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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBG45NKS9PU
from Geert Wilders web site
Sweden bomb threat: Passenger plane hit by midair panic – police surround jet at airport (express, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1083813/norwegian-flight-dy4321-bomb-threat-arlanda-airport-sweden-norway-terror
“A PASSENGER jet carrying more than 150 passengers has received a terrifying bomb threat.
The jet, which took off from Arlanda this morning, was forced to return to the airport after a threat was phoned in. The plane was en route to Nice, France, but returned to Arlanda after flying for only 30 minutes. Police have now met the plane on the tarmac. The situation is ongoing.
Swedish television footage shows officers using a cherry-picker crane to look inside the plane.
A police spokeswoman said that officers were at Arlanda as a result of a threat made against an airline, but declined to give any further information.
The Maritime Administration, which deals with air and sea emergencies, could not immediately be reached for comment.
This is an ongoing story, more to follow…”
EU ARMY has to HAPPEN: Germany’s ‘next chancellor’ demands Euro armed FORCE (express, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1083812/european-union-eu-european-army-germany-cdu-annegret-kramp-karrenbauer-ww3
“GERMANY’S new Christian Democrat leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has called for the creation of a European army amid growing global instability caused by sabre-rattling leaders in Russia, China and the US.
Angela Merkel’s successor used a speech in Brussels to outline a key CDU party campaign theme with European Parliament elections coming up in May. Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer warned the EU would be left trailing behind global superpowers Russia, China and the USA unless it stepped up to the plate militarily. She also predicted the EU’s external borders would need extra protection for many decades to come in the face of a sustained migrant crisis.
Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer’s speech focused on the idea of a “Europe of security” and she insisted an EU army was a “logical step” in pursuit of that goal…”
Warning ISIS terrorists have sent SUICIDE BOMBERS to sneak into Europe to unleash CARNAGE (express, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1083616/Isis-news-latest-suicide-bombers-sneak-europe-carnage-terror
“A ‘WAVE’ of ISIS suicide bombers has infiltrated Europe to unleash terrorist carnage, it has been claimed.
Islamist death squads with up to 1,000 members not known by European police slipped into the continent from Syria, according to an ex-ISIS intelligence chief. Jihadi-infested sleeper cells are now primed to launch suicide attacks, according to imprisoned ex-ISIS officer Abdel Kadr, 35. The Tunisian was captured by Kurdish militia the YPG last year after travelling to Syria from Germany in 2014 on an ambulance loaded with humanitarian supplies.
He claims 1,000 ISIS “partisans” have secretly travelled to Europe, with many sent on false passports or hidden with refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.
Kadr told the Daily Beast: “There are a lot of those who were trained by ISIS to go into Europe.
“I heard about this wave that they prepared for Europe.
“They asked me if I’d like to go back to Germany. They were saying to me if you want to go back don’t worry about money, but they don’t know how I think.
“They were sending athletic guys who look European back into Europe.”
It comes after Interpol chief Jürgen Stock warned Europe should brace itself for “a second wave” of radicalised Islamist Jihadis he labelled “ISIS 2.0″.
The ISIS intelligence arm – known as “emni” – was led by a white Austrian called Abu Musa al-Almani, Kadr claimed.
Al-Almani was from a wealthy family, could speak seven languages and had converted from Christianity before heading emni.
He said: “They live 24 hours per day with a mask. They are chosen specially for this.
“They have their own houses, special families. They have been chosen specially, and many were sent back to Europe.”
He added: “They are processed by surgery, training and language and they send them as sleeping cells. In Turkey they give them hair transplants, surgically change their eyes, even the eye colour.”
ISIS terror chiefs would falsely announce on social media that its henchmen had been killed fighting in Syria before dispatching them on death missions to Europe.
It would then be revealed they had mounted a terror attack in Paris or Brussels, Kadr claimed.
Kadr claimed he travelled to Syria with a German called Dominic who had been sent back to Europe.
He said: “ISIS said he [Dominic] was killed, but it wasn’t true.
“He lived next to me and when I went to see his wife and children inside the ISIS area in Tabqa, near Raqqa, they told me, ‘He is not killed, but we don’t know where he is’.
“He’s alive somewhere. Up to now, there is no communiqué [about his actions in Europe].””
Slipped into Europe? imagine that. Happened unexpectedly I guess?
Honestly, I can’t even imagine how that could be possible. Hmm. Where is old Georgie Soros these days? Adrenochrome Harvesting?
“Slipped into Europe? imagine that. Happened unexpectedly I guess?”
None so deaf as those that will not hear. None so blind as those that will not see.
Jihadi tourism attracted 50,000 foreigners from all over the world. The Kurds have had the burden of keeping thousands of surviving prisoners and their broods.
Under the eagle-eye of “human rights” orgs, vastly more attention has been given to the needs of these fiends than their victims. Broken peoples include Christians, tards of various flavors, assorted tribes who practice ancient cults indigenous to Mesopotamia.
All jihadis choose to surrender to the Kurds, except those who filter into Turkey. There the Sultan helps slide them into the “refugee stream”. He turns the tap on and off. Just as he’s done since the beginning of the “Migration Crisis”.
Shoplifter, 41, becomes Britain’s first person to fall ill from ‘world’s deadlist drug’ KROKODIL: Flesh-rotting Class A that’s 10 times strength of heroin left her with ‘horrific’ open sores (dailymail, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6674225/Shoplifter-41-Britains-person-fall-ill-worlds-deadlist-drug-KROKODIL.html
I read about a Krokodil case in Germany a few years ago. Probably a Russian immigrant, I hope this cr*p doesn’t catch on with the locals.
Life expectancy goes down to two years, according to the article.
How can this be a thing?‘Knife Asbos’ that carry two years in jail if breached are delayed by Liberal Democrat peer’s concern that the orders would criminalise the young (dailymail, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6676625/Knife-Asbos-carry-two-years-jail-breached-delayed-Lib-Dem-peers-concern.html
“Tough new ‘knife Asbos’ planned for children as young as 12 were pulled by the Government last night after the Liberal Democrats opposed them in the House of Lords.
Home Office minister Baroness Williams withdrew amendments to the Offensive Weapons Bill that would have meant children caught with knives could have had their use of social media banned by the courts.
Judges would also have been able to impose strict curfews to keep thugs off the streets. Breaching the orders would have carried up to two years’ imprisonment.
However, Lib Dem peer Lord Paddick, the former Met commander, said the orders risked criminalising young people.
It is a setback for Home Secretary Sajid Javid less than a week after he outlined bringing in Knife Crime Prevention Orders – dubbed ‘knife Asbos’ after the anti-social behaviour order introduced by Labour in 1998.
It came amid growing public horror over the bloody violence on the streets of ‘Wild West Britain’, with knife crime soaring 8 per cent in the year to September to 39,919 incidents – including 276 killings.
However, the Government has vowed to reintroduce the amendment within weeks.
A Home Office spokesman said last night: ‘The aim is to stop vulnerable young people from becoming involved in knife crime by tackling the causes of why they are carrying a knife.’”
