Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/23/2015

A mysterious tunnel was discovered in a wooded area of Toronto adjacent to a venue for this summer’s Pan Am Games. The tunnel was about 25 feet long and high enough for a person to stand in. The walls and ceiling were reinforced, and it was equipped with generator-powered lights. The dirt excavated from the tunnel had been removed from the area of the entrance. Ontario authorities hastened to reassure the public that it was a lone wolf tunnel, had no connection to kinetic activism, and above all had nothing to do with Islam.

In other news, France has deployed the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Persian Gulf as part of the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, K, Nick, Papa Whiskey, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Existing Home Sales Plunge (And Don’t Blame the Weather)
» Federal Reserve Insider Alan Greenspan Warns: There Will be a “Significant Market Event… Something Big is Going to Happen”
» Italy ‘Second-Largest EIB Loan Beneficiary in 2014’
» President Obama Explains the “Changes” He’d Like to Make to Retirement Accounts — Live Feed
» Tensions Rising as Tsipras Prepares Reform Pledges
» The Government’s Big Lie… the Data is Fudged Badly, But it’s Not the Worst Lie, The One That Screws Senior Citizens is Criminal!
» The Math Doesn’t Add Up
 
USA
» CAIR Praises DHS Report on Domestic ‘Right Wing’ Extremists
» Comets Are Like Deep Fried Ice Cream, Scientists Say
» Experts Smeared by Media and Greenpeace for Debunking Global Warming
» Forget the Terrorists: Malls Already Under Attack From Black Mob Violence
» James O’Keefe: “I Am Afraid for My Life”
» Johnson Warns About Congress Not Funding Homeland Security, Gets Support From GOP Senators
» Neutralize Obama’s Hijacking of the Internet
» ‘No Credible Plot’: DHS Distances Itself From Chief’s ‘Mall Terror Threat’ Warnings
» Obama Warns Governors on DHS Funding
» Rep. Keith Ellison: Apologist for Jihad
» Resembling a Rapist Can Ruin Your Education — Video
» Secrecy Around Police Surveillance Equipment Proves a Case’s Undoing
» The New Madrid Earthquake That Will Divide the United States in Half
» U.S. Staged Mock Mall Attacks to Test Readiness After Kenya Siege, Official Says
» Video: People Will Sign Anything You Ask Them to if You Wear an Obama T-Shirt
» Watch: Black Middle Schooler Slams Barack Obama in Epic YouTube Speech
 
Canada
» Mystery Tunnel Found Near Pan Am Games Venue
» Number of Violent Crimes Involving Guns Exaggerated by an Over-Inclusive Definition of Gun Crime
 
Europe and the EU
» 2.5 Mln Copies of New Charlie Hebdo Issue, Out on 25/2
» Charlie Hebdo Shootings: Automatic Rifles Used in Paris Attacks Traced to Shop in Slovakia
» Charlie Hebdo Memorial Vandalised in Paris Four Times in Two Weeks
» Disagreement Over Sweden’s Preparedness Against Terrorism
» Europe’s Newly-Tested Space Plane Aims for Next Launch in 2019
» Finland: Sauna-Goers May Live Longer
» France Seizes Passports of Six Nationals Heading for Syria
» France: Ready to Leave for Syria, Passports Confiscated
» French Jews Award Muslim ‘Kosher Supermarket Hero’
» Gaps in France’s Surveillance Are Clear; Solutions Aren’t
» Germany: PEGIDA Decides Hitler Selfie is No Problem
» Islam and Norway’s Leaking Fish Tank
» Italy: Company Launches New Tuscan Cigar, Garibaldi Il Grande
» Italy: Alfano Plans ‘Anti-Radicalization’ To Counter Terrorists
» Italy: Lavazza Sells Keurig Shares, Cash for Future Deals
» Jihadist Warns Italy About ‘Lone-Wolf’ Attacks, SITE
» Norway: Muslim Offer to Clean Nazi Graffiti Refused
» One Fifth of Germans Want Revolution: Report
» Padoan Signs Italian Tax Treaty With Switzerland
» Sweden Could Boost Funds to Fight Terrorism
» Sweden: Endangered Jobs List: What Work is Future-Proof?
» Sweden: More Violence Reported in Schools
» The ISIS Threat — Should Malta be Alarmed?
» UK: ‘Jihadi Bride’ Schoolgirls Were Not Radicalized at School, Head Insists
» UK: Killer Driver Who Avoided Jail Sentence After Telling Court of Her ‘Extreme Remorse’ Outrages Victim’s Family With Facebook Boasts About Her ‘Great Year’
» UK: MPs’ Salary of £67,000 is Not Enough for the Standard of Living I’m Entitled to, Says Tory Sir Malcolm Rifkind as He Defends His Second Jobs After ‘Cash for Access’ Sting
» UK: Middle-Aged Mother Who Spent £7,000 on Tunisian Toyboy Discovered He’d Wed Another Woman — After He Posted His Marriage Certificate on Facebook
» UK: Sir Malcolm Rifkind Suspended by Tories Over ‘Cash for Access’
» Why Finland and Norway Still Shun University Tuition Fees — Even for International Students
 
North Africa
» A Threat to Europe: The Islamic State’s Dangerous Gains in Libya
» A True and False Alarm
» Egypt: Al Ahwany to Italy, Economic Reform Ahead
» Egypt: Sace: Italian Exports Potentially Worth 5 Bln in 2019
» Escape From Libyan Hell: Egyptian Migrants Tell of Ordeal and Islamic State Torture
» Libyan ‘Chemical Weapons Site Under Control’, Tobruk Gov’t
» Libya: Tobruk: All Contracts With Foreign Firms Reconsidered
» Morocco Aims for Half a Million Italians in 2015
» Saudi Newspaper Claims Islamic State May Get Libya’s Chemical Weapons
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Nakba Museum: Of Memory and Hope
 
Middle East
» Daesh (ISIS) Burns 50 Civilians to Death in Iraq’s Al-Anbar Province
» France Deploys Aircraft Carrier in Gulf for is Fight
» Gulf Nations Boost Military Spending to 132 Bln in 2015
» ISIS Releases Video of Child Soldiers Training for Jihad in Syria Camp for ‘Cubs of the Caliphate’
» ISIS Sets Up English Schools for Fighters’ Children
» ISIS Capital in Syria is ‘Like a Big Prison,’ Activist Says
» ISIS Attacks Assyrian Villages in Syria, 4 Killed, Dozens Captured, Churches Burned
» ISIS: De Gaulle Carrier Starts Operation in Persian Gulf
» Islamic State Opens ‘Junior Jihadi’ Training Camp and English Language Schools
» Islamic State Expands Beyond Syria, Iraq as Recruits Create Global Network of Terror Cells
» Kayla Mueller’s Brother: Swap With Taliban Raised is Demands
» Private Donors From Gulf Oil States Helping to Bankroll Salaries of Up to 100,000 ISIS Fighters
» Saudi Arabia: Men Arrested for Dancing at Birthday Party
» Saudi “Morality” Police Arrest Men for Dancing Around a Birthday Cake
» Terror Trainees: New ISIS Video Shows Indoctrination of Kids as Young as 5
» There is No Modern Islam
» UN Envoy De Mistura: ‘Don’t Repeat Libya’s Mistakes in Syria’
» Yemen: Sources, Egypt Has Closed Embassy in Sanaa
 
Russia
» For Ukrainian Church, Even the Pope Calls the Conflict a Civil War, Something Kyiv Does Not Acknowledge
» Interventionism Kills: Post-Coup Ukraine One Year Later
» Moscow’s Flagship $12 Billion Financial District is a Half-Empty Disaster
» Ron Paul: U.S., EU Behind Ukraine Coup
 
South Asia
» Afghanistan: Indian Jesuit Freed After Eight Months in Captivity
» India: First Monument to the Martyrs of Anti-Christian Pogroms Erected in Odisha
 
Far East
» North Korea Exports Forced Laborers for Profit, Rights Groups Say
 
Australia — Pacific
» Grand Mufti in Shocking Defence of Evil Fanatics
» PM Announces He Will Strip Returning Jihadis of Citizenship
» Thirty Jihadis Return Home to Australia After Being Foreign Fighters
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Al Shabaab Calls for Attacks in the West
» Mogadishu Bombers Were Dual Dutch Nationals: AFP
» Somali Deaths Climb to 25 in Hotel Attack
» Terror Group Behind Kenyan Shopping Massacre Threatens Edmonton’s Iconic Mall
 
Immigration
» As Somali Jihadis Threaten Mall of America, U.S. Importing 800 Somalis a Month
» Australia Vows Tougher Citizenship Laws
» Dozens of Cities Host “Welcoming Committees” For Illegals
» Germany: New High in Asylum Seeker Expulsions
» Italy: ‘Renzi Stop Migrants or be Terror Accomplice’ Says Salvini
» Lampedusa Suffers Under Weight of Europe’s Refugee Crisis
» Libya: Video Shows Traffickers Beating Migrants
» Sheriff Joe Takes on Obama on New Front
» Texas Governor Claims ‘More Than 20,000’ Illegal Immigrants Have Crossed His Border With Mexico Since January 1
 
Culture Wars
» Death Panels and the Progressive War on Menopausal Women
» Sweden Changes Racist Bird Names
 
General
» Al Jazeera to Reveal Hundreds of Secret Intelligence Documents
» Processed Foods Indisputably Linked to Auto-Immune Disease
» There’s No Political Freedom Without Economic Freedom
 

Existing Home Sales Plunge (And Don’t Blame the Weather)

With homebuilder sentiment slipping, blamed on the weather (despite improvement in the Northeast), Architecture billings down, and lumber prices down, it should not be totally surprising that existing home sales collapsed in January, which they just did tumbling -4.9% against expectations of -1.8% to a worse than expected 4.82 million SAAR (4.95 expected). This was the biggest January drop since 2010, and is the lowest existing home sales since April.

Oh — and before the talking heads blame the weather — the biggest drop in home sales was in The West (with its warm, dry, sunny home-buying climate). Considering that existing home sales most recent peak in 2014 failed to take out the previous government-sponsored peak in 2013 and remains 30% or more below the 2005 peak, and claims that the housing recovery is in tact are greatly exaggerated.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Reserve Insider Alan Greenspan Warns: There Will be a “Significant Market Event… Something Big is Going to Happen”

With the Federal Reserve printing trillions upon trillions of dollars to keep the economic system afloat, many investors and financial pundits have surmised that the fundamental economic problems facing the United States during the crash of 2008 have been resolved. Stocks are, after all, at historic highs.

But the insiders know different. And if there’s any single person out there who understands U.S. monetary policy and its long-term effects on domestic and global affairs it’s former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. As the head of the world’s most powerful central bank for nearly two decades he’s privy to the insider conversations and government machinations that have brought us to where we are today.

Greenspan recently joined veteran resource analyst Brien Lundin at the New Orleans Investment Conference to share some of his thoughts. According to Lundin, the former Fed chairman made it clear that the central bank is facing a serious problem and one that will have significant ramifications in the future.

We asked him where he thought the gold price will be in five years and he said “measurably higher.”

In private conversation I asked him about the outstanding debts… and that the debt load in the U.S. had gotten so great that there has to be some monetary depreciation. Specially he said that the era of quantitative easing and zero-interest rate policies by the Fed… we really cannot exit this without some significant market event… By that I interpret it being either a stock market crash or a prolonged recession, which would then engender another round of monetary reflation by the Fed.

He thinks something big is going to happen that we can’t get out of this era of money printing without some repercussions — and pretty severe ones — that gold will benefit from.

Watch the full interview:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy ‘Second-Largest EIB Loan Beneficiary in 2014’

Second only to Spain

(ANSA) — Brussels, February 23 — Italy was the second-largest beneficiary of European Investment Bank (EIB) credit last year, the EU’s non-profit long-term lending institution made known Monday.

Italy received 10.9 billion euros in long-term financing, just after Spain with 11.9 billion in loans, according to the bank’s 2014 report.

The EIB last year financed loans totalling 77 billion euros in Europe and the world, and expects to extend 60-62 billion in the current year.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

President Obama Explains the “Changes” He’d Like to Make to Retirement Accounts — Live Feed

Speaking at AARP headqusrters in Washington, President Obama will announce orders to the Labor Department to write new rules for financial managers who handle retirement accounts for working Americans. As USA Today reports, The White House says the goal is to end “hidden fees that hurt consumers and back-door payments that help Wall Street brokers,” deals that costs retirees billions of dollars in savings. White House officials said they want new fiduciary standards that would require financial advisers to put clients’ interests ahead of their own… and “buy our bonds.”

We wonder how long before there will be an official asset allocation by dictat…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tensions Rising as Tsipras Prepares Reform Pledges

Greek premier reportedly to recover 7.3 bn from tax evasion

(ANSA) — Rome, February 23 — Tensions were rising across the eurozone Monday as Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras worked to a midnight deadline preparing a list of reforms his country will make in return for a bailout.

Eurogroup finance ministers on Friday agreed to a four-month extension of European assistance for Greece if it approves of Tsipras’s list of reforms to be made to the Greek economy.

Talks on Friday involving Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis went down to the last minute as Italy’s Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and his colleagues from the eurozone worked to create a deal to help Greece and also shore up confidence in the common currency.

Tsipras is expected to pledge labour reforms, a crackdown on tax evasion and tax avoidance, and published reports Monday suggested tax reforms that could target high-income Greeks would also be on the list.

