The real refugee crisis hasn't even started yet

Here’s How Much Groundwater We Actually Have Left
BY ZOË SCHLANGER

11/17/15  -  3:54 PM EST

Newsweek

There's a graphic accompanying the report. We've known for about two years that the groundwater situation was bad. But water scientists have learned it's worse than they'd realized at first. 

These people are are not crying 'Wolf.' Understand?

The present refugee crisis is an artificial one except for the Syrians who were fleeing severe drought earlier in the decade -- and it can be argued even that had an artificial aspect. This because the 'International Community,' a.k.a. U.S. and its EU and Gulf Arab buddies wanted Assad gone so badly it wouldn't lift a finger to help Syrians during the drought. This is despite the fact it had no problem pulling out the stops for African dictators who faced drought. Hell, they even sent food to North Korea's regime.  

The rest is due to war, and organized crime and corrupt government officials cashing in on the desire of many people in economically strapped countries to relocate to Europe.

But take one look at the graphic to see that the real refugee crisis isn't here yet. This is all the more reason to make short work of Terror, Inc. We need the decks cleared so we can focus on trying to mitigate what will be the most serious crisis of our time.

No more of this, 'Oh it's going to be a generational struggle.' Just bomb them into the ground, then we'll see how much of a generational struggle is left to deal with. 

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Bomb meant for German soccer stadium was truck bomb disguised as ambulance UPDATED

UPDATE 
AFP is reporting on Twitter that there were no explosives found at the stadium. See the website for details. Still a fog of war situation. However, WaPo's sources at the U.S. State Department are very good.  

***

That's from a Washington Post report today timestamped 4:26 PM EST. So it could be the "suspicious suitcases" authorities were initially directed to were red herring.

Another detail from the WaPo report that wasn't carried in earlier reports is that the "key" warning came just 15 minutes before the stadium gates were opened for fans.

The Wapo report mentions that a soccer game in Belgium was canceled, although there are no details.

 The report also provides the latest news on the hunt for suspects in the 11/13 attack.

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Kremlin: Missiles fired from a Russian sub at Islamic State? How should we know?

We're the Kremlin not the Ministry of Defense; go ask them.

I'm laughing so hard I can barely type. TASS has the story.

Also from TASS today: Russia involves 10 reconnaissance satellites in Syria operation — General Staff

MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Russia has involved ten reconnaissance satellites to provide support for its operation against terrorists in Syria, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Tuesday.

"Efforts continue to enhance satellite-based reconnaissance for the Middle East region," he reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Ten imagery and electronic warfare reconnaissance satellites, including civilian-use spacecraft, have been involved in reconnaissance," he said.

"Measures have been taken to redirect and correct the orbits of some satellites to ensure surveying of the territory of Syria with the required periodicity," Gerasimov said.

President Putin earlier demanded to intensify the Russian Aerospace Force’s strikes in Syria after Federal Security Service Chief Alexander Bortnikov reported that the Russian airliner over the Sinai peninsula on October 31 was blown up by terrorists.

The air crash that killed 224 people was the biggest disaster in the history of Russian aviation. After the airliner crash, Russia suspended flights to Egypt.

Russian aircraft have been delivering strikes against facilities of the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria since September 30 at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

[END REPORT]

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BREAKING NEWS: German soccer stadium evacuated after bomb warning

ABC News - 3:24 PM EST
Soccer Stadium in Hannover, Germany Evacuated After 'Serious' Indications of Explosive Materials

A soccer stadium in Hannover, Germany, was evacuated Tuesday after authorities received "serious" indications of explosive materials there, the city's police chief Volker Kluwe told German TV.

The match, between Germany and the Netherlands, was canceled less than 90 minutes before kickoff.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had planned to attend the match.

[END REPORT]

More details from this Fox News/Associated Press report:

A German soccer stadium was evacuated less than two hours before a friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands Tuesday after police uncovered a "concrete" bomb threat.

[...]

"We had concrete evidence that someone wanted to set off an explosive device in the stadium," Hannover police chief Volker Kluwe told German TV. Referring to another bomb threat about an hour beforehand that turned out to be a false alarm, Kluwe said, "After the first object turned out to be harmless, we got a tip that had to be taken seriously that an attack was being planned."

Investigators found a suspicious suitcase inside or near the stadium and a second suspicious device at the city's central train station, German media and Sky News report. Police closed off part of the train station.

[...]

Members of the German government including Chancellor Angela Merkel had been scheduled to attend the match in Hannover to signal that Germany wouldn't bow to terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Police told soccer fans, "Move away from the stadium. Do not stand still." They say the match was canceled.

There were no signs of panic, with most fans seemingly accepting the decision with resignation. Streets leading to the stadium had been sealed off before the all-clear was given.

Security was very tight, with police armed with machine guns surrounding the stadium and maintaining a very obvious presence in the city. Reporters arriving for the game were searched, while a sniffer dog was deployed to check their bags.

