Reader’s links for Dec. 2 – 2015

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

58 Replies to “Reader’s links for Dec. 2 – 2015”

  1. Police station ‘shooting threat’ sparks Sydney raids (BBC, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34980480

    “Police have raided two houses in Sydney, Australia, following suspected threats against a police station.

    One house is the family home of Talal Alameddine who was detained in October over the terror-linked killing of a police worker outside a police station.

    Mr Alameddine is accused of supplying the gun which Farhad Jabar, 15, used to murder police accountant Curtis Cheng.

    Police said the searches were conducted under firearms legislation, but that no “items of interest” were found.

    “Any threat to police officers or police premises is of major concern and taken extremely seriously, as demonstrated by the operation we undertook today,” Assistant Commissioner Jenkins said in a statement on Wednesday., without giving further details.

    “We will continue to take every precaution necessary to protect our officers and the safety of the wider community, and will respond swiftly to any specific threats that are received.”

    He said the raids were carried out by the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad and Tactical Operations Unit officers, along with local police and other specialist units.

    Mr Cheng was shot dead outside his office in Parramatta on 2 October in what the authorities say was a terror-related attack.

    Iran-born Jabar was shot dead by police at the scene.

    In the wake of the shooting, a number of people, including Mr Alameddine were arrested during police raids on several properties.

    Mr Alameddine was released but later re-arrested and charged.

    Australia has stepped up counter-terrorism efforts in recent months in the face of what officials say is a growing security threat from radical Islamists.”

  2. Iraq: US troops ‘not needed’ against ‘Islamic State’ (DW, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://dw.com/p/1HFc5

    “Iraq’s prime minister has rejected the need for foreign troops to fight “Islamic State” militants. The remarks follow the Pentagon chief’s announcement of special forces to battle militants inside Iraq.

    Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday that Iraq welcomes US military equipment, training and air support in the fight against the self-styled “Islamic State.” But he drew the line at US troops operating inside the country without specific authorization from Baghdad.

    “We do not need foreign ground combat forces on Iraqi land,” Abadi said in a statement.

    The Iraqi leader’s words follow indications from Washington that the US plans to expand anti-IS military operations on the ground in both Iraq and Syria…”

  3. Islamic State Group Targets Gays With Brutal Public Killings (abcnews, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/islamic-state-group-targets-gays-brutal-public-killings-35523138

    “Before a crowd of men on a street in the Syrian city of Palmyra, the masked Islamic State group judge read out the sentence against the two men convicted of homosexuality: They would be thrown to their deaths from the roof of the nearby Wael Hotel.

    He asked one of the men if he was satisfied with the sentence. Death, the judge told him, would help cleanse him of his sin.

    “I’d prefer it if you shoot me in the head,” 32-year-old Hawas Mallah replied helplessly. The second man, 21-year-old Mohammed Salameh, pleaded for a chance to repent, promising never to have sex with a man again, according to a witness among the onlookers that sunny July morning who gave The Associated Press a rare first-hand account.

    “Take them and throw them off,” the judge ordered. Other masked extremists tied the men’s hands behind their backs and blindfolded them. They led them to the roof of the four-story hotel, according to the witness, who spoke in the Turkish city of Reyhanli on condition he be identified only by his first name, Omar, for fear of reprisals.

    Notorious for their gruesome methods of killing, the Islamic State group reserves one of its most brutal for suspected homosexuals. Videos it has released show masked militants dangling men over the precipices of buildings by their legs to drop them head-first or tossing them over the edge. At least 36 men in Syria and Iraq have been killed by IS militants on charges of sodomy, according to the New York-based OutRight Action International, though its Middle East and North Africa coordinator, Hossein Alizadeh, said it was not possible to confirm the sexual orientation of the victims.

    The fear of a horrific death among gay men under Islamic State rule is further compounded by their isolation in a deeply conservative society that largely shuns them.

    Many Muslims consider homosexuality to be sinful. Gay men are haunted constantly by the possibility that someone, perhaps even a relative, will betray them to the militants — whether to curry favor with IS or simply out of hatred for their sexual orientation. Islamic State group fighters sometimes torture suspected homosexuals to reveal their friends’ names and search their laptops and mobile phones. Even among IS opponents, gays find little sympathy. Some in the public who might be shocked by other IS atrocities say killings of gays is justified. Syrian rebel factions have killed or abused gays as well.

