Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From Russia Today
US-trained Afghan forces keep losing territory to Taliban – US govt report
Published time: 29 Jul, 2016 09:18
© Omar Sobhani / Reuters
The NATO-trained Afghan military only controls about two-thirds of Afghanistan’s districts and keeps losing territory to the Taliban, despite billions of dollars in US investment and efforts to train a capable national army, an internal US report found.
Taliban and other militant groups continue to gain ground despite Washington halting the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan this year.
From Russia Today
‘She declared war on own people’: Merkel vows to stick to open door policy, faces online uproar
Published time: 28 Jul, 2016 19:30
German Chancellor Angela Merkel. © Damir Sagolj / Reuters
Germany’s online community has been in a furor since Chancellor Merkel said she will still stick to an open door policy for refuges, maintaining Germany is still “safe,” despite the recent deadly attacks there, most of which were committed by migrants.
Merkel acknowledged at a news briefing on Thursday that Islamists could use the refugee flow to infiltrate Germany. She also admitted that even a “powerful country” like Germany “cannot take so many refugees in the long term.”
From Russia Today
‘Germany should send back foreigners to save lives, stop appeasing Islamists’ – Bavarian MP to RT
Published time: 28 Jul, 2016 06:09
© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
The fact that three of the terror attacks that shocked Germany last week took place in its largest state of Bavaria is a “nightmare” for locals, and shows a failure of the EU and Berlin to deal with migration, Thomas Jahn of the CSU party told RT.
Jahn, a vice chairman of Bavaria’s dominant Christian Social Union (CSU) conservative campaign, lambasted the migration policy pursued by Angela Merkel – the chair of his party’s traditional ally, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
From The Times of Israel
Ex-DNC chair accuses Trump of ‘treason’ over Russia hack plea
Addressing her resignation for first time, Debbie Wasserman Schultz says she’s ‘taking one for the team,’ is met with cheers at convention
PHILADELPHIA — Addressing her resignation as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee for the first time, Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of treason.
Referring to Trump’s request Tuesday that Russia uncover emails deleted by Hillary Clinton, Wasserman Schultz said Thursday the statement was “treasonous, it’s seditious, it’s unacceptable.”
Trump made the comment after government officials suggested that Russians hacked the DNC’s email server, leading to a leak of DNC emails showing favoritism to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, during the primary season. Trump has said he was being sarcastic. Wasserman Schultz resigned her position on Sunday as a result of the leak.
Wasserman Schultz made the comments at an event at the Democratic National Convention hosted by the National Jewish Democratic Council, where she was presented with an award. The crowd greeted her with cheers, and she sounded defiant and struck a Jewish note in addressing the email scandal.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to an audience at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. on January 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
From PressTV
US, Israel forces stage secret military drill
Israel and the United States have reportedly staged a joint secret war game in southern Israel amid growing military cooperation between the two sides.
Israeli media said on Thursday that the drill dubbed ‘Noble Shirley’ was held in Negev Desert to improve cooperation between American and Israeli forces.
The drill, which was said to have been conducted during day and nighttime hours over the past week, involved the US Marine Corps as well as special units from the Israeli air, naval and ground forces.
During the exercise, the troops and commandos took part in drills simulating helicopter landings behind enemy lines, and urban warfare above and below ground. They also practiced close-range combat and military takeover techniques.
Israel’s so-called ‘David’s Sling’ missile system, which targets medium to long-range missiles, was also used in the maneuver.
Moreover, forces also simulated both night-time and day-time combat situations at the Ze’elim training facility, which was built to look exactly like a Palestinian city.
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From PressTV
US policies clash with American people’s interests: Assad
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad says the United States’ policies are in contrast with the interests of the American people and the world as a whole.
Assad made the remarks in a meeting with representatives of the US Peace Council, the American branch of the World Peace Council international organization on Thursday, SANA reported.
“The US policies are at a collision course with the interests of the US citizens and the peoples of the world,” Assad said.
“The role of the United States as a superpower should otherwise be positive and based on fostering knowledge, science and technology instead of chaos and destruction,” he said.
Washington and some of its international allies have been lending generous financial and military support to the militants who have been fighting the Syrian government since 2011. The foreign-backed militancy has cost thousands of lives.
A US-led coalition grouping dozens of countries has been bombarding Syria since September 2014 without authorization from Damascus or the United Nations. The coalition purports to be targeting the positions of Daesh.
