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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.
Two more arrested in Michigan in first FGM prosecution in US (BBC, Apr 21, 2017)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39662450
“A Michigan doctor and his wife have been arrested in connection with the first ever prosecution for female genital mutilation (FGM) in the US.
Dr Fakhruddin Attar, 53, and Farida Attar, 50, are charged with conspiracy to perform the banned surgery at their medical clinic in a Detroit suburb.
They allegedly conspired with emergency room doctor, Jumana Nagarwala, who was arrested last week.
Two girls who underwent the procedure identified Mrs Attar and Ms Nagarwala.
The couple were arrested on Friday morning, and are expected to appear in court later today on charges of conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation and aiding and abetting female genital mutilation.
A seven-year-old girl from the neighbouring state of Minnesota told a child forensic interviewer that she had been brought to the couple’s Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia for a “special girls’ trip”.
The girl, who has been removed from home by child protective services, said she and another girl were told by their mothers they had to go to the doctor to “get the germs out”.
On 11 April, a medical examiner in Minnesota inspected both girls and confirmed they had undergone genital surgery, which caused them much pain…”
Morocco Dismantles ISIS Cell Planning to Carry Out Terrorist Attacks (moroccoworldnews, Apr 21, 2017)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/04/214696/morocco-dismantles-isis-cell-planning-carry-terrorist-attacks/
“Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) has dismantled a terrorist cell linked to the so-called Islamic State, better known as ISIS, in Tetouan, the Ministry of Interior said in a communique on Friday.
The dismantling of this cell, comprised of three members, came “in light of intelligence information,” according to the ministry…”
Moroccans Top List of Recipients of EU Citizenship (moroccoworldnews, Apr 21, 2017)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/04/214684/moroccans-top-list-of-recipients-of-eu-citizenship/
“Moroccans are ranked on top of nationals who have obtained the nationality of a European country in 2015, followed by Albanians and Turks, the General Directorate of the European Commission tasked with statistical information (Eurostat) said in a report on Friday.
86,100 Moroccan nationals have obtained the Italian, Spanish or French Nationality followed by Albanians (48,400) and the Turks (35,000).
“The largest group acquiring citizenship of an EU Member State in 2015 was citizens of Morocco (86 100 persons, of whom 88% acquired citizenship of Italy, Spain or France),” the report said.
Eurostat recalled that in 2015, about 840,000 people obtained the Nationality of an EU member state, a drop in the figure posted in 2014 (890,000) and in 2013 (980,000).
“In 2015, around 840 000 persons acquired citizenship of a Member State of the European Union (EU), down from 890 000 in 2014 and 980 000 in 2013,” the report stated.
The same source added that more than 5 million residents were granted the nationality of an European Union member state since 2010.
“Since 2010, more than 5 million persons in total were granted a citizenship of an EU Member Sate. Of the total number of persons obtaining the citizenship of one of the EU Member States in 2015, 87% were non-EU citizens,” Eurostat said.”
42,974 Med migrant arrivals in 2017, 962 deaths – IOM (ansamed, Apr 21, 2017)
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2017/04/21/42974-med-migrant-arrivals-in-2017-962-deaths-iom_937002ea-7f16-44ab-b143-2816fd467a5d.html
“Some 42.974 migrants and refugees have arrived by sea in Europe since the start of the year and 962 have died on the way, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said Friday. The data, released in Geneva, was updated till April 19.
Some 85% of the arrivals were registered in Italy (36,703) and the highest number of deaths, 898, was seen on the central Mediterranean route. Italy bears the brunt of migrants arriving by sea from Libya.
The spokesman for IOM in Italy was quoted in a statement as saying that the 36,703 arrivals since the start of 2017 exceed by over 10,000 the number of arrivals registered over the same period in 2015 and 2016.
Most of those who reached Italy in 2017 hailed from Guinea, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Ivory Coast, IOM said.”
Islamic Scholar Zaghloul El-Naggar Calls His Moroccan Critics ‘Group of Evil’ (moroccoworldnews, Apr 21, 2017)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/04/214662/islamic-scholar-zaghloul-el-naggar-calls-moroccan-critics-group-evil/
“Egyptian Islamic scholar Zaghloul El-Naggar, amidst criticism from young Moroccans whose questions he was unable to answer, has promised his critics that he will retaliate “to prove that they are wrong.”
Following backlash against the scholar’s attempts to present a scientific basis for the Quran, El-Naggar took to his Facebook page Thursday to mount a counterattack, calling his critics “a group of evil.”…”
China to help Afghanistan in deployment of second satellite to orbit (khaama, Apr 21, 2017)
http://www.khaama.com/china-to-help-afghanistan-in-deployment-of-second-satellite-to-orbit-02614
“The government of China will help Afghanistan in the deployment of the second satellite to orbit under the name of Afghan Sat-2, the officials in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology officials told reporters in Kabul today.
The Acting Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Syed Ahmad Shah Sadat informed regarding the deployment of the second satellite, Afghan Sat-2 into the orbit.
He told reporters that China has pledged to support Afghanistan in this regard.
Afghanistan’s first satellite was deployed into the orbit under the name of Afghan Sat-2 earlier in 2014.
The officials had then said the satellite was deployed with an aim to provide digital broadcast.
The satellite was deployed into the orbit by Eutelsat Communication under a multi-year agreement signed by the former Afghan Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Amirzai Sangin.
Afghan Sat-1 delivers full national coverage and extensive reach of Central Asia and the Middle East, under the multi-year agreement, according to the former officials of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
The satellite also supports a wide range of services including broadcasting, mobile telephony back-haul and IP connectivity.”
