Contributor’s links post for April 5, 2019

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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.

About Eeyore

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

145 Replies to “Contributor’s links post for April 5, 2019”

  1. “Bill Warner PhD: Resolving the Reality of Political Islam”
    Political Islam – Published on April 4, 2019

    • To understand why Islam can’t be reformed you have to look at the Koran and what it says. In the Koran it says that it is the literal word of God dictated to Mohammad. Because of this it can’t be changed or reinterpreted, it is fixed for all eternity. It also says taht Mohammad is the last Prophet so someone can not say they are the new Prophet of Islam and change what is written.

      Christianity Judaism can be reformed because the Torah and the Holy Bible are the inspired word of God. It is possible to change the meaning because of new attitudes of people. This reformation can only go so far before it runs into trouble but Christianity has had one reformation and in my opinion is ripe for another reformation.

    • This was an awesome talk by the Belgian intellectual Wim van Rooys.

      I tried to research more about him and, boy howdy, it was hard to do. Almost everything is in Dutch and you have to copy and paste to “google (spit) translate. Van Rooys is a courageous and extremely knowledgeable man.

      This video should be spread all over the web.

  4. “Just when you thought Parliament couldn’t sink any lower, along comes jailbird MP Fiona Onasanya to cast the deciding vote in favour of the latest Stop Brexit manoeuvre.

    Onasanya walked through the voting lobby wearing the electronic ankle tag with which she was fitted after being released early from HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.

    Her participation ensured that the Bill to change the law so that Britain can’t leave the EU without a ‘deal’ passed by the narrowest of margins, 313 to 312”
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-6888683/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Fiona-Onasanya-casting-deciding-vote-latest-Stop-Brexit-manoeuvre.html

    Beyond Good and Evil.

    • Brexit is what happens when forces like America’s Deep State gain control of a government. NeverTrumpers and RINOs can kiss Trump’s Presidential @ss. £ü¢k knows where we’d be without him (as in: screwed, blued, and tattooed).

      Can it get any more obvious? Springing a convicted criminal just in time to place the deciding vote on a bill explicitly designed to overturn continue overturning the will of Britain’s electorate is treason. Why all the fuss and bother about that?

      France’s aristocracy paid this price tag once before. What makes these bewigged toffs think that they’re immune to such an outcome on their side of La Manche?

      • That is my biggest concern.
        1. That they force the Communist EU onto the British People.
        Or the lesser
        2. The British people rise up and kill their Socialist Masters.
        Or
        3. The simple ‘obey the vote of the people,’ and with the recession to watch the paracites leave and the Welfare Train turn towards Brussels.

        • The whole idea is to prolong this farce until 2022 when the “Lisbon treaty”becomes active,at which point the eussr takes control of the uk in its entirety ,they will control our armed forces,set our tax levels,dictate how many wogs we must accommodate,disolve our parliament ,make laws for us,in fact take control of everything,and there is nothing that we can do about it,because this treasonous “treaty”has NO mechanism for us to be able to leave,this will be an occupied country and the people will have no rights whatsoever,much like the southern states of America in 1861,we are locked in permanently,simply slaves of Brussels,this is what our masters have planned for us since the 1990s,it is what they called “a tidying up excercize “where they place our freedom beneath their jackboot.The sadness is that there are millions of people in this country ,who actively wish for this to happen.i find myself wishing for wormwood.

      • NeverTrumpers and RINOs can kiss Trump’s Presidential @ss. £ü¢k knows where we’d be without him

        We would be in a military coup followed by a very nasty civil war.

        • Thank you, both.

          As I find myself saying evermore frequently, the actual offenses are insulting enough, but the patronizing condescension necessary to think this sort of gangsterism can be gotten away (in broad daylight, no less), is what’s truly infuriating.

          When a political thunderclap of this sort breaks wind loose, only terminal psychotics expect that the sheep won’t look up.

  5. The end of the petrodollar will likely mean the end of U.S. dollar world reserve currency status. A subsequent drop in the value of the dollar will, among many things, mean that Americans will pay more for imported goods due to the dollar’s diminished purchasing power. The generally-inversed relationship the dollar has with precious metals will also likely kick in, meaning a dollar drop will create a gold spike. I suspect the U.S.’s near limitless borrowing power will come to an end, meaning interest rates must normalize in a big way. But what’s normal? Wasn’t the 10-year t-bill supposed to be the measuring stick against which the value of every asset was measured? Well, you can stick a fork in that one. Has the price of money not been artificially suppressed for political expediency year after year? Has the 10-year not been abused? Does the inverted yield curve portend another 2008-like reckoning but worse? Will precious metals finally be set free from their paper prison? Are “normal” interest rates 5% or 25%?

    Damned if I know. However one cannot help but wonder about central banks’ continued, furtive concerns with gold. The Italian Job from Eeyore’s post last night is just one example in an endless string of muted manouvers by major powers trying to position themselves pre-reset. Under open-market conditions, demand affects price. Under current Keynesian dictates, billion-dollar paper-gold sell-offs keep PM’s low, perhaps for the function of allowing China and Russia to catch up to U.S. reserves. Does this help reduce the likelihood of world war? I think yes. I think this is the gravitas of the leverage at play. I certainly could be mistaken on this, but who in the know speaks not in tongues?

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-usa-oil-exclusive/exclusive-saudi-arabia-threatens-to-ditch-dollar-oil-trades-to-stop-nopec-sources-idUSKCN1RH008

    • The end of the Dollar as the worlds reserve currency will only occur during a massive economic and political (war) upheaval. Will there be an economic collapse? DUH. I read a lot of predictions about what the world order will be like after the coming chaos and always think the same thing, no one knows what the world will be like after WWIII is over. I doubt there will be a massive one world government but other then that I don’t know and neither does anyone else.

      • “I doubt there will be a massive one world government…”

        Only a joker would attribute global small arms numbers to the Second Amendment. Still, not all’s lost.

        As it is, there’s times where I suspect I’m getting hod-carrier’s elbow from troweling it on so thick but here goes…

        While disruptive innovation can be spectacularly productive, strategies of destructive disruption á la Russia or the PRC has resulted in an otherwise unprecedented proliferation of light weapons.

        Only those uncontaminated by any wry humor could fail to see the usual perverted justice in dreams of One World Government perhaps being thwarted by a previous Socialist strategy of imbalancing all vulnerable cultures with floods of cheap (or sponsored) weapons.

        This, in turn, forces an inescapable and grisly conclusion.

        It appears likely that the larger Socialist entities may just as readily use nuclear annihilation tomorrow as part of conveniently pacifying their free-spending gun customers of today. Prisoners? Survivors? What the hell are those for?

        • Check out the website classicfirearms . com and look at the surplus Warsaw Block weapons on sale. Given the current situtation the only reasons those weapons are on sale is that they have been replaced by newer weapons.

          Granted getting ammo for some of the weapons is problematic but they are also selling surplus ammo (probably corrosive primer) in lots of 500 and more.

          If they are on sale like this here they are on sale on the black market in Europe.

  6. MRS MAY – PLEASE GO
    Leave politics and take your fake conservatives with you. Take your Chancellor Philip Hammond… your Justice Secretary David Gauke…his mini-me, Rory Stewart… For all of the damage you have done to your party, the constitution, the rule of law, Parliament’s ethos, mass trust in our democracy, our economy, our society, and our international reputation, leave now. Bruce Newsome
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/please-go-mrs-may-1-from-a-leading-academic/

  7. Germany: Left-wing extremists desecrate graves of two police officers murdered by Muslims+++
    Unknown persons have desecrated the graves of the two murdered Berlin police officers Roland Krüger and Uwe Lieschied. At the park cemetery in Berlin’s Neukölln district, Lieschied’s gravestone was demolished and, like Roland Krüger’s stone, sprayed with a red swastika. The perpetrators also tore out the flowers and scattered them along the paths. The crimes took place in the cemetery at Buckower Damm during the night to Wednesday. According to a police spokesman, the crimes were discovered in the morning by cemetery employees.The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has taken over the investigation because of the swastika symbols. The deputy district mayor of Neukölln, Falko Liecke (CDU party), got a first-hand impression of the situation. He has been working for a long time to rename Fontane street to Uwe Lieschied and market place Britz-Süd to Roland Krüger.
    Special task force officer Roland Krüger was killed in April 2003. He and his colleagues stormed the apartment of a large Kurdish-Lebanese family known to the police in the Rollberg district of Neukölln. He was shot dead by Yassin A.. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for murder and is now free again. When he was to be deported to Lebanon last year, a court stopped the deportation of the murderer, which caused widespread public outrage.Uwe Lieschied, the then 42-year-old Chief Inspector, and two colleagues travelled to Neukölln as civil investigators in March 2006. When they saw two men robbing a woman in the airport street, they ordered the perpetrator to stop. He shot eight times from close range and killed Uwe Lieschied. The perpetrator Mehmet E. was sentenced to life imprisonment – at least 15 years – for murder.In 2016 a commemorative plaque for Uwe Lieschied was desecrated. At that time, members of the left-wing radical scene had confessed and mocked the murdered on the Internet.In the meantime, colleagues of Uwe Lieschied set about repairing the desecrated graves.
    Read more:
    https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2019/04/germany-left-wing-extremists-desecrate.html

