reader’s links for May 19 – 2016

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

88 Replies to “reader’s links for May 19 – 2016”

  1. Chinese Intercept U.S. Military Spy Plane Over South China Sea

    by Courtney Kube

    Two Chinese military aircraft intercepted a U.S. military reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea Tuesday.

    Defense Department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza said that the U.S. maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft was flying in a “routine patrol” in international airspace on May 17 when “two tactical aircraft from the People’s Republic of China” intercepted the U.S. plane.

    The two Chinese fighter jets were J-11s and flew approximately 50 feet from the U.S. aircraft, a Navy E-P3.

    “Initial reports characterized the incident as unsafe,” Baldanza said in a written statement. “Over the past year, DoD has seen improvements in PRC actions, flying in a safe and professional manner.”

    The incident is under investigation by U.S. Pacific Command. The U.S. has photos but they are classified.

    In a statement, China’s Defense Ministry said it was “aware of such reports,” adding: “We will learn more and assess related facts.”

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/chinese-intercept-u-s-military-spy-plane-over-south-china-n576351

    • Another sign that Obama has weakened us way too far, both Russia and China know we are weak and are pushing to stop the US from doing anything without asking their permission. Obama’s actions have made the world much riskier and made a major war extremely likely.

  2. China’s Nuclear Subs Are Ready to Terrorize the Sea
    Beijing will soon be able to launch nuclear missiles from the sea. And that’s going to make it harder to deter any future Chinese aggression.

    China’s about to join an exclusive club for nuclear powers. After decades of development, 2016 could be the year the Chinese navy finally sends its ballistic-missile submarines—“SSBN” is the Pentagon’s designation—to sea for the first time for operational patrols with live, nuclear-tipped rockets.

    If indeed the Jin-class subs head to sea this year, China will achieve a level of nuclear strike capability that, at present, just two countries—the United States and Russia—can match or exceed.

    “China will probably conduct its first SSBN nuclear deterrence patrol sometime in 2016,” the Pentagon warned in the latest edition of its annual report on the Chinese military, published in mid-May. Once the Jins set sail, Beijing will command a nuclear “triad” composed of ground-, air- and sea-launched nuclear weapons.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/19/china-s-nuclear-subs-are-ready-to-terrorize-the-sea.html

  3. In Search For Cures, Scientists Create Embryos That Are Both Animal And Human

    A handful of scientists around the United States are trying to do something that some people find disturbing: make embryos that are part human, part animal.

    The researchers hope these embryos, known as chimeras, could eventually help save the lives of people with a wide range of diseases.

    One way would be to use chimera embryos to create better animal models to study how human diseases happen and how they progress.

    Perhaps the boldest hope is to create farm animals that have human organs that could be transplanted into terminally ill patients.

    But some scientists and bioethicists worry the creation of these interspecies embryos crosses the line. “You’re getting into unsettling ground that I think is damaging to our sense of humanity,” says Stuart Newman, a professor of cell biology and anatomy at the New York Medical College.

    The experiments are so sensitive that the National Institutes of Health has imposed a moratorium on funding them while officials explore the ethical issues they raise.

    http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/18/478212837/in-search-for-cures-scientists-create-embryos-that-are-both-animal-and-human

  4. EgyptAir crash: Plane ‘made sharp turns before plunge’ (BBC, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36333992

    “An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo made two sharp turns before plunging into the Mediterranean Sea, Greece’s defence minister says.

    Panos Kammenos said the Airbus A320 had “turned 90 degrees left and a 360-degree turn to the right” and dropped more than 6,700m (20,000ft) before disappearing from radar.

    Sixty-six people were on board, most of them from Egypt or France.

    A major search is under way in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos.

    Greek and Egyptian armed forces are involved in the effort, and France has offered to send boats and planes.

    Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi told a news conference it was too early to rule out either terrorism or a technical failure as the reason behind the plane’s disappearance…”

  5. Mob burns Venezuelan man alive over $5 as justice fails

    CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The mob didn’t know at first what Roberto Bernal had done, but he was running and that was enough.

    Dozens of men loitering on the sidewalk next to a supermarket kicked and punched the 42-year-old until he was bloodied and semi-conscious. After all, they had been robbed of cell phones, wallets and motorcycles over the years, and thought Bernal had a criminal’s face.

    Then a stooped, white-haired man trailing behind told them he’d been mugged.

    The mob went through Bernal’s pockets and handed a wad of bills to the old man: The equivalent of $5. They doused Bernal’s head and chest in gasoline and flicked a lighter. And they stood back as he burned alive.

    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/49be3c89fe3d4ef990a944c323dffaab/mob-burns-venezuelan-man-alive-over-5-rule-law-fails

    • Venezuela economy fractured with shortages of essentials across the country

      There are large queues to shop in cites and towns across Venezuela. But it is more in hope than expectancy. From toilet paper to beer there is a shortage in the country of everything. That includes food which is sold at subsidised prices. It is an economic meltdown. The people are ready to, “explode” opposition leaders have warned.

      “We still have not found a place where we can get rice, pasta, butter, anything so we can give our kids something to eat. I am tired of it. How is it possible that they have us in this situation and they don’t give any kind of information regarding the fact there isn’t any food for us to take home,” explained Caracas resident Maria Hernandez.

      “The queues are tremendous, we have never seen this before. I have never seen them the way they are now and the worst thing is that we can’t even get our hands on milk for the babies who are having a worse time of it,” added another resident Placida Delgado.

      The fractured economy and shortage of essentials is linked to oil which accounts for over 90 percent of Venezuela’s export revenues. As the prices of crude took a nosedive the country with the world’s largest reserves was hit hard.

      http://www.euronews.com/2016/05/18/venezuela-economy-fractured-with-shortages-of-essentials-across-the-country/

      • This collapse of civilization is a small one that was brought on by a socialist government looting the resources of a rich nation to give to other nations. Right now no one knows if/when this collapse will spread to the rest of South America.

  6. Spain’s debt now worth more than value of the economy

    MADRID (AP) — Bank of Spain figures show that the country’s public debt is now worth more than the value of the economy.

    The bank said Wednesday that Spain’s public debt stockpile stood at 1.09 trillion euros ($1.23 trillion) in the first quarter of the year. That represents 101 percent of the country’s annual GDP — 1.08 trillion euros — in 2015.

    The government estimates the debt ratio will be 99.1 percent of GDP at the end of 2016.

    Spain’s public debt has risen consistently since the beginning of the country’s economic crisis in 2008.

    Spain emerged from a double-dip recession in late 2013, ending a five-year period that saw some 3.5 million jobs lost. It now is one of the European Union’s strongest-growing economies.

    http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/18/the-associated-press-spains-debt-now-worth-more-than-value-of-the-economy.html

    • ECB: Stimulus Working, Grounds for Optimism About Economy (abcnews, May 19, 2016)
      http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ecb-stimulus-working-grounds-optimism-economy-39222450

      “European Central Bank officials saw “grounds for cautious optimism about the economy” at their last meeting as the bank’s stimulus measures take hold across the 19 countries that use the euro as their currency.