German newspaper Bild quoted sources saying Tsipras plans to recover as much as 7.3 billion euros with its measures to combat tax evasion.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

The Government’s Big Lie… the Data is Fudged Badly, But it’s Not the Worst Lie, The One That Screws Senior Citizens is Criminal!

With the recent news from the Gallup CEO about the U.S. lying about its unemployment data, we asked economist John Williams for his input. He agrees, the data is fudged badly, but it’s not the worst lie, the one that screws senior citizens is criminal! Contact John at http://www.shadowstats.com

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Math Doesn’t Add Up

Oh, you didn’t notice that World War Three is underway, actually has been for more than year? Well, that’s because most of it has been taking place in the banking sector, which for most people is just an alternative universe of math. The catch, which many people either miss or don’t care about, is that the math doesn’t add up.

For instance, the runaway choo-choo train of linked European sovereign bond obligations with its overloaded caboose of interest rate swaps and other janky derivatives of mass destruction. That train left the station in Athens a few weeks ago bound for Frankfurt. Ever since, the German government and its cohorts in the EU, the ECB, and the IMF have been issuing reassurances that the choo choo train will not blow up when it reaches its destination.

Few people grok that Greece is an entity with an economy not much bigger than North Carolina’s, yet it is burdened with roughly $350 billion of old debt that will never be paid back. The only thing at issue is how it will not be paid back, that is, what mode of pretense will be employed to disguise the inability to pay back this debt. The mode du jour has been the crude one of lending Greece more money to pay back the interest on the old debt. A seven-year-old ought to be able to understand where that leads.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CAIR Praises DHS Report on Domestic ‘Right Wing’ Extremists

Welcoming news that the Department of Homeland Security is circulating an intelligence assessment on the threat posed by “right-wing sovereign citizen extremist groups,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it’s now time for security agencies to release a report on violence against American Muslims and others of Middle Eastern or South Asian heritage.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Comets Are Like Deep Fried Ice Cream, Scientists Say

NASA researchers think they understand why comets have a hard, crispy outside and a cold but soft inside — just like fried ice cream.

Two NASA spacecraft have interacted with a comet surface, and both found a crunchy exterior and somewhat softer, more porous interior. Scientists know that comets are made of a mixture of rock and ice, but up until now they could not fully explain this change in texture from the inside to the outside.

Now, researchers using a souped-up refrigerator (officially known as a cryostat instrument) have re-created the conditions on the surface of a comet. They think they can explain the process that makes a comet not unlike a flying hunk of fried ice cream.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Experts Smeared by Media and Greenpeace for Debunking Global Warming

A not so funny, but somewhat predictable, event occurred after Dr. Matt Briggs co-authored a major peer-reviewed climate physics paper that exposed significant errors in the billion-dollar computer models used by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Briggs and his colleagues were smeared by the New York Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe because the revealed errors suggest that there is no climate crisis after all.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Forget the Terrorists: Malls Already Under Attack From Black Mob Violence

By Colin Flaherty

Forget ISIS and its threat to terrorize American malls. Dozens of shopping areas are already under attack.

Since the Christmas season, at least 25 malls around the country have experienced black mob violence, many connected to movie theaters. With much of the mayhem captured on video. With many of the malls turning into No Go Zones because of the regular racial violence and the muted response to it.

Let’s list these attacks, starting with the latest and working back. Follow along on the video, if you like. The first three are from Valentine’s Day:

At Pittsfield Township, near Ann Arbor, more than 100 black people attacked patrons and police and destroyed property, first at a movie theater, then an arcade, then a restaurant. Two were arrested.

At Ocoee, Florida, near Orlando, 800 to 1000 black people tried to rush into a theater without paying, then created violence in the lobby and the parking lot, where they defied police, destroyed property and assaulted others.

At Conyers, Georgia, 300 black people rioted at a mall movie theater, yelling, screaming, threatening to kill moviegoers. One was arrested. An “irate and hostile” crowd threatened police after one was arrested for drugs and weapons violations. The local media reported theaters are the site of frequent black mob violence because “often, the teens have nowhere else to go,” said the Newton Citizen.

[Et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam. Perhaps DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and his boss should look a little closer to home for a domestic terrorist threat instead of hallucinating about “soveriegn citizens.” — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

James O’Keefe: “I Am Afraid for My Life”

“We have a story we’re going to release this coming week and I’ve never thought about this before but I am afraid for my life on this one,” O’Keefe tweeted on Saturday.

Whatever its nature, the story promises to be a big one given the impact generated by O’Keefe’s previous work.

In 2007, O’Keefe posed as a donor wanting to give money to Planned Parenthood to pay for the abortion of black and other minority babies. Workers at numerous Planned Parenthood clinics agreed to accept the donation on these terms.

O’Keefe’s biggest scalp was undoubtedly his 2009 take down of ACORN, an advocacy organization for people on low income. Hidden camera footage published by O’Keefe showed ACORN employees giving advice on how to evade detection for tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution. Congress voted to eliminate federal funding for ACORN as a result of the exposé.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Johnson Warns About Congress Not Funding Homeland Security, Gets Support From GOP Senators

A top Obama administration official warned several times Sunday about the potential, far-reaching perils of Congress allowing the Department of Homeland Security to run out of funding in several days and got some Republican support in the Capitol Hill stalemate.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans are in a standoff over legislation that will fund the agency through late September but also roll back President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said allowing the agency to lose its federal funding after Friday could jeopardize the U.S efforts to thwart a domestic terror attack by the Islamic State and will result in 30,000 employees being furloughed.

“It including people I depend on every day to stay one step ahead of” the Islamic State, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He also appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and the three other major Sunday shows, arguing that failing to reach a deal would go beyond cutting off funding for the president’s efforts to defer deportation for millions of illegal immigrants to include cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency while parts of the country are still dealing with severe winter weather.

The legislation has already been passed by the GOP-controlled House but is stalled in the Senate.

Johnson disagreed with the argument that Senate Democrats have blocked the bill by filibustering, saying the problem is the legislation should be presented “clean” of any immigration language.

[Has it ever occurred to you, Mr. Secretary, that your boss’s open-borders efforts would do even more to create the “sea” for Mao’s guerrilla “fish” to swim in? See the article on the tsunami of Somali immigration, sir. Why do you think the Somali terrorists of al-Shabaab think they can carry out a strike here by remote control? — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Neutralize Obama’s Hijacking of the Internet

Barack Obama is knocking all little people in civil society off the Information Highway—but leaving the coast clear for all Islamic terrorists.

Average citizens who depend on the Internet to get their message out will be ‘regulated’ off beginning three days from now, but ISIS which recruits new members from off the ‘Net will continue to send its threats and gruesome YouTubes online.

In fact, when all regulations from Obama’s 332-page book of ‘Net Neutrality’ are in place, only governments and terrorists will be free to blog and post.

Obama calls his takeover of the public’s most reliable means of communication, “Net Neutrality”. But in reality, it’s an overnight Hijacking of the common man’s Information Highway.

“Quickly and quietly”, high-handed Barack Obama and the Democrats are working on hijacking the Information Highway. (Canada Free Press, Feb. 12, 2015)

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘No Credible Plot’: DHS Distances Itself From Chief’s ‘Mall Terror Threat’ Warnings

The Department of Homeland Security has denied it is aware of any credible terrorist plots against shopping centers on US soil after their chief advised shoppers, particularly in the Mall of America, to be careful following threats from Somali extremists.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Warns Governors on DHS Funding

(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) President Obama used a session with the nation’s governors Monday to warn of the negative economic repercussions if Congress doesn’t resolve a funding standoff for the Department of Homeland Security by the end of the week.

“Unless Congress acts, one week from now, more than 100,000 [Homeland Security] employees will show up to work without being paid,” he told the group of governors gathered at the White House.

“These are folks who, if they don’t have a paycheck … it will have a direct impact on your economy and our national security,” he continued. “As you governors know, we can’t play politics with our national security.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Rep. Keith Ellison: Apologist for Jihad

by Matthew Vadum

America is the root cause of violent extremism, Congress’s foremost apologist for Islamic terrorism told a White House conference last week.

In rambling remarks Feb. 18 at President Obama’s so-called Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) used the opportunity to smear America, downplay Muslim violence, and urge law enforcement to go easy on suspected Muslim terrorists.

Ellison accused the U.S. of breeding terrorists by somehow persecuting Muslims.

“The reason that we are susceptible to violent extremism is because we have not deepened opportunity in our country enough. Now it’s true that, certainly, economic deprivation makes people susceptible to being lured and seduced. That’s a fact. But it’s also true that not only is it economic deprivation, although it is certainly part of it. The other part of it is social deprivation as well and legal deprivation as well,” he said.

Of course anyone who follows the American scene knows that Muslims in this country are far from persecuted. It is more accurate to describe them as a protected class.

[Be it noted that the halal grocery store above which the mysterious New Year’s Day explosion took place in Minneapolis last year is smack in the middle of Ellison’s congressional district. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Resembling a Rapist Can Ruin Your Education — Video

An innocent male student was reportedly banned from entering large areas of his liberal-arts school in Oregon after a female classmate accused him of slightly resembling a rapist she encountered months prior in another state.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Secrecy Around Police Surveillance Equipment Proves a Case’s Undoing

By Ellen Nakashima

TALLAHASSEE — The case against Tadrae McKenzie looked like an easy win for prosecutors. He and two buddies robbed a small-time pot dealer of $130 worth of weed using BB guns. Under Florida law, that was robbery with a deadly weapon, with a sentence of at least four years in prison.

But before trial, his defense team detected investigators’ use of a secret surveillance tool, one that raises significant privacy concerns. In an unprecedented move, a state judge ordered the police to show the device — a cell-tower simulator sometimes called a StingRay — to the attorneys.

Rather than show the equipment, the state offered McKenzie a plea bargain.

[…]

McKenzie’s case is emblematic of the growing, but hidden, use by local law enforcement of a sophisticated surveillance technology borrowed from the national security world. It shows how a gag order imposed by the FBI — on grounds that discussing the device’s operation would compromise its effectiveness — has left judges, the public and criminal defendants in the dark on how the tool works.

[…]

The StingRay is a box about the size of a small suitcase — there’s also a handheld version — that simulates a cellphone tower. It elicits signals from all mobile phones in its vicinity. That means it collects information not just about a criminal suspect’s communications but also about the communications of potentially hundreds of law-abiding citizens.

[…]

So far, there is virtually no case law on how the Fourth Amendment — which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures — should apply to this technology.

[And evidently the cops and feds don’t want any. Beaucoup detail in this story — a must-read. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

The New Madrid Earthquake That Will Divide the United States in Half

Once upon a time, North America almost divided along a very deep subsurface rift. Today, that rift system and the faults associated with it are known as the New Madrid fault zone. This fault zone is six times larger than the San Andreas fault zone in California and it covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. Back in 1811 and 1812, four of the largest earthquakes in U.S. history struck that area of the country. The movement of the ground was so powerful that it changed the course of the Mississippi River and it rang church bells in Boston, Massachusetts. So could such an earthquake (or worse) strike today? Well, last year the U.S. Geological Survey released a report that warned that the New Madrid fault zone has the “potential for larger and more powerful quakes than previously thought”, and the USGS also admits that the number of significant earthquakes in the middle part of the country has more than quintupled in recent years. We also know that the U.S. government and large corporations are so concerned about the potential for a major New Madrid earthquake that they have held major exercises that simulate one. Scientists tell us that it is just a matter of time until another superquake hits the region, and personally I am one of the millions of Americans that believe that we will eventually see a New Madrid earthquake that will divide the United States in half. That is one of the reasons why I included a New Madrid earthquake in my novel. But others are skeptical. They point out that we have not seen a truly devastating earthquake in that region for more than 200 years. So why be concerned about one now?

What everyone can agree on is that there is an area of significant geological weakness under the New Madrid fault zone. This area of weakness formed when the continents were breaking up. The rift that formed did not end up splitting the North American continent at that time, but the area of weakness remains…

Back in 1811 and 1812, there were four earthquakes along the New Madrid fault zone there were so immensely powerful that they are still talked about today.

[…]

It is also important to note that there are 15 nuclear reactors along the New Madrid fault zone. In the event of a major New Madrid earthquake, we could be looking at Fukushima times 15.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Staged Mock Mall Attacks to Test Readiness After Kenya Siege, Official Says

(CNN) After a siege at a Kenyan mall two years ago, the FBI started staging mock attacks in U.S. shopping centers during off hours to test their readiness, an official said.

More than 60 people died when Al-Shabaab militants raided an upscale mall in Nairobi and held shoppers hostage for four days.

The terror group released a video Saturday calling for similar attacks in malls in the United States, Canada and the UK.

Although Homeland Security and the FBI say they are not aware of a specific, credible plot against U.S. malls, they’ve worked to improve security in light of the attack in Kenya.

Last year, the FBI teamed up with various malls nationwide to increase preparedness, a law enforcement official told CNN. It tested the readiness of SWAT teams by staging fake attacks at malls when they were closed, the official said.

Since then, the FBI has had a program that works with malls to improve security, the official said.

[…]

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said there’s no credible evidence suggesting a U.S. mall attack is in the works. But shoppers should be vigilant nonetheless, he said.

“There will be enhanced security (at malls),” he said Sunday. “But public vigilance, public awareness and public caution in situations like this is particularly important, and it’s the environment we’re in, frankly.”

