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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.
Donald Trump urged to ‘BREAK the Taliban’ by sending THOUSANDS of troops to Afghanistan (express, May 7, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/801302/Donald-Trump-White-House-Afghanistan-war-Taliban-ISIS-military-John-Mccain-Iraq
“DONALD Trump has been urged to send up to 5,000 troops to Afghanistan in an aim to crush the Taliban insurgency in the country.
The US military have sent recommendations which they claim smash the stalemate more than 15 years after the Islamist government was toppled.
Theresa Whelan, who oversees the Pentagon’s special operations forces, believes the proposals could be ready as early as next week.
Ms Whelan said: “We are actually actively looking at adjustments to the approach in Afghanistan right now, move beyond the stalemate and also to recognise that Afghanistan is a very important partner for the United States in a very tricky region.”
Roughly 9,000 American service members are deployed in Afghanistan, training and advising Afghan National Security Forces under Operation Resolute Support.
A small number of US special forces are reportedly also battling the Taliban and ISIS in the region.
Stephen Biddle, a US foreign policy advisor, said: “The situation is deteriorating.”…”
Election Day in France:
http://littlenotesfromparis.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/count-down-to-frances-2017-presidential.html
Polling boots have opened in Metropolitan France. Live Stream here, where you can comment on the side lines. Something like : VOTE MARINE ! It sometimes gets rough there though.
#MacronLeaks: Secret Islamization Plans
The reports I have been reading says there is a low turnout, this may benefit le Pen.
Too little, too late. Sigh. France is doomed.
Nous sommes tous Suédois maintenant.
I am very sorry to say that you are right, this will embolden the Moslems and they will start setting up countries inside of France that will lead to France breaking up into several different countries.
Islamic State attacks base where U.S. advisers stationed in Iraq (reuters, May 7, 2017)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-security-idUSKBN18307O
“Multiple Islamic State suicide bombers attacked a base in northern Iraq where U.S. military advisers are stationed, security sources said on Sunday.
Two militants detonated their vests at the entrance to the K1 base overnight, and the remaining three were killed by Kurdish peshmerga forces who control the Kirkuk area where it is situated.
“They were wearing uniforms like the Kurdish peshmerga and had shaved their beards to look like us,” one officer told Reuters, adding that two peshmerga had been killed in the attack. A further six were wounded.
Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition are fighting to dislodge Islamic State from Mosul, 140 km northwest of Kirkuk, but large pockets of territory remain under militant control, including Hawija, which is near the targeted base.”
Looks like the postmodern proxy mother fornicator is going to win. I mean this purely in the literal sense of a man who wished so badly to have sex with his mommy that he went out and married her surrogate. Of course, there is not a gosh darn thing wrong with this in the super stretchy latex world of moral relativism. And I could be wrong too, dang it, ’cause True Love knows no boundaries and all that rot. This would mean then that no amount of scrutiny would find an iota of infidelity in his famously French marriage, right? Otherwise he’s a Freudian wack job with his finger on the French nukes and an accelerating national/European suicude on his agenda. Rock on.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/politics/801381/French-election-results-live-updates-latest-news-Macron-Marine-Le-Pen-France-polls/amp
DIRTY TRICKS: French Voters Receive Invalid, Damaged Le Pen Ballots
David Rachline, Campaign Director for Marine Le Pen, last night called for vigilance on the part of voters receiving their election material, and for those concerned to notify authorities at polling stations of any damaged ballots.
Millions of packs have been sent out to French households in recent days, containing voting information and ballot papers for Sunday’s election. According to a press statement released by the Le Pen campaign, there have been thousands of reports of invalid ballots being received across such geographically diverse counties as Ardèche, Alliers, Savoie, Loire, Yvelines, Eure-et-Loire, and Hérault – a broad spread across the country.
Videos are being posted and shared on Facebook of registered voters opening their envelopes to reveal the contents – intact ballot papers for Macron, ripped papers in the case of Le Pen.
