Reader’s links for Dec. 19 – 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

105 Replies to “Reader’s links for Dec. 19 – 2015”

  1. US agrees to extend military assistance to Pakistan for another year (tribune, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1012631/military-assistance-us-agrees-to-extend-csf-for-another-year/

    “The United States has agreed to extend Pakistan’s military assistance under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for another year, a defence ministry official said on Friday after high-level talks between the two countries in Washington.

    Pakistan had sought the extension in US assistance under the CSF, which is meant to reimburse costs Islamabad incurred in the fight against terrorism.

    The CSF, which was established by the US in 2001 to cover some of the cost issues countries face in the fight against extremist violence, was originally supposed to expire in 2014. The US extended the facility for Pakistan until 2015 last year.

    “Now, the CSF arrangement will continue in 2016 as well,” the defence ministry official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

    The agreement was reached during the meeting of the US-Pakistan Defence Consultative Group (DCG) held in Washington on December 16 and 17, he said. Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Alam Khattak led the Pakistani delegation and US Under-Secretary of Defence for Policy Christine E Wormuth led the Americans.

    According to the official, the US also gave a commitment that the assistance for Pakistan would continue beyond 2016. It is not clear, though, as to whether this assistance will continue under the CSF or if the two sides will have a new arrangement…”

  2. Britain rejecting Pakistani visa applicants in droves (tribune, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1012598/unofficial-policy-britain-rejecting-pakistani-visa-applicants-in-droves/

    “The United Kingdom is pursuing an unannounced policy of turning down visa applications of Pakistanis, becoming one of the top ‘no-go’ countries for the country’s nationals, a study and background interviews conducted by the Online news agency have revealed.

    The British High Commission in Islamabad has turned down thousands of Pakistanis’ visa applications this year, without citing any solid reasons and many on frivolous grounds which cannot be challenged at any forum.

    Although the British High Commission in Islamabad and two deputy high commissions in Karachi and Lahore are fully functional, the visa applications of Pakistanis are processed at the Abu Dhabi High Commission, mainly by Indian staff. Even a large number of Pakistanis who have visited the UK twice or thrice in the recent past have been denied visas for unclear reasons.

    The British High Commission in Islamabad officially refused to provide the number of applications received and rejected, and how much amount was accumulated against them this year. An official of the high commission said the figure could run into thousands….”

    • Donald Trump is right. The people running things are simply stupid. They watch the MSM and they don’t know anything because the MSM always omits information that runs counter to their narrative, so nobody knows what’s going on any more. They have at least half of the world population fooled into thinking that the entire Islamic terrorism phenomenon is phoney and would vanish in a twinkling if the Israelis were to give the Palestinians back their beloved country and go back to Brooklyn where they came from…

      Numerous polls have been taken in Pakistan over the years which indicate definitively that a large percentage of the Pakistan population supports militant Islam and the supremacy of Sharia law and the concept of terrorism to achieve Jihad. It is a fact that when some Pakistani male throws concentrated hydrochloric acid in a young girl’s face for the crime of wanting an education, large numbers of Pakistanis actually approve of that action and believe in the sick philosophy that drives such an atrocity. It is a recently-proven fact that the majority of Pakistanis are adamantly opposed to the concept of minority rights and will literally kill anybody who tries to move their society in that direction. They are the precise opposite of Canadians. We know this, and yet it has taken years for the realization to sink in that it might be prudent to stop letting such creatures into our civilized nations.

      We all have to become a lot more like Donald Trump and have the courage to say what we are thinking even though we know people will howl and laugh and try to make us look stupid and mean if we do. It is absurdly obvious that all Western Nations should have closed their doors to all but the most carefully screened Muslims years ago, and still the Dems and the Reps are stepping over each other in their eagerness to call Trump stupid and bigoted and uninformed and dangerous and a loose canon and so on and so on. Why does the idea of protecting yourself from your enemies have to be such a hard sell? Did they let Germans with big swastikas on their suitcases and little black mustaches into the country during World War II? I seriously doubt it…

      • You got that right, the left wants the west to be destroyed, they may end up destroying civilization but they will not succeed in destroying the west or in creating their one world government utopia.

        • The thing is that people like that are all basically Wylie Coyote when you get right down to it. And by that I mean they are basically ill-directed wrong-headed incompetent, funny-if-they-weren’t-so-dangerous idiots underneath all the window dressing and the “education” and the unreadable manifestos. Karl Marx: idiot. Adolf Hitler: idiot. Mohammad Abdallah: idiot. Chairman Mao: idiot. Vladimir Lenin: idiot. Pot Pot: idiot.

          No, Wylie Coyote is not likely to outrightly prevail in the end, but he is very likely to be giving us the gift of a century of warfare and paranoia and terrorism and fear. That he can do. Heck, the French are already used to hearing the nightly car-burning reports on the evening news like they were listening to tomorrow’s weather report. A Muslim with a rifle charged into the Canadian Parliament buildings with the intent of killing all our leaders and we’re just kind of taking it in stride. They’ve already succeeded in their first step toward turning the whole world into Beirut or The Gaza Strip.
          Do leftists go to sleep every night with visions of smoke and flames and angry mobs in their heads? And do they fantasize about how cool it will be when there’s a new world order and they are the new masters? Do they dream of ruling the earth with their teeny-weeny little lapel pins that say, “Party Member”?

          • What do leftists dream of? That they can put something over you simply by making an argument. That’s what they live for. For example, I was listening to public radio today and heard one of the reporters use the phrase “loophole” when describing the fact that Americans aren’t required by law to get a background check (aka “gun registration”) when buying a gun from a private party. “Loophole?” What has been existence for over 200 years is FREEDOM, not a “loophole.” Lefties, the Cosmopolitans, consider themselves smarter than the unwashed, and convincing you of stupid stuff is their very reason for existence!

            • 🙂 That would be ridiculous if it weren’t so true. They don’t fully understand what they are doing, do they. It’s as if all they care about is getting away with saying something so “clever” that it stretches the limits of common sense. They always want to be able to say, “Did you know, that water doesn’t actually cure thirst?”, or “Did you know, that the sun is actually really cold?”, or, “Did you know, that the gluten in the bread we’ve been eating since the days of the Pharaohs is poisonous?”.

              It’s hard to tell if leftists are more stupid or more hateful. They’re so well endowed in both areas…

              • That duel endowment is what makes them so dangerous and their actions so evil, but save some of you anger for those who are so stupid they believe the crap the left puts out.

          • Their basic mistake that they make over and over is to move before they are really ready, if Hitler had waited until Germany had 100 subs at the start they would have starved Britain into surrender. The others make the same mistake, things aren’t really ready for their plans to succeed but them move anyway thinking they can succeed because they are ideologically pure.

              • That and their incredibly large egos are their major weaknesses, after all they are so egotistical that they think they can make crazy economic and political theories work when they have failed through out recorded history.