How many Afghan jihadis does it take to operate a satellite? Unfortunately the answer to this cannot be known until the last foreign assistance program by China has concluded. Imams continue to study the mysteries of flush toilets and screw-in light bulbs.
ISIS-K leader Hafiz Saeed’s horse presented to the Afghan President (khaama, Apr 21, 2017)
http://www.khaama.com/isis-k-leader-hafiz-saeeds-horse-presented-to-the-afghan-president-02616
“The personal horse of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Khurasan (ISIS-K) leader Hafiz Saeed was presented to President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, days after the terror group received a major blow in an airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.
The horse was presented to President Ghani following a meeting organized in the President Palace, attended by several tribal elders, political figures, and other influential figures of Nangarhar.
The horse was reportedly captured by the security forces during the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in Nangarhar…”
Iran wants to replicate Hezbollah model wherever possible: Kingdom (saudigazette, Apr 22, 2017)
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/iran-wants-replicate-hezbollah-model-wherever-possible-kingdom/
“Abdullah Al-Muallami, Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, blamed Iran for supporting sectarian militias and trying to replicate the Hezbollah model wherever it gets an opportunity.
While taking part in an open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue,” at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, he said that the criminal regimes in Iran and Syria are trying to cash in on the Palestinian cause…”
Mother Terrorista Merkel’s eager little helpers.
Syrian Army in Clash with Turkey-Backed Militants in Northern Aleppo (farsnews, Apr 22, 2017)
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960202000959
“TEHRAN (FNA)- Media sources reported that the Syrian Army soldiers engaged in fierce clashes with the Ankara-backed militants in Northern Aleppo after the militants opened artillery fire at government forces’ positions…”
Hama: Terrorists Continue to Withdraw from More Positions under Syrian Army Attacks (farsnews, Apr 22, 2017)
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960202000925
“TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian Army forces continued their attacks on the defense lines of Al-Nusra Front (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front or the Levant Liberation Board) near the newly-liberated town of Taybat al-Imam and won back several key positions in the region.
The army soldiers engaged in a fresh round of clashes with Al-Nusra North of Taybat al-Imam and captured Tal (hill) al-Mantar and al-Madajen checkpost.
In the meantime, the Syrian Air Forces carried out several combat flights over terrorists’ positions in the towns of Halfaya, al-Zalaqiyat and al-Zawar in Northern Hama, killing a number of terrorists…”
Lebanese army arrests 10 suspected militants in raid near Syrian border (reuters, Apr 22, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-lebanon-security-islamicstate-idUKKBN17O07C
“Lebanon’s army said it arrested ten suspected members of militant groups on Saturday after they came over the northeastern border from Syria, and a security source said a local Islamic State leader was killed in the same raid.
No army personnel were reported injured or killed in the raid in Arsal, a town which militants briefly overran in 2014 before withdrawing to the hills around the border.
The army says it stages regular operations against Islamic State and former al Qaeda-linked militants in the mountainous region…”
Turkey opposition appeals referendum result at top court (alaraby, Apr 22, 2017)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/4/22/turkey-opposition-appeals-referendum-result-at-top-court
“Turkey’s main opposition party launched a legal challenge at a top court on Friday to last-minute changes to voting rules in the referendum that saw President Recep Tayyip Erdogan win expanded powers.
The ‘Yes’ side won 51.4 percent of the vote in last Sunday’s referendum on creating an executive presidency, axing the role of prime minister from 2019.
But there was controversy after the Supreme Election Board (YSK) made a last-minute decision to accept ballot documents in envelopes without an official stamp, which the opposition argues opened the way for fraud.
The Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) lawyer Atilla Kart formally lodged the petition with the Council of State on Friday afternoon, telling reporters the move was not “just for the ‘No’ voters” but for the protection of all voters’ legal rights.
The Council of State, set up during the Ottoman empire, is Turkey’s highest administrative court…”
“MUST SEE: Will Erdogan Islamize Europe? Turkey’s New Policies Reminder Of Armenian Genocide” – Benny Labamba – April 20, 2017
Turks in Europe and What the Outcome of the Turkish Referendum Means for Germany
Expert: “Erdogan dragging Turkey towards an Islamist state”
Rebel Media
Rebel Medi
Putin, Erdogan and Absolute Power
El diablo los junta
Connected by the Devil: MADURO | PUTIN | ERDOGAN
See the photo:
http://www.abcdelasemana.com/2016/10/21/en-turquia-el-diablo-los-junta/
If I get a chance, I’ll translate this article from El Diario de Caracas:
El diablo los junta
http://diariodecaracas.com/blog/fernando-mires/el-diablo-los-junta
All these articles in Spanish get something WRONG. Throws everything else out of whack.
They link Putin, Erdoff and Maduro with Trump, Orban and Le Pen.
Death toll in Afghan base attack rises to 140, officials say (reuters, Apr 22, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-afghanistan-attack-idUKKBN17O04A
“As many as 140 Afghan soldiers were killed on Friday by Taliban attackers apparently disguised in military uniforms in what would be the deadliest attack ever on an Afghan military base, officials said.
The Defense Ministry said the toll was “over 100″ Afghan soldiers killed and wounded.