      A summary of the bank’s April 21 meeting released Thursday indicates the central bank is now focused on implementing measures that have been decided but are still in the pipeline — rather than readying new ones.

      The summary said “patience was needed” for stimulus to fully unfold as the bank prepares to start corporate bond purchases in June. Those would pump more newly printed money into the economy to raise inflation from a dangerously low level of minus 0.2 percent annually and help sustain growth….”

    • The socialist governments of Europe have run out of other peoples money to spend and have reached the end of what printing press money can do. This problem should have been solved many years ago but the people in Europe have been brainwashed into the idea that the government will never run out of money and that the government can provide a high standard of living for all people.

      Reality has raised its ugly head and we are witnessing the slow economic collapse of the industrialized world. This is occurring when the Islamic invasion is occurring.

  7. EU: Traffickers Targeting Migrant Children, Nigerian Women (abcnews, May 19, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-traffickers-targeting-migrant-children-nigerian-women-39223156

    “The European Union says traffickers are taking advantage of Europe’s migrant crisis to target certain types of people, often for sexual exploitation, with children and Nigerian girls and women among the most vulnerable.

    An EU report into trafficking released Thursday said that crime gangs focus on children because they are easy to recruit and replace, with young migrants more exposed as they often travel long distances alone. The report also noted “a worryingly sharp increase in Nigerian woman and girls leaving Libya” has been seen.

    The report says from January to September 2015, more than 4,370 Nigerian women and girls headed for Europe, compared to 1,008 the previous year. The International Organization for Migration says around 80 percent of them could be victims of trafficking.”

  8. Afghan Official: Police Officer Shoots, Kills 8 Colleagues (abcnews, May 19, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-official-police-shoots-kills-colleagues-south-39220686

    “Eight Afghan policemen were killed by a colleague who turned his gun on them at a checkpoint in the volatile southern Zabul province, an official said on Thursday.

    The perpetrator escaped the scene in Qalat, the provincial capital, taking weapons and vehicles, said Ghulam Jalani Farahi, Zabul’s deputy police chief. The incident happened at 3 a.m. Thursday, he said.

    A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf, said the insurgent group was behind the attack. He told The Associated Press the shooter “is now with us.”

    Elsewhere, in the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province, two policemen were killed by a colleague in an apparent personal dispute, said district police chief Shah Muhammad.

    Insider attacks are commonplace among Afghanistan’s security forces, often carried out by insurgent infiltrators…”

  9. Obama’s America skulks abroad: Bad deals and weakness, on the down-low

    Unless you make the effort to follow alternative media, you won’t know about these things. If you do know about them, it’s easy to get depressed. Acting like a cynical third-world instigator-nation is not what America is for. But that’s how Obama is using our national power (to the extent it still exists in useful form).

    Some readers will be aware of the news that, according to an Iranian official, we’ve been asking the Iranians to keep quiet, please, about their missile launches in violation of UNSCR 2231. Jeff Dunetz elaborates:

    Per a Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translation of a news story posted at the Iranian news site Tasnimnews.com, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace and Missile Force, told a conference of religious students in the Iranian city of Qom:

    “At this time, the Americans are telling [us]: ‘Don’t talk about missile affairs, and if you conduct a test or maneuver, don’t mention it.’ If we agree to this, they will advance another step, and say: ‘Don’t conduct [a missile test] at this time, and also don’t do it in the Persian Gulf region.’ After that, they will tell us: ‘Why do you need your missiles to have a range of 2,000 km [anyway?]?’…”

    In other words: “Shhh, mullahs, for crying out loud. Cut it with the announcements and the victory laps. You’re making us and our deal look bad!”

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/05/18/obamas-america-skulks-abroad-bad-deals-weakness-low/

    • The only thing I can add to this analysis is to remind all readers that every group involved in the middle east has their own goal and most if not all of the Islamic groups will cut the throats of the other groups to prevent them from achieving their goals. With the exception of Assad and possibly the Kurds all Islamic groups involved are seeking to put their leader in charge of the new Caliphate. The rivalry of among the many groups will not stop them from making a temporary alliance to fight us or the Europeans. They will also make temporary alliances with us and Europe to fight the other groups, remember in this war alliances shift at least weekly, I would say daily but the leaders have trouble contacting all of their followers that fast.

      • This is a very good time and region to remember that my enemies enemy is my enemies enemy nothing more.

  10. Islamic State tortures CHILDREN ‘like men’ after forcing them to confess to false charges (express, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/671724/Islamic-State-tortures-CHILDREN-like-men-after-forcing-them-to-confess-to-false-charges

    “DEPRAVED Islamic State militants are torturing children to death in makeshift prisons – even after they have confessed to bogus charges.

    Around 20 prisoners managed to escape from an ISIS prison in Syria and have now revealed the murderous extremists are brutally torturing their inmates.

    Equipment such as “torture chairs”, rods, electric shocks and whips are being used against children to get them to confess to crimes such as helping non-believers and insulting Allah.

    Prisoners are even hung from the ceiling by hooks after they have already been sentenced to death.

    One escapee said he was found guilty after a trial in the prison and was told he would be executed in a few days.

    ISIS fanatics even told him that his crucified body would be publicly displayed in the searing Syrian heat for two days.

    The revelations come as 20 prisoners, most of whom had already been sentenced to die, escaped using a jagged piece of metal to scrape a hole in their cell wall.

    One survivor, who wishes to remain anonymous, said there were around 40 women in the prison, many of whom were with their children.

    He said: “‘They [children] are being tortured just like men, and some of them died under torture…”

  11. EU RIFT: Furious Turkey blasts top EU envoy over ‘humiliating’ migrant deal comments (express, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/671713/European-Union-EU-rift-Turkey-blast-envoy-humiliating-migrant-deal-comments

    “FURIOUS Turkish officials summoned the EU’s top envoy in the country to complain about comments he made about its controversial migrant deal with Brussels.

    Hansjoerg Haber used a German saying to describe how the plan to allow visa-free travel to Turkish people travelling to Europe has descended into chaos.

    Brussels bosses agreed to grant Turkey visa-free travel as part of the deal in March designed to combat Europe’s biggest migrant crisis since the 1940s…”

  12. European law ‘FORCES Britain to disclose secrets to TERRORISTS or face letting them in’ (express, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/671710/EU-law-European-Union-Britain-disclose-secrets-terrorists-walk-UK-unchallenged

    “EUROPEAN laws are forcing Britain to disclose secret intelligence to terrorists or face letting them waltz into the UK unchallenged, a top minister has claimed.

    The revelation from Justice Minister Dominic Raab warns that thousands of criminals and terror suspects are breezing past British borders because of the shambolic ruling.