    A 26-year-old Syrian gay man told the AP that even two years after fleeing to Turkey, he wakes up shaken by nightmares that he is about to be hurled from a building. The man spoke on condition that he be identified as Daniel Halaby, the name he now uses in his activism tracking IS atrocities, and that the city in Turkey where he lives not be named for his own safety.

    Halaby says a childhood friend who became radicalized and joined IS betrayed him to the militants in 2013, forcing him to flee his home city of Aleppo.

    “He knew everything about me, such as being secular and gay. … I am sure he is the one who gave my name to Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

    At that time, in mid-2013, IS had just started to spread from neighboring Iraq into Syria. It didn’t yet hold the large stretches of territory across both countries that it would capture the next year. Instead, its fighters pushed into rebel-held areas in Syria and tried to dominate other rebels, often clashing with them for control and imposing the group’s strict law wherever they could.

    In September 2013, IS fighters besieged the Aleppo neighborhood where Halaby lived with his family, trying to wrest it from the rebel Free Syrian Army. The two sides negotiated over an end to the siege and, during the talks, IS gave the rebels a list of people they demanded be handed over to them. Halaby said he learned his name was on that list.

    He quickly escaped to Turkey.

    There, his bedroom is decorated with a flag of the Syrian opposition and a rainbow banner that covers an entire wall. His parents, who remain in Aleppo, refuse to talk to him because of his sexual orientation. When he watches videos of gays being killed, he said, “What breaks my heart most is that I feel helpless.”

    Life for gays in Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city, was always hidden, Halaby said. When the secular-led peaceful protests erupted against President Bashar Assad in 2011, he said he quickly joined, sure they would lead to a democratic government “that will respect everyone no matter their religion, ethnicity, sect or sexuality.”

    “We were very naive,” he said. “What happened was exactly the opposite.”

    Subhi Nahas, a 28-year-old gay Syrian who now lives in San Francisco, said he fled because he feared his own father might turn him in to al-Qaida’s affiliate, the Nusra Front, which also has targeted homosexuals.

    When his father learned he was gay, Nahas said he called him a shame to the family and beat him. Around the same time, in late 2013, Nusra fighters launched a crackdown on suspected gays in Nahas’ hometown of Maaret al-Numan, detaining 25 men and announcing through mosque loudspeakers that they would cleanse the town of homosexuals.

    “With the problems between me and my father, I did not rule out that he might (hand me over),” he told the AP.

    So he fled, first to Lebanon, then Turkey. But in Turkey, he said, he began getting death threats from a former school friend who joined the Islamic State group. Fearful that he wouldn’t be safe even in Turkey, he legally resettled to the United States in June.

    In August, Nahas and a gay Iraqi man spoke about the suffering of homosexuals in their countries at the first-ever U.N. Security Council session spotlighting violence and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

    The stigma surrounding homosexuality makes it difficult to document IS killings and identify victims, rights groups say. Families and friends refuse to talk about victims. Gays under IS rule are terrified to speak, and most who flee abroad go into hiding.

    The Islamic State group’s announcements are the main source of information, but the group often does not name the victims, perhaps in deference to their families, who could lash out in anger at having their names publicly linked to homosexuals.

    “Such a barbaric show of murder leaves LGBT individuals in constant state of fear and would deprive them of a normal life that any human being is entitled to,” Alizadeh said.

    Widespread public hostility leaves the community even more vulnerable.

    “They are violating God’s laws and doing something that is forbidden in Islam, so this is a legitimate punishment,” said Hajji Mohammed, a resident of the IS-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul. There the group has thrown men suspected of being gay off the Insurance Building, a landmark about 10 stories high.

    By employing the grisly method, the Islamic State group aims to show radicals that it is unflinchingly carrying out the most extreme strains in Islam — a sort of “ideological purity” the group boasts distinguishes it even from other militants. The punishment “will protect the Muslims from treading the same rotten course that the West has chosen to pursue,” IS proclaimed in its online English-language magazine Dabiq.

    The Quran tells the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom — and sodomy in Arabic is known as “liwat,” based on Lot’s name.

    Men having sex with each other should be punished, the Quran says, but it doesn’t say how — and it adds that they should be left alone if they repent. The death penalty instead comes from the Hadith, or accounts of the sayings of the prophet Muhammad. The accounts differ on the method of killing, and some accounts give lesser penalties in some circumstances.

    The Islamic State group bases its punishment on one account in which Muhammad reportedly says gays “should be thrown from tremendous height then stoned.”

