Reader’s Links, March 17, 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.

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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

199 Replies to “Reader’s Links, March 17, 2018”

    • Interesting how much easier his left wing, misanthropist politics is to find out and understand than is his contributions to science.

      What is it he did again? Besides being a BDS activist I mean.

        • TRT – Turkish Radio and Television All the times Stephen Hawking stood up for Palestine

          People all over are remembering Stephen Hawking’s support for the Palestinian cause. He accepted the call to boycott an Israeli conference, he criticised the war in Gaza ….

      • “What is it he did again?”

        At the time of Hawking’s peak work, the issue of “missing matter” was a fundamental conundrum for astrophysicists. It totally affected all models of galaxy formation and evolution (a crucial aspect of accurate cosmological modeling). Hawking’s unexpectedly more detailed characterizations of black holes (as possible repositories of that missing matter) completely altered the landscape of that field.

        A better understanding of key issues like the original hydrogen–helium balance of our universe, its expansion rate, and this missing matter (now evolved to “dark matter”) are at the very root of a functional cosmological model.

        A functional cosmological model is required for us to accurately define quantum-level interactions. So, yes, Hawking’s work was of great value.

        His support for the “Palestinians”? The best I can guess is that his own disabilities may have made it easy for him to root for an underdog. None of which changes how stupid such misplaced loyalties are in someone of such undeniable intelligence.

  5. In California’s rural, conservative north, there are big dreams for cleaving the state

    The two young, blond women in figure-flattering ball gowns hoisted whiskey and shotguns.

    An auctioneer rattled off bids. Above the stage in the banquet hall hung a green flag for the 51st state of Jefferson, with its pair of Xs called a “double-cross” representing a sense of rural abandonment.

    Hundreds of people packed into the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9650 hall on this chilly Saturday night, ready to crack open wallets to help fund their dream of carving — out of California’s northernmost reaches — a brand new state.

    Someone offered $350 for a state of Jefferson belt buckle. Someone else won a lamb, still in its mother’s womb, that should be born in time to be butchered for Easter. Outside, vehicles bore bumper stickers supporting President Trump and the 2nd Amendment.

    “We Okies are fun, aren’t we?” one man quipped.

    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-state-of-jefferson-activists-20180317-htmlstory.html

    • They have enough gas and oil reserves to run several hundred megawatts (or more) of electrical power generation for centuries. Yet, somehow they never managed to spend enough money on bolstering their grid network.

      I wonder where all of the money went?

          • It sure wasn’t spend on maintenance of the power grid, so the pockets of politicians either their own or our left wing ones.

        • Venezuelan ‘daughters of Chavismo’ exposed living lavishly overseas

          A Twitter account set up by members of Venezuela’s opposition has become a window into the opulent lives of the so-called “daughters of chavismo” — young women who grew up in privileged households owned by members of the socialist government and now continue enjoying the good life abroad.

          In the past few weeks, VVsincensura has been posting photos provided by its followers showing family members of the political elite having a good time in their brand new car, eating in Paris or surfing in some exotic beach.[…]

          http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/05/18/venezuelan-daughters-chavismo-exposed-living-lavishly-overseas.html

          ============================================
          Hugo Chávez daughter is the richest individual in Venezuela, report claims

          […]María Gabriela Chávez has bank accounts in the U.S. and Andorra with assets totaling nearly $4.2 billion.

          http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/08/10/hugo-chavez-daughter-is-richest-individual-in-venezuela-report-claims.html
          ================================================

          Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra is a Venezuelan politician and the son of President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

          At the wedding of Jose Zalt, a Syrian-Venezuelan businessman that owns the clothing brand Wintex, on 14 March 2015, Maduro Guerra was seen being showered with American dollars at the gathering in the luxurious Gran Melia Hotel in Caracas. The incident caused outrage among Venezuelans […¸]

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_Maduro_Guerra

          • “Hugo Chávez daughter is the richest individual in Venezuela, report claims

            She’s socked away $4.2 billion?!?

            Who-wee, thet’s one hard-working little gal!

            I wonder what it took for her to pile up that many spondulas?

            Musta been some awfully important work. Like, mebbe being a stand-in for a film about Imelda Marcos?

            Ho hum, just another entitled succubus who’s ready for the tumbrel. We all know where that money came from and countless Venezuelans are suffering or dying due to that diversion of funds.

  7. Former FBI Deputy Director McCabe Fired

    Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is fired effective immediately, after the Justice Department rejected an appeal that would have let him retire over the weekend.

    McCabe’s firing comes less than two days before his 50th birthday, which is when he would have received his retirement benefits.

    In a statement, the DOJ said McCabe made unauthorized disclosures to the media and lacked candor under oath on multiple occasions.

    The statement from the DOJ stems from an unreleased ineternal review of the department, and FBI’s handling of an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The report, prepared by the Inspector General, is said to include his directive to have FBI officials speak with the Wall Street Journal about his role in investigating alleged corruption in the Clinton Foundaton.

    http://www.oann.com/former-fbi-deputy-director-mccabe-fired/

  9. New European sanctions would affect nuclear deal: Iran official

    BEIRUT (Reuters) – Any new European sanctions against Iran will have a direct effect on the nuclear deal struck between world powers and Tehran, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Friday, according to state media.

    “In case some European countries are following steps to put non-nuclear sanctions against Iran in order to please the American president, they will be making a big mistake and they will see the direct result of that on the nuclear deal,” Abbas Araqchi said, according to state media.

    “It’s better that European countries continue their current action to persuade America to keep its promises in the nuclear deal and for that country to effectively execute the deal in all its parts with good will and in a productive atmosphere.”

