Links and related news for Aug. 17 – 2015 in comments

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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

49 Replies to “Links and related news for Aug. 17 – 2015 in comments”

  1. Blast Kills Pakistani Provincial Minister in PM’s Political Heartland (nbcnews, Aug 16, 2015)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/suicide-attack-kills-pakistani-provincial-minister-pms-political-heartland-n410711

    “LAHORE, Pakistan — A bomb killed a Pakistani provincial minister and at least 12 others when it destroyed the minister’s home on Sunday in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s political heartland of Punjab.

    Police said the blast appeared to be a suicide attack, launched as Punjab home minister Shuja Khanzada held a meeting in his hometown of Attock in the country’s north.

    “There were between 20 and 30 people present when the blast took place,” district information officer Shahzad Niaz told Reuters. “The roof collapsed.”

    Salman Rafiq, Punjab’s provincial health adviser, confirmed that Khanzada was killed. Rescue workers at the scene said nine bodies had been recovered so far….”

  2. Young Muslim Entrepreneurs Try Countering ISIS Propaganda (nbcnews, Aug 16, 2015)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/young-muslim-entrepreneurs-try-countering-isis-propaganda-n410741

    “There’s no shortage of ISIS propaganda to lure in potential recruits to its cause. But is there enough being done to counter that?

    It simply took a social media account for Mohammad Dakhlallah and his wife, Jaelyn Young, to connect with ISIS militants. But they are just two of the many Americans and thousands of people from around the world allegedly lured to ISIS through its real-time propaganda.

    “It’s no longer the case that someone who is troubled needs to go find this propaganda and motivation,” said FBI Director James Comey. “It buzzes in their pocket, so there is a device — almost a devil on their shoulder all day long, saying ‘kill, kill kill’!”

    The U.S. is taking steps to counter ISIS’ lethal message online with tweets and hashtags promoting tolerance and moderation. It even launched the Sawab Center, an initiative aimed at countering ISIS’ plans to inspire and execute attacks.

    “The vast majority of Muslims in America are very well-adjusted, but there is still an idea of ‘Do I belong here?'” said tech entrepreneur Shahed Amanullah. “We believe there is a space for companies to address that need, and we see Muslim entrepreneurs all over the place trying to do that.”

    One of the companies trying to do that is LaunchGood, a crowd funding site that funds business and humanitarian projects developed by Muslims.

    “If we can show our youth how to engage communities and engage the world around them in a healthy productive, positive way, we can counter the effects of ISIS and their ability to steal our youth away,” said Chris Blauvelt, who converted to Islam at age 16.

    And it seems that targeted media campaign could be just as effective in fighting ISIS’ luring appeal to young people.

    “To me, those people are the answer,” said Rick Stengel, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. “Young Muslim social media entrepreneurs, I’d put my money on them rather than anybody else.””

  3. Migrants Mass in Turkey to Take Shortest Route to Europe (abcnews, Aug 17, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/migrants-mass-turkey-shortest-route-europe-33115927

    “Suddenly, almost silently, a group of young men carrying a small plastic dinghy emerges from the darkness, dashes across a road and a dirty strip of sand and plunges into the crystal-clear waters of the Aegean Sea.

    With the lights of the Greek island of Kos twinkling through the darkness — beacons of hope for a new and better life — another group of migrants has set off to make a risky — but less risky than most — sea crossing and apply for asylum in Europe.

    The city of Bodrum, a magnet for wealthy tourists from Turkey and around the world, is these days drawing plenty of other visitors— migrants fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa and seeking a better life in Europe, a continent so close they can almost reach out and touch it from the Bodrum peninsula’s many beaches. At its closest point, Kos is only 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from Turkey.

    Migrants, mostly from Syria, but also from Afghanistan, Iran and African nations often try to cross from the secluded beaches of Bodrum peninsula in groups upward of eight people in inflatable plastic boats meant for a maximum of four, powered by tiny electric outboard motors and plastic paddles….”

  4. Egyptian president imposes strict new anti-terror laws (BBC, Aug 17, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33955894

    “Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has approved stringent new counter-terrorism laws to fight the country’s growing Islamist insurgency. The laws establish special courts and offer additional protection from legal consequences for military and police officers who have used force. They also impose the death penalty for anyone found guilty of setting up or leading a terrorist group. Rights groups say the legislation will be used by Mr Sisi to crush dissent.

    Egypt is in the grip of a two-year insurgency by Islamist groups that aim to topple Mr Sisi’s government. The Egyptian president vowed back in June to bring in tough new legislation, following the assassination of a public prosecutor using a car bomb.

