You know how my father's a major hypochondriac.
Well he's finally taked his doctor into ordering a surgical biopsy which was performed in hospital yesterday (14/1/16). For some reason this had to be done under an opiod based general anaesthetic rather than a local anaesthetic. As a result I had to pick him up from hospital yesterday afternoon and keep an eye on him until the euphoria wore off.
Basically he talked at me for like five hours. A particular highlight was;
Him: "I don't know what was in that saline they gave me but I feel amazing!"
Me (silently): "Fentanyl, by the looks of things."
I suppose if nothing else it serves to highlight how the Brits deliberately sent my grandmother - his mother - dotty by effectively hooking her up to an opiod IV for the best part of a year.
The UK obviously tried to seed the drama with the start of a trial on Wednesday (13/1/16) - the newspapers yesterday - of two anaethetists at Tunbridge Wells hospital on a charge of manslaughter by way of grand negligence for essentially killing a patient with anaesthetic.
As a result a lot of people are viewing the death of British actor Alan Rickman as highly questionable. The French in particular seem to be struggling to hold their sh*t together.
I have to say that the whole thing strikes me as an awful lot of hassle for the sake of a few pelvic floor exercises.
15:00 on 15/1/16 (UK date).
Friday, 15 January 2016
Thursday, 14 January 2016
COP21 Terrorism Update #16
The 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met between (technically) November 29th 2015 (29/11/15) and December 12th (12/12/15) in Paris, France. The main objective of this meeting was to agree a draft global agreement to tackle climate change.
Due to violent opposition to action on climate change by the Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia this meeting triggered a global upsurge in Islamic inspired terrorism;
However if I had to identify the major problem it is that the draft agreement re-establishes what is known in the jargon as the principle of binary differentiation. The was the main reason why the Kyoto Protocol (KP) failed.
Essentially it limits the requirement to reduce greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions to just 38 nations who are defined as "developed." This definition does not include China - the World's 2nd largest economy - or India - the World's 9th largest. It is also a matter of debate whether this definition includes the US - the World's largest economy.
As a result this draft agreement will do absolutely nothing to keep global temperatures below a 3C rise let alone limiting them to the 2C rise needed to avoid runaway and uncontrollable changes to the global climate. By removing any obligation to reduce global ghg emissions it also destroys many of the programs such as Carbon Trading Schemes (CTS) that could reduce emissions by protecting Rainforests globally.
The absolutely critical flaw in the draft though is that unlike the Kyoto Protocol it contains no sunset clause at which point it ceases to be in effect. Therefore if ratified the COP21 draft not only fails to take action to combat climate change now it also prevents any action being taken at any point in the future.
With COP21 ending and the dust settling nations have had the opportunity to reflect on the decisions made. As a result a number of nations have begun to express regret at the draft. This includes the US who were the main authors of the text.
In order for the COP21 draft to become a global agreement it needs to be ratified by at least 55 nations by April 2017. If that fails to happen it will be scrapped and we can resume work on an agreement that might actually combat climate change.
China and India are obviously likely to ratify the draft because it allows them to continue to grow their economies by emitting ghg's while holding back their competitors. Due to President Obama's ego-driven desire to claim saving the World as part of his legacy the US is also likely to ratify the draft. As it prevents action being taken to tackle climate change being taken now or in the future Saudi Arabia is also likely to ratify the draft and bring with them the 22 nations that make up the Arab League.
However this still requires another 30 nations to ratify the COP21 draft before it can come into force. As a result Saudi Arabia has been trying to intimidate nations - particularly in east/central Africa - into ratifying the draft.
So on December 19th (19/12/15) there was yet another terrorist bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu which targeted a cinema and a shopping. This of course was again intended to demonstrate Saudi Arabia's reach across the Gulf of Aden.
At the same time there has been a concerted effort to destabilise the east/central African governments of Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda through 'popular protests'. These were intended to show that terrorism is not the only weapon in Saudi Arabia's arsenal when it comes to removing disagreeable governments.
Seemingly oblivious to the regional political climate the US threw its weight behind these efforts prompting a ticking off from both it's peers on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the UN itself.
Saturday (16/1/16) sees the first formal UNFCCC meeting since COP21 take place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although small and concentrating specifically on the issue of renewable energy this two day meeting will be the first time that delegates from UNFCCC nations will be gathered together in the same room at the same time.
It should come as little surprise then that today we have seen yet another Islamic inspired terror attack.
This one has taken place in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and has seen at least five attackers carry out Paris-style gun, grenade and suicide bomb attacks at multiple locations across the Sarinah district of the city. Fortunately at this early stage the death toll appears to be substantially lower than the 130 killed during the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres.
Within climate change negotiations Indonesia is considered a nation of particular interest. They've long operated a system of slash and burn farming whereby farmers set fire to the land they've been using all year in order for the ashes nourish the soil before moving on to the plot of land they burnt in previous years. Although technically carbon neutral this practice produces a lot of smoke/smog.
This smoke/smog's refusal to stay within Indonesia's borders has helped to develop what is known in the jargon as the principle of global commons - essentially the natural environment does not respect man-made borders. Many of Indonesia's neighbours have also long tried to use climate change negotiations to get Indonesia to end this practice including a concerted effort to have specific language on the issue included in the COP21 draft.
The US recently made a lot of reference to Indonesia in its sizable contribution to the discussion which took the form of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the US state of Oregon.
Indonesia is also a country of note within discussions about Islamic inspired terrorism. It is after all the World's most populous Muslim nation. However it doesn't generally subscribe to the nasty Wahhabist perversion of Islam that is promoted by Saudi Arabia and is particularly prevalent across the Arab World.
As a result Saudi Arabia cannot automatically count on Indonesia's support in the same way it can count on some of its regional neighbours such as Malaysia which has long used its flag-carrier Malaysia Airlines to prompt the cause of Islamic inspired terrorism across the globe.
Therefore today's attacks have simply been an attempt to intimidate Indonesia into ratifying the COP21 draft agreement.
However the specific targets chosen all seem to have their own individual meaning;
13:15 on 14/1/16 (UK date).
Due to violent opposition to action on climate change by the Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia this meeting triggered a global upsurge in Islamic inspired terrorism;
- On October 31st (31/10/15) the Russian airline Kogalymavia's flight 7K9268 was bombed out of the skies over Egypt killing all 224 people on board. This was intended as a show of force demonstrating that the terrorists can kill large numbers of civilians with impunity.
- On November 13th (13/11/15) a series of co-ordinated suicide bomb and gun attacks occurred across the French capital Paris killing 130 people. Again this was a show of force demonstrating not only that the terrorists could kill large numbers of civilians with impunity but also that they could strike at the heart of the city hosting the COP21 Summit. It was intended to disrupt COP21 by creating a climate of fear and forcing the French hosts to introduce restrictive security measures.
- On November 20th (20/11/15) a hotel in the Malian capital Bamako was attacked by gunmen who went on to kill 22 people. This was intended to further increase the oppressive atmosphere surrounding COP21 by creating fear that delegates could be attacked in their hotel rooms. It was also intended to demonstrate the global reach of the terrorists. Particularly in Africa where many of the most vulnerable and least capable nations in terms of climate change are located.
- On November 24th (24/11/15) terrorists attacked a bus carrying members of the Presidential guard in the Tunisian capital Tunis. This was intended to demonstrate that COP21 delegates could not only be attacked at the summit venue and at their hotels but also on the shuttle buses taking them from their hotels to the venue and back again.
- On December 2nd (2/12/15) terrorists struck in the city of San Bernardino, California, US. With the attack being carried out by an environmental health inspector and his wife in a the Riverside area of the city this raised a number of complex issues - such as access to water - that play a big role within climate change negotiations. It was also intended to send the message that the terrorists could strike at the heart of the US - the World's biggest economic and military power - and still US President Barack Obama would do nothing to challenge them.
- On December 7th (7/12/15) Jaafar Mohammed Saad - the Governor of Yemen's Aden province - was killed along with several of his aides in a car bombing in Aden. This was intended to remind everybody how Saudi Arabia is poised to attack any east/central African nations that oppose it through Somalia which sits across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. It was also intended to show how far from being opposed to this the US is actively supporting Saudi Arabia in its efforts.
However if I had to identify the major problem it is that the draft agreement re-establishes what is known in the jargon as the principle of binary differentiation. The was the main reason why the Kyoto Protocol (KP) failed.
Essentially it limits the requirement to reduce greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions to just 38 nations who are defined as "developed." This definition does not include China - the World's 2nd largest economy - or India - the World's 9th largest. It is also a matter of debate whether this definition includes the US - the World's largest economy.
As a result this draft agreement will do absolutely nothing to keep global temperatures below a 3C rise let alone limiting them to the 2C rise needed to avoid runaway and uncontrollable changes to the global climate. By removing any obligation to reduce global ghg emissions it also destroys many of the programs such as Carbon Trading Schemes (CTS) that could reduce emissions by protecting Rainforests globally.
The absolutely critical flaw in the draft though is that unlike the Kyoto Protocol it contains no sunset clause at which point it ceases to be in effect. Therefore if ratified the COP21 draft not only fails to take action to combat climate change now it also prevents any action being taken at any point in the future.
With COP21 ending and the dust settling nations have had the opportunity to reflect on the decisions made. As a result a number of nations have begun to express regret at the draft. This includes the US who were the main authors of the text.
In order for the COP21 draft to become a global agreement it needs to be ratified by at least 55 nations by April 2017. If that fails to happen it will be scrapped and we can resume work on an agreement that might actually combat climate change.