The nearby TUI-Arena was also briefly evacuated, German newspaper Bild reported. Officials there said a scheduled concert would still go on as planned.

[END REPORT]

U.S. State Senator Richard Black blurts the truth about Syria

The Senator asserted that the war on Syria was not caused by domestic unrest, saying “It was an unlawful war of aggression by foreign powers determined to force a puppet regime on Syria. General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, revealed that by 2001, Western powers had developed plans to overthrow [Syria's government].

That Black is a Republican makes this turn of events doubly amazing. When he notes in the letter to President Bashar al-Assad, "I bled, fighting to defend this nation’s honor ..." -- the 71-year old Black was a pilot in the US Marines during the Vietnam War and was awarded a Purple Heart medal.

This is not the first time Black has written Bashar. From the Wikipedia article about Black:

In April 2014 Black sent an official letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, thanking "the Syrian Arab Army for its heroic rescue of Christians in the Qalamoun Mountain Range" and praising Assad for "treating with respect all Christians and the small community of Jews in Damascus".

In an interview with Politico, Black congratulated the Syrian Army saying they did "a spectacular job" and compared events of this rescue operation to a movie.

Democratic Virginia Senator A. Donald McEachin called the letter "bizarre". Republican Senator Bill Stanley later joked, "What’s the matter, Dick? Was Kim Jong-un not returning your text messages?".

In this post-11/13 era, we'll see who's joking now in Washington.

From Syria's government news agency, SANA, datelined November 17:

U.S. Senator to President al-Assad: War on Syria was an unlawful war of aggression

Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday received a letter from U.S. Senator for the State of Virginia Richard Black a letter in which he said “I was pleased by the Russians’ intervention against the armies invading Syria. With their support, the Syrian Army has made dramatic strides against the terrorists.”

“I was delighted by Syria’s resounding victory over ISIS at the Kuwairis Airfield. My compliments to those who heroically rescued 1,000 brave Syrian soldiers from certain death. I am convinced that many such victories lie ahead,” Black added.

The Senator asserted that the war on Syria was not caused by domestic unrest, saying “It was an unlawful war of aggression by foreign powers determined to force a puppet regime on Syria. General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, revealed that by 2001, Western powers had developed plans to overthrow Syria. 

Yet after fifteen years of military subversion, NATO, Saudi Arabia and Qatar still cannot identify a single leader who enjoys popular support among the Syrian people.”

“Foreign powers have no right to overturn legitimate elections and impose their will on the Syrian people. Syrians alone must determine their destiny, free of foreign intervention. I am disappointed that the UN has turned a blind eye to the unlawful interference in Syria’s internal affairs,” he added.

He went on to note that “Before the war began, Syria had the greatest religious freedom and women’s equality of any Arab people. Many Americans are surprised to learn that the Syrian Constitution provides for free elections, religious freedom, women’s rights, and the Rule of Law. 

Before criticizing Syria, the U.S. might first insist that our allies – Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait – grant similar freedoms to their own people.”

Black voiced disappointment that the United States answered the Russian assistance for Syria by sending anti-tank TOW missiles to terrorists, which would only prolong said, criticizing the folly of arming “good terrorists” and withholding weapons from “bad terrorists,” adding that the irresponsible deployment of TOW missiles threatens aviation around the world, as anti-tank weapons have long range and can target and destroy passenger planes that are taking off.

He said that as a Senator for Virginia, he feels worry because such missiles can find their way to remote areas near airports like Reagan National Airport and Dallas International Airport, adding that he relayed these concerns to the American President.

Black went on to note that “Jaish al-Fateh” terrorist organizations, which he referred to by “Army of Conquest,” the literal translation of its name, has received more American military support, pointing out that this terrorist organization includes Jabhat al-Nusra which has sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda, which means that the United States is arming the same terrorist organization responsible for killing 3,000 Americans in 9/11, considering this to be a betrayal of those victims.

The Senator went on to say that it is becoming clear to people that the terrorists in Syria are receiving military support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, who are allies of the U.S., and that Turkey is the most loyal backer of ISIS as it represents the main channel for the flow of jihadists, weapons, and trade, adding that Turkey also hasn’t offered anything significant to the performance of the proposed alliance against ISIS despite being a member of it.

He said that Turkey and Saudi Arabia seek to impose a religious dictatorship on the Syrian people, and if they succeed in that then Christians and other minorities would be murdered or sold into slavery, and many good-hearted Sunni and Shia Muslims will also fall victim along with them.

But the Senator noted that world opinion is turning against terrorism and their supporters, adding “The cruel treatment of captured Syrian soldiers by armed groups is appalling. Many Americans find the behavior of these so-called ‘moderates’ morally abhorrent.”

