Reader’s links for June 28, 2018

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

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

Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

136 Replies to “Reader’s links for June 28, 2018”

  1. What Prince William Did Not See in Ramallah

    by Bassam Tawil
    June 28, 2018 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12612/prince-william-ramallah
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    Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas shared some interesting news with England’s Prince William during a meeting in Ramallah on June 27. He informed the royal visitor that the Palestinians are “serious about reaching peace with Israel.” Abbas also said that the Palestinians were “committed to combating terrorism.”

    What makes this news interesting is that as Abbas was speaking to Prince William in his Ramallah headquarters, known as the Mukata, the Palestinian government issued a statement praising Palestinian terrorists imprisoned by Israel. The Ramallah-based government also vowed to continue paying salaries to Palestinians convicted of murdering and injuring Jews, defying Israeli and American demands to stop the payments.

    The Palestinian government’s pledge to continue supporting the terrorists and their families financially came in response to a new Israeli law that allows the Israeli government to deduct funds that are supposed to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority commensurate with the amount of money the Palestinians pay to the terrorists and their families.

    The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved the law this week, on June 27. The bill, which was proposed by MK Avi Dichter (Likud) and MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), states that welfare payments paid by the Palestinian Authority to the terrorists and their relatives will be deducted from tax revenues Israel transfers each month to the Palestinian Authority. The money withheld would instead go into a fund designated to help victims of Palestinian terror attacks.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12612/prince-william-ramallah

    • He informed the royal visitor that the Palestinians are “serious about reaching peace with Israel.” Abbas also said that the Palestinians were “committed to combating terrorism.”

      Shortly after saying this Abbas was struck repeatedly by lightning.

      Let’s hope the Prince knows a little something about taqiyya.

      • I am pretty sure that Harry (The Big H) does so his big brother has probably heard about the practice. Anyone serving in a combat zone learns the enemies tricks.

  2. How Tehran Lobbyists Mislead Opinion in the West

    by Amir Taheri
    June 28, 2018 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12606/tehran-lobbyists

    As the clock ticks towards 8th of August, the deadline fixed by US President Donald Trump to unveil the next stage of his policy towards Iran, a choir of Western politicians, academics and businessmen is formed to urge him to stick to the policies of his predecessors since 1979. That, in turn, has encouraged elements in the Tehran leadership to argue against any change of policy and/or behavior by the Islamic Republic on a range of issues, as spelled out in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 12-point statement, including the attempt to “export” revolution to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen among others.

    Last Tuesday Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif replied to Pompeo with a 15-point desiderata of his own, indicating Tehran’s choice of a delaying tactic.

  3. ‘Voodoo’ nurse Josephine Iyamu guilty of sex trafficking (BBC, Jun 28, 2018)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-44645937

    “A London-based nurse has been convicted of trafficking five Nigerian women into Germany to work as prostitutes after subjecting them to “voodoo” rituals.

    Josephine Iyamu forced the women to swear oaths to hand over money to her during “juju” ceremonies.

    Iyamu, 51, formerly of Bermondsey, was convicted of five counts of arranging or facilitating travel for sexual exploitation at Birmingham Crown Court.

    Jurors also found her guilty of perverting the course of justice.

    The rituals saw the women forced to eat chicken hearts, drink blood containing worms, and have powder rubbed into cuts, the court heard.

    Iyamu is the first person to be convicted under Modern Slavery Act laws passed in 2015, allowing prosecutions of British citizens for overseas sexual trafficking.

    She was born in Liberia, but became a British citizen in 2009 having been allowed to stay in the UK due to her nursing qualifications…”

    • You’d think that these idiots would remember how it’s bad luck to be superstitious.

      Africa’s Animist and other primitive creeds constantly stall all hope of progress for the sub-Saharan continent. Between tin pot dictators like Mugabe, rape factories like South Africa, and a human population that seems hell-bent on becoming one gigantic Petri dish for incubating HIV–AIDS—much less the recent Invitation to Invade™ being sent Red China’s way—there is such dim hope for one of the most resource-rich continents on earth.

