Reader’s links, December 14, 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

117 Replies to “Reader’s links, December 14, 2017”

  1. Islamic Terrorism vs. Political Correctness

    by A. Z. Mohamed
    December 14, 2017 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11478/islamic-terrorism-political-correctness

    Responding to findings of a recent study on what motivates both ISIS fighters and those who combat them, Arie W. Kruglanski — distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Maryland and former co-director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism — said:

    “The ideology component addresses individuals’ need to matter and feel significant. … It tells people what to do, such as fight and make sacrifices, in order to gain respect and admiration from others.”

    Kruglanski, whose 2014 article, “Psychology Not Theology: Overcoming ISIS’ Secret Appeal,” argues that religion (in this instance, Islam) plays a smaller part in what makes terrorists tick than “the [human] need for … personal significance.” He added:

    “Especially when it comes to violence that is shunned by most religions and most cultures, you need validation from a group of people that would then become your reference group. So the group component is very important, particularly when it comes to antisocial activities that are forbidden or shunned.”

    Kruglanski is one of many Western professionals who attempt — through science — to gloss over the very real distinction between people who become jihadists in the name of Islam and those who do not. It seems as if many analysts gloss over the role of Islamic teachings — the Quran, the Sunna, and fatwas — by minimizing them while highlighting matters such as the need for personal significance and validation. By minimizing the content of the Islamic literature, what they overlook is that Islamic teachings actually justify many activities that they would label antisocial. Many analysts also ignore that the validation jihadists get from their reference group is mainly Islamic in words and meanings and that reference group has no significance without referring to the Islamic texts. It often seems as if political correctness — trying to persuade the readers that jihadists are no different from other terrorists and Islamic teachings have no connection to terrorism — is substituted ignoring and minimizing the Islamic texts. the Islamic. What are the roles played by Islam and its group dynamics?

  2. US Weapons Went From Syrian Rebels to Daesh in Less than Two Months – Study (sputniknews, Dec 14, 2017)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201712141060010987-us-syrian-rebel-arms-daesh/

    “An international arms monitor has reported that US military weapons that were covertly provided to Syrian rebel groups were in the hands of Daesh within two months of their delivery.

    The study was conducted by the UK-based Conflict Armament Research (CAR) and funded by the European Union and the German government. CAR studied 40,000 weapons recovered from Daesh since 2014 and found that a large amount of them were US arms given or sold to Syrian rebel groups.

    In one case, an arsenal including anti-tank weapons switched hands from the US to Syrian rebels to Daesh in only a two month period.

    “Supplies of materiel into the Syrian conflict from foreign parties — notably the United States and Saudi Arabia — have indirectly allowed IS [Daesh] to obtain substantial quantities of anti-armor ammunition,” read the CAR report. “These weapons include [anti-tank guided weapons] and several varieties of rocket with tandem warheads, which are designed to defeat modern reactive armor.”

    The study was not able to conclude whether or not the rebels willingly gave the weapons to the Islamic militant group or if Daesh stole or captured them.

    In at least one instance, a US-backed militia is known to have had its weapons seized by Islamic militants. Division 30, Syrian rebels armed and trained by the CIA, were ambushed by the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front in August 2015, the militants seizing their armaments and effectively destroying the group.

    Other US-trained militants are known to have defected to Daesh or al-Nusra, often bringing their weapons with them.

    “These findings are a stark reminder of the contradictions inherent in supplying weapons into armed conflicts in which multiple competing and overlapping non-state armed groups operate,” the CAR report read. “Under such circumstances, it is difficult to exert effective control over which groups ultimately gain custody of the weapons.”

    However, the report did conclude that the attempts of foreign powers to arm Syrian rebel groups in their fight against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “have significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to [Daesh] forces,” the report concluded.

    From 2013 to mid-2017, the US supplied weapons and training to Syrian rebel groups via the covert CIA program “Timber Sycamore.” US President Donald Trump announced the end of the program in July.

    The CIA declined to comment on the report.

    Daesh also captured a significant number of US weapons from the Iraqi military during their 2014 and 2015 offensives, when they seized large amounts of territory in western Iraq and defeated the Iraqi military in several engagements.

    Other countries that helped to arm, train, coordinate, or support Syrian rebel groups include France, the UK, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Turkey, which has deployed thousands of soldiers to Syria, is the most prominent support of Syrian rebel groups.

    Timber Sycamore became a sticking point of Berlin-Washington relations because the weapons were delivered to the Middle East from the US Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany. They were generally purchased from Eastern European arms manufacturers under US and Saudi government contracts.

    The US continues to arm and support the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a primarily Kurdish coalition that is independent from both the Assad government and Syrian rebels, spending most of their time fighting Daesh. The SDF currently holds Raqqa, once Daesh’s capital in Syria, which was retaken after four months of fierce fighting.

