Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/16/2015

“Refugees” angry with Hungary’s closure of its Serbian border attempted to storm one of the border crossings, throwing rocks and other detritus at Hungarian police and soldiers on the other side. The Hungarians responded with tear gas and blasts from water cannons. Some migrants in Serbia took buses to the Croatian border, in hopes of finding an alternate route through Austria and thence to Germany.

In other news, an alert has been raised in Ghana over the recruitment of young Muslims for the Islamic State. It seems that impressionable young people in the Muslim-majority north of the country are showing susceptibility to propaganda from Boko Haram and other kinetic-activist groups.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, 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
» 14 Things You Must Do Today to Survive the Coming Economic Collapse
» EU-19: Labour Costs Rise in 2nd Quarter, Down 0.4% in Italy
» Italy: Discouraged Unemployed Drop by 114,000 in 2nd Quarter — ISTAT
» Italy: Treasury Foresees ‘Probable’ Fall in Chinese Investment
» Italy: We’ll See How to Get Flexibility Margins Says Padoan
» OECD Raises Italy’s 2015 Growth Forecast to 0.7%
» Rate Hike Would Give Boost to Large US Banks
 
USA
» Advanced Alien Civilizations Rare or Absent in the Local Universe
» At Least 18 Killed as Flash Floods Strike Utah
» Bernie Sanders: America Was Founded on Racist Principles, And Here’s How Much It’ll Cost to Fix it
» CIA Confirmed Oswald Contacted Cubans, Soviets Before Assassination, Memo Shows
» Future Mars Explorers Could Live in Habitats That Build Themselves
» ‘Great’ If Trump Wins Presidency: NFL’s Brady
» Gun Maker Slammed for Christian Assault Rifle
» HP to Jettison Up to 30,000 Jobs as Part of Spinoff
» ISIS: ‘We’re Back in America’
» Michigan Resident Contracts Bubonic Plague Amid Unexplained Surge in Cases of Deadly Disease
» Muslim Teen Ahmed Mohamed Creates Clock, Shows Teachers, Gets Arrested
» Pentagon Confirms Investigation of Possible Skewed Intelligence on ISIS
» School Bans Confederate Flag Symbol From Vehicles
» Texas Nationalists Reportedly Try to Get Secession Question Onto GOP Primary Ballot
» Texas: Armed Muslim Enters Church, Says Allah Told Him to “Slay Infidels”
» Texas 14-Year-Old Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School After Teacher Said it Looked Like a Bomb
» University Seeks to Ban ‘Expressions of Intolerance’
» University of California Totalitarians Strike Again
» Video: Cops Kill Suicidal Native American in Broad Daylight as He Held a Knife to His Own Throat
» Woman Drowns When Police ‘Stop Rescue Attempt’
» World’s Biggest Brewers to Merge?
 
Canada
» Federal Government to Take Controversy Over Face Coverings to Supreme Court 896
» Study: Goats Fed GM Soy Have Altered DNA, Milk, And Offspring
 
Europe and the EU
» British ISIS Jihadist Moans About Islamic State Fighters Not Knowing How to Queue
» Bus Breaks Down on German Rail Crossing, Driver Saves Some 60 Children
» Creepy Ultra-Realistic Sex Robots Are Facing UK Ban
» Danish Teen Who Killed Mum ‘Inspired by ISIS’
» Dead Children’s Decapitated Heads Found in Caverns in Gordonstoun Estate, Scotland
» Dutch Journalist Buys Fake Syrian Passport With Prime Minister’s Photo
» Historic Rome Hotel Sold Into Qatari Hands
» Italy: Digital Tax Will Bring in 2-3 Bn a Year — Zanetti
» Italy: Agri-Food Exports Jump by 8% in First Half, Coldiretti Says
» Italy: Agriculture Set for 1 Bn Euro in Tax Cuts — Martina
» Italy: Rome Contract Process Under Scrutiny for Corruption
» Netherlands: Sittard Girl, 15, Under Investigation for Terrorist Involvement
» Nobel Director Regretted Obama Peace Prize
» Renzi ‘Adopts’ Italian Cheeses at Milan Expo, Opposes EU Milk Powder Plans
» UK: Government Plans Regulation of Faith Leaders
» UK: Half of Labour MPs Are Prepared to Defy Corbyn and Campaign to Stay in the EU Regardless of Cameron’s Renegotiation
» UK: Muslim Exorcist Zakariyya Islam Who Was Stabbed to Death in Whitechapel Pictured
» UK: Nicola Cross Who Was Killed by Intruder at Home in Hemel Hempstead Pictured
» UK: Shocking Pictures Show How Travellers Turned Farmer’s Field Into a Litter-Strewn Quagmire Which Will Cost Him £10,000 to Clear Up
» UK: Widow, 90, Whose Six Brothers Fought the Nazis Donates £1,000 to Sergeant Blackman Appeal and Tells of Her Disgust at His Treatment by Military Chiefs
 
North Africa
» Egypt’s Red Sea Flats That Have Cost Britons Their Life Savings
» Egyptian Army Helicopter Bombed Mexican Tourists While They Lunched
» Modeling Agency Leader, Former Congresswoman Among Mexican Tourists Killed in Egypt Attack
» Tunisia Offers Anonymity to Citizens Reporting Terrorists
 
Middle East
» Assad to West: ‘If You Are Worried About Refugees, Stop Supporting Terrorists’
» Commander Admits Size of US-Trained Syrian Fighting Force at ‘4 or 5’
» EU Migrant Crisis: Coincidence or Plot Aimed at Starting Build-Up in Syria?
» Free Syrian Army in Danger of Being Wiped Out by ISIS, France Concerned
» ISIS Militants Lack Manners, Steal Shoes, British Jihadist Laments
» Islamic State is a US Creation — India TV
» Kerry: US Looks at Russian Offer of Military Talks on Syria
» One in Five Syrians Say Islamic State is a Good Thing, Poll Says
» Over 40 Arrested in Beirut Clashes
» Putin Supports Fighting U.S. Proxies in Syria
» Roots of Islamic Fanaticism
» Russian Attack Helicopters Spotted in Syria
» Turkey Investigates Dogan Media Over Terrorist Propaganda
» Turkish Police Arrest 11 in Crackdown on Erdogan Enemy Followers
» UN Chief Responds to Russian Military Build-Up in Syria Saying There is No Military Solution
 
Russia
» Putin-Nazarbayev Discuss Kazakhstan’s Falling Exports
» The BBC’s Credibility Crisis is Terminal
 
Caucasus
» U.S. Training Helped Mold Top Islamic State Military Commander
 
South Asia
» Air India Grounds ‘Heavy’ Cabin Crew
» India: Death Threats for Christian Activist John Dayal: Hindu Conspiracy Behind My Public Humiliation
» Malaysia Rally Raises Fears of Ethnic Tension
» Malaysia: Police Fire Water Cannon at Pro-Najib Protesters Amid Racial Tensions at Kuala Lumpur Rally
» Nepal Police Kill Protesters Opposing New Constitution
» What Causes South East Asia’s Haze?
 
Far East
» China Continued South China Sea Reclamation Despite Halt Claim: Expert
» Obama Says U.S. Ready to Act Against China Over Hacking
» The Yakuza: Inside Japan’s Murky Criminal Underworld
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia Overthrows Its Prime Minister in the Blink of an Eye
» Channel 9 in Australia Bans Commercial Exposing What the TPP Will Do to Australian Families
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Africa Braced for Snakebite Crisis
» Alert in Ghana Over ISIS Terrorist Group Recruitment
» Malawi Teacher Accused of Trying to Sell Albino Girl for $10,000
» Mozambique to Become Energy Hub of Southern Africa
 
Latin America
» Chile: Effort to Repeal Pinochet Amnesty Law Languishing in Congress
 
Immigration
» A Tent Camp for Refugees in the EU Capital
» Arab Americans Look to Liberal Jews in US to Push for Entry of Syrian Refugees
» Avoiding Hungary, Migrants Leave Serbia for Croatia
» Dacic: We Are Not Collection Centre, Returning Migrants to Serbia Unacceptable
» ECB Vice President Says Immigrants Can Stop Europe’s ‘Demographic Suicide’
» Elusive Crime Wave Data Shows Frightening Toll of Illegal Immigrant Criminals
» EU Says Hotspots Starting to Work in Italy
» EU: Croatia to Close Corridor for Refugees
» Fortress Hungary: Orbán Profits From the Refugees
» From Western Civ to “Multicultural Places in the World”
» Germany’s Coming Demographic Revolution
» German Media: Refugee Crisis Caused by US, NATO’s Military Interventions
» Germany on Hungary’s Refugee Treatment: ‘This is Not Acceptable’
» Greece: New Reception Centers in Works But Officials Fear Impact of Border Closures
» How Many Are Genuine?
» Hungary Orders 30-Day Border Closing, Refugees Met With Tear Gas
» Impatient Refugees Walk to Germany From Salzburg
» Industry Chief Says Priority Giving Jobs to Italians, Migrants Not Solution
» Italy: Lombardy Passes Law Penalising Hotels Housing Migrants
» Italy: Kyenge to Petition EU Court on Calderoli
» Italy: Migrants: Croatia: Map With Minefields
» Migrant Crisis: Clashes at Hungary-Serbia Border
» Migrants: Croatia Demands UN Emergency Meeting
» Migrants Leave Salzburg on Foot as Trains Stop
» Muslim Cleric: ISIS Infiltrating Europe Through Migrants
» Police and Migrants in Stand-Off Near Turkey’s Greek Border
» Protesting Migrants Clash With Police: As it Happened
» Pssst! Need a Passport? Forgery Key for Fleeing Syrians
» Refugees in Athens ‘Dream of Peace and Respect’
» Revealed: Second Passenger Claims Aylan Kurdi’s Father Was Working With People Smugglers and Was Driving the Boat on Which His Son Died
» Slovakia: Cutting EU Funds Embarassing Blackmailing
» Slovenia: Temporary Border Controls With Hungary
» Sweden Gets 5200 Asylum Claims in a Week
» Sweden Courts Young Refugees
» Syrian Refugees in New Scheme ‘To Arrive in UK Soon’ — May
» UNHCR: Europe Creating a Chaotic Refugee Situation
 
Culture Wars
» Idiot Actress Helen Mirren Thinks Men Putting Their Arms Around Women Are Sexist
» Italy: Giannini Says No ‘Gender Theory’ In Schools
» Public School Compulsion
» South Dakota to SCOTUS: Tear Down Roe V. Wade Wall
» U.N. Agenda 21 Hiding Behind Agenda 2030
 
General
» Nanoparticles Disguised as Blood-Cell Fragments Slip Past Body’s Immune Defence
 

14 Things You Must Do Today to Survive the Coming Economic Collapse

I have spent the past week illustrating how a coming economic collapse is unavoidable and how the elite have conspired to steal as many of your assets as possible prior to the collapse. This article presents some common sense things one can do which could increase the chances of surviving a major societal meltdown resulting from an economic collapse. If you have any doubts as to what is coming, I strongly encourage you to read what I have written about on this topic over the past several months. Even Ray Charles could see that our economy will not be around much longer in its present form. Your can read these stories here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

It is always best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. For the purposes of this article, it is possible that society will not totally collapse even if the dollar does. However, large segments of societies always collapse when an economic collapse happens. Surviving the worst case scenario is the purpose behind what will be covered here.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

EU-19: Labour Costs Rise in 2nd Quarter, Down 0.4% in Italy

Along with Greece and Cyprus, non-wage component drops

(ANSA) — BRUSSELS — The labour costs in the second quarter of 2015, compared to the same quarter of 2014, rose by 1.6% in the EU-19 and by 1.9%. in the EU-28. In the first quarter of 2015, the increase was, respectively, 1.9% and 2.3%. These data were released by Eurostat. In Italy, the labour costs, on the contrary, have dropped by 0.4%: the only decrease in the EU, along with Greece (2.9%) and Cyprus (1.2%).

In Italy, this decrease is due to the non-wage component (social security and tax), down 1.1%, the biggest drop after the Netherlands (7.8%) and Cyprus (1.3%).

The most significant increases in labour costs have been recorded in Latvia (7.9%), Romania (7.7%), Bulgaria (6.8%), Estonia (5.5%) and Lithuania (4.3%). In the eurozone, an increase has been recorded especially in the wage component of labour costs (1.9%), while the non-wage component has grown just by 0.4%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Discouraged Unemployed Drop by 114,000 in 2nd Quarter — ISTAT

Number of inactive for academic reasons rises by 77,000

(ANSA) — Rome, September 15 — The number of unemployed who are not actively looking for work and are discouraged fell by 114,000 in the second quarter of 2015 over the same period last year, the national statistics agency Istat said Tuesday. The drop was most significant in southern regions and among people aged 15-34, Istat added.

The number of unemployed who are not actively searching for work for academic reasons rose by 77,000 over the same period, Istat said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Treasury Foresees ‘Probable’ Fall in Chinese Investment

Japan showing renewed interest in Italian bonds, Cannata says

(ANSA) — Milan, September 15 — Economic uncertainty in China may lead to a “probable reduction” in Chinese interest in Italian treasury bonds but Japanese investors “are returning”, the Treasury’s public-debt department general manager, Maria Cannata, said Tuesday.

Renewed interest from Japan “is very comforting because it is an acknowledgement of the progress made by Italy,” Cannata said. The treasury official added that it is “too early to see” whether Chinese interest in Italian debt has dropped because the latest figures are two months old.

“We are working with the July figures,” she explained.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: We’ll See How to Get Flexibility Margins Says Padoan

‘Deficit/GDP ratio 2.6% in 2015, will keep dropping’

(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Wednesday the government “is weighing the most effective way to obtain further margins” of budget flexibility from the EU “both because of efforts at structural reforms and as a contribution to investments”. He said the deficit/GDP ratio would be 2.6% in 2015 and would “continue to drop”. Premier Matteo Renzi says Italy should be entitled to more wiggle room to help lift the economy, as Germany and France have done in the past.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

OECD Raises Italy’s 2015 Growth Forecast to 0.7%

But organization revises down 2016 prediction to 1.3%

(ANSA) — Paris, September 16 — The OECD raised its 2015 growth forecast for Italy to 0.7% in its Interim Assessment, up 0.1 of a percentage point on its May prediction. However, it also revised down its 2016 GDP forecast for Italy to 1.3%, down 0.2 of a percentage point. The revised forecast for 2015 brings the OECD’s prediction in line with that of the Italian government. However, Premier Matteo Renzi has said the executive will raise its growth forecast for this year. Italy has returned to positive growth this year after years of recession.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Rate Hike Would Give Boost to Large US Banks

A Federal Reserve decision to boost interest rates would give a lift to large US banks and offset the drag on earnings from legal settlements and toughened regulations.

