Readers contributed links for Aug 16 – 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

32 Replies to “Readers contributed links for Aug 16 – 2015”

  1. Pakistan: Ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul dies at 79 (BBC, Aug 15, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33950461

    “A former chief of Pakistan’s powerful military intelligence, Hamid Gul, has died at the age of 79. General Gul led the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1987 to 1989. One of the most outspoken military leaders of his generation in Pakistan, Gen Gul was known for his hardline Islamist views against the US and India.

    The retired general died of a brain haemorrhage in the town of Murree, north-east of Islamabad. Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has expressed his condolences.

    While critics described him as a delusional conspiracy theorist who had little regard for democratic politics, hardline supporters considered him a patriotic Pakistani and a true Muslim, says the BBC Pakistan correspondent Shahzeb Jillani.

    General Gul supported the armed insurgency in Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmir. For more than two decades after he retired in 1992, Gen Gul frequently appeared on global news media often blaming Washington and Delhi for violence and instability in Pakistan

    He was often seen at hardline Islamist rallies alongside militant leaders considered close to the Pakistani army. In a BBC interview in 2010, Gen Gul said: “America is history, Karzai is history, the Taliban are the future.”…”

      • Violent clashes erupted between pro-Kurdish protesters and police in Istanbul, Sunday, following the arrest of 15 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Turkish capital on Saturday. Supporters of the PKK and members of the group’s youth wing, the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDGH), left fires burning throughout the capital’s streets, with police firing rounds of teargas and deploying water cannon.

  2. IRAN – Rouhani warns of plots to portray Islam as religion of violence

    TEHRAN – The General Assembly of the AhlulBayt World Assembly opened in Tehran on Saturday in the presence of representatives from 130 countries and some political and cultural figures with the aim of reinforcing Islamic solidarity and promoting the ideals of Islam.

    Inaugurating the 4-day gathering, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that enemy is seeking to create divisions in the region and portray Islam as the religion of violence and extremism, urging resistance against such plots.

    “The enemy intends to turn the religion of morality and brotherhood into a religion of violence, extremism, killing, discord and rift and we should stand up to such deviation and distortion,” Rouhani told the participants, Press TV reported.

    “We should not allow enemies to use terrorist groups to portray the religion of Islam… as the religion of killing, violence and destruction,” he noted.

    He said all Muslims should remain united to thwart the plot and illustrate Islam as the religion of peace.

    The president also said Iran would never use its scientific, spiritual, and political power against neighboring states or any Muslim country in the region.

    Rouhani said that Iran’s strength lies in its logic and its negotiating power. “We will use our capability and power to establish peace, stability and security in the region.”

    “We do not see our power in weapons. We see our power in logic, reasoning and hoisting the flag of peace.”

    The president noted that Iran respects the values of Islam and democracy while observing the rights of minorities, saying Shia and Sunni Muslims in the country are equal before the law and live in peace and harmony.

    He emphasized that Iran’s logic is based on peaceful coexistence and unity among all Muslims.

    According to Tasnim, Rouhani also decried the use of military force as a gesture of power, reaffirming that Iran employs its influence to bring about peace and security in the region, a clear sign of which was Tehran’s diplomatic success in nuclear talks with major world powers, namely, the U.S., China, Russia, Germany, Britain, and France.

    “We proved that we are able to employ political might and logic to hold talks with the major world powers and force them to accede to our Muslim nation’s rights,” he added.

    Rouhani cited “knowledge, science, unity, solidarity and morality” as the cornerstones of security.

    He added Israel, despite possessing nuclear arms, suffers from a feeling of insecurity.

    Rouhani also took a swipe at certain neighboring countries for the wrong notion of buying sophisticated weapons and launching military strikes against the “great and oppressed” nation of Yemen.

    The president also hailed the gathering of Muslim scholars in the assembly, saying the conference conveys the message of unity for the Islamic world as well as peace, stability and security in the world.

    “For us there is no difference between Iraqi Shia, Lebanese Shia, Syrian Shia or Yemeni Sunni, Palestinian Sunni. We want peace and security and equality for the whole region.”

    http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=248702

  3. From church to mosque: Syracuse Islamic group cuts crosses, tries to connect to neighborhood

    SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two gray church spires grow out of a bumpy plain of city rooftops along Park Street. The skyline is the same as it has been for the better part of a century until you look closer at Holy Trinity Church: There are slim copper crescents where, for 100 years, there had been crosses.

    The six crosses were removed and replaced at the end of June. Four of them were massive: 600 pounds of concrete each, and more than 4 feet tall. The step was the last, and most visible, in the building’s change from church to mosque.

