Reader’s Links, March 10, 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

126 Replies to “Reader’s Links, March 10, 2018”

      • Obama’s Rules of Engagement are partly responsible for this tragedy. Terribly tragic, even for the deceased shooter.

        • Obama and the other leftists would rather see a thousand US soldiers and vets dead then one person who hates the US dead.

  1. How terrorists exploit societal gaps to recruit women (gulfnews, Mar 9, 2018)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/how-terrorists-exploit-societal-gaps-to-recruit-women-1.2182236

    “When a spate of terrorist attacks targeting Saudi Arabia in recent years began authorities turned their attention to the scourge of extremism that had been infiltrating society.

    While they focused on nabbing terrorists, no one thought to investigate women—the idea of a woman terrorist was nearly impossible to fathom.

    In their uniquely conservative culture, women were almost invariably perceived as docile, caring and shunning violence.

    However, researcher Mirvet Abdul Hamid conducted a study in 2015 disproving this idea.
    She sounded the alarm and warned that recruitment of women into terror groups was among their major strategies.

    If authorities failed to take this into account and confront this, society would be in trouble, she warned.

    For terror groups, the special status of women in Saudi society gave them a unique opportunity to exploit them.

    As women typically wore black veils over their faces, no one would be able to approach them to verify their identity.

    Additionally, their loose-fitting black abayas were perfect for hiding explosive belts and small weapons without being discovered.

    In their quest to understand why women are susceptible to terrorist recruitment, sociologists came up with various explanations.

    Social media was found to be the main driving factor of how women get pulled into such groups as women tended to believe the hollow promises of living more self-fulfilling lives.

    A survey conducted by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs discovered that 53.26 per cent women’s involvement with terrorist groups was societal, 32.4 per cent was ideological and 16.33 per cent was emotional.

    Daesh used methods that were different from those used by Al Qaida, the study said, explaining the figures.

    Daesh allowed women to have more executive roles, which lured women and young girls who saw in the approach a statement of women’s liberation from the ultraconservative societies, the study said.

    Many women terrorists saw the approach as an opportunity to assert themselves by helping others, actively shape history and achieve self-fulfillment.

    Thus, women’s brigades led by women were set up within Daesh.

    Saudi journalist Mohammad Fahad Al Harthi said that terrorists exploited societal gaps linked to the conservative nature of the Saudi society and the lack of a proper education system.

    Siham Al Tuwairi, a columnist, said that most of the Saudi women implicated in terrorism were aged between 30 and 40, unlike the Western women who were much younger.

    Many of the Saudi women also lacked the necessary emotional support at home and saw terrorism as an alternative for self-fulfillment, she added, calling for more sensible and more sensitive attitudes within the Saudi society.

    In her study recommendations, Abdul Hamid stressed “the need for increased security monitoring of women who exhibit forms of extremism and the tendency to suppor extremist groups, be they in official government sectors or in civil society organisations or voluntary work.”

    “This will help prevent them from inciting terrorism or taking financial donations illegally or facilitating any logistical support for extremist organizations,” she said.
    Prominent women terrorists:

    Khulood Al Rukaibi, a Saudi woman, had given her son an explosive belt in 2016. Authorities were able to foil the suicide attack.

    According to Al Arabiya, Khulood, known by Daesh as “Om Mohammad”, was in her late 40s with an elementary level education.

    Her husband reportedly failed to be the “Man of the House”, but the couple had six children – four boys and two girls.

    One of the sons was fighting in Syria.

    But for the mother, that was not enough. She contributed to the recruitment of two of her sons– Hamad and Nassar – and her brother Nasser to carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia and target citizens, religious scholars, security forces and military, security and economic facilities in different areas in Saudi Arabia as well as religious sites in Al Ahsa and security headquarters.

    Khulood was the brain and the power behind the Daesh cell planning to carry out attacks and provided logistical and material support.

    Her role sounded the alarm that the role of women within terror groups was no longer confined to simple tasks, but now included leading responsibilities and military action.

    She was the only woman in the 17-member cell that also included 13 Saudis, an Egyptian, a Yemeni and a Palestinian.

    Om Owais, was the first Saudi women who was put on trial for joining Daesh.

    She was 27, well-educated and working on her master’s degree. She became fascinated with social media, particularly microblogs.

    She set up several accounts under various names and used them to promote the Daesh ideology and to call for demonstrations and action against the state.

    She was not alone, and dozens of other women were also using social media for their pro-Daesh propaganda. When they were discovered by the security agencies, 46 of them are believed to have fled to Syria where they joined the terror group. Some of them took their children with them, investing in them as future fighters.

    Om Awais who pledged allegiance to Al Baghdadi printed pro-Daesh pamphlets and plastered them on the walls of mosques and other public places in Qassim in a bid to win new supporters.

    She even used her video and photography skills to produce clips and posters to call for the release of prisoners held in security-related cases.

