Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From Russia Today
Ukraine should never join EU – Dutch Prime Minister
Published time: 31 Mar, 2016 21:58
The Netherland’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte. © Vincent Kessler / Reuters
Ukraine should never become a member of the European Union, Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of Netherlands said in an interview a week before the Dutch referendum on the association agreement between the EU and Kiev.
The Netherlands, which is holding the EU rotating presidency till July, is against Ukraine’s membership in the bloc because “we believe that Ukraine should have good relationships with both with Europe and Russia,” Rutte told NU.nl, stressing that “it cannot be the case if [Ukraine] is in the European Union.”
He also stressed that, “in the long term,” Ukraine should develop good and stable relations with Russia, although he admitted that it is not possible right now “due to the developments in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.”
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From Russia Today
Russia vows ‘totally asymmetrical’ response to major US troop build-up in Europe
Published time: 31 Mar, 2016 01:41
U.S. Army soldiers unload M1 Abrams tanks which will participate in exercises at the training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie, Jankowo Pomorskie, northwestern Poland. © Cezary Aszkielowicz / Agencja Gazeta / Reuters
Russia’s envoy to NATO has vowed a “totally asymmetrical” response if the alliance stands by a plan to deploy new armored units to Eastern Europe. Citing Russian “aggression” as a pretext, the US has announced “continuous troop rotations” starting 2017.
“We are not passive observers, we consistently take all the military measures we consider necessary in order to counterbalance this reinforced presence that is not justified by anything,” Moscow’s permanent representative at the alliance, Aleksandr Grushko, said in an interview with TV channel Russia-24 on Wednesday. “Certainly, we’ll respond totally asymmetrically.”
Grushko did not elaborate on his statement, but said Russia’s actions would correspond to its “understanding of the extent of the military threat, would not be extremely expensive, but also highly effective.”
“As of today, assessing as a whole what that the US and NATO are doing, the point at issue is a substantial change for the worse in the security situation,” he said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Bill Clinton brings Hillary’s message to NY meeting of leading rabbis
Hillary Clinton greeting supporters at a caucus day event as her husband, former President Bill Clinton, looks on at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, Feb. 20, 2016. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Former President Bill Clinton met with over 20 leading rabbis in the New York area to discuss his wife Hillary’s presidential campaign.
The meeting Tuesday in Midtown Manhattan was off the record and lasted for two hours, twice the amount of scheduled time. Participants would not discuss the content.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, called it “constructive” in a brief interview with JTA.
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From PressTV
Russia says no deal with US on Assad’s fate
Russia has denied reports that it has reached an agreement with the US over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of efforts to end the crisis in the Arab country.
Citing a UN Security Council diplomat, London-based Arabic language newspaper al-Hayat reported on Thursday that US Secretary of State John Kerry had informed several Arab countries of the alleged Moscow-Washington understanding that includes “Assad’s transfer to another country.” The report added, however, that “the timing and context of that in the political process remains unclear to everyone at the moment.”
But Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the report as false during a press conference later in the day.
“Al-Hayat published information which does not correspond to reality,” Peskov told journalists.
“Russia is advantageously different from other nations because it does not discuss the issue of the self-determination of third countries either through diplomatic or other channels,” the Russian official added.
On March 25, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said that Russia and the US had reached an understanding on Moscow’s “basic thesis that deciding the issue of the future of Syria’s president should not be on the agenda at this stage.”
The developments come amid a US-Russia brokered ceasefire in Syria that came into force on February 27 as part of efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the five-year-long foreign-sponsored militancy in the Arab country. The agreement stipulates the cessation of all military hostilities in Syria, except for the operations against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and the Syrian al-Qaeda, known as al-Nusra Front.
Meanwhile, the Syrian president has expressed readiness to hold snap presidential elections if Syrians so choose, although it is not included in the current political process.
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From Russia Today
25yo father-to-be revealed as ‘Russian Rambo’ who died fighting ISIS in Palmyra
Published time: 31 Mar, 2016 07:12
© Facebook
A 25 year old from Orenburg, Aleksandr Prokhorenko, has been revealed as the serviceman, dubbed ‘Russian Rambo’ by international media, who died a hero. He called a strike on himself while surrounded by Islamic State during a battle near Palmyra.
Authorities in Russia’s Orenburg region confirmed his identity.
“This hero was a native of the village of Gorodki in the Orenburg region – 25-year-old Aleksandr Prokhorenko,” the press service of the governor of the region said.
Aleksandr had dreamt of joining the military since his childhood, his friends recall, as cited by Orenburg news outlet Orenday. Born into a family of servicemen, Aleksandr and his younger brother Ivan decided to follow in the footsteps of their forefathers.
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From Russia Today
ISIS ‘Department of Artifacts’ document exposes antique loot trade via Turkey (RT EXCLUSIVE)
Published time: 31 Mar, 2016 05:03
A new trove of documents, obtained by an RT Documentary crew who recently uncovered details of illicit ISIS oil business with Turkey, sheds light on jihadists’ lucrative trade of looted antiquities along their well-established oil and weapons transit routes.
There is no official accounting that would illustrate the true scale of looting being undertaken in Syria, a land once rich with cultural treasures. However, there is no doubt that since radical Islamists established a foothold in the region under raging civil war, pieces of the world’s global heritage have ended up in the hands of terrorists.
Along with oil smuggling, a lucrative trade in antiquities has become ISIS’s source of income to support its devastating operations, many of which leveled unique historic sites such as Palmyra. Artifacts, some worth thousands of dollars apiece, have been turning up in antique markets from eastern Europe to the US.
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From Russia Today
Relentlessly critical: UK’s Hammond brands Russia a ‘challenge & threat,’ rejects cooperation
Published time: 31 Mar, 2016 04:28
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond. © Omar Sobhani / Reuters
The British foreign secretary has rejected cooperation with Moscow until it “respects” the rules of the international system, to which Philip Hammond said Russia continues to pose a challenge and threat. TrendsIslamic State, Russian anti-terror op in Syria, Syria unrest
“Russia ignores the norms of international conduct and breaks the rules of the international system. That represents a challenge and a threat to all of us,” Hammond said during a two-day visit to Georgia. “There has to be a way that respects the rules of the international system if we are going to be able to do business together.”
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From Russia Today
Hundreds of Belgians joined terrorists to fight in Syria – Interior Ministry
Published time: 30 Mar, 2016 15:35
A Belgian police officer © Yves Herman / Reuters
The Belgian Interior Ministry has information on 386 Belgians who have participated in the Syrian war on the side of the terrorists, according to a recent state report, as quoted by Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure.
Citing the Interior Ministry, the media outlet said that “269 [of these] people are still in Syria, and 117 are back in the country [Belgium].” Fifty-nine more people attempted to leave Syria but failed, it added.
The report by the Interior Ministry contained data on Belgian residents and on migrants from the Middle East that either reside in Belgium or used to live there.
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From Ynet News
Court: Non-governmental conversions valid for Law of Return
The High Court of Justice held that conversions performed in ‘recognized Jewish communities’ outside of the state’s official rabbinate are acceptable as relates to the Law of Return; both chief rabbis protest, saying the court ‘will not decide who is a Jew.’ The High Court of Justice ruled that the Law of Return requires that Israel recognize Jewish conversions performed in Orthodox communities that are not within the state conversion framework. The court wrote in its judgment, “We waited for the legislature’s say on this. Since it has failed to legislate on this matter, we do not see any alternative but a judicial decision.”
Several converts filed the petition after the state refused to recognize their conversion, and the Masorti (conservative) and Reform movements joined them.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Brazilian Jewish officials hail country’s first anti-terrorism law
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Brazil enacted its first anti-terrorism law, for which Jewish officials had advocated.
President Dilma Rousseff approved the legislation this week calling for 12 to 30 years in a high-security prison for committing an act of terrorism in Latin America’s largest nation. Thirty years is the maximum length of imprisonment under Brazilian criminal law.
Officials of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, the country’s umbrella Jewish organization known as CONIB, had strongly supported the legislation, including writing Op-Eds in support that appeared in influential newspapers and magazines.
CONIB President Fernardo Lottenberg said the law makes Brazil and the Jewish community and better prepared to face the growing global threat of terrorism.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Canadian foreign minister: Country will soon reestablish ties with Iran
(JTA) — Canada’s foreign affairs minister said his country will soon reestablish ties with Iran.
“Canada’s severing of ties with Iran had no positive consequences for anyone: not for Canadians, not for the people of Iran, not for Israel and not for global security,” Stephane Dion said in a speech delivered Wednesday at a University of Ottawa conference on global affairs.
“Today, Canada must return to Iran to play a useful role in that region of the world. … We are being asked by all sides to reengage, and we are doing so.”
Canada closed its embassy in Tehran in 2012 over Iran’s nuclear program, as well as its hostile attitude toward Israel.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
British compensation fund rejected 75% of Holocaust survivors, documents show
The railway track leading to the infamous ‘Death Gate’ at the Auschwitz II Birkenau extermination camp on November 13, 2014, in Oswiecim, Poland. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Only one in four Jewish victims of the Nazis who applied for compensation from a British fund were paid, newly released documents show.
Of the 4,206 applicants for compensation from a fund given to Britain by Germany in 1964, called the Nazi Persecution Compensation scheme, only 1,015 received any money, according to the documents made public this week by the British government’s National Archives.
The awards were capped at about $4,500.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Belgian vice PM acknowledges street celebrations following Brussels attacks
The aftermath of an explosion in a metro train in Brussels, March 22, 2016. (Courtesy of Alexandre De Meeter/Twitter.com)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) – In the days following terrorist attacks in Brussels, street celebrations broke out in several places in Belgium, the county’s vice prime minister said.
Jan Jambon made the statement about the March 22 bombings, which killed 35 people, on Wednesday during a symposium titled “Terrorism, Israel and International Law” and organized by the Dutch anti-racism and pro-Israel lobby group CIDI, or the Center of Information and Documentation on Israel, in The Hague.
Jambon, a rightist politician, made the remark while acknowledging Belgium has a jihadism problem. One of Europe’s smallest countries, Belgium is the continent’s biggest per capita source of jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq, CNN reported. In February, Jambon revealed Belgium’s intelligence services have flagged 451 citizens as jihadists.
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From Russia Today
Britain ‘invaded’ Australia? New South Wales University accused of ‘rewriting history’
Published time: 30 Mar, 2016 16:32
Lieutenant James Cook was the first European to achieve contact with the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770. © National Maritime Museum, United Kingdom / Wikipedia
A university in Australia has been accused of “rewriting history” after it was revealed that it encourages students to use the terms “invaded, occupied, and colonized” when referring to the role of British settlers in the 18th century.
The contents of the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) Indigenous Terminology Guide emerged after the Australian Daily Telegraph ran a piece with the headline ‘Whitewash,’ which criticized the university’s advocacy of the word “invaded” over “discovered” or “settled.”
“UNSW rewrites the history books to state [Captain James] Cook ‘invaded’ Australia,” the front page of the newspaper claimed.
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