“Refugees” at an asylum center in the town of Emmaboda in southeastern Sweden went on a rampage after a staff member refused a request to supply them with candy. The high-spirited youngsters broke windows and caused general mayhem, while the staff were forced to barricade themselves in a room for their own protection.
In other news, a young “British” woman who took her toddler with her to Syria and joined the Islamic State has been convicted of terrorism offenses in Birmingham after returning to England.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
Bank of Japan Stuns Markets With Negative Interest Rate
The Bank of Japan unexpectedly cut a benchmark interest rate below zero on Friday, stunning investors with another bold move to revive the economy as volatile markets and slowing global growth threaten its efforts to beat deflation.
Asian shares jumped, the yen tumbled and sovereign bonds rallied after the BOJ said it would charge for a portion of bank reserves parked with the institution, an aggressive policy pioneered by the European Central Bank (ECB).
“The BOJ will cut the interest rate further into negative territory if judged as necessary,” the bank said in a statement announcing the decision…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Elementary School Bans Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving & Christmas to Avoid Offending Minorities
Bruce Vento Elementary School has banned Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas to avoid offending its minority student population.
“I have come to the difficult decision to discontinue the celebration of the dominant holidays until we can come to a better understanding of how the dominant views will suppress someone else’s view,” principal Scott Masini wrote in a letter to parents.
Masini said the decision was based on his concerns for “tolerance” and “respect,” prompting a backlash from parents who told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the move was “very sad” and “totally ridiculous”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Video Shows Deadly Confrontation Between Finicum and Feds *graphic Video Content*
Though several law enforcement vehicles were present at the scene, the FBI has only released the aerial footage of the incident
The shooting of LaVoy Finicum by law enforcement agents near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge had left scores of unanswered questions before video of the incident captured by an FBI helicopter camera was released late Thursday evening.
Police claim that Finicum, who had been part of the group protesting Federal land grabs in Oregon, reached for a weapon after being confronted by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
But an eye witness report from Victoria Sharp, one of the passengers in the vehicle shown in the video below, contradicts initial law enforcement statements.
The video released by the FBI shows a light-colored truck swerving to avoid a police road block and coming to a stop. At this point Finicum exits the vehicle with his arms and hands clearly visible over his head. He is immediately confronted by several law enforcement members armed with handguns and assault rifles.
Immediately before he is shot Finicum turns his body and appears to reach towards or across his chest with his right hand. The angle of the camera is such that it obscures what his hands were doing — whether they were reaching for a weapon as the FBI and local Sheriff’s Office suggest, or whether Finicum was merely using his arms to balance as he struggled to walk in ankle-deep snow.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Furious McCain: Pentagon Can’t Overcome Its Russian Engines Addiction
Despite John McCain’s profound displeasure, US defense officials are not inclined to abandon the RD-180 Russian rocket engines until 2021 or 2022 earliest.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the United States Air Force has become one of Russia’s longstanding customers: for years the Pentagon was buying the RD-180 Russian rocket engines to put its satellites into space.
However, after the Washington-fomented February coup in Ukraine in 2014, the Russo-American relationship has deteriorated.
The Pentagon has faced the painful dilemma of whether or not to abandon the RD-180, a cost-effective booster engine with unique features, which powers the Atlas 5 rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.
Sen. John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, believes that the US Air Force should stop buying Russian rocket-engines as soon as possible.
In order to overcome the US Air Force’s Russian engines “addiction,” Senator McCain and Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy have proposed legislation which would ban the import of the NPO Energomash RD-180 engines by 2019.
“It is morally outrageous and strategically foolish to ask American taxpayers to subsidize Russia’s military industrial base,” McCain said in an official statement, referring, predictably, to Russia’s non-existent invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s imaginary threat to Europe.
“Our policies should facilitate a competitive environment that provides the incentive to scale each component required to access space. This was achieved in the fiscal year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that was signed into law. But in a last minute maneuver, a provision was tucked into an unrelated spending bill that provides an indefinite lifeline to Russian rocket engines to power American space launches,” McCarthy told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
It is turn the Air Force says that it has no alternative but to use the Russian engines, Dave Majumdar, the Defense Editor of The National Interest, notes in his article.
The service argues that “it is required by law to provide short access to space using commercial services,” the journalist points out, explaining that the Pentagon needs eighteen RD-180s “on hand at any time” for its heavy lifters. Whether one likes it or not, right now there is no viable alternative to the RD-180 booster engines.
“We must keep in mind the only launch vehicles that can reach the full range of orbit and carry our heaviest payloads today, remain the Atlas and Delta families,” Air Force secretary Deborah Lee James told the Senate Armed Services Committee, as quoted by Majumdar.
Robert Orton Work, the current United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, said in an official statement on Wednesday that the Pentagon regards public-private partnerships as a way to suspend the reliance on Russian boosters. The initiative is expected to be kicked off in fiscal 2017.
However, Work added that it is not until 2021 or 2022 that the Pentagon will stop using the Russian-made engines.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Maryland County Public Schools Sued in Federal Court for Espousing Islam Conversion
Tood Starnes, FoxNews columnist has a disturbing story on parents enlisting public law firm, the Thomas More Law Center to sue a Maryland County School board for espousing Da’wa — the call to Islam resulting in the conversion of a their daughter, “Lawsuit: Public school forced my child to convert to Islam:”…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Requirement to Get Gun Permit as Unconstitutional as Can Get
Truly, it’s doesn’t get more unconstitutional than this.
A small town in Massachusetts — Lowell, located about 35 miles from Boston — has apparently decided the best way to keep criminals from shooting and killing innocent citizens is to make residents who want unrestricted carry permits first pen essays explaining just why, and then submit those justifications to the chief of local police to grade. Those who don’t obtain passing grades aren’t given their permits.
Insert “Are you kidding me” expression of disbelief here. In effect, the town of Lowell has exempted itself from the Second Amendment.
Of course, the powers-who-be don’t see it that way. They see it as a necessary precaution, a way of ultimately saving citizens from crime and killers.
Or, as local Police Superintendent William Taylor told City Council members when he approached them with his brainchild notion: “We wanted to make sure we allowed people to exercise their constitutional right to carry a firearm, but do it with a balanced, reasonable approach.”
And Taylor, it seems, is just the guy to determine that this constitutional right to carry in a balanced and reasonable way is being upheld, because that’s who City Council members named as the grader of all these papers.
“Chief Bill Taylor has sole authority when it comes to deciding which gun permit essays make the grade,” Inquisitr reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump — American Believers and Patriots Answer to Prayer
All of America, Republican, Democrat, in between confused and cynical have found themselves struck up side the head as Billionaire mogul — ‘say it like it is’ patriot Donald Trump threw his hat in the ring and changed everything.
Don’t you just love the journey so far as ‘establishment’ creatures of various kinds go from ignoring Trump and not taking him seriously to slightly panicking, then demonstrating intensive care level panicking? They have found themselves stuck on stupid horror as they can see their controls and career power structures collapsing before their eyes. Trump has known from the beginning that the Political power structure in place on both sides of the aisle has never been about serving America, our Constitution and freedom. They must go and Trump is the guy to make it happen.
The desperate establishment folks are most entertaining as they attempt to find anything to put legs on a Trump defeat, but can’t. Instead we hear the desperate ones crying in shrill tones about his reference to 2 Corinthians v.s. 2nd Corinthians. I’m still laughing at this. Glenn Beck and many others raced in saying…”it is obvious he has never read the Bible. Why doesn’t he just admit it.” Making Trump out to be a fake Christian just pushes him higher in the polls as he continues to stay on track. What does this kind of ridiculous criticism say about those throwing Christian hypocrisy bombs?
Even with their sound bite theatre, the media and political establishment represent a whorish brew of sellouts to those who bring them power and money.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Donates $1mln to US Veterans
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump announced he was donating $1 million of his personal fortune, estimated at over $4 billion, to US military veterans at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Trump said on Thursday evening that he had raised more than $6 million in all from wealthy friends and fellow business moguls for veterans.
The rally was organized at only 24 hours-notice, following Trump’s refusal to appear in the latest nationally televised debate of Republican presidential candidates on Fox News because of his feud with anchor Megyn Kelly for allegedly treating him unfairly in a previous debate.
Trump’s rally was timed to exactly coincide with the Republican debate being broadcast on Fox News. Trump had called on his supporters to boycott the debate.
