Are Migrant Sex Attacks A Failure By The Left? Here’s The View From Germany

---

Multiple cases of German women being sexually assaulted by migrants on New Year’s Eve have sparked mass fear, anger and reprisal attacks against refugees in the country. Germany is now at crisis point: after generously welcoming asylum seekers from Syria last summer, Chancellor Angela Merkel now faces pressure at home (and across Europe) to end her ‘open-door’ policy, and to immediately deport immigrants who are convicted of criminal offences.

In Cologne, where revellers crowded together outside the Cathedral to watch fireworks, traumatised women claimed they were surrounded, robbed and groped by men of “Arab and North African appearance.” The number of incidents reported has risen to 561 in this city alone at the time of writing (around two thirds relate to sexual assault, including two counts of rape; the remaining incidents were thefts). Worst of all, German police are accused of standing by and doing nothing to help.

Lieli Shabani, an Iranian immigrant herself, told The Guardian that “men fired large firecrackers horizontally into the crowd and the police just stood at the side of the square with their hands on their hips.” The witness says she saw three Arabic- speaking males who were “giving instructions,” adding:

“I watched for some time as three men who were smartly dressed gave out instructions. One time a group of three or four males would come up to them, be given instructions and sent away into the crowd. Then another group of four or five would come up, and they’d gesticulate in various directions and send them off again. It looked to me like they were clearly directing the events.”

The wonderful welcome Germany gave to refugees last year has left a bitter taste in the mouth for many after the attacks. credit: cc, Pixabay

The claim that sexual attacks were orchestrated by elegantly dressed ‘commanders’ is something that clearly needs further investigation: finding out who these men are is key to unravelling the mystery and could help in diffusing the intense hatred and fear felt by some Germans in the wake of the incidents.

The testimony of this woman led to the firing of Cologne’s police chief, and also helped boost popular support for Germany’s far-right movement Pediga, which has grown steadily since last summer’s European refugee crisis. In addition, a member of Angela Merkel’s own political party has called for 1,000 asylum seeker deportations per day, violent revenge mob attacks on migrants have risen, and a politician in the southern region of Bavaria was so furious about being forced to take so many refugees that he sent some of them back to the capital on a bus (Merkel responded by returning them). Meanwhile, a pro-refugee politician was stabbed in the neck, and a Neo-Nazi group have been caught plotting to bomb new arrivals to the country.

Syrians Against Sexism is a movement supported by a huge number of refugees. They have been handing out flowers and leaflets on the streets. Credit: Syrians Against Sexism.

But on the other side of the coin, Syrian refugees have also taken to the streets (and to newspaper columns) to condemn the attacks, and show their gratitude to the German people. A group of men handed out leaflets in Cologne with this touching message:

“We, men from Syria, condemn in the strongest possible terms abuse against women and the attack and robberies on New Year’s Eve. We regret that women were injured, physically and in their honor. We hope that they will recover well and soon from these attacks. We hope that the perpetrators of these criminal acts will be found and punished. Our cultural values were trampled by these crimes. Those values include respect for women and men, respect for bodily integrity, and respect for personal property. We Syrians have come to Germany as refugees, because we want to live freely in this democratic society. We want to shape, to speak, and to live democracy. We regret that the acts on New Year’s Eve have brought our group — a group of Syrians, a group of refugees and of other Arab or North African people — and our culture into disrepute. We’ve fled an inhumane war, in order save our lives and our ability to remain human. We want peace and security and the opportunity to provide for our families through work. We thank all the people in Germany, both women and men, for all of the help they have so far offered us. We want to show ourselves worthy of your help. We remain united: Your values are our values. Germany has done more for us than any other European or Arab country!”

A Syrian refugee hands out leaflets condemning the assaults in Cologne. Credit: Syrians Against Sexism.

But for many in Europe, these acts are too little, too late. The incidents have been used by the right as evidence that the ‘looney left’ got it all wrong: Multiculturalism can’t work, borders must be secured, refugees ultimately aren’t our problem. The Eastern European leaders who built barbed wire fences to keep out refugees are now saying to Germany: “We told you so.” The Hungarian media didn’t hold back in its fierce criticism of German policy, with one conservative commentator frothing at the mouth as he wrote:

“There are no bastards on this earth more abominable and more destructive than these liberal pigs who are digging Europe’s grave.”

