Everyone is Welcome in Trudeau's Canada, Even ISIS Executioners

If self-confessed ISIL killer is not held accountable, who will be?

Iraqi fighters of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation units) stand next to a wall bearing the ISIL flag as they enter the city of al-Qaim, in Iraq's western Anbar province near the Syrian border, Nov. 3, 2017. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

John Ivison

OTTAWA — Listening to the New York Times Caliphate podcast is a harrowing experience. The most recent episodes feature a Canadian ISIL fighter, recounting in graphic detail how he executed two men in cold blood.

Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi, his nom de guerre, talked in a disconcertingly bland North American accent about being taught how to behead people. “You had to know how to slice a head off,” he said.

He then depicted a group execution, in which he shot a middle-aged Muslim man in the back of the head. “It’s justified – you’re not going to be held accountable,” he said he told himself.

On another occasion, he took part in a community killing, stabbing a drug dealer in the heart. “The blood was warm and it sprayed everywhere,” he said. “I had to stab him multiple times.”

He said the second killing left him feeling “disgusted” and determined to return to his parents in Canada. He escaped to Turkey, and then on to his grandparents’ home in Pakistan. He eventually made his way home to Canada, telling immigration authorities at the airport that he’d spent the past 10 months at university in Pakistan. “I said it in a way so that it didn’t seem I was lying,” he said.

The only positive in all this is that he said he would never return to a life of violence. “No, I’ve come too far from it,” he said.

But, regardless of his conversion to a more harmonious world-view, it should not be overlooked that there is a self-confessed killer on the loose in Canada’s biggest city – one who lied to immigration officials to get into the country.

Actually, most murderers don't plan on repeating the act. That doesn't absolve them of responsibility for what they've done.

The case was raised in the House of Commons on Friday, the day after the podcast was released. Conservative MP Candice Bergen wondered how the government is not doing something about an individual who speaks so freely to the media.

Ralph Goodale, the Public Safety Minister, said he couldn’t discuss operational matters on the floor of the House but that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP are “taking all the necessary steps to ensure that justice is enforced”.

Let’s hope that Huzaifa has said enough to incriminate himself and that he is made to answer for his crimes.

Not all cases are as open and shut. As Global News’ Stewart Bell revealed Monday, Canada’s strategy for managing returning jihadis is fraught with problems.

Documents released to Bell under the Access to Information Act suggest that criminal charges are unlikely to be brought against returning ISIL fighters because they require evidence of the individual’s activity in the war-zone, or because they rely on information provided by partners that the RCMP is not authorized to disclose in court.

This is the “intelligence to evidence” conundrum that has meant only a couple of prosecutions have proceeded in recent years.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, April 26, 2018. Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The government says around 60 Canadian extremists have returned from Syria and Iraq, although academic Amarnath Amarasingam claims the figure is much lower – “no more than 10 at most”.

And yet, why would the government exaggerate the number? That makes no sense.

The United Kingdom has revoked the citizenship of ISIL fighters so they can’t return, while other countries like France and the U.S. have tried to make sure that any foreign fighters who joined ISIL die on the battlefield. But Canadians have a “right to return”, according to the briefing note provided for Goodale.

“Therefore, even if a Canadian engaged in terrorist activity abroad, the government must facilitate their return to Canada,” the document says.

The returning terrorists are managed by a group within government called the High Risk Returnee Interdepartmental Taskforce, which tries to mitigate the threat.

The RCMP document obtained by Bell suggests officers may travel overseas to collect evidence, or undercover officers could engage with the returnee to collect evidence and monitor them. The RCMP can send intervention teams to engage with the returnee and their family, to help them disengage from their past behaviour.

The hope is that, like Huzaifa, they have become disillusioned with their cause. But the documents offer a stark assessment – some terrorists do not fear prosecution or death.

And consequently, they do not fear or respect Canadian laws or codes of moral conduct!

The Charter changes everything in Canada. British defence secretary Gavin Williamson sparked a debate in the U.K. after he said a “dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain”. Opinion polls suggested that 35 per cent of Britons felt jihadis should be treated as enemy combatants, making them legitimate targets, 42 per cent favoured stripping them of citizenship and only 11 per cent said they should be brought home to face sentencing and rehabilitation.

With the first two options off the table for the Canadian government, prosecution, monitoring and rehabilitation are the only tools left in the kit.

And, of course, Canadians will have no say in it because Justin knows best what is good for Canadians. And no-one in Justin's Canada is going to have their feelings hurt by the government, except Christians.

