Reader links for May 6 – 2015

This post has all its contents in the comments. For the newest freshest videos and news stories of interest to the Counter-Jihad and the Geopolitics of Islam, please click comments and add to, or read what is posted there.

Some will be integrated into the day’s posts and others not. But this way we can keep a great news flow going without interfering with the conversations about the issues under the various essays and news items in the posts that will be presented throughout the day.

Thank you all for your informative and important contributions.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

63 Replies to “Reader links for May 6 – 2015”

  1. French mayor in hot water over ‘counting’ Muslim kids in schools (RT, May 6, 2015)
    http://rt.com/news/255845-franch-mayor-muslim-kids/

    “Robert Menard, the mayor of Beziers, has caused an uproar revealing his administration had compiled a list of school pupils’ names to see how many were Muslim. France’s laws prohibit authorities from keeping statistics on people’s religion or ethnicity.

    Appearing on TV show Mots Croisés on Monday night, Menard claimed that Muslim school children amounted to 64.6 percent of the total, and that the administration had arrived at that figure by counting the names of the children class by class.

    “Sorry to say this, but the town hall has, class by class, the names of the children. I know I don’t have the right to do it. Sorry to say it, but the first names tell us their religion. To say otherwise is to deny the evidence,” he said on France 2 television.

    But the town hall of Beziers denied Tuesday that there were any lists of children’s names or that anyone had tried to identify which ones were Muslim.

    Menard’s comments drew fierce criticism from across French society. Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted: “shame on the mayor.”

    “The republic does not make any distinction between its children,” he added.

    Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has called for a judicial investigation into Menard’s comments.

    Abdallah Zekri, the head of the National Observatory Against Islamophobia, said he was “scandalized, sickened by these comments.”

    “Moreover, you can be called Mohammed without being a practicing Muslim,” he said.

    A comment piece in the French daily Le Monde noted that what the mayor did is prohibited under French law under article 226-19 of the Penal Code and is punishable by up to five years in prison or a 300,000 euro fine.”

    • Robert Menard is one of the few very courageous politicians in France (he is also the founder of “journalistes sans frontieres”) – a thoroughly honorable guy. His big crime?: He is “conservative” and even a public sympathiser (not a member of ) Le Front National, Marine LePen’s party.
      He is also against the galopping islamisation of France and hence the enemy of this fully corrupt, islam-infected extreme left Government.

      “Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has called for a judicial investigation into Menard’s comments”

      This Arabo/Musulman with the double French/Moroccan nationality (in itself shameful as a minister ) wears the islamic veil when she visits her real bosses in Morrocco – her homeland. As to a JUDICIAL investigation? The “Minister for Justice” Christiane TAUBIRA is a virulent anti-white racist, she has actually a criminal record having broken the law by violently fighting for the Independance of her island, now she is sending native French people, who offend her by carricatures – to be judged by a Kangaroo Court in French Guinea, one of her daughters or cousins sitting on the bench there. She hates Franch and the French, the killer of the Charlie Hebdo and Kosher Grocer in Paris was out on the streets despite having 22 years of custodial prison sentences against his name – but free to kill because this Justice Minister created a law favouring “migrant recidivists” (“they carry the burden of colonalisation on their young shoulders” was her argument for these new “Taubira” laws)….. and she is the best friend of Muslims.

      Does anyone think Robert Menard would get a fair treatment? LOL. They (yes Taubira/Belkacem ) want him dead (at least politically – he has the respect of the REAL French people and won this post as Mayor from the Left. He also cleaned up his town in a short time – did away with the corruption so natural to the Left.

      The “criticisms” from “accross French Society” come from the Left politicians, Left Media and assorted dhimmies.

      DISGUSTING !!!

  2. Greece introduces cashpoint tax in desperate bid to raise revenue and stop run on banks as country teeters on brink of bankruptcy

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3068975/Greece-introduces-mandatory-surcharges-cashpoints-desperate-attempt-raise-money-stop-panicked-citizens-withdrawing-life-savings-country-s-beleaguered-banks.html#ixzz3ZMwHXgDP
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    The way things are going I wouldn’t want the cash in euros.

  3. AFGHANISTAN – Thousands flee homes ahead of expected battle near Afghan city

    As many as 10,000 Afghan families have fled their homes as Taliban insurgents and government forces prepared for a major battle for control of the southern fringes of Kunduz city, officials said on Wednesday.

    The World Food Programme is preparing food packages for displaced families and expects to start distributing them this weekend.

    Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents backed by foreign jihadists on the outskirts of Kunduz have been in a standoff for nearly a week since the militants launched an offensive on the city late last month.

    The Taliban push on Kunduz, about 500 km (310 miles) north of Kabul, is the most serious threat to a provincial capital in years, although government forces insist the city will not fall to the insurgents.

