A German contingent from PEGIDA joined a rally today in the Czech Republic organized by a Czech political action group known as “Block Against Islam”, and featuring Czech President Milos Zeman. One of the honored guests was Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League. Among other topics, Mr. Zeman spoke out against the mainstream media, and was greeted by cheers and applause from the audience.
In other news, British Home Secretary Theresa May said that last Friday’s massacre in Paris had nothing to do with Islam. The families of those who were slain or wounded by the terrorists on November 13 were comforted by the Home Secretary’s reassuring words.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Dora, Fjordman, Insubria, Ivan Winters, JD, LP, Nick, Nidra Poller, Seneca III, Steen, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Austria, Italy, Lithuania May Not Meet EU Budget Deficit Requirements
The budget plans of Austria, Italy and Lithuania may exceed the 3 percent permitted by the Stability and Growth Pact, according to the European Commission.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Austria, Italy and Lithuania could fail to meet the European Union’s budget deficit requirements, the European Commission revealed on Tuesday.
“For three countries (Austria, Italy and Lithuania), the DBPs [Draft Budgetary Plans] are at risk of non-compliance with the requirements for 2016 under the SGP [Stability and Growth Pact]. The budget plans of these Member States might result in a significant deviation from the adjustment paths towards the Medium-Term Objective (MTO),” the commission’s press release said.
After assessing budget plans submitted by EU members by October 15, the Commission has concluded that the three countries’ planned budget deficit may exceed the 3 percent permitted by the SGP. Other countries have broadly complied with the SGP target, the release said. Estonia, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Slovakia are well within the deficit target, while Belgium, Finland, Latvia and Malta may somewhat deviate from their respective MTOs.
According to the European Commission’s Vice President for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis, the SGP targets aim to put downward pressure on Europe’s deficit and “underpin the continuing decline in public deficits,” which are estimated to have fallen from 2.4 percent of GDP in 2014 to 1.9 percent in 2015. The public deficit is planned to decline further to 1.7 percent in 2016.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
British Inflation Remains in Negative Territory
Britain’s annual inflation rate held in negative territory in October, official data showed Tuesday.
The 12-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate stood at minus 0.1 percent last month, unchanged from September, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
That matched the rate in April, which was also the lowest level since March 1960. Analysts had forecast no change for October.
…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Investment in Africa Down 40% on Year: Govt
Chinese investment in Africa fell by more than 40 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2015, officials said Tuesday, as the Asian giant’s slowing growth dents its commodity demand.
Natural resources from Africa have helped fuel China’s economic boom, and it became the continent’s largest trade partner in 2009.
But growth in the world’s second-largest economy has slowed to its lowest rates since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, reducing commodity prices worldwide…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EC Decision on Flexibility Request Postponed to Spring
Commission will decide when 2016 budget re-assessed
(ANSA) — Brussels, November 17 — The European Commission has postponed a decision on whether to allow Italy to use a flexibility clause in its budget rules until spring, when Premier Matteo Renzi’s budget law will be re-assessed, ANSA sources said Tuesday. The EU will evaluate whether the requested deviations “were actually used to increase investments” and whether “a credible adjustment plan” exits to take Italy towards a balanced budget. “Progress on (structural) reforms” will be reviewed too, the sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
BLM Shuts Down Minneapolis Interstate
Black Lives Matters protesters shut down a downtown Minneapolis interstate, in response to the police shooting of Jamar Clark who later died.
About 200 to 300 people took part in the protest, which closed traffic on Interstate 94 for about three hours Monday night, said Lt. Tiffany Schweigart, spokeswoman for the Minnesota State Police. Fifty-one people were arrested.
Protesters clashed not only with police, but with drivers, some angry enough to try forcing their way through the crowd on the roadway, according to CNN affiliate WCCO. When police arrived and started rerouting traffic off the interstate and unto secondary roads, protesters tried to block that action as well, forming a human chain across the detour.
Schweigart said police were able to clear the highway without force, but squad cars were damaged by rocks and bottles and one officer was slightly injured after being punched in the face by a protestor, who later fled the scene.
[Comment: Communism’s useful idiots.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brennan: 4th Amendment Will Allow Terrorists to Attack America
CIA boss John Brennan said Monday violating the Fourth Amendment and eliminating the privacy of virtually every American will be required if the United States hopes to stop attacks by the Islamic State.
He said recent proposed NSA reforms and a return to the principles enshrined in the Constitution will “make our ability collectively, internationally to find these terrorists much more challenging.”
The CIA director mentioned the Islamic State. “I would anticipate that this is not the only operation ISIL has in the pipeline,” Brennan said in remarks delivered at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It’s not going to content itself with violence inside of the Syrian and Iraqi borders.”
Brennan’s comments follow the release of a video attributed to the Islamic State.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chickenpox Vaccine Now Causing Shingles Epidemic in Children and Adults
(NaturalNews) The rate of shingles has been increasing since the 1990s, and it is now estimated that about one in three adults will develop the disease in their lifetime. A certain number of these people will experience recurring outbreaks. About one in five of them will suffer severe and often debilitating pain known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).
Officially, the cause of this increase is unknown. Yet studies suggest that at least part of the explanation could be the chickenpox vaccine.
Chickenpox and shingles are caused by the same virus, which is known as varicella zoster. Shingles cannot occur in someone who has not been previously been infected with the virus, presumably resulting in a chickenpox infection. Why, then, would the vaccine against this virus be causing more severe outbreaks later in life?
Unintended immune consequences
Once infected with the varicella zoster virus, the body can never get rid of it. Instead, the virus hides from the immune system along a nerve root in the central nervous system. Shingles (also known as herpes zoster) occurs when some trigger (typically stress or reduced immune function) causes the virus to erupt out of the nerve root and travel to the skin. This leads to a painful rash that tends to last about a month. Although most people suffer only a single case of shingles in their lifetime, the disease can recur.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Today, liberal academics at colleges and universities across the U.S. have essentially taken up a modern, albeit secular, “crusade” to rid campuses of opposing political and social viewpoints so they can install their own progressive worldview as the dominant opinion.
One of the key battles is currently taking place on an Ivy League campus — Yale University — where a simple email that defended Halloween costumes some students found obnoxious or “offensive” has unleashed a modern-day Maoist-style “struggle session.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cornel West Stumps for ‘Truth Telling’ Presidential Hopeful Bernie Sanders
Famed US scholar, activist and author Cornel West has just wrapped up a three-day tour stumping for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in Iowa. As he told Sputnik following Saturday evening’s Democratic debate, “There was some truth-telling right there!”
At a pre-debate tailgate party right next to Des Moines’ Drake University, which hosted the second Democratic presidential debate of the 2016 campaign season, West gave a passionate speech making the case for democratic socialism and “Brother Bernie Sanders.”
As West climbed on to the back of a pick-up truck to address the hundreds of people feeling the Bern, demonstrators unraveled a huge banner in front of him asking, “Will you feel the Bern for Palestine?”
West warmly welcomed the statement, responding, “Brother Bernie Sanders, he realizes that a precious Palestinian baby has the same value as a precious Israeli baby,” and hugged the protesters, who seemed content with the response and took a seat to listen to what he had to say.
The charismatic scholar went on to defend democratic socialism, noting great minds who shared Sanders’ — as well as his own — political philosophy. He announced to the excited crowd, “I want the world to know Martin Luther King Jr. was a democratic socialist! Albert Einstein was a democratic socialist! Helen Keller was a democratic socialist!”
Unlike Sanders, West did not hold back on calling Hillary Clinton out for what many criticize as flip-flopping on issues like gay marriage and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, calling the former secretary of state an opportunist who changes her mind with the polls.
“Then I hear sister Hillary and the others talking about… now I want to be pragmatic. No, one of the founders of American pragmatism, John Dewey, was a democratic socialist! Don’t confuse opportunism with pragmatism.”
“Neoliberal politicians are too opportunistic, and they’re involved in ‘evolving.’ I can’t believe in same sex marriage today, but I evolved and I changed my mind — no you checked the polls, that’s what you did!” West stated.
The well-established intellectual was all love for Sanders, however, singing his praises in the highest form.
“Don’t give evolve a bad reputation. We want somebody with integrity, we want somebody with vision! We want somebody who is going to be themselves, because they are themselves, and they have such a wonderful self to be!” West said, to huge applause from the crowd.
Following the debate, Sputnik caught up with West at the viewing party, at which Sanders himself made an appearance following the debate. We asked him what he thought of the candidate’s performance.
“There was some truth-telling right there,” West effused.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Dartmouth Protesters to Random Students: ‘F— You, You Racist Sh—s!’
A giant mob of Black Lives Matter supporters from Dartmouth University in New Hampshire went to the library — but not to study. Instead, they hurled expletives at conscientious students.
Roughly 150 activists clad in black converged on Dartmouth’s Baker-Berry Library Nov. 12. What started as a protest against the removal of shirts from a display turned into invective like, “F—k you, you filthy white f—s!” and “F— you, you racist sh—s!”
