Reader’s links for March 9th 2017

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

About Eeyore

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

99 Replies to “Reader’s links for March 9th 2017”

  1. Bali won`t cover up statues for Saudi king

    Bali: Indonesia`s Hindu resort island of Bali on Wednesday defended a decision not to cover up any of its ubiquitous statues of deities and semi-naked women during a visit by the Saudi king.

    King Salman and a 1,000-strong entourage are enjoying a week-long holiday in Bali after a state visit to Jakarta, during the first trip by a Saudi monarch to Indonesia in nearly half a century.

    When he met President Joko Widodo for talks at a palace in Bogor, near the capital, officials hid some naked statues in the grounds by covering them with cloth and putting plants around them as a sign of respect for the Muslim monarch

    But officials on Bali — a pocket of Hinduism in the world`s most populous Muslim-majority nation — said that they would not extend the same courtesy.

    strong>The island, which attracts millions of foreign visitors every year to its palm-fringed beaches, is home to many statues of Hindu gods and bare-chested women. In the past, Balinese women often wore only sarongs that did not cover their chests.

    “We`re just going to leave (the statues) as they are, we don`t have to cover up anything because it is our culture,” Bali local government spokesman Dewa Mahendra told AFP.

    He said that they “are cultural creations, they are art”.

    Local authorities had not received a request from the Saudi king or his party to hide any of statues from view, Mahendra said, adding they were more focused on ensuring the monarch`s safety.

    Strict interpretations of Islam forbid the creation of images of living beings — such as statues of women — and worship of idols.

    The king and his entourage are staying in five luxury hotels for the holiday, which ends on Sunday.

    Other places have hidden naked statues for visiting Muslim leaders. Last year a Rome museum covered up classical nude sculptures in temporary wooden cartons during a visit by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

    Indonesia is one of the highlights on the king`s three-week Asian tour. He started the visit in Malaysia and will also visit Japan, China, and the Maldives.

    http://zeenews.india.com/world/bali-wont-cover-up-statues-for-saudi-king_1984470.html

  2. Blasphemy in Pakistan: Why do some see Mumtaz Qadri as a hero?

    Blasphemy is one of the most emotive issues in the Muslim world – particularly in Pakistan where it’s legally punishable by death. Though no-one there has been executed for it, many accused of it have been lynched. Mumtaz Qadri killed a politician who simply spoke out against the blasphemy law, and remains a hero to many. Qadri was executed by the Pakistani state for the killing a year ago today. Secunder Kermani went along to the events commemorating him – to try and explore what’s behind his popularity and what it tells us about Pakistani society.

  3. TURKEY – ISTANBUL – Knife-wielding group attacks women’s day event at Turkish university

    Injuries caused by stab wounds were reported with students saying they had been threatened on Twitter before the incident

    ISTANBUL, Turkey – A group of 30-40 people wielding knives attacked students celebrating International Women’s Day on a university campus in central Istanbul, injuring some participants.

    A tent set up to mark the event was attacked by the assailants and there were reported injuries caused by stab wounds at the private Bilgi University after the assailants jumped over turnstiles and entered the campus illegally.

    The university’s private security guards intervened after the attack began and the assailants fled.

    Students at the scene claimed that the assailants shouted “Allah u Ekber” (God is great) before attacking them.

    The participating students then started protesting against the university’s administrators saying such incidents had occurred previously but no security measures were put in place.

    In a video, a student can be heard telling university staff: “We are talking about knives here. They dragged one girl by the hair and slammed her head on the ground… we were threatened on Twitter, we informed you…you didn’t take any steps and they were encouraged and came here.”

    Yaz?klar olsun verilen dilekçeler okunmam?? @BiLGiOfficial Güvenli?imizi de mi biz sa?l?yal?m bu i? turnike ile çözülmez pic.twitter.com/twn8977w4S

    — Onur Can Kurnaz (@onrcnkrnz) March 8, 2017

    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/knife-wielding-groups-attacks-women-s-day-event-turkish-university-1969551162

  4. Jonathan Spyer:
    Dispatch from Mosul

    EASTERN MOSUL, IRAQ “So I’m a sniper, right, and I see four IS guys approaching. I’m on a roof. I take down two of them. Then the rifle jams. And they’re coming forward. So I make it down the stairs, and I throw a grenade as theyre in the courtyard of the house. One of them’s killed outright. The other’s badly wounded. So he’s lying there, in a bad way, can hardly move, so I disarm him, he has a rifle and also a pistol. He’s calling to his friend, it seems. In Russian. He was a Russian.

    But the friend isn’t answering because he’s dead. So he looks over at me and he can see I’m making the pistol ready. I don’t speak Russian and I guess he realized the friend wasn’t answering. So he looks at me and he says to me in Arabic ‘Don’t you fear God?’ So I tell him ‘no’ and put two bullets in his brain.”

    http://www.meforum.org/6552/dispatch-from-mosul

  5. Two men ‘SHOT IN THE HEAD’ near Sweden primary school (express, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/776848/Two-people-shot-Sweden-primary-school-attack-Kista

    “TWO men have been rushed to hospital after being found with gunshot wounds near a primary school in Sweden.

    Police rushed to the scene in Kista, northwestern Stockholm, just after 10pm this evening after the two men were discovered in a car just yards from a primary school.

    Both men hit by shots to the head and suffered serious injuries, local media have cited the police as saying.

    Huge swathes of the roads surrounding the area have now been cordoned off and armed officers deployed to the scene.

    Around eight police cars surround the victims’ car, and police helicopters were spotted in the air above the scene…”

  6. Donald Trump to ‘deploy 1,000 US ground troops to WIPE OUT twisted ISIS jihadis’ (express, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/776870/Donald-Trump-ISIS-Barack-Obama-US-troops-Kuwait-Syria-Iraq-middle-east-White-House

    “DONALD Trump is weighing up whether to send 1,000 troops to Kuwait in a bid to wipe out Islamic State, a US official has claimed.

    The new deployment would operate as a reserve unit and marks a complete change in policy from the Obama administration, with Trump handing more power to the US commanders on the ground.

    Advocates of troop deployment claim it would provide the US chiefs greater flexibility on the ground, enabling them to quickly respond to challenges on the battlefield…”

  7. ISIS leader Abu bakr al-Baghdadi FLEES Mosul in ploy to survive, US officials claim (express, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/776881/ISIS-leader-Abu-bakr-al-Baghdadi-flees-Mosul-to-survive-US-Pentagon-Iraq-Euphrates-region

    “ISLAMIC STATE leader Abu bakr al-Baghdadi has fled Mosul in a bid to keep himself alive, sources have revealed.

    The Iraqi native is said to have abandoned his diehard fanatics who have been battling Iraqi forces for their western Mosul stronghold.

    But a US Pentagon official told reporters under the condition of anonymity that the Defence Department have been wary to characterise the ISIS leader as “on the run”…”

  8. Caroline Glick delivers some bad news about new US Defense Secretary, James Mattis. Insider Israeli baseball, but it’s of more general interest for gauging the Trump-Tard-Trend.

    OUR WORLD: Avigdor Lieberman vs Israeli Democracy 

    […]As defense minister, [Liberman] speaks to his counterpart, US Defense Secretary James Mattis. Mattis is no friend of Israel’s.