    Before IS, the method was rarely used, though other militants have targeted homosexuals for death. During their rule in Afghanistan in the 1990s, the Taliban had their own method: The victim would be put in a pit and a stone wall would be toppled on top of them.

    Most moderate Muslim clerics ignore the death penalty provisions, even as they fiercely denounce homosexuality. Across the Arab world, homosexuals have been arrested and sentenced to prison on charges linked to “debauchery” — and sometimes lashed in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

    Omar, the man who watched the killings in Palmyra, said he remains shaken.

    It began when IS militants blared on loudspeakers for men to gather. Then a black van pulled up outside the Wael Hotel, and Mallah and Salamah were brought out.

    The first to be thrown off was Mallah. He was tied to a chair so he couldn’t resist, then pushed over the side.

    He landed on his back, broken but still moving. A fighter shot him in the head.

    Next was Salameh. He landed on his head and died immediately. Still, fighters stoned his body, Omar said.

    The bodies were then hung up in Palmyra’s Freedom Square for two days, each with a placard on his chest: “He received the punishment for practicing the crime of Lot’s people.””

    • “When his father learned he was gay, Nahas said he called him a shame to the family and beat him.”

      What father, who having provided bedtime stories to his sons, listened to their adventures and concerns, to reason and discuss the actions of the world around them… To give them a soul… could then possibly end up with a creature that would sexualize their identity in fulfiling the desire of joining with the father-nature they never received?

      Could never happen. But will greatly in Islam, with Muslims with no souls to ever pass to their sons except a beating.

    • Yazidi women are learning to defend themselves. Doing their bootcamp best and proud of it, bless their hearts.

      What’s “gay pride” all about? There should be enough homosexual men to form a battalion. Why aren’t they defending themselves and their way of life?

      Sorry, I don’t have much sympathy for this victim class. Zero empathy.

  4. ISIS Has 300 U.S. Ambassadors on Twitter, Report Says (nbcnews, Dec 1, 2015)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-has-300-u-s-ambassadors-twitter-report-says-n471671

    “At least 300 Americans, many of them women, are acting as ISIS ambassadors on social media — spreading propaganda and hunting for potential recruits, according to a new report.

    Researchers at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism said that Twitter is the platform of choice for U.S. based sympathizers, even though the service regularly suspends accounts that spew ISIS material.

    As soon as they are taken down — which is seen as a “badge of honor” — new accounts replace them them within hours and are retweeted by others to bring them up to their previous follower level.

    The report identified American ISIS supporters who acted as online “spotters” for the terror gang, and the researchers who monitored those accounts for six months were able to watch recruitment of recently converted Americans unfold in real time.

    “In one case the seemingly naïve individual posted general questions about religion, to which ISIS supporters quickly responded in a calm and authoritative manner,” the authors wrote.

    “After a few weeks, the accounts of hardened ISIS supporters slowly introduced increasingly ardent views into the conversation. The new recruit was then invited to continue the conversion privately, often via Twitter’s Direct Message feature or on other private messaging platforms such as surespot.”

    The report also looked at how U.S. jihadists meet and recruit in person, uncovering small groups of apparent ISIS sympathizers in a number of cities.

    “One of them, located in Texas, revolves around a few charismatic individuals and an Islamic studies group. Another, based in the suburbs of a large Midwestern city, appears to be composed of former high school friends and a handful of their acquaintances,” the report said.

    Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism, noted that while American ISIS supporters tend to be male, nearly a third of the accounts they examined were supposedly operated by women.

    “They communicate primarily in English, and discuss a wide range of topics, from open support of terrorist attacks to boringly benign banter about everyday life,” he said. “The online scene is a bit of a close-knit clique, where inside jokes are shared, memes are created, and dissenters are quickly ignored.”

    J.M. Berger, a social media counterterrorism analyst and co-author of a book about ISIS, said the report’s analysis of offline clusters was eye-opening.

    “For all that we talk about social media, there is still a significant role for face to face interaction,” he said.”

  5. British terror suspect Jermaine Grant jailed in Kenya (BBC, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34982045

    “A British man accused of plotting terror attacks on the Kenyan coast has been jailed for nine years in Mombasa.

    Jermaine Grant, from London, was jailed for nine charges related to trying to illegally obtain Kenyan citizenship.

    He faces separate charges of “conspiring to improvise an explosive device” and a trial in Mombasa is ongoing. He denies the terror charges.

    Grant was arrested in 2011 when batteries and chemicals were discovered in his apartment in Mombasa.

