Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.
This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.
So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.
This is the new Samizdat. We muse use it while we can.
Alleged Antifa Confession to Attack on German Populist MP Emerges Online (breitbart, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/10/alleged-antifa-confession-to-attack-on-german-populist-mp-emerges-online/
“Following the brutal attack on populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Frank Magnitz, a far-left extremist Antifa group have allegedly taken credit for the attack in a post on a well-known far-left website.
The post, which was made on the Indymedia platform, credits the brutal attack on Magnitz to the Antifa group “Antifaschistischer Frühling Bremen” who made the post at 6 p.m. local German time on Wednesday.
Only an archive of the post remains online as the link to the original, which still displays on a Google search, says the post has either been deleted or is inaccessible, with the message “you do not have permission to access this page” displayed.
In the post, the group takes credit for the attack on the populist MP who serves as AfD chairman in Bremen, saying: “The anti-fascist spring Bremen announces that we wanted to free the AfD politician F. Magnitz of his fascist ideas on Monday at 18.00 clock local time.”
The group claimed that Magnitz had contacts in the “far-right scene and needed to be “muzzled” along with any other “Nazis.”
“We do not tolerate any Nazi scum in our area! The anti-fascist spring will come! Get ready!” the alt-left group added.
According to German newspaper Die Welt, Bremen police are investigating the post and still consider the attack to be possibly politically motivated, despite not having made any arrests in the case so far.
On the Antifa Bremen Facebook page, only days before the attack, the group appeared to pos a picture advocating violence toward “Nazis” with the caption “no platform, no mercy, no safe space for Nazis.”
The Indymedia platform, on which the post was made, has been linked to far left extremism and the Antifa movement in Germany previously.
The largest far-left Antifa site on Indymedia, Linksunten, was shut down by the German government last year following the massive levels of violence at the Hamburg G20 summit that saw hundreds of police injured, as well as cars and shops destroyed.
The attack on Magnitz also came mere days after an office of the AfD was bombed in the city of Döbeln, with investigators believing that this attack was also politically motivated.”
Bremen Antifa (facebook page) reeks of evil. You can visit the page without reactivating your account.
Not sure if this works, but there’s a series of photos:
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/49778166_284814032232508_2176778979975888896_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=3be7c8e01658c769042fcf817b65cbe7&oe=5CC33644
Brad Parscale
?
Verified account
@parscale
4h4 hours ago
More Brad Parscale Retweeted Jim Acosta
I would like to thank @Acosta for pointing out how peaceful, safe and secure it is at a part of the border that HAS a wall. #RealNews #BuildTheWall
https://twitter.com/parscale?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1083427461768069121&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2F
Note: some people have started to speculate that Jim Acosta might be a deeply embeded undercover pro-Trump guy…/s
TL;DR: 3 MS-13 gang members are here illegally and were caught, then released by a federal judge…go on to stab a teen to death.
HUNTINGTON STATION, Long Island – Police said a teenager was stabbed in an attack by three MS-13 members from his high school behind a Long Island Burger King.
It happened on New York Avenue in Huntington Station around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The 16-year-old victim told police he was at the fast-food restaurant with friends when six of his classmates from Huntington High School entered and began staring at them menacingly.
Feeling uncomfortable, the victim and a friend left, and the three gang members followed them, wielding bats and knives, police said.
An altercation broke out in the parking lot, and that’s when 19-year-old Ramon Arevalo Lopez allegedly stabbed the victim in the back. Another 16-year-old boy suffered a minor injury in the fight.
The stabbed 16-year-old was later taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
The suspects took off, but police caught up with them and arrested them about a mile away.
Lopez and two other suspects, 20-year-old Nobeli Montes Zuniga and 17-year-old Oscar Canales Molina, were charged with second-degree assault.
Police said they had blood on their clothing and hands during the arrest. Molina was found with two knives, one in each of his socks.
According to police, Lopez entered the United States illegally on December 8, 2016. He was picked up by the Department of Homeland Security in October 2017, but a federal judge released him from custody in June.
https://abc7ny.com/amp/teen-stabbed-by-3-alleged-ms-13-members-on-long-island/5045829/?__twitter_impression=true
Days after he won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay, a 2015 tweet from Green Book writer/producer Nick Vallelonga resurfaced in which he agreed with Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that he saw “Muslims in Jersey City cheering” when the World Trade Center towers collapsed on 9/11.
The tweet, which was confirmed to be sent by Vallelonga, was deleted shortly after news outlets took notice late Wednesday.
Many have noted on Twitter the hypocrisy of this tweet and the themes of Green Book, a movie that depicts Vallelonga’s father—Tony Lip (played by Viggo Mortensen)—learning to be less racist after driving pianist Don Shirley (played by Mahershala Ali) to concerts through the South in the 1960s.
Ali, who won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, is Muslim.
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25842975/green-book-controversy-writer-muslims-director-sexual-misconduct/
Note: this is getting disgraceful, the level of lying by omission. New York Times rightly screeches about oppression in China because someone got a sentenced to several days in jail for a tweet… …but no mention of of this happening and soaring in recent times in, say Sweden.
NYT article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/business/china-twitter-censorship-online.html
And the Sweden story:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-08/hate-speech-convictions-soar-tenfold-sweden-cracks-down-migration-critics
A graphic video surfaced on social media Wednesday showing a Venezuelan military tank in Maracaibo, Zulia state, chasing and attempting to run over a journalist covering protests against the socialist government.
Madelyn Palmar, of the local outlet Venezolano News and Unión Radio, ran away from the tank and managed to hop over a road guardrail as the tank appears to violently careen in her direction. The tank is clearly labeled “GNB,” the Spanish language initials for the “Bolivarian National Guard” – typically dictator Nicolás Maduro’s preferred vehicle for civilian repression. A male voice can be heard in the video shouting, “Made, get out of there!”
Fellow journalist Lenín Danieri, also in town to cover the protests, is attributed with taking the video.
https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2019/01/10/venezuelan-riots-break-out-on-eve-of-maduro-inauguration-fraud/
White nationalists plan march this weekend in Princeton. Mayor issues warning.