    During his confirmation hearings in the Senate, when Senator Lindsay Graham asked him what the capital of Israel is, Mattis replied “Tel Aviv.”

    Mattis also said that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a “vital [US] interest.”

    After being fired from his command of Central Command in 2013, Mattis claimed that the US alliance with Israel harms the US. In his words, “I paid a military security price every day as the commander of CentCom because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel, and… moderate Arabs who want to be with us… can’t come out publicly in support of people who don’t show respect for the Arab Pals.”

    In the same address, Mattis argued that if Israel continues to allow Jews to assert their property rights in Judea and Samaria, it will risk becoming an “apartheid” state.

    When President Donald Trump appointed Mattis, supporters of Israel in the US were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that his statements were the product of his service in the anti-Israel Obama administration and that once liberated from its intellectual straitjacket, he would abandon his preposterous positions on Israel. Concern over Mattis was abated by the fact that he opposed president Obama’s Iran policy.

    But last week Mattis made clear that he actually shares Obama’s worldview when he decided to appoint Anne Patterson to serve as his undersecretary of defense for policy. Patterson, who served as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under Obama, is a harsh critic of Israel and an apologist for the Palestinian Authority’s support for terrorism.
    ……..
    More and worse, a Muslim Brotherhood sister:
    http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Our-World-Avigdor-Liberman-vs-Israeli-democracy-483408
    http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Our-World-Avigdor-Liberman-vs-Israeli-democracy-483408

    • On a brighter note, the “Readout of the VP’s Meeting with Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman.”
      Office of the Vice President For Immediate Release March 07, 2017

      Today Vice President Mike Pence met with Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman in his West Wing office. The Vice President underscored the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to upholding Israel’s qualitative military edge.

      The Vice President and Minister Lieberman agreed on the need to counter threats posed by Iran and its proxies as well as terrorist organizations, and discussed ways in which our militaries can work even more closely together to address shared threats. The two leaders also discussed the crisis in Syria and other regional issues.

      https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/07/readout-vice-presidents-meeting-israeli-minister-defense-avigdor

    • “I paid a military security price every day as the commander of CentCom because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel, and… moderate Arabs who want to be with us… can’t come out publicly in support of people who don’t show respect for the Arab Pals.”

      What this moron @ssclown doesn’t seem to get is that no non-Islamic nation will EVER have any reliable “Arab Pals”.

      Assigning value to “moderate Arabs” is like trying to avoid associating with murderers by hanging out with rapists. You’re still in with a bad lot and nearly equal consequences await. Mattis is your typical, brain-dead, “Noble religion hijacked by a tiny minority of radicals”, kind of moron.

      Someone needs to ask this idiot, “If it’s just a so-called tiny minority, why haven’t regular ‘peaceful’ Muslims been able to wipe them out?”

      Of course, that question never gets answered in any meaningful way.

  9. Hannity confirms Obama knew about fisa warrant and wiretap. Trump cleared on russia collusion.

    Hannity’s guest also made it clear that there is absolutely no evidence resulting from the FISA warrants (that are now 100% confirmed) and other concurrent investigations (FBI) of the false “Russian Election Hacking” narrative media construct.

  10. Conspiracy theorists lose me when they start in with The Rothschilds, Masons, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Yeah, globalists, bankers, elites – but some of my best friends…

    Anyway, here’s a CFR article:
    Vladimir Putin Has a Plan to Upend the Political Order of the Middle East. Spoiler Alert: It’s Working

    http://blogs.cfr.org/cook/2017/03/06/vladimir-putin-has-a-plan-to-upend-the-political-order-of-the-middle-east-spoiler-alert-its-working/

  11. They took the other video down due to copyright issues.

    THIS IS A WAR! | MONICA CROWLEY

  12. As far right reaps votes, immigrants face tougher times in Netherlands (reuters, March 9, 2017)
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-netherlands-election-immigration-idUKKBN16G0NY

    “Dozens of migrants are sheltering on a former hospital ship in a Dutch canal, beneficiaries of a “Bed, Bath, Bread” programme for asylum seekers. But their hopes of settlement are dimming with the anti-immigrant right poised for a surge at the ballot box.

    Polls suggest the far-right ticket will double its vote in the March 15 election, riding perceptions that many years of Muslim immigration threaten to erode Dutch national identity.

    Despite statistics showing there are fewer foreigners in the Netherlands than commonly believed, many voters feel Muslim immigrants are failing to integrate and running down a once-generous health and welfare system.

    Even if firebrand nationalist leader Geert Wilders does not enter the next ruling coalition given the refusal of “establishment” parties to work with him, he has managed to push the mainstream political agenda to the anti-immigrant right.

    In the northern coastal town of Groningen, dozens of mainly Muslim men and women – Africans, Arabs and some Iranians – sit at bare tables and chat quietly in the living quarters fashioned out of a ship where hospital patients were once treated.

    They are awaiting decisions on appeals of government rejections of their asylum applications, a process that has dragged on for years during which the Netherlands began to crack down hard on economic migrants. In the meantime, they are grateful for the refuge from the harsh North Sea winter…”

  13. Two Foreigners in the UAE Face Long Jail Terms For Having Sex Even Though They Are Engaged (time, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://time.com/4696317/uae-abu-dhabi-unlawful-sex-couple/

    “A South African man and his Ukrainian fiancee have been detained in the United Arab Emirates for having sex outside of marriage.

    Emlyn Culverwell‚ 29, and Iryna Nohai, 27, were arrested in an Abu Dhabi hospital in late January after a doctor discovered that Nohai, who had been suffering from stomach cramps, was pregnant, the BBC reports.

    Sex outside of marriage is a criminal offense according to the UAE’s strict morality laws, and is punishable by a lengthy prison term and deportation.

    Culverwell’s mother Linda has said that the couple were denied any state-appointed legal representation and have not been allowed to be married in prison as authorities continue to investigate the paternity of the child and how long the couple has been sexually active.

    In a plea for her son and his fiancee’s release, Culverwell said that “the only thing they did wrong was fall in love.””

  14. Iraq: IS suicide bombers kill 26 at Tikrit wedding party (BBC, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39215496

    “Two suicide bombers have blown themselves up, killing 26 people, as wedding guests gathered in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit.

    So-called Islamic State said two of its fighters had carried out the attack in the village of Hajaj on Wednesday.

    The first detonated an explosive vest among men who were dancing, then a second bomber targeted those who had gathered to help, officials said.

    Most of the dead were children, a local government spokesman told AP…”

  15. Burger-flipping robot replaces humans on first day at work

    A burger-flipping robot has just completed its first day on the job at a restaurant in California, replacing humans at the grill.

    Flippy has mastered the art of cooking the perfect burger and has just started work at CaliBurger, a fast-food chain.

    • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/03/09/genius-burger-flipping-robot-replaces-humans-first-day-work/

      The Unions and the socialist have now priced the human flippers out of jobs, this leaves more kids without a first job to teach them what is needed to find and keep a job later on when they are out of school. It also puts a lot of retired people who are working to supplement their retirement pay out of work. The some members of the second group (the most vocal and left wing) are going to start scream for the government to increase their retirement now that they can’t find a job to provide more money. Welcome to the logical result of the massively increased minimum wage.

