Reader’s Links, Nov. 5, 2018

Daily Links Post graphic

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

152 Replies to “Reader’s Links, Nov. 5, 2018”

  1. Monopolistic tech giants that give ‘succour to terrorists and paedophiles’ will be broken up after years of being ‘arrogantly unaccountable’, predicts ex-Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre as he gets lifetime achievement award (dailymail, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://dailym.ai/2RzKzxG

    “Monopolistic tech companies who churn out ‘fake news’ and provide ‘succour to terrorists and paedophiles’ will be broken up and reformed after years of being ‘arrogantly unaccountable’, former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre has warned.

    Mr Dacre, who is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers, has predicted that companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple will be regulated in Britain like the press.

    The celebrated journalist, 69, who edited the Daily Mail for 26 years, spoke out as he was given the Society of Editors’ first ever lifetime achievement award at its annual conference in Manchester last night.

    Mr Dacre used his lecture to criticise tech giants who have crept into journalism without taking on any of the responsibilities of regulated publishers.

    He said these companies have freely ‘churned out fake news, tried to rig elections, invaded citizens’ privacy on a cosmic scale, provided succour to terrorists and paedophiles, devastated our high streets, and, oh yes, made billions but paid barely any taxes’.

    And he believes this vacuum allowed them to be an ‘unregulated, defiantly anarchic, arrogantly unaccountable, awesomely ubiquitous digital monster which regarded itself as above the law’.

    Predicting what these businesses face in the future he said: ‘The internet giants will be regulated and, after all, why shouldn’t the juggernauts have the same responsibilities as newspapers.

    ‘But the ultimate solution – as with the oil barons in the last century – is to break them up. Their monopolistic power is too great and that fundamental human characteristic – the need for privacy against the industrial scale theft of our data – will reassert itself’.

    Mr Dacre also used his keynote speech to predict the long-term diminishing influence of the BBC because of the rise in streaming giants…”

  2. Giggling girl yobs carrying a sex toy and alcohol film themselves ‘putting bacon on a mosque’s door handles’ while worshippers pray inside in a sickening video (dailymail, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6354359/Girls-bacon-mosques-door-handles-worshippers-pray-inside.html

    “Sickening footage has emerged of two women putting bacon on a mosque’s door and pouring alcohol inside the building before running away laughing.

    A video circulating on social media shows the pair filming themselves as they target the Madina Mosque and Islamic Centre in Stansfield Street in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

    The women can be seen leaving what they claim is bacon on the handles of the mosque door before running away laughing hysterically…”

  3. US militia groups planning to form their own caravan and head to border: report

    Civilian militia groups are reportedly headed to the border to try to help enforce U.S. immigration law as roughly 6,000 immigrants move northward through Mexico.

    “We’ll observe and report, and offer aid in any way we can,” the president of the Texas Minutemen, Shannon McGauley, told The Washington Post. “We’ve proved ourselves before, and we’ll prove ourselves again.”

    https://thehill.com/homenews/news/414771-us-militia-groups-planning-to-form-their-own-caravan-and-head-to-border

  4. Some Central Americans to push toward Mexico City

    CORDOBA, Mexico (AP) — A big group of Central Americans has agreed to push toward Mexico City from a coastal state Monday, planning to exit a part of the country that has long been treacherous for migrants seeking to get to the United States.

    In a thundering voice vote Sunday night at a gymnasium in Cordoba, about 1,000 members of a migrant caravan that has been moving northward through Mexico voted to try to get to the capital Monday by walking and hitching rides. Cordoba is 178 miles (286 kilometers) from the capital by the shortest route, which would be the group’s longest single-day journey yet since they began more than three weeks ago.

    The vote came after weary caravan participants made it to Cordoba after a 124-mile (200-kilometer) trek through Veracruz, a state where hundreds of migrants have disappeared in recent years, falling prey to kidnappers looking for ransom payments. The estimated 4,000 migrants in Veracruz are still hundreds of miles from the nearest U.S. border point.

    They hope to regroup in the Mexican capital, seeking medical care and rest while they await stragglers. The caravan has found strength in numbers as it meanders north, with townspeople coming out to offer food, water, fresh clothes and replacement footwear.

    http://www.gopusa.com/?p=58363?omhide=true

  5. More than 270,000 ex-soldiers were short-changed by Veterans Affairs Canada for over eight years because of an accounting error worth at least $165 million, CBC News has learned.

    The mistake was uncovered by the veterans ombudsman’s office, which has worked with the federal department for over a year to get it to confirm the mistake and make amends.

    A written statement from Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan confirmed a retroactive compensation program is in the works — but the affected veterans will have to wait up to two years to get their money.

    “We will ensure those affected receive the compensation to which they are entitled,” O’Regan said. “At this stage, given the number of individuals affected, we expect to issue payments by 2020. We will share more information with those affected as it becomes available.”

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veterans-affairs-pension-disability-1.4890117

  6. Report: 20,000 Migrants ‘Almost All Armed with Knives’ To Cross Europe’s External Border (breitbart, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/05/report-20000-migrants-almost-all-armed-with-knives-to-cross-europes-external-border/

    “A breakthrough of more than 20,000 migrants preparing to cross the Bosnia-Croatia border and on to European Union (EU) nations is imminent, according to Austrian intelligence, which warns many are “armed”.

    Migrant attempts to break into the EU have grown increasingly bold and forceful, with police and illegal immigrants injured in several clashes since the middle of October, when hundreds began camping at the border — reportedly after having been given misinformation that Croatia was set to open its frontiers.

    According to Italian news agency ANSA, local media reports the groups send numbers of young people and children towards the police line to chant “open border, open border”, while clashes see mobs of young men charge at police, and throw stones and other projectiles.

    “The Croats are trying really hard to handle this alone, and have even positioned special forces in the area”, but authorities in the Balkan nation are struggling to cope with worrying developments at the border, according to sources at the Austrian Interior Ministry reported by Austrian bestselling newspaper Kronen Zeitung.