  8. “Prominent Catholic Cardinal Blasts Those Using the Bible To Promote Mass Migration” by Jack Davis – April 4, 2019https://www.westernjournal.com/prominent-catholic-cardinal-blasts-using-bible-promote-mass-migration/

    “Prominent Catholic Cardinal Blasts Those Using the Bible To Promote Mass Migration”
    Trump News Today – April 4, 2019

  11. Haftar Army Takes Control of Several Southwest Areas of Tripoli – Source (sputniknews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201904051073851625-tripoli-lna-haftar-army-seized/

    “The forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar, have assumed control over several southwest neighbourhoods of Tripoli, engaging in no major clashes so far, a source in the LNA told Sputnik Friday.

    “As of now, the streets of the city are empty. It seems that almost all residents have chosen to leave the city. Several areas are already occupied by the LNA forces, for example, Janzur and Al-Swani, which are in the south-west of Tripoli. No clashes have taken place yet, only a few minor attacks from gangs along the way [of the Haftar army divisions] to Tripoli”, the source said.

    Meanwhile, the mayor of Libya’s Garyan told Sputnik Friday that the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar, had assumed control of the city without fighting.

    “The Libyan National Army entered Garyan and assumed full control over it without any resistance on the part of the armed militia that had withdrawn in the direction of Tripoli several hours before the LNA coming,” Bahlul Sayyid said.

    The mayor said that the situation in the city was calm, no sounds of clashes were heard in neighbouring settlements. Haftar’s army was advancing upon Tripoli, he added.

    Meanwhile, the tracker Flightradar24 shows that Mitiga International Airport and Tripoli International Airport are operating as usual.

    The news comes after media reported on Thursday that the LNA commander had ordered an offensive on Tripoli, controlled by the UN-supported interim Government of National Accord (GNA) after his army took control over cities of Surman and Garyan.

    On 20 March, the United Nations announced that it would sponsor a conference in Ghadames on 14-16 April to address the crisis in Libya and set a date for the long-awaited elections that could restore peace and security for the nation.

    As a result of a years-long civil conflict that erupted following a rebellion and murder of the ex-head of state Muammar Gaddafi, there is no single central government in Libya, and the country’s eastern and western parts are controlled by separate powers. The Tobruk-based parliament, elected in 2014 and backed by the LNA, governs the east of Libya, while the GNA, established in 2015, controls Libya’s western parts from Tripoli.”

    • CIA PUPPET KHALIFA HAFTAR SEIZES LIBYAN TRIBAL LEADERS ATTEMPTING TO STOP TRIBAL CONFERENCE
      PREVIOUS POST FROM 25th MARCH 2019
      The Great Tribes of Libya, representing all the people in Libya have organized a conference of all the tribes to come together and discuss how to move Libya forward to peace and security. The tribes hold the ONLY solution to the Libyan crisis because they are the Libyan people. Unlike the self appointed UN puppet government in Tripoli who is working with and controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization and the LIFG (Libyan Islamic Fighting Group) terrorist organization. The Libyan Tribal Conference will be held in Sirte, a city attacked mercilessly by NATO in 2011 and the home of the Ghadafi Tribe. This tribal conference is a threat to those that would continue their criminal hold on Libya. The people of Libya represented by the great tribes, support a country wide election and they support by 90% Dr. Saif al Islam Ghadafi to be their new President/Leader as does the African Union. When Dr. Saif is elected it will be the end of the Muslim Brotherhood, LIFG, UN puppet Govt, and Khalfa Haftar in Libya. Consequently, these criminal thieves, terrorists and occupiers are doing all they can to thwart the tribal conference and keep the tribes apart. JoanneM
      http://libyanwarthetruth.com/cia-puppet-khalifa-haftar-seizes-libyan-tribal-leaders-attempting-stop-tribal-conference

  12. Railway Station in Athens Disrupted by Migrants’ Sit-Down Protest – Reports (sputniknews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201904051073851983-athens-railway-station-migrants-protest/

    “Dozens of migrants started a sit-down protest in Athens’s Larisis station on the morning of 5 April, suspending all railway services, reportedly hoping they would be transported to the Greek border and join others expecting to restore a 2016 migration path towards northern Europe.

    All railway services have been suspended due to the sit-down, Railway service operator Trainose stated in a press release. Migrants have remained on the train tracks, while a riot police unit is controlling the situation.

    The protesters have reportedly asked for a bus to take them to the area of Diavata in northern Greece, where about 500 migrants, including families with small children, have assembled following a call on social media to get to the border.”

      • Greece: Migrant protest brings Athens’ main train station to standstill

        A group of migrants seeking passage to the Greek border with North Macedonia held a sit-down protest in Athens’ “Larissa Station” on Friday, leading to a standstill in the train service.

        Police were deployed to the scene, as protesters reportedly walked along the tracks towards Thessaloniki.

        Up to 150 migrants are requesting to be transferred to Diavata village in northern Greece, from where they reportedly hope to reach more prosperous European countries, using the migrant route that was shut down in 2016.

      • Migrants occupy Athens rail station in border passage bid

        Dozens of asylum seekers occupy the main railway station in Athens in a burgeoning protest demanding access to the border and passage to other EU states.

    • Migrants and Greek police clash outside camp on northern border

      Small groups of people including children arrived at a field next to the migrant camp of Diavata near the border with North Macedonia on Thursday.

      By Friday morning there were more than 100 tents pitched in the field, prompted by reports on social media of plans for an organised movement to cross Greece’s northwest land border with Albania in early April.

      In Athens, a group of about 50 migrants squatted on the tracks of the capital’s main railway station shouting ‘Germany!’ and ‘Open the borders.’

      Several more were at the station under heavy police presence .

    • Police use tear gas to push back migrants at Diavata

      New clashes broke out on Friday afternoon between riot police and migrants near the Diavata reception centre in northern Greece, after a new group of people tried to break through police lines in a bid to reach the border.

      About 2,000 migrants, including families with small children, had gathered in a cornfield outside the camp by Friday afternoon, following a call on social media to try and cross the border and head to northern Europe.

      Migrants, reportedly led by an Algerian national in a wheelchair, picked up their belongings and tried to push forward. Riot police responding with tear gas and stun grenades.

      After failing to flee, some migrants moved in the opposite direction and set some dry grass on fire, creating a stifling atmosphere.

      One man has unfurled a banner that reads : Help us. We love you,” while others chanted “Open the borders” in Greek and English.

      Earlier in the day, Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas appealed to the migrants at the border to return to the camp, noting that they cannot cross into North Macedonia.

      “It’s a lie that the borders will open,” he told Greek state television ERT.

      http://www.ekathimerini.com/239276/article/ekathimerini/news/police-use-tear-gas-to-push-back-migrants-at-diavata
      ===================================================
      Greek police use tear gas on migrants trying to get further into Europe

      Greece, Turkey each blaming recent migrant movements on ‘unfounded information’ about border access

      Greek police fired tear gas on Friday to disperse migrants who had gathered in a field near the country’s border with Northern Macedonia in the hope of making their way illegally up through the Balkans towards northern Europe.

      Hundreds have made their way to the field in the village of Diavata since Thursday, galvanized by reports on social media of plans for an organized movement to cross Greece’s northwest border with Albania in early April.

      Separately, migrants holed up in Turkey were heading towards that country’s border with Greece following false rumours that Ankara had opened its border gate. Turkish authorities have detained nearly 1,200 migrants there, Turkish media reported.

      By Friday morning, migrants had set up more than 100 tents in the field at Diavata. A crowd trying to make its way towards the Greek border scuffled with police who responded with tear gas. TV footage showed shrubs burning nearby.

      “It’s a lie that the borders will open,” Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas told Greek state television, urging migrants to return to their accommodation centres.

      more :

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/greece-border-migrants-1.5085987

  13. Held to Account: UK Gov’t to Fine Social Media Bosses for ‘Harmful Content’ (sputniknews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/news/201904051073853807-UK-social-media-fines/

    “The news comes amidst a slow sea change in the attitudes of governments, particularly Western, toward the activities of social media companies, namely Facebook, with many among them calling for the implementation of stricter regulatory policies.

