Reader’s links for Oct. 23 – 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

181 Replies to “Reader’s links for Oct. 23 – 2015”

  1. Clinton Claims She Didn’t Blame Benghazi Attack on a YouTube Video

    http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/10/22/clinton-survives-benghazi-committee-hearing-n2069674?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=

    Speaking in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi Thursday afternoon, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempted to claim she didn’t blame the September 11, 2012 attack on a YouTube video.

    “Where did the false narrative start? It started with you, Madame Secretary,” Ohio Republican Jim Jordan pressed Clinton.

    “I referred to the video that night in a very specific way. I said some have sought to justify the attack because of the video. I used those words deliberately, not to ascribe a motive to every attacker but as a warning to those across the region that there was no justification for further attacks,” Clinton said.

    Jordan also pointed out that while Clinton was telling the American people a video was to blame, she was emailing her family, the Libyan government and the Egyptian government about a terror attack. At the same time the Obama administration was arguing the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty and Information Management Officer Sean Smith were a result of a spontaneous protest that got out of control, not the result of a terror attack.

  2. Slovenia: Migrants stampede into Slovenia, Croatian police look on

    Footage released Thursday from a Slovenian police helicopter shows hundreds of refugees crossing into Slovenia from Dobova in Croatia with the apparent approval of Croatian authorities.

  3. GLOBE & MAIL – What a difference a day makes: The reframing of Canadian Muslims has begun

    Amira Elghawaby is the communications director at the National Council of Canadian Muslims in Ottawa.

    Women in headscarves are smiling everywhere. They are in the subway station in Montreal with brightly coloured headgear and cell phones to match. They are at a rally in Ottawa, up close with the prime-minister-designate as they snap selfies that will trend on Twitter. They are walking with their heads held just a little higher, returning smiles offered by random passersby.

    What a difference a day makes. The same women who were expressing feelings of fear and discomfort just walking to a mall, or to school, are now the same women whose text emoticons are high-fives, fist bumps, and smiley faces as they share videos of Justin Trudeau bhangra dancing.

    […]Is this now over? Probably not: There is a small but growing cottage industry of anti-Muslim bloggers and commentators who seem bent on suggesting that Islam and Muslims are inherently anti-democratic and dangerous. This may be helping to feed a nascent anti-Muslim movement in this country.

    Yet a change in tone and rhetoric from the highest office in the land is certainly something to smile about. That alone will help change the picture, or at least refocus the lens.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/what-a-difference-a-day-makes-the-reframing-of-canadian-muslims-has-begun/article26935667/

  4. Speech of Viktor Orbán at the EPP Congress

    …This is a migratory movement composed of economic migrants, refugees and also foreign fighters. This is an uncontrolled and unregulated process. I would like to remind you that free choice of a host country is not included in the international law. I also want to underline that there is an unlimited source of supply of people; after Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Africa is now also on the move. The dimension and the volume of the danger is well above our expectations…

    http://www.miniszterelnok.hu/in_english_article/speech_of_viktor_orban_at_the_epp_congress

    • We have faced the same enemy with the same numerical advantage before, we won then and we can again if we will start fighting, this war will not have large scale traditional battles but will rather be a massive series of small unit actions around the world. We are already seeing the future with the formation of local militias by towns and counties (in eastern Europe) so they can protect themselves. We will see many more places forming their own militias over the next year or so.

  5. Viktor Orbán, Hungarian Prime Minister on spanish TV

    ‘Europe is a continent based on Christian values’

    “The Russians are trying to do what we have not got.” “When a crowd rush your home without making clear his intentions, it is an invasion by definition.” Intereconomía TV interview European leader most wanted moment.

    https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gaceta.es%2Fnoticias%2Fentrevista-primer-ministro-hungaro-viktor-orban-22102015-1759&edit-text=&act=url

  6. Islamists ‘recruiting’ at Norway asylum centres

    Radical Muslims have been trying to recruit at reception centres for recently arrived refugees, Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) warns.

    http://www.thelocal.no/20151023/islamists-recruiting-at-norway-asylum-centres

    Austrian minister calls for ‘fortress Europe’

    Austria’s Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner has called for “a fortress Europe” to protect the EU’s external borders as thousands of refugees continue to enter Austria from Slovenia.

    http://www.thelocal.at/20151023/austrian-minister-calls-for-fortress-europe

    Denmark to judge foreign spouses on integration

    Integration Minister Inger Støjberg, who last year caused a stir with her suggestion to make immigration rules that would distinguish “between a Christian American or Swede and a Muslim Somali or Pakistani”, said the new proposal would improve integration.

    http://www.thelocal.dk/20151023/denmark-to-judge-foreign-spouses-on-integration

    Germany’s government plans to begin enforcing a brand-new, tougher law on asylum and deportation from Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s closest aide said on Friday morning.

    http://www.thelocal.de/20151023/new-asylum-law-in-force-by-the-weekend

  7. Putin accuses West of playing ‘double game’ in Syria

    http://news.yahoo.com/putin-accuses-west-double-game-syria-terrorist-groups-155553638.html;_ylt=AwrXgCMsKSpW7Q0AwyvQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByN3UwbTk1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwM5BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg–

    Moscow (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of playing a “double game” with “terrorist” groups in Syria, where Moscow and a US-led coalition are conducting separate bombing campaigns.

    “It’s always difficult to play a double game: declaring a fight against terrorists while simultaneously trying to use some of them to arrange the pieces on the Middle East chess board in one’s own interests,” Putin said at a meeting of political scientists in Sochi known as the Valdai Club.

    “It is impossible to prevail over terrorism if some of the terrorists are being used as a battering ram to overthrow undesirable regimes,” Putin said.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as their Turkish and Saudi counterparts, in Vienna on Friday for crucial talks on the Syrian conflict, a four-year war that has killed more 250,000 people and forced millions from their homes

  8. Palestinian Anger in Jerusalem and West Bank Gets a Violent Soundtrack

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/world/middleeast/palestinians-israel-stabbings-shootings.html?_r=0

    RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian teenagers who came one after another into the True Love gift and music shop on a recent afternoon all had the same request: nationalistic songs — the new ones.
    Stories from Our Advertisers

    The proprietor quickly handed over the CDs that he had just started keeping at the checkout counter, like “Jerusalem Is Bleeding,” featuring the track “It’an, It’an” — “Stab, stab” — with its ominous backbeat.

