Reader’s links for Aug. 1 – 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

99 Replies to “Reader’s links for Aug. 1 – 2016”

  1. ‘Listen Putin, we will kill you in your homes’ ISIS warns Russia in chilling video (express, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/695221/russia-putin-isis-video-terrorist-attacks-france-germany-alert-suicide-bombing

    “TWISTED Islamic State militants have urged its members to carry out mass killings in Russia.

    In a nine-minute YouTube video, one of the terror group’s members called out Russian president Vladimir Putin as their next target.

    The masked assailants addressed the camera, saying: “Listen Putin, we will come to Russia and will kill you at your homes…”

  2. Crackdown on slavery in the UK: Wealthy foreigners face visa bans if they are caught bringing people into Britain for a life of servitude (dailymail, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://dailym.ai/2aG8ytb

    “Wealthy foreigners caught employing domestic slaves in the UK face a visa ban under a determined crackdown on ‘modern slavery’.

    Officials also want to target British families who bring in people from abroad under arranged marriages and then subject them to a life of servitude.

    Anybody found guilty of one of the offences would never again be able to sponsor a visa to bring a domestic servant or secure a spousal visa ever again to cut the risk of reoffending.

    Last month, it emerged that a member of the Saudi Arabian embassy was alleged to have committed the offence of human trafficking into the UK for the purposes of exploitation – specifically domestic servitude.

    The crackdown came as Theresa May promised a three pronged attack on the ‘barbaric evil’ of modern slavery…”

    • The only think wrong with the article is that Kahn and his wife probably won;’t read it and that the Dems will also ignore it. Hopefully the undecided will read and understand what was said.

    • BBC – Khizr Khan: Donald Trump does not have different rights than us – BBC News

      • No he doesn’t, and you don’t have different rights then the rest of us, but you sure want to act like you do.

      • The hell it is, it is a vital step necessary to protect the US. And it isn’t a permenat ban just a temporary one until we can discover how to vet the ones coming to the US. In fact that is what US Code requires Presidents to do, something the left doesn’t want us to know.

    • REUTERS – Trump campaign asks Capitol Hill for backing in Khan controversy

      […]Republican Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war and the most prominent veteran in Congress, along with the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, joined the chorus of condemnation, reflecting the highly regarded place the military and its veterans hold with many in the United States.

      Trump’s dispute with the Khans has dominated the White House campaign in recent days and underlined the uneasy alliance between many leading Republicans and the party’s freewheeling, unorthodox nominee for the Nov. 8 election.

      […]A senior Senate Republican aide, who asked not to be identified, said Republican senators were pleased with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s statement on Sunday calling Captain Khan “an American hero” and noting “a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values.”

      […]McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate and current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a lengthy statement sharply criticizing Trump’s comments.

      “While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us,” said McCain

      […]The head of the 1.7 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars also said Trump’s attack on the Khans went too far.

      “Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression,” said Brian Duffy, the national commander of the country’s oldest and largest war veterans organization,

      […]In an open letter, 23 Gold Star families said Trump cheapened their sacrifice and called for an apology.

      “This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency,” it said. “That kind decency you mock as ‘political correctness.'”

      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-idUSKCN10C2GO

    • Warren Buffett recalls McCarthy era, asks Donald Trump if he has ‘no sense of decency’

      Warren Buffett recalled McCarthyism while he skewered Donald Trump for his criticism of the parents of a fallen solider.

      Buffett asked Trump if he has “no sense of decency” while introducing Hillary Clinton in Nebraska, referencing the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s.

      http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-warren-buffett-harkens-back-to-mccarthy-1470089822-htmlstory.html

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

      Warren Buffett to Donald Trump: ‘Have you no sense of decency?’

      While introducing Hillary Clinton at a presidential campaign rally in Omaha, Nebraska, on Monday, billionaire Warren Buffett challenged Donald Trump over his war of words with the family of a fallen Muslim U.S. soldier. “I ask Donald Trump: ‘Have you no sense of decency, sir?'” Buffett said, comparing the incident with the anti-communist McCarthy hearings in the 1950s

      http://www.marketwatch.com/story/warren-buffett-to-donald-trump-have-you-no-sense-of-decency-2016-08-01

    • PBS – Khizr Khan on using the Constitution in DNC speech

      Khizr Khan, parent of a Muslim American solider who died during the war in Iraq, shared with Judy Woodruff the story behind why he brought out a copy of the U.S. Constitution when he attacked Donald Trump during his speech to the Democratic National Convention last week.

    • KHIZR KHAN AND GHAZALA KHAN FULL INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS (8/1/2016)

      ( 23 min 13 )

    • Mother of service member booed over Khan question at Pence rally

      CARSON CITY, Nevada — The woman, in a quiet voice, stood before the crowd of hundreds at a town hall-style event here with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and announced that her son serves in the Air Force. The crowd applauded.

      But then the woman said, “Time and time again, Trump has disrespected our nation’s armed forces and veterans. And his disrespect for Mr. Khan …”

      The reaction of the crowd was immediate and fierce, drowning our her words.

      The crowd began to boo as she tried to get through her question, jeering at her. She continued to speak.