    “More [illegal immigrants] are arriving — there are no more families and there are hardly any women left,” sources at the ministry’s migration department are claimed to have said.

    “Ninety-five per cent of these migrants who are trying to break through are young men, almost all of whom are armed with knives. A border policeman has already been stabbed,” the source said, adding that “the majority come from Pakistan but there are also many Iranians, Algerians and Moroccans”.

    In terms of migrants’ maintenance and day-to-day living costs, ministry sources said the supply of provisions to the masses of people was being “fairly well-coordinated”, reporting that many of them have been equipped with prepaid debit cards provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

    According to the refugee agency’s website, such cards are supplied to migrants as part of its “programmes for direct cash-aid to the displaced” in cooperation with Mastercard, which in 2016 announced it was distributing prepaid debit cards to provide migrants travelling towards EU nations through Serbia with “mobility, flexibility and dignity”.

    While the mainstream media has repeatedly scorned rumours that George Soros is helping finance illegal immigration to Europe and the U.S., Mastercard reported last year it was partnering with the open borders-backing billionaire on ventures to “catalyse and accelerate economic and social development for … refugees and migrants”…”

    • More [illegal immigrants] are arriving — there are no more families and there are hardly any women left,” sources at the ministry’s migration department are claimed to have said.

      Ninety-five per cent of these migrants who are trying to break through are young men, almost all of whom are armed with knives.

      This an out-of-uniform militia of political Islam. They have a well-documented propensity for violence and are habitual sexual offenders. No country should be obliged to take in these ruffians.

      • Properly positioned machine guns and tanks using muzzle burst ammo, (a modern version of grape shot) to take care of those the claymore’s don’t get. Not that anyone in Europe will do the sensible think, now a couple of years from now they will be laying Napalm on the invaders.

  7. Pakistani Gang Rapist Told Victim’s Mother: Politically Correct Police ‘Won’t Touch Us’ (breitbart, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/05/pakistani-gang-rapist-told-victims-mother-politically-correct-police-wont-touch-us/

    “The mother of a Huddersfield grooming gang victim said her daughter’s rapist told her the police “won’t touch me, they don’t like us P***s”.

    The mother of ‘Girl L’ told the Huddersfield Examiner that she had struggled to get West Yorkshire Police to take her complaints of grooming and abuse against her daughter seriously, and several times told the rapists to stay away from her daughter.

    On one occasion, she said she told Irfan Ahmed (also known as ‘Finny’, pictured above, left) on the telephone: “I’ve reported you to the police for child sexual exploitation.”

    To which, she said Ahmed replied: “Bring it on, they won’t touch me, they don’t like us P***s.”

    “I would speak to them and then they’d threaten me,” she explained, and went on to describe how pleas to the police were ignored.

    “We were passing all this information on and all they would say is ‘we’re building up intelligence’ and this went on for years,” she said, and added that “I believe that we were told that they weren’t going to do anything about it.”

    When asked why she thought police were not actively investigating child sexual exploitation by the gang, who are majority Pakistani-Muslim, she said: “I think being in fear of being called racist. I think that’s got a lot to do with it.”

    A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police denied the accusations that political correctness had hampered investigations into the child rapes, but the pattern of authorities fearing accusations of racism from the mainly Pakistani-Muslim rapists echoes that found in other towns plagued by grooming gang scandals such as in Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford.

    Girl L’s mother also said that her daughter no longer feels safe knowing that one of the 20 convicted Huddersfield child predators is still on the run.

    Sajid Hussain (known as ‘Fish’, pictured above, right) absconded from the country while out on bail during the jury’s deliberation.

    Hussain was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court last month of two counts of rape (against another victim, identified as ‘Girl A’) and sentenced to 17 years in prison in his absence.

    Although he had to surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions, it is believed that Hussain has left the country…”

  8. OTTAWA — The federal government is consulting experts and community leaders ahead of a new national anti-racism strategy, but in a series of secretive meetings to avoid them turning into public shouting matches.

    Four meetings have already been held — all in southern Ontario — and another 19 are to take place nationwide before the end of the year.

    However, the government is not publicizing who attended, who will be at future meetings or even where those meetings are taking place. Participation is by invitation only.

    There are still Canadian communities where people face systemic racism, oppression and discrimination, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Friday.

    The minister has not, however, directly explained why he told The Globe and Mail newspaper earlier this week that systemic racism was not “part of his vocabulary” and that Canada was not in fact a racist society.

    https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/canada-consulting-on-national-anti-racism-strategy-behind-closed-doors

  9. wo Anne Arundel County police officers serving one of Maryland’s new “red flag” protective orders to remove guns from a house killed a Ferndale man after he refused to give up his gun and a struggle ensued early Monday morning, police said.

    The subject of the protective order, Gary J. Willis, 60, answered his door in the 100 block of Linwood Ave. at 5:17 a.m. with a gun in his hand, Anne Arundel County Police said. He initially put it down next to the door, but “became irate” when officers began to serve him with the order, opened the door and picked up the gun again, police said.

    “A fight ensued over the gun,” said Sgt. Jacklyn Davis, an Anne Arundel County police spokeswoman.

    As Anne Arundel police prepare for ‘red flag’ gun seizures, law’s sponsor holds Capital Gazette shooting victim close
    One of the officers struggled to take the gun from Willis, and during the struggle, the gun fired but did not strike anyone, police said. At that point, the other officer fatally shot Willis, police said. Neither officer was injured, police said, and neither of their names was released.

    https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-aa-shooting-20181105-story.html

  10. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The U.S. re-imposed all sanctions Monday on Iran that once were lifted under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, grinding further down on the Islamic Republic’s already-ailing economy in what President Hassan Rouhani described as a “war situation” now facing Tehran.

    Iran ran televised air defense drills showing soldiers cheering the downing of a drone, but otherwise held back from any military response over U.S. efforts to curtail what Washington calls its “malign activities” across the Middle East. While previously warning it could ramp up its nuclear program, Iran still honors the atomic accord now limiting its enrichment of uranium, according to the United Nations.

