Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
A must-read: When US, Daesh teamed up
US officials say Washington is considering to greatly increase the number of its special operations forces deployed to Syria, the Reuters news agency reports.
The US, they say, looks to “accelerate recent gains” against Daesh but Hillary Clinton’s leaked emails last month revealed that the United States plotted to topple the Syrian government even before the group existed.
For their new plan, the officials declined to disclose the exact increase under consideration but one of them said it would leave the US special operations contingent many times larger than “the around 50 troops” currently in Syria.
The proposal is among the military options being prepared for President Barack Obama, who is also weighing an increase in the number of American troops in Iraq, Reuters said on Friday.
Daesh controls the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, but the Takfiri group has been on a losing streak lately as government forces in both the Arab countries have been making their biggest advances in recent years.
Curiously enough, the US is committing more boots on the ground as the Iraqi army is closing in on Mosul and Syrian forces are shifting their attention to Raqqa after liberating Palmyra, Shaddadi and other towns.
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From Russia Today
Azerbaijan envoy says ready for military solution to Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Erdogan backs Baku
Published time: 2 Apr, 2016 21:21
© Vladimir Vyatkin / Sputnik
Azerbaijan is ready to switch from a diplomatic to a military solution over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, Polad Bulbuloglu, Azeri ambassador to Russia, said following escalation in the area on Saturday.
“The attempts of a peaceful solution to this conflict have been underway for 22 years. How much more will it take? We are ready for a peaceful solution to the issue. But if it’s not solved peacefully then we will solve it by military means,” Bulbuloglu told Govorit Moskva radio station.
According to the ambassador, 21 percent of the Azerbaijani territory is now being occupied by Armenia.
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From Russia Today
EU has 900 ‘no-go’ areas because of migrants, Hungary says
Published time: 2 Apr, 2016 10:36
© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
More than 900 ‘no-go’ places with large numbers of illegal migrants are concentrated in EU capitals, such as Paris, Stockholm, Berlin and London, the Hungarian government says, adding no one knows how many terrorists arrive undetected.
“The “no-go” areas can’t or almost can’t be controlled by the authorities. In European cities such as Paris, London, Stockholm or Berlin, where there is a high number of immigrants, more than 900 of these “no-go” zones exist,”says the website, launched this week by the government ahead of a referendum in Hungary on the EU quota plan.
“The mandatory European quotas increase the terrorist risk in Europe and imperil our culture,” the website says.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Erdogan meets with Jewish leaders, seeks avenues to cooperation
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan clapping during the 2015 Turkish Academy of Sciences award ceremony at Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey, Dec. 14, 2015. (Yasin Bulbul/Presidency/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Jewish leaders here reportedly to smooth ties as Turkey and Israel seek to reconcile.
Jewish groups in attendance included the Anti-Defamation League, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, B’nai B’rith International, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
“Erdogan and the guests reiterated their willingness to strengthen cooperation and communication despite differences,” said a report Wednesday in Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper, citing “presidential sources.”
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From PressTV
Iraqi forces seize Daesh prison in Anbar, free 1,500 people
Iraqi security forces have attacked an underground prison run by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the western province of Anbar, freeing as many as 1,500 prisoners.
Malallah al-Obeidi, the head of the al-Baghdadi city council, said Saturday that the large prison was located in the Hit district, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of the provincial capital Ramadi, where civilians and Iraqi security members were incarcerated, Iraq’s al-Sumaria news reported.
All the freed inmates were taken to a safe place outside the district, the official further said.
In the past few days, government forces managed to liberate several regions in the district and are now pushing towards the town of Hit, under Daesh control since October 2014.
The operation to liberate Hit, a Euphrates Valley town, started earlier this week and is part of a wider push that includes capture of embattled Mosul, which has served as the de-facto capital of the terrorist group in Iraq.
Daesh has suffered major blows from Iraqi forces over the past months and is increasingly losing areas under its control. The terror group recently moved its key command centers to hospitals and health centers in Iraq’s northern city of Hawijah in Kirkuk province to use civilians as human shields against government airstrikes.
Gruesome violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq ever since the Takfiris launched an offensive in June 2014, and took control of portions of the Iraqi territory.
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From PressTV
Israeli troops shoot, injure two Palestinian men in Gaza Strip
Israeli military forces have shot and injured two young Palestinian men in the southern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Palestinian sources said the pair were wandering in their farmland close to Yasser Arafat International Airport, formerly known as Gaza International Airport, on Saturday morning when Israeli troopers opened fire on them, Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported.
There were no immediate words on the extent of the injuries of the two Palestinians.
The development came only a day after Israeli forces shot and injured at least five Palestinians in different parts of the Gaza Strip.
Also on Saturday, Israeli naval boats targeted Palestinian boats near the shores of the border city of Rafah. One boat caught fire and sank as a result but there were no reports of casualties in the attack.
Around 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza, half of whom live below the poverty line.
Under a ceasefire agreement reached between Israelis and Palestinians following a deadly 50-day Israeli war in August 2014, Tel Aviv agreed to immediately expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, allowing Palestinian fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles off the shore.
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From Russia Today
5 EU states block Ukraine’s membership prospects – report
Published time: 2 Apr, 2016 03:44
© Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters
Five EU countries remain firmly against Ukraine ever joining the union, French diplomat Pierre Vimont, who has helped negotiate the Ukraine – EU Association Agreement, told a Dutch publication ahead of next week’s advisory referendum on the deal in the Netherlands.
Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands all rejected the idea of Ukraine’s potential EU membership during the five-year negotiation period in 2008-2012, Vimont told Volkskrant.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Major drop in rejections leaves Israel near US visa waiver threshold
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The rate of U.S. visa refusal for Israelis dropped substantially last year, nearing the threshold that would allow Israel into the U.S. visa waiver program.
The drop was revealed Wednesday in a release by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., who has advocated for allowing Israel into the visa waiver program, which allows nationals to travel to and from participating countries without pre-arranging visas.
According to the release, the refusal rate for Israelis in 2015 was 3.85 percent, down from 8.2 percent in 2014.
The threshold for entry into the visa waiver program is a 3 percent refusal rate. There are currently 38 countries with visa waiver agreements with the United States, which has made exceptions for some countries that exceed the threshold.
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From Russia Today
Belgium wants migrants to sign pledge to accept local values
Published time: 2 Apr, 2016 10:11
© Yves Herman / Reuters
All non-EU immigrants wishing to reside in Belgium may soon have to accept local values and integrate into society by signing a “Newcomer’s statement.” Those failing to comply will have their residence claims rejected, immigration officials say.
Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken has drafted a document – “Newcomer’s statement.” The proposal is expected to be passed by parliament in the next few months, according to Reuters.
All non-EU immigrants and their children, who wish to stay in Belgium for longer than three months, will be asked “to respect the laws and democratic principles” and concede to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of sexual orientation. The obligation to sign the “Newcomer’s statement” does not apply to international students and asylum seekers.
“Every individual can decide not to adhere to any religion or deny his/her religion,” the draft says. “In this country we consider a relationship between two men and two women as equal to a relation between a woman and a man.”
“In this country men and women have the same rights and obligations … to education and work. Any adult, men or women, can freely choose, without pressure of his/her parents, his/her job, home and partner,” the document notes, in an apparent reference to Islamic culture, where obedience to parents’ or husband’s will is considered a virtue.
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