Reader’s links for Dec.27 – 2015

Daily Links Post graphic

In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

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

43 Replies to “Reader’s links for Dec.27 – 2015”

  1. Filipino protesters land on disputed island in South China Sea

    MANILA (Reuters) – A group of Filipino protesters has landed on a disputed Philippine-held island in the South China Sea, a local government official said on Sunday, in a risky expedition that may trigger a strong reaction from China.

    About 50 protesters, most of them students, reached Pagasa island in the Spratly archipelago on Saturday in a stand against what they say is Beijing’s creeping invasion of the Philippine exclusive economic zone, said Eugenio Bito-onon, the island’s mayor.

    “The ‘freedom voyage’ arrived at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday from Balabac island on a motor launch,” Bito-onon told Reuters, adding the protesters left southern Palawan on Thursday in fine weather to make the long sea crossing.

    China claims almost all the South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the strategic waters.

    Describing their expedition as a “a patriotic voyage”, the protesters, led by an ex-marine captain, planned to camp on Pagasa for three days in a symbolic act of defiance against China.

    http://www.oann.com/filipino-protesters-land-on-disputed-island-in-south-china-sea/

    • We have been concentrating on Europe and Islam while the situation in the South China Sea has been getting more tense. If the Chinese economy is tanking to the point that some economists are predicting a recession and some economists are predicting a 1930s type depression. The Chinese government is taking control of more and more companies to stop the labor unrest, during times of economic crisis dictatorships tend to look to over seas adventures to provide treasure and to bleed off the social unrest.

      • Is China Heading to a 1930s-Style Crash?

        “On conservative growth projections, China’s economy could well be bigger than the sum of all the G7 economies in real terms within the next decade,” writes Peter Drysdale, the editor of the popular East Asia Forum website.

        Not everyone is as optimistic as Drysdale, but the general view is that China will work through a transitory period and enter a new phase of growth powered by consumer spending.

        Are China’s economic problems merely temporary — a year or two at most — as the majority view suggests?

        Perhaps, but there are also reasons to believe the country will have to endure prolonged hardship, either two or so decades of recession and stagnation or, more probably, a sharp 1930s-style crash followed by years of deep contraction.

        http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6932/china-crash

        • The government take overr of businesses trying to keep them going and to inflate the economy is a sign of desperation, China has been lying about their economy for decades and using accounting tricks that would land people in jail in any western nation to hide the massive weakness in their economy. Now they are having a hard time hiding the failure of command driven economies and this is occurring at the time when the rest of the worlds economy is tanking because the socialist have gained control and have driven them down to the point where an economy collapse is almost a certainty.

    • PRC is a regional superpower. As early as a decade ago, analysts like Air Power Australia predicted that rise. (http://www.ausairpower.net/APAA/APA-2005-03P.pdf) I’m not sure how the Philippines is going to take on a military superpower without some serious backup. Some analysts think PRC won’t become the dominant power in Asia (http://www.hudson.org/content/researchattachments/attachment/1437/sc10_3_dibb_lee.pdf), but militarily, they could easily overrun the Philippines, which will create a situation for The Great and Powerful Obama to try to jawbone out of. The world will see that as what the PRC will see, that the USA is a “Paper Tiger,” that all the money we spend on the military is basically be used to enable a social welfare organization, and not for the acquisition of better nation fighting machines. 9/11 caused this nation to expend $$$$ on fighting lightly armed terrorist Muslims, and not to fight nations that can actually hurt us. That will be Obama’s legacy.

  2. Activists: Syrian Army Kills 17 Militants in Country’s South (abcnews, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/top-rebels-death-syria-reshuffles-deck-ahead-talks-35961931

    “Syrian activists say government forces set off explosives planted at a farm where Islamic rebel factions were gathering, killing 17 militants.

    The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the explosion took place late Saturday in the village of Kfar Shams in southern Daraa province.

    Ahmad al-Masalmeh, a Daraa-based opposition activist, said Sunday that a farm in the village was booby trapped and the explosives were detonated once the militants had gathered there.

    Syria’s state news agency reported that several fighters of the Islamic Muthana Movement were killed and two of their “dens were demolished at Kfar Shams.”