  4. Shujhaat Bukhari: Pakistan militants blamed for journalist death (BBC, Jun 28, 2018)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44641930

    “Leading Indian newspaper journalist and editor Shujaat Bukhari was killed by a Pakistan-based militant outfit, police have said.

    Bukhari was shot dead in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, on 14 June while leaving his office.

    “Orders to kill Shujaat came from Pakistan,” a policeman said, adding they had identified four suspects from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group (LeT).

    The LeT has denied involvement and no other group has claimed the killing.

    The LeT is one of the most feared groups fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir and is blamed for several deadly attacks on Indian soil.

    Police said one of the suspects escaped from police custody in January 2018, while two of them are Indian nationals who had joined the Pakistan-based group.

    A senior official told BBC Urdu’s Riyaz Masroor that India and Pakistan would share evidence related to the murder as a part of a legal assistance treaty…”

    • A senior official told BBC Urdu’s Riyaz Masroor that India and Pakistan would share evidence related to the murder as a part of a legal assistance treaty…

      So long as the thoroughly compromised ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) agency continues to exist, Pakistan will remain one of the weakest links in the global security chain. Counting on Pakistan for anything more than swift, unhesitating betrayal is a fool’s errand, at best.

  5. Mueller Targets Trump Over Russian Billionaires Linked to Hillary Clinton
    June 28, 2018
    Daniel Greenfield

    Hillary Clinton’s bag boy is really getting desperate. And the hypocrisy from Team Mueller is becoming radioactive.

    Several billionaires with deep ties to Russia attended exclusive, invitation-only receptions during Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities, guest lists obtained by ABC News show.

    These powerful businessmen, who amassed their fortunes following the collapse of the Soviet Union — including one who has since been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department — were ushered into events typically reserved for top donors and close political allies and were given unprecedented access to Trump’s inner circle.

    Their presence has attracted the interest of federal investigators probing Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

    But… Team Mueller doesn’t leak.

    Now who was that mysterious sanctioned Russian billionaire?

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/270589/mueller-targets-trump-over-russian-billionaires-daniel-greenfield

  6. ‘Abolish ICE’ Zealots Occupy Fantasy Island
    The disturbing new agenda item in the Democratic Party.
    June 28, 2018
    Michelle Malkin
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    “No ban. No wall. No borders at all.”

    That is the radical rallying cry of the Democratic Socialists of America. Waving desecrated U.S. flags, grubby fists and ratty anarchy banners, DSA’s professional protesters are targeting Trump administration officials, threatening immigration enforcement agents, and blockading detention facilities and processing centers nationwide.

    On a similar note, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., proudly marched in a parade last week with a T-shirt emblazoned with “Yo No Creo En Fronteras” — Spanish for “I don’t believe in borders.”

    These are abjectly unserious people, operating in bad faith, who pose a serious threat to our nation’s well-being.

    In New York, DSA rabble-rousers took over a loading dock used to transport immigrants at an ICE processing center on Varick Street. Genius move. Now, detainees whose bond hearings were canceled because of the protest disruptions face another six or more extra weeks in detention.

    In Portland, Oregon, DSA operatives shut down a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office after preventing workers from exiting the building.

    In Detroit, organizers disrupted ordinary processing and appointments at a downtown ICE field office and plan to camp out there 24 hours a day until the end of the month. “Our short-term goal is to shut down operations at this particular center,” ringleader Robert Jay explained.

    “Our long-term goal is to abolish ICE entirely.”

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270581/abolish-ice-zealots-occupy-fantasy-island-michelle-malkin

    • Some of the more Liberal institutions which work closely with immigrants have begun posting trilingual placards with telephone numbers where callers can anonymously report any ICE activity in their neighborhoods.

      At some point, this sort of espionage (because, let’s face it, that’s what this really is) will result in ICE agents encountering some sort of armed response. If any people get killed, the phone bank and the caller will have been firsthand accomplices to homicide.

  7. How Long Do Dems Think They Can Block a Supreme Court Justice?
    June 28, 2018
    Daniel Greenfield

    Justice Kennedy’s retirement triggered a meltdown among Dems who want only one thing, to block his replacement’s appointment until they take the White House or the Senate. There’s a lot of screaming about “vengeance for Merrick Garland”.

