Reader’s links for Dec. 4 – 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

86 Replies to “Reader’s links for Dec. 4 – 2015”

  1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3345337/Brother-San-Bernardino-gunman-decorated-Navy-veteran-honored-role-war-terror.html

    The Daily Mail has a puff piece on the San Bernardino terrorist’s brother, who served in the Navy. It looks to me like the brother is no patriot either, but someone who served in positions that gave him (and others?) information. The sub he served on is, surprisingly, still in one piece. The DM makes much of his medals, but they are medals for showing up, not for anything outstanding. It’s obvious he needs to be watched, but he won’t be, of course.

    • Both want to destroy the west and global warming is a weapon to destroy the western economy.

    • Investigations conducted by prosecution revealed that the prime perpetrators were two young men who were denied entry by the club’s security personnel at the door.

      The duo left then came back to the club, named Al-Sayyad, with a Molotov cocktail. They picked a fight with the door security and then threw the firebomb at the club before fleeing the scene.

      Club manager Hassan Ramadan was quoted as saying by Ahram Arabic website that the pair came back with two other individuals at 6AM CMT while the employees were closing the club.

      “They threw Molotov cocktail at the entrance; the fire prevented people inside from leaving,” he said.

      All victims, 11 men and five women, were employees of the club, Ramadan added.

      The prosecution ordered that the victims’ bodies be transferred to the Zeinhom morgue for DNA tests, as some of them cannot be indentified due to severe burns.

      […]Security forces arrested two suspects, while three others remain at large.

      Al-Sayyad’s floor and walls turned black after the fire. The place was sealed with a yellow sign reading “crime scene do not cross.” The door still stands, but is tinged with black, in the middle of a facade that was partly damaged.

      The upper part of the facade turned coal black, with the paint singed off the rest of it.

      The attack was initially thought to be an act of terrorism, as Islamist militants have claimed responsibility for a number of bombings and shootings in Egypt, mostly in North Sinai, which have targeted security forces over the past two years.

      http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/172543/Egypt/Politics-/UPDATE—dead-in-altercationturnedarson-attack-at-.aspx

      Photos :

      http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentMulti/172579/Multimedia.aspx

      Egypt: Cairo Molotov attack kills 16 and wounds five

      A Molotov cocktail attack killed 16 in Cairo, Friday, wounding five. The attack hit the el-Sayad restaurant-cum-nightclub, which is based in a basement, leaving people trapped with no escape route.

  2. Pakistan blocks 30 migrants deported from Greece (BBC, Dec 4, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35003261

    “Pakistan has refused entry to 30 migrants deported from Greece, saying their identities could not be verified.

    They were among a group flown from Athens to Islamabad on Thursday.

    Nineteen verified migrants were allowed to disembark while the rest were flown back to Athens, officials said.

    Pakistan is one of the top countries of origin of illegal migrants to Europe, according to statistical institute Eurostat.

    Islamabad had suspended its agreement with the European Union to accept repatriation of illegal Pakistani migrants, citing misuse.

    However, the dispute was settled last week after meetings with the EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos.

    The EU’s representative office in Pakistan said all those on board had travel documents issued by Pakistani embassies.

    But Pakistan’s interior ministry said those sent back to Greece had lacked Pakistan-issued identification cards. and thus their nationalities could not be verified.

    “Despite having settled all issues with the European Commissioner, Pakistani laws have been violated, which absolutely cannot be allowed,” said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

    Greece has been facing pressure from EU partners to directly deport migrants arriving from Turkey instead of allowing them to move to elsewhere in Europe.

    Europe is in the midst of a migrants crisis as hundreds of thousands of people have arrived on its shores, many of them fleeing fighting in Syria.”

  3. Islamic State agents from Syria ‘in Thailand to target Russians’ (BBC, Dec 4, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/35003912

    “Thai police say they were warned by Moscow that 10 Syrians working for the so-called Islamic State (IS) entered Thailand in October to target Russians.

    A leaked Thai police memo says the information was passed by Russia’s intelligence agency. More than 1.5 million Russians visited in 2013.

    But Thai police say they have not been able to confirm the presence of these Syrians and officials called for calm.

    Russia began air strikes against IS in Syria at the end of September.

    An IS-linked group also claimed it brought down the Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula in October, killing all 224 people on board.

    ‘Everything is safe’

    The leaked memo, marked “urgent” and dated 27 November, was from a commander of Thailand’s Special Branch and was sent to police units.

    It says Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had told Thai police that the Syrian militants had entered the country between 15 and 31 October to target Russians.

    The memo reads: “They travelled separately. Four went to Pattaya, two to Phuket, two to Bangkok and the other two to an unknown location.”

    The plan was to target “Russians and Russia’s alliance with Thailand” it says.
    The memo calls for increased security around possible targets…”

  4. Pentagon Spent $150 Million on Private Villas, Security Guards for Government Employees in Afghanistan (abcnews, Dec 4, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/pentagon-spent-150-million-private-villas-security-guards/story?id=35557060

    “The Department of Defense is once again under fire for massive spending, this time for $150 million used to fund private housing and private security guards for some of its employees in Afghanistan.

