Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/4/2015

Complaints by Austrian “Islamophobes” caused a supermarket chain to abandon a trial launch of halal meat targeting the “refugee” market. Meanwhile, two suspected ISIS terrorists were arrested in Salzburg, where they had been posing as “refugees”.

In other news, the Russian intelligence services warned Russians in Thailand to be on high alert against an expected attack by the Islamic State, which has promised to take revenge on Russia for its actions in Syria.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nick, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Alarm Bells Go Off as 11 Critical Indicators Scream the Global Economic Crisis is Getting Deeper
» Eight Big American Banks’ Ratings Cut by Standard and Poor’s
» Germany: Bundesbank Confirms Estimates, GDP Up 1.7% in 2015
» Gold Sinks to Five-Year Low as Fed Rate Hike Looms
» Italy: Fund for Small Investors Hit by Bank Rescues
» Italy: Purchasing Power Up for 25%, First Time Since Study
 
USA
» AB InBev Confirms Will Sell Peroni
» America’s Pathological Denial of Reality
» Arpaio Calls on 250k Armed Citizens to Stop Terrorism and Mass Shootings
» Black Friday Indeed: Gun Sales Surge
» Christian Who Fled Islamic Extremism Among 14 Victims
» CNN Analyst: Syed Farook May Have Been ‘Offended’ By Christmas Party
» CNN/ORC Poll: Trump Alone at the Top Again
» Donald Trump Enjoys 20-Point Lead in Republican Presidential Race
» Fiorina: San Bernardino Shooter’s Gun Bought for Police
» Ignored Carnage in Louisiana Park Proves Inequality of Mass Shootings!
» Inside the California Shooters’ Lair: Koran and Children’s Toys Among Pipe Bombs and Ammo
» Muslim Leader From CAIR Tells CNN America Bears Some Blame for Terror Attacks
» Obama White House: Terrorists Will Stop Attacking if We Pass Gun Control Laws
» Report: San Bernardino Shooter Passed DHS Counterterrorism Vetting
» San Bernardino Female Shooter Pledged Allegiance to Daesh Leader — Reports
» San Bernardino Shooting: All About Islam
» San Bernardino Killings a Result of the Left’s P.C. War Against ‘Hurt Feelings’
» San Bernardino Shooting: Attacker Pledged Allegiance to ISIS, Officials Say
» San Bernardino Shootings Investigated as Terrorism — FBI
» SoCal Jihadist Wife Pledged Allegiance to ISIS Before Massacre, Fox News Confirms
» The “Post Truth” News Media
» US Attorney General: DOJ Investigating Arrest of Muslim Teen Clock Maker
» Weekly Featured Profile — Michio Kaku
» Whistleblower: “Every Time There is a Terrorist Attack, What We Really Need to Do is Demand That They Cut the Budgets of All the Intelligence Agencies”
 
Canada
» Canada Awaits a Pair of Impending Catastrophes
» Canada’s Liberal Government Promises to Legalize Marijuana
 
Europe and the EU
» 850 French Students Suspected of Radicalism
» Alfano Says EU Deal Reached on Flight Data to Fight Terror
» Austria: Two Terror Suspects Nabbed in Salzburg
» Austria: Halal Storm Triggers Meat Sale Backtrack
» Danes Reject EU Justice Rules in Referendum: Exit Polls
» Danes’ Snub of Closer EU Ties ‘Gut Punch for Elite’
» Denmark’s ‘No’ Holds a Lesson for Cameron — Beware Complacency
» European Space Mission Seeks ‘Vibrations’ of Universe
» Far-Right Tipped to Triumph in Post-Attacks French Regional Vote
» France Tells Public How to React in a Terror Attack
» French President Visits Aircraft Carrier Off Syria
» Germany Rejects Own Spy Agency’s Criticism of Saudi Arabia
» Italy: Court Suspends Fininvest Mediolanum Divestment
» Italy: Jubilee Ban for Souvenir Hawkers, Snack Vans in St Peter’s Area
» Italy: One in 5 Change Xmas Shopping Habits on Terror Fears
» Monsanto Going to Trial for Crimes Against Humanity
» New Suspects in Paris Massacre Sought as France Releases Survival ‘Guide’
» Norway Newspaper Publishes Father Christmas ‘Obituary’
» Paris Attacks: France and Belgium Police Seek Two New Suspects
» Support for ISIS Runs ‘Deep in Parts of Muslim Societies’ Tony Blair Claims Threat at Home
» Switzerland: Sexual Attacks on Horses at All Time High
» Switzerland: Shocking Statistics Show Horses’ Sexual Assault Risk is on the Rise
» UK: Communist Cult Leader Accused of Imprisoning Daughter for Decades Convicted
» UK: Islamic Student Group Harasses Human Rights Activist for Violating ‘Safe Space’
» UK: Live on Air, MP Tulip Siddiq Takes on Tory Rival Who Claims Labour Has Exported Block Voting ‘Culture From Indian Sub-Continent’
» UK: Maoist Cult Leader Aravindan Balakrishnan Guilty of Sex Assaults
 
Balkans
» Muslims in Tetovo, Macedonia Demand That Christians be Hung on Their Cross
 
North Africa
» Egypt: Molotov Attack in Cairo Nightclub, 18 Dead
» France Conducts Intelligence Flight Over ISIL Controlled Parts of Libya
» ISIS Takes Flight: Terror Group Training Pilots at Airbase in Libya
» Tunisia Boosts Airport, Tourism Security Following Terror Attacks
» Tunisia Closing Tunis Airport to Flights to and From Libya
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Austrian Minister Angers Israel With Cancelled Trip
 
Middle East
» Divorced Saudi Women to Get ID Cards: Reports
» ISIL Seizes 3,000 Official Passports in Syria, May Send Terrorists to EU
» ISIS Spreading ‘Flesh Eating Bug’ Across Syria as a Result of ‘Abominable Acts’
» ISIS Oil Plot Thickens: Turkish MP Has Evidence Erdogan’s Son-in-Law Involved in Illegal Crude Trade
» ISIS Accuse Man of Being a Sorcerer Before Beheading Him in Front of Blood-Thirsty Mob
» Islamic State Uses Child Soldiers to Execute Some Syrian Army Prisoners
» Not Obama’s War: US Needs ‘Decisive Leader’ To Destroy Daesh
» Obama Arms ISIS-Linked Militants — Without Background Checks!
» Syrian Army Liberates Key Areas in Latakia With Russia’s Aerial Assistance
» U.S. Targets Islamic State’s Baghdadi as Special Forces Gear Up
 
Russia
» Despite Upheaval: Ukraine Remains Stagnant — Swedish Media
» Russian Parliament Gives Constitutional Court Priority Over Int’l Courts
 
Caucasus
» IS Executioner of Chechen ‘Spy’ Was Russian: Kadyrov
 
South Asia
» Alert in Thailand: Islamic State Militia Ready to Strike Russian Targets
» Indonesia: Denied Place of Worship, Yasmin Church Faithful Celebrate Advent on Streets
» Islamic State Agents From Syria ‘In Thailand to Target Russians’
» Pakistan Lawyer Files for Return of Koh-i-Noor Diamond
» US Watchdog Identifies Pentagon Spending Some $150mln on Villas in Afghan
 
Far East
» Japan to Launch Antiterrorism Intelligence Unit
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia Gets Tough on ISIS: Jihadis Banned From Country Even if Not Convicted
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» China Announces $60 Billion for Africa
 
Latin America
» Venezuela’s Crazy Supermarket Economics
 
Immigration
» Afghans Leaving US Service After Obtaining Special Visas to America
» As Syrian Refugees Head to Texas, State Vows to Keep Them Out
» Austria: 25 Arrests After Massive Fight in Asylum Centre
» Bridge Linking Sweden to Denmark Set to be Closed to Stem Tide of Migrants
» Can Chinese Migrants Integrate in Africa?
» Finland Will Reduce Social Security for Refugees
» Greece Bows to EU Pressure and Accepts Border Guard Aid
» Hungary: Paris Fugitive Recruited Men Amid Budapest Migrants
» Meet and Greet: Germany Will Individually Interview All Incoming Refugees
» Nearly 11,000 Kids Came Alone to Italy in 2015
» Sweden: Border Checks Could be Stepped Up by Christmas
» Sweden Plans Temporary Border Laws Amid Serious Security Threats
» UK Asylum Seeker Accused of Masterminding EU-Wide People Smuggling Ring
» UK: Migrants Will Get Half of New Homes Built Over the Next Five Years
» ‘Willkommenskultur’ Is Austrian Word of the Year
 

Alarm Bells Go Off as 11 Critical Indicators Scream the Global Economic Crisis is Getting Deeper

Economic activity is slowing down all over the planet, and a whole host of signs are indicating that we are essentially exactly where we were just prior to the great stock market crash of 2008. Yesterday, I explained that the economies of Japan, Brazil, Canada and Russia are all in recession. Today, I am mainly going to focus on the United States. We are seeing so many things happen right now that we have not seen since 2008 and 2009. In so many ways, it is almost as if we are watching an eerie replay of what happened the last time around, and yet most of the “experts” still appear to be oblivious to what is going on. If you were to make up a checklist of all of the things that you would expect to see just before a major stock market crash, virtually all of them are happening right now. The following are 11 critical indicators that are absolutely screaming that the global economic crisis is getting deeper…

#1 On Tuesday, the price of oil closed below 40 dollars a barrel. Back in 2008, the price of oil crashed below 40 dollars a barrel just before the stock market collapsed, and now it has happened again.

#2 The price of copper has plunged all the way down to $2.04. The last time it was this low was just before the stock market crash of 2008.

#3 The Business Roundtable’s forecast for business investment in 2016 has dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since the last recession.

#4 Corporate debt defaults have risen to the highest level that we have seen since the last recession. This is a huge problem because corporate debt in the U.S. has approximately doubled since just before the last financial crisis.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Eight Big American Banks’ Ratings Cut by Standard and Poor’s

US ratings agency Standard and Poor’s cut its ratings for eight major American banks on Thursday, saying they cannot count on government help again in case of trouble.

“We now consider the likelihood that the US government would provide extraordinary support to its banking system to be ‘uncertain’ and are removing the uplift based on government support from our ratings,” the agency said in a statement.

The eight constitute the group of so-called “systemically important banks”, a technical term for “too big to fail”…

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

Germany: Bundesbank Confirms Estimates, GDP Up 1.7% in 2015

As forecast in June, up 1.8% in 2016

(ANSA) — BERLIN — Germany’s economic growth maintains its momentum in the assessment issued by the Bundesbank, which does not change its estimates of GDP, which it had issued in June: up 1.7% in 2015 and up 1.8% in 2016. An increase by 1.7% is expected in 2017.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Gold Sinks to Five-Year Low as Fed Rate Hike Looms

The price of gold collapsed this week close to five-year lows, punished by mounting speculation of a US Federal Reserve rate hike later this month.

Gold nosedived to $1,046.43 per ounce on Thursday, touching the lowest level since early February 2010, as the stronger dollar dented demand.

Upbeat non-farm payrolls data on Friday reinforced expectations of a December 16 Fed rate increase, dealers said.

“Gold has been taking a hammering on increasing expectations of a December rate rise in the United States,” Sucden analyst Kash Kamal told AFP…

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

Italy: Fund for Small Investors Hit by Bank Rescues

PD proposes allocating 120mn to partial investor refund

(ANSA) — Rome, December 4 — A solidarity fund is to be set up to safeguard small savers and bond holders destined to lose out in the rescue of four crisis-hit Italian banks, ANSA sources said Friday. The fund to be created by the 2016 budget bill will partially offset losses for small investors estimated at 300-350 million euros, the sources said. The ruling PD filed an amendment to the government’s budget bill calling for 120 million euros to be allocated to the solidarity fund — with 80 million of those to come from the banking sector. The 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. CONSOB President Giuseppe Vegas announced Friday that the Italian stock market regulator was running checks to see whether shares in the insolvent banks, which are now worthless, were sold to clients without proper information about the risks. “We are running checks although we have not had any especially significant reports,” Vegas said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Purchasing Power Up for 25%, First Time Since Study

But 20% of families can’t cover expenses on their income

(ANSA) — Rome, December 4 — Italian households whose purchasing power has increased outnumber those whose purchasing power has decreased, 25% to 21% respectively, for the first time since the start of the financial crisis, said Censis on Friday.