    As Iranian officials struck a martial tone, the strain could be felt on the streets of Tehran. It lurked in shops emptied by the country’s rapidly depreciating currency. It could be felt in the lines at currency exchange shops. And it could be heard in the stress of the voices of people struggling to buy medicine.

    “When the dollar rate went up, prices for medicine went up by 80 percent,” said a man who identified himself only as Amidi, who suffers from mental illness and has a son with cancer. “I can’t buy my own medicine anymore. I haven’t taken my medicine for two months, because I can’t afford it.”

    https://apnews.com/4e22aa017d524490af8ed2b3dfca13f1

  11. Egypt’s leader says Arab Spring uprising was ill-advised (abcnews, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egypts-leader-arab-spring-uprising-ill-advised-58975241

    “Egypt’s president has said his country’s 2011 Arab Spring revolt was an ill-advised attempt at change whose chaotic aftermath posed an existential threat to the nation.

    Addressing an international youth conference late Sunday, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said those behind the revolt had good intentions but had inadvertently “opened the gates of hell.”

    El-Sissi had until recently only hinted at his disapproval of the uprising that ended the 29-year rule of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. In his first outright criticism of the uprising, he said last month it was the “wrong remedy that followed a wrong diagnosis.”

    But his comments at the youth forum provided his most detailed assessment of the uprising, which pro-government media routinely demonize as a foreign conspiracy to destroy the country.

    The 2011 uprising was led by young, pro-democracy activists, and paved the way for Egypt’s first free and fair elections, which were won by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group whose stalwart Mohammed Morsi was elected president in 2012. His rule proved divisive, and in 2013 el-Sissi, as defense minister, led the military overthrow of Morsi amid mass protests.

    Since then, the government has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands of Islamists along with some of the most prominent activists behind the 2011 uprising. Authorities have rolled back all the freedoms gained through the uprising, banning unauthorized protests and silencing most independent media. El-Sissi was re-elected earlier this year in a vote in which all potentially viable opponents were either jailed or withdrew under pressure.

    He has defended his actions by saying they spared Egypt the fate of Syria, Yemen and Libya, where Arab Spring uprisings led to civil war.

    On Sunday, he said the uprising created a “massive vacuum that only the evil people can fill” and warned against a repeat. He said Egyptians and others in the region would be better off under “not so good” rulers than living through chaos.

    “Work, be patient, endure and suffer under the reality that you disapprove of, but don’t ruin your countries because they will never return to what they once were,” he warned.

    Since taking office, el-Sissi has slashed costly state subsidies on basic goods and introduced new taxes while spending billions of dollars on infrastructure projects. His economic reforms helped Egypt secure $12 billion in bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund, but have caused a steep rise in the prices of food, fuel and services.

    “After all the effort we have done, all that we are hoping for is that we go back to where we were before 2011,” he said.”

  12. UN adds sexual violence as reason for sanctions in Libya (abcnews, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/adds-sexual-violence-reason-sanctions-libya-58976148

    “The U.N. Security Council has authorized action against illicit oil exports from Libya until February 2020 and added planning and committing sexual and gender-based violence as reasons for sanctions, despite objections from Russia and China.

    Monday’s vote in the U.N.’s most powerful body was 13-0, with Russia and China abstaining.

    The Netherlands and Sweden pushed for including “planning, directing or committing acts involving sexual and gender-based violence” as criteria for sanctions, citing the increasingly worrying problem in Libya especially against migrants trying to reach Europe.

    Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow objected to sexual and gender-based violence being included in a resolution dealing with threats to international peace and security, saying those issues are considered at the Human Rights Council and the Commission on the Status of Women.”

    • Well, that’s interesting.
      It seems they’re blaming the government(s) of Libya for not doing enough to stop their rapy citizens from raping.
      When those citizens do what they do in Germany, UK, or Sweden, the respective governments do their best to keep it out of the news (“crafting a narrative”, “mission-based storytelling”, “segmented reporting” etc).
      So.. where are the sanctions against the European rape-holes? Where’s the outrage?

      • So.. where are the sanctions against the European rape-holes? Where’s the outrage?

        The EU rape epidemics are helping to dismantle the ancien régime and, therefore, acceptable. The Libyan rapes are of highly vulnerable women and make for ideal virtue signalling. I hope this helps.

  13. Turkey detains 24 as part of IS group financial probe (abcnews, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-detains-24-part-group-financial-probe-58975748

    “Turkey’s state-run news agency says police detained 24 people as part of an investigation into the Islamic State group’s international financial dealings.

    Anadolu Agency reported on Monday the suspects were detained in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and 10 other Turkish provinces over alleged money transfers to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Indonesia and Libya.

    The agency cited the Diyarbakir prosecutor’s office for its report but did not provide the suspects’ nationalities.

    Anadolu says police also seized nearly $580,000, as well as euros, Turkish and Syrian currency.

    A series of deadly attacks in Turkey has been blamed on IS militants, including a New Year’s attack at an Istanbul nightclub in the early hours of 2017 that killed 39 people.”

  14. Social media bots helped failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton more than President Trump during the 2016 presidential election, according to a paper from an MIT associate professor.
    In a paper, Monday, Tauhid Zaman, an associate professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, revealed that “Trump bots were far less effective at shifting people’s opinions than the smaller proportion of bots backing Hillary Clinton.”