Stressing that there is no known credible threat to any mall, Johnson cautioned that attacks can be unpredictable.

“I won’t know about when the next bad actor is going to strike,” he said.

[Yes, your minions will only show up afterwards, to clean up the remains of the unarmed victims and issue calls for more gun control. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Video: People Will Sign Anything You Ask Them to if You Wear an Obama T-Shirt

While one older couple tells Dice that they don’t have time to sign if he doesn’t have time to tell them what the petition is for, the overwhelming majority of younger people simply sign their name on the paper, several without even asking what it is.

The footage is remarkable in that while it could be argued that some of Dice’s previous phony petitions may have been signed out of misunderstanding or confusion, there is simply no way that can be the case in this instance.

The footage highlights the disturbing possibility that many Americans will literally sign away their rights without even knowing it, or being pressured in any way to do so.

The only signifier to provide any context during each exchange is the Obama t-shirt Dice is wearing. If the t-shirt prompted the people involved here consciously or sub consciously to blindly trust Dice, it makes the footage seem even more disturbing.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Watch: Black Middle Schooler Slams Barack Obama in Epic YouTube Speech

President Obama may enjoy the approval of 84% of blacks, but don’t count CJ Pearson among them.

Pearson, a 12-year-old middle school student in Georgia, has more informed opinions than many adults.

The student posted a YouTube video yesterday in which he seeks to “applaud Mayor Rudy Giuliani for his comments about President Barack Obama.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mystery Tunnel Found Near Pan Am Games Venue

Digging tools and generator found at tunnel near Rexall Centre and York University campus

National security officials have been notified that an underground tunnel was discovered near a venue for this summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto, CBC News has learned.

The tunnel was dug in the woods near Toronto’s Rexall Centre and York University’s Keele campus. It was large enough for a person to stand in, at around 21/2 metres in height, and was about seven metres long. The tunnel had lights inside, powered by a generator, and the walls and ceiling were reinforced.

Sources told CBC News that the tunnel was filled in by authorities.

A Toronto and Region Conservation Authority employee reportedly found the tunnel while walking near the TRCA headquarters at 5 Shoreham Dr. in mid-January. The employee, who was carrying out day-to-day activities, noticed a piece of corrugated steel in the woods, and when it was lifted, the tunnel could be seen about three metres down.

The TRCA told CBC News on Monday that it is aware of a police investigation.

Authorities have essentially ruled out the possibility that the tunnel was going to be used as a drug lab or marijuana grow-op, according to sources. It likely took weeks if not longer to dig, and the earth excavated from the tunnel appears to have been removed from the site to help avoid detection.

Toronto police have refused to comment on the mystery tunnel, but are expected to hold a press conference about it Tuesday…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Number of Violent Crimes Involving Guns Exaggerated by an Over-Inclusive Definition of Gun Crime

By using an over-inclusive definition, Statistics Canada has exaggerated the number of violent crimes that involve guns. The result is that gun violence appears to be four times more frequent than it really is. In 2013 (the most recent year statistics are available) Statistics Canada reports that there were 5,027 “firearms-related” incidents out of 263,054 violent crimes (i.e., 2% of violent crimes). Clearly, gun violence isn’t prevalent.

But even that small share exaggerates the frequency that a gun was actually used to commit a violent crime. A Special Request I made to Statistics Canada late in 2014 revealed that a gun was actually used in just 1,194 violent crimes in 2013. Gun violence only occurred in one-quarter of “firearms-related” crimes and in just 0.5% of violent crimes.

Without looking too closely at the definition, it is easy to confuse “firearms-related” crime with incidents of actual gun misuse. They are not identical. Statistics Canada defines “firearms-related” crime” as when “a gun is present during the commission of the crime.” Just “present,” not “used.” This means that a crime may be “firearms-related” even though the gun was not directly involved in committing the crime or injuring the victim. It was just found somewhere at the scene of the crime. In accordance with the Uniform Crime Reporting rules, if no matter what other weapons might be at the crime scene, if a firearm is among them it is automatically considered “the most serious weapon present.” Thus, if is a firearm is recovered at the crime scene, even if the victim was injured with another weapon, then the incident is classified as “firearms-related” by Statistics Canada…

An example shows the absurdity of the Statistics Canada definition. If two people get into a dispute where one punches the other hard enough for the police to be called, it becomes a “firearms-related” crime if an old Lee Enfield is found in the basement.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

2.5 Mln Copies of New Charlie Hebdo Issue, Out on 25/2

A dog fleeing with a copy of the satirical weekly in its mouth, chased by half-canine-and-half-human caricatures of Nicolas Sarkozy, Marine Le Pen, Pope Francis and a jihadist are on the cover of the latest Charlie Hebdo out on Wednesday.

The jihadist is portrayed as a large black wolf with a Kalashnikov in its mouth, and the black drawings against a red background are under the headline ‘C’est reparti!’ (‘We Begin Again!’). Some 2.5 million copies will be available.

The issue is the second since the January 7 attack on the weekly’s Paris office in which a number of its staff were killed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Charlie Hebdo Shootings: Automatic Rifles Used in Paris Attacks Traced to Shop in Slovakia

By Henry Samuel, Paris

Automatic rifles used in January’s Paris attacks that killed 17 have been traced to a shop in Slovakia that sells deactivated weapons as “movie props”, it was reported on Wednesday.

The decommissioned weapons legally bought in Slovakia were reconverted to fire live ammunition — a process that gun experts say can take as little as “an hour” to complete — and used in the deadly attacks on a Kosher supermarket and the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, French police reportedly believe.

The guns are thought to have reached the perpetrators of the attacks — brothers Said and Chérif Kouachi and their accomplice Amedy Coulibaly — via an arms dealer in Brussels, according to the Slovakian Novy cas newspaper and EuroNews.

It cites a senior police source as saying French investigators contacted their Slovakian colleagues last month with the serial numbers of seven firearms believed to be linked to the killings.

The Slovakian police officers tracked the guns to a shop in the west of Slovakia, where records revealed they were sold legally, as “expand” (expansion) weapons. The sale of such arms is perfectly legal in Slovakia.

Expansion weapons are once live firearms that have been mechanically deactivated to fire blanks for use as props in movies, for historical re-enactments or private collections.

In Slovakia, such weapons — even the heaviest machine guns — can be sold to anyone over 18 who carries ID.

[Where there’s a will, there’s a way. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Charlie Hebdo Memorial Vandalised in Paris Four Times in Two Weeks

By David Chazan, Paris

A shrine in memory of the 17 people killed in attacks by three Islamist gunmen in Paris last month has been vandalised, it emerged on Sunday.

It is the fourth time the makeshift memorial, consisting of flowers, notes and photographs, has been damaged in just two weeks, said Sabrina Deliry, head of a group called “17 Never Again”, which created the shrine in Place de la République in central Paris.

“We’re sickened and disgusted,” Ms Deliry said after finding the flowers and messages of peace kicked, torn and scattered.

“It’s not the wind or the rain that did it as even objects and messages that were covered have been vandalised,” she said.

“When this happened before, we repaired the damage without saying anything, but this is too much.”

Rémy Vialeret, another member of the group, which cleans the shrine regularly, lights candles there and covers handwritten messages in plastic, said previous attacks had caused less damage.

“This time, they wrecked everything,” Mr Vialeret said, explaining that wreaths, messages and drawings had been ripped up.

[In France, the enemy doesn’t have a “sea” to swim in but an ocean. Bat Ye’or’s great book “Eurabia” explains why. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Disagreement Over Sweden’s Preparedness Against Terrorism

In a debate on Swedish Television Sunday, terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp said that Sweden is not prepared to deal with an attack, and that the country is too polarized.

But Minister of the Interior Anders Ygeman responded that that is an exaggeration. He said that Sweden’s situation is fairly good, but the country needs to do more to prevent radicalisation and recruiting into terrorism.

This is why, Ygeman says, he wants to invest more money in preventative measures. He also said that the current laws are too weak, which is why the government wants to criminalize the organization, recruiting and financing of terrorism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Newly-Tested Space Plane Aims for Next Launch in 2019

With one reportedly flawless test flight already under its belt, officials are already planning a European space plane for its next test.

The manager for the European Space Agency’s shuttle-like Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) robotic space plane is getting ready for the program’s next approved flight in 2019 or 2020. IXV performed its first uncrewed space test, launching to space and then landing in the ocean 100 minutes later on Feb. 11.

Officials working with IXV are hoping to bring the space plane down on land instead of in the ocean for its next test in the coming years. To do this, they will either install a landing gear or use a parachute-like “parafoil” to set it down safely.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Sauna-Goers May Live Longer

Men who regularly visited a sauna lived longer and were less likely to die of sudden heart attacks than men who did not visit as often, said a Finnish study out Monday.

In often frigid Finland, going to the sauna is a popular activity, and is believed to confer good health and relaxation.

While other studies have examined the link between better circulation and sauna use, the latest study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine looked at the link between sauna bathing and the risk of sudden cardiac death, fatal coronary heart disease, fatal cardiovascular disease and dying from any cause among a group of 2,315 middle-aged men (42 to 60 years old) from eastern Finland.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France Seizes Passports of Six Nationals Heading for Syria

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday that six French nationals, suspected of planning to leave for Syria, had their passports confiscated by the authorities. This is a first in France since the right to remove a passport was introduced as part of a counterterrorism law in November.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Ready to Leave for Syria, Passports Confiscated

Six nationals, for six months. Valls, ‘others will be seized’

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, FEBRUARY 23 — France has confiscated “for the first time” the passports of six nationals ready to leave for Syria, France TV Info reported on Monday.

According to BFM-TV, the six French nationals whose passports and identity papers were seized to prevent them from leaving to fight the jihad in Syria were living “in the province and region of Paris”.

Under new anti-terror rules, BFM-TV added, the confiscation lasts “for six months and can be renewed”. The six suspected militants are all aged between “23 and 28”.

“There will be others”, French Premier Manuel Valls said, commenting the episode on the sidelines of the agriculture trade fair in Paris.

According to Le Parisien, France is preparing a similar measure for some 40 people. The legislation is part of anti-terror measures adopted by Paris after the deadly terror attacks at the beginning of January.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

French Jews Award Muslim ‘Kosher Supermarket Hero’

Homage to Bathily tonight at dinner with Hollande

(ANSAmed) — PARIS — After getting honorary French citizenship, Lassana Bathily will receive an award from a council representing Jewish institutions in France (CRIF) for his role in saving lives in January during an attack on the Paris kosher supermarket Hyper Cacher. “Lassana showed that, together, we can beat terrorism,” CRIF president Roger Cukierman said in referring to the young man of Malian origins known as the ‘Hero of Hyper Cacher, a supermarket in the Porte de Vincennes area where Amedy Coulibaly went on a killing spree on 9/1. About seven hundred invitees were expected for Monday evening at CRIF’s annual dinner in which such important figures as President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls were taking part. Lassana, 24, who considers himself a ‘practicing Muslim’, arrived in France as an undocumented migrant in 2006 and received a permit of stay in 2011 after getting a diploma and working steadily for years. He submitted a request for French citizenship in July 2014 and was granted an accelerated procedure after his act, “treated with the respect his heroism deserved”. He then received citizenship during a January 20 during a ceremony with Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Some have called online for him to be granted the Legion of Honor.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Gaps in France’s Surveillance Are Clear; Solutions Aren’t

Last June, Patrick Calvar, the head of France’s domestic intelligence service, faced a decision: continue surveillance on a French Islamist who had been viewed as a potential threat for a decade, or shift limited resources to help monitor a swelling new generation of fighters returning from Syria.

The surveillance on the Islamist, Saïd Kouachi, had turned up nothing for over two years, and monitoring of his younger brother, Chérif Kouachi, had been abandoned the previous year, French officials say. Earlier in 2014, the intelligence service had transferred Saïd Kouachi’s case for several months to the Paris police, a sign that it was no longer considered a priority.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: PEGIDA Decides Hitler Selfie is No Problem

Just four weeks after announcing his resignation in the wake of a Hitler selfie scandal, the founder of the anti-Islam movement Pegida has been voted back into leadership.

A secret vote held in recent days named Lutz Bachmann back to the helm of the organising team of Pegida, which stands for the Patriots against the Islamisation of the West.

“Lutz (Bachmann) will continue to function as one of the three leaders,” the organisation wrote on its Facebook page.

In January, Bachmann stepped down following the exposure of racist comments that he had made on Facebook, as well as a photo of himself styled as Hitler, complete with toothbrush moustache.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islam and Norway’s Leaking Fish Tank

by Bjorn Jansen

Islamists such as Arfan Bhatti, Mullah Krekar and Ubaydullah Hussain have openly said they want Sharia law introduced in Norway, and placed above Norwegian law.

With such requests for divisiveness at it core, it is hard to see how Islam can not be in constant conflict with its surroundings.

There simply has been no real debate about the ripple effects created from this cultural collision-course between Humanism and Islamism.

