Reader’s links for Nov. 22 – 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

90 Replies to “Reader’s links for Nov. 22 – 2015”

  1. The Obamization of the military, pt. 243
    It appears that the New Military is using the campaign against ISIS as an opportunity to rewrite the rules of war – and not in favor of the West.
    […]
    So we had to go through that whole process of one, determining whether or not we felt it was in our best interest to strike these trucks. And then once we determined that, yes, it is in our interest to strike these trucks, how do we go about ensuring that we’re able to mitigate the potential of civilian casualties? And these things take time[.]

    Uh-huh.  Memo to Col. Warren, Central Command, and the Pentagon: they’re all civilians.  Every member of ISIS, every supporter, every collaborator, is a civilian.  That’s one of the defining points of what a terrorist is.  ISIS is not a nation; it does not possess a military.  They’re all civilians, from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on down, and they’re all legitimate targets.  Because anybody supporting ISIS, whether a direct member or not, is a functioning terrorist and deserves whatever he gets.

    But the liberal left, as we all know, like to slice things fine, so now we’ve got the distinction between “terrorist” and “civilian,” with a civilian being somebody who evidently does everything but actually shoot or blow up innocents. […]

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/the_obamization_of_the_military_pt_243.html

  2. Taliban turning into a matter for South Asia (khaama, Nov 21, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/taliban-turning-into-a-matter-for-south-asia-4245

    “President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said that Taliban group is a phenomenon produced in Afghanistan and Pakistan but it is now turning into a matter for South Asia and its activities are expanding to Bangladesh and other countries, Azadi Radio reports.

    While talking to Afghan students studying in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, President Ghani said Chinese, Russian, Uzbek, Saudi, Kazakh, African and Pakistani militants are fighting in Afghanistan, adding that Afghanistan is sacrificing in the fight against terrorism but it is not the internal matter of Afghans.

    Asking a question as How many supporters do the Taliban have? The President said “Let them ‘Taliban’ take part in elections and people to decide, if people of Afghanistan vote for them, I would gladly leave the office to them. But looking into their latest activities in Kundoz province, unfortunately, there violence reached to a peak that no group dreaming to become part of the government would do such things.”

    He said the ongoing fight against terrorism and extremism has made him to pay more attention to security than applying his programs.

    The President said that 31 countries have promised the continuation of their military assistance with Afghanistan and by the end of this year the number will increase to 40…”

  3. ISIS loyalists start destruction of graves to match atrocities in Iraq and Syria (khaama, Nov 21, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/isis-loyalists-start-destruction-of-graves-to-match-atrocities-in-iraq-and-syria-1711

    “New shocking images have emerged which purportedly shows the loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group destroying raised graves.

    The ISIS loyalists operating under the brand of ‘Wilayat Khurasan’ which covers swaths of Afghanistan and Pakistan, are apparently commiting the latest fanatic acts in a bid to match the atrocities committed by the terror group in Iraq and Syria.

    The group which is reportedly led by the former Pakistani Taliban commander Hafiz Saeed Khan.

    This comes as the terror group earlier this year released photographs of its militants destroying Christian graves with sledgehammers and carving out crosses in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

    The images were posted on social media, including the Shomoukh Al-Islam jihadi forum, under the title Leveling Graves And Erasing Pagan Symbols.

    Three pictures also emerged out of a montage from Syria in August this year which purportedly shows graves being smashed along with other images such as the discovery of smuggled cigarettes hidden inside a spare tire.

    Only the most ornate gravestones in the graveyard appear to be targeted, with the pictures showing they are destroyed using a sledgehammer. The caption states that the men are “removing the manifestation of polytheism.”

    The latest distressing pictures are released shortly after a shocking documentary was released last week which purportedly shows the loyalists of the terror group are expanding their activities in Afghanistan by establishing jihadi schools where children as young as 3-year-old are being trained on how to carry out terrorist activities.

    It is estimated that 3,500 militants loyal to the terror group are operating in Afghanistan which includes militants both from Afghanistan and other countries.

    The United Nations also released a report late in the month of September this year, warning that the terror group is making inroads in Afghanistan with the number of sympathizers and followers growing across the country.

    According to the report around 70 militants of the terror group are busy in forming the core of the group’s branch in Afghanistan.

    The report further added that the group is recruiting followers in at least 25 provinces of Afghanistan with 10 percent of the sympathizers belonging to the Taliban group…”

  4. NDS detains bomb supplier of Haqqani network in Paktia (khaama, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/nds-detains-bomb-supplier-of-haqqani-network-in-paktia-4245

    “The National Directorate of Security (NDS) has detained three important members of Haqqani terrorist network in Gardiz city, the capital of Pakitia province.

    A statement released by NDS states that one of the three terrorists was supplying bombs and another was providing information about government employees.