    Mr Raab lifted the lid on the law laid out by the European Court of Justice, which claims if the UK wants to restrict a citizen’s right to free movement then it must explain why.

    This is said to be putting Britain’s national security danger as spy secrets are either disclosed to potential terrorists or the possible fanatics can enter the country without being questioned…”

    • Remember what I keep saying about the EU being created to help destroy the West.

  13. Turkey to miss end-June deadline for EU visa-free travel: sources (reuters, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-turkey-idUSKCN0YA1E9

    “The European Union is set to miss an end-June deadline to grant visa-free travel to Turkey because of a dispute over Turkish anti-terrorism law, barring an improbable sudden concession by President Tayyip Erdogan, EU officials and diplomats say.

    The main reward for Ankara’s collaboration in choking off an influx of migrants into Europe may now come at the earliest in July but more likely not until the autumn, they say.

    The 28-nation bloc is dependent on Ankara to enforce a deal, criticized by rights groups, that has sharply cut the number of refugees and migrants reaching Greece, giving EU leaders breathing space after more than a million arrived last year.

    However, there is no sign for now of the deal falling apart.

    Allowing Turks to visit Europe’s 26-nation Schengen area visa-free for up to three months is unpopular in many EU states, including France, where authorities fear it could be a gift to anti-immigration populist Marine Le Pen in elections next year.

    Ankara has yet to meet five of the 72 requirements for visa liberalization, according to the executive European Commission, which proposed this month relaxing travel rules for Turks if Turkey fulfilled those benchmarks by the end of June.

    But the European Parliament, which must approve the visa decision, has refused to start work on the proposal until Ankara meets the criteria in full. Parliament President Martin Schulz said he did not see that happening before the end of June.

    “De facto a decision in June is not possible anymore,” said an EU source familiar with the negotiations. Lawmakers could still theoretically vote on the plan at their final plenary session on July 4-7, but more likely after the summer break…”

  14. Jihadists mobilize in Syria as peacemaking unravels (reuters, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-alqaeda-insight-idUSKCN0YA19A

    “Jihadi militants in Syria including al Qaeda are mobilizing again for all-out war against President Bashar al-Assad, taking advantage of the collapse of peace talks to eclipse nationalist rival insurgents that signed on to a faltering truce.

    Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, was excluded from a ceasefire put in place in February and from peace talks that followed. The talks broke up last month, with Assad’s government and foes blaming each other for military escalation.

    After lying low in the early days of the truce, Nusra has re-emerged on the battlefield as the diplomacy has unraveled, spearheading recent attacks on pro-government Iranian militias near Aleppo, Nusra commanders and other rebels say.

    In the latest expansion of its profile, it and other groups have revived the Jaish al-Fatah, or the army of conquest, a military alliance of disparate Islamist rebel groups that won big victories against government forces last year.

    Nusra’s resurgence could undermine the Western-backed rebel groups that signed up to the truce and attended the peace talks, and gives Assad’s government and its Russian and Iranian backers more reasons to press on with a war during which they have hit insurgents of all stripes…”

  15. From: “Evangelische Zeitung” (“Protestant Nespaper”)

    Christian-Islamic worship
    Funeral for killed IS fighter in St. Pauli Church

    He grew up in Hamburg and radicalized. 2015, he died in Syira. Now friends and family bid him farewell with a church service. His mother says: “I am still crying”.

    (Photo: Pastor Sieghard Wilm and Florence K., mother of the killed Florent. Photo credit: Thomas Morell.)

    Hamburg. On Friday, May 27, a Christian-Muslim funeral will remind of the young IS fighter “Bilal” who was killed last summer in Syria at the age of 17 years.
    As a Christian, it is important for her to have a grave where she could lay down flowers, says the mother Florence K. “I still cry.” The funeral service begins at 15 o’clock in the Protestant St. Pauli Church.
    She is glad that she gets the chance of a funeral, says the mother. “A burden” fell from her heart. Such farewell ceremony is important for his friends, too. The funeral service will be held by Pastor Sieghard Wilm and the Albanian Imam Abu Ahmed Jakobi. Florent Prince N., as his name was originally, was baptized as a Christian and converted to Islam later.
    Florent was born in Cameroon, came to Germany as an infant, and grew up in St. Pauli [an inner city district of Hamburg]. Probably when he was 14, he came into contact with the radical Salafist scene, and converted to Islam. May last year, he travelled on a fake passport to Syria to fight for the “Islamic State”.
    In Syria, it seems, he realised that the circumstances had little to do with what had been promised to him. He therefore recorded an audio message in Rakka in Southwestern Syria, in which he criticised the IS. Short thereafter, he was dead. In early March, the audio file was distributed. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution thinks it is possible that he was punished for his message by the IS.
    Pastor Wilm himself knew Florent from youth work. He had been a friend of his foster son for several years, and active in the community. There are photographs of him climbing up the facade of St. Pauli Church. It was important to him, so Wilm, that Christians and Muslims celebrate together, to make it clear that they pray to a “god of peace”.
    She was also proud of her son, the mother said. He wanted to warn other young men with his message. He had been a “good boy with a big heart”. She talked to him on the phone shortly before his death in Syria. However, they did not talk about politics, but “as mother and son.”.

    http://www.evangelische-zeitung.de/news-detail-home/nachricht/trauerfeier-fuer-getoeteten-jungen-is-kaempfer-in-st-pauli-kirche.html

      • The critical internet platform “heise” comments:

        “(…) To summarise it, in a Christian Church, in the heart of a traditionally leftist part of town [St. Pauli], there will be a service for a deceased who joined an islamic-fundamentalist terror militia and who lost his life under unknown circumstances. A service, where an islamic preacher will preach, whose ambition it apparently has been for his whole life, to strengthen fundamentalist Islam in Libya.
        This is called an intercultural dialogue, and is intended so that Christians and Muslims celebrate together, to show, quoting the Abendblatt [local newspaper of Hamburg] that they pray to a “God of Peace”.
        One feels slight doubts rising, if the responsible people in the church community realise who it is they will let pray. To quote Jesus: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
        http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/48/48290/1.html

  16. Syrian government forces, allies capture extensive area near Damascus (reuters, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-damascus-idUSKCN0YA0K6

    “Syrian government forces and allies including Lebanese Hezbollah fighters seized an extensive area southeast of Damascus from rebels on Thursday and fought other insurgents near a highway leading southwest, a monitoring group said.

    The advance is part of a wider escalation in fighting that has accompanied failed diplomatic efforts to end the five-year conflict. Syria’s war has killed 250,000 people, created the worst refugee crisis since World War II, allowed for the rise of Islamic State and drawn in many regional and global powers…”

  17. NATO allies divided over bigger role in stabilizing Libya (reuters, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-foreign-libya-idUSKCN0YA1RO

    “NATO will on Thursday consider a bigger role for the alliance in Libya to help a new unity government push back the growing Islamic State threat, but some allies want the focus to be on a naval mission to stop refugees teeming into Europe.

