Links from regulars for Aug 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.

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

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

74 Replies to “Links from regulars for Aug 11 – 2015”

  1. DAILY MAIL – IKEA SWEDEN – Two asylum seekers are arrested for stabbing to death mother and her son shopping for flatpack furniture in Swedish IKEA

    Two men, 23 and 35, arrested on suspicion of murder Västerås, Sweden
    Mother, 55, and son, 28, died at the scene after knife attack in IKEA
    Second suspect is third person injured in the incident on Monday
    Suspects are asylum seekers staying in the same government housing

    Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the deadly knife attack at an IKEA warehouse in Sweden on Monday.

    The victims, a mother, 55, and her 28-year-old son, died at the scene after being stabbed in the cutlery section of the store in Västerås, some 70 miles west of the Swedish capital Stockholm.

    The suspects, aged 23 and 35, are both asylum seekers staying in the same government-provided accommodation in the area, local media reports.

    The mother and son were both from northern Sweden, and had been visiting relatives in Västerås before going shopping for flatpack furniture at IKEA yesterday.

    ‘We do not see a connection between the victims and the perpetrators as it stands,’ said Per Ågren, local police chief said, adding that it appears that the victims were chosen at random.

    ‘It is an insane incident that has taken place, that two people have been knife-murdered in IKEA.’

    The 35-year-old murder suspect was also injured in the attack and remains in hospital. As he suffered life threatening injuries, police have not been able to question him about the incident.

    Police have conducted a search of two rooms at an asylum seekers’ accommodation, Aftonbladet reports, and court documents seen by the newspaper confirm that the younger suspect is housed there.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193402/Two-asylum-seekers-arrested-stabbing-death-mother-son-shopping-flatpack-furniture-Swedish-IKEA.html

    • From Eritrea

      THE LOCAL – Police: Ikea suspects are both asylum seekers

      Police confirmed on Tuesday morning that they had arrested two people over the violence and said that both were from Eritrea.

      The suspects knew one another and were living at the same accommodation complex for asylum seekers, they added.

      But Västerås police chief Per Ågren told reporters there were “no political overtones” in the investigation.

      http://www.thelocal.se/20150811/ikea-suspect-denies-killing-mum-and-son

  2. SKY NEWS – IS Bombers In UK Ready To Attack

    By posing online as two individuals committed to jihad, Sky News gains a disturbing new insight into the extremists’ tactics.

    Islamic State is now focused on urging British would-be recruits to carry out “lone wolf” attacks in the UK instead of travelling to fight in Syria, Sky News has learned.

    Fictional characters created online by Sky with an undercover freelance journalist were sent terror guidebooks by senior jihadists in Syria – including advice on raising funds and making weapons.

    And we were told IS already has a number of potential bombers in the UK – some of whom have been trained in Syria and are ready to attack.

    By posing on Twitter and in chatrooms as two individuals committed to jihad – one male, one female – we have gained a disturbing new insight into the extremists’ tactics.

    The chatter never stops. Sometimes within the millions of messages you come across something that shocks.

    more on the page :

    http://news.sky.com/story/1533617/exclusive-is-bombers-in-uk-ready-to-attack

  3. Issue of where to move Guantanamo detainees threatens closure plan

    A renewed push by the White House to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been bogged down by an internal disagreement over its most controversial provision — where to house detainees who will be brought to the United States for trial or indefinite detention, according to U.S. officials.

    […]As part of the plan, the administration had considered sending some of the 116 detainees remaining at the prison to either a top-security prison in Illinois or a naval facility in Charleston, S.C.

    […]Under a bill being considered in Congress, lawmakers could vote on the closure plan, and if approved, it would lift restrictions on bringing prisoners to the United States.

    Officials don’t know exactly how many prisoners would need to be brought here, but this “irreducible minimum,” as the White House calls the number, is believed to be in the dozens.

    […]Lawmakers, including McCain, are also seeking assurances that the detainees wouldn’t be granted additional legal rights once they were moved to the United States.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/guantanamo-closure-plan-suffers-setback-over-us-site-for-detainees/2015/08/10/1540c2e0-3f68-11e5-9561-4b3dc93e3b9a_story.html

    • Good, the only reasons to close Gitmo are to turn the terrorists over to the criminal justice system (this is a refusal to admit we are at war) and to turn Gitmo over to Castro.

  4. Europe’s migrant crisis boils over: Kos police break up refugee protest with batons and fire extinguishers after 1,500 migrants stage sit-in at football stadium chanting ‘we want to eat’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193541/Europe-s-migrant-crisis-turns-violent-Police-Kos-attack-refugees-batons-fire-extinguishers-fights-broke-1-500-strong-sit-protest-demanding-food-shelter-registration.html#ixzz3iVru7wnl
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  5. TURKEY – Ambulances ferry ISIL terrorists between Ad?yaman and Syria, CHP report says

    In a recent report, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has claimed that ambulances are routinely used in the southeastern province of Adiyaman to carry injured Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants from Syria to Turkey and to transport new ISIL recruits across the border into Syria.

    A delegation of CHP deputies and party members who visited Adiyaman found that many locals recruited by ISIL cross into Syria by bribing border guards as little as TL 20 and the police, the Prime Ministry and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) turn a blind eye to reports of illegal activities along the border.

