Des accusations iraniennes stupéfient Ankara

Le président Erdogan rejette les accusations portées à son encontre.

LE MATIN: CONFLIT EN SYRIE — Le président turc s'est entretenu avec Hassan Rohani après que des médias ont évoqué l'implication du clan Erdogan dans un trafic de pétrole avec le groupe EI.

Ankara a exprimé dimanche sa «stupéfaction» après des accusations iraniennes. Ces dernières évoquent l'implication de la Turquie dans un trafic de pétrole avec des djihadistes en Syrie et en Irak.

Il n'y a rien de «sérieux» dans ces accusations, a déclaré dans un communiqué le porte-parole du ministère turc des Affaires étrangères, Tanju Bilgic.

Le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a déclaré jeudi avoir mis en garde son homologue iranien, Hassan Rohani, après des publications dans certains médias iraniens accusant le président turc et sa famille d'être impliqués avec des membres de l'EI dans un trafic de pétrole.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan a déclaré avoir eu un entretien téléphonique avec Hassan Rohani au cours duquel il lui a dit: " Vous allez payer le prix fort si cela continue comme cela». Le président turc a ajouté que les Iraniens avaient ensuite effacé ces publications de leurs sites web. » | ats/nxp | dimanche 6 décembre 2015

Marine Le Pen: Assad Is the Only Person Who Can Save Syria

TASNIM NEWS AGENCY: TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is for now the only person who can rule Syria and save it from overall chaos, French politician and leader of the National Front party Marine Le Pen said in an interview with Le Temps.

The stability of the Syrian state is the highest priority, whatever its leadership is, Le Pen said during the interview on Sunday, as reported by Sputnik News.

“The question comes to the choice: do you want there to be at least some state or Daesh?” Le Pen asked using Arab acronym for Islamis [sic] State in Iraq and the Levant.

According to the politician, the political fate of Bashar al-Assad should be decided by the Syrian people in the course of future democratic elections. As for now, Assad is the only politician who is able to have the country under control and not let it fall apart, she added. » | Sunday, December 6, 2015

UK Air Strikes against ISIL in Syria Will Fuel the Rise of Terror, Says Bashar al-Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad giving an interview to a
British journalist in his Damascus residence

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Europe is the incubator of terror and not Syria, the president says in Damascus, as he claims the West is to blame for thousands of dead Syrians

The UK's bombing campaign against Isil fighters in Syria is "illegal" and will only cause the “cancer” of terrorism" to spread, Bashar al-Assad has said in an interview published on Sunday.

The Syrian president mocked Britain’s decision to launch air strikes, blaming the West for the rise of the terror group, as well as for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

Speaking from the tranquil surroundings of his Damascene palace, shielded from the distant thuds of war in the suburbs, Assad said the UK's actions would "support terrorism".

“It will be harmful and illegal and it will support terrorism, as happened after the coalition started its operation a year or so [ago] because this is like a cancer,” Assad said. » | Louisa Loveluck | Sunday, December 6, 2015

German Vice-Chancellor Accuses Saudi Arabia of Funding Islamic Extremism in the West

Sigmar Gabriel with German Chancellor Angela Merkel

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: In a highly unusual moment of a Western politician attacking a critical Arab ally, Sigmar Gabriel says the time has come to make it clear to Riyadh the time of looking away is over

The German vice-chancellor has publicly accused Saudi Arabia of financing Islamic extremism in the West and warned that it must stop.

Sigmar Gabriel said that the Saudi regime is funding extremist mosques and communities that pose a danger to public security.

“We have to make clear to the Saudis that the time of looking away is over,” Mr Gabriel told Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview.

“Wahhabi mosques all over the world are financed by Saudi Arabia. Many Islamists who are a threat to public safety come from these communities in Germany.”

The allegation that Saudi Arabia has funded mosques with links to Islamist terrorism in the West is not new. But it is highly unusual for a Western leader to speak out so directly against the West’s key Arab ally. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Sunday, December 6, 2015

Why Does the British Royal Family Visit Saudi Arabia But Not Israel?

The Prince of Wales shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu at the CO21 conference

THE TELEGRAPH: Members of the Royal family regularly visit authoritarian Arab states, but they have never made an official trip to Israel

When Prince Charles threaded through the hallways of last week’s climate change conference in Paris, he swapped ideas with world leaders on how to confront the dangers of a warming planet.

But Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had something else on his mind. During a brief meeting, he invited the Prince of Wales to pay an official visit to Israel.

Mr Netanyahu’s offer - like dozens of others extended by Israeli leaders to the Royal family - is unlikely to be taken up.

In the 67 years since Israel was founded in territory once controlled by Britain, no member of the Royal family has ever visited in an official capacity. While Prince Charles and others have occasionally set foot in Israel, Buckingham Palace and the British Government have been at pains to stress they were personal visits and not official ones.

The rejected invitations are a source of deep frustration for Israel, especially as the Royal family has made high-profile visits to authoritarian regional neighbours like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as Charles did in February.

