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.
It’s just a question of “perspectie” (respectively leftwing relativism)
https://babylonbee.com/news/motorcycle-that-identifies-as-bicycle-sets-world-cycling-record
Left-wing relativism brought such unprecedented freedom. Anyone who denies a 1.80 meter tall male Caucasian is a 1.50 meter tall Chinese woman “discriminates” against his feelings!
Left ideology is a horrendous attack on the human mind. How is that possible? Just put an “anti-” (optional: “counter-“) in front of your intention and it’s quasi “neutralized” (although it still remains obvious to everyone, trust your eyes!).
You could also call it a “satanic twist”. “National Socialism”: the dear Lord has made sure that Cain cannot get rid of his mark. How could anyone mistakenly assume that “anti-fascists” are fascists (or that the “ADL” are defamers)? Against all reason is the motto.
(“I’m an anti liar!” Doesn’t that sound convincing?)
The Nazi flag was red, not blue. It’s supposed to
stand for “revolution,” which always requires blood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_colour#Red
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blutfahne
Merkel’s so-called “CDU” changed the color of its letters (“label”) to bood red. Not whithout reason! Such processes take place creepingly, without anyone giving them any meaning or attention. Their headquarters are no different from the headquarters of the Socialists today.
https://img.br.de/5c04b27b-b51f-402e-b942-c0b1b65428c5.jpeg
If you want to know more about it, you should also have a look at the interviews of “DJ” (dark journalist) with Joseph P. Farrell.
Although for the sake of honesty one has to say that they name only one side of the problem, which serves the system, otherwise they would be censored and banished long ago.
Also this “flatearther” has at least some interesting mental leaps.
I’m just watching that Canadian guy with the ugly German name (?) “Frei”. Maybe you can say more about him. At first glance a libertarian.
https://twitter.com/thevivafre
My opinion is that a healthy world view differs from a sick one in that it is not mechanistic but organic. It is not based on fear but on trust.
I can remember a time when everyone greeted each other friendly on the street. Today everyone looks away as if they were busy or disinterested. It smells like marijuana from the windows of the teenagers. This can’t be the “normal state” of a healthy society, can it? Who does such a thing, accelerates and forces this decay?
In a few decades (or earlier) I won’t have to watch this mess and misery any longer, like all my good ancestors. But I am afraid for our few descendants.
Socialist parties don’t fly the national flag. They fly the party flag because the party is God.
The Nazi flag was NOT the German flag. The Soviet flag was a socialist flag and not the Russian etc. etc. etc.
Exactly, thanks for that clarification.
However, I lack the idea of imagining the skull (see also “skull & bones”) as something positive.
I don’t know where the Fox link came from, I posted this.
Could you please not post tons of nazi stuff to this site? I do NOT want my site showing up on searches for Nazi, no matter what the context.
This is why I banned you before under a bunch of names. STOP constantly blasting this site with Nazi crap. PLEASE?
The fact that Anglo-Americans do not understand German could be a massive disadvantage. There are so many things they don’t know yet. Some people should try to translate German Wikipedia articles. It could happen, however, that things come to light for which they would have to be ashamed of themselves.
Another highjacked symbol
Former Scania CEO Warns of Upcoming Civil War in Sweden (sputniknews, Oct 29, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201910291077173516-former-scania-ceo-warns-of-upcoming-civil-war-in-sweden/
“According to Leif Östling, former CEO of one of the world’s leading truck manufacturers, immigration has spiralled out of control and has placed Sweden on the brink of “internal wars”, where military force may be needed to quell unrest in migrant areas.
In a lengthy interview with SwebbTV, the former Scania CEO has claimed that the arrival of new migrants poses severe integration problems and may have drastic repercussions for the Swedish economy and society as a whole.
“Now this is a simple question there, and it’s because we’ve taken in far too many people from outside. And we did. Those who come from the Middle East and Africa live in a society that we left almost a hundred years ago”, Östling said.
Leif Östling described Sweden as an “incredibly complicated society”, suggesting that a “knowledge transfer” is required, but will take at least a whole generation. Östling cited his own experience of dealing with non-Swedish immigrants during his time at Scania, when manufacturing processes were much simpler, as opposed to today.
“Today we have so much more sophisticated processes. And these are very difficult for these people to absorb and understand. We had a number of Somalis in Oskarshamn. It was close to a hundred. Not everyone managed. Partly because you had to arrive on time, and they weren’t used to it. Partly due to team work, they were not used to it either. Of the hundred, only ten were able to stay. The rest went out into unemployment again”, Östling said.
Östling also stressed migrants’ criminal proclivities, which he ascribed to stemming from completely different living conditions and norms.
According to Östling, more business executives share his views, but they are more cautious about expressing themselves publicly so as not to hurt the company. He stressed that orderliness is crucial for companies, as well as for societies in general.
“Those who fail to embrace order and to settle down over time will fall apart and collapse”, Östling said.
According to Östling, it is nevertheless possible to fix Sweden’s problems within a decade.
“We must get it right. If this continues, we may end up in an uncontrolled situation where internal wars will erupt and we may be forced to deploy our military in these so-called vulnerable areas”, Östling said, alluding to dozens of heavily segregated no-go zones rife with crime and lawlessness. He also stressed that time is scarce to solve the problems.
74-year-old Leif Albert Östling led the Scania AB truck company for many years. In spring 2016, he was appointed chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, a post he later left in November 2017, after it transpired that he had placed money abroad to avoid Swedish taxation. His comment “Here, you pay 20-30 million a year, what the hell do I get for the money?” went viral. Later, Östling said that the expletives were the only thing he actually regretted.”
Jim Jordan makes explosive accusation against Schiff
What’s really going on with the protests in Iraq?
Sources close to PMU reveal role of Badr, AAH and pro-Iranian groups in suppressing Iraqi protests
Excerpts from the testimony of ‘Mohammed,’ an individual close to the PMU
https://www.mideastcenter.org/post/sources-close-to-pmu-reveal-role-of-badr-aah-and-pro-iranian-groups-in-suppressing-iraqi-protests
Turkish Radio & Television – TRT – The Ottoman legacy in New York
Susan Rice Says Trump Should Have Informed Obama About Killing ISIS Leader
Susan Rice, who served as National Security Adviser for former president Barack Obama, says President Trump should have immediately told his predecessor about the raid to capture or kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
In an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, host Margaret Brennan asked Rice, “Do you know, was President Obama informed of the death of al-Baghdadi by the administration?”
