Reader’s links for June 25 – 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

61 Replies to “Reader’s links for June 25 – 2016”

  1. Ladar Levison finally confirms Snowden was target of Lavabit investigation

    Ladar Levison’s three-year fight for freedom to speak about the government order that shuttered Lavabit, his secure email service, is finally over. Levison was finally able to confirm today that Lavabit was targeted by the government during its investigation into the Edward Snowden leaks.

    Although Apple’s legal battle to keep its users’ data encrypted is more widely known, Levison engaged in a similar fight in June 2013, when government agents showed up at his doorstep in Dallas. The government demanded that Levison turn over data about a particular user, and served him with a non-disclosure order that prevented him from speaking about that user — until now.

    “It still feels a little bit weird saying Edward Snowden’s name in connection with my case. I always had to be so careful,” Levison told TechCrunch.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/24/ladar-levison-finally-confirms-snowden-was-target-of-lavabit-investigation/

    • If they keep on going this route, everyone will consider all networked communications to be compromised. I know I would. If I were in Europe, I would RIGHT NOW consider all communications compromised. I base this on a US “60 Minutes” broadcast where they showed that some aspect of the CCS7 signalling system could be exploited and telephone communications monitored. Now, this was with the aid of a German telecom firm that was aiding them. That meant that whatever encryption that was being used in the US could be cracked by a foreign entity on voice transmissions. That will mean that everyone will have to send pre-encrypted communications, and no longer rely on the various encryption schemes that are right now considered generally secure (ipsec). Maybe eventually we’ll have to resort to dead drops using SDHC cards in order to facilitate private communications.

  2. Saudi twin brothers on Friday killed their parents and stabbed a third brother in the capital Riyadh.

    The Saudi police arrested the twins before escaping the crime scene in the Hamra neighbourhood in Riyadh, according to local media.

    “Details behind the motive of the attack is still unknown but authorities are not ruling out cause of terrorism yet,” the Saudi Alarabiya news agency reported on Friday.

    The twin brothers have first chased their younger brother up to the rooftop of the families house in Riyadh and stabbed him multiple times, and he is currently in critical condition in intensive care unit.

    http://aranews.net/2016/06/pro-isis-saudi-twin-kill-parents/

  3. END OF THE EU? Germany warns FIVE more countries could leave Europe after Brexit

    France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Hungary could leave.

    Front National leader Marine Le Pen has pledged to hold a French referendum if she emerges victorious in next year’s presidential elections.

    While for the past two months a Nexit has been on the cards after Dutch voters overwhelmingly rejected a Ukraine-European Union treaty

    Details of Berlin’s concerns were outlined in a finance ministry strategy document.

    Angela Merkel’s country faces having to pay an extra £2.44billion a year to the annual EU budget once Britain has left.

    Fears for the future of the EU have prompted German government officials to propose that Britain is offered “constructive exit negotiations”.

    The aim is of making the UK an “associated partner country” of the EU, according to German newspaper Die Welt today.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/683224/END-OF-THE-EU-Germany-France-Austria-Hungary-Finland-Netherlands-Europe-Brexit

  4. EU parliament leader: we want Britain out as soon as possible

    President Martin Schulz says speeding up of UK exit being considered after ‘continent taken hostage because of Tory party fight’A senior EU leader has confirmed the bloc wants Britain out as soon as possible, warning that David Cameron’s decision to delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor is in place may not be fast enough.

    Cameron announced on Friday morning that he would step down as prime minister by the autumn, after the British public caused a political earthquake by voting 52%-48% to leave the European Union.

    Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, told the Guardian that EU lawyers were studying whether it was possible to speed up the triggering of article 50 of the Lisbon treaty – the untested procedure for leaving the union.

    As the EU’s institutions scrambled to respond to the bodyblow of Britain’s exit, Schulz said uncertainty was “the opposite of what we need”, adding that it was difficult to accept that “a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party”

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/24/top-eu-leader-we-want-britain-out-as-soon-as-possible

  5. Brexit: The Nation is Back!

    “How quickly the unthinkable became the irreversible” writes The Economist. They are talking about Brexit, of course.

