Reader’s links for June 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

135 Replies to “Reader’s links for June 19 – 2016”

  1. DAILY MAIL – Doctor listed on psych-evaluation carried out on Omar Mateen by G4S says she never saw him and was not living in Florida at the time it was conducted

    Psychologist, Dr Carol Nudelman, said she didn’t evaluate Orlando shooter Omar Mateen for his position at security firm G4S in 2007
    However, her name appears on the document in Florida’s state records that cleared him to carry a firearm as a private security guard
    G4S officials called the discrepancy a ‘clerical error’ and said Mateen had been evaluated, but by a different psychologist
    Company didn’t move Mateen to unarmed position despite evidence that concluded comments he made were serious enough to transfer him

    […]’What I do know is that in September 2007, I was not living or working in Florida, I was not performing any work for Wackenhut, and I did not administer any type of examination to Omar Mateen,’ Nudelman said in the statement.

    […]When Mateen was hired by G4S in 2007, his application for the firearms license, showed that G4S submitted a ‘character certification’ indicating Nudelman had evaluated or administered a psychological test for him on September 6, 2007, according to the Herald.

    Her lawyers released a statement saying that G4S’ form was a ‘false document’ because she had closed her Florida practice on January 1, 2006, nearly two years before Mateen was supposedly evaluated.[…]

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3647779/Doctor-listed-psych-evaluation-carried-Omar-Mateen-says-did-not-him.html

        • One of the comments at the Daily Mail article says the company is owned by Phil May, husband of Home Secretary Theresa May.
          I don’t know if it’s true or not.

          • Early on someone on Vladtepes said that it was sold to some Islamic nation or person a few years back. Here is what a quick search has found, I hope it satisfies because I really don’t want to do an in depth search.

            Major shareholdings

            Current major shareholdings that have been notified to the company as at 13 May 2016 are:

            Invesco 200,346,991 (12.91%)

            BlackRock, Inc. 88,726,926 ordinary shares (5.71%)

            Mondrian Investment Partners Limited 78,613,679 (5.07%)

            Tweedy, Brown Company LLC 71,420,862 (5.06%)*

            Harris Associates LP 78,143,564 (5.04%)

            Woodford Investment Management LLP 78,247,804 (5%)

            Skagen Global 46,872,279 (3.02%)

  2. Iran announces deal worth billions to buy up to 100 Boeing aircraft

    Iran has announced that it has reached a deal worth billions of dollars with Boeing for the purchase of as many as 100 airplanes, in what would be a historic business agreement with the US.

    Abbas Akhondi, the minister for roads and urban development, was quoted by local media as saying that Iran had already struck the deal which is aimed at renovating the country’s ageing air fleet after years of sanctions.

    Boeing told the Guardian on Wednesday that had “been engaged in discussions with Iranian airlines approved by the USG about potential purchases of Boeing commercial passenger airplanes and services”. The company declined to discuss the details of the deal, but did say that any deal reached will ultimately “be contingent on US government approval”.

    Barack Obama lifted the United States’ ban on selling aircraft parts to Iran almost exactly six months ago, though approval by the US government will still be required before the deal can take place. When the ban lifted in January, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told a Bloomberg News luncheon that no sales could move forward until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certified Iran’s compliance with the comprehensive nuclear deal hammered out between the nation and a consortium of governments including the UN security council and the EU. The IAEA signed off on Iran’s part of the deal in May.

    The US secretary of state, John Kerry, refused to comment on the reports when questioned by reporters after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Oslo.[…]

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/15/iran-boeing-deal-worth-billions-aircraft

    • WaPo- Boeing nears landmark deal to sell airliners to Iran

      Although financing arrangements are not complete, the historic agreement is likely to cover deliveries and services over nearly a decade at a cost of more than $17 billion.

      Word of an agreement emerged first from Iran’s state news agency, which reported that Iran’s minister of roads and urban planning, Abbas Ahmad Akhundi, told reporters that the purchase would be similar in scope to a $27 billion accord to buy 118 planes from France-based Airbus Group. He said the government would provide details “within upcoming days.”

      Boeing still needs approval and a license from the Treasury Department. But the sale would not have been possible before the easing of sanctions that took place under what is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), adopted after an accord limiting Iran’s nuclear program.

      […]The anti-American rhetoric common in Tehran and election-year politics in the United States make this a sensitive time for this type of business deal.