In other videos, voters are seen opening envelopes only to find that both ballots bear Macron’s name. Rather than an occasional anomaly, the same circumstances have been noted in the voter packs of multiple voters living within the same household.
Le Pen’s campaign has also accused certain mayors of breaking the electoral code by using officially headed notepaper and state resources for mail outs calling on voters to support Macron. Such violation of France’s electoral code, if prosecuted, can lead to a fine of €15,000 ($16,450) and up to one year in jail.
Despite polls giving Macron a significant lead, sources inform the Gateway Pundit that the race will be much tighter. If this turns out to be the case, a large number of disqualified ballots could make a difference.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/05/dirty-tricks-french-voters-receive-invalid-damaged-le-pen-ballots/
Emmanuel Macron hacked emails: French media ordered by electoral commission not to publish content of messages
Journalists could face criminal charges for violating laws preventing influence on vote
France’s electoral commission has ordered media not to publish contents of Emmanuel Macron’s leaked campaign emails to avoid influencing the election.
It warned news outlets in France that journalists could face criminal charges for publishing or republishing the material, under laws that came into effect at midnight forbidding any commentary liable to affect the presidential race.
There were fears the hack could swing Sunday’s final vote, where Mr Macron was expected to comfortably beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-email-hack-leaks-election-marine-le-pen-russia-media-ordered-not-publish-commission-a7721111.html
Faith Goldy: Trudeau Calls Illegals “Positive & Exciting”
Iran Using U.S. Money to Strengthen Military
ny idiot could see that the Iran nuclear deal was a disaster in the making when Secretary of State John Kerry kept making concessions to appease the anti-American hardliners loyal to the Ayatollah, and those who were blinded to the deal’s disgraceful elements beforehand certainly came to see how horrible the agreement was when it was signed. But unlike some political deals, which improve with age, the Iran deal only gets worse with every passing month. We can’t go more than a few weeks without learning more about just how insane this agreement was, and this week is no exception.
Only a few days after we learned that President Obama set terrorists and spies free in exchange for American prisoners held captive in Tehran, a new report shows that Iran is busy using U.S. funds – released to them in the wake of the agreement – to strengthen their military. A military, by the way, that has been known to paint rockets with slogans like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
http://patriotnewsdaily.com/iran-using-u-s-money-to-strengthen-military/
France: Emmanuel Macron, Useful Idiot of Islamism
by Yves Mamou
May 7, 2017 at 1:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10310/emmanuel-macron-islamism
During the cold war with the Soviet Union, they were called “Useful Idiots”. These people were not members of the Communist Party, but they worked for, spoke in favor of and supported the ideas of Lenin and Stalin. In the 21st century, Communism is finally dead but Islamism has grown and is replacing it as a global threat.
Like Communism, Islamism — or Islamic totalitarianism — has been collecting its “Useful Infidels” the same way Communism collected its Useful Idiots. There is, however, an important difference: under the Soviet Union, Useful Idiots were intellectuals. Now, Useful Infidels are politicians, and one of them may be elected president of France today.
In the 21st century, Communism is finally dead
Communism is alive and well in China, Cuba, Venezuela and the University campuses of all Western nations. Why do supposedly intelligent people think that the destruction of the USSR destroyed the communism that is working to take over the west? Granted they are for the most part home grown communists but they are still communists.
And one of the greatest ironies is that communism now has to try to break back in to central and eastern Europe through the likes of the CEU (central European university) in Budapest because the people were hip to their jive.
With the exception of Russia (or should I say possible exception) the former communist nations are the ones who are the most determined to ensure that communism never takes over again. I wish more people in north America were determined that it will never take over, because way too many people are buying into the socialized medicine which is how socialism was brought into Western Europe.
FYI socialized medicine was a Nazi idea that has spread to the rest of the world. The left uses medicine and medical care as the opening wedge because they know it is hard to fight against healthcare for everyone. Once you get the people use to the government providing one thing it is easy to push on to other things, like food and housing.
https://twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/861275173693030401
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Live feed from New Orleans – patriots preparing to defend historical elements from Antifa
TRENTON, OH (FOX19) –
An Edgewood Middle School student was handed a 10-day suspension for “liking” a picture of a gun on Instagram with the caption “ready.”