    “Given much of the news reporting, we were expecting the bots to help Trump – but they didn’t. In a network without bots, the average human user had a pro-Clinton score of 42 out of 100. With the bots, though, we had found the average human had a pro-Clinton score of 58,” Zaman declared. “That shift was a far larger effect than we had anticipated, given how few and unconnected the bots were. The network structure had amplified the bots’ power.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/11/05/mit-professor-reveals-bots-helped-hillary-clinton-more-than-trump/

  15. Obama To Americans: You Don’t Deserve To Be Free

    Run like hell from the party of censorship,violence, intolerance, socialism, antisemitism, collectivism, anti-fiscal freedom, high taxes, jihad support, fascism, and hate.Obama To Americans: You Don’t Deserve To Be Free
    Harry Binswanger, Forbes, November 4, 2018

    President Obama’s Kansas speech is a remarkable document. In calling for more government controls, more taxation, more collectivism, he has two paragraphs that give the show away. Take a look at them.

    there is a certain crowd in Washington who, for the last few decades, have said, let’s respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. “The market will take care of everything,” they tell us. If we just cut more regulations and cut more taxes–especially for the wealthy–our economy will grow stronger. Sure, they say, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, then jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everybody else. And, they argue, even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, well, that’s the price of liberty.

    Now, it’s a simple theory. And we have to admit, it’s one that speaks to our rugged individualism and our healthy skepticism of too much government. That’s in America’s DNA. And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. (Laughter.) But here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It has never worked. (Applause.) It didn’t work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression. It’s not what led to the incredible postwar booms of the ’50s and ’60s. And it didn’t work when we tried it during the last decade. (Applause.) I mean, understand, it’s not as if we haven’t tried this theory.

    Though not in Washington, I’m in that “certain crowd” that has been saying for decades that the market will take care of everything. It’s not really a crowd, it’s a tiny group of radicals–radicals for capitalism, in Ayn Rand’s well-turned phrase.

    https://gellerreport.com/2018/11/obama-americans-dont-deserve-freedom.html/

  16. Reality Check: Is China burdening Africa with debt? (BBC, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45916060

    “Africa is facing a looming debt crisis, say leading development economists.

    “Almost 40% of sub-Saharan African countries are in danger of slipping into a major debt crisis” according to the Overseas Development Institute, ahead of a major conference on debt being held in London this week.

    And the relationship between African nations and China is often seen as a significant part of the problem.

    Its critics say that major infrastructure projects carried out by Chinese companies in Africa are too expensive, and burden the host countries with enormous debts they can’t hope to repay.

    The Chinese government is adamant that its economic relationships with African countries are mutually beneficial and rejects suggestions that it is using debt to expand global influence.

    So is China really responsible for Africa’s growing debt burden?

    Africa’s debt burden
    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently warned that Africa is heading towards a new debt crisis, with the number of countries at high risk doubling over the past five years.

    The World Bank now classifies 18 countries as at high risk of debt distress, where debt-to-GDP ratios surpass 50%.

    The total amount of external debt for the continent is estimated at $417 billion.

    Around 20% of African government external debt is owed to China, says the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a charity which campaigns for the cancellation of poor countries’ debt.

    This makes China the largest single creditor nation, with combined state and commercial loans estimated to have been $132 billion between 2006 and 2017.

    A further 35% of African debt is held by multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, with 32% owed to private lenders.

    There’s one important caveat: this data is hard to verify. “China is not a member of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and they do not participate in the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System,” said Christina Wolf, an economics expert at Kingston University. But China has pledged to invest $60bn in Africa by the end of this year.

    Countries in deepest debt to China
    Most of China’s loans to Africa go into infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and ports.

    In 2015, the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at John Hopkins University identified 17 African countries with risky debt exposure to China, potentially unable to repay their loans.

    It says three of these – Djibouti, Republic of Congo and Zambia – remain most at risk of debt distress derived from these Chinese loans.

    In 2017, Zambia’s debt amounted to $8.7 billion – $6.4 billion of which is owed to China.

    For Djibouti, 77% of its debt is from Chinese lenders. Figures for the Republic of Congo are unclear, but CARI estimates debts to China to be in the region of $7bn.

    Fewer strings attached?
    Compared to institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and Paris Club (a group of 22 creditor nations not including China,) loans from China are seen by some as much quicker, cheaper, and come with fewer strings attached.

    The United States in particular has been highly critical of China’s approach.

    Earlier this year, ahead of a visit to Africa, the then US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said China’s lending policy to Africa “encouraged dependency, utilised corrupt deals and endangered its natural resources”.

    China’s response was forthright. Its ambassador in South Africa, Lin Songtian, said China was proud of its influence in Africa and that Mr Tillerson’s comments were part of a smear campaign by the United States.

    “China is just like any other lender,” says Gyude Moore, a former Liberian Government official, and “China’s strategic interest is in African countries paying back debts.”

    There are many examples of China supporting programmes to help with debt repayments, says Mr Moore, who’s currently a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development.

    And ultimately, it is up to African nations themselves to accept or reject Chinese loans.

    But a severe lack of infrastructure, and the desperate need for modern transport links in many of the poorest countries, make China’s ready offer of substantial loans for such projects often difficult to turn down.

    And what’s clear is that Africa’s debt problem is far wider than its relationship with China.

    However, China’s increasing involvement with the continent and its commitment to providing loans for large-scale projects, mean that any solution to Africa’s debt problems must address its relationship both with Beijing and with private Chinese companies operating on the continent.”

  17. On Tuesday, one-term state Representative Ilhan Omar (D-60B) appears likely to replace the outgoing Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) by winning Minnesota’s pre-eminent House seat: CD-5.

    In October, however, the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board opened a formal investigation of her after reviewing evidence of several violations. Omar has also made, and defended, anti-Semitic comments as direct and vicious as any spoken by a U.S. politician in a generation.

    Yet those legal and character matters may only be secondary red flags.

    In 2016, an anonymous writer on SomaliSpot.com published verified photos and Minnesota state records suggesting that Rep. Omar is a serial felon and fraudster.

    Since then, the additional evidence discovered to back these claims — and the absence of contradictory evidence — are almost as remarkable as Minnesota media’s refusal to lift a finger investigating her for two years.

    https://pjmedia.com/davidsteinberg/new-photos-corroborate-perjury-claims-against-rep-ilhan-omar-as-she-deletes-social-media-evidence/

    Note: this is the woman who had married her brother in order to commit immigration fraud.

    • They don’t have the military look of the Islamic invaders but that may because the Islamic Invaders received their training just before the started out. Even without the military look they are well organized and dangerous in their numbers.