    The transformation has been a series of careful choices aimed at balancing the forces of two religions in a neighborhood that is shifting. The North Side, once full of Italian and German immigrants, is increasingly home to new Americans who are refugees from countries where Islam is the dominant religion.

    Even as the crosses were cut from the church spires on the outside, and 10,000 crosses were painted over on the inside, the new owners of 501 Park St. tried to leave what they could, and reuse what they couldn’t.

    The wood from the pews has been repurposed to fix the floor, which is where Muslims sit to pray. Painters worked to make the minbar, the pulpit where the imam stands, blend in with the stonework. The name of the mosque is Masjid Isa Ibn Maryam, which translates to Mosque of Jesus Son of Mary.

    The cost to buy and transform the church was great: $300,000 and counting, said Yusuf Soule, the volunteer director of the North Side Learning Center, which bought the property and is overseeing the mosque construction.

    But the physical work and fundraising has been the easy part of the transformation. What has proved harder is reaching out into the changing community, turning strangers from very different places into friends. When the mosque sought the required approval of the city’s Landmark Preservation Board in April 2014, the meetings were packed with former members of Holy Trinity Church. They were upset and angry.

    At one meeting, the mosque supporters brought food from their many nations to share. But it went mostly untasted by the strangers.

    And when Fox News and other national news outlets last year picked up the story of the plans for the mosque, the mosque leaders worried they would become a target of violence. So for the past year, they have worked quietly to blend all of the old that they could into the new, Soule said.

    10,006 crosses

    Soule stood inside the mosque, his nearly 7-foot frame diminished by the vastness of the space. The 50-foot ceilings seem higher than they were when there were church pews and an altar inside the building. Painters, paid and volunteer, were up on ladders for weeks, painting over some 10,000 crosses, Soule said.

    The crosses were turned into other designs, or, in some cases, covered over by gray paint so they blended into the walls.

    Covering those 10,000 crosses was a small feat when compared with what it took to remove the crosses from the church spires. That took months of back and forth with the city’s Landmark Preservation Board, submitting and resubmitting plans for removing the crosses and storing them onsite, which the board required.

    And it took much more money than Soule and the others on the North Side Learning Center board initially expected.

    Inside the mosque, a hand-colored fundraising thermometer was taped to the wall for the better part of the past year. “Masjid Isa Cross Removal” is written across the top. The goal: $50,000.

    Every week at prayers, Soule would make announcements and then beg, politely, for the rest of the money to finish the cross removal.

    Finally, during Ramadan, the month-long Muslim holiday marked by fasting and self-reflection, a woman gave Soule a check for the balance, $15,000, and said, “Stop asking.” She wanted to remain anonymous, Soule said.

    On June 29, Paul Waelder rode a crane to the top of the church. Along with workers from Giarrosso Sheet Metal, Waelder spent two days 200 feet in the air, working first with concrete saws to remove the crosses. Then his son, David Waelder, an artist and metal worker, hammered the domes and crescents into place. The crescents are smaller, less than a foot, on top of thin metal spires. They cover up the lightning rods that were part of the crosses and had to be left to protect the building.

    Paul Waelder said the high-profile job came with two stipulations: no talking to the press and no pictures or video of the cross removal.

    Waelder understood. “They had a bull’s eye on their backs,” he said. “They are doing good things over there.”

    While it is not uncommon for mosques to spring up in old churches around the country, it is rare for a former Roman Catholic Church to become a mosque. The buildings are old and heavy with religious artwork that has to be removed.

    The former Church of St. John, in St. Paul, Minn., followed the same path as Holy Trinity. That Roman Catholic Church, built in 1886, closed in 2013. In 2014, it became the Darul-Uloom Islamic Center. Like at Holy Trinity in Syracuse, a large stone cross was removed.

    Watching the crosses come down off of Holy Trinity was hard for the people who found their spiritual home there, week after week, year after year.

    Anne Angiolillo raised her 10 children spending every Sunday in the pews of Holy Trinity. She opposed taking down the crosses, and cried inside when it was done, she said.

    more :

    http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/08/from_church_to_mosque_syracuse_islamic_group_cuts_crosses_tries_to_connect_to_ne.html

  4. Turkey finds arms cache in mosque near Syrian border

    Turkish security forces on Sunday uncovered an arms cache in a mosque, according to police sources.

    Weapons, including several assault rifles, at least one grenade launcher and petrol bombs, were found at the Haci Semsettin Yusma mosque in Nusabayin, a town on the Syrian border in Mardin province.

