05/15/15 ~ The Raw Story

Friday, 15 May 2015

Is Washington coming to its senses?

There is much speculation about US Secretary of State John Kerry's rush visit to Russia in the wake of Russia's successful Victory Day celebration on May 9. On May 11, Kerry, who was snubbing Russia on the 9th, was on his way to Russia, and Putin consented to see him on May 12.

As time passes we will find out why Kerry was snubbing Putin on May 9 and 3 days later was criticizing Washington's puppet regime in Ukraine. For what is known at this time, a possible explanation is that Washington is coming to its senses.

If you watched the 1 hour 20 minute video of the Victory Day Parade, you are aware that the celebration sent a powerful message. Russia is a first class military power, and Russia is backed by China and India, whose soldiers marched with Russia's in the parade.

So, while the increasingly irrelevant West, absorbed in its own self-importance, snubbed the celebration of the victory that the Red Army gave them over Hitler, the three largest countries in the world were present united. Russia has the largest land mass, and China and India, also large land masses, have the world's largest populations.

The celebration in Moscow made it clear that Washington has failed miserably to isolate Russia. What Washington has done is to make the BRICS more unified.

With the President of China sitting at the right hand of Putin, the celebration also made it completely clear even to the morons in the Obama regime that Washington is no longer the Uni-power.

Consider now the impact on Washington's vassal states in Europe, the crux of the American Empire. Europeans are aware that two of the most powerful military states in history did not survive their invasions of Russia. Napoleon lost the Grande Army in Russia, and Hitler lost the Wehrmacht in Russia. It has dawned on Europeans that they are being shoved into conflict with Russia in the interest of Washington's claim to be the World Hegemon. Europeans are accustomed to obey Washington, but when it came to being forced into conflict with Russia, Europeans began to express dissent. Signs of an independent European foreign policy appeared with Merkel and Hollande's meeting with Putin to resolve the Ukrainian crisis orchestrated by Washington.

Faced with the failure of its policy of isolating Russia and the emergence of an independent foreign policy in Europe, Washington sent Kerry as a supplicant to Putin to work out a way to de-escalate the Ukrainian crisis. Putin being a peacemaker will permit Washington to save face. But this will not please the neoconsevatives or the military/security complex. The former are invested heavily in claims of Amerika Uber Alles, and the latter are lusting for the abundant revenues from a new cold, or hot, war.

Obama, Kerry, and Cameron have to become magicians. They have to transition from demonizing Putin to working with him.

Having failed with force against Russia, the West is now employing seduction. If Western peoples hope to escape from the Police State that Washington has imposed on the entire Western World, we must pray that Putin does not fall for the seduction.

There is no world leadership in the West. There is only selfishness and hubris. Western "leadership" is exploitative. The West loots the non-West and is now turning on itself with its looting of Ireland and Greece, with Italy, Spain, and Portugal the next targets for looting. The American public itself has been looted of its jobs, career aspirations, and civil liberties.

The Western model of "democratic capitalism" turns out to be neither democratic nor capitalist, but a form of fascism ruled by an oligarchy. The United States is where regime change is most badly needed.

Israel is offering illegal immigrants $3,500 and a one-way ticket home as it begins to crack down on refugees, who face prison if they don't take up the deal. Rights groups are appalled at the move, saying Israel should be doing more to protect them.

Israel says the tough move is necessary to send a message to migrants that making the journey is not worthwhile in the first place. As deterrents it has built a steel fence along the border with Egypt, houses migrants in a detention camp in the middle of a desert, and has stopped issuing work permits to deter would-be migrants

Israel was founded by refugees and continues to welcome Jews from around the world who wish to relocate there. During the 1990s over a million Jews from the former Soviet Union crossed the welcome mat.

Jews from Ethiopia have also looked to settle in Israel, however, they have not had an easy time of things in trying to start a new life.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Ethiopian Jews rallied peacefully against the discrimination and racism they claim they are experiencing. This followed a national outcry after a video emerged of an Israeli man of Ethiopian descent being beaten by police.

Approximately 135,500 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel, and more than a third of them - over 50,000 - were born there.

However, it would seem they are fortunate in comparison to their African neighbors who are not of the Jewish faith. Over the last six years, Israel has a dismal rate of accepting refugees from Eritrea. Despite the fact 300,000 asylum seekers from the country in the horn of Africa have been offered refugee status around the world, Israel has accepted only four people.

Aside from making it hard for potential refugees to get to Israel, the country is also giving those already there incentives to leave.

A government program has offered those without legal papers the chance to return home with $3,500 in cash, the option of going to a third country, or spend an indefinite time in an Israeli prison.

Over the past two years, over 9,000 Africans have taken up Israel's offer and left. Before the crackdown began African workers could regularly be found around Tel Aviv doing menial jobs, such as washing dishes and cleaning hotel rooms which Israeli's would not touch.

"It is a form of coercion, but it is not forced deportation," said Sigal Rozen, who works as the public policy director for an Israeli human rights group called Hotline for Refugees and Migrants. However, Rozen was adamant, "Israel should do more," the reported.

She added that Sudanese refugees who had fled bloodshed and civil war in their home country "are now waiting in line to go back."

Those who opt to stay in Israel face a tough and desolate life, as they are not allowed to work. Housed in the Holot detention center in the middle of the Negev desert, they are more than an hour from the nearest large settlement. Although they are allowed out during the day, they have to return by nightfall or risk being sent to the prison next to the detention facility.

Despite the desperate circumstances the refugees face, many will never contemplate returning to their countries of origin. On the contrary, they dream of being able to travel to Europe to start a new life.

"Being beheaded by ISIS [the Islamic State] or sinking on a boat is scary," said 28-year-old Mutasim Ali, who arrived in Israel in 2009 from the Darfur region in Sudan. He has spent the past year in the detention center. "But you can't really stay here, wasting your life, doing nothing," he told the .

It has been reported that Israel has been in negotiations with African nations to accept more refugees, with the media speculating that Israel could offer these countries technology, money or contracts if they accept asylum seekers who are trying to settle in Israel.

The real Masters of the Universe in the U.S. are no weathermen, but arguably they're starting to feel which way the wind is blowing.

History may signal it all started with this week's trip to Sochi, led by their paperboy, Secretary of State John Kerry, who met with Foreign Minister Lavrov and then with President Putin.

Arguably, a visual reminder clicked the bells for the real Masters of the Universe; the PLA marching in Red Square on Victory Day side by side with the Russian military. Even under the Stalin-Mao alliance Chinese troops did not march in Red Square.

As a screamer, that rivals the Russian S-500 missile systems. Adults in the Beltway may have done the math and concluded Moscow and Beijing may be on the verge of signing secret military protocols as in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The new game of musical chairs is surely bound to leave Eurasian-obsessed Dr. Zbig "Grand Chessboard" Brzezinski apoplectic.

And suddenly, instead of relentless demonization and NATO spewing out "Russian aggression!" every ten seconds, we have Kerry saying that respecting Minsk-2 is the only way out in Ukraine, and that he would strongly caution vassal Poroshenko against his bragging on bombing Donetsk airport and environs back into Ukrainian "democracy".

The ever level-headed Lavrov, for his part, described the meeting with Kerry as "wonderful," and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the new U.S.-Russia entente as "extremely positive".

