Reader’s links for December 25 – 2016

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

70 Replies to “Reader’s links for December 25 – 2016”

  1. Turkey Moves Arms to Syria Border, Seeks Trump’s Backing in War

    Turkey’s military deployed tanks and guns on the Syrian border as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged joint action with the Trump administration against Islamic State in its de facto capital, Raqqa.

    The deployment, including long-range guns and armored personnel carriers, followed Erdogan’s remark on Saturday that Turkish troops fighting to capture the jihadists’ stronghold of al-Bab in northwest Syria could move first to the town of Manbij and then to Raqqa. The artillery reinforcements were sent to the border towns of Oguzeli and Karkamis, north of Manbij, state-run Anadolu Agency reported Sunday.

    Read more: Islamic State Warning to Erdogan Shows Soldiers Burned Alive

    Erdogan reiterated his country’s readiness to extend its fight against the jihadist group in Raqqa if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump agrees to block Kurdish forces from participating. Turkey is concerned that Kurdish territorial gains in Syria could lead to a new state there, emboldening the separatist aspirations of its own Kurds. Kurds have established control over much of Syria’s north during five years of violence, and in doing so, emerged as a favored U.S. fighting force in the ground war against Islamic State.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-24/erdogan-seeks-to-join-forces-with-trump-against-is-in-syria

  2. Europe may face a grim future with terrorism as a fact of life

    BRUSSELS — New Islamic State efforts to sow terror in Europe are pushing counterterrorism authorities to their limits, forcing citizens and their leaders to resign themselves to a new era where attacks may be a fact of life, not an exception.

    European Union leaders say they have swept away barriers among security agencies and bolstered border controls in the wake of a year of terrorist attacks capped by the assault on one of Berlin’s bustling Christmas markets. But missed signals before and after Monday’s violence raises questions about whether the changes — or any changes — are enough to prevent a repeat of a year that saw a double-bombing in Brussels, slaughter-by-truck in Nice, France, and shooting carnage in a Munich mall before the Berlin violence that killed 12 and wounded dozens more.

    A call by Islamic State leaders for their followers to plan and carry out independent strikes against Europe bodes ill for efforts to stem the violence, officials and analysts say, given the practical barriers to constantly monitoring a large pool of potential attackers.

    The changed terror tactics suggest that counterterrorism authorities may be successfully disrupting larger attacks, analysts say, offering a positive spin to the grim reality that small-scale violence may be inevitable.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/after-berlin-market-attack-europe-faces-grim-future-with-terrorism-as-fact-of-life/2016/12/23/6f2f6536-c84c-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?utm_term=.b31bd2640ca3

  3. To correct the headline: Under partisan political attack by a political hack

    Under scrutiny, Trump decides to dissolve his foundation

    (Reuters) – U.S President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he intends to dissolve his charitable foundation, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which has been under investigation by the New York attorney general.

    Trump gave no timeline for winding down the foundation, but said in a statement that he wanted “to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President.” He directed his counsel to take the necessary steps for the dissolution.

    With less than four weeks to his Jan. 20 inauguration, the New York real estate magnate is under increasing pressure to reduce potential conflicts of interest ranging from his vast global business operations to his family’s philanthropic work.

    This week, Trump said his son Eric would stop raising money for his own foundation over concerns that donors could be seen as buying access to the Trump family. The president-elect said it was a “ridiculous shame” that his son’s foundation would stop raising money.

    Before Trump’s surprising election victory on Nov. 8, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in October directed the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop taking donations, saying the foundation violated state law requiring charitable organizations that solicit outside donations to register with a state office.

    http://www.oann.com/trump-says-he-plans-to-dissolve-his-charitable-foundation/

    Richard: This charity does business in almost all of the states if not all of them and only the political hack in New York wants to investigate the foundation. The other Attorney Generals have said that the Foundation is doing nothing wrong.

    • So Trump foundation is about buying influence, while the Clinton foundation is all about charity. Hmmm… How stupid a Liberal must be to believe in that?

      • He doesn’t believe it but he wants us to believe it.

        Several other State Attorney Generals looked into the Trump Foundation and said there was nothing crooked going on.

  4. Fuel tank ablaze in Oil Refineries in Israeli city of Haifa

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A fire erupted in a fuel tank at Oil Refineries Ltd in Haifa on Sunday, sending thick black smoke into the sky above the northern Israeli port city.

    “We have a fuel tank on fire. The level of the fuel in it is relatively low, about a metre (three feet) high,” Uri Chibotero, a Haifa Fire Brigade spokesman, said on Israel Radio.

    He said firefighters were working to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby tanks and that he expected the blaze would be extinguished within a few hours.

    There were no immediate reports of injuries, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

    Video from the scene, on Israeli media websites, showed flames and black smoke pouring from the tank.

