Reader’s links for January 24 – 2017

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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

97 Replies to “Reader’s links for January 24 – 2017”

  2. US Sent $221 Million to Palestinians in Obama’s Last Hours

    WASHINGTON — Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking.

    A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.

    In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations, the congressional aides said. The aides and the State Department official weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

    How do you define T R E A S O N ???

    Anything further would make me vomit. Forgive me.

    • American taxpayer dollars paying pensions for suicde bombers families but I’m supposed to fear “populism “.

      • Well obviously populism is what we need to fear… After all who would want a politician looking out for the interest of the voters. That is so un-progressive… 🙂
        And after all there is the current year and stuff!

      • (sarc)We all know that the right wing voters don’t know what is best for them, they need the elite in DC to make those decisions.(sarc) I added the first and last word so people that don’t know me will know I am being sarcastic.

    • Obama sends $221M to Palestinians in final hours as president

      Fox News Strategic Analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters weighs in on why the Obama Administration gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority.

  4. More nauseating displays of liberal insantiy (pussy march in Berlin).

    (from the original poster)This clip from a “women’s march” against Trump in Berlin shows feminists chanting and singing “Allahu Akbar” and “Pussy grabs back”. They also held signs demanding an “end to white supremacy” and that “Donald Trump is not [their] president”. The protest was likely organized by a subsidiary of George Soros’ Open Society foundation. These types of protesters in Germany, who call themselves “anti-fascists”, receive hourly wages to wreak havoc and protest for globalist agendas. Indoctrinated college students follow whatever they are directed towards, hence feminism in Germany apparently now means chanting “Allahu Akbar” and makes young German girls cry tears of joy.

    Usually I don’t comment too much on the stories, but the irony of demanding Islam to replace “white supremacy” and praising Allah as a so-called “feminist” is just too good. They are also absolutely correct to assume that Donald Trump is not their president, since probably none of them are U.S. citizens.

    • “This clip from a “women’s march” against Trump in Berlin shows feminists chanting and singing “Allahu Akbar” and “Pussy grabs back”. They also held signs demanding an “end to white supremacy” and that “Donald Trump is not [their] president”.”

      This buncha fü¢kwits aren’t even in America. So, how in hell is Trump’s presidency a point of direct concern?!? Oops, I forgot that these sort of Socialist d!psh!ts can cobble up an issue out of thin air.

      Perish the thought that they might find themselves just slightly more concerned about the rape, strangulation, murder and drowning of Maria Ladenburger. Gah!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • This is all Soros’ machine-driven.

      A Russian friend just told me about the scandal at the building where she works as a home-health aide. These units house mostly frail, elderly Russians.

      Excursion buses regularly take dozens of them on day-trips: casinos in New Hampshire, harvest festivals, shopping outlets for tax-free fun. Mostly the same people sign up for everything to go everywhere. It’s the highlight of their lives.

      They were unpleasantly surprised, however, to find themselves dumped downtown, maybe two miles away, for a “Women’s Protest March”. It’s hardly the “excursion” they expected – no ride to the countryside, no lunch, no shelter from the elements.

      And a mob with riot potential, for old Russkis?! Vulgar screamers pushed them around, streets were blocked off, they were trapped for hours with no where to sit down. My friend was furious: her clients were ill and completely unsettled.

      Dirty old Soros, dirty young operatives.

  6. I imagine there must be other countries in the world allocating state funds via official Ministries for the protection of Christians. I imagine some of these countries must be Muslim, because how better can Moderate Islam express it’s solidarity with the rest of humanity than to give tangible support for Christian victims at the hands of their “extreme” brothers? In fact, I imagine there must also be western Moderate Muslim NGOs AND private muslim citizens donating money to prove that moderate Islam exists and that it is a positive force for humanity. I imagine that if asked, every single Islamic organization, including the mosque down your street, is eager to open their books to show exactly how much they have donated to this cause. After all, how better to reinforce the multictural narrative?…”here’s our mouth…here’s our money…?” How better to prove the Religion of Peace? How much of the money going into halal, or that little cardboard donation box on the counter of every muslim-run donair shop is going to help Christians?

    The proof of true sentiment is in the numbers. 1.5 billion Muslims on earth, and a poor central European country trying to help Christians is even necessary?

    Cough it up moderates. Or are you?

    http://budapesttimes.hu/2017/01/21/the-persecuted-christians-are-our-relatives/

    • Blasphemy, Johnny!
      For even the sweetest, most gentle among the Millions of Moderate Moslems – that’s a direct violation of the KORAN!
      it's not the Bible, ya know?
      The MOST they could do would be to muzzle their own animals, and that’s only a hudna.

      • I know, I know. Virtue signaling tards are just so full of shit. If there is such an animal.

        • Mathematicians say they have proven some formulas that say if you can imagine something it can exist so maybe there are one or two hiding out somewhere.

  7. China says will protect South China Sea sovereignty

    China said on Tuesday it had “irrefutable” sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea after the White House vowed to defend “international territories” in the strategic waterway.

    White House spokesman Sean Spicer in his comments on Monday signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious U.S. handling of China’s assertive pursuit of territorial claims in Asia.

    “The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there,” Spicer said when asked if Trump agreed with comments by his secretary of state nominee, Rex Tillerson. On Jan. 11, Tillerson said China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea.

    “It’s a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we’re going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country,” Spicer said.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing on Tuesday “the United States is not

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-southchinasea-idUSKBN1572M4

    • A lot of people are freaking out about the possibility of war if we stand up to China, the possibility of war is much higher if we don’t stand up to China. WWII could have been delayed to stopped if Britain and France had stood up to Hitler much earlier and started a military buildup to ofl set what Germany was doing. We either stop China now or fight a large war in the near future.

      • Exactly right. You’re channeling Churchill.
        (I’m listening to my Russki practice diction reading Churchill aloud. It’s painful, but better than Stalin in translation.)

        • He was a brilliant man but the Brit voters feared their future too much to leave him in power after the war, pity the world would have been very different.

            • I introduced him to Churchill. He’s trying, but it’s work.
              Non-native speakers of English don’t have the subliminal KJB that resonates in most of our Anglo-American public oratory. What’s just there for us, they lose entirely.

