Friday, June 13, 2014
Obama: Ultimately Up to Iraqis to Solve Their Problems
Inside Story: Iraq: Should Neighbours Be Worried?
'Iraq Chaos Is Tony Blair’s Legacy’: Intervention by Ex-PM in 2003 Destabilised the Country and Left It Open to Extremism, Says Home Office Minister
The disaster unfolding in Iraq was branded ‘Tony Blair’s legacy’ last night as Britain ruled out military intervention.
Though Islamist extremists are threatening to seize Baghdad, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain was ‘not contemplating’ any form of action, and Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was no role for the alliance.
US President Barack Obama insisted his country had an interest in stopping jihadists taking control and said he was looking at ‘all options’, including drone strikes.
Iraq is facing a return to its darkest days after al Qaeda-linked militants seized a huge swathe of the Iraq’s northern region and vowed to press on to the capital. Read on and comment » | James Chapman | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Germany Ordered to Pay £40 Million in Compensation to Jewish Family
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| Anti-semitic graffiti on a shop in Vienna |
The Schocken family lost several shops in the east of the country after Hitler embarked upon his "Aryanization" of German businesses in 1938.
A Berlin tribunal awarded the family €30 million (£24 million) - the value of the businesses owned by brothers Simon and Salman Schocken - plus another €20 million (£16 million) in interest.
The German state can appeal the decision at Lepzig's federal administrative court in Leipzig, the tribunal said in a statement.
Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees said: "It shows that as we come up to 70 years since the end of the war there remains a number of significant travesties that are only now being settled."
Salman also founded Schocken Books in pre–war Berlin before moving the company to the United States and palestine. » | Benjamin Russell | Friday, June 13, 2014
Kampf gegen Dschihadisten: Großajatollah ruft Iraker zu den Waffen
Bagdad - Er ist seit mehr als zwei Jahrzehnten der ranghöchste schiitische Geistliche im Irak. Nun hat Großajatollah Ali al-Sistani seine Landesleute zum Widerstand gegen die sunnitischen Dschihadisten aufgerufen. Die Bürger sollten zu den Waffen greifen und "ihr Land, ihr Volk und ihre heiligen Stätten verteidigen" sagte ein Sprecher Sistanis beim Freitagsgebet in der Schiiten-Hochburg Kerbela. Wer könne, solle sich den Sicherheitskräften im Kampf gegen die Dschihadisten der Terrorgruppe Islamischer Staat im Irak und Syrien, kurz Isis, anschließen. » | vek/kes/AFP/AP/Reuters | Freitag, 13. Juni 2014
What Is Going On in Iraq and Why?
Inside the Extreme Group Taking Over Iraq's Major Cities
Glenn Beck On What's Plaguing America
Is the Obama Administration Finished?
Does Obama Understand Iraq May Soon Be an Islamist State?
FOX NEWS: Iraq is a shambles. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Al Qaeda off-shoot that now controls nearly a third of the nation, continues to run amok.
It’s way past time for the White House to get its head in the game. The disaster unfolding in Iraq and Syria could very quickly spiral into a much, much bigger problem. And some problems are so big that even our president can’t spin his way out.
At the top of the list of what the administration should be worrying about—and preparing to deal with—is the potential for an endless three-way civil war in Iraq. With Sunni, Shia and Kurds fighting one another, it would look something like the civil war in Syria—on steroids. » | James Jay Carafano | FoxNews.com | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Iraq Crisis: Baghdad Prepares for the Worst as Islamist Militants Vow to Capture the City
Iraq is breaking up. The Kurds have taken the northern oil city of Kirkuk that they have long claimed as their capital. Sunni fundamentalist fighters vow to capture Baghdad and the Shia holy cities further south.
Government rule over the Sunni Arab heartlands of north and central Iraq is evaporating as its 900,000-strong army disintegrates. Government aircraft have fired missiles at insurgent targets in Mosul, captured by Isis on Monday, but the Iraqi army has otherwise shown no sign of launching a counter-attack.
The nine-year Shia dominance over Iraq, established after the US, Britain and other allies overthrew Saddam Hussein, may be coming to an end. The Shia may continue to hold the capital and the Shia-majority provinces further south, but they will have great difficulty in re-establishing their authority over Sunni provinces from which their army has fled. » | Patrick Cockburn | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Oklahoma Tea Party Candidate Claims: ‘Stoning Gays Was a Law That Came Direct from God’
A Tea Party candidate running for office in Oklahoma has appeared to endorse the practice of stoning gay people to death.