The research institute said the figures show “a sharp break with the recent past”, but added that 20% of Italian families are unable to cover all of their expenses with their income.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

AB InBev Confirms Will Sell Peroni

Merger wd create titan making a third of world’s beer

(ANSA) — New York, December 3 — The world’s top beer group Anheuser-Busch InBev on Thursday confirmed it is planning to sell SABMiller’s Italian beermaker Peroni, as well as Grolsh and other units, to get an EU OK for the merger between the two beer giants. Last month British brewer SABMiller said it had agreed “in principle” to a takeover by its bigger Belgian rival AB InBev, whose makes include Budweiser and Beck’s, for 68 billion pounds ($104 billion). If completed, the merger will result in a company that will produce one third of the beer consumed each day worldwide.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

America’s Pathological Denial of Reality

by Caroline Glick

How much lower will America sink before it regains its senses? Wednesday, two Muslims walked into a Christmas party at a community service center in San Bernardino, California where one worked. They were wearing body armor and video cameras and carrying automatic rifles, pipe bombs and pistols. They opened fire, killed 14, and wounded 17.

The murderers, Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik were killed by police.

Speaking to the Daily News, Farook’s father said his son, “was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. He’s Muslim.”

Farook’s neighbor told the paper that over the past two years, Farook exchanged his Western dress for Islamic gowns and grew a beard.

These data points lead naturally to the conclusion that Farook and his wife were jihadists who killed in order to kill in the name of Islam.

But in America of December 2015, natural conclusions are considered irresponsible, at best…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Arpaio Calls on 250k Armed Citizens to Stop Terrorism and Mass Shootings

Arpaio was looking to the 250,000 Arizonans who carry concealed weapons permits to help keep the peace

Draw your weapons.

That’s what Sheriff Joe Arpaio is urging nearly a quarter-million Arizona gun owners to do to fight terrorism and mass shooters.

On Tuesday, the so-called “Toughest Sheriff in America” said he cannot guarantee the public’s safety and called on them to take matters into their own hands if necessary.

“I’m just talking about the areas where you have large crowds and someone pulls out the gun and starts shooting. Maybe somebody with a concealed weapon takes the guy down,” Arpaio said.

Specifically, Arpaio was looking to the 250,000 Arizonans who carry concealed weapons permits to help keep the peace.

But there are some in law enforcement who are calling this a bad idea.

Steve Henry, chief deputy of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, said untrained gun owners could add to chaotic situations at big events, increasing the risk to innocent bystanders.

[Comment: Anybody who is trained properly and sensibly would not shoot if there is a risk of hurting innocent people. Steve Henry is a putz and thinks all concealed carry holders are morons. Arpaio is right, when there is a chance for a clear shot…the concealed wepon holder should take the shot.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Black Friday Indeed: Gun Sales Surge

The FBI processed a record number of firearms background checks on Black Friday, the bureau said on Tuesday.

The FBI processed 185,345 background checks — roughly two per second — on the busiest shopping day in the United States. That is about 5% more than the FBI processed on Black Friday in 2014, the Associated Press reported.

The FBI conducts background checks for gun purchases from federally licensed dealers and for permits to carry guns. However, a background check does not necessarily mean a gun was purchased.

On the same day the FBI broke its own record, a gunman killed three people and wounded nine others in an attack at a Planned Parenthood office in Colorado.

The previous record for the most background checks in a single day was the 953,613, which occurred on December 21, 2012, according to the AP. About one week earlier, 20 children and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

After the Colorado shootings, President Barack Obama once again called for stricter limits on the availability of guns.

— Andrew G (@NiceDrewishFela) December 2, 2015

“Enough is enough,” Obama said in a statement on Saturday. He said the Planned Parenthood shootings showed the need to “to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war” for “people who have no business wielding them.”

Nonetheless, more gun violence was perpetrated on Wednesday, when three assailants fatally shot 14 people at a California facility that serves people with developmental disabilities.

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

Christian Who Fled Islamic Extremism Among 14 Victims

Messianic Jew thought to have argued with Farook about Islam 2 weeks ago

(London Express) Benneta Betbadal left Iran in 1969 during a raft of extremism and eventually moved to Rialto in California where she had three children aged 10, 12 and 15.

Friends say the 46-year-old loved her “job, her community and her country” but most importantly her husband and “large extended family”.

Distraught Ken Paulson, who created a page to raise funds for Ms Betbadal’s children, wrote online: “Benneta left the house Wednesday morning, excited about a presentation she was scheduled to give to her supervisors and coworkers at their annual meeting.

“It is the ultimate irony that her life would be stolen from her that day by what appears to be the same type of extremism that she fled so many years ago.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CNN Analyst: Syed Farook May Have Been ‘Offended’ By Christmas Party

“The key is that from the beginning everything that was reported about him, going into this conference room where there was a holiday party which may have been offensive to him,” said Jordan.

She went on to suggest that Farook’s motive may have been a personal grudge and that his actions were deliberately planned so as to make it look like terrorism, although the notion that Farook kept 6000 bullets & a bomb making factory on standby simply to deal with a “grudge” is somewhat of a stretch.

[Comment: More b******t. Verbal contortions to make it appear as “workplace accident” triggered by of infidels lack of consideration by clebrating Christmas.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CNN/ORC Poll: Trump Alone at the Top Again

(CNN) Donald Trump is once again alone at the top of the Republican field, according to the latest CNN/ORC Poll, with 36% of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents behind him, while his nearest competitor trails by 20 points.

Three candidates cluster behind Trump in the mid-teens, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 16%, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14% and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 12%. All other candidates have the support of less than 5% of GOP voters in the race for the Republican Party’s nomination for president.

Carson (down 8 points since October), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (down 5 points to 3%) and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (down 4 points to 1%) have lost the most ground since the last CNN/ORC poll, conducted in mid-October.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump Enjoys 20-Point Lead in Republican Presidential Race

US billionaire Donald Trump is 20 points ahead of other Republicans competing to participate in the 2016 presidential election, according to a new poll released on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Thirty-six percent of the Republican registered voters said they are likely to support Trump, the new CNN/ORC poll found. The next top contender, Senator Ted Cruz, gained 16 percent of votes, while 14 percent of people supported neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

In addition, 52 percent of Republicans and Independents, who lean Republican, said Trump has the best chance of winning the 2016 presidential election. Fifteen percent of the polled said Marco Rubio could win.

The next US presidential election is scheduled for November 8, 2016. US President Barack Obama said on December 2 that he was confident that the next leader of the country would be a Democrat.

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

Fiorina: San Bernardino Shooter’s Gun Bought for Police

How did police weapons end up in the hands of mass killers?

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said something interesting during an appearance on the Morning Joe Show on Thursday.

At 5:10 into the interview Fiorina dropped a bombshell:

“If you listen to your reporter earlier, what he said is the ATF believes that someone purchased this gun on behalf of the police department and somehow that gun ended up in the hands of this guy, so it actually does not sound at all like this man purchased a firearm,” she said.

How did a firearm destined for a police department end up in the hands of a suspected mass shooter?

Since the alleged transfer mentioned by Fiorina is not sufficiently detailed, it is unlikely if we will ever find out where the gun came from and if indeed it was purchased for the police. It has been dropped from the storyline like the third suspect who the police now insist does not exist despite witnesses stating three people were involved in the shooting.

There is speculation this phantom third person is a government agent, although there is no definitive proof to this theory.

Also interesting is how quickly Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski changed the subject after Fiorina mentioned a connection to the police.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ignored Carnage in Louisiana Park Proves Inequality of Mass Shootings!

While the mainstream media inundates the American public with seemingly endless coverage of certain “Narrative compliant” tragedies, it is perfectly clear that not all mass shootings are equal in the hearts and minds of left-leaning media moguls, specifically those demons affiliated with, and carrying water for, the Democrat Party.

Case in point: While tragic slaughters in Colorado Springs and San Bernardino received extensive news coverage and commentary, including the all too predictable demands for tougher gun control laws issued by Barack Obama, a massive gun shooting in Louisiana took place without so much as a whimper from the media or its grand wizard, Barack Obama.

As reported:

Some may have heard about the shooting that occurred in Louisiana last week, when gunmen opened fire at a park with some 300 people in it and injured 17 people, but for the most part, there’s been silence from the media about it. According to the New Orleans Advocate, the Bunny Park shooting was an act of “domestic terrorism,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said, and it was committed in cold-blood by several gunmen, one of which has been apprehended, but there’s several reasons the media may be ignoring it.

The Times-Picayune reports that 32-year-old Joseph “Moe” Allen was arrested on Sunday in relation to the incident, and he’s been charged with 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder. You would think that with the number of victims, the youngest being 10, and the majority of whom were under 21, and the heartless nature of the incident, the media would be all over it, but you would think wrong.

You see, Allen is a black thug with a criminal record a mile long, so his violent acts don’t fit into the current narrative that white conservative Christians are the largest threat to our nation. Plus, being a convicted felon, he shouldn’t have even had a gun to begin with. The law forbidding him from owning one didn’t work, and he was also a part of the catch and release program for violent thugs.

Allen, according to Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office records, is a convicted felon and has been charged with home invasion, carjacking, illegal carrying of weapon and possession of cocaine and heroin. In 2002, he was arrested with Travis Scott, who recently pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge. Scott’s younger brothers, Akein “Keemy” Scott and Shawn “Shizzle” Scott, have pleaded guilty to numerous charges related to the 2013 Mother’s Day shooting in which they opened fire into a second line crowd, leaving 20 people injured.

Heavily reporting this story would mean having to admit that more gun control wouldn’t be effective, and it would also mean having to bring attention to the problem with systemic violence in the black community. Plus, reporting it would highlight the dangers of letting violent criminals back on the streets after shortening their prison terms, none of which the liberal media would willingly do, especially when there’s a juicy story about a white man a couple of states over.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Inside the California Shooters’ Lair: Koran and Children’s Toys Among Pipe Bombs and Ammo

These are images from inside the apparently normal suburban family home where the California shooters who killed 14 people lived.

The photos reveal a normal home inhabited by a couple whose deadly killing spree in San Bernardino, California, is now being investigated as an act of terrorism.

Family photographs, children’s toys and trinkets lay beside scores of ammunition and pipe bombs in Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook’s home where they lived with their six-month-old daughter.

The Koran and other books on Islam were found in the two-story rented house as officials combed through mobile phones and a computer hard drive left behind by the couple.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Leader From CAIR Tells CNN America Bears Some Blame for Terror Attacks

America bears some of the blame for the bloody wave of Islamic extremism that has brought terrorism to San Bernardino, Paris and locations around the world, according to a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In a Friday CNN interview, Hussam Ayloush, of the group’s Los Angeles chapter, said American foreign policy has helped fuel the rage that drives Muslim radicals to kill in the name of their faith.

“Let’s not forget that some of our own foreign policy, as Americans, as the west, have fueled that extremism,” Ayloush told “New Day” host Chris Cuomo during a discussion about Wednesday’s terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., where a Muslim married couple killed 14 and wounded 21 at a holiday party for the county health department that employed the husband, Syed Rizwan Farook.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama White House: Terrorists Will Stop Attacking if We Pass Gun Control Laws

The Obama administration reacted to yesterday’s shooting in San Bernardino — likely carried out by a Muslim terrorist — by insisting that “common sense” gun laws will deter jihadists who are planning attacks.

The Obama White House is essentially arguing that passing more gun laws which disarm law-abiding citizens will somehow make jihadists, who have access to international terrorist contacts and back-door weapons smuggling rings, less determined and less capable of carrying out massacres.

Right, because it worked great in Paris didn’t it?

According to the L.A. Times, Obama is planning “to use executive authority to close the so-called gun show loophole that allows thousands of people to buy guns each year without a background check.”

Meanwhile, Obama is still saying that the massacre, carried out by a devout Muslim who memorized the Koran, was radicalized by terrorists, and traveled to Saudi Arabia could just be an act of workplace violence.