    UK police – who have provided forensic assistance to Kenyan authorities – allege they were “precursors for making highly volatile explosive substances”.

    Samantha Lewthwaite, known as the “White Widow” and wanted in connection with the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005, is also suspected of being involved in the alleged plot.

    She escaped arrest in Kenya in 2011 and has been missing since then…”

  6. Hungary PM claims German-led secret pact will force 500,000 Syrians to Europe

    BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary’s prime minister says he believes a secret pact led by Germany to bring up to 500,000 Syrians from Turkey directly into the European Union will be revealed soon.

    Viktor Orban said Wednesday that a similar idea was rejected recently by European national leaders but that “the cat will be out of the bag” and the scheme will be announced in Berlin as soon as this week.

    Orban says “this secret agreement exists and we will be confronted by it in the coming days.”

    He says the plan includes forcing all EU countries to take in some migrants, even if they are opposed to mandatory quotas.

    Orban said there will be “huge pressure” on countries like Hungary and others to take part.

    Greece’s migration minister, meanwhile, says his country has come under “intense pressure” from some European countries over the migration crisis, but he says that’s unfair.

    Reacting to a story in the Financial Times, Ioannis Mouzalas told reporters Wednesday that no official threat has been made to eject Greece from Europe’s borderless Schengen area. He says accusations by unidentified European officials in the FT story were a mixture of “reality and myth.”

    Greece has been the main point of entry into the EU for about 700,000 migrants and refugees so far this year.

    Mouzalas says: “It’s true that our country has come under intense pressure from some European Union member countries who mistakenly believe that the refugee flow can be controlled from Greece. As we’ve repeatedly stated and as Europe has belatedly understood, Greece is the start of the corridor. The door is in Turkey. Therefore if the flows are not controlled in Turkey, from the coast of Turkey, it is impossible to control the flows from Greece or any other European Union member.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/12/02/latest-hungary-viktor-orban-claims-german-led-secret-pact-will-bring-in-500000/

    Hungary’s Orban Says Germany Struck `Secret’ Turkey Refugee Deal

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a staunch opponent of accepting refugees into the European Union, said Germany struck a “secret pact” with Turkey to take in as many as half a million people.

    The initiative, which wasn’t part of a weekend agreement between Turkey and the EU on curbing the flow of refugees, may be announced by Germany within days, Orban told a forum of ethnic Hungarian leaders in Budapest on Wednesday. European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans dismissed reports of a covert deal as “nonsense.”

    “Beyond what we agreed with Turkey in Brussels there’s something that doesn’t figure in the agreement,” Orban said. “We’ll wake up one day — and I think this will be announced in Berlin as soon as this week — that we have to take in 400,000 to 500,000 refugees directly from Turkey.”[…]

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-02/hungary-s-orban-says-germany-struck-secret-turkey-refugee-deal

  7. Russia: Turkish leadership involved in illegal oil trade with Islamic State- Def Min

    Turkey is the main buyer of oil smuggled by terrorists such as the so-called Islamic State in Syria and family members of Turkish President Recep Erdogan are involved, stated the Russian Defence Ministry, during a briefing in Moscow, Wednesday.

    SOT, Anatoli Antonov, Deputy Minister of Defence of Russia (Russian): “To defeat ISIS, we are convinced that the sources of its financing have to be crushed, as repeatedly mentioned by President Vladimir Putin. Terrorism without money is an animal without teeth. The revenues from oil is one of the main sources of the activities of the terrorists in Syria. They are earning around 2 billion Dollars annually and are spending these funds on recruiting fighters all over the world, arming and supplying them. That’s why ISIS is carefully protecting the infrastructure of the oil theft in Syria and Iraq. The main consumer of this stolen oil is Turkey. According to data we have received, the highest political elite of the country is involved in this criminal business, including President Erdogan and his family.”

    SOT, Anatoli Antonov, Deputy Minister of Defence of Russia (Russian):Today we will present a part of the evidence we have, which will prove that a gang of bandits is cooperating with Turkish elites to steal oil from their neighbours. This oil flows into Turkey in huge amounts on an industrial scale atop thousands of trucks. We are absolutely convinced and will present to you irrefutable facts that prove that the final destination of this stolen oil is Turkey.”

