A man named Brad Kenneth Bartelt got into a standoff with police after driving onto the campus of Arkansas State University and crashing his pickup truck. He was armed with a shotgun, and his truck — which was decorated with a Gadsden flag — was carrying tanks of propane gas. After an hour he surrendered to police, and no one was injured.
In other news, cities in the USA, Canada, and Switzerland are on a terror alert as police search for four terror suspects in Geneva. The men were seen in a car with Belgian plates that may have driven from Switzerland into France. At least one of the men in the vehicle is thought to be associated with a suspect wanted for his part in last month’s jihad massacre in Paris.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Dora, DV, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, LP, MM, MP, RRN, 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.
Croatia: Strong GDP Growth, Up 2.8% in Third Quarter
End of recession thanks to exports, tourism, retail spending
(ANSA) — ZAGREB — According to preliminary data recorded in the third quarter of this year, GDP in Croatia has grown by 2.8 percent, the highest increase since 2007. According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS), the country’s GDP has mainly been boosted by the growth in exports, an excellent summer tourist season, a strong and steady increase in industrial production, recovery in retail spending and, for the first time, signs of recovery even in the construction industry. This sector has suffered a lot the consequences of the global crisis in recent years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: EC Blocked Interbank Safeguard Fund on Bank Rescues
‘We did not share its opposition’ says Barbagallo
(ANSA) — Rome, December 9 — The European Commission prevented the Interbank Safeguard Fund (FIT) from intervening in the recent rescue of four regional lenders, the Bank of Italy said Wednesday. FIT’s intervention “was not possible because of the opposition shown by offices of the European Commission, which we didn’t share,” the head of the Bank of Italy’s oversight committee, Carmelo Barbagallo, told the House. A government-led rescue plan approved last month sees the banking sector itself cover most of the cost of saving Banca delle Marche, Banca Popolare dell’Etruria e del Lazio, Cassa di Risparmio della Provincia di Chieti and Cassa Di Risparmio di Ferrara.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Petition to Prosecutors Over Suicide Linked to Rescued Bank
Pension takes life after losing savings in Banca Etruria
(ANSA) — Rome, December 10 — Italian consumers association Codacons said Thursday that it has presented a petition to criminal prosecutors over the case of a pensioner who committed suicide after losing his life savings which he invested in one of four banks saved by a government rescue package. The 68-year-old from the port of Civitavecchia hung himself at his home after reportedly losing over 100,000 euros he had invested in bonds in Banca Etruria.
The troubled lender was rescued via a government decree in November along with Banca delle Marche, the Cassa di Risparmio della Provincia di Chieti and the Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara.
The measure sees Italy’s healthy banks investing some 3.6 billion euros to keep alive the four small banks, whose bad loans will go into a bad bank. Those holding bonds and shares in the four banks have seen their investments evaporate.
Premier Matteo Renzi’s government has promised to pass a “humanitarian” measure to reduce the losses of small investors involved.
Codacons said Thursday that it has asked prosecutors to investigate the alleged crime of instigation to commit suicide.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa Gets a Rating Downgrade
Mismanagement and magical thinking are driving the rainbow nation into a debt crisis
“OUR sovereignty in South Africa was incredibly hard won, steeped in blood and pain,” said Trevor Manuel, the country’s former finance minister, recalling the debt crisis he had inherited at the end of apartheid in 1994. Faced with a contracting economy, rising public debt and spiralling debt-service costs, the new democracy seemed to be heading towards an IMF bail-out that would have entailed it handing over control of its economy to international creditors. Instead, as Mr Manuel recounted in an interview with the Daily Maverick, a news website, in 2014 on the eve of his retirement from politics, South Africa cut state spending to ensure “we weren’t going to become a client state of anybody.”
Two decades later the country is again moving towards the edge of an economic precipice. Public debt is rising fast, as are the costs of servicing it. The economy has staggered to a near-standstill. On December 4th Fitch, a rating agency, cut its assessment of South Africa’s creditworthiness, saying its debt was now just one notch above “junk”, financial jargon for bonds below a certain rating that have a higher risk of not being repaid. On the same day Standard & Poor’s, another agency, changed its outlook for the country, implying it was likely to downgrade its rating to junk over the next two years…
| — Hat tip: RRN | [Return to headlines] |
The Coming Economic Collapse Will Crash Stocks
In 2008, the world experienced the worst economic collapse in 80+ years. This collapse triggered a stock market crash that erased $30 trillion in wealth.
Since that time, collectively Central Banks have cut interest rates over 600 times and have printed over $15 trillion in new money… money that has failed to generate sustained economic growth… money that has set the stage for another stock market crash.
Consider the measures of GDP growth in the US for instance.
The mainstream media likes to present the “official” GDP numbers as though they are gospel… but the reality is that the number you hear in the press is not even close to accurate.
One of the simplest means of hiding the real economic collapse is to use a bogus measure for inflation. If GDP growth is 10%, and inflation is 10%, then real GDP growth is 0%.
But what if GDP growth is 10%, real inflation is 10%, but you claim inflation is just 6%?
Boom! You can promote GDP growth of 4% to support your claim that printing trillions of dollars has boosted the economy.
To remove this accounting gimmick, you can use Nominal GDP and look at the rate of growth from a year ago. Doing this presents a VERY different view of the economy: one of economic collapse, not growth. I’ve circled periods in which the current level of “growth” occurred in the past.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The most feared bomber plane of the 20th Century is still going strong after 60 years in service in the US military — from Vietnam to Afghanistan. And she will keep on flying until 2044. How does this 1950s behemoth survive in the era of drones and stealth aircraft?
“This plane is the iconic war machine for the United States Air Force,” says Col Keith Schultz, 2nd Bomb wing vice-commander, who has piloted B-52s for more than 30 years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arkansas State Gunman in Custody, No One Hurt
JONESBORO, Ark. — Arkansas State University reported an active shooter on its campus Thursday, but soon after, the university said no shots had been fired and police had surrounded the gunman.
The man was taken into custody at about 2:45 p.m., according to the Jonesboro Police Department.
The school remains on lockdown.
The school first sent out an alert at about 1:30 p.m…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Arkansas State University Gunman Who Triggered Lockdown Under Arrest
An armed man who triggered a lockdown when he drove onto the campus of Arkansas State University with propane tanks was arrested, police and local media reported Thursday.
The man had a shotgun strapped to his back and propane tanks “ready to blow,” police told The Jonesboro Sun. Officers surrounded him within 30 minutes.
Police identified the armed man who drove his truck onto campus as Brad Kenneth Bartelt of Jonesboro.
The 47-year-old was taken into custody Thursday after driving his truck onto the campus and triggering a lockdown. Jonesboro Police said they had received a call Wednesday about a Facebook post Bartlet wrote in which he stated he was homicidal and suicidal and referred to an incident with the Social Security Administration.
Officers said Bartelt was already seeking medical attention, according to the report.
University spokesman Bill Smith said no shots were fired. The school went on lockdown around 1:30 p.m…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Armed Suspect Taken Into Custody at Arkansas State University
An armed man crashed a pickup truck on the campus of Arkansas State University on Thursday and was taken into custody by police after a standoff lasting about an hour, school officials and law enforcement said, adding no one was injured.
The university in Jonesboro, about 130 miles northeast of Little Rock, said in a statement the school was placed on lockdown after the suspect crashed the vehicle on campus.
“Man in custody at ASU. Officers in process of securing vehicle now,” the Jonesboro Police Department said on its Twitter feed, without providing further details.
The school has kept the lockdown in place as police investigate the scene, it said on its Twitter feed.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published a photo of a pickup truck with an American flag flying from near the tail, saying it was the suspect’s vehicle. The pickup is seen stopped near a walkway and by a paved area with tables and benches.
Other photos on social media showed the man brandishing a shotgun and draping what appeared to be a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag on his truck…
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Does the Benghazi Pentagon “Smoking Gun” Email Implicate Hillary Clinton? New English Review
On December 8, 2015, Judiciary Watch (JW) issued a press release about a long sought Pentagon email sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and aide, Jake Sullivan, from Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on the evening of September 11th, 2012. The Bash Pentagon email was sent just after the attack by Ansar al-Sharia and others at the Benghazi Special Missions Compound. The JW release noted:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
HUD Will Choose Your Neighbors Through a Massive Social Engineering Rule
On July 8, 2015, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the final rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH). HUD describes this rule — “everyone can access affordable, quality housing regardless of their “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or familial status.”
HUD’s Secretary, Julian Castro, stated that “unfortunately, too many Americans find their dreams limited by where they come from, and a ZIP code should never determine a child’s future.” To make sure all Americans have access to “safe, affordable housing in communities that are rich with opportunity,” HUD will socially reengineer where we live.
This new AFFH (15-084) HUD rule was issued based on “recommendations made by a 2010 Government Accountability Office report, stakeholders, and HUD program participants.”
Those who receive grants from HUD must analyze “their fair housing landscape and set locally determined fair housing priorities and goals through an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH).
“To aid communities in this work, HUD will provide open data to grantees and the public on patterns of integration and segregation, racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, disproportionate housing needs, and disparities in access to opportunity.” Armed with such sensitive information, HUD grantees will then force their goals onto existing communities and housing planning processes. “In addition to providing data and maps, HUD will also provide technical assistance to aid grantees as they adopt this approach.”
Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center, explained that the AFFH Rule “will virtually erase the very concept of local rule by your locally elected representatives.” Massive demographic analyses will be undertaken on communities that apply for HUD grants “to determine if there are enough low income and minority people living in every neighborhood. HUD will search the records of every person in each neighborhood for income levels, race, color, religion, national origin and much more.“ Such data mining will take place every five years…
The AFFH Rule has transformed the $3.5 billion annual program into “a political redistricting tool.”
Tom DeWeese warned that the AFFH Rule will cause property values to plummet, equity in homes will disappear, the government will replace your locally elected representatives, wealth will be redistributed, private property ownership will be destroyed, and local control will disappear.
Key features under this HUD AFFH Rule are as follows:…
DeWeese called this AFFH what it really is — communism.
[Comment: States should BAN acceptance of any HUD funding in their State. Money from Feral Gov. ALWAYS comes with strings. That’s how thet exert control. Since they are providing the money it seems reasonable they have a say — but notice how they are always pushing unconstitional and communist policies. Google Tom DeWeese’s articles. He has written extensively on the loss of property rights.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It Just Got Worse With the Muslim Walmart Shoppers in MO
Since news first broke of a massive purchase made by Muslims at a Missouri Walmart, the state and country have been on edge waiting for answers about what these men plan to do with their suspicious stock. Now, more of what these Muslims have been busy doing has come out, and it’s getting more terrifying with each emerging detail, especially considering what happened a couple states away in Michigan.
Just 24-hours ago, we reported that two men had been stopped at a Lebanon, Missouri Walmart, after a concerned employee reported that the Middle Eastern foreigners came in just before 4 a.m. and purchased 60 prepaid cellphones with cash. Officers didn’t have enough to detain them for questioning about their intentions, but now, we have learned that this store stop was the last of a series of very concerning events.
Had police known then what we know now, they wouldn’t have gotten away with a massive cache of cellphones in their possession, which is now into the hundreds. Following our initial report, we learned that six hours before the cellphone purchase in Lebanon, the Middle Eastern men were spotted making another sizable purchase of nearly 50 prepaid cellphones at another Missouri Walmart in Macon, and around the same time, a third purchase was made of the same merchandise in Columbia, also at a Walmart. But now, it goes even further than that.
With this story and information spreading like wildfire, along with warranted concern about these Muslim men who are still at large in Missouri or wherever they have ended up since their shopping trips, police departments in surrounding counties have come forward with alarming reports they also received about these men. Jefferson county police, a neighboring county to the three counties where these separate purchases were made, just announced that on Thursday, they received a call about Muslim men trying to make a large cellphone purchase in their area store, along with another one right by them in Cape Girardeau, KFOR reported…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Jihad in San Bernardino and CAIR’s Cover-Up
Last week while the bodies of 14 American victims of jihadism in San Bernardino, Calif. were still warm, the terrorist-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) leapt into damage-control mode. CAIR, which the United Arab Emirates designated a year ago as a terrorist group, got to work crafting a narrative about the mass-murdering Muslim married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. CAIR’s immediate objective was less about defending the two dead killers than preventing Islam, the most blood-drenched religion in recorded history, from being blamed for this latest massacre committed in the name of the Islamic deity, Allah. As they fashioned a template for lazy, gullible, or sympathetic reporters to embrace, CAIR officials behaved as if Farook and Malik were strange outliers and bad Muslims.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota Man Accused of Conspiring to Help ISIS
Another Minnesota man has been charged with conspiring to help the Islamic State.
Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, 20, of Eagan was charged Wednesday by criminal complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Court documents allege Warsame tried to help other young men from Minnesota’s Somali community travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State. Nine others in that group have already been charged, authorities say.
The documents allege Warsame and others settled on a plan of going to Syria by way of Mexico.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly Half of Youth Say ‘American Dream’ Is Dead: Harvard Poll
American’s youth are down on the future, with nearly half of those ages 18 through 29 believing the “American Dream” is more dead than alive, a nationwide survey released Thursday by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics shows.
Reflecting the sour mood of the overall electorate, 48 percent of those asked “For you personally, is the idea of the American Dream alive or dead?” responded “dead.” Those who picked “alive” accounted for 49 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Mexico Legislators Sue City for Refusing to Follow New Asset Forfeiture Law
Earlier this year, the state of New Mexico passed one of the most solid pieces of asset forfeiture reform legislation in the country. All it asked for was what most people would consider to be common sense: if the government is going to seize assets, the least it could do in return is tie the seizure to a conviction.
Now, the state is finding out that bad habits are hard to break. CJ Ciaramella reports that the government is going after another part of the government for its refusal to stop taking stuff without securing a conviction.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
No-Fly List: Shades of Nazi Germany
by Pastor Chuck Baldwin
Democrat Congressman Mike Thompson (CA) and Republican Congressman Peter King (NY) are trying to push a bill through Congress that would deny gun purchases to people who are on the federal government’s “no-fly” list. President Obama took to the national airwaves a few days ago to further pressure Congress to pass this legislation. King introduced H.R. 1076 back in February of this year. Now, after the shootings in California, Thompson has filed a discharge petition in an attempt to force a vote on the bill. Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is trying to muster support for the bill in the upper house of Congress.
The “no-fly” list was created by President G.W. Bush and when he left office contained 47,000 names. Today, the list has climbed to over 700,000 names. There are no specified reasons why someone’s name is added to “the list.” In fact, the criterion for determining who is added to the list is totally secret. Not even Congress knows what it is. The technology website TechDirt.com estimates that at least 40% of the list is comprised of individuals who have absolutely no connections to terror groups or activities. In other words, they are American citizens just like you and me.
Oh! That reminds me: while I was running for President of the United States on the Constitution Party ticket in 2008, I WAS told at the San Antonio, Texas, airport that my name was on “the list.”
I traveled the better part of 100,000 miles across the continental United States during that campaign. I had a campaign rally on a Saturday mid-morning in San Antonio. I landed at the airport around midnight Friday night. The rally was conducted as scheduled, and I was back at the San Antonio airport to fly to my next stop around noon. I was on the ground for approximately twelve hours. I never had a problem flying before this event.
However, when I tried to fly out, I was denied a boarding pass (third party candidates don’t fly on private jets) and shuffled off to an isolated booth where I was told I was on “the list.” Two men dressed in full battle uniform, complete with body armor, Kevlar helmets, and M16 rifles walked up behind me. To make a long story short, after over an hour of interrogation and phone calls to “upper management,” I was told I would be allowed to fly “this time.”
Yes, that experience in San Antonio was the only time it happened to me; and I’ve logged over 300,000 skymiles since then. But, I was politely told in San Antonio that “once you’re on the list, you NEVER get off.” And I have been routinely subjected to all kinds of “special” scrutiny at I-couldn’t-count-how-many airports since then. So now, Obama, King, Thompson, and Pelosi want to tell me (and hundreds of thousands of people like me) that I cannot purchase a firearm?…
Writing for The Washington Post, Philip Bump writes, “[T]he no-fly list is a secret list that uses secret criteria to determine who finds a home on it. So if you link banning guns to the no-fly list, the scenario presented is completely feasible: The government could theoretically add anyone it wants to the no-fly list, even broad categories of people, and thereby prevent them from owning a gun.“
[Comment: Communists seek to disarm their opponents before the civil war. The goal is to stop political opponents of the Democrat/Communist Party from owning guns.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Donald Trump Back on Top, With Ted Cruz Climbing Into Second
Thirty-five percent of Republican primary voters support Trump, up 13 points since October, and his highest level of support in CBS News polling. Ted Cruz (16 percent) has moved into second place, while Ben Carson, who led the October poll, has dropped to third.
As Donald Trump stands firm on his proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S., Republicans are fearing a Trump nomination could alienate minority …
Marco Rubio is in fourth place with 9 percent. Jeb Bush is getting the backing of just 3 percent of Republican primary voters nationwide, his lowest percentage to date in CBS News polling. Carly Fiorina’s support has also dropped; she is at just 1 percent now.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
San Bernardino Shooters Planned Bigger Attack, Investigators Believe
An FBI dive team on Thursday searches for electronic devices or other evidence possibly left in Seccombe Lake, about two miles north of the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.
An FBI dive team on Thursday searches for electronic devices or other evidence possibly left in Seccombe Lake, about two miles north of the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.
An examination of digital equipment recovered from the home of the couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino last week has led FBI investigators to believe the shooters were planning an even larger assault, according to federal government sources.
Investigators on Thursday continued to search for digital footprints left by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, scouring a downtown San Bernardino lake for electronic items, including a hard drive that the couple was hoping to destroy, sources told The Times.
FBI agents will probably spend days searching Seccombe Lake and canvassing the neighborhood for clues after receiving a tip that the couple may have visited the area on the day of the attack, according to David Bowdich, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
Farook and Malik were in the final planning stages of an assault on a location or building that housed a lot more people than the Inland Regional Center, possibly a nearby school or college, according to federal sources familiar with the widening investigation.
Investigators have based that conclusion on evidence left behind on Farook and Malik’s computers and digital devices, not all of which the couple were able to destroy before they were killed in a firefight with police, the sources said.
Images of San Bernardino-area schools were found on a cellphone belonging to Farook, according to a law enforcement source. But the source cautioned that Farook may have had a legitimate reason to have the images because his work as a county health inspector involved checking on school dining facilities…
| — Hat tip: MP | [Return to headlines] |
Saturn’s Largest Moon Titan is Bursting With Color
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has managed to penetrate the haze of Saturn’s moon Titan, revealing a world basking in blues, greens and even reds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spilled Blood in San Bernardino is on Obama’s Hands
We do not know if Obama is a Muslim in his heart and mind, but without a doubt Obama is a Muslim sympathizer. He has proven it time and time again starting with his Cairo speech in June 2009, early on in his presidency. Perhaps this is a projection of his early childhood when raised in Indonesia, a Muslim country. Or perhaps it was because his Kenyan father was a Muslim. Maybe he was converted to Islam during his clandestine trip to Pakistan in 1981. Or, perhaps it goes deeper than that. Could it be that Obama is a Muslim version of the Manchurian candidate? You decide!
But Obama is more than just a Muslim sympathizer. He has aided and abetted radical Islam causes by failing to protect Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic and by his in-action in the face of a direct threat against American sovereignty and security.
By not seeing the potential growth of an Al Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, (ISIS) Obama negligently pulled our troops out of Iraq against the advice of his generals. Not only did this criminal action by Obama allow ISIS to metastasize, it allowed Iran, a sponsor of international terrorism, to move in and influence the government of Iraq, thus rendering Iraq just another Iranian puppet.
As a result, Iran’s puppet, Iraq, (both Muslim Shia) refused to let the Sunnis and Kurds in Northern Iraq participate in the Iraq government, thereby fueling disaffection, insurrection and the growth of ISIS. It also re-ignited the 1,500-year-old civil war between Shia and Sunnis over the successor to the prophet Muhammad. Because of the Sunni’s sympathy with ISIS and not the government of Iraq, when the bully ISIS came to conquer, the Sunni military that American soldiers trained, turned over their weapons to ISIS that American taxpayers funded and then ran for the shadows. Suddenly, virtually overnight, ISIS had a powerful military, armed with American hardware, funded by Iraqi oil and the spoils of war.
But Obama’s actions and in-actions go even deeper than criminal negligence, to virtually aiding and abetting the enemy. That, by any definition, is treason. Iraq was and still is a strategic nation, in the middle of Muslim tribal chaos and Islamic civil war. American military presence was crucial to the stability of the entire, unstable Middle East region.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ted Cruz, Henry Kissinger and the Globalists
Vattel’s, Law of Nations, was given to Benjamin Franklin and used to incorporate Natural Born Citizen into the Constitution. The preceding link to Vattel states, “The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.” Cruz, Rubio, Jindal, and most likely Santorum, are not eligible. Rubio and Jindal are anchor babies according to the misinterpreted 14th Amendment. Senator Jacob Howard, who introduced the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, said its grant of citizenship would not include persons born in the United States who are foreigners or aliens. For more information, see Publius Huldah’s articles [here] and [here], and Devvy Kidd’s articles [here] and [here].
Heidi Cruz and the North American Union/Security and Prosperity Partnership
In the Council on Foreign Relations’ Task Force Report, Building a North American Community, guess who is listed as a Task Force member? None other than Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz. It states:…
Although Ted Cruz has stated that Heidi was only involved with the Task Force as a dissenting voice, her own written words tell the truth:
In the last part of the Task Force’s report, “Additional and Dissenting Views,” Heidi S. Cruz wrote (pp. 33-34):
“I support the Task Force report and its recommendations aimed at building a safer and more prosperous North America. Economic prosperity and a world safe from terrorism and other security threats are no doubt inextricably linked. While governments play an invaluable role in both regards, we must emphasize the imperative that economic investment be led and perpetuated by the private sector. There is no force proven like the market for aligning incentives, sourcing capital, and producing results like financial markets and profit-making businesses. This is simply necessary to sustain a higher living standard for the poorest among us—truly the measure of our success. As such, investment funds and financing mechanisms should be deemed attractive instruments by those committing the capital and should only be developed in conjunction with market participants.”
Now you know why, despite his blustering against Obama’s executive amnesty for millions of illegal aliens in this country, on March 27, 2015, Ted Cruz indicated he “remains open to a path to legal status for undocumented workers.”
[…]
One would think Raphael Cruz would inform his son about Soviet Agent Kissinger, but apparently that was not the case. Senator Ted Cruz uploaded this image to his official Facebook page on January 29th of himself having coffee with Henry Kissinger, with the tagline, “Honored to share a few moments with Dr. Kissinger and hear his thoughts on the challenges facing our nation.”
Cruz undoubtedly would agree with Kissinger on trade. He says in the below video that he is for “fast tracking” trade agreements and supports Obama doing same. Apparently Cruz cares little about American jobs, and even less about American sovereignty.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Most Frightening Thing About a Hillary Clinton Presidency
Last month, State Department emails obtained by Judicial Watch revealed that Clinton’ s close personal aide Huma Abedin (who has well-documented ties to the terror group the Muslim Brotherhood) warned colleagues that Clinton’ s mental stability appeared to be deteriorating:
Abedin advised Clinton aide and frequent companion Monica Hanley that it was “very important” to go over phone calls with Clinton because the former Secretary of State was “often confused… “
This week, on three separate occasions, Clinton seemed to affirm Abedin’ s cautions, demonstrating significant confusion that raised the eyebrows of the media:
- “ Talking Iran, Hillary gets confused about the nuclear option and military option”
- “ Hillary Clinton Can’t Remember Her Plan To Deal With the National Debt”
- “ Hillary Clinton confuses question on ‘hemp’ with one on a ‘hip replacement’“
So we have a potential president who appears to have obvious and troubling issues with mental acuity.
Furthermore, her most trusted personal aide and proxy, Huma Abedin, is linked — both directly and through family ties — to the terrorist groupthe Muslim Brotherhood.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Real Reason Why Progressives Are Out for Donald Trump’s Hide
They’re out to take down Donald Trump because he’s showing them up for what they really are: overpaid hypocrites holding public office
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is an embarrassment, an embarrassment not for what he’s saying about putting a temporary moratorium on open Muslim immigration until the administration can explore all avenues of security, but because what Republicans and Democrats are not doing to tighten up national security.