    Israel’s largest oil refinery is controlled by holding company Israel Corp.

    http://www.oann.com/fuel-tank-ablaze-in-oil-refineries-in-israeli-city-of-haifa/

  5. Guess who the Left is trotting out to be their new face in the war on ‘fake news’
    By Thomas Madison December 24, 2016

    You can’t make this stuff up. At a time when the mantra of the Democrats is ‘fake news,’ the party of intellect is welcoming back into its fold the master of fake news himself, Lyin’ Brian Williams. His comeback hasn’t been easy, what with that time spent recuperating from the many fake wounds he suffered at the hands of ISIS during his fake combat tour of Syria. Then there is his upcoming fake trip to the International Space Station with Al Gore on a spaceship Gore invented and built himself in his garage.

    Williams, who has lived out more fantasies than Walter Mitty, was relieved of his post as “NBC Nightly News” anchor after reporting live his own made-up version of Hillary Clinton’s phony brush with enemy fire.

    Williams weighed in on the scourge of fake news earlier this month, when he declared, “Fake news played a role in this election and continues to find a wide audience.” He then proceeded to attack retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn — President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser — and Breitbart News Network as progenitors of fake news.

    It’s curious when you consider Williams’s own “dossier of lies “ (NBC’s term) that he is becoming the face of the legacy and establishment media charge against “fake news,” the matter that such media luminaries are rallying around to blame their widely inaccurate reporting of the 2016 presidential election.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/12/24/guess-left-trotting-new-face-war-fake-news/

    • Who better than Williams to know fake news when he sees it? Too bad he isn’t on speaking terms with the truth. Then again, that’s almost a mandatory hiring qualification in today’s Main-Stream Media.

  6. Coed bullied into dropping out of school for having backed Trump
    By LU Staff December 24, 2016

    A freshman at Bryn Mawr College has dropped out after what she says was unbearable harassment from her fellow students for supporting Donald Trump for president.

    In September, shortly after starting at the Pennsylvania women’s school, Andi Moritz made a post on the Bryn Mawr’s ride-sharing Facebook page, asking if anybody wanted to accompany her during a Saturday spent campaigning for Trump. Moritz said she wanted another girl along to ensure her safety since she was carpooling with a man she didn’t know.

    The request turned out to be a big mistake, as Moritz was bombarded with hundreds of comments from fellow students, most of them extremely hostile.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/12/24/coed-bullied-dropping-school-backed-trump/

    • The fascist left is showing its true colors, they are so smug and think they are so superior when in reality they would feel at home in Nazi Germany and would gleefully send their enemies to the extermination camps.

  7. Possibly the most ludicrous concession to snowflakes and the microaggressed yet
    By Howard Portnoy December 24, 2016

    As the end of the year approaches, it might instructive to glance back at the concessions made not only during the past year but throughout the entirety of the Obama years to snowflakes on college campuses throughout the nation.

    As we draw up the final tally of which concession deserves the booby prize for the dumbest, a late entry from George Washington University in D.C. may be up there among the semi-finalists.

    According to The College Fix, courses in U.S. history will no longer be a requirement for (drum roll!) history majors at GWU. Purportedly designed to give history majors more latitude in their pursuit of their chosen field of inquiry, the department has eliminated requirements in U.S., North American, and European history.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/12/24/possibly-ludicrous-concession-snowflakes-microaggressed-yet/

    • If you don’t know what has happened in the nations that compose Western Civilization how can you know what you want to work for in the future?

      Putting it another way, if you don’t know where you have been how do you know where you are going?

      • Replacing traditional history in the British schools curriculum in favour of selected politically correct themes has certainly worked the evil that the leftwing intended.

        • That it has, the US isn’t as far down that path as Britain and hopefully we can reverse the damage before we get that far. Hopefully but I am not sure this will happen.

  8. Islamists Attack Christmas, but Europeans Abolish It

    by Giulio Meotti
    December 25, 2016 at 5:30 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9637/europe-christmas-islamists

    “Everything is Christian”, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote after the war. Two thousand years of Christianity have left a deep mark on the French language, landscape and culture. But not according to France’s Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. She just announced that instead of saying “Merry Christmas”, state officials should use “Happy Holidays” — clearly a deliberate intent to erase from discourse and the public space any reference to the Christian culture in which France is rooted.

    Jean-François Chemain called it the “eradication of any Christian sign in the public landscape”. A year ago, the controversy was ignited in the French town of Ploermel, where a court decided that the statue of Pope John Paul II, erected in a square, had to be removed for violating “secularism”.

    Then, a statue of the Virgin Mary was ordered taken away by a court in the municipality of Publier. Senator Nathalie Goulet slammed the judges as “ayatollahs of secularism”.

