Thursday, March 26, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Erdoğan Plan for Super-presidency Puts Turkey's Democracy at Stake
Turkey’s strongman leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is facing unexpectedly spirited, across-the-board resistance to his plan to create a Putin-style super-presidency, a move that opposition parties warn could spell an end to parliamentary democracy and result in a virtual dictatorship.
Erdoğan, the founding leader of the neo-Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP), has ruled Turkey in increasingly authoritarian fashion since becoming prime minister in 2003. Barred under party rules from seeking a fourth term, he switched to the presidency last August and has been manoeuvring to increase his executive powers ever since.
The strategy looks similar to Vladimir Putin’s successive shifts from the Russian presidency to prime ministership and back again, which have kept him in overall charge in Moscow since 2000. The now deposed Pervez Musharraf pulled off a similar trick in Pakistan, bolstering his presidential authority at the expense of the prime minister and parliament.
Ever choleric, Erdoğan appears oblivious to these precedents, and to his growing reputation for harsh crackdowns on popular dissent, street protests and independent journalism. This week saw the jailing of two Penguen magazine cartoonists who dared to poke fun at him.
He is counting instead on his high profile and personal popularity among religious-minded working-class and rural voters to give the AKP a big majority in national elections due on 7 June. In theory, the necessary constitutional changes he wants could then be pushed through. » | Simon Tisdall | Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Enemies of the State: ”Jews Must Leave Israel” – Anjem Choudary
ISIS-held Assyrian Hostage Converts to Islam
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| Sargon David converts to Islam after two months of detention by ISIS militants in northeastern Syria. |
Sargon David, an Assyrian man from Tel Temit in northeastern Syria, who had been held hostage by the group since the militants stormed the Assyrian villages in the area.
David appeared in the video uttering the Islamic Shahada in a sign of conversion to Islam. He was then named by the group’s militants as Abu Omar.
The IS group addressed the Christian community in Syria in the video message saying that many of the Assyrian residents in the countryside of Tel Temir have converted to Islam “and received the caliphate’s blessing”. » | ARA News | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Oxford Union Invites Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary to Speak Despite Being On Bail for Being Member of Banned Terror Group
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been invited to speak at the Oxford Union despite being on police bail on suspicion of being a member of a banned terror group.
The notorious rabble rouser received his invitation from the debating society a day before Home Secretary Theresa May announced a crackdown on Islamic extremists.
The letter said it would be a 'great privilege' to have Choudary appear as the star guest.
Choudary, who once said that Woolwich terror victim Fusilier Lee Rigby would 'burn in hellfire', was even offered a choice of days on which to attend the debate entitled: This house believes that radicalism is born at home.
Britain's most notorious hate preacher proudly showed off his invitation after launching a hate-filled rant against Western society outside the Houses of Parliament yesterday.
He said: 'I am still on police bail after being arrested by Scotland Yard in September last year. 'But the police can't stop me from speaking. They can't stop me from going to the Oxford Union where I've been invited to speak.' » | Arthur Martin for The Daily Mail | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
A Sinner in Mecca (Trailer)
THE DAILY BEAST: Gay Muslim’s Secret Pilgrimage to Mecca: Parvez Sharma took the long trip to Mecca with two big secrets: He’s recording his journey on his phone, and he has a husband back home. » | Nina Strochlic | Wednesday, March 25, 2015
France Declares War on Radical Islam
"These are legal tools, but not tools of exception, nor of generalized surveillance of citizens. There cannot be a lawless zone in the digital space. Often we cannot predict the threat, the services must have the power to react quickly." — Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France.
"When you do a projection for the months to come, there could be 5,000 [Europeans waging jihad in Iraq and Syria] before summer and 10,000 before the end of the year. Do you realize the threat that this represents?" — Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France.
The French government has cut the social welfare benefits of nearly 300 jihadists who have left France to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Amid a rapidly expanding jihadist threat, it has also started confiscating passports, imposing travel bans and blocking access to jihadist websites.
The moves are part of a raft of new anti-terrorism measures aimed at preventing French citizens or residents from joining jihadist groups abroad, and at slowing the spread of radical Islam at home. Muslim groups are criticizing the flurry of activity as "Islamophobia." » | Soeren Kern | Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Islam Needs to Reform or Leave, Says Canadian Leader of PEGIDA Movement
MONTREAL—Islam needs to change or it needs to leave.
That’s the message from one of the leaders who has brought to Canada a controversial European movement that unites political conservatives, anti-immigration activists and neo-Nazis with the goal of beating back a perceived rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism.
Jean-François Asgard is one of five people to have launched PEGIDA Québec earlier this year, the latest branch of a global anti-Islam movement that was created last fall in the German town of Dresden.
PEGIDA (the name is a German acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) was founded by a convicted burglar-turned-graphic designer who planned a protest against the opening of 14 refugee centres in his city. It has risen rapidly, gathering more than 20,000 people at its peak and provoking warnings and denunciations from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
That has done little to stop its global growth and there are now branches across Europe, in Australia, Britain and the United States. There is also a national PEGIDA Canada group as well as a branch in British Columbia.