Tens of thousands dying each year as ‘unsafe produce’ impacts food system in sub-Saharan Africa (telegraph, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/tens-thousands-dying-year-unsafe-produce-impacts-food-system/
“International donors and domestic governments must do more to tackle high levels of illness and death caused by unsafe food in sub-Saharan Africa.
A new report by the Global Food Safety Partnership, part of the World Bank, says that “relatively little” is being done to reduce the number of food-borne illnesses among people in sub-Saharan Africa, despite the fact more than 100,000 people are killed eating unsafe food every year.
A report by the World Health Organization in 2015 estimated that there are around 137,000 deaths and 91 million cases of illness every year in Africa because of unsafe food. The toll is heaviest on children under the age of five, the report found.
The report warns that the number of cases of food poisoning will only increase as the African food system matures, “supply chains lengthen, and Africans have access to more of the nutritious meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables that are needed for good health but are more vulnerable to food safety hazards than traditional staples of African diets”.
The importance of food systems to health has been climbing the agenda in recent months. A global coalition of scientists called for a “Great Food Transformation” to fix the world’s “faulty food system”, which sees one billion people go hungry and two billion eat too much. However, improving the diet of sub-Saharan Africa have will be in vain if the food consumed is unsafe.
Bacterial and viral hazards such as salmonella are responsible for about 70 per cent of the food-borne disease burden in Africa with salmonella causing 32,000 deaths a year.
Parasites, such as tapeworm, cause 17 per cent of the burden – the pork tapeworm infects millions of Africans, causing severe illnesses such as epileptic seizures. Another hazard are naturally occurring toxins such as aflatoxin which affects staple crops such as cereals and groundnuts and can lead to liver cancer.
The report, described as a “call to action” on food safety, urges governments and international donors to invest more in food safety for local people – current investments focus on food that is to be exported regionally or overseas, rather than on domestic consumption.
An analysis of more than 500 projects and activities in sub-Saharan Africa since 2010 found most focused on food safety for exports and that food-borne illnesses.
Less than five per cent of donor investments addressed specific health risks, such as salmonella and E.coli, which can be found in food bought in traditional markets, the report found.
Markets provide the majority of food consumed in Africa – around 85 to 90 per cent – and even though the continent is rapidly urbanising and modernising the traditional, informal markets are expected to supply up to 70 per cent of food by 2040, experts predict.
These markets are vital to the African food system but the report warns that the majority are completely unregulated and lack sanitation facilities and other infrastructure that are vital to food safety, such as cold storage.
The formal food market in Africa is expanding with the growth of medium sized food-processing and agribusinesses. If this is not properly regulated it can lead to large-scale food scares, such as the 2017-18 listeria outbreak in South Africa – dubbed the world’s worst ever outbreak which killed 180 people.
The report calls for better regulation, particularly of Africa’s informal food markets, as well as better information to consumers, to empower them to demand safer food.
“The development community is beginning to accept that there will be no food security and achievement of development goals without food safety,” said Louise Scura, chair of the Global Food Safety Partnership governing committee.
“Our hope is that this report will result in greater prioritization of investments in food safety for African consumers, greater alignment of the development community’s support to food safety, and sharper focus on the need to alleviate the public health burden of foodborne disease in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Lystra Antoine, chief executive of the partnership, said that awareness of the importance of food safety was growing among consumers, producers and government.
She added: “This is not an emergency but a slowly expanding crisis. The current burden is unacceptably high and affects the health of millions of African consumers and undermines development strategies. These illnesses are preventable with the right food safety practices.””
Less than five per cent of donor investments addressed specific health risks, such as salmonella and E.coli, which can be found in food bought in traditional markets, the report found.
Funny how that same thing is suddenly happening in USA but we are assured that it has nothing to do with either immigration, diversity and their right to live as pigs because they are not forced to assimilate.
Fjordman:
Overpopulation in Numbers
https://gatesofvienna.net/2017/07/overpopulation-in-numbers/
ht/NR
“For God’s Sake, Please Stop the Aid!”
The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/spiegel-interview-with-african-economics-expert-for-god-s-sake-please-stop-the-aid-a-363663.html
2002, by Kim du Toit
Let Africa Sink
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924795/posts?page=3
2017 (from the profoundly anti-American Mideast Monitor)
American food aid: A meal for every child before being bombed
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170815-american-food-aid-a-meal-for-every-child-before-being-bombed/
Sweden Admits It Cannot Control Its Own Borders (breitbart, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/02/07/sweden-admits-it-cannot-control-its-own-borders/
“The chief of Sweden’s National Border Police has sounded the alarm on the ability of his force to do its job — even to the low standard required by the European Union under its Schengen zone open borders agreement.
Former Europol top cop and Swedish police superintendent Patrik Engström [pictured above, left] made the warning when he said the Border Police that he commands did not have enough resources to adequately patrol the 102 border crossings and ports nationwide. A Swedish newspaper has claimed the nation is short of 500 border officers to do the job adequately, but Engström declined to discuss specific numbers, Sweden Radio reports.
Engström said: “…the border police’s mission is not resourced to meet Schengen’s requirements for border control… It is a work that is carried out in all seven regions of the police. What is needed, without entering the exact number, is more staff to be able to carry out the external border control that the EU requires. It is about being able to conduct control at both large and small border crossing points.”
The European Union’s Schengen zone is a collection of 26 states which engage in no border control between each other, but maintain external borders with other nations. Sweden only had a border with one non-Schengen nation, Finland.
The officer’s comments come months after an explosive leaked European Union report lifted the lid on the extent of disarray in Sweden’s border control apparatus. The paper, which it is alleged was hushed up in the run-up to the 2018 national elections in which immigration and border control were key issues for the electorate, claimed Sweden has the worst border control of any nation in the Schengen zone, and that “there is no actual border control.”
Faults including border agents receiving only very basic training, not being told how to spot forged documents, and not checking for jihadist fighters travelling to the nation were highlighted in the document.
Engström’s remarks follow others he made about the document in October when he said “It is of course extremely worrying and serious that we do not meet the Schengen requirements. But the focus for us is of course quite clear. It is clear that Sweden should comply with all Schengen requirements for external border control.”
The officer said in an interview that he had narrowed the problems being faced by the country’s border police down to five main areas, and believed it would take around five years to fix.
The Schengen open borders zone is one of the most prized achievements of the European Union, and a key milestone on its journey to becoming a superstate in its own right. Yet the impact of this has been seriously undermined since 2016, when several member states unilaterally suspended their open borders in reaction to the migrant crisis.
In 2019, five EU nations are still maintaining these restrictions, including Sweden and Germany.”
Properly pronounced in American English, “Schengen” comes out sounding more like “shankin'”. Contrary to popular opinion, the word is not a proper contraction but two words voiced in rapid succession, as in; “shank in”.
A Quarter of French Believe ‘Elites’ Using Mass Migration to ‘Replace’ Native Europeans (breitbart, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/02/07/quarter-french-believe-elites-using-mass-migration-replace-native-europeans/
“A study claims that up to a quarter of the French population not only believe in a conspiracy of “elites” but also think those same elites are using mass migration to replace European populations.
The study, released by Jean-Jaurès Foundation and Conspiracy Watch, is the second of its kind and looks at the extent to which the French believe in various so-called conspiracy theories.
