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All Hillary Clinton Lies & Hillary Perjury Investigation Update 8/16/16
House Republicans detail perjury charges against Clinton
Syria: Can this go on indefinitely?
Syria: “We’re not going to work with the regime forces.” 16 Aug 2016
Syria: Are you alarmed that this thing may even get worse?
Russia and Iran are calling the shoots in Syria, complain to them because Obama and the left won’t let the US do anything.
Except cover for al-Nusra. And give our Gulf “allies” a chance to refresh the supplies and forces of the moderate terrorists.
Keep it up, you guys!
culling the herd, culling the herd…That is what is happening. The human race is being culled so the terminally stupid and their genes are removed from the gene pool.
DoD: “We’re not focused on the former al-Nusra Front.”
SYRIA – U.S.-backed Syrian forces gave defeated ISIL militants safe passage
Islamic State fighters surrounded during the key battle for Manbij, Syria, last week agreed to surrender their weapons to U.S.-backed Syrian forces in return for safe passage out of the embattled city, a senior defense official said Tuesday. It was the first such agreement with the terror group.
The exhausted and demoralized militants were using civilians as human shields, which is why the U.S.-backed fighters agreed to let them flee Manbij after three months of intense fighting and near constant aerial bombardment by the U.S.-led coalition.
The U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss battle details, said the Islamic State fighters surrendered after being surrounded by the Syrian Democratic Forces, fighters recruited and trained by the U.S.-led coalition.
The official said the agreement to let the Islamic State militants escape likely saved hundreds of civilians held by the fanatical fighters, even though it allowed some Islamic State militants to escape.
The militants turned their weapons over to Syrian Democratic Forces before leaving Manbij, the official said.
The enemy convoy of 100 to 200 fighters left the city last Friday under the watch of coalition drones to ensure that the militants did not regroup and try to return to the city.[…]
U.S. advisers who support the Syrian Democratic Forces knew of the deal and agreed not to target the convoy with airstrikes as it left the city, according to the defense official.[…]
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/08/16/us-backed-syrian-forces-gave-defeated-isil-militants-safe-passage/88862834/
A twist on history: Didn’t Nazis flee to Syria and S. America after WWII? Now their ideological heirs can flee to Europe.
Nazi war crminals fled to just about all Islamic nations after WWII, the only one I know they didn’t go to was Iran (the US was too strong there) and I don’t remember hearing about any in Turkey. Other then those two unless the nation was under European control the Nazi’s were welcomed and sheltered there.
[…]Q: I want to get into Manbij, Colonel.
You talked about that convoy leaving the Manbij with ISIS fighters. Roughly how many ISIS fighters are we talking about?
And did they — any of them get into Turkey or did they disperse before getting to the border?
And lastly, you said you weren’t able to strike because of the civilians in the convoy. Were any strikes possible, or zero strikes?
COL. GARVER: Well, first, Tom, there was several different estimates of the numbers that were in there. It was, you know, kind of a range. I don’t know the specifics and, like I said, the estimates were slightly different. But it was in the hundred to a couple hundred numbers.
As for strikes, we did not conduct any strikes because of every vehicle had civilians that we could identify with our systems, and as we are receiving reports from our partners on the ground, every vehicle had civilians in it or on it. And so we watched, we kept track. I’m not going to talk about, kind of, where they went.
They didn’t all go as a group; I’ll say that. When they went north, they didn’t all go together and stay together. But I won’t talk about specifically where each of the pieces and parts went because I said — as I said, that’s an ongoing operation.
Q: (off mic) whether they’re in Syria or Turkey?
COL. GARVER: I’m not going to discuss, kind of, where they went.
They went north. I’ll — I’ll leave it at that.
Q: (off mic) with them, or are they going back to Manbij?
COL. GARVER: I’m sorry, say that again.
Q: Civilians still with them? Are they still being used as human shields, or did they go back to where they came from?
COL. GARVER: We have not — we have not seen those civilians return to Manbij.[…]
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOD/bulletins/15d7b0f
RT-Main results of Syria truces: Terrorists add 7,000 to ranks, get arms & munitions – Lavrov
While agreeing that three-hour ceasefires are not enough to alleviate the humanitarian crises in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out that earlier short-term truces had only helped terrorists replenish munitions and their ranks.
“The main issue is not that there’s anyone unwilling to alleviate the humanitarian situation, but it is of utmost importance that terrorists would not be getting reinforced with militants, guns and munition supplies under the humanitarian aid disguise,” Lavrov said.
The Russian FM said that Moscow and Washington had managed to enforce 48-hour or 72-hour truces in various parts of Syria before.
“The main results of those pauses was an insignificant relief in the humanitarian situation, while terrorists added 7,000 people to their ranks, not to mention huge amounts of arms and munitions they received,” he said.
Lavrov made the remarks at a press conference following a meeting with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at Urals Federal University in Yekaterinburg on Monday.
Steinmeier, who stressed Russia’s “special responsibility for Aleppo, especially when it comes to providing humanitarian access,” urged for a longer ceasefire in Syria’s besieged northern city.
“Aleppo residents are going through a real humanitarian catastrophe,” he said. “The city is constantly shelled, this cannot continue. We need to have a constant humanitarian corridor.”
Lavrov noted that a plan to drop supplies from the air being discussed in the West does not appear very realistic, while stressing that such a step should be agreed upon with the official Syrian government. He added that Moscow will continue to discuss other measures, in addition to already operational humanitarian corridors, with the Syria Support Group (SSG) and the US.[…]
https://www.rt.com/news/355956-steinmeier-lavrov-syria-aleppo/
CHINA – Senior PLA official pays visit to war-devastated Syria
China’s military has sent a delegation of high-ranking officials to Syria – a sign underscoring Beijing’s active engagement in the five-year-old conflict.
Headed by Guan Youfei, Rear Admiral of People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Chinese delegation visited the capital Damascus, and met with government representatives to enhance the cooperation between the two countries’ militaries.
Guan, who is the director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of the Chinese Central Military Commission, held talks with Fahd Jassem al-Freij, Syrian Defense Minister on Tuesday.
“They reached consensus on enhancing personnel training, and Chinese military offering humanitarian aid to Syria,” China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.
Al-Freij thanked the government and military of China for their help and said he was willing to push forward cooperation between the two countries’ militaries. He added that Syria supports China’s sovereignty over its territory and maritime interests in the South China Sea.
China has long called for a political settlement to the ongoing conflict in Syria, and upheld UN’s role in the crisis, while denouncing military solutions. China has previously invited delegates from the Syrian government as well as opposition figures to Beijing in an attempt to push a peaceful resolution forward.
In March, China appointed a special envoy for Syria to better promote dialogue, contribute Chinese wisdom and communicate with parties to facilitate a proper solution.
http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/0817/c90000-9101047.html
This adds a new party to the war, China like Russia has internal problems with Islamic terrorists and separatists they are now doing as Russia is and work with the Moslems in the Middle East. With China adding their Navy to the mix creates new threats and will require the US and our NATO allies to increase our naval assets in the Med. assets that are needed elsewhere to counter Chinese moves to assert control over the entire South China Sea.
One of the causes for the American Revolution was the Brits trying to deny freedom of the seas to our ships. The same thing was the cause for the war of 1812. This right of free passage for all ships in international waters is as vital to all nations now as it was in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Russian use Hamedan Airbase: Violation UNSCR 2231? 17 Aug 2016
UNSCR 2231: Toner response to Konashenkov. 17 Aug 2016
George Soros, the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton
SAUDI ARABIA – Saudi man hits & insults a worker because he forgot a Snickers cover in the blender for his drink.
Because of this article its author’s Facebook account was “permanently”closed down, but has following an outcry just been restored.
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2016/07/25/u-s-european-elites-just-not-equipped-to-deal-with-islams-insurgency/
testing – my reply isn’t going thru – testing
Shocking! Do they know who he is??
Dr. Jonathan Spyer is Director of the Rubin Center and Editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA). He is also a fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Spyer holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a Master’s Degree in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
He writes the weekly “Behind the Lines” column at the Jerusalem Post newspaper and is a regular contributor to Weekly Standard magazine and to Jane’s Intelligence Review. He has been published in many leading journals including the Times (of London), the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Ha’aretz, the Atlantic, the Australian, the National Post, Globe and Mail, Jerusalem Report, Tablet magazine, and many others.
He is also a frequent guest analyst on electronic media and has appeared on CNN, al-Jazeera, Fox News, BBC World, Sky News, and other outlets. In recent years, he has become particularly known for his field reporting and analysis of the war in Syria.
I don’t get it?
I’ve been trying to add a link to the FB Block – Story. It’s important!
I keep getting “duplicate” notices or nothing at all!