    The Afghan army and police are fighting without substantial help from foreign troops, after the NATO military mission ended its combat role at the end of 2014.

    Kunduz police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said government forces would soon launch a big offensive to drive the Taliban from Gul Tepa district on the southern outskirts of the city.

    He said that the army and police had delayed in order to give civilians time to clear out of the area.

    “The Taliban inside the surrounding villages want to use them as human shields, so the villagers have escaped to the central parts of the city,” Hussaini said.

    More than 10,000 families have officially appealed for aid as refugees of the fighting, said Abdul Salaam Hashemi, the head of Kunduz’s refugee department.

    He said survey teams were working to verify how many of those families needed aid.

    The World Food Programme has verified 300 families in need of aid and is surveying more, spokesman Wahidullah Amini said.

    The U.N.-affiliated agency is preparing emergency kits of flour, pulses, cooking oil and high-energy biscuits for 500 families, he said, adding that food distribution in Kunduz city would begin Saturday.

    http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/06/uk-afghanistan-war-idUKKBN0NR1HV20150506

    • A Jew in Germany or Austria or [ptew!] Poland today, is there by choice. Same for a few other places.

      Either suck it up or deal with it. Don’t waste community resources by drawing attention to yourself calling a spade a spade.

  4. BREITBART EXCLUSIVE–Pamela Geller Calls Out Cowardly Conservatives, Says She’ll Organize Another Free Speech Event in Near Future **FULL IMAGE GALLERY**

    Breitbart News spoke with Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative and blogger at Atlasshrugs.com, about her recent “Draw Muhammad” free speech art exhibit, which came under attack by Islamic radicals on Sunday in Garland, Texas.

    Geller discussed how much of the political left, Islamic totalitarians, and even some high-profile conservatives have attempted to equate her art exhibit with the actions of the AK47-weilding Islamic terrorists, who were shot dead in their botched attempt to commit mass murder. Geller talked about why drawing Muhammad is so controversial within Islam and how the media is capitulating to Sharia law in America, among other issues. Throughout the interview, view a selection of submissions to the “Draw Muhammad” contest.

    on this page :

    http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/05/05/exclusive-pamela-geller-cowardly-conservatives-accommodate-the-leftist-media-by-attacking-draw-muhammad-contest/

      • NYT – Charlie Hebdo Editor Seeks to Distance Newspaper From Anti-Islam Causes

        The top editor at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical Paris newspaper that was attacked four months ago by militant gunmen over its cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, sought on Tuesday to reject attempts by right-wing activists to exploit that attack for their own agendas.

        In an interview with members of the editorial board of The New York Times, the editor, Gérard Biard, disputed any analogies drawn between the Charlie Hebdo attack and the assault on Sunday against an art contest in Texas organized by Pamela Geller, a conservative activist and blogger.

        “We have nothing to do with Pamela Geller’s work,” Mr. Biard said. “When Islam or the Prophet Muhammad jump out of the news, we comment on it, we mock it, maybe. But we are not obsessed about it.”

        Mr. Biard also criticized Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Front, whose popularity has risen in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack on Jan. 7.

        Although the assailants in both attacks were heavily armed, endorsed by Islamist militant groups abroad and seeking to avenge perceived insults to Islam, Mr. Biard sought to differentiate the episodes. He emphasized what he described as the wide range of satirical cartoons used in Charlie Hebdo’s cover illustrations.

        “Out of 500 covers in the past 10 years, only seven were made about Islam,” he said. “So it’s not our obsession. We’re dealing with politics, we’re dealing with other religions.”

        Ms. Geller has called the attack in Garland, Tex., in which both assailants were killed, a defeat for “the enemies of freedom” that validated the art contest — which she said had been held in part to honor Charlie Hebdo.

        Asked how the Charlie Hebdo attack may have influenced a right-wing surge in French politics, Mr. Biard criticized Ms. Le Pen for portraying herself and her supporters as defenders of free speech.

        “Marine Le Pen has a political agenda,” he said. “Her goal is to be elected in two years, to become president. She’s doing what every political leader does. She’s used an event and tried to transform this event into something for her own purpose.”

        “The thing is, Marine Le Pen is not credible on that issue, because she is an extreme-right politician,” Mr. Biard said. “She runs an extreme-right party, with religious extremists in there. So when she attacks Islam, she in fact attacks Arab people.”

        By contrast, Mr. Biard said, “when WE mock a religion, WE don’t knock believers, WE don’t mock people. WE mock institutions. WE mock ideas.”

        Mr. Biard was in New York to receive an award on Tuesday for “freedom of expression courage” at a literary gala sponsored by PEN American Center, a prominent literary organization that defends writers around the world.