    According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the stash was hidden by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and discovered as police conducted searches following an explosion that injured two police officers on Friday.

    Documents related to the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and US — were also found.

    The PKK’s renewed campaign against the Turkish state has seen more than 40 security force personnel killed since the July 20 Suruc bombing.

    http://www.aa.com.tr/en/u/575633–arms-found-in-mosque-on-turkish-syrian-border

  5. MASTERPIECE of MUSLIM PROPAGANDA on CBC —–

    CBC – Hamas, Hezbollah denounce ISIS, reject own blacklisting by Canada

    Two political parties in the Middle East designated as terror groups by Canada predict the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) movement won’t survive and question why they’re blacklisted when co-operation could defeat the common enemy.

    Representatives of both Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon have separately condemned ISIS in rare meetings with The Canadian Press.

    Prime Minister Stephen Harper has denounced the jihadist militants, a position he has used to buttress Canada’s involvement in the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

    National security is a leading issue in the Oct. 19 federal election.

    ISIS is “not accepted” by most Muslims represented by Hamas, said its boss in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan.

    “In Gaza, we do have the resolution to deal harshly and prevent these groups,” he said.

    Extremist movements ‘never last,’ Hezbollah says

    A source close to Hezbollah’s top leadership said extremist movements “mushroom, but they never last and don’t find a place with moderate Sunnis and Shias.

    “There will always be radical thinking in the world,” said the man, who agreed to speak on anonymity, through a translator.

    “We had called for the largest coalition to fight terrorism. We had also called upon religious scholars in this region to condemn this phenomenon.”

    A political analyst with the American University of Beirut said the tough talk could signal more shifting alliances.

    “It’s possible you could have Canada and the U.S. working with Hezbollah and Hamas against [ISIS] if they’re seen as a common threat — which they are,” said Rami Khouri, who has 45 years of experience in the region.

    “But it’s not happening right now. If it did happen, it would be in different political circumstances.”

    Canada has joined the United States and Israel in outlawing Hezbollah and Hamas. Some countries, including Australia, blacklist just their military wings, while the Lebanese government recognizes the party and its MPs.

    The federal government describes Hezbollah as a “radical Shia group” ideologically inspired by the Iranian revolution. It calls Hamas a “radical Islamist-nationalist terrorist organization” that emerged from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Public Safety Canada has posted online profiles of the two organizations, outlining terror acts including the 1983 suicide bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut by Hezbollah and suicide attacks on Israelis by Hamas.

    It’s clear that whatever party forms the next government in Canada, ISIS will still be considered an enemy.

    Harper has said it would be “absolutely foolish” not to go after the militants before they can come after Canada. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau favours training local troops, while NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has rejected the mission as “wrong headed” because it’s led by the U.S.

    Canada ideally an ally

    The Hezbollah source said that ideally Canada would be an ally.

    “It’s a country that we respect.”

    He noted that some Lebanese living in Canada support Hezbollah’s cause by “praying” and providing “political support.”

    Hezbollah shouldn’t be on Canada’s list of banned terror entities, he said.

    “What did we do in Canada to be designated a terror group?” he asked, adding it shouldn’t be incumbent upon Hezbollah to persuade Canadian officials to scrub the group from its blacklist.

    The meetings with The Canadian Press took place during Ramadan last month, inside boardrooms of multi-storey buildings within Hezbollah-controlled quadrants of Beirut’s southern suburbs. The source close to Hezbollah said the group might be open to co-operation with non-typical allies — such as the U.S. — against the militants.

    “Canada is part of the American system. When the U.S. designated us as a terrorist organization, Canada did the same,” he said. “There isn’t any justification to be on the terrorist list, but [Canada calls] fighting Israel terrorism. We say, ‘No, it is resistance, not terrorism.”‘

    Hamas’s chief pointed to Canada’s economic and policy alignment with Israel over the Palestinian territories as a source of animosity. Protesters in the West Bank hurled shoes at former Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s convoy during a trip last January.

    “This is one of the major problems. But we believe you can’t create relations by throwing shoes or stones at the others,” Hamdan said. “The one who closed the doors is the West, not Hamas.”

    The Department of Public Safety declined comment, while the Department of Foreign Affairs did not respond to interview requests.

    Khouri said Canada’s government used to be “more rational” in labelling groups in the Middle East, adding ISIS’s actions may be repulsive but the movement doesn’t particularly threaten the West.

    “Western governments like the Canadian government — this one in particular — vastly exaggerate [ISIS’s threat],” he said.

    “It’s basically playing on the ignorance of voters and their emotional fears.”