I quit, cleared caches, cookies. Something’s off.
The Curse of FB?
I don’t think they care who he is. The left is getting arrogant and thinks it can destroy all who oppose them, we are seeing this in the US political campaign and in the way they are seeking to silence everyone who opposes the Islamic conquest of the west.
In my opinion the attempt by Obama to convert the US to a communist nations was done way too soon and the Islamic invasion of Europe and the US was also done too soon. They have moved when there are still large numbers of patriots in all nations, patriots who are fighting to maintain freedom in their nations. The fight will be long, hard and bloody but in the long run the patriots will win and freedom will once again reign in the west.
I think I mentioned him once to you.
He made aliya after he got his Ph.D. Served in the Second Lebanon War. He came with all kinds of BBC, soft-focus illusions about making friends with the average Lebanese villager, the enlightened Syrian businessman.
Hah!
They’re poisoned with Islam, drink it with their mothers’ milk. It was very discouraging, but he’s a forward-looking person. Works with realities, never gives in to mindless militarism or defeatist thinking.
You may have mentioned him, his name is familiar but I don’t know why.
Indonesia Cuts Jailed Islamic Cleric’s Sentence by 3 Months (abcnews, Aug 17, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesia-cuts-jailed-islamic-clerics-sentence-months-41451699
German Man Arrested on Suspicion of Planning Attack (abcnews, Aug 17, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-man-arrested-explosives-found-apartment-41451262
“German police on Wednesday arrested a man who is suspected of planning an attack and is believed to have stored explosives at his apartment.
The suspect is a 27-year-old German man who lived in the eastern city of Eisenhuettenstadt, Frankfurt an der Oder, police told the dpa news agency.
Brandenburg state governor Dietmar Woidke said police suspect the man was “planning an act of terrorism” and that he might have contacts to Islamic extremism, dpa reported.
Ingo Hesse, a spokesman for police in Frankfurt an der Oder, told n-tv television the man is under investigation for violations of explosives laws.
Hesse said that the man was being questioned and his apartment was being searched. Asked whether he had contacts to the Islamic extremist scene, he said that “we don’t yet have this information.”
He said police received “information that this man allegedly had explosives at his apartment; what kind is still completely unknown and what quantity too.”
The arrest comes after a string of attacks in Germany last month that put the country on edge.
Two of the attacks in a weeklong period starting July 18 were the first in Germany to be claimed by the Islamic State group: an ax rampage near Wuerzburg that wounded five and a bombing that injured 15 outside a bar in Ansbach. Both attackers, asylum-seekers who arrived over the past two years, were killed.
In two other attacks Islamic extremism is not suspected. Those attacks include the shooting by a German-Iranian 18-year-old in Munich that claimed the life of the assailant and nine others, and the fatal stabbing of a woman by a Syrian asylum-seeker at a restaurant in Reutlingen.”
Germany: Man arrested on suspicion of plotting attack on local festival – reports
Brandenburg police official says suspicion of terrorism against man who was arrested in Eisenhuettenstadt, Germany, is not yet off the table – Reuters
Germany: ‘No evidence of bomb’ confirm police after arrest in Eisenhuettenstadt
Head of Brandenburg-East Police department Ingo Heese confirmed that no “dangerous explosives have been found” during the investigation into a 27-year-old Germany citizen, who was arrested in the eastern town of Eisenhuettenstadt on Wednesday, reportedly on suspicion of planning an attack and stockpiling explosives.
Heese could not confirm whether the suspect has had any links to a Salafist background until the search operation at his apartment is over. “The man has been detained. The search operation is underway. The man is being questioned. A lot will depend on the results of the search operation,” he said, before adding that “parts of firecrackers which are well known by everyone and widely used during the New Year festivities have been found in the apartment.”
SOT, Ingo Heese, Head of Brandenburg-East Police department (German): “We [police] have received information that a 27-year-old citizen had allegedly hidden stockpiles of explosive materials in the apartment in the town of Eisenhuettenstadt. We took these reports very seriously and arranged all necessary police activities. Together with the prosecution office we have decided to conduct search operation at the apartment. The prosecution office has started the search operation which has not been completed yet. We have arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of stockpiling explosives.”
SOT, Ingo Heese, Head of Brandenburg-East Police department (German): “I cannot confirm it at the current moment [that the suspect has a Salafist background]. The man has been detained. The search operation is underway. The man is being questioned. A lot will depend on the results of the search operation. At the current moment I can say that parts of firecrackers which are well known by everyone and widely used during the New Year festivities have been found in the apartment. These firecrackers were not produced in Germany and without test marks. At the current stage of the operation other dangerous explosives have not been found.”
4 Suspected Militants Killed in Russia’s St. Petersburg (abcnews, Aug 17, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-militants-killed-russias-st-petersburg-41453103
“Russia’s top investigative body says four suspected militants have been killed in a shoot-out with intelligence officers in St. Petersburg.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Wednesday FSB officers were raiding apartments in Russia’s second-largest city looking for suspected Islamic insurgents who have fought in Russia’s North Caucasus.
The investigators said the suspects holed up in an apartment block on the outskirts of St. Petersburg and opened fire when the officers tried to detain them. No civilian or FSB casualties have been reported.
Television footage from the scene showed FSB officers in riot gear surrounding the sprawling apartment block.
Shoot-outs between police and suspected Islamic militants are common in Dagestan, Russia’s hotbed of Islamic insurgency, but the violence rarely spills outside the North Caucasus.”
Russia: Major anti-terror operation launched in St. Petersburg, blasts reported
Russia: Four militants killed in anti-terror op in St. Petersburg – officials
RUSSIA – MOSCOW – Russia: Armed men attack police station near Moscow, injuring two officers
Two gunmen have attacked a traffic police station in Balashikha, Wednesday, injuring at least two officer before being killed by security forces.
The suspects, who were armed with axes and firearms, launched an attack on a traffic police station located on a highway some 20km (12 miles) outside of Moscow, after officers stopped their vehicle to check documentation.
Russia: Anti-Terrorism Committee seizes weapons cache during St. Petersburg raid
Footage released by the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) on Wednesday, shows a weapons cache seized during a raid conducted in St. Petersburg earlier in the day.
The raid was part of the an operation which targeted suspects from Kabardino-Balkaria who were on the federal wanted list after being linked to North Caucasus militant groups.
Turkey Detains Employees of Banned Pro-Kurdish Paper (abcnews, Aug 17, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-detains-employees-banned-pro-kurdish-paper-41453261
“A journalists’ group says police have detained 24 employees of a pro-Kurdish newspaper a day after a court ordered it shut down for allegedly engaging in “terrorist propaganda.”
The Turkish Journalists’ Association said Wednesday some workers of the daily Ozgur Gundem were “ill-treated” as they were taken away. Media reports said those detained included prominent writers and journalists.
The new detentions bring the number of jailed media employees since Turkey’s July 15 coup attempt to close to 100.
The government accuses U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the coup and has shut down 130 news outlets associated with his movement. Dozens of journalists working for Gulen-linked news organizations have been detained.
The court ruled Ozgur Gundem acted as a “media organ” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.”
US Vice President Biden Urges Serbia-Kosovo Reconciliation (abcnews, Aug 17, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-vice-president-biden-urges-serbia-kosovo-reconciliation-41449663
“U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged wartime foes Serbia and Kosovo on Wednesday to mend ties and normalize relations, a condition for both Balkan countries to join the European Union.
Speaking to reporters after talks with Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, Biden said, “I know the scars of war are raw … but reconciliation is necessary.”
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade does not recognize its former province’s statehood.
Serbia and Kosovo have signed a series of EU-brokered deals to regulate relations between the two. Some of those agreements — including one giving more self-rule to Kosovo’s Serb minority — remain unimplemented.
“It will be difficult, but it is necessary and important, urgent work,” Biden said, adding that he delivered the same message to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday in Belgrade.
As a U.S. senator during the 1990s, Biden was a strong advocate of American involvement in the war-torn Balkans. He is in the second day of three-day trip that will be his last as vice president to the region.
Later Wednesday, Biden attended with his family an emotional ceremony naming a road near an American military base after his late son, Beau Biden, who died last year of brain cancer at age 46.
Beau Biden, former Delaware Attorney General, served in 2001 in Kosovo as an interim legal adviser.
“It was his strong belief from having been here at the depth of a very difficult time (for Kosovo) that made me confident that calling for the independence of this great country was the right thing to do,” Biden said.
“Beau loved this country like I do,” Biden said, turning around and pointing to grassy hills nearby as American and Kosovo flags fluttered in the background. “On behalf of the Biden family, we are extremely grateful and humbled beyond words.”
