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Merkel ally demands revision of refugee policy following Berlin terrorist attack

Refugees and asylum seekers hold candles
© Hannibal Hanschke / ReutersRefugees and asylum seekers hold candles to commemorate the 12 killed victims of a truck that ploughed into a crowded Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, Germany, December 20, 2016.
Germany should once again review and reshape its policy towards migrants and refugees in light of the attack at a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, says Horst Seehofer, Bavarian prime minister and ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"We have an obligation to the victims and those affected [by the Berlin terrorist attack] as well as to the whole nation to rethink and reshape our whole immigration and security policy," Seehofer said on Tuesday in Munich, as cited by Die Welt daily.

The Bavarian prime minister also convened an emergency meeting of the regional government to discuss the current situation in Germany and the potential "consequences" of the attack, as well as to develop a "proposal for the federal government."

Comment: The US knew something: Just 4 weeks ago US warned citizens of possible terror attacks on markets like Berlin's

See also: Merkel under fire online for Berlin terror attack


Ambulance

Merkel under fire online for Berlin terror attack

Merkel Berlin
© Daily Express
As speculation mounts that Monday's terrorist attack at a Christmas market in Berlin was carried out by a refugee, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under intense fire over her immigration policies. Twelve people were killed and 48 injured when a 7-ton truck plowed into a crowded Christmas market on Monday evening.

While Merkel has previously admitted that terrorists used the flow of migrants to enter Europe, she has also strenuously defended her open-door immigration policy by stressing that Islamist extremism was already prevalent in Germany before the refugee influx.

Many Germans have taken to Twitter to lambast the chancellor for allegedly putting their country, and even the continent, in danger.

Comment: There are a few world leaders precariously perched on the edge of a diplomatic cliff, along with factions ready to assist or create a fall. Merkel could certainly be one of them. A terrorist act, such as the Berlin market incident, is a ticket out of the 'covert playbook for regime change' and its ability to ignite a firestorm of blame for the Chancellor.


Sherlock

Is there a spy coup in America?

TrumpClinton
© www.newsfocus.orgThe mystery unfolds...
As Official Washington's latest "group think" solidifies into certainty - that Russia used hacked Democratic emails to help elect Donald Trump - something entirely different may be afoot: a months-long effort by elements of the U.S. intelligence community to determine who becomes the next president.

I was told by a well-placed intelligence source some months ago that senior leaders of the Obama administration's intelligence agencies - from the CIA to the FBI - were deeply concerned about either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump ascending to the presidency. And, it's true that intelligence officials often come to see themselves as the stewards of America's fundamental interests, sometimes needing to protect the country from dangerous passions of the public or from inept or corrupt political leaders.

It was, after all, a senior FBI official, Mark Felt, who - as "Deep Throat" - guided The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in their Watergate investigation into the criminality of President Richard Nixon. And, I was told by former U.S. intelligence officers that they wanted to block President Jimmy Carter's reelection in 1980 because they viewed him as ineffectual and thus not protecting American global interests.

It's also true that intelligence community sources frequently plant stories in major mainstream publications that serve propaganda or political goals, including stories that can be misleading or entirely false.

Comment: Putting together known facts and actions with means, motives and opportunities, while combining historical events with today's troubled election, Parry hits on a plausible mastermind theory. But, in an election year full of surprises, no doubt there are more ahead. The questions then become "What Surprises?" and "For Whom?"


Magnify

FBI: Search warrant for Clinton email probe revealed

FBI Director
© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersFBI Director James Comey
The FBI has made public documents related to the controversial October reopening of its probe into Hillary Clinton's private email server; the Democratic presidential candidate has blamed the investigation announcement for her defeat at the polls.

The federal probe into Clinton's use of a personal email server while she was secretary of state appeared to be closed in July, when FBI Director James Comey took the unprecedented step of giving a press conference to explain why he advised the Department of Justice not to press any charges in the matter. On October 28, however, Comey sent a letter to Congress informing the lawmakers that emails that "appear to be pertinent to the investigation" were recovered in connection with an "unrelated case."


Comment: Justice marches on. Will it be fair, damning or blind? Does the FBI have a say?

See also:


Attention

More electors mutiny against Hillary: Three cast votes for Colin Powell, one for 'Faith Spotted Eagle'

Faith Spotted Eagle
Adding insult to injury, not to mention humiliating loss, following the first "faithless elector" to emerge earlier in the day in Minnesota, and who voted for Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton, a drama broke out in Washington State, where Stop Trump protesters gathered at the Statehouse in Olympia before the noon vote.

That wasn't the drama: what was, however, is that according to AP, after the vote, "Democrat Hillary Clinton received eight votes, former Secretary of State Colin Powell got three, and Faith Spotted Eagle, an elder in the Yankton Dakota tribe, got one. Clinton won the state's popular vote."