The parents of Zachary Bowlin posted a picture of the intended suspension notice which read, “The reason for the intended suspension is as follows: Liking a post on social media that indicated potential school violence.”
“I was livid, I mean, I’m sitting here thinking ‘you just suspended him for ten days for liking a picture of a gun on a social media site,” father Marty Bowlin said. “He never shared, he never commented, he never made a threatening post… anything on the site, just liked it.”
http://www.fox19.com/story/35355907/middle-school-student-suspended-for-liking-photo-of-gun-on-instagram
This another example of the toxic matriarchy that reigns in our school systems
Claim: this is a Macron victory party and Syrian flags are being flown. Don’t know if the claim is true, but if it is…damn!
http://i.imgur.com/OoLbSJd.png
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives won a clear victory over their Social Democrat rivals in a vote in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday, boosting her prospects of winning a national election in September.
Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) fetched 33 percent of the vote in Schleswig-Holstein, up from 30.8 percent in the last election there in 2012, an exit poll for broadcaster ARD showed. The Social Democrats won 26 percent, down from 30.4 percent.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-election-schleswig-holstein-idUSKBN1820JE
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-israel-palestinians-violence-idUKKBN1830T4?rpc=401&
Israeli paramilitary police officers shot and killed a knife-wielding Palestinian teenage girl who tried to attack them at an entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, a police spokeswoman said.
The incident was the latest in a 19-month-long period of sporadic street attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, and the bustling Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s walled Old City where it occurred has seen many attacks.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a knife was recovered from the scene together with a farewell letter from the teenager to her family quoting a verse from the Koran that signed off with the word “shahida” – Arabic for martyr.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4482168/Tough-new-internet-porn-laws.html
Tough new internet porn laws could force viewers of adult content to prove their age at the POST OFFICE
Online restrictions are being brought in thanks to the Digital Economy Act
The new rules make it more difficult for children to access adult material
Porn viewers could be made to register with mobile operators or the post office
Nearly 900 members of a global ‘dark web’ pedophile ring sprawling Europe and the Americas have been arrested following a two-year investigation, the FBI and Europol reported after the website’s founder was handed a 30-year jail sentence.
Shedding light on the scope of the operation which is still active, the FBI revealed that in the US alone, 350 arrests were made as part of a wide-ranging investigation into Playpen – a secret website that is being referred to as possibly the biggest child pornography online dump that ever existed.
https://www.rt.com/news/387317-pedophile-ring-arrested-playpen/
French president-elect Macron says he will defend France and Europe (abcnews, May 7, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/french-president-elect-macron-defend-france-europe-47260917
“French president-elect Macron says he will defend France and Europe.”
Dogs to be brought in as FURTHER security to stop attacks on Parliament (express, May 7, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/801522/Dogs-Parliament-Westminster-terror-attack
“ATTACK dogs could be brought in to defend Parliament from terror threats under new plans being drawn up after Westminster was targeted in March.
The move is being “seriously considered” by security chiefs following the attack by Khalid Masood, which left five dead and more than 50 injured.
Former chairman of the Commons administration committee Sir Paul Beresford said the dogs would be with police handlers at the estate’s most vulnerable point, like the gates 52-yearold Masood, ran through before stabbing Pc Keith Palmer, 48, to death…”
ISIS widow Sally Jones rises up US kill list after inspiring female terror recruits (express, May 7, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/801469/ISIS-British-recruiter-Sally-Jones-US-kill-list-high-priority
“ISIS bride Sally Jones has been moved up the US army’s kill list amid claims she and her late husband plotted a series of failed terror attacks.
The 49-year-old mother of two from Kent is now considered a “high priority” for assassination after she and her jihadi husband Junaid Hussain masterminded an IS recruitment drive and devised several potential terror plots against allied troops.
