Thursday, February 2, 2017

Switzerland: Chocolate, Watches and Jihad

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Switzerland: Chocolate, Watches and Jihad

by Judith Bergman  •  February 2, 2017 at 5:30 am
  • Swiss authorities are currently investigating 480 suspected jihadists in the country.
  • "Radical imams always preached in the An-Nur Mosque... Those responsible are fanatics. It is no coincidence that so many young people from Winterthur wanted to do jihad." — Saïda Keller-Messahli, president of Forum for a Progressive Islam.
  • Switzerland is the answer to those who claim that Islamic terrorism is reserved for those countries that have participated in operations against ISIS or other Muslim terror organizations. Switzerland has done neither, yet its flag figured among sixty other enemy flags shown in an ISIS propaganda video.
  • "Huge sums of money from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey are flowing to Switzerland... There is a whole network of radically-oriented mosques in Switzerland. The Muslim World League is behind it.... The network is a hub for Salafists. The Swiss authorities make a big mistake of not looking into the mosques." — Saïda Keller-Messahli.
  • There are around 70 Turkish mosques financed directly from Turkey through the Diyanet Foundation in Switzerland.
  • The Swiss government appears to give Qatar, one of the primary propagators of Wahhabi Salafism in the world today, extremely special treatment.
The an'Nur Islamic Cultural Center in Winterthur, Switzerland. (Image source: Google Maps)
In November 2016, Swiss police arrested the imam of the an'Nur mosque in Winterthur, in the canton of Zürich, for calling for the murder of Muslims who refuse to participate in communal prayer. The young imam, who had come from Ethiopia, had been in Switzerland for only a short time. The Zurich Federation of Islamic Organizations (Vioz) declared it was "shocked", and suspended the an'Nur mosque from the federation until further notice: "We are shocked that an imam in one of our houses of prayer called for violence."
There is little cause for "shock". Already in 2015, Winterthur made headlines in Switzerland as an emerging center for young Muslims with jihadi ambitions. Four people from Winterthur managed to travel to Syria to join ISIS and a fifth was stopped at the airport in Zürich.

Iran Tests Trump

by Majid Rafizadeh  •  February 2, 2017 at 5:00 am
  • "Regarding the issue of production of ballistic missiles for hitting moving targets, I should say that we are among a handful of countries that have gained the knowhow (in this field)". — Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami, January 29, 2017.
  • Iran has the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East.
  • "Iran has received Soviet-designed Scud-B missiles and it has adapted the design into two independently-built versions; the Shahab 1 and Shahab 2." — Center for Strategic and International Studies, November 2014
  • Helpfully, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has put Iran "on notice."
Right after the executive order from the White House to put a hold on issuing visas to seven countries including Iran, Tehran has test-fired a ballistic missile. The U.S. intelligence community was able to detect Iran's launch. Iran conducted the launch at a well-known location near the capital, Tehran.
Iran has confirmed firing a ballistic missile. This ballistic missile's launch would constitute Iran's ninth test-firing of ballistic missiles since the nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between P5+1 and Iran.

Bring Russia to the Table and Promote America's Security
The Art of the Deal

by Stephen Blank and Peter Huessy  •  February 2, 2017 at 4:30 am
  • Putin's Russia is determined to demilitarize NATO in Eastern Europe, end Western economic sanctions, allow the permanent amputation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity including the Crimea, secure Bashar Assad's rule over all of Syria, and in general establish Moscow in world affairs on a plane of "equal status with Washington".
  • This last goal is not going to be acceptable to any US president. It would give Russia a veto on U.S. activity abroad and a free hand in its self-proclaimed sphere of influence. Moreover, it would divide NATO, demoralize the EU, and almost certainly encourage further Russian aggression.
  • Energy policy is the key. A smart, aggressive, and self-interested energy policy makes America stronger and the world safer.
  • The US and Europe should agree to hold a major NATO summit in advance of a Trump-Putin sit-down. This move would demonstrate renewed NATO strength and resolve.
  • The proposed American conventional modernization must embrace the entire zone from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It must be coordinated by the U.S. with its allies. It is thus hoped that by doing so, the conventional modernization will help check Russia's nuclear threats.
  • Realistically, the US-Russia rivalry will remain in place -- but a "strong and nationalist United States," writes Victor Davis Hanson, can be a diplomatic, military and economic "hinge" upon which U.S. efforts to "discourage" Putin from doing things unwise can succeed.
The rivalry between the United States and Russia is entering a new era with the election of Donald Trump. While Trump has made no secret of his desire for better relations between the two nations, he has also called for a more muscular and efficient US military.
The new President seeks to modernize the US nuclear deterrent, expand effective missile defenses, and significantly increase conventional military capability, while reforming and revitalizing NATO.
These plans will no doubt rub up against Mr. Putin's objectives. Putin's Russia is determined to demilitarize NATO in Eastern Europe, end Western economic sanctions, allow the permanent amputation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity including the Crimea, secure Bashar Assad's rule over all of Syria, and in general establish Moscow in world affairs on a plane of "equal status with Washington".

Debate in Dutch Parliament about President Trump

by Geert Wilders  •  February 2, 2017 at 4:00 am
Geert Wilders:
President Donald Trump, what a relief! What a relief in comparison with the leftist dictatorship of the fearful cowardly and willfully blind leaders that we have in the rest of Europe and also here in this Chamber. It makes one cry. I tell you, finally America has a President, finally a Western country has a President who not only fulfills his promises, but also states that the security of his own citizens is his primary concern.

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