    Except…

    1. The Garland nomination was a sham. Hillary Clinton made it clear that she wouldn’t nominate him.

    2. Blocking a nomination at the end of the term is the Biden rule. No presidential term is ending here.

    3. In both cases, Republicans are being replaced by Republicans. Kennedy was just a particularly flaky swing vote. Dems aren’t entitled to either seat. And it’s not as if Ruth Bader Ginsburg is even being replaced.
    https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/270578/how-long-do-dems-think-they-can-block-supreme-daniel-greenfield

  8. France: Anti-Macron protest brings capital to a standstill

    Hundreds of protesters marched through central Paris, Thursday demanding the repeal of labour and tax reforms enacted by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

    One of the protesters, member of La France Insoumise Party, Eric Coquerel slammed the government, saying “it is doing more and more politics for the rich, against the general interest and against the vast majority of the population.”

    One of the central planks of Macron’s reform programme is plans to bring the French railways in line with EU rules on market liberalisation. Railways unions were unable to stop the National Assembly from voting by 452 to 80 in favour of the bill.

  9. Trump Administration Combats Discrimination Against American Workers
    ICE investigation uncovers company that defrauded Americans out of jobs.
    June 28, 2018
    Michael Cutler

    Immigration fraud has been identified as a key method of entry and embedding for international terrorists, and fugitives from justice and for transnational gang members. This was the underlying premise for my booklet, Immigration Fraud: Lies That Kill.

    However immigration fraud may also be committed by companies who seek to create the illusion of complying with our nation’s immigration laws while, in reality, discriminating against American workers by hiring foreign workers for whom they apply for temporary work visas such as the H-2B visa.

    It is important to remember that prior to World War II the primary authority for the enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws was primarily vested in the Labor Department to protect American workers from unfair competition from foreign workers. This was of particular importance back then as America was attempting to dig out of the Great Depression.

    Our immigration laws were enacted to protect national security, American lives and the livelihoods of Americans.

    Nevertheless, wacky candidates for political office such as television actress Cynthia Nixon, who is seeking to unseat New York Governor’s Andrew Cuomo, has called for dismantling ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) as reported in the June 22, 2018 New York Post article, Cynthia Nixon labels ICE a ‘terrorist organization’

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270570/trump-administration-combats-discrimination-michael-cutler

  10. Judge Nap: SCOTUS Deals ‘Catastrophic’ Blow to Labor Unions, Democratic Party
    2,788 views

  11. Antifa Doxxes More Than a Thousand Immigration Agents

    The unacceptable, extremist, activist news coverage of the situation at the border is going to get someone seriously hurt or killed before everything is said and done.

    The mainstream media is running with this family separation “crisis” because it’s good for ratings and bad for Republicans. They’re putting the most extreme spin possible on it because they think it will help Democrats resurrect their dwindling chances at a blue wave in November. But their irresponsible approach to this subject that leaves no room for nuance or logic or debate is radicalizing people on the left – not all of whom were playing with a full deck to start with. This is how you start riots, foment insurrection, and spark a domestic terror attack.

    And already, we’re seeing signs of real trouble.

    Take actor Peter Fonda, who went on an unhinged rant in which he called for Barron Trump to be ripped away from his parents and placed in a cage with pedophiles. Take NY gubernatorial candidate and former “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon, who has called ICE – a department responsible for doing nothing more or less than enforcing the law – a “terrorist organization.” Take all of the mainstream pundits on the left who have, with increasing seriousness, said that the family detention centers are akin to Nazi concentration camps. These are not idle words. These are words that, when taken seriously, lead people down the road of brainwashing.

    When you truly fear that your country is being taken over by Nazis, why WOULDN’T you do something to stop it?

    Well, that’s how you wind up with groups like Antifa, the so-called “anti-fascists” to whom there is no political debate to be had. To them, there are no such things as “good Republicans.” They are willing to use violence to achieve their goals, and their goals include eradicating American politics of any shred of conservatism. A situation in which even normally level-headed talking heads are comparing the Trump administration to Nazi Germany? That’s exactly the situation in which a group like Antifa gathers power.