It’s easy to see why this has become a left vs right issue, but is that fair? The left’s outpouring of compassion for refugees fleeing Syria was sneered at by the right, just as the right’s paranoia over the ‘Islamification’ of Europe was sneered at by the left. And while most liberals cheered on Germany’s empathy and the warm way in which refugees were welcomed with open arms at the height of the summer crisis, many of us wondered what would happen to them in the weeks and months to come. Would they be re-homed quickly? Would they find work, start a new life, integrate into German society?

These questions are crucial to understanding why migrant policies can end in failure, but unfortunately the answer to all of them is no. We spoke to some German citizens to find out their thoughts on all of this.

Kerstin Kunzl, 29, is a teacher from Hamburg, where many of the incidents took place. She says she is trying to get on with life as normal, but admits there is a state of fear in Germany since the attacks.

“My students are afraid of terrorism these days, especially on New Year’s,” she says.”But it’s hard to get any clear explanation of what happened that night. I don’t know anyone who experienced it first hand and if you read about it, everybody makes sure to mention that it’s been Arabic looking men. They say it must have been organised. I don’t know what to think. Who failed? Was it their parents who failed to teach them how to respect women? Their culture? Society? The wrong kind of friends? It’s very worrying.”

A refugee holds a sign which speaks for itself. Credit: Syrians Against Sexism.

Albrecht Keller, 47, is a Berlin-based interpretor. He had this to say:

I can’t support Pediga [far-right movement] but I am angry with my government for allowing so many refugees into Germany without thinking what might happen next. It’s very sad, the population are going nuts at the moment. People are afraid. Germans feel the need to get weapons and pepper spray if possible, to defend themselves. They are scared that foreigners will attack them. At the same time, foreigners try to get weapons because they are afraid that Germans will attack them.”

But Thomas Kiesow, a 35 year-old businessman from Wuppertal, blames the German press for spreading fear and division. “Everything is a big event now,” he says. The media doesn’t help.”

Thomas, who frequently works in Cologne, goes on:

It’s hard to explain, but they have even changed the way they write headlines. They want to scare people big time. The reason why everybody thinks it’s necessary to get their hands on weapons is because of Spiegel [newspaper], German TV and stuff. We have the breaking news thing now almost five times a day. Breaking news here, breaking news there…f**k it. I don’t read that anymore.”

A Syrian man holds a sign showing respect for German culture and condemning alleged attacks by his countrymen.

Thomas believes Germany made the right decision to open its doors to more than one million Syrian refugees in 2015 alone, but like Albrecht he is concerned that Chancellor Angela Merkel overlooked many of the problems of integrating them into German society.

Regarding the Cologne attacks, he says:

We let millions of people into Germany and I think it should be expected that at least 1-2 % of them have criminal behaviour. The problem is we don’t have the resources to deal with that. The government cut down on police forces in the last 10 years. In Cologne there were like like 7 or 8 policemen against almost 1000 criminals.”

Thomas says he “doesn’t like the idea” of increased police presence, but says it’s crazy to allow millions of refugees entry without stepping up government resources. “You have to have more security, more jobs, more flats, more everything, and all at once,” he says.

Germans demonstrate against the attacks alongside Syrians. Credit: Syrians Against Sexism.

When asked how the government could better handle the situation, Thomas comes up with an amazing idea.

There are around two million refugees who have been sent to schools and gymnasiums and just left there [note: this is Germany’s current policy]. It’s not a long-term plan but nobody knows what to do with them; they are not allowed to work even though I know a lot of people who would be happy to employ them, and they are not mixing with German people or learning anything about our culture.There are 65 million households in Germany-  refugees should be placed with citizens for say one month, we can show them how we live, help them learn the language, support them in making a new life here. That’s the only solution as far as I can see.”