    The heads of social media companies could be personally held responsible by the British government for any “harmful content” published on their platforms, according to a leaked government proposal obtained by the Guardian.

    According to the leak, ministers will legislate for what is being billed as a “duty of care” to be policed by an independent watchdog. The body will be tasked with monitoring social media content, handing out fines for any breaches by social media companies and will also be given the power to hold company executives like Mark Zuckerberg, personally, to account.

    It has been reported that the policy will be launched on Monday, April 8, as part of a larger government white paper on the negative consequences of widespread social media usage.

    ?Slippery path which could lead to the death of the Internet, many despotic Countries around the world that criticised on the net can will claim that publications are harmful.

    A government spokesperson has been quoted as saying that, “we will shortly publish a white paper which will set out the responsibilities of online platforms, how these responsibilities should be met and what would happen if they are not.”

    “We have heard calls for an internet regulator and to place a statutory ‘duty of care’ on platforms, and have seriously considered all options,” the spokesperson added.

    The development comes amidst increasing international concern about the degree to which social media giants like Facebook are able to operate with impunity regarding content published on their platforms. For example, it was recently discovered that Facebook was being used to auction off slaves in Nigeria. It has also been reported that Mark Zuckerberg has entered into an alliance with the UK’s Daily Telegraph in order to get favourable press coverage. The aforementioned of course has all been happening in a political climate where Facebook is alleged to have allowed ‘fake news’ to spread on its website.

    In an interview with Business Insider UK back in January, Margot James, the UK’s Digital Minister, said that the UK government was putting together plans for a new independent regular to whip social companies into shape: “there will be a powerful sanctions regime and it’s inconceivable that it won’t include financial penalties [against companies],” Miss James said at the time.

    The development comes not long after the publication of a report into online “disinformation” by the UK parliamentary Digital and Culture Committee. The report concluded that Facebook had become a “digital gangster” and called for the social media giant to be regulated by new government law, also saying that the UK should lead the way in a global effort to restore “balance” between social media platforms and “the people.””

  14. ‘A woman must not deny her husband’- books on female subservience found in Islamic school (express, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1110174/islamic-school-sodomy-misogynistic-forest-gate-ofsted-extreme-views

    “AN ISLAMIC primary school has failed an Ofsted report after inspectors found books saying a husband had the right to “interfere” with his wife’s freedom and others attacking homosexuality.

    mam Zakariya Academy was found to be careless when it came to protecting children from “accessing extreme views” and ordered to educate its staff about how to recognise “inappropriate literature” and remove it immediately. One passage found in a book in the library at the mixed school in Forest Gate, East London, focused on the subservience of a woman to her husband and stated how a man should respond if his wife chooses to “neglect herself”. It said: “A wife must not deny herself to her husband… Moreover, the wife is not permitted to do anything that may render her companionship less desirable or less gratifying.

    “If she does any such thing or neglects herself, the husband has the right to interfere with her freedom and to rectify the situation.”

    Another excerpt from a book said: “Many so-called wise people are committing it, but sodomy is such an awful thing that even animals abhor it, except the pigs.”

    The report said staff were unaware of the books’ presence in the library and could not say whether they had been ready by children.

    While they said pupils did not use the library, children told the pair of inspectors they spent time in there on a regular basis.

    The private school, which charges £2,600 per year, is attended by 91 pupils between the ages of five and 11.

    The regulatory body identified “serious failings in safeguarding arrangements” and said pupils faced a “considerable risk” when it came to their welfare and personal development.

    Ofsted ordered the school to overhaul its safeguarding system and improve its “disorganised” records database.

    It is attached to Forest Gate Masjid, which in 2017 was among a string of London mosques sent hate letters warning them about explosives which would be planted on their premises.

    The damning report comes after parents, mostly Muslims, at a Birmingham primary school spent weeks protesting against their children being taught about homosexuality.

    Parkfield Community School cancelled the lessons after hundreds of pupils were pulled out of school to demonstrate against the “No Outsiders” project.

    One parent said they took issue with the lessons because they contained “too much emphasis on the LGBT side”.

    Express has contacted Imam Zakariya Academy for comment.”

    • Imam Zakariya Academy
      Dhimmis who beat with the hand
      ‘Careless in protecting their children’
      In Socialist Britain mainland.

      ‘Accessing extremist reviews’
      Hair-pullers of ear or the chin.
      Possessions from Patriarchal Homogeny
      Deficient and closer to Jinns.

      Women-Study University.
      Males enter when cut off their Man.
      ‘Careless in protecting their children’
      The wolves will sleep with the lamb.

      ‘Accessing extremist reviews’
      Vaginas go out enter in.
      Lesbians, Gays and Identities
      Twisting alone in the wind.

  16. Germany appeals to Europe to divvy up rescued migrants (abcnews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sea-eye-asks-germany-find-port-64-migrants-62192172

    “Germany said Friday that it has asked the European Union to find safe port for a German humanitarian group’s rescue boat carrying 64 migrants following appeals both from the NGO and Italy’s hard-line interior minister, who refuses to allow them to land.

    German Interior Ministry spokesman Stefan Ruwwe-Gloesenkamp said Friday that Berlin has asked the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, to coordinate the search for a safe port. He said Germany trusts that “a large number of member states” will be prepared to take in migrants and Berlin is ready to do “its part.”

    The German humanitarian group Sea-Eye said Friday that it was appealing to Berlin to use diplomatic channels to find a safe port for the migrants it rescued off Libya on Wednesday.

    Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that his ministry sent a formal letter on Thursday to the German government telling them the ship cannot dock in Italy and asking them to intervene.

    Salvini reaffirmed his hard line toward similar actions of the NGOs operating in the Mediterranean Sea speaking at the G-7 in France, saying “that clearly not all NGOs, but some of them, are accomplices” in human trafficking.

    Sea-Eye spokesman Carlotta Weibl said Friday that the rescue boat Alan Kurdi remains in international waters off Lampedusa and will not approach Italy’s southernmost island until it has permission. Conditions on board were worsening and a storm was approaching, she said, adding they have asked Germany’s Foreign Ministry to intervene.

    Malta and Italy have been refusing to open ports to humanitarian rescue ships, saying their activities encourage smugglers to pack unseaworthy rubber dinghies with migrants looking for sanctuary in Europe.

    Salvini said in France that Sea-Eye put the migrants’ lives at risk by traveling north toward Europe after rescuing them 25 miles from the Libyan coast.

    However, international norms on sea rescues require migrants be brought to a safe port. Multiple bodies including the EU have declared that Libya does not meet the definition of a safe port due to ongoing lawlessness and reports of abuse and torture inside migrant detention centers.”

    • Migrant mothers, kids refuse to leave German rescue ship

      ROME: Two migrant mothers and their two children on board the German rescue ship Sea-Eye have refused to leave without their fathers, Italian officials and the NGO said Friday

      “The women and children refuse to leave the ship. We can only wish them a good trip towards Berlin,” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said in a statement.

      On Wednesday, the German-flagged ship rescued 64 people from an inflatable raft after efforts to contact the Libyan coastguard failed.

      It headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa and on Friday an agreement was reached under which two children aboard, aged one and six, would be allowed to land with their two mothers and a pregnant woman.

      The fathers were not allowed to accompany them however.

      “To separate mothers and children from their fathers without a proper reason is active family separation and emotional torture,” a Sea-Eye statement said.

      In Berlin, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP the country was “ready to do its part” and welcome some of the 64 migrants within the framework of a European burden-sharing deal.

      According to Sea-Eye, 47 German cities have offered to host the migrants, and it said that reserves of fresh water and food will soon run out owing to the large number of people on board.

      Salvini, a leader of the far-right League party, reiterated last month that he would close Italian ports to migrant rescue NGOs operating in the Mediterranean, to force Europe to take its share of asylum seekers.

      He said Thursday that his stance had been backed by fellow G7 interior ministers.

      “The NGOs are a problem and they help human traffickers,” Salvini charged.

      http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/migrant-mothers–kids-refuse-to-leave-german-rescue-ship-11418202

  17. Taliban siege in remote Afghan province kills 12 more troops (abcnews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/taliban-attack-afghan-province-kills-12-troops-62190368

    “The Taliban besieged an Afghan government and army compound in a remote western province for a second day Friday, killing at least 12 more troops, according to local officials who issued a dramatic warning, saying those inside the compound were running out of ammunition.