    Last week, an Antifa Twitter account published a document with the names, photos, and metro locations of nearly 1,600 ICE agents for all the world to see.

    “While I don’t have a precise idea of what should be done with this data set, I leave it here with the hope that researchers, journalists, and activists will find it useful,” said the individual who compiled the list.

    Oh, we have a feeling that he knows exactly what should be done with that list. He wants these people, at a minimum, to be shamed out of their communities, and that’s just for a start. He wants to dehumanize them – a psychological tactic that invites unstable socialists to pick up a gun, or a bomb, or a knife, and take matters into their own hands. And now they have a nice database of names and pictures to help them pick out a target or two.

    When something bad happens, the perpetrator of violence will be responsible.

    Whether or not they are SOLELY responsible, though, is a question we may need to reckon with.

    http://unfilteredpatriot.com/antifa-doxxes-more-than-a-thousand-immigration-agents/

    • The (US) government agency that allowed this sensitive personal information to be breached ought to be on the hook for resituating and redeploying every last ICE agent and family involved.

      If our nation’s moron apparatchiks are unable to prevent America’s own self-declared Enemies of State from fossicking (i.e., “prospecting”) and rummaging about in our (file) drawers, then how can there be any hope of securing the loyal and determined professionalism that American Rule-of-Law always has depended upon?

      The words, “tragic”, “horrible”, “treacherous”, and “treason”, don’t even apply.

      This willingness for deep state (or just incompetent chair-warmers) to knowingly tolerate even the slightest software, system or hardware vulnerabilities for more than a few clock cycles burns my @ss like waist-high propane flames.

  12. “THIS is the New Democratic Party!” Dana REACTS to 28-Year-Old Socialist WINNING Dem Primary

    • At last, the mask is so endearingly ripped away—with deft and delicate determination—by those who have become utterly intolerant of the Left’s denial about who, what, when, and how, these lies and betrayals are allowed to persist.

      The 9-11 Atrocity was Islam’s unmasking. Eh?

      Hillary’s presidential nomination narrowly skirted, “Phantom of the Opera”, (Lon Chaney version only, thankyouverymuch!) levels of masquerade and concealment accompanying degrees of overt corruption, essentially, not seen in all of American electoral history.

      Note: According to legend, Chaney—deservedly known as, “The Man of a Thousand Faces”—shaved off his eyebrows and “tented” his nasal passages with carefully camouflaged toothpicks in order to enhance his nostralian-themed skeletal appearance for the PotO “unmasking scene” in the original film version.

      Anecdotal accounts of premier showings include descriptions of people vomiting, voiding their bladders and bowels, along with with even a woman in the audience miscarrying her pregnancy.

      ALL FROM A THEATRIC UNMASKING.

      Please compare that, to a more modern assessment of A.L. Webber that, in whatever tabloid, claimed how, if he was made of chocolate, HE WOULD EAT HIMSELF.

      What happens when these useless, self-declared, “Famous for being Famous” enemies of Western Civilization come forward and confess that the sole reason for their presence on our shores is for for the sake of undermining and corroding every last best thing there is about Enlightenment Values? Much less, whatever best reasons the Renaissance brought forth in the West’s pursuit of cultural excellence?

      Of course, we all know how Andrew Lloyd Webber’s single attempt at NOT ripping off some other geniuses’ towering plot arc or screenplay was his, conspicuous mega-flop, (i.e., “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat”).

      How could that possibly be?!? For those musicians and composers, p’raps a warning shot across the bow of what happens when unashamed, deriviste, rectal cavities, troll the upper and lower intestinal tracts … er … catacombs … of genuine creativity.

      Other than that, there are few ways to explain why so many modern “artistes” lack even a speck of true “Art”. Go figure…

      Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, much less total excrementalists like Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons—and even just Koyaanisqatsi, with all of its over-hyped, wrong-headed, inappropriately concerned worries about over-driven “Western Values”—simply DO NOT reconcile the horrible damage done by the hordes of lunatic Western-Copying BUT NOT Western-Duplicating productivity.

