German Police Launch Major Crackdown On Salafist Muslims

Finally, something that makes sense. German police crack down against pro-terror Salafist Muslims who “trace their roots to the ultra-conservative Islamic practices of Saudi Arabia”. I wonder what Saudi Arabia has to say about that? …

Global Post – “LONDON, UK – Police in Germany raided scores of homes, mosques and meeting halls across the country on Thursday as part of a major national crackdown on radical Islamic Salafists, whom the authorities accuses of plotting against the state.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich also announced that he was banning the Millatu Ibrahim organization, which he said has been inciting Muslims to fight against the ‘constitutional order’ in Germany, the Associated Press reported.

The minister said that a ‘comprehensive collection of evidence’ had been found during Thursday’s raids, which saw laptops, cellphones and other items seized by 850 police officers in seven German states – including Berlin and Bavaria – according to the news agency.

The raids come a month after Salafists clashed with police guarding an anti-Islam rally staged by the far-right ‘Pro NRW’ party in the city of Bonn, which led to the hospitalization of two police and the arrest of about 110 Salafists, GlobalPost reported.

The German authorities fear that the Salafists – who number about 4,000, out of a total Muslim population in Germany of around 4 million – are exploiting socially excluded young Muslims in the country and inciting them to militancy, Reuters reported.

The Salafists trace their roots to the ultra-conservative Islamic practices of Saudi Arabia and aim to bring about the establishment of Sharia law in Europe. According to the BBC, items were seized from the Cologne home of Salafist preacher Ibrahim Abu Nagie in one of the police raids.” Source – Global Post.

Flashback: Germany: Islamist Calls Upon Muslims To Murder All Members Of Far-Right Anti-Sharia Party – “A German Islamist is calling for the murder of members of a far-right party that regularly provokes ultra-conservative Muslims using cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, a newspaper reported. According to an article due to appear Monday in the Tageszeitung daily, an Islamist from Bonn in western Germany has appeared in a video on an Islamic forum in which he encouraged ‘the killing of all activists from the Pro NRW party’… In his appeal, the Islamist urged the collection of personal information on Pro NRW members, including their home addresses and work schedules, with the goal of attacking them.” Read more.

Useless Neanderthals: UN Appoints Saudi Arabia To Lead Counter Terrorism Initiative

I should be shocked, but given the UN’s laughable and cockeyed track record, I’m not. Picking the nation primarily responsible for the world’s terrorism to lead an initiative against world terrorism is like picking Hitler to hide Jews from the Nazis. Let’s see how long it takes before they begin pointing the finger north towards Israel. Defunding this kooky organization is long overdue …

By Brooke Goldstein and Zack Kousnetz, American Thinker – “If the UN were to form an anti-terrorism group dedicated to attacking the menace on a global scale, who do you think would be asked to lead it? A nation with a proven track record of anti-terror initiatives? A nation that esteems human rights and freedoms above all else? Unfortunately, in the case of the UN Centre for Counter Terrorism (UNCCT), the answer is emphatically neither.

The UNCCT was formed in September 2010 with the purpose of executing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adopted by the General Assembly in 2006. In a move more befitting Alice in Wonderland than the United Nations, Saudi Arabia was named chair of the organization.

The Resolution that created the UNCCT highlighted four key ‘pillars’ in the fight against terrorism. The first of these pillars, ‘tackling the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism,’ was undermined almost immediately upon the organization’s establishment. Three months after the UNCCT’s formation, WikiLeaks exposed a trove of diplomatic cables in which Secretary of State Hilary Clinton wrote ‘Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qa’ida, the Taliban, LeT, and other terrorist groups, including Hamas.’ Clinton’s US embassy cables also revealed Saudi resistance to prioritizing the issue in terms of its own domestic policy.

These revelations are perhaps not so surprising in light of the Saudi kingdom’s lukewarm response to terrorism funding and recruitment within its borders. Remember when, in the months following the 9/11 attacks, Saudi Arabia denied the fact that 15 out of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens, before eventually confirming the undeniable truth in 2002? Even worse, this past February two former US senators involved in the 9/11 inquiries suggested in separate affidavits that the Saudi government may have played a direct role in the attacks themselves.

It’s an ironic twist that the UN appointed Saudi Arabia, a country historically labeled by groups like the CATO Institute as a state sponsor of terrorism, to chair the flagship effort to end such practices. The UN’s actions speak to a certain cluelessness it exhibits as a governing body: the organization bows to diplomatic and political courtesies while ignoring what’s happening on the ground.” Read more.

