Reader links Oct 16 – 2015

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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

59 Replies to “Reader links Oct 16 – 2015”

  1. 2 Terror Suspects Charged Over Sydney Police Shooting (abcnews, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/terror-suspects-charged-sydney-police-shooting-34511471

    “Two men accused of supplying the revolver used to kill a police accountant outside a Sydney police building two weeks ago were formally charged on Friday with terrorism-related offenses.

    High school student Farhad Jabar, 15, was shot dead by police soon after he opened fired on Curtis Cheng as the 58-year-old civilian employee walked from the state police headquarters in Parramatta in western Sydney on Oct. 2.

    Talal Alameddine, 22, did not appear in the Parramatta Local Court on Friday when he was charged with providing the .38 Smith & Wesson used to slay Cheng.

    Police allege Alameddine passed the gun less than three hours before the shooting to accomplice Raban Alou, 18, who then gave it to Jabar during a meeting at the Parramatta mosque, in the women’s section where there is no CCTV camera.

    Alou did not appear in Sydney’s downtown Downing Center Local Court when he was charged with aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring the commission of a terrorist act. The charge carries a potential life prison sentence…”

  2. Malaysia Arrests Hacker Linked to Islamic State Group (abcnews, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/malaysia-arrests-hacker-linked-islamic-state-group-34510968

    “A Kosovo citizen has been arrested in Kuala Lumpur for computer hacking and allegedly providing information about U.S. service members to the Islamic State group, Malaysian and U.S. authorities said.

    Malaysian national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement late Thursday that the man, in his 20s, was arrested Sept. 15. Khalid said investigations showed the man was in contact with a senior Islamic State group leader in Syria, and is accused of providing information on U.S. service members after hacking several servers.

    Khalid said the man, who entered Malaysia in August 2014 to study computer science at a private institution, would be extradited to the U.S.

    In a separate statement, the U.S. Department of Justice identified the man as Ardit Ferizi, believed to be leader of an Internet hacking group called Kosova Hacker’s Security. It said he will stand trial on charges of computer hacking and identity theft violations.

    It said Ferizi, known by his hacking moniker “Th3Dir3ctorY,” allegedly hacked into the computer system of a U.S.-based company and stole the personal information on 1,351 U.S. military and other government personnel.

    Between June and August 2015, Ferizi allegedly provided the information to Islamic State group member Junaid Hussain, also known as Abu Hussain al-Britani. On Aug. 11, Hussain posted a tweet titled “NEW: U.S. Military and Government HACKED by the Islamic State Hacking Division!” which contained a link to a 30-page document, the U.S. statement said.

    The post was intended to provide Islamic State supporters in the U.S. and elsewhere with the information for the purpose of encouraging terrorist attacks against those individuals, it said…”

  3. Turkey Downs Drone on Syria Border Amid Russia Tensions

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-16/turkish-military-says-it-shot-down-aircraft-on-syria-border

    Turkey said its military shot down an unmanned drone near the Syrian border on Friday as interim Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu warned that Russian air operations in Syria may lead to accidents.

    The nationality of the drone, which flew three kilometers (1.9 miles) inside Turkey’s border, can’t be determined yet, Sinirlioglu told reporters in Ankara. The aircraft was shot down after three warnings went unheeded, the military said in a statement.

    All planes in Russia’s air group in Syria returned to base after their missions, while “unmanned aircraft conducting monitoring of the situation in Syria and conducting aerial reconnaissance are functioning normally,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Friday, according to the RIA Novosti news service.

  4. Russia may fire missiles at Syria militants from Mediterranean, says official

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/russia-may-fire-missiles-syria-militants-mediterranean-says-103203967.html

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia may use its ships in the Mediterranean Sea to fire missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria, a senior Russian military officer told a newspaper on Friday.

    Russia has previously launched cruise missiles at the militants from the Caspian Sea flying over Iran and Iraq. When asked if it might launch similar attacks from the Mediterranean if necessary, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily: “Without doubt.”