    The question of today is: Who could have imagined that British people were so tired of being members of The Club? The question of tomorrow is: What country will be next?

    In France, before the British vote, the weekly JDD conducted an online poll with one question: Do you want France out of the EU? 88% of people answered “YES!” This is not a scientific result, but it is nevertheless an indication. A recent — and more scientific — survey for Pew Research found that in France, a founding member of “Europe,” only 38% of people still hold a favorable view of the EU, six points lower than in Britain. In none of the countries surveyed was there much support for transferring power to Brussels.

    With Brexit, everybody is discovering that the European project was implemented by no more than a minority of the population: young urban people, national politicians of each country and bureaucrats in Brussels.

    All others remain with the same feeling: Europe failed to deliver.

    On the economic level, the EU has been unable to keep jobs at home. They have fled to China and other countries with low wages. Globalization proved stronger than the EU. The unemployment rate has never before been so high as inside the EU, especially in France. In Europe, 10.2% of the workforce is officially unemployed The unemployment rate is 9.9% in France, 22% in Spain.

    And take-home salaries have remained low, except for a few categories in finance and high-tech.

    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8325/brexit-frexit

    • According to the article in a recent poll 88% of the French people want to leave the EU.

    • Thanks to Brexit, we are now “Mainstreaming the Unthinkable!”

      Britain is the first “Pocket of Resistance;” hopefully, Le Pen can pull off something spectacular in France.

      • With luck most of the nations belonging to the EU will call for a referendum.

  6. Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN)Gunmen stormed the Naso Hablod hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Saturday after detonating a car filled with explosives at the hotel gate, police Capt. Aden Dahir told CNN.
    The hotel is frequented by Somali government officials, lawmakers and security officers, Dahir said. The blast was followed by a gun battle inside the hotel.

    There was no word on casualties but video on Twitter showed an ambulance, sirens blaring, speeding away from scene amid the sound of gunfire.

    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/25/africa/mogadishu-hotel-explosion-gunfire/index.html?sr=fb062516mogadishuhotelexplosiongunfire1207pStoryLink

  7. After months of buildup, which included pledges of loyalty from various local groups, the Islamic State has officially created a province in the Philippines. A newly released video from the region, which was produced in the same style as all other Islamic State provinces, offered confirmation of the new province.

    The video begins by showing several “battalions” of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. This includes the Abu Dujana Battalion, Abu Khubaib Battalion, Jundallah Battalion, and the Abu Sadr Battalion. These battalions joined others from ASG, including Jund al Tawhid, Ansar al Sharia, and Marakah al Ansar in pledging bayah to the Islamic State. Additionally, some of ASG’s leadership, including overall leader Isnilon Hapilon (who is shown in the video), have pledged to the jihadist group.

    http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/06/islamic-state-officially-creates-province-in-the-philippines.php

  8. Labour MP David Lammy has called on Parliament to “stop this madness” and to vote against the referendum decision to leave the EU.

    In a statement on his Twitter feed, the MP for Tottenham and former Higher Education and Skills Minister said: “Wake up. We do not have to do this.

    “We can stop this madness and bring this nightmare to an end through a vote in Parliament. Our sovereign Parliament needs to now vote on whether we should exit the EU.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-result-latest-david-lammy-mp-eu-referendum-result-parliament-twitter-statement-stop-this-a7102931.html

        • Not really, there are times when they act like the new USSR and others when they soften up to the 4th Reich.

      • I was looking at a DVD of the French 1969 move “The Sorrow and the Pity” today and there’s actually a scene there by a Frenchman describing something akin to the EU, and this is during the German occupation!

