This Week's Global Terrorist Attacks >20-15 - France, Egypt, Turkey, Rwanda, USA, Pakistan, UK

Two killed, several injured in Islamic stabbing attack
in French town of Romans-sur-Isère 

At least two people have been killed and multiple others injured after a man carried out a knife attack in the French town of Romans-sur-Isère, local media is reporting.

Emergency services rushed to the scene of the incident in the town in southeastern France after the man launched the frenzied attack on Saturday morning.

Two people died in the stabbing spree and at least five others were injured, Le Dauphine Libéré reports. Three of the injured people are in a critical condition.

The provincial newspaper reports that the assailant is a 33-year-old Sudanese national. He was subdued by authorities and arrested at the scene.

The assailant, an asylum seeker from Sudan, slit the throat of a 40-year-old man in front of his companion in the center of Romans-sur-Isere, just south of Lyon, French authorities said. The suspect then attacked two tobacco store workers and a customer and headed to a butcher's store. - UPI

France Bleu is reporting that the attack began in a butcher shop and the man is believed to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” while charging at his victims. 

France’s interior minister expressed his condolences with the victims of the attack and their families. He said that the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police is investigating the nature and circumstances of the “heinous” act.

France is in its third week of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All non-essential trips outside the home are banned and everyone is required to have a signed, timed and dated permission form every time they go outside.

Why Egypt banned news about terrorist bombings in Sinai

Al-Monitor

Egypt has instructed media outlets in the country not to publish any news on the recent terrorist bombings of power lines in the northern Sinai Peninsula, which some consider unconstitutional.

Smoke billows following an explosion in Rafah in northern Sinai, as seen from the Gaza Strip, Feb. 26, 2020.
SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

CAIRO — An Egyptian security source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur March 28 that the Egyptian air force launched airstrikes against the strongholds of takfiri (extremist) and other terrorist groups south of the Egyptian city of Rafah, killing 16 of them and wounding six others. Three four-wheel-drive vehicles were also destroyed in the operation.

The source said the air raid came in response to the armed groups blowing up five electricity towers in al-Kharouba village in Sheikh Zuweid March 26.

Mustafa Sanjar, a journalist who specializes in Sinai affairs, explained in a phone interview with Al-Monitor that armed men affiliated with terrorist groups in Sinai bombed five electricity towers that transmit power from the provincial capital of el-Arish to the cities of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah in the northern Sinai Peninsula. As a result, the electricity supply to the two cities was disrupted for three days in a row.

Sanjar said citizens informed the government-affiliated Sinai Electricity Department about the power outages March 26. A group of technicians accompanied by a security force headed to the site and found five destroyed electricity towers that had collapsed completely after their bases were bombed.

He added, "The security forces found, next to the destroyed electrical towers, warning messages from the bombers, threatening to pursue all technicians and security members involved in repairing the damage.” He said the bombed power line was new and became operational in February to solve the crisis of repeated power outages. The project had cost 65 million Egyptian pounds ($4.2 million).

He noted that the power outages in the Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah areas led to the interruption of water pumping from the underground wells that feed the city of Sheikh Zuweid. This has caused a major crisis for the residents in light of fears of an outbreak of the coronavirus and the need for water for personal hygiene, sterilization and hand-washing, among other preventive measures.

Following the power outage in Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, the repair teams in the Sinai Electricity Department reconnected power to the two cities on March 28.

A source in the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company confirmed to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Shorouk that the repair teams managed to reinstall five current-carrying towers from el-Arish after their collapse March 26. The source indicated the completion of the repairs and the reconnection of power to Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah.

Mohamed Hajras, chairman of the Sheikh Zuweid Center Council in the northern Sinai Peninsula, said March 30 the state is implementing a plan to replace the overhead electrical power lines with ground lines. He said the plan would cover all parts of the city with ground lines instead since armed groups target overhead lines.

