The big story of the day was the jihad attack on a Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali, which left at least 27 people dead. The mujahideen took 170 hostages, forcing people to recite Koran verses to prove they were Muslims. Those who failed the test were killed. American special forces helped local commandos storm the building, freeing the remaining hostages, killing some of the terrorists, and trapping the rest on the upper floors and roof of the building.
It’s not in tonight’s news feed items, but there is a breaking news report that Belgium has placed Brussels on the highest possible terror alert, citing a “serious and imminent threat”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Dora, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, MC, Nick, Steen, 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.
Italy: We’ll Do Utmost for Inflation Rise Says Draghi
‘Inflation low for a long time’ says ECB chief
(ANSA) — Rome, November 20 — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Friday that “if we decide that the current trajectory of our monetary policy is not sufficient to meet the target, we will do what we must to raise inflation as soon as possible”. He said “this is what our mandate requires for price stability”. Draghi has recently repeatedly vowed to adjust the money supply to avert the threat of deflation.
The ECB president assured listeners that the central bank “will not ignore the fact that inflation has been low for a long period” and he stressed the risk that core inflation is too low for a recovery that is still struggling to fully take off.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The End of the Recovery, In One Chart
One of the questions on analysts’ minds lately is whether stock prices can keep moving up when corporate sales and profits are falling. But the same can be asked about the overall economy. Why would companies hire more people if they’re selling less stuff? The answer is that they probably won’t. As the chart below — put together by good friend Michael Pollaro — illustrates, business sales and employment have tracked closely since at least the 1990s. When sales have fallen, companies have responded with less hiring and more firing.
But for the past year sales have declined while reported employment has risen.
Unless this relationship no longer holds, one of these lines will have to change course very soon. And since sales are beyond anyone’s control, it’s a safe bet that employment will be the one to give.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago Issued $2.4 Million in Bogus Traffic Tickets From Speed Cameras
City tickets “without the legally required evidence of a schoolchild in sight.”
The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday as part of an exhaustive investigation that as many as 110,000 “questionable” speeding tickets totalling $2.4 million have been issued in the past two years in Chicago as part of a speed-camera program designed to keep kids safe near parks and schools…City Hall has systematically ticketed drivers near schools without the legally required evidence of a schoolchild in sight. A Tribune random-sample analysis puts the number of those questionable tickets at about 110,000.
And while it was pitched by the mayor as a way to protect youngsters walking near parks and schools, the most prolific cameras in the 2-year-old “Children’s Safety Zone” initiative can be found along major roadways, where crash data show child pedestrians are least likely to be struck by speeders.
The lengthy report is worth a read.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Do You Really Believe There Are Moderate Muslims?
The United States is saddled with a president who is more inclined to aid dedicated murdering Muslims than protect American interests. European nations like Great Britain and France are besieged daily with brutish Islamic bullies who are zeroed in on a mission of fundamentally changing their nations into typical uncivilized Muslim societies. The horrific murders of unarmed Parisians by Muslims who are emboldened by the west’s silly penchant for trying to make nice with the Islamists who long ago declared war on non-Muslim nations, particularly, the United States.
Despite the fact that back in January of 2014, ISIS leader Abu Bakr ‘al Baghdidi flatly stated his groups intention to march on Baghdad and into direct confrontation with the Americans. “Our last message to the) Americans, soon we will be in direct confrontation, and the sons of Islam have prepared for such a day.” Baghdadi said. “So watch, for we are with you, watching.”
But instead of acting on behalf of U.S. interests, the White House Occupier continues to govern on behalf of Muslim interests and remains keen on the idea of allowing hundreds of thousands of Syrian Muslim so-called refugees to move into our republic, all expenses paid by United States taxpayers. Obama’s willingness to endanger our nation by flooding her with Muslim enemies is jaw dropping.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exposed: Obama’s Love for Jihadis and Hate for Christians
Will Americans take notice about Obama’s policies — which welcome Islamic jihadis while ignoring their victims — or will their indifference continue until they too become victims of the jihad, in a repeat of Paris or worse?
Obama recently lashed out against the idea of giving preference to Christian refugees, describing it as “shameful”: “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” loftily added the American president.
Accordingly, the administration is still determined to accept 10,000 more Syrian refugees, almost all of whom will be Muslim, despite the fact that some are ISIS operatives, while many share the ISIS worldview (as explained below).
Yet right as Obama was grandstanding about “who we are,” statistics were released indicating that “the current [refugee] system overwhelmingly favors Muslim refugees. Of the 2,184 Syrian refugees admitted to the United States so far, only 53 are Christians while 2,098 are Muslim.“…
In this context, how are Sunnis “refugees”? Who are they fleeing? Considering that the Obama administration defines refugees as people “persecuted by their government,” most of those coming into the U.S. either aided or at least sympathized with the jihad against Assad (even if they only revealed their true colors when the time was right).
Simply put, some 98% of all refugees belong to the same Islamic sect that ISIS does. And many of them, unsurprisingly, share the same vision—such as the “refugees” who recently murdered some 120 people in France, or the “refugees” who persecute Christian minorities in European camps and settlements. (Al Azhar—the Sunni world’s most prestigious university of Islamic law, which co-hosted Obama’s 2009 “A New Beginning” speech—was just recently exposed as teaching and legitimizing all the atrocities that ISIS commits.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf Presses Administration on ISIS Genocide
Frank Wolf, former Northern Virginia Congressman in the US House of Representatives, and veteran human rights advocate, has been in the forefront of pressing the Administration to issue a rumored State Department ruling against ISIS for Genocide against Yazidis and hopefully threatened Christian and other non-Muslim Minorities in Syria and Iraq. We revealed the stalemate over including Syrian and Iraqi Christians in the proposed Genocide ruling in a post on a report by Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom, “State Department May Exclude Middle East Christians from ISIS Genocide Victim Ruling.” Ann Patterson, Assistant Secretary of State who heads the Bureau of Near East Affairs, had allegedly excluded threatened Christian minorities from the proposed order. Patterson is the former US Ambassador to Egypt, who had supported the ousted Morsi regime backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. We are pleased that our Lisa Benson Show colleague, Dr. M. Zhudi Jasser, Vice Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom supports inclusion of threatened Syriac and Assyrian Chaldean Christians in the proposed State department ISIS Genocide ruling.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
‘I’d Certainly Implement That’: Trump Proposes Mandatory Muslim Database
The Republican presidential hopeful said he would back a plan for a mandatory database of Muslims.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Following the brutal Paris attacks, Donald Trump, who leads in polls among the Republican Party’s nominees by a wide margin, claimed Americans should consider creation of a Muslim database in the US and set up surveillance on all the mosques across the country.
In a recent interview with Yahoo Politics, the real estate mogul said that “drastic measures” were needed to meet the “radical Islamic terrorism” threat in the US after cruel terror attacks in the French capital and considered an aggressive take on Muslim community in the country.
For instance, he did not count out possibility of warrantless searches of Muslims across the entire country in future in terms of combat against jihadists in the US.
“We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule,” Trump said referring to possible counter-terror measures.
Answering the question about creation of database containing data on all US Muslims or issuing to all country’s Islamic residents special ID cards, where their religious beliefs would be marked, he hinted that such steps would be possible as well.
“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump reflected. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”
“I would certainly implement that. Absolutely,” Trump told NBC News commenting on a plan for the database of Muslims. Asked whether Muslims would be required to register, he replied, “they have to be.”
Trump evaded answering a followup question regarding how this move could be seen as being different from a Nazi Germany requirement for Jews to register, saying “you tell me.”
He also assumed there is a need for a federal surveillance program on Muslims in the US like the one that was shut down last year after causing significant media backlash. He stressed that Ray Kelly, a former NYPD Commissioner, who was developing the previous project, would take a position in the US administration, if Trump won the election.
“Ray did a fab job as commissioner and, sure, Ray would be somebody I’d certainly consider.”
The TV personality has recently stepped up with an idea to close all the mosques across the state, according to media reports.
So far, controversies that the Republican Party candidate fuels up regularly seem to play in his hands — according to the fresh data, he leads the polls among other Republican nominees with 38 percent of votes, surpassing his nearest competitor Ben Carson by solid 19 percent.