              Whole paragraphs of the POTUS address were unusual: paraphrased Old Testament. The translation was not the KJB or more modern texts popular among Christians. Rather it used a common translation from the Hebrew for English-speaking Jews. It wouldn’t be immediately identifiable to the general public; it’s less cliched and more direct, more muscular.

              I was so excited I actually got up to dance, singing the corresponding Hebrew verses set to old-fashioned music.

  8. Brexit: Supreme Court says Parliament must give Article 50 go-ahead

    Parliament must vote on whether the government can start the Brexit process, the Supreme Court has ruled.

    The judgement means Theresa May cannot begin talks with the EU until MPs and peers give their backing – although this is expected to happen in time for the government’s 31 March deadline.

    But the court ruled the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say.

    Brexit Secretary David Davis promised a parliamentary bill “within days”.
    What the Supreme Court case was about

    During the Supreme Court hearing, campaigners argued that denying the UK Parliament a vote was undemocratic and a breach of long-standing constitutional principles.

    They said that triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – getting formal exit negotiations with the EU under way – would mean overturning existing UK law, so MPs and peers should decide.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38720320

    • Do they have brains enough to listen to the voters or are they so arrogant they think they can contain any resentment?

  9. Paris deploys soldiers to protect mega-rich tourists

    Paris has introduced extra security measures to reassure the rich and famous in town for Haute Couture Fashion Week of their safety in the wake of a series of high-profile robberies.

    Additional bodywand scans and identity checks will be in place at luxury events taking place across the French capital this week, as well as bag inspections. Armed military personnel have been stationed at some of the city’s most popular monuments, including the Grand Palais, where many of the fashion houses’ high-end shows and parties are taking place. Cement barriers, too, have been installed.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/paris/articles/paris-tightens-fashion-week-security-to-reassure-the-rich-and-fa/

  10. A mosque is at the center of a raw debate in the South of France

    NICE, France — The Mosque En-Nour is hidden on the outskirts of town, tucked away in an anonymous office park behind the airport and off a highway. No feature betrays its identity; no sign marks its entrance.

    Yet many people know exactly where to find it, and some are convinced that it has to go. On two occasions since it opened in June, nearby residents, to humiliate worshipers, have left the bloodied heads of pigs outside the mosque’s door. Shortly thereafter, regional authorities resumed their push to shut it down, after nearly 15 years of trying — and failing — to prevent it from opening.

    This modest, nondescript house of worship, the largest yet to open in the region, has become a symbol of the precarious position occupied by French Muslims, the country’s largest minority, in a society reeling from terrorist violence and hurtling toward a watershed presidential election. If the mosque is forced to close, it would violate the age-old promise of a proudly secular republic never to discriminate among citizens on the basis of race or religion.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/a-mosque-is-at-the-center-of-a-raw-debate-in-the-south-of-france/2017/01/22/e12dd91a-dcdd-11e6-8902-610fe486791c_story.html?utm_term=.5c2eb23e9c02

  11. Conway gets Secret Service protection due to death threats

    President Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway is getting Secret Service protection after receiving suspicious “white substances” at her home, she revealed in a TV interview.

    The White House counselor — Trump’s most visible adviser — is being protected by the same agency tasked with his security after receiving the threats, Conway told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

    “Because of what the press is doing now to me, I have Secret Service protection,” she said. “We have packages delivered to my house with white substances. That is a shame.”

    While Conway’s Secret Service detail is unusual, it is not without precedent.

    Barack Obama’s closest adviser, Valerie Jarrett, also was protected by the agency.

    http://nypost.com/2017/01/24/conway-gets-secret-service-protection-due-to-death-threats/

    • That’s because Valerie Jarrett’s an agent for the mullah regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Any number of parties would be tempted to knock her off.

      • The press is out to destroy all of Trump’s people and we don’t know which of the reports if any are to be believed. Some fools are ready to believe anything the Propaganda Media say and thus are easy to set on a violent course.

  12. Japan launches first military communications satellite

    Japan on Tuesday launched its first military communications satellite to boost the broadband capacity of its Self Defence Forces as they reinforce an island chain stretching along the southern edge of the East China Sea.

    Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the military is operating further from Japan’s home islands as it takes on a bigger role to counter growing Chinese military activity in the region.

    The satellite lifted off from Japan’s Tanegashima space port aboard an H-IIA rocket at 0744 GMT and successfully entered orbit, said a spokesman for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which builds the launcher.

    The satellites is one of three planned so-called X-band satellites, that will quadruple broadband capacity, unify a fractured and overburdened communications network and allow communications across more territory.

    Japan and China are locked in a territorial dispute in the East China Sea over a group of uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The two countries are also at odds over the exploitation of gas fields that straddle exclusive economic zones claimed by both.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-military-satellite-idUSKBN1580VZ?il=0

    • Teacher blames religious upbringing for sex acts with boy, 14 (express, Jan 24, 2017)
      http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/758376/Teacher-religious-upbringing-sex-acts-boy-pupil-student

      “A TEACHER blamed her strict religious upbringing for romping with underage pupils.

      Linda Hardan, 22, sent 40 selfies of herself “in varying states of undress” to a 14-year-old.

      She then drove him to a waterfall and gave him oral sex.

      But the teenager was “so upset, so disgusted that he got out of the car and walked home” two miles away, a court heard.

      Another student, 16, was so traumatised by Hardan’s actions that he dropped out of school and never returned, said prosecutor Gyselle Da Silva.

      Hardan, who also admitted sexting another 16-year-old, wept quietly as relatives said she was “the foundation, the rock” of her family and pleaded for her to be spared jail.

      She faced up to five years behind bars after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to sending sexually explicit texts and having sex with students while a supply teacher at Manchester Regional High School, Haledon, New Jersey.

      Her lawyer Alissa Hascup claimed her antics had partly been due to her strict religious upbringing.

      Prison would do no good and Hardan should be treated by a therapist under strict supervision instead, she said.

      Passaic County Superior Court Judge Miguel de la Carrera acknowledged that Hardan appeared to have had a sheltered and stunted emotional development because of her strict upbringing.