Updated 11:45 AM; Posted Jan 9, 6:45 PM
By Olivia Rizzo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
A white supremacist group — the New Jersey European Heritage Association — plans to host a march in Princeton Saturday, a move that local officials say they don’t condone, but can’t stop.
Mayor Liz Lempert took to social media Wednesday to notify residents, and to urge counter-protestors to stay peaceful.
“These individuals have a right to free speech however despicable their message of hate, bigotry, and ignorance. We stand in opposition to this twisted attempt to spew hate,” Lempert said in her Facebook post.
An email requesting comment from the European Heritage Association was not answered.
https://www.nj.com/news/2019/01/white-nationalists-plan-march-this-weekend-in-princeton-mayor-issues-warning.html
Canadian Coalition Says It’s Close To Handgun Ban
Posted at 6:00 pm on January 9, 2019 by Tom Knighton
There are those who think we can do without the Second Amendment. After all, a repeal has been proposed. It’s not a reasonable proposal, but it’s an example of serious people wanting to repeal our right to keep and bear arms.
Many of those who propose this argument say that we would still have guns, but that the government would impose limits supposedly for the betterment of society.
Of course, that’s a pile of male bovine excrement, but that’s their thinking.
In Canada, citizens don’t have those protections. That’s why a handgun ban is looking like a real possibility.
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2019/01/09/canadian-coalition-says-close-handgun-ban/
CNN commentator Ana Navarro took offense on Wednesday night when a pro-Trump panelist suggested she was part of “the left,” in a bizarre exchange in which she filed her nails amid the heated discussion.
The panel was discussing Donald Trump Jr.’s earlier Instagram post saying, “You know why you can enjoy a day at the zoo? Because walls work.” He then deleted the post after critics accused him of comparing migrants to animals.
Navarro, a former GOP strategist who has become an outspoken anti-Trump TV pundit, ripped into the president’s eldest son, to whom she referred as an “entitled, rich, spoiled, little brat whose only claim to fame is being his daddy’s son,” adding that “Fredo” didn’t make the cut to serve in the Trump administration like Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/cnns-ana-navarro-lashes-out-when-pro-trump-pundit-calls-her-leftist
Seattle News Station Caught Doctoring Trump Video to Make President Look Stupid
Deep fake technology used to portray Trump as an idiot; Media ignores
Seattle news station Q13 FOX was caught broadcasting a doctored version of President Trump’s border speech on Wednesday during which the video was manipulated to show Trump sticking out his tongue and making him look stupid.
The clip, which was aired live on Tuesday night, shows Trump finishing a sentence before appearing to stick out his tongue for an elongated amount of time. The video then cuts to a generic station ID screen.
The intent of the video is clearly to make President Trump look ridiculous.
https://www.prisonplanet.com/seattle-news-station-caught-doctoring-trump-video-to-make-president-look-stupid.html
Former Obama Tech Guy Was Behind 2018 Midterm Disinformation Campaign on Facebook
BY DEBRA HEINE JANUARY 9, 2019 CHAT 110 COMMENTS
Mikey Dickerson speaks at a tech conference.
Former Obama administration official Mikey Dickerson. Image via YouTube.
It’s often been said that if you want to know what Democrats are up to, pay attention to the lies they are telling about Republicans.
Did the Trump team collude with agents from a Russian internet firm to place fake news on Facebook designed to stoke outrage, benefiting Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election?
Or … did Democrat operatives funded by a left-wing tech billionaire use Russian disinformation tactics on Facebook to stoke outrage, benefiting Democrats in the run-up to the 2018 midterm election?
The Daily Caller’s Peter Hasson has the answer to that question:
https://pjmedia.com/trending/former-obama-tech-guy-behind-2018-midterm-disinformation-campaign-on-facebook/
Just for the lolz, here are Nancy Pelosi’s wall and moat around her Napa Valley estate:
https://govtslaves.info/2019/01/07/fence-within-stone-wall-moat-surround-pelosi-vineyard-estate/
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/photos-nancy-pelosi-attacks-immoral-trump-wall-living-behind-wall/
UPS shutters pickup location after alleged racist incident
Video shows tense confrontation between employee, customer at Gatineau store
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ups-incident-racist-comment-gatineau-1.4971293
Germany: ‘Yellow Vests’ not only a French matter – PM Phillippe
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe vowed to face the demands of the ‘Yellow Vest’ movement, while speaking at an event organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cologne on Thursday.
Philippe argued that the movement is not an exclusively French phenomenon, saying “I think this anger is partly a response to the global financial crisis which our economies have gone through in 2008.”
The prime minister identified stagnating or decreasing standards of living over the last 10 years as the main, stressing it was a Europe-wide issue.
A sense that protesters felt left behind and needed to rediscover their confidence in democracy was also mentioned.
Lashing out at US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy, Philippe questioned Europe’s traditional transatlantic alliance, urging Germany and France to join forces to defend so-called European values in forthcoming EU elections this May.
“The prime minister identified stagnating or decreasing standards of living over the last 10 years as the main, stressing it was a Europe-wide issue.”
Filthy liar! The average working stiff (at least in America) still may as well be chasing the same 1960s dollar in 2019 that they were earning way back then.
The elite have burdened the global system with their profligate greed and not even shown so much as a hint of embarrassment over such grasping cupidity.
Styx commentary on the left going after Whoopi Goldberg (could not have happened to a nicer lady) for criticizing Alexandria Occasional-Cortex. As usual, witty, makes the right points, then repeats a bit too long, but I do recommend watching at least the first part:
Protesters for and against pipelines chant outside Trudeau event
Pro pipeline supporters protest Trudeau in Kamloops, British Columbia
Kamloops, British Columbia
Kamloops? This is so eerie for me. As traveled as I may be, my own meager perigrinations are put to shame by other serious globetrotters. All the same, I am continually stunned to see anti-immigration demonstrations, and now the Yellow Vest protests, go clubbing around (as it were) so many places that I’ve visited.
Dresden, Vienna, Lyon, Chemnitz, Prague, Berlin, and now tiny Kamloops. Major conurbations like Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary I can understand, but Kamloops?!?
Hell, I’ve been through Kamloops (is that redundant?) more times than I can remember. The notion of some sleepy Canadian burg getting up on its hind legs over anything less important than hockey is, quite simply … earthshaking.