“I bled, fighting to defend this nation’s honor. I will oppose American support for terrorists, like the Army of Conquest and ISIS that threaten Syria. Many Virginians join in praying that the Syrian Arab Army and its allies will triumph over the forces of evil, and that peace will soon return to Syria,” he said, concluding the letter by adding “Thank you for protecting the lives of Christians and of all good people of Syria.”

[END REPORT]

Children in one of the liberated villages in the vicinity of Aleppo

Photo: SPUTNIK/ MIKHAIL VOSKRESENSKY

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I'll be away for the rest of the month

Strive on with diligence.  

Best regards to all,
Pundita

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"Syrian Army Pummels Terrorist Positions Following Russian Air Assaults"

In a major breakthrough, the Syrian Army completely drove militant groups away from Marj al-Sultan Airbase and its surroundings in the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus on Sunday. This became the army's second major victory after lifting the ISIL siege of Kuweires airbase early last week.

Lots more news on the army's actions during the past 24 hours from the Sputnik report today.   

See also detailed reports sector by sector from SANA on Syrian army actions Nov 15 and Nov 16.

********

Breaking News: "Putin: ISIS financed from 40 countries, including G20 members" UPDATED 10 AM EST

From RT
Published time: 16 Nov, 2015 14:29 Edited time: 14:44

President Vladimir Putin says he’s shared Russian intelligence data on Islamic State financing with his G20 colleagues: the terrorists appear to be financed from 40 countries, including some G20 member states.

During the summit, “I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals. This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them,” Putin told the journalists.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Update: From Sputnik's report on the same breaking news:

Putin said at the G20 summit that Russia has presented examples of terrorism financing by individual businessmen from 40 countries, including from member states of the G20. 

Russia has also presented satellite images and aerial photos showing the true scale of the Islamic State oil trade.

"I've [shown] the pictures from space to our colleagues, which clearly show the true size of the illegal trade of oil and petroleum products market," Putin told reporters after the G20 summit.

The Russian president also said that Syrian opposition is ready to launch an anti-ISIL operation if Russia provides air support. [emphasis mine]

Vladimir Putin said that Russia needs support from the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran in fight against terrorism.

"It's not the time to debate who is more effective in the fight against ISIL, what we need to do is consolidate our efforts," president Putin added. 

Quote from another Sputnik report on the same news:

"A part of the Syrian opposition considers it possible to begin military actions against ISIL with the assistance of the Russian air forces, and we are ready to provide that assistance," the Russian president said.

Also from RT today:  
Terror intel exchanges between US, Russia need to be enhanced – CIA director

The US and Russia have been exchanging information in the fight against terror, and such exchanges need to be enhanced, CIA director John Brennan said while speaking at the Center for Strategic & International Studies on Monday.

I'm sure it will come as news to Russia's military and Putin, if Brennan is implying that all along, the US has been sharing intel on IS locations in Syria. I also note that AP seems to be the only news organization to report (yesterday) that after the 13/11 attack, the U.S. shared intel with France on IS sites in Syria it had previously shared only with the other 'Five Eyes' governments.     

********  

.   

WTF? "Obama urges Russia to join renewed effort to eliminate Islamic State"

Reuters report. This is the problem with so-called liberal democracy. It generates politicians who are all about show and saving face. He probably didn't even say that to Putin, just had his PR people put it out. But the unmitigated gall.    

I give up. I'm going to go join a nunnery now. Goodbye.

******

Islamic State reportedly claims no one killed in French-US air strikes on Raqqa

From the (U.K.) Telegraph 'live blogging' today of 13/11 issues:

02:53

Isil says no one killed in strikes

Islamic State has reportedly said no one was killed by the joint French and US airstrikes on Raqqa. It said the targets hit were "abandoned sites". It is not possible to verify the claim.

We'll have to wait and see. But it would make sense that they abandoned at least their most important sites, such as the command center, after the French air strikes on October 8 and the Russian strikes.

See the New York Times report I featured earlier tonight for details on the French rationale for the October 8 strikes.

See also the Guardian live-blog report, Paris attacks: anti-terrorism raids across France as hunt for Salah Abdeslam continues – live

********   

Obama said he would change America. He didn't say he planned to change the whole world.

Looking at the carnage in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine; the crazy Iran 'deal,' the crazy plan to place the Muslim Brotherhood in charge in Egypt, which mercifully el-Sisi halted; the crazy escalation against Russia, which raised the threat of a nuclear war -- what more does this man plan to do before he leaves office? 

God save us all. God help us.     

********    

11/13 Attacks: Coordinated but not sophisticated UPDATED 11:40 PM

Update

From the (U.K.) Telegraph 'live blogging' today of 13/11 issues:

02:53

Isil says no one killed in strikes

Islamic State has reportedly said no one was killed by the joint French and US airstrikes on Raqqa. It said the targets hit were "abandoned sites". It is not possible to verify the claim.

******

“But the big thing is the determination of the attackers. That in France and Europe is new — people who are willing to kill bullet by bullet.”

