https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/turkey-erdogan-denounces-dollar-acting-wild-wolves-180902112548821.html Turkey's Erdogan denounces dollar; US acting like 'wild wolves'
Turkish president announces negotiations with Russia are ongoing to sideline 'damaging' US dollar in global trade.
Turkey will pursue non-dollar transactions in trade and
investment with other countries, its president said on Sunday, adding
recent US sanctions showed Washington was behaving like "wild wolves".
Negotiations between Turkey and Russia are under way on not using American dollars in bilateral trade, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a business forum during a visit to Kyrgyzstan....
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey/erdogan-says-turkeys-ceasefire-calls-in-idlib-yielded-results-idUSKCN1LX0S8 Erdogan says Turkey's ceasefire calls in Idlib yielded results ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s calls for a
ceasefire in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib region were bearing fruit after
days of relative calm but more work needed to be done, Hurriyet
newspaper reported on Monday...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-currency-erdogan-economy/erdogan-says-turkey-not-to-blame-from-economy-problems-idUSKCN1LT1D2 President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that problems in the economy
were not caused by Turkey and the country will continue on its path
stronger if it stands tall.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-currency-erdogan/turkey-to-freeze-new-government-projects-erdogan-says-idUSKCN1LU11I Turkey is freezing new government investment projects, President Tayyip
Erdogan said on Friday, to rein in spending and stem double-digit
inflation after a 15-year construction boom fueled by debt. https://www.dw.com/en/turkeys-erdogan-hopes-to-turn-over-new-page-with-germany-in-state-visit/a-45653111 Turkey's Erdogan hopes to 'turn over new page' with Germany in state visit
After years of strained ties, Erdogan has said he wants
to reset relations with Berlin during a pomp and circumstance-filled
visit to Germany. But German and Turkish politicians aren't convinced it
will lead to a change.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/world/europe/erdogan-turkey-germany-cooperation.htmlTurkey’s Erdogan Changes His Tune, Seeking Support and Cooperation in Germany
BERLIN — A year ago, President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey told Germans of Turkish origin not to vote for
Chancellor Angela Merkel, branding her governing coalition “enemies of
Turkey.”
On Thursday, Mr. Erdogan
arrived in Berlin for a three-day state visit, complete with military
honors, a state banquet and a lunch with Ms. Merkel...
https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/26/erdogan-claims-lacks-power-brunson/ President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey recently claimed that
releasing imprisoned American pastor Andrew Brunson is not within his
power. “This is a judiciary matter,” Erdogan said in an interview with Reuters
at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. “Brunson has been detained on
terrorism charges … On Oct. 12 there will be another hearing and we
don’t know what the court will decide and politicians will have no say
on the verdict.” Erdogan maintained that “as the president, I don’t have
the right to order his release. Our judiciary is independent. Let’s
wait and see what the court will decide.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/world/europe/turkey-erdogan-saturday-mothers.htmlTurkey Clamps Down on a Group Erdogan Once Championed: Grieving Mothers
ISTANBUL — In a narrow side street of
Istanbul the riot police, with gas masks pushed up on their heads,
advanced on a small band of demonstrators marching in silence.
The
police were there to stop a collection of aging mothers and their
relatives, who were protesting the disappearances and extrajudicial
killings decades ago of their family members, mostly activists from
Turkey’s Kurdish minority.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey/turkeys-erdogan-vows-to-impose-secure-zones-east-of-euphrates-in-syria-media-idUSKCN1M40DX Turkey's Erdogan vows to impose secure zones east of Euphrates in Syria ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will take action east of the Euphrates river
in Syria and impose secure zones as it has done in the northwest of the
country, President Tayyip Erdogan said in comments broadcast on Turkish
media on Monday. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45692666 Turkey's Erdogan opens mosque in German city of Cologne
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ended a visit to Germany by opening one of Europe's largest mosques.
He
said the mosque in Cologne stood as a symbol of peace and thanked the
German government for pressing ahead with its construction despite
protests...
Some of the countries in it, either in major or minor roles: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Yemen, Nigeria, France with (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad ) Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Albania, Estonia, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Republic of Korea, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Norway, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Novorussia, Ukraine, Russia, Chechnya, Somalia, Iran, India, South Korea, North Korea, Central African Republic, Kenya, Tunisia, The Philippines, Egypt, Albania, Serbia, China, Sudan, South Sudan, Bukina Faso, Palestine, Georgia, Chad, Spain, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Nepal, Congo, Uganda, Romania, Mexico, Gambia, Haiti, Cameroon, Chad.....
From AP: A North Carolina-based firm says it employed the three military contractors who were shot to death earlier this week in Afghanistan.
Praetorian Standard Inc. of Fayetteville identified the men slain Thursday as Walter D. Fisher of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Jason D. Landphair of Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Mathew E. Fineran of Summerville, South Carolina.
The release issued Saturday by Thomas Lujan, an attorney for the company, says another employee, Bradley A. James of Atlanta, was wounded but expected to survive.....
From NYTimes Houthis Reach Out as They Cement Power in Yemen Abu Raad strutted through the streets of the Yemeni capital as if he owned them. His obvious glee, at a time of crisis in the country, bordered on naïveté. But he had his reasons to be happy. Growing up as a Houthi in the northern province of Saada, he experienced years of war and brutality while fighting for the rights of his Zaydi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, against the government. He described being tortured by military captors who dragged his clutched fists over splintered wood, pushing the sharp pieces under his nails. He was a teenager then. But now, he was the one in power, embraced by many of the uniformed men who once gave their allegiance to the state.......