      “Why are you here?” one woman shouted as the boos rained down.

      But, over the boos and taunts, she continued to speak.

      “You’ve got a son in the military, how do you tolerate this disrespect?” she asked. (The questioner did not give her name.)

      Finally, after allowing the boos to continue for about 10 seconds, Pence moved to quiet the crowd.

      “That’s OK,” he said. Donald Trump’s running mate then repeated a line he deployed when confronted by protesters in Ohio last week: “That’s what freedom looks like, and that’s what freedom sounds like.”[…]

      http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/mother-of-service-member-booed-over-khan-question-at-pence-rally-226540

  3. Pope Francis Reveals Why He Doesn’t Discuss ‘Islamic Violence’ (nbcnews, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-reveals-why-he-doesnt-discuss-islamic-violence-n620551

    “ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis said he doesn’t like singling out violence carried out by Muslims because people of all religions are guilty of deadly crimes.

    He told reporters the situation was like “a mixed fruit salad” and that there were “violent people in all religions.”

    “I do not like to talk about Islamic violence because every day when I skim the papers … I read about violence in Italy: this one who killed the girlfriend, another killed the mother-in-law … and they are all baptized Catholics,” he said aboard a Rome-bound flight from Poland on Sunday.

    “If I talk about Islamic violence, then I also have to talk of Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are violent, just like not all Catholics are violent,” the pontiff added. “It’s like a mixed fruit salad. There is a bit of everything. There are violent people in all religions.”…”

      • His history like Obama’s has a lot of Marxists in the family, I don’t know how he got to be Pope or even why he became a Priest because he preaches Marx more then Christ.

        • I don’t know left from right, but at the top they’re working together. Against us.

          ~~ Just because there are conspiracy fabulists, doesn't mean there aren't powerful conspiracies. ~~

          The person called “Pope Francis” was selected by powerful men at the Vatican. Globalists, they’d be comfortable at Bilderberg or with the Trilateral Commission, and they’d regard George Soros as the Mother Teresa of philanthropy.

          • In America the far right is the small government conservatives, when the LSM call the Fascist the far right they are simply spreading communist propaganda. Fascism was started with the stated goal of creating a form of Marxism that works. (Fascism doesn’t work any better then communism) The Marxists in the US and Europe screamed that we had to leave Hitler alone, they refused to support he war against Fascism until Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. That was when Fascism became far right. the left leaning media has been keeping that lie alive ever since.

  4. Russian Helicopter Shot Down in Syria, Killing All 5 Onboard (abcnews, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syrian-official-troops-repel-attempt-break-aleppo-siege-41039646

    “A Russian transport helicopter was shot down in opposition rebel territory in northern Syria on Monday and all five crew and officers onboard were killed, the Kremlin said, in the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its involvement in Syria’s civil war.

    The Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Idlib province while returning to the Russian air base on Syria’s coast after delivering humanitarian goods to the city of Aleppo, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The helicopter had three crew members and two officers deployed with the Russian center at the Hemeimeem air base on the Syrian coast.

    “From what we know from information provided by the Defense Ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman told journalists. The ministry statement released earlier said their fate was still unknown.

    Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russians “died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so to minimize losses on the ground.”

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack…”

  5. Turkey coup attempt: Erdogan ‘snatch squad’ soldiers captured (BBC, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36939194

    “Turkey says it has captured all but one of the soldiers accused of trying to seize the president during last month’s failed coup.

    Special forces arrested another 11 soldiers overnight after a two-week manhunt near Marmaris.

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on holiday at the resort in south-west Turkey on the night of the coup attempt, but fled before his hotel was raided.

    The fugitives were located in a forested area, reports say.

    Since the failed putsch Mr Erdogan has targeted people suspected of links to those involved.

    Tens of thousands of people have been detained, or dismissed or suspended from roles in the military, judiciary, civil service and education…”

  6. The Turkish women who stood up to the attempted coup (BBC, video, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36939374

    “Following last month’s failed coup attempt in Turkey, #WomenHeroes has been trending on social media. From facing down tanks to ferrying around protesters, many women have been seen as playing a crucial role. The BBC’s Selin Girit went to meet some of them.”

  7. India to Evacuate Laid-off Workers From Saudi Arabia (abcnews, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/india-evacuate-laid-off-workers-saudi-arabia-41039688

    “India’s government said Monday it plans to evacuate thousands of Indian workers who have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and cannot afford to pay for a flight home.

    The workers were mostly employed by Saudi construction companies and were laid off amid a slowdown in the industry caused by low global oil prices.

    External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the government is trying to arrange exit documents for those workers who wish to return to India.

    About 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia have lost their jobs.

    Swaraj told lawmakers in Parliament that India’s junior foreign minister, V.K. Singh, will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with officials to arrange for the workers’ return.

    Some have not been paid for months. She said India’s embassy has set up five camps to feed the workers and all 10,000 had received food supplies by early Monday. More than 15,000 kilograms (34,000 pounds) of food has been delivered by the Indian Consulate in Jiddah, she said.

    Swaraj said Singh is expected to raise the question of exit permits for the workers when he reaches Saudi Arabia and will oversee the airlift of the workers. He would also visit the camps where the workers were living and speak to the workers about their needs.