      “She had classmates and friends, but somehow, perhaps because of limitations on her dating life, she didn’t find the proper outlet among males of her own age,” he said.

      “She did not learn how to interact with guys her age.”

      The judge said his sentencing options were limited, reports NorthJerseycom.

      He said: ”There might be a wish for the law to be more nuanced, a wish that the law might be different, but it’s not.”

      The judge jailed Harden for three years after refusing to delay sentencing until she finished studies at a community college in May.

      She will be eligible for parole after a year but will be under strict supervisory probation for the rest of her life, the judge said.”

  14. Team Trump and the communication battlespace
    By J.E. Dyer January 24, 2017

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/01/24/team-trump-communication-battlespace/

    I think this next four years is going to fly by, and at the end of it, people will be looking around asking themselves where all the time has gone.

    That’s my way of saying the opposite of “It’s going to be a long four years,” or words to that effect.

    And I mean it. What the Trump administration is doing in the public communication realm is very interesting to watch. It upends expectations. It’s got just about everyone off guard.

    I don’t think the Washington establishment or the majority of pundits in general really understand what they’re seeing. They think, for example, that what they’re seeing is the Trump administration being thin-skinned or incompetent, or both.

    But what they’re actually seeing is the Trump administration not doing what they expect it to do, based on their premises about what communication ought to be, and ought to be for.

  16. Ratinger Prinzenpaar traf Angela Merkel

    Das Karnevals-Prinzenpaar aus Ratingen hat am Montag (23.01.2017) Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel getroffen. Prinz Samuel und Prinzessin Jacinta vertraten das Land NRW beim traditionellen närrischen Empfang im Bundeskanzleramt. Die beiden stammen aus Kamerun und sind eines der ersten Prinzenpaare mit afrikanischen Wurzeln bundesweit.

    Der Präsident des Bundes Deutscher Karneval, Klaus-Ludwig Fess, stellte der Kanzlerin die “Tollitäten” aus den 16 Bundesländern vor. Dabei wurde jeweils ein regionales Musikstück gespielt, Merkel erhielt von jedem Prinzenpaar einen Karnevalsorden. Rund 2,6 Millionen Deutsche sind Mitglied in einem Karnevalsverein.
    “Eine große Ehre für uns”

    “Es ist eine ganz große Ehre für uns, die Farben Ratingens und Nordrhein-Westfalens in Berlin vertreten zu dürfen”, sagte Samuel I. Das Paar wurde in Kamerun geboren und besitzt seit einigen Jahren die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft.

    Die Ratinger haben das ungewöhnliche Paar bislang sehr positiv aufgenommen, erzählt Samuel: “Alles ist gut gelaufen. Alle wissen, Prinz Samuel der erste kommt und Prinzessin Jacinta, die erste kommt. Und die freuen sich, das Prinzenpaar zu sehen, und mit uns natürlich zu reden und sich auszutauschen. Also es läuft eigentlich super, besser hätten wir es uns nicht vorstellen können.”

    http://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/ratingen-prinzenpaar-merkel-100.html

  17. Germany: Integration ‘a big task’ for refugees – Merkel

    In one of her first major appearances of the election year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel outlined her vision for refugee and asylum policy in a speech in Wuerzburg, Monday.

    Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “And now we are facing a difficult task, but we need to carry out this task. We are a state of law, and in a state of law help and support is given to those who need help. But in order to be able to continue doing so further, we need to say to those who after constitutional proceedings have not been allowed right of residence, that they need to leave our country again. That belongs to the regulation and governing of the process as well. We have learnt together in the politics, that the faster we decide, the better it is for the people concerned.

    Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “Those who have the right to stay, at least for a designated period of time, the big task is the integration. As well here we have brought forward a lot, we have shown openness and readiness for rapprochement. This readiness has to be there on both of the sides. I always say that if I came to Germany from Syria or Afghanistan, I probably couldn’t immediately understand everything either, how everything is organised and governed here, it is not so easy, believe me. It wasn’t so easy even after the German unification to copy everything instantly, how things are done here.”

    Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “But naturally Germany is a country into which a lot of people flee and want to come, because we have order, legal order, which secures justice and human dignity, and that’s exactly why we wait that those who come here to us hold this legal order, our constitution, and understand that freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, protection of citizens and people, requires not only tolerance but also respect from each person and that only with this respect towards our order a peaceful coexistence is possible.”

  19. NYT – Trump Is Said to Keep James Comey as F.B.I. Director

    WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, told his top agents from around the country that he had been asked by President Trump to stay on the job running the federal government’s top law enforcement agency, according to people familiar with the matter.

    A decision to retain Mr. Comey would spare the president another potentially bruising confirmation battle. It also would keep Mr. Comey at the center of the F.B.I.’s investigation into several Trump associates and their potential ties with the Russian government.

    Retaining Mr. Comey could also help calm the bureau’s work force, which has been rattled after a tumultuous few months in which the F.B.I. and the director himself were sharply criticized for moves that many felt influenced the outcome of the presidential election.

    During the campaign, Mr. Trump harshly criticized the F.B.I. and Justice Department for not bringing criminal charges against Hillary Clinton in connection with her use of a personal email server. After Mr. Trump was elected in November, he said in a nationally televised interview that he had not made up his mind about whether he would ask Mr. Comey to resign.
    Continue reading the main story

    When Mr. Comey and the president-elect met in Trump Tower for the first time earlier this month for an intelligence briefing, Mr. Trump told the F.B.I. director that he hoped he would remain in his position, according to people briefed on the matter. And Mr. Trump’s aides have made it clear to Mr. Comey that the president does not plan to ask him to leave, these people said.

    Then, last Wednesday, during a weekly conference call, Mr. Comey relayed the news to his senior employees, who are known as special agents in charge.

    Under federal law, the F.B.I. director is appointed to a 10-year-term, intended to overlap more than one administration as part of post-Watergate overhauls created to give the director independence and insulate the job from politics. The president can fire the director. Mr. Comey, a former senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush, was appointed by President Obama in 2013.