With Thaci standing at his side, the vice president said earlier in the day that both the Kosovo president and the Serbian prime minister understand that normalizing relations “has to be done” and would benefit both Belgrade and Pristina.
“This is crucial for advancing both Kosovo and Serbia into Europe. Without it, it will not likely happen,” he said.
Thaci told Biden that the reconciliation of Kosovo and Serbia is possible and will happen.
“We won’t forget the past, but we will also not remain its hostages,” Thaci said
During a visit to Serbia on Tuesday, Biden offered his condolences to the families of those killed in the Balkan wars in the 1990s, including those killed in U.S.-led NATO airstrikes.
A NATO bombardment in 1999 stopped Serbia’s crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists, ending Belgrade’s rule over Kosovo.”
Bombed Orthodox Christians on behalf of Muslims.
In order to bring “peace” and “justice” – as those terms are defined by the Muslim Bros.
Yeah Clinton did that and I remember the Moslems starting the rape jihad over there but it was the Serbs who were condemned for retaliating for this. Even back then the left was in bed with the jihadist movement.
He bombed them for the election or to distract from his philandering. Just as shallow as that. No doubt made money off it too. Made that donkey look tough.
Migrant crisis: Greek islands see rising numbers in camps (BBC, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37099332
“Save the Children says the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands has nearly doubled in recent weeks, putting pressure on overcrowded camps…”
Turkey coup: Release for 38,000 prisoners jailed before coup (BBC, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37103965
“Turkey is to release conditionally 38,000 prisoners jailed before last month’s failed coup, while its jails are crowded with new detainees…”
Release the criminals so there is room for the political prisoners.
Australia to close Manus Island asylum centre (BBC, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37104363
“Australia has agreed to close a controversial asylum seeker detention centre in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said in a statement he had met Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, in Port Moresby on Wednesday.
“Both PNG and Australia are in agreement that [Manus Island] centre is to be closed,” the statement said.
PNG’s Supreme Court found in April that detaining asylum seekers and refugees at the centre was unconstitutional.
Mr O’Neill said the Manus Regional Processing Centre, which currently houses 854 men, would not close immediately.
“A series of options are being advanced and implemented,” Mr O’Neill said.
“It is important that this process is not rushed but carried out in a careful manner.
“This must take into account the interests of the people of Papua New Guinea and the wellbeing of asylum seekers and refugees.”
‘No settlement in Australia’
Australia sends asylum seekers who arrive in the country by boat to offshore detention centres in Manus Island and the Pacific nation of Nauru.
Even those who are found to be genuine refugees are not allowed to settle in Australia…”
Russian Military Forces Staging
Near Ukraine
EUCOM: ‘Extremely concerned’ by regional tensions
The Pentagon has identified eight staging areas in Russia where large numbers of military forces appear to be preparing for incursions into Ukraine, according to U.S. defense officials.
As many as 40,000 Russian troops, including tanks, armored vehicles, and air force units, are now arrayed along Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia.
Additionally, large numbers of Russian military forces will conduct exercises in the coming days that Pentagon officials say could be used as cover for an attack on Ukraine.
ADVERTISING
“Russian units will likely practice reinforcing the [Crimean] peninsula through such activities as amphibious landings and air defense exercises, and this may involve the change out of equipment and long convoys of military vehicles,” one defense official said.
The military exercises are an ominous sign. Similar large-scale Russian exercises were conducted near Ukraine a month before Moscow carried out the covert military operation to take over the strategic Black Sea peninsula in March 2014.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russian-military-forces-staging-near-ukraine/
The US won the Cold War and brought freedom to many nations in Eastern Europe, Obama and company are working hard to reverse that victory and allow Russia to reassert control of all of the nations that use to make up the Russian Empire and the Warsaw Block.
After WWII the US was forced to allow the Soviets to enslave Eastern Europe and many of what are now the breakaway republics. Obama raised a communist thinks that was a bad thing and is seeking to reverse our victory.
We’re responsible for blowing the chance for real peace with Russia. For all the wrong reasons, at the worst possible time, we chose to expand NATO. Stupid.
This administration has been pushing Russia to distract from their own malfeasance. All the “Color Revolutions” came from the same place as the Arab Spring. They’ve used humanitarian BS and Russia blame-game in Syria till it’s become embarrassing.
They poked the wrong Bear.
I know, Obama, Clinton and Kerry cut the US military, created major terrorist groups and antagonized Russia when all of that was not in the best interest of the US, Western Europe and Western civilization. I have never understood why they did this unless the want Russia to once more become the active enemy of the US and to become the dominate nation in most of the world.
It just didn’t have to happen.
There was a great discussion in the comments on a J.E. Dyer article. Took it step by step, added links, threw it back & forth. She’s got some top-notch readers. An Israeli site I follow carries on an email dialogue with her. Shares it with us. Clare Lopez is also in on the round-robin.
No it didn’t have to happen but the left appears to have either wanted it to happen or is so stupid they made screw up after screw up at just the right time in just the right manner to cause it to happen.To many things have happened for it to have been an accident.
J.E. Dyer is smart enough, trained well enough and experienced enough that people in the know will flock to her blog to exchange info so their predictions for the future will be better. A lot of the people who are involved in those discussions are people Obama purged from the US military and intel organizations because they are considered politically unreliable. Most of the people who read the ones we link to don’t realize how high the quality of her work is and how much a private intel orginization would charge for them.
America to hand off Internet in under two months
The Department of Commerce is set to hand off the final vestiges of American control over the Internet to international authorities in less than two months, officials have confirmed.
The department will finalize the transition effective Oct. 1, Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling wrote on Tuesday, barring what he called “any significant impediment.”
The move means the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which is responsible for interpreting numerical addresses on the Web to a readable language, will move from U.S. control to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a multistakeholder body based in Los Angeles that includes countries such as China and Russia.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/america-to-hand-off-internet-in-under-two-months/article/2599521
Great. Just great.
Obama is doing it earlier then I thought he would but giving it away now will make it harder for Trump to regain control (if that is possible) and make it harder to maintain freedom of speech on the net.
I don’t know if it will make anyone change their votes (assuming the timing is just after the election) because most of the people who will be upset are already opposed to Hillary.
Oil-Rich Countries Are Importing Elite Athletes to Bump up National Medal Count (nbcnews, video, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-rio-summer-olympics/oil-rich-countries-are-importing-elite-athletes-bump-national-medal-n632566
Making space for coup purge, Turkey starts to release 38,000 prisoners
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey began freeing 38,000 prisoners on Wednesday, after announcing a penal reform that will make space for tens of thousands of suspects rounded up over last month’s attempted coup.
The reform was one of a series of measures outlined on Wednesday in two decrees under a state of emergency declared after the July 15 failed putsch during which 240 people were killed.
The government gave no reason for measure, but its prisons were already straining capacity before the mass arrests that followed the coup.
Western allies worry President Tayyip Erdogan, already accused by opponents of creeping authoritarianism, is using the crackdown to target dissent, testing relations with a key NATO partner in the war on Islamic State.
Angrily dismissing those concerns, Turkish officials say they are rooting out a serious internal threat from followers of a U.S.-based cleric.
Wednesday’s decrees, published in the Official Gazette, also ordered the dismissal of 2,360 more police officers, more than 100 military personnel and 196 staff at Turkey’s information and communication technology authority, BTK.
Those dismissed were described as having links to cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan turned enemy. Erdogan says Gulen was behind the attempt by rogue troops using tanks and jets to overthrow the government. Gulen denies involvement.
Under the penal reform, convicts with up to two years left in sentences are eligible for release on probation, extending the period from one year. The “supervised release” excludes those convicted of terrorism, murder, violent or sexual crimes.
http://www.oann.com/turkey-dismisses-more-than-2000-police-officers-over-coup-bid/
Hitler set the Reichstag fire in 1933 and didn’t start WWII until 1938. I don’t thing it will take Erdogan that long to start rebuilding the Ottoman Empire, which is going to put him on a collision course with Iran who is busy recreating the Persian Empire. Not that this will stop both of them from fighting the west while they are fighting each other. And we have to add Putin and his goal of having enough influence in the Middle East to play King Maker.
Iran-backed Shiite forces in Iraq now estimated at 100,000 – US military spokesman (RT, Aug 17, 2016)
https://www.rt.com/news/356233-iran-shia-iraq-syria/
“Iran-backed Shiite fighters in Iraq now number up to 100,000 fighters, the first-known estimate of their size, according to the US military. It was earlier reported that Iran’s Syria-based commander is preparing to retake the Iraqis city of Mosul.