In a sign of Trump’s growing political influence, two of his rivals for the presidential nomination, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, attended the rally. Trump praised them both in his speech.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
When it Comes to Foreign Policy, Obama Makes Trump Look Like an Angel
Offering a uniquely Armenian perspective on US foreign policy and the ins and outs of the American presidential race, popular Armenian news resource 7or.am explained why when it comes to Washington’s relationship with the rest of the world, President Barack Obama makes Republican frontrunner Donald Trump look like a dovish peacemaker.
The article, published by 7or.am earlier this week and since translated by foreign news translation service Whattheysayaboutusa.com, rips into President Obama’s remarks at his final State of the Union address earlier this month.
“The president’s address,” the newspaper sardonically suggested, sounded “like one of the warn-out speeches given by Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev -a rambling jumble of formulaic utterances entirely divorced from reality.”
“What we gathered from the president’s speech is that Washington is officially worried by both Russia and China — particularly that these countries don’t upset America’s monopoly in the international arena, or overturn the New World Order — far more than any thoughts about the struggle against international terrorism. In its role as standard-bearer for democracy, free market and economy, and the sanctity of human rights, the USA strives to maintain a monopolistic position in world affairs which entirely contradicts the hierarchy of values for which it claims to fight.”
Obama’s address, the newspaper argues, was filled to the brim “with the rhetoric of confrontation, domination, intolerance and isolationism. The underlining thesis was that of American Exceptionalism, without the slightest concept of democracy — because democracy involves cooperation, tolerance, and fair competition.”
“The world,” the article continues, “would be a far safer place if only the US could learn to cooperate with Russia, China, the EU, Iran, and other world centers — instead of confronting them. Peace and stable development are only possible in a multi-polar world. The experience of the past 25 years shows what the results are, when one of the world’s nations grabs a monopolistic position in international affairs.”
Moreover, the article suggests, “the situation in the Middle East typifies the results of the monopolistic, cynical, acquisitive and short-sighted policies” of US policymakers. “The gestation of the Islamic State and other extremist terrorist groups is a direct result of American hegemony.”
“The more [US leaders] drone on about American Exceptionalism, the US’s destiny of supremacy, and their confrontation with Russia, the more terrorism will flourish, and the more frequent will be the occurrence of atrocities that discredit the entire idea of American democracy. It’s no coincidence that Soviet leaders, too, loved to talk about the unique role of the USSR and its leading role in the international arena. They too talked of Afghanistan as their ‘international responsibility’, and inveighed against the US in exactly the way the US now browbeats Russia.”
“What Obama’s speech really showed,” the newspaper boldly argues, “is why Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s popularity is advancing by leaps and bounds.”
“Trump’s high ratings,” 7or.am contends, come down in part “to the fact that he sees ways to solve America’s international relations with Russia and other nations — rather than ramping up the rhetoric against them.”
“Average Americans figured out long ago that the Cold War standoff ended long ago, and what Washington is peddling these days is way past its expiration date. There are many, too, who understand that positive improvements in the world, and success in the battle against terrorist infestation ought to bring Russia and America together as partners, and not as foes. Trump is actively backing this way of thinking.”
Ultimately, the newspaper suggests, a lot is riding on the outcome of the US presidential race, and not just for the United States.
In any case, “one thing is clear: [the president] shouldn’t emerge from the tiny number of America’s elite political families. Since the end of the 1980s and until the advent of Barack Obama, the role of president has been overcrowded by members of the Bush and Clinton families. Today the list of candidates for the presidency sees those surnames writ large. One is the brother of a former president, while another is the wife of an ex-president. If Americans elect either of these two, it would be hard to distinguish the United States from a regressive republic led by a dynasty.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin Protects Privacy in Alleged Russian-Speaking Girl Rape Case — Police
Protecting the personal rights of a minor was the only reason for German law enforcement not to provide comprehensive information on the alleged rape of a Russian-speaking teenage girl by migrants, Stefan Redlich, a Berlin police spokesman, told Sputnik on Thursday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — Last week, hundreds of Russian-speaking Germans protested the alleged cover-up by Berlin police of the case of a 13-year-old girl from a Russian-speaking community, who had reportedly been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by men of refugee background, weeks after sex attacks on women in Cologne.
“We can see that in Russia people think we did not say something because of migrant issue. But it was only the protection of the child that was the reason for the decision,” Redlich said.
He added that German law enforcement was allowed to disclose information on criminals’ nationality, in migrant-related cases as well, to reporters upon request.
“For Berlin police, no, there is no such rule. If a journalist asks us what nationality criminals have, we answer all your questions,” Redlich said, when asked whether there was any rule that allowed German police to classify some information about crimes with migrants involved.
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Berlin to provide information on the German inquiry, stressing that Moscow received the information about the case not from the official agencies of Germany, but first from the Russian-speaking community and then from the family’s lawyer and the girl’s parents.
On Wednesday, the German Foreign Office handed the Russian ambassador data it had gathered in the case on the teen.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The 16-year-old Danish girl who stabbed her mother to death after watching ISIS’ sickening beheadings of British hostages has been jailed for nine years.
Lisa Borch, then 15, and her boyfriend Bakhtiar Mohammed Abdulla, 29 stabbed her mother Tina Römer Holtegaard at least 20 times in their home in Kvissel, northern Denmark, in October 2014.
Before the brutal murder of her mother, Borch had spent hours on YouTube watching footage of the savage decapitations of David Haines and Alan Henning.
The 16-year-old will serve nine years in prison — the longest sentence handed to a teenager in modern times in Denmark — after a High Court upheld a September ruling.
Borch had appealed her initial sentence, telling the Western HIgh Court that the plan to kill her mother was all Adbulla’s idea,
She told the court che had only confessed to the crime because she was scared of her boyfriend, who at 29 is nearly twice her age, The Local.dk reports.
Her stepfather Jens Holtegaard told Danish media that although Borch was obsessed with ISIS, he did not blame Islam.
He said she could ‘just as easily been attracted to the biker gang environment or some other extreme’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dewsbury Became UK ‘Islamist Capital, ‘ Daesh’s Recruiting Ground
The small UK town of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire has become the capital and recruiting ground for homegrown Islamism, the leader of the Britain First party told Sputnik on Friday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — Paul Golding’s party has been protesting in Muslim-populated areas across England to raise awareness of what they claim is the emergence of Islamist “hotbeds” in the country.
They now plan to march through Dewsbury, which has a considerable Muslim population, mostly of of Indian and Pakistani origin.
“Dewsbury is the ‘Islamist capital’ of Britain and has produced many terrorists and ISIS [Daesh] volunteers. We are going to Dewsbury, the beating heart of UK terrorism, to make a stand,” Golding said.
The International Centre for the Study of Radicalization estimates that over 20,000 foreign fighters have gone over to fight alongside Daesh terrorists in the Middle East. Between 500 and 600 of them are British nationals.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Gentiloni Calls for Two-Speed Europe
Foreign minister urges ‘common European action’ on repatriation
(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the idea of a ‘two-speed Europe’ — in which different parts of the EU integrate on different timelines based on individual country differences — is not the “best” but added that “it’s right to discuss levels of varying integration”, in an interview with Italian daily La Stampa published on Friday.
“There are those, like Italy, who want a growing banking, fiscal, and political union, and others, like the United Kingdom, who only want a more efficient common market,” Gentiloni said.
“Two visions that must and can live together”.
Gentiloni said talks on the issue will start in Rome, “in a meeting between foreign ministers of the six founding countries, sixty years from the founding treaties”.
Regarding Italian Premier Matteo Renzi’s meeting Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Gentiloni said the two countries, which he called “protagonists of the European scene”, can work on a “shared vision for the future of the Union” despite differences on economic rules.
He said he did not agree with the Danish decision to seize assets from migrants, calling it akin to “forcing the homeless to pay a property tax”.
As for the Swedish decision to repatriate 80,000 migrants with special flights, he said, “repatriation must be part of a common European action and not of announcements for effect”.
Commenting on the situation in Libya, Gentiloni said if that country isn’t stablized, “we’ll have a gigantic Somalia on the other side of the Strait of Sicily”.
“Naturally then if a country feels threatened it has the right to defend itself and can decide to combat Daesh (ISIS) in the ways that the international community shares”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mother Who Took Toddler to Raqqa Convicted by UK Court
A mother who took her toddler to Syria and joined the Islamic State (IS) group is thought to have become Friday the first British woman to be convicted after returning home.