    • Russia: Turkey’s oil trade with IS is Erdogan’s “sparkling family business” – MoD

      SOT, Anatoli Antonov, Deputy Minister of Defence of Russia (Russian): “Erdogan’s resignation is not our main goal. It’s a thing of the people of Turkey. Our aim, which we call on you to pursue as well, dear colleagues, is to cut the sources of financing of terrorism with joint efforts. We will continue to provide evidence for Turkey’s theft from its neighbours. Maybe this will be too direct, but the control over this thievery business can only be committed by the closest people. Doesn’t it raise questions in the West that the son of Turkey’s president is the head of one of the biggest energy companies in the country, and his [the president’s] son in law was inaugurated as minister of energy? What a sparkling family business.”

    • ( English audio ) – Russian military reveals details of ISIS-Turkey oil smuggling

      ( 23 min 27 )

    • Erdogan says no one can ‘slander’ Turkey over Islamic State oil claims

      DOHA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday no one had the right to “slander” Turkey by accusing it of buying oil from Islamic State, and that he would stand down if such allegations were proven to be true.

      Erdogan, who was speaking at a university in Qatar’s capital Doha, said he did not want relations with Moscow to worsen further.

      “Nobody has the right to slander Turkey by saying Turkey is buying Daesh oil,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

      Russia’s defense ministry said it had proof that Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.

      Government officials described the claims as baseless, while a senior official from the ruling AK Party founded by Erdogan said they were part of a narrative being spun for a Russian domestic audience.

      Relations between the two hit their worst in recent memory after Turkey downed a Russian jet near the Syrian border last week, prompting Moscow to impose a raft of sanctions on Ankara.

      http://news.yahoo.com/erdogan-says-no-one-slander-turkey-over-islamic-145258250.html

    • T I M E – Is Turkey Really Benefiting From Oil Trade With ISIS?

      […] Analysts say claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin don’t hold water

      Relations between Russia and Turkey hit a new low this week after Moscow doubled down on its claims that Turkey shot a Russian warplane in order to protect its supply of oil with the militant group ISIS.

      Analysts speaking to TIME say it’s very unlikely Ankara has anything to do with ISIS oil — and Putin’s allegation about the incident carries no weight. “To go as far to say that Turkey would shoot down a plane to protect its oil supply is unfounded,” says Valerie Marcel, an associate fellow in energy, environment and resources at London-based think tank Chatham House.

      Fawaz Gerges, Professor of International Relations in the London School of Economics and Political Science, agrees that the claims amount to a conspiracy theory. “I think it would be very misleading to say there is an unholy alliance with Turkey and the Islamic State,” he says.

      […]“ISIS sells to anyone, it’s not about ideology,” Gerges says. “They deal with the Kurds, Syrian regime, Islamist rivals. It’s just business.”

      They were able to take their own tankers, with the crude oil from their own wellhead, and bring it to the border at Turkey,” Marcel says . While it is impossible to give exact figures due to the lack of independent researchers in the area, Marcel believes that individuals or criminal groups were profiting from the kickbacks in the sale of ISIS oil — and not, as Putin suggests, the Turkish government.

      The vast majority of that oil is likely being used in ISIS-controlled areas, she adds. “They are consuming most of what they produce as they need gasoline to meet their needs[…]

      http://time.com/4132346/turkey-isis-oil/

    • ISIS Releases Video Purportedly Showing Beheading of Alleged Russian Spy

      ISIS claims it has beheaded an alleged Russian spy in a killing at the hands of a Russian jihadi.

      In a video released by the terror group Wednesday, an unidentified captive is seen kneeling in front of another man clutching a knife, according to Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm and NBC News consultant. The video is titled, “You Shall be Disappointed and Humiliated O Russians.”

      The captor, who is not masked, speaks in what sounds to be Russian before cutting the prisoner’s throat.

      The grisly execution would appear to be the first video of a Russian captive being beheaded, and comes on the heels of a Russian bombing campaign in Syria meant to root out ISIS. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to retaliate against the terrorists after they claimed responsibility for the downing of a commercial jetliner over Egypt on Oct. 31.

      The video also follows the likely death of ISIS terrorist Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John.” He is believed to have been one of two people “incinerated” in a U.S. airstrike last month on the ISIS stronghold city of Raqqa.