    The latest killings deal another blow to Syria’s Islamic rebels, just days after the assassination of a powerful rebel leader.”

  3. Afghan Official: IS, Militia Beheading Each Other’s Fighters (abcnews, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-official-militia-beading-fighters-35961984

    “Fighters from the Islamic State group and a militia controlled by a prominent lawmaker have beheaded a total of eight men in tit-for-tat revenge killings in the eastern border province of Nangarhar, an Afghan official said on Sunday.

    Four men from each side had been decapitated after being caught by the opposing side during battles on Saturday, Ghalib Mujahid, the governor of the Achin district, said.

    During a fight with gunmen affiliated with the IS, he said, four members of a militia loyal to Zahir Qadir, deputy speaker of parliament, were taken hostage and beheaded.

    In revenge, four of five IS gunmen held by Qadir’s militia were beheaded, Mujahid said. Their heads were placed on piles of stones along a main road through Achin, he said.

    It is not unusual for powerful figures in Afghanistan to control personal militias, though the central government and international organizations such as the United Nations have expressed concern about a proliferation of armed groups that are not part of the government’s security force.

    Achin is one of four districts that Afghan officials say has come under IS control in recent months. Government forces have returned to the area to try to dislodge the extremists, who also fought fierce battles with the rival Taliban in the region during the summer months.

    IS has a presence in other volatile regions of Afghanistan, but Nangarhar appears to be their main powerbase.

    Mujahid said the decision to behead the IS gunmen had been made by Qadir’s militia leaders…”

    • Barbarians don’t exempt their own kind when ambitions conflict. The two groups are reacting the way the left wants us to think Western corporations act, if civilization falls far enough they may start acting towards their enemies the way ISIS is.

  4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3375294/Children-broken-homes-three-times-likely-suffer-mental-health-problems.html

    “Research by the University College London found that 6.6 per cent of children living with both biological parents suffered from mental health problems.

    This is compared to some 15 per cent of children with a single parent and 18.1 per cent of children living with step-families.”

    Islam, Socialism and LGBTQ are the creators of “step-families”. Three step-moms, three step-dads and three parents.

    Their young will become the Mohammadans and Communists of tomorrow who will kill in the name of peace for which they will seek and tear up the world and never find.

    18.1% only reveals the disturbed who had not submitted and become so unsane to be made to longer believe there is normality; just halal-haram, good and hate thoughts, sub and Dom.

    Obama is the product of all these worlds. A Founding Father was not among them.

  5. Iran Accuses Saudi of Promoting Poverty, Terrorism (abcnews, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-accuses-saudi-promoting-poverty-terrorism-35962239

    “Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused archrival Saudi Arabia Sunday of promoting poverty and terrorism by continuing to bomb Yemeni rebels and supporting armed rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria.

    Addressing a conference in Tehran, Rouhani suggested that destroying Syria won’t strengthen those governments in the region which support the anti-Assad rebels.

    “Does the weakening of Syria benefit its Muslim neighbors? Does the destruction of Syria lead to the strengthening of Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates or other countries? Who is pleased by Syria’s destruction other than Israel,” Rouhani said.

    Iran is one of Assad’s main allies and has provided his government with military and political backing for years.

    Rouhani said the Islamic State group and other armed groups are defaming Islam by resorting to barbaric acts and that has led to Muslim states forgetting their common enemy: Israel.

    “How many bombs and missiles have you purchased from the U.S. in the past year,” Rouhani asked in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia. “If you had distributed the same money among poor Muslims, none of them would have gone to bed hungry.”

    Rouhani, a moderate politician, said a Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing Yemen since March has prompted a humanitarian crisis and greater poverty in Yemen, saying these were among the main causes behind the spread of extremism in the region.

    Rouhani’s comments highlight the struggle for regional supremacy between Shiite powerhouse Iran and the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia that has played out in conflicts in Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military intervention against Shiite rebels who are backed by Iran.

    The Yemen conflict pits President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a U.S. ally, against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthis — who control the capital, Sanaa — and military units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.”

  6. Iraqi forces ‘enter Islamic State Ramadi stronghold’ (BBC, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35186105

    “Iraqi forces have entered a former government compound in Ramadi, from where Islamic State (IS) group militants have been resisting an army offensive, sources have told the BBC.