Also, the US Congress passed a bill on Thursday requiring strengthening of vetting procedures for Syrian refugees looking into the opportunity to enter the US, despite Barack Obama’s opposition.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In Secret Meeting, Obama Presses Canada for Quick TPP Corporate Takeover Approval
U.S. President Barack Obama is pressuring Canada and the other members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to approve the trade deal as quickly as possible.
The 12 leaders of TPP nations met Wednesday for the first time since they announced the deal in October and released the text on Nov. 5. The closed-door meeting was also the first opportunity for Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with TPP leaders to discuss the deal negotiated under the Conservatives.
Chrystia Freeland on TPP: ‘We are a trading nation’ ( Globe and Mail Update )”Today, we’re going to discuss the road ahead to ensure that TPP is enacted in each of our countries as swiftly as possible,” said Mr. Obama, according to remarks released by the White House.
Mr. Trudeau’s government is taking an officially neutral position on the deal in Manila, arguing that it needs time to allow for the consultations they promised during the recent election. However the government has also dropped hints that it will ultimately sign on to the deal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Unlikely to Find Any US States to Host Gitmo Detainees — Lawyer
A lawyer for detainees at the detention center claims that Obama will not find a single state in the United States willing to accommodate prisoners transferred from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Barack Obama will not find a single state in the United States willing to accommodate prisoners transferred from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a lawyer for detainees at the detention center told Sputnik.
The White House is expected to present a plan for closing the Guantanamo facility despite provisions passed by Congress last week that would bar the transfer of detainees.
“The irony is that even if President Obama could bring the detainees to the United States, no state would accept them,” David Remes told Sputnik on Thursday.
On Wednesday, attorneys general from three US states urged the Obama administration not to relocate Guantanamo detainees to their territories.
At present, 107 prisoners remain at the detention facility, the majority of which face indefinite detention without being charged.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Beginning of the End for the Affordable Care Act?
Tracking the slow motion trainwreck of Obamacare has become one of our preferred hobbies: below is just a random sample of headlines covering just the most recent tribulations of the “we have to pass it to find out what’s in it”Unaffordable Care Act:…
But the most surprising article we wrote was our explanation from three weeks ago explaining why “Your Health Insurance Premiums Are About To Go Through The Roof” showing that even insurance companies have been unable to earn a profit under Obamacare, as shown in the following chart:
[Comment: It was designed to fail from the start. The “solution” is to be total government run health care. Bye, bye insurance companies. Their stupidity, short sightedness, and greed was used to “play” the insurance industry into supporting obamacare.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UnitedHealth Wants Out of ObamaCare: Single Payer Socialism Begins
Obamacare destroying medical care by design.
“As dissatisfaction with Obamacare grows, there will be renewed efforts to pass a single-payer health care system,” Dr. Ron Paul wrote. “Single-payer advocates will point to Obamacare’s corporatist features as being responsible for its failures and claim the only solution is to get the private sector completely out of health care.”
“Unfortunately, many Republicans will inadvertently aid the single-payer advocates by failing to acknowledge that Obamacare is not socialist but corporatist, and that that the pre-Obamacare health care system was hobbled by government intervention.”
In other words, the problems with U.S. health care over the past century were caused — not solved — by government intervention.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Unlikely Aid: Satanists Reach Out to US Muslims Facing Racist Backlash
Is this finally proof that US politicians are worse than the devil himself?
Satanic Temples across the country are volunteering to provide security for Muslims facing backlash this week in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Minneapolis and San Jose chapters of the Satanic Temple posted the offer to their websites and Facebook accounts on Wednesday.
“If there is anyone in the Minneapolis area who is Muslim and afraid to leave their home out of fear for some kind of backlash, don’t hesitate to reach out to us,” the Minneapolis chapter’s Facebook post stated. “We would be glad to escort you where you need to go without advertising our presence — just big dudes walking you where you need to be. We would also happily accompany you so you can get some groceries.”
The San Jose chapter followed suit and reposted the offer to their social media on Thursday.
Members of the church have stated that the offer is not a ploy for publicity, just some genuine compassion for other human beings.
“Our offer comes from a place of genuine compassion for our fellow human beings. It’s not to ride the tide of sentiment or capitalize on people for further name recognition,” the Minneapolis chapter’s page followed up by saying.
So far, they have not been taken up on their offer — but it’s the thought that counts, right?
“We are happy to be of service to our community. Unfortunately, we’ve had no taker as of yet,” Curt Landsman, a representative of the Minneapolis chapter, told International Business Times in an email. “We are doing this out of genuine care for our fellow men and women and not as a publicity stunt. We feel that statistically speaking, gun toting fundamentalist Christians are a much bigger threat than Muslims in our own community who have lived peacefully here for years.”
Several Muslims have thanked the church for their offer.
“I don’t live in Minneapolis, but as an American Muslim, I’m glad to see you guys take up this effort and help out a marginalized group. Thank you for doing this and building bridges between communities,” one Facebook user replied to the post from the Minnesota chapter.
San Jose also received a warm reception.
“I am Muslim and thank you for your kind offer. It’s really heartening and reflective of how humans should treat each other. You are a reflection of kindness,” a comment on the California chapter’s post stated.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Defends ObamaCare After Top Insurer Threatens Pullout
US officials rushed to defend President Barack Obama’s signature health care reforms Friday after the country’s largest insurer said it might pull out due to large financial losses.
UnitedHealth Group on Thursday said it expects to lose up to $500 million next year from its participation in exchanges providing insurance under the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
UnitedHealth chief executive Stephen Hemsley said market data all points “to an environment that is declining and likely to continue in that direction into next year.”
If so, he said, the company could give up on the ACA market by 2017…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Release Jonathan Pollard After 30 Years in Jail
Convicted for spying for Israel. Netanyahu, great day
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 20 — Jonathan Pollard, an American citizen convicted in the US for spying for Israel, was released today from a prison in North Carolina after a 30-year-long detention, according to Israeli media. Pollard, 61, will have to respect a number of restrictions including a ban on leaving the United States.
“The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard”, commented Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu. “I have raised Pollard’s case for years with various US presidents and have long hoped that this day would finally come”. “May this Shabbat bring him joy and peace”, added Netanyahu.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Mounties Kicked in How Many Doors in High River?
Were there 754 forced entries or 2,210? Cost to taxpayers so far: $2.3 million!
On September 5, 2013, Wildrose MLA Danielle Smith held a Town Hall in High River, Alberta to shed some light on the forced entries into what we thought were a few hundred homes by the RCMP and the unwarranted searches of and seizures from those homes. S/Sgt. Ian Shardlow told the crowd: “We started to collect the information, we basically solicited people to come forward with the complaints and the numbers are correct it’s around nineteen hundred, I’m going to suggest it will probably stop before two thousand.” The High River Detachment Commander was almost right. We now know, thanks to the Office of the Information Commissioner and a year and half wait, High River residents actually filed 2,010 complaints caused by the RCMP’s unnecessary and unwarranted actions in High River homes following the flood.
[Comment: High River was a test of gun confiscation in a society. This is how it will be done in America. Guns forcibly removed from homes for “safety” during an “emergency” and when most are away from their home. Americans, pay attention to what happened in Canada in this case. Google High River, Alberta.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
66% Italians Fear Attacks During Jubilee
Up from 38% before Paris
(ANSA) — Rome, November 20 — Some 66% of Italian fear terror attacks during the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy according to an Ixé poll for Raitre Friday.
This was up from 38% a week previously.
“After Paris fear is widespread” said Ixé President Roberto Weber.
Some 67% would not like to see the Jubilee postponed — an eventuality the Vatican has never weighed, in any case.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels’ nest of radicalism is just one of the failings of a divided, dysfunctional country.
By Tim King
That the Paris terrorist attacks had strong links to a suburb of Brussels didn’t shock many of us who live in the Belgian capital. Radio stations here in both French and Dutch are full of discussions about Molenbeek that elicit indignation, sorrow, anger, guilt, despair, defiance. But not surprise.
Friday’s attacks in Paris were but the latest in a litany of jihadist incidents over the last two years involving people with ties to Molenbeek, including the 2014 shooting at the Jewish museum in Brussels, the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January and the failed attack in August on a Thalys train.