    On Thursday, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released its letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter asking for more information regarding the $150 million, which was authorized by the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO). According to SIGAR, the $150 million expense is nearly 20 percent of TFBSO’s budget.

    News of the excessive spending comes just weeks after SIGAR reported that the Department of Defense spent $43 million to build a gas station in Afghanistan that should have cost around $500,000.

    “SIGAR’s preliminary review indicates that TFBSO leadership rented specially furnished, privately owned ‘villas’ and hired contractors to provide 24-hour building security, food services, and bodyguards for TFBSO staff and visitors traveling in country,” the letter states.

    SIGAR alleged that government employees could have lived on U.S. military bases, saving taxpayers “tens of millions of dollars.”

    SIGAR included a statement from Paul Brinkley, former deputy under secretary of defense and TFBSO’s first director, in its letter. Brinkley, according to the letter, said the decision to not house employees on military bases was purposeful “to show private companies that they could set up operations in Afghanistan themselves without needing military support.”

    Triple Canopy, a contractor paid $57 million from 2010 to 2014 to provide support services at TFBSO facilities, provided queen-sized beds in some rooms, flat screen TVs, DVD players, mini refrigerators, and “an ‘investor villa’ that had ‘upgraded furniture’ and ‘western-style hotel accommodations,'” according to SIGAR.

    SIGAR noted that there were no studies done to see if TFBSO’s mission could have been carried out from U.S. military bases.”

  5. ‘Terror threat is in our home’: Blair backs Syria airstrikes as he warns support for ISIS runs ‘deep into parts of Muslim societies’

    ‘Clerics who proclaim that non-believers and apostates must be killed or call for jihad against Jews have Twitter followings running into millions. The ideology has deep roots. We have to reach right the way down and uproot it.’

    Mr Blair warned that a continued failure to recognise the scale of the challenge would lead to terrorist attacks ‘worse that those in Paris’.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3345538/Tony-Blair-Support-ISIS-runs-deep-parts-Muslim-societies.html

    • Migration fears are a short-term issue, says Blair: Former PM dismisses public concern about refugee crisis and said Britain would be ‘diminished’ by leaving the EU (dailymail, Dec 4, 2015)
      http://dailym.ai/1XHYrXQ

      “Tony Blair dismissed public concern about mass immigration as a ‘short-term issue’ yesterday – and insisted Britain would ‘diminish ourselves’ by leaving the EU.

      The ex-Prime Minister claimed the referendum debate in the UK was ‘a diversion of energy’ from more pressing political problems.

      He also said that David Cameron’s instinct was to ‘stay in’.

      Mr Blair, who once wanted Britain to join the euro, declared: ‘There’s a risk we end up having a debate in Britain over the EU that is essentially about immigration and short-term issues to do with the big refugee crisis or the short-term problems of the single currency.

      ‘We need also to give the country a sense of what is Britain’s place in the world and for our key ally to be expressing an opinion … I think is important.

      ‘People in the country need to know we are going to diminish ourselves if we do this.’
      Immigration is the number one public concern in Britain – which Mr Blair’s opponents laying the blame firmly at his own door.

      During the New Labour years, immigrants arrived in Britain at the rate of one every minute.

      Between 1997 and 2010, the foreign population of Britain was increased by an extraordinary 3.6million. This was four times higher than during the previous 13 years and equivalent to the population of Britain’s five largest cities outside London – Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield and Bradford.

      By far the most decisive factor was Labour’s decision not to impose controls in 2004 when Poland and seven other former Eastern Bloc countries joined the EU in 2004.

      Ministers predicted only 13,000 would arrive each year. In reality, more than one million came.

      Robert Oxley, a spokesman for the Vote Leave campaign, said: Tony Blair’s record on the EU was a disaster. He gave away control of key UK vetoes, failed to deliver the reforms he promised the public and threw away billions from the UK’s rebate…”

  6. Senators Demand Obama Release Immigration History of San Bernardino Attackers

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/senators-demand-obama-release-immigration-history-of-san-bernardino-attackers/

    Leading senators on Thursday evening demanded in a letter that the Obama administration release the immigration records of the two suspected shooters who killed at least 14 people in San Bernardino, California, this week.

    Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) claimed the Obama administration has failed to comply with a request for immigration records of 72 recent terrorists found to be in the United States.

    The attacks this week, they said, highlight the need for greater oversight on those entering the country.

    Devout Muslim Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, who was born in Pakistan, are suspected of killing at least 14 people in an attack that some believe was motivated by the duo’s potential ties to terrorists.

  7. San Bernardino Attackers Left Remote Controlled Bomb at Party

    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/san-bernardino-shooting/san-bernardino-attackers-left-remote-controlled-bomb-party-n473621

    The attackers who killed 14 at a California office party Wednesday left behind a remote-controlled explosive device as they raced away in a black SUV with the bomb controller in their hands, NBC News has learned.

    Multiple federal and regional sources familiar with the investigation of the attack at San Bernardino’s Inland Regional Center told NBC News that the controller was similar to the model car controller used in the Boston Marathon bombing of 2013.

  8. San Bernardino killers erased digital presence day before the attacks

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/3/syed-farook-tashfeen-malik-erased-digital-footprin/

    The Muslim husband and wife behind the mass shooting in San Bernardino began erasing their digital footprint a day in advance of the deadly attack, deleting email accounts, disposing of hard drives and smashing their cellphones, according to law enforcement investigators who are treating the probe as a counterterrorism case.