    The source said troops had entered one building and were planning to push cautiously through the rest of the huge compound amid fears of explosives.

    IS militants are believed to have fled to the north-east of the city.

    The government has been trying to retake Ramadi for weeks…”

  7. Germans pessimistic about economic upside of refugee influx (DW, Dec 26, 2015)
    http://www.dw.com/en/germans-pessimistic-about-economic-upside-of-refugee-influx/a-18943058

    “A new survey has revealed that most Germans believe the influx of refugees will not provide an economic boost. So far in 2015, Germany has taken in more than twice as many refugees as last year.

    Only 16 percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement “the influx of refugees will result in more economic opportunities than problems for us,” according to the survey conducted by the Ipsos Institute on behalf of the Hamburg researcher Horst Opaschowski.

    The percentage of Germans who believe “Germany will gain recognition in the world by accepting so many refugees” was only slightly higher at 20 percent.

    The survey also showed that a majority of Germans – 56 percent – believe the country is not up to the challenge of dealing with the influx. In small towns of less than 5,000 people, this figure rose to 66 percent….”

    • The German people are right, you can’t take in more parasites then workers and since most of the refugees are illetrate they are parasites in a modern society. The only group gaining any type of political gain will be the socialist the new parasites will vote for, if of course the civil war doesn’t remove the German government from power. The latter is what I expect to happen.

  8. Iraqi forces surround Islamic State-held complex in Ramadi

    http://www.oann.com/iraqi-army-prepares-for-final-push-to-take-ramadi-from-islamic-state/

    BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi forces have totally encircled the government complex in Ramadi, the last stronghold of Islamic State militants in the western city, and are about to enter it, joint operations command spokesman Yahya Rasool told Reuters.

    “We’re clearing the buildings and streets around the complex of bombs in preparation to go in,” he said. “I expect we will go into the complex in about an hour,” he added.

    Recapturing Ramadi, which fell to the militants in May, would be one of the most significant victories for Iraq’s armed forces since Islamic State swept across a third of the country in 2014.

    The militants “seem to have fled the complex, we’re not encountering any resistance,” said Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism units that are leading the fight on the government side. “We’re seeing lots of Daesh bodies, killed in the air strikes on the compound,” he told Reuters.

  9. Policeman in German town of Herborn stabbed to death in train station (DW, Dec 26, 2015)
    http://www.dw.com/en/policeman-in-german-town-of-herborn-stabbed-to-death-in-train-station/a-18942929

    “A police officer in the state of Hesse has died after a young man stabbed him in a train station on Christmas Eve. Another officer was also wounded in the attack, as was the perpetrator himself.

    Two police officers were attacked and one was killed after they attempted to question a 27-year-old in a train station in the western German town of Herborn.

    The victim, a 46-year-old, was stabbed a total of seven times, including once in the neck and shoulder. The attacker himself was shot, but is in stable condition.

    The young man was reported to have been acting aggressively earlier that night, prompting the train station to call the police.

    Following the attack, police unions railed against rising levels of violence directed at law enforcement. “The violence against representatives of the state has gotten out of control,” said German Police Union Chairman Rainer Wendt in an interview with “Focus Online.”

    He added the violence impacts not only police officers, but also employees of the courts and job centers.”

    • Two violent attacks in two days, they don’t seem to be related but we don’t truly know the motive of the shootings reported yesterday.

  10. Bavaria calls for control over its own borders (DW, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://www.dw.com/en/bavaria-calls-for-control-over-its-own-borders/a-18943855

    “The Bavarian interior minister has said the southern German state should be able to police its own borders. His words come as local politicians seek ways to mitigate the influx of refugees coming from the east.Joachim Herrmann said Bavaria should take control of its own borders, as thousands of desperate refugees continue to flood into the southern German state every day.

    In an interview with the German weekly newspaper “Welt am Sonntag,” Bavaria’s interior minister blamed personnel shortages for the federal government’s inability to stem the flow of migrants across the border. For that reason, he said, Bavaria’s regional government should take the reins.

    “Here we would like to play an active role and control the borders,” Herrmann told the newspaper, adding he had “no understanding” why the federal government was opposed to the idea.

