Contributor’s links for July 30, 2019

Daily Links Post graphic

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 must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

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

113 Replies to “Contributor’s links for July 30, 2019”

  1. Turkey Adopts Eurasianism

    by Burak Bekdil
    July 30, 2019 at 4:30 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14625/turkey-adopts-eurasianism

    Ironically, it was an anti-Islamist, Kemalist Turkish general who first suggested that Turkey should align its foreign policy with the rising powers of Eurasia — all of Europe plus Asia. It was just eight months before President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power, and since then, has remained undefeated. The U.S. at the time was busy with the final touches on the military operation that would oust Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, in March 2003.

    General Tuncay K?l?nç, the powerful secretary general of Turkey’s National Security Council, said that Turkey should seek an alternative alliance with Russia and Iran. In November 2002, Erdo?an’s AKP came to power, pledging to pursue pro-EU, pro-West, liberal governance, and wrongly accusing Kemalist ideology of being an obstacle against liberal democracy — an incredible political story, to judge it 17 years later. Few observers back then warned that Erdo?an’s pro-West façade was fake and his deep adherence to political Islam, an enemy of the Western civilization, would one day urge him to seek non-Western alliances.

    Ostensibly, the S-400 vs. F-35 conflict between NATO allies Turkey and the United States is a matter of East-West military disputes, reminiscent of several others the world observed during the cold war. It is not.

  2. Arrow – and Israel – in Alaska

    by Shoshana Bryen
    July 30, 2019 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14627/arrow-missile-test-alaska
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    The recent Arrow 3 missile test in Alaska, announced on Sunday, was nearly taken out by a rogue. Not a rogue missile, mind you, but a rogue amendment to the to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Earlier this month, Congresswoman Lois Frankel (D-FL) proposed the following language:

    “None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2020 may be made available for the research, development, testing, evaluation, procurement, or deployment of a United States shorter- or intermediate-range ground launched ballistic or cruise missile system with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers…”

    The prohibition was aimed at the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. But according to one analyst:

  3. Editor Of One Of America’s Biggest Newspapers Praises Antifa

    2019-07-29 American Action News THC Staff

    The editor of one of America’s largest and most influential newspaper seemingly praised Antifa violence as a force against hate.

    Houston Chronicle editor Lisa Falkenberg, responding to a reader on Twitter, defended her paper’s decision to downplay Antifa violence by saying their bloodthirsty violence is a force for good.

    “hawt take on antifa not being so bad,” Twitter user @CML_Texas tweeted to Falkenberg, referring to a recent Chronicle editorial.

    “Bad is relative these days,” Falkenberg responded, linking to an Anti-Defamation League webpage downplaying the notoriously violent and anti-Semitic terrorist group because they both oppose Trump.

    https://thehollywoodconservative.us/articles/editor-of-one-of-american-s-biggest-newspapers-praises-antifa

  4. John Solomon: Christopher Wray’s FBI is Fighting in Court to Cover For Team Comey’s Russia Hoax

    Wray needs to go.

    Christopher Wray’s FBI is fighting like hell in court to stop the public release of a number of documents the State Department sent to FBI agents from dossier author Christopher Steele.

    The FBI argued in court that giving up the small number of documents will give up sources and methods to our enemies and terrorists.

    “We know that terrorist organizations and other hostile or foreign intelligence groups have the capacity and ability to gather information from myriad sources, analyze it and deduce means and methods from disparate details to defeat the U.S. government’s collection efforts,” an FBI official swore in an affidavit supporting the request to keep the documents secret.

    The FBI official argued against the conservative watchdog group Citizens United’s request to release the Kavalec memos and asserted, the FBI can’t afford to “jeopardize the fragile relationships that exist between the United States and certain foreign governments.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/john-solomon-christopher-wrays-fbi-is-fighting-in-court-to-cover-for-team-comeys-russia-hoax/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily

  5. John Brennan Was ‘Key Guy’ Pushing Fraudulent Anti-Trump Dossier | Tom Fitton

  6. Obama Admin’s “Fast & Furious” Gun-Running Program STILL Being Covered-Up | Chris Farrell

  7. UAE Says ‘Dangerous’ Recordings Prove Qatar’s Terrorism Ties (aawsat, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1836066/uae-says-%E2%80%98dangerous%E2%80%99-recordings-prove-qatar%E2%80%99s-terrorism-ties

    “United Arab Emirates State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash said Tuesday that a recent New York Times report proves Qatar’s ties to terrorism.