    The report also alleged that some coffee houses in the city are being used as contact points for ISIL, as well a number of mosques. “Many ISIL militants who come from Syria are allowed to propagate ISIL’s ideology, especially in Maraslilar Mosque and Fatih Mosque. It is understood that the imams of these mosques turn a blind eye to the illegal activities of ISIL militants. Moreover, some families who complained about ISIL’s recruitment activities and warned one of these imams were asked not to get involved in such issues, with one of the imams saying: ‘They [ISIL recruiters] came from abroad. The [Turkish] government has allowed them. They may leave soon.’”

    Furthermore, according to the report, some of the young people who have been indoctrinated by ISIL militants put pressure on their mothers to wear a chador when leaving the house and force their fathers not to pray in state-run mosques, the report said.

    The report — which was based on the delegation’s observations in Adiyaman — also found that many young men who have been recruited by ISIL first go to Syria and then return to the city several months later. After spending some time in the city, they again leave for Syria to fight for ISIL. In addition, although many families whose children have joined ISIL have informed the security forces, their complaints and calls for help have fallen on deaf ears and no initiative to stop ISIL’s activities has been launched to date, the report emphasized.

    The second part of the report detailed meetings and conversations with local people about ISIL’s activities in the city and claimed that members of civil society groups, including a number of Alevi organizations, have complained that despite ISIL recruiting publicly, no security measures have been taken to prevent these activities.

    Some Alevis even said that they are afraid to attend marriage ceremonies due to the ISIL threat, claiming that the number of Alevis who regularly go to cemevis (Alevi places of worship) has declined sharply because of this threat. In some villages, Alevis are constantly on guard due to fears of a possible ISIL attack on their community, according to the report.

    The report also mentioned a meeting with Adiyaman Chief Public Prosecutor Ali Ulvi Yilmaz, who said that there has not been a single arrest of anyone linked to ISIL. Yilmaz said that warrants for the arrest of 15 people had been issued and an investigation is under way against a number of other suspects, but is only at the stage of collecting evidence.

    Another allegation mentioned in the report is that when Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met a family whose son went with his wife to Syria to fight for ISIL recently, Davutoglu responded by saying: “At least they went together. They can support each other out there.”[…]

    http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_ambulances-ferry-isil-terrorists-between-adiyaman-and-syria-chp-report-says_396056.html

  6. Saudi Arabia rejects Russian calls to work with Assad against Islamic State

    MOSCOW: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Tuesday poured cold water on Russian calls to join forces with the Syrian authorities against Islamic State jihadists, insisting it was impossible to work with President Bashar al-Assad.

    Moscow -one of Assad’s few remaining allies – has called for coordination between the Syrian government and members of an international coalition fighting the extremist group, which controls swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

    But Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir insisted there would be no cooperation with the Syrian regime after meeting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

    “As for a coalition in which Saudi Arabia would participate with the government of Syria, then we need to exclude that. It is not part of our plans,” Jubeir said in comments translated into Russian.

    “Our position has not changed… there is no place for Assad in the future of Syria,” Jubeir said.

    “We think that Bashar al-Assad is part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

    Saudi Arabia is already part of a US-led coalition that began an air campaign against IS in Syria last September.

    Russia supports Assad while Saudi Arabia insists he must quit to help end a four-year conflict that has cost over 240,000 lives.

    The two ministers last met in Qatar on August 3 when Lavrov, Jubeir and US Secretary of State John Kerry held a three-way meeting, with Syria topping the agenda.

    Lavrov said Moscow was not looking to establish a formal alliance against the radical group but warned a failure to cooperate could open the door to the extremists.

    He admitted that there remained “persistent differences” between Riyadh and Moscow over how to tackle the Syrian conflict.

    http://tribune.com.pk/story/936196/saudi-arabia-rejects-russian-calls-to-work-with-assad-against-islamic-state/

    ————————————————————————-
    Russia, Saudis fail in talks to agree on fate of Syria’s Assad

    Russia and Saudi Arabia failed in talks on Tuesday to overcome their differences on the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a central dispute in Syria’s civil war that shows no sign of abating despite renewed diplomacy.

    Russia is pushing for a coalition to fight Islamic State insurgents — who have seized swathes of northern and eastern Syria — that would involve Assad, a longtime ally of Moscow. But, speaking after talks in Moscow, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir reiterated Riyadh’s stance that Assad must go.

    “A key reason behind the emergence of Islamic State was the actions of Assad who directed his arms at his nation, not Islamic State,” Jubeir told a news conference after talks with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov.

    “Assad is part of the problem, not part of the solution to the Syrian crisis… There is no place for Assad in the future of Syria,” he said.

    An uprising against four decades of Assad family rule broke out in 2011 and evolved into civil war in which Islamist militants have become the strongest element fighting Damascus.

    Saudi Arabia is part of a U.S.-led regional coalition conducting air strikes on Islamic State positions in Syria and neighboring Iraq, but Lavrov said this was not likely to successfully combat the ultra-radical Sunni movement.

    Jubeir and Lavrov said they discussed bringing various opposition groups closer together to improve their chances in facing Islamic State and better coordinate in international talks on solving the conflict.

    “The talks are about… coordinating all those who are already fighting terrorists so that they put their main focus on fighting terrorism and leave for later settling scores between themselves,” Lavrov said in describing Russia’s proposal.

    “More coordinated efforts on the ground would help reach the goal,” he said, adding that this covered the Iraqi and Syrian armies, Kurdish forces and some armed Syrian opposition groups.

    Lavrov said anti-Islamic State forces united on the ground should have wide international backing. But Jubeir specifically ruled out any coalition with Assad and tension between the ministers was often visible during the conference.