    Under the laws introduced on Monday, trials for suspected militants will be fast-tracked through special courts. Anyone found guilty of joining a militant group could face 10 years in prison. Financing terrorist groups will also carry a penalty of life in prison, which in Egypt means a term of 25 years. Inciting violence or creating websites deemed to spread terrorist messages will carry sentences of between five and seven years. The laws also allow the government to fine journalists $25,000 for contradicting official accounts of militant attacks. The original draft of the law was amended following domestic and international outcry after it initially called for imprisonment.

    Rights groups have warned that the legislation could be used to crush dissent, lock up opponents and impose further restrictions on freedom of expression. Hundreds of members of Egypt’s security forces have been killed by militant attacks in the country’s Sinai region. The insurgency has intensified since Mr Sisi, then chief of the army, ousted the Islamist former President Mohamed Morsi after mass protests against his rule in 2013.

    The most active insurgent group – known now as Sinai Province and before that as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis – has pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State terror group. Mr Sisi has overseen a crackdown on Islamists, jailing thousands of alleged Islamist supporters have been jailed and sentencing scores to death, including Mr Morsi. The government claims that the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism….”

  5. Europe migration crisis: ‘Impossible’ situation on Kos – MSF (BBC, video, Aug 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33951927

    “Conditions among migrants arriving on Kos are becoming “impossible”, a charity has warned.
    Footage has emerged of migrants on the Greek island fighting over limited food and water supplies. Julia Kourafa of Medecin Sans Frontieres said they were working “alone” and urged the authorities to do more to ease the crisis. “We are reaching a point that…we cannot give any more help because it’s too much”, she said.”

  6. Calais migrant crisis: New fences ‘reducing security breaches’ (BBC, video, Aug 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33951857

    “New fences near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles are deterring some migrants, says the BBC’s Tomos Morgan. The number of migrants trying to get into the Eurotunnel terminal near Calais has fallen to about 150 a night, the operator says, down from a high of 2,000 at the end of last month. Tomos Morgan reports from Coquelles.”

  7. Shekau ‘still in charge’ of Nigeria’s Boko Haram (BBC, Aug 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33952928

    “An audio message has emerged of Nigerian-based Islamist militant group Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau, in which he denies he has been replaced. In the message, addressed to the leader of the Islamic State militant group to whom Boko Haram has pledged allegiance, Mr Shekau said he was still in command. He had not featured in the group’s recent videos, prompting speculation he had been killed or incapacitated. Last week the Chadian president said Mr Shekau had been replaced.

    Mr Shekau described as “blatant lies” reports that he was no longer in charge. “I am alive,” he said, adding: “I will only die when the time appointed by Allah comes.” The eight-minute-long recording mocked a recent statement by the new Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that Boko Haram would be eliminated within three months…”

  8. Iraq ex-PM Nouri Maliki blamed for Mosul fall to IS (BBC, Aug 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33952451

    “An Iraqi parliamentary panel has called for former PM Nouri Maliki to face trial over the fall of the northern city of Mosul to Islamic State. More than 30 other officials including former Mosul governor Athil al-Nujaifi were also blamed in the report.

    The militants seized Mosul in a sweep across north and west Iraq last year. Mr Maliki, a Shia, is seen as having fanned sectarian tensions, leading to a growth of discontent in those mainly Sunni Arab areas captured by IS.

    Hours earlier, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi cleared the way for a court martial of military commanders who abandoned their posts as another city, Ramadi, fell to IS in May this year. The moves come as the current government continues a major campaign to combat corruption and mismanagement…”

  9. What was in Osama Bin Laden’s tape collection? (BBC, Aug 17, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33931657

    “After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Osama Bin Laden was forced to flee the city of Kandahar, where he had been based since 1997. Several compounds were hastily vacated, including one, opposite the Taliban foreign ministry, where al-Qaeda bigwigs met. Inside it, 1,500 cassettes were waiting to be discovered.

    Picking through the ransacked property, an Afghan family found this haul of audio tapes, which they swiftly removed and took to a local cassette shop – with the Taliban now gone, there was money to be made producing previously banned pop music, and these were ripe for wiping and filling with the hit songs of the day.

    But a cameraman working for CNN heard about the haul, and convinced the shop owner to hand the tapes back, saying what they contained could be important. He was right. This was, after all, al-Qaeda’s own audio library.

