Reader’s links for Jan. 20 – 2016

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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

96 Replies to “Reader’s links for Jan. 20 – 2016”

  1. Two hurt after ‘knife fight’ at asylum centre

    One person was being held on attempted manslaughter suspicions on Wednesday morning and two were left injured after a row at an arrival centre for asylum seekers in southern Sweden, police said.

    “Two different factions have clashed,” police control room officer Johan Johansson told the TT newswire. “It has happened before,” he added in a comment to the Aftonbladet tabloid.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20160120/two-hurt-after-knife-fight-at-asylum-centre

    Refugees may bring new infections into Denmark

    Danish hospitals have been warned by authorities to be on the lookout for diphtheria, an illness that hasn’t been seen in Denmark for nearly 20 years but may have returned with asylum seekers.

    http://www.thelocal.dk/20160119/refugees-may-be-bringing-dangerous-infections-to-denmark

  10. World faces wave of epic debt defaults, fears central bank veteran
    Exclusive: Situation worse than it was in 2007, says chairman of the OECD’s review committee

    The global financial system has become dangerously unstable and faces an avalanche of bankruptcies that will test social and political stability, a leading monetary theorist has warned.

    “The situation is worse than it was in 2007. Our macroeconomic ammunition to fight downturns is essentially all used up,” said William White, the Swiss-based chairman of the OECD’s review committee and former chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

    “Debts have continued to build up over the last eight years and they have reached such levels in every part of the world that they have become a potent cause for mischief,” he said.

    “It will become obvious in the next recession that many of these debts will never be serviced or repaid, and this will be uncomfortable for a lot of people who think they own assets that are worth something,” he told The Telegraph on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

    “The only question is whether we are able to look reality in the eye and face what is coming in an orderly fashion, or whether it will be disorderly. Debt jubilees have been going on for 5,000 years, as far back as the Sumerians.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/davos/12108569/World-faces-wave-of-epic-debt-defaults-fears-central-bank-veteran.html

    • Smuggling soars as Venezuela’s economy sinks

      BOCA DEL GRITA, Venezuela (Reuters) – Clutching egg cartons on his shoulder, a young man wades precariously through a muddy river on Venezuela’s western jungle border where a Colombian shopkeeper will happily buy them up.

      On a peninsula jutting into the Caribbean, a fisherman sails under the cover of darkness to the nearby island of Aruba carrying everything from fish to flour.

      In neighboring Guyana, miners and police officers drive vehicles fueled by contraband gasoline from Venezuela.

      Driven by a deepening economic crisis, smuggling across Venezuela’s land and maritime borders – as well as illicit domestic trading – has accelerated to unprecedented levels and is transforming society.

      Although smuggling has a centuries-old history here, the socialist government’s generous subsidies and a currency collapse have given it a dramatic new impetus.

      http://www.oann.com/smuggling-soars-as-venezuelas-economy-sinks/

  12. Islamic State says two assailants in Paris attacks are from Iraq

    PARIS (Reuters) – The Islamic State group published pictures of nine militants it says carried out Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people in Paris including two, identified as Iraqis, who were previously unknown, according to the SITE monitoring organization.

    The two assailants so far unknown were identified in the group’s online magazine “Dabiq” by aliases ”Ukashah al Iraqi” and “Ali al Iraqi”, meaning ”Ukashah the Iraqi” and ”Ali the Iraqi” in Arabic.

    The two could be the suicide bombers who tried to attack the Stade de France stadium. They carried Syrian passports assumed to be forged and could not be formally identified.

    Nine men, split into three groups, attacked a sports stadium, a string of cafes and a concert hall. Seven had been positively identified. An arrest warrant has been issued, however, for one man, Salah Abdeslam, who may have survived the attack and the police action and fled back to Belgium

    http://www.oann.com/islamic-state-says-two-assailants-in-paris-attacks-are-from-iraq/

  13. Ferries stay docked, farmers empty milk churns in Greek pension protests

    ATHENS (Reuters) – Ferries remained docked at Greek ports and farmers poured milk onto the streets on Wednesday in protest over plans to revamp Greece’s pensions system, a condition for the country’s multi-billion euro bailout.

    Public anger is growing over the leftist-led government’s drive to cut its costly pension bill by some 1.8 billion euros this year, the equivalent of about 1 percent of national output.

    Public and private sector workers plan a national walkout on Feb. 4 but ship workers took early action on Wednesday by starting a 48-hour strike that brought passenger shipping activity in the seafaring nation to an effective standstill.

    “This is a first response to the third (bailout) maelstrom,” the Panhellenic Seafarers’ Federation said in a statement. Under reform proposals, their own contributions fund will be merged with another, sparking concerns about lower pensions in future.

    http://www.oann.com/ferries-stay-docked-farmers-empty-milk-churns-in-greek-pension-protests/

  15. Red doors mark out asylum seekers’ houses in English town: report

    LONDON (Reuters) – Asylum seekers in the northern English town of Middlesbrough are suffering abuse because they have been housed in properties that almost all have red front doors, making them easy targets for racists, the Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.

    The houses are owned by a subcontractor of G4S, the outsourcing giant which has been embroiled in a series of scandals over alleged incompetence and abuses. A spokesman for G4S said the subcontractor, Jomast, would repaint the doors.

    Asylum seekers living in the Middlesbrough houses described having eggs and stones thrown at their windows, dog excrement smeared on their doors and racist jibes shouted at them, the Times said in its report.

    Britain has not received migrants in the same huge numbers that arrived in other European countries last year, but public concerns over immigration are running high and tensions have risen in many communities with high concentrations of migrants.

    http://www.oann.com/red-doors-mark-out-asylum-seekers-houses-in-english-town-report/

  16. Anti-IS coalition must ‘tighten noose’ in Syria – Michael Fallon (BBC, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35358481

    “The coalition of countries fighting so-called Islamic State (IS) must focus on a “tightening of the noose” around its Syrian heartlands, UK defence minister Michael Fallon will say.

    At a meeting of defence chiefs in Paris, Mr Fallon will call for more air strikes targeting IS infrastructure.

    German, French and US defence ministers will be among those at the meeting on Wednesday, the first of its kind.

    They are to discuss intensifying military operations in Iraq and Syria

    Speaking ahead of the talks, Mr Fallon said the coalition aimed to “dismantle” IS’ “structure and capabilities”.

    In December MPs voted in favour of UK airstrikes against the militant group in Syria.

    The UK has been carrying out airstrikes against the group in Iraq since 2014.

    ‘New phase’

    Mr Fallon will say: “We have made strong progress in recent weeks.

    “Now the campaign is moving into a new phase where we aim to systematically dismantle Daesh’s [as the Islamic State group is also known] structure and capabilities.

    “That means striking harder at the head of the snake, with an increased focus on infrastructure, lines of communication and supply routes.”

    Until now, coalition bombing has focused on helping Iraqi and Kurdish troops on the ground in Iraq.

    He will also call for a significant increase in the level of coalition air strikes…”

  17. German ‘IS jihadist’ in terror trial (BBC, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35360676

    “A German jihadist accused of taking part in a special torture unit set up by the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria has gone on trial amid high security in Duesseldorf.

    Nils D., 25, was arrested on his return from Syria a year ago and is accused of membership of a terror group.

    He is alleged to have joined an IS unit that tracked down and killed deserters.
    Since his return he is said to have given police 40 interviews about the inner workings of the jihadist group.

    During his 13 months Syria, Nils D. – whose surname has not been released under German law – is accused of spending eight months in an internal security unit, apparently dubbed by some investigators as the “IS Gestapo”.

    He was among a dozen local youths who travelled to Syria in 2013, naming themselves the Lohberger Brigade after an area of their town of Dinslaken near Duisburg…”

  18. Pakistan Charsadda: Deadly assault on university (BBC, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35359072

    “Security forces have ended a gun and bomb attack on a university in north-west Pakistan in which 19 people were killed and 17 injured.

