Reader’s links for September 16 – 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.

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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

93 Replies to “Reader’s links for September 16 – 2016”

  1. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-russia-agree-on-joint-understanding-in-resolving-regional-issues-in-key-military-meet.aspx?pageID=238&nID=103940&NewsCatID=510

    The Turkish and Russian chiefs of general staff held extensive discussions in Ankara on a wide range of issues, including the ongoing turmoil in Syria, on Sept. 15, in the first top level military-to-military meeting since the two countries resolved a long-standing crisis after Turkey downed a Russian warplane last year.
    One of the most important outcomes of the talks is that both top soldiers agree that regional problems can only be resolved through joint initiatives of regional countries as Turkish military sources described the meeting as “fruitful.”
    Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov arrived in Ankara on Sept. 15 for a visit that was announced by Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov just hours before Gerasimov landed in the Turkish capital. He was welcomed by Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar through an official welcoming ceremony at the Turkish military headquarters.

    • Say hello to the new Triple Entente: Turk – Russia – Iran.
      It’s not an alliance, it’s more a divvying up. “Mandates” might describe the results.

      Having got the nod from Erdoff, Assad is solid. He’s grateful to Russia and Iran, but perhaps delusional. Syrian Hezbollah – wholly owned by Iran – commands what’s left of the Syrian army. Hezbollah owns Lebanon. Iran’s IRGC is wiping out Sunnis in Iraq; they’re every bit as vicious as the IS monsters. Massive ethnic cleansing continues.

      • I don’t know if he is delusional or just grasping at straw? Putin will keep him in power for a while because their deal to let Russia use/run the port their naval base is at is safer under Assad then Iran.

        The person that needs to start worrying is the King of Jordan, when Iran takes Jordan this will put Iran or Iranian on just about all of Israels borders. This will allow the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah to make a coordinated attack from more then one side and use combat experienced troops in the attacks. The use of combat experienced troops is a great force multiplier because you know how they are going to react. This is when Israel wants Trump in the White House to start the 24/7 resupply flights because the fighting is going to eat up small arms and artillery ammo like crazy. I hope that Jordan holds out for a couple of years so Trump and get our military rebuilt.

        I know Israel has the Samson option in their missile subs but no one outside of Iran wants that option to be used.

          • I know, you can’t let them take Jordan but that will touch off the regional war that may result in you having to use the Sampson option. This may be forced on you even if the US and part of Europe comes in on your side.

            As I said I hope that crunch time holds off a couple of years so we can get our military rebuilt so we can fight a major war on each side of the US. We use to have that and we need that ability as of yesterday.

              • If the war waits long enough we will be able to fight on both fronts. Sadly I don’t think it will wait and J.E.Dyer from Liberty Unyielding is thinking that things in the Middle East are going to go kinetic in a major way before January. She is a professional intel analysts so I will go along with her guess.

              • You said asymmetric, This is the first time in a real long time we will be the smaller force. Hopefully the quality will make up for the lack of quantity.

  2. We’ve all heard about the worrying number of young British citizens travelling to Syria to join ISIS. Occasionally, one or two decide to scuttle home with their tails between their legs, and are promptly put in jail.
    Imprisoning those who fight alongside ISIS seems like a logical course of action. Anybody who actively helps a violent organisation to threaten our national security should be punished. What is illogical, however, is our government’s failure to distinguish between those who fight with ISIS and those who fight against ISIS.
    Fortunately for the UK, not all of its citizens who fly out to Syria choose black flags and balaclavas; some brave people have decided to don the keffiyeh and fight in the ranks of the YPG – the Kurdish militia making ISIS squeal.
    Like those who joined the International Brigades to fight Franco’s fascists during the Spanish Civil War, Brits from all walks of life have joined the Kurds to fight against ISIS. Bankers, students, IT technicians and even a surfing instructor have all travelled to join the Kurdish fightback. But, despite these heroic ventures, the UK government is insisting that those who fight against ISIS should be imprisoned on their return.

    http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/we-shouldnt-lock-up-brits-who-fight-isis-we-should-celebrate-them/18764#.V9qGoZgrKUn

  3. Please, do not forget: the word “slave” is rooted in the word “Slav” – because the Slavs have, historically, been the most enslaved of all peoples…

    http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/09/christian_slaves_muslim_masters.html

    Today, institutional slavery conjures images of pre-Civil War Southern ownership of African slaves. However, slavery is an ancient practice dating from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as early Amer-Indian empires in Mexico and Central America. It was also well established and ideologically sanctioned in the Muslim world from the days of Mohammed.

    Concurrently with African enslavement in the Americas, a flourishing slave trade existed from 1500 to 1800 of white Christian Europeans by the Muslims of North Africa’s Barbary Coast. In his book Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, Ohio State history professor Robert Davis takes a close look at this rarely discussed aspect of modern history.

    Originating from the life of the Prophet Mohammed, slavery is deeply embedded in Islamic law and tradition. Muslims are required to follow the teachings of Mohammed, who was a slave owner and trader. Further, a large part of the sharia – in the Sunna of Mohammed and the Koran – is dedicated to the practice of slavery. Muslim caliphs typically had harems of hundreds of slave girls captured from Christian, Hindu, and African lands. Slavery is still practiced today in several Muslim countries and glorified by present-day jihadist groups.

    • Odd how the “slav” connection to muslim slavery is so obvious once you read it but I didn’t know it.

      • One of the first things the left did when they started taking control of the schools was to modify the history courses so true history is no longer taught.

        • There’s more. Muslims are also guilty of cultural appropriation!
          Mohammed’s favourite Christian sex slave was a Slav and wore a scarf in the Slavic manner. Think matroshka dolls… And that is where the human comes from.

            • BTW During the first centuries of Islam majority of the Muslims slaves were whites/Europeans however after couple of centuries it was getting more and more difficult to get Christian/white slaves that’s why Muslims started to get majority of their slaves from Africa.

  4. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/09/14/terror-trial-delay-asher-khan

    A US judge has agreed to delay the terror trial of a former Sydney resident until after the US presidential election after it was claimed “virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric” could dash his chances of an impartial jury.

    Asher Khan, 21, accused of using the help of an Australian Islamic State recruiter to fly from Sydney to Turkey with the plan to cross into Syria to join the terror group, was scheduled to stand trial in Houston, Texas, on September 27.

    The US presidential and congressional elections will be held on November 8.

    Terrorism has been a key issue of the election, with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at one point calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”.

    “The court finds that the ends of justice served by this delay outweigh the interests of the public and the defendant to a speedier trial,” US District Court Judge Lynn Hughes wrote in his order to re-schedule the trial to December 13.

  5. http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/14/londons-muslim-mayor-appoints-integration-deputy-worked-jihadi-john-apologists/

    London’s first Muslim mayor has appointed a Deputy “Integration” Mayor who has worked with CAGE, an allegedly “extremist” organisation who described Islamic State executioner Jihadi John as a “beautiful man”.
    Matthew Ryder (pictured left), whose full title will be “Deputy Mayor of London for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement”, was appointed by Mayor Sadiq Khan on the 9th of September.

    His career as a barrister has focused on taking on the British police and security services, attacking them for issues ranging from undercover surveillance and allegedly unlawful detention.

  6. http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/14/asylum-chaos-quarter-police-resources/

    Lars Serenander, Chief Superintendent of the district, estimates that about 15-25 per cent of police time is spent dealing with issues related to migrants seeking asylum.