Former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani was somewhat more certain in his opinion, asserting that anyone who thinks yesterday’s attack isn’t terrorism is a “moron”.

[Comment: Never let a Crisis go to waste. These people really are evil scumbags.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Report: San Bernardino Shooter Passed DHS Counterterrorism Vetting

One of the shooting suspects passed the Department of Homeland Security’s “counterterrorism screening as part of her vetting” for a visa.

Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) want President Obama to release the immigration records of the San Bernardino shooters, arguing they should play a key role in the coming debate over funding the Syrian refugee resettlement& program.

Their request comes as CBS reports that one of the shooting suspects passed the Department of Homeland Security’s “counterterrorism screening as part of her vetting” for a visa.

Federal officials maintain that they have a rigorous and effective screening process in place for people from countries such as Syria that have significant jihadist movements, making the immigration records of the San Bernardino shooters a potentially significant piece of the debate over refugee policy.

“We are dealing with an enemy that has shown it is not only capable of bypassing U.S. screening, but of recruiting and radicalizing Muslim migrants after their entry to the United States,” Cruz and Sessions wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

San Bernardino Female Shooter Pledged Allegiance to Daesh Leader — Reports

A San Bernardino female shooter pledged her support to Daesh (also known as ISIL or the Islamic State) terrorist group prior to carrying an attack on California’s social services center, US media reported on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Tashfeen Malik posted on Facebook a pledge of allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, CNN reported citing US officials. However, Malik’s account was made under a different name.

On Wednesday, a shooting at Inland Regional Center killed 14 people, and injured over 20 others. Police identified the shooters as a US-born man of Pakistani origin Syed Farook and his Pakistani wife Malik.

The attack interrupted a holiday party that the non-profit facility, which offers services to people with disabilities, was hosting. Farook was involved in a dispute at the party and left shortly before the shooting.

Following the San Bernardino gun assault, US President Barack Obama said that the FBI was looking into possible motives behind the shootings, adding that the possibility of terrorism had not been excluded.

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

San Bernardino Shooting: All About Islam

The suspects, as I suggested may be the case, in yesterday’s mass shooting in my backyard in San Bernardino, have turned out to be Muslims. One of the shooters recently made a trip to Pakistan as recent as 2014, and the married couple had on them over 1,600 rounds of ammunition, and over a dozen pipe bombs. Her visa suggests that she was brought into the country by her husband from Pakistan during that trip (he likely married her in order to be able to bring her to the United States). When one considers the massive amount of equipment and ammunition on them, it was likely the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, was going to be only their first target in what was intended to be a Paris-style terrorist operation. The count as of now is 14 dead, and 21 wounded. These numbers are low considering what could have happened if local authorities had not responded so quickly, and were no so diligent in following leads.

We are at war. Islam is waging war on the World. The politicians, however, refuse to take the steps necessary to protect the States from invasion, as provided in Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, and are instead seeking to blame Americans, or the American gun culture, on attacks such as this.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

San Bernardino Killings a Result of the Left’s P.C. War Against ‘Hurt Feelings’

In the hours following yesterday’s violence, progressive talking heads offered us every possible reason for the attacks. First it was workplace violence, then it was the work of lone wolf gun nuts, radical Christians, right-wing militias, and on and on and on. The media was positively desperate not to suggest anything that could even hint at Islam, because that didn’t fit the gun control narrative they were trying so hard to justify.

Now, because we wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions, they’re still waiting for the totally-impossible-to-discern motive to be revealed. No one can say what would make a couple of peaceful Muslims, one of whom had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia, do something so horrible while wearing Go-Pro cameras. We can, however, say that political correctness helped it happen.

According to CBS Los Angeles, neighbors spotted plenty of suspicious activity at the shooters’ home. Allegedly, strange “Middle-Eastern” men were seen coming and going over a period of several days, but no one said a word. …Because witnesses didn’t want to be accused of “racially profiling” anyone.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

San Bernardino Shooting: Attacker Pledged Allegiance to ISIS, Officials Say

(CNN) Investigators think that as the San Bernardino, California, massacre was happening, female shooter Tashfeen Malik posted a pledge of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook, three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Malik’s post was made on an account with a different name, one U.S. official said. The officials did not explain how they knew Malik made the post.

A law enforcement official said it appeared that Wednesday’s mass shooting — which left 14 people dead and 21 wounded before the two attackers, Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, were killed in a shootout with police — may have been inspired by ISIS.

But none of the officials said that ISIS directed or ordered the attack.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

San Bernardino Shootings Investigated as Terrorism — FBI

A mass shooting by a married couple that left 14 people dead in California is being investigated as an act of terrorism, the FBI says.

FBI Director James Comey said there were indications that the couple had been radicalised.

Tashfeen Malik, 27, and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, died in a shootout with police after the killings at San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles.

Mr Comey said they were “potentially inspired” by foreign terror groups.

However, he said there was no evidence they were part of a network.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

SoCal Jihadist Wife Pledged Allegiance to ISIS Before Massacre, Fox News Confirms

The mysterious Pakistani woman who with her husband gunned down 14 Wednesday at a Southern California holiday party pledged her allegiance to ISIS before the massacre, according to a government source, in what appears to be concrete evidence that the rampage was at least inspired, if not directed, by the terrorist group.

Tashfeen Malik posted the pledge to ISIS leader and self-proclaimed “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the outset of the attack, in which she and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, stormed a San Bernardino party for his co-workers before escaping, Fox News confirmed through a law enforcement source who said the post was recovered despite the pair’s attempts to erase their digital trail. The couple died hours later in a shootout with police, and in the aftermath the 29-year-old Pakistani woman has remained largely a name without a face. No confirmed pictures of her have surfaced, and few details have emerged.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The “Post Truth” News Media

As some reporters unequivocally declare Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to be “wrong” when he claimed thousands in New Jersey celebrated the Sept. 11, 2001 Islamic extremist terrorist attacks, I observe with more than a passing interest.

My interest isn’t in the presidential candidates; it’s in the news media’s conduct.

One news outlet dubbed Trump “the post truth 2016 candidate,” lifting a propaganda phrase passed along by the usual suspects. If one didn’t know better, one might think Hillary Clinton’s supporters among propagandists, astroturfers and the news media know she polls weakest when it comes to honesty, so they’re on a mission to reduce her strongest Republican competition to equal footing.

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

US Attorney General: DOJ Investigating Arrest of Muslim Teen Clock Maker

Loretta Lynch announced on Thursday the Department of Justice is now investigating the arrest of Ahmed Mohamed, the Texas teen who made global headlines after being arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school in September.

The announcement was made during a Q&A Thursday night at the annual Muslim Advocates dinner. The Justice Department has also confirmed that the investigation centers on the Irving Independent School District, not the city of Irving.

“We have, as you may know, opened an investigation into the case of the young man in Irving,” Lynch said. “So we will see where that investigation goes.”

Mohamed, 14, was briefly detained on suspicion that his homemade clock may have been a bomb. After it was determined that the teen had no malicious intent, he was released to his parents.

Many, including Mohamed’s family, have claimed that the overreaction was due to his religion.

In November, the family sent a letter to the city demanding an apology and a $15 million settlement, threatening to file lawsuits if the city refuses. They have since moved to Qatar where Mohamed is attending a science institute.

During the event on Thursday, Lynch also spoke on the “disturbing rise” in anti-Muslim rhetoric in the United States ever since the attacks in Paris last month.

“When we are ruled by fear, we are not making ourselves safe,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“My message to the Muslim community is we stand with you in this,” Lynch concluded.

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

Weekly Featured Profile — Michio Kaku

Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, best-selling author and popularizer of science. He’s the co-founder of string field theory (a branch of string theory) and continues Einstein’s search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory.

Kaku holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York, where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, as well as New York University (NYU).

Kaku is the author of several scholarly, Ph.D. level textbooks and has had more than 70 articles published in physics journals, covering topics such as superstring theory, supergravity, supersymmetry and hadronic physics.

He has also been a Maoist-oriented Marxist for many decades, a fact totally omitted in printed materials about him except in the Marxist press. Kaku is like the two-faced figure of Janus, with only one face being shown to the general public.

Michio Kaku was active in Asians in the Spirit of the Indo-Chinese (ASI), at City College in the early 1970s. The group was designed to guarantee an Asian presence in the Anti-Vietnam War movement and was strongly Maoist in orientation.

In the 1970s, Michio Kaku was a leader, with Jerry Tung, of the Workers Viewpoint Organization, forerunner to the ultra-radical Communist Workers Party.

[Comment: Perfect example of how intelligence and wisdom are two very different things.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Whistleblower: “Every Time There is a Terrorist Attack, What We Really Need to Do is Demand That They Cut the Budgets of All the Intelligence Agencies”

The highest-level NSA whistleblower in history — William Binney — the high-level NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information, 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a “legend” within the agency, who served as the senior technical director within the agency, and managed thousands of NSA employees — has a great suggestion for motivating U.S. intelligence agencies to prevent terrorism.

Binney tells Washington’s Blog:

If you want to get into the real reason politicians, companies and agencies are hard over advocates for mass/bulk surveillance, then you need to look at all the money involved. It’s about 100 Billion (that’s with a B) per year.

When NSA Director Alexander said their objective is to “collect it all”, then that simply exposed the underlying reason for all this spying. That committed the government to collecting an ever increasing year-by-year amount of data which takes an ever increasing year-by-year amount of money to do. And to achieve that, they use fear mongering and lies to mislead and bamboozle us into letting them take more and more of our money to achieve very little. [Background.]

So, every time there is a terrorist attack, what we really need to do is demand that they cut the budgets of all the intelligence agencies. And, if they still keep failing, then we need to get rid of them and start the process again with new agencies and new managers. It could be as simple are removing the top 4 layers of management at an agency and replacing them with external people drawn from professional ranks not related to politics or government.

Mass collection on everybody, of course, makes government (including FBI, DEA, DHS, IRS, CIA …) all knowing like a J. Edger Hoover on super steroids or an all knowing Stasi with more complete, accurate, timely, mineable/interrogateable, stored electronic files. This does make the government all knowing and in a position to manipulate and control people just like the KGB or the Stasi did. [Background.]

Also, it represents a total flip of the founding principles of our country. We were supposed to know what the government was doing in our name; the government was not supposed to know what we were doing unless they had probable cause to look at us. [Background here, here and here.]

But, that takes a mainstream media that wants to do their job and keep the public informed.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Canada Awaits a Pair of Impending Catastrophes

Canada has joined the cultural declension of the West and I fear there will be no turning back. Were it possible, we would now be packing our bags. The problem, of course, is where to go.

There are two countries that I once regarded as home: Canada, where I have spent most of my life, and Greece, where I lived for five years. Both are now lost to me. Governed by a leftist administration and effectively submitting to the adhan—the call of the muezzin—each is now under siege.

Greece has become a way-station for a vast press of Muslim refugees sowing disorder and mayhem in their wake. Fishermen on the island of Lesbos, which I know well, have seen their livelihoods disrupted, and are unable to navigate through the filth and garbage littering their shores. Elsewhere the migrants reward their hosts by going on rampages. A graphic video shows what lies in wait for this once anti-Islamic country, which endured over 400 years of Ottoman oppression. As one Greek respondent says, “We are under occupation.”

As for Canada, the future augurs poorly. Under the partisan and incompetent administration of Justin Trudeau—like Barack Obama the most unqualified and dangerous person ever to occupy his nation’s highest office—we are witnessing the importation of a veritable Muslim army that will ultimately change the face of the country beyond recognition. Trudeau, who has ended Canada’s military contribution to the war against ISIS and vowed to weaken anti-terrorist Bill C-51, is opening the gates with intemperate haste to 25,000 Muslim refugees, aka “Syrians,” a number proportionately equivalent, as author Howard Rotberg points out, to 225,000 Muslims flooding in short order into the U.S. CTV News reports that up to 900 Syrians a day are set to land in Montreal and Toronto, starting December 1.