    Araqchi’s comments were in reaction to a Reuters report that Britain, France and Germany have proposed fresh EU sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in Syria’s war to try to persuade Washington to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

    Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of a number of sanctions as part of the deal. Senior Iranian officials have repeatedly said their missile program is not up for negotiation.

    http://www.oann.com/new-european-sanctions-would-affect-nuclear-deal-iran-official/

  10. Trump signs U.S.-Taiwan travel bill, angering China

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa, angering China, which views the self-ruled island as a wayward province.

    The bill, which is non-binding, would have gone into effect on Saturday morning, even if Trump had not signed it, said the White House.

    The move adds to strains between the two countries over trade, as Trump has enacted tariffs and called for China to reduce its huge trade imbalance with the United States, even while Washington has leaned on Beijing to help resolve tensions with North Korea.

    Earlier on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated that Beijing was opposed to the legislation and urged the United States to abide by the “one China” policy, that stipulates that Taiwan is part of China, and cease official exchanges with Taiwan.

    In a statement after Trump’s signing of the bill, the Chinese embassy said clauses of the legislation “severely violate the one-China principle, the political foundation of the China-U.S. relationship”.

    “China is strongly dissatisfied with that and firmly opposes it,” the statement said, adding that the United States should “stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way.”

    http://www.oann.com/trump-signs-u-s-taiwan-travel-bill-that-china-has-opposed/

    • People are saying do nothing to China that will upset them and stop them help on North Korea! China isn’t going to do anything to stop North Korea no matter what we do, it is time we faced facts and started acting like we have a brain and a back bome.

      • “People are saying do nothing to China that will upset them…”

        The same sort of people say similar things about Islam and look where it gets them. The jihadists merely are further emboldened and even more opportunities for constructive dialog are lost forever.

        Those same lost opportunities are buried even further by Socialist governments (i.e., the EU) as they seek to strangle any close examination or open discussion of these problems (or especially about themselves).

        The entire situation with Tommy Robinson is a micro-version of the much larger macro-scale oppression involving persecution of those who (openly or online) insist upon meaningful discourse.

        Back to The Mainland: Since European Socialism is just Stalinist–Leninism Lite™, EU scolding of Communist China becomes a supremely delicate task. This alone chokes off a lot of potentially useful counter-flow in Europe’s dialog with Beijing. The proverbial black pot and kettle spring to mind.

        “China isn’t going to do anything to stop North Korea no matter what we do, it is time we faced facts and started acting like we have a brain and a back bone.”

        That “backbone” part is the biggest challenge of all. Almost a half-dozen administrations (i.e., ever since Reagan) have demonstrated very little in the way of spine, especially concerning North Korea but also regarding Red China, too.

        The “brain” part shouldn’t be such a difficult matter as the Oval Office has access to some of this world’s deepest intelligence gathering systems. Only Mossad comes anywhere close, with Red China and Russia trailing behind.

        Again, “the ‘brain’ part’ shouldn’t be such a difficult matter” yet, recent Capitol Hill intrigues have provided undeniable evidence that Deep State elements are (effectively and consistently) “retarding” the Hill’s overall brainpower—along with national security and the entire American economy.

        I just wish that I was ready to publish my analysis of North Korea. Taken in full, it will show that there are more options than anyone really wants to admit.

        • There are a lot of options but the longer we wait the fewer they become, we have a limited time until Kim gains the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile. Once this happens we either resign ourself to a world where every petty dictator has nuclear weapons and the knowledge that there is a 100% probability that there will be a minimum of one nuclear exchange and probably several of them.

          Time is the limiting factor and the disclosuer of the North Korean storage tunnels in Syria lower the amount of time we have.

    • “… legislation that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa, angering China, which views the self-ruled island as a wayward province.”

      Let’s face it, Communist China basically regards 90% of the surrounding Asian continent as, “a wayward province”.

      Pandering to Red China’s insecurities is beyond stoopid. All it does is confirm their paranoid fantasies and suspicions which enables them to justify another cycle of escalated military spending.

      As usual, when dealing with autocracies (and rigid mindsets like Islam), it is a no-win situation. Placing appropriate pressure on Beijing only enrages the Politburo’s Mandarins—whilst soft-pedaling the situation merely emboldens them to try and get away with even more nonsense.

      Some sort of strategic jujitsu will be needed to place the Chicoms in a situation where the very last thing they want, or can use, is a military confrontation. It must involve circumstances where use of military force by Communist China gives them the very worst external image (or is simply of no use at all). As in sparking boycotts of Chinese goods, pinching off international Mainland tourism, and so forth.

      What will Beijing do if the Netherlands suddenly stops buying any of their goods, nuke them? Are they going to invade Germany because of a travel prohibition? This is using your opponent’s inertia (or tactics) against them. This case involves subjecting the Mainland to the classic, “death of a thousand paper cuts”. One-by-one, countries around the world withdraw all trade and tourism with Communist China. Again (disregarding all sorts of international mutual protecting treaties), what is Beijing going to do, invade over a hundred different countries?

      One of the greatest challenges will be cautiously balancing any criticism regarding Chicom treatment of its increasingly restive Uyghur population against the need to maintain worldwide pressure upon Islam itself. Basing international criticism of Red China strictly upon its own struggles with Islam would be unwise and highly counterproductive—as this would open the door for Beijing to shrug off whatever external condemnation as sheer hypocrisy.

      Issues like involuntary organ harvesting, forced abortion, IP theft, patent violations, and currency manipulation are far better places to start this non-military assault. Forcing Communist China to negotiate in earnest (for once) would be one of the greatest victories of all. Especially if Beijing must parley from a position of weakness.

      • Let’s face it, Communist China basically regards 90% of the surrounding Asian continent as, “a wayward province”.

        My knowledge of Chinese history is limited but i think I remember reading that historically Taiwan has spent more time under Japanese Rule then under Chinese Rule. This gives additional emphasis to wayward province.