  3. Alleged financer?: College co-owner held over Safoora bus attack (tribune, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1012606/alleged-financer-college-co-owner-held-over-safoora-bus-attack/

    “A special unit of the police announced on Friday the arrest of a man who allegedly bankrolled the militants who carried out the grisly Safoora Goth bus attack.

    Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials said that Adil Masood Butt has been taken into 90-days preventive detention, under Protection of Pakistan Act 2014, by the CTD for questioning.

    Butt’s house in Phase V of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) was raided on December 2 over his suspected involvement in financing the Safoora attack.

    Gunmen shot dead 45 members of the Ismaili community during an execution style attack on their bus in Safoora Goth in May this year.

    Cautioning that their investigations were still in the preliminary stage, CTD Investigation Officer Muhammad Zafar disclosed that Butt was a highly educated man, having graduated (BSc) in management from Indiana University in the US before completing an MBA from Fordham University. Further, he is a member of the board of governors of the College of Accounting and Management Sciences (CAMS) in Karachi, holding around 50 per cent of shares of the institution.

    Further, he is a partner in the restaurant owned by the chief suspect in the Safoora bus attack – Saad Aziz….”

  4. Russia travel agency offers vacations to Syria conflict (CNN, Dec 18, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/travel/russia-vacations-syria-conflict/index.html

    “A deadly conflict zone that has seen more than four million of its own citizens flee the country seems unlikely to make anyone’s travel wish list for 2016, but Russian travel agency Megapolis thinks otherwise.

    Starting next year, it’s reportedly hoping to sell what it has dubbed Assad Tours: four- to five-day trips to the Syrian front line.

    Named for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime Russian ally, the expeditions would cost $1,500. That covers flights, accommodation, food and the guide’s services — but not insurance…”

    • Hunters wanting the thrill of hunting the most dangerous game in its natural habitat, during the Soviet occupat9ion of Afghanistan the most popular hunting safari was to Pakistan which has very little game but for about 200 dollars one could cross over into Afghanistan and stalk Soviet Soldiers with the rebels. I never saw the appeal of hunting man but a lot of Rich Western Europeans did, there are also reports that during the fighting in Lebanon some rich kids paid for the privilege of being a sniper in Beirut.

      This type of hunting trip will probably appeal to the Cassocks who no longer have the job of being the Czars internal muscle, this will give them the right to shave their heads into the Cassock knot or what ever they call that hair style.

      • Remember Tarus Bulba and then think about the other warrior societies where proving yourself in battle was a passage into manhood, there is a remnant of that in the US military with their keeping track (as best they can) of the number of people individual combat troops have killed. It does tell them who the bet warrior is but it also tells them those who shouldn’t be in combat. A right of passage into a warrior society, but we no longer call it that.

        If civilization does fall these rights of passage will become more important as the various groups struggle for top position in the pecking order.

        • It seems there’s a place for mercenaries as well as teachers, librarians, and doctors these days. But sport-hunting man crosses the line.

          • The hunters tend to be upper class from Europe, they are descended from military families and to an extent proving that they have the same nerve and skill their military ancestors had. The spoiled rich brats that paid various terrorist groups for the right to set up a snipers hide in a building in Beirut during the 80s are the ones that I really dislike, the hunters who went to Afghanistan could at least claim to be helping free Afghanistan from communism. The sniper punks were just out to get a thrill from killing.

            While I hunt for meat myself I understand the trophy hunter and they aren’t sick but the sniper punks were and if any are still alive are sick. They just wanted to discover what it felt like to kill, those going to Afghanistan were as I said testing themselves to see if they lived up to their ancestors. As George Santiana (sp?) said you don’t hunt to kill, you kill to have hunted successfully.

          • Mercenaries tend to fall into two types, type 1 is the man who is good at combat and is a merc so he can practice the trade he is best at. Type 2 are the ones like the Nam vets who got out of the US military and went to Africa to fight communism over there. This type is the patriotic type who is usually quite ideological and refuses to fight for those he thinks are bad guys. Type 1 types usually end up fighting for anyone. Here is a movie that shows both types.

            • A history professor I had in collage paid for his masters and doctorate working as a merc in Africa.

            • During the 1600 to the early to mid 1800s a lot of Irish men left Ireland to fight as mercs, they were called the wild geese and that name shifted to cover all mercs. Since most mercs and shifting to being from South America I don’t know if the name is still used.

            • The role Burton plays is based (loosly based) on Fighting Mad Mike Hoare a real merc who earned a very nasty rep in Africa during the 60s.

  5. Syria war: US welcomes ‘milestone’ as UN endorses peace plan (BBC, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35138675

    “A UN plan for Syria is a “milestone” in the efforts to end the conflict there, says US Secretary of State John Kerry.

    He said the plan gave Syrians a “real choice… between war and peace”.

    The resolution, passed unanimously by the UN Security Council, sets out a timetable for formal talks and a unity government within six months,

    However, the resolution makes no mention of the future role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    Western countries have called for his departure, but Russia and China say he should not be required to leave power as a precondition for peace talks…”

  6. Ex-US defence chief blasts Obama on Syria (BBC, Dec 18, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35136028

    “Former US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has criticised the Obama administration for lacking an overarching policy on Syria.

    In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine (FP), Mr Hagel described long, tedious policy meetings that often concluded without decision.

    The moderate Republican served as Mr Obama’s defence chief for two tumultuous years from 2013 to 2015.

    His tenure ended, he said, with backstabbing and character destruction.

    Mr Hagel believes that a coherent US strategy for Syria still has not been fleshed out.

    “The administration is still struggling with a political strategy, but Secretary Kerry is making some progress toward the right strategy,” Mr Hagel tells the magazine, in reference to talks with Russian, Iranian and Arab leaders.

    Mr Hagel’s tenure in the Obama administration was marked by contention from the start.

    Some of Mr Hagel’s criticisms come across as minor or personal. “There were way too many meetings” at the White House, he says. And people there said mean things about him behind his back, “vilifying me in a gutless, off-the-record kind of way”.

    But his criticism of Mr Obama’s strategy towards Syria and the fight against the Islamic State group is sharp – and is likely to resonate. In short, says Hagel: “We don’t have a policy.”

    As Washington prepares to enter another election campaign, his remarks will provide fellow Republicans with yet more proof – from a trusted insider- that Mr Obama is a weak leader without a Middle East strategy.

    Among those Mr Hagel had the worst relationship with was National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

    He alleged that meetings chaired by Ms Rice, were long, frequent and fruitless.

    “We kept kind of deferring the tough decisions. And there were always too many people in the room,” he is quoted as saying.

    He contrasted these meetings with those run by President Barack Obama, which he said were more effectual.

    However, Mr Hagel seemed to be most critical of Mr Obama’s Syria policy.

    Joining his boss in opposing a large troop deployment to Syria or Iraq, he insisted however on a clearer diplomatic stance.