In what appears to be a deepening role played by Iran in the fight against Islamic State (IS, ISIS/formerly ISIL), the forces’ estimates range anywhere from 80,000 up to 100,000, according to spokesman Colonel Chris Garver, who confirmed the figure to Fox after it was first floated by the head of US Central Command, Army General Joe Votel in late July, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
According to Garver, not all Shiite fighters making up the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are Iran-backed – that figure usually stands at about 80,000. The rest of the figure is a mashup of Sunni tribal fighters from Iraqi provinces of Anbar and Nineveh, also rising up against the IS threat…”
OKLAHOMA – Judge rules Alton Nolen not competent to enter guilty plea
A judge has ruled Alton Nolen is not competent to enter a guilty plea in the beheading of a coworker.
Nolen is accused of beheading a coworker at Vaughan Foods in Moore.
Nolen pleaded guilty in May to first-degree murder for beheading Colleen Hufford, 54, inside the Vaughan Foods plant in Moore on Sept. 25, 2014, shortly after he was suspended for making racial remarks. He has said he wants to die by lethal injection.
Hufford’s family released the following statement after the judge ruled:
“Justice was not served today. The level of disappointment my family and I are experiencing at this moment is almost incomprehensible. Giving this monster any more time on this earth rather than charging him and sentencing him to the death penalty for killing my mother is inexcusable. Where is the justice in this horrific man sitting in a room undergoing even more tests when my mom isn’t ever coming home -where is the justice?”
Neuropsychologist Antoinette McGarrahan, who testified for the defense, said Nolen is schizophrenic.
“He has lost touch with reality. It has gone to that extreme,” McGarrahan said. “He can’t think rationally because he firmly believes he is being held captive, and we are all evil and the devil.”
A prosecution psychologist, however, described Nolen’s behavior as simply his personality. Shawn Roberson, who has examined Nolen twice, testified that Nolen did not act paranoid during their time together.
“He is able to engage in a coherent conversation,” Roberson said. “I just think he’s uncooperative.”
Prosecutors have said in court documents that Nolen “justified his actions based on his reading of the Quran and stated that he would do the same thing again to anyone who oppressed him.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Robert Hunt, a Southern Methodist University professor CONSIDERED an EXPERT on Islamic beliefs, testified for the defense that Nolen, a Muslim convert, developed ideas about being a Muslim that are irrational, contradictory and not in keeping with normal Islamic teachings or the ideology of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hunt said Nolen would not agree to an interview in the jail, called him a “white heathen” and walked out.
“He appears to be living in a fantasy world,” the professor said.
FBI agents interviewed Nolen about possible ties to terrorist groups and concluded he had none.
Nolen, who kept his head down during most of the testimony and occasionally yawned, spoke only to say “Praise to Allah, yes” when asked if he was staying with his guilty plea and “Praise to Allah, no,” when asked if he wanted more time to consider.
http://www.koco.com/news/judge-rules-alton-nolen-not-competent-to-enter-guilty-plea/41243684
Russia uses Iran to strike Syria militants again, rejects U.S. censure
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia used an Iranian air base to launch air strikes in Syria for a second day running on Wednesday, rejecting U.S. suggestions its co-operation with Tehran might violate a U.N. resolution.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that SU-34 fighter bombers flying from Iran’s Hamadan air base had struck Islamic State targets in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province, destroying two command posts and killing more than 150 militants.
Moscow first used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes in Syria on Tuesday, deepening its involvement in the five-year-old Syrian civil war and angering the United States.
Washington called the move “unfortunate” and said on Tuesday it was looking into whether Russia’s move had violated U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, which prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday there were no grounds to suggest Russia had violated the resolution, saying it was not supplying Iran with aircraft.
“These aircraft are being used by Russia’s air force with Iran’s agreement as a part of an anti-terrorist operation at the request of Syria’s leadership,” Lavrov told a Moscow news conference, after holding talks with Murray McCully, New Zealand’s foreign minister.
http://www.oann.com/russia-uses-iran-to-strike-syria-militants-again-rejects-u-s-censure/
MEMRI TV – Russian Defense Minister – The Americans Cannot Specify the Terrorist Positions in Syria
n a TV interview, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that the so-called “moderate opposition” in Syria uses booby-trapped APCs in order to carry out suicide bombings, while the Americans cannot inform the Russian side of the exact locations of the moderate opposition or of the ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorists. The interview aired on the Russia 1 state TV on August 13,2016.
Thanks to Obama and the left we no longer have that ability, and given the way he and Hillary helped ISIS get so big we have very little moral authority in the world. It will take decades to regain the friendships, influence and trust of our allies that the two of them threw away.
Maybe he’ll finish off al-Qaeda. Putin hates them all. China’s getting into the act as well! It’s a 3-ring circus, and we’re only the clowns.
Where’s The Donald?
Fighting to get elected, he has the lying Dems to fight, the lying media to fight, the Islamic activists to fight and the useful idiots to fight. From some of the things he has said recently Bill O’Reilly is a member of the last group.
I noticed that too. Grim.
Three ring, it is more like a 8 or 10 ring circus. The only good thing about China getting invovled is that it draws some of the Navy away from the South China Sea. Pray that Donald Trump is elected and that the civil/race war is fairly short because we will need all of our troops to go overseas.
I keep referring to Science Fiction novels and short stories from the Golden Age of SF. I don’t remember any of them that were this convoluted, some were a lot more distopian but none had this many players and layers of corruption and treason.
As I said, I never read dystopian. Growing up around Holocaust survivors was sufficient.
Some of it was good, the ones I avoided were the ones where the nuclear war kicked us back to the stone age. The science was really bad in those.
Russia, spurning U.S. censure, launches second day of Syria strikes from Iran
Russia launched a second day of air strikes against Syrian militants from an Iranian air base, rejecting U.S. suggestions its co-operation with Tehran might violate a U.N. resolution as illogical and factually incorrect.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Tuesday called the Iranian deployment “unfortunate,” saying the United States was looking into whether the move violated U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, which prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran.
Russia bristled at those comments on Wednesday after announcing that Russian SU-34 fighter bombers flying from Iran’s Hamadan air base had for a second day struck Islamic State targets in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province, destroying two command posts and killing more than 150 militants.
“It’s not our practice to give advice to the leadership of the U.S. State Department,” Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
“But it’s hard to refrain from recommending individual State Department representatives check their own logic and knowledge of basic documents covering international law.”
Moscow first used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes in Syria on Tuesday, deepening its involvement in the five-year-old Syrian civil war and angering the United States.
Russia’s use of the Iranian air base comes amid intense fighting for the Syrian city of Aleppo, where rebels are battling Syrian government forces backed by the Russian military, and as Moscow and Washington are working toward a deal on Syria that could see them cooperate more closely.
Russia backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the United States believes the Syrian leader must step down and is supporting rebel groups that are fighting to unseat him.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday any U.S. dismay over Moscow’s military co-operation with Iran should not distract from efforts to realize the U.S.-Russia deal on coordinating action in Syria and securing a ceasefire.
Lavrov said there were no grounds to suggest Russia’s actions had violated the U.N. resolution, saying Moscow was not supplying Iran with military aircraft for its own internal use, something the document prohibits.
“These aircraft are being used by Russia’s air force with Iran’s agreement as a part of an anti-terrorist operation at the request of Syria’s leadership,” Lavrov told a Moscow news conference, after holding talks with Murray McCully, New Zealand’s foreign minister.
A graphic illustrating which targets Russia has so far struck from Iran can be seen here: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/MIDEAST-CRISIS-RUSSIA-IRAN/010021BR390/MIDEAST-CRISIS-RUSS-IRAN.jpg
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-russia-iran-idUSKCN10S0VB
IS launches wave of suicide attacks on Libya forces (france24, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.france24.com/en/20160817-launches-wave-suicide-attacks-libya-forces
“Islamic State group jihadists in Libya have carried out nine suicide bombings in one day in a failed bid to hold a central district of Sirte, pro-government forces said Wednesday.
The attacks on Tuesday in the coastal city left nine pro-government fighters dead and 82 wounded, said Reda Issa, a spokesman for forces allied with the unity government.
They took place as forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA), backed by US air strikes, advanced on Sirte’s central District Two as part of a three-month offensive to oust the jihadists from the city.
An IS fighter blew up his vehicle close to a group of soldiers and journalists, wounding several, said an AFP photographer.
Five of the bombers attacked using cars, one on a motorbike and three on foot, said the pro-GNA forces, which published several photos of the bombers’ corpses…”
Raw: Suicide Bomb Rocks Libyan IS Stronghold
North Korea says it has resumed plutonium production: Kyodo
TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea says it has resumed plutonium production by reprocessing spent fuel rods and has no plans to stop nuclear tests as long as perceived U.S. threats remain, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday.