    Just three days after world powers met in Vienna to offer aid to the U.N.-backed unity government in Tripoli, NATO foreign ministers will discuss how the alliance’s ships in the Mediterranean could stop arms reaching militants.

    “NATO has a clear mandate that we should stand ready to support the new government in Libya if so requested,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting. “We are not addressing any potential combat operation,” he said.

    Libya remains highly sensitive for NATO following its 2011 air campaign that helped rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi but then saw the country descend into anarchy…”

  18. New Turkey PM: Erdogan’s loyal servant and transport czar>/strong>

    Turkey’s incoming prime minister Binali Yildirim is a longstanding and faithful ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has shown the president unstinting loyalty even before he won the highest office.

    The appointment of Yildirim to lead the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and thus lead the government signals a move to a more pliant premiership for Erdogan than was the case under the outgoing Ahmet Davutoglu, who feuded with the Turkish strongman on one too many issues and earlier this month threw in the towel.

    Yildirim has worked side-by-side with Erdogan since his widely admired stint as mayor of Istanbul from 1994-1998, moving to federal office after the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) won power in 2002.

    As prime minister, Yildirim’s main task may not be to devise policy of his own, but rather to implement Erdogan’s dream of creating a presidential system in Turkey to enshrine his status as the undisputed number one.

    “And now it’s time for the presidential system,” Yildirim said earlier in May just after Davutoglu resigned.

    As a ferry company chief and then as transport minister, Yildirim has for the last two decades worked in the transport sector, an absolutely key area in Turkey which is trying to catch up its lag in infrastructure with vast new projects.

    As such, he has been a key lieutenant of Erdogan in implementing what the president likes to call his “crazy” projects to create a “New Turkey”, almost always pictured in the press wearing a hard hat and flourescent jacket.

    Projects completed so far include new roads, high speed rail lines and most spectacularly of all, the first tunnel under the Bosphorus opened in 2013 which now carries tens of thousands of passengers a day on an undersea rail line.

    To be opened in August this year is the third bridge over the Bosphorus, named after the Ottoman Sultan Selim the Grim and which will likely prove a lasting monument to Erdogan’s rule.

    Under construction is a brand new international airport for Istanbul while on paper is possibly the most ambitious project of all — a shipping canal that will run parallel with the Bosphorus and take some of the pressure off the clogged waterway.

    But in contrast with the sweeping ambition of the projects he has masterminded, Yildirim is softly spoken and almost mumbles his way through speeches.

    This will set him apart from Davutoglu who sought to steal some of the limelight from the charismatic president, with populist and sometimes deafening speeches of his own.

    The extent of Yildirim’s loyalty was shown in 2014 when he agreed to a near mission impossible to stand for mayor in Turkey’s third city of Izmir, a bastion of the secular opposition.

    With the AKP desperate to show one of its heavyweights could garner support in the Aegean city, Yildirim performed creditably, receiving 36 percent of the vote but still finishing a clear second.

    Yildirim, 60, worked as head of the Istanbul ferry company while Erdogan was mayor of the city in the second half of the 1990s.

    After the AKP won power, he served an almost unbroken stint from 2002 to 2013 and again from 2015 as transport minister.

    According to the columnist for the Hurriyet daily Abdulkadir Selvi, the only serious difference between the two men is that Erdogan supports the Fenerbahce football side and Yildirim their arch Istanbul rivals Galatasaray.

    Yildirim has held on to his post as transport minister despite the occasional controversy, notably in 2004 when a new high speed train derailed in the northwest of the country, resulting in the deaths of 41 people.

    There was also anger in 2005 when a photo emerged of his wife dining alone while he sat at a table with fellow men, prompting allegations of sexism.

    And he also remarked he did not attend the Western-orientated Bosphorus University in Istanbul, saying he was put off by male and female students mixing freely on the campus.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/217172/World/Region/New-Turkey-PM-Erdogans-loyal-servant-and-transport.aspx

  19. Largest US Muslim center targets spike in Islamophobia

    Sitting on a red and green carpet inside a mosque in a suburb of Washington, Nabill Abdulle describes an invisible force. You can’t see it, he says, but “it’s there.”

    Islamophobia haunts the Muslims of Lanham, Maryland — 30 minutes north of the US capital — as the country’s divisive election campaign fuels fears already heightened by Islamic State group attacks in Brussels and Paris.

    So hopes are riding high on the inauguration of the town’s new Islamic center, and its ability to help win over Americans’ trust.

    The Diyanet Center of America is the largest such facility in the country, a massive complex surrounding a mosque built in 16th-century Ottoman style.

    The Turkish government financed and built the $110 million center.

    At its inauguration last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan devoted half his speech to denouncing the “anti-Muslim atmosphere” in the United States during an election campaign dominated by the rhetoric of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, who has proposed banning all Muslim visitors.

    The new center, Erdogan promised, could reverse the trend.

    Abdulle has never visited the complex in person, but hopes the Turkish leader is right.

    “Christians in general don’t know a lot of Muslims personally,” says the 24-year-old. “It’s just a lack of understanding.”

    His own mosque, five minutes from the new center, opened in 1994 in a single-story red-brick building that also houses the Prince George’s County Muslim Association and still serves the majority of Lanham’s Muslim community.

    “We talk about Islamophobia a lot because this is an escalating issue,” the association’s religious director Ahmad Azzaari says from his office facing the prayer hall, his thick salt-and-pepper beard flowing down his chest.

    He blames Trump’s “incessant” diatribes against Islam. “The issue of Islamophobia is one of the main points of our agenda for six months now.”

    Azzaari aims to teach Muslims to practice Islam “in a way that will tell American people that we are American like you, that we love this land, we respect the laws of this land, we love this soil,” he says.

    He says Muslims in the United States — who are estimated to number around 3.3 million according to the Pew Research Center — have to constantly prove themselves to be patriotic.

    The new Islamic center could help, he says, by acting as a bridge between communities.

    It’s had a promising start.

    In a residential area surrounded by expensive houses, construction of the Diyanet Center prompted no hostility in an area known for strong reactions to much less ambitious projects.

    Built by the Turkish government, the new center is “completely different” from other mosques in the United States, which are typically built by local Muslims, Azzaari says.

    Decorated with gardens designed for tourists as well as locals, the center includes a museum of Islamic art, Turkish bath, Olympic-sized swimming pool, sports fields and a library, all aimed at attracting visitors.

    The fight against Islamophobia is “one of the objectives,” says Diyanet secretary general Ahmet Aydilek at the entrance of the mosque whose marble pillars, inlaid gold writing and stained glass recall the splendor of the Ottoman Empire’s golden era.

    To that end, the center has hosted no fewer than 400 visits by groups representing various beliefs in the past six months.

    It also hosts “inter-religious activities,” inviting local synagogue and church members to use the center’s extensive facilities.