Tareena Shakil, 26, was found guilty of IS membership and encouraging terrorism in posts on Twitter before leaving Britain.
The court in Birmingham, central England, heard she was radicalised on the Internet and in October 2014 told her family she was going to Turkey for a beach holiday.
Instead, she crossed the border into Syria and then went to IS stronghold Raqqa…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pathogens Found in Ötzi’s Stomach
An international team of scientists working with paleopathologist Albert Zink and microbiologist Frank Maixner from the European Academy (EURAC) in Bozen/Bolzano have now succeeded in demonstrating the presence of Helicobacter pylori in Ötzi’s stomach contents, a bacterium found in half of all humans today. The theory that humans were already infected with this stomach bacterium at the very beginning of their history could well be true. The scientists succeeded in decoding the complete genome of the bacterium…
Rattei, in collaboration with geneticists from the USA, South Africa and Germany, came to a surprising conclusion:
“We had assumed that we would find the same strain of Helicobacter in Ötzi as is found in Europeans today,” explains the computational biologist. “It turned out to be a strain that is mainly observed in Central and South Asia today.”
The scientists assume that there were originally two strain types of the bacterium, an African and an Asian one, which at some point recombined into today’s European version. Since bacteria are usually transmitted within the family, the history of the world’s population is closely linked to the history of bacteria. Up till now, it had been assumed that Neolithic humans were already carrying this European strain by the time they stopped their nomadic life and took up agriculture. Research on Ötzi, however, demonstrates that this was not the case.
“The recombination of the two types of Helicobacter may have only occurred at some point after Ötzi’s era, and this shows that the history of settlements in Europe is much more complex than previously assumed,” says Maixner.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Enfanta Cristina Tried for Fiscal Fraud
Mallorca tribunal announced
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JANUARY 29 — Enfanta Cristina will be tried for fiscal fraud, announced the tribunal of Palma de Mallorca.
The Audiencia Provincial de Baleares — reported El Pais online — repealed a plea by her defense counsel to apply the so-called Botin doctrine, according to which it would not be possible to try someone for a fiscal misdemenour on the basis of the denounciation of one association only, in this case the extreme-rights association Manos Limpias, while neither the Income Tax Office nor the Public Prosecutor’s Office have filed any complaints against the enfanta.
In the past, banker Emilio Botin managed to evade trial because he had been accused only by civil parties and not by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In the case of princess Cristina, the Mallorca judges — three women — ruled differently because her husband, Inaki Undargarin, stands accused of a criminal misdemenour and she was probably informed of his illegal conduct.
In the Botin case, the Public Prosecutor dismissed the case.
Further twists notwithstanding, the enfanta, will sit on the defendant’s bench on February 9, the day the trial will be opened and she risks up to 9 years in jail.
Undargarin is risking more, a total of 19 as he stands accused of diverting a total of 6 million Euros in public funds through the Noos foundation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police to Examine ‘Christian Patrols’ For Law Breach
Bedfordshire Police will examine last weekend’s march by the Britain First party through the UK town of Luton for possible violations of the law by local residents and activists of the party, the police press service told Sputnik on Friday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — Members and supporters of right-wing Britain First party marched through Bury Park, a community in Luton, Bedfordshire, with a predominantly Asian population, carrying wooden crosses. The march reportedly caused anger among some local Muslims, with the activists reporting being attacked and pelted with eggs.
“At the moment, the investigation is still ongoing and at the moment, no arrests have been made. We have evidence available to us and we are looking into the possibility whether on both sides any crimes have been committed… Several allegations have been made,” the press service said.
Earlier in the day, the leader of the Britain First party, Paul Golding, told Sputnik that Luton, a once-working class town, had been turned into what he described as a “hotbed” for terrorism, extremism and hate preaching. He also accused Luton police of fabricating charges against the party.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MPs Moved Out of Westminster Could be Barred From Drinking Due to Sharia Law
The Department of Health, the Whitehall location where MPs could be temporarily rehoused, is governed by Sharia law because the building was transferred to finance an Islamic bond scheme.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Schoolboy, 14, ‘Hanged Himself After Being Bullied by Satanist Fellow Pupil’
A schoolboy was found hanging in his room after being bullied by a fellow pupil who claimed to be a Satanist, an inquest heard.
Leo Street, 14, was discovered by his father, Robert, at their home in Leven, East Yorkshire in September 2014 and tragically died eight days later when his life support was turned off.
An inquest into his death heard evidence from his best friend at Beverley Grammar School, East Yorkshire, explaining how another boy at the school targeted them, claiming his Satanic beliefs allowed him to hurt people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A 12-year-old schoolgirl has been raped on the street by a pervert who was pretending to be a police officer who said he had to search her.
Detectives have arrested a 32-year-old suspect in connection with the attack after dark on Wednesday in Edmonton, North London, which saw the girl approached by a man riding a bike.
The individual told her that he was a policeman and that he had to search her because she fitted the description of a shoplifter who had just robbed a shop. He then pulled a knife before raping her…
The suspect was described as black, of a medium build and with short black hair.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-CIA Officer: US Role in Libya to Fail Due to Intelligence Ignorance
Former CIA officer and Council for the National Interest Executive Director Philip Giraldi claims that US military intervention in Libya to fight Daesh is likely to fail because of the ignorance of US intelligence, military and diplomatic officials.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US military intervention in Libya to fight Daesh is likely to fail because of the ignorance of US intelligence, military and diplomatic officials, former CIA officer and Council for the National Interest Executive Director Philip Giraldi told Sputnik.
“We have forgotten the lessons that we learned at such cost in the Vietnam War,” Geraldi stated. “When the United States enters such conflicts, we have almost no officials who know the local language, and our people do not have a clue regarding what the local people are doing or thinking.”
US officials in combat zones around the world generally only serve short tours and their countdown to departure sometimes starts on the day they arrive, he explained.
“That is the reason why disasters like the killing of Ambassador [J. Christopher] Stevens in Benghazi and the murder of seven CIA officers at Khost [in Afghanistan in 2009] happen. And they will continue to happen,” Geraldi warned.
Successive US governments continue to spend ever more money on building bigger and better security bubbles for its facilities and people overseas, but they have failed to address the real problem in training and doctrine, he explained.
Moreover, US policymakers have continued to invent specious excuses for their failure to commit personnel to countries and regions long enough to gain real understanding of them, Geraldi complained.
“For Americans, the constant rotation of officers was often explained by management not wanting its foot soldiers to ‘go native’,” he added.
Geraldi acknowledged that there were administrative problems in having a sufficient number of highly qualified Arabic and Pashto speakers available to fill sensitive assignments for the US government.
“One would think that after 15 years of the global War on Terror someone might have figured out a solution. It takes two years to learn Arabic up to a functional level and no one in mid-career is willing to spend that time and effort, as language training is not particularly career enhancing,” he observed.
Because of these shortcomings, US military officers, intelligence personnel, and even diplomats often tend to be the blind leading the blind when they arrive at an overseas post where the local language is challenging, Giraldi concluded.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS’s Next Target Could be Cruise Ships in the Med
Top Nato commander says jihadists’ spread into Libya casts an ‘uncomfortable shadow’
Cruise ships in the Mediterranean could be targeted in a terror attack by militant groups armed with Russian weapons, a top British commander warned yesterday.
Vice Admiral Clive Johnstone, the UK’s highest naval officer in Nato, said Islamic State’s spread into Libya had cast an ‘uncomfortable shadow’ over the sea.
In stark remarks, he revealed the IS terror group are attempting to build a navy to wage war against the West.
He said there was a ‘horrible opportunity’ that a ‘very high quality weapons system’ would be used to hit ships crossing the sea, having ‘extraordinary implications’ for the Western World.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Sinai Crash: Egyptair Mechanic Put Bomb on Russian Plane
Reuters exclusive quotes sources close to the investigation
ROME — An EgyptAir mechanic, whose cousin joined Isis forces in Syria, placed a bomb on the Russian plane that crashed in the Sinai, in October, with 224 people on board, reported a Reuters exclusive, quoting sources close to the investigation, the website indicated.
The mechanic in question, reported Reuters sources, was arrested together with two policemen working at the airport and one of the baggage handlers suspected of providing him with assistance. However, the airline has always denied the arrest of any of its employees.
According to the sources’ reconstruction, when Isis found out that one of its members had a relative working at the aiport, it entrusted him with the ‘mission’ delivering him a bag with a bomb.