      […]A White House official said that “we are not going to stand in the way of permissible business under the JCPOA, and we will continue to meet our commitments, as long as Iran continues to meet their nuclear-related commitments

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/boeing-near-agreement-to-sell-airliners-to-iran/2016/06/14/9d4afb70-325a-11e6-95c0-2a6873031302_story.html

  3. SAS corner hundreds of jihadi fighters in ‘kill boxes’ – but the desperate fanatics are using PREGNANT women as human shields

    Elite commandos have attacked IS fighters by land, sea and air in Libyan city of Sirte
    SAS and SBS retaking control of crucial oil port in terror group’s last bastion in the country
    British forces – and US Navy Seals – deployed drones and high-tech infra-red cameras to locate hundreds of jihadis
    IS has run the city as an extremist caliphate for the past 18 months

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3648489/SAS-corner-hundreds-jihadi-fighters-kill-boxes-desperate-fanatics-using-PREGNANT-women-human-shields.html#ixzz4C0AW2rf2
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3648489/SAS-corner-hundreds-jihadi-fighters-kill-boxes-desperate-fanatics-using-PREGNANT-women-human-shields.html

    • According to the Geneva Convention hostage takers and fighters who shelter among civilians are responsible for the civilian deaths, not the attackers.

      • Ans also according to that same Geneva Conventions, fighters who shelter among civilians have forfeited all theyr human rights and are supposed to be shot dead on the spot.

        • You have to want us to start fighting this war according to the laws of war instead of the police rules the left has forced on us.

  4. The Orlando terror massacre has members of the LGBT community around the nation coming out – for Donald Trump and the Second Amendment.

    Some among the reliable Democratic constituency were not persuaded by President Obama’s post-attack call for new gun control measures and renewed warning against painting Islam in a negative light.

    Trump’s counter message that Americans – including those in the LGBT community – must protect themselves against the hatred of radical Muslims struck a chord with Stephen Zieman.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/06/18/orlando-massacre-prompts-some-in-lgbt-community-to-come-out-for-trump.html

    • Old definition: A conservative is a liberal that has been mugged by reality.

      The Orlando massacre was a mugging by reality we are now seeing people wake up and smell the roses.

  5. Why the ‘lone-wolf’ terrorist is a myth

    President Obama says don’t worry, the Orlando terrorist was just another “lone actor” operating in isolation, unconnected to any larger group of supporters. In fact, these so-called “lone wolves” are running in packs, and suggesting otherwise gives the public a false sense of security.

    Yet Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson echoed Obama, saying Omar Mateen was “self-radicalized” without any religious, ideological or operational support from friends, family or others in the Muslim community.

    http://nypost.com/2016/06/18/why-the-lone-wolf-terrorist-is-a-myth/

  6. (This one is very important, read and think about what is being said.)

    This is big: Russia expands scope of Syrian war with attack on U.S.-backed rebels

    If you haven’t been convinced that Iran is laboring to forge paths of military advance across Iraq, toward Israel and the rest of the Mediterranean coast, consider where Iran’s partner Russia just attacked a U.S.-backed rebel force.

    The image in your mind, if you’ve paid attention to MSM maps of the Syria conflict in the last year, would be of factional clashes in the swath across northern Syria from the Kurdish-held areas through Raqqa to the Mediterranean coast, west of Aleppo and Idlib Province. (See first map.) That’s where the major fighting has been taking place: between ISIS, the Iran- and Russia-backed Assad regime, the Kurds, and various Syrian rebel forces – with Turkish artillery fire and air-to-ground attacks on Kurdish positions along the border thrown in.

    The U.S. and Russia have been at cross-purposes in this area for some time. But that’s not where the Russians conducted air strikes this week, in a move being strenuously objected to by the U.S. military.

    The Russian air strikes were on a border crossing at At-Tanf – a remote border crossing into Iraq, close to the tri-border junction of Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.

    • A very good analysis of what is happening, she is keeping the analysis short and not going into detail about how Russia is setting things up so they can achieve their goals about controlling large areas of Turkey and being the power broker in the Middle East.

      This Russia chess game is why Israel has been doing so much talking to Russia.

      The big question she ask is how long can the scattered allied troops survive. I know she said the US but the same question applies to the Brits and Europe spec ops types in that region. The Russians are playing chess like masters and the US is playing go fish, Just about the only combat ready troops the US and our European allies have are spread out in penny packets that are rapidly become very much in harms way.

      Obama and the left dream about a world without the US, we are now seeing the beginning formation of such a world and the picture isn’t pretty. The west either wakes up and decides to rebuild their nation states and their cultures along with their military or we will see Machiavellian wars for power all around the world.

      • I am with you on that, but that doesn’t mean I trust Russia, but I don’t really trust an national government and even fewer local governments.

      • Here is also something on connected to the subject.

        Germany foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called NATO maneuvers Anaconda in Poland “loud saber ratting and war cries” which “inflame” situation on Eastern borders of EU. He also said that “Anyone who thinks to do with symbolic Panzer Parade on the eastern border of the Alliance more security, you are wrong. We are well advised not to provide a pretext for the new, old confrontation free.”
        http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2016/160619_BM_Bild_am_Sonntag.html

        The situation is quite complicated. In Germany majority of large corporations and majority of small and medium size companies want to end sanctions. The ending of sanctions and better relationship with Russia will allow them to make more deals with Russia and get bigger share of Russian market. At the same time Germany wants to control (and already have large influence on ) EU policies, wants to become more independent from USA and/or have more influence on NATO. That is combined with increasing anti-USA and pro-Russian views.