    Her activism pushed her to support publicly the 2015 terrorist attack on the premises of an intelligence agency in southern Saudi Arabia in which four men were killed.

    Throughout her action, she kept in touch with other women with the same ideas and tendencies. Theirs was a small community of women dedicated to serving the terror group, supporting and motivating one another, driven by a desire to be recognized as successful in serving their cause, even if it meant devastation, destruction and deaths.
    She was sentenced to six years in jail.

    Abeer Al Harbi, a Saudi woman, concealed an explosive belt under her feet as her husband Fahad Al Harbi drove more than 1,000km from Riyadh to Aseer province in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

    The belt was used on August 6, 2015 in an attack on a mosque inside the Special Forces headquarters in Abha during the duhr (noon) prayers, killing 15 worshippers – five soldiers, six military trainees and four Bangladeshi workers – and injuring 33.

    Lady Gioi Aban Bali Nang, a Filipina, was arrested in Saudi Arabia on suspicion of helping a Syrian man make explosive belts for suicide attacks in the kingdom in 2015.

    She was reported to have gone missing from her employer 15 months earlier.”

    • “Additionally, their loose-fitting black abayas were perfect for hiding explosive belts and small weapons without being discovered”

      o.O

  2. 3,195 militants ‘neutralized’ in Afrin op: Turkish military (hurriyetdailynews, Mar 10, 2018)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/3-195-militants-neutralized-in-turkeys-afrin-op-turkish-military-128535

    “A total of 3,195 militants have been “neutralized”since the start of Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement on March 10.

    Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

    On Jan. 20, the Turkish military, alongside elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), launched “Operation Olive Branch” to clear Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants from Afrin.

    The Turkish General Staff said the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and in the region.”

  3. Erdo?an says anti-Americanism on rise in Turkey amid bilateral talks to mend ties (hurriyetdailynews, Mar 9, 2018)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/erdogan-says-anti-americanism-on-rise-in-turkey-amid-bilateral-talks-to-mend-ties-128527

    “Anti-American sentiments in the Turkish public have recently hit the roof because of the U.S.’ support for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, the Turkish president has said, amid the two countries’s ongoing talks that aim to ease the severely strained bilateral ties.

    “Who will pay the YPG a salary? The United States. When I talk [to the U.S.] about this, they become disturbed. Why are you disturbed? They have been listed in your budget. You have provided them with armored vehicles and weapons,” President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said in a speech at the Academy of Politics on March 9.

    “What kind of allies are we?” asked Erdo?an as he shared his recent conversation with U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson in a February meeting in Ankara.

    “When I showed him all this on a screen, he complained that ‘anti-Americanism is on the rise in Turkey because you broadcast this sort of information on TVs every day.’ As a matter of fact, anti-Americanism is climbing sharply, though I have nothing to do with it,” Erdo?an said…”

  4. Why The Local’s assault case story could be a game changer for Sweden (thelocal, Mar 9, 2018)
    https://www.thelocal.se/20180309/why-the-local-assault-case-story-could-be-a-game-changer-for-sweden

    “How news of a controversial judgment in an assault trial is changing the debate about Sweden’s political and legal system.

    “It’s a wake-up call,” Centre Party leader Annie Lööf told Aftonbladet, after The Local revealed that two lay judges appointed by her party had swung a court ruling based on what she labelled “Islamist” values.

    Solna District Court in February acquitted a man of assaulting his partner in 2015, after the presiding judge and another lay judge were overruled by the other two lay judges. The verdict has been appealed, but what sparked debate in Sweden was not so much the conclusion as the apparent reasons behind the acquittal.

    The judgment, apparently referring to the couple’s foreign and Muslim background, suggested it would have been more normal for the woman to speak to her family about the alleged assault rather than the police.

    It also said the man appeared to “come from a good family, unlike hers” and that it was not uncommon for women to lie about assault in order to get an apartment.

    The two lay judges were expelled from their party shortly after the news emerged and were also suspended from their court duties – one left voluntarily, the other has appealed the decision – pending a review.

    ‘It must lead to consequences’

    The ruling has opened a can of worms in the Nordic country, sparking debate about its legal system, with politically appointed lay judges, as well as how to manage Islamist sympathizers in public life.

    “I do not want politically appointed lay judges in courts. And I definitely do not want those who advocate Sharia laws in Sweden,” tweeted Roger Haddad, justice spokesperson for the Liberal Party, in response to the news. “The Solna District Court judgment must lead to action and consequences.”

    Jag vill inte ha politiskt tillsatta nämndemän i domstolarna. Och jag vill definitivt inte ha sådana som förordar sharialagar i Sverige. Domen från #Solna tingsrätt måste leda till åtgärder och konsekvenser #svpol #domstol

    — Roger Haddad (@RogerHaddadLib) March 4, 2018
    Haddad’s party is now taking the debate about politically appointed lay judges to parliament. They are unlikely to get much support from the government. Justice Minister Morgan Johansson noted in a statement earlier this week that reforms had already been introduced, back in 2014, which made it easier to dismiss lay judges.

