Archive for April 2016

Minister: ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Migrants Are ‘Jihadis Of Tomorrow’

April 11, 2016

BORDER RIOT PICTURES: Minister Calls ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Migrants ‘Jihadis Of Tomorrow’

by Oliver JJ Lane and Nick Hallett

11 Apr 2016

Source: Minister: ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Migrants Are ‘Jihadis Of Tomorrow’

Macedonian police fired tear gas as migrants screamed “Allah hu Akbar” and tried to break through the border fence from Greece in a series of clashes that left over 200 people injured on Sunday.

The incident happened at the Idomeni border crossing, which is fast becoming infamous as a flashpoint for violence as thousands of stranded migrants try to break through the border into Macedonia to continue their journey to northern Europe.

Now the Greek minister for citizen protection, Nikos Toskas, has warned the body of angry migrants apparently willing to go to any length to force their way into Europe will likely be radicalised.

Referring to the hundreds of young men tearing down border fences, throwing rocks at police and screaming “Allahu Akhbar”, Mr. Toskas said: “what you see today, are the jihadists of tomorrow”.

See Below: Incredible Pictures From Idomeni

The minister expressed a concern that radical Islamists in Europe would soon be working to recruit those migrants in Idomeni, reports Kronen Zeitung. Radicals have long been targeting migrants as they arrived in Europe, loitering in German camps and railway stations and offering support to illegals in return for their allegiance.

Breitbart London reported on the comments of a spokesman for the Bavarian security service who said of the radicals: “Salafists are trying to talk with unaccompanied youths who have come to Germany without their families and who are in particular need of support and connections.

“The Salafists are trying to use the desperate situation refugees find themselves in for their own goals”.

Macedonian police confirmed the clashes had happened yesterday, but denied the tear gas had come from their side, with an official telling AFP: “There are some incidents on the Greek side of the border. Greek police are using tear gas near the border with Macedonia. It is calm so far on the Macedonian side of the border.”

Video journalists recording the day’s attack on the border caught repeated screams of “Allah hu Akbar” (Our god is greater than yours) – the Islamic war-cry now well associated in Europe with terror attacks. Migrants had toothpaste smeared on their faces in an attempt to limit the effects of tear gas. Questions are being raised as to who taught the migrants to take such evasive manoeuvres when confronting security forces.

The illegals attempted to overwhelm police by charging in large numbers, tearing down the chain-link fence and throwing rocks and tear-gas bombs at Macedonian police.

Breitbart London reported earlier that a flyer distributed around the migrant camp at Idomeni incited the inmates to attack the fence and move north. It is believed the document may have been distributed by European anarchist activists.

Breitbart’s Oliver Lane speaks to the Breitbart Daily Show about the Idomeni crisis: 

 

IN PICTURES:

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man with toothpaste smeared over his face as a protection against tear gas (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man lights up a projectile before throwing it at Macedonian police (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man lights up a projectile before throwing it at Macedonian police (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man waves a Greek flag as others clash with Macedonian soldiers (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man holds a Greek flag as others clash with Macedonian soldiers (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Macedonian police resort to throwing stones at migrants to stop them crossing the border (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Macedonian police resort to throwing stones at migrants to stop them crossing the border (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants try to tear down the border fence as Macedonian police watch from the other side (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants try to tear down the border fence as Macedonian police watch from the other side (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants showered with tear gas (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants showered with tear gas (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants head back to Greece after trying to cross the border (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants head back to Greece after trying to cross the border (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man with toothpaste smeared over his face as a protection against tear gas throws a stone at Macedonian border guards (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man with toothpaste smeared over his face as a protection against tear gas throws a stone at Macedonian border guards (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man calls to other migrants to walk through the torn down wire fencing along the border into Macedonia (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man calls to other migrants to walk through the torn down wire fencing along the border into Macedonia (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A woman with toothpaste smeared over her face to protect her from teargas, lies on the ground (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A woman with toothpaste smeared over her face to protect her from teargas, lies on the ground (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Macedonian police officers stand guard (ROBERT ATANASOVSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Macedonian police officers stand guard (ROBERT ATANASOVSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A tear gas cannister explodes (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A tear gas cannister explodes (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - Refugees and migrants clash with Macedonian soldiers as they protest to reopen the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. Dozens of people were hurt when police fired tear gas on a group of migrants as they tried to break through a fence on the Greece-Macedonia border, the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. / AFP / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants clash with Macedonian soldiers as they protest to reopen the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - A man calls to other refugees and migrants to walk through the torn down wire fencing along the border into Macedonia during clashes with Macedonian security as they protest to reopen the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. Dozens of people were hurt when police fired tear gas on a group of migrants as they tried to break through a fence on the Greece-Macedonia border, the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said. Efforts by the Greek authorities to persuade migrants to leave Idomeni and move to nearby reception centres have not been successful, with many people preferring to stay put in the hope the border will be opened, despite the controversial EU-Turkey deal to stem the flow of refugees that took effect three weeks ago. / AFP / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

A man calls to other migrants to walk through the torn down wire fencing along the border into Macedonia during clashes with Macedonian security as they protest to reopen the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants and refugees head back to the Greek side during clashes with Macedonian soldiers near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. Dozens of people were hurt when police fired tear gas on a group of migrants as they tried to break through a fence on the Greece-Macedonia border, the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. / AFP / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants head back to the Greek side (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Refugees and migrants clash with Macedonian soldiers during a protest for the reopening of the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. Dozens of people were hurt when police fired tear gas on a group of migrants as they tried to break through a fence on the Greece-Macedonia border, the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. / AFP / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants clash with Macedonian soldiers (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Refugees and migrants clash with Macedonian soldiers during a protest for the reopening of the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. Dozens of people were hurt when police fired tear gas on a group of migrants as they tried to break through a fence on the Greece-Macedonia border, the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. / AFP / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Migrants and refugees clash with Macedonian soldiers during a protest for the reopening of the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni, on April 10, 2016. Dozens of people were hurt when police fired tear gas on a group of migrants as they tried to break through a fence on the Greece-Macedonia border, the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. / AFP / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Macedonian police officers stand guard and protect themselves from stones thrown by migrants. (ROBERT ATANASOVSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Macedonian police officers stand guard and protect themselves from stones thrown by migrants. (ROBERT ATANASOVSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Free Speech on Trial: What Message Is Being Sent?