    “When I listen to these songs it makes me boil inside,” said one customer, Khader Abu Leil, 15, explaining that the thrumming score has helped pump him up for near-daily demonstrations where he hurls stones at Israeli soldiers.
    Continue reading the main story
    Related Coverage

    Israeli police officers cordoned off the site of the attack in Beit Shemesh, Israel, on Thursday.
    Jewish Man Stabbed in Israel by Palestinians as Violence ContinuesOCT. 22, 2015
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday in Berlin, where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
    Netanyahu Denounced for Saying Palestinian Inspired HolocaustOCT. 21, 2015
    A Palestinian man pulled up his shirt at an Israeli checkpoint in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiyya.
    East Jerusalem, Bubbling Over With DespairOCT. 17, 2015
    Leaderless Palestinian Youth, Inspired by Social Media, Drive Rise in Violence in IsraelOCT. 13, 2015
    Palestinians demonstrating near the Gazan border with Israel on Friday carry a man wounded during clashes with Israeli soldiers.
    Palestinian Protests Turn Up Intensity and Draw a Diverse CrowdOCT. 9, 2015

    Inspired by this month’s wave of Palestinian attacks against Israeli Jews and deadly clashes with Israeli security forces, musicians in the occupied West Bank and beyond have produced scores of militaristic, often violent tunes. Published and shared on YouTube and Facebook, they form something of an intifada soundtrack, illustrated by videos that include gritty clips from fresh events.

  9. Paris police clear last migrant camp

    http://news.yahoo.com/paris-police-clear-last-migrant-camp-131259205.html;_ylt=AwrXoCDiMipWMCAArTLQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByb2lvbXVuBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg–

    Paris (AFP) – More than 1,300 migrants were moved out of a disused Paris school on Friday, the last major camp in the French capital and where they had spent months in increasingly rough conditions.

    Police transported the group from the school in a fleet of buses early in the morning, according to AFP journalists at the scene, taking them to hostels and special accommodation around Pari

    “I don’t know where we’re going, but it has to be better than here: we can have a shower, food. Here, there were too many fights,” said a Moroccan man, carrying two stuffed suitcases.

  10. Refugees Stack up on Croatia-Serbia Border

    As Slovenia deploys troops to limit the influx of refugees into Slovenia, thousands of migrants are still waiting to cross into Croatia from Serbia.

    Refugees are piling up on the border between Croatia and Serbia, where around 3,500 were located at the border crossing at Berkasovo-Bapska on Wednesday morning.

    Croatian police are allowing refugees to enter periodically in groups of between 50 and 100, transporting them to the nearby camp in Opatovac, where about 4,207 refugees are located at the moment.

    Many spent the night in the rain, while only some took shelter inside tents set by UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

    Melita Sunjic, UNHCR spokesperson, said that the most of the refugees refused to withdraw to tents placed in Serbian territory, hoping that Croatia will open the crossing.

  11. At least 42 dead in French pensioners coach crash blaze

    http://news.yahoo.com/least-39-dead-road-accident-southwestern-france-071849831.html;_ylt=AwrXoCDiMipWMCAArjLQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByYnR1Zmd1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg–

    Puisseguin (France) (AFP) – At least 42 people were killed when a coach carrying elderly day-trippers collided with a lorry and burst into flames in southwest France on Friday, in the country’s worst road accident for three decades.

    The coach was carrying a club of pensioners on an excursion when it collided with the lorry near the village of Puisseguin among the vineyards of the St Emilion region, east of Bordeaux.

    Many of the victims were thought to have died in the fire, according to emergency workers and local authorities.

    Images shown on French television showed the coach had been completely burned, leaving only a charred shell.

    • The reports are saying that the truck driver lost control of the truck and stayed in the center of the road so the bus couldn’t get our of they way.

  12. Russia, Jordan agree on military coordination on Syria

    http://www.oann.com/russia-jordan-agree-on-military-coordination-on-syria/

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and Jordan have agreed to coordinate their military actions on Syria by setting up a “special working mechanism” in the Jordanian capital Amman, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

    Russia, which is bombing rebel targets in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, has already forged close cooperation with the governments of Iraq, Syria and Iran, which are all part of a loose Shi’ite alliance pursuing different aims from those of the United States and its allies.

    Jordan, however, is Sunni-dominated and closely aligned with Washington, so Moscow’s deal with Jordan could mark a shift in the alliances engaged in the Syria conflict.

    “The military of the two countries have agreed to coordinate their actions through a working mechanism in Amman, capital of Jordan,” Lavrov said in comments broadcast by Rossiya-24 television channel.

    • Russia is filling the vacuum that Obama left, things are going to be real nasty in the future with Putin establishing a colony in Syria.

  13. U.S., Russia, Turkey, Saudi explore political solution on Syria

    http://www.oann.com/u-s-russia-turkey-saudi-explore-political-solution-on-syria/

    VIENNA (Reuters) – The United States, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia met on Friday to explore a political solution to the Syrian civil war despite the basic U.S.-Russian disagreement over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s fate.

    There were no outward signs of progress toward ending the four-year conflict as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after which they held four-way talks with their Saudi and Turkish counterparts.

    Russia’s three-week-old campaign of air strikes against Islamist groups opposed to Assad has halted a summer offensive by rebels, including some backed by the United States and its allies, which had eroded Assad’s control in the heavily populated west of the country.

    Russia has rejected Western calls for Assad to step down, saying Syria’s leadership can only be decided by the Syrian people via elections, and in the clearest sign of its backing, Russian President Vladimir hosted him in Moscow this week.

  14. Russian military mission in Syria brings history full circle

    http://www.oann.com/russian-military-mission-in-syria-brings-history-full-circle/

    MOSCOW/BISHKEK (Reuters) – Valery Anisimov and his fellow Russian servicemen were smuggled out of the Black Sea hiding below the decks of their ship, they grew their hair long so they could pass as tourists, then landed at a Syrian port to join up with government military units.