The study found that 27 per cent of French believe in an “Illuminati” of elites who control the population while one quarter say they believe in the theory of the “Great Replacement,” Le Point reports.
The theory of the Great Replacement was coined by French writer Renaud Camus and encompasses several subjects under the broad scope of interchangeability and exchangeability, from goods and services to people themselves.
Mr Camus spoke to Breitbart London at the beginning of the Yellow Vest protests, which have continued for the past 12 weeks, and claimed much of the origins of the movement lie in his theory.
Camus told Breitbart London that the protests were really about “lack of respect, general exchangeability, being treated by managerial politics like an object, a simple product. A product, a producer, and a consumer all at once, a thing, a number, not a human being.”
He also describes the elites, or the “Davocracy,” as supporting “the change of people and civilisation for the sake of the industry of man, the economic system which produces the Undifferentiated Human Matter, the human Nutella, spreadable at will.”
The theory has also been mentioned by several high-profile figures including the Archbishop of Strasbourg Luc Ravel in reference to Muslims, and by Béziers mayor Robert Ménard who was fined for mentioning demographic changes in local schools.
Just over one-fifth of the respondents in the Jean-Jaurès Foundation survey claimed there was a “global Zionist” conspiracy while 43 per cent said they believed the French Ministry of Health and drug companies were working together to hush up the harmful effects of vaccines.
Of the ten theories listed in the survey, only 35 per cent of the respondents said they did not believe in any of them.
Rudy Reichstadt, director of Conspiracy Watch, commented on the results saying, “Conspiracy is no longer a marginal phenomenon, but runs throughout French society.””
Iraqi militia says it hit IS targets inside Syria (abcnews, Feb 7, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraqi-militia-hit-targets-inside-syria-60905328
“Iraqi militias said Thursday they have launched dozens of missiles targeting Islamic State militants holed up in a Syrian village across the border.
The state-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Forces said they fired 50 missiles at targets in Baghouz village, in the last speck of territory held by the extremists.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported shelling from the Iraqi side but had no details on casualties.
Iraq’s military has bombed IS posts inside Syria before, but the militias — many of which are backed by Iran — rarely engage in cross-border shelling. The militias’ social media account claimed to have shelled inside Syria last on Feb. 1.
IS claims to have downed a PMF-operated drone in Baghouz on Wednesday.
Some PMF factions are fighting inside Syria.
IS has lost virtually all the territory it once held in Syria and Iraq. Hundreds of militants are now confined to a small area where they are surrounded by Syrian fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the militants will have lost all their territory by next week. He said the U.S. will not relent in fighting remnants of the extremist organization despite his decision to withdraw American troops from Syria over the objections of some of his top national security advisers.
The U.S.-backed fighters on the front lines have slowed operations in recent days to allow civilians to leave the IS-controlled area, but the Observatory said heavy fighting and coalition airstrikes have resumed in the last 24 hours. It said the militants have planted large numbers of land mines to slow the advance.
Over 37,000 people, including over 3,000 militants, have exited the crumbling IS territory since December. Many of those fleeing are foreigners, the Observatory reported.”
Iran decrees mass pardon in honor of revolution anniversary (abcnews, Feb 7, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-decrees-mass-pardon-honor-revolution-anniversary-60905740
“Iran’s state TV says Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pardoned a “large number” of prisoners in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
The report Thursday did not say how many prisoners were released, but previous reports suggested it would apply to some 50,000 prisoners, the largest number ever covered in a single pardon. Some prisoners would be released while others would have their sentences reduced.
Iran is celebrating the 1979 revolution, which toppled a Western-backed monarchy and ushered in four decades of clerical rule. Khamenei, who issued the decree, has the final say on all major policies.
Iran has some 240,000 prisoners. It is holding several dual-citizens with Western nationality on allegations of threatening national security. It’s unclear whether any would be included in the pardon.”
Brussels Nemmouche trial: Suspect ‘was my jailer and torturer’ (BBC, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47156247
“Two French journalists who were held by Islamic State militants in Syria have given evidence against a man accused of murdering four people at the Brussels Jewish Museum in May 2014.
“I’ve absolutely no doubt that Mehdi Nemmouche, who is here now, was my jailer and torturer in Syria. I knew him as Abou Omar,” said Nicolas Hénin.
Ex-captive Didier François agreed.
The defendant, 33, denies murdering an Israeli couple, a local worker and a French volunteer at the museum.
He allegedly travelled to Syria in January 2013 and faces a separate trial in France for his alleged role as an Islamic State jailer.
What the witnesses said
The trial began last month, but it heard for the first time on Thursday from Nicolas Hénin and Didier François, who were held by IS militants in a hospital in Aleppo in June 2013 and freed in April 2014, a month before the Jewish Museum attack.
Of the 23 foreign hostages held by IS, eight were in Aleppo, and Mr François told the court that their captors were all part of a structure, and were involved in organising the Paris and Brussels bombings in November 2015 and March 2016.
He said Paris bomb-maker and Brussels airport suicide bomber Najim Laachraoui was one of the guards.
Mr Hénin told the court that Mehdi Nemmouche was sadistic because he was full of hatred – “an anti-Semitic hatred”. He said Nemmouche admired the Toulouse jihadist killer Mohamed Merah and loathed Shia Muslims.
“We were taken out of our cell for interrogation then put back in a cell next door to the torture room. He was wearing combat dress and we came up against him on several occasions,” he said.
Mr François said he had no doubt that Mehdi Nemmouche had tortured Syrian prisoners. “We heard his voice, we recognised his voice,” he said.
His fellow ex-captive said that the suspect would hit them during their blindfolded visits to the toilets.
Asked by the federal prosecutor if he had ever met the two journalists, the defendant refused to answer. The trial continues.
What happened in Brussels in May 2014?
On 24 May 2014, a lone gunman entered the lobby of the Jewish Museum in Brussels. He opened fire on those inside and fled within a couple of minutes. Four people died in the attack in the Sablon area of the city:
Emmanuel Riva, 54, and Myriam Riva, 53, from Tel Aviv, Israel
Dominique Sabrier, 66, French volunteer at museum
Alexandre Strens, 25, worked at museum’s reception
French-born Medhi Nemmouche was arrested carrying two guns six days later in Marseille in southern France.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy Explains how Cartel Money Could Fund the Border Wall | American Thought Leaders
The Fight For Lakemba Is On
France Recalls Envoy From Rome After Italian Deputy PM Meets ‘Yellow Vests’ (sputniknews, Feb 7, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201902071072212804-france-envoy-criticism/
LOL
Iran’s Islamic Revolution getting more glory, majesty (irna, Feb 7, 2019)
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/83201905
“Bahrami made the remarks in a ceremony held in Kabul on Thursday in commemoration of the 40th victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.
‘Celebrations marking victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran are getting more glorious at a time when certain enemies of us had announced explicitly that Iran’s revolution will not witness its 40th triumph anniversary, said the diplomat.
The Executive Head of Afghan National Unity Government Abdullah Abdullah, a large number of Afghan Ulima, lawmakers, cabinet ministers, foreign diplomats in Kabul and teachers were present in the ceremony.