    Earlier this month, the New York Times obtained an audio recording of a telephone call between the Qatari ambassador to Somalia and a businessman who is close to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that reveals Doha’s complicity in terrorist bombings in the African country.

    The businessman, Khalifa Kayed al-Muhanadi told Qatari Ambassador Hassan bin Hamza Hashem that militants had carried out a bombing in the port city of Bosaso in northern Somalia, to advance Qatar’s interests by driving out its rival, the UAE.

    Gargash tweeted: “The dangerous recording cannot be denied with a hasty statement.”

    “Resorting to terrorism against the UAE is regrettable escalation and justifies the four countries’ boycott of Qatar,” he added.

    In May, a car bomb went off in front of a government building in Bosaso.

    “The bombings and killings, we know who are behind them,” al-Muhanadi, said in the call on May 18, about a week after the bombing.

    “Our friends were behind the last bombings,” he remarked.

    The attack, which was claimed by an ISIS affiliate, left eight people wounded.”

  8. Saudi Arabia Deposits $250 Million into Central Bank of Sudan (aawsat, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1836631/saudi-arabia-deposits-250-million-central-bank-sudan

    “Saudi Arabia has deposited $250 million into the central bank of Sudan to support its financial position, the Saudi finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The grant is part of a package with the United Arab Emirates worth $500 million that was announced in April.

    The grant aimed to alleviate pressure on the Sudanese pound and achieve stability in its exchange rate, the ministry said.”

  9. Iraqi intelligence: ‘Al-Baghdadi is in Syria and has strong influence within Daesh’ (memo, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190730-iraqi-intelligence-al-baghdadi-is-in-syria-and-has-strong-influence-within-daesh/

    “Iraqi intelligence body known as Falcons Cell said on Monday that the leader of Daesh, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, is in Syria and has strong influence within the organisation.

    This came in statements attributed to the Falcons Cell chief Abu Ali Al-Basri in Iraqi newspaper, Assabah.

    Al-Basri stated that “following Daesh’s military setback in Iraq and Syria, there is a permanent threat to the criminal Ibrahim Al-Samarrai, aka Al-Baghdadi, who is currently based in Syria with his Arab and foreign followers.”

    He added that Al-Baghdadi had given a high priority in the previous period to addressing the intelligence threats and protecting the organisation from infiltrations.

    Al-Basri explained that the leader of Daesh still has a strong influence and is obeyed among his Arab and foreign followers. He noted that Al-Baghdadi made changes to compensate for the terrorists killed during joint operations in Syria, and the liberation of Nineveh, Ramadi, Salahaddin, and other areas.

    Al-Basri pointed out that Al-Baghdadi suffered from paralysis in his limbs due to shrapnel wounds in the spine. This injury was sustained during an attack led by the Falcons Cell and the air force, in a south-eastern Hajin area in Deir ez-Zor before its liberation in 2018.

    Since the official announcement of Daesh defeat in Iraq, at the end of 2017, the remaining fighters of the organisation have dispersed and resumed guerilla warfare. Thus, Al-Baghdadi has disappeared completely, then reappeared for the first time since 2014, on 29 April, in an 18-minute video, in which he spoke about the battles fought by his followers in Iraq and Syria.”

  10. Mauritania releases jailed ‘blasphemy’ blogger (alaraby, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/7/30/mauritania-releases-jailed-blasphemy-blogger

    “Mauritania has released a blogger who drew international attention after being accused of blasphemy, his lawyer and the campaign group RSF said Tuesday.

    Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir, 36, had been initially sentenced to death but was then given a jail term on appeal.

    He remained in detention despite having already served the sentence – a situation that sparked a chorus of protest from rights groups.

    “(He) was released yesterday from the place where he was under house arrest… (but) is not completely free in his movements,” his attorney Fatimata Mbaye told AFP.

    Mkheitir “is no longer in Nouakchott,” the Mauritanian capital, Mbaye said, without giving further details.

    His release came in the final days of the presidency of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who had previously argued that to free Mkheitir would endanger the blogger as well as the public.

