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Nigerian troops free hundreds of women, children and arrest local Boko Haram leader


Sputnik
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 00:10 UTC
Nigerian soldiers
© REUTERS/ Emmanuel Braun
Nigerian soldiers holds up captured Boko Haram flag.
An operation launched Tuesday by the Nigerian military in the villages of Jangurori and Bulatori rescued 241 women and children from two camps controlled by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

In the raids in the country's restive northeast, Nigerian troops destroyed both camps located near the border with Cameroon. Forty three Islamist militants were arrested, including local leader Bulama Modu, who was acting as the "emir" of the village of Bulakuri, Nigerian newspaper Punch reported.

Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said that the military rescued 241 women and children, but it is not yet clear how many of them had been kidnapped by the group.
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Attention

Feminist Dalai Lama says female successor should have pretty face, otherwise she'd be useless


Sputnik
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 23:51 UTC
Dalai Lama
© AP Photo/ Tsering Topgyal
The Dalai Lama, a self-described feminist, shocked his supporters all over the world on Monday when he said that if his successor were to be a woman, she must have a "very, very attractive face," otherwise she is "not much use."

The controversial comments were made during an interview with the BBC's Clive Myrie. The seven minute interview took place at the beginning of the Dalai Lama's nine day trip in London, where he is promoting human compassion and consideration as the route to happiness.

Much of the interview was dedicated to discussing the refugee crisis, and the unfolding violence in the Middle East. Towards the end, Myrie asked the Buddhist spiritual leader if his successor could be a woman, to which the Dalai Lama replied in the affirmative.

"One occasion in Paris, one reporter came to see me," the Dalai Lama recalled during the interview. "She asked me, any possibility for female Dalai Lama? I mentioned, why not? The female, biologically, has more potential to show affection and compassion. In today's troubled world, female should take more importance."

The Dalai Lama then leaned forward to Myrie, and added:

"If it is a female, the face should be very, very attractive."

Comment: And like his face is attractive?!

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Eye 2

Beheaders Need beheading: US welcomes news that Saudi Arabia will head UN Human Rights panel


Sputnik
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 22:16 UTC
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
© Flickr/ Stephen Downes
While many expressed outrage over Saudi Arabia's appointment as head of a United Nations' Human Rights Council panel, one nation has given its seal of approval. Despite the Kingdom's deplorable rights record, the US State Department "welcomes" the UN's decision.

After it was revealed earlier this week that Saudi Arabia would chair the key UN Human Rights panel, many were shocked by the inherent hypocrisy behind the decision. Writing for the Daily Beast, Salil Tripathi pointed out that the "Saudi government is unelected and run by one large family, or clan," which "executes prisoners with particular relish, turning their executions into a public spectacle."

Director of the Human Rights Action Center Jack Healey also indicated his surprise.
"In essence, there has to be a human rights council," he told Sputnik. "But the human rights protection will depend upon those who are interested in promoting human rights. And the government of Saudi Arabia has a long history of not allowing human rights activists to monitor in their own country."

Comment: Right, one of the countries with the worst human rights record heads the Human Rights Council! Nothing to see here, move along now.

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Briefcase

Jaw dropping: Italian opposition submits over 82 million amendments to constitution reform bill


ITAR-TASS
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 22:07 UTC
Italian parliament
© EPA/MAURIZIO BRAMBATTI
The Italian opposition party Lega Nord (North League) has submitted over 82 million amendments to the bill on the constitutional reform, a party member said on Wednesday.

"We have submitted 82,730,460 million amendments to the constitution reform in order to save democracy in our country," said Roberto Calderoli, the Senate's vice speaker.

The reform initiated by the current government headed by Matteo Renzi proposes abolishing the direct election of senators to simplify the lawmaking process.

Opposition forces, as well as dozens of members of Renzi's own Democratic Party are against the reform, arguing it would undermine Italy's democracy.
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Eye 2

Met Police Chief: Westminster pedophile investigation 'not a shambles'


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 17:10 UTC
Image
© Luke MacGregor / Reuters
Berndard Hogan-Howe
Scotland Yard police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has strongly rejected claims the force's investigation into an alleged murderous Westminster pedophile ring is a "shambles."

In an exclusive interview with LBC radio, the Metropolitan Police chief said the force is prepared to take whatever measures are necessary to uncover the truth.

Scotland Yard has been sharply condemned over its handling of allegations that Tory politicians who were part of the pedophile ring murdered young boys in the 1970s. The damning claims, which sent shockwaves across the nation, were previously made by a key witness known as "Nick."