Establishment of the Islamic Republic system opened a new chapter in history of the Iranian nation.
Elsewhere in his address, Bahrami said the Iranian government supports any initiative, talks and procedures, taken under ownership, leadership and through coordination with government of the country, that would help restore peace and stability in Afghanistan.
He said the mechanism of dialogue among Afghan groups is the most natural and logical path of access to peace and security in Afghanistan and evidently, the countries being friend to Afghanistan will play the role of preparing necessary condition for the dialogue.”
Iraqi expert asks nations to take lessons from Iran’s Islamic Revolution (irna, Feb 7, 2019)
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/83201908
“‘Principles of Islamic Revolution provide a path and model which should be selected by nations to get rid of the restrictions targeting them, including domination of the powerful countries,’ said al-Sharifi in an exclusive interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on the occasion of the 40th victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.
He said the Islamic Republic of Iran provided a model which goes beyond borders and the concepts of the revolution is not confined to geography of the Islamic Republic.”
Former Iranian president says country more corrupt and dictatorial than under the Shah (arabnews, Feb 7, 2019)
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1448576/middle-east
“The first Iranian president after the 1979 revolution has accused the current regime of becoming more corrupt and dictatorial than the Shah’s rule.
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr said the ruling mullahs are using religion to “justify oppression, corruption, and repression.”
The regime has “emptied religion of its content and filled it with lies and irrationality,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Bani-Sadr, who took office in February 1980, was pushed from power in June 1981 by hard-liners of the clergy who were aligned with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1981. He fled to France and continues to live in exile.
He said Tehran is currently involved in eight wars, and they include the “the economic war, the direct military war in Syria, war through terrorism, the diplomatic war, and the propaganda war.”
He called on the regime to stop its interventions in the Middle East and to pay attention to the needs of the Iranian people.
Talking about the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets to protest against the regime during the presidency of Barack Obama, Bani-Sadr said the protest movement has retreated despite growing resentment.
He said protesters were demanding reforms within the regime as opposed to the Arab Spring where people demanded regime changes.
“When people restrict their demands to within the regime, repressive forces are assured that the regime is stable and do not hesitate to follow its orders. If these forces become aware that the regime cannot offer stability, they are more likely to rebel.””
Europe’s new Reformation
Five hundred years ago a political and religious crisis tore Europe apart. Now the continent is entering another age of schism.
It is no secret that the European Union is in severe crisis. Besides the challenge of Brexit, the established order is threatened by a range of other schismatics and heretics to the south, east and indeed within the Franco-German core. What is less well understood is that in many ways we have been here before – 500 years ago, when the Reformation tore Europe apart.
Around 1500, most of our continent was shaped by a single geo-ideological and geopolitical order, or at least a common imaginary. Roman Catholicism reigned supreme from the west coast of Ireland to the eastern borders of Poland and Lithuania, from Norway’s North Cape to the heel of the Italian boot. A wronged wife in Yorkshire could appeal to the papacy for justice if necessary. You had to go quite far east or south-east to encounter the rival Christian order of Orthodoxy in Muscovy and much of the Balkans. This was the result of an earlier schism in the church, creating a second Rome in Constantinople, and after the fall of that city a Third Rome in Moscow. Europeans referred to their continent as “Christendom”.
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2019/02/europe-s-new-reformation
Note the way history is semi-repeating itself, we were torn apart back then and we are torn apart now. We kept our freedom then and we can keep it now if we will fight, if we don’t fight (surrender) we condemn our descendants to centuries of slavery.
France recalls Rome ambassador after worst verbal onslaught ‘since the war’
Move comes after Italian deputy prime minister met with leaders of the anti-Macron gilets jaunes movement
Paris has taken the extraordinary step of recalling its ambassador from Rome in the worst crisis between the two neighbouring countries since the second world war.
France blamed what it called called baseless verbal attacks from Italy’s political leaders, which it said were “without precedent since world war two”.
In a statement, the French foreign office said: “For several months, France has been the target of repeated, baseless attacks and outrageous statements.”
It added: “Having disagreements is one thing but manipulating the relationship for electoral aims is another.”
Italy’s two deputy prime ministers, Matteo Salvini of the far-right League and Luigi Di Maio of the populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement, have criticised the centrist French president, Emmanuel Macron, on a host of inflammatory issues, from immigration to the gilets jaunes (yellow vest) anti-government demonstrations in France.
“All of these actions are creating a serious situation which is raising questions about the Italian government’s intentions towards France,” the French foreign ministry said. Paris said its ambassador to Rome would be immediately called back for talks.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/07/france-italy-ambassador-macron-di-maio-salvini-second-world-war
Spat over Yellow Vests: France recalls ambassador from Italy
Islamic studies institute opens doors in Australia (aa, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/islamic-studies-institute-opens-doors-in-australia/1386448
“A Muslim-Turkish association in Melbourne opened an institute for Islamic studies.
The Islamic Community National View (IGMG) opened the institute which will be part of the Ilim College based in Melbourne.
A total of 10 students — six female and four male — took a placement test on Thursday. The successful students will be trained for three years at the institute.
Celal Varsan, coordinator of the Institute of Islamic Sciences, told Anadolu Agency that the training will begin on Monday.
Varsan added that the institute aims at training well-equipped staff who will serve the Islamic community in Australia.
He said that the course will fulfill an important function for future generations to learn Islam from the right sources.”
Transit Union Says Workers Sickened By Mysterious Lingering Odor On L Train
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — An unsettling and mysterious smell on the L train is provoking rider complaints, concerning transit unions, and forcing Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers to don masks meant for terror attacks.
The MTA says the problem is fixed following CBS2’s initial report on the odor sickening straphangers on Tuesday, but a slew of commuter tweets tell a different tale.
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/02/06/l-train-odor-problems-nyc-subway/
Generation Guaido: a threat to Chavez-style power in Venezuela
More than a decade ago, university students in Venezuela burst onto the political scene by rekindling opposition to then leader Hugo Chavez with street protests that led to the socialist firebrand’s only election defeat.
Now, one of the more low-profile leaders of that drive, Juan Guaido, is heading an offensive that is seen as having a decent chance to remove from power Chavez’s handpicked successor, the former bus driver Nicolas Maduro.
Guaido, the 35-year-old speaker of the National Assembly, declared himself interim president on January 23 during an opposition rally in Caracas, surprising many in Venezuela.
Since then Guaido has been recognized as interim president by more than 40 countries, led by the United States, and millions of Venezuelans have found in him hope for a way out of a grinding socio-economic crisis marked by shortages of food, medicine and even such basics as soap and toilet paper.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/generation-guaido-threat-chavez-style-power-venezuela-043207449.html
China and Russia loaned billions to Venezuela — and then the presidency went up for grabs
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, right, walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they arrive to a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on January 7, 2015 in Beijing, China.
Andy Wong, Pool | Getty Images
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, right, walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they arrive to a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on January 7, 2015 in Beijing, China.
Venezuela is in the middle of a power struggle at the highest level, and that could mean trouble for its two biggest foreign allies: China and Russia.