“Students who refused to listen to or join their outbursts were shouted down. ‘Stand the f—k up!’ ‘You filthy racist white piece of s—t!’ Men and women alike were pushed and shoved by the group. ‘If we can’t have it, shut it down!’ they cried. Another woman was pinned to a wall by protesters who unleashed their insults, shouting ‘filthy white b—h!’ in her face,” the student-run Darthmouth Review reported Saturday.
Video of the protest was obtained by the educational watchdog Campus Reform Saturday. Between protesters’ shouts and confused looks by students, one activist walks by the camera and sticks up her middle finger.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exploiting Emotions About Paris to Blame Snowden, Distract From Actual Culprits Who Empowered ISIS
Now we’ve entered the inevitable “U.S. Officials Say” stage of the “reporting” on the Paris attack — i.e., journalists mindlessly and uncritically repeat whatever U.S. officials whisper in their ear about what happened. So now credible news sites are regurgitating the claim that the Paris Terrorists were enabled by Snowden leaks — based on no evidence or specific proof of any kind, needless to say, but just the unverified, obviously self-serving assertions of government officials. But much of the U.S. media loves to repeat rather than scrutinize what government officials tell them to say. So now this accusation has become widespread and is thus worth examining with just some of the actual evidence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In Durability Tests: Pentagon Spots Cracks in F-35c Wing Structure
Testers have found cracks in a main structural element of the wing of the Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, a spokesman for the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) confirmed on November 13.
While inspecting the F-35C in late October, a crack was found in one of its 13 wing spars, Joe DellaVedova told IHS Jane’s. Government and prime contractor engineering teams are formulating a solution, he added.
“Initial estimates indicate a modification of approximately a half a pound to the aircraft will fix it,” said DellaVedova. “Modifications to planes flying today will be incorporated to ensure full life operation.”
The issue is not expected to affect flying operations for any of the three variants, nor will it alter the US Navy’s ability to meet its planned Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for the C-model in August 2018, according to the JPO.
The cracks were found while inspecting durability testing, in which aircraft is deliberately stressed to its structural limits by applying cyclic loads to the airframe to simulate operational flying in order to identify weaknesses and potential corrective actions, IHS Jane’s reports
It is not yet known how much the fix will cost, but it will add to the F-35 program’s overall cost, which has ballooned to more than $1 trillion, making it the most expensive weapons program in the Pentagon’s history.
The cracks are just the latest in a long line of flaws in the program, which has been plagued by systems malfunctions, schedule delays and cost overruns.
The F-35C variant is distinguished by its larger wings and more robust landing gear, designed for catapult launches and arrestments aboard naval aircraft carriers, and its wingtips fold to allow for easier storage aboard a carrier, IHS Jane’s reports.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mainstream Media Newspapers in Total Collapse: Readership Plunges 80%
(NaturalNews) The mainstream media, especially the print media, continues to implode, but rather than attempt to change its focus (most dailies are run by liberal editorial teams) they continue to double down on their progressive ideology — which, in turn, leads to additional declines in readership.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Says He’s ‘Too Busy’ To Debate GOP Over Terrorism
President Obama showed a flash of anger Monday with Republican critics of his anti-terrorism strategy, saying he is “too busy” to engage in a rhetorical debate with them.
“What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership, or American winning or whatever other slogans they come up with, that has no relationship to what actually is going to work to protect the American people” and America’s allies, Mr. Obama said at a news conference in Turkey. “I’m too busy for that.”
The president was addressing a question about critics of his strategy for defeating the Islamic State, in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week.
“I can’t afford to play some of the political games that others may,” Mr. Obama said. “We’ll do what’s required to keep the American people safe. It’s entirely appropriate for us in a democracy to have a debate about these issues. If they think that somehow their advisers are better than the chairman of my Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the folks who are actually on the ground, I want to meet them.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco Too Expensive for Socialists to Live There
Leftists have been so successful at turning San Francisco into a “social justice” paradise that it’s getting harder for the rank—and—file cultural socialist to afford to live there. Statists who are already residents are being squeezed by higher property taxes and rising rent, while lefties who make their own Hajj to Bagdad—on—the—Bay and want to remain in the city can’t afford to buy or rent.
What’s a libertine to do?
In San Francisco they try to take out their frustration on someone else’s success. It’s the “social justice” way. In this instance the housing covetous tried to pass a referendum that would limit the number of days a resident could rent his house or apartment to tourists. This makes perfect sense in San Francisco the city that wants to register your guns and your spare bedroom.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Security Tight in D.C. Following Release of Alleged ISIS Video
A video allegedly posted by the Islamic State on Monday threatens to a launch terror attack on Washington. It is not clear if the video is actually from the Islamic state or posted by one of its supporters or followers.
Despite the dubious nature of the video, the establishment media and the government are taking the threat seriously.
The FBI said “at this time, there is no specific or credible threat to the United States. We will not hesitate to adjust our security posture, as appropriate, to protect the American people.”
The new measures and heightened security posture are the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board, which oversees law-enforcement and security at the Capitol and surrounding buildings.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tampa, Florida: Terrorist Supporting Al Qassam Mosque
by Alan Kornman
Muslim terrorist Dr. Abdul Mawgoud Dardery was invited to speak on November 11 and 13, 2015 at the Al-Qassam Mosque — Islamic Community of Tampa (ICT), 5910 E. 130th Avenue, Tampa, FL 33617, 813-985-9433.
Dr. Dardery is the foreign relations committee spokesman for the Egyptian Revolutionary Council (ERC). The ERC according to their website exists to overthrow the current Egyptian government and replace it with Egypt’s past president Mohammad Morsi, a self declared Muslim Brotherhood leader.
Dr. Dardery is an exiled Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council member and Egyptian Parliamentarian with a history of open support for Hamas, a US designated foreign terrorist organization.
Dr. Dardery is a ‘terrorist’ because the ERC is an arm of The Muslim Brotherhood which was designated a terrorist organization by Egypt, Bahrain, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism, Not Climate Change, Kills People
On November 13, the same day as the terrorist attacks in Paris, USA Today ran a full-page ad from billionaire Tom Steyer’s group NextGen Climate highlighting the alleged global threat from climate change. As hundreds of people were being injured or killed in Paris, the ad featured these quotes about the “climate crisis:”
- Hillary Clinton: “An existential threat”
- Bernie Sanders: “The greatest threat facing the planet”
- Martin O’Malley: “Critical threat to our economy”
In a new development, we have just learned from Judicial Watch that Hillary Clinton was characterized by her Muslim-connected aide, Huma Abedin, as being “very confused” about the world leaders she was supposed to be communicating with as secretary of state. The confusion may also be reflected in Mrs. Clinton’s bizarre utterance that so-called climate change is an “existential threat” that is somehow comparable to Russian nuclear weapons, which could reduce America to a burned-out cinder.
Mrs. Clinton is not alone, however. All of the Democrats running for president, plus former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, want to treat changes in the weather as something to be addressed through new treaties, international agreements and global tax schemes. This campaign has taken precedence over defeating international terrorism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Campsite Massacre Claims 6, Including Child
It was supposed to be a vacation spot — undeveloped land in rural Texas that could be used for camping and hunting in a part of America where roads have numbers, not names. But now, the owner of a newly purchased campsite and five other people, including a 6-year-old boy, have been killed, and a neighbor has been charged in one of the slayings after an intended victim survived to tell the tale.
It’s not clear why William Hudson, a 33-year man living in an unincorporated part of Texas about 100 miles southeast of Dallas called Tennessee Colony, allegedly took the life of at least one of a group of two out-of-town families who appeared to be enjoying new land for the first time. It’s also not clear who was killed, or how — some names and details were still unavailable. But after shots rang out early Sunday, the body count quickly mounted.
“This is the largest [homicide] I’ve seen in Anderson County,” Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor said, as CBS 19 reported.
Shots were first heard between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Nov. 15, as the Palestine Herald-Press reported. Around 7 a.m., police were called by Cynthia Johnson, a woman who survived the rampage and hid in the woods, only to be found alive later by the side of a road.
Authorities rushed to the scene, initially putting the number of dead at two — a man and a woman found dead in a trailer on the new property. Four males, including a child, were thought missing. However, police said they pulled those bodies from a pond behind Hudson’s house Monday afternoon, leaving police with an enormous crime scene and no immediate explanation for the carnage.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
US Officials: Media: Edward Snowden Caused Paris Attacks
In the aftermath of Friday’s devastating attacks on Paris, a number of mainstream Western media outlets were quick to blame the tragedy on the US’ favorite national security scapegoat — NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
In the confusion that followed Friday night’s attacks, French officials were desperate for answers. President Francois Hollande latched onto claims of responsibility from the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group, and on Sunday, the French military conducted a massive bombing campaign over the IS stronghold in Raqqa.
But US officials are also pinning blame on one individual: Edward Snowden. It’s a message that has been echoed through a number of Western media outlets, arguing that Snowden’s unveiling of the US government’s data collection weakened Western intelligence efforts.