        Pro-Russian and anti-USA views are getting more popular in Europe, not only in the Western but also in Eastern Europe. That is particularly visible among people who support anti-migration, anti-EU parties. Russian propaganda equates Brussels pro-migrant policy with Obama&USA policy in the Middle East and makes people blame all problems with migrants on USA. Unfortunately UE& Obama policies make that possible.

          • Don’t forget the money for training and maintenance was spend on operations in the Middle East. The troops are rusty just like the sabers.

        • Obama has stabbed all of our former allies in the back and they no longer trust the US, this is what he wanted. I doubt he wanted Russia to step into our position but that is possible. It will take several decades of good Presidents to restore peoples trust in the US.

        • Obama’s action during and after the Arab Spring show that he wants to remove all secular governments from the Middle East, and his actions towards Israel show that he wants to remove all non Islamic nations from the Middle East.

          Putin wants to keep the turmoil in the Middle East at a high simmer to keep the Islamist states from organizing to the point they are a major threat to Russia. Obama will do nothing to help Putin achieve this goal.

          These two conflicting goals in the Middle East are why Putin is backing Trump and why we need to ensure that Hillary never becomes President. She would be Obama’s third term (or worse) and I don’t think the US could survive even two years of her as President.

  7. Activists Say 8 Syrians Killed Trying to Cross Into Turkey (abcnews, June 19, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/activists-syrians-killed-cross-turkey-39967573

    “A Syrian opposition coalition on Sunday called on Turkey to investigate the deaths of at least eight Syrian refugees, including four children, who were allegedly shot dead by border guards the night before while trying to cross the frontier.

    A suicide blast meanwhile targeted the entrance to a park in the Syrian city of Qamishli, which is shared between government and Kurdish forces, killing three people, an hour after a memorial was held there for victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

    “Had the bombing taken place earlier, there would have been a massacre,” Qamishli resident and writer Suleiman Youssef told The Associated Press via telephone. Qamishli lies on Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

    A statement put out by the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces accused Turkish border guards of firing at a group of civilians trying to cross from Kherbet al-Jouz in northwestern Syria into Turkey’s Hatay province, killing 11.

    The Coalition, which relies on Turkish political and financial support, said the incident “clashes with the generosity displayed by the Turkish government and brotherly people toward displaced civilians.”…”

  8. Turkish army destroys Daesh targets in Syria’s north (middleeastmonitor, June 19, 2016)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160619-turkish-army-destroys-daesh-targets-in-syrias-north/?

    “Turkish army howitzers have destroyed six Daesh targets in northern Syria, military sources said Sunday.

    Speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with the media, the sources said the Daesh targets had been preparing to launch rockets to Turkey.

    The sources added that a total of eight terrorists were “neutraliSed” and that Katyusha rockets and mortar shells were among the six targets, and were covered with fire from an air operation by anti-Daesh coalition forces as well…”

  9. Algerian troops kill eight Islamist militants south of capital – ministry (reuters, June 19, 2016)
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-algeria-security-idUKKCN0Z50G4?rpc=401

    “Algerian troops killed eight Islamist armed fighters and captured weapons on Sunday in an operation south of the capital, the ministry of defence said.

    Four other suspected militants were also arrested during the operation in Rouakeche area of Medea, APS state news agency reported. But the statement did not say to which group the suspects belonged.

    Violence is rarer now in Algeria since the end of its 1990s war with Islamist fighters that killed 200,000 people. But Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and small bands of fighters allied to Islamic State have been active in remote regions.”

  10. Two EU citizens rescued from English Channel questioned on suspicion of people smuggling (express, June 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/681251/Two-EU-citizens-in-15ft-boat-rescued-by-RNLI-from-English-Channel

    “TWO European citizens rescued from the English Channel this morning are being questioned by police on suspicion of people smuggling, it has been reported.

    The RNLI and Border Force were called just before 8.15am to a 15 foot boat in difficulty about four miles from the coast of Dover.

    It is not currently known where in Europe they are from or how they came to get in to trouble in the Channel…”

  11. Christian girls abducted and forced to convert to Islam in spate of horror kidnappings (express, June 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/681009/Christian-girls-abducted-forced-to-convert-to-Islam-spate-horror-kidnappings-Egypt

    “YOUNG girls have been abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men in a horrifying spate of kidnappings in Egypt.

    International Christian Concern says there has been a surge in incidents in the last two months with little help from the authorities.

    Chilling videos have been published online of teenage girls saying they chose to run away and convert.

    But the families left behind and the ICC say victims are being beaten and raped before being blackmailed into taking part in the videos.