    They are identified as Mustafa S/O Niaz Mohammad the bomb supplier who had also taken part in planting landmines in Gardiz city and Zurmat District, Zikria nickname Amirullah S/O Rana Gul who was providing information about government employees and Din Mohammad nickname Mohammadi S/O Lal Mohammad.

    Several home-made and anti-tank landmines were recovered from the possession of the terrorists.

    A footage released by NDs with the statement on Saturday shows the three suspects confessing to their crimes…”

    • I haven’t got into this recording because of the slack laziness of the interviewer in preparation and thinking.

      So here a good interviewer and real interfaith-dialogue with Tommy Robinson, of not sharing their wobby-bits, but getting down to the heart of the matter of being a decent human being.
      https://youtu.be/VAnsbk5JT1E

  5. Michel Houellebecq: How France’s Leaders Failed Its People (NYT, Nov 19, 2015)
    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/how-frances-leaders-failed-its-people.html

    “Paris — IN the aftermath of the January attacks in Paris, I spent two days transfixed watching the news. In the aftermath of the Nov. 13 attacks, I hardly turned on the television; I just called the people I knew (no small number) who lived in the neighborhoods that were hit. You get used to terrorist attacks.

    In 1986, there was a series of bombings in various public places in Paris. I think Hezbollah was behind those attacks. They occurred a few days, or maybe a week, apart; I’ve forgotten exactly. But I remember very well the atmosphere in the subway that first week. The silence inside the cars was absolute, and people exchanged glances loaded with suspicion.

    That was the first week. And then, soon enough, conversations resumed, the mood returned to normal. The prospect of another imminent explosion was still there in everyone’s mind, but it had retreated into the background. You get used to terrorist attacks.

    France will hold on. The French will hold on, without even needing a “sursaut national,” a national pushback reflex. They’ll hold on because there’s no other way, and because you get used to everything. No human force, not even fear, is stronger than habit.

    “Keep calm and carry on.” All right, then, that’s just what we’ll do (even though, alas, there is no Churchill to lead us). Despite the common perception, the French are rather docile, rather easy to govern. But they are not complete idiots. Instead, their main flaw is a kind of forgetful frivolity that necessitates jogging their memory from time to time. There are people, political people, who are responsible for the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in today, and sooner or later their responsibility will have to be examined. It’s unlikely that the insignificant opportunist who passes for our head of state, or the congenital moron who plays the part of our prime minister, or even the “stars of the opposition” (LOL) will emerge from the test looking any brighter.

    Who exactly weakened the capacities of the police forces until they were totally on edge and almost incapable of fulfilling their mission? Who exactly drilled into our heads for years the notion that borders were a quaint absurdity, and evidence of a foul and rancid nationalism?

    The blame, as one can see, is widely shared.

    Which political leaders committed France to ridiculous and costly operations whose main result has been to plunge Iraq, and then Libya, into chaos? And which political leaders were, until recently, on the verge of doing the same thing in Syria?

    (I was forgetting: We didn’t go into Iraq, not the second time. But it was close, and it looks as though Dominique de Villepin, then minister of foreign affairs, will go down in history for that reason — which is not nothing — for having prevented France, for the one and only time in its recent history, from participating in a criminal operation that also distinguished itself for its stupidity.)

    The obvious conclusion is scathing, unfortunately. For 10 (20? 30?) years, our successive governments have pathetically, systematically, deplorably failed in their essential mission: to protect the population under their responsibility.

    As for the population, it hasn’t failed at all. It’s unclear, at bottom, exactly what the population thinks, since our successive governments have taken great care not to hold referendums (except for one, in 2005, on a proposed European constitution, whose result they then preferred to ignore). But opinion polls are allowed, and for what they’re worth, they more or less reveal the following: that the French population has always maintained its trust in and solidarity with its police officers and its armed forces. That it has largely been repelled by the sermonizing airs of the so-called moral left (moral?) concerning how migrants and refugees are to be treated. That it has never viewed without suspicion the foreign military adventures its governments have seen fit to join.

    One could cite many more examples of the gap, now an abyss, between the population and those supposed to represent it. The discredit that applies to all political parties today isn’t just huge; it is legitimate. And it seems to me, it really seems to me, that the only solution still available to us now is to move gently toward the only form of real democracy: I mean, direct democracy.

    Michel Houellebecq is the author, most recently, of the novel “Submission.””

  6. Authorities missed many ‘red flags’ before Paris shootings (reuters, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://reut.rs/1je8TmU

    “There were multiple chances to stop the men who attacked Paris.

    In January, Turkish authorities detained one of the suicide bombers at Turkey’s border and deported him to Belgium. Brahim Abdeslam, Turkish authorities told Belgian police at the time, had been “radicalized” and was suspected of wanting to join Islamic State in Syria, a Turkish security source told Reuters.

    Yet during questioning in Belgium, Abdeslam denied any involvement with militants and was set free. So was his brother Salah – a decision that Belgian authorities say was based on scant evidence that either man had terrorist intentions.