April 11, 2016

Free Speech on Trial: What Message Is Being Sent?

by George Igler

April 11, 2016 at 5:00 am

Source: Free Speech on Trial: What Message Is Being Sent?

  • This miscarriage of justice being orchestrated against Geert Wilders is merely one aspect of the many prosecutions being carried out under laws less about prevention and punishment of actual crimes, and more about criminalizing dissent against the demographic transformation of Europe.
  • After terror outrages in the name of Islam, its apologists perform defensive operations that try to render Islamic doctrine immune from scrutiny.
  • The eagerness with which social media giants, such as Facebook and Twitter, have imposed a policy of enforced silence — in concert with Europe’s leaders — is a further irony that will not be lost on future historians.
  • If the criminal justice systems of European nations continue to pursue charges against whoever questions or criticizes Islam, what hope is there then for the silent members of the Muslim community who might wish to speak out?

The spread of jihad is irreparably undermining Europe’s post-War reputation as a continent of security and peace.

In addition, free speech seems increasingly regarded by mainstream politicians as dangerous and archaic. Diversity of opinion often appears seen as an obstacle to multiculturalism, the objective of which, ironically, is diversity.

These dual trends are set to come to a head in the Netherlands next year, in elections set to follow the conclusion of the trial of Dutch MP Geert Wilders this November. Wilders is the leader the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, or PVV), which currently tops the country’s polls. He faces imprisonment on a charge of hate speech, for saying that the Netherlands could use “fewer Moroccans.”

As Wilders outlined in his opening statement to the court on March 18, the politically-motivated bias against him of one of the judges is a matter of public record. Moreover, despite ample demonstration by Wilders’s defense of the forgery of a group of the criminal complaints that initiated his prosecution, his trial nevertheless continues.

This miscarriage of justice being orchestrated against Wilders is merely one aspect of the many prosecutions being carried out under laws less about prevention and punishment of actual crimes, and more about criminalizing dissent against the demographic transformation of Europe.

The miscarriage of justice being orchestrated against Dutch MP Geert Wilders is merely one aspect of the many prosecutions being carried out under laws less about prevention and punishment of actual crimes, and more about criminalizing dissent against the demographic transformation of Europe. (Source of Wilders photo: Flickr/Metropolico)

The link between the erosion of freedom of speech and the speed of the Islamic colonization of Europe is rarely addressed. One would think that every terrorist attack would prompt serious questions among Europe’s leaders over the wisdom of continuing mass immigration of Muslims.

In fact, the opposite is taking place.

Apologists for Muslims, apparently respected by the media, have been instrumental in shifting focus away from the victims of terror attacks, onto objections to the “rhetoric” used by non-Muslims in the wake of every atrocity. This maneuver appears driven by the apologists’ and the media’s desire to prevent alleged “Islamophobic” attacks on Muslims, which they blame on the “far-right.” After terror outrages in the name of Islam, its apologists arguably perform defensive operations that try to render Islamic doctrine immune from scrutiny.

That apologists for Muslims have internalized such a rationale comes as no surprise to any reader of the Koran, in which vitriol directed against non-Muslims for their faith precedes divine commands for their slaughter. The passive cooperation of most media interviewers, however, reveals just how sharia-compliant Europe has now become.

Ironically, the very fact that European nations have freedom of religion, a principle which fundamentalists so keenly exploit, helps explain why the continent has gradually drifted towards secularism and atheism. Christians and Jews are not told they will be killed if they leave their religion. As the leading Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi admitted on television, if it were not for the threat of death under Islam’s apostasy laws — “Muhammad said: ‘Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him’ (Bukhari 9.84.57)” — the religion would not today exist.

Freedom of religion begins with being able to choose whatever belief — or non-belief — you wish, rather than adhering to theological claims of authority.

The mere threat of prosecution is usually sufficient to silence those who express public opposition to mass Muslim immigration, and is also being exploited by many to silence any questioning of Islam.

Dutchmen who tweet their opposition to the construction of “refugee” centers in their towns receive visits from police who threaten them with charges of sedition. A Belgian who spoke out about Muslim children in the city’s schools cheering the recent Brussels attacks welcomed three policemen to his door. And a London man who tweeted about his decision to confront a Muslim over her views on the Brussels attacks was arrested, had his home raided, and all his computer equipment seized. More well-known, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel was caught on an open microphone asking Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to curtail speech critical of “the wave of Syrian refugees entering Germany.”

With democratic avenues for opposing mass Islamic immigration branded as “extremist” – an allegation leveled at any political party seeking to address the matter — citizens might be forgiven for using social media to vent their anger at the consequences of this migration.

The eagerness with which social media giants, such as Facebook and Twitter, have imposed a policy of enforced silence — in close concert with Europe’s leaders — is a further irony that will not be lost on future historians.

Lutz Bachmann, for instance, who in 2014 founded the now Europe-wide PEGIDA protest movement, has since been drawn into 288 separate criminal investigations by police, later dropped by prosecutors for lack of evidence.[1]

After a photograph of Bachmann sporting a Hitler moustache was circulated, controversy over his character reached an understandable crescendo. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with him or his views, the “example” being made of Bachmann reveals how anyone not toeing the party line is subjected to relentless prosecution on virtually any pretext, as a new form of punishment.

Bachmann is nevertheless still subject to 14 ongoing prosecutions and faces a trial aimed at his imprisonment, scheduled to start in Dresden on April 19, for allegedly using a single derogatory word “Viehzeug” [“animals, creatures, insects”] in a Facebook post describing last year’s illegal migrant influx. Bachmann’s defense attorney maintains there is no evidence that his client actually posted this entry.

PEGIDA’s deputy leader, Tatjana Festerling, also faces jail in April for saying, “If we don’t grab our pitchforks and fight the Islamization of Europe, we are lost.” Her lawyer says he is flabbergasted that Festerling’s description, in a speech, of how European serfs once stood up to their undemocratic masters, has resulted in her trial for incitement to hatred against Muslims.[2]

In February, Edwin Wagensveld, the head of PEGIDA’s Dutch branch, was also taken into custody. Video footage shows his crime: wearing a furry pig hat.