Comment: All the media hype on Trump electors turns out to be just that, hype: Get over it: Clinton's snowflakes need to quit whining about the Electoral College


Network

Putin's ruling party United Russia signs cooperation agreement with Austria's right-wing Freedom Party

Norbert Hofer
© Leonhard Foeger / ReutersAustrian far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) presidential candidate Norbert Hofer and his wife Verena wait for the first projections in his office in Vienna, Austria, Dec. 4, 2016.
Russia's ruling United Russia Party has signed an agreement on cooperation with Austria's right-wing Freedom Party.

According to the agreement, the two parties will consult each other and exchange views on key issues such as international relations and "regulatory affairs."

"It seems to me extremely important for there to be inter-party and inter-parliamentary dialogue in connection with the fact that today there is a substantial lack of trust [between Russia and the EU]," said State Duma Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy.

Tolstoy also said that "in today's politically correct world it is important to find points of agreement through frank dialog."

Ice Cube

Hell just froze over: The New York Times runs article saying Zionism is racist

Omri Boehm
Omri Boehm, assistant professor of philosophy at the New School.

Trump's election is having fascinating consequences. Today the New York Times ran a long piece titled, "Liberal Zionism in the Age of Trump," by Omri Boehm of the New School saying that liberal Zionism is a contradiction: liberal American Jews have "identified themselves with Zionism, a political agenda rooted in the denial of liberal politics."

Boehm's most startling point is that Zionism has anti-Semitic strains, witness its collaboration with Nazis. Hannah Arendt is happy today.

The piece will greatly increase the pressure on liberal Zionists to choose one idea or the other, and to stop denying the existence of apartheid.

MIB

Best of the Web: Pepe Escobar: Turkey's 'Sarajevo Moment' - Who Profits From Russian Ambassador's Assassination?

coffin of late Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov
© Umit Bektas / ReutersFlag-wrapped coffin of late Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is carried to a plane during a ceremony at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, December 20, 2016
Let's cut to the chase: Ankara 2016 is not Sarajevo 1914. This is not a prelude to WWIII. Whoever plotted the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov - a cool, calm, collected old-school diplomat - risks a mighty blowback.

The assassin, Mevlut Mert Altintas, was a 22-year-old police academy graduate. He was suspended from the Turkish National Police (TNP) over suspected links to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO) after the failed July 15 putsch against Erdogan but returned to duty in November.

It's no secret Gulenists heavily infiltrate the TNP; so a particular outcome of the attack will be an, even more, relentless Erdogan/AKP crackdown on the Gulen network. The Turkish investigation will have to focus not only on the (major) security service fail at Ankara's modern art center - but way beyond. It's not very reassuring that Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu put out a terse statement a very long three hours after the facts.

The killer in a black suit and tie shouted slogans about revenge "for Aleppo" - the requisite "Allahu Akbar" included - in both Turkish and broken Arabic, something that might establish a connection to an Islamist group's rhetoric, although that's not conclusive evidence.

Network

Philippines to accept $14 million worth of arms from China along with $500 million long-term loan

philippines swat
© Damir Sagolj / Reuters
As relations between China and the Philippines warm, Manila is poised to accept $14 million worth of arms from US rival and newfound partner Beijing. This is in addition to a $500 million long-term soft loan for other equipment the Chinese have provided.

The free deal the Philippines could receive concerns small arms and fast boats, according to Manila's defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, as cited by Reuters. The money is intended to help President Rodrigo Duterte fight crime and terrorism, Lorenzana said.

"China has given us a list of military equipment and we will go through it to find out what we really need," said Lorenzana, following a meeting between the Philippines president and Chinese ambassador Zhao Jianhua, where the offer of the $500 million soft loan - made on favorable terms to the borrower - was also made.

Lorenzana spoke at a Manila army hospital, where he was gave out gifts to wounded soldiers.

MIB

British spies who busted 'world's most wanted people smuggler' may have gotten wrong man

Medhanie Yehdego Mered
© Italian Police Department / ReutersMedhanie Yehdego Mered (2nd L), 35, is pictured with Italian policemen as they land at Palermo airport, Italy, following his arrest in Khartoum, Sudan.
An Eritrean man accused by British authorities of being one of the world's "most wanted people smugglers" may actually be a victim of mistaken identity, Italian prosecutors have admitted.

In an embarrassing blow to a high-profile investigation led by Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) and GCHQ, it appears the real Medhanie Yehdego Mered remains at large and an innocent man was seized in June and extradited to Italy in his place.

When doubts about the identity of the man in custody were raised in June, the NCA said it stood by its intelligence. However, papers lodged yesterday by prosecutors in Rome who have broken ranks with their Sicilian colleagues concede they may have the wrong man, according to the Times.