      Without some way of simply isolating lunatic, terrorist, morons from the general body of honorable progressives, we’re all screwed.

      Koyaanisqatsi, indeed.

      [/rant]

  13. Exclusive: German MPs to Bring Criminal Human Trafficking Charges Against Migrant Transport NGOs (breitbart, Jun 28, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/06/28/german-populist-mps-levy-criminal-human-trafficking-charges-migrant-transport-ngos/

    “Forty-two MPs of the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) have put their names behind an initiative to bring criminal charges of people trafficking against German migrant transport NGOs which they say “must be stopped”.

    The move to bring criminal charges was organised by AfD foreign policy committee spokesman Petr Bystron, and will see the party file the charges in Augsburg this weekend, according to a statement seen by Breitbart London.

    The Bundestag members plan to bring charges of “aid or assisting in illegal immigration repeatedly or on behalf of several foreigners” against the NGOs SOS Mediterranée, Sea-Watch, Sea-Eye, and Mission Lifeline.

    According to the release, Bystron and the MPs were first made aware of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean by the Identitarian Movement’s Defend Europe mission last year and cited the reporting of Canadian journalist Lauren Southern who was banned from entering the UK earlier this year.

    Following Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s ban on allowing migrant transport vessels to dock in Italian ports, the Lifeline NGO was forced to dock in Malta earlier this week.

    The AfD members also cited a Facebook post which claimed that several Maltese who were protesting the docking of the ship, which had 234 migrants on board, were attacked by German far-left extremist Antifa movement members who they speculated may have been part of the crew of the vessels.

    “Germany is the last country in Europe still keeping its borders open to mass illegal immigration. The activity of these radical left-wing NGOs offers an incitement for illegal migrants to risk their lives on the Mediterranean in unseaworthy craft, and must be stopped,” Bystron said.

    “We urge the Maltese government to arrest the crews of the Sea-Eye, Sea-Watch 3, and Lifeline and impound their vessels, while we are filing criminal charges in Germany for human trafficking. It is the only way to put a stop to illegal immigration and prevent more people from drowning,” he added.

    “They are making a lot of money with this, ” Bystron told Breitbart London. “SOS Mediterranée makes four million [euros] a year, another one, 1.7 million and the smallest one, which has been caught now, a quarter million a year.”

    Bystron then blasted left-wing politicians saying that they were the ones who created the environment that has led to the crisis and the misery of the migrants explaining that the migrants would not get into the boats if they did not know there would be NGO vessels waiting off the coast to collect them.

    The charges will coincide with the AfD’s political conference that is set to be held in Augsburg this weekend…”

  14. Socialism Spreading? Democrats kowtow to the far left in fear of losing power

  15. 5 dead in shooting at Annapolis newspaper: Officials originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

    Five people are dead and several others injured from a shooting at the Capital Gazette, a daily local newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, officials said.

    One suspect was engaged by responding officers within about 1 minute and taken into custody, officials said.

    Gazette crime and courts reporter Phil Davis tweeted, “There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.”

    “I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff,” Davis told The Baltimore Sun, which owns the Gazette. “But as much as I’m going to try to articulate how traumatizing it is to be hiding under your desk, you don’t know until you’re there and you feel helpless.”

    Davis described the experience as “like a war zone.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/gma/active-shooter-reported-newspaper-annapolis-police-194503709–abc-news-topstories.html

    • Jarrod Ramos Photos: Full Story of Capital Gazette Annapolis Shooter

      Jarrod Ramos, 38, has been identified as the suspected shooter in the incident which reportedly left at least five people dead and several more “gravely injured” in Annapolis, Maryland. NBC News and CBS News were among the first to confirm his identity. On Thursday, June 25, police responded to an active shooter situation at the Capital Gazette News building. The incident took place outside of the Capital Gazette newsroom. According to FOX 46, “Anne Arundel County police said the shots fired report came in at about 2:35 p.m. in the 800 block of Bestgate Road near the Westfield Annapolis Mall.”

      Ramos reportedly had a history of abusing and harassing women.