    Mkheitir was sentenced to death for blasphemy in December 2014 after he wrote a blog that challenged decisions taken by the Prophet Mohammed and his companions during holy wars in the seventh century.

    He repented after being given that sentence, prompting an appeal court on November 2017 to downgrade the punishment to a two-year jail term – a decision that sparked protests in the conservative Saharan nation.

    His lawyers said he should have been released immediately, having already spent four years behind bars, but remained confined.

    On June 20, Abdel Aziz, defended Mkheitir’s continued detention, saying it was justified by “his personal security as well as the country’s.”

    “We know that from the point of the view of the law, he should be freed, but for security reasons, we cannot place the life of more than four million Mauritanians at risk,” he said.

    In an open letter published the following day, 10 rights groups, including the media watchdog Reporters without Borders, called on Abdel Aziz to use his final weeks in office to end the “illegal detention”.

    Abdel Aziz and religious leaders then launched a process of “preparing national opinion” for Mkheitir’s release, under which he formally repented again, on social media.

    On Thursday, Abdel Aziz hands over the presidency to Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani, a former general and close ally, after serving a maximum two terms in office.

    Ghazouani won presidential elections on 22 June with 52 percent of the vote, according to official figures disputed by the opposition.”

  11. Senior Muslim Brotherhood member accuses leaders of corruption in leaked audio tape (ahram, Jul 30, 2019)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/341877/Egypt/Politics-/Senior-Muslim-Brotherhood-member-accuses-leaders-o.aspx

    “Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood journalist Omar Hassan has posted on Facebook an audio recording of a meeting of group leaders in Turkey where a leading member is accusing other high level members of financial corruption.

    In the recording, a leading member believed to be Amir Bassam, accuses the current MB secretary-general Mahmoud Hussein, the MB representative in Africa Mahmoud El-Beheiry, and the MB spokesperson Ibrahim Mounir of being corrupt.

    “How can anyone imagine that Mahmoud Hussein cruises around in a BMW worth 100,000 euros when the students here [in Turkey] struggle to get 200 Turkish Lira a month?” Amir can be heard saying on the tape.

    Amir also said on the tape that Hussein and other leaders have admitted in their meetings to owning buildings and cars in their names.

    Apart from the companies around the globe owned by Brotherhood members, the MB has been depending on donations from its wealthy members as a major source of financing after the confiscation of its members’ companies and assets in Egypt, which has designated the group a terrorist organisation.

    It is not clear who Amir is speaking to in the tape.

    Amir has not confirmed or denied the authenticity of the recording. He said on Tuesday that he expresses his opinions on his personal Facebook account and that he is open to discussing his views.

    While insisting that the Muslim Brotherhood was “pure,” he did say on his Facebook account, however, that there have been mistakes committed by Brotherhood leaders and members.

    On the other hand, Hassan, who released the recording, said that he did not care if the “pro-regime” media in Egypt use the audio leak against the group, “but the current leadership of the Brotherhood has left us no choice.”

    In another post, he said that if the leaders of the group do not step down from their posts for the sake of the “youth starving in Turkey,” he would release another audio recording of an advisor to Egypt’s late president Mohamed Morsi speaking about the “mercenaries and corrupt” individuals leading things in the Muslim Brotherhood.”

  12. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/labor-wants-right-wing-bigot-banned-from-australia-ahead-of-conservative-conference

    Labor has called on the government to block a firebrand right wing figure from visiting Australia where he is due to speak at a conservative conference alongside former prime minister Tony Abbott and Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage.

    Former Breitbart editor-in-chief Raheem Kassam is billed as a “British political activist” by the organisers of the Conservative Political Action Conference to be held in Sydney next week.

    (Video of the strident Labor Senator Kristina Keneally at source – note this American-born feminista picking out ahead of anything else Kassam’s denunciation of the Koran!)

  13. Five dead as bomb rips through police van in Quetta (tribune, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2024710/1-least-three-martyred-several-injured-quetta-explosion/

    “A powerful bomb tore through a police patrol van at a busy roundabout in Quetta Tuesday evening, killing at least five people – among them two policemen.

    Thirty-two people – including Additional SHO Shafaat Ali – were also wounded in the attack targeting the police vehicle parked outside the City Police Station at Bacha Khan Chowk, according to DIG Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema.

    “The bomb went off as soon as SHO Shaffat got down from the vehicle,” DIG Cheema told media persons at the crime scene.