From Telegraph: Protests erupt over British decision to open military base in Bahrain Human rights groups say Britain is being rewarded by the Gulf state's monarchy for its silence over political jailings Britain’s decision to open a major naval base in Bahrain despite concerns over the country’s human rights record has been met with protests by opposition groups and human rights activists. Hundreds of protesters were filmed marching through the town of Sitra, a Shia opposition stronghold, calling for the removal of the British ambassador, Iain Lindsay, after the decision was announced. Activists said Bahrain’s decision to largely fund the base was a “reward” for Britain’s recent silence over the jailing of opponents to the Sunni monarchy. International groups also objected to the decision. “As Bahrain pursues brutal crackdown, what better time for UK to build military base there?” said Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch’s executive director. The decision to reopen Britain’s first permanent base “East of Suez” since the drawdown of Empire was announced by Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue, a conference organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, on Saturday.....
Best information on present Syria statistics I have read lately. Worth a read in entirety. From Carnegie: The Political Geography of Syria’s War: An Interview with Fabrice Balanche As one of the leading French experts on Syria, Fabrice Balanche has an unusual focus. His field of study is political geography, chronicling the interplay between power, community, and territory. As an assistant professor of geography at the Université Lyon 2 and the director of its Groupe de Recherches et d’Etudes sur la Méditerranée et le Moyen-Orient, or GREMMO, he frequently appears in French media, where his early opposition to the idea that Syria could have a peaceful transition or that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was about to fall raised some hackles......
......The Orient XXI figures were based on the military situation in early summer 2013 and much has happened since. Could you give us your best estimates of how much territory and population is under the control of the different parties today?
First of all, there has been a great refugee exodus out of Syria. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) currently puts the number of Syrian refugees at around 3.7 million, but we can probably add one million others who have not been listed as refugees, because they’re wealthy enough to avoid it or because they have crossed the border clandestinely.
In Syria, there now remain around 18 million inhabitants who have not perished in the war or fled the country. They are distributed thus: 3–6 million in rebel-held areas, 10–13 million in government-held areas, and 1–2 million in the Kurdish region.....
....On Tuesday during his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama touted great strides in “halting the advance of ISIS” with US-led airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. Today, US Ambassador Stuart Jones announced that “Coalition Airstrikes” (US airstrikes) have killed 6,000 ISIS fighters. How the US is able to conjure up such incredible Jack and the Beanstalk-style numbers (all but impossible to verify) is beyond anyone outside of Washington. You just have to take his word for it. Just like we just had to take US Ambassador to the Ukraine’s word for it – when Geoffrey Pyatt Tweeted a few random Digital Globe images claiming that the Russians invaded Ukraine, again. After six or so ‘Russian Invasion’ false starts, we’re still waiting for evidence beyond Twitter. The lies and creative accounting have been palpable since the beginning of the US airstrikes in Syria. Early strikes weren’t actually against ISIS, but rather against a number of impressive empty buildings, and buildings which were curiously evacuated days before the US conducted the raids. How interesting.
This brings us to the issue of who ISIS really is, and how did ISIS build up to the level they are at today. It’s a particularly embarrassing thing to admit, because when you allow this fact out of the bag, then skeptics start asking more questions, and if there’s one thing that politicians hate more than anything, it’s facts and questions. ....
From Emirates247: ....President Benigno Aquino has declared Friday a day of mourning for the 44 police commandos who were slaughtered in a cornfield Sunday when their top-secret mission - to kill or capture one of the world's most wanted militants - went badly wrong.
The killings have sparked growing calls for retribution. Analysts warn this threatens the peace process aimed at ending a decades-long armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in impoverished regions of Philippines.....
From AP: Africa agrees to send 7,500 troops to fight Boko Haram African leaders agreed to send 7,500 troops to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria, an African Union official said Saturday, as the international community, including long-time foes the U.S. and Iran, rallied in support of Nigeria against the militants. The move came after the council urged heads of state to endorse the deployment of troops from five West African countries to fight the terror group, said the head of the African Union's Peace and Security Council, Samil Chergui........
From AlJazeera: Peace talks on Ukraine have broken up after more than four hours with Kiev's envoy accusing separatist envoys of undermining the meeting by making ultimatums and refusing to discuss plans for a ceasefire, according to reports.
Ukraine's representative, former president Leonid Kuchma, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that the two separatist officials present had delivered ultimatums and refused "to discuss a plan of measures for a quick ceasefire and a pull-back of heavy weapons". He also reproached the two main separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine, who signed key agreements in Minsk last September, for failing to attend Saturday's follow-up meeting of the "contact group", which also involved a Russian envoy and an official from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe......
From BostonHerald: Hezbollah fires missile salvo, killing 2 Israeli soldiers The Lebanese militant Hezbollah group fired a salvo of missiles at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed border area Wednesday, killing two soldiers and triggering deadly clashes that marked the most serious escalation since the sides' 2006 war.
The flare-up, which also left a U.N. peacekeeper dead, added to the regional chaos brought on by neighboring Syria's civil war. Hezbollah indicated the attack was in retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike on its fighters inside Syria earlier this month. The violence sparked fears in both countries of yet another crippling war between the two foes. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel would respond "forcefully," and the military fired artillery shell barrages that struck border villages in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah responded with rocket fire on Israeli military positions.....
From Yahoo: Islamic State says it has beheaded second Japanese hostage Goto Islamic State militants said on Saturday they had beheaded a second Japanese hostage, journalist Kenji Goto, after the failure of international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap. The hardline Islamist group, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, released a video which seemed to show the beheaded body of Goto and threatened further attacks on Japanese targets. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said the video appeared to be genuine......
