Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From Russia Today
Turkey trying to conceal illegal military activity on Syrian border – Russian military
Published time: 4 Feb, 2016 14:02
Turkey is trying to conceal its illegal military activity on the border with Syria and has canceled an agreed Russian observation flight over its territory because of that, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
“Such steps carried out by a country, which is a NATO member state, in no way contribute to the strengthening of trust and security in Europe,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, Defense Ministry spokesman, told the journalists at briefing in Moscow.
Konashenkov called the cancelation of the Russian observation flight over Turkish territory “a dangerous precedent and an attempt to conceal illegal military activity near the border with Syria.”
The violation of the Open Skies Treaty by Ankara won’t go without a proper response from Moscow, he said.
Konashenkov also said Russia has boosted all kinds of intelligence and surveillance activities in the Middle East.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
GOP candidate John Kasich defends Israel’s stance on peace with Palestinians, settlements
(JTA) — Republican presidential candidate John Kasich criticized the Obama administration’s relations with Israel and defended Israel’s stance on peace with the Palestinians and settlements at a campaign appearance in New Hampshire.
Kasich, the governor of Ohio, at a Manchester business forum on Wednesday defended Israel’s handling of the peace process with the Palestinians, the JewishInsider reported.
“Israel has given a lot of stuff back. They gave Gaza back. How is that working out? They have everything launching into Israel,” Kasich said. “I don’t know how you get a two-state solution when people are walking into your country and stabbing people. I will say this: Recognize the State of Israel, guarantee their permanent security, stop launching Katyusha rockets into Israel, stop sending in people with knives to kill people in Israel — they went from rocks to knives now — and knock it off. And then, I think you can get to a two-state solution.”
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From PressTV
Saudi says ready to deploy ground troops in Syria
Saudi Arabia has voiced readiness to participate in any ground operations in Syria if the US-led coalition allegedly targeting terrorists decides to start such operations.
“The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the [so-called] coalition (against Daesh) may agree to carry out in Syria,” Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, an adviser to the Saudi defense minister, told the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV on Thursday.
Asseri said Saudi Arabia had carried out more than 190 aerial missions as part of the coalition.
He said that Saudi Arabia believes that to defeat the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, the US-led coalition needs to bolster aerial assaults with ground operations.
“If there was a consensus from the leadership of the coalition, the kingdom is willing to participate in these efforts because we believe that aerial operations are not the ideal solution and there must be a twin mix of aerial and ground operations,” Asseri said.
Asked about the comments, US State Department spokesman John Kirby also said Washington favors having partners contribute more in the so-called fight against Daesh, but added, “I would not want to comment specifically on this until we’ve had a chance to review it.”
Saudi Arabia is a member of the US-led coalition that has been conducting air raids against what are claimed to be the Daesh terrorists inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate since Since September 2014.
The air assaults in Syria are an extension of the US-led aerial campaign against purported Daesh positions in Iraq, which started in August 2014.
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From PressTV
Turkish warplanes bomb northern Iraqi village
Turkish fighter jets have bombarded a village in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, as Ankara continues with its operation against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to a report by Iraq’s al-Sumaria satellite TV network, the warplanes targeted the village in the northern province of Dohuk on Thursday.
There has been no immediate report of casualties in the aftermath of the aerial attacks.
Witnesses, however, said the airstrikes inflicted heavy damage on the village while many of its residents reportedly left their homes fearing fresh attacks on the area.
In mid January, the Turkish military said its jets carried out airstrikes against the PKK militants, destroying their compounds in northern Iraq.
Turkey’s aerial campaign inside the Iraqi territory has repeatedly drawn fire from Baghdad, which has denounced Ankara for violating the country’s sovereignty.
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From PressTV
Blockaded Gaza Strip facing disaster: UN official
A senior UN official says the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has put the Palestinian enclave on a “disastrous trajectory.”
Robert Piper, the humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said Thursday thousands of Palestinians remain homeless since Israel does not let construction materials enter the territory.