    The notice was posted on the force’s website in response to questions in the media over how record numbers of migrants are affecting police work.

    While Serenander plays down the seriousness of incidents related to asylum seekers, other police officers describe the situation in Sweden as “social chaos”.

  7. Turkey Detains 24 Foreigners Suspected of Planning IS Attack (abcnews, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-detains-24-foreigners-suspected-planning-attack-42134837

    “Turkey’s state-run news agency says police have detained 24 foreign nationals suspected of planning an attack in Istanbul for the Islamic State group.

    Anadolu said on Friday police raided a location where a Syrian national identified only as Azzov K. was staying following a tip-off about a planned attack.

    Police found 23 other men at the same location in Istanbul’s Kucukcekmece neighborhood, which abuts the city’s main Ataturk airport.

    Police said Azzov K. allegedly purchased explosives and ammunition to be used in the attacks.

    Authorities said of the 24 suspects in custody, nine were in leadership positions while 15 had arrived in Turkey from abroad to cross into Syria.

    Turkey has suffered numerous IS attacks since last year that have killed around 200 people.”

  8. At least 16 worshippers are killed as suicide attacker shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ detonates huge bomb at mosque in Pakistan during Friday prayers (dailymail, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3792678/Suicide-bomber-kills-16-people-Pakistan-mosque-official.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

    “At least 16 people have been killed after a suicide bomber shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ attacked a mosque in Pakistan during Friday prayers.

    More than 35 worshippers were injured when a huge blast rocked the building, in Butmana in the Mohmand a tribal area of the country’s north west, bordering Afghanistan.

    According to eyewitnesses, the mosque was packed with people during Friday prayers and the attacker shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before detonating an explosive vest…”

  9. Deutsche Bank Tumbles as DOJ Claim of $14 Billion Is Rebuffed

    Deutsche Bank AG’s shares and its riskiest bonds dropped the most since Brexit after the lender said the U.S. Justice Department is seeking $14 billion to settle a probe tied to residential mortgage-backed securities, more money than it’s willing to pay.

    “Deutsche Bank has no intent to settle these potential civil claims anywhere near the number cited,” the company said in a statement early Friday in Frankfurt. “The negotiations are only just beginning. The bank expects that they will lead to an outcome similar to those of peer banks which have settled at materially lower amounts.”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-15/deutsche-bank-asked-to-pay-14-billion-in-u-s-probe-wsj-says

  10. Germany torn apart: Mob of 100 neo-Nazis in vicious brawl with 20 asylum seekers who goaded them into violence in latest example of how Merkel’s open-door policy is dividing the country

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3790605/Mob-100-neo-Nazis-vicious-street-fight-migrants-German-riot-police-pelted-bottles-asylum-seekers-protecting.html#ixzz4KQPTR4lb
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    Given the LSM record I doubt if they were neo nazis.

    • That’s Bautzen. 20 migrants attacked 80 locals.
      That think is that local media were talking about 20 migrants who attacked 80 locals
      Police were talking about 20 migrants who got in brawl with the right wingers
      MSM at the beginning start was talking about 20 migrants who were attacked by right wingers.
      🙂

  11. German anti-immigration party seeks new gains in Berlin
    Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY 8:16 a.m. EDT September 16, 2016
    AfD_Germany

    (Photo: AP)

    BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling party could face new losses in local elections here Sunday from an upstart anti-immigration party that has grown in popularity as an opponent to the German leaders’ open-door policy for migrants.

    In recent state elections, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has made enough gains to sow doubt over Merkel’s ability to win a fourth term in next year’s national elections.

    In Sunday’s vote, the AfD is not likely to repeat its success in the Sept. 4 election in Merkel’s home state, where the party came in second ahead of the chancellor’s ruling Christian Democrats for the first time, capturing 21% of the vote to 19% for Merkel’s party. The AfD didn’t fare as well last Sunday in the state of Lower Saxony, where it came fourth in municipal elections.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/09/15/german-elections-berlin-alternative-for-germany-afd/90397500/

  12. This U.S. city has more Syrian refugees than New York and LA combined

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article102000997.html#storylink=cpy

    WASHINGTON

    Despite resistance by Idaho’s top political leaders, 118 Syrian refugees have moved to the Gem State since last Oct. 1, all of them settling in Boise, according to new data from the State Department.

    Compared with larger cities, Boise took in a disproportionate share, accepting more than twice as many refugees as New York, with 9, and Los Angeles, with 45, combined.

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article102000997.html#storylink=cpy

  13. Man wielding meat cleaver slices New York City patrolman’s head

    (Reuters) – An assailant wielding a meat cleaver struck a New York City police officer in the head on Thursday in midtown Manhattan, and two other officers chasing the suspect were also hurt during the incident, police said.

    The attack occurred after two on-duty officers were responding to reports of a crime in progress just before 5 p.m. local time near Madison Square Garden, NYPD spokeswoman Sophia Mason said.

    Three officers were taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

    Mason said the man drew the cleaver from his waist band after two of the officers confronted him, and then the suspect ran. A stun gun had no apparent affect on him, Mason said.

    A third officer, who was off duty and in the area at the time, helped chase the suspect, who ran down the street with the large butcher’s knife in his hand, Mason said.

  14. Japan to boost South China Sea role with training patrols with U.S.: minister

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Japan will step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday.

    Inada said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, that Japan’s increased engagement in the area, where Japan shares U.S. concerns about China’s pursuit of extensive territorial claims, would include capacity building for coastal nations.

    Japan also has its own dispute with China over territory in the East China Sea.

    Inada said that if the world condoned attempts to change the rule of law and allowed “rule bending” to succeed, the “consequences could become global.”

    “In this context, I strongly support the U.S. Navy’s freedom-of-navigation operations, which go a long way to upholding the rules-based international maritime order,” she said.

    “Japan, for its part, will increase its engagement in the South China Sea through, for example, Maritime Self-Defense Force joint training cruises with the U.S. Navy and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies,” she said.

    http://www.oann.com/japan-to-boost-south-china-sea-role-with-joint-training-patrols-with-u-s-minister/

  15. Philippine senators deride witness behind Duterte ‘death squad’ link

    MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine senators cast doubt on the credibility of a self-confessed hit-man on Friday after he testified to seeing the country’s president kill a man and order assassinations during his two decades as mayor of the once restive Davao City.

    Edgar Matobato, 57, volunteered to appear at a televised senate hearing on Thursday and told a panel investigating President Rodrigo Duterte’s current drugs war that in the 1990s, he had seen the then Davao mayor order killings and pepper a man’s body with submachine gun fire.

    Duterte has yet to comment on the testimony but his office and his political allies have dismissed it as baseless.

    Little is known about Matobato, whose senate appearance was a hot topic on social media and radio stations on Friday. He had said he was a member of a “Davao death squad” which had killed hundreds of suspected criminals “like chickens”, chopped up their bodies, and even fed one man to a crocodile.

    Senators Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino Pimentel and Alan Peter Cayetano were among numerous lawmakers who said the witness could not be taken seriously.

    “There are many lapses in his testimonies,” Lacson said. “Like in baseball, I was counting his strike-outs.”

    Duterte won an election in May promising to wipe out drugs and drug dealers.

