Reader’s links for June 11 – 2015

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

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

62 Replies to “Reader’s links for June 11 – 2015”

  1. Australian PM: ISIS is ‘terrorism with global ambitions’ (CNN, June 11, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/11/asia/australia-extremism-meeting/index.html

    “Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described ISIS as a “death cult” that is targeting individuals and governments globally with a message to “submit or die” in a speech at the start of a regional counter extremism summit in Sydney today.

    “This is not terrorism for a local grievance; this is terrorism with global ambitions,” Abbott said. “You can’t negotiate with an entity like this; you can only fight it.”

    The two-day summit has brought together ministers, senior officials and observers from 27 countries, along with executives from social media groups including Google, Facebook and Twitter, and will examine ways countries can work regionally to combat extremist terrorism….”

  2. Wonder what could go wrong…

    Qatar expands sporting influence with multimillion-dollar horse racing deal (CNN, June 10, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/10/sport/qatar-horse-racing-sponsorship/index.html

    “Qatar, a small nation with big oil revenues and even bigger ambition, continues to pour cash into the sporting world.

    Already a key backer of British horse racing’s most prestigious events, it has extended this investment with a new multimillion-dollar, nine-year deal.

    QIPCO, a private investment company in Qatar, became the official sponsor of the British Champions Series in 2011, the climax of which is the British Champions Day at Ascot, the richest day’s horse racing in the UK worth £4 million ($6.2 million).

    With Qatari backing, prize money in the 35-race series has raised by 50% to £17.4 million ($27 million) this season.

    Under the new extended deal, the plan is to turn the prize pot for British Champions Day to £5 million ($7.7 million) by 2024, while prize money for the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas will rise to £500,000 each, while QIPCO will also continue its sponsorship of Ascot Racecourse until 2024.

    “As a private, family-run investment company, we are privileged to have built an association with world-renowned events such as Royal Ascot and British Champions Series, the very best of British racing,” QIPCO chief executive Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Thani said in a statement Wednesday.

    “Our sponsorship of the sport has benefited our bloodstock operation and increased the country’s international profile. We are proud to support British racing and its wonderful heritage.”….”

  3. ‘Bone-tired’ UK volunteers home after fighting IS (BBC, video, June 10, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33083256

    “Dozens of foreigners have been fighting alongside Kurdish forces battling the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in northern Syria. Some are now returning home despite the risk of being prosecuted, including two Britons who spoke to the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville.

    It was how he ate his boiled egg that gave away the fact that Harry had been gone for a while.

    He picked it up out of the egg cup, and was about to tap it on the table, to break the shell and peel it with his hands.

    He stopped. “I’m eating my egg like a Kurd,” he said.

    Then he put it back in the cup, lopped off the top, and set about the runny insides with a teaspoon. Just like a good Englishman.

    Harry is from Cambridge, but had been, for the last five months, fighting the Islamic State in Syria.

    I’d first met him there, alongside the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia fighters, right on the front lines….”

  4. He says something like that people would keep coming, so we should get used to it.

    German churches sheltering refugees (BBC, video, June 9, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33069925

    “As parts of the world wrestle with the migration crisis it has emerged that churches in Germany have been using an historic tradition to shelter hundreds of migrants.

    The practice is controversial but allows those who have lived on church land for six months or more to legitimately apply for asylum.

    Jenny Hill reports from Bavaria.”

    • Maybe they’ll mutter a quick prayer for the souls of murdered Christian Arabs. They hasten to pour love over their enemies.

  5. Locals get treated for anxiety…

    Migrant crisis as refugee camps in Calais grow (BBC, video, June 10, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33074316

    “The United Nations has issued a new warning of a “dramatic increase” in the numbers of migrants arriving in southern Europe placing a “huge strain” on communities there.

    The UN’s latest estimate is that more than 100,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean from north Africa this year.

    Many migrants have been heading north from camps in Italy and Greece. Those searching for work in the UK have been reaching the French port of Calais where the pressure is growing by the day.

    Fergal Keane reports from Calais.”

    • China wants the world to be worried about North Korea and ignore what it is doing to take control of the South China Sea and the nations bordering the sea.

  6. Dutch embassies ‘prepared’ for Wilders’ Mohammed cartoon broadcasts

    Senior foreign ministry officials have briefed Dutch embassies around the world to cope with any fall-out from Geert Wilders’ planned broadcast of anti-Mohammed cartoons.