If one tenth of this accusatory effort had been spent to pursue imams using European mosques to preach actual violent sedition, the terrorist threat Europe now faces might now be negligible.

Considerable light is shed on how such prosecutions are possible by the recently published autobiography of Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League. In Enemy of the State, Robinson recounts his family’s desperate struggle in 2013 to have him released from an illegal five-month long period in solitary confinement, which was imposed for using a false name on a passport.

Law firms ostensibly concerned with civil liberties, Robinson claims, have become so accustomed to enriching themselves at state expense — as a result of bringing spurious human rights cases on behalf of Muslims — that supporting Europe’s genuine political dissidents becomes just bad business.[3]

Robinson again faces incarceration on April 14, and has frequently stated his belief that the ultimate objective of his incarceration is to facilitate his murder in British prisons.

Enemy of the State also recounts Robinson’s repeated previous attempts, in writing, to plead with prison governors to have him segregated.[4] These requests are always ignored, as his injury record corroborates. Instead, he was placed in prison wings with high jihadist populations.

On April 3, the UK’s shadow Justice Secretary, Lord Falconer, said that British prisons are becoming “terrorist academies.”

No doubt conscious of President John F. Kennedy’s words that, “those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable,” social media companies were proud to trumpet their role in galvanizing and providing a platform for the spread of democratic opposition during the Arab Spring of 2011.[5]

However, as theocrats took charge within the Arab world, Cairo’s Tahrir Square descended into a site of mass violence against women.

By the turn of the year 2016, thanks to decisions made by Chancellor Merkel, a disregard for women’s rights had been imported into the heart of Europe in such demographic concentrations, that its street-level consequences finally became undeniable. Events in Cologne quieted many who for years had ridiculed the very concept of ‘so-called Islamization.’

In just one evening, New Year’s Eve 2015, the precincts of Cologne Cathedral witnessed hundreds of sexual assaults committed by young Muslim men. News of the sex attacks, thanks to both social media and alternative media, stunned the world, and overturned the cover-up by both the authorities and the press.

That such Muslim criminality remained largely unchallenged by police, would have come as no surprise to the original inhabitants of Islamic enclaves across Europe, such as Molenbeek, Neukölln, Malmö, Luton, or Seine-Saint-Denis, in which terrorists can apparently now roam at leisure.

Social scientists have derided native Europeans escaping such unreported realities for decades, with the term “white flight,” ascribing to them coded accusations of racism.

Despite this, a recent announcement by the Hungarian government, that there are at least 900 Islamic no-go zones spread across Europe, was predictably met with cries of “conspiracy theories” by the mainstream press.

It is impossible even to imagine a scenario of German men cheerily celebrating the New Year by shooting fireworks directly at the Cologne Central Mosque, as a precursor to an orgy of gang rape against hundreds of Muslim women. Such a parallel imagining of that night’s events illustrates the enormity of the ethical gulf between European society and a significant number of the Muslims who now call Europe home.

There are many Muslims who say that the only credible means of ensuring that these realities do not worsen is for Islam to reform itself. At the same time, however, many also say that non-Muslims should tread carefully regarding Islamic sensibilities, for example, in referencing startling acts in the recorded life and character of their prophet.

Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, alleges in his book that the staff at the respected Quilliam Foundation think-tank were more interested in policing his Twitter posts than in publicizing their own data on how 90% of Britain’s mosques preach fundamentalist Islam.[6]

Many Muslims, rather than questioning their own faith’s scripturally-mandated traditions of taking up arms, evidently prefer telling non-Muslims to lay down their words.

With Islamic ideologues on one side, and genuine progressives on the other, religious reform will depend on adherents separating themselves away from the extremists.

As Martin Luther demonstrated within the Ninety-Five Theses he nailed to the church door — the event which sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517 — there is no more effective non-violent weapon for reforming a doctrine than questioning the tenets being preached in the name of that faith.

Rare public figures such as Geert Wilders, Lutz Bachmann and Tommy Robinson perpetually risk prosecution, and even death, for daring to state that the mass migration of Muslims into Europe has been a disaster.

Before such immigration, the religiously sanctioned butchery of female genital mutilation, suicide bombers attacking airports and public transport networks, the disfigurement of women with acid attacks, sharia courts, organized mass child-rape grooming gangs, exponentially increased incidence of stranger-rape in countries such as Finland, Norway, Sweden and Germany, were all unheard of in modern Europe.

The vast majority of the continent’s continuing arrivals remain military-aged Muslim males, exactly the demographic against which, should there be mass outbreaks of lawlessness, the use of physical force might be necessary. Yet within sharia-ruled enclaves, the rule of law and government authority are already ceasing to exist.

In the absence of the ability to present the truth without fear of prosecution, it is becoming increasingly impossible to detail how certain criminal acts are often derived from the founding religious texts of Islamic doctrine, and preached in mosques throughout Europe and the Middle East. In view of this, we may end up with a Balkanized Europe, if not an Islamized one.

Any religion whose principles mandate death for those who leave or criticize it, can only be moderated by its adherents if they do not face even more obstacles.

If the criminal justice systems of European nations continue to pursue charges against whoever questions or criticizes Islam, what hope is there then for the silent members of the Muslim community who might wish to speak out? What message is being sent?

George Igler, a political analyst based in London, is the Director of the Discourse Institute.

Barghouti, Islamic Jihad, Hamas plan ‘intifada’

April 11, 2016

Barghouti, Islamic Jihad, Hamas forge pact for ‘next intifada’ ‘People’s plan for peace’ a ‘non-violent’ assault on Israel’s diplomatic standing, intends to damage infrastructure in Judea-Samaria.

By Tova Dvorin

First Publish: 4/11/2016, 12:39 PM

Source: Barghouti, Islamic Jihad, Hamas plan ‘intifada’ – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva

Marwan Barghouti Flash 90

Palestinian arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas have already set plans for the “next intifada,” Walla! News reports Monday – even as Barghouti sits in an Israeli prison cell.