The jihadi cousin of the mechanic reportedly joined the Islamic State a year and a half ago.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Campaign Against Intellectuals and Leftist Artists
Right-wing group ‘Im Tirzu’, they’re ‘culture moles’
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, JANUARY 28 — A new advertising campaign by right-wing group ‘Im Tirzu’ pointing fingers at intellectuals and leftist artists has created a storm of reactions Israel. Intellectuals linked to associations perceived as left-wing such as ‘Yesh Din’ or ‘Breaking the silence’, artists like Amos Oz, Abraham Yehoshua, David Grossman, actors such as GilaAlmagor and singers Rona Keinan and Chava Alberstein have been singled out.
The campaign is beign conducted trough media announcements containing lists of people deemed close to the left and to be considered “culture moles”.
A previous campaign from the same group denounced personalities linked to human rights bodies ad “foreign infiltrators”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Emir’s Visit Highlights Qatari Investments in Italy
36-year-old to meet Mattarella, Renzi
(ANSA) — Rome, January 28 — The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is visiting Rome on Thursday, where he is scheduled first to meet at the Quirinal Palace with President Sergio Mattarella, followed in the evening by a dinner at Villa Madama with Premier Matteo Renzi.
The 36-year-old emir, who takes a hard line against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is expected to discuss bilateral relations and the situation in the Middle East, especially in light of UN-backed peace talks on Syria scheduled to begin Friday in Geneva, in which the emir will take part. However, perhaps the most significant objective of the emir’s visit will regard business and investment, following on the heels of a visit to Doha by Italy’s Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni last November, who called Qatari investments “a very interesting prospect”.
Qatar, in fact, has had annual growth of 10.7% over the past 10 years, and the IMF forecasts 6% growth for the coming four.
In recent years, the peninsular Persian Gulf country has made some high-profile investments in Italy, beginning in 2012 with al-Thani’s father, Hamad bin Kalifa al-Thani, who was emir at the time.
In April of that year, Qatar Holding — a subsidiary of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) — bought up a portfolio of properties along the 35-mile-long Emerald Coast on the island of Sardinia.
That was followed by the purchase of Valentino Fashion Group, which includes fashion brands Valentino and M Missoni, for an estimated cost of more than 700 million euros.
But Qatar’s weightiest investments in Italy still center on property.
Last February, QIA became “landlord” of an entire business district in Milan, the Porta Nuova, which houses eco-friendly luxury residential towers with vertical gardens, and shiny skyscrapers full of office space.
In late December of last year, QIA also bought the BNP Paribas building in Milan’s Piazza San Fedele.
In Rome, QIA owns the luxury Excelsior hotel on Via Veneto, which it bought for 222 million euros from Qatari multinational Katara Hospitality.
And back on the island of Sardinia, the Qatar Foundation Endowment — an investment arm of the private non-profit Qatar Foundation founded in 1995 by the current emir’s father — financed the opening of the Mater Olbia Hospital, a 290-bed institution and research centre open to both public and private patients.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan’s Crackdown on Freedom of Speech Turns Into All-Out Witch-Hunt
Turkey is becoming less and less democratic and acquiring features of a despotic one-party state, journalists note, adding that Turkish President Erdogan is becoming paranoid about internal threats to his rule and disloyalty within his own party.
It is no secret that the Erdogan regime has cracked down against independent journalism; to complicate matters further, Ankara’s policies aimed against freedom of speech verge on the absurd.
“A statement issued this month by the Izmir Society of Journalists claimed that 31 journalists were in prison while 234 were in legal limbo awaiting trial. Over the course of last year, they added, 15 television channels had been closed and 56 journalists refused accreditation,” the journalist who writes under the pseudonym John Butler notes in his article for The Spectator.
The Turkish authorities and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are making every effort to silence the ongoing strife in the predominately Kurdish parts of southern and southeastern Turkey.
On January 8, during a popular Turkish television program “The Beyaz Show,” a woman called in and introduced herself as Ayse Celik, a teacher from Diyarbakir. The woman bemoaned the fact that fierce clashes between Kurdish militants and Turkish security forces have been raging for months in Turkey’s southeast.
“After Celik concluded her remarks, the showman — a pop-culture icon with no record of political activism — prompted the studio audience, mostly young people, to give her a big round of applause. And then, all hell broke loose in Turkey,” Metin Gurcan, a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse, narrated in his piece.
Incredible as it may seem, the Turkish authorities immediately launched a full-scale investigation into the incident and charged the host, Beyazit Ozturk, with “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”
Butler elaborated that the Erdogan regime is igniting tensions between the Kurds and the Turks in order to stigmatize and marginalize the Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP), a coalition of Kurdish and leftist groups with 59 MPs.
Indeed, during the June 7 elections the left-leaning pro-Kurdish HDP received 13 percent of votes, that allowed the party to enter the parliament amid vocal displeasure from the ruling AKP that lost its overall majority.
In order to regain its power the AKP is seeking to kick the HDP out of parliament and “that means controlling the narrative about the ongoing war in Turkey’s southeast,” Butler emphasizes.
“The government arrests on a whim Kurdish or Kurdish-sympathetic politicians for being ‘terrorist sympathizers,’ but is curiously tolerant when dealing with actual Islamist terrorists [Daesh],” he adds.
However, this is only part of the story. While Erdogan and AKP’s motivation behind cracking down against journalists who shed light on anti-Kurdish ethnic cleansing in the southeast is clear, there are other cases which seem completely absurd.
On November 13, Hurriyet’s web supplement published a piece with a photograph of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous “Last Supper.” The article did not cover any political issue. However, the picture was slightly edited and one could spot Recep Tayyip Erdogan sitting to the right of Jesus Christ, Pinar Tremblay, a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, writes in her article for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse.
The website’s editor Aynur Karabel, and Sermin Terzi, the director of content, were immediately fired. Moreover, on January 25, it was reported that prosecutors filed suit against Terzi and Karabel “for offending the president.”
On the same day, another media source, CNN Turk, that quoted opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu labeling Erdogan as a “dictator,” also found itself “in the crosshairs of the Turkish legal system” for using a D-word in a reference to the President.
The two episodes mark “a turning point in Turkish politics from sufficiently silencing the political opposition,” Tremblay underscores, asking: “Is the next step to control every detail — the images, the words and any possible signs of discontent?”
“Indeed, when Turkish political discourse is examined from a distance, one sees that it has become a vicious circle: The more the Justice and Development Party (AKP) idolizes Erdogan and tries to justify his dominance of the legislative and executive branches, the more suspicious and frustrated they become,” she writes.
Butler echoes Tremblay’s remark: according to the journalist, Erdogan is becoming increasingly “neurotic” and “paranoid” about the threats his government is facing as well as potential disloyalty within his own party.
“He has started to replace mainstream activists with advisers who… spend much of their time worrying about conspiracies involving sinister international financiers or telepathy. Perhaps Erdogan’s accidental comparison of himself to the Führer was a Freudian slip,” Butler concludes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi-Led Coalition Targeting Civilians in Yemen, UN Says
The report notes that civilians were targeted in a “widespread and systematic” manner. People were also being deliberately starved as a war tactic over the past nine months. The panel of experts relied on satellite imagery and other sources of information because its members were not allowed to travel to Yemen.
Sanaa (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen has targeted civilians with air strikes in a “widespread and systematic” manner, a leaked UN report says. The UN panel of experts found that civilians were also being deliberately starved as a war tactic over the past nine months.
The panel relied on satellite imagery and other sources of information because its members were not allowed to travel to Yemen. It called for an inquiry into human rights abuses.
Back in January, the country became embroiled in a bloody conflict between the Saudi-backed, Sunni-dominated government and Iran-supported Houthi Shia rebels. Since March, the Saudis have led of a coalition against the rebels, and launched air strikes against their positions. The coalition is attempting to oust the rebels from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and restore the country’s government.
Saudi Arabia says the Houthis, who are allied with forces linked to Yemen’s former president, are supported militarily by its regional rival Iran — something the latter denies.
More than 5,800 people have been killed in fighting since March, and more than 80% of the population is in dire need of food, water and other aid, the UN says.
The UN’s experts documented 119 coalition sorties that violated international law, the report says, many of which involved multiple strikes on civilian objects.
They also found that civilians fleeing coalition air strikes had been chased and shot at by helicopters.
The new report follows intensifying concern over the deteriorating situation in Yemen.