    The ICC says Upper Egypt is “paralysed” by the number of disappearances of young girls…”

  12. PANICKED Brussels chiefs plead for Egypt talks after migrants find NEW route into Europe (express, June 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/681223/european-union-europe-migrant-crisis-egypt-syria-greece-italy-turkey-aegean-brussels

    “DESPERATE European Union officials are frantically seeking talks with Egypt as migrants looking come to the continent seek alternative routes to the Aegean Sea.

    The Turkish coastguard has ramped up policing in the Aegean after the country’s leaders struck a controversial deal with Brussels in March.

    And now migrants looking to come into Europe from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries are turning to expensive sea voyages taking them from Egypt to Italy.

    The European Union’s border agency Frontex claimed one of the reasons for 19,000 migrants arriving in Italy last month was “a growing number of departures from Egypt”.

    Worried EU fat cats are now calling for urgent talks with Cairo in a bid to stop the bloc’s out of control migrant crisis escalating even further…”

  13. Migrants set to undergo age tests after ‘lying child refugees’ bamboozle officials (express, June 19, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/681228/child-migrants-age-test-sweden-department-migration-refugee

    “SWEDEN is set to begin a controversial age testing scheme on more than 18,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

    The Swedish Migration Agency claim there is reason to doubt as many as 70 per cent of asylum applicants who say they are between the ages of 15 and 17.

    But doctors have hit out at the tests, claiming there is no reliable way to test someone’s age.

    The nation’s justice and migration minister Morgan Johansson said: “This is not just about asylum procedure, it’s about the safety of the accommodation.

    “Adults should live with adults and children should live with children, which is why this should be done as early as possible in the procedure.”…”

    • I don’t know, personally I thought all of the major players already had the blue prints a long time ago.

  14. Brussels central station evacuated amid heightened security fears

    Brussels central train station was evacuated for about an hour on Sunday because of a suspicious suitcase amid heightened security fears in the Belgian capital after a huge anti-terror operation led to three men being charged with terrorism offences.

    The suitcase later turned out to be a false alarm but shows Belgium’s high state of alert as the Euro 2016 soccer tournament is under way in neighboring France, three months after Islamist bombers killed 32 people in Brussels. Investigators say the attackers had links to militants who carried out attacks in Paris in November.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-attacks-belgium-idUSKCN0Z50JS

  15. Peshawar: Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated 300 million rupees in its budget to a madrassa known as the ‘University of Jihad’ and having top Afghan Taliban leaders among its alumni, including its former chief Mullah Omar.

    “I am proudly announcing that Darul Uloom Haqqania Nowshera will get 300 million rupees to meet its annual expenditures,” Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister Shah Farman told the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly this week.

    http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pakistan-province-grants-rs-300-million-to-university-of-jihad-1420874?pfrom=home-topstories

  16. A 15-year-old boy has become the first child in the UK to be fitted with a GPS tag, allowing police to track his “anti-social” behaviour, media reports said on Sunday.

    The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a Criminal Behaviour Order in a landmark ruling which requires him to wear the Global Positioning System (GPS) tag for six months, The Mirror reported.

    The offender must wear the electronic tag at all the times so that police can track and monitor his each and every step, the report said.

    http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/uk-boy-fitted-with-gps-tag-to-track-antisocial-behaviour/article8748658.ece?ref=sliderNews

  17. TURKEY – Istanbul riot police break up LGBT rally

    Istanbul (AFP) – Turkish riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up a gathering of about 50 members of the LGBT community in Istanbul on Sunday, an AFP correspondent said.

    Several hundred police surrounded the city’s main Taksim Square to prevent the “Trans Pride” rally taking place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

    The crackdown came after police used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets on Saturday against people protesting after Islamists attacked fans of British rock group Radiohead for attending an album launch during Ramadan.

    A group of about 20 men beat up customers and staff at the Velvet IndieGround music store on Friday night, angry that they were drinking alcohol at the event.

    On Saturday, about 500 protesters took to the streets in Istanbul shouting “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism!” and denouncing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a “thief” and a “killer”.

    Turkish authorities have regularly cracked down on anti-government demonstrations since mass protests swept the country in 2013, using tear gas and water cannon against even small gatherings.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/istanbul-riot-police-break-lgbt-rally-145533897.html

    • Turkey: Police tear gas Radiohead-attack solidarity event in Istanbul

      Footage emerged of Turkish police firing tear gas canisters at hundreds of Radiohead fans and dispersing their rally at an alternative bar in Istanbul, Saturday.

  18. Germany: Berliners form kiss chain against Trump and Brexit

    Around 100 people gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to kiss against hate, violence, US presidential candidate Donald Trump, and Brexit, on Sunday.

    • How Israel stays a ‘well-regulated militia’ with so many guns around

      One of the first things visitors to Israel notice is the ubiquity of young people with automatic weapons. Yet Israel suffers the tiniest fraction of the mass killings the United States does. Daniel Gordis, writing last year in a Bloomberg column, reported that Americans are 33 times more likely to kill each other with guns than Israelis. How is that possible?