    According to Herrmann, a member of the sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Bavaria needs only approval from Berlin before it could start enforcing the borders itself. He insisted it was “purely a political decision” by Merkel’s government not to offer it.

    As many as 4,000 refugees cross the border into Bavaria every day, according to Herrmann. He said the federal government must work with the Bavarians to ensure the number is reduced to an average of at least 1,000 refugees per day.

    “We would be able to accommodate and integrate a good 350,000 refugees in 2016. But not over a million,” he said.”

  11. Russia says air force has not hit civilian targets in Syria

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian air forces have not hit civilian targets since they started a bombing campaign in Syria nearly three months ago, a senior Russian officer said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television.

    London-based rights group Amnesty International said this week that Russia’s bombing of Syria had killed many civilians and could amount to a war crime. Russia’s Defense Ministry strongly rejected the allegations.

    “The Military Space Forces have never hit civilian targets in Syria,” said Viktor Bondarev, Colonel General and commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces. Pilots are well-trained and “have never missed their targets, have never hit … so-called sensitive places: schools, hospitals, mosques,” he said.

    http://www.oann.com/russia-says-air-force-has-not-hit-civilian-targets-in-syria/

    • When your enemy shelters among civilians it is the enemies fault when civilians are killed, Any attempt to make this a war crime is the left trying to ensure that the west loses the war of survival.

      This stupidity on their part is one of the things that is helping insure that civilization falls, when baseless charges are made every time people fight back the charge of war crimes ends up being ignored when real war crimes are committed.

  12. Unidentified gunmen shot dead six members of a family in Kunar (khaama, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/unidentified-gunmen-shot-dead-six-members-of-a-family-in-kunar-4434

    “Unidentified armed men have killed six members of a single family in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, less than three weeks after an entire family was killed in a similar attack in its neighboring Nangarhar province.

    Police chief of Kunar province said the incident took place in Bari Kot village of Naray District Saturday night.

    According to Abdul Habib Sayedkhil, those killed include two children, two women and two men who had moved to this village from neighboring Nooristan province.

    Motive behind last night’s incident is unknown but the one that took place in Behsood District of Nangarhar province on the night of December 11 was the result of a family dispute.

    Security agencies have launched an investigation into Kunar’s incident to get to the killers.”

  13. ‘30-step’ Istanbul demonstration protests arrest of Cumhuriyet journalists (hurriyetdailynews, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/30-step-istanbul-demonstration-protests-arrest-of-cumhuriyet-journalists.aspx?pageID=238&nID=93052&NewsCatID=339

    “Hundreds of lawmakers and journalists staged a ‘30-step march’ in Istanbul on Dec. 26 to protest the arrest of daily Cumhuriyet journalists over a story on state-owned trucks purportedly carrying arms to militants in Syria on the 30th day of their arrest.

    The group gathered at Tünel Square in Istanbul’s Beyo?lu district and marched 30 steps in protest, as Dec. 26 marked the 30th day of arrest for daily Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

    Chanting the slogan “journalism cannot be tried” to emphasize the current state of journalism in Turkey, the group said all journalists imprisoned over their coverage should be freed, waving placards reading “freedom to jailed journalists” and “no matter what, we will do our job.”

    Wives of Dündar and Gül, Dilek Dündar and Asl? Gül, read out letters the prominent journalists have written since they were imprisoned on Nov. 26, during the demonstration in which the journalists’ Cumhuriyet colleagues also took part in.

    Among the participants were Republican People’s Party (CHP) Secretary General Gürsel Tekin, CHP deputy head Sezgin Tanr?kulu and CHP Istanbul MP Bar?? Yarkada?.

    Delivering a press statement on behalf of the group, Karan reiterated the mass demand that Dündar and Gül be tried without arrest and that all jailed journalists should be freed…”

  14. Analysis: The Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan (aljazeera, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/analysis-taliban-resurgence-afghanistan-isil-151227065817409.html

    “The Taliban in Afghanistan have expanded their presence and acquired more reach in the country than at any point since the toppling of their regime as a result of the United States-led intervention in 2001.

    The resurgence of the Taliban fighters poses a critical challenge for the Afghan government and the remaining US and NATO forces.