A part of the first wave of these intruders will be housed in Kingston, Ontario, only 20 miles from the small town where my wife and I recently settled. Military personnel at the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) and Royal Military College in Kingston are being displaced to make room within days for 600 of these new arrivals. Such evictions are becoming common practice around the country. I have just heard from a correspondent who lives in the Gulf Islands region that military personnel plus their families are having to move out of their lodgings at CFB Comox on Vancouver Island to make way for the refugees. “No matter,” as Daniel Greenfield has commented, “soldiers aren’t important. Muslim victims are.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Canada’s Liberal Government Promises to Legalize Marijuana

Canada’s new Liberal government again promised Friday to legalize marijuana in a speech outlining its agenda as Parliament resumes after the Oct. 19 election.

A speech delivered by Gov. Gen. David Johnston reiterated new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to legalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. It is a position Trudeau has held since becoming leader of the Liberal Party in 2013. However, for the first time, the government said it will restrict access to marijuana but did not elaborate.

Trudeau has said that legalizing marijuana would fix a “failed system” and help remove the “criminal element” linked to the drug.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

850 French Students Suspected of Radicalism

France has identified over 850 students in the past year who are suspected of becoming Islamic radicals, the education ministry has confirmed.

The figures were revealed by the 20 Minutes newspaper on Thursday, and confirmed soon after by the Ministry of Education.

The paper noted that the number may seem alarming, it’s only a very small percentage of the total 5.5 million students at French high schools.

Students who are leaning towards radicalization have been caught out through social media monitoring and comments they have made in the classroom.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Alfano Says EU Deal Reached on Flight Data to Fight Terror

Minister says PNR will be open for six months

(ANSA) — Brussels, December 4 — Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Friday that European Union member States had reached an agreement on the use of air passengers’ data as part of efforts to combat terrorism and crime. “We have just reached an agreement on the PNR (Passenger Name Record) directive,” Alfano said during a break in a meeting of EU interior ministers. “It will be wrapped up definitively on December 15”. The aim of the PNR directive is to provided harmonised legislative framework at EU level on the use and sharing of passenger data, rather than lots of diverging national rules.

Civil liberties groups have complained about directive’s potential effects on the right to privacy. “The passenger data will be open to European police forces for six months and it will remain accessible, albeit encoded, for the following four years,” Alfano said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Two Terror Suspects Nabbed in Salzburg

Two suspected members of the Isis terror group who were posing as refugees whilst travelling through Austria have been taken into custody in Salzburg, according to a spokesman for the federal prosecutor.

Robert Holzleitner told reporters from Austrian state broadcaster ORF that the two men, each around 20 years old, had been living in refugee accommodation in Salzburg.

Their fellow Syrian refugees grew concerned by the behaviour and background stories of the pair, and reported their concerns to authorities.

It is believed that the men had participated in armed conflict in Syria, fighting on the side of the Isis terror group.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Halal Storm Triggers Meat Sale Backtrack

A test sale of Halal meat in the Spar supermarket chain caused a storm of Islamophobia, leading to cancelation of the pilot after only two weeks.

With the recent significant increase in Muslim refugees arriving in the central European country, the Austrian operation of the Dutch Spar supermarket chain decided to offer meat prepared according to Islamic guidelines, following the Halal certification.

Unfortunately, Spar’s customers in Vienna showed they were not ready for such a cultural change, and resorted to verbally harassing Spar staff in stores, as well as posting anti-Muslim comments in online forums.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Danes Reject EU Justice Rules in Referendum: Exit Polls

Voters in eurosceptic EU member Denmark on Thursday rejected in a referendum a government proposal to beef up their participation in the bloc’s justice cooperation, exit polls showed.

The ‘No’ side garnered 53.3 percent of the vote in an exit poll by public broadcaster DR, and 52.8 percent according to a poll by broadcaster TV 2.

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

Danes’ Snub of Closer EU Ties ‘Gut Punch for Elite’

A Danish ‘No’ in a referendum on adopting EU rules on cross-frontier policing shows a growing chasm between the public and the establishment, politicians and commentators said on Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark’s ‘No’ Holds a Lesson for Cameron — Beware Complacency

If there is a lesson for Prime Minister David Cameron from Denmark’s ‘No’ vote, it may be that complacency could allow Britain to drop out of the European Union when voters decide on membership in a referendum likely next year.

Denmark’s voters ignored advice from politicians, business leaders and the media, and said “No” to more EU laws aimed at fighting cross-border crime, underscoring a broader disenchantment across Europe after years of crisis and sluggish economic growth.

Cameron faces a harder task than Denmark’s elite. He must convince 27 other EU leaders to grant him a deal and then sell that package to voters who polls show are jaded by EU crises over everything from Greece to an influx of migrants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

European Space Mission Seeks ‘Vibrations’ of Universe

Lisa Pathfinder includes Italian technology

(ANSA) — Rome, December 3 — A European satellite blasted into space Thursday to start looking for the ‘vibrations’ of the universe.

Lisa Pathfinder, made by European aerospace companies including Italian ones, is to travel 1.5 million kilometres to a spot where the Sun’s and Earth’s gravity cancel each other out.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Far-Right Tipped to Triumph in Post-Attacks French Regional Vote

France’s far-right National Front (FN) appears to be on course for an historic breakthrough in regional elections this weekend, with the country still traumatised by last month’s Paris terror attacks.

The party’s leader Marine Le Pen looks set to take the former Socialist heartland in the economically depressed northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, while her 25-year-old niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen is ahead in the race for the vast southeastern region that includes the French Riviera.

The anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant FN — which has never before controlled a region — has been climbing in the polls since 130 people were killed by jihadist gunmen and bombers in Paris on November 13.

With the FN’s support soaring to between 27 and 30 percent across the country, the party is also in a close fight with the traditional right for the northwestern region of Normandy and Burgundy and Franche-Comte in the east…

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

France Tells Public How to React in a Terror Attack

Escape, hide, alert. That’s the advice contained on new posters produced by the French government to advise the public what to do in a terror attack.

Posters are to be placed at key locations throughout France advising the public what to do in the case of a terrorist attack, like the one seen in Paris on November 13th.

The posters were distributed to government ministries on Friday and will eventually be placed in town halls, local authority buildings, big shops, stadiums and museums.

The posters are inspired by the style used for the cards used on airplanes to advise passengers what to do in the case of an emergency.

They will be shard around on social media and video will follow shortly.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French President Visits Aircraft Carrier Off Syria

President Francois Hollande arrived on Friday on France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to meet air crews launching strikes on Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq, an AFP journalist said.

Hollande is expected to give a speech to the crew of the carrier which is off the coast of Syria, three weeks after he declared “war” on the jihadists after attacks on Paris in which 130 were killed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Rejects Own Spy Agency’s Criticism of Saudi Arabia

The highly unusual spat between the chancellery and foreign ministry on one side and the BND foreign intelligence service on the other hand erupted when the latter on Wednesday released a report accusing Saudi Arabia of a destabilising shift in foreign policy.

“The until now cautious diplomatic stance of the older members of the leadership of the royal family is being replaced with an impulsive policy of intervention,” it said.

In particular, the BND focused on the role of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who holds the defence portfolio and other powerful posts…

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

Italy: Court Suspends Fininvest Mediolanum Divestment

Until hearing next year

(ANSA) — Rome, December — The Council of State, which is Italy’s highest administrative court, on Friday suspended an order for Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest holding company to sell some of its shares in Italian financial services company Mediolanum.

The suspension was ordered ahead of a January 14 hearing on the matter, the court said in its ruling.

In June, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR) turned down an appeal by the ex-premier and media mogul against an October 2014 Bank of Italy order he sell 20% of his Mediolanum holdings.

Such a sale would leave Fininvest with a stake of 9.9% in Mediolanum, which is controlled by the Doris family.

The legal appeal came at the end of a three-month deadline set for the divestment of the shares, which sources said was ordered based on Berlusconi’s loss of good standing.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Jubilee Ban for Souvenir Hawkers, Snack Vans in St Peter’s Area

Permanent ban near Basilica, only during large events nearby

(ANSA) — Rome, December 4 — Rome Commissioner Francesco Paolo Tronca signed an ordinance Friday banning all commercial activity for one year in public areas around St. Peter’s Basilica, and during large events in the surrounding areas, to begin December 7 on the eve of the Jubilee Holy Year of Mercy.

The ban will affect travelling souvenir vendors and snack vans for a total of 47 businesses in all, of which 14 will be affected for the entire year.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: One in 5 Change Xmas Shopping Habits on Terror Fears

Millions avoiding shopping centers

(ANSA) — Rome, December 4 — One Italian in 5 will change their shopping habits this festive season due to fear of a terrorist attack, a survey revealed Friday.

Coldiretti farmers association noted a general change in priorities when it comes to shopping, but also that people were being more careful about where they were spending their free time and buying their presents.

At least 18% of Italians said fear of terrorist attacks has had an impact on their Christmas shopping, while 3.8 million admitted they are trying to avoid shopping centres.

Another 2.9 million said they will no longer follow the Christmas tradition of a long walk — known as a passeggiata — along the central streets of their town.

Coldiretti said more Italians were choosing to buy gifts online or at small markets that sprout in towns across the country during the Christmas period.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Monsanto Going to Trial for Crimes Against Humanity

In the Hague, Netherlands, International Criminal Court.

Finally, Monsanto, the US-based, transnational company responsible for introducing multiple genetically modified crops and numerous toxic chemicals into our environment — including saccharin, aspartame, polystyrene, DDT, dioxin, Agent Orange, petroleum based fertilizers, recombinant bovine growth hormones (rGBH), Round Up (glyphosate), Lasso (an herbicide used in Europe), Bt toxic plants, and more — will have to answer to the world for its reign of terror. Monsanto has acted with severe negligence, and the hubris and supremacy of a corporation given personhood, but no longer.

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), and Millions Against Monsanto, along with dozens of global food, farming, and environmental justice groups announced at the United Nations conference held recently in Paris that an international court of lawyers and judges will assess Monsanto’s criminal liability for their atrocious acts.

The court, in The Hague, Netherlands, will use the UN’s ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ developed in 2011 to assess damages for Monsanto’s acts against human life and the environment.

The court will also rely on the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2002, and it will consider whether to reform international criminal law to include crimes against the environment, or ecocide, as a prosecutable criminal offense.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

New Suspects in Paris Massacre Sought as France Releases Survival ‘Guide’

Belgian authorities said Friday they were searching for two new suspects in the Paris massacre investigation, both of whom used fake identity cards, as France released a “how-to” guide for surviving such attacks.

Posted Friday on the government’s website, the guide has three-step instructions informing citizens they should “escape, hide, alert” in the face of danger.

It features diagrams suggesting ways to better protect oneself — such as obstructing doorways with sofas, turning android devices to silent, hiding low under windows and not running toward police officers.

The new suspects, carrying bogus IDs with the names of Samir Bouzid and Soufiane Kayal, had been traveling in a Mercedes with another at-large suspect, Salah Abdeslam, when the car was checked Sept. 9 at the Hungarian-Austrian border, according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s office.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway Newspaper Publishes Father Christmas ‘Obituary’

A Norwegian newspaper has apologised to its readers after publishing a death notice for “Father Christmas”.

The fictional death announcement was for “Dear Father Christmas, born 12 December 1788”, said to have died on 3 December in Nordkapp, Norway’s northernmost point.

The funeral was to be held on 28 December at the “North Pole Chapel”.

Norway’s second-biggest selling newspaper blamed an error in its internal procedures.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Paris Attacks: France and Belgium Police Seek Two New Suspects

Police are seeking two new suspects accused of aiding the fugitive suspect from the Paris attacks Salah Abdeslam, the Belgian prosecutor’s office says.

The pair are “armed and dangerous” and are thought to have helped Abdeslam travel to Hungary in September.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Support for ISIS Runs ‘Deep in Parts of Muslim Societies’ Tony Blair Claims Threat at Home

FORMER prime minister Tony Blair said evil Islamic State (ISIS) ideology runs ‘deep into parts of Muslim societies’ in Britain as he fears Daesh will carry out a bigger attack in UK than Paris.

Mr Blair praised MPs for voting in airstrikes against Daesh in Syria, claiming there were plenty of people who had extreme views against the Western way of life.

He claimed European forces had to led the response to the “threat at our door” and “within our home”.