    Since he took office in June, about 2,500 people have been killed in his “war on drugs”. About 900 died in police operations and the rest authorities say were “deaths under investigation”, a term human rights activists say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings.

    http://www.oann.com/philippine-senators-deride-witness-behind-duterte-death-squad-link/

  16. Austrian farmer horrified by sheep slaughter in fields

    An Alpine farmer in Styria who agreed to lend a Turkish friend his field for a month to graze sheep was horrified when he discovered they were being ritually sacrificed.

    Under Austrian law the killing of sheep has to take place in official slaughterhouses but the sheep in the field in Styria simply had their throats cut and were left to die.

    Horrified locals raised the alarm with police, who rushed to the area to stop the massacre and managed to save 52 of the 131 sheep that had been put in the field…

    http://www.thelocal.at/20160916/austrian-farmer-horrified-by-halal-slaughter-in-fields

  17. DNC is spreading the myth that reading their hacked emails will get you hacked, too

    Not to mention you’ll go blind.

    Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Donna Brazile is warning people that reading the latest DNC hacked emails could result in the reader’s computer becoming infected with malware that could, in turn, make it susceptible to hacking. Plus, it will stunt your growth and you’ll get warts all over your hands.

    Guccifer 2.0, the virtual name of a now infamous cybercriminal, released a number of new records taken from the DNC Tuesday. Brazile stressed that certain documents have “malware risks” and to use caution before downloading any files.

    In an official statement, according to USA Today, Brazile said:

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/09/15/dnc-wants-believe-reading-emails-will-get-hacked/

  18. U.S. forces enter Syrian town, then forced to withdraw: rebel source, monitor

    A small number of U.S. forces entered the Syrian town of al-Rai near the Turkish border on Friday as part of operations to coordinate air strikes against Islamic State, a senior rebel source said.

    However, the five or six U.S. military personnel were then forced to withdraw back towards the Turkish border after Syrian rebels protested against their presence in the town, the source said.

    A monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also reported the incident and said the U.S. forces had left al-Rai but were still on Syrian soil.

    Turkish-backed rebels have been battling Islamic State militants along the border as part of operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched last month, and in recent weeks pushed the jihadists away from the frontier with the support of Turkish warplanes and tanks.

    The rebel source said the U.S. forces had entered al-Rai as part of that operation.

    In a video circulated on the internet purportedly showing the incident, fighters in al-Rai chanted anti-U.S. slogans and threatened violence against them as a number of vehicles drove out of the area.

    The Turkish operation also aims to push U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, which have separately been fighting IS, away from the border.

    Clashes between Turkish-allied forces and the Kurdish YPG militia, a key U.S. partner in the fight against IS, have caused tension between Washington and Ankara.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa-idUSKCN11M1IC

    • US commandos enter Syrian town, get forced out by American-backed rebels – reports

      “Five or six” US special forces troops had to withdraw from the town of al-Rai on Syria’s border with Turkey, after allies from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had driven them out, calling them “infidels” and “crusaders,” several media outlets have reported.

      The Turkish military, which last month openly crossed the Syrian border to fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), has admitted that US soldiers are providing a supporting and coordinating role in the operation being carried out between the Syrian towns of Azaz and al-Rai, Reuters reports.

      A video posted on Twitter on Friday evening showed that they were not welcome in al-Rai.

      The footage shows a group of agitated men, gathered in the town square, shouting anti-American slogans in Arabic, as a cavalcade of vehicles passes by.

      The chants include: “Down with America,” “Get out you dogs,” and “They are coming to Syria to occupy it.” Voices in the background call them “infidels” and “crusaders,” while one man says “We will not fight alongside you.”

      Reuters cited a US official and a “senior rebel commander,” who confirmed that a protest had taken place, which ended with US troops making their way back towards the Turkish border.

      https://www.rt.com/news/359591-syria-us-forces-rebels/

    • N Y T – Details of Syria Pact Widen Rift Between John Kerry and Pentagon

      WASHINGTON — The agreement that Secretary of State John Kerry announced with Russia to reduce the killing in Syria has widened an increasingly public divide between Mr. Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, who has deep reservations about the plan for American and Russian forces to jointly target terrorist groups.

      Mr. Carter was among the administration officials who pushed against the agreement on a conference call with the White House last week as Mr. Kerry, joining the argument from a secure facility in Geneva, grew increasingly frustrated. Although President Obama ultimately approved the effort after hours of debate, Pentagon officials remain unconvinced.

      On Tuesday at the Pentagon, officials would not even agree that if a cessation of violence in Syria held for seven days — the initial part of the deal — the Defense Department would put in place its part of the agreement on the eighth day: an extraordinary collaboration between the United States and Russia that calls for the American military to share information with Moscow on Islamic State targets in Syria.

      “I’m not saying yes or no,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, commander of the United States Air Forces Central Command, told reporters on a video conference call. “It would be premature to say that we’re going to jump right into it.”

      White House officials were also dubious. “I think we’d have some reasons to be skeptical that the Russians are able or are willing to implement the arrangement consistent with the way it’s been described,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Monday at a briefing. He added, darkly, “But we’ll see.”

      In Mr. Kerry’s view, the administration has needed to do everything it can to restrain the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria from continuing to bomb civilians. Once the Russians entered the war, that meant making the deal with President Vladimir V. Putin — one in which the Russians would pressure Mr. Assad to stay out of the skies.

      For Mr. Kerry, the search for a reduction in violence in Syria, and ultimately a political agreement that will ease Mr. Assad out of office, is a matter of legacy and reputation. His first major project as secretary of state, reviving Middle East peace talks, collapsed before his first year in office was complete. His next major effort, the Iran nuclear deal, was far more successful, and he ultimately found a way to persuade the Iranians to ship most of their nuclear material out of the country and dismantle key facilities.

      But the Syria deal, as Mr. Kerry himself conceded at the State Department on Monday, is far more complex, in part because there are so many other players, beyond Washington and Moscow, with stakes in the outcome. In private, he has conceded to aides and friends that he believes it will not work. But he has said he is determined to try, so that he and Mr. Obama do not leave office having failed to alleviate a civil war that has taken roughly half a million lives.

      The first full day of the cease-fire passed on Tuesday with no notable violations, but an atmosphere of deep mistrust prevailed in Syria’s war-ravaged areas, residents and monitoring groups reported. The skepticism was fed partly by what appeared to be delays in expediting United Nations aid deliveries to the northern city of Aleppo and other combat zones where civilians have long been deprived of food and medicine. Relief for these areas is an important component of the cease-fire agreement.

      The United Nations mediator in the conflict, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters in Geneva that there had been a “significant drop in violence” since the cease-fire plan took effect at sundown on Monday. But he said United Nations relief trucks bound for Aleppo, lined up at southern Turkey’s border with Syria, had not received assurances of safe travel. Mr. de Mistura also said the Syrian government had still not provided required authorizations for deliveries to other locations, “but we are eagerly hoping and expecting the government to issue them very soon.”

      The divide between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Carter reflects the inherent conflict in Mr. Obama’s Syria policy. The president has come under increased fire politically for his refusal to intervene more forcefully in the five-year civil war, which the United Nations says has killed more than 400,000 people, displaced more than six million and led to a refugee crisis in Europe. But keeping large numbers of American ground forces out of Syria has also created space for Russia to assume a greater role there, both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.

      The result is that at a time when the United States and Russia are at their most combative posture since the end of the Cold War, the American military is suddenly being told that it may, in a week, have to start sharing intelligence with one of its biggest adversaries to jointly target Islamic State and Nusra Front forces in Syria.