    Investigators edged closer Thursday to the conclusion that Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were radicalized by Islamist extremists either in the U.S. or during trips to the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.

  9. Germany rejects own spy agency’s criticism of Saudi Arabia

    The German government on Friday rejected the findings of a damning report on Saudi Arabia by its own spy agency and called Riyadh a key partner in regional conflict resolution.

    The highly unusual spat between the chancellery and foreign ministry on one side and the BND foreign intelligence service on the other hand erupted when the latter on Wednesday released a report accusing Saudi Arabia of a destabilising shift in foreign policy.

    “The until now cautious diplomatic stance of the older members of the leadership of the royal family is being replaced with an impulsive policy of intervention,” it said.

    In particular, the BND focused on the role of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who holds the defence portfolio and other powerful posts.

    The BND said he and his father King Salman, who acceded to power in January, appeared to want to establish themselves as the “leaders of the Arab world” by advancing a foreign policy agenda “with a strong military component as well as new regional alliances”.

    German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Friday it was crucial that Berlin has a “coherent position” on the role of Saudi Arabia in the region.

    “The assessments by the BND that were published do not reflect this coherent position,” Seibert said.

    “Those who want progress on the pressing issues in the region — and there are many — need constructive relations with Saudi Arabia,” he said.

    “Those who say that do not deny that there can be differences of opinion and differences in our political systems. But Saudi Arabia is a very, very important factor in the region.”

    He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s participation in meetings in Vienna aimed at finding a political solution in Syria and plans to host a meeting of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    Foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer insisted that Berlin had a “good and trusting” relationship with the BND in the analysis of the Middle East.

    But he said the role of the BND, which reports to the chancellery, was to provide “information that the government requests” and “not to supply journalists with information”.

    Mohammed bin Salman has largely spearheaded Riyadh’s handling of the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition supporting the government against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels.

    Rights groups have repeatedly criticised the strikes, saying they have hit areas where there are no military targets.

    Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the war, more than half of them civilians, according to UN estimates.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/172581/World/Region/Germany-rejects-own-spy-agencys-criticism-of-Saudi.aspx

  10. Japan to launch new intelligence unit focused on Islamic militants

    A new Japanese Foreign Ministry unit will start collecting information on militant groups such as Islamic State group (ISIS) in the countries they are based, the government said on Friday, prompted into action by last month’s attacks on Paris.

    The unit, to work alongside other intelligence-gathering operations run by the foreign and defence ministries and the police, will be set up on Tuesday with a staff of about 20 with a similar number working overseas in Japanese embassies.

    “As underscored by the recent large-scale attacks on Paris, the situation regarding terror attacks is extremely severe,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told lawmakers and government officials.

    “The government must do its utmost to forestall terror attacks while working with the international community.”

    The attacks on Paris bars, restaurants, a soccer stadium and a concert hall killed 130 people. ISIS claimed responsibility.

    Japan is to host a series of high-profile events such as the Group of Seven summit next year, the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the Olympics in 2020.

    ISIS killed two Japanese hostages this year after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged around $200 million in non-military assistance for countries battling the militant group.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/172550/World/Region/Japan-to-launch-new-intelligence-unit-focused-on-I.aspx

  11. Greece: Tensions high as refugees remain confined at border

    Tensions ran high at the Greek-Macedonian border, nearby the Greek village of Idomeni, Friday, as thousands of refugees waited to enter Macedonia on their way to continental Europe.

  12. Shia Arbaeen festival in India

    Thousands of Shia muslims gathered in central Mumbai, Thursday, commemorating the sacred Shia Muslim ritual of Arbaeen. The event, also known in Urdu and Hindi as Chehlum, marks the 40th day of mourning following the massacre of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein in the desert of Karbala, a date celebrated for the last 1,400 years.

  13. Austria

    25 arrests after massive fight in asylum centre

    A group of young male refugees – all aged under 18 – got into a fist fight and then began attacking each other with wooden boards and stones.

    Inspector Franz Moisi said that the young refugees were mainly from different Afghan ethnic groups.

    The conversion of the former hardware store into a refugee camp was not popular with locals.

    http://www.thelocal.at/20151204/25-arrests-after-fight-in-asylum-centre

  14. Turkey: Police arrest 47 at Istanbul Uni after opposing student groups clash

    Turkish police arrested 47 students during a raid on Istanbul University’s Faculty of Literature in the Turkish capital, Friday, following two days of clashes between a group of left-wing students campaigning against the so-called Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and another group of students opposing the first group.

  15. Spain: Alternative nativity scene depicts plight of Syrian refugees

    An alternative nativity scene that went on display in San Anton church in Madrid, Friday, depicts refugees in the place of the traditional scene of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

  16. The Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) on Thursday said that satellite photos presented by Russia’s Defense Ministry this week showing Islamic State militants selling oil to Turkey were in fact images of Kurdish trucks, the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
    http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/551797.html
    The oil is in fact from Duhok and Badinan regions which was sent by trucks because pipeline does not have enough capacity.

