Reader’s Links, Feb 8, 2018

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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.

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

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

164 Replies to “Reader’s Links, Feb 8, 2018”

  1. AP-Clinton Decries ‘War On Truth, Facts and Reason’

    Hillary Clinton addressed the Makers Conference in Los Angeles by video and warned attendees that ‘we’re in the midst of a war on truth and facts and reason.’ Clinton urged women to get involved in politics.

    • Hillary Clinton addressed the Makers Conference in Los Angeles by video and warned attendees that ‘we’re in the midst of a war on truth and facts and reason.’

      All that this hag neglected to mention is how she’s leading the battle.

      • Wearing orange again!?

        Did I manage to miss your mention of a jumpsuit? Shame on me!!!

  2. BBC – The AfD member who converted to Islam –

    Gabriel Gatehouse meets Arthur Wagner, a member of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who has surprised many by converting to Islam.

  3. BBC – How should the internet be regulated? –

    YouTube or Facebook: publisher or platform? David Grossman reports on the complex issues of internet regulation.

  4. Iran and Hizbullah Are Taking Israel’s Threats Seriously

    The Israeli intelligence community recently detected the emergence of serious strategic threats to Israel by Iran, Hizbullah, Syria, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. To prevent these threats from materializing, Israel’s diplomatic and military system was enlisted for a concentrated diplomatic-PR effort to deter the threatening elements and use international leverages of influence against them (like Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example).

    There are still no Shiite militia fighters near the Golan Heights border, Hizbullah doesn’t have a considerable number of precision-guided missiles yet, and there are no Iranian factories for improving the accuracy level of surface-to-surface missiles in Syria or Lebanon. There are, however, preparations and attempts by the Iranian Quds Force and Hizbullah to build such a factory in Lebanon, after a similar factory was destroyed in a bombing in Syria.

    The Iranians believe Israel won’t dare strike in Lebanon for fear Hizbullah will respond by firing missiles and lead to war. They believe there is mutual deterrence between Israel and Hizbullah, which allows them to fearlessly build the “missile accuracy improvement factories” in Lebanon.

    Israel’s political-security establishment, however, has conveyed to the Iranians and Hizbullah that their assessment is wrong: “We have red lines, and if precision missile factories are built in Lebanon, or if we detect Shiite militias in the Syrian Golan Heights, we’ll act to remove the threat without any hesitations, even if this leads to an escalation and war. If there is an escalation, we’ll act immediately, with full force.”

    “Unlike you, Israel is already prepared, right now, to defend itself with offensive and defensive means, and your side stands to suffer from the results of that war much more than Israel would suffer. So you better think very carefully if you want Lebanon to return to the Stone Age for the sake of a precision-improvement factory.”

    There are signs that Iran and Hizbullah are taking Israel’s messages seriously. Hizbullah has yet to return its fighters from Syria. The Iranians, even the Revolutionary Guards, can’t afford a war in Lebanon now in light of the economic situation at home.

    The Iranians are now focused on expanding their presence and influence in Syria and want to gain from rebuilding that country. A war in Lebanon would thwart that too.

    https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5095524,00.html

    • “Underestimate Israel at your own peril.”

      I can only imagine how many tombstones should have been engraved thusly.

  5. David Horovitz:
    Hoenlein: Iran and Turkey Are Trying to Carve Up the Region

    Two empires – the Persian and the Ottoman – are being “resurrected” by Iran and Turkey and are “redrawing the lines of the Middle East,” Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said in an interview on Monday. To face up to the threat, Hoenlein urged the U.S. to more visibly support its friends and allies, notably including Egypt’s President el-Sissi, and to ratchet up sanctions on Iran.

    Hoenlein assessed that Mahmoud Abbas’ “anti-Semitic” speech in Ramallah last month marked a “turning point” in the U.S. attitude toward the PA president. President Trump, said Hoenlein, is furious with Abbas for “walking away” when he was trying to initiate a process, and now regards Abbas as “just not interested in talking, not interested in negotiations” and as having insulted the U.S.

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/hoenlein-like-uk-france-of-old-iran-and-turkey-are-trying-to-carve-up-region/

  6. Israel Building Wall on Lebanese Border Aimed at Stopping Hizbullah Infiltration

    The IDF Northern Command recently began work on a high concrete wall along the Lebanese border at high-risk spots near Israeli towns and kibbutzim to prevent infiltration by Hizbullah special forces into Israel. The wall is being constructed on Israeli territory exclusively and does not involve Lebanese territory.

    https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5098984,00.html

    • the daily caller – DOJ Official Who Worked On Clinton, Russia Investigations Steps Down For Personal Reasons

      The Department of Justice official who interviewed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of the investigation into her emails is leaving the agency, he announced on Wednesday.