Thomas, a married father of two, says he would be very happy to take part in a government-run scheme like this, which currently only exists as a small social movement. And while he admits that many Germans wouldn’t be interested in hosting refugees, he believes there are enough kind people out there to make the initiative a success. The wonderful display of love and generosity by Germans towards refugees last summer supports Thomas’s optimism, and could act as the most logical and efficient step towards integration- meaning German women feel safer on the streets.

Refugees with flowers to be handed out to ladies on German streets. Credit: Syrians Against Sexism

The lesson to be learned by European governments over what happened on New Year’s Eve sits somewhere between extreme left/right perspectives: Yes, let’s help those who need help. But let’s share the burden of responsibility equally between developed nations rather than expecting one country to deal with it alone. Let’s allow refugees to support themselves by lifting work restrictions, and above all else, let’s actively encourage them to learn all about their adopted country by programs such as the one Thomas suggests.

Maybe if these issues had been addressed from the outset, the current situation would be very different in Germany.

First published here.

How The Love Shown By Muslims And Bikers Saved My Flooded Town

---

On Boxing Day morning at 7 am, after months of heavy rain, we were woken by the sound of flood sirens as the river Calder burst its banks. Within an hour, the valley where I live in West Yorkshire, England, was six feet underwater.

Hebden Bridge resident Helen Baron posted this image of the town on Facebook on Boxing Day morning. The scene was the same all over the valley.

Children lost the Christmas presents they had received a day earlier, families were made homeless, cars were floating around in the streets, and in the pretty low-lying towns of Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Mytholmroyd, small businesses were completely devastated. Everyone here in the Calder Valley is either affected or knows someone who is.

The last time we saw flooding like this was back in 1968, and most were not prepared (or even insured) for the damage. The scene was the same all over the north of England: in York, Leeds, Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria, sinkholes opened up, the army was called in to rescue those trapped in their homes, and whole buildings and bridges collapsed into the deluge.

A Christian, Muslim and Sikh share a touching hug at St James Church, Hebden Bridge. Credit: Rachel Brandwood, Facebook.

Ten days later, it’s still a chaotic scene where I live. But these kinds of disasters bring out the best in people, and the response from kind-hearted strangers has been overwhelming. In just four days, the local community raised £175,000 to help flood victims, people volunteered their time during the Christmas holiday to help in the clean-up operation, and residents have driven up to the North from other parts of Britain to offer free machinery for cleaning and dehumidifying, free carpet-fitting, and other essential services to those hit the hardest.

Thousands of people have donated money and materials, shelter and food, and local supermarkets have sent out teams of volunteers to help those in need, even giving away free cleaning materials, brushes and buckets. People have donated new furniture, charity music gigs have been arranged, a crowdfunding page has been set up- and in addition to the support offered by churches in the area, the local Muslim community in particular has shown incredible generosity.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association traveled to the North from London to help. Credit: Sara Robinson/Hebden Bridge Town Hall, Facebook

The Islam Centre in nearby Halifax brought hot food to people in the Calder valley, while Muslim volunteers from charity groups The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, One Nation, and the Al-Mubarak Foundation visited the area to help flood victims.

They coordinated relief efforts with a local church, sent out volunteers to help people clean up their homes and businesses, and have even opened their doors to homeless families. The solidarity shown by so many Muslim and Sikh community groups is heartwarming and has made the local tragedy much easier to deal with.

Sikh community groups also came to Hebden Bridge offering delicious Indian food to those in need. The group has been catering for 400 people. Credit: Ravi Singh, Facebook

Local resident Jenny Courtney Fidgeon, badly affected by the floods, left this heart-warming message on a local Facebook page for victims:

“While walking through Hebden today for the first time since boxing day when we lost our home, I realised something; life, love and a restored faith in humanity has come out of this disaster. I feel so proud of this community…people of all faiths and walks of life have come together to help each other. Community spirit still reigns.”

Perhaps the strangest sight we have seen in recent days are the big, burly-looking bikers hanging out on street corners with their Harley Davidsons. They look tough. They look intimidating. But forget the ‘Hells’ part: these lads are angels, full stop.