Although one of its top investigators said Nick's allegations are "credible and true" in December 2014, Scotland Yard later retracted this view.

The force's wavering stance on the matter attracted a firestorm of criticism, eroding public trust in Operation Midland.

Operation Midland began in November last year, but has failed to find any evidence to back up Nick's claims that senior government figures abused and murdered children in the '70s and '80s. The veracity of his allegations was recently brought into question, after certain Met officers said they were groundless.

Comment: These protected predators have been allowed to get away with sexually abusing children for years and years and years without any consequences. These cases can't be easy for the victims, knowing on some level that these powerful pedophiles will never be held accountable.

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Light Saber

Jimmy Carter: Democracy is dead - $200 million minimum to make presidential run in today's US 'oligarchy'

David Ferguson
Raw Story
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 21:06 UTC
jimmy carter US oligarchy
© OWN
Former Pres. Jimmy Carter speaks to Oprah Winfrey about the state of U.S. democracy
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, former President Jimmy Carter said that the United States is an oligarchy now, not a democracy, where the wealthy hold sway over the government.

The Daily Mail reported that the former chief executive said he would never be able to run for president today because of the immense cost involved — a minimum outlay of $200 to $300 million to run for the highest office in the land.

"There's no way now for you to get a Democratic or Republican nomination without being able to raise $200 or $300 million or more. I would not be inclined to do that, and I would not be capable of doing it," he said.

"We've become now an oligarchy instead of a democracy," he continued, "and I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life."

Carter — who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 — announced earlier this summer that he is fighting liver cancer that has spread to his brain.

The Plains, Georgia, native was elected 39th president in 1976.

Watch part of the interview here.
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Bad Guys

How Russian influence is eclipsing Washington's in the Middle East

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 18:47 UTC
middle east
© Foreign Policy
It's not at all surprising except in how fast it's going. Within the space of little more than a decade, since the ill-fated Bush Administration decision to invade and occupy Afghanistan then Iraq in March 2003, the United States of America has managed to lose strategic influence and allies across the entire Middle East. Not only the Shi'ite Iranians, whom President Obama believes are now beholden to Washington, but also for the first time Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab states and Egypt are in the process of finding new allies or cooperation partners, and they are in the east, no longer the west.

On September 11, 1990 in an address to a Joint Session of Congress then President George Herbert Walker Bush triumphantly spoke of the United States as sole superpower, creating what he termed the New World Order. The Soviet Union had just dissolved in a chaos. Under the Bush and later Clinton presidencies, right up until the present day, Washington policy has been to go further and to devalue, destroy, deconstruct and dismember the Russian Federation, much as they did with Qaddafi's Libya after Hillary Clinton's 2011 war there.

During the 1990s President Bill Clinton supported introduction of US-financed economic "shock therapy," with heavy support from billionaire financial wheeler-dealer friend, George Soros, and Soros' Open Society Foundations. Soros personally brought Harvard boys like Jeffrey Sachs to Russia after they had devastated Poland, Ukraine and other former communist states in eastern Europe. The corrupt Yeltsin regime, busy swilling vodka and lining their pockets with dollars, cared not about their fellow Russian countrymen.

Comment: Russian influence may well eclipse Washington's in the Middle East, but the Western oligarchs (as psychopathic, greedy, and clingy as they are) simply will not let Russia take their global 'power and control' from them. Also see:

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Light Sabers

Shameless hypocrisy: U.S. says Russian veto puts UNSC's legitimacy at risk

Julian Borger and Bastien Inzaurralde
Guardian, UK
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 19:17 UTC
UNSC
© Loey Felipe/AFP/Getty
The UN security council discussing the war in Syria earlier this month.
The United States has warned that Russia's continued blanket use of its UN veto will jeopardise the security council's long-term legitimacy and could lead the US and like-minded countries to bypass it as a decision-making body.


Comment: In other words, what the U.S. wants, the U.S. will get, by any means necessary, ignoring the very principles for which the UN is supposed to exist. Yes, the veto can be abused in certain scenarios, as is usually the case regarding Israel and Palestine. But it also functions for the exact reason Russia has put it to use: to veto really bad ideas.


The warning comes as the UN reaches its 70th anniversary and the security council faces a crisis caused by its paralysis over Syria. It has failed to agree concerted action to try to stem the bloodshed, even after more than 220,000 Syrians have died and more than 11 million have been forced from their homes.