        The choice of Charlie Hebdo to receive the award has incited angry contention within the organization. More than 200 of its approximately 4,000 members have signed a letter protesting what they called Charlie Hebdo’s violation of acceptable expression, asserting that the newspaper’s cartoons have promoted anti-Muslim bigotry.

        Mr. Biard, who has been the editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo for the past 10 years, said that the PEN protesters were entitled to their opinion but that he rejected their criticism.

        WE have always been anti-racist, and WE fight against all discrimination,” he said.

        Mr. Biard also said that the newspaper, which derives its revenue exclusively from subscriptions, had gone from fewer than 10,000 before the January assault to more than 250,000 today.

        In addition, he said, many people around the world had sent financial contributions, which have all been deposited into a fund for families of the 17 victims in a three-day spree of attacks that included 12 people killed at Charlie Hebdo’s offices. Mr. Biard said that he did not know the total amount, but that “it’s quite a lot.”

        http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-editor-seeks-to-distance-newspaper-from-anti-islam-causes.html

  5. Bangladesh uses ‘sacred Arabic’ to stop peeing in public

    DHAKA – For years authorities in Bangladesh have battled to stop men urinating in public, with signs in the local Bengali language failing to halt the seemingly endless number of offenders.

    But the Bangladesh religious affairs ministry’s recent decision to erect new signs in Arabic has had a marked effect, despite most Bangladeshis being unable to read the language.

    For most in the mainly-Muslim country, Arabic is sacred because it is the language their holy book, the Koran, was revealed in.

    “This campaign has received a great positive response so far,” Anwar Hossain, a ministry spokesman, told AFP. “Bangladeshi people respect Arabic and we’ve just utilised that.”

    A two-minute video against public urination that promotes the new Arabic signs has gone viral in Bangladesh since it was uploaded onto social media earlier this week.

    A group of people are shown approaching a public wall, but then jump back for fear of committing a sin when they see the Arabic sign against peeing in public.

    “I don’t understand why people urinate by the roadsides. Especially when every mosque provides public toilet facilities,” Matior Rahman, the country’s religious affairs minister, says in the video.

    The campaign however has sparked a strong rebuke from influential cleric Fariduddin Masud, who said it tarnished the prestige of the Arabic language.

    “Nobody has the right to use the language of the Koran for such a campaign,” the cleric said, according to online newsportal Natunbarta.com.

    “The people of the country respect Arabic but that does not mean that we’ll tolerate the use of Arabic to stop people from urinating (at street corners).”

    http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/553007/bangladesh-uses-acred-arabic-to-stop-peeing-in-public

  6. UK – House of Fraser is now stocking range of sports hijabs for Muslim women to wear during exercise for £14.99

    – House of Fraser is now selling a range of sport hijabs for Muslim women
    – The department store is stocking stripey, floral and plain black veils
    – It follows a move by John Lewis last year to sell hijab school uniforms

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3069081/House-Fraser-stocking-range-sports-hijabs-Muslim-women-wear-exercise-14-99.html

  7. SWEDEN – Pig farm plan to push away Muslim immigrants

    Anti-immigration campaigners in Gullberg in southern Sweden are plotting to build a pig farm next to an asylum centre in a last-ditch effort to deter would-be Muslim immigrants, who might find the animals offensive.

    Plans for a new immigration centre in Gullberg have already been strongly opposed by local residents and on Wednesday it was reported that a group of campaigners had sent a letter to the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) pledging to breed pigs nearby in order to deter Muslims from seeking asylum in the town.

    The note, signed by what described itself as the “interest group for Gullberg’s survival” said that it was trying to create a “probably impossible situation for some religious people, especially Muslims”, according to Sveriges Radio.

    Local politician Henry Sandahl from Sweden’s Countryside Party (Markbygdspartiet) told the broadcaster that he agreed with the sentiment of the letter.

    “You know that Muslims are not friends with pigs,” he said.

    But Swedish religious experts have been quick to criticize the campaigners.

    “This is nonsense and shows just how very little they know about Islam,” said Åke Sander, Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg.

    “It is one thing when Muslims try to stay away from pork, alcohol or gambling but there is nothing [in the Koran] that says you cannot be near pigs. This is a last-ditch effort when they [the campaigners] have no arguments left,” he told the TT news agency.

    Others turned to social media to voice their disgust at the campaign.

    Carl Göransson, a lawyer and former Moderate party politician suggested on Twitter that building “a gigantic rubbish dump” next to the asylum centre instead, designed to blow smelly winds in the direction of the angry residents.

    “Monstrous” and a “total fail”, wrote Johan Arenius, a political press secretary for the Christian Democrat party based in Örebro in central Sweden.