NOTE: For the unfamiliar, I know from personal experience just how bitterly cold it is this time of year in British Columbia. These Canuks must be heap-big-pissed-off-bout-sumpin’ to trundle out in this sort of
weathermisery.In closing, if ever there was a white hot blade of sheer inanity to cut through too-complacent Canadian common sense, such has been found in Justine Trudeau. It’s as if 0bama single-handedly broke through some previously unimagined PoMo glass ceiling of decorum and lit off worldwide contests to see who can be the most duplicitous, conniving, unabashed, cronyish, fawningly obsequious servo-robot of the New World Order.
The sophomoric antics of Justine and Micron make an aggressively anti-Western hardline Communist like Angela Merkel look positively staid. Oh, for a return to the days when words like “public service” and “commonweal” still had real meaning.
Note: Let me paint the context in which the following story is relevant to the focus of this site. Anti-gun zealots claim that the 911 emergency system and the resulting Police response are more than sufficient protection for all citizens from criminals, which make the 2nd Amendment outdated, irrelevant, and in need of being repealed.
Well, here is a story which demonstrates that the weakest link is always the human link: a story of a 911 operator who hung up on thousands of people in truly emergency situations, because ‘she did not feel like talking to anyone at those times’…
Her picture should be at EVERY pro-gun-rights and pro-civil-rights from now on!
OK – now to the story:
Ex-Houston 911 operator guilty of hanging up on thousands of callers
BY CRIMESIDER STAFF
UPDATED ON: APRIL 20, 2018 / 12:49 PM / CBS/AP
HOUSTON — A former 911 operator in Houston has been found guilty of hanging up on people calling for emergency services. Jurors on Wednesday found 44-year-old Crenshanda Williams guilty of interference with emergency telephone calls, a misdemeanor.
She was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 18 months of probation.
Prosecutors from the Harris County district attorney’s office say she worked as a 911 operator for a year and a half, ending in 2016. Records showed that thousands of calls lasting less than 20 seconds were attributed to her hanging up. She was fired after a supervisor noticed the unusual number of “short calls,” reports CBS affiliate KHOU.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-houston-911-operator-guilty-of-hanging-up-on-thousands-of-callers/
P.S. – Yes, it is a story from last April, but I do not recall it being well know about then – but it should be because it is the best pro-2nd-Amendment argument in the world!
“Anti-gun zealots claim that the 911 emergency system and the resulting Police response are more than sufficient protection for all citizens from criminals, which make the 2nd Amendment outdated, irrelevant, and in need of being repealed.”
Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away!
Ex-Houston 911 operator guilty of hanging up on thousands of callers
Jurors on Wednesday found 44-year-old Crenshanda Williams guilty of interference with emergency telephone calls, a misdemeanor.
Wow! Crenshanda, almost rhymes with Shaniqua and, wouldn’t you know it? Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle, both names also have other important characteristics in common.
“She was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 18 months of probation.”
That absolutely must be a typo! If I didn’t already know that we are living on Htrae, this Bizarro World sentencing wouldn’t compute. Back here in Objective Reality™, on planet Earth, a properly written lede would include an arrangement of words reading, “18 months in federal prison with no time off for good behavior”.
Crenshanda Williams committed several thousand counts of attempted murder and at least one of accessory to murder. People in life threatening situations repeatedly were forced to squander precious moments after being sent through the hoops a second time by this criminally lazy sow all because, “she did not feel like talking to anyone at those times”.
If this piece of bipedal filth is so fond of the quite life, put her in solitary confinement! Her willfully negligent demeanor poses a clear and present danger to civilized society.
What’s next, being too £ü¢king lazy to bother distinguishing between her brake and accelerator pedals while parking in front of a crowded sidewalk cafe? Maybe she’s fond of making right hand turns from left turn only lanes. Who knows and who cares, if only she were incarcerated? An unsuspecting society deserves far better protection from a roaming pelvic orifice like Crenshanda Williams.
After examining three top search results, not one article mentions the judge’s name. Even though the prosecutor is named repeatedly, it took serious searching to find out who the judge was. A Republican, no less, his name is, Judge John Clinton of County Criminal Court at Law #4, City of Houston. Curiously, Judge Clinton (there must be something about the name that breeds feckless evil) lost his 2018 reelection bid in 2018. What a pity that voters think his Democrat opponent will be any harsher with mouth-breathing slime mold like Crenshanda Williams. Judge and convict alike deserve an extended stay in substandard government housing.
See: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/911-operator-hung-up-on-hundreds-of-calls-9979160.php
From the link following this article:
In one case, Williams allegedly hung up on Hua Li, an engineer who called to report a robbery in progress on March 12. Li said he had been buying lottery tickets at a RaceWay convenience store on FM 1960 West at Mills Road, when a gunman entered and tried to force his way through the door of a glassed-in security area behind the counter. As two clerks attempted to block the door, Li says he ran from the store and heard several gunshots on his way out. When he got to his car, he called 911 for help.
“They just said, ‘This is 911. How can I help you?’ I was trying to finish my sentence, and we got disconnected,” Li said.
Police said that Williams was the 911 operator, and that she terminated the call within a few seconds.
Li called a second time and got a different operator. By the time police arrived, however, the store manager had been shot and killed.
As one comment at the link notes, this makes Crenshanda Williams an accessory to murder.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/911-operator-facing-charges-after-admitting-to-hanging-up-on-callers
Is the IDF Ready for All-Out War?
By Yaakov Lappin, January 10, 2019
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,060, January 10, 2019
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Israeli military’s state of readiness has dramatically improved, but it has a lot more catching up to do. It has spent years neglecting the ground forces – and those forces will be essential if enemies like Hezbollah are to be decisively defeated.
The question of just how ready the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is for war has dominated Israel’s headlines in recent weeks. The issue came to the fore following the stormy end to the 10-year tenure of IDF Ombudsman Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brick.
Brick released a scathing report and multiple statements claiming that the military’s ground forces are grossly underprepared for conflict. He went so far as to say, during an address to the Knesset’s State Control Committee, that “the IDF is undergoing a process of deterioration that has reached its peak in recent years.”