    Their trip took place in January 1983, 32 years before Russia’s military again joined a Syrian conflict with its launch last month of air strikes on militant groups opposed to the Damascus government.

    As Anisimov’s story shows, even if Russia’s entry into the Syrian conflict may have caught Western countries off guard, it is the continuation of a long history of involvement in the Middle East.

    That role declined after the collapse of the Soviet Union left Russia broke and in chaos, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has now restored what, in the Kremlin’s eyes, is business as usual in the region.

    “We moved away from supporting the Arabs,” said Pogos Akopov, a retired diplomat who served as Soviet ambassador to Egypt, Libya and Kuwait. “It was temporary. And it was corrected by whom? By Putin.”

    • This ties in with the articles by Dyer and Kissinger about what is happening in Syria, Russia is returning to its historic goal in the MIddle East, Russia’s quest for land and domination of massive amounts of the world goes back to the Czars and never changed during the Communist domination of Russia.

      Obama with is hatred of Western Civilization in general and the US in particular has created an opportunity for the ancient Empires to rebuild, in the Middle East we are facing a three fold effort with the Iranian (Persian) empire trying to rebuild, the Ottoman (Caliphate) Empire to reform and Russia with its historic quest for land and power in that region.

      Moving further East we find China seeking to gain new territory, under the Communist they conquered Tibet and Mongolia as well as attacking and seizing a large portion of India in the Himalayan mountains. To this day the Chinese and Indian armies face off over a very hostile border in that region.

      China is now making claims on massive stretches of both international waters and regions traditionally part of other nations. They are building artificial islands on reefs and then building navel bases and military airfields. The regions claimed fall into two categories, 1) undeveloped mineral rich areas and 2) choke points into the South China Sea. The choke points are where the military and naval bases are being build.

      All of this has come about because the Marxists in the west worked to destroy the west so they could create a one world Marxist government/empire. They attacked nationalism in Europe blaming it for WWII and thus laying Europe open for conquest and they have been doing his in the US with lesser success. The election of Obama has given them the opportunity to advance their goals and created the situation that we are currently facing. I don’t think that the Islamic conquest is inevitable but the war that is a result of the Marxist efforts will change much in the world. The separatist movements started by the communist during the Cold War will continue to work and in some cases succeed in splitting sections of nations into new nations. These movements are helping the Islamists in their goal and making the war longer and bloodier.

  15. China cuts rates again as growth engine stalls

    http://www.oann.com/chinas-central-bank-cuts-rates-for-sixth-time-since-november/

    BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank cut interest rates on Friday for the sixth time in less than a year, and it again lowered the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves in a bid to jump start growth in its stuttering economy.

    Monetary policy easing in the world’s second-largest economy is at its most aggressive since the 2008/09 financial crisis, as growth looks set to slip to a 25-year-low this year of under 7 percent.

    Yet underscoring China’s drive to deepen financial reforms, which many believe are necessary to invigorate the economy, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it was freeing the interest rate market by scrapping a ceiling on deposit rates.

    The change, which Beijing had promised to deliver for months, will in theory allow banks to price loans according to their risk, and remove a distortion to the price of credit that analysts say fuels wasteful investment in China.

    • The leftist like to blame all ills on economic inequality when there are other causes, WWIII will become much worse due to the economic crisis caused by the Keynesian economics of the left. Watch the worlds economy as the war increases, the economic crash will make the problem of reclaiming the West much harder.

      • Giuliani is a brilliant man, I don’t agree with all of his positions but on Hillary he is spot on, she is a criminal liar who doesn’t have the best interest of the US as her goal.

    • Clinton Defends Planned Parenthood at DC Forum

      In a speech before a women’s forum in Washington, Hillary Rodham Clinton defended Planned Parenthood, and called the idea of a special congressional committee to investigate the organization a “partisan witch hunt.” (Oct. 23)

  16. Comey: Feds have roughly 900 domestic probes about Islamic State operatives

    FBI Director James Comey said Friday that federal authorities have an estimated 900 active investigations pending against suspected Islamic State-inspired operatives across the country.

    In a speech to intelligence officials, Comey said that the number of inquiries is “slowly climbing” as ISIL has sought to expand their reach into the U.S., targeting largely young, disaffected potential operatives through a provocative social media campaign.

    Comey has previously discussed the national scope of U.S.-based ISIL inquiries. But rarely has there been a public reference to a number of such investigations.

    Because the pace of the investigations has varied in the last several months, Comey said it was still unclear whether the bureau had the necessary resources to meet the demand. Comey referred to a particularly taxing period in mid-summer when federal authorities expressed public concern about the prospect of an attack around the July Fourth holiday.

    “If that becomes the new normal … That would be hard to keep up,” the director said, though he said the pace has eased somewhat recently.

    Since July 1, the director said, investigators have been tracking a decline in numbers of Americans seeking to travel to Syria to join forces with ISIL. But it is unclear how that drop-off may be affecting the domestic threat.

    “Something has happened that is flattening the curve (the number of travelers),” he said.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/23/fbi-comey-isil-domestic-probes/74455460/

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

    FBI Director James Comey testifies on Syrian refugees

  17. Hillary Clinton’s 5 Biggest Lies in Her Benghazi Testimony

    http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/22/hillary-clintons-5-biggest-lies-benghazi-testimony/

    Vice President Joe Biden’s announcement on Wednesday that he would not run for president of the United States made it a foregone conclusion that the media would worship at the shrine of Hillary Clinton during her Benghazi testimony on Thursday.

    They have no other choice. The precious must be protected at all costs, which means covering up for her lies, her calculated obfuscations, and her charmless faux-gravity.

    Already the narrative has been set: Hillary Clinton was a victim of a political Benghazi committee dedicated to her destruction. Every Congressional committee in history has entailed some political motivation—would anyone argue that the Watergate investigations were completely apolitical?—but the media myopically focused on the idiotic comments of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
    45%
    before Hillary’s testimony, crafting the story of her victimization before it had even taken place.