Four different biker gangs have travelled to the flood-hit towns in this valley to deter looters: because as much as these events bring out the best in humanity, they inevitably highlight the worst, too. Victims who have emptied their destroyed homes and businesses have been targeted by a small minority of callous thieves, who saw the tragedy as an opportunity to take what they can from the mud-stained streets as the floodwater receded.

Lloyd Spencer and Dave Cariss of Drifters MCC, West Yorkshire. Credit: Courtesy of Drifters MCC

Bikers have done a great job of scaring away would-be thieves by patrolling the area throughout the night since Tuesday. The local community and police have been welcoming to these unusual volunteers, offering them food and hot drinks for their service.  Hero biker Kath Dearden sent this touching message of mutual appreciation to local people on Facebook:

“Our team worked tirelessly in the rain all with smiles on their faces. I’m so proud of each and everyone of you guys n girls…thank you yet again. We will still be patrolling New Years Eve and every day until you don’t need us anymore. We feel like one big family. You are all so kind leaving us food hot drinks. And thank you to the fantastic family who brought us trays and trays of home made curry…total respect to all tonight…keep up the good work..xx”

Despite the devastation, the floods haven’t destroyed the true spirit of Christmas. The worst flooding in decades may have ruined our holidays, but it’s also restored our faith in humanity.

 Home: The beautiful Calder Valley, West Yorkshire. Climate change means mild, wet winters, making this area prone to dangerous winter flooding.

---

View original on the True Activist site. (How The Love Shown By Muslims And Biker Gangs Saved My Flooded Town). Note: my Yorkshire friends complain about American spellings. My editor complains about English spellings. This version is English, but I don’t usually ‘correct’ articles before publishing them here. Whichever side of the pond you are on, please don’t moan about spelling ‘errors’- it’s hard being British and working on American magazines!

Six Huge Stories The Mainstream Media Ignored In 2015

 

---

Whistleblowers, Ecocide, top secret trade deals, and shady ties between the Islamic State and the West’s closest allies…here are a few hot topics the mainstream media barely covered in 2015.

1. Any Tragedy That’s Not Western-Centric

The outpouring of fury, despair and grief by the corporate press over the November 13 Paris attacks highlighted the bias of the mainstream media towards western victims of terrorism. There were two suicide bombings in Lebanon the day before the events in Paris, killing 37 and wounding 180, but they were not mentioned much in the sensationalist coverage of France’s tragedy, nor were they mentioned in the minutes’ silences and vigils conducted across the Western world in the aftermath.

From the horrors of the Congo’s bloody civil war to Erdogan’s persecution of Turkish Kurds, from Boko Haram’s ongoing reign of terror in Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon to the plight of Sudanese refugees, the mainstream media seems to pick and choose which human lives deserve our empathy and which aren’t quite so important.

2. Indonesia Burning

Credit: Wikipedia

As we previously reported, the Indonesian wildfires that caused devastation to the country’s people and wildlife last year were largely ignored by the mainstream media until several months after the devastating event began. The fires were started by loggers to clear the way for controversial palm oil plantations and caused health problems for over one million people. The World Bank estimates that the fires destroyed 2.6 million hectares (6.4m acres) of rainforest between June and October, costing $16.1bn and causing untold loss of life to the endangered animals who depend on the forests for their survival. Terrified orang-utans fleeing the disaster were abused in a sickening way by some Indonesian villagers.

Ecocide on this scale should have been one of the biggest stories of 2015, but with the exception of Guardian columnist and environmental activist George Monbiot (who attacked his industry for censorship of the event), the tragedy was largely ignored to protect corporate interests.

3. France’s Slip Into Martial Law

Credit: Sylvain Szewczyk, Flickr

The terrorist attacks in Paris were used as justification by the French, British and German governments to join military strikes in Syria. They were also used as justification by the French government to severely restrict freedoms at home. As we reported, immediately after the terrible events of November 13, the French government began closing down alternative news sites. The President also declared that anyone’s house could be searched without a warrant, websites could be blocked without warning, and citizens could be put under house arrest without a trial. Activists hoping to march in Paris at last month’s Climate Conference were disappointed to learn that France’s state of emergency also included a ban on protests. Some French politicians are pushing to install GPS trackers in rental cars, re-write the Constitution to allow for martial law, block free wifi and Tor, and combine state databases, which would give the state access to citizens’ personal medical records.

