RUTHFULLY YOURS

Vladimir Putin is a master at pressing his geopolitical advantage when he senses complacency in the West. That’s the meaning of his latest tantrum over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow invaded and illegally annexed in 2014.

The Russian strongman on Wednesday accused Kiev of sending special forces to Crimea to destabilize the occupied Ukrainian territory ahead of Russian parliamentary elections next month. His spy agency, the FSB, said one of its men and a Russian regular had been killed in clashes with the Ukrainians over the weekend. The Kremlin also claims to have arrested several Ukrainian would-be infiltrators, including an intelligence officer.

The Russian leader then used the episode as an excuse to pull out of peace talks aimed at de-escalating the Russia-instigated conflict in eastern Ukraine. A fresh round had been proposed for the sidelines of next month’s G-20 meeting in China, but on Wednesday Mr. Putin declared such diplomacy “meaningless.”

Kiev denies the allegations, which bear the hallmarks of Russian disinformation, not least because there is no plausible evidence. A senior Western diplomat says Mr. Putin’s accusations represent an attempt at “sabotaging the diplomacy around Minsk,” the 2015 cease-fire accord that ended the worst of the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Islamic State (Isis) terrorists have called on jihadists to attack the Miss Universe competition being held in the Philippines in January 2017. The call for the terrorist attacks was made through their online networks and directed “everyone who can” to launch an attack on the global beauty pageant.

According to SITE Intel Group, which reports on jihadist threats online, a Filipino jihadi telegram channel posted a video on how to make suicide belts. It suggested followers “create [the] bomb for Miss Universe”.

The call for jihadists addressed “brothers who love martyrdom”. The annual beauty pageant is due to be held in the Philippines capital Manila in January 2017.

A statement from SITE Intel Group said: “A pro-Islamic State telegram channel posted an explosive belt manufacturing video and a timed hand grenade manual, and suggested to ‘create bomb for Miss Universe’, referring to the beauty pageant to be held in the Philippines in January 2017.”

Although the online threats could not be verified, Isis has been expanding its presence in the Philippines and attempting to recruit more jihadist fighters from the country. In June 2016, the terrorist group released its first recruitment video for the Philippines and its neighbouring countries.

A Canadian man known as an ISIS supporter and who was released in February on a peace bond has been killed in an overnight police raid in his hometown of Strathroy, Ontario. Authorities said that Aaron Driver, aka Harun Abdurahman, had planned a suicide attack on a major Canadian city. An alert sent to Canadian law enforcement authorities yesterday indicated that an attack was imminent.

This is the most recent example of what I have termed “known wolf” terrorism, where a suspect was already known to law enforcement.

And reports of at least one raid early this morning may indicate that Driver was not acting alone.

CBC reports:

CBC News has confirmed that Aaron Driver, a suspect being sought in connection with a terror threat, has been killed in a confrontation with police in Strathroy, Ont.

A family member confirmed the death of the 24-year-old.

CBC News has learned that Driver’s family was told by the RCMP that police shot Driver after he detonated an explosive device that injured himself and another person. The family was also told Driver had another device that he was going to detonate, which is why police shot him.

A senior police official told Canadian Press Wednesday the suspect allegedly planned to use a bomb to carry out a suicide bombing mission in a public area but was killed in a police operation.

The RCMP were conducting an operation in a residential southwestern Ontario neighbourhood of Strathroy on Wednesday evening after it said credible information of a potential terrorist act was received earlier in the day.

So despite being released by Canadian authorities on a “peace bond” in February, Driver was apparently able to build or receive multiple explosive devices under the noses of law enforcement.

Driver was well known to authorities and had been the subject of numerous media reports over the past two years going back to his support for the October 2014 Parliament Hill shooting that killed one military honor guard and ended in a shootout inside Canada’s Parliament building.

But despite his open support for ISIS, he assured authorities and the media he was no threat.

Europe is giving signals, albeit slowly, that it may be waking up from the “Turkey-the-bridge” dream. Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmaier said that his country’s relations with Turkey have grown so bad the two countries have virtually “no basis” for talks.

“Italy should be attending to the mafia, not my son,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Typically, he does not understand the existence of independent judiciary in a European country. He thinks, as in an Arab sheikdom, prosecutors are liable to drop charges on orders from the prime minister.

“We know that the democratic standards are clearly not sufficient to justify [Turkey’s] accession [to the European Union].” — Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern.

Nations do not have the luxury, as people often do, of choosing their neighbors. Turkey, under the 14-year rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist governments, and neighboring both Europe and the Middle East, was once praised as a “bridge” between Western and Islamic civilizations. Its accession into the European Union (EU) was encouraged by most EU and American leaders. Nearly three decades after its official bid to join the European club, Turkey is not yet European but has become one of Europe’s problems.