      “I remain skeptical about anything to do with the Russians,” Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, who recently stepped down as NATO’s supreme allied commander, said Monday in an interview. “There are a lot of concerns about putting out there where our folks are.”

      In an email, Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary, said: “As Secretary Carter has said, Secretary Kerry has worked tirelessly to try and ease the suffering of the Syrian people and bring about a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian civil war. If fully implemented, this arrangement could advance those important goals.

      The Defense Department, he added, “will carry out its responsibilities, but it’s really up to Russia and the regime to comply with the terms and finally start doing the right thing in Syria.”

      Chief among Pentagon concerns is whether sharing targeting information with Russia could reveal how the United States uses intelligence to conduct airstrikes, not just in Syria but in other places, which Moscow could then use for its own advantage in the growing confrontations undersea and in the air around the Baltics and Europe.

      But to Mr. Kerry’s inner team of advisers, the Pentagon approach was reflexive Cold War-era thinking. For all the other tensions with Russia, they believed that the Russians themselves did not want to get mired in Syria and would cooperate up to a point.

      The two countries have worked together in a limited way in the past, although that cooperation has been more at the negotiating table than on the battlefield. American and Russian diplomats worked together toward the Iran nuclear deal. They also sought, unsuccessfully, to reach a lasting agreement to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, but North Korea has since tested a number of nuclear weapons.

      When Russia entered the Syrian conflict last year to support Mr. Assad against the Islamic State but also against American-backed rebels, the two countries agreed to have talks to de-conflict their military activity. But those talks have been limited, focusing primarily on making sure that Russian and American planes do not get in each other’s way in the skies over Syria. A Pentagon official said that by and large, the “de-confliction” talks had worked out, with some exceptions.

      Meanwhile, the two militaries have adopted an increasingly combative stance toward each other in other places.

      Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the ensuing fight over eastern Ukraine led the Obama administration to substantially increase the deployment of heavy weapons, armored vehicles and other equipment to NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe, a move that administration officials said was aimed at deterring Russia. This year, Russian planes have taken to buzzing American warships in the Baltic Sea. And American intelligence officials said in July that they believed the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee.

      “From a Pentagon perspective, the U.S. military is the one that, around the world, is on the receiving end of Russia’s military misbehavior,” said Derek Chollet, a former assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration. “There is just generally a lack of trust.”

      It is a measure of the sensitivity of the agreement — for Washington, for Moscow and for an array of other countries and opposition groups — that the State Department has not released text of the agreement with the Russians, or even a fact sheet summarizing it.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/middleeast/syria-john-kerry.html

      • …not released text of the agreement with the Russians, or even a fact sheet summarizing it.

        Because it’s shameful, appallingly bad. Only justication is that it burnishes Kerry’s legacy of harming the USA.

        • […]On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington that the full text of the deal worked out with Russia on the truce in Syria will not be made public. “It does deal with sensitive issues that we believe, if made public, could potentially be misused,” he said.

          Translation: “It is more difficult to cheat on the agreement if the terms are public.”

          fromm this page :

          Syria – CIA Vetted “Rebels” Chase U.S. Forces Out Of Town

          http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/09/syria-cia-vetted-rebels-chase-us-forces-out-of-town.html

          • You said Translation: “It is more difficult to cheat on the agreement if the terms are public.”

            I would put it It will be easier to cover our asses if the details aren’t known.

          • That’s for sure.
            Imagine all the shameful secret side-deals larding the shameful Iran Deal. All done without advise & consent of Congress.

            Which doesn’t get them off the hook. They lined up like clay pidgeons to vote for 0. They may not have known the specifics of these disgusting payoffs, but they knew of them.

  19. Muslims Cut the Throats and Torch the Heads of 1,000 Sheep in One Canadian Town Alone

    Hundreds of sheep were slaughtered in the open air by thousands of Muslims gathered on a farm in the Centre-du-Québec for the most important festival in their religious calendar, Monday.
    The spirit was festive for Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sheep, a celebration where a lamb is sacrificed as an offering. After cutting the throat of a thousand sheep in a field in the municipality of L’Avenir, near Drummondville, Muslims prepared meat. burning the head and legs with a torch. while they were still alive. The men fraternized, children were playing ball and the women were having discussions amongst themselves. Michel Cloutier, the sheep livestock owner who lives on Ployard way, has however been very discreet. “This allows them to keep their traditions, I’m just here to sell them their sheep,” he said briefly.
    The animals were sold in live weight, for a sum that can easily reach $300 or $400 per animal, according to participants. Inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) and a veterinarian arrived earlier, escorted by the Sûreté du Québec in the early afternoon to check the inventory. It was impossible to know on Monday if the farm was faulted.

    https://shariaunveiled.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/muslims-cut-the-throats-and-torch-the-heads-of-1000-sheep-in-one-canadian-town-alone/
    ==================================================
    Journal de Montréal -Un millier de moutons égorgés pour une fête musulmane

    L’AVENIR | Des centaines de moutons ont été égorgés en plein air par des milliers de musulmans réunis sur une ferme du Centre-du-Québec pour la fête la plus importante de leur calendrier religieux, lundi.

    L’esprit était à la fête pour l’Aïd al-Adha, ou fête du Mouton, une célébration où un agneau est sacrifié en guise d’offrande.

    Après avoir coupé la gorge d’un millier de moutons dans un champ de la municipalité de L’Avenir, près de Drummondville, les musulmans ont préparé la viande, et ont fait brûler la tête et les pattes avec une torche.

    Pendant que les hommes fraternisaient, les enfants jouaient au ballon ou avec des moutons encore vivants. Les femmes discutaient entre elles.

    Michel Cloutier, le propriétaire de l’élevage de moutons du chemin Ployard, s’est toutefois fait très discret.

    «Ça leur permet de garder leurs traditions, moi je fais juste leur vendre les moutons», a-t-il dit brièvement.

    Les animaux étaient vendus au poids vivant, pour une somme pouvant facilement atteindre 300 $ ou 400 $ par bête, selon les participants.

    Les inspecteurs du ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ) et un vétérinaire sont passés, escortés de la Sûreté du Québec en début d’après-midi, pour vérifier l’état des lieux. Il a été impossible de savoir lundi si la ferme a été prise en défaut.

    Couteaux bien aiguisés

    Chouiter Abdelkader, qui a pratiqué la médecine vétérinaire en Algérie pendant dix ans, a tué son mouton en début d’après-midi.

    «Notre but, c’est de faire sortir le maximum de sang», parce que ça rend la viande meilleure, dit-il, en surveillant son mouton agonisant.

    Selon lui toutefois, les spasmes de l’animal ne sont pas synonymes de souffrances.

    «On coupe les nerfs dans le cou pour moins de douleur. Au bout de trente secondes, c’est la mort cérébrale. Les muscles, c’est normal qu’ils bougent encore», explique-t-il.

    Ahmed, qui préfère taire son nom de famille, a quant à lui égorgé trois moutons dans la journée. Un pour sa famille, et deux pour des propriétaires qui ont été incapables de donner la mort à la bête.

    «Ça prend un couteau très bien affilé. Il ne faut pas torturer la bête», dit-il.

    Il admet que la scène n’est pas facile à voir pour tout le monde.

    «Mais si on regarde la souffrance comme telle, on va tous être végétariens », poursuit-il.

    Les musulmans consomment ensuite la quasi-totalité de l’animal, mais le geste reste avant tout religieux.