    ****************************
    Kurdish fighters in Aleppo deny receiving Russian military support
    ALEPPO – The Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) operating in the Sheikh Maqsoud district in Aleppo city denied receiving any Russian military support in their fight against Islamist rebel groups.
    Fighters of the YPG have been engaged in fierce clashes with Syrian Islamist groups in Sheikh Maqsoud in the city of Aleppo for weeks.
    The pro-opposition Local Coordination Committees in Syria (LCCS) said in a statement on Wednesday that Russian cargo planes dropped about five tons of light weapons and ammunition to the Kurdish YPG forces in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo, northern Syria.
    “The Russian planes dropped the ammunition shipment at about 3:00 Tuesday midnight,” the LCCS reported.
    However, sources close to the Kurdish Auto-Administration denied this news.
    http://aranews.net/2015/12/kurdish-fighters-in-aleppo-deny-receiving-russian-military-support/

  17. Loretta Lynch Vows to Prosecute Those Who Use ‘Anti-Muslim’ Speech That ‘Edges Toward Violence’

    The day after a horrific shooting spree by a “radicalized” Muslim man and his partner in San Bernardino, California, Attorney General Loretta Lynch pledged to a group of Muslim activists that she would take aggressive action against anyone who used “anti-Muslim rhetoric” that “edges toward violence.”

    Speaking to the audience at the Muslim Advocate’s 10th anniversary dinner Thursday, Lynch said her “greatest fear” is the “incredibly disturbing rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric” in America and vowed to prosecute any guilty of what she deemed violence-inspiring speech. She said:

    The fear that you have just mentioned is in fact my greatest fear as a prosecutor, as someone who is sworn to the protection of all of the American people, which is that the rhetoric will be accompanied by acts of violence. My message to not just the Muslim community but to the entire American community is: we cannot give in to the fear that these backlashes are really based on.

    Assuring the pro-Muslim group that “we stand with you,” Lynch said she would use her Justice Department to protect Muslims from “violence” and discrimination.

    Claiming that violence against Muslims is on the rise and citing France’s clamp down on potentially radicalized mosques, Lynch suggested the Constitution does not protect “actions predicated on violent talk” and pledged to prosecute those responsible for such actions.

    “When we talk about the First Amendment we [must] make it clear that actions predicated on violent talk are not American,” said Lynch. “They are not who we are, they are not what we do, and they will be prosecuted.”

    “My message not just to the Muslim community but to all Americans is ‘We cannot give in to the fear that these backlashes are really based on,'” said Lynch.

    It is painfully clear that, like her predecessor Eric Holder, Lynch is far more concerned with promoting the social justice agenda than protecting the Constitutional rights of American citizens. What exactly is speech that “edges toward violence”? What exactly are “actions predicated on violent talk”? In the end, it is whatever she decides it to mean.

    Loretta Lynch, at a press conference yesterday, termed the San Bernardino shootings a “wonderful opportunity” to change the nature of police work:

    We’re at the point where these issues have come together really like never before in law enforcement thought and in our nation’s history and it gives us a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful moment to really make significant change.

    http://www.dailywire.com/news/1593/loretta-lynch-vows-prosecute-those-who-use-anti-james-barrett

  18. New ISIS Video Shows Houthi Rebels Executed in Yemen

    In a new video purportedly released by the Islamic State, nine alleged Houthi rebels are beheaded and six more are executed with Katyusha rockets on a Red Sea beach in Yemen.

    pics + video on this page :

    http://heavy.com/news/2015/12/new-isis-islamic-state-news-pictures-videos-houthi-rebels-red-sea-beach-execution-executed-executing-beheaded-beheading-behead-full-uncensored-youtube-english-translation/

  19. Syria: Russian Air Force destroy convoy transporting oil

    The Russian Air Force carried out an air strike on a column of automobiles transporting oil products in Aleppo Province, Friday.

    The action comes as the Defence Ministry announced its intention to hit the so-called Islamic State’s (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) energy revenues. Russian authorities have presented a wealth of evidence indicating that Turkey have allowed trade between IS forces and Turkish businesses, without impediment.

    • ISIS oil smuggling to Turkey insignificant: US official

      The amount of oil smuggled into Turkey from areas of Syria controlled by ISIS is economically insignificant, the United States said Friday, after Moscow accused Ankara of profiting from the trade.

      US officials said coalition air operations have seriously degraded the militants’ oil infrastructure, but that in any case most of the crude pumped from its wells was absorbed inside Syria’s war zone economy.

      Russia and Turkey have in recent days traded allegations that they are involved in the illegal trade, further ratcheting up tensions after Turkish jets downed a Russian bomber on the Syrian border.

      “The amount of oil being smuggled is extremely low and has decreased over time and is of no significance from a volume perspective — both volume of oil and volume of revenue,” said Amos Hochstein, US special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs.

      The State Department has dismissed Moscow’s charge against its NATO ally, which directly implicated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family in the trade, insisting there is no evidence to support it.

      Officials on Friday confirmed that some small amount of oil may cross the Syria-Turkish border in tanker trucks, but not in quantities that would interest government officials.

      “I don’t believe that there is significant smuggling, between ISIL-controlled areas and Turkey of oil in any significance in volume,” Hochstein said.