The socialist petrostate is home to the largest oil reserves on the planet, but endemic corruption has devastated its economy. Beijing and Moscow have helped the country stave off collapse by repeatedly extending financial lifelines — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars over the last decade.
For the most part, those oil-for-debt swaps were good for all parties involved. But that may be changing.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/07/venezuela-china-and-russia-owed-debts-as-presidential-fight-rages.html
Which is not helping the economy of either nation, they were using money as a weapon to get them new bases in South America. Now they are in the process of losing billions that they need at home. Not that the Propaganda media will tell us about this fact.They are too busy lying trying to convience us that every victory Trump has had didn’t happen.
Protesters gather as Macron continues “Great National Debate”
Is This The Point Of No Return For Maduro?
Things have certainly moved into a higher gear in Venezuela, with a genuine diarchy vying for control over the country’s resources and populace. The alleged smuggling of gold reserves, politicized humanitarian aid, rampant disinformation against the background of all-encompassing poverty and deprivation – Venezuela of 2019 bears an uncanny likeness to any stereotypical conflict-ridden Latin American country of the 20th century. The US sanctions announced January 28 have driven a wedge between PDVSA and the United States, creating a point of no return for President Maduro. There is still no 100 percent certainty that Maduro will be ousted and if he manages to stay (through which, given his political skills and occasional antics, would be tantamount to a miracle), Venezuela could rethink its oil strategy on a grand scale. Let’s, however, look at the developments
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Is-This-The-Point-Of-No-Return-For-Maduro.html
Loaded with chavistas given immunity, how is a new government going to sort itself out?
Sudden “democracy” or kindler, gentler version of commie-socialism?
Berlin: Romanians arrested for pimping children in Tiergarten park (DW, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-romanians-arrested-for-pimping-children-in-tiergarten-park/a-47401330
“Police said a “family-related and organized network” from Romania was behind the forced prostitution of children. Berlin’s Tiergarten Park has become a center for men seeking sex with young boys.
Four Romanian men have been arrested in Berlin for the forced prostitution of minors, including their own children, police said Wednesday.
The four men aged between 26 and 55 are accused of bringing children and teenagers to Berlin, where the victims were forced to prostitute themselves in Tiergarten Park and Schöneberg’s “Rainbow District.”
The fathers even prostituted out some of their own children to make money, police said.
The men were arrested in December in the Romanian town of Craiova in cooperation with local law enforcement following an investigation by Berlin state prosecutors and the department of organized crime…”
Probably gypsies. I saw a report on this going on at parking lots in the north of Italy years ago.
With border blocked, desperate Venezuelans ask how U.S. aid will arrive
URENA, Venezuela/CUCUTA, Colombia (Reuters) – Desperate Venezuelans asked on Wednesday how they would gain access to U.S. food and medicine aid due to arrive via the Colombia border after President Nicolas Maduro’s government blocked the frontier crossing to any humanitarian shipments.
https://vladtepesblog.com/2019/02/07/contributors-links-post-for-february-7th-2019/comment-page-1/#comment-465631
Maduro writes letter to President Trump, warns against military intervention
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 6:46 AM PT — Thursday, February 7, 2019
Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is said to be writing a letter to President Trump.
Dozens of Maduro supporters gathered in central Caracas on Wednesday to sign a petition against U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. The demonstrators highlighted their loyalty to the Maduro regime, and denounced opposition leader Juan Guaido. Their petition will be attached to Maduro’s letter to President Trump, which is expected to be sent in the coming days.
This comes as interim President Guaido continues to denounce Maduro’s decision to block
https://www.oann.com/maduro-writes-letter-to-president-trump-warns-against-military-intervention/
The only thing we want from Venezuela is for them to stop flooding South America with refugees.
the correct url
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-border/with-border-blocked-desperate-venezuelans-ask-how-u-s-aid-will-arrive-idUSKCN1PV2OE
Caracas seizes US weapons shipment – report
The Venezuelan government claimed to have intercepted an arms shipment coming from the US on Wednesday. According to the interior ministry, the stash included rifles, ammunition & communications equipment.
The weapons look like Warsaw Pact weapons, not US weapons. Of course if we were supplying weapons we are smart enough to use weapons made far from the US.
“Dem Congresswoman Threatens Teenage Conservative, Says He Should ‘Learn Her Name’ and Be Afraid of Her”
by Cassandra Fairbanks – February 6, 2019
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/02/dem-congresswoman-threatens-teenage-conservative-says-he-should-learn-her-name-and-be-afraid-of-her/
“Hi @TheCJPearson, I’m not “the woman sitting next to her”. @AOC and I — and millions like us — are the future of this country. And you’re right to be afraid of us. But you should learn my name.”
– Nydia M Velazquez – February 5, 2019 – Twitter
https://twitter.com/thecjpearson/status/1093100137382113281
The Dems think they are on a roll that will put them in power for eternity, in reality they are on the down side of history and are destined to become a minor irritant to the free people of the world.
Lebanon: Hezbollah leader vows to stand by Iran in case of war
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Iran was the “strongest country in the region” and that his organisation would stand by Tehran in case of a war against it, speaking at a rally marking the 40th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in Beirut on Wednesday.
Hizbullah Leader Nasrallah: I Am Willing to Go to Iran and Bring the Lebanese Army Air Defenses
On February 6, 2019, Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hizbullah, delivered a speech at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
He praised Iran for supporting Palestinian, Lebanese, and regional resistance movements, and said that Iran was willing to go as far as necessary to defeat ISIS in Iraq.
Nasrallah said that despite some people’s attempts to drag the U.S. into a war with Iran, Iran’s domestic and regional strength has prevented such a war, and he said that Iran would not stand alone in a war because the fate of the people and the region is linked to the fate of its regime.
He said that people would accuse Hizbullah of dragging Lebanon into a war if it shot down Israeli planes in Lebanese airspace and, saying that he has Lebanon’s interests in mind, Nasrallah offered to go to Iran and bring the Lebanese army air defenses and whatever else it needs in order to become the strongest military in the region.
The speech aired on Al-Manar TV (Lebanon).
Nellie Ohr’s revelation about Ukrainian source lines up the dots from DNC to the Mueller probe
By J.E. Dyer February 7, 2019
Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller News Foundation put out a summary on Wednesday of information provided to Congress last fall by Nellie Ohr, wife of Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and one-time contractor with Fusion GPS. The information is about the source of Fusion GPS material, presumably on Paul Manafort’s activities in Ukraine – and it goes a long way to confirm some longstanding suspicions about how that material was used, and how it was seeded into the FBI investigation of Manafort.
As an addendum to the long-running Manafort saga, it’s not that big a bombshell. The source alluded to by Nellie Ohr was Ukrainian journalist-turned-lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko.
But as a guide to who had a prior interest in the Manafort narrative – including the references to him in the Steele dossier – and how deeply embedded the whole anti-Trump Russiagate effort has been in the Democratic and Washington establishment, it packs a big explosive wallop.