    “Saudi law does not permit an emergency exit visa without a no-objection certificate from the employer,” she said.

    Many of the employers have shut their factories and some have left the country, leaving the workers stranded, she said.

    On Sunday, Swaraj tweeted that workers in Kuwait have also lost their jobs and are suffering food shortages, but that the situation there is more manageable.

    Another junior foreign minister, M.J. Akbar, was coordinating efforts with Saudi authorities to ensure that unpaid wages of the workers were processed and settled.

    Hundreds of thousands of Indians travel to the Middle East each year for better-paying jobs as laborers, electricians and drivers. They endure difficult living and working conditions to send money to their families.

    Indian officials said nearly 3,200 Indian workers in Riyadh had not been paid their salaries for several months.

    Over the weekend, hundreds of expatriate workers of the construction firm Saudi Oger staged rare protests in Jiddah to demand unpaid wages. The Saudi-owned Arab News reported that the company’s services were suspended for violating the kingdom’s Wage Protection Law, and that the firm was fined for its violations.

    Earlier this year, foreign workers at construction giant Saudi Binladin Group also protested and set fire to company buses in retaliation for not being paid their salaries in months. State media reported the company had terminated employment tens of thousands of the firm’s workers and issued them exit visas too.

    Saudi construction firms have been among the hardest-hit due to lower oil prices that have curbed and sometimes delayed government spending on major infrastructure projects.”

    • Good get them back to India where they can fight for their country when things go down the tubes.

  8. The priest was stabbed by an asylum seeker who had wanted a money. He is out of a danger. (google translate)

    A man who introduced himself as an asylum seeker, assaulted with a knife Sunday afternoon Jos Vanderlee priest in Lanaken (Limburg). Wounded hands, the priest was taken to hospital. The assailant, meanwhile, is on the run. Prosecutors in Limburg opened an investigation.

    The assailant, who introduced himself as an asylum seeker in the Netherlands, has asked for help to the pastor and if he could take a shower. After his shower, he asked for money from the priest, who declined to give it. The man then attacked the Vanderlee priest with a knife. The latter tried to move away but was injured hands. The attacker then fled.

    The priest was taken to the hospital by ambulance Genk where he had surgery. His days are not in danger yet.
    Call for witnesses

    According to latest information, the perpetrator is not a resident of the local refugee center. The facts are also not linked to the Islamic State terrorist organization. Police have appealed for witnesses.

    Vanderlee The priest is responsible for eight parishes in the territory of Lanaken and celebrated this month 40 years of priesthood.
    http://www.lesoir.be/1280015/article/actualite/belgique/2016-07-31/un-pretre-blesse-au-couteau-son-domicile-lanaken

  9. >strong>Body of Russian pilot is dragged through the dirt after helicopter is shot down by Syrian [ moderate ] rebels – as mystery surrounds ID card found in wreckage showing blonde woman

    Russian Mi-8 helicopter carrying three crew and two officers was shot down by Syrian rebels in the Idlib region
    Gruesome pictures show what is believed to be body of a Russian pilot being dragged through dirt and onto truck
    Russian officials say aircraft was returning from delivering aid to war-torn Aleppo when it was gunned down

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3717939/Russian-helicopter-delivering-aid-shot-Syria-rebels.html

  10. Germany: Anti-fascist protesters clash with police, 12 arrested

    Twelve anti-fascist activists were arrested following scuffles with riot police at a counter-protest to a right-wing rally being held in the Lower Saxony town of Goettingen, on Sunday.

  11. Russia says accusations it was behind DNC email hack are insulting – Ifx

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that U.S. accusations that Moscow was behind a hack of Democratic National Committee computers were insulting and unworthy, the Interfax news agency reported.

    The ministry also said that Washington had not made the accusations through official channels, according to Interfax.

    http://www.oann.com/russia-says-accusations-it-was-behind-dnc-email-hack-are-insulting-ifx/

    (Richard: I will bet they are insulted, the claim is an attack on their professionalism, the FSB wouldn’t have left tracks and the Russian Government wouldn’t have released the emails, they would have used them as blackmail material)

    • Blackmail? Doesn’t mean a thing to people above the law – all laws.

      They’ve suborned the agencies and the courts. The media is in the tank. Doesn’t matter what they’ve done – including murder and treason – they won’t be put down.

      They’re going to steal this election. Then –
      fuhgeddaboudit

      • To quote a friend of mine, if Hillary wins the election there will be absolute chaos. The only question is when will it start after the election of after she is sworn in?

  12. Why we hate you

    in the article in its internet magazine Dabiq nr. 15 (IN ENGLISH) Islamic State (ISIS)outlined their relations present and future with Christians and with the West. The aim of this publication is to explain so that there is no doubt or ambiguity their relation.
    In the Polish and international media there is a lively discussion about the relationship between as it is called in the West ,”extremist” or “Salafi” version of Islam and Christianity. In documents of the Islamic State there are references to Christianity, both in the context of Christians settled down on the territories controlled by the ISIS, that is, the model Christians relationship with the Caliphate (dhimma) and the relationship with the “crusaders” Christian coalition – and her ongoing battle with the armies of Dawla.
    Relations with Christians were described in the speeches of Abu Muhammad al-Adnan, however, these were just single paragraphs which were concerning a tactical instructions rather than a comprehensive description of the relationship.
    In the latest magazine Dabiq there appears a comprehensive text presenting a new point of view that defines relations between Islamic State , its followers, and the Christians. The aim of the document is not to leave any doubts and ambiguities concerning the current and the future mutual relationships.
    Text – alongside, “Aqidy Islamic State” and speeches of Adnani published in mpolska24, joins the required reading for students dealing with Islamic Jihad. It will be useful also to numerous Polish journalists in their ongoing deliberations.