    The newspapers of the French “left”, outraged by the “right’s” ban on burkinis on the French Riviera, have been endorsing this anti-Christian policy.

    France’s Council of State has just ruled that “the temporary installation of cribs [nativity scenes] in a public place is legal if it has a cultural, artistic or festive value, but not if it expresses the recognition of a cult or a religious preference”. What precautions to justify a millenary tradition!

    In the town of Scaer, a nursing home has been the subject of a similar secularist complaint, for the presence of a fresco of the Virgin Mary. Then, it was the turn of the manger in the train station of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, in Aveyron. In the town of Boissettes, the church bells have been muted by court decision.

    • Western Civ is based on Christianity, our legal system and moral code spring from the 10 Commandments to attack Christianity is to try and damage the foundation of Western Civ. Nothing they do will show the libs desire to destroy Western Civ better then their attacks on Christianity. You don’t have to believe but you don’t prevent others from believing. This is called Freedom, religious freedom to believe the way you want is as necessary as free speech.

      • I actually read my way through the entire Bible some years back and was struck by how many familiar everyday phrases and concepts originated on its pages. I had no idea. Yes. The ethos of our society has largely been shaped by the pages of the Good Book. A lot of Shakespeare in there too…

        • Anyone who takes the time, and it takes a lot of time, to read the entire Bible will discover how much we have used it to develop our society and civilization. Since most people don’t want to take that time they are easy prey for those who want to force Christianity out of Western Society. Doing this would destroy most of our legal system and remove most of the civilizing influences.

        • Not so tough. Read it all in one year, a few pages everyday. Then start over. Every year.
          It’s never the same. Even after you know long passages by heart, there’s always a new you discovering something fresh.

          • It has been a while since I read it all the way through, I keep meaning to save up and buy a copy of the New English translation to read and see how it compares to the King James Version.

            • Please permit me to suggest the Oxford Annotated Bible. It traces all meaningful passages through Aramaic, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and all other pertinent languages in it’s illumination of this Book’s words.

              Well worth the investment. It’s what I own.

          • I read most books somewhere between 2 days to 2 months depending on how long they are and how interested I am in the book. So any book that takes longer then that takes “a long time”. I have done it your way but prefer to set down and lose myself in the book reading many, many pages a day.

            I still want to get the New English translation for the next time I read the Bible.

  9. Liberal Activists Plan Permanent Protest in Washington

    Liberal activists – mostly “women of color” who supported Bernie Sanders – are planning to open a permanent protest headquarters in Washington, D.C. so they can wage a neverending battle against the Trump administration. According to the UK Guardian, the location will be named “District 13” in reference to the Hunger Games movie/book series.

    The goal of the protesters? To make sure Donald Trump “doesn’t succeed” in putting his policies into action.

    The group, known as Millennials for Revolution, is headed up by Moumita Ahmed, who told the Guardian they were committed to blocking Trump at every turn.

    “Ultimately it’s to make sure we hold him accountable,” Ahmed said. “Because his presidency is not normal at all. It’s our duty to make sure he doesn’t succeed. If he succeeds it’s a message that everything he stood for is OK. That it’s OK to get to power in the way that he did, and hurt all the people he’s hurt.”

    Let’s pause.

    First of all, no one is expecting Trump to be a “normal” president. Guess what, Moumita (if that is your real name): That was the whole point! How can you not see that? How can anyone not see that by now? Your boy Bernie wasn’t “normal,” either. Remember? That’s why thousands of millennials were flocking to see him instead of Hillary Clinton. Trump wasn’t just a reaction to Hillary or the Obama years; he was a reaction to the GOP establishment and theoretical conservatism that never translated into legislation.

    Second – who did Trump “hurt” on his way to victory? The lying media? A bunch of Republicans who were playing just as hard? Hillary? No, she probably means Hispanics and Muslims and whoever else Trump supposedly hates. That’s the narrative these loonies bought into and they’re going to stick by it even in the face of an overwhelming void of evidence.

    But let’s take a step back and see this for what it really is. “Millennials for Revolution” isn’t some unique Trump-inspired movement. This is just the latest idiotic cause liberals are using to give their lives meaning. It’s the Vietnam protests. It’s Occupy Wall Street. It’s the “Slutwalk.” It’s Black Lives Matter. The point isn’t to accomplish anything; the point is to make noise, be noticed, and to feel like they’re making a difference in the world.