    Qu’est-ce que l’Aïd al-Adha?

    Le jour du sacrifice, aussi appelé fête de l’Aïd, est la fête la plus importante du calendrier musulman. Elle symbolise la foi en Allah.

    La croyance religieuse raconte qu’Ibrahim a rêvé trois nuits de suite qu’il allait égorger son fils Ismaël.

    Au moment où il s’est rendu à la volonté d’Allah d’égorger son propre garçon, l’archange Gabriel a substitué l’enfant par un mouton, qui a été sacrifié à sa place.

    Depuis, les musulmans égorgent des moutons pour symboliser leur dévotion à leur Dieu.

    http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2016/09/12/un-millier-de-moutons-egorges-pour-une-fete-musulmane
    ====================================================

        • Warning the pictures are gut wrenching. Coming to streets near you as our govt has decided to bring in 110,000 more Syrian “refugees” (this is just the Syrians not telling you how many others). Remember this is a “holiday” our very own president celebrates in OUR White House…….

          “White House says refugee resettlements will go on, even if governors object” (http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/white-house-says-refugee-resettlements-will-go-on-even-if-governors-object/ar-BBwd0sR?li=BBnb7Kz)
          The meaning is CRYSTAL CLEAR, WE the PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA have no say about the future of OUR COUNTRY!!!

          Muslims Brutally Mass Slaughter Animals During Eid al-Adha Festival
          http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/15/muslims-brutally-mass-slaughter-animals-eid-al-adha-festival/

          eid
          AFP/Getty Images

          by Chris Tomlinson15 Sep 2016874
          15 Sep, 2016 15 Sep, 2016

          The streets of Dhaka in Bangladesh have been turned into literal rivers of blood and 79 sheep lay brutally butchered in Austria as Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha by mass slaughtering animals.
          The Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha currently dominates the calendars of Muslims worldwide and a large feature of the festival is the ritual halal slaughter of animals.

          Rain and floods meant that the official government designated “kill zones” were unable to be used by the public to carry out the slaughter, which involves the slitting of the throat of an animal, usually a goat, sheep, or cow, and letting it bleed to death.
          Instead, the sacrifices were carried out everywhere and anywhere, including side streets, car parks, and garages. The result, combined with the rains, turned the streets of the capital of Bangladesh red with rivers of animal blood from the mass sacrifices that have gone on across the city, the BBC reports.
          Many of the dramatic scenes were photographed by social media users in Bangladesh that show the results of the mass slaughter and were uploaded to Twitter.

          Edward Rees?@ReesEdward Sep 12

          A bit of rain and Eid and the roads run red with blood. #Dhaka #Bangladeshpic.twitter.com/7WJRxAj8LN

          https://twitter.com/ReesEdward/status/775589426449620992/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

          • Retweets 2,758
          • Likes 953

          In Austria, authorities in the rural region of Styria found an equally gruesome sight in a farmer’s field. A Turkish Muslim had slit the throats of 79 sheep and left them to bleed out in the open.

          Ritual halal slaughter is only legal in Austria in certain designated areas and the animals are required to have been sedated beforehand to lessen the trauma inflicted upon them. However, the man who committed the mass slaughter did so without any anesthetic.
          He claimed he killed the sheep in that manner because he was doing his friend, the owner of the farm, a favour – though some are suspicious of the timing. The owner of the sheep told Austrian media that the Turkish man required the use of the pasture that the animals were on and so began to kill them in order to save the owner the trouble of finding a new place to graze them.
          Fortunately for the animals, someone noticed the Turkish man carrying out his brutal work and was able to stop him before he killed all 131 sheep.
          Austrian animal rights campaigners have demanded that the government issue a political statement on the matter saying that everyone in Austria, regardless of their belief, should follow Austrian laws.
          The terrorist Islamic State have also celebrated the holiday in their own brutal way by hanging prisoners from meat hooks and sacrificing them the same way as Muslims sacrifice animals. Last year Islamic State executed three Christian prisoners during the festival and made several others beg for ransoms.

          Breitbart London, Faith, Immigration, Austria, Bangladesh, Eid al-Adha Muslim festival, halal slaughter, Islam

          http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/15/muslims-brutally-mass-slaughter-animals-eid-al-adha-festival/

  20. Newsweek -French ISIS Recruiter Behind Recent Attacks Tells Followers to ‘Send Head to Élysée Palace’

    The French recruiter for the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) that authorities believe is behind a spate of attacks and plots on the country’s soil in recent months has sent a chilling call to his followers to behead a civilian and send it to the country’s Presidential residence.

    He made the morbid demand about Élysée Palace in an audio message posted on his private Telegram channel to some 300 followers on Tuesday, according to a report in Dutch-language Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

    Kassim, a 29-year-old jihadi living in either Iraq or Syria, said: “Everything that needs to be said has been said. You know what to do. Don’t wait any longer.”

    “Even if you have no means, take a knife, decapitate a non-believer, put the head in a package and send it to the Élysée,” he continued, according to the report’s author, Guy Van Vlierden.

    Authorities believe he has been radicalizing young French nationals through private communication technology, such as the encrypted messaging app Telegram. He is thought to have played a role in more than ten plots on French soil, several of them successful.

    They included attacks such as the ISIS-claimed ‘lone wolf’ murder of a police chief and his wife at their house in the Paris suburb of Magnanville in June. The killer, Larossi Abballa, was a member of Kassim’s Telegram group. He is also believed to have orchestrated the murder of a priest at his church near the northern city of Rouen in July. He reportedly instructed the two young and radicalized French attackers on what they should do in the attack.

    French police have arrested a number of French teenagers, including a 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, in recent months on suspicion of planning attacks after being in contact with Kassim. This week, police charged three women with extremism offenses for a failed plot to blow up a car packed with gas cylinders near Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral. Kassim’s role has not been officially confirmed but Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said that the plot was “remotely controlled” from Syria.

    Even after his influence in a number of plots on French soil have been revealed, Kassim is continuing to incite violent attacks in the country, advocating “terrorisme de proximité,” or ‘local terrorism’, as opposed to grand acts of extremism. He has also praised the church attackers and the Nice attacker Mohamed Bouhlel, who rammed a 19-tonne truck into revelers in the French Riviera city’s Promenade des Anglais.

    The jihadi, who also goes by the name Ibn Qassim, is an amateur rapper from the town of Roanne, northeast of southern city Lyon. In his Telegram messages, he says that he was not radicalized in Algeria, despite reports suggesting a 2011 trip to his home country hardened him.

    He subsequently left France for Egypt in 2012 and was next seen in a ISIS’s propaganda videos, produced in Syria. His current location remains unclear but he told his followers on Tuesday that he would close his Telegram channel, seemingly worried that he could be tracked by foreign intelligence services. He has continued to convey his message of extremism unabated in the days following.

    http://www.newsweek.com/france-isis-elysee-palace-rachid-kassim-498972

  21. France: Police dismantle Paris camp of around 1,500 refugees

    Police removed around 1,500 refugees and migrants who were living under the Jaures metro station in the centre of Paris, Friday. Their tent camp was then cleared by local authorities who used a bulldozer in the operation.

  22. Twilight of American Jewry

    Caroline B. Glick
    By Caroline B. Glick

    Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0916/glick091616.php3#0qgkA1TBc3i7gTUJ.99

    15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on America. Most of us didn’t realize it at the time, but those attacks also marked the beginning of the end of the golden age of American Jewry – on both sides of the ideological divide.