One official in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where the attack occurred, said on Saturday at least 140 soldiers were killed and many others wounded. Other officials said the toll was likely to be even higher.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the government has yet to release exact casualty figures…”
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/04/somali-muslim-legislator-votes-yes-allow-life-insurance-payouts-beneficiaries-terrorists/#disqus_thread
Islam is a fraud. Islam should be “outlaw” in civilized country. They caused destruction all over the planets. You don’t hear much about the “moderate” or the “peaceful” one. It is all the same.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/04/vive-la-france-frenchman-ex-muslim-scolds-paris-mayor-not-deporting-muslims-watchlists-video/
Look at the French who are Shock about what this ex Muslim is saying : Deported them!
http://www.trunews.com/listen/
Listen to the show on 4/21/2017
The Promise: The Truth about the Armenian Genocide.
To all my fellows Christians is the reprieve over?
Iran Wants to Import Tons of Uranium. Opponents of the Nuclear Deal Want the Trump Administration to Say No.
The amount goes beyond what Iran might need to replenish its stocks.
The Trump administration is facing pressure to definitively rule out a longstanding request by Iran to import 950 tons of natural uranium, according to government sources and proliferation experts who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Tehran has signaled it will petition again for the yellowcake next week at a quarterly meeting in Vienna regarding implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal.
The Obama administration reportedly approved the Iranian request in its final weeks, but it was ultimately blocked by the United Kingdom. Iran has indicated of late that it will revive the request, setting up a key test for the Trump administration, which has placed the nuclear deal under a comprehensive review.
Trump officials suggested to TWS that the administration has not yet decided whether it will overturn the Obama-era decision and prohibit Iran from importing the natural uranium.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/iran-wants-to-import-tons-of-uranium.-opponents-of-the-nuclear-deal-want-the-trump-administration-to-say-no./article/2007746
(Richard: A couple of days ago a video was posted with Ryan Mauro from Clarion Project talking about NORK and pointing out that what Iran has NORK has and what NORK has Iran has. Allowing Iran 950s tons of unrefined uranium is giving it to both Iran (very bad idea) and NORK (very bad idea).
Bear on the move: Russian long-range aircraft operate near Alaska for fourth day this week
By J.E. Dyer April 21, 2017
Although U.S. officials are describing the activities of Russian strategic bombers and other long-range aircraft this week as routine, it’s not actually routine to see them this often.
The “routineness” lies more in the fact that the Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers aren’t making sudden moves or doing anything alarming during each individual flight.
The IL-38 “May” aircraft, meanwhile, are maritime patrol planes, dedicated to ocean surveillance and antisubmarine warfare. They can be armed with antiship and antisubmarine weapons, but they work for the theater fleet commander (the Russian Pacific Fleet, in this case) and are not part of the strategic nuclear force.
So IL-38s operating near Alaska don’t send a “strategic” signal in the nuclear-forces sense, as the forward operation of Tu-95 Bears does.
The best assessment of what Russia is doing is based on a combination of factors. One is the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and the response of the Pacific military powers to it. Japan has been on heightened alert for some days now. China has deployed additional troops to the border with North Korea, and has put bomber aircraft on alert.
http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/04/21/bear-move-russian-long-range-aircraft-operate-near-alaska-fourth-day-week/
5 terrorist suspects arrested in Brussels after arms, ammo & drugs seized in police raids (RT, Apr 22, 2017)
https://www.rt.com/news/385664-brrussels-raids-terrorist-detained/
“Belgian police arrested five people suspected of having ties with a terrorist group after swooping down on their homes in a Brussels suburb. The prosecutor’s office said the arrests were related to a case not associated with Thursday’s attack in Paris.
Two of the four raids were conducted in Brussels’ infamous Molenbeek district, where the mastermind of the November 2015 terrorist attack in Paris, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, as well as one of the main suspects, Salah Abdeslam, used to live amongst the area’s predominantly Muslim population.
Searches were also carried out in the municipality of Ganshoren in the Brussels Region, some five kilometers from the capital, and in the municipality of Roosdaal, about 30 kilometers west of Brussels.
“In all, five persons were arrested and taken in for questioning,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Friday, adding that all of them “are suspected of participating in the activities of a terrorist group,” as cited by AFP.
Police discovered a cache of weapons during the raids, which included two handguns, a bullet-proof vest, and ammunition. Apart from the hidden arsenal, drugs, namely cannabis, were also found.
The suspects will now appear before a court that will determine if they will remain in custody…”
Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf leader killed on Philippine resort island – army (reuters, Apr 22, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-philippines-militants-idUKKBN17O0BA
“A leader of the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf group has been killed in a shootout with Philippine soldiers on the island of Bohol, where the military is hunting down insurgents planning to kidnap tourists, the military and officials said on Saturday.
Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said “one lawless element” was killed in the clash but he could not give the man’s identity.
Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto identified him as Abu Sayyaf leader Joselito Melloria, who was among the militants involved in a kidnapping plot on the island.
The military said operations were continuing on Bohol where troops last week killed six Abu Sayyaf bandits in a clash, including their leader, who was directly involved in the kidnap and killing of Canadian and German nationals.
Abu Sayyaf, which has its roots in separatism, makes money from ransoms and piracy and has invested that in modern weapons and boats. Indonesian, Malaysian and Vietnamese vessels in the region are frequently targeted there and their crews abducted.”
AFGHANISTAN -Toll in Taliban attack near Afghan military base rises to 140, one militant detained
Two suicide bombers had blown themselves up, and seven others were killed in the gunfight that followed.
The toll in the Taliban strike near an Afghan military base on Friday has risen to 140, officials said, adding that they fear the figure was likely to rise, Reuters reported on Saturday. At least 10 insurgents, dressed in military attire, had targeted soldiers who had gone to a mosque for Friday prayers in Mazar-e-Sharif. The government has yet to confirm the number of casualties.