    Four suspected attackers also died in a battle that lasted nearly three hours at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

    There are conflicting reports about whether Pakistan Taliban militants carried out the assault…”

    • Chemistry teacher defies Taliban in Bacha Khan University attack (tribune, Jan 20, 2016)
      http://tribune.com.pk/story/1031010/chemistry-teacher-defies-taliban-in-bacha-khan-university-attack/

      “A chemistry teacher who tried to protect his students by opening fire on Taliban militants during a deadly attack at the Bacha Khan University has been hailed as a “martyr” and a “gentleman”.

      Lecturer Syed Hamid Husain, an assistant professor of chemistry at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, ordered his students to stay inside as Taliban gunmen stormed the school on Wednesday, leaving at least 21 people dead.

      Students told of how he opened fire on gunmen as they rampaged across campus, giving the young people time to flee before he was cut down in a hail of bullets.

      “We saw three terrorists shouting, ‘Allah is great!’ and rushing towards the stairs of our department,” one man told reporters.

      “One student jumped out of the classroom through the window. We never saw him get up.”

      He described seeing Husain holding a pistol and firing at the attackers. ”Then we saw him fall down and as the terrorists entered the (registrar) office we ran away.”….”

  19. Paris attacks: IS claims two attackers were Iraqi nationals (BBC, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35360354

    “Two of the militants involved in the Paris attacks in November last year were Iraqi nationals, the so-called Islamic State group has claimed.

    French officials had identified nine attackers but there were doubts about the nationalities of two men involved in the Stade de France bombings.

    The claim was made in the latest issue of the group’s Dabiq magazine.

    Two other suspects in the November attacks, which killed 130 people, are still on the run…”

  20. Afghanistan: Bomb explodes near Kabul Russia embassy (BBC, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35359215

    “A large bomb has exploded near the Russian embassy in the west of the Afghan capital Kabul, officials say.

    So far there are no confirmed reports of casualties, although the interior ministry said they were feared.

    The explosion sent black smoke billowing into the sky, with emergency services rushing to the scene.

    No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but the Taliban will be the main suspects as they have launched attacks on the city in the past.”

  22. French PM Says 6 Attacked Burkina Faso Hotel, 3 on Loose (abcnews, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/french-pm-attackers-burkina-hotel-loose-36393233

    “France’s prime minister said three attackers remain at large Wednesday following the attacks in Burkina Faso’s capital, though authorities there insist that all those who carried out the assault had been shot dead.

    French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said six people carried out the deadly attacks on the cafe and hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital, and three are still on the loose.

    But Burkina Faso authorities on Wednesday insisted that only three jihadis carried out the attacks and were killed, although more accomplices are being sought.

    At least 30 people were killed in last Friday’s attacks on targets in Ouagadougou frequented by Westerners.

    French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told the French National Assembly on Tuesday that “of the six attackers, three were killed and three are still being sought.” He didn’t elaborate. He also said that three attacks in Burkina Faso that day were “distinct but certainly coordinated.” An Australian couple was kidnapped in the country’s north and two were killed in an attack on a district administrator’s escort, he said.

    Burkina Faso army spokesman Guy Herve Ye said the army is searching for other suspects and perhaps that is what the prime minister is referring to…”

  23. Russia Shows Military Might in Syria Ahead of Peace Talks (abcnews, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://abcn.ws/1nkQkAz

    “Russian warplanes were taking off one after another with roaring thunder on Wednesday from their base on Syria’s coast, which was bustling with activity as Moscow pressed its air blitz days before scheduled peace talks.

    Helicopter gunships were sweeping low around the base in the province of Latakia to prevent any possible attack. Even though the front line is dozens of kilometers away and the area around the base is tightly controlled, the Russian military methodically patrols the area to make sure there is no ground threat.

    Two heavy transport planes were parked near the main terminal as soldiers toting assault rifles stood guard.

    Since Russia launched its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, its warplanes have flown nearly 6,000 missions. The number is impressive for a compact force comprising just a few dozen warplanes.

    The Russian military brought a group of Moscow-based reporters to the base on Wednesday to see the operations. Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Tuesday that over the previous four days Russian warplanes had flown 157 sorties striking 579 targets in six Syrian regions, and the pace showed no sign of letting up Wednesday.

    Since The Associated Press first visited the Hemeimeem base in October, the military has put a second runway into service and has deployed powerful air defense weapons. The towering launch tubes and massive radar arrays of the long-range S-400 missiles could be seen at the edge of the base.

    The Russian military has said it was targeting the Islamic State group and other extremists and has angrily dismissed Western accusations of hitting moderate rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad. Moscow also has rejected claims that its aircraft have hit civilians, insisting all casualties have been at extremist facilities away from populated areas.

    Konashenko said Syrian government forces backed by Russian airstrikes have retaken about 250 villages and towns from extremists. Each target is verified through multiple intelligence sources, and every fifth target Russia hits is now chosen thanks to information from “patriotic” opposition forces, he said.

    Konashenko said one particularly successful strike was conducted Tuesday in the Aleppo province, where a Russian Su-34 bomber hit a meeting of extremist leaders.

    Russian odnance includes bunker-buster bombs capable of piercing seven meters (23 feet) of rock to destroy underground facilities, Konashenko said. All Russian warplanes at the base are equipped with a sophisticated targeting system, allowing them to use even regular bombs with pinpoint accuracy, he said.

    Across the tarmac, Russian soldiers loaded humanitarian supplies onto a Syrian Il-76 heavy transport plane to be parachuted over Deir el-Zour, where government-held areas of the city have been blockaded by extremists for more than a year. The United Nations says living conditions there have deteriorated significantly, with reports of up to 20 deaths because of malnutrition.

    Konashenkov said about 40 metric tons of relief supplies have been delivered to Deir el-Zour, parachuted in on cargo platforms provided by the Russian military that guarantee precise drops. The Syrian government controls the military airport in the city, and activists claim that the limited amount of aid that gets in typically goes to army officers and their allies, who sell it on the black market.

    The Syrian government and the opposition are set to open talks in Geneva on Monday. The negotiations are meant to pave the way for a political settlement with a new constitution and elections in a year and a half.

    International negotiators, including the United States and its allies and Assad’s backers, Russia and Iran, have failed to agree on which of the myriad Syrian militant groups should be part of political talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were meeting in Switzerland Wednesday to try to resolve the differences over who is eligible to join the U.N.-mediated peace talks.

    The most visible difference at the Hemeimeem base since the AP visited in October is the presence of the S-400 air defense systems. Russia deployed the powerful weapons, capable of hitting targets 400 kilometers (240 miles) away, after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane along the Syrian border on Nov. 24.

    Turkey said it downed the jet after it violated its airspace for a few seconds, while Russia insisted its plane had stayed within Syrian airspace. It was the first time in more than half a century that a NATO nation had shot down a Russian plane.

    The Russian military quickly sent the S-400s to the base and warned that it would fend off any threat to its aircraft. Moscow also punished Turkey by imposing an array of economic sanctions, including a ban on the sale of package tours.

    To augment the air defenses, Russia has kept a navy ship carrying long-range air defense missiles off the Syrian shore. And Russian fighter jets have begun escorting strike jets on their combat missions to fend off any air threat.”

    • Remember J E Dyers analysis on what Putin is doing in Syria
      http://libertyunyielding.com/2015/09/16/syria-you-know-this-isnt-about-assad-anymore-right/
      Putin has several goals in Syria and Assad is the lowest priority on his list, never think that Putin is doing something to help others without having figured a way to make his position stronger by his actions.

      Be sure and read the column and then think about Putins actions and look for a pattern, there will be a minimum of one pattern and the pattern of his actions tells us a lot more then his speeches. Intel people, police and accounts always look for patterns and they are always there. This is why the left gets so upset when their political opponents start bringing up the past actions of the left.

      • He’s moving into this howling maelstrom for the long run. Believe it or not, that’s somewhat reassuring. I trust him to act on behalf of the Russian people as he sees fit.

        He’s a man you can do business with and who else is there? It’s not in his interest to encourage the Muslim Brotherhood’s Master Plan or the Persian version of Apocalypse Now.