    In particular, he pointed to an embarrassing Senate hearing, where he was grilled over whether the US would defend the rebels it was training and equipping in Syria from attacks by Assad forces.

    “We had never come down on an answer or a conclusion in the White House,” Mr Hagel told FP. “I couldn’t say ‘No’. Christ, every ally would have walked away from us in the Middle East”.

    In a memo penned a month later, Mr Hagel called on the administration to formulate a clearer policy. He said memo was not well received.

    A month later, Mr Obama accepted his resignation amid reports of differences over policy.
    Some have suggested that those antagonistic relationships may have led to Mr Hagel being pushed out.

    The White House has declined a BBC request for comment on this story.”

    • Actually he has an over reaching foreign policy, he is working to insure that the Shiite end times prophecies are all fulfilled.

  7. Stanekzai: Daesh, Taliban receive training at military bases in Pakistan (khaama, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/stanekzai-daesh-taliban-receive-military-training-at-military-bases-in-pakistan-4399

    “The acting-Defense Minister of Afghanistan Mohammad Masoum Stanekzai says that Daesh and Taliban militants receive training at military bases in Pakistan.

    Pointing to Pakistan, Stanekzai has said that foreign intelligence tries to push militants into Afghanistan to show that this is the center of terrorism.

    Stanekzai, cited by Ariana news, says that Afghan forces will launch a “Winter Offensive” to respond to these threats.

    His comments come after the commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell raised concern that the loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are attempting to establish a regional base in Nangarhar province which is on the border with Pakistan.

    In an interview with the Associated Press (AP) last week, Gen. Campbell said that the loyalists of the terror group in Afghanistan are also trying to consolidate links with the leadership of the terror group based in Syria and Iraq.

    Ashton Carter, the U.S. Secretary of Defense also warned on Friday about the emerging threat of the terror group.

    During an unannounced visit to Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, Carter said the threat posed by ISIS terror group is being tracked very closely.”

  8. ISIS is creating ‘little nests’ in Afghanistan, US defense chief warns (khaama, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/isis-is-creating-little-nests-in-afghanistan-us-defense-chief-warns-1828

    “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group is creating ‘little nests’ in Afghanistan as the group has stepped up efforts to gain foothold and expand its activities in the country.

    The US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter warned regarding the emergent threat of the terror group during a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Friday.

    Following a meeting with the acting Afghan defense minister Masoom Stanikzai, Carter said the threat posed by ISIS terror group is being tracked very closely.

    The remarks by Carter comes shortly after the commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell said the loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are attempting to establish a regional base in Jalalabad, the capital city of eastern Nangarhar province.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, the commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell, said Tuesday that foreign militants from Syria and Iraq had joined the loyalists of the terror group in eastern Nangarhar province and are trying to consolidate links with the leadership of the terror group based in Syria and Iraq.

    Meanwhile, Pentagon released a report regarding the situation of Afghanistan on the same day, stating that overall security has deteriorated dramatically during the second half of 2015 as the country continues to face threats from both the Afghan insurgency and extremist networks, including the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and to a lesser extent al Qaeda.

    “The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region remains a sanctuary for various groups, including al Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e Tayyiba, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan,” the report said.

    There are no exact statistics regarding the number of ISIS loyalists and foreign militants who have joined the terror group in Afghanistan.

    However, a report released by UN in September this year stated that the number of sympathizers and followers of the terror are growing across the country with at least 70 militants, apparently foreigners are busy in forming the core of the group’s branch in Afghanistan.

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

  9. The grieving widow of an Iraqi shot dead by a soldier has revealed how she was persuaded to launch a compensation claim against the British military.

    “Fatima Zabun Dahesh said she was approached by an agent who knocked on her door while she was still mourning her husband. [Killed by British Soldier].

    She said she was in a ‘severe grieving state’ and ‘desperate for help’ after her husband’s death in 2003 – and so she accepted his offer.”
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3366676/Touting-business-UK-law-firm-leaned-sue-Britain-says-grieving-widow-Iraqi-shot-dead-soldier.html

    These Lawyers have form.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2333546/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-He-comedian-hes-certainly-having-laugh-Phil-Shiner-The-Great-Human-Rights-Swindle.html

    • This little tidbit alone should be enough to cook Hussein Osama’s goose. From the very moment of his inauguration speech when he started slinging mud at George W Bush as poor George sat smiling in the first row, literally every single thing he has done while in office has been harmful to the United States. Those people in San Bernardino are dead because of these absurd politically correct gutless stupid rules of engagement, and it’s all Obama’s fault. Barry f%cking killed them! He murdered 14 people in San Bernardino. Same with Fort Hood. Same with lots of things. He is directly responsible. Barack Hussein Obama is to blame!

      • You know that and I know that but about one third of the voters refuse to believe that he has done anything wrong, they lie about the Republicans so much they figure we are lying about Obama. Unfortunately the MSM is in this group so they will protect Obama at all costs, reality is about to stop them in the face big time but it may be too late for a peaceful solution to this problem. And if the race riots next summer cause a Conservative sweep at the polls the left will start a terror campaign they will all a guerrilla war against the people who stole the election. Look at how they continue to say W stole the 2000 election when everyone watching the news knew it was the Dems trying to steal the election.

        • Everything you say is, unfortunately, in my opinion, correct. That’s terrible. I see Fox News bravely trumpeting the statistics as if they show a huge awakening, but they do not. The statistics show that an alarming number of Americans actually think that Obama is doing a great job. It’s mind-numbing, really…

          “they lie about the Republicans so much they figure we are lying about Obama” – great sentence. This is exactly what is happening. They are convinced that it’s all just mindless mud slinging so they put their ears in the “off” position whenever the conservatives open their mouths. They are victims of their own bad character…

          • What isn’t taught any more is that during the American revolution one third or the people supported the revolution, one third supported the crown and one third just wanted to be left alone. Right now we have about one third supporting Obama one third actively opposing him and the last third split between those who are willfully ignorant and those who are doing their best to prevent another revolution because they don’t know which side will win. The latter group is decreasing in size all the time as more and more people come to the conclusion that the left isn’t going to allow a peaceful solution that doesn’t include everyone surrendering to their control.

  10. China accuses US of serious provocation by flying bombers

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_US?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-19-00-39-33

    BEIJING (AP) — China’s Defense Ministry on Saturday accused the U.S. of committing a “serious military provocation” by flying two Air Force B-52 bombers over a Chinese-controlled man-made island in the South China Sea, and said it would do whatever necessary to protect the country’s sovereignty.

    As is China’s usual practice, the Foreign Ministry took a more diplomatic tone. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the situation was essentially stable, but that outside nations should not “manufacture tensions.”

    The Defense Ministry accused the U.S. of deliberately raising tensions in the disputed region, where China has been aggressively asserting its claims to virtually all islands, reefs and their surrounding seas.