The name Leshchenko, who was the source on the so-called “black ledger” of payments allegedly made to Manafort from Ukraine (and then laundered), ties everyone in the mix together very directly. It connects the dots without interruption or air gap from the Obama administration to the Clinton campaign, to Fusion GPS, the media, the DOJ, the FBI, and the Mueller investigation.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/02/07/nellie-ohrs-revelation-about-ukrainian-source-lines-up-the-dots-from-dnc-to-the-mueller-probe/
Moroccan-dutch sx-soccer player Yassine Abdellaoui shot in Ijburg, Amsterdam:
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/ao3kji/exfootball_player_yassine_abdellaoui_rayo/
Yesterday night witnesses heard shots and saw a man fall down screaming. Two unidentified men fled the scene. Abdellaoui had no fixed adress but stayed in IJburg (Area of Amsterdam) a lot. Abdellaoui played for Willem II, NAC Breda, Rayo Vallecano, NEC en De Graafschap. Apparently he was shot in the leg
After his career he got sued for laundering money (2.3 million) and XTC trade. He was cleared of all charges after 11 years and hoped for millions in comensation but only got 8000 euros for his days in jail. He started a hungerstrike to get more money but didn’t succeed.
He was currently working as assistent coach for Willem II U17 and studying for his trainerslicense.
UK – Disturbance at mosque after Imam is removed by committee
Police were called to a disturbance at Wembley Central Mosque in London after the Imam was removed by the committee.
In footage shared online congregation members can be seen pushing each other.
A public notice now posted on the website says that Imam Abdul Sattar’s employment contract was terminated. It also urges the congregation not to contact the Imam.
Police were called and the mosque was closed for a day after the Imam decided to lead prayers at the venue. Supporters of the imam believe worshippers insisted that he should lead the prayer.
https://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/17412628.disturbance-at-mosque-after-imam-is-removed-by-committee/
paki on paki
feh
On tech companies and our freedom:
https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2019/01/30/two-roads-diverged-in-a-digital-wood/#more-55836
Deutsche Welle – India to exclude Muslims from new refugee bill
The Indian government is on its way to changing its citizenship laws. The Citizenship Amendment Bill makes it easier for refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to, in essence, become Indian. But there is a catch, the new law will exclude Muslim refugees.
Besides the Indian government is standing strong on another key issue: Identifying and repatriating Rohingya Muslims against the urgings of the United Nations, which has stressed repeatedly that conditions in Myanmar aren’t safe to return to.
India is increasingly taking the line that the Rohingya are not refugees, but illegal immigrants.
Hundreds are trying to flee to Bangladesh to avoid detention or deportation. But they’re not wanted there either.
+ comments on the YT page
Thanks, Martin.I clicked for just the comments.
A+
NYT – The Right-Wing Pundit ‘Hashtag Triggering’ France
The pop historian Eric Zemmour has fashioned himself as an evangelist of French culture — and become a driving force for French conservatism.
To follow Éric Zemmour around Paris this fall was to make a tour of the city’s slightly faded belle epoque salons. In September, after his latest book, “French Destiny,” was published, Le Figaro, France’s center-right daily paper, where Zemmour is a columnist, hosted a talk at the Salle Gaveau. A 1906 chamber-music hall, painted pale yellow and lined with parterre boxes, it is just two blocks from the presidential palace. “I’m not going to introduce Éric Zemmour,” his presenter told the sold-out hall, noting that you would have to live at the very edge of the universe to escape him.
“I’m always intimidated when someone says something nice about me,” Zemmour replied. “It happens pretty rarely.”
At 60, Zemmour is slight, with thinning hair and a spry energy. In a normal week, he might be a guest on morning radio, discuss the death of Gaullism on his Wednesday-evening talk show and publish a column on the genius of the French language. But when he releases a book — he has written three since 2014 — his frequent speaking engagements mean additional opportunities to expound on his preferred topics: the historical curtailment of French dominance and the elites who have destroyed what remains of French identity. All this time in front of the public increases the chance that he will do what he is best known for: defy the still-robust codes of French politesse. “I have the great fault of being unable to concede,” Zemmour says. “I’m not glorifying being this way. I just can’t help it.” It is a trait that ensures not only that Zemmour is to be found everywhere, talking, but also that everyone, everywhere, is talking about him.[…]
more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/magazine/eric-zemmour-france-far-right.html
BREAKING: Fourth Democrat Gets Caught Up In Virginia Scandals, Knew About Sex Assault Allegations For A Year, Report Says
The series of scandals that have brought Virginia Democrats to their knees over the last week worsened after a new bombshell report was released on Wednesday night that alleges a Democratic lawmaker knew about the sexual assault allegations against Democrat Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax for over a year.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/43162/breaking-fourth-democrat-gets-caught-virginia-ryan-saavedra?utm_medium=email&utm_content=020719-news&utm_campaign=position3
The Dan Bongino Show
Ep. 911 The Big Coverup
https://bongino.com/ep-911-the-big-coverup/
Pelosi says she views Trump’s warning about investigations as a ‘threat’
By Cristina Marcos
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday pushed back against President Trump’s declaration in his State of the Union address that “if there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation.”
“That was a threat,” Pelosi told reporters after a Democratic Caucus meeting. “The president should not bring threats to the floor of the House.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/428733-pelosi-says-she-views-trumps-warning-about-investigations-as-a-threat
She has done nothing else for the past two years,why do these people not die of embarrassment?
The Moral Idiocy of Our Times
How leftist political degeneracy leads to civilizational collapse.
February 7, 2019
Bruce Thornton
One of the foundational myths of modernity holds that the progress of scientific knowledge and technology has been accompanied by moral progress. As wealth and knowledge increase, the old impediments to moral improvement such as poverty, religious superstition, and ignorance are being swept away, resulting in a kinder, gentler, and more pacific human nature.
Last week we were presented with evidence that this argument is woefully mistaken. In New York a bill was passed that removed restrictions on late-term abortions, allowing infants viable outside the womb to be killed “at any time” to protect the mother’s life or “health.” Worse yet, this regression into primitive custom was met with celebratory cheers and a standing ovation by the “lawmakers” who had approved it. In Virginia a similar law was proposed but rejected. It had been defended by Del. Kathy Tran and Gov. Ralph Northam (pictured above). They admitted that a baby could be killed even after the mother went into labor, or after delivery. Tran, by the way, on the same day as she introduced the bill to liberalize late-term abortions, also introduced a bill to protect gypsy moths and cankerworms.
In other words, infanticide, once a practice of savage and barbaric cultures like cannibalism, incest, and human sacrifice, has now been legalized by the culture that boasts of its moral progress and superiority. But this legislation is not just a return to ancient brutality, but a species of moral idiocy much worse than the savagery of the past.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272764/moral-idiocy-our-times-bruce-thornton
Americans Make Record Job Gains as Media Suffers Record Job Losses
What’s bad for the media is good for America.
February 7, 2019
Daniel Greenfield
The winter freeze might have shut down entire cities, but it couldn’t slow down job growth as the economy roared through the cold and shattered projections with 304,000 non-farm jobs in January.
There were job gains everywhere from transportation (27,000) to health care (42,000) to hospitality (74,000). Under Trump, construction gained 338,000 jobs in 12 months while manufacturing picked up 261,000 jobs in that same period. There was good news for many industries, but bad news for one.