He said: “Those who believe in concepts of the caliphate and the apocalypse — so much part of Daesh propaganda stretch deep into parts of Muslim societies.

“A belief in innate hostility between Islam and the west is not the preserve of the few.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Sexual Attacks on Horses at All Time High

Official reports have revealed that Switzerland has the highest levels of sexual attacks on horses ever recorded.

The scale of the crisis was outlined in the report which was based on the findings of a study into the growing numbers of beastiality reported in the country.

Animal rights group Tier im Recht spoke out at a press conference in Zurich outlining the fear that there are 10,000 people with an unnatural sexual interest in animals living in the country.

[Satanism in Switzerland? What is going on over there?]

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Shocking Statistics Show Horses’ Sexual Assault Risk is on the Rise

Horses are at an increasing risk of sexual assault in Switzerland, warn experts. According to figures there was a record 1,709 cases of animal cruelty in the country last year — with at least one horse being sexually assaulted every three days.

This was up from 1,542 the year before.

And now Swiss animal rights workers are fearing for the safety of horses in the country, after the report suggests that there are 10,000 Swiss who are “sexually interested” in animals.

There are an estimated 110,000 horses living on 18,000 Swiss farms. In 2002 there were 70,000 horses in the country showing the number is rising rapidly.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Communist Cult Leader Accused of Imprisoning Daughter for Decades Convicted

A cult leader who led a secretive Maoist commune in London was found guilty Friday of raping and sexually assaulting his female followers and imprisoning his own daughter for 30 years.

Prosecutors said 75-year-old Aravindan Balakrishnan, known as “Comrade Bala,” led a tiny radical communist group in London called the Workers’ Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought in the 1970s. They say that for years, he sexually abused and brainwashed his followers into believing he had God-like powers, and ensured they were too scared to leave him.

The three women Balakrishnan was convicted of abusing included his 32-year-old daughter, who was born into the commune. She never attended school and in 30 years she was almost never allowed to leave the house alone. None of the women can be named because of reporting restrictions to protect their identities.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Islamic Student Group Harasses Human Rights Activist for Violating ‘Safe Space’

Muslim student turns off speaker’s projector after cartoon of Muhammad appears.

An Islamic student group at a London university confronted a human rights activist during a speech this week and accused her of violating their “safe space.”

Maryam Namazie, a former Muslim and Communist from Iran, had her presentation on blasphemy and apostasy interrupted momentarily Monday by members of Goldsmiths University’s “Islamic Society.”

“As you very well probably know, she is renowned for being Islamophobic, and very controversial,” the Islamic Society told the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society prior to holding the event. “We advise you to reconsider your event tomorrow.”

According to Namazie, as several Muslim women walked out of the room, the Islamic group began “repeatedly banging the door, falling on the floor, heckling me, playing on their phones” and “shouting out” shortly after the speech began.

As the event progressed further, one Muslim male in the crowd reportedly shut off Namazie’s projector when an image depicting the Prophet Muhammad appeared.

“They shut my projector, shouted over me, threw themselves on the floor,” Namazie told the Telegraph. “Security had to come to allow me to carry [on] speaking and the same person who shut my projector came back into the room again I shouted, ‘You have to get out,’ and security finally escorted him out.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Live on Air, MP Tulip Siddiq Takes on Tory Rival Who Claims Labour Has Exported Block Voting ‘Culture From Indian Sub-Continent’

TULIP Siddiq had a late night radio ding-dong with a Tory MP who claimed Labour has benefited from postal and block voting by importing the “culture” of countries in the “Indian sub continent”.

The Hampstead and Kilburn MP crossed swords with Andrew Rosindell at 1.30am this morning (Friday) as they discussed Labour’s victory in the Oldham and Royton by-election on LBC.

With some members of UKIP questioning the role of postal votes in Labour’s comfortable win, Mr Rosindale, the Tory MP for Romford, said he too had general concerns about how the system worked.

He said there had been systematic abuse “in certain parts of the country and I think’s it’s absolutely wrong and we need to address the issue”, adding: “The Labour Party are able to almost march certain sections of society to the polling station and I don’t think that’s right. I think in this particular by-election, I believe 25 percent of the population are from the Indian sub-continent. Frankly, what’s happening is that the Labour Party are using the culture in that part of the world, which is now part of that constituency, in order to march people in to vote for a particular party. I think it’s wrong. It’s against our British values. It’s against our way of doing things.”

While Ms Siddiq, whose aunt, Sheikh Hasina, is the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, sat next to him, Mr Rosindell added that postal votes were being abused by “by one particular party” and that people should not be “cajoled into voting a particularly way.”

He said the culture had been “exported” from other countries.

Ms Siddiq, sounding furious, told him that he had been “deeply offensive”.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Maoist Cult Leader Aravindan Balakrishnan Guilty of Sex Assaults

A Maoist cult leader who used violence, fear and sexual degradation to control women he held captive has been found guilty of a string of sex assaults.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, 75, raped two followers and falsely imprisoned and mistreated his daughter for more than 30 years in a commune in south London.

He told his followers he had God-like powers, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He warned them a supernatural force called Jackie would cause natural disasters if he was ever disobeyed.

Balakrishnan, of Enfield, north London, was convicted of six counts of indecent assault, four counts of rape and two counts of actual bodily harm. He was also found guilty of cruelty to a child under 16.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslims in Tetovo, Macedonia Demand That Christians be Hung on Their Cross

[Translation by Ilia Toli, 2PhD]

The tolerance between Muslims and Christians appears cracked. A cross that is expected to be erected in Tetovo has angered Albanians. The Albanian portal “Tetovo Today (TetovaSot)” says that this is a scandal: “the giant cross will be built in the heart of Polog [a field in Macedonia]”. “The association of christian brotherhood wants to build a stone tower in the heart of Sun Hill and on its top will be placed an illuminated cross six meters tall,” TetovaSot communicates.

“From this association is demanded that all Christians in Macedonia and wider help with materials and money for the construction of this gigantic cross in the heart of Tetovo, which will be seen from all sides, same as the cross in Vodno in Skopje” continues the article in the portal. It is not clear why this is a scandal, but hundreds of commenters in this portal react enraged, and also post radical comments, also for the hanging of Christians in this cross. These comments are a scandal.

[Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Molotov Attack in Cairo Nightclub, 18 Dead

Prosecutor, owner accusing two dismissed former employees

CAIRO — There were 18 people dead and several injured after a molotov attack carried out by masked men against a nightclub south of Cairo, in the el Agouza neighbourhood, on Friday, security sources told the media. The attack took place between 6 and 7 in the morning. According to the sources, the majority of victims were nightclub employees.

The Mena agency reported that “three people riding a motorbike threw molotovs causing a wide fire in the building and subsequently ran away”.

The website of newspaper Alyoum7 published the first images of the attack and a video in which the club in flames is visible from the outside while firemen seek to extinguish the fire.

The club was apparently completely destroyed.

It seems that “two dismissed former employees were responsibile” for the attack, said prosecution counsellor Ahmed el Bakli, adding that “the owner of the club accused two former employees”, according to reports by State tv.

The owner of the establishment added that “a quarrel broke out between some of the club’s employees and the attackers who wanted to enter the building. Once they were pushed out, they returned and launched the attack” with molotovs in front of the door at the entrance; a huge fire ensued preventing those inside from escaping. The fire was extinguished.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France Conducts Intelligence Flight Over ISIL Controlled Parts of Libya

France has carried out reconnaissance and intelligence flights over Libya in the areas controlled by Islamic State.

The French military plans to continue to conduct similar missions over the North African country, a presidential press document released on Friday said.

Two missions were carried out on Nov. 20 and 21 around the towns of Sirte and Tobruk. “Other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights are also planned,” the document showed.

The missions would be the first time Paris has publicly admitted to conducting operations over Islamic State zones in Libya. Sirte is controlled by Islamic State.

France is part of a coalition of 65 countries that participate in the bombing of ISIL in Iraq and Syria. The coalition is acting without the permission of local Syrian authorities.

Paris started a more intensive bombing campaign in Syria and sent an aircraft carrier to the region after a series of terrorist attacks in Paris left 130 people killed and more than 350 injured on November 13.

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

ISIS Takes Flight: Terror Group Training Pilots at Airbase in Libya

ISIS is training pilots at an airbase in Libya, using small plane left over from the Qaddafi regime and at least one flight simulator in an effort experts fear could lead to aerial attacks targeting Europe, according to regional analysts.

The terrorist group, which is bulking up its footprint in the chaotic north African nation even as airstrikes by Russia, the U.S. and other western allies pound its headquarters in Syria, is functioning unfettered in the Mediterranean city of Sirte. Given that Sirte is just a short flight from mainland Europe — Italy is closest of all — the development could mean ISIS is closing in on a bid to take its terrorism to a frightening new level with a multitude of high-profile potential targets within range.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia Boosts Airport, Tourism Security Following Terror Attacks

The Tunisian authorities can close any hotel not complying with safety instructions, according to the tourism minister. The country is trying to attract Russian tourists.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Tunisian security forces have stepped up security at tourist sites and airports after this year’s terror attacks at the Bardo museum and a beach hotel near the town of Sousse, Minister of Tourism Selma Elloumi Rekik told Sputnik.

“Ensuring security of facilities, museums and airports started after a terrorist attack in the Bardo museum. We have set up a Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Interior joint commission and German experts helped to create a brochure with instructions for tourism organizations, on how to ensure their safety. The Ministry of Interior has developed a program to ensure the safety of airports and tourist organizations.”

According to Rekik, the authorities can close any hotel not complying with instructions or meeting detailed safety criteria.

A terrorist attack took place in March at the National Bardo Museum, in which gunmen killed 22 people and injured over 47, mostly tourists. A gun attack on a hotel in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse in June killed 38. The Islamic State (ISIL, or Daesh, a group outlawed in Russia) terrorists claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Tunisia Seeks Russian Tourism Despite Air Safety Concerns

Tunisia seeks to attract Russian tourists, despite air travel safety concerns following the recent terrorist bombing of a civilian Russian plane in Egypt and last week’s shooting down of a military aircraft in Turkey, Rekik told Sputnik.

“We have seen understanding [from representatives of the Russian tourism industry], but the Russians do have some concerns about air travel after Russian planes were shot down in Egypt and Turkey. But we are trying to attract tourists to Tunisia.”

To this end, the minister is planning to visit Moscow in the near future, she said.

Russia has imposed a ban on flights into and out of Egypt after a Russian-operated Airbus A321 crashed on October 31 en route from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.

On Thursday, Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said the country would not resume its air links with Egypt before the end of 2015.

On November 24, a Russian Su-24 bomber was downed by a missile from a Turkish F-16 fighter over Syria.

Moscow’s relations with Ankara deteriorated over the incident. According to the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (WCIOM), the attitude of almost three-quarters of the Russian population toward Turkey has deteriorated due to the downing of the Su-24 by Ankara.

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

Tunisia Closing Tunis Airport to Flights to and From Libya

Isis fighters in Sirte’ military re-enforcements on Libya border

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 4 — Tunisian authorities will close the Tunis-Carthage aiport to Libyan planes starting from tomorrow and until further notice.

The measure ruled by the general direction of civil aviation will however allow flights to and from Libya operating from the aiport of Sfax-Thyna.

The precautionary decision, taken out of security concerns adds on to the measure undertaken on November 24, that brought Tunisian authorities to seal land borders with Libya for 15 days together with the state of emergency.

Tunisia also decided to strenghten its military contingent defending its borders with Libya, the national radio reported.

News coming from Libya, described as the new Isis Eldorado, worries authorities.

Sources agree that “several fighters arrived in Sirte, and amongst them, there are some ‘leaders’ of the Islamic State, coming from Iraq and Syria”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Austrian Minister Angers Israel With Cancelled Trip

Austrian Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner has canceled a four day visit to Israel after he was asked to attend meetings in the Israeli science ministry in East Jerusalem, which Austria does not recognize as being under Israel’s sovereignty.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Divorced Saudi Women to Get ID Cards: Reports

Female divorcees and widows in Saudi Arabia are set to get their own ID cards allowing them to act independently from men, local media reported on Thursday.

The changes will allow women to register a child for school, access records and authorise medical procedures once their marriages have ended, the reports said.