The absence of surprise also makes sense because long before the emergence of jihadism, Molenbeek had acquired a reputation for lawlessness. Most people in Brussels have very little understanding of what such jihadism is and how it comes to link Brussels with Paris, Iraq and Syria, but they were already aware that Molenbeek had high levels of petty crime: muggings, drug dealing and burglaries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Beretta Unveils New Battle Rifle at Paris Gun Show
Italian firearms manufacturer Beretta Defense Technologies showed off its new ARX-200 battle rifle at the Milipol show in Paris.
The event kicked off Tuesday, just days after the terror attacks that killed 129 people and injured hundreds more in France’s capital city.
Milipol brings together homeland security officials and top security firms from around the world to walk showroom floors and view the latest weapons, equipment, vehicles and more.
The ARX 200 was developed to meet the requirements of the Italian Army, which currently uses the ARX-160 rifle. The new rifle has similar look to the ARX-160 and is designed to be familiar to a user of either.
Gas-piston operated with locked breech and rotating bolt, the rifle has single shot and automatic firing capabilities.
The ARX-200 weighs just shy of 10 pounds without a magazine. It achieved an accuracy pretty much in line with designated marksman rifles. The rifle is also compatible with Beretta’s grenade launcher.
Milipol is a biennial event sponsored by the French Ministry of Interior and conducted in partnership with the French National Police and Gendarmerie, Civil Defense, French Customs and other key partners like INTERPOL.
Over 900 companies from 49 countries brought their equipment to the last Milipol in 2013.
Anti-terrorism has always been a key focus of the event, which brings together leading security minds to share lessons learned and find solutions to current threats.
Access to Milipol is always restricted, and the event is limited to qualified security professionals and military or government representatives that have been vetted and approved in advance. After Friday’s attacks, Milipol announced that the event would proceed with enhanced security measures.
On Wednesday, briefings focused on assessing the global terrorism threat. In addition to recent events, experts will discuss security measures at next year’s European soccer championships in France.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Indicates Phase-Out of Coal Power Plants
Britain is to signal the winding down of polluting coal-fired power plants, indicating they should be replaced with gas and nuclear stations, according to pre-released parts of a Wednesday speech.
“It cannot be satisfactory for an advanced economy like the UK to be relying on polluting, carbon-intensive 50-year-old coal-fired power stations,” Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd is to say.
“Let me be clear: this is not the future.”
It comes as Britain struggles to meet its energy needs as its power capacity has dwindled due to plant closures, while it is under pressure to adopt cleaner energy sources to curb climate change…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
British Police Still Shun Guns Despite Paris Attacks
More armed police are to be deployed in London after the Paris attacks, but the move is unlikely to herald a shift toward providing weapons to most officers in the largely unarmed British force, experts said.
Britain is proud of being one of few countries where police usually do not carry guns, and the sight of heavily armed counter-terrorism police officers in recent days is highly unusual one for many people.
While the image abroad of “bobbies on the beat” wearing tall hats and carrying little more than a truncheon and handcuffs is outdated, currently only 2,000 of the capital’s 32,000 officers are armed.
However, coordinated gun and bomb attacks in Paris last Friday, as well as a review of British police budgets next week, have prompted a partial rethink…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cazeneuve: EU Internal Border Checks Also Needed
Interior minister, PNR soon and effective
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 20 — It is necessary to “boost external European border checks” by boosting the means of Frontex, as well as “internal ones because terrorists cross them” and to be able to check the database of the Schengen Information System (SIS), the only instrument together with the Passenger Name Record (PNR) which “allows to track down terrorists and neutralize them. There is no time to lose, we need to act urgently”, said French Minister Bernard Cazeneuve Friday, arriving at a meeting of EU justice and interior ministers in Brussels.
We must reach a directive on PNR “in a short time and with an effective content in order for it to be useful”, added Cazeneuve, stressing the need to act urgently.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Church Mustn’t be Attached to Money, Power — Pope
‘No room for worldliness where Jesus is’ says Francis
(ANSA) — Vatican City, November 20 — Pope Francis said at a Vatican Mass Friday that the Church “must be faithful to Jesus and must not be attached to money and power”.
“Where Jesus is there is no room for worldliness and corruption,” the pope went on in a homily at St Martha’s House.
“This is the temptation and the daily struggle of the Church”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European Civilisation is Doomed
Some say do not confuse “moderate” Muslims with those who have been radicalised. Yet every time there is an opinion poll taken of mainstream Muslims there is broad support for intolerance of Western liberalism and broad support for the tenets of Jihadism. They put the barbarity of their religion ahead of the values and laws of the society they have come to live in. And look at their behaviour; forced marriages, honour crimes, female genital mutilation. All largely ignored by our politicised police.
Our problem in Europe is that we have let Muslims in. Once here they try and convert our society to their beliefs. Socialists become fellow travelers to this with their multiculturalism, diversity and political correctness which now pervades all of society. Socialists expect us liberal Europeans to adapt our ways to accommodate illiberal Muslims. You can see it everywhere around you.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jimmie Åkesson is 36 years of age — quite remarkable for a political leader whose party is currently topping the polls in the country. But he could easily pass for 25.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years,” he insists, explaining that what motivates him today is the thought of bringing up his two year old son in a country that is “as nice” as he and his parents grew up in.
“[T]hat is maybe the main reason now, to fight for him… I have to do something so I can tell my children and their children that I tried to do something. I think that is the main reason I do this.”…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Female Paris Suicide Bomber ‘Wasn’t Into Religion’
To her friends and neighbours she was the bubbly, outgoing girl who liked wearing large cowboy hats.
But early on Wednesday it became clear there was a far darker side to Hasna Aitboulahcen, when she achieved the dubious distinction of becoming Europe’ s first female suicide bomber.
The 26-year-old blew herself up as police stormed the flat where she was holed up with six fellow terrorists. The other terrorist killed in the siege was thought to be her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of last Friday’ s attacks in Paris which left 129 dead.
Shortly after 6am, as elite police and soldiers surrounded the flat in Saint-Denis, Aitboulahcen appeared at a window, shouting “ help me, help me” , perhaps to lure officers in. She is reported to have been the first to open fire, using a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: Jewish Teacher Stabbed by Islamic State Supporters in Marseille
Police are on a manhunt for three men involved in the stabbing of a Jewish teacher in a southern French city.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Political Rows Sharpen as Right Accuses Left of ‘Inviting’ Terror Attacks
The political fallout of the Paris terror attacks is continuing after a German MEP in Angela Merkel’s conservative alliance accused political left of “basically inviting terrorists” to attack Europe.
Monika Hohlmeier, an MEP in the German CSU/CDU alliance, launched a verbal attack on a wide range political parties, ranging from centre-left liberals, to social democrats and green groups, accusing them of not taking security threats seriously, while calling for greater spying powers for European governments in the wake of the Paris attacks.
“It seems that for the Socialists, the Liberals, the Greens and the Communists, it is business as usual. For them there’s no lesson to be drawn from the Paris attacks,” she said.
“These left-wing groups are basically inviting terrorists to use loopholes in our safety and security legislation in order to perpetrate other terror attacks. It is imperative that appropriate steps are taken swiftly and weaknesses in our security legislation identified. The movements of terrorists have to be monitored, their financial sources have to be drained and their encrypted communications must be accessed.
“In order to do that, it is imperative that we change legislation,” she said, arguing that terrorists would “gleefully” vote for left-wing parties across the continent.
EU ministers are meeting discuss what action to take in response to the recent attacks, with calls for greater control on borders and an increase in surveillance on the general population.
Political Right Accused of Inadvertently Helping Terrorists
While socially liberal and left-wing parties have been criticized for their approach to security, many others have taken aim at the political right, accusing them of taking advantage of the Paris attacks to increase public surveillance and exacerbating social divides.
Opponents have criticized attempts to increase the powers of security agencies, arguing that it the recent tragedy in Paris is being used by conservative governments and groups trying to boost spying and surveillance powers.
An example of this is in the UK, where the government has been trying to win support for its controversial Investigatory Powers Bill.
Officials say it will help authorities track down and trace potential terrorists and criminal organizations, with critics arguing that will not be effective in tracing crime and will simply erode the civil liberties of citizens.