It's not so new; if Americans hadn't jumped the man who was loaded with automatic weapon magazines on a Calais-Amsterdam train earlier this year there would have been a lot of dead passengers. That perp has a connection to Moleenbeek in Beligum, reports the Times, as does at least one of the 13/11 attackers:

In the search to trace the others, investigators focused on Belgium. Authorities there have arrested several people in Molenbeek, an impoverished section of Brussels that is home to many Arab immigrants and that has been linked to past terror attacks.

One surprising detail from the NYT report, which I'm not quoting verbatim here (it's a lengthy report), is that the French bombing raid on Raqqa on October 8 was an attempt to be preemptive. Western intelligence had gotten wind of a planned attack on France and the US had alerted France in September, but the information on the attack was very vague. 

The haunting question, which the NYT report goes nowhere near addressing, is whether the attack might have been averted if France (or Russia) had been privy to U.S. intelligence on the location of Islamic State's command center in Raqqa before 13/11. 

Only the Five Eyes governments had such intelligence, which they hadn't shared with any other government -- not until after 13/11. That from an AP video report I mentioned earlier today. 

Yet since starting its bombing campaign in Syria, Russia has repeatedly asked the US to share intelligence on IS locations in Syria and gotten the chirping of crickets in reply.

I find it unconscionable that the U.S. didn't share intelligence with Russia given that they knew as early as September that IS was planning an attack on France.

From the New York Times report, Inquiry Finds Mounting Proof of Syria Link to Paris Attacks by JIM YARDLEY, KATRIN BENNHOLD, MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ADAM NOSSITER; NOV. 15, 2015

[...]
A French official said that some of the attackers had demonstrated a discipline that suggested military-style training, and that the plot involved considerable planning and input from an organized group.

But some analysts noted that many aspects of the assault had failed. The suicide bombers sent to attack the soccer match between France and Germany did not inflict many casualties. The Islamic State had also boasted of carrying out an attack in the 18th Arrondissement, but it never happened.

And the suicide bombs used by at least six of the attackers were unsophisticated, according to some analysts. At one cafe in Paris, an attacker managed only to blow himself up. Indeed, his belt may have detonated prematurely on his way to an intended target in the 18th Arrondissement, officials said.

Even so, analysts and security officials agreed that the willingness of the attackers to carry out suicide bombings and to kill relentlessly with assault rifles suggested a new level of commitment for attacks in Europe.

It is coordinated,” said Alain Bauer, a French criminologist who serves on an advisory council to the government. “But the big thing is the determination of the attackers. That in France and Europe is new — people who are willing to kill bullet by bullet.”

The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the attackers had “prepared abroad and had mobilized a team of participants in Belgium, and who may have benefited — the investigation will tell us more — from complicity in France.”

[...]

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Tell us again how cruel Europeans are for seeing Muslim migrants as the "other."

Breitbart London has reported at length on the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Europe which has arrived with mass migration. From Jews being specifically targeted for degrading house-invasion rape-thefts to Jews being excluded from Holocaust commemorations because of Muslim attendees hijacking events, migrant-Europe is now hostile towards Jews at a level not seen in decades.

Quote from Breitbart's 11/11 report, updated today, WATCH: THE ANTI-MIGRANT VIDEO GOING VIRAL ACROSS EUROPE

Of course there would be anti-Semitism in Europe even without the hordes of migrants, which the Breitbart report implies:

Although the main thrust of the film is to goad native Europeans against mass migration and the negative effects of multiculturalism, the film also paradoxically takes a swipe at one European minority group who stand to lose almost the most from mass Muslim immigration. It also includes a short clip of discredited, anti-Semitic politician Nick Griffin, former Member of the European Parliament and leader of the British National Party.

The inclusion of Mr. Griffin, an unpopular figure even in Britain’s nationalist right and the rapid success of the film in the Netherlands suggests the film may not have been edited by a British citizen.

They're a little confused over there in the EU.

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Pakistan's real boss wants Obama to pressure Afghans into accepting Pakistan's terms

I hope they don't give in. I hope they can hold out to the Spring, by which time Russia will be finished cleaning out the Augean Stables in Syria and can turn to ridding Afghanistan of Pakistan's mercenary army. 

No, there has been no change in the US position; you can easily see this from a sentence in the VOA report, below: 

Pakistan’s role is seen as critical to bring the insurgents to the peace table because of its past ties to the Islamist group that Afghan officials allege remain intact.

In other words the Obama regime still refuses to acknowledge that the "insurgents" are bought and paid for by Pakistan and that the Afghan government has long had proof of this.  

But the Obama regime is in a pickle since the Get Russia crowd's antics managed to get the North Distribution Network shut down. This means NATO is dependent on Pakistan for all supplies delivered to Afghanistan by ground. 

