Reader’s links for Feb. 26 – 2015

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

About Eeyore

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

126 Replies to “Reader’s links for Feb. 26 – 2015”

  1. GERMANY LEIPZIG -Dead pig found at German mosque building site

    Police say a dead pig with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s name daubed on it has been found at a construction site where a mosque is being built in the eastern German city of Leipzig.

    The animal’s corpse had the words “Mutti Merkel” written on it in red letters. “Mutti,” or “mom,” has become a common nickname for the German leader over the years.

    Police spokesman Uwe Voigt said that “in view of the circumstances it appears likely that this is a xenophobic act,” news agency dpa reported. Authorities were investigating.

    Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung condemned the incident.

    In a 2013 incident after plans for the mosque became known, pigs’ heads were found at the same site. Police say no perpetrator has ever been found.

    http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/feb/25/the-latest-greece-maintains-threat-to-act-alone/

    in German :

    Totes Ferkel auf Bauplatz gefunden

    Im Leipziger Stadtteil Gohlis soll eine Moschee gebaut werden. Nun wurde dort ein totes Ferkel gefunden, auf dem „Mutti Merkel“ geschrieben stand.

    LEIPZIG epd | Unbekannte haben auf dem Baugelände einer künftigen Moschee in Leipzig ein totes Ferkel abgelegt. Das Tier sei am Mittwochmittag auf dem noch unwegsamen Gelände im Leipziger Norden zwischen Gestrüpp entdeckt worden, sagte ein Sprecher der Leipziger Polizei am Donnerstag dem Evangelischen Pressedienst. Auf dem Ferkel stand mit roter Farbe „Mutti Merkel“ geschrieben. Zudem sei aus dem linken Ohr des Tieres die Erkennungsmarke entfernt worden.

    Wegen eines vermuteten politisch motivierten Hintergrunds habe der Staatsschutz die Ermittlungen übernommen, sagte der Sprecher. Ermittelt werden wegen „Beleidigung der Bundeskanzlerin“.

    Auf dem Gelände der Leipziger Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Gemeinde hatten bereits 2013 Unbekannte fünf Holzpflöcke eingeschlagen und darauf blutige Schweineköpfe gesteckt. Das Schwein gilt im Islam als unreines Tier. Nach Bekanntwerden der Baupläne für die Moschee hatte es heftige von der NPD initiierte Proteste gegen das Bauvorhaben gegeben. Der SPD-Vorsitzende Sigmar Gabriel bezeichnete die Tat damals bei einem Besuch des Geländes als „Angriff auf die ganze Gesellschaft“.

    Die Gemeinde plant auf dem Areal in Leipzig-Gohlis den Bau einer etwa zehn bis 17 Meter großen Moschee im orientalischen Stil mit zwei zwölf Meter hohen Minaretten. Es wäre – nach einer Moschee in Berlin-Pankow – die zweite Moschee mit Minaretten in Ostdeutschland. Baustart sollte eigentlich bereits 2014 sein.

    http://www.taz.de/Moschee-Bau-in-Leipzig/!5281699/

    • I fully approve of this creative expression, porking two deserving targets: Mother Terrorista Merkel and the Invaders. Well done !

      • If it was the resistance I agree with you, but so many of these cases turn out to be false flags to make the resistance look bad.

  2. USA: Russian intervention in Syria “reinforced the Assad regime” says Obama

    “Russia’s intervention and airstrikes have reinforced the Assad regime and made humanitarian catastrophe even worse” said Obama during a press conference at the White House in Washington D.C, Thursday.

    • So, am I completely off base here in assuming that the Sunni Arabs of Syria will slaughter every Alawite and Christian and whatever other minorities there are the minute they overthrow the Assad regime? That’s the deal…right? Am I wrong in thinking that many Sunni Arabs consider themselves to be the only people who God loves and everybody else to be less than worthless Infidel apostate trash and not deserving of life itself?

      But Obama is always against the Regime, isn’t he. And he always frames the conflict as a straight up genocide on the part of Bashar al-Assad. Like Bashar has rounded up 400,000 people and executed them in concentration camps simply because he’s evil. Well I, for one, fail to see what is so evil about trying to keep from getting your head sawed off by a Sunni religious fanatic, of which there are countless millions. Assad knew how to keep terrorists at bay, and that’s really all we need to know about it. Meet the new paradigm – same as the old paradigm…

      • You are right, that is what the Sunnis will do and it is what Obama is saying, of course Obama is some variaty of Moslem himself.

        • I think he might be a Shunnia Muslim. He gives A-bombs to one and invades sovereign countries for the other. Equal opportunity aiding and abetting…

          • As far as I can tell his idea is to have two equally powerful Caliphates taking on the world, one the Persian Empire reformed and the other the Ottoman Empire reformed. The two would never get along and would end up nuking each other but Obama is also a liberal which means he is not really very smart but thinks he is the smartest person in the world.

      • about 100 years from now the historians will be working hard to explain why with all of our tech the far left politicians managed to convience the people they were working to preserve the rule of while while betraying it at every turn, and doing the betrails in open sight. They are making no bones about their treason and it is ignored.

    • reuters – The road to Aleppo: how the West misread Putin over Syria

      Last July, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad seemed to be losing his battle against rebel forces. Speaking to supporters in Damascus, he acknowledged his army’s heavy losses.

      Western officials said the Syrian leader’s days were numbered and predicted he would soon be forced to the negotiating table.

      It did not turn out that way. Secret preparations were already underway for a major deployment of Russian and Iranian forces in support of Assad.

      The military intervention, taking many in the West by surprise, would roll back rebel gains. It would also accelerate two shifts in U.S. diplomacy: Washington would welcome Iran to the negotiating table over Syria, and it would no longer insist that Assad step down immediately.

      “That involved swallowing some pride, to be honest, in acknowledging that this process would go nowhere unless you got Russia and Iran at the table,” a U.S. official said.

      At the heart of the diplomacy shift – which essentially brought Washington closer to Moscow’s position – was a slow-footed realization of the Russian military build-up in Syria and, ultimately, a refusal to intervene militarily.

      Russia, Iran and Syria struck their agreement to deploy military forces in June, several weeks before Assad’s July 26 speech, according to a senior official in the Middle East who was familiar with the details.

      And Russian sources say large amounts of equipment, and hundreds of troops, were being dispatched over a series of weeks, making it hard to hide the pending operation.

      Yet a senior U.S. administration official said it took until mid-September for Western powers to fully recognize Russia’s intentions. One of the final pieces of the puzzle was when Moscow deployed aircraft flown only by the Russian military, eliminating the possibility they were intended for Assad, the official said.

      An earlier understanding of Russia’s military plans is unlikely to have changed U.S. military policy. President Barack Obama had made clear early on that he did not want Washington embroiled in a proxy war with Russia. And when the West did wake up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions, it was short of ideas about how to respond.

      As in Ukraine in 2014, the West seemed helpless.

      French President Francois Hollande summed up the mood among America’s European allies: “I would prefer the United States to be more active. But since the United States has stepped back, who should take over, who should act?”

      SIGNPOSTS

      In July last year, one of Iran’s top generals, Qassem Soleimani, went to Moscow on a visit that was widely reported. The senior Middle Eastern official told Reuters that Soleimani had also met Putin twice several weeks before that.

      “They defined zero hour for the Russian planes and equipment, and the Russian and Iranian crews,” he said.

      Russia began sending supply ships through the Bosphorus in August, Reuters reported at the time. There was no attempt to hide the voyages and on Sept. 9 Reuters reported that Moscow had begun participating in military operations in Syria.

      A Russian Air Force colonel, who took part in preparations and provided fresh details of the build-up, said hundreds of Russian pilots and ground staff were selected for the Syria mission in mid-August.

      Warplanes sent to Syria included the Sukhoi-25 and Sukhoi-24 offensive aircraft, U.S. officials said. In all, according to U.S. officials, Russia by Sept. 21 had 28 fixed-wing aircraft, 16 helicopters, advanced T-90 tanks and other armored vehicles, artillery, anti-aircraft batteries and hundreds of marines at its base near Latakia.

      Despite this public build-up, the West either played down the risks or failed to recognize them.

      U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sept. 22 that Russian aircraft were in Syria to defend the Russians’ base – “force protection” in the view of U.S. military experts.

      At the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 28, the French announced their own first air strikes in Syria.

      “The international community is hitting Daesh (Islamic State). France is hitting Daesh. The Russians, for now, are not doing anything,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius Fabius said at the time.

      The next day Russia announced its strikes in Syria.

      WARNINGS

      One former U.S. official, who was in government at the time, told Reuters that some U.S. officials had begun voicing concern that Russia would intervene militarily in Syria two weeks before the bombing began.

      Their concerns, however, were disregarded by officials in the White House and those dealing with the Middle East because of a lack of hard intelligence, the former U.S. official said.

      “There was this tendency to say, ‘We don’t know. Let’s see,'” recounted the former U.S. official.

      Yet between October and December, American perceptions shifted, as reported by Reuters at the time.

      By December, U.S. officials had concluded that Russia had achieved its main goal of stabilizing Assad’s government and could maintain its operations in Syria for years.

      “I think it’s indisputable that the Assad regime, with Russian military support, is probably in a safer position than it was,” a senior administration official said.

      DIPLOMATIC U-TURN

      At that point, the U.S. pivoted to the negotiating table with Russia and Iran. Officials say they had few other options with Obama unwilling to commit American ground troops to Syria, aside from small deployments of Special Operations forces, or provide U.S.-backed opposition fighters with anti-aircraft missiles.

      In Munich on Feb 12, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced an agreement for humanitarian access and a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria, far short of a ceasefire.

      “Putin has taken the measure of the West… He has basically concluded, I can push and push and push and push and I am never going to hit steel anywhere,” said Fred Hof, a former State Department and Pentagon Syria expert now at the Atlantic Council think tank.