    But that has not halted the debate. Bengt Ivarsson, a senior lawyer and former president of the Swedish Bar Association, called for an inquiry into the lay judge system in an interview with The Local on Monday.

    The Bar Association has on several occasions criticized how lay judges are appointed and that their votes hold as much weight as those of the professional judge, sometimes overruling the latter in district courts where they hold the majority.

    But Anne Ramberg, secretary-general of the association, thinks the ongoing debate will have limited impact.

    “I possibly think that the incident may affect how/who writes the judgment when it has been swung by the lay judges. And how the lay judges receive and ‘approve’ what’s written. Other than that, I don’t think it will have an impact on the lay judge system as such. At least not in the short term,” she tells The Local.

    ‘The compass of democracy works’

    It also emerged that one of the lay judges behind the judgment had spoken in support of certain separate laws for Muslims in Sweden – comments she says were taken out of context – as far back as a decade ago.

    Centre Party leader Lööf’s defence that her party had immediately expelled her and her colleague rang hollow when Swedish media pointed out that Aldebe had run for parliament for the party both in 2006 and 2014.

    Lööf conceded that the party should have questioned her role at an earlier stage. “But this is a wake-up call for all parties. This kind of thing has existed within the Moderates, the Social Democrats, the Green Party and unfortunately now the Centre Party, too. These forces have been given high positions. It is completely unacceptable. As soon as I found out we started expulsion proceedings,” she told Aftonbladet.

    “There have been a lot of wake-up calls, but everyone hits the snooze button,” Magnus Ranstorp, senior terror researcher at the Swedish Defence University, tells The Local.

    “There has to be a holistic approach to Islamism. The problem is that political parties do not really want to dig too deep, because then they lose votes.”

    Patrik Oksanen – who writes liberal-centrist editorials about politics and security for Swedish news network MittMedia – thinks the Solna District Court judgment may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

    “I actually think The Local’s news about the court in Solna is a game changer. The glass of water was already full and this could be the final drop that causes it to overflow,” he says.

    “I believe this is the beginning of the end of handing out money to religious groups that do not share the values of liberal democracy, and in their actions actually are working against the open and secular society,” he adds about reports of state funding of groups with links to Islamist organizations.

    But for all the criticism of how the Solna judgment could have happened at all, the ensuing outrage (it is one of the top stories in Sweden) suggests the country is also able to identify and deal with such situations.

    “One indication is that in this case, as well as other cases, Islamists have been thrown out of different parties very shortly after they have been exposed,” Oksanen tells The Local.

    “This shows that the compass of democracy works, even if it is slow in implementation and the reaction should have come years ago.””

  5. First group of militants surrender arms & leave East Ghouta after Russia-brokered talks (RT, video, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://www.rt.com/news/420907-ghouta-militants-humanitarian-convoy/

    “The first group of militants have surrendered their arms and left East Ghouta as an increasing number of rebel fighters in Syria seek to disassociate themselves from Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists, the Russian military has announced.

    “Certain representatives of illegal armed groups have intensified attempts to get in touch with the Syrian government forces and the Russian Center for Reconciliation with the aim of discussing their separation from the banned terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra,” Major General Yury Yevtushenko, the head of the Reconciliation Center in Syria, said in a statement on Friday.

    Efforts to separate the so-called moderate opposition fighters from jihadists continue in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta. The Syrian government established a humanitarian corridor which remains open to both civilians and militants who are willing to lay down their arms…”

  6. As economic problems pile up, Iran cautiously weighs changes (abcnews, Mar 10, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/economic-problems-pile-iran-cautiously-weighs-53652393

    “Labor strikes. Nationwide protests. Bank failures.

    In recent months, Iran has been beset by economic problems despite the promises surrounding the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers.

    Its clerically overseen government is starting to take notice. Politicians now offer the idea of possible government referendums or early elections. Even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged the depths of the problems ahead of the 40th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

    “Progress has been made in various sectors in the real sense of the word; however, we admit that in the area of ‘justice’ we are lagging behind,” Khamenei said in February, according to an official transcript. “We should apologize to Allah the Exalted and to our dear people.”

    Whether change can come, however, is in question…”

  7. Vile ‘punish a Muslim’ points-scoring letter circulated across UK threatening to ‘torture and butcher Muslims’ (alaraby, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/3/10/uk-police-investigate-vile-punish-a-muslim-points-scoring-letter

    “UK police are investigating letters being circulated to local residents across the country, notifying its recipients of a new scheme to “punish a Muslim”.

    The letter, which declares April 3 as “Punish a Muslim Day” details a point system for different ways to hurt Muslims, including throwing acid, ripping the hijab off a woman and “butchering” using “gun, knife, vehicle or otherwise” to score points accordingly.

    Blowing up a Mosque was also on the points system, scoring 1,000 points.

