Reader’s links July 27, 2017

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

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

About Eeyore

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

88 Replies to “Reader’s links July 27, 2017”

  1. Mattis Wants To End ‘Senseless’ Training Not Tied To Warfighting Capabilities

    Servicemen and women rejoiced when President Donald Trump selected retired Marine Corps General James Mattis for secretary of Defense. Mattis has a reputation as a no nonsense warrior-scholar. I have yet to hear or read a single story about Mattis where he’s not being awesome.

    His latest effort may just ramp up that adoration a bit more:

    The training that is the subject of complaints covers everything from alcohol use to active shooters to sexual harassment to stress management.

    Addressing the service secretaries and chiefs of the Armed Forces, Mattis has ordered the formation of a new working group to “determine changes to military personnel policies” to “equip more ready and lethal forces.” The working group will include the second in command of each branch of the U.S. military and report to the deputy secretary of defense and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

    https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/07/27/mattis-wants-to-end-senseless-training-not-tied-to-warfighting-capabilities/

  2. Nunes updates the DNI on the status of the unmasking probe

    The letter states Obama-era officials sought the identifies of Trump transition officials within intel reports without a meaningful explanation; Catherine Herridge goes in-depth for ‘Special Report’

  3. Pediatrician: Transgender ideology causing child abuse

    President of the American College of Pediatricians is concerned transgender ideology has infiltrated her field and is producing large-scale child abuse. She tells Tucker why

  4. Congressional Testimonies Rail against Doha’s Terror Funding (aawsat, Jul 27, 2017)
    https://english.aawsat.com/asharq-al-awsat-english/news-middle-east/congressional-testimonies-rail-dohas-terror-funding

    “Senior Vice President at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Dr. Jonathan Schanzer on Wednesday presented an eye-opening congressional testimony on substances revolving around Qatar’s unwarranted support for radical groups.

    Schanzer’s testimonial came with distinguishable focus on Qatar’s support for a range of extremist groups and grievances regional states hold against Doha’s foreign policy.

    “We have noted through the excellent work of my colleague David Andrew Weinberg that Qatar has failed to take action against numerous US- and UN-designated terrorist financiers living in Qatar.”

    Dr. Schanzer is part of the leadership team of FDD’s Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance, which provides policy and subject matter expertise on the use of financial and economic power to the global policy community.

    Also reviewing the nuances of the current Qatar spat, the Washington Institute’s Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence director Dr. Matthew Levitt presented a personal overview on the gas-rich peninsula’s undying advocacy and support to extremist groups.

    “The US has also long criticized the Qatari government for its lax counterterrorism policies, and in particular shortcomings regarding efforts to combat terrorist financing,” said Levitt.

    Qatar’s “open-door policy” has welcomed in members of many extremist groups such as Hamas, al-Qaeda, and the Afghan Taliban, acting as a safe-haven and providing a platform for terrorist incitement, said Levitt.

    Both Schanzer and Levitt testified before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

    Levitt adds that for the past few years, Khaled Meshal, who stepped down as the senior leader of Hamas this past May, has been living in Doha. Meshal is a US-designated terrorist.

    Commenting on Doha’s detrimental foreign policy, Schanzer highlights that “Qatar has been an obvious area of interest in light of its incredibly brazen and open support for terrorist groups.”

    Speaking on the FDD’s review on Qatari regional actions and agenda, Schanzer adds that the institute has been constant.

    “Our critique of Qatari foreign policy has been consistent. We have pointed to Qatari support for Hamas, the Taliban, jihadists in Syria, jihadists in Libya, and the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.

    In recent years, Qatar has housed leaders from Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Taliban, and has also provided a platform for extremist leaders to spread their ideology through shows on Al-Jazeera.

    Respected Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen also hit out at Qatar’s support for terrorism, at a hearing of the congressional subcommittee.

    “At least one high ranking Qatari official provided support to the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks against our country –Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Then of course there was Khalifa Mohammed who is a US, EU and UN designated international terrorist for his role in financing Al-Qaeda and the 9/11 mastermind.”