Amnesty International, along with many French bloggers, expressed concern that the Government had imposed martial law in response to the terrorist attack. They have a point: Isn’t a restriction of freedoms at home exactly what extremists would want? John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director of Europe and Central Asia, said in November: “It is a paradox to suspend human rights in order to defend them.”

Many bloggers agreed and said they were scared about the situation in France. One wrote:

“I’m currently living in Paris, the city where some fanatics killed people because they were listening to music, watching a football match, or simply enjoy beers in a bar. I was living in the neighbourhood of where those tragic event happened. Now I’m scared.
I’m not scared of terrorists.
I’m scared of my own country.
I’m scared because different is now starting to mean dangerous.”

The anonymous man goes on:

“It seems that being an ecologist is enough to get house arrest. Before its 20th November reform, this sentence was reserved to people ‘whose activity is dangerous’, now it’s ‘serious reason to believe that his behaviour constitutes a threat’. We’re almost at the thought crime.”

France’s emergency measures were reported by the mainstream media, but there was little analysis or debate about whether they are justified: the myth we have to trade in our freedoms to get security has become a normal part of everyday life.

4. The Truth About ISIS

Credit: Christopher Dombres, Flickr

In 2015, I reported on a growing body of evidence that strongly suggests the Islamic State:

• Would not exist at all if it weren’t for the Pentagon’s terrible handling of the illegal 2003 Iraq invasion
• Is funded and armed by Western allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia
• Continues to grow due to oil sales to Turkey
• May have ties to the British government and Israel
• Could be part of a bigger geo-political plan by the USA and Britain to destabilise the region, using the corporate press to lie to the public in order to gain popular support for more endless oil wars.

The mainstream media continues to peddle the tired old narrative that the Western coalition are in Syria specifically to fight the I.S. If this were true, it would be logical for these countries to support Russia in its war against the terrorist organization. Yet coverage of Vladimir Putin in the corporate press continues to be entirely negative, despite the fact Russia single-handedly took out 40% of the Islamic State’s infrastructure in just one week. The revelations above have been completely censored by the corporate press, which is becoming less credible by the day.

5. The British Parliament Voted Against Democracy

The words in this image are taken from a real and very worrying speech by UK Prime Minister David Cameron late last year.

Last month, an English politician stood up in the Houses of Parliament and gave a speech calling for electoral reform. His request, backed by thousands of citizens, was blocked. The UK has an archaic system of voting which is unfit for purpose and entirely undemocratic: after unpopular Prime Minister David Cameron won the 2015 election with just 36% of the vote, millions of British people felt cheated. A petition was launched to demand proportional representation rather than the co-called ‘first past the post’ system, which benefits the major political parties but never the alternatives. In short, Britain is not the fair, democratic nation it pretends to be. News that Jonathan Reynold’s request (video here) for a fairer system was rejected should have been a big story in the UK, but the British media barely covered it.

6. The Reality Of Top-Secret Free Trade Deals

The TTIP (Trans-Atlantic Partnership Agreement) TISA, (Trade in Services Agreement) and TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) are highly controversial and top secret deals that will affect the lives of every citizen of the planet, yet we apparently have no right to decide whether we want them- or even to know the exact details of the draft legislation.

TTIP, in particular, is of huge concern. As we have reported, the deal threatens to allow corporations to sue governments who don’t do as they are told, kill online privacy, make fracking standard procedure across 28 countries, privatise European health systems, force GMO food on unwilling citizens, strip us of our civil liberties, and ensure that corporations have control over the European parliament.