China and India are obviously likely to ratify the draft because it allows them to continue to grow their economies by emitting ghg's while holding back their competitors. Due to President Obama's ego-driven desire to claim saving the World as part of his legacy the US is also likely to ratify the draft. As it prevents action being taken to tackle climate change being taken now or in the future Saudi Arabia is also likely to ratify the draft and bring with them the 22 nations that make up the Arab League.
However this still requires another 30 nations to ratify the COP21 draft before it can come into force. As a result Saudi Arabia has been trying to intimidate nations - particularly in east/central Africa - into ratifying the draft.
So on December 19th (19/12/15) there was yet another terrorist bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu which targeted a cinema and a shopping. This of course was again intended to demonstrate Saudi Arabia's reach across the Gulf of Aden.
At the same time there has been a concerted effort to destabilise the east/central African governments of Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda through 'popular protests'. These were intended to show that terrorism is not the only weapon in Saudi Arabia's arsenal when it comes to removing disagreeable governments.
Seemingly oblivious to the regional political climate the US threw its weight behind these efforts prompting a ticking off from both it's peers on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the UN itself.
Saturday (16/1/16) sees the first formal UNFCCC meeting since COP21 take place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although small and concentrating specifically on the issue of renewable energy this two day meeting will be the first time that delegates from UNFCCC nations will be gathered together in the same room at the same time.
It should come as little surprise then that today we have seen yet another Islamic inspired terror attack.
This one has taken place in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and has seen at least five attackers carry out Paris-style gun, grenade and suicide bomb attacks at multiple locations across the Sarinah district of the city. Fortunately at this early stage the death toll appears to be substantially lower than the 130 killed during the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres.
Within climate change negotiations Indonesia is considered a nation of particular interest. They've long operated a system of slash and burn farming whereby farmers set fire to the land they've been using all year in order for the ashes nourish the soil before moving on to the plot of land they burnt in previous years. Although technically carbon neutral this practice produces a lot of smoke/smog.
This smoke/smog's refusal to stay within Indonesia's borders has helped to develop what is known in the jargon as the principle of global commons - essentially the natural environment does not respect man-made borders. Many of Indonesia's neighbours have also long tried to use climate change negotiations to get Indonesia to end this practice including a concerted effort to have specific language on the issue included in the COP21 draft.
The US recently made a lot of reference to Indonesia in its sizable contribution to the discussion which took the form of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the US state of Oregon.
Indonesia is also a country of note within discussions about Islamic inspired terrorism. It is after all the World's most populous Muslim nation. However it doesn't generally subscribe to the nasty Wahhabist perversion of Islam that is promoted by Saudi Arabia and is particularly prevalent across the Arab World.
As a result Saudi Arabia cannot automatically count on Indonesia's support in the same way it can count on some of its regional neighbours such as Malaysia which has long used its flag-carrier Malaysia Airlines to prompt the cause of Islamic inspired terrorism across the globe.
Therefore today's attacks have simply been an attempt to intimidate Indonesia into ratifying the COP21 draft agreement.
However the specific targets chosen all seem to have their own individual meaning;
- Starbucks: International summits like COP21 tend to be fuelled by a heady mix of adrenaline and caffeine. Starbucks is of course the leading global brand when it comes to coffee. In fact I think it's only Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) that don't have at least one branch of Starbucks.
- Djakarta Theatre & the Sarinah Shopping Mall: With the Djakarta Theatre essentially being just a cinema these are a direct reference to the December 19th (19/12/16) attack in Mogadishu, Somalia that struck a cinema and a shopping mall. This is intended as a reminder to east/central Africa that they are sill under threat and had better obey.
- Pakistani Embassy: On December 16th 2014 (16/12/14) Pakistan experienced the worst terror attack in its history when Islamic inspired terrorists attacked a school on a military base in Peshawar killing 141 people including 132 children. Coming days after COP20 which had been held on a similar military base near Lima in Peru this was another threat to nations not to defy Saudi Arabia by taking action on climate change.
- Turkish Embassy: Certainly in the past five years Turkey has been a major global exporter of Islamic inspired terrorism. As a key ally of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Turkey has been implicated in both the bombing of flight 7K9268 and the Paris Massacres. Just this Tuesday (12/1/16) it appears to have carried out the murder of 10 German tourists in a suicide bombing in Istanbul. The fact that both the US and the European Union (EU) are not only failing to punish Turkey but actually rewarding them for their vile behaviour sends a chill wind across the globe.
- United Nations Offices: As with national Embassies such as those of Pakistan and Turkey UN buildings are protected by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations. This obligates the nations hosting those buildings to protect them to the extent that if that are attacked the injured party can hold the host nation responsible for the attack even if they had nothing to do with it. This is something Saudi Arabia is currently doing to Iran over the attack on its Embassy in Tehran on January 3rd (3/1/16).
13:15 on 14/1/16 (UK date).
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Hello Sailor!
Yesterday an Iranian operated McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II crashed in Sistan and Baluchestan Province near the border with Pakistan killing both crew members.
Obviously some people may be a little surprised that the Iranian air force operates US made aircraft. However this particular model dating back to the 1960's was sold to Iran prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Since 1979 Iran has been under varying degrees of US and international sanctions. These have particularly affected the technology sector making it extremely difficult for Iran to not only import spare parts for aircraft but also the precision equipment needed to engineer spare parts. The main reason for Iran's nuclear program has been to build up their domestic science and technology sector.
So when I heard about yesterday's crash I simply dismissed it on the basis that Iranian aircraft do tend to be a bit crashy.
However the F-4 Phantom has played a significant role in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. Specifically on June 22nd 2012 (22/6/12) Turkey flew an F-4 Phantom into Syrian air-space without permission and it was promptly shot down. Turkey's intention here was that the shooting down would give it a pre-text to invade Syria.
This is just another in a long line of incidents where the international community have been forced to apply pressure to stop Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan doing something stupid and dangerous.
With US President Barack Obama continuing to refuse to join the international community in restraining Erdogan Turkey continues to behave in a stupid and aggressive manner. It is currently waging war against its own Kurdish minority and is attempting to use it's irregular Turkmen battalions to attack anti-ISIL forces in northern Syria. Yesterday Turkey carried out a bomb attack that killed 10 German tourists.
As such people in the US clearly assumed that yesterday's crash was a reference to Turkey's aggressive and reckless behaviour. So in response they sent 10 US sailors into Iranian waters near Farsi Island forcing the Iranian navy to rescue them. One of the big differences between Arabs and Persians such as Iranians is that Persians speak Farsi rather than Arabic.
This was an attempt to recreate a similar incident in 2007 when 15 British sailors were captured by Iran. What happened there was that the US who control the Global Positioning System (GPS) sent false co-ordinates to the British sailors so they genuinely thought that they were in international waters when in fact they'd illegally strayed into Iranian waters.
The US' intention then was to trigger a confrontation between Iran and the UK would lead to the UK demanding that the US helped it invade Iran. The US neo-conservatives who brought you the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have of course always wanted to invade Iran.
Despite what he may claim in public such as last night's State of the Union (SOTU) address US President Obama does not see ISIL as an enemy. Instead he views them as a vital ally in continuing this neo-conservative rampage against Iran. That is why ISIL have still not been defeated and Obama still can't see Erdogan for the maniac he is.
Clearly I really do need to get around to giving an update on the fight against ISIL in Iraq. However that is a large task and not one I'm going to be able to get done tonight.
17:35 on 13/1/16 (UK date).
Obviously some people may be a little surprised that the Iranian air force operates US made aircraft. However this particular model dating back to the 1960's was sold to Iran prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Since 1979 Iran has been under varying degrees of US and international sanctions. These have particularly affected the technology sector making it extremely difficult for Iran to not only import spare parts for aircraft but also the precision equipment needed to engineer spare parts. The main reason for Iran's nuclear program has been to build up their domestic science and technology sector.
So when I heard about yesterday's crash I simply dismissed it on the basis that Iranian aircraft do tend to be a bit crashy.
However the F-4 Phantom has played a significant role in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. Specifically on June 22nd 2012 (22/6/12) Turkey flew an F-4 Phantom into Syrian air-space without permission and it was promptly shot down. Turkey's intention here was that the shooting down would give it a pre-text to invade Syria.
This is just another in a long line of incidents where the international community have been forced to apply pressure to stop Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan doing something stupid and dangerous.
With US President Barack Obama continuing to refuse to join the international community in restraining Erdogan Turkey continues to behave in a stupid and aggressive manner. It is currently waging war against its own Kurdish minority and is attempting to use it's irregular Turkmen battalions to attack anti-ISIL forces in northern Syria. Yesterday Turkey carried out a bomb attack that killed 10 German tourists.
As such people in the US clearly assumed that yesterday's crash was a reference to Turkey's aggressive and reckless behaviour. So in response they sent 10 US sailors into Iranian waters near Farsi Island forcing the Iranian navy to rescue them. One of the big differences between Arabs and Persians such as Iranians is that Persians speak Farsi rather than Arabic.
This was an attempt to recreate a similar incident in 2007 when 15 British sailors were captured by Iran. What happened there was that the US who control the Global Positioning System (GPS) sent false co-ordinates to the British sailors so they genuinely thought that they were in international waters when in fact they'd illegally strayed into Iranian waters.
The US' intention then was to trigger a confrontation between Iran and the UK would lead to the UK demanding that the US helped it invade Iran. The US neo-conservatives who brought you the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have of course always wanted to invade Iran.