      Today, U.S. officials sound a far different note than in the early days of the uprising against Assad when they said his exit must be immediate. Now, with the war entering its sixth year, they say they must push the diplomatic possibilities as far as possible and insist Kerry is fully aware of what Russia is doing to change facts on the ground.

      In congressional testimony on Wednesday, Kerry acknowledged there was no guarantee the “cessation of hostilities” would work, adding: “But I know this: If it doesn’t work, the potential is there that Syria will be utterly destroyed. The fact is that we need to make certain that we are exploring and exhausting every option of diplomatic resolution.”

      For the rebels, the reality is bleak.

      Government forces have closed in on the city of Aleppo, a major symbol of the uprising. Their supply routes from Turkey cut, rebels in the Aleppo area now say it may only be a matter of time before they are crushed altogether.

      “We are heading toward being liquidated I think,” said a former official in a rebel group from the city.

      Other fighters remain determinedly upbeat, saying Assad is only gaining ground because of Russian air power and he will not be able to sustain the advances.

      For Syrians living under government rule in Damascus, Moscow’s intervention has inspired a degree of confidence. They credit one of the calmest periods since the start of the war to the death of rebel leader Zahran Alloush, killed in a Russian air strike on Christmas Day.

      There are few foreign visitors these days. Bashar al-Seyala, who owns a souvenir shop in the Old City, said most of his foreign customers are Russians. His shop had just sold out of mugs printed with Putin’s face.

      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-putin-insight-idUSKCN0VZ1GG

      • Syria: You know this isn’t about Assad anymore, right?
        By J.E. Dyer September 16, 2015As Russia and Iran move in more overtly on Syria, it’s important to understand that their objective is not to prop up a weak, dependent Bashar al-Assad. Doing that is a convenience. Assad functions now as a fig leaf for the real objective of his long-time patrons: establishing effective control of the territory of Syria.

        The Western media will probably keep saying, by rote, that Russia and Iran are supporting Assad – just as they will keep saying that the U.S. coalition is battling Islamic State. But there’s a reason for the “why this summer; why right now” behind Russia’s seemingly sudden strategic move on Syria. And it’s not the superficial motives being attributed to Russia or Iran.

        There are two interlocking catalysts for Russia’s decision to intervene actively, just at this moment. One is the U.S.-Turkey partnership “against ISIS,” which became active in late July, and immediately resulted in Turkey attacking not ISIS, but Kurds in Syria and Iraq.

        Turkey

        The point of what Turkey attacked, from the cover of a new coalition with the U.S., is that the targets reflected Turkey’s greatest national concerns. None of this is meant as an indictment of Turkey; that’s a separate issue. This is an analysis. We need to understand that what Turkey is doing is leveraging a coalition with the U.S. to pursue Turkey’s highest priorities.

        Indeed, Obama’s America is basically a junior partner in this arrangement, allowed to fly from Turkish territory but subject to a Turkish veto over what we will attack in Syria.

        Russia sees the import of that, even if Westerners don’t. So does Iran. And there is no doubt in the strategic minds in Moscow and Tehran that Ankara’s long-term objective is to control the territory of Syria – now that Assad has been decisively weakened, and so much of Syria is either occupied by Sunni radicals, or would fall easily to the mere threat of military power.

        There is nothing fanciful about Russian and Iranian perceptions. They’re based on geography and recent history. Only 100 years ago, Turkey was the seat of the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire controlled the territory of Syria. It’s been a very, very long time since the armies of Persia rampaged unhindered through the territory of modern Turkey or Syria, but in terms of the vast scope of history, it’s been only the blink of an eye since a sultan in Istanbul controlled them both.

        Moreover, the Ottomans’ control of much of the Middle East was established in the guise of history’s premier, longest-lasting Islamic caliphate. Atlantic Westerners may not remember, but Russians and Eastern Europeans certainly do, that the fall of the Western, Roman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) to the Ottomans in 1453 was a watershed of Islamic triumphalism: a culmination of the multi-century process of throwing post-Roman, Christian rulers out of the Middle East.

        http://libertyunyielding.com/2015/09/16/syria-you-know-this-isnt-about-assad-anymore-right/

        • J. E. Dyer is a retired naval intel analysts and you are getting a trained and accurate analysis when you read her articles.

    • >strong>Al Qaeda Rejects Truce, Calls for More Fighting in Syria

      The head of Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda, one of its most powerful rebel groups, called for an escalation in fighting against the government and its allies on Saturday and urged opponents of President Bashar al-Assad to reject a ceasefire due to begin at midnight.

      The government and the opposition have agreed to take part in a U.S.-Russian “cessation of hostilities” accord that is due to begin at midnight (2200 GMT on Friday). Warring parties had been required to sign up by noon.

      Under the measure, which has not been signed by the Syrian warring parties themselves and is less binding than a formal ceasefire, the government and its enemies are expected to stop shooting so aid can reach civilians and peace talks begin.

      The truce excludes jihadist groups such as ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. The Damascus government and its Russian allies said they will not halt operations against those militants.

      The Nusra Front on Friday urged insurgent groups to intensify their attacks against President Bashar al-Assad and his allies.

      “Beware of this trick from the West and America because everyone is pushing you to go back under the thumb of the oppressive regime,” Mohammad al-Jolani, the head of Al-Nusra Front, said in an audio message on Orient News TV released on Friday.

      “Strengthen your resolve and intensify your strikes, and do not let their planes and great numbers (of troops) scare you”, al-Jolani added.

      Unlike ISIS, which controls defined areas of territory in central and eastern Syria, the Nusra Front is widely disseminated in opposition-held areas in the west, and any escalation would increase the risks of the truce collapsing.

      Nusra is bigger than nearly all the factions taking part in the cessation, with fighters across western Syria.
      As the deadline for the cessation of hostilities drew nearer, heavy air strikes were reported to have hit opposition-held areas near Damascus while fighting raged across much of western Syria.

      The Syrian government has agreed to the cessation plan. The main opposition alliance, which has deep reservations, said it would accept it for two weeks but feared the government and its allies would abuse it to attack opposition factions under the pretext that they were jihadists.

      Russian news agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin saying that Russia had received information confirming that all parties expected to take part in the cessation of hostilities were ready to do so.

      Putin reasserted the continuous combat actions against ISIS, the Nusra Front and other groups which the Syrian government regards as terrorists.

      “I would like to express the hope that our American partners will also bear this in mind … and that nobody will forget that there are other terrorist organizations apart from ISIS,” he said in Moscow.

      http://english.aawsat.com/2016/02/article55347929/al-qaeda-rejects-truce-calls-for-more-fighting-in-syria

      • I would think that if one country can forbid another country from having a referendum then that second country is no longer a democracy, but an occupied state. The member countries of the EU are simply going to have to accept the fact that they no longer live in sovereign nations, but now live in provinces of one greater nation. The idea that you can be an actual country and a member of the EU at the same time is ridiculous. Hell, maybe they’ll call them “prefectures”, or “cantons”, or “States”, but they’re definitely not going to be “countries”.

        What kind of a bloody idiot would ever think that the EU was a good idea? Can’t they see that it’s nothing but a colossal boondoggle machine. That’s what leftists do. They create boondoggle machines and then steal as much money from them as they possibly can…

        Imagine: The Province of France. The District of Germany. UK State. I love it…

        • This is what the EU was designed to be, a United States of Europe, the left sold the idea as being a way to provide a competitor to the US in economic power. They ignored the military component of being the top dog, the weakness has always been that the people of Northern and Central Europe have no ties to the people in Southern Europe and thus won’t suffer for them. And since there is no common language there is nothing to tie them together.

          The latter is the reason the left tries to stop English being made our official language, they want to divide us not unite us.

          • Haven’t those idiots ever heard of “trade agreements” or “partnerships” or, God forbid, “outcompeting the other guy”? Surely they could find ways of counterbalancing the United States (and now China…and others…) without encasing the entire continent in cement. Idiots! Don’t they realize that all those different countries and cultures and traditions and cuisines and languages are literally priceless? If the world loses all its cultures and becomes one giant politically correct uni-bore we will have lost treasures that we can never, ever replace. Misguided fools!

            • They are committed leftists anything and anyone is expendable as long as they can create their socialist utopia. The fact that all other attempts to create utopia have ended with a distopian world means nothing to them because in their arrogance they are the smartest people in the world. The fact that in reality they are semi educated fools never occurs to them or their admirers.

      • The EU commission should go and play in the middle of the traffic (preferably the travic of ISIS tanks scrambling towards one of their hidey holes in a great hurry) and they should take the UN with them, and Merkel, and Hollande and and and, ….oh yes, AND OBAMA … and Clinton !

        • They should but they won’t, after all their plans are semi working and the west is falling apart, they think that if they hang on they can pick up the pieces and create their socialist utopia, using the policies that have caused the economic crisis that hit in 08 and is rapidly returning.

        • In answer to you and Chris they don’t think uni cultures are bores because in their minds they will be running the uni culture. They ignore the fact that competition is what has lead to all of the cultural and scientific advancement Of course they are opposed to the advancement because in their minds it is bad for the environment and the people. I am asking you to google “deep ecology” are read some of what the people running the eco movement think. These people are helping the socialists and to an extent the socialists agree with the deep ecological believers.

    • Greece: Refugee camps stretched as Macedonia tightens border controls
      Around 400 refugees and migrants left on foot out of the Diavata camp in northern Greece on Thursday morning, in the direction of the Idomeni border crossing with Macedonia. They set off out of frustration with the camp, looking to cross into the neighbouring country.

    • Austria: 400 people protest Austria’s asylum policy in Wiener Neustadt

      The Austrian town of Wiener Neustadt saw a large rally on Thursday evening, of people protesting the country’s commitment to taking in refugees. A banner above the podium and held up by demonstrators declared, “Foreigner in our own city? Wiener Neustadt fights back!”