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/hamas-hezbollah-denounce-isis-reject-own-blacklisting-by-canada-1.3192702

  6. JERUSALEM – Man held after yelling ‘Muhammad is a pig’ on Temple Mount

    Police detain visitor after he shouts slur at Muslim worshipers; another Jewish man arrested for praying at the site

    Police detained a Jewish visitor to the Temple Mount on Sunday after he yelled “Muhammad is a pig” at Muslim worshipers at the site.

    Another Jewish visitor was detained Sunday after he was caught praying within the compound, and a 14-year-old Jewish teenager was also removed by police for breaking the rules of behavior at the site, police said.

    Clashes between Muslim visitors and Israeli border guards have become an almost weekly occurrence on the Temple Mount, which is considered Judaism’s holiest site and the third-holiest site in Islam.

    Visits by Jews are allowed to the complex, but Jewish prayer is prohibited.

    Last Tuesday, riots broke out as police sought to contain a number of minor incidents in and around the compound. Border guards manning the entrance to the flashpoint holy site blocked a group of Muslim youth from entering after reportedly discovering they carried bottles and other items intended to be used as weapons.

    In the clash that ensued, a number of suspects were detained for questioning, including one minor, 13, who was arrested after pelting officers with eggs.

    On August 4, a French Christian tourist was assaulted by four Palestinians after waving an Israeli flag in the compound. The man, in his mid-thirties, sustained light injuries to the head and was taken for medical treatment, a police spokeswoman said at the time. He was detained and was facing potential charges of disrupting the public order. Police also arrested the four men suspected of assaulting the tourist, identified as residents of East Jerusalem.

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/man-held-after-yelling-muhammad-is-a-pig-on-temple-mount/

  7. DAILY MAIL – The terrifying rise of ISIS in East: Terror horde recruits tens of thousands to its sick cause in south-east Asia

    Thousands from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have joined ISIS
    Terror groups in south-east Asia have declared allegiance to terror group
    Hate preachers masterminding recruitment and attacks from inside prison
    ISIS could recruit members of persecuted Rohingya Muslims, experts warn

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193971/The-terrifying-rise-ISIS-East-Terror-horde-recruits-tens-thousands-sick-cause-south-east-Asia.html

  8. Asian arrested in camel urine scam

    Saud Police find human waste in bottles

    The Saudi Police have arrested a Pakistani resident in Jeddah, identified as Khurshid, for selling bottles filled with camel urine.

    According to media reports the man was arrested because the urine in the bottles was his own.

    The source said the accused were raided and the police found dozens of bottles filled with urine, which after being subjected to analysis, came back positive as human urine.

    Police said investigations revealed that man was engaged in such activities for months.

    Camel urine has been known to be consumed by some people to help them cure health problems.

    http://www.emirates247.com/crime/region/asian-arrested-in-camel-urine-scam-2015-08-16-1.600443

  9. ABC news is reporting that it’s likely that the private email server that Hillary had while at the State Department might have a backup copy existing, and the FBI is looking into it.

      • Number of Hillary Clinton’s emails flagged for classified data grows to 60 as review continues

        While media coverage has focused on a half-dozen of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal emails containing sensitive intelligence, the total number of her private emails identified by an ongoing State Department review as having contained classified data has ballooned to 60, officials told The Washington Times.

        That figure is current through the end of July and is likely to grow as officials wade through a total of 30,000 work-related emails that passed through her personal email server, officials said. The process is expected to take months.

        The 60 emails are among those that have been reviewed and cleared for release under the Freedom of Information Act as part of a open-records lawsuit. Some of the emails have multiple redactions for classified information.

        Among the first 60 flagged emails, nearly all contained classified secrets at the lowest level of “confidential” and one contained information at the intermediate level of “secret,” officials told the Times.

        Those 60 emails do not include two emails identified in recent days by Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III as containing “top-secret” information possibly derived from Pentagon satellites, drones or intercepts, which is some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets.

        State officials and the intelligence community are working to resolve questions about those and other emails with possible classified information, a process that isn’t likely to be completed until January.

        That will be right around the time Mrs. Clinton is slated to face voters in the Iowa caucuses in her bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

        As the number of suspect emails grows and the classification review continues, it is clear that predictions contained in a notification Mr. McCullough sent Congress this summer is likely to hold true: Mrs. Clinton’s personal emails likely contained hundreds of disclosures of classified information.

        http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/16/number-of-hillary-clintons-emails-flagged-for-clas/

    • I have been expecting this, when you ignore the legitimate concerns of the citizens you drive them into the arms of the extremists.