Despite what he may claim in public such as last night's State of the Union (SOTU) address US President Obama does not see ISIL as an enemy. Instead he views them as a vital ally in continuing this neo-conservative rampage against Iran. That is why ISIL have still not been defeated and Obama still can't see Erdogan for the maniac he is.
Clearly I really do need to get around to giving an update on the fight against ISIL in Iraq. However that is a large task and not one I'm going to be able to get done tonight.
17:35 on 13/1/16 (UK date).
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 18, Week 3, Day 3.
On August 9th 2015 (9/8/15) Turkey ordered the Al Qaeda affiliated Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) coalition to cede the town of Marea to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The JAF followed Turkey's instructions and ISIL duly took control of Marea on August 27th (27/8/15).
Turkey's intention was that ISIL occupying a town just 20km (12 miles) from Syria's border with Turkey would provide a pre-text for a Turkish invasion of Syria to remove the 'ISIL threat.'
The true objective of the invasion though was to re-establish ISIL's supply lines through Turkey and eliminate the Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) that had cut those supply lines by establishing a vast buffer-zone between Turkey and ISIL's de facto capital in Raqqa.
The date for this Turkish invasion was set for December 16th 2015 (16/12/15). However the diplomatic backlash against a smaller scale Turkish invasion of northern Iraq on December 4th (4/12/15) led to it being cancelled.
Being prevented from invading Syria in support of ISIL Turkey instead declared war on it's own Kurdish population. This seems to be a clear example of Turkey following ISIL's advice to its supporters that if they are unable to travel to Syria or Iraq to fight for ISIL they should carry out attacks at home in support of ISIL.
Since December 15th (15/12/15) most of Turkey's aggression has been focused on the Sur district of the city of Diyarbakir in southern Turkey around 65km (40 miles) north of the border with Syria.
Here Turkish combat troops have surrounded the city sealing it off while pounding it with tank and artillery fire along with air-strikes. When I first saw the footage coming out of Diyarbakir I assumed it had been shot in Syria.
So far Turkey claims that it has killed 578 people in this operation all of whom Turkey accuses of being members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). However Turkey has a decades long reputation for simply murdering Kurdish civilians and then planting weapons on the bodies to claim they are members of the PKK who were killed in combat.
A particularly controversial example of this occurred in 1993 when Turkey accused the PKK of setting fire to a home in the village of Mus - around 150km (90 miles) north-east of Diyarbakir - killing a family of 10 including 7 children aged between 3 and 13.
In late 2014 even a Turkish Court was forced to admit that the Ogut case as it's sometimes known was not the work of the PKK but the Turkish military who murdered the family as punishment for the death of a Turkish officer hours earlier.
What we do know is that since the start of the Diyarbakir operation less then four weeks ago Turkey has murdered at least 130 Kurdish civilians.
With it being made clear to Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he will not be getting permission to formally invade Syria he has simply changed tactic of Marea. Rather than using conventional Turkish forces to invade Syria Erdogan is now attempting to use what are termed Syrian Turkmen forces to complete the task.
The Syrian Turkmen forces are essentially an unconventional branch of the Turkish military recruited and trained in Turkey. For example Alparslan Celik who acted as the Syrian Turkmen's spokesman following the Turkish downing of a Russia Su-24 over Syria on November 24th (24/11/15) is the son of a former Mayor of the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
On Saturday (9/1/16) Turkish forces opened fire on ten villages around Marea in support of advance by Turkmen forces. This included the use of heavy, blind weapons such as artillery and tank fire which is know to place civilians at great risk. To its eternal discredit this operation was supported by Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) - the US led coalition.
The loss of Marea will of course have little impact on ISIL because supplies and fighters will continue to cross in and out of Turkey through Turkmen controlled territory. Turkey is being quite open about the fact that the ultimate objective of the operation is not to defeat ISIL but to attack the QSD controlled buffer-zone that sits beyond Marea to the east of the Euphrates River.
The two main Turkmen groups used in Saturday's operation were the Levant Front/Jabhat al-Sham and the Levant Legion/Faylaq al-Sham. This highlights I find the western media's refusal to refer to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as an act of support for the group.
The reference to the "Levant" is key to ISIL nihilist and sectarian ideology. By attempting to cover it up by referring to them as "Islamic State" or "ISIS" the media are preventing their audience - this includes politicans and decision makers - realising that groups like the Levant Legion and the Levant Front have exactly the same ideology as ISIL.
Turkey's original order to cede Marea to ISIL was issued through the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (FML/Ahrar al-Sham) section of the JAF coalition.
If protests were to spring up against Turkey's brutal behaviour in Diyarbakir and it's support for ISIL they are most likely to start in Germany.
Due to Turkey's appalling record on human rights and its brutal suppression of political dissent that goes back more then 40 years Germany automatically grants political asylum or refugee status to people from Turkey - particularly Kurds. As a result Germany has an extremely large ethnically Turkish/Kurdish population. The World Cup winning Arsenal mid-fielder Mesut Ozil is probably the most famous example of this. Even if he does look a bit like a frog.
Germany of course is already in the midst of widespread protest against Chancellor/Head of State Angela Merkel's refugee policy in the wake of the New Year's Eve (NYE) sex attacks in Cologne and elsewhere. It is of course this refugee policy that led to the European Union (EU) to giving Turkey USD3bn and visa-free travel as reward for flooding Europe with refugees and terrorists.
It is also Merkel's refugee policy that has forced Germany to base it's anti-ISIL aircraft at USAF base Incirlik in Turkey. This obviously makes it much more difficult for Germany - and indeed CJTFOIR - to put pressure on Turkey to drop its support for ISIL.
Yesterday (12/1/16) we were given yet another example of the dangers of the EU's policy towards Turkey when France experienced it's third terror attack of 2016. Here a 15 year old boy attacked a Rabbi outside a Synagogue in the southern city of Marseilles with a machete in the name of ISIL. Fortunately the 35 year old was only slightly injured after smashing his attacker over the head with a copy of the Torah.
Apparently the attacker is registered as a Kurdish refugee from Turkey. However it is a common practice for Turks to lie about being Kurdish in order to claim asylum in the EU.
Amid growing, EU-wide pressure it appears that Merkel is now on the brink of reversing her disastrous policy of engagement with Turkey over refugees.
It should come as no surprise then that today Turkey has suffered another 'terrorist attack.'
On this occasion a female suicide bomber blew herself up amid a crowd of tourists close to the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. Although details are still emerging it appears that 10 tourists - including 9 Germans - were killed on what seems to be a targeted attack on German citizens.
This was done in an effort to convince the world that Turkey is an ally in the fight against ISIL when in reality Turkey's ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) and ISIL are at this point essentially the same organisation. No doubt Turkey will be making much about how it is being forced to suffer because German aircraft are stationed at Incirlik and demanding more money from the EU in compensation.
The fact that German citizens were targeted of course forces Germany into a diplomatic dialogue to facilitate the return of the dead and wounded to Germany. Turkey obviously intends to exploit this to assess Merkel's position post-Cologne.
Elsewhere in the conflict following being granted entry to the much talked about town of Madaya yesterday the United Nations (UN) have identified 400 civilians who need to be immediately evacuated for medical treatment. We are waiting to see if the JAF who control the town will give permission for those evacuations to take place or whether they'll cling on in the hope the footage of their hostages slowly dying can be blamed on the Syrian government.
I would now like to move on to cover the liberation of Ramadi and the wave of terror attacks it has triggered in Iraq. However because the Erdogan situation has still not been properly squared away I don't have time for what will be a long post because once again I'm being dragged into dealing with yet another Turkish crisis in northern Syria.
I can't even say I'll make time to get on with it tomorrow. After all that's what I said last night.
17:35 on 12/1/16 (UK date).
Turkey's intention was that ISIL occupying a town just 20km (12 miles) from Syria's border with Turkey would provide a pre-text for a Turkish invasion of Syria to remove the 'ISIL threat.'
The true objective of the invasion though was to re-establish ISIL's supply lines through Turkey and eliminate the Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) that had cut those supply lines by establishing a vast buffer-zone between Turkey and ISIL's de facto capital in Raqqa.
The date for this Turkish invasion was set for December 16th 2015 (16/12/15). However the diplomatic backlash against a smaller scale Turkish invasion of northern Iraq on December 4th (4/12/15) led to it being cancelled.
Being prevented from invading Syria in support of ISIL Turkey instead declared war on it's own Kurdish population. This seems to be a clear example of Turkey following ISIL's advice to its supporters that if they are unable to travel to Syria or Iraq to fight for ISIL they should carry out attacks at home in support of ISIL.
Since December 15th (15/12/15) most of Turkey's aggression has been focused on the Sur district of the city of Diyarbakir in southern Turkey around 65km (40 miles) north of the border with Syria.
Here Turkish combat troops have surrounded the city sealing it off while pounding it with tank and artillery fire along with air-strikes. When I first saw the footage coming out of Diyarbakir I assumed it had been shot in Syria.
So far Turkey claims that it has killed 578 people in this operation all of whom Turkey accuses of being members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). However Turkey has a decades long reputation for simply murdering Kurdish civilians and then planting weapons on the bodies to claim they are members of the PKK who were killed in combat.
A particularly controversial example of this occurred in 1993 when Turkey accused the PKK of setting fire to a home in the village of Mus - around 150km (90 miles) north-east of Diyarbakir - killing a family of 10 including 7 children aged between 3 and 13.