One such plan involved kidnapping a former US soldier and beheading him on camera, the Sunday Times reported.
Another attack that never came to fruition involved a teenager killing hundreds of concert goers in a Bataclan-style massacre.
Jones is also thought to have been responsible for creating a new generation of female ISIS terrorists using social media as a recruiting tool…”
Sally Jones = Tokyo Rose
End of story. Treat accordingly.
Azerbaijan: Soldiers who gave Armenia secrets are arrested (abcnews, May 7, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/azerbaijan-soldiers-gave-armenia-secrets-arrested-47258995
“Authorities in Azerbaijan say they have arrested a number of soldiers and civilians who allegedly provided military secrets to rival Armenia.
A joint statement from Azerbaijan’s security service and its defense and interior ministries said Sunday that the suspects were identified as part of an investigation into provocations allegedly planned by Armenian forces in Azerbaijan’s Terter region.
Terter is adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, the breakaway region in Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian and Armenian military forces for more than two decades. Those forces also control some territory around Nagorno-Karabakh, including much of Terter.
The statement did not say how many people had been arrested.”
Pakistan, Afghanistan dispute toll after clashes (abcnews, May 7, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-army-kills-50-afghan-forces-border-fight-47255090
“Pakistan said Sunday its forces killed at least 50 Afghan troops and destroyed five checkpoints in clashes along the disputed border two days earlier, while Afghanistan dismissed the account, saying only two border police and a civilian were killed.
The two armies traded fire Friday around the Chaman border crossing, which has been closed by Pakistan, stranding people on both sides. The clashes, which ended after a few hours when local commanders contacted each other via an emergency hotline, marked a dangerous escalation between the two U.S. allies.
The two uneasy neighbors share a porous 2,200-kilometer (1,375-mile) border and have long traded allegations of allowing their border regions to be used by militant groups.
Pakistani Maj. Gen. Nadeem Ahmad told reporters at the crossing that two Pakistani soldiers were killed in Friday’s fighting and another nine were wounded. He said around 100 Afghan forces were wounded.
Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said that account was “completely baseless.” He said two Afghan border police were killed in Spin Boldak, on the Afghan side of the border, and another 11 were wounded. An Afghan government statement issued Sunday accused Pakistan of “unprovoked firing” Friday and Saturday.
Danish said a woman was killed and 30 other civilians were wounded in the attacks, which forced several local residents to flee their homes.
Pakistani officials said the fighting began after Afghan security forces fired on Pakistani census workers and the troops escorting them, killing nine civilians and wounding 42, including women and children. They say the Afghan government had been notified and given the coordinates of the border villages, where the census workers were going door to door.
Afghan officials said Pakistani troops fired the first shots…”
IS militants kill Christian man in northern Sinai (abcnews, May 7, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-militants-kill-christian-man-northern-sinai-47254849
“Gunmen have shot dead a Christian man inside a barbershop in Egypt’s northern Sinai, security officials said on Sunday — the latest attack on Christians in the turbulent region contested by a local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group.
The late Saturday killing in the coastal city of el-Arish came one day after IS warned it would escalate attacks against Christians. IS claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday through a brief report on its Aamaq news agency.
The officials identified the victim as 50-year-old Nabil Saber Ayoub.
He is at least the seventh Christian in northern Sinai to be killed by suspected IS militants in recent months. The killings have forced hundreds of Christians to flee the region.
At least 75 others have since December been killed in IS attacks targeting three churches, one in Cairo and two to the north of the Egyptian capital.
IS is currently spearheading an insurgency in northern Sinai, where security forces have been battling militants for years.
The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.”
Somalia says regional al-Shabab leader is killed in raid (abcnews, May 7, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/somalia-regional-al-shabab-leader-killed-raid-47255500
“A regional leader of the al-Shabab extremist group has been killed in a raid by Somalia’s military, the government announced Sunday, as the country’s new offensive against the fighters moves ahead.
