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Far-right German MP gets blocked on social media, faces probe over anti-Muslim tweet

Beatrix von Storch Germay
© Christian Thiel / Global Look PressBeatrix von Storch, a member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party attends the joint press conference with Nigel Farage in Berlin on September 8, 2017.
A German MP from the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Beatrix von Storch, has had her social media accounts blocked over a tweet targeting Muslims. She also faces a criminal probe under a new German law.

The outburst that landed Von Storch in hot water was a reaction to a post on Twitter from Cologne police. The department offered New Year greetings and linked safety information in a series of messages in German and other languages, but it was the post made in Arabic that prompted the MP's outrage.

"What the hell is going on in this country? How come an official NRW [North Rhine-Westphalia] police account tweets in Arabic? Do you intend to appease these barbaric gang-raping hordes of Muslim men in such a way?" von Storch, who is also a deputy head of the AfD faction in the German parliament and a member of the far-right party's federal executive board, wrote on Twitter.

Comment: See also: German social media censorship now in full effect, enforcement begins in 2018


Life Preserver

Netanyahu denies Israel's involvement in protests as predicts Iran regime change

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani
© ReutersIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani
The Israeli PM has advocated regime change in Iran, saying that if the Tehran government collapses, Israelis and Iranians will be "great friends." He then ridiculed Iran's claim that foreign players were behind recent protests.

Benjamin Netanyahu was responding to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who had earlier suggested that Israel was involved in the recent unrest.

"When this regime [the Iranian government] finally falls, and one day it will, Iranians and Israelis will be great friends once again," the PM said in a video statement Monday afternoon. In the 90-second-long video Netanyahu praised the protesters who have rallied since Thursday, saying that they "seek freedom and justice."


Comment: When yours regime fall, and it will, Palestinians and Israelis will be great friends. - 'What goes around comes around'.


Comment: See also:


Star of David

Israeli MPs pass law to stymie possible E. Jerusalem secession vote

isarael apartheid wall Jerusalem
© Ammar Awad / ReutersA general view picture shows the Israeli barrier running between the East Jerusalem refugee camp of Shuafat and Pisgat Zeev
The Israeli parliament has passed a law requiring a two-thirds majority in any future vote to cede parts of Jerusalem to a foreign authority. The change from requiring a simple majority makes a two-state solution less likely.

Under the new legislation, Israel's 120-seat Knesset would have to cast 80 votes in favor of relinquishing any part of Jerusalem, rather than the 61 required before by default. The bill, which was proposed last summer by the far-right Jewish Home coalition party, was passed by a majority of 64 to 52, according to the Times of Israel.

The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas responded to the passage of the law with a statement, which said that Israeli lawmakers had de facto declared a war against Palestinians and Islam's holy sites in Jerusalem's old city.

Star of David

Time to cut the Israeli tie-that-binds

Abu Thuwria diabled palestinian shot
© Muthana NajarAbu ThuwriaOn December 14, the Israeli Army shot and killed Ibrahim and Yasser Sukari while they were peacefully protesting north of the Gaza Strip
A new Declaration of Independence for 2018

Now that 2017 has ended with a whimper it is possible to look forward to what the new year might bring. Nuclear armed North Korea is the potential flash point for a new war, but unless leader Kim Jong-un is actually intent on personal and national suicide, it is unlikely that Pyongyang will take the steps necessary to escalate and trigger such an event. Far more dangerous is the Trump White House, which seems to confuse acting tough with acting smart. Every time Secretary of State Rex Tillerson mentions negotiating he is contradicted by Nikki Haley or the president saying that diplomacy has played out, but the reality is that the incineration of the Korean peninsula and the deaths of hundreds of thousands or even millions, which such a war would inevitably produce, might just be a bridge too far even for the generals and assorted psychopaths that appear to be running the show. Which means that at a certain point the diplomats, perhaps in an arrangement brokered by Russia or China, will have to take over. Let us hope so anyway.

And the United States has also shot itself in the foot regarding Russia, an adversary with which Donald Trump once upon a time wanted to improve relations. But that was all before a politically driven Russiagate happened, turning Moscow into the enemy of choice once again, as it once was during the Cold War. In any event dealmaker Trump did not appreciate that you can't improve relations when you threaten a vital interest of those you are wanting to improve relations with. The United States and its allies persist in running military exercises right on Russia's borders under the false assumption that President Vladimir Putin heads an expansionist power. The recent decision to sell offensive weapons to Ukraine is a move that serves no American interest whatsoever while at the same time threatening Moscow's vital interests since Ukraine sits right on its doorstep. It is a bad move that guarantees that relations with Russia will continue to be in the deep freeze for the foreseeable future.