        Everybody’s scared. There are MONSTERS baying for our blood, already tearing off any strip of flesh they can reach right now.

        All the little guys – Bibi, Sissi, King Abdullah – are very, very respectful to Mr. Putin. He, in turn, is patient and cordial and ~ ‘let’s see how our interests intersect’ .

        Uncle Vlad is a master:
        ==> 0 shamed the White House and this country with his appalling discourtesy toward a head of state whom he had invited. Clearly he meant to signal his Mohammedan masters that Israel was nothing but a Zionist entity ripe for a fall.
        ==> Mr. Putin invited Bibi to stay at his own home where they apparently conversed without interpreters.

        • Hmm, I am not so sure. In Russia the economic situation of Russians is in some places really quite bad. The government is talking about 13% price increase (2014 to 2015) but in fact staples like bread, meat, fruits, increased about 20 to 30 %, depending on where you live. Some Russians even say that the price increase is bigger.
          You have to understand that the difference between rich and poor people in Russia is very large. What I mean is that poor people are much poorer then in here and the people who live in, say, Rublyovka, are very very rich.
          As for your I trust him to act on behalf of the Russian people as he sees fit. that is not reassuring. We and the Europe are not “his people”.
          And finally, there ARE a lot of Muslims in the main Russian cities.

          • I agree with both of you. Thanks to Obama Russia is once again a major player on the worlds stage, however to a larger extent then most people realize the statement about China (First world cities surrounded by a third world nation) fits Russia. The Russian economy depend (for the most part) on oil exports and gold exports, as the price of oil and natural gas falls Russia suffers major economic setbacks. I think that privatization has turned their agriculture around and they are now feeding themselves. And as was pointed out there are large numbers of Moslems in the Russian cities, which is leading the internal security (FSB) to turn much more authoritarian and oppressive to all who oppose Putin.

            While I don’t trust Putin to do what is best for the west at the moment he is the only world leader that has the power to effectively oppose the Islamic conquest. Hopefully this will change after the next election.

        • Ok.
          I’m focused on the existential threat to tiny Israel, surrounded by rabid, frothing, genocidal Jew-haters. Putin will soon own the air over her head.

          I’m trying to be positive in a terrifying situation. There’s no where to turn. I’m also parroting reassurances from people I trust. And that’s an echo-chamber these days.

          It’s in Putin’s rational interests to prevent the annihilation of the only Jewish state.

          It’s in everybody’s interests. But lunatic honor-killers aren’t exactly rational.

          He’s into that kind of thing, just ask the Syrian butcher. He likes to keep all these little guys dancing on their toes. Now he’s advocating for Kurds to be part of the negotiating team in Geneva. Soviets were masters at that game.

          Plus there are strong bonds between Russia and Israel, well over a million Russian-speaking Israelis. My Russki has one son in Israel and another in Russia who won’t leave. That’s not unusual.

          • Refuseniks like Natan Sharansky – he’s head of the Jewish Agency for which I volunteer – sing the same positive chorus.
            Of course refusenikis are optimism made flesh.

            This is Isi Leibler:
            For over 30 years, my principal public occupation in the global Jewish arena was to promote the struggle for liberation of Soviet Jewry.

            This brought me into direct contact with Soviet ministers, officials and apparatchiks, enabling me to appreciate firsthand the obsessive anti-Semitism underlying the Kremlin’s policy toward Israel and the Jews.

            This contrasts starkly with current Russian President Vladimir Putin’s positive attitude to Jews in general, despite the fact that he was a former officer of the Soviet secret police agency, the KGB, a body notorious for its anti-Semitism. This is even more extraordinary taking into account the fact that Putin today exploits nationalism as a major element to rally public support. And Russian nationalism, from the time of the czars and heavily reinforced by the Soviets, operated in tandem with a feral anti-Semitism.

            There are no rational explanations for Putin’s extraordinary attitude toward Jews, which some have gone as far as to describe as being motivated by philo-Semitism. Some say he was influenced as a youngster by his Jewish German teacher, Mina Yuditskaya, now living in Israel and whom Putin invited for a social chat to the King David Hotel during his last visit.

            He may also be highly sophisticated and pragmatic, and having seen the outcome of Soviet anti-Semitism, may have come to a realization that Jewish support would represent an asset at many levels.

            Putin has ruthlessly suppressed violent anti-Semitism. He has gone out of his way to attend Jewish functions…

            …It is also astonishing that, despite his strategic involvement and alliance with the Syrians and Iranians, Putin has determinedly kept the channels to Israel open, making a point to personally visit Israel. In fact, in June 2012, Israel was the first country he visited after his election. He frequently speaks warmly about the Jewish state, expressing pride that it contains the largest diaspora of former Russian citizens. At the Western Wall, accompanied by Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, he donned a kippa, which undoubtedly made his Bolshevik predecessors turn in their graves. He also seemed quite indifferent to the rage this created among his Arab allies…

            Israel & Putin’s Russia – A tenuous relationship
            http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Candidly-speaking-Israel-and-Putins-Russia-A-tenuous-relationship-431747
            …………………..
            ~~ When he was in Israel, he was stunned by the baby-boom, Russian families becoming enthusiastic breeders. “Is there something in the water?” ~~

            • Caroline Glick is furious that Russia’s just rolling over the USA in the region.Those bases are permanent, surprise, surprise. She plays ingenuous for her American readers, but she hits hard.

              Israel and the Russian challenge
              …Israel’s ability to reach tactical understandings with Russia doesn’t mean Israel can trust that Russia’s operations in the area will not harm its national security in significant ways.

              For instance, the reports that Russia is transferring arms to Hezbollah are deeply worrying. For the past five years, according to reports in foreign media, the Air Force has repeatedly bombed shipments of Iranian weapons destined for Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

              Israel is not in a position to contemplate bombing Russian military shipments to Lebanon. It is also not in a position to challenge a Russian decision to allow Hezbollah to use advanced weapons like Yakhont anti-ship missiles against naval ships either from Lebanon or Syria.

              And there is no reason to believe that Russia won’t do so.
              Russia has been acting in alliance with Hezbollah, Assad and Iran since the 1980s. Putin’s reported willingness to cooperate with Israel in various areas does not mean that Russia is no longer Iran’s partner in supplying Hezbollah and facilitating its operations.

              The government and military have no options for dealing with Russia’s sudden emergence as a major power in our backyard. And there is nothing new in Israel’s helplessness.

              We’ve never had an option for reining in Moscow.
              But until Barack Obama came into office, Israel never had to worry about Russia.

  24. Weapons snatched from policemen after poisoning them in Nooristan (khaama, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/weapons-snatched-from-policemen-after-poisoning-them-in-nooristan-4499

    “A policeman has snatched weapons of two colleagues after poisoning them in a security post in eastern Nooristan province.

    Hafiz Abdul Qayoum, Governor of Nooristan province said the incident has taken place in Want Waigal District.

    It is yet unknown if the escaped policeman had links with militants or not but security agencies have been looking to find and arrest him.

    Meanwhile, a policeman was killed in a militant attack in Nooristan’s neighboring Kunar province last night.

    An official said a group of insurgents armed with heavy and light weapons launched attack on a security post in Ghazi Abad District.

    According to the official, the attack was rebuffed by security forces but one policeman embraced martyrdom in the gunbattle.

    Abdul Habib Sayedkhil, police chief of Kunar province said four Taliban were also killed in the clash.”

  25. Daesh commander including five killed in airstrike in Nangarhar (khaama, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/daesh-commander-including-five-killed-in-airstrike-in-nangarhar-4498

    “Five fanatics of the the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which is also known by its Arabic name Daesh have been killed in an airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province.

    Colonel Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, spokesperson for the police headquarters of Nangarhar says the terrorists were targeted in Deh Sarak area of Achin District around 03:00 PM on Tuesday.

    According to Col. Mashriqiwal, one of those killed was Sajid, a commander of the group.

    Another report from Nangarhar suggest that police siezed several bombs, ammunition and drugs during separate raids in Behsood District.