    There is a multi-pronged strategy behind the Taliban’s recent violent campaign and territorial gains.

    Their objective is to establish “permanent” sanctuaries and strongholds to form functional administrative systems.

    They also want to capture big chunks of the country to get the upper hand in the stalled peace process, which is likely to start in 2016.

    The Afghan security situation has deteriorated significantly since the launch of the Taliban’s 2015 spring offensive.

    Afghanistan has never been as insecure in the past 14 years as it is now . More Afghans have been killed in 2015 than any year since 2001.

    The Taliban planned their resurgence in 2014 and aimed to expand their territorial control in order to change the momentum in their favour.

    They reportedly moved a large number of their fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan. In addition, three other major factors contributed to their recent resurgence in Afghanistan.

    1. The end of the US and NATO combat mission in Afghanistan, which was completed at the end of 2014, and the withdrawal of most foreign forces from the country emboldened the Taliban.

    The threat of the Taliban being bombed or raided reduced significantly after the reduction in the number of foreign forces and the change of the US-NATO mission.

    The new NATO-led Resolute Support international coalition, which consists of around 12,500 foreign soldiers (mostly Americans), began on January 1, 2015 and mainly involves training, advice and assistance for the Afghan security forces and institutions.

    2. Several thousand mainly Uzbek, Arab and Pakistani fighters based in the North Waziristan Tribal Agency crossed into Afghanistan after the Pakistan military launched its Operation Zarb-e-Azb in June 2014. The contribution of these foreign fighters further intensified the fight against the Afghan government.

    3. Since taking full responsibility for security from the US-led international forces, the Afghan security forces have shown resilience and courage, but they are under strain. They are under-resourced and under-equipped.

    The Afghan military also lack certain capabilities, especially air power and reconnaissance.

    Meanwhile, the Taliban have tried to open multiple fronts to divert the attention of Afghan forces. By increasing the number of attacks throughout the country, the fighters have overwhelmed and overstretched the Afghan forces.

    Foreign fighters

    The Taliban are the main and dominant group in Afghanistan fighting the Afghan government and its foreign allies. They reportedly have tens of thousands of fighters and have a presence in most of the country’s 34 provinces.

    But a substantial number of foreign fighters, mostly from the Middle East, Central Asian countries and Pakistan, are also engaged in fighting in Afghanistan.

    According to Afghan officials, the number of foreign fighters in the country exceeds 7,000.

    More than 10 local and regional/international armed groups are involved in the conflict in Afghanistan, including the main Afghan Taliban faction, the Taliban splinter group, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) which joined ISIL in August 2015 .

    Although these foreign fighters are using Afghan soil, they have their own regional and international agendas too.

    The Taliban have been fighting the newly emerged ISIL group since January 2015, when it established its Khorasan Province – an old name for Afghanistan and the neighbouring parts of Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia.

    This means that the Taliban are not only confronting the Afghan government and its foreign backers, they are also fighting on two other fronts against ISIL and the Taliban splinter group.

    The Taliban splinter group also says it is against ISIL.

    Most foreign fighters, including those linked with al-Qaeda and the Islamic Jihad Union – a splinter faction of the IMU – are supporting the Taliban.

    Although ISIL and the Taliban splinter group have challenged the supremacy of the Taliban, they are not in a position to pose an existential threat to the group in the near future.

    But ISIL and infighting have diverted their attention in some parts of the country.

    Taliban expands fight

    The Taliban have increased their activities throughout the country.

    By carrying out attacks in different parts of Afghanistan, the Taliban want to give the impression that their fight is not limited to certain parts of the country.

    The temporary seizure in September of the northern city of Kunduz , one of Afghanistan’s most strategic and richest cities, and the capturing of several districts in other northern provinces, including Takhar and Badakhshan, confirmed this impression….”

  15. Two Palestinians shot dead after stabbing Israeli soldier

    ERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians who stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the army said, the latest attack in 12 weeks of heightened violence.

    Almost daily Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and shooting attacks have killed 20 Israelis and a U.S. citizen, raising fears of a wider escalation a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided.

    Since the start of October, Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 130 Palestinians, 81 of whom authorities described as assailants. Most of the others have been killed in clashes with security forces.