It is probably high time to take a long, critical look at the contents of the Qur’an and see what values and spiritual seeds it can plant in people’s minds. Europeans are just starting to face a reality with which Israelis have lived for years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Company Launches New Tuscan Cigar, Garibaldi Il Grande

(AGI) Rome, Jan 14 — Garibaldi Il Grande, a limited edition cigar made by Manifatture Sigaro Toscano SpA, is now on sale at tobacconists, its first new product this year. The original Toscano Garibaldi cigar was launched in 1982, the centenary of the death of Giuseppe Garibaldi. The writer Mario Soldati noted that tobacco worked in Cava dei Tirreni was lighter in colour, sweeter and more delicate than cigars produced in Tuscany, so he advised them to create a new cigar, which became the Garibaldi. It is now the biggest seller in Italy. Garibaldi Il Grande has the same mixture, but is larger and with a more pronounced “belly”. Its short maturation and ripening make for a balanced, soft and pleasant cigar for afficionados or for novices who want a light cigar. The company is part of the Maccaferri Industrial Group which belongs to the family holding company, SECI, a firm that has operated in several areas since 1949 through its seven divisions: Officine Maccaferri (environmental engineering), Manufactures Cigar Toscano (tobacco), Eridania Sadam (food and agro-industry), SAMP (mechanical engineering), SECI Real Estate (buildings), SECI Energia (energy) and Gnosis (biotechnology). The group, chaired by Gaetano Maccaferri, had 57 factories worldwide and a turnover of 1.205 billion euros at the end of 2013.

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

Italy: Alfano Plans ‘Anti-Radicalization’ To Counter Terrorists

Interior minister meets Italian Muslim leaders in Rome

(ANSA) — Rome, February 23 — An Italian program to counter the radicalization of young Muslims by terrorists will be important to protect public safety, Interior Minister Angelo Alfano said Monday.

He spoke after he called a “friendly” meeting with leaders of Italian Muslim communities.

“This would be a kind of counter-rhetoric program, through the testimony of Italian leaders of the Islamic world,” said Alfano.

Many countries have initiated programs aimed at countering recruitment by charismatic terrorist leaders who prey on disaffected and impressionable youth.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said that Alfano stressed at the meeting “the importance of collaborating against manifestations of extremist violence”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Lavazza Sells Keurig Shares, Cash for Future Deals

Shares worth about $620 million

(ANSA) — Turin, February 23 — Coffee giant Lavazza said Monday it had sold its stake in Keurig Green Mountain Inc., worth about $620 million. Lavazza said the money will be used “for important strategic operations”. Lavazza had held a 6.6% stake in Keurig as of the middle of the month, according to published reports. Purchase price was about $119.18 per share.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Jihadist Warns Italy About ‘Lone-Wolf’ Attacks, SITE

Vows to fill Med with Italians’ blood if it enters anti-ISIS war

(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 23 — A jihadist warned Italy on Monday not to involve itself in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), vowing that otherwise the Mediterranean Sea would be “colored using the blood of (its) citizens”.

The news was given by SITE Monitoring Service, which tracks jihadist activity online.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Muslim Offer to Clean Nazi Graffiti Refused

The Norway head of anti-Islam movement Pegida has turned down a group of young Muslims who offered to clean his book shop’s walls and windows after the words “Nazi Swine” were spray-painted all over them on Saturday night.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One Fifth of Germans Want Revolution: Report

One in five Germans believe that a revolution would be the only way to truly reform society, a study released by the Free University of Berlin on Monday shows.

Anti-capitalism, anti-fascism and anti-racism were all are prominent positions according to the study entitled ‘Against state and capital — for the revolution’, which has revealed a public much further to the left than previously thought.

In the report, 20% of the people surveyed agreed with the statement that “Living conditions won’t be improved by reforms — we need a revolution”.

A similar percentage of people said they saw the rise of a new fascism in Germany as a real danger, while as many as a third agreed that capitalism inevitably leads to poverty and hunger.

Reflecting the massive media attention given to a wave of anti-Islam Pegida demonstrations, the report highlighted that 48 percent thought that a deep-rooted xenophobia existed in modern day Germany.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Padoan Signs Italian Tax Treaty With Switzerland

Aims at helping Italy combat evasion

(ANSA) — Milan, February 23 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan on Monday signed a tax treaty on behalf of Italy with Switzerland.

The deal, concluded one month ago, comes after three years of talks and aims to improve information exchanges that authorities have said will help the Italian authorities combat rampant tax evasion. Sources have said the treaty should help Italy to learn more about citizens who have hidden assets in Switzerland to avoid paying taxes here that would be worth billions of euros.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Could Boost Funds to Fight Terrorism

The Swedish government has not ruled out investing more money into the fight against terrorism, Home Affairs Minister Anders Ygeman has said.

The Social Democrat minister told broadcaster SVT’s news debate programme Agenda that more must be done in Sweden to prevent radicalization and recruitment of terrorists — and to punish those who engage in it.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Endangered Jobs List: What Work is Future-Proof?

A new report has listed 32 jobs that disappear in Sweden in the next twenty years, because of new technology. Some of them you might expect, like machine operators and office personnel. Others might not be so obvious.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: More Violence Reported in Schools

Between 2012 and 2014 there was an almost 40 percent increase in the number of reports of violence in Swedish schools submitted to the Swedish Work Environment Authority, reports Swedish Radio News.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The ISIS Threat — Should Malta be Alarmed?

Reporter tackles the rise of Islamic extremism in the Arab world and the danger it poses to Malta and her interests.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Jihadi Bride’ Schoolgirls Were Not Radicalized at School, Head Insists

The principal of the school attended by three teenage girls thought to have fled to Syria to join Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil), has said there is no evidence they were radicalised at the institution.

Mark Keary, principal of the Bethnal Green Academy in east London, said everyone at the school was “shock and saddened” to hear that GCSE pupils, Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, had left their homes last week and travelled to Turkey.

In a statement he said: “We are all shocked and saddened by the news that three of our students have been reported missing from home, having boarded a flight to Istanbul from Gatwick Airport last week. Our thoughts are with the missing girls at this time.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Killer Driver Who Avoided Jail Sentence After Telling Court of Her ‘Extreme Remorse’ Outrages Victim’s Family With Facebook Boasts About Her ‘Great Year’

A student nurse who avoided prison after she told a judge of her ‘extreme remorse’ after she drove into and killed a father-of-two has spent the months after his death posting comments online about how much she has been enjoying herself.

The family of Allan Wellings said it appears Sophie Gorton, 21, has felt little remorse since she drove her car into the path of the 40-year-old at a set of traffic lights in Oldham last July, leaving him with fatal injuries.

Since his death she has posted several updates on Facebook, talking about her ‘great year’ and holidays she has taken in Helsinki and New York…

At a hearing at Oldham Magistrates’ Court the student nurse admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was given a 12 month ban as well as 80 hours of unpaid work.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: MPs’ Salary of £67,000 is Not Enough for the Standard of Living I’m Entitled to, Says Tory Sir Malcolm Rifkind as He Defends His Second Jobs After ‘Cash for Access’ Sting

A fresh row erupted over MPs’ pay today as a senior Tory caught in a ‘cash for access’ scandal said he sought extra business deals on top of his £67,000 salary to secure the standard of living he is ‘entitled’ to enjoy.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who chairs the Intelligence and Security Select Committee, has been suspended from the Conservative party after bragging that he could see any foreign ambassador in London and has ‘useful access’ to every British ambassador in the world.

But in a series of disastrous media interviews, he claimed today that it was ‘quite unrealistic’ to expect backbench MPs with professional backgrounds to ‘simply accept a salary of £60,000’.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Middle-Aged Mother Who Spent £7,000 on Tunisian Toyboy Discovered He’d Wed Another Woman — After He Posted His Marriage Certificate on Facebook

A mother-of-two discovered that her Tunisian fiance had wed another woman when he posted his marriage certificate on Facebook.

Tracey Jackson met Atef Khadhraoui, 20 years her junior, on a social networking website. Over the next four years the 48-year-old lavished the 28-year-old with gifts and cash.

However, Tracey was left heartbroken when she discovered that he chose to repay her by marrying another woman — and not telling her.

Tracey from Rhyl, Wales, believes he must have used some of her money to fund the secret nuptials with his new wife, although he denies this claim.

She says that funding his lifestyle has left her struggling to manage financially.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Sir Malcolm Rifkind Suspended by Tories Over ‘Cash for Access’

Sir Malcolm Rifkind has been suspended from the Conservative Party in the wake of the ‘cash for access’ scandal.

The chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee has had the whip withdrawn pending an investigation by the party into his conduct.

Sir Malcolm and Jack Straw, two former foreign secretaries, offered to use their positions as politicians on behalf of a fictitious Chinese company in return for payments of at least £5,000 a day.

Shortly after the announcement that he had been suspended, Sir Malcolm told the Daily Politics show on BBC Two: “I do also want to have the standard of living that my previous professional life should entitle me to have.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why Finland and Norway Still Shun University Tuition Fees — Even for International Students

A high level of education is beneficial for all of society, so individual human beings should not have to pay for it, argues Professor Jussi Välimaa.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

A Threat to Europe: The Islamic State’s Dangerous Gains in Libya

Rival militias in Libya have thrown the country into civil war and made it easy prey for the Islamic State. The recent execution of 21 Egyptian Christians is only one sign of the terrorist group’s growing footprint in North Africa.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

A True and False Alarm

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Here is an article in Der Spiegel about the threat to Europe from the Islamic State’s beachhead in Libya. The alarm is legitimate. But it is also a misplaced alarm, or slightly off, leading to a misreading of men and events. The Muslim menace in Europe exists because there are now millions of Muslims in Europe, adhering to texts that cannot be changed, cannot be interpreted away, and that inculcate hostility and murderous hatred of non-Muslims. The Islamic State — in Iraq and Syria, in Lebanon or Gaza or Yemen or Nigeria — is a threat, but more of a threat are those already in Europe, largely supported by transfers of wealth from non-Muslim taxpayers, which taxpayers are not replacing themselves but supporting, through free health care and education and through family allowances and generous housing subsidies, the ever-increasing numbers of Muslims, who are not part of, who do not want to be part of, non-Muslim societies, but want those societies to become ever more open to slow and steady islamization, by the removal of all obstacles to the spread and then the dominance of Islam.

This won’t change, this won’t go away. It will only get worse unless nation-states, decide that they not only understand the problem, but are willing, coute que coute, not to “solve” it, but deal with it, to reduce it to manageabe proportions, and to put Islam, and Musilms, on the run.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Al Ahwany to Italy, Economic Reform Ahead

Cairo investing in 10 sectors to attract investors

(ANSAmed) — ROME — Egypt is striving to attract foreign investors once again in the country, the Egyptian minister for international cooperation,s. Naglaa Al Ahwany has said.

The minister is in Rome ahead of the international conference of Sharm el-Sheikh on economic development — on March 13-15 — to meet with Italian economic leaders to persuade them to increase their presence in Egypt by outlining progress on reforms over the past few months and convince them to believe once again in the country.

Speaking on the eve of a mission organized by Italy’s ministries of economic development and foreign affairs, which has been in Cairo since yesterday with representatives from 90 firms, five business associations and five bank groups, the minister said that “in spite of its great difficulties, Egypt remains a country in which to invest and has all the credentials to attract foreign companies”.

According to forecasts by the Economist Intelligence Unit quoted by Sace, in 2015 Egypt’s GDP should grow to 4% from 2.2% in 2014.

Al Ahwany is in Rome to reassure Italian entrepreneurs and explain what has been done so far by the Egyptian government to re-launch the country, reforming or issuing new regulations to improve the investment climate and help the development of a number of sectors.

“We are investing on 10 sectors”, he explained to ANSAmed.

And in Sharm El Sheikh “we mean to present what has been done so far and what remains to be done”. Challenges and opportunities must be taken in the energy, mineral, oil and gas sectors as well as in innovation and technology, construction, transport, logistics, tourism, agriculture, health and education. “We will present as many as 33 projects on which we are greatly investing” at the conference in March. “We will explain them to international investors and we will illustrate legislative reforms we have approved or that we are wrapping up”.

These include a law on investments — which is being changed — and another one on special economic zones, he said, also listing legislation on small credit, competitiveness, renewable energy and the electric sector. There are also two laws that need much more time, he said, given their impact on Egyptian society: the law on employment and labor laws for the public sector. “A wider debate is necessary”, said Al Ahwany.

There is also the problem of legal issues between the State and foreign companies: “We are hard at work on this sector as well to reach a quick solution. Many issues have been solved”, he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Sace: Italian Exports Potentially Worth 5 Bln in 2019

Financial insurance group, projects worth 1 bln studied

(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 23 — By 2019 Italian exports towards Egypt could be worth four billion euros, a value that could grow to five billion if the Egyptian economy will be able to recover its pre-crisis growth rate, according to Sace, the financial insurance group supporting the internationalization of Italian companies.

Italy, recalled Sace — which is taking part in an ongoing mission in Egypt promoted by the ministries of economic development and foreign affairs ahead of the Business Forum of Sharm El Sheikh — is Egypt’s fourth global provider with exports totaling 2.8 billion euros in 2013 and has over 130 Italian firms in the country. The partnership “finds fertile ground in the route to recovery over the past year, marked by a substantial recovery of consumption and investments”.

In Egypt, Sace has a portfolio of insured engagements worth some 480 million euros, mainly in energy, petrochemical and industrial technology and is working on new projects worth overall 1 billion euros involving both major Italian companies as well as many small and medium-sized firms.