    He said it was too early to confirm whether it was a suicide attack or a remotely triggered device…”

  14. How the NDP set the narrative to prosecute Sheila Gunn Reid for her bestselling book

    • Someone will, don’t forget there are suppose to be a lot of powerful Dems and Dem funding supporters on that list. Clinton is the one we know of right now but there are others who will want him unable to testify.

      What I want to be made public is where are the videos and pictures he is suppose to have?

  15. Turkey expects US to end its support to PKK/YPG (hdn, Jul 30, 2019)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-expects-us-to-end-its-support-to-pkk-ypg-145362

    “Turkish defense minister has told his U.S. counterpart over a phone call that Turkey expects the U.S. to completely end its support to the PKK/YPG terrorist group.

    Hulusi Akar said Turkey would be obliged to create a safe zone on its own in case the two countries failed to find a common ground, according to a statement released by the National Defense Ministry on July 29.

    The ministry said Akar congratulated Mark Esper for his new post as the U.S. defense secretary and they discussed the plan on a safe zone in northern Syria.

    Akar emphasized that they would not allow a terror corridor in south of Turkey and that Turkey wants to assure safety and security of not only its country and people but also other religious and ethnic groups like the Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Christians and Ezidis living in the region.

    Akar also stressed that Turkey is the only competent, efficient and pertinent power to provide control over a safe zone in northern Syria.

    He said that the safe zone should be created under the criteria that include retrieval of all weapons from the PKK/YPG situated in the safe zone, wiping off the terrorist organization from the safe zone which should be 30 to 40 kilometers in width, destruction of PKK/YPG’s all tunnels, shelters, equipment and ammunition in the area which will be controlled by Turkey and the U.S. in coordination.

    Regarding the F-35 fighter jet program, Akar noted that Turkey was not just the customer of the project but also the investor and production partner and that the program should continue as planned.

    In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

    Since 2017, Turkey and the U.S. have been at odds over Turkey’s decision to buy the S-400, a Russian-made missile defense system, and U.S. threats to break its contract to sell Turkey F-35 jets over the dispute.”

  16. Suspect accused of pushing boy under German train was on run from Swiss police (thelocal, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.ch/20190730/suspect-accused-of-pushing-boy-in-front-of-german-train-lived-in-zurich

    “UPDATED: An Eritrean man accused of killing an eight-year-old boy by pushing him under a train in Germany had been on the run from Swiss police after a violent incident last week, authorities said on Tuesday.

    The married father-of-three, identified by German media only as 40-year-old Habte A., had also undergone psychiatric treatment this year, said police in the Swiss canton of Zurich where he lived.

    Last Thursday, he had flown into a rage and threatened a neighbour with a knife and locked her up, and also trapped his wife and their children, aged one, three and four, in their flat before running away.

    The outbreak of violence was surprising according to his wife and neighbour, Swiss police said. “They unanimously stated that they had never seen him like this before,” a police spokesman said.

    In a statement, Zurich police said the man had lived in Zurich since 2006 and had a Swiss ‘C’ (settled foreign national) permit.

    Germany’s Spiegel Online newspaper report the 40-year-old had worked in tram maintenance for the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ) since early last year.

    German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer noted he had been held up as an example of successful integration in a publication of the social work organization SAH.

    Police in Zurich confirmed in a press conference that the suspect had worked for the VBZ but could not say how long he had worked for the organization.

    The force said that the man had no known history of violence and that there was, to date, no evidence of radicalization or of an ideological motive for Monday’s crime.

    German federal police chief Dieter Romann said it appeared the suspect had not been listed as wanted in European police databases and had been able to cross borders freely.

    German prosecutors laid murder and attempted murder charges against the man over the attack Monday that left eye-witnesses in need of trauma counselling and shocked the nation.

    He allegedly also pushed the boy’s mother onto the tracks at Frankfurt’s main station, and tried but failed to do the same to a 78-year-old woman.

    “While the mother could roll off after the fall and move herself onto a narrow footpath between two tracks, her child was caught by the arriving train and died, on the spot, of his injuries,” said a statement by Frankfurt prosecutors.

    Psychiatric examination

    The man ran down a platform and across tracks but was followed by passers-by including an off-duty officer, and overpowered by police two blocks from the station.