    The latest fatalities brought the overall death toll for the assault in Badghis province to at least 32 Afghan soldiers and policemen. Many more have been wounded and the area is cut off, said Mohammad Nasir Nazari, a provincial councilmember.

    Nazari said that according to soldiers inside the base in the district of Bala Murghab, roughly 2,000 Taliban fighters are involved in the attack, with about 600 Afghan troops and members of the security forces inside.

    “They are running out of everything — ammunition, water and food,” said Nazari.

    Abdul Waris Sherzad, a district chief, said local officials and residents were disappointed that NATO forces and the Afghan government have not helped…”

  18. Saudi Arabia arrests more activists, including 2 US citizens (abcnews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/saudi-arabia-arrests-activists-including-us-citizen-62187752

    “Saudi Arabia detained eight people, including two dual U.S.-Saudi citizens, in a new round of arrests in the kingdom targeting individuals supportive of women’s rights and those with ties to jailed activists, a person with knowledge of the apprehensions said Friday.

    It marks the first sweep of arrests to target individuals perceived as critics of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman since the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October. The arrests come despite global outcry over Khashoggi’s grisly killing by Saudi agents in an operation directed by former top aides to the crown prince.

    The arrested individuals, nearly all of whom were detained on Thursday, are not seen as front-line activists. They are writers and advocates who quietly supported greater social reforms and most had ties to the group of women’s rights activists currently on trial.

    Those detained include a pregnant woman and seven men, among them two U.S.-Saudi nationals: Badr al-Ibrahim, a writer and physician, and Salah al-Haidar, whose mother is prominent women’s rights activist Aziza al-Yousef who was recently temporarily released from prison.

    Al-Haidar has a family home in Vienna, Virginia, and lives with his wife and child in Saudi Arabia.

    A third U.S.-Saudi national, Walid al-Fitaihi, remains imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since late 2017, when the crown prince detained more than 100 businessmen, princes and officials in a purported anti-corruption sweep. Al-Fitaihi, whose family alleges that he’s been tortured in prison, worked as a physician in the Boston area before he returned in 2006 to his native Saudi Arabia, where he helped found a hospital built by his family.

    Nearly all of those detained Thursday were taken from their homes in the capital, Riyadh. One individual was arrested in the eastern city of Dammam, according to the person with knowledge of the arrests, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

    The individuals were not active politically on Twitter and were not widely quoted in foreign media. The group loosely had ties to one another, some as friends and others through intellectual circles, including with Saudi activists living abroad.

    Those arrested include: Khadijah al-Harbi, a feminist writer who is pregnant; her husband Thumar al-Marzouqi, also a writer; Mohammed al-Sadiq and Abdullah al-Dehailan, both writers; and Fahad Abalkhail, an activist who supported the right of women to drive.

    Anas al-Mazroui, a lecturer at King Saud university was believed to have been detained last month. He was not known to be actively involved in human rights work and appears to have been detained shortly after he merely mentioned the names of some of the detained women’s rights activists during a panel discussion about human rights at a book fair in Saudi Arabia.

    The person with knowledge of their arrests said the group is among 13 people placed under travel bans since February.

    Meanwhile, the siblings of Loujain al-Hathloul, a female activist detained since May, stated on Twitter this week that they are being pressured to remain silent about her arrest and her claims of torture. The siblings live outside Saudi Arabia, but their father who resides in Saudi Arabia was previously briefly detained after tweeting about his daughter’s imprisonment.

    Al-Hathloul and Aziza al-Yousef are among nearly a dozen women on trial for charges related to their activism, which included campaigning for the right to drive before the ban was lifted last year and calling for an end to guardianship laws that give men final say over a woman’s right to marry or travel abroad.

    Al-Yousef, a grandmother and former university professor, was released from prison last week along with two other women. Al-Hathloul and at least 10 other women activists remain imprisoned.

    The women — some of whom have been held in solitary confinement for months — have told the court they were abused during interrogations, including being waterboarded, caned, electrocuted, sexually assaulted and threatened with rape and death.”

  25. Calif. County sues Dept. of Homeland Security over cost of asylum seeking migrants

    San Diego County is suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over the rising cost of asylum seekers. The Southern California county filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the heads of the agencies within the department, claiming the county has suffered from the release of asylum-seeking migrants.

    Many illegal immigrants can not be immediately deported and must be allowed to stay in the country to wait out their court case, because of loopholes in immigration law.

    Due to limited funds and housing resources, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were forced to stop implementing their “safe release” policy last fall, which provided asylum seekers assistance to reach destinations outside of San Diego.

    The county is now left to front the bill for the upkeep of migrant shelters and medical care, which is estimated to cost millions of dollars.

    https://www.oann.com/calif-county-sues-dept-of-homeland-security-over-cost-of-asylum-seeking-migrants/

  26. Richard: Read the entire article to get a good understanding of the final sentence, back in 2012 the Obama administration was arranging court orders that secretly modified the law legalizing the FISA courts so the FBI and the Intelligence Agencies could become political operatives. More down below after you have read the article.

    Obama got expanded authority to exchange FISA-controlled intel with foreign governments – in 2012
    By Daily Caller News Foundation April 5, 2019

    A 2012 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court motion contained a little-noticed provision expanding the FBI’s ability to share information with foreign officials, which could have laid the groundwork for abuses against U.S. citizens, Rep. Louie Gohmert said.

    “This motion and order would allow the FBI to collude with foreign governments about U.S. citizens,” Gohmert, a Texas Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

    The potential for the U.S. government to spy on citizens — including for potentially political purposes — by partnering with foreign governments has come under renewed scrutiny following a pattern of Trump campaign associates being seemingly targeted abroad or by using their contacts with foreigners.

    Why did they do this in 2012?” he said. “It seems like they were setting the stage for the FBI to become more politically operative. In what other places might it have been helpful?”

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/04/05/obama-got-expanded-authority-to-exchange-fisa-controlled-intel-with-foreign-governments-in-2012/

    Richard: This was done (in 2012) to give some cover for the political operatives that the Obama administration had put in charge of the FBI, DOJ CIA and Homeland Security.

    Back in 2008 the Dems tried the Russian Collusion scheme against McCain and it went nowhere, possibly because he lost the election. We know the surveillance Donald Trump started before he secured the Nomination so it is probably safe to think that the rest of the Republican Field in 2016 were under Federal Surveillance. The Dems were planning on Hillary being elected (they were hoping she would carry the Dems into control of Congress) this would give them the power to further modify the laws to ensure that from 2016 on only Dems could be elected President.

    The fact that their unconstitutional actions would have touched off a civil war didn’t worry them, they have been pushing for a civil war for a long time. The Dems believe their own propaganda and look down on everyone that disagrees with them. they think that the military is composed of biological robots that will obey all orders no matter how illegal they may be. They also ignore the fact that the military personal they purge for being politically unreliable (from the Dems point of view being loyal to the Constitution and the Nation is being politically unreliable. They insist on loyalty to the Dem Party) will lose their skills and knowledge and will not be able to get with others who think the same way.

    Any one who thinks the Dems have given up on their scheme to change the US from a Representative Republic into a Far Left Oligarchy are mistaken. The Dems were so close to (in their opinion) winning everything that they can’t give up. Like France and Britain the US is on the road to a massive civil war, and the war is not too far away.

    All of this is happening at the time when our external enemies are pushing for a massive confrontation in the Middle East, the Far East and for the collapse for what passes for Governments in Europe.

  27. Congress pressures tech giants to restrict speech
    By Hans Bader April 5, 2019

    The Washington Post reports that “House Democrats plan to grill Facebook and Google next week on their efforts to stop the spread of white nationalism and hate speech online.” In essence, the House of Representatives is pressuring them to censor constitutionally protected speech. Hate speech is protected by the First Amendment online. The Supreme Court stuck down a hate-speech ordinance in 1992, in R.A.V. v. St. Paul. That same year, it made clear that white nationalism is also protected speech, in Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement. In that decision, it ruled that a white nationalist group could not be charged more money for a parade permit despite the inflammatory nature of its speech. Speech on the internet is protected to the fullest under the First Amendment, as the Supreme Court ruled in Reno v. ACLU (1997).

    As Kevin Bankston notes, “white nationalism is ahborrent, but it is very troubling to have a Congressional hearing that could basically be retitled ‘how can Congress pressure social media companies to take down more legal speech that it could never legally censor itself.’” The pressure is real, because social media companies know that an angry Congress could easily subject them to ruinous lawsuits just by repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, as some in Congress have publicly pondered doing. As the Los Angeles Times notes, the liability shield in Section 230 literally “created the internet” as we know it today.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/04/05/congress-pressures-tech-giants-to-restrict-speech/

  28. FRANCE

    ‘Heir of Mohamed Merah’: French Cops Arrest Terror Suspect Inspired by Islamist Behind Jewish School Massacre in Toulouse.