    Lavrov still said some “early details” have started to emerge under the Russian proposal but gave no further detail.

    He said Moscow would hold separate talks with Syrian opposition representatives including the Syrian National Coalition and Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union in coming days.

    Moscow is looking to host another round of talks between Damascus and various Syrian opposition groups. Two rounds of such consultations have failed to yield any breakthroughs.

    The two ministers also discussed possible Saudi purchases of Russian arms in the context of a planned visit by the Saudi king to Russia.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/11/us-meast-crisis-russia-assad-idUSKCN0QG13G20150811
    ====================================

    • Russia wants to keep the turmoil in the Mideast going so he can make more moves in Ukraine and other nations that broke away from Russia in the fall of the USSR, he wants to rebuild the Russian Empire and possibly expand it.

  7. Feds: Man Wanted to Form Small Army for Islamic State Group

    A former New Jersey man who traveled to the Middle East last year wanted to form a small army to fight with the Islamic State group, federal authorities said Monday, weeks after the man’s brother was arrested in the same alleged plot.

    Nader Saadeh, 20, was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization.

    He was ordered held without bail following a brief appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Newark. A judge appointed a lawyer to represent him after Saadeh said he could not afford to pay for an attorney.

    The former Rutherford resident’s arrest came after authorities arrested his 23-year-old brother, Alaa, and 21-year-old Samuel Rahamin Topaz of Fort Lee on similar charges.

    Authorities say Nader Saadeh traveled to the Middle East in May to join the Islamic militant organization but was arrested in Jordan and had been held there in custody. It was not immediately clear when or how he returned to the United States.

    He could face several decades in prison if convicted on all counts.

    Between 2012 and 2013, Saadeh allegedly expressed his hatred for the United States and his wish to form a small army via electronic messages. After the Islamic State group’s leader declared an Islamic caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq in July 2014, authorities say Saadeh posted images of the group’s flags on Facebook.

    Prosecutors have said the Saadeh brothers had numerous meetings and exchanged text messages and phone calls with Topaz and 20-year-old Munther Omar Saleh, a New York City college student who was arrested in June and charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

    In a June 13 conversation secretly recorded by an informant, Alaa Saadeh allegedly spoke of his knowledge of his brother’s plans. He also allegedly told the person what to do if the FBI began asking questions.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jersey-man-charged-plotting-support-terror-group-32991865

  8. Left Wing Extremists Traveling En Masse To Calais To ‘Support’ Illegals Attempting To Cross Channel

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/08/10/left-wing-extremists-traveling-en-masse-to-calais-to-support-illegals-attempting-to-cross-channel/

    The left is working for a major violent confrontation, if I am right about the amount of communications between the leftist groups around the world they are probably trying to have massive violence in several nations at once.

    They want to replay the Arab Spring in Europe and North Korea.

    • War’s taking shape. We’d best pay attention to who’s where, what and how events are covered by which media outlets, etc.

      • That is what we need to do, the war is growing and will probably turn much more violent next year.

        • Not to jinx it, yet, but I’m surprised the summer’s been relatively quiet so far. Next spring and summer will be h-o-t.

          • They are waiting for the election, I don’t know if Obama is arrogant enough to try and cancel the election because of the violence he is fomenting but that is one possibility. There are others including knowing that the violence next year during the conventions will draw massive publicity and can be used as a recruiting tool like it was in the 60s.

      • I did, there is a large population of Great Whites on the Left Coast, the cruse around the entire coast and there is at least one attack every year or so. As the population of seals and sea lions grows so does the population of predators, the predators may prefer seals and sea lions but any meat will do when they are hungry.

    • We nod sadly, reading what we already know. Writing in Gatestone’s about as useful as explaining to an echo chamber. Unlikely to get him killed, though.

      • We do what we can, writing in most on line mags are not likely to do much but the cumulative effect may be much more significant than we realize.

  9. Spain

    A 50-year-old Senegalese national died on Tuesday after jumping off a third-floor balcony during a police raid in Salou, an incident that set off clashes between authorities and a group of African migrants in the Catalonia resort town.

    As the victim’s body was being carried away, a riot broke out among 200 African migrants, who threw rocks at police officers, burned trash bins and also blocked nearby rail lines.

    http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/08/11/inenglish/1439299644_534963.html

    Riot in resort after street seller killed in police raid

    Several hundred immigrants turned to protest over the death on Tuesday morning of the 50-year-old man who was being chased by police when he jumped from a third floor balcony.

    http://www.thelocal.es/20150811/riot-after-immigrant-killed-in-police-chase#

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2c2VGojpj4

  10. Russian forces kill 4 militants, including rebel chief

    MOSCOW (AP) — Russian security forces have killed four suspected militants, including the top leader of Islamic rebels in North Caucasus, the nation’s counterterrorism agency said Tuesday.

    The Anti-Terrorist Committee said the suspects were killed in a raid in the province of Dagestan. It identified one of them as Magomed Suleimanov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate, a loose group embracing Islamic militants in the Caucasus. Suleimanov’s deputy was also among those killed.

    The committee said Suleimanov was suspected of staging the 2012 killing of Said Afandi, the powerful leader of Dagestan’s Sufi Muslim brotherhood. The warlord was also accused of numerous killings of police officers and civilians in the region.

    Dagestan has been the epicenter of the Islamic insurgency that spread across North Caucasus after two separatist wars in Chechnya. The insurgents want to carve out a separate state governed by their strict interpretation of Islamic law, and some have links to the Islamic State group.