  5. Merkel faces domestic revolt over refugee welcome

    http://news.yahoo.com/merkel-faces-domestic-revolt-over-refugee-welcome-201805212.html

    Berlin (AFP) – Germany’s Angela Merkel is used to owning the room when she speaks to her party faithful, but the mood turned hostile when she defended her open-door refugee policy this week.

    In a heated atmosphere, some of the 1,000-odd members at the meeting warned of a “national disaster” and demanded shuttering the borders as Germany expects up to one million migrants this year.

    “Stop the refugee chaos — save German culture + values — dethrone Merkel,” read a banner at the congress late Wednesday in the eastern state of Saxony, the home base for the anti-foreigner PEGIDA movement.

  6. Islam was ‘never part of Europe’: Hungary’s Orban

    http://news.yahoo.com/islam-never-part-europe-hungarys-orban-105713024.html

    Berlin (AFP) – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban defended his hardline stance against refugees, the vast majority of whom are Muslim, saying in an interview published Friday that Islam “has never been part of Europe”.

    Speaking to Germany’s Focus news weekly about the record migrant influx, he said “the language of the European elite is ideological and dogmatic”.

    “Islam has never been part of Europe, it came to us,” Orban told Focus in an interview to be published in full Saturday.

  7. Palestinians torch Jewish shrine amid ‘revolution’ calls

    http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-torch-west-bank-holy-jews-security-063359656.html

    Jerusalem (AFP) – Palestinians torched a site revered by Jews in the West Bank overnight in an incident that threatened to further inflame over two weeks of deadly unrest, as fresh protests were planned for Friday.

    Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, under pressure over recent comments that some have labelled incitement, quickly condemned the fire at the site in the northern city of Nablus known as Joseph’s Tomb.

    Video showed what looked like an extensive blaze and the Israeli army called it “a despicable act” of desecration.

    • Palestinians Set Fire to Joseph’s Tomb Ahead of ‘Day of Rage’ (nbcnews, Oct 16, 2015)
      http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/palestinians-set-fire-josephs-tomb-ahead-day-rage-n445661

      “JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Palestinians entered the Joseph’s Tomb compound in the West Bank town of Nablus late Thursday and set it on fire, severely damaging the Jewish holy site in what Israel called a “despicable” act.

      The overnight violence came amid calls for another “day of rage” in the region and looked set to further escalate tensions in which at least 40 people have been killed over the past two weeks.

      On Friday, an Israeli soldier was stabbed and lightly wounded at a Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The attacker had disguised himself as a news photographer and was shot dead, the IDF added….”

  8. Erdogan says EU woke up late to Turkey’s role on migrants, no aid deal yet

    http://www.oann.com/erdogan-says-eu-woke-up-late-to-turkeys-role-on-migrants-no-aid-deal-yet/

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday the European Union had woken up too late to Turkey’s importance in stemming the flow of refugees from Syria and accused it of insincerity in talks on Turkish membership despite recent overtures.

    EU leaders said overnight they had agreed with Erdogan a migration “action plan”, offering a possible 3 billion euro ($3.4 billion) in aid to Turkey to help halt the migrant flow to Europe.

    But Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu said the plan had not taken final shape and it was wrong to give the impression that Turkey wanted a certain amount of funds to keep refugees in Turkey.

    Erdogan said his NATO nation’s proximity to Syria and its key role in handling the refugee crisis had strengthened its case for EU membership.

  9. Hungary to seal off border with Croatia from midnight

    http://www.oann.com/hungary-to-seal-off-border-with-croatia-from-midnight/

    BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary will seal off its border with Croatia from midnight on Friday to stem the flow of thousands of migrants arriving daily, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced after a meeting of the national security cabinet.

    Szijjarto said the EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels failed to decide on a common force to protect Greece’s borders, while it was clear that Hungary had to protect the external frontiers of the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone.

    He said Hungary had informed Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany about the decision to seal off the border. He said migrants would be able to submit asylum requests at two transit zones to be set up on the border with Croatia, and crossing will only be possible via official border stations.