  11. Welcome to Europe! Soros Adding Fuel to the Fire of EU’s Refugee Crisis

    Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151218/1031981904/george-soros-exacerbating-refugee-crisis-europe-eu-syria.html#ixzz3umDVaAp6

    American business magnate George Soros is making every effort to boost the refugee flow to Europe, by encouraging asylum seekers to travel to the continent and urging the European leaders to fork out, F. William Engdahl notes.

    George Soros, the notorious business magnate, is shifting the responsibility for America’s adventurism in the Middle East onto Europe, most notably Germany, American-German researcher, historian and strategic risk consultant F. William Engdahl underscores.

    “Since John D. Rockefeller was advised to protect his wealth from government taxation by creating a tax-exempt philanthropic foundation in 1913, foundations have been used by American oligarchs to disguise a world of dirty deeds under the cover ‘doing good for mankind,’ known by the moniker ‘philanthropy’ for mankind-loving,” Engdahl writes in his recent article for New Eastern Outlook.

    Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151218/1031981904/george-soros-exacerbating-refugee-crisis-europe-eu-syria.html#ixzz3umDg3wRM

    • Hmm. On one hand Sputnik is right on Soros, on the other hand sentence “George Soros, the notorious business magnate, is shifting the responsibility for [b] America’s adventurism [/b] ” is like a headline in soviet Pravda or (closer to present) in Iranian media.

      • I know the Russian media is under Putin’s control, sadly almost all of the LSM aka legacy media are under government control either through common thought and political goals or threat ot prison sentences. What you have to do is learn to read around the propaganda and dig out the few grains of truth in the articles. I was forced to learn this during the period when the left had control of well over 95% of the media. Most people never learn to distinguish between the news and the propaganda, this is why we are in so much trouble.

      • Kathy, in case you haven’t heard the expression: “LSM” stands for “Lame Stream Media,” a phrase coined by the inimitable Sarah Palin.
        I thought it had to prostate problems in the media. Maybe so…

  12. Boko Haram crisis: Reprieve for Nigeria troops facing death sentence (BBC, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35141196

    “Nigeria’s military has announced a reprieve for 66 soldiers who had been sentenced to death for refusing to fight Boko Haram.

    The soldiers, who were to be killed by a firing squad, will each serve 10 years in prison.

    They were convicted by court martial over their refusal to drive down a road at night after dozens of colleagues died in a Boko Haram ambush.

    The sentences were commuted following a review of court martials.

    The review was ordered by General Tukur Buratai, the country’s army chief of staff.
    Nearly 600 other cases are also being considered.

    Hundreds of Nigerian soldiers have deserted their posts, complaining that they are not properly equipped to fight Boko Haram, a terror group which has allied itself with the Islamic State group.

    The group has been waging an insurgency since 2009 and is seeking to create an Islamist state in north-eastern Nigeria. It is responsible for the deaths of about 20,000 people.

    The reprieves come as a former presidential adviser on national security is on trial for allegedly diverting $2.1bn meant to buy weapons for the military.

    The review of the soldiers’ cases is part of a wider investigation ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari into the military and corruption.

    President Buhari won the country’s March general election after pledging to destroy Boko Haram and to rescue more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the extremists.”

  13. Swiss probe Muslim group member over Syria videos (BBC, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35142279

    “Swiss authorities are investigating a leading figure in a key Muslim organisation on terror-related charges over videos made in Syria.

    The unnamed German citizen is a board member of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS).

    He is suspected of using videos of his trips to Syria for propaganda purposes.

    Switzerland remains on high alert following the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November that left 130 people dead.

    Last week, the city of Geneva raised its security alert following a warning that a cell of so-called Islamic State (IS) was in the area.

    A statement from the Swiss attorney general’s office said that criminal proceedings had been opened against the ICCS board member on suspicion of violating laws banning extremist groups such as al-Qaeda and IS.

    The suspect is said to have produced videos of his trips to conflict zones in Syria for propaganda purposes.

    The attorney general’s office said the man was “accused of having interviewed a senior member of the jihad umbrella organisation Jaish al-Fatah, of which the Syrian al-Qaeda branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, (al-Nusra Front) is also a member”.

    It said he had made the video “without explicitly distancing himself from al-Qaeda activities in Syria”…”

  14. US Embassy in Pakistan Warns of Possible Terror Attacks (abcnews, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-embassy-pakistan-warns-terror-attacks-35859942

    “The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said it has received information on possible terrorist attacks in the Pakistani capital in late December, warning Americans to avoid busy public places during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

    “Possible targets include places of worship and shopping centers,” the US embassy said in a statement, without giving specifics of the information that led it to issue the warning on Friday.

    Pakistani police and other officials were not available Saturday to comment on the warning. However, a Pakistani intelligence official said there is a “general threat perception” but no specific threats. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

    American citizens should “minimize the number and duration of trips” to crowded places such as markets, restaurants, hotels and places of worship and other locations where large numbers of people congregate, the warning said. American government personnel are under additional movement restrictions in coming weeks, including religious venues and large shopping centers…”

    • Given the phone purchases and the stolen propane tanks we can expect terror attacks in the homeland during Christmas and New Years, look out for cars and vans parked near the mall doors or one waiting in front of the doors.

  15. Fierce Fighting in Northern Yemen Kills at Least 75 (abcnews, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/yemen-rebels-release-high-ranking-prisoners-35859888

    “Fierce fighting in northern Yemen near the Saudi border has killed more than 75 troops over the past three days, Yemeni security sources and witnesses said Saturday, casting a cloud over already tenuous peace talks in Switzerland.

    The clashes in Hajjah province between rebel-allied units and pro-government Yemeni forces killed more than 40 rebels and 35 government troops, with 50 wounded on the rebel side and dozens wounded on the government side, they said.

    Dozens of tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed in the fighting and most of the dead were killed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition that dominates the skies in Yemen, said the witnesses and security sources, who remain neutral in the conflict that has splintered Yemen.

    The government troops advanced across the border from Saudi territory after training there for months, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.

    Yemen’s fighting pits the internationally recognized government backed by a Saudi-led, U.S.-supported coalition against the rebels, known as Houthis, who are allied with a former president and backed by Iran…”

    • UAE sending Colombian mercenaries to Yemen: sources

      Bogota (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates has secretly sent some 300 Colombian mercenaries to fight for it in Yemen, paying handsomely to recruit a private army of well-trained, battle-hardened South American soldiers, sources told AFP.

      The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Colombians’ experience fighting leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers in their home country made them attractive recruits for the UAE, whose relatively inexperienced army is part of an Arab coalition helping Yemen’s government fight a war against Huthi rebels.

      “Colombian soldiers are highly prized for their training in fighting guerrillas,” one source, a Colombian former army officer, told AFP in Bogota.

      “Colombians have so many years of experience in war that they can take it.”

      The presence of Colombian troops in Yemen’s bloody conflict further complicates what is already a messy proxy war pitting Iran, which backs the rebels, against a US-backed Arab coalition led by rival regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia.

