Reader’s links for Jan. 23 – 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

63 Replies to “Reader’s links for Jan. 23 – 2016”

  1. Germany: Scuffles break out as protesters disrupt AfD rally in Potsdam

    Scuffles broke out between police and a group of protesters who were attempting to disrupt an Alternative for Germany (AfD) rally in Potsdam, Friday.

  2. Syria: International journalists visit liberated town of Salma

    A group of international journalists got the chance to visit the recently liberated town of Salma in the Latakia Province, Friday, after government forces recaptured the strategic location from the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front earlier in January.

  3. A F P – Five years after Mubarak revolt, Egypt uprising crushed

    Egypt marks on Monday the anniversary of the January 25, 2011 uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, but activists say that a repressive government crackdown targeting the opposition is only increasing.

  4. Rebel Media – Montreal Mayor reacts to pipeline supporters with anti-Christian smear
    Brian Lilley reports, after Montreal area mayors refused to allow the Energy East pipeline to run through the region, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre smeared his critics, saying they were anti-science types that believe the Flinstones was a documentary but he’ll take welfare payments the Canadian oil from the West brings


  5. GERMANY – STUTTGART Jan 21st 2016 –

    Vaclav Klaus, Staatspräsident a.D. der Tschechischen Republik, referierte am 21.1.16 in der Liederhalle in Stuttgart zum Thema:
    “Die heutige Migrationswelle und die europäische Unverantwortlichkeit”.
    Veranstalter war die Partei “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD).

    ( 26 min 41 )

  6. AUSTRIA :

    Sexattacke bei Kinderbecken in Linzer Hallenbad

    Im Wiener Theresienbad wurde ein zehnjähriger Bub von einem Iraker missbraucht, im Salzburger Paracelsusbad klagen Frauen über Belästigungen, im Florian- Berndl- Bad im niederösterreichischen Korneuburg gibt es Hausverbot für Asylwerber – nun kam es im Linzer Parkbad zu Sexattacken gegen Kinder beim Planschbecken im Hallenbad.

    Mit ihrer zehnjährigen Tochter und ihren beiden Söhnen im Alter von drei und sechs Jahren hatte die 36- jährige Sandra F. das Linzer Parkbad besucht. “Mir sind im Hallenbad gleich sechs Ausländer im Alter von etwa 30 bis 40 Jahren aufgefallen. Zwei sind am Rand des Kinderbeckens gesessen – einer von ihnen hat sich dann dauernd an meinen Jüngsten herangemacht, hat dabei eine Hand in der Hose gehabt”, berichtet die entsetzte Mutter, die eindeutig sah, wie der südländische Typ sexuelle Handlungen an sich vornahm.

    Sie holte sofort ihren Buben aus dem Wasser. Der Mann war inzwischen auch dem Bademeister aufgefallen, er verwies den Unhold aus dem Bad. “Wir haben unseren Angestellten sofort die Anweisung gegeben, nun noch genauer auf solche Vorkommnisse zu achten”, bestätigt Bäderbereichsleiter Thomas Lettner von der Linz AG den Vorfall.

    http://www.krone.at/Oesterreich/Sexattacke_bei_Kinderbecken_in_Linzer_Hallenbad-Mutter_entsetzt-Story-492071

    Yet ANOTHER Migrant On Child Sex Attack At A European Swimming Pool

    https://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/austria-mother-catches-merkel-muslim-molesting-her-three-year-old-son-in-swimming-pool/

  7. Iran, China agree $600-billion trade deal after sanctions

    January 23, 2016

    By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin

    DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran and China agreed to expand bilateral ties and increase trade to $600 billion in the next 10 years, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday during a visit to Tehran by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    Xi is the second leader of a U.N. Security Council member to visit Tehran after the nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran in November.

    Iran emerged from years of economic isolation this month when the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog ruled it had curbed its nuclear program, clearing the way for the lifting of U.N., U.S., and European Union sanctions.

    “Iran and China have agreed to increase trade to $600 billion in the next 10 years,” Rouhani said at a news conference with Xi broadcast live on state television.

    “Iran and China have agreed on forming strategic relations (as) reflected in a 25-year comprehensive document,” he said.

    http://www.oann.com/iranian-chinese-presidents-agree-to-expand-strategic-ties/

      • Trust that feeling, when the hair on the back of your neck raises there is some reason, you may not understand why it is doing so but you need to take precautions.

  8. U.S. Vice President Biden says prepared for military solution in Syria

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States and Turkey were prepared for a military solution in Syria if a political settlement was not possible.

    “We do know it would better if we can reach a political solution but we are prepared …, if that’s not possible, to have a military solution to this operation and taking out Daesh,” Biden said at a news conference after a meeting with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Daesh is the pejorative Arabic acronym for Islamic State insurgents who hold parts of Syria.

    Biden said he and Davutoglu also discussed how the two NATO allies could further support Sunni Arab rebel forces fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad. He said Washington recognized the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey was as much of a threat to Ankara as Islamic State, and that Ankara had to do whatever was needed to protect its people.

    http://www.oann.com/u-s-vice-president-biden-says-prepared-for-military-solution-in-syria/

    • Turkey: Syria ‘military solution’ a possibility – US VP Joe Biden

      The US and Turkey are prepared to seek a “military solution” to the conflict in Syria if the political route fails, US Vice President Joe Biden said at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul on Saturday.

      “We are neither optimistic nor pessimistic; we are determined in terms of how this is beginning,” he added.