    “In 2008 he was tried and convicted in absentia for his terrorist activity and arrested later that year by Qatar only to be released by the Qataris 6 months later and then openly financed by Doha,” said Ros-Lehtinen.

    On that note, in 2014, the then-Treasury Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen had reported that Qatar has openly financed Hamas for many years, and continues to contribute to regional instability.

    “This threatens to aggravate an already volatile situation in a particularly dangerous and unwelcome manner,” concluded Cohen.

    On the flipside Cohen recognized efforts, although insufficient, spent by Doha on addressing terrorist financing, he called on the government in Doha to continue working with the US on the matter.

    He particularly notes the pressing need to cooperate on dealing with the ongoing solicitation of donations that fund extremist insurgents under the guise of humanitarian work.

    FDD’s Schanzer also said that the group has worked hard to educate Congress, the executive, and the American public on the challenge of Qatar.

    “We found that the previous administration was generally willing to listen, but was unwilling to redress the problem,” he comments.

    On resolving the row with Qatar, Levitt adds that the recently Doha-US signed memorandums of understanding and amendments are important steps to ensuring Qatar seriously addresses the ongoing issue of terrorist financing happening within and beyond its borders.

    “However, Doha has a weak track record of implementing and enforcing the terms of agreements. Moreover, the steps they have taken thus far are vague, and it is unclear to what extent they will actually address the ongoing issues in Qatar,” he adds.

    In early June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain collectively designated 59 individuals and 12 institutions accused of financing terrorist organizations and receiving support from Qatar.

    Many of these entities were previously designated by the United States and United Nations for financing al-Qaeda, though the list includes others with ties to Muslim Brotherhood and extremists in Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere.

    “The list provides Doha an opportunity to help resolve its fight with its Gulf Cooperation Council neighbors, and a way to save face while doing so,” concluded Levitt.”

  5. Houthi missile launched towards Makkah intercepted (saudigazette, Jul 27, 2017)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/513918/SAUDI-ARABIA/Houthi

    “The Air Defense Forces of the Arab Coalition Forces supporting the legitimacy in Yemen intercepted on Thursday evening a ballistic missile launched by Houthi militias towards Makkah Province, in a futile attempt to mar the Haj season, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the Command of the Arab Coalition Forces supporting legitimacy in Yemen as saying.

    In a statement it issued, the Command said: “The Air Defense Forces were able on Thursday evening to intercept a ballistic missile launched by the (Houthi) militias towards Makkah. It was intercepted over Al-Wasiliyah Area in Taif governorate, 69 km from Makkah. There were no casualties or damage.”…”

  6. Constitutional Court rules deportation of suspected terrorists is legal (thelocal, Jul 27, 2017)
    https://www.thelocal.de/20170727/constitutional-court-rules-deportation-of-suspected-terrorists-is-legal

    “Germany’s highest court on Thursday ruled in favour of deporting suspected terrorists back to their home countries after a man facing deportation argued this was not constitutional.

    The case was brought by an Algerian man, who first came to Germany in 2003, and in 2017 was declared by Bremen’s interior minister to be a “dangerous person” potentially planning a terror attack. Authorities ordered for him to be deported.

    The man challenged the deportation order, and specifically a German law which allows interior ministries to deport non-German citizens through an expedited process “to defend against a particular danger for the security of the Federal Republic of Germany, or against a terrorist risk”.

    Though the law was first established following the September 11th 2001 attacks, it was not brought into full force until this year after the Berlin Christmas market attack in December.

    Authorities used the law to deport two German-born men with Algerian and Nigerian citizenship who had been accused of planning a terror attack, though investigators ultimately could not find sufficient evidence to pursue criminal proceedings against them.

    The men were still deemed to be dangerous and thus deported after police raids uncovered Isis flags, ammunition and weapons where the men lived.

    The case against Bremen authorities is the first time the Constitutional Court has reviewed the constitutionality of the law.

    The judges rejected the Algerian man’s complaint, ruling the law constitutional. The judges further stated that the man should be deported as long as an Algerian government agency pledges that he will not face treatment in the North African country that would violate his human rights.”