    Hillary, as always, is the poor, put-upon victim of a vast right-wing conspiracy. She set up a private email server and deleted relevant emails from it for purely political reasons; she pressed for a pointless invasion of Libya for political reasons, chortled at its conquest for political reasons, watched it descend into chaos while doing nothing for political reasons, and then allowed her ambassador to twist in the Libyan tornado without proper security for political reasons; finally, she covered up that disaster by lying about its causes for political reasons. But those who ask questions about such matters are partisan politicians.

  18. Antarctic sea ice hit 35-year record high Saturday

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/23/antarctic-sea-ice-hit-35-year-record-high-saturday/

    Antarctic sea ice has grown to a record large extent for a second straight year, baffling scientists seeking to understand why this ice is expanding rather than shrinking in a warming world.

    On Saturday, the ice extent reached 19.51 million square kilometers, according to data posted on the National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site. That number bested record high levels set earlier this month and in 2012 (of 19.48 million square kilometers). Records date back to October 1978.

    The increasing ice is especially perplexing since the water beneath the ice has warmed, not cooled.

    “The overwhelming evidence is that the Southern Ocean is warming,” said Jinlun Zhang, a University of Washington scientist, studying Antarctic ice. “Why would sea ice be increasing? Although the rate of increase is small, it is a puzzle to scientists.”

    In a new study in the Journal of Climate, Zhang finds both strengthening and converging winds around the South Pole can explain 80 percent of the increase in ice volume which has been observed.

    • They need to recheck the water temps, the ice says their instruments are now working right.

  19. Local and National Media Ignore RPG Attack Just Miles from Texas Border

    http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/10/22/local-and-national-media-ignore-rpg-attack-just-miles-from-texas-border/

    Local and National media outlets have all but ignored an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) attack on a Mexican police headquarters building located just south of the Texas border town of Eagle Pass. This seems to follow a pattern of news outlets ignoring the cartel war occurring just south of the major Texas cities of McAllen and Brownsville.

    On Friday evening, a SUV loaded with gunmen suspected to be members of the Los Zetas drug cartel, attacked a police building that is headquarters of a specialized police SWAT (GATES in Spanish) team in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila. Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Ortiz reported the cartel gunmen fired a Russian RPG-7 at the state police building. The RPG did not explode but members of the Mexican military were dispatched to retrieve it and deactivate the device.

    Despite the use of such a powerful weapon so close to the borders of the United States, a weapon used by terrorists around the world, not one U.S. news outlet appears to have covered the incident. The incident was covered by Mexican news agencies, both locally and nationally.

    The massive violence just south of the Texas/Mexico border between fractions of the Gulf Cartel also seem to go unreported in the U.S. with the except

    • The various terrorist groups are reported to be paying the drug gangs foe passage across the border.

  20. Former Defense Secretary Gates Describes Obama-Era Morale Problem in Military

    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/robert-gates-i-do-have-sense-there-morale-problem-military

    (CNSNews.com) – At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates gave three reasons for declining morale in the U.S. military, as the war in Afghanistan ramps down and budget constraints persist.

    Sen. Ted Cruz asked Gates, “Do you share my concerns about declining morale in the military, and if so, what do you see as the cause of these challenges?”

    Video at site

  21. Germany: Asylum Seekers Make Demands

    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6753/germany-migrants-demands

    Asylum seekers are increasingly using tactics such as hunger strikes, lawsuits and threats of violence in efforts to force German authorities to comply with an ever-growing list of demands.

    Many migrants, unhappy with living conditions in German refugee shelters, are demanding that they immediately be given their own homes or apartments. Others are angry that German bureaucrats are taking too long to process their asylum applications. Still others are upset over delays in obtaining social welfare payments.

    Although most asylum seekers in Germany have a roof over their head, and receive three hot meals a day, as well as free clothing and healthcare, many are demanding: more money, more comfortable beds, more hot water, more ethnic food, more recreational facilities, more privacy — and, of course, their own homes.

    Germany will receive as many as 1.5 million asylum seekers in 2015, including 920,000 in the last quarter of 2015 alone, according to government estimates. This figure is nearly double the previous estimate, from August, which was 800,000 for all of 2015. By comparison, Germany received 202,000 asylum seekers in all of 2014.

    With refugee shelters across the country already filled to capacity, and more than 10,000 new migrants entering Germany every day, Germany is straining to care for all the newcomers, many of whom are proving to be ungrateful and impatient guests.

      • My reaction is that if they don’t want to eat anything that happens to them is their fault. Let them starve until they get hungry enough to eat and then leave the country.

  22. Crazy like a fox

    http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1015/glick102315.php3

    Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is crazy like a fox.

    Netanyahu’s assertion on Tuesday before the World Zionist Congress that the founder of the Palestinian people, Haj Amin al-Husseini, convinced Adolf Hitler to eradicate rather than expel the Jews of Europe was an overstatement of Husseini’s role.

    No, the Holocaust was not Husseini’s idea.

    But he was a partner in perpetrating and promoting it. He also made it inevitable.

    As I detailed in my book The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, during the course of Husseini’s meeting with Hitler in Berlin in November 1941, Hitler told the Arab leader of his plan to eradicate European Jewry.

    Husseini told Hitler that he would support the Nazis, and rally the Arab world to their side, if Hitler agreed to two conditions: that Hitler support his bid to rule over a postwar Arab state comprised of present-day Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel; and that Hitler support the genocide of Middle Eastern Jewry.

    Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1015/glick102315.php3#1z2YeBWLyWQq0cQg.99

  23. Obama Vetoes Defense Bill to Protect Al Qaeda Terrorists
    National defense comes last. Terrorists come first.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/260542/obama-vetoes-defense-bill-protect-al-qaeda-daniel-greenfield

    At least he’s got his priorities in order. National defense comes last. Terrorists come first.

    Obama will veto a major defense policy bill Thursday, just two days after the Republican-controlled Congress sent it to his desk.

    Obama plans to hold a photo op in the Oval Office when he uses his veto pen on the National Defense Authorization Act, according to his public schedule.