The accusation began with former CIA chief James Woolsey, who told MSNBC that the whistleblower has “blood on his hands” for the attacks which left 129 people dead. But these sentiments were also echoed by other US security experts.
“There’s no doubt that the disclosures overall created a situation in which we lost coverage of terrorists,” said Matthew Olsen, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), according to Yahoo News. Nick Rasmussen, the current director of the NCTC, also blamed Friday’s violence on “the exposure of intelligence collection techniques.”
But as Glenn Greenwald points out for the Intercept, those claims are contradicted by the fact that a string of incidents occurred prior to the Snowden revelations. Terrorist attacks struck in 2002 in Bali, 2004 in Madrid, 2005 in London, 2008 in Mumbai, and 2013 in Boston.
All of these took place before Snowden came forward in June of 2013.
Greenwald also points out that while Snowden revealed the extent to which Washington was spying on its own citizens, terrorists organizations had known for decades to avoid communicating through telephone and internet lines.
“This is a glaring case where propagandists can’t keep their stories straight,” Greenwald writes. “The implicit premise of this accusation is that The Terrorists didn’t know to avoid telephones or how to use effective encryption until Snowden came along and them. Yet we’ve been warned for years and years before Snowden that The Terrorists are so diabolical and sophisticated that they engage in all sorts of complex techniques to evade electronic surveillance.”
In 2001, for instance, long before Snowden became a household name, the Christian Science Monitor reported that “the head of the US National Security Agency has publicly complained that al Qaeda’s sophisticated use of the Internet and encryption techniques have defied Western eavesdropping attempts.”
Even prior to the attacks of 9/11, the FBI, under the Clinton administration, was warning that criminal organizations could take advantage of encryption.
“The looming specter of the widespread use of robust, virtually uncrackable encryption is one of the most difficult problems confronting law enforcement as the next century approaches,” then-FBI Director Louis Freeh told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1997.
In other words, terrorist organizations didn’t need Snowden to warn them about Western surveillance efforts. They were already well aware.
But pinning the blame on Snowden aids the US government in its push for unwarranted access to any encrypted communication.
“It’s not just Snowden but also their own long-time Surveillance State partners — particularly Apple and Google — who are now being depicted as Terrorist Lovers for enabling people to have privacy on the internet through encryption products,” Greenwald writes.
At the same time, this misdirection also allows Western intelligence agencies to avoid accountability in failing to prevent the attacks. Reports indicate that French authorities were monitoring at least one of Friday’s attackers, as well as all three of the gunmen which stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo in January.
“So when they fail in their ostensible duty, and people die because of that failure, it’s a natural instinct to blame others,” Greenwald writes. “If you’re a security agency after a successful Terror attack, you want everyone looking elsewhere, finding all sorts of culprits other than those responsible for stopping such attacks.”
Finally, blaming Snowden allows Western governments to avoid questions about the origins and financing of IS. A number of Western officials have ceded that the terrorist group would not exist today if Iraq had not been destabilized during the invasion. US officials have criticized American allies for supporting the terrorist group, and declassified documents have even suggested Washington’s own complicity in the creation of IS.
“Given all this, is there any mystery why ‘US officials’ and the military-intelligence regime…are desperate to shift blame away from themselves for ISIS and terror attacks and onto Edward Snowden, journalism about surveillance, or encryption-providing tech companies?” Greenwald writes. “Wouldn’t you if you were them?”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Warned to Sell Weapons Faster, or Allies Will Seek Deals With China
If the United States does not make it easier and quicker for US allies to buy American weapons, those nations will turn to China to fill their orders, said the head of the US Air Force acquisition.
Bill LaPlante, speaking at an event put by on the Lexington Institute, a Washington think tank, said US allies will buy Chinese weapons even if they are inferior copies of US arms and munitions, Breaking Defense reported.
“US stuff is in incredibly high demand. Overseas people are desperate, they are desperate for our stuff,” LaPlante said. “We need to do something about it. It’s urgent,”
LaPlante just returned from the Dubai Air Show, where he said China showcased its reconnaissance drone which looked just like the Reaper, along with a new fighter that looks just like the F-35.
Unlike the United States, China does not have a cap on drone exports, LaPlante noted.
LaPlante said he held bilateral talks with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others about their interest in buying US weapons.
“But our partners are saying, even if [a Chinese weapon] doesn’t work, I can buy theirs. Even if it doesn’t work that well and works about a third of the time. It’s still worth it,” LaPlante said they told him. “Those guys are at war and it’s existential for them.”
LaPlante said he does not yet have an answer for how to expedite the sales process, but said the US military will rely on defense industry experts to help produce a solution.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Top of Trudeau’s Agenda? Legalizing Marijuana in Canada
As one of his first official orders of business, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is focusing on legalizing marijuana.
On Friday, newly elected Prime Minister Trudeau sent a letter to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, outlining his administration’s priorities. Among that list are some fairly expected policies. Ensuring transparency over the appointment of Supreme Court Justices and an overhaul of the criminal justice system, for instance.
But also among Trudeau’s priorities is the creation of a “federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana.”
This would be a major reversal from the previous administration of Stephen Harper, which enforced mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug crimes. The endeavor is also part of a broader goal of reducing the incarceration rates among Indigenous Canadians.
For the time being, regional police are using their own best judgement when it comes to drug enforcement, deciding when and when not to enforce existing drug laws.
“I am deeply grateful to have this opportunity to serve with you as we build an even greater country,” Trudeau wrote in his letter to Wilson-Raybould. “Together, we will work tirelessly to honour the trust Canadians have given us.”
And together, the two have set their sights on some pretty high-minded goals.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Patrick Pelloux revealed on national radio on Saturday that a “multi-site” emergency exercise was held in Paris on the same day as the Paris attacks on November 13.
[This exercise pertains to an emergency scenario of a terrorist attack. It involves first responders, police, emergency services and medical personnel. Organized by SAMU. It is not a military exercise, GR ed.]
He said that the Paris emergency services were so well prepared, because “by chance” they had been planning for a similar scenario.
Transcript:
“By chance”, (le hasard a fait”) in the morning at the Paris SAMU (EMT), a multi-site attack exercise had been planned.”
“So we were prepared. What needs to be known is there was a mobilisation of police forces, firemen, EMTs, associations who came [to participate] and we tried to save as many people as possible.”
[Comment: Again? What a coincidence.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Speaking to a crowd this afternoon that included observers from Germany’s PEGIDA movement and Britain’s Tommy Robinson, president Milos Zeman was a guest of the Czech political action group ‘Block Against Islam’.
Speaking on stage, the president said nobody else would be able to dictate to the Czech people, and took aim at the mainstream media, which he accused of “massaging” the migrant crisis for their own ends. He took a strong position defending free speech, remarking that everyone had the right to an opinion, but Czechs should never try to silence people with opposite views.
Mr. Zeman remarked using slurs against your political opponents didn’t constitute a real argument, and accordingly those opposing migration should no longer be called “extremists, xenophobes, Islamophobes, racists or fascists”, reports Radio Prague. The audience greeted the president’s words with cheers and chanted “long live Zeman!”…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
EC Says Scrapping TASI Not in Line With Targets
EU says tax burden should be shifted from income, production
(ANSA) — Brussels, November 17 — The European Commission on Tuesday criticised the decision by Premier Matteo Renzi’s government to scrap property-linked local-services tax TASI in its 2016 budget bill. The government has also abolished the IMU property tax in people’s first homes. “The recent decision on home taxation do not appear to be in line with the aim of achieving a more efficient fiscal structure, shifting the tax burden from production factors and others based on income,” the EC said in its opinion on Italy’s 2016 budget bill.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: ISIS’ Paris Squad’s Hotel Room Shows Syringes Lying Among Pizza Boxes
Two of the brothers at the heart of the plot that killed 129 people on Friday rented a flat in the Bobigny suburb of the French capital three days before it was launched.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Amid all the chaos and misery in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks, some very important facts appear to have slipped most people’s attention.
The incident at the football stadium, Stade de France, for example, should have been a hundred, perhaps a thousand times worse.
ISIS’s atrocious plan was for one suicide bomber to go inside with a ticket to the game and blow himself up among the 80,000 spectators — including French President Francois Hollande — while another two waited outside to do the same as the terrified crowd fled into the streets.
It was only foiled because security guards frisked him at the entrance and spotted he was wearing a suicide vest.
The bomber backed away and detonated himself.
This prompted his two fellow terrorists to activate their own suicide vests.
Crucially, none of them was inside the stadium.
Thus only one person other than the bombers was killed.
For this, we have the vigilant security guards to thank.
And what needs to be made very loudly and clearly public is this: that team of security guards who saved many more lives included Muslims.
We know this because one of them, a Muslim known only by his first name Zouheir, revealed the amazing story to the Wall Street Journal.
He himself was stationed just inside the stadium, by the players’ tunnel and near President Hollande and helped protect people when the bombs started going off.