North Korea’s Atomic Energy Institute, which has jurisdiction over its main Yongbyon nuclear facilities, also told Kyodo it had been producing highly enriched uranium necessary for nuclear arms and power “as scheduled”.
“We have reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods removed from a graphite-moderated reactor,” the institute told Kyodo in a written interview.
The institute did not mention the amount of plutonium or enriched uranium it had produced, Kyodo said.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in June North Korea appeared to have reopened the Yongbyon plant to produce plutonium from spent fuel of a reactor central to its atomic weapons drive.
North Korea vowed in 2013 to restart all nuclear facilities, including the main reactor at its Yongbyon site that had been shut down.
North Korea had said in September that Yongbyon was operating and that it was working to improve the “quality and quantity” of its nuclear weapons.
North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January.
http://www.oann.com/north-korea-says-it-has-resumed-plutonium-production-kyodo/
Anjem Choudary verdict: YouTube and Twitter refused to delete radical preacher’s extremist posts, court hears
‘The police do not have the capability to remove any material from any platform’
Social media giants had the last word on Anjem Choudary’s online posts, even after he was arrested for inviting support for Isis.
British authorities made repeated efforts to get his Twitter posts and YouTube videos taken down after an oath of allegiance to the Caliphate surfaced online with the preacher’s name on it, jurors at the Old Bailey were told.
But they had no power to force corporations to remove material from the internet even if it was believed to have fallen foul of UK anti-terror laws.
An open source researcher from the National Counter Terrorism Police Operations Centre (NCTPOC) catalogued a series of failed attempts.
The officer, identified only by a number, said in a statement read to court that it was up to the companies whether or not to take down posts and videos as “the police do not have the capability to remove any material from any platform”.
Choudary currently has more than 32,000 followers on Twitter and his account can still be viewed online, despite requests for its removal in August last year and the following March.
The officer argued the account showed support for so-called Islamic State contrary to section 12 Terrorism Act 2000 and breached Twitter rules on “threatening or promoting terrorism”, the court heard.
On June 23 this year, a request was sent to YouTube for the removal of a video entitled “Duties of the Kilafah by Anjem Choudary” which was refused.
A video entitled “The Caliphate will expand into Europe and US” was not referred because YouTube consider it “journalistic” as it was uploaded on Memri TV, a Middle East research institute.
The official also urged Twitter to remove Choudary’s co-accused Mohammed Rahman’s account.
It was eventually taken down although the officer said it “does not appear to have been from our referral due to the time elapsed from the original email we sent to them”.
However, Facebook did agree to a request to delete Rahman’s profile in August last year.
The officer had mixed success in getting YouTube to remove Rahman’s posts.
On March 17 this year, a request was sent to YouTube to remove two of Rahman’s videos – The real meaning of jihad and Using fire as punishment.
One was taken down for breaching “community guidelines” although the other was left online to allow for “religious debate”.
YouTube rebuffed a further request to remove Rahman’s video entitled “Can you join Kuffar army just to get some training”.
Four more of Rahman’s videos were taken down without interventions from British police.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/anjem-choudary-verdict-youtube-twitter-facebook-isis-terrorism-posts-not-deleted-a7194041.html
Three more migrant camps evacuated in Paris (thelocal, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.fr/20160817/three-more-migrant-camps-evacuated-in-paris
“Over 800 migrants were peacefully moved out of three camps in north-east Paris on Wednesday morning.
The makeshift camps had only been set up a few days earlier; and are regularly evacuated but often reappear shortly after.
“Eight to nine hundred migrants from three camps situated at the Quai de Jemmapes, Place Stalingrad and Avenue de Flandre,” Paris police chief Yann Drouet confirmed to Le Figaro. “Sixty to 70 women and children were evacuated as a priority.
The operation began at 8am and continued through the morning.
Drouet said that the migrants, who were of Afghan, Sudanese, Eritrean and Somali origin, had been taken to the local police station where they would receive any necessary report….”
What does it mean “they would receive any necessary report…” 😉
Hundreds of migrants evacuated from Paris camp
Paris – Aug 13 2016 –
Russian special forces kill four militants in St Petersburg
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian special forces troops killed four militants in St. Petersburg on Wednesday in a counter-terrorism operation, Russian Investigating Committee said.
The militants were on a wanted list of suspected members of a militant group in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region, the Committee said in a statement on its website.
The police stormed an apartment in a residential house where the militants were hiding. There were no casualties among civilians.
http://www.oann.com/russian-special-forces-kill-four-militants-in-st-petersburg/
Italy arrests man for smuggling migrants to France (thelocal, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.fr/20160817/italian-police-arrest-man-for-smuggling-migrants-into-france
“A man has been arrested by Italian police for allegedly smuggling migrants into France.
The 37-year-old, a resident of Nice, was arrested in Breil-sur-Roya, a French mountain hamlet close to the border, after being caught carrying eight Eritreans, including three women and two children, in his Citroen van, Italian police said in a statement on Wednesday.
The alleged people-smuggler was followed by police from Ventimiglia, an Italian border town which has become a migrant bottleneck.
Police said the man was already known to police in the area for his involvement with “no border” activist groups…”
Known for his involvement with no border activist groups… TRAITORS AT WORK!
MEMRI TV – Sheikh – Islamic Strategy Dictates Hostility towards Infidels, Tolerance Is Un Islamic
In a Ramadhan address delivered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinian cleric Sheikh Issam Amira said that “friendship and tolerance toward infidels are unacceptable” and complained that “the word ‘hostility’ is all but absent from the Muslims’ political vocabulary today.” Insisting upon use of the word “infidel” and saying that “the strategy in Islam is hostility toward non-Muslims,” Sheikh Amira asked: “What kind of tolerance is possible with these people?” The address was delivered on *June 18* and was posted two days later on a YouTube page dedicated to Al-Aqsa Mosque lectures.
North Korea deputy ambassador in UK defects to South
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s deputy ambassador in London has defected with his family to South Korea, making him the highest-ranking Pyongyang diplomat ever to flee the isolated regime for the democratic South, South Korea said on Wednesday.
The Unification Ministry in Seoul declined to say when or how Thae and his family arrived, or how many relatives accompanied him.
Thae defected due to discontent with the regime of Kim Jong Un in North Korea and for the future of his child, ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told a news conference. It was not clear in Korean whether Jeong was referring to more than one child.
“We know that Deputy Ambassador Thae is saying that his distaste for the Kim Jong Un regime and yearning for the Republic of Korea’s free democratic system and the future of his child are motives for the defection,” Jeong said, referring to South Korea, adding that Thae and his family were under government protection.
Impoverished North Korea and prosperous South Korea are technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The announcement came a day after media report that a high-profile North Korean diplomat, later identified by the BBC as Thae, had defected.
http://www.oann.com/north-koreas-deputy-ambassador-defects-in-london-reports/
Militants ambush Indian army convoy in Kashmir, three dead
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – Militants ambushed an Indian military convoy in Kashmir on Wednesday, killing three personnel, in an escalation of violence that officials have blamed on separatist protests that have tied down security forces for more than a month.
Indian Kashmir is in the midst of the worst unrest in six years that began early last month when security forces killed a young separatist commander who was idolized by some youth, provoking an outpouring of anger.
Police superintendent Imtiaz Hussain said militants were taking advantage of the unrest to attack security forces after years of declining violence.
Militants ambushed an army convoy early on Wednesday in the town of Baramulla, killing two soldiers, and then struck at a police jeep when it arrived, killing one policeman, he said.”We were aware about the presence of the militants around Baramulla town for over a month but due to violence across Kashmir, they managed to consolidate and carry out an attack,” Hussain said.
At least 64 protesters have been killed and thousands injured during 40 days of unrest, while schools, shops and offices remain closed in much of Kashmir as paramilitary troops patrol.
The turmoil has raised tension with Pakistan which invited India for talks on the disputed territory, drawing an angry rebuke from India.
http://www.oann.com/militants-ambush-indian-army-convoy-in-kashmir-three-dead/
MEMRI TV – Cancer of ISIS Must Be Removed before We Can Talk about Return of Christians – Archbishop of Kirkuk
Police in Cannes stop Muslim women wearing banned burkinis
PARIS (Reuters) – Ten Muslim women wearing burkinis to the beach have been apprehended by police in the southern French city of Cannes in the three weeks since it imposed a temporary ban on the full body swimsuit, a local official said.
Arguing that the burkini defies French laws on secularism, Cannes is one of three towns in France to have banned the garment amid tensions after an Islamist militant attack in nearby Nice killed 85 people on Bastille Day on July 14.
The moves have sparked an intense public debate, with Muslim groups calling them unconstitutional, divisive and Islamophobic. The Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, will rule on the legality of burkini bans in coming days.