    • TURKEY – Biden slams ‘outrageous’ PKK, hails Turkey help in IS fight

      US Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday condemned the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as “simply terrorist groups” and a threat to Turkey like the Islamic State group, hailing the growing cooperation with Ankara in the fight against jihadists.

  9. China taking ‘self-isolating’ steps in South China Sea: Pentagon

    January 23, 2016

    DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – The United States is not looking for conflict with China but steps it is taking in the South China Sea are self-isolating and prompting other countries to seek help from Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Friday.

    “I’m not one of those people who believes conflict between the United States and China is inevitable, it’s certainly not desirable, I don’t think it’s likely,” Carter said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

    “We don’t seek to ask people to take sides. We do know that people are coming to us increasingly. Why is that? It is because China is taking some steps that I fear are self-isolating, driving towards a result that none of us wants,” he said, in reference to Chinese measures in the South China Sea.

    http://www.oann.com/china-taking-self-isolating-steps-in-south-china-sea-pentagon/

  10. Thousands protest against Poland’s new surveillance law

    January 23, 2016

    WARSAW (Reuters) – Thousands of Poles marched through Warsaw on Saturday to protests against their new conservative government’s plan to increase its surveillance powers, which critics say will undermine privacy rights.

    Since the Law and Justice (PiS) party took power in November, its moves to take more control of the judiciary and the media have divided Poland and raised alarm bells in the Europe Union, which has started investigating charges that Warsaw is undermining democratic principles.

    Waving Polish and European Union flags, the protesters demanded that the Law and Justice party withdraw its planned changes to the surveillance law.

    “You’re supposed to listen, not listen in,” read one of the banners. The new bill, which has not yet been signed into law, expands the government’s access to digital data and loosens the legal framework of using surveillance in law enforcement.

    The ruling party, which scored a landmark election victory in October, says it has to swiftly amend the bill to implement the constitutional court’s ruling. It also cites a broad democratic mandate to overhaul the country.

    http://www.oann.com/thousands-protest-against-polands-new-surveillance-law/

  11. Rejoice, America! 2016 is about the ‘old consensus’ being dead
    By J.E. Dyer January 22, 2016

    Everybody seems to be running around in fear, confusion, or both, about what’s going on with the American political right.

    I call it that – the “American political right” – because it isn’t coherent or unified enough to call it “conservatives” or “the Republican Party,” and still correctly signify the majority of the people in it. This, in fact, is one of the biggest sources of confusion.

    If you enthusiastically support Trump, you’re not a conservative, by any definition. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It means you don’t prioritize the actual principles of American political conservatism. You’re not making your choice based on those principles.

    On the other hand, if you believe you are a guardian of political conservatism, and yet you’re more determined to bolster an obviously failing status quo than to accept that it needs serious adjustment – well, in that case, you aren’t a real conservative either. You’re more of a reactionary, caught with your interests in a particular time and place.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/01/22/rejoice-america-2016-is-about-the-old-consensus-being-dead/

  12. Netherlands: Pro-refugee protest greets Wilders as he distributes self-defence spray

    Hundreds of people gathered on the central market square of Spijkenisse in western Holland to show their support for Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders and his anti-refugee policies, Saturday. Wilders distributed self-defence spray to local women, in opposition to a Dutch ban on the possession of pepper spray. The cannisters, which are reportedly filled with red paint, symbolise the possibility of women defending themselves against sexual assault in the wake of New Year’s Eve assault allegations in Cologne.

    “If a woman is attacked by what I call ‘Islamic testosterone bomb’, at least she can defend herself and I hope it would be legal soon, even better would be if we close our borders as soon is possible,” Wilders said on Saturday.

  13. DAILY MAIL – How Labour has turned London into a foreign city: Fewer than half the capital’s population are white British, gangsters from Somalia terrorise the suburbs and even the tramps are immigrants, reveals astonishing new book

    […]nearly 40 per cent were born abroad and hundreds of thousands are living illegally, in the shadows.’

    […]that multiculturalism for many migrants is a euphemism for slave labour.

    It starts when would-be immigrants listen to the sales pitch of the agents for the people-traffickers. They promise that London is ‘a second paradise’ where ‘every man is rich’.

    On offer is free NHS treatment, free housing, free schooling and countless welfare benefits. It is a place of opportunity, security and, above all, available women.

    This was a definite pull for one young Afghan working in a butcher’s in Neasden, North West London.

    As he put it, in his village, if you slept with more than one person in your life, ‘they shot you in the back’. In Britain, however, sexual opportunities were immense.

    […]There is a whole illegal city in London of several hundred thousand people, and nearly half of them are thought to have arrived after 2001.

    […]Along with immigrants, we have imported the criminal gangs who blight their countries. When it is so easy for migrants to get here, it is just as simple for the world’s nastiest criminals to relocate to the UK, too.

    Thus many Somalian gangs terrorise estates in South London and Turkish gangs control North London.

    Kurds and Albanians launder their money through the car washes in Tottenham and Kilburn. Vietnamese gangs grow and distribute two-thirds of the strong cannabis on the capital’s streets.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-3412616/How-Labour-turned-London-foreign-city.html

  14. Bulgaria: Dozens protest against refugees in Sofia

    Dozens of protesters gathered near Lavov Most Square in Sofia, Saturday, to rally against refugees whom they blamse for a spate of alleged recent violence against women, such as the sexual assaults carried out in Cologne on New Years Eve.

    Protesters lit flares, waved flags and held banners to promote their message. Several dressed in traditional Bulgarian folk costume. The protest was called by the Bulgarian National Movement (IMRO), to demand changes to Bulgaria’s immigration policies.