    Suleimanov was the third Caucasus rebel chief killed in as many years. He became the leader of the Caucasus Emirate in April, after the Russian forces killed his predecessor Aliaskhab Kebekov. Kebekov, who pledged allegiance to al-Qaida, succeeded Doku Umarov, who had claimed responsibility for major terror attacks in Russia.

    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/096e81f4007045888a8e139ccbf672d1/russian-forces-kill-4-militants-including-rebel-chief

        • RT – Russia: Caucasus Emirate militant group leader killed in ‘anti-terror’ operation

            • If he thinks he can get plausible deniability he is more likely to use bio weapons. If he uses something that is normal in that region the genetically modified weaponized virus or germ could be passed off as a mutation, and has the potential of doing a lot more damage then any radiological or nuclear weapon.

  11. SPAIN – Clashes in Catalan resort town after Senegalese man dies in police raid

    A 50-year-old Senegalese national died on Tuesday after jumping off a third-floor balcony during a police raid in Salou, an incident that set off clashes between authorities and a group of African migrants in the Catalonia resort town.

    The Mossos d’Esquadra Catalan regional police were attempting to arrest the man during an operation aimed at cracking down on the illegal selling of imitation goods.

    At least one person has been arrested in the clashes and 24 others suffered minor injuries, including a number of police officers.

    As the victim’s body was being carried away, a riot broke out among 200 African migrants, who threw rocks at police officers, burned trash bins and also blocked nearby rail lines.

    The Mossos fired blanks in the air to try to calm the angry crowd, which had gathered in Sant Jordi square where the Senegalese man fell to his death, witnesses told Efe News Agency.

    Mossos spokesperson Xavier Gámez confirmed that police had come to arrest the victim but said no altercation had taken place before he jumped to his death.

    The police operation aimed at cracking down on distributors of cheap imitation goods, which are mainly sold on the street by African migrants, had begun at around 6am. A local court had issued search warrants for three homes, where the items were suspected of being stored.

    When the Mossos arrived at one of the homes, according to Gámez, the Senegalese man suddenly jumped from the third-floor balcony after seeing the officers.

    About a dozen people were arrested in the operation

    http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/08/11/inenglish/1439299644_534963.html

  12. Turkish online visas providing easy back door into Europe

    Migrants wanting to enter Europe can do so easily with an online Turkish visa, in a loophole worrying immigration officials

    Turkey’s “lax” visa policy allows huge numbers of migrants from Africa and the Middle East to use the country as a staging post to reach Europe, immigration experts have warned.

    European Union border officials say citizens from both regions can fly directly into Turkey with little in the way of effective paperwork checks, from where they can make the relatively short trip into neighbouring Greece.

    Rather than having to risk their lives on the people-smuggling routes across the Sahara and the Mediterranean, all they have to do is buy a plane ticket to Istanbul, which EU officials say has become “important hub for irregular migrants”.

    Immigration experts have told The Daily Telegraph that it amounts to a major weakness in Europe’s border controls, and estimate that at any one time, there may be up to 100,000 migrants gathered in Istanbul. From there, it is just a few hours’ journey to Greece or Bulgaria next door, from where they can travel to countries such as Britain.

    The problem is down to Turkey’s policy of “visa diplomacy”, under which its Islamist government has sought influence across Africa and the Middle East, by easing visa restrictions. Citizens of countries such as Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Sudan can all get “e-visas”, which require only a form to be filled in and a fee to be paid online.

    Last week, a Telegraph reporter pretending to be from Afghanistan was able to buy such a visa in less than five minutes.

    According to a report earlier this year by Frontex, the European Union borders agency, Turkey’s e-visa regime is open to 89 countries, many of them “countries of origin for irregular migration to the EU”.

    A condition of the e-visa regime is that applicants use airlines that have “signed a protocol with the Turkish foreign ministry”, which means either Turkish Airlines or Pegasus Airlines, a private low-cost carrier. Both have expanded hugely in recent years, with Turkish Airlines flying to nearly everywhere in the Islamic world, including Somalia.

    On a recent visit to Greece, The Telegraph met a number of Africans who had crossed into Europe after flying into Turkey. Patrique Kitokou, 23, from Congo, flew from Kinshasa to Istanbul two years ago. He crossed to the Greek islands on a people-smuggling vessel. “I paid $1,850 for the plane ticket to Istanbul,” he said.

    “The problem is there is no work here in Greece – I have to eat out of garbage bins and sleep in the street.”

    Those applying for an e-visa from countries considered a source of illegal immigration should have extra documents, such as a residency permit for the Schengen countries. However, there is no online process for verifying the documents.

    Instead, this should be done on arrival in Turkey, but the Frontex report says the authorities often do little beyond checking that applicants are not already blacklisted for security reasons.

    “It appears that checks made by Turkish consular authorities on visa applicants are limited, compared with those applied in EU member states,” the report said. “No substantive analysis is undertaken that might detect whether the visa applicant plans to… use Turkey as a springboard to irregularly cross the EU border.”

    The report also warned of “an increasing number of people arriving in the EU from Turkey… using forged and fraudulent travel documents” and said that police at Istanbul’s main airport did not make enough effort to stop people travelling on fake and stolen passports.

    Graham Leese, a former special adviser to Frontex, said that the only way to vet applicants properly was to do a “pre-clearance” interview in the presence of a trained consular official.

    Countries that took the process seriously, he said, tended to do it before the applicant left their country of origin, to avoid having to repatriate them if they failed.