In an interview with daily La Provence, Prime Minister Manuel Valls backed the municipal bans, but said he saw no need for nationwide legislation. The women’s rights minister has also backed the ban. [nL8N1AX1O3]
In neighbouring Italy, the interior minister said Rome would not be following the French example, arguing a curb might be provocative and even trigger further attacks.
http://www.oann.com/police-in-cannes-stop-muslim-women-wearing-banned-burkinis/
Mutiny behind Malaysian tanker’s change of course: authorities
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – An oil tanker which was first reported to have been hijacked and sailed into Indonesian waters, was likely taken over by its own crew due to a dispute with their employer, Malaysian authorities said on Wednesday.
Vier Harmoni, carrying 900,000 liters of diesel worth around 1.6 million ringgit ($390,000), went missing after leaving the Tanjung Pelepas port on the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia on Tuesday before it was relocated in the waters off Batam, Indonesia.
Malaysian and Indonesian authorities had been conducting search operations in the area to locate the vessel.
First Admiral Mohd Taha Ibrahim of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said early investigations suggested the ship’s disappearance was not caused by theft or robbery.
“[It] was closely related to internal disagreements between its owner, leaser and crew,” MMEA said in a statement.
Mohd Taha said contact was made in the afternoon with the ship’s captain, who said the Vier Harmoni was on its way to Batam and that all of the ship’s crew members were safe.
http://www.oann.com/malaysian-authorities-say-ship-carrying-diesel-hijacked/
They’re all tardish pirates, aren’t they?
That is the traditional occupation of the Moslem sailors in that region, well that and slavery. If we don’t stop them they will start raiding to capture women to sell as slaves.
Plenty of leftist feminist trash, I’d feed them.
Either agreeing or disagreeing on that one will get me into a mess.
Bombers in Iran: RPlenty of news outlets have commented already on Russia’s use of an Iranian air base to launch bomber strikes on Syria. Tu-22M3 Backfires flew from Hamadan, Iran on Tuesday, 16 August to conduct strikes against targets in Aleppo, Idlib, and Deir Ez-Zor (the latter in eastern Syria), supporting the ground fight against Syrian rebel groups.
It’s always worth taking a moment to remind readers that these are not systematic attacks on ISIS. Russia’s targets are the rebel groups that hold portions of western Syria, in defiance of the Assad regime. The main effort right now is the battle for Aleppo, in which ISIS has no real part. For what it’s worth, some of the groups Russia is attacking are (or have been) supported by the U.S.
At this point, given the disarray of our Syria policy, it’s not worth much.Russia gets her long-desired southern access – and an area-denial bonanza
http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/08/17/bombers-iran-russia-gets-long-desired-southern-access-area-denial-bonanza/
Pay close attention to this article, it is a professional threat assessment with projections of future threats. FYI: Military threat assessments are based on potential enemy capabilities, not intentions (this takes the form of a different assessment and is often wrong because the people doing the assessments are taking the best case scenarios and running with them).
Here are some things to think about as you read the article: Pax America no longer exists, Obama has killed that which means that our military budget must be significantly larger then it was. It also means that any military operation including force projections to show we can and will protect our alli4es will require significantly larger forces since we will have to be able to protect against any possibly Russian interference while we are facing off against China. 2) Our allies that up to now have been able to coast along with a much smaller military are now going to have to spend much more building up their military to help take up the slack in the new force requirements. 3) From now on when we project what is going to happen oin the Middle East we are going to have to factor in Russia’s reaction. 4) Our prepositions supply dumps at Diego Garcia and in other locations will have to be hardened because of the Russian capability to strike them. (once again preparations must be made based on potential enemy capabilities not suspected intentions).
Finally I don’t think we will be facing a realistic military threat from Russia in the foreseeable future but events have a way of changing things quickly. In my opinion our two current military threats are China and Islam. I am putting China first because they have a much greater ability to project force around the world then Islam does. Given time and opportunity (opportunity I doubt Russia will give them) Islam could gain this ability.
CBC – Alberta school that didn’t let Muslim students pray loses appeal of $26K fine
Webber Academy in Calgary was fined $26,000 in 2015
An Alberta judge has upheld a human rights decision that found a private school discriminated against two Muslim students by not allowing them to pray.
The Alberta Human Rights Commission tribunal found in 2015 that Webber Academy in Calgary unlawfully discriminated against the students and fined the school $26,000.
The boys, who were in Grades 9 and 10, testified that praying is mandatory in their Sunni religion.
The school, in appealing the tribunal’s decision to the Court of Queen’s Bench, argued that the boys’ parents were told Webber Academy was non-denominational and there was no space in the school for praying.
“The tribunal applied well-established principles of law. For many years, public and private schools have been required to adhere to human rights legislation in offering their educational services to the public,” wrote Justice Glen Poelman in a decision posted this week.
“Discrimination is permitted only when reasonable and justifiable as determined by well-established principles.”
Poelman said the tribunal made no errors in its decision and the damages awarded were reasonable.
School president Neil Webber said the board must now decide how to proceed, whether to accept the latest decision or send it to the Alberta Court of Appeal.
“It’s not a decision that we like,” Webber told the Calgary Eyeopener.
“Webber Academy is a non-denominational secular school welcoming students from many different cultures and backgrounds and we had established the policy of no space be provided on campus for prayers or other religious activities. We were wanting to separate the practice of religion from the provision of secular education and both the Alberta human rights tribunal and appeal judge don’t agree with that.”
The judge said the school does deserve some credit.
“Webber Academy … adopted a public policy of welcoming young people of many faiths and cultures, and to exemplify its policy, published photographs of students with turbans and facial hair even though these practices contravened usual school policies,” Poelman said.
“For some reason, it drew the line at Sunni prayer rituals, conducted in private, in a place that was convenient to the school and the students from time to time.”
The students, Sarmad Amir and Naman Siddiqui, were told in 2011 that their praying — which requires bowing and kneeling — was “too obvious” in a non-denominational school.
They continued to hold their prayers in secret in the school, or even outside in the snow.
“I had this intense sense of shame and humiliation, despite that I was just exercising my right as a Canadian citizen, as a human being, to practice my faith,” Siddiqui testified before the human rights tribunal.
A prominent Calgary imam welcomed the court’s decision.
“I agree with the decision because those young boys were just practising their rights and their rights should be respected,” said Syed Soharwardy of the Al-Madinah Calgary Islamic Assembly.
He is also the founder and current president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.
“They’re not … causing any disturbances. They are not causing any nuisance. They are just praying. We have to respect the rights that every Canadian citizen has and they have the right to worship.”
Despite the matter ending up in court, Soharwardy said he doesn’t believe there was any malice involved in Webber Academy’s stance.
“I do not believe they had any bad intentions to stop these young boys from prayer. I think they just did not understand the legal rights that these boys had. I don’t believe it was a racist position.”
Soharwardy suggested Webber Academy should consider changing its policy and allow all denominations to pray if they want to.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-human-rights-private-school-webber-academy-1.3723502
al jazeera – Leaked document prompts German-Turkish diplomatic spat
German government paper refers to Turkey as “a central platform for action for Islamist groupings”.
Turkey has called on Germany for clarification, after a confidential government document leaked to the German press referred to the country as a “central platform for action for Islamist groupings”.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the allegations were further “evidence of the biased attitude that, for some time now, attempts to demoralise our country while taking aim at our president and government”.
In the statement, the ministry asked for “a clarification from German courts”, saying that Turkey was a country that “always fights terror sincerely regardless of the origin”.
It also said that the same was expected from Turkey’s partners and allies.
German response
Without confirming the contents of the paper, Germany’s interior ministry admitted that it made a mistake in transmitting the classified written response to a lawmaker without first consulting the foreign ministry.
In a bid to calm the row, interior ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth stressed the importance of Turkey in fighting armed groups.
“We are deeply convinced that Turkey is the most important partner with regards to the fight against the so-called Islamic State group,” he said.
The foreign ministry meanwhile refused to confirm the content of the document that was the response to a question from a Left party lawmaker, which was published by German public broadcaster ARD.
“On what has been published in the media, we do not share the assessment as a whole,” said Sawsan Chebli, the spokeswoman of the foreign ministry.
The official German document, seen by ARD, said the “Islamisation” of Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy has made the country a hub for “Islamist” groups.
“As a result of the increasing Islamisation of Ankara’s domestic and foreign policy since 2011, Turkey has become a central platform for action for Islamist groupings in the … Middle East region,” according to an official response to an enquiry from the opposition Left Party.
According to ARD, the document noted that “the numerous statements of solidarity and action of support for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and groups of armed Islamist opposition in Syria by the ruling party AKP and President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan underline their ideological affinity to the Muslim Brothers”.