The vast majority of Canadians favour prosecution but cautious intelligence agencies and wary prosecutors mean the Public Prosecution Service has only charged two individuals to date.

The Huzaifa case is surely an opportunity to improve that strike rate.

Contrary to his own assertion as he pulled the trigger, the law demands he is held accountable.

If the justice system won’t prosecute in such an apparent slam-dunk case, what chance convictions in more contentious litigation?

Sweden Eyes Doubling Military Budget by 2035, Citing Russian Bogeyman

The New Normal - Sweden, going broke playing NATO's game

Preparations for Aurora 17 field exercise in Skovde, Sweden. © Bjorn Larsson Rosvall / Reuters

The Swedish armed forces have called for military spending and the number of servicemen to be more than doubled by 2035 to combat future challenges, with Russia listed as the main one.

The plan is to increase the annual military budget from the current 53 billion kronor ($6.5 billion) to around 115 billion kronor ($14 billion) in seventeen years. The report, formally called the ‘perspective study,’ was published on Thursday and is yet to be submitted to Sweden’s parliament. The paper also argues that it is necessary to boost staff numbers from 50,000 people today to around 120,000 people by 2035. 

The main conclusions section of the report starts with Russia and has several paragraphs devoted to the threat it poses. “Russia has through its action in Georgia in 2008, as well as in the Crimea and in East Ukraine in 2014, showed that it does not hesitate to use military force to achieve its political goals,” the report stated.

The Swedish Army’s report also mentions that Moscow plans “to increase their military capabilities after 2020” and to strengthen the ability to “rapidly mobilize” for “offensive operations” in the near future. The report says Sweden will “inevitably” find itself in the middle of a conflict zone if Russia comes into conflict with NATO.

It is inevitable because NATO seems determined to make it happen. Bear in mind that this report is written by RT and therefore has a definite Russian slant. But also consider that NATO has been as much, if not more of an aggressor in the region than Russia. Also, keep in mind that Sweden is a very long way from the Black Sea.

It should be a concern to Swedes that billions of kronor might be wasted on the military, much of which will end up in the hands of arms merchants - those same people who control NATO and many other western countries. 

Sweden's budget is already being pushed by the extraordinary expenses related to integrating migrants. As Germany pointed out the other day, waves of radical Muslims are headed to their prisons. Prisons are very expensive and radical Muslims within them will be very difficult to deal with safely. 

Russia is expected to have “the greatest impact on the security policy situation in the Baltic Sea area,” according to the paper.

The “irrational myth about the almighty Russian threat” was recently criticized by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Munich Security Conference. A day before delivering his speech there, Lavrov told Euronews that “only an inflamed imagination” could come up with the idea that Moscow was about to attack the Baltic or Poland, but Russophobic rhetoric in the West never seems to abate.

An EU-established independent international fact-finding mission concluded that the war in South Ossetia in 2008 “started with a massive Georgian artillery attack” and that “there was no ongoing armed attack by Russia before the start of the Georgian operation.” It also found “no evidence to support any claims that Russian peacekeeping units in South Ossetia were in flagrant breach of their obligations.” 

Crimea reunited with Russia in spring 2014 after the move was overwhelmingly approved in a snap referendum. The popular vote was prompted by a violent coup in Kiev, and the almost immediate offensive on regions in the country’s southeast, where locals refused to recognize the newly imposed regime.

Suspected Hand Grenade Attack on Police Station in Malmo, Sweden

The New Normal - Swedish Police under fire

FILE PHOTO © Johan Nilsson / Reuters

A loud bang has been heard at the police station in the Swedish city of Malmo. The explosion was caused by a hand grenade, according to news reports.

"The place is locked off and the bombing group is on its way," police spokeswoman Anna Goransson was quoted as saying by Aftonbladet.

The alleged attack happened shortly after 9pm local time in the courtyard of the police station. "Fortunately, no people have been injured, but cars, I cannot say how many, have been damaged," Goransson told reporters.

Authorities have yet to confirm what caused the explosion, but local media are reporting that a hand grenade was used.

Police have not confirmed any arrests so far, but Aftonbladet's photographer said two people have been taken into custody. The detonation took place just as the two suspects approached the station, according to reports.

Police have been placed on high alert with armed officers deployed to strategic locations around Malmo.