      The U.S. and France have stepped up anti-ISIS airstrikes as well after a series of attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that claimed 130 lives. ISIS said it was responsible for the coordinated carnage.

      http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-releases-video-purportedly-showing-beheading-alleged-russian-spy-n472921

      Pics + video on this page :

      http://heavy.com/news/2015/12/new-isis-islamic-state-news-videos-pictures-fsb-federal-security-service-agent-spy-chechen-chechnya-russia-russian-moscow-vladimir-putin-raqqa-syria-full-uncensored-youtube-english-translation/

    • U.S. rejects Russian charge that Turkey involved in Islamic State oil smuggling

      The United States on Wednesday flatly rejected Russian allegations that the Turkish government was in league with Islamic State militants to smuggle oil from Syria.

      State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing that U.S. information was that Islamic State was selling oil at the wellheads to middlemen who in turn were involved in smuggling the oil across the frontier into Turkey.

      “We reject outright the premise that the Turkish government is in league with ISIL to smuggle oil across its borders,” Toner said, using an acronym for the militant group. “We frankly see no evidence, none, to support such an accusation.”

      Russia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.

      http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/02/us-mideast-crisis-russia-usa-idUSKBN0TL2G120151202

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

      US categorically rejects alleged Turkish involvement in ISIL oil trade

      State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing that US information was that Islamic State was selling oil at the wellheads to middlemen who in turn were involved in smuggling the oil across the frontier into Turkey.

      “We reject outright the premise that the Turkish government is in league with ISIL to smuggle oil across its borders,” Toner said, using an acronym for the militant group. “We frankly see no evidence, none, to support such an accusation.”[…]

      http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_us-categorically-rejects-alleged-turkish-involvement-in-isil-oil-trade_405952.html

      =====================================
      from 9:50 on this video :

    • Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi says foreign troops not needed in fight against Isis

      Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said that Iraq does not need foreign troops to defeat Islamic State (Isis), after the US announced that it was deploying more special forces troops to the country. “There is no need for foreign ground combat forces in Iraqi territory,” Abadi said in a statement released on 2 December, AFP reported.

      Al-Abadi did not the reject the US deployment of extra troops, but said that all operations would be in coordination with Iraqi forces. “The Iraqi government stresses that any military operation or presence of any foreign force, special or not, in any place in Iraq cannot be done without its approval and coordination with it,” the statement said.

      http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/iraqi-pm-haider-al-abadi-says-foreign-troops-not-needed-fight-against-isis-1531567

      ————————————————————————————-
      Iraq does not need foreign troops to fight Islamic State: PM Haider al-Abadi

      Baghdad: Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said his country does not need foreign troops to fight IS militants, but welcomes support through weapons and training, the media reported on Wednesday.

      “There is no need for foreign combat ground troops on Iraqi soil,” Xinhua quoted a statement by Abadi’s office as saying on Tuesday.

      The presence of foreign troops in Iraq, if any, must be approved by and coordinated with the government, said Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces.

      “Any military operation or deployment of any foreign force, special or not, at any place in Iraq cannot happen without approval of and coordination with Iraqi government and full respect of the country’s sovereignty,” the statement said.

      Abadi’s comments came after an earlier announcement by the US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter that the Pentagon was deploying a specialised operations force which would “over time” conduct unilateral operations in Iraq and Syria as part of the US military campaign against the IS.

      Iraq witnesses a fresh wave of violence amid deteriorating security, with IS militants controlling parts of northern and western regions and committing crimes against Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Yazidi Kurds, and other ethnic and religious communities.

      http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/iraq-does-not-need-foreign-troops-to-fight-islamic-state-pm-haider-al-abadi_1829478.html

    • I hate it when they take Harvard’s name in vain.

      And nothing’s more vain than The Kennedy School. Think “Michael Dukakis” and you’ve got it.

  8. CANADA –Most Syrian refugees not keen to move to Canada immediately, Ottawa says

    Initial efforts in November by the United Nations to find Syrian refugees keen on immediately migrating to Canada yielded relatively little fruit, figures released by Ottawa show.

    Only about one in 10 refugees indicated an interest when contacted in the latter half of November by the UN, numbers published by the federal government Wednesday indicate.

    The Canadian government insists refugee interest has since picked up substantially but could provide no numbers to back that up. They said a number of refugees in camps are still hoping they might return to Syria or want to remain in the region.

    Between November 18 and 26, about 10 per cent of refugees contacted, chiefly in Jordan, but also in Lebanon, indicated they were interested, Ottawa says.

    The United Nations refugee agency sent text messages to more than 41,000 Syrians in Jordan and Lebanon asking if they wanted to come to Canada by the end of February 2016. They followed up by phone and found that only about 28,500 of the phone numbers worked.

    More than 3,000 showed up for interviews with the UN and ultimately only about 1,800 indicated they were interested in coming to Canada within weeks.