The media is freezing colder than the polar vortex with thousands of lost jobs in January and February.
Gannett, the giant behind USA Today and many local lefty papers such as the Arizona Republic, the Detroit Free Press and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, fired 400 employees.
McClatchy, another newspaper giant, which publishes the Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star and the Charlotte Observer, among many others, announced voluntary buyouts for 10% of its employees after having fired 3.5% of its staff or 140 employees back in August. Tronc, another publishing giant, has already been making major cuts at newspapers like the New York Daily News and the Los Angeles Times.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272753/americans-make-record-job-gains-media-suffers-daniel-greenfield
Then there’s J.E. Dyer’s article about Bezos, BigTech, data-mining. “News” fed to us as bait to get into our heads and control our lives.
And the other dynamic: coordinated bursts of theme-packages across media platforms. Purpose-crafted by PR wizards, tailored to specific constituencies.
Like KhashoggiKhashoggiKhashoggi.
Which messed up the package crafted for PT’s base: Western-copacetic Prince Charming MbS with his supermen, specfor GCC.
Media without journalists, without advertising revenue for products and services. What is it?
A Soviet model of total propaganda.
Big Brother billboards in North Korea or Riyadh. The objective is for the public to become ego-identified with Dear Leader or Prince Charming.
Military on the Border: Appropriate Response to a Crisis
How does a house stand without walls?
February 7, 2019
Michael Cutler
On February 3, 2019 ABC News posted an AP (Associated Press) report, “Pentagon sending another 3,750 troops to Southwest border.”
The ABC/AP report noted that the Trump administration was sending those members of the armed forces to the U.S./Mexican border to bring the total number of active-duty troops to 4,350. The Pentagon said that the soldiers would be installing 150 miles of concertina barbed wire and assist with surveilling the border, but not have direct contact with any illegal aliens or aid in their arrest by the Border Patrol. Reportedly, however, the soldiers will be able to help defend Border Patrol agents who come under fire.
The news report included this excerpt:
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272778/military-border-appropriate-response-crisis-michael-cutler
‘Dearbornistan’ Mayor Suppresses Free Speech
Blocks article on anti-Semitism that he deems a “distraction.”
February 7, 2019
Joseph Klein
Dearborn, Michigan, nicknamed “Dearbornistan,” is the U.S. city with the largest percentage of Arab Americans. The Arab-American National Museum (AANM) is located in Dearborn because, its director said, “Dearborn is the heart of Arab-America.” The majority of these Arab American residents are Shiite Muslims from south Lebanon and Iraq. The Islamic Center of America in Dearborn is the largest Shiite mosque in the United States.
Dearborn was also the hometown of Henry Ford, the auto industrialist whose factories attracted Arab immigrants to Dearborn in the 1920s. “Palestinian Muslims arrived in the second decade of the 20th century, attracted by the prospect of work on the assembly lines that produced Ford’s revolutionary Model ‘T’,” according to a report in the National. While Ford was heralding the arrival of Arab immigrants to this country to work in his factory, he was also widely spreading his virulent anti-Semitic blood libel.
However, the mayor of Dearborn today, John B. O’Reilly, Jr. (pictured above), wants to sugarcoat the unpleasant part of Ford’s biography dealing with his many anti-Semitic writings and pronouncements. Mayor O’Reilly decided to ban the distribution of a city-financed historical journal containing an unflattering article about Henry Ford’s record of anti-Semitism that the mayor deemed to be too much of a “distraction” for Dearborn’s “diverse” population. He also severed the city’s ties with the editor of the publication and long-time Dearborn resident, Bill McGraw, who had written the article to educate Dearborn residents today regarding their hometown hero Ford’s “dark sides.”
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272779/dearbornistan-mayor-suppresses-free-speech-joseph-klein
Swedish Migration Board Finds Nearly One in Ten Turkish Passports Are Forgeries (breitbart, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/02/07/swedish-migration-board-find-nearly-one-ten-turkish-passports-forgeries/
“The Swedish Migration Board has sounded an alarm over the high number of fake Turkish passports being found at border checks, saying some of the passports show advanced forging knowledge.
Since the Autumn of 2018, Swedish border officials have sent around 400 Turkish passports for extra checks and have found that nearly ten per cent of those examined were forgeries, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.
Magnus Bengtsson, who works on asylum cases at the Migration Board, said that the forgeries were not only numerous but that some of them showed an advanced level of forgery saying, “It is not just anyone who can do this kind of good quality. It requires very good equipment and access to technology to succeed this well.”
The Migration Board has also seen reports from other European countries over fake Turkish passports and from the U.S. mission to Turkey and says that it has reported the fakes to police and has started a policy to check all Turkish passports for those seeking residency in Sweden to ensure their validity.
Bengtsson said that he was not sure how long the added scrutiny toward Turkish passports would last.
Turkey is also the nation to have taken in the highest number of Syrian asylum seekers, with an estimated 3,545,293 Syrians being granted temporary protection status.
Fake passports have been a major problem for several European countries since the height of the migrant crisis in 2015 including in Sweden. A damning report from the European Union released last year claimed that Swedish border guards had such a lack of training that many were unable to spot forged documents and claimed Sweden had the worst border control in the European Union.
Forged passports have also been seen in Germany where a report from Europol and the European Union border agency Frontex claimed that the number of migrants flying into Germany from Greece and other EU countries with fake documents had increased by 70 per cent in the latter half of 2017.
Despite it being illegal to forge official documents and to carry them, Germany let in migrants during the migrant crisis knowing that their documents were fake and allowed them to apply for asylum.”
Grenoble Mosque Shut Down Due to Radical Islamic Preaching (breitbart, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/02/07/grenoble-mosque-shut-down-due-radical-islamic-preaching/
“Authorities in Grenoble have shut down the Al-Kawthar mosque for six months following accusations of links to radical Islamic ideologies.
The decision was made by the prefect of Grenoble who issued a statement on the closure, saying “The elements collected by the specialised services have established that the remarks made and the ideas and theories disseminated within this place of worship provoke violence, hate, and discrimination.”
“Through many of his sermons, the imam legitimates armed jihad, provokes violence, hatred, and discrimination against the faithful of other religions and conveys a message contrary to republican values by legitimising sharia and discrimination against women,” the prefect added, according to Le Dauphine.
The order to close the mosque was also justified on the grounds of preventing terrorism. According to the statement from the prefect, the mosque, not the imam, denied the accuracy of the content of their comments.
The association which manages the mosque has also been under scrutiny from the French national government with the Ministry of the Interior and the Minister of Economy and Finance freezing their assets along with the assets of the imam.
The mosque, which caters to around 400 worshipers, is not the first to be shut down in France in recent years. In 2017, in the city of Clichy, an illegal mosque was shut down which resulted in worshipers taking to the streets to pray in protest despite street prayers being illegal in the country.
Germany has also shut a mosque in Berlin due to links with radical Islamic ideologies including being linked to the Berlin Christmas market terror attacker Anis Amri who killed a dozen people in December 2016.
According to undercover journalist Shams Ul-Haq, as many as one in ten mosques across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland preach radical Islamist ideologies.”