If the Fed gives the green light to a rate hike Thursday, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and other large banks would charge more on loans to businesses and individuals, affecting myriad transactions, from car purchases to mortgages, to business capital investment.

“Lending money is going to be profitable again,” said Gregori Volokhine, president of Meeschaert Capital Markets.

Banks would also view a Fed rate hike as a boost to the economic outlook and a “green light” to increase overall lending levels, he said…

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

Advanced Alien Civilizations Rare or Absent in the Local Universe

Sensitive new telescopes now permit astronomers to detect the waste heat that is expected to be a signature of advanced alien civilizations that can harness enormous energies on the scale of the stellar output of their own galaxy. Professor Michael Garrett (ASTRON General & Scientific Director) has used radio observations of candidate galaxies to show that such advanced civilizations are very rare or entirely absent from the local universe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

At Least 18 Killed as Flash Floods Strike Utah

At least 18 people have been killed in flash flooding in two locations in southern Utah, officials said Wednesday.

Sgt. Brock Bentley of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said three additional bodies were found Tuesday after two vehicles were washed away the day before in floodwaters in a town of women and children at the Utah-Arizona border, bringing the total there to 12 dead, and one child still missing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bernie Sanders: America Was Founded on Racist Principles, And Here’s How Much It’ll Cost to Fix it

Yesterday at Liberty University, Bernie Sanders said it’s a fact that America was “created on racist principles.”

How does Sanders propose to repair those racial injustices, other than by electing as president an old white guy from Vermont? By using the socialist/Democrats (DWS doesn’t even know the difference anymore) dog-eared blueprint for everything: Throwing tons of money around and then selling the printing press to pay for the rest:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CIA Confirmed Oswald Contacted Cubans, Soviets Before Assassination, Memo Shows

Three days after John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, U.S. intelligence officials told President Lyndon B. Johnson that they had confirmed that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had recently traveled to Mexico City to visit both the Cuban and Soviet embassies, according to a half-century old briefing memo declassified on Wednesday.

Oswald’s travel plans were revealed in an unprecedented declassification and release by the CIA of thousands of presidential daily briefings from the 1960s. Though the memos are decades old, about a fifth of their content was still redacted to protect sources and methods.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Future Mars Explorers Could Live in Habitats That Build Themselves

Astronaut pioneers on the moon and Mars might live and work in cozy homes that build themselves.

That’s the vision of the Self-deployable Habitat for Extreme Environments (SHEE) project, which is developing domiciles that could be useful both here on Earth and on alien worlds such as Mars.

SHEE is the product of a research idea initiated by architect Ondrej Doule, who detailed the concept Aug. 31 here at a session on space habitats at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ (AIAA) Space 2015 meeting.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Great’ If Trump Wins Presidency: NFL’s Brady

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw his support behind Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Wednesday, stating it would be “great” if the maverick tycoon ended up in the White House.

Brady, who has long been on friendly terms with the Republican presidential hopeful, was speaking to reporters as Trump prepared to debate rival challengers later Wednesday in California.

Asked if he believed Trump — regarded as a rank outsider in the Republican presidential race but leading opinion polls — had what it takes to win, Brady replied: “I hope so.”

“It would be great. There would be a putting green on the White House lawn, I?m sure of that,” Brady added…

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

Gun Maker Slammed for Christian Assault Rifle

US arms maker Spike’s Tactical has produced an assault rifle with Christian symbols to prevent “Muslim terrorists” from using it. The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ local chapter decried the marketing ploy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

HP to Jettison Up to 30,000 Jobs as Part of Spinoff

Hewlett-Packard says its upcoming spinoff of its technology divisions focused on software, consulting and data analysis will eliminate up to 30,000 jobs. The cuts announced Tuesday will be within the newly formed Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which is splitting from the Palo Alto, California company’s personal computer and printing operation. “The new reductions amount to about 10 percent of the new company’s workforce, and will save about $2.7 billion in annual operating costs.” The split is scheduled to be completed by the end of next month. “The head of the group, Mike Nefkens, outlined a plan under which it is cutting jobs in what he called ‘high-cost countries’ and moving them to low-cost countries. He said that by the end of HP Enterprise’s fiscal year 2018, only 40 percent of the group’s work force will be located in high-cost countries.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS: ‘We’re Back in America’

ISIS has released a new video vowing more September 11, 2001, type attacks on American soil, and warning bluntly terrorists affiliated with its group are currently in the United States.

The video says, Breitbart reported: “We are back in America.” It then goes on to say Americans should be alert for another attack of the size and scope of the World Trade Center and Pentagon assaults.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Michigan Resident Contracts Bubonic Plague Amid Unexplained Surge in Cases of Deadly Disease

A Michigan resident has contracted the rare, life-threatening bubonic plague — amid what officials said is an unexplained surge in cases of the disease across the country. Four people have died.

Health officials in Michigan said the unidentified adult from Marquette County was recovering after apparently contracting the flea-borne illness during a trip to Colorado. It is the first time Michigan has reported a case of the disease.

The Detroit Free Press said officials have reassured the public there is no cause for alarm, despite the disease’s connection to the microorganism that caused the Black Death plague in Europe in the 1300s, killing millions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Teen Ahmed Mohamed Creates Clock, Shows Teachers, Gets Arrested

(CNN) When Ahmed Mohamed went to his high school in Irving, Texas, Monday, he was so excited. A teenager with dreams of becoming an engineer, he wanted to show his teacher the digital clock he’d made from a pencil case.

The 14-year-old’s day ended not with praise, but punishment, after the school called police and he was arrested. A photo shows Ahmed, wearing a NASA T-shirt, looking confused and upset as he’s being led out of school in handcuffs.

“They arrested me and they told me that I committed the crime of a hoax bomb, a fake bomb,” the freshman later explained to WFAA after authorities released him.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pentagon Confirms Investigation of Possible Skewed Intelligence on ISIS

Intelligence assessments of the war on ISIS had been skewed by U.S. Central Command.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

School Bans Confederate Flag Symbol From Vehicles

The debate over displaying the Confederate flag has made its way into school parking lots.

Three students were called to the principal’s office at a Christiansburg, Virginia high school earlier this month and told to remove Confederate symbols from their vehicles. All complied. Two of the students told the Roanoke Times they were threatened with a three-day suspension. Officials at the school said that wasn’t the case.

“We cannot suspend students for violating parking guidelines,” Montgomery County schools spokeswoman Brenda Drake said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Texas Nationalists Reportedly Try to Get Secession Question Onto GOP Primary Ballot

A group calling for Texas to secede from the United States and become an independent nation has launched an effort to get a question about independence onto next year’s Republican presidential primary ballot.

The Texas Tribune reports that the Texas Nationalist Movement has begun circulating a petition with the goal of getting 75,000 signatures by December 1, over 8,000 more than what the Texas Secretary of State’s office requires to put the question on the ballot.

The vote on whether Texas “should reassert its status as an independent nation”, in the words of the petition, would be non-binding and the state Republican party has already distanced itself from the group.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Texas: Armed Muslim Enters Church, Says Allah Told Him to “Slay Infidels”

Forty-year-old Rasheed Abdul Aziz was arrested Sunday for allegedly threatening the Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Bullard. Aziz had a gun, was wearing a camouflage helmet, camo pants, tactical vest and boots when entered the church around one o’clock.

According to Pastor John Johnson, Aziz appeared distressed and said that god had told him to “slay infidels.”

“He said people are going to die today, that’s what he said to me,” says Johnson.

Johnson says Aziz entered the church through a side door, ended up in the conference room where Johnson and others were.

The conversation with Aziz lasted about 5 minutes, and in those five minutes, Aziz reportedly told Pastor Johnson he was representing Allah and god had sanctioned him to kill and slay people. During that conversation, Johnson says that he was able to see that Aziz had a gun.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Texas 14-Year-Old Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School After Teacher Said it Looked Like a Bomb

A Texas high school freshman said he was arrested Monday after one of his teachers said a homemade clock he had brought to school looked like a bomb.

The Dallas Morning News reported late Tuesday that Ahmed Mohamed, 14, had been suspended from MacArthur High School in Irving. Police said Wednesday that Mohamed would not be charged with a crime and they considered the case closed.

“There’s no evidence to support the perception he intended to create alarm,” Irving police chief Larry Boyd said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

University Seeks to Ban ‘Expressions of Intolerance’

No more free speech at the University of 1984!

Just months after the University of California was criticized for its “recognizing microaggressions” handout, the University of California Board of Regents will be considering a policy to make the university system “free from acts and expressions of intolerance.”

Eugene Volokh of the Washington Post reports the UC Regents Committee on Education Policy will be meeting to discuss a “statement of principles against intolerance.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

University of California Totalitarians Strike Again

In yet another descent into Orwellianism, on Thursday, the Regents of the University of California’s Committee on Education Policy will attempt to formulate an agenda for students and faculty that amounts to nothing more than a censorship free pass by establishing a right not to be offended.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Cops Kill Suicidal Native American in Broad Daylight as He Held a Knife to His Own Throat

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

In July, Paul Castaway was in the midst of severe mental anguish when his mother called police for help. He had a knife and was threatening to harm himself. According to Paul’s mother, Lillian Castaway, her son suffered from schizophrenia and struggled with alcoholism. “I called the police for help, not to kill my son,” she said. When police arrived, however, ‘help’ was the only thing they didn’t do. In front of multiple witnesses, including children, a DPD officer opened fire on Castaway. He died on the spot, yet police still rolled his dead and bloody body over it and placed handcuffs on him.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Drowns When Police ‘Stop Rescue Attempt’

(KFOX-TV) EL PASO, Texas — A 64-year-old woman drowned when police said her vehicle ended up in a drainage canal in Northeast El Paso Monday morning.

El Paso police said they were called out to the intersection of Diana Drive and Vulcan Avenue just after 6:30 Monday morning due to reports of a vehicle that had gone into a drainage ditch overflowing with floodwaters.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

World’s Biggest Brewers to Merge?

Beer and soft drink maker Anheuser-Busch InBev wants to take over rival SABMiller from the UK. Should the deal come about, the two companies would control no less than a third of the global beer market.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Government to Take Controversy Over Face Coverings to Supreme Court 896

OTTAWA — The federal government will challenge a Federal Court of Appeal decision that quashed its attempts to ban face coverings at citizenship ceremonies.

Immigration Minister Chris Alexander issued a terse, one-line statement Wednesday to outline the government’s next step.

“The government of Canada will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in the Ishaq case,” he said.

Zunera Ishaq, a 29-year-old, devout Muslim woman who came to Ontario from Pakistan in 2008, refused to take part in a citizenship ceremony because she would have to show her face.

On Tuesday, the appeal court dismissed the government’s appeal of an earlier Federal Court ruling case that declared the ban on face coverings at such ceremonies was unlawful.

The three-judge appeal panel ruled from the bench, saying they wanted to proceed quickly so that Ishaq could obtain citizenship in time to vote in the Oct. 19 federal election.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Study: Goats Fed GM Soy Have Altered DNA, Milk, And Offspring

Evidence that our offspring are suffering, too.

It was found that kids (baby goats) which fed on GM soy had both DNA fragments that were not supposed to be there, i.e., are not normally found in goat milk, and the immunoglobulin concentration was altered. Furthermore, the colostrum had significantly lower levels of both protein and fat.

The study states:

“. . . transgenic DNA fragments were amplified (P < 0.05) in samples from goats that received the transgenic soybean.”

The baby goats that came from mothers fed GM soy also had altered physical traits. For instance, a significant height difference at the chest and withers than their non-GMO fed counterparts was observed.

How GMOs Could Hurt Not Only Us, but our Offspring

It is becoming increasingly obvious that genetically modified foods not only have negative effects on people who consume them, but are also future offspring. Morphological and biochemical changes in DNA fed GM corn was also found in male rats. You can imagine what it is doing to the human form.

Oh, but you don’t have to imagine. There is evidence of GM foods altering human DNA as well. Geneticist David Suzuki recently said that human beings are part of a “massive genetic experiment,” and he is right to be concerned. Suzuki points out:

“One small mutation in a human being can determine so much, the point is when you move a gene, one gene, one tiny gene out of an organism into a different one you completely change its context. There is no way to predict how it’s going to behave and what the outcome will be. We think that we design these life forms, but it’s like taking the Toronto orchestra prepared to play a Beethoven symphony and then you take some random drummers from “here” and flip them in with the Toronto symphony and you say play music. What comes out is going to be something very very different. Publicists say that there is good intention behind GMOs, but the fact of the matter is it’s driven by money.”

Horizontal gene transfer is a very real phenomenon, even though biotech advocates say it doesn’t pose any risk. This means that genetic material is transferred from one organism to another without reproduction in the ‘usual’ sense in which we understand it.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

British ISIS Jihadist Moans About Islamic State Fighters Not Knowing How to Queue

Omar Hussain — who used to work in a supermarket in High Wycombe — advises would-be militants they will have to get used to having their chargers stolen, their food taken and bad table manners.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Bus Breaks Down on German Rail Crossing, Driver Saves Some 60 Children

Sixty pupils have escaped a bus-versus-train nightmare in Germany with only seconds to spare. All of them got off after quick thinking by the bus driver. Police put the vehicle damage at 300,000 euros.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Creepy Ultra-Realistic Sex Robots Are Facing UK Ban

Spohisticated sex robots are unnecessary, undesirable and should be BANNED, a new campaign has claimed.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Teen Who Killed Mum ‘Inspired by ISIS’

A 15-year-old girl who murdered her mother was fascinated by the terror group Isis and viewed online Islamist propaganda including videos of beheadings.

Lisa Borch, now 16, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday for stabbing her mother to death in October 2014.

During the girl’s trial, it was revealed that she had become radicalized by watching Islamist propaganda online. On the night she stabbed her mother, Tine Rømer Holtegaard, last year with the assistance of her 29-year-old boyfriend, Bakhtiar Mohammed Abdullah, Borch had been watching videos of beheadings.