So now the self-described "Don't Do Stupid Stuff" Obama administration, at least apparently, seems to finally understand that this "isolating Russia" business is over - and that Moscow simply won't back down from two red lines; no Ukraine in NATO, and no chance of popular republics of Donetsk and Lugansk being smashed, by Kiev, NATO or anybody else.

Thus what was really discussed - but not leaked - out of Sochi is how the Obama administration can get some sort of face-saving exit out of the Russian western borderland geopolitical mess it invited on itself in the first place.

About those missiles...

Ukraine is a failed state now fully converted into an IMF colony. The EU will never accept it as a member, or pay its astronomic bills. The real action, for both Washington and Moscow, is Iran. Not accidentally, the extremely dodgy Wendy Sherman — who has been the chief U.S. negotiator in the P5+1 nuclear talks — was part of Kerry's entourage. A comprehensive deal with Iran cannot be clinched without Moscow's essential collaboration on everything from the disposal of spent nuclear fuel to the swift end of UN sanctions.

Iran is a key node in the Chinese-led New Silk Road(s) project. So the real Masters of the Universe must have also — finally — seen this is all about Eurasia, which, inevitably, was the real star in the May 9 Victory Day parade. After his pregnant with meaning Moscow stop — where he signed 32 separate deals — Chinese President Xi Jinping went to do deals in Kazakhstan and Belarus.

So welcome to the New (Silk) World Order; from Beijing to Moscow on high-speed rail; from Shanghai to Almaty, Minsk and beyond; from Central Asia to Western Europe.

By now we all know how this high-speed trade/geopolitical journey is unstoppable — spanning the Beijing-led, Moscow-supported Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the BRICs Development Bank. Central Asia, Mongolia and Afghanistan — where NATO has just lost a war — are being inexorably pulled into this trade/geopolitical orbit covering all of central, northern, and eastern Eurasia.

What could be called Greater Asia is already shaping up — not only from Beijing to Moscow but also from business center Shanghai to gateway-to-Europe St. Petersburg. It's the natural consequence of a complex process I have been examining for a while now — the marriage of the massive Beijing-led Silk Road Economic Belt with the Moscow-led Eurasia Economic Union (EEU). Putin described it as "a new level of partnership."

The real Masters of the Universe may have also noted the very close discussions between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the deputy chairman of the Central Military Council of China, Gen. Fan Changlong. Russia and China will conduct naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Japan and will give top priority to their common position regarding U.S. global missile defense.

There's the not-so-negligible matter of the Pentagon "discovering" China has up to 60 silo-based ICBMs - the CSS-4 - capable of targeting almost the whole U.S., except Florida.

And last but not least, there's the Russian rollout of the ultra-sophisticated S-500 defensive missile system — which will conclusively protect Russia from a U.S. Prompt Global Strike (PGS). Each S-500 missile can intercept ten ICBMs at speeds up to 15,480 miles an hour, altitudes of 115 miles and horizontal range of 2,174 miles. Moscow insists the system will only be operational in 2017. If Russia is able to rollout 10,000 S-500 missiles, they can intercept 100,000 American ICBMs by the time the U.S. has a new White House tenant.

Once again, the real Masters of the Universe seem to have done the math. Can't reduce Russia to ashes. Can't win in the New (Silk) World Order. Might as well sit down and talk. But hold your (geopolitical) horses; they might still change their mind.

© Reuters/Lucas Jackson
Emergency workers and Amtrak personnel inspect a derailed Amtrak train in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania May 13, 2015.

The engineer who operated Amtrak 188 was qualified and competent, but remembers nothing from the fatal crash, investigators said after interviewing him. The NTSB is now asking FBI help to look into allegations the train was struck or shot at.

Speaking to reporters at the last Philadelphia-based briefing, Robert Sumwalt of the National Transportation Safety Board said his investigators have interviewed the engineer and two other crew members from the Amtrak 188 train, describing them as "traumatized" and not yet fully recovered from their injuries.

One of the conductors testified she had heard an engineer aboard a local SEPTA train reporting "either being hit by a rock, or shot at," and putting his train into an emergency stop with a broken windshield, Sumwalt said. The conductor believes she heard the Amtrak engineer reporting "something about his train being struck by something" as well.

Reports of #Amtrak locomotive being struck will be subject to inspection and verification.
— NTSB (@NTSB) May 15, 2015

The NTSB has not independently confirmed the information, but investigators have seen damage to the "left-hand lower portion" of the Amtrak train's windshield. The Bureau has asked FBI crime scene teams to examine the Amtrak locomotive, which showed a "circular pattern emanating outward," perhaps caused by an external object.

Sumwalt told reporters that the train's engineer, whom he did not name, felt fully qualified and comfortable with his equipment, and reported no problems with his train handling." The media have identified the man as Brandon Bostian of New York.

Bostian did not feel tired or ill, and "when asked, he demonstrated a very good working knowledge of the territory, speed limitations, things like that."

The investigation will proceed to reassemble the wreckage and examine the braking mechanism, compare the damage to the cars to computer models, and await the results of medical tests administered to the engineer, as well as the FBI examination of the windshield. Sumwalt declined to offer any preliminary conclusions or speculation as to what might have caused the derailment of Amtrak 188 on Tuesday evening.

Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman posted an open letter to the company's website on Thursday, saying it was working with the individuals and families affected by the crash to "help them with transportation, lodging, and of course, medical bills and funeral expenses."

"Amtrak takes full responsibility and deeply apologizes for our role in this tragic event," Boardman wrote.

Eight passengers died in the crash and more than 40 remain hospitalized. There were 243 people on board, including five Amtrak crew workers. Security camera footage showed the train entering a sharp turn at over 100 mph in a 50 mph zone. NTSB investigators say the train operator had applied emergency brakes and reduced the speed from 107 mph to 102 before the train jumped the track.

Amtrak continues to run trains north of New York City and between Washington, DC and Philadelphia, but the Philadelphia-to-New York route remains suspended. The railroad's Northeast Corridor, between Washington, DC and Boston, carries 12 million passengers a year.

On April 26 Russia's main national TV station, Rossiya 1, featured President Vladimir Putin in a documentary to the Russian people on the events of the recent period including the annexation of Crimea, the US coup d'etat in Ukraine, and the general state of relations with the United States and the EU. His words were frank. And in the middle of his remarks the Russian former KGB chief dropped a political bombshell that was known by Russian intelligence two decades ago.

Putin stated bluntly that in his view the West would only be content in having a Russia weak, suffering and begging from the West, something clearly the Russian character is not disposed to. Then a short way into his remarks, the Russian President stated for the first time publicly something that Russian intelligence has known for almost two decades but kept silent until now, most probably in hopes of an era of better normalized Russia-US relations.

Putin stated that the terror in Chechnya and in the Russian Caucasus in the early 1990's was actively backed by the CIA and western Intelligence services to deliberately weaken Russia. He noted that the Russian FSB foreign intelligence had documentation of the US covert role without giving details.

What Putin, an intelligence professional of the highest order, only hinted at in his remarks, I have documented in detail from non-Russian sources. The report has enormous implications to reveal to the world the long-standing hidden agenda of influential circles in Washington to destroy Russia as a functioning sovereign state, an agenda which includes the neo-nazi coup d'etat in Ukraine and severe financial sanction warfare against Moscow. The following is drawn on my book, Amerikas' Heilige Krieg.