  10. Migrants fall through the cracks in Austria’s asylum system

    http://www.oann.com/migrants-fall-through-the-cracks-in-austrias-asylum-system/

    TRAISKIRCHEN, Austria (Reuters) – After fleeing civil war, surviving a perilous sea crossing and trudging through several countries, Syrian refugees think they will receive basic food, shelter and fair treatment when they reach Austria. Most are right, but some tell a different tale.

    These people complain of coming under pressure to leave Austria for neighboring Slovakia and that if they refuse – or even simply miss the bus there – they can end up thrown out on the streets by a system they do not understand.

    Austrian authorities deny asylum seekers are forced to go to Slovakia against their will, but stress they cannot pick and choose where they are accommodated while their applications are considered.

  11. ‘US responsible for refugee crisis, it should pay the bill’ – Vaclav Klaus, fmr Czech president

  12. Spain has rejected Germany’s plan to implement a system of sharing refugees across the EU on a permanent basis during the latest EU summit on the refugee crisis.

    “Europe needs a binding and permanent system for relocating refugees,” European Parliament President Martin Schultz told EU leaders at the beginning of the summit in Brussels.

    But Spain rejected the plan, along with Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, reported Spanish news agency Efe.

    http://www.thelocal.es/20151016/spain-rejects-permanent-and-binding-refugee

  13. ISRAEL – Foreign press group condemns stabbing attack by Palestinian posing as reporter

    An organization representing foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday condemned the attack by a Palestinian assailant who stabbed an IDF soldier in Hebron while posing as a reporter.

    The stabbing incident occurred at Zayit Junction, in the Kiryat Arba area. The terrorist was shot dead at the scene, while the soldier was moderately wounded.

    During the incident, the terrorist approached the soldier wearing a “press” flak jacket and carrying a camera.

    Magen David Adom paramedics said they evacuated a 20-year-old Israeli in moderate condition with a stab wound to his upper body. The soldier has been taken to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

    http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Foreign-press-group-condemns-stabbing-attack-by-Palestinian-posing-as-reporter-426178

    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5bd_1445002784

    • DAILY MAIL – The terrifying moment Palestinian disguised as a reporter stabbed an Israeli soldier before being shot dead, as violence mounts

      WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
      The brutal attack comes amid dramatically escalating tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank
      Israeli troops today shot dead a Palestinian posing as a news photographer who stabbed a soldier in Kiryat Arba
      Palestinians set fire to the Jewish holy site Joseph’s Tomb, in the city of Nablus, condemned as a ‘despicable act’
      Israeli security forces have been deployed in great numbers this month after violence began escalating on October 1

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3275687/Palestinians-torch-Jewish-holy-site-Joseph-s-Tomb-tensions-Israel-continue-soar.html

  14. Syria conflict: Army launches new Aleppo offensive (BBC, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34553148

    “Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes have launched a fresh offensive against rebels south of the country’s second city, Aleppo.

    A military source told Reuters news agency that “hundreds” of troops from Hezbollah and Iran were also involved.

    Control of Aleppo has been divided between government forces and various rebel groups since 2012.

    The Syrian army has launched several ground offensives since Russia began air strikes two weeks ago.

    Russia says it is targeting “terrorists”, primarily jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS), but Western governments say many strikes have hit civilians and moderate rebel groups…”

  15. Ahmed Mohamed: US ‘clock boy’ meets Sudan leader (BBC, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34551890

    “The 14-year-old American who made headlines after being arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school has met Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

    Ahmed Mohamed and his family were received at a presidential compound in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Wednesday, according to state-run radio.

    The Texan teenager was pulled out of class and handcuffed because a teacher mistook his clock for a bomb.

    His arrest was sharply criticised and the police declined to file charges.

    The boy’s father, Mohamed Hassan al-Sufi, is a Sudanese immigrant to the US and a former presidential candidate who ran against Mr Bashir.

    The Sudan leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, which he denies.