        If you pay attention to the 9 dash line and the string of pearls you quickly learn about the Chicom ambition to rule all of the Far East and their one belt one road project shows they aren’t going to be satisfied with just the far east. China isn’t alone in this ambition, I recently read an article that started that the Tyrants of this age are riding on the backs of tigers and can’t dismount, and the tigers are getting hungry. This sums up the worlds situation, as my father use to say, Smile its going to get worse before it gets better.

        • “… you quickly learn about the Chicom ambition to rule all of the Far East and their one belt one road project shows they aren’t going to be satisfied with just the far east.”

          My point entirely. Either Communist Chinese expansionism is strangled in the cradle or (at minimum) there will be another Cold War with 10–100 times the opportunity for a nuclear exchange.

          One principal driver of Beijing’s Sino-adventurism is the looming possibility of an unsuccessful domestic fast transition from export-based over to an internal consumption-based economy. Failure to reasonably accomplish this critical goal could create (inside Red China) an event cascade that might include the following:

          Ignite “hot” or “kinetic” conflicts (i.e., resource or land grabs) along OBOR which then…

          Gets a lot of young Chinese men killed

          Creates widows (i.e., available women) back home

          Reduce long-term national food consumption

          Makes soldiers’ beneficiaries (i.e., parents) permanently dependent upon the state

          Slows domestic birth rate

          Anyone with a cynical mind will immediately see that my list has many negative outcomes despite the presence of such crucial results like a birth rate reduction (just call it “retroactive abortion”). There is no irony in how so many of those “negative outcomes” actually disburden Red China.

          The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is one of this world’s most brutal régimes short of tiny pissholes like North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe or Venezuela. Only a fool would not include worst case forecasts whenever dealing with The Mainland.

          • If they get into a war, get half of their population killed but come out of the war with their government intact they will think they have won.

            • “If they get into a war, get half of their population killed but come out of the war with their government intact they will think they have won.”

              I trust that by “they”, you mean the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), eh?

              If so, I agree that this is just another case of the CCP winning while the Chinese people lose yet one more stinking time. The CCP’s real good at that little game.

              As I pointed out, each of those young male soldiers represents the “retirement policy” of his respective parents. If that trooper is KIA, then they have nothing to support them in their old age.

              So, getting “half of their population killed” (in battle) would have ripple effects of incalculable proportions. As usual, one outcome is guaranteed, increased dependence upon the state.

              And we all know how the CCP just lurves that!

          • Be sure and watch the video about Guo Wnegui that is one of the later posts today. There are interesting possibilities there.

            • I watched the entire thing. Yes, it’s good to have some wealthy, charismatic, and outspoken native Chinese person vocally criticizing the CCP.

              However, as an editor, my advice for the video would be more Victor Davis Hanson and less Ron Popeil.

  11. FBI recommends firing Andrew McCabe – and Sessions concurs
    By J.E. Dyer March 17, 2018

    The late-Friday news this week is that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has accepted the FBI’s last-minute recommendation to terminate former deputy director Andrew McCabe for cause.

    McCabe, on terminal leave since January, was planning to retire with an effective date of Sunday, 18 March, which is also his 50th birthday. The conjunction of dates, after a 21-year career with the Bureau, would make him eligible for a full slate of federal-service retirement benefits.

    But the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility has concluded that McCabe shouldn’t be allowed to retire with those benefits. According to NBC News:

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/17/fbi-recommends-firing-andrew-mccabe-sessions-concurs/

    • BOMBSHELL: Strzok sought to use personal relationship with recused judge on Flynn case; *UPDATE* More texts
      By J.E. Dyer March 16, 2018

      Bombshell gets bigger. Sean Hannity had additional material from the Strzok-Page text exchanges depicted on his broadcast on Friday evening (16 March). There are screen caps added below to flesh out the text sequence, which is now even more damning. Strzok and Page actually discuss the basis for a Contreras recusal, apparently in anticipation of a FISA case, in particular.

      See, in this post, the reference to the Obama task force timeline regarding “Russia-Trump” — the odds would seem to be low that on 25 July 2016, Strzok and Page were discussing any other subject of a FISA case or recusal. Strzok isn’t speaking in general terms; he’s talking about something he is working on, or expects to be working on. It’s not the Clinton case — that didn’t involve FISA applications. It basically has to be Russia-Trump. This is an extremely informative sequence, in that it indicates Strzok was already, on 25 July, seeing a possible need for Contreras to have to recuse himself on a FISA matter due to his relationship with Strzok.

      The narrative that the FBI was only galvanized on that very date — 25 July — to start moving on what eventually launched the FISA surveillance of Carter Page would seem to be crumbling before our eyes. – J.E.

      The Federalist has obtained unreleased text messages between FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that show both of them had personal acquaintance with U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras – and Strzok was scheming as early as July 2016 to get together with Contreras, “without arousing suspicion that they were colluding.”

      Contreras was the judge presiding in the Michael Flynn perjury case, brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, and based at least in part on statements Flynn made to Peter Strzok in what now appears to have been an ambush interview on 24 January 2017, days after Donald Trump took office.

      https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/16/bombshell-strzok-sought-use-personal-relationship-recused-judge-flynn-case/

      • Things are starting to break and the swamp critters/sewer rats should stop trying to cover up the evidence and start running for cover.

        It looks like Page, Strzok and Contreras were working together and that others at the FBI new about this and have been hiding the evidence from Congress and the People. This is going to shake up not only the Department of Justice and the Federal Police organizations it is going to spread the justified distrust of the FBI (at least the upper levels) to the Federal Judiciary. This distrust is probably going to cause people to start supporting the Article Five Constitutional Convention.