CIA's Chechen Wars

Not long after the CIA and Saudi Intelligence-financed Mujahideen had devastated Afghanistan at the end of the 1980's, forcing the exit of the Soviet Army in 1989, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union itself some months later, the CIA began to look at possible places in the collapsing Soviet Union where their trained "Afghan Arabs" could be redeployed to further destabilize Russian influence over the post-Soviet Eurasian space.

They were called Afghan Arabs because they had been recruited from ultraconservative Wahhabite Sunni Muslims from Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and elsewhere in the Arab world where the ultra-strict Wahhabite Islam was practiced. They were brought to Afghanistan in the early 1980's by a Saudi CIA recruit who had been sent to Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden.

With the former Soviet Union in total chaos and disarray, George H.W. Bush's Administration decided to "kick 'em when they're down," a sad error. Washington redeployed their Afghan veteran terrorists to bring chaos and destabilize all of Central Asia, even into the Russian Federation itself, then in a deep and traumatic crisis during the economic collapse of the Yeltsin era.

In the early 1990s, Dick Cheney's company, Halliburton, had surveyed the offshore oil potentials of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and the entire Caspian Sea Basin. They estimated the region to be "another Saudi Arabia" worth several trillion dollars on today's market. The US and UK were determined to keep that oil bonanza from Russian control by all means. The first target of Washington was to stage a coup in Azerbaijan against elected president Abulfaz Elchibey to install a President more friendly to a US-controlled Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, "the world's most political pipeline," bringing Baku oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey and the Mediterranean.

At that time, the only existing oil pipeline from Baku was a Soviet era Russian pipeline that ran through the Chechen capital, Grozny, taking Baku oil north via Russia's Dagestan province, and across Chechenya to the Black Sea Russian port of Novorossiysk. The pipeline was the only competition and major obstacle to the very costly alternative route of Washington and the British and US oil majors.

President Bush Sr. gave his old friends at CIA the mandate to destroy that Russian Chechen pipeline and create such chaos in the Caucasus that no Western or Russian company would consider using the Grozny Russian oil pipeline.

Graham E. Fuller, an old colleague of Bush and former Deputy Director of the CIA National Council on Intelligence had been a key architect of the CIA Mujahideen strategy. Fuller described the CIA strategy in the Caucasus in the early 1990s: "The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam and of helping them against our adversaries worked marvelously well in Afghanistan against the Red Army. The same doctrines can still be used to destabilize what remains of Russian power."⁶

Richard Secord

The CIA used a dirty tricks veteran, General Richard Secord, for the operation. Secord created a CIA front company, MEGA Oil. Secord had been convicted in the 1980s for his central role in the CIA's Iran-Contra illegal arms and drugs operations.

In 1991 Secord, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, landed in Baku and set up the CIA front company, MEGA Oil. He was a veteran of the CIA covert opium operations in Laos during the Vietnam War. In Azerbaijan, he setup an airline to secretly fly hundreds of bin Laden's al-Qaeda Mujahideen from Afghanistan into Azerbaijan. By 1993, MEGA Oil had recruited and armed 2,000 Mujahideen, converting Baku into a base for Caucasus-wide Mujahideen terrorist operations.

General Secord's covert Mujahideen operation in the Caucasus initiated the military coup that toppled elected president Abulfaz Elchibey that year and installed Heydar Aliyev, a more pliable US puppet. A secret Turkish intelligence report leaked to the Sunday Times of London confirmed that "two petrol giants, BP and Amoco, British and American respectively, which together form the AIOC (Azerbaijan International Oil Consortium), are behind the coup d'état."

Saudi Intelligence head, Turki al-Faisal, arranged that his agent, Osama bin Laden, whom he had sent to Afghanistan at the start of the Afghan war in the early 1980s, would use his Afghan organization Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) to recruit "Afghan Arabs" for what was rapidly becoming a global Jihad. Bin Laden's mercenaries were used as shock troops by the Pentagon and CIA to coordinate and support Muslim offensives not only Azerbaijan but also in Chechnya and, later, Bosnia.

Bin Laden brought in another Saudi, Ibn al-Khattab, to become Commander, or Emir of Jihadist Mujahideen in Chechnya (sic!) together with Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev. No matter that Ibn al-Khattab was a Saudi Arab who spoke barely a word of Chechen, let alone, Russian. He knew what Russian soldiers looked like and how to kill them.

Chechnya then was traditionally a predominantly Sufi society, a mild apolitical branch of Islam. Yet the increasing infiltration of the well-financed and well-trained US-sponsored Mujahideen terrorists preaching Jihad or Holy War against Russians transformed the initially reformist Chechen resistance movement. They spread al-Qaeda's hardline Islamist ideology across the Caucasus. Under Secord's guidance, Mujahideen terrorist operations had also quickly extended into neighboring Dagestan and Chechnya, turning Baku into a shipping point for Afghan heroin to the Chechen mafia.

From the mid-1990s, bin Laden paid Chechen guerrilla leaders Shamil Basayev and Omar ibn al-Khattab the handsome sum of several million dollars per month, a King's fortune in economically desolate Chechnya in the 1990s, enabling them to sideline the moderate Chechen majority.²¹US intelligence remained deeply involved in the Chechen conflict until the end of the 1990s. According to Yossef Bodansky, then Director of the US Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, Washington was actively involved in "yet another anti-Russian jihad, seeking to support and empower the most virulent anti-Western Islamist forces."

Bodansky revealed the entire CIA Caucasus strategy in detail in his report, stating that US Government officials participated in,

"a formal meeting in Azerbaijan in December 1999 in which specific programs for the training and equipping of Mujahideen from the Caucasus, Central/South Asia and the Arab world were discussed and agreed upon, culminating in Washington's tacit encouragement of both Muslim allies (mainly Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia) and US 'private security companies'. . . to assist the Chechens and their Islamist allies to surge in the spring of 2000 and sustain the ensuing Jihad for a long time...Islamist Jihad in the Caucasus as a way to deprive Russia of a viable pipeline route through spiraling violence and terrorism."

The most intense phase of the Chechen wars wound down in 2000 only after heavy Russian military action defeated the Islamists. It was a pyrrhic victory, costing a massive toll in human life and destruction of entire cities. The exact death toll from the CIA-instigated Chechen conflict is unknown. Unofficial estimates ranged from 25,000 to 50,000 dead or missing, mostly civilians. Russian casualties were near 11,000 according to the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers.

The Anglo-American oil majors and the CIA's operatives were happy. They had what they wanted: their Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan oil pipeline, bypassing Russia's Grozny pipeline.

The Chechen Jihadists, under the Islamic command of Shamil Basayev, continued guerrilla attacks in and outside Chechnya. The CIA had refocused into the Caucasus.

Basayev's Saudi Connection

Basayev was a key part of the CIA's Global Jihad. In 1992, he met Saudi terrorist Ibn al-Khattag in Azerbaijan. From Azerbaijan, Ibn al-Khattab brought Basayev to Afghanistan to meet al-Khattab's ally, fellow-Saudi Osama bin Laden. Ibn al-Khattab's role was to recruit Chechen Muslims willing to wage Jihad against Russian forces in Chechnya on behalf of the covert CIA strategy of destabilizing post-Soviet Russia and securing British-US control over Caspian energy.