In order to support Italian businesses continuing to work in the southern Mediterranean area as a privileged destination for exports and investments, the group has set up a Desk dedicated to the Middle East and North Africa, the second area in terms of exports in the Sace portfolio with some 4.8 billion euros, worth 11% of total exposition.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Escape From Libyan Hell: Egyptian Migrants Tell of Ordeal and Islamic State Torture

Over 10 thousand Egyptians have returned. Many of them, kidnapped by Muslim gangs, were forced to work without food and water. Several were marked on the scalp with an “S” out of contempt for al-Sisi, the Egyptian president. At least 45 of the returnees need medical and psychological care to help them deal with shock.

Cairo (AsiaNews)- More than ten thousand Egyptians have crossed the frontier at Al-Solloum point on the western Egyptian border these last days returning home from Libya, with an average of three thousand every day.

The corpse of six Egyptians who died with 41 other people in the explosions that happened in Al-Qubba town have been also repatriated through the Al-Solloum crossing.

Last night, two hundred Egyptians arrived at Cairo International airport who had been held hostage by the “Dawn of Libya” and “Al-Shari’a Allied” groups arrived at Cairo International airport while seven fishermen, out of the twenty one held captive on their own boat in Libya have been also liberated and flown to Cairo.

Among the arrivals, ‘Ädel Sber, 20 years old, obviously emaciated and haggard, stated that he was held hostage for three months, then liberated with the other ones who were hostages for periods between one and three months, and left at a distance of about seventy kilometers from Tunisian border. They spent three days starving of hunger.

“The most awful three months in my whole life” related ‘Ädel who explained that he was assailed in his flat in Syrta where everything was stolen and he was placed in different jails where all Egyptians were submitted to different sort of tortures, forced to strip, were beaten, humiliated and constantly insulted”.

When arriving in Tunisia, the whole group was taken care of by Tunisian authorities and flown by Egyptian aircraft from Abou Gdir airport to Cairo. All of them were had their passports and identity papers taken from them as well as everything they had, money, cell phones”.

During the three months, they were forced to work in cleaning and construction and in general deprived of food and water. Registration formalities in Cairo Airport took some time, to register the names of all these people without any identity papers.

Mohammad ‘Abdal-Sabour, 30 years old, explained that he was in Misrata and had been arrested a month and a half ago. He uncovered his head to show the letter “S” savagely stamped on his neck as happened to many others hostages. “Dawn Libya” members told them that this was their way to send their concrete greetings to Al-Sissi.

Another migrant, Mohammad ‘Abdal-’Azîm explained that after being arrested he was forced to work in a huge weapon and ammunition dump. ‘I was ordered to tell everybody in Egypt that they are very well stocked in armaments and rockets. They wanted us to force us to fight with them, After the Egyptian strikes against Islamic State (IS) bases, they become more ferocious”.

On their return, they were all forced by “Dawn Libya” and “Shari’a Allies” to sign a document asserting they have been well treated.

Tens of other Egyptians at the airport were explaining how they decided to flee from the Libyan inferno after seeing the twenty one Egyptian martyrs savagely beheaded by IS, but they were stopped by IS militias and all their possessions, luggage and papers as well as money, computers, cell phones, etc. were taken from them.

Many of them had to go through fifteen traps lured by different gangs who all racketed them. Among the two hundred Egyptians who returned at least 45 needed treatment for the psychological trauma of what they were subjected to during their captivity.

Everybody in Egypt is expecting thousands of returns from Libya and are deeply concerned about the fate of those Egyptians still in the neighboring nation.

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

Libyan ‘Chemical Weapons Site Under Control’, Tobruk Gov’t

No unauthorized access, says OPAC representative

(ANSAmed) — ROME — A chemical weapons storage site in Ruwagha, Libya, is safe and has not been accessed by any unauthorized individual, an Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPAC) representative connected with the internationally-recognized Tobruk government has reportedly stated.

There are about 40 government troops protecting the site. Former dictator Muammar Gaddafi had concentrated his chemical weapons program in the Ruwagha site in the central province of Jufra, Fezzan. The program was later declared to OPAC in line with the signing of the 2004 Chemical Weapons Convention. Though the most dangerous (Category 1) weapons were destroyed in February 2014, there are still 846 tons of precursor (Category 2) materials, including 27 tons of chemical agents that are extremely dangerous as they are a basis for the nerve gas Soman.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Libya: Tobruk: All Contracts With Foreign Firms Reconsidered

Al Thani government, Turkish companies not allowed to operate

(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 23 — The Libyan government has decided to “review all contracts with foreign companies and exclude Turkish firms from the possibility of operating in the country”, the cabinet, forced to meet in Tobruk, said in a statement. The government recognized by the international community accuses Turkey of supporting militias in power in Tripoli.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Morocco Aims for Half a Million Italians in 2015

Last year 7% increase registered

(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 23 — The objective of Moroccan operators, in an efficient alliance between institutional and private actors, is to bring the number of Italian tourists choosing the Kingdom for their holidays to half a million by the end of 2015. Such an important objective is not impossible to pursue, given that last year 418,000 Italian tourists visited, up 7% on 2013.

Italy is a key market for Morocco, for its overall numbers (each year 17 million Italian tourists are registered in foreign locations), as well as for its fourth place within Europe, after France, Germany and Great Britain.

Italian tourists, Moroccan operators said, have as priorities, when choosing a holiday destination, the beauty and hospitality of seaside resorts (the quality of hotels and resorts) local cuisine and culture. And Morocco has strongly invested in its attractions for years, something which is today giving the hoped-for results.

The attention devoted by Morocco’s tourism sector to European markets is confirmed also by the growing number of flights with an increase in weekly connections — from 500 to 700 — between major European cities and the international airport of Casablanca.

The airport will be affected by a program, which will increase the quality of structures and operational level compared to other airports in the Kingdom by 2015.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Newspaper Claims Islamic State May Get Libya’s Chemical Weapons

Last February it was claimed all Libyan chemical weapons were destroyed.

The U.S. and Libya “used a transportable oven technology to destroy hundreds of bombs and artillery rounds filled with deadly mustard agent, which American officials had feared could fall into the hands of terrorists,” the newspaper reported on February 2, 2014.

The effort was conducted with funding provided by the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program with help from the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Parsons Corporation, a construction company that wasted millions of U.S. tax dollars in Iraq.

Now that the U.S. trained and Gulf Emirate funded Islamic State threatens to take over Libya in the wake of the U.S. invasion of the north African nation, the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat says chemical weapons remain in Libya and are in danger of falling into the hands of the Islamic State.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Nakba Museum: Of Memory and Hope

In 2011, Bshara Nassar participated in a New Story Leadership program that brought together young Israelis and Palestinians in a powerful learning experience. The program took 18 participants to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which certainly seemed like an appropriate site for reflection. However, he realized that there was not a museum dedicated to showing the suffering of the Palestinian people. Although the program aspired to fairly expose participants to the historical underpinnings of the Israeli and Palestinian narratives on modern history, Nassar realized that it was missing a key element of the Palestinian experience — which inspired him to create the Nakba Museum, which is live online and will open its first physical exhibit in Washington, D.C. this June.

Nassar, a former Arab American Institute intern, grew up near the outskirts of Bethlehem under the Israeli occupation with the constant threat of displacement from his family’s historic land. Despite his circumstances, he always wanted to be a peace builder and came to embrace non-violent methods to protest the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Nassar recounts the first hand impact of the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the 1948 war) in the refugee camp near his home which he frequently visited. “I saw what it was like to be a refugee and what I saw was that the Nakba did not just happen in 1948, but is happening today.”

When Nassar met Sam Feigenbaum, an American Jew, at the Tent of Nations program in Palestine his ambition to open the Nakba museum became a reality.

[…]

The opening exhibit will be hosted on June 12-27th at the Festival Center in Washington, D.C. The opening exhibit will feature photos and prints of the Nakba as well as video interviews with refugees.

[A bit of competition for those whom the Qur’an describes as “strongest among men in enmity to the believers.” Wonder if they’ll have any photos of Palestinian leader Hajj Amin Al-Husseini doing grip-and-grins with Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler even as the Holocaust was well under way. Or of him inspecting the Waffen SS Handschar Division that he helped Himmler form in Yugoslavia, whose ranks were composed largely of Bosnian Muslims. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Daesh (ISIS) Burns 50 Civilians to Death in Iraq’s Al-Anbar Province

Daesh militants have reportedly burned to death 50 civilians in Iraq’s violence-plagued western province of al-Anbar, in a brutal execution similar to the one previously carried out on a Jordanian pilot.

Provincial sources, requesting anonymity, said the men were killed in the town of Hit, located about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad, Iraq’s public broadcaster al-Iraqiya TV reported on Saturday.

The development comes less than a week after Daesh (ISIL) members torched to death at least 45 people in the conflict-ridden city of Khan al-Baghdadi, situated about 180 kilometers (110 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

[This is turning into a regular saturnalia of slaughter. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

France Deploys Aircraft Carrier in Gulf for is Fight

France deployed an aircraft carrier in the Gulf on Monday as part of the US-led military campaign against the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq, a defence ministry official said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gulf Nations Boost Military Spending to 132 Bln in 2015

As tensions and military commitments rise across the entire Middle East and as oil prices drop on international markets, the UAE is holding the largest defense exhibition and conference (IDEX) in the region. Gulf monarchies are now actively taking part in operations and not just financing them, such as in airstrikes on Islamic State (ISIS) positions by the UAE and Bahrain, it was noted at the exhibition. Amid speculation on to what extent oil price oscillations can affect defense budgets of countries with a surplus able to absorb a deficit for at least five years, Jane’s estimates that the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) will spend over 132 billion euros in 2015, equal to 10% growth every year since 2012.

The US-based Avascent instead forecasts 5% growth in defense spending in the Middle East until 2020. Gulf nations account for — and are expected to continue to do so — over 80% of the spending. Saudi Arabia spends the most and was seventh at the world level last year at 43 billion euros, followed by the UAE (13.2 billion euros in purchases) at 15th worldwide. The UAE and Jordan are among the countries that have made the move to start producing as well as purchasing by investing in a national military industry.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Releases Video of Child Soldiers Training for Jihad in Syria Camp for ‘Cubs of the Caliphate’

Isis has released a new propaganda video claiming to show a terror training camp for children dubbed jihadist “cubs”.

Around 80 boys are seen standing in formation in a courtyard as they perform exercises and chant “Allahu Akbar!” to a commander’s orders.

They are dressed in combat gear and wearing black headbands styled after the militant group’s black flag.

Some of the conscripts are believed to be as young as five and the group could include the foreign sons of fighters who left their home countries to join Isis’ bloody campaign to establish a hardline Islamic “caliphate”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Sets Up English Schools for Fighters’ Children

Islamic doctrine and math, ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’

(ANSAmed) — LONDON — The Islamic State (ISIS) has expanded it ‘public administration’ with the creation of two schools for the children of Western fighters that speak English.

The news was reported by The Independent on Monday in quoting sources from the anti-jihadist group ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’. The two schools are said to be in northern city considered ISIS’s ‘capital’, Raqqa, and were publicized by a flyer urging militants to send their children to school. There is one school for boys and one for girls, and subjects include Sharia (Islamic law, taught according to ISIS’s interpretation), along with mathematics, English and the ‘principles’ of jihad. Part-time and full-time positions are said to be available for teachers.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Capital in Syria is ‘Like a Big Prison,’ Activist Says

(CNN) It’s not hard to get into Raqqa. The problem, one prominent activist tells CNN, is getting out.

Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi’s voice is calm and measured as he describes life inside the city ISIS claims as the capital of its so-called caliphate. But the horrors he details are harrowing.

Airstrikes. Executions. Forced blood donations and marriages to ISIS fighters.

Al-Raqqawi isn’t his real name. It’s the identity the former medical student who helped found an activist group called “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” uses to speak out. ISIS fighters have already tortured and executed one member of the group, he says, and they’ve made it clear they want the others involved dead.

Still, al-Raqqawi tells CNN’s Brooke Baldwin that won’t stop him from sharing what he sees.

“I lost my life … I don’t have school. I don’t have a future. I don’t have anything, but I didn’t want that for me or for my city,” he says.

[…]

Here’s a look at some of the things al-Raqqawi has told CNN he and others from the activist group have seen in Raqqa.

Dozens executed

In two months at least 40 people have been executed in Raqqa, al-Raqqawi says, for charges including being a fighter for the Free Syrian Army, being gay or killing others. Activists, he says, are also targeted.

Forced blood donation

In Raqqa, al-Raqqawi says, a day might start out with a trip to court over a home robbery, and end up with a forced blood donation.

“If you have anything in the Islamic court, they say, ‘Go to the hospital and donate your blood and bring me the receipt, and if you don’t have it, I can’t help you,” he says.

Women forced into marriages

For women, al-Raqqawi says, the city is “like a big prison.” They are not allowed to leave the city if they are younger than 45 years old. And he says his activist group has documented more than 270 cases of girls forced to marry ISIS fighters.

“ISIS fighters are really sex-mad. … Some of them have two and three wives, and even with that they are trying to find slaves from Yazidi girls,” he says.

[…]

Foreign fighters flood city

“There is a big wall between the civilians and foreign fighters. It’s like two different lives inside the city of Raqqa,” al-Raqqawi says. “Yes it’s heaven for some of these foreign fighters, because they give them a lot of money. They give them the fancy houses. They give them the fancy cars.”

But for some, it’s not the paradise they imagined, al-Raqqawi says. Rumors swirl, he says, about foreign fighters being killed after trying to defect.