    Those who described the plans for the F.B.I. director spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing confidential conversations between Mr. Trump, his aides and Mr. Comey.

    Representatives for the F.B.I. and White House declined to comment.

    Mr. Comey will have to manage an increasingly difficult relationship with Mr. Trump and his White House, as the F.B.I. is leading an investigation into ties between Mr. Trump’s associates — including his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort — and the Russian government. As part of that inquiry, agents have examined intercepted communications and financial transactions. Mr. Comey has repeatedly declined to discuss the investigation with members of Congress.

    Mrs. Clinton and many Democrats blame Mr. Comey for her defeat, and it is not clear whether she would have kept him on had she won.

    In July, Mr. Comey held a news conference to announce that the bureau was recommending to the Justice Department that Mrs. Clinton or her aides not be charged in connection with the mishandling of classified information on her personal email server. At the news conference, Mr. Comey took the unusual step of criticizing how Mrs. Clinton and her aides handled classified information, saying it was “extremely careless.”

    Then, 11 days before the election, Mr. Comey sent a letter to Congress saying new emails that appeared related to the investigation had surfaced, which the bureau needed to analyze.

    The letter set off a flurry of reports about Mrs. Clinton’s personal email server. The emails had been found as part of an unrelated investigation into illicit text messages Anthony D. Weiner — the estranged husband of Mrs. Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin — had sent to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. Two days before the election, Mr. Comey sent another letter to Congress, saying that the emails had not changed the F.B.I.’s original recommendation to not charge Mrs. Clinton.

    Republicans most likely would have attacked Mrs. Clinton if she had asked Mr. Comey to resign upon her election, but some people close to her have said that she was willing to endure whatever political cost was necessary in order to ensure Mr. Comey lost his job.

    The Justice Department’s inspector general is investigating Mr. Comey’s handling of the Clinton email case, including both his decision to discuss it at a news conference and to disclose just days before the election that he had new information that could lead him to reopen it.

    The F.B.I. says it welcomes the investigation, and F.B.I. officials say they believe more information will be made available to the public that will help explain his actions.

    On Sunday at the White House, Mr. Trump held an event to honor law enforcement officers who provided security for the inauguration. After calling the Secret Service director to the front of the room, Mr. Trump spotted Mr. Comey.

    “Oh, there’s Jim, he’s become more famous than me,” Mr. Trump said.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/us/politics/trump-comey-fbi-director-.html

  20. MEMRI TV – Fatah Central Committee Member Jibril Rajoub: Trump a “Lunatic” and a “Fascist”

    • Brothers arrested in west Germany suspected of joining Isis (thelocal, Jan 24, 2017)
      https://www.thelocal.de/20170124/brothers-arrested-in-west-germany-suspected-of-joining-isis

      “Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said that two brothers had been arrested in the greater Bonn area, suspects of being members of terrorist group Isis.

      The German-Moroccan brothers, aged 24 and 25, are accused of joining Isis as well as the al-Nusra Front terrorist group.

      The older brother, Rachid B., reportedly travelled across Egypt and Turkey to Syria in February 2013 and initially joined al-Nusra Front. There he received shooting, combat and weapons training, and was given an assault rifle as well as ammunition. In April 2013, he helped capture a suspected spy, who was held for over a week.

      By May of that year, Rachid B. left al-Nusra Front and joined Isis, keeping his assault rifle. With Isis he was trained in shooting and combat missions, and also held guard duty, according to prosecutors.

      During this time he stayed in touch with his younger brother Khalid B. and advised him on which route to take to reach Syria.

      Khalid B. reached Syria by July of 2013 from Germany and also joined Isis training…”

  22. NATO marks closer ties with Gulf partners, opens new centre in Kuwait

    NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg led the North Atlantic Council in celebrating the opening of the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) Regional Centre on Tuesday (24 January 2017). During an inauguration ceremony in Kuwait, the Secretary General highlighted the Centre’s potential in strengthening the partnership between NATO and Gulf partners, including in the important fight against terrorism.

    The Secretary General thanked Kuwait for hosting the Centre and for its long-standing leadership in promoting regional security. As NATO’s first presence in the Gulf region, the NATO-ICI Regional Centre will be a vital hub for practical cooperation in a range of areas, including strategic analysis, civil emergence planning, military-to-military cooperation and public diplomacy. “The partnerships we will strengthen through this Centre are vitally important to NATO, because the security of Gulf countries is directly linked to the security of all Allies,” said Mr. Stoltenberg.

    Following the ceremony, the 28 members of the North Atlantic Council and its partners of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative met to discuss common security challenges. They were joined by Oman and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In his opening remarks, Mr. Stoltenberg stressed NATO’s commitment to working with partners in the Gulf region to enhance regional security and to counter shared threats, such as terrorism and extremism.

    In Kuwait, the Secretary General met with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and the President of the Kuwait National Security Bureau, Sheikh Thamer Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. Today, he also met with Bahrain’s foreign minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohamed Al Khalifa and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

    http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_140308.htm

    • Nato seeks closer ties with Gulf, opens new centre in Kuwait

      KUWAIT CITY // Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday called for boosting security cooperation with the Gulf states as the western military alliance opened its first office in the region.

      “It will be a vital hub for cooperation between the alliance and our Gulf partners,” Mr Stoltenberg said at the inauguration of the centre in Kuwait in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah.

      The centre is based on the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), which was launched by the Nato leaders in 2004 and aims to boost security links with the Middle East, in particular Gulf Arab states.

      Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE are members of ICI while Saudi Arabia and Oman plan to join.

      Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Sabah said the region is facing serious challenges that require cooperation with international organisations.

      “We face common security threats like terrorism, weapons proliferation, and cyber attacks. And we share the same aspirations for peace and for stability,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

      “So it is essential that we work more closely together than ever before. We have now developed individual cooperation programmes with all our Gulf partners,” he said.

      Mr Stoltenberg said that over the past year, Nato has trained hundreds of Iraqi officers in Jordan to better fight the ISIL extremist group.

      “We are now extending our training and capacity-building efforts into Iraq itself,” he said.

      Nato continues to fight terrorism in other ways, including with direct support to the anti-ISIL coalition, he said.