“We’re the only democracy in the Middle East and so you ask why do the Royals go to the Arab dictatorships around us but they don’t come here?” said one Israeli official. » | Raf Sanchez, Jerusalem, and Gordon Rayner | Saturday, December 5, 2015

Britain Leaving EU Would Be Like Fall of Berlin Wall, Says Marine Le Pen

Marine Le Pen is keen for Britain to exit the EU

THE TELEGRAPH: Leader of the far-right Front National tells the Telegraph that her support in France, which goes to the polls for regional elections on Sunday, is only growing

If the British public were to vote to leave the European Union it would be the modern equivalent of the toppling of the Berlin Wall and herald the beginning of the end for the bloc, says Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front.

In a week when Denmark rejected “more Europe” in their latest EU referendum, and David Cameron was rebuffed in Brussels over his demands to cut welfare benefits to newly arrived EU workers, the new, softer face of France’s far-Right is clearly dreaming big.

“Brexit would be marvelous - extraordinary - for all European peoples who long for freedom,” she told The Telegraph on Friday on a frantic last day of campaigning ahead of Sunday's regional elections in France where the polls put her party on the cusp of a new electoral breakthrough.

“Objectively, it will be the beginning of the end of the European Union,” she adds, “I compare Brussels to the Berlin Wall. If Great Britain knocks down part of the wall, it’s finished, it’s over.”

And if Britain did knock a hole in the European project, then Ms Le Pen, with her hardline anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, anti-globalisation mantra wants to be there in 2017, leading France through the breach. » | Peter Foster, Europe Editor and Henry Samuel in Senlis | Saturday, December 5, 2015

Call me Madame Frexit »

La Turquie va trouver d'autres fournisseurs que la Russie

LE MATIN: ENERGIE — Les tensions entre Ankara et Moscou se poursuivent après la destruction d'un avion russe. Erdogan confirme avoir signé un accord avec le Qatar pour la livraison de gaz de pétrole liquéfié.

Le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a assuré samedi que son pays allait trouver d'autres fournisseurs d'énergie que la Russie. Cette déclaration suit les tensions qui opposent les deux pays depuis que l'aviation turque a abattu un avion militaire russe.

Le Kremlin a imposé des sanctions commerciales à Ankara, dont le gel de projets d'investissements et l'interdiction d'importation de produits agricoles, en représailles à la destruction par l'aviation turque d'un appareil russe bombardant la Syrie.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan a assuré samedi qu'il n'y avait pour l'heure «aucun signe» que ces représailles affectent le secteur de l'énergie, mais a confirmé avoir signé cette semaine avec le Qatar un accord pour la livraison de gaz de pétrole liquéfié. » | ats/nxp | samedi 5 décembre 2015

Regionalwahl in Frankreich: Le Pen steht vor Wahl-Triumph

SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG: Am Sonntag finden in Frankreich die Regionalwahlen statt. / Marine Le Pen von der rechtsextremen Partei Front National wird wohl triumphieren / In einigen Gegenden ist die Partei bereits so stark, dass sie es im Wahlkampf ruhig angehen lässt

So tritt sie selten vor das Volk - so matt, so leise. Marine Le Pen, die sonst allzeit kämpferische Vorsitzende von Frankreichs Front National, flüstert an diesem Abend ins Mikrofon. Auch jetzt, da sie ihren Anhängern verspricht, sie werde eines Tages "den islamischen Fundamentalismus ausrotten". Oder später, da sie den Mächtigen in Paris vorwirft, "dass sie eben nicht alles getan haben, um uns vor den Terroristen zu beschützen".

Ihre Sätze klingen merkwürdig sanft, wie in Watte gepackt. Behutsam geht Marine Le Pen hin und her auf der Holzbühne im Gemeindehaus von Villers-Cotterêts, unendlich müde wirkt sie, da sie sich eine zottelige Strähne aus dem Gesicht streicht und zum Ende kommt: "Am Sonntag werden wir einen schönen Sieg feiern." Immerhin, sie lächelt.

Selbstverständlich, die 200 Zuhörer im Saal haben die Rede ihrer Partei-Präsidentin artig beklatscht. Und Franck Briffaut, der lokale Bürgermeister, strahlt, seit ihn Le Pen eine knappe Stunde zuvor mit Küsschen begrüßte. Aber es gibt auch Kritik: "Diesmal hat Marine nicht alles gegeben", mault eine beleibte Dame beim Apero: Es gibt Kartoffelchips, dazu Weißwein aus Plastikbechern. » | Von Christian Wernicke | Samstag, 5. Dezember 2015

Meinung: Angst spült die Rechtsextremen in Frankreich nach oben

DIE WELT: Die Terror-Furcht in Frankreich lässt den Front National erstarken. Dessen Wahlprogramm ist unrealistisch, bestenfalls naiv, schlimmstenfalls gefährlich – und ein weiterer Schlag für Europa.