  9. The Chinese veto on India’s determined bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is Narendra Modi’s first major foreign policy reverse, even though this may not be permanent. But it shows the kind of misplaced assumptions driving his policy in regard to India’s two main adversaries – China and Pakistan. At NSG, the two adversaries combined with some neutrals to block India.

    http://www.firstpost.com/india/indias-nsg-dream-its-time-to-assess-true-nature-of-chinas-opposition-2855392.html

    • There was going to be market turmoil no matter what the vote, he sold short and made enough money to continue to fund the far left in the west.

  10. Terrorists attacked a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pampore
    At least two terrorists killed in retaliatory firing
    This is the fourth attack on security forces in the state this month

    Eight soldiers were killed and 22 injured after a Central Reserve Police Force convoy was ambushed by terrorists today in Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Two terrorists carrying AK-47s and hand grenades were shot dead in retaliatory firing.

    The CRPF personnel were returning from a firing practice in Lathpora when their six-vehicle convoy was fired upon on a highway on the outskirts of Srinagar. The injured were rushed to the hospital.

    http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/5-army-personnel-killed-in-terrorist-attack-in-pulwama-of-south-kashmir-1423367

  11. At least 380 of the 580 individuals convicted of terrorism-related charges in the U.S. since September 11, 2001 are foreign-born, according to an analysis of Justice Department data conducted by the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest.

    “When compared with your Administration’s immigration policies, and bearing in mind the four major terrorist attacks in the United States in the last year alone, this inability to properly screen individuals from abroad and assimilate those we admit paints a striking picture,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the chairman of the Subcommittee, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama dispatched last week and released Wednesday.

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/22/least-380-immigrants-convicted-terror-cases-since-911/

  12. MANSEHRA:
    A man stabbed his wife to death in a village of Judba tehsil in Torghar district over a dispute related to iftar preparations on Friday.

    The deceased has been identified as 38-year-old Zaiboon Bibi while the assailant has been identified as Sakhi Anwar. The accused managed to flee the site till this report was filed. However, the police have arrested his younger brother for abetting the murderer.

    A police official quoted Nasir, Zaiboon Bibi’s brother, as saying that Sakhi Anwar entered the house on Friday afternoon and asked her about the menu for iftar. When Zaiboon Bibi told him the menu, Anwar was incensed and thrashed her for not cooking the food of his choice.

    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1129484/man-knifes-wife-death-not-preparing-iftar-choice/

  13. A security source in Kirkuk said on Friday, that the so-called ISIS had executed five civilians on charges of cooperating with the security forces southwest of the province.

    According to information “The ISIS had executed, today, five civilians from the district of al-Hawija at a popular market before the eyes of people (55 km southwest of Kirkuk),” noting that, “The five civilians were sentenced to death on charges of cooperating with the security forces by the [ISIS] court.”

    http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/06/24/762125/story.html

  14. Two people have been killed and several others injured in a shooting after unauthorized party at Texas dance studio

    Police officers found one victim dead outside Studio 74 in Fort Worth
    Several people were transported to hospital, including one who died
    Homicide detectives are investigating at the scene on Saturday morning
    Studio’s owner said a group of people were having a party on the property but were not authorized to be there

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3659696/At-two-people-killed-shooting-dance-studio-Texas.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

  15. The Federal Security Service has conducted 14 simultaneous raids on the Church of Scientology offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It seized documents that could shed light on the organization’s illegal financial dealings in Russia.

    The simultaneous raid across the two cities follow the November 2015 court decision in Moscow that ruled that the Church of Scientology did not comply with federal laws on freedom of religion, as it used its trademark for financial gain.