Earlier this month, Yemen’s government briefly expelled the UN’s human rights representative following reports that the Saudi-led coalition had been using cluster bombs.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned at the time that the use of cluster bombs could amount to a war crime.
Meanwhile, Dutch diplomats were forced to abandon a proposal in the UN Human Rights Council calling for an international fact finding mission to Yemen, reportedly under pressure from Saudi Arabia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Shooting at Shia Mosque, At Least 3 Dead
Media, at least 7 injured, one suspect arrested
RIAD — At least 3 people died and others were injured after a gunshooting during Friday Prayer inside a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s eastern al Ahsa governatorate, security officials and witnesses reported.
The mosque were the shooting occured is the Imam Reza one. According to Al Arabiya, quoting anomymous sources, the authorities arrested a suspect.
Residents also spoke of an exchange of fire between security forces and five suspects.
Al Arabiya also reported that other seven people were injured in the shooting.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Paranoia Over Russian Puppet Masters in Europe Gives Analysts Good Laugh
Recently, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was instructed by Congress to conduct a review of Russia’s alleged ‘infiltration’ of European political parties, and supposed attempts to influence politicians and European society at large; Russian policy analysts couldn’t hide their amusement.
Earlier this month, reports surfaced that the US intelligence community would be conducting a “major investigation” into alleged Kremlin schemes to influence European politics.
Washington, the reports suggested, has been growing increasingly concerned over Moscow’s supposed use of clandestine influence to undermine NATO, US missile defense, and Europe’s anti-Russian sanctions policy.
What are these secret operations? According to The Telegraph, they include the funding of political parties, charities, and NGOs, contacts between European politicians and their Russian counterparts, and attempts to stir up trouble by ‘deploying arguments’ which are said to reflect positions “‘closely resembling’ known Russian propaganda.”
European lawmakers’ visit to Crimea, for example, is considered suspicious, and warrants further investigation. So does the Netherlands’ upcoming referendum on ratifying the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Even Jeremy Corbyn’s election to the Labour leadership in the UK, the newspaper notes, is troubling, all because the ‘Kremlin-controlled’ TV channel RT gave positive coverage of the politician’s election.
Independent Russian online newspaper Svobodnaya Pressa decided to gauge the reaction of Russian foreign policy experts on the impending US investigation into the alleged Kremlin machinations behind all of Europe’s anti-American or independence-minded political forces.
Alexander Shatilov, the dean of the faculty of Sociology and Political Science at Moscow’s Financial University, told the newspaper that the fact that the inquiry is to be conducted in all seriousness could indicate that “Washington is waging an all-out campaign for the preservation and strengthening of US control over the Old World.”
In doing so, it seems, the US “is not willing to shy away from any means, from attempts to discredit certain relatively independent politicians (it’s enough to recall the sex scandal surrounding French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former nominee for the post of IMF managing director), to region-wide provocations, such as the South Stream pipeline debacle and the Middle Eastern and African migrant crisis.”
The intelligence investigation, Shatilov suggests, basically “amounts to an attempt by the Americans to ‘clean out’ any European political forces which are more-or-less oriented toward Russia, or even simply opposed to the aggravation of a confrontation with Moscow.”
Unfortunately, the analyst notes, “none of this comes as a surprise to anyone in the Western democracies, with the US, in the quarter-century since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, selling the public on the idea that Washington has national interests across the entire globe, and that they are free to ‘correct’ the political course of governments as required.”
“The US does not hide the fact that it wants to impose its Transatlantic Economic Partnership project on the EU. But if the elite of the Old World proves to be uncompromising, Washington can rustle up another couple million migrants from somewhere” to push its interests through.
The truth, Shatilov suggests, is that “the Russian leadership certainly understands the processes taking place in Europe, and naturally is trying to somehow influence them, because this is a region of great importance for us. We do our best to counter US influence in the Old World, but, speaking honestly, have so far achieved only local successes.”
For a number of reasons, the analyst notes, from financial resources to history to mentality and values, Washington’s ability to influence the EU is much stronger than Moscow’s. However, even though Russia’s real ability to influence European policy on the strategic level is limited, “still, the United States considers Russia’s efforts ‘provocative’ and ‘dangerous’. For this reason, it is entirely possible that they will begin a witch hunt in Europe, directed not even against our allies, so much as against those who are simply willing to work with us.”
When asked why, in a situation where Washington’s influence over Europe significantly exceeds Moscow’s, the US nevertheless insists on crushing whatever pro-Russian enemies, real or imagined, it has left, Shatilov suggested that “historically, American policy has had a ‘cowboy character’; that is, hitting your opponent with so many blows that he won’t soon recover, if he recovers at all. In this way, it’s possible that Russia may have something to learn from the Americans, in order to better defend our own national interests.”
However, there is another possibility, the analyst notes. The impending investigation could be the result of a genuine fear that Europe may slip away from Washington’s orbit. “The US is observing the state of chaos which has hit Europe due to the influx of migrants. They did not expect that European leaders would behave in such a passive manner.”
“Against this background, a factor emerges which they might not have taken into consideration: Namely, the fact that among Europeans, there is a growing call for a charismatic leader — one who would not simply blindly follow Washington’s instructions, but pursue an independent policy, and perhaps one which would in some ways be ‘pro-Russian’. Or it is possible that Russia’s conservative values may seem attractive to many Europeans against the backdrop of the worsening problems with migrants.” In this situation, the US intelligence investigation may be a way “for Washington to hedge its bets,” Shatilov suggests.
Like his counterpart, Ivan Konovalov, the director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies & Technologies, finds the suggestion that the Kremlin is engaged in an extensive campaign to manipulate pro-Russian forces in Europe ridiculous.
“We have enough problems in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. The US is actively promoting the idea of a Russian hybrid war against the West. In such a framework, the idea of Russian subversion of the EU fits quite nicely,” the analyst told the newspaper.
Ultimately, Konovalov noted, “supporting ‘influence groups’ in neighboring countries is a normal phenomenon for any strong country. By the way, the situation in Ukraine with the Maidan coup showed that Russia did not have sufficient influence even over a country which is so close to us. Even though we spent a great deal of money to attempt to ensure their loyalty [through subsidies on energy prices, for example], in the end it turned out that we supported the wrong people and for the wrong reasons. At the same time, the Americans, at a much lower cost, achieved far greater success in Ukraine.”
In any case, the analyst concluded, it’s pretty hypocritical for Washington, which operates an extensive network of political influence operations across the entire globe, to accuse Moscow of doing the same thing at the European level.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Engineering Brigade Incapacitated Despite US Training Efforts
Afghan National Engineer Brigade (NEB) is incapable of operating independently, according to the report of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Afghan army’s engineering corps is unable to function without support despite efforts by the US military to train them, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a press release on Thursday.
“SIGAR published an audit of the Afghan National Engineer Brigade (NEB) that found despite US training efforts, the brigade is incapable of operating independently,” the release stated.
US Forces Afghanistan, the release added, “was unable to achieve its goal of training the… NEB to a ‘partially capable’ level by December 31, 2014.”
According to SIGAR’s audit, many of the same issues that plagued US efforts with the Afghan army also bedeviled the engineering training program, including unstable security conditions, poor reading comprehension skills and absences due to holiday leaves and political events.
The US Department of Defense, the release noted, were overly optimistic in forecasting that the NEB could be partially capable within eight months and fully capable within ten.
A Defense Department official told SIGAR that the US military does not even know the number of NEB personnel within each unit, which is still missing much of at least $29 million in vehicles and equipment.
SIGAR has previously reported that the Defense Department has wasted billions on training and reconstruction efforts since the mission began in Afghanistan because of poor oversight, mismanagement, corruption and fraud.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Again a Rape and Murder of a Hindu Girl by Muslim Rapist
Why do Bengal Media and Secular Parties want to suppress the fact?
Again a rape and murder of a Hindu girl of class Xth by Muslim rapist(s) and the ‘media morons in Bengal’ and ‘Indian pressititues’ keep a mum to guard the perpetrators in TMC.
HENB | Burdwan | January 28, 2016:: They are more intolerant in Kolkata with ‘Dadri Lynch’ in UP, ‘Beef Ban’ in Maharashtra and ‘Vemula Suicide’ in Hyderabad. But for them Kaliachak in Malda as if in Marsh and Jamuria in Burdwan in Jupiter. So the Bengal presstitutes are busy otherwise and the anxiety, agony and wailing of Shaw family of 6 No. Jamuria Goyalapara did not touch them anyway as the raped and murdered Twinkle Kumari Shaw was a Hindu and the alleged rapist and murderer Aftab Alam alias Raju was a Muslim in fact.