    Ahmed said he was pleased to meet the president and vowed to return one day with a new invention, according to the radio broadcast…”

  16. Afghan government welcomes US troops extension (BBC, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34549258

    “The Afghan government has welcomed the US’s decision to extend its military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2016.

    The move would help “stability” in Afghanistan, the government said in a statement, while vowing to “respond to fear and terror with full force”.

    The US said on Thursday it would maintain 5,500 troops in Afghanistan into early 2017 – a shift from earlier plans to withdraw most by late 2016.

    The Taliban has vowed to continue attacks on US troops to force them out…”

  17. India BJP leader says Muslims should stop eating beef (BBC, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34546960

    “A senior leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that Muslims living in the country should give up consuming beef.

    Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister of Haryana state, said the cow “is an article of faith” in India.

    Most states ban the slaughter of cows, which is considered a sacred animal by India’s majority Hindu community.

    The beef ban has provoked outrage, with many questioning the government’s right to decide what is on their plate.

    It has also been criticised by many as beef is cheaper than chicken and fish and is a staple for the poorer Muslim, tribal and Dalit (formerly untouchable) communities…”

  18. Agency: 32 dead in back-to-back suicide bombings at Nigerian mosque (CNN, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/16/africa/nigeria-mosque-suicide-bombing/index.html

    “A pair of suicide bombings — the second going off after rescuers and worried relatives had arrived at the scene — ripped through a northeastern Nigerian mosque, killing at least 32 people and showing once again the dangers in the West African nation.

    A bomber rode a bicycle to the Maiduguri mosque and then set off the first explosion during maghrib prayers at 6:11 p.m. Thursday, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said on its Facebook page.

    That blast spurred first responders, relatives and others to rush to the site, where some of them died in the second bombing.

    The Nigerian agency reported Friday morning that at least 32 people were wounded in the blasts, including seven in critical condition. It was not immediately clear how many suicide bombers were among the 32 dead.

    The same agency noted that five bombs overall had gone off in and around Maiduguri between midday Thursday and midday Friday, resulting in 39 total deaths and 49 injuries…”

  19. Putin: Russian Strikes in Syria Killed Hundreds of Militants (abcnews, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/putin-warns-incursion-afghanistan-central-asia-34513878

    “Russian airstrikes in Syria have killed hundreds of militants, President Vladimir Putin said Friday as he called for a shared military effort of ex-Soviet nations to prevent possible militant incursions to Syria from Afghanistan.

    Putin told a meeting of leaders of ex-Soviet nations in Kazakhstan that the Russian military has achieved “impressive” results during the air campaign in Syria that began on Sept. 30.

    “Dozens of control facilities and ammunition depots, hundreds of terrorists and a large number of weapons have been destroyed,” he said.

    Putin reaffirmed that the Russian bombing blitz against the Islamic State group and other radicals in Syria will continue “for the period of the Syrian troops’ offensive operations against terrorists,” but wouldn’t elaborate.

    He said between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other ex-Soviet nations are fighting alongside Islamic State militants.

    “We can’t allow them to use the experience they have just gained in Syria back home,” he said.

    Russian jets have flown more than 600 combat sorties since the start of the air campaign, said Col.-Gen. Andrei Kartapolov of the Russian military’s General Staff.

    He shrugged off the U.S. claim that four of the 26 cruise missiles launched at targets in Syria by Russian navy ships from the southern part of the Caspian Sea had crashed on Iranian territory…”

  20. Kerry, Israeli Arabs and the separation delusion
    Read more at http://jewishworldreview.com/1015/glick101615.php3#d45rev11sJJbpyd9.99

    srael’s political leaders have rightly expressed anger at the US State Department’s hostile characterizations of the Palestinian terrorist onslaught. Secretary of State John Kerry’s claims, parroted by his spokesmen, that Israel is either entirely to blame for Palestinian terrorism or shares the blame equally with the Palestinians, are baseless lies.