    “In recent years, Turkey has taken many positive steps to control migration, with harsher sanctions for smugglers, but what has always let it down is its lax policy and practices on visas,” he said. The e-visa was a step backwards, he said.

    The Turkish embassy in London said the e-visa system had been introduced to stop long queues at airports. It added that the e-visa system does not replace border entry controls, and that “maximum” additional measures were taken to ensure its security, including additional checks where necessary on applicants.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/11793416/Turkish-online-visas-providing-easy-back-door-into-Europe.html

  13. US-trained Syrian fighters refusing to fight

    Division 30 is accusing Pentagon of misrepresenting its mission, saying they signed up to fight ISIL not al-Nusra Front.

    Syrian fighters trained by the United States are now refusing to fight.

    In the past few days, five of the US backed recruits have been detained by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front. A sixth recruit has reportedly been killed.

    The US-backed group, Division 30, is accusing the Pentagon of misrepresenting its mission.

    The fighters say they signed up to battle the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), not the al-Nusra Front.

    The group is also opposed to US air strikes carried out on al-Nusra Front fighters in recent days.

    In a statement, the Pentagon denied it distorted its battle plan.

    The 54-strong rebel unit, trained and equipped by the Pentagon, was inserted into Aleppo province in mid-July as part of US plans to forge a moderate force for the campaign against the ISIL.

    But despite al-Nusra’s fierce hostility of ISIL, fighters from the Division 30 soon came under attack by the al-Qaeda loyalists, who believe that the US-backed battalion would end up battling them. Al-Nusra is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and other Western countries.

    Despite the apparent failure of the plan, the Pentagon has defended its decision to recruit fighters in Syria, saying that the challenges “have not significantly encumbered” their strategy in the country.

    The US last month admitted it trained no more than 60 Syrian opposition fighters to battle ISIL, far below expectations, Defence Secretary Ash Carter told Congress.

    The programme, which launched in May in Jordan and Turkey, was designed to train as many as 5,400 fighters a year. Washington admitted it could not train more than 60 fighters, citing rigorous vetting of recruits.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/trained-syrian-fighters-refusing-fight-150807114420346.html

    • Germany: Warning for refugees? Arson attack hits south of Berlin

      A building burnt to the ground early on Tuesday morning in Koenigs Wusterhausen near Berlin has raised suspicions of an anti-migrant attack due to plans to house a group of refugees in a neighbouring residential building.

      • Clashes erupt between police and refugees on Greek island of Kos

        Police officers have hit refugees with truncheons on the Greek island of Kos. They claim to have taken the action to prevent a stampede while moving hundreds of migrants from makeshift camps to a soccer stadium.

        Violence broke out between police officers and asylum seekers on the Greek island of Kos on Tuesday as the mayor warned that the crisis could end in “bloodshed.” The mostly Afghan and Syrian refugees were beaten with clubs and sprayed with fire extinguishers and overwhelmed police tried to move them to the Kos town soccer stadium, away from the camp sites along roads and beaches where they have been living for weeks.

        Police said force was used to prevent a stampede as the crowd tried to squeeze through the small stadium doors just one day after Greece’s handling of the influx of refugees was criticized by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, which called it “totally shameful.”

        Once calm returned, the police continued to usher the crowds of people, at least one of whom had already fainted from heatstroke, into the stadium. Witnesses said that police in riot gear stood by while migrants set up tents in the stadium.

        Stretching limited resources

        Kos mayor Giorgos Kiritsis told Greek news agency ANA that there was a “risk of bloodshed if the situation degenerates further” as 7,000 migrants have arrived on an island that has only a population of 30,000. On Monday, a Kos officer was suspended after video surfaced of him slapping and shoving refugees standing in line outside the police station, waiting to be documented so that they could travel on to Athens.

        http://www.dw.com/en/clashes-erupt-between-police-and-refugees-on-greek-island-of-kos/a-18641930?maca=en-TWITTER-EN-2004-xml-mrss

        • Greek mayor warns of ‘bloodshed’ as police beat migrants

          Overwhelmed police on the Greek island of Kos on Tuesday beat migrants with truncheons and sprayed them with fire extinguishers as its mayor warned of a “bloodbath” if the crisis gets worse.

          Amid mounting tensions across Europe over the spike in new arrivals, Germany’s police union called for a scrapping of Europe’s visa-free Schengen travel zone — while Italian police said they had arrested nearly 900 suspected human traffickers since January 2014, but added that the kingpins were at large.

          In Kos, the migrants, mostly Afghans and Syrians, were being relocated to a local football stadium after camping along roads and beaches for weeks.

          Four police used truncheons and fire extinguishers seemingly to prevent a stampede as a crowd tried to squeeze through a door into the stadium, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

          At least one woman had fainted in the heat and many children were crying as the tightly packed mass of people jostled for space, just days after the country’s handling of migrants came under fire from the United Nations.

          Tensions on the tourist island are high with its mayor claiming there were 7,000 migrants stranded on Kos, which has a population of only 30,000 people.

          On Monday, a Kos police officer was suspended after being filmed slapping and shoving migrants queueing outside the local police station as they waited to be documented so they could go on to Athens.

          Kos mayor Giorgos Kiritsis told the Greek news agency ANA there “was a risk of bloodshed if the situation degenerates”.

          A police source in Athens told AFP that the latest incident occurred because the migrants were trying to get into a police post to get their papers sorted, but the officers wanted to process them inside the stadium.

          Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last week said the refugee crisis “surpasses” his crisis-hit nation’s resources and called for European Union assistance.

          The UN refugee agency’s division for Europe said last week that 124,000 refugees and migrants have landed in Greece since the beginning of the year.

          The agency said that Athens’ response to the problem had so far been “totally shameful”, with many of those landing on the eastern Aegean islands near Turkey forced to sleep in the open, lacking access to washing facilities and toilets.

          In Germany, the police union meanwhile called for the reintroduction of internal European border controls and sought more personnel to deal with a record flood of refugees.

          “From a policing point of view, a return to border controls would be the best of all measures,” said Rainer Wendt, chairman of the German Police Union, in a newspaper interview.

          In EU talks on the wider refugee crisis, “Germany should not take the threat of bringing back (border) controls off the table too readily,” Wendt told the Passauer Neue Presse.

          Europe has abolished passport controls within the so-called Schengen zone, which incorporates 22 EU members as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

          However, police have stepped up spot-checks of travellers on inter-European trains, highways and flights.

          In Italy — which along with Greece is one of the countries worst affected by the refugee crisis — police data showed that 888 suspected people traffickers had been arrested since January 2014 but the overwhelming majority were small-fry.

          Of those arrested, the majority are from Egypt and Tunisia, data published in the Catholic daily Avvenire showed.

          However, despite increased police cooperation between Italy and the countries concerned — with the exception of war-torn Libya — none of the internationally-sought after masterminds have been arrested, it said.

          Avvenire highlighted the case of Ethiopian suspect Ermias Gharmiay, accused of having accumulated as much as $70 million (63.5 million euros) from chartering boats to smuggle people into Europe, including a vessel which capsized in 2013 off the coast of Lampedusa in Italy, leaving 366 dead.

          Gharmiay is believed to operate from Libya, where the only threat to his empire comes from the armed militia’s interest in the lucrative market, the daily said, citing police sources.

          http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/137603/World/International/Greek-mayor-warns-of-bloodshed-as-police-beat-migr.aspx

          • Kos migrants: Chaos amid Greek registration attempt (BBC, video, Aug 11, 2015)
            http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33861290

            “Chaos has broken out on the Greek island of Kos amid attempts to relocate hundreds of migrants to a football stadium for registration.

            Police officers used batons and sprayed fire extinguishers as they tried to impose order on the crowds.

            It comes after an officer on Kos was suspended for slapping one man while brandishing a knife.

            Authorities are struggling with a rapidly growing number of migrants who have arrived hoping for a better life.

            Many migrants and refugees have been camping alongside roads and beaches on the Aegean island, a popular tourist destination.

            But an attempt relocate hundreds of people to a stadium for registration on Tuesday degenerated into chaos, with scuffles breaking out in the long queues.

            “The situation on the island is out of control,” Kos mayor Giorgos Kiritsis told the Greek news agency ANA. “There is a real danger that blood will be shed.

            Protesting migrants demanding quick registration also began blocking the main coastal road in the island’s main town, according to the Associated Press.

            They reportedly chanted: “We want papers, we want to eat!”..”

            • Welcome to what is coming to all of Europe and very probably North America, although I expect us to be the last to have the police doing things like this.

  14. TURKEY – Erdogan says airstrikes will continue until ‘not one terrorist is left’

      • Turkey’s strikes on Kurds could drag US into new front, military sources fear

        WASHINGTON – Just hours after a deal last month allowing the U.S. to use Turkey’s air bases to launch sorties against ISIS, Turkey pulled a move that left American military leaders surprised and outraged, and raised questions about the two nations’ alliance in the war on the jihadist army.

        With only 10 minutes notice to their American partners, Turkey launched a massive air strike of its own July 24 against a Kurdish militant group in the northern mountains of Iraq. The U.S. had barely enough warning to make sure its own forces were out of the way, according to a military source with knowledge of the tension Turkey’s attack caused in the Combined Air and Space Operations Center, the allied headquarters in the air war against ISIS.

        “A Turkish officer came into the CAOC, and announced that the strike would begin in 10 minutes and he needed all allied jets flying above Iraq to move south of Mosul immediately,” said the military source, describing events that took place in the center, in a secret location in the Middle East. “We were outraged.”

        n addition to targeting forces engaged in the fight against ISIS, U.S. officials believed the Turkish military’s sudden move raised the risk of friendly-fire casualties.

        “We had U.S. Special Forces not far from where the Turks were bombing, training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters,” the source said. “We had no idea who the Turkish fighters were, their call signs, what frequencies they were using, their altitude or what they were squawking [to identify the jets on radar].”

        When the Turkish officer returned the next day to inform his international partners of another strike, U.S. military officials made their objections clear. The Turkish liaison officer was sent away, but not before a back-and-forth in which U.S. leaders demanded specific flight plans of the attacking Turkish warplanes and the Turkish officer sought the locations of the U.S. trainers.

        The coalition Air Force officers in the ops center refused to share the sensitive information.

        “No way we were giving that up,” said the military source. “If one of our guys got hit, the Turks would blame us. We gave the Turks large grids to avoid bombing. We could not risk having U.S. forces hit by Turkish bombs.”

        Critics of the new agreement between the U.S. and Turkey say the deal gives Ankara cover to carry out strike missions against Kurdish fighters in Iraq and even Syria, where Kurds have won hard-fought gains against ISIS. While the Kurdish fighters have been remarkably effective fighting the terrorist army, Turkey remains their nemesis and fears the recent expansion of Kurdish control along the border could provide Kurds more incentive to form their own country in the future.