    A pestol was confiscated along with three home made bombs from Ajmal’s house in Buland Ghar area of the district.

    A huge quantity of hashish was also recovered from a vehicle in Samarkhil area.

    Driver of the vehicle has been arrested for interrogation.”

  26. German, Turkish police arrest dozens in raids on traffickers (france24, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20160120-german-turkish-police-arrest-dozens-raids-traffickers

    “German and Turkish police on Wednesday announced major coordinated raids against a criminal trafficking network that used unseaworthy ships to send more than 1,700 refugees to Europe.

    The operation was a major strike against international organised crime fuelling the record migrant wave to Europe, police chiefs from both countries told a press conference at Potsdam outside Berlin.

    In 17 pre-dawn raids, more than 490 German police officers and commandos arrested five suspects across six German states, said federal police chief Dieter Romann.

    Similar raids took place in Turkish cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Mersin, where 30 arrests were made, Turkish national police chief Mehmet Lekesiz told the joint press conference.

    The human traffickers allegedly bought three old and decrepit cargo ships in Turkey, loaded each with hundreds of paying migrants and sent the vessels on autopilot toward the Italian coast.

    Taking up to $6,000 (5,500 euros) from each of the more than 1,700 people, the traffickers acted “not out of an altruistic desire to aid escapes but simply to make money,” said Romann.

    The three dangerous voyages across the Mediterranean allegedly netted the traffickers an estimated $9.5 million, the police chiefs said.”

  27. Immigration not going to stop Germany’s demographic problem (DW, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/immigration-not-going-to-stop-germanys-demographic-problem/a-18993548

    “The German Statistics Office has released a report negating hopes that the refugee crisis might actually help the country’s demographic decline. The country would need around half a million immigrants every year.

    According to a report published by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) on Wednesday, the recent influx of refugees is not going to solve the dilemma caused by the country’s aging population. In a nation where a strong social benefits system depends on a young workforce paying into it, some had hoped immigration would help slow down the decline of tax income generated by a low birthrate among Germans.

    However, as the report suggested, these hopes may be dashed by the fact that the increased migrant population could only have short-term effects. Indeed, the demographic difference between the old and young in Germany is so vast that even the current unprecedented level of immigration cannot reverse the trend.

    Destatis wrote that in 2013 there were 15.1 million Germans over the age of 67. That number is set to skyrocket to 21.5 million by 2040, a 42 percent increase.

    Over the same timeframe, the amount of inhabitants between the ages of 20 and 66 is set to dwindle by almost a quarter, with 13 million fewer working-age Germans in the mix by 2040 when compared to 2013.

    Germany would need 470,000 immigrants, ready to join the pool of taxpayers, each year between now and then to offset the demographic decline, the report said. As the current number of refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East and North Africa is not likely to be sustained year after year, Germany cannot rely on immigrants alone to solve the riddle posed by its ageing citizens and low amount of births, the report continued.

    Destatis also warned that their statistics did not take into account other factors that can affect immigration and emigration such as natural disasters, wars, and other crises.”

  28. German Jewish groups fear rising anti-Semitism (thelocal, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160120/german-jewish-groups-fear-rising-anti-semitism

    “Jewish groups pushed back against government insistence that anti-Semitism is not growing in Germany at a gathering on Tuesday, saying that newly-arrived Muslim migrants and the traditional far-right both posed a threat to their safety.

    Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière told the Jewish community in Frankfurt that he was more worried about home-grown Muslim extremists than any arriving among refugees.

    He was countered by Salomon Korn, president of the Frankfurt Jewish community, who said that most of the new arrivals came from countries which did not enjoy an “englightened” version of Islam – unlike Turkey, where most Muslims previously living in Germany had their roots.

    Korn warned that many of the refugees had grown up in environments rife with anti-Semitism and a belief in Muslims’ mission to spread their religion.

    But Korn reserved his greatest concern for the native far-right in Germany. Many people who once belonged to the political mainstream were now drifting into the arms of political extremists, he said…”

    • They should fear the raise of Jew Hatred especially since most if not all of Europe is headed towards strongman rule, I pray that North America can escape from the action but am afraid that we won’t be able to. During prior wars the US found strongmen who believed in the Constitution and stepped down after the war but the left has done so much damage to the Constitution during the 20th Century that this may not happen during the current 100 year war.

        • Sadly that is true, we are at a point in history when Jew Hatred is once again politically correct and the smart Jews are leaving most European nations for their own safety. I think you stated that this is another culling of the herd.

  29. Even police can be idiots and incendiaries (thelocal, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160120/even-police-officers-can-be-idiots-and-incendiaries

    “Police unions are doing more harm than good with repeated panic-laden interventions in the refugee debate, argues the head of the Federation of German Detectives.

    Of course it doesn’t immediately make you a far-right agitator or a Nazi to criticize the asylum policy of the federal government or the European Union. But, as so often, it’s not about whether you criticize, but how you do it.

    Current refugee numbers are making an ever-larger part of the German population utterly afraid. This fear is mostly vague and only rarely really justified – but we should not and must not ignore these concerns.

    We have to confront these fears realistically and in terms of their content. To form your own opinion, you need transparent and neutral information. This is where the various media outlets play a decisive role.

    But some are doing less and less to live up to this role, reporting in a one-sided, skewed way. It’s becoming difficult for consumers to extract the real informational content. At the same time, untruths are being purposefully spread by the far-right, which spread quickly thanks to social media.

    It’s also unhelpful when police union representatives adopt the mantle of “speaking the truth”, starting political fires by “finally saying out loud what the lying press is keeping from us.”

    Asylum seekers commit crimes too? What a surprise. This phenomenon is called ubiquity, and it happens in the best families. There are fights between different groups? How astonishing!

    If you were to squeeze 1,500 Franconians and 1,500 Upper Bavarians – i.e., two foreign cultures – into an empty hardware store without any kind of privacy and consign them to doing nothing for weeks, then within a very short time there would be tensions and fisticuffs.

    There are some cases of sexual assaults? How surprising, if you pen up 80 women and girls together with 2,500 mostly young men in very tight quarters. That makes every trip to the shower a run through the gauntlet.

    These questions are straight from the first semester of criminology: When does a person become a criminal? What are the causes of deviant behaviour? Anyone who works in the police should know the answers to these questions.

    So are some of these self-appointed police representatives really speaking the truth, or are they speaking ignorance? Or – even worse – speaking out of premeditated malice, because they themselves have already formed a judgement on the matter?

    At the moment, there is an increase in crimes, especially of property crimes committed by asylum seekers, which is serious and which can’t be rationalized away.

    But even here we must always deal with the individual cases. Most of the perpetrators are people from north and west Africa, from the Caucasus and the Balkans.

    These people have not really fled from war, nor are they persecuted in any way. They’ve used the opportunity now to travel into Germany and commit crimes.

    It’s the job of detectives to investigate these perpetrators and to deliver the appropriate punishment with the help of the justice system. For that, we need sufficient personnel and material resources.

    There are already enough blithering idiots who claim to be speaking the truth but are in fact pouring oil on the fire of the far right and giving a leg-up to the Alternative for Germany (AfD), National Democratic Party (NPD), Pegida and so on – because they haven’t thought things through.

    They aren’t helping us make a single inch of progress as a society. They aren’t part of the solution, but part of the problem…”

  30. 100s of refugees suing govt over asylum backlog chaos (thelocal, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160120/200-asylum-seekers-sue-govt-over-slow-work

    “More than 200 people are suing the German government in North Rhine-Westphalia for taking too long to process their asylum applications, a survey by a newspaper showed on Wednesday.

    Many of the plaintiffs suing the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in courts in the western state have been waiting more than a year for a decision on their case, the Rheinische Post (RP) reported.

    Journalists at the RP contacted all seven administrative courts in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and found that many of the cases alleged “inactivity” by the authority.

    The BAMF has been struggling with a backlog of hundreds of thousands of cases since before the massive increase in refugee arrivals in the second half of 2015 – with its poor performance forcing its boss to step down last September.

