Launches Major Assault on Kurdish Front in Iraq
Irbil, Iraq (CNN)ISIS fighters launched a major assault Tuesday night southwest of Irbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq, Kurdish officials said.
A “big attack” is taking place near the towns of Gwer and Makhmour, one Kurdish source told CNN, citing an assistant to Gen. Sirwan Barzani, commander of the sector. The towns are some 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Irbil, the Kurdish capital.
[…]
A CNN team was in the area 10 days ago and was told by fighters at the front that ISIS was making almost daily attempts to infiltrate through Kurdish lines, which are strung out along a stretch of the River Zab.
Fortifications are few and far between. Volunteer fighters have very little in the way of weaponry.
[Hey, Barry Hussein — is the tide of war still receding, as you told us repeatedly in 2012? Barry? Barry? Hello? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Near US trainers’ base
(ANSA) — Baghdad, February 17 — Islamic State (ISIS) militants on Tuesday captured and killed 27 Iraqi police near a US military base in western Iraq.
ISIS abducted the police during an offensive at the Al Anbar province town of Baghdadi, 200 km west of Baghdad.
The US base houses more than 300 American training staff.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Rules for Women Now Include Double Veil, ‘Guardian’
The Guardian interviews residents of Mosul and Raqqa
(ANSAmed) — LONDON, FEBRUARY 17 — The Islamic State (ISIS) is now imposing a harsher dress code on women in its territory, as well as requiring them to travel only in the company of a male ‘guardian’. The Guardian reported the news after interviewing a number of residents of the cities over the phone and on Skype for an article published Tuesday. Major cities under its control include the Syrian cities of Raqqa and Deir Az-Zor and the Iraqi city Mosul.
Female inhabitants are required to wear double-layered veils and gloves to prevent any part of their body from being sen in public. Women must also always be accompanied by a ‘mahram’ ( a male guardian) every time they leave their homes. If they violate any of these rules they will be humiliated, arrested, fined and beaten by the ‘Hisbah’, ISIS’s religious police. The Guardian reported that a Raqqa resident named Sama Maher, 20, had been detained several times by the Hisbah and that she “had to quit my university studies in Aleppo because I’m not allowed to cross the checkpoints without a mahram and leave the city by myself like before” due not the lack of a male family member able to accompany her. In recent days, ISIS published a “manifesto” stating that girls could be married from the age of nine, and that women should only leave the house in exceptional circumstances.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Militants ‘Burn to Death 45 in Iraq’
Jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) have burned to death 45 people in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, the local police chief says.
Exactly who these people were and why they were killed is not clear, but Col Qasim al-Obeidi said he believed some were members of the security forces.
IS fighters captured much of the town, near Ain al-Asad air base, last week.
Col Obeidi said a compound that houses the families of security personnel and local officials was now under attack.
He pleaded for help from the government and the international community.
The fighting and poor communications in the area make it difficult to confirm such reports.
Earlier this month, IS published a video showing militants burning alive a Jordanian air force pilot, whose plane crashed in Syria in December.
Al-Baghdadi had been besieged for months by Islamic State fighters before its fall on Thursday.
It had been one of the few towns to still be controlled by the Iraqi government in Anbar province, where IS and allied Sunni Arab tribesmen launched an offensive in January 2014.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby told reporters on Friday that al-Baghdadi’s capture needed to be put in perspective.
He said it was the first time in the last couple of months that the jihadist group had taken new ground.
[Yes, Admiral, let’s look on the bright side! Have these “leaders” any idea of how idiotic they sound? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ISIS ‘Burn 45 to Death in Western Iraq’
May be members of security forces
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — Islamic State (ISIS) militants have burned 45 people to death in western Iraq, according to sources cited by the BBC Tuesday.
The incident in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi came after reports that at least 27 people were killed there.
The BBC cited Col Qasim al-Obeidi as saying he believed some of the 45 were members of the security forces.
ISIS fighters captured much of the town, near Ain al-Asad air base, last week.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Khamenei: ‘American Sniper’ Encourages Harassment of Muslims
Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has become the latest person to criticize US film American Sniper for its allegedly anti-Muslim message.
The Iraq war bipopic directed by Clint Eastwood tells the real-life story of late US Navy SEAL sharpshooter Chris Kyle, whose 160 kills in Iraq is considered the highest count ever in US military history. The film has been nominated for six Oscars including best picture and grossed over $300 million at the US box office.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Opens Top-Notch Laser Lab
A cutting-edge laser facility — the first of its kind in the Arab world — opened this week at Saudi Arabia’s oldest and largest university. The launch pushes forward the country’s ambitions to become a leader in science and builds on a collaboration with Western scientists that has required some cultural adjustments.