Plans to overthrow “the Israeli occupation” include “non-violent” moves to retake lands Israel liberated after the 1967 Six-Day War – i.e. Judea, Samaria, and parts of Jerusalem – and make them into a “Palestinian state.”

Unlike the current wave of terror directed against Israel, this one – dubbed “The people’s path to peace” – will allegedly be organized, premeditated, and under the auspices of a united pact between the various terror organizations and political bodies – and, instead of a physical focus, attack Israel’s image and diplomatic standing.

The program aims, as well, to pass several UN resolutions and other international sanctions against Israel; mandate the Palestinian ‘right of return’; and release terrorists.

Talks have included four major Fatah officials: Ahmed Ranim, Khadoura Fares, Sarhan Dwikat, and Muhammad Hurani. All were highly influential figures during the 1990s and are close personal friends of Barghouti.

Meetings were held in Qatar with Hamas leadership, including with Khaled Meshaal, and in Istanbul, with Mousa Abu Marzuq, Saleh Al-Arouri, Osama Hamdan, Husam Badran and other noted terrorists.

All have rejected any form of negotiations with Israel due to the “extreme right wing government” – i.e. the Likud-led government – and the plan has been concocted based specifically on the current Israeli political climate.

Practically speaking, the terrorists have agreed to force thousands of Palestinian Arab drivers onto Israel’s main roads, by blocking off roads to civilians in Judea and Samaria; to damage Jews’ electricity, water, and internet systems in Judea and Samaria; and to organize mass demonstrations in Jerusalem.

Diplomatically, they have agreed to retract the Oslo Accords and related agreements; the renouncement of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s recognition of Israel until Israel recognizes a Palestinian state; the cessation of all security cooperation; and to conduct any and all future negotiations with Israel with international supervision.

Implementation of the plan depends on cooperation between the various Palestinian factions, as well as the resignation of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Russia has shipped S-300 missiles to Iran

April 11, 2016

First shipment of S-300 missiles on its way to Iran Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced that the first shipment of S-300 missiles from Russia is on its way to the country. For more than eight years, Tehran has been waiting for the surface-to-air missiles. Israeli officials are worried about losing the Israeli Air Force’s superiority in the Middle East.

Apr 11, 2016, 1:10PM

Becca Noy

Source: Russia has shipped S-300 missiles to Iran | JerusalemOnline.com

image description
Photo Credit: Reuters/Channel 2 News

Russia sent the first shipment of the S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari. Last weekend, Zamir Kabulov, a senior level official at the Russian Foreign Ministry said: “I don’t know if this will happen today, but they [S-300 missiles] will be loaded [for shipment to Iran].”

“I should announce today that the first part of this equipment has arrived in Iran and delivery of other parts will continue,” said this morning (Monday) Ansari.

Iran has been waiting for this shipment from Russia for more than eight years- ever since Iran signed a deal with Russia in 2007. The deal was frozen shortly after the signing. Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled the suspension on the deal following the nuclear agreement that was reached between Iran and the world powers.

Israeli security agencies are concerned about the Israel Air Force’s advantage over other countries in the region due to the delivery from Russia.

Obama: My Worst Mistake Was Not Planning For Day After Libya Intervention

April 10, 2016

Obama: My Worst Mistake Was Not Planning For Day After Libya Intervention, Washington Free Beacon, April 10, 2016

(Let me count the . . . . DM)

Obama recently blamed French and British leaders in Jeffrey Goldberg’s Atlantic article for causing the chaos in Libya today by ignoring the country after the initial intervention.

******************

President Barack Obama said Sunday that his biggest failure as president was not planning for the aftermath of the 2011 intervention into Libya, after which the country became a failed state in which jihadists groups have gained strong footholds.

“[My worst mistake was] probably failing to plan for the day after for what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya,” Obama said on Fox News Sunday.

In 2011, the U.S. joined a multi-state coalition of European and Arab countries to intervene militarily in Libya. The intervention was meant to prevent Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out attacks against civilians.

Hillary Clinton was the primary advocate for intervening and persuaded a reluctant presidential cabinet to support the effort.

Obama let the Europeans take the lead with military operations in what he termed as an American strategy of “leading from behind.” Ultimately Gaddafi was killed in October of 2011 and his regime overthrown.

None of the intervening countries followed up with a plan to build a post-Gaddafi Libya, however, and the country steadily descended into chaos.

Several jihadist groups were able to entrench themselves in Libya in the following years, including the Islamic State, which has reportedly doubled its presence in Libya over the past year, causing some American policymakers to call for renewed military action in the North African country.

Obama recently blamed French and British leaders in Jeffrey Goldberg’s Atlantic article for causing the chaos in Libya today by ignoring the country after the initial intervention.

UK Equalities Chief Who Popularised The Term ‘Islamophobia’ Admits: ‘I Thought Muslims Would Blend into Britain… I Should Have Known Better’

April 10, 2016

UK Equalities Chief Who Popularised The Term ‘Islamophobia’ Admits: ‘I Thought Muslims Would Blend into Britain… I Should Have Known Better’, BreitbartRaheem Kassam, April 10, 2016

(So soon ve get oldt and so late ve get schmart. — DM)

GettyImages-469698190-640x480Bradford, United Kingdom – Gett

The former head of Britain’s Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Trevor Phillips, has admitted he “got almost everything wrong” on Muslim immigration in a damning new report on integration, segregation, and how the followers of Islam are creating “nations within nations” in the West.

Phillips, a former elected member of the Labour Party who served as the Chairman of the EHRC from 2003-2012 will present “What British Muslims Really Think” on Channel 4 on Wednesday. An ICM poll released to the Times ahead of the broadcast reveals: 

  • One in five Muslims in Britain never enter a non-Muslim house;
  • 39 per cent of Muslims, male and female, say a woman should always obey her husband;
  • 31 per cent of British Muslims support the right of a man to have more than one wife;
  • 52 per cent of Muslims did not believe that homosexuality should be legal;
  • 23 per cent of Muslims support the introduction of Sharia law rather than the laws laid down by parliament.