      Since the rebels began seizing large swaths of territory in July 2014, the conflict has left 6,000 dead and 28,000 wounded, many of them civilians, according to the United Nations.

      Colombian soldiers are frequently recruited by international private security firms for jobs in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan.

      The source, a 48-year-old man who left the army in the late 1990s, was himself formerly employed by Blackwater, the controversial US company now known as Academi that was contracted by the Pentagon to provide military and security services in Iraq.

      He was hired in 2004, amid what he called a “boom in the recruitment of Colombians to fight in Iraq,” and has since worked in Afghanistan, the UAE, Qatar and Djibouti.

      Latin Americans were popular with firms like Blackwater, he said: in all, 1,500 Colombians, 1,000 Peruvians, 500 Chileans and 250 Salvadorans were contracted in Iraq between 2004 and 2006.

      He said that from around 2010 the UAE began recruiting Colombians for a private army it was forming at a base in the middle of the desert called Zayed Military City.

      Prized as special forces commanders or Blackhawk helicopter pilots, the Colombians are paid around $3,300 a month — five times less than equivalent American contractors, but a small fortune by Colombian standards, he said.

      “They were not recruited for combat missions. It was for security and protection missions. So they are not considered mercenaries,” he said.

      – Extra $120 a day –

      But a month ago about 300 of the 3,000 Colombians recruited so far by the UAE “decided voluntarily” to go fight as full-fledged mercenaries in southern Yemen, based in the port of Aden, the source said.

      Their deployment came after 30 Emirati soldiers were killed in Yemen in a missile attack blamed on the rebels.

      The source said the UAE initially planned to send 800 Colombians but met resistance from the recruits, who complained that fighting in Yemen was beyond the scope of their original contracts.

      “The Colombians were supposed to pass unnoticed as local Emirati troops, and that caused a large number of them to desert,” the source said. “They said their contract was in the UAE and not fighting other people’s wars.”

      He said the UAE sought to sweeten the deal by limiting tours of duty to three months and offering an extra $120 a day in combat pay.

      “They want to make war an industry using Colombians as cannon fodder,” he said.

      No Colombians have been killed in Yemen so far, he added, denying recent reports from rebel-linked media outlets of Colombians killed in combat.

      “There are wartime interests behind that fear campaign,” he said.

      Another Colombian source, security expert John Marulanda, said lucrative salary offers from foreign firms are a “drain” on Colombia’s well-trained but poorly paid military.

      “Around 2011, very well-trained people started leaving,” Marulanda told AFP

      “The UAE is participating in the coalition by discreetly sending mercenaries to Yemen. And it is a fact that among those mercenaries there are former members of the Colombian military.”

      A retired senior Colombian officer who asked not to be named said this had “created quite a lot of problems” for the Colombian defense ministry.

      “The best officers are going” to the Emirates, the retired officer told AFP. “They are not recruiting their own nationals. They prefer to recruit people who are already prepared and specialized.”

      Colombia’s army has spent the past five decades fighting a low-intensity conflict against leftist rebel groups.

      The conflict, which has also drawn in right-wing death squads and drug traffickers, has killed more than 220,000 people.

      http://news.yahoo.com/uae-sending-colombian-mercenaries-yemen-sources-061321886.html

  16. On Friday, a plane carrying about 214 refugees landed at Pearson International Airport around 5 p.m. It’s the fourth such plane to touch down in Canada, the third in Toronto.
    “It’s sad they’re coming in the middle of winter, it’s sort of a shock,” said Annette Wilde, a volunteer with Save a Family From Syria.
    The organization has helped privately sponsor five families to Canada — the first of which is set to arrive within the next few days, she said.
    She and other volunteers have been busy preparing for their arrival, scouting an apartment in Scarborough, buying furniture and finding ESL classes.
    ……….
    Friday’s arrival will bring the total number of Syrian refugees in Canada to over 750.

    http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/12/18/another-224-syrian-refugees-to-arrive-in-toronto.html

  17. ISIS stole sarin gas from Libya stores & already used it’ – Gaddafi’s cousin

    Islamic State in Libya has apparently obtained the nerve agent, sarin – which is a weapon of mass destruction. Akhmed Gaddafi al-Dam, the cousin of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, said it in the interview to RT.

    • Between Saddams arsenal and the Libyan arsenal ISIS has a lot of nerve gas, we know they have already used it and that they will use it in the future. the question is how long before they manage to smuggle some into Europe and the US and use it in both places.?

  18. Turks Aren’t Blind, Slam Saudi Coalition’s Attempt to Legitimize Terrorists (sputniknews, Dec 19, 2015)
    http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151219/1032022109/turks-critical-saudi-coalition.html

    “Commenting on Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it had created a 34-member ‘Islamic coalition against terrorism’, Turkish journalists and analysts suggest that a country which is responsible for creating Islamist terrorism as we know cannot be relied upon to fight it.

    With Iran, Syria and Iraq conspicuously missing from the new coalition, despite the fact that the war against Daesh (ISIL) and other jihadist terrorists is taking place primarily on Syrian and Iraqi territory, commentators from around the world have suggested that the new alliance may have ulterior motives. In Turkey, a member of the new Saudi coalition, several journalists have taken on the brave task of criticizing their government’s moves despite more and more heavy-handed approaches to press censorship.

    “Against what background has this new alliance been created?” Can Ugur, a journalist for the Turkish daily newspaper BirGun, asks. “If we take a look at developments in the region, it becomes clear that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey do not have any problems with jihadism. The very name of the coalition ‘the Islamic anti-terrorist coalition’, reveals its true nature.”

    Speaking to BirGun, Goksu Ugurlu, a researcher at Ankara’s Hacettepe University, warned that the Gulf state-dominated coalition’s real goal may be to strengthen the so-called ‘moderate jihadists’ fighting in Syria.

    “Turkey’s decision to join the Saudi-led ‘Islamic anti-terrorist coalition’ is an important event, given the controversy which has flared up recently. The coalition was announced soon after President Obama’s statements that the United States was waiting for strong support, including military assistance, in the war against terrorism from countries in the region. It is likely that these countries (and especially the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council) felt pressured by Obama’s statements.”

    “Among Obama’s remarks was one important point – coming in the form of a threat against the countries which have been charged with supporting terrorist groups. Of course, countries in the region had been told previously that the Western coalition cannot approve of support for jihadist groups in Syria.” Still, despite the fact that “the countries of the region could have been pressured to form a coalition by the US administration, the result will not necessarily be what America wants to see.”

    According to Uruglu, the Saudi-led coalition will likely work to try to legitimize the so-called ‘moderate jihadists’, turning them into a ‘legitimized opposition’. However, when one considers the records of the Gulf countries and Turkey in supporting the jihadists, the analyst notes, “a clear picture is formed.”