Reality check of the day: Where is the outrage from most of those holding office in Congress and Senate that the first terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 took place in San Bernardino, California, claiming 14 lives and injuring 21 more on December 2 while thousands of unvetted “refugees” are still getting through over porous American borders?
The dilemma brings no impassioned demands from elected officials for erstwhile solutions, but only the familiar sound of crickets.
America has been left vulnerable to a clear and present danger, one that’s left the sometimes bumptious and always outspoken Donald Trump as the targeted scapegoat, all for suggesting a moratorium on immigration until the politicians holding down the fort know which way to go.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Says Vow to Bar Muslims ‘Is About Security… Not Religion’
Donald Trump refused to back down Wednesday on his calls to place a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the United States telling Fox News “maybe it’s not politically correct…but somebody had to bring it up.”
Trump told Bill O’Reilly on “The O’Reilly Factor” that his plan, which has sparked a political firestorm, “is about security, it’s not about religion.”
“It’s a temporary ban on not everybody, but many,” the GOP presidential frontrunner said. “I would set up a system to see who qualifies to come in, who doesn’t.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Donald Trump Can’t be Stopped
(NaturalNews) No matter how desperately the leftist media tries to destroy Donald Trump, all they do is make him more famous and more popular. Every time Trump says something the left deems to be politically incorrect — illegal aliens are rapists, radical Muslims celebrated the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks, the UK has areas so radicalized by Muslims that even police dare not venture inside — the media tries to destroy Trump by calling him a liar. Yet time and time again, Donald Trump turns out to be factually correct, infuriating the dishonest media pundits whose “fact checkers” turn out to be nothing more than fiction writers.
Even the establishment GOP — which has also sought to destroy Trump as quickly as possible — remains wholly unable to stop his ascent in the polls. Trump, you see, is a real threat to the GOP political cabal and the cozy, fascist relationships between Republican establishment types and powerful corporations (like Monsanto or Merck).
Here’s the real reason Trump can’t be stopped…
While the political establishment on both the left and the right remain totally baffled by the Trump phenomenon, I’ve already figure out why he keeps winning.
It turns out that Donald Trump voices out all the things the American people already believe but are too afraid to say themselves.
Because of our “cult of likeability” and an oppressive environment of political correctness where the left shuts down all opposing ideas by calling them “insensitive” or “inflammatory” or “racist,” most people simply aren’t willing to say what they truly believe. Donald Trump serves as their surrogate free speech representative, putting words to the notions that most Americans know to be true.
What notions are those? The idea that illegal aliens overrunning America is bad for America, not good… or the idea that maybe we should halt the unlimited open borders invasion and refugee programs that are bringing ISIS terrorists to our communities all across America.
Even uttering such phrases would get most people condemned across social media — a platform of peer pressure censorship that demands absolute obedience to groupthink while destroying any inkling of diversity of thought. The politically correct left, you see, doesn’t want diversity or tolerance or uniqueness. It demands nothing but conformity and obedience to its ideas, its words and its labels.
Donald Trump supporters are fed up with being told what to think and what words they can or cannot use. They’re tired of being blamed for racism, bigotry or Islamophobia when they harbor no such thoughts to begin with. They see the total devastation of America’s culture and economy being brought about by a radical Muslim president (Obama) and his obedient state-run propaganda brigade (the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and so on).
Most Americans want someone to stand up to the system they see as destroying America day by day. That’s why every time Donald Trump opens his mouth and says something the leftist media thinks is outrageous and inappropriate, Americans silently cheer his words… even if they dare not tweet them under their own names.
The media cannot destroy Trump because they have no contact with reality
Because of this dynamic, the mainstream media cannot destroy Trump. They cannot destroy him because every attack on Trump by the media is seen by the people of America as further proof that Trump is right! “Backfire” doesn’t even begin to describe this phenomenon. It’s more like the leftist state-run media is so out of touch with reality — and so deeply invested in its own delusional counterfeit reality — that it remains oblivious to the frustration, anger and reactionary attitude of everyday people.
I explain more about Donald Trump in my podcast from HealthRangerReport.com:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Redheaded grandmother Angele Grenier doesn’t look much like a criminal, but she is one of Canada’s most wanted women.
And as such, she faces the likelihood of lengthy jail time, and fines of about 500,000 Canadian dollars ($368,000; £245,000).
Her crime? She’s a self-confessed smuggler and illegal dealer, someone who sells contraband across province lines.
But what exactly is she selling that has so incensed the Canadian authorities, and seen the police search her property? Drugs? Guns?
Nope, maple syrup — the lovely, sweet stuff that you pour on your breakfast pancakes, or add to your biscuit recipes.
Benoit Girouard, president of Quebecois farming union Union Paysanne, says the FPAQ needs to loosen its rules and methods. “The federation doesn’t have to be as coercive as it is now,” he says. “Its system is totalitarian and communist. Producers don’t have space to work, that is why most of them cheat.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Canada ‘Alert’ Against Terror Threats to Major Cities
Canada is “vigilant” and “alert” to terrorist threats after warnings of possible plots against its major cities.
But Ralph Goodale told reporters outside parliament: “To this moment there is nothing new or different that would affect the security situation in Canada. There is no change in the status of the alerts.
“There is no new information reported to me that would change the circumstances. If there is something new we would obviously let Canadians know immediately and we will take the appropriate steps.”
It came after authorities in Geneva launched a manhunt for several suspected jihadists believed to have links to the Islamic State group and who threatened attacks there and in North America.
The cities of Geneva, Chicago and Toronto were listed as possible targets in a police document seen by Swiss journalists.
Canada’s security alert level has remained at medium since an Islamist gunman shot dead a ceremonial guard in Ottawa and then stormed parliament, and another solider was killed in rural Quebec in October 2014…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Kurz Defends Probe Into Islamic Nurseries
Austria’s Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) has been defending a controversial study into Islamic kindergartens, which has prompted him to call for the immediate closure of “many Islamic kindergartens” and insist on tighter controls to prevent radicalization.
He told ORF television that he believed the study was necessary because there is a danger that “parallel societies are emerging”. He said it had been difficult to carry out the survey and that the city of Vienna had not been very cooperative.
He said that he had discovered that one nursery had invited a Salafist to visit as a guest of honour, that some of the kindergartens were teaching aspects of Sharia law, and that there were serious inadequacies in the way some kindergartens taught German.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump: ‘UK Politicians Should be Thanking Me’
Donald Trump has hit back after two high-profile Scottish snubs in the wake of his call for Muslims to be banned from entering the US.
The presidential hopeful — who has made major golf investments in Scotland — was dropped as a business ambassador by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
And he has also been stripped of an honorary degree by Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen.
Mr Trump responded: “The UK politicians should be thanking me.”
And he added in a tweet: “The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem. Everybody is wise to what is happening. Very sad. Be honest.”
An online petition calling for Donald Trump to be blocked from entry to the UK has broken the parliamentary website record and is approaching half a million signatures. It currently has more than 470,000 names, beating the previous high of 446,482.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Archaeologists Find Proof of Julius Caesar-Led Massacre in the Netherlands
Dutch archaeologists claim they have proof Roman emperor Julius Caesar spent time in what is now present day the Netherlands, after finding remains of a battle site near Oss in Brabant. They say they have found the location where Caesar fought against two German tribes in 55 BC and that this is the first battle field in the Netherlands.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Court Jails Six Men for Supporting ‘IS’
A three-judge panel has sentenced several men and one woman involved in a terrorism support network in The Hague. A lawyer for one of the convicted said his client didn’t know of the militant group’s human rights record.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-UK PM Tony Blair Says Labour Party Reduced to Fringe Protest Movement
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has launched a scathing attack on the current leader of the Labour Party, describing it as a “tragedy” that has reduced it to just a “fringe protest movement.”
Blair’s caustic remarks — made in an article for the Spectator magazine — go to the heart of the current divisions within Labour. Blair was the leader who marched his party from the political left towards the center ground and won three consecutive general elections and who — controversially — went to war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Corbyn, on the other hand, ran his leadership campaign on a socialist ticket — lurching his party back from the center ground to the left — and is hugely anti-war, which caused a substantial rift in his party in the recent vote on whether to launch airstrikes over Syria.
Blair’s election in 1997 ended 18 years of Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He won on a pro-business ticket that included making the Bank of England independent and establishing a light-touch financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
His critics within the Labour Party, however, felt he had turned his back on socialism and had reinvented the party as a middle class center-left organization that did not have the working man at its heart. Blair disagrees, saying: “Many — especially in today’s Labour Party — felt we lost our way in Government. I feel we found it.”
“Significant elements of the party [during Labour’s time in power] saw the process of governing with all its compromises, pragmatism and embrace of changing times as implicit betrayal of our principles,” Blair admitted.
Deep Divisions
Corbyn — who voted against war with Iraq, defying Blair — says his leadership campaign re-embraced the socialist principles of his party, giving a rise in membership as proof of his left wing agenda.
“All wings of the Labour Party which support the notion of the Labour Party as a party aspiring to govern, rather than as a fringe protest movement, agree on the tragedy of the Labour Party’s current position,” Blair wrote.
His comments will further deepen divisions within his party especially within Westminster, where many Labour lawmakers are center-left Blairites, who believe they were elected in May on a different mandate to that on which Corbyn was elected leader.
They do not share many of his views on the economy, nuclear deterrent or defense, which includes withdrawal from NATO.
The intervention of Blair, will further cause tensions within the Labour party, with most of his lawmakers in Westminster agreeing with him, while many grass roots socialists in the wider party disagree.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Arrests Twins for Killing 11 in 2014 Iraq Massacre
Finnish police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of killing 11 people during a 2014 massacre in Iraq claimed by the Islamic State group, officials said on Thursday.
The pair, 23-year-old twins from Iraq, were arrested on Tuesday near Forssa, a town in southwestern Finland. They arrived in the country in September, but police would not confirm whether they had sought asylum.
“The men are suspected of murdering by gunfire 11 unarmed and defenceless prisoners,” the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said in a statement…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: National Front Prospers in De Gaulle’s Hometown
The tiny French village of Colombey-les-deux-Églises, the home and final resting place of former president Charles de Gaulle, is now a bastion of support for the far-right National Front — a fact that divides opinion among the town’s residents.
In his “War Memoirs”, written in the 1950s, de Gaulle makes a heartfelt tribute to the town 150 miles south-east of Paris that he came to call home after moving there in the 1930s. Colombey-les-deux-Églises, he said, is a “peaceful village of little wealth where, for millennia, neither the soul nor the place has changed”.
The father of the French Fifth Republic could not have foreseen that 65 years later Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) might yet “change the soul” of his beloved town. In Sunday’s first round of voting in the French regional elections, the FN, represented in the region by its vice-president Florian Philippot, garnered 42.7 percent of votes in Colombey-les-deux-Églises, more than any other party…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French MP Presents Resolution Against Anti-Russia Sanctions to Parliament
Former French transport minister introduced the resolution to abolish anti-Russia sanctions to the French Parliament.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French lawmaker from The Republicans party Thierry Mariani told Sputnik on Thursday that he has drafted and introduced to the French Parliament a resolution to abolish anti-Russia sanctions.
Mariani, who is also a former French transport minister, introduced the resolution Wednesday and is planning to debate it in the National Assembly in January.
“The next step would be to collect as many signatures among [Members of Parliament] under this resolution. My target is 150 signatures. After collecting them I plan in January to present it for debate at the National Assembly,” Mariani said.
According to the resolution obtained by Sputnik, anti-Russia sanctions are “in contradiction with the fundamental interests of French-Russian relations,” and are “totally ineffective but mostly illegal” in terms of international law and harmful to the interests of France.
“I would like to see France lift sanctions against Russia. It is proposed to the French government to acknowledge the cancellation of economic sanctions and limited measures imposed by the European Union to the Russian Federation and begin a review of the sanctions policy in regard to Russia,” the document presented to the parliament reads.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Court Lets Off ‘Sharia Police’ Patrol in Wuppertal
A German court has ruled that Islamists who patrolled a city’s streets as “Sharia police” did not break the law and will not be prosecuted.
Nine were arrested in September 2014 after patrolling streets in Wuppertal, western Germany. They wore bright orange jackets with the words “Sharia police”. They told passers-by not to frequent discos, casinos or bars.