    Note: The text contains content that may upset people, especially someone who has never read any publication of the Islamic State. The publication is intended for educational purposes and research. If someone thinks that one is not ready for such a reading, please do not read further. Please also do not copy the text.

    [the following text is in Polish . please use Google translate or go to the original,Dabiq text in English]
    http://www.mpolska24.pl/post/12591/dlaczego-was-nienawidzimy

  13. ‘Give them a bloody nose’: Xi pressed for stronger South China Sea response

    BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s leadership is resisting pressure from elements within the military for a more forceful response to an international court ruling against Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea, sources said, wary of provoking a clash with the United States.

    China refused to participate in the case overseen by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

    It denounced the emphatic July 12 ruling in favor of the Philippines as a farce that had no legal basis and part of an anti-China plot cooked up in Washington.

    The ruling has been followed in China by a wave of nationalist sentiment, scattered protests and strongly worded editorials in state media.

    So far, Beijing has not shown any sign of wanting to take stronger action. Instead, it has called for a peaceful resolution through talks at the same time as promising to defend Chinese territory.

    http://www.oann.com/give-them-a-bloody-nose-xi-pressed-for-stronger-south-china-sea-response/

  14. Russian connections? Try Hillary’s

    It may be hard to identify a sillier time in human history than this one.

    Consider the brouhaha over Donald Trump’s fabled links to Russia. You’ve heard of those links, because Everybody’s reporting on them. What they actually are is something of a mystery – at least to George F. Will and the Washington Post – but that doesn’t stop the MSM from flogging them.

    Now, I’m not a Trump partisan. But I am endlessly fascinated by the attempts of the American establishment – politics, media – to indict him through innuendo. If Trump was set up by the Almighty to open the eyes of Americans to who we are and what we’ve become, well, it’s working.

    Hillary and Skolkovo

    But, important as that is, I want to highlight instead a Schweizer article in the Wall Street Journal on 31 July. In it, he summarizes information you can find in greater detail in this monograph published by his Government Accountability Institute. The focus of the discussion is Russia’s Skolkovo Foundation, a Russian government enterprise to create a “Russian Silicon Valley” on the outskirts of Moscow.

    The GAI monograph outlines in exhaustive detail how Hillary’s State Department, starting in 2009, interacted with U.S. and Russian companies to funnel money to the Skolkovo project. At each step of the way, Clinton cronies – including usual-suspect John Podesta – were centrally involved. And everyone directly involved had a connection to the Clinton Foundation: mostly through making donations to it.

    As the monograph stresses, the Clinton State Department oversaw the signing of the memoranda between the U.S. and Russian “commercial” partners in the Skolkovo investment (who on the U.S. side included such companies as Google, Cisco, Intel, GE, Boeing, Honeywell, and Microsoft, among others). Clinton also facilitated the creation of Russian subsidiaries to invest in tech companies in the U.S., on the stipulation that the work, access of personnel, and product of the investment – the technology developed – be shared without limit with the Russian parent companies.

    Schweizer recounts that concerned analysts in the FBI and the military think the Skolkovo connection poses a real danger to U.S. national security. A 2012 analysis published by the Army at Fort Leavenworth assessed the areas of technological vulnerability in these terms:

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/08/01/russian-connections-try-hillarys/

    • This is a long article with a lot of embedded links, it is also an important article because of the Clinton ties to Russian high tech firms that are developing weapons that give Russia an advantage over the US. This is what the Clintons and the Dems don’t want you to know, she is selling out the US for money and for ideology. This is why it is highly unlikely that it was the Russians that hacked the DNC server and then released the emails for public consumption.

      • Doesn’t seem to matter. They sail over all this evidence, and it’s just “so what?” Focus on some Muslim Bros plant who claims his feelings were hurt. That’s all it takes to change the subject.

        • Why do you think he was put on the stage? To create controversy if Trump hadn’t said anything about him and his wife the leftist media would have created some controversy to help Hillary. I knew this shortly after he started to talk, he was pushing the normal BS about Islam and how we don’t understand Islam. This is a clear signal of Islamist propaganda.

        • Right now she is being tried in the court of public opinion, all of this evidence is being put out in the hopes of stopping a lot of people from voting for her. This is the last ditch effort to prevent a major civil war, it may not work becuase the far left will probably resort to violence if Hillary looses.

          Let them start the violence, it will look better for the independents then if we start it.

  15. US launches air strikes on IS in Libya (BBC, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36941934

    “The United States has carried out air strikes on positions of so-called Islamic State (IS) in Libya, following a request by the UN-backed government there, the Pentagon says.