Writing in the Times on the issue, Phillips admits: “Liberal opinion in Britain has, for more than two decades, maintained that most Muslims are just like everyone else… Britain desperately wants to think of its Muslims as versions of the Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, or the cheeky-chappie athlete Mo Farah. But thanks to the most detailed and comprehensive survey of British Muslim opinion yet conducted, we now know that just isn’t how it is.”

Phillips commissioned “the Runnymede report” into Britain and Islamophobia in 1997 which, according to both Phillips himself and academics across the country, popularised the phrase which has now become synonymous with any criticism – legitimate or not – of Islam or Muslims.

Durham University’s Anthropology Journal noted in 2007: “It has been a decade since the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia was established, a Commission that through its 1997 report, “Islamophobia: a challenge for us all” (“the Runnymede report”) not only raised an awareness of the growing reality of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic hostility in Britain, but also marked the onset of what might be described as ‘the first decade of Islamophobia’. In doing so, the Runnymede report propelled the word ‘Islamophobia’ into the everyday common parlance and discourses of both the public and political spaces.”

Phillips says his new data shows “a chasm” opening between Muslims and non-Muslims on fundamental issues such as marriage, relations between men and women, schooling, freedom of expression and even the validity of violence in defence of religion. He notes – echoing an article on Breitbart London just two weeks ago which reveals a growing disparity between older and younger Muslims in Britain – that “the gaps between Muslim and non-Muslim youngsters are nearly as large as those between their elders”.

And while he is cautious to note that many Muslims in Britain are grateful to be here, and do identify with role models such as Hussain and Farah, there is a widening gap in society with many Muslims segregating themselves.

“It’s not as though we couldn’t have seen this coming. But we’ve repeatedly failed to spot the warning signs,” he admits.

“Twenty years ago… I published the report titled Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All, we thought that the real risk of the arrival of new communities was discrimination against Muslims. Our 1996 survey of recent incidents showed that there was plenty of it around. But we got almost everything else wrong.”

His comments will come as a blow to those who continue to attack elements in British society who are concerned about Muslim immigration and integration, and in fact may even go some way to shoring up comments made by U.S. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) seeking to slow down or pause the rate of Muslim immigration into the West.

“We estimated that the Muslim population of the UK would be approaching 2 [million] by 2020. We underestimated by nearly a million. We predicted that the most lethal threat to Muslims would come from racial attacks and social exclusion. We completely failed to foresee the urban conflicts of 2001 that ravaged our northern cities. And of course we didn’t dream of 9/11 and the atrocities in Madrid, Paris, Istanbul, Brussels and London.”

“For a long time, I too thought that Europe’s Muslims would become like previous waves of migrants, gradually abandoning their ancestral ways, wearing their religious and cultural baggage lightly, and gradually blending into Britain’s diverse identity landscape. I should have known better.”

And Mr. Phillips even acknowledges that the mass sexual grooming and rape scandals that are plaguing heavily Muslim populated towns across Britain are because of Muslim – not ‘Asian’ – men. He writes: “The contempt for white girls among some Muslim men has been highlighted by the recent scandals in Rotherham, Oxford, Rochdale and other towns. But this merely reflects a deeply ingrained sexism that runs through Britain’s Muslim communities” – in a nod to those who have long protested this to be the case in the face of political, media, and even police cover ups.

Even left wing columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown told him: “[W]e [liberal Muslims] are a dying breed — in 10 years there will be very few of us left unless something really important is done.”

Phillips comments: “Some of my journalist friends imagine that, with time, the Muslims will grow out of it. They won’t.”

And indeed he lays the blame at the feet of the liberal, metropolitan elite, media classes: “Oddly, the biggest obstacles we now face in addressing the growth of this nation-within-a-nation are not created by British Muslims themselves. Many of our (distinctly un-diverse) elite political and media classes simply refuse to acknowledge the truth. Any undesirable behaviours are attributed to poverty and alienation. Backing for violent extremism must be the fault of the Americans. Oppression of women is a cultural trait that will fade with time, nothing to do with the true face of Islam.”

“Even when confronted with the growing pile of evidence to the contrary, and the angst of the liberal minority of British Muslims, clever, important people still cling to the patronising certainty that British Muslims will, over time, come to see that “our” ways are better.”

In terms of solutions, Mr. Phillips opines on “halting the growth of sharia courts and placing them under regulation” ensuring that school governance never falls into the hands of a single-minority group, “ensuring mosques that receive a steady flow of funds from foreign governments such as Saudi Arabia, however disguised, are forced to reduce their dependency on Wahhabi patronage” and an end to the “silence-for-votes understanding between local politicians and Muslim leaders — the sort of Pontius Pilate deal that had such catastrophic outcomes in Rotherham and Rochdale”.

Mr. Phillips’s comments echo those of the Czech president, and research from across Europe that revealed attitudes amongst Muslims on the continent have hardened. The younger the Muslim, the more likely they are to hold hard-line views, one recent study found.

Turkish Justice: ISIS Walks Free; Peace Activists Jailed

April 10, 2016

Turkish Justice: ISIS Walks Free; Peace Activists Jailed, Gatestone Institute, Uzay Bulut, April 10, 2016

♦ Belonging to ISIS or trafficking in slavery evidently do not constitute serious crimes in Turkey. But signing petitions calling for peace and non-violence, or requesting political equality for Kurds, are unspeakable offenses.

♦ “We are not shocked that the defendants have been acquitted. This lawsuit has become one of the hundreds of other lawsuits in our country in which the criminals have been protected even though the evidence against them is obvious.” — Association of Progressive Women, on the acquittal of six people charged with having ties with ISIS and trading in Yazidi sex slaves.

♦ “Requesting peace has become a crime in this country. The state of Turkey has committed the gravest rights violations against those who struggle for human rights, against the Kurds and against free thought.” — Sebnem Korur Fincanci, President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey.

♦ Turkish politics has therefore not been able to go beyond a clash between assorted Islamists whose worldviews are foreign to democratic values, and non-Islamist but still extremely oppressive political parties that operate under the shadow of a tyrannical military, whose worldview is also foreign to democratic values.