      Combine this with the article above about 20,000 armed Islamic Invaders headed toward the European Borders with the goal of pushing the police and military out of the way. This was planned but not by Soros, it was planned by the nations that are funneling the funding for the caravan through Venezuela. Looks like Iran and China are impatient for the fireworks to start.

  18. “If French no-go zones revolt, we don’t have the capacity to face them,” said France ex-military chief
    By Jean Patrick Grumberg – on November 4, 2018

    During a TV debate, Philippe de Villiers, a right-wing politician and founder of the successful medieval park “Puy-du-Fou,” explained what his brother said to none other than thge President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

    Phillippe de Villier’s brother is General Pierre de Villiers, and from 2014 to 2017 he was Chief of the General Staff headquarters of the Armies (or to put it simply, he was in charge of the French army), until Macron forced him to resign.

    According to Le Point magazine, during a pre-taped interview for a TV debate that aired on November 3, when Philippe de Villiers was asked about the “reality of France’s political situation”, the politician dropped a bombshell that echoes what Gerard Collomb told in an interview to news outlet Valeurs Actuelles that was published here last week.

    “If suburbs riot, we are not capable to face them, we don’t have the means to, we don’t have the men”, the chief of army told Macron, according to Phillippe de Villiers.

    These statements come just two days after a “purge against the Police” took place in several major French cities, where policemen were targeted by rioters.

    https://gellerreport.com/2018/11/if-french-no-go-zones-revolt-we-dont-have-the-capacity-to-face-them-ex-france-military-chief.html/

    • France: Innumerable neighborhoods are Islamised and ruled by Sharia law

      Eric Zemmour articulates what the French government and the international media continue to deny. Yet the truth is obvious. The horror and the utter lawlessness in Muslim no-go areas in France continues to grow. This holds no news appeal to the enemedia — but use the word “no-go zones,” and you and your reputation will be destroyed, your career will be in a shambles, and your name will be preceded by “alt right” “racist-islamophobic-anti-Muslim-bigot” in news reports that mention your sullied name.

      Ask Steve Emerson how that goes.

      Le Figaro calls them “lost territories.”

      “Innumerable French neighbourhoods are Islamised and ruled by Sharia law – Journalist,” Voice of Europe, October 28, 2018:

      In an interview with Sud Radio, French journalist and political commentator Eric Zemmour describes the Islamisation of modern day France….

      “So what isn’t the problem? Neither pauperisation nor social mixing: It’s the problem of the Islamisation of the neighbourhoods..”…

      “In those neighbourhoods, there are only halal butchers, only halal bookstores, only halal shops, and that with people who are dressed — veiled women and men [dressed]like in Afghanistan or like in Saudi Arabia in the 18th century.

      “Why are they doing it? Well, for a very simple reason: because all that determines norms. And that way you normalise and “normatise” — if I can say that — the neighbourhoods that are Islamized.

      “And which are ruled by Islamic Law. It’s the Sharia, in fact. And this is France today. In innumerable neighbourhoods,” Zemmour says.

      https://gellerreport.com/2018/11/france-neighborhoods-sharia.html/

      I know the video has been posted before but it goes with the article:

    • The French Government no longer controls France, the invaders control large segments of France, this has left the ethnic French on their own but they are forbidden by French law from owning the tools they need to defend themselves and their culture from the invaders. I don’t know of any Western European nation that has the military to defend their nations if/when the no go areas revolt.

      The PoMo’s have succeeded in destroying Western Civilization and a large number of the Western Nations. What they have not succeeded in destroying is the patriotism of many of the ethnic Europeans, The people who still love their nations are waking up and from the hints I get from the European news are preparing to fight for their nations, As long as there are free nations who will provide the patriotic European with weapons they will succeed in liberating their nations. The Europeans will have to fight the invaders and their willing accomplices from the left, we who remain free will have to fight the same people to be able to give aid to the Europeans who are fighting for their nations.

      Right now the US is facing the same problem that Europe faced in 2015, we are lucky to have a President who recognizes the danger of the Caravans that are headed towards the US Border and is willing to do what is necessary to stop the invaders before they enter the US. Hopefully the Repubs will win in Tuesdays election so President Trump will have people who will work with him in his quest to preserve the US.

  19. Islamic State is reorganizing itself in Turkey
    http://www.trinitybugle.com/world/islamic-state-is-reorganizing-itself-in-turkey.html

    Terror organization IS uses Turkey to ‘restore, reorganize and forge new plans’. The problem is that in the fight against terrorism Turkish interests do not always correspond with the European priorities.

    This is what the Dutch intelligence service AIVD says in a remarkable statement about NATO partner Turkey in the publication ‘The legacy of Syria’ this afternoon. “The Turkish authorities act against both IS and Al Qaeda, but give priority to fighting the PKK, for example. IS can use the relative peace in Turkey to forge plans to reshape its still existing international ambitions. “The PKK is a Kurdish organization that regularly carries out attacks on Turkish territory.

    The border between Turkey and Syria has in recent years been used by jihadists mainly to come to Syria. Now that the caliphate is lost, some people return. Some of them are arrested and detained, including at least four Dutch. Others stay in the lee or come back to Europe.

    The ‘breathing space and freedom of movement’ that IS gets in Turkey is one of the reasons that the Netherlands and Europe will have to live for years with the threat of a terrorist attack by jihadists. “That threat seems to have become a structural part of European society, it is the new normal.” Because the IS’s caliphate in Syria collapsed, has not ensured that the terror organization is no longer a threat to the West. “IS knows how to adapt to the new, but for the organization very familiar reality: that of an underground uprising.”
    [..]
    Historians and terrorism experts have described that a ‘terror wave’ lasts for an average of 40 to 45 years. This applied to the wave of anarchist terror at the end of the 19th century, to the anti-colonial terror (1920-1960) and to the ‘Red’ terror (like that of the German RAF) at the end of the last century. The religious terror wave, as researchers call it, started in 1979.