      David Laufman, who leads the DOJ’s counterintelligence division, is leaving the DOJ for “personal reasons,” according to The Washington Post.

      In addition to working on the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information, Laufman has also worked on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

      On the Clinton investigation, he sat in on interviews with the former secretary of state and several of her aides, including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan.

      He was joined in those interviews by Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who is currently embroiled in a scandal over politically charged text messages.

      Strzok’s texts suggest a less than amicable relationship with Laufman, who served as chief of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

      “I am getting aggravated at Laufman,” Strzok wrote in one March 23, 2016, text message to FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

      “But he’s literally doing nothing other than sitting in on the big interviews,” he said in another dated April 9, 2016.

      The timing of Laufman’s decision is sure to raise questions because of a Justice Department inspector general’s forthcoming report about the FBI and DOJ’s handling of the Clinton email investigation. Strzok’s texts were discovered during the court of that investigation.

      “It’s tough to leave a mission this compelling and an institution as exceptional as the Department of Justice. But I know that prosecutors and agents will continue to bring to their work precisely what the American people should expect: a fierce and relentless commitment to protect the national security of the United States,” Laufman told The Post in a statement.

      http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/08/laufman-leaves-fbi/

  7. Lebanon says it will view Israeli border wall as ‘attack on Lebanon’s soil’

    In a statement released Wednesday, Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council said that it will prevent Israel from building a border wall between the countries. “If this wall is built, it will be viewed as an attack on Lebanon’s soil,” the council added.

    http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israel-and-the-middle-east/lebanon-vows-to-prevent-israel-from-building-border-wall-34446
    ……
    On exclusively Israeli territory, it’s aggression?
    To block Iran’s tunnel operations under Israeli kindergardens?

    • “If this wall is built, it will be viewed as an attack on Lebanon’s soil,” the council added.

      I seem to recall that Lebanon didn’t fare too well during its previous engagement with Israel. What makes them think that things will go any better in the future?

      This Arab bluster is beyond tiresome and merits physically painful punitive measures. Let’s just call it, STFU 101.

      • Hezbollah has more personal, more equipment, more supplies and has a lot of combat vets, this time the experience level will either be equal or tilted in the Arabs direction. Also last time they fought Hezbollah stood and knocked, they pulled back only when out of ammo.

        Never, I repeat never look down on your enemies as a bunch of clowns, this is a sure path to disaster. Take them and their threats seriously until it is proven in combat that they are a bunch of clowns.

  8. Lebanon Vows to Block Border Wall, Israel Eyes Diplomacy on Gas Field

    BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Lebanon vowed on Wednesday to prevent any territorial intrusion by a border wall which Israel is building, and Israel said it wanted foreign mediation to resolve a maritime energy dispute with its northern neighbor.

    Lebanese leaders have accused Israel of threatening the stability of the border region. Arguments over the wall and Lebanon’s plans to explore for oil and gas in disputed Mediterranean waters have increased friction between the two enemy states.

    “This wall, if it is built, will be considered an assault on Lebanese land,” the secretary-general of Lebanon’s Higher Defence Council said in a statement after a meeting of senior government and military officials.

    The council “has given its instructions to confront this aggression to prevent Israel from building (the wall) on Lebanese territory,” it said, without elaborating.

    https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-02-07/lebanon-says-will-prevent-israel-from-building-border-wall-statement

  9. California baker who refused to make a wedding cake for same-sex couple for religious reasons IS allowed to turn away customers because it is ‘artistic expression’, judge rules
    Cathy Miller, the owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple last year
    Miller’s lawyers had argued that making the cakes violated her Christian beliefs and free religious expression
    Superior Court Judge David Lampe ruled in favor of the baker on Monday
    Judge ruled that the act of making cakes was ‘artistic expression’ and did not violate California anti-discrimination laws
    Eileen and Mireya Rodriquez-Del Rio, who married in October, filed a complaint with the state after Miller declined to make their wedding cake

    A California judge has sided with a baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding because of her religious beliefs.

    Cathy Miller, the owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, made headlines last year when she turned away a Lesbian couple who wanted her to make their wedding cake.