After stabbing Holtegaard at least 20 times, Borch called the police and reported that she had seen “a white man” running from their home in the northern Jutland town of Vissel. When police arrived, prosecutors said that Borch would not pull herself away from her iPhone and computer and merely pointed upstairs toward her mother’s dead body.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dead Children’s Decapitated Heads Found in Caverns in Gordonstoun Estate, Scotland

Caverns littered with prehistoric children’s decapitated heads are found in grounds of Prince Charles’s old school in remote Scotland

Archaeologists made the grim discovery in a remote part of the estate of Gordonstoun near Inverness, whose former pupils also include five of the Queen’s children and grandchildren.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch Journalist Buys Fake Syrian Passport With Prime Minister’s Photo

A Syria-based journalist for news magazine Nieuwe Revu has managed to obtain a forged Syrian passport and ID card with a photograph of prime minister Mark Rutte on it.

Harald Doornbos paid some €750 for the passport, which he was able to pick up from the forgers within 40 hours.

The fixer told Doornbos that he would be able to enter Cyprus with the passport, which was in the name of Malek Ramadan.

Doornbos said the aim of the exercise had not been to buy a forged passport featuring Rutte, but he had been asked to supply a name and photograph, so he opted for the prime minister.

‘If we are able to buy a good quality forged Syrian passport, so can Syria fighters… and jihadis,’ Doornbos said. ‘Then it is relatively simple for them to enter the EU unnoticed and commit terrorist attacks.’

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

Historic Rome Hotel Sold Into Qatari Hands

(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 16 — The Qatar international hotel group Katara Hospitality on Wednesday announced the acquisition of the historic Rome hotel Westin Excelsior from Starwood hotels for 22 million euros. The Gulf group plans to renovate the Excelsior over the next five years, but the property will continue to be run by Starwood. The Westin Excelsior is located on the Dolce Vita-era Via Veneto and welcomes some of the most exclusive clientele coming to the Italian capital.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Digital Tax Will Bring in 2-3 Bn a Year — Zanetti

From 2017

(ANSA) — Rome, September 15 — The government’s planned ‘digital tax’ on digital giants who currently have their tax base in low-tax countries will bring in “two to three billion euros a year,” Economy Undersecretary Enrico Zanetti said Tuesday. Italy will have a so-called ‘digital tax’ from January 1, 2017 to “have transactions and accords taxed where they are made,” Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday, replying to a question on a ‘Google Tax’.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Agri-Food Exports Jump by 8% in First Half, Coldiretti Says

Rise driven by food-themed Expo

(ANSA) — Rome, September 15 — Agri-food exports rose by 8% in the first half of 2015 over the same period last year, farmers’ association Coldiretti said Tuesday. The rise was driven by the food-themed Universal Exposition in Milan, Coldiretti added.

Agri-food exports rose by 10% in the period May-June, which coincided with the first two months of Expo.

If the trend continues for the rest of the year exports are on course to reach the record level of 36 billion euros, Coldiretti said. Expo ends on October 31.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Agriculture Set for 1 Bn Euro in Tax Cuts — Martina

Minister hails ‘unprecedented commitment’ from govt

(see related) (ANSA) — Milan, September 15 — Italy’s agriculture sector is set to benefit from one billion euros in tax cuts, Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina said Tuesday after Premier Matteo Renzi announced farmers will not have to pay the IMU property tax or the IRAP business tax next year.

“One billion euros in tax cuts are coming with the elimination of IMU and IRAP for agriculture,” Martina said at Expo. “It’s an unprecedented commitment to support the income of Italian farmers and help investment and employment”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Rome Contract Process Under Scrutiny for Corruption

Anti-corruption authority report highlights discrepancies

(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Rome Prefect Franco Gabrielli said Wednesday that the system in which 5% of city contracts are reserved for cooperatives must be changed in the light of the Mafia Capitale case. “The issue of 5% for the cooperatives, which some have defined a hunting reserve, should be revised,” he said.

“It started out of a good intention, but the way it has been used is a crime gene and it produces the fragmentation of contracts”. The Mafia Capitale probe, which erupted last year, concerns allegations that a mafia organisation muscled in on city contracts worth millions. Many of the contracts under suspicion went to cooperatives.

Rome city government between 2011 and 2014 under the administration of Gianni Alemanno and part of the administration of current mayor Ignazio Marino was a “free port” for procurement contracts, according to a front-page article in Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Wednesday, based on a report by Italy’s anti-corruption authority ANAC. The article said ANAC’s analysis of city government management in those years found that 43% of contracts for city jobs and services, paid for with public funds, were awarded through private negotiations without following official procedure.

In the report, ANAC inspectors said the use of private negotiations instead of public tenders was “generalized and indiscriminate” and in “clear variance and contrast with the rules, often revealing a nonchalant and sometimes even reckless application or evasion of the regulations”.

“This suggests that the practices revealed have their origin in the distant past and represent in many cases more a polished ploy that oriented the contractual work of the offices towards a simplified route, a foretelling — as evidenced by recent news reports — of distortions of a corrupt nature, rather than from unusual conditions that characterised the political and administrative work of the Rome city government in the last few years,” ANAC said.

Corriere della Sera said that hiding behind the approximately three billion euros awarded through private negotiations over four years, there was “more wrongdoing than a solution to emergency situations, and the Mafia Capitale investigation did nothing more than confirm this hypothesis”.

The ANAC report, completed August 7, was sent to Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino as well as Rome Prefect Franco Gabrielli for evaluation and action, as well as to the public prosecutor’s office (antimafia division), and the prosecutor of the Audit Court for possible further investigations.

Marino recently made a point to distance his city council from that of his predecessor Gianni Alemanno, based on a report by Interior Minister Angelo Alfano on the Eternal City’s corruption scandal.

“This has clarified that the mafia infiltrations that polluted the administration during Alemanno’s council (leading to the arrest of several of his collaborators and mafia accusations against the ex mayor) met with a wall of discontinuity with my city council,” Marino said when Alfano’s report was released August 27.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Sittard Girl, 15, Under Investigation for Terrorist Involvement

A 15-year-old girl from Sittard has been arrested on suspicion of being a member of a terrorist gang, the Telegraaf says on Wednesday, quoting ‘well-informed sources’.

The girl, said to be of Somali origin, has lived in Sittard for some time with her mother and brother. She is currently being held in isolation in a youth detention centre and will appear in court in Roermond on Thursday, the paper says.

The paper’s sources say the girl has been questioned three times about her involvement in ‘criminal practices’. They say the girl is officially suspected of being a member of a criminal organisation that plans to commit terrorist offences.

Her lawyer Björn Brinkman has confirmed the girl was arrested on September 3 but told the Telegraaf he was not allowed to make any further comments because of the legal restrictions placed on the investigation.

Police sources told the paper the case is in some ways similar to the arrest of Muslim convert Aicha from Maastricht. She was arrested on suspicion of being a member of a terrorist organisation after returning home from Syria. That case was eventually abandoned because of a lack of evidence.

According to local broadcaster 1Limburg.nl, a 24-year-old Sittard woman who had converted to Islam left for Syria in May and two other Sittard women’s passports have been confiscated because of fears they would join IS.

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

Nobel Director Regretted Obama Peace Prize

A former director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute has admitted his regrets about the 2009 award of the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Renzi ‘Adopts’ Italian Cheeses at Milan Expo, Opposes EU Milk Powder Plans

Farming lobby says EU rules threaten survival of cheese makers

(ANSA) — Milan, September 15 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi symbolically “adopted” Italian cheeses at Milan’s Expo World Fair on Tuesday to highlight the country’s opposition to European Commission demands to lift a ban on the use of powdered milk in dairy production.

“This is an important gesture,” said farming organisation Coldiretti, pointing to the upcoming September 29 deadline by which time Italy needs to respond to the commission’s official demands for it to end the ban.

“The go-ahead for powdered milk threatens to make 487 traditional cheeses disappear,” said Coldiretti. “This is a deception of consumers which threatens gastronomic heritage that has been protected for generations, and will have effects on the economic, occupational and environmental level,” it said.

Dairy products made using milk powder cannot enter the Italian market under a law which aims to protect Italian food quality standards. However, the EU has said the law restricts the free movement of goods.

“With one kilo of milk powder, which costs two euros on the international market, you can produce 10 litres of milk, 15 mozzarellas and 64 yoghurt pots, all with the same identical taste. We will lose the distinctiveness that can be produced only by using fresh milk,” Coldiretti said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Government Plans Regulation of Faith Leaders

Proposed legislation leaked to the media outlines how the United Kingdom government plans to oversee religious leaders and their messages.

“If the reports are accurate, what the government is proposing turns the clock back on religious freedom more than 300 years,” said Ciaran Kelly, a spokesman for the Christian Institute.

“Not since the days of the notorious Test and Corporation Acts have we seen such a concerted attempt by a British government to restrict religious practice,” Kelly said in an institute report Tuesday. “We don’ t want to go back to those darker days of religious intolerance.”

It was the London Telegraph’ s Andrew Gilligan who obtained a copy of the plan.

“Imams, priests, rabbis and other religious figures will have to enroll in a ‘national register of faith leaders’ and be subject to government-specified training and security checks in the Home Office’ s latest action on extremism,” he reported.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Half of Labour MPs Are Prepared to Defy Corbyn and Campaign to Stay in the EU Regardless of Cameron’s Renegotiation

A pro-Brussels group of Labour MPs committed to staying in the EU has already signed up almost 100 MPs — despite Jeremy Corbyn this week insisting he would not commit to campaigning to stay.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Muslim Exorcist Zakariyya Islam Who Was Stabbed to Death in Whitechapel Pictured

Friends of a Muslim exorcist fear he may have been killed by a disturbed patient who thought they were possessed by ‘evil spirits’.

Zakariyya Islam, 45, was stabbed to death at his ‘black magic’ Ruqya Therapy Centre in Whitechapel on Monday and died at the scene.

A 43-year-old man known to Mr Islam was arrested and police have confirmed they are not looking for anyone else.

Mr Islam specialised in dealing with people who believed they were possessed by evil spirits or ‘Jinns’ by reciting passages of the Koran.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Nicola Cross Who Was Killed by Intruder at Home in Hemel Hempstead Pictured

Nicola Cross, 37, was killed in her three-storey house in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, around 11pm in what is thought to be a botched burglary.

Distraught family members released the image in tribute to Mrs Cross, as police continued to question a man arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Her husband, IT worker Danny Cross, was working late on the night his wife was killed, and her two children, a six-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, were asleep upstairs.

Relatives of Mrs Cross were too upset to speak on Wednesday, but releasing the touching image as experts began a post-mortem on her body.

It emerged that officers from Hertfordshire Police spoke to the suspected murderer just an hour before the stabbing — but let him go.

Police were called to reports of a man acting suspiciously outside, whom they confronted and took details from. However, no crime had been reported, so they did not arrest him.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Shocking Pictures Show How Travellers Turned Farmer’s Field Into a Litter-Strewn Quagmire Which Will Cost Him £10,000 to Clear Up

Landowner Brian Holden is today facing a £10,000 bill to restore pasture land after an illegal camp in Lincolnshire turned it into a litter-strewn quagmire.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Widow, 90, Whose Six Brothers Fought the Nazis Donates £1,000 to Sergeant Blackman Appeal and Tells of Her Disgust at His Treatment by Military Chiefs

A widow whose six brothers and Royal Marine husband fought in the Second World War has donated £1,000 to the Justice for Sergeant Blackman appeal.

Delivering a stark dressing down to military chiefs for their ‘disgusting’ treatment of the ‘heroic’ marine, 90-year-old Margaret Leathers said: ‘The officers who made up the court martial team should be ashamed of themselves.

‘All of my family served in the Second World War. I know that if they heard about this case, they would be horrified and disgusted.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt’s Red Sea Flats That Have Cost Britons Their Life Savings

British holidaymakers fear they’ve lost their life savings after paying up to £85,000 for beach flats that have never been built, Money Mail has learned.

Scores of Britons were convinced to buy luxury apartments at the Oasis Marina resort in Hurghada on Egypt’s Red Sea coast — but many now face financial ruin because it’s still nothing more than a building site.

Despite a five-year battle to force developer Iraida Estate Agency to finish the work, or repay people, many are out of pocket. And incredibly, flats there are still being advertised on the internet.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Egyptian Army Helicopter Bombed Mexican Tourists While They Lunched

There was nothing out of the ordinary about the scene unfolding at midday last Sunday in the Egyptian desert region of Darb-Al-Wahat.

A group of tourists, their drivers and their tour guides had stopped for lunch at a spot where the beautiful landscape attracts thousands of tourists every year. It was 2pm and the sun was beating down.

“They were eating quietly when suddenly, a helicopter showed up, dropped several missiles and destroyed their cars,” the family member of one of the drivers told EL PAÍS.

Egyptian soldiers mistakenly bombed the convoy, killing at least eight Mexican tourists and four Egyptians who were traveling with them, according to Al Ahram — Egypt’s pro-government newspaper — which cited sources from the attorney general’s office.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Modeling Agency Leader, Former Congresswoman Among Mexican Tourists Killed in Egypt Attack

Family and business partners have identified two more Mexican tourists who died Sunday when Egyptian forces hunting militants mistakenly attacked their convoy in the western desert.

The Queta Rojas modeling agency says founder and fashion expert Queta Rojas was among the dead. The website says Rojas represented some of Mexico’s top models and worked with major magazines such as Marie Claire and Glamour.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia Offers Anonymity to Citizens Reporting Terrorists

(AGI) Tunis, Sept 14 — Tunisia’s Ministry of the Interior will gurarantee anonymity to citizens giving the government information on terrorist attacks, the ministry announced in a statement. Tunisian authorities called on all citizens to participate in the struggle against terrorism by providing any useful information on the movement of people deemed to be suspicious. The information will be collected anonymously, said the ministry, not revealing the source of the information and assuring them the protection provided for by law. The ministry also published call numbers to contact. The attack against a tourist resort in Sousse last June 26, which cost the lives of 38 people, following the attack at the Bardo Museum a few months earlier, spurred Tunisian authorities to harshen security measures by passing provisions that many consider to be a return to the regime of deposed President Ben Ali, with President Beji Caid Essebsi declaring a state of emergency.