Flashback: Unfunctionally Nutty: Outrage as Syria Stays on UN Human Rights Body – “Campaigners have called a Unesco vote to keep Syria on the human rights committee a ‘lingering stain on the UN as a whole.’ The UN’s education, science and culture agency voted to keep Syria on its human rights committee, despite protests from the US and the UK. Syria will keep its seat on the Unesco board and human rights panel. The vote was 35 for, eight against, with 14 abstentions and one absent at the meeting in Paris today.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘An International Laughing Stock’: UN Appoints North Korea to Head Conference on Disarmament – “On Tuesday, the United Nations again made itself an international laughing stock – except perhaps to the American taxpayers who continue to foot 22 percent of the bill – by appointing North Korea chair of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. That would be the same North Korea that, according to an article this week by Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has ‘twice tested nuclear weapons … is developing missiles to carry them … has built facilities capable of producing highly enriched uranium for more nuclear weapons’ and has defied a U.N. arms embargo by exporting weapons and sensitive technologies to rogue regimes…” Read more.

Flashback: Outrage: UN Rights Council Readies Resolution Praising Qaddafi Regime’s Human Rights Record – “Despite the council’s own inquiry this year finding evidence of war crimes by the Qaddafi regime, the UN Human Rights Council, according to the agenda of its current session, is planning to ‘consider and adopt the final outcome of the review of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,’ which lavishes praise on the disgraced regime. According to the council’s timetable, the lengthy report hailing Qaddafi’s human rights record will be presented on March 16, and then adopted by the council toward the end of the month.” Read more.

Unusually Large And Bright Asteroid To Pass By Earth Today

By Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today – “An unusually large and bright near-Earth asteroid was recently discovered and it will make its closest approach to Earth on June 14 at about 23:10 UTC. The object is so bright, the Slooh Observatory will attempt to have a live webcast showing the object sneaking past Earth at about 5.3 billion km (3.35 million) miles away, or about 14 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. The asteroid, 2012 LZ1 was discovered by Rob McNaught and colleagues on 2012 June 10/11, and is about 502 meters (1,650 feet) wide.

The team of Nick Howes, Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero from the Remanzacco Observatory took this image of 2012 LZ1 on June 13. They also have an animation of the object here.

There’s no danger this asteroid will impact Earth, but it has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. PHAs are asteroids larger than approximately 100 meters that can come closer to our planet than 0.05 AU (7.4 million km, 4.65 million miles). None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although, as the Remanzacco team pointed out, astronomers are finding new ones all the time.” Read more.

 

Iranian Media: The Islamic World Must Have Nuclear Weapons to ‘Disrupt The Dreams Of America And Israel’

To the death-loving Islamist mindset, mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent. It is an incentive …

By Reza Kahlili – “Iran is now telling the world that in order to confront aggression from America and Israel, it must have nuclear weapons.

Official Iranian media outlets published a commentary Sunday titled ‘The necessity for the Islamic world to have the atomic bomb,’ laying the groundwork for Iran’s refusal to accept limits on its illicit nuclear program.

The essay’s author, Alireza Forghani, is the former governor of southern Iran’s Kish Province and an analyst and a strategy specialist in the camp of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

‘The fatwa from Imam Khomeini [the founder of Iran’s Islamic revolution] said ‘all Islamic countries have Islamic blood,’’ Forghani wrote. ‘Therefore the Islamic world should rise up and shout that a nuclear bomb is our right, and disrupt the dreams of America and Israel.’

‘Having a nuclear bomb is our right,’ he argued. ‘Israel would have been destroyed completely 30 years ago’ but has survived because it has nuclear weapons.

In February, Forghani laid out the legal case for the annihilation of Israel and all Jewish people. That treatise, which ran in all the Iranian regime’s media outlets, openly called for a

‘Biblical’: Plague Of Locusts Hits California Town

WFJA – “(HERALD, Calif.) — Brian and Deborah Campbell’s backyard has been hit by a plague straight out of the Bible. Locusts, thousands of them, are eating through their commercial garden, destroying crops and leaving the once-thriving area nearly completely barren.

‘We don’t know what to do,’ Deborah Campbell told local television station KCRA. ‘We don’t know how to stop it. We’re just breeding them now.’

The locusts have also infested the garden of Brad Lucchese. They have decimated his produce, eating everything but the tomatoes. Lucchese told KCRA that his chickens are having a field day feasting upon the locusts. However, there aren’t nearly enough chickens to stop the thousands of bugs.

As of Wednesday, the problem is confined to a relatively small area in the town of Herald, Calif., known as ‘the grove,’ but locals fear that it will grow and spread, infesting more gardens and threatening vineyards in the area.” Source – WFJA.

Turkey Urges No Access To NATO Data For Israel

By Rachel Hirshfeld, INN – “In Turkey’s latest rebuff of Israel, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz has decided to renege on an agreement in principle to provide Israel with information about ballistic missile launchings from terrorist entities, Defense News reported.

NATO agreed in a summit meeting in Lisbon two years ago to devise a missile defense system to protect alliance members from a rogue nation in the area. As part of the system, Turkey agreed to allow the U.S. military to install a special X-band radar at a base in Kurecik in southeastern Turkey.

‘Any data or information produced by this system will only be available to the alliance, as in the case for other alliance systems,’ Yilmaz said in an email message to Defense News on June 12. ‘Information-sharing with non-NATO actors is subject to specific arrangements and it is possible only if the allies consensually agree on it.’

Although there has been some discussion of sharing the radar’s data with Israel, the Turkish government would likely object if the alliance sought to do so.

Yilmaz also stated that his ultimate objective as defense minister would be the development of Turkey’s national defense industry.

‘The Ministry of National Defense will continue its modernization program … and will support the national defense industry by following the scientific developments in the world,’ he said.” Read more.

‘Modernization Program’ Flashback: Turkey to Double Size of Its Army – “With Prime Minister Erdogan’s Islamist AK party having seized its third landslide election victory in Turkey, many throughout the international community have been watching to see what will be next on the Turkish agenda. Now there are strong indicators in the Turkish media that Turkey is planning on literally doubling the size of its army – this coming from the nation that already has the largest army in Middle East and the second-largest army in NATO, second only to the United States.” Read more.

‘Modernization Program’ Flashback: Turkey Installing New Military Tech That Will Allow Warplanes and Ships to Target Israel as the Enemy – “In yet another sign of the deterioration in Israel-Turkish ties, Turkey’s Star Gazete reported Tuesday that the military is installing new technology that will allow warplanes and ships to target Israeli vessels. Previously, Turkish planes, ships and submarines used American technology, which automatically classified Israeli equipment as ‘friendly.’ The new system, developed in Turkey, will allow the Turkish military to decide which targets to label as friendly. The switch was pioneered by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime. The system was declared ready just days after Erdogan suspended defense trade with Israel and termed Israel a ‘spoiled child.’” Read more.

Egypt: Mubarak Appointed Court Dissolves One-Third Of Parliament, Paves Way For Former Mubarak Official To Run

The new Islamist status quo rising up in Egypt will not bow down to this ruling without a fight. Things could get ugly …

By Ernesto Londoño and Leila Fadel, The Washington Post – “CAIRO — Egypt’s constitutional court ruled Thursday that Mubarak ally Ahmed Shafiq can run for president, and declared that one-third of the lower house of parliament was elected unconstitutionally–raising the possibility that parliament will be suspended until a new election can be held.

The eagerly anticipated rulings were a setback for Egypt’s revolutionaries and Islamists on the eve of the country’s landmark presidential vote, which begins Saturday. Protesters clashed with security forces outside the courthouse minutes after the decisions were announced.

By keeping Shafiq in the race, the court appeared to side with Egyptians who see the former air force chief— who served as Mubarak’s last prime minister, before Mubarak was ousted — as best suited to lead a country reeling from a year and a half of chaotic military rule.

The judges on the top court are Mubarak appointees and seen as sympathetic to the old order. That perception could fuel confrontations between anti-Shafiq protesters and security forces, who were recently given vast powers to detain civilians.

‘Both decisions empower the Mubarak status-quo, which is no surprise, as the judges of the court were appointed by the latter, and represent a part of the so-called ‘deep-state,’’ Omar Ashour, an Egypt expert at Exeter University, said in an e-mail.

Shafiq will compete for the presidency against Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Morsi and his allies say Shafiq wants to return Egypt’s government to the repressive tactics Mubarak favored. Shafiq, in turn, says a Morsi victory would transform Egypt into an ultra-conservative Islamic state.” Read more.