The court said they had not violated laws on uniforms and public gatherings.
Prosecutors have now lodged an appeal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Muslim Student to Play Mary in Nativity Play in Pescara
Sends an important message of welcome, says head teacher
(ANSA) — Pescara, December 9 — A 17-year-old Muslim student will play the role of Mary in a large nativity play organised by a school in Pescara, the institute’s head teacher said Wednesday. Some 200 pupils from seven different schools in the Adriatic coastal city will take part in the show, which is being staged by the Aterno-Manthoné Institute for the twentieth year.
“There will also be other Muslim students,” said head teacher Antonella Sanvitale.
“We gave students of different faiths full freedom to choose whether to take part, but it was them who asked us whether they could participate.
“We are happy to be able to send an important message of welcome.” The nativity play will take place on December 18 at 5.30pm in the surroundings of Piazzale della Madonnina.
The mayor of the city, Marco Alessandrini, will appear as one of the Three Wise Men.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi ‘A Coward’ on ISIS Says Salvini
‘Having it both ways is the worst way of thinking’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 9 — Rightwing populist Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said Wednesday centre-left Premier Matteo Renzi was a “coward” for Italy’s not taking part in Syria anti-ISIS airstrikes. “Renzi is a coward,” Salvini told the House.
“And fear and cowardice never pay. “Having it both ways is the worst way of thinking. “When someone attacks you you have to defend yourself. “If you waste time you’re not acting in Italians’ interests”.
Italy is supporting anti-ISIS action in Iraq with reconnaissance flights but has ruled out extending these to Syria.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Climbs 8 Places in 2015 Global Transparency Ranking
Secured 17th spot, up from 25th in 2014
(ANSA) — Rome, December 9 — Italy has climbed eight places in a global transparency ranking, Italy’s Civil Service Minister Marianna Madia announced Wednesday.
The country secured 17th spot in the 2015 ‘Global Open Data Index’, which assesses the state of open government data around the world.
This marked a significant improvement on 2014, when Italy came in 25th position in the ranking.
“The aim is to enter the top 10 most transparent countries in 2016,” Madia wrote on Twitter.
By Christmas, a ‘Freedom of Information Act’ decree, which will allow members of the public to access government information, will come into force, she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt Might Enact Security Spending Without EU Greenlight
Package would bring 2016 deficit from 2.2% to 2.4%
(ANSA) — Rome, December 9 — The government looks set to enact a security spending package without waiting for a green light from the European Union, majority sources said Wednesday. The package would bring the 2016 national budget deficit from 2.2% to 2.4% of GDP in order to pay for boosted security in the wake of the November 13 Islamist terror attacks in Paris, the sources said.
Center-left Premier Matteo Renzi last week announced a two-billion-euro spending package on security and culture to go into the budget bill and to be rolled out in two phases.
Last week, it emerged that the first part of the security package would take advantage of between 500 and 600 million euros in extra cash derived from the ‘voluntary disclosure’ of previously undeclared offshore assets. The rest would be dependent on the EU giving the green light to Italy’s request for greater flexibility in the application of its budget rules.
This week it appears that this will no longer be the case, and the government will likely enact the measure in a single phase and without waiting for EU approval.
The European Commission is currently vetting the government’s proposed 2016 budget and its opinion will likely be given in the spring.
Italy has so far gotten permission to use EU flexibility clauses for reforms (+0.2%) and investments (+0.3%) but not for the migrant and refugee emergency — which would add 3.3-billion-euro room for maneuver or +0.2% flexibility.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lombardy Clamps Down on Burqa, Niqab in Public Offices
People with helmets, face veils can be refused entry
(ANSA) — Milan, December 10 — Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni’s regional executive has changed the regulations for access to local government offices and hospitals, banning entry to people whose face is covered, he said on Thursday.
The measure could be seen as targeting people wearing Islamic dress such as the burqa and niqab, who can be refused entry, even though these clothes are not specifically mentioned.
The new rules reflect existing national law, which forbids people from going around in public without being identifiable. Inserting them in official regional regulation will make it possible for staff to turn people away if they are wearing helmets, or clothes that cover their face.
“We have adjusted the regulation and so now whoever is monitoring entrances can prevent people with their face covered from entering,” Maroni confirmed.
There are no estimates of how many women wear a face veil in Italy, where Islam is the second largest religion after Catholicism with around 1.2 million faithful.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Spends 1.3% of GDP on Research, Development in 2013
Spending grows most in south and northeast
(ANSA) — Rome, December 10 — Italy spent the equivalent of 1.3% of GDP on research and development in 2013, national statistics agency Istat said on Thursday.
This was up from 1.27% in 2012 and translated into roughly 21 billion euros, Istat added. Jobs in research and development also increased by 2.7% over 2012 to 246,764., the agency said. The private sector accounted for 57.7% of spending in research and development, up from 57.2% in 2012. Sector spending grew in all parts of the country, with the greatest rise reported in the south (+5.3%) and northeast (4%), Istat reported. However, in absolute terms spending on research and development in the south accounted for only 16.5% of the total, compared to 36.5% in the northwest, 23.8% in the northeast and 23.2% in the centre. Spending in research and development by private companies is expected to grow by 1% and by private no-profit institutions by 1.3% in 2015, according to Istat forecasts. Instead public sector spending in 2015 is expected to fall by 2.9%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Suspected Pedophile Priest to Get Fast-Track Trial
Father Giampiero Peschiulli, 73, is under house arrest
(ANSA) — Bari, December 10 — A preliminary hearing judge on Thursday ruled a suspected pedophile priest will get a fast-track trial.
Father Giampiero Peschiulli, 73, was placed under house arrest in May on suspicion of molesting two altar boys while he was the parish priest of Brindisi church.
He is charged with sexually abusing the victims aggravated by “abuse of moral and religious authority”.
The alleged offenses date back to 2012, when the boys were not yet 14, and reportedly lasted through 2014.
The prelate was unmasked by a satirical TV show that specialises in stings, Le Iene (Reservoir Dogs).
Peschiulli left his post after the alleged abuse was unveiled in October 2014.
The priest was implicated when one of the presumed victims told a teacher his story.
Carabinieri police said reports existed of other alleged sexual abuse by Peschiulli going back as far as 2002, which can’t be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations.
A relative of one of the alleged victims, now an adult, said the prelate repeatedly groped the 10-year-old boy on his thighs and near his genitals.
Legal documents seen by ANSA say that parents reported the priest to the bishop at the time, Monsignor Rocco Talucci, who “expressed astonishment” that the boys “had spoken at home about the abuse received, and had invited the victims of the sexual acts to not report the episode and to not speak about it to others”.
In Italy, a fast-track trial means verdicts can’t be appealed, and the defendant will get his or her sentence reduced by a third if found guilty.
The next hearing in the case will be in January.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Iraqi Terror Suspect Denies Being a Jihadist
‘I meant actual truffles not bombs’ he tells magistrate
(ANSA) — Bari, December 10 — An Iraqi terror suspect on Thursday denied being a jihadist and using the word truffles as code for bombs in wiretapped conversations. “I was talking about actual truffles,” Majid Muhamad, 45, told a magistrate during a three-hour interrogation. Muhamad was arrested Monday on charges of abetting the illegal immigration as part of an international terrorism probe into at least 10 suspects.
Muhamad is thought to have helped people linked to an Italian cell of the Ansar al-Islam terror group and “aiding the entry into Europe of people linked to Islamist fundamentalist combatant circles,” police sources said.
He allegedly organized the illegal entry into Italy of numerous foreigners using fake documents including 11 people from Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, and Turkey whom he helped find accommodation in Bari between March and September, investigators said.
Muhamad was released from an Italian prison in January after serving 10 years for international terrorism.
He moved to Bari after his release, after winning an appeal against an expulsion order.
Within months of his release he became the leader of a group of foreigners including Georgians, Moroccans, and Tunisians he met in a kebab bar in Bari, investigators said.
Among those he had contact with were an Iraqi citizen, Ridha Shwan Jalal, arrested in Bari August 5 as he was about to embark on a ferry to Greece.
Some months before, Jalal had asked a travel agency in Matera for an estimate on 20 plane tickets from Sulaymaniyah International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan to Paris via Istanbul.
The tickets were for as many Iraqis who would leave in groups of five, investigators said.
Jalal was released and vanished.
Investigators later learned that he transited through the port of Bari the same day as Abdeslam Salah, the terrorist being hunted for the November 13 terror attacks in Paris.
Muhamad had telephone contact with numerous people believed to be linked to the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group, including some who were arrested recently, they added.
Many of them addressed him as Mullah Fouad, the name he used inside Ansar al-Islam.
Wiretapped phone conversations revealed Muhamad used what police believe to be code for explosives when he spoke of 2 kilos of “truffles” his wife sent him from Iraq.
Investigators are checking on people Muhamad called from his mobile in Afghanistan, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, and Tunisia.
Many contacts were with members of a terror group based in Parma that was broken up by arrests but that he evidently was trying to rebuild, they said.
During a February raid on a Bari apartment, police confiscated from Majid postcards he sent from prison in which he exalted the jihad, or holy war.
He also mentioned the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist organization as early as June 2011 though it was not generally known then, police added.
Bari Police Chief Antonio De Iesu said there is no evidence so far that Majid or the others under investigation were planning a terrorist attack, but said inquiries are continuing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 500 Belgian Jihadis Left for Syria and Iraq
Security consultants The Soufan Group are claiming that 470 people have left Belgium to go and fight in Syria and Iraq as members of extremist militias or terrorist outfits like IS.
In all some 30,000 foreigners have joined extremist militias in Syria and Iraq. 5,000 are believed to come from the EU, mainly from France, Britain, Belgium and Germany.
118 jihadi fighters are believed to have already returned to Belgium. A report by The Soufan Group repeatedly refers to the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek as a focus for the radicalisation of youngsters. Molenbeek has also been linked to the Paris attacks.
Most but not all jihadi fighters from Belgium are of North African descent. Some never integrated into mainstream Belgian society. Many are petty criminals who have served time in a Belgian jail.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Six Men Get Jail Terms for Role in the Hague Jihadi Terrorist Network
Nine defendants from The Hague district of Schilderswijk have been sentenced to up to six years in jail for their role in a jihadi terrorist group. Main suspect Azzedine C (33), alias Abou Moussa, was jailed for six years, as were Hatim R (26) and Anis Z (24) who are thought to be in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Rijksmuseum Cuts ‘Racist’ Language From Collection Notes
Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is overhauling its collection notes to remove words which could be considered offensive such as ‘negro, eskimo and indian’, the Parool reports on Wednesday. The museum has begun a project to replace such terminology across the hundreds of thousands of items in its collection. The move has been prompted by growing unease about the use of words dating from colonial times and increased digitalisation of the collection, spokeswoman Eveline Sint Nicholaas told the paper. ‘In days gone by, a black woman was more likely to be described as a negerin or negerinnetje which many people now consider to be offensive,’ she said. ‘It is part of our policy of taking a critical approach to the traditional eurocentric viewpoint.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pepper Spray, Stun Guns and Gas Pistols Are in High Demand in Germany
Germans are increasingly buying self-defense products, according to a weapons industry group survey. Citizens are reasoning that if terror attacks can happen in Paris, they could happen in Germany, too.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Donald Trump is Stripped of Honorary Degree at Robert Gordon University
Mr Trump (pictured), who is currently running for the Republican post, was awarded a Doctorate of Business Administration from Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen in 2010.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Launches Fake Passport Crackdown
Sweden’s major parties have announced a cross-party agreement on a range of anti-terror measures including stricter rules to stop passport fraud.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss See ‘Terrorist Threat’ In Geneva, Hunt for Suspects
GENEVA The Swiss city of Geneva raised its alert level on Thursday and said it was looking for suspects who, according to national officials, had possible links to terrorism.
A security guard at the United Nations’ European headquarters told Reuters that Swiss authorities were searching for four men believed to be in or near the city.
Another guard said the U.N. compound was on maximum alert, and Geneva prosecutors said they were investigating the preparation of criminal acts.
Separately, the Swiss attorney-general said it opened an a criminal inquiry on the basis of a “terrorist threat in Geneva” against unknown persons suspected of belonging to a criminal organisation and of violating the ban on al-Qaeda or Islamic State operating in the country.
