Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From Russia Today
UK to stockpile tanks in Eastern Europe – report
Published time: 29 May, 2016 11:44
File photo: British soldiers aboard tanks © Reuters
The British military may soon start stockpiling tanks and other heavy equipment in Eastern Europe as part of NATO’s military beef up close to Russia’s border. The decision may come at the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw in July.
Citing a threat to the Baltic States and Poland, the North-Atlantic alliance plans to deploy as many as 4,000 additional troops in those countries. The initial plan was for the US to provide half, with Germany and the UK shouldering the rest of the cost. However, last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Washington would only provide one 1,000-strong battalion and wanted the European members of the alliance to spend more on their own defense.
READ MORE: Loaded: US sends 5,000 tons of ammunition to Germany ‘to help NATO alliance’
Britain’s plan, however, remains the same. It will provide an armored battle group, which usually consists of about 1,000 troops, backed by tanks and artillery, to be deployed in the Baltic, the Times reported. Britain’s other plans under consideration are to stockpile tanks and other military hardware across Eastern Europe and ramp up air defenses, the newspaper said.
From Russia Today
‘We won’t allow Israeli presence’: Abbas wants NATO to replace IDF in West Bank
Published time: 29 May, 2016 04:53
© Mohamad Torokman / Reuters
Palestinian leaders want NATO to substitute IDF forces in the West Bank as part of any sustainable peace deal and a two-state solution with Israel. France is mounting up international support to hold a conference after US-led negotiations collapsed.
“Now we talk about the French initiative… Its purpose must be to implement the visions of both states, based on the border agreement of 1967 and the capital of the Palestinian state being eastern Jerusalem, so that both countries can live side by side, in safety, stability and peace – if Israel wishes to seek peace,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a speech at a meeting of foreign ministers at the Arab League.
From The Times of Israel
Rubio to Trump: Sorry about small penis jab
Former Republican presidential candidate apologizes to presumptive nominee for getting too personal
Former US presidential candidate Marco Rubio revealed he had personally apologized to Donald Trump for comments he made about the presumptive Republican nominee’s small hands.
In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” show that aired on Sunday night, Rubio, who has in the past publicly expressed his regret over the crude jest, explained that he also made amends face to face.
“I actually told Donald — one of the debates, I forget which one — I apologized to him for that,” Rubio said as he reviewed his ultimately failed bid for the presidency. “I said, “You know, I’m sorry that I said that. It’s not who I am and I shouldn’t have done it.” I didn’t say it in front of the cameras, I didn’t want any political benefit.”
Rubio did not reveal how Trump received the apology.
The apology came after the Republican nominee rivalry between Rubio and Trump dropped below the belt earlier this year.
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From PressTV
Turkish president slams presence of Russia, Iran, US in Syria
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raps the presence of Russia, Iran and the US in its war-ravaged neighbor, Syria.
Speaking among what the Turkish media outlets referred to as “around one million” participants, marking the 563rd anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the Turkish president pointed the finger at the three countries.
Since the onset of conflict in Syria, Ankara has been implicated for fanning the flames of war in the neighboring country mainly to bring down the Syrian government by supporting Daesh terrorists through measures including conniving their infiltration into the neighboring country or purchasing their illegal oil.
Apart from Iran maintaining its advisers on the ground in Syria and that with the approval of the government in Damascus, the US and Russia have been militarily present in the conflict-ridden country to fight the Takfiris.
Turkey has also been accused by the West of using millions of Syrian refugees as a tool to seek its interests in the EU.
“What business have Russia and Iran (in Syria)?” the Turkish president asked in Istanbul Sunday.
He also denounced the US again because of photos showing American troops wearing insignia of Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) during an operation in Syria.
“What business do the US soldiers dressed up with the so-called patches of a terror organization have there?”
Unlike Turkey, the United States does not consider the YPG as a terrorist group but US officials said later the soldiers were not authorized to wear the insignia of YPG, which is fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.
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From Ynet News
Netanyahu and Bennett reach compromise, ending coalition crisis
Health Minister Litzman proposes compromise to appoint chairman of National Security Council as temporary military secretary; both parties accept compromise but Bennett claims that Netanyahu initally rejected it; government will vote on appointment of Lieberman as defense minister on Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett reached a compromise overnight Sunday regarding updating cabinet ministers on sensitive security information. The agreement paves the way for the government to vote on the appointment of Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman as defense minister.