Attention has also been paid to far-right parties, with many critics accusing certain groups of whipping up anti-Islamic and anti-refugee sentiment, which experts argue could ironically boost support for terrorist groups.
“Anti-Muslim and anti-refugee sentiment really play into ISIS’ hands,” Shadi Hamid, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and an author on Islamist politics, told The WorldPost.
“The more that happens, the more French Muslims feel alienated and are susceptible to extremist recruitment,” he said
“France has long had a problem with integrating its Muslim population, and France does have a disproportionately high contribution of foreign fighters to ISIS.
“So there’s a deeper issue here and it hasn’t gotten better, it’s only gotten worse.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: EasyJet Enhances Its Fleet in the Malpensa Airport
While a lot of attention is directed to the return in the Gallarate stopover (near Varese) of EasyJet’s rival, Ryanair, also the British flight company is promoting new flights.
EasyJet comes back to Malpensa, with three new airplanes in the stopover of Varese and six new European destinations, some of which are brand-new. This is the replay of the British flight company to the coming back of Ryanair, its direct rival in the field of low cost flights, which has come back to work in the stopover of Gallarate, near Varese, with four destinations.
EasyJet has announced in a press conference that it is going to enhance its fleet, with three new airplanes in Malpensa — for a total of 21 airplanes — and to increase the flights from and to Milan, with six new destinations. The new air routes are: Alicante (three times a week starting from June 2016), Bilbao (four times a week starting from June), Cracow (three times a week starting from April), Manchester (six times a week starting from June), Toulouse (four times a week, starting from June) and lastly the unusual Lille (four times a week starting from June), which is going to serve the fourth metropolis in France, in the mid way between Paris and Brussels (also including high-speed connections).
During the months in which Expo took place, EasyJet carried 4 million, 2 hundred thousand passengers to Milan. It is an increase of 13% in comparison with the same months in 2014, 70% of which were international flights. Even the mayor of Milan, Giuliano Pisapia, participated in the press conference, pointing out once more the dynamism of the Lombard metropolis, which is now facing new challenges in the post-Expo period.
“Milan, after the success of the Universal Exposition, doesn’t stay still and restarts immediately. Important investments such as the ones that EasyJet has announced today are the proof of this fact. These investments will affect our city starting from 2016 and that highlight once more the great attraction of Milan, engine of Italy and Europe,” said Pisapia this morning at the press conference in which the innovations of EasyJet were presented. Pisapia also reminded “the many initiatives that will take place in Milan in the next months,” from the XXI Triennale International Exhibition and the opening of the “Holy Doors” during the Jubilee to the Champions League final and the many international conferences that will animate the city. Those are all events that “will find an ideal ally in the strengthening of EasyJet in our airports.”
di Translated by Adragna & Ferioli (Reviewed by Prof. Robert Clarke)
Pubblicato il 09 novembre 2015
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Neighbors Mistake NZ All Blacks Flag for ISIS Banner
Panic in Fidenza
(ANSA) — Rome, November 20 — A rugby fan who hung a New Zealand All Blacks banner outside his home caused a panic when neighbors mistook it for an Islamic State (ISIS) flag, sources said Friday. Police and Carabinieri in the town of Fidenza near Parma received dozens of calls Thursday from panicked residents at the sight of the black flag crossed by a silver fern. The rugby lover had wanted to honor former All Blacks winger and rugby great Jonah Lomu, who died Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Syrians With Fake Passports Arrested at Airport
Aged 18 and 19
(ANSA) — Rome, November 20 — Police on Friday arrested two Syrian nationals who were trying to leave for Malta from Rome’s Ciampino airport with fake passports. The arrests are linked to the recent arrests of two other Syrian nationals also bearing false passports at Bergamo’s Orio al Serio international airport, sources said.
The two suspects aged 18 and 19 had fake passports from Norway and France. One of the two has requested asylum in Austria.
Police are hunting illegal networks helping foreigners transit through Italy by providing them with fake papers and airline tickets in exchange for money or committing crimes for racketeering organizations.
Security protocols have been ramped up at all Italian airports following last Friday’s bloody Islamic terrorist attacks that left 130 dead. The protocols include extraordinary measures for screening passengers, including those coming from the passport-free Schengen Area.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Armed jihadists have killed at least 27 people in a deadly shooting rampage after taking 170 hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali.
Automatic weapons fire was heard on the seventh floor of the 190-room hotel, where it was thought as many as 10 militants roamed through the building, looking for guests and members of staff. All the remaining hostages have since been freed.
Among the victims were Belgian diplomat Geoffrey Dieudonne and a French national, with the initial death toll likely to rise.
All 22 American nationals were rescued unharmed but 12 bodies have been found in the hotel’s basement and a further 15 victims were discovered on the second floor by rescuers.
Three of the gunmen have been killed while the remaining terrorists have taken up positions on the hotel’s roof as rescue forces, led by US Special Forces, try to finish off the gunmen. The al-Qaeda affiliated group Al-Mourabitoun, based in northern Mali, have claimed responsibility for the attack…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
‘Military Paralysis’: Europe Lacks Resources, Political Will to Tackle ISIL
Following the deadly attacks in Paris, European leaders appear to be determined to do all it takes to defeat ISIL, but the continent’s “geopolitical impotence” — the lack of political will and resources — will prevent them from actually delivering on their promises, journalist Matthew Karnitschnig maintains.
“Amid all the bellicose rhetoric, it might be difficult not to conclude that Europe was on the verge of marching into Syria to take on ISIL toe-to-toe. Yet nothing could be further from the truth,” he noted.
Firstly, Europe’s strategy aimed at defeating the brutal group, which took responsibility for the massacre in Paris, has been largely formulated in Washington.
For now, the White House wants to limit the mission to airstrikes. Earlier this week, Barack Obama reaffirmed that he was against sending US ground troops to Syria in the numbers comparable to US military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Without US backing, Europe doesn’t have any choice but to fall into line. Europe has neither the resources nor the leadership to engage on the ground in a conflict on the scale of Syria. The Paris attacks have simply put the Continent’s military weakness into stark relief,” Karnitschnig added.
Europe’s “geopolitical impotence,” as the journalist put it, is neither a recent, nor a surprising phenomenon. In an opinion piece for Politico, Karnitschnig linked it to decreased military spending. True, EU members allocate far less funds for defense purposes compared to the US — 1.5 percent of GDP and 3.5 percent respectively.
Moreover, European countries lack the experience needed for a large-scale operation in Syria. Although France carried out military operations in its former African colonies, Paris will be unable to launch an extensive anti-ISIL campaign in a country as complex as Syria, the journalist maintains.
“Despite the somber pledges of solidarity from the rest of Europe and ‘Marseillaise’ singalongs, France’s partners have yet to signal a willingness to send in their own troops,” he added.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Pushes France Into Putin’s Arms
President Obama’s deliberately defeatist foreign policy has scored another major victory for Russia. He has pushed NATO member France and its weak socialist president into the arms of Russia’s Vladimir Putin. It may be that François Hollande felt that he had no alternative to deal with the international terrorist networks that have targeted his country and were begun decades ago by the old Soviet Union.
For those with short memories, in the 1980s the U.S. Congress examined in detail the origins, direction and support of international terrorist networks, which were then also based in the Middle East and Europe. A 1981 report by the Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism cited evidence that most of the terrorist groups at that time were Soviet-financed and Cuban-trained. A concrete example was “Carlos the Jackal,” the Marxist terrorist trained by the Cubans and controlled by the KGB who eventually converted to Islam. The roots of terrorism are in Russia. Former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was murdered by Putin’s regime in London, most likely because he exposed KGB training of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. ISIS is a spin-off from al Qaeda.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: A Europe Under Attack Must Learn From Israel
By Giulio Meotti
One week after France suffered the most terrible terrorist attacks in its history, Israel was hit again by two attacks, leaving 5 dead, one an Arab bystander. The two countries are now united by grief, besieged by the same enemies of civilization. And Israel can offer its experience to Europe in how to keep terror from achieving its aims.
The State of Israel offers to Europe the only existing and positive model of a democracy dealing with Islamic terrorism and overcoming it. The alternative is Belgium, the factory of suicide bombers and jihadists in the heart of Europe.
