The Mediterranean migrant crisis continues to dominate the news headlines. Several alleged traffickers have been arrested and will be prosecuted for their part in the most recent tragedies, in which thirty times as many would-be refugees have died compared with this time last year. However, African countries say that the EU could do more to prevent migrant deaths.
In other news, former Egyptian President and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi has been sentenced to twenty years in prison by an Egyptian court for his role in killing of protesters in 2012.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, K, Papa Whiskey, Srdja Trifkovic, 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.
6 Somali-Americans Arrested in Islamic State Recruiting Case
For months, as one young person after another in Minneapolis’s Somali community tried to join the Islamic State terrorist group, rumors circulated of a sinister recruiter who must be luring gullible teenagers and providing the cash to buy air tickets to Syria.
But on Monday, federal officials, announcing their biggest Islamic State recruitment case to date, said there was, in fact, no recruiting mastermind. Instead, for the six men arrested, there was just the camaraderie of sharing an illicit ideology, plus advice and inspiration by phone and Internet from one of their friends, a young Minneapolis man who joined the Islamic State last year.
In other words, said Andrew M. Luger, the US attorney for Minnesota, the circle of friends “recruited each other.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Book on ‘Clinton Cash’ Reportedly Claims Foreign Donors Got State Dept. Favors
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign is just one week out of the gate, but already a supposedly bombshell book threatens to rock her candidacy.
The New York Times reported Monday that the book, set for release on May 5, will make new claims about donations to the Clinton Foundation by foreign donors. Specifically, the book reportedly claims foreign entities that donated to the foundation — and that gave former President Bill Clinton high-dollar speaking fees — in turn received favors from the Clinton State Department.
Author Peter Schweizer reportedly claims to have found a “pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds.”
According to the Times, which got an advance copy of the book, Schweizer’s examples include a Colombia free-trade agreement that helped a major donor and projects in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
[A woman in the White House would be fine — but not this greed-fueled gorgon. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Enraged US Man Shoots His Malfunctioning Computer
A man in the US city of Colorado faces police action after becoming so frustrated with his desktop computer that he took it outside and shot it eight times with a handgun, police say.
“He was having technology problems, so he took it to the back alley and destroyed it,” a police spokesman said.
Lucas Hinch was briefly detained for discharging a firearm within the city.
He did not realise he was breaking the law when he went “Wild West” on his machine, local media reported.
A judge is due to decide what penalty he will receive.
“He got tired of fighting with his computer for the last several months,” police spokesman Jeff Strossner told the Colorado Springs Gazette.
The paper said that Mr Hinch “shot the darn thing” when ctrl+alt+delete — the traditional method used to re-boot computers — “consistently did not work” on Monday evening.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS in America: Six Minnesota Men Arrested for Attempting to Join Islamic State
Another day, another American arrested for attempting to join ISIS.
Make that six Americans—all young men of Somali descent in their late teens and early 20’s, and all hailing from Minneapolis—arrested by federal agents over the weekend for allegedly planning to travel to Syria and become soldiers in the Islamic State’s sadistic terror army.
This is just the latest in a disturbing series of foiled plots involving U.S. citizens looking to travel overseas to join ISIS, or stay at home and wage jihad on its behalf here on American soil.
Last week, I posted here about an Ohio man, also a Somali Muslim, who had trained in Syria with Islamic terrorists and then returned to the United States, reportedly with orders to carry out attacks on the homeland. His arrest followed similar recent terror-related busts in New York, Philadelphia, Illinois and Kansas. Now we have the Minnesota case.
Is anyone else noticing a pattern here? A few quick things to keep in mind:…
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
Law Schools Try to Adapt as Job Market Sours
By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
Law schools across the country are facing their lowest enrollment numbers in years, causing some to slash their budgets and revamp their programs in an effort to attract students worried about finding a job in a diminished legal industry.
Just over 41,000 people applied to go to an accredited U.S. law school in the most recent admissions cycle, compared with 77,000 in 2010 and 90,000 in 2004, according to the Law School Admission Council. Even top-ranked Harvard Law School witnessed a drop in applications before rebounding in the last two years.