At first, Rice demurred. “There’s no reason why I should know.” But she went on to say she was “quite confident” that he didn’t.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/susan-rice-says-trump-should-have-informed-obama-about-killing-isis-leader/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
Raman Ghavami:
Turkey’s Syria Gamble May Be a Losing Game
With Turkey’s incursion backfiring, both Moscow and the Kurds may be closer to achieving their goals in Syria than Ankara.
https://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/putin-erdogan-deal-turkey-russia-kurds-sdf-syria-news-51421/
Best write up of Russia’s agreement with Turkey, what’s on paper and what it means. Point-by-point analysis. Well worth reading.
{snip}
“One of the main reasons behind the failure of both the Geneva and the Astana talks is the exclusion of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which still controls one third of the country. Since the start of peace negotiations, Turkey has been the only force behind banning the administration from having a seat at the table.
“However, now that Turkey is under unprecedented pressure, Russia and other players may push Ankara to accept the participation of the Kurds in the ongoing talks. Indeed, in the joint press conference, President Putin made it clear that “the rights of the Kurds in Syria should be respected.” Furthermore, for the first time, Americans are publicly talking about securing a seat for the Kurds at the negotiation table. This stipulation of the memorandum could yet turn into the final nail in the coffin of Turkey’s invasion of Kurdish lands.…”
{snip}
=> The Sultan will have to knuckle under, Putin’s laying down tough terms.
• Shake hands with Assad, call off your jihadi dogs.
• No need to grab sovereign Syria as a “safe-zone” against “terrorists”: WE’LL police that border. Russian and Syrian armed forces, together with the SDF.. (The Kurds allied with the U.S.-led Coalition.)
The Turk’s gotten massive blow-back, even domestically. The animals who just drove 300,000 Kurdish civilians out of their homes were not NATO-respectable. It’s been horrific, “many [of Erdogan’s supporters] are trying to distance themselves from the president.”
Authenticated war crimes. Better step away from that whole can of ArmenianGenocide-ArmenianGenocide-ArmenianGenocide.
At the same time, Russia’s engaged in a massive PR campaign to make Assad human. (Of course he isn’t.)
Hillary’s close buddy, Sidney Blumenthal, has a heinous antisemite son named Max. A real piece of work.
He’s been in Syria tasked with scouring the Butcher’s image – tweeting selfies, publishing puff-pieces in all the usual Russian propaganda nozzles.
5,000 ISIS militants with AIDS, hepatitis and ‘organs spilling out of open wounds’ plead to be sent to their home countries – including Britain – as they rot in Syrian prison hellhole (dailymail, Oct 29, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7626779/5-000-ISIS-militants-plead-sent-home-countries-rot-Syrian-prison-hellhole.html
“Behind the steel door, the cell is as packed as their eyes are empty – haggard, scrawny prisoners in orange jumpsuits lying head-to-toe cover every inch of floor space.
An AFP team was given rare access to one of the crowded detention facilities in northeastern Syria where Kurdish forces are holding Islamic State group (IS) suspects.
As a Turkish offensive launched against Kurdish forces earlier this month wreaks chaos in the area, just how solid such doors will be is a question keeping the world on edge.
The men crammed into poorly fortified jails such as this one in Hasakeh hail from dozens of countries that don’t want them free – but don’t want them back either.
With 5,000 inmates – Syrian, Iraqi, but also British, French, German – the prison is bursting with the flotsam of the international jihadist army IS raised five years ago.
The group is accused of carrying out widespread atrocities in territory it once controlled across Iraq and Syria, including mass executions, rape, enslavement and torture, much of it filmed for propaganda.
‘I want to leave the prison and go back home to my family,’ says Aseel Mathan, 22.
The lank young man left his native Wales when he was still 17, to join his brother in Mosul, the northern Iraqi city where the IS ‘caliphate’ was born.
When his brother was killed, he moved across the Syrian border to Raqa, the other main hub of the now-defunct jihadist proto-state.
‘I want to go back to Britain,’ Mathan said, adding he wished he hadn’t answered the call to arms issued in 2014 by Baghdadi, who according to the US was killed hours after the young Welshman spoke to AFP.
One nine-year-old boy from central Asia named Khaled pops his head out of the hatch to see who the visitor might be, smiling to the guard who asks him to calm down his boisterous cellmates.
Close to a third of the prison’s population is sick and needs treatment for a variety of wounds and conditions that include hepatitis and AIDS.
Only around 300 of them can spend the night in the medical ward, among them Aballah Nooman, a 24-year-old Belgian who lifts his T-shirt to show an open wound.
‘My organs are spilling out,’ he says, explaining that he sustained the wound from a fellow jihadist who accidentally shot him while cleaning his weapon.
Some of the detainees are teenagers, and none of them have been under the sun even once in months or more.
Their grey foam mattresses overlap to carpet the cold floor, with only one corner of the cell taken by a basic, half walled-off pit latrine.
The stench is overwhelming in the nearby medical ward, where visitors are given surgical masks at the door.
They have virtually no knowledge of what is happening outside, their days measured only by the absent-minded thumbing of beads and the five daily Muslim prayers.
The prisoners have not heard that on Sunday US President Donald Trump announced the death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US raid in northwest Syria.
‘They have absolutely no contact with the outside world,’ says the prison governor, who gave his name as Serhat and asked that the exact location of the facility be withheld.
Many of the prisoners there are all skin and bones. The most fortunate have a bed to lie on, but most of them just sit directly on the floor, exposing amputation stumps and bandaged wounds.
The prison clinic is as crowded as the other cells. A greying man with axillary crutches painstakingly picks his way through the ghostly crowd.
The condition of the wounded speaks of the intensity of the fighting that led to IS’s final territorial defeat at the hands of the Kurdish-led fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in March.
It also reveals the dire conditions experienced by the final denizens of the jihadist ‘caliphate’ when it made its last stand in Baghouz district, 200 kilometres (125 miles) to the south.
Most of the men who have been crammed into this Hasakeh province detention centre and at least six others across Kurdish-held territory are those who were seen limping to surrender just months ago, starved and mutilated.