    • Germany: Merkel underlines positives of the refugee influx for German industry

      German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the influx of refugees into Germany and its potentially positive impact on the German economy, while visiting the International Craft Fair (Internationale Handwerksmesse) in Munich on Friday.

      SOT, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (German): “I would like to explicitly thank you for your positive and constructive attitude with regards to the people who come to us as refugees. German industry, from small to big businesses, has proven to be open, energetic, and more is still to come as we saw last year.”

      SOT, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (German): “From those persons identified with residence status, for instance those under the Geneva Convention, and from those who are able to work and in older [working] age, almost half of them are below 25 and this shows the potential that exists.”

      SOT, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (German): “I believe that this is not the only financial risk. We discussed this today, there are risks in the external export sector because of the world economy. But there are of course new challenges because of the refugees. It is clear that not all refugees are able to work from day-one as 100 percent skilled employees.”

      SOT, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (German): “I believe that the developments of the last few days have shown that we need a European approach to resolve the question of refugees and the external borders. We have to start with tackling the roots of the [refugee] influx. We agree on this in Europe. We also agree that we should safeguard the external borders.”

  3. Egypt’s first convicted FGM doctor Fadl loses licence (BBC, Feb 25, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35664978

    “A court in Egypt has finally revoked the licence of a doctor found guilty last year of the manslaughter of a 13-year-old girl who died after an illegal female genital mutilation procedure.

    Raslan Fadl was Egypt’s first doctor to be convicted of performing FGM, even though the still widespread practice was officially banned in 2008.

    His two-year prison sentence was hailed as a major victory by campaigners.

    But recent reports said Fadl had not been jailed and was still practising.

    Despite the ban, more than 90% of girls and women aged between 15 and 59 in the country have undergone the procedure in recent years, according to UN estimates.

    ‘Small step’

    Fadl was convicted in January 2015 on charges relating to the 2013 death of Suhair al-Bataa, who was from a small farming community on the outskirts of the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

    During the trial prosecutors argued that she had been forced to undergo FGM by her father.

    Fadl denied carrying out the procedure, saying he had only treated her for warts and that her death had been caused by an allergic reaction to penicillin.

    Both he and Suhair’s father were cleared of any wrongdoing at their initial trial. But prosecutors appealed against the verdict and it was overturned in November 2015.
    Fadl’s clinic was ordered to close for a year.

    Suhair’s father was meanwhile given a three-month suspended sentence.

    The revoking of Fadl’s licence will be seen as a small step forward in the anti-FGM campaign, the BBC’s Sebastian Usher says.

    He adds this comes just days after the Egyptian health ministry set up an initiative, called Doctors against FGM, aimed at encouraging all medical professionals to stop the practice.

    Typically FGM is carried out on girls aged between nine and 13 – but there are victims as young as six, anti-FGM campaigners say.”

  4. Syria conflict: UN reports failure of first aid air-drop (BBC, Feb 25, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35658287

    “A UN agency has admitted that its first attempt to air-drop humanitarian aid to Syrians from high altitude largely failed but it promised to keep trying.

    Of 21 pallets dropped over the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on Wednesday, 10 were unaccounted for, seven landed in no-man’s land and four were damaged.

    Some 200,000 civilians are trapped in a government-held area of the city, besieged by Islamic State militants.

    The air-drop is part of a larger effort to deliver desperately-needed aid.

    Initially, the UN said reports from Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) teams on the ground in Deir al-Zour suggested that the first cargo of 21 tonnes of aid dropped over the city had landed in the target area as planned.

    However, the World Food Programme later issued a statement saying the operation “faced technical difficulties and we are debriefing crew and partners in Deir al-Zour to make necessary adjustments”.

    “High-altitude drops are extremely challenging to carry out and take more than one trial to develop full accuracy,” it added.

    On Thursday, a WFP spokesman confirmed that all the 21 palettes dropped by parachute were damaged, went off-target or were unaccounted for…”

  5. President Obama Ramping Up ISIS Fight ‘On All Fronts’ (nbcnews, Feb 25, 2016)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/syria-peace-talks/president-obama-ramping-isis-fight-all-fronts-n526026

    “The United States will ramp up its campaign against ISIS “on all fronts” President Obama said Thursday evening — and he added that Russian intervention has made the “human catastrophe” in Syria even worse.

    Speaking after a meeting at the State Department with his National Security Council, Obama said that he has directed his team to advance the fight against extremists and that other U.S. allies “have agreed to increase their contributions.”

    Obama said Dutch aircraft were now striking ISIS targets in Syria, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also “ramping up efforts” in their air campaigns.

    He also said that the United States’ own air campaign, which he said has hit the militant group with 10,000 strikes so far, “continues to destroy (ISIS) forces, infrastructure and their weapons.”

    Obama also underscored the importance of the impending ceasefire in Syria, which is set to take effect on Saturday.

    The United States and Russia, who back opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, agreed upon the terms of the “cessation of hostilities” between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and armed opposition groups earlier this month.

    “This is a tough situation with a lot of moving parts,” he said of the civil war in Syria.

    “None of us are under any illusions, but history would judge us harshly if we did not do our part in diplomacy,” he added.

    The truce, however, does not cover terrorist groups, like ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

    Even as he highlighted the importance of the ceasefire, Obama continued to criticize Russia’s military role in the region….”

  6. Russia, Syrian army pound rebels ahead of fighting halt (reuters, Feb 25, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN0VY1VB

    “Russian warplanes bombed Syrian rebel-held areas in northwestern Syria and government forces pounded a suburb of the capital on Thursday, ahead of a planned halt to fighting that rebels predicted Damascus and Moscow would ignore.

    The “cessation of hostilities” agreed to by the United States and Russia is due to take hold on Saturday morning from midnight. But opponents of President Bashar al-Assad say they expect the government to press on with its advance, by branding opposition fighters al Qaeda militants unprotected by the truce.

    Damascus has agreed to the deal, as has the main opposition alliance, although it is only ready to commit for two weeks given its deep reservations. But the government and its allies will be permitted to forge on with strikes against jihadist militants of Islamic State and an al Qaeda-linked group, the Nusra Front.

    The government also says the agreement could fail if foreign states supply rebels with weapons or insurgents use the truce to rearm.

    U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday the United States was resolved to try to make the deal work but that “there are plenty of reasons for scepticism.”

    Saying the Syrian government and Russia must live up to their commitments, Obama told reporters after meeting with his national security team: “The coming days will be critical and the world will be watching.”

    Ending the conflict in Syria, he added, could allow all parties to focus on the fight against Islamic State…”

  7. Report: thousands of refugees ‘disappear’ after registering in Germany (DW, Feb 25, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/report-thousands-of-refugees-disappear-after-registering-in-germany/a-19076196

    “It’s been reported that many refugees never move into their intended accommodation after registering in Germany. It comes as Berlin tightens up laws regarding asylum.

    Germany’s “Süddeutsche Zeitung” daily reported on Friday that last year 13 percent of registered refugees never went to their planned shelter, equating to more than 130,000 people.

    The newspaper based its report on a response from the federal Interior Ministry, on request of Germany’s Left Party. The ministry listed possible reasons for the refugees’ disappearance as asylum seekers continuing their journey to other countries or submersion into illegality.

    According to the ministry, Germany is even less successful in sending refugees back to the EU state responsible for them. German authorities made a request to a European partner to take back refugees for only one in every ten applicants. In 2014, this was the case in every five refugees.

    Under the Dublin Regulation, the state responsible for an asylum seeker is the country in which the person first stepped foot on EU soil. This system is set for an overhaul in the coming months, however, as it has proved unworkable. Figures last month showed Greece saw 21 times more migrants arrive on its shores than in January 2015.

    Head of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration (BAMF), Frank-Jürgen Weise, also said on Thursday in Berlin that there are currently up to 400,000 people in the country whose identities are unknown to authorities.

    The report on Friday came just a day after the Germany’s parliament – the Bundestag – passed a package of new and tighter laws on asylum.

    The package, which will go to the German upper house, or Bundesrat, on Friday for a final vote, aims to help Germany cope with a massive influx of refugees, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, who have come to the country in recent months.

    The legislation aims to speed up asylum procedures, making it easier to deport migrants whose claim to asylum has not been recognized by the German state.

    The bill has received harsh criticism, however, due to a measure which will see asylum-seekers having to wait two years before they can have family members join them in Germany.

    In 2015, Germany took in 1.1 million asylum-seekers, with many more expected to arrive in the coming years.”

  8. EXCLUSIVE: Daesh Used Corrosive Chemicals Against Iraqi Civilians (VIDEO) (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2016)
    http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160225/1035333687/daesh-chemical-weapons-civilians.html

    “Sputnik has been granted rare access to a warehouse, where Daesh stored chemical weapons used in terrorist attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces in the province of Anbar.

    The footage shot on location shows an officer of the local self-defense forces talking about the compound known as Vinyltrichlorosilane, which is identified by the United Nations as a hazardous substance (UN ID: 1305)…..”

  9. France’s ‘secret war’ against the IS group in Libya (france24, Feb 25, 2016)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20160225-france-secret-war-libya-islamic-state-group

    “French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has launched an “investigation” to identify the source behind a newspaper article that alleged French forces are engaged in a secret war combating the Islamic State group in Libya.

    French newspaper Le Monde reported on Wednesday that special forces and the military unit of France’s DGSE intelligence agency are engaged in covert operations against Islamic State (IS) group militants in Libya alongside the US and UK.

    Le Monde also said sources had reported sightings of French special forces in eastern Libya since mid-February.

    Although the French government has not confirmed the revelations, Le Drian has ordered an immediate investigation into “breaches of national defence secrecy” to identify the sources of the report.

    “The investigation will establish whether elements pertaining to classified information have been revealed in this newspaper article,” a source close to Le Drian told AFP, confirming a report by French weekly magazine Le Point.