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/war-readiness-idf/
Well: This “Schumer” is just a bloody dirty basterd, but no “Jew”.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/YNlj76XlpEyB73xLREmdPv6IJdY=/960×540/filters:quality(70)/posttv-thumbnails-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/01-09-2019/t_8ae3f8856a79487eab3b31d9ade81483_name_20180108_SchumerPelosi_1080_2_REUTERS.jpg
Well: This “Schumer” is just a bloody dirty evil basterd, but no “Jew”.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/YNlj76XlpEyB73xLREmdPv6IJdY=/960×540/filters:quality(70)/posttv-thumbnails-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/01-09-2019/t_8ae3f8856a79487eab3b31d9ade81483_name_20180108_SchumerPelosi_1080_2_REUTERS.jpg
Note: As per new laws in Canada, Police may enter your home without a warrant and demand a breath sample hours after you drive: and the legal and financial onus of proof is on YOU that you consumed the alcohol AFTER you drove, not before. Worse: if they administer breath-alcohol test hours after you drove, the legal presumption is that much of the alcohol has been metabolized, and your driving blood alcohol level was much higher…
Oh, and they no longer require ‘reasonable suspicion’ to demand a breath sample, from anyone, at any time…on the road, at home, in a restaurant or a pub…and refusing to give said breath sample is automatic presumption of guilt – by law.
The rules for cannabis are, of course, much more lenient…
At this point I would like your indulgence, dear readers, for me to quote ‘Xanthippa’s first law of human dynamics’: if a law or a rule is created, it WILL, inevitably, at some point in time and place, be applied to its most extreme limits.
Don’t say I did not warn you!
Now, to the story:
It may sound unbelievable, but Canada’s revised laws on impaired driving could see police demand breath samples from people in bars, restaurants, or even at home. And if you say no, you could be arrested, face a criminal record, ordered to pay a fine, and subjected to a driving suspension.
You could be in violation of the impaired driving laws even two hours after you’ve been driving. Now, the onus is on drivers to prove they weren’t impaired when they were on the road.
“It’s ridiculous, it’s basically criminalizing you having a drink at your kitchen table,” Paul Doroshenko, a Vancouver criminal defence lawyer who specializes in impaired driving cases, told Global News.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4832762/impaired-driving-canada-breath-samples/
NEVER EVER OPEN your door to them.
“So you can stop at the liquor store for a bottle of wine. Get home and have a few glasses of wine and just when you are watching TV a knock on the door from a cop with a breathalyzer. WTF #NannyState“
https://www.spencerfernando.com/2019/01/10/report-canadians-outraged-over-trudeau-governments-disturbing-impaired-driving-law-giving-authorities-power-to-demand-breathalyzers-in-our-own-homes-hours-after-driving/
A few years ago, I was stopped in mid-afternoon by a female police officer who responded to a call about me being drunk and driving.
We were in full major heatwave and hay fever season. She ordered me to stay in the car, in full sun, no air conditioning available.
I sat there for some 30 minutes. I was drenched in sweat & my eyes became very red. A second police car arrived with the exhaling device.
So, I got out of the car but couldn’t breathe into the device because asthma had taken over. I had no breath. Police woman tells me I’m drunk because of my red eyes and sweaty skin. I suggested a urine sample at the station, she refused. She wouldn’t listen to my explanation re eyes and sweat and asthma.
A third police car arrived. So, I tried breathing three times, it didn’t work. I ended up on my knees on the boulevard praying God to give breath for a fourth and last attempt.
Anyway, she gave me a fourth and last chance. And somehow, it worked. Zero alcohol. I saw her deflate before my eyes.
All that to say I’ll never forget their arrogant and bitchy behavior. Imagine what they’ll do now.
These Gun Manufacturers Have Fled Gun Control States in Search of Freedom
May 21, 2018
Remington, Magpul, PTR, Mossberg, Kahr, Colt, Beretta, Sturm, Ruger & Co.
What do these names have in common? All influential gun companies, yes. But they’re also all firearms manufacturers that have abandoned states run by liberals.
Many of these manufacturers have been in operation in New England’s “Gun Valley” for decades. Unfortunately, though, increasingly progressive policies have forced them to leave their home states for greener (or should I say, “redder”?) pastures in the south.
Because of the 2013 Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety Act, Colt moved their target rifle line from Connecticut to Breckenridge, Texas.
In 2016, Beretta invested $45 million and created 300 jobs when they moved operations from Accokeek, Maryland to Gallatin, Tennessee after the state banned certain types of “assault weapons.” The new laws were so insane that it made it illegal for Beretta to import some of its own manufactured weapons into the state, even for military and police!
Kahr Arms moved from New York State in 2015, opening a 40,000 sq. ft. facility that employs 60 workers in Pennsylvania. Kahr has been working to expand other lines under the Kahr Group, such as Desert Eagle and Thompson.
click link for the rest of the article.
https://www.gunpowdermagazine.com/these-gun-manufacturers-have-fled-gun-control-states-in-search-of-freedom/?awt_l=5lo3G&awt_m=j7EC7DLnxHtbXZc
“The Company Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Keeps”
by Alex Vanness – January 10, 2019
https://clarionproject.org/the-company-congresswoman-rashida-tlaib-keeps/
Conservatives: Don’t Fall Prey to ‘Ocasio-Cortez Amusement Syndrome’ Or Underestimate Ms. Warren
Yeah, OK, conservatives. Guffaw all you want at 29-year-old political rock star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The young lady is a gaffe machine.
Meanwhile, how about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s laughably transparent appeal to millennials with an Instagram beer slurp? Not to mention her cringeworthy effort to spin a 1/1024th ancestry as backing claims of Native American heritage — a challenge that had her back on her heels in her visit to Iowa over the weekend.
Ocasio-Cortez: No Laughing Matter
But listen up: For all this duo’s missteps, it would be far bigger one for merrymaking conservatives to sell these two formidable female political forces short.