Poor enrollment is hurting the bottom line at some schools. Washington and Lee’s School of Law said it plans to cut 12 positions in the fall, while Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School delivered pink slips to more than half of its faculty and staff members last summer.
Going to law school used to feel like a no-brainer for college graduates seeking financial security. But that calculus has changed, with many firms that suffered during the recession still struggling to fully recover. Last month, Wiley Rein, one of the Washington area’s biggest law firms, cut 48 attorneys and staff members, an estimated 9 percent of its overall workforce.
“It’s still really difficult for first-years. I’m seeing people with good credentials from good law schools struggling to get jobs,” said Darin Morgan, a partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa, a legal recruitment firm.
The stark realities of the legal industry have been a wake-up call to law schools, said Blake Morant, dean of the George Washington University Law School.
[What did they think was going to happen after glutting the market for so many years? America has more lawyers than a horse has flies, and most of them are big a nuisance. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Removes Kansas City Bishop for Abuse Cover-Up
Msgr Robert W. Finn forced to stand down over paedophile priest
(ANSA) — Vatican City, 21 APR — Papa Francis on Tuesday accepted the enforced resignation of Kansas City bishop Robert W.Finn, the first US bishop to be convicted of failing to alert federal authorities about a priest suspected of child sex abuse.
The bishop’s removal comes after a Vatican probe into the case of Father Shawn Rattigan, who was eventually sentenced to 50 years in jail for possession of child pornography he obtained through church contacts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Accountant of Auschwitz’ Holocaust Trial Begins in Germany
A former Auschwitz concentration camp guard has admitted to being “morally guilty” but says he committed no crime.
Oskar Groening, 93, is before a German court near Hamburg on Tuesday (April 21) accused of 300-thousand counts of accessory to murder.
The so-called accountant of Auschwitz admitted to being “morally guilty” but says he committed no crime.
The trial may be one of the last big Holocaust trials. Some 70 years after the end of World War II there are very few suspected Nazi criminals still alive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
First Swedish Spring Strawberries at Auction
Sweden’s annual strawberry crop contest has a winner, with Lars Jacobsen from Skåne in southern Sweden the first to produce the fresh fruits in 2015. The farmer has won the yearly competition for nine years in a row and his latest box of juicy offerings has been bought at auction for 894 kronor ($103).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Policeman Suspended After Defending 2001 Genoa G8 Raid
Fabio Tortosa took part in raid, said would do it again
(ANSA) — Rome, April 16 — Fabio Tortosa, the policeman who this week defended the notorious 2001 assault on the Diaz school during the Group of Eight summit in Genoa, is to be suspended from the force, national police chief Alessandro Pansa said Thursday.
“Tortosa will be suspended from service this morning,” Pansa told reporters. Tortosa sparked a furore Tuesday when he wrote on his Facebook profile that he was in the unit that raided anti-globalisation protesters on the fringes of the G8 summit and that he would behave the same way again.
“I was there that night at the Diaz. I would go back in a thousand times,” he said in the post. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) last week condemned Italy, finding that torture had occurred during the raid. In response, the government sped up a reading of its anti-torture bill, with the Lower House approving an amendment increasing the maximum prison sentence for public officials found guilty of torture from 12 to 15 years. In the night assault on the Diaz school, hundreds of police attacked about 100 activists and a few journalists, wounding 82 and seriously injuring 61 — three critically and one, British journalist Mark Covell, left in a coma with rib and spinal injuries. Officers planted evidence including two Molotov cocktails and hammers and knives from a nearby construction site to justify the raid.
“Today the flying squads and the police are something else, they are different,” Pansa said. “We have different models of conduct and operation techniques. “We are the defenders of law and order and democracy… if someone (in the force) does wrong, they will be punished”. Tortosa said that he felt like a “sacrificial victim” and is set to appeal. “I’m waiting for the suspension to be communicated to me.
I respect the decision of the police chief, but I think I’ll appeal,” he said, arguing that he only ever did his duty.
Tortosa won support from several figures on the right of the Italian political spectrum, including Northern League leader Matteo Salvini. “Putting someone on trial for a Facebook post is fourth-world stuff,” Salvini said.