In late 2014 even a Turkish Court was forced to admit that the Ogut case as it's sometimes known was not the work of the PKK but the Turkish military who murdered the family as punishment for the death of a Turkish officer hours earlier.
What we do know is that since the start of the Diyarbakir operation less then four weeks ago Turkey has murdered at least 130 Kurdish civilians.
With it being made clear to Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he will not be getting permission to formally invade Syria he has simply changed tactic of Marea. Rather than using conventional Turkish forces to invade Syria Erdogan is now attempting to use what are termed Syrian Turkmen forces to complete the task.
The Syrian Turkmen forces are essentially an unconventional branch of the Turkish military recruited and trained in Turkey. For example Alparslan Celik who acted as the Syrian Turkmen's spokesman following the Turkish downing of a Russia Su-24 over Syria on November 24th (24/11/15) is the son of a former Mayor of the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
On Saturday (9/1/16) Turkish forces opened fire on ten villages around Marea in support of advance by Turkmen forces. This included the use of heavy, blind weapons such as artillery and tank fire which is know to place civilians at great risk. To its eternal discredit this operation was supported by Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) - the US led coalition.
The loss of Marea will of course have little impact on ISIL because supplies and fighters will continue to cross in and out of Turkey through Turkmen controlled territory. Turkey is being quite open about the fact that the ultimate objective of the operation is not to defeat ISIL but to attack the QSD controlled buffer-zone that sits beyond Marea to the east of the Euphrates River.
The two main Turkmen groups used in Saturday's operation were the Levant Front/Jabhat al-Sham and the Levant Legion/Faylaq al-Sham. This highlights I find the western media's refusal to refer to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as an act of support for the group.
The reference to the "Levant" is key to ISIL nihilist and sectarian ideology. By attempting to cover it up by referring to them as "Islamic State" or "ISIS" the media are preventing their audience - this includes politicans and decision makers - realising that groups like the Levant Legion and the Levant Front have exactly the same ideology as ISIL.
Turkey's original order to cede Marea to ISIL was issued through the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (FML/Ahrar al-Sham) section of the JAF coalition.
If protests were to spring up against Turkey's brutal behaviour in Diyarbakir and it's support for ISIL they are most likely to start in Germany.
Due to Turkey's appalling record on human rights and its brutal suppression of political dissent that goes back more then 40 years Germany automatically grants political asylum or refugee status to people from Turkey - particularly Kurds. As a result Germany has an extremely large ethnically Turkish/Kurdish population. The World Cup winning Arsenal mid-fielder Mesut Ozil is probably the most famous example of this. Even if he does look a bit like a frog.
Germany of course is already in the midst of widespread protest against Chancellor/Head of State Angela Merkel's refugee policy in the wake of the New Year's Eve (NYE) sex attacks in Cologne and elsewhere. It is of course this refugee policy that led to the European Union (EU) to giving Turkey USD3bn and visa-free travel as reward for flooding Europe with refugees and terrorists.
It is also Merkel's refugee policy that has forced Germany to base it's anti-ISIL aircraft at USAF base Incirlik in Turkey. This obviously makes it much more difficult for Germany - and indeed CJTFOIR - to put pressure on Turkey to drop its support for ISIL.
Yesterday (12/1/16) we were given yet another example of the dangers of the EU's policy towards Turkey when France experienced it's third terror attack of 2016. Here a 15 year old boy attacked a Rabbi outside a Synagogue in the southern city of Marseilles with a machete in the name of ISIL. Fortunately the 35 year old was only slightly injured after smashing his attacker over the head with a copy of the Torah.
Apparently the attacker is registered as a Kurdish refugee from Turkey. However it is a common practice for Turks to lie about being Kurdish in order to claim asylum in the EU.
Amid growing, EU-wide pressure it appears that Merkel is now on the brink of reversing her disastrous policy of engagement with Turkey over refugees.
It should come as no surprise then that today Turkey has suffered another 'terrorist attack.'
On this occasion a female suicide bomber blew herself up amid a crowd of tourists close to the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. Although details are still emerging it appears that 10 tourists - including 9 Germans - were killed on what seems to be a targeted attack on German citizens.
This was done in an effort to convince the world that Turkey is an ally in the fight against ISIL when in reality Turkey's ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) and ISIL are at this point essentially the same organisation. No doubt Turkey will be making much about how it is being forced to suffer because German aircraft are stationed at Incirlik and demanding more money from the EU in compensation.
The fact that German citizens were targeted of course forces Germany into a diplomatic dialogue to facilitate the return of the dead and wounded to Germany. Turkey obviously intends to exploit this to assess Merkel's position post-Cologne.
Elsewhere in the conflict following being granted entry to the much talked about town of Madaya yesterday the United Nations (UN) have identified 400 civilians who need to be immediately evacuated for medical treatment. We are waiting to see if the JAF who control the town will give permission for those evacuations to take place or whether they'll cling on in the hope the footage of their hostages slowly dying can be blamed on the Syrian government.
I would now like to move on to cover the liberation of Ramadi and the wave of terror attacks it has triggered in Iraq. However because the Erdogan situation has still not been properly squared away I don't have time for what will be a long post because once again I'm being dragged into dealing with yet another Turkish crisis in northern Syria.
I can't even say I'll make time to get on with it tomorrow. After all that's what I said last night.
17:35 on 12/1/16 (UK date).
Monday, 11 January 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 18, Week 3, Day 2.
In the extremely rare moments that it manages to tear itself away from the death of David Bowie the media in the UK has been reporting that an aid convoy belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has managed to enter the Syrian town of Madaya which is 'being cruelly starved to death by the Assad regime.'
As always with western reporting on events in Syria that's not quite what's happened.
The ICRC have actually sent three aid convoys to Madaya and to the villages of Foua and Kefraya. However it seems that no-one wants to talk about either Foua or Kefraya because for a long time they were under the control of the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) which is a particularly brutal branch of the Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF).
As with the near-by city of Zabadani along with the town of Madaya conditions have been particularly brutal in Foua and Kefraya since the JAI/JAF took over. Their main tactic is has been to seize control of the areas food supplies in order to create an artificial shortage to drive up prices. This is done both for financial gain and to create images of starving children that can be blamed on the Syrian government.
In September 2015 the United Nations (UN) thought that it finally agreed a cease-fire deal with JAI/JAF that would see them release their civilian hostages. However when the ICRC convoys moved in on September 26th (26/9/15) they were blocked by civilians from Madaya and Saraqeb who also demanded to be evacuated. Then on September 27th (27/9/15) JAI/JAF pulled out of the agreement entirely triggering the Russian military intervention of September 30th (30/9/15).
After two months of the Russian military intervention on December 28th (28/12/15) JAI/JAF again changed their minds and allowed the ceasefire in Zabandani, Foua and Kefraya to go through. These ceasefire allowed JAI/JAF to leave with their families and more moderate fighters to remain on condition that they ceased their attacks against the government and the civilian population. The JAI/JAF obviously took most of the area's food supplies with them.
However despite there being no fighting in Zabadani, Foua or Kefraya and the situation being just as bad as it is in Madaya the ICRC have been refusing to deliver aid to these areas for almost a month now. It seems that the ICRC's official policy is no to starve the vast majority of Syrians who support the Syrian government in the hope of overthrowing that government.
Likewise we're not hearing anything about the similar situation in the Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in the Damascus suburbs. That's because on December 26th (26/12/15) the JAI/JAF rejected a similar ceasefire agreement that would have forced them to release their civilian hostages.
As for Madaya the first thing that happened when the JAI/JAF allowed the ICRC access to the camp civilians started flooding out demanding to be granted refuge in Syrian government controlled areas. This is despite the JAI/JAF holding many of their family members prisoner as a sort of guarantor who will be executed if they do not return.
Now it has arrived the interesting question is how the ICRC will be distributing aid in Madaya. Will they be giving directly to the civilian population or will they be handing it to the JAI/JAF who will keep it out of the hands of the civilians in the hope of producing more atrocity propaganda. If the ICRC does that latter it will be facilitating a crime against humanity which I assume it will be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to answer for.
Also today the UK Parliament has been discussing Madaya as an urgent question. Therefore I should probably comment on the suggestion by former Royal Marine Commando and former MI6 agent Paddy Lord Ashdown that Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) airdrops supplies to the JAI/JAF in Madaya. This is of course a completely mad suggestion.
However the UK Prime Minister David Cameron has proved himself rather keen on completely mad ideas when it comes for Syria. For example in 2013 he wanted to bomb Syria in support of the JAF's use of Sarin gas in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus. The source of that Sarin gas has now been traced back to Turkey and Turkish MP Eren Erdem is currently being prosecuted for treason for revealing that detail.
Therefore while I'm sure Lord Ashdown will deny it this suggestion seems to have been a test of whether Prime Minister Cameron has had an outbreak of rational thought or is still committed to mad ideas like using his Christmas message to announce that the UK is waging a Christian Crusade/Jihad against Muslims.
Sadly based on a quick look at the debate it seems this has gone right over the heads of most MP's. Fortunately though the government spokeswoman stuck to the position that it is not the Syrian government that is starving people to death in Syria.
No wonder BBC News is clinging to the Bowie obituary like a life-raft.
18:10 on 11/1/16 (UK date).
As always with western reporting on events in Syria that's not quite what's happened.
The ICRC have actually sent three aid convoys to Madaya and to the villages of Foua and Kefraya. However it seems that no-one wants to talk about either Foua or Kefraya because for a long time they were under the control of the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) which is a particularly brutal branch of the Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF).