    Several police units were deployed to the scene to prevent any possible violence, given that the streets where the rally took place is a well-known area of immigration in Sofia.

    SOT, Angel Dzhambazki, Bulgarian representative in the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Bulgarian National Movement (IMRO) (Bulgarian): “These are illegal immigrants, bearded men, this is organised traffic, these are people who consistently and permanently settle in Europe. We saw their behaviour on New Year’s Eve. And not just in Cologne, but in tens of European cities. We saw how local authorities there reacted – with lies, with hypocrisy, with deception, with cloaking, with lies to their own people. This mustn’t happen and we can’t allow it to happen.”

  15. DEUTSCHE WELLE – Report: Cologne-like New Year’s Eve attacks in 12 German states

    Sex attacks and thefts like the ones that happened in Cologne on New Year’s Eve were also reported in 12 other German states, German media say. The information comes from a leaked report of the federal criminal police.

    The German broadcasters WDR and NDR, as well as the newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Saturday reported that the phenomenon of sexual violence paired with thievery was more widespread on New Year’s Eve than previously thought.

    They cited a confidential paper prepared for interior ministers by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The report covered sexual offenses in public places in which the victims were also stolen from, including a type of con in which thieves approach victims and hug or otherwise surprise them, with the aim of distracting them in order to pick their pockets.

    In Bavaria, 27 such attacks were reported to police, mainly in Nuremburg and Munich. In Bremen, there were 11 reports, in Berlin six and in Baden-Wurttemberg 25. In Hesse, there were 31 cases of sexual assault, sexual insults, thefts and attempted thefts.

    Thefts across Germany

    The report, dated January 13, said Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia (the state where Cologne is located) reported the highest number of offenses. In Hamburg there were 195 complaints, most of them for sexual offenses. Investigators in North Rhine-Westphalia reported 1,076 crimes altogether, mainly in the cities of Cologne, Dusseldorf and Bielefeld. That number included 692 bodily harm or property offenses and 384 sexual offenses.

    Similar incidents were reported in Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, albeit on a much smaller scale. Federal police, who patrol main railway stations, reported 43 such notifications.

    Though the suspects have not been identified, they had been reported as being men of Moroccan, Algerian or Tunisian origin. Across the country the victims were almost always female and the suspects were men aged between about 17 and 30.

    Difficult to describe suspects

    The report demonstrated the difficulty of describing the suspects’ origins, with states using different terminology. For example, Baden-Wuerttemberg described one set of suspects as a “US American and an Algerian,” another group was described as “suspects who appeared to look Arab.” In Hesse, suspects were described as “men of North African/Arab/southern European/eastern European appearance.” A report from North Rhine-Westphalia spoke of an “appearance of a migration background” and an “appearance of being foreign” without elaborating what exactly that meant or how it was possible to determine someone’s nationality by looking at them. [ no matter what the nationality really is... they are all Muslims ]

    The investigators concluded that the nature of the reported thefts was a new form of criminality which up until now had not been widely experienced across Germany. The report’s authors noted, however, that it provided only a snapshot of the situation, which continued to be “dynamic.”

    Scotland Yard brought in

    Meanwhile, police investigating the Cologne attacks have enlisted the help of specialists from London. The so-called “super recognizers” from Scotland Yard will assist in analyzing video footage from New Year’s Eve. Their ability to pick out faces in a crowd is considered superior to facial recognition software.

    video on the page with Eng subtitles

    at 01:09 – on the video : Then he grabbed my friend by her hair and pulled her to the ground

    02:58 : But I’ve never heard of rape of sexual assault happening in Morocco

    http://www.dw.com/en/report-cologne-like-new-years-eve-attacks-in-12-german-states/a-18999994

    same video – German only :

    • AFP – Yahoo News – German ire over Cologne assaults targets North Africans

      Düsseldorf (Germany) (AFP) – Even 73-year-old retiree Edris says he has not been spared suspicious questions from Germans after a rash of sex assaults in Cologne blamed on North Africans.

      “If there is a criminal Moroccan, it boomerangs back to all of us,” said Edris, who moved to Germany from Morocco 47 years ago, adding that criminal Arabs are “pigs”.

      Germany’s Maghreb community has come under a harsh spotlight after hundreds of women were groped and robbed by mainly North African suspects on New Year’s Eve outside Cologne’s main train station.

      Only one suspect — an Algerian asylum seeker — has been arrested so far over the sex crimes and 25 Moroccans and Algerians count among the 30 suspects under investigation, police said.

      “Over the last three weeks, the Maghreb community has been stigmatised like the enemy,” Samy Charchira, a social worker in the western city of Duesseldorf, which is also home to the biggest number of Algerians and Moroccans in Germany.

      “That has had serious consequences with people subject to verbal or physical attacks. It’s very worrying,” said Charchira, who is also a government advisor on issues relating to Islam.

      Even before the full scale of the Cologne rampage emerged, Berlin had already been watching with concern at a sudden jump in the number of Moroccan and Algerian asylum seekers in December.

      German authorities recorded 847 Algerian asylum seekers in June, but six months later, that figure reached 2,296.

      For Moroccans, the number had jumped from 368 in June to 2,896.

      The Cologne violence has only added impetus to the authorities’ plans to bring down the numbers.

      Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the North African countries to be added to a list of nations of “safe origin”, meaning that their nationals would have little chance of winning asylum.

      Berlin is also pressing Algiers and Rabat to take back their nationals who have failed to win asylum, so as to free up resources to deal with bona fide refugees among the nearly 1.1 million migrants who arrived in Germany in 2015.