Once back in Chechnya, Basayev and al-Khattab created the International Islamic Brigade (IIB) with Saudi Intelligence money, approved by the CIA and coordinated through the liaison of Saudi Washington Ambassador and Bush family intimate Prince Bandar bin Sultan. Bandar, Saudi Washington Ambassador for more than two decades, was so intimate with the Bush family that George W. Bush referred to the playboy Saudi Ambassador as "Bandar Bush," a kind of honorary family member.

Basayev and al-Khattab imported fighters from the Saudi fanatical Wahhabite strain of Sunni Islam into Chechnya. Ibn al-Khattab commanded what were called the "Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya," his own private army of Arabs, Turks, and other foreign fighters. He was also commissioned to set up paramilitary training camps in the Caucasus Mountains of Chechnya that trained Chechens and Muslims from the North Caucasian Russian republics and from Central Asia.

The Saudi and CIA-financed Islamic International Brigade was responsible not only for terror in Chechnya. They carried out the October 2002 Moscow Dubrovka Theatre hostage seizure and the gruesome September 2004 Beslan school massacre. In 2010, the UN Security Council published the following report on al-Khattab and Basayev's International Islamic Brigade:

Islamic International Brigade (IIB) was listed on 4 March 2003. . . as being associated with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of" Al-Qaida. . . The Islamic International Brigade (IIB) was founded and led by Shamil Salmanovich Basayev (deceased) and is linked to the Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs (RSRSBCM). . . and the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR). . .

On the evening of 23 October 2002, members of IIB, RSRSBCM and SPIR operated jointly to seize over 800 hostages at Moscow's Podshipnikov Zavod (Dubrovka) Theater.

In October 1999, emissaries of Basayev and Al-Khattab traveled to Usama bin Laden's home base in the Afghan province of Kandahar, where Bin Laden agreed to provide substantial military assistance and financial aid, including by making arrangements to send to Chechnya several hundred fighters to fight against Russian troops and perpetrate acts of terrorism. Later that year, Bin Laden sent substantial amounts of money to Basayev, Movsar Barayev (leader of SPIR) and Al-Khattab, which was to be used exclusively for training gunmen, recruiting mercenaries and buying ammunition.

The Afghan-Caucasus Al Qaeda "terrorist railway," financed by Saudi intelligence, had two goals. One was a Saudi goal to spread fanatical Wahhabite Jihad into the Central Asian region of the former Soviet Union. The second was the CIA's agenda of destabilizing a then-collapsing post-Soviet Russian Federation.

Beslan

© AFP/NTV
This TV grab image taken from Russian NTV channel 07 September 2004 shows wires and hostages in the gymnasium of the Beslan school, northern Ossetia.

On September 1, 2004, armed terrorists from Basayev and al-Khattab's IIB took more than 1,100 people as hostages in a siege that included 777 children, and forced them into School Number One (SNO) in Beslan in North Ossetia, the autonomous republic in the North Caucasus of the Russian Federation near to the Georgia border.

On the third day of the hostage crisis, as explosions were heard inside the school, FSB and other elite Russian troops stormed the building. In the end, at least 334 hostages were killed, including 186 children, with a significant number of people injured and reported missing. It became clear afterward that the Russian forces had handled the intervention poorly.

The Washington propaganda machine, from Radio Free Europe to The New York Times and CNN, wasted no time demonizing Putin and Russia for their bad handling of the Beslan crisis rather than focus on the links of Basayev to Al Qaeda and Saudi intelligence. That would have brought the world's attention to the intimate relations between the family of then US President George W. Bush and the Saudi billionaire bin Laden family.

On September 1, 2001, just ten days before the day of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Saudi Intelligence head US-educated Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, who had directed Saudi Intelligence since 1977, including through the entire Osama bin Laden Mujahideen operation in Afghanistan and into the Caucasus, abruptly and inexplicably resigned, just days after having accepted a new term as intelligence head from his King. He gave no explanation. He was quickly reposted to London, away from Washington.

The record of the bin Laden-Bush family intimate ties was buried, in fact entirely deleted on "national security" (sic!) grounds in the official US Commission Report on 911. The Saudi background of fourteen of the nineteen alleged 911 terrorists in New York and Washington was also deleted from the US Government's final 911 Commission report, released only in July 2004 by the Bush Administration, almost three years after the events.

Basayev claimed credit for having sent the terrorists to Beslan. His demands had included the complete independence of Chechnya from Russia, something that would have given Washington and the Pentagon an enormous strategic dagger in the southern underbelly of the Russian Federation.

By late 2004, in the aftermath of the tragic Beslan drama, President Vladimir Putin reportedly ordered a secret search and destroy mission by Russian intelligence to hunt and kill key leaders of the Caucasus Mujahideen of Basayev. Al-Khattab had been killed in 2002. The Russian security forces soon discovered that most of the Chechen Afghan Arab terrorists had fled. They had gotten safe haven in Turkey, a NATO member; in Azerbaijan, by then almost a NATO Member; or in Germany, a NATO Member; or in Dubai - one of the closest US Allies in the Arab States, and Qatar-another very close US ally. In other words, the Chechen terrorists were given NATO safe haven.

F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine "New Eastern Outlook".

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An unidentified drone reportedly conducted surveillance on NATO's large-scale military exercises in Estonia codenamed Siil-2015 (Hedgehog-2015).

Siil-2015 (Hedgehog-2015), NATO's largest-ever war games in Estonia, were monitored by an unknown drone, according to the Estonian newspaper Eesti Päevaleht; a spate of NATO countries is involved in the drills that are wrapping up on Friday.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, a reservist told the newspaper that his unit was monitored by a suspected unmanned aerial vehicle at least three times during the drills.

"During one of its arrivals, the drone hovered over a camp, and everyone was on heightened alert. Next time, the drone flew over a completely random area in the forest, where one of our units was stationed at the time. But it was not just a casual interest," the reservist said.

He added that the command was briefed on the drone and that he was told to try to follow the drone to its possible landing spot; he said that he failed to do it because he was afraid of losing his way.

Meanwhile, Vallo Toomet, spokesman for the Estonian Defense Forces' General Staff, was quoted as saying that camouflaging and other passive safety measures were used against the drone.

He declined to elaborate on whether the drone was a reconnaissance plane from a particular country.

Under Estonian law, drones are allowed to fly everywhere, except restricted areas, such as those adjacent to airports. These areas do not include those related to military units or exercises.

Taking part in the Hedgehog-2015 drills are eight NATO members, including the US, UK, Germany and Poland. The military hardware being drilled includes advanced anti-aircraft systems, A10 "Warthog" ground-attack planes and Abrams battle tanks.

Ukraine and China have signed a currency swap agreement worth $2.4 billion, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). Ukraine expects it will relieve pressure on its currency which has lost above 40 percent against the US dollar in a year.

The three year agreement was signed in Shanghai by the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine(NBU) Valeria Gontareva and the governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan, according to NBU's press release published on Friday.

Ukraine will provide some 54 billion hryvnia and China 15 billion yuan within the swap line.

"This agreement is extremely important for our countries, being strategic partners, and will promote the economic development of both countries. The funds received under the agreement may be used to finance commercial operations and direct investments between the two countries," Gontareva said.