    The strikes targeted positions in the port city of Sirte, an IS stronghold.

    Libyan PM Fayez Sarraj, in a televised address, said the strikes caused “heavy losses”.

    Western powers have become increasingly concerned at IS’s growing presence in Libya.

    The air strikes are the first such US military intervention co-ordinated with the Libyan unity government.

    There have been two previous US attacks on IS targets in Libya – last February and in November…”

  16. Brussels’ plan to INCREASE migration to Europe blasted by furious German MPs

    BRUSSELS bureaucrats have unveiled plans to increase the number of migrants entering Europe by significantly slackening the rules surrounding family reunification.

    The EU is drawing up new laws which will unleash a fresh wave of migration and completely undermine attempts to bring the refugee crisis under control, according to furious Germany politicians.

    Under proposals put forward by the European Commission drastic changes will be made to the rules which govern who refugees that successfully make it to Europe can bring over to live with them.

    Rebellious members of Angela Merkel’s ruling party in Germany have already expressed dismay over the plans, branding them “unacceptable” and saying they will spark huge new numbers of migrants just when the refugee crisis is beginning to subside.

    At the moment migrants are allowed to be reunited only with their immediate family, which means wives and children under the age of 18 who they already had before leaving their home country.

    But under the Commission plan the definition of family will be massively extended to include relationships formed during the journey to Europe.

    The changes would mean that, if a couple of asylum seekers got married or had a child together in a refugee camp in Libya, only one would have to reach Europe for all of the family to be entitled to settle on the continent.

    Brussels bureaucrats insist the alterations are designed to “reflect the reality of migration today”, whereby many asylum seekers spend months on end in migrant camps before successfully making it to an EU country.

    But German politicians already rattled by record levels of immigration have said the proposals will undermine the EU’s migrant deal with Turkey, which is already wobbling following the country’s abortive coup.

    The agreement, under which all migrants arriving in Greece are deported back to Turkey, has seen a huge drop in the number of asylum seekers entering Europe since it was introduced in May.

    Germany, which has taken in more than a million migrants in the last 18 months, has especially benefitted from the shutting down of the Balkan route, and keeping numbers of new arrivals low is seen as key to Angela Merkel’s hopes of reelection next year.

    Stephan Mayer, the home affairs spokesman of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Bundestag, said: “The request of the EU Commission to broaden the concept of the core family is unacceptable.

    “It does not exactly help decrease worries many EU member countries have about the EU…it will be corn to the mill of the populists in Europe.”

    Predicting the number of asylum applications would rocket in the event of it being implemented, he added: “Additionally, all efforts to curb immigration that have been working so far, like the agreement with Turkey, would then be thwarted in retrospect.”

    The proposal was also savaged by fellow CDU heavyweight Armin Schuster, the internal affairs spokesman, who said: “We have to realise that we unfortunately still do not manage to comply with the Dublin rules.

    “It is inappropriate to even think about facilitating family reunification and extending it to large families”.

    The Commission proposal states that the definition of “family members” should be “extended by including family relations which were formed after leaving the country of origin, but before arrival on the territory of the Member State”.

    It says this “reflects the reality of migration today where applicants often stay for long periods of time outside their country of origin before reaching the EU, such as in refugee camps”.

    And it adds that the new rules are “expected to reduce the risk of irregular movements or absconding for persons covered by the extended rules”.

    The Commission is attempting to reform the stricken Dublin Regulation which is supposed to cover immigration protocols across the EU, but has fallen into disarray under the pressure of the huge numbers of people arriving on the continent’s shores.

    Under Dublin all migrants are required to claim asylum in the first EU country they enter, and any who travel through and attempt to lodge their claim elsewhere should be deported back to the initial state of entry.

    But the rule has gone largely unenforced because it would place unimaginable strain on Greece and Italy – the two main countries of entry – at a time when both are struggling with huge economic and social issues.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/695449/Migrant-crisis-Brussels-EU-commission-migration-Europe-Germany

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

    Die Welt – EU will Begriff “Familie” bei Nachzug weiter fassen

    Im Zuge der Dublin-Reform will die EU den Familiennachzug neu regeln. Dabei könnte am Ende auch das als Familie gelten, was sich unterwegs gebildet hat. Deutsche Politiker lehnen das entschieden ab.

    + video :
    http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article157413489/EU-will-Begriff-Familie-bei-Nachzug-weiter-fassen.html#disqus_thread

  17. Report: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Mgr John Podesta Sat on Board of Company that Bagged $35 Million from Putin-Connected Russian Govt Fund

    Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta sat on the board of a small energy company alongside Russian officials that received $35 million from a Putin-connected Russian government fund, a relationship Podesta failed to fully disclose on his federal financial disclosures as required by law.

    That’s one of the many revelations from a 56-page report released late Sunday titled “From Russia with Money: Hillary Clinton, the Russian Reset, and Cronyism” by the non-partisan government watchdog group, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI). Breitbart Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon holds the same title in GAI and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer serves as GAI’s president.