      – ‘Known troublemakers’ –

      Social workers lament that many in Germany now regard Moroccans and Algerians as criminals in the wake of the Cologne melee, even though the majority are upstanding citizens who have lived and worked alongside other communities in peace in Germany for decades.

      The first North African migrants arrived in the 1960s to keep Germany’s factories running or to take on the dirty and tough job of coal mining.

      Since the end of the 1980s, their profiles have changed, and many who have arrived are students

      Members of the North African community are quick to distance themselves from a handful of petty criminals who they say are sullying their reputation.

      “We are unsettled,” said Mohammed Aljannayi, who heads the Moroccan community association in the Cologne district of Kalk.

      “Many women don’t trust us anymore in this district because of these people, who have acted so unconscionably that I am at a loss for words,” he told Stern magazine.

      Charchira said that “in Duesseldorf, it’s a group of 40 to 50 young men who are known” trouble-makers giving the community a bad name.

      “Some are street kids in their home countries,” he said, adding that “others came from Spain, Italy or France where they have resided illegally”.

      A 38-year-old hairdresser of Moroccan origin who declined to give his name said “these youth who have come to Germany have no future”.

      “Our district was normal but many things have changed now,” said the man, who was born and bred in Duesseldorf.

      “I don’t go to certain areas because I am afraid of gangs there,” he said, adding that the New Year’s Eve chaos has “destroyed our reputation”.

      http://news.yahoo.com/german-ire-over-cologne-assaults-targets-north-africans-064517161.html

  16. Greece: Pro-refugee protesters march against Alexandroupoli border fence

    Around 500 people took to the streets of Alexandroupoli, a city near the Greek-Turkish border, Saturday, to protest against the construction of a border fence along the Evros River between the two countries. Protesters also demanded easier, safer and free passage to Europe for refugees.

    Protesters arrived in the city on 14 buses from different parts of Greece. They chanted slogans like “No borders, no nations, safe transportation” and “open the border.” Among the banners was a picture of Aylan, a young refugee boy who drowned at sea and became a symbol of refugees striving to reach European territory.

    One of the organisers, Petros Constantinou, coordinator of the Movement against racism and the threat of fascism (KEERFA), said the activists’ message is to put an end to the death of refugees at sea.

  17. Texas city overrun with warring tribes (and we’re not just talking Crips and Bloods)

    As Texas officials spar with Obama administration lawyers over refugee resettlement, Amarillo is building Muslim “ghettos.”

    Under federal refugee programs, the North Texas town has become home to more than 1,000 Mideast migrants – giving Amarillo the highest refugee ratio in the country.

    “Our education system is overloaded with kids who can’t speak English. We have something like 22 languages spoken in our schools,” said William Sumerford, a local taxpayer activist.

    City Commissioner Randy Burkett is considering a plan to halt further refugee settlements. But Mayor Paul Harpole isn’t optimistic about the city’s authority to push back.

    “We’ve been a giving community, and it’s a huge disservice to bring in refugees in numbers that we’re not able to handle. We create small ghettos,” Harpole told Watchdog.org.

    “A group of Somalis came in to say they had elected a mayor of their community,” Harpole related. “Then another faction claimed they had their own leader. We come to find out that rival tribes — slaves and masters — were being settled together.”

    The Texas Health and Human Services Commission last month sued the federal government and the nonprofit International Rescue Committee, asserting the Refugee Act of 1980 requires Washington to “consult regularly” with state and local officials before resettling refugees.

    The Justice Department responded that Texas was trying to exert veto power “over individual federal refugee resettlement decisions” by banning Syrian refugees.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/01/11/texas-city-is-overrun-with-warring-tribes-and-were-not-talking-crips-and-bloods/

  18. Hundreds dead as ISIS makes gains in strategic Syrian city (CNN, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/22/world/syria-isis-deir-ezzor/index.html

    “Fierce battles continue around the strategic city of Deir Ezzor in northern Syria between regime forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to human rights groups.

    Hundreds of combatants and civilians have been killed over the past week, and Russian aircraft have been dropping supplies to beleaguered army units.

    The regime of President Bashar al-Assad is battling to retain a foothold in the area. It still controls the military airport to the south, but ISIS claims to have overrun several regime-held districts at the beginning of the week, taking advantage of a sandstorm that grounded military aircraft. But in the last few days, Russian and possibly Syrian warplanes have carried out airstrikes against ISIS areas, while the already desperate situation of civilians has worsened.

    The Institute for the Study of War — a Washington-based group that analyzes the conflict in Iraq and Syria — said Russia had shifted the focus of its air campaign to Deir Ezzor in the face of the major ISIS assault on parts of the city still held by the regime. “The shift in Russian air operations serves to forestall the immediate defeat of regime forces in Deir Ezzor, one of the last remaining regime outposts in Eastern Syria,” the Institute said.

    Even so, the regime presence in Deir Ezzor looks increasingly precarious. Were ISIS to capture the entire city, it would give the group morale-boosting control of a second provincial capital in Syria, after Raqqa, and improve its supply lines across the border into Iraq….”

  19. Au revoir and shalom: Jews leave France in record numbers (CNN, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/22/middleeast/france-israel-jews-immigration/index.html

    “… Nearly 8,000 French Jews moved to Israel in the year following the Charlie Hebdo attack, according to the Jewish Agency, which handles Jewish immigration, or aliyah, to Israel.

    The number of French Jews moving to Israel has doubled — and doubled again — in the past five years.

    In 2013, less than 3,300 French Jews moved to Israel. Only two years earlier, that number stood at 1,900.