    Miller’s lawyers had argued that making the cakes violated her Christian beliefs and free religious expression.

    Superior Court Judge David Lampe ruled in favor of the baker on Monday, saying the act of making cakes was ‘artistic expression’ and did not violate California anti-discrimination laws.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5365255/Judge-sides-baker-anti-gay-wedding-cake-case.html

  10. Article by: ANJA WIEBERNEIT published on
    07.02.2018 – 19:23 clock
    Hamburg – raid on 43 families who used money from government child support programm. – it’s about a huge mess! Clerks at the family fund had noticed that they worked almost identical documents.
    Young adults had applied for child allowance retroactively, for the last three to four years. Reason: they have been all the time on training and job search. As proof, they submitted letters of application or cancellations of companies – all forged!
    An investigator: “Sometimes the company address was not correct, or the phone number was wrong. Once there was even a letter from ‘1000 pots’ – they were insolvent years ago. ”
    Nevertheless, at least one third of the applications were approved by the family fund: 141,000 euros paid out!
    The defrauders are young people under 25, almost all with a migration background. Investigations revealed that WhatsApp groups and shisha bars were constantly looking for other accomplices. Overall, the prosecutor’s office have 78 suspects.
    Who are the backers? The investigation is still ongoing, two are already known, they have allegedly cashed in half.

    During the searches, the investigators found in addition to the falsified files also drugs, weapons and an ISIS flag.
    Incidentally, further looting of the family fund can no longer exist. Since January, applications are only possible retroactively for six months.
    Who are the organizers& sponsors? The investigation is still ongoing, two are already known, they have allegedly cashed half of the money
    During the searches, the investigators found in addition to the falsified files also drugs, weapons and an ISIS flag.

    http://www.bild.de/regional/hamburg/kindergeld/abzocke-in-hamburg-54741314.bild.html

  11. Africa specialist Stephen Smith has warned that the next migrant crisis is on the horizon as Africa’s population continues to boom and that Western aid, particularly education, may contribute to Africans seeking a better life in Europe.
    Mr. Smith, the author of the new book La ruée vers l’Europe, or The Rush To Europe, warned that the exploding demographics of Africa will have direct consequences for Europe. According to Smith, in the coming decades, young Africans will likely migrate to Europe as the slowly developing economies of their home nations cannot provide them jobs, Europe1 reports.

    “It’s this pyramid of age that makes 40 per cent of the population less than 15 years old,” Smith said and added, “The migratory pressure can only increase.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/02/08/africa-expert-warns-western-aid-contribute-migrant-crisis/

  12. The comments are worth the click:

    Gerald Butts ???Verified account
    @gmbutts
    Follow Follow @gmbutts
    More Gerald Butts ?? Retweeted Andrew Achtenberg
    The lesson to take from this joke being torqued by Infowars and other alt-right nazi friends of the Rebel is they’re paying attention. Game on, #TeamTrudeau.

    https://twitter.com/gmbutts/status/961573323112112129

  13. The U.S. government has traced some of the $1.7 billion released to Iran by the Obama administration to Iranian-backed terrorists in the two years since the cash was transferred.

    According to knowledgeable sources, Iran has used the funds to pay its main proxy, the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, along with the Quds Force, Iran’s main foreign intelligence and covert action arm and element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/inside-ring-obama-era-cash-traced-iran-backed-terrorists/

      • Some of it is inside our borders along with a lot more Hezbollah personal then I like to think about. The last I hear there was suppose to be 10,000 of them and that was several years ago.

    • It already has in many places.

      Western military experts make grave statements that make me laugh. Some of them must be intentional, either to play the fool or fake the ‘strong horse’. Translations from Arabic sources interpret them both ways. Upside-down and inside-out, conspiracies that make my head spin.

      These groups are hardly cohesive. They feud and reconcile, same old tribal thing. Using modern weapons that keep defense industries in civilized countries prosperous. Germany and France, in particular, have been doing exceptionally well.

      Fortunately, the population in the nether regions keeps growing. Lots and lots targets <= <= more guns, more ammo, helicopters, other stuff…

      Now watch them "Pivot to Asia".

      Here's where it'll come in handy to have China as a "friend".
      All their high-tech tard-killer junk will be gobbled-up by Malaysia and Indonesia. Duterte's hoping for freebies. China's likely to give him some for marketing purposes, attract prospective buyers from all over Asia.