The Kurdish authorities say more than 50 nationalities are represented in the Kurdish-run prisons where more than 12,000 IS suspects are now held.
Not all IS fighters were caught by Kurdish and US-led coalition forces in the dying days of the ‘caliphate’ and the jihadist group has continued to attack its enemies through clandestine cells roaming the region.
Some days, governor Serhat says, fugitive jihadists ‘come near the prison and open fire, just as a way of telling the detainees that they are still there.’
From France to Tunisia, many of the IS prisoners’ countries of origins have been reluctant to repatriate them, fearing a public backlash at home.
With support from their main US ally more unpredictable than ever, and under constant pressure from their archfoe Turkey, the Syrian Kurds’ autonomous administration can barely protect itself, let alone foreign detainees.
Kurdish forces have repeatedly warned that a Turkish invasion – which became a reality on October 9 – could result in mass prison breaks that would release some of the world’s most fanatic terrorists into the region, and beyond.
According to a senior US official, more than 100 already broke out.
None from this prison, Serhat says, although some inmates started a riot during a meal distribution a month ago, attacking guards after one prisoner drew them in by faking a health issue.
Guiding AFP journalists through the corridors of the prison, one guard is hesitant to even lift the hatch in the cell door.
‘These ones are dangerous,’ he says.
Further down, one cell is reserved for what IS propaganda used to call ‘the cubs of the caliphate’, children who were enlisted and trained as fighters.
The adult staying in the same cell is an orthopaedic surgeon who stayed in the ‘caliphate’ until it shrank to its death just over six months ago.
Some children have been repatriated but the fate of the men remains unclear.
Close to a third of the prison’s population is sick and needs treatment for a variety of wounds and conditions that include hepatitis and AIDS.
Bassem Abdel Azim, a 42-year-old Dutch-Egyptian, was wounded in an air strike and can’t use his right leg.
He recounts how he tricked his wife into travelling to the ‘caliphate’ with the promise of a holiday in Turkey.
‘I didn’t tell her, I didn’t want her to be scared,’ Abdel Azim says, explaining he has no idea where she and their five children are now.
‘I would like to see her again. They can hang me after that, I just want to tell her I’m sorry I took them in a country at war.'”
The Muslim Association of Canada openly states they are followers of the Muslim Brotherhood hoods. They openly make such claims on their website. “It is now 75 years since Al-Banna initiated the blessed effort. the efforts of the Muslim Association of Canada are separate from the writings and organization of Al-Banna by time and space. the assertion that much of our philosophy and vision derive from the efforts of Al-Banna should not be taken to mean that we adopt in wholesale fashion all of the ideas developed and put forward by Al-Banna or the Muslim Brotherhood. However, we believe that the efforts of Al-Banna and subquent generations of the Muslim Brotherhood remain the truest reflections of ISLAMIC practice in the modern era”.
The Dundas Street mosque in Toronto, Ontario, the executive director of the Masjid and long time member of MAC, Dr. El-Tantawi Attica, stated —“Here we follow the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
A full time Imam in the 2014 Dundas mosque and its affiliated location at 84 Adelaide Street East, Dr, Wael Shehab, PHD in Islamic studies, is also a member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars. Sheikh Yusuf Qardawi is head of the IUMS, a listed terrorists group by the United Arab Emirates. He has stated that the Muslim Brotherhood hoods and the Islamic ideology will take over Europe and NORTH AMERICA from the inside.
Talking about taking over a country is not classed as sedition or hate speech under M-103?
Sweden: What to Do About Gang Violence?
by Judith Bergman
October 29, 2019 at 5:00 am
“Since 2015, 32 people have been shot dead in 30 separate acts in Malmö’s latest murder wave. Our survey of the murders shows that more than 120 young men are linked to them in different ways”, according to a recent series of reports about gang violence in the Swedish mainstream newspaper, Sydsvenskan.
“There is much talk about ‘gang wars’ in Malmö,” the report relates.
Europe: Cooperative Free Nations or Overly Controlled by Brussels?
by Josef Zbo?il
October 29, 2019 at 4:00 am
Europe is in the throes of an internal debate between those who continue to view it as a constellation of free nations and those who see it as an entity controlled by Brussels.
Although the Brexit controversy may highlight this split, the conflict — as the former Czech President (and former Prime Minister), Václav Klaus, pointed out 13 years ago — has been raging for decades:
In his 2006 book, What is Europeism, Or, What Should Not be the Future for Europe?, Klaus wrote:
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15050/eu-freedom-control
Poll: 61 Per Cent of French Say Islam ‘Incompatible’ with Society (breitbart, Oct 29, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/10/29/poll-61-per-cent-french-say-islam-incompatible-society/
“An Ifop survey has discovered that nearly two-thirds of French people, or 61 per cent, believe that Islam is “incompatible with the values of French society”.
The results are an eight per cent increase compared to a previous study released in February of last year and reflect growing concerns of the impact of religion in public life against France’s traditional secularist stance, according to the study, Le Journal du Dimanche reports.
Between the left and right of the political spectrum, there is disagreement on the subject of Islam. More than half — 54 per cent — of the supporters of the far-left France Insoumise (Unbowed France) party saying that Muslim worship had a place in France, compared to 85 per cent of the supporters of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally who argued the opposite.
Frédéric Dabi, deputy director-general of Ifop, said that “the definition of secularism seems to be changing” noting an increase for the support of separation of religion and politics as the main issue compared to a 2005 poll in which equality of religion was the main topic of which Frenchmen were concerned.
Most of the focus of the new concerns revolve around the influence of Islamisation, with those surveyed advocating for the banning of religious symbols in many aspects of public life. Seventy-five per cent said they would agree on a religious symbols ban for users of public services and 72 per cent backed a ban for employees of private companies, with those on the right favouring the bans the most.
A total of 61 per cent of French people say they would support alternative meals to pork for school meals, but among Le Pen supporters, the number drops to 44 per cent.
Le Pen’s National Rally also scored highest in the poll when it came to the question of which party was best suited to face the challenges of Islamisation, with 37 per cent supporting the populist party compared to just 20 per cent for French President Emmanuel Macron and his party, La République En Marche! (LREM/Republic on the Move).