The Attosecond Science Laboratory at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh hosts an ‘attosecond laser’, which generates ultrashort pulses of light, lasting just a few billionths of a billionth of a second, that can image otherwise invisible electrons as they move similarly fast within atoms. Attosecond lasers were invented in 2001, and facilities now exist at dozens of sites around the world. The Saudi Arabian facility is the result of a collaboration that began in 2008 with the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching, Germany, which hosts its own attosecond laser, and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
State Department’s Harf: “We Cannot Kill Our Way “Out of War Aginst ISIS
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf declared “we cannot win this war by killing them [ISIS], we cannot kill our way out of this war” on Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hardball.”
Harf said that the video of ISIS murdering Egyptian Christians “underscores to people that it isn’t just a fight in iraq and in Syria and that it’s not just a fight about dropping bombs on terrorists. It’s really how we stop the causes that lead to extremism in a place like Libya, the fact that there’s no governance, and there’s no opportunity for young people, it lets groups like ISIL grow there and flourish there, which is what you saw with this awful situation with these Egyptians that you just mentioned, but this is a longer fight, it’s fighting them on social media…they’re using social media to get converts to their cause and to spread their hatred all over the world. This week, we’re going to have over 60 countries here in Washington to talk about how do we combat this violent extremism together in the long-term, not just in the short-term fight.
She continued spelling out the fight against ISIS after Matthews declared “if I were ISIS, I wouldn’t be afraid right now…nothing we do right now seems to be directed at stopping this” Harf stated “I think there’s a few stages here. Right now, what we’re doing is trying to take their leaders and their fighters off the battlefield in Iraq and in Syria, that’s really where they flourish…we’re killing a lot of them and we’re going to keep killing more of them, so are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians they’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them, we cannot kill our way out of this war. We need, in the longer term, medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs…”
At this point, Matthews cut Harf off and argued “we’re not going to be able to stop that in our lifetime, or 50 lifetimes. There’s always going to be poor people, there’s always going to be poor Muslims, and as long as there are poor Muslims, the trumpet’s blowing, they’ll join. We can’t stop that, can we?”
Harf responded, “we can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance, we can help them build their economies, so they can have job opportunities for these people. You’re right, there is no easy solution in the long-term to preventing and combating violent extremism, but if we can help countries work at the root causes of this, what makes these 17-year-old kids pick up an AK-47, instead of try to start a business?”
[Those of us who are older than dirt will remember when Lyndon B. Johnson made an analogous offer to Ho Chi Minh in April of 1965. The president held out the prospect of a billion-dollar development program along the Mekong River if Ho would cease the North Vietnamese war effort. “Old Ho can’t turn me down,” LBJ told his press secretary Bill Moyers after his speech. Ho, of course, did just that — and the Vietnamese communists went on to win. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Doctors: ISIS Jihadists ‘Demanding Viagra,’ Lingerie for Wives and Slaves
by Phyllis Chesler
ISIS fighters are “buying their wives kinky underwear,” demanding Viagra to better their performance, and subjecting their wives, concubines, and sex slaves to sadistic sexual practices, according to Syrian doctors forced to treat jihadists in conquered territories.
The Daily Mail reports that doctors have been able to relay their witness testimonies through the advocacy group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. Their eyewitness accounts of being forced to treat Islamic State terrorists echo reports from the Iraqi city of Mosul, where doctors are often forced to treat wounded jihadists returning from the front lines.
These men are living day-to-day in an almost post-Holocaust desert of their own making, and yet—perhaps therefore—they are obsessed with sex, frilly underwear, their own impotence, and an insatiable desire to have as many orgasms as possible.
There are their captive brides, beaten for failing to cover even their eyes, prohibited from attending school, shrouded in black ambulatory body bags, and expected to act the part of prostitutes in order to please their brutal and demanding husbands or masters. The women subjected to such tortures range from the hundreds of known Yazidi girls and women forced to live as sex slaves because of their ethnic and religious identity to Western Muslim converts traveling to Syria and Iraq to fulfill the work of a “jihad bride.”
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Militants fighting for the Islamic State in Syria are making millions of pounds selling ancient statues and mosaics to wealthy Westerners using a complex system of smugglers and middle men.
Looted from ancient buildings in ISIS strongholds, such as the group’s de facto capital city Raqqa, the antiquities are up to 10,000-years-old and can exchange hands for more than $1 million each.
The most expensive items are covertly smuggled overseas — usually on the orders of wealthy Europeans — but there is also a lucrative trade in less historically important objects, which often find their way into tourist shops and markets in neighbouring Lebanon and Turkey.