    Both the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal ran stories on the newly released report late Sunday evening.

    http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/08/01/report-hillary-clintons-campaign-mgr-john-podesta-sat-board-company-bagged-35-million-putin-connected-russian-govt-fund-2/

  18. Turkey’s Erdogan to US General: ‘Know Your Place’
    In a public statement in Ankara after the attempted coup, the Turkish president lashed out against the American military establishment.

    U.S. Central Command Commander General Joseph Votel said on July 28 that a number of the U.S. military’s closest allies in the Turkish military have been placed in jail following the July 15 attempted coup.

    “We’ve certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders, military leaders in particular,” General Votel said at the Aspen Security Forum meeting in Colorado. “I’m concerned about what the impact is on those relationships as we continue.”

    Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also echoed General Votel’s statements.

    The failed coup and the government’s backlash have “affected all segments of the national security apparatus in Turkey,” Clapper stated. “Many of our interlocutors have been purged or arrested.”

    Referring to the U.S.’s Middle East strategy, Clapper added, “There’s no question that this is going to set back and make more difficult.”

    On July 29, in a public statement in Ankara caught on video, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lashed out against Votel’s comments. “A human is supposed to feel embarrassed a little bit. How dare you make this decision?” he railed. “Who are you? First, you will know your place. You will know yourself. When you – in the name of democracy – need to thank this state that has repelled this coup attempt in my country, on the contrary, you side with coup plotters. After all, the coup plotter [Fethullah Gulen] is in your country. You are feeding the coup plotter in your country. This is obvious.”

    Erdogan continued, “You can never convince my nation. My nation knows who is involved in this trick now. They very well know [through] such statements who is behind this act and who the mastermind is. You reveal yourselves with these statements. You expose yourselves. Turkey will not fall for these games.”

    https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/turkeys-erdogan-us-general-know-your-place

    (Things are looking very black in Turkey, we are heading towards a major confrontation with Turkey and with China. I wish the 50 nuclear weapons were out of there and am very worried about the safety of the troops that are still in country.

    • Turkey’s such a mess, it’ll be hard to get mail delivered and garbage collected. Any confrontation, they don’t stand a chance. Everybody’s looking over their shoulders or snitching on neighbors. Lucky today, purged tomorrow. Lob a grenade and expect a boomerang.

      • If anything your description is an understatement, the way Edrogan is going total collapse of the nation is a very real probability. Erdogan may get lucky but then again he may not, think about what a total collapse in Turkey would mean with both Russia and Iran moving to seize as much territory as they can and more people trying to get into Europe.

  19. Europol: ISIS Training Children to Be Next Generation of Fighters
    A new report by the European Union’s law enforcement agency highlighted the long-term risk posed by children indoctrinated by ISIS

    The children of foreign fighters living in Islamic State territory are being trained to be the next generation of Islamic State fighters, according to a new report by Europol, the joint European law enforcement agency as reported by The Independent.

    Many fighters from around the world who travelled to join the Islamic State brought their children with them. Still others had children while in Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) territory.

    “In their propaganda, ISIS has often shown that they train these minors to become the next generation of foreign terrorist fighters, which may pose a future security threat to member states,” Europol’s annual report on terrorism in the European Union said.

    The report said that children raised in the Islamic State were an issue of “particular concern.”

    ISIS has indoctrinated the children under their control to such an extent that researchers have argued they will continue to pose a threat even if the Islamic State is defeated.

    “They are an immediate threat and will become a much longer-term one,” Nikita Malik of the British-based, counter-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation said. “Their educational indoctrination breeds hatred against the West and calls all other states illegitimate – these children will have no access to or memory of any other ideas.”

    https://www.clarionproject.org/news/europol-isis-training-children-be-next-generation-fighters

  20. In Wales, Radical Islamic Imam Preaches Enslaving Women
    An imam at a Cardiff mosque is teaching that taking women as sex slave is permissible in Islam.

    Newly released audio tapes show Ali Hammuda, an imam at Cardiff’s Al-Manar Mosque, preaching that it is permissible under Islam for men to have sex slaves.

    Hammuda is also suspected of radicalizing three young British men in 2014. The men ended up travelling to Syria where they joined ISIS.

    The imam’s controversial speech was recorded secretly at a halaqa (religious study gathering) at the mosque by an undercover reporter. In the recording, Hammuda, who is the English Islamic programs officer at the mosque, gives his interpretation of a hadith (saying of the Islamic prophet Mohammed).

    He tells them, “One of the interpretations as to what this means is that towards the end of time, there will be many wars like what we are seeing today, and because of these wars women will be taken as captives, as slaves, yeah, women will be taken as slaves.”

    “And then, er, her master has relations with her because this is permissible in Islam, it’s permissible to have relations with a woman who is your slave or your wife.”

    https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/wales-radical-islamic-imam-preaches-enslaving-women

  21. Who’s Who in Turkey’s Power Struggle
    Confused by the current unrest in Turkey? Here is a guide to the major players and political parties to help sort it out.

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently the president of Turkey, having assumed the position after serving as prime minister from 2003 to 2014. Although his current office traditionally holds less power, Erdogan has made himself the de facto ruler of Turkey (while advocating for more power through an executive presidency system for Turkey).