    The aim is to prevent ‘violent protests in Islamic countries which could put Dutch lives at risk or damage Dutch business interests’, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

    A ‘cable’ with instructions was sent to 140 diplomatic missions earlier this month, sources told the paper.

    Ambassadors have been asked to emphasis that the decision to show the cartoons on television is not that of the government, but of an MP making use of his right to freedom of expression. Such a briefing is standard procedure, the paper says.

    ‘There is absolutely no panic or feeling of crisis about Wilders and his cartoons,’ one source told the paper.

    The PVV party leader plans to show the cartoons – entries in an American contest – during party political broadcasts on June 20, 24 and July 3.

    He had earlier asked to exhibit them in the Dutch parliament but this was rejected because the exhibition would not meet parliamentary rules on neutrality.

    http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2015/06/dutch-embassies-prepared-for-wilders-mohammed-cartoon-broadcasts/

    • “He had earlier asked to exhibit them in the Dutch parliament but this was rejected because the exhibition would not meet parliamentary rules on neutrality.”

      This sounds all very reasonable… except… (careful, moving away from cultural Marxist Relativism now)… when your Dutch politician is under armed guard 24hrs from Muslims. The parliament should abandon its embassies in all Islamicised countries unless those Muslim governments issue a fatwa declaring that a in free county, you can say whatever you like, and that killing Geert is haram where your balls go to Hell to be feasted upon by 72 virgins.

      Otherwise… Geert Wilders gets a free pass to say absolutely anything about Mohammad and the caliphate of Mohammadism he wants.

  7. Montreal, Quebec launch anti-radicalization centre to combat extremism

    Montreal and the province of Quebec have outlined more details about a $2 million centre to stop the radicalization of Canadian citizens who are tempted to join jihadist groups.

    In March Mayor Denis Coderre said the centre would support the parents of youths who sympathized with Islamist and terrorist groups.

    At the time it included a phone number to a police department for those seeking help, but not much more.

    Now the centre has a specific director who will fight jihadist ideology: Herman Okomba-Deparice.

    He has spent the past decade working in the Montreal police department as a specialist in cultural relations, and most recently in dealing with radicalized groups.

    The centre is meant to prevent and detect violence and to help the radicalized person reintegrate into society. The situations reported would not necessarily become criminal matters.

    “It’s really to support those who are worried, parents, family members friends,” said Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion Minister Kathleen Weil.

    Coderre said the plan doesn’t just target Muslim extremists.

    “We need to fight islamophobia, we need to fight anti-Semitism; we need to fight any kind of intolerance and racism,” he said.

    Much of the groundwork did, however, involve the Muslim community, said Weil.

    “The consultations that we held, it was really was with the Muslim communities,” she said.

    The plan must have targets, said Montreal Imam Omar Kone of the Soufi Naqshbandi Centre.

    He said the Muslim community must be more involved in stopping radicalization among its youth.

    “The community should obviously be involved in addressing this issue because they are obviously the main source for it and part of the answer is within the community itself,” said Kone.

    Freedom of expression must be protected, said constitutional lawyer Julius Grey.

    “People should be allowed to say things that are abhorrent to most of us,” said Grey, but adds there is must be a limit if one calls for violence.

    “Every state, every society may have its own forms, so we have to understand what’s happening in Quebec,” said Grey.

    Coderre and Public Security Minister Lise Theriault said the need for an agency to work against radical Islam became apparent with several incidents in the past year.

    In January four men and two women from Laval and Montreal left Canada and are believed to have joined Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

    Ten teenagers had their passports confiscated in May for attempting to leave the country, allegedly to join the same religious war.

    In April two teenagers were arrested and are facing charges for aiding a terrorist group and possessing explosive materials.

    Last October Martin Couture-Rouleau ran down and killed an off-duty soldier in St. Jean sur Richelieu.

    In the months before the attack Couture-Rouleau’s family had contacted police to say the man was becoming radicalized, and authorities confiscated his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.

    The telephone number to reach the centre is 514-687-7141 or 1-877-687-7141.

    http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-quebec-launch-anti-radicalization-centre-to-combat-extremism-1.2415885

  8. SYRIA – Dramatic footage shows Syrian jet shot out of sky and downed in flames

    The aircraft belonging to Syrian regime forces burst into flames after it was hit by opposition forces

    This astonishing footage shows the moment an under-fire Syrian jet burst into flames and fell to the ground.

