Reader’s Links, February 15, 2018

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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

110 Replies to “Reader’s Links, February 15, 2018”

  1. zero hedge – Schiff Claims “Ample Evidence Of Collusion” Amid ‘Closed-Door’ Hearings With Bannon

    Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his staff must’ve broken a record for the fastest-ever leak of “closed-door” Congressional testimony because NBC News – one of the team’s go-to leak receptacles – has already published details gleaned from parts of Bannon’s multiday meeting with the Mueller team this week, which only wrapped up this morning.

    Given that Bannon has burned his bridges with the Republican party establishment AND the party’s pro-Trump wing, Mike Conway, the Republican leading the House investigation after Devin Nunes’ recused himself last year over allegations he went over his colleagues’ heads and shared information with the White House before giving it to them.

    Steve Bannon, who served as President Trump’s chief strategist, was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller over multiple days this week, NBC News has learned from two sources familiar with the proceedings.

    Bannon spent a total of some 20 hours in conversations with the team led by Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as well as other issues that have arisen around the probe.

    Bannon left his job as a senior White House adviser in August and returned to a leadership role at Brietbart, the right-wing news site based out of Washington. But he fell out of favor with the site’s financial backers, the Mercer family, after criticizing the president and his family in “Fire and Fury,” a book about the Trump administration published earlier this year by author Michael Wolff.

    Bannon has reportedly been asked by the White House not to share details about his time in the West Wing, and to invoke executive privilege – an ask with which he has complied as he insists that he still thinks the president is a “great man” who has his full support.

    And after reportedly sitting through 20 hours of testimony this week, the questions apparently touched on some of these sensitive issues, because, according to Schiff, Bannon refused to answer all but 25 questions (although Conway said Bannon answered at least 25 questions).

    The former White House chief strategist was also booted out of Breitbart, where he was the executive chairman, after Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” book quoted him as saying he would have support from the Mercer family to run against Trump in 2020.

    Meanwhile, Intel Committee ranking member Adam Schiff claimed the committee’s investigation showed “ample evidence” of collusion…

    “There is already, in my view, ample evidence in the public domain on the issue of collusion if you’re willing to see it,” Schiff told reporters.

    “If you want to blind yourself, then you can look the other way.”

    If what Schiff says about the evidence is true, maybe he could point out the specifics to us.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-15/bannon-again-invoked-executive-privilege-during-meetings-mueller-week

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

    Steve Bannon invokes executive privilege at House interview

  2. WaPoMattis: ‘Hundreds’ of foreign fighters being rounded up

    On a flight to Brussels Feb. 13, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told reporters about the “international problem” of deciding what to do with Islamic State-linked foreign fighters.

  3. Germany: Anti-racist demo in Cottbus marks 73 years since WWII destruction

    Demonstrators took to the streets in the East German town of Cottbus on Thursday, to demonstrate against right wing extremism and to show their support for an open and cosmopolitan society.[…]

    The protest follows tensions and violence in the area, including an alleged knife attack by Syrian teenagers last month in which a German teenage boy was injured.

    SOT, Dietmar Woidke, SPD Minister President of Brandenburg (German): “Cottbus is a cosmopolitan city, and it will remain a cosmopolitan city. And that is the basis for the future of this city, and of this region. And since we are standing here on the 15th of February, we can naturally think back to what happened here in exactly this city, on exactly this day, 73 years ago, as war and destruction came over this town. 1,000 people died, and 13 000 people lost everything they had. This war and this destruction had its start in 1933 with the Nazi seizure of power in Germany, and even before that with similar demagogues and right-wing extremists, just like they try to do again today, and that’s why its important that we stand against this and say stop and exclude right wing extremism. Do not come closer, this makes something which we do not need, a society in which we do not want to live”

  4. Polish Man Attempted to Kill Three Moroccans, Faces 5 Years in Prison (moroccoworldnews, Feb 15, 2018)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/02/240645/polish-man-attempted-kill-three-moroccans-faces-5-years-prison/

    “A Polish court placed a Polish citizen in custody on Wednesday for attempting to murder and injure three Moroccans.

    Gniezno City Court in Western Poland has ordered that the 33-year-old Polish offender be held in custody for three months on charges of “threatening homicide of three Moroccan citizens because of racist and religious intentions.”

    The prosecutor’s office in Gniezno said that the suspect “was in possession of an airgun which he used to threaten Moroccan citizens with murder and set fire on the building where they were at the time.”

    The same source said that the security services, alerted by the owners of a restaurant, arrested the main defendant and a 37-year-old man who accompanied him during the attempted assault, adding that both men were under the influence of drugs.

    The offender will be prosecuted for “attempting to use an airgun to harm others, threats of murder, and inflicting injury as well attempting to destroy others’ property by fire.”

    He will also be prosecuted for “the violation of the physical integrity of others, racist remarks, attempts to attack police officers and obstruct their exercise.”

    According to the Gniezno prosecutor, the offender faces a sentence of more than five years in prison.”