The statement by Somalia’s information minister said Lower Shabelle regional leader Moalin Osman Abdi Badil and three associates were killed Friday in Bariire village west of the capital, Mogadishu.
There is no immediate comment from the extremist group…”
Gunfight between Indian police, rebels kills 5 in Kashmir (abcnews, May 7, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gunfight-indian-police-rebels-kills-kashmir-47254796
“Rebels attacked a police squad in the Indian portion of Kashmir, triggering a gunbattle that left three civilians, one officer and an assailant dead, police said Sunday.
The unit came under fire Saturday night as it reached a road accident site on a key highway connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of India, said senior police officer S.P. Pani.
He said the dead civilians were road construction officials of a private company.
One civilian and one police officer also were injured in the shootout, he said.
Police believe two insurgents escaped under the cover of darkness after the officers swiftly retaliated in Malpora , a village 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Srinagar, the main city in the Indian-held Kashmir.
On Sunday, thousands of people participated in the burial of the militant who came from a village in the Indian portion of Kashmir. They chanted “Go India, Go Back,” ”We Want Freedom” amid a gun salute by militants who joined the procession.
Insurgents have been fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or merger with neighboring Pakistan since 1989…”
Philippines says bomb sparked by feud but IS claims attack (abcnews, May 7, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/philippines-bomb-sparked-feud-claims-attack-47254985
“A bomb explosion that killed two people in a Muslim community in Manila was sparked by a personal feud, Philippine police officials said Sunday, but the Islamic State group claimed its fighters were responsible…”
Afghan conflict: Families flee Taliban Kunduz assault (BBC, May 7, 2017)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39836225
“More than 2,000 families have been forced to flee their homes in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz amid heavy fighting, officials say.
The evacuations came as Taliban militants seized the district of Qala-e-Zal, just west of the city.
Clashes continue in other parts of the city, as the Taliban try to increase pressure on government troops in both the north and south of the country.
The militants twice entered Kunduz in the past two years before retreating…”
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Prison Service released footage on Sunday that it says shows the leader of a mass Palestinian hunger strike breaking his fast, a claim dismissed by the Palestinians as an attempt to undermine the open-ended strike, now in its 21st day.
Assaf Librati, a spokesman for the prison service, said strike organizer and Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti ate a candy bar on May 5 and cookies on April 27. He said surveillance was increased and Barghouti was caught on film eating.
Footage aired by Israeli media shows a prisoner sitting down fully clothed on a toilet unwrapping something and putting it in his mouth. Other footage shows a prisoner eating something near a sink.
https://apnews.com/78760029d6e447bbb843e6c3e017be4d
The outrageous moment an elderly white woman is slammed to a pool deck before being thrown into a swimming pool was captured on video and drawing anger across the internet.
The woman is not identified and it’s unclear where the incident took place.
“The frail woman is seen approaching dozens of boozed-up pool party-goers in a desperate bid to get them to turn down their blaring sound system,” The Sun reported.
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2017/05/07/frail-elderly-woman-body-slammed-and-thrown-into-pool-with-dog-for-asking-partiers-to-turn-down-music-487617
Left wing Canadian media outlet uses picture of SS Nazi soldier to describe Canadian Troops on an infographic
https://archive.is/W5ktd
Gavin McInnes: Antifa anti-Semitism (w/Brittany Venti, Martina Markota)
Gavin McInnes: Islam isn’t “dope.” It’s sexist.
Senator Feinstein Revealed the True Cost the FBI Paid to Break into the San Bernardino iPhone
Patently Apple reported back in April 2016 that the FBI reportedly paid more than $1.34 million to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone used in the terrorist attack. This week we learned the official amount for that service when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees the FBI, said publicly that the government paid $900,000 to break into the locked iPhone of a gunman in the San Bernardino, California shootings, even though the FBI considers the figure to be classified information.
The report covering this story noted that “The FBI also has protected the identity of the vendor it paid to do the work. Both pieces of information are the subject of a federal lawsuit by The Associated Press and other news organizations that have sued to force the FBI to reveal them.