    The MiG jet serving Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is seen tumbling out of the sky.

    It is sent plummeting at a rapid rate after it was hit by Syrian opposition forces linked to Southern Front, a rebel group linked to the Syrian Free Army (SFA).

    The footage, filmed in Daraa, near the border with Jordan, shows a regime jet being brought down by insurgents, reported to be the SFA.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/dramatic-footage-shows-syrian-jet-5864986

    • SITE – The Ninawa division of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq released a documentary-style video commemorating one year since its conquest of the city of Mosul, featuring scenes of attacks, the destruction of churches and “manifestations of polytheism,” and the implementation of “punishment” on adulterers, homosexuals, and thieves

      • Islamic State Marks One-Year Anniversary of Mosul’s Fall With Grisly, Bureaucratic Video

        Bombings, assassinations, drive-by shootings, gunfights, executions, and a prison break: These are but some of the scenes that feature in a video released Thursday by the Islamic State to mark the one-year anniversary of its conquest of the Iraqi city of Mosul. It’s the visual language and political symbolism the world has come to expect from the group, but the video also features a less frequently emphasized aspect of the militant group’s rise to power in Syria and Iraq: functioning courts, banks, and other trappings of government.

        After presenting the viewer with a brutal 25-minute chronicle of the Islamic State’s conquering of Mosul, the video shifts in focus to the group’s attempts at civil administration. We see an Islamic State functionary stuffing money into envelopes bearing the group’s logo. Another functionary stamps documents and fills out what looks to be entries in a checkbook.

        “The Islamic State fulfilled its sharia duty by collecting money from rich Muslims and giving it to the poor, and it established offices for that purpose,” a narrator says, according to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online jihadi activity. “The Islamic Court was opened and stabilized security among the people and applied prescribed punishment. It cut off the hands of thieves, stoned to death the adulterers, whipped the drinker of alcohol, and struck with the sword the heads of sorcerers.”

        And with that, the viewer returns to the charnel house from the government office. The video marking the Islamic State’s greatest victory to date is clearly a piece of propaganda, albeit one cut as a kind of documentary aimed at the would-be jihadi fanboys of the world. The message is simple: Look here kids, and see the kind of adventure and glory you can find by fighting with us in battle. Islamic State videos have a striking aesthetic resemblance to first-person shooter video games. The cameramen frequently try to maneuver behind a fighter wielding an automatic weapon, sometimes giving the viewer a sense of participation, even control, in the violence being perpetrated.

        Images of such violence are also a military tool, possibly instilling fear in their enemies and lessening their will to fight. With that in mind, it should be emphasized that the video provides documentary evidence of the group committing war crimes, including video of the summary executions of Iraqi army soldiers and officers.

        On the other hand, the video is also an attempt by the Islamic State to legitimize itself as a real, functioning state. “The Islamic State took care of the sharia interests and the security of the people, and it also took care of their worldly interests and the necessary services,” the narrator says. “Through that, it established the Office of Health and Education, and also the Office of Agriculture, and the Office of Natural Resources.”

        Recent media reports have indicated that the Islamic State isn’t particularly skilled at running such state services, but following the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, the group may have some time to hone their bureaucratic skills in Mosul and other cities under its control. Iraqi and U.S. officials had said they would launch an offensive during the spring of 2015 to reclaim Mosul, but the focus of the anti-Islamic State military campaign now appears to be shifting toward first retaking Ramadi and then focusing on Mosul in the north.

        That means those bureaucrats in Mosul should probably have some more Islamic State stationery drawn up. They’ve got a lot more checks to cut.

        http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/11/islamic-state-marks-one-year-anniversary-of-mosuls-fall-with-grisly-bureaucratic-video/

        =============================================

        IS releases ‘anniversary documentary’ on Mosul capture

        The Islamic State group Thursday released a propaganda documentary marking a year since it captured Mosul and recounting its surprise at how easily it took over Iraq’s second city.

        The film glamorises the founding moment of the “caliphate” IS proclaimed less than three weeks later as an epic conquest but it also further documents the collapse of Iraq’s security forces.

        The 29 minutes of often previously unreleased footage shows the jihadists being welcomed by Mosul residents, prisoners being freed and soldiers desperately attempting to flee in vehicles.

        “It was unthinkable that the advance would be so much greater than was planned,” said the narrator of the video, which was published on social media on Thursday.

        “The operation began with cutting the supply lines of the members of the Safavid army,” after which the attack was announced, the narrator says, using a term meaning that Iraqi soldiers are beholden to Iran.