It is reported that a Xth Class student Twinkle Kumari Shaw (16 yrs) was plotted to get away with a burka clad Saba Ansari on Sunday afternoon from Shaw’s house. Since then Twinkle was untraced for two days. It was a mutilated and acid burnt Twinkle in a abandoned coal pit beyond Jamuria bypass in Tuesday morning.
It is suspected that a jilted Aftab Alam Ansari alias Raju raped her and then murdered Twinkle in a very unbelievable brutal way. Twinkle’s family said Raju Ansari used to disturb the victim frequently in her way to schools and homes for farming a ‘love jihad’ which ended into the grab of the barbaric perpetrators.
Knowing the matter the local BJP MP Babul Supriyo and Union Minister wanted to meet the victim’s family. But, he was barred on Wednesday by Asansol police from entering Jamuria in West Bengal to visit the house of a Hindu minor who was raped and killed in his parliamentary constituency…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
And Now: “Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Join the Fight to Stop Zika Virus”
Here’s what happened in Brazil, where Oxitec has been conducting massive experiments with genetically modified mosquitoes.
The chart below is from, Zika Virus, Explained in 6 Charts and Maps:…
In other words, Oxitec has been producing genetically modified mosquitoes on an industrial scale for years in Brazil, the country that now finds itself at ground zero of this Zika outbreak. With regard to Oxitec’s trials in Malaysia and Grand Cayman, Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology found, “Deficits in the scientific quality of regulatory documents and a general absence of accurate experimental descriptions available before releases start.”
These are fascinating coincidences.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
40 Percent of Germans Want Merkel to Quit Over Refugees: Poll
Nearly 40 percent of German voters think Chancellor Angela Merkel should quit over her liberal asylum policy after almost 1.1 million newcomers arrived last year, a poll showed Friday.
As the mood in Germany has shifted from a euphoric welcome for people fleeing war and persecution last September to growing doubts about the country’s ability to accommodate and integrate the record influx, the popular Merkel has come under increasing pressure.
However, the poll for Focus news magazine conducted by the independent opinion research institute Insa among 2,047 German citizens showed that a larger share — nearly 45 percent — did not think Merkel should resign…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Inside the Nightmare Buses
Austrian bus drivers have revealed the nightmare of ferrying thousands of nonwhite invaders to Bavaria—facing death threats, fights, disappearing “immigrants,” and forced overtime after the government lifted all restrictions on rest periods.
The bus drivers—who begged to remain anonymous after colleagues were sacked for refusing to partake in the invasion process—told the Austrian Die Krone newspaper of the nightmare they face.
That paper said the team of 200 bus drivers are exhausted, threatened, and in despair at the breakdown in the crisis management team.
Tasked with driving busloads full of invaders from the Spielfeld border reception center to Bavaria, the drivers started off by begging the Krone reporter not to reveal their names:
“Please do not write our names. Two colleagues have just lost their jobs because they no longer wanted to take part in these trips,” a driver said.
Then he and a colleague went into the dangers they face on a daily basis: the most important of which is that they are being forced to drive exhausted after the Austrian government lifted all restrictions on driving times and rest periods especially for the invader columns.
“We are forced to drive while exhausted, and this is very risky for all motorists,” the bus drivers said.
The official regulations state that bus drivers are only allowed to drive for a pre-determined period every day, and must have breaks within that time period to ensure that they remain fresh and alert.
Astonishingly, the Austrian Interior Ministry—which is also responsible for road safety—has issued a decree overriding these rules only for the buses carrying invaders to Bavaria.
As a result, the bus drivers are working up to eighteen hour shifts with only minimal rest stops along the way…
In addition, the nonwhite invaders track the route being followed by the bus on their cell phones, and if they think for a minute the bus is deviating, they threaten the drivers with death.
When the buses do stop for occasional toilet breaks, at least eight or ten “refugees” always vanish at each stop, the drivers said.
“After each break, eight or ten people are off—but the police do not care, as they do not even know how many are driven away by bus from Spielfeld…”
[Comment: 18 hrs/day shuttling invasion forces. Traitor political class following bankster orders to destroy their own nations.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin to List Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia as ‘Safe Countries of Origin’: Vice Chancellor
Germany will place Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia on the list of “safe countries of origin”, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel announced Thursday, in a move that will make it easier to reject asylum requests from those nationals.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin Demands Renzi OK Refugee Fund for Turkey
Die Zeit says Italian premier ‘hard nut to crack’
(ANSA) — Berlin, January 28 — Italy should give its OK to three billion euros of EU aid to Turkey to cope with the refugee crisis, the chair of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, Norbert Roettgen (CDU), said in an interview with ANSA Thursday. Noting that the EU was suffering a “crisis of solidarity” over the migrant emergency, he said Italy’s participation in the fund “would confirm that this crisis can be seen as a European crisis, which can only be overcome (by acting) together politically and financially”. In other remarks, Roettgen said the migrant issue should not be “mixed” with that of banks and economic flexibility, and said Italian Premier Matteo Renzi was “right” on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, when he voiced solidarity with eastern Europe. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this week the proposed pipeline project with Germany would be mutually beneficial for Russia and Europe.
Also on Thursday, German weekly Die Zeit said German Chancellor Angela Merkel will “find a hard nut to crack” in Renzi when he flies in for talks in Berlin Friday. “Renzi’s message is clear: we’ve done our bit, now it’s up to others,” the weekly said. “When the Italian arrives in Berlin tomorrow, Angela Merkel will try to make him change his mind. And she’ll find a hard nut to crack”. Referring to Italy’s reluctance to OK three billion euros of migrant aid to Turkey, Die Zeit described the transformation of Renzi from “model child of southern Europe” to “angry young man”.
Renzi said last week that Italy is willing to sign off on the EU refugee fund for Turkey “tomorrow” — if the EU agrees to free Italy’s spending on migrant rescue, reception and processing from the Stability Pact. “Juncker and Merkel got angry over Turkey,” he said. “We were asked to contribute 200-250 million, I said fine, but I asked for the immigration funds to be freed from the Stability Pact for Italy as well. If they recognize 0.2% of the clause for migrants fine, we’ll sign tomorrow morning”.
Italy is resisting the billionaire package to help Turkey cope with Syrian refugees fleeing a civil war that has now entered into its fifth year over concerns that national governments, and not the EU’s common fund, may foot too much of the bill.
This ruffled feathers in the EU executive, with European Council chief Jean-Claude Juncker saying governments that are critical should take a look at themselves first.
“Without common action and a European policy on migration, Schengen will not survive,” said Juncker, who earlier this month traded barbs with Renzi for allegedly offending the EU executive at “every opportunity”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Breitbart London to Launch Europe-Wide Migrant Crisis Live Wire
LONDON, United Kingdom — Breitbart London, the first news outlet in the English language to expose the mass migrant assaults and rapes from Cologne on New Year’s Eve is to launch a Migrant Crisis Live Wire, tracking all the developments from Europe’s migrant crisis from across the continent…
The live wire will start from the afternoon of Friday, January 29th and will be available at this [ www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/29/migrant-crisis-live-wire ] link.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Attacks on women like those seen in Cologne happen in Birmingham ‘every week’, an MP claimed last night.
Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, compared the organised assaults on women by gangs of migrants, to the atmosphere in Britain’s second city on a night out.
She made the comments on Question Time last night after an audience member suggested the situation in Germany showed where ‘mass immigration doesn’t work’.
‘Don’t you think the women in Cologne, and the women who was unfortunately killed in Sweden don’t you think they’re scared as well?’, he said.
Mrs Phillips said: ‘There is violence against women and girls that you are describing, a very similar situation to what happened in Cologne could be described on Broad Street in Birmingham every week where women are baited and heckled.’
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Exposed: Pro Migrant Campaigners Faked Migrant Death for Propaganda
A pro mass migration volunteer at a refugee centre has admitted fabricating the death of a Syrian migrant, who supposedly died of the cold waiting for handouts in Berlin.
The story was widely reported Germany, and used to lobby for extra money and resources for migrants.
A charity and campaign group which was quick to criticise the government for the death has now admitted the revelation of the lie could be “catastrophic” for their pro-refugee cause.