Julian Assange called TTIP “The most important thing happening in Europe right now,” which is why Wikileaks is raising a 100,000 euro reward for any information relating to the deal. The site says of TTIP:

“It remains secret almost in its entirety, closely guarded by the negotiators, and only big corporations are given special access to its terms. The TTIP covers half of global GDP and is one of the largest agreements of its kind in history. The TTIP aims to create a global economic bloc outside of the WTO framework, as part of a geopolitical economic strategy against the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.”

Considering the impact all three of these trade deals will have on democracy, human rights, food safety and the environment, public awareness should be widespread. Worryingly, a huge number of people know next to nothing about TTIP, TISA and TPP.

Far from questioning the secrecy of such important agreements or inciting a crucial public debate about whether these deals are ethical and democratic, mainstream coverage has glossed over the negatives and generally provided a biased view of the benefits of this corporate take-over of the world.

First published here.

USA Is Responsible For ISIS Weapons Arsenal, Study Concludes

---

A damning new report by Amnesty International has named the USA as the primary nation culpable for indirectly arming the Islamic State, drawing the conclusion that the Pentagon is at least partly responsible for the terrorist group’s conception, growth and subsequent reign of terror in the Middle East.

ISIS have acquired many weapons through illegal trading with unknown countries and arms dealers, but the vast majority of their current arsenal was stolen from Iraq. Amnesty claims that this was only made possible by a series of systematic failures and incompetencies by the USA in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion.

The report states:

‘US-led forces failed to act decisively to prevent human rights abuses, control stockpiles, disarm Iraqi soldiers when the armed forces were disbanded, and safeguard against arms surpluses and imports getting into the hands of militias working as death squads or insurgents. This was compounded by a failure to adequately vet, monitor, train and hold to account the various Iraqi security forces in a manner consistent with international human rights and humanitarian law.’

The report quotes Army General John Abizaid, Commander of the US Central Command, who testified this before the US Senate in September 2003:

“There is more ammunition in Iraq than any place I’ve ever been in my life, and it’s not securable. I wish I could tell you that we had it all under control. We don’t. There are certainly not enough forces anywhere to guard the ammunition in Iraq.”

Yet despite Abizaid’s stark warning 12 years ago, nothing has changed.

This shocking Amnesty International investigation reveals: ‘Between 2003 to 2007, the USA and other coalition members transferred more than one million weapons to the Iraqi armed forces. This was ‘infantry weapons and pistols with millions of rounds of ammunition to the Iraqi armed forces, despite the fact that the army was poorly structured, corrupt and ill-disciplined. Hundreds of thousands of those weapons went missing and are still unaccounted for.’

Rather than take General Abizaid’s 2003 testimony as a wake-up call, the USA chose to ignore him and ship more weapons and tanks to Iraq. The total military expenditure increased from $614 million in 2004 to over $9.5 billion in 2014.

In 2008, there was an attempt to tighten US Department of Defense rules regarding subcontracting. Some vital measures were put in place to control the export and transfer of weapons into Iraq, but in 2014, the Pentagon was granted permission by Congress to waive these regulations and continue its arms transfers to Iraq. By 2014, the USA had delivered over $500 million dollars’ worth of small arms and ammunition to the Iraqi Government.

‘During the invasion and its aftermath, the US-led coalition’s decision to disband the Iraqi army, estimated at around 400,000 personnel, meant that many tens of thousands of individuals returned home or went into hiding with their weapons. In addition, Iraqi civilians and armed groups that emerged following the US invasion looted Iraqi military and police weapons caches as coalition forces struggled to maintain effective control of military stocks.’

Amnesty concludes:

‘Mistakes made during the US-led occupation led to the mass proliferation of small arms and light weapons which are feeding the conflict to this day. The quantity and range of IS stocks of arms and ammunition ultimately reflect decades of irresponsible arms transfers to Iraq and multiple failures by the US-led occupation administration to manage arms deliveries and stocks securely.’

ISIS have also acquired weapons from the Free Syrian Army, which is supported and armed by the USA and its allies in their fight to topple President Assad. Amnesty reports:

‘ISIS has also gained access to weapons from other sources – notably capture or sale of Syrian military stocks and arms supplied to armed opposition groups in Syria by countries including Turkey, the Gulf States, and the USA.’