    The report found no evidence of SDF weapons falling into the hands of Daesh.”

  3. Israel’s Technion ranked #1 worldwide in digital education

    The newest Times Higher Education survey ranks the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa as the world’s top academic institution in terms of preparing students for leading positions in the digital revolution.

    Survey respondents from global companies ranked University College of London second and Korea Institute of Science and Technology third. The only American school in the top 10 was Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in sixth place.

    “This is a badge of honor for Technion,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “In recent years, Technion has placed considerable emphasis on training its students to meet the changing needs of the digital revolution. As a result, Technion’s interdisciplinary research is expanding and advancing by leaps and bounds, in a process integrating life sciences and engineering.”

    https://www.israel21c.org/israels-technion-ranked-1-worldwide-in-digital-education/
    ……….
    Technion Israel Chanukah 2013

  4. Reuters: Finnish Presidential Candidate Would Take Nation Out of EU, Tighten Immigration Rules (breitbart, Dec 14, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/14/reuters-finnish-presidential-candidate-take-nation-eu-tighten-immigration-rules/

    “The presidential candidate of the Finns Party — who were in government under a coalition deal until June — would take Finland out of the European Union if elected, she has said in an interview with the Reuters news agency…”

  5. NYT – She Wants Independence. In Egypt, That Can Be Dangerous

    ( 20 min 34 )

    Esraa is looking to rent an apartment with her friends. In Egypt, where personal freedom can be routinely compromised in the name of religion, family and country, that makes her a rebel. Like many in her generation, she is gasping for change. Can she win?

    »»»….when I was young , I was very religious, Music was a sin ….. I used to be disgusted by my Christian classmates because I was convinced they were unclean…

    I was genitally mutilated at home…«««

  6. Denmark just opened the “world’s most humane” maximum security prison

    The Danish island of Falster is now home to the world’s most humane maximum security penal institution, Storstrøm Prison.
    Designed by Danish architects C.F. Møller, the building has been hailed for its strategic features that create a vibrant community for the inmates, in lieu of the severe living conditions typically found in prisons around the world.

    https://inhabitat.com/denmark-just-opened-the-worlds-most-humane-maximum-security-prison/

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

    HUMANE CELLS

    Denmark’s latest maximum security prison designed to feel less like a prison

    Denmark’s recently opened maximum-security Storstrøm Prison, the second-largest in the country, is meant to evoke feelings of a small provincial village, according to Scandinavian designers C.F. Møller Architects. Housing 250 inmates, the prison is meant to be rehabilitative while allowing prisoners to avoid the loss of social skills that comes with institutionalization. C.F. Møller has described it the “world’s most humane” prison.

    […]The designers chose to model Storstrøm Prison after a miniature society that would provide inmates with social and practical skills, in keeping with the Scandinavian tradition of encouraging reform among inmates rather than enacting harsh punishment.

    […]The attention to making the inmates and administrative staff feel comfortable extends to the interiors as well. Because natural lighting was emphasized throughout the project, all of the communal rooms and cells have large windows that are tilted to let viewers to take in the landscape up to the surrounding perimeter wall

    […]A double-height church and several non-denominational worship rooms are also available for both the prisoners and guards to use.

    […]The cells themselves are curved instead of being harshly angled, so that inmates can see the entire room from the door, while multiple windows fill their rooms with natural light.

    […]the entire island is covered in cameras, and steel wires are stretched across the top of each building to prevent helicopters from landing on them.

    https://archpaper.com/2017/12/denmark-prison-rehabilitation-architecture/

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

    PICS :

    https://varlamov.ru/2702125.html

  7. India, China and Russia Refrain From Recognizing East Jerusalem as Capital of Palestine in Joint Statement

    Foreign ministers from India, Russia and China notably refrained from recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine at their annual meeting in New Delhi this week – seven days after the US recognized the holy city as the capital of Israel.

    The decision not to restate the position on Jerusalem long-held by all three countries was in marked contrast to their joint call at last year’s meeting in Moscow for a “sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” At this year’s 15th annual meeting, their statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stressed support for “an independent, viable, territorially contiguous Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security with Israel within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders,” without mentioning the issue of Jerusalem.

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/12/13/india-china-and-russia-refrain-from-recognizing-east-jerusalem-as-capital-of-palestine-in-joint-statement/

    • Combine this decision with MbS’s statement on how Saudis will always dearly love the Palis and will work toward a Pal state with EAST Jerusalem as its capital.
      …..
      • No mention of the “1967 borders” bull [aka ‘Auschwitz borders’].
      • Implicit acknowledgement of the State of Israel and its eternal capital, the undivided city of Jerusalem. “East Jerusalem” would amount to a suburb outside the city walls.