    Terror investigators assumed when determining these waves that ‘what inspires a father does not necessarily drive his son’. But in the case of Al Qaeda, that does not seem to occur. That organization recently pushed Hamza bin Laden forward as figurehead, he is one of the sons of the 2011 liquidated Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks in America on 9/11.

    Al Qaeda, which has been thrown out of the throne by IS as the most prominent jihadist terror group, is now trying to regain that position. The group wants to benefit from the defeats that IS has suffered in recent years and is still present in Northwest Syria.

  20. A Rundown of the Forces Sent to Protect the Border

    The Department of Defense has listed the active-duty military units that have been stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border in response to a request form the Department of Homeland Security.

    In a press release, United States Northern Command [NORTHCOM] issued this statement, “This request for assistance will enhance [Customs and Border Protection] ability to impede or deny illegal crossings and maintain situational awareness as it contributes to [Customs and Border Protection] overall border security mission.”

    Below are the involved units and from where they have been deployed:

    Fort Bragg, North Carolina
    Headquarters & Headquarters Command, 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command
    2nd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division
    Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 16th Military Police Brigade
    51st Medical Company, 28th Combat Support Hospital
    172nd Preventive Medicine
    264th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
    329th Movement Control Team
    403rd Inland Cargo Transfer Company
    Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment, 503rd Military Police Battalion
    Fort Carson, Colorado
    Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division
    Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division
    Peterson Air Force, Colorado
    Joint Enabling Capability Team and Aviation Planner from U.S. Northern Command
    Scott Air Force Base, Illinois
    Joint Public Support Element – Public Affairs
    Fort Meade, Maryland
    55th Signal Company (Combat Camera)
    Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia
    3rd Combat Aviation Brigade Headquarters, 3rd Infantry Division
    90th Human Resources Company, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade
    Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas
    Defense Logistics Agency Contingency Contracting Team
    4th Expeditionary Sustainment Command Assessment Team
    Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 505th Military Intelligence Brigade
    Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington
    5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, I Corps
    87th Engineer Sapper Company, 555th Engineer Brigade
    Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina
    1st Combat Camera Squadron
    Fort Bliss, Texas
    24th Press Camp Headquarters, 1st Armored Division
    Fort Hood, Texas
    89th Military Police Brigade, III Corps
    Headquarters, 62nd Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade
    937th Engineer Sapper Company, 8th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade
    104th Engineer Construction, 62nd Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade
    289th Quartermaster Company, 553rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division Sustainment Brigade
    Fort Knox, Kentucky
    Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment, 19th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade
    15th Engineer Company (Horizontal), 19th Engineer Battalion
    541st Engineer Sapper Company, 19th Engineer Battalion
    Fort Campbell, Kentucky
    887th Engineer Support Company, 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade
    372nd Inland Cargo Transfer Company, 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade
    74th Transportation Company, 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade
    Fort Riley, Kansas
    Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 97th Military Police Battalion, 1st Infantry Division
    977th Military Police Company Combat Support
    287th Military Police Company Combat Support
    41st Engineer Company (Clearance), 4th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade A

    https://dcalert.com/2018/11/02/a-rundown-of-the-forces-sent-to-protect-the-border/

    Richard: Read the entire article and the comments, there are a lot of people commenting who can’t seem to grasp the fact that this is a potential combat operation and not a stunt to make all of the branches of the military look good. What I see is units that are capable of doing the job the are assigned but if necessary are also the people who will be forming a pickup Division or even Army Corp if everything goes sour.

    Watch what happens closely because this may be the opening moves in an asymmetric attack on the US I doubt it will turn into a combat operation but it might.

  21. Building targeted in bomb threat cleared ahead of visit from President Trump

    CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland fire and police are investigating a bomb threat to a facility next door to where President Donald Trump is speaking Monday.

    The facility is Mazzella Lifting Technologies.

    The building was evacuated but reopened after the building was checked, according to Fox 8 crews on the scene.

    https://fox8.com/2018/11/05/building-targeted-in-bomb-threat-cleared-ahead-of-visit-from-president-trump/

    video at site

    • #SpyGate – Collusion Scandal Bigger than Watergate [Part 1/2] Those Involved to Take Down Trump

  22. “Coyote” in sheep’s clothing? Interview with migrant “straggler” doesn’t add up

  23. Tom Fitton: Author of 14th Amendment Wouldn’t Have Agreed w/ “Birthright Citizenship” Interpretation

  24. Saudi crown prince lays foundation for nuclear reactor

    Reactor among seven projects launched by the prince during a visit to Riyadh’s King Abdulaziz City

    Riyadh: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman on Monday laid the foundation stone for the kingdom’s first nuclear research reactor, state media said, as the kingdom seeks to diversify its energy mix.

    The reactor was among seven projects launched by the prince during a visit to Riyadh’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

    SPA offered no details on when the research or non-power reactor – typically used for research, development and education purposes – would be built and at what cost.
    Saudi Arabia currently draws on oil and natural gas to meet its own fast-growing power demand and desalinate its water.

    The world’s top crude exporter harbours plans to build 16 nuclear reactors over the next two decades for $80 billion as it seeks to diversify.

    Prince Mohammad said in March that if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, Riyadh will do so too.

    Riyadh held deep reservations over the 2015 accord aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and hailed President Donald Trump’s announcement in May that the United States was withdrawing from the deal.