    The ruling backed by the Justice Ministry said that since the Church of Scientology had registered its name as a US trademark, it can’t call itself a religious entity. As the Russian court banned the activities of the Moscow branch, the organization threatened to appeal the decision claiming that it violates the rights of its parishioners.

    https://www.rt.com/news/347693-russia-scientology-offices-raids/

  16. SRINAGAR: In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 others critically wounded when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them at Pampore, near here, in what appeared to be a Fidayeen attack carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

    “First hand impression of the bodies of terrorists is that both appear to be Pakistanis, definitely from Lashksr, and in all likelihood they were fidayeen (suicide attackers),” Inspector General of CRPF Nalin Prabhat said here.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pampore-terror-attack-Lashkar-terrorists-ambush-CRPF-bus-kill-8-personnel/articleshow/52918975.cms

  17. Slightly different topic:

    TransCanada Corp is formally requesting arbitration over U.S. President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, seeking $15 billion in damages, the company said in legal papers dated Friday.

    TransCanada submitted a notice for an arbitration claim in January and had then tried to negotiate with the U.S. government to “reach an amicable settlement,” the company said in files posted on the pipeline’s website.

    “Unfortunately, the parties were unable to settle the dispute.”

    TransCanada said it then filed its formal arbitration request under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provisions, seeking to recover what it says are costs and damages.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-transcanada-keystone-idUSKCN0ZB0R9

  18. BEIJING — In a sign of growing friction between China and Taiwan, mainland diplomats said Saturday that they had suspended contact with their Taiwanese counterparts because the island’s new leader would not endorse the idea of a single Chinese nation.

    Beijing said it had cut off communication because President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan failed to endorse the idea that Taiwan and the mainland are part of one China, a concept known as the 1992 Consensus.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/world/asia/china-suspends-diplomatic-contact-with-taiwan.html?_r=2

  19. Since the beginning of this conflic, I’ve been warning people that the PKK (and the like) are terrorist organizations and that we ough to be realistic about that. But, nobody ever listens to Zatharus!

    The US has been leaning heavily on militias in its fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and while these forces have proved very effective on the ground, some have been accused of committing atrocities akin to their enemies.

    A new Human Rights Watch report details allegations of torture and abuse at the hands of Shia militias in Iraq, which have been instrumental in aiding Iraqi Security Forces in seizing territory back from ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh).

    The organization has “received credible allegations of summary executions, beatings of unarmed men, enforced disappearances, and mutilation of corpses by government forces” that have been fighting on the outskirts of Fallujah to retake the city from ISIS, according to the report.

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/not-allies-most-potent-force-141800736.html

  20. BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium arrested two people and charged them with “participating in activities of a terrorist group”, federal prosecutors said on Saturday, part of wide-ranging investigations following the deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels that have been claimed by Islamic State.

    The prosecution said in a statement police searched houses overnight in the towns of Verviers and Tournai. It identified the two arrested only as Arnaud C., born 1983, and E., a Belgian national. It gave no further details.

    http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3211765-belgium-arrests-two-over-terrorist-activity/

  21. Not really news, but nice people are noticing:

    Democracies have created powerful surveillance structures, similar to the ones already being used by current despots. Out of fear from terrorists democratically elected governments around the world have limited everybody’s basic rights as citizens. Future authoritarian politicians will use this power against their own enemies: journalists, the opposition, human rights activists, and many, many more.

    https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/surveillance

  22. LONDON (Reuters) – Boris Johnson, one of the leaders of the successful “Leave” campaign in Britain’s European Union membership referendum, has won the backing of a key colleague to replace David Cameron as prime minister, a newspaper reported.

    Justice minister Michael Gove called Johnson by telephone on Saturday to say he would back him for the leadership of the ruling Conservative Party, the Sunday Times said.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/boris-johnson-wins-backing-gove-prime-ministerial-bid-225556825.html?ref=gs

  23. Nigel Farage’s victory celebrations have been cut short after he was excluded from the government’s newly-formed Leave committee.

    The now fuming Ukip leader discovered he will not sit on the cross-party team which will negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU, reports The Telegraph.

    But Farage vowed he would use his position as head of the party in the European Parliament to ensure his opinion is heard during Britain’s breakup from the union.

    http://metro.co.uk/2016/06/25/furious-farage-excluded-from-committee-to-negotiate-brexit-5965707/#mv-a