        “Three convoys of military vehicles entered the outskirts of the city coming from the Jazeera area,” the narrator says, noting that IS forces were heavily outnumbered.

        The plan was to “control neighbourhoods on the right side of Mosul to be a starting point for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) to conquer the remainder of the city.”

        But “the right side of the city of Mosul was conquered and the left side was empty of Safavid soldiers before the men of the Islamic State arrived.”

        The jihadist group’s offensive in Iraq began on June 9. By the following day, IS-led forces had overrun Mosul — a city of two million — under their control.

        The lightning advance led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, many of whom fled to the neighbouring autonomous region of Kurdistan.

        It also saw a complete collapse of multiple divisions of Iraqi security forces, a dismal performance by an army the United States had spent years and billion of dollars training and equipping.

        The IS-led offensive saw the government lose nearly a third of the country, sparking fears the jihadists could even raise their black flag in the capital Baghdad.

        Mass mobilisation by mostly Shiite militias and volunteers helped stop the jihadist drive.

        The United States and Iran have, separately, led efforts to roll back territorial losses but, one year on, Baghdad is still struggling with a weak army.

        IS for its part has survived close to 4,500 air strikes by the US-led coalition and remains a formidable fighting force, thanks in part to the huge arsenal it looted from abandoned government positions in Mosul and elsewhere.

        http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/132577/World/Region/IS-releases-anniversary-documentary-on-Mosul-captu.aspx

  9. USA – House kills vote to force debate on authorizing troops against ISIS

    The House defeated an amendment to the annual defense spending bill on Thursday that would force Congress to vote on authorizing military force against the Islamic State.

    Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that Congress has a responsibility to debate sending troops into the Middle East to fight Islamic State militants.

    “It’s worth having Congress do its job,” Schiff said. “If we’re going to ask our service members to risk their lives, we ought to have the courage ourselves to make a vote on this war.”

    His amendment, rejected 196-231, would prohibit the use of funds for the Pentagon military campaign to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State, also known as Operation Inherent Resolve, after March 31, 2016 unless Congress passes an AUMF that specifically authorizes it.

    Congress first authorized $500 million last September for training and arming vetted Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State. At the time, lawmakers predicted a formal debate on authorizing military force against ISIS after they returned from campaigning from the 2014 midterm elections.

    But that never happened. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) later said that the White House should submit an AUMF to Congress for review.

    President Obama sent Congress a draft AUMF in February, but it has since stalled due to opposition from Democrats who fear the request is too-open ended along with Republicans concerned that it restrains the military campaign.

    Boehner said last month that Obama should withdraw the AUMF and “start over.”

    The White House has dismissed Boehner’s suggestion of going back to the drawing board on a new AUMF to send to Congress.

    “At some point, the Speaker of the House needs to take responsibility for fulfilling the basic duty of the United States Congress, and that is when it comes to these kinds of matters, Congress should have a voice. And Congress, frankly, shouldn’t be ducking the debate,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday.

    The Obama administration has been using the authority from the 2001 and 2002 authorizations of military force for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to justify the military campaign against the Islamic State, which did not exist at the start of those conflicts.

    Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that produced the defense bill, warned that Schiff’s amendment would eliminate the existing authorities the administration is relying on to combat ISIS.

    “This amendment is not about substance, it’s about symbolism. Unfortunately, its effect would be much more than symbolism. Acceptance of this amendment would rob our nation of one of the key authorities our commander in chief relies on to keep us safe,” Frelinghuysen said.

    The House rebuffed two amendments late Wednesday night to eliminate funding allocated toward training and arming vetted Syrian rebels and Iraqi forces to combat ISIS.

    Rep. Curt Clawson’s (R-Fla.) amendment to strip out the $600 million allocated to assist vetted Syrian opposition groups and use the money instead to reduce the deficit failed on a vote of 107-323. Another amendment from Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.) to do away with the $715 million for equipping Iraqi forces to fight ISIS similarly lost in a 56-375.

    As with other individual appropriations bills, the defense measure was considered under a freewheeling process that allows members to offer an unlimited number of amendments. But each amendment was limited to just ten minutes of debate.

    The open process ultimately worked in Schiff’s favor, as an amendment with such weighty political consequences would likely otherwise never get debate time on the House floor – even if it was for only ten minutes around 11 p.m. Wednesday night.