A pro-migrant activist first reported the story on Facebook, including a transcript with the lying man, called ‘Dirk’. She described the refuges deteriorating condition in startling detail, as well as alleging that four migrant women had had miscarried in the queue, and that a migrant child had been abducted…
The truth of came out when police officers visited the man at his apartment and announced that the activists had “admitted that he had made it all up”.
[Comment: Mark of a “liberal” (communist) — lying is acceptable to advance the agenda.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Expects to Expel 20,000 Failed Asylum Seekers: Govt
Finland expects to expel around 20,000 of the 32,000 asylum seekers it received in 2015, the country’s interior ministry said on Thursday.
“In principle we speak of about two-thirds, meaning approximately 65 percent of the 32,000 will get a negative decision (to their asylum application),” Paivi Nerg, the ministry’s administrative director told AFP.
More than 20,000 of the asylum seekers Finland welcomed in 2015 came from Iraq…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Refugee-Crime: Kiel Police Don’t Even Bother
There is so much nonwhite invader crime in the German city of Kiel that the police department there has issued orders to its officers not to even bother following up incidents—if the perpetrators are “refugees.”
The astonishing decision was first revealed in a report in the Kieler Nachrichten newspaper, and then expanded upon in the Bild tabloid.
The reports revealed that on October 7, 2015, a decision was taken at a meeting of the heads of police and the prosecutor’s office on the topic of “dealing with criminal refugees whose legitimate personal details are ambiguous.”
It was noted that there had been “problems in police practice” in dealing with “delinquent refugees who were not in possession of an identity document and who are not registered by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.”
It had therefore become “problematic to assess whether judicial measures for offenses such as shoplifting and damage to property are necessary,” the memorandum said.
In other words, the prosecution of thieves and those committing “criminal damage” are to be “severely restricted”—if the alleged perpetrators are refugees.
The order said that for offences such as shoplifting, thieving, and damage to property, no effort must be made to even begin to formulate a case against suspects because the cost is too high and there is little chance of success.
Furthermore, the memorandum said, the difficulties in obtaining an interpreter added to the costs, and the extra effort involved in finding out where the refugee was being accommodated, made the time spent in investigating the offence unviable in terms of police time.
Finally, even if the refugee was convicted, the crime was not serious enough to warrant deportation or jailing under current laws.
All of this means that the police would rather use their resources investigating “serious” crime — perhaps like attacking anti-invasion protestors such as the Pegida march in Cologne in January this year.
Karl-Hermann Rehr, the manager of the police union in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, under which Kiel falls, expressed his dismay at the contents of the memorandum, saying that it was tantamount to a “surrender of the constitutional state.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German Migrant Centre Attacked by Hand Grenade as Violence Escalates
The grenade was hurled at an asylum centre in Villingen-Schwenningen in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, but although the pin had been pulled, the explosive failed to go off, police said.
[Comment: Likely a state sponsored “false flag” to demonize thoe against the invasion.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Fingerprinting 100% of Migrants Renzi Tells Germany
‘I want to reassure German public opinion’
(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — Premier Matteo Renzi said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after they met Friday that Italy is fingerprinting and identifying through facial recognition 100% of asylum seekers.
“I want to reassure German public opinion that, while there have been difficulties in the past, today thanks to the work of the Italian police we’ve reached 100% fingerprinting and facial recognition,” he said. The latter is “very useful in combating terror,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Just How Old Do You Think These Migrant ‘Children’ Are?
Alarming pictures of refugees — including ‘the fastest 14-year-old in Sweden’ — that shed light on a growing scandal amid Europe’s asylum crisis
Examine the three ‘children’ in these pictures. One is of Ahmad Farid, who claimed he was 16 but appears at least 18 or more in the snap in which he is laughing as he’s given a fluffy toy polar bear at a refugee reception centre.
Ahmad appears to have hair on his chin, and his powerful physique can be seen under his shirt.
The second is of Saad Alsaud, reported to have been the fastest 14-year-old in Sweden, dwarfing schoolboys and girls as they join him for a run.
He looks old enough to be the father of the children he is jogging with.
The other shows a Somalian named Youssaf Khaliif Nuur who claims he is 15 though he is 6ft tall and, according to one unconfirmed source, shaves his beard and moustache.
He appeared in a Swedish court yesterday accused of stabbing a woman to death at a young migrants’ hostel on Monday.
The extraordinary pictures of the two Afghans, Ahmad and Saad, were published in the Swedish press, with Government approval, to show how enthusiastically this politically correct nation welcomes in orphaned young migrants.
But in the years that followed, the word has spread across Europe about how easy it is to be accepted as a child migrant in Sweden.
Now, the country has become overwhelmed with ‘unaccompanied minors’ in what critics suspect is a huge fraud.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Rolling Coverage of Europe’s Migrant Crisis
MIGRANT CRISIS LIVE WIRE — This page will host all the relevant information from Europe’s unfolding migrant crisis. You can follow all the latest updates below.
This page is edited by Breitbart London’s Raheem Kassam, Chris Tomlinson, Oliver Lane and Donna Rachel Edmunds. Newest updates will appear at the top of the page.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
A 19-strong group of young men attacked staff at a centre for refugee children in Sweden with makeshift weapons, forcing them to barricade themselves inside a room.
The men in their care rioted at the accommodation centre in Emmaboda, south-east Sweden, on Wednesday night and staff members were only freed when police arrived.
The incident follows the stabbing of Swedish aid worker, Alexandra Mezher, 22, who died as she tried to break up a fight at a shelter for unaccompanied child refugees in the country.
In the latest incident, the Swedish newspaper Expressen, quoting Ingela Crona from the local police in Kalmar, reported that a violent riot broke out at the centre.
‘They broke loose, and a total of 19 people banded together and did this,’ she told the newspaper, which reported that the men were carrying makeshift weapons.
The violence started after staff refused a request for a resident at the refugee centre to buy sweets, John Nilsson, from the local police force, told Barometern newspaper.
‘[They] became furious with the staff member,’ he added. ‘He collected together around 15 friends and the staff were forced to shut themselves in while they broke windows and did what they liked.’
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
‘We have become completely overwhelmed,’ one policeman with over 30-years-service with Gothenburg Police told MailOnline.
‘We have given up with narcotic crime. We just don’t have the resources.’
Instead officers are trying to fight back the explosion of violent street crime that has erupted in recent months.
‘I have worked in Gothenburg for over 30 years and I have never known anything like it,’ the officer told MailOnline.
‘I will not let my children go into the city after 2pm and especially not at night.
‘There are violent gangs roaming around the streets and the use of knives and other weapons have become normal, rather than a rarity as it used to be,’
‘There are 20 robberies in Gothenburg every day — usually with violence or the threat of violence.
‘This week an 83-year-old lady had a gun put in her face when she was mugged on her way to play bingo. They got away with just 50 Kroner [about £4].
‘In the summer there were mass shootings with lots of people killed, including a little girl.’
He added the city streets were now at the mercy of gangs of young men mainly from North Africa.
The police source revealed: ‘In the past couple of months we have noticed a dramatic increase in street robbery. This is a new phenomenom.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Town Mayor Who Stopped the Invasion of Hungary
The mayor of Ásotthalom, László Toroczkai, is as impressive in real life as he is in his world famous videos. He is young, energetic, and dedicated to a cause which he knows is of supreme importance to not only the future of his town, but for the future of European civilization.
“Every twelve seconds, a new ‘migrant’ enters Europe,” he told a group of nearly 50 patriots gathered from all over Europe in Ásotthalom today for a special two day conference.
When the first wave of nonwhite invaders entered through the open border near his town in 2014, Hungary did not even have a border police force. It had been disbanded by the previous socialist government prior to 2010.
In 2013, 40,000 migrants passed through Ásotthalom, and by the end of the year, Mayor Toroczkai started demanding a fence on the border. “I also asked for the help of the police and military,” he said.
“Back in those days they didn’t even reply to my letters, and nothing happened. I realized that I was alone,” he continued. “Neither the European Union or the Hungarian government helped me.”
It was then that he founded a local town police force. “The local policemen have almost the same rights as the state police. They have guns; they can stop and arrest anyone,” he continued.
“We equipped them with vehicles. We started to protect our open borders on our own. Ásotthalom has a twenty-five kilometer (about nineteen miles) border with Serbia.
“We started to chase the human traffickers. Most of the traffickers were gypsies from Hungary and Serbia, but we have also arrested Pakistani, Arabic, Albanian, Turkish, and even Chechen traffickers.