      Instead, US officials told reporters, the oil pumped in eastern Syria is refined in ad hoc desert pits equipped with crude stills and `strong>sold on the war zone black-market within Syria and neighboring Iraq.

      President Assad’s government prefers not to buy IS oil when it has a choice, but in times of shortage is one of the customers of the middle-men and smugglers who bring trucks across Syria’s network of front lines.

      Allied officials estimated the ISIS group’s income from oil at $1.0 to $1.5 million per day, but hope that renewed US, British and French air strikes have cut that.

      http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/172610/World/Region/ISIS-oil-smuggling-to-Turkey-insignificant-US-offi.aspx

  20. Two terror suspects nabbed in Salzburg (thelocal, Dec 4, 2015)
    http://www.thelocal.at/20151204/two-terror-suspects-nabbed-in-salzburg

    “Two suspected members of the Isis terror group who were posing as refugees whilst travelling through Austria have been taken into custody in Salzburg, according to a spokesman for the federal prosecutor.

    Robert Holzleitner told reporters from Austrian state broadcaster ORF that the two men, each around 20 years old, had been living in refugee accommodation in Salzburg.

    Their fellow Syrian refugees grew concerned by the behaviour and background stories of the pair, and reported their concerns to authorities.

    It is believed that the men had participated in armed conflict in Syria, fighting on the side of the Isis terror group.

    There is currently no evidence to suggest that the pair planned any terror attacks in Europe, however “investigations are still ongoing”, the prosecutor’s office said.”

  21. Married Terrorists Are Rare, But Married Killers Have Struck Many Times Before (nbcnews, Dec 4, 2015)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/san-bernardino-shooting/married-terrorists-are-rare-married-killers-have-struck-many-times-n474131

    “The FBI is still trying to determine whether Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were motivated by terrorism when they went on a rampage at a holiday party Wednesday in San Bernardino, California. Authorities say Farook appeared to have been radicalized and had been in touch with people in the Los Angeles area with jihadi-oriented views.

    “It’s extremely rare in terrorist circles and radicalization to see two individuals who are married to go out and do this together.” security expert Michael Leiter, former director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, told TODAY on Friday.

    “To go out and do this together, even in global ISIS circles, is really an outlier, so I think that is what has left many in the counterterrorism community very, very, concerned and still scratching their heads,” Leiter said.

    While married terrorists are rare, there have been plenty of killer couples throughout history. Here are some of the most notorious duos….”

  22. Russia Facing Difficulty In Turkish Straits? Shipping Disruptions May Be Moving Global Oil Market

    […]Turkey may be strategically placing vessels in the path of Russian vessels in the Bosphorus. To comply with the Montreux Convention of 1936, it’s thought Turkey could make Russian ship movement activity as difficult as possible without an outright blockade.

    Montreux laws prevent Turkey from closing the Straits without declaring war, something former Russian Defense official Yevgeny Buzhinsky recently said he didn’t think would happen.

    “I don’t think that Turkey, even in these tense conditions with Russia, will want to violate the Montreux Convention, because if Turkey begins violating it, it will be very difficult to restore it. We can ask the question: can Turkey close the straits to Russia? Theoretically, yes. But to do so, it must declare war on Russia, since the Montreux Convention states that only in the event of a war can Turkey close the straits.”

    Why Does This Matter?

    The strait, along with the Dardanelles, form the basis of the Turkish Straits, connecting the Black Sea with the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.

    The Straits are an important waterway for Russian oil exports to Europe and the United States. It’s estimated that 4 percent of worldwide transit — and a much larger portion of Russian activity — flows through the Straits.

    Shipping activity in the Bosphorus is significant enough to warrant fears of a negative supply shock in the event of any disruptions.

    http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/15/12/6020389/russia-facing-difficulty-in-turkish-straits-shipping-disrupti

  23. California shooter Malik lived in Saudi Arabia for years

    Tashfeen Malik, one of the two accused shooters in the massacre in San Bernardino, California, moved from her native Pakistan to Saudi Arabia with her family 25 years ago before landing in the United States last year with a new American husband.

    Malik, 27, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, the U.S.-born son of Pakistani immigrants, were killed in a shootout with police on Wednesday, hours after the mass shooting in San Bernardino in which 14 people died.

    U.S. government sources said Malik apparently had pledged allegiance to a leader of Islamic State, the Islamist militant group that controls large watches of territory in Syria and Iraq and claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

    The investigation into the California carnage has spread to Pakistan, where intelligence officials questioned members of Malik’s family, including her uncle, Javed Rabbani, the brother of her father, Gulzar. Rabbani said his brother Gulzar changed after moving to Saudi Arabia.

    “When relatives visited him, they would come back and tell us how conservative and hard-line he had become,” Rabbani said in an interview with Reuters.

    The father had built a house in Multan, where he stays when he visits Pakistan, according to another uncle, Malik Anwaar.

    Christian Nwadike, who worked with Farook in California for five years, told CBS News that his co-worker had been different since he returned from Saudi Arabia with Malik.

    “I think he married a terrorist,” Nwadike said.

    Two Pakistani officials said Malik was from the Layyah district in southern Punjab province, but moved to Saudi Arabia with her father 25 years ago. She returned home five or six years ago to study to become a pharmacist at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, they said.