      The 38-year-old had a previous interaction with officials at the Capital Gazette newspaper where he allegedly sued the paper for defamation, according to CNN.

      Details on his unsuccessful defamation suit can be seen here:

      http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/ph-ac-cn-jarrod-ramos-ruling-0923-20150922-story.html

      https://coed.com/2018/06/28/jarrod-ramos-photos-capital-gazette-annapolis-shooter/

  16. UPDATE: Federal Court Orders DOJ to Begin Searching and Producing Fusion GPS Records

  17. Tom Fitton on Next SCOTUS Pick: ‘Strong Conservative Majority Can Be Solidified’

    • ‘Strong Conservative Majority Can Be Solidified’

      Without even having watched the ectual video, I cannot imagine a more dire and catastrophic outcome than that which portends the advent of a ‘solidified Conservative Majority’.

      Antifa must be wetting its collective pants with screams of agony.

      PS: Boo Hoo!!!

  18. Gingrich: It Appears Strzok Was ‘Dedicated to Clinton Winning and Stopping Trump’

    • … Strzok Was ‘Dedicated to Clinton Winning and Stopping Trump’

      And which Liberals weren’t?!? Surely not Berney!!!

      All of them deserve being marched to the wall (but only after feeling the Bern).

  19. Iraq PM orders ‘immediate’ execution of death row jihadists

    Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday ordered the immediate execution of hundreds of convicted jihadists on death row, in swift retaliation for the Islamic State’s execution of eight captives.

    Abadi, who has faced charges of failing to respond in force to IS, ordered “the immediate punishment of terrorists condemned to death whose sentences have passed the decisive stage”, his office said, referring to convicts whose appeals have been exhausted

    No date was announced for the start of any mass hangings.

    More than 300 people, including around 100 foreign women, have been condemned to death in Iraq and hundreds of others to life imprisonment for membership of IS, a judicial source said in April.

    Most of the convicted women are Turkish or from former Soviet republics, while a Russian man and a Belgian national are also on death row.

    Abadi vowed Thursday to avenge the deaths of the eight IS captives, a day after their bodies were found along a highway north of Baghdad.

    “Our security and military forces will take forceful revenge against these terrorist cells,” he told senior military officials and ministers.

    “We promise that we will kill or arrest those who committed this crime,” he said.

    The corpses, found at Tel Sharaf in Salaheddin province, were decomposing and had been strapped with explosive vests, the army said.

    They included six abductees who had appeared in an IS video with badly bruised faces. IS claimed they were Iraqi police officers or members of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force which was key to the jihadists’ defeat.

    In the video posted on Saturday by the Amaq propaganda outlet of IS, the jihadists threatened to execute their captives unless Baghdad released Sunni Muslim women held in its prisons within three days.

    But Abadi said autopsies indicated the captives were already dead when the recording was posted and that “the terrorists posted the video to try to dupe us”.

    Iraqi security forces “will also find out who passed on information to the terrorist cell”, he pledged.

    Criticism from rights groups

    The change of tone from the prime minister came after criticism on social media of his failure to react forcefully to the grisly discovery.

    Iraq declared victory over IS in December after expelling the jihadists from all urban centres including second city Mosul in a vast military campaign.

    But the Iraqi military has kept up operations targeting mostly desert areas along the porous border with Syria.

    Iraq, which has repeatedly faced criticism over the high number of death sentences handed down by its anti-terrorist courts, hanged at least 111 convicts in 2017.

    Around 20,000 people were arrested in the three-year battle for Iraqi forces to evict IS, which had seized swathes of western and northern Iraq in 2014.

    Human Rights Watch last week urged Iraq’s judiciary to deal with foreign women and children affiliated with IS on a case-by-case basis instead of slapping them with “one size fits all” sentences.

    Since January, HRW said Iraq’s judiciary had “proceeded with rushed trials against foreigners on charges of illegal entry and membership in or assistance” to the jihadist group.

    Most foreign women had been sentenced to death or life in prison and children aged nine and above to between five and 15 years in jail for taking part in violent acts, it said.