Take Ocasio-Cortez (if you think you can). Ere she had completed 29 trips around the sun, the underfinanced upstart leveraged her mobilization skills to upend a Democratic House leader. And established herself as both the “future of our (Democratic) Party” and the face of a diverse, different-thinking millennial generation.
https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/conservatives-underestimating-ocasio-cortez-and-elizabeth-warren/
Richard: Pay close attention to this one, she is dangerous. Not right now but how about in 2028 when she will be old enough to run for President? She has a lot of the younger generation believing everything she says and we can’t count on them learning enough to know she is full of BS. Remember people laughed at Obama when he was elected to the Senate and really laughed when he started his first run to the Presidency. She is openly far, radical left and the Antifa types will follow her lead, people like Soros will also fund her runs for office until she is so old she is senile.
Shoura ok’s minors’ marriage law (saudigazette, Jan 9, 2019)
http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/552025/SAUDI-ARABIA/Shoura-oks-minors-marriage-law
“The Shoura Council on Wednesday approved the rules of early marriage, which restrict the marriage contract for those under 18 years to the specialized court. It also approved the draft law for minors seeking marriage.
Shoura President Sheikh Abdullah Al-Asheikh chaired the session.
Assistant President of the Council Dr. Yahya Al-Samaan said in a press statement after the meeting that the Council took the decision after hearing the views of the committee of Islamic and Judicial Affairs on the opinions and viewpoints on the draft law during the deliberations in the previous session.
The law will prohibit marriage contract for those who have not attained the age of 15 years, male or female.
The draft law consists several regulations, such as fixing the age of minor at 18, stipulating a condition of producing medical report for the marriage of those under 18, and rules to ensure prevention of marriage of those who are not qualified.
The Council called King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center to expand the Saudization of jobs for health workers, especially in nursing, also to shorten waiting periods for appointments in outpatient and emergency clinics.
The Council took the decision after hearing the views of the committee of health regarding the annual report of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center for the fiscal year 1438/1439 AH.
Al-Samaan said the Council approved during the session a draft of a Regional Councils of Youth submitted by the former member of the Council, Hamed Al-Sharari, based on Article (23) of the Council’s Law.
These councils aim to empower young generation in development programs in their areas and promote youth participation in volunteer work to serve the nation, and establish a culture of communication and cooperation dialogue among young people, to serve the interests of the country.
The Council also discussed the report of the Committee on Transport, Communications and Information Technology on the annual report of the General Authority of Civil Aviation for the fiscal year 1438/1439 AH.
The committee demand GACA to expand the issuance of permits for ground service companies to increase competition and improve quality, and to upgrade the services of the rest of the executive offices in the Kingdom’s airports, similar to the main airports.
It called on the Authority to oblige airlines to apply the mechanisms and controls used in delaying flights, to ensure the rights of passengers.
One of the members of the Council called for reconsidering the privatization of airports according to international best practices, thus contributing to the development of air transport in the Kingdom and increasing the employment rate”
To put the world in order, we must first put the
nation in order; to put the nation in order, we
must first put the family in order; to put the
family in order; we must first cultivate our
personal life; we must first set our hearts
right. (Confucius)
Turkey says it will still launch Syria offensive if US delays pullout (mee, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-says-will-still-launch-syria-offensive-if-us-delays-pullout-1726446231
“Turkey will still launch an offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces if the United States delays the withdrawal of its troops from the war-torn country, its foreign minister has said.
“If the [pullout] is put off with ridiculous excuses like Turks are massacring Kurds, which do not reflect the reality, we will implement this decision,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkey’s NTV television on Thursday.
“We are determined on the field and at the table… We will decide on its timing and we will not receive permission from anyone.”…”
Grisly Mexican gang battle near U.S. border leaves 21 dead (reuters, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-violence/grisly-mexican-gang-battle-near-u-s-border-leaves-21-dead-idUSKCN1P40KK
“The charred remains of 21 people killed in a suspected gang battle have been found in a Mexican border town, just over the river from where U.S. President Donald Trump was seeking to win support on Thursday for his plan to build a border wall.
Officials in the notoriously violent border state of Tamaulipas said they were investigating the incident, which took place in Ciudad Miguel Aleman, after discovering the bodies on Wednesday. Seventeen of the bodies were burned.
Photos shared with Reuters by a state official show the deceased scattered along a dirt track in scrubland, alongside burned-out vehicles…”
UPDATED: Brotherhood leader Badie acquitted for first time in murder case (ahram, Jan 10, 2019)
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/321476/Egypt/Politics-/UPDATED-Brotherhood-leader-Badie-acquitted-for-fir.aspx
“A Giza criminal court has acquitted leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie and seven others in a retrial over 2013 violence, the first time the group’s leader and associates have been acquitted in a series of trials.
The case dates back to clashes that took place near the Istikama Mosque on the outskirts of Cairo in July 2013 following the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, which left nine people dead and 20 injured.
Among those acquitted on Thursday alongside Badie are senior Brotherhood members Mohamed El-Beltagy and Essam El-Erian, cleric Safwat Hegazy, as well as former supply minister under Morsi Bassem Ouda.
This is the first time the above-mentioned leaders have been cleared of violence and murder charges in a string of court cases against them…”
German Police Are Losing Control
Be sure and watch this video.
Egypt is one of the US’s longest-standing strategic partners in the Middle East: US State Department (ahram, Jan 10, 2019)
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/321472/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-is-one-of-the-US%E2%80%99s-longeststanding-strategic.aspx
UPDATED: US stands with Egypt’s efforts to protect religious freedoms, fight terrorism: Pompeo tells Sisi (ahram, Jan 10, 2019)
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/321477/Egypt/Politics-/UPDATED-US-stands-with-Egypts-efforts-to-protect-r.aspx
UPDATE 2: Pompeo slams Obama’s Mideast policy during Cairo speech (arham, Jan 10, 2019)
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/321501/Egypt/Politics-/UPDATE–Pompeo-slams-Obamas-Mideast-policy-during-.aspx
“US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the United States is a “force for good” in the Middle East while expressing damning criticism of the Obama administration’s policies in the region.
In a speech in Cairo, Pompeo lambasted President Donald Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama for his “timid” and “wishful” vision, which he said had plunged the Middle East in turmoil, undermined Washington’s role in the region and failed to adequately confront extremism.
“Remember, it was here, here in this very city, another American stood before you,” Pompeo said, apparently referring to Obama’s major 2009 speech which he gave in his first year of presidency.