        • “This distrust is probably going to cause people to start supporting the Article Five Constitutional Convention.”

          Invoking a Constitutional Convention without a significant increase in voter education levels, and solid refutation of the extreme Left, could be a very dangerous thing.

          Until America becomes a lot less politically polarized, as in, for instance—a nation with a Third Party (preferably Constitutionalist in nature) that had tie-breaking strength—disrupting the existing and entrenched bipartisan system will be needed to begin weeding out some of the factors which I believe make a Constitutional Convention so dangerous.

          Just the political corruption of those who would currently represent us at such an otherwise much-needed convention is a huge risk factor all by itself. Ideally, establishing a strong Third Party would take or provide enough time to straighten up The Hill while a more-informed electorate is busy voting out their corrupt incumbents in favor of more transparent representation.

          • It is dangerous but it is rapidly approaching make or break time. An Article 5 convention is probably our last hope of avoiding a civil war and I am probably being very optimistic in thinking it would stop one. The reason I think that it stands a good chance of changing the Constitution for the better is that no matter the size of the states population or delegation each state would get one vote on issues. I don’t think the left will be able to load the convention with enough people to tilt 3/4ths of the states votes. I could be wrong but as I said earlier it is make or break time.

            He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That dares not put it to the touch, To gain or lose it all.

            James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose

            • “I could be wrong but as I said earlier it is make or break time.”

              On this we both agree. Push has come to shove and there’s sparks flying already. However, a nation that came so close to electing Hillary Clinton is one not-yet prepared for such a momentous event.

              None of which invalidates your sense of urgency. Preservation of the Union is at stake and the alternative is one big (or a bazillion little) kerfuffle.

              The worst part about Civil War II is the possibility of existing Muslim enclaves carving out their own little warlord domains amidst the confusion.

              • Civil War II will be upteen bazillion little kerfuffles, while I have no doubt which side will win we will take a lot of damage from the left and a lot more from the Islamic enclaves that have been established in the states since Gulf War I. It will be a multisided war with various ethnic groups siding with first one and then another side.

  12. Senate panel calls for special counsel to investigate FBI, DOJ handling of dossier
    By LU Staff March 16, 2018

    Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are formally calling for a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and Justice Department’s handling of the Steele dossier.

    The Republicans, led by Chairman Chuck Grassley, called on the Justice Department’s office of the inspector general to explore the FBI and DOJ’s handling of salacious document in February.

    But in a letter sent Thursday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, committee Republicans argued that a special counsel is needed because the inspector general’s office “does not have the tools that a prosecutor would to gather all the facts.”

    They argued that the DOJ watchdog does not have the ability to obtain testimony from witnesses who are not Justice Department employees. It has recently emerged that government officials in agencies outside of the Justice Department and FBI handled the dossier prior to the 2016 election. Several State Department officials were aware of the document, and at least one official in that agency was in contact with Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who wrote the dossier.

    “We believe that a special counsel is needed to work with the Inspector General to independently gather the facts and make prosecutorial decisions, if any are merited,” reads the letter to Sessions and Rosenstein.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/16/senate-panel-calls-special-counsel-investigate-fbi-doj-handling-dossier/

  13. TRT – Turkish Radio and Television -From left to right: Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban’s change

    … from revolutionary to dictator ….

  14. More than 150,000 civilians ‘have fled Afrin’ since Turkey’s offensive (alaraby, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/3/17/over-150-000-flee-afrin-since-turkeys-offensive

    “More than 150,000 civilians have fled the city of Afrin in northern Syria since Wednesday evening to escape a Turkish-led military offensive against a Kurdish militia, a war monitor said.

    “There was fierce fighting throughout the night on the northern outskirts of the city as the Turkish forces and their Syrian allies tried to break into the city,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

    Turkey and its Syrian Arab rebel allies, who are also fighting brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, have waged a nearly two-month offensive on the Afrin enclave, which is held by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

    The Syrian regime has sided with the YPG against Turkey’s offensive in Afrin.

    Earlier this week, they largely surrounded the enclave’s sole city, which was home to some 350,000 people, including people displaced from other parts of the enclave already overrun.

    A single escape route remains open to the south to territory still held by the YPG or controlled by the Damascus government.

    “Civilians are fleeing through the southern corridor,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

    Afrin has come under heavy air and artillery bombardment by the Turkish army.

    On Friday evening, a Turkish bombing raid struck the city’s main hospital, killing 16 civilians, a monitor said.

    Turkey’s military denied hitting the hospital, saying that its operation in Afrin “is carried out in such a way as to not cause any harm to civilians.”

    The Syrian conflict began when the Baath regime, in power since 1963 and led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion fuelled by mass defections from the Syrian army.

    According to independent monitors, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, mostly by the regime and its powerful allies, and millions have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria. The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians have led to war crimes investigations.”

  15. UAE Official: Saudi Arabia Moves Forward While Iran Sticks to Past (aawsat, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1207806/uae-official-saudi-arabia-moves-forward-while-iran-sticks-past

    “A senior UAE official said the vitality of the Saudi approach reflects the hopes and aspirations of a new generation while Iran’s approach and policies are a reflection of a regressive ideology.

    He said that those who criticize Saudi Arabia know now that this weapon has become unusable.

    “A positive Saudi vision recognizes the need to deal with the aspirations of a young generation and its aspiration for development and stability while an expansive Iranian vision stands for no development or consideration for the needs and aspirations of young people,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted.

    “Interestingly, the critics and opponents of Saudi Arabia find that their conventional ammunition has become unusable in the face of vitality, renewal and a leadership role that imposes itself every day,” Gargash added.”