The confidence in Le Pen to tackle the issue comes after her party defeated LREM in the European Parliament elections in May.
Le Pen called on Macron to resign after the May vote. She said fresh national elections “should happen immediately because of yesterday’s results, but mostly because of Macron’s posture during the election where he was not the warrantor of the constitution, but he became an active player in one of the parties”.
The National Rally leader has also fared better than Macron in polling on migration issues. A poll released in February suggested that French voters had more faith in Le Pen to tackle mass migration issues than they had in the sitting French president.”
Brutal But Popular New ISIS Leader, “The Destroyer,” is a Former Sharia Judge and Commissioner
By Pamela Geller – on October 28, 2019
It’s never over.
slam is Islam.
Abdullah Qardash – nicknamed The Professor or The Destroyer because of his reputation as a brutal legislator – is known as a cruel but popular figure among the ISIS rank-and-file.
Qardash served as a religious commissar and a general sharia judge for al-Qaeda, according to researchers at the S. Rajartnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
The Professor – ISIS’s ‘cruel but popular’ new leader: Ex-Saddam officer Abdullah Qardash, who was imprisoned alongside Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and eliminated his rivals, takes the reins after former chief was killed in US strikes (Daily Mail)
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed by US forces in Syria overnight Saturday
Abdullah Qardash, officer in Saddam Hussein’s army, thought to have taken over
He was jailed by the US in Iraq in 2003 alongside Baghdadi for links with Al-Qaeda, where pair are thought to have radicalised other inmates to their cause
Served as ISIS’s top legislator and policymaker and was known as ‘the Professor’
In August Baghdadi promoted him to run the group’s day-to-day operations, making him heir-apparent following the cleric’s demise
ISIS already has a new leader in former Saddam Hussein officer
ISIS already has a new leader — a feared former officer for Saddam Hussein known as “the Destroyer,” according to reports.
By NY Post, October 28, 2019;
Abdullah Qardash was reportedly already running day-to-day operations and kill campaigns for the terror group and formally took over its leadership after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death on Saturday.
“Baghdadi was a figurehead. He was not involved in operations or day-to-day,” a regional intelligence official told Newsweek in confirming the successor. “All Baghdadi did was say yes or no — no planning.”
Qardash had been loyal to Baghdadi after they were held together at the Camp Bucca detention center in Basra after being jailed by US forces over their links to al Qaeda in 2003, the Times of London has said.
Even before his death, Baghdadi was handing more power to Qardash, known as a brutal policymaker whose name is sometimes spelled Kardesh, the Times said.
A former security analyst with the Iraqi government, Fadhel Abo Ragheef, told the paper in August that Baghdadi was understood to be “trying to prepare Qardash to lead ISIS in the future.”
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner warned police in a letter of possible calls “for acts of vengeance.”
“Sleeper cells will seek revenge for Baghdadi’s death,” Mazloum Abdi, top commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, told Agence France-Presse.
The parents of James Foley, the American journalist beheaded by ISIS in 2014, also fear that the leader’s death will not end the terror.
“I believe ISIS is like grass,” Foley’s dad, John Foley, told WMUR-TV. “You mow it, but it continues to grow. And I don’t think that the elimination of al-Baghdadi is the final answer.”
With Post wires
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Pamela Geller is the founder, editor and publisher of The Geller Report and President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and Stop Islamization of America (SIOA). She is the author of Fatwa: Hunted in America (foreword by Geert Wilders), The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America (foreword by Ambassador John Bolton) (Simon & Schuster) and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance (WND Books).
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https://gellerreport.com/2019/10/brutal-but-popular-new-isis-leader-the-destroyer-is-a-former-sharia-judge-and-commissioner.html/
Germans have a positive opinion about Canada.
Mr. Trudeau could concentrate all Muslims on an island with hungry polar bears to the liking of the German Marxists, whereby “concentrating” is badly reminiscent of concentration camps. Okay, we can all forget this possibility. So you’re gonna have to put up with the damage you’ve done. And thank the left-wing one-world enthusiasts.
Is Meat Really Bad for Your Health? | America Uncovered
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“South Carolina Pastor Refuses To Give Communion To Presidential Hopeful Joe Biden” Nickarama Weasel Zippers – October 29, 2019
https://www.weaselzippers.us/436298-south-carolina-pastor-refuses-to-give-communion-to-presidential-hopeful-joe-biden/
“This makes me sick, and I apologize for even sharing it…
But this kind of behavior needs to be exposed.
(language warning)” M3thods – October 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/M2Madness/status/1188832767112630274
perfect!
Powell discusses Flynn’s case, claims FBI tampered with interview notes
Tulsi Gabbard: Release 9/11 docs related to Saudis
Dem. presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard was joined Tuesday by families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks to demand that federal authorities release the findings of their investigation into the Saudi government’s role in the attacks.
Another Iran regime talking point.
Germany: ‘Threat of anti-Semitism and right-wing terrorism is high’ – Seehofer
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the threat of anti-Semitism and right-wing terrorism was high during a G6 meeting in Munich on Tuesday.
“Although some don’t want to admit this, the threat of anti-Semitism and right-wing terrorism is high in Germany. We have one other area that we also classify as high, that is Islamist terror, which remains in our field of view,” he said, adding that authorities approached the aforementioned threats “with the same intensity.”
Seehofer also discussed Brexit, saying it would not have a negative impact on security cooperation between the United Kingdom and Germany.
His comments come after authorities linked several incidents to right-wing extremism, such as the murder of Kassel Regional President Walter Lubcke in June and a shooting in front of a synagogue in Halle in October.
Suicide bombs and foreign fighters are burgeoning jihadi threats for the Philippines
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/10/29/philippines-islamic-state-suicide-bombs-foreign-fighters/
“Over the past few years the Philippines has witnessed significant changes in terrorist modus operandi. Suicide bombings, a common tactic for terrorist groups, have been on the rise. However, while not unusual in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia or even Indonesia, this form of modern violent jihad is still new to the Philippines. This shift has been compounded by the ongoing influx of foreign jihadists, encouraged by Islamic State leaders’ calls for supporters to migrate there…”
18 ‘regime elements’ captured in northern Syria, Turkey’s defense ministry says
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/10/29/syria-regime-forces-captured-ras-al-ayn-turkey/
“Turkey captured 18 people in northern Syria who said they were Syrian government forces, the defense ministry said on Tuesday, October 29.