    The suspect did not previously know the victims and showed no signs of alcohol or drug use, prosecutors spokeswoman Nadja Niesen said.

    “The crime suggests a psychiatric disorder,” she told a press conference, adding that an examination would ascertain the level of his criminal culpability.

    The horrific crime has dominated newspaper front-pages and TV news bulletins, and led politicians to call for heightened security, more camera surveillance and tighter border controls.

    Citizens have laid flower wreaths, candles and stuffed toys at the site of the killing and a memorial service was scheduled at the station in the evening.

    German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer cut short his summer holiday to meet the heads of major security agencies in Berlin.

    Niesen said the man in custody had not yet spoken about a motive.

    If formally charged, tried and then found guilty, he would face a likely term of life in prison, she said.

    In a similar case earlier this month, a 34-year-old mother died after being pushed in front of a train, allegedly by a Serbian man.

    Germany’s far-right has seized on both killings to once more criticise what it regards as the flawed immigration policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.”

  17. ‘We’ll take quota refugees’: Denmark to UN (thelocal, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.dk/20190730/well-take-quota-refugees-denmark-to-un

    “Denmark is set to resume accepting refugees under the UN’s quota system after a three-year hiatus.

    Minister for Immigration and Integration Mattias Tesfaye has informed the UN’s arm for refugees, UNHCR, that Denmark will take in refugees protected under the UNHCR quota system from this year.

    “I informed (the UN on July 11th) that Denmark wishes to accept a small group of quota refugees who require special [medical, ed.] assistance from 2019,” Tesfaye told newspaper Politiken in a written message.

    A number of steps are involved in the process of deciding which refugees will be taken in by Denmark, the minister said.

    “It’s too early to say when the first quota refugees can be accepted, just as the exact number for 2019 is yet to be confirmed,” he said.

    Previous annual numbers of UN quota refugees have been around 500.

    The government decision on the issue was set out in the agreement reached between Tesfaye’s party, the Social Democrats, and three left-wing allied parties in the political agreement which followed the general election in June.

    That deal enabled the Social Democrats to form a minority government as Denmark’s left won an overall majority in the election.

    In addition to the group cited by Tesfaye, the immigration ministry has also informed UNHCR that it will accept general quota refugees from 2020.

    Denmark first refused to take refugees from the UN’s quota system for resettlement from its UNHCR camps under the previous government in 2016, citing a need for “breathing space” to manage those already in the country. The policy was renewed annually up to and including last year.

    The UNHCR’s North Europe spokesperson Caroline Bach praised the decision by the Danish government.

    “With an increasing number of refugees who have a pressing need to be resettled, these gestures of solidarity are more important than ever,” Bach said according to Politken’s report.

    The anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF) called the decision a “break of campaign promises” by the Social Democrats.

    “We consider this a break of campaign promises made by the Social Democrats during the election to retain a strict immigration policy,” DF parliamentary group leader Peter Skaarup said.”

  18. Third death from knife violence in Gothenburg in two weeks (thelocal, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.se/20190730/three-deadly-stabbings-in-gothenburg-in-two-weeks

    “A man died in Gothenburg after being found with knife wounds on Monday, marking the third deadly stabbing in the western Swedish city in just two weeks.

    The man was found with injuries from a stabbing shortly after midnight, and was taken to hospital but later died of his injuries.

    Police have opened a preliminary investigation into attempted murder or manslaughter, but have not yet arrested anyone or identified the victim. It comes shortly after two other fatal knife attacks in the city.

    On July 17th, an 18-year-old man died after being stabbed during a robbery, and just four days later a 19-year-old was stabbed during a brawl at a shopping centre, and later died of his injuries.

    Three people were arrested suspected of murder and robbery in connection to the first incident, and another man, who also had stab wounds, was detained on suspicion of murder in relation to the second.

    Police don’t currently suspect a link between the three deaths…”

  19. 200,000 ‘affordable homes’ needed per year to fight homelessness in Germany (thelocal, Jul 30, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.de/20190730/200000-affordable-housing-units-needed-per-year-to-fight-homelessness-in-germany

    “Approximately 650,000 people in Germany are homeless, with the majority living in emergency quarters, according to new figures released Tuesday.

    About 48,000 of those people are sleeping on the streets, according to the statistics from the Federal Association of Homelessness Help (BAGW).