    Unfortunately, while these people are worthy of mockery, they aren’t harmless. They are sure to cause lots of problems in the coming years, so we need to monitor them carefully and make sure their message doesn’t drown out the facts.

    http://unfilteredpatriot.com/liberal-activists-plan-permanent-protest-in-washington/

  10. Merry Christmas everybody! For the first time there is a glimmer of hope for the future. This isn’t like before when only freaks like us even knew there was something fishy going on. There are now countless millions of people all over the world who are starting to see what’s happening and who don’t want their countries infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood or converted to Sharia law. There are also a few people who don’t like the idea of having their heads slowly sawed off to chants of “Allahu Akbar”.
    We are about to go back to an older time when military dictators ruled the Middle East and Jihadis were dragged off to torture chambers by uniformed guys with jackboots and pencil-thin mustaches. Oh, yeah, and tourists actually went there and spent their money and there was an economy other than oil wells and people could go about their normal lives…

  11. German politician faces resignation calls after preventing police sharing image of Berlin truck killer

    A German politician is facing calls to resign over allegations that he prevented police from sharing pictures of the Berlin truck terrorist when he was at large.

    Reports in Germany claim that Till Steffen prevented law enforcers in Hamburg from releasing pictures of Anis Amri, despite him being the most wanted man in the world after Monday’s terror attack.

    Amri, 24, was named as a suspect on Wednesday after his wallet was found in the lorry which ploughed into a crowd of people at a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people.

    It has been alleged that Steffen, who is head of the judicial authority in Hamburg, prevented the pictures being circulated because he feared sharing images of Islamist terror suspects will incite racial hatred.

    Newspaper Bild reported that police were able to give a description of the killer, but not show the public what he looked like because of privacy concerns.

    What will it take for these loons to realize that there are times when public safety trumps (is it still okay to use that word?) issues of personal privacy? I dread to think of how great the carnage will have to be in order to merit Germany releasing an actual picture of the suspect.

  12. China Opens Stock Markets to Attract Foreign Money – But Nobody Cares!

    China has opened its stock markets to the rest of the world in a desperate effort to save its struggling currency, but the world doesn’t seem interested.

    The Chinese yuan is badly manipulated, and a political move to change the exchange rates could wipe out a lot of money.

    Exchange rates in countries like the US move slowly, giving investors time to back out if they sense trouble. But Chinese rates fluctuate drastically according to the whims of politicians, and investing in such a climate carries a high risk.

    I don’t know what China expected to happen when it opened the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) to overseas investors in early December, but all they have earned so far is a small trickle of foreign money.

    During the first week markets were open, net investment in the SZSE barely reached 20% of the daily 13 billion yuan cap on stock purchases.

    “That’s dashed hopes for a surge in foreign investment to counteract persistent capital outflows from China, which have seen the yuan drop 6.3% against the dollar this year,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

    http://punchingbagpost.com/china-opens-stock-markets-to-attract-foreign-money—but-nobody-cares

    Richard: The thing to remember about the reports on the economy from communist countries is that communists always lie. This means you have to look at things besides the reports that are more fiction then reality when making decisions about how strong their economies are. In this case with China working hard to interest foreign investors to prop up the yuan it is a good bet that their economy is in worse shape then ours, after all most of the people who are making the reports about the Chinese economy are disciples of Keynes. You also have to remember that the Chinese Government owns a large portion of all banks and high ranking party members borrow money and don’t pay it back. These two facts combined say that China is in trouble and is trying to avoid a bankruptcy that will bring down their government.

  13. ‘Frexit is ON!’ Marine Le Pen hammers EU and Nato in explosive interview (express, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/747209/Marine-Le-Pen-EU-Brexit-Nato

    “MARINE LE PEN has claimed Nato exists only to “serve Washington’s objectives” and has promised to deliver a referendum on France’s EU membership.

    In an explosive interview, Ms Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front, called for many of the leading nations of the EU to call time on Brussels’ hegemony of the continent.

    She also supported closer ties with Russia as she blasted what she saw as Nato meddling in eastern Europe.

    Speaking to Greek newspaper Dimokratia, the 48-year-old said: “Frexit will be a part of my policy.

    “The people must have the opportunity to vote for the liberation from slavery and blackmail imposed by technocrats in Brussels to return sovereignty to the country.”

    Ms Le Pen’s interview was released in the wake of the Berlin terror attack, where the Tunisian perpetrator had fled across Europe to Italy before being shot and killed…”

  14. Christian worship plummets in Britain as Muslim following rockets by 72 per cent (express, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/746984/Christian-worship-plummets-in-Britain-as-Muslim-following-rockets-by-72-per-cent

    “A GOVERNMENT report has revealed that Christianity is on the wane in Britain dropping to record lows while the number of those following the Muslim faith has rocketed by 72 per cent.

    And the decline in Christianity has fallen from 40.2million down to 36.1m with further declines projected.

    Christianity is still the largest faith group in the UK by a significant margin but those falling away from the church are increasing in numbers and more has to be done by faith leaders to prevent further decline, says the report.