      …while WE make idiot noises about “human rights” for terrorist murderers and “humanitarian ceasefires” for repair of terrorist infrastructure, ready the next round.

      • Both are MB, the lower ranking people will shift back and forth depending on which group is doing the most killing.

  14. Syrian Kurds capture two British IS militants – U.S. officials (reuters, Feb 8, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-britain/syrian-kurds-capture-two-british-is-militants-u-s-officials-idUKKBN1FS362?rpc=401&amp;

    “Two British Islamic State militants known for their role in the torture and killing of Western hostages were captured by Syrian Kurdish fighters, two U.S. officials said on Thursday.

    The men were part of a group of four militants known as the “Beatles” for their British accents. Their capture was first reported by the New York Times.”

  15. Stockholm prepares for ban on sexist adverts (BBC, Feb 8, 2018)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42875635

    “Sweden’s capital is poised to ban sexist and racist outdoor advertising. But should it be up to politicians to decide which billboards go too far?

    For Daniel Hellden, one of Stockholm’s deputy mayors and a long-serving Green Party activist, making sure women aren’t made to feel uncomfortable by explicit or gender stereotyped advertising in public spaces is both a political and a personal mission.

    “I know my daughters, they don’t like it. They feel bad,” he says, tucking a loose strand of hair back into his ponytail.

    “We should not as a city be part of this sort of advertising. I have a responsibility to the citizens of Stockholm to ban this.”

    It’s a mantra his party and its senior coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats, have been pushing for three years, long before the global #MeToo campaign took hold.

    Meanwhile, record immigration to the Swedish capital during the same period (fuelled by the refugee crisis and a thriving global tech scene) has, Mr Hellden accepts, fuelled a wider awareness of stereotyping and a need to avoid “racist undertones” in public spaces.

    His efforts to stamp out discriminatory billboards, digital displays or information boards will come to a head later this month, when the City Council is expected to approve a ban on racist and sexist advertisements already agreed in December by the council’s cross-party traffic division, of which Mr Hellden is at the helm.

    The division will follow the same guidelines about what constitutes a sexist or racist advertisements as those set out by the country’s nationwide advertising watchdog, Reklamombudsmannen (RO).

    But whereas RO cannot issue sanctions to companies in breach of the guidelines, the traffic division will be able to order them to take down offensive billboards within 24 hours…”

  16. Me:We seem to have hit some sort of benchmark when Soviet comics are having fun at our expense. Is that Trump line in wikiepdia true? Research is needed! I am including a link to the film, no translation needed.
    Some scenes were filmed in the Trump Taj Mahal. Donald Trump is personally acknowledged in the closing credits.
    (Russian: ?? ????????????? ??????? ??????, ??? ?? ???????-??? ????? ???? ?????) is a 1992 joint Russian-American production comedy film directed by Leonid Gaidai. Its title used in the plot as a password for secret agents, and refers to Deribasovskaya Street and Brighton Beach.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Is_Good_on_Deribasovskaya,_It_Rains_Again_on_Brighton_Beach
    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37a3jx
    Pe Deribasovskaya e vreme bun? sau pe Brighton-Beach iar plou? – Rusia 1992

  17. Obama Knew
    The then-president wanted “to know everything” the FBI was doing in the Russia probe.
    February 8, 2018
    Matthew Vadum

    Former President Obama wanted “to know everything” the FBI was doing in its investigation into claims that Russia was interfering in the 2016 election, a new report suggests, raising the specter of a sitting president becoming involved in a plot to rig the 2016 election.

    It was a year ago the outlines of a Watergate-like conspiracy emerged in which a term-limited Democrat president used the privacy-invading apparatus of the state to spy on a Republican presidential candidate. Watergate differed in that President Nixon didn’t get involved in the plot against the Democratic National Committee until later as an accomplice after the fact.

    But this new evidence suggests Obama may have been part of a sinister anti-democratic cabal from the beginning.

    The assertion that Obama wanted “to know everything we’re doing” came in a private Sept. 2, 2016, text message from FBI lawyer Lisa Page to FBI agent Peter Strzok, with whom she was having an extramarital affair at the time. (The exact message, time-stamped 1:50 p.m., reads “Yes, bc potus wants to know everything we are doing.”) In a separate, previously revealed text message to Page, Strzok wrote something cryptic about an “insurance policy” in case Donald Trump got elected. Some have speculated he was referring to the salacious, unverified dossier the DNC paid rent-a-spy Christopher Steele to compile that purports to show Trump’s nefarious links to Russia.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269266/obama-knew-matthew-vadum

    • Democrats Want to Turn America into Russia
      Using KGB tactics to solve this “constitutional crisis.”
      February 8, 2018
      Daniel Greenfield

      The Democrats have a bold plan for fighting Russia.