    Most American Jews make their home on the political Left, and together with black Americans they comprise the most loyal Democratic voting bloc. American Jews have clung to the Democratic Party despite the fact that over the past decade and a half, their position in the party has become increasingly precarious.

    After the September 11 attacks, the American anti-war movement rose as a force in the party. The movement was quick to conflate its anti-Americanism with hostility for Israel. Jewish anti-war activists were forced to choose between Zionism and pacifism.

    And the situation has only grown worse over time.

    As Gary Gambill of the Middle East Forum wrote this week in The National Interest, since the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel was founded in 2005, its members have gone from one leftist group to another and demanded that their members embrace the cause of Israel’s destruction.

    Group after group – from the feminists, to the gay rights activists, to Occupy Wall Street, to Black Lives Matter – bowed to the BDS demand. Members who refused to condemn Israel and join the call for its destruction have been booted out.

    Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0916/glick091616.php3#0qgkA1TBc3i7gTUJ.99

  23. Whites and Christians Abandoning the Democratic Party

    According to a new Pew Research Center survey, the Democratic Party is being abandoned by two of the country’s biggest demographics: whites and Christians.

    “Non-Hispanic whites make up 57 percent of all Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, down significantly from 76 percent in 1992,” said the Pew analysis. “By contrast, though the share of GOP voters who are white has also declined since 1992, the change has been much more modest: Currently, 86 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters are non-Hispanic whites, compared with 93 percent in 1992. As a result of these changes, the 17-percentage-point gap between the share of white voters in the Republican and Democratic parties seen in 1992 has grown to a 29-point gap today.”

    The same trends can be seen among Christian voters, who have remained faithful to the Republican Party while atheists and the religiously-unaffiliated have flocked to the Democrats.

    “The pace of change in religious affiliation has been far faster among Democrats than Republican voters, resulting in a widening gap between the two parties in the shares who do not affiliate with a religion,” writes the research organization. “In 1996, just 10 percent of Democratic voters were religiously unaffiliated; today that share has nearly tripled to 29 percent. Among Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters, the share not affiliating with a religion has increased from 6 percent to 12 percent over the past two decades.”

    http://www.fixthisnation.com/conservative-breaking-news/whites-and-christians-abandoning-the-democratic-party/

  24. Pot Kettle Black</strong

    Iran Slams Saudi Arabia in the New York Times
    Displaying breathtaking hypocrisy, Iran’s foreign minister penned a searing op-ed blasting Saudi Arabia for exporting extremism

    Iran has taken to the illustrious pages of The New York Times to attack Saudi Arabia for its support of extremism worldwide. This is part of an escalating series of steps both countries have taken to criticize the other.

    Saudi Arabia cut off relations with Iran in January after an angry mob stormed the Saudi embassy after Saudi Arabia executed a popular Shiite cleric.

    Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s top cleric said that Iranians were not Muslims. Iran criticized Saudi handling of the hajj, the annual ritual pilgrimage to Mecca which was then beginning. Iran blasted Saudi Arabia as being the source of extremism in response, with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif saying, “Indeed; no resemblance between Islam of Iranians & most Muslims & bigoted extremism that Wahhabi top cleric & Saudi terror masters preach” on Twitter.

    Now Zarif has taken to the New York Times to call on the West to “Rid the World of Wahhabism,” the extremist form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia.

    “While the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq set in motion the fighting we see today,” Zarif wrote, “the key driver of violence has been this extremist ideology promoted by Saudi Arabia — even if it was invisible to Western eyes until the tragedy of 9/11.”

    Zarif is correct that Saudi money has been funding Islamism worldwide for decades. In 2008, UK’s Channel Four estimated that Saudi Arabia spent $100 billion on promoting Wahhabism in the 10 years prior and that number has only increased.

    https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/iran-slams-saudi-arabia-new-york-times.

  25. Rapid Increase of FGM Cases in UK Discovered
    A recent parliamentary committee described Britain failure to protect its citizens from the horrific procedure a ‘national scandal.’

    Despite being illegal for the last 30 years, the number of cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) is increasing rapidly in the UK.

    In Birmingham alone, the number of cases discovered in the last three months has more than doubled, with 120 women and girls reported to have undergone the brutal practice. In Bristol, 75 new cases were discovered between April and June, according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

    Doctors and health-care professional are now legally required to report cases of FGM. The number does not necessarily reflect new cases, but rather includes any woman who has sought health care and it is discovered that she was subjected to FGM.

    A recent parliamentary committee described Britain failure to protect its citizens from the horrific procedure a “national scandal,” saying it was “beyond belief” that no one has ever been prosecuted in the UK for the crime.

    https://www.clarionproject.org/news/rapid-increase-fgm-cases-uk-discovered

  26. The Importance of Women in the Fight Against ISIS
    That women are fighting ISIS in battle carries more importance than that of practicality. It is the first nail in the coffin of the group’s twisted ideology.

    The gradual collapse of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is coming partly at the hands of women fighters — something that at first thought may seem only trivial — but, in reality is actually quite profound.

    Many tenets of ISIS regards women and their treatment. Women are treated as second-class citizens, at best, with their main duty being to produce and raise new jihadists. These, of course, are the women who are “fortunate” enough to both be Muslim and a part of ISIS. For those women who a part of enemy groups, a much more horrific fate awaits them.

    https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/importance-women-fight-against-isis

  27. Italy: Lega Nord’s Salvini leads march on Lake Como refugee camp

    Dozens of Lega Nord activists, led by their leader, Matteo Salvini, marched on a refugee camp by Como station, Friday.

    Salvini stated the reasons for organising the demonstration, “It’s our duty greet people escaping from war, but I see few people escaped from war in Como station.” The Lega Nord leader continued, stating “Statistics say that real refugees are no more than 5 percent.

  28. Germany: Refugees take IQ tests in Lebach to ‘aid integration’

    Refugees in Lebach took IQ tests on Friday in a local project that is supposed to aid the refugees’ integration into the job market.

    SOT, Klaus Bouillon, German Interior Minister (German): “The main problem we are facing at the moment is to provide people with job opportunities. That is why we need an example in Lebach. We are a small state and we are cooperating with all institutions. And I think that this project is a good idea for other German states and the whole Europe. The main purpose is to integrate people in the labour market as soon as possible.”

  29. Knife attack in Germany –

    Radler rammt Fußgänger Messer in Rücken – Messerattacke in Aschaffenburg

  30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzYlYwaDk64
    Several hundred nationalists and residents protested against a refugee center in Sofia, among unprecedented security measures.
    “Police in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia has been building checkpoints in Ovcha Kupel district, where one of the refugee centers is situated. (…) Mounted Police and water cannons will also join the protection of the protest.”(http://bnr.bg/en/post/100737655/sofia-police-to-launch-checkpoints-due-to-forthcoming-anti-immigrant-protest)

  31. GERMANY BAUTZEN

    Bürger unterbricht Bautzen-Interview: “das waren keine Nazis, sondern normale Bürger !”

