Reader’s links for Feb. 17 – 2016

Daily Links Post graphic

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

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

Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

119 Replies to “Reader’s links for Feb. 17 – 2016”

  1. ITALY – Son of Turkish president accused of money laundering in Italy

    Bilal Erdogan, moved to Bologna in the autumn to study for a doctorate, denies allegations

    The son of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, is being investigated in Italy over claims of money-laundering and bringing millions of dollars in cash into the country without authorisation.

    Prosecutors in Bologna have opened an investigation into the financial dealings of Bilal Erdogan, 35, who is currently living in the city with his family while he studies for a doctorate at an offshoot of Johns Hopkins University.

    He has been living in the historic city, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, since last October.

    The investigation was opened after Murat Hakan Uzan, a businessman and political opponent of the Erdogan family, made the allegations about money laundering to the Italian authorities.

    Mr Uzan, who is in exile in France and claims to have been persecuted by the Erdogan regime, claimed that Bilal Erdogan was stockpiling money in Italy because he saw the country as a potential bolt-hole should he face problems at home.

    Mr Uzan, a wealthy businessman, filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors in Bologna, accusing the president’s son of contravening Italy’s financial laws by bringing in huge amounts of money without declaring it to the authorities.

    The claims of money laundering are being investigated by Manuela Cavallo, Bologna’s chief public prosecutor. Calls to her office were not answered.

    Giovanni Trombini, a lawyer for Bilal Erdogan, said: “I have nothing to say. Trials should be held in court, not in the press.”

    Critics of the Turkish government claim that the younger Erdogan moved to Italy in order to flee a corruption scandal which broke in 2013.

    Wiretapped telephone conversations were leaked in which two people alleged to be President Erdogan and his son were heard discussing how to dispose of large sums of cash.

    The conversations allegedly took place in December 2013, on the day that sons of three Cabinet ministers were detained as part of a vast corruption investigation.

    The Turkish government insisted they were fabricated. Both the president and his son denied any wrongdoing.

    Bilal, who is one of President Erdogan’s four children, has commercial interests in shipping and oil tankers.

    In December Russian accused him and his family of profiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from territory held by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

    He denied that, insisting that he did no business in either country.

    “Isis is an enemy of my country. Isis is a disgrace. It puts my religion in a bad light. They don’t represent Islam and I do not consider them to be Muslims,” he told Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/12161773/Son-of-Turkish-president-accused-of-money-laundering-in-Italy.html

  2. Finance terrorism, weaken states – the Internet call Islamic terrorists worldwide to “Economic Jihad”: In Bavaria special units have now uncovered a network of front companies, who washed the money and evaded taxes in the millions.
    ….
    It is known that dealings consisted of embezzling turnover tax by a network of “pillars” that after getting tax refund suddenly, overnight ceased to exist. The activities of criminals concentrated in the energy sector and concerned a purchase of electricity on a large scale. To thoroughly investigate the mechanisms of fraud officials now want, among others,to trace thousands of transactions.

    In the hands of investigators he came up with a record of a telephone conversation, which confirms that the criminal dealings may be related to the financing of Islamic terrorism. The first program of public television ARD revealed part of the conversation between the two suspects:

    A: “We do tax fraud.”

    B: “Well, this is jihad.”

    A: “No, it is economic jihad.”

    B: Ok. For me it is “halal”. (Halal means permitted by Islam, Sharia law).

    According to the experts fraud was possible because the financial authorities in Germany automatically pay due sales tax refund. They do not thoroughly examine the the credibility of the company, which is asking for a refund. At the same time to perpetrate this kind of abuse, it was necessary to have a good knowledge of the working of the German economic realities. Hence, the investigation focuses on the study of the links of fraudulent companies with other entities and individuals in Germany. In the opinion of Minister Soder today we can talk about the phenomenon of economic terrorism.

    http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/terror-islamisten-bayern-101.html
    (the translation to English is quite approximate so it would be good if somebody translate the above)

  3. SWEDEN – Explosion damages Turkish cultural association building in Stockholm

    All windows of centre in Fittja blown out but no reports of injuries and no arrests made, say police

    An explosion severely damaged part of a building that housed a Turkish cultural association in a Stockholm suburb late on Wednesday but no one was injured, police said.

    Police said all the windows of the centre were blown out and that technicians were onsite to investigate the cause. The centre was located in the basement of a building in Fittja, in south-west Stockholm.

    “No one was inside. No one was injured. It had been locked since earlier in the evening,” a police spokesman said.

    No one has been arrested and there are currently no suspects, he added.

    Earlier on Wednesday, 28 people were killed and dozens wounded in Turkey’s capital Ankara when a car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses near the armed forces’ headquarters, parliament and other government buildings.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/17/explosion-damages-turkish-cultural-association-building-in-stockholm

  4. U.N. Yemen envoy says divisions over truce preventing peace talks (reuters, Feb 17, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-war-un-idUSKCN0VQ2S4

    “The United Nations special envoy for Yemen said on Wednesday he was unable to call another round of peace talks because the warring parties are deeply divided over whether there should be a ceasefire to coincide with a new round of negotiations.