“18 people who claimed to be regime elements were captured alive” in the southeast of Ras al-Ayn during search, reconnaissance and security activities, the ministry tweeted.
“The issue is being examined and coordinated with the authorities of the Russian Federation,” it added…”
Iran Needs $195 Per Oil Barrel to Balance Budget
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1966891/iran-needs-195-oil-barrel-balance-budget
“Iran would need oil priced at $194.6 a barrel to balance its budget next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said…”
Egypt Says 13 Militants Killed in Arish
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1966656/egypt-says-13-militants-killed-arish
“Thirteen suspected militants were killed in a raid on Tuesday in the Egyptian Mediterranean coastal city of el-Arish’ el-Obour neighborhood, officials announced.
They said police found weapons and explosives in the hideout, and forensic teams are now identifying the bodies.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to talk to reporters.
Egypt has battled an insurgency led by an ISIS affiliate for years in Sinai, which occasionally spills over to the mainland.
Separately, officials said a police conscript has been killed in a militant attack in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
They said the attack, which took place late on Monday in the town Sheikh Zuweid, also wounded three other policemen who were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.”
US House recognises ‘Armenian genocide’ in rebuke to Turkey
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-house-recognises-armenian-genocide-rebuke-turkey
“The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a resolution recognising the atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians in the First World War as a “genocide”.
In a 405 to 11 vote on Tuesday, legislators passed a resolution titled “Affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide”.
The bill marks the first time either chamber of Congress has described the killings of Armenians as a genocide.
“Today let us clearly state the facts on the floor of this House, to be etched to the congressional record: The barbarism committed against the Armenian people was a genocide,” said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ahead of the vote…”
Turkey slams U.S. move to back measure recognizing Armenian ‘genocide’
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-turkey-armenia-genocide/turkey-slams-u-s-move-to-back-measure-recognizing-armenian-genocide-idUSKBN1X82MO
“Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu slammed a move by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday to vote in favor of a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a “genocide”, saying the decision was “null and void”.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 405-11 in favor of a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a genocide, a symbolic but historic vote likely to inflame tensions with Turkey.
In a tweet, Cavusoglu said Turkey had thwarted a “big game” with its offensive into northeastern Syria and that the move by the House was aimed at taking revenge for the operation.
“Those whose projects were frustrated turn to antiquated resolutions. Circles believing that they will take revenge this way are mistaken. This shameful decision of those exploiting history in politics is null&void for our Government and people,” Cavusoglu said on Twitter.”
Migrants released amid fighting in Libyan capital seek refuge with U.N.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-libya/migrants-released-amid-fighting-in-libyan-capital-seek-refuge-with-u-n-idUSKBN1X82MK
“Hundreds of migrants were released on Tuesday from a detention center in the Libyan capital Tripoli as heavy gunfire rang out across the city, witnesses and the United Nations said…”
Reuters has gone over to the dark side completely.
Iraq: Massive rallies in Baghdad as political crisis deepens
https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/iraq-massive-rallies-in-baghdad-as-political-crisis-deepens-1.1572389867586
“Baghdad: Anti-government protesters packed into the Iraqi capital’s Tahrir Square late Tuesday in the largest numbers yet as the political crisis sparked by their demonstrations deepened further.
Late into the night, blaring horns, fireworks and loud Iraqi music filled the plaza, the capital’s focal point for demonstrations over unemployment and corruption that have escalated into calls for the government to quit.
The rallies have swelled in recent days, defying curfews, threats of arrest and violence that has left 242 people dead and more than 8,000 wounded this month.”
Morocco Vows Not to Convict ‘Harmless’ Moroccan ISIS Wives
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/10/285628/morocco-moroccan-isis-wives-bcij/
“Head of the Moroccan Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) Abdelhak Khiam said that Morocco will not convict wives of Moroccan ISIS fighters.
Khiam said, on Monday, October 28, that there are nearly 280 Moroccan women, wives of ISIS-linked fighters, in conflict zones across Syria.
He added that the women are mothers to 391 minors who are currently being held hostage in conflict zones in Syria. The BCIJ chief explained that the women did not go to Syria to engage in armed conflict.
“They simply accompanied their husbands.”
He vowed that Morocco’s justice system will not convict them…”
EXCLUSIVE: Dad fighting gender ‘transition’ of 7-yr-old son speaks out right before gag order
Texas dad Jeffrey Younger has been fighting in the courts to stop his ex-wife from gender “transitioning” their 7-year-old son, James.
On October 24, 2019, Dallas Judge Kim Cooks ruled to allow Younger a say in James’ medical treatment. However, she also instituted a gag order preventing him from speaking out.
He spoke to LifeSite’s Madeleine Jacob right before the judge issued her ruling.
1. Special Report – Gender Uncertainty
The Lighted Candle Society
https://thelightedcandlesociety.net/?p=261
2. “‘Gender Uncertainty’ Invades Public Schools as the Next Wave of the Pansexual Indoctrination of Society”
Dr. Judith Reisman | Posted: January 21, 2019
http://www.drjudithreisman.com/archives/2019/01/gender_uncertai.html
3. “Every parent should download and read this excellent resource. It’s a voice of hope.”
Mary E. McAlister – October 5, 2019 – Twitter
https://twitter.com/MaryEMcAlister/status/1180601003982213120
4. Expose Sex Ed! – Twitter
https://twitter.com/ExposeSexEd
5. “Former Transgender: There’s No Solid Evidence of Genetic Basis for Trans Identity”
By Walt Heyer – April 5, 2018
https://www.westernjournal.com/former-transgender-theres-no-solid-evidence-of-genetic-basis-for-trans-identity/
6. Repost: pdf
“‘Gender Uncertainty’ Invades Public School As The Next Wave Of The Pansexual Indoctrination Of Society”
Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D.
Mary E. McAlister, Esq.