In a statement to journalists, Henry Lowendorf, who headed the visiting American delegation to Syria, said the group had held “fruitful and constructive” talks with Assad.
“We had the honor to meet President al-Assad. He was straightforward and wanted us to be so. We related to him what we saw and he provided rational, accurate and wise answers for our questions… He impressed us with his insight not only about the situation in Syria but also about world powers,” he added.
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From PressTV
Nusra Front in Syria breaks ties with parent organization al-Qaeda
The al-Qaeda branch in Syria, al-Nusra Front, has announced its break from the parent terror organization in an apparent bid to gain more support from foreign powers.
In a rare televised message on Thursday, Nusra chief in Syria Abu Mohamad al-Jolani said his group will be rebranded and will end connections with entities outside Syria.
Jolani said Nusra would change its name to Jabhat Fath al-Sham (The Conquest of Syria Front), saying the new group “will have no links whatsoever with foreign parties.”
He said Nusra took the step “to remove the excuse used by the international community, spearheaded by America and Russia, that they are targeting the Nusra Front, which is associated with al-Qaeda.”
The statement was preceded by an audio message from al-Qaeda leaders, in which they endorsed the break in organizational ties.
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri said Thursday that Nusra leaders “can sacrifice without hesitation” the organizational and party ties if those links conflict with their unity and working.
“Your unity and unification is more important to us than any organizational link,” said Zawahri.
Many had expected the announcement as there were speculations that by distancing itself from al-Qaeda, Nusra would seek to secure more financial and arms support from rich Arab states of the Persian Gulf region.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Galilee mayor: Arabs, Jews should swim in separate pools
(JTA) — An Israeli mayor from the Galilee apologized for causing offense by saying that he does not want Arabs to use swimming pools in predominantly Jewish towns and cities.
Speaking on the Kol Rega radio station Thursday, Moti Dotan, head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council, said: “I don’t hate Arabs, but I don’t want them at my pools. I don’t go to their pools, either.”
His statement, published prominently by Haaretz and other media, provoked outrage and accusations of racism against Dotan, a member of the Likud party and a board member of the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel.
In Thursday’s radio interview, he ascribed his opinion to “cultural differences” and not racism. He cited different dress norms. In an interview for 103FM, he said: “I apologize if anyone was offended by what I said.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
On Dems’ national security night, Israel is notable for its absence
Vice President Joe Biden speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on a night dedicated to national security, July 27, 2016. (DNC Flickr)
PHILADELPHIA — The speakers mentioned ISIS. They mentioned Iran. But there was nary a peep about another big I: Israel.
On Wednesday night, a series of big names — President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine — all sang of Hillary Clinton’s national security bona fides. She’s tough, they said. She’s smart and responsible. She knows how to use diplomacy and respect the armed forces. Before the marquee speakers, retired officers Rear Admiral John Hutson and Marine Captain Kristen Kavanaugh said she’d be an able steward of the military.
“In this election there is only one candidate who has the experience, temperament and judgment to be commander-in-chief. That’s Hillary Clinton,” Panetta said, in a speech punctuated by chants of “No more war.” “This is no time to gamble with our future. America faces flash points and threats around the globe. We need a president who’s strong, smart and courageous.”
Several speakers said she took a vital role in the decision to kill Osama Bin Laden. They praised her for her role in imposing global sanctions on Iran and building toward the Iran nuclear agreement. Obama said Clinton will “finish the job” of destroying the Islamic State terror group.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
State Department ‘deeply concerned’ by Israel’s new settlement construction plans
(JTA) — The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” over Israel’s construction plans in eastern Jerusalem.
On Wednesday, the Israeli government announced the approval of tenders for 323 apartments in neighborhoods there on top of plans for 770 units in Gilo, a Jerusalem suburb with a population of 40,000 also in eastern Jerusalem.
“We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement released Wednesday evening. “These steps by Israeli authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two- state solution.”
The statement also expressed concern over the demolition of illegally built Palestinian homes in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank that “reportedly have left dozens of Palestinians homeless, including children,” according to the statement.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Democratic National Committee: Exchange on Holocaust Day ‘insensitive’
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — A back-and-forth among Democratic National Committee staffers over whether the party should mark Holocaust Remembrance Day was “insensitive,” the DNC said.
“The DNC joins with our constituents to commemorate many holidays and we did the same with Yom Hashoah as well,” a DNC official told JTA on Wednesday, emphasizing that the DNC had gone ahead and marked the remembrance, despite the email exchange between the staffers.