      The centre will strengthen the military-to-military cooperation and the fight against terrorism and extremism, Mr Stoltenberg said.

      The centre will also help the Gulf states by providing advanced training courses on cyber security, energy security, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

      http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/nato-seeks-closer-ties-with-gulf-opens-new-centre-in-kuwait

  23. Terror bid foiled: Two suicide jackets recovered from MOSQUE in Peshawar

    The Peshawar police on Monday recovered two suicide jackets from a mosque on the outskirts of the capital city.

    However, no arrests were made.

    An official at the Paharipura police station told media that acting on a tip-off police personnel checked Abu Bakar mosque near Benazir Hospital along with the motorway. He said the cops recovered two suicide jackets containing about five-kilogramme explosives from the room of the prayer leader of the mosque. However, the prayer leader was not present in the room at the time of the raid.

    SSP operations Sajjad Khan said the police defused the explosives, adding a search operation was also being conducted in the area to arrest the culprits. He said police’s timely action saved the provincial capital from an untoward incident. The Counter-Terrorism Department registered FIR and started investigations.

    http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/01/24/terror-bid-foiled-two-suicide-jackets-recovered-from-mosque-in-peshawar/

    • ISIS jihadis flaunt new chilling unmanned DRONE capable of dropping BOMBS on civilians

      The Islamic State has released a chilling propaganda clip showing its latest piece of military equipment – an unmanned drone capable of dropping bombs on civilians.

      The harrowing footage shows the terrorists using the drone to bomb targets in Mosul, Iraq.

      The disturbing footage also shows a twisted terrorist preparing his vehicle for a suicide bomb attack, scores of jihadis firing their guns into the sky and scenes of a building being blown up.

      The evil jihadis are clearly proud of the drone, which is believed to be based on the American MQ-9 Reaper, which the US has used in combat since 2007.

      The terrorists control the drone from the ground using remote control systems.

      A US central command official said: “Over the last two months, coalition forces have observed about one adversary drone every day around Mosul.

      “The Coalition has struck a number of what we believed to be unmanned aerial vehicle facilities in Mosul.

      “We spend considerable time researching and developing target lists to ensure maximum effects against ISIS.”

      The release of the propaganda follows reports that ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has been “critically injured” in an air strike.

      The terrorist lynchpin is believed to have been wounded during a bombing raid in Al-Ba’aj, Northern Iraq.

      However, US defence officials said they have “no validation” or “further information” on the alleged attack.

      http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/758009/isis-terrorist-drone-mosul-iraq-bomb-jihadis-propoganda-death-cult

  25. Breitbart national security editor and Fox News contributor expected to join Trump White House

    Sebastian Gorka, the Breitbart national security editor and a Fox News contributor, is expected to join President Donald Trump’s White House, a source familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

    The source said that the position is likely in the National Security Council. A Fox News spokesperson said the network terminated Gorka’s contributor agreement when he informed executives of his new position.

    Gorka, who has written stories for Breitbart since early 2014, was a founding member of the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs and has been awarded the Joint Civilian Service Commendation, according to a bio on his website. (He recently made his website private.) The national-security analyst is the author of “Defeating Jihad,” a New York Times best-seller.

    He was also the vice president for counterterrorism and irregular warfare at the Threat Knowledge Group, and he said in a July Breitbart story that he had written policy papers for Trump. He was paid by the campaign for policy consulting, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

    Gorka’s expected move to the National Security Council further represents Breitbart’s expanding role inside the Trump White House.

    The website’s chairman, Stephen Bannon, served as Trump’s campaign CEO and now works as White House chief strategist. On Sunday, it was reported that Julia Hahn, a hardline immigration writer for Breitbart, was also expected to join the Trump White House as a special assistant to the president.

    Neither Gorka nor the White House responded to multiple requests for comment. A spokesperson for Breitbart was also not immediately available for comment on Tuesday morning.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/sebastian-gorka-trump-breitbart-2017-1

  26. Migrants’ sexual assaults turn Swedish mall into no-go zone for women

    Gothenburg’s Nordstan Mall has been reported on before. Once Sweden’s most thriving shopping centre and a “leap into the future for a safer Gothenburg,” it is now a no-go area. Where it to represent the future now, it would be a bleak one indeed, where Sweden’s native population is preyed upon by ‘under-age refugees’, robbing them, putting broken glass bottles to their throats and ‘protected’ by a government that doesn’t want to know.

    Police and employees now open up to Swedish newspaper Expressen in a new article on the situation in Nordstan Mall. Women who go into the shopping centre are surrounded and groped.

    Emma, 24 years old, works in Nordstan Mall and the continuous sexual harassment and petty theft every day, makes her consider quitting her job there. Police spokesman Ulla Brehm says she knows:

    https://gatestone.eu/nordstan-mall-no-go/

  27. Syrian police force chants: ‘Long live Erdogan, Allah Akhbar!’

    Late August, Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield, spearheading a Free Syrian Army coalition (partly) supported by the US and Russia to liberate the ISIS-held Syrian town Jarablus, bordering Turkey.

    Since this coalition conquered the city, some 24.000 of its inhabitants, which had previously fled to Turkey, were able to return to their hometown.

    In a move that conveniently solidifies Erdogan’s hegemony over this part of Syrian terriroty, Turkey trained the new Jarablus police force, for which it had started recruiting among Jarablus’ refugees of fighting age in 2016. The unit is lead by the Syrian Army defector General Abdel Razaq Aslan and apparently, he doesn’t hold back in exclaiming his new allegiance.

    https://gatestone.eu/syrian-police-erdo/

    Chilling video at site.

  28. Brussels Police loses grip on radical Islamists and has no clue about deradicalisation

    https://gatestone.eu/belgium-losing-grip/

    Paperwork on files concerning Muslim terrorists and radicalised Islamic citizens is keeping specialised police officers Brussels increasingly occupied. According to experts, they, therefore, now have less time to keep a vigilant eye on the bands of religious extremists that thrive in the midst of the Belgian capital.