Without their own identity documents, divorced women in Saudi currently need permission from their husbands or a court order to perform those tasks, the Arab News said.

No date has been set for the change, it said…

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

ISIL Seizes 3,000 Official Passports in Syria, May Send Terrorists to EU

Two or three of the Paris bombers might have arrived to Europe as refugees, using authentic Syrian IDs, Focus Online wrote. It is believed that more ISIL members may attempt to travel to the EU using Syrian documents in ISIL’s possession.

ISIL has 3,000 authentic Syrian and Iraqi passports stolen from the national authorities, which it can use to send its terrorists to Europe, German magazine Focus Online wrote.

According to the magazine, the terrorist militias were expressly seeking to seize authentic passports in captured cities such as Mosul and Rakka to be able to deploy their terrorists worldwide.

The Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution fear that terrorists may come to Europe with the flow of refugees using these documents. This may affect domestic security and raise the likelihood of terrorist attacks in the country.

“For French and German intelligence services it is clear that two or possibly even three accomplices to the attacks in Paris were registered on the Greek island of Leros on October 3,” the magazine wrote.

According to the investigation, Ahmad Almohammad and Mohammed al-Mahmud who carried out suicide attacks in front of the Stade de France on November 13 could have come to Leros with almost two hundred other refugees from the Middle East. Thirty of them are now residing in Germany.

“None of us can rule out that there are more Islamists among these 30 people, which may contain ISIL sleeper agents,” a German official said on the condition of anonymity.

Europe and, particularly, Germany have been long trying to cope with a large-scale refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in the Middle East to escape violence. In August, German authorities said the country expected to receive some 800,000 asylum applications in 2015.

A number of experts and media warned that there might be terrorists among refugees heading to Europe. The potential refugee-terrorism threat raised serious concerns among the European population and some politicians, who started to call for stricter migration control and the closure of European borders.

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

ISIS Spreading ‘Flesh Eating Bug’ Across Syria as a Result of ‘Abominable Acts’

ISIS is responsible for spreading a flesh eating bug across Syria according to the Kurdish Red Crescent. The disease, Leishmaniasis, has infected more than 500 people.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Oil Plot Thickens: Turkish MP Has Evidence Erdogan’s Son-in-Law Involved in Illegal Crude Trade

On Thursday, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu said the following about Russia’s allegations that Turkey and more specifically, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his family, are involved in the trafficking of illegal ISIS crude:

“In the Cold War period there was a Soviet propaganda machine. Every day it created different lies. Firstly they would believe them and then expect the world to believe them. These were remembered as Pravda lies and nonsense. This was an old tradition but it has suddenly reared its head again. Nobody attaches any value to the lies of this Soviet-style propaganda machine.”

As we went on to note, Davutoglu’s assessment isn’t exactly correct. Quite a few people “attach value” to Moscow’s allegations, not the least of which are the authorities in Baghdad, from whom Turkey is effectively stealing not only by facilitating the trafficking of ISIS oil, but also by piping over 600,000 b/d from Kurdistan to Ceyhan.

In fact, Iraq is so agitated that they’re set to ask the Security Council to investigate the situation and brand anyone found to be involved “criminals.”

Of course the thing about being an autocrat — and that’s most certainly what Erdogan is despite the West’s ridiculous contention that Turkey is a democracy — is that you make a whole lot enemies in your own country and while you can suppress dissent with force, eventually it all catches up to you and between Russia’s accusations and opposition political parties still stinging from AKP’s move to nullify June’s election outcome by starting a civil war and calling for snap elections, Erdogan may be in trouble.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Accuse Man of Being a Sorcerer Before Beheading Him in Front of Blood-Thirsty Mob

Depraved Islamic State (ISIS) fighters have savagely beheaded a man in front of a baying mob before leaving his severed head on display in the street.

In sickening scenes caught on camera, the man is accused of ‘sorcery’ is blindfolded and made to kneel on his knees before evil jihadists just moments before his bloody and senseless death in Nineveh, Iraq.

Following the brutal attack in the middle of the street, the helpless man’s head is then placed on his lifeless body.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Uses Child Soldiers to Execute Some Syrian Army Prisoners

The jihadists have released a new video showing some children, about 10 years old, used to kill six soldiers and pro-government militia. Five of them killed with a gun, the last beheaded. A “message” directly to those “opposed” to IS. Activists and experts point out that IS does not hide the practice of child soldiers, rather it “flaunts” their use.

Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The militias of the Islamic State (IS) yesterday afternoon released a new, gruesome video showing six child soldiers recruited by jihadists used to carry out executions (in the photo image of the video) of Syrian army soldiers. The first five soldiers were killed by shooting, while the last was beheaded according to a ritual often seen in the past.

Entitled “For the children of the Jews”, the video made by the IS pays a lot of attention to detail, with a screenplay and various references that recall the most popular video games of action and war; it shows at first dozens of children, aged about 10 years, studying the Koran and learning the art of war and combat.

Later, six of these children are chosen by their instructor to “send a message” to those opposed to the Islamic State, carrying out a carefully staged execution of security forces in the hands of the militia.

The militias of the Islamic state are certainly not the first army or irregular fighter group to use child soldiers for war operations. However, so far they were used in roadblocks or to gather intelligence. With the arrival of Daesh (Arabic acronym for the IS), this abuse has taken one step further, with the use of children and young people to execute prisoners.

In the video you can see each of the six boys running through a ruined fortress, in search of the prisoner to be executed, accompanied by music and background sounds; each prisoner had previously provided their name, year of birth and described their role within the security forces or pro-government militias.

As is clear from the introduction to the video, it was filmed in the province of Deir Ezzor (Wilayat al-Khayr), in the eastern part of Syria under the control of the jihadists.

Estimates of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in London that relies on a network of informers on the ground, the IS has recruited more than 1,100 child soldiers since the beginning of 2015, of which 50 have been killed.

Activists and international human rights groups point out that, unlike other groups or armies, the jihadists “do not hide” the practice of using child soldiers, instead they tend “to flaunt it” as a trademark. Their use is part of their international campaign of “indoctrination”, to make the world understand “the new generation” born and raised “under the Caliphate.”

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

Not Obama’s War: US Needs ‘Decisive Leader’ To Destroy Daesh

The US plans to send approximately 100 special operations troops to fight Daesh, also known as ISIL or the Islamic State, in a move which is further blurring the line between assistance and military engagement but expert Fred Fleitz doubts that this will make any difference.

Barack Obama is likely to maintain what Fleitz described as “one of his most basic positions” — that he is a president who ends wars, not launches them. He is therefore unlikely to greatly increase US military presence in Iraq and Syria or tackle the brutal group for that matter.

“I think [Obama’s] purpose is to take this problem to the next president. I don’t think he is going to do what it takes to take ISIS out during his presidency,” the senior vice president for policy and programs at the Washington DC-based Center for Security Policy told Radio Sputnik.

The task of tackling Daesh will likely fall on the shoulders of the next US president, provided that he or she would be willing to act tough and join efforts with other major stakeholders interested and eager to destroy the terrorist organization.

“We are going to need a more decisive leader who is willing to make some difficult decisions and we are going to have to make these decisions with Europe. The French are already there. The British are getting there. … We are going to need NATO to help with this. We are going to need regional states to help with this or ISIS is going to continue,” Fleitz asserted.

Time will tell whether the next US president will be truly willing to take Daesh out, but at the moment the US does not have a viable counterterrorism strategy for Iraq or Syria.

By now it has become evident that a coalition which does not involve Russia is unlikely to achieve success against Daesh. After all, Moscow’s aerial campaign has been a deal breaker when it comes to turning the tide in the Syrian conflict.

Fleitz believes that neither US, nor Russian officials have figured out yet how to coordinate anti-Daesh efforts. “We need more determination by both countries to focus on the ISIS threat,” he said.

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

Obama Arms ISIS-Linked Militants — Without Background Checks!

Democratic senator also caught lying about gun statistics

Gun control advocates want to enact “universal background checks” for guns in response to the San Bernardino shooting, even though President Obama wasn’t performing stringent background checks on ISIS-linked “moderate rebels” he was arming in Syria.

The demand for more gun control is also strange considering that the shooting occurred in California, a state that already has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation, and the fact that Obama is letting “refugees” with terrorist ties into the country.

“In California, we have tough gun laws; I don’t know how these weapons [involved in the shooting] got where they were… we’ll find out,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on the Senate floor Thursday. “And people say, well, we have these gun laws but look at this: we’ve had a 56% reduction in gun violence since 1993 in my great state because we have taken action.”

But the significant decline in violent crimes since the mid-1990s occurred all over the U.S., not just California, and that decline coincided with an increase in private gun ownership.

It’s also worth mentioning that the peak in violent crime during the early 90s was the result of the drug war fueled by the CIA importing cocaine into America’s inner cities to help fund the U.S.-backed Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

And let’s not forget that Paris, France, has stronger gun laws than California and yet ISIS militants still killed over 130 people in multiple terror attacks across the city on Nov. 13.

Despite all these facts, leftists are still pushing for more gun control, but when President Obama approved the re-arming of Syrian rebels affiliated with ISIS, he didn’t demand they undergo strict background checks and waiting periods before receiving their firearms.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Army Liberates Key Areas in Latakia With Russia’s Aerial Assistance

The Syrian army liberated a number of key areas in the coastal northwestern Syrian province of Latakia, with Russia’s aerial assistance, military sources told Iranian media on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Aerospace Forces have been carrying out airstrikes against terrorist targets across eight Syrian provinces, including Latakia, at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad, since September 30.

“The sources said that the Syrian army, the NDF [National Defense Forces] fighters and the Russian Air Force conducted joint anti-terrorist operations near the strategic regions of Rweiset Khandaq and Ketf al-Hamidah,” Fars News Agency reported.

It added that pro-government forces had restored full security in four other villages in the vicinity of the province’s northern mountain.

Dozens of militants died in the ground campaign, the sources added.

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

U.S. Targets Islamic State’s Baghdadi as Special Forces Gear Up

The U.S. is undertaking a significant effort to find and kill Islamic State’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has gone into hiding, an Obama administration official said.

At the current pace, the U.S.-led coalition is finding and killing a mid- to high-level Islamic State leader every two days, said the official, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity to detail efforts by the U.S. coalition to counter Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Eliminating Baghdadi is seen as a particularly important goal, the official said, because he holds a unique role in being able to inspire and organize extremists beyond the territory held by the group. While declining to compare the effort to the operation that led to the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, the official said the U.S. has a proven track record of finding a top target once it sets its sights.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Despite Upheaval: Ukraine Remains Stagnant — Swedish Media

Despite the promises made at around the time of Ukraine’s coup, Ukraine continues to be corrupt and in decline, while its civil society groups appear to be as weak as before, despite providing ‘hope.’

Ukraine’s endemic corruption does have a single bright side, which is that it provides opportunities for investigative journalists, although this is where the good news end, according to the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko provides most of the opportunities, according to the newspaper, as his refusal to let go of his business and media empire lead to ample conflicts of interest.

“Every time we check the president’s affairs, we find something new,” one “well-known journalist” told the newspaper.

According to the author, Gunnar Jonsson, Poroshenko is not the worst politician in Ukraine; in fact, he is typical.

As Ukraine’s economy continues to decline, governance reforms promised by the post-coup leadership remain at a standstill, and investigations into people in Poroshenko’s circle remain stalled. Jonsson puts his faith in civil society groups and political support from the European Union, which he hopes may somehow change the situation.

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

Russian Parliament Gives Constitutional Court Priority Over Int’l Courts

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, adopted on Friday a law that gives Russia’s Constitutional Court the right to legally disregard the decisions of international courts if they violate the provisions of the Russian Constitution.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The amendments to the existing Law on the Constitutional Court were supported by 436 State Duma lawmakers, with only three voting against.

The amended law, in particular, would allow the Constitutional Court to decide whether Russia should respect the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

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

IS Executioner of Chechen ‘Spy’ Was Russian: Kadyrov

The jihadist who beheaded a Chechen man in an Islamic State video is an ethnic Russian from a far northern city, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Friday.