  16. DONALD’S SABRE RATTLING Donald Trump sends B-52 NUCLEAR BOMBERS to South Korea after North fires missiles at Japan and US warns of ‘overwhelming’ response

    Secretary of Defence James Mattis said the US “remains steadfast in its commitment” to the defence of its allies

    DONALD Trump is sending nuclear bombers to the Korean peninsula as tensions in the region reach breaking point.

    North Korea and the US have been teetering on the brink of war for months after Kim Jong-un carried out a series of controversial missile launches.

    Earlier this week, trigger-happy Kim pushed his luck once more when he fired off four ballistic missiles into the seas near Japan.

    Now US military chiefs are reportedly planning to fly in B-1 and B-52 bombers – built to carry nuclear bombs – to show America has had enough.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3049573/donald-trump-sends-b-52-nuclear-bombers-to-south-korea-after-north-fires-missiles-at-japan-and-us-warns-of-overwhelming-response/

  17. Drones threatened nuclear facilities

    Drone aircraft recently carried out unauthorized intrusions over Air Force and Navy nuclear facilities, and the incidents pose a growing threat, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command disclosed to Congress Wednesday.

    Gen. John E. Hyten revealed the drone threats in written testimony before the House Armed Services Committee for a hearing on nuclear deterrence.

    “Of recent concern have been the unauthorized flights of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) over Navy and Air Force installations,” Gen. Hyten said. “These intrusions represent a growing threat to the safety and security of nuclear weapons and personnel.”

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/8/inside-the-ring-drones-threatened-nuclear-faciliti/

  18. An outbreak in Brazil has U.S. health experts wondering if yellow fever could be the next Zika

    Yellow fever has broken out in the jungles outside Brazil’s most densely-populated cities, raising a frightening but still remote possibility: an epidemic that could decimate that country’s population and spread throughout the Americas, including the United States.

    In an essay rushed into print by the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, two doctors from the National Institutes of Health warn that cases of yellow fever, which can kill as many as 10% of those infected, have seen an unusual spike in the last few weeks in several rural areas of Brazil.

    Those outbreaks have been limited to places where there aren’t enough people or virus-spreading mosquitoes to fuel a rapid run-up in transmission. But they are on the edge of major urban areas where residents are largely unvaccinated, and where both humans and insects are packed densely enough to accelerate the disease’s spread.

    It’s a perilous moment, made more so by the fact that, while an effective vaccine against yellow fever has been around since 1937, worldwide stockpiles are all but depleted. In a series of yellow fever outbreaks in Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo two years ago, public health officials ran so short of the vaccine that they resorted to giving each person one-fifth of a dose.

    http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-yellow-fever-americas-20170308-story.html

  19. Game change: U.S. officials say they knew of CIA leak – and WikiLeaks docs are real
    By J.E. Dyer March 9, 2017

    As with all of these disclosures from unnamed official sources: caveat lector.

    That said, we can take comfort that at least this information isn’t being passed through the usual media channels: the New York Times and the Washington Post. Given how regularly both outlets have been used by Obama administration insiders to sell pre-packaged political narratives in the last eight years, I’m especially leery of anything they attribute to anonymous official sources.

    The report in this case comes from Reuters, and appears in Business Insider. Reportedly, U.S. officials are confirming not only that they’ve been aware of a CIA breach since last year, but that the documents published this week by WikiLeaks are valid. In other words, what you’re reading about the CIA using poached malware to make it look like the Russians hacked someone, and the CIA capability to hack automobiles so people can be assassinated undetectably, is…true.

    Says Reuters:

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/03/09/game-change-u-s-officials-say-knew-cia-leak-wikileaks-docs-real/

    • RT – ‘Double standards’: CIA leaks don’t stir MSM, Russia stays in spotlight

    • reuters – China expresses concern at revelations in Wikileaks dump of hacked CIA data

      China expressed concern on Thursday over revelations in a trove of data released by Wikileaks purporting to show that the CIA can hack all manner of devices, including those made by Chinese companies.

      Dozens of firms rushed to contain the damage from possible security weak points following the anti-secrecy organization’s revelations, although some said they needed more details of what the U.S. intelligence agency was up to.

      Widely-used routers from Silicon Valley-based Cisco (CSCO.O) were listed as targets, as were those supplied by Chinese vendors Huawei [HWT.UL] and ZTE (000063.SZ) and Taiwan supplier Zyxel for their devices used in China and Pakistan.

      Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China expressed concern about the reports and reiterated its opposition to all forms of hacking.

      “We urge the U.S. side to stop listening in, monitoring, stealing secrets and internet hacking against China and other countries,” Geng told a daily news briefing.

      China is frequently accused by the United States and other countries of hacking attacks, which it always denies.

      The Chinese government has its own sophisticated domestic surveillance program and keeps tight control of the internet at home, saying such measures are needed to protect national security and maintain stability.

      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cia-wikileaks-china-idUSKBN16G128

      • “We urge the U.S. side to stop listening in, monitoring, stealing secrets and internet hacking against China and other countries,” Geng told a daily news briefing.

        Bwahahahahah!!!! China attempting to lecture America about “stealing secrets and internet hacking”? Who in hell are they kidding?!?

        POT -> KETTLE -> BLACK

    • zero hedge – Nigel Farage Visits Julian Assange In Ecuadorian Embassy In London

      In a move that will likely spark further allegations of political partiality by the Wikileaks founder, BuzzFeed reports Nigel Farage visited the Ecuadorian embassy in west London on Thursday which is the location of the self-exiled Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, where he has been living since he claimed asylum in 2012.

      Ecuador granted Assange asylum almost five years ago to prevent him being deported to Sweden to be questioned over sexual assault allegations. The Wikileaks founder has been stranded there ever since, with British police keeping the building under close surveillance.

      The former UKIP leader spent around 40 minutes in the building and left at noon, accompanied by an aide. It is difficult to envision what Farage may have done in the embassy aside from visit its famous exiled resident.

      When asked by BuzzFeed News for the reason for his visit as he left to get into a car, Farage said he couldn’t remember what he was doing in the building. Asked specifically if he had gone to the Knightsbridge building to meet with Assange, Farage said: “I never discuss where I go or who I see”.

      While there are no known links between Farage and Assange, some have accussed Wikileaks of being pro-Trump during and after the US election, while Farage has grown close to the American president, and visited the White House last month. The Ecuadorian embassy did not comment on the visit.

      http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-09/nigel-farage-visits-julian-assange-ecuadorian-embassy-london

  20. U.S. Marines on the ground in Syria
    By J.E. Dyer March 8, 2017

    Breaking news this evening (8 March) is that U.S. Marines have been deployed into Syria to provide artillery support for the battle against ISIS in Raqqa, the city in northern Syria that has served as the guerrilla-terrorists’ capital and stronghold for more than four years.

    Few details have been released as yet about this force deployment. It is clearly part of a major push to ramp up the fight against ISIS in Syria – a push of unprecedented scope and combat momentum. Heretofore, U.S. troops have operated in Syria in small numbers, and without concentration of force. In the last few days, 100 Army Rangers have inserted into Syria, and the Marine deployment ratchets the level and nature of U.S. involvement up significantly.