    Canadian government officials released these numbers Wednesday in a briefing but said more recent efforts to find Syrians willing to come to Canada quickly are finding more takers.

    A senior Canadian official said it’s normal that potential refugee numbers are whittled down as the UN contacts people.

    “This is a new process we’ve put in place so we’ve had a fairly significant drop out rate but we’re seeing the numbers hopefully increasing over the next little while,” they told reporters.

    “I think it’s just as a reality that as much as we are eager to welcome the 25,000 people and want them to come to Canada, some of them want to stay close to home. Some of them still want to be able to return to Syria and are hopeful there will be a resolution to the conflict there.”

    The official recalled a meeting she had with Syrians this past January who have lived in a refugee camp in Turkey for nearly three years and wanted to stay close to Syria. “They were still saying their first hope was to remain in that location and to return to Syria. They did not want to be resettled.”

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/syrian-refugees-not-keen-to-move-to-canada-immediately-ottawa-says/article27561756/

  9. European Parliament, Brussels, 02 December 2015

    Rewarding Turkish blackmail is a dangerous game – UKIP Leader Nigel Farage

    transcript on the youtube page :

  10. BREITBART – Trump 100% Vindicated: CBS Reports ‘Swarm’ On Rooftops Celebrating 9/11

    The DC Media has spent the last two weeks attempting to destroy Donald Trump with lies. Outright lies, and they are doing so in order to protect a 14 year-old cover up. Not only have eyewitnesses and contemporaneous reports proven Donald Trump 100% correct about Muslims celebrating 9/11, a just-uncovered local CBS News (WCBS-TV in New York) report completely vindicates Trump’s claim of “thousands and thousands” of Muslims celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center.

    on this page :

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/12/02/trump-100-vindicated-cbs-reports-swarms-on-roofs-celebrating-911/

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

    CNN –

  11. USA – Kirtland AFB locked down due to unconfirmed reports of active shooter on base

    ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Kirtland Air Force Base has been placed on a precautionary lockdown due to unconfirmed reports of an active shooter on the west side of the base, according to a base spokesperson.

    The Veterans Affairs hospital just next to the base has been placed on shelter-in-place. No one is being allowed in or out of the building at this time.

    Kirtland, Wherry and Sandia Base elementary schools were briefly placed on lockdown due to the situation, but the lockdown was lifted minutes later, according to Albuquerque Public Schools.

    http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3980242.shtml

  12. UN: Iran worked on developing nuclear weapons (BBC, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34988952

    “Iran took limited steps towards developing a nuclear bomb in the past, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said.

    But the report from the IAEA said the efforts did not go beyond planning and testing of basic components.

    Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the findings confirmed that Tehran’s nuclear programme was peaceful.

    The report was a condition of this year’s landmark deal between Iran and six world powers.

    The July agreement involves the lifting of sanctions in return for Iran curbing sensitive nuclear activities.

    In its report, the IAEA said most of the “co-ordinated” work by Iran took place before 2003, with some activities continuing up to 2009.

    But it added “these activities did not advance beyond feasibility and scientific studies, and the acquisition of certain relevant technical competences and capabilities”.

    The report will now be forwarded to the IAEA’s board for discussion later in December…”

  13. Boko Haram crisis: Cameroon troops ‘free 900 hostages’ (BBC, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34986146

    “Troops have freed 900 hostages captured by the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Cameroon’s defence minister has announced.

    Joseph Beti Assomo said his forces had also killed around 100 Boko Haram members at the end of November.

    There has been no independent confirmation of the operation in Cameroon’s remote Far North region.

    It is not clear exactly where the clashes took place, or where Boko Haram’s captives had been held…”

  14. Afghan Taliban leader Mansour ‘wounded in gunfight’ (BBC, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34983477

    “Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has been seriously wounded in shooting at a meeting of militants in Pakistan, Taliban sources say.

    Four Taliban gunmen were killed in the gunfight after an argument on the outskirts of Quetta, a source said.

    Another report said Mullah Mansour died but this is unconfirmed. A Taliban spokesman denied the gunfight happened.

    Mullah Mansour’s appointment prompted splits in the Taliban after its founder Mullah Omar’s death emerged in July…”

  15. Syria air strikes: MPs authorise UK action against Islamic State (BBC, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-34989302

    “MPs have overwhelmingly voted by 397 to 223 to authorise UK air strikes against so-called Islamic State in Syria after an impassioned 10-hour Commons debate.