From CSMonitor: Over 50 dead in Pakistani Shiite mosque bombing A bomb blast ripped through a Shiite mosque in southern Pakistan as worshippers were gathering for Friday prayers, killing 56 people and wounding dozens more, officials said. The blast was one of the deadliest sectarian attacks to hit the country in years and comes as Pakistan is already struggling to contain a surging militancy following the horrific Peshawar school attack that killed 150 people, most of them children, in December. The Sunni militant group Jundullah claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in the city of Shikarpur in Sindh province, roughly 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Karachi......
Some of the countries in it, in major or minor roles: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Yemen, Nigeria, France with (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad ) Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Albania, Estonia, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Republic of Korea, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Norway, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Novorussia, Ukraine, Russia, Chechnya, Somalia, Iran, India, South Korea, North Korea, Central African Republic, Kenya, Tunisia, The Philippines, Egypt, Albania, Serbia, China, Sudan, South Sudan, Bukina Faso, Palestine, Georgia, Chad, Spain, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Nepal, Congo, Uganda, Romania, Mexico.....
From CentCom: Dec. 26: Military Airstrikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria and Iraq SOUTHWEST ASIA - U.S. and partner nation military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria Dec. 26 using fighter, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft to conduct sixteen airstrikes. Separately, U.S. and partner nation military forces conducted fifteen airstrikes in Iraq Dec. 26 using fighter, bomber, attack aircraft, and remotely piloted aircraft against the ISIL terrorists. The following is a summary of those strikes: Syria * Near Kobani, thirteen airstrikes destroyed three ISIL buildings, two ISIL staging areas, an ISIL vehicle, and nineteen ISIL fighting positions and struck two large ISIL units and four ISIL tactical units. * Near Al Hasakah, two airstrikes destroyed two ISIL vehicles and struck a drilling tower. * Near Ar Raqqah, an airstrike struck an ISIL staging area. Iraq * Near Al Asad, three airstrikes destroyed an ISIL mortar, an ISIL rocket system, four ISIL vehicles and struck a large ISIL unit and two ISIL tactical units. * Near Sinjar, three airstrikes destroyed three ISIL vehicles and struck three ISIL tactical units. * Near Mosul, three airstrikes destroyed three ISIL tactical vehicles, an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL commercial vehicle and struck two ISIL tactical units. * Near Al Qaim, three airstrikes destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL storage container, ISIL equipment and struck two ISIL tactical vehicles. * Near Bayji, an airstrike struck a large ISIL unit. * Near Kirkuk, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit. * Near Tal Afar, an airstrike struck an ISIL vehicle. Airstrike assessments are based on initial reports..................... From Reuters: Syria ready to discuss Russia peace plan talks....... Syria said on Saturday it was willing to participate in "preliminary consultations" in Moscow aimed at restarting talks next year to end its civil war but the Western-backed opposition dismissed the initiative. Two rounds of peace talks this year in Geneva failed to halt the conflict which has killed 200,000 people during more than three years of violence and there was little sign of the latest move gaining traction....... From Stripes: 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne headed to Iraq Approximately 1,000 paratroopers from the Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq early next year to help the Iraqi security forces take on the Islamic State, the Pentagon announced Friday. The soldiers from the 82nd’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., will begin to deploy in late January to train, advise and assist the ISF, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters. Their mission is part of the coalition effort to build up the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga so that they can recapture territory from Islamic State militants. The paratroopers are preparing for a nine-month deployment, according to a spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne...... From AlJazeera: Soldiers die in attack on Libya oil terminals Fajr Libya fighters firing rockets from speedboats at al-Sidra port set oil tank on fire, amid clashes in Sirte. More than 20 soldiers have been killed in a surprise attack in which fighters used speedboats in a failed bid to seize some of Libya's main oil terminals, according to officials. Fighters launched Thursday's attack on al-Sidra port by firing rockets from speedboats, setting an oil tank on fire, security sources told AFP news agency. Soldiers damaged three of the vessels before clashes in which the fighters were eventually repelled, sources said..... From Reuters: Libya has called on Italy to send firefighters to prevent a fire spreading out of control at Es Sider, the country's biggest oil port, officials said on Saturday. A rocket hit an oil storage tank last week at the port in the east of the country during clashes between forces allied to Libya's competing governments..... From VICE: Al Shabaab Gunmen Attack a Christmas Party at an African Union Base in Somalia African Union troops fought off an ambush waged by at least eight gunmen at a base in Somalia on Thursday, during an attack carried out by al Shabaab militants that was reportedly targeting a Christmas party at the compound. The deadly clash left at least five militants dead and lasted for several hours, after an unverified number of fighters from al Shabaab infiltrated the AU mission (Amisom) base, which is located just outside of the international airport in Mogadishu. While the offensive was underway, al-Shabaab confirmed it was behind the attack......... From Janes: Rocket attack on Yemen's Balhaf LNG terminal signals AQAP militants' growing intent to systematically target energy assets Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants fired two inaccurate Grad-type rockets at the Balhaf liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Shabwah province on 18 December. Yemeni media reported that one of the rockets had landed in the sea, whereas the other had landed near the complex perimeter without causing casualties or material damage. AQAP took responsibility for the attack on 21 December, claiming that the operation was in retaliation for the use of an adjacent airstrip to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and to stop the French energy producer Total, which co-operates the LNG terminal, from "looting the Yemeni resources"......... From ABC: 2 Car Bombs Rock Southern Sweden's City of Malmo Swedish police say two car bombs have shattered dozens of windows in a