Pakistan Military Chief to Visit US

by Ayaz Gul

November 15, 2015 - 7:37 AM EST

Voice of America (VOA)

Pakistan's military chief General Raheel Sharif is to begin a crucial five-day visit to the United States on Monday. Officials say that “pressing issues” such as regional counterterrorism and Afghan peace efforts will top the agenda of the meetings with top American officials. 

General Sharif is scheduled to meet with his U.S. military counterparts and the director of the CIA. The two sides are expected to review security and anti-terrorism cooperation.

The general is also scheduled to hold important talks with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter, says a senior Pakistani official with knowledge of the agenda. 

Counterterrorism efforts

He told VOA requesting anonymity that General Sharif will brief U.S. leaders on successes of counterterrorism military operations to secure the volatile northwestern region, which borders Afghanistan.

The anti-insurgency offensive, dubbed as Zarb-e-Azb, was launched nearly 18 months ago in the militant-dominated semiautonomous North Waziristan tribal district and has since been expanded to other parts of Pakistan. 

[There's more in the report but I don't want to lose my dinner]

********

 

Islamic State set up external war command. Thanks for getting around to telling us.

Graphic from Indian Express

My best guess is that the Belgian [elite security] force probably totals about 200," Gutman told ABC News. "So they cannot watch even a fraction of the high risk threats."

Paris Attacks: ISIS Has New External Operations Unit, US Officials Say

by Brian Ross

November 15, 2015 - 8:06 AM EST

ABC News [USA]

See also Nov 14 ABC report, ISIS Claims Deadly Paris Attacks, 'First of the Storm'

By the way, earlier today AFP, which is on fire -- of course, they're a French news agency -- reported on their Twitter page that on the same day as the assualt on Paris, Turkish authorities foiled a terror plot directed at Istanbul. I don't know if this means the attack was planned to happen on the same date as the Paris one.

Also, RT reported today Suicide bomber blows himself up during anti-ISIS raid in G20-host Turkey. The raid was yesterday, the eve of the G20 summit. Whether the raid was related to foiling the attack in Istanbul, I don't know. 

Also yesterday the Daily Mail had pointed questions:
Questions for French security services after it emerges three major intelligence failures may have let the killers get through:

• French official admitted 'failure of intelligence' as vital clues were missed
• Heavily armed suspect was stopped but anti-terror chiefs were not alerted 
• One attacker was Parisian and had been on terror watch for five years 
• Two gunmen also sneaked into Europe by posing as refugees from Syria 

To turn to the ABC report today:

ISIS has developed a specific group within its organization dedicated to launching terrorist attacks abroad, like the one the claimed more than 100 lives in Paris, U.S. officials told ABC News.

"There is a specific unit on the organization charts of ISIS for external attacks, for planning and carrying out attacks in western Europe and in the United States," said Richard Clarke, a former White House counter-terrorism advisor and current ABC News consultant.

Just a day before the attacks in Paris, ISIS claimed responsibility for a dual suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 43 people. At the end of October, the group's Egyptian affiliate said it was responsible for bringing down a Russian airliner over Egypt, killing more than 200.

Early Saturday ISIS, which is based in Syria, released a statement online claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks, which left at least 129 dead and more than 350 injured, and saying they were the first in a coming “storm.”

Clarke said that ISIS previously relied on so-called “lone wolf” actors that were simply inspired by ISIS to carry out attacks on their own abroad – including a number of incidents in the U.S. Recently, however, the terror group appears to be embarking on “complicated, commanded and controlled multi-actor” external operations.

In the Paris attack, authorities said seven gunmen unleashed a barrage of bullets and bombs in six separate locations Friday night, including at a popular concert hall and outside a packed soccer stadium. All seven eventually detonated their suicide vests, ending the attacks, but authorities are desperately hunting for an eighth man named Abdeslam Salah, believed to be on the loose, among other potential accomplices.

Police have detained several people in France and Belgium in connection with the tragedy, including two men in Belgium who officials say were directly involved – indicating authorities believe at least 10 people played a role in the complex assault.

Some of the men under arrest had been tracked to Belgium after being spotted on surveillance tape in a rental car purportedly used in one of the shootings. One car apparently used in the attack was discovered today with “several” Kalashnikov rifles, the Paris prosecutor said.

Two of the deceased gunmen have been identified by French officials: 29-year-old French citizen Ismail Mostefai and another man whose photo appears on a Syrian passport. However, authorities are carefully examining the authenticity of the passport, which shows the man slipped into Europe through Greece, then Serbia and Croatia in early October and then eventually to France, according to European officials.

Mostefai was described as a petty criminal who was suspected of being a radical, but had never been charged with a serious crime.

French authorities said two of the other gunmen were French nationals who lived in Belgium.

Howard Gutman, former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, said the Belgians began updating their laws over the past decade to enhance their ability to monitor extremists, but they have continued to struggle to keep pace with the growing ranks of disaffected young Muslims who have fled Syria.