    In the latest fatal incident, the Israeli military said two Palestinians stabbed a soldier in the village of Hewara, near the West Bank city of Nablus.

    http://www.oann.com/two-palestinians-shot-dead-after-stabbing-israeli-soldier-army/

  16. German politicians slam Greece over handling of refugee crisis

    BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and a senior Bavarian politician criticized Greece on Sunday over the way it is managing its role in Europe’s biggest migration crisis since World War Two.

    Schaeuble, who has clashed repeatedly with Greek officials this year over economic policy, told Bild am Sonntag that Athens has for years ignored the rules that oblige migrants to file for asylum in the European Union country they arrive in first.

    He said German courts had decided some time ago that refugees were not being treated humanely in Greece and could therefore not be sent back there.

    “The Greeks should not put the blame for their problems only on others, they should also see how they can do better themselves,” Schaeuble said.

    http://www.oann.com/germanys-schaeuble-critical-of-greece-over-refugee-policy/

  17. Pakistan army chief visits Kabul as peace diplomacy builds

    KABUL (Reuters) – The powerful head of Pakistan’s army, General Raheel Sharif met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday as diplomatic contacts continued to improve regional security and prepare the way for fresh peace talks with the Taliban.

    The meeting is the latest in a series of encounters between officials and politicians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and India over recent months as cautious moves have begun toward easing longstanding tensions between Islamabad, New Delhi and Kabul.

    No official statement has been released about the content of the meeting but a source in the presidential palace said they discussed security, peace and counter-terrorism.

    Sharif’s visit to Kabul follows two meetings between Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over recent weeks that set the stage for efforts to restart Pakistan-brokered peace talks with the Taliban.

    http://www.oann.com/pakistan-army-chief-visits-kabul-as-peace-diplomacy-builds/

  18. Israeli government targets foreign government funding of NGOs

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A bill that would impose new regulations on Israeli non-profit groups that receive funds from foreign governments won ministerial approval on Sunday, a move critics said targets pro-Palestinian organizations.

    Dubbed a “transparency bill” by its sponsor, far-right Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, it would require NGOs to give details in all their official publications and communications with elected officials in Israel of overseas donations, if more than half of their funding came from foreign governments.

    Critics say the legislation is discriminatory because it is mainly groups that oppose the right-wing government’s policies toward Palestinians which receive money from foreign governments and the European Union.

    Private funds from overseas, such as money donated to Israeli groups that support Jewish settlement on occupied land Palestinians seek for a state, are not addressed in the bill, which is widely expected to win parliamentary approval.

    http://www.oann.com/israeli-government-targets-foreign-government-funding-of-ngos/

  19. Europe-wide terror warning includes threat to London in jihadi plot BEFORE the new year
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/629560/Terror-warning-Austrian-police-warning-threat-European-capitals

    “LONDON and capital cities across Europe have been warned about the possibility of a shooting or bomb attack on or before New Year’s Eve.

    The terror alert was handed to Austrian police this evening from a “friendly” intelligence service, as evidence grows that jihadi sleeper cells are planning to hit Western targets.

    It has prompted police across the continent to increase security measures in a bid to prevent a Paris-style copycat attack on an unknown location in Europe.

    The warning made specific mention of the threat to shoppers and revellers in “crowded spaces” and warned that the strike could take place between Christmas and New Year.

    A statement released by police in Austria said: “In the days before Christmas a warning was sent out by a friendly (intelligence) service to numerous European capitals, saying that it could come to an attack involving explosives or a shooting between Christmas and the New Year in crowded spaces.”…”

    • Things have been suspiciously quiet, expecially in the states where the cell phone purchases, explosive caches found and propane tank thefts raised so many red flags about a coming attack.

  20. Taiwan opposition leader says China to have ‘rational attitude’ toward DPP

    TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s opposition leader and presidential frontrunner on Sunday called on China to respect the island’s democratic process and said she believes Beijing will have a “rational attitude” when dealing with her independence-leaning party.

    Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments in the first live, televised presidential debate with three weeks to go before Taiwan votes in a new president and parliament.