Regulated with a legislative decree from 1987, the state of emergency was last called after the so-called “Jasmine Revolution” that led to the downfall of the regime of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, and remained in force from January 2011 to March 2014. In order to assure security, Tunisian MPs unanimously approved all the articles of the law on terrorism and money laundering with 174 votes in favour, none against and 10 abstained. The law will enormously facilitate the work of security and army units, as well as the work of the judiciary, said Prime Minister Habib Essid, assuring his support to the national parliament in combating terrorism. Religious leaders, however, raised objections to the article of the law forbidding fundamentalist Islamic groups from pronouncing anathemas against Muslims.

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

Assad to West: ‘If You Are Worried About Refugees, Stop Supporting Terrorists’

U.S., NATO arming ISIS.

Europe is “not dealing with the cause” of the current refugee crisis, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Russian media, RT among them, adding that all Syrian people want is “security and safety.”

“It’s not about that Europe didn’t accept them or embrace them as refugees, it’s about not dealing with the cause. If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists. That’s what we think regarding the crisis. This is the core of the whole issue of refugees.

“If we ask any Syrian today about what they want, the first thing they would say — ‘We want security and safety for every person and every family’,” the Syrian president said, adding that political forces, whether inside or outside the government “should unite around what the Syrian people want.”

The “Syrian fabric,” as Assad has called it, includes people of many ethnicities and sects, including the Kurds. “They are not foreigners,” the Syrian president said, adding that without such groups of people who have been living in the region for centuries “there wouldn’t have been a homogeneous Syria.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Commander Admits Size of US-Trained Syrian Fighting Force at ‘4 or 5’

The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East admitted Wednesday that only “four or five” U.S.-trained fighters remain on the battlefield in Syria, leading to accusations from lawmakers that the program is a “joke” and “total failure.”

Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of the U.S. Central Command, addressed the state of the so-called “train and equip” mission in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The original goal for the first year was to train roughly 5,400 fighters to take on the Islamic State. But the first group of 54 U.S.-trained fighters was attacked by a Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda, which killed and captured several of them and sent others fleeing.

For the first time Wednesday, the U.S. military acknowledged hardly any remain.

“It’s a small number. The ones that are in the fight … we’re talking four or five,” Austin told lawmakers, admitting the military will not reach its training goal this year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Migrant Crisis: Coincidence or Plot Aimed at Starting Build-Up in Syria?

Social Engineering 101: How to Make a Refugee Crisis.

According to Tony Cartalucci, a columnist for New Eastern Outlook journal, Washington has staged the migrant crisis in Europe to create a pretext to start a military operation against Syria.

His article, titled “Social Engineering 101: How to Make a Refugee Crisis,” says that Washington had started to pave the way for the Arab spring revolutions in 2007.

Though the US achieved success in Libya, Cartalucci emphasizes that Washington’s plans did not go smoothly across the region. Egypt and Syria turned out to be “die hard” rivals that managed to resist Western proxy forces.

As a result, Washington decided to resort to another mechanism and create a migrant crisis for its European allies. According to the US’ plans, this migrant crisis would create a necessary and justified pretext for military build-up in Syria.

“I think there is definitely something to be said for that, although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was staged by the United States. Perhaps there is a sort of unofficial understanding between the US intelligence and Turkish authorities but I think ultimately it is Turkey that is the driving force behind this change because it is really a change in Turkish policy,” Draitser told Sputnik.

He went on to elaborate that as a member of NATO, Turkey is within the grander western agenda that is destabilizing Syria and using the refugee crisis in order to achieve that because what Turkey is really interested in is destabilizing the country by draining it of human capital. “Turkey is doing this by providing an open door policy for refugees, nearly 2 million in Turkey, and using Turkish intelligence to facilitate their transit to Europe.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Free Syrian Army in Danger of Being Wiped Out by ISIS, France Concerned

PARIS — The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) militant group has made large territorial gains in northern Syria, pushing back the Free Syrian Army, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the country’s parliament on Tuesday.

The National Assembly met on Tuesday to debate France’s participation in air raids against ISIS targets in Syria, Sputnik reports.

In early September, ISIS militants and Western-backed anti-government rebels clashed over control of Marea, a strategic town 12 miles from the Turkish border.

“The Islamic State group has advanced significantly near the town of Marea, cancelling out the progress made by the Free Syrian Army, or rather what remains of it,” Le Drian said in an address before the lower house of the French parliament.

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

ISIS Militants Lack Manners, Steal Shoes, British Jihadist Laments

A British ISIS fighter who fled to Syria in 2014 took to an online post to criticize the manners of his fellow militants, but said the unification of so many cultures would obviously create conflicts, The Independent reported.

“Our Arab brothers, or Syrians to be more precise, lack….basic manners,” Omar Hussain, the militant with etiquette, said.

Hussain, 27, a former supermarket security guard who threatened to bomb Britain, reportedly complained about fellow jihadists invading his space, talking too loudly and cutting the line. Don’t even ask him about stealing shoes.

“Sometimes you would enter a building and when leaving, you would see the person with your shoes walking 100 yards ahead of you and it can be quite irritating,” he wrote.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State is a US Creation — India TV

NEW DELHI — The Islamic State, like Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda has been consciously created by the U.S. This has now been confirmed by the release of classified documents of the US Defense Intelligence Agency by Judicial Watch that obtained these through a federal lawsuit in the US, IndiaTVnews.com reports citing article published in The Citizen.

It was doubly confirmed in an interview to Al Jazeera more recently by Lt General Michael T.Flynn , the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, and chair of the Military Intelligence Board from July 24, 2012, to August 2, 2014.

The first reports of this filtered out from the Syrian government over three years ago under the US-Turkey sponsored siege by rebel groups. Senior advisor to President Bashar al Assad, Bouthaina Shaaban told this writer in Damascus in 2012 that the al Qaeda had joined the rebels being pumped with arms and money by the governments opposing the Syrian government. Shortly after she said that new forces had joined the Opposition and could be more dangerous than even the al Qaeda.

These claims from the Syrian government were stoutly denied by the U.S, Turkey and other countries involved in pushing the rebels through the conflict. A denial that has continued till recent days, despite the emergence of the more lethal Islamic State that is controlling large tracts of land now in both Syria and Iraq.

The DIA report, formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012, was circulated widely among various government agencies, including CENTCOM, the CIA, FBI, DHS, NGA, State Department and others.

The DIA report states that “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHICH] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”

In an intense interview with Al Jazeera where he was questioned thoroughly US military’s top intelligence man admitted that extremist insurgency that turned into the Islamic State has been stoked by US policy in West Asia. General Flynn said that clearly there was something wrong with American policy and strategy for the region as the number of designated terrorist groups had doubled. He said that the war had given rise to the Islamic State, and the US should have focused not on conflict but perhaps on solutions. He said that history was not going to be kind when it looked on the US involvement in Iraq. He agreed that the ‘system’ was guilty of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the prisons in Iraq had contributed directly to the rise of the Islamic State.

General Flynn confirmed in the interview that the US had information about the Islamic State in 2012 saying, “I don’t know that they turned a blind eye, I think it was a decision. I think it was willful decision… It was a willful decision to do what they’re doing”.

Bouthaina, a dynamic and bold advisor to President Assad, had full details right from the very beginning of the composition of the so called rebels who were set up by the US, Turkey and the Gulf countries to fight the Syrian regime. It started with the funding of border smuggling and arms mafias, who were joined by various small insurgent groups in the region. The Syrian Army that despite being largely Sunni in composition stayed united behind President Assad right from the beginning till date was able to tackle these groups at the onset. However, these were then added to by what the Syrian government had identified as the Salafists, the al Qaeda and other more hardline groups operating in the region. Arms and money was poured into the region to fund these groups as the powers behind them were determined to get Assad out.

The dual policy remains with the Islamic State being supported by Turkey that has been working closely with the US against Syria. The recent announcement by the Turkish government to crack down on the IS surprised many, but as was exposed by the Kurds this was again a cover to bomb them.

India does not seem to have factored any of this into its policy for the region. Former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet secretariat and a well informed intelligence officer Vappala Balanchandran took note of this in an article for The Citizen where he had asked ,”Was the core of this group trained by NATO countries and supported by leading Arab nations in their effort to destabilize the Syrian Assad regime? Is the Jihadi war against Iraq an unanticipated by product of those efforts?”

More recently retired Ambassador Mk Bhadrakumar has pointed to these developments in his regular column for Rediff.com where he has pointed towards a sequel to this in Afghanistan. He wrote: “The specious plea being advanced by Washington currently is that the US wants to turn Afghanistan into a regional hub to wage a war against the IS — a war by the US and its partners, which, in the opinion of Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could last not less than a generation.”

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

Kerry: US Looks at Russian Offer of Military Talks on Syria

The Obama administration is weighing an offer from Russia to have military-to-military talks and meetings on the situation in Syria amid increasing U.S. concern and uncertainty about Russia’s military buildup there, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.

Kerry said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had proposed the consultation in a phone call on Tuesday and that the White House, Pentagon and State Department were considering it. Kerry suggested that he favored such an idea, noting that the United States wants a clear picture of what Russia’s intentions are in Syria following a recent military buildup there.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One in Five Syrians Say Islamic State is a Good Thing, Poll Says

A recent survey of 1,365 Syrians from all 14 governorates of the country found some surprising attitudes. Consider this: A fifth of those interviewed said the Islamic State — the brutal Islamist group known for its beheadings, that rules over large swaths of Syria and Iraq — is a positive influence on the country. And 82 percent said that they believe the Islamic State was created by the United States and its allies.

The Syria survey was conducted by ORB International, a U.K.-based market research firm, from June 10 to July 2. The poll has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Over 40 Arrested in Beirut Clashes

During anti-government protest

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, SEPTEMBER 16 — Several people sustained minor injuries and over 40 were arrested on Wednesday when clashes broke out during anti-government protests in the Lebanese capital. Reports were from Lebanese hospital, legal and media sources, who said that following an initial round of clashes between the protestors and police, 42 people were arrested near Martyrs Square in the downtown area where protestors had been awaiting the vehicles of political leader engaged in the second ‘national dialogue’ meeting. The event was called by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to prove to the public that politicians were serious about dealing with the most pressing issues in the country. A second round of protests occurred shortly thereafter near the square, onto which the parliament faces, between Berri’s supporters — armed with clubs — and protestors and journalists. In the evening, Berri’s Amal party denied any involvement in the clashes.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Putin Supports Fighting U.S. Proxies in Syria

On Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country’s increased military presence in Syria is aimed at fighting ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorists.

During a security conference of former Soviet states in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Putin said a strong Syrian army is required to fight ISIS. He also said Bashar al-Assad is open to a political settlement in the conflict, a solution previously rejected by the United States.

Considering the proxy war against al-Assad is fought predominately if not exclusively by jihadist groups, Putin’s statements may be taken to mean Russia will assist Syria in its war against the U.S.-supported “rebels.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Roots of Islamic Fanaticism

“Know thy enemy,” said Sun Tzu, the famous Chinese military strategist of the 6th century B.C. Wise words, indeed, and we need to apply them toward the Islamist enemies we face today. What is it that motivates their fanaticism, their worldview, their hatred of the West? There are several factors, but there is one that is primary. It is the ideology of Islam. Since it is ideology that is the main determinant of history, this is where we must start if we are to “know our enemy.”

Islamic cultures today differ from those in the West quite drastically, which is certainly in itself not a bad thing. The diversity of cultures is part of the majesty of human civilization. But only if those differences are sane and peaceful. Is Islamic culture sane and peaceful? Let’s find out.

Wise men and women realize early in life that what socio-political systems we end up with are largely due to the level of rationality that our top intellectuals embrace. For example, America became the greatest nation in history because her intellectuals of the 18th century were brilliant students of reason and history. And they enshrined a constitutional vision of “strictly limited government” that created a free and prosperous way of life that had never before been approached by mankind. It lasted for about 125 years until 1913 when the “progressive intellectuals” of the day began to subvert it. But for one brief moment in history, as Ayn Rand put it, there was a Camelot on this earth.

Our departure from reason is destroying us today. Unfortunately starting around the 11th century, Islam’s leading scholars began this process also. They brought about a fateful departure of Islam from the Hellenistic emphasis on reason as one of man’s prime tools to decipher reality, truth, and goodness, etc. Islam’s most important thinkers abandoned all respect for rational thought. The inexplicable “will of Allah” became the fount of all that happens. Herein lies the profound root of Islam’s tragic fate today.

In a contentious debate over the role that reason plays, Muslim scholars of that era swung the pendulum away from Greek rationalism, which destroyed any hope for their cultures to advance scientifically and technologically. Western scholars embraced Greek rationalism and as a result life in the West took off; but life in Islamic lands began a 900 year descent into backwardness. Consequently today’s Islamic societies wallow in primitivism. Science has been warped into an elusive, distrustful power; many of their intellectuals consider science to be blasphemy against Allah.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Attack Helicopters Spotted in Syria

Four Russian attack helicopters have been spotted on the tarmac of a Syrian airport that the Pentagon says is being converted into a Russian forward operating base.

The arrival of the helicopter gunships follows the shipment of sophisticated battle tanks, and shows the Russian build-up in Syria escalating even after repeated complaints from the Obama administration.

A U.S. official who had been briefed on the latest intelligence over Syria early Wednesday told Fox News that two Russian Mi-24 “Hind” and two Mi-17 “Hip” gunships have been seen in the latest satellite imagery over Bassel al-Assad International Airport, in Latakia province along Syria’s Mediterranean coast.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Investigates Dogan Media Over Terrorist Propaganda

(AGI) Istanbul, Sept 15 — An investigation has been launched into the Dogan Media group over promoting “propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation”, reported Turkey’s Anadolu State news agency on Tuesday. The Public Prosecutor of Istanbul opened the inquiry following a complaint by the pro-government newspaper Gunos on Sept. 10. Some of the newspaper’s claims had been found false in judicial proceedings last year. However, Public Prosecutor Idris Kurt decided to open the investigation on the basis of the newspaper’s revelations. One claim concerns the Turkish branch of CNN and a Turkish activist of Gezi Park, who later joined the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The Turkish CNN and the Hurriyet daily newspaper belong to the Dogan Media group. The investigation was opened two months after the Turkish government resumed hostilities against the PKK following a truce that lasted two years. Since July about 110 Turkish troops have died in clashes with Kurdish separatist militants and the air force has started shelling PKK outposts beyond its border with Iraq. Police searched the offices of the Nokta news magazine on Monday after they published a photomontage of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan taking a selfie with the coffins of the dead soldiers in the background.