    Britain has the second-highest Jewish emigration from Western Europe, but the scale is much smaller. According to the Jewish Agency, 774 British Jews moved to Israel in 2015, less than one-tenth the number of French Jews.

    Many French Jews settle in Ashdod, a city in southern Israel known for its large French population.

    You are as likely to hear French on the streets as you are Hebrew, especially in one of the city’s many French cafés….”

  20. Biden: US and Turkey prepared to seek Syria military solution (BBC, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35391968

    “US Vice-President Joe Biden has said the US and Turkey are prepared to seek a military solution in Syria if a political agreement proves impossible.

    Mr Biden said a political deal “would be better” but “if that’s not possible” the US would pursue alternatives.

    This would include “taking out Daesh”, he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

    Mr Biden was speaking after talks in Istanbul with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

    Commenting on the chance of achieving a political settlement in Syria, he said: “We are neither optimistic or pessimistic. We are determined.”

    The US vice-president said he and Mr Davutoglu had discussed how their countries could further support Sunni Arab rebels opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad…”

  21. U.S. says Afghanistan, Pakistan need to cooperate to tackle Taliban (khaama, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/afghanistan-pakistan-need-to-work-together-against-terrorism-4507

    “The United States has said that Afghanistan and Pakistan need to have cooperation to tackle the challenge of Taliban.

    “The conclusion that we’ve drawn here is…that the Taliban poses a security threat to both countries, and that the nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan are going to be able to more effectively confront that threat if they’re able to more effectively cooperate,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

    “Any sort of decisions about how the continuation of those talks and any sort of agreement that could be produced by those talks about whether or not that’s in the interest of those countries to pursue – those are decisions that will be made by the leaders in those two countries, as it should be.”

    This comes amid efforts by Pakistan to bring Afghan Taliban to the negotiation table which is expected to build a trust between Islamabad and Kabul for joint efforts against other militant groups including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

    The militant groups have been fighting to topple governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan with their bloody campaign. They made January one of the deadliest months by carrying out some brutal attacks.

    The latest brutality Afghan Taliban committed was a suicide attack on media staff in Kabul which claimed the lives of seven journalists.

    On the other side, the Pakistani Taliban known as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have also killed dozens of people in their attacks including one on a university in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that left 21 people killed and more than 30 others wounded. Most of the victim’s of last week’s attack on Bach Khan University were university students.”

  22. 34 militants killed, 48 wounded in Afghan army operations (khaama, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/34-militants-killed-48-wounded-in-afghan-army-operations-0036

    “At least 36 anti-government armed militants were killed and 48 others were wounded in counter-terrorism operations led by the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces in the past 24 hours.

    The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations were jointly conducted in various parts of the country and as a result at least 48 militants were also injured.

    A statement by MoD said at last 46 others were also injured during the operations and various types of weapons and ammunition were confiscated by the security forces.

    The operations were conducted in the vicinity of AChin and Behsud districts of Nangarhar province, Manogi district of Kunar, Qarghai district of Laghman, Khoshi, Mohammad Agha and Azra districts of Logar, Nerkh and Daimerdad districts of Maidan Wardak, central parts and Dasht-e-district of Kunduz, Tagab district of Badakhshan, Nawa district of Helmand, central Baghlan, Koh-e-Safi district of Parwan province.

    The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the report so far.
    The Afghan national security forces have doubled counter-terrorism operations in different parts of the country amid deteriorating security situation in the country.

    The Taliban-led insurgency have been rampant during the recent weeks in different parts of the country, including capital Kabul besides the newly-emerged loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are looking to expand foothold in the country.”

  23. ISIS TERROR WARNING: Jihadists threaten to attack SPAIN in chilling new propaganda clip (express, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/636981/ISIS-Islamic-State-terror-threat-Spain-travel-advice

    “TWISTED Islamic State has threatened to launch terror attacks in Spain – the world’s most popular destination for British tourists.

    The jihadist group’s latest chilling propaganda video features an ancient map of the Iberian Peninsula which slowly turns to red.

    Then a militant can be heard saying “We will recover our land from the invaders”, thought to be a reference to the collapse of Islamic rule in Spain.

    More than 12 million UK-based holidaymakers travel to Spain every year, with Majorca, Tenerife and Ibiza the most popular destinations last summer.

    The clip comes just two months after Madrid police arrested three people suspected of links to the sick organisation.

    The Moroccan suspects, who are legal residents of Spain, were reportedly aiming to carry out depraved terror attacks in the country.

    More than 100 people from Spain are feared to have travelled to join the so-called caliphate in war-torn Syria and Iraq….”

  24. Birmingham Central Mosque chairman calls for boycott of ‘racist’ Prevent programme

    Future Lord Mayor Muhammad Afzal also branded the Prime Minister an “Islamophobe” over the government strategy

    The chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque has called for a boycott of counter-terrorism programme Prevent after claiming it unfairly targets Muslims and school children.

    Future Lord Mayor Muhammad Afzal also branded the Prime Minister an “Islamophobe” over the government strategy, which is designed to identify people at risk of radicalisation.

    Prevent has now been extended to include Ofsted inspections of out-of-school education settings including Islamic religious schools (madrassas) – a move the chairman labelled as “racist”.

    Mr Afzal, who will become Lord Mayor in May, claimed the “disgraceful” legislation was discriminatory against Muslims and has called on Birmingham’s MPs to stand against it.

    During a meeting jointly organised with Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), in Highgate, the councillor said: “I think the Prime Minister is an Islamophobe, he never talks about anything else but Muslim extremism.