    An additional 275,000 people were homeless due to job losses, mounting debts or personal “strokes of fate”, wrote the BAGW.

    The numbers of homelessness – both in shelters and on the streets – is on the rise, they said, without yet being able to provide concrete numbers.

    The increase in homelessness can be attributed largely to a lack of affordable housing, said BAGW, who proposed that Germany build more social housing units.

    The number of such units has dipped by 60 percent since 1990 to 1.2 million, as the German government continues to sell its stock of units to private investors.

    Housing crisis

    In order to fight homelessness, BAGW’s managing director Werena Rosenke demanded that a higher proportion of socially housing be made available explicitly for homeless people.

    “80,000 to 100,000 new social housing units and a further 100,000 affordable housing units are needed per year,” she wrote. In total the homelessness association believes around 200,000 affordable homes are needed each year.

    According to the Institute of the German Economy (IW), 287,000 apartments were completed nationwide in 2018, and figure is unlikely to rise significantly this year. Of those, only 27,040 were subsidized homes.

    However, while there remains a serious housing shortage in large cities, there is a vacancy and oversupply in smaller cities and rural areas.

    SEE ALSO: How new homes are not being built where they are the most needed in Germany

    A total of 342,000 new dwellings would be needed in 2019 and 2020 in order to accommodate everyone who needs a home, estimates BAGW.

    Immigration on the rise

    Another root cause of the rise in homelessness is the immigration spike in the past few years, both from other EU countries and in the form of refugees and asylum seekers.

    Among the homeless, there are 375,000 recognized asylum seekers and refugees in special accommodation and reception centres.

    Eight percent, or 22,000, of the homeless are children and young people. Most of those affected were men, with a quarter of them women.

    Out of the the 48,000 people who sleep on the streets, many come from other EU countries, especially within Eastern Europe.

    In larger cities like Berlin, makeshift tent camps have been set up in parks and open spaces. Their inhabitants face dangerous conditions in the winter, or relocate to U-Bahn stations.

    SEE ALSO: How Berlin is struggling to deal with growing homelessness in its parks

    ‘Offensive against homelessness’

    Katrin Göring-Eckardt, leader of the Green parliamentary group, demanded rapid measures be enforced by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) “so that the stock of social housing will increase again instead of decrease”.

    The Left party leader Katja Kipping demanded an “offensive against homelessness” – which would include emergency aid in cases where rent couldn’t be paid.

    “The fear that the apartment will become unaffordable now burdens a large part of the population,” said Verene Bentele, president of the social advocacy organization vDK.

    Among other things, a “well-functioning Mietpreisbremse (rental price brake)” is necessary, she added…”

  20. europravda- France hits back over Trump’s ‘moronic’ comments on French wine

    The genie is out of the bottle as the French Farming Minister hits out at Donald Trump, calling his assertions regarding French wine ‘moronic’.

  21. BBC -Does the UK have a responsibility to prosecute former IS fighters?

    ( 14 min 31 )

    The failure to bring Britons who fought for the Islamic State group to justice in the UK is a “dereliction of responsibility”, a top US counter-terrorism official has said.

    Since the fall of group’s last Syrian stronghold, Baghuz, the US has stepped up efforts to get foreign fighters and their families repatriated.

    But it is “frustrated” with the UK’s failure to take back British fighters.

    US Coordinator for Counter-terrorism Nathan Sales has said “it’s a dereliction of responsibility to expect the Syrian Democratic Forces to solve this problem or to expect the Iraqi government to solve this problem”.

    • Countering Violent Extremism

      Ambassador Nathan Sales, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, discussed the agency’s strategy to counter violent extremism. After his remarks on recent U.S. successes in fighting the ISIS terrorist group, Ambassador Sales answered questions about military and civilian efforts to counter violent extremism, and detailed some of the smaller shifts in that policy that have taken place under the Trump administration.

      ( 50 min 14 video )

      https://www.c-span.org/video/?446268-1/nathan-sales-discusses-state-departments-counterterrorism-strategy

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

      JAN 2018 VOA Persian Exclusive Interview with Nathan Sales

      ( 9 min 43 )

      VOA Persian Exclusive Interview Series. VOA Persian’s Gabriele Barbati interviews Ambassador Nathan Sales, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State. The interview aired on VOA Persian’s News Hour on January 23, 2018.