    The letter reads: “They have hurt you, they have made your loved ones suffer. They have caused you pain and heartache. What are you going to do about it?”

    It adds: “Only you can help turn this thing around, only you have the power. Do not be a sheep!”

    The Queen’s court contact details were included at end of the letter.

    The letters have been found in Bradford, East London and Yorkshire so far.

    Liberal Democrat Councillor for Bradford Moor, Riaz Ahmed said he received the letter on Friday morning.

    He said the letter had his name and business address on it, targeting him and potentially other recipients directly, rather than just sending them out at random.

    “My main concern is that it could get into the hands of other disaffected people in Bradford who just need that push to act. Some people may look at is at a sick joke. I don’t. I am alarmed by its content especially where it mentions acid because of all the recent reports in the media of acid attacks,” he told local media.

    Anti-hate crime group Tell Mama has urged recipients of the letter to handle it as minimally as possible and to to keep the envelope which is useful for police investigations.

    “Those behind the malicious letters are trying to create fear within the Muslim communities and the threatening letter titled ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ may be part of a wider campaign of hate against Muslims,” said Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama.”

    • 2,500 points for bombing Mecca? Place a James Comey meme here, “That’s it !?”

  8. NAIROBI, March 10 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson canceled scheduled events on Saturday on the second day of a visit to Kenya because “he is not feeling well,” a State Department spokesman said.

    “The secretary is not feeling well after a long couple days working on major issues back home such as North Korea and has canceled his events for the day,” spokesman Steve Goldstein told reporters traveling with Tillerson.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/uss-tillerson-not-feeling-well-cancels-activities-in-kenya/ar-BBK4trx?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

  9. BEAVER DAM — Residents are assessing the damage and packing up their stuff Friday, March 9, following two explosions this week inside a unit and many questions still remain though.

    Some others who live near the explosion say what is damaged for them is their sense of security. They had no idea a neighbor was gathering enough chemicals to create a lethal explosion Monday, March 5.

    “It was rough not having everything that is here,” Carissa Kreihn said.

    http://fox6now.com/2018/03/09/it-was-rough-nearby-residents-return-to-gather-belongings-after-explosions-at-a-beaver-dam-apartment/

    Note: explosives-maker’s name has still not been released

  10. A gunman and three hostages were found dead Friday evening at a Northern California veterans home, concluding a standoff that lasted for about eight hours, officials said.

    Shortly before 6 p.m., officers entered the room at the Yountville Veterans Home where the gunman had been holding the hostages. According to the California Highway Patrol, three women and a man — believed to be the gunman — were found dead.

    “This is a tragic piece of news, one that we were really hoping we wouldn’t have to come before the public to give,” said Chris Childs, assistant chief of the CHP’s Golden Gate Division.

    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-veterans-hostages-20180309-story.html

  11. Islamic State rape survivors in Iraq are like ‘living corpses’ (alaraby, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/3/10/is-rape-survivors-in-iraq-are-like-living-corpses

    “Girls and women forced into slavery by Islamic State extremists are “like living corpses” with a “gross lack of support” from the state and society said the UN envoy for sexual violence in conflict after her return from Iraq.

    Pramila Patten said on Friday the survivors were released early this year and told her they are confined to camps because of the double stigma of being victims of sexual violence and sexual slavery, and of being associated with IS – and fear of being perceived as an affiliate of the militant group.

    “Some also expressed a fear of being detained,” she told a news conference Friday. “So they are very much confined, including by their parents. They are not stepping out of their camp and have not had an opportunity to avail themselves of even the limited psycho-social support that there is inside the camp.”

    Patten, who visited Iraq from February 26 to March 5, said many women who remain displaced expressed serious concerns for their safety if they return home and shared their fear of reprisals…”

  12. Muslim Brotherhood will not disappear, says Saudi exile (memo, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180310-muslim-brotherhood-will-not-disappear-says-saudi-exile/

    “A Saudi writer now living in the US has said that the Muslim Brotherhood is not simply going to disappear. Jamal Khashoggi made his assertion during an interview on Al-Jazeera TV. Despite all the pressure on the movement, he insisted, its ideology will remain influential.

    The journalist went on to explain that the movement will not be dissolved. Instead, he said, the talk should focus on the political role of the Brotherhood.

    Khashoggi stressed that what the Brotherhood was exposed to during the time of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser from 1956 to 1970 was no more than what it is exposed to today. He pointed out the Nasser’s regime came to an end but the Muslim Brotherhood remained. This was a victory of sorts for the Islamist ideology adopted by the movement since its founding by Hassan Al-Banna in 1928.

    “The Brotherhood won without knowing,” he suggested, adding that there was a project for the abolition of the Islamic group by Western liberal forces and by the communists who tried to abolish religion. According to Khashoggi, the Muslim Brotherhood succeeded in confronting this threat with the help of the late Saudi King Faisal Al-Saud, who was assassinated in 1975. In the end, he said, the Islamic ideology was established in Arab societies. “At any time that elections are held,” he claimed, “the Islamic faction — whatever its name is — will win.”