      The answer is couched in that front seat the Egged bus driver kept empty for a soldier.

      It may not be immediately obvious, but the Israelis you see armed on the beach or at the cafe are just as subject to the army hierarchy and its regulations as they would be if they were on the front line or a base.
      […]
      This means that the use of 96 percent of guns is governed by army rules of conduct. As a soldier, you’re answerable to a military tribunal if you break army rules and use a gun without orders — or if you fail to use a gun when you’re under standing order to do so. For example, if a terrorist boards the bus you’re being forced to stay awake on.

      http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/How-Israel-stays-a-well-regulated-militia-with-so-many-guns-around-457088

      • That idea was broached and the left threw a hissy fit, I can see where there is a probability, possibly even a strong one that this would lead to a national police force. The lack of a national police with the local police always under the control of the local government is one of the protections against an oppressive government. That is why so many retired soldiers are always warning about how close Obama has come to establishing a national constabulary.

        • The left doesn’t trust the US military because they swear to protect the Constitution, a document the left ignores when it can.

          • It’s shocking till you get used to it – super-young looking 18-year kids with serious weapons everywhere.

            • It is shocking only to the city folk, the people who are raised in the country accept things like that as normal. Although most have enough courtesy to (if legal) carry concealed so they won’t upset the anti-gun people.

  19. IRAN – TEHRAN – Worrying ‘climate of xenophobia’ in Europe: Filippo Grandi

    The UN’s refugee chief says a worrying “climate of xenophobia” has taken hold in Europe as the continent struggles with the biggest influx of migrants since World War II.

    Speaking to AFP in Tehran at the start of a regional tour, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said European leaders needed to do more to coordinate migration policies and to combat negative stereotypes about refugees.

    “Refugees… don’t bring danger to us, they flee from dangerous places,” said Grandi, who took office in January.
    National leaders need to better explain that immigration “in fact contributes to the development of societies,” he said.

    “Those who do the opposite, who stir up public opinion against refugees and migrants, have a responsibility in creating a climate of xenophobia that is very worrying in today’s Europe,” he said.

    “It provides a negative example to countries further away.”

    Protracted conflicts — in particular Syria’s five-year civil war — have prompted an unprecedented wave of migration to the continent, with a record 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants entering Europe since January 2015.

    The influx has sparked a backlash in some countries, including in Austria where the anti-immigration Freedom Party nearly won the presidency last month and in Hungary where authorities have sealed the border with Serbia with razor wire and made illegal border crossing a criminal offence punishable by jail.

    Grandi said it was unfortunate that decisions taken last year by the European Union to better handle the influx “were not implemented”.

    It was, he said, “a missed opportunity” because “each country made decisions separately. Borders closed.”

    He called for “a more collective collegial system of managing refugee flows based on solidarity and burden-sharing between the states, as opposed to trying to do it by themselves with the result that only some countries receive a large number of refugees and others close the borders.”

    Grandi also called for greater efforts to help those displaced by conflict within their own countries.

    http://www.financialexpress.com/article/world-news/worrying-climate-of-xenophobia-in-europe-filippo-grandi/290137/

    IRAN – TEHRAN Worrying ‘climate of xenophobia’ in Europe: UN refugee chief

    The UN’s refugee chief says a worrying “climate of xenophobia” has taken hold in Europe as the continent struggles with the biggest influx of migrants since World War II.

    • IRAN TEHRAN – UNHCR official praises Iran as a role model for refugees’ health and education

      Tehran, June 18, IRNA – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi praised Iran as a country which could be considered as a role model in offering healthcare and education to refugees.

      He made the remarks here on Saturday in a meeting with the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

      During the meeting, Zarif stressed that despite hosting a community of three million refugees in the past three decades, Iran received but small assistance from international bodies.

      He called for increasing investment in Afghanistan to prepare the ground for return of refugees to their homeland.

      Referring to the presence of both legal and illegal refugees in Iran, the foreign minister said Iran has always tried to provide good facilities to refugees especially by offering education to them which has cost the county a huge sum of money.

      He said there has been no enough investment in this area so far and urged more work to be done in this connection.

      Zarif further said Iran has already conducted a number of economic development projects like in Chabahar and providing of drinking water to Afghanistan which have resulted in more employment opportunities in Afghanistan.

      The UNHCR official said Iran has spent much on refugee services especially on education and healthcare.

      He said he was taken by surprise by the steadily growing volume of services rendered to refugees in Iran.

      http://theiranproject.com/blog/2016/06/19/unhcr-official-praises-iran-role-model-refugees-health-education/

    • Rome – Pope Calls for Renewed Compassion for Refugees

      Pope Francis has used an address to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square on Sunday to call for a greater commitment to helping refugees. (June 19)

        • I don’t know how many refugees they are taking, I do know they have an Islamist problem with various Islamist groups competing to take over the production and smuggling of cocaine out of South America.