“He told you that radical Islamist terrorism does not stem from ideology. He told you that 9/11 led my country to abandon its ideals, particularly in the Middle East. He told you that the United States and the Muslim world needed a new beginning. The results of these misjudgments have been dire,” he added, without mentioning Obama by name.
Pompeo blamed the former president’s approach for contributing to the rise of the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria and failing to counter Iran’s growing influence in the region. He also criticised Obama’s “hesitation” to counter the growth of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and Iran-allied rebels in Yemen.
“Our eagerness to address only Muslims and not nations ignored the rich diversity of the Middle East and frayed old bonds. It undermined the concept of the nation states, the building block of international stability,” Pompeo told an audience of top Egyptian officials, foreign diplomats and students at the American University in Cairo.
“When America retreats, chaos often follows. When we neglect our friends, resentment builds and when we partner with our enemies, they advance.”
Pompeo said that Obama’s successor, Trump, has brought a “real new beginning” and ended “the age of self-inflicted American shame.”
“In less than two years, the United States under President Donald Trump has reasserted its traditional role as a force for good in this region.”
In a bid alleviate concerns over the use of the US power in region, Pompeo said that “America has always been and always will be a liberating force, not an occupying power. We have never dreamed of domination in the Middle East.”
Pompeo sought to reassure allies in the region that Washington remains committed to the “complete dismantling” of the threat posed by the Islamic State terrorist group as well as the ongoing fight against radical Islamism.
He said Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has joined the Trump’s administration in denouncing radical Islam.
“I thank President Sisi for his courage,” he said.
He reaffirmed that Washington strongly supports Egypt’s efforts to destroy extremists in the border Sinai region, the epicenter of a militancy that has killed hundreds over the past few years.
Pompeo arrived in the Egyptian capital late on Wednesday on the third stop of a nine-nation Mideast tour, following Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw all US troops from Syria.
Earlier on Thursday, he met with President El-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo to discuss security and economic cooperation.”
Victor Orban fordert Mehrheiten gegen die Einwanderung in allen EU-Institutionen
+ German subs
Während einer Rede über die europäische Einwanderungspolitik am Donnerstag in Budapest sagte der ungarische Präsident Victor Orban, er wünsche sich, dass Anti-Immigrationspolitiker alle EU-Institutionen kontrollieren würden.
“Das Ziel Ungarns ist es, dass die Anti-Einwanderungskräfte in jedem institutionellen System der Europäischen Union eine Mehrheit erreichen”, sagte er.
Orban fügte hinzu: “Es wird zwei Zivilisationen in Europa geben. Es wird eine gemischte Zivilisation geben, die ihre Zukunft auf einem gemischten islamischen und christlichen Zusammenleben aufbaut, und es gibt uns hier in Mitteleuropa, die sich Europa weiterhin als christliche Zivilisation vorstellen.”
NEWSFLASH: Data Shows Illegal Aliens Kill More People Each Year In the U.S. Than AR-15s
Algerian Islamic Scholars Say Celebrating Amazigh New Year is Haram (moroccoworldnews, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/262943/algerian-islamic-scholars-amazigh-new-year/
“Days before the Amazigh (Berber) New Year celebrations begin in Algeria, Algerian Muslim scholars have argued that celebrating it is haram (forbidden in Islam), dividing Algerian public opinion.
The Algerian Fatwa Commission at the Association of the Algerian Muslim Ulema has presented a controversial “fatwa,” religious ruling, regarding the celebrations, asserting that it is not permissible because it originated in the pagan pre-Islamic era, the epitome of “ignorance.”
The president of the commission, El Abidine Ben Hanafia, emphasized that the festivities of the new year, known as Yennayer in Tamazight (Berber) on January 12, would compete with and “hurt” the major Islamic holidays. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha is celebrated two months later as the feast of sacrifice.
An Algerian researcher and author, Mohamed Arezki Ferrad, argued back in a statement to Algerian news outlet, Rai Alyaoum, that celebrating the Amazigh New Year is necessary to engender love for Algerian values, culture, and history.
The fatwa has also angered some Algerians on social media who stated that their country is trying to “make everything haram.”
Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika recognized the Amazigh New Year as an official public holiday in a decree on December 27, 2017. On Saturday, the country will welcome the year 2,969.
In Morocco, activists are still calling for the government to make Yennayer a national and public holiday…”
MEP Seeks Signatures Against Morocco-EU Agriculture Agreement (moroccoworldnews, jan 10, 2019)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/262945/mep-morocco-eu-agriculture-agreement/
“As the European Parliament prepares to deliver its final vote on the EU-Morocco agriculture agreement, some pro-Polisario forces from within the European body are again challenging the validity of the agreement.
Paloma Lopez, a member of the European Parliament from Spain’s Izquierda Unida (United Left) Party and a vocal pro Polisario voice, is reportedly leading a “final battle” to “complicate” and question the legal foundations of the agriculture deal between Rabat and Brussels.
According to some reports, the Spanish MP is seeking to mobilize support from other MEPs to stand in the way of “direct adoption” of the agreement when the EU Parliament meets in a week’s time to deliver on the issue.
Challenging the “legitimacy” of Rabat-Brussels agreements in the agriculture and food sector has become a norm…”
Richard another you want to watch
My Thoughts on The Climate Change Agenda
Lord Christopher Monckton – Global Warming is a Hoax:
CBC – Bernier says social issues won’t be part of PPC platform
Maxime Bernier says social issues won’t be part of the People Party of Canada’s platform, but that his candidates are free to express their opinions on those matters.
Spain’s Vox Party Wants ‘Insurmountable Wall’ Around Ceuta, Melilla (moroccoworldnews, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/262964/spains-vox-party-wants-insurmountable-wall-around-ceuta-melilla/
“Morocco’s National Brigade of Judicial Police (BNPJ) arrested an English-Swiss suspect for alleged ties with ISIS in Temara, a city 15 kilometers south of Rabat, on Thursday, a source told Morocco World News.
The suspect has alleged contacts with ISIS fighters, said the source.
The suspect is the second foreign dual national Morocco has arrested in the last month. Morocco arrested a Swiss-Spanish suspect in connection to the double murder of two Scandinavian tourists killed near Imlil in the Atlas Mountains…”
Italy Expels Moroccan for Radicalization Risk (moroccoworldnews, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/262972/italy-radicalization-risk-moroccan/
“Italian security services expelled a 37-year old Moroccan for risk of radicalization.