    French media outlets revealed on Wednesday that a man who described himself as the “heir of Mohamed Merah” — the Islamist terrorist who murdered three young children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse in March 2012 — was arrested by security agents last week on suspicion of plotting his own terrorist attack against a school.

    Broadcaster BFM TV reported that the man was seized in the Seine-et-Marne region near Paris on March 25 while attempting to obtain weapons. According to police, the man had been planning an attack on children at a nursery school, apparently following the example set by his hero, Merah. A second man was also arrested on charges of complicity.

    During his interrogation by police officers, the main suspect, a 21-year-old, told police that he saw himself as Merah’s “heir.” He admitted that he had picked out a school as his target, and that his plan had been to kill some children and take others hostage, with the goal of dragging police into a gun battle. The man was subsequently charged on March 29 and remains in custody.

    The arrested man was already the subject of a French intelligence file, BFM TV reported. Investigators who inspected his computer and cell phone said that he had attempted to erase his browsing history, including extensive use of the dark web.

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/03/heir-of-mohamed-merah-french-cops-arrest-suspected-terrorist-inspired-by-islamist-behind-jewish-school-massacre-in-toulouse/

  29. Syria: ‘Biggest mistake of my life’ – former IS member recounts living in Caliphate

    German citizen Martin Lemke recounts how he became a member of the self-proclaimed Islamic State and what it was like to live in a caliphate.

    In an exclusive interview filmed on Monday near Qamishli, in Syria’s Jazira region, for Ruptly, Lemke admits that joining IS was “the biggest mistake” of his life.

    A welder from the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, Lemke converted to Islam at the age of 18, after moving to Leipzig.

    Some time later he was invited to a seminar in Hildesheim. “In this city there were a lot of people who represented IS […] They tried to explain to us that IS was a true representation of Islam,” he recalls.

    “I was there for 2 or 3 months and let myself be convinced, and then I came to Islamic State. I emigrated with two women – I had two wives in Germany – and one son.”

    After arriving in Turkey, Lemke and his family were taken by a smuggler across the border into Syria, where he soon found himself enrolled at an Isis religious school.

    According to Lemke, the main reason behind his emigration was the wish to live the religious life he wanted to.

    “My family and I emigrated to live Islam without problems, to not encounter problems. And that’s the reason we emigrated. We did not emigrate because of the war, we did not emigrate to fight, with such intentions. At the time we emigrated, we did not know Islamic State – we had only heard of it. We were very naive and we fell for it very quickly.”

    Following the training, Lemke allegedly started to work in a hospital in Raqqa. “In the hospital I played a main role in security – I took weapons away, as weapons weren’t allowed in the hospital, water couldn’t be brought in, when bombings occurred things had to be organised, cars and such things,” he says.

    As the territory of ISIS was shrinking due to the fighting, Lemke’s family was forced to take flight. “We didn’t have a house, any food, any money. We travelled from one place to another. We broke into stores, where we slept for two or three days, then we continued to the next place.”

    By the time Lemke realised that ISIS had nothing to do with true Islamic faith. “Of course, we started to hate these people. But we couldn’t just leave. It was difficult, they made it difficult. As I said, many people were caught, we were very intimidated.”

    Shortly before IS faced final territorial defeat, Lemke was detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces, now he is trying to return back to Germany. If German authorities approve his request, he hopes to bring his children, who are currently in France, there, as well HIS WIVES, who are apparently still in camps in Syria.

    Ruptly has not been able to verify the authenticity of the statements made by Lemke and his account only provides his own personal perspective on events.

    • Syria: ‘Nobody wants us. I don’t blame them’ – German IS member in SDF detention camp

      German citizen Lukas Glass recalled his story on how he became a member of the so-called Islamic State , left his home to live in the self-proclaimed Caliphate in Syria, and the course of events that led to his disillusionment and decision to surrender to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

      In an exclusive interview filmed for Ruptly at an SDF camp for IS members near Qamishli in Syria’s Jazira region on Monday, Glass said “after these crimes committed by IS, nobody wants us. I don’t blame them.”

      Glass, who is 23 years old and originally hails from Dortmund, converted to Islam when he was 15 years old.

      “Since I was 12, I’ve thought about a lot of things, what happens after the death? What is the meaning of life? Why did god create us, these kinds of things. I was looking for an answer. I found my answer in Islam,” Glass said.

      Glass married his wife, who also converted to Islam, in June 2014. Only a month later they began their journey to Syria with the help of a “smuggler” and entered Syria through Turkey. His two children were both born in Syria.

      When asked about his employment within the Islamic State, Glass explained that while he was assigned to an armed brigade in northern rural Aleppo, he was walking with crutches at the time, so was spared from serving combat role and instead worked security. Glass “worked in this brigade for a year and a half,” but when the Free Syrian Army began to attack areas in northern rural Aleppo, he asked to be reassigned again.

      Glass explained his life in Raqqa was “pretty normal. I went to work at the police station every morning, then I would go back home. It was a really normal thing.”

      It was in Raqqa that Glass began to question his allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, after witnessing what he called “a lot of injustices. Not just injustices, mistreatments against Muslims and non-Muslims, the prisoners, too.”

      Glass then recalled how he saw a man being beheaded, who IS authorities accused of “dealing with the regime” and planting GPS chips at a mosque, allegedly costing the lives of some 500 people.

      “After it was clear to me that there were many and grave encroachments, I left the Islamic State,” Glass added, explaining that this came after he had worked in the police unit in Raqqa for about three months. He said that he had the liberty to leave whenever he wished, but that on doing so he stopped receiving a stipend. Glass then went on to live a civilian life in Abu-Kamal, Hajeen, and Sousa before leaving IS territory to surrender to the SDF.

      “Everybody knows, if someone surrendered to the regime, they are tortured to death, and in Iraq too. Right? I had wanted to leave for a long time and I couldn’t. So the only way was for me to surrender to the Syrian Democratic Forces,” Glass said.

      Glass claimed that the Islam he learned in Germany and later on IS territory was not “true” Islam, adding “I learned Islam through the publications by terrorist groups.”

      Speaking about his future, Glass said that he hopes he and his family can to return to Germany, and after leaving jail, to live a normal life. He said this was a common feeling amongst other foreigners who joined IS. When asked if he knew that their homelands did not want them to return, Glass said:

      “Nobody wants us. After these crimes committed by IS, nobody wants us. I don’t blame them.”

      “Everybody makes mistakes. Those who admit their mistakes later are better than those who stay in the wrong… we committed those mistakes and we are responsible for them. Now, we are being punished, because we deserve this punishment,” Glass added.

      Ruptly has not been able to verify the authenticity of the statements made by Glass and his account only provides his own personal perspective on events. This interview was conducted in Arabic, and a German version is also available.

    • Syria: Dutch former IS member wants his ‘normal life’ back after leaving the Caliphate

      Dutch citizen Yakhoci Riedijk of Arnhem had been working as a blacksmith when he made the decision to leave his home and join the so-called Islamic State , a decision he would later come to “regret.”

      In an exclusive interview filmed for Ruptly at an SDF camp for IS members near Qamishli in Syria’s Jazira region on Monday, Riedijk recounted how he stumbled upon IS ideology on the internet and reached out to militants through Twitter.

      “I said I wanted to go to Syria.”

      He wrote to someone called Abu Yousef Al-Holandi, who then gave him the number of a smuggler who took him into Syria in 2014.

      He sat inside the smuggler’s van alongside men from Indonesia and Bosnia.

      “We were taken to the borders, from the borders we were told to walk on foot,” recalled Riedijk.

      After having joined the Caliphate, Riedijk married. Ten days later, IS authorities charged him with espionage for the Dutch government, imprisoned him and tortured him.

      “I was set free after seven and half months, my body was in very bad condition,” recounted Riedijk. He was then assigned to the second brigade.

      “I wish to return home, spend the due time in jail, then go back to normal life with my wife, with no troubles, no wars and no poverty,” said Riedijk as he tried not to sleep.

      “I feel regret, I want to go back to my normal life and improve myself, I would never go back to such error.”

      Ruptly has not been able to verify the authenticity of the statements made by Glass and his account only provides his own personal perspective on events.

    • Syria: Women and children await repatriation in dire conditions at Al-Hol camp

      Dire living conditions, scarcity of aid, and the fear and uncertainty over their return to their home countries were some of the hardships displaced women and children were facing at the Al-Hol camp in north-eastern Syria, footage filmed on Thursday shows.