    However, Libyan special forces commander Wanis Bukhamada told Reuters that “the French military group in Benghazi are just military advisers who provide consultations to the Libyan National Army in its battle against terrorism, but they are not fighting with our Libyan forces”.

    The IS group currently controls the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, located between the country’s two main cities, Tripoli and Benghazi….”

  10. We discovered America before Columbus, says Saudi filmmaker (saudigazette, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/we-discovered-america-before-columbus-says-saudi-filmmaker/

    “What has long been taught in history books and classrooms may turn out to be a big lie. This is shown in a recent documentary film titled “We Discovered America Before Columbus.” The film, made by Saudi filmmaker Dr. Khalid Abualkhair, aims to present the real history of the discovery of the Americas through a series of interviews with historians and academics and newly-found evidences.

    Abualkhair holds a PhD in political media and teaches Media and Political Communication at Taiba University in Madinah. In a year and a half, he set out on a journey across continents to unveil the truth about early Musims’ encounters in the American continents that counter today’s historical records narrated to generations since European colonialism.

    “It was like putting pieces into a puzzle,” Abualkhair says, in an exclusive interview with Saudi Gazette.

    Responding to the long debate of who were the first Americans, the film explores the American continents in two parts with the first segment focusing on the discovery of North America. “While there are theories made, there are also scientific facts. Some theories say the Native Americans reached America 16,000 years ago. Some state that the Irish were the first to arrive while others say the Vikings. And some even say the Japanese arrived in Ecuador. There also facts that reveal that the Africans and Chinese arrived. However, I decided to focus on the proofs from Andalusia and Mali.”

    The film presents facts from documented sources as well as a series of interviews with dozens of historians, university professors and academic researchers in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Morocco, Senegal and Mali.

    In her book ‘We Were Not Us’, published in 1992 which marked the 500th anniversary of the fall of Granada, Duchess Luisa Isabel Alvarez states it is not the Spaniards who discovered America, backing her claims with documents of her family’s archives as well as the archives of Medina Simancus. “I referred to Duchess Luisa Isabel Alvarez because the archives include 4 million documents dating from the 12th century till today. Her family of Medina-Sidonia is significant because it’s the third most important family in Spain after King Juan Carlos,” says Abualkhair.

    “The Simancus archives are the daily governmental documentation of royal decrees, declarations and letters from King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I until the 18th century. All of it is available and conserved. And the author referred to real facts and historical documentation.”

    Letters and correspondence reveal that the Muslim Andalusians, who ruled over Spain between the 8th and 15th century, frequently traveled to America to trade goods long before Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the New World in 1492.

    “Columbus’s expedition had three ships, two of which belonged to a maritime family called Benzon, or Ibn Zayn, who were knowledgeable and experienced in traveling the Atlantic Ocean,” says Abualkhair, who also investigated cartography and old maps drawn before the famous 1492 expedition.

    “When I went to Spain to film the documentary, I was warned not to question two things: Catholicism and the discovery of America!” he added. “However, academics from universities and research institutes have shared their knowledge and facts.”

    The second part of the film explores the discovery of South America through Muslim traces in Brazil by investigating the expedition of King Abubakr II, the ruler of the Mali Empire. “The Mali Empire lasted for 250 years. It was the richest kingdom in the world because it was famous for gold. It consists of 12 modern-day countries from Central Africa to Nigeria and Ghanam” Abualkhair says.

    “The Andalusian civilization gradually transferred to Africa because the Mali Empire invested in Islamic scholars from Andalusia and invited them. As a result, the Timbuktu civilization was established and became the capital of culture and intellect.”

    “Abu Bakr II ruled Africa and had immense wealth, political power and a strong army,” he further says. “Brazilian ambassador to Nigeria and historian Alberto da Costa e Silva says his belief was that there was no river without two coasts. So the African ruler set to cross the ocean to the other shore and establish an Islamic kingdom, handing over the throne to his brother Mansa Musa. His journey of 200 ships was planned with the Andalusian scholars who already had experience in traveling frequently to America.”

    Once in Brazil, Abualkhair along with a crew of filmmakers discovered several truths to traces of Muslim African settlements in Salvador, Bahia, including an old mosque turned into a church, and diaries of travelers describing water streams similar to that of the Amazon River, and accounts of Malian slaves in later centuries in the Americas. There was also evidence that the Islamic records were that of African origin and not Arab.

    According to historian and professor at University of Sao Paulo Dr. Iris Kantor, nationalistic historians during the colonial era refused to talk about the truth until the 1900’s. The new historians now seek to rediscover their real history about Portugal and Brazil.

    Unlike modern-day historians, Duchess Luisa further said the Spanish monarchy had a racist view towards their history, eliminating “everything that wasn’t Catholic or non-white”. She further said the ones benefitting from history are the ones who hid it. During the colonial era, Muslims were declining in power and the Europeans wanted to conquer the gold and riches.

    When asked about the choice of his subjects interviewed in the film, Abualkhair said, “I decided to interview Western and South American historians to refer to their own resources and data.”

    After completing the film in 2014, Abualkhair toured several countries and sent the film to 700 universities around the world to call on researchers and historians to study the subject in depth and ultimately “rewrite history”. The proposal was well received by universities to conduct archeological research including Yale University, the University of Bolivia, and the University of Sao Paulo.

    “As historians, it’s our duty to study the subject in depth and not accept Western accounts of history as is,” says Dr. Al-Johara Al-Maiman, an assistant professor in history at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. “This is an opportunity to conduct research and academic papers on the topic.”

    Abualkhair says, “The fact that the Europeans hid an important part of history is real. Their own professors now admit it. There’s a famous quote. It says ‘history is written by the victors’.””

    • I have heard theories with some evidence about how the Phonecians and Egyptians sailed to America, I have heard about some group from France sailing over here and then there is the voyges of St. Benden. It has been proven that the Vikings made it to Canada and probably down into the States. But I have seen no evidence that any Arabic sailor or explorer made it over here,

      On the other side of the continent we have evidence of the Chinese, Japanese an Polynesians reach America but still no evidence of Arabs. Oh I almost forgot the Roman artifacts that have been discovered in Texas.

  11. PC gone mad: Outrage as school calls police after pupil looks at Ukip website in class (express, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/647539/Ukip-UK-Independence-Party-school-police-called-website

    “A SCHOOLBOY was hauled out of class and interrogated by detectives after politically correct teachers reported him to the POLICE for visiting the UKIP website.

    Teenager Joe Taylor was flagged up for political extremism by the deputy head after he used a school computer to click on the party’s website.

    The 15-year-old went online earlier this week to research immigration following a classroom discussion on the subject, logging on with his school username.

    But he was stunned when teachers subsequently reported him to the police, claiming he had raised welfare concerns by visiting “politically incorrect websites”. ….”

    • The left in Britain are taking 1984, Brave New World and Clockwork Orange as training manuals and blueprints not warnings.

      • For those who haven’t read or watched Clockwork Orange I suggest you do so, the author accurately predicted many of the things that are currently happening in Britain. Anthony Burgess wrote the book that was published in 1962.

    • I wonder how many children are finding ways to get onto the internet only to find out that World War III is in full swing and Western Civilization is threatened, and then being dismayed by how out of sync the truth is compared to what they are being told in school and in the media and by the government? I remember that kids used to be geniuses when it came to uncovering Dad’s Playboy collection, I’ll bet they know how to get past the restricted content filters on their computers today. Children don’t like being lied to “for their own good” and will naturally put up a wall of skepticism after catching the adults trying to do that to them. (Personally, I think our society should ditch the “Santa” lie and the “toothfairy” lie for that very reason.)

      As it is, our children are sleepwalked daily through this politically correct dreamland fabrication in which the only really important thing is this thing called “climate change” and that all the polar bears are dying and how terribly we Canadians would suffer if it wasn’t freezing cold all the time in our freezing cold country. Like we’d all get terminally depressed if we didn’t get our yearly quota of sleet.

      I think those informed children are going to emerge one day and blow all this bullshit away, and I don’t think the Jihadists are going to like the direction that things take when they get the vote…

      • Santa and the Tooth Fairy are for the little kids, usually preschoolers and first and second graders. Let them keep them. Let them keep a little magic in the world while they can.

        As for the rest yes they are getting past the filters probably with ease and the ones that are capable of original independent thought are recognizing the lies they are being told. This is why civilization may not survive the war, civilization and the rule of law is the vast majority of people deciding to live like fair play and the rule of law are real things. Once you stop believing in those imaginary things everything falls apart. These believes are as valuable as the artworks in the museums and the cuisines of the various nations.

      • What makes you think people will still be voting when they reach adulthood? If strongman rule comes about voting will be a thing of the past and won’t be revived for many decades or centuries. If civilization falls so does democracy.

  12. Asian sex abusers to be stripped of UK citizenship and deported under new drive to broaden ‘anti-terror’ powers (dailymail, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://dailym.ai/1n0Vvo9

    “Powers created to deport terrorists are being used to remove members of Asian child sex grooming gangs with dual nationalities under a new effort by the Home Office.

    Home Secretary Theresa May plans to significantly increase the withdrawal of British citizenship for serious criminals with dual nationality, Whitehall sources told The Independent.

    According to senior Home Office sources, there is likely to be an ‘acceleration of passport strike-outs and potential deportations’.

    The announcement follows the uncovering of a series of Asian sex abuse gangs across the country in recent years.

    Rochdale child sex grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed is the first such paedophile to be subjected to Mrs May’s new approach.

    The pervert was jailed for 22 years in 2012 after being convicted of befriending vulnerable teenage girls, plying them with alcohol and raping them.

    The divorced father-of-four, aged 63 and known as ‘Daddy’, was later found guilty of 30 more horrific rapes in a separate trial.

    Despite ruining the lives of dozens of young white girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, Ahmed last week appealed against the deportation from Britain on human rights grounds.