    The Casey Review published earlier this month shows that Islam is now the largest non-Christian religious population in the UK.

    Meanwhile a separate report published by the Brierley Consultancy says UK Church membership has declined from 10.6m in 1930 to 5.5m in 2010.

    The first mosque in Britain, called the The Shah Jahan Mosque, was built in Woking, England in 1889 and there are now an estimated 1,750 in the UK.

    Meanwhile Christianity in Britain is largely associated with the mission of Augustine in 597 AD however it is thought to have arrived as far back as the 1st Century AD.

    The Casey Review report states: “Faith leadership has not to date been strong enough to counter the vocal minority who are bringing religion into disrepute and influencing the attitudes of people who increasingly regard religion as a force for bad.

    “But there has been a significant shift in the religious landscape of the nation, with a reducing number identifying themselves as Christian, more people saying they hold no religion and more diverse and growing minority faith populations, of which Muslims are the most prominent.

    “This increase in the diversity of faiths and beliefs in the UK has increased the visibility of tensions between religious groups and the presence of more visible signs of religion, for example in the growth of mosques, and led to increased anxiety – which has not been sufficiently acknowledged or discussed.

    “We remain predominantly religious, with nearly seven out of 10 of us belonging to a religion.

    “Christians remain a majority, while a quarter of the population holds no religion. But the proportion of Christians fell from 70 per cent to 59 per cent, while the proportion holding no religion grew from 17 per cent to 26 per cent.

    “The number of people belonging to the other main religions grew, with the exception of the Jewish population which remained around the same size.

    “Among faith groups the number of people identifying themselves as Muslim grew most significantly, by 1.2m people.

    “This 72 per cent increase is higher than for any other religious group and Muslims make up the largest non-Christian religious population in the UK at 2.8m in total, compared with 0.8m Hindus, 0.4m Sikhs, 0.3m Jews and 0.3m Buddhists.”…”

    • Are they leaving Christianity or just leaving the Church of England for a different Protestant Church?

      • Are they leaving Christianity or just leaving the Church of England for a different Protestant Church?

        More importantly, are hordes of native Britons merely abandoning any patronage of their turban kissing Islamophilic treasonous religious leaders but somehow, all-the-same, maintaining their faith?

        Rest assured that those at the Beeb (BBC) would rather drink hot battery acid neat rather allow such a statistic to cross their lips.

  15. Rebels blamed for ‘poisoning’ Damascus water (france24, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20161225-rebels-blamed-poisoning-damascus-water

    “Residents of the Syrian capital were facing their third consecutive day of water shortages on Sunday, with authorities accusing “terrorist groups” of deliberately poisoning water resources.

    The government cut off water to Damascus on Friday after concerns that rebel groups west of the city had poisoned wells and pipes.

    A statement by the Damascus City Water Supply and Sewage Authority said it had halted supplies after “terrorist attacks on all water resources feeding into Damascus and its surroundings”.

    It said it was using reserves and would pump water to various city neighbourhoods according to a schedule published on its website…”

  16. Israel summons foreign envoys after UN call to end settements (france24, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20161225-israel-summons-foreign-envoys-jerusalem-un-vote-settements

    “Israel summoned the ambassadors of 10 nations to Jerusalem to reprimand them on Sunday and had more harsh words for the Obama administration over a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an end to settlement-building.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put his personal imprint on the show of anger by repeating at the weekly cabinet meeting what an unidentified Israeli government official contended on Friday – that Washington had conspired with the Palestinians to push for the resolution’s adoption.

    The White House has denied the allegation.

    The vote passed in the 15-member Security Council on Friday because the United States broke with its long-standing approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and did not wield, as a permanent member of the forum, its veto power, instead abstaining.

    “According to our information, we have no doubt the Obama administration initiated it (the resolution), stood behind it, coordinated the wording and demanded it be passed,” Netanyahu told the cabinet in public remarks.

    Ambassadors from 10 of the 14 countries that voted in favour of the resolution and have embassies in Israel – Britain, China, Russia, France, Egypt, Japan, Uruguay, Spain, Ukraine and New Zealand – were summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, the ministry said.

    Sunday is a regular work day in Israel, but most embassies are closed, and calling in envoys on Christmas Day is highly unusual.

    At the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu described a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, when Israel and President-elect Donald Trump successfully pressed Egypt to drop the anti-settlement resolution it had put forward.

    It was resubmitted a day later by New Zealand, Senegal, Venezuela and Malaysia.

    “Over decades American administrations and Israeli governments disagreed about settlements, but we agreed that the security council was not the place to resolve this issue,” Netanyahu said.

    “We knew that going there would make negotiations harder and drive peace farther away. As I told John Kerry on Thursday, ‘Friends don’t take friends to the Security Council’,” he said, switching from Hebrew to English.