    He served as the Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998, a position from which he was dismissed and banned from office after being sentenced to 10 months in prison for inciting religious intolerance in 1998. (See video below)

    https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/whos-who-turkeys-power-struggle

  22. Transformation of a NATO Ally: Why Turkey Matters

    The fact is, Turkey’s Islamist governance cannot coexist with secular democracy.

    Turkey has appeared as a valuable ally in the Middle East, the bridge between East and West. Despite its “spiral” away from democracy, its position rendered it a necessary ally to the United States. Istanbul, alone, is the only city in the world that sits on two continents (Asia and Europe).

    But the fact is, Turkey’s Islamist governance cannot coexist with secular democracy. It is impossible, and one day, it will be obvious how our long-term ally possesses no values of a free society for its people.

    But today, the voices of the people of Turkey are being silenced. We fear their minds are being brainwashed without the information accessibility of free societies.

    We are only as knowledgeable about world affairs as the news we read. But what happens when the news we hear is shaped by the oppressive politicians that control it? What happens when the news only comes from one voice?

    Certainly, it becomes “fact,” proving once more that a “one-eyed man is a giant in the land of the blind.”

    Why It Matters

    Two theories have remained at the forefront of the failed military coup in Turkey:

    (1) The coup was poorly planned by those who felt they had no other option, and

    (2) Erdogan instigated this coup (or know about it in advance and allowed it to happen) in order to excuse his desire to crack down on all political dissenters within the country.

    The fact is, it doesn’t really matter which theory is valid.

    https://www.clarionproject.org/blog/freedom-speech/transformation-nato-ally-why-turkey-matters

  23. Modern Slavery

    Writing in the Sunday Telegraph on July 31, Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May, stated, “Last year I introduced the world-leading Modern Slavery Act to send the strongest possible signal that victims were not alone and that those responsible for this vile exploitation would face justice”. Yet these campaigns to tackle modern slavery carefully overlook the countries in the Arab world in which slave-ownership is permitted by the legislation.

    In 2015, the Modern Slavery Act came into British law to address heightened levels of human trafficking (now considered by criminals to be more lucrative than drug-smuggling) and the treatment of many of the servants of wealthy foreigners.

    Like their wealthy employers, these indentured servants are shepherded straight from an incoming flight to a car waiting on the tarmac, and do not pass through immigration or customs. They are not treated like the rest of us — the supremely wealthy and their employees live under different laws. As such, cases of servant mistreatment rarely get to be heard in court. The few cases that go to trial are the result of these servants escaping the clutches of their “employers,” and the stories they tell are horrific (albeit largely unpunished and unreported for political reasons).

    One example was documented in the Daily Mail on March 15, 2011. An African servant was forced to sleep on the floor, a situation she endured at first for £10 a month “wages” until her employer, a female doctor of Asian origin, decided not to pay her anything at all.

    A court interpreter in the UK, who works in Arabic and asked to remain anonymous, has told me even worse stories about escaping “servants” who managed to report to a police station, where she got to meet them and interpreted for them. The employers, mostly from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, are rarely prosecuted.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8592/modern-slavery-britain

  24. What the Arab League Meeting Reveals

    he Arab League concluded its 27th annual summit on July 28 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The sessions exposed the deep divisions in the Arab world, the bloc’s decreased influence in regional affairs, and the declining importance of Palestinian issues in the Middle East.

    The annual affair apparently failed to make progress on last year’s Saudi proposal to establish an all-Arab, multinational force in response to Iran’s aggressive policies in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. The Nouakchott-hosted sessions also seem to have made no progress toward developing a unified anti-terrorist agenda. The growth of the Islamic State presence in Libya and elsewhere in North Africa was evidently a prime motivator for the perceived need for an anti-terrorism policy.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8612/arab-league-meeting

  25. Julian Assange: Hacked Emails Include Info On Hillary’s Arming of Jihadists, Including ISIS, in Syria
    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew that the US was sending arms from Libya to Syria back in 2011, a year before the Benghazi consulate attacks.

    Hillary Clinton denied she knew about the weapons shipments during public testimony (under oath) in early 2013 after the Benghazi terrorist attack.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/07/julian-assange-hacked-emails-include-info-hillarys-arming-jihadists-including-isis-syria/

  26. France starts to talk tough on fighting radical Islam (thelocal, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.fr/20160801/france-starts-to-talk-tough-on-fighting-radical-islam

    “The French government are keen to show they are talking a hard line against radical Islam, but Muslims and experts say it won’t solve the problem of terrorism.

    The French government are convinced, it seems, that the Muslim community must play a key role in the battle against jihadism and terrorism.

    After a spate of recent terror attacks the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and his Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve have been talking tough.

    Under pressure from the right to be seen to be tackling radical Islam, Cazeneuve announced on Monday that French authorities had shut down since December around 20 mosques and prayer halls considered to be preaching radical Islam.

    He also said that since 2012, 80 people had been expelled from France, and dozens more expulsions were underway, without giving further details.

    “There is no place … in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques, and who don’t respect certain republican principles, notably equality between men and women,” the minister said.

    “That is why I took the decision a few months ago to close mosques through the state of emergency, legal measures or administrative measures. About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others.”

