Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/30/2015

Two women were executed by the Islamic State in Syria after being accused of sorcery. In a departure from the usual practice, they were beheaded — the first female beheadings by ISIS. Their husbands were also executed.

In other news, Governor Chris Christie became the 2,336th Republican politician to declare his candidacy for president of the United States in the 2016 elections.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, TR, 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.

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Ramadan is the Month of Jihad, Even in Austria

The following second thoughts about last week’s “car jihad” attack in Austria were published a few days ago in the Kronen Zeitung. Many thanks to JLH for the translation:

Near East Expert Doubts Official Version

by Richard Schmitt

“The danger of more attacks during Ramadan is considerable,” opines the Near East expert Karin Kneissl after the terrorist murders in Tunisia and France. And she has doubts about the official version of the tragedy in Graz. “The additional knife attacks took me aback.”

“Ramadan is not a month of ceasefire. No. The Islamic fasting month is a time of emphasizing strength,” the Near East expert reminds us in her conversation with KRONE about the situation in Iraq. “Starting in 2005, we have the first bloody attacks during Ramadan in Iraq. Always after incitement by preachers.”

“Incredibly difficult to establish a perpetrator profile”

The danger for Europe is great: “As with the most recent murder in France, we are dealing with an enemy from within. The perpetrator is not radical as a result of joining a terrorist organization, but because he has constructed his own fanaticism.” Federal intelligence agents call these perpetrators “lone wolves,” who live in Europe unnoticed for years, before they strike. Kneissl: “Creating a perpetrator profile is incredibly difficult in such cases. How do we decide who is a case for psychiatric treatment and who is a terrorist?”

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Geert Wilders’ PVV: Top Party in The Netherlands


(A key to the political parties is at the bottom of this post.)

There must be a lot of “Islamophobes” in The Netherlands, because the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV), led by Geert Wilders, is at the top of the latest poll.

The PVV sent out this notice today:

PVV Biggest Party in Dutch Polls

A poll published today, at the end of the Dutch parliamentary year, shows the Party for Freedom (PVV) to be the biggest party in the Netherlands again. According to the poll, commissioned by Dutch public television, the PVV would win 24 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament if elections were to be held today. The governing Liberal Party (VVD) of Prime Minister Mark Rutte would also get 24 seats, but while the PVV is growing, the VVD is in decline. All the other parties are smaller.

The poll is here (in Dutch).

Key to the parties:

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/29/2015

Due to the unstable financial situation, all Greek banks will be closed until at least the end of the week. Greek citizens are withdrawing what cash they can, and stocking up on food and gasoline. Some analysts believe that a Greek default and exit from the Eurozone are now inevitable.

In other news, the Tunisian government has deployed 1,000 troops to protect beach resorts, in order to prevent additional terror attacks.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, LP, Phyllis Chesler, PS, 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.

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Marine Le Pen: Restore Our Borders!

In her first public reaction to the recent terror attack in Lyon, Marine Le Pen had some choice words to say about the fecklessness of French political leaders in the face of the Islamic invasion. The occasion was a meeting of the “Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedoms”, the new group in the European Parliament formed by Ms. Le Pen, Geert Wilders, and other leaders of immigration-critical parties in Europe.

Many thanks to Oz-Rita for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

The poster at the beginning of the video reads:

Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedoms
1 Year Action in the European Parliament
Speech by Marine Le Pen
Saturday 27 June — 5 pm
Palais des Congres de Perpignan

Transcript:

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Death of a Defector

Several weeks ago we reported on Col. Gulmurod Khalimov, a former commander of OMON special forces in Tajikistan. Last spring Col. Khalimov disappeared from Tajikistan and then turned up a few weeks later in Syria, having defected to the Islamic State. ISIS eventually released a propaganda video featuring the colonel.

Now comes word that Col. Khalimov was killed on June 19 during a firefight with the Syrian army. DarLink (who translated Col. Khalimov’s video for subtitles) found the following news report in Russian-language media. The text is an adjusted machine translation; the credibility of this report is unknown:

Lebanese media: Gulmurod Khalimov killed in Syria

Published June 23, 2015 — 11:13

21Livanskie [Lebanese] media reported that the former head of the Tajik Interior Ministry riot police — Gulmurod Khalimov, who joined the terrorist group LIH [presumably ISIS], has been killed in air strikes.

So, “Arabi-Press” referring to a competent source reports that Gulmurod Khalimov died Friday June 19, at about 23 hours, in Syria.

This is the source of the Agency “Arabi-Press” reports that Khalimov together with Abu Umar al-Checheni came under fire of the Syrian army.