    In summer 2015, the number of un-processed cases at the BAMF already stood at 250,000. That number has since grown to 360,000.

    Failings at the BAMF have produced unexpected understanding for the asylum seekers’ legal cases among the authorities, with NRW justice minister Thomas Kutschaty telling the RP that “uncertainty about when an asylum application will finally be decided drives many people to despair.”

    “It can’t be the case that asylum seekers are forced to take legal action against the state after crossing the border, so that it finally makes a decision about their application,” the Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician said.

    Politicians have been arguing for months about how to speed up the asylum process.

    Many suggest faster formalities both for those coming from war-torn countries like Syria, who are very likely to be granted asylum, and those from places declared “safe countries of origin” by the German government, such as the western Balkans, who are almost certain not to be accepted.

    Almost all of the legal cases identified by the RP had been launched by people whose national origin means they have a very good chance of being granted asylum.

    Court insiders told the newspaper that simply opening a court case can be enough to push the BAMF to deal with their case more quickly, as the authority is keen to avoid embarrassing legal defeats in public.”

  31. ‘Limit refugee numbers or lose public support’: President (thelocal, Jan 20, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160120/call-to-limit-refugee-numbers-to-keep-public-support

    “Germany’s president said Wednesday it is “morally and politically necessary” to limit Europe’s refugee influx, warning that failing to do so meant ceding ground to populists and extremists.

    “Limits are not unethical: they help to maintain acceptance within society,” Joachim Gauck told the world’s political and economic elite gathering at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

    “Without acceptance, a society is not open and not willing to take in refugees,” said Gauck, noting that this was why EU leaders are battling to stem the continent’s biggest migrant crisis since the Second World War.

    “A limitation strategy can be both morally and politically necessary to preserve the state’s ability to function,” said the former Protestant pastor.

    “It may also be necessary in order to ensure that refugees receive all the assistance they require once they have arrived.”

    Debate is raging in Germany over the country’s ability to cope with a record 1.1 million asylum seekers who arrived in 2015.

    It was stoked on Wednesday as neighbouring Austria announced that it would introduce a limit on the number of asylum seekers accepted in 2016 of 37,500 – less than half the number for 2015.

    Gauck stressed however that for Germany, the drastic action of slamming the door shut to refugees – as sought by populists and the far-right – was not an option.

    An isolation strategy is different from setting limits, he said, urging supporters of democracy to take ownership of the debate rather than give ground to the extremists.

    “If democrats are unwilling to talk about limits, then they will be leaving the field to populists and xenophobes,” he added.

    In Germany, he said, the political debate is “very clear that we should expect some form of control and limits to kick in this year”.

    Like Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel has rebuffed calls to close the German borders.

    Instead, she has pledged a “tangible reduction” of arrivals in coming months and is counting on a raft of measures at the national and EU level to deliver on that promise.

    These include reinforcing controls at the EU’s external borders and getting other members of the bloc to take a bigger share of refugees.

    Berlin is also tightening its scrutiny of asylum seekers by reintroducing individual interviews for all applicants, including Syrians, as well as ramping up the deportation process for those who have failed to win asylum.

    Cases of deportations doubled in 2015 from a year ago, the interior ministry told AFP, with 21,000 forcibly removed from Germany last year.

    After having already put several Balkan states on a list of “safe countries of origin”, whose citizens are unlikely to gain refugee status. Berlin is now looking to add to the list several North African countries, like Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.”

    • Netherlands: After anti-refugee riot hits Heesch, residents still adamant ‘enough is enough’

      Around 50 inhabitants from the Dutch town of Heesch met the town’s mayor Marieke Moorman on Tuesday evening to express their concerns over the local authorities plan to host 500 asylum seekers in the town.

      Speaking with journalists, Moorman said that she recognised people were ‘concerned’ following the wave of alleged sexual attacks which took place in the German city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve and “they are frightened that it would happen here.”

      Many of Heesch’s inhabitants who attended the meeting with Mayor Moorman stated that 500 refugees over a 10 year period was “too much” for the small town. One protester commented that “People who are coming here are just people who want to prove their luck in Europe.”

      On Monday evening a protest of more than 1,000 people against the planned creation of an asylum seeker centre in the town turned violent. Fireworks were fired at the city council, which was hosting a meeting on the issue. A dead pig was reportedly discovered hanging in a tree in front of the site of the proposed refugee centre, with residents also purportedly dumping sand on the mayor’s driveway earlier in the week.

  36. Norway sends Syrian refugees back to Russia

    The Norwegian authorities have begun sending the first of around 5,500 mainly Syrian refugees who’ve been housed in a transit camp in the north of the country, back to the Russian border they crossed last autumn.

    Dozens of asylum seekers are resisting and have left the camp, around 30 others staged a brief hunger strike in protest.

  38. Wa Po- Russian airstrikes are working in Syria — enough to put peace talks in doubt

    BEIRUT — Russia’s military intervention in Syria is finally generating gains on the ground for Syrian government forces, tilting the battlefield in favor of President Bashar al-Assad to such an extent that the Obama administration’s quest for a negotiated settlement to the war suddenly looks a lot less likely to succeed.

    The gains are small-scale, hard-won and in terms of territory overall don’t add up to much, in keeping with the incremental nature of war.

    But after 3½ months of relentless airstrikes that have mostly targeted the Western-backed opposition to Assad’s rule, they have proved sufficient to push beyond doubt any likelihood that Assad will be removed from power by the nearly five-year-old revolt against his rule. The gains on the ground are also calling into question whether there can be meaningful negotiations to end a conflict Assad and his allies now seem convinced they can win.

    “The situation on the ground in Syria is definitely not conducive to negotiations right now,” said Lina Khatib of the Paris-based Arab Reform Initiative think tank.

    Peace talks scheduled to start in Geneva next week are already in doubt because of disputes between Russia and the United States, their chief sponsors, over who should be invited.

    Russia and the Syrian government are objecting to a U.S.-backed list of opposition delegates drawn up in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh last month that includes representatives of some of the main rebel groups, saying that they won’t negotiate with people they term “terrorists.” Russia is pushing instead for the inclusion of a group of government-approved opposition figures who have remained loyal to Assad and also of Syria’s Kurds, who are fighting a somewhat different war on their own behalf in northeastern Syria.

    […]If the talks don’t take place anytime soon, it will be a serious setback for a key goal of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. With the Iran nuclear deal now in the implementation phase, putting an end to the bloodshed in Syria has emerged as one of the Obama administration’s top priorities.

    U.S. officials say they recognize that other foreign policy goals, including the defeat of the Islamic State and halting the flow of refugees from Syria, cannot be fulfilled without ending the war,

    […]To that extent, the airstrikes have worked. The supply of the missiles has since slowed down, rebel fighters say, as the intensity of the airstrikes has steadily increased. The targeting by Russian warplanes of supply lines from Turkey has impeded access to weapons as well as food and humanitarian supplies, according to the rebels.[…]

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-airstrikes-are-working-in-syria–enough-to-put-peace-talks-in-doubt/2016/01/19/64127084-beb2-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html

    • US airstrike destroys second site of ISIS cash reserves

      Washington, Jan 20 (PTI) US warplanes have reportedly destroyed a large Islamic State bank in Iraq’s Mosul city housing an estimated USD 45 million, the second time in over a week that such a facility of the terror group has been bombed.

      American warplanes destroyed the Islamic State bank in Mosul late last night, a senior US defence official told Fox News.

      This was the second such instance in over a week that US military has targeted an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) finance centre holding significant cash reserves.

      The US dropped two 2,000-pound (900-kilogramme) bombs on January 10 in central Mosul destroying the building containing huge amounts of cash. The airstrike had destroyed the ISIS building reportedly housing an estimated USD 90 million.

      The building targeted in yesterday’s strike housed an estimated USD 45 million in dollars and Iraqi dinars, according to officials.

      Reports indicated the collective strikes on the two sites are “crushing” ISIS, another senior defence official was quoted as saying.