    U.S. officials quoted in the reporting this evening are comparing it to elements of U.S. support to the battle of Mosul in Iraq. The deployed force is an artillery unit from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) embarked in the USS Makin Island (LHD-8) amphibious ready group (ARG). 11 MEU’s Battalion Landing Team (BLT), 1st Battalion 4th Marines, will man the guns.

    In 2016, “several hundred” Marines were deployed in the artillery support role for Mosul, where the infantry fighting was done by a combination of Kurds, Iraqi national forces, and Iran-backed Iraqi “militia” units. No statement has been made of the number of Marines being moved to Syria, but it is presumably comparable. The artillery battery and infantrymen combined probably comprise some 300-350 Marines. The infantry fighting will be done by a locally sourced force, as in Mosul, in which the Kurds are likely to figure prominently again.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/03/08/u-s-marines-ground-syria/

  21. France: The Taboo of Muslim Racism and Anti-Semitism – Part I

    by Yves Mamou
    March 9, 2017 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10025/france-muslim-racism-antisemitism

    March 7, 2017, the 17th Chamber of the Tribunal Correctionel of Paris acquitted Georges Bensoussan, a Jewish Moroccan-born historian, of any “incitement of racial hatred” (“provocation à la haine raciale”).

    On January 25, 2017, all of France’s “anti-racist” organizations — even the Jewish International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) — joined the Islamist Collective Against Islamophobia (CCIF) in court against Bensoussan. He was prosecuted for remarks he made in October 2015, during a debate on radio station France Culture about anti-Semitism among French Arabs. Benoussan said:

  22. European Council Demands ‘Mechanisms’ to ‘Tone Down’ ‘Anti-Immigrant’ UK Media (breitbart, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/03/09/european-council-demands-mechanisms-tone-down-anti-immigrant-uk-media/

    “The Council of Europe has claimed the UK media, “online sources”, and “certain politicians” are inciting “hate speech” and “hate crimes”, and demands the state strengthens “mechanisms” to “tone down” and silence such voices.

    The Advisory Committee for the Council also said the “media should be promoting intercultural dialogue”, “training” journalists in the right way to report, and hiring more ethnic minorities.

    The demands were made in a report, published Wednesday, on the UK’s compliance with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), a legally binding treaty signed by the UK.

    “Certain sections of the media and online sources of hate speech are responsible for spreading racially hostile narratives, often targeting Muslims and Gypsies” and “social media [has] become the preferred vehicle for the expression of anti-immigrant and anti-minority sentiments,” the authors write…”

  23. Hungarian Minister: Trump’s Foreign Policy ‘Good for the Whole World’ (breitbart, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/09/hungarian-minister-trumps-foreign-policy-good-whole-world/

    “Hungary’s foreign minister praised the foreign policy of President Donald Trump, noting that “his approach towards migration is much better for the whole world than the approach of the Democrats.”

    “For us it seems obvious that the security of the U.S. and the safety of the American people is the number one issue for the American president,” said Hungarian Minister Péter Szijjártó in an interview with Breitbart News Wednesday. “What should he deal with if not the security of his country? Who should deal with the security of the U.S. if not the U.S president?”

    Szijjártó said that he considers the treatment of President Donald Trump by “international media and the international political elite” to be “really ridiculous.”

    Pulling no punches in his critique of the hypocrisy of international elites, the minister said that “whenever Donald Trump says something he is bashed immediately,” and it is expected that everyone will criticize him.

    “But my feeling,” he continued, “is that if Hillary Clinton had won this election and had said the same things that Donald Trump has been saying, there would be another type of expectation: that everyone would stand up and give her a standing ovation for such progressive ideas.”

    “But just because Donald Trump says these things he must be slammed immediately,” he said.

    Trump’s approach to foreign policy, Szijjártó said, “is much better for the whole world than the approach of the Democrats, because he has removed the exportation of democracy from the focus of U.S. foreign policy. In this way he has kept other regions from becoming destabilized.”

    “This foolish one-size-fits-all policy,” he added, “created many threats and security issues all over the world by destabilizing governments that might not comply with American standards of democracy, but at least were stable enough to guarantee some security in the region.”

    Asked why he thinks Donald Trump is so despised by international elites, Szijjártó responded that “what we represent in politics is a total denial of the international Left represents.”

    “We say that national identity is important; we say nation is important; we say patriotism is not bad—on the contrary, it is good. We say religion is important; we say we are proud to be Christian and all these things are a denials of what they believe in or at least what they say,” he said.

    Szijjártó said that the Hungarian government is especially appreciative of Trump’s willingness to call a spade a spade…”

  24. Fatal Shootings in Sweden Double in Nine Years (breitbart, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/03/09/fatal-shootings-sweden-doubled-last-nine-years/

    “Shooting fatalities have risen sharply in Sweden over the last nine years, and the police chief in the notorious no-go Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby is demanding a reform of the country’s firearms laws.

    Statistics from the National Board of Sweden’s Cause of Death register reveal shootings that have resulted in fatalities have doubled in the last nine years. In 2008, the number of fatal shootings was 14. The figure rose to 22 in 2013 and 31 in 2015. Jörgen Olsson, Deputy Local Police Area Manager in Rinkeby, has demanded stricter legislation on firearms, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.

    “The criminals are laughing at society; there will be no consequences for this person,” Olsson said, referencing a case in which a known criminal in Rinkeby was arrested and released after only five hours despite being found with body armour and a firearm.

    “He comes out with a shrug, later he will receive a sentence of about one year in prison, but it will be shortened if he avoids [trouble],” he added.

    Due to the rise in cases, Olsson said: “There has been a lot of talk about stricter punishment for gun crime and politicians have also discussed at length about whether we should have mandatory detention for those apprehended with a loaded gun and suspected of aggravated larceny.” He added the police thought discussions were progressing far too slowly…”

  25. MIGRANT CRISIS: Two-thirds of female refugees have been ‘raped, beaten or pimped out’ (express, Mar 9, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/777152/migrant-crisis-female-refugees-raped-beaten-pimped-out

    “AROUND 70 per cent of female refugees in northern France have been the victims of rape, domestic violence or sexual abuse, the French charity Gynaecology Without Borders (GSF) reports.

    The horror statistics were revealed yesterday by the group which used to operate at the now-demolished Jungle camp in Calais.

    It said many women suffered daily attacks.

    Richard Matis, the charity’s vice president, said: “Refugee camps worldwide are plagued by violence, that is a fact.

    “But women are usually found to be more at risk of rape and other forms of sexual assault.”

    The charity, which now treats female migrants ‘stuck’ in the sprawling Grande-Synthe tent camp in neighbouring Dunkirk, added the women were raped and beaten on a “daily basis,” and had become “immune” to sexual violence and abuse.

    Mr Matis added: “Some women were repeatedly raped during the perilous journey to Europe.

    “Others are trapped in abusive marriages. And some women are pimped out by their husbands and forced into so-called ‘survival sex’ with people smugglers so that their families can continue travelling across Europe.”

    The charity added that “tearing down” refugee camps was “not” the solution to the migrant crisis, and called on the government to open more emergency shelters.

    Mr Matis said: “Every time a makeshift camp is evacuated and dismantled, thousands of female migrants are brutally uprooted and exposed to danger and insecurity. The chaos that ensues increases their vulnerability to sexual assault.””