    Kerry and his spokesmen have alleged that the current Palestinian convulsion of murderous violence is a product of “a massive increase in settlements.” Yet as Haaretz reported this week, Israel has built fewer homes for Jews in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria since 2009, when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (and President Barack Obama) entered office, than it had since 1995. The steep increase in the Jewish population in the areas is almost entirely the result of Jewish women having babies.

    The other accusations the State Department has leveled against Israel – that it incites violence and engages in terrorism – are so obscene that there is no point in trying to set the record straight. Quite simply, an administration comfortable with libeling Israel in this way doesn’t want to know the truth.

    Read more at http://jewishworldreview.com/1015/glick101615.php3#d45rev11sJJbpyd9.99

  21. BREAKING: European Country Drops Bombshell About Obama’s Mental Health… Says It’s Time to IMPEACH

    http://conservativetribune.com/country-drops-obama-health/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=WesternJournalismEmail&utm_campaign=DailyBest&utm_content=2015-10-16

    The state of President Barack Obama’s mental health is often challenged, although not always seriously. But it looks like one of the latest people to doubt Obama’s ability to run our country was a senior diplomat with a European Union government.

    John Schindler, a Daily Beast columnist and former National Security Agency intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer reported that a European Union diplomat suggested Obama is “quite mentally unwell” and inquired about impeachment in the U.S.

    These countries include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

  22. Palestinian and Western Leaders: Blood on Their Hands

    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6703/palestinian-blood-hands

    Secretary Kerry’s comments will encourage the continuation of violence and lead to further deaths of both Israelis and Palestinians. His explanation for the widespread knifings, suicide bombings, shootings, arson, firebombings, vehicle attacks and lethal rock-throwing is either naive or mendacious; perhaps both.

    Kerry asserts that the frustrations of Israeli settlement activity are responsible for the Palestinians’ murderous behaviour. The reality is that this new wave of killings is a continuation of the aggression against Jews that has been going on in the territory of Palestine for many decades — since long before 1948 and pre-dating the first Israeli settlements in the West Bank that Kerry falsely brands as illegal.

    The violence is motivated by the same racist and sectarian zeal that drives the Islamic State and numerous Arab governments and jihadist groups that have sought to eradicate the presence of “infidels,” whether Jews, Christians or Yazidis, from land that they consider the exclusive preserve of Muslims.

    Palestinian children are taught that Jews are descended from apes and pigs and must be killed before their “filthy feet” desecrate the holy places of Islam — in the words of President Abbas.

    Secretary Kerry, the UN, and the EU should be discouraging further violence by condemnation and by meaningful threats of sanction against the Palestinian Authority leadership. The international community has encouraged Hamas’s illegal use of human shields and berated Israel for defending itself and for inflicting civilian casualties, which were in reality the unavoidable consequence of Hamas’s unprovoked aggression and its way of fighting from within private houses, schools, hospitals and mosques.

    This encouragement of Hamas violence, especially the effectiveness of its human shield strategy, did not go unnoticed by other Islamist terrorist groups. That is also what Hizballah wants: the wholesale deaths of t

  23. Obama to deploy 300 US troops to Cameroon to fight Boko Haram

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/14/obama-deployment-us-troops-cameroon-boko-haram

    Barack Obama on Wednesday notified US Congress that he intends to deploy 300 troops to Cameroon to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.

    In a letter released by the White House, the president said 90 personnel had already been deployed, and would be armed for self-defense.

    A senior administration official told AFP the deployment was “part of the counter Boko Haram effort”.

    Cameroon, along with a growing number of west and central African nations, has been targeted by the Islamist militants, who are expanding operations beyond the group’s traditional base in northern Nigeria.

    Twin suicide blasts on Sunday killed at least nine people and injured 29 in far northern Cameroon. Two female suicide bombers carried out the attacks in the village of Kangaleri, security and local sources said.