The Army base is located near Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan. Spokesperson for the 209th Corps Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Qahar Aram said the attack took place around 1.30 pm (local time). Most of the soldiers were caught unawares as they were unarmed and finishing their Friday prayers at the time.
The assailants, who arrived in two military vehicles, told guards at the gates that they needed to enter urgently as they were carrying wounded soldiers, Army spokesperson Nasratullah Jamshidi told Reuters.[…]
https://scroll.in/latest/835329/toll-in-taliban-attack-near-afghan-military-base-rises-to-70-one-militant-detained
TOLOnews gets access to MOAB bomb site in Nangarhar
UN unable to decide who‘s behind alleged chemical attack in Syria
The UN commission investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria says it cannot yet say for certainty what the source of the gas allegedly used in Idlib really was. The body says the release of gas coincided with airstrikes in the area.
https://investmentwatchblog.com/un-unable-to-decide-whos-behind-alleged-chemical-attack-in-syria/
France: Clashes erupt during Paris march day before election
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8sViN9TuRc
Manifestation “Premier tour social” (22 Avril 2017, Paris)
The ‘Angry Police Wives’ put their feet down in Paris protest
reuters – Unions, activists protest ahead of first round of French presidential election
A man has been arrested at a packed train station in Paris after allegedly threatening police with a knife.
Panic was caused at the Gare du Nord station as the incident unfolded on Saturday.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/panic-as-paris-knifeman-threatens-police-with-blade-at-gare-du-nord-station/ar-BBA9IA8
Syrian Army discovers Turkish ‘flour’ bags packed with C4 explosives
Turkey has been caught before using humanitarian pretexts to smuggle weapons into Syria
After overrunning Al Qaeda positions in Hama on Friday, the Syrian Army captured some intriguing spoils of war: Turkish flour bags full of explosives.
While it’s unclear whether the bags were emptied of their original contents before being stuffed with C4, unfortunately Turkey has a well-documented habit of using humanitarian assistance as a pretext for smuggling weapons into Syria.
Here’s a video of the “humanitarian flour”:
Syrian Army found Turkish ‘flour’ humanitarian aid bags full of C4 &mixes for explosives after liberating Al Qaeda position in North Hama
https://t.co/GNIQ94cdvW
From this video alone, it’s obviously not clear under what circumstances these explosives found their way into the Turkish flour bags.
But It’s a documented fact that Turkey has used “humanitarian aid” as a guise for supplying “moderate” rebels with weapons and supplies:
The 2014 National Intelligence Organisation scandal is a military political scandal regarding the role of Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (M?T) in supplying weapons to neighboring Syria during the Syrian Civil War.
The government, then led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, first claimed that the cargo of the lorries were a ‘national secret’, but later claimed that the lorries were carrying food and medical supplies to the Turkmen population in Syria. Many critics of the government alleged that the lorries were in fact supplying arms to rebel groups fighting in the Syrian Civil War.
On 29 May 2015, the newspaper Cumhuriyet released footage of the search, confirming that the lorries were in fact carrying weapons. The government subsequently faced calls to resign while an investigation began into Cumhuriyet for releasing the footage
https://www.sott.net/article/348892-Syrian-Army-discovers-Turkish-flour-bags-packed-with-C4-explosives
Germany: Turkey is ‘helping ISIS’ – Assyrian protesters march in Guetersloh
More than 300 protesters gathered in Guetersloh on Saturday, commemorating the killing of Assyrian people under the Ottoman Empire and also in condemnation of contemporary Turkish politics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9BziQRZ4Fk
Exposing the hidden structures behind an Antifa riot:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-21/total-chaos-cyber-attack-feared-multiple-cities-hit-simultaneous-power-grid-failures
The U.S. power grid appears to have been hit with multiple power outages affecting San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.
Officials report that business, traffic and day-to-day life has come to a standstill in San Francisco, reportedly the worst hit of the three major cities currently experiencing outages.
Power companies in all three regions have yet to elaborate on the cause, though a fire at a substation was the original reason given by San Francisco officials.
As soon as the UK announce an election, the Corporations start the drip of negative anxiety and speculation once again.
“EU is ahead of Britain in trade deals, claim American officials in what would be a dramatic U-turn for Trump”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4434466/EU-ahead-Britain-trade-deals-say-officials.html
“Unnamed Washington and European officials claimed the UK had been forced behind the EU in the queue to reach a deal with America.”
An assistant professor at Indiana State University has been arrested for allegedly making false claims of anti-Muslim threats against him and reporting a made-up attack. Azhar Hussain has been charged with obstruction of justice and harassment.
Campus police said students and faculty members, both Muslim and non-Muslim, were sent threatening emails in March.
The emails contained anti-Muslim sentiment and threats against the Muslim community at Indiana State University (ISU), naming Hussain as a target.
Hussain reported an attack on March 24 as he was entering his office, in which he claimed to have been thrown to the floor, the Tribune Star reports. At the time, ISU police said people in the area at the time of the reported attack didn’t see anything suspicious.
https://www.rt.com/viral/385698-professor-anti-muslim-threat-hoax/
US to Honor Refugee Deal with Australia
reuters – Pence says United States will honor refugee deal with Australia
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday the United States would honor a controversial refugee deal with Australia, under which the United States would resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers, a deal President Donald Trump had described as “dumb”.
Pence told a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the deal would be subject to vetting, and that honoring it “doesn’t mean that we admire the agreement”.
“We will honor this agreement out of respect to this enormously important alliance,” Pence said at Turnbull’s harbor side official residence in Sydney.