"There are probably 500 prime targets, which would require 5,000 agents to keep proper tabs. My best guess is that the Belgian [elite security] force probably totals about 200," Gutman told ABC News. "So they cannot watch even a fraction of the high risk threats."

Gutman, who stepped down in 2013, said helping Belgium reach out to the large population of young Muslims was a high priority during his time in the Embassy.

"We had significant success," he said. "I visited every major mosque and Muslim community centers and established relations with the imam and in the community including in Molenbeek," where two of the attackers were from. "For many of these visits, I was the only Western and non-Muslim visitor they had ever had."

U.S. officials said there is no known specific threat to the American homeland at this time.

[END REPORT]

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Breaking News: France with US help bombs the hell out of Raqqa UPDATED 5:45 PM, 6:30 PM, 12:45 AM Nov 16

UPDATE 12:45 AM EST, November 16

From the (U.K.) Telegraph 'live blogging' Nov 15 about 13/11 issues:

02:53

Isil says no one killed in strikes

Islamic State has reportedly said no one was killed by the joint French and US airstrikes on Raqqa. It said the targets hit were "abandoned sites". It is not possible to verify the claim.

We'll have to wait and see. But it would make sense that they abandoned at least their most important sites, such as the command center, after the French air strikes on October 8 and the Russian strikes.


See the New York Times report I featured last night for details on the French rationale for the October 8 strikes.

UPDATE 6:30 PM EST

From Washington Post report on the French air raid on Raqqa filed at 5:42 PM:

Oposition activists reached in Raqqa said they counted at least 30 bombs, which they said hit, among other things, a local football stadium, a museum and medical facilities. They said the strikes had knocked out electricity in the city of about 200,000 people.

The reported strike on medical facilities contradicts an earlier report that no hospitals were hit (see AP report, below) although a medical facility isn't necessarily a hospital. 

To return to the WaPo report (note that it does not mention what the AP report does: that the US was holding onto key intelligence about Islamic State sites in Raqqa that it had shared only with other 'Five Eyes' governments, until it charitably shared the intel with France after the 13/11 attack on Paris):     

A French statement said the operation, launched from bases in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, was conducted in coordination with the U.S. military command, which has compiled an extensive target list in Raqqa. U.S. officials, speaking at the G20 summit here that President Obama is attending, said the French operation was discussed between the two militaries, as well as in telephone calls Saturday and Sunday between Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his French counterpart.

In Iraq on Sunday, foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Iraqi intelligence had obtained information earlier that the Islamic State was planning an imminent terrorist attack overseas that may have been targeting “in particular” France, the United States and Iran.

“We notified these countries and warned them,” Jaafari said in a statement. The statement did not include specifics of when the Iraqis acquired the information. U.S. intelligence officials did not confirm the report.

Administration officials said the United States would not alter its strategy against the Islamic State in response to the Paris attacks, despite evidence that the terrorist group was expanding its ability to hit Western targets. In recent weeks, Obama has approved escalation of airstrikes in both Syria and Iraq, and authorized deployment of 50 Special Operations troops to assist Syrian Kurdish and Arab forces pushing toward Raqqa.
[...]
The [Paris] attacks prompted Hollande to declare France would lead a “merciless” fight against the Islamic state, a move that could increase pressure on the Obama administration to take stronger actions to ensure that the Islamic State cannot attack the United States directly.
[...]

*******

AP video report at AOL mentions that to help the French air raid on Raqqa the U.S. shared intelligence with French that it normally only shares with the "Five Eyes" (Anglo) governments. That's a damning statement, when you think about it. Moving along, AP text accompanying the video features a Tweet claiming that according to Raqqa-area hospitals, no civilians have been wounded or killed by airstrikes to date. That would include Russian strikes, whatever ones the Syria force carried out, and American strikes. 

******   

AFP reported (in French) the air raids first at their Twitter page. 

Breaking news, CNN (very brief report)

French air force conducting major bombardment against ISIS targets in Raqqa, Syria, the French Ministry of Defense says. ...

In one hour alone Sunday there were at least 20 airstrikes on the city, according to both a pro-ISIS news agency and the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

Breaking News, RT -- more info at this moment than CNN report, probably because RT editors can read French: 

France has carried out a massive airstrike on an Islamic State stronghold in Raqqa, Syria. It struck dozen’s of targets including a command and control center, training camp and munitions warehouse, the country’s defense ministry announced.

Ten French fighter jets took part in the country’s biggest air raid in Syria, the statement from the defense ministry read.

The strike, coordinated with the United States, was carried out simultaneously from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, according to Reuters.

“The first target destroyed was used by Daesh (a derogatory Arabic acronym for IS) as a command post, jihadist recruitment center and arms and munitions depot. The second held a terrorist training camp,” a ministry statement said, adding that in total some 30 targets were struck in the raid. 

Report includes AFP Tweet.