    Israel has pursued a policy of constructing settlements on territory it captured in a 1967 war with its Arab neighbours – the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Palestinians seek for a state.

    Most countries view the settlement activity as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel disagrees, citing biblical and historical connections to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as security interests.”

  17. Berlin U-Bahn attackers try to set homeless man on fire in Christmas Eve attack (DW, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/berlin-u-bahn-attackers-try-to-set-homeless-man-on-fire-in-christmas-eve-attack/a-36908525

    “Just weeks after a subway attack triggered a national outcry, a group attacked a homeless man with fire. Police are treating the attack as an attempted murder.

    A group of people attempted to set fire to a homeless person sleeping in a Berlin subway station on Christmas Eve, police said on Sunday.

    Police were searching for five or six unknown assailants who threw a burning object onto the 37-year-old man, setting fire to his bedding, a police report said.

    People passing by, including a train driver with a fire extinguisher, rescued the man from the flames. He was uninjured but his belongings were destroyed.

    “These days we should expect charity. Instead, we are experiencing human contempt,” said Berlin’s state interior minister Andreas Geisel on Sunday.

    “I am horrified and thank all those who have courageously helped. This is true fellow-humanity.”
    The attack happened in the Schönleinstraße U-Bahn station, on the border of the Kreuzberg and Neukölln districts.

    Police were treating the attack, which was captured on unreleased closed circuit camera footage, as an attempted murder.

    German news agency dpa said the attack was carried out by a group of teenagers.

    Only two weeks ago, an unprovoked attack in a station three stops away triggered nationwide condemnation. A 27-year-old Bulgarian man allegedly kicked a young woman down a set of stairs in Hermannstraße, breaking her arm. The incident was captured on security cameras.

    After the attack, several police organizations called for more video surveillance in Germany.”

  18. Abu Walaa: The ‘faceless’ Islamist preacher and the Berlin attack (DW, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/abu-walaa-the-faceless-islamist-preacher-and-the-berlin-attack/a-36903115

    “Authorities are investigating whether the main suspect behind the Berlin terror attack has links to an Iraqi preacher based in Germany named Abu Walaa. DW takes a closer look at the so-called “preacher without a face.”

    He appears in videos shrouded in black or with his back facing the camera. He doles out advice on his Facebook page to hundreds, if not thousands, of followers. And he is suspected of being one of Germany’s top recruiters for the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group.

    Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A., better known as Abu Walaa, is thought to have been in contact with the man who allegedly plowed a truck into a Berlin Christmas market on Monday night, killing 12 people and injuring 49.

    Authorities are still unclear as to how, when or where Anis Amri, the Tunisian refugee suspected of carrying out the attack in Berlin, might have been radicalized. But they believe the 24-year-old, who was killed in a shootout with Italian police on Friday, had made contact with members of Germany’s ultra-conservative Salafist scene, possibly including Walaa…”

    • Shouldn’t they just take this Abu Walaa into preliminary custody as part of securing a golden opportunity to hone their skills in providing lengthy and intensive Parking Lot Therapy?

      As an aside—distorted video images or not—wouldn’t voice analysis (remember, you can’t spell “analysis” without A-N-A-L) or speech patterns be adequate to identify this turd?

  19. Al-Jazeera producer arrested in Egypt for ‘broadcasting false news’: Interior ministry (ahram, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/253842/Egypt/Politics-/AlJazeera-producer-arrested-in-Egypt-for-broadcast.aspx

    “Egypt’s interior ministry said on Sunday that it has arrested an Egyptian producer with the Qatari-based news network Al-Jazeera for “incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos”.

    The ministry said in an official statement that Al-Jazeera’s head of Egyptian correspondents Mohamed Hussein Gomaa was arrested at a residence in Giza, where police confiscated thousands of video tapes and production equipment.

    The High State Security Prosecution has ordered that Gomaa be detained for 15 days pending investigation…”

  20. KRG PM: Military force to push PKK out of Sinjar may be used (hurriyetdailynews, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/krg-pm-military-force-to-push-pkk-out-of-sinjar-may-be-used.aspx?pageID=238&nID=107720&NewsCatID=352

    “Military force may be an option to fight the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Sinjar district near Mosul in northern Iraq, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has said, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported on Dec. 24…”

  21. All ISIL members should be burned if claims on Turkish soldiers are true: MHP leader (hurriyetdailynews, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/all-isil-members-should-be-burned-if-claims-on-turkish-soldiers-are-true-mhp-leader.aspx?pageID=238&nID=107736&NewsCatID=338

    “All members of the jihadist terrorist organization should be burned if video released by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) showing two Turkish soldiers being burned alive is true, Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party said in a party meeting over the weekend…”

  22. Khawaja Asif directs nuclear threat at Israel after reading fake news (tribune, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1274493/khawaja-asif-directs-nuclear-threat-israel-reading-fake-news/

    “Defence Minister Khawaja Asif directed a nuclear threat to Israel in response to a fake news report that quoted Israeli defence minister threatening to “destroy [Pakistan] with a nuclear attack.”