    On Nov. 13, Abdeslam blew himself up at Le Comptoir Voltaire bar in Paris, killing himself and wounding one other. Salah is also a suspect in the attacks, claimed by the Islamic State, and is now on the run.

    In France, an “S” (State Security) file for people suspected of being a threat to national security had been issued on Ismail Omar Mostefai, who would detonate his explosive vest inside Paris’ Bataclan concert hall. Mostefai, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, was placed on the list in 2010, French police sources say.

    Turkish police also considered him a terror suspect with links to Islamic State. Ankara wrote to Paris about him in December 2014 and in June this year, a senior Turkish government official said. The warning went unheeded. Paris answered last week, after the attacks.

    A fourth attacker missed at least four weekly check-ins with French police in 2013, before authorities issued an arrest warrant for him. By that time he had left the country.

    On any one of these occasions, police, intelligence and security services had an opportunity to detain at least some of the men who launched the attacks.

    That they did not, helps explain how a group of Islamist militants was able to organize even as they moved freely among countries within the open borders of Europe’s passport-free Schengen area and beyond…”

  7. Russia kills 10 militants who had sworn allegiance to IS: agencies (reuters, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://reut.rs/1X68pC9

    “Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee said on Sunday that 10 militants who had sworn allegiance to Islamic State had been killed in a special operation in a southern Russian republic, Russian news agencies reported.

    “During the active phase of a special operation near Nalchik, according to preliminary information, 10 militants were neutralized,” the committee said, Interfax reported.

    “They were all members of armed groups that had sworn allegiance to the international terrorist organization ISIL.””

  8. Eagles of Death Metal describe horror of Bataclan massacre for the first time: Musicians say fans hidden in band’s dressing room were slaughtered – except for a ‘kid’ hiding under the lead singer’s jacket

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3328857/Eagles-Death-Metal-horror-Bataclan-massacre-time-say-fans-hidden-band-s-dressing-room-slaughtered-ISIS-killers-except-kid-hiding-lead-singer-s-leather-jacket.html#ixzz3sECOmixI
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  9. University’s free yoga class is shut down over ‘cultural appropriation’ fears after complaints from ‘social justice warriors’
    Jennifer Scharf said she was notified in September that the yoga program at University of Ottawa would be suspended

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3328996/Free-yoga-class-suspended-University-Ottawa-students-cultural-appropriation.html#ixzz3sED8MbaC
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  10. ‘I doubted God after the Paris attacks’: The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says he was left asking why when the militant jihadis struck
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3328938/I-doubted-God-Paris-attacks-Archbishop-Canterbury-Justin-Welby-says-left-asking-militant-jihadis-struck.html

    The bets are on:
    1. God’s Archangel Gilbert visits him in the night and gives him a Revelation.
    2. He combines Islam with Churchianity and forms a code of superior submission for non-defense while focusing on digitally remastered analogue TV Static to connect to the backward radiation. Cheekism.
    3. He drops the pretence that permits the invasion, “your God is like our God,” and follows the actual path of his Guru’s Namesake. “Your Jesus is like our… oh crap.”

  11. Migrants scuffle with police at Macedonia’s border

    .... widows and orphans ....

    Migrants scuffle with police at a barrier on Macedonia’s border with Greece, after Macedonia’s decision to grant passage only to refugees escaping wars from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

  12. Yanis Varoufakis: Britain has a “moral panic” about refugees

    Yanis Varoufakis says that Britain should look to Greece’s response to the refugee crisis and stop the “moral panic” about migrants in Calais.

  13. “Critics threaten a boycott of Zoolander over Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘cartoonish’ transgender character and say it is the ‘modern equivalent of blackface'”
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3328981/Zoolander-2-fire-critics-deem-Benedict-Cumberbatch-s-character-transphobic.html#article-3328981

    Coming out of the Madrassas are now coming out of Universities.

    “All monkeys climb trees (true);
    The porcupine is a monkey (false);
    The porcupine climbs trees.”

    The truth, the lie and the presumption.

    Your God is exactly like our God, our messenger is like your messenger, CoeXisT.

    Your Feed The World is exactly like our Feed The World, our societies are the same, Make Peace Not War.

    Your love is like our love, marriage is the same, children are safe.

    The point is, wherever you look away and drop you standards to that of an imbecile, low-lifes can match them with Cultural Marxism where Submitters will take and surplant your home, possessions and loved ones.

    Or… it is all nothing, as I have induced happiness into myself to forget my offspring.

    “That is the major import of the title The Porcupine is a Monkey: that we live in a world where our theory about what life is like blinds us to what accumulated experience tells us it is like. We prioritise the consistency of our theory over what we know from experience. We take porcupines for monkeys because that is what our theory tells us they are.”
    http://stias.ac.za/research/projects/the-porcupine-is-a-monkey/

    • I’m not afraid of you.(True)
      You are not afraid of me. (False)
      Give me a hug, Brother.