“I’m amazed that the police chief talked about his men as if they were butchers. He probably heeded the wrong vocation”. On Wednesday Tortosa was forced to apologise for saying slain protester Carlo Giuliani “is disgusting to the worms underground”. The father of Giuliani — who was shot in the head by a Carabiniere military policeman while attempting to throw a fire extinguisher at the cops — asked President Sergio Mattarella to get the State to apologise for Tortosa’s denigration of his son’s death. Tortosa said on Facebook that Giuliani was wrongly turned into “a hero” after death.
Tortosa later apologised for the worms comment.
“Of all the things I said on Facebook that’s the one I most regret,” he said on Sky TV.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Will be the First Country to Shut Down Analog FM Radio
If you live in Norway, your radio may stop working soon. This month, the country announced it will shut down its national analog FM radio stations in 2017 — becoming the first nation to set a shut-off date.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Footed Sudan Rebel’s $1m Phone Bill
Norway spent more than a million dollars paying the satellite phone bill of a guerrilla leader throughout the most bitter years of Sudan’s civil war, a new book has claimed.
According to a new memoir by Halle Jørn Hanssen, the former head of the charity Norwegian People’s Aid, Norway helped foot a total phone bill of between five and eight million Norwegian kroner ($1.1m) run up by John Garang, the leader of the South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), between 1997 and 2002.
Although Norwegian authorities initially maintained the ability to switch the phone on and off, by 1998, Garang had somehow hacked it so that he could use it as he wished, leading the bill to escalate dramatically.
Norway nonetheless continued to pay the bill, however, with the humanitarian organisation Norwegian People’s Aid paying between 1m and 1.5m kroner a year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
PD Rebels to be Removed From Committee Over Italicum
Minority within Renzi’s own party against election bill
(ANSA) — Rome, April 20 — Ten rebel members of Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said Monday that they are set to be removed from the Lower House’s Constitutional Affairs committee after announcing they would not vote for the government’s ‘Italicum’ bill introducing a new election system. “We said that we do not intend to vote for the individual articles of the report of the rapporteur (of the bill),” said Andrea Giorgis, one of the PD rebels on the committee. “We were told that we will be replaced (by the party)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Let us think of our brothers whose throats were slit on the beach in Libya; let’s think of the young boy who was burnt alive by his companions because he was a Christian; let us think of those migrants thrown from their boat into the open sea by other migrants because they were Christians; let us think — just the day before yesterday — of those Ethiopians assassinated because they were Christians… and of many others. Many others of whom we do not even know and who are suffering in jails because they are Christians… “.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) — The Church of today is “Church of martyrs”, whose throats are cut, who are burnt alive or thrown into the sea “because they are Christians” and also the “hidden martyrs” who are looking for new ways to help brothers and for this are persecuted by “modern Sanhedrins”. These were Pope Francis thoughts today during Mass celebrated at Casa Santa Marta, commenting on the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, which speaks of the judgment of the Sanhedrin against Stephen and his subsequent stoning.
Stephen’s witness, the Pope observed, was such that his detractors “could not resist the wisdom” and the spirit “with which he spoke.” Like Jesus, Stephen faces false witnesses and the revolt of the people who brought him to trial. Stephen reminds them how many prophets have been killed for being faithful to God’s Word and when “he confesses his vision of Jesus,” his persecutors are scandalized, they block their ears not to hear, and then drag him out of the city to stone him”.
Drawing inspiration from the First Reading of the Act of the Apostles which tells of the stoning and martyrdom of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, the Pope remembered “our brothers whose throats have been slit on the beaches of Libya”, he spoke of “the young boy who was burnt alive by his companions because he was Christian”, he recalled “the migrants who were thrown from their boat into open sea” because, they too, were Christians.
“God’s Word is always rejected by some. God’s Word is inconvenient when you have a stone heart, when you have a pagan heart, because God’s Word asks you to go ahead trying to satisfy your hunger with the bread which Jesus spoke of. In the history of the Revelation many martyrs have been killed for their faith and loyalty towards God’s Word, God’s Truth”.