Australia is one of Washington’s staunchest allies and has sent troops to fight alongside the U.S. military in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Under the deal, agreed with former President Barack Obama late last year, the United States would resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held in offshore processing camps on South Pacific islands in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru.
In return, Australia would resettle refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The White House has already said it would apply “extreme vetting” to those asylum seekers held in the Australian processing centers seeking resettlement in the United States.
The deal has taken on added importance for Australia, which is under political and legal pressure to shut the camps, particularly one on PNG’s Manus Island where violence between residents and inmates flared last week.
Asylum-seeker advocates welcomed the U.S. commitment, although they remained concerned that “extreme vetting” could see fewer than 1,250 resettled in the United States.
“What still isn’t clear is how many people will have this opportunity, and that clarity must be provided,” said Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator at Amnesty International Australia.
“The violence on Manus Island last weekend only further demonstrates that the Australian government needs to give a clear commitment that no refugee or person seeking asylum will be left behind in Papua New Guinea or Nauru,” he said.
ACRIMONIOUS CALL
An inquiry by an upper house Senate committee in Australia said the government must be more transparent about the operations of the processing centers in PNG and Nauru, which are run by contractors.
The report, released on Friday, also said the Australian government had a duty of care to the asylum seekers being held in the camps.
Australia’s relationship with the new administration in Washington got off to a rocky start when Trump lambasted Turnbull over the resettlement arrangement, which Trump labeled a “dumb” deal.
Details of an acrimonious phone call between the pair soon after Trump took office made headlines around the world.
Turnbull acknowledged Trump’s reluctance, but said the U.S. commitment was a measure of Trump’s new U.S. administration.
“It speaks volumes for the commitment, the integrity of President Trump,” he said.
Pence was speaking on the final leg of a 10-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region that included meetings with political and business leaders in South Korea, Japan and Indonesia.
His trip to Australia is the first by a senior official in the Trump administration as the United States looks to strengthen economic ties and security cooperation amid disputes in the South China Sea and tension on the Korean peninsula.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pence-asia-australia-idUSKBN17O02Y
The ‘dumb’ deal revealed: Anne Richard explains the Aus-US refugee agreement
Manus Island Easter attack: Shots fired into the refugee camp
Knight Concerned With Increase of Alleged Crimes Committed by Refugees in Manus
This just makes me sick. We are to take 1,200 Rohingya muslim refugees that are illiterate and unskilled in exchange for some number of Central Americans.
The deal is so inexplicable that one has to wonder what the “real deal” actually was.
I am sick to death of taking in cradle to grave welfare recipients. We have no need for people to cut sugar cane or bleed rubber trees.
At what point does North American stand up and say “Hey politicians, what’s in it for me?”
Doug Saunders is at it again in today’s Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/marine-le-pen-old-brand-new-spin/article34774469/
He opines about alleged anti-Semitic beliefs among FN supporters.
He never once mentions anti-Semitic acts of terror violence against French Jews. Or the fact that it’s Muslims, not Le Pen supporters who are the cause of the increased number of French Jews fleeing for Israel and other countries.
He mentions that France has Europe’s largest Jewish population but never mentions why(after the end of French rule in North Africa, Jews there were no longer safe and they had to flee by the millions to France and Israel).
He spends his whole article painting the only woman who can make France safe for its Jews again as the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler.
Doug Saunders is a walking, talking, human-sized HIV virus.
AUSTRALIA – Spouse beating question added to Australian citizenship test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghx5DlYq9gk
“HAGUE POLICE SHOOTING SUSPECT CAUGHT ON VIDEO” by Janene Pieters – April 21, 2017
http://nltimes.nl/2017/04/21/hague-police-shooting-suspect-caught-video
Answering Islam Conference – November 19 2015
Shahram Hadian & Andrew Woods, PhD
7 Video Playlist
“Ravi Zacharias on the Islamic Extremism and Persecuted Christians”
Hovsepian Ministries – February 12, 2017
WSJ – The Resurgent Threat of al Qaeda
By Ali Soufan
After bin Laden’s death, it has become a vast and deadly network of groups spread from Syria to Yemen to Afghanistan
In the nearly six years since Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs, the terrorist organization he founded has practically vanished from American news coverage. Al Qaeda has been eclipsed by the rise of the self-styled Islamic State—a group that began as al Qaeda’s Iraqi franchise but broke away in 2014.
It may appear that al Qaeda has simply declined, but that is very far from the truth. Since the death of its founder, it has transformed itself from a close-knit terrorist outfit with a handful of struggling affiliates into a vast network of insurgent groups spread from Southeast Asia to northwest Africa. Together, this network now commands an army of tens of thousands of Islamist militants. Years after bin Laden’s death, they stand united in their commitment to his ideology. We have killed the messenger, but the message lives on.
In its first two decades, al Qaeda (“the base” in Arabic) focused on fighting the U.S. and its allies head-on. But in early 2011, amid the upheaval of the Arab Spring, bin Laden ordered an about-face in the group’s aims. Instead of mainly pursuing the U.S. (“the far enemy”), he directed al Qaeda’s franchises to turn inward and join the popular battle to bring down impious local Arab regimes (“the near enemy”). He hoped that this would build up al Qaeda’s strength for an eventual showdown with the U.S. Bin Laden didn’t live to see the fruits of this approach, but they have been considerable.
Islamic State was still formally part of al Qaeda when it made most of its territorial advances, and for the most part, it continues to espouse bin Laden’s ideology. Islamic State is no longer aligned with al Qaeda, but sibling factions that remained loyal to al Qaeda have made stunning gains in their own right.