    • 09 16 2016 Pulverfass Bautzen: Nach Krawallnacht – Ausgangssperre für Flüchtlinge und massive Polizeipräsenz

      Nachdem es am Mittwoch in Bautzen zu gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen rund 100 Deutschen und Asylsuchenden gekommen ist, fanden sich gestern Abend über 300 Bautzener auf dem Kornmarkt zusammen. Der Bautzener Oberbürgermeister stellte sich dort gegen 20:00 Uhr den Sorgen und Fragen zahlreicher Medienvertreter und rund 200 zusammengekommenen Einwohnern, die ihre Anliegen teilweise lautstark vortrugen. Hinzu kamen etwa 150 Schaulustige, viele davon im jugendlichen Alter. Laut Polizeibericht befanden sich unter den Menschen zahlreiche Personen aus dem rechten Spektrum. Zudem gab es eine Versammlung aus dem linksalternativen Spektrum gegen Fremdenfeindlichkeit. Zu dieser kamen allerdings nur 25 Leute, die Mehrzahl von ihnen war aus Leipzig und Dresden angereist. Der Gruppe stellten sich die versammelten Bautzener lautstark entgegen. Die Polizei hielt die beiden Gruppen auseinander. Gegen 23:30 kehrte wieder Ruhe auf dem Kornmarkt ein. Der Abend verlief im Großen und Ganzen friedlich. Fortan gilt zudem in den Flüchtlingsunterkünften vor Ort für minderjährige, unbegleitete Asylsuchende ein Alkoholverbot und eine Ausgangssperre ab 19:00 Uhr, da die Gewalt am Mittwochabend laut Polizeiaussagen von jungen Flüchtlingen ausgegangen war. Außerdem werde die Polizei in den kommenden Tagen mit zusätzlichen Kräften vor Ort sein, um erneute Ausschreitungen zu verhindern. Hinzu kommt, dass „rechte Gruppierungen“ für Freitag und Sonntag Proteste in Bautzen angekündigt haben.

    • Germany: Berliners rail at far-right AfD ahead of state elections

      Hundreds of protesters railed against the far-right populist political party Alternative for Germany (AFD) in Berlin on Friday as Berliners head to the ballots for the capital’s state elections on Sunday.

      Protesters marched with huge anti-AfD banners and antifa flags, starting from Berlin’s northern Schoenhauser Allee and ending on Zionskirchstrasse, where the office of AfD Member of Parliament Beatrix Von Starch is located.

      Despite Berlin being expected to re-elect the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the AfD is reportedly polling at 14 percent in the capital, after the anti-Muslim, anti-refugee party made large gains in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s state elections.

  32. After 8 Years of Obama, Time to Reset the U.S.-Israel Alliance
    The key steps the next president must take to undo nearly a decade of damage to U.S.-Israel relations.

    It is no secret that the U.S.-Israel alliance has been under a severe strain for the last eight years, principally due to the non-friendly and often hostile positions of the Obama administration. The United States and Israel have had their differences under previous administrations and, at times, there were sharp disagreements but they rarely made it to the front pages. This is because leaders of both nations understood that disagreements, to the extent that they existed, were best addressed behind closed doors and away from prying eyes.

    Obama changed all that during his first year in office with his infamous apology tour when he went to the Mideast to visit various Muslim countries to apologize for contrived wrongs and deliberately skipped over Israel despite the fact that he was a mere 20-minute plane ride away. It was a spiteful snub designed to show the Israelis and Arabs that Obama intended to fundamentally change the nature and dynamic of the U.S.-Israel alliance. The snub was followed by additional indignities including shabby treatment by the Obama White House of visiting Israeli dignitaries and guttural name-calling by anonymous White House aides. The person (likely Ben Rhodes) responsible for hurling the “Chicken-sh*t” vulgarity was never disciplined.

    Obama’s plan to realign America’s alliances backfired miserably. He expected Israel to grovel but under the steady stewardship of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel did not cave into the pressure. Instead, Israel sought new alliances forging strong bonds with India, Africa, the Balkan countries and various eastern European countries. Relations also warmed between nations harboring traditional enmity toward Israel, like Russia and China.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264201/after-8-years-obama-time-reset-us-israel-alliance-ari-lieberman

    • OT- @Richard
      Sunset – candle-lighting – at 6:33 pm EDT. Shorter days. Candles are lit just before sunset, that marks the beginning.
      RE: Wine – grape-juice is fine.
      Not easy to be un-safe on Sabbath!
      We don’t drive, ride, carry money, or flip a switch.
      You might eat too much, though. According to certain traditions, it’s counted as a blessing if you make love with your spouse Friday nights. Saturday’s are fine too.
      Shabbat Shalom

      • I have to remember all of the above, put it into my data base of info it is nice to have. Thank You. May your life be long, peaceful and prosperous, and as the Irish say “May you be in Heaven a half an hour before the Devil knows you are dead. Hopefully the latter won’t occur for many a decade.

  33. CNN – EU’s top migration official on the refugee crisis

    The European Union’s Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, speaks with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about the deep effects of the refugee crisis.

    ( 8 min )

  34. Moroccan Woman Jailed in Saudi Arabia After Charging “Husband” with Rape (moroccoworldnews, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/09/196780/moroccan-woman-jailed-in-saudi-arabia-after-charging-husband-with-rape/

    “In a video posted on YouTube, a Moroccan woman who claims she was enticed to Saudi Arabia for sexual slavery, desparately narrates her story of rape, torture, and imprisonment after arriving in Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic servant to provide for her daughter in Morocco.

    The video which went viral on social media shows a woman called Lamiae El Moatamed entreating King Mohamed VI of Morocco to intervene in her case and see that she gets justice.

    According to the woman, the story started when the alleged rapist with whom she had communicated via social media promised her a job in Saudi Arabia. When she arrived, she claimed she was forced to marry him under the threat of neverbeing able to return to Morocco if she refused him.

    El Moatamed describes her revulsion at her husband’s abuse when he invited his friends to the home to have sex with her along with other women.

    She recounts on the video that when she refused to have sex she was verbally and physically abused, and thrown out of the house.

    She goes on to claim that she was subsequently raped and tortured by her “husband” and his friends later during Ramadan.

    She says that she reported the rape to the authorities and also went to the Moroccan Embassy to ask for help, but when the Embassy staff asked her to give up the case in exchange for her Moroccan passport she was shocked.

    Moatamed said that she was sent to jail after the investigation as she did not have anywhere else to go in Saudi Arabia. She was also committed to a center for psychiatric care for fifteen days for refusing to give up her case.

    After a trial, which she says lasted approximately one year, she was sentenced to two years in jail.

    Moatamed, who claims to have proof of her accusations including audio recordings, asked for help from the King of Morocco, asserting that she will be in danger of torture after posting the video. Her only wish is to die, she said, but her daughter’s welfare is at risk…”

  35. 40 Dead in Clashes in Southwest Yemen (moroccoworldnews, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/09/196785/40-dead-clashes-southwest-yemen/

    “Forty people were killed in fighting between Shiite Houthi rebels and pro-government forces around southwest Yemen’s main city of Taez, military sources said on Thursday.

    27 Houthis and 13 pro-government fighters were killed, as a rebel offensive aimed at reimposing a siege of the city was repelled on Wednesday, Colonel Sadeq al-Hassani, spokesman for the loyalist forces, said.

    Also on Wednesday, five Houthis and allied rebels were killed when loyalists backed by Saudi-led Arab coalition air strikes and artillery fought off a rebel assault in the nearby Kahbub area, pro-government officials said…”

  36. Merkel criticizes Turkey over press freedom (hurriyetdailynews, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/merkel-criticizes-turkey-over-press-freedom–.aspx?pageID=238&nID=103951&NewsCatID=339

    “German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized Turkey over press freedom, at an award ceremony of the Sanssouci Colloquium held in Germany’s Potsdam. Merkel mentioned the former editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet, Can Dündar, during her speech, as she stressed the significance of press freedom.