    His conclusion is that the Muslim Brotherhood should not be preoccupied about its future, which is assured as long as the religion of Islam remains. However, he called upon the movement to get out of “the narrow scope of the organisation to the openness of the ideology” although he accepted that the organisation was necessary at a certain time.

    Earlier, Khashoggi called upon Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to distance himself from what he called “exaggerated” sensitivity towards the Muslim Brotherhood. He was surprised by what he believes is a contradiction between the authorities’ inclusion of the group on the terrorist list in Saudi Arabia and the establishment of strong relations with the Muslim “

  13. More than 300,000 stateless Syrian babies born in Turkey since 2011 (memo, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180310-more-than-300000-stateless-syrian-babies-born-in-turkey-since-2011/

    “Official Turkish statistics show that 311,000 stateless Syrian babies have been born in Turkey since the start of the crisis in 2011, local media reported on Friday.

    “The fact that these children are stateless is a humanitarian crisis,” commented Atay Uslu, the head of the Turkish Parliament’s Refugee Subcommittee. “I think they should be granted citizenship immediately.” Calls have been made by human rights officials for the Syrian children born in Turkey to be given Turkish citizenship.

    In a related matter, an official with Turkey’s National Disaster Management Agency, Erkan Do?anay, revealed that 293 out of the 4,514 Syrian children who are in the care of the Turkish authorities have lost both parents; 410 have lost their mother; and 3,911 have lost their father.

    According to the General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality, 55,583 Syrians, including 25,500 children, have already been granted Turkish citizenship.

    There are currently approximately 3.5 million Syrian refugees under temporary protection in Turkey.”

  14. Egyptian court sentences 10 to death for planning attacks (reuters, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-egypt-security-sentence/egyptian-court-sentences-10-to-death-for-planning-attacks-idUKKCN1GM0H1?rpc=401&

    “An Egyptian court sentenced 10 people to death on Saturday after they were convicted of forming a terrorist group and planning attacks on police and security forces, judicial sources said.

    The court in Cairo also sentenced five people to life in prison. State news agency MENA said the convicted men were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood which was banned in Egypt after the 2013 overthrow of former President Mohamed Mursi.

    Egypt has cracked down on suspected Islamists since Mursi was toppled by former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Sisi took over as president a year later and is expected to be re-elected later this month in a vote against only token opposition.

    With Egypt facing an Islamic State insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, he has ordered the military to clear the region of Islamists ahead of the March 26-28 presidential election.

    Hundreds of Islamists, including Muslim Brotherhood supporters and members, have received death sentences since 2013, and Egypt has carried out dozens of executions, according to security sources and rights groups.

    Saturday’s rulings, which can be appealed, followed the referral of the death sentence to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s highest Sunni Muslim authority. Three of the sentences were passed in absentia.”

  15. As many as 18 Afghan soldiers killed fighting in western province (reuter, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-afghanistan-security/as-many-as-18-afghan-soldiers-killed-fighting-in-western-province-idUKKCN1GM0FA?rpc=401&

    “As many as 18 Afghan soldiers and members of the special forces have been killed in fighting in the western province of Farah, local officials said on Saturday.

    Taliban fighters attacked troops assembled to prepare an attack in Bala Buluk district in the night, setting off a fierce battle, officials said.

    Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said four members of the special forces had been killed and a number wounded, but the head of the local provincial council, Farid Bakhtawar, said the death toll had reached at least 18.

    As the fighting went on, an air strike was called in and killed around 25 insurgents, he said…”

  16. Myanmar monk returns to preaching after ban, denies fuelling Rakhine violence (reuters, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-buddhist/myanmar-monk-returns-to-preaching-after-ban-denies-fuelling-rakhine-violence-idUSKCN1GM0GK?il=0

    “Myanmar Buddhist monk Wirathu said on Saturday his anti-Muslim rhetoric had nothing to do with violence in the western state of Rakhine, as he emerged from a one-year preaching ban…

    “When Facebook shuts (me) off, I rely on YouTube. YouTube is not wide-reaching enough so I will use Twitter to continue the nationalist work,” he said.”

  17. Catalan parliament postpones vote on new leader

    BARCELONA (Reuters) – Catalonia has postponed until further notice the election of a new regional president after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that candidate Jordi Sanchez would not be allowed to leave jail to attend a parliamentary session planned for Monday.

    Sanchez is in jail awaiting trial on charges of rebellion and sedition relating to Catalonia’s illegal referendum last October and its unilateral declaration of independence.

    The speaker of the Catalan parliament, Roger Torrent, said late on Friday that the session would be postponed while separatist groups challenge the court ruling at the European Court of Human Rights.