Members of the president’s AKP (Justice and Development) party attacked the office of the Hurriyet on Monday, Sept. 7 and Tuesday, Sept. 8. The first attack was led by a member of the AKP.

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

Turkish Police Arrest 11 in Crackdown on Erdogan Enemy Followers

Turkish police on Wednesday arrested 11 people, including a senior business leader, as part of a crackdown on followers of an influential US-based cleric accused of plotting against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, local media reported.

The arrests took place in the central city of Kayseri, where police raided a university that has been linked to Fethullah Gulen, Dogan press agency reported.

Memduh Boydak, head of Boydak Holding, a conglomerate with interests in real estate, furniture and the energy sector, was among those detained, along with several other business people and academics, the agency said…

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

UN Chief Responds to Russian Military Build-Up in Syria Saying There is No Military Solution

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says his response to Russia’s stepped up military support for Syria is that “there is no military solution” to the nearly five-year conflict and more weapons will only worsen the violence and misery for millions of people.

The U.N. chief again urged all parties, including the divided U.N. Security Council, to unite and support inclusive negotiations to find a political solution.

Ban told a news conference Wednesday that he plans to meet with foreign ministers of the five permanent council nations — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France — on the sidelines of the General Assembly’s ministerial session later this month to discuss Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Putin-Nazarbayev Discuss Kazakhstan’s Falling Exports

(AGI) Astana, Sept 16 — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Sochi on Wednesday during the 12th Forum on Interregional Cooperation between their two nations to discuss Kazakhstan’s falling exports.

“There’s been a drop in bilateral trade,” Nazarbayev noted, caused by a decrease in exports and fluctuations in the financial market. “Our governments are working towards a rapid solution,” he added. The two leaders also discussed developing the agricultural sector as well as food safety in the region.

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

The BBC’s Credibility Crisis is Terminal

The BBC is seeking to establish a Russian version of its World Service. It claims it must do so to counter the well-funded “propaganda” of Russia’s RT. The UK Independent’s article, “BBC to face down Vladimir Putin with plan for new World Service Russian TV channel,” claims:

The BBC is proposing to set up a new World Service satellite news channel for Russian speakers, in a direct challenge to Russia Today, the Kremlin-funded television service found guilty of impartiality breaches.

The World Service would expand services in Russia, North Korea, the Middle East and other territories where state-sponsored broadcasters are denying audiences an impartial and independent source of news.

The problem for the BBC is, however, that it already has a larger budget than RT, plus a half-century head-start. The problem is not about a lack of funding, it is about a lack of credibility, something all the money on Wall Street and London cannot buy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Training Helped Mold Top Islamic State Military Commander

“We trained him well, and we had lots of help from America.” Former Georgian defense official

Abu Omar al Shishani, as he’s now known, had been born Tarkhan Batirashvili 27 years earlier in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, a tiny enclave of ethnic Chechens, known locally as Kists, whose roughly 10,000 residents represent virtually all of the Muslims in predominantly Orthodox Christian Georgia.

But analysts of extremist groups said Batirashvili’s impact has been far greater than the small numbers of Muslims in Georgia would suggest. Since he swore allegiance to the Islamic State in 2013, thousands of Muslims from the Caucasus have flocked to Syria to join the extremist cause.

“More than anything else, Batirashvili has legitimized ISIS in the Caucasus by the power of his exploits, which is amplified by slick ISIS propaganda,” said Michael Cecire, an analyst of extremism for the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Air India Grounds ‘Heavy’ Cabin Crew

New Delhi (CNN) Air India, a debt-burdened, state-run carrier, is trying to shed some extra flab.

The airline has asked 125 of its flight attendants to lose a few pounds or get ready for an airport job.

“It is an opportunity for them to bring themselves back to the (required) fitness level. If they cannot because of any medical reasons, they will be offered ground duties,” Air India spokesman G.P. Rao told CNN Tuesday.

The decision follows fitness guidelines laid out by India’s civil aviation regulator.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India: Death Threats for Christian Activist John Dayal: Hindu Conspiracy Behind My Public Humiliation

Respected for his struggle in favor of minorities, he has been viciously attacked on Twitter. His profile assaulted by Hindu radicals, his phone number posted on the social network. Support from Christian activists and lay people. His daughter: “His commitment to society does not give permission to those who disagree with him to harass or insult him”.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) — It is a “planned attack. I received death threats and violent insults from so many people. My reputation is destroyed, my life in danger. I fear for my life and my freedom, but above all there is an ongoing conspiracy to destroy religious harmony”, writes Dr. John Dayal, Christian activist and member of the National Integration Council.

The activist has lodged a formal complaint with police in Delhi, following prolonged attacks on his Twitter profile, and by phone. “The campaign of insults — he continues — is not directed only against me, but against the Christian community in general. It looks like a real attack orchestrated to undermine religious harmony and hurt the feelings of Christians and of all Indians”.

A group of five people — including Pramod Singh, president of the Christian Lawyers Association, Abraham M. Pattiyani, governmental member of Delhi Minority Commission and Fr. Savari Muthu, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Delhi — met Bhim Sain Bassi, commissioner of the Indian capital yesterday.

The five expressed concern at the level of threats being levelled against the Christian activist. The campaign of slander that started on September 12, has become viral, so much so that within a few hours the theme “Shame John Dayal” trended on the popular platform.

Dr. Dayal, who is also secretary general of the All India Christians Council and former president of the All India Catholic Union, is also being subjected to verbal intimidation and insults. In the complaint, he writes: “I have subscribed to the website twitter.com and use the medium to communicate with various people. I have been the subject of tremendous and vile abuse (both personal and religious in nature) on twitter, from various miscreants for a long time now. I regularly receive threats to my life and liberty and live under constant fear. Previously I made complaints to the concerned authorities, however, no action has been taken till date”

He also said that the Hindu radicals are in possession of his cell phone number and have published it on the site, inviting the whole world to threaten and insult him. Since that time, he can no-longer use his phone. Dayal has asked the Indian police to act against those who are pursuing him and to protect it from further damage to his person and the community of Christians.

For some time now, Hindu fundamentalists have been targeting Catholic churches and communities, accusing them of proselytizing among the population. Many activists have denounced attacks on their online profiles. These include Dr. Ram Puniyani, a secularist and staunch defender of social harmony in India. He wrote on his personal page: “The insults and death threats against Dr. John Dayal is one of the most disturbing episodes of recent times. He is the defender of human rights. He is involved in a serious way in the defense of values such as pluralism, secularism, social harmony and the poorest sections of society. He is a valued and long-time activist and supports the rights of minorities, Dalits and Adivasis “. “We need — Puniyani continues to affirm — the ‘right to dissent’ and to ensure that these online threats are recorded as crimes. We ask that adequate protection be guaranteed to Dr. Dayal. Those who insist on these hate crimes must be identified and punished according to law. “

Finally Karuna Dayal, daughter, director of an online newspaper, reports: “John Dayal, my father, an Indian citizen, journalist and minority rights activist. I have seen his activism grow each day, and his savings getting depleted because he is too voluble, too opinionated, and too unafraid to be employed as the full-time journalist that he once was. That was his choice to make. He lives by the choice, and makes a living with the spare writing or speaking assignment that comes his way. However, what should not be a choice is his right to live fearlessly in his own country. His activism does not give permission, to those who do not agree, to unleash threats and abuse online”.

Despite the threats, Dr. Dayal writes in the complaint: “I refuse to remain silent, be forced or intimidated. I will continue my work on behalf of justice and human rights “.

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

Malaysia Rally Raises Fears of Ethnic Tension

Thousands of Malays have taken to the streets in support of the prime minister. Police fired water cannons at protesters attempting to breach barricades blocking access to the capital’s Chinese-dominated neighborhoods.

Police in Kuala Lumpur fired water cannons at the demonstrators after they attempted to breach barricades leading to the capital’s predominantly Chinese neighborhoods.

Despite a heavy security presence in the streets, Chinese businesses shuttered their shops in fear that the demonstration could turn violent.

Meanwhile, the rally was criticized for fomenting racial tensions, with protesters chanting “Long live the Malays” and “Rise Malays rise.”

Religion and politics are sensitive issues in Malaysian politics, with the deadly sectarian riots of 1969 often cited for the need to maintain ethnic harmony in a country where Malays make up around 60 percent of the population, Chinese comprising 25 percent and Indians close to 7 percent.

The prime minister has struggled politically after documents showed he received nearly $700 million (623 million euros) into his personal accounts. Razak has defended himself by saying they were “political contributions” from unspecified donors in the Middle East.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Malaysia: Police Fire Water Cannon at Pro-Najib Protesters Amid Racial Tensions at Kuala Lumpur Rally

Malaysian riot police on Wednesday fired water cannon on ethnic Malay protesters staging a pro-government rally in the capital Kuala Lumpur that has raised racial tensions in the multi-ethnic country.

Police briefly sprayed demonstrators who were chanting slogans denouncing Malaysia’s Chinese minority and demanding access to a tourist street lined with ethnic Chinese-run businesses, witnesses said.

At least several thousand members of the Muslim ethnic Malay majority marched through the heart of the capital to declare support for Prime Minister Najib Razak, a Malay who is facing calls to step down over a financial scandal.

Shadowed by heavy security, the demonstrators also claimed that long-held Malay dominance of the country was being challenged by the Chinese.

“Our Malay way of life is under threat. We want to support Malays, Najib, and tell the Chinese to keep their place,” said demonstrator Faisal Nur, 23.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal Police Kill Protesters Opposing New Constitution

Nepali police have killed a four-year-old boy and three others after opening fire on protesters opposing the draft of a new constitution. At least 40 people have died since the draft was introduced in August.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

What Causes South East Asia’s Haze?

Forest fires in Indonesia have resulted in a smoky haze that is blanketing the region and affecting neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

The BBC explains what causes the haze, and what makes it such a contentious issue.

Both the haze and the controversy around it have intensified in recent years.

Every year Indonesia sees agriculture fires in Riau province in East Sumatra, South Sumatra, and parts of Kalimantan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Continued South China Sea Reclamation Despite Halt Claim: Expert

China was carrying out land reclamation in contested waters of the South China Sea this month, more than four weeks after saying it had stopped such activity, a U.S. expert said on Tuesday, citing recent satellite images.

The evidence of continued dredging in the Spratly archipelago could complicate a visit to the United States by Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, when U.S. concerns about China’s assertive pursuit of territorial claims in Asia are expected to be high on the agenda.

Bonnie Glaser, of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said images taken in early September showed dredging activity at both Subi Reef and Mischief Reef in Spratlys.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Says U.S. Ready to Act Against China Over Hacking

A little more than a week before China’s leader arrives at the White House, President Barack Obama escalated the fight over cyberspace, saying the U.S. is readying measures to forcefully demonstrate that economic espionage won’t be tolerated.

It was the first time that the administration publicly, if indirectly, acknowledged the possibility of imposing sanctions or retaliation to counter hacking emanating from China, which has become a serious point of conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Yakuza: Inside Japan’s Murky Criminal Underworld

Tokyo (CNN) Last month, Japan’s largest crime group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, split into two main factions, potentially creating a gang war that may ultimately involve all 21 designated crime groups in Japan.

The new group, which was formally created in early September, is calling themselves the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi and is already setting up alliances with other organized crime groups. The National Police Agency says they have had an emergency meeting to discuss how to handle the crisis, and police nationwide are on alert.

In the Japanese underworld, the 21 other organized crime groups are trying to decide which way the wind blows and who to align themselves with. The last split in the Yamaguchi-gumi, which began in 1984, resulted in several years of epic warfare marked with assassinations, attempted bombings and gun battles that terrified and enthralled the nation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Overthrows Its Prime Minister in the Blink of an Eye

In Australia, we are seeing signs of political unrest. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been a complete disaster.

It is really a wonder how these people are elected and what goes through their minds. Abbott appears stunned by the swift pace of the challenge to his leadership. His collapse in the polls warned that he was off the mark, becoming an embarrassment for Australia as a nation on the world stage.

Essentially, for the past seven months following a no-confidence vote, Tony Abbott was overthrown this week in a leadership challenge from his popular former communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who won the Liberal Party vote 54-44 in Canberra just hours after declaring his leadership bid.

This is the peak in government. During the fall of the Roman Empire, between 244 AD and 268 AD, there were 26 Roman Emperors within a period of 24 years. As the economy begins to turn down, we should expect to see this type of response within politics. This is the type of trend we are entering post-2015.75. This is what we should expect to see as people become disillusioned by government and confidence collapses.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Channel 9 in Australia Bans Commercial Exposing What the TPP Will Do to Australian Families

‘We just received word that Channel 9 has banned our new TV ad from airing during the evening news — and they refuse to say why. The ad simply shows, in irreverent fashion, what the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will mean for Australian families. The Abbott government is trying to keep this deal secret from Australians, and now Channel 9 is joining in.

But we won’t give up. We’re scrambling right now for ad spots during the news on other networks, before next Saturday’s critical Canning by-election (Channel 10 says they’ll air it!).’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Africa Braced for Snakebite Crisis

Health specialists warn that stocks of antivenom will run out in 2016.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Alert in Ghana Over ISIS Terrorist Group Recruitment

(AGI) Accra, Sept 15 — An alert has been called in Ghana over ISIS recruiting youths, reported Global Risk Insights. It said youngsters in the majority Muslim population in the north could be recruited because of the unstable conditions in north-east Nigeria, on the border with Chad and Niger, caused by the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group. Unemployment remains high in Ghana, especially among the young, although it is one of the most stable nations in Africa and has a fast-growing economy.

The study says potential recruits are enticed by Islamic State’s promise of a “lavish lifestyle in Syria and Iraq” and better living conditions for family left behind. They quote the example of Mohammed Nazir Nortei Alema, 25, a Geography undergraduate in the prestigious Kwame Nkrumah University, who left Ghana to embrace the cause of ISIS.

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

Malawi Teacher Accused of Trying to Sell Albino Girl for $10,000

A Malawian teacher suspected of attempting to sell an albino schoolgirl for $10,000 was arrested Tuesday, police said, as the country battles to stop albino killings fuelled by superstition.

Primary school teacher Phillip Ngulube was with the girl when he was arrested in the northern city of Mzuzu and has been charged with abduction with intent to murder, police spokesman Maurice Chapola told AFP.