multiethnic district of Malmo, Sweden's third largest city. Police spokeswoman Linda Pleym says no one was injured by Saturday's pre-dawn explosions in Rosengaard, a district dominated by immigrants from Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia and Lebanon. One car bomb exploded at the foot of a building, the other in a parking lot nearby. It was unclear who was behind the two explosions and if they were connected. No arrests were immediately made. The blasts were the latest in a series that has rocked the southern......... From BBC: Swedish mosque hit by arson in Eskilstuna, injuring five An arsonist set fire to a mosque in the Swedish town of Eskilstuna on Thursday, injuring five people, police said. About 15 to 20 people were attending midday prayers in the mosque, located in the ground floor of a residential building, when the fire broke out on Christmas Day. Local media footage showed smoke and flames billowing from the windows before firefighters put the blaze out. The incident comes amid a fierce debate in Sweden over immigration policies. The far right wants to cut the number of asylum seekers allowed into Sweden by 90%, while mainstream parties are intent on preserving the country's liberal policy....... From Yahoo: Islamic State captures Jordanian pilot after warplane shot down in Syria Islamic State fighters took a Jordanian pilot prisoner after his warplane was shot down in northeast Syria on Wednesday, the first captive taken from the U.S.-led coalition battling the jihadi group. Jordan's armed forces said one of its pilots had been captured after a coalition air raid over the province of Raqqa...... From BBC: Colombia Farc ceasefire starts after deadly attack Colombia's Farc rebels have begun an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire. The group unexpectedly announced on Wednesday that it would begin a truce for an unlimited time from Saturday. The move has been welcomed by the UN and the European Union. However, Colombia's government said it would not join the rebels in the truce........ From WSJ: Pakistan Military: Dozens of Militants Killed in Strikes Near Afghanistan Border Pakistani warplanes and ground forces killed 39 militants as part of a continuing operation in a volatile tribal region near the Afghan border, the Pakistani military said. The airstrikes were carried out Friday evening in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region, an army statement said Saturday, adding that an underground tunnel system and a large underground cache of weapons and ammunition were also destroyed......
Brazil's Dilma Rouseff wins another term much to the chagrin of the powers-that-be in the USA. From BRICS: Over a grueling past three months, Brazil has seen the most divisive campaign and the toughest election since its democratization process in 1989. The campaign ended with the reelection of President Dilma Rouseff, from Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party) with 51.64% of the votes and a mandate for leading the country for the next four years. Although the margin that divided them was very slim- 54.5 million to Dilma Rousseff against 51.0 million votes to Aécio Neves – they had very different policy prescriptions, especially of reviving an ailing economy. While both agreed on the need for social spending and economic growth to fight poverty, Neves accused Rousseff of not backing reforms needed to stimulate growth.... From BRICS: Brazilian Central bank’s (BCB) move on Wednesday to raise its policy rate by 25bp to 11.25 per cent is a sign that reelected President Dilma Rousseff will be more market-friendly, analysts concluded. The bank said the inflation risks have changed since their last meeting in September. “In light of that, the committee considered it appropriate to adjust monetary conditions in order to guarantee, at a lower cost, the prevalence of a more benign inflation outlook in 2015 and 2016,” the Brazilian Central bank said in its statement. The BCB’s target is to keep annual inflation at 4.5 per cent..... From WantChinaTimes: China to buy 5,000 Russian air-to-air missiles: Japanese report China is likely to purchase 5,000 R-73 and R-77 air-to-air missiles from Russia, writes Toshiyuki Roku, retired commander of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Air Development and Test Command, in an article for the Tokyo-based Japan Military Review..... From EconomicTimes: India re-elected to UN Economic and Social Council India has overwhelmingly won its re-election to the UN body on economic and social issues, garnering the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group. The 193-member UN General Assembly yesterday elected 18 members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to serve a three-year term beginning January 1, 2015. China's government uses diplomacy to unite their rail companies so they stand a better chance on global bids ... whereas; our Canadian govt. hinders Bombardier in every which way and dampens the great Canadian company's holdings in Russia by sanctions on that country.
From Xinhaunet:
China's top two train makers will merge after a 14-year split to explore the global market for their high-speed railway technology, analysts said. The two, China CNR Corp. Limited and CSR Corp. Limited, will announce the details of their merger over the weekend after confirming the news on Tuesday. The move aims to avoid "in-fighting" between the two in their exploration of the global market, said Wang Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The two split in 2000, and the then Ministry of Railways (MOR), which became the China Railway Corporation in 2013, delineated the companies' major sales domains with the Yellow River as the boundary. It also tried to set a boundary for the two in the overseas market to reduce their competition.... From TheDiplomat: China’s Emergency Relief to South Sudan The ongoing violence in South Sudan has had an unbearable humanitarian cost. Currently, more than 1.4 million South Sudanese are internally displaced and the UN estimates that $1.8 billion in humanitarian aid is needed in 2014. As one of the most important investors in the previously unified Sudan and now in the independent South Sudan, China has displayed what is by its standards unprecedented diplomatic activism to support the peace talks in Addis Ababa, mainly through its contribution to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and active mediation efforts. However, the emergency relief it has extended to Juba amid the conflict has received far less attention...... Nothing much of worth on South Africa unless you think the opening of a "gay friendly" mosque is progress. The country is still busy with the blade runner and the last I read on the most boring topic in the world was that SA's prosecutors are appealing the verdict and want to try the blade runner again because everybody including the janitor in the prosecutors' offices have not had a chance to have their say on the matter. South Africa is the weakest link in the BRICS .... there's no doubt about it. How did the other four even let this country join the group?