California’s Feinstein cited the amount while questioning FBI Director James Comey at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing Wednesday May 3.
Feinstein stated: “I was so struck when San Bernardino happened and you made overtures to allow that device to be opened, and then the FBI had to spend $900,000 to hack it open. And as I subsequently learned of some of the reason for it, there were good reasons to get into that device.”
The federal government paid the sum as it cut short an extraordinary court fight with Apple Inc., which was resisting a judge’s order to help the Justice Department hack into the phone of Syed Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife killed 14 people in a San Bernardino attack in December 2015. An unidentified third party came forward last March with a solution to open the phone.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2017/05/senator-feinstein-revealed-the-true-cost-the-fbi-paid-to-break-into-the-san-bernardino-iphone.html
PICS – Russian Army
http://varlamov.ru/2362327.html
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina police say they’re investigating the possible suicide of an Army veteran charged with shooting her service dog as she laughed.
Fayetteville Police Lt. Todd Joyce said Sunday investigators believe that 23-year-old Marinna Rollins killed herself. Joyce declined to explain what evidence detectives found. He says police were called to her apartment early Sunday after her body was found by friends.
Rollins and 25-year-old Jarren Heng were charged last month with cruelty to animals after investigators say they tied the dog to a tree and shot it multiple times with a rifle. Cumberland County District Attorney Clark Reaves said the two could be heard laughing on a video recording they made as the dog was killed.
http://fox8.com/2017/05/07/ex-soldier-recorded-fatally-shooting-service-dog-found-dead/
Two people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds after a shooting near the opulent Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach Sunday evening.
Just after 9 p.m., the Miami Beach Police tweeted that an investigation was ongoing.
http://globalnews.ca/news/3433649/miami-beach-shooting-near-hotel/
(CNN)Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday signed a bill that would ban sanctuary cities in his state.
The bill, which Abbott could be seen signing on Facebook Live Sunday evening, establishes criminal and civil penalties for local government entities and law enforcement that don’t comply with federal immigration laws and detainer requests, the governor’s office said.
The new law allows government entities to be fined $25,500 for each day the law is violated, as well as a class A misdemeanor charge for sheriffs, police chiefs and constables who fail to comply and removal from office for elected and appointed officials, the governor’s office said.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/07/us/texas-bans-sanctuary-cities/index.html
Ankara announces ambitious measures in bid to ease skyrocketing food prices (hurriyetdailynews, May 7, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ankara-announces-ambitious-measures-in-bid-to-ease-skyrocketing-food-prices.aspx?pageID=238&nID=112819&NewsCatID=345
“Turkey’s Food Committee has decided to take a number of measures to raise storage and monitoring standards and to diversify foreign trade dynamics and marketing methods in order to curb a persistent rise in food prices, which have played a key role in pushing up the country’s inflation rate.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet ?im?ek, who heads the committee, told state-run Anadolu Agency that the committee held a meeting late on May 5, two days after the April inflation data was released.
The annual inflation rate reached its highest level in around nine years as a result of a weak Turkish Lira in several sectors, according to official data released on May 3.
Consumer prices in Turkey rose 11.87 percent year-on-year in April from 11.29 percent in March, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K) showed. Annual consumer price inflation was also at the highest level since October 2008. April’s consumer price inflation was driven by food prices, which rose 1.23 percent from a month earlier, according to official data…”
Turkey’s new indigenous ‘kamikaze’ drones set to be used in anti-terror ops, to defend borders (hurriyetdailynews, May 7, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-new-indigenous-kamikaze-drones-set-to-be-used-in-anti-terror-ops-to-defend-borders.aspx?pageID=238&nID=112812&NewsCatID=345
“A Turkish defense company is set to introduce a series of new drones with high-tech capabilities to be used in anti-terror and security operations, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on May 7.
The new drone family, which was developed by STM Defense Technologies and Engineering Co. for the Turkish Armed Forces and the Undersecretary of Defense Industry (SSM), will first be exhibited at the 13th International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) between May 9 and 12 in Istanbul.