The enclave of 1.8 million is struggling to emerge from Israel’s 50-day war which severely damaged its infrastructure in the summer of 2014.
Piper said Israel’s restrictions on the entry of construction materials, insufficient international donations and differences among Palestinian factions have hampered Gaza’s reconstruction.
“Progress is continuing on the recovery process, but there’s no change to the underlying fragility of Gaza. It remains on a frankly disastrous trajectory of de-development,” he said.
Piped said the blockade remains “firmly in place” and the Gazan economy is “completely artificially blocked from the market.”
“It’s a blockade that prevents students from getting to universities to further their studies in other places. It’s a blockade that prevents sick people from getting the health care that they need,” he said.
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From Russia Today
Migration ‘challenging Western way of thinking and values’ – Finnish president
Published time: 4 Feb, 2016 11:56
(Notice they are all fighting age men — Ziowatch) © Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The flow of asylum seekers to Europe threatens the continent’s values while international refugee legislation is “outdated,” Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö said in a harsh parliamentary address, echoing public debate on the country’s migrant crisis.
“Migration is a serious problem,” Niinistö said at Finlandia Hall during the official opening of parliament.
“Europe, Finland, the Western way of thinking and our values have all been challenged by it. This is a stark transformation – just a few years ago we were exporting our values and regarded them as unquestionable, now we are having to consider whether even we ourselves can preserve them. We must safeguard our foundation of European values – there should be no confusion about this,” the president said.
He insisted most migrants are not fleeing immediate danger to their lives.
“The flow of immigration into Europe and Finland is largely a case of migration rather than a flight from immediate danger,” Niinistö said.
“All estimates predict that the flow of people will increase this year. This is challenging the ability of Western democracies to help and also challenging the very structures underlying the idea of Europe.”
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From Russia Today
81% of Germans say refugee crisis ‘out of control’ under Merkel govt – poll
Published time: 4 Feb, 2016 07:32
© Michael Dalder / Reuters More than four in five Germans believe Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government isn’t controlling the refugee crisis, and welcome tougher measures to deal with it, a poll by ARD Deutschlandtrend has suggested.
The vast majority of the country’s citizens disagree with Merkel’s refugee policy, according to the poll conducted last weekend. Asked whether “the federal government has the refugee situation under control,” 81 percent of Germans answered “No,” with just 18 percent saying “Yes.”
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Those answering “No” also included members of Merkel’s Christian Social Union, with a notable 67 percent of the party’s voters unhappy with the chancellor’s policies.
Voter support for Merkel’s government dropped from 57 percent in July 2015 to 38 percent on February 2016 – “the worst estimate during the current government’s term,” the pollster said.
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From Russia Today
Germany & West need Russia to settle Syria and refugee crises – Bavarian leader
Published time: 4 Feb, 2016 03:31
Bavaria has traditionally “intensive” ties with Russia, the leader of the German state said during his meeting with President Putin in Moscow, promising to foster not only economic relations but also cultural ties and overall trust between the states.
“We think it our duty, the duty of our hearts and souls, to put a bit more trust back into our relations,” Minister-President of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer, told Vladimir Putin as he met with the Russian President on a visit to Moscow on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Putin praised Russian-Bavarian ties and Seehofer’s efforts to maintain business and cultural relationship between Germany and Russia.
“We have a special relationship with Bavaria: the volume of trade and economic relations are very high and Bavaria accounts for 20 percent of all Russian-German economic ties,” Putin said.
The Russian leader noted that some 1,600 companies are engaged with Bavarian firms, ranging from electronic and engineering to construction industry projects.
“Fifty percent of Germany’s investment projects in Russia are of Bavarian origin,” he stressed. Putin also mentioned his telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who “supports relations between Russia’s regions and Germany.”
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish teen sentenced to life, accomplice to 21 years in killing of Palestinian 16-year-old
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Jewish teen was sentenced to life in prison and a second teen to 21 years for kidnapping and murdering a Palestinian teen by burning him to death.