The development was the latest blow to the ties between the two countries.
Erdogan singled out Germany for criticism in his speech in early August, after a German court ruled against allowing him to appear on a video link to address a crowd of about 30,000 supporters and anti-coup demonstrators in German city of Cologne.
He accused Germany and the West in general in supporting the July 15 failed military coup that attempted to unseat him.
“Those we considered friends are siding with coup plotters and terrorists,” he said.
He complained that no foreign leader had visited Turkey after the coup attempt, while France and Belgium received visits in solidarity after attacks there.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/leaked-document-prompts-german-turkish-diplomatic-spat-160817130351723.html
Deutsche Welle – Corsica: Assaults on Muslims
CNN Turns Racist Milwaukee Racist Call for Violence Into Call for Peace
This is the kind of institutional bias that we are now seeing on a regular basis. It’s why a violent racist hate group and its protests are being misleadingly depicted as a noble civil rights movement.
All of the LSM and some of the talking heads on FOX are pushing the idea that BLM is a peaceful movement that is hijacked by violent extremists.
CNN – the Clinton News Network – is on the boycott list.
Fox has too many clips of things I have to fast-forward. By the end of the summer I won’t see much of anything.
I don’t watch CNN unless I have to, and FOX is getting to many far leftists on and then not calling them on their lies. I spend most of my viewing time watching movies.
Movies?!
I get my news from the net and put movies on the TV to have some noise around the place, of course this leads to people wanting to borrow the DVD’s and then forgetting to return them.
Right now I have Kiljoys on demand (syfy channel) to ensure I know what is happening on the show when the next episode comes on tomorrow night. It is one of the shows that you have to start with the first episode and watch them in order to know what is going on. Dark Matter is the next up it is another syfy channel show and another one you have to start at episode one.
The only thing wrong with them is the way they show the “Company” running everything and having wars between companies. The company officials always act like the Clintons.
Asylum centre plans shelved after Swiss village protests
Authorities in the canton of Uri have suspended plans to turn a hotel in the village of Seelisberg on Lake Lucerne into a home for asylum seekers after the idea sparked uproar among the local population.
http://www.thelocal.ch/20160817/asylum-centre-plans-shelved-after-swiss-village-protests
Scottish Gov Report Finds Jews Fear Rising Left-Wing Anti-Semitism
Between the SNP’s hostility to the Jewish State and the growing Muslim presence in Scotland, these results are certainly not surprising. Sad, yes. Surprising, no.
The responses are predictably depressing.
The threat is indeed real. And Scotland has already witnessed Muslim terror.
The ‘Altruistic Evil’ of Social Justice for the Palestinians
When activists shield their bigotry with moral fraud.
As yet another indication that the university campus has become “an island of repression in a sea of freedom,” last March a pro-Israel group, Hasbara Fellowships Canada, was barred from participating in a “Social Justice Week” event organized by the Student Association of Durham College and University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). The stated reason for the exclusion? The student association (which, not coincidentally, had just approved a pro-BDS resolution against Israel) informed the Hasbara group that since the “organization seems closely tied to the state of Israel . . . it would be against the motion to provide any type of resources to your organization.”
While the term “social justice” has a seemingly benign and positive connation—and certainly to those who so vigorous fight for it—the reality is that, as columnist Jonah Goldberg observed in his book, The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas, social justice is actually “an empty vessel to be filled with any and all leftist ideals, and then promptly wielded as a political bludgeon against any and all dissenters . . . .”
So while social justice warriors on campus are quick to welcome a collection of perceived victim groups into their tent—Muslims, African-Americans, gays, Hispanics, women—they have been decidedly more hostile when dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the result being that pro-Israel groups (such as the Hasbara Fellowships in Ontario) are regularly excluded as being part of the oppressor class responsible for such evils as imperialism, colonialism, racism, and sexism.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/263864/altruistic-evil-social-justice-palestinians-richard-l-cravatts
JOE BIDEN Welcomed to Serbia With MASSIVE RALLY FOR TRUMP (VIDEO)
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/08/wow-joe-biden-welcomed-serbia-massive-rally-trump-video/
Original article here: http://vesselnews.io/joe-biden-welcomed-serbia-rally-trump/
Yeah, well…feed Kosovo to the rats and expect to be welcomed by Orthodox Serbs? Only in your cushy playpen, kiddo…
I can imagine their reaction if Hillary or Bill visited.
Wicked smile, Richard. That’s not nice…
True, but it would be fun to watch.
Munich’s Oktoberfest announce new security measures amid terrorism concerns (DW, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/munichs-oktoberfest-announce-new-security-measures-amid-terrorism-concerns/a-19480777
“A mobile fence and a backpack ban are among new measures Munich will use to secure the annual Oktoberfest celebration. Germany is on edge after a recent string of terrorist attacks…”
‘There’s not much that’s German here anymore’ (DW, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/theres-not-much-thats-german-here-anymore/a-19480569
“Bad Godesberg was once home to diplomats working in Bonn. Today, Muslim women in veils and Arab shops and restaurants are abounding. Many long-term residents no longer feel at home, reports Daniel Heinrich.
Sabine Galuschka knows everyone here. The 57-year-old owns a small flower shop in the middle of Bad Godesberg’s main street. Her discussions with customers often go beyond the business of buying flowers. The current debate about banning burqas is a particularly hot topic. “I just don’t like that there are so many veiled women walking around. That’s not the way we dress when we go out,” she said. “I would just like to know who’s hiding beneath the veil.”…
Lavan adds that the transformation taking place in Bad Godesberg is a much bigger issue for her than the current political debates. She mentions the recent closing of “Aennchen,” one of the last typically German restaurants left in Bad Godesberg. “Now you’ve got shisha bars springing up everywhere, with that sweet smell in the air,” she says. “There’s not much that’s German here anymore, or even Italian. And you see Arabic script everywhere.”
Residents here tend to lean toward generalizations when talking about the growing Arab influence in their town. And yet, on my journey home, I take a quick peek into a local branch of a large German supermarket chain. And it’s true: In addition to German and English, the signs are also written in Arabic.”
Police arrest ‘Islamist’ terror suspect near Polish border (thelocal, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.de/20160817/police-arrest-islamist-terror-suspect-near-polish-border
“A police special forces unit arrested a terror suspect in Eisenhüttenstadt, Brandenburg, on Wednesday, state interior minister Dietmar Woidke said.
Authorities suspect that the man was “planning an act of terrorism” which could have had an Islamist motive.
According to information obtained by DPA, the 27-year-old suspect had planned to detonate an explosive device at the town festival in Eisenhüttenstadt and had Salafist sympathies…”
Sweden’s summer spate of car fires continues (thelocal, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.se/20160817/swedens-summer-spate-of-car-fires-continues
“Dozens of vehicles were set alight overnight in towns across Sweden.
Cars were torched in Malmö for the ninth consecutive night. Emergency services were called out to put out two fires within nine minutes, with one alarm raised at 1.28am and the other at 1.37am.
“There were two incidents close to each other in time in Malmö, but we had no problems handling both incidents,” emergency control room officer Gustaf Sandell told the TT newswire.
A resident in the area was able to use fire extinguisher to stop the first fire in the Fosie district from spreading. Another three cars were gutted in Rosengård in the second incident.
More than 70 cars have been torched in Malmö since early July. Police figures put out earlier this month show that the number of car burnings in the city halved between 2009 and 2015.
Another car was set on fire in the nearby university town of Lund just after 2am on Wednesday. And a number of cars were torched in Norrköping in central Sweden at around 3.45am.
“It’s a large number of cars, about 20, that have more or less been destroyed,” police control room officer Torbjörn Lindqvist told TT.
A witness told officers they had seen a group of people at one of the vehicles in Norrköping just before the fire started and police said they were appealing for other witnesses to come forward.”
How Sweden hopes to stop car burnings (thelocal, Aug 17 2016)
http://www.thelocal.se/20160817/how-sweden-plans-to-stop-cars-burning
“Sweden’s government has vowed to clamp down on criminals who set fire to cars after nine consecutive nights of car fires in Malmö and other parts of the country.
Justice Minister Morgan Johansson told a press conference on Wednesday that Sweden wanted to make it easier to punish the perpetrators, as well as dishing out tougher punishments.
“What’s clear is that we have to speed up the judicial process in some cases,” he told reporters.
The government said it would examine the possibility of expediting convictions for people found burning cars. It would also consider setting up special courts to speed up the processing of car-fire cases.
It also wants vandalism to be put on a par with theft.
“For individuals it’s just as bad to have your car set on fire as to have it stolen. It might even be worse to have it set on fire,” said Johansson.