    This fact was presented yesterday to the parliament of Belgium by Islam specialist Frédéric Somville, HLN reports. Somville, who works for the Federal Police, shared his findings with a committee made up of Members of Parliament who are investigating the Jihadist terror attacks that rocked Brussels in March 2016 , killing 32 civilians. Furthermore, according to Somville, chances of deradicalisation are slim.

    “It is not a police task to have philosophical discussions with youngsters,” the policeman emphasised. Nevertheless, especially in the wake of the attacks, many specialised officers from Brussels’ police precincts were deployed to deal with completing the judicial files on the Jihadist suspects, he says, resulting in the police paying less attention to meetings and protests where Muslim radicals gather.

  29. Torched DC limo belongs to Muslim immigrant, may set him back $70.000

    https://gatestone.eu/dc-limo-riots/

    As it turned out, the limousine torched by Anti-Fascist / Anarchist upper-middle-class black hooded delinquents, did not belong to some fat cat capitalist the left despises. No, it belonged to Muhammad Ashraf, a Muslim migrant who has been running and owning his Nationwide Chauffeur Services for over 25 years. According to Ashraf, if his insurance doesn’t cover riot damage, the damage might cost him $70.000.

  30. Dutch PM Mark Rutte to immigrants: ‘If you don’t like it, get out’. Geert Wilders responds

    The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte of the Tory Party (VVD), managed to make international headlines today. Breitbart, BBC, Politico and even Russia Today all reacted mildly astonished to Rutte’s full page campaign advert which reads:

    “We feel a growing unease when people abuse our freedoms to mess things up, while those freedoms were the reason they came here in the first place. People who refuse to adapt, blemish our habits and reject our values. Who intimidate homosexuals, scold women in short skirts and call ordinary citizens racists. I fully understand when people think: if you reject our country in such a fundamental way, I would rather see you leave. I feel the same thing. Act in a normal fashion, or get out.”

    https://gatestone.eu/wilders-reacts-to-rutte/

  31. Serbia’s refugee problemThe European Commission issued a press release today with regard to Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides’ visit to Serbia. It contains the Commissioner’s statement on the situation in Serbia:

    “I was in Serbia last year at the height of the refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were moving through the country and the Western Balkans region. (…) Today arrivals have dropped drastically. But refugees and migrants are staying longer. Vulnerable refugees and migrants, including young children, are still in need of assistance. We can’t leave them to face the harsh winter conditions alone.“

    https://gatestone.eu/serbias-refugee-problem/

  32. Despite international praise, Merkel slips in polls

    According to polls conducted by the EMNID institute, for Bild am Sonntag, Merkel’s CDU is sliding from its present 41,5% of seats in the Bundestag to 36%. The SPD is also losing seats, with all other parties gaining, especially the AfD, which nearly triples in size.

    The poll comes at a moment when Bundeskanzler Merkel is in heavy weather after criticisms by then president-elect Trump, who blasted her stance on mass-immigration. Merkel has since struck back at the German opposition, stating that:

    https://gatestone.eu/merkel-down-polls/

  33. A Millennials’ Guide to Angela Davis and Other Stalinists
    “History cannot be deleted.”
    January 24, 2017
    Lloyd Billingsley
    46

    On Friday, January 20, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. The next day, the leftist hordes descended on Washington and cranked up the volume. C-SPAN identified one keynote speaker only as Angela Davis, so millenials, GenXers, and even baby boomers should understand what she is all about.

    “We represent the powerful forces of change that are determined to prevent the dying cultures of racism, hetero-patriarchy from rising again,” Davis said, adding: “history cannot be deleted like web pages.” Davis had a lot to say about the evils of America but did not get into her own colorful history of speeches before presidential elections. In those the African-American Davis always showed a flair for all-white, all-male totalitarian dictatorships.

    In 1980 and 1984 Angela Davis was the vice-presidential candidate of the Communist Party USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Soviet Union. That was how the Russian Communists interfered in the American electoral process, by running their own candidates or supporting proxies in other parties, such as Henry Wallace in 1948.

    In 1980 and 1984, Davis was on the bottom of the ticket under white Stalinist Gus Hall, like her a real barrel of laughs. Davis and Hall twice lost to Ronald Reagan and George Bush, big time, but that defeat could not prevent Davis from becoming professor of the history of consciousness and feminist studies at UC Santa Cruz. Before that she gained fame for supporting violent male convicts such as Black Panther George Jackson, who killed a guard at Soledad Prison.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265554/millennials-guide-angela-davis-and-other-lloyd-billingsley

  34. Congressman Rogers Introduces “American Sovereignty Restoration Act” to Leave UN
    January 24, 2017
    Daniel Greenfield

    Think of the UN as the TPP of global governance organizations. It’s big, it’s poorly controlled and it’s hurting America.

    Congressman Mike Rogers has an answer. Restore our sovereignty. And so he has sponsored the American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017. The act pulls us out of the UN, kills funding for anything involving the UN and evicts the UN from the US.

    <blockquote*The United Nations (including any organ, specialized agency, commission or other formally affiliated body of the United Nations) may not occupy or use any property or facility of the United States Government.

    No officer or employee of the United Nations (including any organ, specialized agency, commission or other formally affiliated body of the United Nations) or any representative, officer, or employee of any mission to the United Nations of any foreign government shall be entitled to enjoy the privileges and immunities of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961, nor may any such privileges and immunities be extended to any such individual.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/265568/congressman-rogers-introduces-american-sovereignty-daniel-greenfield

  35. Fillon’s warning to Merkel: ‘Soften stance on Russia and crack down on migration’ (express, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/758241/angela-merkel-francois-fillon-russia-germany-eu-sanctions-migration

    “ANGELA Merkel has been warned to crack down on migrants and soften her stance towards Russia.

    Francois Fillon, the frontrunner in France’s presidential election, branded European Union sanctions on Russia pointless and warned Moscow and Washington could form an alliance that could exclude the EU.

    Mr Fillon met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin as he attempted to maintain strong France-Germany relations.

    But the conservative Les Republicains candidate was quick to point out major differences between Paris and Berlin and took a swipe at the EU…”

  36. Furious residents fighting plans to turn former care home into asylum seeker centre (express, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/758137/lilycross-asylum-centre-care-home-cheshire-refugees

    “OUTRAGED residents are fighting plans to turn a former care home in a rural greenbelt into a centre for 120 asylum seekers – by launching a legal challenge.