The sentences were handed down Thursday afternoon in Jerusalem District Court, where the teens were found guilty in November. They have not been identified because they were minors at the time of the killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, of eastern Jerusalem.
One of the teens was convicted of attempted aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, attempted arson, murder and abduction for the sake of murder. The other was convicted of murder and abduction for the sake of murder.
A third defendant, Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, of the Adam settlement in the West Bank, was also found to have carried out the crimes for which he was accused, but the court delayed issuing a sentence while it considers the last-minute submission of an insanity plea claiming that Ben-David was not responsible for his actions at the time of the kidnapping and murder. Ben-David has a history of mental illness and has been under medication for his condition, the original indictment said. His case reportedly will be considered in court on Feb. 11.
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From PressTV
US drone attacks kill 12 in Yemen
At least 12 people have been killed in two US drone strikes in Yemen’s southern provinces.
Six of the fatalities – all of whom were reportedly al-Qaeda militants – were killed in a US drone raid in the Maraqesha district of Abyan Province early on Thursday.
Among the dead was Jalal Belaidi, alias Abu Hamza, a senior commander of the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based branch of the militant group.
At least six people were killed in another US drone attack in Shabwa Province of Yemen, a security official said. The drone targeted a vehicle belonging to al-Qaeda militants in the Rudum district of the province late on Wednesday, killing all the occupants, the unnamed official said.
The US carries out drone attacks in Yemen and several other Muslim countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Washington claims the attacks target al-Qaeda militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the raids.
US drone strikes add further complexity to the convoluted situation in Yemen amid a Saudi war going on in the impoverished country.
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From PressTV
Israeli troops blockade village in West Bank
Israeli forces raid a village in the northern West Bank and put a blockade on it in a fresh escalation of violence that saw more than 100 extremists also storming the al-Aqsa Mosque.
At least 10 Palestinians were injured during the Thursday raid on Qabatiya near Jenin. Israeli troops also rounded up residents and took away a number of them after the killing of an officer.
According to the Israeli military, three men from Qabatiya attacked Israeli security forces with guns and knives outside the Old City of al-Quds Wednesday, killing an officer and injuring another before being shot dead.
Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with top security officials and decided to intensify security crackdown in the West Bank.
Separately, some 130 Israeli settlers, backed by police and intelligence forces, stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in yet another provocative act.
Palestinian sources said Israeli police set up checkpoints at the gates of the al-Aqsa Mosque to prevent Palestinian worshipers from entering the holy site.
The occupied Palestinian territories have recently been the scene of heightened tensions triggered by Israel’s imposition in August 2015 of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque.
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From Russia Today
‘You created ISIS!’ Press conference scandal mars Kerry’s visit to Italy
Published time: 4 Feb, 2016 00:20
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks next to Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni during a news conference following a ministerial meeting of the so-called “anti-Islamic State coalition” in Rome, Italy, February 2, 2016. © Nicholas Kamm / Reuters
US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Italy was disrupted by a cry of protest at his joint press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, when a woman in the audience shouted, “it’s you who created Daesh!”
The press conference was coming to an end, when the woman stood up from the public, her head covered up by a black veil.
“It’s you who created Daesh!” she shouted at the two ministers, using another name for the terror group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), reported the Italian state-owned television channel RAI.
The woman was dragged away from the conference by the Carabinieri.
After meeting with Gentiloni, Kerry said he was convinced that the US-led international coalition would “crush ISIS” eventually. His Italian counterpart expressed much more caution.
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From Russia Today
Ukraine’s economy minister dramatically resigns, citing covert corruption
Published time: 3 Feb, 2016 20:08
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius © Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters
Ukraine’s minister for economic development and trade, Aivaras Abromavicius, who is one of several foreign experts in the government who was brought in to help Kiev with reforms, has announced his resignation, citing corruption levels in the state.