Israel offers the example of a Western country, facing the challenge of fighting internal and external enemies, which does not abandon its commitment to maintaining a prosperous and healthy society. Yes, onThursday it suffered five innocents murdered in cold blood by Islamist terrorists — yes, Palestinian Arab terrorists are Islamist terrorists — but it continues to fight them and concentrate on the future at the same time.
Europe should observe how Israel banned the Islamic Movement this week. The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but not in Europe. Why? In deciding whether to ban an Islamic organization, Europe up to now always looked for the passage of arms and money. Instead it should outlaw incitement to murder.[…]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Attacks’ French Commando Leader at Bataclan Describes ‘Hell on Earth’
Jeremy, the captain of the commando team that raided the Bataclan to take out the jihadis inside, said hundreds of bodies were strewn across the floor, with ‘tons of blood everywhere’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Poland said on Wednesday it remains attached to coal as its prime energy source, in stark contrast to its EU partners who want to phase out the fossil fuel.
“Our energy security requires us to keep Polish coal as an energy source, and that includes brown coal,” new Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told parliament.
Coal is widely regarded as the power source responsible for most carbon emissions, and several EU countries have promised to cut its use.
Britain on Wednesday said it will shut polluting coal-fired power plants by 2025…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Police Hunt Suspected ISIS Terrorists Planning Attack on Swedish Capital
SWEDISH police are hunting several terror suspects after it was revealed that a detained jihadist was planning an attack in Stockholm.
Mutar Muthanna Majid was held after police raided a refugee housing unit in Sweden and police have confirmed the suspect is accused of planning an act of terror on Swedish soil.
Suspected jihadist Mujid was interrogated shortly after the arrest which has sparked a wider search for ISIS fighters across the country.
He is just one of a suspected 120 people thought to have a terror connection to Iraq or Syria.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Report: German Government Covered Up Terror Attack at Soccer Stadium
Witnesses told not to talk about discovery of bombs.
German authorities covered up the fact that explosives were found during an attempted terror attack at a soccer stadium earlier this week, according to an eyewitness who was told to keep quiet about what he saw.
Bild newspaper has published the testimony of a paramedic who saw an explosive device in an ambulance before the Germany vs Netherlands game which was canceled on Tuesday night after French intelligence tipped off German authorities about an impending attack involving three bombs to be detonated at the stadium and another two at a bus stop and a train station.
Authorities later claimed that no explosives were found, but the paramedic says he witnessed the bomb and was “told not to talk about it” after special forces arrived on the scene.
Three police officers have also reportedly been disciplined for leaking information about the alleged discovery of the bombs.
German authorities may have decided to conceal the fact that the explosives were found in order to prevent panic amongst the fans who had gathered around the stadium before the match.
However, given that German police have been caught covering up rapes and other crimes involving migrants flooding into the country via the wave of refugees in order to not legitimize critics of the migrant influx, could the decision to cover-up the discovery of the bombs have been made under a similar justification?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Summit on Jewish-Italian Security Held in Rome
‘Terror threat won’t prevent us from living proudly, openly’
(ANSA) — Rome, November 20 — Jewish leaders and law and national order officials met Friday to come up with stiffer security measures for Jewish sites throughout Italy in the wake of last Friday’s Islamic terror attacks in Paris. Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) President Renzo Gattegna met with National Police Chief Alessandro Pansa and Carabinieri General Tullio del Sette. “The terrible terrorist threat will not prevent us from proudly and openly living out our Jewish identity,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Crackdown Begins: Europe Just Passed “Strict Controls to Make it Difficult to Acquire Firearms”
The “fine print” forecast that was most troubling.
Back on September 11, Zero Hedge predicted the events which unfolded in Paris last Friday (and the resulting aftermath) with uncanny accuracy. Specifically, we said that “as the need to ratchet up the fear factor grows, expect more such reports of asylum seekers who have penetrated deep inside Europe, and whose intentions are to terrorize the public. Expect a few explosions thrown in for good effect” and we added that “since everyone knows by now “not to let a crisis go to waste” the one thing Europe needs is a visceral, tangible crisis, ideally with chilling explosions and innocent casualties. We expect one will be provided on short notice.”
It was two months later.
But it was the “fine print” forecast that was most troubling… the second key role of ISIS is also starting to emerge: the terrorist bogeyman that ravages Europe and scares the living daylight out of people who beg the government to implement an even more strict government apparatus in order to protect them from refugees ISIS terrorists…
Certainly expect a version of Europe’a Patriot Act to emerge over the next year, when the old continent has its own “September 11” moment, one which will provide the unelected Brussels bureaucrats with even more authoritarian power.
And while we are awaiting for a full blown European version of the Patriot Act, we can say that the second part of the forecast just came true, because this morning The European Commission announced it had adopted a package of measures to strengthen control of firearms across the European Union and meant simply to make it “difficult to acquire firearms.”
The package was adopted under the title “European Commission strengthens control of firearms across the EU.”
[Comment: Somehow the trrorist seem to have no trouble acquiring firearms. Europeans will be left defenceless against terrorists and subsequent tyranny/genocide of whites.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Graphic Content.]
Christopher May (pictured), dismembered Tracey Woodford in his bathtub using ‘knowledge and expertise’ from his former butchery profession after having sex with her in Pontypridd, Wales.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jewish School Evacuated and Bomb Squad Sent in as Faith Leader Warns Jews of Terror Risk
A Jewish boarding primary school has been evacuated after a bomb threat when a suspicious package was found next to the children’s dormitories.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Sharm El Sheikh Deserted by Tourists After Plane Crash
Tour operators and hotel employees fear lay-offs
(by Giuseppe Maria Laudani) (ANSAmed) — SHARM EL-SHEIKH, NOVEMBER 19 — The sunny streets of Sharm El-Sheikh flanked by seaside resorts and desert stretching inland are empty.
The economic effects of the Russian aircraft that went down on October 31 in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people onboard, are clear. Many taxis compete for passengers, offering reduced prices, and on minibuses shuttling hotel employees the fear of a crisis is palpable. “We are concerned about tourists fleeing,” one hotel employee said. “In our hotel, there were about 300 before the crisis and now there are 200 of us, but I am afraid of more of us may be laid off.” He expressed doubts about whether it had been a terrorist attack, but “if it was, then it would be terrible. These assassins want to hit our country’s economy. We are in trouble; there are ever fewer tourists here.” While the central areas still have some holidaymakers, the northern coast of Sharm El-Sheikh has a strikingly visible lack of tourists, with its many beach umbrellas and reclining chairs empty. The Barelo Tran Sharm is offering discounts at cut-rate prices, but only about a hundred people are inside. There are various activities on offer, including Oriental dance and swimming.
“It’s terrible,” said the hotel’s general manager, Fakher Khalifa. “It’s difficult, especially since we do not have any prospects for the future, either. It’s the insecurity that frightens us.” Before the Russian aircraft went down, “the hotel had a 75-80% occupancy rate. We are now at 10% and we are some of the lucky ones.” Khalifa has no doubts, however, that “Sharm is a safe place.
It’s one matter for us to say it, though, and another to convince tourists to come.” The discounts and promotions “don’t make much of a difference”, “since people are willing to pay for a holiday they deserve. But how do we convince them that they are not at risk here?” The real problem, he said, is that “there is no long-term vision in this country, of prospects and business strategies”.
He added that the crisis will “last for days, months and maybe years. Who knows…and I am afraid.” The hall is deserted, as is the restaurant. In the street, shops along the main drag are shuttered.
Further south towards Nama Bay there is more movement. There are only a few tourists, but they are visible. Hotel employees brighten up on hearing Italian spoken, rushing to reassure everyone that Egypt is safe. Taxi drivers and shopkeepers do the same. An employee of a large hotel noted that prior to the crisis, all the rooms used to be booked up but the occupancy rate had since fallen to 40%. An Italian couple noted that “we have been coming here for years and at 10:30 it was difficult to find a spot on the beach.