      This young Muslim is playing the Socialist Game back on themselves.

      He blindfolds himself like a victim and demands:

      ‘I trust you. Do you trust me? Give me a hug’

      Well, for starters, I don’t want your trust, only that you behave civilized towards women, inverts and unbelievers. You trust me simply because you know ‘I love life’ and I am therefore safe to be around. Therefore your statement of belief and intention is true.
      Secondly, trust is given freely and never asked equally back in return. So this statement to be illicited in a moment’s notice, is false. This second statement does not follow on from the first.

      But how then, did the Socialists become blinded to this sleight of hand, to fall for the bog-standard ruse of the Muslim: ‘our way are your way’?

      “Porcupines are Monkeys” would have made Socialists laugh, for they are experts at grouping and separating between behavioralists. Whereas those believing what they are Divinely Told, will miss this distinction and come to the veracity that all Porcupines therefore climb trees where to state the obvious is outrageous blasphemy.

      So Socialists must hold a fear that is equally strong in childhood as those following God’s Literal Words. So that with a small pressure of intimidation, they fold, and up pops the inversion of the real thing. “I trust you”, becomes the leap of faith, “I really do trust you back. It’s the only share-fair thing to do”. (Repeated correction on lonely ‘naughty steps’ in every kindergarten across the Western World).

      So the Godless are lost. And the Godfull will entrap them by pleading eternal victimhood, while hating and despising them in the process. Their concealment within the arms of Faux-Love that you pridefully celebrate when there is no love but automatic-reflex.

      This war however, is by far not a one way street. Communists conceal themselves in Faux-Truth when there is no truth. The Church of England is a small example compared to the Communist forces in Civil Rights Movements and Islam. Pride in doing the right thing, is an automatic door for them to champion to destruction.

      I think we should share everything.(True)
      I think we should share everything. (False)
      Give me a hug, Comrade.

      To trust those who cut off hands and feet or share with those who remove employment and imprison for dissent.

      I’ll pass.

  14. France: Scuffles break out as pro-refugee protesters defy demo ban in Paris

    Scuffles broke out in Paris, Sunday, after pro-refugee protesters defied a ban on demonstrations in the French capital, marching from the Bastille to the Place de la Republique. Riot police used pepper spray on the protesters in an attempt to push them back.

    • CNN – Paris: A moveable feast

      Paris is beginning to reclaim some of its signature joie de vivre with the help of Ernest Hemingway’s classic ode to the city, “A Moveable Feast.”

  15. DAILY MAIL – German football match was cancelled after French spies warned of ‘five bomb plot’ by five jihadists including a woman to carry out Paris-style attack on stadium

    Jihadists were planning to target stadium, railway and nearby bus stop
    French intelligence tipped off Germany about attack just before game
    One of the Hanover terror cell is thought to have been a woman

    Five jihadists, including one woman, were just 90 minutes away from carrying out a deadly series of five bomb attacks, including at Hanover’s football stadium hosting Germany’s friendly match against Holland, were stopped after receiving a warning from French intelligence.

    A comprehensive dossier of intelligence information on the attack was handed to the German authorities by French intelligence is thought to have led to the immediate evacuation of the football stadium and concert venue in the city, according to local media.

    An anonymous paramedic revealed an ambulance was packed with explosives and found outside the HDI Arena, according to one German newspaper, although this was later denied by German authorities amid claims of a cover-up.

    ‘Some of these answers would alarm the public, ‘ Thomas de Maiziere, the interior minister said when questioned about the details of the dossier.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3328289/German-football-match-cancelled-French-intelligence-warned-five-bomb-plot-five-jihadists-including-woman-carry-Paris-style-attack-stadium.html

  16. BELGIUM -Terror police arrest six Brits in three old ambulances close to Brussels petrol station

    A heavily armed anti-terror unit swooped on the group close to an Esso station regularly used by Salah Abdeslam – the fugitive terrorist still on the run from the Paris massacres

    Six British men were ­arrested in Belgium ­yesterday after they were spotted in three old ­ambulances near Brussels while the city was in a fullscale terror alert.

    A heavily armed anti-terror unit swooped on the group close to an Esso petrol station regularly used by Salah Abdeslam – the fugitive terrorist still on the run from the Paris massacres.

    Six armoured trucks and a ­police car moved in after the ­converted vehicles parked up in a rest area beside the E411 ­highway in Bierges south-east of the capital around 2pm.

    Last night the six Pakistani-born UK nationals were being ­questioned while officers ­continued to search the ­ambulances – two Fiats and a Mercedes with British plates.