      It has been reported that ISIS salaries to its fighters and civil servants have been significantly reduced as a result of the strikes.

      The group’s Bayt al-Mal, the Treasury Ministry, has decided to cut the salaries of its fighters in half due to the “exceptional circumstances” ISIS has been witnessing, The Jerusalem Post said, citing new documents released last month.

      The terror group reportedly did not explain exactly what those “exceptional circumstances” were.

      Around 2,000 ISIS fighters occupy the 1.5-million Sunni-majority city of Mosul,according to estimates from the Iraqi military. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi said recently he wants Mosul retaken by the end of 2016 and ISIS destroyed.

      In the past weeks, the US-led air campaign has increased its airstrikes in and around Mosul, the largest ISIS stronghold in Iraq.

      http://www.ptinews.com/news/6996558_US-airstrike-destroys-second-site-of-ISIS-cash-reserves-

    • Syria: IS fighters’ departure allows families to return to Damascus’ Qadam

      Hundreds of Syrian families began to return home after militants from the Islamic State were evacuated from the Damascus suburb of Qadam, Wednesday. The IS fighters left the suburb after a truce deal was brokered with the Syrian government.

    • Switzerland: Terrorist organisations can’t be included in Syria deal, says Lavrov

      We have paid a special attention to the Syrian crisis and implementation of the Minsk agreements to ending Ukraine crisis. First, regarding Syria we have made a conclusion that Resolution 2254 adopted by the UN Security Council in December remains the main basis for moving further. According to this resolution, we have discussed practical steps which should be carried out in order to provide conditions for ceasefire. Such terrorist organisations as ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra cannot be included into any ceasefire agreements. They remain our enemies. And we all will continue to fight against them, it is war of extermination. Secondly, we have confirmed the readiness to solve humanitarian problems in Syria. We have told how the Russian Air Force takes into account all programmes, which are being carried out by the UN humanitarian institutions alongside International Committee of the Red Cross and other non-governmental organisations, while planning their operations. We have confirmed that we will be ready to coordinate our actions in this direction more intensively with the US-led coalition. But what is most important is coordination of the efforts in counter-terrorist actions.”

      Sergei Lavrov : “We hope that political process will start in the nearest future, during January. Several dates have been mentioned but the final decision will be made by the UN General-Secretary under the recommendation of his special envoy Staffan de Mistura. He is in contact with all Syrian parties including the Syrian government as well as different opposition groups both inside and outside the country. And he is authorised by the UN to send out the invitations to the Syrian parties in these negotiations. We hope that it will be done in the nearest future and the negotiation process will begin this month.”

    • US, France condemn Russia’s role in Syria

      The US and French defence ministers on Wednesday condemned Moscow’s role in the Syria conflict, saying Russian jets should stop targeting the opposition forces fighting the Islamic State group.

      “The Russians are on the wrong track strategically and also in some cases tactically,” said US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter after a meeting in Paris of seven defence ministers in the coalition fighting IS.

      “We don’t have a basis for broader cooperation (with Russia),” Carter said.

      His French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian said, for his part: “We hope that Russia will concentrate its efforts against Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS) and stop bombing the groups of the uprising (against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) who themselves are fighting Daesh.”

      At the same time on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was ready to work more closely with the US-led coalition to help facilitate aid deliveries inside Syria.

      Speaking after talks with his US counterpart John Kerry in Zurich, Switzerland, he said: “We spoke about how the Russian air force, when planning its actions, takes into account the programmes that the UN humanitarian organisations, the Red Cross and other NGOs carry out.

      “We said that we will be ready to more closely coordinate our actions with the American coalition in this direction.”

      He also said UN-brokered Syria peace talks would begin “in the next few days” in Geneva.

      Lavrov rejected suggestions that the negotiations, tentatively set for January 25, might be delayed until February amid disagreements over who will represent the Syrian opposition.

      “We are sure that in the next few days, in January, these talks should begin,” he told reporters.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3408688/US-France-condemn-Russias-role-Syria.html

    • Paris stresses Saudi peace moves

      RIYADH: The Saudi leadership’s peace initiatives were praised by Laurent Fabius, French minister of foreign affairs and international development, at a joint press conference with Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign minister, on Tuesday.

      Fabius said he had met with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed strengthening economic ties, anti-terror initiatives, Middle East conflicts and Iran’s nuclear program.

      Fabius said there was also a focus on regional problems, including fighting terrorism and ensuring the return of peace and stability in the Middle East. Latest developments in Libya, Palestine, Yemen, Syria and Iran figured high in the talks. He said Libya needs a national government for stability and efforts should be made to resolve the longstanding Palestine-Israeli conflict.

      On Syria, he said people are starving and the situation has made millions flee in search of safer places. “A political solution should be reached through negotiations, with issues over delegations resolved,” he added.

      Fabius said France supports all nuclear non-proliferation efforts. He said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected in Paris for talks.

      Earlier in his introductory remarks, Al-Jubeir said Fabius was also briefed on the situation in Yemen and the role of the joint military alliance to combat terror.

      He said the two parties reviewed the progress made by the Saudi-French Joint Economic Commission jointly headed by the deputy crown prince, and discussed plans for the upcoming meeting in March.

      Regarding the Syrian issue, he said the Syrian Supreme Committee appointed at the Riyadh Conference last year must determine the representatives for the talks.

      http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/867831

    • US ‘takes control’ of Rmeilan airfield in Syria

      Under a deal with Kurdish group, activists say US will use airfield to support fighters against ISIL in northern Syria.

      US troops have taken control of Rmeilan airfield in Syria’s northern province of Hasakah to support Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told Al Jazeera.

      The airfield near the city of Rmeilan, which will become the first US-controlled airbase in Syria, was previously controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

      The airfield is close to Syria’s borders with Iraq and Turkey.

      “Under a deal with the YPG, the US was given control of the airport. The purpose of this deal is to back up the SDF, by providing weapons and an airbase for US warplanes,” Taj Kordsh, a media activist from the SDF told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

      “This airport was previously controlled by the YPG for over two years now. This strategic airport is close to several oil bases – one of the biggest in this area.

      “Rmeilan airport was previously used for agricultural purposes by the Syrian government,” he said.

      Previous reports published by the Syrian Local Coordination Committees say that the US has been preparing and expanding Rmeilan airport for a while now.

      When asked by Al Jazeera, a US CENTCOM media operations officer did not confirm or deny the reports.

      The US has previously supplied the SDF with weapons. It also backs the group with its air strikes in their fight against (ISIL) in northern Syria.

      The SDF was founded in Syria’s mainly Kurdish northeastern region in October 2015, and is made up of at least 15 armed factions – mostly fighters from the YPG and the Free Syrian Army.

      The fighters include Christians, Arabs and about 500 foreign fighters, Kordsh said, adding that some groups in Aleppo and Idlib pledged allegiance to the SDF last month.

      The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor also reported on Tuesday that the US had taken control of the airbase.

      Sourcing activists, the Observatory said the airfield is still being prepared for use by the US.

      http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/takes-control-rmeilan-airfield-syria-160119141331681.html

    • Syria peace talks on point of collapse over Kurds

      Turkey “cannot accept” Russian demand that Syrian Kurds join opposition group at talks scheduled for next week

      Proposed Syrian peace talks set for next week in Geneva are likely to be cancelled over a row about whether Kurdish groups will be represented among rebel ranks.

      Russia is demanding that the PYD, the political arm of the main Kurdish militia fighting in the north-east of the country, be invited to the talks as part of the rebel delegation.

      However, that is being adamantly opposed by the opposition and the Turks who say their presence is a “red line”.

      “The PYD is not real opposition,” Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish prime minister, said in an interview. He said it would be a “mistake” for the international community to insist they sit with rebels in the talks.

      “Russia is insisting. They can be there on the regime side, but on the opposition side – no.”

      The planned talks, the third set of Geneva negotiations since the start of the five-year-long conflict in Syria, were announced with much fanfare after the Russians confirmed it had joined the war on the regime’s side in October.