It’s entirely empty now.” Egypt’s investigation into the cause of the Airbus continues, while Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Riabkov has said that Russia and the US were working together at the level of the “secret services and investigative bodies” to ascertain who was behind the incident.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Terror Attacks Kills Five Jews in Israel, Including an American
While the World’s attention is riveted on the ISIS Massacres in Paris and battle in St. Denis that killed Belgian ‘mastermind;, Abdelhamid Abaaoud , five Jews, including a young American were killed in Tel Aviv and the Gush Etzion on Thursday. This is the latest toll of Arab terrorism fomented by PA, Hamas incitement and the northern branch of the Islamic Movement inside Israel. The latter was finally banned for incitement of terror on order by Israeli PM Netanyahu after the jailing of its leader Sheik Rael Salah. Moreover, in Marseilles earlier this week, an n Orthodox Jewish teacher was assaulted and knifed by three perpetrators shouting anti-Semitic obscenities. It is illustrative of primal Arab and Muslim hatred of Jews, whether Israeli, French or American. The Tel Aviv incident that occurred during mid-day prayers was perpetrated by an Arab restaurant worker from Hebron. The drive by shooting by Hamas gunmen in the Gush Etzion in Judea that killed three included Ezra Schwartz, an 18 year yeshiva student from Sharon, Massachusetts…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Who is Being Delusional?
On Tuesday night Channel 10 broadcast an interview with PLO chief and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in which Abbas admitted publically for the first time that he rejected the peace plan then prime minister Ehud Olmert offered him in 2008.
Olmert’s plan called for Israel to withdraw from the entire Old City of Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, and from 93.7 percent of Judea and Samaria. Olmert also offered sovereign Israeli territory to the Palestinians to compensate for the areas Israel would retain in Judea and Samaria.
Abbas said his rejection was unequivocal. “I didn’t agree. I rejected it out of hand.”
For years, the story of Abbas’s rejection of Olmert’s 2008 offe has been underplayed. Many commentators have insisted Abbas didn’t really reject it, he just failed to respond.
But now the truth is clear. Abbas is not interested either in peace or in Palestinian statehood…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
‘Blowback Terrorism’: ‘CIA-Backed Wars’ Helped ISIL to ‘Flourish’
ISIL can only be defeated if the US and European leadership understands that their policies aimed at changing regimes in the Middle East have helped the brutal group to “flourish,” leading economist Jeffrey Sachs asserted.
The downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt, the Paris massacre, the deadly bombings in Beirut and other terrorist acts masterminded by ISIL lend a new urgency to the multinational counterterrorism efforts in Syria.
But we will only be able to truly tackle ISIL and other Islamist groups if we understand their origins.
“Painful as it is to admit, the West, especially the United States, bears significant responsibility for creating the conditions in which ISIS has flourished. Only a change in US and European foreign policy vis-Ã -vis the Middle East can reduce the risk of further terrorism,” Sachs wrote for the Project Syndicate.
The director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University described recent attacks as “blowback terrorism.” In his opinion, they are “a dreadful unintended” consequence of “repeated US and European covert and overt military actions” meant to topple governments in African and Middle Eastern countries in order to “install regimes compliant with Western interests.”
These efforts also included a CIA-led operation to create a force tasked with ousting the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. Young Sunni fighters — recruited, trained and armed by US intelligence services — became known as the Mujahideen.
“By promoting the core vision of a jihad to defend the lands of Islam (Dar al-Islam) from outsiders, the CIA produced a hardened fighting force of thousands of young men displaced from their homes and stoked for battle. It is this initial fighting force — and the ideology that motivated it — that today still forms the basis of the Sunni jihadist insurgencies, including ISIS,” Sachs explained.
In the 1990s, the Mujahideen directed their efforts against the country that helped create them. This trend was reinforced in the 2000s.
“America’s unprovoked war on Iraq in 2003 unleashed the demons. Not only was the war itself launched on the basis of CIA lies; it also aimed to create a Shia-led regime subservient to the US and anathema to the Sunni jihadists and the many more Sunni Iraqis who were ready to take up arms,” Sachs noted.
The NATO-led operation in Libya and the Western stance on Syria helped destabilize these countries and the region further.
An efficient anti-ISIL strategy, according to Sachs, should consist of three components. The key step is to put a definitive end to covert CIA operations. Not only have they failed to achieve their intended purposes, they have created political and social vacuum which terrorists use to their advantage.
The second step will see all major stakeholders, including the US and Russia, working out a roadmap to settle the years-long Syrian conflict under the auspices of the United Nations.
“The UN framework should include an immediate end to the insurgency against Assad that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have pursued; a Syrian cease-fire; a UN-mandated military force to confront ISIS; and a political transition in Syria dictated not by the US, but by a UN consensus to support a non-violent political reconstruction,” Sachs detailed.
Finally, lasting peace can only be achieved through sustainable development in the war-ravaged regions, meaning they need “a surge of investment” in all areas, including education, health, renewable energy, agriculture and infrastructure.
“More wars — especially CIA-backed, Western-led wars — will solve nothing,” the economist concluded.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Fighters in Syria Are Taking Cheap Amphetamine Pills Called Captagon
The small tablets of the highly addictive substance Captagon are produced in Syria and are credited with helping ISIS fighters in the country stay alert for days at a time during gruelling gun battles.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NATO is Harbouring the Islamic State
Why France’s brave new war on ISIS is a sick joke, and an insult to the victims of the Paris attacks
Conspicuously missing from President Hollande’s decisive declaration of war however, was any mention of the biggest elephant in the room: state-sponsorship.
Syrian passports discovered near the bodies of two of the suspected Paris attackers, according to police sources, were fake, and likely forged in Turkey.
Earlier this year, the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported that “more than 100,000 fake Turkish passports” had been given to ISIS. Erdogan’s government, the newspaper added, “has been accused of supporting the terrorist organization by turning a blind eye to its militants crossing the border and even buying its oil… Based on a 2014 report, Sezgin Tanrikulu, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said that ISIL terrorists fighting in Syria have also been claimed to have been treated in hospitals in Turkey.”…
Last summer, an opposition politician estimated the quantity of ISIS oil sales in Turkey at about $800 million — that was over a year ago.
By now, this implies that Turkey has facilitated over $1 billion worth of black market ISIS oil sales to date.
[Comment: Read it all.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia’s Long-Range Bombers Carry Out 60 Sorties in Four Days
Russia’s long-range Tu-22M3 bombers carried out 60 sorties and destroyed 42 terrorist targets in Syria, the Air Force group commander told Vladimir Putin during a briefing.
Taking off from the Mozdok airbase in North Ossetia, the bombers carried out strikes on terrorist positions in the Deir ez-Zor province in Syria.
“The targets are over 2,000 km away from the base, and each mission sortie takes at least 5 hours”, said base commander Vladimir Alesenko.
He added that the crews make two sorties every 24 hours, with one mission flight taking place at night.
In addition, two Tu-160 strategic missile carriers took off from the Olenya air force base in the Kola peninsula and after covering over 9 500 km and refueling mid-air, deployed missiles targeting terrrorist positions in Syria over the Mediterranean Sea.
“The carriers flew over the Barents and the Norwegian Seas and the Gibraltar Straight before launching strikes and returning to base”, said the Olenya base commander Trofim Kapsha.
Overall, the Tu-160 carriers spent over 16 hours in the air.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Pounds is Jihadists With ‘For Paris’ Bombs
Russia is pounding the Islamic State jihadists in Syria with bombs emblazoned with the words “For our people” and “For Paris” after Moscow vowed vengeance following the bombing of a plane over Sinai.
Russian television broadcast a video in which a man is seen scrawling “For our people!” and “For Paris!” in black pen on aerial bombs minutes before a warplane is set to take off from the country’s airbase in Syria.
“For our people! For Paris! Pilots and technicians of airbase sent a message to terrorists by airmail,” the Russian defence ministry said on its official Twitter account.
“The armed forces are conducting an aerial campaign of retribution,” the defence ministry said in a separate statement, adding the military had begun coordinating their operations with the French…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen Qaeda Attacks Leave 12 Soldiers, 19 Jihadists Dead: Army
Al-Qaeda launched simultaneous attacks on two army positions in southeastern Yemen early Friday that left 12 soldiers and 19 jihadists dead, an army officer said.
The attacks targeted army positions near the town of Shibam and in Wadi Sir, both in Hadramawt province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda whose militants control its capital Mukalla.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Inventors Present Suicide Belt Detection Device in Paris
Russian manufacturers unveiled a device capable of remotely detecting potential suicide bombers, the chief executive of the company said at a state security expo in Paris.