Turkey’s “fight” against the Islamic State (ISIS) continues. On March 24, Turkey released seven suspects who had been arrested in a case involving the Turkish branch of ISIS.

Halis Bayancuk, alleged to be the “Emir,” or commander-in-chief, of ISIS, is among the suspects. This was the fourth hearing of the trial known as the “Istanbul ISIS trial.” A total of 96 suspects are on trial. Only seven had been jailed; the others had not. Although those seven were released on March 24 at the end of the hearing, their trial is still ongoing; the final verdict has not been given. All of them are now outside jail, free, and living their lives as they wish.

The indictment prepared by the chief public prosecutor’s office of Istanbul stated that the suspects

“engaged in the activities of the terrorist organization called DAESH [Arabic acronym of ISIS]. The suspects had sent persons to the conflict zones; they applied pressure, force, violence and threats by using the name of the terrorist organization, and they had provided members and logistic support for the group. Ilyas Aydin, the leader [of the ISIS cell], gave verdicts at a so-called sharia court about killing people.”

At the end of the hearing, the seven defendants on trial being ISIS members were released. They left the courtroom shouting “Allahu akbar!” [Allah is the Greatest!”]

This means that all 96 defendants in the ongoing case are walking the streets freely.

Unfortunately, this is not the first case in which the Turkish judiciary has turned a blind eye to ISIS or al Qaeda suspects. The indictment prepared by the prosecutors apparently contains serious accusations and ample evidence, including videos and statements by Bayancuk, also known as Abu Hanzala. In 2014, he was arrested for being the head of the al Qaeda network in Turkey. Some of the accusations directed against him and other al Qaeda suspects were “beheading a Christian priest in Syria, kidnapping a Turkish journalist in Syria and planning an assassination of Barack Obama…”

In a video recording from a camp in Syria, Bayancuk was heard saying: “After we conquer Syria, we will conquer Istanbul, insh’allah, [if Allah wills] and then Turkey.”

In 2014, in another video uploaded on YouTube, Bayancuk said:

“They [ISIS] are our Muslim brethren. And we accept any attack against them as an attack against us. … I am, insh’allah, on the side of my Muslim brothers through my prayers and my support. Whoever attacks our brothers, I consider it an attack against me.

“I ask Allah to reward those in Syria and many other places, who are fighting and striving in the name of jihad, with a state ruled by sharia.”

In July 2014, the affiliates of the Islamist magazine “Tawhid” (“Oneness of Allah”) — known to be close to ISIS — organized a public event in Istanbul where they performed salah (Muslim prayer) together to celebrate the Islamic Ramadan festival.

In July 2015, at a public event was held to celebrate the Ramadan festival, the public prayers were led by Halis Bayancuk who afterwards delivered a speech entitled, “A warning to the heads of the regime of the Republic of Turkey.”

“Those who have faith fight for Allah,” he said, “the kafirs [infidels], however, fight for those who engage in taghut [“idolatry”].

Bayancuk also called on Muslims not to vote in elections because “Whoever is the Creator has the right to rule. … “We do not have guns, bombs or action plans to scare you with, but there is Allah with whom we can scare you.”

In December, 2015, the German public television consortium, ARD, produced a show documenting the slave trade being conducted by ISIS through a liaison office in the province of Gaziantep in Turkey, near the Syrian border.

Some human rights groups in the region filed a criminal complaint, calling for the prosecutors to investigate the allegations and hold the perpetrators to account. One of them was the Gaziantep branch of the Association of Progressive Women (IKD).

All six people, who allegedly have ties with ISIS and have engaged in the sexual slavery of Yazidi women in Antep, were acquitted during the first hearing.

The IKD Association issued a written statement about the ruling:

“We learned yesterday that all of defendants were acquitted at one hearing, in a double-quick trial on January 15.

“We are not shocked that the defendants have been acquitted. This lawsuit has become one of the hundreds of other lawsuits in our country in which the criminals have been protected even though the evidence against them is obvious.

“The indictment of the prosecutor stated that the office in the footage has been found, and that all of the evidence in the news reports have been seized. Six people were caught in the process of investigation but were released after a judicial hearing. Despite all of the evidence at hand, the court acquitted the defendants on the grounds that there was no evidence.”

One cannot know if those allegations were true or not, because no state authority has made any effort to refute the allegations or vindicate themselves.

In December, 2015, two members of parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) — Feleknas Uca and Mahmut Togrul — asked Interior Minister Efkan Ala about the office where ISIS members engage in slavery and sex trade.

Neither the interior minister nor any other government official has made a single statement regarding the motions of the MPs, the footage of the German TV channel or the allegations of the region’s human rights groups.

However, when it comes to academics or activists who demand peace with the Kurds and human rights for all in Turkey, the Turkish judiciary takes a completely different stand.

On January 11, 2016, a group of academics and researchers from Turkey and abroad called “Academics for Peace” signed and issued a petition entitled, “We will not be a party to this crime.” In it, they criticized the Turkish government for its recent curfews and massacres in Kurdish districts, and demanded an end to violence against Kurds and a return to peace talks.

Since then the 1128 signatories of the declaration have been subjected to sustained attacks and threats from the Turkish government and nationalist groups. Four of the academics are now under arrest.

The jailed academics are Esra Mungan, a lecturer in psychology at Istanbul Bogazici University; Muzaffer Kaya, a lecturer at the Department of Social Services at Istanbul Nisantasi University (who after signing the petition was fired from his job); Kıvanc Ersoy, a mathematics lecturer at Istanbul Mimar Sinan University; and Meral Camci, a lecturer of translation and interpreting studies at Istanbul Yeni Yuzyıl University.

On March 24, the same day when ISIS suspects were released in Istanbul, Academics for Peace issued an open letter about the situation of the arrested academics:

“Yesterday, Esra Mungan was taken to another cell which is smaller, filthier, and stuffier for no valid reason. Also, Muzaffer Kaya and Kıvanc Ersoy were transferred to the Silivri Prison.

“One of our lawyers visited the Silivri Prison. Muzaffer Kaya and Kıvanc Ersoy say that they are strictly segregated, they stay alone in the cells for three people, they are not allowed to see each other or any others; all their books were taken from them with the promise that they would be given back later, their rooms are completely empty except for a pen and a notebook, they were searched naked when they were first taken to Silivri and kept naked for twenty minutes which is an utterly dishonoring situation, and that their first request is to stay together in the same cell.”