    Two amendments offered by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to sunset the 2001 and 2002 authorizations of military force for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan failed to pass, as they have in recent years.

    However, Lee did secure a provision in the bill that establishes a non-binding statement that Congress has a “constitutional duty” to debate whether or not to authorize the use of military force against ISIS.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/244704-house-kills-vote-to-force-debate-on-authorizing-troops-against-isis

  10. Rebel Media – Niqab Ban: Which side is supporting Canadian values?

    Brian Lilley of TheRebel.media reports that the Harper government says it will introduce legislation soon to ban niqabs and face coverings at citizenship ceremonies and may go further.

    NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau say they will stand up for the Charter and oppose requiring people to show their faces.

    Which side is supporting Canadian values? Brian Lilley gives you his take.

  11. Ted Cruz’s pick for Tennessee chairman draws fire from Islamic activists

    Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has named former Williamson County GOP chairman Kevin Kookogey, a critic of Sharia law, as his Tennessee chairman.

    Now, the U.S. senator is drawing fire from the Council on American-Islamic Relations which on Tuesday urged Cruz to drop Kookogey because of what the group called “his longstanding support for anti-Muslim and Islamophobic causes.”

    In announcing Kookogey’s appointment, Cruz on Monday called him “a consistently strong voice for conservative principles and an active member of our party for a number of years.

    “His experience and knowledge of both the landscape in Tennessee and the issues that matter to Tennesseans will be critical components to our success in the Volunteer State,” Cruz said in his announcement release.

    Koogey served as the Williamson County GOP chairman from 2011 to 2013. He was among heads of various conservative groups across the country who charged in 2013 that the Internal Revenue Service slow walked their requests for nonprofit status to organizations they’d formed.

    Back in 2012, then-Chairman Kookogey and fellow Williamson County Republican officials approved a resolution criticizing Republican Gov. Bill Haslam for his administration’s hiring of a Samar Ali, a Muslim-American attorney and native of Waverly, Tenn., as international director at the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

    The resolution, which charged Ali was hired as a “Sharia compliant finance expert,” also criticized the state’s working with the American Muslim Advisory Council. […]

    http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/politics/state/story/2015/jun/09/kevin-kookogey-named-ted-cruzs-tennessee-chairman/308746/

    ————————————————————————————-

    CAIR urges Cruz to drop Kookogey as TN chairman

    The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today urged Republican presidential candidate and Texas Senator Ted Cruz to remove Kevin Kookogey as his state chairman for Tennessee because of his longstanding support for anti-Muslim and Islamophobic causes.

    “If Senator Cruz chooses to keep Mr. Kookogey on his campaign staff, it would serve as an endorsement of anti-Muslim hate,” said CAIR Government Affairs Manager Robert McCaw. “In the past few months, Senator Cruz has attended several conferences featuring notorious Islamophobes like Robert Spencer and Frank Gaffney. Despite calls to distance himself from such anti-Muslim bigots, it seems that Senator Cruz is only drawing closer to hate-mongers.”[…]

    http://knoxblogs.com/humphreyhill/2015/06/10/cair-urges-cruz-to-drop-kookogey-as-tn-chairman/

  12. American Killed Battling ISIS: Father Says He Felt ‘Led by the Lord’ (abcnews, June 11, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/american-killed-battling-isis-father-felt-led-lord/story?id=31695849

    “The father of Keith Broomfield, the American killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria, has said his son felt “led by the Lord” to go to the region.

    Speaking at a news conference outside the family home in Westminster, Massachusetts, Tom Broomfield said when his son went to battle the ISIS militant group he “knew the risk, but believed in opposing evil.”

    Earlier today, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, released a compilation of video clips purporting to show Broomfield, 36, whose death inside Syria was confirmed by the U.S. State Department Wednesday.

    The man seen in the YPG videos identifies himself as Keith Broomfield in one clip, and in another clip says, “I’m here to be a part of the movement, do whatever I can to assist that.”

    Broomfield died on the battlefield “during an operation in Qentere village,” according to the YPG’s media center, making him the first known U.S. casualty among dozens of Americans who are believed to have joined Kurdish forces in their fight against ISIS militants. State Department officials confirmed he was killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces….”

  13. Mexico’s Deportations of Central Americans Rise Sharply (abcnews, June 11, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexicos-deportations-central-americans-rise-sharply-31703365

    “Mexico deported 79 percent more people from Central America’s northern triangle in the first four months of 2015 than it did during the same period a year earlier, according to government statistics.