The Geneva daily Le Temps reported that a friend of Salah Abdeslam, the latter wanted in connection with the deadly Paris attacks on Nov. 13, was in a van spotted by Geneva police on Tuesday after a tip from French authorities that the two men in the car were strongly suspected of ties to radical Islam.
The van, which had Belgian plates, crossed the border into France, the paper said. Geneva officials could not confirm the report.
A French police source said Swiss authorities had been in touch to ask for information, about some suspects, including photographs…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Two Detained in Finland Over ISIS Executions in Tikrit
The National Bureau of Investigation says that two Iraqi brothers have been detained in Finland on suspicion of terrorism-related murders in Iraq. They suspect that they were members of the extremist group ISIS.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The report — which targets anti-Islamist activists from the Muslim community and beyond — has been slammed by Muslim moderates as “hate filled” and “totally discredited”.
“The Counter-Jihad Movement: Anti-Muslim hatred from the margins to the mainstream” was trailed uncritically in the Guardian newspaper, and was finally released on Wednesday after several days of delay.
But readers were shocked to see that rather than being the usual Hope Not Hate report into the English Defence League (EDL), or American anti-Islamist activists, the authors, Nick Lowles and Joe Mulhall included Muslim reformers who oppose Shariah and fundamentalism.
The original report — now seemingly edited — includes a reference to the minority rights advocate and anti-Shariah campaigner Raquel Saraswati.
Mr. Saraswati, who wears a hijab, and considers herself a devout, practicing, reformist Muslim, was targeted due to her links to anti-Shariah campaigners. Her inclusion in the report drew ire from other reformist Muslims, including Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation, who took to Twitter to air his disgust:…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gez Bennett and Shane Mullen Filmed Boasting of Stealing Nissan Gt-R
Gez Bennett, 19, (pictured) and his accomplice Shane Mullen, 21, had scarves covering their faces as they dragged the victim from her Nissan GT-R and drove off at high speed in Coventry, West Midlands.
This is the moment two carjackers were filmed boasting of stealing a high-powered sports car from a mother and her nine-year-old son as they hurtled along residential roads at high speed.
In dashcam footage taken from the stolen Nissan GT-R, Gez Bennett, 19, can be heard saying ‘f*****g rally car son’ and ‘best car we’ve had, bruv’.
The teenager and his accomplice Shane Mullen, 21, robbed the £40,000 vehicle from Tracy Moore as she visited a beauty salon at 7.50pm on September 18 last year.
The carjackers, who had scarves covering their faces, dragged the victim from the Nissan before speeding off at ‘terrifying’ speeds in Coventry, West Midlands.
A court heard that Ms Moore chased after the car thinking her young son was still inside but luckily the boy had managed to get out during the terrifying attack.
The thieves were arrested after the damning footage linked them to the crime and the mother’s designer handbag was found hanging on a tree near Bennett’s home.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Islamist Cell That Encouraged People to Support ISIS Broken Up in Luton
Four men, including Mohammed Alamgir, 36, are accused of organising pro-ISIS meetings in Luton, Bedfordshire, allegedly urging young men and children to fight the West.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Muslim student who was chucked off a coach after complaints from fellow passengers, said he was targeted because of his religion. Ibrahim Ismail, 42, from Bristol, said he felt ‘angry’ and ‘humiliated’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Money? Belgian Defense Minister Refuses to Pay for New NATO Building
Belgium Defense Minister Steven Vandeput has officially refused to provide 83 million euros for the construction of a new NATO building, RTBF broadcasting company reports citing the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Karolien Grosemans.
The new building was supposed to be used by NATO Communications and Information Agency.
The previous administration vouched to invest these funds in the construction of a new NATO building in the village of Casteau where the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe is located.
“Steven Vandeput refuses to pay the money from his budget, therefore refusing to carry out the decision made by the office of the previous prime minister,” said a statement posted on the RTBF official website.
According to the Belgium Defense Ministry estimates, the construction project would cost 83.2 million euros, while Grosemans argued that it will cost 120 million euros.
The new building was supposed to be used by NATO Communications and Information Agency and the federal government of Belgium had previously pledged to fund its construction, RTBF adds.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Releases ‘Spy’ Ouda Tarabin
Media, Israel releasing two Egyptians in exchange
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 10 — The Israeli foreign ministry has confirmed that Ouda Tarabin, a Bedouin citizen of the Jewish state, has been released from an Egyptian jail.
Tarabin had finished serving a 15-year jail term on charges of being “a spy”. According to local media, Israel released in exchange two Egyptians serving time there, at the end of their terms.
Egyptian news agency Mena, quoting an official source in Cairo, confirmed that “two Egyptian citizens were released from Israeli jails in exchange for Israeli spy Ouda Tarabin as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between Egypt and Israel”. The source added: “other Egyptians await to be released from Israeli prisons in future”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
High Egypt in Crisis, Bets on Mining Sector
Aswan Governor, we’re seeking alternatives for jobless people
(ANSAmed) — ASSUAN (EGYPT), DECEMBER 9 — “Whoever drinks the water of the Nile returns”, is a cherished saying many people in Egypt are seeking to believe, especially the hundreds and hundreds of hotel-owners, ship-owners, restauranters, small traders, artisans, boaters and cabbies of the South, often obliged to leave their jobs, after the downing of the Russian Airbus in Sinai made the presence of tourists increasingly scarce.
From Luxor down to Aswan, on the banks of the Nile — which at this point becomes wider and is dotted by lush, green islands covered in palms and mango trees — the economic situation is dramatic. “Out of 1 million and 400 thousand inhabitants in the whole province of Aswan — said governor, Mostafa Yousry — 60% is employed in the tourism industry and the remaining 40% in agricolture. Cultivations of sugar cane mainly”. The consequences of the 2011 revolution have been devastating here.
In the golden era, he said, there was not a room to be found in the whole of Aswan.
“Now we reach just 25% of our capacity”.
Out of approximately 300 cruising boats which used to sail the Nile, only about ten are working.
On board there are mainly British and German tourists as well as a significant number of Chinese.
The numbers are depressing also at major sites from Luxor to Karnak, from Edfu to Kom Ombo and up to the Great Dam.
Ticket offices lie in total desolation.
From the Valley of Kings boasting the tomb of Tutankhamon (rather sparse, but still fascinating) Thutmosi III (excavated in the rock and adorned with frescoes despite its incomplete state) or Merenptah (with its reliefs intact and painted), there are only “approximately 3 thousand tickets sold. Before the 2011 revolution entries were around 7 thousand a day” said the keepers.
Things are not any better in Aswan.
Dozens of shutters are closed, the jetty is deserted, souvenir vendors are so desperate they have become a nuisance.
That is why explained Yousry, “since two years ago we have started to diversify, developing the mining sector: granite, iron, phosphate. Our reserves amount to several million cubes (700 for granite, 600 for phosphate, 420 for iron)”.
Authorities intend to establish new industrial zones “ to create jobs and offer opportunities to these people”.
Together with Koreans, he added “we are about to build a granite factory which will become the most important one in the Middle East”.
At the moment, however, the economic fortunes of High Egypt remain tied to the security guarantees the central government will be able to offer tourists.
“What happens in the Sinai (the latest attacks against a hotel in El Arish or the Egyptian armed forces in other parts of the peninsula) will occur again. We are expecting more”, concluded the governor.
Egypt, and the most precious jewels on its crown — scattered along the Nile valley until Nubia — do not deserve to pay more than they already have.
Despite the warning of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the Sinai — excluding Sharm El Sheikh — classical Egypt, the land of the Pharos — as well as the African coast on the Red Sea have been excluded from it. However, “there are no Italians to be seen” say guides, shop-keepers and cabbies. On the contrary, once strolling through the dusty alleys of Luxour and the majestic remains of the temple of Philae dedicated to goddess Isis, or admiring the precious artifacts at the Nubian Museum of Assuan, tensions and worries disappear until they dissolve into the warm air of a sunny December day.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Accused of witchcraft
(ANSA) — Cairo, December 9 — Islamic State (ISIS) militants on Wednesday posted a video apparently showing the beheading of two men accused of witchcraft in a public square including children in the Libyan city of Sirte.
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Lavrov Says Russia Ready to Help Italy on Libya
Foreign minister says Rome ‘strategic partner’
(ANSA) — Moscow, December 9 — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow was ready to assist Italy in its efforts to stabilise Libya. “I understand how important the problem of Libya is for Italy, both for geographic and historical reasons,” Lavrov told a meeting with Italian reporters. “We reiterate our understanding and we are ready to help.
(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has told (Italian Premier Matteo) Renzi this”.
Chaos in Libya, where two conflicting governments claim to be the legitimate powers, has been blamed for the deterioration in the Mediterranean migrant crisis and there are concerns about the spread of ISIS in the former Italian colony.
“I don’t know if (ISIS leader Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi is in Libya, but we have information that ISIS in (the Libyan city of) Sirte and that his cells are there in addition to the local militias and that Sirte is becoming a branch of (ISIS’s ‘capital’ in Syria) Raqqa,” Lavrov said.
“This raises concerns. It’s important for al-Baghdadi to show that his project is a success with the continual expansion of the caliphate”. Lavrov also said Italy, whose position on Russia on issues including the Ukraine crisis has been softer than other Western States, was a key partner for Moscow.
“We greatly value the relations between Russia and Italy because they are of a particularly strategic nature,” he said.
“The relationship is not just on paper, it’s rooted in the countries’ reciprocal fellings about how we live life and about how we want to build relations with Europe”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nobel Prize to Tunisia’s Guardians of Democracy
Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet, which on Thursday picked up its Nobel Peace Prize at a formal ceremony in Oslo, said the fight against terrorism was an “absolute priority”.
The Quartet is made up of the Human Rights League, General Labour Union (UGTT), the Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), and the Order of Lawyers.
“Arms, in the end, only lead to destruction,” Abdessatar Ben Moussa, head of Tunisia’s Human Rights League, told AFP in an interview just hours before the award ceremony.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Bank Won’t Pay Damages to Americans for Attacks
US appeals court against thousands of cases on Hamas support
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, DECEMBER 10 — The Arab Bank Plc on Thursday welcomed a ruling by an appeals judge in New York who denied to thousands of American citizens the right to seek damages from the Amman-based bank over funding it allegedly provided to Palestinian groups that have carried out attacks in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. In a statement sent to ANSA, the bank said it had always operated respecting the laws and the screeningduties in carrying out its work.
Thousands of American citizens files lawsuits against the Arab Bank, claiming damages in 24 attacks in Israel and the Palestinian Territories since the start of 2000.
The bank, in particular, was accused of supporting Hamas financially through aid provided to charities linked to the Palestinian group. According to the Arab Bank, the appeals court ruling, which upheld a 2013 verdict issued by a court of first instance, will block 6,000 lawsuits.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Friends Zuckerberg Over Pro-Muslim Message
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday praised Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for emphasising the difference between Islam and terror, after the social-network billionaire posted a message defending Muslims against discrimination.
Erdogan, who once threatened to ban Facebook in his country, used his official page on the website to respond to Zuckerberg both in Turkish and in English.
“I highly value Mark Zuckerberg’s message for pointing out the profound difference between Islam and terrorism since these two concepts are often mentioned in the same breath these days,” he wrote.
“As I always express on different platforms, Islam is a religion of peace. Murderous networks that abuse Islam for their self-serving goals are massacring innocent people every day, particularly Muslims.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Freed Syrian Priest Describes Kidnap Hell
A Syrian priest held for 84 days by the Islamic State group described Thursday how he believed his last hours had come, and called on the West to do more to help those trapped in the war-torn country.
Jacques Mourad of the Syriac Catholic Church, who was abducted by unknown gunmen in May, said the “hardest thing” was hearing his captors pledge to kill him if he did not covert to Islam.
The 48-year-old, who was kidnapped along with another Syrian from the Mar Moussa monastery north of Damascus by masked gunmen, described to journalists in Rome the moment of his abduction…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Woman to be Stoned to Death as World Marks UN ‘Human Rights Day’
As the world marks International Human Rights Day on Thursday, Iran is continuing its execution spree with the announcement that a woman has been sentenced to death by stoning.