    An application was made to transform the former Lilycross Care Centre in Widnes, Cheshire, into a centre to house 120 refugees in August last year – and the plans were given the go-ahead by council planning bosses last Monday, January 16.

    The ‘Save Lilycross’ residents’ protest group is now seeking a judicial review into Halton Borough Council’s planning committee’s decision in a bid to spark a U-turn amid fears of rising crime rates and dwindling house prices once the centre is up and running.

    Campaigners have also questioned the “morality” of using the centre to house asylum seekers while they claim up to 60 pensioners who would have been treated at the care home, which was closed down by the Care Quality Commission in 2015, are forced to ‘bed-block’ in nearby hospitals…”

  37. Germany on ‘high alert’ for ISIS CHEMICAL ATTACK on drinking water supplies (express, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/758367/Germany-high-alert-ISIS-Chemical-attack-drinking-water

    “GERMANY’S armed forces are preparing for a chemical attack on the country’s drinking water supplies by Islamic jihadis, a government report warns.

    Angela Merkel’s government issued a report stating Germany is at “high risk” of chemical attacks by “Islamist-motivated perpetrators”.

    The paper, issued weeks after the Islamic State (ISIS) attack on a Berlin Christmas market which killed 12, ordered Germany’s armed forces, emergency services and intelligence agencies to prepare for action in the event of a hazardous attack.

    In the report seen by Bild newspaper, it says: “A determined and well-trained terrorist group is likely to be in a position to exploit Germany’s potential chemical hazards in order to stage an attack.”

    Islamist jihadis are able to “procure and use large amount of chemicals” and there is a “realistic option” of a chemical attack, the paper says…”

  38. ISIS-obsessed teens facing terror charges almost QUADRUPLE in a year – prosecutor (express, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/758227/ISIS-obsessed-teens-facing-terror-charges-quadruples-year

    “THE number of ISIS-loving French teenagers charged with terrorism-related offences has nearly quadrupled in one year, going from 13 to 51, Paris prosecutor François Molins said on Monday.

    The radicalised teens fit one of two profiles: they are either youths who fled to ISIS-controlled territory in Iraq or Syria to undertake jihad before returning to France; or homegrown jihadists who were planning an imminent attack on French soil.

    More than 10 of the youths were arrested after counter-terrorism police found that they had established a close online relationship with ISIS’s chief recruiter and propagandist, Rachid Kassim…”

  39. Homeless migrant JAILED after travelling 100 miles to sexually assault 14-year-old girl (express, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/758193/Homeless-migrant-sexual-assault-jailed-grooming

    “A HOMELESS migrant has been jailed for more than three years after travelling over 100 miles to sexually assault a 14-year-old girl he groomed online.

    Sierra Leone-born David Lyndon Cole, 22, talked to the young victim on social media before persuading to meet him for sex.

    He then travelled 116 miles from where he was sleeping rough in London to Evesham, Worcestershire, where he sexually assaulted the teenager.

    Cole pleaded guilty to two sexual assaults and one count of meeting a child after grooming and was jailed for 45 months at Worcester Crown Court on January 16…”

  40. Soros-Backed Hope Not Hate Campaigns Against UKIP in Key Brexit By-Election (breitbart, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/24/anti-racist-hope-not-hate-campaign-ukip-election-climate-change/

    “The so-called “anti-racist” organisation Hope not Hate (HnH) which has previously targeted moderate Muslims, is now dedicating resources to campaigning against UKIP in an up-and-coming by-election.

    The group — which recently fund raised off the back of the murder of Jo Cox MP — is allegedly distributing literature in the Stoke-on-Trent Central area, focusing on issues such as the ivory trade, climate change, income tax rates, and Britain’s National Health Service.

    No explanation is given as to how these issues relate to HnH’s stated aims of “fighting racism and extremism”, though the group’s leaflet does include a reference to banning the burqa while incorrectly illustrating the topic with a picture of a niqab…”

  41. Danish Lawmakers to Migrants: ‘Send Your Children to Language Classes or Lose Benefits’ (breitbart, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/24/danish-lawmakers-migrant-parents-send-children-language-classes/

    “Denmark has expanded integration laws by mandating language standards for migrant children and will stop benefits to parents who refuse to send their children to language classes.

    Currently, three-year-olds from migrant families who do not attend preschool must take a language test. Children who are found to not have the age-appropriate level of Danish are required to attend preschool and receive additional language training.

    This summer, the government will enact legislation whereby if the municipality determines a child from a “bilingual family” needs language stimulation but the parents are not still not sending the child to preschool child benefits (government family assistance), will be withdrawn, reports daily Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan…”

  42. Germany’s New ‘Ministry of Truth’
    War against Free Speech

    by Stefan Frank
    January 24, 2017 at 5:30 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9822/germany-ministry-of-truth

    The elites and intellectuals are apparently now counted among the German minorities in need of protection.

    Toward the end of last year, Germany experienced a previously unheard-of boycott campaign – funded by the German government, no less — against several websites, such as the popular “Axis of Good” (“Achse des Guten”). The website, critical of the government, was suddenly accused of “right-wing populism”.

    The German government’s efforts at thought control seem to have begun with the victory of Donald J. Trump in the US presidential election — that seems to set the “establishment” off. Germany’s foreign minister and the probable future federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier — one of the first to travel to Iran after the removal of sanctions there to kowtow to the Ayatollahs — called America’s future president a “hate preacher”.

    Germany’s newspapers were suddenly littered with apocalyptic predictions and anti-American fulminations.

    For hard-core Trump-haters, however, a witch hunt by itself is insufficient; they want activism! Since November, Germany’s left-wing parties have had a strong increase in membership, as reported by Der Spiegel. At the same time, the federal government evidently decided, at least regarding the federal elections taking place in 2017, that it would no longer count on journalists’ self-censorship. The German government, instead of merely hoping that newspapers would voluntarily — or under pressure from the Press Council — refrain from criticising the government’s immigration policies, decided that it, itself, would inaugurate censorship.