“The supposed killer is identified as a resident of Noyabrsk, an ethnic Russian,” Kadyrov, the strongman leader of the Chechnya region in Russia’s North Caucasus, wrote on Instagram.

Kadyrov named the victim as Magomed Khasiyev…

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

Alert in Thailand: Islamic State Militia Ready to Strike Russian Targets

Moscow’s secret services have alerted their colleagues in Bangkok; in recent weeks at least 10 Syrian citizens have crossed the borders of the country. Main targets are Russian tourists headed to Pattaya, Phuket and in the capital. So far, Thailand has been spared by international terrorism, but alert levels are rising.

Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Moscow’s secret services have warned colleagues in Thailand to be on “high alert” of Islamic State (SI ) attacks against sensitive Russian “targets”, and tourist areas of the country.

According to the Kremlin at least ten militants originating in Syria have crossed the borders of Thailand in recent weeks, as the country is preparing to inaugurate its busy tourist season. The main target is reportedly Russian tourists who flock to the beaches of the Asian nation; particularly Phuket and Pattaya, plus the capital Bangkok.

On 30 September Moscow launched air strikes against sensitive Daesh (Arabic acronym for the IS) targets in Syria, which registered an escalation in recent weeks; in response jihadists have threatened attacks against Russian citizens and interests worldwide. The recent crash of a Russian airliner flying over the skies of Egypt last October, which killed 224 people, was claimed by IS.

Songpol Watthanachai, police spokesman, said that “for the moment, it is only the exchange of information” transmitted by the FSB (former KGB) and his department are still “awaiting verification”. The internal note of the security forces is dated November 27, and is classified as “confidential” and “urgent”. “The FSB warns us — says the policeman — against a possible IS attack, who want to hit Russian interests in Thailand.”

The Christmas and New Year holidays is peak tourist season for Thailand; many Russian travel from Russia to the Asian country. Among the favorite destinations of the beaches of Pattaya, about a two hour drive from Bangkok.

This area, according to reports from the Thai police, is where “ten Syrians linked to the IS have established themselves after arriving in Thailand between 15 and 31 October 2015”. Other sensitive areas include the capital and Phuket. However, so far there is no confirmation of Thai citizens or Muslims in the area having joined IS, unlike what other nations in the region such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

In August, a bomb hit the center of Bangkok, causing a dozen victims in the context of an unprecedented attack. To date there have been no official claims for the attack and police investigations have proven unclear. The official track points to the involvement of Uyghur militias, a Muslim minority of western China, in the Xinjiang region, but this is not concrete.

So far, Thailand has been spared by international terrorism and, in particular, the violence of the Islamic state. In the south of the country separatist rebel pro-Islamic movements are active protagonists of past attacks, but their struggle has no ties to the jihadist movements and terrorists worldwide.

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

Indonesia: Denied Place of Worship, Yasmin Church Faithful Celebrate Advent on Streets

Moments of interfaith prayer in front of the presidential palace. Believers have been unable to celebrate Christmas in a church for six years because the authorities block its construction. Spokesman: “We want to involve all religions: we do not have to keep quiet just because a minority.”

Jakarta (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The faithful of the Indonesian Yasmin Bogor Christian Church (GKI) have decided to celebrate Advent and Christmas in the heart of Jakarta, in front of the presidential palace, involving all Christian denominations and other religions to demand respect for the rights of minorities. Yasmin spokesman Dwiati Novita Rini, told the Jakarta Post, said that “it will be an interreligious and interfaith celebration of Christmas.”

The same spokesman announced that the community has received the support of some Human Rights networks such as the Setara Institute. The celebrations are organized together with the Batak Protestant Chuch (Hkbp), the largest Protestant denomination in Indonesia. Rini said that the services of Advent will be the December 6 and 13, while that Christmas will be held December 25, in the square next to the palace.

It will be the sixth Christmas in a row for Yasmin Church without a church building, since the administration of Bogor revoked the building permit (IMB) of the place of worship in 2010 and stopped the work. For several weekends, the faithful celebrated the liturgical service at the presidential palace, but the gesture has so far not convinced the president Joko Widodo to implement the commitment to protect religious minorities. Not even the fact that the governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also a Protestant, seems to be in favor of the faithful of the GKI Yasmin.

Over the years, the Protestants have received the support of many human rights organizations, such as the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (Lbh) and the Commission for the disappeared persons and victims of violence (Kontras). Bona Sigalingging, another community spokesperson, says: “Many friends come to support us every time we celebrate Christmas in front of the palace.”

He believes that by inviting people of different religious faiths, the GKI encourage other Christian minorities to take courage and speak up, demanding the right to be protected by the state: “We want to knock on the doors of other Christian churches so that they can reflect and understand that they should not give up just because they are a minority”.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous (Sunni) is increasingly the scene of attacks or episodes of intolerance against minority groups, whether Christian, Ahmadi Muslims or of other faiths. Yesterday, the coordinator of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas Ham) office for religion and faith accused Jakarta of “turning a blind eye” on cases of abuses against religious minorities and not to use its authority to revoke discriminatory laws of local governments.

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

Islamic State Agents From Syria ‘In Thailand to Target Russians’

Thai police say they were warned by Moscow that 10 Syrians working for the so-called Islamic State (IS) entered Thailand in October to target Russians.

A leaked Thai police memo says the information was passed by Russia’s intelligence agency. More than 1.5 million Russians visited in 2013.

Russia began air strikes against IS in Syria at the end of September.

An IS-linked group also claimed it brought down the Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula in October, killing all 224 people on board.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan Lawyer Files for Return of Koh-i-Noor Diamond

A petition demanding the return of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of the British Royal Family’s Crown Jewels, has been filed in a Pakistan court.

The British got hold of the 105-carat diamond in 1849 when the East India Company annexed the region of Punjab.

The lawyer behind the suit argues the gem is part of Punjab’s heritage, and belongs to Pakistan. Punjab was split between India and Pakistan in 1947.

Analysts say the court is unlikely to hear the case.

The petition comes weeks after an Indian pressure group reportedly instructed lawyers to begin legal proceedings in the High Court in London to demand the return of the jewel.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond was worn by the late Queen Mother and was displayed on top of her crown when her coffin lay in state after her death in 2002.

Experts say its ownership has changed many times and includes Mughal princes, Persian warriors, Afghan rulers and Punjabi Maharajas.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

US Watchdog Identifies Pentagon Spending Some $150mln on Villas in Afghan

According to a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction letter to the DoD, SIGAR has identified that the US Department of Defense (DoD) spent some $150 million on luxurious villas for its staff in Afghanistan.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has identified that the US Department of Defense (DoD) spent some $150 million on luxurious villas for its staff in Afghanistan, a SIGAR letter to the DoD released Thursday said.

“Based on allegations we have received… I am writing to request information concerning TFBSO’s [Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, Pentagon’s body responsible for stabilization of post-war economies of Iraq and Afghanistan] decision to spend nearly $150m, amounting to nearly 20% of its budget, on private housing and private security guards for its US government employees in Afghanistan, rather than live on US military bases,” the letter of the SIGAR head to the DoD, dated November 25, said.

The letter added that if the staff lived on US bases instead of at luxuriously-furnished, high-security villas that included regular “3-star” meals, the US anti-terrorism mission would have been able to appropriate the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to more useful tasks.

On November 1, SIGAR published a report that the TFBSO spent some $43 million of its appropriations on the construction of a single gas station in Afghanistan. Comparable stations are known to cost no more than $500,000.

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

Japan to Launch Antiterrorism Intelligence Unit

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan said Friday it will launch next week a government unit to collect information on international terrorism as part of a push to strengthen the nation’s antiterrorism capabilities.

The launch on Tuesday of the so-called International Counterterrorism Intelligence Collection Unit has been moved up from the initially-planned April in the wake of the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.

The unit will be set up within the Foreign Ministry, but it will be led by the prime minister’s office, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Gets Tough on ISIS: Jihadis Banned From Country Even if Not Convicted

Islamic State (ISIS) jihadis fleeing Australia to fight for Daesh will be stripped of their citizenship even if they haven’t been brought before a court in a major crackdown on international terrorism.

The country’s tough stance on extremism will see anyone with dual citizenship who travels to the Middle East to fight for the crazed jihadis stranded in the group’s so-called Caliphate or deported elsewhere.

Senators voted on tough new laws targeting Islamist militants in response to the growing threat that ISIS poses to Western nations.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

China Announces $60 Billion for Africa

At a China-Africa summit in Johannesburg, Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged $60 billion (55 billion euros) in assistance and loans for Africa.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Venezuela’s Crazy Supermarket Economics

Tim Franks goes shopping in Caracas. Some shelves are full, but the baskets are empty. Many staples — including rice, flour and toilet paper — are in short supply and prices go up almost daily: “It’s almost the minimum monthly wage for one not-very-special bottle of wine”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Afghans Leaving US Service After Obtaining Special Visas to America

A report by GAO reveals hundreds of Afghans are resigning from service for the US Department of State as soon as they receive special immigrant visas to enter the United States.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Hundreds of Afghans are resigning from service for the US Department of State as soon as they receive special immigrant visas to enter the United States, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report.

“Resignations of Afghan local staff at the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development after receiving a special immigrant visa (SIV) reached their highest level in 2014,” the report stated on Thursday.

Resignations increased as more Afghan staff began the SIV application process than in the initial years of the program, rising from only six in 2012 to 81 in 2013 and to 243 in 2014, the GAO noted.

“Local staff at the US diplomatic mission in Afghanistan are key to implementing US policies and programs because of their institutional knowledge, language skills and local relationships,” the report observed.

A high rate of Afghan staff resigning after receiving an SIV could diminish the US government’s capacity to carry out its mission, the report warned.

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

As Syrian Refugees Head to Texas, State Vows to Keep Them Out

As a group of Syrian refugees prepares to arrive in Texas, government officials are locked in an intensifying legal battle over whether the families can be blocked from resettling in the state.

The U.S. government and relief groups on Friday asked a federal judge in Texas to reject the state’s efforts to block Syrian refugees.

State attorneys responded by withdrawing their request for a temporary restraining order that would have barred Syrian refugees from arriving next week, but are still seeking an injunction to stop them after that.

Texas is among 30 states whose political leaders have vowed to take a hard line against incoming refugees from Syria, and the first to take the issue to court. The outcome could shape the federal government’s plan to resettle refugees throughout the nation.

Though the International Rescue Committee, a New York-based nonprofit organization, has refused to stop resettling Syrian refugees in Texas, other refugee groups have stopped or remained silent.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a national resettlement organization, in consultation with Refugee Services of Texas, decided that resettling a family of six Syrian refugees in Texas would not be in their best interests due to state officials’ opposition.

Attorneys for the Justice Department and the International Rescue Committee each filed responses with the federal judge in Dallas early Friday after Texas officials sued Wednesday, seeking an injunction to stop the resettlement of half a dozen Syrians in the Dallas area.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

There are now more than 21 refugees that the federal government plans to resettle in Dallas or Houston, likely early next week.

Attorneys for the state had argued in their lawsuit that the federal government and the refugee groups left Texas officials “uninformed about refugees that could well pose a security risk to Texans.”

“Members of the federal executive branch have expressed concern regarding this massive expansion of refugees from an area engulfed in fighting with [the Islamic State terror group],” the lawsuit says, while noting that “Texas has the sovereign authority and duty to protect the safety of its residents.”

Justice Department attorneys countered in their filing Friday that Texas officials are trying to exercise “unwarranted veto power over individual federal refugee resettlement decisions” without “showing that these refugees pose any threat, much less an imminent one, to the safety or security of Texas residents or any other Americans.”

“The harm to the national interest as determined by the president, and to the interests of the individual refugee families in question, outweigh [the state’s] speculative and uninformed fears about security,” the filing says.

ACLU attorneys who filed separately on behalf of the refugee group called the Texas lawsuit “utterly meritless.”

On Friday afternoon, Texas attorneys withdrew their request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked Syrian refugees from moving into the state until next Wednesday.

Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton said that action was taken after federal officials “provided additional requested information regarding the first group of refugees set to arrive in Texas.”

The state is still seeking an injunction barring resettlement of further Syrian refugees until the court determines that federal officials and the refugee group, “are complying with their statutory and contractual duties to consult with Texas in advance of placing refugees.”

