Netherlands Police Arrest 7 Muslim Terrorists Plotting Terror Attack with Car Bombs, Suicide Belts

The New Normal - The Netherlands Terror Plots

BY BTNEWS 

Dutch authorities on Thursday arrested seven Muslim terrorists who were plotting a major terror attack with hand grenades, automatic weapons and explosives belts, prosecutors said.

Three of the seven Muslim terrorists had previously been detained after attempting to join foreign terrorists abroad. The lead terrorist was a 34-year-old Iraqi who was convicted in 2017 for traveling abroad to join ISIS.

The terrorists, aged 21-34, were arrested in four locations across the Netherlands after nearly six months of investigations by authorities.

“The suspects were in search of AK47s, handguns, hand grenades, explosive vests and raw materials for several (car) bombs,” prosecutors said in a statement. They will be brought before a judge on Friday.

Police were initially tipped off by the intelligence service that the main suspect was targeting “a large event in the Netherlands where there would be a lot of victims.”

Minister for Justice and Security Ferd Grapperhaus told Dutch national broadcaster NOS that police acted in time to prevent an attack.

“In a sense it is serious, but luckily it’s also good news – a terrorist cell that was plotting an attack has been taken down,” Grapperhaus said. “They weren’t so far that it was a danger to society, in the sense that it was nearly too late. But they were quite far in their preparations.”

The Dutch anti-terror coordinator’s office said in a tweet Thursday that the allegedly foiled plot fit the current threat profile for the Netherlands, which is at four on a scale that tops out at five. The office did not raise the level following the arrests.

“Jihad networks are also active in the Netherlands with the intention to plot attacks in Europe,” the office said. “Today’s arrests must be seen in that light.”

The arrests took place nearly a month after an Afghan Muslim terrorist was shot by police at Amsterdam’s central station after stabbing two American tourists.

Disguised in a Burka, Hitman Points His Gun at Hells Angel's Head - Gun Misfires

Knowah Ferguson was 18 when he tried to kill Damion Ryan,

a full-patch Hells Angels member

Rhianna Schmunk · CBC News 

Knowah Ferguson thought he stood to make a "quick and easy" $200,000.

All he had to do was shoot Damion Ryan — a full-patch member of the Hells Angels gang twice his size — in the food court at Vancouver International Airport at lunchtime on a Friday afternoon, according to evidence at Ferguson's attempted murder trial.

Ferguson — an 18-year-old from Ontario with no previous criminal record — nearly succeeded, but his gun jammed when it was against the back of Ryan's head on April 10, 2015.

Both men ran away and Ferguson was later sent to prison for attempted murder.

Security footage obtained by CBC News on Thursday shows the failed hit as it played out in real time — from a disguised Ferguson arriving at the airport on a Canada Line train to both men escaping on the same train, riding in separate cars metres apart.

Failed hit

Ferguson had just turned 18 when he took a bus from Hamilton, Ont., to Vancouver to do criminal work, court heard.

He planned to shoot Ryan in the food court as the target sat next to a member of the United Nations criminal gang, who had arranged the hit on Ryan. He has not been identified.

Video footage shown to the CBC but not cleared for publication shows Ferguson arrived at the airport by Canada Line at 1:08 p.m. 

He wore a black burka, which was too short for him, leaving his black, high-top sneakers visible at the bottom. 

The gun — which, court heard, Ferguson had tested beforehand in preparation — was hidden in a black purse hanging from his right arm.

Seemingly calm and seldom looking around, Ferguson can be seen walking to the food court near the international check-in counter and sitting down to wait.

After 15 minutes, Ryan arrives and takes a seat across from the UN member — half a dozen tables away from Ferguson and surrounded by dozens of bystanders eating lunch.

Ferguson appears to spot Ryan, makes a trip to the bathroom and returns to a table closer to his target.

Another seven minutes pass and the three men sit, the hitman and target with their backs to each other.

At 1:54 p.m., Ferguson scans the room, stands, peeks inside the purse one more time and tucks the gun up his sleeve. 

He walks past five tables before stopping directly behind Ryan.

Ferguson lifts the gun to the back of the target's head and the UN member leans away — but nothing fires.

Ryan can be seen swinging his right arm up behind his head to swat the gun away.

In less than a second, the Hells Angel is up and sprinting out of the food court. Ferguson follows close behind, and the UN member walks off in another direction.

None of the bystanders appear to realize what's happened.

Escape by Canada Line

Canada Line is an elevated, rapid transit, train line from downtown Vancouver to the airport (YVR) on Sea Island.

Another angle of security footage shows Ryan running toward the international check-in desks to escape. Ferguson veers left, charging down a flight of stairs before slowing down and walking out of the airport to the parkade.

Ferguson disappears from view into a stairwell, emerging in a grey baseball cap, black hoodie and the same black sneakers. The black purse is stuffed in a blue plastic shopping bag.

Ferguson escaped the airport on a Canada Line train at 1:59 p.m., less than five minutes after the botched hit.

Ryan can be seen getting on a different car of the same train, 21 seconds after Ferguson boards near the front.

It's unclear if either man knew the other was on the train.