In Syria, more than 20,000 militants, according to regional press reports, follow the banner of the Liberation of the Levant Organization (formerly known as the Nusra Front), and they often battle their former jihadist comrades in Islamic State. In chaotic Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula holds major sections of coastline and highways, allowing it to run a smuggling network and to keep local populations loyal by distributing goods and services. Since the Arab Spring, al Qaeda’s Yemen branch has more than quadrupled its membership, from about 1,000 to at least 4,000 fighters, according to State Department estimates.
Across the Gulf of Aden in Somalia, al-Shabaab—the affiliate responsible for the notorious Westgate Mall attack in 2013—has increased its membership to at least 7,000, the Council on Foreign Relations estimates. It continues to attract recruits, including from Somali communities in the U.S.
In northwest Africa, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb frequently targets Western tourists and aid workers. It recently absorbed several previously disparate factions, forming a jihadist conglomerate whose constituent groups (according to the Long War Journal) collectively carried out more than 250 attacks in 2016 alone.
Al Qaeda branches world-wide are gaining in numbers and fighting strength. Even in Afghanistan, where more than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives battling al Qaeda and its Taliban allies since 9/11, U.S. forces discovered in 2015 the largest al Qaeda training camp to date, measuring some 30 square miles. Such groups are now more widespread and better armed, trained and organized than al Qaeda ever was while bin Laden was alive.
Bin Laden always envisioned an adaptable global network, and the new al Qaeda has distinct advantages over Islamic State. While the latter squanders blood and treasure defending its ever-dwindling “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq, al Qaeda’s looser span across two continents makes it all but impossible to pin down. Where Islamic State focuses on the short-term (not least because it believes the End of Days is imminent), al Qaeda has demonstrated strategic patience, retreating and regrouping where necessary while keeping its eyes locked on its goals.
The most formidable al Qaeda franchises have embedded themselves within complex local conflicts in failing states such as Somalia, Yemen and Syria. If al Qaeda ultimately succeeds in these struggles, it will again possess stable home bases from which to launch ambitious attacks against the West. If it is defeated, it will simply morph again, from an insurgency back into a terrorist organization.
The same grim logic applies to Islamic State. After its self-styled caliphate falls, it will become what it was at its origins after the U.S. invasion of Iraq: an itinerant terrorist group, sowing chaos by murdering civilians—most of them Muslim.
Such possible transformations raise the terrifying prospect of a reconciliation between al Qaeda and Islamic State. Today, the rival groups quarrel over the claim of Islamic State’s “caliph” to lead all Sunni Muslims. But if Islamic State no longer governs territory, its leader is no longer a caliph, and the dispute falls away, opening the door to a merger between the groups. Whether they unite or not, it is only a matter of time before bin Laden’s followers again turn their sustained attention back to the West and the U.S.
How should we respond to this threat? Military muscle alone won’t do. We can kill as many terrorists as we want, but if more keep coming to fill jihadist ranks, we will make no headway. Defeating al Qaeda and its progeny requires cutting off their supply of recruits, and we can do that only by taking more effective action in the arena of ideology.
First, we must counter the false jihadist narrative that the West wants a “war against Islam.” This would entail, for example, making good on our rhetoric about trying to end the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, avoiding the temptation to scapegoat all Muslims for the actions of a few terrorists and discouraging our leaders from inveighing against Islam itself.
We also must help to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophes that incubate terrorism. In Afghanistan in the 1980s, fundamentalist madrassas in refugee camps produced the Taliban—literally, “pupils.” We are now seeing a replay in Syria and Yemen, where millions of children go uneducated and face indoctrination by jihadists. Yet the Trump administration’s budget plans threaten precisely the tools we need to meet these challenges—diplomacy and foreign aid.
Finally, we must do better at exposing the fundamental hypocrisy of a movement that claims to be the arbiter of true Islamic piety but routinely bombs mosques and marketplaces. We must craft a true and hopeful story to drown out the false and despairing one that terrorists tell.
Ultimately, the solution lies in tackling the root causes of radicalization, not just its symptoms.
[.... I guess he doesn't mean islam and the koran.... ]🙁 That is unlikely to generate footage exciting enough for cable news, but we can win only by becoming more tenacious than our enemy.—Mr. Soufan, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, is a private security consultant. This essay is adapted from his new book, “Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State,” which W.W. Norton will publish in May.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-resurgent-threat-of-al-qaeda-1492786991
Pope says refugee centres ‘concentration camps’
Rome (AFP) – Pope Francis on Saturday described some of Europe’s refugee centres as “concentration camps” as he paid tribute to an unknown Christian woman slain for her faith in front of her Muslim husband.
“These refugee camps — so many are concentration camps, crowded with people… because international accords seem more important than human rights,” Francis said in impromptu remarks at a ceremony in memory of modern day Christian martyrs.
Departing from his prepared script and appearing unusually emotional as he spoke, the 80-year-old pontiff said he wanted the woman to be remembered along with all the other martyrs commemorated in Rome’s Basilica of St Bartholomew.
He revealed that he had met the woman’s husband during his visit to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last year.
“I do not know what happened to him, if he managed to get out of his concentration camp, and get to somewhere else” Francis said, describing the man as a father-of-three but not revealing his nationality.
“He looked at me and said ‘Father, I am a Muslim and my wife was a Christian. In our country we were terrorised … they saw her crucifix and they asked her to throw it away.
“When she refused they cut her throat in front of my eyes. We loved each other so much.”
Saturday’s service at the Basilica located on an island in the Tiber river that separates most of Rome from the Vatican, was also addressed movingly by Roselyne Hamel.