    The New York-based watchdog called on Iraq “to take into account their individual circumstances and actions and give priority to prosecuting the most serious crimes while exploring alternatives for lesser ones”.

    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/6/28/iraq-pm-orders-immediate-execution-of-death-row-jihadists

  20. How Iran’s catastrophic water policy can lead to waves of climate refugees

    In the past two weeks, south-western cities of Iran – historically known as Arabistan (Khuzestan officially) – have been witnessing protests against water shortage.…

    Earlier this month the Iranian government announced that the farmers of Arabistan cannot grow rice due to the shortage of water. Other crops such as okra, which only needs watering once a week, was also included in the list of plants that Arab farmers were forbidden to cultivate this year.

    The Islamic Republic of Iran has been transferring water from the south-western region to central plateau of Iran for years. The impetus for the transfer scheme is most notably for the development of a single city: Isfahan.…

    For years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been using water as a weapon against ethnic minorities. In addition to water the south-western region is the fourth producer of oil and gas globally, one of the poorest and most polluted underdeveloped regions in the world. Ahwaz, for example, ranked first in 2015 as the most polluted city in the world.

    Besides Tehran, Isfahan has been boosted as the leading attraction by Iran to European tourists, who have been flocking to the country following the signing of the nuclear deal.

    What tourists do not know, however, is how many indigenous farmers, fishermen and villagers have become homeless and jobless for Isfahan to be that green and beautiful. It doesn’t come as a surprise that European Union officials are not authorized to visit any other part of Iran.
    [You kafir hypocrites!]

    Most of the development plans and programs to aid Iran in the sectors of garbage management and air pollution are concentrated around Isfahan, thus giving a misleading picture of the real situation in the rest of the country.

    Water mismanagement is guiding the country to the point of no return and the daily protest of farmers and locals against the situation is only the beginning of the war over water. Iranian government applies discriminatory policies and has the means nor the necessary expertise to tackle the issue.

    If the Iranian government and international community continue to ignore the daily pleads and protests of locals farmers, the world will witness a new wave of refugees from Iran: the climate refugees.
    [Like the climate-change lingo? Tingling yet?]

    https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2018/06/26/How-Iran-s-catastrophic-water-policy-can-lead-to-waves-of-climate-refugees.html
    …….
    Arabs are trolling the Euros: You still want that devil nuke deal?

    • Consequences of Iran’s Water Crisis
      …Contributing factors include corruption, lack of vision, unimpeded dam construction by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, inadequate water-distribution infrastructure, inefficient agriculture, inter-basin water transfer projects, and water quality degradation.

      For example, salt levels in the Karoun River – Iran’s largest – rose sharply after the IRGC built the Gotvand dam on land close to salt beds, despite warnings of the probable impact. The elevated salinity has damaged farmlands in Khuzestan, the oil-rich province which has also been an agricultural hub for hundreds of years.….

      Many living in the countryside have been forced to move to shanty towns in urban areas, and Iranian government officials have essentially admitted that a quarter of the population lives in those areas. These are recipes for social and political unrest. Many Iranians are worried about water shortages, and protests in badly-hit areas have been increasing in the past decade. Indeed, the most depressed areas witnessed the most intense unrest during the peak of the 2017-2018 mass protests.

      …[T]here is no doubt that if the problem stays unresolved, it could have serious consequences for global security, possibly triggering further conflict and instability in the region and potentially causing an unprecedented influx of Iranian refugees into neighboring countries.…

      http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/amir-toumaj-the-dire-consequences-of-irans-water-crisis/

  21. Where next for the Iran nuclear deal? A view from Israel

    …The Russians and the Chinese obviously objected to the US decision to leave the nuclear deal. As far as they’re concerned, they are part of the deal and will continue to work with Iran. In some cases, Russian or Chinese companies stand to benefit from the withdrawal of European companies from Iran by filling the void (e.g., China’s CPNC could absorb Total’s share in the development of the huge off-shore South Pars gas field), and Russia could benefit from the rise of oil prices.

    That being said, Russia and China cannot compensate for the loss of European investment and technological knowhow, and some of their companies also stand to lose due to US secondary sanctions. We already see some Russian companies (e.g., Lukoil) withdrawing from deals w Iran. The bottom line is that Russia and China are unable to save the deal.