From BRICS: China, India launch new Asia Infrastructure Bank In a landmark achievement, 21 Asian nations including China and India on Thursday signed on a new infrastructure investment bank which would rival the World Bank. The governments of Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam signed on as founding members of the new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing on Friday. One of the first projects of the new Bank is expected to be financing infrastructure projects along the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “Maritime Silk Road” re-establishment. Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Friday the “multi-national financial institution which is fair, just, open … with a good governance structure” will be an “efficient financing platform for infrastructure”. Lou said the AIIB has a different focus than established multilateral organizations such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). China and other emerging economies, including BRICS, have long protested against their limited voice at other multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank. China is grouped in the ‘Category II’ voting bloc at the World Bank while at the Asian Development Bank, China with a 5.5 per cent share is far outdone by America’s 15.7 per cent and Japan’s 15.6 per cent share.... From Reuters: Russia won court approval on Thursday to seize shares held by a billionaire businessman's company in oil producer Bashneft over its "improper privatisation", marking a success for the latest state move to reclaim prized corporate assets. Moscow's Arbitration Court ruled in favour of prosecutors who said Bashneft was unlawfully sold to local authorities in the early 2000s before being sold in 2009 to oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Sistema, controlled by tycoon Vladimir Yevtushenkov......
This time at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad. BTW, has anybody ever come across any news item about Shiites going on suicide bombing sprees? I haven't, ever.
From BBC: .....Iraq violence: Bombing hits Baghdad Shia mosque. At least 17 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shia mosque in the centre of Iraq's capital, Baghdad. The attack occurred as worshippers prepared to attend midday prayers in the Shorja district of the capital. No-one has claimed responsibility so far. Last week, at least 24 Shia Muslim pilgrims were killed in three bombings in Baghdad. The country has been without a government since last month's polls. A bomb also went off in the eastern Shia district of Sadr City, killing two, police said.....
Isn't it a "laugh aloud until you cry" kind of scenario when you think about how America and her allies stormed into Afghanistan because one of the things that so stunned and horrified the world was seeing the Taliban destroy the world heritage site where the giant statues of Buddha were carved out of the mountainous rock. However, now, when it comes to Syria and the Taliban-like Al Qaeda affiliated groups are destroying heritage sites of the Shiites... they are doing it at the behest of the USA and her allies. The moral compass has stopped working for millions of Earthmen. Now, the immoral have a blueprint that emphasizes the end of Assad and nothing less will do even if it means WW3.
From Reuters: Islamist fighters from an al Qaeda splinter group bombed a large Shi'ite Muslim shrine in the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa on Wednesday, activists said. The mosque of Ammar bin Yassir and Oweis al-Qarni was once a destination for Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq before it was taken over a year ago by Sunni rebels battling to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. One photo posted on Twitter on Wednesday under the heading "the pagan Iranian shrine" showed extensive damage to the exterior walls and roof of the site, a turquoise and white complex of domes and minarets centred around a tiled courtyard.
Another picture showed concrete and twisted metal strewn on the street outside the mosque - built under Assad's rule with support from Shi'ite Iran - while another showed an interior wall that had collapsed inward. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the al Qaeda splinter group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had set off two powerful explosions at the mosque early on Wednesday. Many fighters from ISIL and other radical Sunni Islamist groups in Syria deem Shi'ites as infidels and consider their shrines idolatrous, and therefore legitimate targets.....
The savages won't even let their own Muslims who follow a milder form of islam to live in peace. Look at the pillars of the Sufi mosque. Work of art and now the mosque and the surrounding buildings of the Sufi community have been destroyed by the madmen in the pay of Saudi Arabia.
What are the chances that many have found ready and willing harbor in Canada? Knowing how lax our immigration policies are, in spite of the Conservative govt. claiming otherwise, I am willing to bet that several of these conniving members of the most dangerous Islamic political group, are already here. They will apply for opening a religious school or building permits for mosques .... and our nitwit politicians will see nothing wrong with granting them whatever their heart desires. A very well informed commenter at the first link below has posted several links on the Muslim Bros. which bears looking into. Ordinary folks like us know so much about the group, but our politicians whom we expect to know more than us, know zilch, nada, nil, zero.
Patrick Martin writing at Globe&Mail: The local headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, are burned-out shells in this Suez Canal port city, the birthplace of the Brotherhood 85 years ago. The remaining Brothers are trying to evade arrest by the authorities; the angry ones are considering a move across the canal to the lawless Sinai and a resort to violence.
There are many who see this as the end of the line for the once mighty Islamist organization. Its popularity with the people is at rock bottom and its leaders locked up, including deposed president Mohammed Morsi
Other Brothers are hiding out or fleeing the country, and more than 1,000 of its supporters were killed in a brutal crackdown when the army seized power in August. To add further injury, an Egyptian court on Wednesday upheld a ruling banning the Brotherhood and all its branches from operating, and ordering the confiscation of its assets....... ......Mustafa Shaltoot, 27, has a tell-tale zebiba (it means raisin) on his forehead – the dark abrasion that comes from touching your forehead to the ground in regular prayer. But like a lot of young followers of the Muslim Brotherhood these days, his formerly thick beard has been shaved to about a three-day growth. Mr. Shaltoot brought a journalist inside what remained of the FJP office, out of sight from the street. “What happened after the coup was terrifying,” he said, referring to the Egyptian army’s ousting of Mr. Morsi and the deadly crackdown on his movement that followed. “I’m afraid all the time. I’m afraid the security will see me talking to you,” he said........ Abigail Hauslohner writing at WashingtonPost: .... Very few of the leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood escaped the recent military-led crackdown on their movement. Some of those who did flew out of Cairo after paying thousands of dollars in bribes to airport security officials, while others took more convoluted routes, boarding planes in distant airports en route to friendlier nations. One of those nations is Qatar, the tiny, oil-rich Persian Gulf state that helped bankroll rebels and Islamist democracy advocates throughout the Arab Spring and is now quietly absorbing the exiles that one country’s stumbling experiment in democracy has generated..........