The practical implementation of currency swap arrangements will cut the demand of importers for foreign currency, which will lower the pressure on the hryvnia exchange rate and help stabilize the situation in the domestic money market, she added.

The hryvnia has lost about 44 percent since last May standing at 20.9 against the US dollar on May 15.

The agreement will come into effect in June when the previous agreement, concluded in 2012 expires. It will enable companies from both countries to use national currencies for export-import operations and to conduct settlements in national currencies without involving the currencies of other countries.

Ukraine's economy is currently facing tough times; the country's foreign debt totaled $72.9 billion at the beginning of 2015. Ukraine's National Bank reserves have fallen dangerously below $5.5 billion in March, and the national currency, the hryvnia, has lost more than half its value in 2015.

Ukraine and China agreed on economic and technical cooperation worth $8 million in January. Ukraine's exports to China reached $2.7 billion last year while import amounted to $5.4 billion.

Russia Direct interviewed Russian and American experts as well as former diplomats to assess the importance of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's recent high-profile diplomatic mission to Sochi.

Both Russian and American experts have greeted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Sochi on May 12 with cautious optimism. After all, it was Kerry's first visit to Russia in two years - marking the first time since the start of the Ukrainian crisis that Kerry had set foot on Russian soil.

With both sides admitting that the Ukraine crisis has reached a critical point, steps to preserve the momentum of the Minsk II agreement as well as reach some new consensus on what to do next have become even more vitally important.

In an attempt to assess the results of the meeting, Russia Direct interviewed Russian and American experts as well as former diplomats for their opinions.

Robert Legvold, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science and the Harriman Institute of Columbia University

the Sochi meeting may open the way for both sides to take a different approach to the relationship

Robert Legvold, Harriman Institute of Columbia University

Provided one is realistic about the current very deteriorated U.S.-Russian relationship, the meeting may be more significant than the media recognizes. The two countries start from a very low point, and there is no chance they will soon change the underlying character of the relationship - that is, a deep mistrust of the other side, profound differences over key issues, such as Ukraine, and a tendency to focus on limitations rather than opportunities. But the Sochi meeting may open the way for both sides to take a different approach to the relationship.

It is significant that both Foreign Minister Lavrov and President Putin gave four hours each to the meeting, but even more so, that the conversations in both cases appeared to be constructive, and free of the invective characterizing other meetings. Perhaps the most significant result was Kerry's remark at the press conference that direct dialogue is crucial, particularly in difficult times. That has not been the Obama Administration's position up to this point.

And it appears that they made progress on specific issues. While differences remain in their estimation of what threatens the Minsk II agreement, they appeared genuinely committed to keeping the lid on. In the case of Syria, while there's no indication that they have a clear notion of what would constitute a political settlement, they appear willing to attempt to cooperate in promoting one. All of this represents progress, but it will only be meaningful, if both sides have the will to take the next steps.

Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs, Chairman of Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy

Yesterday [May 12], the main topics of the discussion were quite usual: Syria, the general situation in the Middle East, the final stage of preparations to the signing of Iran agreement. It's a typical array of questions usually discussed between representatives of Russia and the U.S. It's hard to imagine something broader.

While we cannot really discuss the way the negotiations went, as we haven't participated in them, the personal contacts became more comfortable. But I wouldn't overestimate this because the general position most likely will not change.

This meeting shows that both sides, Russia and the U.S., became aware of the fact that the situation when two large nuclear superpowers barely have working channels of communication for over a year is quite dangerous. Because in such situation the question is not of an open military conflict (as no one intends to start a war), but there is a necessity to maintain the contact in order to understand the partner's intentions and logic.

The latest developments probably gave both countries an incentive to re-establish the dialogue that existed even during the period of the Cold War

Fyodor Lukyanov, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy

The latest developments probably gave both countries an incentive to re-establish the dialogue that existed even during the period of the Cold War. During that time, the dialogue was not aimed at pressuring someone, but to be aware of what is the general atmosphere. At that time this communication was very constructive. In my opinion, we are moving towards something similar.

I would not expect the sanctions to be lifted any time soon as Secretary Kerry and his colleagues continue to say that it can only happen if the Minsk agreements are fully realized. However, the agreements signed in Minsk and their implementation is a very diffused thing that is hard to measure. Most likely, in the near future the sanctions will not be lifted. In the U.S. the mechanism of lifting sanctions is very complex: If sanctions are introduced, it is very hard to lift them later.

Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and Professor at Stanford University

Positive atmospherics, however, are never a substitute for policy

Michael McFaul, Stanford University

I always believe that direct dialogue is useful in diplomacy, so I applaud the idea of Kerry's meeting with Putin. Positive atmospherics, however, are never a substitute for policy. On the major policy issues in U.S.-Russia relations, nothing has changed. Steven Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Brookings Senior Fellow at Center on the United States and Europe

According to press reports, the discussions in Sochi between Secretary Kerry and President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov covered a broad agenda, including Ukraine, Iran's nuclear program, Syria and ISIS, and North Korea. It does not appear that the visit produced substantive breakthroughs. Indeed, prior to the meeting, American officials had modest expectations in terms of specific outcomes, and the intention of the visit may have been more along the lines of keeping a line of communications open to Putin. That's worth doing, but absent changes in policies, it will be difficult for the sides to make progress in closing their differences.

Andrey Kortunov, President of New Eurasia Foundation, General Director of Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC)

The fact that Kerry's visit to Sochi took place for the first time in two years indicates that it is generally an extraordinary event. Different factors have played a role here. On the one hand, there is the desire to preserve the dialogue, especially, in the times of a growing number of international problems, where Russian and American interests are the same. On the other hand, there is the desire to take part in tackling the Ukrainian crisis.

After all, the U.S. is not a participant of the Normandy format process [a process that involves Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany - Editor's note]. Nevertheless, they have their opportunities and channels of communication with Kiev. In addition, there is the desire of the U.S. to clearly deliver its position on the Ukrainian case and other international problems. However, nobody expected any breakthroughs in these negotiations.

On Russia's part, it was important that the U.S. would not confine their position to monitoring the situation in Eastern Ukraine, but also take responsibilities to exert pressure on the Kiev authorities

Andrey Kortunov, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC)

Observing the Minsk II agreements was the major topic of the talks in Sochi. On Russia's part, it was important that the U.S. would not confine their position to monitoring the situation in Eastern Ukraine, but also take responsibilities to exert pressure on the Kiev authorities. And, remarkably, Kerry made a reference to the comment to Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko about the Donetsk airport and warned against using force in taking it back, which demonstrates the symbolic readiness to exert pressure on Kiev, if necessary, and use its political heft to influence Kiev to fulfill the Minsk agreements. And this is a very important point. It means the possibility of the U.S. participating in the Normandy format negotiations. But again, for Russia, it is much more important to focus on fulfilling the commitments presented in the Minsk Agreements. Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics, Head of School at University of Kent, Member of Comparative Politics Research Group

This [Kerry's visit] is a very positive development. The fact that President Obama has sent his Secretary of State all the way to Sochi suggests the beginning of an understanding that the solution facing the two countries and larger regional and global issues can only be resolved through dialogue. This is the first meeting between Kerry and Putin in two years, and does suggest that the freeze is beginning to thaw.