‘Once I saw Hollande being evacuated, I knew it wasn’t firecrackers,’ he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
French Foreign Minister Equals Paris Attacks to Assault on Universal Values
The deadly terror attacks in the French capital were attacks against universal values, as well as against the international community, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday.
ANTALYA (Turkey), (Sputnik) — “These attacks were aimed not only at France — they were aimed at all of us, at our values, that’s why we would be decisive in our response to these attacks,” Fabius said at a press conference.
Earlier in the day, Fabius held a meeting with the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in the Turkish resort of Antalya. They discussed significant issues of the world agenda, including the recent wave of deadly terror attacks in Paris, the sides decided to enhance counter-terrorist actions.
Late on Friday, extremists launched a series of coordinated attacks across Paris, killing some 130 people and injuring over 350 at several locations, including restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and in the vicinity of the Stade de France stadium. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attacks.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Nationals Coming From Syria May be Put Under House Arrest: Govt Source
French nationals returning from Syria could be “put under house arrest” and subject to tough surveillance, a government source told AFP on Monday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s friendly against Holland was cancelled just 90 minutes before kick-off due to the threat of an attack at the stadium.
Police chief Volker Kluwe said there had been ‘a concrete threat scenario for all of Hanover’ and that there had been ‘serious plans to cause an explosion’.
He added that a device was intended to be detonated inside the HDI Arena which has a capacity of 45,000.
The postponement comes just four days after Germany’s match against France in Paris was targeted by terrorists as part of a coordinated attack on the capital which killed 129 people. One bystander was killed and several more injured while 79,000 supporters watched the match in the ground.
‘We had concrete evidence that someone wanted to set off an explosive device in the stadium,’ Kluwe told German TV.
Referring to another bomb threat about an hour beforehand that turned out to be a false alarm, he said, ‘After the first object turned out to be harmless, we got a tip that had to be taken seriously that an attack was being planned.’
Announcements had advised fans, most of whom were outside the ground, to leave calmly and that there was no danger.
Police had earlier sealed off the ground after finding a suitcase before allowing fans to enter.
‘The visitors (spectators), who were already in the stadium at that time, were asked to leave the stadium without panicking,’ police said in a brief statement.
Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius, speaking at a late news conference, said no explosives had been found by then, and no arrests had been made…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Unleashes 2nd Day of ISIS Strikes, Mobilizes 115,000, Moves to Change Constitution
France, still reeling from the carnage that unfolded in the streets of Paris last Friday, conducted dozens upon dozens of police raids on Tuesday, after more than 160 similar operations carried out on Monday led to the discovery of numerous weapons including a rocket launcher, Kalashnikov, and a bulletproof vest.
French authorities are still largely in the dark regarding how many people were ultimately involved in the attack and with suspected “mastermind” Abdelhamid Abaaoud out of reach in Syria, police are focused on locating Salah Abdeslam who allegedly helped with logistics and rented a black Volkswagen Polo used by the gunmen who stormed the Bataclan concert hall.
Of course really, the raids are a frantic attempt to track down and neutralize anything and everything before something else bad happens. As Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on France Inter radio, “we don’t know if there are accomplices in Belgium and in France… we still don’t know the number of people involved in the attacks.”…
Changes to the constitution to allow the government to revoke citizenship of any convicted terrorists of dual nationality. Currently only those born outside France and naturalised can lose their citizenship.
Measures to speed up expulsion of foreign nationals considered a threat to public order.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Concern Over Jubilee Terror Risk’ Says Alfano
Rome, Pope Francis ‘targeted in threatening messages’
(ANSA) — Rome, November 16 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told the Lower House Monday officials are increasingly concerned over possible terror attacks during Pope Francis’ Jubilee year, which begins in December. “Rome and the pope have already been targeted in threatening statements exalting hatred and destruction,” Alfano told MPs in the wake of the deadly Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday.
“We will increase security at sensitive spots, beginning with stationary checkpoints at St. Peter’s Square, where pedestrian flows will be regulated. We will also be vigilant as to threats from the skies”.
Millions of pilgrims are expected to flock to Rome for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, making security a logistical nightmare.
Alfano also said the Islamic fundamentalist threat has become even more fearsome after the attacks in Paris, whose so-called soft targets included a popular concert venue, busy restaurants, and a football stadium during a friendly match.
This makes detection and prevention even more difficult, Alfano said.
“This is an attack on our life style,” he told MPs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Declare War on Renegades Not Islam Says Gentiloni
Italy must aid in Syria transition says foreign minister
(ANSA) — Rome, November 16 — Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told the Lower House Monday that Italy will “fight to defend our values, not by declaring war on Islam but rather on renegades”. “We will work to flush out terrorists wherever they may try to infiltrate themselves, without confusing them with the thousands of people who are fleeing wars,” he said. Italy must do more in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist militia, he added. “We must commit to doing more as a country — the time has come,” he told MPs.
“Italy must contribute to the political orientation of the anti-ISIS coalition and facilitate a political transition in Syria, without leaving voids to be filled by terrorists,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Exports Back in Positive Territory With 1.6% Rise
But Q3 figure down 2.3% on previous three months
(ANSA) — Rome, November 17 — Italian exports returned to positive territory in September with a 1.6% rise with respect to August after three consecutive month-on-month drops, Istat said on Tuesday. The national statistics agency added that the September increase could not prevent third-quarter exports registering a 2.3% fall compared to the previous three months.
The biggest fall was in experts to non-European Union countries, which were down 4.2%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Military Guarding Rome Subways, Places of Worship, And More
Vatican, airports, train stations, night spots under guard
(ANSA) — Rome, November 17 — Rome commuters were greeted by the sight of soldiers guarding the subway stations on Tuesday. Public transport company ATAC confirmed the measure was taken in the wake of Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.
The military and law enforcement are also deployed at the Vatican, train stations, airports, places of worship, and places where the public is likely to gather, including night spots.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bob Dylan Bologna Concerts to Have Armed Guards
At entrance, backstage
(ANSA) — Rome, November 17 — Bob Dylan’s two concerts in Italy — in Bologna 18-19 November — will have armed guards after the Paris terror attacks, sources from the US singer-songwriter’s entourage told local media Tuesday.
The guards will be at the entrance and backstage area, media reported.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Cleric Who ‘Radicalised’ Bataclan Suicide Bomber Omar Mostefai Revealed
Tarik Chadlioui (pictured), also known as Tarik Ibn Ali, who has links to banned Islamist group Sharia4Belgium, has ranted in speeches that soldiers who die fighting in the name of Allah.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nokia Bid for Alcatel-Lucent Opens Wednesday
An all-share offer by Finnish telecom group Nokia for its French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent will open on Wednesday, the French financial markets authority (AMF) said.
If successful, the acquisition will create the world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone network equipment.
“The public offer will be open from November 18 until December 23,” the authority said.
Nokia’s bid was cleared by the French government last month, having already received all US regulatory approvals needed…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: In Paris We Tasted What Israel Suffers Every Day
Westerners don’t even understand what is going on.
There is the same atmosphere of post-London 7/7/05. Then, too, almost all newspaper editors wrote tearful lamentations that no, the terrorists would not change “our way of life.”
As if in Paris, last night, terrorists had stopped us only from being able to watch a game, to listen to a song, to eat a bowl of Cambodian food. It is a sloppy and uninspired secularism, which does not penetrate the phenomenon that is facing. It always looks for a scapegoat, yesterday Iraq, Assad today. On January 7 2015 they had all pulled a sigh of relief, “it is against cartoonists,” they said.
Today it’s hard to think that it does not affect them all.
All the heads of terror groups expressed this very well. “We will win because they love life and we love death,”
By speaking of “jihadist madness”, the West builds its own defeat. We don’t see that this is a religious war, not the idea of a few stragglers and fanatics. We did not understand that it is a problem of states and leadership, not of borders and police and license plates.
We did not understand that these terrorists live in our democracy and know to use it. They have more imagination than we do. Those who savor “the inspiring and delightfully perverse taste of bloodshed,” as Varlam Shalamov, who was imprisoned twenty years in the Gulag, wrote.. This is fanaticism, not sadism…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Terror Mastermind Mocked Western Intelligence
Abdelhamid Abaaoud (aka Abu Umar Al-Baljiki) slipped past the mightiest intelligence agencies in the world despite a feature in the February, 2015 issue of the Islamic State magazine Dabiq.
Abaaoud is the key suspect in the Paris massacre last Friday that claimed the lives of nearly 130 people. He is a Belgian Moroccan and the leader of the so-called Verviers cell. Two members of the terror cell, Abuz-Zubayr al-Baljiki and Abu Khalid al-Baljiki, were killed by Belgian police on January 15, two weeks after the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris.
In the Dabiq interview Abaaoud claims he traveled with his accomplices to Europe “in order to terrorize the crusaders waging war against the Muslims.” He said Belgium was a target because the country “is a member of the crusader coalition attacking the Muslims of Iraq and Sham [Syria].”