As with the near-by city of Zabadani along with the town of Madaya conditions have been particularly brutal in Foua and Kefraya since the JAI/JAF took over. Their main tactic is has been to seize control of the areas food supplies in order to create an artificial shortage to drive up prices. This is done both for financial gain and to create images of starving children that can be blamed on the Syrian government.
In September 2015 the United Nations (UN) thought that it finally agreed a cease-fire deal with JAI/JAF that would see them release their civilian hostages. However when the ICRC convoys moved in on September 26th (26/9/15) they were blocked by civilians from Madaya and Saraqeb who also demanded to be evacuated. Then on September 27th (27/9/15) JAI/JAF pulled out of the agreement entirely triggering the Russian military intervention of September 30th (30/9/15).
After two months of the Russian military intervention on December 28th (28/12/15) JAI/JAF again changed their minds and allowed the ceasefire in Zabandani, Foua and Kefraya to go through. These ceasefire allowed JAI/JAF to leave with their families and more moderate fighters to remain on condition that they ceased their attacks against the government and the civilian population. The JAI/JAF obviously took most of the area's food supplies with them.
However despite there being no fighting in Zabadani, Foua or Kefraya and the situation being just as bad as it is in Madaya the ICRC have been refusing to deliver aid to these areas for almost a month now. It seems that the ICRC's official policy is no to starve the vast majority of Syrians who support the Syrian government in the hope of overthrowing that government.
Likewise we're not hearing anything about the similar situation in the Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in the Damascus suburbs. That's because on December 26th (26/12/15) the JAI/JAF rejected a similar ceasefire agreement that would have forced them to release their civilian hostages.
As for Madaya the first thing that happened when the JAI/JAF allowed the ICRC access to the camp civilians started flooding out demanding to be granted refuge in Syrian government controlled areas. This is despite the JAI/JAF holding many of their family members prisoner as a sort of guarantor who will be executed if they do not return.
Now it has arrived the interesting question is how the ICRC will be distributing aid in Madaya. Will they be giving directly to the civilian population or will they be handing it to the JAI/JAF who will keep it out of the hands of the civilians in the hope of producing more atrocity propaganda. If the ICRC does that latter it will be facilitating a crime against humanity which I assume it will be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to answer for.
Also today the UK Parliament has been discussing Madaya as an urgent question. Therefore I should probably comment on the suggestion by former Royal Marine Commando and former MI6 agent Paddy Lord Ashdown that Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) airdrops supplies to the JAI/JAF in Madaya. This is of course a completely mad suggestion.
However the UK Prime Minister David Cameron has proved himself rather keen on completely mad ideas when it comes for Syria. For example in 2013 he wanted to bomb Syria in support of the JAF's use of Sarin gas in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus. The source of that Sarin gas has now been traced back to Turkey and Turkish MP Eren Erdem is currently being prosecuted for treason for revealing that detail.
Therefore while I'm sure Lord Ashdown will deny it this suggestion seems to have been a test of whether Prime Minister Cameron has had an outbreak of rational thought or is still committed to mad ideas like using his Christmas message to announce that the UK is waging a Christian Crusade/Jihad against Muslims.
Sadly based on a quick look at the debate it seems this has gone right over the heads of most MP's. Fortunately though the government spokeswoman stuck to the position that it is not the Syrian government that is starving people to death in Syria.
No wonder BBC News is clinging to the Bowie obituary like a life-raft.
18:10 on 11/1/16 (UK date).
Saturday, 9 January 2016
Ms Merkal Regrets.
Germany's Chancellor/Head of Government Angela Merkel was declared Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2015.
Although the award acknowledged her central role in keeping the Eurozone together amid the economic crisis caused by Greece's calamitous SYRIZA government it was primarily given in response to Ms Merkel's response to the refugee crisis caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The magazine labelled that response generous, compassionate and tolerant.
Although a magazine which in 2014 declared Beyonce to be the most influential person in the world perhaps lacks credibility this struck me as something of a surprise. That's because Angela Merkel's response to the refugee crisis has always seemed to me an extremely rare error of judgement on her part.
Back in July 2015 Chancellor Merkel was attending what Americans would term a televised town hall event in the German city of Rostock.
One of the questions she faced was from a 14 year old Palestinian girl named only as Reem who wanted to know why her family were not being granted permanent refugee status in Germany. As the Chancellor began to explain Germany's immigration policy Reem burst into uncontrollable tears forcing Merkel to awkwardly try and comfort her.
The video of this meeting went viral on the Internet - Google "Merkel Makes Girl Cry" - and led to Angela Merkel's government being dubbed "The government without empathy."
This more than anything else seems to have triggered Merkel's decision in late August 2015 to announce that all Syrian refugees would be welcomed in Germany.
Although this no doubt allowed Merkel to feel better about herself it was probably one of the worst things that could be done. As with all other aspects of war the refugee crisis created by ISIL requires hard-headed and well thought through solutions rather than easy hashtags and campaign slogans that make us feel better about ourselves.
As I've said throughout what the European Union (EU) needs to do in response to the refugee crisis is to set up what are effectively refugee embassies in Syria, Iraq and the neighbouring states of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
It is from there that asylum applications are processed before those granted refugee status are transported to the EU and distributed fairly amongst the 28 member states. This removes the need for those refugees to make the extremely dangerous sea crossing into the EU and allows the EU to better process them in the key areas of security and integration.
On that first issue of security I have absolutely no doubt the overwhelming majority of those seeking asylum are not a threat to national security.
However it has so long been accepted that those with nefarious intent will try and abuse the asylum process that Article 1(f) of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees makes quite clear that refugee status cannot be granted to those suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity, other crimes against peace or other non-political crimes in their country of origin.
Although there does seem to have been a concerted effort to down-play the risks there is a growing list of those claiming refugee status in the EU being linked to serious terrorist activity.
The most significant of these were the two attackers in the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres who although it turns out were EU citizens had re-entered the EU from Syria posing as asylum seekers.
Then of course there was the case of Osama Abdul Mohsen who became famous after being filmed being kicked by a Hungarian reporter and was rewarded with asylum in Spain and a job at Real Madrid.
Shortly afterwards it emerged that Mohsen has been a member of the Al Qaeda affiliated Al Nusra Front (ANF) and had participated in numerous crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity particularly against the Kurdish minority in northern Syria. I am still waiting to hear that the Mohsen family have been expelled from Spain to face justice.
In Finland alone at least 300 asylum seekers have been found to have links with terrorist groups. This figure includes two Iraqi brothers who were arrested on December 10th (10/12/15) not only for being members of ISIL but for personally killing 11 Iraqi soldiers during the Camp Speicher Massacre in which ISIL slaughtered at least 1,700.
This problem is even occurring as far afield as the US. On July 16th (16/7/15) Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez - a refugee from Kuwait - attacked several military installations in and around Chattanooga, Tennessee killing 5 and wounding 2.
Just yesterday (8/1/16) the US confirmed that over the past week it had arrested two Iraqi refugees in California and Texas. One had been planning to travel to join ISIL while the other had fought for ISIL before claiming asylum in the US. However in an effort to cover this up the US is only prosecuting him for lying on his application.
With the US being some 6,000km (3,600 miles) and an entire ocean away from Syria it shouldn't be aiding and abetting ISIL in their crime against humanity of ethnic cleansing by taking in refugees at all. Instead it should be supporting the refugees by doing all it can to destroy ISIL and end the war.
The EU though being closer most certainly does have an obligation to take in refugees from ISIL. However a large part of that obligation is to make sure that terrorists are not allowed to hide amongst those genuinely needing asylum.
The EU not only owes that responsibility to itself but also to the genuine asylum seekers. After all there is no point them taking up refuge in the EU if the EU is just going to let in the people they are fleeing from.
On the issue of integration as I write there a protests going on in Cologne, Germany over the more then 100 sexual assaults on women during the city's New Years Eve (NYE) celebrations. These are said to have been carried out by between 500 and 1000 Arab men who were all either seeking or had been granted asylum. This has widely been viewed as the result of a failure to integrate the massive influx of Syrian refugees.
However as more information has emerged this doesn't actually seem to be the work of a large group of out of control men. Instead it seems to be a co-ordinated criminal enterprise using a tactic which is known in the US as; "Flashmob Robbery" or in the UK by the slang term; "Steaming."
Although this isn't the sort of thing you can do a training course to be certified in it tends to involve a gang of robbers ploughing - like a steam train - through anywhere a crowd is confined such as on a train or at an event such as a NYE celebration. As they force their way through the crowd the gang rob people of whatever they can.
In Cologne the sexual assaults only seem to have been used as a form of violence to facilitate theft. After all a woman who is terrified that she is going to be raped isn't going to be that worried about what happens to her cellphone, purse or jewellery.
This type of robbery is actually pretty common in the US and parts of London, UK particularly on the rail network and at the Notting Hill Carnival. Therefore if the Cologne attacks had happened in London we'd probably be talking about how the refugees had become too well integrated with the black thug culture that has been imported from the US. Curiously "Black Lives Matter" came fourth on Time Magazine's poll.
As such I'm inclined to think that the attacks in Cologne weren't so much a failure to integrate refugees as a failure on the part of the police to identify the threat from criminal elements and put in place an effective security plan.
However it does seem that the police failed to act and then tried to cover up the incident because they were afraid of being seen to saying anything negative about refugees. It is that cover up that people seem to be most angry about.