    “It is ridiculous that the government is saying Muslims are becoming radicalised. David Cameron says 500 people have gone to Syria to become radicalised, but where is the evidence? And out of a population of three million Muslims in the UK, what kind of percentage is that?”

    He added: “The government wants to inspect madrassas, which is racist. Ofsted are losing their neutrality and what we’ll find is that madrassas will be closing down under this legislation which is totally ridiculous.

    “We should oppose this legislation. Everyone should sign the petition and make individual efforts to resist it and tell your local MP to support us.”

    In the last four years, more than 400 children in the West Midlands have been referred through Prevent to the de-radicalisation programme – the highest number of referrals in the country.

    Of those referred, 126 were under the age of ten, according to recent figures.

    Teacher and SUTR member Danny Rees told the Birmingham Mail: “Prevent is radicalising children. School is meant to be a place where you can say anything but students are reluctant to speak to teachers and teachers are reluctant to speak to each other for fear of being reported.

    “We need to allow open debate, we need to give people the courage to step up and talk about it and allow children their right to practice their religion.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/12117605/Birmingham-Central-Mosque-chairman-calls-for-boycott-of-racist-Prevent-programme.html

  25. ‘It’s too cold’ Refugees would rather return home than face European winter (express, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/637284/Refugees-asylum-bids-Europe-too-cold-migrant-crisis

    “REFUGEES are abandoning their bids for asylum to return home after claiming Europe is too cold.

    Almost 70 per cent of Iraqi asylum seekers have given up applications in Finland to go back to their war-torn country.

    One Iraqi who decided to return said Finland did not live up to the expectations.

    He said: “I don’t know what happens to me in Iraq, but here I will die mentally.”

    Figures from the Nordic country’s immigration service revealed Finland processed 3,700 Iraqi asylum seeker decisions in 2015.

    Almost 2,600 of the decisions have now “expired”, meaning the applicants have either cancelled the process or disappeared.

    Juha Simila, head of asylum department at the Finnish Immigration Service, said applicants were disillusioned by the processing time….”

  26. Taliban want removal from U.N. blacklist before peace talks (reuters, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-taliban-talks-idUSKCN0V10HZ

    “Afghanistan’s Taliban want to be removed from a U.N. blacklist before considering rejoining peace talks aimed at ending a 15-year civil war, a senior member said, as its political wing met activists at an unofficial forum in Qatar.

    After months of worsening fighting, with the province of Helmand slipping out of government control and frequent suicide bombings in the capital, Afghanistan and its neighbours are trying to get troubled negotiations back on track.

    Prospects of the Taliban, an increasingly strong presence on the battlefield since the withdrawal of most international troops in 2014, joining any talks had appeared slim.

    But a Taliban member told Reuters that the group could participate if the U.N. Security Council canceled a resolution freezing assets and limiting travel of senior figures…”

  27. Germany: Hundreds rally for Russian-German teen allegedly raped by ‘foreigners’

    Some 700 people demonstrated in front of the Chancellery in Berlin, Saturday, against the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl who told police that she was sexually abused by three “foreigners” earlier in January. Police have stated that there was no evidence of an abduction or rape following the accusations.

    Many of the demonstrators were of Russian origin but many German citizens were also present. Several carried placards with slogans such as, “there are no foreign children” and “Lisa, we stand by you.”

    SOT, Uncle of alleged rape victim (German): “In the name of Lisa, her parents and of the whole family, I would like to thank you all one-by-one for supporting us throughout these difficult moments. Today it is not only about the future of our Lisa. What we were confronted with is unfortunately not an isolated case. This is why we stand today for security, protection and the future of our children and women of every origin. Children have no nationality. Children have a big, pure heart which only knows of love and not hatred. It is our duty, to the largest extent possible, to preserve it.”

  28. Turkey: Dash cam shows moment of bomb attack on police bus in Nusaybin

    Dashboard camera footage released on Saturday shows the moment an explosive device allegedly placed by militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) blow up in Nusaybin district, southeastern Mardin province on Thursday.

    No deaths were reported, although nine police officers and one pedestrian were injured in the explosion as they travelled by van. Homes, workshops and vehicles located around the explosion site were damaged, as fragments from the blast broke windows and hit buildings and vehicles.

  29. Port of Calais temporarily closed after migrants stormed ferry

    Mayor ordered closure after 500 migrants break off from demonstration and break into port compound

    The port of Calais was temporarily closed on Saturday after a ferry was stormed by 50 migrants from the nearby “Jungle” camp, earlier visited by Jeremy Corbyn.

    Up to 500 migrants had broken off from a protest march through the town about migrants’ conditions, according to the mayor, Natacha Bouchart.

    Around 150 then broke through the port’s perimeter fence, and 50 made it to the gangplanks of the P&O ferry Spirit of Britain. Photographs later showed the migrants standing on the upper decks of the ferry.

    A French official said: “A group of 500 people forced their way through police lines and headed to the port, and 150 people were able to get into the fenced-off area. Of these, a group of some 50 managed to board a ferry.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12117793/Port-of-Calais-closed-as-migrants-storm-ferry.html

      • Calais in lockdown after 50 migrants force their way onto Spirit Of Britain ferry – forcing staff to blast them with WATER CANNONS (dailymail, Jan 23, 2016)
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3413566/Port-Calais-closed-migrants-storm-harbour-make-Spirit-Britain-ferry-desperate-bid-reach-UK.html

        “The Port of Calais was closed this evening after a storm of migrants broke into the harbour.