Pope Francis continued comparing the martyrdom of Stephen to that of Jesus: he too “died with that Christian magnanimity of forgiveness, praying for his enemies’. And those who persecuted the prophets believed they were giving glory to God; they thought they were being true to God’s doctrine. “Today — continued the Pope — I would like to remember that the true history of the Church is that of the Saints and the martyrs,” of so many who were persecuted and killed by those who thought they possessed the ‘truth’- whose heart was corrupted by ‘truth’:
“In these days how many Stephens there are in the world! Let us think of our brothers whose throats were slit on the beach in Libya; let’s think of the young boy who was burnt alive by his companions because he was a Christian; let us think of those migrants thrown from their boat into the open sea by other migrants because they were Christians; let us think — just the day before yesterday — of those Ethiopians assassinated because they were Christians… and of many others. Many others of whom we do not even know and who are suffering in jails because they are Christians… The Church today is a Church of martyrs: they suffer, they give their lives and we receive the blessing of God for their witness”.The Pope also spoke of the many “hidden martyrs: those men and women who are faithful to the voice of the Spirit and who are searching for new ways and paths to help their brothers better love God”. He said they are often viewed with suspicion, vilified and persecuted by so many modern ‘Sanhedrins’ who think they are the possessors of truth.
“And also many martyrs hidden to be faithful in their family suffer so much for their faithfulness. Our Church is a Church of martyrs. And now, in our celebration the first martyr comes to us, the first who gave witness and more: He gave salvation to all of us. Let us unite ourselves with Jesus in the Eucharist, and unite ourselves with so many brothers and sisters who suffer martyrdom persecution, slander and death for their faith in the only bread that satisfies, that is, in Jesus”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ousted Egyptian President Morsi Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison in Connection With Protester Deaths
An Egyptian criminal court on Tuesday sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison on charges linked to the killing of protesters in 2012.
The conviction, which can be appealed, and muted Islamist reaction following it underscore the dramatic downfall of Morsi and Egypt’s once-powerful Muslim Brotherhood group. However, Morsi escaped receiving a death sentence in the case, which Islamists derided as a “farce.”
Tuesday’s ruling was the first verdict to be issued against the country’s first freely elected leader.
Morsi and the Brotherhood swiftly rose to power in elections after autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s 2011 ouster, only to find themselves imprisoned a year later when millions protested against them for abusing power and the military overthrew the government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Conflicting Reports on is Head Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’s Fate
There are conflicting reports about the fate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State jihadist group.
An Iraqi interior ministry spokesman told the BBC Baghdadi was seriously wounded in a “coalition” air strike in March, without giving further details.
The Guardian newspaper quoted a Western diplomat and an Iraqi adviser as saying the air strike was in western Iraq.
The Pentagon said it had no information on Baghdadi’s fate. Last year’s reports of him being injured were inaccurate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Robert Spencer
Obama, Kerry, Biden, David Cameron and the rest — they couldn’t be lying to us, could they? Inconceivable!
“Ex-Muslim Imam Pens Open Letter, Giving Obama A History Lesson About Islam,” Mad World News, February 9, 2015:
President Barack Obama sparked outrage when he compared medieval Christian wars to modern-day Islamic terrorism at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday. He spouted that terrorist groups like ISIS “professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it,” chastising the opposition from getting on “our high horse” when “people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ” during the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition.
Dr. Mark Christian, founder of Global Faith Institute, knows Islamic history too well, being an apostate from the Muslim faith himself. Having experienced the true nature of Islam firsthand as a devout Imam, Dr. Christian penned a fiery open letter to the American leader, which he graciously provided to Mad World News, that includes a blunt history lesson in the unchanging goal of ancient Islam:
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Grand Mufti Says Pope’s Genocide Comments ‘Immoral’
‘I cannot link statement to basic Christian values,’ Gormez says
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 21 — The Grand Mufti Mehmet Gormez, the top Sunni Muslim religious authority in Turkey, has repeated his criticism of Pope Francis for describing the 1915 mass killing of Armenians as genocide, Turkish media reported Tuesday. Gormez described the remarks as “immoral”, according to the reports.