Comment:


Candle

SOTT Focus: Vladimir Putin: Resistance Fighter Against Imperialism, Savior of Syria and Beacon of Hope

The Empire of Chaos threatened to throw the world into an unfathomable darkness. Instead, an Axis of Resistance has arisen
Putin praying
© Unknown
The New American Century project was supposed to extend the original American century (the 20th) by thwarting Eurasian integration (including Africa) and maintaining US hegemony. Rather than sit back as economic development transforms vast swathes of Asia and Africa, anglo-American imperialists wrecked country after country and used the chaos produced to justify their sales pitch of the world being one big war zone that must be 'managed' by the world's policeman. Nice work if you can get it.

But this modus operandi has suffered a heavy defeat. Islamic State (IS) - a geopolitical chess piece of the US - lies in ruins two years after the Russian intervention in Syria and the world's bully is walking around with a black eye. 16 years after 9/11 unleashed the imperialist reign of terror, Vladimir Putin has made the first decisive move to halt it. The US and its proxy forces can no longer terrorize the world with impunity.

Gear

Assad appoints new ministers as Syrian forces score major wins against terrorists

Assad reporters
© AFPSyrian President Bashar Assad speaks to reporters in Damascus on December 18, 2017
President Bashar Assad has appointed new ministers for defense, information and industry in the latest cabinet reshuffle, as the Syrian war enters its seventh year.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has appointed General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub as defense minister, Mohammed Mazen Ali Yousef as industry minister and Imad Abullah Sarah as information minister, state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

This is the latest cabinet reshuffle in Syria, where the lingering war on terrorism entered its seventh year.

Light Sabers

Kuwaiti report says U.S. gives green light for Israel to assassinate Iran's top general

Qassem Soleimani
© The Iran ProjectIranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani
According to reports circulating widely in Israeli media today, the United States has quietly given Israel the green light to assassinate Iran's top military officer, Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The leader of Iran's most elite force also coordinates military activity between the Islamic Republic and Syria, Iraq, Hezbollah, and Hamas - a position he's filled since 1998 - and as Quds Force commander reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and oversees Iran's covert operations in foreign countries.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have vowed to crack harshly down on protests currently gripping multiple major cities across the country, now in their fifth day, and after a particularly bloody night which saw 12 demonstrators killed - some of them reportedly shot by security forces.

Comment: Imagine if a similar report came out saying Iran, Russia or China had given the "green light" to assassinate Generals Dunford or Votel... It's highly improbable any such report would come out, of course. Only Israel has this level of terroristic chutzpah.


Eye 1

Disgraced former MP Priti Patel accuses Brexit campaign of breaking spending limits

Priti Patel wants an investigation into Remain campaign spending
© Reuters/ Neil HallUK Home Secretary Priti Patel
Remainers have been accused of unlawful coordination during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Although Brits voted to leave the EU, a former cabinet minister is calling on the government to investigate the losing side.

Priti Patel, who was sacked as international development secretary in November after holding a series of secret meetings with Israeli officials, is writing to the Electoral Commission. She accused a leading Remain campaign of bending rules to get around the spending cap.


Britain Stronger in Europe (BSE), now Open Britain, is accused of breaking strict limits on spending in the two-month run-up to June 2016. Pro-Brexit campaign Vote Leave is already under investigation by the Electoral Commission over claims it broke the £7 million ($9.5 million) limit.

Laptop

Google looks to mend fences with Washington after rocky 2017

google
© Armin Durgut / Global Look Press
Google is aiming to mend fences in Washington after a difficult year that saw its public image take a hit and new scrutiny from lawmakers.

The company was embroiled in a number of controversies from Russia's use of its platforms to interfere in the 2016 election to its influence over think tanks and academic research.

2017 was a long year for the internet giant. In March, Google came under fire from advertisers who pulled millions of dollars worth of ads after it was learned that many of those were running alongside extremist content on YouTube.

Google's public image took another hit when the company disclosed that YouTube and its advertising platforms were used by Russians to manipulate the 2016 elections. That disclosure angered lawmakers, who grilled executives from Google, as well as Facebook and Twitter, on Capitol Hill.

Comment: Despite all the surface kerfluffle, Google is still the secret darling of the alphabet soup agencies. Their core business practices will never be touched.


Cowboy Hat

McMaster says Trump's foreign policy approach goes against consensus that military interventions are always good

mcmastertrump
© AP
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Thursday that President Donald Trump's approach to foreign policy is beyond his "comfort zone," suggesting he has altered the global community's view of the United States - though not necessarily in a negative way.

Trump's approach to foreign policy "has moved a lot of us out of our comfort zone, me included," McMaster, 55, a three-star Army lieutenant general who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, told The New York Times.

"The consensus view has been that engagement overseas is an unmitigated good, regardless of the circumstances," he said.

"But there are problems that are maybe both intractable and of marginal interest to the American people, that do not justify investments of blood and treasure."

McMaster defined Trump's foreign policy as "pragmatic realism," not isolationism.

Comment: Pragmatic realism is better than ideological obsession any day of the week. That said, how much of Trump's approach to Iran and Palestine is pragmatic realism, compared to the ideological obsession of the pro-Zionist clique surrounding him?