    All that “maybe has sent the right message,” Aydilek says.

    “All these messages about Islamophobia and the bigotry and hateful messages especially brought by the politicians are happening during the election cycle,” he says. “We are thinking and hoping that these are all temporary.”

    Residents living near the center agree.

    “This is wonderful for tourism and also to have an interfaith type of situation where people can learn about each other,” Louise Werner says.

    Were Trump to visit, Aydilek says, he would be welcome. His presence would “send the right message to the Muslims in this country,” and provide an opportunity to bury the hatchet.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/217136/World/International/Largest-US-Muslim-center-targets-spike-in-Islamoph.aspx

  20. AUSTRALIA – Christians offer church hall for Muslim prayer space after fire destroys Mosque

    Christians have allowed Muslims to pray in a church hall after their mosque was destroyed in a suspected arson attack in Australia.

    The fire hit Geelong Mosque, which met in a former Anglican church building, on Wednesday morning. It is the fifth time in recent months that a religious building has caught fire in suspicious circumstances.

    Police in Victoria, Australia, say they are unable to confirm whether this week’s fire is linked to four other incidents, all of which hit church buildings in the local area, according to Anglican Communion News Service. On 14 October last year, St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Bannockburn, Geelong was destroyed by fire. This was followed by two more churches in the Norlane district of Geelong which were destroyed on 5 December. Finally Geelong Presbyterian Church was destroyed on 15 April.

    Police said they did not know whether Muslims were the target of the attack or whether the mosque was mistaken for a church as it met in a former Anglican building.

    The Bishop of Melbourne, Philip Huggins, said he knew how “shocking and distressing the destruction of a place and community strengthening is” and added: “We want to help in any way we can.” He offered local Muslims the church hall at All Saints Church in Newtown as a prayer space.

    “With this common ground between us clearly we would want to reach out and help our Muslim friends continue their devotional life.”

    Sheikh Muhammad Saleem from the Victoria Board of Imams said the support he had received “overwhelming support.”

    He told ABC News: “Since this morning we have received many telephone calls from the community leaders in and around Melbourne and Geelong expressing their…overwhelming support.

    “As I was walking to see the mosque, I was quite overwhelmed by the support expressed by the neighbouring community.

    “I’m very pleased to hear the men and women who live in the neighbourhood come forward and ask me personally what we can do, and my answer to them was, ‘Let’s stand together and rebuild it.'”

    He added the attack would not shake the Muslim community.

    “We’ve never had any trouble, any issue, any problem; any tension, even. Rather, we’ve received very complementing and love-based compliments from the people,” he said.

    “The mosque was known for peace, unity, love, tolerance. It was a real symbol for keeping together the neighbourhood and community.

    “We will rebuild. Whether it was accidental or done on purpose it will not shake our determination.”

    http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christians.offer.church.hall.for.muslim.prayer.space.after.fire.destroys.mosque/86435.htm

  21. Bundestag president: Erdogan has ‘autocratic ambitions’ for Turkey (DW, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/bundestag-president-erdogan-has-autocratic-ambitions-for-turkey/a-19268022

    “The Bundestag president has criticized the Turkish regime’s push to strip legislators of parliamentary immunity. Norbert Lammert told Süddeutsche Zeitung that Turkey’s president has “autocratic ambitions.”

    Norbert Lammert, president of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, has accused Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) of harboring “autocratic ambitions.” On Tuesday, a broad majority in Turkey’s parliament supported a constitutional amendment backed by the increasingly powerful president to strip legislators of parliamentary immunity.

    Lammert, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), told the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) that the development continued “a whole series of events with which Turkey is getting farther and farther away from our standards of democracy.”…”

  22. Tunisia president says war on ‘terror’ has cost $4 bn (gulfnews, May 19, 2016)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/tunisia/tunisia-president-says-war-on-terror-has-cost-4-bn-1.1831227

    “Doha: Tunisia’s President Beji Qaid Al Sebsi said in Doha on Thursday that his country’s battle to fight “terrorism” has cost it around $4 billion diverted away from the country’s economy.

    “The war against terrorism has cost Tunisia a lot, about $4 billion,” Al Sebsi told reporters in Qatar, at the end of an official three-day visit to the Gulf country.

    “It could have been invested in economic matters but unfortunately in this situation it was necessary to give a priority to fighting terrorism and achieving security.”

    Al Sebsi added that there was “no future” for political Islam in the country….”

  23. EU wants close cooperation with new Turkish gov’t: Mogherini (hurriyetdailynews, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/eu-wants-close-cooperation-with-new-turkish-govt-mogherini.aspx?pageID=238&nID=99420&NewsCatID=351

    “The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on May 19 that she expects the new Turkish government to endorse the EU-Turkey deal reached with the previous government and to continue close cooperation to address the refugee crisis.

    “We concluded an agreement with the Turkish government, not with one person,” Federica Mogherini told German daily Die Welt, dismissing speculations about the future of the deal after the impending departure of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu.

    “If the new Turkish government decides on a policy change then we must discuss this. But I expect the new government to endorse this agreement,” Mogherini added…”

  24. Erdo?an, Obama discuss urgency of weakening ISIL, cooperation against PKK (huriyetdailynews, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/erdogan-obama-discuss-urgency-of-weakening-isil-cooperation-against-pkk.aspx?pageID=238&nID=99378&NewsCatID=510

    “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and U.S. President Barack Obama held a lengthy phone call discussing the war in Syria and efforts to defeat jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as well as Turkey’s fight against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

    The telephone call late on May 18 lasted longer than an hour. Both Erdo?an’s office and the White House released separate readouts almost simultaneously, early in the morning of May 19.

    “President Erdo?an and U.S. President Obama who tackled the current situation in Syria agreed on the urgency of displaying a joint effort for the purpose of weakening and vanquishing [ISIL] and ensuring the [elimination] of its capacity to launch terror attacks in Turkey, Europe and other regions,” Erdo?an’s office said,.

    “The two leaders drew attention to the importance of international cooperation on issues of ensuring the continuity of the cease-fire in Syria and making progress in the political transition process,” it said.

    As recently as May 17, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu told his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, that he would resign if Moscow could show any evidence that Turkey has been aiding ISIL.

    “I am ready to resign if you have any evidence that Turkey is helping DAESH,” Çavu?o?lu said at the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Vienna.

    Russia has repeatedly accused Ankara of helping ISIL smuggle oil via its Syrian border.

    Erdo?an has previously condemned the claims, which he described as “despicable.”…”

  25. 15 PKK militants killed in air operations in Turkey’s southeast, northern Iraq (hurriyetdailynews, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/15-pkk-militants-killed-in-air-operations-in-turkeys-southeast-northern-iraq.aspx?pageID=238&nID=99394&NewsCatID=352

    “A total of 15 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were killed in air operations in the southeastern province of Hakkari and northern Iraq on May 18.

    Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in the Metina region of northern Iraq in three raids, along with another operation in the Hakurk region, shortly after intelligence was received.

    Warplanes also conducted another air operation targeting PKK positions in rural areas of the ?emdinli district of Hakkari between 7 p.m. and 8.25 p.m. Weapons pits and sanctuaries used by the militants were destroyed in the operation, which reportedly killed 15 militants.”

  26. Four soldiers killed in PKK attacks, ops in southeast Turkey (hurryietdailynews, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/four-soldiers-killed-in-pkk-attacks-ops-in-southeast-turkey-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=99379&NewsCatID=341

    “Four soldiers were killed and nine were wounded on May 19 in two separate attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern provinces of Van and Mardin.

    PKK militants clashed with security forces on the Gürp?nar-Edremit motorway in Van after authorities received intelligence that militants were planning to place explosives on the road.

    Two soldiers were initially wounded in the fight, with one specialized sergeant succumbing to his injuries and the other still receiving treatment…”

  27. Eight suspected al Qaeda members killed in Multan (tribune, May 19, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1106371/eight-suspected-al-qaeda-members-killed-in-multan/

    “Security forces on Thursday said they killed eight al Qaeda militants during a raid in Multan after learning of their plans to attack a local university.

    The operation, which officials said was carried out on Wednesday night after an intelligence tip-off, occurred on the city’s outskirts, a spokesperson for the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab, told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

    “On the basis of the information, a joint team of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and CTD Multan carried out a raid at the meeting point, near the village of Nawabpur on the bank of the river Chenab in Multan, resulting in intense fire from the militants,” he said….”

  28. Noor claims clash between Junbish and Jamiat supporters in Faryab left several dead (khaama, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/noor-claims-clash-between-junbish-and-jamiat-supporters-in-faryab-left-several-dead-0986

    “The acting provincial governor of northern Balkh province and Chief Executive of Jamiat-e-Islami party Ata Mohammad Noor has claimed that several people were left dead in an attack by the supporters of Junbish Milli party which is led by Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum.

    According to a statement by Noor, the attack was carried out late on Tuesday night which followed by a major attack by the Taliban militants in Almar district….”

  29. MoD claims 102 militants killed in Ghazni and Wardak in past 10 days (khaama, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/mod-claims-102-militants-killed-in-ghazni-and-wardak-in-past-10-days-0989

    “The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has claimed at least 102 militants were killed during the clearance operations in central Maidan Wardak and southeastern Ghazni provinces during the past 10 days.

    According to a statement by MoD, the operations were conducted in Zankhan district of Ghazni and Maidan Wardak provinces as part of ‘Sultan Wrath’ operations.

    The statement further added that 64 militants were also wounded and 2 others were arrested during the operations.

    The Afghan security forces confiscated various types of weapons, ammunition and explosives, including 20 rifles, 2 rocket launchers, the statement said, adding that various types of vehicles and bikes were also confiscated.

    According to MoD, the Afghan forces recovered several containers belonging to the traders which were seized by the militants from the highway in Ghazni.

    MoD said at least 52 Improvised Explosive Device were also discovered and defused during the operations besides dismantling a communication establishment of the militants.

    The Afghan security forces did not suffer any casualties during the operations, the defense ministry added.

    The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.”

  30. Women’s songs ban in Kandahar spark outrage among media supporters (khaama, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/womens-songs-ban-in-kandahar-spark-outrage-among-media-supporters-0992

    “The authorities in southern Kandahar province have banned women’s songs in the local media, a move which has sparked outrage among the media supporters in the country.

    NAI organization which supports open media in Afghanistan reacted towards the move, saying no governmental or non-governmental organizations have the right to ban women’s songs in the media.

    According to NAI, the provincial information and culture directorate has asked the local media to prevent airing songs of women…”

  31. Taliban commander Hafiz Saadullah among 10 killed after blown by own explosives (khaama, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/taliban-commander-hafiz-saadullah-among-10-killed-after-blown-by-own-explosives-0993

    “A commander of the Taliban group Hafiz Saadullah was among ten militants killed after blown up by own explosives in southeastern Ghazni and western Herat provinces.

    The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the militants were killed in three separate incidents in Ab Band and Khogyani districts of Gahzni and Shindand district of Herat….”

  32. Top Afghan army general Abdul Basir Sharwand martyred in Kandahar explosion (khaama, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/top-afghan-army-general-abdul-basir-sharwand-martyred-in-kandahar-explosion-0998

    “A top Afghan army general Abdul Basir Sharwan was martyred in an explosion southern Kandahar province, the third senior Afghan general martyred in a span of almost 4 months.

    According to the provincial government media office, Gen. Sharwand, the commander of the 1st Brigade of 205th Atal Corps of Afghan National Army, was martyred while he was on his way following a visit of the Afghan army check posts in Shahwali Kot district.

    Gen. Sharwan was one of the prominent army generals in the south and was actively involved in training and leadership of the Afghan armed forces.

    The Taliban militants group claimed responsibility behind the attack on Gen. Sharwand…”

  33. UK – Lord Mayor of Oxford Mohammed Altaf-Khan sworn in

    The 57th Lord Mayor of Oxford, Mohammed Altaf-Khan, was sworn in with all the traditional pomp and ceremony of the city’s annual mayor-making service on Monday.

    The bells of Carfax Tower were rung from 5.45pm as Mr Altaf-Khan took over the office from Rae Humberstone.

    The city councillor for Headington was born in Kashmir and came to the UK in the late 1980s to join his family, who settled in Oxford in the 1960s.

    Mr Altaf-Khan said: “It is an honour for me to represent the city and its citizens as their Lord Mayor.”

    Cllr Humberstone has been selected as deputy lord mayor.

    Cllr Bob Price was re-elected leader of Oxford City Council for another four years and Cllr Ed Turner was chosen as deputy leader again.

    http://www.oxfordshireguardian.co.uk/lord-mayor-of-oxford-mohammed-altaf-khan-sworn-in/

  34. Vertraulicher Lagebericht : 78.000 Polizeieinsätze in Zusammenhang mit Asylunterkünften in NRW in 2015

    Die Polizei in Nordrhein-Westfalen kommt im Jahr 2015 auf fast 78.000 Einsätze in Zusammenhang mit Asylunterkünften des Landes. Das teilte das Innenministerium des Landes der „Welt“ mit. In den allermeisten Fällen ging es um präventive Maßnahmen.[…]

    http://www.focus.de/regional/nordrhein-westfalen/vertraulicher-lagebericht-78-000-polizeieinsaetze-in-zusammenhang-mit-asylunterkuenften-in-nrw-in-2015_id_5282954.html

  35. The Party of Scientism, Not Science
    The gruesome history of left-wing scientific fakery.

    In a commencement speech at Rutgers, President Obama took an indirect shot at Donald Trump and the Republicans:

    Facts, evidence, reason, logic, an understanding of science: These are good things. These are qualities you want in people making policy . . . We traditionally have valued those things, but if you’re listening to today’s political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from.