    • It isn’t xenophobia it is a real fear of losing their nations to invaders from a different culture, and violent invaders at that.

    • As I said up above I prefer the Mini-14, this is a personal preference, the US isn’t a one size fits all nation so once you know what you are doing with a firearm decide which is best suited for your defense.

  20. Lynch: transcripts of Orlando shooter’s 911 calls

    In an interview with Dana Bash, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the transcripts of the Orlando shooter’s 911 calls will be released. Lynch also confirmed that the shooter did not talk about gay Americans in the calls.

    • Attorney General says Mateen investigation moving forward

      ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Although the killer is known, the investigation continues into what motivated and enabled Omar Mateen to carry out the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

      Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in interviews Sunday on several news shows that the FBI would release a partial printed transcript of the conversations between gunman Mateen from within the Pulse nightclub and Orlando police negotiators. Armed with a semi-automatic weapon, Mateen went on a bloody rampage at the club June 12 that left 49 people dead and 53 others seriously hurt. Mateen died in a hail of police gunfire after police stormed the venue.

      Lynch told ABC’s “This Week” that the top goal while intensifying pressure on ISIL — the extremist group thought to have inspired Mateen — is to build a complete profile of him in order to help prevent another massacre like Orlando.

      “As you can see from this investigation, we are going back and learning everything we can about this killer, about his contacts, people who may have known him or seen him. And we’re trying to build that profile so that we can move forward,” Lynch said.

      Lynch said she would be traveling to Orlando on Tuesday to meet with investigators.

      Speaking to CBS’ “Face The Nation,” Lynch said that a key goal of the investigation was to determine W H Y Mateen targeted the gay community.

      Investigators are still interviewing witnesses, and looking to learn more about Mateen and others who knew him well, including members of his mosque.

      A lawyer for the Council of American-Islamic Relations said that the FBI interviewed a man who worshipped at the same mosque as Mateen. Omar Saleh said he sat in on the Friday interview at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, the same mosque that Mateen attended near his home. Saleh said the interview lasted about 30 minutes.[…]

      http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2d7bbb68bda64c7495c1c8028820b07a/orlando-funerals-wrap-survivors-worry-about-future

    • Orlando jihadi’s 911 call transcripts to be edited to remove references to Islam

      In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Attorney General Loretta Lynch says that on Monday, the FBI will release edited transcripts of the 911 calls made by the Orlando nightclub shooter to the police during his rampage.

      “What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda,” Lynch said. “We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to the Islamic State].”…

      Loretta Lynch says the FBI will release: “A printed transcript [that] will begin to capture the back and forth between him and the negotiators.”

      “We’re trying to get as much information about this investigation out as possible,” she said.

      https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/06/orlando-jihadis-911-call-transcripts-to-be-edited-to-remove-references-to-islam

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

      Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism Removed

      Salon reported that: “Everybody who was in the bathroom who survived could hear him talking to 911, saying the reason why he’s doing this is because he wanted America to stop bombing his country.”

      http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/06/19/lynch_partial_transcript_of_orlando_911_calls_will_have_references_to_isis_cut_out.html

      video -Lynch: Editing Transcript Of Mateen/Police Conversation; 6-19-2016

  21. Study reveals that half of the Turks in Germany regard Islamic law above German law and the youth are the most devout.
    Half Of Turks In Germany Regard Islamic Law As Supreme

    The study, commissioned by the University of Munster, surveyed 1,201 respondents of Turkish ethnicity on a range of issues and found that many hold extremely conservative views when it comes to the role of Islam in their lives.

    The survey is designed to reflect the societal opinions of the 2.6 million Turkish residents in Germany and shows that 47 per cent believe that “following the tenets of [their] religion is more important to [them] than the laws of the land in which [they] live,” Spiegel reports.
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/06/17/half-turks-germany-regard-islamic-law-supreme/

    • Below is German original
      Studie: Junge Deutsch-Türken geben sich immer religiöser

      Besser integriert, gläubig, aber seltener religiös fundamentalistisch – so sehen sich laut einer Studie die Nachkommen der ersten Generation türkischer Einwanderer. Aufgenommen fühlen sich viele dennoch nicht.
      Für die Nachkommen türkischer Einwanderer ist ihre Religion offenbar ein immer wichtigeres Identitätsmerkmal – auch wenn sie im Alltag ihren Glauben seltener praktizieren als ihre Eltern oder Großeltern.

      Das ist eines der zentralen Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Studie “Integration und Religion aus Sicht von Türkeistämmigen in Deutschland” der Universität Münster, für die TNS Emnid mehr als 1200 Deutsch-Türken befragt hat.