  43. Yazidi Girls Sold as Sex Slaves while Women March against Trump

    by Uzay Bulut
    January 24, 2017 at 4:30 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9824/yazidi-sex-slave-women-march

    On January 21, some women’s rights groups organized “Women’s Marches” in many cities across the Unites States and around the world. The rallies largely targeted recently-inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump.

    There were many speakers and participants. One, the actress Ashley Judd, read a poem in Washington D.C. that asked why “tampons are taxed when Viagra and Rogaine are not”.

    As Ms. Judd talked about her devastating tragedy, thousands of Yazidi children and women were being forced into sexual slavery in Iraq and Syria at the hands of Islamic State (ISIS), and available for purchase at sex-slave markets.

  44. Labour Councillor Attacks Catholic School for Asking Infant Not to Wear Hijab (breitbart, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/24/labour-councillor-attacks-catholic-school-infant-hijab/

    “A Labour party councillor has attacked a Roman Catholic school for insisting a 4-year-old girl conforms to their uniform policy by not wearing an Islamic headscarf to class.

    St. Clare’s School in Birmingham has a strict uniform policy, prohibiting all headwear and scarfs and asked parents of the young girl to respect it.

    However, after the father of the girl called on him to help, Waseem Zaffar, Birmingham City Council’s Labour cabinet member for “equalities”, accused the school of breaking the law and demanded they back down.

    In a now deleted Facebook post, he claimed to have met with the head teacher and said the school’s policy was in contravention of the equalities act.

    Women’s rights campaigner Gina Khan attacked Cllr Zaffar, accusing him of backing male parents who enforce the hijab on very young girls as a means of control.

    “Hijab isn’t compulsory for a child in Islam, but patriarchal biraadari power used to control Muslim school girls”, she wrote on Twitter, asking: “So why has [the Labour party] promoted this patriarchal abuser… to the position of [Birmingham] Equality Officer”?

    “Unbelievable this man insisting a primary school allow Muslim girl to wear a hijab. This has nothing to do with rights, it’s to control girls”, she added….”

  45. Wilders to Prime Minister Rutte: Stop Deceiving the People

    by Geert Wilders
    January 24, 2017 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9823/wilders-rutte

    Prime Minister Rutte ran an election advertisement in today’s newspapers.
    And I have a message to this prime minister.

    Stop with the deceit of the Netherlands. Stop deceiving your own people.

    There is absolutely no-one who still believes you.

    It was you, who caused the loss of our freedom, our security, and our culture.
    It was you, who governed with the Labor Party; you, who conducted dangerous open borders policy.
    You, who even allowed terrorists to freely travel in and out of the Netherlands.
    You, who have given Islam free rein.
    Why don’t you talk about that?
    Four years of Mark Rutte means four years of, every day, a little less Netherlands.

  47. Using duct-taped gun, Palestinians shoot in air at IDF checkpoint

    Israeli troops arrested a pair of Palestinians who are suspected of firing a homemade gun into the air after breaking through a checkpoint in the West Bank on Tuesday, the army said.
    Earlier, a car burst through a checkpoint set up outside the Ofra settlement, northeast of Ramallah, while one of its occupants shot into the air.
    No one was injured, and no damage was caused, the army said.
    “An IDF force gave chase after the car and caught two suspects inside it, who were in possession of a makeshift weapon,” the army said.
    A picture of the gun, provided by the military, shows a slapdash device, apparently constructed from water pipes and held together with duct tape.

  48. Second collective deportation of rejected asylum seekers from Germany arrives in Afghanistan (DW, Jan 24, 2017)
    http://www.dw.com/en/second-collective-deportation-of-rejected-asylum-seekers-from-germany-arrives-in-afghanistan/a-37248018

    “A group of rejected Afghan asylum seekers deported from Germany has landed in Kabul following protests Monday night at Frankfurt Airport. More than 100 people gathered to demonstrate against the forced repatriations…”

    • Germany sends second batch of Afghan refugees to Kabul

      Deported after years of living in Germany, more than 20 young Afghans arrived in Kabul Tuesday with only one thought in mind: fleeing this war-torn country.

      Escorted by 80 German police officers, their plane landed shortly after 7.30 am (0300 GMT) — the second batch to be deported under a disputed Afghan-EU deal signed last October and aimed at curbing the influx of migrants.

      “What would you have me do here? There is only death!” said 19-year-old Ramid Afshah, returning from Germany after five years — a country it had originally taken him six months to reach.

      The German interior ministry said 25 Afghans were on board the flight. Afghan officials had said 26 arrived but at least one was “suffering” and showing signs of psychological distress — suggesting he could be taken back to Germany, where it is illegal for people who are unwell to be deported.

      Several of the migrants told AFP they had been arrested Monday at dawn and sent to Kabul with just a small piece of luggage or a backpack containing their belongings.

      “The police came to pick us up yesterday morning at 4 am and we were treated like animals,” said Arash Alkozai, 21.

      Alkozai, who had come to Germany when he was 16, was living in Munich with his family before taking a room in the city. After leaving school he had studied auto repair, all the while learning to speak his adopted tongue “perfectly”.

      “I cannot say anything negative about this country that helped me. I respect its decision but now I’m living a nightmare. I’ve left behind my three-month pregnant girlfriend, I won’t find work here and there’s no security,” he said.

      […]A first flight carrying 34 men arrived in Kabul in December, a third of whom had been convicted of crimes ranging from theft to homicide, according to German authorities.

      That did not appear to be the case on Tuesday, when the passengers were able to leave the airport freely.

      They will be sheltered by the government for at least two weeks. After that they face an uncertain future, with Afghanistan already so overwhelmed by people fleeing fighting that officials have warned of a humanitarian crisis.

      Standing just outside the airport, appearing lost in the fog and melted slush, a man called Milad said he had spent 11 years in Germany and wanted a “cigarette and a drink” before he set off in search of an uncle whose address he did know.

      Told his second wish could not be fulfilled in the conservative Islamic republic, he said: “I don’t actually know this country.”

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4150936/Germany-sends-second-batch-Afghan-refugees-Kabul.html