Ngulube was “caught by police on his way to selling the girl to an alleged Tanzanian businessman for six million Kwacha ($10,000),” said Chapola, adding it was likely she would be killed for her body parts…

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

Mozambique to Become Energy Hub of Southern Africa

(AGI) Milan, Sept 15 — Mozambique is to increase its strategic role as Africa’s energy hub by supplying other African states with petrol and and diesel oil, especially in the south-east.

The centrality of Mozambique’s role is also due to the opening on Sept. 4 of the Beira terminal, in the centre of the country and in the country’s most populated city after the capital Maputo. The terminal, which can hold 24,000 cubic metres of petrol, diesel oil and other lubricants, was built by Engen, a company 80 percent owned by Malaysia’s PETRONAS and the rest by South Africa’s Pembani Group, which mainly operates in renewable energy, particularly solar energy. Engen general manager, Drikus Kotz, said: “We have positively tested the capacity of the railway connecting Beira to the cities of Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe, and Francistown, in Botswana, although we also have the option to transport the material from the terminal by sea to Durban, in South Africa, and from there to markets in Zimbabwe and Botswana.” .

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

Chile: Effort to Repeal Pinochet Amnesty Law Languishing in Congress

SANTIAGO, Chile — Another year has passed and another ceremony was held to commemorate the anniversary of the September 11, 1973 military coup that toppled democratically-elected leader Salvador Allende and ushered in a repressive 17-year military dictatorship, but the date also signified that another year has passed without the repeal of dictatorship-era amnesty laws that protect criminals of the period.

In another not to what has become a tradition, the day ended with isolated incidents of violence, clashes with police and arrests. This took place after the march, dedicated to the remembrance of the dictatorship’s victims and the demand for justice, was characterized by tens of thousands of people demonstrating peacefully.

Shortly before nightfall, a small group of hooded demonstrators set up barricades in Santiago in order to keep the police forces at bay, who were firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the demonstrators. In return, some of the hooded individuals threw Molotov cocktails, rocks and other debris at the police.

Hours later when calm returned, 52 people had been arrested. On the other side, four carabineros (national police) were injured, the most serious of which was the case of Lieutenant Ángelo Sobarzo Gutiérrez who was shot in the thigh in the southern Santiago suburb of La Florida. Nearly 20 cars were burned or stoned across the city, and a Transantiago (public transportation service) bus in the western suburb of Lo Prado was burned. Power was temporarily cut to some 120,000 residents in the city, according to energy company Chilectra.

While the numbers seem high, this year was actually more peaceful than in previous years. By comparison, there were many more carabineros injured last year, more people detained, more police stations were pelted with rocks and other debris and much more damage was seen on the streets of Santiago and other major cities of the country. Indeed, the Mayor of the Metropolitan Santiago Region, Claudio Orrego, noted that this year was calmer compared to the disturbances of 2014.

Prior to the skirmishes, however, the march was as poignant as always. The tens of thousands of people participating, mostly dressed in black, chanted slogans for justice and carried pictures of loved ones lost during the dictatorship.

On September 11, 1973, the democratically-elected leftist Salvador Allende was faced with a violent coup staged by the Chilean Armed Forces, led by Augusto Pinochet (who would then rule until 1990).

Less than three weeks prior to the overthrow, Allende appointed the lifelong military man Pinochet to the top position in the armed forces and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army repaid him by ousting him from power.

On the day of the coup, Pinochet ordered the attack on Allende who remained inside La Moneda, the national palace, in central Santiago. Rather than surrendering or being killed by military forces, Allende committed suicide by shooting himself just minutes before the Chilean Air Force bombed the complex.

In what is usually the most emotional moment of the march commemorating that day, the participants made their way past the Moneda this year as in years past while Allende’s last speech as leader of the nation played over loudspeakers in the background. Many of the marchers walked past the national palace with tears welling up in the eyes or streaming down their faces as Allende spoke of how he would never surrender.

The reason for their sadness, apart from how the legendary Allende met his fate, was that from that September 11 in 1973, Pinochet led Chile with an iron fist for the duration of the dictatorship, which finally ended in 1990. Pinochet was facing over three hundred different possible charges of crimes against humanity when he passed away in 2006.

Over 40,000 people were victims of grave human rights abuses in the South American country during the period from 1973 to 1990, including kidnapping, torture, rape, forced disappearance and murder, and that number could be even higher according to some estimates. Additionally, some 200,000 Chileans were forced out or fled their country during the dictatorship, with tens of thousands still in exile.

This was part of Operation Condor, a period of systematic political repression and state-sponsored terror involving cooperating international intelligence organizations conducted by the right-wing dictatorships of South America, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. This was all done with the staunch financial, logistical and political support from the United States. The program’s purpose was to “eradicate communist or Soviet influence and ideas,” and to suppress and eliminate any opposition, real or imagined, against those dictatorships.

The dictatorship officially ended in 1990, but democracy did not return before Pinochet and many other Armed Forces officials took measures to protect themselves in the aftermath. Those individuals greatly benefited from the Amnesty Decree, a law installed by Pinochet in 1978 that prevents any figures from facing justice due to crimes committed during the dictatorship. Furthermore, a provision in the transitional constitution drafted by Pinochet in 1980 allowed him to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for another eight years after he stopped serving as President in 1990.

“It has been 42 years since the military coup and we are still here, and we will remain here, marching for memory because we can never forget what happened, and because we want the complete and total truth and justice. We want this country to once and for all sever these dictatorial moorings,” said Lorena Pizarro, the head of the Association of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared.

Pizarro was referring to the fact that many remnants of the dictatorship are present in modern-day Chile, including the systems that dictate aspects of the economy, healthcare and education, although there are reforms concerning those sectors in Chilean Congress.

That reforms are being considered may not be a comforting thought to those seeking change, however, as another remnant of the dictatorship, the aforementioned Amnesty Decree, has been a languishing topic in that same Congress for a year now. Just after last year’s commemoration ceremony, President Michelle Bachelet promised that her center-left New Majority coalition would revoke the Amnesty Decree through congressional action, but over a year later, the reform is still being discussed in the political chambers.

The reason for the gridlock is because of semantics. Even though the Amnesty Decree still has legal value today through Article 93 of the Chilean Penal Code, which stipulates that “criminal and judicial liability is extinguished” in various cases using vague wording and statutes of limitation that cover a very wide-ranging array of hypothetical and real situations, Chilean justice has managed to circumvent it in bringing to justice several individuals. The way these specific cases, the most blatant examples of human rights violations that took place in the early years of the dictatorship, have been carried to trial have been as crimes against humanity, a charge that does not have a statute of limitations, thus circumventing the Amnesty Decree.

Those charged and punished through this mechanism, approximately 270 suspects (of which just over 60 are imprisoned), are done so as individuals and not as part of a greater military and governmental scheme, and the sentences have often not reflected the severity of the crimes committed when compared to sentences given to civilians for similar crimes like murder and kidnapping. Most of the suspects have been tried at sympathetic military courts due to their background but again, not tried as part of a military scheme, and many of the judges and prosecutors that have overseen the small number of cases in civilian courts have received death threats.

Furthermore, those that have been convicted were initially sent to the now-closed Penal Cordillera in eastern Santiago, a controversial minimum-security prison built in 2005 that housed several Pinochet-era officials and was called a ‘luxury hotel’ by opponents of its existence as it featured computers with Wi-Fi access, cable television, radio, a tennis court, swimming pool, lush gardens and an open barbecue area. The prisoners have now been moved to Punta Peuco, another military prison at the northern edge of Santiago, which is not as comfortable as the Penal Cordillera but is still quite lush by prison standards and houses only those dictatorship-era criminals, not general population convicts.

Given that the cases can still be brought to trial, albeit only a small number of them and with great difficulty, the backers of the Amnesty Decree say there is no point in repealing it. The issue, however, is that the law itself is still in existence, and for those that are in favor of abolishing the Amnesty Decree, it conveys the message that Chile has still not done enough (or does not want to do enough) in order to have a clean break with the legacy of the darkest years in its history.

Those still searching for answers about their friends of family members feel that the existence of the law is a spit in their faces, especially in a nation where many sectors of politics have reaffirmed their commitment to respecting human rights and justice.

This issue in Congress is indicative of the general political divide in Chile: for the right, the legacy of the dictatorship is a question of “forgiving” and “looking toward the future” while the left asks for a proper clarification of the atrocities committed and amnesty laws revoked, as has been the case in neighboring Argentina and other nations in the region and around the world.

Bachelet’s personal commitment to the annulment of the Amnesty Decree is unquestionable; she has a vested interest in the developments as she and her mother were both detained and tortured for several months in 1975 at Villa Grimaldi, the most notorious concentration camp run by the dictatorship-era secret police known as the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA). In addition, Bachelet’s father, a General in the Chilean Air Force, was also interrogated and tortured, and he later died while in custody at another DINA site because he remained loyal to Allende.

Bachelet has described the current status of the victims and others affected by the crimes committed during the era as a “dirty wound,” incapable of healing properly without a thorough investigation that ensures those responsible are brought to justice. Many right-wing politicians, however, many of whom have links to the Pinochet administration, have done their utmost to keep the progress of the Amnesty Decree annulment at a standstill in Congress.

Pizarro, the head of the victims’ family members association, says that there is no point in arguing against these measures. “We need to end these symbols of dictatorship but not just through symbolic measures. Punta Peuco has to be closed immediately, the ‘silence pacts’ taken by former military officials must be broken and this Amnesty Decree must be annulled,” she said.

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

A Tent Camp for Refugees in the EU Capital

Only a few minutes by metro from the EU quarter in Brussels, a tent camp has sprung up outside the Immigration Office, sheltering refugees who haven’t been able to register their asylum claim. Andrea Rönsberg reports.

Blue tents, green tents, grey tents — Brussels’ Parc Maximilien is full of tents. They are drenched from the pouring rain that has reduced the paths leading through the park to mud. These tents are now home to some 800 people from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea.

Volunteers wearing rain capes and rubber boots navigate their way between the tents on wooden planks that have been laid down to prevent people from slipping in the mud.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Arab Americans Look to Liberal Jews in US to Push for Entry of Syrian Refugees

At one time I was a member of the national board of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) in the early 1980’s when the priority was helping Jews escape from tyranny in Russia, Ethiopia and Syria. There are reported to be less than a less than a dozen elderly Jews left in Syria. HIAS was also involved in processing Vietnamese boat people refugees in the US. That was over three decades ago. HIAS is one of the 11 Voluntary Agencies (VOLAGS) under the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement pushing to bring to the US 100,000 Syrian refugees streaming out of the more than 5 million displaced internally and in external camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

HIAS has joined with Arab American advocacy groups and immigration lawyers, some controlled by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, like those on the Syrian American Council, to bring predominately Muslim Syrian refugees to America. As we have seen in the flood of an estimated 400,000 Syrian refugees, a vanguard of whom have entered the broken open borders of the Shengen system of EU countries, the predominate demographics are young men,. Among who may be ISIS sympathizers that may add to the already daunting problems that FBI Director Comey had said already faces us in all 50 states.

President Obama announced last week an increase in the annual allotment of 10,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled here. The current total PRM allotment under the Refugee Act of 1980 is 70,000. The PRM updated a list of local resettlement agencies in more than 180 communities throughout the US being screened as potential recipients of these Syrian and other UN designated refugees. One of those on the PRM listed is Catholic Charities in my community of Pensacola in northwest Florida.

HIAS, Jewish Federations and the leaders of the Reform Movement should carefully vet Arab American ‘partners’ before sallying forth on humanitarian grounds to admit more Syrian and predominately Muslim refugees. Especially, when there are threatened Middle East Christians and other non-Muslim minorities that deserve preference. That is demonstrated by the Safe Havens Fund of Lord Weidenfeld, who received the Theodore Herzl Award of the World Jewish Congress.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Avoiding Hungary, Migrants Leave Serbia for Croatia

Croatia has become Europe’s latest transit country for migrants. Early Wednesday, at least 100 people walked through fields across Serbia’s border, rerouted by bus after Hungary locked down its own frontier.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dacic: We Are Not Collection Centre, Returning Migrants to Serbia Unacceptable

PRAGUE — The strengthening of Schengen area border controls is causing problems for Serbia, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in Prague on Tuesday.

Returning migrants to Serbia is “unacceptable”, Reuters quoted Dacic as saying.

“Serbia is not a collection centre,” Dacic said and added that “we want to be part of the solution, not collateral damage”, the AP reported.

Serbia cannot deal with the migrants on its own and “there will have to be talks in the coming days with Brussels and other countries,” he said.

Serbia, a non-EU country, has found itself “stuck between two EU parts which do not cooperate and which have different policies,” the Serbian foreign minister noted.

His Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek said that Europe needs to return to a normal situation within its internal borders, Reuters reported, adding that the influx of migrants seeking asylum in the EU is showing little sign of abating.

Dacic, who is attending the 23rd OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum in Prague in his capacity as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, also met with Czech senior officials.

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

ECB Vice President Says Immigrants Can Stop Europe’s ‘Demographic Suicide’

Europe’s aging society is committing “demographic suicide” and needs immigrants to keep its workforce from shrinking further, the vice president of the European Central Bank told Reuters.

In a wide-ranging interview, Vitor Constancio underlined the ECB’s willingness to print more money, saying that it had bought significantly less than peers in the United States, Japan or Britain.

But he cautioned that while the ECB could extend money-printing, expectations that the central bank could single-handedly turn around the euro zone’s economy were unrealistic. Immigration, he said, could help.

Constancio, who deputizes for ECB president Mario Draghi on the ECB’s executive board, addressed one of the factors slowing the region’s economy, namely an aging society and shrinking workforce that is set to reduce further in the coming decades.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Elusive Crime Wave Data Shows Frightening Toll of Illegal Immigrant Criminals

The federal government can tell you how many “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders” stole a car, the precise number of “American Indian or Alaska Natives” who were arrested for vagrancy or how many whites were busted for counterfeiting in any given year. But the government agencies that crunch crime numbers are utterly unable — or unwilling — to pinpoint for the public how many illegal immigrants are arrested within U.S. borders each year.