At around 18:30 on 9/1/16 (UK date) I'll be back to add more detail on that after dinner.
Edited at around 20:10 on 9/1/16 (UK date) to tidy up the above and add;
As information about the incident has been slowly trickling out did seem reasonable to assume that it could have been the result of some cultural integration problem.
I think it's well established that one area where European culture and Arab culture differ is the lower status granted to women in Arab culture. This is particularly true in societies which subscribe to the particularly nasty Whabbist perversion of Sunni Islam promoted by Saudi Arabia.
In Arab societies that were run by secular dictators such as Ben Ali in Tunisia, Mubarak in Egypt and to a lesser extent Qaddafi in Libya women were largely protected by the very aggressive policing of secular laws. When those dictators and their security apparatus were overthrown the new found freedom did sort of go to everybody's head and even reasonable laws against things like rape and sexual assault were widely ignored.
Egypt's Tahrir Square became notorious for rape and sexual assault particularly when it was used as a deliberate tactic of intimidation by the Muslim Brotherhood during the 2013 revolution.
Even in comparison to somewhere like the US or the UK German society actually has a very open and mature attitude towards sexuality. For example prostitution is legal and pornography is hardly considered a dirty secret.
As a 13/14 year old boy I actually went on a school trip to Cologne. Due to a clerical oversight we ended up being booked into a hotel in the middle of the cities red-light district. I still remember walking past all the prostitutes, brothels and sex shops being quite a head-spinning experience. I imagine the experience would probably worse for a young man arriving from somewhere like Iraq or Syria.
The other big cultural difference between Arab and European societies is of course alcohol. This is widely banned in Arab societies but in European societies - particularly Germany - people drink a lot.
In preparation for the 2015 Oktoberfest which is essentially just everybody getting really drunk throughout the month of October the Bavarian city of Munich actually went to great lengths to make sure that refugees from Arab nations wouldn't be overwhelmed of frightened by seeing large numbers of very drunk people out in public.
The bigger problem probably arises though if the refugees decide they want to integrate with the local culture and try alcohol for themselves. Alcohol of course lowers inhibitions and impairs judgement so everybody who is familiar with it has stories about making ill-judged sexual advances that have earned them a slap in the face or even worse advances that haven't been rebuffed leading to many a morning of regret.
With many of the attackers being reported to be either drunk or smelling heavily of alcohol it would be easy to imagine a situation where some naive young men had been overwhelmed by the local culture and started making some extremely poor decisions. After all I'm pretty sure that's what led to Jeremy Jackson being kicked off the January 2015 season of Celebrity Big Brother UK (CBBUK).
How best to integrate refugees is of course a huge topic to the point where I understand it supports an entire scientific discipline known as Social Anthropology. However I suppose the first big question is what sort of society you are trying to integrate them into.
Until the late-1990's the London borough of Croydon where I grew up was the only port of call for asylum seekers into the UK. Even now it remains the main one. As a result if you talk about Eritrean refugees I immediately think of about a dozen kids I went to school with. If you mention Angola you're talking about a couple of the teachers. Apparently getting the Ugandan guy in and out of Cologne was a major headache.
Working in the local hospital during the Balkan war my mother is actually surprisingly knowledgeable about how to treat the long term effects of battlefield injuries and wounds sustained during torture.
Having retired my mother now lives in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Due to its Cathedral this is technically considered a city but compared to London is a small town in the country. It has also been selected as the new home of a group of asylum seekers that the UK is taking in separately from the EU. I have to say that both my mother and I experience quite a lot of bafflement at all the local excitement about when the refugees are coming and where they're going to stay.
I think the only advice either of us can offer is to get over the excitement of them being refugees and just interact with them the way you would anybody else. If they're about to do something stupid, dangerous or that British people would find offensive politely point out their mistake to them. If they become aggressive walk away or call the police.
The other big question of course is who are you trying to integrate. After all a babe in arms who is being adopted is unlikely to know that they were born and orphaned in a different culture. However a 13/14 year old orphan will probably need more help but that will be done by the adoptive parents. A complete family unit of a mother, father and three of four children is a completely different proposition again. As always though young men between the ages of 16 and 30 always present the biggest problems.
If I was to try and draw up a general rule though I would say that you would try and disperse them in groups that aren't so small that people who don't speak the language are completely isolated but not such large groups that they're not forced to interact with the local population.
After all as any social anthropologist will tell you culture comes not from the laws that are passed by the government and enforced by the police but from that quiet peer pressure of; "That's just not how we do things around here."
Although it may have given her a warm and fuzzy feeling Angela Merkel's emotionally driven response to the refugee crisis seems to have made it more difficult to solve these problems.
The refugee crisis is being caused by the fact that there is a vicious and nasty war being allowed to drag on in Syria and Iraq. Therefore regardless of what Chancellor Merkel or any other EU politicians says or doesn't say it is not a problem that is going to go away until the war is brought to an end with ISIL and associated groups being utterly destroyed.
However by throwing open Germany's doors in welcome Merkel appears to have given many of the refugees the entirely false impression that they will be allowed to start entirely new lives within the EU. The won't. Apart from some extreme exceptions such as orphaned children they will be cared for at the subsistence level until the war ends. They will then be sent back to Iraq and Syria to help rebuild their battered nations.
If the refugees were being told this truth it is likely that they would be in less of a rush to get to Germany instead opting to stay in the first safe country where their money runs out. This would mean far more refugees settling in places like Hungary in Poland. If that happened then those nations would be banging on Germany's door demanding that the EU takes collective action.
As it is with Merkel throwing open Germany's doors eastern EU states are seeing the refugees merely as people passing through. Many of them seem to genuinely believe that the refugee crisis is caused by and began with Chancellor Merkel's invitation. As a result rather than demanding that the EU takes collective action nations such as Hungary are actually trying to block the EU from taking that collective action.
The bonkers demands from Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban in particular has forced the EU into a dangerous level of engagement with Turkey.
Back at the end of November 2015 the EU was forced to agree to give Turkey USD3bn and visa-free travel in return for tackling the flow of refugees into the EU. As you would expect Turkey is completely failing to live up to its end of this bargain.
Despite it being winter the flow of refugees out of Turkey has not even slowed. The first death of a refugee in 2016 occurred on just January 3rd (3/1/16) when an infant child drowned in the Aegean in scenes that were every bit as harrowing as Aylan Kurdi. With another 47 drowning in a single sinking just on Tuesday (5/1/15) the monthly death toll is already close to exceeding 100.
Just today 14 refugees have been killed in road accidents in Turkey. That is a clear sign that Turkey isn't even attempting to stop the refugees reaching the coast.
I've long said that rather than rewarding Turkey for all the refugees it keeps sending us the EU should be fining it USD100,000 for every Muslim it sends to drown at sea. That penalty can be paid directly or through visa fees and custom duties.
Perhaps more alarmingly then that on December 4th (4/12/15) Germany voted to deploy its military in a non-combat role to support the fight against ISIL. Due to the diplomatic efforts to keep Turkey onside over the refugee issue Germany has made the mistake of deploy those military assets to Turkey. This of course increases Turkey's influence over the anti-ISIL coalition.
This is a problem because Turkey is one of the main supporters of ISIL and one of the main obstacles to defeating. Since the liberation of the Tishan Dam on December 26th (26/12/15) Turkey is now extremely concerned about the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) advancing on what the Turkish Justice & Development Party (AKP) are openly referring to as; "The ISIL safe-zone."
Despite all these dangerous and counter-productive concessions to Turkey and with Hungary's objections to an EU-wide refugee policy tied up in the courts the crisis doesn't look like it is going to be solved any time soon.
As a result many EU nations are suspending the Schengen agreement and following Hungary's lead by throwing up border controls threatening what Chancellor Merkel considers one of the core elements of the EU.
Quite how we get the situation back on track is still rather beyond me. However I think it would help if Chancellor Merkel produced that rarest of things from a politician; An apology and an admission that they made a mistake.
22:10 on 9/1/16 (UK date).
Although the award acknowledged her central role in keeping the Eurozone together amid the economic crisis caused by Greece's calamitous SYRIZA government it was primarily given in response to Ms Merkel's response to the refugee crisis caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The magazine labelled that response generous, compassionate and tolerant.
Although a magazine which in 2014 declared Beyonce to be the most influential person in the world perhaps lacks credibility this struck me as something of a surprise. That's because Angela Merkel's response to the refugee crisis has always seemed to me an extremely rare error of judgement on her part.
Back in July 2015 Chancellor Merkel was attending what Americans would term a televised town hall event in the German city of Rostock.
One of the questions she faced was from a 14 year old Palestinian girl named only as Reem who wanted to know why her family were not being granted permanent refugee status in Germany. As the Chancellor began to explain Germany's immigration policy Reem burst into uncontrollable tears forcing Merkel to awkwardly try and comfort her.
The video of this meeting went viral on the Internet - Google "Merkel Makes Girl Cry" - and led to Angela Merkel's government being dubbed "The government without empathy."
This more than anything else seems to have triggered Merkel's decision in late August 2015 to announce that all Syrian refugees would be welcomed in Germany.
Although this no doubt allowed Merkel to feel better about herself it was probably one of the worst things that could be done. As with all other aspects of war the refugee crisis created by ISIL requires hard-headed and well thought through solutions rather than easy hashtags and campaign slogans that make us feel better about ourselves.