    Sweden became the first European country in 2013 to grant automatic residency to Syrian refugees and has since seen asylum requests rise to record levels, which are still expected to reach about 90,000 in 2015.

    To cope with an increasing flow of refugees, the Swedish Migration Board announced in March that it was more than tripling the maximum number of residents allowed at asylum centres from 200 to 650.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20150506/pig-farm-plan-to-push-away-muslim-immigrants?PageSpeed=noscript

  8. IRAQ – Pentagon: Iraq’s battle to secure Baiji oil refinery from ISIS ‘tough,’ difficult to predict outcome –

    Pentagon sees “tough” Iraqi battle to secure Baiji oil refinery

    WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Wednesday said Iraq’s fight to secure the country’s largest oil refinery from Islamic State militants was headed in the wrong direction and declined to predict the outcome of ongoing battle.

    “It’s been a tough, fluid fight,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told a news briefing, adding that “right now it’s flowing in the wrong direction.”

    “It could still turn around. At this point, it’s impossible to predict how it’s going to play out.”

    Reuters has reported insurgents hold large sections of the sprawling Baiji refinery complex in northern Iraq where policemen, soldiers and elite special forces are holding out.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3070705/Pentagon-sees-tough-Iraqi-battle-secure-Baiji-oil-refinery.html

  9. DAILY MAIL – Jihadist who left Britain to join ISIS in Syria was responsible for the slick footage showing Jordanian airman being burned alive in a cage, says prominent Islamist

    – Fabio Pocas, 22, moved to London with dreams of becoming a footballer
    – But he abandoned the sport and converted to radical Islam instead
    – Joined ISIS in Syria along with four other Portuguese Muslim converts
    – Has now been identified as the militant who filmed Jordanian pilot’s murder
    – Muath al-Kasasbeh was burned alive while locked in a cage in February

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3070322/Jihadist-left-Britain-join-ISIS-Syria-responsible-slick-footage-showing-Jordanian-airman-burned-alive-cage-says-prominent-Islamist.html

  10. ISRAEL – Netanyahu, Bennett to announce coalition deal

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud faction on Wednesday reached an agreement with the religious Zionist Bayit Yehudi on the formation of a rightist coalition, Israel Radio reported.

    The agreement, which was struck just two hours before the final deadline for Netanyahu to cobble together a ruling government, paves the way for a narrow, 61-seat coalition.

    By law, if Netanyahu failed to form a government by midnight on Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin would have been required to call upon another MK – presumably Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog or an MK from Likud – to form a government or initiate a general election.

    Prior to Wednesday evening’s agreement with Bayit Yehudi, the prime minister had already clinched deals set with Kulanu, United Torah Judaism and Shas, which together with the Likud’s 30 lawmakers, gave him 53 MKs.

    But Bayit Yehudi played hard to get on Tuesday, purposely not returning repeated calls and messages from Netanyahu’s associates. Leader Naftali Bennett’s associates said during the day that he would only speak to Netanyahu directly to reach a deal.

    By evening, the Bayit Yehudi chairman agreed to send his political adviser Shalom Shlomo to meet with the prime minister’s lawyer David Shimron to work out the details of a coalition agreement. Bennett and Netanyahu are expected to meet to finalize the deal on Wednesday.

    A Bayit Yehudi spokesman would not confirm reports that the party’s demands included the Foreign Ministry for Bennett, the Justice portfolio for MK Ayelet Shaked and the Education Ministry for current Construction Minister Uri Ariel.

    The Likud released a statement on Tuesday denying that Netanyahu’s associates had mocked the offer or attacked Bennett.

    “Throughout the day there were various quotes attributed to sources close to the prime minister,” the statement said.

    “We want to clarify that no statement or briefing came from the party or the prime minister.”

    Among the quotes attributed was: “The Right will never forgive Bennett if he prevents the formation of a right-wing government because he craved portfolios.”

    http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahu-Bayit-Yehudi-strike-coalition-deal-two-hours-before-deadline-402316

  11. Syria: Assad greeted by crowds on Martyr’s Day visit to Damascus school

  12. Texas attack: The chain of terror tweets that led to Elton Simpson rampage at Draw Mohammed contest
    By Rita Katz

    on this page :
    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/texas-attack-chain-terror-tweets-that-led-elton-simpson-rampage-draw-mohammed-contest-1499922

    Rita Katz is executive director of the SITE intelligence group . She has been monitoring terrorist activity and Jihad for more than a decade.
    ===========================================================

    CNN’s Brooke Baldwin speaks with author Rita Katz

  13. Germany expects asylum applications to double to around 400,000 in 2015 – sources

    The German government is expecting the number of people seeking asylum to double to 400,000 in 2015, two participants at a meeting with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday.

    BERLIN: The German government is expecting the number of people seeking asylum to double to 400,000 in 2015, two participants at a meeting with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday.