  24. FBI Director: Islamic State Recruiting ’24 Hours a Day’ in All 50 States

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/14/fbi-director-islamic-state-recruiting-24-hours-a-day-in-all-50-states/

    CINCINNATI (AP) — FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday the recruitment of potential homegrown terrorists by the Islamic State group is widespread and goes on “24 hours a day” across the United States.

    Hundreds of people are “consuming” social media efforts to either draw them overseas to join the extremists “or if you can’t come, kill where you are,” Comey said. “And that is a two-pronged siren song that goes out through social media.”

    He said Twitter, other instant messaging, and encrypted communications have made the recruiting efforts of extremists easier and pervasive over the past two years.

    “So we have investigations in all 50 states to try to identify, among hundreds of people who are consuming this poison, where are they on the stages from consuming to acting, and how do we stop them from acting,” he said.

    Comey talked with reporters during a visit to the FBI field office in the Cincinnati area. Its Ohio region had two arrests this year of young men charged with plotting terrorist acts to support ISIS extremists. Both pleaded not guilty.

  25. South China Sea: China ‘Deeply Concerned’ over Australia, U.S. Cooperation

    http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/14/south-china-sea-china-deeply-concerned-australia-u-s-cooperation/

    The Chinese government is warning the United States and its allies to stop “adding fuel to the flames” in the longstanding territorial dispute in the South China Sea, following a joint announcement by America and Australia that the nations fully intend to exercise their right to navigate the body of water, which China claims entirely for itself.

    “It would be more helpful if they could honour their commitment of not taking sides on relevant disputes and do more to promote regional peace and stability in the true sense of the words rather than light a fire and add fuel to the flames,” the Chinese embassy in Australia said in a statement Wednesday, following a joint statement from Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Secretary of State Ashton Carter regarding the South China Sea. China added that it was “seriously concerned” about an American and Australian presence in the South China Sea and urged “the relevant sides to stop applying double standard.”

    Australia and the United States agreed in a joint meeting of high-ranking defense officials in Boston to “enhance naval cooperation across all domains” and wrote that they were both “seriously concerned” about the construction of artificial islands and deployment of military equipment by China in the South China Sea’s international waters.

    “We have a very strong agreement to pursue enhanced naval cooperation, which will include additional combined training and exercises between our two navies,” said Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne. Carter made clear, meanwhile, that the United States did not intend to ask China for permission to sail in international waters: “The United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.”

    “The South China Sea is not and will not be an exception,” he added.

  26. Pay close attention to this flash point, the US doesn’t have enough ships commissioned to fight two wars widely separated and it will take us about a year to get the recruitment and training program up to speed and get enough people trained to do the jobs adn to work together to correct this problem.

  27. Germany: Planned refugee shelter targeted in suspected arson attack

    A building that was planned to house refugees was set on fire in Flensburg, early on Friday morning, in what police say was a deliberate arson attack.

  28. SAUDI ARABIA – People wounded after open fire at Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia

    Saudi security forces shot dead a gunman who opened fire on a Shi’ite Muslim meeting hall on Friday in the Eastern city of Saihat, state-owned TV and a resident said.

    Saudi-owned television channel Al Ekhbariya TV quoted sources as saying that: “A person who opened fire on a husseiniya was killed, and the attacker was in his twenties,”

    The channel said that the motive remained unclear.

    Meanwhile, a resident told that an attacker approached the meeting hall in a taxi but was stopped at a checkpoint. Police arrived and a gun battle broke out, which the resident said injured several people and left the attacker dead.

    Some people were left wounded after fire shots targeted goes of a Shiite mosque in the eastern Saudi city of Saihat, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Friday.

    This is not the first time a Shiite mosque was targeted in the kingdom.

    In May, a suicide bomber blew himself up during Friday prayers at a mosque in the village of al-Qadeeh in eastern Saudi Arabia, killing at least 21 and wounding 81 others. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group later claimed the deadly attack.