The trade in antiquities is one of ISIS’ primary sources of funding, along with oil and ransom payments, and is estimated to fills the terrorists coffers with tens of millions of pounds every year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Dutch Girls Stopped in Turkey En Route to Syria
Two young teenage Dutch girls were stopped in Turkey at the weekend on suspicion they were travelling to Syria, broadcaster Nos quotes sources as saying on Tuesday. One of the girls is aged 16 and comes from Zeist. The other is 15 and comes from Driebergen. It is unclear what has happened to a third girl, also aged 16 and from Zeist, who was traveling with them, Nos said. The girls reportedly came into contact with social services last year after appearing at school in face-covering robes after the summer holidays.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Intensifies Effort to Blunt ISIS’ Message
With the Islamic State and its supporters producing as many as 90,000 tweets and other social media responses every day, American officials acknowledge they have a tough job ahead to blunt the group’s digital momentum in the same way a United States-led air campaign has slowed ISIS’ advances on the battlefield in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does ISIS Keep Making Enemies?
(CNN)Whenever ISIS carries out a new atrocity, whether it’s beheading a group of Egyptian Christians or enslaving Yazidi women in Iraq or burning its victims alive, the big question most people have is: Why on Earth is ISIS doing this? What could possibly be the point?
Adding to your list of enemies is never a sound strategy, yet ISIS’ ferocious campaign against the Shia, Kurds, Yazidis, Christians, and Muslims who don’t precisely share its views has united every ethnic and religious group in Syria and Iraq against them.
ISIS is even at war with its most natural ally, al Qaeda in Syria.
The Nazis and the Khmer Rouge went to great lengths to hide their crimes against humanity. Instead, ISIS posts its many crimes on social media for global distribution with seemingly no thoughts for the consequences.
[…]
So what is going on here?
A key window into understanding ISIS is its English language “in-flight magazine” Dabiq. Last week the seventh issue of Dabiq was released, and a close reading of it helps explains ISIS’ world view.
The mistake some make when viewing ISIS is to see it as a rational actor. Instead, as the magazine documents, its ideology is that of an apocalyptic cult that believes that we are living in the end times and that ISIS’ actions are hastening the moment when this will happen.
The name of the Dabiq magazine itself helps us understand ISIS’ worldview. The Syrian town of Dabiq is where the Prophet Mohammed is supposed to have predicted that the armies of Islam and “Rome” would meet for the final battle that will precede the end of time and the triumph of true Islam.
[It is THEIR time that needs to be ended. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
France Should Recognise Crimea as Russian, Says Le Pen
The French government should recognise Crimea as part of Russia’s territory and restore ties with Moscow, French National Front leader, Marine Le Pen has said in an interview with Polish Do Rzeczy. “Russia is a natural ally of Europe,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Ex-Spy Chief: Ukraine Frozen Conflict May be Best Option
British ex-MI6 head John Sawers said in a speech in King’s College London if the West arms Ukraine it could see Russia “go further than us” leading to “tens of thousands” of deaths in Ukraine. He added a frozen conflict in east Ukraine may be “the least bad attainable outcome.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Truce Marred by Battle in Key Town as Monitors Urged
A cease-fire in eastern Ukraine is being ignored in the strategic transport hub of Debaltseve, where fighting risks undermining a fragile peace accord sealed after all-night talks last week in Belarus.
Pro-Russian separatists said they control four-fifths of the rail junction, which links the nation’s two breakaway regions and where thousands of government troops are holed up. The army said its forces were holding their positions, even after a report that as many as 300 soldiers had surrendered.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Armenia Withdraws Key Peace Accords With Turkey
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Monday (16 February) he withdrew from parliament landmark peace accords with Turkey, setting further back U.S.-backed efforts to bury a century of hostility between the neighbours.
The two countries signed accords in October 2009 to establish diplomatic relations and open their land border, trying to overcome the legacy of the World War One mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
The process had been deadlocked by nationalists on both sides, and Ankara and Yerevan have accused the other of trying to rewrite the texts and setting new conditions. Many Armenians want Turkey to recognise the 1915 mass killings as genocide and pay reparations, proposals Ankara balks at.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
83% of Vaccines Are Made in China — Video
The majority of vaccines pushed on the American population were made in China.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Crisis in China’s Gambling Paradise
Ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping launched an anti-corruption campaign, less money has been played in the casinos of Macau. The super-rich fear an investigation and do not want to stand out.
Open 24 hours a day and seven days a week, Macau’s 35 casinos entertain around 30 million visitors each year, making over 30 billion euros in revenue. These are figures which make the US gambling city of Las Vegas look like a desert village. It’s too bad then, that profits in Macau are suffering dramatically — and it is mainly due to the Chinese government’s fight against corruption.