The dogs bark, the caravan passes

After grudgingly conceding that Bashar al-Assad would be staying on for a while at his post, John Kerry shot off the last of his rounds at Assad during the presser that followed the latest talks in Vienna yesterday on what the International Community should do about Syria.  He wanted the world to know that it was Assad who contributed to the rise of Islamic State and what's more it was Assad who was responsible for all things bad in Syria. 

In this Kerry studiously overlooked that the only people left in the world who believe anything said by a U.S. State Department official are MSNBC TV watchers and people who write policy papers for Chatham House.

Meanwhile, American Democratic Party leaders are worried that Islamic State carrying off a massacre in Paris might drive Obama's poll numbers even lower. They're sort of suggesting that the U.S. step up its military response to IS. Here the party runs into a snag because as Washington policy experts have repeatedly explained and continue to explain, you can't beat Islamic State through a military response. 

No, this is a generational struggle that will require spending hundreds of billions more euros and dollars on the kind of educational programs, democracy initiatives and development projects that did such wonders at neutralizing the Taliban threat in Afghanistan.

In this Democratic Party leaders and Washington policy experts are overlooking that the rest of America is too busy following war news at RT, Sputnik, TASS, and SANA to pay them any mind.

The barking will continue for some time but the caravan is moving on. Reuters made history yesterday by managing to get through a lengthy report on the Vienna talks about Syria without once quoting the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights, although it reverted to character a bit when it reported, 

An agreement on lists of accepted political organizations and proscribed terrorist groups has consistently eluded negotiators in the talks ...

We get a somewhat different version from SANA's report on same:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ... pointed out that there was common consensus on the lists of the terrorist groups that must be combated, and that Jordan was approached to help devise a unified list of terrorist organizations and present it to the Security Council for approval.

Meanwhile, Asia Times reported that Al Saud is having second thoughts about funding proxy armies to take down Assad. This on account of:

a) funding the armies for more years on end, especially after the Russian intervention, is more money than Riyadh wants or even can afford to spend. (Tough financial times have come to the kingdom);

b) The net effect of the Saudi attempt to take down Assad has been to shoot their own oil  ministry in the foot; and

c)  Their name is increasingly mud in the Ummah. This for a number of reasons including funding terrorist organizations that make all Muslims look really bad.

As to how the second thoughts are playing out -- from the Asia Times article:

Reports of the Saudi king’s possible visit to Russia indicate that Saudi Arabia’s adventurism in Syria is coming to a close.

According to the Russian presidential press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, the visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Russia is being worked out and agreed through diplomatic channels.

This shows Riyadh is ready to reach a ‘compromised solution’ on the Syrian crisis – a solution that may not be what the US seems to be attempting to achieve through its renewed engagement in Syria and Iraq and its (possible) policy of balkanization of Syria into different “safe zones.”

I suggest you read the entire article, which is positively riveting, but the point is that if Salman isn't hustled off to a mental asylum on his return from Russia and told he's too senile to run the kingdom, we are looking at a new day.

This would still leave the USA and its dear allies Turkey, Qatar, Great Britain and France to deal with, but the latter two governments would follow Al Saud's 'request,' which would also carry weight in Washington.  And it's possible President Obama is getting tired of supporting Qatar's romance with the Muslim Brotherhood given that it's put Washington on the spot with Cairo.

Meanwhile, SANA announced yesterday that the Syrian Army has established control over new areas in several provinces (warning: photo of lots of dead terrorists), destroyed 323 targets, and reported on Nov. 13:

Russian war planes, in cooperation with the Syrian Air Force, carried out 107 sorties targeting 289 positions for terrorist organizations in the countryside of Aleppo, Damascus, Idleb, Hama, Homs and Deir Ezzor provinces during the past 24 hours, A military source told SANA Friday.

The sorties resulted in destroying 34 command centers, 50 positions containing military equipment, 184 fortified positions and 16 fuel and munitions depots as well as two ammunition and explosives factories for terrorist organizations, the source added.

The sorties also targeted terrorists’ hideouts in the southern region, destroying ammunition depots near Jasem, north-west of Daraa city and in al-Maghar Mount in Damascus Countryside.

In the central region, the Russian air force destroyed 3 mortar bases, ammunition depot and two buildings including Grad missiles and shells in al-Lataminah, 35 km north of Hama city and a monitoring post for Jabhet al-Nusra terrorists near Kidin village in Lattakia countryside.

The source highlighted that the airstrikes also resulted in destroying a plant for manufacturing explosives and shells in Maarat al-Numan in Idleb countryside, 5 armored vehicles and 4 machinegun-equipped vehicles in Rasm al-Abboud near Kwairis Airport.

So it seems the Russian 'reconaissance' phase didn't last long, or that the Russians have wisely encouraged the Syrian air force to take more of the lead with the sorties. In any case the Syrian air force is so proud of their increasing successes that taking a page from the Russians, who've wooed the press since they showed up in Syria, they invited journalists to inspect a Syrian air base and marvel at the courage and professionalism of the pilots. 