Attorneys for the state have asked the judge for a hearing by next Wednesday.

“Texas shouldn’t have to go to court to require Washington to comply with federal law regarding its duties to consult with Texas in advance,” Paxton said Friday.

The lead attorney for the refugee group said his organization was pleased the state withdrew its request.

“We are glad these new Texans can make their way home and look forward to prevailing in this case,” said Cecilia Wang, a San Francisco-based ACLU attorney.

A spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee said the Syrian family of six had arrived in New York on Friday.

“They’re very happy to be here, very grateful to be here,” spokeswoman Lucy Carrigan said, calling them, “a wonderful, brave, resilient family who have been through extraordinarily difficult experiences.”

She said the family is aware of the lawsuit, but still glad to be in the U.S.

“They came here seeking safety and they feel like they’re now at peace in the United States,” Carrigan said.

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

Austria: 25 Arrests After Massive Fight in Asylum Centre

Twenty-five young refugees have been arrested after a fight on Thursday evening in a camp for asylum seekers in Styria.

A group of young male refugees — all aged under 18 — got into a fist fight and then began attacking each other with wooden boards and stones. Three were injured, with broken noses, and had to be treated in hospital.

Thirteen police patrols were called to the camp to bring the situation under control.

Inspector Franz Moisi said that the young refugees were mainly from different Afghan ethnic groups.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bridge Linking Sweden to Denmark Set to be Closed to Stem Tide of Migrants

Sweden is poised to stop all traffic crossing a major bridge linking the country to Denmark, as it struggles to cope with the sheer number of refugees crossing its borders.

The Oresund bridge links the Danish capital, Copenhagen, to Sweden’s third largest city, Malmo. About 20,000 motor vehicles cross it everyday.

Sweden, a country with a population of 9.6 million people has been one the most generous European nations when it comes to granting asylum to refugees from Syria and other parts of the Middle East.

So far this year, the Scandinavian country has housed 156,000 refugees but Sweden’s migration agency, Migrationsverket, told express.co.uk that over the last two weeks it has noticed a decrease in the number of new arrivals.

In addition to tighter security on the Oresund bridge, the Government is also considering legislation which would require identity checks on passengers using all forms of public transport.

But a spokesman added that closing the bridge remained a serious option to address the growing influx of migrants.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Can Chinese Migrants Integrate in Africa?

Huang Hongxiang works at China House, a consultancy based in Kenya which tries to build ties between the African and Chinese business communities.

He admits that the Chinese who came to the continent over the past 20 years — working for big Chinese state corporations — gained a reputation of keeping to themselves to themselves and of being aloof, tough on employees and even a little bit distant.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland Will Reduce Social Security for Refugees

According to the Finnish Social Affairs Ministry, Helsinki will lower the level of social security for refugees.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Finland will significantly reduce the level of social guarantees provided to refugees in the country, Finnish Social Affairs and Health Minister Hanna Mantylan said Friday.

“We assume that the level of social security [for refugees] will be significantly less than what it has been until now,” Mantylan told Finnish broadcaster MTV3.

She added that many refugees failing to integrate into Finnish society could not support themselves and asked for government assistance. She urged for an end to be put to the practice.

On Wednesday, Finnish media reported Helsinki’s intention to tighten requirements for refugees to invite their families into the country, as the migrant population is expected to increase significantly if relatives move to Finland.

In recent months, the European Union has been struggling to manage with a massive influx of refugees, many of whom have fled conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa and moved to EU countries, including Finland.

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

Greece Bows to EU Pressure and Accepts Border Guard Aid

Threatened with being thrown out of the Schengen borderless Europe zone, Greece has accepted an offer from the European Union to bolster its borders with foreign guards as well as other aid, including tents and first aid kits.

Greece was threatened with being thrown out of the Schengen zone unless it could secure its borders amid the current refugee crisis. Greece — together with Italy — bore the brunt of the huge influx of refugees this year as asylum seekers fled war zones in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

The European Council this week called for a massive strengthening of Europe’s external borders, including deploying staff from Frontex — the EU border agency — to Greece to assist the country in controlling the flow of refugees into Europe.

There were reports Thursday that Greece was unwilling to accept foreign border guards on its territory, but these were denied by the government.

Greece Friday activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to benefit from material support to help cope with the influx of refugees and asylum seekers in the country. Greece has requested items such as tents, generators, beds, sanitary equipment and emergency first aid kits.

The aid delivery is being coordinated by the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Center (ERCC) which is working closely with the Greek authorities and the other participating states for a swift response to the request.

Up Frontex

Greece has also agreed an operational plan with Frontex for a new operation at the Greek border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where the agency will assist with the registration of migrants.

The deployment of additional officers will begin next week.

“It is crucial that all migrants entering the European Union are properly registered. Migrants at Greece’s northern border will be checked and those found not properly identified will be registered,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.

Greece has also put in a formal request for the deployment a Rapid Border Intervention Team (RABIT) operation to provide immediate border guard support at its external border in the Aegean islands. This is not the first time Greece has called for such intervention.

In 2010, Greece requested the deployment of RABIT on the Greek-Turkish border. The operation lasted from November 2010 to March 2011. This followed a large increase in arrivals and successfully brought down the numbers, with detected entries falling month-on-month from the October peak of 7607 to 1632 by February 2011.

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

Hungary: Paris Fugitive Recruited Men Amid Budapest Migrants

Government has confirmed that Abdeslam was in the train station

(ANSA-AP) — BUDAPEST — Hungary’s government has confirmed that Salah Abdeslam, a fugitive suspected in the deadly Paris attacks, was in the Budapest train station before mid-September and left with men who had been traveling amid a wave of asylum-seekers trying to enter Europe.

Janos Lazar, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, says Thursday at a press conference that the Hungarian secret services had confirmed information about Abdeslam they had received from foreign agencies. He says the agency did not have this information at the time of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks nor even as the Budapest train station became a hotspot last summer during Europe’s migrant crisis.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Meet and Greet: Germany Will Individually Interview All Incoming Refugees

Germany will toughen entry criteria for asylum seekers, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced Thursday. The enhanced screening will be based on individual assessment.

The minister said that personal interviews will soon be implemented in the review process. He explained that stricter measures would help ascertain applicants’ identities and are essential from a security standpoint. Until now those seeking refugee status were only required to provide information in written form.

“I have deemed it necessary to reintroduce individual assessments for all refugees and asylum seekers — regardless of which country they come from,” the minister said, citing several cases in which refugees had used false Syrian passports.

Federal migration commissioner Aydan Ozoguz added that while carrying out identity checks officials will “need to look more closely at asylum applicants from Syria, Eritrea and Iraq.”

Germany’s state interior ministers also agreed during a meeting in Koblenz that they would permit “repatriations to safe areas of Afghanistan.”

Some met the shift in the policy toward asylum seekers with criticism. The head of non-governmental organization Pro Asyl, Guenter Burkhardt, said that sending people back to Afghanistan is irresponsible for there are no regions in the country that can be considered permanently secure.

The organization also expressed fears that the move to resume individual assessments would slow down the process of receiving refugee status and trap asylum seekers in waiting loops which could last for months.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that her cabinet would soon discuss the issue of introducing an identity card for migrants.

In efforts to cope with a record surge in asylum seekers, Berlin and Kabul are also planning to intensify cooperative measures for fighting human trafficking and implement information campaigns to prevent people from going on the arduous journey to Europe, De Maiziere said.

According to sources in Germany’s coalition government, more than 950,000 refugees have been registered this year in Germany.

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

Nearly 11,000 Kids Came Alone to Italy in 2015

A report from the institute, ISMU, showed that the number of non-Italian children in Italy has more than doubled over the past decade, with thousands arriving alone by boat.

A significant proportion arrived unaccompanied on asylum boats; 2014 saw 13,026 such arrivals, while there have been 10,820 since the start of 2015.

According to ISMU, the majority of unaccompanied minors came from Egypt, Eritrea and Somalia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Border Checks Could be Stepped Up by Christmas

Sweden’s plans to try to further limit the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country by launching mandatory ID checks on all trains from Denmark to Sweden were criticized on Friday as it emerged they could be implemented just days before Christmas.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Plans Temporary Border Laws Amid Serious Security Threats

Sweden is proposing a temporary law that would allow it to better control its borders as the record inflow of refugees poses a serious threat to internal order and security.

“In order to make that kind of decision, the situation needs to be very serious, to the point that it threatens order,” Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said to reporters in parliament on Friday. “The hope is that we won’t need to use that possibility.”

Border controls introduced Nov. 12 have led to a lower number of asylum applications “but that decrease is not statistically reliable,” according to the proposal obtained by Bloomberg. Sweden, a country of 9.8 million people, has emerged as haven for refugees fleeing from Syria and Afghanistan with as many as 190,000 expected to arrive in 2015.

“The government has made the assessment that the current situation is a serious threat to general order and internal security,” according to the proposal. The identification checks can be in place for six months.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK Asylum Seeker Accused of Masterminding EU-Wide People Smuggling Ring

An asylum seeker based in England has been accused of running one of Europe’s largest people smuggling rings from a hostel. It is alleged Jamal Owda made US$10 million (£7m) trafficking humans into Europe.

Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London heard that Mr Owda provided a “one-stop shop” for people wishing to move to Europe, providing them with fake identities, accommodation and transport.

The court heard that the 26-year-old Palestinian operated his criminal network from a hostel in Liverpool while he was claiming asylum in the UK, after arriving 18 months ago in the back of a lorry. He was arrested in dawn raids and found with US$25,000 (£17,000) cash hidden in his room.

National Crime Agency officers received a tip-off from Greek police and then tracked Owda down to an asylum center in Liverpool. Owda was arrested along with 22 other suspected gang members from Greece and Syria after raids were carried out in Greece, Austria and Sweden.

The people smuggling gang is believed to have moved migrants from Turkey to Greece to other EU member states through the Balkan route, which has become popular among refugees, migrants and asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.

The transport was carried out by Greek members of the gang, who were coordinated by an Albanian man.

The EU’s law enforcement agency, Europol, said the gang of 23 people has allegedly been operating since 2013, accruing an estimated total of nearly US$10 million (£7m).

“The migrants paid the facilitators via money-transfer services or with cash. As well as communicating by mobile phone, the suspects attempted to keep a low profile and elude capture by making use of social media channels and online communication platforms”, Europol said.

Prosecutor Marinder Dhillon told Westminster Magistrates Court: “He facilitated the exit of at least 95 people from Greece as well as facilitating five other groups of people of [an] unknown number.

“He also facilitated the exit, or attempted exit, of another 15 but this failed due to increased police presence. It is said that he was paid at least 1,500 euros per trafficking, potentially illegally making him hundreds of thousands of euros,” Dhillon told the court.

Mr Owda faces being extradited to Greece and was remanded in custody ahead of court hearings in March and April 2016. His lawyer said he will oppose extradition on human rights grounds because of the state of Greek prisons.

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

UK: Migrants Will Get Half of New Homes Built Over the Next Five Years

An adviser to George Osborne has written of the need for major expansion of towns and cities such as Guildford, Reading, Norwich and Oxford, pictured, which he said should double in size.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Willkommenskultur’ Is Austrian Word of the Year

A word which has often been used when talking about the refugee crisis in Europe has been voted the Austrian word of the year — ‘Willkommenskultur’ (culture of welcome).

A jury led by Rudolf Muhr from the University of Graz said that the word Willkommenskultur was chosen as it had come to reflect the “attitudes and actions of those who want to help refugees fleeing war to lead a life of security and freedom”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

3 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/4/2015

  1. Official reports have revealed that Switzerland has the highest levels of sexual attacks on horses ever recorded.

    Interesting. When I was in Pakistan, there was a high level of similar reports of bestiality in the local English Language newspapers. Donkeys were the beasts of choice followed by sheep and goats.

  2. For those of you who can read German, http://www.derstandard.at is the website of one of Austria’s largest newspapers – and certainly the most online-oriented. A word of caution: They are very much your typical liberal newspaper, and comments that do not fit the Official Politically Correct Narrative are purged quite vigorously.

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