      Die Studie legt nahe, dass die jüngeren Deutsch-Türken stärker und demonstrativer ihre Herkunft betonen wollen, auch als Abgrenzung. Diese Wertung wird noch durch ein anderes Ergebnis gestützt: So meinen 72 Prozent der Befragten aus der ersten Generation, aber nur 52 Prozent der Befragten aus der zweiten/dritten Generation, dass sich Muslime an die deutsche Kultur anpassen sollten. Zugleich sind deutlich mehr Jüngere der Ansicht, man solle selbstbewusst zu seiner eigenen Kultur und Herkunft stehen. Wenn es nicht um Religion geht, dann sagen allerdings insgesamt 70 Prozent aller Befragten, man solle sich ohne Abstriche in die deutsche Gesellschaft integrieren.

      http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/junge-deutsch-tuerken-halten-sich-fuer-religioeser-als-die-alten-a-1097936.html

      ps. it is a very strange article in which the authors explanation is contrary to the facts of the survey.

  22. Grand Imam of al-Azhar: Atheists are seeking to undermine Islamic world

    Speaking on his nightly television program, “al-Imam al-Tayyeb,” which is being broadcast during the holy month of Ramadan in Egypt, Sheik Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s renowned Sunni institute of learning, al-Azhar University, explained that atheists developed their opinions in the 18th century with some degree of politeness and respect toward those who believe in God but contemporary atheists, particularly after the events of September 11, have declared war against all religions, especially Islam.

    He added that one of the major causes of the spread of irreligiosity and atheism in the Islamic world is that some Muslim youth do not have the support for firm thinking and belief and cannot assess what they hear, especially since those who spread atheism spread their ideas with simple and comprehensible explanations for the youth.

    “Experts in psychology and large financial institutions support these ideas and the danger of these institutions is that their ideas can be considered as the weapons of the West,” he stressed.

    In another part of his speech, Sheik Ahmad Al-Tayyeb said that some so-called international human rights organizations are trying to support Muslim apostates. “We think this phenomenon is an abuse of religious freedom and at the same time, those who have not declared their apostasy from Islam are not considered threats to the Islamic community,” he said.

    He added that some European countries have also opened the way for sexual freedoms which are hated and uncomfortable in the Islamic world.

    In conclusion, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar urged the Muslim community to take action to end the phenomenon of atheism and said that the only way to end irreligiosity and atheism is to disseminate correct religious knowledge in schools and universities and to have theological and philosophical courses in our universities taught to students in order to ensure the culture of society against deviant thoughts.

    http://en.abna24.com/service/africa/archive/2016/06/19/761037/story.html

  23. German teen who stabbed police officer in Isil attack ‘told British friend of her plans’

    A German teenage girl who seriously injured a police officer in a stabbing inspired by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) told a British friend of the planned attack in advance, it has emerged.

    The 15-year-old, named only as Safia S under German privacy laws, is in prison awaiting trial for the February attack, in which she stabbed a police officer in the neck in Hannover station.

    “I’m going to surprise the infidels, if you know what I mean,” she reportedly wrote to a British friend in an internet chat ahead of the attack.

    “U know Popcorn. It blows up,” she added in a message accompanied with smileys. The British girl has not been named, but is believed to be also in her teens. She has been identified only by her online chat name of “Ameena”. It is not clear if this is also her real name.

    Her involvement emerged in a report for Spiegel magazine which cited sources close to the German police investigation.

    Both girls planned to travel to Syria to join Isil but “Ameena” backed out, according to the report. Safia S attempted to reach Syria but was prevented by her mother, who followed her to Turkey and brought her back to Germany.

    Safia S, the child of a German father who converted to Islam and a Moroccan mother, is believed to have been radicalised in Germany. In January she forged permission from her father to travel alone and flew to Istanbul. She was expecting to meet Ameena there but the British girl did not turn up.

    “Sister, I was so bad, forgive me for Allah’s sake,” Ameena wrote to her. “I’m confused and paranoid and thought you weren’t serious.”

    “Please come, sister,” Safia S wrote. “I don’t want to be alone here.”

    After her mother came to Istanbul to take her home, Safia S wrote to a male friend in Germany talking of her intention to carry out a “martyr operation in Germany”. “Brother, I spoke with people from Syria, high officials in the [Isil] government,” she wrote. “They told me, it’s more effective.”

    Safia S has denied she was planning to join Isil. She told police investigators she had gone to Turkey “on holiday” and “did not care for” the jihadists.

    She has apologised for the attack. She claimed she had “no idea” why she had attacked the police officer. She said she felt “watched” and discriminated against as a Muslim, and “overreacted”.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/18/german-teen-who-stabbed-police-officer-in-isil-attack-told-briti/

  24. Sounds like Obama is having a job interview for post-presidency times:

    WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia on Friday discussed ways to support Iraqis in their fight against Daesh militants and the importance of a political transition in war-torn Syria, the White House said.

    Obama met Mohammed Bin Salman in the Oval office for about an hour.