As the investigation gets underway, local media and authorities have sketched possible connections with a recent spate of attacks on police stations in Sweden. On December 29, a police car was destroyed outside a police station in Malmo. In October, a powerful explosion outside the police station in Helsingborg also caused significant material damage. 

Following Wednesday night's attack, the Police Association tweeted that "attacks against police must end."

Yeah, I'm sure that will help!

Regional police chief Carina Persson called the attack "completely unacceptable," after visiting the scene of the explosion. "We must continue to work intensively in the fight against the serious crime," she said, vowing to punish the perpetrators.

Earlier, Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said deploying the military to clamp down on organized and violent crime remained an option, local media reported.

While authorities in Malmo have yet to confirm any links to terrorism, Sweden's Security Police (SAPO) warned that "terrorism levels in Sweden remain at an elevated level." The violent Islamist extremism currently represents the most significant threat to Sweden, SAPO's Anders Thornberg said referring to the most recent terror threat evaluation conducted by the National Center for Terrorism Assessment. "Lonely perpetrators" continue to pose the biggest terrorist threat. "The violent extremist environment in Sweden currently comprise about 3000 hot actors," he said. In a society where "radicalization can be done very quickly," perpetrators can evade the security radar, Thornberg noted.

And then there are the many gangs, mainly migrants and Muslim immigrants responsible for the dramatic increase in rapes, gang-rapes, extortions and murders in Sweden. It was in this context that Lofven mentioned the military as a possibility.

But 3000 hot actors???!!! What is being done to cool them down or get rid of them? Are they merely being watched, because Sweden does not have enough police to watch 3000 hot actors, not even close. Are prisons segregating radicalized Muslims from the rest of the population? If not, they are just breeding grounds for Islamic Insanity.

What's the plan here, Stefan?

‘Nobody is Safe’: French Parliament Backs Controversial Anti-Terrorism Law

The New Normal - en Francais

© Charles Platiau / Reuters

The French parliament has approved a new anti-terrorist bill, criticized by human rights activists as restrictive of civil liberties. Ahead of the vote, France’s interior minister Gerard Collomb said that “nobody is safe” in the country as “it is still in a state of war.”

The parliament's lower house, the National Assembly, passed the new legislation in the first reading.

The new bill, which seeks to increase law enforcement powers in the fight against terrorism, was supported by 415 lawmakers, with 127 voting against it.

It extends the powers of the Interior Ministry, which will be able to set up security zones without the approval of a judge.

Inside the zones, the movement of people and vehicles can be restricted and searches can be conducted. Police will also be given wider powers to raid private property with judicial approval.

Electronic surveillance tags might be imposed on those regarded as a threat to national security, while officials will also have more power to close down places of worship deemed by intelligence agencies as inciting violence or justifying terrorism.

The new bill is regarded by many as a conversion into common law of emergency measures, which have been in place in France since late 2015. The state of emergency, introduced following the Paris attacks in November that year, is set to be lifted on November 9.

In other words, these are not new measures, but simply the entrenchment of emergency measures into every-day law - the New Normal!

"The level of threat in France is extremely high," Collomb said earlier in the day, adding that the country remains "in a state of war."

"Those who thought... that we should loosen the capacity of our services to gather information, were mistaken because yes we are still in a state of war even if Daesh have experienced military defeats," Collomb said in an interview with France Inter radio.

France's new anti-terrorism bill expanding police powers has been criticized by human rights groups as restrictive of certain civil liberties. The minister argued "nobody is safe" in France, also referring to a recent incident in which a number of people were arrested in what appeared to be a failed bombing attempt in central Paris.

Police have revealed that over the weekend a resident of an apartment building in the affluent 16th arrondissement had alerted authorities to suspicious activity. What appeared to be a ready-to-detonate bomb was discovered, while a person who had been under government surveillance for radicalism was confirmed to be among the detained suspects.

“Planning to blow up a building in a chic district of Paris – is this not a sign that nobody is safe? This [shows] it can happen anywhere in France,” the interior minister said.

Collomb also criticized other countries lacking surveillance systems “like the one in France” and called for wider information exchange and cooperation within Europe to reinforce anti-terrorism measures.

“A number of countries do not have the systems and the level of surveillance that we know in France. We believe it is us who have made Europe a strong Europe on its borders, while a number of [other European] countries do not have that kind of organization,” the French minister claimed.

France has seen some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Europe in the past years. Over 200 people have been killed since early 2015 by assailants having pledged allegiance to or been inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group. In a series of coordinated attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015 alone, 130 people were killed by IS terrorists. On Bastille Day in 2016, a truck was driven into crowds of people celebrating in Nice, killing 86 and injuring over 450.

16th Arrondissement, Paris

Terrorism, or The Fear of Terrorism is The New Normal for The West

France

2 Women murdered, terrorist shot dead

French soldiers shoot dead knife attacker who, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’, killed 2 in Marseille

Two people have been killed during a knife attack at a Marseille train station, according to police. The assailant, who was reportedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ was shot dead by an army patrol at the scene.

The incident took place at the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille on Sunday, when a man attacked passers-by with a knife. One person was killed by the assailant at the scene, while another succumbed a short while after, according to police chief Olivier de Mazières.

The attacker, who was reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar,” was shot dead by an army patrol. At least two shots were fired, local media reported, citing witnesses. The attacker is described as a man in his late twenties, who was not carrying any ID. The investigation team is currently running his fingerprints through their databases. The initial findings indicate that the attacker was known to the police as a common criminal, local media report citing police sources.

Both of the attacker’s victims were women, the French interior ministry said.  One of the victims had her throat slit, while the other was stabbed in her stomach, French media report, citing police sources. The victims were 17 and 20-years-old, according to media reports.

The incident is being treated as a “terrorist act” and anti-terror prosecutors have launched an investigation, BFM TV reports, citing the prosecutor’s office.

The authorities have praised the soldiers who killed the assailant for their swift actions which prevented more casualties.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has denounced the “barbarous” attack, sending his condolences to the relatives of the two victims. “Deeply upset by this barbarous act, I share the pain of the families and relatives of the victims of Marseille,” Macron tweeted. “I salute the soldiers of Sentinel and the police officers who reacted with composure and efficiency.”

“We have generally avoided these sort of attacks in Marseille,” regional president Renaud Muselier told BFM TV at the site of the attack. “I think the security services responded extremely quickly. It's difficult to do more because when you see the distance between the two bodies and the attacker it's only 10 meters, so they intervened quickly.”

"If the military had not been there, we would have had a lot more deaths," lawmaker for the Marseille region Samia Ghali told France Bleu Province radio.

The army patrol which shot the knife-wielding attacker is a part of Operation Sentinel, aimed to bolster country’s security. The operation was launched amid a national state of emergency, which was declared following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. The events were the deadliest terrorist acts in country’s history, and left over 130 people dead.

There has been lately a surge in the so-called “lone-wolf” attacks, similar to the today’s incident in Marseille. The Sentinel patrols themselves have also been targeted by terrorists, as at least seven attacks on patrolling soldiers have taken place.

Despite the state of emergency, which has been renewed six times so far, the country still experiences frequent terrorism-related incidents. The latest extension was in July and is expected to last until November 1.

And, almost certainly will be extended again and again. This is the New Normal for France.

Canada

Five hurt as Edmonton attacks spark terror investigation

By Madison Park, CNN

(CNN)Canadian authorities say two incidents in Edmonton are being investigated as acts of terrorism after a man struck a police officer with a car before stabbing him and later plowed a truck into pedestrians on a busy street, injuring at least four people.

A suspect, who has not been identified, is in custody, said Chief Rod Knecht of the Edmonton Police Service in an early Sunday news conference.

Knecht said authorities believe the man acted alone, but haven't ruled out the possibility that others might be involved.

The first incident happened Saturday at 8:15 p.m. (10:15 p.m. ET) when the driver of a white Chevrolet Malibu drove it into a traffic barricade. Police had set up the roadblock near Commonwealth Stadium for an Edmonton Eskimos football game.

A man drove the car at high speed, striking the police officer who had been standing between a traffic barricade and his cruiser.

"The vehicle struck the police officer, sending him flying into the air 15 feet, before colliding with the police officer's cruiser again at a high rate of speed," Knecht said.

The driver jumped out of the vehicle, attacked and stabbed the officer several times with a knife and fled on foot, Knecht said.

There was an ISIS flag in the car, which has been seized as evidence, the police chief said.

The wounded officer was taken to a hospital. His injuries are not critical, Knecht said.

After that incident, police broadcast the name of the Chevrolet's registered owner to patrol officers in the city.

Just before midnight, a police officer stopped a U-Haul truck at a checkpoint and recognized the driver's name as similar to that of the Chevrolet's registered owner. The U-Haul truck then sped off towards downtown Edmonton with police chasing it.

The U-Haul traveled on busy Jasper Avenue, which late Saturday night and early Sunday morning was full of football fans and bargoers, reported CNN partner CBC. During the chase, the truck deliberately attempted to hit pedestrians in crosswalks and alleys in two areas along Jasper Avenue," Knecht said.

At least four pedestrians were injured. Their conditions were not immediately known, the police chief said.

The truck eventually flipped, ending the chase. Pictures in the Canadian media showed the U-Haul on its side with the front window shattered. Police are expected to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. Sunday.

This is not common in Canada, however, it is becoming more so and will continue to get worse. This affects all Canadians. Last night, someone very close to me was on Jasper Ave., when the incident occurred. Fortunately, she was not near the calamity.

Switzerland

Crackdown on Swiss mosques: Safety strategy, discrimination or waste of tax money? 

A general view shows the Mahmud Mosque in Zurich © Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

Why does the Swiss government want to enforce strict rules and regulations in mosques? Will it have any positive effects on safety in Switzerland? Or does the new bill discriminate against Muslims?

Nils Fiechter, co-president of the youth wing of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and Ajmal Masroor, imam, broadcaster and politician unpack these contentious issues after the Swiss lower house of the Federal Assembly voted in favor of new legislation, prohibiting all mosques to receive foreign funding or preaching in Arabic.

If it becomes law, mosques will have to declare where they get their money from and report how they use it, along with conducting all prayers in one of the country’s four official national languages.

“What we do need to have is of course a measure of responsibility, and this should be self-regulated,” Masroor said. “Government doesn’t need to enforce any rules and regulations, when it comes to speeches, sermons. We don’t do that with churches, we don’t do that with any other faith leaders or institutions. The clerics should be free to speak their mind.”

Masroor believes forcing imams to preach only in local languages is discriminatory and will be a “waste of taxpayers’ money and government’s own time.” He criticized a series of Swiss “draconian anti-muslim laws,” including the ban on the construction of new minarets and ban on the full-face veils.

“In a multicultural pluralistic democracy, such as Switzerland, this to me sound like and appear as secular fundamentalism, if nothing else, overly and extremely discriminatory towards Muslims,” he said.

Nils Fiechter in his turn argued that “this new bill here in Switzerland is not against Muslims – it is against radical Islamic terrorists...”

“In Europe and also in Switzerland we have got a massive problem with radical Islamists – and you have to name that term, ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ We want that our policemen and our investigators have the possibility to understand what those imams are preaching. If they don’t have the possibility, if they only hear Arabic words, or words they don’t understand, then there is big safety problem for Switzerland.”

Masroor argued that Swiss police in the streets also don’t understand what regular Arab tourists are talking about in the streets, emphasizing that such limitations will be a step towards “criminalizing the Arabic language.”

Nils parried, saying that Switzerland is not part of the EU and has its own independent “safety strategy,” which has so far proved to be quite effective.

“Switzerland until now is one country in Europe that didn’t have a terrorist attack, and we want to keep that situation,” he stated. “Our target is to punish those who don’t accept our law and our order. We are a state, which wants to have strict laws. We don’t want to have radical Islamists get control above those imams, over mosques here in Switzerland."

This 'crackdown' should be the New Normal for all of Europe, but most EU countries don't have the stomach for such common sense measures.

Austria

Austrian burqa ban takes effect ahead of general election

Austria could see an anti-immigration government take form

Women in Burkas, Vienna, Austria. © Education Images / Getty Images

Austria’s controversial ban on the wearing of Islamic face veils in public places came into effect Sunday. Those found in breach of the ‘Anti-Face-Veiling Act’ will be subject to fines of €150.

The country approved the ban on face veils back in May as part of a wider ‘integration law’ which, according to officials, is aimed at encouraging people to assimilate into Austrian culture.

The country joins France and Belgium in banning the burqa, with a similar measure going through the motions in the Dutch parliament. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also called for a similar ban "wherever legally possible.”

"Acceptance and respect of Austrian values are basic conditions for successful cohabitation between the majority Austrian population and people from third countries living in Austria," the government has stated, according to AFP.

Authorities claim the act is “religiously neutral,” with other forms of face covering also prohibited. People caught wearing off-slope ski masks, surgical masks outside hospitals and party masks/make-up could also be subjected to a fine.

The law does exempt people who cover their faces for medical or safety reasons, including hazardous weather conditions such as smog. Participants of street carnivals and other “artistic, cultural or traditional events” are also exempt, along with athletes requiring face-covering gear.