    Data from Mexico’s National Immigration Institute say that 51,565 immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were deported between January and April, up from 28,736, during that period in 2014.

    Deportation of Guatemalans rose 124 percent, followed by Salvadorans at 79 percent and Hondurans at 40 percent.

    The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday expressed its “concern over stepped-up actions reportedly being taken against migrant persons” that were put in place after Mexico initiated its Southern Border Plan last year under pressure from the United States….”

  14. Interesting…. How about investigating the immigrant crimes?

    Morocco Expels Amnesty Team Researching Immigration Issues (abcnews, June 11, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/morocco-expels-amnesty-team-researching-immigration-issues-31701048

    “Moroccan security officials detained and expelled two members of the London-based Amnesty International human rights group researching immigration issues in the North African kingdom on Thursday.

    The statement from the Interior Ministry said the two foreigners on the team didn’t have the requisite permission to carry out their research, adding that the government had asked Amnesty to delay the mission until they had obtained the necessary approval.

    In a statement of its own, Amnesty identified the two as John Dalhuisen, its director of Europe and Central Asia and Irem Arf, a researcher in migration issues and said they had been received written and verbal assurances they could carry out their work.

    “The decision to expel our staff from Morocco as they began their investigations into the human rights situation of migrants and refugees raises serious suspicions that the authorities have something to hide,” said Amnesty research director Anna Neistat.

    Dalhuisen was taken from his hotel in the capital Rabat and Arf was stopped in the far eastern city of Oujda by police. Both were questioned for several hours, particularly about who they planned to meet, before being expelled.

    An Amnesty delegation was most recently in Morocco in May when they delivered a scathing report about the use of torture in the country. The government condemned the report as biased.

    Amnesty said relations with the government “deteriorated markedly” once it started investigating torture in Morocco.

    Morocco has Africa’s only land border with Europe in the form of two Spanish enclaves perched on the coast and many African migrants try to force their way in. There are tens of thousands of sub-Saharan migrants living in Morocco seeking entrance into Europe.

    Amnesty said the team was investigating the conditions of the migrants. There have been allegations of mistreatment at the hands of Moroccan and Spanish border guards.”

  15. Syria conflict: Al-Nusra fighters kill Druze villagers (BBC, June 11, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33092902

    “At least 20 Druze villagers have been shot dead by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front in north-western Syria, activist and opposition groups say.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said elderly people and a child were among those killed in Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province on Wednesday afternoon.

    The Druze faith is an offshoot of Islam considered heretical by jihadists….”

  16. DAiLY MAiL – Muslims in the Arctic Circle urgently coming up with new rules for forthcoming Ramadan when they are banned from eating during the day… as the region will have 24-hour sunshine

    Ramadan, when Muslims fast until sunset, begins on June 18 this year
    But three days later is summer solstice, with 24 hours sunshine in Arctic
    Swedish Muslim associations are rewriting rules to accommodate the light

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120466/Muslims-Arctic-Circle-urgently-coming-new-rules-forthcoming-Ramadan-banned-eating-day-region-24-hour-sunshine.html

  17. We’ll tell suspects they’re on spy radar, says Twitter: Arrogance of social media bosses who vow to sabotage fight against terrorism (dailymail, June 11, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120571/Twitter-tip-criminals-Edward-Snowden-leaks-scandal.html

    “Twitter will ‘tip off’ terror suspects and criminals if the security services ask for information about them, a bombshell report reveals. The social media giant will keep an investigation secret only if compelled to do so by a court, Britain’s terror watchdog found. It is one of a string of US tech companies which have decided that – in the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks – customer ‘privacy’ and protecting their ‘brand’ takes priority.

    Twitter said its policy was to ‘notify users of requests for their account information, which includes a copy of the request, prior to disclosure unless we are prohibited from doing so’.
    The astonishing revelations come in a report by David Anderson QC, warning that MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the police are losing their ability to electronically track terrorists and criminals….”

  18. The jihadis on our streets: A record number of highly trained extremists plotting attacks, MI5 warns (dailymail, June 11, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120751/MI5-warns-record-number-jihadis-plotting-terror-attacks-Britain.html

    “Britain is facing an ‘unprecedented’ threat from Islamists trained in terrorism overseas, MI5 has warned.
    In evidence submitted to the inquiry by David Anderson QC, it said the number of extremists who had visited a training camp or fought alongside jihadis was higher than at any point before or after 9/11.
    They include 700 Britons who have travelled to Iraq and Syria, half of whom are now back in the UK and could be plotting attacks.