“The comments by the DNC staffer about the process were insensitive and we have already apologized this week for inappropriate comments made and discovered in these emails,” the official said.
The staffers, writing on May 5, questioned then-chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s request for the group to put out a statement in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, leaked emails show. Wasserman Schultz is Jewish.
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From Russia Today
Chinese & Russian navies to hold drills in South China Sea in September
Published time: 28 Jul, 2016 07:42
© Stringer / Reuters
China and Russia will hold naval drills in the South China Sea in September, the Chinese Defense Ministry told a news conference on Thursday, adding they are designed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries and were not aimed at raising tensions.
“This is a routine exercise between the two armed forces, aimed at strengthening the developing China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership,” China’s Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a news conference, as cited by Reuters.
He also added that the exercise is “not directed against third parties.”
China Military Online published material earlier in July that the ‘Joint Sea’ naval exercise was due to be undertaken in September. The operation was first conducted in 2012, and has subsequently become an annual event for Russia and China.
Last year, 22 vessels, 20 aircraft, 40 armored vehicles, and 500 marines from Russia and China took part in the drills in the Sea of Japan, off the coast of Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
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From PressTV
Militants prevent civilians from fleeing Aleppo: Monitor
Foreign-sponsored Takfiri militant groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are preventing civilians from fleeing Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo through humanitarian corridors set up by the government, a UK-based monitoring group says.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Friday that humanitarian corridors opened to allow civilian evacuation are effectively shut in the militant-held areas of the strategic city, located some 355 kilometers (220 miles) north of the capital Damascus.
It added that civilians, along with militants who have chosen to surrender, are provided the opportunity to leave Aleppo in government-controlled districts.
Since they were set up “around 12 people managed to use the Bustan al-Qasr corridor before militant groups reinforced… measures and prevented families from approaching the corridors,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the monitoring group’s director.
The report came only a day after Syria and Russia announced the opening of aid corridors in besieged Aleppo.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian forces were coopering with the Syrian army to open three humanitarian corridors “to aid civilians held hostage by terrorists and for fighters wishing to lay down their arms”, adding that a fourth such corridor would be set up to the north of Aleppo.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Pope pays silent but ‘important’ visit to Auschwitz
Pope Francis visiting Auschwitz, July 29, 2016. (Screenshot from YouTube)
(JTA) — Pope Francis visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau former Nazi death camp in Poland, in what the World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said was an “important signal to the world.”
His head bowed, the pope prayed in silent contemplation before meeting Holocaust survivors in front of the death wall where the Nazis summarily shot thousands of people, the Associated Press reported on the visit Friday.
Among the survivors he met were Helena Dunicz Niwinska, a 101-year-old woman who played the violin in the Auschwitz orchestra, as well as survivors who worked at the camp hospital or who were there as children.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Belgian tennis player to Jewish opponent: ‘All of you should have been gassed’
(JTA) — A Belgian tennis club suspended a player who told a Jewish competitor on the court, “All of you should have been gassed.”
Alain Verlaak made the remark to a Maccabi player at the Tennis 7th Olympics club in Antwerp on July 22, the Belgian monthly Joods Actueel reported Tuesday. The incident occurred during a tournament of the VTV national tennis association of the Flemish Region – one of the three states that make up the Belgian federal kingdom.
The Jewish player, who asked to be identified only as Serge S. due to security concerns, told Joods Actueel the incident evolved after a dispute over the validity of a point lost to Verlaak, who was leading in the match. Ludo Depooter, the tournament organizer, confirmed the details of the incident to Joods Actueel.
The club management suspended the match and removed Verlaak from the tournament, Serge S. told JTA on Wednesday. He said he believes the club acted correctly, but added Verlaak should be banned from playing in association matches. Serge S. added that he has filed a criminal complaint against Verlaak with police.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ruth Bader Ginsburg attends premiere of ‘Merchant of Venice’ in city’s ghetto
VENICE, Italy (JTA) – Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice” for the first time is being performed on the spot where some of the action takes place – the main square of the historic Venice Ghetto.
The production, which opened Tuesday night and runs for a week, is staged as part of yearlong events marking the 500th anniversary of the imposition of the ghetto by Venetian rulers in 1516 as well as the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
In the audience at the premiere was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose grandson, the actor Paul Spera, is in the cast.