STM’s “kamikaze drones,” which have the capability to strike and hit, and autonomous drones, which are equipped with artificial intelligence algorithms for monitoring, will be used together in operations.
One of the drones is “Alpagu,” which means a brave person who fights against an enemy. The Alpagu drones, which can be used both autonomously or manual, have fixed wings and can be launched from a lancer. This drone can be made ready in just 45 seconds, according to the report.
“Do?an,” which was developed for monitoring purposes and uses artificial intelligence algorithms, has fairly high optical zooming capabilities and high flight performance.
The Do?ans are planned together with kamikaze drones, such as the Alpagu and “Kargu,” during security operations, according to the report…”
US soldiers attend military ceremony of YPG fighters joining SDF in Syria (hurriyetdailynews, May 7, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-soldiers-attend-military-ceremony-of-ypg-fighters-joining-sdf-in-syria.aspx?pageID=238&nID=112820&NewsCatID=352
“A number of U.S. soldiers participated in a military ceremony of Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) militants joining the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria, images have revealed.
Ankara considers the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the YPG, as “terrorist” groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and has long pressed Washington to stop its alliance with the group in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
According to reports on Kurdish websites, around 250 female YPG militants joined the SDF ranks in a military ceremony held in the Hasakah province on May 5 after completing their training in the Karaçok province, which also houses the Syrian Kurdish force’s command center.
The military ceremony saw the participation of U.S. soldiers who stood behind the SDF commanders and watched the ceremony.
Turkish warplanes had conducted airstrikes in the Karaçok province and Mt. Sinjar in Iraq in late April, targeting the PKK, PYD and YPG positions there.
The Turkish military said the air strikes, which local governments as well as the U.S. and Russia were notified about in advance, were intended to prevent the PKK from sending terrorists, arms, ammunition, and explosives to Turkey.
In the wake of the air strikes, U.S.-led coalition forces against ISIL began patrolling the Turkey-Syria border to prevent further strikes.”
Iraqi government ‘hires American mercenaries to secure Baghdad-Amman highway’ (alaraby, May 7, 2017)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/5/7/iraqi-government-hires-american-mercenaries-to-secure-baghdad-amman-highway
“The Iraqi government has signed a contract with US mercenaries to secure a road between Baghdad and the Jordanian capital of Amman.
“The provincial government and the central government have contracted with [private] security police to secure the international road and control it,” said Faleh Al-Issawi, vice-president of the Anbar provincial council.
“The American company will begin its functions on July 15 in accordance with our contract,” he added.
Al-Issawi insisted that the US contractors are only temporary, and that “all foreign forces will withdraw once the contractors complete their job and that Iraqi forces are ready to secure the border.”
The Iraqi government is trying to revive the Trebil border crossing, which was closed after IS captured the Anbar province in 2014.
The crossing remains dangerous and still subject to IS attacks.
The New Arab was unable to verify which American companies the Iraqi government has hired, but the US has previously contracted contractors from controversial private security firms such as the former Blackwater Security Consulting.
In 2007, Blackwater employees were accused of being behind the Nisour Square massacre, in which they shot at unarmed Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and injuring 20.
The website of the US embassy in Baghdad lists the names of several private security and military contractors currently active in Iraq.”
Trump ‘backs Kurds for Raqqa assault’, despite Turkish anger (alaraby, May 7, 2017)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/5/7/trump-backs-kurds-for-raqqa-assault-despite-turkish-anger
“US President Donald Trump will reportedly give the green light for US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria to oust the Islamic State group from Raqqa city, despite Turkish objections.
Trump will tell President Tayyip Erdogan that SDF fighters will go head with the operation to retake the extremists’ Syria stronghold at a meeting in Washington later this month, US defence officials told Foreign Policy this week.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the US military was waiting for Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to approve arming the alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.
They added that after the approval, Trump will give his consent to the mission in spite of strong objections from Turkish authorities.