  16. Nasrallah Accuses Electoral Opponents of Backing ISIS, Nusra (aawsat, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1207731/nasrallah-accuses-electoral-opponents-backing-isis-nusra

    “In an effort to mobilize electorates, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has said that certain sides opposing his party’s joint list with Amal movement in eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel district were allies of terrorist organizations.

    “We will not allow those who are allied with al-Nusra Front and ISIS to represent the people of Baalbek-Hermel,” Nasrallah said Thursday.

    According to rivals, his comment came over growing frustration by the residents of the district, which is mainly Shi’ite, at the failure of “Hezbollah” lawmakers to develop the region and provide services to its people…”

  17. Turkish military denies it hit Syrian hospital (reuters, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-afrin-hospital/turkish-military-denies-it-hit-syrian-hospital-idUKKCN1GT081?rpc=401&

    “The Turkish military denied on Saturday that it had struck a hospital in Syria’s Afrin region, where it is waging a nearly two-month-old offensive against Kurdish YPG forces.

    The YPG and Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said a Turkish air strike hit Afrin town’s main hospital on Friday night, killing 16 people…”

  18. Syrian monitor says strikes on Ghouta rebel town kill 30 (reuters, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-ghouta/syrian-monitor-says-strikes-on-ghouta-rebel-town-kill-30-idUKKCN1GT08W?rpc=401&

    “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes on a rebel pocket in eastern Ghouta killed 30 people gathering to leave to government lines on Saturday.

    The UK-based war monitoring group said the strikes on Zamalka town also injured dozens. There was no immediate comment from Damascus, which says it only targets armed militants.

    The Observatory said a new wave of 10,000 people had left the insurgent pocket to army positions on Saturday in Ghouta, where the government has waged a fierce month-long offensive.”

  20. At least 14 people killed as boat capsizes off Greece (alaraby, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/3/17/at-least-14-killed-as-boat-capsizes-off-greece

    “At least 14 people, including four children, died when a boat carrying about 20 capsized overnight in the Aegean Sea, Greek police said on Saturday.

    The boat was ferrying migrants from Turkey to Greece. Police recovered eight more bodies after the corpses of a man, a woman and four children surfaced off the island of Agathonissi.

    Two women and a man who managed to swim to safety sounded the alarm. Survivors said the boat was carrying 21 people, according to port officials.

    A patrol boat, a military helicopter and three fishing vessels are taking part in the rescue operation and officials are waiting for reinforcements from Frontex, the European border agency.

    Frontex said last month that in 2017, the European Union saw the lowest number of detected illegal border-crossings since the migrant crisis began four years ago.

    The number dwindled to 204,700 from 1.8 million in 2015, it said. The drop was especially observed on the eastern Mediterranean migratory route which connects Turkey to Greece, and the central Mediterranean route connecting Libya to Italy.

    The EU last year reached deal with Turkey in 2016, which sharply reduced the number of people crossing to Greece.

    It has been criticised by humanitarian workers as it stipulates that all arrivals will be sent back to Turkey, including Syrian refugees. Greece is also detaining thousands of migrants in overcrowded squalid camps.”

  21. CNN- Mom arrested after filming hate-filled tirade at mosque

    «…. they smell exactly like goats … »

    Two women were arrested after allegedly stealing items from a mosque and broadcasting the whole episode on Facebook Live, police say.

  22. Indian and Pakistani security agents ring each-other’s doorbells and run away in bizarre escalation of tensions between the two countries (dailymail, Mar 17, 2018)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5504845/Diplomat-doorbell-pranks-reflect-rise-Indian-Pakistan-tensions.html

    “India and Pakistan have accused each others’ security agents of a peculiar form of harassment – ringing the doorbells of each others’ diplomatic residencies and then running away.

    The tit-for-tat doorbell wars began when the bell of the Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan was rung at 3 am, Bloomsberg correspondent Ian Marlow tweeted.

    ‘Since the Indian side felt this was done by Pakistan’s security agencies, the doorbell of the Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner in Delhi was also rung at 3 am a few days later,’ he said.

    What at first glance might seems a somewhat childish dispute between the two nuclear armed neighbours quickly escalated – in part because the two countries remain bitterly divided over the increasingly violent Kashmir dispute.

    Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Thursday said it it had called its top diplomat in India back home for consultations after allegations of harassment of Pakistani diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

    Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal says the decision was taken after Pakistani officials and their families in New Delhi reported maltreatment, such as being chased by motorcyclists who wanted to photograph them.

    ‘The total apathy and failure of the Indian Government to put a halt to these despicable incidents, sparing not even young children, indicates both a lack of capacity to protect foreign diplomats posted in India or a more reprehensible, complicit unwillingness to do so,’ he said.

    He said that under the Vienna Convention, the safety and the security of Pakistani diplomats and their families is the responsibility of the Indian Government.

    Islamabad also summoned an Indian diplomat in Pakistan in protest. India hasn’t commented on the allegations but has made complaints of its own.

    Faisal said on Thursday that the envoy, Sohail Mahmood, is expected to return this week.

    India for its part has alleged that several Indian mission staffers in Islamabad have been severely ‘harassed and intimidated’.

    In a long list of grievances, it said that its High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, had been harassed by the Pakistani security agencies.

    They are alleged to have recently stopped Bisaria’s car in the middle of a busy road to prevent him from attending a lunch in Karachi.

    They also say that Indian diplomats in Pakistan have been subjected to lewd phone calls and messages in addition to unusually aggressive surveillance techniques.

    Thew two countries have a history of bitter relations and often accuse each other’s diplomatic staff of spying.

    They also often trade fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both countries claim in its entirety.”

    • “India and Pakistan have accused each others’ security agents of a peculiar form of harassment – ringing the doorbells of each others’ diplomatic residencies and then running away.”

      It is this sort of puerile tommyrot that helps keep Second and Third World countries what they are, borderline or full-blown sh!tholes.