    Pro-independence parties won a slim majority in elections in December but have so far been frustrated by court rulings in their attempts to elect a regional president as Madrid insists any candidate must not be in jail or under judicial investigation.

    http://www.oann.com/catalan-parliament-postpones-vote-on-new-leader/

  18. The big alibi: A new look at the Obama administration’s actions on Russian cyberattacks in 2016
    By J.E. Dyer March 10, 2018

    Yahoo! has run two excerpts this week from a new book by its chief investigative correspondent, Michael Isikoff, and David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones. The book is Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump (Twelve Books), which will be released on 13 March.

    Isikoff famously wrote the article in September 2016 based on information from Christopher Steele, of “dossier” fame, that ultimately got Steele’s liaison with the FBI terminated. In serving as a source for that article, Steele disclosed things he knew about FBI operations to Isikoff.

    Corn wrote an article in late October 2016 that previewed much of the information from the anti-Trump dossier. The two journalists have now collaborated on Russian Roulette. The first excerpt, published on 8 March, is about the Miss Universe pageant organized in Russia by Donald Trump in 2013.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/10/big-alibi-new-look-obama-administrations-actions-russian-cyberattacks-2016/

  19. Germany’s new health minister Jens Spahn defends food bank’s move to bar foreigners (DW, Mar 10, 2018)
    http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-new-health-minister-jens-spahn-defends-food-banks-move-to-bar-foreigners/a-42918075

    “Jens Spahn, Germany’s new minister of health, has defended the Tafel food bank’s decision to turn away non-Germans. Speaking to German media, Spahn also said he was hopeful the conservatives could win back AfD voters.

    Jens Spahn, Germany’s designated health minister in the incoming government, defended a food bank’s decision to bar foreigners from registering.

    In an interview on Saturday with Germany’s Funke media group, Spahn said that young men queuing up outside the small food bank in the city of Essen looked “so bold and robust that the elderly and single parents no longer had any chance of receiving any food.”

    It was therefore right for the food bank to take action, the Christian Democratic (CDU) lawmaker added…”

  20. France / Nantes – With the help of the extreme left, migrants occupy a retirement home in Nantes, France: “The nursing home belongs to us, the migrants scream!”.

    After expelling migrants from the Nantes University campus, where they had illegally quartered themselves for nearly four months, around one hundred Africans entered a vacant retirement home with the active support of left-wing extremists.

    They will stay there until the end of March, according to the announcement. According to the left-wing extremist support group, the building is needed to organize activities, teach French and spend time together. The competent authority seems to not only tolerate the illegal occupation, but even to support it.

  21. More ‘collusion’: Before election, Russians released video game ‘Hiltendo’
    By Howard Portnoy March 9, 2018

    CNN has a report out today concerning a video game that the Russians are said to have released just prior to the 2016 elections. Called “Hiltendo” (a portmanteau formed from Hillary and Nintendo), the game consisted (or consists — presumably it’s still out there floating around somewhere in the either) of three levels:

    Level 1: How many emails can Hillary delete.
    Level 2: How much money can Hillary get from Arab states.
    Level 3: How far can Hillary throw the constitution.

    It’s hard to say what the Russians had in mind, if in fact the report is accurate. Was it a way of dumbing down Clinton’s well-documented nefarious activities for those who somehow missed them despite their prominence in the news of the day?

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/09/election-russians-released-video-game-hiltendo/

    • So what CNN is quite clearly saying, is that failure to hide grotesque and in-evidence crimes by a presidential candidate, is in fact collusion to get the other elected.

      This is about as insane as anything else CNN has done in the past few years.

      Even if the video game is real and the Russians did make it, they should get a Pulitzer prize for it. Seriously. As opposed to the ones the leftist NYT got for Durante for writing fiction to cover the genocide of the Ukrainians.

      • I agree, there is more real reporting in the supposed video game then in any number of CNN articles.

      • They may be trying to set up a defense for Hillary if a second Special Counsel is appointed to investigate her, they will claim the charges spring from a Russian written video game.

  22. Acting ICE director warns ‘more people are going to die’ because of sanctuary cities
    By LU Staff March 9, 2018

    Acting director of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Thomas Homan said Thursday on “Fox & Friends” that “more people are going to die” as a result of sanctuary city policies.

    Homan criticized Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf for interfering with ICE officers and said radical views on immigration are a danger to public safety.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/09/acting-ice-director-warns-people-going-die-sanctuary-cities/

  23. The number of asylum seekers entering Germany by plane has increased. Officially, 11,000 illegal immigrants were picked up at the airports last year.

    The dark figures are considerably higher according to surveys conducted in which migrants were asked about their choice of travel.

    The survey found that one third of migrants arrived in Germany from the main countries of origin to avoid boarder controls on the way to Europe. One of the main countries for departure by place is Greece.

  24. What Is a “Refugee”? The Jews from Morocco versus the Palestinians from Israel

    by Alan M. Dershowitz
    March 10, 2018 at 3:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12014/refugee-jews-morocco-palestinians-israel
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    A visit to Morocco shows that the claim of Palestinians to a “right of return” has little historic, moral or legal basis.