        Around 500 migrants stormed the site and around 50 made it on to the Spirit of Britain ferry, where they remained for several hours until they were removed by police, with the port now reopened.

        It came after a protest organised by French leftists to support migrants living in squalid conditions in the northern city of Calais drew around 2,000 people, according to organisers.

        The protest on Saturday came as British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the region, which is temporary home to about 4,000 migrants camped out in hopes of finding a better life in Britain, across the Channel.

        French officials said a group of 500 people forced their way through police lines and headed to the port, and 150 people were able to get into the fenced-off area.

        The Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart closed the port and said around 50 migrants made their way on to the P&O-operated vessel.

        Police are at the scene and water canons were used on board the ship to try to get the group to leave. Officers removed all of the migrants shortly before 9pm and the port was reopened.

        P&O said the ship had just crossed from Dover, on the English side of the Channel, and ‘a few trucks’ were still onboard but there were no passengers when the boarding occurred…”

    • RT – France: Several thousand attend pro-refugee rally near Calais camp

      Several thousand protesters marched through Calais on Saturday, the demonstration was organised by Parisian based humanitarian and social groups who rallied to support migrants living in squalid conditions in Calais’ infamous ‘jungle’ camp.

      Activists started their march from the ‘Jungle’ camp and carried on towards the cities town center. A high police presence were monitoring the march as authorities have bolstered security in the region.

      British Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn was also present in the region on Saturday where he visited the temporary homes that cater to around 4000 migrants who seek to cross over into the UK in search of a better life.

  30. Gang of migrants arrested after ‘sexually assaulting women and masturbating at historic German swimming baths’ (dailymail, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3413728/Gang-migrants-arrested-sexually-assaulting-women-masturbating-historic-German-swimming-baths.html

    “Migrants have been banned from a historic swimming bath in Germany after a gang of men were caught on camera masturbating in a hot tub and sexually assaulting women.

    Several other men were seen ’emptying their bowels’ in the children’s end of the main swimming pool at the Johannisbad baths in Zwickau, Saxony.

    Management at the historic baths are reportedly no longer allowing migrants into the facilities following the allegations while some local swimmers have stayed away after the incidents.

    ‘An asylum seeker has masturbated in the hot tub and ejaculated into the basin. This is also recorded on the surveillance camera’, civilian servant Rainer Mr Kallweit said.

    ‘Furthermore, the lifeguards have to protect women and girls from the asylum seekers. Young men wanted to forcibly penetrate the female changing room,’ he said, describing another incident at another swimming pool, according to Breitbart.

    Police have arrested several men in connection to the incident at the baths. The men have since been released.

    The news comes following confirmation from the German police that the wave of sexual assaults and robberies on New Year’s eve did not only happen in Cologne but that similar incidents also took place in 12 of Germany’s regional states…”

  31. Cologne sex mobs will arrive in Britain if we stay in the EU: Former defence secretary Liam Fox warns women will be at risk of gang rape if UK does not sever ties with Europe (dailymail, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3413552/Senior-Tory-MP-Liam-Fox-claims-Britain-greater-risk-Cologne-style-sex-attacks-migrants-remains-EU.html

    “Eurosceptics have warned that migrants linked to a wave of sex attacks in Germany will be able to move to Britain if it remains part of the European Union.

    Former defence secretary Liam Fox told campaigners the New Year’s Eve crime spree in Cologne, which has been blamed on migrants, revealed the ‘real security issue at risk’ when voters decide if they want to sever the UK’s ties with Brussels.

    The concerns were echoed by Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who claimed that within three or four years the perpetrators would have German passports that would allow them to head to the UK.
    Police in Cologne are investigating….”

  32. M U S L I M B R O T H E R H O O D rally in LONDON UK

    RT – UK: London march commemorates Egyptian uprising five years on

    Several hundred protesters took to the streets of central London on Saturday, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Egyptian uprising.

    Predominately comprising London residents from the Egyptian diaspora, protesters marched from Marble Arch and finished the rally outside the Egyptian Embassy.

    The demonstrators protested against perceived continued high levels of corruption in the country and demanded the release of Mohamed Morsi, who is still detained even after his 2013 overthrow.

  33. France: Police arrest 24 after refugees storm Calais ferry

    Police made 24 arrests after a group of 50 refugees and migrants stormed the MS Spirit of Britain ferry in Calais, Saturday.

    • France: Tensions flare as Calais resident points gun at pro-refugee rally

      Tensions flared between a small group of local residents and pro-refugee activists during a rally in Calais, Saturday. Both groups threw missiles and shouted insults at each other before one local resident appeared outside his house carrying a gun. The man briefly pointed the gun at the demonstration, which was made up of refugees, migrants and pro-refugee activists, before taking the weapon back into his home.

  34. Germany: Suspected arson attack at planned refugee shelter in Barsinghausen

    A planned refugee centre in Barsinghausen was badly damaged after a fire broke out at the facility on Saturday. Police are treating the incident as a deliberate arson attack after multiple gas cylinders were found at the shelter.

    • Germany: Pro-Kurdish protesters march through Frankfurt

      More than 1,000 pro-Kurdish activists took to the streets of Frankfurt, Saturday, to march in solidarity with Kurds in Turkey and to denounce the Turkish government’s offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

  35. UK: Ex-Def Sec Liam Fox calls for UK to ‘take control of borders,’ leave EU

    Former British Defence Secretary Liam Fox called for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union during the launch of the new Brexit campaign ‘Grassroots Out’ at the Kettering Conference Centre in Kettering, Saturday.