      Accuse Republicans of treason, eavesdrop on their conversations and send them to jail. Overturn the outcome of a free election because that it had been tampered with by “foreign interests.” Demand that tech companies censor dissenting media outlets spreading “fake news” to protect “democracy”.

      Good work, comrades. The bold plan is to fight Russia by… becoming Russia.

      State surveillance, endless investigations and locking up political opponents under the guise of fighting foreign influences is how Vladimir Putin does business. It’s how they do it in Turkey, Venezuela and Iran.

      But these days it’s how the Dems do it too.

      Totalitarian states aren’t really fighting foreign influences. They’re suppressing domestic opponents. The Democrats, who were for appeasing Russia before they were against it, are doing the same thing.

      The same gang of commissars, czars and apparatchiks that giggled when Obama wrote off Romney’s warning with, “the 80s called and wants their foreign policy back” now sees Russians under every sofa. Hollywood, which still weeps for the industry’s victims of McCarthyism, launched a “Committee to Investigate Russia” by Rob ‘Meathead’ Reiner and Morgan Freeman. After several months of trying, the Committee members have finally found Russia on a map and are ready to reveal their findings on CNN.

      Do any of these people actually care about Russia?

      https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269264/democrats-want-turn-america-russia-daniel-greenfield

  18. Uranium One informant makes Clinton allegations to Congress

    An FBI informant connected to the Uranium One controversy told three congressional committees in a written statement that Moscow routed millions of dollars to America with the expectation it would be used to benefit Bill Clinton’s charitable efforts while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quarterbacked a “reset” in U.S.-Russian relations.

    The informant, Douglas Campbell, said in the statement obtained by The Hill that he was told by Russian nuclear executives that Moscow had hired the American lobbying firm APCO Worldwide specifically because it was in position to influence the Obama administration, and more specifically Hillary Clinton.

    Democrats have cast doubt on Campbell’s credibility, setting the stage for a battle with Republicans over his testimony.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372861-uranium-one-informant-makes-clinton-allegations-in-testimony

  19. FBI informant speaks to Congress about the Uranium One deal

    The informant says Russia routed millions of dollars to the U.S. in an effort to buy influence with the Obama administration and the Clintons;

    Catherine Herridge goes in-depth for ‘Special Report.’

      • A lot, less now that he has been talking on the record but if he dies his statements can be challanged by the defense and probably the Judge will say they can’t be entered into evidence since the Defense can’t question him.

  20. Turkey versus the internet: AKP moves to control last refuge of independent media (middleeasteye, Feb 8, 2018)
    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-internet-freedom-censorship-920903095

    “The Turkish government is looking to expand its control over the internet and social media, leading to concerns that it intends to deprive independent journalists of their last refuge – and more broadly to censor programming that differs from its own world view.

    A draft bill submitted to parliament on 2 February seeks to subject all web-based broadcasts and platforms, domestic or international and in any language, to Turkish regulatory control and conditional upon a licence issued by the Turkish media watchdog RTUK.

    Requirements for obtaining a licence, apart from hefty fees, will include a security screening conducted by Turkish police and intelligence…”

  21. Tommy Robinson: Germany Fights Back!

    The first in our three-part series in – where we document the resistance coming from ordinary Germans who are fed up with what’s been happening to their country.

    We started out in Cottbus, where we heard about the fatal stabbing of a 15 year old girl called Mia in Kandel, by a ‘child’ migrant who was taken in and looked after ‘like a son’ by her parents.

    We also heard about a young boy who was stabbed in the face when trying to protect his girlfriend from a Syrian migrant who was groping her as they walked through a local park.

    Keep your eyes on Germany, 2018 is the year when German women will lead the way to speak out against the horrific crimes taking place across Europe thanks to undocumented, mass migration.

  22. Tunisia fears over Al-Qaeda regrouping in the country (memo, Feb 8, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180208-tunisia-fears-over-al-qaeda-regrouping-in-the-country/

    “The return to the forefront of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is causing growing concern for Tunisian authorities, Reuters has reported.