1472In Turkey, signatories of the “Academics for Peace” petition (pictured above) have been subjected to sustained attacks and threats from the Turkish government and nationalist groups. Four of the signatories were arrested. Meanwhile, 96 suspected terrorists currently standing trial on charges of belonging to an ISIS cell in Istanbul are not under arrest, and walk the streets freely.

The academic Meral Camci was fired from her job after signing the petition. A warrant was also issued against her — along with the three other academics — but she could not be interrogated because she was then outside Turkey. She returned to Turkey on March 30 — and was arrested the next day.

In the meantime, Kurdish lawyer Eren Keskin, who is also the vice-president of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and the executive editor of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Gundem, has been investigated and banned from traveling abroad on charges of “terrorism propaganda.”

Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, the President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), said that Keskin has been one of the key symbols of the human rights struggle in Turkey. “Requesting peace has become a crime in this country. The state of Turkey has committed the gravest rights violations against those who struggle for human rights, against the Kurds and against free thought,” Fincanci added.

The gravest human rights violations are committed against Kurds. The Kurdish town of Silopi was under military siege and attacks from December 14 to January 19, when the curfew was partly removed. Many people were murdered by state security forces, and the town has largely been destroyed.

The Diyarbakir Bar Association and several human rights groups recently went to the town to observe what is left of it. Sidar Avsar, a lawyer with the Diyarbakir Bar Association, reported that the police threatened them: “You know how Tahir Elci was killed, don’t you?” the police had told him.

Tahir Elci, a leading Kurdish lawyer and the head of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, was murdered in broad daylight in the city of Diyarbakir on November 28, 2015.

So, in Europe’s newest “best friend forever,” Turkey, a candidate country for EU membership, those who rape and sell Yazidi women, or have alleged ties with al-Qaeda or ISIS, are set free to walk around with impunity. Belonging to ISIS or trafficking in slavery evidently do not constitute serious crimes in Turkey. But signing petitions calling for peace and non-violence, or requesting political equality for Kurds, are unspeakable offenses. This also demonstrates the tragic fact that Turkey still prefers the Islamic State (ISIS) to Kurds.

Turkey seems bound by traditional misconceptions of what is terrorism and what is not, or who should enjoy free speech and who should not, or be punished for real crimes and who should not.

Turkish politics has therefore not been able to go beyond a clash between assorted Islamists whose worldviews are foreign to democratic values, and non-Islamist but still extremely oppressive political parties that operate under the shadow of a tyrannical military, whose worldview is also foreign to democratic values.

Recent political and judicial developments are further indicators that a third alternative — a Turkish pro-democracy movement to transform Turkey into a diverse, tolerant and pluralistic society — is not on the horizon.

Satire?| Snap Elections in Sweden Bring Islamic Jihad Party Government to Power

April 10, 2016

Snap Elections in Sweden Bring Islamic Jihad Party Government to Power, Diversity Chronicle, Ray Charleston, April 9, 2016

(It has to be either satire or a blast from the future. — DM)

muslims

Last week the world saw an exciting new development as Sweden was declared an Islamic nation under Sharia law. For those who may have missed the news, over the last several years more and more Muslim refugees have been peacefully migrating to Sweden in search of a better life. Last month Islamic Jihad Party leaders demanded snap elections, after polling indicated that a majority of Swedish Muslims favoured a new government based on Islamic law, and disapproved of Sweden’s former secular, and largely white government.

Islamophobic extremists and conservative reactionaries are predictably throwing an intolerant tantrum. They ask how Sweden can become an Islamic nation. Well, the answer is simple; most Swedes want Sweden to be Islamic. The decision was made democratically! The majority of Swedes are Muslims! The majority of Swedes are from the Middle East, and they want a government that represents them! If you believe in democracy and European values, you must accept that Sweden should be an Islamic state! Sweden isn’t a white nation anymore!

The fact that a majority of indigenous Swedes voted against the Islamic Jihad Party, and instead for the Sweden Democrats, a racist anti-immigrant party, is of no consequence. These bigoted white supremacists need to accept the fact that Europe can no longer be a homogeneous continent of whites. Europe is going into multi-cultural mode, and without this transformation, Europe cannot survive!

Bigots are using the fact that the Islamic Jihad party’s secretary is a distant in-law to a prominent Taliban figure, in order to try and smear the party as somehow radical or extremist. There is nothing radical or extremist about sharia law. Christians in Sweden complain about having to pay a special tax to the Islamic government, yet these people could simply convert to Islam and avoid the tax entirely! They have no real basis for claiming discrimination of any kind. Some right-wingers are even circulating the bogus rumour that Jews, Buddhists, Bahá’ís, and Hindus in Sweden have been murdered outright. The new government is certainly working through some bureaucratic kinks, but these claims are a total exaggeration! The government explains that some religious minorities have been taken into custody “in order to protect them.”

Progressives around the world are delighted to finally see a Swedish government that represents the people of Sweden. Sweden’s white neighbour, Finland, has already closed its borders with Sweden, and outlawed its own minor Islamic political parties, in a shocking move to stifle democracy! Several mosques have also be closed down because some of the imams and mosque directors supported “terrorism.” The Finnish government claims that advocating the violent overthrow of their white racist government is somehow criminal! Now that parties advocating sharia law have been banned, just what are Muslims in Finland supposed to do?

Armed thugs are also increasingly patrolling the streets of Finland, looking for innocent Muslims, or anyone with dark skin to beat up. These hooligans falsely claim that they are looking for criminals, and trying to protect women from harassment and rape. These racists falsely claim that somehow non-white immigrants commit rape at disproportionately higher rates! The world should not stand by while Finland persecutes its Muslim minority. Sweden is asking NATO to consider direct military action against Finland.