Ankara has deemed the SDF’s allies the YPG a terror organisation and the Syrian branch of the PKK, which has waged an insurgency since 1984 for Kurdish independence from Turkey in a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.
The US, however, has backed the formation of the SDF, dominated by the YPG.
Last week, a top adviser for Erdogan warned that US troops deployed along the Syrian border with Kurdish forces could be attacked, before taking back his bold comment.
The SDF this week revealed that it plans to ultimately to seize the northern part of Syria, linking the Kurdish region of Rojava with the Mediterranean Sea – another move that will infuriate Turkey.
“Arriving at the Mediterranean Sea is in our project for northern Syria, it’s a legal right for us to reach the Mediterranean,” Rojava official Hediya Yousef told The Guardian.
Yousef also revealed that SDF could push west and capture Idlib the last remaining stronghold of Syria’s rebel groups.
The SDF has already seized most of Raqqa province as part of its “Wrath of the Euphrates” campaign, named after the major river that cuts across the northern part of Syria.
The SDF launched its fight for Raqqa in November, just a month after US-backed forces in neighbouring Iraq announced an offensive for IS’ other main stronghold, Mosul.”
Saudi cleric: Trump a servant of Allah (memo, May 7, 2017)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170507-saudi-cleric-trump-a-servant-of-allah/
“A Saudi cleric has found himself in hot water after he publicly made a prayer for ‘servant of Allah’ Donald Trump to advance the interests of Muslims.
Saad bin Ghoniem said on Friday that he hoped God would take Trump under his wing and steer him in the right direction towards ending injustice against Muslims, prompting an online backlash.
Ghoniem tweeted:
O Allah, Trump is one of your servants, you control him and his fate. Command him – willingly or not – to serve the best interests of Muslims and eliminate oppression done to them. Spare us from his evil deeds and guide him on the right path
The cleric’s invocation for Trump to aid the Muslim world did not go down so well on social media with dozens of users harshly criticising the post.
“I spit on your beard all you have left to do is pray he goes to heaven. Even the devil would be too ashamed to do this,” one Twitter user replied to the sheikh, sharing a report about civilian casualties in a US-led coalition air raid in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Another user said: “You think that Trump the Zionist, who is battling Islam, will do good for the religion. Shame! You will be held accountable for your words.”
Other users told Ghoniem he should rather pray for the hundreds of Yemeni children who have been killed during the Saudi-led military intervention against the Houthi rebels…”
“Shame! You will be held accountable for your words.”
Codespeak for, “You should be executed for blasphemy!”
Syrian Kurds plan enclave stretching to Mediterranean: Report (middleeasteye, May 7, 2017)
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrias-kurds-plan-enclave-stretching-mediterranean-report-865706939
“Kurdish leaders are to press for US support to extend their territory across Syria to the Mediterranean sea to create a trade route and bolster Kurdish enclaves in the north in an expansion plan that will infuriate their opponents in neighbouring Turkey.
A senior Kurd official told the Observer newspaper that Syrian Kurds wanted more territory in the north in return for helping the US retake Raqqa from the Islamic State group and laid claim to a “legal right” to a trade corridor to the Mediterranean.
Senior officials from the self-declared autonomous “democratic federation of north Syria” said its Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which contain Kurd, Arab and Assyrian Christian militia, were preparing to occupy Raqqa after its liberation and then move further southeast towards Deir Ezzor.
An official was also reported by the Observer to suggest that Kurdish-led forces could eventually push west to liberate the city of Idlib, at present in the hands of Syrian rebel groups.
The plans would widen Kurdish-controlled areas in the north of Syria, taking in the two Kurdish cantons of Afrin and Rojava, while also expanding Kurdish influence further south to Arab-majority areas.
Hediya Yousef, the head of the Kurdish federalism project in Syria, said: “Arriving at the Mediterranean is in our project for northern Syria; it’s a legal right for us to reach the Mediterranean.
“If we arrive at the Mediterranean it will solve many of the problems of the population in northern Syria. Everyone will benefit.”
Yousef said the plan would, “of course,” require US political backing…”