  26. <strong<Russia: Israel and Russia united in fight 'against radical Islamic terror' – Netanyahu

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked up Israel-Russia relations during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, Thursday. The Israeli leader hailed “progress in the fight against radical Islamic Sunni terror under the leadership of ISIS and Al-Qaeda,” singling out Russia for its own “contribution.”

    SOT, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian): “I am very pleased to note that we have established very close, confidential contacts. We meet regularly, we are constantly on the telephone, we work at the level of ministries and departments.”

    SOT, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian): “And often you come to us on the eve of holidays. I want to congratulate you on the upcoming Purim holiday, to wish you and all Israel good holidays and prosperity.”

    SOT, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew): “One of the things that unites us is our joint struggle against radical Islamic terror. And in the last year there has been very serious progress in the fight against radical Islamic Sunni terror under the leadership of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and Russia has made a great contribution to this progress.”

    SOT, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew): “Thank you for congratulating us on the Purim holiday: 2,500 years ago in ancient Persia there was an attempt to destroy the Jewish people and it failed. This is what we celebrate during this holiday. And today there are attempts on the part of the descendants of ancient Persia, Iran, to destroy the Jewish state: they speak openly about it, they write it in black and white in their newspapers.”

    SOT, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew): “Of course, today we have our own country, our own army, we can defend ourselves. But I want to say that the threat of radical Islamic Shia terror is not only in our address, but also in the address of the region, the whole world. I am sure we all want to prevent the threat of radical Islamic terror, no matter what kind it is, Shiite or Sunni.”

  27. Trump Admin Blasted for Continuing Obama Admin Effort to Sell Iran Planes

    The Trump administration is under increasing criticism from Republican lawmakers for continuing Obama-era policies to provide material support to the Iranian regime, including airplanes, which many have warned could be used to illegally ferry weapons across the Middle East on behalf of the Islamic Republic’s war effort, according to lawmakers and veteran congressional insiders who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

    The Trump administration’s Treasury Department informed the Free Beacon on Monday that it would continue to grant licenses to companies such as Boeing so that they can pursue multi-billion dollar deals with Iran.

    This policy, started by the Obama administration as part of the nuclear deal with Iran, is opposed by many on Capitol Hill and runs counter to campaign trail promises by President Donald Trump to end such agreements.

    Iran announced in February that it had found a “foreign company” to finance the country’s purchase of at least 77 new planes from Boeing and Airbus.

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-admin-blasted-continuing-obama-admin-effort-sell-iran-planes/

  28. Jordanian Kingdom’s Collapse Imminent

    Israeli ambassador to Jordan Einat Shlain was pessimistic about the situation in the Hashemite Kingdom when she briefed IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot last October, according to a report in Ha’aretz Wednesday.

    Citing an anonymous senior Israeli official, the report said the chief of staff later told a closed forum that he was disturbed by the ambassador’s assessment and that the IDF should be ready to support King Abdullah II should things get out of hand across the Jordan River.

    Israel has been urging both the Obama and Trump administrations to support Jordan economically and militarily, which has absorbed more than a million Syrian refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. But despite the increase in American support, Ambassador Shlain was worried about mounting opposition to the king outside his relatively small camp of Bedouin loyalists, who number less than 20% of the population.

    Pundit Daniel Pipes, who returned from a week’s visit in Jordan, wrote in the Washington Times on Tuesday (Jordan at the precipice) that, on top of its strategic troubles, faced with the relentless threat of ISIS and the collapse of trade relations with both Syria and Iraq, Jordan continues to suffer from the unresolved core issue of identity.

    http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/reports-jordanian-kingdoms-collapse-imminent/2017/03/08/

    • This summer is going to be very interesting and scarier then we have seen so far.

      • Jordan is extremely precarious. As horrible as things get when it all blows up, sensible people have been preparing for years.

        There’s a “shadow” government- in- waiting in the UK that could be very good. “Normalized” relations with Israel = baked in. Articles in Arab journals are all over the place – well-received.

          • It’s like this:
            They exist, they’re legit, and ready.
            However. They’re Tards in a Tard-government.
            Gaza could’ve been Singapore.

            • What I am worried about is that this will create another civil war for the MB and Iran to exploit.

    • Daniel Pipes:
      Jordan at the Precipice

      Six months ago, Jordan’s King Abdullah said that his country was “in dire straits.” I just completed a week of intensive travels and discussions throughout the country, and found that no one disagrees with this assessment. Jordan may no longer be hyper-vulnerable and under siege, as it was in decades past, but it does face problems that are likely unprecedented.

      Jordan, which was created out of thin air by Winston Churchill in 1921 in order to accommodate British imperial interests, has always led a precarious existence. Particularly dangerous moments came in the 1967, when Pan-Arabist pressures led King Hussein (who ruled from 1952-99) to make war on Israel and lose the West Bank; in 1970, when a Palestinian revolt nearly toppled him; and between 1990 and 1991, when pro-Saddam Hussein sentiments pushed the King to join a hopeless and evil cause.

      Today’s dangers are manifold.

      ISIS lurks in Syria and Iraq, just beyond Jordan’s border, and is attractive to a small but real minority of Jordanians. Jordan’s once-robust trade with Syria and Iraq has nearly collapsed — and with it, Jordan’s lucrative transit role.

      In a region that is bountiful in oil and gas, Jordan is one of the very few countries to have almost no petroleum resources. City-dwellers receive water just one day a week, and country-dwellers often even less. Tourism has declined due to the Middle East’s notorious volatility, and the king’s recent assertion of authority is alienating the people, who are demanding more democracy.

      https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/09/jordan-at-the-precipice/

  29. MEMRI: The Western Plot To Treat Muslims As Dangerous Children

    One of the bizarre features of today’s academic life in the West is the treatment of young adult college students as children. And not just any children, but fragile, delicate creatures who are easily upset by disconcerting ideas or words. The disparaging word “snowflake,” originally taken from a Chuck Palahniuk novel, which is used to describe these sensitive people has itself now quickly become an outworn cliché.

    This exaggerated care for the exquisite feelings of others has now even bled into the field of counterterrorism among a few experts, and among rather more non-expert journalists and pundits positing variations on the theme of “Trump is helping ISIS” or “Trump’s policies will help ISIS’s recruitment.” Some of those making such an argument are important scholars worthy of respect. But used permissively by others with a political agenda, it actually demeans Muslims, as if they are easily swayed yet dangerous children susceptible to becoming terrorists because of immigration policy or harsh words that supposedly hurt their feelings.

    Lacking in much of this coverage is the realization that the process of actual terrorist mobilization is a rather complex one. Any honest person with even a superficial exposure to the research would caveat any sort of sweeping charge with a bit of humility. After all, the great rise of the Islamic State itself and its explosive growth in 2013-2015 occurred with a Democrat in the White House and a Socialist in the Elysee Palace.

    And even earlier, the announcement of an organization called Al-Qaeda, and its first spectacular acts of mayhem, preceded Guantanamo or the 2003 invasion of Iraq or the rise of right-wing populism in the West. Al-Qaeda meticulously planned 9/11 in the era of President Bill Clinton – which should give us pause about glib claims of causality.

    https://www.memri.org/reports/western-plot-treat-muslims-dangerous-children

  30. How Democrats Brought a Muslim Child Molester to America
    Another young victim of the Left’s war against common sense immigration security.