      Following behind-the-scenes discussions between the international backers of the main participants, a date was set for next Monday, January 25. A wide cross-section of both political and armed opposition met last month in Riyadh to choose representatives who will meet the regime.

      However, the Kurdish faction was not represented. The PYD’s military wing has fought a series of battles within the conflict against both mainstream and jihadist rebel groups, but also say they are also opposed to the Assad regime.

      Their secular, Left-wing politics and quest for greater self-determination puts them at odds ideologically with both the regime and “moderate opposition”, who are Syrian or Arab nationalist, and Islamists.

      The rebels and their backers say that the PYD have “co-ordinated with” the regime on numerous occasions – and the regime maintains a small but unthreatened presence in areas now effectively under autonomous control of the Kurds in the north-east of the country.

      The row is the most visible part of a series of conflicts that lead diplomats and analysts to say they believe the talks are unlikely to go ahead. The other main sticking point is the fierce war of words that has erupted between Iran, the regime’s key backer, and Saudi Arabia, which supports the rebels.

      No invitations have yet been issued, and the United Nations itself, which is supposed to oversee them, said it was still waiting to find out who would take part.

      “At this stage, the UN will proceed with issuing invitations when the countries spearheading the international Syrian Support Group process come to an understanding on who among the opposition should be invited,” a spokesman said.

      Saudi officials also believe that Russia is deliberately trying to stall the talks, as Assad regime troops are currently making progress on the ground thanks largely to its air strikes. Although supposedly aimed at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, most have targeted non-Isil rebel groups.

      Under Russian air cover, regime troops have retaken rebel-held areas in Latakia and Aleppo provinces in the north and north-west, a key air base near Damascus, and towns in the south near the Jordanian border.

      The longer the peace talks are delayed, the stronger the regime’s negotiating position.

      Turkey has strongly backed the rebels, but has an even stronger interest in preventing the Kurds extending their sway on the northern border of Syria. Ankara is fighting a renewed insurgency on the other side of the border against the Kurdish PKK guerrilla organisation, which is formally proscribed as a terrorist group by the United States and Britain.

      The PYD is seen as not only allied to but a structural arm of the PKK. “The PYD is an extension of the PKK,” Mr Davutoglu said. “They are collaborating with the terrorist groups inside Turkey.”

      Michael Stephens, who is monitoring the “peace process” for the Royal United Services Institute, said that not being at the talks was to an extent beneficial for the Kurds too, who were creating “facts on the ground” as they carve out autonomous territory between the regime, Isil and non-Isil rebels.

      He also said that by taking a hardline position Saudi Arabia and Turkey were both standing in the way of their allies in the West, who were committed to supporting both the rebels against the regime and the Kurds against Isil.

      “They have Russian political backing and American political backing,” he said. “They are in a strong position.”

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/12108971/Syria-peace-talks-on-point-of-collapse-over-Kurds.html

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

      NYT – Russian Strikes in Syria Have Stabilized Assad, Top U.S. General Says

      BRUSSELS — Russia’s campaign of airstrikes against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has stabilized Mr. Assad’s government, America’s top general said Wednesday. That has probably given Mr. Assad a stronger hand to play next week, when negotiations toward a political solution to the conflict will begin in Geneva, American officials said.

      Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Russia’s entry into the crowded battlefield had not changed how the American military was proceeding in Syria. He said the American-led coalition battling the Islamic State there and in Iraq had made significant gains, retaking an important dam on the Euphrates River and a large stretch of territory north of Raqqa, Syria, where the militant group has its stronghold.

      The campaign to isolate Raqqa from other Islamic State-controlled territory — and in particular, from the Iraqi city of Mosul, whose fall to the militants in 2014 seized international attention — is well underway, General Dunford said. The main highway between Raqqa and Mosul has been cut, he said, and coalition troops are working to block smaller roads that link the two cities. That will impede supplies from reaching Islamic State fighters in Mosul, the objective of an expected Iraqi offensive.

      While “there’s still freedom of movement between Mosul and Raqqa, current operations are designed to cut them,” General Dunford told reporters traveling with him to a meeting of the chiefs of staff of the militaries of NATO countries.

      But the general also tacitly acknowledged that reaching a political solution in Syria may be an uphill battle because of Russia’s strengthening of the Assad government.

      “It hasn’t changed the game for us,” the general said, adding that the Syrian government was “in a worse place before, and the regime is in a better place now.”

      Because of the Russian airstrikes, General Dunford said, Mr. Assad has “regained some small amounts of ground” and has managed to consolidate control in some areas where his forces had previously been under siege from opposition groups, including some backed by the United States.

      The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that so far, Russian airstrikes had killed 893 Islamic State fighters, but that they had also killed more than 1,000 civilians.

      The Geneva talks are supposed to include the Assad government and a number of Syrian opposition groups, though there is no agreement yet on who exactly will be at the table. Whatever the lineup, though, Mr. Assad’s position has improved, administration officials and Middle East analysts say. “He may feel emboldened,” an American diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the diplomat was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

      The Obama administration’s policy in Syria is now focused not on Mr. Assad but on the Islamic State, including its means of support. Col. Steve Warren, the United States military’s spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters in a videoconference on Wednesday that nine American airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in recent months had destroyed tens of millions of dollars in cash that the Islamic State had collected.

      The Pentagon released videos of some of the strikes, including one in which a cloud of bank notes appeared to be fluttering through the air after a strike on a building in Mosul, Iraq, this month. Colonel Warren said the militants “operate on cash; there’s no credit,” and added, “Striking these cash collection points hurts this enemy.”

      General Dunford said Wednesday that it remained American policy to conduct military operations in Syria separately from Russia. He said that he had spoken twice in recent months with his Russian counterpart, Valery Gerasimov, on a “wide range of issues,” but he added that “we are not doing anything now that is characterized as coordinating” in Syria.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/world/middleeast/russia-syria-joint-chiefs-chairman.html
      ===================================================

      Islamic state video :

  39. Death threats, rampant sexism and cheating: German woman reveals what it is really like working in a registration centre for migrants

    The unidentified woman claimed men ignored her and made death threats

    Others returned several times with different identification papers, she said

    She told local media she was now preparing to quit her job in Hamburg

    The woman also said she no longer wore tight clothes due to cat calls

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3408331/Female-asylum-seeker-helper-working-Hamburg-registration-centre-tells-cheating-death-threats-sexism-migrants.html

  42. Blacks and the Confederacy

    image: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0214/wwilliams.jpg
    Walter Williams
    By Walter Williams

    Published Jan. 20, 2016

    Read more at http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams012016.php3#SUaYS7SzoEvKX3Db.99

    Last July, Anthony Hervey, an outspoken black advocate for the Confederate flag, was killed in a car crash. Arlene Barnum, a surviving passenger in the vehicle, told authorities and the media that they had been forced off the road by a carload of “angry young black men” after Hervey, while wearing his Confederate kepi, stopped at a convenience store en route to his home in Oxford, Mississippi. His death was in no small part caused by the gross level of ignorance, organized deceit and anger about the War of 1861. Much of the ignorance stems from the fact that most Americans believe the war was initiated to free slaves, when in truth, freeing slaves was little more than an afterthought. I want to lay out a few quotations and ask what you make of them.

    During the “Civil War,” ex-slave Frederick Douglass observed, “There are at the present moment many colored men in the Confederate army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops, and do all that soldiers may to destroy the Federal Government and build up that of the traitors and rebels” (Douglass’ Monthly, September 1861).

    “For more than two years, negroes had been extensively employed in belligerent operations by the Confederacy. They had been embodied and drilled as Rebel soldiers, and had paraded with White troops at a time when this would not have been tolerated in the armies of the Union.” (Horace Greeley, in his book, “The American Conflict”).