    The tapes eventually made their way to the Afghan Media Project at Williams College in Massachusetts, who asked Flagg Miller – an expert in Arabic literature and culture from the University of California, Davis – to immerse himself in this hotchpotch of sermons, songs and recordings of intimate conversations. He is still the only person to have heard the collection in full……”

  10. Greek government on its ‘last legs’ while Angela Merkel faces growing rebellion in Berlin

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11807076/Greek-government-on-its-last-legs-while-Angela-Merkel-faces-growing-rebellion-in-Berlin.html

    The Germans are getting tired of paying for the Greeks cradle to the grave welfare and the Greeks are refusing to do anything but live on the dole. Combine this report with the article about how the worlds economy is read to collapse and you see a perfect storm of economic woes rapidly approaching.

  11. Opinion: When Obama Adopts the Mullahs’ Style

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his patron, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, built their entire careers on “Death to America” slogans.
    Rouhani and his “moderate” ministers still have to walk on an American flag as they enter their offices every day.
    As far as I can gauge public opinion, the majority of Iranians have a good opinion of America and a bad opinion of the “deal.”
    This is, perhaps, why the Rafsanjani faction, of which Rouhani is part, is trying to avoid the issue being debated even in their own ersatz parliament. This is also why Iranian papers critical of the deal are closed down or publicly warned.
    President Obama should conduct his own enquiries to gauge Iranian public opinion. He might well find out that he is making an alliance with a faction that does not represent majority opinion in Iran.
    http://www.aawsat.net/2015/08/article55344786/opinion-when-obama-adopts-the-mullahs-style

  12. The Nuclear Deal: No Pause in Iran’s Vow to Destroy Israel

    Ayatollah Khomeini’s founding vision – that the eradication of Zionism is an inevitable precondition for redeeming contemporary Islam – still guides Iran’s current religious, political and military establishment. Today, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei bears the torch and is the chief agitator for the extermination of Israel, spreading this message worldwide over social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, in books, and addressing various audiences in English, Arabic and Persian. The Iranian religious, political, intellectual and military elite support and repeat Khamenei’s messages.
    When negotiating with Western powers, Iran sugar-coats its belligerent ideology, presenting it as the “Iranian Peace Plan.” As part of this peace plan, Iran calls for “a just and permanent solution of the Palestinian question,” which in practice means the elimination of the Jewish state.
    On July 25, 2015, Facebook pages and websites associated with the Revolutionary Guards reported the statement of commander Mohammad Ali Jafari: “Once the Supreme Leader orders all forces to start jihad, we can reduce Israel to dust within 24 hours. Our missiles have been eager to be launched for years.”
    Hojatoleslam Ali Shirazi, Khamenei’s representative in Iran’s Al-Quds Force, said on Feb. 26, 2015: “We shall not rest until the banner of Islam flies over the White House. This is the wish of the Islamic Community.”
    Mohsen Rafighdoost, one of the founders of the Revolutionary Guards, declared at a press conference on Jan. 21, 2015: “The countdown to the annihilation of Israel has begun….Now, we wish to be in the frontline of the fight for liberating Jerusalem.”

    http://jcpa.org/article/nuclear-deal-irans-vow-destroy-israel/

  13. Why Algeria Isn’t Exporting Jihadists

    As Muslims from across the globe flock to Syria and Iraq to join Islamic State, very few Algerians have tried to join the fight. Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck attributes this to the prevalence of a quietist school of Islamic fundamentalism, the country’s large, highly coordinated, and sometimes draconian security forces, and the traumatic effect of recent Algerian history:

    A key reason for the seemingly low appeal of jihadism among Algerians is the experience of the country’s civil war, which raged throughout the 1990s. That period, known as the “black decade”—during which 150,000 people died and 7,000 disappeared—resulted in a mass trauma that is still evident in Algerians’ yearning for order and stability, which the authorities fuel in order to justify their tough security stance. . . .

    But Ghanem-Yazbeck also cautions that things might change:

    [E]conomic, social, and political problems persist in Algeria. . . . On the political front, there has been a lack, if not a complete absence, of generational renewal, allowing the same apparatchiks to remain in power since even before Algeria’s independence in 1962. Their authoritarianism . . . prevented the emergence of a real opposition and led to a civil society that is plagued by anomie.