The gruesome penalty, in which the wrongdoer is buried up to their shoulders and pelted with rocks, was first reported on the Persian-language Iranian website LAHIG. The woman, who was identified only by the initials “A.Kh,” was convicted of being complicit in her husband’s murder.
An Iranian criminal court in Rasht, the capital city of the northern province of Gilan, handed down the brutal sentence.
“The rate of executions in Iran has not decreased in the last few years, it has increased,” Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, a prominent Canadian-Iranian human rights activist based in Toronto, told FoxNews.com.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Major Violation of Human Rights’: 180,000 Child Brides in Turkey
There are major concerns over the rights of young women in Turkey, with a prominent female rights lawyer claiming that there are 180,000 child brides in the country, while one-third of all marriages involve underage girls.
“There are 181,036 child brides in our country, unfortunately,” lawyer Nuriye Kadan, an executive member of the Izmir Bar Association Central, said following an investigation into underage marriages and child brides in Turkey.
Ms Kadan’s address to a conference on the matter has highlighted some of the issues involving underage brides in Turkish society.
According to recent research, a third of all marriages in Turkey are between and older man and a child, with Kadan emphasizing that child marriages are “a major violation of children’s rights” that needs to be addressed.
Situation Getting Worse
While the issue of child brides has been a longstanding issue in Turkey, many researchers believe the situation is getting worse given the current economic and political situation, with the influx of refugees from Syria and Iraq thought to have pushed the numbers up.
While the legal age for women to marry is 17, many unions can be approved at the age of 16, if it can be proved that there are “exceptional circumstances” supporting the marriage.
Despite the legal restraints, Kadan says many people are subverting the laws in Turkey.
“Nearly 20,000 parents filed applications to marry off their under-16 girls in 2012,” Kadan said.
“Some 97.4 percent of the students who do not further their education for marital reasons are female,” she added, saying medical complications arising from pregnancy was responsible for the deaths of young girls between the ages of 15 and 19.
‘Forced Child Marriages Should Be Punished’
While President Recep Erdogan has described female affairs in Turkey as the country’s “bleeding wound”, he has also been accused of holding chauvinistic views after saying that men and women cannot be put on an “equal footing.”
Yasar University Law Professor Mustafa Ruhan Erdem said that education is the key to empowering women, calling for a legal crackdown on child marriages.
“Child marriages occasioned by force and threats should be punished,” he said, adding that child marriage is not defined as a criminal act in Turkey.
“Marriage should be based on free will according to international law,” said Professor Erdem.
He said Turkey’s signing of the 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women “mandates the enactment of laws which regard intentional acts forcing any adult or child into marriage as a ‘crime.’
“Forced marriage should not be left unpunished.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nothing Islamic About These Terrorists Says Rania of Jordan
‘Continue respecting one another or terrorists win’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 10 — There’s nothing Islamic about Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, Queen Rania of Jordan said Thursday in the nation’s capital.
“They justify their actions by invoking Islam — there is nothing Islamic about these terrorists,” Rania said while receiving an honorary degree in International Development and Cooperation Sciences from La Sapienza University.
“The more they invoke Islam for their terrorist acts the more they provoke the intolerance of peaceful Muslims”.
The queen added that fearing the terrorists will lead us to fear one another.
“The moment we let suspicion take over, they win,” she said.
“So I beg you to continue treating our fellows with respect and an open mind — as we are doing today by honoring an Arab, a Muslim, a woman”.
ISIS is not only slaughtering innocents, it is also attempting to destroy our culture, Rania said.
“They are not just killing thousands of innocent men, women and children but also our shared cultural heritage…these are not just attacks on ancient pillars and stones, but on the centuries-old values of our common archeological heritage and of our human coexistence,” the Jordanian queen said.
The Islamist extremists “are so deluded they think they can create a new post-Daesh (Arabic for ISIS) era and brainwash future generations”, Rania said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
What Iran Stands to Gain by Purchasing Russia’s Advanced T-90 Tank
Commenting on the news that Iran is considering the purchase of an unknown quantity of Russian-made T-90 main battle tanks, Iranian political scientist and military expert Abouzar Bagheri shared with Sputnik his insights into what the purchase would mean for Iran’s military potential, and for the Iranian-Russian military partnership as a whole.
On Tuesday, Iranian Army Ground Forces Commander Ahmad Reza Pourdastan told Iranian media that Tehran’s military cooperation with Moscow is going ahead smoothly, and that in addition to the recently renewed contract to deliver the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, the purchase of the T-90 main battle tank is on the agenda.
“Our military cooperation with Moscow has been strengthened; we have signed the first contract for the purchase of the S-300,” the general noted, according to the Tasnim News Agency. “Relatedly, the purchase of the T-90 tank is on the agenda. We are hoping that the relevant contracts will be concluded, and that our experts will be able to travel to Russia to gain experience in the operation of this modern piece of machinery.”
The T-90, adopted by the Russian Armed Forces in the mid-1990s and facing several waves of modernization since then, has been quite popular on the global weapons market, particularly among the countries of Azerbaijan, Algeria and India (the latter now has over 850 T-90s). Late last month, reports surfaced that the Syrian Army’s 4th Mechanized division deployed several T-90s.
Military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran became possible again after Iran reached an agreement on its nuclear program with the P5+1 group of international mediators in July.
According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in Vienna on July 14, in addition to sanctions relating to ballistic missile technologies, which will remain in place for eight years, sanctions on the sale of conventional weapons would stay in place for five years.
Nevertheless, General Pourdastan is convinced that given the growing threat of terrorism in the region, questions of self-defense and the strengthening of the country’s military potential should not be unnecessarily constrained to the JCPOA. The general emphasized that Tehran would “use all available means” to defend itself from the threat of terror.
What does this mean as far as Iran’s desire to purchase the Russian main battle tank? Speaking to Sputnik Persian, Abouzar Bagheri, political scientist and military expert, emphasized that all countries have the right to find ways to defend themselves.
“Iran has held negotiations with Russia on military cooperation for a long time, in particular, on the purchase of the S-300. One way or another, every country has the legitimate right to strengthen and expand its military-defense complex, in order to defend its territory in case of a potential threat, and Iran is no exception,” the expert noted.
“The JCPOA,” Bagheri noted, “together with instructions from the US that Iran does not have the right to conduct missile tests or purchase offensive weapons or to use them, truly has limited Iran’s right to do so. However, as stated by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, we must strengthen our military defensive complex, and this is not connected to the JCPOA, because Iran came to an agreement with the P5+1 on the use of the atom, not on our defense and missile potential.”
“It is for this reason,” the analyst suggested, “ that General Pourdastan raised the issue of expanding the military potential our Iran’s ground forces, notably via [the creation of a new] tank battalion, before the country’s parliament.”
According to Bagheri, “Tehran sees the purchase of modern tanks from Russia as part of the need to strengthen its defense industry. And, given the threats which exist in the region, Iran will certainly be using all its military potential to ensure the security of our country and neighboring countries.”
Ultimately, the expert believes that the signing of military and military technical cooperation agreements with Tehran is an indication that Moscow is moving from a relationship of partner to one of strategic ally to Iran in the region. For its part, by expanding its defense potential, Iran is strengthening its capacity not only to defend itself, but to conduct joint operations with Russia in the common war against terrorism.
“Iran has said repeatedly that it would seek to defend not only its national interests…but also the oppressed peoples of the region,” the Bagheri emphasized. “Today, our military instructors and advisors are present in Syria and Iraq, and help the people and governments of these countries in the war against terrorism. Iran, in close cooperation with its allies — Lebanon’s Hazbollah and Russia, renders all possible assistance to the peoples of these countries.”
In this connection, “if the situation in the region continues to deteriorate, and third countries seek to strengthen their imperial influence or to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries…we cannot just leave this state of affairs at is, and will use all our capabilities and potential. Firstly, it is necessary to use diplomacy, in order to stabilize the situation while avoiding a military confrontation. In order areas, Iran will act decisively and will help their allies…And of course, if someone among the imperial powers were to seek to disrupt the stability and security which we are trying to safeguard, Iran will act decisively to protect the interests and territorial integrity of our allies militarily.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Companies in ‘Double Whammy’ Over Anti-Russian Sanctions
French companies have become overcautious in doing business with Russia because they could be punished by the United States for violating sanctions, according to a resolution presented to the French Parliament that was acquired by Sputnik on Thursday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French lawmaker from The Republicans party Thierry Mariani said he has drafted and introduced to the French Parliament a resolution to abolish anti-Russia sanctions with plans to debate it in the National Assembly in January.
“These [French] companies fall into double punishment from both the sanctions and caution so as to avoid fines by the United States,” the document presented to the parliament reads.
The document presumes that the current economic sanctions against Russia are “in contradiction with the fundamental interests of French-Russian relations,” and are “totally ineffective but mostly illegal” in terms of international law and harmful to the interests of France and are “in the interest of American companies.”
“Sanctions on our companies are in the interests of American companies. For example, the signing of a contract for assembling helicopters in Russia between [France’s] Bell Company and Russia’s Rostec after European sanctions were introduced,” the document says.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Wants Debate Before Russia Sanctions Extended
Lavrov says Moscow ready to help Rome on Libya
(ANSA) — Brussels, December 9 — Italy has requested a “political debate” on the renewal of the European Union’s sanctions against Russia, which are set to expire on December 31, diplomatic sources in Brussels said on Wednesday. The sanctions were imposed over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine. The extension of the sanctions was set to be approved automatically at a meeting of the 28 member States’ ambassadors to the EU on Wednesday, but Italy did not give the green light to it going through without a debate, the sources said. As a result, the Luxembourg duty presidency of the EU withdrew this issue from the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, pending a decision on whether to defer the question to Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers or the December 17-18 summit of European leaders. Also on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is ready to assist Italy in its efforts to stabilise Libya. “I understand how important the problem of Libya is for Italy, for both geographical and historical reasons,” Lavrov told a meeting with Italian reporters. “We reiterate our understanding and we are ready to help.
(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has told (Italian Premier Matteo) Renzi this”. Chaos in Libya, where two conflicting governments claim to be the legitimate powers, has been blamed for the deterioration in the Mediterranean migrant and refugee crisis and there are concerns about the spread of the Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist insurgency in the former Italian colony. “I don’t know if (ISIS leader Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi is in Libya, but we have information that ISIS is in (the Libyan city of) Sirte and that his cells are there in addition to the local militias and that Sirte is becoming a branch of (ISIS’s ‘capital’ in Syria) Raqqa,” Lavrov said. “This raises concerns. It’s important for al-Baghdadi to show that his project is a success with the continual expansion of the caliphate”. Lavrov also said Italy, whose position on Russia on issues including the Ukraine crisis has been softer than other Western States, was a key partner for Moscow. “We greatly value the relations between Russia and Italy because they are of a particularly strategic nature,” he said.
“The relationship is not just on paper, it’s rooted in the countries’ reciprocal fellings about how we live life and about how we want to build relations with Europe”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: Dhaka: Brutal Attack on Catholic Brothers Leaves Them Fighting for Life
Rajesh D ‘Cruze is a banker and his brother Ranjan D’ Cruze works at a private company. They were attacked by more than five unidentified thugs. The dynamics of the attack reminiscent of the one against Fr. Piero Parolari, with gun and knife. Christian leader: “We have been victim of attacks for too long. We demand justice and security from the government”.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Today, two Catholic brothers were seriously injured in the capital of Bangladesh. Rajesh D ‘Cruze, a banker, and Ranjan D’ Cruze, an employee in a private company are currently being treated in Dhaka Medical College Hospital but their conditions are described as grave.
Nirmal Rozario, general secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA), told AsiaNews: “We unreservedly condemn this heinous attack and demand immediate action against the culprits.”
The dynamics of the attack is not yet clear, but closely resemble the attempted murder of Fr. Piero Parolari, the PIME missionary priest (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions) attacked in recent weeks by still unidentified criminals. The two Catholics were in Arjotpara, in the Mohakhli, one of the most crowded areas of the capital home to offices, shops and institutional sites.
According to preliminary reports, they were approached at about 12 (local time) by more than five assailants, who savagely attacked them with guns and knives.
Some Christian leaders have visited them in the hospital and expressed total condemnation. Rozario adds: “Their health condition is critical. Please pray for them. “
The secretary of BCA reports that “this year there have been numerous incidents of violence against Christians. We want a just punishment for those who committed this crime. We also urge the government to ensure justice and security for all “.