Arrest and conviction

Ferguson and two associates were arrested on firearms offences after a stolen truck they'd been using was spotted by its owner in Vancouver, two months after the attempted hit at the airport.

On Sept. 7, Ferguson, now 21, was sentenced to seven years for attempted murder and four years for conspiracy.

He received credit for time served, leaving him with a little more than six years to spend behind bars.

Court heard Damion Ryan did not co-operate with the investigation.

One of several good reasons for not allowing burqas in civilized countries.

Acapulco's Entire Police Force Suspended in Corruption Probe as Crime Surges in Mexico

Corruption is Everywhere - and I mean Everywhere in Mexico

Jonathon Gatehouse · CBC News 

Mexican marines surround the Secretary of Public Security of Acapulco, Max Lorenzo Sedano, right, on Tuesday.

Mexican military forces arrested police officers and took control of the local Public Security Secretariat,

citing possible infiltration by organized crime. (Francisco Robles/AFP/Getty Images)

Surging crime in Mexico

Mexican authorities have disarmed and suspended Acapulco's entire municipal police force amidst a massive murder and corruption investigation.

Heavily armed soldiers and marines staged a daylight raid on the resort city's police headquarters yesterday, arresting two senior police commanders on homicide charges and seizing the guns, bulletproof vests and radios of the rest of the force.

Mexican Marines escort Acapulco municipal police officers who were disarmed and detained Tuesday

during an operation to check if they were colluding with organized crime. (Javier Verdin/Reuters)

The Guerrero state government issued a statement saying it will be taking over policing responsibilities in the city "because of suspicion that the force had probably been infiltrated by criminal groups" and "the complete inaction of the municipal police in fighting the crime wave."

The Pacific coast city of 800,000, once a playground for foreign tourists, is now known as Mexico's murder capital. The local murder rate is 103 homicides per 100,000 residents, one of the highest in the world.

Most of the killings are connected to the drug trade, with up to 50 gangs currently battling for supremacy.

Drug violence in Mexico has left more than 200,000 dead since 2006. Another 35,000 people have simply disappeared.

A relative of a missing person enters a site on Sept. 17 where a mass grave was found in El Arbolillo, Veracruz.

The region has been hit by bloody drug cartel turf wars, and scores of bodies have been found in

33 mass graves at El Arbolillo's 'narco-cemetery.' (Victoria Razo/AFP/Getty Images)

A 12-year federal government effort to smash the cartels using the country's army has only served to increase the mayhem, as larger organizations splinter into smaller groups scrapping for territory. 

Last year, Mexico recorded 31,174 murders, a 27 per cent increase from 2016, and the country's murder rate is now at its highest point since 1990. To date, 2018 is proving even more deadly, with almost 19,000 killings over the first eight months of the year, a 20 per cent jump from 2017.

Horrors have become commonplace.

This week, authorities in the Gulf state of Veracruz issued photos of clothing items found in a mass grave, including an infant's pants, toddler's sandals, and tiny T-shirts decorated with Pokemon and Tinkerbell. So far at least 174 skulls have been discovered in the massive pit and the excavation continues.

This undated photo from the Veracruz State Prosecutor's Office shows a piece of child's clothing found at the site of

a clandestine mass grave in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, Mexico. Investigators have also found personal items,

ID cards and shoes belonging to men, women and children at the site. (Veracruz State Prosecutor's Office via AP)

The week before, local residents in a Guadalajara suburb — alerted by the stench of decomposing flesh — discovered a tractor trailer stuffed with more than 270 corpses. As it turned out, authorities knew all about the bodies. They had been using the truck as a mobile morgue for weeks because city facilities are overflowing with the dead.  

But Mexico's crime problems go even deeper.

Yesterday, the National Statistics Institute released the results of a country-wide survey on "common crime," which it defines as pretty much everything short of murder, drugs and migrant trafficking. It estimates that there were 33.6 million "lesser" crimes committed last year, 2.5 million more than the year before.

Muggings on the street or transit were the most-cited offences, accounting for 28 per cent of the total.

The Institute estimated that there were somewhere between 64,000 and 97,000 kidnappings in Mexico last year, most short-term affairs for relatively modest ransoms.

Police officers work at the site of a mass grave in Alvarado, Veracruz, on Sept. 7. Scores of bodies have been

discovered at the site since exhumations began on Aug. 8. (Victoria Razo/AFP/Getty Images)

The survey suggests that only 10 per cent of crimes in Mexico are currently reported to police.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the new president-elect who takes office on Dec. 1, made the crime epidemic a central focus of his campaign and has promised to take personal control of government efforts to halt the violence.

The rot is profound, however.

In Guerrero state alone, more than a dozen municipal police departments have been disbanded due to corruption over the past four years, including the force in the state capital of Chilpancingo, where dozens of teenagers turned up dead following run-ins with the cops.  

A pending auction of drilling rights in a rich oil and gas deposit in Tamaulipas state, near the Texas border, may end up being a bust because foreign firms are scared of violent drug and human trafficking gangs that roam the countryside.

And the spread of violence now threatens Mexico's tourism industry, which attracted some 40 million people last year and brought in $21.3 billion US.