Despite difficulties during the trip to Belgium, the three terrorists “were then able to obtain weapons and set up a safe house while we planned to carry out operations against the crusaders.”
Abaaoud mocked European authorities for failing to recognize him. He said he was stopped by police after the Verviers raid, but they were unable to match him to a photograph.
“I was even stopped by an officer who contemplated me so as to compare me to the picture, but he let me go, as he did not see the resemblance,” he said.
“Allah blinded their vision and I was able to leave and come to Sham despite being chased after by so many intelligence agencies. All this proves that a Muslim should not fear the bloated image of the crusader intelligence. My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them, and leave safely when doing so became necessary,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Was Merely a ‘Test, ‘ Says U.S. Counter-Terrorism
A former FBI counter terrorism expert claims the bloody October 13 Paris attack wasn’t a full-fledged assault, but a cold-blooded ISIS “test” to assess its ability to launch small, randomized attacks in a major Western city.
That expert, Eric O’Neill, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that ISIS was testing the model he called, “small randomized attacks” when it went on a shooting and bombing spree throughout Paris, killing 129 people and wounding another 352.
“I think this was a test to see how well this could work in a city. Can we coordinate it? Can we effectively carry it out,” O’Neill told the DCNF. “My sense is they are benchmarking themselves. They are going to see if this could be deployed somewhere else because if this was a test, then they passed.”
The same test “could have happened in a Washington, D.C. or New York, or Los Angeles and San Francisco, yeah, easily,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Steinmeier: War on Terror Cannot be Won by Military Means
German FM, we stand alongside France but we need self-control
(ANSA) — BRUSSELS — The struggle against Isis must continue and Germany will continue to participate in the coalition, the air missions and to support those who fight on the ground, such as the Kurdish peshmerga, whom we have provided with weapons. But the war on terror cannot be won by military means”, Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, speaking at the Foreign Council in Brussels.
France and Europe are “shocked and today we must stand alongside France”, Steinmeier said, adding however that “at the same time we need self-control and we must not give in to the difficult situation we are facing. We must not make a wrong move or make decisions that do not help us”, the German minister said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Theresa May: The Paris Attacks ‘Have Nothing to Do With Islam’
On a day when Jeremy Corbyn has been making clear his concerns about both the government’s use of drones and any shoot-to-kill policy for terrorists on British streets, Theresa May’s statement on the Paris attacks was striking for the level of cross-party agreement.
Andy Burnham paid generous tribute to the Home Secretary and pledged Labour’s support for her anti-terror crackdown. The only discordant note came on the question of police funding. Burnham aligned himself with Bernard Hogan-Howe’s warning that cuts of more than 10 percent to police funding would make it harder to keep the streets safe.
May set out how the police here would “intensify’ their approach to big events in an attempt to prevent a Paris-style attack here. She stressed that the kind of weapons used in Paris on Friday night were “not readily available in the UK’ and said she would urge other EU countries to toughen up their firearms laws in an attempt to restrict the supply of automatic weapons. She also declared that “the attacks have nothing to do with Islam’. Now, one can understand why the Home Secretary wanted to say this. But denying the link between this attack and a particular interpretation of Islam is not going to make it any easier to counter either the terrorist threat or the attempt to radicalise a segment of the population…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Trendy Paris District Scarred After Bloody Attacks
When Hamideche Dorea nervously left home on Monday, opposite La Belle Equipe cafe where 19 people were gunned down in the attacks that tore through Paris, her pulse sped up when she spotted a van.
“I thought maybe someone inside has a Kalashnikov and is going to shoot at me. I have this fear now, I am scared to leave the house,” the 38-year-old told AFP, her lip trembling as she loaded her washing at a laundromat near the cafe.
For Dorea and so many others, the sight of her neighbourhood cafe turned into a shrine is surreal.
This modest district is not the glitzy Champs Elysees avenue, or the sort of tourist hotspot where security was beefed up after 17 people were killed in a three-day attack in January on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Easyjet Annual Profit Soars on Keen Holiday Demand
British no-frills airline EasyJet said Tuesday that annual net earnings jumped more than a fifth, buoyed by keen demand for city break holidays and business travel, alongside lower fuel costs.
Profits after taxation rallied 22 percent to £548 million ($833 million, 777 million euros) in the year to the end of September, compared with 2013/2014, EasyJet said in a results statement.
Pre-tax profit meanwhile leapt 18 percent to a record £686 million, rising for the fifth year in a row. That was in the middle of the group’s forecast range…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: World’s Biggest Aircraft, The Airlander, ‘Takes Off’ For the First Time
The Airlander, which is a cross between an airship and an aeroplane, was originally developed as part of a US Army project but is now being converted to provide leisure flights in a hangar in Bedfordshire.
At 300ft, the Airlander is the largest aircraft in the world, bigger even than the Airbus A380 — but would be dwarfed by the historic zeppelins developed in Germany during the 1930s.
It is a hybrid of an aeroplane and an airship — 60 per cent of its lift comes from the helium it is filled with while the other 40 per cent comes from its wings.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Nidra Poller
It is like the death of a loved one. The death of our city that we love despite its failings, misdeeds, and particular misbehavior that I have been chronicling over the past fifteen years. A city is more than its current events. And today the heart of our city is broken. We do not have the fibre of Israelis who live with miraculous vitality in a permanent state of war & peace, but Parisians are not entirely devoid of courage and sharp instincts in the face of utmost danger. Anecdotes and eyewitness testimony are slowly emerging. The hard facts are at a minimum.
A soft spoken young man in an elegant overcoat describes the scene at the café on Rue de Charonne. He was present, he saw people picked off like sitting ducks. “They didn’t have a chance.” And yet he himself cannot believe what he saw. The Public Prosecutor delivers official information in an appropriately neutral tone. A hundred shell casings are left at each of the cafe’s attacked. No one was spared. Those who are not dead are in desperate condition.
It was to be expected, but it is shocking, unreal. Friday night it seemed that the whole city was screaming with sirens. As you followed events on television you could hear the broadcast sirens echoing the wails that came from the streets and boulevards. Who doesn’t have a friend who was in the Bataclan music hall or looking down from his apartment at dead bodies that only a short while before had been eating, drinking, laughing, enjoying life?
In the global village, grieving families just a few days ago witnessed the massacre in Beirut or sobbed with the bereaved of the Sharm el Sheik-St. Petersburg flight. And now it is on their doorstep and has ripped apart their lives forever. We don’t have to tell Israelis how it feels. But Europeans must wake up to the kinship they so earnestly tried to ignore. Last week a French jihadi was arrested before going into action. He had ordered an army knife and two face masks from a firm in China. I suppose, in his infinite intelligence, he thought an order from a Chinese company would be undetectable. Or maybe he was attracted by the discount price? Well, the cheap packaging fell apart in transit, or so we are told, and a postal employee informed the police of the delivery of the killer knife. The young man intended to slaughter sailors at the Toulon naval base. A smartass TV commentator, implying that the police had over-reacted, shrugged it off. He said it was la guerre des boutons which, freely translated, means kids playing cops and robbers. “Like what’s happening in Israel right now,” he added…
| — Hat tip: Nidra Poller | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Premier: 300 Foreign Fighters Came Back From Syria
Essid interviewed by local tv station Al Hiwar Ettounsi
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 17 — Some 300 Tunisians came back to the country after joining militant terrorist organisations active in jihadi territories, said Tunisian premier Habib Essid during an interview with local tv station Al Hiwar Ettounsi, adding that their names are known and that these individuals are kept under constant surveillance by the security forces.
The new strict anti-terrorism law will also be applied to them.
Commenting on the Paris attacks, Essid announced that the government will adopt new preventive measures such as the tightening of security on the border with Libya and the revision of military and security plans in line with current challenges.
Security controls at airports will also be beefed up.
In order to confront an exceptional situation we must respond with exceptional measures, said the premier adding that he believed Tunisians would understand that these decisions are meant to ensure their security.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Declares Radical Wing of the Islamist Movement Illegal
Israel has banned the “northern branch” of the Islamist Movement, accused of being one of the main groups behind recent violence at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, the government said Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Court Orders Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Over Gaza Flotilla Attacks
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and six other former and current ministers could be arrested if they set foot in Spain, after a Spanish court effectively ordered an arrest warrant over their actions regarding the infamous 2010 Gaza Flotilla attacks.
Spanish national court judge Jose de la Mata ordered the police and the civil guard to inform him if Netanyahu or the six other officials entered the country, as it could see the reopening of a case against them.
Along with Netanyahu, the other men included are former foreign minister Avigdor Leiberman, former defense minister Ehud Barak, former minister of strategic affairs Moshe Yaalon, former interior minister Eli Yishai, minister without portfolio Benny Begin and vice admiral Maron Eliezer, who was in charge of the Israeli Defense Force operation.
The case, put on hold by the Spanish judge last year, was initiated against the Israeli officials following an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attack on the so-called Freedom Flotilla aid convoy in 2010.