    Saying that press freedom should be defended every time, Merkel noted that press freedom was outside the boundaries of state control and censorship, adding that journalists should be able to report on corruption without being subjected to fear and tracking.

    Dündar and Cumhuriyet Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül faced trial for “leaking state secrets” due to stories they published about Turkish intelligence trucks allegedly bound for Syria with hidden weapons in early 2014.

    During the ceremony, Italian writer Roberto Saviano, who is well known for his stance against the mafia, received the M100 Media award, which he dedicated to two brothers under detention in Turkey, Ahmet Altan, a journalist and Prof. Mehmet Altan, an academic and columnist.

    Saviano, who defended that Turkey should become a member of the European Union, said that the situation of the Altan brothers would closely concern them if Turkey were an EU member.

    In addition, Dündar, who participated in the ceremony, noted that at least 220 journalists were jailed in Turkey.

    Meanwhile, Ahmet and Mehmet Altan wrote letters while under detention. The Altan brothers criticized the charges against them in their letters, which were released to the press via their lawyers.

    “We were detained for giving subliminal messages suggesting a military coup on a TV program. A conscious [individual] who can allege this can also allege that we talk to aliens or fly like Superman in the sky using our magnetic powers,” Ahmet Altan wrote in his letter, adding that the charges against them will “definitely go down in history.”

    “However, it is hard to know if it will be in the history of comedy or law,” he also wrote.

    Ahmet Altan, a novelist and former editor-in-chief of daily Taraf, is also on trial along with his colleagues for “leaking state secrets” for stories on an alleged coup plan by the Turkish military.”

  37. Turkey key to solving Europe’s problems: Turkish parliament speaker (hurriyetdailynews, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-key-to-solving-europes-problems-turkish-parliament-speaker.aspx?pageID=238&nID=103956&NewsCatID=338

    “Turkey, a founder of the Council of Europe, is one of the key members in tackling the challenges the group faces, Turkish Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman said on Sept. 16.

    His remarks came in an address at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments in Strasbourg.

    Kahraman highlighted the Council of Europe’s growing importance in challenges discussed during the meeting without making concessions to democracy, human rights or the rule of law.

    “Turkey, as one of the founding countries of the Council of Europe, has been among the largest contributors to its budget to boost its operational capacity to overcome challenges,” he said.

    About Turkey’s contributions, he added, “We continue to help protect and improve our common values, as we have done so far.”

    The parliament speaker also said Turkey will host the group’s next conference in 2018.
    The European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments is hosted by one of the member countries every two years and lasts for two days.”

  38. Honour killings: Murders on rise as govt sits on pro-women bills (tribune, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1182416/honour-killings-murders-rise-govt-sits-pro-women-bills/

    “ISLAMABAD: As the government continues to drag its feet on two crucial women’s protection bills, previously unpublished data has revealed that an overwhelming majority of those killing women in Punjab are husbands, brothers or fathers.

    According to data compiled by the NGO Aurat Foundation, of the 724 women murdered in the province last year, 190 were killed by their husbands, 50 by their brothers and 24 by their fathers. The pattern was prevalent especially in honour killing cases, where 75 out of 170 women were killed by their brothers, 36 by their husbands and 20 by their fathers.

    Despite calls for the swift passage of the anti-honour killing and anti-rape bills, the government has appeared unwilling to expedite the legislations even as incidents of violence against women increase across the country. Deepening political turmoil in the shape of anti-government protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties has effectively kept the two pro-women bills on the backburner.

    Talking to The Express Tribune last week, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Farhatullah Babar accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government of not being serious about legislating on important issues. “After the Panama leaks, the government has become vulnerable and is pandering to the demands of religious parties,” he suggested.

    Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Law and Justice Zafarullah Khan, however, disagreed with the notion of delay and said instead the reason was building consensus of all the stakeholders.

    The two bills were originally presented in Senate in January 2014 by former senator Sughra Imam. However, they could not be presented during a joint sitting of parliament in April this year, in the face of opposition from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

    A special parliamentary panel finally passed the bills unanimously on July 21, paving the way for them to be adopted during a joint parliamentary session in August. But the joint sitting was delayed amid political bickering between the government and opposition.

    The two bills have proposed amendments in sections 302, 309, 310, 338-E of PPC and Section 345 CrPC to do away with the waiver of Qisas by a wali and include the offence committed in the name or on the pretext of honour. Similarly, existing provisions of sections 336-A and 336-B of PPC have also been proposed by the Cabinet Committee on Law Reforms for amendments.

    Violence against women remains a serious issue in Pakistan and Punjab seems to be leading in this heinous practice. As many as 5,827 cases were reported in 2015 and Faisalabad topped the list with 1,158 cases. According to the data, Rahimyar Khan trailed behind Faisalabad with 439 cases. Rawalpindi and Lahore reported 321 cases each while Sahiwal reported 254 cases.

    Violence against women included incidents of kidnappings, acid-throwing, burning, torture, Vani, Watta-Satta, murders, honour killings, rapes/gang rapes, Karo-Kari, early and forced marriages.

    Beating women appeared to be the preferred mode of maiming and murdering women and 832 cases were reported in this connection while use of gun was reported in 725 cases. The use of poison stood at third position with 623 cases while there were 612 cases of kidnapping at gunpoint.

    Coercion, harassment, threats and deception were also used in violence against women.

    Acid was used in 84 attacks, knives in 120 incidents. Axe and other sharp implements were used on 90 occasions, while there were 99 cases of strangulation.

    The data also showed that involvement of husbands in cases of crimes against women remained the highest with 384 cases, fathers were involved in 80 such cases, 170 by brothers, 51 by parents, 43 by in-laws, 50 by former husbands, nine by step-fathers, five by step-brothers, 35 by sons, 10 by step-sons, 676 local residents, 148 neighbours, 435 by strangers, 100 by relatives, 36 by police, 19 by Pirs, 156 by influential persons.

    Director Advocacy, Aurat Foundation, Rabeea Hadi said that in urban areas, specifically in industrial cities, more cases of violence against women were reported because of easy media access.

    She said the factor of poverty also played an important role in these crimes.

    “Women are not allowed to do things of their free will and men want to control their lives. This control mechanism generally generates domestic violence against women irrespective of the victim’s relation: she may be a wife, daughter, mother, sister or any other relative,” she maintained.”

  39. US supports India for helping Afghanistan to become strong, independent (khaama, Sep 16, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/us-supports-india-for-helping-afghanistan-to-become-strong-independent-01885

    “The United States lauded India for its support to Afghanistan to help the country become stronger and independent as New Delhi announced a fresh aid package of $1 billion on Wednesday.

    Mark C Toner, deputy spokesman for the US Department of State, told reporters “obviously support India’s generosity and focus on Afghanistan and willingness to help Afghanistan become a stronger, independent country that has the stronger economic growth, certainly, but also has the capacity to defend itself and provide for the security of its people.”

    He also added ” The fact that India is willing to invest in that future we view as a very positive sign and we appreciate India’s effort.”

    India pledged the fresh aid during President Ghani’s visit to New Delhi on Wednesday which comes as the country has already invested around $2 billion in various reconstruction projects in Afghanistan…”