    Obama is picking a fight over spending, but the real priority are his favorite people in the world; Muslim terrorists.

    He told reporters the legislation “specifically impedes our ability to close Guantanamo in a way that I have repeatedly argued is counterproductive to our efforts to defeat terrorism around the world” and he charged that the facility has become one of the “premier mechanisms” for the recruitment for terrorists.

  24. Turkish Smoke and Mirrors
    Conspiracy theories run rife in Turkey.

    Turkey is a field of daisies for conspiracy freaks, as there is ample opportunity to romp around. In the 1990s with the low-intensity war against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) there was a whole spate of extra-judicial killings involving not only suspected members of the PKK and its supporters but also critical journalists. With the capture of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999 and the advent of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government in 2002, all this was supposed to come to an end.

    Now Turkey’s prime minister (and former foreign minister) Ahmet Davutoglu, who is generally regarded as President Erdogan’s stooge, has warned Kurdish voters that unless the AKP is returned to power at the new elections on November 1, they can expect a new period of unsolved murders and disappearances of Kurdish dissidents. Not that this hasn’t already happened.

    The greatest threat to President Erdogan’s grip on power is the rise of the Kurdish-based HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) under the leadership of Selahattin Demirtas and his co-chair Figen Yüksekdag. At the June elections the HDP was the first Kurdish party to exceed the electoral threshold of 10 percent and with 13 percent of the votes seized 80 of the Turkish parliament’s 550 seats that the AKP regarded as belonging to them. Erdogan publicly declared the HDP was the parliamentary extension of the PKK, and in the run-up to the elections there were attacks on the HDP’s offices, supporters and vehicles as well as a bomb attack on a party rally in Diyarbakir two days before.

    • Kurds out-breed Turks. Now constitute 20% of the population, besides the sizable Kurdish enclaves elsewhere in the region.
      Freak-out fact for the Queer Queen of the Ottomans.

  25. Nigeria bombs leave at least 37 dead in Maiduguri and Yola (BBC, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34619071

    “Two bomb attacks in north-eastern Nigeria have left at least 37 people dead and more than 100 injured, officials say.

    At least 30 people died when a bomb targeted a newly opened mosque in the town of Yola.
    Earlier, seven people were killed in a suicide bombing in Maiduguri.

    No-one has claimed responsibility for the bombings but the Islamist group Boko Haram has carried out many attacks in the area.

    The group has targeted both Christians and Muslims who do not adhere to their ideology.

    The first blast, in Maiduguri, occurred early on Friday morning as worshippers arrived for dawn prayers.

    An eyewitness told AFP that there was one suicide bomber involved…”

  26. Indonesia’s Aceh introduces strict anti-gay law (BBC, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34612544

    “Strict laws against homosexuality have come into effect in the conservative Indonesian province of Aceh.

    Gay sex between Muslim men or women, both locals and foreigners, can now be punished with 100 strokes of the cane.

    The law, passed in 2014 but only now being enforced, has faced opposition by rights groups.

    The strictly Muslim province has become increasingly conservative in recent years and is the only one in Indonesia allowed to implement Sharia law.

    Under the new laws, adultery also carries a possible penalty of 100 strokes. Those who accuse someone of adultery without proof could themselves face 80 lashes.

    “The law is to safeguard human dignity. It is to protect Aceh’s Muslims from committing immoral acts,” provincial Sharia chief Syahrizal Abbas told the AFP news agency.

    But Ismail Hasani, from human rights group the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, criticised the law as “cruel, inhumane and against the constitution”.

    Gay sex is not illegal in the rest of Indonesia.

    Aceh has allowed brought in its own laws ever since reaching an agreement with the national government in 2001 to end a separatist movement.

    The province has recently seen a deterioration in relations between the Muslim majority and smaller religious groups such as Christians.

    Churches have been destroyed in violent protests in recent weeks or have been demolished by local authorities who said they lacked proper permits.”

  27. Seeking asylum on children’s bicycles (BBC, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34602208

    “Hundreds of migrants have cycled into Norway from Russia after finding a new route into Europe that avoids the deadly Mediterranean crossing. They are not allowed to cross the Arctic border on foot, so a lucrative trade in bicycles has opened up, with migrants buying bikes and pedalling the final few metres.

    Fahed half squats and uses the palm of his hand to show me the height of the bicycle he rode across Russia’s border with Norway. At full height he is about 5ft 10in tall but the hand he is gesturing with is about level with his knee.

    “You rode a children’s bicycle?” I ask.

    “Yes, yes,” He replies. “One for kids.”

    He smiles and then starts to laugh before taking another drag on his cigarette…”

  28. Mortar Rounds Kill 3 at Anti-Islamist Protest in Libya (abcnews, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mortar-rounds-kill-anti-islamist-protest-libya-34684374

    “Medical officials say mortar rounds struck an anti-Islamist demonstration in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi, killing three civilians and wounding at least nine.

    The officials say Friday’s shelling of nearly 1,000 protesters was the second deadly attack on an anti-Islamist rally this week.

    Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 toppling and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The internationally recognized government is confined to the country’s east, while a rival Islamist-led government holds the capital, Tripoli.

    Friday’s protesters were chanting against U.N.-brokered talks with Islamists and the special U.N. envoy for Libya.

    Last month, Bernardino Leon condemned army chief Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s military escalation against Benghazi’s Islamists as “a clear attempt to undermine” dialogue, outraging residents.

    The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters.”

  29. Dozens Killed in Battle for Western Yemeni City of Taiz (abcnews, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/scores-killed-battle-western-yemeni-city-34674637

    “Heavy fighting between Yemeni pro-government forces and Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the western city of Taiz has killed 76 people since Wednesday, Yemeni security officials said Friday.

    Of those killed, 11 were civilians and the rest were fighters from both sides. Another 100 people have been wounded in fighting in the city, where a Saudi-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes against the rebels…”

  30. 20 killed, several injured as suicide bomber strikes in Jacobabad (tribune, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/978248/10-killed-several-injured-in-blast-in-jacobabad/

    “At least 20 people were killed and several others injured when a suicide bomber targeted a busy road in Jacobabad on Friday, police said.