I am absolutely certain their pride was shared by all the law-abiding Syrians who have toughed it out in the country during these terrible last four years. Word travels fast these days, so I think the pride will be shared by Syrians in refugee camps outside the country.

President Assad has pleaded with all able-bodied men in those camps to return and join him in the fight. I think many will respond, now that they're reasonably assured there is a country to return to.

I'm saving the best of the news for the next post; for now I'll close by featuring remarks by Pat Lang at Sic Semper Tyrannis.  He came straight out on November 12 and wrote what reportedly many American defense and intel analysts in Washington has been saying in private for weeks: 

At the present moment we have a memorable occasion in which the US refuses to afford Russia the courtesy of considering the merits of its intervention in Syria.  In fact, there are unending statements that deny the legitimacy of Russian action in spite of the invitation they were given by the UN recognized government of Syria.

What is the root of this problem?

IMO it is the belief resident and widespread in the Borg that history ended a while back and that after the end of the Cold War with the USSR there could be no doubt that the "day ob jubilo" had arrived and the ages long struggle of human tribes, countries and empires was done.  What was expected in the Borg was that a New World Order would prevail in which mommy's rules for playground behavior would rule, somehow. 

From this Borgian premise proceeds the R2P [Responsibility to Protect] harpy notion (eagerly supported by the neocons) that the Russians, IS, the jihadis, their Gulfie friends and the Zionists are all just errant children to be brought into line by scolding, small punishments and minimal efforts because, surely, they will understand that the old world has passed away and that this is the first century of the New Age of Man.

But the Russians do not understand that and for good reason. They do not believe it because that is all horse shit. This is a cavalry metaphor inherited from my father. 

Humanity has changed not at all. It is still a "fight for love and glory, a case of do or die" except for those of you who believe that Russia fights for oil under the Golan Heights.

In fact the Russians are quite sane.  It is we Western fools who are collectively mad.

In consideration of the massacre in Paris, Lang's observations could hit their mark in at least some part of Washington's political establishment. Whether or not this happens, the caravan continues on.

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Now it's time for a commercial break from ISIS

(Click on the title to enlarge the screen.)

Connection between the Paris terror attack and a murder in New Zealand 60 years ago

One of the gunmen at Bataclan reportedly shouted: "It's for Syria" and "Allahu Akbar!"

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack in Paris, which as of the latest reporting has claimed 127 lives and wounded 200.  

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The year was 1994. The newspaper was left on an empty seat in a subway car in Washington, D.C. It was open and folded to a review of a film, Heavenly Creatures. I took the seat and idly glanced at the review, then began reading with such absorption that I might have missed my stop if the trip had been shorter.

Neither the film, which was based on a historical incident, nor the Wikipedia article about the incident, fully explain what the author of the review did: the premeditated murder committed by two teenage girls in New Zealand in 1954, in which they took turns bludgeoning the mother of one of the girls, was not actually motivated by the girls' fear of their being forcibly separated.

It was that the looming separation, arranged by the families of the girls, threatened the girls' shared belief that the incredibly elaborate, richly detailed secret fantasy world they'd created was real, and that in the world they were all-powerful rulers. They saw the mother as an invading force destroying their kingdom and all its peoples, and so they executed her without remorse, in the way a soldier would kill an enemy combatant.

In my post about the terrorist attack in Paris I mentioned it was in the mode of the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, which was a textbook case of a military swarm attack. But there the similarity between the attacks ends.

The Mumbai attack, planned and overseen by a terrorist group associated with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, was based in a long-running strategy to destabilize India through terror tactics. The motives for the murder in New Zealand and the Paris attack are so close a match, the only notable difference is that the shared belief in one fantasy kingdom was secret, and in the other openly professed by many thousands of Muslims. 

Otherwise it was the same story transplanted to a purely military context. The attack in Paris was lodged in a pathological reaction to the Russian destruction in Syria of an elaborate shared fantasy of a new caliphate.  

The fantasy was supported only by the fact that the United States and other Western governments had always fought the caliphate believers with one hand tied behind their backs.

Within a month the Russians, who fight in Syria with both hands free, had destroyed so much of the terror groups' war machine that now they've had to replace bombing sorties with reconnaissance flights until they scare up more materiel to target.

Within six weeks a conflict that had dragged on more than four years is over but for the mop-up phase. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said at a press conference on November 11, “Since the beginning of Russian operations, according to UN structures, more than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria.”

All it ever took was the will by the Western powers to use their hi-tech flying machines to capacity. But this revelation is devastating to people who'd been given every reason by the powers to believe they had the military capacity to set a medieval rule atop the world.

Yet the Parker-Hulme murder case and the slaughter in the Bataclan theater warn that human nature is after all a force of nature, and that inattention to this fact when human nature is badly thwarted can be as deadly as standing under a tree in a lightning storm.    

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