      • Until they mature beyond early teenage they will never truly take their place at the table of great nations. A fact that is lost on the left in the west because they are still the same emotional age as those who are ringing the doorbells.

  23. Pakistani gang tried to force teenage girl to sleep with surgeon with a gold credit card at sex parties in three-year ordeal which started when she was 14, court hears (dailymail, Mar 17, 2018)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5507273/Surgeon-gold-credit-card-attended-groomers-sex-parties.html

    “A Pakistani gang sexually exploited a teenage girl, including trying to force her to sleep with a surgeon with a gold card, a court heard yesterday. Ten men are accused of plying the girl with drink and drugs in return for sex during a three-year ordeal.

    Now 24, the woman said she reported the abuse, which she claims started when she was 14, to police when she was a teenager. But she says action was only taken when her fiance contacted the BBC after watching a report on the Rotherham child abuse scandal.

    The woman told the court she would be taken to a house in Bradford where as many as 50 people could be present.

    Men would drive from Birmingham, Rotherham, Oldham and London, Bradford Crown Court heard.

    The woman said one gang member Saeed Akhtar, 54, told her: ‘Get more girls because my friends are coming up and I don’t want my friends thinking I can’t get girls.’

    She added that he was ‘trying to pimp me out’. The court heard another defendant, Izar Hussain, 31, nicknamed Billy Jo Jo, arranged for the teenager to have sex with a wealthy surgeon who travelled to Yorkshire from London.

    ‘There was a surgeon from far away, who had a gold card with a £10,000 limit. The doctor used to come up and give Billy Jo Jo the card for him to buy himself designer clothes,’ she told the jury. He would try to get girls to sleep with the doctor for £500. The doctor was 50 and really creepy.’

    Hussain is accused of getting violent when she refused to sleep with the surgeon. She said he would say: ‘I want sex now. You wouldn’t f*** the doctor, you can at least f*** me.’

    The court heard 50 men were at the house at one point for the Eid festival celebrated by Muslims…”

  24. US training Syria militants for false flag chemical attack as basis for airstrikes – Russian MoD (RT, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://www.rt.com/news/421589-us-preparing-syria-provocations-airstrikes/

    “Russia’s Defense Ministry says “US instructors” are training militants to stage false flag chemical attacks in south Syria. The incidents are said to be a pretext for airstrikes on Syrian government troops and infrastructure.

    “We have reliable information at our disposal that US instructors have trained a number of militant groups in the vicinity of the town of At-Tanf, to stage provocations involving chemical warfare agents in southern Syria,” Russian General Staff spokesman General Sergey Rudskoy said at a news briefing on Saturday.

    “Early in March, the saboteur groups were deployed to the southern de-escalation zone to the city of Deraa, where the units of the so-called Free Syrian Army are stationed.”

    “They are preparing a series of chemical munitions explosions. This fact will be used to blame the government forces. The components to produce chemical munitions have been already delivered to the southern de-escalation zone under the guise of humanitarian convoys of a number of NGOs.”

    The planned provocations will be widely covered in the Western media and will ultimately be used as a pretext by the US-led coalition to launch strikes on Syria, Rudskoy warned.

    “The provocations will be used as a pretext by the United States and its allies to launch strikes on military and government infrastructure in Syria,” the official stated.

    “We’re registering the signs of the preparations for the possible strikes. Strike groups of the cruise missile carriers have been formed in the east of the Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf and Red Sea.”

    Another false flag chemical attack is being prepared in the province of Idlib by the “Al-Nusra Front terrorist group, in coordination with the White Helmets,” Rudskoy warned. The militants have already received 20 containers of chlorine to stage the incident, he said.

    Moscow and Damascus have repeatedly warned about upcoming chemical provocations, and have highlighted that banned warfare agents have been used by the militants. Earlier this week, Syrian government forces reportedly captured a well-equipped chemical laboratory in Eastern Ghouta. Footage from the facility has been published by the SANA news agency. The installation contained modern industrial-grade hardware of foreign origins, large amounts of chemical substances as well as crude homemade munitions ad their parts.”

    • If you want to know what the Dems are doing listen to what they are saying about the Repubs.

      I think this should be applied to what the Russians are saying.

  25. ‘Not proxy’: Lavrov says US, British, French special forces ‘directly involved’ in Syria war (RT, Mar 17, 2018)
    https://www.rt.com/news/421582-lavrov-foreign-special-forces-syria/

    “Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has condemned the illegal presence of US coalition troops in Syria, saying the Western forces deployed on the ground amount to “a direct involvement in the war.”

    “There are special forces on the ground in Syria from the US – they no longer deny it – the UK, France and a number of other countries,” Lavrov said in an interview to the Kazakh state broadcaster published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website on Saturday. “Thus, it’s not so much of a ‘proxy war,’ but rather a direct involvement in the war,” the diplomat stressed.

    The US coalition is “illegitimate” from the standpoint of international law and the UN Charter, Lavrov said. “But we are realistic and understand that we wouldn’t fight with them. So we coordinate actions at least to prevent unintended clashes. Our military always keeps in touch with the American commanders who lead the operation on Syrian territory.”

    Moscow is also in “a permanent dialogue” with the US General Staff officials “who actually lead the operation on the ground,” the minister said.

    Lavrov also stressed attacks on the Syrian and pro-Syrian forces in US-controlled areas deserve condemnation, given that Russia has been repeatedly and “solemnly” assured that the presence of the US military in Syria is aimed “exclusively” at fighting terrorists.

    Lavrov also criticized the remarks by the US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, about Washington’s readiness to “bomb Damascus and even the presidential palace of Bashar Assad, regardless [of the] presence of the Russian representatives there.”“It is an absolutely irresponsible statement,” Lavrov said.”