    The minister held the meeting with members of the ruling left-right coalition late on Monday.

    The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said in February that it was expecting 300,000 asylum-seekers this year, but by the end of the first quarter about 85,400 people had applied for asylum, double last year’s applications in the same period.

    The federal government is already under pressure for extra funds from Germany’s 16 states to help them cope with the surge of asylum seekers on top of a promised 1 billion euros (0.72 billion pounds) for 2015 and 2016.

    The influx of refugees, many of whom are fleeing conflicts in Syria and Iraq, has led to tensions in some regions of Germany that have erupted into occasional violence against immigrants by suspected neo-Nazis.

    Earlier this year thousands of Germans took to the streets in marches organised by anti-Islam and anti-immigration group PEGIDA in the eastern city of Dresden but its support has since waned.

    Germany’s states, which are obliged to take in a certain percentage of refugees based on their population, had criticised the federal government’s earlier estimate for the number of asylum seekers as too low.

    Financial aid is one of the issues due to be discussed at a top-level crisis meeting on refugees at the chancellery in Berlin on Friday.

    http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/germany-expects-asylum-ap/1827718.html

    video – May 05 2015 –

  14. TIME – Pamela Geller: A Response to My Critics—This Is a War

    Some are saying I provoked this attack. But to kowtow to violent intimidation will only encourage more of it.

    Sunday in Garland, Texas, a police officer was wounded in a battle that is part of a longstanding war: the war against the freedom of speech. Some people are blaming me for the Garland shooting — so I want to address that here.[…]

    On this page :

    http://time.com/3847453/pamela-geller-a-response-to-my-critics-this-is-a-war/

  15. State Dept Official: Clinton’s Use of Personal Email Server ‘Not Acceptable’

  16. Report: Iranian Navy Chases After U.S. Warships

    An Iranian naval fleet chased a U.S. warship and military planes through the waters off the southern coast of Yemen late Monday in yet another provocative encounter between the two nations, according to Iranian state media reports.

    A U.S. warship and several planes reportedly “changed their direction” on Monday after encountering an Iranian naval fleet during a patrol in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen, Iranian state media revealed.

    The U.S. military assets fled “after they came close to an Iranian naval fleet and were warned to move away,” Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency reported. Iran also released video of the incident.

    The run-in between the United States and Iranian militaries is just the latest in several tense confrontations between the countries near Yemen, where Iran is believed to be smuggling weapons to opposition forces.

    The United States moved military assets in the region in a bid to stop Iran from moving weapons into Yemen. Iranian war fleets have been patrolling international waters around Yemen in recent weeks.

    Iranian media now claims that the Islamic Republic’s naval fleets chased after two U.S. reconnaissance planes and a Navy destroyer.

    Two “U.S. reconnaissance planes named P3C [Papa 3 Charlie] and U.S. Navy destroyer, DDG81, approached several Iranian warships in a provocative move, ignoring the internationally set five-mile standard distance from Iran’s 34th fleet of warships deployed in the Gulf of Aden,” Fars reported on Tuesday.

    “The U.S. Navy vessel and planes then received a warning from Iranian Destroyer ‘Alborz,’ and rapidly changed direction,” the report claimed.

    Iranian military officials on Tuesday said Iran is prepared to defend itself in the region.

    “Checking foreign warships in the international waters and surveilling potential threats to Iran’s national interests is our essential responsibility,” Commodore Mostafa Tajeddini, the commander of Iran’s 34th flotilla of warships, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

    Iran’s 34th fleet will reportedly stay in the Gulf of Aden for three months to conduct “anti-piracy patrols.” The fleet is comprised of an Iranian destroyer and helicopter-carrying warship, according to Fars.

    Iranian military leaders have claimed in recent days that reports of its retreat from the region are inaccurate.

    Tajeddini said that Iran has not heeded any warnings from the U.S. about its actions in the region.

    “The news report by the foreign media that we have changed our route after the US fleet’s arrival is only a media ballyhoo,” he was quoted as saying last week. “We have had communications with many naval units since we entered the Gulf of Aden, but no country has ever dared to warn the Iranian Navy.”

    The Iranian fleet arrived in the region in late April.

    The warships will reportedly “protect [Iran’s] cargo ships and oil tankers against pirates,” Fars reported at the time.

    “This presence [of Iranian warships] continues in the free waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to fight against piracy according to the plan which was drawn at the request of the International Maritime Organization and no one can warn the Iranian warships (to move away) and this has not happened yet,” Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari was quoted as saying to the Iranian press at the time.

    Tensions between the United States and Iran also spiked after the Islamic Republic seized a Marshall Island-flagged merchant ship in the Strait of Hormuz. A U.S. navy destroyer was sent to the area following the incident.