In the absence of comprehensive data, FoxNews.com examined a patchwork of local, state and federal statistics that revealed a wildly disproportionate number of murderers, rapists and drug dealers are crossing into the U.S. amid the wave of hard-working families seeking a better life. The explosive figures show illegal immigrants are three times as likely to be convicted of murder as members of the general population and account for far more crimes than their 3.5-percent share of the U.S. population would suggest. Critics say it is no accident that local, state and federal governments go to great lengths to keep the data under wraps.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Says Hotspots Starting to Work in Italy

Commission says relocations set to start in October

(ANSA) — Brussels, September 16 — Natasha Bertaud, the European Commission’s migration spokesperson, said Wednesday that the so-called hotspots being created to process asylum claims were starting to work in Italy. “Experts from EASO, Frontex, Eurojust and Europol are in Italy and the hotspots are starting to function, so it will be possible to start the relocations from the start of October,” she said. ANSA sources said Italy and Greece had both delivered their roadmaps for dealing with the refugee emergency to Brussels.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said in Vienna on Wednesday that an “assumption of responsibility by the European Union” was necessary to deal with the refugee emergency after a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer. “This is a growing phenomenon whose size means it must have common EU management and not be handled by the individual countries,” Mattarella said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU: Croatia to Close Corridor for Refugees

BRUSSELS — Regarding the announcement of Croatia that it might open a corridor and enable refugees to move on to other countries of the European Union Brussels believes that “such actions would constitute violation of EU law and obligations of the Member States”.

Brussels believes that, under current law, the responsibility for the registration, management and consideration of asylum requests has the EU country that refugees first entered, Tanjug reported.

According to the same source in the EU, Croatia is obligant in this case to take care of everyone who enter its territory, register them and consider asylum requests.

If those persons do not want to submit asylum requests or to be registered, EU says that Croatia could return those persons to their states if there are agreements on readmission, or to the third state from which they entered if that state is safe. In this case it is Serbia.

Serbia is on the list of safe countries of the European Commission. Brussels says that the EU has readmission agreement signed with Serbia, which includes the citizens of Serbia, but also citizens of third countries who enter the EU through Serbia.

The European Union begins to implement the plan to deploy 40,000 refugees, but it applies only to those who are in the territory of Greece and Italy and exclusively to the citizens of Syria, Iraq and Eritrea.

The EU repeats that the responsibility for the control of borders, for the reception of refugees and consideration of their requests every state has in particular, and the EU can only help.

As help there are “hot spots”, which are actually expert teams from various agencies of the European Union who only help in registration of refugees, taking fingerprints and identification.

Those “hot spots” are not reception centers because reception centers are organized by the state on whose territory refugees are located. The EU can send such teams to Croatia if it believes it is necessary.

According to an unofficial interpretation from the EU, as honest refugees are considered nationals of Eritrea, Iraq and Syria.

It can change in the future. One of the criteria by which it is established is that the percentage of the successfully solved asylum requests for citizens of a certain country is above 75 percent.

For now these countries are Syria, Iraq and Eritrea so their citizens are considered as genuine refugees and there is no doubt that they are economic migrants, said a source in the EU.

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

Fortress Hungary: Orbán Profits From the Refugees

By Jan Puhl

In many respects, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has emerged as the political victor in the refugee crisis. Voters support his hardline stance and other Eastern European countries are following his suit.

On Monday, Hungary closed the last remaining hole in the 175-kilometer (109 mile) fence it has been built along the southern border to Serbia, one of the final stations on the Western Balkan route to Europe that has been the focal point in recent days of tens of thousands of refugees making their way from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Africa. On Tuesday, a new law went into effect in Hungary making illegal border crossings an offense punishable by up to three years in jail. The developments came as Germany and Austria both imposed border controls to stem the massive influx of refugees on the final leg of the path to Western Europe.

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

From Western Civ to “Multicultural Places in the World”

by Diana West

A story going around Twitter tells us that a 61-year-old former Stasi agent, Anetta Kahane (above), will become Angela Merkel’s new Facebook censor.

As in: Zere vill be no creetsissum on Facebook of zee “migrants”! (Und no kwotashun marx!)

In searching for confirmation of the horrendous story, I came across a brief interview of Kahane that is certainly for real — and really chilling.

In it, Kahane explains the ideological framework in which Merkel’s “migrant” madness fits, making clear how it fulfills the 21st-century totalitarian plan to destroy what remains of the West.

Kahane, founder of a Leftist foundation (funded in part by Soros’ Open Society Foundations), states:…

           — Hat tip: Diana West [Return to headlines]
 

Germany’s Coming Demographic Revolution

Islamization was once overblown, but this time Europe may actually see radical change.

By Philip Jenkins

They still haven’t got it.

European media and policymakers have correctly realized that the present refugee crisis is an enormous challenge to the assumptions that have guided the continent for decades, to the point of potentially breaking the European Union. But apparently they still are not prepared to confront the specifically religious revolution now under way.

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

German Media: Refugee Crisis Caused by US, NATO’s Military Interventions

MOSCOW — Death, poverty and religiously motivated massacres caused by US and NATO’s military interventions in the Middle East and beyond have led to an unprecedented influx of refugees, which can only be stopped if “reckless” foreign military engagements are brought to an end, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reported.

The latest wave of refugees comes primarily from countries ravaged by war in the last two decades, including former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Ethiopia and Somalia.

“It is telling that illegal military interventions carried out by the United States or its allies took place in almost all of the abovementioned states. This suggests that these wars are the key reason for the mass migration. They meant death, poverty, anarchy, disintegration of societies, religiously motivated massacres and exodus,” the German media outlet noted.

The influx of refugees shocked many European nations prompting swift responses like introducing border controls or building walls. According to Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, these measures will not help.

“We can try to build walls to defend our wealth. But in the long-run these walls will not hold against millions,” the publication noted. The solution lies in dealing with the root cause of the problem.

“Those, who want to stop mass migration, need to prevent reckless foreign military interventions from happening,” Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten stated. They must also turn military alliance like NATO into purely defensive blocs, the media outlet added.

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

Germany on Hungary’s Refugee Treatment: ‘This is Not Acceptable’

(CNN) Hungary’s treatment of refugees at its border, including the use of tear gas and water cannons, “is not acceptable,” Germany’s defense minister told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.

“This is against the European rules,” Ursula von der Leyen said in an exclusive interview.

The refugees have a right to be treated decently, she said. “This is something where we really have a lot to discuss in Europe.”

Riot police used strong-arm tactics on Wednesday against refugees attempting to enter the European Union from Serbia. Hungary’s right-wing government has sealed that border, forcing refugees to remain in Serbia or seek another route into Europe, through Croatia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: New Reception Centers in Works But Officials Fear Impact of Border Closures

Authorities are concerned that thousands of refugees and migrants could end up trapped in Greece as a number of European countries have essentially closed their borders to keep a flood of desperate people at bay.

Greek officials indicate that the situation is under control for now but there are fears that a failure to reach a solution at the European level could lead to chaotic scenes in Greece.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

How Many Are Genuine?

As Europe locks down its borders, eye witnesses claim fewer than a third of refugees who have made it to Germany are Syrian — and some are even ISIS infiltrators

Chain-smoking outside a coffee bar in Germany’s capital, young Syrian Mohammad Al-Abaan bangs his hand loudly on the table as three teenage girls walk past in Islamic robes.

‘Look at them!’ he says. ‘They pretend to be migrants from my country, but they lie. Their skin is blacker than ours. I know they are Arab-speaking Muslims from Sudan in Africa. Every day, more Africans, Afghanis, Iraqis, Iranians, Lebanese, and lots of others, slip through the door opened by Germany to us Syrians.’

These are strong words, particularly as Mohammad has only just set foot in Europe himself, arriving in Berlin a week ago by train from Hungary with his friend Ismail Gannom.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary Orders 30-Day Border Closing, Refugees Met With Tear Gas

Hungary told Serbia Tuesday that it is ordering a 30-day closure of the border crossing between the two countries following clashes between refugees and Hungarian police.

Refugees were met with tear gas and water cannons from Hungarian police as they tried to breach a 110-foot barbed-wire fence.

Under a new series of laws in effect Tuesday, it is illegal to cross the border from Serbia into Hungary. Hungarian authorities say they have arrested 519 refugees attempting to do so and convicted one Iraqi man, who a judge banned from returning for one year, Hungarian media reported. He must also pay $70 in court costs.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Impatient Refugees Walk to Germany From Salzburg

Frustrated and impatient, more than 2,000 refugees stranded at the Salzburg main train station abandoned their plan to reach Germany by rail and walked to the border.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Industry Chief Says Priority Giving Jobs to Italians, Migrants Not Solution

Migrants not the solution to problems, says Squinzi

(ANSA) — Milan, September 16 — Giorgio Squinzi, the head of industrial employers confederation Confindustria, said Wednesday that the current priority must be giving jobs back to Italian people after years of recession, adding that he did not see migrants as the solution to Italy’s economic problems. “At the moment, immigration cannot solve our problems,” Squinzi said.

“Above all, we need to give work back to Italians. Maybe this vision is a little selfish, but we must start giving a future to our youngsters again”.

Clashes broke out between migrants and police on Wednesday at the border between Serbia and Hungary, where thousands of immigrants are seeking passage through Hungary to reach countries in northern Europe.

Hungary has erected a barbed wire metal fence to block the immigrants from entering the country, and on Wednesday a group of exasperated migrants began throwing rocks at police and putting covers over the barbed wire to try to tear the fence down.

Hungary increased its police presence there, bringing in officers in riot gear.

Hungarian police said they have arrested 316 migrants following the implementation on Tuesday of new, more restrictive laws limiting passage into the country.

Out of 70 requests for asylum presented thus far, 40 have already been rejected, police said, adding that around 200,000 migrants and refugees have crossed Hungary since the beginning of the year. Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic visited the border crossing on Tuesday evening and said he plans to contact Hungarian authorities to try to find a solution.

Meanwhile, buses of immigrants arrived at Serbia’s Croatian border town Sid, confirming that immigrants are now searching for alternatives to the Hungarian border crossing.

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said that around 150 immigrants arrived in Croatia from Serbia overnight, and that he will allow immigrants to enter the country.

“Croatia is absolutely able to welcome and direct these people towards the countries they want to reach, such as Germany and other Scandinavian countries,” Milanovic said, adding that Croatia intends to help immigrants fleeing war and poverty.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Lombardy Passes Law Penalising Hotels Housing Migrants

Northern League, centre right vote in favour

(ANSA) — Milan, September 16 — The government of Lombardy on Wednesday passed a law barring from regional funding those hoteliers who house asylum seekers under a government scheme.

Voting in favour were Governor Roberto Maroni’s anti-immigrant Northern League and the centre right, while centre-left and leftwing parties voted against.

League leader Matteo Salvini has called for hotels that get by on migrant subsidies to be shut down.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Kyenge to Petition EU Court on Calderoli

Lack of racial instigation charge sends ‘devastating message’

(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Former integration minister Cecile Kyenge on Wednesday said she would appeal to the European Court of Justice against the Italian Senate’s approval of a defamation case against anti-immigrant Northern League Senator Roberto Caderoli for likening her to an orangutan without the aggravating charge of instigation to racial hatred. “The Senate’s decision throws a heavy shadow on the fight against racism, just when populism and xenophobia are growing because of the refugee crisis,” Kyenge said, saying the Senate’s decision not to allow the aggravating charge sent “a devastating message to young people”.

In 2013 Calderoli, himself a former minister, compared Kyenge to an orangutan. Kyenge, a doctor born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, became Italy’s first black minister in 2013 when she was sworn into ex-premier Enrico Letta’s cabinet. She is now an MEP.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Migrants: Croatia: Map With Minefields

To help refugees walking along the Balkan route

(ANSA) — ROME — A map indicating the danger of “minefields” in Croatia circulates among Syrian activists who help migrants reach Europe walking along the Balkan route.

In order to indicate mines placed during the 1991-95 war, the map shows red spots along the whole stretch of the river Drava north of Osijek (from the border with Serbia to the border with Hungary) but also in a 15 km distance south-east of Vinkovci and in another five smaller areas of the country.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Migrant Crisis: Clashes at Hungary-Serbia Border

Hungarian riot police have fired tear gas and water cannon to force migrants back from the Serbia-Hungary border.

Hundreds of people have massed at a closed crossing point near the Serbian town of Horgos, and are involved in a tense stand-off with police on the other side of the border.

Some migrants threw missiles, including stones and water bottles.

Many of the migrants want to reach Germany, amid divisions within the EU over how to deal with the crisis.

Migrant Amir Hassan, from Iraq, said: “We fled wars and violence and did not expect such brutality and inhumane treatment in Europe.”

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked” by the “unacceptable” treatment of migrants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants: Croatia Demands UN Emergency Meeting

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss immigration has been asked by Croatian President Kolinda Grabar- Kitarovi on the day when dozens of migrants were reaching Croatia after Hungarian borders were closed, media in Zagreb report. According to the reports, the president motivated his request saying that the situation constitutes a security as well as a humanitarian problem.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants Leave Salzburg on Foot as Trains Stop

Hundreds of refugees who had massed at the main train station in the city of Salzburg left on foot on Wednesday in the hope of reaching Germany, a city spokesman said.

One day after Salzburg warned that the station might have to close due to the large numbers of migrants, government spokesman Johannes Greifeneder said the situation had “relaxed”.

“The situation was much more tense this morning. We informed people using flyers written in Arabic that there would be no train service to Germany,” he told AFP.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Cleric: ISIS Infiltrating Europe Through Migrants

In an interview Tuesday with WND, British Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary stated ISIS “undoubtedly” is taking advantage of the migrant crisis rocking Europe, using the displaced Syrians as cover to bring jihadists to the West.

“Undoubtedly this will be seen as one of the avenues that the Islamic State employ in order to get their own people in position to where they may be able to confront who they see to be the enemies who are leading the campaign against them,” Choudary stated.

“So I think this is a very real possibility,” he continued. “It’s probably already happening. The extent of it is very difficult to know until it has some kind of manifestation.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Police and Migrants in Stand-Off Near Turkey’s Greek Border

Hundreds of mainly Syrian migrants spent the night out in the open near Turkey’s Greek border after police halted their bid to reach the frontier and cross into the European Union.

Piles of rubbish and makeshift tents had sprung up along the roadside on Wednesday morning close to the city of Edirne, around 17 km (11 miles) by road from the border crossing. Police, some in riot gear, prevented the migrants continuing their journey.

Security forces had on Tuesday briefly thrown up barricades to halt the progress of hundreds attempting to reach EU-member Greece, and buses from Istanbul to Edirne were halted.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Protesting Migrants Clash With Police: As it Happened

UNHCR is ‘extremely concerned’

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR says it is “extremely concerned” at violence taking place at the border between Serbia and Hungary, Reuters reports. It says several migrants have been injured and some children separated from their parents.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pssst! Need a Passport? Forgery Key for Fleeing Syrians

Facebook pages geared toward refugees advertise not only passports but birth certificates, marriage licenses, college diplomas, and family books, the official logs of all the members of a family. User comments attest to the documents’ quality or tell potential buyers not to bother.