    There are also a ‘significant number’ of fanatics in the UK who were trained in Afghanistan, Pakistan, East Africa and Yemen, Whitehall officials say. This is a major factor behind the current threat level standing at severe – meaning an attack is highly likely, according to sources. Some of the travellers were unknown to MI5 before they went.

    The Anderson report warns: ‘The threat posed on their return comprises not just attack planning but radicalisation of associates, facilitation and fundraising, all of which further exacerbate the threat.’
    It continues: ‘The volume and accessibility of extremist propaganda has increased. UK-based extremists are able to talk directly to Isil (Islamic State) fighters and their wives in web forums and on social media. The key risk is this propaganda is able to inspire individuals to undertake attacks without ever travelling to Syria or Iraq.’
    The report reveals that, in the past nine months, MI5 has disrupted two attack plots by so-called lone wolves, ‘both in the late stages of preparation.’

    But it cautions: ‘MI5 have explained that identifying such individuals is increasingly challenging, exacerbated by the current limitations in their technical capabilities.’ Since the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby, 25, in south-east London, two years ago, police have foiled a number of serious terror plots…..”

  19. DAILY MAIL- UK – The jihadis on our streets: A record number of highly trained extremists plotting attacks, MI5 warns

    Britain facing ‘unprecedented’ threats from Islamists trained overseas
    Includes Brits who travelled to Iraq and Syria, half of whom are back in UK
    Also ‘significant number’ of fanatics in UK who trained in Pakistan, East Africa, Yemen and Afghanistan, Whitehall officials say
    This is a major factor behind the current threat level standing at severe

    on this page :

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120751/MI5-warns-record-number-jihadis-plotting-terror-attacks-Britain.html

  20. The Right Scoop : SHADY Nigerian official gave MILLIONS to Clinton Foundation while Hillary COVERED for BOKO HARAM

    The Hillary scandals are getting so bad that it really does seem like we’re making them up, but we’re not. The latest is an attempt to solve the mystery behind why the government was so late to designating Boko Haram a “terrorist organization.” Unbelievably, it might have to do with a million dollar donor to the Clinton Foundation and his possible terrorist ties:

    A conservative group is suing the State Department in an effort to find out whether the agency’s refusal to place Boko Haram on the terrorist watch list while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state had anything to do with the fact that a high-level Nigerian official was a major Clinton Foundation donor and close friend of the former president.

    Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit, brought the case to court after the State Department ignored its request for records about the Chagoury Group, a sprawling Nigerian company headed by a Clinton friend and financial supporter of Clinton causes, Gilbert Chagoury.

    Chagoury donated between $1 million and 5 million to the Clinton Foundation, donor records show.

    More than 30 days have passed since Citizens United first filed the lawsuit without a response of any kind from the State Department.

    It gets worse:

    In January 2010, Chagoury was removed from a private jet and questioned by federal agents for hours because his name had been added to the no-fly list, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

    Although he was removed from the list before the U.S. government issued a formal, written apology, it is still unclear why he received that designation in the first place and how he was able to get his name off the no-fly list.

    Sen. David Vitter, R-La., wrote a letter to Kerry in March raising concerns that Chagoury may have attempted to influence Clinton’s decision about whether to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist group.

    Vitter demanded the same set of documents Citizens United now seeks.

    Secretary of State John Kerry placed Boko Haram on the terrorist watch list in November 2013, shortly after coming into office.

    “[G]iven the drastic foothold Boko Haram was allowed to gain prior to being designated an FTO, the nexus between the Department’s decision against designating Boko Haram as an FTO and connections to outside groups should be brought forward,” Vitter wrote.

    Vitter said he had obtained evidence demonstrating “that multiple Department employees who were directly involved in the decision against designating Boko Haram as an FTO, including the Office Coordinator for Counterterrorism, have been Clinton Foundation employees.”

    http://therightscoop.com/unbelievable-shady-nigerian-official-gave-millions-to-clinton-foundation-while-hillary-covered-for-boko-haram/

  21. UK East London – Muslim students threaten to sue college after being suspended for complaining of Islamophobia

    on this page :

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/muslim-students-threaten-to-sue-college-after-being-suspended-for-complaining-of-islamophobia-10313977.html

    ——————————————————————————-

    DAILY MAIL – UK East-London – Primary schools ban Muslim pupils from fasting during Ramadan with one saying it is a health risk for young children

    Barclay Primary School in Leyton, east London, issued the letter yesterday
    It said it would not allow pupils fasting to attend school during Ramadan
    Claimed children observing the tradition could go for 18 hours without food
    Muslim Association of Britain slammed ‘blanket enforcement’ of rule

    A primary school trust has banned Muslim pupils from fasting during Ramadan, claiming the tradition can be harmful to the health of young children.