    Tsai, with a double-digit percentage lead in opinion polls, has tread carefully in discussing how she will engage China if the DPP returns to power as it is likely to next year. The DPP has traditionally favored the island’s formal independence and says it believes only Taiwan’s people can decide its future. Beijing takes this to mean it wants independence.

    China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province and part of its territory, will be watching the election outcome closely.

    http://www.oann.com/taiwan-opposition-leader-says-china-to-have-rational-attitude-toward-dpp/

  21. Student who ‘plotted a terrorist attack on Times Square and tried to kill an FBI also stabbed a boy, 9, in the neck in a botched audition for ISIS’ (dailymail, Dec 27, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3375398/Student-plotted-terrorist-attack-Times-Square-tried-kill-FBI-stabbed-boy-9-neck-botched-audition-ISIS.html

    “A student who allegedly plotted a bomb attack on Times Square may have stabbed a nine-year old boy in the neck as part of a botched audition to join ISIS, police have claimed.

    Fareed Mumuni, who is accused of providing material support to the terrorist group, was living just 600 yards from Jermaine Culver in Staten Island, New York, when he was knifed on January 9, 2015, as he walked to school.

    The youngster survived the attack and ran away, but was forced to move to Atlanta with his grandmother because he was too afraid to go back out onto the streets. ..”

  22. UK’s ‘Disney’ Muslim family was headed to visit worshiper at mosque of San Bernardino terrorists

    It’s beginning to seem like — contra CAIR and the Washington Post — Donald Trump had nothing to do with the visa revocation that stopped a British family as it sat on the tarmac at Gatwick Airport waiting to fly to the U.S.

    There were clearly red flags in the histories of some members of the Mahmood family. A Facebook page with the name of the 18-year-old — one of the nine “children” traveling with the two adult brothers — contained endorsements of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. And Mohammed Tariq Mahmood’s brother had some kind of red flag, given that he was denied entry by Israel eight years ago.

    But now Breitbart London’s Raheem Kassam and Liam Deacon report that the 11-person group was coming to the U.S. to visit an extended family member, Muhammad Mahmood, who owns an auto repair shop in San Bernardino, California, and attends the same mosque as Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the terrorists who killed 14 people at a Christmas party on 2 December.

    The Mahmoods could quite easily have visited their relative and gone to Disneyland, down the road in Anaheim. So that aspect of the drama isn’t odd. But visiting anyone connected with the Deobandi-linked mosque, especially in the group configuration of the Mahmoods (with no adult women in the party), would be likely to set off alarm bells.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2015/12/26/disney-family-of-muslims-headed-to-see-worshiper-at-mosque-of-san-bernardino-terrorist/

  23. DAILY MAIL – On the rampage in Calais: Shocking footage shows hundreds of migrants stealing from lorries and threatening motorists as many more attempt to storm the Eurotunnel on Christmas Day

    Footage shows car drivers forced to swerve around hundreds of migrants
    Police closed the A16 highway until crowds of people could be dispersed
    Calais port is a key destination for asylum-seekers from all over the world
    Most hope to reach the UK via the Eurotunnel or by hitching lifts in lorries

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3374705/Hundreds-migrants-attempt-storm-Eurotunnel-Christmas-Day-amazing-video-captures-gangs-people-marauding-streets-Calais-pushing-prams.html

    • The invasion of Britain is semi stalled by the French, but the British Government is trying to bring in other Islamic fighters to replace those stalled in France.

  24. Corsica protests banned after anti-Arab demos

    France banned demonstrations in part of the Corsican capital Ajaccio on Sunday following two days of anti-Arab protests and sectarian tensions.

    http://www.thelocal.fr/20151227/protests-banned-in-corsica-after-anti-arab-demos

    Hundreds defy Corsica protest ban

    Several hundred people in Corsica defied a ban on demonstrations imposed in a flashpoint area of the capital Ajaccio on Sunday after two days of violent anti-Arab protests.

    http://www.thelocal.fr/20151227/hundreds-defy-corsica-protest-ban

  25. Germany recruits 8,500 teachers for child refugees

    Berlin: Germany has recruited 8,500 people to teach child refugees German, as the country expects the number of new arrivals to soar past the million mark in 2015, Die Welt daily reported Sunday.