    Monday’s announcement comes as the US vowed to be “relentless” in countering Iran as sweeping new sanctions took effect.

    https://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/energy/saudi-crown-prince-lays-foundation-for-nuclear-reactor-1.2298276

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

  25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLcajdcU-vU
    This is Trump just a few hours ago talking about the caravan.
    I called my congressman a few days ago to tell him that it is imperative to stop this caravan because we all know that if it isn’t stopped there will be hundreds of thousands coming after them.
    It’s funny in a way to be dealing with such insanity.
    I don’t know but that the army is now laying razor wire at a crossing point that my husband used 15 years ago to get to the manufacturing facility in Reynosa. As years went by this journey from McAllen TX to Mexico, a short distance, became more and more dangerous until finally he would take one journey into the industrial zone by van rather than a rental car, which was guarded, and stay there for the duration when a van would pick up the Americans and take them back to McAllen.
    This became unsustainable over the long run and the company abandoned the facility and moved manufacturing to China. Many of the key engineers refused to put their lives in danger…
    At the risk of agreeing with Trudeau, I have to say that there is nothing like a police state to keep the population in line… Having been to China I can tell you that the people are absolutely terrified of their gov’t.
    But I ask, in worse case solutions, which is worse? Total mayhem or a police state?
    That is why when I listen to Western politics I wonder how informed people actually are as to what might await them if we keep on this way.

    • In the long run the police state is worse, the chaos can be tamed, not easily but tamed, regaining your freedom from a police state is much harder.

  26. US counter-terrorism assistance to G5 Sahel member states almost doubles to $111 million (thedefensepost, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2018/11/05/g5-sahel-us-assistance/

    “The United States has almost doubled its assistance to the G5 Sahel Joint Force member states to almost $111 million, the U.S. military’s Africa Command said.

    Launched in 2014 to improve cooperation on development and security between Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, the G5 Sahel began work in 2015 on the G5 Sahel Joint Force, a counter-terrorism initiative which was spearheaded by France, the colonial power in the region.

    A June 2017 United Nations Security Council resolution called for international support, and the force launched a month later with a mandate to combat terrorism, transnational organized crime and human trafficking in the Sahel area.

    “We’re able to confirm that since our initial pledge of $60 million in October 2017, U.S. assistance has nearly doubled to approximately $111 million to meet the needs and strengthen the capabilities of the G5 Sahel Joint Force,” Africom public affairs officer Nate Herring told The Defense Post.

    “We stand by and are committed to this important African-led initiative as they work to bring peace and security to the Sahel,” he added.

    A U.S. State Department official told The Defense Post the funding was obligated in Fiscal Year 2018.

    “The $111 million in direct security assistance to the Joint Force includes State Foreign Assistance and DOD program funds,” the official said.

    “An additional $131 million in non-Joint Force security assistance was obligated to the G5 countries,” the official added, explaining that that assistance is “focused on strengthening the military, justice, and law enforcement capabilities of our G5 partners.”

    Originally projected to be fully up and running last March, the force has struggled to make a significant impact, mainly due funding and organizational issues. Its first mission, November 2017’s Operation Hawbi, was beset by “logistical problems” although officials insisted at the time they were not insurmountable.

    France’s Minster for the Armed Forces Florence Parly said on October 8 that five operations had been conducted since, and the force was to launch three operations in “coming weeks.”

    Her comments followed earlier remarks made by the new G5 Sahel joint force commander, Mauritanian General Hanena Ould Sidi, who said on October 2 the force was planning operations that “will take place shortly” with a view to “neutralize terrorists.”

    He replaced the force’s first commanding officer, Malian General Didier Dacko, after a suicide bomb and gun attack destroyed its headquarters in Sevare. The June 29 assault was reportedly claimed by an official from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), which is linked to al-Qaeda.

    The European Union said in July that it would finance the construction of a new headquarters in Mali, and Hanena Ould Sidi said in September that G5 Sahel Joint Force headquarters will move to Mali’s capital Bamako.

    Thirty-five senior officers were inducted into the G5 Sahel Defence Academy in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott on October 15. The eight-month program aims to train future leaders of the joint force.

    It is unclear when the decision to increase U.S. support was taken, but it was flagged by Parly, who said during a joint press conference in Paris with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on October 2 that the U.S. would “very significantly” increase its contribution.

    The contribution may in part signal that the U.S. focus on counter-terrorism is shifting further afield as Islamic State loses the last pockets of its territory. This year’s installment of the Pentagon’s annual Countering Violent Extremism Conference on October 16 included 83 defense chiefs, as well as Brett McGurk, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, who has until now largely focused on Iraq and Syria.

    The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford told journalists that the conference spent some time discussing West Africa and the G5 Sahel, and that the the commander from the G5 Sahel mission give a presentation…”

  27. Philippines: 100 foreign fighters joined ISIS in Mindanao since the Marawi battle (thedefensepost, Nov 5, 2018)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2018/11/05/100-foreign-fighters-join-isis-mindanao-philippines-marawi/

    “Foreign militants continue to flow into the southern Philippines, with more than 100 entering Mindanao since the end of the battle of Marawi, a Philippine terrorism expert told The Defense Post.

    A year after Marawi city was recaptured from the clutches of militants, the southern Philippines remains an attractive destination for foreign fighters, and neighboring nations remain concerned that many issues relating to their citizens who were killed in the five-month battle have yet to be resolved.

    More than 1,200 people, including around 900 militants, were killed in the battle that erupted on May 23, 2017 after Islamic State-affiliated groups took control of the city. Marawi was reduced to an utter ruin in five months of clashes between the Philippine security forces and militant groups, the country’s worst urban conflict.

    Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who announced the official conclusion of the battle on October 23, 2017, later vowed not to let such an endeavor by militants happen again.

    Last week, The Defense Post exclusively reported that the Armed Forces of the Philippines had identified 32 foreign fighters among militants killed in Marawi. At least two of those appeared to be children.

    But a Philippine terrorism expert said the security situation is not getting better as foreign militants continue to stream into Mindanao, the country’s largest southern island.

    “Since the liberation of Marawi until now, some 100 foreign fighters have entered Mindanao,” Chairman of the Board of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research Professor Rommel Banlaoi told The Defense Post, citing information he received from Philippine security and defense agencies.

    “They have come to Mindanao to join several ISIS-affiliated groups,” Banlaoi said.

    Most of the militants are from neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, but there are also people from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, Spain, France, Tunisia, Iraq, Somalia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China, he said.

    “At least 60 of them have been identified by the Philippine authorities, and about 30 more [remain] unidentified,” Banlaoi said. “They often pretended to be tourists, businessmen, students and foreign workers.”