“The incompatibility of Islam with the west is flagrant and that’s the reason that PEGIDA and the Western patriots are rising up. It’s not just to counter Islam but to say that if Islam doesn’t reform itself, Islam needs to get out of the west,” Asgard, 33, told the Star in the group’s first interview ahead of a controversial march planned for this weekend. » | Allan Woods | Quebec Bureau | Tuesday, March 24, 2014
Origins of ISIS – Special Coverage
En Syrie, l'EI enrôle des bataillons d'enfants
Plus de quatre cents enfants en Syrie ont été entraînés au combat par les combattants extrémistes du groupe État islamique (EI), a indiqué mardi l'Observatoire syrien des droits de l'homme (OSDH). Le groupe djihadiste soumet les enfants, appelés "lionceaux du califat", à des entraînements intensifs militaires et religieux dans les territoires qu'il contrôle en Syrie, précise l'ONG. Des vidéos diffusées sur des comptes proches de l'EI montrent des garçons, dont certains âgés d'à peine 8 ans, chargeant des fusils, tirant et marchant à genoux à travers les broussailles. » | Source AFP | mardi 24 mars 2015
Saudi Arabia Moves Military Equipment to Border with Yemen
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| Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, at a press conference in Riyadh. |
Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, US officials have said, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening conflict.
The buildup follows an advance by Iranian-backed Houthi Shia militants who took control of the capital Sana’a in September and seized the central city of Taiz at the weekend as they move closer to the new southern base of the US-backed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The armour and artillery being moved by Saudi Arabia could be used for offensive or defensive purposes, two US government sources said, while two other US officials said the buildup appeared to be defensive.
One US government source described the size of the Saudi buildup on Yemen’s border as “significant” and said the Saudis could be preparing air strikes to defend Hadi if the Houthis attack his refuge in the southern seaport of Aden. » | Reuters in Washington | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Anti-Semitism in Europe akin to 1930s: Jewish Leader
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| President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder |
A prominent Jewish figure urged the United States on Tuesday to beware surging anti-Semitism in Europe and warned that seven decades after World War II Jews on the continent are having to look over their shoulders once more.
World Jewish Congress (WJC) president Ronald Lauder told a congressional committee in Washington that the United States could not sit by quietly, with events such as the recent attack in France underlining the growing threat.
"Once again, like the 1930s, European Jews live in fear," said Lauder, a billionaire businessman who inherited a fortune from his mother Estee Lauder's cosmetics empire.
"The United States can and must speak loudly and clearly to condemn this evil for what it is - the radical Islamic hatred of Jews."
"To defeat this new flame of radical Islamic terror and survive... the United States must lead," stressed Lauder, whose mother was Jewish and in whose faith he was raised.
The WJC represents Jewish communities in 100 countries. » | Agencies | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
America and Iran 'Taking Part in Joint Military Operations in Iraq'
The United States is taking part in joint military operations with Iran, admitting it is providing aerial surveillance over the current battle for Tikrit.
The assault on Isil-held Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s home town in Iraq, has stalled in recent days after initial success.
Troops loyal to the Baghdad government, along with Iran-backed Shia militia and some Sunni tribesmen, have surrounded Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters in Saddam’s old palace complex and one other part of the city, but have been unable to make further progress.
The attack has been openly master-minded by an Iranian general, Qassem Suleimani, head of the internationally-focused Al Quds division of the Revolutionary Guard, who has been photographed on the front lines.
An official from the US-led coalition operating air strikes against Isil in Iraq and Syria confirmed to the Reuters news agency that it was now providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance from the air to support the attack.
The United States is also said to be awaiting an imminent formal request for the coalition to join in military operations directly from the air, which it would be likely to grant. » | Richard Spencer Middle East Editor | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Canada Plans to Expand Air Strikes against IS Militants
"In our view, ISIL [IS] must cease to have any safe haven in Syria," Mr Harper said in the House of Commons.
Canada's mission against IS will also be extended for one year, beyond October's election and well into 2016.
Opposition leaders have criticised Mr Harper for drawing Canada into a war with unclear objectives.
The move means Canada will be the first Nato country, other than the United States, to strike inside Syria. » | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
US Accuses Israel of Spying on Nuclear Talks with Iran
The US has accused Israel of spying on international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and using the intelligence gathered to persuade Congress to undermine the talks, according to a report on Tuesday.
The Wall Street Journal cited senior administration officials as saying the Israeli espionage operation began soon after the US opened up a secret channel of communications with Tehran in 2012, aimed at resolving the decade-long standoff over Iran’s nuclear aspirations.
The apparent decision by the White House to leak the allegations is the latest symptom of the growing gulf between Barack Obama’s administration and Binyamin Netanyahu’s government over the Iran talks, in which the Israeli leader suspects US officials of being ready to make too many concessions at the expense of Israeli security. Intelligence analysts suggested that the leak reflects the degree of anger in Washington at Netanyahu’s actions, and could mark a more serious blow to the already tottering relationship. » | Julian Borger Diplomatic editor, and Mairav Zonszein in Tel Aviv | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
California Lawyer Seeks to Put 'Shoot the Gays' Proposal on 2016 Ballot
A California lawyer says he wants to legalize the execution of gay people, and there may be nothing the state’s attorney general can do to stop the proposal from moving forward.
Matt McLaughlin, an attorney in Huntington Beach, California, filed paperwork to bring his proposal, which would sanction the killing of gay and lesbian residents on the basis of their sexuality, before voters in November 2016.
The initiative, named the “Sodomite Suppression Act”, is awaiting further review by the office of the state attorney general, Kamala Harris, who does not appear to have the authority to block it. However, the measure is unlikely to reach voters, as the California supreme court can intervene to prevent measures that violate the state constitution from reaching the ballot.
The so-called “shoot the gays” proposal would mandate “any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head, or by any other convenient method”. McLaughlin, a lawyer since 1998, declared in his proposal that it is “better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God’s just wrath”.
The initiative would also make it a crime to support gay rights, punishable by a $1m fine, up to 10 years in prison and expulsion from the state. It would be illegal to distribute “sodomistic propaganda” to “any person under the age of majority”. Being a “sodomite” or distributing “sodomistic propaganda” would disqualify a resident from serving in public office or public employment and from enjoying any public benefit. » | Lauren Gambino in Los Angeles | Monday, March 23, 2015
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