    When Tanveer Hussain and Abid Khan weren’t allowed into the United States, they blamed President Trump. So did the media outlets that covered the story. The controversial Democrat mayor of Saranac Lake reached out to fellow New York party members Senator Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. They leaned on the local embassy and Hussain and Khan were waved through.

    “Still a country that welcomes athletes from across the globe,” Senator Schumer’s statement read. The statement, shared on Hussain’s Facebook page, declared, “So proud of the town of Saranac Lake for their efforts and their open hearts.”

    Below it was a photo of Tanveer Hussain surrounded by Saranac Lake Middle School students. The seventh graders had been drafted to write letters to Schumer and Gillibrand on Hussain’s behalf.

    “We came in and talked to a small group of kids. I said, ‘This is bothering me. Is it bothering anyone else?’” Amy Jones, their teacher, had insisted.

    There’s no way to know if it bothered the children, but it bothered Amy Jones. And before long the children were enlisted in the campaign to bring Hussain to America. The campaign worked. And now here he was. Mayor Clyde Rabideau moderated the session with the children and the accused abuser.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266046/how-democrats-brought-muslim-child-molester-daniel-greenfield

  31. Cultivating a New Generation of Racists on Campus
    The hate-filed worldview and agendas of the student group MEChA.

    The Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), or “Chicano Student Movement,” describes itself as an organization that urges young Chicanos (people of Mexican ancestry living in the United States) to use “higher education” and “political involvement” to promote “cultural and historical pride,” “liberation,” and “self-determination” among their people. In practice, MEChA aggressively promotes anti-Americanism and anti-white hatred by relentlessly stoking the fires of racial and ethnic grievance among Latino students.

    MEChA’s roots can be traced back to the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s, which emphasized “brown pride” while rejecting “acculturation and assimilation” into the American mainstream. In that milieu, the first National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference, organized by an entity called Crusade for Justice, was held in Denver, Colorado in March 1969. Participants in this conference drafted the basic premises for the “Chicana/Chicano Movement” in a seminal document titled El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán (EPEA), which today is required reading for all members of MEChA’s various chapters.

    The term “Aztlán” refers to the territory in the Southwestern United States—including California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, as well as parts of Nevada, Utah, and Colorado—that Mexico ceded to the United States in 1848 via the Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo. But Mexican separatists consider this region to be part of a mythical Aztec homeland that was stolen from its rightful owners. Proceeding from that premise, MEChA rejects the notion that any Chicano can be considered an illegal immigrant. A popular slogan that surfaces at many MEChA rallies is: “We didn’t cross the border. The border crossed us.”

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266040/cultivating-new-generation-racists-campus-john-perazzo

  32. Cannibalism: ISIS Revives Islam’s Old Terror Tactic
    Jihadis have been “taking a bite” of infidels from the beginning…
    March 9, 2017
    Raymond Ibrahim

    In light of recent revelations that the Islamic State is teaching its followers to eat non-Muslims, surely we can now all agree that, at least in this, ISIS is truly not Islamic?

    Alas, no. Even the eating of “infidels” has precedents throughout Islamic history, especially as a terror tactic. Two well-documented anecdotes come to mind:

    The first concerns that jihadi par excellence, Khalid bin al-Walid (d.642). Dubbed the “Sword of Allah” by Muhammad for his prowess, he holds a revered position among jihadi groups (ISIS’ black flag with white Arabic writing is a facsimile of the banner Khalid carried in battle). During the Ridda—or “apostasy wars” on several Arab tribes that sought to break away from Islam following Muhammad’s death—Khalid falsely accused Malik bin Nuwayra, a well-liked Arab chieftain, of apostasy. After slaughtering him, Khalid raped—Muslim sources call it “married”—Malik’s wife. Not content,

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266050/cannibalism-isis-revives-islams-old-terror-tactic-raymond-ibrahim

  33. EURONEWS _ Geert Wilders ‘will disappoint his followers’ says estranged brother

    • EURONEWS – Full interview: Geert Wilders ‘will disappoint his followers’ says estranged brother

  34. WaPo -‘It will be a total disaster’ if Marine Le Pen wins the French election, says France’s U.S. envoy

    By Ishaan Tharoor

    Gérard Araud, France’s highly regarded ambassador to the United States, didn’t mince words when I asked him what would happen if Marine Le Pen won the country’s upcoming presidential election.

    “In diplomatic terms, I would say it will be a total disaster,” said Araud. He explained that should Le Pen make good on her vows to remove France from the European Union and the eurozone, these departures would trigger a “political earthquake” in the West.

    “It means the collapse of the E.U., because the E.U. without France doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “And it means the collapse of the euro and a financial crisis, which will have consequences throughout the world.”

    Araud spoke with Today’s WorldView on Wednesday at the French embassy, a vast and secluded compound on the leafy fringes of Georgetown. Just a day earlier, another French ambassador had seemingly broken diplomatic protocol to protest Le Pen. Thierry Dana, France’s envoy in Japan, published an op-ed in Le Monde saying he would not serve in a government run by the far-right.

    “If the pieces of the French tragedy which are being put in place were to lead to her election, I would stand aside from any diplomatic role,” wrote Dana. Araud, known for his eclectic and pointed commentary on Twitter, tweeted praise of Dana’s “excellent” article.

    Le Pen, an ultra-nationalist who takes a hardline stance on immigration and Islam, stands her best chance yet to become president. For now, she is still likely to lose a potential run-off vote. But in the wake of last year’s seismic political upheavals, it would be foolish to write her off.

    As Araud’s tenure as France’s representative in the United States draws to an end, the 64-year-old can perhaps afford to be outspoken. A career diplomat, he has spent more than a decade in the U.S. in various posts, including a stint as the French ambassador to the United Nations. He has watched with interest as his counterparts in Washington come to grips with the new reality of life under President Trump.

    “This city was in denial that something was happening,” said Araud, gesturing to the capital’s wonks and officialdom. “This city woke up on the ninth of November and it’s still under shock.”

    Araud, too, was stunned by Trump’s election last year. The upset victory, coupled with Britain’s earlier vote to quit the European Union, shook his own core convictions and predictions for French politics.

    “‘Till Nov. 8, when I was asked whether our [own] far-right candidate would be elected, my answer was ‘no.’ Suddenly, I felt that I couldn’t have the same answer,” Araud said. He added that Trump’s victory signaled “that something major was happening in western democracies, that Brexit was not an accident, that we were facing a global crisis and that the world of our certainties was collapsing.” (Araud said as much on Twitter at the time, provoking enough of a firestorm that he was compelled to delete the tweets.)

    Like many other diplomats in Washington, Araud says it’s too early to draw any real conclusions about the shape of U.S. foreign policy under Trump. But officials in European capitals have expressed general alarm over Trump’s “America First” doctrine, a vision of the global order that seems a radical rejection of longstanding American policies.

    “My advice to my authorities is to say, ‘try to forget the tweets and wait for the real policy,'” said Araud. He stressed that he has “not had any hint” from the new administration that France’s close relationship to the United States will change.