The key issue discussed was Ukraine, but the Minsk peace process will only work if it is embedded in a larger regional and global settlement, and this is a sign that this may be beginning to emerge. The meeting also discussed the situation in the Middle East, where despite the differences of views, there are many common interests. The key issue is to find a common political language, something that is distinctly missing.

the gulf in understanding between the two countries remains enormous, and the Ukrainian situation will constantly act as an irritant; sometimes it seems deliberately so

Richard Sakwa, University of Kent

What is the potential for improvement in U.S.-Russian relations? There is a lot of ground to make up, and this is a small sign of a possible path back towards, not so much an improvement, as the beginning of understanding. However, the gulf in understanding between the two countries remains enormous, and the Ukrainian situation will constantly act as an irritant; sometimes it seems deliberately so. With an American election coming up, things will get all the more heated. The two countries operate, as it were, on two different levels of reality, both relatively coherent in their own terms, but ultimately lacking a mode of dialogue between the two.

Nicolai Petro, Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, specializing in Russian affairs

It was the meeting itself that was the most significant issue. It was the first high-level meeting between the U.S. and Russian officials in two years. The United States had been the main sponsor of attempts to isolate Russia, but as early as last fall, tried to re-initiate dialogue in secret.

Moscow, in an effort to prove the futility of attempting to isolate Russia, took the position that such contacts must be public. It now appears that Moscow's position has won out. While it may seem to be a concession that Kerry was allowed to break protocol and meet with Russian President Putin as well as [Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov], this only highlights the official and very public standing accorded this "reset."

Another interesting aspect of this visit was the equal emphasis that Kerry gave to Ukraine's need to fulfill its obligations under the Minsk Accords. Traditionally, the United States has made such demands only of Russia, giving Ukraine a free pass.

It is far too early, however, to speak of a return to "business as usual" between the United States and Russia

Nikolai Petro, University of Rhode Island

It is far too early, however, to speak of a return to "business as usual" between the United States and Russia. As Russia sees it, efforts by the United States to promote turmoil in Ukraine, along with its attempts to organize Russia's political and economic isolation are hardly forgotten. It is just that the United States belatedly realizes that it needs Russia's assistance in managing other international crisis, and that its policies of imposing sanctions have led to a great deal of friction with Europe, as well as moved cooperation between China and Russia to a new level. This last item could ultimately threaten the long-term interests of the United States.

To me, however, it is inconceivable that Russia will resume normal relations with the current U.S. administration — too much reckless damage has been done. This does not mean, however, that the stage cannot be set for the resumption of closer ties with some future administrations.

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On May 2, a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, just north of Nogales, on Tohono O'odham land, a group of activists unveiled a banner of protest in front of a new surveillance tower, manufactured and operated by the Israeli company Elbit Systems. The group came to bring border justice, indigenous rights and power, and anti-militarization movements together with the Southern Arizona BDS Network to confront the Israeli/US partnership that is militarizing the US/Mexico border with increasingly profound effects on the people of this region. As is the normal case for residents who live and work in this hyper-militarized border zone, on our excursion to the tower, it didn't take long for a U.S. Border Patrol agent, on an all-terrain vehicle, to speed up and rush toward our group, asking us what we were up to—and asking us to leave.

In 2014, the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security awarded Elbit Systems, the Israeli company that is in charge of the surveillance apparatus along the separation wall in the West Bank, a contract that could be worth a billion dollars to further militarize the Arizona-Sonora borderlands. Groups of activists that have come together to oppose this contract are connecting the anti-militarization movement in Southern Arizona to the Palestinian-led movement against Israeli state violence—for, while these protesters oppose Elbit's profiteering from migrant control and the militarized domination of indigenous lands in Southern Arizona, as Naomi Klein writes, "No company is more deeply embedded in Israel's brutal architecture, occupation and segregation than Elbit." In joining forces to oppose the US/Israeli border surveillance and militarization surge in this region, our network of activists hopes to send a message of solidarity across our movements and across the world, to our fellow activists and to the Palestinian people, who inspire our resolve against military occupation and state violence in all its forms.

The new security towers manufactured and operated by Elbit Systems have been erected with high-powered surveillance cameras and radar that have been previously deployed and tested in Palestine, used here to detect migrants crossing the desert. The new wave of militarized control of migration in this region includes building a "virtual wall" along the US/Mexico border, where there is already an unprecedented deployment of armed agents and surveillance technology, all intended to filter migrants into ever-more dangerous zones during their crossing—and this is being done in a region where so many migrants have died crossing that it has been described as a "killing field."

As this video shows, activists from the Southern Arizona BDS Network, along with members of local organizations No More Deaths, Tucson Samaritans, Derechos Humanos, The Tohono O'odham Hemajkem Rights Network (TOHRN), People Helping People Arivaca, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace, visited three Elbit-built surveillance towers on our recent trip. During our visit, our group took time to collectively honor the Tohono O'odham people, the traditional, indigenous inhabitants of this region, and their current struggle to live freely on this increasingly divided land. We also stood silently in compassionate contemplation of the migrants who risks their lives to cross this region, who too often find themselves trapped by state agents and an incarcerating migration control system.

By working across movements that share the values of opposing state violence and upholding human dignity and freedom, we can see that the same companies that facilitate the occupation of Palestine and the US "War on Terror" have also invested in the domination and control of lands and people in the US/Mexico border region. Companies including Raytheon, Elbit, Lockheed, Boeing, G4S, and more, are invested in the militarization of life, at different levels of intensity, across the globe. In Southern Arizona, Tohono O'odham people who, only one generation ago, freely roamed the yellow-green rolling hills in this region, now cross checkpoints on their way to school and work, and Border Patrol agents pursue anyone in these hills, fully armed. Migrants who cross this land avoid apprehension at all costs, and more than 6,000 have suffered and died in the desert, while many others are apprehended and deported, and usually maltreated. Meanwhile, the Israeli army uses the same technologies that assist US Border Patrol to occupy and dominate Palestinian people.

The solidarity this is creating is highlighted by the work of many people in the Southwest and the US/Mexico border region, who have long held sympathies with the Palestinian cause, and are now protesting the militarization of their home region, sending a message to the Palestinian people and their supporters, of a shared struggle against militarized control of land and life.

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Southern Arizona BDS from Bob Torrez on Vimeo.

© MODIS Rapid Response Team
The MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite captured this image of the Little Bobtail Lake fire in British Columbia, Canada.

The MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite captured this image of the Little Bobtail Lake fire in British Columbia, Canada. It is unclear how the fire started and was first spotted on Saturday, May 9. Since then the fire has grown significantly and has burned over 13,000 hectares (32,123 acres) and is zero percent con[tained]. The wildfire is located about 70 km southwest of Prince George. Eighty people have already been evacuated and close to 700 homes are in danger of being consumed should the fire spread.

British Columbia Wildfire Management reports that the fire is unpredictable and shows no signs of extinguishing any time soon. Drought conditions in the region and dry debris are helping to fuel the fire. Even though airtankers have been dropping fire retardant on the flames, the fire continues to grow and moves past the retardant lines with little effort. High temperature and low humidity are also fueling the fire.

This image was taken on May 14, 2015. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner.