    In July, Saudi Arabia arrested 431 people as part of a crackdown on a cluster of cells linked to ISIS. ISIS targets Shiites to stir sectarian strife in the country.

    http://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/people-wounded-after-open-fire-at-shiite-mosque-in-saudi-arabia/

  29. Feds Quietly Put Pork Roast Back on Prison Menus After Questions From GOP Lawmaker

    […]the move came after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Ohio) penned a letter to Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels, Jr, inquiring about the government’s decision to ban bacon, pork chops, ham, and all other pork products from the menus at its 122 federal prisons.

    The Bureau of Prisons announced the decision earlier this month when the ban went into effect at the start of fiscal year 2016. According to the bureau, the increasing price of pork products and an alleged survey demonstrating that inmates don’t like the taste of pork justified the removal.

    Grassley demanded evidence backing up the decision.

    “To corroborate the validity of the claim that prisoners indicated a lack of interest in pork products, I am requesting copies of the prisoner surveys and responses that were used to support the determination to no longer serve pork in federal prisons,” the GOP senator, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversees federal prisons, wrote.

    “Please provide any economic evaluations the Bureau of Prisons has relied on that detail the cost of pork as compared to beef, chicken, and non-meat products such as tofu and soy products.”[…]

    Edmond Ross, spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, said last week that pork had been “the lowest-rated food by inmates for several years.”

    […]Ross refused to explain the quick change to the policy that put pork roast back on the menu Thursday.

    “I’m not cleared to say anything and I don’t have answers for you,” the bureau spokesman said.

    http://freebeacon.com/issues/feds-quietly-put-pork-roast-back-on-prison-menus-after-questions-from-gop-lawmaker/

  30. CBC – Ottawa police alert Muslim women after reports of verbal abuse

    Woman told to go back to her own country while voting, another called terrorist in downtown Ottawa

    Ottawa police are asking Muslims to report “all forms of abuse” after three Muslim women reported being verbally harassed by strangers while wearing a head scarf, including one incident at a polling station.

    Staff Sgt. David M. Zackrias, head of the diversity and race relations section, told CBC News that leaders in the Muslim community passed along concerns to police.

    He sent an email to Muslim groups to encourage those who are “being victimized” to reach out to police.

    “We’re ensuring that these types of incidents are reported so we have a clear picture of what’s happening and if there is a crime committed we need to investigate those incidents,” Zackrias said. “If people are feeling intimidated and threatened, they should be reporting those incidents to police.

    In one case, a woman was told to go back to her own country while she was voting, in another a woman was called a terrorist by a passerby downtown, said Amira Elghawaby, from the National Council of Canadian Muslims, an Ottawa-based group that tracks anti-Muslim assaults.

    “The women are visibly Muslim, they wear the head scarf, and so certainly there’s a lot of concern in the communities right now about a sense of safety,” she said. “It’s very important to track what’s going on.”

    National spike in anti-Muslim incidents

    Elghawaby encouraged victims not to be afraid to report harassment or anti-Muslim messages, which defaced federal election signs in Montreal in September.

    She said that her organization has seen a spike across the country in anti-Muslim messaging recently as face coverings, such as the niqab, became a debate during the federal election campaign.

    Zunera Ishaq, who won a court battle to wear a niqab while taking the citizenship oath, took part in the ceremony on Oct. 2.

    “Some people feel that [the increase in anti-Muslim incidents] may be linked to the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has been very present in the current election and so we’re really encouraging people to report any kind of hate incident, hate crime so that we can respond as communities to that,” she said.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-muslim-women-verbal-abuse-1.3273228

  31. Syria: Army launch ground-offensive in Latakia following Russian sorties

    The Syrian Army started advancing towards Salma, north of Latakia, Friday, after Russian airstrikes had paved the way for a large-scale ground offensive in the Latakia province.

  32. Iran ballistic missile test condemned by US (BBC, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34555008

    “The US has condemned a recent medium range ballistic missile test by Iran as a “clear violation” of UN sanctions and a sign of the country’s disregard for its international obligations.

    The nuclear weapons-capable missile was launched on 10 October.

    US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said that her country was “deeply concerned” by the test firing.