Yesterday evening Bennett wrote to members of his faction: “In the last few hours, (Health) Minister Yaakov Litzman proposed a compromise in which the chairman or deputy chairman of the National Security Council will be temporarily appointed to perform the role of updating the Cabinet (on security matters) until the Amidror Committee reaches its conclusion. Litzman initially contacted me out of respect for the prime minister and I agreed to his proposal. Thereafter, Litzman contacted the prime minister who unfortunately rejected his compromise. The vote to expand the government has been delayed until Wednesday. Thus, we still are standing behind our demand and tomorrow I will update you in our factional meeting.”
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From Russia Today
Iraqi forces have entered ISIS-held Fallujah – AFP citing commanders
Published time: 30 May, 2016 05:27
© Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
Iraqi forces have entered Islamic State-held Fallujah, one of their key strongholds in Iraq commanders say, according to AFP. On Sunday, Iraq completed a troop buildup around the city, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad.
“The operation to enter Fallujah began on [Monday] morning,” an Iraqi official told AFP.
An Iraqi military officer told Reuters the government’s military unit is currently trying to advance in Falluja, with explosions and heavy gunfire reportedly heard in Falluja’s southern Naimiya district.
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From Russia Today
Merkel’s TTIP policy is ‘wrong:’ German Vice Chancellor criticizes US-EU free trade deal
Published time: 29 May, 2016 19:36
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel (L) and Chancellor Angela Merkel. © Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
TTIP Hastiness would lead to an unfavorable agreement, German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, criticizing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s approach to reaching an agreement with the US on harmonizing trade and investment regulations.
“It was wrong that, in the euphoria of [President Barack] Obama’s visit to Germany, the Chancellor said that we will be able to conclude negotiations under any circumstances by the end of this year – and that she recently repeated that statement,” Gabriel said in an interview to the German regional RND newspaper group, criticizing Merkel’s stance on negotiations concerning the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US.
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From Russia Today
Over 700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwrecks, UN says
Published time: 29 May, 2016 12:27
Migrants sit in their boat during a rescue operation by Italian Navy vessels off the coast of Sicily © Marina Militare / Reuters
Three separate shipwrecks in the Mediterranean south of Italy in recent days are thought to have claimed the lives of more than 700 people, officials from the UN’s refugee agency said.
The information appeared first on the Twitter of spokeswoman at UNHCR South Europe, Carlotta Sami.
“Sunday counting victims. Macabre exercise: will the world realize the over 700 people should have deserved a safe passage?” she wrote.
She later told AP by phone that about 100 migrants went missing after a smuggler’s boat capsized on Wednesday.
One of the deadliest accidents took place on Thursday. At least 550 asylum seekers went missing. The boat, carrying about 670 people, left the Libyan port of Sabratha a day earlier and had no engine. It was towed by another smuggling boat, Sami added.
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From PressTV
Iraqi forces enter Daesh-held Fallujah
Iraqi commanders says their forces have entered Fallujah in a major victory against Daesh militants.
One commander, quoted by AFP, said troops entered the city from three directions on Monday in a new phase of the operation to recapture it.
“We started early this morning our operations to break into Fallujah,” Sabah al-Norman, a spokesman for Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service, said.
The city, located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, is one of the last major Daesh strongholds in Iraq. The Takfiri group still controls territory in the country’s north and west, including Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul.
In a televised speech to parliament on Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on residents of Fallujah to either leave the city or stay indoors.
Government officials and aid groups estimate that more than 50,000 people remain inside the center of the city.
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From PressTV
Hezbollah not expecting war with Israel for summer: Official
A senior Hezbollah official has ruled out the possibility of another Israeli war on Lebanon for this summer, but stated that the resistance movement is fully prepared to retaliate against any assault by the regime.
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem was reacting to reports that Israel is undergoing extensive preparations for a possible conflict with Hezbollah.
“There are no signs that Israel is preparing for a new assault on Lebanon, but if she chooses to do so, she will find that Hezbollah is at maximum readiness,” said Sheikh Qassem in a speech in southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Last week, Israeli daily Jerusalem Post quoted military commander Eren Makov that Tel Aviv was training Israeli throughout northern occupied territories to prepare them for any future conflict with Hezbollah.
“We give them training in what to do and they see it as a contribution,” Makov said.
Qassem also said the ongoing conflict in the Arab countries of Syria, Iraq and Yemen will not be allowed to spread to Lebanon.
Hezbollah fighters are fighting alongside the Syrian government forces against a range of terrorist groups operating in the country, including Daesh and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
The movement has been helping Syrian army forces in Syria to prevent the spillover of the crisis into Lebanon.