“I consider the pope’s statement to be immoral and I cannot link it to the basic values of Christianity,” Gormez is quoted by the online edition of Zaman as saying.
The pope stirred controversy earlier this month when during a Mass in St Peter’s Basilica attended by the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and top church leaders he referred to “the first (tragedy of the 20th century), which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th century’“.
Turkey, which has always denied a genocide in the mass killings, denounced Francis’s comments even though the pope’s statement and the phrase “first genocide of the 20th century” were actually borrowed from remarks written in 2001 by former Pope John Paul II in a joint declaration with the Armenian church leader, Karenkin II.
Subsequently the Vatican said Francis used the term ‘genocide’ as part of a “precise and coherent line of dialogue”.
“This speech was very clear for those who wanted to grasp (its meaning), it was very rich”, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
“In the end, (it was about) the desire for reconciliation and dialogue between the Turkish people and the Armenian people”, he continued.
Gormez first criticised the pope the day after he made the comments, saying the remarks were “without foundation and inspired by… political lobbies and public relations firms”.
Numerous governments, experts and scholars in the field support Armenia’s position, concluding a genocide occurred.
Armenia and many historians say up to 1.5 million Armenian Christians were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
How ISIS Controls Life, From Birth to Foosball
(CNN) It has all the key points you’d expect on a birth certificate — baby’s weight, length and date of birth confirmed with an official insignia. The difference here is the governing authority’s stamp: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
It’s one of many official documents relating to matters such as vaccination schedules, fishing methods and rent disputes in the areas now controlled by ISIS.
For ISIS sees itself as a government operating under a rule of law, even if the group is most often talked about for its barbaric punishment of anyone who resists or defies its medieval interpretation of that Islamic law.
The ISIS documents, some shared with CNN by researcher Aymenn Al-Tamimi, give a window into the bureaucracy of the self-declared caliphate.
Last summer, ISIS fighters swept through the Iraqi city of Mosul. Once they took power, leaders wanted to show they could bring stability allowing daily life to resume. So, they quickly reopened the University of Mosul, albeit under a radically altered curriculum.
Notices went out that classes would resume on 24 Dhu al-Hijjah 1435 in the Islamic calendar (or October 18, 2014, in the Western calendar), about four months after ISIS overran the city.
But some subjects would be banned — democracy and political thought, also hotel management and tourism and archaeology.
“The banning of archaeology is not a surprise,” says Al-Tamimi, who is a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, in Israel. “We see that reflected in ISIS destruction of ancient artifacts. ISIS regards pre-Islamic artifacts as relics from the ‘period of ignorance’, jahiliyah. Their main concern with archaeology is that it would become a subject turning to idol worship, which is strictly forbidden in Islam.
“Hotel management and tourism may seem strange as first. But there are no hotels under ISIS. They have all been taken over and shut down, either rented out or become places to house families.”
Mosul University still has the same professors and teachers, Al-Tamimi says. “But now teachers are subjected to Sharia sessions, to learn what is and what is not acceptable to ISIS. So, they have preserved the prior system but within ISIS Sharia law conditions.”
[Sounds very much like the “re-education” Communist conquerers used to conduct. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
RIYADH — The Saudi-led coalition declared on Tuesday an end to its military campaign nearly a month after launching airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, saying their threat to Saudi Arabia and its neighbors had been removed.
“The coalition has ended ‘Operation Decisive Storm’ and started “Operation Restoration Hope’ based on a request by Yemeni President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi,” Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Asiri, spokesman of the coalition forces and adviser at the office of the minister of defense, told a press briefing here on Tuesday evening.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rethinking the Saudi Connection (I)
by Srdja Trifkovic | April 21, 2015
Saudi Arabia has been dominating the Middle Eastern news recently. Its bombing of the Shia Houthis in Yemen, supported by Washington, and its ambivalent stand on ISIS, concealed in Washington, should raise questions about the nature and long-term ambitions of the desert kingdom. On those key issues there is an apparent conspiracy of silence in the American mainstream media and the policy-making community.