    Obama here indulges one of the hoariest progressive clichés: that they are the party of enlightenment, reason, and fact, while conservatives are ignorant obscurantists, “bitter clingers” to the superstitions of religion and tradition. This prejudice is false about both conservatives and progressives. Most of what many progressives think is science is, in fact, scientism: the application of the methods, techniques, and jargon of genuine science to subjects for which they are inappropriate.

    Indeed, leftism was born in scientism. Karl Marx believed that his ideas about the historical development, economics, and human nature comprised “scientific socialism,” as true as the laws of natural science. As Friedrich Engels said at Marx’s funeral, “Just as Darwin had discovered the law of development of organic nature, so did Marx discover the laws of human history.” Of course Marxism is no such thing. It is a reductive view of human nature and action, based on selective evidence, unexamined assumptions, and jargon modeled on real science.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/262898/party-scientism-not-science-bruce-thornton

  36. Huffington Post Calls on Christians to Recognize Muhammad as a Prophet
    When Leftists ally with Muslims, they begin to proselytize for Islam.

    Can you imagine the Huffington Post publishing a series of articles calling upon Muslims to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? Neither can I. But the HuffPo seems intent on compelling Christians to accept Muhammad as a prophet. In publishing Craig Considine and now Ian Mevorach both calling on Christians to accept Muhammad, the Huffington Post illustrates what happens to Leftists when they ally with Islamic supremacists: they fall completely under their sway and begin to proselytize for Islam.

    Writes Mevorach: “I do not have space in this article to explore the many Qur’anic verses directly addressed to Christians, but if we were to receive them our religion would be transformed for the better and would come into balance with Judaism and Islam.”

    So apparently the problem in the world today is Christianity, in being out of “balance” with Judaism and Islam, and that “balance” can be restored or attained by encouraging Christians to “receive” the “many Qur’anic verses directly addressed to Christians.”

    But Mevorach, a cramped man, does “not have space” to “explore” those many verses. Mr. Mevorach, I am happy to help. Here are the principal Qur’an verses regarding Christians:

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/262890/huffington-post-calls-christians-recognize-robert-spencer

    • ~~ I have a Dream Nightmare ~~

      Every leftist loon, fat SJW; would-be cop-killer ’BLM’ thug; zit-faced, Jew-hating, college illiterate –

      – watches in horror as we reverse the coup d’état of 2008.

      Then they convert en masse to zombie.

      • That won’t be a very long journey from leftist moron to zombie.

        That may be the zombie apocalypse they talk about.

  37. The Islamic Revolution Continues beyond Iran’s Borders

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in April that the U.S. Fifth Fleet and other international forces recently intercepted four ships ferrying weapons from Iran to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. In March, Lebanese and Gulf media reported that Hizbullah missile and rocket experts were training and assisting Houthi rebels with precision barrages on Saudi territory.?

    Iran’s ongoing subversive activity in assisting Lebanese Hizbullah in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, and other places is intended to signal that Iran will keep working to export the Iranian revolution. In this context, Iran’s supply of missiles and rockets to the Houthis in Yemen, Lebanese Hizbullah, and the Palestinian terror organizations is of great importance.

    ?Standing against this trend is Saudi Arabia, which continues to draw blood in Yemen and to pay large sums for the ongoing campaign in Syria – two arenas where Iran is heavily involved. The Saudis are thus trying to forge an effective blocking coalition against Iran’s expansionist ambitions in the region.

    http://jcpa.org/islamic-revolutionary-guards-corps-revolution-continues-beyond-irans-borders/

  38. Mercenaries Are the Silent Majority of Obama’s Military

    The president’s “light footprint” approach to war has relied on thousands of Americans paid to fight — and die — in the shadows.
    […]
    Under Obama, more private military contractors have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than all the U.S. troops deployed to those countries. Between Jan. 1, 2009, and March 31, 2016, 1,540 contractors were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (176 in Iraq and 1,364 in Afghanistan). During that period, 1,301 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq (289 in Iraq and 1,012 in Afghanistan). Last year was even more skewed toward contractors than the preceding six years; 58 contractors died in Afghanistan or Iraq, while less than half as many U.S. troops did (27) fighting in either country, including Syria.
    […]
    During the next five months you will read a lot about the “Obama doctrine,” in particular the supposed “light” military footprint he endorses. However, you will not read about the far larger numbers of war-zone contractors, or the dangerous responsibilities they fulfill. Were it not for these contractors, Obama’s “light footprint” would suddenly be two or three times as large. When the government refuses to provide consistent information about contractors, and when the news media neglect to bring attention to their role and sacrifices, the human costs of fighting America’s wars seem less significant than they actually are.

    http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/18/private-contractors-are-the-silent-majority-of-obamas-military-mercenaries-iraq-afghanistan/

    • They are right, we will see the Islamic militias form all around the world, about half will have ISIS cadre and the other half will have Hezbollah or Revolutionary Guard cadre.

    • Long answer, HELL YES

      http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=589

      George Soros is one of the most powerful men on earth. A New York hedge fund manager, he has amassed a personal fortune estimated at about $13 billion (as of 2009). His company, Soros Fund Management, controls at least another $25 billion in investor assets. Since 1979, Soros’s foundation network — whose flagship is the Open Society Institute (OSI) — has dispensed more than $5 billion to a multitude of organizations whose objectives are consistent with those of Soros. With assets of $1.93 billion as of 2008, OSI alone donates scores of millions of dollars annually to these various groups. Following is a sampling of the major agendas advanced by groups that Soros and OSI support financially. Listed under each category heading are a few OSI donees fitting that description.

      Organizations that accuse America of violating the civil rights and liberties of many of its residents:

      The Arab American Institute impugns many of the “sweeping” and “unreasonable” post-9/11 counterterrorism measures that have unfairly “targeted Arab Americans.”
      The Bill of Rights Defense Committee has persuaded the political leadership in more than 400 American cities and counties to pledge noncompliance with the anti-terrorism measure known as the Patriot Act, on grounds that the legislation tramples on people’s civil liberties.

      Organizations that depict America as a nation whose enduring racism must be counterbalanced by racial and ethnic preferences in favor of nonwhites:

      The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fundcalls itself “the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization.”
      The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law provides “legal services to address racial discrimination.”
      The NAACP and its Legal Defense and Educational Fund uses “litigation, advocacy, and public education” to promote “structural changes” and “achieve racial justice in the United States”
      The National Council of La Raza charges that “discrimination severely limits the economic and social opportunities available to Hispanic Americans.”

      Organizations that specifically portray the American criminal-justice system as racist and inequitable:

      The Sentencing Project asserts that prison-sentencing patterns discriminate against nonwhites, and seeks “to reduce the reliance on incarceration.”
      Critical Resistance contends that crime stems from “inequality and powerlessness,” which can be rectified through wholesale redistribution of wealth.
      The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights charges that criminal laws “are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased.”