In a move that has received a lot of criticism, the newly enthroned Islamic Emir of Sweden is asking that the Swedish royal family release to him “All of their blonde Swedish virgin girls,” claiming that they belong to him “By right of Islamic law and by right of conquest.” In light of Sweden’s long history of discrimination and oppression of migrant peoples, the Emir’s demands seem fairly reasonable. If white Swedes and Christians will intermarry with Arab and Muslim Swedes, soon they can all become one people, and then race won’t matter anymore! No one will know what race anyone is! If everyone is the same race, logically there can be no more racism!

Swedish nationalists and racists complain that the new Swedish national flag excludes them. The new flag features two crossing AK 47 assault rifles with the Shahada above them, in green and gold. A small globe appears below the symbols. Some claim this refers to a desire to conquer the world for Islam, but according to party leaders it represents “The whole world living in peace together as brothers and sisters.” It is amazing how racists will try to deliberately misrepresent something so beautiful and enlightened!

According to Sweden’s General Khalid Ararat, “As Sweden is no longer a Christian nation, the former cross design flag made little sense. Perhaps if these racists and bigots would make some effort to assimilate into Sweden’s Islamic society they would find life easier. Some Swedish women defiantly refuse to wear hijab, which of course forces us to beat them. Then we are somehow portrayed as the bad guys. The media is really distorting the facts! If Swedes would only submit to Islamic law, we wouldn’t have to use these coercive measures.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has welcomed Sweden’s new Islamic government, declaring that “Centuries of Swedish racism are now being overcome as Sweden truly embraces diversity. Sweden’s new government will serve as a beacon of light, in a dark, boring, and drab white Europe. We must embrace our Muslim and Arab neighbours with open hearts. Perhaps someday soon, if Germans are fortunate, we can become a minority people in our own country. This will help to erase the ugly blight of Germany’s racist and anti-Semitic past.”

This much is clear. If white Swedes continue to defiantly cling to the past, Sweden is going to be left behind. We live in an increasingly interconnected world. Europe is changing and progressives embrace this change with open arms. We enjoy the many exciting new restaurants and hookah lounges opening up in Europe. Yet, sadly, some stubborn racists insist on clinging to the past. If whites are not willing to embrace change, it may be necessary for Muslims to mandate conversion by law, and to mandate intermarriage between whites and Muslims. White bigots, you brought this all on yourselves!

White people have created a racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic Europe. History has shown that white people don’t deserve to have homelands of their own. White people enslaved Africans, murdered six million Jews, and they have stolen land from the native-Americans and murdered them. They kept women chained up as kitchen slaves, and then when they finally let them work they paid them less than men, for the same work! They kept homosexuals in the closet for hundreds of years and denied them the right to marry! It is certain that an Islamic Europe will be a better, more tolerant, more humane one. After all, Islam means peace.

What about the Kurds?

April 10, 2016

What about the Kurds? Israel Hayom, Boaz Bismuth, April 10, 2016

(What’s in it for Israel and what aspects of an agreement would Turkey honor long term? — DM)

Turkey always espoused a policy of zero conflicts. For years Ankara believed this was the best way to enhance its international standing — even at the expense of the United States. Up until recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had some very lofty aspirations, but something went wrong with his plan. The Turks now find themselves in the middle of a global war of terror, and instead of zero conflicts they have zero friendly neighbors. If that weren’t enough, inside Turkey are millions of refugees and far too many bombings. At this rate, Turkey will also find itself with zero accomplishments.

The emerging Turkish-Israeli reconciliation needs to be put in precisely this context. It’s not easy for Ankara to suddenly be alone in the neighborhood, friendless: The Iranians were never true partners; the bitter enemy Bashar Assad, who had one foot in the grave, received a stay of execution and a new hold on his country from Putin, who became Ankara’s biggest new enemy ever since a Russian spy plane was shot out of the sky.

The Europeans as well, despite agreements in place, are not really partners. This has been especially true since it became apparent that Islamic State terrorist, utilizing the Turkish double game, crossed the Syrian border and eventually into Europe to carry out terrorist attacks.

Of course, reports of oil deals between Turkey and ISIS, exposed by the Russians, have not helped Ankara’s image in the world. If we closely examine Turkey’s extremely opportunistic policies from the past decade, we will see that Ankara has rightfully earned its current predicament.

Of all countries, however, Israel, which for decades has been the victim of Palestinian terrorist organizations, has reason to stand by Turkey in these difficult days.

Although the sides have yet to settle the two issues at the heart of their discord, namely Hamas operating out of Istanbul and the blockade of Gaza, which Ankara wants lifted, it appears Turkey is inclined to close the gaps. That is, of course, unless someone in Ankara believes this is still the time for playing games.

The Counterterrorism Bureau on Friday issued a rare warning, calling on Israelis visiting Turkey to leave the country immediately, and on those planning trips there to postpone them. The Americans, almost simultaneously, issued a similar warning. We can assume that both warnings are based on the same information.

Turkey today is on the defensive against ISIS and the Kurdish PKK. In the past, Turkey acted according to its own set of priorities. While the world saw ISIS as a threat, Turkey saw it as an opportunity to yet again prevent the establishment of an independent Kurdish state.

And this perhaps is the point that Israel needs to ponder, in a Middle East that is not only changing but being reconstructed. From a historical perspective, the Kurds have always stood by our side. We too, in various times throughout history, have stood by them. The Kurds, along with Israel, are the most formidable pro-Western force in the Middle East today. The manner in which they have confronted ISIS in Syria and Iraq (representing the only significant force on the ground) obligates the international community to compensate them.

The question of an independent Kurdistan is undoubtedly a legitimate one, which for some reason or another is being pushed aside. Various parliaments across the globe, among them the French, were quick to recognize Palestine while inexplicably forgetting about Kurdistan.

One of Israel’s main problems in the way of recognizing Kurdish self-determination was its fruitful cooperation with Turkey. The Israeli-Turkish rift could have pushed Israel to consummate something that began in the 1950s in Iraq, and put into practice the axiom stipulating that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” And perhaps this is the exact reason that Erdogan, who understands we are living in a changing world, would rather be friends again.

Donald Trump Judge Jeanine Pirro FULL Interview 4-9-2016

April 10, 2016

Donald Trump Judge Jeanine Pirro FULL Interview 4-9-2016, Fox News via You Tube, April 9, 2016