Local Dutch broadcaster RTV Noord Holland recently launched an advertising campaign involving posters with the question: "Are other jihad families living in Het Gooi?". The poster refers to two families with children living in the area who, last year, were alleged to be planning to move to Syria and help ISIS. The posters were hung at bus stops in the cities Huizen and Hilversum (Het Gooi is the area around Hilversum). The Muslim community in the Netherlands, as well as non-Muslims have responded with shock, many voicing their concerns that this campaign increases Islamophobia and encourages the assumption that islam and terrorism are one and the same thing.

Several people have compared the campaign with the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War. Ali Osman, board member of Moslims in Dialoog, for instance, said: "It is not the same, but back then it also happened in steps. First the Jews were not wanted anymore, then they became second-rate citizens. That also seems to be the case here."

As a reaction to this recent uproar, Paul van Gessel, director of RTV Noord Holland that is responsible for the campaign of bigotry and jingoism, told the current affairs show Dit is de Dag:

'We focus on a theme which is important in a region,' 'Jihad fighters are an issue in Het Gooi. We are a journalistic organisation and we ask questions.'

Poster reads: "Are other jihad families living in ‘t Gooi?"

How exactly a handful of alleged IS-supporters in an area with approx. 220,650 inhabitants (or about 0.005% of the population in the area) translates to "Jihad fighters" being ''an issue'' in the region is beyond me. If there truly was a Jihad-issue in Het Gooi, the problem could have been dealt with in a different manner. Instead of hanging up posters that exacerbate the disadvantageous social and economical position in which Muslims in Holland find themselves, they could have made efforts to educate people (Muslims and non-Muslims) about the real origins and purpose of ISIS. Investment could also have been in spreading information about the difference between someone committing violent acts in the name of a religion and the other peaceful followers of that same religion. This would have helped to alleviate the stress that the average Dutch Muslim has to deal with and discourage young adults of Muslim faith from falling prey to ISIS propaganda.

Alas, Paul van Gessel and others appear to have a different goal in mind.

Tweet: "Do we truly want this to happen again in the Netherlands? #Holocaust #Muslimhatred"
Image (a German sign) on the right reads: "Jews are not wanted in our region."

Parallels between then and now

In January this year, news site DutchTurks published a short article entitled (translated): "Propaganda! - What is the PVV trying to tell us?". PVV is the anti-Islamic political party called 'Party For Freedom' led by Geert Wilders, who is infamous for his rabid anti-Muslim stance. In this article several pictures are shown that present parallels between the anti-Jew propaganda during World War Two and the current anti-Muslim propaganda. Author Yunus writes (translated):

Under the guise of freedom of speech, every opportunity is seized by the PVV nowadays to dehumanize and to present Muslims as inferior. This is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews in the past. Because I am against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and any other form of hatred, I find it my duty to take a closer look at the propaganda spewed by PVV. See and judge for yourself.

Disclaimer: The pictures below do not have the function to serve as propaganda, but to show that there are parallels to be drawn between hate propaganda of the past and the present. Lest we never forget.

Here they are:

Left tweet: Martin Bosma, Dutch politician and former journalist, and member of the PVV, tweets: "Inbreeding among Muslims and its consequences.", he links to this article: "Muslim Inbreeding: Impacts on intelligence, sanity, health and society". The author of this article, Nicolai Sennels, dislikes Muslims and Islam in a similar manner as the political party PVV does. For a critical look at his 'Muslim inbreeding' article, and more, see this article. Here's an interesting bit:

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association wrote an incredibly bigoted article coming to the conclusion that American Muslims should be deported. In the article Fischer discusses a book by Nicolai Sennel and Sennel's conclusions which Fischer says he agrees with. "His [Sennel's] sobering conclusion, with which I agree: the integration of Muslims into Western societies is "impossible."

Right tweet: Tweeter asks Bosma: "Where did we see this before Martin? Ah, that's right:"

Storm : blad der Nederlandsche SS 06-06-1941 [Paper of the Dutch SS]
1. Judaism is for all European nations equally racially strange. Its historical and mental danger can therefore not be abolished by any "adjustment". The risk of its presence in Europe can only be countered by its complete expulsion from European space.
2. Judaism is due to the uniqueness of inbred-determined racial blending also strange to the so-called "Semitic people".
3. Therefore, based on racial-political considerations, nor a migration to an European country, nor a migration to for example a country that belongs to the Arabs outside Europe, is eligible.

Above left: Screenshot of an article entitled: Wilders wants an anti-sharia declaration. Geert Wilders wants Dutch citizens with a passport from a Muslim country to sign an anti-Sharia declaration in which they denounce the violent form of Islam.
Above right: A picture of an anti-Jewish declaration from 1942. This is a document issued by the government or by an agency designated by the government stating that the candidate filling the form has no Jewish parents.

(Above) image top left and right: Harm Beertema, Dutch politician and former educator, and member of the Party for Freedom, tweets "St. Geert defeats the Islamic dragon."
(Above) bottom left and right: Nazipropaganda: Two images showing Nazis defeating the 'Jewish dragon'.

Above left: Nazipropaganda depicting the worm as the Jew.
Above right: Image by cartoonist Steph Bargol depicting a Muslim as a worm.

As Yusuf wrote, see and judge for yourself...

"Let them drown."

On Sunday April 19th this year, a boat carrying hundreds of Libyan refugees on its way to Italy, capsized off the coast of Libya. Approximately one thousand innocent people drowned. Any normal person with a conscience was horrified at this "tragedy". But there are those who are not only indifferent to these deaths, but applaud them.

Most Dutch people are familiar with the mindset of a particular group of Dutch citizens who despise immigrants and want nothing to do with them, many of them proud supporters of the political party PVV. Wilders' followers, and others, not only lobby for less Muslims in Holland, in particular Moroccan citizens, but want immigrants from anywhere and everywhere to be sent back home.

Shortly after the mass drowning was reported in mainstream media, the Facebook page 'Nederland mijn Vaderland' [Netherlands my Fatherland] shared the following update on its page (translated): "Breaking news: around 400 refugees have drowned!". Facebook page 'PVV Nederland' shared this status but removed the exclamation mark: "400 immigrants drowned..............". Reactions on both these statuses from members of the FB pages were shocking to say the least. They included:

'great', '400 is too low', 'saves us a lot of money', 'well, at least they won't be able to come our way now', 'more, more, more', 'party timeee.....', 'Whooohoo!', 'we can send 400 new ones to that region', 'enjoy drowning, you parasites', 'Let them drown, these fortune hunters. Potential welfare recipients, that's what they are.' etc.

Many such posts were deleted by the administrators of the pages who wrote: "Of course we'd rather not have them [refugees] in Europe. But applauding their death is stretching it! According to me they're just normal people..." Considering what these Facebook pages ultimately stand for, one may wonder whether the administrators' motive behind deleting these reactions had to do more with being 'politically correct' and staying out of trouble than with any real concern for the victims.

Wilders fights for "freedom" in Texas

While some of Wilders' supporters were celebrating the death of hundreds of innocent people, Wilders himself recently attended a Cartoon Contest in Dallas, Texas that supported 'artists' who enjoy mocking Muslims and Islam in their cartoons. Wilders was there to award the best Muhammad cartoonist with $10,000. Because nothing says 'freedom of speech' like being able to doodle something sectarian about a religion's prophet; the practice of which deserves recognition and a rich reward.