    During the first round of talks in Geneva in December, the parties agreed on a broad framework for ending their war but a temporary one-week truce was widely violated. A second round of talks was set for Jan. 14, but has been indefinitely postponed.

    “Deep divisions persist that prevent me from calling for the next round of talks,” U.N. Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the U.N. Security Council. “I have not, unfortunately, received sufficient assurances that a new cessation of hostilities, should I call for one, would be respected.”

    “We cannot delay these talks, in my view, beyond the month of March,” he told reporters after the briefing.

    A Saudi Arabia-led coalition began a military campaign in March to prevent Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh, from taking complete control of Yemen.

    The United Nations said more than 6,000 people had been killed in the past year, of which about half were civilians.

    U.N. sanctions monitors said in a report last month that the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebels have targeted civilians and that some of the attacks could be a crimes against humanity…”

  5. Exclusive: Radioactive material stolen in Iraq raises security fears (reuters, Feb 17, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-radiation-idUSKCN0VQ22F

    “Iraq is searching for “highly dangerous” radioactive material stolen last year, according to an environment ministry document and seven security, environmental and provincial officials who fear it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State.

    The material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop computer, went missing in November from a storage facility near the southern city of Basra belonging to U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford WFT.N, the document seen by Reuters showed and officials confirmed.

    A spokesman for Iraq’s environment ministry said he could not discuss the issue, citing national security concerns…”

  6. TURKEY – 500 rebels [ jihadists ] cross Turkish border towards Syrian town of Azaz

    Beirut (AFP) – At least 500 rebels on Wednesday crossed the Turkish border heading for the Syrian town of Azaz in northern Aleppo province, a monitor said, where opposition forces have suffered setbacks at the hands of Kurdish forces.

    “At least 500 rebels have crossed the Bab al-Salam border crossing on their way to the town of Azaz, from which they want to help the insurgents in the face of gains made by Kurdish forces in the north of the province,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel, told AFP.

    They include rebels as well as Islamist fighters, all of them armed, he added.

    This is the second time in days a large group of rebels has crossed the border, after almost 350 passed through the Atme border crossing on February 14 armed with heavy and light weapons.

    Opposition forces have lost ground to government troops in northern Aleppo province since they began a major offensive in the former rebel bastion backed by Russian air strikes.

    Pressing their advantage, Kurdish forces have been taking ground in the fragmented region, most notably the city of Tal Rifaat, as they seek to carve out their own autonomous state.

    The rebels now hold only the town of Azaz, not far from the Turkish border, and to the south Marea, which is currently almost encircled by Kurdish forces to the west and Islamic State fighters to the east.

    Alarmed by the Kurds’ gains close to its border, Turkey, which supports the groups opposing Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, continued shelling their positions in Syria for a fifth day.

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/30854336/500-rebels-cross-turkish-border-to-syrian-town-of-azaz-observatory/

  7. Obama Will Visit Cuba in Historic Trip Next Month, Sources Say

    Obama is planning a trip to Cuba some time next month, marking the first time in more than 80 years a sitting U.S. president will visit the country, according to sources with knowledge of the plan.

    A National Security Council official plans to make the announcement tomorrow at the White House briefing.

    The trip is planned for March 21-22 before the president flies to Argentina.

    The move comes roughly 15 months following the president’s pledge with Raul Castro to reopen diplomatic channels following a prisoner exchange and the humanitarian release of U.S. contractor Alan Gross in December 2014.

    Since the announcement, the two countries have had a series of diplomatic talks, leading to the reopening of embassies last summer and the recent deal restoring commercial air traffic.

    The last and only sitting U.S. president to visit the island nation only 90 miles south of the Florida keys was Calvin Coolidge, in 1928, to address the Sixth Annual International Conference of American States in Havana.

    He met with Cuba’s President Gerardo Machado, who was in office from 1925 to 1933, until he was forced into exile.

    President Jimmy Carter traveled to Cuba in 2002, 20 years after leaving office, at the invitation of President Fidel Castro.

    Carter also made a trip in 2011.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/president-obama-planning-trip-cuba-month-sources/story

  8. I promised myself last week to label spoofs and satires clearly up-top. Because it isn’t always obvious and no one should be distressed over someone else’s idea of a joke. Especially since April Fool’s Day is only short months away…

    So when I saw this headline I had to read it through twice. They’re serious:
    French feminists liken Saudi Starbucks ban on women to Nazi Germany

    A group called Osez Le Feminisme, a French NGO, posted last week on their Facebook page which has nearly 80,000 likes, calling for a “Girlcott” of all Starbucks branches.
    A French feminist organization has called for a boycott of Starbucks over a sign typed in both Arabic and English on the door of a branch of the cafe in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that informed customers that women were banned from the store and would not be served, according to reports by the Independent.

    “Please no entry for ladies only send your [male] driver to order,” read the green sign taped to the door of the international coffee chain store in Riyadh.
    A group called Osez Le Feminisme, a French NGO, posted last week on their Facebook page which has nearly 80,000 followers, calling for a “Girlcott” of all Starbucks branches.