  5. Trump Administration to Cut Contributions to UN Missions, Including MINURSO (moroccoworldnews, Feb 15, 2018)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/02/240729/trump-administration-minurso/

    “Seeking to decrease U.S. financial contributions to UN-led operations, the Trump administration has unveiled, earlier this week, a 2019 budget proposal calling for a substantial cut in the US financial share in peacekeeping missions and kindred global operations.

    The Department of State, in the new budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2019, envisions cutting more than half of American contributions to global affairs, especially peacekeeping and international cooperation missions in the Middle East, with the move more particularly targeting UN missions in Lebanon, the Golan Height, and MINURSO in Western Sahara…”

  6. Interior ministry says Abul Fotouh plotted with leading Brotherhood members to destabilise Egypt (ahram, Feb 15, 2018)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/291082/Egypt/Politics-/Interior-ministry-says-Abul-Fotouh-plotted-with-le.aspx

    “Egypt’s Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Thursday that the head of the Strong Egypt Party Abdel-Moneim Abul Fotouh plotted with members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood to destabilise the country ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.

    Earlier on Thursday, Egypt’s High State Security Prosecution ordered the detention of Abul El-Fotouh for 15 days pending investigations into charges including spreading false news aiming to harm national interests and being a leading member of an illegal group, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood.

    The ministry said that the National Security apparatus received information that fugitive Muslim Brotherhood members abroad made contact with Abul Fotouh inside and outside the country in order to implement a plan “to destabilise the country amid a series of attacks against vital institutions to create a state of chaos that would enable [the Brotherhood] to return to the scene.”…”

  7. Army kills five Indian soldiers after school van targeted along LoC (tribune, Feb 15, 2018)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1635820/1-indian-troops-target-school-van-along-loc-driver-killed/

    “Hours after a school van was targeted in Battal sector along the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistani forces retaliated and destroyed an Indian Army check post, killing five soldiers and injuring several others on Thursday.

    A statement issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the Pakistani troops targeted the same check post from where the school van was attacked in Tatta Pani (hot spring) sector.

    “Indian terrorism against innocent citizens shall be responded befittingly,” added the media wing of Pakistani military…”

  8. Shots fired against migrant centre near Enna (3) (ansam, Feb 15, 2018)
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/02/15/shots-fired-against-migrant-centre-near-enna-3_cb6dea2e-b490-436d-b7a1-c71122e2a12d.html

    “Shots were fired against a temporary migrant reception centre run by the Catholic Church near Enna in Sicily on Wednesday night, sources said Thursday.

    The canon house at Pietraperzia has been hosting around 20 migrants for the last four days. No one was hurt but the shotgun pellets smashed a window, spreading fear among the migrants and the operators. The centre is managed by the Don Bosco 2000 association at Piazza Armerina near Enna.

    “We are dumbfounded by what happened and pained by the fear that seized the lads, all from Bangladesh,” said association chief Agostino Sella.

    In fact, the town welcomed these boys, who are just adults, favourably. “But in line with the rows sweeping Italy, there have been fringes of dissent. But we certainly didn’t think it would get so far”.

    Anti-migrant sentiment has been rising in Italy lately, polls say.”

  9. Failed Asylum Seeker with 19 Fake Identities Who Eluded Deportation Four Times Arrested (breitbart, Feb 15, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/02/15/failed-asylum-seeker-19-fake-identities-deportation-four-times-arrested/

    “A 43-year-old Tunisian failed asylum seeker who has used 19 separate fake identities could finally be facing deportation after having escaped four separate attempts to deport him from Germany.

    Tunisian Fathi Ben M. was arrested in December for selling drugs on the Warsaw bridge in Berlin but was later let go as police had no warrant to keep him in custody. For years, the 43-year-old has managed to escape police and defy deportation orders, but last weekend he was arrested again with police saying he will definitely be deported this time, Berliner Zeitung reports.

    Fatih Ben M. came to Germany illegally in 2014 and was transferred to Bautzen in Saxony. Over the past few years, the Tunisian had managed to disappear from the radar of authorities, escaping deportation four times and eventually moving to Berlin…”

  10. London Man Jailed for Spreading ‘Poisonous’ Islamic State Propaganda (breitbart, Feb 15, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/02/15/london-man-jailed-spreading-poisonous-islamic-state-propaganda/

    “An East London man has been jailed after using social media to promote Islamic State and Islamic extremist terror.

    Shafi Mohammed Saleem, 28, used more than 20 Twitter and Instagram accounts to distribute “poisonous” Islamic State messages.

    The terror-supporter, from Newham, was arrested last April and sent the messages between 2016 and 2017, London’s Metropolitan Police revealed in a statement.

    One tweet included an image of two zombie knives alongside the word “itching”. Another showed a man holding the knives and words “dip dip dip”, a slang term meaning “to stab”.

    Detectives found nine devices at his home containing one terabyte of data, including terrorist magazines, videos of Osama Bin Laden and Islamic State militants, and a picture of convicted terrorist recruiter Anjem Choudhary.

    Associates of Mr. Choudhary and his al-Muhajiroun group have been linked to numerous successful Islamist attacks, including the beheading of Lee Rigby and the 7/7 London bombings.

    Another chilling imaged saved on Mr. Saleem’s encrypted Telegram app showing him posing with what appears to be a genuine handgun, police said…”