    “Some who used the airports did not reach Mindanao,” said Banlaoi, who is also president of the Philippine Center for Intelligence and National Security Studies. “More than 10 of them were arrested, denied entry and deported mainly from the Manila and Clark international airports. Some are currently being detained. Others were able to proceed to Mindanao.”

    Banlaoi said he cannot yet discern patterns in the new arrivals.

    “I don’t have the basis to say whether the arrivals are steady, increasing or decreasing because much information about arrivals is not reported, monitored or discovered,” he said.

    “All I can say is that the arrival of foreign fighters to southern Philippines continues despite arrests, detentions and deportations of others by the Philippine law enforcement authorities.”

    This new figure of foreign fighter arrivals is around double the 48 the military estimated were in the country in January, when Major General Fernando Trinidad, then the Philippine military’s deputy chief of staff of intelligence, said foreigners were actively taking part in the training of terrorist recruits in Mindanao.

    Trinidad claimed that 15 foreign fighters from Malaysia and Indonesia entered Mindanao in November last year, moving to Sarangani province to help the Maute group, one of the Philippine jihadist groups that is now part of Islamic State East Asia.

    He said another 16 Indonesian militants had entered Mindanao to provide assistance and training to the ISEA-affiliate Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan and the Maute group in Lanao del Sur province.

    Both groups were involved in the five-month battle with troops in Marawi city.

    Banlaoi said local terrorist fighters welcome the foreigners because they provide funds and training, although they can learn from each other.

    “The foreign militants also strengthen the global network of the local terrorists,” he said.

    American University terrorism researcher Munira Mustaffa said people still go to Mindanao because they feel compelled to do so and feel the need to fulfil the group’s ambition and so-called prophecy.

    “That the actual fighting is still ongoing presently in Mindanao gives them a sense of purpose, as opposed to Malaysia and Indonesia, where it’s just urban plotting,” Malaysian Munira told The Defense Post.

    “I think having a guerilla-style siege in an urban setting such as Kuala Lumpur is not doable, considering the conditions i.e. the politics and security apparatus’ efficiency. In terms of proximity, it’s a lot easier and more convenient for them to reach Mindanao through various points and means.”

    Sidney Jones, director at the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, believes care has to be taken with information from the AFP such as the number of newly arrived foreign fighters.

    “This is especially when there isn’t a single concrete case of a foreign fighter who has arrived in the last few months,” Jones told The Defense Post.

    “In August, there was a posting on ISIS media showing a camp of the Sawadjans in Sulu with fighters who were clearly foreign with one of them looking South Asian, but we don’t know when the photo was taken,” she said, referring to a family which leads an Abu Sayyaf faction.

    Concerns over veteran militants entering the Philippines
    International Islamic University of Malaysia deradicalization expert Ahmad el-Muhammady said it is important to determine whether the fresh arrivals are experienced fighters.

    “Veterans especially from conflict areas like in Syria are capable of sharing their hard-learned skills such as making improvised bombs,” el-Muhammady, who is also an advisor to the Malaysian government, told The Defense Post. “It only takes one such an expert to bolster a terror group.”

    “He can train more militants to become bomb makers, who in turn can pass on their knowledge yet to others. Bomb-making skills are the hardest to acquire. It’s a matter of life and death just to learn them, what more to share and actually use them.”

    Terrorism analyst Pawel Wójcik said the non-Southeast Asian new fighters who made it to ISIS-affiliated groups across the southern Philippines are more likely to be inexperienced as they have been following the ‘hijra route’ that comes with the newly established ISEA wilayat, or province.

    “Most of the experienced ones will be the regional fighters, from Malaysia and Indonesia, as usually they possess an actual militant past, connected to al-Qaeda or ISIS-aligned cells, with bomb-making capabilities and ideological backgrounds,” Wójcik told The Defense Post.

    “Some are former [Indonesian terror group] Jemaah Islamiyah members, learning from the bomb-makers belonging to the al-Qaeda entity that has fought in Afghanistan and other theaters, but most obtained the skills by collaboration with the Abu Sayyaf or from ISIS-affiliated teams in Indonesia, especially in Poso (in Sulawesi, Indonesia], where the MIT [Mujahidin Indonesia Timur] has been operating.”

    Wójcik said there also is the threat of returning fighters with skills from ISIS Central that would hugely improve the capabilities of the new ISEA wilayat.

    “Also, some know-how sharing has already occured, as we witnessed in the Indonesian bombings in the recent two years, where IS affiliates used the kind of improvised bombs used in the Middle East,” he said.

    Wójcik was referring to the bombings that included the latest ones in Surabaya, Indonesia in May in which 28 people including suicide bombers, who had used improvised explosive devices, were killed.

    Old problems remain unresolved
    The Philippines is now facing the issue of newly arrived fighters in addition to an earlier problem: many foreign fighters from the Marawi battle are still unaccounted for.

    This writer reported for Free Malaysia Today last year that some 80 foreign fighters, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, were involved in the Marawi clashes.

    Wójcik pointed out in that report that Western madia had mistaken “foreign fighters” in Marawi as those from Europe and the Arab world. Most of the foreign fighters in the Marawi war were from Indonesia and Malaysia, which Wójcik calls “regional fighters.”

    The Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium was also quoted in the report as saying that it believed more than 30 Malaysian fighters had been in Marawi, accounting for almost half the total figure of foreign terrorists.

    TRAC said the figure was based on their monitoring of chatter on ISIS-related communication channels.

    The Defense Post reported in September that this year had seen previously unprecedented attempts by Europeans trying to join ISIS in the Philippines, with some successfully making the journey. Although only a handful of Europeans have succeeded, the risk that this is the beginning of a larger trend should be a concern for the Philippines, nearby nations, and Europe.

    El-Muhammady told The Defense Post the information that fresh foreign terrorists from Europe, the Arab world and the Southeast Asian region underlines the need for a better counterterrorism cooperation between Asean nations and their European and Arab counterparts.”