        The target for the initial Turkish air strike was the headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a radical leftist group located in northern Iraq which has carried out a 30-year insurgency against Turkey, killing, by some estimates, as many as 40,000 people. The Marxist-Leninist inspired PKK has been declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. government and many European nations.

        But the PKK’s Syrian affiliate has been the leading ground force against ISIS in Syria, and a close ally of the U.S. military. The Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, as this Syrian Kurdish force is called, has enabled U.S. warplanes to effectively strike ISIS in Syria. In Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, separate from the PKK and YPG, have been praised by many U.S. lawmakers for their success in fighting ISIS.

        By striking the Kurds, NATO-ally Turkey may have opened a new front in the war, against the PKK. U.S. military analysts’ fears that that war could blow back on the U.S. and Turkey may have been realized Monday, when two women opened fire on the heavily guarded U.S. Consulate in Istanbul and a car bomb went off outside a Turkish police station nearby.

        In southeast Turkey Monday, a roadside bomb killed four Turkish police and gunmen fired on a Turkish military helicopter killing one soldier.

        The string of attacks comes one day after six U.S. F-16s landed at Incirlik airbase in Southeast Turkey along with 300 U.S. military personnel, following the Turks’ agreement to lend their bases to the U.S. after a year of resisting American requests. U.S. jets will now only have a 30-minute flight to strike ISIS, saving valuable time and fuel.

        The Turkish government has been concerned that the U.S. fight against ISIS would embolden the Kurds, who now control most of Turkey’s 560-mile border with Syria except for a small 68-mile corridor between the Syrian border towns of Kobani and Azaz, west of the Euphrates River. Should the Kurds gain control of this section of the border they would have unfettered access from Iraq through Syria all the way to the Mediterranean.

        A military source confirmed that Turkish tanks fired on YPG units to keep them from entering this 68-mile area, killing some YPG fighters allied with the PKK in northern Iraq. These fighters have helped the U.S. coalition secure gains against ISIS on the ground near Tal Abyad and Kobani and are the key to the coalition moving on the ISIS capital, Raqqa.

        A senior defense official told Fox News that another reason the Turks want to keep Kurdish fighters outside of the 68-mile border is to prevent the Kurds from potentially selling their oil on the open market from ports along the Mediterranean.

        “The ‘safezone’ was Turkey’s way of preventing a complete takeover of the [Turkish-Syrian] border,” said the official. “Turkey doesn’t want to eliminate ISIS, they want to prevent the Kurds from a complete takeover of the border. They need U.S. help to do this.”

        U.S. officials have rejected Turkish requests to set up a safe zone of any sort in northern Syria. Senior U.S. military leaders have privately expressed frustration that the recent Turkish air strikes against the Kurds could jeopardize the entire anti-ISIS operation. Publicly, Obama administration officials say Turkey has a right to defend itself.

        Turkey so far has ignored U.S. concerns about opening this new front, and despite the Kurds’ invaluable help fighting ISIS, sees “no difference” between the PKK and ISIS, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

        There are 14 million Kurds in Turkey, approximately half of the 30 million concentrated across the Middle East including Iraq, Iran and Syria. The Kurds form one of the world’s largest ethnic populations without its own country.

        “[Turkey’s] attacks on PKK are a result of attacks they are suffering by this terrorist group inside Turkey,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

        http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/10/turkey-strikes-on-kurds-could-drag-us-into-new-front-military-sources-fear/

        • Martin linked to Christina Lin the other day. The maps say it all.
          That Assad’s a mean killer of Sunnis is really beside the point. The “buffer zone” or “safe zone” just happens to be the target location for the Turk-Qatar pipeline. That’s why we’re going to throw the Kurds under the bus for the Muslim Brotherhood Pipeline.

          Writing in Armed Forces Journal, Major Rob Taylor joined numerous other pundits in observing that the Syrian civil war is actually a pipeline war over control of energy supply, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey needing to remove Assad “so they can control Syria and run their own pipeline thru Turkey.”

          “Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as al Qaeda and other groups, are maneuvering to depose Assad and capitalize on their hoped-for Sunni conquest in Damascus. By doing this, they hope to gain a share of control over the ‘new’ Syrian govt, and a share in the pipeline wealth.” Even if it includes Turkey surreptitiously supporting ISIS ag Assad.

          Thus, even if the Saudi/Qatar/Turkey backed Army of Conquest can control just enough land in Syria for a salafist statelet to build the Qatar-Turkey pipeline, then these Sunni states can finally realize their pipeline dream.

          Chinese stratagems & Syrian buffer zone for Turkey-Qatar pipeline
          http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/chinese-stratagems-and-syrian-buffer-zone-for-turkey-qatar-pipeline/

          • This adds an economic motive to combine with the religious hatred between the two groups, the leaders of both sides will probably hide the economic motive from their fighters.

            I have read but don’t remember where that the crusades were partially caused by Islam blocking the trade routes to China and the Spices that Europe was importing. I do know that Islamic domination of the land trade route was a major reason for the age of exploration. The west didn’t want to have to keep paying the passage toll the Moslems were demanding.

              • That too although the upper crust really didn’t react too much as long as the kids were from the lower classes, the lack of spices or expense of spices hit them more then it did the lower classes

    • Church clashes with Italy’s right over migrants

      High-ranking members of the Italian Church on Monday slammed politicians who peddle anti-immigrant ideas to win votes – sparking a heated row with Italy’s right wing.