For years, the Egyptian army and police forces have engaged in deadly confrontations with armed groups in the Sinai Peninsula, especially in the northern Sinai area. Wilayat Sinai, which is affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), is the most prominent of these groups and has regularly bombed gas lines that extend between Egypt and Israel. The latest incident occurred Feb. 2 after the Egyptian government announced it would start importing gas from Tel Aviv. The group also blows up power lines in Sinai occasionally.

Turkey: Army ‘neutralizes’ 80 terrorists over past month

Dozens of shelters, cellars of terrorists also destroyed in anti-terror operations

Sarp Ozer   | AA

ANKARA
Turkish Ministry of National Defense on Sunday said a total of 80 terrorists were neutralized as part of cross-border and domestic anti-terror operations over the past month.

The ministry said 52 terror posts, shelters and cellars used by terrorists were also destroyed as part of operations.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

Although the statement did not mention any specific terrorist group, Turkish forces have been conducting operations against the PKK terrorist organization and its branches as part of cross-border and domestic anti-terror operations.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian branch.

Officials find mass grave in Rwanda linked to 1994 genocide

By Clyde Hughes

Machetes and bullets are seen in Gisenyi, Rwanda, on July 26, 1994, during the mass Tutsi genocide.

File Photo by John Isaac/United Nations

April 6 (UPI) -- Rwandan authorities say they have uncovered what is believed to be a mass grave that contains perhaps the remains of 30,000 people killed during the infamous 1994 genocide.

Officials said the remains were exhumed in the Kayonza District Eastern Province at a man-made pond. An officer with genocide survivor organization IBUKA said more than 50 bodies have already been found.

One official said information reported last summer led them to start searching in the area, and that tens of thousands of bodies may be there.

"But because of the terrain we have been failing to exhume the remains until we managed to drain the pond," they said. Authorities said they expect it will take several months to uncover all the remains at the site.

Rwanda's National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide says more than 118,000 victims were found between 2018 and 2019. About 1 million people, mostly members of the minority Tutsi, were killed in the 1994 genocide. Rwanda officials exhumed 141 bodies in January at an airstrip in Rubavu.

The majority Hutus began the killings after Tutsi rebels were accused of shooting down a plane that killed Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana exactly 26 years ago, on April 6, 1994.

US labels white supremacist group as terrorist organisation

for first time

Justin Vallejo New York
The Independent

For the first time, the US has designated a white supremacist group as a terrorist organisation.

Trump administration officials said on Monday that the Russian Imperial Movement would be named a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" organisation, which would result in sanctions against the group or any Americans that engage in transactions with its members.

The move reflects the administration's growing concern about white supremacist groups with links to foreign actors.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counter-terrorism coordinator Nathan Sales said the designations were "unprecedented."

"This is the first time the United States has ever designated white supremacist terrorists, illustrating how seriously this administration takes the threat. We are taking actions no previous administration has taken to counter this threat," Mr Sales said in a teleconference with reporters.

"RIM is still very much in the business of providing training to like-minded Neo-Nazis and white supremacists across Europe. We know that they have recruited individuals from other countries in Europe and continue to do so."

The administration also placed individual sanctions on its leaders, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariev and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov.

According to US officials, the Russian Imperial Movement is alleged to provide paramilitary training to neo-Nazis in camps it runs in St Petersburg, Russia. They are alleged to have trained two Swedes who bombed a café, and attempted to bomb a refugee campsite, in the Swedish city of Gothenburg in 2016.

The State Department also confirmed its awareness of reports the Russian Imperial Movement was among forces that fought in Ukraine on behalf of pro-Russian separatists.

Under the new sanctions, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control can seize any American property or assets belonging to the group and ban its members from travelling to the US. The US Justice Department will also be able to bring terror-related charges against anyone engaging in financial transactions with the group or its members.

In its annual terrorism report released in November, the State Department said ethnically and racially driven terrorism had risen alarmingly around the world since 2018, including in the US with the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting.

"We know that white supremacists and other racially motivated terrorist organisations or networks communicate across international borders," Mr Sales said in November.

"We know that they are in a sense learning from their jihadist predecessors in terms of their ability to raise money and move money, in terms of their ability to radicalise and recruit, and so the State Department has been trying to mobilise international partners who see this threat the same way we do to take decisive action against these networks."