On Saturday, the body G. Khalimov under heavy guard was evacuated from Syria.

With regards to Abu Umar al-Checheni — one of the leaders of the Caucasian LIH, the source reports that he suffered multiple severe injuries.

Don’t Open the Email, Y’all…

A kindly reader sent the following email:

Dymphna,

I received an email that supposedly was from you (I did not open it) but obviously could not have been, because the revealed email address was a Chinese name at flyteck.com. Just in case you wanted to warn your correspondents that an email with the subject “hello” and a fw(some number) is a spoof and not real.

It would be smart not to open it.

I must admit the truth here: I don’t have a way to send a timely warning to my list of correspondents since I don’t have one — a list, I mean. Can’t remember the last time I sent a group email, even in Reply mode.

I forgot to ask him which email they used — our normal email or my gmail list. Seems like someone is always being done to by gmail, though. If it means changing my password, that will be a dratful experience indeed since I can never remember the darn thing.

I wonder what den of Chinese thieves is sending these? They’d have been better off using, instead of “flyteck” as a return address, something like “fly-specked” since it’s closer to reality.

By the way, emails whose subject line is “Thank You for the Donation” are safe. Just sayin’…

~!D

David Cameron and the Appalling Barbarous Poisonous Death Cult of Peace

British Prime Minister David Cameron once again clarifies the basic nature of the Islamic State:

I wish the BBC would stop calling it ‘Islamic State’ because it’s not an Islamic State; what it is, is an appalling, barbarous regime.

There is nothing — nothing, I tell you — Islamic about anything that calls itself “Islamic”!

Hat tip: Vlad Tepes.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/28/2015

In order to impede the hemorrhage of cash, banks in Greece will be shut tomorrow. Greek depositors have withdrawn more than €1.3 billion from ATMs since last Friday. Reportedly, only 40% of the country’s ATMs now contain any cash.

In other news, a group of EU-skeptics in Austria has launched a petition demanding that their country withdraw from the European Union.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, JD, LP, RRN, 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.

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Sweden = Fascism

Regular readers are familiar with the Swedish artist Dan Park, whose exhibitions of anti-Islamic art have been banned for their “hateful” content. In the past he has been arrested and convicted of hets mot folkgrupp, “agitation against an ethnic group”.

Mr. Park has just positioned himself for another run-in with the Swedish Stasi. Yesterday the Swedish version of PEGIDA staged a demo in Malmö, the most culturally-enriched city in Sweden. Mr. Park gave a speech at the rally, and held up a defiant banner.

Many thanks to Peter Seier Christensen for recording this video, to Liberty DK for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Liberty DK attended the event in Malmö and wrote the following account, a slightly different version of which was published earlier today at Vlad Tepes:

I was at the Swedish Pegida demonstration this past Saturday and it was quite an experience. I always attend the For Frihed demonstrations in Denmark (every Monday) where we are surrounded by a couple of hundred police officers holding off several hundred antifa thugs throwing stuff at us.

In this case there weren’t as many Swedish police, but these ones on the ground had horses and dogs, and I saw several people being led away. We were also well-protected by double rows of metal fencing with a building at the back. They were shouting things such as “PEGIDA you can go” and so on. A veritable sea of fingers constantly waving everywhere from the “peaceful” counter demonstrators.

I did have one funny experience: I was showing the two-finger peace sign and there was one young protester at the front who caught my eye as he was showing the peace sign as well, though in a way so as not to be seen by the others. I even got a smile so there was support to a small degree. In any case, we held our speeches with controversial artist Dan Park as the last speaker. Then Dan Park and another of our group went forward with a banner that read “Islam = Fascism”. This was apparently too much for the police and they immediately confiscated the banner.

After the demonstration they pulled Dan Park aside. I was watching from the sidelines, and was discussing with him about the banner. They were also asking why he was wearing the star of David and he said that he was showing it in support of the Jewish people. In any case they didn’t arrest him, but he was called in for questioning (interrogation) not once, but twice this coming week.

It is not unlikely that he will again end up in jail which he already has been a couple of times because his art does not adhere to the Swedish politically correct narrative.

According to Liberty DK, seven works of art by Dan Park will be destroyed by the Swedish state.

Video transcript:

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/27/2015

Yassine Salhi, the principal suspect in yesterday’s terror attack against a gas plant in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near the French city of Lyon, reportedly took a “selfie” of himself posing with the decapitated head of his boss before he was arrested by police. Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned the public that France could expect more terror attacks. However, he said it was important for French people to remember that that such attacks have nothing to do with Islam.