      “We here hear talk of the ‘unbearable’ number of asylum seekers, an attitude that is unfortunately fed by these salesmen” who are merely pandering to voters, Nunzio Galantino, secretary general of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), said in an interview on Vatican Radio.

      The head of the anti-immigration Northern League party, Matteo Salvini, was quick to lash out at the Roman Catholic Church, saying “those who defend this illegal invasion, which is ruining Italy, either don’t understand or are making money” from the migrant arrivals.

      Tempers have been fraying in recent weeks over the reception of migrants and would-be refugees in Italy, with Pope Francis intensifying his pleas for those fleeing war or persecution to be taken in – despite increasing anger over the numbers being rescued.

      With the Italian coast guard reporting new operations daily, Salvini asked if those picked up at sea “will be taken to Brussels or the Vatican?”

      The League insists those who urge Italy to save migrants should also shoulder the responsibility for looking after them.

      Italy’s anti-establishment Five Stars (M5S) party has also called for greater controls over asylum seekers and a “tightening up” of permits.

      The CEI’s head, Angelo Bagnasco, denounced “the indifference shown to the exodus of desperate people forced by poverty, war and persecution to take their chances elsewhere”.

      Over 1,500 migrants were rescued Monday from seven boats which had run into trouble off Libya, according to the Italian coast guard.

      The UNHCR said last week that some 224,000 migrants have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean since the start of the year – 98,000 in Italy and 124,000 in Greece – and over 2,100 people have died during the crossing.

      http://www.thelocal.it/20150811/church-clashes-with-italys-right-over-migrants

  15. Nigeria market blast ‘kills at least 47 in Borno’ (BBC, Aug 11, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33866129

    “An explosion at a crowded market in the north-east state of Borno in Nigeria has killed at least 47 people, officials say.

    As many as 52 people are believed to have been injured, a military source told Reuters news agency.

    The blast struck Jebo livestock market in Sabon Gari town in southern Borno at about 13:30 local time (12:30 GMT), sources said.

    Suspected Boko Haram militants have have killed hundreds in the state.

    It is not clear whether the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber or by a planted device.

    Borno State has been at the centre of an Islamist insurgency, but in recent months Boko Haram has also targeted villages and towns in northern Cameroon as well as Chad and Niger.

    Bombings intensified after the new Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to crush the group. Since he was sworn in last May, more than 800 people have been killed.”

  16. Mediterranean migrant crisis: 125 rescued by Irish Naval Service (BBC, Aug 11, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33858679

    “The Irish Naval Service ship, the LÉ Niamh, has saved another 125 people during its ongoing migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean.

    The migrants were on board a “highly overloaded inflatable vessel” which got into difficulty off the coast of Libya on Monday afternoon.

    The rescuees included seven children, 26 women and 92 men.

    They were helped on board the Irish ship, where they were given food, water and medical attention.

    On Monday evening, the crew was redeployed to transfer a further 375 migrants from an Italian vessel to the nearest Italian port.

    The operation was led by the Italian Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (MRCC).

    More than 2,000 migrants are said to have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

    The LÉ Niamh is the second Irish naval vessel to be deployed to assist the international humanitarian rescue effort.

    Its sister ship, the LÉ Eithne, brought more than 3,376 migrants to safety during its seven-week deployment that began on 16 May.”

  17. Syria conflict: Rebels advance on Assad heartland (BBC, Aug 11, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33866433

    “Syrian rebels are reported to have forced government troops to retreat to the edge of the north-western region that is the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.

    A military source was quoted as saying the troops had taken up new defensive positions in the Sahl al-Ghab plain.

    It lies just to the east of the coastal mountains where Mr Assad’s ancestral village of Qardaha is located.

    The rebel advance is the latest in a series of setbacks for the president….”

  18. Cameroon forces kill 10 Boko Haram fighters, arrest several

    YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — A Cameroon troop commander says forces killed 10 suspected Boko Haram fighters who had launched an attack on a town bordering Nigeria.

    Col. Jacob Kodji said Tuesday that hundreds of fighters entered the border town of Ashigashia in Cameroon early Tuesday, shooting into the air. He said the insurgents retreated when reinforcements arrived to back the Cameroonian soldiers.

    Col. Kodji said two soldiers were seriously wounded and 10 attackers were killed. He said some arrests were made. He said no civilian casualties were reported.

    Boko Haram has extended its attacks into Cameroon.

    In August 2014, insurgents occupied Ashigashia for three weeks before Cameroonian forces recaptured the territory. More than 10,000 Cameroonians and Nigerians living in the border town fled to a neighboring town in Cameroon’s Far North region.

    http://www.srnnews.com/cameroon-forces-kill-10-boko-haram-fighters-arrest-several/

    Cameroon army repels Boko Haram attack

    Cameroon’s army on Tuesday morning repelled a violent attack by Boko Haram in the far northern locality of Ashigachia, security sources told APA.A dozen assailants and a Cameroonian soldier were killed in the fighting which began on shortly before midnight Monday and lasted nearly five hours.

    The attack was repulsed by the Motorized Infantry Battalion (BIM) and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), two elite units of the Cameroonian army, the source added.

    According to security sources, some Boko Haram recent attacks on Cameroonian territory are allegedly due to the fact that they are surrounded by Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad military forces and were short of food.

    This had prompted them to carry out lightning and unprecedented attacks to resupply in the Far North their nearby base.

    http://en.starafrica.com/news/cameroon-army-repels-boko-haram-attack.html