    …Iran is vulnerable economically and socially. In recent months, we have seen the free-fall of the Iranian currency and repeated manifestations of unrest across Iran, mainly on socio-economic ground, including numerous strikes and demonstrations.…

    [O]ne expression of the unrest is the criticism on the regime for investing in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, which is gaining momentum. For the regime this is an ideological necessity that in their mind protects Iran from external schemes and Khamenei very recently said that those who criticise the regime on this issue serve the enemy.

    But with time, as things get worse inside Iran, it will become more difficult for the regime to defend these investments, especially if more details of how much they spend come out in public.
    [Israel is doing everything short of setting up billboards in Tehran. And Mossad's working on that, too. Airport departure lounges were a start.]

    Even if Iranians put most of the blame on their regime, regime change is no more than speculation at this point. For such a thing to happen, one has to identify organised groups, anti-regime leaders etc. Right now one cannot identify an organised opposition movement in Iran that could topple the regime. Nevertheless, the accumulating pressure from inside and outside Iran could enhance a long-term trajectory in which the regime ultimately departs the scene. How long this will take and how the regime falls no one can really tell.…

    Looking ahead, it is unlikely that Iran will sit idly by and do nothing in response to the US and the new reality of sanctions. Nor is it likely to negotiate a new deal in the foreseeable future. The JCPOA was and is a matter of national interest, and a proud Iran is very unlikely to reopen the deal.…

    Once Iran resumes its nuclear programme outside the scope of the JCPOA, both the US and Israel will have to redefine their red lines concerning the Iranian nuclear programme, namely where to draw a line, the crossing of which might trigger a military response against Iran.…
    The dilemma of whether to use military means in order to stop Iran from approaching the threshold might face Jerusalem once again, as it did several years ago prior to the JCPOA.

    In this context, one also has to carefully follow the unfolding diplomatic process between the US and North Korea. Everyone, including the Iranians, are watching very closely and the situation in the Middle East will be impacted by what develops in the Korean peninsula.…

    http://www.bicom.org.uk/analysis/where-next-for-the-iran-nuclear-deal-a-view-from-israel-by-michael-herzog/

  22. FIRST-EVER FEMALE TANK COMMANDERS MAKE IDF HISTORY
    “There is potential here for girls who really want to work for the defense of the state.”

    […] When the IDF announced that it was considering the possibility of having women serve in the armored corps, several former high-ranking officers and religious groups come out against it, including former IDF chief rabbi Yisrael Weiss.

    Weiss argued said that if a male and female soldier are put “into a closed box for a week… you’ll get a little tank soldier in another nine months.”

    The IDF responded to the criticism stating that even if the pilot program is deemed successful, there would be no mixed-gender tank crews and female tank crews will not be part of battalions, which would operate in enemy territory.

    Rather, they would only be deployed to the borders.

    Hasson confirmed that there will be no mixed tanks. Every tank under female command will have only female fighters.…
    https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/History-made-with-first-ever-female-IDF-tank-commanders-561086
    ……..
    Not in “enemy territory”? Only “borders”?
    Tiny Israel is all “borders”! Who’s kidding whom?

    • I know what you mean, I don’t think the mothers and nurturers of the next generations should be in ground combat but a lot of people don’t agree with me. Israel used female soldiers in the war of independence and not to long after that they removed them from combat positions. Looks like they think they can now use them again.

  23. War or an agreement: Israel’s critical dilemma vis-à-vis Gaza

    Analysis: Four years after Operation Protective Edge, Israel must decide whether to wait for a humanitarian arrangement in the strip or launch an offensive which could end with renewed control over two million Gazans; the IDF wants an arrangement but has prepared plans for battle, and the political echelon keeps relying on Egyptian mediation and holding theoretical discussions, which won’t prevent another war in the strip.

    https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5295153,00.html
    ……
    I hate Ynet because it’s reflexively anti-Bibi. But it’s not an enemy of the State like Haaretz. The military analysis is some of the most incisive publicly available.