“ISIS takes their passports and if anyone tries defection from this, they will kill them immediately,” he says. “The problem, it’s not how to go inside the city of Raqqa. The problem is how to get out.”

[Islamic dystopia. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Attacks Assyrian Villages in Syria, 4 Killed, Dozens Captured, Churches Burned

Hassaka, Syria (AINA) — Fighting broke out at 5 AM today between ISIS and Assyrian and Kurdish fighters in the Hasaka province in northeast Syria. ISIS attacked the Assyrian villages of Tel Goran, Tel Hurmiz, Tel Tamar, Tel Baloaa Tel Shamiran, Tel Riman, Tel Nasra, Tel Khareta, and Abu Tena. The ISIS fighters were met by members of Assyrian Guards (called Natorehs), an Assyrian Militia, and Kurdish fighters from YPG. Four Assyrian fighters were killed as well as tens of ISIS fighters. According to the latest reports, fighting is still ongoing in Tel Tamar.

ISIS has abducted dozens of Assyrian men, women and children, including 12 from Tel Hurmiz, 15 from Tel Goran. They have been brought to Jabal Abdul Aziz. The residents of the villages of Tel Shamiran (approximately 50) and Tel Jazira (about 40) are being held captive in their own villages by ISIS.

According to a report by Newsweek, ISIS will use the Assyrian hostages for a prisoner swap with Kurdish fighters.

A number of churches have been destroyed, including the church in Tel Hurmiz, one of the oldest churches in Syria, the Mar Bisho church in Tel Shamiran, the church in Qabr Shamiy and the church in Tel Baloua.

There are 35 contiguous Assyrian villages on both sides of the Khabur river, stretching 80 kilometers west from Hassaka to Ras al-Ain. The remaining inhabitants of these villages, some 3000, have now been evacuated, most to Hasaka and about 200 to Qamishli. Hundreds have taken refuge in St. Mary church in Hasaka and and St. Ephrem church in Qamishli.

In Hasaka the Assyrian Democratic Organization was aiding the Assyrian refugees with housing and food.

AINA spoke by telephone to Hani Zaya, whose parents, who live in Tel Goran, were abducted by ISIS. According to Mr. Zaya, local Arabs who are members of ISIS and who knew the Assyrian village residents reportedly brought them to “safe-houses” in nearby villages. None of the captives have answered or made telephone calls. Calls made by relatives of the captives have been answered by ISIS members, who have said there is nothing to be done for the hostages.

[More extras for the snuff vids, taken as the world twiddles its collective thumbs. Yeats: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS: De Gaulle Carrier Starts Operation in Persian Gulf

Min. Le Drian awaited on board, first recognition Monday morning

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, FEBRUARY 23 — France is deploying its most prestigious aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, in the coalition to fight the Islamic State, sources from the defense ministry announced Monday, adding that Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will personally visit the war ship to kick off operations.

The first aircrafts will start taking off already on Monday morning from the ship in operations of surveillance and to gather data on the situation on the ground as well as to carry out raids in order to support the Iraqi army.

The De Gaulle, which has been in the northern Persian Gulf for a few days, should remain in the area for four to eight weeks, and has 12 Rafale fighter jets, nine super Etendard and four helicopters. It is accompanied by a “naval air group” including air defense frigate Chevalier Paul, a refueling oil tanker, a British frigate for anti-submarine warfare and a nuclear-powered attack submarine.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Opens ‘Junior Jihadi’ Training Camp and English Language Schools

ISLAMIC State terrorists have opened a “junior jihadi” training camp teaching young ­recruits how to fight and new schools for English-speaking kids that may service the five children of notorious Sydney terrorist Khaled Sharrouf.

The death cult has released a new film showing young children dressed in combat ­fatigues and wearing Islamic bandannas.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Expands Beyond Syria, Iraq as Recruits Create Global Network of Terror Cells

The Islamic State terrorist army is collecting an increasing number of followers outside its home in Syria and Iraq in what is shaping up as a global enterprise to commit mass killings and destabilize governments.

In Libya alone, there are at least six Islamic State-aligned terrorist cells, according to a Feb. 18 report by the nonprofit Institute for the Study of War. On Egypt’s other flank, another Islamic State group showed it could carry out complex deadly attacks in the Sinai Peninsula.

Last month, the Islamic State, also known as ISIL and ISIS, announced it had set up its terrorism shop on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and recruited leaders from the Pakistan and Afghanistan Taliban.

Islamic State recruiting cells have sprung up in Morocco, Algeria and other North African states. Supporters are waving its black flag in a number of Muslim-majority countries.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kayla Mueller’s Brother: Swap With Taliban Raised is Demands

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — The brother of an American woman who was killed after spending months as a hostage of Islamic State militants says Kayla Mueller’s situation worsened after the government traded five Taliban commanders for a captive U.S. soldier.

The militants increased their demands after the May swap for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, Eric Mueller told NBC’s “Today” in an interview that aired Monday.

“That made the whole situation worse because that’s when the demands got greater,” he said. “They got larger. They realized that they had something.”

Mueller’s death was confirmed Feb. 10 by her family and U.S. officials. The Islamic State group claimed she died in a Jordanian airstrike, but U.S. officials have not confirmed that. The Pentagon said it didn’t know how she was killed.

The 26-year-old international aid worker, who grew up in Prescott, Arizona, was captured in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Private Donors From Gulf Oil States Helping to Bankroll Salaries of Up to 100,000 ISIS Fighters

Islamic State is still receiving significant financial support from Arab sympathisers outside Iraq and Syria, enabling it to expand its war effort, says a senior Kurdish official.

The US has being trying to stop such private donors in the Gulf oil states sending to Islamic State (Isis) funds that help pay the salaries of fighters who may number well over 100,000.

Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of the Kurdish President, Massoud Barzani, told The Independent on Sunday: “There is sympathy for Da’esh [the Arabic acronym for IS, also known as Isis] in many Arab countries and this has translated into money — and that is a disaster.” He pointed out that until recently financial aid was being given more or less openly by Gulf states to the opposition in Syria — but by now most of these rebel groups have been absorbed into IS and Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate, so it is they “who now have the money and the weapons”.

Mr Hussein would not identify the states from which the funding for IS comes today, but implied that they were the same Gulf oil states that financed Sunni Arab rebels in Iraq and Syria in the past.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: Men Arrested for Dancing at Birthday Party

(IRISH INDEPENDENT) — Saudi Arabia’s morality police detained a group of young men for dancing at a birthday party and referred them to prosecutors, according to a state-linked media report.

The news website Ayn al-Youm reported yesterday that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice raided a private property in the city of Buraydah, arresting the men inside for “loud music and inappropriate dancing”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi “Morality” Police Arrest Men for Dancing Around a Birthday Cake

Saudi Arabia’s morality police have arrested men at a birthday party for “loud music and inappropriate dancing,” according to state-linked media reports.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice raided a property in the central Saudi city of Buraydah on Saturday evening, according to the Ayn al-Youm news website.

The detained men were found in a “compromising situation in their dance and shameful movements” an official said. A birthday cake and candles were also discovered in the residence.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Terror Trainees: New ISIS Video Shows Indoctrination of Kids as Young as 5

The latest disturbing video from ISIS shows what the Islamist group touts as the next generation of jihadist killers, pint-sized terror trainees who appear to be as young as 5 participating in drills and reciting verses from the Koran.

The 9-minute video released Monday shows about 70 camouflage-clad kids, who are reportedly the children of foreign fighters who have flocked to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamist army. An instructor states in Arabic that most of the children are in the second phase of training and that they represent the “next generation” of ISIS. The video illustrates the charge in a UN Human Rights Council report last year that determined that Islamic State “has established training camps to recruit children into armed roles under the guise of education.”

“At the camps, the children recruited received weapons training and religious education,” the report stated. “The existence of such camps seems to indicate that ISIS systematically provides weapons training for children.

“Subsequently, they were deployed in active combat during military operations, including suicide-bombing missions,” it stated.

In the video, the children wear ISIS’ trademark black headbands and are seen answering religious questions and quoting the Koran against a soundtrack of Arabic music. The clip provides a disturbing snapshot into how the extremist group is taking young innocent children and turning them into their own depraved version of Nazi Germany’s Hitler youth, experts said.

[And if these poor kids are the children of Western foreign fighters, they can be sent back him when thoroughly brainwashed — there to fit right in with their native language capabilities and either recruit more terrs or carry out ops themselves. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

There is No Modern Islam

by Daniel Greenfield

Like math and the Midwest, ISIS confuses progressives. It’s not hard to confuse a group of people who never figured out that if you borrow 18 trillion dollars, you’re going to have to pay it back. But ISIS is especially confusing to a demographic whose entire ideology is being on the right side of history.

Raised to believe that history inevitably trended toward diversity in catalog models, fusion restaurants and gay marriage, the Arab Spring led them on by promising that the Middle East would be just like Europe and then ISIS tore up their Lonely Planet guidebook to Syria and chopped off their heads.

But ISIS also believes that it’s on the right side of history. Its history is the Koran. The right side of its history is what Iraq and Syria look like today. It’s also how parts of Europe are starting to look.

Progressive politicians and pundits trying to cope with ISIS lapse into a shrill incoherence that has nothing to do with their outrage at its atrocities and a lot to do with their sheer incomprehension. Terms like “apocalyptic nihilism” get thrown around as if heavy metal were beginning to make a comeback.

Those few analysts who admit that the Islamic State might be a just a little Islamic emphasize that it’s a medieval throwback, as if there were some modern version of Islam to compare it to.

Journalists trying to make sense of ISIS demanding Jizya payments and taking slaves ought to remember that these aren’t medieval behaviors in the Middle East. Not unless medieval means the 19th century. And that’s spotting them a whole century. Saudi Arabia only abolished slavery in 1962 under pressure from the United States. Its labor market and that of fellow Petrojihadi kingdoms like Kuwait and Qatar are based on arrangements that look a lot like temporary slavery… for those foreigners who survive.

Non-Muslims paid Jizya to Muslim rulers until very recently. Here is what it looked like in nineteenth century Morocco from the account of James Riley, an American shipwrecked sea captain…

           — Hat tip: K [Return to headlines]
 

UN Envoy De Mistura: ‘Don’t Repeat Libya’s Mistakes in Syria’

‘Don’t void institutions. Aleppo test for peace’

(by Valeria Robecco) (ANSAmed) — NEW YORK — The mistakes committed in Libya should not be repeated in Syria — voiding institutions would mean leaving the country in the hands of ISIS, the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warns.

What occurred in Syria should “be a lesson for Libya”, the Italian-Swedish diplomat told ANSA in an interview. “The Islamic State is like political Ebola which takes advantage of the body’s weakness, of the frailty of a nation”.

“I have learned with my eyes, both in Iraq and Afghanistan, how one of the things to avoid when there is UN-backed international intervention is to scrap local institutions”.

The diplomat said a scenario like the one seen in Libya after Gaddafi’s fall should be avoided. And the same mistake committed in Syria should also be avoided in the North African country.

“If the problem of the crisis in the Middle Eastern State had been confronted two or three years ago in a more proactive manner, we would not be at the point where we are now. This is a lesson for Libya”, said de Mistura.

The diplomat noted that everybody is now aware that no one can win the conflict in Syria and a political solution is necessary. “These were just words before, but the very aggressive entrance of ISIS in the country and, afterwards, the US-led coalition’s intervention have radically changed the scenario”.

However, de Mistura believes there is still room for political intervention, which has led to the idea of carrying out a test on Aleppo. Addressing the UN Security Council, the envoy has announced that the Syrian government has said it is willing to stop bombing the city for six weeks.

The effort, he noted, could be extended to ‘break the ice’ and be a real test for peace. “Aleppo is iconic”, he explained. “It has been besieged for a long time and risks falling at any time. If this occurred, there would be another 400,000 or 500,000 refugees”. Moreover, he continued, “it is the last great contested city. This is why it has great meaning for both sides and we must not forget that people need a moment of hope, to see that a political debate is ongoing”.

The real problem, as with all announcements, is verifying whether they will become real: “This is why I will go to Damascus in a few days”, he explained.

“If the promise will be respected, through the international community and the EU, with Federica Mogherini who has been very active, we could bring forward an accelerated humanitarian intervention, showing that when there is a moment of calm in a war, the population immediately has a great advantage”, he said.

De Mistura has no illusions and knows the conflict is considered a ‘mission impossible’ where his predecessors Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi have already failed. “This is because there are more internal and external interventions, if I had to calculate how many entities and governments are involved, I would say perhaps 18”, he revealed. “The UN negotiates and must negotiate will all, the only ones with whom we have no direct dialogue are the terrorists”, he stressed.

However, the diplomat hopes that, if the time will come for political talks, the different members of the opposition will be able to start having a closer stance so as to avoid a fragmentation that makes the situation still difficult and contradictory”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Yemen: Sources, Egypt Has Closed Embassy in Sanaa

Egypt has closed its embassy in Yemen. Egypt’s ambassador to Sanaa, Youssef el Sharkawi returned to Cairo on Monday morning together will all diplomats who were deployed until Sunday in the Yemeni capital, diplomatic sources said Monday.

The shutdown is due to the ‘‘deterioration of security conditions’’. The Egyptian school has also been closed over concern for the students’ safety.