Italian media reported that the police headquarters of Rimini expelled the Moroccan who lived in Italy irregularly for at least 22 years.
According to the Italian outlet, he was previously in prison for 10 years, with his most recent arrest in 2011 in Milan for theft and threats, as well as drug-related crimes.
During his stay in prison, police received dozens of complaints against him for damages and acts of self-harm.”
Hungary’s Orban calls for more anti-immigration politicians in EU | Raw Politics
Army, air chiefs witness fire capability of long-range weapon system (tribune, jan 10, 2019)
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1885482/1-army-air-chiefs-witness-fire-capability-long-range-weapon-system/
“Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan witnessed on Thursday the firepower display of army’s air defence system, including the long-range weapon LY-80.
“Firing by all air defence weapon systems was the culminating event of two-week long exercise ‘Al Bayza-2019” in Karachi, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement on Thursday. “Hallmark of the event was first ever fire by recently inducted Long Range Air Defence Weapon System LY80.”
The statement added that the “induction of LY-80 has realised the concept of a comprehensive, layered and integrated air defence capability with enhanced lethality.”
The army chief, according to the ISPR, said LY-80 had greatly enhanced air defence capability of Army Air Defence while strengthening it at the national level along with PAP, the overall custodian of the defence of the Pakistani air space.””
Morocco’s BNPJ Arrests English-Swiss Suspect for Alleged Ties with ISIS (moroccoworldnews, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/262913/moroccos-bnpj-english-swiss-isis/
“Morocco’s National Brigade of Judicial Police (BNPJ) arrested an English-Swiss suspect for alleged ties with ISIS in Temara, a city 15 kilometers south of Rabat, on Thursday, a source told Morocco World News.
The suspect has alleged contacts with ISIS fighters, said the source.
The suspect is the second foreign dual national Morocco has arrested in the last month. Morocco arrested a Swiss-Spanish suspect in connection to the double murder of two Scandinavian tourists killed near Imlil in the Atlas Mountains…”
‘My election is a slap in the faces of conservative Americans,’ says US’ first Turkish mayor (hurriyetdailynews, Jan 10, 2019)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/my-election-is-a-slap-in-the-faces-of-conservative-americans-says-us-first-turkish-mayor-140411
“Tayfun Selen is the first Turkish-origin mayor elected in the U.S., set to run a township in the state of New Jersey after being sworn in on Jan. 4. “My election is a slap in the faces of conservative, white Americans,” the Republican has told Hürriyet Daily News.
Selen is the new mayor of Chatham Township in New Jersey, becoming the first Turkish national to hold such a position in the United States.
Selen spoke of his 22-year-long journey from being an immigrant to running the corridors of political halls. “I graduated from Istanbul Technical University’s Department of Architecture then immigrated to the United States in 1996. I had no money, did not speak proper English. I came here like Don Quixote. I worked in a gas station for nearly eight months. Then I found a humble job in an architecture office but progressed quickly in my career,” he said on Jan. 9.
He recalled his first step in politics of being at a conference of a senator in the university he was working for. “I got a job at Montclair State University in New Jersey. One day, in the university I encountered a huge crowd in one of the conference venues. They were listening to a congressman from the Democrats. At that moment I developed an interest for politics,” he said.
His first step into politics came when Selen applied and got appointed for the zoning commission of Chatham Township in 2003. His career in politics accelerated when he became a U.S. citizen as he joined the Republican Party’s township administration in 2013.
In 2015 he joined the municipal council, which eventually led to his election. He got support from three of the five members of the council. In Chatham, by law, the public elects the council and then the council determines the mayor.
‘Election of a Turk an important message’
He said the campaign period was fierce and a tough one.
“It was as though the candidates were racing for the White House, it was that fierce. Chatham is very conservative, they are not that migrant-friendly. As a Turkish-American, my election was a slap in the faces of white, Christian Americans. But I convinced them with my efforts and pledges,” Selen said.
Despite being a member of the Republican Party, Selen thinks the policies of President Donald Trump have polarized the American society. “On the one side we have white, male, rich Americans. On the other side, we have the white, but poor and angry Americans. They claim the migrants got everything from our hands. We had similar issues in our town. But I told the voters that the election of a Turk would give a small but important message especially within the Republican Party. When I joined the Republicans, Trump wasn’t president. I became entangled in the party for this once. What can I do? I could not figure out Trump,” he said.
As for his future plans, Selen has bigger ambitions in U.S. politics. “I am thinking about joining the race for Congress,” he said.”
Bangladesh: Highest-ever extrajudicial killings in 2018 (aa, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/bangladesh-highest-ever-extrajudicial-killings-in-2018/1361329
“2018 was marked with the record number of extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh, according to an independent human rights group on Thursday.
Last year, 466 people became the victim of extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh, an aid and human rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) reported.
It is the highest number of extrajudicial killings ever recorded in a year in Bangladesh, Sheepa Hafiza, executive director of ASK, told the journalists in his briefing on the report in the capital Dhaka.
In 2017, the figure was 162, according to the report.
“The extrajudicial killings in the name of an anti-drug operation should be investigated to find out whether any innocent person was killed,” Hafiza said.
“The overall human rights situation was concerning.”
Out of total, 292 killings occurred during a seven month long anti-drug operation, which continued until national elections in December.
Bangladesh also saw significant violence surrounding the national polls, which took place on Dec. 30.
Among 67 people, who were killed in political violence in the country, 34 people were killed by the election violence, including, 19 supporters of the ruling Awami League (AL) party, four activists of the opposing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and ten commoners.
In the report, 732 rape cases were recorded. 63 of them were killed and seven others committed suicides after rape.
It also documented over 1,000 child abuse cases, including 283 murders and 108 suicides after abuse, the local newspaper Daily Star reported citing the ASK report.
“We haven’t seen effective trial and punishment. That is why these crimes are recurring,” Hafiza said.
“A combined effort from the government and the general people is required to create a culture of human rights in the country,” she added.