Page 6 – Obama / Page 7 Trump…
https://www.scribd.com/document/397936441/Gender-Uncertainty-Invades-Public-Schools-as-the-Next-Wave-of-the-Pansexual-Indoctrination-of-Society#fullscreen&from_embed
“Where did the transgender idea come from? | Walt Heyer”
ACL – Australian Christian Lobby
April 9, 2019
{shudder}Hearing about public schools these days reminds me of when I heard about red-light districts in Amsterdam. It seemed like classic National Geographic, native life in remote jungles.
It reminds me of Afghanistan and the “Dancing Boys.”
20 Afghan forces killed in Taliban onslaught
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/20-afghan-forces-killed-in-taliban-onslaught/1629537
“At least 20 Afghan security personnel and a civilian were killed in a flared-up fighting with the Taliban insurgents in the northern Jowzjan province of Afghanistan, an official said Tuesday.
The Taliban attacked the ancient Bala Hissar fortress in Aqcha District and took control of it, Ghulam Sahi Subhani, the district governor, said in a statement.
Subhani said five security personnel were also injured in the attack.
Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has urged both sides to observe ceasefire amid escalating civilian casualties. According to the AIHRC, a total of 1,611 civilians were killed and 4,876 were injured over the past six months.
Almost 75% of civilian casualties were caused by attacks launched by Taliban, 3% by Daesh and 11% by the pro-government forces. The perpetrators for another 10% of civilian casualties were not identified.”
Meghan Murphy on freedom of speech
Activists Are Protesting the Meghan Murphy Event at the Toronto Library
BBC – Meghan Murphy: Canadian feminist’s trans talk sparks uproar
A Canadian library has been criticised for refusing to cancel an event hosting a feminist with controversial views on transgender rights.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside a branch of the Toronto Public Library as writer Meghan Murphy gave a talk inside.
The library defended its decision to allow her talk on gender identity and “society, the law and women”.
Campaigners have called Ms Murphy anti-transgender, which she denies.
Toronto police quoted by Global News said officers had been present inside and outside the event to “keep the peace.”
Global News reporter Kamil Karamali tweeted that attendees were escorted by police out the back of the building when the talk ended.
What is Meghan Murphy’s stance?
Ms Murphy says she wants to ensure the safety of women in places like female prisons, women’s refuges and changing rooms.
In Canada, she has spoken against a bill that amended Canada’s rights act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender expression and identity over concerns it could undermine women’s rights by eroding their “safe spaces”.
“Under current trans activist doctrine we’re not allowed to exclude a man from a woman’s space if he says that he’s female and I find that quite dangerous and troubling,” she told the BBC.
She says she believes the transgender activist movement is “regressive and sexist” and ignores women and girls.
The talk’s organisers, a group called Radical Feminists Unite, have said they are “not a hate group, and we do not espouse hate speech, or advocate for the removal of rights from any marginalised group”.
The event was sold out.
Judith Taylor, from University of Toronto’s Women and Gender Studies Institute, calls Ms Murphy “basically a provocateur”.
She thinks that Ms Murphy, in asserting the rights of one group “is implicitly trying to sideline another” and disagrees with Ms Murphy that safe spaces and diversity cannot coexist.
“The more that we start embracing that diversity the better our learning and the better our strength,” she said.
What has the library said?
City librarian Vickery Bowles released a statement in mid-October defending the decision to host the event, saying that as a public institution it has “an obligation to protect free speech”.
She said that while the library supports the LGBT community and can cancel a room rental if it believes “the event will promote discrimination, contempt or hatred for any individual or group” this case does not violate its rental policies.
Ms Bowles, who sought legal opinion on the matter, added Ms Murphy has never been charged with or convicted of hate speech in Canada.
The decision to honour the room booking received the support of PEN Canada, a major writers’ organisation, on Monday.
Toronto Mayor John Tory called the library’s decision “disappointing”
What has been the response?
Opponents to the library’s decision include Toronto Mayor John Tory, who has called it “disappointing”.
An online petition started by three local authors calling for the event to be cancelled had more than 8,000 signatures by Tuesday.
Those who signed it said they would no longer participate in library events if Ms Murphy’s talk went ahead.
Pride Toronto, the organisation behind the city’s annual pride festival, warned the library “there will be consequences to our relationship for this betrayal”.
It said in a statement that Ms Murphy’s views are “a denial of the lives, experiences and identities of trans people”.
Two city councillors – Kristyn Wong-Tam and Mike Layton – are asking for a review of policies governing the use of community spaces at the Toronto library and other public spaces.
Early this year, a similar talk that included Ms Murphy at a public library in Vancouver drew both protesters and a sold-out crowd. The library was later barred from participating in the city’s pride parade.
In May, Ms Murphy was invited to the Scottish Parliament to speak on transgender issues as Edinburgh planned reforms to the Gender Recognition Act to allow people to “self-declare” their legally recognised gender.
Campaigners at the time said Ms Murphy wanted transgender equality protections “ripped apart”.
She was also banned from Twitter for stating that “men aren’t women” and for “misgendering” transgender women on the site. She has taken legal action against the company.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50214341
Hundreds protest controversial Toronto Public Library event featuring Meghan Murphy
People exiting a speaking event at a small Toronto Public Library branch were met with a chorus of boos as they descended the staircase at its front entrance on Tuesday evening. The branch has been at the centre of a firestorm over the line between free speech and hate speech.
Hundreds flocked to the TPL’s Palmerston branch in protest after weeks of heated debate over the library’s decision to allow writer Meghan Murphy to speak Tuesday at an event put on by a group dubbed Radical Feminists Unite.
Ms. Murphy has been called a “transexclusionary radical feminist,” or TERF, because of her argument that including transgender women in the feminist movement is harmful.
She has also been critical of the transgender rights movement, and she appeared in the Canadian Senate in 2016 to oppose a law that added gender identity and expression to the federal list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.
LGBTQ advocates have been harshly critical of the library’s decision to let Ms. Murphy speak, and they launched petitions, a phone campaign and a flurry of social-media posts preceding the protest, which took place at the same time as the speaking event.
“I hope that the Toronto Public Library realizes that trans people matter,” Gwen Benaway, a transgender poet who won a Governor-General Award on Tuesday, said at the protest. “Hosting transphobic speakers that promote intolerance in Canadian society is damaging and against the work of the Toronto Public Library.”
Also Tuesday, drag artist duo Fay and Fluffy, who hold a popular storytelling event for children at several TPL branches, announced they have severed ties with the library over their decision to play host to Ms. Murphy.