    He appeared before the First Tier Immigration Tribunal in Manchester to appeal against the decision to strip him of his British citizenship, the first stage in the deportation process.

    His appeal also includes an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

    Meanwhile, officials are also expected to consider whether any members of the Rotherham grooming gang could also be deported, following their conviction this week…”

  13. Philippine army kills 42 Islamist militants in battles in south (reuters, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-philippines-militants-idUKKCN0VZ0IF?rpc=401

    “Philippine security forces killed as many as 42 Muslim rebels claiming links with Islamic State and captured their stronghold during five days of fighting in the mountains of a southern island, an army spokesman said on Friday.

    Three soldiers were killed and 11 wounded when the forces seized the bastion of an affiliate of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian network of Islamist militants, in the province of Lanao del Sur.

    “Our troops were able to seize a stronghold of the terrorists on Thursday night,” the spokesman, Major Filemon Tan,

    told reporters by telephone from the southern island of Mindanao, estimating that about 42 militants had been killed.

    “We are still pursuing the rebels, using armoured assets.”

    Tan said the army was shelling rebel positions with 105-mm howitzers on Friday, while air force planes dropped bombs and helicopters fired rockets near the town of Butig, a base of the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

    But the MILF stayed away from the skirmishes and helped about 8,000 people displaced from their homes when the fighting began on Feb. 20, the military said.

    The Philippines signed a peace deal with the MILF in March 2014, ending 45 years of conflict that killed more than 120,000 people, displaced 2 million and stunted growth in the poor but resource-rich south.

    Army and police officials believe some Muslim rebel factions, including the small but violent Abu Sayyaf group, have pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, but say they have found no evidence to support this.

    Elsewhere in Mindanao, soldiers were also chasing the Abu Sayyaf group, which is holding captive several foreigners, including a Japanese, a Dutch national, two Canadians and a Norwegian.”

    • Any country that does not have a substantial Muslim population should look to the Philippines to see what happens when you do have a substantial Muslim population. They can’t live anywhere near non-Muslims and their religion has been purposely invented to make that so. Mohammad didn’t build Islam to “fit in”, he wanted it to conquer, which it does and has been doing for 1400 years. Some holy gasbag with a big beard and a robe only has to say, “He insulted the Prophet and burned the Quran!”, and an instant riot ensues and people get killed and fear is instilled and people sell their houses and move away. There is no getting along with that. And how long is it going to go on in the Philippines without resolving? Fifty years? A hundred and fifty years?…

      So, before any country signs a piece of paper bringing a million Sunni Muslims into the fold, think of the Philippines and those 120,000 people who have died trying to practice multiculturalism with the Muslims. Just consider it…

      • The only time the Moros are quiet are when there is a strong man who is willing to bury them with pigs and used bullets coated in pig fat against them. This lesson was learned back in the early 1900s but the left refuses to learn from history so we are facing the possible fall of civilization to the Islamic barbarians we are letting into our nations.

  14. Proposed North Korea sanctions dig deep, implementation falls to China

    SEOUL (Reuters) – From inspecting visiting North Korean ships to paring back coal imports, the burden of enforcing new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang falls mainly on China, which wants to punish its ally for nuclear violations without squeezing it to the point of crisis.

    After nearly two months of negotiations between Washington and Beijing, China agreed on Thursday to a U.S. proposal that would dramatically tighten existing restrictions on North Korea after its Jan. 6 nuclear test and recent rocket launch.

    The draft, seen by Reuters, would require U.N. member states to conduct mandatory inspections of all cargo passing through their territory to or from North Korea and bans all gold exports, as well as exports of coal if proceeds fund the North’s weapons programs.

    For China, which accounts for 90 percent of North Korean trade, that means stepping up inspections at sea ports such as Dalian and in the border city of Dandong, through which much of the trade between the countries passes.

    China, which defended North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, is Pyongyang’s closest ally and largest trading partner. While it has become increasingly critical of the North’s nuclear and missiles programs, it prizes stability on the Korean peninsula.

    http://www.oann.com/proposed-north-korea-sanctions-dig-deep-implementation-falls-to-china/

  15. They have put the fox to guarding the hen house and expect then hens to stay safe, North Korea isn’t going to suffer anymore then it currently is and the LSM will talk about how tough the world was on them.

  16. Greece seeks to stem migrant flow as thousands trapped by border limits

    ATHENS/IDOMENI (Reuters) – Greece moved to slow the flow of migrants from its islands to the mainland on Friday as thousands of homeless refugees were trapped in the country by border limits imposed along a Balkan route to richer nations in northern Europe.

    From its northern frontier with Macedonia to its port of Piraeus in the south, Greece was inundated with refugees and migrants after border shutdowns cascaded through the Balkans, stranding at least 20,000 in the country.

    At Idomeni, a small community on the border with Macedonia, Reuters witnesses saw hundreds of families walking towards the frontier to join an estimated 3,000 more at a makeshift camp where many pitched tents in a field close to razor wire fence.

    More than 500 km further south, hundreds of people were temporarily accommodated at a disused airport west of Athens. Sleeping mats were strewn across the terminal among biscuit wrappers as many women sat on the floor, some weeping.

    http://www.oann.com/greece-seeks-to-stem-migrant-flow-from-islands-to-mainland/

  17. Austria falls out with mighty neighbor Germany in refugee crisis

    VIENNA (Reuters) – In September, the leaders of Austria and Germany took one of the most pivotal decisions of Europe’s refugee crisis, throwing open their borders to tens of thousands of migrants piling up in Hungary.

    The move by German conservative Angela Merkel and Austria’s Werner Faymann, a Social Democrat, was an act of common purpose: two neighbors which share a difficult history were working together to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

    Nearly half a year on, however, the display of unity over the Sept. 5-6 weekend is a distant memory. In a sign of how deep Europe’s divisions over refugees have become, Berlin and Vienna snipe at each other almost daily.

    This week the tensions reached a new peak as Austria, in a defiant move, hosted a conference to coordinate new border restrictions with a handful of Balkan countries to its southeast.

    It was the latest in a series of decisions by Vienna – including two awkwardly timed announcements of numerical caps on refugees entering the country – that have undermined Merkel and infuriated her allies in Berlin, who accuse their smaller neighbor of betrayal.

    http://www.oann.com/austria-falls-out-with-mighty-neighbor-germany-in-refugee-crisis/

    • Once again they are calling Merkel a conservative when she sides with the liberals all the time.

  18. You’ll never guess where benefits processing for military veterans is being done

    How’s the Philippines sound? That is where Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials are now outsourcing healthcare paperwork for American veterans. Low-paid workers in the Philippines, a nation where the minimum wage is a dollar a day, are now working for the U.S. government. So much for the president’s complaint about greedy American companies that ship jobs overseas, where it can be done more cheaply.

    Long ago, VA opened a facility in Manila to care for Filipino World War II veterans who fought alongside the U.S. military against the Japanese — the Philippines was a U.S. territory until 1946. But most of those veterans are now dead, and the Philippines has its own government agency to care for those who are still alive.

    Uncle Sam is better at opening offices than closing them, so the 100-employee office in Manila — the VA’s only foreign outpost — remains open for business.

    At the same time the ranks of WWII veterans were steadily thinning, VA was experiencing a nationwide backlog in claims processing. So the Manila, Philippines office began picking up the slack for paperwork from the continental U.S. The Manila staff has developed a reputation for being particularly professional and efficient.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/02/25/youll-never-guess-where-our-made-in-america-president-has-sent-benefit-processing-for-veterans/

    • This is unbeleivable, how the LSM can keep covering for this (insert vile name of choice) is beyond me.

  19. New York to allow illegal immigrants to become school teachers

    Perhaps their first lesson could consist of teaching federal law regarding “improper entry” into the country.

    On the heels of Democrats pushing new legislation in New York City to allow illegal immigrants to vote, the state Education Department has announced they will allow illegals to become certified as school teachers.

    Via the Press & Sun Bulletin:

    Undocumented immigrants in New York will be able to apply for teacher certifications and professional licenses, the state Board of Regents said.

    The board that oversees education policies in New York voted Wednesday to allow people who can’t get legal residency because of their parents’ immigration status to seek teacher certifications. They will also be able to apply for a license from among the 53 professions overseen by the state Education Department, including a variety of medical professions.

    “These are young people who came to the U.S. as children,” state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said in a statement. “They are American in every way but immigration status. They’ve done everything right. They’ve worked hard in school, some have even served in the military, but when it’s time to apply for a license, they’re told ‘Stop. That’s far enough.’ We shouldn’t close the door on their dreams.”

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/02/26/new-york-to-allow-illegal-immigrants-to-become-school-teachers/

    • Behead and shoulders I value your links and comments. But please try and dig for a source other than infowars when you can.

      • Inside that article, there are several links to other sites where the info comes from. I’m no journalist, I’m not going to spend all day researching each one of them to see where it’s from. The same way I trust your site when I read the news and it all comes from other sources.
        I already spend too much time on ‘hate sites’ lol, I’m starting to have less and less in common with the rest of the population.

      • EU migration system ‘could break down in 10 days’

        Commissioner issues warning as EU tries to heal Vienna-Berlin split.

        The European Union has until a March 7 summit with Turkey to curb the flow of refugees into Europe or the bloc’s fragile migration strategy could “completely break down,” the European commissioner for migration warned Thursday.

        At the summit, EU leaders — who have spent several months arguing over how to deal with the refugee crisis — will seek to push a strategy backed by Germany and the European Commission to stem the flow of refugees to Europe.

        “In the next 10 days we need tangible and clear results on the ground otherwise there is the risk the whole system will completely break down,” Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters after a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels.