    The deputy crown prince is visiting the United States to improve relations and to promote a plan, known as Vision 2030, to slash the kingdom’s dependence on oil exports.

    “The President expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s contributions to the campaign against Daesh,” the White House said.

    http://gulftoday.ae/portal/d99dcc50-68f8-45e5-89cb-6ead868d3e5f.aspx?

  25. Isis extremists crucify three men after giving them 70 lashes for breaking Ramadan fast

    Islamic State (Isis) extremists have crucified three men in the street after giving them 70 lashes as punishment for breaking their Ramadan fast in the self-declared caliphate. The men, who were locked in cages before their killing, were handed the horrific treatment by the feared Daesh (Isis) al-Hisbah religious police who closely observe civilians in Syria and Iraq, dishing out brutal punishments for seemingly minor infringements.

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-extremists-crucify-three-men-after-giving-them-70-lashes-breaking-ramadan-fast-1566204

  26. Not sure of the significance of this next one… The guest workers were typically treated as slaves, not sure if converting them is a new thing.

    Competent preachers of the Islamic Information Centre (IIC), a leading division of Dar Al Ber Society (DABS), have helped 442 residents from different nationalities convert to Islam in April and May this year.

    However, most of the fresh men and women converts were hailing from the Philippines, according to Abdullah Ali bin Zayed, Executive Director of Dar Al Ber Society.

    http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/general/dar-al-ber-helps-442-convert-to-islam

  27. ISLAMABAD:
    Former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mehsud’s brother and uncle are among seven key members of the militant group to have surrendered near the Afghan border region in Kurram Agency, security officials in the said on Sunday.

    “Ejaz Mehsud and Khair Muhammad Mehsud, uncle of Hakimullah, handed themselves to authorities late Saturday,” an official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1125690/hakimullah-mehsuds-brother-uncle-among-six-ttp-commanders-surrender-kurram-agency/

  28. Let’s hope they are just the first of many!!!

    Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya has proposed that ya ba (methamphetamines) be taken off the dangerous illicit narcotics list and put under the normal drugs category as current measures to suppress the…

    Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/1011181/regime-favours-ending-war-on-methamphetamine. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved.

    http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/1011181/regime-favours-ending-war-on-methamphetamine

  29. United Nations peacekeepers killed seven rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday as part of operations to tamp down rising inter-ethnic tensions in the area, the U.N. mission said on Friday.

    South African troops from the U.N. Force Intervention Brigade fired on members of a primarily Kobo and Nande militia after they tried to prevent aid workers giving out food to Hutu civilians in a displacement camp in the town of Buleusa in North Kivu province, mission spokesman Charles Bambara said.

    http://in.reuters.com/article/us-congodemocratic-violence-idUSKCN0Z31JX

  30. Donald Trump: U.S. must “start thinking about” racial profiling

    Donald Trump said Sunday that in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, it’s time for the United States to start looking at racial profiling as a preventative tactic.

    “Well I think profiling is something that we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” the presumptive GOP nominee said in a phone interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation. “Other countries do it, you look at Israel and you look at others, they do it and they do it successfully. And I hate the concept of profiling but we have to start using common sense and we have to use our heads.”

    “It’s not the worst thing to do,” he added.

    Trump’s comments come one week after 49 people were shot and killed in a gay nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Following the massacre, Trump renewed his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., saying it would have prevented the attack despite the fact that shooter Omar Mateen was born in the U.S.

    On Sunday, the GOP politician also said attacks like Orlando would stop if those in the Muslim community would “report” suspicious things.

    “When you look at, when you look at people within the Muslim community and where people are living and they don’t report, and a good example of that would be San Bernardino,” he said. “I mean, they had bombs all over their apartment floor and people saw it and nobody reported them, and 14 people were killed, many injured.”

    Mateen, Trump added, had definite “red flags” before the attack. “You look at his past, I mean? I’ve never seen a past quite like that,” he said of Mateen. “You look at his record in school, you look at a lot of other things. There were a lot of red flags, this was not a very good young man.”

    Trump said he’s working with the National Rifle Association on the details of a policy that would ban people on the no-fly list from purchasing guns.

    “We understand there are problems with that because some people are on the terror watch list that shouldn’t be on,” he said. “So I’m working with the NRA, we’re discussing it and again the NRA has the best interests of our country, it just has the absolute best interests of our country.”

    Asked about GOP leaders’ criticism of him in recent days, especially over his renewed focus on the Muslim ban, Trump said those Republicans should stop “talking so much” and just “do their job.” The issue is compounded, he added, when the media focuses more on his detractors in the GOP than his supporters.

    “I think that honestly they should go about their business and they should do a wonderful job and work on budgets and get the budgets down and get the military the kind of money they need and lots of other things, and they shouldn’t be talking so much,” he said. “They should go out and do their job, let me do my job.”

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-after-orlando-racial-profiling-not-the-worst-thing-to-do/