    Rabbani said he had been contacted by Pakistani intelligence as part of the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting.

    The Pakistani officials said Malik had two brothers and two sisters and was related to Ahmed Ali Aulak, a former provincial minister.

    U.S. authorities said Malik and Farook had two assault-style rifles, two semi-automatic handguns, 6,100 rounds of ammunition and 12 pipe bombs in their home or with them when they were killed. A U.S. government source said such a cache of weapons indicated they might have intended to carry out a more elaborate attack.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/california-shooting-pakistan-idUSKBN0TN1YN20151204

  24. Germany ‘draws up plans to prevent sharing intelligence’ with Nato ally Turkey

    German commanders fear Ankara may use intelligence of its flights to target Kurdish forces allied to the West

    Germany has reportedly drawn up plans to prevent sharing intelligence with its Nato ally Turkey as it prepares to support international air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

    German Tornado aircraft are to commence reconnaissance flights over Syria and Iraq after the country’s parliament on Friday voted to deploy up to 1,200 military personnel.

    Highly unsual measures have been ordered to prevent Turkey getting access to intelligence from the flights, according to Spiegel magazine.

    The aircaft are expected to operate from Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey, and as Nato allies, the two countries would normally expect to share intelligence.

    But German commanders are concerned Turkey may use surveillance information from the flights to direct attacks against Kurdish forces allied to the West. […]

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/12033869/Germany-draws-up-plans-to-prevent-sharing-intelligence-with-Nato-ally-Turkey.html

  25. FBI Director James Comey:
    at 3:20 on the video :
    So far, no indication San Bernardino, Calif., shooting suspects part of organized group or network [ ... large group of murderers called ... I S L A M ... ]


  26. ‘Die Ziet’ analysis on refugee home attacks this year shows just four convictions (DW, Dec 4, 2015)
    http://www.dw.com/en/die-ziet-analysis-on-refugee-home-attacks-this-year-shows-just-four-convictions/a-18895757

    “An analysis by German newspaper ‘Die Zeit’ has found that from 222 dangerous attacks on refugees homes this year, there have been just four convictions. There have been 637 reported incidents.

    The study, carried out by a group of journalists from “Die Zeit” and “Zeit Online,” looked into 222 violent attacks on refugee accommodation from over the past 12 months.

    The incidents were cases in which there were injuries or the attack was of such intensity that injuries could have been caused. Since January, 104 people have been injured in attacks on refugee homes in Germany. In total, there have been 637 reported incidents.

    Identifying suspects

    Reporters investigating the attacks found that almost no cases had been resolved by German authorities. Only four incidents resulted in the conviction of a perpetrator, and charges were filed in another eight – which accounts for just five percent of all the attacks in 2015.

    According to the study, almost all of the attacks still remain unresolved, while 11 percent of police investigations have been terminated completely. German police were able to identify a suspect in only a quarter of all cases.

    Lack of police

    The analysis found the reasons behind the unsuccessful police investigations to be varied. One explanation is that the crimes are often committed late at night, which enables the perpetrators to escape quickly. Many of the homes are also in quiet, suburban areas where there are few witnesses.

    Another factor is solidarity within communities, which means authoritiesare often left with no lead to launch an investigation.

    A lack of personnel is also having an affect on the police’s ability to pursue criminals, the report said. State prosecutors have complained that there are too few arson experts, making investigations even harder.

    Nationwide problem

    Although the eastern state of Saxony still has the highest number of attacks, “Die Zeit” found that the problem was just as great in the West. In the western state of Baden-Württemburg, for example, authorities have been unable to solve one single aggravated attack, proving that there is still much work to be done on a national scale.”

    • Turkish troops in Mosul for training (hurriyetdailynews, Dec 4, 2015)
      http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-troops-in-mosul-for-training.aspx?pageID=238&nID=92110&NewsCatID=352

      “At least several hundred Turkish soldiers have been deployed to provide training in northern Iraq’s Mosul region to the Peshmerga and opposition forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a Turkish security source told Reuters on Dec. 4.

      “Turkish soldiers have reached the Mosul Bashiqa region. They are there as part of routine training exercises. One battalion has crossed into the region,” the source said, declining to say exactly how many soldiers were deployed.

      The Turkish soldiers are training Iraqi troops and the members of the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition were aware of the deployment, he added.”

    • Iraq demands Turkish troops withdraw from near Mosul (BBC, Dec 5, 2015)
      http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35012902

      “The Iraqi government has demanded that Turkey withdraw troops it sent to an area near the northern city of Mosul.

      The move was “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said in a statement.

      About 150 Turkish soldiers have been deployed near in the town of Bashiqa to train Iraqi Kurdish forces, earlier reports said.

      Mosul has been under the control of the Islamic State (IS) group since last year.
      The statement called on Turkey to “respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory”.

      Turkey enjoys close relations with autonomous Kurdish regions in Iraq, although views Syrian Kurdish groups over the border as hostile, analysts say.

      The fall of Mosul was a key moment in the rise of IS and a Iraqi government offensive to retake the city has been repeatedly put back.

      This week saw the UK carry out its first air strikes against IS in Syria and Germany voting to send military support to the coalition fighting IS in the country.”