“Neither me, nor my team have any desire to serve as a cover-up for the covert corruption, or become puppets for those who, very much like the ‘old’ government, are trying to exercise control over the flow of public funds,” Abromavicius said in his official statement on Wednesday.
His ministry’s reform efforts have been “paralyzed” by the “concrete actions” of certain officials and groups, Abromavicius said, adding that he has been pressured by the president’s administration to appoint “questionable individuals” to his team or to key positions in state-owned enterprises.
The minister namely mentioned Igor Kononenko as the one interfering with his work. Kononenko is a close ally of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, his deputy in the bloc in the Verkhovna Rada, as well as Poroshenko’s old business partner.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Australian Labor Party branch seeks to ban members from Israel visits
SYDNEY (JTA) — A branch of Australia’s Labor Party is seeking to ban its members from participating in Jewish-sponsored trips to Israel, stirring criticism from a former national president and Jewish groups.
The motion will be raised at the New South Wales Labor conference in Sydney on Feb. 13-14. The conference will hear 39 resolutions focusing on the Israel-Palestine situation, compared with 17 dealing with other international matters.
Warren Mundine, Labor’s former national president, told The Australian newspaper this week that banning Labor politicians from visiting Israel “is illogical, verging on an anti-Semitic approach.” He said Israel is the only country that is the subject of proposed banned visits.
“What is the difference with this country?” Mundine, now the chairman of the prime minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, asked in The Australian. “The only difference is that they are Jewish, and I just find that sickening.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Palestinians inaugurate embassy in Brazil, first in Western Hemisphere
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — A new building housing the first Palestinian Authority embassy in the Western Hemisphere was inaugurated in Brasilia.
The PA’s envoy to Brazil, Ibrahim Alzeben, led Wednesday’s event, which was attended by left-wing Brazilian government officials, representatives of Arab countries and members of the local Arab community.
A week earlier, Alzeben attended the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony held by the Jewish community in the Brazilian capital, saying “I could not be absent. It is very important to remember this date.”
The inauguration of the embassy comes as Brazil and Israel tussle over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nominee to fill the vacant Israeli envoy position.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Gay conversion therapy active in Israel
(JTA) — Conversion therapists who claim they can turn gays to heterosexuals say they have found a haven in Israel.
An estimated 20 to 30 licensed psychologists and social workers and 50 non-licensed therapists practice some form of conversion therapy in Israel, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
Before it was ordered shuttered by a New Jersey court in December, the Orthodox Jewish nonprofit Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing had referred patients in Israel to some of the psychologists and therapists operating there.
Among the conversion therapy clients are Orthodox Jewish teenagers from the United States who attend yeshivas and other post-high school programs in Israel.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Seth Rogen, Amy Schumer and Paul Rudd star in Bud Light Super Bowl commercial
NEW YORK (JTA) — Jewish comics Seth Rogen, Amy Schumer and Paul Rudd star in a Super Bowl ad that parodies the presidential campaign.
Rogen and Schumer portray political candidates campaigning at a rodeo, a factory and a basketball game and satirize today’s polarized political divide.
“They say we disagree on everything,” Schumer says.
“That’s not true, we agree on a lot,” Rogen says.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish frat members at U of Chicago sent each other series of Islamophobic, racist emails
(JTA) — Members of a Jewish fraternity’s University of Chicago chapter sent numerous Islamophobic, racist and misogynist emails, including one that referred to a Muslim student as a “terrorist,” to each other between 2011 and 2015.
The Alpha Epsilon Pi emails were handed over to Buzzfeed News by an anonymous AEPi member and published Wednesday.
“As a Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi is especially sensitive to hate speech and behavior towards any minorities,” AEPi national spokesman Jonathan Pierce told Buzzfeed News. “Especially during these troubling times of increased anti-Semitism on college campuses, we are very aware of the harm that negative speech towards minority groups can do. We will investigate and, if necessary, work to educate the individual members about this issue.”