      • “Is this Cold War II or part of the lead up to WWIII?”

        Neither. Just more rearranging of the (petroleum-related) deck chairs as we draw ever-nearer to mastering fusion power generation.

  26. Child Sex Crimes Soar by 30 Per Cent in Sadiq Khan’s London as Public Anger Over Grooming Gangs Grows (breitbart, Mar 17. 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/17/child-sex-offences-soar-khans-london/

    “The number of sexual offences committed against children in Sadiq Khan’s London has soared to 1,200 in the last year, new figures show.

    Statistics show the number of child sexual exploitation cases in 2017 had risen by 30 per cent on the previous year, the Evening Standard reports.

    The figures were released on Friday, when the Metropolitan Police co-hosted a conference to raise awareness of the problem with children’s charity Barnardo’s, which has launched a pilot scheme to help child victims of rape and sexual exploitation.

    “Children who have been sexually exploited can feel completely powerless, and being raped or sexually assaulted often causes debilitating levels of trauma,” said Jessica Juon, assistant director of children’s services at Barnardo’s London, explaining it is important to help victims feel safe.

    Detective Superintendent Steve Ellen said the Met has been trying to improve how it records and recognises child sexual exploitation offences, but acknowledged that the figures could point to a rise in the number of crimes…”

  27. Sh*thole Watch: Air Ambulance Called to More Stabbings and Shootings than Road Accidents in Sadiq Khan’s London (breitbart, Mar 17, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/17/air-ambulance-stabbings-shootings-road-accidents-sadiq-khan-london/

    “London’s Air Ambulance had to attend more stabbings and shootings than road traffic accidents for the first time in its almost 30-year history in 2017.

    Newly released figures reveal that airborne trauma specialists and paramedics treated some 560 shooting and stabbing victims over the course of the year, compared to 533 cyclists, drivers, passengers, and pedestrians who had been involved in road traffic accidents, the Evening Standard reports.

    Dr. Gareth Grier, the Air Ambulance service’s lead clinician, said it is now “not unusual now for our teams to perform open-chest surgery for stab wounds twice in a single day,” adding: “This would have been unheard of a few years back.”

    He tried to offer the public some reassurance by telling them his team’s “world-leading treatments mean that we can give these [stabbing and shooting victims] and other patients we treat the best possible chance of survival.”

    Meanwhile, apologists for city Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has overseen a massive rise in crime and terror attacks since he took office in 2016, have tried to downplay the news, noting that the number of collisions attended by Air Ambulance crews declined compared to 2016 — but this does not disguise the fact that the number of shootings and stabbings attended increased by 60…”

  28. TRT <-Turkish Radio and Television – Off The Grid: Haven of despair

    …. UK- one of the most ethnically diverse country…

    Seeking asylum in the UK can be a long and painful process that leads many to detention. Off the Grid meets some former detainees who spent years behind bars.

    ( 13 min 52 )

  29. British court: Christopher Steele must show for video deposition in dossier defamation case
    Fox News March 17, 2018

    The man at the epicenter of the dodgy dossier, former British MI-6 officer Christopher Steele, was ordered by an English court Friday to appear for a videotaped deposition in London to be used as trial testimony in ongoing civil litigation against Buzzfeed for publishing the unverified dossier.

    Evan Fray-Witzer, a Boston-based attorney representing Russian tech tycoon Aleksej Gubarev, told Fox News, “We’re thrilled that the English Court has ordered Mr. Steele to sit for his deposition. It was always amazing to us that he could talk as freely as he has to reporters around the world about the dossier, yet refuse to sit for a deposition about the same topics.”

    Cyprus-based Gubarev is suing Steele’s British based company, Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd., because the dossier claims Gubarev’s companies, including XBT Holdings and Webzilla, used “botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs and steal data.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/16/christopher-steele-must-appear-for-dossier-deposition-in-british-court.html

    • Things are starting to break and they are breaking bad for the Dems, it won’t be long before the facts are so clear that even the propaganda media will have to start reporting them semi straight.

      • “…it won’t be long before the facts are so clear that even the propaganda media will have to start reporting them semi straight.”

        This is something that I commented upon several weeks ago. Modern Liberals just help but cannibalize each other the moment things go astray.

        The Propaganda Media’s obsession with Nielsen Ratings will give them no choice but to scrutinize and broadcast about the Democratic Party’s collusion in forming so much of the existing Deep State.

        For every Liberal outlet that loyally stays mum, there’ll be another Liberal outlet that makes a ratings grab. Hell, just the notion of getting a prime time “scoop” on all of the other channels will be more than enough to drive this anthropophagic orgy.

        • “Modern Liberals just help but cannibalize each other the moment things go astray.”

          Should be:

          Modern Liberals just can’t help but cannibalize each other the moment things go astray.

        • They can’t help themselves and this cannibalistic feeding fury will serve us well, it will probably mean that the non deep state people can gain control of enough seats in Congress to (with luck) change things so the Deep State will not only lose power but will find it hard to regain power.

          • “… so the Deep State will not only lose power but will find it hard to regain power.”

            Few better things can be hoped for. The Deep State’s drag-effect upon America’s overall political and economic progress cannot be overstated.

            • Without them dragging us down we would be 1) stronger, 2) richer, 3) probably out in space to stay.

  30. German Interior Minister: “Islam Does Not Belong to Germany”

    by Soeren Kern
    March 17, 2018 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12040/german-interior-minister-islam-does-not-belong-to

    Germany’s new interior minister, Horst Seehofer, in his first interview since being sworn in on March 14, has said that “Islam does not belong to Germany.” He has also vowed to pursue hardline immigration policies, including the implementation of a “master plan” for speedier deportations.