    The defence minister took to Twitter in a scathing post directed at Israel following the false report saying, “Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh,” adding that “Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too.”

    The fake story, titled “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops to Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack,” published on awdnews.com, even got the Israeli defence minister’s name wrong; attributing the statement to a former minister, Moshe Yaalon.

    The typo-laden headline published on December 20 was not the first time a fake news article was posted on the website. Earlier, the website had published an article with the headline, “Clinton is staging a military coup against Trump.”

    The Israeli Defence Ministry responded on Twitter to clarify the report was false. “The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan was never said,” the ministry wrote in the post directed at Asif. In a second post it said, “Reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false.”

    Asif has not yet responded to the Israelis however, his post has been retweeted more than 400 times; many mocking him for his mistake.

    The fake news phenomenon has sent major internet companies scrambling to respond amid claims that bogus reports that proliferated ahead of the US presidential election may have skewed the result…”

  23. US approves sale of night vision military system to Pakistan (tribune, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1274543/us-approves-sale-night-vision-military-system-pakistan/

    “The United States has approved the sale of a night vision infrared target sight system for Pakistan to enable greater target accuracy, Radio Pakistan reported.

    The arms giant Lockheed Martin Corp will support the Target Sight System (TSS) on the US Navy and Pakistan’s AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters under a $151 million contract deal, said a statement by the US Defence Department.

    According to Lockheed Martin, “TSS provides the capability to identify and laser-designate targets at maximum weapon range, significantly enhancing platform survivability and lethality.”

    The system is designed to offers a infrared sensor with a laser designator turret that provides target sighting in day, night, or adverse weather conditions.

    Earlier this year, US State Department said that vital members of the US Congress are not prepared to support military aid to Pakistan unless it takes specific actions against designated terrorists, saying the Obama administration is bound to follow their decision.

    “Key members of Congress have been clear they’re not prepared to support US military aid to Pakistan absent some specific actions,” Elizabeth Trudeau, a State Department’s official, said at a briefing.

    The statement coincided with Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz telling the lawmakers in Senate that the relations between Islamabad and Washington had been on a downward spiral.”

  24. Iran Says Will Only Pay Half Price for New Boeing Planes (abcnews, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-pay-half-price-boeing-planes-44392363

    “Iran’s official IRNA news agency is reporting the deputy transport minister as saying that his county will only pay half of the announced price for 80 new Boeing planes, given the reductions in its purchasing options.

    According to the Sunday report, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan says that despite an initial $16.8 billion deal with Boeing to purchase 80 passenger planes, “Regarding the style of our order and its options, the purchase contract for 80 Boeing aircraft is worth about 50 percent of the amount.” He did not elaborate.

    Boeing has made no immediate comment.

    Iran announced earlier this month that it had finalized the deal, which was made possible by last year’s landmark nuclear agreement. It is the largest single contract with an U.S. company since the 1979 revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy.”

      • That should kill the deal, which is probably what Iran is trying to do. For some reason they want another reason to hate and attack the US, this gives it to them.

    • Perfect. A 50% loss will kill even the most lucrative deal.

      Good effing riddance. Any American company whose profitability relies upon transactions with a terrorist, rogue nation like Iran should not remain in business. Period. Full Stop.

      Dont’cha love it when the @sshollas try to dictate terms?

  25. Muslim Extremists: Cheerleading the Killers

    by Khadija Khan
    December 25, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9644/muslim-extremists

    The world saw a massacre in Aleppo, the assassination of Russian ambassador in Turkey, a brazen terror attack in Berlin and a shooting incident in a Zurich mosque – all just last week. We also saw religious extremists across the Muslim world cheering for the killers of both the Russian envoy and the truck driver in Germany.

    ISIS hailed the Berlin terror attack and the killing of the Russian ambassador while themselves facing imminent extinction due to massive Russian, European and US led strikes against their strongholds in Mosul, Raqqa, Aleppo and other cities.

    Terrorists such as ISIS and their sympathizers seemed translating this chaos into another opportunity to pour the “victim narrative” into the minds of naïve Muslim youths apparently in the hope of recruiting more soldiers for their holy war.

    One incident of the behavior witnessed in Pakistan where the biggest religious political party was seen cheerleading for the anti-Russia attack, hailing the extremist Muslim killer, Melvut Mert-Altintas, as a hero.