    Rescue teams reached Quetta road – the site of the attack – and began shifting the injured to nearby hospitals, Express News reported.

    According to deputy superintendent police, the body of a suspected suicide bomber was found from the scene…”

  31. Canada’s new PM is right: Bombs won’t beat ISIS (CNN,Oct 23, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/23/opinions/canada-isis-trudeau/index.html

    “(CNN)The day after Monday’s Canadian federal election, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister designate, received a congratulatory call from U.S. President Barack Obama. During their conversation, Trudeau told Obama that he was going to keep his promise to the Canadian electorate to end the bombing mission against ISIS in Iraq and Syria initiated by his predecessor, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, late last year.

    In early October 2014, Parliament approved an initial 6-month bombing campaign that was restricted to Iraq. Both opposition parties, the Liberals and the New Democrats, voted against it, though public opinion was generally favorable.

    On October 22, 2014, a lone gunman shot dead Corporal Nathan Cirillo while he was on ceremonial sentry duty, guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa. The gunman then ran to Parliament Hill and entered Centre Block, where he died in a dramatic shootout with police. This attack occurred two days after another man ran down two military officers with his car in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, killing Warrant officer Patrice Vincent. Both attackers turned out to be self-radicalized Muslim converts with troubled pasts and a history of mental illness.

    In the wake of these two “lone wolf” attacks, the Harper government trumpeted the threat of homegrown terrorism, arguing that Canada was directly threatened by the radical ideology of ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State.

    This flew in the face of clear evidence that ISIS was more interested in building a functioning state than attacking the West, that foreign fighters were joining them to aid in this state-building enterprise, and that the vast majority of returnees were not motivated to continue the attack at home.

    By the spring of 2015, the Harper government had expanded the bombing mission to include Syria, and had introduced draconian anti-terror legislation.

    Again, public opinion was largely in favor.

    In August, when Prime Minister Harper called an election, it had already become clear to many Canadians that the Syrian conflict was a quagmire, and that the homegrown threat, though admittedly real, was exaggerated.

    Justin Trudeau’s campaign promise to end the bombing mission, while continuing to train Iraqis away from the front lines, represented a balanced approach to recognizing the complexity of the Syrian conflict and the limited options available to the West.

    While counterterrorism is most often linked with the exercise of “hard power” (intelligence, law, policing, and military power), it must increasingly make use of “soft power” (political, social, and economic control, together with broader policy initiatives dealing with the environment, development, critical infrastructure, migration, and humanitarian intervention).

    The Syrian conflict has its roots in a volatile mix of discriminatory practices by government, widespread corruption, chronic lack of opportunity for young people, lack of essential services, all combined to convince many that there is no alternative other than violent extremism and terrorism. A strictly military approach to such a complex situation is dangerously reductionist. As the great American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, wrote in 1966: “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”

    The Sunni Arabs of Iraq and Syria support ISIS only because they have no other option in a divided and discriminatory environment where Shia governments favor their own, with support from Iran and Hezbollah, and Kurds enjoy the support of the U.S. and its allies (to Turkey’s great chagrin).

    Because ISIS is the only Sunni force capable of confronting the Shia forces in both Iraq and Syria, it receives varying degrees of support from neighboring Sunni states, particularly Saudi Arabia. The Syrian conflict is in many ways a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and threatens to become a kind of proxy Cold War between Russia and the U.S.

    Political, economic, social, humanitarian, and diplomatic initiatives are urgently needed if a long-lasting solution is to be found. With Russia entering the fray on the side of Bashar al-Assad, and supposedly moderate rebels less and less capable of sustained and effective combat, as well as increasing waves of desperate refugees fleeing rapidly escalating violence, with no end in sight, a comprehensive approach is all the more imperative.

    Justin Trudeau’s decision to end Canada’s participation in the bombing campaign against ISIS is a step in the right direction.

    Ronald Crelinsten is Associate Fellow with the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria and former Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. His books include “Counterterrorism,” “Western Responses to Terrorism,” and “The Politics of Pain: Torturers and Their Masters.” The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.”

  32. Heading for Britain: ISIS sends ASSASSINS into UN refugee camps to murder Christians (express, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/614249/ISIS-sends-ASSASSINS-UN-refugee-camps-could-come-Britain

    “The fanatical jihadis are sending teams of trained killers into camps disguised as refugees to kidnap and kill vulnerable Christians.

    But refugees are terrified to report many of the killings in case they are targeted next, according to aid workers.

    The horrifying tactic emerged after one terrorist got cold feet and renounced jihad after witnessing Christians helping out other refugees within the camp…”

  33. Child rapist jailed for LIFE after he is caught on CCTV snatching 6-year-old on the street (express, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/614225/Child-rapist-jailed-for-LIFE-after-he-is-caught-on-CCTV-snatching-6-year-old-on-the-street

    “Imran Khan, 34, was on licence for attacking a 12-year-old girl when he pounced on his next victim in broad daylight after “doing laps”, “hoping for the opportunity to arise”.

    After seeing the youngster riding around on her bike, he bundled her into the boot of his car where he kept her for more than half an hour before sexually assaulting her.

    Khan then dumped her in a wheelie bin before she later freed herself and was found wandering alone in distress on the afternoon of March 26.

    He was today jailed for life at Burnley Crown Court in Lancashire.

    Judge Simon Newell told him: “It was planned and predatory and was for the satisfaction of your own perverted sexual desires…”

  34. ISIS pledge second Holocaust: Horrifying jihadis’ threat as fears for Jewish people rises (express, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/614235/Islamic-State-Holocaust-vow-kill-Jewish-people-ISIS-Israel

    “Sick militants have released a horrifying video warning that “there will not be a single Jew left in Jerusalem and throughout the country”.

    Dressed in army fatigues and wearing a balaclava, a terror fighter horrifyingly said ISIS would “move to eradicate the disease… worldwide”.

    He adds: “Soon there will not be one Jew left in Jerusalem.”