In recent weeks several Christians have been threatened with death in a series of letters and text messages to targets, “guilty” of being foreign or “preachers of the Gospel in Bangladesh”. The threats say the intended victims should “eat until they can”, because soon they “will be killed.”
Catholic sources tell AsiaNews that the tension is due to a power struggle going on between the ruling party and the opposition forces, particularly Islamic radicals.The country is governed by the Bangladesh Awami League [secular nationalist party — ed] led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Since being re-elected to lead the country in January 2014, Hasina is trying to boost economic growth and encourage a secular, democratic society. At the same time, several members of her party are under investigation for crimes of corruption and abuse of office.
Analysts also point to the attempt to marginalize the opposition, both the Bangladesh Nationalist Party that the most radical Islamic group, the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for a high profile member of the opposition, accused of committing war crimes during the Indo-Pakistani conflict in 1971. The government supporters took to the streets to celebrate the verdict, but the opposition objected to the “political motives” for the execution.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Bomb Threats and Security Clamp Down on Christmas Festivities for Lahore’s Christians
The Lahore authorities have issued a warning for possible attacks during Advent and festive season. Christian community main target, already the subject of attempted attack last March. Nostalgia for decorations and songs of the past, but now “everything is empty.” Imam of the Grand Mosque of Lahore calls on authorities to “take all necessary security measures.”
Youhanabad (AsiaNews) -Lahore’s Christians in Youhanabad’s neighborhood are preparing to celebrate Advent and Christmas amid heavy security following numerous threats of attacks.
The leaders of the various communities of the city, one of the most important centers of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan, in recent days reported to the authorities that they had received threats and warnings from extremist movements.
This has provoked a reaction from the Minister of Justice of Punjab, who described the rumors as “credible” adding that Youhanabad’s churches are at risk, already the scene of a bloody attack last March that left 20 dead and 70 wounded, and more generally the entire city of Lahore.
Speaking to AsiaNews Fr. Nasir George, priest in Lahore, confirmed the pervasive “uncertainty” among faithful who still remember the terrible images of the attacks in March. “New threats — he adds — have given rise to a new wave of fear” and people increasingly are afraid to go to places of worship, because they do not feel protected by the police who, in most cases, protect the attackers.
Nusrat Bibi, a teacher Youhanabad, recalls the recent past with nostalgia and sorrow, when for example the season of Advent was an opportunity to “decorate the streets, the houses, the churches”. However, this year the fear and uncertainty reigns in the streets of the Christian suburb of Lahore, and “no one is safe.” It’s like someone, he adds, “we had our private happiness.” Youhanabad was “a symbol of the spirit of Christmas in the City”, but now “everything is empty.”
Local sources said that the police have increased security measures in the area, with repercussions on business. This is confirmed by a street vendor, Mr. Luke Francis, who is stationed outside a Catholic church in Youhanabad. “It doesn’t not even look like Christmas — he says — there are no events, no decorations, no participation by the people.”
Maulana Arif Hameed Khan Khateeb, preacher at the Grand Mosque in Lahore, spoke out against the threats against Christians saying that is “sad” to hear this news “as the faithful prepare to celebrate their holiday.” “Once — says the Muslim leader — the air would resonate with Christmas carols from the beginning of December, the religious leaders [Christians] would come to visit the mosque and bring sweets. This year looks like a desert. “ Islam is a religion of peace, he commented, and this is why “we appeal to the authorities, so that they take all possible measures to ensure the security of religious minorities.”
Christmas is a time of joy, hope, said Fr. Haroon Arif of Youhanabad, and “we want to bring this message to every home, so that the birth of the Messiah because is celebrated. We encourage the faithful to pray and fast for this year … pray for peace, prosperity and happiness in the year next”.
More than 100 thousand Christians live in the suburb of Youhanabad. Lahore is the capital of Pakistan’s most populous and wealthy province Punjab. In the recent past, the city was considered one of the more peaceful compared to many other areas of the country, in a large majority Sunni Muslim nation where there have been many incidents of attacks against minorities, particularly Christians.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Blasphemy Laws Increasingly Misused to Settle Petty Disputes Against Christians
Blasphemy laws which can punish insulting Islam with death are now regarded as sacrosanct in Pakistan. They are, critics claim, a means to persecute minority faiths and settle petty grievances, over how much butter was sold at a shop or, as in Mr Masih’s case, an electricity bill.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Call to ‘Ban Muslims’ Sparks Anger in Asia
Religious leaders in Asia on Thursday condemned Donald Trump’s inflammatory comments on Muslims, warning that the US presidential hopeful was helping the Islamic State group’s cause and diminishing America’s global stature.
In Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, together home to more than a third of the world’s 1.5 billion followers of Islam, anger at the bouffant billionaire’s incendiary proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States ran high.
Leading Bangladeshi cleric Fariduddin Masud told AFP the remarks fed IS propaganda that sought to depict a grand war between Islam and the West.
“By uttering such a hate-spreading statement, Donald Trump has committed a crime by indirectly helping the cause of so-called global Islamist militants such as Islamic State,” the chairman of the Jamiatul Ulama Bangladesh, an Islamic scholars council, told AFP…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Australia Police Arrest 15-Year-Old, 20-Year-Old on Terror Charges — Police
Two young men, including a 15-year-old, have been arrested in the southeast Australian city of Sydney on suspicion of terrorism, Australian Federal Police (AFP) and New South Wales (NSW) Police said in a joint statement Thursday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) carried out the arrests as part of Operation Appleby, launched in September 2014.
“A 20-year-old Raby [suburb] man and a 15-year-old male from Georges Hall were arrested at their homes this morning, and then later charged with one count each of conspiracy to conduct an act in preparation for a terrorist act,” the police said.
The charges are said to relate to material seized during search warrants conducted a year ago.
Both unnamed terror suspects are due to appear in court later on Thursday, the juvenile in a local children’s court.
The two arrests bring the tally of terror charges as part of Operation Appleby up to 11, AFP and NSW police added.
The operation was launched after a senior Daesh jihadist group fighter from Australia warned of public beheadings across the country.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop estimated this fall that around 120 Australians were in Iraq and Syria fighting alongside the notorious terrorist organization.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sacking of Finance Minister Shakes S. African Confidence
South Africa’s rand dropped to historic lows Thursday after President Jacob Zuma sacked his respected finance minister in a move that triggered widespread fears about the country’s economic outlook.
South Africa has faced mounting financial problems in recent years, with unemployment at over 25 percent, GDP growth grinding almost to a halt and power cuts hobbling industry.
Zuma removed Nhlanhla Nene late Wednesday without giving any reason, and replaced him with David van Rooyen, a little-known lawmaker from the ruling Africa National Congress (ANC) party.
“We view this as profoundly negative,” Peter Montalto, an analyst at Nomura, said in a scathing criticism of the president…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina President Mauricio Macri Sworn in
Mauricio Macri has been sworn in as president of Argentina, in a ceremony boycotted by his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The centre-right Mr Macri took the oath of office in Congress and then in his inaugural speech said he would work for all Argentines.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain and Colombia Engage in War of Words Over Sunken Galleon
The battle for the underwater treasure of the San José has just begun. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos insists that the trove from the shipwrecked Spanish galleon belongs to his country, while Spain refuses to give up its alleged rights over the ship.
The San José was sunk by a British war fleet during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1708, in Caribbean waters near the coast of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
According to historical records, the Spanish galleon was carrying 200 tons of silver, gold and precious stones discovered in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Carter Banned Iranians From Coming to US During Hostage Crisis
During the Iranian hostage crisis, Carter issued a number of orders to put pressure on Iran. Among these, Iranians were banned from entering the United States unless they oppose the Shiite Islamist regime or had a medical emergency.
Fourth, the Secretary of Treasury [State] and the Attorney General will invalidate all visas issued to Iranian citizens for future entry into the United States, effective today. We will not reissue visas, nor will we issue new visas, except for compelling and proven humanitarian reasons or where the national interest of our own country requires. This directive will be interpreted very strictly.
Apparently barring people from a terrorist country is not against “our values” after all. It may even be “who we are”. Either that or Carter was a racist monster just like Trump.
Meanwhile here’s how the Iranian students in the US were treated.
Carter orders 50,000 Iranian students in US to report to immigration office with view to deporting those in violation of their visas. On 27 December 1979, US appeals court allows deportation of Iranian students found in violation.
In November 1979, the Attorney General had given all Iranian students one month to report to the local immigration office. Around 7,000 were found in violation of their visas. Around 15,000 Iranians were forced to leave the US.
Meanwhile any Iranians entering the US were forced to undergo secondary screening.
Interestingly enough, Carter did this by invoking the Nationality Act of 1952. A law originally opposed by Democrats for its attempt to restrict Communist immigration to the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EC Opens Migrants Infraction Procedure Croatia and Greece
Move concerns failure to respect fingerprinting rules
(ANSA) — BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Thursday said that it has opened infringement procedures against Italy, Greece and Croatia over their handling of asylum seekers. The move regards the alleged failure to correctly implement the Eurodac Regulation, which demands the fingerprinting of asylum seekers and transmission of data to the Eurodac central system within 72 hours. “The European Commission sent administrative letters to Greece, Croatia and Italy in October,” an EU statement said.
“Two months later, concerns have not been effectively addressed”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Commission Willing to Pay More Into Turkey Fund
EU Commission is willing to up its initial €500 million contribution to the €3 billion fund pledged to Turkey by €200 million in 2017 following calls from member states to have bigger share of the fund paid from the EU budget, Nadia Calvino, director general for budget told MEPs Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Commission Opens Legal Case Against Hungary on Asylum
The European Commission on Thursday launched an infringement proceeding against Hungary over its asylum laws. Hungary does not suspend decisions in case of appeals, forcing people to leave the territory, in contravention to EU rules. The Hungarian authorities have two months to respond to the commission.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
First-Time Asylum Applications in EU Double
The number of first-time asylum applications in the EU in the third quarter of 2015 were 410,000, doubling on the previous trimester, according to European statistics institute Eurostat. The highest number of applications were registered in Germany and Hungary(108,000 each, 26%), followed by Sweden (42,500; 10%), Italy (28,400; 7%) and Austria (27,600; 7%). In Italy, the number of applicants climbed 91% from the previous quarter.
In Italy, most first-time applicants in the third trimester of 2015 came from Nigeria (7,575; 27%), followed by Pakistan (2,990; 11%) and Bangladesh (2,830; 10%). Out of the first 410,000 asylum applications in the EU, one in three (137,900; 33%) was presented by a Syrian national.
About two-thirds were recorded in two member States: in Hungary (53,100) and in Germany (35,800). Afghanistan remains the second main country of origin in the EU with 56,700 first asylum applicants (14%): about half of them presented an application in Hungary. The third country of provenance is Iraq with 44,400 first-time applicants (11%): over one-fourth of them presented their request in Finland (11,600).
The number of first-time asylum applicants every million of inhabitants in Italy is 467. The highest ratio in the EU is in Hungary with 10,974, followed by Sweden (4,362), Austria (3,215), Finland (2,765) and Germany (1,334). On the opposite end of the spectrum are Slovakia (three applicants for one million inhabitants), Croatia (8), Romania (14), Portugal(21) and the Czech Republic (25).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Sailors Face Jail for Taking Refugees to UK
French prosecutors on Wednesday requested prison terms of up to eight years for a group of sailors and suspected people smugglers accused of ferrying scores of illegal migrants across the sea to Britain.
Eighteen people are on trial in the western city of Rennes accused of pocketing hefty sums to smuggle at least 127 Albanian migrants into England.
The migrants were taken across the water in speedboats and yachts, with around 16 such crossings from ports in the north and west of France recorded in 2012, an investigation found.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Can Merkel Keep Party Behind Her on Refugees?
Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek at a party congress on Monday to stamp out dissent in her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) over a record refugee influx after months of corrosive infighting.
The expected arrival to Europe’s top economic power this year of one million people fleeing war and poverty has scrambled the German political map, making the long-mighty Merkel look vulnerable and reviving a nearly defunct right-wing populist party.
Just a year ago, Merkel basked in her unchallenged power at a CDU congress in Cologne, winning re-election as its chief with a whopping 97 percent in what she called an “overwhelming vote of confidence”.