Pakistani courts go shamefully easy on terrorist who helped murder Jewish American journalist

by Farahnaz Ispahani
 | April 06, 2020
Washington Examiner

As Passover approaches and Jews in America and around the world gather for the high holy days, Ruth and Judea Pearl still await justice for the brutal killing of their son in Pakistan 18 years ago.

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was beheaded in 2002, and his killers recorded the atrocity on video. Pearl was made to “confess” that he was an American and a Jew — the so-called crimes for which his captors executed him.

One of Pearl’s killers, al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, is in prison at Guantanamo Bay for this and many other terrorism-related crimes. But his associates, including British Pakistani Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh, had their sentences reduced by a Pakistani court last week — yet another instance reflecting Pakistan’s leniency toward jihadi extremists.

Soon after Pearl’s murder, Pakistan’s vast jihadi underground circulated the video of Mohammed beheading the young journalist as Pearl said, “My name is Daniel Pearl. My father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I am a Jew.” The video became very popular in Pakistan, reflecting the deep roots of anti-Semitism in the country.

Pearl had gone to Karachi, Pakistan, a few months after 9/11 to investigate alleged links between al Qaeda and Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. Mohammed pretended to be a source and lured Pearl into the trap that led to his kidnapping and murder.

But Mohammed’s own history highlights Pakistan’s failure in controlling and possibly even abetting terrorists. Mohammed, a graduate of the London School of Economics, had been arrested in India in 1994 for kidnapping an American tourist on behalf of a Pakistani terrorist group backed by the ISI. He was released in exchange for passengers on an Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in 1999.

Given his track record, Mohammed should have been under observation by Pakistani authorities, but successive Pakistani governments have supported terrorism against India as a means of drawing attention to Pakistan’s position in its dispute with India over Kashmir. Instead of being detained or observed in Pakistan, Mohammed continued to operate on behalf of Pakistani terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad, or JeM for short and maintained links with al Qaeda.

After being arrested and convicted in the Pearl kidnapping and murder, Mohammed faced a death sentence and remained defiant. But as is often the case in Pakistan with terrorists, his appeals dragged on while he enjoyed considerable comfort in prison and even managed to stay in touch with his jihadi colleagues and friends.

Last week, the High Court in Sindh province reduced his sentence to seven years imprisonment, offering Mohammed a chance for release fairly soon, given that he has been in prison for several years already.

The Pakistani government, responding to international outrage at the court decision, has announced that it will go into appeal and will not free Mohammed. But those who know how things in Pakistan really work know that the stage has likely been set for another murderer’s freedom.

The appeals process will help the Pakistan government get through threats of financial sanctions by the United Nation’s Financial Action Task Force, which periodically questions Pakistan’s failure to meet international obligations in cracking down on terrorist financing and operations in the country.

But Pakistan’s deeper problem, of state-supported religious extremism, continues to grow, notwithstanding its government’s statements and the willingness of U.S. and European diplomats to accept them at face value.

Of course, the country is full of fanatical Muslims, but don't worry, there are only a little over 200 million of them.

Newcastle, UK, teenager, 16, charged with right-wing terrorism offences after online investigation

By Kathryn Riddell Multimedia Journalist
6 APR 2020 Chronicle Live

A 16-year-old boy from Newcastle been appeared in court accused of right-wing terrorism offences.

The boy has been charged with 11 offences including inviting support for banned group National Action, encouraging terrorism, inciting racial hatred and inciting religious hatred, Counter Terrorism Policing North East said.

He appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday but cannot be named due to his age.

He was originally arrested by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing in October 2019 as part of an intelligence-led investigation into suspected right-wing terrorism online.

Among the charges, the boy faces four counts of inviting support for the banned organisation in social media posts on four occasions between July and September last year.

Coronavirus - More Disturbing Thoughts - USA's Moral Authority UPDATED

US accused of 'modern piracy' after

diversion of masks meant for Europe

..

German politician adds to chorus of complaints

about American tactics to source protective gear

..

Trump orders 3M to stop exporting N95 masks to Canada

..

Is America losing its moral authority to lead the world?

Does it still have a right to call itself a Christian country?
See bottom for UPDATE

Kim Willsher in Charny Julian Borger in Washington and Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem

An N95 mask. Authorities in Berlin say 200,000 such masks were diverted to the US as they were being

transferred between planes in Thailand. DavidBecker/ZUMAWire/REX/Shutterstock

The US has been accused of “modern piracy” after reportedly diverting a shipment of masks intended for the German police, and outbidding other countries in the increasingly fraught global market for coronavirus protective equipment.

About 200,000 N95 masks were diverted to the US as they were being transferred between planes in Thailand, according to the Berlin authorities who said they had ordered the masks for the police force.

Andreas Geisel, the interior minister for Berlin state, described the diversion as “an act of modern piracy” and appealed to the German government to demand Washington conform to international trading rules. “This is no way to treat trans-Atlantic partners,” Geisel said. “Even in times of global crisis there should be no wild west methods.”

The German reports said the masks had been made by a Chinese producer for the US company 3M, but the firm issued a statement on Friday night saying: “3M has no evidence to suggest 3M products have been seized. 3M has no record of any order of respirators from China for the Berlin police. We cannot speculate where this report originated.”

The German allegations added to a chorus of complaints about the Trump administration’s practice as the US wields its clout in a marketplace for scarce medical supplies that is becoming a free-for-all, with nation competing against nation.

Valérie Pécresse, the influential president of the Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, described the race to get masks as a “treasure hunt”.

“I found a stock of masks that was available and Americans – I’m not talking about the American government – but Americans, outbid us,” Pécresse said. “They offered three times the price and they proposed to pay upfront. I can’t do that. I’m spending taxpayers’ money and I can only pay on delivery having checked the quality,” she told BFMTV. “So we were caught out.”

Pécresse said she had finally obtained a consignment of 1.5m masks thanks to the help of Franco-Chinese residents in the Paris area.

Her comments follow allegations from two other French regional heads that unidentified American buyers outbid on mask shipments, including one instance when a consignment was reportedly “on the tarmac” to be flown to France.

“We really have to fight,” Jean Rottner, a doctor and president of the Grand Est regional council, told RTL radio. His area had been particularly badly hit by Covid-19 cases.

Following reporting on his comments, Rottner said on Twitter that it was not his order of 2m masks that had been diverted, although it was “common practice”.

The French media have started calling the rush for equipment “mask wars”.

Medical device manufacturer 3M says it is under pressure from the White House to stop exporting N95 masks it currently produces in the United States to other countries, including Canada.

The Minnesota-based company said in a news release Friday that while it welcomes the Trump administration's invocation of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to compel domestic companies to produce critically needed medical infrastructure, it presents some problems, too.

Among other things, the order mandates that 3M stop making N95 masks that are destined for customers in Canada and Latin America, and instead keep them in the U.S.

The DPA, which was passed in 1950, grants the president the power to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security and other reasons. Hockey equipment manufacturers and even fashion houses have been trying to shift their production to start making medical safety equipment, such as gowns and masks, where possible.

Health-care workers around the world are currently facing a desperate shortage of such masks in their fight to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19. 

"There are, however, significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to health-care workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators," the company said in its statement.

In the statement, 3M also warns that any such move could actually backfire on the U.S. and impact the supply of masks and other medical equipment.

It's rumored that some of the materiel going into the masks made in Minnesota comes from Canada.

"Ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done. If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease. That is the opposite of what we and the administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek."

Dale Carnegie must be rolling over in his grave, along with every President who ever lived. American Exceptionalism and 'America First' attitudes and policies are fine when you are talking about economics, even when America bullies its allies relentlessly. But when it starts to cost lives, and possibly thousands or tens of thousands of lives, America will never be trusted as an ally again. 

American News outlets see no reason to bother reporting this, for some reason.

UPDATE:

Cuba: U.S. embargo blocks coronavirus aid shipment from Asia

Michael Weissenstein
The Associated Press

HAVANA -- Cuban officials say a shipment of coronavirus aid from Asia's richest man, Jack Ma, has been blocked by the six-decade U.S. embargo on the island.

Carlos M. Pereira, Cuba's ambassador to China, said on his blog this week that Ma's foundation tried to send Cuba 100,000 facemasks and 10 COVID-19 diagnostic kits last month, along with other aid including ventilators and gloves.

Cuba was one of 24 countries in the region meant to receive the donations announced on March. 21 by the Jack Ma Foundation, which is sending similar aid to countries around the world, including the United States.

Cuban officials say the cargo carrier of Colombia-based Avianca Airlines declined to carry the aid to Cuba because its major shareholder is a U.S.-based company subject to the trade embargo on Cuba. The embargo has exceptions for food and medical aid but companies are often afraid to carry out related financing or transportation due to the risk of fines or prosecution under the embargo.

Human-rights groups have been calling for the U.S. to lift sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba and Iran during the coronavirus epidemic in order to permit the flow of more aid. The Trump administration has argued that only the countries' government would benefit from the sanctions relief.

The current pandemic is exposing not only our government’s utter failures to protect its own citizens, but also its profound lack of human decency in dealing with other nations

Oliver Stone

Was There a Military Coup in Brazil?

Does Brazil already have a new “acting President”?

It is being reported that, under pressure from the Army, Walter Braga Netto is now the “operational president” of Brazil, with Jair Bolsonaro effectively stripped of his decision making powers. According to veteran Argentine investigative journalist Horacio Verbitsky, this has already been communicated informally to the Argentine authorities. There has been as yet no official confirmation.

By Lucas Rocha. Revista Forúm

President Jair Bolsonaro’s excesses in the face of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Brazil have irritated the Armed Forces’ high command, which now appears to have “elected” Chief Minister of the Casa Civil, Walter Braga Netto, as the country’s new “operational president”.

According to the Argentine investigative journalist Horacio Verbitsky, a high ranking official of the Brazilian Army communicated to their Argentine counterpart that President Jair Bolsonaro is not being heard by the authorities when making decisions.

“There was a telephone communication from a high ranking Brazilian army official with one from Argentina, in which the Brazilian informed them that they had taken the decision to circumvent President Bolsonaro in all important decisions,” said the journalist on the program “Habrá Consecuencias”, from Radio El Destape .

Verbitsky affirms that Bolsonaro is acting as a “monarch without effective power” and who now commands the country is General Walter Braga Netto.

In recent days, Braga Netto’s stance at press conferences has caught the attention of the media. The general has tried to control the responses of those present and even overruled other ministers .

Braga Netto, who was the commander of the military intervention in Rio de Janeiro in 2018, was appointed to the Federal Government’s coronavirus committee as coordinator. According to the DefenseNet portal, in reality, he now acts as “Chief of Staff of the Planalto”, corroborating the Argentine journalist’s claims.

According to the website, “The new ‘informal mission’ was the product of a deal involving ministers and military commanders and the President of the Republic himself,”

“His ‘mission’ is to reduce the president’s exposure, leaving him in position ‘democratically’, to behave as if he does not belong to his own government. The general will begin to shape the executive’s actions in the (Coronavirus) crisis. He may even contradict Bolsonaro’s statements,” placing Bolsonaro in the same position as “a monarch without effective power ”.

Rothschild: Donald Trump is Threatening to Destroy the New World Order, for Good

I'm not familiar with this website, but the few posts I have read seem to align with what I have come to believe and to write about in the past several years. Some of it is well documented. I would love to hear your input as to the validity of 50 State Report.

50 State Report

Clueless as to why President Trump was elected into office, the Rothschilds have used their globalist media mouthpiece to declare that President Trump is threatening to destroy the New World Order, for good. Globalism propaganda tool and Rothschild family-owned publication, The Economist has branded the US President a “present danger” to the “New World Order,” and stated that the “internationalists” that formed it are “spinning in their graves.

“The Economist names Trump is the biggest threat to the “liberal” New World Order above other legitimate threats such as jihadism and terrorism, Communist Chinese expansion, and North Korean hostility.”