A key figure in the play is the Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who makes a loan contract with a Venetian merchant, Antonio, from whom he had long suffered anti-Semitic abuse, stipulating that he can cut a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body should he fail to repay the loan. Antonio defaults, but Shylock is defeated by a legal argument that he is entitled only to a pound of flesh – if he spills even one drop of blood, he will be guilty of murder.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Right-wing Knesset member: Reform Judaism a ‘fake religion’
Bezalel Smotrich told a meeting of his Jewish Home party’s youth activists that he was “not willing to recognize Reform conversions and their fake religion.” (Facebook)
(JTA) — A right-wing Israeli lawmaker known for his controversial statements called Reform Judaism a “fake religion.”
Jewish Home party member Bezalel Smotrich, who created a stir in April for saying Jewish women should not have to share hospital rooms with Arab women, made his remarks about the Reform movement on Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.
The latest remark came days after the Knesset passed a law permitting local religious authorities to bar non-Orthodox conversion ceremonies from their public mikvahs.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Why Bill Clinton’s Hebrew Hillary button resonated
Bill Clinton sporting a Hebrew Hillary Clinton button on Wednesday July 27 2016 at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (MSNBC)
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — There was a thrill ride on Jewish Democratic social media Wednesday night when Bill Clinton was spotted at the Democratic National Convention sporting a button backing his wife – in Hebrew.
Robert Wexler, a former Democratic congressman, indulged in a little partisan kvelling when he appeared Thursday with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer on a panel.
“What a remarkable statement for America that a former president of the United States could wear that,” said Wexler, who now directs the Center for Middle East Peace.
Wexler’s enthusiasm was telling: As a prominent Florida lawmaker, he was the first major Jewish political figure in 2007 to endorse then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Most of the rest of the unofficial Jewish caucus in Congress went with Hillary Clinton.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
5 Jewish things to expect from Hillary Clinton tonight
Hillary Clinton arriving on stage during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 27, 2016. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — After Tim Kaine, Biden, Bloomberg, Bernie, Bill and both Obamas, it’s finally Hillary’s turn.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, will close out a Democratic National Convention centered on highlighting America’s diversity, touting her qualifications and bashing her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Clinton’s address will be historic: She is the first woman presidential nominee of a major political party.
Stylistically, Clinton is Trump’s opposite. Where he is bombastic, she is restrained. Where he extemporizes, she stays on script. Where he makes broad promises, she talks specific policy.
But like the Donald, Hillary has Jewish connections, from her family to her political allies. Here are five Jewish things to expect from the Democratic nominee.
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From Russia Today
Biggest since 1972: US military giving back 17% of occupied Okinawa land to Japanese
Published time: 29 Jul, 2016 11:29
FILE PHOTO: A protester shows off a placard reading ‘US Marines, withdraw’ during a rally against US military bases, on June 19, 2016 © Tim Kelly / Reuters
Citizens of Okinawa in Japan could be having their wishes fulfilled – at least 17 percent fulfilled, as that is the amount of land the United States military plans to transfer back to the island from its control, amid growing problems with its public image.
Several murders and a drunken joyride that made headlines have only added to the growing feeling of discontent amongst the locals about the US’ regional presence. The military bases have long been blamed for noise and air pollution, and many locals also see them as an uneasy legacy of post-WWII American occupation.
The handover is the biggest such move since 1972, when the formal occupation by US forces ended. It comes amid a rise in anti-American sentiment following a series of cases involving the US military, particularly the murder of a young Japanese woman by a civilian contractor.
The area that is being returned is 4,000 sq. hectares (or 40 sq. km) and is part of a jungle training camp, a statement read.
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From Russia Today
Office workers need an hour of physical exercise daily to offset risk of death
Published time: 28 Jul, 2016 20:07
© Toru Hanai / Reuters
Office workers who sit at their desks for eight hours a day need to ensure they engage in physical activity such as cycling or walking quickly for at least an hour a day if they want to offset an increased risk of premature death.
The findings were published in The Lancet journal, with the authors saying that little is being done to tackle the issue of lack of activity amongst sections of the population. A lack of exercise can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers, which are responsible for more than five million deaths a year.
“There has been a lot of concern about the health risks associated with today’s more sedentary lifestyles,” the lead author, Professor Ulf Ekelund of Cambridge University and the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, said in a press release from The Lancet.
However, Ekelund says that people do not need to join expensive gyms, and minor changes to their lifestyle can help ensure they are physically active.
“Our message is a positive one: it is possible to reduce – or even eliminate – these risks if we are active enough, even without having to take up sports or go to the gym.”
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