“The vast and varied weaponry being used by the armed group calling itself Islamic State is a textbook case of how reckless arms trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale,” said Patrick Wilcken, the researcher on arms control, security trade and human rights at Amnesty International, in a statement.

This report is a public relations disaster for the Pentagon, and not only because of it reveals the USA’s terrible incompetencies. Amnesty International actually hints that ISIS simply wouldn’t exist at all if it weren’t for the disastrous 2003 Iraq war, during which terrible human rights abuses against Iraqi civilians and inside Abu Ghraib prison sparked a radical uprising against what were seen as the Western oppressors. They state:

‘Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent fall of President Saddam Hussein, a number of insurgent armed groups composed largely of Sunni men emerged in opposition to the occupying forces and the Shi’a-dominated Iraqi government. The Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad group, set up by Jordanian national Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi in 2002, became a major force in the insurgency after declaring allegiance to al-Qa’ida and establishing al-Qa’ida in Iraq. After Abu Mussab al- Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike in 2006, al-Qa’ida in Iraq renamed itself Islamic State in Iraq.’

The USA is undoubtedly at fault, and must now do what it can to limit the damage caused by past mistakes and hold those responsible to account. However, the blame lies with the global arms trade in general: Amnesty International estimate that ISIS are using weapons made by no fewer than 30 different countries, including America’s allies Britain, Germany, and the Gulf States. Other countries that have indirectly armed the Islamic State include Italy, South Africa, the Balkans (Eastern European countries), Russia, Croatia, Belgium, China, and Austria.

As for black market arms trading, the investigation has uncovered ‘an illicit trade of weapons, ammunition and dual-use goods (civilian goods that may have military applications) over the Turkish border.’ They reveal that:

‘On 29 May 2015, the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet published photos and video footage of what it alleged was a convoy of trucks, leased by the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), carrying arms for rebel groups in Syria in January 2015. According to the report, the convoy was stopped and inspected by Turkish officials and was said to be carrying 1,000 mortars, 1,000 shells, 50,000 machine gun cartridges and 30,000 heavy machine gun cartridges, hidden under medical supplies. Turkish President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Davutoğlu denied that the trucks contained arms, claiming that they were carrying aid for people of Turkish decent in Syria.’

If Turkey’s President Erdogan, a strong ally to the West, is truly selling arms to the Islamic State, it will be the second ISIS-related bombshell in less than a month: he was recently accused of buying oil from the terrorist organization. It seems we in the West might want to re-think some of our cosy friendships.

In summary, the report backs up what most of us figured out a long time ago: you can’t possibly stop global terrorism if you’re not willing to stop selling arms to whichever psychotic group or government offers you good money. The politicians in the USA, the UK, Germany, and France who wax lyrical about the ‘moral’ reasons for going to war against the Islamic State in Syria should take a long hard look at the Amnesty report, and treat arms regulation as matter of urgency. Until the arms trade is kept in check, the bombs we are now dropping will have little effect.

‘This catastrophe is another wake-up call,’ Amnesty concludes. ‘All states must take a long view and conduct much deeper institutional risk assessments for arms export decisions and act with much greater precaution and restraint when transferring and managing arms.’

 

---

First published here on December 14, 2015

This Is Huge: Evidence Emerges Linking Israel, Turkey To ISIS

---

You might have seen accusations in the press this week* that the Islamic State is selling oil to Russia. Apparently, Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan claims that Putin is one of the key buyers in Syria’s dirty illegal oil trade. But don’t fall for it: the story now being peddled to us by the Western press is a panicked response to a major Russian exposé that first came to light last week. Actually, it’s our friend Turkey who has been caught buying oil from the terrorist organization…and that’s not all. Recent revelations point to evidence that:

• Erdogan’s son is dealing in illegal arms and oil with the Islamic State.
• Russian satellite images show three main oil smuggling routes to and from Turkey.
• Turkey shot down the Russian jet because it is defeating I.S and therefore interfering with Erdogan’s lucrative trade.
• Somehow, despite the scale of the operation, The USA seems to have missed all of this.
• There are also new claims about an Iraqi security team who have evidence of a top Israeli military officer fraternizing with members of the I.S.
• A journalist has uncovered evidence the USA is complicit in a Turkish terror campaign against a Kurdish village last March. He claims the Turkish army waged this war on civilians alongside Islamic jihadists.