    Read more at http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams012016.php3#SUaYS7SzoEvKX3Db.99

  43. DAILY MAIL – ‘It reminds you of 1930s Germany’: Asylum seekers are forced to live behind red doors in ‘apartheid’ move compared to the yellow stars the Nazis gave to the Jews

    Asylum seekers in Government-funded accommodation in Middlesbrough must live in houses with red doors

    They claim they are marked out leaving them at risk of racist abuse
    Locals compare the policy to yellow stars for Jews in Nazi Germany
    One asylum seeker said: ‘Change the colour – anything but red’
    Contractor G4S denies deliberately highlighting refugees’ houses but has agreed to repaint the doors

    […]Andy McDonald, Middlesbrough’s Labour MP, added the red doors were ‘a way of marking people out that is reprehensible’.

    The Home Office has launched an urgent review into the issue and is due to issue a report within a few weeks.

    The properties are owned by Jomast, a subcontractor for G4S owned by Stuart Monk, who is paid millions of pounds a year to provide accommodation for thousands of asylum seekers. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Mr Monk is worth an estimated £175million.

    Asylum claimants at more than a dozen Middlesbrough addresses said that Jomast’s red doors were an easy target for racists – and described incidents including the smearing of dog excrement against doors, and eggs and stones being thrown at windows.

    A National Front symbol was scratched into the front door of one house another and at another, women cowered inside as thugs hurled racist jibes, calling them ‘dirty women’ and shouting, ‘Get out of our country.’

    ‘They put us behind red doors. When people see them, everyone knows it means asylum seekers. It’s like saying we’re not the same as you,’ one man told The Times.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3407885/Asylum-seekers-forced-live-houses-red-doors.html

  44. Erdogan warns Turkey academics they will pay price over petition

    Ankara (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on academics who criticised his policies in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, warning they would pay a price after falling into a “pit of treachery”.

    Prosecutors have launched a major investigation against more than 1,200 Turkish academics who signed a petition denouncing the military operations against Kurdish rebels in the southeast.

    At least 18 were then detained as part of the probe. The European Union and United States denounced the investigation in unusually strong statements.

    Speaking in one of his regular and typically raucous meetings to supportive local Turkish politicians at his presidential palace, Erdogan said the academics had shown “real and ugly faces” after their “masks fell off”.

    “They spit out their hatred of our nation’s values and history on every occasion and the petition has made this clearer,” said Erdogan.

    – ‘These days are over’ –

    Erdogan implied that the academics would face both criminal consequences and the loss of their posts.

    “So you think you will try to disrupt the unity of these nation, and continue to have a comfortable life with the help of the salary that you receive from the state and pay no price?” he said.

    “Those days are over.”

    Erdogan said the academics will continue to thrash around “in this pit of treachery they fell in”.

    “In a state of law like Turkey, so-called academics who target the unity of our nation have no privilege to commit crimes,” he said. “They don’t have immunity.”

    Referring to the secular elite who ruled Turkey for many of the years before his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, Erdogan said:

    “Thrash about as long as you want: The old Turkey, where an entire country and nation were being run by a handful of so-called intellectuals… no longer exists.”

    All of those detained last week have now been released but they still face investigation and possible trial.

    On Wednesday, three academics working for Sakarya University east of Istanbul who had signed the petition were arrested on the order of prosecutors, Turkish media reports said. Two were later released after questioning.

    In an unusually tough statement days ahead of a visit to Turkey by US Vice President Joe Biden, the US embassy warned the investigation risked having a “chilling effect” on political discourse in Turkey.

    The Turkish army is pressing on with a relentless crackdown in the southeast which the government says is aimed at flushing out Kurdish militants but activists say has claimed dozens of civilian lives.

    – ‘Showed his ugly face’ –

    Erdogan also escalated a row with the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu who last week had called the Turkish strongman a “tinpot dictator”.

    “I shouldn’t even bother respond to him,” fumed Erdogan, then adding: “No words are enough to describe what kind of a person he is.”

    But Erdogan then went on to vent his opinion of his rival: “He is so shameless: If you spit on his face, he thinks it’s raining… None of us know if he is sane.”

    Kilicdaroglu on Tuesday had refused to go back on the comments, quipping that what had annoyed Erdogan was the “tinpot” remark rather than the “dictator”.

    “My God, give me some patience. He showed his ugly face one more time,” seethed Erdogan.

    Prosecutors have now opened an investigation against Kilicdaroglu for insulting the president, while Erdogan is suing him for damages of 100,000 Turkish lira ($33,000) in two separate cases over the original remarks and the new comments Tuesday.

    “The amount of compensation I receive (from him) is exponentially increasing,” said Erdogan.

    http://news.yahoo.com/erdogan-warns-turkey-academics-pay-price-over-petition-165018143.html

    ==================================================
    Turkish teacher to serve year in prison for insulting President Erdogan

    A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced a female teacher to almost a year in prison for making a rude gesture at President Tayyip Erdogan at a political rally in 2014, local media reports said on Wednesday.

    Insulting public officials is a crime in Turkey, and Erdogan, the country’s most popular but most divisive politician, is seen by his critics as intolerant of dissent and quick to take legal action over perceived slurs.

    After a rally in the Aegean city of Izmir in 2014 when he was prime minister, Erdogan lashed out at the female teacher and said she made a gesture at him that typified the rudeness of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

    “Today as I was arriving (there was) a woman on a balcony,” he said. “She made such an ugly gesture with her hand. There you go, that is the CHP. I mean the country’s prime minister is passing by and you make that gesture with your hand and arm.”

    The teacher, who pleaded not guilty at the hearing, will serve 11 months and 20 days in jail, the Dogan news agency said.

    http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3131298-turkish-teacher-to-serve-year-in-prison-for-insulting-president-erdogan/

  45. Macedonia closes border with Greece to migrants: police

    Skopje (AFP) – Macedonia has closed its border with Greece to migrants, police in Skopje said Wednesday, blocking the path of hundreds trying to reach northern Europe.

    “The border is closed,” a senior Macedonian police official told AFP, while a police spokesman in northern Greece said it had been closed since Tuesday evening, leaving about 600 migrants stranded at the frontier.

    The Skopje police official said the move stemmed from problems with Slovenian trains that had disrupted the flow of migrants, but the Slovenian rail company Slovenske Zeleznice (SZ) insisted they were running as normal.

    While the SZ website reported Wednesday that technical problems had disrupted traffic at the crossing with Croatia and trains were being replaced temporarily with buses, a SZ spokesman told Slovenian news agency STA that migrants “have been travelling undisturbed so far”.

    Serbia meanwhile said that from Wednesday, it would only allow migrants to pass through the country if they were specifically seeking asylum in Austria or Germany.

    http://news.yahoo.com/macedonia-closes-border-greece-migrants-police-165330795.html

      • I don’t think so. He will support Merkel, he will try to destroy nation-states in Europe, he is opposed to Orban and Kaczynski. What he is doing is to use refugees as a means to destroy nations and to make one Europe under the German leadership.
        You have been so involved in promoting the principles of open society and supporting democratic change in Eastern Europe. Why is there so much opposition and resentment toward refugees there?

        Soros: Because the principles of an open society don’t have strong roots in that part of the world. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is promoting the principles of Hungarian and Christian identity. Combining national identity with religion is a powerful mix. And Orbán is not alone. The leader of the newly elected ruling party in Poland, Jaros?aw Kaczy?ski, is taking a similar approach.
        ………….
        We advocate a common European asylum policy that would reassert control over the European rather than national borders and allow asylum seekers to reach Europe in a safe, orderly way, and at a pace that reflects the EU’s capacity to absorb them. Orbán advocates using the national borders to keep out migrants.

        • That is what he has been working for all along, the EU was one of the weapons to destroy the nation state in Europe. The further the government is distanced from the people the less power and influence the people have. That is why the US Constitution was set up to limit the power of the Central government and place most of the power where the people would have a major say in how it was used. By placing another layer of government on top of the existing ones you place more distance from the people and then the EU limited the power of the elected officials and placed massive amounts of it in the hands of the Bureaucrats who are for all practical purposes unfireable. By removing the top layer power is shifted down and the existing nation states are strengthened. The fact that George Soros is upset over the idea of the EU falling apart says that he thinks this will be good for Europe and bad for the Socialist goal of a socialist dictatorship running the world.