The official also praised Hezbollah fighters for forcing the Israeli military out of Southern Lebanon in 2000, saying that the movement’s victory was the beginning of Israel’s decline.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
CRIF’s new president: French Jews’ situation worst since 1945
(JTA) — French Jews are experiencing the most difficult situation they have encountered since the end of World War II, the newly-elected president of France’s umbrella of Jewish communities said.
Francis Kalifat, 64, said Sunday that his first priority as president of CRIF is to fight against the anti-Semitism that he said was responsible for the situation he described.
“The fight against anti-Semitism is our main cause because French Jews are in the most difficult situation they have experience since World War II,” Kalifat said during an interview with Radio J shortly after his unanimous election to succeed Roger Cukierman as president.
Kalifat, who was born in Algeria and is the first Sephardic Jew to hold the position since CRIF’s establishment in 1944, was the only candidate running this election.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Labour readmits activist suspended for blaming slave trade on Jews
(JTA) — A Labour activist who was suspended from the British party for claiming that Jews were “chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade” has been readmitted to its ranks.
Jackie Walker, vice-chair of Momentum, a hard-left group loyal to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was suspended earlier this month after her comments were brought to the party’s attention by The Jewish Chronicle. She was allowed back into the party this week following an investigation, the Jewish paper reported Saturday. A Labour spokesperson said her re-admittance was decided on following an investigation.
In a blog post, Walker said that she first heard of her suspension from this newspaper.
She went onto to claim that there was an “increasing convergence between Zionists, the right of the Labour party, the Tories and our right-wing media,” adding: “Of course, most want to destabilise and undermine the left – but they’re after much more. Is it coincidence that Sadiq Khan, new London Mayor, full of his new found fame, has already met with the Israeli Ambassador for talks that it is suggested may lead to greater trade links with Israel?”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel Police: Potentially incriminating fraud evidence on Sara Netanyahu
(JTA) — A probe into alleged fraud and misuse of public funds at the Israeli prime minister’s residence yielded evidence that police said may support a conviction against Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara.
The probe concluded Sunday was initiated last year amid claims that Sara Netanyahu expensed services provided to her family for their private use, falsely claiming it was for the residence, which is not owned by the Netanyahu and whose maintenance is paid for by the state.
She has denied any wrongdoing throughout the investigation, in which Benjamin Netanyahu is not a suspect.
“At the conclusion of the investigation, all the alleged evidence, findings and analyses gathered during the police’s investigations have been transferred to the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office, which accompanied the investigation, for review and further action,” police said. A spokesperson for the police added that there had been established “an infrastructure of evidence” that police say may support prosecution and possibly a conviction, according to the news site nrg.
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From Russia Today
ISIS jihadists sell sex slaves on Facebook
Published time: 30 May, 2016 06:26
© Jason Lee / Reuters
Islamic State terrorists use Facebook to sell sex slaves to fellow jihadists, justifying the price by “supply and demand.” The worrying report by the Washington Post sheds more light on hundreds of women held captive and traded by the terror group.
Photos of a young girl of about 18 were posted on Facebook by an Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) militant called Abu Assad Almani, which is Arabic for “German,” the Washington Post reports.
“To all the brothers thinking about buying a slave, this one is $8,000,” said Almani’s post dated May 20. The same man reportedly posted a second image a few hours later, this time showing a pale young face with weepy red eyes.
“Another sabiyah [slave], also about $8,000. Yes or no?” he wrote in the posting.
Displaying the images, Almani told his Facebook friends to “get married and come to dawlah [the IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria].” A heated discussion erupted between him and different commenters who doubted the $8,000 asking price was reasonable. Some mocked the girls’ looks, while others slammed Almani for showing women wearing no veil.
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From Russia Today
Pope mourns drowned refugees as illegal crossings soar
Published time: 29 May, 2016 02:46
Pope Francis holds a life vest as he meets with youths at the Vatican May 28, 2016. © Gregorio Borgia / Reuters
Pope Francis has called for compassion, saying asylum seekers are “not dangerous but are in danger.” His comments come as hundreds died and more than 13,000 people were rescued by Italy this week.
During his meeting in the Vatican with hundreds of children the Pope showed them a life jacket of a drowned girl he was given by a Spanish rescuer.