    A State Department official did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Monday’s reported encounter.

    Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said Iran has only been emboldened by ongoing nuclear negotiations with the United States.

    “Iran’s armed forces, especially the IRGC, have been the main beneficiary of the temporary nuclear agreement,” he said. “The Obama administration has given them billions of dollar and a green light to dominate the region. Iran is using the money it receives to expand its missile program, to build new nuclear infrastructures, and to fund the Quds Force’s operations.”

    “The truth is that in order to convince Iran to sign the nuclear agreement United States is literally bribing and strengthening the most radical and dangerous faction in Iran,” he said.

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/report-iranian-navy-chases-after-u-s-warships/

  17. Dutch lawmaker plans Mohammed expo after U.S. shootings

    Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders said on Wednesday he wanted to stage a parliamentary exhibition of the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that sparked a deadly shooting in Texas that left two dead.

    “I am going to request Parliament to exhibit the same cartoons as those that were displayed in Garland,” Wilders told AFP on Wednesday, referring to the Dallas suburb where the shooting took place on Sunday.

    Police said the two gunmen drove up to the conference centre in Garland, where the American Freedom Defense Initiative was organizing a controversial Mohammed cartoon contest, and opened fire with assault rifles, hitting a security guard in the ankle.

    A Garland police officer then shot and killed both gunmen with his service pistol.

    US investigators are probing the backgrounds of the two slain gunmen after the Islamic State group claimed it had ordered the shooting.

    Wilders, 51, had left the conference centre, where he made a speech criticising Islam, shortly before the incident.

    “I want to send a message that if you use violence to suppress free speech the only effect is that we’ll do it even more,” Wilders said, adding “we must show we’ll not be intimidated.”

    The platinum-haired Wilders, whose Freedom Party (PVV) gained popularity in the Netherlands on an anti-Islam ticket, denied that a cartoon exhibition would be provocative.

    “I don’t want to provoke, but at the same time we must show that we’re standing for freedom of speech,” Wilders said.

    Ever since forming his own party in 2006, b>the firebrand politician has been a divisive figure in the Netherlands, which prides itself on its long but fading tradition of multi-cultural tolerance.

    Wilders himself has no hesitation in branding the Koran as a “fascist” book and has before likened it to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”

    But the politician is facing prosecution in the Netherlands after a controversial statement last year during local government elections in which he vowed to ensure fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands.

    Public prosecutors received more than 6,000 complaints of discrimination after television footage in March last year showed Wilders asking party faithful in The Hague whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?”

    “Fewer, fewer!” the crowd shouted with a smiling Wilders saying: “We’re going to organise that.”

    The Islamic State claim marks the first time that the extremist group, which has captured swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq using brutal methods, is alleged to have carried out an attack in the United States.

    http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/dutch-lawmaker-plans-mohammed-expo-after-us-shootings/article/432641

    video – in Dutch

  18. Yemen conflict: Aden boat shelling kills dozens (BBC, May 6, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32605286

    “At least 32 people have been killed in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden while trying to flee heavy fighting in a boat, medics say.

    Witnesses told the Reuters news agency the boat was struck by shells fired by Houthi rebels as it left the al-Tawahi district for al-Buraiqa in the west.

    The Houthis have been battling southern militiamen for control of al-Tawahi.

    Earlier, rebel sources said at least 34 civilians were killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes in north Yemen.

    Warplanes reportedly targeted more than 30 locations in the provinces of Saada and Hajjah.

    The coalition had vowed to respond to a cross-border attack on the Saudi border town of Najran on Tuesday, which left three people dead.

    Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern about the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen, as 22 international aid agencies warned that fuel shortages might halt their work.

    In Aden, there was fierce fighting overnight between militiamen loyal to exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and Houthi fighters, backed by allied security personnel.

    Residents and militiamen told Reuters that at least 40 people were killed as a rebel offensive on al-Tawahi was repelled with the help of Saudi-led air strikes.

    Among the fatalities was Gen Ali Nasser Hadi, who was appointed in March by the president to lead loyalist forces in the southern provinces of Aden, Abyan and Lahj.

    It was later on Wednesday that a barge carrying people trying to flee the fighting in al-Tawahi was hit by shells as it left a small fishing harbour in the Gulf of Aden.

    Medics and witnesses said Houthis fired the shells, and the pro-Hadi Popular Resistance Committees accused the rebels of a “massacre”…..”

  19. Record number internally displaced by conflict – report (BBC, May 6, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-32608172

    “A record 38 million people remain displaced inside their own countries through conflict and violence, a new report says.

    The figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) were described as the worst in a generation.

    Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria had the most newly displaced people.

    Jan Egeland, the NRC’s secretary general, said the figures should act as a wake-up call to political leaders….”