  36. Kurdish fighters sell off German-supplied guns

    Machine guns and pistols delivered by the German Defence Ministry to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq are being sold on the black market, research by public broadcaster NDR shows.

    When in the summer of 2014 Germany started to deliver weapons to the Peshmerga – the fighting force of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq – the decision was highly controversial in Germany.

    Up until that point a German government had never sent weapons into an active war zone.

    Critics claimed the Bundeswehr (German army) would lose track of the weapons once they had been delivered and they could easily fall into the wrong hands.

    The NDR investigation now shows that these fears were well founded.

    In gun markets outside the capital Erbil and in second city Sulaimaniya, the broadcaster found Bundeswehr rifles and pistols for sale.

    The letters ‘HK’ in the serial number signifying production by German gunmaker Heckler & Koch, and the ‘Bw’ for the Bundeswehr prove that the weapons are those delivered by Germany over the past 18 months, NDR claims.

    According to one ex-Peshmerga fighter spoken to by NDR, a G36 rilfe (the standard Bundeswehr assault rifle) used to cost $4,000 (€3,690) but the price has collapsed in recent months because there are too many on the market.

    In the market outside Erbil, the journalists were offered a G36 for between $1,450 and $1,800 (€1,338-€1662).

    By last the summer the Bundeswehr had delivered 12,000 G3 rifles, 8,000 G36 rifles, and 8,000 P1 pistols to the Peshmerga. The ministry of Defence has previously has admitted it doesn’t know which fighting units received the weapons.

    The ex-fighter spoken to by BDR said he knew of around 100 of his comrades who sold their weapons and fled the war.

    He himself fled to Germany after selling a Kalashnikov to finance the costs, explaining that he hadn’t been paid a salary for almost half a year, after the Kurdish government’s coffers were emptied by the fight against Isis and collapsing oil prices.
    Story continues below…

    Die LInke (the Left Party), who were strongly opposed to weapons deliveries to the Peshmerga when it was originally debated in the national parliament, have called for an immediate halt to further weapons deliveries.

    “Weapon deliveries are a subsidy for the Peshmerga, so that they can finance their trips to Europe,” Jan van Aken from Die Linke (the Left party) told NDR.

    The government laid blame for the leaking of German weapons with Kurdish authorities who had given pledges they would use them in accordance with international law.

    Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has previously noted the contribution German support to the Peshmerga has played in them winning back territory in northern Iraq from Isis.

    http://www.thelocal.de/20160122/kurds-selling-german-delivered-guns-on-black-market
    =======================================

    4 min video in German on this page :

    http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/peschmerga-163.html
    ========================================================
    Peschmerga verkaufen deutsche Waffen weiter – trotz “Endverbleibserklärung”!

    8 Minuten Realsatire: Die Bundesregierung hat Waffen an die Peschmerga im Nordirak geliefert um ISIS zu bekämpfen. Nun kommt raus, dass diese Waffen auch weiterverkauft werden. Hat sich die Bundesregierung nicht eine “Endverbleibserklärung” ausstellen lassen, die das verbietet? Ja! Das seien bisher halt alles Einzelfälle. Was steht in so einer Endverbleibserklärung eigentlich drin? Und was passiert, wenn die deutschen Partner dagegen verstoßen?

  37. U.S. Relies Heavily on Saudi Money to Support Syrian Rebels (NYT, Jan 23, 2016)
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on-saudi-money-to-support-syrian-rebels.html?ref=world&_r=0

    “WASHINGTON — When President Obama secretly authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to begin arming Syria’s embattled rebels in 2013, the spy agency knew it would have a willing partner to help pay for the covert operation. It was the same partner the C.I.A. has relied on for decades for money and discretion in far-off conflicts: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

    Since then, the C.I.A. and its Saudi counterpart have maintained an unusual arrangement for the rebel-training mission, which the Americans have code-named Timber Sycamore. Under the deal, current and former administration officials said, the Saudis contribute both weapons and large sums of money, and the C.I.A takes the lead in training the rebels on AK-47 assault rifles and tank-destroying missiles.

    The support for the Syrian rebels is only the latest chapter in the decadeslong relationship between the spy services of Saudi Arabia and the United States, an alliance that has endured through the Iran-contra scandal, support for the mujahedeen against the Soviets in Afghanistan and proxy fights in Africa. Sometimes, as in Syria, the two countries have worked in concert. In others, Saudi Arabia has simply written checks underwriting American covert activities.

    The joint arming and training program, which other Middle East nations contribute money to, continues as America’s relations with Saudi Arabia — and the kingdom’s place in the region — are in flux. The old ties of cheap oil and geopolitics that have long bound the countries together have loosened as America’s dependence on foreign oil declines and the Obama administration tiptoes toward a diplomatic rapprochement with Iran.

    And yet the alliance persists, kept afloat on a sea of Saudi money and a recognition of mutual self-interest. In addition to Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves and role as the spiritual anchor of the Sunni Muslim world, the long intelligence relationship helps explain why the United States has been reluctant to openly criticize Saudi Arabia for its human rights abuses, its treatment of women and its support for the extreme strain of Islam, Wahhabism, that has inspired many of the very terrorist groups the United States is fighting. The Obama administration did not publicly condemn Saudi Arabia’s public beheading this month of a dissident Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who had challenged the royal family.

    Although the Saudis have been public about their help arming rebel groups in Syria, the extent of their partnership with the C.I.A.’s covert action campaign and their direct financial support had not been disclosed. Details were pieced together in interviews with a half-dozen current and former American officials and sources from several Persian Gulf countries. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the program.

    From the moment the C.I.A. operation was started, Saudi money supported it…..”