It specifically relates to the main civilian vessel, the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a six-ship fleet trying to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid and constructions materials.
As the ship approached the Gaza coast, an IDF team stormed the vessel in a raid that eventually left 10 activists dead.
Many within the international community have accused Israel of being in breach of international law over the IDF’s actions during the incident, with the recent Spanish court decision meaning that Netanyahu, along with six other Israeli officials, could face charges if the case is reopened.
However Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon told the Jerusalem Post that diplomatic efforts were being made to quash the court’s decision.
“We consider it to be a provocation. We are working with the Spanish authorities to get it cancelled. We hope it will be over soon.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France, Russia Further Strike Islamic State in Syria, EU Aid Invoked
France and Russia both staged air strikes on Islamic State targets in northern Syria on Tuesday as Paris formally requested European Union assistance in its fight against the group behind last Friday’s bloody attacks on the French capital.
French warplanes targeted a command post and a recruitment center for jihadists in the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in the second consecutive night of strikes ordered by President Francois Hollande, a military command spokesman told Reuters.
A French government source said Russia hit targets in the same area, a day after Hollande appealed to Washington and Moscow to join in a grand coalition to fight the Islamist group that controls swathes of Syria and Iraq.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Katie Hopkins for Mailonline
Don’t tell me. I don’t want to hear it.
I don’t want to hear the attacks in Paris have nothing to do with Islam.
Because here’s the rub. Any man shouting Allahu Akbar as he blows himself to paradise is an adherent of the same religion and scriptures children are forced to learn, repeat and regurgitate by Muslims clerics the world over.
Or, as Peter Quinn, the CIA hitman from Homeland, put it in a remarkably prescient episode from the current series broadcast six weeks ago: ‘(ISIS) has a clear strategy. A strategy which includes beheadings, crucifixions, and the revival of slavery, and it all derives from their f*cking book, the only book they ever read.’
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Calls Hacker Group Anonymous ‘Idiots’ In Response to Threats
The Islamic State militant group responded to Anonymous’ declaration of “total war,” calling the hacker group “idiots” while offering guidance to followers to prevent cyberattacks.
The militant group, communicating via a channel on Telegram — a messaging app — warned its followers to not open any website links unless they are sure of the source. The group also warned followers to avoid talking on Telegram or through Twitter direct messaging and to change Internet protocol addresses continually.
“The #Anonymous hackers threatened in new video release that they will carry out a major hack operation on the Islamic state (idiots),” the statement, posted in Arabic and English, read in part.
“What they gonna hack?,” the IS said, noting Anonymous’ hacks have been limited to IS-affiliated Twitter accounts and email.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More Countries Realize ISIL is the Real Enemy in Syria, Not Assad
More and more countries seem to be realizing that President Bashar Assad is not the most dangerous threat to the people of the Middle East: ISIL is far more terrifying and the best way to beat the militant jihadist group is to forge an alliance with Russia.
“We must rearrange our priorities,” Alain Rodier, director of research at the French Research Centre on Intelligence (CF2R) recently said in an interview with the French newspaper 20 Minutes.
“Who are the most dangerous enemies for the United States, Russia, France?” he questioned.
And then provided a direct answer.
“Bashar al-Assad, abject as it is, does not represent an immediate risk [like] Daesh (an Arabic name for the Islamic State). “
His view is shared by Yves Boyer, deputy director of the Foundation for Strategic Research: “ We must not mistake an enemy. The ISIL is the fundamental threat, a cancer that eats away and starts to spread (Libya, Mali…) and must be treated. “
The newspaper further states that an alliance with the Russians “is the best solution” if France and other countries hope to beat the militant jihadist group.
“There is not a magic bullet that will allow us to destroy Daesh and pacify Syria in a fortnight; it requires cooperation with Russia, in one way or another,” says Alain Rodier.
Yves Boyer, in turn, said that another reason to “partner with Russia” is that the Syrian Army, backed by Russian air raids, could be very helpful for the coalition forces once they are on the ground in Syria, which is highly necessary nowadays.
This alliance, the experts elaborate, could first take the form of a dialogue on the raids, aimed at dividing the land and objectives.
Regarding President Assad, the experts say that they assume he could stay in power for the transition period. However he could leave after the new elections even though it is unclear who will then form a new government.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon: Majority of Recent Russian Airstrikes Target ISIL
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said that the majority of most recent airstrikes conducted by Russian air force in Syria targeted ISIL’s positions.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The majority of most recent airstrikes conducted by Russian air force in Syria targeted the Islamic State’s positions, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters on Tuesday.
“My understanding is the majority of these airstrikes, the most recent airstrikes, were targeted at ISIL-controlled areas,” Cook stated.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Putin: Hollande Agree to ‘Coordinate’ Military on Syria
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and French leader Francois Hollande have agreed to step up cooperation between their military and intelligence services in Syria after the attacks in Paris and bombing of a Russian plane, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Regime Advances Towards Palmyra With Russian Support
80 villages retaken, says Moscow
– MOSCOW — Syrian regime troops on Tuesday began an offensive towards Palmyra with the support of Russian airstrikes. Some 80 villages in an area of about 500 square kilometers have been retaken, Russian Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov said. Strategic, long-distance TU-160 and TU-95 jets used for the first time by Russia in Syria shot cruise missiles at targets in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces. TU-22M3s instead bombed the provinces of Deir Az-Zor and Raqqa. Russian president Vladimir Putin has meanwhile ordered Navy flagship missile cruiser ‘Moskva’, currently in the Mediterranean, to cooperate with French naval forces “as allies”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Orders MoD to Cooperate With French Naval Group
Putin ordered the Moskva cruiser to cooperate with a French naval group in the fight against the Islamic State.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the Moskva missile cruiser stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to establish contact with a French naval group which will soon arrive in the area.
“A French naval group led by an aircraft carrier will soon enter your area of operations,” Vladimir Putin said. “It is necessary to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov stated that the Moskva flagship launched 34 cruise missiles during the strike on the terrorist targets in Syria.
In a telephone conversation, Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande agreed to ensure military and intelligence cooperation between Russia and France. The two leaders also agreed to meet during Hollande’s visit to Moscow November 26.
“To continue personal dialogue on the fight against terrorism as well as other relevant topics during a meeting in Moscow on November 26,” according to statement made by the Kremilin.
Hollande, who skipped the weekend’s G20 summit due to the Paris attacks, said Monday that he would meet with the leaders of Russia and the United States to discuss joining forces against terrorism. The French leader is set hold talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington on November 24.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tu-160 Blackjack: Putin Deploys World’s Largest Combat Warplane Against ISIS
A Tu-160 heavy strategic bomber flies during the Victory Day parade above Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015.Reuters File
Even as president Vladimir Putin vowed revenge against the Islamic State (Isis) for its role in bringing down the Russian passenger plane in Egypt’s Sinai region, Moscow has announced the deployment of Tu-160, a Soviet-era bomber known as the “Blackjack.”
Hailed as the world’s largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep aircraft — the Tu-160, is the Soviet version of the American B-1 bomber for delivering nuclear weapons at long distances…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Beijing Calls for a United Front Against Terrorism to Defeat Uyghur Extremists
Taking advantage of the Paris tragedy, the Chinese government wants to add Xinjiang Muslims on the terror lists. China’s national media try to link the attacks in the French capital with the country’s own “war on terror”. International analysts are sceptical about any link between Islamist groups in China and the Islamic State.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — The struggle against Islamist militants in China’s far western region of Xinjiang should become an “important part” of the world’s war on terror, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said following the attacks in Paris.
Beijing has blamed the violence on Islamist militants, led by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM); a group it said had ties to al-Qaeda. More recently, China has reported that some Uyghurs have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State and other groups.
Uyghurs are Muslim, Turkic-speaking, and the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang. They have given up on independence decades ago, but want Beijing to grant them greater cultural and religious autonomy.
In recent years, violent attacks have targeted ethnic Han Chinese, who are China’s largest ethnic group, mostly by lone attackers unconnected to extremist movements active in the Middle East.
Beijing has responded to rising violence with more repression, and has effectively militarised the province.
In recent days, Chinese state media has already sought to link China’s own “war on terror” with the Paris attacks. Over the weekend, pictures appeared on the microblogs of state-run newspapers showing Chinese armed police supposedly on a mission to root out militants in Xinjiang — pictures put out after what happened in France on Friday.
For some experts, this is an attempt to justify future human rights violations at the expense of the indigenous Uyghur population.
Conversely, for Foreign Minister Wang, “The UN’s leading role should be brought into full play to combat terrorism, and a united front in this regard should be formed”.
In his view, “China is also a victim of terrorism, and cracking down on ETIM should become an important part of the international fight against terrorism”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nigerian Blast Kills Dozens at City Market
A powerful bomb blast in Yola, Nigeria has left 32 people dead and another 80 wounded.
Striking a fruit and vegetable market in the heart of the city, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though officials say it bears hallmarks of the militant group Boko Haram.