Why am I not surprised?! It's to be expected all over as the the muslim population has grown to that magic number and continue growing. Learn to accept the facts and STFU. You are helpless against the wishes of your politicians and your government. The muslim immigrants are here to create their own little shariah states and you will let them ..... unless you want your head to be chopped off.
This buffoon said the following about the offensive jihadi mural:
We are satisfied with the responses that have been provided during our preliminary inquiries into your concerns and do not believe that the mural is contrary to City policy or Canadian law.
Bastard!!
No wonder, Italy ... from where according to his last name this man hails from or his ancestors did ... has many of their church compounds and grounds allocated to Muslims for their prayer times. With this mis-manager in charge of the City of Toronto, you can well expect the same to happen here too.
The idiot has not heard about Taqqiyah and the might of Muslim Oscar winning performances in same. Either that or he is not fit to be the manager of the City of Toronto. The mural is an insult to Torontonians and it has to be flushed away.
Aren't you happy and proud to be associated with these countries? Aren't you pleased that our politicians visit these countries looking to do business with these cavemen? Don't you so love to work in organizations that get a bit chunk of their business from these guys? Aren't you feeling on top of the world because your govt. is supporting these cavemen against a secular govt. of a "used to be" secular country of Syria which is now broken up in a thousand pieces. How wonderful isn't it that your government is of the opinion that handing Syria over to Al Qaeda and other islamic terrorists is better than keeping a man like the secular Assad as head of a secular country?
What a brave new world of vomit-inducing 24/7 our esteemed politicians have created for us!
How do you like it! A mosque in Toronto has the chutzpah to apply for and receive city funding for street art and what do they paint? A mural of a jihadi battle cry! And who spotted the mischief? Muslims Canadians. If I was the mayor of Toronto, I would shut down the culprit mosque before you could say "alluhu akbar" and bring in CSIS and the RCMP to investigate every single person involved in planning and execution of this affront. Right there in the middle of that nest one is likely to find many poisonous reptiles.
Tarek Fatah writing at TorontoSun: ...Jihadi battle cry on Toronto mural. In the ongoing argument in Quebec about the proposal by the Parti Quebecois to outlaw all displays of religious symbols by public servants, there is general consensus the real issue is not the cross or the kippa, but the hijab and niqab. Lost in the din of the debate were the words of a Muslim school teacher from Montreal who joined “Rassemblement pour la laicite,” a pro-secularism group that backs the PQ plan. Leila Bensalem, born in Algeria, while lauding the PQ initiative, expressed concern over the list of demands for religious accommodation at her school that keeps on growing, from halal food to separate gym classes for boys and girls. Bensalem’s words echoed those of former Supreme Court of Canada judge Claire L’Heureux-Dube, who observed in a radio interview that in her travels abroad, “there are more uncovered faces in Pakistan and Morocco than there are here” in Quebec. What Bensalem and L’Heureux-Dube have observed is part of a larger movement among Islamists in the West to vigorously assert their presence as well as their separateness from non-Muslims, whom they consider the adversary, if not the divinely designated enemy. If the hijab and niqab upsets them, imagine how Bensalem and L’Heureux-Dube would react if they saw what one Toronto-area mosque has adorned on its wall, in a huge, two-storey mural. It’s part of a Quranic verse that has over centuries been a battle cry of jihadis and the armies of the Islamic world. The mural, at the west end of Toronto’s Little India on Gerrard Street, has verse 13 of the Qur’an’s chapter 61 “Al-Saff” (The Battle Array) painted in tasteful Arabic calligraphy. It reads: “Help from Allah (is near) and a speedy victory (is assured).” The words are innocuous and otherwise poetic. Islamists will insist they are harmless, but it would be a falsehood to suggest the verse is not associated with doing battle with the infidel enemy. After all, these same words were once..............
The Secretary General of the Muslim Canadian Congress has started a petition addressed to Mayor Rob Ford:.
...The City of Toronto has commissioned a StreetArt program to bring art to cover up graffiti from buildings on the city's major streets. Taking advantage of this program, a Mosque has managed to obtain city funding to paint a jihadi battle cry as a mural on its wall. This jihadi battle cry has been taken from the Quran and used by Islamic Terrorists like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda as well as the Pakistan Military in its war propaganda against India. The inscription on the mural tells Muslims to have faith in Allah who will give them 'imminent victory' in their endevour against the enemy (non-Muslims). As Muslims we would not like to see our holy book, The Quran to be used to sow division amongst the citizens of this great city of Toronto. We urge Mayor Rob Ford and City Councillor Paula Fletcher to immediately act and cover up this provocative mural in 'Little India' that is home to many Hindu and Sikh Canadians who are being primarily targetted by this signage. Salim Ahmad Secretary General Muslim Canadian Congress
Debra Burlingame wonders what has happened to our moral clarity and righteous anger. As for me, I can't stop wondering how most Americans could have such short memories of 9/11 that they have completely forgotten who or what their real enemy is and have done a turn around, and at this point in time, they are abetting and aiding the enemy not only abroad in Syria but in their own land as well. Suicidal nation.
So good, so good! Where were these guys hiding all this while?
The more good Egypt does to secure itself, the more we realize what utter buffoons we have in our government in Canada. Egyptians have identified the group that had destabilized their country and would have turned the entire country into a cavemen stronghold and they took drastic measures to keep themselves in our present century. How commendable!!! We, as Canadians, should be ashamed of what we have let our politicians do to this beautiful country. Thousands of mosques all over, Islamic schools all over, our learning institutions accepting money from oil-rich sheikhdoms and pleasing the donors by adding islamic studies to the curriculum, letting Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR lobbyists have hours and hours of meetings with members of the Canadian government, importing thousands of Muslims on a daily basis, allocating our tax dollars to "oppositions" who plot to overthrow governments, all on the manipulation and the word of the CAIR and Muslim Brotherhood lobbyists ..... can we seriously think that our country is progressive and continue thinking that Egypt is far beneath us? Compare and contrast and be fair in your judgement. Which government is more savvy about the Muslim Brotherhood problem .... the Canadian govt. or the Egyptian govt?