    “The creation of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia may have the following goal: to avoid seeing the ‘moderate jihadists’, who enjoy considerable support from countries in the Persian Gulf, and from Turkey, be placed on the list of ‘terrorists’ in Russia and the West.”

    In Syria, Uruglu noted, “it is quite possible that the Saudis will try to present the Islamist groups there as the legitimate opposition. Examples of such ‘moderate jihadists’ include the Turkmen, on whose presence Turkey justifies its presence in Syria. Therefore, we may assume that this is an attempt, ‘under the banner of Islam’…to have an impact on the reconstruction of the region separate from the West, with an emphasis on ideological and regional differences.”

    For his part, Behlul Ozkan, an associate professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Marmara University, suggests that the so-called Islamic coalition is merely an attempt by Saudi Arabia to save face.

    “Recently, very skeptical articles have been appearing in Western media about Saudi Arabia, stressing that very little really separates the Saudis from Daesh. In the USA and Europe, people have been asking themselves questions like, ‘what is the difference between Daesh and the regime in Riyadh, which rules on the basis of Wahhabi ideology, is known for cutting off heads, medieval obscurantism, and which treats its women as second class citizens?'”

    Riyadh’s coalition, Ozkan suggests, “is Riyadh’s attempt to present itself as the leader of the Islamic world, which together with 33 other countries, has created a military alliance to fight terrorism.” In other words, he suggests, this is Riyadh’s attempt “to fix its image.”

    At the same time, the professor emphasizes that “expecting Saudi Arabia, who holds the primary responsibility for the civil wars in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Libya, to now work to solve the problems it has created, is unrealistic. This is a strategic move. Moreover, the coalition does not include Iran. This means that with this maneuver, the Saudis are, on the one hand, creating an anti-Iranian bloc, and on the other hand, openly showing that they are the leaders of the Islamic world.”

    Noting that “the US and Europe will undoubtedly approve this step,” Ozkan laments that “in supporting Saudi Arabia, which personifies the crisis of the Islamic world in every sense of the word, Western leaders are only making the situation more hopeless.”

    “What are Saudi Arabia’s values? What kind of political system would appear in Syria, Iraq and Libya under Saudi leadership? To leave the solution to the problem in the hands of a totalitarian Saudi regime is to engage in self-deception,” the professor added.

    “Another problem,” Ozkan pointed out, “is the fact that over 30 Islamic countries have joined Riyadh. In the 1960s such a thing would be impossible to even imagine. What can a Kingdom bogged down in corruption possibly offer to the Islamic world?””

    • The entire middle east is exploding and the war is spreading, by next summer the entire world will be fighting.

      • “moderate jihadis”
        This whole band of clowns has to be brought down. Every one of them. Set up nice dictators and let them make the best of it.
        Oh – don’t forget the quarantine provisions.
        They want to tell their story? Lock up some sympathetic journalists with them.

        • Sounds good to me, we have that until Obama and the left set up the MB seizing power called the Arabic Spring, The poor woman they used as an excuse to start the whole mess still doesn’t realize how she was used.

    • It is a war zone but the media and the European nations are refusing to admit this fact. Given the way the Europeans people are arming themselves by summer there will be active fighting in all nations with all sides working to get the police and the military on their sides.

  19. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.”

    A story published by the New York Times late Thursday night caused some major media waves. The story, which was written by reporters Peter Baker and Gardiner Harris, included a remarkable admission by Obama about his response to the recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

    By Friday morning, however, the entire passage containing Obama’s admission had been erased from the story without any explanation from the New York Times.
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-18/new-york-times-just-memory-holed-devastating-obama-admission

  20. Jimmy Wales co-founded Wikipedia, a website that relies on the good faith of its users to edit online content. But its crowd-sourcing model took on a new dimension at a conference in China on Thursday, as comments from Mr. Wales were edited when translated to make them reflect local Internet policy.

    During a panel discussion at the Chinese government’s ongoing World Internet Conference in the city of Wuzhen, Mr. Wales predicted that advances in machine-driven translation might someday make it “no longer possible” for governments to control flows of information.

    Yet, when the comments were reproduced on the conference’s official website, they read as if put through a translation machine programed to reflect Beijing policy. Mr. Wales’s statement was translated to say coming technology improvements will allow authorities to better analyze online communications.
    The incongruous comments appeared to demonstrate gaping differences between Western and Chinese views about controls over information. Mr. Wales is a free-speech proponent who has said would rather have no Wikipedia than a censored version. But he was speaking at the premier venue for Chinese authorities to promote their philosophy that governments have full rights to control what appears online within their borders. Wikipedia’s websites are often blocked in China, a nation where at least one report grades the Internet as “not free.”
    http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/12/17/anti-wikipedian-translation-at-chinas-internet-conference/

  21. Alibaba avoids being named on U.S. blacklist for fakes

    Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has avoided being named on a U.S. blacklist for sites hosting the sale of fake goods, a victory for the firm after lobbying hard to avoid inclusion on the list.

    The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said, though, it was “increasingly concerned” about Alibaba’s enforcement programs and warned it must make a greater effort to stop the sale of pirated and counterfeit products on its online platforms.
    …………..
    Alibaba’s Taobao Marketplace and Alibaba.com were both previously on the piracy blacklist, which highlights markets linked to significant intellectual property infringement. Alibaba.com was removed in 2011 and Taobao in 2012 after efforts to work with sellers of legitimate goods to clean up the sites.

    Since then, the Chinese e-commerce giant has worked toward enforcing anti-counterfeit procedures, but the U.S. trade office said it was unclear what effect these measures have had.

    “Despite these new procedures, USTR is increasingly concerned by rights holders’ reports that Alibaba Group’s enforcement program is too slow, difficult to use, and lacks transparency,” the trade office said in a statement on Thursday, referring to complaints from trademark holders that sell merchandise on the site.

    In October, The American Apparel and Footwear Association urged the trade office to blacklist Taobao for persistent intellectual property rights violations.

    The trade office said on Thursday it would continue to monitor the sites over the coming year to see if overall efforts to remove fakes and penalize counterfeit sellers are effective.
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-alibaba-idUKKBN0U02EY20151218

  22. Aegis Ashore missile defense system goes online in Romania

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) — The U.S. Navy has taken control of its new Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system in Romania after years of construction.

    The Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system was installed to boost European defenses. The site is located at the Deveselu air base. Navy Times reports defense officials from the U.S. and Romania are expected to announce the radar site and missile battery reaching “technical capability” during a ceremony in Bucharest. It will later be declared fully operational after integration with the larger NATO missile defense network.

    “The Aegis Ashore site in Romania is an important step in our efforts to protect against the growing threat posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles of increasingly greater ranges, lethality, and sophistication,” Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins told Navy Times. “The Romania site will provide a defensive capability to protect NATO Europe against ballistic missiles.”

    U.S. officials have also said the defense system aims to defend Europe from the nuclear threat of Iran. Russian officials dispute the claim, suggesting the establishment of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe is a direct slight to Moscow.