    Brussels remained in lockdown following an intelligence warning of an imminent Paris-style attack on the Belgian capital.[…]

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/terror-police-arrest-six-brits-6877013

  17. DAILY MAIL – The ISIS bombs hidden inside dolls and toys to kill CHILDREN: Iraqi military reveal IEDs placed in toys by Islamists

    Iraqi security forces defused and destroyed 18 doll-bombs in Baghdad
    Bomb plot set to target Shia Muslims on pilgrimage for upcoming holiday
    The dolls had been filled with explosives before being dressed again
    ISIS is led by and mainly composed of Sunni Muslims from Iraq and Syria

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3327357/The-ISIS-bombs-hidden-inside-dolls-toys-kill-CHILDREN-Iraqi-military-reveal-IEDs-placed-toys-Islamists-Iraq.html

  18. USA CALIFORPNIA – Arms up for Syria & world: Man stands blindfolded with raised arms for hours in social experiment

  19. BOSNIA – This is Enes Omeragic, Sarajevo terrorists who killed two soldiers

    Enes Omeragic, who last night killed two members of the Armed Forces of BiH in Sarajevo and then committed suicide, was known to the police.

    This 34-year-old spent some time in prison in Zenica, and some neighbors say he was problematic.

    The media quoted neighbors’ statements that Enes Omeragic was on the battlefield in Syria.

    Kristina Jozic, a spokesperson for SIPA, could not confirm this information.

    “At t his point I cannot provide details about the investigation which is being conducted in relation to the terrorist attack,” she told Nezavisne Novine website.

    Enes Omeragic was born in France 34 years ago. He was associated with members of the Wahhabi movement and prone to narcotics.

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

    BOSNIA – Who is Enes Omeragic, the murderer from Sokolje?

    Enes Omeragic killed two members of the Armed Forces of B&H: Armin Salkic and Nedeljko Radic last night in Rajlovac, Sarajevo.

    He was shooting from the automatic weapon even after leaving the sportsbook where the horrible crime took place. Several passengers in the bus of KJKP GRAS were slightly injured due to the broken glass.

    And who is Enes Omeragic? He was born on the 1st of August 1981 in the village Longvic, France. He lived in the Sarajevo suburban settlement of Sokolje where last night, after killing two soldiers, he committed suicide.

    He was convicted for aggravated theft multiple times. He was also being treated for addiction to hard drugs, and he was not a member of any radical religious groups although the first information claimed the opposite.

    The State Investigation and Protection Agency as well as the State Prosecution qualified the attack and killing of soldiers of the AF B&H as a terrorist act.

    http://www.sarajevotimes.com/who-is-enes-omeragic-the-murderer-from-sokolje/

  20. Coping with Terror by Choosing Life

    The most remarkable aspect of Israel’s response to terror is how the victims’ families and friends cope with their grief and pain. One particular response has become common: commemorating the victims by launching some concrete project to make Israel a better place.
    […]
    The Koby Mandell Foundation was established by Koby’s parents after the 13-year-old was murdered by terrorists in 2001; it runs programs to help traumatized siblings of terror victims. The Malki Roth Foundation was established by Malki’s parents after the 15-year-old was murdered by terrorists that same year; this organization helps families care for special-needs children at home. The Benji Hillman Foundation, which assists lone soldiers, was started by Benji’s parents after he was killed in the Second Lebanon War of 2006.
    […]
    Israelis have repeatedly responded to grief and pain by actively working to make some little corner of their world a better place. And that’s precisely why Israel, against the odds, has become the thriving country it is amid a region that is falling apart. Faced with terror, Israelis have overwhelmingly chosen life.

    https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/israel/coping-with-terror-by-choosing-life/

  21. Part 1 – Confessions of an ISIS Spy

    A man claiming to be a member of the Islamic State’s security services whom we’ll call Abu Khaled has defected and stepped forward to provide an inside view.
    Before the fight for the Kurdish town of Kobani last year, the caliphate had an aura of invincibility. But in that battle, which lasted for months, Kurdish paramilitaries backed by U.S. airpower fought well, while ISIS sent thousands to their slaughter. The jihadist army had lost between 4,000 and 5,000 fighters, most of them non-Syrians. “Double this number are wounded and can’t fight anymore,” Abu Khaled told me.
    Last September, “we had like 3,000 foreign fighters who arrived every day to join ISIS….Now we don’t have even like 50 or 60.” This sudden shortfall has led to a careful rethinking by ISIS high command.
    “They are trying to make sleeper cells all over the world.” The ISIS leadership has “asked people to stay in their countries and fight there, kill citizens, blow up buildings, whatever they can do. You don’t have to come.”

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/15/confessions-of-an-isis-spy.html

    • Part 2 – How ISIS Picks Its Suicide Bombers

      “When you join ISIS, during the clerical classes, they ask: ‘Who will be a martyr?’ People raise their hands, and they go off to a separate group.” There’s no lack of young men looking for a quick trip to Paradise. “They keep volunteering,” said Abu Khaled.