Russia has used its veto powers four times to block resolutions on Syria that Moscow sees as damaging to its ally, the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It has also forestalled common action on Ukraine where it is a party to the conflict, having annexed Crimea and pursued a covert military campaign in support of eastern separatists.


Comment: Russia should be praised, not condemned for these. 1) The resolutions on Syria really were damaging. 2) 'Action on Ukraine' is based on the false premise that Russia "annexed Crimea" and "pursued a covert military campaign" there. In fact, the U.S. staged a coup and tried to bait Russia into a military confrontation. The U.S. is wholly responsible for the Ukraine crisis, not Russia.


Samantha Power, the US permanent representative to the UN, said that the US and other countries had increasingly been going elsewhere to have atrocities investigated, and that a "forum-shopping" trend was likely to continue.

Comment: Since when has the U.S. really cared for UN approval to wage their illegal wars? One word: Iraq.

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Light Saber

One of the largest mosques in the world re-opens in Moscow, ceremony attended by Erdogan and Abbas


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 17:02 UTC
Image
© Alexei Druzhinin / RIA Novosti
September 23, 2015. President Vladimir Putin, front third right, during the visit to the Moscow Cathedral Mosque after the ceremonial opening. Third left: Ravil Gainutdin, Chairman of the Russian Mufti Council. Second right: President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Thousands of Muslims have gathered in central Moscow to witness the opening of one of the biggest mosques in Europe. The ceremony was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The mosque was officially opened by the Russian president and Russian Grand Mufti Rawil Gaynetdin on Wednesday.

The Moscow Cathedral Mosque was built back in 1904. Since 2011 the building has undergone complete reconstruction. The size of the complex has been increased 20 times and is now more than 19,000 square meters which enables it to hold at least 10,000 worshipers. The six-story temple has seven elevators. The main dome has a height of 46 meters and is 27 meters in diameter.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

"There are many elements that have been made exclusively for Moscow Cathedral Mosque," Gaynetdin said, adding that among these elements are a minbar (a pulpit where the imam stands), minarets, stained glass and ornaments unique of Russia.


Comment: Regarding the sight of 150,000 Muslims gathered in prayer on Moscow streets to mark the re-opening of this enormous mosque, compare and contrast with the treatment of Muslims in the West, where hysteria about 'Muslims taking over and instituting Sharia law' has Europeans and Americans freaking out about what will happen to their 'white Christian country'.

That's never been a problem in Russia, where Islam is the second official religion.

Note also the guests of honor at this event: Erdogan of Turkey and Abbas of Palestine. Will Turkey support Russia's push into Syria or not? A possible clue came from their side-meeting, the outcome of which saw Erdogan and Putin agree to triple trade between Russia and Turkey within 7 years, and that can't happen as 'enemies'.

Coming just two days after Netanyahu's visit to Moscow, the message could not be clearer: Russia is not with you in your 'clash of civilizations'.

Can anyone dispute that Russia is the Great Civilizer?

And now Putin is going into the lion's den (New York City, where mosque-building precipitates outbreaks of foaming at the mouth) to speak at the 70th UN General Assembly, where he'll be lectured on the ways of 'peace, tolerance, and how to end the madness in the Middle East'.

Oh the irony...



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Quenelle

Tough luck: US officials and Islamic terrorists blame Russia for setbacks in Syria

Jason Ditz
Anti-War
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 19:48 UTC
al shabab al qaeda
© Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP
Talk of increased Russian military involvement in Syria has the various rebel factions simultaneously conceding that it's a setback to their civil war, and one that's liable to extend the conflict many additional years, while threatening huge Russia casualties and "another Afghanistan" for the troops being deployed.

The rebels are trying to shoehorn the model of the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan on the war, pushing the idea of forming a new mujahideen to combat the Russians. The differences are stark, however, as this war has been ongoing for years before there was a hint of increased Russian involvement, and ISIS is the major power in Syria at this point, at least from a territorial perspective.

Indeed, the increased involvement is at this point largely speculative, with Russia denying that anything they're doing is really "new" but rather just a fulfillment of existing military deals with Syria. The "escalation" has been heavily hyped by US officials, who have lashed Russia even though they're nominally both opposed to ISIS.

Comment: The US and their 'Islamic militants' can whine all they want - Russia is defending her legitimate interests by helping an ally fight a war against terrorism.

US funds ISIS while Russia provides aid to Syria to defeat ISIS

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