    Cazeneuve’s announcements came a day after his PM Manuel Valls issued veiled threat to Muslims in France in a long tribune in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

    “If Islam does not help the Republic fight those who undermine public freedoms, then it will be increasingly hard for the Republic to guarantee its freedom of worship,” said the PM, who once again appealed for a “pact with Islam”.

    The PM offered a less provocative tone however when he insisted that: “Islam does have its place in the Republic”.

    Nevertheless he repeated his desire, made just two days earlier, that he wants all Imams to be trained in France and the foreign funding of mosques to be restricted…”

  27. Private security sector booms on terrorism fears (thelocal, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160801/private-security-sector-booms-on-terrorism-fears

    “Private security is so in demand that some firms have run out of employees to meet demand, die Welt reports.

    After a string of bloody attacks in southern Germany, including a shooting in a shopping centre which led to the death of nine victims and the gunman, the Federal Association for Private Security (BDSW) conducted a survey among its more than 900 member companies.

    The results which Die Welt have seen demonstrate that public events have “massively strengthened their security measures”, the newspaper reports…”

    • The Austrian government is up to something, hopefully it will work to help the people of Austria.

  28. 70% of ISIS militants in Afghanistan are Pakistani Taliban: Nicholson (khaama, Aug 1, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/70-of-isis-militants-in-afghanistan-are-pakistani-taliban-nicholson-01619

    “The top US commander in Afghanistan General John Nicholson has said roughly 70 per cent of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group loyalists fighting in Afghanistan are the members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

    Briefing the Washington-based journalists earlier this week, Gen. Nicholson, said “In the case of Islamic State Khorasan province, the majority of the members are from the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).”

    Gen. Nicholson further added that many of these terrorists were forced out of Pakistan by the Zarb-i-Azb military operation.

    He said many IS fighters in Nangarhar province came from Pakistan’s Orakzai tribal agency.

    “And they were former members of the TTP, complete with their leadership, who wholesale joined Islamic State, pledged bayt (allegiance) to Islamic State and joined them earlier this year,” Gen. Nicholson added.

    This comes as the local officials in Nanagarhar made a similar remark regarding the terror group’s loyalists in Afghanistan earlier last month.

    Provincial governor’s spokesman Ataullah Khogyani has said the documents obtained from the dead bodies and those arrested during the operations in Achin, Kot, Haska Mina and other parts of Nangarhar, reveal that they are originally residents of Orakzai Agency.

    Khogyani further added that the intelligence information gathered by the government also reveal that the ISIS loyalists are mostly comprised of Pakistani nationals.

    According to Khogyani, the residents of Tajikistan are also fighting alongside the Pakistani nationals for ISIS terrorist group who are mainly deployed after completing training in Pakistan.
    The Afghan forces as well as the US forces in Afghanistan have increased raids against the loyalists of the terror group in Nangarhar during the recent months.

    Both the Afghan and US forces conduct regular airstrikes to eliminate the supporters of the terror group amid fears they are attempting to expand foothold in the country.”

  29. Is xenophobia against Syrian refugees on the rise in Turkey? (saudigazette, Aug 2, 2016)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/world/mena/xenophobia-syrian-refugees-rise-turkey/

    “Istanbul — The Syrian conflict has resulted in an influx of about 3 million refugees into Turkey, fueling xenophobia toward Syrians.

    After a youth was recently attacked with a knife and his cellphone allegedly seized by a Syrian in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, protesters gathered on July 10 against the presence of Syrians.

    On July 16, about 50 shops belonging to Syrians were stoned, and many Syrians faced lynching attempts following a racist campaign organized on social media.

    Ziad O, a Syrian refugee living in the coastal city of ?zmir, is well aware of rising xenophobia against Syrian refugees in Turkey, although he has not witnessed any social discrimination so far.

    “I know many Syrian refugees here in Izmir who are verbally abused and mistreated by their bosses, who had to work longer hours for less money compared to their Turkish colleagues, especially in the textile sector,” Ziad told Al Arabiya English.

    Ziad, who was a lawyer in Syria, had to leave Damascus four years ago. He now teaches Turkish to Syrian refugees and Arabic to Turks, as well as freelance translation.

    Tensions between locals and Syrian refugees in big cities here first sparked in 2014 in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, where a Syrian was attacked by Turks following a traffic accident.

    Quickly thereafter, a Turkish landlord was killed by his Syrian tenant in Gaziantep, leading to an exodus of refugees from there.

    Citizenship

    The idea of granting citizenship to Syrian refugees, proposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 2, has triggered heated debate and further xenophobia, leading to physical violence between locals and Syrians.

    In the central Anatolian town of Beysehir, one such clash on July 9 over the kicking of a stray dog resulted in the murder of a Syrian, and Syrian homes were stoned.

    Ziad said some Syrian refugees want Turkish citizenship because they see their future in Turkey. However, “language is an important barrier,” he said.

    “The authorities should provide them with opportunities to learn Turkish, and find solutions to the negative impacts of their entrance into the workforce, especially unregistered work that harms society.”

    The German Marshall Fund’s Turkish Perceptions Survey (2015) revealed that 84 percent of Turks were worried about refugees coming from Syria, while 80 percent thought immigrants had not integrated well…”