    The BBC understands 67 Labour MPs sided with the government in backing military action as David Cameron secured a larger than expected Commons majority.

    The PM said they had “taken the right decision to keep the country safe” but opponents said the move was a mistake.

    The government has said bombing raids will begin “as soon as [is] practical”…”

    • Washington Post

      As many as three attackers opened fire at a holiday party for county employees in San Bernardino, Calif., on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 17 others in what the city’s police chief described as an act of domestic terrorism.

      Two suspects — a man and a woman — were killed during this shootout, Jarrod Burguan, chief of the San Bernardino Police Department, said during an evening news conference.

      During the encounter, one officer was injured with what Cervantes described as a non-life-threatening injur and taken to an area hospital.

      […]A local law enforcement official confirmed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found a suspected pipe bomb on one of the suspects. That official also said the FBI has taken over the investigation. Multiple devices were thrown from the SUV during the chase, law enforcement officials said.

      […]Earlier in the day, officials said they did not know a motive for the shooting or know the identities of any of the suspects. But Burguan said that “at minimum, we have a domestic terrorist-type situation that occurred here.”

      The shooting was the latest spasm of deadly gun violence in the country, and it occurred less than five days after a gunman in Colorado attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic, killing three people and injuring nine others.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/12/02/police-in-san-bernadino-calif-responding-report-of-shooting/

    • CNN – Police: 2 suspects dead in San Bernardino shooting

      In regards to the San Bernardino shooting, police say a male and female dressed in “kind of assault” style clothing were killed in a shootout in California.

    • CNN – Police: San Bernardino shooters ‘were on a mission

      San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan says the people responsible for the mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center were very prepared and on a mission.

    • LA chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations will hold press conference shortly w/relative of suspect in SanBernardino shooting.

      https://twitter.com/LATSeema/status/672263024619732992

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

      MEDIA ADVISORY

      CAIR-LA: California Muslims to Respond to San Bernardino Shooting, Naming of Suspect

      (ANAHEIM, CA, 12/2/15) ? Later tonight, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California will hold a news conference with leaders of the Muslim community to condemn today’s deadly shooting spree in San Bernardino, Calif., to offer condolences to the loved ones of those killed or injured and to respond to the naming of one of the suspects.

      A relative of one of the suspects named by the media will take part in the news conference.

      WHEN: Wednesday, December 2, 8:30 p.m. (Pacific)
      WHERE: CAIR-LA Office, 2180 W. Crescent Avenue, Suite F, Anaheim, CA
      CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Coordinator Ojaala Ahmad, 714-851-4851, 714-776-1847, oa****@ca**.com

      “We condemn this horrific and revolting attack and offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those killed or injured,” said CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush. “The Muslim community stands shoulder to shoulder with our fellow Americans in repudiating any twisted mindset that would claim to justify such sickening acts of violence.”

      CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

      – END –

      http://myemail.constantcontact.com/BREAKING–California-Muslims-to-Respond-to-San-Bernardino-Shooting–Naming-of-Suspect.html

    • International Business Time

      Is Syed Farook Muslim? San Bernardino Shooting Sparks Religion Debate

      Is the suspect black or white? Is the suspect Muslim or Christian? These are the questions Americans have immediately asked after recent mass killings, underscoring the racial and religious tensions that have simmered across the nation amid debates over national security, gun control laws and discrimination against minorities.

      After media reports identified a suspect in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, Wednesday as Syed Farook or Sayeed Farook, some reporters questioned whether his faith should be an issue. During a press conference Wednesday night, local law enforcement and FBI officials declined to answer questions about the suspect’s race or religion. But conservative leaders claimed Farook was religious and some Muslims lamented that their community could be blamed for the mass shooting.

      […]After the Paris killings in November, some Muslims expressed fear over a potential backlash. “When this horrific thing happened on Friday, all the Muslims I know went through the same thing,”[…]

      http://www.ibtimes.com/syed-farook-muslim-san-bernardino-shooting-sparks-religion-debate-2209149

  16. Obama Calls for Gun Law Changes After Latest Mass Shooting in California (nbcnews, Dec 2, 2015)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/san-bernardino-shooting/obama-calls-gun-law-changes-after-latest-mass-shooting-california-n473106

    “President Barack Obama called for stricter firearms laws as after a mass shooting in California that left at least 14 people dead, calling the spate of gun violence in the U.S. “unparalleled” to other countries….”