Reached by phone, one documents forger in Turkey said he sold “genuine” fake passports — original, blank booklets stolen from a government office in Syria to be filled with the black market buyer’s personal information — for $1,300. University degrees, which may come in handy for a job application, sold for $1,000.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Refugees in Athens ‘Dream of Peace and Respect’

ATHENS — ‘‘Can you give us a lift to Macedonia? A bit of money?,’’ the Syrian asks. Yassir’s priorities are clear in his mix of English and French, just enough to tell what he and hundreds of others sitting in an area between two buildings not far from Athens’ central Omonia Square want.

‘‘We want to go to Macedonia, then Serbia, then Hungary and Germany,’’ he says. ‘‘We are from Raqqa in Syria, but there are also people from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan here.’’ There are youths that laugh and smoke, girls wearing make-up and without the Muslim headscarf — from Iraq, we are later told — and other women wearing headscarves from Daraa and Kobane (a Kurdish grandmother with her daughter and grandchildren, all blue -eyed) and older men speaking in an excited manner.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Revealed: Second Passenger Claims Aylan Kurdi’s Father Was Working With People Smugglers and Was Driving the Boat on Which His Son Died

A second passenger on board the boat that claimed the life of Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi says the boy’s father was driving.

Amir Haider, 22, repeated allegations that Abdullah Kurdi, who lost his wife and two children in the tragedy, was at the helm of the boat until it sank.

Last week, another passenger, Zainab Abbas, whose son and daughter died on the doomed boat trip, first made the claims, which were vehemently denied by Mr Kurdi.

Aylan, three, died alongside his brother Galip, five, and mother, when their boat capsized on route to the Greek island of Kos.

The photograph of his tiny body washed up on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, sparked a global outpouring of support for Syrian refugees as well as his grieving father.

But just days after Mr Kurdi returned to the Syrian city of Kobane to bury his family, fellow passengers on board the dinghy began making allegations against him.

Ahmed Hadi Jawwad and his wife Zainab Abbas, whose 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son drowned, said Mr Kurdi panicked and accelerated when a wave hit the boat.

‘The story that (Mr Kurdi) told is untrue,’ Mr Jawwad said, speaking from his in-laws’ house in Baghdad on Friday. ‘I don’t know what made him lie, maybe fear.

‘He was the driver from the very beginning until the boat sank.’

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Slovakia: Cutting EU Funds Embarassing Blackmailing

Fico, in Europe nobody was threatened because of opinions

(ANSA) — BRATISLAVA — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico called the proposal of the EU to cuts funds to countries that refuse quotas of immigrants an “embarrassing attempt of blackmailing”. Fico told the television Ta3 that Bratislava is strongly opposed to the redistribution of migrants, according to mandatory quotas.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Slovenia: Temporary Border Controls With Hungary

Lubiana already informed European Commission

(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Slovenia will introduce temporary border controls with Hungary. The decision of the government was made public today by the Prime minister Miro Cerar, during a visit in the Pomurje region, at the border with Hungary.

The Slovenian government already informed about its decision the European Commission.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Gets 5200 Asylum Claims in a Week

Figures from Sweden’s Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) show that more than 5000 people formally sought asylum in the Nordic country over the past week, as the refugee crisis continues to dominate the political agenda across Europe.

Sweden’s Migration Agency also revealed that an immigration reception centre in Malmö had been forced to close temporarily on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning after it became so overcrowded that staff deemed it to be unsafe.

Sweden’s Migration Agency received a total of 11,743 applications for asylum during the whole of July, up from 6,619 in June. Last week alone there were 5200 new arrivals.

Refugees have been rushing to get to the Nordic country over the past seven days amid scenes of chaos in neighbouring Denmark, which offers fewer benefits to asylum seekers.

Finland announced that it would increase checks at its Lapland border with Sweden after growing numbers of asylum seekers crossed into its territory from Sweden’s far north in recent weeks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Courts Young Refugees

Skellefteå, a provincial Swedish town, wants to increase its population. Town authorities are banking on young refugees who arrive alone and can be easily integrated into Swedish society.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Refugees in New Scheme ‘To Arrive in UK Soon’ — May

The first Syrian refugees to be taken in under the government’s expanded resettlement scheme will arrive in Britain “in the coming days”, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.

The UK has pledged to take up to 20,000 refugees over the next five years.

Labour’s Andy Burnham welcomed the move, but questioned whether more refugees should be accepted by the UK.

Earlier, it was announced that Royal Navy ship HMS Richmond will be deployed to help tackle people smugglers.

The warship will be deployed for two months to board and seize vessels off the coast of Libya.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UNHCR: Europe Creating a Chaotic Refugee Situation

The United Nations refugee agency is losing patience with the EU. Speaking in Brussels, the UNHCR high commissioner has said the current crisis can be dealt with, but one has to want to be serious about doing so.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Idiot Actress Helen Mirren Thinks Men Putting Their Arms Around Women Are Sexist

“It annoys me when I see men with an arm slung round their girlfriend’s shoulders. It’s like ownership. Of course, when you’re young, you want the guy to take your hand and look after you.

But when I see girls being leaned on, I want to say, ‘Tell him to get his damned arm off your shoulder.’“

That’s right, ladies. When your man puts his arm around your shoulder, what he’s really saying is you’re like a coat in his closet. You’re the motorcycle his mother wouldn’t let him have. You’re the new iPad Pro for which he has no practical use, but wants anyway… because toys. Boys like their shiny toys. Now you’re one of them. Congratulations.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Giannini Says No ‘Gender Theory’ In Schools

Minister denies reform introduces controversial ideas

(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Education Minister Stefania Giannini said Wednesday that the ministry was sending ancircular letter to principals stressing that the government’s ‘Good School’ reform does not introduce the teaching of so-called gender theory. Such theories argue that people should be able to identify as male, female, neither or both. Some Catholic figures suggested the reform brings such theories into the classroom.

Giannini said she hoped the circular letter led to those parts of the Church to “come round”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Public School Compulsion

Two weeks ago I made the following statement: “if you can isolate children, and train them to believe that there is a wall of separation between God and government, then you can enslave them—or rather—they will have enslaved themselves.”

Juxtapose that thought with this. You can’t subjugate and enslave a biblically literate Christian people. A Christian culture will recognize and reject tyranny before tyranny can get a foothold.

A Christian people, by virtue of their understanding of God’s creation, their knowledge of history, their comprehension of the divine origin of law, and their assurance of heavenly citizenship, will never suffer earthly leaders who do not speak and act lawfully. A self-governed Christian people would not allow those who mock law and justice to lead them.

In order, therefore, to subjugate a Christian people, you must first de-Christianize them. You must remove, from the culture, that which prevents you from conquering them. Piece by piece, Christian beliefs must be removed — along with the memory of those beliefs — from the minds of the people. This will take time, and has through successful compulsory public education. This is the system of education we currently know as government schools. This institution was designed to destabilize and, over time, destroy the original moral fabric of America. This process was begun in the 1840s by men like Robert Owen and Horace Mann and later continued by Robert Dale Owen and John Dewey. These men by their own admission were socialists and communists who realized that the best way to subvert and destroy “Christian” America was to train America’s children to disrespect their parents, and most importantly, their parents’ values, beliefs and traditions. Beneath its vacuous rhetoric purporting to “care about the kids”, this is appears to be the current mission of the National Education Association.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

South Dakota to SCOTUS: Tear Down Roe V. Wade Wall

A delegation of lawmakers representing South Dakota petitioned the Supreme Court via a resolution to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that opened the doors to legalized abortion in the United States, and in so doing, protect women’ s rights.

“We cannot protect our citizens properly and to the extent they deserve to be protected because of Roe v. Wade,” said Rep. Lynne DiSanto to the Daily Caller.

The resolution passed the state’ s legislature with 86 percent support of the representatives and 74 percent of the senators.

“We all take an oath,” Rep. Roger Hunt said. “First thing we do when we get sworn in, we swear to uphold the Constitution, which says very basically, protect the rights of our people. And so that to me is a very strong argument for telling the Supreme Court to reevaluate Roe v. Wade.”

The resolution speaks directly to the need to uphold women’ s health.

“We find that Roe v. Wade and its progency promote and protect the deprivation of numerous intrinsic rights and interests of the pregnant mothers themselves,” the resolution states, in part, the Daily Caller reported. “The people of our state have an interest in protecting each of these rights and interests.”

Among the listed rights and interests of the mother: A right to “her relationship with her child.” A right to uphold “her own health.” And “an interest in her dignity as a mother,” the news outlet said.

The resolution calls Roe v. Wade a mistake and says the court’ s previous decision “treats abortion only as a benefit to the woman, and assumes she loses nothing of value to her.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

U.N. Agenda 21 Hiding Behind Agenda 2030

After forty years of socialist indoctrination in schools and LGBT activism, the progressive agenda is finally bearing fruit. Gloating that the Women of the Left and GLAAD were victorious over our country, a recent Rush Limbaugh caller said that our country is in such a mess right now, that Christians won’t even help their own when religious rights are trampled. The warping and destruction of our children’s minds in schools is so complete, they now think the way feminist and LGBT militants want them to think, the caller concluded.

Activists must now convince the world. Samantha Powers, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and important advocate of the LGBT agenda, said in a press conference on C-SPAN:

“Again, we’re getting this issue into the DNA of the United Nations, but until today the Security Council had never broached this topic, and so today also represents a small but historic step.”

But third world nations are not exactly buying it. Senegal rep, speaking for the 54-nation African Group, U.N.’s largest regional bloc, said that “Sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights cannot be considered to create or imply a right to abortion.” They also rejected “any interpretation of any terms that runs counter to domestic law.”…

Tom DeWeese, President and founder of the American Policy Center, said, “Basically they are rebooting Agenda 21 and they are calling on the world’s most visible religious leader to promote the agenda.”

[…]

The stated goals of Agenda 2030, although innocuous sounding, are the blueprint of the New World Order controlled by large corporations and an elitist group of very wealthy individuals:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Nanoparticles Disguised as Blood-Cell Fragments Slip Past Body’s Immune Defence

Drug-delivery systems coated in platelets used to repair damaged blood vessels.

Researchers say that they have found a way to smuggle drug-carrying nanoparticles past the body’s immune system: by camouflaging them to look like cell fragments found in human blood.

Man-made nanoparticles — created from plastic or metal — can be designed to deliver a cargo of drugs to specific areas of the body. But they are often attacked and swallowed up by the body’s natural defence system, which sees them as foreign invaders.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

4 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/16/2015

  1. Censorship is popular nowdays – Stasi veteran to manage censorship on German Facebook http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.1926/stasi-veteran-to-manage-censorship-on-facebook.html

    The German government is about to establish a special censorship group dedicated to identifying and deleting immigration-critical messages on Facebook.To help with this task the government has included a former agent for the East German secret service Stasi, who today is a dedicated radical left-wing “anti-racisist”.The German Minister of Justice, Heiko Maas, in August published an open letter to Facebook requesting that the social networking service started to systematically erase “xenophobic” material. After a meeting with a delegation from Facebook on Monday, the minister has now drawn up a plan on how the censorship will happen. A special working group will deal with deleting of comments.
    – The objective is to facilitate the identification of criminal statements, says Maas to the German newspaper Bild.
    The working group’s members are appointed by both the Government and Facebook, but also the organization Network Against Nazis (“Netz gegen Nazis”) has been invited. The network was founded in 2007 by Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, and is led by left-wing activist Anetta Kahane (pictured).
    In the years 1974-1982, Kahane worked under the code name “Victoria” as a secret agent for the East German security service Stasi. That an old Stasi informer should devote herself to censor material on Facebook is being sharply criticized by the anti-immigration German news site PI News.

    “25 years after the German reunification, former DDR citizens, along with their West German brothers and sisters, are to be monitored by former Stasi cadres”, the site writes in a comment.
    Today, Anetta Kahane works as a professional “anti-racist”, and attracted attention last year after after an interview with RT, having proclaimed that the European countries have to open their borders and to adapt fully to the immigrants from the Third World.
    – Immigration is the future. We really need to change the immigration policy in Europe. This is very important, you have to adapt the education system and adapting countries’ self-understanding. They are no longer just white or just Swedes, or only Portuguese or Germans. They are multicultural places in the world, she said.
    Shame on the German government for censoring free speech, and shame on Facebook for allowing it!

  2. “HIAS, Jewish Federations and the leaders of the Reform Movement should carefully vet Arab American ‘partners’ before sallying forth on humanitarian grounds to admit more Syrian and predominately Muslim refugees.”

    Sorry. I disagree. Jews and Arabs who happen to live in America shouldn’t “sally forth” to genocide Americans at all. They have their own homelands. Let them fill up their own countries first.

  3. Shocking Video about Muslims in Luton, England
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=cOHyVrrztbM
    Published on Nov 7, 2014 4 minutes 35 seconds
    Shocking video of a young women surveying her home town in Luton which has been overrun by Muslims who refuse to assimilate. All in good simple English.

    It is sort of the refreshing innocence of discovery of the changes when she returns home, and asks the people on a protest march what it is all about. Even the muslim woman express their point of view of her and then some men, to at the end some questions and answers with Anjem Choudrary .
    The agenda of muslims in Luton is exposed and plain to see, and a real wake up call to her.

    Sort of makes one want to pray for , to keep up the courage and to help the British people to wise up and effectively resist and change the politics that allow this demographic change in Britain and Europe.
    We must also be making resistance and wising people up and politicians in our own countries.
    Dam it is taking a long time !, and although there are many U tube videos showing just how it is, and we do need them as the constant drip of truth, so also to educate people in this overload of informational world.
    It is the next step, of bringing a cohesion of this exposed truth to steam roller and change the politicians, media, celebrities, churches, sort of how one “drowned child” made “welcome homes” to “refugees” so somewhere there is a counter point.
    I do not despair, just keep exposing, setting things up so that a certain angle/hit will join the dots and open up this can of worms of what islam is about.

    Thank you Baron and Dymphna for your dedication, strong and resolute example, finding and hammering at the issues, building our education on a rock of reason/truth, not sands of emotions.

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