As I've said throughout what the European Union (EU) needs to do in response to the refugee crisis is to set up what are effectively refugee embassies in Syria, Iraq and the neighbouring states of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
It is from there that asylum applications are processed before those granted refugee status are transported to the EU and distributed fairly amongst the 28 member states. This removes the need for those refugees to make the extremely dangerous sea crossing into the EU and allows the EU to better process them in the key areas of security and integration.
On that first issue of security I have absolutely no doubt the overwhelming majority of those seeking asylum are not a threat to national security.
However it has so long been accepted that those with nefarious intent will try and abuse the asylum process that Article 1(f) of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees makes quite clear that refugee status cannot be granted to those suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity, other crimes against peace or other non-political crimes in their country of origin.
Although there does seem to have been a concerted effort to down-play the risks there is a growing list of those claiming refugee status in the EU being linked to serious terrorist activity.
The most significant of these were the two attackers in the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres who although it turns out were EU citizens had re-entered the EU from Syria posing as asylum seekers.
Then of course there was the case of Osama Abdul Mohsen who became famous after being filmed being kicked by a Hungarian reporter and was rewarded with asylum in Spain and a job at Real Madrid.
Shortly afterwards it emerged that Mohsen has been a member of the Al Qaeda affiliated Al Nusra Front (ANF) and had participated in numerous crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity particularly against the Kurdish minority in northern Syria. I am still waiting to hear that the Mohsen family have been expelled from Spain to face justice.
In Finland alone at least 300 asylum seekers have been found to have links with terrorist groups. This figure includes two Iraqi brothers who were arrested on December 10th (10/12/15) not only for being members of ISIL but for personally killing 11 Iraqi soldiers during the Camp Speicher Massacre in which ISIL slaughtered at least 1,700.
This problem is even occurring as far afield as the US. On July 16th (16/7/15) Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez - a refugee from Kuwait - attacked several military installations in and around Chattanooga, Tennessee killing 5 and wounding 2.
Just yesterday (8/1/16) the US confirmed that over the past week it had arrested two Iraqi refugees in California and Texas. One had been planning to travel to join ISIL while the other had fought for ISIL before claiming asylum in the US. However in an effort to cover this up the US is only prosecuting him for lying on his application.
With the US being some 6,000km (3,600 miles) and an entire ocean away from Syria it shouldn't be aiding and abetting ISIL in their crime against humanity of ethnic cleansing by taking in refugees at all. Instead it should be supporting the refugees by doing all it can to destroy ISIL and end the war.
The EU though being closer most certainly does have an obligation to take in refugees from ISIL. However a large part of that obligation is to make sure that terrorists are not allowed to hide amongst those genuinely needing asylum.
The EU not only owes that responsibility to itself but also to the genuine asylum seekers. After all there is no point them taking up refuge in the EU if the EU is just going to let in the people they are fleeing from.
On the issue of integration as I write there a protests going on in Cologne, Germany over the more then 100 sexual assaults on women during the city's New Years Eve (NYE) celebrations. These are said to have been carried out by between 500 and 1000 Arab men who were all either seeking or had been granted asylum. This has widely been viewed as the result of a failure to integrate the massive influx of Syrian refugees.
However as more information has emerged this doesn't actually seem to be the work of a large group of out of control men. Instead it seems to be a co-ordinated criminal enterprise using a tactic which is known in the US as; "Flashmob Robbery" or in the UK by the slang term; "Steaming."
Although this isn't the sort of thing you can do a training course to be certified in it tends to involve a gang of robbers ploughing - like a steam train - through anywhere a crowd is confined such as on a train or at an event such as a NYE celebration. As they force their way through the crowd the gang rob people of whatever they can.
In Cologne the sexual assaults only seem to have been used as a form of violence to facilitate theft. After all a woman who is terrified that she is going to be raped isn't going to be that worried about what happens to her cellphone, purse or jewellery.
This type of robbery is actually pretty common in the US and parts of London, UK particularly on the rail network and at the Notting Hill Carnival. Therefore if the Cologne attacks had happened in London we'd probably be talking about how the refugees had become too well integrated with the black thug culture that has been imported from the US. Curiously "Black Lives Matter" came fourth on Time Magazine's poll.
As such I'm inclined to think that the attacks in Cologne weren't so much a failure to integrate refugees as a failure on the part of the police to identify the threat from criminal elements and put in place an effective security plan.
However it does seem that the police failed to act and then tried to cover up the incident because they were afraid of being seen to saying anything negative about refugees. It is that cover up that people seem to be most angry about.
At around 18:30 on 9/1/16 (UK date) I'll be back to add more detail on that after dinner.
Edited at around 20:10 on 9/1/16 (UK date) to tidy up the above and add;
As information about the incident has been slowly trickling out did seem reasonable to assume that it could have been the result of some cultural integration problem.
I think it's well established that one area where European culture and Arab culture differ is the lower status granted to women in Arab culture. This is particularly true in societies which subscribe to the particularly nasty Whabbist perversion of Sunni Islam promoted by Saudi Arabia.
In Arab societies that were run by secular dictators such as Ben Ali in Tunisia, Mubarak in Egypt and to a lesser extent Qaddafi in Libya women were largely protected by the very aggressive policing of secular laws. When those dictators and their security apparatus were overthrown the new found freedom did sort of go to everybody's head and even reasonable laws against things like rape and sexual assault were widely ignored.
Egypt's Tahrir Square became notorious for rape and sexual assault particularly when it was used as a deliberate tactic of intimidation by the Muslim Brotherhood during the 2013 revolution.
Even in comparison to somewhere like the US or the UK German society actually has a very open and mature attitude towards sexuality. For example prostitution is legal and pornography is hardly considered a dirty secret.
As a 13/14 year old boy I actually went on a school trip to Cologne. Due to a clerical oversight we ended up being booked into a hotel in the middle of the cities red-light district. I still remember walking past all the prostitutes, brothels and sex shops being quite a head-spinning experience. I imagine the experience would probably worse for a young man arriving from somewhere like Iraq or Syria.
The other big cultural difference between Arab and European societies is of course alcohol. This is widely banned in Arab societies but in European societies - particularly Germany - people drink a lot.
In preparation for the 2015 Oktoberfest which is essentially just everybody getting really drunk throughout the month of October the Bavarian city of Munich actually went to great lengths to make sure that refugees from Arab nations wouldn't be overwhelmed of frightened by seeing large numbers of very drunk people out in public.
The bigger problem probably arises though if the refugees decide they want to integrate with the local culture and try alcohol for themselves. Alcohol of course lowers inhibitions and impairs judgement so everybody who is familiar with it has stories about making ill-judged sexual advances that have earned them a slap in the face or even worse advances that haven't been rebuffed leading to many a morning of regret.
With many of the attackers being reported to be either drunk or smelling heavily of alcohol it would be easy to imagine a situation where some naive young men had been overwhelmed by the local culture and started making some extremely poor decisions. After all I'm pretty sure that's what led to Jeremy Jackson being kicked off the January 2015 season of Celebrity Big Brother UK (CBBUK).
How best to integrate refugees is of course a huge topic to the point where I understand it supports an entire scientific discipline known as Social Anthropology. However I suppose the first big question is what sort of society you are trying to integrate them into.
Until the late-1990's the London borough of Croydon where I grew up was the only port of call for asylum seekers into the UK. Even now it remains the main one. As a result if you talk about Eritrean refugees I immediately think of about a dozen kids I went to school with. If you mention Angola you're talking about a couple of the teachers. Apparently getting the Ugandan guy in and out of Cologne was a major headache.
Working in the local hospital during the Balkan war my mother is actually surprisingly knowledgeable about how to treat the long term effects of battlefield injuries and wounds sustained during torture.
Having retired my mother now lives in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Due to its Cathedral this is technically considered a city but compared to London is a small town in the country. It has also been selected as the new home of a group of asylum seekers that the UK is taking in separately from the EU. I have to say that both my mother and I experience quite a lot of bafflement at all the local excitement about when the refugees are coming and where they're going to stay.
I think the only advice either of us can offer is to get over the excitement of them being refugees and just interact with them the way you would anybody else. If they're about to do something stupid, dangerous or that British people would find offensive politely point out their mistake to them. If they become aggressive walk away or call the police.
The other big question of course is who are you trying to integrate. After all a babe in arms who is being adopted is unlikely to know that they were born and orphaned in a different culture. However a 13/14 year old orphan will probably need more help but that will be done by the adoptive parents. A complete family unit of a mother, father and three of four children is a completely different proposition again. As always though young men between the ages of 16 and 30 always present the biggest problems.
If I was to try and draw up a general rule though I would say that you would try and disperse them in groups that aren't so small that people who don't speak the language are completely isolated but not such large groups that they're not forced to interact with the local population.
After all as any social anthropologist will tell you culture comes not from the laws that are passed by the government and enforced by the police but from that quiet peer pressure of; "That's just not how we do things around here."
Although it may have given her a warm and fuzzy feeling Angela Merkel's emotionally driven response to the refugee crisis seems to have made it more difficult to solve these problems.
The refugee crisis is being caused by the fact that there is a vicious and nasty war being allowed to drag on in Syria and Iraq. Therefore regardless of what Chancellor Merkel or any other EU politicians says or doesn't say it is not a problem that is going to go away until the war is brought to an end with ISIL and associated groups being utterly destroyed.
However by throwing open Germany's doors in welcome Merkel appears to have given many of the refugees the entirely false impression that they will be allowed to start entirely new lives within the EU. The won't. Apart from some extreme exceptions such as orphaned children they will be cared for at the subsistence level until the war ends. They will then be sent back to Iraq and Syria to help rebuild their battered nations.