      The ISIS leadership is mainly Iraqi, the former henchmen of Saddam Hussein, and if there is a political, as opposed to religious, objective underlying all its activity, it is the restoration of Sunni power in Baghdad.

      Not all of America’s supposed allies in Syria are what they seem. Some of the people in the Free Syrian Army are secretly working for ISIS.

      In Syria, the chiefs of the security services branches tend to be Palestinians from Gaza. The provincial governors are foreigners from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iraq – but not Syrians.

      http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/16/how-isis-picks-its-suicide-bombers.html

  22. THE SUN – Help for bomber

    EXCLUSIVE: Paris attacker welcomed ashore in Greece and given help and clothes by French volunteers

    A PARIS suicide bomber was helped on to a Greek island and clothed by French volunteers before making his way through Europe to his target, it emerged yesterday.

    The IS fanatic, known as Ahmad Almohammad from a fake Syrian passport found at Stade De France, had sailed to Leros with a group of English-speaking pals.

    Officials said they were helped ashore with nearly 200 refugees after deliberately driving a knife through their boat as they neared land on October 3. Two were then discovered with fake Syrian passports and arrested.

    But Almohammad, 25, was ushered through and moved to a camp staffed by French charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

    Less than 24 hours later, in a black tracksuit given to him by the volunteers, he was in a group of six buying tickets to Athens.

    Travel agent Dimitris Kastis, 42, recalled: “One of his pals who spoke English ordered the tickets. When I heard about him I was very surprised. He didn’t look suspicious.”

    Almohammad took the ten-hour boat trip to Athens on October 5.

    Police say he spent two days there before heading through Macedonia to request asylum in Serbia.

    He entered Croatia on October 8 and made his way to France where he is thought to have blown himself up outside the France-Germany match.

    Leros harbourmaster Sakellarios Biliris remembered his group sabotaging their boat.

    He said: “No one saw anything wrong with his passport. The situation was chaotic. One week 3,500 refugees came here.”

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6756988/Paris-bomber-welcomed-to-Europe-by-French-volunteers.html

  23. BELGIUM – Brussels Radisson Blu hotel in lockdown

    Guests at the Radisson Blu in Brussels have been told to stay inside as the hotel goes into lockdown.

    Armed soldiers have been pictured outside the building this evening.

    Guests have been asked not to leave the hotel for their own safety, according to reports by local media.

    A spokesperson for the hotel told DeMorgen: ‘There is no imminent threat, but we want our guests to keep as safe as possible.’

    The surrounding area appears to have been evacuated.

    The alert comes after ten jihadists attacked a Radisson Blu hotel in Mali and held around 170 people hostage.

    At least 27 people were killed in the raid.

    It has since emerged that the terrorists were hunting members of an Air France crew which were believed to have been staying there at the time.

    […]We fear an attack like in Paris, with several individuals, perhaps in several places,’ Mr Michel warned after a meeting of the country’s national security council.

    http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/22/breaking-news-brussels-radisson-blu-hotel-in-lockdown-5519123/

  24. Paris attacks: Brussels alert extended over ‘imminent threat’ (BBC, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34896125

    “Brussels will stay on the highest level of terror alert because of the “serious and imminent” threat of Paris-style attacks, Belgium’s prime minister says.

    Charles Michel added that universities, schools and the metro would remain closed on Monday.
    Brussels has been on lockdown all weekend, amid a manhunt for suspected Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam.

    Islamic State militants, some of whom were from Brussels, killed 130 people in Paris on 13 November.

    Police in France have issued a fresh appeal to identify one of the Paris attackers, who was killed at the national stadium….”

  25. Paris Attack Suspects Changed When They ‘Stopped Drinking and Started Praying,’ Brother Says (abcnews, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/paris-attack-suspects-changed-stopped-drinking-started-praying/story?id=35354447

    “Two brothers suspected of being involved in the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people began to change roughly six months before when they “stopped drinking and started praying,” their brother told Belgian broadcasting network RTBF.

    Mohamed Abdeslam told RTBF he saw his brothers Salah, a fugitive, and Brahim, a suicide bomber who officials said died on Boulevard Voltaire, two or three days before they left. He said the pair told their mother they were going skiing sometime before the attacks in Paris last Friday.

    “I didn’t notice anything. There were no goodbyes,” said Mohamed Abdeslam.

    He said his brothers “started changing maybe six months ago.”

    “[They] stopped drinking and started praying, but nothing to suggest they had been radicalized,” Abdeslam said. “I believe they were manipulated more than radicalized.”…”

  26. US reporter Jason Rezaian ‘sentenced’ in Iran over spying (BBC, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34895488

    “Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian has been sentenced to an unspecified prison term in Iran, the country’s judiciary has said.

    The sentence follows his conviction last month on charges that include espionage.

    Officials did not give details about the sentence but said in a statement it included jail time.

    Jason Rezaian, 39, has been detained in Iran for more than a year. The Post has dismissed the charges as absurd.