Additionally, a total of 34 people were victims of enforced disappearance throughout the year, of which 19 people were later traced, Abu Ahamad Faizul Kabir, a senior coordinator, said.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, human rights activist Nur Khan said that the tendency of bypassing proper judicial procedures and trial by law enforcement must be stopped at the risk of blurring all other achievements.
Khan urged the government to form an independent commission to investigate all incidents of extrajudicial killing and bring the perpetrators to trial.”
Afghanistan sends deported asylum-seeker back to Germany (DW, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-sends-deported-asylum-seeker-back-to-germany/a-47023627
“The government of Afghanistan has denied entry to a failed asylum-seeker deported by Germany. The Afghans say the man was turned back at the border as per agreement with the German government because he’s mentally ill.
In an article designed to raise the hackles of those worried about foreigners and crime, German daily Bild reported on Thursday that Afghanistan had turned away an Afghan deportee with a long criminal record at its border and sent him back to Germany.
The attempted deportation was carried out earlier this week, but unlike other deportees aboard the plane to Kabul, 23-year-old Mortaza D. was refused entry and flown back to Munich.
He is now in a juvenile detention center in the Bavarian capital pending further review of his case.
Bild listed more than 20 crimes that Mortaza D., who first applied for asylum in 2010, allegedly committed and for which he was sent to prison in Germany. But the Afghan government says his criminal record was not the reason he was turned away.
Mentally ill?
“The individual was mentally ill and, as a result of a joint decision by both sides [Afghanistan and Germany], he was sent back to Germany,” Murtaza Rasuli, head of legal support for Afghan returnees at the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, told DW.
“Based on the agreement we [Afghanistan] have with Germany, vulnerable people cannot be deported to Afghanistan. This man met the criteria and was, therefore, sent back to Germany.”
The German Interior Ministry refused to comment on Mortaza D.’s mental health, citing his right to privacy. However, it did confirm there is an agreement concerning serious illness for which adequate medical treatment doesn’t exist in Afghanistan or which makes a safe return impossible.
The Interior Ministry also confirmed that Mortaza D. had additionally been refused entry because of doubts as to his true identity and the authenticity of his travel documents — something that apparently took German officials by surprise.
The Interior Ministry of the western German state of Hesse, which is ultimately responsible for the deportation, said that Mortaza D.’s documentation was issued by the Afghan general consulate in Germany. Decisions on whether individuals face deportation rest partially with individual German states, and federal police often assist in carrying them out.
A suspended prison sentence
Hesse’s Interior Ministry added that deportees are given a medical examination prior to departure to determine their fitness to travel and that regional immigration authorities are asked whether there is any reason not to deport those deemed to be in Germany illegally.
The Hessian Interior Ministry said that Mortaza D. would be returning from Munich in the near future. But he won’t be a free man. He’ll resume serving a prison sentence that was suspended when he agreed to voluntary deportation.
According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), some 24,000 people were deported from Germany in 2017, while around 29,500 returned to their countries of origin of their own accord. The numbers of people without a long-term right to reside in Germany are far higher. Many factors make deportations difficult to carry out, including difficulties in obtaining valid travel documents and countries of origins refusing to take deportees back.
Last year a man deported from Germany to Afghanistan committed suicide shortly after landing back in Kabul.
Surge in German arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Turkey (DW, Jan 10, 2019)
https://www.dw.com/en/surge-in-german-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-and-turkey/a-47033158
“German arms exports to Saudi Arabia and Turkey rose last year, eclipsing sales in 2017, despite public criticism. The trend follows a question in parliament submitted by the opposition Left party.
Germany’s Economic Affairs Ministry disclosed Thursday that German firms sent 160 million euros ($184 million) worth of arms to Saudi Arabia last year.
That was up 50 million euros on 2017. Berlin only decided on a full stop in November, prompted by the Saudi murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, amid clamps already applying over Riyadh’s role in war-torn Yemen.
Riyadh leads a nine-country coalition backing a Yemeni government opposed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who last month reached a fragile ceasefire arrangement under UN mediation.
And, German weapons exports to Turkey – mostly naval items – more than tripled last year to 202 million euros, up on 62 million euros in 2017, said the German ministry in its reply to parliament.
Erdogan is under international scrutiny over his intention to dislodge Kurdish rebel groups in neighboring war-torn Syria.
‘Shabby’ Berlin arms policy, says Dagdelen
Left party federal lawmaker Sevim Dagdelen, who had submitted the parliamentary question, accused Germany’s armaments industry of making “strong profits with the criminal war in Yemen as well as the aggressive foreign policy of Erdogan,” a reference to Turkey’s president.
Dagdelen told German ZDF public television that the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel must “do everything” to hinder further such exports to Riyadh and Ankara and end what she termed its “shabby” arms policy.
German arms review due mid-year
Last month, Merkel promised to bring forward to mid-2019 a sharpening of Germany’s military export guidelines – in effect since 2000.
A German stop to arms sales to any nation involved in Yemen’s conflict was agreed in March last year as a condition for Germany’s center-left Social Democrats entering another coalition with Merkel’s conservative bloc.
A loophole, however, allowed fulfillment of already-approved sales as German exporters threatened to press Berlin for monetary compensation.
Complex regulatory setup
The 2000 directive, known as “Political Guidelines of the Federal Government for the Export of Military Weapons and Other Armament Products” states that sales should not proceed when sufficient suspicion exists that they can be used for internal repression and systematic human rights violations in the import country.
A matching set of guidelines dated 2008 exist at EU level.
Paragraph 6 of Germany’s Military Armaments Control Law [Kriegswaffenkonttrolgesetz] foresees cancellation of export approval when the danger exists that military weapons can be used during a peace-destabilization act, especially a war of aggression.
Oversight is supposed to be exercised by the German Foreign Office in consultation with Germany’s Defense Ministry.
Churches demand rethink
At the forefront of opposition to German arms sales are Germany’s Protestant and Catholic churches, who in December presented a major study.
It highlighted a trend in which “armaments firms shifted the end production of weapons systems to places where they expected the least resistance to controversial exports” and called for an internationalization of controls.
In a New Year’s message, Protestant EKD church chairman Heinrich Bedford-Strom said peace could only emerge “when the spiral of violence was broken.””