      Organizations that call for massive social change, and for the recruitment and training of activist leaders to help foment that change:

      The Center for Community Change is “dedicated to finding the [progressive] stars of tomorrow and preparing them to lead.”
      The Gamaliel Foundation teaches social-change “techniques and methodologies.”
      The Ruckus Society promotes “nonviolent direct action against unjust institutions and policies.”
      The American Institute for Social Justice aims to “transform poor communities” by agitating for increased government spending on social-welfare programs.
      The Institute for America’s Future “regularly convenes and educates progressive leaders, organizations, candidates, opinion makers, and activists.”
      People for the American Way, founded by television producer Norman Lear to oppose the allegedly growing influence of the “religious right,” seeks “to cultivate new generations of leaders and activists” who will promote “progressive values.”
      Democracy For America operates an academy that has taught more than 10,000 recruits nationwide how to “focus, network, and train grassroots activists in the skills and strategies to take back our country.”
      The Midwest Academy trains radical activists in the tactics of direct action, confrontation, and intimidation. Author Stanley Kurtz has described this academy as a “crypto-socialist organization” that was “arguably the most influential force in community organizing from the seventies through the nineties.”

      Organizations that disparage capitalism while promoting a dramatic expansion of social-welfare programs funded by ever-escalating taxes:

      • Take your time, the list of organizations he is funding is long and complicated. I really wouldn’t want to have to chart the accounting nightmare all of this support gives the IRS.

  39. How A Turkish Cleric’s Network Has Penetrated The Clinton Campaign and American Education
    As America increases its global ties and interacts with foreign ways and cultures, it imports the good, the bad and the ugly.

    A Turkish Muslim cleric named Fethullah Gülen, who resides in Pennsylvania, appears to have brought an unhealthy mix of politics and religion to his country of asylum.

    Gülen has built a global religious movement, which has attracted some 5 to 8 million followers worldwide (the exact number is unknown). In the process, some of his followers have apparently amassed tremendous wealth – the Gülen-affiliated net business worth exceeds $25 billion.
    …..
    http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/how-a-turkish-clerics-network-has-penetrated-the-clinton-campaign-and-american-education/

    A good article explaining the links between Gulen and Clintons. Article is from February,nevertheless it is worth another look

  40. Migrant Smugglers to EU Made Between $5 and $6 Billion Dollars in 2015, States New Report

    According to the recent Europol-Interpol Report on Migrant Smuggling Networks, more than 90 percent of migrants entering the European Union (EU) are facilitated by third parties, predominantly by members of criminal groups, and the trend is expected to increase in the future due to “control measures taken by countries along the migratory routes.

    A summary of the report, published by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and Europe’s joint police force (Europol) jointly on Tuesday, reveals the latest estimated figures and defines the migrant smuggling routes amid what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) calls “the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time”.

    According to the report, migrant smuggling is highly profitable. Organized crime groups reached a turnover worth between $5 and $6 billion dollars with their migrant smuggling activities in 2015 – “representing one of the main profit-generating activities for organized criminals in Europe”.

    With members originating from more than 100 countries, human smuggling networks are loosely organized along key migratory routes, which are fluid themselves as they are influenced by border controls and other factors. The report highlights expectations that a further diversification of these routes is likely due to smugglers adapting the services they provide to meet the increased border measures taken by individual countries.
    …..

    https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/5248-migrant-smugglers-made-between-5-and-6-billion-dollars-in-2015-states-new-report

  41. Greece: Golden Dawn mark centenary of ethnic cleansing of Christian Ottoman Greeks

    Hundreds of far-right protesters, predominantly members of the “Golden Dawn” political party gathered at Akriton Sea Square in the town of Acharnes on the National Day of Remembrance, Thursday to commemorate the day of the hundredth anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Christian Ottoman Greeks from their historic homeland of Anatolia.

    Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos laid a wreath at the monument honouring those who died. Talking to the audience party member Ilias Kasidiaris, said that they “will resist and fight against them with every means” and “Golden Dawn will not stop”. Activists held Greek and Golden Dawn flags, sang traditional Pontian songs and at the end of the event lit torches.

    The Pontic cleansing, as it is also known, took place in the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I, between 1914 and 1922. Some people took refuge in the Russian Empire. Commemorations have taken place on May 19 every year when hundreds of Greeks, especially from Pontus, Cappadocia, Ionia and Eastern Thrace were deported or executed. Between 450,000 and 750,000 people are believed to have died during the period.

    • It took over 700 years to remove the Moors from the Iberian peninsula, It has been about 700 years since the Turks took over Byzantium, maybe some of that area can be liberate from their occupation.

  42. Boris Johnson wins offensive poetry competition with prose on Turkey’s Erdogan and a GOAT (express, May 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/671763/Boris-Johnson-wins-offensive-poetry-competition-Turkey-president-Erdogan-goat-Spectator

    “FORMER London Mayor and chief campaigner for Brexit Boris Johnson has won an offensive poetry competition with a limerick about a goat and the Turkish president.

    The competition was launched after Recep Tayyip Erdogan implemented new blasphemy laws in a bid to prevent himself from criticism in Turkey.

    Many critics in the eastern state have been imprisoned, while journalists and political rivals have been arrested as Erdogan cracks down.

    Meanwhile, comedian Jan Böhmermann will face prosecution in Germany after Angela Merkel succumbed to complaints from the Turkish government about a poem read by the comic during a late-night programme.

    In response satirical magazine The Spectator launched its ‘The President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition’, calling for writers to send in their limericks insulting the Turkish leader.

    It said: “The aim of the competition is to be as filthy and insulting as possible about Recep Erdogan.

    “Rhymes with some political point might be considered, but will inevitably take second-place to works which mull (for example) solely on President Erdogan’s reputed fondness for goats or his notorious untrustworthiness in the vicinity of any public zoo.”

    Launched on April 18, the publication has now announced its winner – the one and only Mr Johnson.

    His entry read:

    “There was a young fellow from Ankara
    Who was a terrific w*****er
    Till he sowed his wild oats
    With the help of a goat
    But he didn’t even stop to thankera.”

    Fellow competitors have taken to social media in reaction to the announcement, with some calling for all the best entries to be released.

    One Twitter user said: “Can you please publish a few of the runner up poems? Will cheer up Turkish journalists who have just been jailed.”

    Another added: “Brilliant Boris. In a few years you will be arrested for that in England so might as well do it while we can.”

    Not all were pleased with the win however.

    One tweeted: “Oats and goat? Anything goes these days.”

    Another said: “Disappointing I’m afraid; even my entry was better and I scrawled it in 5 minutes. At least it rhymed and scanned.”

    Mr Johnson has not yet confirmed what he will do with his £1,000 prize money, which was up for grabs after being donated by a reader.”