    President Obama issued a statement on planned missile defense systems in Europe in 2009.

    “To put it simply, our new missile defense architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter, and swifter defenses of American forces and America’s Allies,” Obama said. “It sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats; and it ensures and enhances the protection of all our NATO Allies.”

    An additional site is expected to become operational in Poland beginning in 2018.

    http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2015/12/18/Aegis-Ashore-missile-defense-system-goes-online-in-Romania/9401450463285/

        • They don’t have another year, but this time next year the whole world will be aflame, and the LSM will probably be blaming everything on the US.

            • Ir depends on when Iran decides to launch, if it is before the battery is installed and operational no if sometihng delays the Iranians it may save some lives.

              By something I mean the Russian and to a lesser extent European attacks in Syria.

  23. Princeton U. students plan campaign to combat Islamophobia

    Recent attacks across the country on Muslims as well as growing Islamophobic rhetoric has inspired some Princeton University students to take a stand.

    Earlier this month, student group Muslim Advocates for Social Justice and Individual Dignity (MASJID) announced that they would launch an anti-Islamophobic campaign next month. The campaign will include everything from bringing in public speakers to creating a photo series in response to presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call to make Muslims wear identification.

    Farah Amjed, a senior at Princeton and member of MASJID said the group developed the idea after reading about increased attacks on Muslims across the country.

    “You get really frustrated by what’s going on in the news,” Amjed said, describing articles about Muslim women having their Hijabs pulled off in public and a store clerk who was beaten by a man who said, “I kill Muslims.”

    “You realize that you have to do something,” Amjed said.

    The group opted to hold a town hall meeting on campus for students earlier this month in order to address the problem of Islamophobia and discuss how to raise awareness about the effect it has on the Muslim community and Princeton University as a whole.

    They followed up the meeting with an op-ed in the Daily Princetonian, extrapolating on a recent growth of nation-wide Islamophobia and calling on the university to support them.

    “We are scared... We call upon the university administration, faculty and students to recognize that we too are affected by the hate, violence and mistrust being perpetrated toward Muslims and other marginalized communities across the United States,” the group wrote.

    Amjed said MASJID wrote the op-ed partly in response to a national problem of Islamophobia, but also in response to what some Muslim students on campus are facing.

    “People ask you about ISIS because you’re Muslim,” Amjed said as one example. In another example, she said friends of hers who have gone to job interviews have been asked about women’s rights because they’re Muslim.

    Even at the elite private university, it’s a quiet but pervasive problem, Amjed said.

    The op-ed was signed and strong>supported by other social justice groups on campus, many of whom agreed to help and support the anti-Islamophobia campaign.

    Ultimately, Amjed said, the group hopes the university will be able to serve as an example in combating anti-Muslim rhetoric.

    “As a community, we can model the type of response… universities are often a good model of what the larger society should be doing.”

    http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/12/princeton_u_students_plan_campaign_to_combat_islam.html

      • That would be a very easy target, terrorists like soft targets and a liberal Ivy League University would be the softest of the soft targets. It would kill a lot of yammer heads but probably wouldn’t change any minds in the Ivy League schools.

  24. Swiss probe Muslim group member over Syria videos

    The unnamed German citizen is a board member of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS).

    He is suspected of using videos of his trips to Syria for propaganda purposes.

    Switzerland remains on high alert following the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November that left 130 people dead.

    Last week, the city of Geneva raised its security alert following a warning that a cell of so-called Islamic State (IS) was in the area.

    A statement from the Swiss attorney general’s office said that criminal proceedings had been opened against the ICCS board member on suspicion of violating laws banning extremist groups such as al-Qaeda and IS.

    The suspect is said to have produced videos of his trips to conflict zones in Syria for propaganda purposes.

    The attorney general’s office said the man was “accused of having interviewed a senior member of the jihad umbrella organisation Jaish al-Fatah, of which the Syrian al-Qaeda branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, (al-Nusra Front) is also a member”.

    It said he had made the video “without explicitly distancing himself from al-Qaeda activities in Syria”.

    The office indicated that the man had not been arrested.

    The Bern-based ICCS told Reuters it would make a statement later on Saturday.

    Separately, a statement by the authorities also confirmed that charges had been filed against four Iraqi citizens, accused of preparing a terrorist attack.

    In total, Swiss authorities say they are conducting 46 criminal cases related to “jihad motivated” terrorism.

    Last week, President Simonetta Sommaruga said a “foreign authority” had warned of a possible IS cell in Geneva. Security was stepped up.

    Separately, two Syrians were arrested on 12 December near the French border, with police saying that traces of explosives were found in their car.

    IS said it carried out the attacks in Paris on 13 November. Two men linked to the attacks – Salah Abdeslam and Mohammed Abrini – are still on the run and investigations have been launched in several European countries.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35142279

  25. Russia: Kerry says US not trying to bring about regime change in Syria

    US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Washington was not trying to bring about a regime change in Syria during an interview with Russian journalist Sergei Brilev in Moscow

    • Of course they’ve been trying to implement a regime change in Syria. That’s why they’ve been sending the Jihadists weapons and pressuring the Regime. Listen to Kerry lie, will you? First he starts off by stating that the United States is interested in peace, not regime change, then he opens up with a bunch of slanted, disingenuous, dubious anti-Assad propaganda, then he concludes by making a huge case for the very regime change he is denying that he’s doing. What a massive, idiotic liar. I can’t stand it! I’ve heard Obama say that Assad has to go at least ten times, and they expect us to believe this load of BS? God!

      • If you haven’t already, watch season 5 of Homeland. They cover this precisely and remember, the wrote and filmed it all MONTHS ago

        • Not only am I going to watch 3 episodes of “Homeland” tonight, I’m going to have a little warmed-up Jameson’s Irish whiskey to go with it on this rainy, cold, windy winter evening…

          • Now that I have a beautiful screen, how do I watch it on line? Do I have to download anything? Can I play it on my browser?

            • It will cost money but you can stream it from either Amazon or Hulu. Or you can order the series on disk and play them on your computer, it should have a video program on it. I haven’t had the money to get it but prefer to get the DVDs and watch the entire season at once this lets me catch things that I would have missed watching it one show at a time.

              • You can probably find used copies of the first four seasons on Amazon but the latest one wom’t be on disk for several months.

      • It’s so weird what leftists just “believe” as a matter of religious orthodoxy and with no more proof than a born again Christian claiming that every word of the Old Testament is literally true. Like this guy in the video who believes that borders are always a bad idea and that people should just be able to go anywhere they want in the world. And never mind arguing with them about it. I’ve been hearing the same arrogant young university-trained know-it-all saying the same thing for as long as I can remember and I’ve never seen one of them consider logic or reason in his position. Leftists classify anything that goes against their doctrine as “right wing hate speech”, and will not even listen to it let alone actually think about it. Whatever they want to be true is the truth to them…

        • I don’t know of any Born Again Christian that thinks the Old Testament is literal truth, both the old and new Testaments are the inspired world of God which means we can argue as much as we want about what is meant. A lot of the history has been proven true, slanted to the Hebrew view of things but true but the rest is up to change as we find a good enough argument about what is meant. We just don’t believe in ignoring any of the Bible.