From AlAlam: ......Egypt orders arrest of Qatar’s Sheikh Qaradawi. Qatar’s Egyptian national notorious mufti, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, will be arrested immediately if he is found to set foot in Egypt, following his support to the Muslim brotherhood and his hostile remarks about Egypt’s Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar. Egypt's chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat issued an arrest warrant for Qaradawi, on accusation of inciting the killing of Egyptian security forces and meddling in the country’s affairs. Qaradawi has been a major critic of the country’s army following the ouster of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in July 3. According to Egyptian media, Barakat has assigned security authorities to look for all the other security issues that Qaradawi might have been involved in. Qaradawi’s name has been put under the wanted list of all Egyptian airports, according to Barakat’s order, and he is to be arrested as he sets foot inside Egypt............ From APNews: An Egyptian court has banned the Muslim Brotherhood group and ordered its assets confiscated in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown by the military-backed government against supporters of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. Egypt state TV said the court issued its ruling on Monday. The Brotherhood was outlawed for most of its 85 years in existence. But after the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, it was allowed to work openly, formed a political party and rose to power in a string of post-Mubarak elections. In March, it registered as a recognized non-governmental organization.............
What can be bad about that eh?! They are so generously paving the coming Caliphate. What's not to love about that, people? The corrupt politicians are loving it as well because a percentage of the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ must have also enriched their stash of laundered money. Happy, happy !!
Abigail R. Esman writing at InvestigativeProject: Kuwait Funding Muslim Brotherhood Growth in Western Mosques. The completion of a new mosque in Amsterdam is doing more than opening the doors of worship to Dutch Muslims; it is opening new windows into unexpected avenues of terrorist financing and funding for the growth of radical Islam in the West. For years, Western counterterrorism officials and pundits have expressed concern about the sponsorship of European and American mosques, Islamic schools, and other Muslim organizations by the Saudi government in efforts to expand its own extremist version of Islam, Wahhabism. Wahhabis adhere to strict, literal interpretations of the Quran and defend the use of violence against those who do not – Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Now, however, it seems we've been so focused on the Saudis, we may have missed a potentially even greater source of radicalization, and certainly a fast-growing one: the Muslim Brotherhood. And the government of Kuwait, with ties to al-Qaida groups and Hamas, appears to be among the largest financiers of Brotherhood infiltration into Europe.........
All the unlicensed imams from Egypt that the smart new government of Egypt are sacking over there will be eyeing immigration to Canada. Time to give advanced thanks to our esteemed govt. of Stephen Harper for the largess to be bestowed on Canadian citizens? We already have all those squat-down-to-shit-holes all over Canada, designed especially for those prized new immigrants .... why let them go to waste, eh? Imagine a Muslim nation like Egypt knows fully well that the incitement and instigation to rabble rouse come primarily from their own Muslim preachers but a supposedly advanced civilization of a Judeo-Christian country like Canada, does not. What does that say about our government and our immigration policy ???
Laura King and Ingy Hassieb writing at LATimes: ....Egypt bans thousands of unlicensed preachers from giving sermons.Ratcheting up the pressure on followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian authorities in effect have banned tens of thousands of unlicensed clerics from delivering mosque sermons. The ban appears to be aimed at neutralizing imams, or preachers, who have been speaking out -- even if only in allegorical fashion -- against the July 3 coup that deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country’s democratically elected Islamist president. Such sermons sometimes take place in unlicensed mosques or small community prayer rooms known as zawiyas. About 55,000 so-called freelance clerics will be affected, said Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, whose heads the state Ministry of Endowments, which regulates some religious assets and issued the ruling. The restrictions were announced ahead of Friday prayers, the most important observance of the Muslim week. Those gatherings have been a lightning rod for Islamist protests for much of the summer, though those demonstrations have been tapering off. The new rules were unveiled with little fanfare at a news conference Monday and reported by an Egyptian newspaper that has previously been critical of the Brotherhood. Under the regulations, imams who do not have licenses can either apply for reinstatement or be replaced by those from ministry-supervised institutions, Gomaa said...........
Updated with video of Dave Gaubatz giving talk on shariah and MB
There's something we all forget when dealing with devious minds. They know that the best place for concealing something secret is to hide it in the open because our eyes when not in sync with our brains are the most deceptive organs in our body.
Dave Gaubatz writing at WatchdogWire: EXPOSED: Muslim Recruiting Station on Lackland AirForce Base, TX A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to visit the Islamic Center of San Antonio, San Antonio, TX. The research findings were typical of most Sunni mosques around America. This is a Salafist (Wahabi) mosque. Inside were the typical violent materials such as Fiqh Us Sunnan, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Riyadh Al Salheen, and more.