Europe’s “Turkish problem” is not only about the fact that in a fortnight a bomb attack wrecked a terminal of the country’s biggest airport and a coup attempt killed nearly 250 people; nor is it about who rules the country. It is about the undeniable democratic deficit both in governance and popular culture.

In only the past couple of weeks, Turkey was in the headlines with jaw-dropping news. In Istanbul, a secretary at a daily newspaper was attacked by a group of people who accused her of “wearing revealing clothes and supporting the July 15 failed coup.” She was six months pregnant.

Also in Istanbul, a Syrian gay refugee was murdered: he had been beheaded and mutilated. One social worker helping LGBT groups said: “Police are doing nothing because he is Syrian and because he is gay.”

Turkey is dangerous not only for gays and refugees. A French tourist was left bloodied and beaten by Turkish nationalists after he refused to hold a Turkish flag. Grisly footage shows the gang, encouraged by Erdogan to patrol the streets on “democracy watch,” telling the man “You will be punched if you don’t hold the flag.” The tourist is alone and does not appear to speak Turkish.

100% of the money will be spent in the U.S., while Israel is presently able to spend 25% in Israel. This is a subsidy for U.S. defense industries and constrains Israel’s defense choices by forcing the IDF to exclude weapons from Europe and elsewhere.

Without the ability to spend some money in Israel, it will be harder for smaller defense and high-tech industries to keep up.

Israel will be prohibited from asking Congress for additional funds for ten years, effectively removing a bipartisan center of support for Israel’s security from the equation and reducing Israel’s flexibility in addressing rapidly emerging threats.

This could be particularly problematic: an administration that opposes missile defense in principle — as does the Obama administration — could effectively stifle Israel, which protects its people with a layered missile defense system.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is an agreement between two parties — in this case, the governments of Israel and the United States. It is less than a treaty, more than a handshake. The first MOU was signed in 1981, recognizing “the common bonds of friendship between the United States and Israel and builds on the mutual security relationship that exists between the two nations.” The current MOU, signed in 2007, represented a 10-year commitment. The Obama Administration and the government of Israel have been negotiating a new 10-year agreement that will come into effect in 2017.

The media have a way of wrapping up big stories like the slaughter of a priest in a Normandy church as if there is nothing important left to say or to learn ten days after the incident. The item sinks to the lower depths, small details pop up like junk in the surf. The mayor of Montluçon will not deliver an inhumation permit for Abdelamlik Petitjean; he wasn’t born there, the law doesn’t allow him to be buried there. Or is it “require”? Is the mayor taking advantage of an option? In any case, neither Kermiche nor Petitjean is welcome in our cemeteries. Some Danish Muslims offered to perform the rites for Kermiche.

This media practice of tying the knots and putting a story on the shelf gives the impression that the general population concurs. Not so. As for me, I can’t stop writing about it. My readers have a choice; if you’re no longer interested, you can skip it. I can’t.

The mayor of St. Dié des Vosges has publicly announced that he will not allow Abdelmalik Petitjean to be buried in his commune, even though he was born there. He thinks the terrorist should be buried in an unmarked grave in a secret location. This is one more indication of the climate of opinion today in France.

I receive countless messages from friends in other lands, informing me by attached articles that the Hollande government has flatly announced that there will be more attacks and nothing can be done about it. And the population is duly resigned. Others inform me that Europeans have simply not caught on to this Islamic game. They’ll be suckered until they are conquered. Still others are preparing to celebrate the victory of Marine Le Pen, the only politician in the whole of France who knows the score and can do what has to be done.

Polls are showing that security has jumped to first place in the concerns of French voters, ahead of jobs, the economy, and purchasing power.

What else is new?

Several of Adel Kermiche’s ex-cellmates have spoken up. The young man was a flaming radical. Nothing subtle about him. Unfortunately, former Justice Minister Christiane Taubira—famous for her corn rows, gay marriage bill, and talent for quoting great writers in her impassioned speeches—dismantled the prison intel network set up under the Sarkozy administration. Specialized anti-terrorism judges have complained that they were getting zero information from the penitentiaries. Socialist Youth movement president Bernard Lucas, however, stands with Taubira and the dissident fringe of the Left opposed to their party’s dérive sécuritaire, a sort of hardening of the national security arteries.

JERUSALEM, Israel – The recent coup attempt in Turkey shook one of the most important nations in the Middle East to its foundation. The aftershocks, however, could likely have a greater impact not only within Turkey but throughout the region and beyond.

Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his supporters foiled July’s attempted coup, he’s dismissed thousands of soldiers, judges, and teachers. The government also shut down more than 130 media outlets and made many arrests.

Erdogan blamed a man named Fethullah Gullen for the coup. The two were former allies, but after a falling out are now bitter enemies.

In 1999, Gullen fled Turkey and gained asylum in the United States. He now controls a large movement from his Pennsylvania home that includes many supporters inside Turkey. Although Gullen denies any involvement in the failed coup, Erdogan’s purge seems to be targeting many of the cleric’s followers.

Former Israeli diplomat Alon Liel told CBN News Turkey is experiencing “a revolution inside a revolution.”

“Gullen had millions of supporters,” the former Israeli charge d’affairs to Turkey said. “If you accuse anyone of them and see anyone of them as responsible for this failed and stupid coup, what do you do with these millions of people? Will they be able to get work? So how wide is the circle that you are punishing for this coup is a big question. I think we have a revolution inside a revolution.”

Authorities in Norrtälje, Sweden are asking residents with country homes to give them up for newly arrived refugees.

Isn’t it fun to be a socialist?

Breitbart:

The area’s director of social services, Ali Rashidi, told Svenska Dagbladet: “We thought that there are certainly many houses and rooms that can be rented out for the winter. We like many other municipalities have housing needs”.

Mr. Rashidi explained that householders would let houses to the migrants themselves, with ordinary rental contracts. He assured the Swedish newspaper that the municipality would step in, if necessary, to make sure rent is paid in full.

“Most of the people are well-behaved. Besides, refugees get establishment support from the Employment Service, so should have enough to pay the rent,” Mr. Rashidi said.

Asked about homeowners’ fears that migrants with “social problems” could misuse their properties, Mr. Rashidi said officials will act to match up appropriate landlords and tenants.

On Friday, migrants protested against the newly built modular housing in which they live. Around 30 of them marched to Norrtälje’s social services department

almost half of those who have moved in.

Mitt i reported one of the protesters as saying: “We had a meeting the day before and decided that we do not want to continue living under these conditions.”

According to the department, those marching felt “misled” over the accommodation as they had expected to be given their own permanent apartments rather than sharing a kitchen with other migrants.

The migrants’ representatives warned that disappointment over housing issues had led some of the men protesting to experience depression and even suicidal thoughts.

Sweden’s generous asylum and migration policies have led to chronic housing shortages over the decade. The nation of under 10 million people admitted over 160,000 non-EU migrants last year, exacerbating the problem.Swedish public housing organisation SABO reports that almost half a million new homes must be built in the country just to meet demand.

Twenty-five years of fast evolving cyber communication had made us more efficient. But as Huston T. Hawkins, Los Alamos National Lab Senior Scientist says, “The greater the efficiency, the greater the vulnerability.” And cyber vulnerability is turning our world into a tinderbox. Every day, everywhere, hacking into the Internet puts our lives, finances, communications and security in grave danger. Twenty-five years of expanding Internet use generated a thriving cybersecurity industry, which despite its efforts has not succeeded in protecting vital assets. Best practices have not been followed by government or industry.

The huge cyber security industry today is organized to try to stop cyber intrusions, information theft, and crippling attacks on the critical infrastructure including our defense systems. The United States government has spent hundreds of billions since the 1980’s (before the Internet) to try to build defenses against cyber attacks. But most of what the spending and efforts of tens of thousands of experts who have worked hard, trying to protect our information systems have to show for is a staggering record of failure. If anything, Americans are less secure today than last year; and less secure last year then the year before. When it comes to protecting cyber systems, we are in an exponential failure mode. Why?

Here are a few reasons why cyber security fails:

1. Today’s systems are hugely complex and rapidly changing and adapting. Such complexity means that even with the best of intentions it is extremely difficult to cover all, or even most, of the potential vulnerabilities in operating systems, software, communications, and networks. Virtually every modern system has been hacked successfully and repeatedly.

2. Modern hardware and software evolve and as new features, capabilities and functions are added, the old features, capabilities, and functions are dragged along and remain built into the newest products. Thus, old weaknesses persist and remain lurking even while new vulnerabilities are added to the risk equation.

Jamie Glazov Moment: Why a Refugee Stabbed a Belgian Priest In this new Jamie Glazov Moment, Jamie discusses Why a Refugee Stabbed a Belgian Priest, wondering if the “asylum seeker” would have even bothered reading the Qur’an if he had a job in the first place. Don’t miss it! And make sure you watch the […]