    “In brief, it is a prison sentence,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said in a statement on Iranian state TV.

    He added that the verdict is “not finalised” – referring to an expected appeal.

    Rezaian’s lawyer, Leila Ahsan, told the Associated Press news agency she had not been informed of the verdict or the details of the sentence….”

  27. Johnnyu or one of our other E.Eur friends mught be interested in this one:

    ‘Unprecedented’ trove found behind wall sheds light on Budapest’s Jews

    A vast and historically valuable trove of Holocaust-era documents, long thought destroyed during World War II, has been found hidden in a wall cavity by a couple renovating their Budapest apartment.
    The haul of 6,300 documents are from a 1944 census that was a precursor to the intended liquidation of the Hungarian capital’s 200,000 Jews in Nazi death camps.
    Brigitte Berdefy, co-owner of the apartment overlooking Hungary’s parliament, said that in August a worker detected paper after jamming a screwdriver through a crack in the wall.
    “We thought we’d ruined the neighbor’s wallpaper,” Berdefy told AFP.
    But then her husband Gabor peered through the crack and saw what looked like handwriting.
    Carefully removing each brick, the couple eased out some 61 kilograms (135 pounds) of dusty papers, many with bits of plaster caked on, but all more or less intact.
    With the ink still readable — thanks to a lack of air in the cavity and nicotine from the heavy-smoking former owner — the yellowed papers were given to the Budapest City Archives.

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/unprecedented-trove-found-behind-wall-sheds-light-on-budapests-jews/

  28. Brussels terror raids: police announce 16 arrests but Salah Abdeslam not among them

    Police carried out 19 raids in the Brussels area on Sunday, we’re being told, as well as more elsewhere in Belgium. There have been 16 arrests. Police also fired at a vehicle that drove at them while making an arrest.

    A judge will decide on Monday whether or not those arrested will be held in custody.

    The driver of the car that drove at police was arrested later, although there is no confirmation forthcoming on whether that arrest is linked to the investigation in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.

    We’re being told that no weapons or explosives were uncovered as a result of any of the searches.

    And, with that, they close the press conference. As promised earlier, no questions were taken and details of the raids were sparse.

    Van der Sypt was keen to thank people for abiding by the police’s request to maintain “radio silence” and said the operation was ongoing.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/nov/22/brussels-terror-raids-police-chief-gives-press-conference-live
    =====================================================
    16 arrested after Brussels terror raids – but Paris gunman STILL on run

    But they did not find Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the gunman behind last Friday’s massacre in the French capital.

    The 26-year-old was let go by police after being stopped at the Belgium border just the hours after the attacks.

    Abdeslam – the world’s most wanted man – is reportedly wearing a wig and glasses to avoid being detected.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/621308/Belgium-Brussels-Paris-attacks-ISIS-Islamic-State
    ========================================
    Belgium: Brussels’ Grand Place on lockdown amidst fears of terror attack

  29. Arrests in Brussels anti-terror raids (BBC, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34896883

    “Belgian police have made 16 arrests in anti-terror raids but fugitive Salah Abdeslam remains at large, the authorities have said.

    Nineteen searches were carried out around Brussels and three in Charleroi, Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference.

    No weapons or explosives were found during the searches, Mr Van Der Sypt added.

    Two shots were fired during an operation in Molenbeek, he said.”

  30. Egypt among 10 worst countries in gender equality: Report (ahram, Nov 22, 2013)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/170444/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-among–worst-countries-in-gender-equality-Re.aspx

    “Egypt ranks 136th out of 145 countries in gender equality in the world after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the Global Gender Gap report 2015.

    The Global Gender Gap report, which marks its tenth year in 2015, was first introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006 as a framework for capturing the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress among the thresholds of political economic, education, and health.

    This year highlights a worse decline in the status of women as Egypt ranked 129th out of 142 countries according to the Global Gender Gap index in 2014, and 125th out of 136 countries in 2013.

    Egypt ranks the worst on the political empowerment of women (136). There has been no progress in regards to political empowerment since 2006. On the three remaining thresholds, Egypt ranks 125 on economic participation and opportunity, 115 on education attainment, and 97 on health and survival.

    In the Middle East and North Africa region, Kuwait ranked 117th overall, followed by the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Tunisia. Yemen is the lowest-ranked country in the index, which at 145th, has remained at the bottom of the index since 2006 but has significantly improved relative to its own past scores.

    With no country able to close the gender gap, Nordic countries, with Iceland on top, then Norway, Finland and Sweden consecutively, dominate as the most gender equal states.

    Sweden, which ranks 4th on the Global Gender Index, prides itself on being the first feminist government in the world as it carries out a gender equality analysis early in the decision-making process.”

  31. Balochistan wants Afghan refugees sent back home (tribune, Nov 21, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/995661/assembly-session-balochistan-wants-afghan-refugees-sent-back-home/

    “The Balochistan authorities have written a letter to the federal government seeking early repatriation of all Afghan refugees.