    Barclay Primary School in Leyton, east London, issued a letter to parents informing them that it would not allow children attending school to fast in order to ‘safeguard the health and education of the child’.

    The move has been slammed by members of the Muslim community who said schools should seek to support parents instead of ‘blanket enforce’ their own rules when it comes to religion. […]

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120407/Primary-schools-ban-Muslim-pupils-fasting-Ramadan-one-saying-health-risk-young-children.html

  22. UK -Solihull: Man charged over 4 pigs heads dumped outside ‘mosque posing as community centre’

    Four pigs heads were dumped outside a Solihull community centre that has allegedly been used as a mosque.

    West Midlands Police charged 34-year-old Carl Stephens, of The Radleys, Marston Green, in Birmingham, with causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm and distress.

    He will appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court after police arrested him in the early hours of Wednesday (10 June).

    The animals’ remains were found on the grounds of the Hermitage Road premises on 12 April.

    An investigation was launched by Solihull Council after claims the facility was being used as a mosque and was in breach of planning consent.

    More than 3,000 people signed an online petition against its use for worship.

    Chief superintendent Alex Murray said: “Solihull has a hard-earned reputation as a place where people from different backgrounds have really strong bonds.

    “It is an area where communities are respectful and considerate of one another and when that harmony is disrupted by the actions of an ignorant minority, people should rest assured we will take action to ensure justice is served.

    “In this case, a huge amount of effort has been involved in trying to find the arrested man, with addresses being tried again and again without let up.

    “There will be no tolerance of any type of hate crime here in Solihull and we will do all we can to trace anyone we suspect of being involved in it.”

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/solihull-man-charged-over-4-pigs-heads-dumped-outside-mosque-posing-community-centre-1505543

  23. CBC – Walls raised on Iqaluit’s mosque

    ‘It’s not a big project, but the significance is much bigger,‘ says Islamic Society president

    The walls are going up on Iqaluit’s mosque. The Islamic Society of Nunavut has been working to build a place of worship in Iqaluit since 2009.

    This week, the first wall went up as the winds picked up. It took 28 people to lift the wall in 40 km/h winds, said Syed Asif Ali, the society’s president. Ali was in Chicago when it happened, but was moved by the photos.

    “It was so fascinating, I couldn’t stop crying for a few minutes. Because this was the dream we were looking for as a Muslim community to see. And this is coming. This is coming soon, with everyone’s effort.

    “It has been my passion to establish a place of worship for Muslims,” said Ali, “and also this place will be used for everyone in Iqaluit as a kind of community place, for having an exchange of views and helping each other, and be part of the community.”

    Although construction started this week, work on the mosque has been going on for years. Last year, piles were put in place and materials were shipped from the south. Ali thanked the Zubaidah Tallab Foundation, in Winnipeg, for their help. It is the same group that sent the prefabricated mosque to Inuvik, N.W.T. in 2010.

    “They are helping us a bit in construction. They sent the construction crew, and we are jointly working together,” said Ali.

    “Our hope is that everything will be completed before October. But can’t say because we’re still a little short of funds. In the north, construction is pretty expensive.”

    Ali said the society has a modest budget for construction: $500 to $600 thousand.

    “It’s not a very big project,” he said, “but the significance is much bigger.”

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/walls-raised-on-iqaluit-s-mosque-1.3109379

    CBC – Arctic Mosque ( 9 min 47 )

    • Russians are likely to target that first from their new bases way the hell up there. Flag the hit with the Star of David.

  24. http://issuu.com/expressnightout/docs/express_06112015?e=3870620/13445089

    The cover of today’s Washington Post freebie (The Express) has a black hand on an orange background. The hand has white writing on it with the usual shahada: Allah’s prophet is Mohamed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahada Actually, the word order differs from that in wikipedia.

    The irony is that no one mentions that the cover might annoy people who profess beliefs other than that. At the end of the day, though, the papers all go into the recycling container.