    Jamaat e Islami (JI), a radical political party in nuclear-armed Pakistan, has never been able to win popular support in the parliament, yet is being blamed for the butchery against Bengalis in 1970s. Jamaat is involved in celebrating the killers, and they have hundreds of thousands of followers across the Subcontinent as well as in Pakistan.

    • In keeping with Saddam Husein’s hallowed traditions, I’m hoping that each and every one of these spectacular losers were slowly lowered, feet-first and living, into an industrial shredder.

      Just for this one time alone, I vow to restrain the slightest urge to notify anyone at Human Rights Watch.

      Promise.

  26. ‘Europe’s Christian legacy in danger’ Archbishop of Vienna in warning about migrant crisis (express, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/747224/Archbishop-Vienna-Cardinal-Schonborn-migrant-crisis-Austria

    “THE Archbishop of Vienna has said the “unbelievable number” of migrants that had arrived in Austria was more than his country could cope with.

    Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said he had come to “rethink” his stance on the migrant crisis during a special Christmas TV discussion programme with Protestant Bishop Michael Bünker.

    The Cardinal, who is tipped as a possible future leader of the Roman Catholic church, said he was no longer convinced that Europe should accept all arrivals.

    He said that it was better to concentrate on providing support to the nations in Africa and the East, hoping that migrants “could live in their homeland again.”

    He added that he was becoming “more cautious” in his attitude as migrants had arrived in “unbelievable number”.

    He said: “We have had to learn, this [crisis] goes well beyond our capacity and ability.”

    Speaking about the changing mood in the country, with the rise of the anti-mass migration Freedom Party which looks to gain ground in the upcoming general election, the Cardinal said: “Our country is worried”.

    His comments will put him at odds with senior members of the Catholic clergy who have vocally advocated mass migration.

    The Archbishop of Cologne, the German city that saw the New Year’s Eve attacks and sexual assaults, Archbishop Woelki used a migrant boat taken from the Mediterranean as an altar in special service overlooking the Cathedral square.

    Cardinal Schönborn is something of a controversial figure within the church, describing himself as the intellectual architect of “lifestyle ecumenism” and has previously spoken out over Islam…”

    • The Cardinal, who is tipped as a possible future leader of the Roman Catholic church, said he was no longer convinced that Europe should accept all arrivals.

      He said that it was better to concentrate on providing support to the nations in Africa and the East, hoping that migrants “could live in their homeland again.”

      Reality rears its ugly head. Better late then never as long as it isn’t too late.

  27. Most Germans favor additional security measures – poll (DW, Dec 25, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/most-germans-favor-additional-security-measures-poll/a-36909404

    “Sixty percent of Germans want more video surveillance in public spaces, according to a new YouGov poll published on Sunday. The public call comes in the wake of the Berlin Christmas market attack.

    Appearing to support government plans to change the law to allow increased video surveillance, 73 percent of Germans poll supported the idea of having large police forces…”

  28. MEMRI TV – Shiite Cleric: ‘Omar Had an Anal Disease Cured By Semen’

    Following are excerpts from an address by London-based Kuwaiti Shiite cleric Yasser Habib, which aired on Fadak TV on May 24, 2012. Fadak TV is dominated by Sheik Habib, who fled Kuwait in 2004 following a one-year prison term for cursing the Caliphs Omar and Abu Bakr and Prophet Muhammad’s wife Aisha. He was then sentenced in absentia for 10 years in prison. In September 2010, Kuwait revoked his citizenship.

    Yasser Habib: Anyone who consents to being called “Emir of the Believers” is a passive homosexual. Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, for example, who willingly assumed this title, was, without a doubt, a passive homosexual. The same goes for the caliphs Othman Ibn Affan, Muawiyya, Yazid, and the rulers and sultans of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties, as well as some of the rulers and sultans of our day and age. For example, the king of Morocco bears this title, and he is referred to as “the Emir of the Believers” by the [Moroccan] media. This is how you know that he is a passive homosexual.

    This is in addition to the evidence revealed by Western media, which showed that the current king of Morocco is indeed a passive homosexual who belongs to the homosexual community. This was leaked from his palace by his assistants, his servants, and his “boys,” whom he would penetrate and who would penetrate him. They fled to Europe, sought asylum, and exposed all this.

    Another such example is the person who ruled Afghanistan for a short time – the so-called Mullah Omar.

  29. MEMRI TV – Muslims Outside Syrian Embassy in London Call for Caliphate and that “USA will pay”

  30. Germany: Hundreds begin 3000 km march to Aleppo in effort to raise awareness

    Hundreds of people gathered in Berlin on Monday morning to begin a 3000 km (1864 miles) march which will follow the reverse refugee route – intended symbolically – to the city of Aleppo in Syria.