    The sickening footage comes after this month’s wave of Palestinian attacks against Israeli Jews and deadly clashes with Israeli security forces…”

  35. ‘R u okay with my age?’ Newlywed paedophile arrives to meet ’11-year-old girl’ for sex after grooming her online… only to be confronted by ‘Dark Justice’ vigilantes who had lured him into trap
    (dailymail, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3286591/Moment-Dark-Justice-vigilantes-caught-newlywed-paedophile-trying-meet-11-year-old-girl-sex-grooming-dating-site-WhatsApp.html

    “This is the moment a paedophile was snared trying to meet an 11-year-old girl for sex by an internet vigilante group.

    Hazaa Said had exchanged explicit messages with the fake schoolgirl and even sent a picture of his genitals before attempting to meet her in Newcastle.

    He has become the sixth pervert to be jailed after being snared by Dark Justice – a group which poses as schoolgirls online to trap men who are interested in underage sex.

    This time, the group, while posing as 11-year-old ‘Amanda’ arranged to meet Said, who had been married for just a matter of months, in Newcastle.

    The 24-year-old, who is originally from Oman in the Gulf but came to the UK to study, told detectives he was unclear about English law…”

  36. Saudi Arabia: Eight of the 12 surviving sons of country’s monarch support move to oust King Salman

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-power-struggle-between-king-salman-and-mohammed-bin-salman-could-bring-down-the-a6706801.html

    Eight of the 12 surviving sons of Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch are supporting a move to oust King Salman, 79, the country’s ailing ruler, and replace him with his 73-year-old brother, according to a dissident prince.

    The prince also claims that a clear majority of the country’s powerful Islamic clerics, known as the Ulama, would back a palace coup to oust the current King and install Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, a former Interior Minister, in his place. “The Ulama and religious people prefer Prince Ahmed – not all of them, but 75 per cent,” said the prince, himself a grandson of King Ibn Saud, who founded the ruling dynasty in 1932.

    Support from the clerics would be vital for any change of monarch, since in the Saudi system only they have the power to confer religious and therefore political legitimacy on the leadership.

  37. French journalist assaulted by pro-Israel vigilantes in Paris (telegraph, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11952323/French-journalist-assaulted-by-pro-Israel-vigilantes-in-Paris.html

    “A leading French journalist has been assaulted by pro-Israel vigilantes as a mob tried to storm the offices of the country’s national news agency in Paris.

    David Perrotin, who currently writes for the news site BuzzFeed, was placed under protection after being attacked by around 12 masked men brandishing batons on Thursday night.

    All were linked to the Jewish Defence League (JDL), a notoriously violent group that was protesting against Agence France Presse’s (AFP) coverage of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

    Trouble broke out soon after 8pm when around 100 people brandishing Zionist flags and letting off flares tried to storm Agence France Presse (AFP)

    As the group approached the entrance to the building, opposite the Paris stock exchange in the centre of the capital, tear gas was sprayed in their faces, as skirmishes with CRS riot police broke out.

    Some of the demonstrators were shouting “We’re coming to get you!” at journalists, while other screamed: “Islamic terrorists!”

    The words ‘AFP – collabos’ were also shouted in reference to the French collaborating with the Nazis during the Second World War, as well as ‘SS-CRS’, after Adolf Hitler’s Schutzstaffel ‘protection squads’.

    Mr Perrotin was covering the details of the violence using Twitter, and at around 8pm posted the words: “A demonstrator told me ‘I warned the JDL that you’re here Mr Perrotin’.”

    The journalist has frequently exposed the work of the JDL, who are banned and classed as a terrorist group in both Israel and the USA, where it features on an FBI terror list.

    Mr Perrotin was set upon by the gang, some of whom were masked. After being assaulted, Mr Perrotin ran towards police lines, where he was held for his own protection…”

  38. Muslim men having ’20 children each’ because of polygomy, peer claims (telegraph, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11952163/Muslim-men-having-20-children-each-because-of-polygomy-peer-claims.html

    “Muslim men in some communities are having up to 20 children each because of polygomy and the rise of “religiously sanctioned gender discrimination” under Sharia Law, peers have warned.

    Baroness Cox, a cross-bench peer, highlighted a series of “shocking” examples of the impact of Sharia law on Muslim women in Britain as she called for them to be given greater protection under equality legislation.

    She disclosed one case in which a 63-year-old man tried to divorce his 23-year-old wife and arrange her marriage to a Pakistani man who needed a visa.

    He asked a gynaecologist to “repair the hymen” of his wife so she could remarry, and stood to make £10,000 “for effecting the arrangement”.

    “Such shocking cases surely cannot be allowed to continue,” she said. “The rights of Muslim women and the rule of law in our land must be upheld.”

    In other examples, Baroness Cox revealed that Muslim men divorce their wives by simply saying or writing “I divorce you” three times.

    She added: “My Muslim friends tell me that in some communities with high polygamy and divorce rates, men may have up to 20 children each.

    Clearly, youngsters growing up in dysfunctional families may be vulnerable to extremism and demography may affect democracy.”

    She put forward proposals to close a loophole in the Equality Act which she said enables Sharia courts to practice sexual discrimination.

    Baroness Deech, another cross-bench peer, supported the bill and said: “We must not tolerate the sweeping of violence against women or children under the carpet by any religion in the name of faith.”

    Labour’s Baroness Donaghy, a former chair of the arbitration service Acas, also backing the Bill, said it was not that long ago that women were unequal before the law.

    “We cannot afford to go backwards and tolerate a situation where any woman is living in fear and isolation.

    “More needs to be done. This is not confined to Sharia law or Muslim religion. These parallel laws which discriminate against women have existed and may still exist in other religions.”

    Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of MigrationWatch, said Britain was entirely different to Muslim countries, adding: “Those who come must accept that.”

    The independent crossbench peer said: “We must be prepared to insist that there can be only one law.

    “We must get away from what I call the Rotherham complex where the authorities were so afraid of offending a minority community that they turned a blind eye to the appalling abuse of young mainly British girls.”

    Lord Faulks, the justice minister, highlighted a government review of the operation of Sharia Councils but said that new laws were not needed as there are already protections in common law and existing legislation.”