    Algeria’s socioeconomic problems include high unemployment, . . . a housing shortage, . . . and abysmal wage levels and living conditions, which prompted over 9,000 riots in 2010. All this might lead the youth toward jihadist movements as a means to express their resentment and retaliation. And, with Algeria’s domestic jihadist scene still active, there is already a framework in place to host disaffected young people.

    http://carnegie-mec.org/2015/08/11/why-algeria-isn-t-exporting-jihadists/ieic

  14. THE CYBER GAP: THE INTERNET IS THE MIDDLE EAST’S NEXT BATTLEGROUND, BUT ARE WE PREPARED?

    Iran, writes Benjamin Runkle, has developed formidable capabilities for electronic spying and hacking, and has carried out sophisticated cyberattacks on Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and Israel. Nor is the Islamic Republic the only Middle Eastern threat to American cybersecurity: Hizballah, Islamic State, and the self-styled Syrian Electronic Army (which works for the Assad regime) are all engaged in cyberwarfare. Runkle writes:

    [W]hereas Russia and China have the resources to build conventional [military forces] unthinkable for most Middle Eastern actors, the entry costs to acquiring a significant cyber capacity are low enough to allow the Middle East’s weaker states—or non-state actors—to obtain capabilities that threaten U.S. and allied interests. . . .

    [C]yberattacks [also] allow potential adversaries to bypass America and its regional allies’ military forces in order to target civilian infrastructure and economic targets directly. . . . Iran’s hackers are targeting critical infrastructure and developing the ability to cause serious damage to the U.S. power grid, hospitals, or the financial sector. . . . In fact, recent history suggests that Tehran’s offensive cyber capacity has dramatically evolved in sophistication and scope. . . .

    In sum, Iran’s demonstrated willingness to conduct destructive cyberattacks, its ability to offset U.S. and allied military superiority in the region through cyberwar, its dearth of equivalent targets for deterrence or retaliatory attacks, and the Islamic Republic’s strategic culture favoring asymmetric or indirect conflict over conventional war mean that it poses at least as great a threat of initiating a “catastrophic” attack against U.S. or allied critical infrastructure as [the otherwise] technically superior Russian and Chinese hackers.

    http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/192360/cybergap-internet-middle-east

    • That depends, some of the private companies and security organizations are prepared but it is unlikely all of the US government computers are secured.

  15. Forget Sykes-Picot. It’s the Treaty of Sèvres That Explains the Modern Middle East.

    In 1920, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Sèvres, partitioning the Ottoman empire between them. But after the reorganized Ottoman army defeated French and British forces and Turkey was founded as a modern nation-state, the treaty was scrapped. Nick Danforth argues that, while the Sykes-Picot treaty (in which France and Britain divided other parts of the Middle East) gets considerably more attention, Sèvres left its own important legacy:

    Sèvres has been largely forgotten in the West, but it has a potent legacy in Turkey, where it has helped fuel a form of nationalist paranoia some scholars have called the “Sèvres syndrome.” . . . Turkey’s foundational struggle with colonial occupation left its mark in a persistent form of anti-imperial nationalism, directed first against Britain, during the cold war against Russia, and now, quite frequently, against the United States. . . .

    [L]ooking at history through the lens of the Sèvres treaty suggests a deeper point about the cause-and-effect relationship between European-drawn borders and Middle Eastern instability: the regions that ended up with borders imposed by Europe tended to be those already too weak or disorganized to successfully resist colonial occupation. Turkey didn’t become wealthier and more democratic than Syria or Iraq because it had the good fortune to get the right borders. Rather, the factors that enabled Turkey to defy European plans and draw its own borders—including an army and economic infrastructure inherited from the Ottoman empire—were some of the same ones that enabled Turkey to build a strong, centralized, European-style nation-state.

    http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/10/sykes-picot-treaty-of-sevres-modern-turkey-middle-east-borders-turkey/

  16. THAILAND – Explosion rocks central Bangkok, killing 27, police say

    A motorcycle bomb rocked central Bangkok on Monday, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens more, officials say. The blast occurred near a popular Hindu shrine in the Thai capital. Follow Yahoo News’ live blog below for updates from the scene of the blasts.

    http://news.yahoo.com/bangkok-explosion-125801770.html

    Bangkok bomb: Explosion close to Erawan shrine kills at least 27 people including four foreigners – latest updates
    Reports of at least 80 injured and 27 reportedly killed after a bomb exploded at the Ratchaprasong intersection in central Bangkok. Follow the latest developments here

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11807583/Explosion-rocks-Bangkok-close-to-Erawan-shrine-with-reports-of-casualties-live.html

  17. Here is a report from a libertarian website on the coming economic crash, it references the Telegraph article that I posted yesterday.