If the refugees were being told this truth it is likely that they would be in less of a rush to get to Germany instead opting to stay in the first safe country where their money runs out. This would mean far more refugees settling in places like Hungary in Poland. If that happened then those nations would be banging on Germany's door demanding that the EU takes collective action.
As it is with Merkel throwing open Germany's doors eastern EU states are seeing the refugees merely as people passing through. Many of them seem to genuinely believe that the refugee crisis is caused by and began with Chancellor Merkel's invitation. As a result rather than demanding that the EU takes collective action nations such as Hungary are actually trying to block the EU from taking that collective action.
The bonkers demands from Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban in particular has forced the EU into a dangerous level of engagement with Turkey.
Back at the end of November 2015 the EU was forced to agree to give Turkey USD3bn and visa-free travel in return for tackling the flow of refugees into the EU. As you would expect Turkey is completely failing to live up to its end of this bargain.
Despite it being winter the flow of refugees out of Turkey has not even slowed. The first death of a refugee in 2016 occurred on just January 3rd (3/1/16) when an infant child drowned in the Aegean in scenes that were every bit as harrowing as Aylan Kurdi. With another 47 drowning in a single sinking just on Tuesday (5/1/15) the monthly death toll is already close to exceeding 100.
Just today 14 refugees have been killed in road accidents in Turkey. That is a clear sign that Turkey isn't even attempting to stop the refugees reaching the coast.
I've long said that rather than rewarding Turkey for all the refugees it keeps sending us the EU should be fining it USD100,000 for every Muslim it sends to drown at sea. That penalty can be paid directly or through visa fees and custom duties.
Perhaps more alarmingly then that on December 4th (4/12/15) Germany voted to deploy its military in a non-combat role to support the fight against ISIL. Due to the diplomatic efforts to keep Turkey onside over the refugee issue Germany has made the mistake of deploy those military assets to Turkey. This of course increases Turkey's influence over the anti-ISIL coalition.
This is a problem because Turkey is one of the main supporters of ISIL and one of the main obstacles to defeating. Since the liberation of the Tishan Dam on December 26th (26/12/15) Turkey is now extremely concerned about the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) advancing on what the Turkish Justice & Development Party (AKP) are openly referring to as; "The ISIL safe-zone."
Despite all these dangerous and counter-productive concessions to Turkey and with Hungary's objections to an EU-wide refugee policy tied up in the courts the crisis doesn't look like it is going to be solved any time soon.
As a result many EU nations are suspending the Schengen agreement and following Hungary's lead by throwing up border controls threatening what Chancellor Merkel considers one of the core elements of the EU.
Quite how we get the situation back on track is still rather beyond me. However I think it would help if Chancellor Merkel produced that rarest of things from a politician; An apology and an admission that they made a mistake.
22:10 on 9/1/16 (UK date).
Friday, 8 January 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 18, Week 2, Day 6.
Yesterday (7/1/16) authorities in the US announced that in the past week they had arrested two men for supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). One of the these men was arrested in Dallas, Texas while the other was arrested in Sacramento, California.
As with Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez who carried out the July 16th (16/7/15) Chattanooga terror attack both of these men had been born in Palestine before claiming refugee status in neighbouring countries - in both case Iraqs. They then claimed refugee status again in order to enter the US.
I had been planning to incorporate this information into a wider post about the challenges of screening and then integrating refugees from ISIL that included the mass of sexual assaults carried out by asylum seekers in Cologne, Germany on New Years Eve (NYE). However the security screening and integration of refugees are both very broad subjects and I'm still feeling distinctly woolly headed.
Last night though the US experienced another terror attack this time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a police car was making a turn into a residential street a man standing on the corner opened fire 13 times on the vehicle eventually getting close enough to reach inside the drivers window.
Despite being hit three times the police officer - Jesse Hartnett - was able to exit the vehicle and chase the suspect eventually shooting him the butt. During questioning the suspect - Edward Archer - declared that he had carried out the ambush in the name of ISIL because the US police enforce laws that contradict Islamic Sharia law.
In terms of analysis of this type of self-radicalised, lone-wolf attack it doesn't really matter whether they occur in Paris, France, Brussels, Belgium, London, UK or Philadelphia, US. The priority remains eliminating ISIL's propaganda by defeating on the battle fields of Syria and Iraq.
However the US does have the added problem of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign.
For almost exactly as long the international fight against ISIL has been going on BLM have been pumping out the message that the police and the law are the enemy and any tactic - no matter how violent - is perfectly acceptable to fight them. Both ISIL and BLM have specifically targeted black people to join their campaigns. As a result black America is effectively getting a double dose of terrorist agitation.
What is most interesting about last night's attack though is that it occurred around mid-night local time (05:00GMT). However it was not until roughly 13hrs later that a single US news agency reported on it. Even then the reporting only seems to be in response to the Philadelphia Mayor, the police commissioner and the local FBI office calling a press conference on the attack.
The primary reason for the silence of the US media seems to be a desire not to embarrass US President Obama.
Although the link to ISIL has only emerged today the story was immediately about a young black man attempting to assassinate police officers. This is a repeat of the December 20th 2014 (20/12/14) ambush of two police officers in New York City which was carried out in the name of the BLM campaign.
The story is also hugely embarrassing for Obama because through the Walter Scott case in South Carolina and the Laqan McDonald case in Chicago, Illinois it is clear that the BLM campaign Obama supports would now like to see Officer Hartnett prosecuted for his actions.
Rather then allowing police officers to shoot fleeing felons it's clear that BLM think that Mr Archer should have been allowed to escape triggering a situation similar to the one they've had in Tel Aviv, Israel following last Friday's (1/1/16) shooting. Here schools and businesses have been closed for the past week amid a massive manhunt for the attacker.
Finally last night, just before the attack CNN had granted Obama an hour long special program to justify his executive order to expand background checks on gun purchases. By comparison CNN's NYE coverage looked like an example of a rigorous political examination.
The gun used in last night's attack - like most guns used in crime in Philadelphia - had been stolen. As a result Mr Archer did not buy it from a registered gun dealer and did not have to pass a background check.
There is absolutely nothing in Obama's executive action that would have changed that fact or prevented last night's attack.
21:20 on 8/1/16 (UK date).
As with Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez who carried out the July 16th (16/7/15) Chattanooga terror attack both of these men had been born in Palestine before claiming refugee status in neighbouring countries - in both case Iraqs. They then claimed refugee status again in order to enter the US.
I had been planning to incorporate this information into a wider post about the challenges of screening and then integrating refugees from ISIL that included the mass of sexual assaults carried out by asylum seekers in Cologne, Germany on New Years Eve (NYE). However the security screening and integration of refugees are both very broad subjects and I'm still feeling distinctly woolly headed.
Last night though the US experienced another terror attack this time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a police car was making a turn into a residential street a man standing on the corner opened fire 13 times on the vehicle eventually getting close enough to reach inside the drivers window.
Despite being hit three times the police officer - Jesse Hartnett - was able to exit the vehicle and chase the suspect eventually shooting him the butt. During questioning the suspect - Edward Archer - declared that he had carried out the ambush in the name of ISIL because the US police enforce laws that contradict Islamic Sharia law.
In terms of analysis of this type of self-radicalised, lone-wolf attack it doesn't really matter whether they occur in Paris, France, Brussels, Belgium, London, UK or Philadelphia, US. The priority remains eliminating ISIL's propaganda by defeating on the battle fields of Syria and Iraq.
However the US does have the added problem of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign.
For almost exactly as long the international fight against ISIL has been going on BLM have been pumping out the message that the police and the law are the enemy and any tactic - no matter how violent - is perfectly acceptable to fight them. Both ISIL and BLM have specifically targeted black people to join their campaigns. As a result black America is effectively getting a double dose of terrorist agitation.
What is most interesting about last night's attack though is that it occurred around mid-night local time (05:00GMT). However it was not until roughly 13hrs later that a single US news agency reported on it. Even then the reporting only seems to be in response to the Philadelphia Mayor, the police commissioner and the local FBI office calling a press conference on the attack.
The primary reason for the silence of the US media seems to be a desire not to embarrass US President Obama.
Although the link to ISIL has only emerged today the story was immediately about a young black man attempting to assassinate police officers. This is a repeat of the December 20th 2014 (20/12/14) ambush of two police officers in New York City which was carried out in the name of the BLM campaign.
The story is also hugely embarrassing for Obama because through the Walter Scott case in South Carolina and the Laqan McDonald case in Chicago, Illinois it is clear that the BLM campaign Obama supports would now like to see Officer Hartnett prosecuted for his actions.
Rather then allowing police officers to shoot fleeing felons it's clear that BLM think that Mr Archer should have been allowed to escape triggering a situation similar to the one they've had in Tel Aviv, Israel following last Friday's (1/1/16) shooting. Here schools and businesses have been closed for the past week amid a massive manhunt for the attacker.
Finally last night, just before the attack CNN had granted Obama an hour long special program to justify his executive order to expand background checks on gun purchases. By comparison CNN's NYE coverage looked like an example of a rigorous political examination.
The gun used in last night's attack - like most guns used in crime in Philadelphia - had been stolen. As a result Mr Archer did not buy it from a registered gun dealer and did not have to pass a background check.
There is absolutely nothing in Obama's executive action that would have changed that fact or prevented last night's attack.
21:20 on 8/1/16 (UK date).
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