The research findings were not a surprise since I have seen this type mosque hundreds of times during my research. What was interesting is the Islamic Center is near Lackland AFB. This is one of the U.S. Military largest training bases. All USAF personnel must conduct their initial training on this base. Here is what I discovered: 1. The Imam is Yousef Said, Ph D. Most of the worshippers are from Pakistan/Sunni-Salafist. 2. They had all the materials that identify them as supporting Al Qaeda, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. 3. Very strict Sharia adherence. Many of the young girls were completely veiled. 4. The Center has a strong security team on the grounds 24 hours a day. 5. I met several men, the Imam, custodians, and their head of security. 6. The Islamic Center is closely linked to Masjid Beit El Magdes, 7627 Culebra Rd., San Antonio. They are also behind the Mosque on Lackland AFB. A Brother Jeffrey is the Imam at the Lackland mosque. I was informed the new USAF recruits at Lackland must study Islam and attend the mosque on base. Brother Jeffrey has a goal of recruiting/converting at least 3 Airmen per week. Thus far they have had no problem doing this. 7. There were brochures of Imam Siraj Wahhaj coming to San Antonio on 8 June 2013. Remember I have always said Wahhaj is America’s most dangerous Islamic leader. The meeting is open for all and will be held at the Crossroads Mall Wonderland of America, 4522 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, TX 7pm – 10pm. 8. A former U.S. military member Terry Holdbrooks assigned to GITMO was converted by three GITMO prisoners. Holdbrooks now speaks at mosques. He was in San Antonio on 24 May 2013. 9. The Islamic Center has close ties with CAIR National. Lackland Air Force Base is also home to a large number of Saudi Military. They attend training at this base for various aircraft related fields of study. Over the years there have been Saudi military that suddenly disappear into the American landscape. Many are part of the underground Islamic sleeper cell community........
Right now I am scanning the internet for intensive courses in the French language, after that I will look at the real estate market.
From YahooNews: Vandals splatter mosque in Quebec's Saguenay, region with possible pig blood. Police in Quebec's Saguenay region have been called in after a local mosque was vandalized over the weekend — splattered with what could be pig blood. Representatives of the area's small Muslim community say they believe it to be an isolated incident, and Saguenay Mayor Jean Tremblay agrees. Contacted by The Canadian Press Sunday, Tremblay said he was shocked by what he termed an "isolated and stupid" act of intolerance against a place of worship. The mayor insisted that most local residents would also be appalled by the attack. "That's not the mentality people in the region have... All it takes is one or two stupid people for something like this to happen," he said in an interview. He said the incident undermines the community's efforts to welcome diversity. "This isn't the way to show we have an open mind," he said. A letter was also sent to the mosque and to the local Radio-Canada station spouting anti-Islamic rhetoric.......
I would happily vote for Sherrilyn Church of the Rise Up Australia Party without missing a beat. She has exactly the kind of calibre needed in a politician. The woman has studied the drawbacks of the islamic cult and the backwardness of its followers and makes no bones of what she thinks of both. This wonderful lady does not suffer from the dreaded disease of "political correctness" .... and isn't that refreshing?! A truth teller in politics ... will wonders never cease. I hopes she wins.
Good response to the article going by the hundreds of comments. Majority agreed with her.
Harry Brumpton writing at CourierMail:
.....A candidate for the Prime Minister's seat of Griffith has put outlawing the Islamic faith front and centre of her election campaign, branding it a "religion from hell" and claiming that building mosques in Australia is "high treason". Sherrilyn Church of the Rise Up Australia Party says her top policy priority in the election is to ban the building of mosques in the electorate, south of Brisbane. Ms Church - a small-time citrus farmer from Crows Nest on the Darling Downs - said her primary concern for the electorate was "the Islamisation of the city by councils giving permission for mosques to be erected". "Basically, I see Islam not primarily a religion but a system of law because to the Islamic mind the existence of a mosque in an area means they believe that Sharia law applies and the Islamic flag must fly - now that is high treason in a sovereign nation," she said. "Islam is a legal system before it is a religion. We have freedom of religion but their religion is illegal. "We are multiethnic, but we are not multicultural, because that's where the law comes into it. "The people in the mosque can be as charming and pleasant as your best Australian but there is also those elements, as you know across the world, where young men are recruited to jihadist training camps from these mosques. "A lot of people consider it to be fine. A lot of people also consider that having gay marriage is fine." Ms Church, 61, said she believed the Muslim faith and democratic citizenship were fundamentally incompatible. "This question is asked of all Australian citizens when they stand before the governor or to become citizens. They have to declare that they will come under our system of law, and our flag. "If you're going to say; 'no, I'm going to hold to the laws of the Koran', I would say `pack your bags, get on the next plane and go home'. "Our laws are totally and utterly contrary to the law of the Koran. There are some religions that didn't come from heaven, they come from hell." Ms Church's platform has proven unpopular within the local Islamic community, which has two mosques in the Griffith electorate at Holland Park and West End.
Check out what the taqiyya spouter below claims about :
"Christianity and Islam are fundamentally the same and the Sharia is compatible with Australia life and "does not affect anybody else".
That's how they lie about everything and the gullible believe their lies. The moment someone criticizes islam or the cultural practices of Muslims, the first thing that comes out of their mouths is "people are ignorant about islam. Our religion is a religion of peace". Yup .... we can see that it is ... on our TV screens, on the internet and everywhere.
The views only damage hard-fought steps to integration with the southside community according to Islamic College of Brisbane chairman Mohammed Yusuf. "It's a very sad thing that because of ignorance and people trying to gain cheap publicity with these things they do so much damage," Mr Yusuf said. "It really annoys us when people who through their own ignorance or for their own political gains, say things which are damaging. It's not in the best interest for anyone. Mr Yusuf said that Christianity and Islam were fundamentally the same and the Sharia is compatible with Australia life and "does not affect anybody else". "There's punishments and penalties for certain things -- adultery or stealing and all that -- under Sharia law that apply in Islamic states, not Australia so there's no way the Muslims are going to say I'm going to introduce that here. "The majority of the things we talk about for Sharia law are already in existence here -- we follow what applies to us, what does not apply we refrain from and don't practice."