      Many had their lost children and husbands as they fled the now-fallen enclave of the self-proclaimed Islamic State near Baghouz in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. They yearned to go back home to their countries but feared the potential consequences.

      “People are telling us that you’d be jailed, we don’t care about their opinion, we just want to return to Iraq,” said Oum Ayman, who said she had not done anything wrong.

      Oum Bahae, however, was still waiting for news regarding the fate of her husband.

      “We won’t return before we get news about them. Once we know about their fate we’ll go back to Iraq, otherwise we won’t leave and we’ll stay here.”

      Hatice, a Turkish woman who said she had followed her husband into Syria after he had allegedly kidnapped her children, said “I lost one of my daughters. I want to go to Turkey now. I love my country. I miss my home country.”

      According to the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer, mothers and children, many of whom are unaccompanied or orphaned, make up most of the population of the Al-Hol camp.

  30. USA: Hundreds rally to demand release of Mueller report outside White House

    Hundreds gathered outside the White House on Thursday to demand the release of the full report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

    The event, which was backed by a number of campaign groups as Move On.org, the Center for American Progress and the Women’s March, criticized US Attorney General William Barr for releasing only a four page summary of the long awaited report into alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential election.

    Barr’s summary largely exonerated US President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice charges, but some members of the Mueller team have reportedly said they believe the summary to be inaccurate.

    The full release of the nearly 400 page document has been demanded by Democrats in the House of Representatives, but this could reportedly take until mid-April.

  31. test 03 –
    APRIL 05 2019 – GREECE – Muslim migrants attacking the Greek police in Diavata

  32. GERMANY – Irregular migrants in European cities: Frankfurt’s response

    “…..Frankfurt is an open-minded city , the city of diversity….”

  33. ‘No Communal Repatriation’: France Says Won’t Take Back Daesh Fighters, Families (sputniknews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201904051073865314-france-daesh-terrorists-families/

    “Thursday’s talks saw the G7 agree on the crucial importance of finding ways to prevent the “dispersal of foreign terrorist fighters and their families” around Europe and the US.

    French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has dismissed earlier reports that his country is floating an idea of repatriating Daesh* militants and their families detained in Syria after the self-proclaimed “caliphate” of the terrorist group was finally eliminated in the last Daesh stronghold of Baghouz in March.

    “It’s logical that our services considered all hypotheses. This was one of the hypotheses they prepared”, Castaner said at a press conference on Friday on the heels of the G7 interior minister talks in Paris.

    He further stated that no communal repatriation was ever viewed as a possible option, reiterating that France would still consider bringing back terrorists’ children, “either orphans or [children] isolated from their parents”, but on a “case-by-case basis”.

    According to the UN children’s agency UNICEF, around 3,000 foreign children from 43 countries are housed at the Al-Hol camp in Syria alone, which has taken in the most people fleeing the Daesh “caliphate” in recent weeks.

    French daily newspaper Liberation released an article on Thursday reporting that in early March, the government had been prepared to bring home around 250 men, women, and children, but had to abandon the plan following public outrage at such mass repatriations.

    Addressing the issue in his speech, Castaner denied the newspaper’s assumption that France’s policy regarding Daesh fighters is determined by the general public’s opinion.

    During the Thursday meeting, interior ministers of the Group of Seven most advanced economies, including Germany, France, and the US, agreed on the need to “do their utmost to prevent the dispersal of foreign terrorist fighters and their families”, French media cited the chairman, Christophe Castaner, as saying.

    Jihadists’ repatriation remains a sensitive and politically fraught topic in the Western world, with France, for instance, not having fully recovered from the Daesh-claimed attack in November of 2015, in which 129 people were murdered. Western countries appear to be looking a tad differently at how best to handle the repatriation issue.

    The United States recommends that each country take charge of its own jihadists and judge them on its territory, whereas France wants the perpetrators to be judged on the spot. In a Thursday interview with Le Figaro, Castaner stated that his country’s proposal “deserves to be studied”, likewise the infrastructure for terrorists’ legal prosecution on the spot. “We must install a prison, make magistrates available”, he specified in the interview.

    Current government figures suggest that up to 1,700 French nationals travelled to Iraq and Syria to join the terrorists between 2014 and 2018, with about 300 fighters believed to have died in combat.

    * Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia”

  34. French Interior Minister: NGOs Rescuing Migrants Could be Smuggler ‘Accomplices’ (sputniknews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201904051073868076-french-minister-ngos-migrants-smuggler/

    “On Thursday, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini strongly denounced the role of migrant rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean, with the comments arriving a month after he announced that Italy would close its ports to Libyan refugees in an attempt to make the rest of Europe also take its share of asylum-seekers.

    According to France’s Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, some aid groups operating in the Mediterranean Sea seem at times to be accomplices to human traffickers and smugglers in the region. Calling for a “responsible attitude”, the minister pointed to “a real collusion between smugglers and some NGOs”, citing their detected phone communication to “facilitate the migrants’ departure from Libyan coasts in appalling conditions”, the minister remarked at the press conference of the G7 interior ministers’ meeting in Paris on Friday, which aims to prepare for the upcoming G7 talks in Biarritz slated for August.

    His sentiment echoes that of his Italian counterpart Matteo Salvini, who reiterated his firm stance on illegal immigration.

    On Thursday, the Italian minister of the interior and leader of the right-wing League party, Matteo Salvini, condemned the role of NGOs in the Mediterranean, saying that he had received the support of his French, German, and British colleagues, and of the G7 as a whole, over his position.

    “To my great satisfaction, I am not the only one to have doubts about NGOs in the Mediterranean. Ask my French, German and British colleagues. Everyone at the table noted it: the NGOs are a problem and they help human traffickers,” he pointed out, as quoted by The Local.

    Also, Salvini said on Thursday that he had told Germany to deal with a ship run by a German charity carrying dozens of migrants picked up in the Mediterranean as they headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa.

    “The ship is German property, with a German flag and a German crew… It’s their problem, they must deal with it”, Salvini said on the side-lines of the G7 meeting, echoing his statement last month that he would close Italy’s ports to migrant rescue NGOs in a bid to force Europe to take its share of asylum-seekers.

    When later asked to share his take on his purported support for Salvini, France’s Interior Minister Castaner, a member of French President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-European government, stressed that although he has political differences with his Italian colleague, both countries agreed to cooperate on migration issues.”

  35. Tariq Ramadan was paid €35,000 a month as a consultant to the Qatar Foundation

    ===============================================
    Qatar ‘spent huge sums on Muslim Brotherhood groups in Europe’

    Scale of payments from Doha to Tariq Ramadan also revealed in documents published in new book

    Details of the lavish payments made by Qatar to Muslim Brotherhood organisations in Europe, including furnishing funds the academic Tariq Ramadan has used for legal fees to fight rape allegations, have emerged in a new book.

    Qatar Papers – How the emirate finances Islam in France and Europe, written by two French journalists, publishes evidence that cheques and money transfers from Qatar have been used to underwrite more than 140 projects around Europe, where the Muslim Brotherhood has sought to expand its influence.

    The book also documents payments of €72 million (Dh296m) to groups in seven European countries. In just one region of France, the payments have totalled €4.6m, including €3m for the Averroes de Lille high school. Several staff at the school were linked to Muslim community bodies that also attracted Qatari support.

    According to the book, Mr Ramadan was paid €35,000 a month as a consultant to the Qatar Foundation, a body set up by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the wife of the last emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Just before his arrest early last year that saw Mr Ramadan under criminal investigation, bank documents show that he withdrew €590,000 from Qatari bank accounts.

    The authors point out that Mr Ramadan and his wife bought two apartments in prestigious areas of Paris in the same year.

    The funds directed to leading Muslim Brotherhood figures in France and Switzerland, including Mucivi, or Le Musée des civilisations de l’Islam, a museum in Geneva that displays Muslim Brotherhood propaganda. It has received 1.4 million Swiss francs.

    Swiss police are quoted expressing frustration that they cannot investigate the affairs of the Muslim League of Switzerland because it is a religious association, except in matters of terrorism. Documents found in the Swiss home of Youssef Nada, a formerly prominent leader of the brotherhood, set out a strategy for co-opting mayors and other local bodies as tools of influence.

    The book names a long-standing employee of the Qatari embassy in Paris as the key link in the money chain in Paris. The employee is described as a protege of the ideological leader of the group, Qatar-based Yusuf Al Qaradawi. It also highlights French intelligence warnings about Qatari support for the L’Union des organisations islamiques de France, an umbrella body in France. It adds that Emmanuel Macron sought assurances from Qatari leaders that there would be no unreported financing of activities in France and that Doha would comply with initiatives to control funding of terrorism. “Following our investigation we have some reason to doubt that the Qatari leader respected his promise,” the authors state.