Saudi Arabia, the most authentically Muslim country in the world, is a polity based on a set of religious, legal, and political assumptions rooted in mainstream Sunni Islam. To understand its pernicious role in the ongoing Middle Eastern crisis, and to grasp the magnitude of its ongoing threat to America’s long-term strategic interests and security, we should start with the early history of that strange and unpleasant place.
MUHAMMAD IBN ABD AL-WAHHAB was born in central Arabia over three centuries ago, but his legacy is alive and well. Wahhab was a zealous Muslim revivalist who lived in the period of the Ottoman Empire’s early decline. He felt that Islam in general, and Arabia in particular, needed to be spiritually and literally re-purified and returned to the true tenets of the faith. Like Islam’s prophet he married a wealthy woman much older than himself, whose inheritance enabled him to engage in theological and political pursuits. His Sharia training, combined with a brief encounter with suffism — which he rejected — produced a powerful mix. From the suffis he took the concept of a fraternal religious order, but rejected initiation rituals and music in any form. He also condemned the decorations of mosques, however non-representational, and sinful frivolities such as smoking tobacco. This Muslim anabaptist rejected veneration of saints and sites and objects connected with them, and gave rise to a movement that sees itself as the guardian of true Islamic values. His ideas were espoused in the Book of Unity which gave rise to the name of the movement, al-Muwahhidun, or Unitarians.
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi King Orders National Guard to Take Part in Yemen Campaign
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Tuesday ordered the Saudi Arabian National Guard to take part in Riyadh’s campaign against Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen, Saudi state media reported.
Military operations in the campaign have so far been carried out by the Royal Saudi Air Force and the Royal Saudi Land Forces, which answer to the Defence Ministry.
The national guard, which is widely regarded as the kingdom’s best equipped military ground force, is a separate military structure run by its own ministry.
A number of Arab countries have been contributing to the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthi rebels with air and naval strikes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Prince Rewards Pilots With Bentleys for Bombing Yemen
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world’s richest men and a member of the Saudi royal family, vowed Tuesday to give a Bentley luxury car to 100 pilots who served in Saudi-led airstrikes against Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense announced that “Operation Resolute Storm” succeeded late Tuesday. The bombing campaign involved a coalition of Arab governments targeted Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen, known as the Houthis.
Though falling short of their declared goal, the restoration of deposed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, authorities said that they had “eliminated all threats” posed by the group.
In his Arabic-language tweet, Prince Alwaleed wrote, “I congratulate our leaders on the success of Operation Resolute Storm and the start of Operation Restoring Hope. To recognize the one hundred participating Saudi pilots, I am pleased to give them 100 Bentley automobiles.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia’s New Muscular Foreign Policy
The border with Yemen is a 10-hour drive from the Saudi capital, or a two-hour flight, but Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen is on everyone’s mind in Riyadh.
Officially it is a Saudi-led military operation with coalition partners including the UAE, Egypt, Morocco, and other Sunni countries.
But most Saudis see it very much as their war, with the fighting right across their border, in Yemen. Over 70% of the sorties by jets pounding rebel targets in Yemen are Saudi.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
State Department Won’t Rule Out $50B ‘Signing Bonus’ for Iran
The State Department on Monday would not rule out giving Iran up to $50 billion as a so-called “signing bonus” for agreeing to a nuclear deal later this year, according to comments made to journalists following reports that the Obama administration had formulated a plan to release tens of billions of frozen Iranian funds.
Experts have said this multi-billion dollar “signing bonus” option, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, could be the largest cash infusion to a terror-backing regime in recent memory.
A cash release of $30 to $50 billion upon reaching a final nuclear agreement would come in addition to the more than $11 billion in unfrozen assets that Iran will already have received under an interim nuclear accord reached in 2013.
When asked to address these reports on Monday, State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf attempted to dodge the issue and then accused reporters of getting “spun up” on the issue.
Asked whether Iran could receive $50 billion “on day one after signing” or verbally agreeing to a nuclear deal, Harf told reporters that she would “look into it.”