    • RT -‘Incursion’: Baghdad demands Turkey withdraw ‘training’ troops from northern Iraq

      The Iraqi government has demanded that Ankara withdraw the more than 100 Turkish forces that entered Iraq with tanks and artillery for alleged “training” of troops near Islamic State-occupied Mosul. Baghdad stressed the unsanctioned move was a breach of its sovereignty.

      “The Iraqi authorities call on Turkey to respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory,” the statement said, stressing that the Turkish troops entered “without the request or authorization from the Iraqi federal authorities,” which is a “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty.”

      The foreign ministry called Turkey’s move “an incursion,” Reuters reported.

      According to the agency’s source, the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition was aware of the Turkey’s move.

      “Turkish soldiers have reached the Mosul Bashiqa region. They are there as part of routine training exercises. One battalion has crossed into the region,” the source told Reuters without revealing the exact number of troops.

      He added that the Turkish forces are “training Iraqi troops.”

      The Turkish intrusion into Iraq comes shortly after Ankara’s motives in the war on Islamic State have been questioned by Moscow, Tehran, as well as by Baghdad.

      The Russian government has been particularly vocal in pointing the finger at the illegal oil trade between IS terrorists and the Turks. Moscow-Ankara relations deteriorated after a Turkish F-16 jet downed a Russian Su-24 bomber on the Syrian-Turkish border for an alleged airspace violation on November 24, while the Russian jet was returning from an anti-terrorist mission. In the days after, the Russian Defense Ministry presented detailed photo and video evidence showing three huge “live pipelines” made of oil trucks effortlessly crossing the Syrian border into Turkey in militant-controlled areas.

      https://www.rt.com/news/324787-turkish-troops-deployed-iraq/

      SKY NEWS ARABIC 37 sec video :

  27. America’s Pathological Denial of Reality

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261018/americas-pathological-denial-reality-caroline-glick

    How much lower will America sink before it regains its senses? Wednesday, two Muslims walked into a Christmas party at a community service center in San Bernardino, California where one worked. They were wearing body armor and video cameras and carrying automatic rifles, pipe bombs and pistols. They opened fire, killed 14, and wounded 17.

    The murderers, Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik were killed by police.

    Speaking to the Daily News, Farook’s father said his son, “was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. He’s Muslim.”

    Farook’s neighbor told the paper that over the past two years, Farook exchanged his Western dress for Islamic gowns and grew a beard.

    • DAILY MAIL – EXCLUSIVE: ISIS loyalist woman in San Bernardino massacre is linked to Pakistan’s most notorious radical cleric and mosque known as center for fundamentalists

      US officials have handed information to Pakistani authorities linking Tashfeen Malik to country’s notorious Red Mosque
      Pakistani authorities now considering a move against Maulana Aziz, the preacher at the mosque who this year proclaimed support for ISIS
      Malik was born in Pakistan, brought up in Saudi, and returned four years ago to study pharmacy degree at university
      Pakistani prime minister’s brother held talks with US officials in London over country’s link to massacre of 14 in San Bernardino

      Sources with knowledge of the meeting told Daily Mail Online that the US had handed over ‘some proofs’ of links to the Red Mosque, known in Urdu as Lal Masjid.

      Public documents show that Tashfeen Malik was a pharmacy student. It is not entirely clear if she completed the fourth year of her studies

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3346618/ISIS-loyalist-woman-San-Bernardino-massacre-linked-Pakistan-s-notorious-radical-cleric-mosque-known-center-fundamentalists.html

      ================================================
      ‘California shooter Tashfeen Malik was in contact with Laal Masjid’

      “Tashfeen was in contact with Islamabad’s Laal Masjid,” US official told, according to sources. “Investigation officials have found Malik’s pictures in which she can be seen with Laal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.”

      + pic without veil on this page :

      http://arynews.tv/en/revealed-califth-laal-masjid/

    • BREITBART – As World Learns Of Jihadist Motives Of U.S. Terrorists, UK Left Wing Leaders Attend ‘Anti-Islamophobia Vigil’ Outside Notorious Mosque

      […]outside the notoriously Islamist Finsbury Park mosque in North London.

      The vigil was announced after police reported a “molotov cocktail” was thrown over the mosque’s outer fence last Friday. The device failed to detonate.

      Notorious Islamist hate preacher Abu Hamza Al Masri was Imam of the Finsbury Park mosque from 1997 until 2003. In 2004 he was arrested by UK police, and subsequent to a long judicial process, he was extradited to the United States where he was imprisoned earlier this year for life with no chance of parole.

      The mosque also played host to Al Qaeda operatives Richard Reid, the infamous “shoe bomber” and Zacharias Moussaoui, a French citizen who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Americans as part of the September 11th attacks.

      pics :

      http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/12/04/as-world-learns-of-jihadist-motives-of-u-s-terrorists-uk-left-wing-leaders-attend-anti-islamophobia-vigil-outside-notorious-mosque/

  28. CNN – Killer’s acquaintance: “He was a sweet young man

    A member of the mosque that San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook attended tells CNN’s Erin Burnett that “he was a sweet young man.”

    • CHANNEL 4 – San Bernardino shooting: is there a backlash against Muslims?
      Zainab Chaudry of the Council on American Islamic Relations says there’s a “tangible backlash against the [U.S.] Muslim community” in the wake of the San Bernardino mass shooting.