    Investigations into Mr Ramadan, a 56-year-old who is currently on bail and has surrendered his passport to the French authorities, centre on accusations that he raped two women, in 2009 and 2012. One is the outspoken feminist and activist Henda Ayari and the other, a disabled convert to Islam who has been named only as “Christelle”. He denies the charges.

    Last month a French court rejected a request to drop the two rape charges levelled against him. He was released on a €300,000 (Dh1.24 million) bail last November after ten months in jail.

    The Swiss academic was a professor at Oxford University but agreed to take a leave of absence in November 2017 when the allegations surfaced. He is still being paid by the college, which has benefited from lavish Qatari funding.

    A married father of four, Mr Ramadan’s Egyptian grandfather was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and his brother Hani heads the movement’s Islamic Centre of Geneva.

    Large sums were also directed to Italy where the Al Houda Centre in Rome received €4million and the Union delle Comunita Islamiche d’Italia is the main conduit for Doha’s largesse.

    The book also raises the fundraising and spending patterns of the Nectar Trust, which was formerly known as Qatar Charity. While it raised £27.9 million from grants in the year to March 31, 2017, its income slumped dramatically the following year to just £116,615.

    Not just British projects were listed among the beneficiaries in the accounts. Nectar Trust directed funds to the Annour Centre in Mulhouse, France, one of towns where Qatar spending ran into the millions of euros.

    https://www.thenational.ae/world/qatar-spent-huge-sums-on-muslim-brotherhood-groups-in-europe-1.845510

    ======================================================
    “Qatar Papers” A new book of French journalists reveals the scandals of the Qatar Charity Foundation in Europe

    The book reveals how Qatar finances Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Hasan al-Banna.

    · Confidential documents reveal the amount of money spent by the suspicious Foundation to finance Islamic organizations in Europe

    The French and European libraries have published a new book entitled “Qatar Papers” written by the French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.

    The two journalists Christian Chesnot (France Inter) and Georges Malbrunot (Le Figaro) have got their hands on the detailed accounts of a Qatari NGO, Qatar Charity, whose mission is to help Muslim communities on Europe.

    Their book, “Qatar Papers”, which is teeming with accounting documents, lists countless projects on French soil (mosques, schools, associations, etc.) directly financed by this NGO linked to the Emir.

    The book finally reveals the emoluments of Tariq Ramadan. According to Chesnot and Malbrunot, the Islamologist received as much as 35,000 euros a month from the Qatar Foundation as a consultant. And in early 2018, Tariq Ramadan had also received 19,000 euros from the League of Muslims in Switzerland, while he was going to be indicted and incarcerated for ten months.

    It’s worth to mention that Ramadan has been accused in a number of rape cases.

    Many secrets are revealed for the first time in this new book published by Michelle Lafon publishing house, which presents the summary of a field investigation conducted in six European cities and more than 12 cities in France.

    The book also reveals the language of the dual discourse that takes place in centers and schools funded by this suspicious organization where most of these associations and organizations.

    The book highlights the scenes of what is going on in this suspicious society, which enjoys great funding and the great potential provided by Qatar, especially that it includes members of Al Thani family, which rule Qatar.

    This book comes at a crucial moment in which external interference is revealed to influence Islam in France The time when French President Emmanuel Macaron is trying to reorganize his papers and institutions.

    http://www.thereference-paris.com/3983

  36. Deutsche Welle – Obama meets ‘my friend Angela’ in Berlin

    A day after praising her at an event in Cologne, the former US president met with Chancellor Merkel in the German capital. “She is worthy of applause,” he said.

    https://www.dw.com/en/obama-meets-my-friend-angela-in-berlin/a-48232739

    ======================================================
    DAILY MAIL – Life is so much harder with the new guy! Angela Merkel gives Barack Obama a very warm welcome in Germany amid cooling Trans-Atlantic relations with Trump

    German Chancellor hugged Barack Obama during a visit to Cologne and Berlin
    They had meeting at Chancellery where they discussed Trans-Atlantic relations
    Comes as Merkel/Trump relations at low over Germany’s Nato spending amount

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6891543/Angela-Merkel-gives-Barack-Obama-warm-welcome-Germany-amid-cooling-relations-Trump.html

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

  38. Torture Videos: Germany Finds Man Guilty of Syrian War Crimes (breitbart, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/04/05/torture-videos-germany-finds-man-guilty-of-syrian-war-crimes/

    “A court in Germany has found a 29-year-old Syrian man guilty of war crimes for torturing members of pro-government forces in Syria.

    German news agency dpa reported Thursday that the Stuttgart regional court sentenced Mohamad K. to four years and six months in prison.

    K., whose last name was not released in line with privacy laws, served in the rebel Free Syrian Army from January 2012 to January 2013.

    Prosecutors alleged the defendant whipped two members of a pro-government militia with a rope or cable. Videos of the torture were uploaded to YouTube in early 2013.

    The court took into consideration that the defendant had suffered as a result of Syria’s civil war, had no previous convictions in Germany and had integrated well since coming to the country in 2015.”

  39. School Tells Parents if Daughter Wears Hijab, Her Bullying Problem Might Go Away
    (breitbart, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/04/05/school-tells-parents-if-daughter-wears-hijab-her-bullying-problem-might-go-away/

    “Two German parents say were shocked when a school headmaster suggested they make their daughter wear an Islamic headscarf to solve her issues with bullying.

    The young fifth-grade girl was the target of alleged bullying by Muslim girls in a Frankfurt school where she was singled out because she has a German-Hebrew name, blonde hair, and does not wear an Islamic headscarf, Bild reports.

    The girls’ mother claimed that the girl began developing a fear of going to school and that she had been both verbally and physically attacked by other students.

    She added that when she approached the headmaster about the bullying, he told her, “Your daughter does not have to say that she is German. Besides, you can give her a headscarf.”

    “We’ve changed schools now and luckily things are going better now,” the mother said.

    There have been other recent cases of religious bullying in other schools across Germany. The Bild report also cited one in Bavaria in which a father said his son and daughter came home one day panicked because another child had told them he would cut off their heads because they are Christians.

    In Bonn, another mother said her daughter had shared a similar experience saying, “Our daughter and several classmates of the third grade were put under pressure by a classmate. They were threatened with the words, ‘Your parents will burn in hell if they do not believe in Allah’.”

    Religious bullying has been especially prevalent in Berlin where many schools have high populations of migrant-background students.

    In 2018, a group of Berlin teachers spoke out about religious bullying saying that German students could be bullied for as little as bringing a ham sandwich for their lunch because pork is forbidden in Islam.

    The group advocated the Pro Berlin Neutrality Act which backs up existing legislation to ban religious symbols, such as the headscarf, from classrooms to combat religious bullying.

    Austria, meanwhile, has implemented a headscarf ban in kindergartens and has been considering similar bans in elementary schools as well.”

  40. Hundreds of NGOs Beg ‘Mama Merkel’ to Restore EU Open Borders, Migrant Taxi Service (breitbart, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/04/05/ngos-beg-merkel-eu-open-borders/

    “Pro-mass migration NGOs “shocked” at EU policies aimed at deterring illegal immigration have turned to Angela Merkel with a plea to open the bloc’s borders.

    In an open letter released Wednesday, activists urged the German chancellor to force EU nations to adopt a three-point “emergency plan”, which would involve assisting third world migrants to reach Europe and then sharing them out across member states.

    In it, the more than 250 NGOs who signed the appeal accuse EU leaders of “approving the deaths of thousands of people” with current policies aimed at deterring migrants from paying human trafficking gangs to ship them to Europe.

    It is a “scandal” that people who help bring migrants into Europe are being criminalised, according to the letter, which argues EU policies to restrict illegal immigration “must be ended” on the basis they “not only threaten people’s lives but also put our own humanity on the line”.

    Signed by a raft of mass migration-backing NGOs including Amnesty International, Sea Watch, Pro Asyl, SOS Méditerranée, and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the letter alleged a “reorientation of German and European politics”, based around ensuring “a dignified future for [migrants] and their families” was “more important than ever” ahead of May’s EU elections.

    While the NGO alliance praised the German leader for her launch of an unprecedented wave of third world migration in 2015, the NGO alliance explained they were writing to Merkel “as the chancellor who made a decision to act European, at a critical moment”, before setting out their demands for “human rights and solidarity-based” border policies.