  20. ‘Islamic State recruiters’ arrested in Bosnia (BBC, May 6, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32614061

    “Bosnian Serb police say they have detained several people suspected of trying to recruit for Islamic State.

    The police also confiscated weapons and propaganda materials during the raids.

    They come after a gunman shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) attacked a police station, killing an officer before being shot dead last week…”

  21. Pakistan school attack ‘leaves one dead’ (BBC, May 6, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32614057

    “One person has been killed and several others injured in an attack on a school in a tribal area in western Pakistan, local media reports say.

    Gunmen are said to have opened fire during a football match at the Alizai High School. Blasts were also heard.

    Security officials returned fire, and a gunman was reportedly killed.

    It was not immediately known who carried out the attack in Kurram Agency, near the border with Afghanistan.

    Security forces and police later sealed off the area.

    More than 100 people were at school premises during the attack, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

    Kurram is a tribal area with a history of sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

    Several Taliban-affiliated groups are known to be active in the region.”

  22. German arrests over ‘terror’ plot (BBC, May 6, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32604308

    “German police have arrested four people suspected of plotting to attack Muslims and asylum seekers.

    Prosecutors said that three men and one woman were accused of founding a far-right group and procuring explosives.

    They added that a previously unknown group, the “Old Schools Society”, had been planning to attack mosques and hostels for asylum seekers.

    The suspects were arrested in raids across five German states involving some 250 investigators.

    “In the search, pyrotechnics with large explosive power and further pieces of evidence were confiscated,” said the prosecutor’s office in a statement.

    The number of people seeking asylum in Germany has risen dramatically in the past year, with more than 200,000 applications in 2014 alone.

    On Tuesday, the government said it expected the number to climb as high as 400,000 this year.

    Searches were conducted in Bavaria, Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

    Prosecutors added that they were still trying to determine whether the group had concrete targets or dates for attacks….”

  23. Libyan soldiers being trained in the UK ‘behaved like hunting dogs to trap man and rape him after slipping out of their barracks and going into Cambridge city centre’ (dailymail, May 6, 2015)
    http://dailym.ai/1KMSPRM

    “Two Libyan soldiers who were training in Britain acted like ‘hunting dogs’ before taking it in turns to hold down and rape a man after leaving their barracks unsupervised, a court heard today.

    Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, left their base at Bassingbourn Barracks in Cambridgeshire to meet their alleged victim, who had left a wedding very drunk, it is claimed.

    The pair had been undergoing training in Britain as part of an agreement by the UK government to help war-torn Libya after the 2011 collapse of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

    Opening the case at Cambridge Crown Court today, prosecutor John Farmer said they met their alleged victim, a ‘complete stranger’ in his 20s, in the centre of the city at 3.26am on October 26….”

  24. Rebel Media – Pamela Geller talks to Ezra Levant about #GarlandShooting and more ( 12 min 07 )

  25. Danish Intelligence Chief Resigns Before Gun Attack Report (abcnews, May 6, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/danish-intelligence-chief-resigns-gun-attack-report-30842731

    “The head of Denmark’s intelligence agency announced his resignation on Wednesday, hours before a government report was released criticizing some parts of the police response to the two fatal shooting attacks in Copenhagen in February.

    Jens Madsen, who had been chief of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service since January 2014, said his tenure had been difficult. “It’s no secret that it is a very demanding position,” he said in a statement.

    Justice Minister Mette Frederiksen, who released the government report Wednesday, declined to comment on Madsen’s resignation and said she was generally pleased with the Danish police and the agency although there were some “criticisms in the report.”

    On Feb. 14, Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein gunned down a Danish film maker at a free speech event at a cultural center attended by Swedish artist Lars Vilks and several hours later fatally shot a Jewish guard outside Copenhagen’s main synagogue. Five officers were also wounded in the attacks….”

  26. VICE NEWS -Ahead of the UK general election on May 7, VICE News explores voter apathy within the British Muslim community and finds out if issues such as the country’s counterterrorism policy and Islamophobia are pushing young Muslims into disenfranchisement.

    In the 2010 general election, a lower percentage of British Muslims voted than any other religious group. Despite being the fastest growing religion in the UK and boasting more young adherents than any other religion, it appears young Muslims are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the government.

    VICE News speaks with Islamists who are rejecting voting and British society, those trying to get Muslims to vote, and those trying to win those votes. We meet with young Muslims to hear their opinions on the election and explore what influences them at a time when they are facing numerous challenges.

  27. Clearly things are getting worse even among Mahoundians themselves… (Interestingly enough, we dont see Sudan on that list. Only South Sudan.)