PARIS (Sputnik) — Paris is hosting the 19th Milipol Worldwide Exhibition of Internal State Security on November 17-20. YUTTA is among 13 Russian firms exhibiting products.
“We have a device that can remotely detect a suicide belt called ‘Anker-R.’ This prototype is capable of identifying the suicide belt on a person at a distance of five to six meters [16-19 feet],” YUTTA Chief Executive Vladimir Tkach told RIA Novosti late Thursday.
The gadget — a portable flat screen with wireless headphones — hunts down its target via an electromagnetic field emitted by the suicide belt’s explosives.
The invention is estimated to be retailed at the equivalent of $1,500.
Tkach noted that the device is unable to detect shell-less explosives inside the belts, but claimed that the majority of these belts use explosives to provide a maximum destructive capability.
Tkach said Egyptian visitors to Milipol had expressed interest in the new device.
Security arrangements at the event, a trade show to display weapons, armament and surveillance technologies marketed to governments for population control, were expanded following the November 13 coordinated terrorist attacks across several Paris venues that killed 129 and injured over 350.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan IS Captive ‘Buried Head of Fellow Hostage’
Nine months of torture at the hands of Islamic State fighters, in which he buried the decapitated head of a fellow detainee, are written on the gaunt face of Afghan student Mohammed Yousuf.
Just 10 days after he was freed — not by Afghan or NATO soldiers, but by the once-feared Taliban — his eyes are still cavernous and sunk, unable to meet anyone else’s gaze.
“I once asked them what my sin was,” the 23-year-old said, speaking to AFP in the Kabul home of relatives as his uncle sat listening, sobbing quietly nearby…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
For Their Eyes Only: India Board Censors Bond’s Kissing
It’s the country that gave the world the Kama Sutra, but India’s notoriously prudish film board has ruled that long kissing scenes in the new James Bond movie “Spectre” are not suitable for Indian audiences.
The Mumbai-based Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has reined in the fictional British spy’s famously lusty romantic life by cutting the length of two passionate embrace scenes, its chairperson told AFP.
“We have reduced them,” CBFC head Pahlaj Nihalani said, referring to separate kissing scenes between Daniel Craig, who plays Bond, and his co-stars Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux.
“Our work is for censoring the movie according to the rating of the film so we have done that,” Nihalani said of “Spectre”, which hits screens in India on Friday…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Hobbit’ Was an Iodine-Deficient Human, Not Another Species, New Study Suggests
A new paper is set to re-ignite debate over the origins of so-called Homo floresiensis — the ‘hobbit’ that some scientists have claimed as a new species of human.
The University of Western Australia’s Emeritus Professor Charles Oxnard and his colleagues, in a paper in PLoS ONE have reconfirmed, on the post-cranial skeleton, their original finding on the skull that Homo floresiensis in fact bears the hallmarks of humans — Homo sapiens — affected by hypothyroid cretinism.
The remains, allegedly as recent as 15,000 years, were discovered in 2003 in the Liang Bua caves on the Indonesian island of Flores by archaeologists seeking evidence of the first human migration from Asia to Australia.
When Professor Oxnard and fellow Australian researchers suggested in a 2008 paper that the skull showed evidence of endemic dwarf cretinism resulting from congenital hypothyroidism and were not a new species of human, their claim caused controversy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India to Supply Afghanistan With Russian Helicopters to Fight Taliban
India will supply Afghanistan with four Russia-made attack helicopters within the next two months to help in its fight against the Taliban militant group, an Indian broadcaster cited its sources as saying.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The delivery of the Indian Air Force Mi-25 helicopter gunships was agreed during a visit by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil to New Delhi earlier this week, the NDTV television network said.
India and Afghanistan have stepped up their security cooperation this year in light of increased militant activity.
Late September marked the largest advance by the Taliban in years, with militants seizing the provincial capital Kunduz after months of fighting with the Afghan army.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Alarming New “Superbug” Gene Found in Animals and People in China
A new gene that makes bacteria highly resistant to a last-resort class of antibiotics has been found in people and pigs in China — including in samples of bacteria with epidemic potential, researchers said on Wednesday.
The discovery was described as “alarming” by scientists, who called for urgent restrictions on the use of polymyxins — a class of antibiotics that includes the drug colistin and is widely used in livestock farming.
“All use of polymyxins must be minimized as soon as possible and all unnecessary use stopped,” said Laura Piddock, a professor of microbiology at Britain’s Birmingham University who was asked to comment on the finding.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadis Creeping East as China ‘Annihilates 28 Members of Islamist Terrorist Group’
THE Chinese government claims Islamist terrorism is creeping further east as it announced police have shot dead 28 members of an alleged terrorist group following a deadly attack at a coal mine.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Mongolia: Union Leader Sets Himself on Fire to Protest Sale of Coal Industry to China
“The government no longer supports our company, families of the workers are forced to starve,” said the unnamed man. “This is why I will burn myself for the people of Mongolia and our children.” China already buys more than 90 percent of Mongolia’s exports, mainly of coal and copper, and 49 percent of foreign companies registered in Mongolia are Chinese.
Ulaan Baatar (AsiaNews/Agencies) — A Mongolian union leader opposed to the proposed sale of his country’s coal mining industry to China set himself on fire in protest, according to reports.
Disturbing video of the incident shows him then douse himself with a flammable liquid, and light his jacket on fire.
Two men use their jackets to try to extinguish the flames, as members of the press rush over to try to help, too.
The man was rushed to the National Trauma and Orthopedic Research Center of Mongolia, where he was in critical condition after suffering burns over 40 percent of his body.
The man’s company, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi — which has 39 coal mines in Mongolia — was forced to foot the bill for any medical expenses he incurs, according to AKI Press.
Mongolia is considering selling stakes in 10 state-owned companies, including part of the Tavan Tolgoi mine, to boost investor support for its economy. Union leaders fear their workers will get the boot if the sale goes through.
After decades of economic stagnation, in which animal husbandry and subsistence activities predominated, the country has decided to exploit its rich mineral resources: coal and rare earths have become valuable bargaining chips.
China already buys more than 90 percent of Mongolia’s exports, mainly of coal and copper, and 49 percent of foreign companies registered in Mongolia are Chinese, Xinhua reported.
Hence, despite Xi’s reassurances, Mongolians persistently worry about Chinese political hegemony and presence.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Muslim Extremists: How Far Will They Go?
Christine El-Khoury asks how far their hate will go.
Even before the Paris terrorist attacks, far-right groups in Europe were capitalising on anti-Muslim sentiment. In Australia there’s been a surge in support for extremist organisations like the United Patriots Front and Reclaim Australia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t Adopt Our Gun Control Laws, Australian Politician Tells US
Australia is a “nation of victims” because of its strict gun control laws, according to Australian senator David Leyonhjelm.
The Liberal Democrat told the NRA that Australia should not be a model for gun control because the country’s 1996 gun bans — pushed through after the Port Arthur massacre — have made “no difference.”
“We are a nation of victims,” he said. “You cannot own a gun for self defense… the criminals still have guns.”
“There’s a very vigorous black market for guns, so it’s not made the slightest bit of difference; if you want a gun, you can get one.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Small Australian ISP Threatened With Legal Action Under New Site-Blocking Laws
A small Australian ISP has received a demand that it block access to an overseas website or face legal action in the Federal Court.
If the case goes ahead, it would be the first time Australia’s site-blocking laws would be used and tested in court.
Law firm Moray and Agnew, acting for construction firm Simonds Homes, sent the legal demand last week, giving the ISP seven days to block the website.
The website is CHM Constructions (chmconstructions.com), which Moray and Agnew said was “infringing on Simonds’ rights”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Clinton Foundation is Running a $20 Million Private Equity Firm in Colombia
The Clinton Foundation is operating a $20 million private equity firm in Colombia, raising concerns from government and consumer watchdog groups who say the practice is unusual and could pose a significant conflict of interest. The line between the firm and the Clinton’s nonprofit world is hazy. Fondo Acceso is run out of the Clinton Foundation’s Bogota office and staffed by foundation employees, a representative at the office told the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fazliddin Kurbanov: Terrorist ‘Refugee’
The fecklessness of the Obama administration’s despicable “refugee” agenda can be personified. Last August a federal jury convicted Uzbek refugee Fazliddin Kurbanov of three terror-related charges that included working to support a terrorist organization, and amassing explosive materials in his apartment in Boise, ID.