In den Pariser Fenstern hängen vereinzelt noch die Trikoloren, an den Landesgrenzen stehen wieder Polizei und Zoll. Es herrscht Ausnahmezustand in der Republik, formal für die nächsten drei Monate, aber real vielleicht für viele kommende Jahre. Im Augenblick, drei Wochen nach Freitag, dem 13., fühlt es sich so an, als könnte die Ausnahme zur neuen Regel zu werden. Frankreich hat sich verändert, in kürzester Zeit, binnen einer furchtbaren Nacht.

Frankreich zieht in den Krieg. Aus "Flanby", dem Wackelpudding-Präsidenten, ist Rambo geworden. Gleichzeitig steht François Hollande, zum Glück, würdevoll vor seiner trauernden Nation. Aber während dieser schon abgeschriebene Präsident so beliebt ist wie zuletzt nur ganz am Anfang seiner Amtszeit, rollt der Front National wie ein Bulldozer durch diese Krise: Bei den Regionalwahlen am Sonntag könnte die Partei der Le Pens als großer Sieger hervorgehen.

Wenn die Prognosen stimmen, wird der FN in allen Regionen Frankreichs in die zweite Wahlrunde kommen. Im Norden und im Süden könnte die Partei in den Zweikämpfen der Stichwahl über 40 Prozent der Stimmen bekommen. » | Von Martina Meister | Samstag, 5. Dezember 2015

Der verhasste Partner

Sein Abgang scheint keine Vorbedingung mehr zu sein:
Syrien Präsident Bashar al-Assad.

TAGES ANZEIGER: Der syrische Tyrann muss sofort weg, hiess es im Westen. Nun sind die Regierungen weicher gegenüber Bashar al-Assad. Es gibt ein dringenderes Problem.

Die Haltung der westlichen Regierungen im syrischen Bürgerkrieg schien klar – nachdem sich europäische und amerikanische Spitzenpolitiker auffällig lange in dem Konflikt bedeckt hielten: Bashar al-Assad müsse weg. Erst dann könne man das gespaltene Syrien wieder zurück zum Frieden führen. Das verkündeten Regierungen von Washington über Paris bis nach Berlin.

Doch nun pocht Frankreich nicht mehr auf einen sofortigen Machtverzicht des syrischen Staatschefs. Ein Rückzug des Machthabers vor Beginn des angestrebten Übergangsprozesses in Syrien sei nicht zwingend nötig, sagte Aussenminister Laurent Fabius am Samstag der französischen Regionalzeitung «Le Progrès» aus Lyon. » | spu | Samstag, 5. Dezember 2015

Saudi Arabia - Jeddah Street Life

Jeddah is the second largest city of Saudi Arabia. Located at the Red Sea and being the most important starting point for the Hadj it has a more international atmosphere than Riyadh and is therefore more liberal. The video clip shows impressions of the city.

Extremism? Being Critical of Government Is Sign of Radicalization - Guide

A child protection group has issued a leaflet to help people spot if a child is being radicalized. It claims that if they don't agree with mainstream media, or appear angry at government policies, they are potentially at risk. RT's Anastasia Churkina's gets reactions from citizens in London.

European Jewish Union Meets Marine Le Pen (2012)

As part of ongoing efforts to foster greater inter-community understanding, the European Jewish Union has begun a dialogue with France's Front National leader Marine Le Pen.

Marine Le Pen Interview: 'The New Anti-Semitism Is Linked to Islamic Fundamentalism' (2012)

The leader of the rightwing party Front National is attempting to change the image of party in France. Marine Le Pen elaborates her views on anti-Semitism and discusses her political plans in an exclusive interview with JN1.

Le Pen: I Admire 'Cool Head' Putin's Resistance to West's New Cold War

The Power of Le Pen - BBC, Our World

Obama: "Entirely Possible" San Bernardino Attackers Were Radicalised

US President Barack Obama says it's "entirely possible" that the San Bernardino attackers were radicalised and reiterates his call for tighter gun controls

Swedish Foreign Minister: Israel Is 'Executing' Palestinians

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom

ARUTZ SHEVA: Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom again lashes out at Israel, claims it is executing terrorists without trial.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom once again lashed out at Israel on Friday, accusing the Jewish state of “executing” without trial Palestinian Arabs who carried out stabbing attacks in Israel.

Wallstrom’s comments were made during a 45-minute debate in the Swedish parliament, in which she replied to questions from parliamentarians on Sweden’s foreign policy.

One of the issues that came up for discussion was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and three MPs asked Wallstrom why the Swedish government had adopted an unbalanced position which prefers the Palestinian position over the Israeli position.

Wallstrom was asked why she did not condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis, to which she replied that she does indeed condemn attacks against Israelis, but then went on to level harsh accusations at Israel. » | Elad Benari, Canada | Friday, December 4, 2015

Gingrich: Obama Represents Greatest National Security Threat

Dec. 04, 2015 - 8:13 - Former House speaker goes on 'Hannity' to talk POTUS' response to terror

Is It Fair to Call Terrorism a 'Muslim Problem'?

Dec. 04, 2015 - 5:15 - CAIR-LA director's remarks spark heated debate on 'Hannity'