    “I personally met Secretary [of Defense James] Mattis and his first sentence to me was that the French were the best allies of the U.S. on the battlefield right now,” said Araud, a reference to French counterterrorism efforts in Syria, Iraq and North Africa. Mattis, Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have all sought to reassure their European counterparts that American commitments won’t change. Next week’s visit to Washington by German Chancellor Angela Merkel may also generate more positive soundbites.

    But Araud is also struck by the pronounced polarization that has set in on both sides of the Atlantic.

    “I have spent twelve years of my life in [the United States], but I have never felt the sort of paranoid frenzy that I see now on both sides — the sort of take-no-prisoners [approach to politics] and conspiracy theories,” he said. “What happened with the election comes on the top of a radicalization process that we are facing everywhere. In Europe, also, our political life is much more radicalized than it was fifteen or twenty years ago.”

    While Araud is sanguine about the social tensions and economic inequities that have led us to this moment of crisis, he also expressed bewilderment with those in the United States — including leading ideologues in the Trump administration — who seem to be cheering the unraveling of the European Union and the wider international liberal order.

    “When you talk about the liberal order, it is a Western order, an American-led order,” said Araud, before embarking on a bit of a history lesson. “The European Union basically has two godfathers: One is the president of the United States and the other one is the pope.” In the 1950s, Washington and the Catholic Church championed European integration as a bulwark against communism.

    “So it’s a bit paradoxical to see the Americans joining the adversaries of what is an American order,” he said. “That’s a bit weird.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/03/09/it-will-be-a-total-disaster-if-marine-le-pen-wins-the-french-election-says-frances-u-s-envoy/

    • Thge EU and the euro are doomed no matter who wins the French election, le Pen is the best chance France has to come out of the crisis relatively intact.

  35. GERMANY – Man ‘armed with an AXE injures several people at Düsseldorf train station’, reports claim

    Local reports have claimed that several people were injured in the attack

    A MAN armed with an AXE has reportedly gone on a rampage at the central train station in Dusseldorf, injuring several people.

    Anti-terror police swooped on the station in western Germany today after reports of a “crazed man” on the loose.

    German newspaper Bild reported that a suspect has been arrested in connection with the attack.

    Local reports added that police believe a second suspect may be on the loose.

    Shocking images show injured passengers lying on the floor in the station, surrounded by paramedics.

    Terrified passengers have taken to social media to say the situation inside the station “looks bad”.

    Bruno Macedo tweeted: “Man with axe chased by police in Dusseldorf. Station closed. I am in the train things look bad #police #terror.’

    He added: “Stay away from #Dusseldorf train station crazy man with #axe on the lose.”

    Trains aren’t stopping at the central station as armed cops flood the area.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3054171/man-armed-with-an-axe-injures-several-people-at-dusseldorf-train-station-reports-claim/

    • Deutsche Welle – Ax attack at Düsseldorf main train station, two people detained

      Police have converged on Düsseldorf’s main railway station, where a man with an ax reportedly injured an unverified number of people. Federal police say two persons have been detained.

      Federal police spokesman for the regional state of North Rhine-Westphalia state Rainer Kerstiens told Deutsche Welle that two persons had been detained.

      He described the incident as an “amok”-attack, adding that a search for possible further suspects was under way.

      The spokesman was subsequently quoted by the news agency AFP as saying that some five people were injured, but none appeared in be in a life-threatening condition.

      A large contingent of police had been sent to Düsseldorf’s central station, he said.

      http://www.dw.com/en/ax-attack-at-d%C3%BCsseldorf-main-train-station-two-people-detained/a-37877626

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

    • DAILY MAIL – Up to six injured after ‘axe-wielding man’ goes on the rampage in Dusseldorf train station as ‘accomplice is arrested by anti-terror police after JUMPING off a bridge to escape’

      Two people have been arrested after the attack at Dusseldorf’s main station
      Anti-terror police believe that others are now on the run after tonight’s rampage
      Among the victims was a 13-year-old girl who was slashed across the upper arm
      Passenger tweeted from his train that a ‘crazy man’ had been attacking people

      At least six people have been injured after an axe-wielding man went on a rampage at a Dusseldorf train station.

      Two people have been arrested and German anti-terror police believe that others are now on the run.

      Reports claim that one of the attackers ran towards a nearby underground station and jumped from a bridge as they attempted to flee.

      Pictures from Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof, the city’s main station, showed one of the victims lying helplessly on the floor as paramedics rushed to their aid.

      One of those injured is reported to be a 13-year-old, after the axe-man hacked at her upper arm.

      Police could not confirm how serious victims’ injuries are, but some were seen treated in ambulances at the scene.

      A station attendant told German newspaper, Bild, that a man had attacked people after jumping off a train.

      They said: ‘We were standing on the track, waiting for the train. The train came, and suddenly someone jumped out with an ax, hit the people.

      ‘There was blood everywhere. I have experienced a lot, but I have never experienced it.’

      Earlier this evening a terrified passenger claimed on Twitter that a ‘crazy man’ attacked people in the station.

      Bruno Macedo tweeted: ‘Man with axe chased by police in Dusseldorf. Station closed. I am in the train things look bad #police #terror.’

      Mr Macedo added: ‘Stay away from #Dusseldorf train station crazy man with #axe on the lose .. :(‘

      He later posted: ‘Everyone is calm in the train. Tense but calm….#dusseldorf #breaking #terror

      ‘Train is not stopping in #Dusseldorf #police closed the station . #terror #germany

      The scenes in Dusseldorf following seven other similarly disturbing attacks Germany has suffered since the start of last year.

      Incidents in Hanover in February 2016, Essen in April, Wurzburg, Reutlingen, Ansbach and Munich all in July and Berlin in December, left 22 people killed and 112 wounded.

      Explosives, firearms, knives an axe and an articulated truck were used during the attacks, several of which were claimed by ISIS and have involved asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4298896/Terror-attack-feared-Dusseldorf.html

  36. Why Is General Mattis Nominating the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’s Stooge’?

    Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’ pick for undersecretary of defense for policy, Anne Patterson, is problematic.

    Politico briefly explains why:

    If nominated and confirmed, Patterson would hold the fourth most powerful position at the Pentagon — and would effectively be the top civilian in the Defense Department, since both Mattis and his deputy, Robert Work, were military officers.

    As ambassador to Egypt between 2011 and 2013, Patterson worked closely with former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist government. She came under fire for cultivating too close a relationship with the regime and for discouraging protests against it — and White House officials are voicing concerns about those decisions now.

    This is putting it mildly. Back during the months leading to the June 30, 2013 revolution, Patterson — the “Brotherhood’s Stooge” as she was called by all, from news analysts to the Egyptian street — was arguably one of the most hated individuals by the millions of Egyptians who took to the streets against Morsi and the Brotherhood.

    Not only did her face regularly appear next to Obama’s in placards; it sometimes appeared alone, indicating just how closely she was seen as supporting the Brotherhood. It should be noted that these were not isolated sightings, as shown by the number of different placards and signs:

    Below are just a few anecdotes that I have translated from Arabic language media before, during, and after the June 30, 2013 revolution that highlight Patterson’s unsavory ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

    In the days leading to the revolution, Patterson called on Egyptians not to protest. She even met with the Coptic pope and asked him specifically to urge the nation’s Christian minority not to oppose the Brotherhood — even though Christians were naturally going to suffer the most under Morsi, especially in the context of accusations of “blasphemy.”