The government also wants to make it easier to erect surveillance cameras in certain areas.
“We think this can have a preventive effect. But primarily it makes it easier to investigate crimes.”
Speaking earlier in the day, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said that more police officers would be posted to the areas worst affected by the recent spate of car burnings.
“We’ll do all we can. No government can promise that all crime will disappear, but we are already tackling this. We will strengthen police resources, for example, but more is needed.”
Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said it was “unacceptable” that police and rescue services risked coming under attack. The government is looking into toughening sentencing for crimes perpetrated against these groups .
“The insecurity and risks faced by residents in vulnerable areas most be counteracted in every possible way,” Ygeman added.
The government also wants to oblige minors who repeatedly commit offences to have regular contact with the authorities, and for serious offenders to be required to wear an ankle monitor.
More than 70 cars have been set on fire in Malmö since early July.
Some 20 cars were destroyed in Norrköping on Tuesday night, while a car was also set on fire in Lund.”
Calls for tougher laws against illegal economic migrants (thelocal, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.at/20160817/austrian-minister-calls-for-tougher-laws-against-economic-migrants
“Austria’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka is pushing for tougher laws for people who come illegally to Austria to settle as economic migrants.
In an interview published on Tuesday in the Kurier newspaper, Sobotka calls for a tightening of immigration criminal law and punishment.
“Those who are fleeing war and persecution receive the full protection of the Geneva Convention,” he said. “But those who travel to us illegally for economic reasons, I would like them to see legal consequences. That requires a significant strengthening of the law.”
The Interior Minister did not specify exactly how the punishment for illegal migration, currently a fine between €100 and €1000, but called for changes in the Aliens and Security Police Act and criminal law.
In the same interview he pushed back at those who believe there will not be a repeat this year of last summer’s wave of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Austria, saying it could well happen again.
“In the next one to three weeks there will be no huge landings. But what happens in October, nobody knows. Who have predicted the coup attempt in Turkey? Not one of our secret services saw the signs,” he said.
His comments follow a major report released by the Foreign Ministry yesterday outlining the number of migrants and refugees in Austria today.
According to the figures released by the ministry, there were 1.8 million people in Austria with a migrant background in 2015, an increase from 1.7 million in the previous year.
Much of the reported was focused on the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Austria, with the Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz confirming the number of asylum applications received by the country in 2015 as 88,340.
Kurz argued that in order successful integration depended on how many people there are to integrate and said he want to see a reduction in the number of people coming to Austria. “We need a jolt to bring people as quickly as possible into the labour market or any other form of employment,” he added.
The report outlined the German-language abilities of those with a migrant background, with 17 percent speaking German as their mother tongue and a further seven as their second mother tongue.
Of the rest who don’t have German as a mother tongue, a fifth speak excellent German, a third of advanced ability and 29% have average German. The remaining 17% have reportedly little or no German language ability.
The charity Caritas, who offer support services to disadvantaged people in Austria, including refugees, say better training and support to help young people secure qualifications is needed.
“To achieve integration, language support must be available from the outset,” said Caritas President Michael Landau. “Work is a significant integration catalyst. It is short-sighted to force people, in particular asylum seekers, into doing nothing. Because only those with access to the employment market can afford to contribute something to society.”
In Austria’s current system, asylum seekers who have not yet received refugee status do not have access to state-run free German courses and are not allowed to enter the common employment market.
Heinz Faßmann, from the Expert Council for Integration that helped to produce the latest report, said on Tuesday that Germany’s one-euro-jobs approach is “not so bad”.
The German programme is designed to help unemployed people into employment and has been touted as a springboard for the newcomers into the country’s job market.”
Kurdish Journalists Battered in Raid by Turkish Special Forces
Without a search warrant, Turkish forces detained Kurdish journalists and activists in another post-coup op taking the country spiraling towards fascism.
After an order was given to by an Istanbul Court to “temporarily” close the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Ozgur Gundem on alleged grounds of spreading Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) “terrorist propaganda,” Turkish special operations teams also raided the offices of the paper in Istanbul, battering and detaining at least 23 journalists.
Gulfem Karatas, a reporter from the Turkish news media outlet IMC TV, was in the offices of the paper and filmed the raid on live TV. As the anchor of IMC TV in the studio was interviewing her, the police attacked her and her cameraman Gokhan Cetin, taking her mobile phone by force. The filming stopped, but her screams could still be heard on live TV as she and Cetin were also arrested.
https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/kurdish-journalists-battered-raid-turkish-special-forces#
Afghan man allegedly raped 4-year-old Iraqi boy in Germany (khaam, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.khaama.com/afghan-man-allegedly-raped-4-year-old-iraqi-boy-in-germany-01707
“An Afghan man seeking asylum in Germany has allegedly raped a 4-year-old Iraqi boy at an asylum center in the town of Boostedt in the northern Schleswig-Holstein state.
No further details have been given regarding the identity of the accused who is believed to be around 22-year-old.
According to the court hearing, the 22-year-old was discovered in the toilet cubicle by the child’s father, after he spotted his son’s shoes outside the door alongside an adult pair.
When he knocked on the door, his young son’s pants were down, but the older man said he was just helping the boy go to the toilet – an account the relieved father initially believed, reported MailOnline, citing the Holsteinischer Courier.
The paper further added that the boy revealed to his suspicious mother that he had been forced to perform oral sex on the man, who is in court along side a 29-year-old alleged accomplice, who is accused of ‘keeping watch’.
The prosecutors hvae said an analysis led by experts reportedly showed traces of the boy’s DNA had been found on the man’s private parts after a penile swab…”
Russia says Turkey could provide ?ncirlik base for Moscow’s Syria campaign (hurriyetdailynews, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-says-turkey-could-provide-incirlik-base-for-moscows-syria-campaign.aspx?pageID=238&nID=102955&NewsCatID=353
“A member of Russia’s upper house of parliament has reportedly suggested that Turkey could provide its ?ncirlik air base for Russian Air Forces jets in their campaign across the border in Syria.
“Turkey could provide the ?ncirlik base to the Russian Aerospace Forces for its use in counterterrorism operations [in Syria]. This could become a logical continuation of Turkish President [Recep Tayyip] Erdo?an’s step toward Russia,” Senator Viktor Ozerov, member of the Russian Federation Council Defense and Security Committee, was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti on Aug. 16.
According to Russian news agencies, Ozerov did not rule out that Ankara could offer the use of its air base after Erdo?an’s reconciliatory visit to St. Petersburg last week, where he affirmed support for Russia’s anti-terrorist mission in Syria.
“It is not guaranteed that Russia needs ?ncirlik, but such a decision could be regarded as Turkey’s real readiness to cooperate with Russia in the fight against terrorism in Syria, and not just pay lip service,” Ozerov was also quoted as saying.
Turkey opened its ?ncirlik base to the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition in July 2015 after a bilateral agreement was signed among both parties.
Ozerov also clarified that the decision could be taken based on similar agreements made with Syria on the use of the Hmeymim facility and the latest use of the Hamadan airfield in western Iran to carry out airstrikes in Syria, the Russian news website Sputnik reported on Aug. 16.
The Russian senator’s remarks came just days after Turkey called on Moscow to carry out joint operations against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, following crucial talks between President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Erdo?an aimed at ending a diplomatic crisis…”
That’s soooo cute……
Bringing Russian pilots and planes onto a NATO base that has 50 working nuclear weapons on it!! This is getting more surreal everyday.
Uncle Vlad has a smile that makes him look like a wolf or a shark. Scary.
Once again this didn’t need to happen, all Obama and company needed to do was work in the best interest of the US and Western Europe. He and his people have taken a bad situtation and turned it into a major disaster. We need Trump to win the election and then we need a miracle to keep the world from exploding until after he is in office. The first is (hopefully) going to happen but the explosion is as likely (moby more likely) to happen before the election as it is to wait until Trump is in office.
REVEALED: Armies of ‘INVISIBLE MEN’ drafted in to keep tourists safe across Europe (express, Aug 17, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/701184/tourist-terror-invisible-men-army-italy-isis
“SMALL armies of ‘invisible men’ have been rushed to tourist hotspots across Europe in an attempt to keep holidaymakers safe from terror attacks.
Paris, Nice, Brussels and the Tunisian beach resort of Port El Kantaoui have all been hit by terror attacks in the last few holiday seasons, creating panic and costly tourism slumps.
Now, Porto Cervo in Sardinia and other luxury destinations across Europe are desperately trying to keep up a pretence of business as usual – by drafting in small armies of “invisible” terror police.
Tourists who are avoiding the French Riviera and North Africa due to the recent attacks are instead flocking to Sardinia, doubling the island’s population this summer…”