Kurbanov is a Russian-speaking truck driver originally from Uzbekistan who began his life as a Muslim. When his parents converted to Orthodox Christianity, the family was subjected to government persecution and they fled to nearby Kazakhstan. In 2009 his parents came to the Unites States, followed shortly thereafter by Kurbanov, his wife and his son in August 2009.
According to court testimony, Kurbanov was a practicing Christian until he went to Denver in search of work in 2010. While there he met and took up residence with some fellow Uzbek men who were practicing Muslims. Kurbanov reconverted to Islam and returned to Boise. In 2011 he began making terror-related searches on the Internet. Two years later, federal agents searched his apartment where they found evidence that the former refugee was stockpiling explosive materials and communicating with the Taliban-linked Movement of Uzbekistan. According to the FBI, Kurbanov intend to launch a domestic bomb attack, with military bases and a park in Boise being cited as potential targets…
Writing for KTVB.com, anchor and reporter Kim Fields reminds Americans that Kurbanov “would have gone through the federal screening process,” and that court testimony indicates no red flags would have been raised “because there is no indication Kurbanov was involved in terrorism when he first arrived in the U.S.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: Paris Attackers ‘Slipped in’ Amid European Refugee Chaos
Some of the suspects in the Paris attacks took advantage of Europe’s migrant crisis to “slip in” unnoticed, the French premier said Thursday, warning the EU needed to “take responsibility” over border controls.
Manuel Valls said the EU’s cherished passport-free Schengen zone would be in danger if the bloc did not improve border controls, after it emerged the ringleader of the Paris attacks had managed to enter Europe unnoticed.
It was confirmed on Thursday that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin linked to a series of extremist plots in Europe over the past two years, had died in a police raid on an apartment in northern Paris on Wednesday…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
How You Can Stop 250,000 Syrians Refugees Coming Into America
John Kerry, Barack Obama and Congress expect to dump 200,000 and as high as 250,000 Syrian Muslim Refugees onto our country within 24 months. If not stopped, you may expect those refugees injected into your communities across our nation.
The Heritage Foundation said the refugee program would cost American taxpayers a low of $55 billion to $100 billion of your tax dollars. Remember we already suffer a $19 trillion national debt. It means your schools must incorporate Sharia Law as to food, footbaths, five daily prayers and Burka’s on girls. It means your community will face rapes like in Europe, tension and terror—as you saw in Paris, France last week.
It means your community will mirror the nightmare going on in Europe. It means thousands of people without papers being injected into our country. Among them will most certainly be Syrian Muslim jihadists including women. One of the terrorists in Paris turned out to be a woman who just blew herself up when police caught up with her this Wednesday, November 18, 2015.
Journalist Michelle Malkin said, “If these throngs of disgruntled, unemployed, border-traipsing Muslim refugees pose ongoing threats to our men and women in uniform and their families on bases stateside and overseas, what does that say about the vapid reassurances from Obama and the refugee resettlement racketeers that our security bureaucracy can effectively “vet” tens of thousands more and distribute them safely among our civilian population across the heartland?”
Answer: they can’t. It means that some of us will die at the hands of the next mini-9/11.
[Comment: Obama et al. do not work for Americans, but for banksters and globalists. Destabilization of nation states is the goal, followed by martial law and tyranny.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Over 900,000 Refugees Registered in Germany in 2015
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said that more than 900,000 refugees have been registered in Germany since the beginning of 2015.
BERLIN (Sputnik) — More than 900,000 refugees have been registered in Germany since the beginning of 2015, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said Friday.
Herrmann made the statement on the sidelines of the Germany’s Christian Union meeting, citing the country’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Die Welt newspaper said.
Berlin has not confirmed this information yet and keeps to its previous projections, according to which a total of 800,000 asylum claims are expected to be registered in Germany by the end of the year.
Europe has been struggling with a major migrant crisis as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee war-torn regions of the Middle East and North Africa.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Third of Syrian Refugees Are ISIS Sympathizers
What could go wrong?
A poll released in November but ignored by the mainstream media shows that a third of Syrian refugees do not want the Muslim terrorist group ISIS defeated, reports Gateway Pundit.
The poll reveals that thirteen percent of Syrian refugees have a positive opinion of ISIS. That’s a big, collective thumbs-up to a gang of savages who burn people alive, enslave women, behead children, and heave gay men to their deaths from rooftops. Another ten percent have a negative opinion to some extent on the terror group, though the poll doesn’t specify in what way. Perhaps that ten percent feels that ISIS isn’t killing enough gay men.
The poll also shows that thirty-one percent of Syrian refugees oppose the campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS….
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rejecting Refugees Fuels ISIS Propaganda Says UNHCR
Refugees fleeing terror not causing it says Guterrez
(ANSA) — New York, November 20 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday that refusing entry to refugees is the best way to fuel Islamic terrorist propaganda.
“The West’s rejection of refugees provides the Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist militia with the best tool to recruit new supporters,” Antonio Guterres told a UN General Assembly on migrants and refugees. “Refugee flows are a result of terrorism and war, not their source,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
White House Hopeful Carson Compares Syrian Refugees to Rabid Dogs
US Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson compared refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war and Islamic State extremists to rabid dogs.
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and a top contender in his party’s 2016 race for the White House, made the remarks at a campaign stop in the southern US state of Alabama.
“We must balance safety against being a humanitarian,” Carson said as he talked about admitting Syrian refugees into the United States.
“If there’s a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog. And you are probably going to get your children out of the way…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
How Long Before You Are Eating Frankenfish
It grows at terrifying speed and could wipe out other species. The GM super salmon muscling its way onto your plate
GM salmon appears to have less omega 3 — the fatty acid that can protect against heart disease. It also appears to have higher levels of a growth hormone called IGF-1.
Studies of a small number of salmon suggest that six nutrients are present at values that differ by more than 10 per cent.
The GM variety had less folic acid, less zinc, less magnesium and less phosphorus — but more niacin and vitamin B6.
The findings suggest ‘potential food quality differences’, according to the charity Ocean Conservancy.
There are also concerns that GM salmon could have more allergy-triggering chemicals. The FDA concluded that was not the case — but its findings were based on a study of only six fish.
This is not enough evidence to conclude that GM salmon is harmful. But it raises questions which have not been fully answered.
There are more concerns about the threat to the environment they pose. Wild Atlantic salmon are already threatened by over-fishing and the accidental release of farmed salmon.
Introducing a population of bigger, tougher and faster-growing salmon could finish them off.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tech Goliaths Stand Firm Against Demands for Weaker Encryption After Paris Terror Attacks
Massacre accompanied by political backdoor push
Tech giants claim they are standing firm in their refusal to allow government agencies to backdoor their cryptography — or to weaken encryption in their products.
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), which bills itself as the “global voice of the tech sector” and contains such giants as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, put out a statement Thursday in which it was unequivocal in its continued support for encryption.
“Encryption is a security tool we rely on every day to stop criminals from draining our bank accounts, to shield our cars and airplanes from being taken over by malicious hacks, and to otherwise preserve our security and safety,” said ITI president and CEO Dean Garfield.
“We deeply appreciate law enforcement’s and the national security community’s work to protect us, but weakening encryption or creating backdoors to encrypted devices and data for use by the good guys would actually create vulnerabilities to be exploited by the bad guys, which would almost certainly cause serious physical and financial harm across our society and our economy. Weakening security with the aim of advancing security simply does not make sense.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Obama’s willingness to endanger our nation by flooding her with muslim enemies is jaw-dropping”.
No more jaw-dropping than your letting him!
Yes, I realize Americans don’t want to impeach their first black President, but surely there are limits…?
BTW, Baron and Lady D. many thanks for the news item about the High River Gun Grab, one of the blackest incidents in Canadian history–the betrayal of Canadians by our national police!
Forcing people to recite the Koran shows that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.
To prove the connection between Islam and terrorism the terrorists should have people recite the terrorist supplement to the Koran, appendix T, or have them recite the Bible.