A truck hauls away a trailer full of bodies on Sept. 15 that had been parked in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Mexico,

as a temporary morgue. (Reuters)

The country's incoming tourism secretary is pledging to counteract the bad media with more advertising campaigns and promotional events.

But even the fantasy versions of Mexico seem to be bumping up against its worrying reality.

The $45 million US spent on a Cirque du Soleil show, Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico, has been declared a "bad investment" by the new government since it failed to increase visitor numbers.

Muslim Migrant Beheads 1 y/o Girl in Germany, Merkel Bans Media Reporting

There is a video with this story, but it will not be presented here.

A link will be provided at the bottom of the article.

BY ROBERT SPENCER Jihad Watch

We reported on this incident back in April, translating a German report, since the English-language media didn’t find this incident newsworthy. But at that time, the fact of the beheading was not being reported, and now the German authorities have apparently banned all reporting on the incident. Anything to keep as many Germans as possible ignorant and complacent regarding just how devastating the Muslim migrant influx into Germany really is.

“Migrant Beheads 1-Year-Old Girl In Germany; Merkel Bans Media Reporting,” 

by Baxter Dmitry, Your Newswire, July 6, 2018:

German media has been banned from reporting on a Muslim migrant who allegedly beheaded his one-year-old baby daughter in Hamburg.

Angela Merkel’s pro-migrant government has banned German media from reporting on a barbaric crime involving a Muslim migrant who allegedly beheaded his one-year-old baby daughter on a train station platform in Hamburg.

According to eyewitnesses, the 33-year-old suspect, Mourtala Madou, beheaded his one-year-old daughter in front of a horrified crowd of commuters at Jungfernstieg station on Thursday April 12, and then stabbed his German girlfriend, the mother of the child.

The suspect allegedly stabbed the infant from behind, while she was sitting in her stroller, and then severed her neck. He then allegedly stabbed his girlfriend in the chest before fleeing the scene, dumping the murder weapon in a train station trash can. He was later arrested

The woman, a mother of four other children, later died at hospital of her injuries.

Video footage has been uploaded to the internet showing the aftermath of the brutal and senseless double murder that was described as “very targeted” by police spokesman Timo Zill and an “honor killing” by witnesses. The victims bodies can be seen in the video but not their faces. Eyewitnesses can be heard saying that the suspect cut the babies head off.

The Ghanaian Christian gospel singer who captured the footage on his cell phone can be heard saying, “Oh my God. It’s unbelievable. Oh my God. It is unbelievable. Oh Jesus, oh Jesus. oh Jesus. They cut off the head of the baby. Tthey [sic] cut off the baby’s head. Oh my God. Oh Jesus."

German media has been allowed by the government to report on the murder of the mother, but Angela Merkel’s pro-migrant government banned German media outlets from reporting on the decapitated baby.

Germany’s largest newspaper, Bild, report on the death of the mother of four, without mentioning the details regarding the barbaric murder of her child.

RT and Sputnik are heavily criticized and sanctioned for doing much the same thing. Mainstream Media is a far cry from being honest and open, but certainly don't hesitate to criticize others for the same thing. Propaganda is propaganda whether it is an outright lie or a hiding of the truth. In this case, hiding the truth allows Merkel to continue down the insane path of cultural suicide - the Islamization of Germany.

Merkel’s government have been under intense pressure in recent months regarding the open borders policy that is responsible for millions of Muslim migrants settling in Germany during the last three years. Many Germans believe the government issued a blanket ban on reporting this story because they believe it will turn the public mood against the government and represent the final nail in Merkel’s political coffin.

German authorities have also been ordered to clamp down on independent bloggers caught sharing the damning footage….

I don't share it, not because of fear of Germany 'clamping down' on my blog, but because I have PTSD and don't want to watch such things. I also assume some of my readers, as survivors of child sex abuse, also suffer from PTSD. 

Consequently, if you want to watch the video, here is a link to it - no guarantees it will work in Germany.

Beware, I have not vetted this video and I caution you that it may be graphic and possibly trigger PTSD.

Second Swiss Region Votes in Favor of ‘Burqa Ban’

Islamization Backlash in Switzerland

St Gallen Canton, Switzerland

The majority of voters in Switzerland’s canton of St. Gallen have supported the prohibition of face-covering garments in public spaces, making it the second region in the country to introduce such a ban.

The northeastern region held a referendum on Sunday to decide whether stricter rules on the face veils are necessary, among other issues. Around 36 percent of the region’s half-million population came out to cast their votes, and nearly 67 percent of voters supported the new law, official results show.

St. Gallen, the fifth-most populous Swiss canton, will become the second region in the country to approve such a measure, following the example of the southernmost canton of Ticino. A complete ban on wearing burqas and niqabs in public places came in force in Ticino is 2016, with non-compliance punishable by fines ranging from 100 Swiss francs ($104) to 10,000 ($10,400). The Italian-speaking canton has a population of 350,000, around two percent of whom are Muslim. 

Last year, Swiss authorities rejected a popular campaign sponsored by a right-wing party calling for a nationwide ban on face veils, allowing the regions to decide individually on the matter.

However, such a vote may be held next year after the right-wing Swiss People’s Party reportedly gathered the 100,000 signatures required to put any subject to a referendum.

Switzerland is not the first country in Europe to vote on banning full-face veils, which is often said to target Muslims. After France pioneered a ban on full-face covers in 2010, Belgium followed in its footsteps, and similar measures were subsequently introduced by the Netherlands and Denmark.

Religion Can Help Improve Children’s Mental Health, New Study Finds

Surprised to find this story on a national news network in Canada

By Laura Hensley Global News

People who grew up in a religious household reported fewer symptoms of depression. Getty

Children who are raised with religious or spiritual beliefs tend to have better mental health into their adulthood, a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found.

According to the study’s findings, people who attended weekly religious services or prayed or meditated daily in their childhood reported greater life satisfaction in their 20s. People who grew up in a religious household also reported fewer symptoms of depression and lower rates of post-traumatic stress disorder.

On top of the mental health benefits, researchers found that religious subjects weren’t as likely to smoke, use drugs, or contract a sexually transmitted infection compared to people who had a less spiritual upbringing.

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, followed more than 5,000 youths between the ages of eight to 14 years.

Why does religion benefit mental health?

According to Dr. Tyler J. VanderWeele, the study’s senior author and a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, attending religious services, like church, for example, may benefit youth because it’s a shared experience with people who hold similar beliefs and values. Community is thought to be beneficial to well-being.

VanderWeele also said that being involved in a religious community may offer adolescents role models and mentors other than their parents.

When it comes to the positive effects of prayer and meditation, VanderWeele said it’s likely that the practices “give rise to an experience of God or of transcendence so that an adolescent need not turn to drugs or risky sexual behaviours in their search for something more.”

“That experience of God may fundamentally make a person more other-oriented, leading to greater volunteering, forgiveness, and a sense of mission, and these things ultimately make one happier and protect against depression,” he told Global News.

“Adolescence is a particularly critical time of development and self-understanding, and the establishing of these practices may shape health and well-being throughout life.”

Religion also helps people think about their health in a holistic way, where the mind, body and spirit are all connected, said Jane Kuepfer, a specialist in spirituality and aging at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo.

“[With religion], when one aspect of ‘who we are’ suffers, the whole suffers. And when one aspect is healthy and vital, ‘all that we are’ benefits,” she said to Global News. “Religion teaches us to value life, and to respect and care for our physical bodies.”

Kuepfer also stressed the importance of belonging and feeling connected to others as a factor contributing to well-being. Social isolation and loneliness are harmful to anyone’s mental health, but particularly to vulnerable populations.

“A sense of belonging is really important, and something we don’t always get in our society in other places,” she said. “[Religion] also gives you a larger perspective and connection across generations.”

Even for those who don’t attend religious services, spirituality benefits health

While attending regular religious services was key to well-being, the study also found that daily meditation and prayer greatly benefited mental health — even in adolescents who didn’t attend service as often.

VanderWeele, the study’s co-author, said that previous studies of adults showed that religious service had the strongest effects on health. But with kids, both service attendance and prayer and/or meditation were strongly associated with well-being.

“For some outcomes, the associations with prayer and mediation were even stronger than for service attendance,” he said. “This is different from adult populations.”

Kuepfer said prayer and meditation are known to be calming and can help people cope with stress. They also offer people a chance to connect with something larger than themselves and work through problems they’re dealing with.

“Religion or belonging to a faith community and participating in spiritual practice helps to slow us down and get perspective,” she said. “We realize that life isn’t all about us, and we don’t have to carry the world on our shoulders. It takes the pressure off.”

There is another aspect that has been completely ignored in this article, and that is that children, or adults, who pray and practice their faith, are living, generally speaking, in obedience to God, that is, 'in His Will'. As such, God may offer extra levels of protection from temptations and from evil. God may also very well bless those people in many various ways and direct their steps if they are listening to Him.

Christian prayer and church attendance are not just healthy exercises; they are ways of connecting to the living God, and preparing for Eternity, which is the real purpose for our existence on this earth.

Corbyn's Antisemitism Documented in Arsenal FC Attempted Boycott

Corbyn called for boycott of Arsenal FC

in 2006 in protest of club’s deal with Israeli tourist board

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn offers an Arsenal shirt to the EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Brussels, Belgium, July 13, 2017 © Pool / Reuters

Jeremy Corbyn urged fans to boycott his favorite football club, Arsenal FC, in 2006, after they struck a sponsorship deal with the Israeli tourist board, saying it’s wrong to treat both 'Israel and Palestinians as equals'.

The Labour leader, who is a lifelong Arsenal FC fan and supporter of the Palestinian people, called on fans to boycott the club, after Israeli holiday destinations were advertised at the stadium. The £350,000 deal was signed off by Dubai-based Emirates airline, Arsenal's prime sponsor, before going ahead, the Mail Online reported.

Speaking at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Trade Union Conference in 2006, Corbyn said: “We must campaign against and boycott Arsenal football club for their arrangement with the Israeli tourist board.”

“It is wrong to treat both parties [Israel and the Palestinians] as equals,” he said, adding:

“The situation is the running sore of US foreign policy.”

The revelation has been met with anger from his opponents, with one social media user urging Corbyn to “stop digging” in reference to the anti-Semitism ‘crisis’ within Labour. Another hopes that he is “roundly booed” the next time he attends an Arsenal football match. The Labour supporters, meanwhile, are asking why the Mail has trawled through 12 years of history to find a “non-story.”

Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster said that this latest story on Corbyn is part of an ongoing campaign to push him to the point of resignation – and that it will continue so long as he is Labour leader.

"There is quite clearly a campaign to get Jeremy Corbyn to stand down or failing that to really smear him, try to keep this [story] so often, that he is an anti-Semite or that he is someone that has a problem with Jewish people,” Clark told RT.

He also insisted that people should not be surprised by this latest revelation, as Corbyn has long been “a strong critic of Israel” and that everyone should be free to criticize Israel just like any other country.

"Jeremy Corbyn has been throughout his career an opponent of imperialism and a strong critic of Israel and that's his position,” Clark said.

"His criticism of Israel is legitimate. Israel is a country that should be criticized, that can be criticized. We criticize America, we criticize France, people criticize Russia, and they criticize Germany."

But 'we' don't ever criticize Palestinians in spite of their murdering of innocent Israeli women and children, their firing thousands of missiles into Israel, their teaching their children to hate and kill Jews, their fire-bombing thousands of acres of crops, their refusal to even discuss peace, their single-minded goal of eliminating all Jews from the Middle East. No, we criticize the Jews because they do what they have to do to survive.

A Labour spokesman said: “Jeremy has never boycotted an Arsenal game. He does support targeted action aimed at illegal settlements and the occupation of Palestinian territories, and has backed campaigns to bring it to an end.”

Corbyn is on record as saying that he opposes a boycott of Israel as a whole, but supports a a “targeted” boycott of produce from illegal settlements on the West Bank.

Even though many of them employ Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians work in the West Bank for Israeli companies and about 100,000 work in Israel. 

Politics is a Dirty Game in France Especially for Right-Wing Nationalists

The banks, the courts, parliament, the EU Parliament have for many years attempted to destroy Marine Le Pen. Is there some collusion? Is Deep State at work here? Whoever is behind the constant persecution does not have the best interests of France in mind.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation

Jonathon Gatehouse · CBC News 

Leader of France's far-right National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment as it probes her posting of graphic images of Islamic State executions on social media. (Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)

Le Pen probe

A French court has ordered far-right leader Marine Le Pen to undergo a psychiatric assessment as it probes her decision to publish graphic images of Islamic State executions on social media.

The 50-year-old head of the National Front — recently rebranded as the National Rally — posted three gruesome photos on Twitter in December 2015 after a journalist told a French television program that her party shared a "community of spirit" with the extremist group.

"ISIS is THIS," Le Pen wrote in an outraged response to the accusation, attaching pictures of a man being burned alive, another being run over by a tank, and the headless corpse of American journalist James Foley.

French law prohibits the dissemination of "violent messages that incite terrorism or … seriously harm human dignity."

Le Pen, a former member of the European Parliament, was only put under formal investigation in March after that body voted to strip her of immunity as part of an unrelated fraud investigation. If convicted, she faces up to three years in jail and a fine of €75,000.

Today, Le Pen reacted angrily to the court's assessment order, posting a photo of the legal papers on her Twitter account and calling the decision "crazy."

Later, speaking to reporters, she suggested that the evaluation is part of a wider attempt to silence her and the party, and said that she will skip the tests.

"I'd like to see how the judge would try and force me do it," Le Pen said.

Legal experts were quick to point out that such an assessment is in fact required under the law to establish whether she suffers from any mental illness that might have diminished her capacity to understand what she was doing when she posted the images. The psychiatrist will also determine whether she poses a risk to herself or the public.

It's pretty obvious she was angrily responding to an imbecilic media person and not trying to influence anyone to commit terrorism. A sane person would think just the opposite, that she is trying to reduce terrorism by revealing just how horrific it is. 

Nevertheless, I think she should take the psyche exam as long as it is not with a government or court-appointed psychiatrist, but one of impeccable character. I also think the interview should be recorded and reviewed by a panel of reputable psychiatrists, at Le Pen's discretion.

Other European populists were quick to leap to her defence.

"A court orders a psychiatric assessment for Marine Le Pen. Words fail me! Solidarity with her and with the French who love freedom!" said Matteo Salvini, Italy's interior minister and leader of the far-right League party, in a statement.

The National Front/Rally and its leader have suffered a number of setbacks since Emmanuel Macron resoundingly defeated Le Pen in the run-off election for France's presidency in 2017.

The campaign posters of French presidential election candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron are seen in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, in April 2017. Macron resoundingly defeated Le Pen in the run-off election for France's presidency. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

French banks, which had denied her requests for campaign loans, closed her personal and party accounts last fall. Le Pen denounced the moves as political "persecution."

And she has been ordered to repay almost 300,000 euros ($455,000 Cdn) to the European Parliament after an internal investigation determined that she improperly used her office budget to pay aides to do non-parliamentary work for the National Front.

Le Pen, who maintains that she did nothing wrong, is appealing the findings and has refused to pay up. But the EU has been playing hardball, garnishing her salary and obtaining a temporary order from a French court to stop her party from receiving €2.35 million in state subsidies.

The EU parliament is far-left in ideology with many in the pocket of George Soros, and it will do all that it legally can (not morally can) to destroy Le Pen and her chances of becoming France's next President. Liberal loonies are also watching the EU lean more and more to the right and are desperate to stop the rush of sanity.

Liberals hate populism. They are quite sure that they know far better than ordinary people what those people want and need.

"The investigating judges are applying a death sentence by confiscating our public grant," she complained in July.

A final decision will handed down Sept. 26.

Le Pen has been busy trying to turn all those controversies to her advantage and whip up public sympathy.

"Our political adversaries want us to fail," she told a rally in the the northern town of Hénin-Beaumont earlier this month. "And when I hear the president of the Republic say that the National Rally is not a political opponent but an enemy, I can only conclude that he is doing everything within his power to break us down, to make us disappear from the country's political life."

And Le Pen is already campaigning for next spring's European elections, trying to form alliances with other far-right parties and tap into "The Movement," a new Steve Bannon-organized venture to raise funds and support for European populists.

Le Pen and former U.S. President Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon give a joint press conference during the National Rally's annual congress on March 10 in Lille, north of France. (Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)

The strategy may be working.

As Macron's popularity plummets amidst the scandal over his former bodyguard's physical assault of anti-government protesters, Le Pen's fortunes are rising.

A poll last month put the National Rally "coude à coude" with the president's En Marche party, both with 21 per cent support for the coming European vote.

Is ‘Deep State’ Trying to Block Corbyn Govt? Labour Leader’s Adviser Fears Top Secret Conspiracy

Of course they are! Deep State cannot afford to have a UK PM who is not onboard with demonizing Russia. It would wreck their plans to sell Europe kazillions of dollars of weapons systems and continue to build their NATO Empire.

Demonizing Russia also gives the USA the moral authority to punish China and India, etc., with sanctions

for buying Russian advanced weapons systems. Never mind competing with Russia;

never mind free enterprise; it's buy from US or else. 

Jeremy Corbyn arrives to address a gathering of supporters demonstrating in Parliament Square. June 27, 2016.

© Toby Melville / Reuters

Jeremy Corbyn’s top adviser has questioned whether the ‘deep state’ is maneuvering to block any possibility of a Labour government under his leadership, because the establishment deplores his approach to foreign policy.

Corbyn adviser Andrew Murray has not, to date, been granted a parliamentary security pass, and asks in an article he’s penned in the centre-left publication, the New Statesman, whether such a move is a “political stunt” committed by the “deep state,” in an attempt to prevent a Corbyn administration ever coming into power.

Murray has questioned whether the Mail on Sunday revelations he’s been refused “Commons security clearance” in addition to being “banned from entering Ukraine,” is all just a “curiously-timed episode.”

The Labour adviser writes: “We are often told that the days of secret state political chicanery are long past and we must hope so. But sometimes you have to wonder – this curiously timed episode seems less rooted in a Kiev security scare than in a political stunt closer to home.”

The former chair of Stop the War and current chief of staff to Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, references the Mail on Sunday, which claims a Ukrainian secret service officer told them Murray’s Ukraine ban is because he’s “part of Putin’s global propaganda network.”

Which means, he doesn't adhere to the NATO/DeepState propaganda network. This is unforgivable!

Murray denies such a claim, suggesting the ban is in retaliation to a speech he “made more than four years ago protesting the takeover of Ukraine by ultra-nationalists.”

That's when the Orange Revolution, with help from western powers, overthrew a legally elected government because they were friendly to Russia. They were replaced with a NATO-friendly un-elected government that was and is hostile to Russia. Western/NATO involvement was in contravention to unwritten agreements between Russian President Gorbachev and NATO powers.

It’s Corbyn’s attitude to foreign affairs that Murray says the “deep state” cannot live with, claiming a prospective Labour government would put an end to acting aggressively on the world stage.

He says: “The powers-that-be can perhaps live with a renationalised water industry but not, it seems, with any challenge to their aggressive capacities, repeatedly deployed in disastrous wars, and their decaying Cold War world view.”

Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has told BBC Radio 4s ‘Today Programme’ that Murray’s “deep state” interference claims are “highly unlikely,” and called  for Corbyn’s adviser to produce the evidence, “otherwise it’s just fake news.”

Watson said: “I genuinely don’t know why he has reached that conclusion and presumably he has more knowledge of that than me.”

Murray signs off his article with an apparent dig at the British intelligence services, stating: “Britain could soon have an anti-war government. Vet that, comrades.”

Russian Elections Body Recommends Annulment of Far East Vote Over Violations

Corruption is Everywhere - Can You Imagine, in Russian Elections?!!

Russian Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova announces the preliminary results of the 

Single Voting Day © Vitaliy Belousov / Sputnik

Russia’s Central Elections Commission has advised to cancel the results of gubernatorial polls (3rd story on link) in Primorsky Krai Region and hold new voting in three months. Both frontrunners in the race are against the move.

On Wednesday all members of the commission unanimously voted to recommend the elections re-run in the region. The commission’s statement reads that in current situation and on the basis of protocols presented by regional elections authorities it is impossible to make any conclusions about the results of the voting.  

A rally in support of candidate Andrey Ishchenko in Vladivostok © Vitaly Ankov / Sputnik

In particular, the members of the body agreed that it is impossible to determine the exact result of the campaign because for some time during the elections day all documents and protocols of the voting were left unattended in the offices of the regional elections commission.

The head of the Central Elections Commission, Ella Pamfilova, has expressed hope that the regional authorities would support the recommendation and quickly organize the re-run.

The advice to hold the elections in the Primorsky Krai Region anew was made soon after the second round of gubernatorial polls almost ended in a draw. Only full vote count revealed that incumbent governor – Andrey Tarasenko of the parliamentary majority United Russia – apparently outpaced his main competitor – Andrey Ishchenko of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation – by a very narrow margin.

The communist candidate almost immediately accused his competitor of violations and announced that he was going on hunger strike which, however, lasted less than 24 hours. The incumbent governor replied with similar accusations in the Communists’ address, claiming that that monitors had registered violations in favor of the Communist candidate in at least two cities of the region.

Acting Governor of the Primorye Territory Andrei Tarasenko, right, congratulates a graduate at an event devoted

to the first graduation of officers of the Far Eastern Fire and Rescue Academy © Vitaliy Ankov / Sputnik

However, both candidates appear to be unhappy about the looming cancellation of the disputed vote. Tarasenko said in press comments that he did not plan to participate the re-run. Ishchenko described the advice as “absurd” and said that he did not agree with it because the governor had been elected in the runoff on Sunday.

Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the Kremlin supported the recommendation of the Central Elections Commission to hold new elections in the Primorsky Krai Region. Peskov reminded that President Putin had previously described the fairness of elections as top priority and noted that this applied to all sorts of polls in the country.

Previously Peskov has told reporters that Andrey Tarasenko would remain in the governor’s seat until he is either confirmed or replaced by someone else on the post by a vote.

Primorsky Krai, RUS

Norway Didn’t Know Much About Libya Yet Helped Bomb It Into Chaos, State Report Finds

Why should this not be considered a war crime?

© Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Norwegian state report says the officials “had very limited knowledge” of what was going on in Libya, but promptly decided to join the US-led intervention, turning the once thriving North African nation into a terrorist hotbed.

Norway rushed to help its NATO allies to pound Libya with airstrikes in 2011, without understanding what was actually happening on the ground or the dire consequences the intervention might lead to, a new state report has concluded. The commission, chaired by former Foreign Minister Jan Petersen, found that politicians in Oslo “had very limited knowledge of Libya” when they dragged the nation into the US-led bombing campaign against the Libyan government.

“In such situations, decision-makers often rely on information from media and other countries,” the report says.

Apparently, they learned nothing from the WMD intel on Iraq.

Furthermore, the commission states that there are “no written sources” indicating that, before deploying warplanes against Libya, the Norwegian officials “assessed the type of conflict Norway was taking part in.”

The attack, dubbed ‘Operation Odyssey Dawn,’ was aimed at aiding the armed anti-government rebels in ousting longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi and eventually led to his brutal murder. After Gaddafi’s assassination, Libya quickly descended into civil war and became a hotbed for terrorism. The country is still divided between warring factions.

Benghazi, 7 years on

Norway had provided six F-16 fighter jets during the air campaign. According to the report, these jets flew 596 strike missions between March and July 2011, dropping 588 bombs on Libyan targets. This amounts to about 10 percent of all coalition strikes against Libya that year.

The report’s revelations led some politicians to re-examine the country’s involvement in the Libyan campaign. “When you look at what happened next, with Libya becoming a hotspot of terrorism, this is not a decision to be proud of,” former Center Party leader Liv Signe Navarsete said.

Socialist Left Party leader Audun Lysbakken told local media that “Norway should not have participated in the Libya war,” given what the nation knows today.

Given what it 'knew' in 2011, it should not have participated in the Libya war.

video 4:07

The new information “is quite painful” for the political class, said Morten Boas, researcher at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute. “The authors of the report are expressing regret. They say that they didn’t really understand the [possible] outcome.”

In 2011, many in Norway thought that the country was getting into the fight against Gaddafi “mainly for humanitarian reasons,” Boas said. “The other key players saw beyond the humanitarian reasoning and were basically interested in regime change, getting rid of Gaddafi. I  don’t think that necessarily all Norwegian politicians really understood this.”

And if they did, they would still be wrong. The real reason for the removal of Gadaffi and the destruction of Libya had to do with Gadaffi's plan to replace the French Franc in French-speaking Africa with a gold standard. France, NATO, the EU and the USA, could not allow such a thing to happen. 

Shocking Video of Palestinian Addressing EU Parliament

Truth will prevail, eventually

video 4:17

Former Argentina President Kirchner Charged with Corruption; Credit-Suisse Accused of Money Laundering; Vote-Rigging in Siberia

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in Cristina's Argentine Government,

Credit Suisse & Siberian elections

FILE PHOTO © Claudio Santisteban / Global Look Press

It was just a matter of time

Charges have been brought against former Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner, who now stands accused of being the head of an “illicit organization” involved in bribery and money laundering.

The decision was made by Judge Claudio Bonadio, who leads the case, and published by the official judicial news agency on Monday.

The new charges come as part of the so-called ‘corruption notebooks’ case, which focuses on an alleged wide-scale bribery operation totaling some $160 million. The scheme has allegedly involved top Argentinian politicians and businessmen.

The judge has demanded Kirchner’s parliamentary immunity be lifted in order to place the former president under arrest.

The “illicit organization” collected bribes in exchange for public work contracts, according to the indictment. More than a dozen people have already been arrested for their alleged involvement in the corruption scheme. They include businessmen and former government officials who served under Kirchner’s administration.

Kirchner herself is currently serving as a senator, a post that grants her immunity from being prosecuted. She has repeatedly denied the accusations of being involved into any illicit activities.

Will they be looking into Cristina's possible role in the murder of Alberto Nisman? That would open a can of worms.

Credit Suisse lambasted by financial watchdog

over FIFA money laundering

© Fabrice Coffrini / AFP

Switzerland’s financial supervisor FINMA says one of the country’s largest banks, Credit Suisse, failed to properly oversee its anti-money laundering procedures for FIFA, as well as Brazil’s and Venezuela’s state oil companies.

According to the regulator, the banking multinational showed serious “deficiencies” in its attempts to counter illegal financial activities when dealing with soccer’s ruling body FIFA, Brazilian oil corporation Petrobras, and Venezuela's state energy company PDVSA.

“To combat money laundering effectively, every relevant department within the bank must be able to see all the client's relationships with the bank instantly and automatically,” FINMA said, adding that some progress had been made so far.

The financial regulator said Credit Swiss rewarded a star private banker who breached compliance regulations with high payments and positive reviews instead of disciplining him. A banking source identified the manager as Patrice Lescaudron, who was jailed for five years in February, according to Reuters.

“The identified shortcomings occurred repeatedly over a number of years, mainly before 2014,” the watchdog said. “An above-average number of faults were discovered in business relationships opened by the former group subsidiary Clariden Leu AG.

“FINMA identified deficiencies in the anti-money laundering process, as well as shortcomings in the bank’s control mechanisms and risk management,” the statement reads.

The Swiss watchdog will reportedly appoint an independent auditor to monitor the banking giant’s control and risk-management procedures and anti-money laundering measures. The current regulation doesn’t let FINMA fine the banks that it supervises or force them to disgorge profits.

In response, the Zurich-based multinational said the probe had discovered “legacy weaknesses,” stressing that it had already acted to improve compliance.

“Implementing a culture of compliant growth at Credit Suisse is our highest priority and it is an individual and collective responsibility that we take extremely seriously,” the bank said. “We will continue to work closely with FINMA to complete the changes that are underway and implement additional measures.”

Switzerland’s second-biggest bank behind UBS also fell short in terms of its obligations to tackle alleged corruption while managing “a significant business relationship” with a politically exposed person, according FINMA.

Candidates trade rigging accusations as polls in

Russia’s Far East almost end in a draw

Votes are being counted by a local elections committee in Russia's Primorsky Krai. © Vitaly Ankov / Sputnik

Election officials in Primorsky Krai Region are checking complaints by candidates of violations in the run-off gubernatorial polls after a preliminary count gave victory to the incumbent governor by an extremely narrow margin.

Preliminary results show that the Communist candidate, Andrey Ishchenko, lost to the incumbent governor Andrey Tarasenko by only around half a point – 49.55 percent against 48.06 percent.

This tentative result was unexpected, as Tasarenko garnered almost twice as many votes as Ishchenko in the first round of elections. It was even more striking as the Communist challenger appeared to be leading the run-off race throughout the day, and only started to lose the advantage in the closing phases.

The secretary of the regional elections commission told reporters that the final result of the run-off elections would be announced before September 22. The head of the federal Central Elections Commission, Ella Pamfilova, told RIA Novosti that she was not excluding the possibility that the results of Sunday’s polls could be canceled in some districts or even in the region as a whole, if complaints of violations prove to be true.

Complaints of rigging and manipulation were made by both sides. Ishchenko accused his opponent of rewriting voting protocols in four major cities in the region: Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Ussuriysk and Artyom. A representative of Tarasenko’s election HQ retaliated with similar accusations, telling reporters that monitors had reportedly registered violations in favor of the Communist candidate in Vladivostok and Ussuriysk. The violations allegedly included attempts to bribe voters and obstruct the ballot count.

Ishchenko went on hunger strike on Monday in protest against the alleged voter fraud.

The Local Public Chamber said that the rigging accusations came a surprise to them, as they had registered no such violations in the run-off polls.

An exit poll conducted by the Expert Group think tank also indicated victory for Tarasenko by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.

In the first round of elections that was held on September 9, incumbent governor Andrey Tarasenko got almost double the number of votes accrued by the Communist contender – 46.57 percent to 24.64 percent. However, as none of the candidates got over 50 percent of vote, the run-off election was announced.

In the latest regional parliamentary elections, the United Russia Party took a clear lead by beating its closest competitors, the Communists, by almost 20 percent in the party ticket voting. United Russia's lead in the single-mandate constituencies was even more impressive, as its candidates won in 14 districts, while the Communists gained majority support in just three.