    Soon after the revolution, she repeatedly tried to reinstate the Brotherhood to power.

    Even Muhammad Heikal — “the Arab world’s most respected political commentator,” and for over 50 years an Egyptian political insider — said during a live interview that Patterson had assured the Muslim Brotherhood’s Hisham Qandil, who under Morsi was Egypt’s prime minister, that “there are many forms of pressure, and America holds the keys to the Gulf.”

    Later, Patterson demanded that Egypt’s recently appointed supreme commander of the Egyptian Armed Forces, General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, release all Muslim Brotherhood members currently being held for questioning:

    And when Sisi rejected this order, the American ambassador began threatening him that Egypt will turn into another Syria and live through a civil war. […]

    https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2017/03/09/why-is-general-mattis-nominating-the-muslim-brotherhoods-stooge/

    • White House pushing back against Mattis appointment

      Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wants to tap the former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, as his undersecretary of defense for policy, but the Pentagon chief is running into resistance from White House officials, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.

      If nominated and confirmed, Patterson would hold the fourth most powerful position at the Pentagon – and would effectively be the top civilian in the Defense Department, since both Mattis and his deputy, Robert Work, were military officers.

      As ambassador to Egypt between 2011 and 2013, Patterson worked closely with former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist government. She came under fire for cultivating too close a relationship with the regime and for discouraging protests against it—and White House officials are voicing concerns about those decisions now.

      The skirmish surrounding Patterson’s nomination is the latest in a series of personnel battles that have played out between Mattis and the White House, with each side rejecting the names offered up by the other while the Pentagon remains empty. The White House has yet to nominate a single undersecretary or deputy secretary to the Defense Department, while Work, Mattis’s deputy, is an Obama administration holdover who only agreed to stay on until the secretary taps a deputy of his own.

      A similar tug of war has played out between the White House and other agency chiefs, most notably Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whom the president denied his top choice for deputy secretary of state last month.

      But it is Mattis who’s dug in most stubbornly, insisting on staffing his own department. “Mattis is a guy who cares very much about personnel,” said a Mattis friend. “He doesn’t want people off the tracks that he has laid down and that he’s running his train on.”

      Patterson, a career diplomat, has never held a Defense Department position. She previously served as ambassador to Colombia and Pakistan. President Barack Obama nominated her to be the assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, the post from which she retired last month.

      She was the top American official in the country during a tumultuous time that saw the rise of Morsi and his supporters and his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood and, shortly thereafter, their ouster at the hands of the Egyptian military. Patterson became the subject of withering criticism when she dismissed the 2013 uprising against Morsi as “street protests.” Protesters plastered her face – crossed out with a red X – on signs and banners. In part, she had the misfortune of being the face of Obama’s policies in the country, and of the administration’s decision to stick with the Morsi government. Patterson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

      “The biggest pushback [from the White House] is that she was ambassador to Egypt immediately before and after the Morsi presidency,” said a person familiar with the conversations. For Mattis’s part, he has “put her name forward and he doesn’t quite understand why people have an objection,” the person said.

      A spokesman for Mattis declined to comment on the secretary’s personnel recommendations to the president.

      The secretary of defense has been warring with the president and his aides over personnel since before the inauguration in January.

      Transition officials swatted down Michele Flournoy, who served as undersecretary of defense for policy in the Obama administration and who was Mattis’s top choice to be his deputy; she eventually took herself out of the running for the position. Weeks later, Mattis was outraged when he learned from the news media that Trump had nominated an Army secretary without consulting with him, according to several transition aides.

      “General Mattis has made it known that Mad Dog’s personnel choices are his and not what we are told are in his opinion political hacks from the Trump team—even though they’re great people,” said a former Trump campaign aide. “It’s the world view of a four-star general.”

      http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/jim-mattis-appointment-white-house-pushback-anne-patterson-235633

      Nov 2015 – Assistant Secretary Patterson on U.S. Policy After Russia’s Escalation in Syria

  37. Report: Democratic Groups Paid Ransom Demanded by Russian Hackers to Keep Protester Funding Secret

    Russian hackers demanded ransom money from over a dozen Democratic groups over protester funding information, according to a report.

    The left-wing Center for American Progress was one of the organizations approached by the group, who the FBI says is the same group that organized the hacks of the Democratic National Committee in 2016, Bloomberg reports.

    Bloomberg reports that some left-wing organizations paid the ransom demanded by the hackers in an attempt to hide sensitive information about their role in funding anti-Trump protesters across the country.

    The report highlighted a conversation between an employee with a left-leaning nonprofit organization and an unnamed donor about using government-funded grants to protest the Trump administration.

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/07/report-democratic-groups-paid-ransom-demanded-russian-hackers-keep-protester-funding-secret/

  38. Fix Is In: House Committee on ‘Russian Hacking’ Includes Only DNC-Hired Tech Experts

    A list of witnesses scheduled to appear at a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Open Hearing on “Russian Active Measures” contains a glaring problem: the only technical experts scheduled to testify are from CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike is a firm hired by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and has become the primary source of the narrative about “Russian hacking” of the 2016 election and has acted as a mouthpiece for the Democrats since last June.

    The initial witness list released by House Intelligence includes a number of intelligence officials, all appointed during the Obama administration, such as former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, but the sole technical people on the invitation list are two representatives of CrowdStrike, President Shawn Henry, and the co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch.

    Breitbart News has interviewed tech experts who do not agree with the CrowdStrike assessment or Obama administration’s claims that the DNC/DCCC hacks clearly committed by Russian state actors, with much criticism aimed at the FBI/DHS Joint Analysis Report (JAR) “Grizzly Steppe” that was released at the end of December. As ZDNet reported after the JAR report was released by the Obama administration on the same day that they announced sanctions against Russia:

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/09/house-committee-russian-hacking-includes-only-dnc-hired-tech-experts/

  39. NSA Whistleblower Backs Trump Up on Wiretap Claims
    Bill Binney, who resigned from NSA in 2001, did not elaborate on President Obama’s specific role in surveilling Trump.

    President Donald Trump is “absolutely right” to claim he was wiretapped and monitored, a former NSA official claimed Monday, adding that the administration risks falling victim to further leaks if it continues to run afoul of the intelligence community.

    “I think the president is absolutely right. His phone calls, everything he did electronically, was being monitored,” Bill Binney, a 36-year veteran of the National Security Agency who resigned in protest from the organization in 2001, told Fox Business on Monday. Everyone’s conversations are being monitored and stored, Binney said.

    https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-03-07/nsa-whistleblower-bill-binney-says-trump-is-absolutely-right-about-wiretap-claims

  40. Julian Assange Press Conference and Q&A on Vault 7, Year Zero and the CIA (03-09-2017)

    • Most of us have known this shit for years mate.
      Did you know that every mobile phone call within a 14 mile radius of the Queen is monitored?
      Why do you think londoners have slang that changes every few years?

      • Of interest only to history buffs like me: The slang was originally known as thieves cant and started in antiquity its purpose was like the slang of the teens, to keep others (in the teens case parents) from knowing what you are saying.