#1 Trump Rejects Socialism in Landmark Address
3,122 views
0:06 / 7:59
Tom Fitton: Southern Border Has to be Secured w/ Military–Civilian Personnel NOT Enough
Iran unveils new Dezful ballistic missile (thedefensepost, Feb 7, 2019)
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/02/07/iran-defzul-ballistic-missile/
“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled a new ballistic missile with a range of 1,000 km, its official news agency Sepah News reported on Thursday, February 7.
The move was the latest show of military might by the country as it celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.
The surface-to-surface missile – called Dezful – is an upgrade on the older Zolfaghar model that had a range of 700 km (435 miles), aerospace commander Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said.
The new weapon was revealed after Iran on Saturday said it had successfully flight tested the new Hoveizeh cruise missile, which has a range of 1,350 km.
The unveiling ceremony was carried out by Revolutionary Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Hajizadeh at an “underground ballistic missile production facility,” the report said.
Hajizadeh said the new missile had a “destructive power” twice that of the Zolfaghar version, which Iran used for the first time in October to strike an Islamic State base in Syria…”
Satellite Imagery Suggests Second Iranian Space Launch Has Failed
Satellite imagery taken Wednesday of a space launch center in northern Iran shows burn scars on a newly painted launchpad at the Imam Khomeini Space Center.
The burns appeared after days of activity at the site, suggesting that Iran’s second attempt to launch a satellite has failed.
Iran has made no public announcement regarding the launch, and observers believe that the rocket took off successfully but something went wrong later in the flight.
On Jan. 15, Iran attempted unsuccessfully to launch a satellite.
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/06/692071812/satellite-imagery-suggests-second-iranian-space-launch-has-failed
Chad president Deby says rebel convoy ‘destroyed’ by 3 days of French airstrikes (thedefensepost, Feb 7, 2019)
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/02/07/france-airstrikes-chad-mirage-2000-rebel-convoy/
“Chadian President Idriss Deby said a column of rebels which had sought to cross into the country from Libya had been “destroyed” in a series of strikes carried out by French warplanes.
Deby told a cabinet meeting “the column of mercenaries which tried to make an incursion into Chadian territory has been completely destroyed,” according to an official account on Thursday, February 7.
“On the government’s side, there was no loss of life or equipment,” it said.
The French military has said Mirage 2000 jets struck an armed convoy on three days this week, destroying about 20 of roughly 50 pickup trucks.
An anti-Deby rebel group, the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), crossed into northern Chad with “three columns” of vehicles, according to one of its members, Mahamat Doki Warou.
UFR spokesperson Youssouf Hamid added it was “normal” for Deby “to make such claims” about attacks, “but this is not the reality on the ground.”
The French strikes were carried out from a base near the capital N’Djamena with the support of a Reaper drone. French forces are based in Chad as part of the Operation Barkhane counter-terrorism force in the Sahel.
Update February 7 The French defense ministry said the action in northern Chad is not part of Operation Barkhane, France24 reported.
French armed forces spokesperson Patrik Steiger told AFP on Monday that the column “had been spotted at least 48 hours beforehand,” and that it had crossed 400 km (250 miles) of Chadian territory before being halted “between Tibesti and Ennedi” in the northwest.
The Libyan National Army led by General Khalifa Haftar has said that the rebels were fleeing its offensive in southern Libya.
Chad’s Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim and armed forces chief General Seid Brahim left on Thursday for Amdjarass, in the northeastern region of Ennedi, an army spokesperson said.
Separately, a senior Chadian official said that military units based in Ounianga and Fada, also in the Ennedi region, had been heading towards Bao, which is in the Ennedi region, since Tuesday.
The UFR’s Doki said that fighters were “in the vicinity” of Bao as of Wednesday.
The French intervention was criticized on Wednesday as a “violation of international law” by two Chadian opposition leaders.
French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly dismissed the accusations, saying, “as far as law is concerned, this intervention was made in response to a formal request for help from a sovereign country.”
Chad, a vast and mostly desert country with more than 200 ethnic groups, has suffered repeated coups and crises since it gained independence from France in 1960.
Deby, a former head of the armed forces, became president in 1990 after ousting his former boss, Hissene Habre.
Chad has become a important member in the fight against mainly Islamist insurgency in the Sahel.
It is part of the West African coalition fighting Boko Haram and a member of the French-backed G5 Sahel Joint Force, which also includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
Last week the French Armed Forces Ministry said aircraft deployed to Operation Barkhane had conducted air operations in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The UFR was created in January 2009 from an alliance of eight rebel groups.
In February 2008, a tripartite insurgent group, moving in from the east, reached the gates of the presidential palace in N’Djamena before being repelled by Deby’s forces.”
Retaliatory Raids Kill, Injure over 250 Militants in Jizan: Yemeni Source (tasnimnews, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/02/07/1942138/retaliatory-raids-kill-injure-over-250-militants-in-jizan-yemeni-source
“At least 250 Saudi-backed militants, including ringleaders, were killed and injured by Yemen’s army and fighters from popular committees in the border region of Jizan in a period of one month beginning on January 1, a report said…”
The Left Hates Racism and ‘Believes All Women…Unless They Accuse a Democrat
Top General: Iran Ready to Share Experience in War on Terror with Friends (tasnimnews, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/02/07/1942206/top-general-iran-ready-to-share-experience-in-war-on-terror-with-friends
“Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri voiced the country’s readiness to provide allies and friends with its valuable experience in the fight against extremism and terrorism…”
Nigeria’s Intelligence Agencies Orchestrating Plot to Kill Sheikh Zakzaky: IMN (tasnimnews, Feb 7, 2019)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/02/07/1942005/nigeria-s-intelligence-agencies-orchestrating-plot-to-kill-sheikh-zakzaky-imn
“Intelligence agencies in Nigeria are orchestrating a plot to kill top Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the IMN exposed a plan by security agencies in Nigeria to kill Sheikh Zakzaky while in his detention facility, the official website of IMN reported.
It added that the plot to kill Sheikh Zakzaky emanated from an exposed letter – titled ‘Plans by Islamic Movement in Nigeria to raid selected detention facilities in the country during the 2019 general election’ – sent to the office of the Inspector General of Police from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
The IMN statement, signed by S. I. Shuaib on behalf of the Academic Forum of the IMN, said “on January 25, 2019, the office of National Security Adviser, wrote a letter to the Inspector General of Police, telling him some concocted lies that the Islamic Movement is planning to attack some selected detention facilities in the country during the 2019 general election.”
The IMN said in its statement that the army wants to stage the attacks via a fake Shiite Muslim group against some detention centers including where they are keeping the prime target, Sheikh Zakzaky.
“That will give them the chance to frame a story that Shiites attempted to forcefully free Sheikh Zakzaky and others, so there was an exchange of fire, and as a result they shot their leader,” the statement said.
The IMN stressed that it has always abided by law and will continue to do so, adding it will only follow legal ways to secure Zakzaky’s release.
The statement said all Nigerians and the rest of the world know that the Islamic movement is not armed, adding “this plot will fail.”
It also pointed to the killings of hundreds of IMN supporters by the army in 2015, and said at that time, the movement only filed a lawsuit against the perpetrators and never used violence…”