“He brought me this life jacket and, crying a little bit, he said: ‘Father, I failed. There was a little girl in the sea and I wasn’t able to save her. All I could reach was her life jacket’” the Pope said.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
NY Times removes quotation marks from Israeli ‘occupation’
Journalist Glenn Greenwald and others had criticized paper’s use of ‘scare quotes’ with regard to Jewish state’s presence in West Bank
The New York Times removed quotation marks originally used around “occupation” in one of its news stories.
The word appears in the phrase “Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza” in the article published Wednesday about the Bernie Sanders-led push to change the Democratic Party’s stance on Israel.
The quotation marks were removed Thursday. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald had criticized the Times’ use of the quotation marks as “abject cowardice” Thursday morning.
“This is journalistic malfeasance at its worst: refusing to describe the world truthfully out of fear of the negative reaction by influential factions,” Greenwald wrote in an article on The Intercept.
The Times did not add an editor’s note to the article or offer an explanation. The print version of the article published in the A1 section of the Times’ Thursday includes the quotation marks.
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From The Times of Israel
Germany probes publisher planning to reprint Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’
Publishing Nazi leader’s anti-Semitic book without annotation is illegal under German anti-incitement laws
BERLIN — German prosecutors said Thursday they were investigating whether to bring charges against a publisher who has promised to print a version of Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic manifesto “Mein Kampf” without annotations.
Re-publishing the original tract is illegal under German sedition laws against inciting racial hatred, although a version for historians with thousands of critical commentaries was allowed to go on sale this year.
Prosecutors said “we are investigating whether to level charges” against publisher Der Schelm, based in Leipzig in Germany’s formerly communist east, national news agency DPA reported.
The publishing house is taking orders on its website for an “unaltered reprint” of the 1943 edition published by Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Partly autobiographical, “Mein Kampf” — which means “My Struggle” — outlines Hitler’s ideology that formed the basis for Nazism. He wrote it in 1924 while he was imprisoned in Bavaria for treason after his failed Beer Hall Putsch.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Fresh photo emerges of Japanese journalist kidnapped in Syria
Jumpei Yasuda, held by group linked to al-Qaeda, shown holding handwritten sign warning ‘this is the last chance’
TOKYO — A fresh photo of a Japanese journalist who went missing in Syria last year has emerged online, showing the heavily bearded man holding a sign saying this is his “last chance.”
The photo, which received widespread coverage in Japanese media Monday, shows freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who has been missing for almost a year, wearing an orange shirt, his hair and beard grown long.
He is seen holding a piece of paper with a handwritten message in Japanese that says: “Please help. This is the last chance. Jumpei Yasuda.”
Japanese public broadcaster NHK and other media showed the photo.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that the man shown in the image is likely Yasuda.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Iran nuke deal drove Trump to run for president, son says
Controversial 2015 accord was a ‘game changer’ for real-estate mogul on journey to becoming presumptive Republican nominee
The controversial nuclear agreement reached between Iran and major world powers last year compelled real estate mogul and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to run in the 2016 presidential elections, his son said Sunday.
“I think, honestly, the Iran nuclear deal was one of the things that made him jump into the race,” Eric Trump said in an interview with the New York AM 970 radio station. “I think that was a game changer for him.”
“That is when he finally said, ‘Kids, I am going to it. I am going to give this a real shot,’” he added.
After years of negotiations, Iran and world powers, led by the United States, reached an agreement last year to freeze and inspect Iran’s rogue nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
Since launching his campaign last July, Trump has repeatedly criticized US President Barack Obama’s handling of the diplomatic talks that led to the multilateral agreement — it involved five other world powers in addition to the US and Iran — which eased crippling international economic sanctions levied against Iran in exchange for a curtailing of its nuclear program.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
New mass grave of 150 bodies unearthed in Syria’s Palmyra
A new mass grave containing the bodies of 150 people believed to have been killed and tortured by Daesh terrorists has been found in the recently-liberated Syrian city of Palmyra.
The mass grave, the second largest of its kind in the city, was discovered a few days ago near Palmyra Airport’s runway during restoration works.
“It is the second large mass grave… As for other smaller ones, they are found in Palmyra every ten to 15 days. It is the sixth burial site in Palmyra, but the second mass grave,” Artur Kebekov, a reporter for Russia’s LifeNews, said.
A preliminary examination showed that the corpses had gunshot injuries and marks of torture on them.
“All those people were executed and had gunshot wounds,” Kebekov added, highlighting that the mass grave has not been a place of public mass executions and was most likely a secret site.
The Syrian army, backed by popular forces and a wave of Russian air strikes, retook the ancient city of Palmyra from Daesh on March 27 following weeks of military operations against the Takfiri group.
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