  29. South Russian region drafts bill on denaturalization of terrorists (RT, Dec 4, 2015)
    https://www.rt.com/politics/324737-south-russian-region-drafts-bill/

    “The legislative assembly of Dagestan has prepared and drafted a bill that, if passed, would strip Russian terrorists of their citizenship in the event of attacks on Russian military and law enforcers or other Russians in any part of the world.

    The authors of the draft wrote in an explanatory note that such a step was necessary to secure the safety of the Russian Federation against international extremist and terrorist organizations, including groups which contain Russian members…”

  30. ‘Only I and my paper were prosecuted’ – journalist who exposed Turkey’s hospitality for jihadists (RT, Dec 4, 2015)
    https://www.rt.com/news/324739-turkey-hospitals-treat-jihadists/

    “There were numerous reports of Islamist fighters injured in Syria finding shelter and treatment in Turkish hospitals. Dogu Eroglu, a journalist who broke one such story, told RT it resulted in only him and his newspaper being prosecuted.

    Eroglu is an investigative journalist working for the opposition BirGun (One Day) newspaper. In September last year he wrote an expose on a medical facility in Gaziantep, a town in southeastern Turkey about an hour’s drive from the Syrian border. The hospital treated fighters who had been injured in the neighboring country with the tacit approval of the Turkish authorities.

    “I was told by the hospital administration that they are jihadist fighters and do not have any other profession,” he told RT, adding that after recovering the fighters went back to Syria to fight more battles.

    “They also said that the food and sanitation services are provided by the city of Gaziantep, and without the government help it wouldn’t be possible to bring all these injured fighters from Syria to Turkey,” he said.

    The Turkish journalist found evidence that fighters from the Islamic Front group were treated at the clinic. The Sunni umbrella group adheres to radical Islamist ideology and is seeking to turn Syria into a state ruled by Sharia law, not a secular constitution. The goal is shared by the notorious Islamic State group, but the two are hostile toward each other, competing for territory, resources and recruits. Some of the militant groups comprising Islamic Front are reported to ally themselves with Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, which also clashed occasionally with ISIS.

    After the expose was published, the facility relocated and various parties involved gave conflicting denials, Eroglu told RT.

    “The immediate response from the authorities to our report was to close [the facility] down and transferring patients to other locations. The city of Gaziantep immediately denied our report and told the press that this facility doesn’t exist. The medical organization responsible for running the hospital then confessed that there was such a hospital, but it didn’t serve to cure the jihadists.” he said.

    What the Turkish authorities didn’t do is try to prosecute anyone involved in assisting jihadists. Instead, BirGun was accused of false reporting and a Turkish court ordered that the newspaper retract the report.

    “I and my newspaper were the only ones who faced prosecution,” Eroglu said. “Under the court decision, we were ordered to put the city’s denial under the story, which made it look like the whole story was false,” Eroglu said.

    Eroglu’s story is far from the only example of extremist fighters from various groups reported as being sheltered in Turkey. An Islamic State commander, Emrah Cakan, was confirmed to have received medical attention in a hospital in Denizli. The news triggered a nationwide scandal as opposition MPs demanded that the government explained how a known terrorist leader could get a hospital bed in Turkey…”

  31. Germany: Gun-wielding assailant puts Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz on edge, arrest made

    0:44 [ ..... doesn't look German ...]

  32. TURKEY – AKP vows ‘meaningful support’ for Syrian Turkmens will continue

    A senior member of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has underlined the government’s determination to supply “meaningful and qualitative” support to the Turkmens in Syria that will ensure their “material and moral security.”

    “Everybody should know that Turkey’s support for the Turkmens is meaningful and qualitative,” Ömer Çelik, a spokesperson for the AKP, told reporters late on Nov. 25.

    “We are standing by the Turkmens in every way. What I mean when I say ‘meaningful and qualitative support’ also includes their being equipped with some resources that will ensure their material and moral security, that will ensure their resistance against all kinds of threats against the existence of the Turkmens and that will allow them to oppose, in the required way, attacks on their region, as in the attack against Türkmendag?. There is no need to list it item by item in any way; Turkey is standing by the Turkmens materially and morally and with abstract and concrete resources,” Çelik said after a Central Executive Board (MYK) meeting chaired by AKP leader and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

    […]His remarks followed earlier remarks by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who also justified the use of trucks belonging to the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) to send “humanitarian assistance” to Syria at the time.

    […]In January 2014, trucks belonging to MIT were stopped by a prosecutor who sought to have the gendarmerie search the vehicles in the southern province of Adana before they crossed into Syria. Claiming that the trucks were carrying “humanitarian aid to Turkmens” in the war-torn country, the Turkish government accused followers of ally-turned-foe U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in the judiciary and security institutions of illegally ordering the search.

    In February 2014, a ban was imposed on the publication of reports about the search, and in April 2015 a Turkish court arrested 17 active soldiers who stopped the trucks.

    There has long been speculation that the aid was actually being sent to jihadists in Syria.

    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/akp-vows-meaningful-support-for-syrian-turkmens-will-continue.aspx?pageID=238&nID=91698&NewsCatID=352