You may remember Putin accusing the USA of creating and arming the Islamic State. In that interview, which we covered here, the Russian President claimed the White House knows exactly which of its allies are buying the oil that allows I.S to keep on growing.

We’ve had to wait a while to find out who he was referring to, and this is big news. But these revelations are at risk of being lost in a quagmire of lies, as Erdogan, backed by Western intelligence agencies and their media lapdogs, has inverted the truth to distract and confuse the public.

When a Russian jet was downed by Turkey in late November, Putin said:

“We have every reason to think that the decision to shoot down our plane was dictated by the desire to protect the oil supply lines to Turkish territory.”

Two days ago, the Russian Defense Ministry held a major briefing on new findings concerning IS funding in Moscow (see video). According to Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, up to 2,000 fighters, 120 tons of ammunition and 250 vehicles have been delivered to Islamic State and Al-Nusra militants from Turkish territory.

“Terrorism without money is an animal without teeth,” Antonov declared, saying Russia was determined to fight the Islamic State. He pointed out that attacking the source of their wealth is the logical key to defeating them. Antonov showed satellite evidence that Turkey is involved in a large-scale illegal smuggling campaign, and said:

“Today, we are presenting only some of the facts that confirm that a whole team of bandits and Turkish elites stealing oil from their neighbors is operating in the region.”

He claimed there are thousands of trucks and live oil pipelines involved.

“According to our data, the top political leadership of the country- President Erdogan and his family- is involved in this criminal business.”

“These [airstrikes] helped reduce the trade of the oil illegally extracted on the Syrian territory, by almost 50 per cent,” Antonov says, adding: “The income of this terrorist organization was about $3 million per day. After two months of Russian airstrikes their income was about $1.5 million a day.”

Turkey is certainly getting a lot of attention, but it has overshadowed other important news. A claim by the Iraqi security forces could point to Israel as a suspect in the terrorist group’s training and operations command.

In another massive revelation, FARS news agency reports that Iraqi security forces recently took an Israeli colonel hostage, along with the Islamic State militants he was accompanying. The Iraqi army commander told the agency that the Israeli militant “had participated in the ISIL group’s terrorist operations.”

The colonel was arrested along with the jihadists, and the Iraqi commander even specified the traitor’s name and dog collar number:

“The Israeli colonel’s name is Yusi Oulen Shahak and is ranked colonel in Golani Brigade with the security and military code of Re34356578765az231434.”

The Iraqi commander said it wasn’t the first time Israelis had been caught with Islamic State militants, but they had never before found a high ranking officer. Iraq also claims that I.S drones with Israeli-made labels have been shot down on two occasions.

Along with Israel’s Netanyahu, Reccep Tayyip Erdogan is far more of a tyrant than Vladimir Putin. His military is targeting Kurdish citizens, an ethnic group with their own language who are alienated in their own country. Most anti-Kurdish atrocities at the Turkish government’s hand have been ignored by the mainstream media, although a few independent journalists have uncovered clues that (like the downing of the Russian jet) Turkey’s actions have the USA’s approval.

President Erdogan has crushed civil liberties during his time in power, and responded with extreme violence during Turkish protests against his leadership. Other Western allies such as Qatar, Israel and Saudi Arabia are also known for their horrendous repression and human rights records, yet Putin- the only leader who is actually doing anything to crush the terrorist cell- always attracts the most criticism from the Western press.

Erdogan strongly denies Russia’s allegations, and has said he will resign if it can be proved he’s lying. Judging by the following image and Antonov’s statement in full, it the corrupt President should be packing his bags as we speak.

Russian satellite images of the ISIS oil hub with 3,000 trucks transporting oil to Turkey. Strangely enough, the USA hadn’t spotted it. Credit: RT/Russia

*First published December 4th 2015 here.