Last year, Scott Esk, who is in the race to represent the 91st district in the State House, responded to a friend’s Facebook post about the Pope’s stance on gay people by copying and pasting Bible verses including Leviticus 20:13, which describes homosexuality as “detestable” and demands gay people be “put to death”.
When asked by another Facebook user whether he supported executing homosexuals by stoning, Mr Esk replied: “That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realise, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.” » | Tim Walker | Los Angeles | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Streit um EU-Kommissions-Chefposten: Cameron giftet gegen Juncker
Berlin - Neue Verbalattacke von David Cameron: Im Streit um die Wahl des neuen EU-Kommissionschefs wettert der britische Premier gegen den vom EU-Parlament favorisierten Christdemokraten Jean-Claude Juncker. "Juncker kandidierte nirgendwo und wurde von niemandem gewählt", schreibt Cameron in einem Beitrag für die "Süddeutsche Zeitung". "Die Bürger, die zur Wahl gingen, wollten ihren Europaabgeordneten wählen, nicht den Kommissionspräsidenten." » | mxw/AFP/dpa | Donnerstag, 12. Juni 2014
Obama Ponders as Iran Sends Troops to Iraq
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| President Barack Obama answers questions on violence in Iraq during his meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott |
Barack Obama was under mounting pressure to send military help to Iraq as Iranian forces were reported to have joined Baghdad’s government to quell an al-Qaeda-inspired uprising.
A defensive president, accused by Republicans of squandering the security gains won in Iraq by US forces, insisted that he was looking at “all the options” to prevent the country unravelling.
But even as he spoke, Iran seemed poised to steal the initiative by sending troops to fight what its president, Hassan Rouhani, described as the “terrorist group that is acting savagely” in Iraq.
Reports emerged that two battalions of Iran’s feared Revolutionary Guards were already in the country, where the government’s forces have shown little stomach for combat. Iran’s willingness to put troops on the front line will give it a strategic advantage in Iraq over America, which at most would offer only air strikes. The US State Department last night ruled out “boots on the ground”.
The developments of the past 72 hours raises the prospect of two bitter enemies – Iran and America – fighting the same foe, albeit for different goals. » | Colin Freeman | Thursday, June 12, 2014
My comment:
Bush and Blair should have left Saddam Hussein where he was. Saddam was a man who understood how to keep a modicum of order in Iraq. He understood his people, his country. Bush and Blair did not. They were naïve fools. They ventured forth where angels would have feared to tread.
As a result of Bush and Blair's folly, we now have this situation to deal with. How many more young people––US soldiers and British soldiers––will have to lose their lives in this cesspit?
Bringing democracy to Iraq was never on the cards. Had Bush and Blair understood the nature of the Middle East and the nature of Islam, they would never have tried to impose it upon those benighted people.
Obama, bringing home the US troops prematurely, has made matters ten times worse. Obama is a fool of a man. He dresses well and talks a good line, but the end product is just the same: He's totally inept at best, and sinister at worst. The man should be impeached for his total and utter mishandling of the situation. The sooner Americans rid themselves of this fool, the better it will be for America, and the better it will be for the West too. – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Exodus of US Troops from Iraq as Chaos Spreads
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| An ISIL militant posing with the trademark Islamists' flag after they allegedly seized an Iraqi army checkpoint in the northern province of Salahuddin |
A growing sense of panic was gripping Iraq last night as the al-Qaeda uprising in the country’s north led to US contractors being evacuated from the region and European countries ordering their citizens to leave Baghdad.
With militants threatening to advance on the capital, signs emerged of diplomats making preparations to leave the country in the event of civil war erupting.
Three planes carrying American diplomats and contractors stationed at a training mission at an Iraqi airbase in Balad, north of Baghdad, flew out amid fears that the base could be surrounded by the militants. Germany ordered all its citizens to leave the Iraqi capital, as did Turkey, which has already had 80 people kidnapped by the militants, including the consul to the northern city of Mosul.
British officials said they had no immediate plans to evacuate staff from Baghdad’s heavily guarded “Green Zone”. As troops stood guard at the city’s northern flanks, queues formed at the main airport while banks saw large number of customers attempt to withdraw money. Last night the internet also went down in Baghdad for an hour, adding to the atmosphere of unease. » | Colin Freeman | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Prisoner Exchange an Impeachable Offense for Obama?
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