And although Time magazine named her 2015’s “Person of the Year” while the Economist last month called her “the indispensable European”, her closest allies at home have been less enamoured of late.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Berlin Refugee Boss Resigns in Disgrace
The head of Berlin’s main asylum seeker registration centre has been forced to resign over the chaos plaguing the office, which is struggling to process a record number of newcomers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Giving Away Our Country: The Motive of Muslim Immigrants
How come the politically correct media refuse to speak to the American people about the true “motive” of Islam? The most savage religion the planet Earth continues its prime directive, “Convert or kill all non-believers” across every Western country it invades.
The same CNN correspondent reported that our Homeland Security department has 1,000 terror suspects now imbedded inside the United States. Most of them hide in mosques and in the Muslim communities across this country.
Muslims commit endless rapes in Sweden and Norway. Muslims feel offended at our schools when we serve pork. Our use of “Merry Christmas” offends them. They tried to stop “American Sniper” from being played at the University of Michigan last year because it offended them. Except, our country’s First Amendment remains the freedom of speech and expression.
Everything we Americans love and cherish offends Muslims: women’s rights, free speech, choice of religion, choice of meats, choice of friends, choice of clothing, choice of bathing suits, and choice of life itself.
At the same time, Muslims kill 10,000 of their women annually according to the United Nation’s report on “honor killings.” They commit their daughters to female genital mutilation. They kill gay people. They stone women. The Koran commands that kind of violence in everyday life.
Every act of violence in the United States and all western countries stems from the teachings of the Koran.
Why fool ourselves? Why pretend that only ‘lone’ jihadists bombed innocents at the Boston Marathon, Fort Hood, Chattanooga, Tennessee, New York Times Square and the list grows?
Right now, at the G-20 European Summit, Barack Obama admitted to being a Muslim. We know for a fact that the prime directive of all Muslims: “Convert or kill all non-believers.”
The Koran promotes violence in virtually every chapter of the book: Sura 5, verse 84 states: “Strongest among men in enmity to the believers will thou find the Jews and Pagans (Christians). Fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them, in every stratagem of war. Instill terror in the hearts of unbelievers. Cut off their heads and cut off their tips of their fingers.”
Which begs the question: why allow our Congress and this Muslim president to import another 200,000 Syrian Muslims? Or, the usual 100,000 legal refugee Muslims annually? Why commit cultural and national suicide?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Helsinki Seeks Immigrant Firefighters
Helsinki Rescue Department currently has no firefighters from an immigrant background. They aim to change that next year to reflect the capital’s population—but there will be no quotas for ethnic minority firefighters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How the Visa Waiver Program Makes it Easy Peasy for Terrorists to Get Into the U.S.
If you hadn’t already fallen asleep, changed the channel or thrown something through your TV screen by the time President Obama got around to talking about the Visa Waiver Program during his Sunday night lecture on terrorism, you might have wondered just what that was and why it mattered.
In essence, this is a program that allows people visiting the U.S. from 38 different countries to get in strictly using their passports, and not requiring them to obtain a visa from a U.S. consulate. It was originally put in place to eliminate some of the hassle for people coming here to do business, but it’s quickly become an easy loophole for terrorists to slip through — especially because what little vetting the U.S. is supposed to be doing in the program, the U.S. is not doing:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iranians Upset by Potential Changes to US Visa Waivers
Hours before the US House of Representatives voted to tighten visa-free travel to the US, many Iranians, especially those living in America, Europe and Australia, took to social media to express concern at the consequences of the bill.
The measure is designed to make it harder for the likes of those who carried out the Paris attacks and hold EU citizenships to use the programme known as the “visa waiver” to enter the US.
Citizens of 38 countries, many in the EU, can currently fly to the US without applying for a visa under America’s Visa Waiver Program.
The new legislation initially said those eligible for the waiver programme who had travelled to “terrorist hotspots” like Iraq and Syria where IS controls territory would need to obtain a US visa.
But the final version included Iran and Sudan to the list of countries because they are considered “state sponsors of terrorism” by the US.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Stabs Wife to Death in Front of Couple’s Children
Called authorities afterwards, confessed to police
(ANSA) — Milan, December 9 — A man confessed to police on Wednesday to stabbing his wife to death overnight Tuesday, said police in the province of Varese, northwest of Milan. Police said the 30-year-old woman from Albania was killed in front of the couple’s children in their home after an argument.
The victim’s husband called emergency services and subsequently confessed to police.
Meanwhile, in the southern province of Caserta, near Naples, two Algerians were arrested and detained Wednesday after police found them with a woman burning alive in her bed.
Police said the woman’s boyfriend, Fakir Ali Cherif, and another man, Bach Sais Rachid — both 47-year-old homeless illegal immigrants from Algeria — had covered the 30-year-old woman from Kazakistan with alcohol and set her on fire. When police arrived on the scene, they put out the flames using a bed sheet.
The woman is in hospital in life-threatening condition with burns covering 60% of her body.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Infraction Procedure on Migrants Would be Unreasonable Says Alfano
Minister says EU should give Italy a ‘thank you’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 9 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Wednesday that it would be “unreasonable” of the European Commission to open infraction proceedings against Italy for its handling of asylum seekers. The Commission is said to be set to open an infraction proceeding against Italy and other member States for failing to respect the rules on the collection of the finger prints of asylum seekers upon entry into Europe. “For the work we’ve done, the only thing we deserve from the EU is a thank you,” Alfano said.
“We hope that no infraction procedure is opened over the registration of migrants in Italy.
“If this were to happen, it would be totally unreasonable and out of synch with the times and history”. Italy and Greece have borne the brunt of the Mediterranean migrant crisis and Rome has repeatedly complained that it is not getting enough help from its EU partners.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Says Wants to Meet ‘Surprising’ Trump
‘I wouldn’t shut down Internet’ says League leader
(ANSA) — Rome, December 9 — Anti-immigrant Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said Wednesday he would like to meet US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, calling him “surprising”.
“Donald Trump? I would be curious to meet him, because he is a surprising person,” Salvini said at the presentation of his book, The Salvini Method.
“I hope I get to meet him, we would agree on some things, on others we wouldn’t.
“For example, I wouldn’t shut down Internet, you can’t restrict it, it would be hard to implement”.
A poll on Wednesday showed Trump still on top of the GOP field, with 35%, despite controversial statements on stopping Muslims from entering the US and shutting the Internet in some areas.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Had 91% Increase in Asylum Applicants in Q3 Says Eurostat
28,400 first-time requests in July-Sept period
(ANSA) — Brussels, December 10 — The number of first-time asylum applicants registered in Italy in the third quarter of 2015 was 28,400, a 91% increase on the number for the second quarter, Eurostat said on Thursday. The EU’s statistics office said that this was 7% of the total 410,000 requests in the union as a whole in that period — double the number for the April-June period.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Should Quit Over Failure to Tackle Migrant Crisis — Ex-OSCE Official
Former vice-president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly said that Angela Merkel should consider stepping down due to her handling of the migrant crisis in Europe.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — German Chancellor Angela Merkel should consider stepping down due to her handling of the migrant crisis in Europe, the former vice-president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)’s Parliamentary Assembly told Sputnik on Thursday.
“I wish her all the best but it would be better for her to step down because of her failure in the migrant policy,” Willy Wimmer, who also served as a state secretary in the German Defense Ministry, said.
Merkel was named Person of the Year by US Time magazine on Wednesday for “asking more of her country than most politicians would dare” in the face of a rising influx of migrants into Germany.
Wimmer said it was “dangerous” to be featured on the cover of a US magazine. Time bestows the title every December to the person or persons it considers had the greatest impact — for better or for worse — on the world that year.
Germany has been grappling with a severe migrant crisis that hit Europe earlier this year. Bavaria’s Social Minister Emilia Mueller said on Wednesday that, since the beginning of 2015, the number of asylum applications registered in Germany had surpassed one million.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Sweden Has Hit Its Limit. Denmark Has Not’
After the Swedish government announced that tougher ID checks between Denmark and Sweden would come into force on January 4th, the two Scandinavian countries’ leaders once again traded barbs over asylum and immigration policies.
The Swedish minister took a dig at his Danish counterparts by saying that Sweden has already done more than its fair share to cope with Europe’s largest migrant crisis in decades.
“We have hit our limit. Denmark has not,” Johansson said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Temporarily Banning Islamic Immigration: Politically Incorrect or a Matter of Security?
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. Is this a smart security move or is it just plain politically incorrect as most on the left and the right have spent the last 2 days pontificating? Trump’s comments have been called un-American, racist and bigoted. However, if radical Islamist extremists are calling for the destruction of the West, should we not be reviewing our immigration policies that are actually legally allowing radicals into our country?
Tashfeen Malik, the San Bernadino terrorist, entered into the United States on a “fiancee” visa in July of 2014, even though later investigations into her background revealed glaring red flags. Some left leaning publications like the Huffington Post, suggest that terrorists gaining access through the refugee path is highly unlikely, however, the facts remain a stubborn thing. We know that at least one of the Paris terrorists who killed over 120 people actually entered into the country as a Syrian refugee while two others carried false Turkish passports.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Troika Puts More Pressure on Greece as Migrants Told to Go Home
For migrants stranded on the Macedonian border with Greece, their journey has been a waste of time. Greek police are bundling hundreds of people from Pakistan, Morocco and Iran into buses bound for Athens to be sent back home.
The differentiation made by Macedonian authorities between migrants and refugees has caused clashes in the last few months with only refugees from Iraq and Syria allowed across the border from the town of Idomeni into Greece.
The filtering system of refugees and migrants led to scuffles with police with 1,200 people, mainly men stuck near Idomeni. Thirty men resisted but were arrested and forced onto buses en route to Athens.
Others before them, who had made the odyssey to reach Europe have staged hunger strikes and some even sewed their lips shut. Violence climaxed when a Moroccan man was electrocuted on a railway line blocked by migrants.
For those filtered migrants facing deportation from Athens, their next stop is a migration center in the Greek capital. A police source told Reuters that some people would be held in a sports hall used during the 2004 Greek Olympic Games.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 650,000 refugees have fled conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Africa so far this year, making their way to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea of the Western Balkan route.
Greece has remained the focus for migrants and refugees making flight for Europe, whilst it almost suffered financial ruin.
According to United Nations expert, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, the Troika’s demands to cut public spending and increases taxes to revive the economy have left the Mediterranean country “partially unable” to ensure its people maintain minimum social, economic and cultural standards, enshrined in international human rights law.
Unemployment levels in Greece are among the highest in Europe with almost a quarter of under-25-year-olds out of work. Bohoslavsky is urging Greece’s creditors to allow debt relief to enable “socially inclusive growth”, to improve conditions for everyone.
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is reaching out to Cyprus and Egypt for their cooperation in relieving the humanitarian crisis caused by the influx of refugees.
During a Greek-Cyprus-Egypt tripartite summit, Greek President Anastasiades said:
“Greece and Cyprus are paragons of stability and this is very important given current volatility in the broader region.”
And while 650,000 people have made the journey to Greece from Turkey, thousands have died trying.
Adding to the death toll are 18 refugees, including seven children, who recently drowned off Turkey’s western coast of Canakkale when their boat, heading to the island of Lesbos, sank. In another such incident, the Greek coast guard recovered the bodies of 11 people, including five children after the boat carrying them sank off the island of Farmakonisi.
While many migrants from Macedonia make their way to mainland Greece, the economic pressure on the government is mounting.
The Troika have handed Athens a list of 13 reforms that must be legislated by December 15, if the country wants to receive US$ 1.10 billion (€ 1bn) of financial aid.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Admit it, Liberals infuriate Conservatives because Liberals think emotionally rather than logically. Consequently, when you point out a Liberal’s illogic, they become emotional rather than logically considering the allegation. This makes it impossible to argue affectively with a liberal. The unspoken message conveyed to the Liberal, the inescapable message is, upon any topic, “Why are you so ignorant?”
This insulting ignorance message is unavoidable, since were a Liberal to consider political stances logically, he or she would immediately find all their desired ends (national security, care for the poor, children, and the environment) would best be achieved via Conservative means. And, once this dawned upon them, they would have to admit what a fool they’d been all along to think so irrationally up to that point. Of course, no one is easily persuaded to acknowledge they’ve been a fool. So, the Liberal v Conservative warfare continues.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |