Category Archives: Global Politics

ISIS Turns Saudis Against the Kingdom, and Families Against Their Own – The New York Times

BURAIDA, Saudi Arabia — The men were not hardened militants. One was a pharmacist, another a heating and cooling technician. One was a high school student. They were six cousins, all living in Saudi Arabia, all with the same secret. They had vowed allegiance to the Islamic State — and they planned to kill another cousin, a sergeant in the kingdom’s counterterrorism force. And that’s what they did. In February, the group abducted Sgt. Bader al-Rashidi, dragged him to the side of a road south of this central Saudi city, and shot and killed him. With video rolling, they condemned the royal family, saying it had forsaken Islam. Then they fled into the desert. The video spread rapidly across the kingdom, shocking a nation struggling to contain a terrorist movement seen as especially dangerous not just because it promotes violence, but also because it has adopted elements of Saudi Arabia’s intolerant version of Islam — a Sunni creed known as Wahhabism — and used them to delegitimize the monarchy. “Wahhabism is fundamental to the Islamic State’s ideology,” said Cole Bunzel, a scholar of Wahhabi history at Princeton University and the author of a recent paper on Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State. “It informs the character of their religion and is the most on-display feature, in my opinion, of their entire ideology.” Among 20 terrorist episodes in Saudi Arabia since late 2014, the killing of Sergeant Rashidi was the third in which citizens had secretly joined the Islamic State and killed relatives in the security services. In each case, they justified their acts by saying Saudi Arabia practiced a corrupted version of the faith, a charge aimed at a kingdom that holds itself up as the only true Islamic state.

Source: ISIS Turns Saudis Against the Kingdom, and Families Against Their Own – The New York Times

ASIA/SINGAPORE – The Mufti of Singapore to the Archbishop: “the massacre in Lahore is against Islam”

Singapore – The terrorist attack in Lahore, which targeted civilians indiscriminately, “is not only against Islamic teachings, but it is also an attack against all humanity”: is what the Muslim leader in Singapore, mufti Mohamed Fatris Bakaram said in a letter of condolence sent to the island’s Catholic Archbishop, Mgr. William Goh.The letter, sent to Fides, condemned the criminal act which killed 73 people and over 300 were injured in Lahore on Easter Sunday: “We strongly condemn the attack in Lahore and express our deepest condolences to the families of all the victims. We must join together to tell our clear horror of such acts of inhumanity”. The mufti specifies that “it is unjustifiable to attack another human being just because they have a different faith”, recalling that the attack was “an act of inhumanity and an affront to the people who believe in the values of compassion and peaceful coexistence”. This is “a serious error towards peace and inter-religious harmony, promoted by Islam”.On the same day the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore condemned the acts of violence committed in the name of Islam around the world, including attacks in Istanbul, Jakarta, in Syria, in Ankara, Brussels, as well as in Lahore. “We are saddened and outraged by such cruelty”, the Council said. “Along with all Muslims and all the inhabitants of Singapore, we express closeness and solidarity to the families of all the victims of these senseless tragedies” wrote the Council in a statement.

Source: ASIA/SINGAPORE – The Mufti of Singapore to the Archbishop: “the massacre in Lahore is against Islam”

Ebola no longer poses global risk, says WHO | News | DW.COM | 29.03.2016

{The very non-health related desire to say everything is OK now, is the same reaction that caused WHO and its member nations to urge calm and under-react to Ebola – which gave Ebola all the time it needed to outstrip several nation’s ability to fight it. Immediate “economic” concerns that drive this behavior may well be the leading cause of the pandemic that kills millions!}

Chan stressed that the three worst affected countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – remain vulnerable to Ebola flare-ups, including an ongoing cluster of cases in Guinea, which has left five people dead.But the UN’s health agency said all original chains of virus transmission have now ended.Chan said the “risk of international spread is now low, and…countries currently have the capacity to respond rapidly to new virus emergences.”Her statement brings to an end a nearly 20-month emergency that started in Guinea in late 2013, saw 28,638 cases emerge and 11,300 deaths.

Source: Ebola no longer poses global risk, says WHO | News | DW.COM | 29.03.2016

Local Muslim group makes anti-extremist videos – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

In an effort to counter jihadist propaganda a local association in the Stockholm area has produced two videos for young Muslims. For nearly a year, the “Islamiska förbundet i Järva” (the Islamic association in Järva) has received funding from a the national Inheritance Fund, which supports non-profit efforts for young people in Sweden. The Islamiska förbundet’s anti-radicalization project called WAANO has now released two videos, intended to be shown in schools and spread on social media. Each makes arguments, one directed towards men and the other towards women, against traveling to fight for extremists in other countries.

Source: Local Muslim group makes anti-extremist videos – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Israeli Education Minister: Even if the soldier made a mistake of judgment, he is not a murderer – PNN

Liberman, in addition to Education Minister and Jewish Home leader, Naftali Bennett, both attack B’Tselem Human Rights group for publishing the video. Immediately following the release of th e video on Thursday, politicians rushed to “dance to B’Tselem’s fiddle,” Bennett told Israel Radio on Sunday morning, referring to the human rights group that released the video of the killing, Jpost reported. Bennett said that “even if the soldier made a mistake of judgment he was not a murderer.” He said that the possibility of the soldier being tried for murder “demonstrated the total loss of proportions in the matter and he would act to ensure that the soldier would receive a just trial.” When asked about the execution,  El-Or Azarya, the medic soldier who murdered Abdul-Fattah Al-Sharif said that he “did the right thing at the right time.”

Source: Israeli Education Minister: Even if the soldier made a mistake of judgment, he is not a murderer – PNN

DN: Brussels suspects had ties to dead Algerian resident – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

The three men who have been named as suspects behind the attacks in Belgian were connected with the 35-year-old man who is believed to have been registered in Sweden for several years and who was shot to death last week in a raid outside Brussels, reports Dagens Nyheter. The man, a 35-year-old Algerian national, was shot by a Belgian police sniper after he holed himself up in an apartment in the Forest neighborhood of Brussels. Authorities zeroed in on the man during their four-month-old hunt for suspects linked to the November 13 Paris terror attacks. Dagens Nyheter is reporting that Belgium’s public TV service, RTBF, said the apartment was rented by one of the brothers who are now also suspected in Tuesday’s blasts. Two months before the attacks in Paris the 35-year-old Algerian was also stopped at a road check between Austria and Hungary with the Moroccan national who is considered the mastermind behind the attacks. The second brother, also a suspect in yesterday’s blasts, was also in the vehicle.

Source: DN: Brussels suspects had ties to dead Algerian resident – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Far-right vigilante group patrols city streets – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

“We know that they have started establishing themselves in Dalarna, but I can’t say much more than that at this stage,” police spokesperson Thomas Hellgren tells P4 Dalarna. Jonathan Leman, a journalist at newspaper Expo and an expert on the far-right, confirms the trend. “We know that a group has started in Dalarna. According to my sources, the patrols took place in Borlänge, Säter and Hedemora during the weekend. Soldiers of Odin is a network first started by Finnish Nazi Mika Ranta. According to Expo, the structure of the network is similar to that of criminal motorbike gangs, with different chapters. “Soldiers of Odin have also patrolled in Stockholm and Trelleborg,” says Leman. “I’m convinced that Soldiers of Odin’s patrols will only create insecurity, concern, and confrontation,” Leman adds.

Source: Far-right vigilante group patrols city streets – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Brazil court clears Lula to take up cabinet post amid anti-government protests | News | DW.COM | 18.03.2016 Big Business – Global Capital trying to buy back Brazil for the rich only!

Protests across Brazil On Friday, Rousseff called for her supporters to hold mass rallies in more than 30 cities. The largest rallies in support of the government were expected in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, called by Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, the major CUT union and other groups. Hours before the pro-Rousseff demonstrations were due to begin on Friday, riot police used water cannons to break up anti-government demonstrations in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo. Similar measures were enforced on Thursday evening as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to hold back protesters demanding Rousseff’s resignation.

Source: Brazil court clears Lula to take up cabinet post amid anti-government protests | News | DW.COM | 18.03.2016

Donald Trump Warns of ‘Riots’ if Party Blocks Him at Convention – First Draft. Political News, Now. – The New York Times

Is he yelling “fire” in a crowded theater or just paraphrasing his heroes Stalin, Hitler and Il Duce?

“I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn’t and if we’re 20 votes short or if we’re 100 short and we’re at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we’re way ahead of everybody, I don’t think you can say that we don’t get it automatically,” Mr. Trump said. “I think it would be — I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have riots. I’m representing a tremendous, many, many millions of people.” He added:” If you disenfranchise those people and you say, well I’m sorry but you’re 100 votes short, even though the next one is 500 votes short, I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it but I think bad things would happen.”

Source: Donald Trump Warns of ‘Riots’ if Party Blocks Him at Convention – First Draft. Political News, Now. – The New York Times