    Jews lived in Morocco for centuries before Islam came to Casablanca, Fez and Marrakesh. The Jews, along with the Berbers, were the backbone of the economy and culture. Now their historic presence can be seen primarily in the hundreds of Jewish cemeteries and abandoned synagogues that are omnipresent in cities and towns throughout the Maghreb.

    I visited Maimonides’s home, now a restaurant. The great Jewish philosopher and medical doctor taught at a university in Fez. Other Jewish intellectuals helped shape the culture of North Africa, from Morocco to Algeria to Tunisia to Egypt. In these countries, Jews were always a minority but their presence was felt in every area of life.

  25. Assisted-Suicide Pushers Want Forced MD Participatio

    Assisted-suicide advocates pretend they want assisted suicide limited to the terminally ill.

    They pretend that they favor strict guidelines.

    And they pretend they would never want doctors forced to participate in intentionally ending the life of a patient. Indeed, the laws they have passed all contain conscience protections.

    Except, sometimes they show their true hands. For example, when the Canadian Supreme Court imposed a broad right to lethal-injection euthanasia — certainly not limited to the dying — Compassion and Choices (formerly the Hemlock Society) issued a laudatory press release — later scrubbed because it told the truth about the movement’s true goals.

    And now, Compassion and Choices — again, which has included conscience protections in laws it sponsored as a necessary predicate to passage — has come out strongly against a proposed Trump-administration office in HHS to protect medical professionals from forced participation in procedures against their consciences and/or religious beliefs. From an email sent to its supporters (my emphasis):

    https://www.nationalreview.com/blog/corner/doctors-assisted-suicide-coercion-advocates-oppose-protections/

  26. Democrats are running a surprising number of former spies in competitive districts in the US 2018 midterms. If successful, as many as half of all new congressional Democrats could come from the national security apparatus.
    One quarter of all the Democratic challengers in competitive House of Representative districts have intelligence, State Department or National Security Council backgrounds. This is the revelation of an analysis conducted by the World Socialist Web Site, which reviewed Federal Election Commission reports filed by all the Democratic candidates in 102 competitive House districts. The report reviewed the campaign websites of challengers, which provided their biographical details.

    https://www.rt.com/usa/420894-democrats-cia-candidates-midterms/

  27. France – Marine Le Pen Invited Steve Bannon For National Front Comeback Congress
    In a bid to relaunch the party for next year’s European elections, Ms Marine Le Pen, leader of the French nationalist ‘Front National’, holds a two-day congress this weekend in Lille at which she will unveil a rebranding of the party.

    The first surprise for the visitors was not the name change that many are awaiting, but the announcement that former White House strategist Mr Steve Bannon would be addressing the crowds.

    Many of the party’s supporters think this is an excellent sign as they believe Ms Marine Le Pen needs some strategic help.

    https://thegoldwater.com/news/20253-France-Marine-Le-Pen-Invited-Steve-Bannon-For-National-Front-Comeback-Congress

  28. On June 25, 2014, 19 year-old Brendan Tevlin hopped into his car to return home after spending the evening at a friend’s house. Minutes later, Ali Muhammad Brown approached the vehicle as it was stopped at a red light and fired ten rounds into the car, killing Brendan.

    Originally, the teen’s murder was labeled an attempted robbery, allowing the media to remain silent.

    Now, court documents have revealed that Brown’s motivation for killing Tevlin had less to do with thievery, and more to do with America’s pushback against Jihadist terrorism in the Middle East….

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/03/brendan-tevlins-jihadist-killer-pleads-guilty/

    • BREITBART – Megyn Kelly: ‘I Think There’s a Very Good Chance’ Putin Knows Things Trump Doesn’t ‘Want Repeated Publicly’

      On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” NBC anchor Megyn Kelly previewed her forthcoming NBC special “Confronting Putin” and stated that she thinks “there’s a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump does not want repeated publicly.”

      Kelly said, “I would not say that Putin likes Trump. I did not glean that at all from him. I do think — I did glean that perhaps he has something on Donald Trump. And if you watch the special tonight, you’ll see perhaps what that might be. Because we’ve done a lot of research. It’s not just Vladimir Putin tonight. It’s a lot of experts who understand Putin and Trump and the relationship between the two. And so, when I was asking him, why do you think Donald Trump never says anything unkind about you ever? I think it’s more than just he admires this Russian strongman, Chris. I think there’s a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump does not want repeated publicly.”

      She added that she doesn’t think Putin has anything on Trump related to the Steele Dossier, and “[J]ust having done the research we did for this piece and this investigative report, I think it has to do with money, and Trump’s early years dealing with the Russians back in the ’90s, his facilities here in the United States.”

      http://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/03/09/megyn-kelly-i-think-theres-a-very-good-chance-putin-knows-things-trump-doesnt-want-repeated-publicly/

    • FULL UNEDITED Interview of Putin with NBC’s Megan Kelly

      + English subs

      The interview was recorded in the Kremlin on March 1, 2018, and in Kaliningrad on March 2, 2018.