    With some 196,000 children fleeing war and poverty entering the German school system this year, 8,264 “special classes” have been created to help the new arrivals catch up with their peers, Die Welt said, citing a survey carried out in 16 German federal states.

    “Some 8,500 additional teachers have been recruited nationwide,” the daily said.

    According to Germany’s education authority, 325,000 school-age children reached the EU country in 2015, amid Europe’s worst migration crisis since World War II.

    Germany expects over a millon asylum seekers this year, which is five times more than in 2014 and has put a strain on its ability to provide services to all the newcomers.

    “Schools and education administrations have never been confronted with such a challenge,” Brunhild Kurth, who heads the education authority, told Die Welt.

    “We must accept that this exceptional situation will become the norm for a long time to come.”

    Heinz-Peter Meidinger, head of the DPhV teachers’ union, said Germany will in fact need up to 20,000 additional teachers in order to cater for the new numbers.

    “By next summer, at the latest, we will feel that gap,” he said.

    http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2015/Dec-27/329120-germany-recruits-8500-teachers-for-child-refugees.ashx

  26. SYRIA – Evacuation deal for three Syrian towns to go ahead on Monday :Sources

    Besieged rebel fighters [ = Sunni Muslim terrorists ] in a Syrian border town and families holed up in two Shi’ite towns in northern Syria are expected to be evacuated on Monday after months of delay in implementing the second stage of a rare deal reached by the warring sides, sources close to negotiations on both sides said.

    The deal will allow scores of rebel fighters [ = Sunni Muslim terrorists ] who have been holed up for months in the town of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, to have safe passage to Beirut airport to then head for their final destination of T U R K E Y under International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) auspices, the sources said.

    Simultaneously around 300 families in two besieged Shi’ite towns in the mainly rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib will be heading in a land convoy to the Turkish border where they will then fly to Beirut.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/177558/World/Region/Evacuation-deal-for-three-Syrian-towns-to-go-ahead.aspx

    Evacuation of three Syrian towns to go ahead Monday under rare deal

    Besieged rebel fighters [ = Sunni Muslim terrorists ] in a Syrian border town and families trapped in two Shi’ite towns in northern Syria are expected to be evacuated on Monday in the second stage of a rare, UN-backed deal between warring sides in Syria’s war, sources close to negotiations said.

    The deal will allow scores of rebel fighters [ = Sunni Muslim terrorists ] who have been holed up for months in the town of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, to have safe passage to Beirut airport to then head for their final destination of T U R K E Y under International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) auspices, the sources said.

    Simultaneously, around 300 families in two besieged Shi’ite towns in the mainly rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib will be heading in a land convoy to the Turkish border from where they will then fly to Beirut.

    The route via Turkey is the safest for the families as travelling through Syria would take them through Idlib where a patchwork of rebels control different areas.

    The UN and foreign governments have tried to broker local ceasefires and safe-passage agreements as steps towards the wider goal of ending Syria’s civil war, in which more than 250,000 people have been killed in nearly five years of fighting.

    Iran and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, helped bring about the local ceasefires in Zabadani and in the two villages in Idlib in September in the first phase of the deal.

    The Zabadani area had been the focus of an offensive by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Syrian army against insurgent groups. [ = terrorists ] The area is of importance to President Bashar al-Assad because of its proximity to the Syrian capital Damascus and the Lebanese border.

    Insurgent groups have in turn launched attacks on the two Shi’ite villages that intensified after most of Idlib province fell to rebels after a series of advances against the army this year.

    Earlier this month Syrian government officials said they had agreed on a deal for rebel fighters to withdraw from the last insurgent-held area of the city of Homs with their weapons as part of a local ceasefire agreement.

    http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_evacuation-of-three-syrian-towns-to-go-ahead-monday-under-rare-deal_408090.html

  27. BREITBART – Peter King: Mosques Surveillance Needed, ‘That’s Where The Threat Is Coming From’

    On this week’s broadcat of “Fox News Sunday,” Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said more surveillance of mosques is needed due to where the threat exists.

    King said civil libertarians, “can cry all they want.”

    “The fact is that’s where the threat is coming from,”

    http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/12/27/peter-king-mosques-surveillance-needed-thats-where-the-threat-is-coming-from/