The emails — which defended the use of the N-word in a brother’s nickname, called “dynamite and C-4” explosives fixtures of Islamic culture and referred to an abandoned lot near the fraternity house as “Palestine” — were sent on a fraternity-wide email listserv.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Patriots owner Robert Kraft to receive honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University
(JTA) — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft will receive an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University.
Kraft, a noted philanthropist, also will deliver the keynote address at the New York Jewish school’s 85th commencement ceremony at Madison Square Garden in May, the university announced Thursday.
“Robert Kraft represents not only success in business, but is a true Jewish leader who embodies our values of kindness, goodness, generosity to the broader community and tremendous support for the State of Israel,” Richard Joel, president of the the flagship institution of modern Orthodoxy, said in a statement. “His success on and off the field, his profound humanity, his willingness to stand up for the Jewish people and Jewish causes make him an ideal role model for our students.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sanders discusses faith, Clinton grapples with rabbi’s question on humility
WASHINGTON (JTA) — At a New Hampshire town hall meeting, Bernie Sanders described himself as a man of faith and Hillary Rodham Clinton opened up to a rabbi about her insecurities.
Wednesday’s town hall in Derry, broadcast live and moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, came six days before the New Hampshire presidential primary and just days after Sanders nearly upset Clinton, the putative front-runner, drawing to a virtual tie in the Iowa caucuses.
“You’re Jewish, but you’ve said that you’re not actively involved with organized religion,” Cooper asked Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont vying with Clinton, the former secretary of state, for the Democratic presidential nod.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Australian stationery chain recalling globes that excluded Israel, included Palestine
(JTA) — An Australian stationery chain has recalled globes that omitted Israel, labeling its location Palestine.
The globe, sold by the brand Typo, used a numbered key to label smaller countries in which a name could not fit. Israel is included in the number key, but Palestine is written over Israel’s location.
Typo’s parent company, Cotton On, said Monday on Facebook that it was recalling the globe and producing new ones that label every country correctly.
“Typo is not removing any country from the globe. We made the decision to recall the current globes from sale as we are sourcing new artwork from our supplier that has every country marked on it but with no need for a key. All countries will remain on the map, the key will not,” the company’s statement read.
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From Russia Today
Putin meets ‘old friend’ Kissinger visiting Russia
Published time: 3 Feb, 2016 20:38
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. © kremlin.ru Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued his “long-standing, friendly relations” with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as the pair took the “opportunity to talk” at a meeting in his residence outside Moscow.
The meeting is a continuation of a “friendly dialogue between President Putin and Henry Kissinger, who are bound by a long-standing relationship,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“They communicate all the time, use the opportunity to talk,” he added. Putin “values” this opportunity to discuss pressing international issues as well as exchange opinions on global perspectives, Peskov said.
Putin and Kissenger have had over 10 tete-a-tete meetings so far, according to media reports. When Kissinger visited Russia in 2013 Putin said that Moscow always pays attention to his opinion and called the former secretary of state “a world class politician.”
Kissinger, a former US national security adviser and foreign policy head, pioneered the detente policy in 1969 steering the US-Soviet relations to a general ease. For his part in negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam in an unsuccessful effort to put an end to the Vietnam war (1955-1975) he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.
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From Ynet News
Holocaust survivors sue Hungarian government
14 survivors, some from Israel, file class action lawsuit in the US, claiming that Hungary and its national train company are complicit in the deportation of over a half a million Jews, and in the confiscation of their property.
A group of 14 Holocaust survivors from Hungary have filed a class action lawsuit in the US against the Hungarian government and its national train company for their cooperation with the Nazis, their complicity in deporting over half a million Jews in the Holocaust and the massive confiscation of their property.
Hungary is the only state that has not yet reached a compensation settlement with Holocaust survivors or their heirs. The Hungarian government also has never been prosecuted for collaboration with the Nazis.