“The bomb blast occurred at the Jimeta by-pass which houses a vegetables, fruits and a timber market but i am yet to get the number of casualties,” Adamawa state police spokesman Usman Abubakar told Reuters.
According to the Red Cross, the death toll stands at 32.
“The ground near my shop was covered with dead bodies,” one witness, Alhaji Ahmed, told Reuters. “I helped to load 32 dead bodies into five vehicles.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US ‘Kidnapped’ Venezuelan First Lady’s Nephews: Top Lawmaker
The speaker of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, accused the United States Monday of kidnapping two of First Lady Cilia Flores’s nephews who were arrested on drug charges.
The comments from the powerful lawmaker, who is President Nicolas Maduro’s second-in-command in the ruling socialist party, were the first reaction from Venezuelan officials to the arrest of the two men in Haiti last week and their extradition to the US.
“I don’t see it as an arrest,” Cabello said in an interview with private TV channel Globovision.
“A plane went to Haiti with six people and they kidnapped two people.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
21 U.S. States Announce Refusal to Accept Syrian Refugees
Over the weekend, I published a post titled A Message to Europe — Prepare for Nationalism, which discussed, amongst many other things, the impact increased anti-refugee sentiment would have on European politics in the coming years. Although I didn’t expect the anti-refugee sentiment to emerge so rapidly in these United States, based on the headlines I’m seeing today, it undoubtably has.
From Reuters:
Texas, Arkansas, Indiana and Louisiana on Monday joined two other U.S. states in saying they will no longer accept Syrian refugees, contending it is too dangerous to let in people from that war-torn country following Friday’s deadly Paris attack.
Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Mike Pence of Indiana and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana,followed the lead of Alabama and Michigan in saying their states would no longer help support the Obama administration’s goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming years.
“Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees — any one of whom could be connected to terrorism — being resettled in Texas,” Abbott said in an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday. “Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity.”
But it was unclear what authority governors had to stop admitting refugees into their states, legal experts said.
As mentioned above, it doesn’t seem clear what options these various states have in practice to refuse refugees if the feds let them in. As such, you have to wonder if this is nothing more than political bluster. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.
[Comment: Unfortunatley, only one state has to allow this. There are no border controls between States.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
America Next? Obama Opens Gate for Terror Attack
“An unsecure border with Mexico is the state’s most significant vulnerability as it provides criminals and would-be terrorists from around the world a reliable means to enter Texas and the nation undetected…”
— Texas Department of Public Safety, Operation Strong Safety Report
Since before the ISIS terror attacks in Paris which claimed over 120 lives, multiple US officials and law enforcement agencies have warned that the country’s porous southern border with Mexico, along with the constant flow of illegal immigrants, put the nation at risk of a similar attack. Texas a precursor to ISIS invasion?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As States Turn Away Refugees — All Paris Attackers Identified So Far Are EU Nationals
Following the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris, France, much of the global media debate has been centered around immigration, with many people suggesting that the recent wave of refugees into Europe from the Middle East is responsible for the violence. However, all of the attackers who’ve had their identities confirmed thus far, are actually EU citizens.
While it was widely reported that passports of foreign nationals were found, one of those passports belonged to anEgyptian victim, while the other passport, alleged to be Syrian, was actually fake.
Federica Mogherini, the EU’s chief diplomat said earlier this week that the EU was dealing with an “internal threat” in regards to the recent terrorist attacks.
“Let me underline, the profile of the terrorists so far identified tells us this is an internal threat. It is all EU citizens so far. This can change with the hours, but so far it is quite clear it is an issue of internal domestic security,” Mogherini said.
The first attacker to be identified by the media was Omar Ismail Mostefai, a French citizen that the government was warned about multiple times. Also named were two brothers, Salah and Ibrahim Abdeslam, one of which is still on the run, while the other was said to be one of the bombers. The Abdeslam brothers were both EU citizens, as was Bilal Hadfi, another alleged suicide bomber in the attack. Samy Amimour, one of the alleged shooters was also a French native who had become an ISIS sympathizer and traveled to the Middle East to train with them.
The nationality of the unidentified attacker who used a Syrian passport is still unknown, and there are still many other suspects to be considered.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Official: Migrants Are Not Terrorists
Juncker, refugees are fleeing those who organized attacks
(ANSA-AP) — PARIS — A top European Union official says the bloc’s refugee policy does not need to be overhauled in the wake of the Paris attacks and is urging world leaders not to start treating asylum-seekers as terrorists.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Sunday that “those who organized these attacks, and those who carried them out, are exactly those who the refugees are fleeing.” Juncker told reporters at the G-20 summit in Turkey that “there is no need to revise the European Union’s entire refugee policy.”
Poland incoming government declared Saturday it would not accept refugees without security guarantees. Juncker urged them “to be serious about this, and not to give in (to) these basic reactions.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
French Far-Right Leader Le Pen Urges ‘Halt’ To Migrant Intake
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called Monday for an “immediate halt” to the intake of migrants into France following the attacks on Paris.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German PEGIDA Patriots March in Solidarity With Paris, Call for End of Migration
The meeting kicked off with one minute’s silence for the victims of the Friday night Paris terror victims, and those killed by the Islamic State in the Sinai peninsula aboard the downed Russian passenger jet. French flags were in evidence among the thousands present and speeches focussed on the link between migration and Islamist terrorism.
‘The Islam, not part of Germany and Europe, stop the Islam’ / ‘Here comes the people. The non-parliamentary opposition!’ / ROBERT MICHAEL/AFP/Getty Images
Alongside the regular banners and placards mocking the German government, condemning violent Islam, and criticising mass migration, newly minted banners about Paris were being held. Among the “Je Suis Paris” signs and reproductions of the now familiar Eiffel Tower-peace symbol, one read “Yesterday Paris, tomorrow Germany,” reports TheLocal.de.
Co-organiser Siegfried Daebritz was one of those who addressed the crowds yesterday. He said of the Paris terror: “The attacks didn’t come out of nowhere.
“They are the result of an immigration policy that invites people from completely foreign cultures with completely different values into countries and regions whose culture many of these immigrants despise… eventually, this will have to stop”.
He called on Germany’s politicians to close the borders immediately and to ensure all those who enter the nation are properly fingerprinted…
| — Hat tip: Ivan Winters | [Return to headlines] |
Hill Republicans Move to ‘Pause’ Syrian Refugee Effort, With States Having Limited Say
Most U.S. governors have made clear they don’t want Syrian refugees in their states after the deadly Paris terror attacks, but only Congress appears to have the authority to stop President Obama’s plan.
And Capitol Hill lawmakers are moving swiftly.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday both called for a “pause” in the administration’s refugee plan, which includes resettling 10,000 Syrian civil war refugees through 2016.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadists ‘Mingled’ Among Migrants, Hungary PM Says After Paris Attacks
Jihadists have exploited Europe’s migration crisis by hiding among asylum seekers, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Monday, in the wake of attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Maryland Governor Requests US Govt to Stop Resettling Refugees in His State
Governor Larry Hogan said that the US government must stop resettling more Syrian refugees in the state of Maryland before ensuring they are not a public threat.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US government must stop resettling more Syrian refugees in the state of Maryland before ensuring they are not a public threat, Governor Larry Hogan said on Tuesday.
“Following the terrorist attacks on Paris just four days ago… I am now requesting that federal authorities cease any additional settlements of refugees from Syria in Maryland until the US government can provide appropriate assurances that refugees from Syria pose no threat to public safety,” Hogan stated.
In September, President Barack Obama pledged to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, but the Paris terrorist attacks have prompted at least 25 governors of US states to refuse allowing any Syrian refugees.
Logan argued that the safety and security of the citizens of his state trumps other considerations.
“As governor of Maryland, the safety and security of Marylanders remains my first priority,” he concluded.
Over the weekend, French police reported that a Syrian passport was found near one of the suicide bombers who attacked the Stade de France in Paris. Meanwhile, Serbian police arrested a man carrying a Syrian passport with identical information as that of a passport found near the terrorist in Paris.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama: The Number of Refugees From Syria and Elsewhere Will be Increased ‘To 100,000 Per Year’
The number “10,000 Syrian refugees” is being thrown around a lot by the mainstream media, but did you know that Barack Obama has actually publicly declared that the U.S. is going to take in 100,000 refugees from Syria and elsewhere for each of the next two years? That is an absolutely massive number, and it is inevitable that some jihadists will slip through the vetting process. As Syrian refugees enter the United States, they are being dispersed all around the country. In my article yesterday, I explained that the State Department has established refugee processing centers in 48 U.S. states. But instead of the “trickle” of refugees the mainstream media is talking about, the truth is that it is going to be more like a flood. The following is a message that was tweeted by Barack Obama’s official Twitter account on September 28th…
This number also came up in a New York Times article that was published back in September…
You would think that what just happened in France would cause Obama and his minions to reassess this strategy.