  39. Krauthammer: “We’re Living In An Age Where What You Say And Its Relation With The Facts Is Completely Irrelevant

    http://affluentinvestor.com/2015/10/why-have-gold-miners-stopped-hedging-against-gold-prices/

    There are two ways to run a gold mining company. One respects the simple fact that it is producing money. It is not eager to trade its the money it produces for government paper, legal tender laws be damned. It keeps its books in gold, and produces and trades to earn more money (i.e. gold).

    This article is about the other kind, the conventional gold miner in our dollarized world. With its books in dollars, and more importantly its debt in dollars, it must generate positive cash flow in dollars. Or else.

    It faces constant temptation (and shareholder pressure) to make a leveraged bet on the price of gold. If it wins, then its debts shrink in proportion. However, if it’s wrong and the gold price falls, it can be crushed into bankruptcy. Such is the nature of having a debt in a foreign currency when that currency rises. Even though the dollar falls over the long term, there can be wicked periods when it is rising such as 2012-present.

    At the LBMA conference in Vienna, the most interesting panel for me was the one on Producer Hedging and Price Risk Management. In fact, to this last point, Courtney Lynn the Treasurer of Coeur Mining said miners have no special foreknowledge of the gold price.

    Read more at http://affluentinvestor.com/2015/10/why-have-gold-miners-stopped-hedging-against-gold-prices/#dWMMB85QtQhy4Vdo.99

  40. Blasts in Bangladesh target Shias, kill at least one, wound dozens (reuters, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/24/us-bangladesh-bomb-killed-idUSKCN0SI02020151024

    “A series of blasts targeting Shia Muslims in Dhaka killed at least one person and wounded dozens more early on Saturday as they gathered for a procession in the old part of the Bangladesh capital to mark the holy day of Ashura, police said.

    Police cordoned off the area and were investigating the blasts, which they said were caused by improvised explosive devices. They said it was unclear who carried out the attack.

    Witnesses said that people ran frantically after blasts, losing their flip-flops and sandals as they scattered.

    “It is our apprehension that blasts were carried out only to panic the people and to create a chaotic situation,” Colonel Ziaul Ahsan, an additional director general of the elite Rapid Action Battalion, told reporters.

    At least 10 people were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and most of them were in a stable condition, according to Nazimunnesa, a deputy director.

    Attacks on the Shia minority have been rare in Sunni majority Bangladesh, but Sunni militant groups have become more active.”

  41. Pakistan says cannot kill Taliban while inviting them to peace talks (reuters, Oct 23, 2015)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/23/us-usa-pakistan-taliban-idUSKCN0SH2MA20151023

    “Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Friday he had told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that Pakistan was prepared to help revive stalled Afghan peace talks but could not bring the Taliban to the negotiating table “and be asked to kill them at the same time.”

    Sharif, who was speaking at a Washington think tank a day after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, did not elaborate, but was apparently referring to U.S. calls for Pakistan to crack down on Taliban and other militant sanctuaries within Pakistan.

    A senior official of the U.S. administration said the United States appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to advance an Afghan-led reconciliation process, but “had repeatedly stressed that ‘kill or talk’ is not the choice.”

    “A successful political process requires continued pressure on those that would seek to use violence against civilians or the state to achieve their goals,” the official said.

    “We are encouraging Islamabad to take action against the Taliban, including the Haqqani Network, inside Pakistan as a means to support the peace talks.”

    The official added that Washington stressed in discussions with Pakistan that it expected continued cooperation against those planning attacks against U.S. forces.

    “We believe Pakistani pressure on the Taliban, including the Haqqani Network, is key to forcing the Taliban leadership to question the viability of its military campaign to achieve their political goals,” the official said.

    At the same time, the official said the United States welcomed Pakistan’s commitment in a joint statement with the United States on Thursday to counter all militant groups, including the Haqqani network, a militant group operating inside Afghanistan that is considered close to Pakistani intelligence.

    In his speech, Sharif said Pakistan had no reason to want violence in Afghanistan.

    In a joint statement on Thursday, Obama and Sharif expressed their commitment to the Afghan peace process and called on Taliban leaders to enter direct talks with Kabul, which have stalled since inaugural discussions in Pakistan in July.

    The talks broke down after the Afghan intelligence agency said Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been dead for two years.”

  42. Turkey urges EU to fulfill pledges to tackle migrants

    The EU must fulfill pledges to offer Turkey three billion euros (S$4.6 billion) a year and visa-free travel for Turks in return for cooperation to stem the flow of migrants, Ankara’s ambassador in Brussels said on Friday (Oct 23).

    The European Union must also break the stalemate in negotiations for Turkey to join the 28-nation bloc and resume inviting Turkish leaders to EU summits in order to seal a cooperation deal, Ambassador Selim Yenel told AFP.

    “It is only operational if the EU delivers on its pledges, the four pledges that they gave,” Yenel said in an interview in his Brussels office.

    He appeared to suggest it could take months before this would happen.

    Just hours after the EU announced with great fanfare last week it had reached a refugee cooperation deal with Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials swiftly dampened expectations.

    Erdogan urged Brussels to take Ankara’s 10-year bid for EU membership more seriously while his foreign minister Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu heaped scorn on the EU’s proposals of financial help.

    Yenel said the Greek Cypriots, who are engaged in longstanding peace talks with ethnic Turks on the divided east Mediterranean island, have “blocked” efforts to open the accession talks on various policy areas – including on the judiciary and fundamental rights.

    While EU leaders did not specify how much they would give Ankara, they did say the three billion euros demanded by Turkey would be a problem.

    But the EU has expressed growing concern about the flow of migrants through Turkey, now the main gateway for Syrians and others fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and central Asia.

    They make the dangerous sea crossing to Greece, then travel up through the Balkans to Austria and Germany.

    “The EU finally remembered us, recognised us for what we are,” Yenel said.

    “It’s a pity that we had to come together because of a crisis, but we know how the EU works, that it functions and evolves through crises and maybe we needed a crisis to come together,” the ambassador said.

    http://www.straitstimes.com/world/turkey-urges-eu-to-fulfill-pledges-to-tackle-migrants