    Correspondents say however that it is unlikely to derail the recent US-Iran nuclear agreement.

    But it does illustrate that despite the deal there is still little love lost between the two countries, BBC Defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says.”

  33. Nigerian general jailed over Boko Haram attack on Baga (BBC, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34550050

    “A military court in Nigeria has sentenced a general to six months in jail for his involvement in one of the army’s worst defeats by Boko Haram.

    Gen Enitan Ransome-Kuti was convicted of failing in his duties when Islamist militants attacked the north-eastern town of Baga in January.

    Scores of civilians were killed when Boko Haram overran the town and seized large quantities of weapons.

    The general’s lawyer told the BBC that he will appeal against the decision.

    A separate accusation of cowardice was dropped.

    The general comes from a celebrated Nigerian family. His uncle was the late Afrobreat legend Fela Kuti…”

  34. Putin: ‘Thousands’ from former Soviet bloc fighting with IS (BBC, Oct 16, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34552318

    “Vladimir Putin has said that 5,000 to 7,000 people from Russia and other former Soviet states are fighting for so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

    The Russian leader told a regional forum that the IS fighters would pose a serious risk if they returned home.

    Mr Putin also warned on Friday that violence in Afghanistan could spread to Central Asia.

    The situation in Afghanistan was “close to critical” and Central Asian states should be “ready to react”, he said.

    “Terrorists of different stripes are gaining more influence and do not hide their plans for further expansion,” Mr Putin told the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) meeting in Kazakhstan.

    Leaders at the summit of former Soviet Union states have agreed to create a joint task force to defend their bloc in the event of a crisis…”

    • Thank you for posting this. I found it interesting on several levels. First, if I understand correctly, the Gitmo detainees that end up in countries other than their original countries end up there because their home countries refuse to take them back… So, one must view the idea that they end up in a country like Kazakhstan under the light that their country of citizenship refuses to allow them back in.
      Toward the very end of the documentary someone said “this is not Europe.” How very true. Do you think every Kazakhstani can just make a phone call and get an appointment with a heart surgeon, or just go down to the local CVS and get any and all medications needed on a charity’s dime? I certainly doubt it.
      I also found it telling when the blonde Red Crescent worker told him to shave and clean himself up. In other words, you are in our society and we expect you to conform to our cultural norms. We in the West have been told repeatedly that it is taboo to expect others to conform to our cultural norms and so this was met with some derision by the Vice crew.
      This man was a petty thief in his home country and in Italy before he was scooped up in Pakistan (what was he doing in Pakistan?)
      I will say this; it is a complete failure of the United States gov’t that he wasn’t charged and tried during the very long time that he was in Gitmo and, until this day I do not understand why not one person has been convicted from Gitmo. Politics have become so entangled with the rule of law that it is hard to understand what is actually going on.
      I thought his bleating about his wife and family was rather rich. He left them in North Africa long ago…
      This man was let out of prison and exiled to a very poor nation. If I were him I would petition my home nation to let me back in because, let’s face it fella, you aren’t going to Germany or Sweden anytime soon.

  35. Sorry if this has already appeared on here – British wife of a former G. Bay detainee now in Isis territory wants to return to the UK after finding Isis isn’t her “cup of tea” but isn’t sure that the present government won’t arrest her if she does.

    • Achieve justice? What the hell is she talking about? She married a guy out of Gitmo, became a baby making factory, traveled to Syria and put her children in danger. And now she wants justice?
      My fervent hope is that the UK refuses to take her and her children back. Let them continue to paraglide in Turkey…

  36. BREITBART – Ahmed Mohamed Hugs Sudan’s Genocidal Theocrat Omer Hassan al-Bashir

    Ahmed Mohamed, the Texas youth who was briefly detained Sept. 14 when he brought a clock-like device that looked like a bomb in to school, met with Sudan’s genocidal dictator Oct. 13

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/16/texas-muslim-clock-boy-hugs-sudans-genocidal-theocrat/

    Ahmed Mohamed meeting with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in the capital of Khartoum