“I could not call myself an ally and fighter for my community if I continue a relationship with a space that will host someone who is actively fighting to take away my legal rights as a human,” wrote Kaleb Robertson, one half of Fay and Fluffy, on the duo’s Instagram page. “It’s heartbreaking to be put in this position by a place I have loved since I was a child.”
Despite the fierce opposition and public rebukes from prominent figures, including Toronto Mayor John Tory, city librarian Vickery Bowles backed the event because the TPL has “an obligation to protect free speech.” She said earlier this month that Ms. Murphy’s event was not in violation of the library’s room-booking policy, which allows the library to cancel events that “[promote] discrimination.”
Ms. Bowles also said that Ms. Murphy has never been charged with or convicted of hate speech. Toronto city councillors tabled a motion Tuesday calling for stricter room-booking policies at TPL branches, to “ensure that activities enabling discrimination and tolerance, including transphobia and transphobic activity, are given all due consideration as a human rights violation.”
Two hours before the event, a crowd of about 100 gathered in the heart of Toronto’s gay village for a preprotest rally organized by Pride Toronto and The 519, a local LGBTQ resource centre.
A mural depicting a diversity of LGBTQ people towered over the crowd as former Ontario MPP Cheri DiNovo led them in a chant proclaiming that “trans rights are human rights.”
Julie Hamara, who works with The 519, helped stage the rally. She said she’s grateful for the support her cause has received, but that she’s waiting for the day when these kinds of protests will no longer be necessary.
“It is amazing, the way the community rallies behind these causes, Ms. Hamara said. “But it’s a matter of when will we not have to.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-hundreds-protest-controversial-toronto-public-library-event-featuring/
Danish police call for public to report hate crimes
https://www.thelocal.dk/20191029/danish-police-call-for-public-to-report-hate-crimes
“The National Police has launched an initiative it hopes will encourage the public to report hate crimes.
Although annual police figures show little change in the amount of reported hate crimes, instances are not always reported, according to a National Police (Rigspolitiet) press release.
The police say they will continue working with interest organizations as well as launching a campaign to encourage witnesses and victims to report potential hate crimes.
A total of 449 hate crimes were registered in Denmark in 2018, compared to 446 the year before.
But the conclusions of the annual report suggest that more police resources are required regarding hate crime, according to Tenna Wilbert, head of the police’s National Prevention Centre (Nationalt Forebyggelsescenter) against extremism.
“Hate crime is a prioritized area which police have high focus on. But it is also a complex area because a hate crime can be anything from offensive shouts on the street to graffiti to serious violence, and it can be hard to ascertain what the motive is for the crime,” Wilbert said in the press release.
“If we are to be able to investigate and improve prevention, it’s important that we know the extent and know where hate crime is taking place. That’s why we are working to get … more people to report to police if they have been subjected to a hate crime,” she continued.
“We are doing that through increased partnership with interest organizations and through a new campaign,” Wilbert added.
The campaign is entitled ‘Stop hadet’ (Stop the Hate).
“It’s important that all hate crime is reported, even if it’s just a ‘smaller’ offense, like being verbally abused on the way home from a night out,” Wilbert said.
“Police can’t always find the persons responsible for a given incident, but every report helps to paint a picture of an area and show whether there’s a trend we need to tackle,” she said.
2018 saw 84 formal charges for hate crimes brought against 101 persons throughout the country, compared to 95 charges against 102 persons in 2017.
Hate crimes reported in 2018 consisted primarily of violence, vandalism, hate speech and threats. Of the 449 registered hate crimes, 89 took place on the internet, according to the police figures.”
Majority of Germans want Turkey kicked out of NATO: survey
https://www.dw.com/en/majority-of-germans-want-turkey-kicked-out-of-nato-survey/a-51030130
“A new survey shows that 58% of Germans want Turkey expelled from NATO over the recent military offensive in Syria. There is even stronger German support for economic sanctions and export bans against the country…”
US secrecy on Baghdadi raid exposes distrust of NATO ally Turkey
https://www.france24.com/en/20191029-us-secrecy-on-baghdadi-raid-exposes-distrust-of-nato-ally-turkey
“Islamic State (IS) group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was found and killed over the weekend in northern Syria just a few miles from the Turkish border in a US raid that evaded the Turkey’s Incirlik base, in a sign of the increasing distrust between US and Turkish militaries.
The compound where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was targeted early Sunday is located near the village of Barisha in northwestern Syria barely three miles from the Turkish border in Idlib, a province that has come to be known as “the last refuge of Syrian rebels” resisting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
But it was an odd last refuge for the self-styled “caliph” of the IS group – one that underscores the conflicting interests of the players, and their backers, in the Syrian war. While the international community has welcomed Baghdadi’s killing, his location and the manner in which the US raid was planned and executed highlights the security threats that still dog the region and beyond.
Barisha village lies in a zone marked “rebel control” on Syrian battle maps, and is where an estimated three million people, mostly civilians, coexist with a witch’s brew of jihadist groups, including al Qaeda’s Syrian branch and a number of allied or warring factions. Most of them are mortal rivals of the IS group.
Turkey has about a dozen military observation posts in Idlib that monitor the rebel area, where the Turkish-backed rebel Free Syrian Army – now confusingly called the National Syrian Army (NSA) – also operate.
Ankara has emerged as a guarantor of sorts for the Idlib pocket, after Turkey negotiated a ceasefire with Russia and Iran in May under the Astana process. The deal saw the establishment of a buffer zone, which Turkey wanted, to protect Idlib residents from Assad’s offensive.
In return, Turkey was required to remove all jihadist groups, including al Qaeda affiliates and breakaway groups, from the province.
Baghdadi’s presence in Idlib put the spotlight on Turkey’s failure to implement its commitment, which was quickly noted by regional experts a day after the raid.
The starting point of the US operation also raised eyebrows in defence and counterterror circles, underscoring tensions between Turkey and its fellow NATO members.
When US attack helicopters took off on their mission around midnight in the region on Sunday, they did not fly out of Incirlik, NATO’s second-largest air base, located in southern Turkey just across the Mediterranean Sea from northwestern Syria.