Perhaps the greatest danger at present is the incumbency of an American president who despises international norms, who disparages free trade and who continually flirts with abandoning America’s essential role in maintaining the global legal order,” writes The Economist.

“The rules-based international order that emerged from the wreckage of the second world war was a huge improvement on any preceding era,” states the article. “Yet liberal internationalism is now under attack from many sides. Donald Trump’s America First doctrine explicitly repudiates it.”The Economist describes how the Trump administration views the world stage, citing a piece written by two of Trump’s advisors in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

“The world is not a ‘global community’ but an arena where nations, non-governmental actors, and businesses engage and compete for advantage,”

H.R. McMaster and Gary Cohn wrote. “We bring to this forum unmatched military, political, economic, cultural and moral strength. Rather than deny this elemental nature of international affairs, we embrace it.”

The Economist then makes the strange assertion that, despite being directly responsible for numerous wars and destabilizing coup attempts around the world, the New World Order is “better than any of the alternatives.”

“Of course, there are still plenty of wars,” it states. “In some ways, the New World Order, which has helped make international wars so much less imaginable, has inadvertently made possible more ‘intranational’ wars.”

“Fragile and fractious countries that would previously have feared being conquered by more powerful neighbors can now fall prey to civil wars or brutal insurgencies without bad actors fearing loss of the national territory they seek to control.”Non-state groups, such as Islamic State (a misnomer), can take and hold, at least for a while, territory from dysfunctional governments.”Well-meaning but ill-conceived wars to change odious regimes have sometimes gone badly wrong.”The magazine concludes by saying that the NWO architects of the past “must be spinning in their graves” considering how far Trump has already come and that he must be removed from office to preserve the New World Order.

So, I have been asking myself a question for about a year now: It was God Who separated people into language groups at the Tower of Babel, so they would not be able to work together. 'Now nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them'. Gen 11:6

The question is, is it God's will to have the whole world work together as one, when it was He who separated us into language groups in the first place so we couldn't work as one? Is it possible that a one-world government will be a trigger for the Great Tribulation?

I would love to hear your opinions.

SOMETHING INVISIBLE PUT EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE

By Bob Jones, RevWords

I don’t know if you agree, but something invisible came

and put everything in its place.

Suddenly

Gasoline prices went down, pollution went down, and discretionary time went up. Parents are spending time with their kids as a family; work is no longer a priority, or traveling or social life either.

Suddenly we silently see within ourselves and understand the value of the words “solidarity”, “love”, “strength”, “empathy” and “faith”.

In an instant we realized that we are all in the same boat, rich and poor. The supermarket shelves are empty and the hospitals are full.

Old cars and new cars also, gather dust in the garages, simply because nobody can get out.

Empty streets, less pollution, clean air, and the land also breathes.

Survive

The human returns to his origins, realizing that with or without money, the important thing is to survive.

Health is now the main thing, in spite of wanting to have or possess.

It took six days to establish the social equality that was said to be impossible.

Fear invaded everyone.

We realize the vulnerability of every human being.

Nature is forcing us to clean up the mess made by ourselves.

Surrender

Our overthrown gods:

– Money

– Sports

– Entertainment

– Politics

What the coronavirus is teaching us:

– Our best protection: SPIRITUALITY

– Our best refuge: HOME

– Our best company: FAMILY

– Our real time: TODAY

– Nature’s call: STOP US

– Its message: WAIT, RESPECT

Basics

We are not gods, we are not kings, nor do we have the power of controlling everything.

We are part of a whole, fragile, brittle and vulnerable something.

Part of something that we wanted to dominate and today is telling us:

Stop, breathe, respect.

Go back to the basics, to the essentials, and let the peace of your soul guide you towards what you are: LIGHT.

-Anonymous

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. In him was life and the life was the light of men.”

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

God saw that it was good.

APPLICATION: The world is in crisis. Health care systems are overwhelmed. Hockey rinks serve as temporary morgues. What would have been the script of a B movie just two months ago is now our reality. With the world in isolation now is good time to turn to the Light – Jesus. “Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.” Email me at bob.pb.jones@gmail.com to talk.

This Week's Terrorism Stories > 20-14 - Iran-Turkey, Somalia, South Africa

Groblersdal man becomes 6th elderly person murdered in a week in South Africa

South Africa Today – South Africa News

Koos Dreyer (76) was found murdered in his house, corner of Tambotie and Ockert street, Groblersdal on Friday night 20 March at around 23:00. His body was found in the bathroom and there were signs of a violent struggle in the TV room, bathroom and garage.

The motive for the murder is unknown at the moment and Police was on the scene and investigating.

This latest murder follows the following murders that all happened in the past week: 

Alwyn van Zyl (79), whose family has farmed on the family farm at Bad se Loop, between Nylstroom and Naboomspruit for generations, was murdered by farm attackers who tied his hands and feet and then strangled him on his bed on Thursday night 19 March 2020. His wife was tied up and assaulted in another room during the attack.

Charles Hart (75) was found beaten to death in his farmhouse in the Henderson area, Toise, between Cathcart and Stutterheim, EC on Sunday 15 March 2020.

Colin Leslie Britz (65) was shot and killed by farm attackers in his farm house in the Elandskraal area, Dundee, KZN on Monday 16 March, 2020.

Neels Combrink (60) was attacked on his farm at Niekerkshoop, Northern Cape on Wednesday 18 March, 2020 and tortured when he was burned with a hot clothes iron on his stomach.

The bodies of a retired church minister and his wife, Dominee Hannes Beukes (70) and Ibel Beukes (67), were discovered locked in the boot of their car, which was found in a field near the Bethal dam. A passing motor cyclist discovered the vehicle late in the afternoon and alerted Police. A spokesman for the Police said the couple left their house to drop their domestic worker off at Emzinoni which is a small township outside of Bethal. They were never seen alive again and their bodies had visible and serious injuries .

Meanwhile the investigating officer in the Beukes murder case has informed the media that the Police is looking for Francois Pretorius in connection with the case.

He is considered armed and dangerous. He was last seen driving a silver VW Polo reg nr JMB980MP. Anyone with information can contact WO Nico Veldman of the Bethal Police at 079 396 3652.

Read about more farm attacks here

How the ANC brainwashed the world to accept slaughter of SA farmers

Farmer (77) tied up, wife brutally raped and tortured with blowtorch, Belfast, SA

It appears that black Africans are murdering Afrikaner farmers and taking over their lands. We have seen this happen in other parts of Africa many years ago and it is finally happening in South Africa. But the mood is so bad there now that, it seems, the killing has spread to more than just farmers. It certainly appears that South Africa is not a safe place to be a white person.

Suicide attack kills former governor in Somalia

By Clyde Hughes

Ambulance workers treat a victim at the scene of a suicide attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, on December 22, 2018.
Militant group al Shabab was suspected in the attack, as well as another on Sunday that killed a former regional governor.
File Photo by Yusuf Warsame/EPA-EFE

March 30 (UPI) -- The terrorist militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing over the weekend that killed a former statesman in Somalia.

Authorities said the attack Sunday killed Abdisalan Hassan Hersi, the former governor of Nugaal region, in Garowe. He died about an hour after he arrived at the hospital.

Former Nugal region police chief Farah Galangoli was injured in the attack. Authorities said it's not known if Hersi or Galangoli was the intended target.

Garowe, nearly 600 miles from Mogadishu, is considered one of the more stable regions of Somalia and has a robust security force. While al-Shabab doesn't have much of a presence in Puntland, the group is active and central and southern Somali.

Al-Shabab also claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Mogadishu last week that killed three people.

U.S. forces carried out an airstrike in Somalia last month that killed an al-Shabab leader for his involvement in an attack that killed Army Spc. Henry Mayfield, 23, in January.

Iran-Turkey gas pipeline stops functioning after 'terrorist' attack

A senior official with Iran's state gas company has alleged that terrorists were behind an explosion and massive fire on the pipeline transporting natural gas from the Islamic Republic to Turkey.

"This morning, terrorists attacked a natural gas pipeline inside Turkey near Iran's Bazargan border with Turkey," National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Dispatching Director Mehdi Jamshidi Dana said on Tuesday, as cited by Reuters.

The official told IRNA that fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a guerilla group active in eastern Turkey, have attacked the pipeline in the past. NIGC spokesperson Mohammad Asgari, meanwhile, described the blast as an "incident" without linking it to terrorism. According to the NIGC, at least one person was killed.

The explosion rocked the pipeline near the Gurbulak border gate with Iran in Turkey's eastern Agri Province around 6am local time. Turkish media reported that the loud blast sparked a massive fire that could be seen by residents in local villages, with flames rising up to 40 meters (131 feet).

The flow of gas in the pipeline has been cut off as Turkish officials are determining the cause of the explosion. Turkish media did not report any fatalities on the ground.

The NIGC said that gas exports to Turkey will resume several days after the pipeline is repaired.

In early March, the PKK fired a rocket near the Gurbulak border gate, killing one person.

Company Charged Pentagon Millions for Pro-America Ads That Never Aired in Afghanistan

Corruption is Everywhere - Even in the Pentagon

It has long been known that enormous bundles of cash were handed out to individual in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is likely that much of that cash was later used to purchase weapons to kill American troops.

A billboard in Ghazni promotes coalition action in Afghanistan in 2010. The Leonie Group, which produced television, radio and billboard ads in Afghanistan, falsely billed the government for ads that were never disseminated, the company's former president alleges in a whistleblower lawsuit. JUSTIN HOWE/U.S. ARMY

By J.P. LAWRENCE | STARS AND STRIPES

An information operations contractor billed the Pentagon millions of dollars for pro-U.S. television and radio ads that never aired in Afghanistan, a whistleblower complaint filed by the firm’s former president alleges in a recently unsealed lawsuit.

The Leonie Group, also known as Leonie Industries, served as the Pentagon’s top propaganda producer in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2015, with the firm receiving a $120 million contract to produce TV, radio and billboard ads, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, first filed in July 2017, alleges Leonie knew it had no way to verify its work was ever seen by the Afghan people.

Once the company started to monitor its programs at the urging of the U.S. military in 2014, it found less than 75% of its TV ads and 45% of its radio ads aired, court documents said.

The company’s vice president, Charles Owens, said in an email he could not comment on the pending litigation.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia by Scott Kreller, Leonie’s former president.

An Afghan national civil order police recruiting billboard in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010. The Leonie Group, which produced television, radio and billboard ads in Afghanistan, billed the government for ads that were never disseminated, the company's former president alleges in a whistleblower lawsuit.

Kreller alleges he was fired in February 2017 after he refused to submit a final psychological operations invoice to the U.S. military for $4.5 million, most of which double-billed the government.

Kreller, who worked for the company as its global operations director from 2011 until he was made president in 2016, said he was pressured for several months to submit the claim.

Kreller’s complaint falls under the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to file suit on behalf of the government.

The government in February chose to not join the suit, a court filing said. The government intervenes in fewer than 25% of cases, a 2012 Justice Department memo said. Federal backing adds the Justice Department’s resources to the case but also adds restrictions to lawyers for the whistleblower.

Kreller’s lawyer, Brendan J. Klaproth, said Friday that they intend to continue pursuing the case.

Founded in 2004, Leonie’s website says it specializes in strategic communications, information systems support, intelligence and operations research.

The military has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on psychological operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. These efforts have aimed to convince Iraqis and Afghans to back the U.S. and coalition missions.

The contracts given out during the surge of U.S. troops to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012 were rife with abuse, said Thomas Johnson, who could not comment on the specifics of the Leonie case, but who worked on propaganda efforts in Afghanistan after 9/11 and was based in Kandahar as a counterinsurgency adviser to U.S. forces.

“I’m not at all surprised at this lawsuit,” said Johnson, now a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. “We gave out millions of dollars in many different areas, including information operations, where we just didn’t have any oversight,” he said.

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