"Whoever wears [a] niqab or burqa in Austria has to deal with the consequence," said Austria's Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz, who was instrumental in drafting the law, as cited by Reuters.

The Austrian Islamic Religious Community (AIRC) has said they are “strongly opposed” to the ban and that it is not conducive to integration, reports RTL.

“This open society is, in a hypocritical way, endangering its own values,” Carla Amina Bhagajati of the AIRC said, adding that in Vienna only a “handful” of women will be affected. Those that are, she said, are now “criminalized and... restricted to their homes,” according to AP.

French-Algerian businessman, Rachid Nekkaz, has promised to pay any fines incurred by Muslim women choosing to wear the veil. Nekkaz already pays fines for Muslim women wearing face veils in other European countries. He even established a special organization called “Touche pas à ma constitution” (Do not touch my constitution) that settles these bills.

Other facets of the integration law include immigrants signing an “integration contract” and taking compulsory courses in German language and “values.”

With an election in Austria scheduled for October 15, immigration is an important topic for leading parties. The anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPÖ) are expected to place second or third, potentially forming a government with the conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP), ousting the Social Democratic Party, the current leading coalition partner.

OVP, headed up by Kurz, has drawn voters from the FPÖ with his anti-immigration rhetoric.

"The immigration seen in recent years is changing our country not in a positive but in a negative way," Kurz told German television earlier this week, according to AFP.

Soldiers Relieve Exhausted Police on the Streets of Denmark

The New Normal - Denmark Style

Danish soldiers guard the Jewish Synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 29, 2017.

© Mads Claus Rasmussen / AFP

Danish armed forces have been deployed to the streets of the capital to guard potential terrorist targets, as well as the German border, to aid police with their duties. 

It is the first use of troops in Copenhagen since WWII.

On Friday a total of 160 soldiers, bearing automatic weapons and special insignia, were sent to assist police at the German border and to watch locations in the capital vulnerable to terror attacks, the local media reported. These include several Jewish institutions, such as the Great Synagogue in central Copenhagen and the Israeli embassy, as Jews observe the Yom Kippur holiday.

“This is the first time they are used in this type of situation, so it’s unique,” AFP cited Copenhagen police spokesman Rasmus Bernt Skovsgaard as saying.

The border with the German state of Schleswig-Holstein has likewise seen an increase in the military presence. A special unit has been set up to guard and transport detainees and asylum seekers, while police and Danish Home Guard are still responsible for arrests and ID checks, introduced in early 2016. For now, the soldiers’ mission at the border will last for three months, according to a statement from the Armed Forces.

Danish soldiers are pictured at the Danish-German border train station in Padborg, on September 29, 2017. © Mads Dalegaard / AFP

The move, however, has already sparked criticism, particularly from the mayor of the German town of Flensburg near the border, who called the decision “a disaster” and “a big mistake,” DR Forsiden quoted.

The decision to relieve significant police resources was announced earlier in the month following alarming reports of extreme overtime hours worked by too few officers, and a more-than-year-long discussion in the government. 

What remains unclear is how long the soldiers will be taking over the police duties for at the Jewish sites, with the synagogue having been under continuous police surveillance since February 2015 when it became one of the targets in three separate shooting cases.

On February 15 2015, a Danish-born citizen of Palestinian origin, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State, opened fire outside the synagogue, killing one. Earlier, the gunman attacked a cultural center, hosting a gathering on blasphemy and freedom of expression, leaving one dead. The threat level in Denmark remains as “serious,” ranked four on a scale of five.

Is Government Interfering with Investigation into Iguala Massacre?

Report: Spyware targeted experts investigating

Mexico's missing students

By Andrew V. Pestano  

UPI -- Canada's Citizen Lab Internet watchdog said government-exclusive spyware targeted international experts investigating the abduction and murder of 43 college students in Mexico.

Citizen Lab said the Pegasus spyware product sold exclusively to governments was created by the NSO Group Israeli company, which is majority owned by the Francisco Partners U.S. private equity firm. Pegasus was designed to track criminals and terrorists.

Mexican journalists, human rights activists and opposition politicians have previously made allegations that Mexican authorities spied on them using Pegasus. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's government has denied using Pegasus to spy on opponents.

Citizen Lab said it collaborated with Mexican organizations to determine that the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which investigated the disappearance of the missing students, was targeted by Pegasus.

"The international investigation into the 2014 Iguala mass disappearance was targeted with infection attempts using spyware developed by the NSO group, an Israeli 'cyber warfare' company," Citizen Lab said in a statement. "A phone belonging to the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, a group of investigators from several countries, was sent text messages with links to NSO's exploit infrastructure. The infection attempts took place in early March of 2016, shortly after the GIEI had criticized the Mexican government for interference in their investigation, and as they were preparing their final report."

In September 2014, 43 students from Ayotzinapa traveled to the town of Iguala in Mexico's Guerrero state and clashed with police, who opened fire, investigations revealed. Police then handed the students over to drug gangs. Soldiers were at the scene of the clash and relatives of the missing students believe the soldiers played a role in the disappearances by failing to act.

The students were declared dead and most bodies have not yet been recovered or identified. The investigation into the kidnapping by Mexico's government generated mass criticism as allegations of a coverup permeated.

Citizen Lab said it does not conclusively attribute the infection attempts to the Mexican government but added that "each new case contributes to the already-strong circumstantial evidence that entities within the Mexican government are the responsible party."

"Our published investigations have now confirmed at least 19 individuals targeted with NSO in Mexico, including lawyers, politicians, journalists, anti-corruption activists, scientists, public health campaigners, government officials, and their family members," Citizen Lab added.

Islamist who Planned to ‘Blow Up Police or Soldiers’ Arrested in Germany

Potential terrorists in Germany has now reached 1600

© Christian Charisius / Reuters

German police have detained a young man after finding chemicals used for making explosives in his apartment. The suspect admitted that he planned a bomb attack on police officers or soldiers, prosecutors and police said in a joint statement.

A German citizen, 26, whose name has not been revealed yet, was detained on Wednesday in the German town of Northeim, in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony. He is suspected of preparing to commit a “grave violent offense against the state” and of attempted murder, the statement issued by the regional police department in Goettingen and the regional Prosecutor General’s Office in Celle says.

Earlier, police raided his home and found various chemicals used to make explosives based on acetone peroxide – a highly explosive agent, which is difficult to detect and which was earlier used in a number of terrorist attacks across Europe, including the Brussels attacks in 2016.

The police officers also discovered “components that could be used for assembling an unconventional explosive device,” the statement said, adding that the details found in the suspects apartment particularly included “electrical components of a time fuse.”

According to the investigators, the suspect was actively preparing for a terrorist attack when he was captured. They also managed to find out that he was a member of a Salafist group – an ultra-conservative Islamist movement.

During his first questioning, the suspect admitted his guilt and said that he was planning to “lure police officers or soldiers in a trap and kill them with a homemade bomb.” The investigators have not revealed any further details about this case and have said that they are “at the very beginning” of the inquiry.

They also stressed that it is too early to speak about any possible accomplices of the suspect or about his potential ties with any known terrorist groups or links to any similar incidents.

Both police and the Prosecutor General’s Office called the operation “a great success in the fight against terrorism.”

“Police have acted professionally and consistently here and all necessary measures were taken in a timely fashion,” Uwe Luehrig, the head of the Goettingen police department, said in the statement, adding that police will use all available legal means to counter the terrorist threat.

Northeim pedestrian area

About 700 members of Salafist groups live now in Germany’s state of Lower Saxony alone, German media report, citing data provided by the regional office of the German domestic security service, the BfV.

Some 77 of them have traveled to Syria and Iraq, the intelligence data says, adding that about 50 of them are regarded as posing “an acute threat” to the German security and are subjects to “increased surveillance.”

Salafists in Germany is a problem that needs to be addressed urgently. They are still building mosques especially in former East Germany where their influence is growing. Salafists will not be absorbed into German society, they will never put German laws above Sharia and they have one goal - to subject the world to Sharia. Germany needs to shut down Salafist mosques as they did in France or they will pay a high price.

Two weeks ago, police detained two men suspected of terrorism in Goettingen. The investigators found combat weapons, ammunition, data storage devices and Islamic State flags in their apartment during the raid. One of the suspects was an Algerian, 27, while the second one was a Nigerian, 22.

The Regional Interior Ministry initiated deportation for both suspects but they legally challenged this decision, German media report. Their cases were eventually handed over to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.

In the meantime, the BfV once again warned that Islamist terrorists pose a significant threat to Germany. Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the BfV, said this week that his service receives from two to four tips relating to some potentially dangerous acts a day. He also added that the number of potential terrorists and their supporters has recently reached 1,600 people.

That is a whole lot of people to manage! It would require a Communist-era Stasi-like force to keep track of them. I can't imagine that is something Germans want.

Northeim, Germany

Saudi Gift of $10bn to Yemen may be the Worst Thing That Could Happen

Yesterday I posted an article on Saudi Arabia giving Yemen $10 billion for rebuilding the country's infrastructure. I questioned the timing of rebuilding while a war is still in progress. I wondered if the Saudis were trying to impress world opinion, but I can't think of anytime in history where they did that. Then I thought maybe they feel guilty for all the death and destruction they are responsible for. But Saudis are Salafists - I question whether they are capable of feeling guilt and shame. 

Today, I question the motives behind the move.

I mentioned it on Facebook yesterday to some friends in Yemen and was a little surprised at the response which was basically, "We don't want their money, we want them to stop the war."

I thought that surely if the Saudis are going to be spending billions rebuilding infrastructure, they are going to be disinclined to want to blow it up again. The Iranian-backed Houthis, who are in control of the capital city of Sana'a, however, would not be under such a disinclination. 

Then an historian friend in Germany jumped in and added what he considered to be the probable motivation for the 'gift'. It is his contention that the Saudis want the roads and bridges rebuilt for the express purpose of being able to move the military men and machinery into Saudi-controlled areas from whence they could solidify their hold and attack Houthi-held areas, like Sana'a.

The inspirational Saba Yallas can be found on Facebook

He pointed out that Germany's great Autobahn system was first built in earnest by Hitler between 1936 and 1943. It turned out to be of limited value in the war effort, however, as it was much more efficient to use trains than trucks, tanks couldn't use the highway, and there was a scarcity of gasoline. It was, however, frequently used for landing strips for airplanes.

Saudi Arabia has no shortage of gasoline, and no railways running into Yemen, in fact, Yemen has no railways. Saudi Arabia has lots of armoured vehicles and personnel carriers which they have purchased from the west, Canada included, and they are well suited for travel on highways. 

Part of the infrastructure is certainly likely to be airport runway resurfacing which will be very useful for tactical air warfare. They will be able to protect that infrastructure while they pulverize Sana'a very effectively from airports within Yemen.

So, it has become obvious that this $10b gift is most likely to lead to more death and destruction of a beautiful people and a beautiful country. Proxy wars are flat-out evil! 

The west needs to stop selling military vehicles and weapons to Saudi Arabia, and Russia needs to stop selling them to Iran. The possibility of that happening, however, is slightly less than zero. These are the people who run the world - the Oligarchs who make money every time a woman or child is killed, raped, or maimed, and they are laughing all the way to their off-shore bank.

 Pray for Yemen, please.

ISIS Shares Information of Belgian Military to 300 Contacts in Europe - Reports

It's called terrorism because it is terrifying. Knowing that lunatics seduced by ISIS propaganda have information on you and your family must be horrifying for those soldiers. 

© Francois Lenoir / Reuters

The Islamic State’s infamous French speaker, Rachid Kassim, was found distributing details, including pictures, of several Belgian soldiers to hundreds of his contacts in what authorities believed to be an incitement to terrorism.

According to the Belgian La Dernière Heure and Het Laatste Nieuws newspapers, Kassim sent the information to his network of around 300 people through the encrypted messaging service Telegram.

The message, entitled “orders to brothers of Belgium,” also included soldiers’ details taken from their social networks.

The authorities requested that the media refrain for 24 hours from publishing the sensitive information. A Belgian Ministry of Defense spokesperson confirmed that a “very serious” inquiry was now taking place and “being closely monitored by army intelligence services.”

“We must put these threats in the overall context,” said Belgium’s Chief of Defense General Marc Compernol. “This is something we are following with our intelligence and security services.”

“In the current environment we must be vigilant regarding the published content.”

The soldiers whose information was shared have been alerted and extra precautionary measures have been put in place.

Kassim, a 29-year-old French citizen from Lyon, has reportedly become the most dangerous propaganda agent for the Islamic State in the French-speaking world. Authorities suspect he orchestrated the recent terrorist attacks on French soil online, from an unknown location somewhere on the Iraq-Syria border.

Why is it that internet capabilities haven't been shut down in northern Iraq and Syria? Surely it can't be that hard.

French intelligence services were credited with intercepting Kassim’s messages on Telegram since the murder of a Catholic priest in the sleepy French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in July. His contacts are often vulnerable minors, many of whom have since been arrested in France.