But instead, they appear to be doubling down. In fact, at the G20 summit Obama lectured his fellow world leaders on the need to take in more Syrian refugees.
Obama would have us believe that all of the refugees are highly “vetted” and that there is little danger of any terrorists being imported into this country as refugees.
[Comment: This alone shows how Obama feels about American people.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Terror Attacks Force a Sea Change in French Policy — French Deputy
Les Republicains deputy Yannick Moreau told Sputnik France that the terrorist attacks in Paris cause the French government to rethink many of its policies, including those on immigration, and Syria.
The terrorist attacks in Paris force the French government to rethink many of its policies, particularly regarding law and order, immigration, and the Syrian crisis, French National Assembly deputy Yannick Moreau told Radio Sputnik on Monday.
“First of all, it’s necessary to completely change penal policy in our country, in order to ensure the security of the French people, to end this leniency, that stops us from sending people to prison when they commit a crime. Prisons need to serve as protection for the French against those who present a threat to their security and civilization.”
“After that it is necessary to change our migration policy, to establish control over Europe’s external borders and the French borders in order to stop the flow of migrants, and Islamists who are hiding among the economic and political refugees, saving themselves from war in the Middle East.”
“Finally, it is necessary to completely change our military strategy, and also politics in relation to Syria. France must effectively cooperate militarily with Russia and the US, in order to beat the barbarians from groups like ISIL or Jabhat-al-Nusra in Syria and Iraq. That must be done in coordination with the Syrian army on the ground, as Russia has been doing for a month already.”
“Vladimir Putin is right. He has gone down a path that can be characterized as the reasonable route, which conforms with the interests of Russia, as well as those of the Judeo-Christian world as a whole,” said the deputy.
“Of course they [the terrorist acts] are connected to France’s foreign policy in the Middle East,” said Moreau, who called on the French government to follow the example of Russia and cooperate with the Syrian government in order to beat the terrorists.
Moreau, a deputy of France’s main opposition party, ‘Les Republicains,’ also expressed his wish to travel to Syria to see for himself the truth of the situation. He wants to hold discussions with civic groups, politicians and religious leaders there in order to be able to make the right foreign policy decisions for France. “I have always thought that the drama in Syria and the killing of Christians in the Middle East is a reality that concerns all of us in France and Europe. I wanted to travel to Syria, in order to get the information for myself, to discover the reality that is not reported by the western media.”
As well as changing the minds of fellow politicians, Moreau said he wanted to influence the opinions of ordinary French people, “who didn’t even think that we have another solution to fight and be victorious in the battle against Islamic extremists. That solution is dialogue with Syria, which has been fighting terrorism on the front line for five years.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Poland’s New Right-Wing Government Takes Hardline on Migrants
Poland’s new right-wing, eurosceptic government was sworn in Monday signalling it would take a hard line on Europe’s biggest migrant crisis since World War II — even floating the idea of sending Syrians back to “liberate” their country.
The new cabinet observed a minute’s silence for the victims of the worst-ever terror attacks in France at the swearing-in ceremony at Warsaw’s presidential palace.
Earlier Prime Minister Beata Szydlo led her cabinet in laying flowers and lighting candles in front of the French embassy in memory of the at least 129 victims of Friday’s attacks…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Sees Record Number of Over 10,500 Weekly Asylum Claims
A record of 10,553 people applied for an asylum in Sweden last week, the country’s migration agency Migrationsverket said in a statement on Monday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The majority of asylum seekers came from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq with 4,736, 2,536 and 1,456 applications respectively, according to the statement. Some 2,900 refugees were children not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
On November 5, Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Morgan Johansson said that the number of asylum seekers was increasing faster than the number of accommodation places, meaning that there were no guarantees any more that the authorities would be able to accommodate everyone.
Earlier in October, Migrationsverket reported that Sweden expected up to 190,000 asylum seekers to arrive in the country in 2015.
The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa for Europe.
Over 1.2 million illegal border crossings have been made into the European Union since the beginning of 2015, according to the EU border agency Frontex.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Think Twice Before Coming, Germany Tells Afghan Would-be Migrants
Germany has launched a campaign in Afghanistan to tell its nationals to think carefully before embarking on the tough journey to seek asylum in Europe, the foreign ministry said Monday.
“This is not about deterrence but about getting people to think it through,” said a foreign ministry spokesman.
Billboards bearing slogans in Dari and Pashtu including “Leaving Afghanistan? Are you sure?” or “Leaving Afghanistan? Thought it through?” have been put up at prominent sites in the capital Kabul, as well as in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat in the west…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Syrian Refugees Being Resettled by Obama Could End Up in 48 Out of 50 U.S. States
Despite everything that just happened in France, on Sunday the Obama administration made it clear that it still plans to resettle at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in communities all over the United States within the next year. Thanks to Obama, the U.S. has already been absorbing thousands of refugees from the Middle East each year, and as you will see below, just last week administration officials expressed a desire to “increase and accelerate” that process. So far, the list of states that have received the most refugees includes Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. But by the time it is all said and done, it is likely that Syrian refugees will end up in virtually every major city in the United States. The U.S. State Department has established “refugee processing centers” in 48 different states, and you can view the entire list right here. Considering what just took place in Paris, is this really a good idea?
In recent months, the massive influx of refugees into Europe has created a complete and utter nightmare. Large numbers of refugees have gotten “lost”, violent crime is out of control in many of the areas where these refugees have been resettled, and nations that were once extremely peaceful such as Norway and Sweden are now dealing with an epidemic of rape. For much, much more on the horror that Europe is now facing, please check out this excellent video.
And of course you have probably heard by now that at least one of the terrorists that carried out the attacks in Paris came into Europe “as a Syrian migrant”…
[Comment: State Dept. does not work for USA, but for the owners of the Federal Reserve (which is not Federal and has no “Reserve”). State Dept. and it’s intel operations helped to destabilize Libya and now Syria. Their next target of destabilization seems to be the USA. It’s not that the political elite are “not listening”, or “stupid”, or “politically correct” — they know precisely what they are doing — their actions are 100% intentional with malice aforethought. They are just ignoring whatever the public says and proceeding with their machinations. This is the concept that the average joe need to wrap his head around. End goal — martial law with gun confiscation to “stabilize” the situation the elites created.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Expects First Syrian Refugees as Part of Relocation Plan
A charter plane containing the refugees is expected to land at an unspecified time in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday, according to the ITV broadcaster.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The first Syrian refugees to be transferred under Britain’s resettlement program are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom Tuesday, local media reported.
The relocation comes days after the emergence of information of an alleged Syrian passport holder among several suicide bombers in the November 13 series of attacks in Paris.
The unconfirmed theory states that the bomber arrived in Europe from Syria in October and registered as an asylum seeker on the island of Leros. The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack and the suspected mastermind of the massacres is thought to be in Syria.
Up to 26 US state governors have refused to accept refugees from Syria in the wake of the coordinated terrorist attacks that have left over 130 dead and over 350 injured.
UK Home Secretary Theresa May sought to alleviate reignited fears of potential extremists blending in with refugees over the weekend, stating that refugees undergo exhaustive background checks and are flown directly from camps outside of their war-torn country.
Although Britain is not part of the EU-wide refugee resettlement quota plan adopted earlier this year, Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to accept some 20,000 Syrian refugees on British soil.
Nearly 2.2 million Syrian refugees are temporarily living in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US House Leader Calls for Pause in Syrian Refugee Program
US House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday called for a pause in a White House program to settle Syrian refugees in the United States, citing security fears in the wake of the Paris attacks.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Intel Experts Warn of ‘Gaping Holes’ In Refugee Vetting
In the wake of the devastating attacks in Paris Friday, US intelligence experts have once again issued stark warnings that such terrorism could be imminent on home soil because there is no way to vet refugees coming into the country from the Middle East, and the White House has no strategy to defeat ISIS.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, said that “There are a lot of holes — gaping holes,” in US defenses.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hiding behind PC is simply the cowards way out. Leadership requires making decision, which are sometimes unpopular
During the Mad Cow epidemic how many countries imported cows, milk, meat, from the UK
Do you blame the cows for carrying the disease No.! but Muslims carry the disease of Islam.
PC translated by a Muslim says that they will not criticize “Allah” peace be upon him. What.! Or the Quran.! What.! so where are the so called peaceful Muslims. The Quran spouts evil why are they not cleaning there own house.?
Silence does in this case constitute acceptance, and that is why if we ever hope to return to a life with hope, and joy we have to refuse Muslims entering into our societies.
I wonder if that Teresa May creature drinks too much or drops acid?
She is NOT much of a thinker!
exactly who is that twittytwatt Theresa May? She looks like that character out of Harry Potter, the evil one who tried to get Harry killed off. Are the Brits tolerating these horrible people? Do they protest at all?
“the attacks have nothing to do with Islam”
Absolutely. Of course. How could it be otherwise.
And up is down, black is white, and 2+2=5.
Move along folks, the High and Wise have spoken.
there should be a video of zemans speach.