Egypt is a protagonist of the Yemeni crisis as it has announced that it will intervene with a military operation if the new regime of the Houthis in Yemen closes the Bab al-Mandab strait in the Red Sea used by ships to access the Suez Canal, a great source of revenue, in order to reach Europe from Asia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

For Ukrainian Church, Even the Pope Calls the Conflict a Civil War, Something Kyiv Does Not Acknowledge

The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church press service appreciates the “shared position” with the Church of Rome on the conflict in eastern Ukraine. He attacks the government, wondering whether it will now accuse the pope of being a subversive and ban him from the country.

Moscow (AsiaNews) — “Perhaps for the first time since [Stalin’s] militant atheism, the two ‘wings’ of the Church of Christ — Orthodox and Catholic — are together on the evil that is happening,” said Vasily Anisimov, head of the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate

In an article in Interfax, Asinimov welcomes the pope’s appeal to end the “fratricidal violence” and the “war between Christians” in Ukraine. He begins with Francis’s words to condemn the position taken by the Ukrainian government, which, he believes continues to deny that the war in the east is a war between Ukrainians.

He notes that the pope’s assessment of the disaster in Donbass fully coincides with that of the Orthodox world. In fact, both the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Onufry, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, and the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and other primates of national Orthodox Churches are calling for an end to the bloodshed in our devastated land.

This position does not does not coincide with Ukraine’s official propaganda. “Has anyone heard a word urging for fraternity, mercy and humanity to opponents from those in power or from militant propagandists during long months of this terrible war?” Anisimov asks. “What are the roots of this fanatic intolerance? Or there are no Christians capable to hear the voice of the Church of Christ, to hear its position among our officials?” Anisimov writes.

Baiting Ukrainian leaders, he cites the recent case of Ukrainian journalist-blogger Ruslan Kotsaba, who belongs to the Greek Catholic Church, which is in communion with the pope but follows eastern rites.

Currently held in Ivano-Frankivsk awaiting trial on treason charges, Kotsaba earlier this month described the conflict in the Donbass as a “civil war” and called on Ukrainians to dodge the draft after President Petro Poroshenko issued orders to mobilise forces to fight in the east. As part of this drive, three recruitment campaigns are planned for this year.

According to Anisimov, Ukrainian secret services are already digging into the journalist’s network of contacts and found links with colleagues in NTV, one of the Russian TV networks banned in Ukraine.

However, for a sarcastic Anisimov, Kotsaba’s subversive sources are already very clear. They come from the Vatican, from Pope Francis.

“I wonder what punishment our authorities will choose for the Pope of Rome for his evident anti-state activities? Will they stop broadcasting his sermons, cut out any references to him in movies and TV-programs? Or will they ban him to enter the country [sic]”.

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

Interventionism Kills: Post-Coup Ukraine One Year Later

It was one year ago last weekend that a violent coup overthrew the legally elected government of Ukraine. That coup was not only supported by US and EU governments — much of it was actually planned by them. Looking back at the events that led to the overthrow it is clear that without foreign intervention Ukraine would not be in its current, seemingly hopeless situation.

By the end of 2013, Ukraine’s economy was in ruins. The government was desperate for an economic bailout and then-president Yanukovych first looked west to the US and EU before deciding to accept an offer of help from Russia. Residents of south and east Ukraine, who largely speak Russian and trade extensively with Russia were pleased with the decision. West Ukrainians who identify with Poland and Europe began to protest. Ukraine is a deeply divided country and the president came from the eastern region.

At this point the conflict was just another chapter in Ukraine’s difficult post-Soviet history. There was bound to be some discontent over the decision, but if there had been no foreign intervention in support of the protests you would likely not be reading this column today. The problem may well have solved itself in due time rather than escalated into a full-out civil war. But the interventionists in the US and EU won out again, and their interventionist project has been a disaster.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Moscow’s Flagship $12 Billion Financial District is a Half-Empty Disaster

Moscow’s financial district is a little like the Russian government’s international stature: on the surface gleaming and new and perhaps even a little intimidating.

But scratch just below the surface and it’s mostly empty, with a lot of money wasted.

The Moskva City complex contains Europe’s tallest building, Mercury City Tower. London’s Shard comes in second place, but Moskva City also contains the next three tallest. It’s just a shame that most of them are half-empty.

There’s a great report in CityMetric on this: The real-estate consultancy Blackwood says a dismal 45% of the district is vacant, up from a third just a few months ago when The New York Times wrote about it.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ron Paul: U.S., EU Behind Ukraine Coup

The overthrow of the legally elected government of Ukraine was “was not only supported by U.S. and EU governments — much of it was actually planned by them,“ former congressman Dr. Ron Paul said.

In his weekly column posted Sunday, Dr. Paul blamed western interventionism for the death and destruction in Ukraine’s ongoing civil war.

“Looking back at the events that led to the overthrow it is clear that without foreign intervention Ukraine would not be in its current, seemingly hopeless situation,” he wrote. “By the end of 2013 [before the coup], Ukraine’s economy was in ruins. The government was desperate for an economic bailout and then-president Yanukovych first looked west to the U.S. and EU before deciding to accept an offer of help from Russia.”

That led to division within the country, but as Dr. Paul points out, if it wasn’t for western intervention, the problem may have solved itself eventually instead of escalating into a full-blown civil war…

“Well, I set up a foundation in Ukraine before Ukraine became independent of Russia, and the foundation has been functioning ever since and played an important part in events now,” Soros responded.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Afghanistan: Indian Jesuit Freed After Eight Months in Captivity

Fr. Alexis Prem Kumar, head of the Afghan section of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is back in Delhi. The organization expresses “immense gratitude” to the Indian government. Former regional director for South Asia: “Positive sign for the volunteers who work in Afghanistan.”

New Delhi (AsiaNews) — After more than eight months after his abduction, Fr. Alexis Prem Kumar, a Jesuit priest of the JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service) returned last night to Delhi.

In a statement issued shortly after his release, the organization said it was “immensely grateful” to the Indian government for the role played in the release of Fr. Kumar.

Fr. Louis Prakash SJ, director of the Indian Social Institute (Bangalore), told AsiaNews: “We welcome this great news. It is a very positive sign for the volunteers who work in Afghanistan and who, in the past, have experienced difficult times. His release will also strengthen the relations between our two countries”.

Fr. Louis, former director of JRS for South Asia, was personally involved in the negotiations and in “cautious and secrets” efforts to free Fr. Kumar. “In the last two weeks — he tells AsiaNews — there were signs of an imminent release, but only yesterday we were able to rejoice for his release.”

On June 2, 2014 p. Kumar, 47, was taken by a group of unidentified men in Herat province, while he was visiting a JRS school. A native of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Jesuit was the head of JRS Afghanistan and managed educational and health support programs for returnees from Iran and Pakistan.

The JRS has been working in Afghanistan since 2005. Even in the months of Fr. Kumar’s captivity, the association continued to carry out its programs, to ensure that local students have access to quality education.

“Our role in Afghanistan — said Fr. Stan Fernandes, current regional JRS director for South Asia — has been to help displaced persons and their host communities, to offer them education and skills so they can rebuild their lives and those of their communities. We were close to the Afghan people before the abduction of Fr Prem and we will continue to accompany them in any way we can”.

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

India: First Monument to the Martyrs of Anti-Christian Pogroms Erected in Odisha

The initiative is undertaken in the village Tiangia, where residents wanted to remember local victims, “pillars of testimony.” The archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar blessed a commemorative plaque in the presence of the local clergy and hundreds of faithful. The violence in Kandhamal in 2008 was the worst ever against India’s Christian minority.

Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) — Christian residents in the village of Tiangia (Odisha) have erected the first monument to honour seven martyrs, victims of anti-Christian pogroms in Kandhamal in 2008. Mgr John Barwa SVD, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, blessed the memorial plaque on 13 February, in the presence of priests and hundreds of faithful.

“These seven martyrs,” said the prelate, “are pillars of testimony for the people of Kandhamal and beyond. We thank God for giving us such men, who sacrificed their precious lives for the love of Jesus. Rather than give up their faith, they clang to Christ with passion. For us, they are a source of inspiration and hope.”

The seven martyrs, all from Tiangia, are: Fr Bernard Digal (died 28 October 2008), Trinath Digal (25 August 2008), Bikram Nayak (25 August 2008), Parikhit Nayak (27 August 2008), Darasantha Pradhan (25 August 2008), Dibyasing Digal (25 August 2008), and Dinabandhu Pradhan (27 August 2008).

On 23 August 2008, a Maoist group killed Hindu leader Saraswati Laxanananda in his ashram, in Kandhamal District, a fact the group readily admitted.

However, the followers of the radical Hindu cleric blamed Christians, whom he had criticised for a long time because of their social involvement with tribals and Dalits (outcaste) and had accused — along with bishops, priests and nuns — of proselytising.

In Kandhamal, Hindu extremists unleashed the most violent persecution against the Christian minority that India had ever seen.

Overall, the pogrom forced 55,000 Christians to flee, with 5,600 houses and 415 villages raided and set on fire.

According to government figures, 38 people were killed and two women raped. Scores of people were injured and permanently maimed.

The Church and social activists reported instead the destruction of almost 300 churches, plus convents, schools, hostels and welfare facilities. At least 91 people died, 38 immediately, 41 from injuries sustained in the violence, and 12 in police action.

“These seven martyrs gave their precious life to bear witness to their faith and die for Christ during the massacre of Kandhamal,” Fr Manoj Kumar Nayak told AsiaNews.

“The memorial is our little tribute,” the social activist added. “We hope that their life of faith and their testimony will not be lost, but rather inspire others to live in a heroic way.”

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

North Korea Exports Forced Laborers for Profit, Rights Groups Say

Tens of thousands of North Koreans work long hours for little or no pay, toiling in Chinese factories or Russian logging camps, digging military tunnels in Myanmar, building monuments for African dictators, sweating at construction sites in the Middle East or aboard fishing boats off Fiji, according to former workers and human rights researchers.

For decades, North Korea has been accused of sending workers abroad and of confiscating most of their wages. But in the years since Kim Jong-un took over as leader, human rights researchers say, the program has expanded rapidly as international sanctions have squeezed the country’s other sources of foreign currency, like illicit trading in missile parts.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Grand Mufti in Shocking Defence of Evil Fanatics

I AM now begging Australia’s Grand Mufti, our highest ranking Muslim cleric: stop shielding extremists.

Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohammed last week appeared in a video called Muslim Community Confronts Abbott, and made common cause with one of our most extreme Islamist groups.

This is frightening.

Most journalists insist there is a difference between moderate Muslims wanting peace and the radical jihadists who are preaching hate.

But the Mufti now destroys our work by the way he defends Hizb ut-Tahrir from the anti-terrorism plans Prime Minister Tony Abbott is expected to announce in Canberra today.

[“destroys our work” eh — I think he means “shows that journalists who whitewash islam are, and have been, lying for years.”

Er, yes … WE KNOW!!!! —Nick]

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

PM Announces He Will Strip Returning Jihadis of Citizenship

Many Australians who fight for the Islamic State will be stripped of their citizenship, the Prime Minister has announced, as part of tough new counter-terrorism laws.

The dramatic pledge came as a review released today revealed more than thirty Australians have returned home after fighting for jihadist causes overseas.

In a landmark national security address, Mr Abbott said the government will attempt to strip or suspend the citizenship of Australians with dual citizenship fighting overseas.

The government is also exploring taking away some of the rights of jihadists who are sole Australian citizens, Mr Abbott said.

That could include restricting their access to welfare payments, to consular help and their ability to leave or return to Australia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Thirty Jihadis Return Home to Australia After Being Foreign Fighters

UPDATE: THE Federal Government will appoint a new counter-terrorism boss, as its revealed more than 30 foreign fighters have returned to Australia amid the rising threat of lone-wolf attacks.

There are at least 90 Australians fighting with and supporting terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria and at least 140 people in Australia supporting extremist groups, a review of Australia’s counterterrorism co-ordination has found.

A National Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator will be appointed to improve co-ordination of the various government agencies, Mr Abbott will announce in a National Security Statement to Parliament today.

“Australia has entered a new, long-term era of heightened terrorism threat, with a much more significant ‘home grown’ element,” Mr Abbott said.

[Coming soon to a neighborhood near you! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Al Shabaab Calls for Attacks in the West

One day after a double-bombing in Mogadishu, al-Shabaab released a video calling for attacks on malls in the West including the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. The video addressed the deadly 2013 attack on the Westgate Mall in Kenya which killed over 60 people and lasted four days. At the end of the video, a masked figure asks:

“If just a handful of mujahedeen fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week then imagine what a dedicated mujahedeen in the West could do to the American or Jewish-owned shopping centers across the world?”

He goes on to name several western malls, before encouraging viewers to “hurry up, hasten towards heaven and do not hesitate.”

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has said that US intelligence has not yet identified a credible threat, but urged shoppers to exercise caution in light of the video. The Mall of America has implemented heightened security, according to their statement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mogadishu Bombers Were Dual Dutch Nationals: AFP

The Dutch foreign affairs ministry has been unable to confirm if two people who carried out bombings on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu were Dutch nationals, the NRC reported at the weekend. News agency AFP said earlier the two — a man and a woman — were both dual nationals. AFP named the man, who carried out his attack with a car bomb, as Ismail Muse.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Somali Deaths Climb to 25 in Hotel Attack

By Mohammed Ibrahim

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The death toll in an attack by suicide bombers at a hotel compound in Mogadishu on Friday rose to 25 people, with more than 40 people wounded, Somali officials said Saturday.