Instead the helicopters – packed with Delta Force commandos and kit – took off from the Al-Asad air base in Iraq’s western Anbar province, taking an east-west flight path that spanned the breath of Syria over dangerous enemy-held terrain.
In its editorial the morning after President Donald Trump’s announcement, the Washington Post cut to the heart of the security concerns plaguing allies in the international coalition against the IS group. “That U.S. forces neither used Turkey’s nearby Incirlik air base as a staging ground nor informed Ankara about the target of the operation in advance testifies to the unreliability of an ally Mr. Trump says he is counting on to prevent the Islamic State’s resurgence,” noted the Post.
“What we know is that the Turkish government has been very upset with how closely the US government continues to cooperate with the [Kurdish-led] SDF. For operational reasons, the US found it best to leave from Erbil, in an atmosphere of more coordinated security for the US that would make it more unlikely for ISIS [IS group] to get prior warning of the raid. If you read between the lines of what US officials are saying, it’s clear we don’t trust Turkey enough to cooperate closely,” said Nicholas Heras, from the Washington DC-based Center for a New American Security, who has advised US counterterrorism officials on Syria, in an interview with FRANCE 24.
Baghdadi’s underwear ‘stolen’ for DNA tests
In sharp contrast, recent news reports have highlighted the critical role Turkey’s arch foe, the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces), played in Sunday’s complex raid.
In a detailed Twitter posting Tuesday, Polat Can, a senior SDF adviser, revealed that one of the group’s sources managed to steal Baghdadi’s used underwear and later a sample of his blood, which were passed on to US intelligence officials. The positive DNA matches kicked the operation into high gear “more than a month ago”, said Can.
But the October 9 Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria, “prompted us to stop our special operations, including the pursuit of Al-Baghdadi. The Turkish invasion caused a delay in the operation”, Can added.
Meanwhile, the US on Tuesday confirmed an SDF announcement — issued hours after Trump announced Baghdadi’s death — that a joint raid between Kurdish-led and US forces in Jarablus in Syria’s Aleppo province killed another high-level IS-group figure.
Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir was considered a possible replacement to head the IS group following Baghdadi’s death, a thwarted succession Trump alluded to when he tweeted, “Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops.”
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi told reporters the joint US-SDF raid on Muhajir was “a continuation of the previous operation” in which Baghdadi was killed.
Trump’s sudden decision earlier this month to withdraw US troops coordinating with SDF troops in Syria drew sharp criticisms over his betrayal of the Kurds, Washington’s most committed military allies in the fight against the IS group.
The US president has since attempted to backpedal by announcing the redeployment of US troops from the border zone invaded by Turkey to an area further east to protect oil wells still under Kurdish control. Since the oil wells have been defunct and destroyed by fighting in the Syrian war, the announcement was widely viewed as a bid to maintain US special forces in the volatile area.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants to move an estimated three million mostly Sunni Arab Syrian refugees in Turkey into a Syrian border “buffer zone” inhabited by Kurds, Christians, Yazidis and a number of minority groups.
Parallels with Pakistan
The distrust, Heras noted, bears some similarities to America’s fraught relationship with Pakistan during the 2011 raid on a compound not far from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad that killed Osama bin Laden. Pakistan, a Cold War-era US ally and partner in the war on terror, was not informed of the operation until after the al Qaeda founder was killed and the US team had returned to an air base in Afghanistan.
“I believe that in the days to come, we will find a lot of parallels with Pakistan,” said Heras. “We will see more reports emerge of elements within the Turkish state seeing ISIS as a useful tool just as elements within Pakistan’s security apparatus saw al Qaeda and the Taliban as useful tools.”
Like Pakistan, Turkey is extremely sensitive to allegations of ties between its security-intelligence apparatus and Islamist militants. In 2015, Turkey arrested a prominent editor, Can Dandar, for his newspaper’s investigative report on a convoy of trucks, packed with weapons, bound for Syria.
But Turkey’s use of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a primarily Sunni Arab fighting force that includes a number of Islamist groups, has increased Western fears that Ankara’s aim of rooting out the SDF from the border zones will unleash a brutal ethnic conflict in Syria’s Kurdish areas.
Qaeda-linked commander who housed Baghdadi
While FSA groups have battled with al Qaeda-linked groups such as the Hayat Tahrir al-Shams (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), Baghdadi’s presence in a rebel-controlled zone underscores the fluid, unlikely alliances between Islamist militant groups.
Baghdadi was found in the house of Abu Mohammed Salama, a commander of Hurras al-Din, a jihadist group that broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Shams after the latter group split from al Qaeda.
Hurras al-Din is considered loyal to al Qaeda chief Ayman Zawahiri. But although al Qaeda and the IS group are rivals, Hurras al-Din members are believed to have helped some senior IS group members flee from their last pockets of control in eastern Syria to Idlib in the west earlier this year.
Turkey, focused on battling Kurdish fighters in the area, has shown little enthusiasm for cracking down on hardline jihadist groups operating in northern Syria.
Despite the growing differences between Turkey and its fellow NATO members, the military alliance is likely to publicly paper over its differences during a December 4 summit in London to celebrate 70 years of its founding in Washington.
Ever since Ankara joined NATO in 1952, the alliance has stressed the importance of Turkey’s Incirlik base, which was a strategic bridge to the Black and Mediterranean Seas during the Cold War. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea has underscored the continuing importance of the bridge-point.
But the Baghdadi raid has exposed NATO’s de facto sidelining of Turkey. For its part, Ankara has been building military ties with Moscow and Beijing.
“The US has established other bases that can take the load off and diminish Incirlik’s importance,” noted Heras. “There are bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Erbil, a Forward Operating Base [FOB] in Greece and other places in the region that reduces the importance of Incirlik.”
After more than 60 years, the military marriage between Turkey and its Western NATO partners has grown loveless. But neither side is ready for an official divorce.”
2018, Eli Lake:
The US should make clear to ersatz allies that betrayal has consequences.
Turkey Is Turning Into the Next Pakistan
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-02/as-a-u-s-ally-turkey-is-turning-into-the-next-pakistan
……
2018, CFR:
Neither Friend nor Foe: The Future of U.S.-Turkey Relations
https://cfrd8-files.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/CSR82_Cook_Turkey.pdf
[CFR. That makes it kosher.]