[For $50 billion, we ought to be able to make Iran a U.S. territory. Instead of the land of the brave and the home of the free, we have become the land of the craven and the home of deep pockets. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Why ISIS Advises Western Jihadists to Carry Nerf Guns and Condoms
A guide for jihadists in the West issued by ISIS late last month urges followers to train with Nerf guns and watch Bourne films as part of their under-the-radar preparation for terrorist attacks.
“Many Muslims are putting alot of effort into showing the world that we are peaceful citizens, we’re spending thousands of Euros to do Da’wah (invitation to Islam) campaigns to show how good we are in society, but we’re miserably failing. The leaders of disbelief repeatedly lie in the media and say that we Muslims are all terrorists, while we denied it and wanted to be peaceful citizens,” the manual, How to Survive in the West, says. “But they have cornered us and forced us into becoming radicalised, and that will be the cause of their defeat and be the cause for the conquest of Rome.”
“…Those who go on the offensive earlier on will learn how to react in different situations, and will more likely receive martyrdom (shahadah) instead of long-term imprisonment.”
The author of the book is only identified in the foreword as a male who “has been studying the global Jihad for 10+ years.”
Converts to Islam are encouraged to “hide your Islam as much as possible,” such as quickly leaving after Friday prayers instead of mingling at the mosque. Goatees are encouraged to “fulfill the obligation” without growing a full beard. Women are told to wear colored hijabs instead of black ones.
They’re told to alter their first name — “Al instead of Ali, or a neutral name like Adam” — or make up an alias, as jihadists in the Islamic State “are not allowed to tell their real name to anyone in case their friends are captured and interrogated and reveal the real name of the brothers to the tyrants.” Plus, they argue, an alias with a non-Muslim name would come in handy if they want to get an “important position” such as work in a power plant.
[Some of this stuff sounds a little goofy, but these creatures are in deadly earnest. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
At Least 11 Killed by Mogadishu Restaurant Suicide Bomber
Al-Shabaab suspected
(updates previous) (ANSA) — Rome, April 21 — At least eleven people were killed and several wounded by a suicide car bomber in a crowded Mogadishu restaurant Tuesday, media reported.
Somali militant group Al-Shabaab is suspected.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
3 Detained Over ‘Safe’ Migrant Passage on Luxury Yac
Migrants travelled for 8,500 euros each, given food and water
(ANSA) — Ragusa, April 21 — Three Syrian nationals were detained on Tuesday on suspicion of trying to smuggle 99 immigrants into Italy on board an old luxury yacht in an attempt to pass them off as tourists.
Ahmmed Sabaji, 25, Almotassem Billah Harroum, 31, and Moustafa Haj Slima, 29, were allegedly at the helm of the boat that departed from Turkey and ran into trouble in the Sicilian channel. The passengers, including 23 children, were subsequently rescued by a merchant vessel and taken to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo. There they told investigators they had paid 8,500 euros each for the passage to Italy and that they had been given abundant food and water. “The crew were well experienced and said that for them the safety of the passengers was important,” the migrants said. “We paid a lot not to die, but we arrived,” a migrant added.
They disembarked in Italy as European leaders were debating a new response to the growing influx of migrants arriving in the Mediterranean from north Africa after the weekend’s boat tragedy in which as many as 900 people are feared to have died.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Mulling Military Operation Against Traffickers
EC, Italy plans include destroying smuggler boats
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, APRIL 21 — The European Union is mulling a “military operation” targeting human traffickers in the Mediterranean in the wake of last weekend’s migrant-boat disaster in which hundreds died, European Commission Spokesperson Natasha Bertaud said Tuesday. The European Commission presented a 10-point plan Monday including destroying smugglers’ boats on the Libyan coast. This is also part of a five-point Italian plan unveiled Tuesday which includes the possible use of drones. The proposals will be examined by a special EU summit Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘If You Want to Stop Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean, Don’t Let Them Set Foot on Land’
Australian PM urges EU to adopt their tough policies… which HAVE proved a success
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged the EU to introduce tough measures to stop desperate migrants attempting to make the perilous sea voyage from North Africa to Europe.