    Telegraph: Economic Doomsday Is Here

    http://politicaloutcast.com/2015/08/telegraph-economic-doomsday-is-here/

    Here is the Telegraph article

    Doomsday clock for global market crash strikes one minute to midnight as central banks lose control

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11805523/Doomsday-clock-for-global-market-crash-strikes-one-minute-to-midnight-as-central-banks-lose-control.html

    The author of the Political outcast article touches on the fact that the politicians are going to try for a quick fix that will let them maintain the same power and control they now have, the problem is that the government interference is what caused the crisis and any government actions besides cutting taxes and regulations will deepen and lengthen the crisis. Contrary to what is taught in school FDR’s action during the Great Depression is what made it a great depression if Hoover and FDR had cut taxes and pulled back the depression would have been over in 9 to 12 months max.

  18. SWEDEN – Three stabbed by man in Norrköping city centre

    The attacker, who witnesses claimed was “obviously on drugs” according to the newspaper’s website, stabbed his first victim, a man, in the back outside the city library before running off to stab a woman and a female beggar moments later.

    A member of the public then overpowered the attacker and held him until police arrived and arrested him.

    “When I arrived on the scene, people were sitting down and crying. There was blood on the ground. Then I saw a woman who was bleeding quite heavily. The victims were about 50 metres apart,” a witness told Expressen newspaper.

    The victims were taken to Vrinnevi hospital. According to the hospital a 21-year-old woman is seriously injured and is in intensive care.

    A 24-year-old man is also seriously injured and has undergone emergency surgery, while the third victim, a woman in her 40s, escaped with only minor injuries.

    Her condition is stable but she remains in hospital for observation.

    The 24-year-old man arrested for the three stabbings, was previously known to the police but only for petty shoplifting or theft. He is likely to be charged with three counts of attempted murder.

    The attack comes one week after a man and a woman were stabbed to death inside an Ikea store in Västerås, north west of Stockholm.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20150817/three-injured-in-stabbing-spree-in-norrkping

  19. Amnesty International director alleged to have links to Muslim Brotherhood & radical Islamists

    A senior Amnesty International official has been found to have private links with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and revolutionary Islamists accused of plotting a coup in an Arab state.

    Amnesty’s director of faith and human rights, Yasmin Hussein, stayed overnight at the residence of a Muslim Brotherhood advisor during an official visit to Egypt in direct contravention of Amnesty guidelines.

    Her husband was also named as an alleged Islamist in documents relating to a 2013 sedition trial in the United Arab Emirates.

    Hussein, who was until recently the charity’s director of international advocacy and among its leading voices at the UN, denies being an Islamist and has said she is “vehemently opposed” to raising money for “any organization that supports terrorism.”

    An investigation published by The Times claimed that Hussein, 51, held a private meeting with a Muslim Brotherhood government official during an Amnesty mission to Egypt in 2012.

    more on the page :

    http://www.rt.com/uk/312630-amnesty-international-muslim-brotherhood/

    • It is a coverup like Nixons but the special prosecutor in the Nixon case said that there was no evidence that Nixon committed any crime,he was forced out of office by partisan political investigators. while here is a growing body of evidence that Hillary has committed several felonies.

  20. Germany: Anti-fascist demo blocks PEGIDA offshoot march

    An anti-immigration demonstration was held in the town of Eisenberg in South East Germany on Monday.

  21. Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Files Appeal Citing Publicity

    Attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appealed his conviction and death sentence on Monday, arguing that publicity made it impossible for him to get a fair trial in the city and that capital punishment is unconstitutional.

    In court papers, defense lawyer William Fick cited a recent dissent by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in which he said that he believes the death penalty “now likely constitutes a legally prohibited ‘cruel and unusual punishment.'”

    However, the majority opinion in that very same case opened with the declaration that “capital punishment is constitutional.”

    Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in June for helping his older brother carry out the April 15, 2013, blasts that killed three people and injured and maimed more than 200 others.

    The appeal claims that “continuous and unrelenting publicity” about the bombings, the defendant and his family, and wrenching survivor stories prevented him from getting an impartial hearing. It notes that Boston announced a new holiday marking the bombings while jurors were deliberating Tsarnaev’s guilt.

    As users of social media, the jurors would have found it impossible to avoid coverage, the appeal argues.

    “Put simply, prejudicial media coverage, events, and environment saturated greater Boston, including the social networks of actual trial jurors, and made it an improper venue for the trial of this case,” the court papers say.

    The defense repeatedly asked for a change of venue before the trial began, but the requests were rejected by the judge.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boston-bomber-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-files-appeal-citing-publicity-n411396