She is the sister of Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old priest murdered by jihadists last year as he was celebrating mass in his church in Normandy in northern France.
“At his age, Jacques was frail but he was strong in his faith in Christ, strong in love for the Gospel,” Roselyne Hamel said.
Describing her sibling as “a universal brother,” she said she was certain his love for humanity would even have extended to his killers.
Other speakers included Francisco Hernandez, a friend of William Quijano, an organiser of “Schools for Peace” in El Salvador and a victim of gang violence in 2009, and Karl Schneider, son of Paul Schneider, a protestant pastor who died in the Nazi death camp at Buchenwald.
The Basilica where Saturday’s service took place is home to a large collection of relics of Christian martyrs across the ages, including recently added momentoes of Schneider, Quijano and Hamel.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-says-refugee-centres-concentration-camps-174626226.html
Muslims explain significance of papal trips to Egypt and Bangladesh
Who’s translating the Pope’s words into Arabic?
What’s the title – in Arabic – of articles about the visit?
reuters – German anti-immigrant party set to go further right after leader suffers defeat
COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) – The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) looks set to turn further right after its co-leader, who has struck a more moderate tone of late, suffered a defeat when delegates refused to discuss her motion to shift the party into the “mainstream”.
Support for the party, which attacks Chancellor Angela Merkel for having allowed more than a million migrants into Germany in the last two years, has tumbled in recent months after reaching the mid-teens in opinion polls last year.
Originally founded as an anti-euro party in 2013, the AfD is expected to enter the national parliament for the first time after September’s election but is treated as a pariah by established political parties, which refuse to work with it. Its congress drew thousands of protesters to Cologne on Saturday.
Frauke Petry, the party’s public face and under whose leadership the party has already shifted rightwards, shocked supporters on Wednesday by announcing she would not lead the AfD’s campaign for a Sept. 24 federal election.
She had ruffled feathers internally by proposing that the AfD signal its willingness to join coalitions after elections in 2021 rather than entrenching itself as a “fundamental” force of opposition whose role is largely provocative. Her foes within the party say that division is artificial.
But delegates voted against discussing Petry’s motion or another proposal in which she and others said the AfD should reject “racist, anti-Semitic … and nationalist ideologies”.
Instead, they stressed the need to show unity after months of bitter infighting that have helped drag down its poll ratings to less than 10 percent. Against her advice, they also voted to field a team of national candidates.
The AfD has been embroiled in a scandal since senior member Bjoern Hoecke called in January for a “180 degree turnaround” in the way Germany seeks to atone for Nazi crimes. Petry got two-thirds of the executive board to vote in February in favor of expelling him and a party arbitration body must now decide.
Delegates in Cologne declined to discuss ending attempts to oust Hoecke, in the only apparent setback to Petry’s opponents.
Political scientist Hajo Funke said Petry had recently tried to steer the party on a more moderate course but had lost to more radical members like Hoecke and his supporters, leaving the door open to the AfD shifting further right.
“That means the direction now is that they want to integrate positions such as those held by Hoecke and that’s a racial radical right-wing position,” Funke said, adding that would make it less attractive to voters.
TITANIC COMPARISON
Petry said the AfD had made a “mistake” in refusing to discuss her motion on its future direction because it was “exactly this lack of strategy” that was behind much of its historic internal strife.
Addressing the congress, Petry’s co-leader Joerg Meuthen was applauded for saying the AfD would never form an alliance with those like Merkel, Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz or the Greens, whose pro-migrant stances were wrecking Germany.
Up to 15,000 protesters demonstrated against the AfD’s meeting in Cologne, a police spokesman said. Two police officers were injured and a police car was set ablaze.
In a fiery speech, economics professor Meuthen said Germans in his hometown were now “few and far between” and that without action, “the irrevocable change of our homeland into a Muslim-dominated country is a mathematical certainty”.
He insisted he was not xenophobic but was concerned about how migrants were changing Germany. Many of those who have arrived in Germany in the last two years are Muslims.
He likened the country to the Titanic.
“Everybody is still in good spirits and there’s a relaxed party mood above and below deck but it’s almost impossible for the huge ship to make the necessary change in direction anymore,” Meuthen said. “People can’t or don’t want to imagine a collision with an iceberg but it’s already unavoidable.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/german-anti-immigrant-party-set-further-leader-suffers-160448869.html
Germany: Anti-AfD rally draws thousands in Cologne
Victims of child grooming gangs face ‘unacceptable’ delays in quest for justice (express, Apr 22, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/795243/Victims-child-grooming-gangs-unacceptable- delays-justice
“MORE than 100 victims of an ethnic minority child grooming gang in Scotland have faced “unacceptable” delays in bringing their abusers to justice.
Although detectives have reported 27 suspects to the Crown Office, only one man has been named as part of the massive investigation into child sexual exploitation which ended more than two years ago.
Some of the victims were as young as 10 and all of them were vulnerable young girls, with many of them living in care homes in and around Glasgow.
Failed Afghan asylum seeker Javaid Akhond is the only named individual to face justice as a result of Operation Dash. He was 20 when he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2014 for the rape and sexual abuse of children as young as 12.
Following repeated requests to Police Scotland the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), this newspaper has learned there have four convictions in total.