        The ministers grappled to repair deepening divisions over their approach to the migration crisis, after a splinter-group move by Austria to seal borders triggered a chain reaction along the Western Balkan route, leaving thousands of refugees stranded in Greece.

        http://www.politico.eu/article/eu-migration-system-could-collapse-in-10-days-refugees-political-tension/

        • The politico headline says could break down in 10 days, the inforwar article says will. that one word change totally distorts the meaning of the article. Alex Jones has some very good info sources but his sensationalism makes his site untrustworthy. I don’t believe anything on his site unless I have other sources saying the same thing. It took me less then a minute to google his headline to discover the Politico headline.

  20. Lebanon: ‘River of trash’ threatens to engulf Beirut suburb

    Residents of the Beirut suburb of Jdeideh voiced concerns on Friday over the huge amount of rubbish building up on a street near the area. Known as the ‘river of trash,’ thousands of rubbish bags have been dumped on the street raising concerns over hygiene and further exacerbating the Lebanese capital’s ongoing waste crisis.

  21. Russia: Emirati FM claims Iran supporting ‘terrorist groups’ in Syria

    UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned that “If Iran keeps supporting terrorist groups inside Syria then the situation will remain problematic,” during a press conference in Moscow, Friday. He went on to say “I have big doubts about Iran and I question how devoted Iran is to returning stability in the region.”

    SOT, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates (Arabic): “If Iran keeps supporting terrorist groups inside Syria then the situation will remain problematic. If Iran keeps delivering armed mobs on planes into Syria to fight and spread chaos in Syria, then the situation remains problematic. I am sure everyone will try their best, but I have big doubts about Iran and I question how devoted Iran is to returning stability in the region.”

  22. Bosnia’s Muslim leaders ban radical Islamist’s congregations (dailymail, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3465543/Bosnias-Muslim-leaders-ban-radical-Islamists-congregations.html

    “SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnia’s Islamic Community — the only official Bosnian Muslim religious institution — says congregations that lure people into joining extremist groups will have to be closed by March 1.

    Dozens of congregations, gathering nearly 3,000 believers mainly in rural areas, have formed over the years outside of the official structure. Some pursue radical interpretations of Islam not traditional among the nearly 2 million Bosnian Muslims.

    Such illegal groups are seen as hotbeds of Islamic radicalism and some members have joined the Islamic State group in Syria.

    The Islamic Community on Friday urged members of such groups to abandon self-proclaimed imams who are luring people into a “monstrous” ideology. Last month they sent envoys to the congregations urging people to switch to an official congregation.”

  23. Trump, the EU crack-up and Israel

    image: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/images/clear.gif
    Caroline B. Glick
    By Caroline B. Glick

    Published Feb. 26, 2016

    Super Tuesday contests in 12 states, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump looks increasingly unbeatable.

    What accounts for the billionaire populist’s success? And if Trump does become the next US president, what sort of leader will the former reality television star be? Trump is popular because he has a rare ability to channel the deep-seated frustrations that much of the American public harbors toward its political and cultural elites.

    Trump’s presidential bid isn’t based on specific, defined economic or foreign policy platforms or plans. Indeed, it isn’t clear that he even has any.

    Trump’s campaign is based on his capacity to resonate two deeply felt frustrations harbored by a large cross-section of American citizens.

    As The Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger explained recently, a very large group of Americans is frustrated – or enraged – by the intellectual and social terror exercised upon them by the commissars of political correctness.

    Trump’s support levels rise each time he says something “politically incorrect.” His candidacy took off last summer when he promised to build a wall along the Mexican border. It rose again last November when, following the Islamic massacre in Paris, he said that if elected he will ban Muslim immigration to the US.

    The many millions of Americans who are sick of being called racist, chauvinist, homophobic, privileged or extremist every time they breathe feel that in Trump they have found their voice.

    Then there is that gnawing sense that under Obama, America has been transformed from history’s greatest winner into history’s biggest sucker.

    Trump’s continuous exposition on his superhuman deal-making talents speaks to this fear.

    Trump’s ability to viscerally connect to the deep-seated concerns of American voters and assuage them frees him from the normal campaign requirement of developing plans to accomplish his campaign promises.

    Trump’s supporters don’t care that his economic policies contradict one another. They don’t care that his foreign policy declarations are a muddle of contradictions.

    They hate the establishment and they want to believe him.

    This then brings us to the question of how a president Donald Trump would govern.
    Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0216/glick022616.php3#wEqssIj3GskvyhWx.99

    • The thing is that if Donald were to get into specifics about how he would handle this or that, he would be largely talking through his hat, because he is not the POTUS and he does not have the environment around him that the POTUS has. When the candidates talk about how they would deal with ISIS or Vladimir Putin, they are kind of making fools of themselves because they really won’t know until they get there and they should and probably do know that.

      It’s all about the candidate, not the campaign promises. I think I’ve heard Trump say pretty much the same thing. He says, “Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to do something great ’cause that’s what I do. Now let’s get back to who I am.”

      I don’t think Robert Mcnamara knew much about building cars when they hired him and his Whiz Kids friends to run Ford Motors. It was the talent they wanted, the experience and the specifics were unimportant. And they were right…

      • You are right as far as it goes, Trump doesn’t have a lot of military or foreign diplomatic experience but he does have a lot of experience negotiating with foreign governments. But that isn’t the main thing he has going for him, he is not afraid to be politically correct and say we need to ditch the current policies that are harming the US. He also is use to keeping his word, when he says he will do something he does his best to do it. These are what the voters like about him, facts that the LSM and the establishments in both parties refuse to learn.

        Having said that while I will vote for Trump if he is the nominee I still prefer Cruz.

  24. 2nd Marine attacked and left for dead in DC

    WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — Not one but two Marines were brutally attacked on February 12 in two unrelated incidents.

    One attack happened at a McDonald’s when two teenagers assaulted and robbed a veteran Marine.

    RELATED: 2 teens arrested for attacking Marine at DC McDonald’s

    A second Marine, 35-year-old Michael Schroeder, was left for dead after a being attacked in Northwest D.C. that same day, according to his family.

    Temperatures had dropped down to the teens in weather reports. Laying in the cold, dragged between two cars, face-down, head bashed-in and cash missing is how Schroeder’s family says police found him in the Glover Park neighborhood. Thankfully a dad and son driving by in a taxi saw Schroeder and called the authorities.

    “It’s an angel whoever found him and I’m very, very grateful,” said the victim’s mother, Diedre Schroeder. She cried recounting the phone call. Her son was missing all day until his twin brother found the 35-year-old at George Washington Hospital.

    Michael Schroeder suffered a fractured skull, a severe concussion, there were head staples, convulsions, fevers and he could hardly speak, according to his family.

    “Michael could’ve died that night,” Deidre Schroeder said.

    http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc/marine-attacked-and-left-for-dead-in-nw-dc/55197802

  25. While US Attorney General, Eric Holder Used Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Birth Name as His Official Email Address

    By Jason Leopold
    February 25, 2016 |

    Former US Attorney General Eric Holder is a huge fan of NBA hall of famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

    So much so that Holder used Abdul-Jabbar’s birth name, Lew Alcindor, as an alias for his official Department of Justice (DOJ) email account, raising more questions about the email practices of top Obama administration officials, and about the ability of US government agencies to track down correspondence in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

    Related: A Judge Has Scolded the State Department for Blowing the Deadline on the Clinton Emails

    The Lew Alcindor revelation was made in a February 16 letter that DOJ sent to VICE News and Ryan Shapiro, a historian and doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in national security research.

    “For your information,” the letter said, “e-mails in the enclosed documents which use the account name ‘Lew Alcindor’ denote e-mails to or from former Attorney General Holder.”

    https://news.vice.com/article/while-us-attorney-general-eric-holder-used-kareem-abdul-jabbars-birth-name-as-his-official-email-address

    • A through investigation will probably show that the vast majority of Obama appointed officials used private emails and that they were all hacked by foreign governments and hostile non governmental entities. The revelation continue to come out about the corruption of the Obama administration and disdain for national security. What does it take to convince people that Obama and company are destroying freedom in the US. The United States will survive as a nation but will it be a nation that free people want to live in?

      • I suspect that the body of the USA will naturally heal the wound that Obama will leave and will return to somewhere near where they started. There’s damage and there will be a scar, but the wound will probably heal OK. Remember, America is the richest country on earth and has traditionally been extremely stable since the end of the Civil War. America also has a history of prevailing in difficult situations. You’ve just temporarily lost your mojo.

        • We will heal but the healing will take time, and the left is going to be very violent over their loss in the next election and the reversal of Obama;s policies. During the 60s they carried out a terror campaign and will probably start a new one, one that will combine with the jihadists attacks that are being planned.

          No I don’t know anything about the plans but I do know they are planning attacks in the US and Europe.

  26. Lawmakers: Obama Administration Illegally Diverted Billions Intended for US Treasury to Insurers

    Republicans on Capitol Hill are questioning the legality of a move by the Obama administration to give billions to insurers under a program implemented under Obamacare that they say is equal to an insurer bailout.

    At issue for lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee is whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services violated the Affordable Care Act by diverting $3.5 billion intended for the U.S. Treasury to insurance companies.

    “[Earlier this month], the administration announced that they would be using billions of taxpayer dollars to make payments to insurance companies under the Obamacare reinsurance program,” Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Penn., said Wednesday during a hearing with Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.

    “The announcement that the administration made represents an illegal wealth transfer from hardworking taxpayers to insurers,” he continued, “and this law is very clear—$5 billion of reinsurance fees must be returned to the taxpayers.”

    http://dailysignal.com/2016/02/24/lawmakers-obama-administration-illegally-diverted-billions-intended-for-u-s-treasury-to-insurers/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonu6zBce%2FhmjTEU5z16u0pX6WwgIkz2EFye%2BLIHETpodcMTcdgPbrYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3NLtQN191pRhLiDA%3D%3D

  27. Why Have Universities Been Overtaken by Mob Rule?

    Student groups have asserted control of many university campuses across America. Without even resorting to force, they have successfully compelled the resignation of presidents and administrators, the firing and hiring of faculty, and drastic changes to university curricula, among other things.