    “The provincial government has written a letter to the centre asking it to send back the Afghan refugees as early as possible,” Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said during the media talk at the Balochistan Assembly on Friday…”

  32. Man kills 11-month-old daughter over missing soap bar (tribune, Nov 23, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/996488/man-kills-11-month-old-daughter-over-missing-soap-bar/

    “A 35-year-old man, Imran, is behind bars after being accused of killing his eleven-month-old daughter, Mahnoor, at their home in Sector 4B in Surjani Town.

    The incident was highlighted when Mahnoor’s mother began shouting and screaming and neighbours gathered at their home, finding the infant dead. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, after which the neighbours informed the police, who subsequently arrested the father.

    Initially, the accused, who is a labourer, tried to defend himself by accusing his wife of the crime. “My wife is a psychiatric patient and I found my daughter dead when I returned home from work,” claimed Imran from behind bars. “My wife killed her.”

    Later, however, he admitted to the crime. “I got angry when I did not find soap in the bathroom while I was bathing,” he admitted. “I came out of the bathroom and started beating my wife and daughter. I did not have any intention to kill her. It was a mistake.”…”

  33. Under attack: Television reporter assassinated in ambush (tribune, Nov 23, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/996448/under-attack-television-reporter-assassinated-in-ambush/

    “Television journalist Hafeezur Rehman was shot dead by unidentified people in Kalo Banda, Kohat on Sunday morning. He was the second journalist in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to lose his life in such a grizzly manner in 2015.

    A police official said Rehman was on his bike when he was targeted by the gunmen. “He was hit by three bullets and died on the spot,” said Fazal Naeem, a police spokesman in Kohat. The assailants managed to escape after committing the crime.

    Kohat police registered a case against unidentified culprits on the complaint of the deceased’s brother Asim Naeem. Rehman was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard and his funeral prayers were attended by a large number of people.

    Besides reporting for a private television channel, he also used to run a daily newspaper called Asia. However, financial constraints resulted in the publication winding up about a year ago. The journalist also worked as a correspondent for a national Urdu daily and owned a television cable operating company. Rehman had been a journalist for 12 years.

    The murder came weeks after a similar attack on print journalist Zaman Mehsud in Tank. Mehsud was also gunned down by unidentified people.

    “He was riding his motorbike from his hometown Gomal towards Tank city when unidentified men intercepted him near Dabara and started firing at him,” a police official told The Express Tribune at the time. “The journalist was injured and rushed to District Headquarters Hospital Tank before being shifted to Headquarters and Teaching Hospital DI Khan.”

    Zaman was shot four times: twice in the chest and as many times in the legs. He was admitted to the intensive care unit, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

    The Tribal Union of Journalists in South Waziristan had strongly condemned Zaman’s murder. “It is unfortunate that journalists are either being killed or injured or are forced to leave their homes,“ the union president Shah Zaman had said at the time….”

  34. Refugee crisis: Pakistan pleads for more humanitarian approach (tribune, Nov 23, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/996504/refugee-crisis-pakistan-pleads-for-more-humanitarian-approach/

    “Pakistan has called for a clear, resolute and unified approach based on humanitarian principles to tackle the unprecedented refugee crisis in the Mediterranean basin, while deploring efforts to spread hate and Islamophobia after the terrorist attacks in Paris.

    Speaking in a General Assembly meeting devoted principally to Syrian asylum-seekers, Pakistan UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said that some nations had blatantly declared they would not accept Muslim refugees, but compassion has no religion.

    She noted that fear is being fanned by some to accentuate discrimination, blunt humanitarianism, and spread hate and Islamophobia.

    Denial of asylum to Muslim refugees by some countries was legally, politically and morally untenable, the Pakistani envoy said in a well-reasoned speech. “The moral compass of those who refuse refugees of any faith must be questioned.”

    A series of interlocking crises and conflicts raging across the Middle East and Africa had been precipitated by misguided military interventions in the internal affairs of several states in the region, Ambassador Lodhi told the 193-mmber Assembly…”

  35. NATO to look into possibility of intelligence share with Afghan forces (khaama, Nov 22, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/zimbabwe-crowns-new-mister-ugly-in-a-contest-marred-by-cheating-accusations-1715

    “Amid deteriorating security situation across the country with the Taliban-led insurgency being rampant, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has decided to increase support for the Afghan national security forces.

    According to reports, a classified document prepared for the upcoming NATO ministerial has been approved which will pave the way for the alliance to look into the possibility of sharing intelligence with the Afghan security forces.

    Quoting diplomatic sources, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) International reported that the latest step by NATO could help prevent incidents such as recent Taliban attacks for which local authorities were unprepared.

    The report further added that the alliance could also deploy trainers in volatile regions of the country and will likely provide air support in the event of an emergency…”