    Indonesia maid ban won’t work in Mideast, migrant groups say (CNN, May 6, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/06/asia/indonesia-migrant-worker-ban/index.html

    “Migrant worker groups have reacted angrily to Indonesia’s move to ban its citizens from working as domestic helpers in 21 countries, mainly in the Middle East.

    They say it’ll do nothing to stop the abuse of Indonesian domestic workers, and will only drive the trade underground, exposing them to even greater risks.

    “(It’s) a very desperate move after the government refused to provide genuine and necessary protection for their overseas domestic workers,” said Eni Lestari, chairwoman of the International Migrants Alliance (IMA), which has more than 150 member organizations in 35 countries.

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo foreshadowed the move in February by announcing that he wanted to put an end to the export of the country’s female workers.

    “The practice of Indonesian women going overseas to work as housemaids must stop immediately. We should have pride and dignity,” he was quoted as saying.

    The government is wary of the safety of its citizens working abroad, particularly in countries in the Middle East, which has a poor record when it comes to the rights and treatment of foreign workers.

    Since Widodo’s remarks, Saudi Arabia, one of the largest destination countries for Indonesia domestic workers, has executed two maids who were on death row for murder.

    Indonesia expressed its anger over the beheadings, and summoned the Saudi ambassador for talks, with the main complaint being that Indonesian officials hadn’t been notified of the timing of the executions.

    The two women — Karni Bt. Medi Tarsim, 37 and Siti Zaenab Bt. Duhri Rupa, 47 — were both convicted of murder in two separate cases but rights groups cast doubt on their convictions and had appealed for them to be spared.

    On Monday, Indonesia’s Minister of Manpower Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri said the country was trying to protect its workers from countries with inadequate labor laws.

    “The most important reason is there are no standardized labor regulations that bind the said countries, to the detriment of migrant workers,” he said.

    THE BANNED COUNTRIES ARE: ALGERIA, SAUDI ARABIA, BAHRAIN, IRAQ, IRAN, KUWAIT, LEBANON, LIBYA, MOROCCO, MAURITANIA, EGYPT, OMAN, PAKISTAN, THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES, QATAR, SOUTH SUDAN, SYRIA, TUNISIA, THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, YEMEN and JORDAN.

    According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 630,000 Indonesians work in the Middle East. However, the government says that could be as high as 1.8 million when illegal workers are taken into account.

    The Indonesian government has laid some of the blame on the situation on the “kafalah” system in some Middle Eastern countries, which ties workers’ visas to sponsorship from their employers.

    “This culture often leads to migrant workers becoming highly dependent on their employers. It also weakens their position, their working condition and lives,” Dhakiri said.

    The ban will be brought in over a transition period of three months. Around 4,700 domestic workers in the process of being employed in the Middle East will still be allowed to travel, Dhakiri said. But he added that they’ll be the last. Maids who are already there will be allowed to finish their contracts.

    Lestari, from the International Migrants Alliance, said the official ban wouldn’t stop domestic workers who are determined to work abroad from entering banned countries.

    “It doesn’t minimize (the problem). If fact, it puts all people in a very dangerous situation,” she said, predicting that workers currently in those countries would overstay their visas in order to remain employed.

    She blamed the current situation on the Indonesian government, which she said had failed to offer adequate protection and advice to workers in foreign countries.

    “We believe that the reason why the government has committed to stopping the deployment is simply because there are too many cases that haven’t been properly responded to by the government.”

    Lestari said not enough was going down to punish unscrupulous recruiters, who she said were likely to keep sending workers to the Middle East despite the ban.

    Millions of Indonesian migrant workers are employed by foreign countries, and in 2013 they sent home remittances worth more than $7.3 billion.

    They choose to work away from their families because there are fewer job prospects at home.

    The Indonesian government said it would endeavor to create more opportunities for workers to stay in Indonesia, by providing entrepreneurial training.

    “The government also will shift these would be migrants to be legally employed in the formal sector, based on their capabilities and competencies,” Manpower Minister Dhakiri said.”

  28. U.S. training of Syrian rebels set to begin (CNN, May 7, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/06/politics/khaled-khoja-free-syrian-army-u-s-support/index.html

    “The Pentagon is poised to begin, as soon as this week, a controversial program to train moderate Syrian rebels at locations in Turkey and Jordan to fight ISIS, according to several U.S. defense officials.

    The first of 400 U.S. military trainers have now arrived in both countries. Out of a list of 3,000 rebels who have expressed interest in joining the program, some 400 have passed the initial security screening. Once final approval is given, they will be training on small arms, radios, medical gear and battlefield tactics.

    The plan is for them to return to their towns and villages and be able to specifically defend them against ISIS. However, U.S. officials are aware, they say, of the risk that some of the trained fighters could decide to take their weapons and fight the Assad regime which is not the goal of the training….”