OK, so I made that last part up. But still…

In other news, the Tunisian government responded to yesterday’s deadly terror attack on the beachfront at Sousse by ordering a security crackdown, which will include the forced closure of about eighty radical mosques. None of those mosques have anything to do with Islam.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, LP, PG, 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.

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The Islamization of Europe: No, I Do Not Have Visions

The following grim assessment of the Islamization of Europe by Michael Ley was published in the Austrian daily Die Presse. Many thanks to JLH for the translation:

The Islamization of Europe: No, I Do Not Have Visions

by Michael Ley
June 19, 2015

Orthodox and radical forms of Islam are a scourge of humanity. The historian Egon Flaig calls sharia Islam “the greatest danger to democracy and human rights in the 21st century.” Only an Islam without sharia is compatible with human rights. But this vision is pie-in-the-sky. Reality looks different.

The Islamization of Europe is the most visible change in most European societies. There is a parting of the ways concerning this development. Liberal and educated citizens harbor great misgivings at the increasing influence of conservative and radical Islam, and regard the future of the continent with pessimism. Their so-called progressive opponents interpret Islamization as a cultural enrichment and the conquering of the obsolete national state. The battle of the leading thinkers of a radical, post-national Europe is applicable to every national identity. Autochthon Europeans are apparently expected to forgo every national, cultural and religious identity, as well as any traditional sexual identity.

Well-intentioned compatriots try to find a mediating position, by judiciously weighing the arguments from contending cultural warriors and regretfully taking notice of the non-integration of many Muslim immigrants, but simultaneously pointing out the presumptive traditions of an Islam that is open to the world, and is expected to undergo a post-modern renaissance. Christians offer a dialogue of religions, setting pre-judgments aside and admitting their shame at the crusades of an imperial Christianity. Greenies praise their Muslim greengrocers as icons of successful integration. Feminists do not want to talk about the machismo of young, immigrant, Arab males. Purchased brides and honor killings are not among the favored subjects in their critique of society. Educational researchers brag that the number of Muslim graduates is increasing, while their critics point to the rising number of crimes committed by Islamic immigrants.

Defenders of Islam relativize many Muslims’ excessive hatred of Jews and their contempt for Christianity with the ritualistic complaint of an anti-Islamic racism in the indigenous population. The political and intellectual elites are helpless in the face of integration problems, and would prefer not to talk about the shambles they have made of it. Insofar as possible, they want to avoid a public debate about the future of European “immigration countries.” A look at the real world of Islam could open these dreamers’ eyes.

Europe did not simply spring from the Middle Ages into the modern age. It required mediating instances and fortuitous happenstances. Absent the acquisition of our classical heritage, the emergence of the Renaissance, the Reformation, Humanism and, above all, the Enlightenment, in their diverse facets, no European modern age would have occurred. The religious, intellectual, cultural, social and economic developments in Europe were exceedingly diverse and in no way trending in the same direction. The crises and catastrophes of the European modern age in the 20th century almost led to self-destruction.

An Islamic modern age could not arise, because by the10th century — that is, with the implementation of Islamic theology — the gateway to interpretation of the Koran was completely closed. As late as the 9th century, theological representatives of Mu’taziliten — which was influenced by Greek philosophy — were discussing free will and personal responsibility. After that, and until the present day, Islam largely closed itself off from the outside world. This development closed Islam to European rationalism and sealed its potential spiritual and intellectual development. That is why Islam knows only a theologically-based sacred history, and no secular history. Since Augustine, Christianity has distinguished between a divine history and a secular history, made by people. Accordingly, human beings are required to shape their own social and political future. In modern terms: God gives no specific directions for political structure.

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The OSCE Wants to Enforce the OIC Narrative

A few days ago we posted video excerpts from one of the OSCE sessions in Vienna last month. Since then Vlad has been working on a slightly longer version using the same material. The video below includes additional comments made by the panelists, and more detailed annotations.

These excerpts were recorded at the OSCE Security Days at the Hofburg, Vienna, on May 21, 2015. The event was the Night Owl Session: “How can the media help prevent violent radicalization that leads to terrorism?” It was an official OSCE forum, with opening and closing remarks by OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.

The BPE/ICLA team at OSCE included Henrik Ræder Clausen, Stephen Coughlin, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, and Renya Matti.

The panelists, from left to right, were:

  • Victor Khroul, a correspondent for Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency and Associate Professor at Moscow State University. Rossiya Segodnya is wholly owned by the Russian government, as is MSU.
  • Leila Ghandi, a Moroccan presenter for 2M TV. She is “an award winning TV host journalist, producer, commentator, book author, speaker, photographer and civil society activist.” 68% of 2M TV is owned by the Moroccan government, with the Moroccan royal family owning 20.7%
  • Randa Habib, the director of the bureau of Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Amman, Jordan.
  • Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, from Bosnia
  • Simon Haselock, Albany Associates

So the panel consisted of a Russian, a Moroccan, a Jordanian, a Bosnian, and a Briton. No Poles. No Danes. No Czechs. No Italians. No one from a sensible European country.