  29. An Iranian woman who publicly removed her veil in protest against the country’s mandatory hijab law has been sentenced to two years in prison, prosecutors have said.

    The woman, who has not been identified, reportedly took off her headscarf in Tehran’s Enghelab Street to “encourage corruption through the removal of the hijab in public”.

    Tehran’s prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, who announced the sentence, said she intended to appeal against the verdict, according to Mizan Online news agency.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-woman-headscarf-take-off-hijab-remove-jailed-prison-tehran-enghelab-a8246076.html

  30. For those unfamiliar, David claims to have pulled a fellow student into a small closet during the middle of the attack on Stoneman Douglas. Here in this moment, instead of fearing for his life and trying to stay as quiet as possible, he instead grilled the girl on gun restriction laws. While for some reason the media hasn’t taken issue with the inherent strangeness to be found in that decision. It’s even more frustratingly not mentioned a far bigger problem with this story. That David appears to have shot this footage a full five hours before the attack actually began.

    https://squawker.org/analysis/lyinghogg/

  31. Behind the scenes of Sierra Leone’s presidential election Wednesday, a second, perhaps larger milestone was quietly achieved.

    As voters in the nation’s most populous Western District lined up to cast votes in what had been a heated campaign between 16 candidates, unbeknownst to them, blockchain voting startup Agora was helping keep track of it all, and through its proprietary distributed ledger, providing unprecedented insight into the process.

    In what, by all accounts, appears to be a world’s first for the emerging technology, Agora, accredited by Sierra Leone’s National Election Committee used a private, permissioned blockchain – one inspired by the technology that backs bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies – to oversee the results of a national election in real time. It then relayed the data to individuals entrusted to oversee and verify the nation’s democratic process.

    https://www.coindesk.com/sierra-leone-secretly-holds-first-blockchain-powered-presidential-vote/

  32. Hundreds of migrants picked up between Libya and Italy (reuters, Mar 10, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-europe-migrants-libya/hundreds-of-migrants-picked-up-between-libya-and-italy-idUKKCN1GM0KX?rpc=401&

    “Libya’s coastguard and an international charity ship picked up several hundred migrants on Saturday as smugglers trying to take advantage of calm seas launched a flurry of boats towards Italy.

    Libyan coastguard vessels intercepted two of the migrant boats, the first an inflatable dinghy that had broken down with 125 people on board off Zawiya, just west of the capital, Tripoli, said Ayoub Qassem, a coastguard spokesman.

    The second boat was turned back off Garabulli, east of Tripoli, and had 112 people on board.

    One boat with 110 migrants on board made it as far as a rescue ship operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operating about 21 miles from the coast west of Tripoli, which was preparing to deliver the migrants to Italy.

    More than half the migrants on that boat were Nigerians, with the rest from other sub-Saharan African countries as well as two Palestinians.

    Meanwhile the coastguard in Zuwara, a former Libyan smuggling hub west of Zawiya, said they had foiled a departure during the night and arrested some migrants whilst others had escaped with smugglers.

    The coastguard posted pictures of detained sub-Saharan African migrants sitting in an inflatable rubber boat on the beach in the dark…”

  33. euronews – Britain and Saudi Arabia move closer to a multi-billion euro warplanes deal

  34. Macron begins official visit to India

    President Kovind accords a ceremonial welcome to President Emmanuel Macron of France

  35. Five infants suffered serious injuries ? including a fractured skull, rib and arm ? in the newborn intensive care unit of a Wisconsin hospital, resulting in the suspension of the nurse who cared for them, a federal agency said in a report.

    UnityPoint Health-Meriter hospital in Madison didn’t respond to the suspected abuse until early last month, when staff noticed two babies with bruises, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

    An internal investigation revealed two similar cases last year and one in January.

    The identity of the suspended nurse has not been released.

    http://www.foxnews.com/health/2018/03/09/nurse-suspended-after-5-infants-suffer-fractures-bruises-report.html

  36. Christian refugee returns to Syria because Europe is flooded with ISIS supporters

    Spiro Haddad is a Christian refugee who returned to Syria from Austria. In an interview with a German TV broadcaster in Syria, he tells how his life was in danger in Austria and why he made the decision to return.

    Haddad says he reached Austria by spending €3,000 on smugglers. At first he wanted to stay there, but he changed his mind after he saw how many refugees pledged to terrorist groups like Al-Nusra and ISIS.

    As a Christian he didn’t feel safe among them in Austria and he had to keep his faith a secret or it could cost him his life. Haddad says extremists wanted to change churches into mosques and he had to talk like them to survive.

    After he contacted the Austrian authorities about it, they didn’t take him seriously. That was the moment he decided to leave and now he lives in Syria again.

    https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/03/christian-refugee-returns-to-syria-because-europe-is-flooded-with-isis-supporters/#.WqLe6RgflCw.twitter