          • I shouldn’t have presumed to know what is in the mind of another person when it comes to the subject of God. I know better than that. I know that I believe in God, but that my vision of God is likely not the same as any ten other people’s. I do, though, have friends who actually try to wrap their heads around a literal interpretation of the Old Testament, and that is what I’m referring to. I’m sorry for casting aspersions on “Born again Christians”. They get enough crap as it is and I don’t wish them ill…

            It’s ironic that I, who have so much bad to say about the religion of Islam, have always been extremely respectful and sensitive toward other peoples’ religions. I am truly a reluctant hater and it pains me to be less than respectful of another person’s beliefs. It’s just that Islam pretty much forces your hand. They are literally coming to slit our throats and chop off our heads. There is a time for love and a time for hate and now is the time for hate.

            • When muslims around the world work so hard to earn your contempt it seems downright rude not to give it to them.

            • IF you want religious disagreement try the Baptist, there are so many different types of Baptist because we have a hard time agreeing on what is right. I don’t go to Church as much as I should be I do believe in Jehovah and think that the Old and New Testament are the inspired word with no one person being right on the meaning of the entire Bible. The key word here is inspired, because it is the inspired word we can debate the meaning until the end of time but Islam says the Koran is the liberal word of God and thus can’t be changed or reinterpreted. This is why a Restoration with a following Enlightenment is not possible in the Islamic religion. Once this fact is accepted thinking people can have noth9ing but disdain for Islam. Its followers are worse then the various Christian cults (yes some Christian Churches are cults) that usually preach from only one book and often only a couple of verses in that book. Other Churches in the same Christian Sect are filled with gentle believers.

        • Very profound, it use to be that once you recognized someone as the enemy that was all you had to call them since enemies were suppose to be destroyed. Now we are suppose to let them into our nations and change to suit their thought pattern so we are no longer perceived as the enemy.

          Talk about self hating, anyone who thinks we have to change our society in our homeland to prevent third world nations from hating us has to be the supreme self haters of all time.

            • I don’t know about Canada but here in the US he had better be careful about stealing another election, the people are getting real mad. To misquote Louis Lamour they are ready to start a debating society and will let Winchester and Remington do the debating, they will start an uplift society and let a rope do the uplifting.

  26. Turkey announces troop withdrawal from Iraq after Obama appeal: ministry

    Ankara (AFP) – Turkey on Saturday said it would “continue” to pull its troops out of northern Iraq after US President Barack Obama urged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to do so in order to de-escalate tensions with Baghdad over the deployment.

    “Taking into account the sensitivities on the Iraqi side… Turkey will continue the process it has already begun to withdraw its troops stationed in Mosul province,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

    The Iraqi government earlier this week demanded the “complete withdrawal” of Turkish troops from its territory after Turkey deployed soldiers and tanks to a military camp near the city of Mosul.

    Baghdad labelled the deployment an illegal “incursion” but Turkey said it was to protect Turkish trainers working with Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

    In a phone call on Friday, Obama asked Erdogan to take steps “to de-escalate tensions with Iraq, including by continuing to withdraw Turkish military forces”.

    He also urged Turkey “to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq”.

    A senior Turkish official said last week that between 150 and 300 soldiers and 20 tanks were deployed to protect Turkish military trainers at the Bashiqa camp near Mosul.

    Turkey began partially withdrawing troops from the area on Monday.

    In its statement late Saturday, the foreign ministry said there had been a “lack of communication” with Baghdad on the matter and that Ankara “would continue to coordinate with the Iraqi government over its military contribution to the country in the fight against Daesh (IS)”.

    http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-announces-troop-withdrawal-iraq-obama-appeal-ministry-205235351.htm

      • It’s all “alleged” this and “alleged’ that.

        Damascus suburb hit by ‘Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah leader’ Samir Kuntar: reports

        An alleged Israeli air strike hit a multi-storey residential building in the Damascus district of Jaramana causing several casualties, Syria’s state media said early on Sunday.
        While state media blamed “terrorist groups” for the explosions,  government loyalists on social media said the explosions were caused by an Israeli strike believed to have killed Lebanese militant Samir Kuntar.
        Israel reased Kuntar, who spent 29 years in Israeli custody over the brutal slaying of four Israelis in a 1979 terror raid on the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap with the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah group.

        Some Syrian government loyalists said he was in the building at the time of the attack but his fate was unclear.

        It was not immediately possible to confirm the reports. 

        Since Kuntar’s release in 2008, Israeli media on multiple occasions claimed that the he had been killed, including during Israeli strikes on Syria. However, none of the reports have been confirmed.

        In August, an Arab newspaper reported that Kuntar may have been killed by what was believed to have been an Israeli drone strike after he recruited some 120 Syrian Druse to fight on behalf of President Bashar Assad or Hezbollah.

        The alleged Israel Air Force drone attack struck a vehicle on the outskirts of the Druse village of Hader, near the Golan Heights. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that five people were killed in the attack – two members of Hezbollah and three from the Syrian National Defense Forces, a pro-government militia.
        The strike hit a vehicle that carried five Lebanese and Syrian militants, all of whom died in the incident.

        Israel believed Kuntar operated the cell that attempted to place an explosive charge on the Israeli-Syrian border earlier this year. Israeli troops thwarted the attack, killing four members of the terror cell in the process.

        http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/96236-151220-damascus-suburb-hit-by-israeli-strike-targeting-hezbollah-leader-samir-kuntar-reports

    • If they did target him I hope they got him, but won’t hold my breath waiting for confirmation.

  27. DAILY MAIL – The £100m ghost camp for refugees that YOU pay for: Built with UK foreign aid billions for 130,000 fleeing war in Syria, but so grim only 15,000 stay

    Azraq refugee camp in the desert, around 55 miles from the Syrian border
    World’s second-biggest camp opened in April last year for 130,000 people
    Isolation, no market areas and a hospital closure have led to few residents
    Nine-square-mile site lacks street life and any real sense of community

    More than 100 aid agencies helped create this ghost city in the sand.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3367110/The-100m-ghost-camp-refugees-pay-Built-UK-foreign-aid-billions-130-000-fleeing-war-Syria-grim-15-000-stay.html

  28. USA: Trump agrees with Putin’s praise – ‘I am brilliant’

    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he was pleased if Russian President Vladimir Putin “thinks I’m a good, smart person, which I hope he believes that I am,” while on the campaign trail in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday. He added “actually he’s right, I am brilliant, you know that. But you know if he says something positive, that’s a good thing. That’s not a bad thing.”