By December 2014 Mayor Toroczkai had taken to the Internet to inform not only his townspeople but also Hungary and the world of the situation that was already developing.
“I realized that most people could not see what was happening here on the borders of the European Union.” Because of this, journalists from all over the world began to contact him.
“I told all the journalists that the only way to stop the invasion was to build a border fence. The fence is my idea. I was the first to talk about it in Hungary.”…
“If we do nothing, our several thousand-year-old European civilization will be destroyed within our lifetime.
“As you can see, there are no traces left of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed through our town this year. Now there is peace and silence in Ásotthalom.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK’s Cameron Wants ‘Emergency Brake’ On Tax-Funded Income Supplements for Immigrants
An idea Obama wants to bring to the U.S. is out of control in Britain
How anyone could have thought this was a good policy, I cannot imagine. People migrate to your country from elsewhere and can’t find a job that pays what they want or need, so the government says, hey, no problem, we’ll supplement your income.
Remember this fundamental principle: When you subsidize something, you get more of it. So if you want lots of people coming into your country who can’t earn enough to live without taxpayyer subsidies, then by all means, offer those subsidies! They’ll come. And they’re coming to Britain in such large numbers, Prime Minister David Cameron wants to put an “emergency brake” on it. So why not just put a stop to it altogether? Well that gets tricky, because Britain is part of the European Union, and one component of the treaty that established the EU says member states are supposed to extend their welfare benefits to people who migrate from other member states.
So Cameron is now in the unenviable position of seeking permission from other countries to alter his own economic policies:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Woman Worker Reveals Aggressive Refugee Behavior at European Center
A refugee center employee in Hamburg, Germany spoke to German newspaper Die Welt telling about her experience of working at the center and how her one time passion to help refugees has been destroyed because of their ungrateful behavior.
The employee of the refugee center gave an interview to the German publication asking to stay anonymous.
She recalled how she was enthusiastic to join the center in autumn of 2015 when tens of thousands of refugees poured into the country fleeing war zones in the Middle East. She was full of optimism, “It was exactly what I wanted to do in life.”
However, her enthusiasm vanished within just a few days. “Most migrants want too much. They demand an apartment, a car and a good job right away. If I try to explain that this is not possible, they become noisy and sometimes aggressive” the employee said.
“Once a group of migrants from Afghanistan and Syria threatened to go on a hunger strike if they were not immediately moved to another location inside the country,” the employee recalled.
“One Arab shouted to my colleague: We will cut your head off!”
Yet, the worst experience of communicating with the refugees according to the employee is that they do not take female workers seriously. According to the girl, refugees simply do not listen to their instructions and ask male workers to repeat the instructions.
Distrust towards women working at the center did not stop the male refugees from evaluating them in a sexual context.
“They look at us with either scorn or with greasy eyes” the employee said in an outrage. “They whistle after us, say something to each other in their language, laugh and take our photographs without our permission.”
The female employees of the center had to change their style of clothing, giving up tightly fitted clothes in order not to provoke the refugees. Now the girls wear slacks and collared tops while at work.
The employee told Die Welt that of course, among the refugees she met some grateful, friendly people too. But that is not more than just 10 percent. “Working with the others is very difficult,” the girl said. She said that she will quit her job if the situation continues to deteriorate.
“My idealism is undermined and almost destroyed. I am disappointed, and feel dejection,” the employee said.
This interview was taken just a few days before a 22-year-old worker Alexandera Mezher who was employee in the same institution in Swedish city of Mölndal was killed.
A 15-year-old teenager from Somalia was arrested on suspicion of committing the crime. Presumably, he stabbed the girl to death in the back and thigh. According to some reports the girl was murdered when she tried to stop a knife fight at the migrant center.
Mezher had recently graduated from university with a degree in psychology. Her parents were migrants themselves, a Christian family that had arrived from Lebanon to Sweden a quarter of a century ago.
Relatives and friends said that Mezher had an angelic character. “Our country is not safe,” the grief stricken mother of the girl said.
Currently, the police are investigating the tragic incident. “We have to respond to numerous incidents in the refugee centers. Sometimes this requires considerable human resources. Six months ago, the situation was not so serious and that means that now we are not able to effectively carry out other duties,” the head of police Dan Eliasson said.
According to the police officer they now have to put aside minor offenses as a growing number of more serious incidents involving rape, drug trafficking and mass fighting are occurring.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Church Blasts Civil Unions as ‘Alternative’ To Family
Parliament examining bill on same-sex unions
(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) on Friday blasted civil unions as an “alternative” to the traditional family. The Italian parliament is currently examining a bill to recognize civil unions, including same-sex ones. “The process underway of putting marriage and civil unions on the same level — with the introduction of an alternative to the family — was addressed within wider concern about the cultural change that is crossing the West,” the CEI said in a statement at the end of its Episcopal Council.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gender Madness: Trans-Girl. Demi Boy. Inter-Sex.
DAMIAN THOMSPON says a Government survey asking 13-year-olds to pick from 25 genders is as absurd as it is dangerous
Try to imagine a world populated by teenagers who are neither boys nor girls but have three genders at once: they are male, female and androgynous, making them ‘tri-gender’.
Other young people are known as ‘demi-boys’ and ‘demi-girls’. Some drift between genders in a variety of ways. Some are ‘bi-gender’; still more are ‘trans-girls’ and ‘trans-boys’, while yet another tribe identify themselves as ‘gender fluid’.
This sounds like the stuff of science fiction. In fact, every term I’ve just used comes from a questionnaire that the British Government planned to submit to children aged 13 to 18 as part of a research project sponsored by the Department of Education via the £2.9 million-a-year office of the Children’s Commissioner for England.
[…]
What’s truly depressing is that the questionnaire devised by Ringrose and colleagues was commissioned by a Conservative government.
There could be no clearer demonstration of the way education has been infiltrated by a new generation of feminists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Scary Mental Health Risks of Going Meatless
More and more women are vegging out…of their minds. New research suggests that along with shedding pounds, slashing cancer risk, and boosting life expectancy, vegetarianism could come with lesser-known side effects: Panic attacks. OCD. Depression. WH investigates the puzzling blow of going meatless—and how to stay plant-based without going mental…
“I hear from vegetarians every day; they have this terrible depression and anxiety, and they don’t understand why,” says Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth. “People think they’re eating a beautiful, righteous diet, but they don’t realize there’s a potential dark side.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
“Refugees” at an asylum center in the town of Emmaboda in southeastern Sweden went on a rampage after a staff member refused a request to supply them with candy. The high-spirited youngsters broke windows and caused general mayhem”
Nothing to be concerned about here. A little high jinks probably brought on by sugar withdrawal. I hope the staff member is disciplined.
Muslims attack Christians at migrant camp in France
“David Michaux, a CRS anti-riot officer from the Unsa Police union, told Le Figaro: “There is a real problem of Muslims and non-Muslims. Most of the camp’s 3,000-odd occupants are Muslim Kurds from Iraq, Iran and Syria but a minority are Christians from Iran.
“The Muslims are trying to expel the Christians from the camp.”
and a Christian Iranian had his throat cut in December because he was convert.
France strangling Catholic organisation Civitas
Donations no longer tax deductible
Anti-French political forces in France hard at work to eliminating Christianity whichever way possible
Promoting islam all over the world
International hijab day(!)
February 1 2016
Why not let all women all over the world try on the islamic symbol, hijab, for one day..?
Next up, why not let all, both men and women, try to say the shahada – “I am a muslim” – for one day, and see what it’s like? Just for one day? Just to get used to it, and see how easy it is to convert? Maybe not!
Stealth jihad at work at all times, every day of the year. Watch out! Do not get trapped when you “get an invitation” to dawa.
How about getting genitalily mutilated for just one day just to see what it’s like?
How about Feb 2nd as Non Hijab (No-Ab) day . where all women around the world are encouraged to take off their Niqab/Hijab for the day and go for a walk.
For those who don’t know Ab means slave on Arabic!
What a great idea!
«13 Novembre : Fraternité et Vérité»
Victims of the 13 November 2015 Paris attacks have founded their own association, Brotherhood and Truth
It seems that while on route to Norway the ‘migrants’ are overstaying their welcome in the north of Russia. There are reports of harassment of locam women, which has resulted in some migrants getting beaten up.
(link in Russian) http://flashnord.com/news/bezhencev-izbili-v-murmanskoy-oblasti-za-domogatelstva-k-devushkam