However, only two abusers have been given custodial sentences and the other three individuals have not been identified while the details of their crimes remain unknown…”
German intelligence agency spied on Interpol and news organizations: Spiegel (DW, Apr 22, 2017)
http://www.dw.com/en/german-intelligence-agency-spied-on-interpol-and-news-organizations-spiegel/a-38543902
“The respected news magazine “Spiegel” has reported that Germany’s BND spied both on international police agencies and media outlets for years. The latest revelations come as a result of another spy scandal in the US…”
German conservatives urge end to EU-Turkey talks after pro-Erdogan vote (reuters, Apr 22, 2017)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-politics-germany-idUSKBN17O0ON?il=0
“Two senior German conservative politicians have called for the European Union to end discussions with Turkey about EU membership after a vote that handed new powers to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Norbert Roettgen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and head of the foreign affairs committee, said failing to issue consequences after the referendum vote would hurt Europe.
“We would damage the credibility of Europe if we failed to respond to Turkey’s decision against democracy, against the rule of law … if we continue to hold fast to the fiction of accession for a country with such a government and such a constitution,” Roettgen told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk in an interview to air on Sunday.
He said pretending that Turkey could join the EU would also prevent Europe from forging a new, more realistic relationship with Turkey…”
Police were poorly equipped for Stockholm attack, officers say (thelocal, Apr 22, 2017)
https://www.thelocal.se/20170422/police-lacked-resources-to-handle-stockholm-attack-officers-say
But this site does not tell what happened next. However Swedish media do.
After the attack, custom personnel wanted to arm themselves. However they were refused because “the regulations do not allow it” and all of them were sent home. As a result, some of Sweden’s most important security objects were left unguarded for 15 hours just after a terror attack. One of them was a Oresund bridge which is a connecting bridge between Denmark and Sweden.
http://www.sydsvenskan.se/2017-04-22/tullverkets-gd-kallas-till-justitieutskottet
“For the folks who don’t know who BAMN is ? Why let this ex-member tell you who they are!
Letter from UCB alumn Jevon
I am running with Students for a Democratic University (SDU) as Student Advocate and I am an ex-member of BAMN. I think I can give a little bit of an insider’s perspective as to why it is not a good idea to have dealings with that organization. The dislike that most people in the activist community on campus have of BAMN stems from the fact that they are very sectarian, undemocratic, and obnoxious. If the problems with BAMN stopped there, I would be for working with them. However, internally, that organization is a lot more corrupt than people realize.
The organization is tightly controlled by two members, the President, Shanta , and another founding member named Leland. There is no democracy in the organization. Members are encouraged to follow whatever perspective and course of action that Shanta and Leland put forward. When disagreements arise between base members of the group and the leadership (i.e. Shanta and Leland), that is when things get scary. In order to coerce people into doing what they want them to do, at the leadership’s command, this organization engages in a whole host of disgusting behavior like physically dragging people to meetings and political events, denouncing members who disagree as crazy/suicidal and encouraging them to take unprescribed medication, stealing money and i.d. cards to restrict the movement of dissident members, spreading lies about such members to turn others against them, etc. The list goes on and on. The way the organization makes this possible is often by convincing members to abandon their lives and come live in BAMN households.
https://archive.is/tJcHx#selection-1339.0-1349.1041
SYRIA – Latest Islamic State video –
suicide bombings + training camp
G R A P H I C
mass beheadings in Raqqa – SYRIA ( just past the 18:50 mark )
http://thevid.net/v/gfmkdjmgcj2fllm1n
http://sendvid.com/vhebwanp
Well,
I’ve just home and today is the early hours of St Georges Day
Enjoy some old Brit Patriot Punk with some nice visuals.
Thousands of Afghan refugees accuse themselves as Taliban
The security authorities are confronted with a new phenomenon: according to SPIEGEL information, more and more Afghan refugees declare that they were Taliban fighters. In 70 cases is already determined.
In the course of the refugee crisis, several thousand Taliban fighters from Afghanistan may have come to Germany since the year 2015. According to SPIEGEL information, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) reported to the German security authorities that an average four-digit number of people had already reported during their interviews that they had contacts with the radical Islamist group in Afghanistan or even fought for them.
There is a lot of work to be done on the safety authorities because of the self-condemnation. According to SPIEGEL information, the prosecutor’s office already determines in more than 70 cases. Six men are under investigation. Next week in Berlin and Koblenz begin the first proceedings against accused Afghans. (Read here the whole story in the new SPIEGEL).
It is unclear whether the refugees actually are former Taliban fighters. The authorities are still puzzling about the motives of the accused: some hope for a better ride if they spend themselves as a former Taliban. They may speculate that they will not be deported to Afghanistan, because membership of the Taliban will be punished with the death penalty.
Limits of performance ”
German investigators are now expecting numerous terrorist trials against alleged Taliban fighters – in addition to ongoing trials against alleged members of the “Islamic State”. Peter Frank, the prosecutor-general, had only warned the provincial justice ministers in January in a fire letter that “the limits of the capacity” of his people had been reached……
(google translate)
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/fluechtlinge-tausende-afghanische-fluechtlinge-bezichtigen-sich-selbst-als-taliban-a-1144254.html
Paris attack – another video –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWKLPdHhLx4
Left vs Right – Where to from Berkeley?
Both of the men putting out the videos need to learn more about history and about how the left pushes their national takeovers. Europe is rapidly losing their rights and the people who are out their fighting antifa are trying to keep the rights for the citizens of the US.
It takes two to make a peace but only one to make a war, when the left won’t stop using violence to take rights away from people the people who want to keep their rights have to fight back with violence.
If the man talking about the antifa woman who got punched, she tried to punch the man in the throat with weighted gloves. She instituted the attack an he responded to defend himself.
By the way if you do much research on the antifa groups you will find most of them are pushing for a violent revolution.
I Think Le Pen Will Win
Sargon of Akkad
Sargon of Akkad