    University after university gives in to these demands, or at least pretends to do so. Only a few university presidents or administrators have spoken in defense of their own institutions or universities in general.

    The former rulers of universities cannot defend themselves because they no longer understand the university’s purpose. Rather than ordering young minds, administrators have been ordered to resign. Having become convinced that universities service non-intellectual ends like multiculturalism, social justice, and pre-professionalism, presidents and administrators have little authority outside bookkeeping, job-placing, and safe space-creating.

    They have forgotten that among the university’s highest purposes is preserving reason and free inquiry and making this spirit respectable to the public at large in a regime too often disposed to worship the power of public opinion and utility. Where else could this spirit live in our republic? In the mindlessness of popular culture? In fact, presuming that the mind requires protection for free inquiry, the institution of tenure makes sense only in this view. Tenure was not always understood as a sinecure for conference-going and activist data-mining.

    http://dailysignal.com/2016/02/25/why-have-universities-been-overtaken-by-mob-rule/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonu6zBce%2FhmjTEU5z16u0pX6WwgIkz2EFye%2BLIHETpodcMTcdgPbrYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3NLtQN191pRhLiDA%3D%3D

    • And then all the little communist protesters get their degrees and go out in search of a George Soros-funded activist group with a name like, let’s see, “The American Institute of Justice”, where they present their record of disruption and hate with pride, and get the job if they can prove they hate capitalism and white people enough. Then they spend the rest of their lives saying bad things about their own country in exchange for greater and greater funding as their network and reputation grows. They are basically in school to learn how to get a job as a paid traitor. Cool, eh?

      But the really cool part is they can spend a lot of time in coffee shops planning strategy and then knocking off early if they feel like it. In exchange for sticking it to their own country, they get to get money while avoiding that awful, terrible thing called, “work”. Now that’s cool…

      There would appear to be more good-paying jobs in the propaganda industry than there is in forestry and the fisheries combined…

      • Yup and when we start dismantling the programs that Obama set up some of them will turn violent and the rest will provide monetary support under the table. The pattern for what is coming has been played out many times before and will play out in the future. The left has created the environment for a perfect storm of political and economic collapse while doing their best to ensure that no free nation has the military to survive. I think they will fail in almost all cases but only time will tell.

        Left alone the US economy would heal as would the divisions in the body politic, but we are going into a period of massive fighting during WWIII with the very real possibility of nuclear exchanges in the Middle and Far East. This will delay the healing and will cause more damage to the Constitution and the rule of law.

  28. The Minimum Wage Killed 1 out of 11 Jobs on This Tropical Island

    Congress is considering potential responses to Puerto Rico’s depression and fiscal crisis. Fiscal conservatives are considering whether outside oversight by a “control board” would force feckless local legislators to make difficult choices, such as consolidating rural schools and laying off bureaucrats.

    However, if Congress only gives the board authority to cut government spending and raise taxes, it will be unable to clear out the failed policies that have choked growth in Puerto Rico.

    Puerto Rico has European-style labor laws that make it difficult to hire and fire workers and force employers to pay higher wages and benefits than are merited by productivity. Red tape slows growth, too—the World Bank rates Puerto Rico between Costa Rica and Mongolia in its “Doing Business” rankings, 50 places below the U.S.

    Any successful reform effort must focus on cutting past the cronyism that keeps local anti-growth policies in place.

    http://dailysignal.com/2016/02/25/the-minimum-wage-killed-1-out-of-11-jobs-on-this-tropical-island/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonu6zBce%2FhmjTEU5z16u0pX6WwgIkz2EFye%2BLIHETpodcMTcdgPbrYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3NLtQN191pRhLiDA%3D%3D

  29. Somalia’s SYL hotel in Mogadishu ‘stormed by al-Shabab’ (BBC, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35673533

    “Militants have stormed a hotel in the centre of the Somali capital Mogadishu, in an attack claimed by the al-Shabab group in a message to the BBC.

    Two large explosions believed to be car bombs were heard near the Somali Youth League (SYL) hotel.

    A popular park, known as the Peace Garden, is also reported to have come under attack. At least eight people have been wounded, medical sources say.

    Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, is waging an armed insurgency in Somalia…”

  30. US Considers Advisory Assistance in Fight Against Boko Haram (abcnews, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-considers-advisory-assistance-fight-boko-haram-37227198

    “The U.S. Africa Command says it has asked Washington to send a small group of military advisers to Nigeria to assist that military’s fight against the Islamic insurgency Boko Haram.

    Africa Command said Friday that, at the request of the Nigerian government, Special Operations Command Africa sent staff in recent months to conduct a preliminary assessment on assisting select Nigerian units. It says the platoon-sized element would be strictly to advise and assist.

    Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency has killed at least 20,000 people and displaced 2.8 million, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations.

    Africa Command says the assessment is being vetted by the U.S. Departments of State and Defense. Once Nigeria and the U.S. finalize their decisions, there will be an extended planning period.”

  31. Al Qaeda in Syria calls for more fighting as deadline nears (reuters, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-ghouta-idUSKCN0VZ0WX

    “Syria’s branch of al Qaeda, one of its most powerful Islamist rebel groups, called for an escalation in fighting against the government and its allies, adding to the dangers facing an agreement to halt fighting set to start on Saturday.

    The government and rebel groups have agreed to take part in a U.S.-Russian “cessation of hostilities” accord that is due to begin at midnight (2200 GMT on Friday). Warring parties had been required to accept by noon.

    Under the measure, which has not been signed by the Syrian warring parties themselves and is less binding than a formal ceasefire, the government and its enemies are expected to stop shooting so aid can reach civilians and peace talks begin.

    The truce does not apply to jihadist groups such as Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and the Damascus government and its Russian allies say they will not halt combat against those militants. Other rebels seen as moderates by the West say they fear this will be used to justify attacks on them.

    The Nusra Front on Friday urged insurgent groups to intensify their attacks against President Bashar al-Assad and his allies…”

  32. 31 militants killed in air, ground operations in Kunduz and Baghlan (khaama, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/31-militants-killed-in-air-ground-operations-in-kunduz-and-baghlan-0174

    “At least thirty one anti-government armed militants were killed in separate military operations in northern Kunduz and Baghlan provinces of Afghanistan.

    The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations were conducted in the past 24 hours by the Afghan National Security Forces who were backed by air support.

    A statement by MoD said the operations in Kunduz were conducted as part of the Tufan-26 military operations led by the 209 Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces.

    The statement further added that 15 militants were killed and 28 others were wounded during an operation in Bandar-e-Kunduz area of Kunduz province.

    At least 16 militants were killed and 5 others were wounded in a separate operation in Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabuddin districts of Baghlan provincce, the statement said, adding that the operations were conducted using air and artillery forces to pound the militants positions in Niazullah area.

    According to MoD, the operations in Baghlan province are being conducted as part of Khurshid-20 operations to clear the areas under the militants control.

    The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.”

  33. Over 50 militants including 7 ISIS loyalists killed in Afghan operations (khaama, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/over-50-militants-including-7-isis-loyalists-killed-in-afghan-operations-0177

    “At least seven militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed during clearance operations in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

    The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the loyalists of the terror group were killed in air and ground operations in Achin district.

    MoD said at least four others were also wounded during the operations in Pekha and Gor areas of Achin district.

    A statement by MoD said the ISIS loyalists were among more than 50 insurgents killed during the clearance operations in the past 24 hours.

    The statement further added that two militants including a commander of the militants were killed and another one was injured during an operation in Nari district of Kunar province.

    At least three militants were killed in Sorobi district of Kabul, 5 others killed in Kot and Behsud districts of Nangarhar province and various weapons and other military equipment were seized during the same operations, MoD added.

    A militant was killed in a separate operation in Mohammad Agha district of Logar, MoD said, adding that four militants were killed during the operations in Wardak province.

    The militants suffered heavy casualties during the operations in Posht-e-Rud district of western Farah province, according to MoD, adding that 23 militants were killed and 32 others were wounded in air and ground operations carried out in Dukin, Saj, Chapak, Chahar Mas, Kaskin and Kachkin areas.

    MoD also added that 8 militants were killed and 7 others were wounded during operations in Baghlan province which included a commander of the Taliban group identified as Mawlavi Shoaib.

    5 militants were killed and 4 others were wounded in an operation in Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province, MoD said, adding that 5 others including their commander were killed during an operation in Lashkargah district of Helmand province.

    The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.”

  34. Afghan woman kill Taliban commander over privacy breach in Baghlan (khaama, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/afghan-woman-kill-taliban-commander-over-privacy-breach-in-baghlan-0179

    “An Afghan woman has killed a Taliban commander over home privacy breach in northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan, security officials said Friday.

    Provincial police spokesman, Jawed Basharat, said the incident took place in Khwajah Bahauddin district of Baghlan province late on Thursday night.

    Meanwhile, provincial police chief, Gen. Ewaz Mohammad Nazeri, said the Taliban commander was killed after he entered into the house of the woman, an act that is considered a serious breach of privacy by the Afghans.

    He said another Taliban militant was also injured after the woman opened fire on the militants in Khwajah Alwan area.

    Gen. Nazeri also added that the police forces were immediately deployed to the area following the incident.

    The Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the incident so far which comes amid tense security situation in Baghlan province.

    The Afghan national security forces are busy with the clearance operations in Dand-e-Ghori district where the Taliban militants were actively operating earlier.”

  35. Germany: Zuckerberg slams Facebook ‘hate-speech’ against refugees in Germany

    Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave a Q&A in Berlin on Friday where he addressed the issue of ‘hate speech’ directed at migrants in Germany and said that the company needed to do a “better job” in combating the trend.