    The recent deaths of two high-ranking Algerian terrorists in Tunisia may indicate that AQIM is attempting to regroup in the country.

    Bilel Kobi and Hamza Al-Nimr were killed by Tunisian security forces on the Tunisian-Algerian border last month, they had been tasked with gathering groups of Al-Qaeda fighters in Tunisia in order to form new cells.

    According to Tunisian security sources, the resurgence of AQIM in North Africa is due to the weakening of Daesh in the region which has caused a spurt in popularity for AQIM and allow

    “Al-Qaeda wants to invest in the recent decline of the Islamic State [Deash] to reorganise and is seeking to restructure itself in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia by appointing new local leaders in the field,” a security source told Reuters.

    AQIM is mainly present in northern Mali and the surrounding Sahel but has been known to operate in the remote of Tunisia, north-west of Kasserine and in the mountains bordering Algeria.

    Known in Tunisia under the name of Uqba ibn Nafa’, the Tunisian branch of AQIM is divided into four denominations with 20 fighters in each and made up mainly of Algerians…”

  23. Erdogan calls out ‘unfair’ EU for exclusivism and lack of support against terror (memo, Feb 8, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180208-erdogan-calls-out-unfair-eu-for-exclusivism-and-lack-of-support-against-terror/

    “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised the European Union for putting obstacles in the way of Turkey gaining membership and has stated his disappointment over the lack of support from the EU against the country’s fight against terror…”

  24. Saudi Arabia executes four Pakistani men convicted of rape and murder (alaraby, Feb 8, 2018)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/2/8/saudi-arabia-executes-four-pakistani-men

    “Saudi Arabia on Thursday executed four Pakistani men convicted of raping and murdering a woman and raping her teenage son, the interior ministry said.

    The four men, Liaqat Hussain Ishaq Hussain, Sajid Ali Asqar Ali, Mohammed Thaqib Mohammed Al-Warth Ali and Faisal Munir Hussain, were also convicted of stealing jewellery and cash after entering the woman’s home, a Saudi Press Agency statement said.

    Saudi Arabia has executed 20 people this year, according to an AFP count.

    Last year, 141 people were executed in Saudi Arabia. It was the second-largest number of executions per capita worldwide, following Iran.

    In addition to murder, adultery, drug possession, arson and ‘witchcraft’ can lead to a death sentence in the kingdom.”

  25. Islam incompatible with our values – Salvini (ansa, Feb 8, 2018)
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/02/08/islam-incompatible-with-our-values-salvini-3_374efbb7-a566-4fb3-ab68-a7e6db4c8591.html

    “(ANSA) – Perugia, February 8 – Islam is “incompatible with our values,” anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini said Thursday in Umbertide, an Umbrian town where a major new Islamic centre is set to be built. “The problem with Islam is that it is a law, not a religion.

    In the name of a God it imposes a law, in my view incompatible with our values, rights and freedom,” said the League leader, who earlier this week vowed to shut all illegal Islamic centres in Italy. “The fact is that in the literal interpretation of the Koran, which is not a text to be interpreted but considered the word of the prophet, women are worth less than men and Islamic law is worth more than Italian law. “And therefore I don’t want people to come to Italy who believe women are worth less then men”.”

  26. New migrants to Italy hit 5-year high in 2017-ISTAT (ansamed, Feb 8, 2018)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/italy/2018/02/08/new-migrants-to-italy-hit-5-year-high-in-2017-istat_ce547550-2850-4765-81c3-13413043a3d6.html

    “The number of new migrants to arrive in Italy reached 337,000 in 2017, a rise of 12% with respect to 2016 and the highest level of the last five years, ISTAT said on Thursday. It said the number of people to emigrate from Italy last year was 153,000, down 2.6%, for a positive net balance of 184,000.

    This compared to a net rise of 144,000 in 2016 when incoming and outgoing migrants are calculated.”

  27. ‘Honor killings’ in Germany: When families turn executioners (DW, Feb 8, 2018)
    http://www.dw.com/en/honor-killings-in-germany-when-families-turn-executioners/a-42511928

    This article acknowledges a problem but then come the spin and equivocation. As you can see for example here:

    “Political scientist Yasin Bas believes that the term should be abolished. He says it is only used for offenders with an immigration background, while German perpetrators are described in terms of a “relationship tragedy” or “family tragedy,” which sounds more harmless. His concern is that if you keep using the term honor killing, it will serve to strengthen right-wing extremists.”