    Seehofer’s remarks prompted an immediate firestorm of criticism from the self-appointed guardians of German multiculturalism, including from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has repeatedly insisted that “Islam belongs to Germany.”

    The backlash will raise questions about how much Seehofer — a former minister-president of Bavaria and a vocal critic of Merkel’s open-door migration policies — will be able to accomplish during his tenure.

  31. “Unslaved Podcast: Islamo-Communism (with Trevor Loudon)”
    Unslaved Podcast – Published on March 4, 2018

  32. JW: How McCabe, Comey Protected Clinton–and Themselves…and Parkland Police Violated Own Training

  40. Ottawa police are investigating a report of vandalism at a temple after a Buddha statue was destroyed overnight.

    Police were called to the Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Temple at 1481 Heron Rd. Friday morning after two monks who live there reported the damage.

    The head of the statue, which sits outside the building, appears to have been smashed apart.

    Manoj Da Silva, the temple’s treasurer, said the statue was installed about four months ago and cost approximately $8,000 to purchase and ship from Sri Lanka.

    An iron bar believed to have been used to damage the statue was found nearby, according to Da Silva.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-investigate-vandalism-buddhist-statue-1.4580175

    Note: for those not familiar with the Ottawa geography, this is just at the edge of a ‘culturally enriched’ area. A local shopping mall – of the traditional Canadian style where you enter a mall with stores lining isles and common areas in the middle – has been torn down and replaced by ‘box stores’ type of mall, where there are no common areas where people could gather, rest or loiter. This is a trend in many ‘culturally enriched’ areas of Ottawa.

  41. Reporter arrested in Ottawa for requesting an interview: a CBC reporter, none-the-less!!!

    Journalists are standing behind an Ottawa reporter arrested after a criminal harassment complaint from the subject of a story he had been writing.

    A Radio-Canada investigation, with a team including reporter Antoine Trépanier, revealed that the executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter in Gatineau, Que., falsely portrayed herself as a lawyer and practised law without a licence.

    Yvonne Dubé told Radio-Canada she knew nothing about the case and insisted she never represented anyone as a lawyer.

    Gatineau Big Brothers’ director illegally acted as lawyer?
    ?Trépanier had talked to Dubé over the phone Monday, eventually offering a formal interview request for the story before it was published earlier this week.

    After initially accepting the interview, she declined it at the last moment. She instead spoke by phone.

    Arrested Tuesday evening
    The next day, ?Trépanier sent an email reiterating the offer for an interview.

    Subsequently, Dubé contacted Gatineau police and made a complaint of criminal harassment against Trépanier.

    Trépanier was arrested Tuesday evening and he signed a promise to appear in court.

    The Crown has not yet decided if charges will proceed.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/antoine-trepanier-journalist-arrested-harassment-1.4577777

  42. “Look At South Africa We Cant Let This Happen In The USA” – Tucker Carlson On USA And South Africa

  43. Authorities in Kansas have confirmed the death of the computer hacker who turned in Chelsea Manning to law enforcement for giving thousands of documents to WikiLeaks.

    Adrian Lamo, 37, was found dead in an apartment on Wednesday, Wichita police officer Charley Davidson said.

    “There’s nothing suspicious about his death,” Davidson said, though he would not elaborate.

    The Regional Forensic Science Center has not released a cause of death yet, though toxicology tests typically take several weeks to complete.

    http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article205629184.html

  44. “NERVOUS JOHN? Ex-CIA Director Brennan LASHES OUT At President Trump After McCabe Firing” by Joshua Caplan – March 17, 2018
    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/03/nervous-john-ex-cia-director-brennan-lashes-president-trump-mccabe-firing/

    “Obama’s Passport Breach: Unanswered Questions, and an Unsolved Murder”
    by Pamela Geller – July 23, 2012
    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2012/07/obamas_passport_breach_unanswered_questions_and_an_unsolved_murder.html

  47. Here’s an outrageous story to end the week.

    A pair of students in New Jersey were reportedly suspended, one for an entire school week, after officials saw they went to the gun range with family and posted a photo of the outing on social media. From NJ.com:

    A New Jersey school district that allegedly suspended two high school students this week over a gun photo taken during a family visit to a private shooting range is facing community backlash and the threat of a lawsuit over district policies.

    The photo of four rifles, ammunition clips and a gun duffel bag was shared by one of the students on the social media app Snapchat with the caption “fun day at the range,” according to Lacey Township resident Amanda Buron, a family friend of one of the students.

    A screen capture of the image made the rounds among other students and later brought to the attention of Lacey Township High School officials. Buron said the students received a five-day in-school suspension for violating the school’s policy on weapons possession.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2018/03/16/a-high-school-student-in-new-jersey-was-suspended-from-school-after-going-to-the-gun-range-with-his-family-n2461760

    • If the school says they have a school policy that says that no students can own weapons then the school board, the school principle and any teachers supporting that position need to be fired, their pensions stripped from them and their teaching credentials stripped from them. They can forbid things on school grounds but have no authority to ban anything off campus.

      • “They can forbid things on school grounds but have no authority to ban anything off campus.”

        End of story. Full Stop

  48. Dozens of people who are not U.S. citizens were allowed to register to vote due to a glitch in Pennsylvania’s electronic driver’s license system, a Philadelphia election official said Wednesday.

    Al Schmidt, a Republican who sits on Philadelphia’s three-member election commission, told reporters that at least 168 noncitizens — who are legal residents of the U.S. — had registered to vote in the city through the licensing system.

    Philly.com reported that 317 such illegal voters have contacted the commission since 2006 to have their registrations canceled. Of those, Schmidt’s office said that 220 were registered to vote from 2006 to 2017. Forty-four voted in one election and 46 voted in more than one election.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/20/glitch-allowed-non-citizens-to-vote-in-pennsylvania.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true