Macau is the only place in China where gambling is officially permitted. Until the end of 1999, the peninsula was a Portuguese colony. Since it was handed back to China, the city of 600,000 people located at the mouth of the Pearl River has been a largely autonomous Special Administrative Region (SAR).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
3,800 Migrants Rescued at Sea in Recent Days
The International Organisation for Migration said 933 migrants on Tuesday arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, bringing the total number of people rescued since Friday (13 February) to 3,800. “This is a very clear signal that the situation in Libya is unravelling,” said IOM director general William Lacy Swing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Judge Stalls Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration
The White House promised an appeal Tuesday after a federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration and gave a coalition of 26 states time to pursue a lawsuit aiming to permanently stop the orders.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision late Monday puts on hold Obama’s orders that could spare from deportation as many as 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally. In response, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would halt preparations for a program to protect parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents until further notice.
In a memorandum accompanying his order, Hanen said the lawsuit should go forward and that the states would “suffer irreparable harm in this case” without a preliminary injunction.
“The genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle,” he wrote, adding that he agreed that legalizing the presence of millions of people is a “virtually irreversible” action.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lampedusa Migrant Centre Bursting
1,195 migrants, capacity of 250
(ANSA) — Lampedusa, February 17 — The migrant reception centre on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa is bursting with 1,195 migrants compared to a capacity of 250, officials said Tuesday.
Some of the migrants have scabies, they added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tiny Italian Island Struggles to Cope With Tide of Migrants
Authorities on the Italian island of Lampedusa struggled Tuesday to cope with a huge influx of newly-arrived migrants as aid organisations warned the Libya crisis means thousands more could be on their way.
Officials on the tiny island south of Sicily were trying to process more than 1,200 exhausted, often traumatised and ill Africans in a reception centre designed for less than a third of that number.
Around 200 of them were children, some 100 women. All of them were part of a group of 3,800 would-be immigrants to Europe who have been rescued in the Mediterranean since Friday.
At least 330 people are thought to have perished while trying to cross from Libya to Italy in the last week, 29 of them from exposure after being rescued too late by the Italian coastguard in near freezing conditions.
Federico Fossi of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the reception facilities on Lampedusa, Italy’s most southernly outpost, were simply inadequate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
You’re Teaching My Child What? The Truth About Sex Education
Abstract: The principles of sexual health education are not based on the hard sciences. Sex education is animated by a specific vision of how society must change, and because of this, sex ed curricula omit critical biological truths and endorse high-risk behaviors. The priority for SIECUS, Planned Parenthood, and Advocates for Youth is not the health and well-being of young people. These federally funded organizations are fighting “repression” and “intolerance,” not herpes or syphilis. But when sexual freedom reigns, sexual health suffers. Our children are being taught that you can play with fire, and we are obligated to inform them of the risks they face and to teach them biological truths, even when they are politically incorrect.
When I graduated from medical school, I took an oath. I stood up with my classmates, I raised my right hand, and I swore to prevent disease whenever I could. Now, many years later, I’m troubled by the obstacles that stand in my way. I’m not referring to threats like frivolous lawsuits or the Emanuel brothers’ vision for health care. The issues that concern me come from within the professions of health and education.
The principles of sexual health education are not based on the hard sciences. They don’t rest on what’s seen under the microscope. Sex education is animated by a dream, a specific vision of how society must change, and because of this, sex ed curricula omit critical biological truths and endorse high-risk behaviors.
[…]
I put the responsibility for the epidemic of ignorance directly on those organizations that are at the helm of teaching sex education because, contrary to their claims and promises, their programs are not comprehensive; they are not science-based or medically accurate or up-to-date.
I’ll go even further: They are not about preventing disease. Sex ed is a social movement. Its goal is to change society. The primary goal of groups like SIECUS, Planned Parenthood, and Advocates for Youth is to promote sexual freedom and to rid society of its Judeo—Christian taboos and restrictions. In this worldview, almost anything goes. Each individual makes his or her sexual choices; each person decides how much risk he or she is willing to take, and no judgments are allowed.
The science that is used is selective. If it challenges this model of human sexuality, if what’s seen under the microscope threatens this dream for society, it doesn’t exist.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I wonder what the O will have to say about this – after all people shouldn’t be attacked because of what they believe eh … or what they don’t believe.
Baron:
Don’t know if you saw this article by Conrad Black over at New English Review on our very best presidents, among whom he counts FDR.
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/59397
He’s got plenty of money, and so would have the means to underwrite a number of “conservative” causes, including GateStone and NR, among others, although I don’t know whether in fact he does. It might explain the jihad against Diane West and the dismissal of Clare Lopez.
Minnesota tries softer approach in battling Islamic State
Will unveil plan at White House summit on countering violent extremism