    • Zuckerberg also slammed his employees because they wrote over “black lives matter” “all lives matter”
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd1ze9nh4EM
      ******
      Problem.
      He is an atheist, and the leftist but I have noticed from comments on the youtube and elsewhere that many people connect the fact that he was born Jewish with his present political & social views.

      • People like him are a major part of the problem and will resist any solution that doesn’t fit the narrative.

  36. Turkey: Saudi fighter jets arrive at Turkish airbase near Syrian border

    Saudi fighter jets began arriving at Turkey’s Incirlik airbase on Friday, allegedly to take part in the country’s aerial missions against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS) in Syria.
    According to Turkish authorities, the warplanes will start their operations next Thursday.

  37. 30-strong group harasses young girls in north Germany (thelocal, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160226/3-young-woman-sexually-harassed-by-group-of-30-men

    “A trio of teenage girls in northern Germany were sexually harassed by a large group of men in northern Germany on Thursday, echoing the events of New Year’s Eve in Cologne.

    The incident took place between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm on Thursday evening in Kiel, the capital of Germany’s northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein.

    As the teenagers aged between 15 and 17 went for dinner together, they were followed by two young men, both from Afghanistan, police report.

    The two men then started filming the girls with their phones as they sat in a restaurant near the harbour.

    According to statements the girls gave police, the men then appeared to send the video or pictures to other people.

    Within a few minutes a group of up to 30 men had arrived at outside the restaurant….”

  38. Zuckerberg ‘hopes USA follows German example’ (thelocal, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160226/facebook-zuckerberg-hopes-us-will-follow-german-example

    “The United states should “follow the example of Germany” and take in more refugees fleeing conflicts around the world, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in Berlin on Friday.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel was an inspiration and “definitely a model for the world,” the 31-year-old multi-billionaire founder of the social network said.

    “You need courage and humanity to grasp that there are people out there who need a home – and that to build a society in which no-one is excluded will be the best thing for the world in the end,” he went on.

    The Facebook founder might find his comments less welcome at home in the USA than in Germany, where 1.1. million asylum seekers arrived last year.

    In the USA, dozens of state governors said last year that they would resist plans from the federal government to take in 10,000 refugees from Syria, citing terrorism concerns.

    President Barack Obama has called the governors’ fears “hysterical”.

    But Germany’s at times difficult experience – including a wave of sexual assaults and petty crime by a mob largely made up of men of Middle Eastern or North African appearance in Cologne on New Year’s Eve – has not helped the President’s plans win favour with the American public.

    Zuckerberg had to face up to German criticism, too, as many Facebook users in Germany have been flooding the network with anti-refugee comments up to and including threats of violence in recent months.

    He has been under pressure to act on online hate since a brief meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on the fringes of a UN gathering in New York in September 2015.

    As well as the “town hall meeting” where he addressed leading German media figures on Friday, Zuckerberg’s Berlin programme has also included a conversation with Peter Altmaier, Merkel’s Chancellery chief and right-hand man on the refugee crisis.

    Altmaier reminded the native New Yorker that because of its size and importance for many Germans, Facebook had a serious responsibility for the content it relays online.

    “I’m optimistic that we can achieve a good result,” Altmaier said on Thursday.

    “I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job” on hate speech, Zuckerberg told the audience on Friday, adding that the company had now hired 200 extra people to moderate content posted in Germany – the first time he’s set a concrete number.

    But Zuckerberg said that Facebook bosses in Europe had hoped for a stronger fightback from opponents of hate speech – something repeatedly called for by public figures in Germany but that has so far had little impact.

    “There is no place for hate speech on Facebook and in our community,” he insisted.”

    • Zuckerberg on refugee crisis: ‘Hate speech has no place on Facebook’ (theguardian, Feb 26, 2016)
      http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/26/mark-zuckerberg-hate-speech-germany-facebook-refugee-crisis

      “Mark Zuckerberg conceded Friday that Facebook didn’t do enough until recently to police hate speech on the social media site in Germany, but said that it has made progress and has heard the message “loud and clear”.

      German authorities, concerned about racist abuse being posted on Facebook and other social networks as the country deals with an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants, have been pressing social media sites for months to crack down.

      Mark Zuckerberg tells Facebook staff to stop defacing Black Lives Matter slogans
      Read more
      Facebook CEO Zuckerberg talked personally about the issue in September with German chancellor Angela Merkel, and met her chief of staff during a visit to Germany this week. The Merkel meeting “really highlighted how much more we needed to do in this country,” he said at a town hall event in Berlin.

      “Hate speech has no place on Facebook and in our community,” he said. “Until recently in Germany I don’t think we were doing a good enough job, and I think we will continue needing to do a better and better job.”

      Zuckerberg pointed to efforts including funding a team to work with police to combat hate speech on Facebook. He said that learning more about German law has led the company to expand its view of “protected groups” there, and “to now include hate speech against migrants as an important part of what we just now have no tolerance for.”

      “There’s still work to do,” he said. “We want to do that, but I think we hear the message loud and clear and we’re committed to doing better.”

      Zuckerberg offered praise for Germany’s approach to Europe’s refugee crisis. Merkel so far has maintained an open-door policy for refugees, seeking an elusive diplomatic solution to reduce an influx that has prompted an increasing number of countries to impose national restrictions.

      “German leadership in the refugee crisis, I think, has been inspiring and is a model for the world,” he said.

      “I hope that more countries follow Germany’s lead on this,” he added. “I hope the US follows Germany’s lead on this.””

  39. IS claims deadly car bomb in Libya’s Benghazi (france24, Feb 26, 2016)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20160226-claims-deadly-car-bomb-libyas-benghazi

    “BENGHAZI (LIBYA) (AFP) – A car bomb killed five members of security forces loyal to Libya’s recognised government in the eastern city of Benghazi Friday, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

    Military spokesman Colonel Abdullah al-Shahaafi told AFP that the blast in the Hawari district of the city killed four pro-government forces.

    But LANA news agency which is close to the recognised government said five members of the security forces were killed.

    IS claimed the attack in a statement posted on Islamist websites, saying that more than 25 were killed and that it targeted forces of General Khalifa Haftar, the recognised government’s chief of staff.

    Haftar’s forces on Tuesday recaptured a jihadist stronghold in the Mediterranean city.

    LANA also reported on Friday the death of a sixth member of the security forces of the recognised government in a landmine blast in Benghazi.

    Elsewhere in Libya, the defence ministry of the Tripoli-based unrecognised government said in a statement that its security forces had driven IS fighters out of the city of Sabratha.

    The city west of the capital had been the scene of fierce fighting earlier this week between IS and forces loyal to the Tripoli administration.

    Tripoli’s defence ministry said several IS fighters were captured and that most were Tunisians.

    On Wednesday, IS killed 18 people in clashes as they briefly occupied the heart of Sabratha before being ousted by militia fighters, according to officials in Tripoli.

    A US air strike near Sabratha last week targeted a suspected IS training camp, killing 50 people. Serbia said two of its diplomats being held hostage were among the dead.

    IS has taken advantage of growing chaos to expand its foothold in Libya.

    The oil-rich North African nation has had two rival authorities since mid-2014 when the recognised government was forced to quit Tripoli after the Fajr Libya militia alliance, which includes Islamists, overran the capital.

    The United Nations has been pushing both sides to back a unity government on the basis of a UN-brokered agreement struck in December, to end years of turmoil since the 2011 ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.”

  40. Key Findings Across Industries: Largest Network Threats and Usage Trends

    Due to the lucrative financial data obtained when these networks are successfully infiltrated, banking and finance organizations are disproportionately targeted with 44.6% of all malicious activity. Hackers rely on high-velocity attacks and target financial institutions with sophisticated trojans and land-and-expand attack strategies to infiltrate and persist within the network.
    Education organizations represent 27.4% of all attack events in this report and are the second largest at-risk vertical industry. Botnets are the dominant threat for educational institutions, with 7 out of top 10 infections, while XcodeGhost, the widely publicized iOS malware breaks into the top 10 vulnerabilities list in education.
    Healthcare ranked third in overall malicious activity with 10.6% of attack events. The healthcare industry is unique in the appearance of automated exploit kits, notably targeting numerous vulnerabilities in Flash, Silverlight and Internet Explorer to compromise a system via a drive-by-download or infected website.
    http://www.fortinet.com/press_releases/2016/undetected-cyber-threats-enterprise-networks.html

  41. Saudi Arabia just escalated its fight against Hezbollah

    DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia said on Friday it had blacklisted four companies and three Lebanese men for having links to Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, a close ally of Riyadh’s arch regional adversary Iran.

    “The kingdom will continue its fight against the terrorist activities of the so-called Hezbollah with all available means,” the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency SPA.

    The Sunni Muslim kingdom last week suspended aid worth $3 billion to the Lebanese army over the Beirut government’s failure to sign up to statements condemning attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-escalates-fight-with-hezbollah-2016-2?r=UK&IR=T

  42. 26/02/2016 – KIEL, Germany – 30 migrants harass trio of young girls

    Three 15-17 year old girls were followed by two Afghanis who recorded them with their smartphones. Once the group reached a restaurant 30 more migrants showed up. Police say that the migrants likely sent the pictures and videos to the others, who came to join in.

    The girls were able to shake off 20 of the men but 10 followed them and harassed them. Police have not confirmed if there was sexual contact at this point in the investigation. Migrants attacked police when they arrested the two original Afghanis.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/23/migrant-crisis-live-wire-rolling-coverage-of-europes-migrant-crisis/

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

    Studt verurteilt Belästigung von Mädchen in Kiel

    https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Studt-verurteilt-Belaestigung-von-Maedchen-in-Kiel,sophienhof100.html

    www ( dot ) bild (dot )de/regional/hamburg/kiel/mob-verfolgt-drei-maedchen-im-einkaufszentrum-44716184.bild.html

    Pressekonferenz von Innenminister Stefan Studt zur Massenbelästigung im Kieler Sophienhof