Never mind that in reality U.S. citizens have lost and continue to lose their freedom in many ways at the hands of psychopathic individuals in positions of power. Never mind the freedom Americans have lost by having the NSA keep track of everything they write and say. Shouldn't the violation of human rights in the form of religious hatred be condemned by people who claim to stand for freedom for all? Or how about highlighting the real threat? But I forget, that's "conspiracy theory and therefore not important. According to Wilders the real and only threat to freedom lies with Islam.

Speech Geert Wilders at Muhammad Cartoon Contest, Galrland, Texas, 3 May, 2015

... Your statement, my statement, the statement of every single person present in this room here tonight is clear: We will never allow barbarism, we will never allow Islam to rob us of our freedom of speech! Never!

I know from my own experience how dangerous it is to stand for this freedom. I know how dangerous it is to speak the truth about Islam.

I am on death lists of Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban and terrorists from ISIS because I tell people the truth about Islam. Islam has declared war on us, on our Judeo-Christian civilization. Islam wants to rob us of the freedoms and liberties. Islam and freedom are totally incompatible. ...

It's hard to take Wilders' radical ideas seriously, considering that less than 2 percent of terrorist attacks in the E.U. are religiously motivated. As for the U.S.:

Islamist militants lag far behind other groups when it comes to carrying out terrorist attacks in the U.S. too. According to FBI data compiled by the Princeton University's Loon Watch, Islamist extremists were responsible for just 6 percent of terrorist attacks between 1980 and 2005 — falling behind Latino groups, Extreme left-wing groups, and Jewish extremists.

Charles Kurzman, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina, has called Muslim Americans "a minuscule threat to public safety."

Wilders is nothing but a Dutch pawn with a horrible hair-do, useful only to keep people ignorant of important matters, to have them believe they have freedoms while in reality most of them have already been stripped away by their government. Wilders' job may be to instill unnecessary fear and hatred into people and thereby further the divide-and-conquer agenda of the "elite". What better way to shift the blame from the snakes in suits on top, by blaming a minority group that in reality poses little or no threat to anyone?

Another 'attack' on our freedom

As the above mentioned draconian doodle contest was ending, two gunmen drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, where the contest was held, and opened fire, injuring one security officer. Both gunmen were killed by the Garland police, with no other casualties. Even before the motive of these gunmen became clear, Wilders was confident enough to write to Dutch public broadcaster NOS:

"I had just spoken for half an hour at the event on Freedom of Speech and cartoons and the dangers of Islam and had just left when it happened. Terrible. It was very close. I hope that the wounded officer is doing well. It is an attack on freedom of expression. Unacceptable. The only appropriate answer is going on. But it is not easy."

By now, ISIS (which, as most of us know, is a Western-created proxy army) supposedly has taken responsibility for the attack. It is interesting to note that at least one of the two suspects has been "under FBI surveillance and investigation since as early as 2007", and yet was still able to carry out this attack. Sounds fishy, and it is. If you haven't already, do read this article by Tony Cartalucci for more information about the Garland shooting: Spreading hatred and Islamophobia - Western Gladio networks behind Garland, Texas shooting.

Cartalucci explains:

[...] it is clear that "free speech" is a canard used by both the "left" and "right" to distract from the real purpose of the Garland shooting, and other acts of provocation like it. It distracts from the fact that all of the perpetrators have been well-known to security agencies for years, even sentenced and/or imprisoned by various courts, as well as investigated and kept under surveillance. It distracts from the fact that the event at the center of the attacks was organized and carried out by those who themselves have actively sought to curtail the freedoms of others, not to mention foster wars that have ended or otherwise destroyed the lives of millions. It distracts from the fact that the very Neo-Cons telling the world to fear "Islam" represent the same special interests arming and funding literal Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists across North Africa, the Middle East, and even Central and East Asia.

Violence, racism, threats, and discrimination

© Tom van der Put / MaricMedia
Two weeks ago, a swastika was drawn on one of the pillars at the entrance of a mosque in Breda.

All of the above, whether it's RTV Noord Holland's 'keep your eyes on those Muslims' campaign, the outrageous 'let those Libyans drown' posts by some Dutch citizens, or Wilders' actions causing anti-Islamic sentiment here and abroad, they all affect Muslims' daily lives negatively, in one way or another - and attacks on mosques have been no exception. A recent (April 26, 2015) published report entitled Monitoring Muslim Discrimination by Dr. Ineke van der Valk concludes the following:

The research reveals several numbers related to anti-Muslim Discrimination. 39% of the 475 mosques in the Netherlands have experienced discriminatory aggression, for example arson. 68% of the mosque organizations that filled in a survey stated they have experience with aggression, mainly the smashing of windows. This has caused both material and psychological damage to these specific Muslim communities. 85% of the mosques reported the incidents to the police, but 51% didn't feel they were helped or taken seriously. One can thus state that anti-Muslim discrimination is a serious issue. The research further delves into the reasons behind the aggression. Reasons that are mentioned are for example the presentation of Muslims/Islam in the media, lack of knowledge about Islam among the public and reactions to terrorist attacks.

To name one example of mosque harassment, on the morning of January 19th this year, Muslim practitioners were shocked to find the following threatening letter at the Gultepe mosque in Rotterdam:

Threatening letter addressed to the Gultepe mosque in Rotterdam

"You are the most ungrateful and disgusting people in the world! You have your own schools, shops, butchers... because Dutch [education, cuisine] is not good enough for you cockroaches! It's over now... Go away if you still want to live. In the meantime, everyone hates you! No fireman will save you from a fire. No policeman will save you when you're in need. No hospital, no doctor would want to heal you. And the pharmacists... they will give you the wrong medicine so that you will become even more ill... You cannot trust anyone anymore. So go away now while you still can, because "death" is in your mosque! In every mosque the wind will come in while the windows and doors are closed! That's death!! It's PayDay!"

Harassment, threats, and discrimination not only take place in and around places of worship for Muslims, but also at work, on the street, at school, pretty much anywhere. For example, the Dutch Chief of Police, Gerard Bouman, wrote in an intern blog that Muslim cops are excluded, belittled and treated without respect by their colleagues. Bouman further pointed out that Muslims on the street are similarly treated in an unfair manner. For instance, they will be approached because "they might be wearing an explosive belt", and even if there's no threat at all, they "still are labeled as potential terrorists." In addition, at the request of the Anne Frank Foundation and FORUM, research institute Panteia conducted a survey, entitled 'Muslim discrimination in secondary education', among 498 teachers, which revealed that two out of three Muslim teachers experienced discrimination in the class last year.

Final thoughts

Some may argue that discrimination is 'normal' as it takes place virtually anywhere and against different ethnic groups or different religion practitioners. However, it is as clear as day that discrimination against Muslims has been on the rise ever since the 9/11 attacks and the following attacks thereafter in the West. If we turn a blind eye to this increase, we may indeed, at some point re-experience yet another racially and religiously-motivated pogrom - and this time the target will be Muslims. Luckily there are many Dutch citizens who treat one another with respect, decency, support, and understanding. Nonetheless, it is worrying that "Muslims/Islam, asylum seekers and foreigners" are high on the list of concerns among Dutch citizens, when the real threat to Dutch citizens, and the citizens of the world, comes from the same people and institutions that are encouraging them to hate Muslims.

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