    The post, written in French, read, “Since women do not have access to the cafés in Saudi Arabia, I have decided to stop going there myself. The sexism spoiled the coffee.”

    http://www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/French-feminists-liken-Saudi-Starbucks-ban-on-women-to-Nazi-Germany-445198

  9. Near the nation’s capital in the US of A, a local election interprets recent history to its liking.
    http://kathleenmatthewsforcongress.com/press-releases/kathleen-matthews-tv-ad-targets-tougher-gun-safety-measures/
    Kathleen Matthews: Too many nights I led the 11 o’clock news with stories of gun violence. And like many of you, my family lived through the beltway sniper crisis.
    In Congress, I’ll fight to expand background checks on guns and ammunition, ban assault weapons, and mandate gun safety locks because too many kids die from accidental shootings.

    The Oct 2002 beltway sniper crisis: This Reflection Terrace Memorial lists the 10 victims.
    http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=6825468&CRid=2367069&

    http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=44180398
    John Allen Muhammad was a spree killer from the United States. With his younger partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, he carried out the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks, killing at least 10 people….Born John Allen Williams, Muhammad joined the Nation of Islam in 1987 and later changed his surname to Muhammad. Drawings by Malvo describe the murders as part of a “jihad” (Arabic for “struggle in the way of God”). At Muhammad’s trial, the prosecutor claimed that the rampage was part of a plot to kill his ex-wife and regain custody of his children,

  10. Another for the “Never Surrender” file:
    Defiant Israeli Owner of Ohio Restaurant Attacked by Machete-Wielding Assailant Says He Will Now Wear Star of David

    The owner of the Columbus, Ohio restaurant in which four people were wounded in a machete attack last week said he will not let the incident deter his support for Israel, The Washington Post reported.
    Hany Baransi, a Christian Arab from Haifa, displays an Israeli flag in the window of his restaurant, Nazareth Mediterranean Cuisine, which has been open for 27 years. When asked if he would consider removing the flag as a precaution, Baransi rejected the idea.
    “Actually I have another flag, and I am going to get a bigger flag, and I am going to get a Star of David necklace and put it on my chest, and I am going to get a tattoo,” he said. “Honest to God, I am not kidding. They don’t scare me. We are Israelis. We are Israelis. We are resilient, we fight back.”
    Though authorities initially said they believed that the attacker, Somali immigrant Mohamed Barry, terrorized the restaurant randomly, new information has surfaced making it seem likely that it was targeted because of Baransi’s being Israeli, according to The Washington Post.
    Baransi said that half an hour before the attack, the assailant asked a waiter where the owner was from, and she told him he was from Israel. The attacker, 30, then left the eatery after learning that Baransi was not on the premises. He returned 30 minutes later wielding a machete and slashing diners.

    http://www.algemeiner.com/2016/02/16/christian-israeli-arab-owner-of-ohio-restaurant-attacked-by-machete-wielding-assailant-says-he-will-wear-star-of-david/

  11. Experts say more immigration could create a ‘decrease’ in terrorist attacks

    Immigration is not believed to be the source of terrorism, according to new research from the University of Warwick. On the contrary, the study found that more migration could create a decrease in terrorist attacks, rather than an increase.

    The report, Does Immigration Include Terrorism?, was published in the Journal of Politics and is based on analysis of terrorism in migration flows between 145 countries between 1970 and 2000. It found that migrants bring new skills, knowledge and perspectives to the country they arrive in, which stimulates technological innovation and, in turn, stimulates economic growth.

    Vincenzo Bove, associate professor at the University’s politics department, said: “Our findings shouldn’t be surprising. If we subscribe to the belief that economic development is linked to a decrease in extremism then we should expect an increase in migration to have a positive effect.”

    Bove and co-author Tobias Bohmelt from the University of Essex measured the average number of terror attacks in a country in a given year and took into consideration the level of migration to identify whether there was a link between the two. They established that countries with the highest level of exposure to the diffusion of terrorism are those with migrants from regions with high terrorism incidents.

    While ruling out migration as a direct cause of terrorism, the study indicated that migration could be a driver of terrorism in some circumstances. The report found that there was an increase in terrorism in countries that accepted migrants from places where terrorism was rampant. Countries that accepted migrants from places with low levels of terrorism activity did not suffer a large amount of terrorist attacks themselves.

    Despite this, the research highlighted that ONLY A SMALL MINORITY of migrants from high-terrorism countries could be associated with an increase in terrorism. When they were associated with it, it was often in an indirect way. Researchers explained that discriminate immigration laws on terror-prone countries was not advisable as security agencies would fail to identify the “organisers of terrorism”.

    Bove explained: “Terrorist organisations often exploit migrant networks and migrant communities as a recruitment pool. We hope that policymakers will not enforce immigration laws in an indiscriminate way as this may lead to the loss of the positive impact of migration.”

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/experts-say-more-immigration-could-create-decrease-terrorist-attacks-1544432

    • Associate professor at the University’s politics department,
      Wants to be full professor so bad he can taste it. CVE Studies Department.

    • I don’ t mind politicians lying to me, in fact I expect it from them. What I mind is whey they insult my intelligence with statements like this one.