Mr Abbott, whose conservative government introduced a military-led operation to turn back boats carrying asylum-seekers before they reach Australia, said it was the only way to stop deaths.
While Mr Abbott’s controversial policy has proved successful, with the nation going nearly 18 months with virtually no asylum-seeker boat arrivals and no reported deaths at sea, human rights advocates say it violates Australia’s international obligations.
His comments came after a fishing vessel crammed with migrants capsized off the coast of Libya in the early hours of Sunday morning, leaving up to 900 dead, and as EU foreign and interior ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss ways to stem the flood of people trying to reach Europe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mediterranean Migrant Death Toll ‘30 Times Higher Than Last Year’
More than 1,750 migrants perished in the Mediterranean since the start of the year — more than 30 times higher than during the same period of 2014, says the International Organisation for Migration
Here are the mugshots of the two alleged smugglers who have been arrested on suspicion of causing the deaths of an estimated 800 people.
The captain, Tunisian national Mohammed Ali Malek, 27, is being held on suspicion of multiple murder, causing a shipwreck and aiding illegal immigration. Syrian national Mahmud Bikhit, 25, faces potential charges on the latter count. Both men are to be put before a judge later Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 120 Migrants Reach Greek Shores, a Day After Fatal Sinking
Greek authorities have picked up more than 120 migrants who illegally entered the country by sea on three separate vessels, a day after a yacht with 90 people on board foundered just off the island of Rhodes, drowning three.
The Merchant Marine Ministry says 42 people, including seven children, were taken off a small boat near the eastern Aegean Sea islet of Agathonissi. All are in good health.
A further 84 people were located in separate incidents earlier Tuesday on the islet of Farmakonissi and the island of Lesvos.
About 550 migrants have reached Greek shores over the past three days, amid a surge of illegal immigration that has seen arrivals exceed 12,000 so far this year — a nearly threefold increase over 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Social Media: Africans Discuss Migrant Tragedies, Blame and Counter Measures
Poor governance in contemporary Africa, the legacy of colonialism or Europeans’ lack of political will? Africans on social media have been debating who is responsible for a string of deadly Mediterranean shipwrecks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Men Accused of Migrant Smuggling Face Prosecutor Over Deadly Shipwreck
Two Syrian men aged 26 and 27 are to face a prosecutor on Tuesday after migrants rescued from a shipwreck that claimed at least three lives off the coast of the southeastern Aegean island of Rhodes told police they had paid the pair to arrange the trip from Turkey to Greece.
A man, a woman and a child died when the wooden sailing boat carrying 93 migrants, mostly Syrians fleeing strife in the Middle East, from Turkey to Greece smashed into rocks near the port of Rhodes and sank. The prompt response of residents and the coast guard led to the rescue of 90 of the passengers, six of whom are children.
Meanwhile, coast guard officers in Lesvos, the eastern Aegean towed to safety on Tuesday 42 migrants whose boat got into trouble.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Urges Europe to Put Asylum at Center of Mediterranean Debate
The UN refugee agency on Tuesday urged European leaders to do more to help Greece and Italy cope with the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and to put protection of people at the center of debate.
After up to 900 died in the worst known shipwreck yet, European Union ministers on Monday set out a 10-point action plan and called an extraordinary summit of EU leaders for Thursday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed the plan as a good beginning while noting its emphasis on law enforcement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Armani Says Gay Men ‘Don’t Need to Dress Homosexual’
‘A homosexual man is a man 100%’ says Italian designer
(ANSA) — Rome, April 20 — Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani created a social media stir on Monday following an interview in the UK’s Sunday Times Magazine, in which he said a homosexual man “does not need to dress homosexual”.
The 80-year-old fashion icon spoke out about his distaste “when homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme, to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual’“.
“A homosexual man is a man 100%. He does not need to dress homosexual,” he said.
The designer also criticized women who don’t age gracefully but instead undergo plastic surgery, calling the procedures “idiocy”.
“A small breast does not have to become big,” he said.
Among Armani’s other pet peeves are men who are too muscular.
“Not too much gym! I like somebody healthy, somebody solid, who looks after his body but doesn’t use his muscles too much”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |