Woke Activists Preventing Government from Confronting Islamic Extremism - Javid

In my limited, informed opinion, Sajid Javid is the most sincere, honest, and intelligent minister in the UK government, and has been for some years.

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'We must not allow woke activists to stop us confronting Islamist extremism,'

says former UK home secretary

30 Nov, 2020 11:13

A British flag flies from a building on Whitehall during a rally against taking military action against Islamic State in Syria,

held outside Downing Street in London, (FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

A prominent British MP has warned against sanitising the deadly "ideological virus" of Islamism, claiming the woke minority are threatening efforts to root out Islamic terrorism.

Writing exclusively for the Telegraph, former home secretary Sajid Javid slammed those who cry "Islamophobia" when Western governments seek to deal with the challenges of Islamist extremism.

Javid, who is himself a Muslim, claimed that Western liberal democracies are under threat from a "grotesque form of separatism" that needs to be confronted. He added that President Emmanuel Macron is right – a reference to the French leader's crackdown on Islamist extremism.   

I believe it is critical that we confront this ideology head on

The MP said that there are people who seek to distract us from the radical nature of their beliefs and sanitise the "ideological virus" of Islamism. He noted that there were efforts to rebrand extremism as "faith-based violence" or irhabi – the Arabic word for terrorist.

Javid also took issue with well-meaning people and woke activists who stand in the way of tackling Islamist extremism and "victim-blame the West and cry Islamophobia."

Confronting the threat requires people to separate Islam from its "grotesque mutation," Javid said. He contended that "there are well-meaning officials who worry that Islamism, a term with credible and established meaning, could be seen as implicating the entire religion of Islam and all its diverse and peaceful adherents."

He added that extremism is flourishing under the current lockdown conditions and that Covid-19 has "not deterred or distracted terrorists in Europe."

Javid's article has engendered considerable debate across social media. Many people support his approach, although some would like to see the government come down harder on Islamism. 

'Severe' Terrorism Threat Alert Doesn't Impress Some Brits

Meanwhile, one Twitter user was less than impressed by Javid's remarks in support of the French president.

The MP's comments come one year after the Fishmongers' Hall attack at London Bridge, which saw terrorist Usman Khan, on day release, murder helpers Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, at a prisoner rehabilitation event.

This year, there has been a rise in Islamist extremist cases referred to the counter-radicalization programme, while a number of high-profile attacks in France and Austria have seen national leaders take a tougher approach to tackling the extremist threat.

Macron's crackdown on Islamist separatism has drawn the ire of 'Muslim leaders around the world', with many calling for a boycott of French goods.

So it seems that it is not just Brits who have difficulty separating Islamic radicals from peaceful Muslims, but 'Muslim leaders around the world' have the same problem. 

I wrote many years ago now, that there would come a time when EU leaders would have to confront terrorism by rooting out the radical Muslims and segregating them from normal society, or from the country. Macron was the first leader to realize that. 

One point Javid misses, however, is the fact that radical Islam eventually rises to the top and peaceful Muslims get drawn into it as the radicals become the majority. This is the real danger here.

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Another EU Country Swinging Back to the Right? Maybe, the Far-Right?

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Far-right anti-EU Estonian finance minister named country’s ‘most influential person’ by major daily newspaper

30 Nov, 2020 14:22

© Reuters / INTS KALNINS

The leader of a popular far-right party has been named Estonia’s most influential person. The award was bestowed on controversial politician Martin Helme by daily newspaper Eesti Paevaleht and web portal Delfi.

Helme, who leads the country’s Conservative People’s Party and sits on the cabinet as minister for finance, has been described by some as a eurosceptic and is critical of Estonia’s membership of the EU. The party, which was founded by Helme’s father Mart Helme, has been accused of being xenophobic and racist, with “fascist neo-Nazi sympathies.” 

According to Eesti Paevaleht, Helme is the “bringer of a new political reality and style,” and has “united his supporters and irritated enemies” in the style of US President Donald Trump.

“He has transformed Estonia into a battleground, where all actors are seen as political pawns, and individuals find they are apparently part of some political gambit,” the newspaper’s editor, Urmo Soonvald, wrote. 

Estonia Designates Hezbollah a Terrorist Organization (4th story on link)

Estonian politicians divided over online voting as minister resigns after claiming US election was manipulated by 'deep state' (4th story on link)

In 2013, Helme made international headlines after saying, “if you’re black, go back,” telling a TV talk show that “Estonia shouldn’t allow things to go as far as in England, France, and Sweden.”

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party came to power following the 2019 election, after gaining 17.8% of the vote and forming a coalition with the Centre Party and the right-wing Isamaa party. 

As well as opposing immigration, Helme and his party oppose LGBT rights. As part of the party’s ‘10 Commandments’, they pledge to get “gay and multicultural propaganda” out of schools, as well as only permitting education to be conducted in Estonian. As things stand, Estonia has a significant Russian population who are educated in the Russian language. The country’s Russian-speaking population is primarily concentrated around Narva, in the east of the country.

It appears George Soros has some serious work to do in Estonia. 

Earlier this month, Helme’s father Mart Helme was forced to resign from his post as interior minister after calling US presidential candidate Joe Biden “corrupt” and saying that Trump would emerge as the winner of the 2020 election.

It would seem that they suspect 'Deep State's' involvement in the American elections.

War on Christianity - LGBTQ Lobby Can't Wait to Begin Destroying Christian Education Facilities

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LGBT group urges Biden to strip accreditation of Christian schools with biblical beliefs

By Jackson Elliott, Christian Post

Friday, November 20, 2020

The campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship seminary for the Southern Baptist Convention,

is located in Louisville, Kentucky. | Facebook/The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

One of the leading national LGBT activist organizations is urging presumptive President-elect Joe Biden and his administration to advance policies that would strip Christian colleges that uphold rules and stances that oppose homosexuality of their accreditation.

The request was part of the Human Rights Campaign’s "Blueprint for Positive Change," a recent document which offers 85 policy and legislative recommendations for a potential Biden administration. The document comes as Biden pledged throughout his 2020 campaign to advance “LGBT equality” in the U.S. and around the world. 

One of the recommendations proposes the elimination of nondiscrimination exemptions for religious colleges if the institutions support biblical definitions of marriage or fail to offer "scientific curriculum requirements."

According to Al Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, losing accreditation would devastate Christian schools.

He argued that a policy like the one HRC is advocating for could force religious institutions “into capitulation.”

In a blog post, Mohler argued that colleges need accreditation from government-approved agencies to show they can give students a useful education. If a school isn’t accredited, other schools often won’t accept transfer credits and employers won’t hire its graduates.

"If the Human Rights Campaign achieves its policy goals, religious institutions will either be coerced into capitulation over fundamental religious and theological doctrines, or they will be marginalized,” he wrote. “This kind of policy goes even further than, for example, attempts to strip federal funding and student aid from institutions that will not surrender to the LGBTQ movement.”

HRC’s reference to science-based curriculum refers to research claims about sexuality, Mohler contends. "In terms of accreditation, that is an atomic bomb," Mohler said. "The Human Rights Campaign is targeting issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, cloaking them in the language of 'science.'"

In the document's introduction, the Human Rights Campaign said Trump misinterpreted the law to favor Christians.

“The [Trump] administration consistently mischaracterizes the law in federal regulations, legal memorandums, and litigation actions,”  the document reads. “These coordinated attacks on civil rights exploit the public’s traditionally limited engagement with federal legal actions and administrative developments, violating the public trust.”

“The Biden administration must unravel these harmful regulations across Departments, reinstitute the strong protections championed by President Obama, and put the U.S. back on the path toward equality for all LGBTQ people,” HRC continued. 

At the expense of equality for Christians, which is the real target of the endeavor. LGBTQs don't want equality; they want control!

The document’s list also includes making refusal to hire people because of their LGBT identity illegal, adding a nonbinary option to passports, allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military and forcing faith-based charities to hire LGBT individuals even when it violates their conscience.

“The Department of Education should issue a regulation clarifying that this provision, which requires accreditation agencies to ‘respect the stated mission’ of religious institutions, does not require the accreditation of religious institutions that do not meet neutral accreditation standards including nondiscrimination policies and scientific curriculum requirements,” the guidance document adds. 

If implemented, HRC’s policy proposal would tie accreditation to support for homosexuality and push Christian schools to the margin, Mohler believes.

"This [request] comes with chilling specificity and clarity. We dare not miss what is at stake," Mohler, who also hosts a podcast, said.

The document also advises that religious schools which request an exemption from nondiscrimination requirements notify the public that they have requested a Title IX exemption. To exercise their religious freedom, schools should have to go through a special process that would mark them as different from other schools, the document suggests.

“Students should have the ability to know which schools have claimed a right to discriminate against them in advance of applying for admission,” the activist group asserts.

HRC argues that schools should also be unable to refer people struggling with their sexual identity to counselors that will help them find peace with their own biology. Additionally, HRC wants the Biden administration to interpret that doing so violates Title IX sex discrimination rules.

“Joe Biden has an incredible opportunity to advance policies to improve the lives of LGBTQ Americans through the public health lens required by the pandemic,” the "blueprint" document reads.

The Christian Post reached out to the Human Rights Campaign and the Democratic Party for comment. Responses were not received by press time. 

"This is an outright attempt to eliminate religious freedom for Christian schools — or for any religious school that refuses to bow to the moral revolutionaries at the Human Rights Campaign," Mohler maintained.  

Islam - Current Day - Boko Haram Horrific Attack; 2 Afghan Car Bombs; Iraqi Refinery Attacked

The Religion of peace is having a very busy weekend

Perhaps their definition of 'peace' is different from ours?

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UN says at least 110 killed in suspected Boko Haram attack in Nigeria

where many victims were beheaded

29 Nov 2020 15:25

The funeral of those killed in suspected Boko Haram in Nigeria’s Borno state. © Reuters

The death toll in a suspected Boko Haram attack on farmers in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday has reached at least 110, a UN humanitarian coordinator in the country said, urging the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

“At least 110 civilians were ruthlessly killed and many others wounded in this attack,” Edward Kallon, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said in a statement. 

The incident was the “most violent direct attack against innocent civilians” in the country in 2020, Kallon pointed out. The perpetrators of this “heinous and senseless” act must be brought to justice, he added.

A group of armed men on motorcycles ambushed the farmers as they went into the rice fields to gather the harvest on Saturday. The bodies of 43 farmers have been recovered after the massacre, with around 30 of them being beheaded. The security forces have been searching the area for those missing.

“Several women” have also been kidnapped by the militants, with Kallon calling for their safe and swift release.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the tactics of the insurgents resembled those used by Islamic State-affiliate Boko Haram, which is responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in Nigeria over the past decade.

The burial ceremony for the 43 victims took place in Zabarmari village on Sunday, attended by hundreds of mourners and Borno state Governor Babagana Zulum.

The bodies were wrapped in white burial shrouds and placed on wooden pallets as the priests led prayers for those killed. During his speech, Zulum called upon the federal government to recruit more security personnel to protect the local farmers, who found themselves “in a very difficult situation.”

“On one side, they stay at home they may be killed by hunger and starvation, on the other, they go out to their farmlands and risk getting killed by the insurgents,” he pointed out.

There’s been a sharp spike in food prices in Nigeria recently caused by flooding, the closure of borders and the activities of militants in agricultural areas.

Borno State

Car bomb kills 30 troops at Afghan base

29 Nov, 2020 08:05 

Afghan security forces © Reuters / Mohammad Ismail

At least 30 security personnel were killed and more than 20 injured when a suicide car bomb hit a military base in Afghanistan early on Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks against the country’s forces in months.

The incident occurred in the main city of the eastern province of Ghazni, which has been plagued by fighting between government troops and Taliban militants. 

The provincial hospital in Ghazni has received 30 bodies and 24 wounded, according to its director, Baz Mohammad Hemat. “All of them are security personnel,” he said. The governor’s office also confirmed the attack.

A suicide bomber detonated “a Humvee vehicle, which was full of explosives,” a security source told local Tolo News website. 

Afghan commandos were reportedly among those stationed at the compound.

No group has so far taken responsibility for the attack.

2nd Suicide bomb

Another suicide attack took place in Qalat, the capital of the southern Zabul Province, early on Sunday. The explosion left three civilians killed and at least 23 others wounded, including four in critical condition, Tolo News reported.

The target of the attack was most likely the head of Zabul’s provincial council, Ata Jan Haqbayan. An attempt to blow up the car in which he had been travelling was made shortly after the official left home for work. Haqbayan escaped with light injuries.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Besides the Taliban, Islamic State has also been active in the country, targeting both security personnel and civilians.

The suicide bombings in Ghazni and Qalat come as US-brokered peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have stalled.

ISIS claims responsibility for rocket attack on Iraqi oil refinery

29 Nov, 2020 19:35

FILE PHOTO: A view of Baiji oil refinery, north of Baghdad, October 16, 2015 © Reuters / Thaier al-Sudani

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that set an oil refinery in northern Iraq on fire. The refinery was previously put out of action by IS during the caliphate’s Iraqi campaign.

Two rockets struck the Siniya refinery on Sunday afternoon, hitting a fuel storage depot and setting the facility ablaze, Reuters reported. Shortly afterwards, Islamic State took responsibility for the attack.

There were no casualties reported, but the blaze halted production at the site.

Production was only restarted at Siniya in 2017, after the facility was damaged by IS militants in their post-2013 expansion across much of Iraq and Syria. A small refinery, Siniya had an output of 20,000 barrels per day before its destruction, a fraction of the 310,000 put out by the nearby Baiji refinery, which is Iraq’s largest. Baiji was also destroyed and looted by IS militants in 2015.

Since the recapture of both facilities by Iraqi security forces, the terrorist group has nevertheless continued to launch sporadic attacks on the two refineries. A bomb blast in 2018 killed one Siniya worker and wounded 11 others, while IS fighters killed three government-backed militia fighters in Baiji that same year. Multiple gun battles have since broken out between IS militants and pro-government forces in the villages surrounding the refineries.

Not quite 100% obliterated!

IS’s expansion was halted by the Iraqi and Syrian governments, as well as the Russian military, Kurdish fighters, Iranian-backed militias, and a US bombing campaign. Though the group has lost all of its territorial gains and is – in the words of US President Donald Trump – “100 percent obliterated,” IS’ adherents continue to periodically launch attacks throughout the Middle East, with a roadside bombing and gun assault near Baiji killing at least six Iraqi security officials and four civilians earlier this month.

Siniya, Iraq

#Ozzone 3-15 > Have you yet seen Jesus in a way you didn’t recognize, a way that is outside your paradigm of Him?

 

The Media is the Message - No Criticizing Biden on CNN; Near Hysteria at Publishers over Jordan Peterson's New Book

It would appear CNN is solidly behind Joe Biden, which might be better than being ultra-progressive. But it might be an indication that CNN will not allow criticism of anyone involved in the Great Reset, ie Deep State. In Canada, none of the MSM news outlets will allow criticism of Justin Trudeau, whereas they had nothing but criticism for Stephen Harper, his predecessor in the PMO.

CNN guest explains why a mayor who protected killer cop from going to jail has no place in Biden cabinet, gets cut seconds later

25 Nov, 2020 08:39

Screenshot © Twitter / @EoinHiggins_

A CNN interview on why progressives are unhappy with Joe Biden’s possible cabinet picks was cut less than a minute after it began, as the guest pointed out that one of the candidates had covered up a murder while in office.

Rahm Emanuel, a star Democratic fundraiser and the former mayor of Chicago, was floated this week as a potential secretary of transport for Biden. After the suggestion was met with a tsunami of anger from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, rumor had it that a “less visible” position would be offered to him instead.

On Tuesday, CNN invited Jamaal Bowman, a progressive New York politician who earlier this year unseated 16-term congressman Eliot Engel in a primary landslide victory, to discuss Biden’s transition and whether there was a “progressive enough” candidate to get his endorsement.

Bowman, who is black, started saying it was “incredibly alarming” that they were considering a person who tried to cover up a murder of a black 17-year-old by a white cop, when the broadcast suddenly froze mid-sentence and was replaced with the CNN logo.

Emanuel is accused of standing in the way of an investigation into the murder of Laquan McDonald. The black teen was gunned down by a Chicago police officer in October 2014, just as Emanuel was fighting an uphill battle for his second term as mayor. Only months after his reelection, a judge forced the release of dashcam footage which became key evidence in the murder trial and conviction of the officer responsible for McDonald’s death. Before its release, no charges had been made in the case.

Leaked emails later showed how the mayor’s office tried to keep the damning video confidential as part of a settlement with the victim’s family. They also indicated that Emanuel was more concerned with his campaign than in serving justice for McDonald.

There is a laundry list of other reasons why progressives hate the idea of Emanuel joining Biden’s administration. To name a few, he pushed for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), mass deportations and the 1994 crime bill, lobbied for bailing out the “too big to fail” banks during the 2008 financial crisis, and shut down dozens of public schools in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods.

Some even suspect that floating his candidacy was meant as a distraction: whichever bland centrist eventually gets the position will be perceived by the progressives as being at least not as awful as Emanuel.

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Rex Murphy: A pathetic display by an anti-Jordan Peterson

woke mob at publishing house

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Should Penguin Random House give so much as an inch on the cardinal idea of free expression,

let it get out of the book trade

Author of the article: Rex Murphy

Publishing date: Nov 25, 2020

National Post

Employees at Jordan Peterson's publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, have objected to the publication of his new book, a followup to his best-selling 12 Rules for Life.

PHOTO BY HOLLIE ADAMS/NEWSPIX/GETTY IMAGES

Axiom 1. The purpose of an enterprise is not to assuage or submit to the immature predispositions of its most self-centred and querulous employees.

Rule 1. Any employees at a publishing house who break down in tears when they hear a certain book is to be published should be kept far, far away from the author’s promotional tour. [Penguin Random House – take note.]

OK. Enough is enough. Who let the toddlers run the day care?

In the unlikely event you haven’t heard, there has been a woke-monsoon at Penguin Random House Canada. Tears were shed. People wept.

Who let the toddlers run the day care?

Details I’ll come to, but first some general principles.

The inanity, silliness, indulgence, narcissism and anti-rationality of the woke mobs have been tolerated and coddled far too long. They should not be listened to. They should be laughed at. And they should never be given the slightest influence or leverage in the major decisions of the company that pays their salaries.

The woke mindset brings nothing to the table. Its principal identifiers are but two: weeping and whining. Both infallibly accompanied by “demands” for the weird thing they call a “safe space,” which may most easily be defined as anywhere they can break out their toys and stage their incessant tantrums.

It is degrading to adult dignity and intellectual integrity to allow a woke mob sway or say over anything. And most emphatically over what may or should be written or said.

The woke mindset brings nothing to the table

The most prominent Canadian intellectual of our day, Jordan Peterson, has a followup book to his incredibly successful, international best-seller, 12 Rules for Life. It sold millions. 12 Rules had an impact that no other book of its kind can pretend to. It rocket-shot Dr. Peterson into world prominence and influence, and was a King Solomon’s mine for its publishers.

And now (this makes the teeth to grind) we hear that Penguin Random House (PRH) has endured one of those Mao-like “thought-sessions” that wokesters put on whenever they sense a wisp of a thought, or a fragment of opinion that injures their eggshell sensibilities, or threatens a dent to their highly-inflated and unendurably fragile self-esteem. The princess and the pea-under-the-mattress is the woke template.

It is reported that staff at PRH held a meeting at which — and this from international headlines the day after — “staffers broke down in tears over release of (a new) Jordan Peterson book.”

What it is, really, is just vanity holding hands with folly

The staff meeting at PRH was described — it is disgraceful to learn this — as a “tearful town hall.” There was an “emotional outcry” from staff and “an effort by employees to pressure the company into cancelling” the release of Dr. Peterson’s new book.

Ah yes, this makes sense; employees at a book company clamouring for a censorship veto over forthcoming books. A little like bread-makers protesting dough. Or dogwalkers allergic to barking.

Emotional outcry? Tearful? People were weeping. Did somebody die? Was a favourite pet run over? This precious bunch whined they “were ambushed” by the news. Ambushed mind you — a very animated verb in this context. Were they lured into the Canyon of Dangerous Books and bombarded from above with blurb-heavy dust jackets? Perilous business this, working at a publisher’s.

What it is, really, is just vanity holding hands with folly. If there are people in full employment at a respected publishing house crying over a book yet to be published, and if there are actual tears rolling down social justice cheeks, because the company they work for has the gift of Jordan Peterson as one of its authors, it is probably too late: but send in the therapists. By the bus load.

What are the accomplishments of the would-be censors compared with Dr. Peterson’s? What are their intellectual attainments compared with his? What have they written, what audiences have they attracted? How many books have they sold?

Biggest question of all: Who do they think they are that they should judge him?

By what standards, intellectual or moral, do those who do not like what Dr. Peterson writes claim the right to shut him down?

Who do they think they are that they should judge him?

Here’s a few more questions I’ll guarantee didn’t come up at the “town hall.”

Do they know more? Have they read more deeply, more widely? Are they as educated as he is? Have they produced work of equal range and force? Do they over-match his intellect?

Just what, besides adolescent cowardice and bluster in the face of notions different from their own shielded and limited half-thoughts, do they have to offer the world?

It is time to be direct about these adolescent displays. The lachrymose venting at Penguin Random House was a pathetic and embarrassing display of over-indulged “activists” and cause-addicts.

Should Penguin Random House give so much as an inch on the cardinal idea of free expression, or bend a knee, so much a single centimetre, to still the clamours of the jejune Pharisees whose salaries it pays, then let it get out of the book trade and go into something honourable like refurbishing used tires.

Somehow, this scene at Penguin Random House reminds me of a child being caught-out in a lie, and because they know not what else to do, they throw a hysterical tantrum and storm off to their room.

Islam - Current Day - Iranians on Trial in Belgium; Aussie Spl Forces War Crimes; Madness in Arabia; Brutal Murder of 4 Christians

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Four Iranians on trial in Belgium over suspected

France bomb plot in European first

27 Nov, 2020 09:29

Police officers are seen before a trial of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, at the court building in Antwerp, Belgium, November 27, 2020. © Reuters / Johanna Geron

An Iranian diplomat and three of his compatriots go on trial in Belgium on Friday after being accused of plotting to bomb an opposition rally outside Paris in 2018, in the first such proceedings in Europe.

The diplomat, Assadolah Assadi, who was formerly based in Vienna, and the three others have been charged by prosecutors in Belgium with planning an attack on a meeting of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The exiled opposition group is headquartered in the French capital.

The trial is scheduled to be held on Friday and then Thursday next week, and if convicted, Assadi, 48, faces life in prison. The diplomat, who has not commented on the charges, was arrested while on holiday in July 2018 in Germany, where he had no immunity from prosecution and was handed over to Belgium.

This is the first time an Iranian official has been put on trial in an EU member state for terrorism.

Two of his suspected accomplices, a couple living in Belgium, had also been arrested Belgium, with police saying they had half a kilo of the explosive TATP and a detonator.

Another alleged accomplice, Mehrdad Arefani, 57, is an Iranian poet who had lived in Belgium for several years. He was arrested in France in 2018.

Belgian authorities said in June 2018 that they had thwarted an attempt to "smuggle explosives" to France to attack the meeting, and later that year, French officials accused Tehran's intelligence service of being behind the operation. Jaak Raes, head of Belgium's state security service (VSSE), said in a letter to the prosecutor in February this year that "the attack plan was conceived in the name of Iran and under its leadership."

France also accused Iran's intelligence ministry of planning the plot and reportedly expelled an Iranian diplomat in retaliation in October 2018.

The assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and officials were frozen in the European Union.

The Islamic Republic has denied the allegations, saying that the "plot" was a stunt by the NCRI, which is labeled a terrorist group in Iran.

13 Australian soldiers receive discharge notices after probe finds

evidence of war crimes in Afghanistan

27 Nov, 2020 07:40

FILE PHOTO: Australian soldiers in southern Afghanistan. October 2009.

© AFP / Australian Department of Defence

The Australian Army said 13 servicemen are facing dismissal and could be referred to the special prosecutor's office set up to study allegations in a report about commandos executing prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan.

"At this time, 13 individuals have been issued administrative action notices in relation to the Afghanistan inquiry," Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr announced. He explained that the servicemen in question have at least two weeks to respond to the notice, which includes a proposal to sack them.

Burr said the army would then study the written responses from the servicemen and consider "individual circumstance" on a case-by-case basis. He added that the soldiers could be later referred to the office of the special prosecutor, which was created to examine the possible prosecution of troops over their conduct in Afghanistan.

NINE Aussie soldiers take their own lives as a war crimes scandal morphs into shambles, with top brass shielded & squaddies blamed

The army did not disclose the names of the soldiers. According to Australian media, the servicemen are from the 2nd Squadron of the Special Air Service Regiment, which was disbanded shortly after the redacted version of the report on Afghanistan was published this month, and the unit's 3rd Squadron.

An official four-year investigation found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 prisoners and civilians during their service in Afghanistan. The shocking details prompted the Australian government and the army to apologize to Kabul and the people of Afghanistan.  

In 2001, Australian troops joined the US-led NATO force to fight Al-Qaeda and the Taliban militants in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.

Saudi Arabia: Man arrested for shooting four members of his family

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The victims were the suspect’s two sisters and cousins

Published:  November 27, 2020 16:19

Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent

Cairo: Saudi police have arrested a man suspected of gunning down four of his family, a media reported said Friday.

The multiple killings occurred in the governorate of Al Qunfudhah, part of the region of Mecca, according to news portal Sabq.

The dead victims were his two sisters and two cousins, including a woman.

The suspect used a machine gun and first killed his male cousin, at a school where the victim worked as a guard.

Afterwards he headed to his house’s two sisters (??) and sprayed them with a volley of bullets in front of their children, according to the report.

He later killed his female cousin before he fled. The suspect’s brother was involved in the crime and was also arrested, Sabq said.

The motive for the crime is not clear yet. Neither the nationality of the suspect or his age was given.

Daesh-linked militants brutally kill 4 Indonesian Christians

Group of sword-and-gun wielding attackers ambushed village in Sulawesi

Published:  November 28, 2020 17:19

Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation, has long wrestled with Islamist militancy and terror attacks, while Central Sulawesi has seen intermittent violence between Christians and Muslims for decades.

Image Credit: REUTERS

Palu, Indonesia: Daesh-linked extremists killed four people in a remote Christian community on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, authorities said Saturday, with one victim beheaded and another burned to death.

The group of sword-and-gun wielding attackers ambushed Lembantongoa village in Central Sulawesi province Friday morning, killing several residents and torching half a dozen homes, including one used for regular prayers and services, police said.

No arrests had yet been made and the motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

But authorities pointed the finger at the Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), one of dozens of radical groups across the Southeast Asian archipelago that have pledged allegiance to Daesh.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation, has long wrestled with Islamist militancy and terror attacks, while Central Sulawesi has seen intermittent violence between Christians and Muslims for decades.

“We reached the conclusion that they (the attackers) were from MIT after showing pictures of its members to relatives of the victims” who witnessed the ambush, said Sigi Regency police chief Yoga Priyahutama.

The makeshift church was empty at the time of the early morning attack by around eight militants, he added. “People were just in their homes when it happened,” Priyahutama said.

Lembantongoa village head Rifai, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said one victim was beheaded and another was nearly decapitated.

One of the other all-male victims was stabbed while a fourth was burned to death in his home, he added.

“Some residents managed to escape, but the victims didn’t make it,” Rifai told AFP.

Indonesia’s Christians have been targeted in the past, including in 2018 when Daesh-linked group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah staged a wave of suicide bombings by families - including young children - at churches in the country’s second-biggest city Surabaya, killing a dozen congregants.

If confirmed to be the work of MIT, Friday’s killings would be its first significant attack since the organisation’s leader was killed four years ago by Indonesia’s elite anti-terror squad, according to Jakarta-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones.

“Through the attack... they want to show that police efforts to arrest and kill members of the group did not have any effect on” them, she said.

In 2018, MIT was believed to have sent radicals posing as humanitarian workers into Central Sulawesi’s quake-tsunami hit Palu city in a bid to recruit new members, Jones said.

Lembantongoa, Central Sulawesi

#Ozzone 3-14 > What controls and dominates you? Is Jesus Lord of all of your life? Or, have you yielded to lusts of the flesh or lusts of the mind?

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Islam - Current Day - Cleric Deported; ISIS in Moscow; Iran Bombers Loosed; 79 Life Sentences in Turkey; 4 Teens Charged in Paris; Antisemitism 3x Worse than Islamophobia

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Australia strips Muslim cleric of citizenship in unprecedented move

25 Nov, 2020 10:15

FILE PHOTO: Abdul Nacer Benbrika ©  AP Photo / AuBC via APTN

Abdul Nacer Benbrika has become the first person to be stripped of his Australian citizenship while still in the country after the government decided that he poses a “significant terrorist threat.”

It is the first time that an individual has lost their citizenship while still in the country. Australian law allows the government to strip a person of their citizenship if they are dual citizens. Benbrika is believed to have retained his Algerian citizenship and he will, therefore, not be left stateless by the move.

Announcing the decision, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told reporters: “If it’s a person who’s posing a significant terrorist threat to our country, then we’ll do whatever is possible within Australian law to protect Australians.” 

Australia’s Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that the country’s opposition party supports the government’s action, as a “necessary step in certain circumstances.” 

Benbrika was convicted on three terrorism charges in 2009 and is serving 15 years in Australian prison for intentionally being the leader and a member of a terrorist organization, as well as possessing material associated with the planning of a terrorist act.

While he is eligible for release next month, Benbrika remains in an Australian prison, as the country’s law allows people convicted of terrorism offenses to be detained for up to three years after their sentence ends. 

Benbrika’s legal team is currently appealing his continued detention. Following the revocation of his citizenship, he has 90 days to appeal the cancellation of his visa and return to Algeria. Algiers has not yet commented on the recent developments. 

Australia previously used its legal ability to revoke citizenship in 2019, stripping it from Neil Prakash, who is imprisoned in Turkey and accused of being an Islamic State recruiter.

Russia's FSB finds explosive device in raids on Islamic State followers in Moscow,

says they planned terror attacks

25 Nov, 2020 11:18

Russia’s Federal Security Service (the FSB) announced the arrest of followers of Islamic State, on Wednesday. The terrorist group is banned in Russia.

Footage from the operation shows special forces entering apartments and detaining suspects. The images also show a homemade bomb being disarmed by a robot.

As explained by the FSB’s Public Relations Center, the arrested parties planned to commit “acts of sabotage and terrorism in the Moscow Region.” It linked one of the suspects to an already ongoing investigation in the Vladimir Region, east of the capital. Without giving his nationality, the security service described him as “Central Asian.”

“In the course of the investigation, at the places where the radical Islamists were located, an improvised explosive device, as well other items and documents, were found and seized,” the press release said.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, around five people were detained, and one already admitted his involvement in a planned attack. In a published video, the man tells the FSB officers that there is a bomb in a plastic bag in the apartment.

Last month, the FSB reported the arrest of another IS follower in the Moscow Region. According to the agency, the man was found with parts of an explosive device, correspondence with militants discussing a planned terrorist attack, a revolver and a flag of the Islamic State.

Three Iranian bomb plotters freed by Thailand in apparent exchange for release of Australian-British 'spy' scholar

26 Nov, 2020 08:19

(L) Thai prison officers escort Saeid Moradi during trial in Bangkok in 2012. © REUTERS / Chaiwat Subprasom; (R) Kylie Moore-Gilbert © AP Image / Handout via REUTERS

Thailand has given the green light to transfer three people serving sentences for plotting a bombing to Iran. The move is an apparent exchange for Tehran releasing an Australian-British academic convicted of espionage charges.

The prisoner swap was first reported on Wednesday, when the Iranian government agreed to release 33-year-old Kylie Moore-Gilbert. She was serving a 10-year prison sentence after being tried and convicted as an Israeli spy in 2018. 

Iranian media said her release was made in exchange for securing the freedom of three Iranian citizens, who were held in a foreign prison. The identity of those people was not reported. Footage broadcast by Iranian television showed a group of three men, one of them in a wheelchair, with their faces covered by masks and large hats. Some sources on social media said they were Saeed Moradi, Mohammad Khazaei and Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh, who were serving terms in Thailand for illegal possession of explosives and other crimes.

The group was busted in 2012 after a powerful explosion happened in a rented house in which they were staying. Media said that Thai police were tipped off by Israeli intelligence, who said the Iranians were preparing a bombing attack against Israeli diplomats in Bangkok. Moradi lost his legs while trying to flee the police, reportedly after trying to toss a grenade at officers. Israel at the time said the botched plot was part of a series of attacks by Iran's government, which also included bombings in India and Georgia.

Moore-Gilbert is a Cambridge-educated scholar of Islamic studies, who worked as a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Iran said she had received training in espionage from Israeli intelligence and attempted to gather classified materials on Iran's economic and military affairs during her second visit to the country. She was arrested in September 2018 as she was leaving Tehran.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she was "extremely pleased and relieved" by Moore-Gilbert's release, while reiterating that her government was rejecting the grounds for her arrest and conviction. The academic denied any wrongdoing and staged several hunger protests during her incarceration.

The prisoner exchange comes at a time highly perilous for Iran, which remains in the crosshairs of the presumably outgoing Trump administration. The US president reportedly sought options for attacking the Islamic Republic within weeks. Israeli military are said to be preparing for a possible military conflict, should the US president decide to act against Iran's nuclear facilities.

The Trump administration broke the US' commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and subjected the country to a so-called "maximum pressure" campaign with the stated goal of extracting better concessions from Tehran. The Iranian government has not caved in despite the economic hardship caused by the US sanctions.

F-16 pilots get up to 79 life sentences each for bombing police & parliament building in Ankara during 2016 coup attempt

26 Nov, 2020 09:39

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey building in Ankara on July 16, 2016, after it was bombed during an attempted coup.

© Getty Images / Anadolu / Bulent Uzun

A Turkish court has handed life sentences to former military commanders and fighter jet pilots who bombed police compounds and the parliament building in Ankara during a failed coup.

The court in Ankara delivered the verdicts against 475 defendants, 365 of whom had been detained.

Several former military officials and civilians individually received up to 79 life sentences for their role in the failed coup. A former brigadier general was sentenced to life in prison for providing fuel for F-16 jet fighters flown by the insurgents, while several of his colleagues received a similar sentence for instructing the pilots to strike specific targets in the capital.

The pilots were likewise sentenced to life in prison for bombing police sites, the Turkish Parliament building and a state broadcasting company in the country’s capital. In one ruling, a former F-16 pilot received 16 life sentences for killing 15 people near the presidential compound.

Another defendant, a former brigadier general, was handed a life sentence for detaining a military police chief during the coup.

Turkish courts previously sentenced 121 people to life in prison for their role in the coup in June and 151 last year.

On July 15, 2016, elements of the Turkish Armed Forces tried to seize control over key sites in Ankara, Istanbul and several other locations across the country, but were quickly overpowered. The government accused dissident cleric Fethullah Gulen of staging the coup. Gulen, who has lived in self-exile in the US since 1999, denied the allegations. 

The Gulen movement is considered to be a terrorist group by Turkey. Security forces regularly conduct raids against the cleric’s supporters in different parts of the country.

France charges four teenagers in relation to beheading of Samuel Paty

26 Nov, 2020 13:46

FILE PHOTO: People gather at the Place de la Republique in Paris, to pay tribute to Samuel Paty, the French teacher

who was beheaded on the streets of the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France, October 18, 2020.

©  REUTERS / Charles Platiau

Four teenagers have been charged in France in relation to the murder of Samuel Paty, including three who allegedly identified the teacher to his killer before he was beheaded in a street near his school.

The three individuals, aged between 13 and 14, are charged with complicity in a terrorist murder. The fourth teenager, who is the daughter of the parent who launched an online campaign against Paty, is charged with slanderous denunciation.

Due to their age, French law prohibits the publication of the pupils’ names.

Paty was killed by 18-year-old Chechen Islamist extremist Abdullakh Anzorov after showed his students cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, published in satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, during a lesson on free speech.

The brutal murder sparked outrage in France and restarted a debate about free expression in a country that has been plagued by acts of religious extremism in recent years, with terrorist attacks having taken the lives of more than 250 people since 2015.

Seven people were initially charged following the killing, including two students and a parent of one of Paty’s pupils. Six were charged with complicity in a terrorist murder, while one was accused of having close contact with the murderer and associating with a terrorist.

All of the suspects, except the two minors, aged 14 and 15, were remanded in custody. In response to the crime, French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to crack down on violence and radical Islam in a move that has led to backlash from majority-Muslim countries, who have accused the political leader of scapegoating their religion.

Nearly 1/4 of hate crimes in Europe last year were anti-Semitic,

new OSCE report shows

26 Nov, 2020 11:45

A giant menorah before its illumination during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in Berlin. December 2019.

© Reuters / Michele Tantussi

Attacks against the Jews accounted for roughly 25 percent of the hate crimes recorded by the OSCE's human rights watchdog across Europe last year.

The new data was compiled in the annual report by the Office for the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Out of 6,694 hate incidents recorded in Europe and Central Asia last year, 1,704 were anti-Semitic. This was the category with the second-largest number of incidents after 3,033 instances listed under the more general "racism and xenophobia" category.

The third-largest group was bias based on sexual orientation or gender identity (1,278 cases), followed by bias against Christians (577) and Muslims (511).

The data was collected using reports from 39 countries, nearly 150 civil society groups, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migrations, and OSCE missions.

Authorities in countries like France and Germany have been sounding the alarm on the sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts in recent years. The worrying trend was oftentimes attributed to the spike in popularity of various far-right and neo-Nazi groups.

UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, warned in April about religious leaders and politicians who were exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to "spread hatred against Jews and other minorities."

"It is imperative for the civil society organizations and faith-based actors to signal a zero-tolerance policy towards anti-Semitism online and offline," Shaheed said. 

No doubt that a lot of those numbers are due to a rise in far-right and neo-Nazi groups. But, I'm sure some of it is due to the rise in the numbers of Muslims in Europe. It's curious why this study didn't include the likely perpetrators of the events, then we might not have to guess.

Regardless of who is responsible, there is a definite rise in antisemitism in some European governments, and much of that is because of the ever-increasing numbers of Muslims and politicians wanting to secure their votes. This problem will just keep getting worse.

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Corruption is Everywhere - Especially in the Narco State of Mexico, and It Goes Right to the Top

..

Mexican authorities discover 113 bodies in Jalisco mass grave

By Daniel Uria

At least 113 bodies were found in a mass grave in Mexico's Jalisco state following a nearly two-month long excavation.

Photo by Francisco Guasco/EPA-EFE

Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Mexican authorities discovered at least 113 bodies in a mass grave in Jalisco state, state attorney Gerardo Octavio Solis said.

During a news conference Sunday, Solis said 30 of the bodies had been identified, including 28 men and two women.

The grave was located in the El Salto municipality, southeast of the state capital Guadalajara. 

Authorities also said an additional 25 bodies have been found at another mass grave at Ixlahuacan de los Membrillo, nearly 19 miles south of El Salto.

A spokesman for the state's attorney's office told CNN they began excavating the grave on Oct. 1.

Jalisco is the base of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration deemed one of Mexico's "most powerful and fastest growing" drug cartels.

Jalisco authorities have exhumed 897 bodies from mass graves from 2006 to Sept. 30, 2020.

Mexico arrests cartel mastermind of Mormon massacre

which killed nine

A total of 17 suspects have been arrested in connection with the slaughter in Nov. 2019

The Associated Press 

Posted: Nov 25, 2020 6:31 PM ET

Nine members of the LeBaron family were murdered in the Sonora mountains in Mexico last year and

the alleged mastermind was arrested on Wednesday. (Herika Martinez/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexico's army and federal prosecutors said Wednesday they have arrested the purported mastermind of the killings a year ago of three women and six children from a well-known Mexican-American family, the LeBarons, on a rural road in the northern state of Sonora.

The suspect was identified only by his first name, "Roberto," in line with Mexican law against incrimination.

Another source IDs the massacre suspect as Roberto González, the plaza boss of La Línea in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua

The agencies said the suspect was arrested Monday along with two other men near the town of Nuevo Casas Grandes in the northern border state of Chihuahua. They had two rifles, three pistols and marijuana in their vehicle, officials said.

The three men were described as members of a drug cartel, but the agencies did not say which one. However, in the past, officials have attributed the killings to the Juarez cartel or its offshoot La Linea gang.

A total of 17 suspects have now been arrested in connection with the November 2019 ambush killings.

Members of local Mormon communities and relatives of the extended Le Baron family attended the funeral in Le Baron, Mexico last year. (Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Landau wrote in his Twitter account that the arrests represented "excellent cooperation between the authorities of both countries," though he did not say what role the United States played.

"There will be justice!" Landau wrote.

The mostly bilingual American-Mexicans have lived in northern Mexico for decades and consider themselves Mormons, though they are not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

More corruption accusations fly as ex-minister tries to make a deal

Rosario Robles accuses ex-finance minister of masterminding huge fraud scheme

Published on Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Mexico News Daily

The previous federal government left office almost two years ago but some of the many corruption scandals that plagued it have life in them yet and could result in the imprisonment of former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s right-hand man.

Media attention this week has focused on the so-called “Master Fraud” embezzlement scheme in which government departments allegedly diverted billions of pesos to shell companies via public universities.

The highest-profile former official who has been arrested in connection with the scheme is Rosario Robles, who served as both minister of social development and minister of agrarian development in Peña Nieto’s 2012-2018 government.

Videgaray and Robles in better days

 

A lawyer for Robles, who remains in custody in a Mexico City prison, claimed this week that former finance and foreign affairs minister Luis Videgaray was in charge of the fraud scheme and used it to divert public funds to political campaigns of the then-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Sergio Arturo Ramírez said his client will cooperate with the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and provide details about Videgaray’s involvement.

His claims were met with a firm denial from the former finance minister, who also faces accusations of wrongdoing related to a corruption scheme involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

Good grief! Who isn't involved in corruption schemes with Odebrecht?

Peru's Ex-President Toledo Denies Taking $20M in Bribes

Peru's President Kuczynski Refuses to Resign over Corruption Allegations

Ecuador's Vice President to be Tried on Bribery Charges

Robles, who was jailed over a year ago, took to Twitter on Tuesday (going online is apparently not a problem in the Santa Martha prison) to announce that she had agreed to become a “collaborating witness” in the “Master Fraud” case.

“For now it’s the only thing I can say. … I’ve instructed my lawyers to abide by the legal process. What I must say is that I will speak the truth,” she wrote.

Is she suicidal? Will she live long enough to tell the truth?

Robles added that she had asked her lawyers to seek an agreement with the authorities, apparently indicating that she is prepared to talk in exchange for acquittal or a reduction in any jail sentence she might receive.

“There will surely be those who deny the facts but the proof will speak [for itself],” she wrote.

Robles’ decision to cooperate with authorities came after it was revealed that she would face organized crime and money laundering charges in addition to being accused of improper exercise of public office.

Perhaps complicating her attempt to get out of jail are claims made by Emilio Zebadúa Gonzále, who was a high-ranking bureaucrat in the Ministry of Social Development (Sedesol) when it was led by Robles.

According to the newspaper El Universal, Zebadúa – who is also accused of involvement in the “Master Fraud” – told the FGR that Robles met with colleagues every week to plot the diversion of public funds via the embezzlement scheme.

Emilio Zebadúa claims that weekly meetings were held to plot the diversion of public funds.

Zebadúa also told the FGR that Robles and former Sedesol chief Ramón Sosamontes personally received cash that shell companies had received from public universities that were awarded government contracts.

The former official said that Sedesol and the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Urban Planning, which Robles headed up in the second half of the previous government’s term, diverted more than 1.2 billion pesos.

Zebadúa said Robles told him that Videgaray had explained to her that Sedesol needed to divert resources to pay for debts incurred and arrangements made during Peña Nieto’s 2012 presidential campaign. Videgaray was the ex-president’s campaign manager.

Former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya, who also worked on Peña Nieto’s campaign, has accused the former finance minister of striking corrupt agreements with Odebrecht in order to obtain millions of dollars in funding for the 2012 presidential bid.

Videgaray rejected Lozoya’s accusations against him in August, and took to Twitter again on Tuesday to respond to the claims made by Robles’ lawyer.

“I deeply regret that Rosario Robles is baselessly choosing to accuse me to try to get out of her legal situation,” he said in a statement posted to his Twitter account.

Videgaray said that he understands the “extraordinarily difficult” situation Robles is in but asserted that “desperation cannot be justification for lying and incriminating innocent people. That mustn’t be the path to obtain her freedom,” he wrote.

“Rosario Robles can say many things but what she won’t be able to do is prove lies. I didn’t have any participation, direct or indirect, in the so-called Master Fraud,” Videgaray said.

“As a public servant I always acted within the legal framework and the only evidence that has emerged against me with respect to the alleged diversion of public resources are statements of people [Robles and Lozoya] who want to evade responsibility,” he wrote.

“I was never the boss of Rosario Robles. As cabinet colleagues we were equals – there was never a relationship of subordination between us. Neither her nor her co-workers received instructions from me.”

Despite his denials, government officials who spoke with the newspaper Milenio say the FGR already has sufficient evidence against Videgaray for him to go to jail. Information to be provided by Robles is only expected to strengthen the Attorney General’s Office’s case.

President López Obrador said earlier this month that the FGR had sought an arrest warrant for Videgaray in connection with the Odebrecht case but was blocked by a judge. It is currently preparing a new warrant request for the former cabinet minister, who – according to the statement he issued Tuesday – remains in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In a document that accompanied its first request for an arrest warrant for Videgaray, the FGR accused Peña Nieto of leading and personally benefiting from a criminal scheme within his government that paid bribes to lawmakers and committed treason.

However, it is not currently seeking to arrest the former president. There is a possibility that the FGR could seek to do so if a majority of citizens vote in favor of putting past presidents on trial for alleged wrongdoings at a referendum planned for next year.

Narco-submarine abandoned off Oaxaca coast

Published on Monday, November 23, 2020

Mexico News Daily

An anonymous tip led navy personnel to an abandoned makeshift submarine on the Oaxaca coast that is believed to have belonged to drug traffickers operating between South America and Mexico.

It is not known which criminal organization it belonged to and neither people nor drugs were found on the vessel, which had appeared near the town of Barra de la Cruz, located about 30 kilometers east of Huatulco.

Drug traffickers frequently use various marine routes to transport a myriad of drugs from Central and South America to destinations all over Mexico within five to 15 days. Authorities believe that in this case, traffickers were intending to transport cocaine or amphetamines on the submersible vessel.

Intending? Looks to me like they did.

It first became evident that cartels were building DIY submarines to transport drugs by sea in 2005. Authorities believe the submarines are built in Columbia, Ecuador or Guyana.

In December 2019, a submarine carrying over a tonne of cocaine bound for Mexico was caught off the coast of Peru with a Columbian, Ecuadorian, and a Mexican aboard. At the time, authorities said the vessel had been loaded in Ecuador near the border with Peru and that it was the first such drug-trafficking submarine ever caught in Peru.

According to the country’s anti-drug agency, the majority of Peru’s cocaine is exported via maritime routes.

Barra de la Cruz, MX