The Shabab, a rebel group, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the intended targets were government ministers and lawmakers who had gathered at the Central Hotel for a prayer service ahead of a national holiday.

“As soon as the prayers finished, a huge explosion happened,” said Salaad Ali Jelle, a former government minister. “Then another explosion followed at the entrance of the mosque. I jumped over several dead bodies, but I survived.”

[“A huge explosion,” then another. Wonder where their buddies in Minneapolis are hiding their firecrackers? — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Terror Group Behind Kenyan Shopping Massacre Threatens Edmonton’s Iconic Mall

Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab is calling on jihadis in the West to target North America’s largest shopping center, the West Edmonton Mall.

The call to arms comes towards the end of a 76-minute video posted on YouTube that shows a masked man boasting about the group’s 2013 machine gun and grenade attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which left 67 dead and 175 wounded. The massacre’s perpetrators said it was retaliation for Kenyan and Western intervention in Somalia.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

As Somali Jihadis Threaten Mall of America, U.S. Importing 800 Somalis a Month

By Robert Spencer

And of course no attempt is made to determine if they are members of jihad groups or hold jihadi beliefs. That would be “Islamophobic.” Hey, what could possibly go wrong?

“Somali Islamic terrorists threaten attack on Mall of America; we are bringing in over 800 Somali refugees a month right now!,” by Ann Corcoran, Refugee Resettlement Watch, February 22, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

“The news comes from the Somali capital of America—Minneapolis! And, LOL! one of three cities that the Obama Administration touts as an example of how Muslims are happily settled in!

[…]

“Look at the numbers! Here is our post which chronicles the over 100,000 Somalis we have admitted as refugees to your towns and cities.Then be sure to see that in 2008, the State Department uncovered widespread fraud in Somali family reunification (P-3 program) — thousands, possibly 20,000 Somalis, got into the US by lying on refugee applications. See, ‘Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis’, here.

[…]

“In the first 4 months of FY2015 we admitted 3,536 new Somali refugees to America! That is 884 a month! If that large stream continues it will put us at over 10,000 Somalis in FY2015!”

[Mao Tse-tung: The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea. The American government and the American left have imported the sea. The guerrilla will not be far behind — actually he’s here already, as the New Year’s Day explosion above the halal grocery on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis last year clearly showed. Best have your tackle ready. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Vows Tougher Citizenship Laws

Tony Abbott has called on immigrants to Australia to “be as tolerant of others as we are of them” as he outlined a series of planned counter-terrorism measures including the power to revoke citizenship in the case of dual nationals.

In a national security speech on Monday, the prime minister also called on Muslim leaders to proclaim Islam as a religion of peace “more often, and mean it”.

Abbott confirmed the government would appoint a new national counter-terrorism co-ordinator and was looking at changes to immigration laws and new options to deal with Australian citizens who were involved in terrorism.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dozens of Cities Host “Welcoming Committees” For Illegals

Dozens of cities across America are organizing “welcoming committees” to help illegals “adjust to life here in the United States.”

The cities are partnering with a group called “Welcoming America” which helps illegals find employment and housing while “helping people who were born in this country understand and appreciate their new neighbors.”

On Monday, the group worked with the Austin, Texas, Commission on Immigrant Affairs to organize a “Welcoming City Summit” with speeches on “executive action and the future potential of immigration reform” and “career pathways for new Americans.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: New High in Asylum Seeker Expulsions

Germany expelled more asylum seekers than at any time in the last eight years in 2014, with the number expected to climb even higher this year as more refugees arrive from the world’s conflict zones, TheLocal.de reported.

New government figures from a parliamentary answer show that 10,884 people were expelled in 2014, the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung reported on Thursday.

Last year’s figure is the second in a row to pass the 10,000 mark after 10,198 people were removed from the country in 2013.

In 2014 the country received 202,834 asylum applications — a 60 percent increase over the previous year.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said that the civil wars in Syria and Iraq and the Ukraine conflict would be the main drivers of 2015’s increase in migration, pushing “significant rates of increase” in numbers.

There are currently around 100,000 “tolerated” people — whose asylum applications were rejected but who have not been expelled — living in Germany.

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

Italy: ‘Renzi Stop Migrants or be Terror Accomplice’ Says Salvini

Northern League leader to La7 TV

(ANSA) — Rome, February 23 — The leader of the anti-immigrant, center-right Northern League party said Monday center-left Premier Matteo Renzi must stop illegal migrants fleeing war in North Africa and the Middle East or “be a terrorist accomplice”.

“The premier said yesterday that terrorists make money off the migrant boats,” Salvini told La7 private broadcaster.

“He must block these boats or become an accomplice of the terrorists”.

Salvini’s comments came after some 2,000 migrants from Libya were rescued off the Mediterranean last week in the wake of Islamic State (ISIS) extremist forces’ capture of the Libyan region of Sirte.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Lampedusa Suffers Under Weight of Europe’s Refugee Crisis

Since the end of Mare Nostrum and the flare-up of the war in Libya, more than 1,000 people have landed on Lampedusa. The island’s residents fear the worst is yet to come. Karl Hoffmann reports from there.

Locals in Lampedusa are enraged. They are upset over the pointless deaths, over the horrendous conditions of refugee camps as well as about the negative headlines that are once again threatening to ruin the island’s reputation.

People are worried about an invasion of refugees fleeing Islamist terror, which is getting ever closer to home. In addition, there is also worry about the financial security of the island’s 5,000 inhabitants. On top of that, the picture being painted about Lampedusa is simply a wrong one, says Paola la Rosa, who runs a guesthouse.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Libya: Video Shows Traffickers Beating Migrants

Video footage published by the Daily Telegraph on Monday shows several Syrian refugees being beaten in Libya prior to boarding a boat heading towards Italy.

Semi-nude and on their knees, the migrants are threatened by men wielding Kalashnikovs while others throw buckets of freezing water at them. The video also shows refugees being whipped, one by one, by the traffickers prior to allowing them into a building where they are kept prisoner.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sheriff Joe Takes on Obama on New Front

A friend of the court brief has been submitted to a U.S. District Court in Texas warning that if the judge decides to reverse himself and allow Barack Obama’s amnesty program to move forward right away it could cost U.S. taxpayers $144 billion.

And it says such an action might forever change the legitimacy of elections in America because of the possibility those illegal aliens targeted by Obama could be allowed to vote…

Klayman also noted if the programs are allowed to move forward, federal workers would be in danger “of violating the Antideficiency Act, which makes it a violation of law, with potential civil and criminal penalties, for government officials to spend funds that have not been appropriated by Congress.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Texas Governor Claims ‘More Than 20,000’ Illegal Immigrants Have Crossed His Border With Mexico Since January 1

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Sunday that his state’s border with Mexico is so porous that ‘more than 20,000’ illegal immigrants have crossed it since January 1.

The startling claim comes as congressional Republicans are pushing hard against President Obama’s ‘executive amnesty’ plan that would mainstream more than 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally.

‘We all saw what happened on the Texas border last summer, but we need to understand that the problem is not going away,’ Abbott said on the CBS show ‘Face the Nation.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Death Panels and the Progressive War on Menopausal Women

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that ten years after Obamacare will be fully implemented, more than 30 million Americans will still be without health insurance. Not to worry, there won’t be enough doctors to deliver proper care or much care at all if you do have insurance. And the dreaded Death Panel that Sarah Palin was disparaged over will also be in full operation.

The Independent Panel Advisory Board (IPAB) is Obamacare’s 15-member board of unelected, unaccountable to the public bureaucrats whose function is to make cuts in order to keep Medicare spending within certain parameters. These limits, starting in 2018, will consist of the rate of economic growth per capita plus one percentage point.

Since economic growth has been very sluggish due to a relatively deep recession, and the size of the economy has been shrinking, with higher unemployment and more discouraged workers than actually reported, Medicare spending will likely be lower, denying patients their much needed care. Additionally, Medicare is being stripped of $719 billion over a ten-year period in order to fund Obamacare.

These faceless omnipotent IPAB bureaucrats appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate will have unaccountable reign over your health.

If your medical care or tests are denied, nobody will know if it is because there is no effective treatment for your illness or because one of those 15 people have decided that your life is not worth saving.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Changes Racist Bird Names

Sweden’s Ornithological Society has banned racist bird names after completing the country’s first official guide.

The society’s list, completed three weeks ago after several years of research, contains translations for 10,709 different species.

Sweden’s Ornithological Society information officer Anders Wirdheim explained that the organisation had received increasing numbers of requests from translators regarding bird names.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Al Jazeera to Reveal Hundreds of Secret Intelligence Documents

In the next few days, Al Jazeera will begin publishing secret documents leaked from the world’s top intelligence agencies as part of “The Spy Cables” project, the media outlet said Monday.

According to a statement published on Al Jazeera website, the agency’s investigative unit, in collaboration with The Guardian, will reveal secret documents by South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA) and the country’s secret correspondence with the US CIA, Britain’s MI6, Russia’s FSB, Israel’s Mossad and dozens of other secret services worldwide.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Processed Foods Indisputably Linked to Auto-Immune Disease

Whether its junk food from fast-food chains or junk food that is drowning in preservatives from your grocery store, this particular study from Yale University in the U.S and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, as well as another from Harvard, reports that junk food diets are to blame for an increase in these diseases.

Specifically, it is the refined sugar and highly processed salt causing the major decline in health — but of course we can’t overlook the unhealthy ingredients as a whole — from artificial colors to genetically modified ingredients.

Taking dietary salt to task in this case, and as reported in Nature, Yale researchers showed that it can induce and worsen pathogenic immune system responses in mice and that the response is regulated by genes already implicated in a variety of autoimmune diseases.

Dr. David Hafler, the Gilbert H. Glaser Professor of Neurology, professor of immunobiology, chair of the Department of Neurology, and senior author of the Yale paper, stated:

“These are not diseases of bad genes alone or diseases caused by the environment, but diseases of a bad interaction between genes and the environment.”

Junk Food Diets

When researchers added salt to the diet of mice, it encouraged production of a type of T cells previously associated with autoimmune diseases. Mice on a high-salt diet developed a more severe form of an MS animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis…

We weren’t designed to process refined sodium chloride — it has no nutritional value, but salt filled with minerals like Himalayan sea salt or celtic salt can promote good health instead of strip our immunity from us.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

There’s No Political Freedom Without Economic Freedom

Can we have political liberty without first having economic freedom?

Is the form of government predetermined by the form of economic organization? At first blush the opposite would seem to be self-evident, i.e., that our form of government determines all else, including our economic structure. But Mises advises otherwise. In Human Action (page 283 of the Mises Institute’s scholars’ edition), Mises explains (my emphasis):

Freedom, as people enjoyed it in the democratic countries of Western civilization in the years of the old liberalism’s triumph, was not a product of constitutions, bills of rights, laws, and statutes. Those documents aimed only at safeguarding liberty and freedom, firmly established by the operation of the market economy, against encroachments on the part of officeholders.

Likewise, in The Law by Frédéric Bastiat (page 49 of the Mises Institute edition), Frédéric Bastiat has this to say (my emphasis again):

Political economy precedes politics: the former has to discover whether human interests are harmonious or antagonistic, a fact which must be settled before the latter can determine the prerogatives of Government.

Economic Freedom Is the Foundation of All Freedom

These insights counsel us that attempts to pass laws — or even constitutional amendments — to ensure our political liberty will be wasted as long as our economic freedom continues to be usurped by government. In other words, limited government will fade in the face of the modern regulatory state, and no laws can protect us from its deprivations. Economics not only trumps politics, it determines its very form.

The root cause of economic interventions is the mistaken belief that government can improve our lives by making economic decisions for us. As I explained in an earlier essay, by their very nature, economic interventions by government are coercive in nature. Voluntary cooperation in the marketplace, on the other hand, requires only access to an honest criminal justice system to enforce contracts and protect property rights.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/23/2015

  1. Let’s hear it from a 12 year old American

    A personal unpolitically correct message to Obama from a young American who strongly disagree with the president’s view on IS and terror.

    If Obama had a son….it would not be this one!

    • Ah yes, young CJ Pearson … guess he must be a racist eh. After all, the only reason anyone criticizes Soetoro or whatever his name is, is because of the colour of his skin. Obviously that matters way more than what he actually says and does as President of the USA.

  2. Police spotted at least five drones flying over sensitive sites in Paris including the US embassy and the Eiffel Tower between one o’clock and six o’clock this morning.

    The sightings raised fears in the French capital, still on maximum security alert seven weeks after three Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in a series of attacks.

    Extra guards have been posted in Paris shopping malls following a threat to target them by al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based affiliate of al-Qaeda.

    Source: The Telegraph, 24th Feb, 08:32.

    • Sorry I’m so uninformed, but: is it possible for the police to shoot these low-flying drones down?

      thx

  3. The Toronto tunnel is a puzzler. It is very well built, designed to last. However, had it continued in its direction, it would have exited the side of a hill. So, my thinking is that this was a training tunnel; the people who constructed it now know how to, and how long it will take, to build a tunnel capable of handling a lot of traffic.

    I think a longer tunnel will be constructed under the Canada/US border for smuggling purposes. Similar well built tunnels have been found on the US/Mexico border.

Comments are closed.