    As well as ordering NGO boats be allowed to resume activities in the Mediterranean, where they have been accused of working with criminal trafficking gangs in ferrying migrants from Africa to Europe, the letter also dictated that arrivals must be shared out equally between the bloc’s countries.

    The signatories also demanded that cities and municipalities in Europe — in addition to member states, which already have this right — be allowed to label themselves “safe havens” and to import further third world migrants directly from poorer nations and conflict zones on a voluntary basis.

    MSF Germany’s Philipp Frisch said it was vital that “sea rescues be carried out and migrants taken to places of safety so that no one has to die on the way to Europe”, adding that signatories to the letter “expect Mrs Merkel to send a signal to her colleagues in other EU countries” that this should be the case.

    Contrary to the letter’s claim that policies deterring people from embarking on risky journeys to Europe are costing “thousands of lives”, figures show a huge drop in the Mediterranean death toll since Italy cracked down on the activities of NGO boats picking migrants up off the coast of Libya and delivering them to EU shores.”

  41. Shadow Government: Barack Obama Arrives in Berlin to Meet With Angela Merkel in Private
    Cristina Laila by Cristina Laila April 5, 2019 364 Comments

    4.4KShare 204Tweet

    Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert defended the meeting as standard operating procedure and said she has met repeatedly with ex-heads of state and government “with whom she worked together closely and well for a time,” WRAL reported.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/04/barack-obama-arrives-in-berlin-to-meet-with-angela-merkel-in-private/?utm_source=TGPemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:553016019&utm_campaign=Auto%20Send%20from%20The%20Gateway%20Pundit%20on%20April%205,%202019%20at%2003:06:06%20PM

  42. Germany repatriates children of ISIS fighters from Iraq (thedefensepost, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/04/05/germany-repatriates-isis-children-iraq/

    “Germany has repatriated from Iraq several children of jailed Islamic State adherents, the foreign ministry said Friday, April 5 as the war against the jihadist group draws to a close.

    “The number of minors already brought back to Germany has reached a high single-digit figure,” the foreign ministry source said, adding that the returns were carried out with the consent of the children’s parents.

    They are now in the custody of their relatives in Germany, the source added.

    Among the first young returnees to Germany were three children who arrived with their 31-year-old mother at Stuttgart airport on Thursday, their lawyer Mahmut Erdem said in a statement.

    They were taken into custody immediately, the lawyer said.

    According to the foreign ministry, at least eight Germans were jailed in Iraq, after they were convicted over their membership of ISIS.

    In August, an Iraqi judge cleared a woman of German and Turkish origin of ties to ISIS, and in April an Iraqi court commuted the death sentence of a German woman of Moroccan origin, reducing her sentence for ISIS membership to a life term. The court sentenced the woman’s daughter Nadia Rainer Hermann, also a German national, to life in prison.

    The foreign ministry said it was aware of cases of German nationals in custody in northern Syria, but added that it did not have direct consular access to them as the embassy in Damascus has been closed.

    Nevertheless, the government is looking for ways to repatriate the German nationals, it added.

    With the recapture of the last ISIS bastion in Syria last month, the fate of foreign fighters and their families has become a significant problem for governments as the conflict against ISIS draws to a close.

    The German interior ministry has said the children are innocent victims, paving the way for their return.

    Last month, France in took in five orphans from Syria, and is dealing with returns on a case-by-case basis.”

  43. Sierra Nevada awarded 5-year Afghanistan A-29 training contract as US shifts to in-country instruction (thedefensepost, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/04/05/afghanistan-a-29-training-sierra-nevada/

    “Sierra Nevada was awarded an almost $43 million contract for A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft training for the Afghan Air Force, the Department of Defense said, as the U.S. transitions to a fully operational training program in Afghanistan by 2021.

    The $42,722,019 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (FA3002-19-D-A003) provides for training Afghanistan Air Force A-29 pilots and maintainers at Moody Air Force Base in the U.S. state of Georgia and in Afghanistan, the Thursday, April 4 release said.

    The contract is funded from fiscal year 2019 building partner capacity/pseudo-foreign military sales funds, and work is expected to be completed by December 31, 2023.

    U.S. A-29s are built in Jacksonville, Florida in a partnership between Sierra Nevada Corporation and Brazil’s Embraer, the designer of the aircraft…”

  45. Yemen Cholera Cases Top 76,000, Doctors Die in Surge of Disease (tasnimnews, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/04/05/1981293/yemen-cholera-cases-top-76-000-doctors-die-in-surge-of-disease

    “The UN reported that the number of suspected cases in new cholera outbreak in Yemen has doubled in March over previous months as 300 believed to have died from cholera this year, including doctors.

    Cholera is surging once again in Yemen, with the UN reporting that the number of suspected cases has doubled in March over previous months and doctors in overwhelmed health facilities fearing it could rival a 2017 outbreak that spiraled into the world’s worst flare-up.

    The surge underscores how Yemen, which has endured multiple outbreaks of cholera amid four years of war, still isn’t able to stop its spread, according to Washington Post.

    At al-Sabeen Hospital in the capital Sana’a, beds are full and patients sleep in tents in a courtyard. Some of them wait for treatment by lying on cardboard under trees, with IVs dangling from the branches.

    “We receive cases around the clock. Sometimes three to four cases a minute,” said Dr. Ismail al-Mansouri. “The hospital is under heavy pressure, as it receives patients from across the country.”

    Even the doctors are not immune: Al-Mansouri and several other staff have caught cholera. On March 28, one of their colleagues, a well-loved pediatrician, died of the disease.

    Two other outbreaks since 2016 caused more than 1.4 million suspected cases and killed more than 3,000 people. Most of those stemmed from an outbreak that began in April 2017 and grew into the world’s biggest.

    The spread has slowed since late 2018, although it never stopped. Now, seasonal rains that began earlier than usual this year have caused a spike in the disease.

    There were 76,152 new suspected cases and 195 deaths in March, compared to about 32,000 cases in February and 39,000 in January. The March toll brought the number of those believed to have died from cholera this year to nearly 300.

    The rates last month are comparable to the first weeks of 2017, when cases jumped to 10,000 and 20,000 a week. It accelerated to 50,000 a week at its height and went on to infect more than 1 million people before waning in mid-2018.

    “The outbreak this year is much worse and the situation is very dangerous,” said Adel al-Alamni, head of the cholera treatment center at al-Sabeen.

    Cholera is spread primarily by water and food tainted with feces. It usually can be treated if caught early, but it can kill swiftly by dehydrating its victims through vomiting and severe diarrhea.

    The destruction wreaked by an over-five-year Saudi-backed war on Yemen that created prime conditions for cholera’s spread…”

  50. Eritrea Accuses Qatar, Turkey of ‘Subversive Acts’ (aawsat, Apr 5, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1665896/eritrea-accuses-qatar-turkey-%E2%80%98subversive-acts%E2%80%99

    “The Eritrean government accused Turkey and Qatar on Thursday of seeking to obstruct and derail the peace process with Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region.

    “The sporadic acts of subversion conducted by the Turkish Government, (under the auspices of the ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP), against Eritrea are well known to merit elaboration here,” the Eritrean Information Ministry said in a statement published Thursday.

    It added that these futile acts are perpetrated through the funding and operational services of Qatar, as well as the collusion of the Sudanese regime, which has allowed its territory to be used for the nefarious aims.

    The Ministry said those acts have been ratcheted up especially in the past year with the singular aim of obstructing the peace process and positive developments in the ties between Eritrea and Ethiopia in particular and the whole Horn of Africa region in general.

    “The Turkish government has opened, at the beginning of this year, an Office for the Chairman of the obscure “Eritrean Muslim League” under the mantle of “Eritrean Ulama’s League/Eritrean Rabita-i Ulama,” it explained.

    Mohamed Abdel Qader, Director of the Turkish Affairs Unit at Al-Ahram Center for Regional and Strategic Studies, told Asahrq Al-Awsat that the Turkish-Qatari move aims to expand the specter of their influence in Africa, after having tense relations with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, the four countries that have cut ties with Doha.

    Abdel Qader said the move also aims to exploit the fragile situation in counties such as Libya, Sudan and Somalia.

    For his part, Dr. Ayman Abdel-Wahab, an expert in African affairs at the center, said: “The reconciliation between Ethiopia and Eritrea restored a lot of balance in the region although it faced some interference from forces such as Qatar and Turkey, partly linked to the situation in Somalia and competition over ports in the Red Sea.”

    He described Thursday’s statement by the Eritrean Information Ministry as “daring and very strong.”

    Last year, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace agreement supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE after decades of hostility.”