It seems reasonable to assume that the Russian gentleman represents the Russian government. The three women hail from three Muslim countries that do not enforce the wearing of hijab. But are they otherwise representing the interests of the Ummah? Based on the contributions of Ms. Ghandi and Ms. Habib to the discussion about truth vs. “hate speech”, it is at least plausible that they are.

Simon Haselock is a promoter of “global governance”, UN-style. He is described as a “pioneer in media intervention in post-conflict countries” — that is, he helps the United Nations manage the news flow in areas where the “international community” has discovered a compelling interest.

Take, for example this article from 2003 discussing his role in Bosnia:

In Sarajevo, [Simon] Haselock served as media spokesman for the Office of the High Representative, the European agency governing the Bosnians in the aftermath of the Dayton Agreement. In Kosovo, he became media commissioner.

The problem, in a nutshell: He’s British, and holds to a European view of how media should work, in terms of public responsibility, free expression, libel law, and similar issues. Haselock and others like him attempted to impose a European media regime on the Bosnian and Kosovar journalists, and there is every indication the same effort will be made in Iraq.

Put simply, this means that a governmental body will supervise media. It has already been reported that Haselock has written a proposal for control of broadcast and print media, including the establishment of state electronic media and the appointment of a board that will handle “complaints about media excesses” and levy fines for misconduct. These are exactly, down to the boilerplate vocabulary, the policies that were tried in Sarajevo and Prishtina. They failed miserably, and sometimes grotesquely.

IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, the stated mission of foreign media administrators embodied pure political correctness: It was to separate media from nationalist self-expression and political parties. This meant that although Bosnian Muslims felt they had survived a deliberate attempt at genocide, and while Serbs and Croats felt they had legitimate communal demands to put forward, their journalists were forbidden from dealing with these topics. The argument of the “internationals,” as the foreigners in the Balkans love to style themselves, was that any such commentary would constitute hate speech and would incite further violence.

Same shtick, different decade.

In his remarks, Mr. Haselock references non-Islamic terror groups that sprang from European roots. What he does not mention is that we were allowed to call them by the names they called themselves. We called them the “Red Brigades”, the “Bader-Meinhof Group” [Red Army Faction], and the “Irish Republican Army”, and we identified their ideology at the same time — which is what allowed us to counter them.

The rules are different for any group that has “Islam” and “Muslim” in its name. In such cases we are told not to use the name that the group uses for itself. We must instead identify it by a pseudonym invented by Simon Haselock or some other “media administrator”. And we must never, ever talk about Islamic ideology or sharia.

Mr. Haselock refers to “the narrative we are offering”. But whose universal values does such a narrative enforce? And against whom? And who decides?

In essence, the UN establishes narratives that are to be enforced against national identities as a requirement. Everyone on the OSCE panel supports these narratives and their enforcement.

Many thanks to Henrik Ræder Clausen for recording the close-up footage, and to Vlad Tepes for editing, annotating, and subtitling the excerpts used in this video:

(Watch the video of the entire session, 1 hr 52 mins)

Below is the transcript of Maj. Coughlin’s second comment, timed from the point where he begins speaking, as used to make the subtitles:

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Father William Veers Left

JLH normally spends his time translating German texts for us. However, yesterday’s Supreme Court decision prompted him to take a break from the umlauts and eszetts to pen this poetic pastiche in the spirit of Charles Dodgson.

Father William Veers Left
by JLH

(with apologies to Lewis Carroll)

“You are Left, Your Honor,” the young man said,
“And your thinking is not very bright.
You ceaselessly stand the Law on its head.
Do you think what you’re doing is right?”

“In my youth,” said the Justice Supreme, “my son,
“I feared it might injure the Law.
But now that I’ve learned that there really is none,
I don’t care which way it might yaw.”

“You are Left,” said the youth, “as I mentioned just now,
And have grown quite mentally lazy,
Yet insist that the Law do a Triple Salchow
A thought that is palpably crazy.”

“In my youth,” the Justice Supreme then replied.
“I tried to keep on thinking.
But then I discovered this socialist bromide
Which I think everyone should be drinking.”

“You are Left,” said the youth, “and your mind is too weak
To delve deeper than The Washington Post.
Yet you give the Law and Constitution a tweak,
And instead of hiding, you boast.”

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