This and That...

[Warph]

Understanding Ukraine: The Problems Today and Some Historical Context

In which John discusses the crisis in Ukraine, and how the influence of Russia and Europe have shaped Ukrainian politics for centuries. REMINDER: Educational videos are allowed to be more than four minutes long.

Thanks to Rosianna for image-gathering: http://www.youtube.com/rosianna

The BBC's Ukraine hub: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europ...
CIA Factbook on Ukraine: https://www.cia.gov/library/publicati...
The wikipedia article about the Crimean War is quite good, especially in contemporary context: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War

Syria in Five Minutes

In which Hank discusses the situation in Syria as deeply and completely as he can in five minutes.
Negotiations are ongoing as to whether and how chemical weapons will be removed from Syria. This is an opportunity for the global community, but for the people of Syria, no matter how this discussion goes, there will be years of bloody conflict. We cannot prevent that, but we can help individual people.

Help refugees rebuild their lives http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vt...

Egypt....Explained!

The situation in Egypt is extremely complicated and changing constantly. The arguments between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood go back over half a century and they are much more complicated than the press tends to give them credit for.

I just wanted to share a tiny bit of context to help the world understand the different stakeholders, what they want, why they're angry, and why the first democratically elected leader of Egypt lasted so little time.

Thank you very much to Mohktar Awad for spending so much time on the phone with me yesterday setting me straight!

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt_h...

Egypt's military bails out the country
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/2845...

The Muslim Brotherhood
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/world/a...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_B...

Gamal Nasser
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Off...)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_A...

Mubarak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_M...

Inside North Korea (Part 1/3)
Published on Dec 19, 2011

Inside North Korea (Part 2/3)

Inside North Korea (Part 3/3)

[Warph]

The Spread Of The Caliphate: Footage From Camera Crew Embedded With Islamic State Fighters

August 7, 2014

Via Vice News:

The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced their intention to reestablish the caliphate and declared their leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the caliph.

Flush with cash and US weapons seized during recent advances in Iraq, the Islamic State's expansion shows no sign of slowing down. In the first week of August alone, Islamic State fighters have taken over new areas in northern Iraq, encroaching on Kurdish territory and sending Christians and other minorities fleeing as reports of massacres emerged.

Elsewhere in territory it has held for some time, the Islamic State has gone about consolidating power and setting up a government dictated by Sharia law. While the world may not recognize the Islamic State, in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group is already in the process of building a functioning regime.

VICE News reporter Medyan Dairieh spent three weeks embedded with the Islamic State, gaining unprecedented access to the group in Iraq and Syria as the first and only journalist to document its inner workings. In part one, Dairieh heads to the frontline in Raqqa, where Islamic State fighters are laying siege to the Syrian Army's division 17 base.

The Spread of the Caliphate: The Islamic State (Part 1)

Grooming Children For Jihad: Part Two Of Vice News
"Inside The Islamic State Documentary"

Vice News - August 8, 2014

(Brainwashing the next wave of fanatical jihadists)

(I'll post parts 3-4-5 when they are released)

[Warph]

*** The Battle for Iraq ***

Fighting Back Against ISIS: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 1)

VICE News-June 18, 2014   9:08

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RojiK_l45hY&list=PLw613M86o5o4JICWHCJsmzLy4NVtWKu8z&index=1

Last week, the extremist militant Sunni group — Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), along with other Sunni militias and former Baathist party members, seized control of large parts of Iraq, including Mosul, the nation's second largest city.

In many places, the Iraqi army barely put up a flight. Soldiers dropped their weapons and fled, whether because of fear, incompetence, or internal sabotage. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have become internally displaced after fleeing the fighting or the potential for potential Iraqi air strikes.

As ISIS and the other groups continued to fight their way to Baghdad, gruesome videos of brutal executions began to surface. Iraqi army units stationed near Baghdad, as well as Shiite militias, have pledged to not give up so easily.

Many say the conflict was brewing for a while, and that ISIS, along with some of the other groups, has had some semblance of control in Sunni areas for quite some time. They point to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's increasingly sectarian polices and crackdowns on Sunnis as having provoked the events of the last week, and fear this could be the start of a devastating civil war.

In the north, Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga have used the opportunity to seize disputed areas, territories that the Kurds long felt belonged to them but the government was hesitant relinquish. An informal border now exists between ISIS dominated areas and Kurdish territory. There has only been sporadic clashing, as neither group seems determined to break the strange detente.

Here's Who Is Fighting in Iraq and Why: http://bit.ly/1yFN1ET

Crisis in Iraq: Kurdish Peshmerga Clash With Advancing ISIS: http://bit.ly/1ye4TGF

The ISIS Uprising: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 2)

VICE News-June 18, 2014  4:46

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdTNm54UHkA&index=2&list=PLw613M86o5o4JICWHCJsmzLy4NVtWKu8z

As a coalition of ISIS fighters, Sunni militias, and former Baathists continues to push its way toward Baghdad, the Iraqi army and Shiite militias have fought to slow its progress.

In Mosul, however, ISIS and other Sunni forces now exert total control. Confusion remains about what exactly happened there, and why Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts so quickly. There is much speculation about the role high-ranking officers in the Iraqi army might have played, and whether or not they were involved in internal sabotage or had advance knowledge of the assault. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has already fired a number of high-ranking officers, and ordered one to be court-martialed for desertion.
After fighting broke out, hundreds of thousands of civilians fled Mosul for territory controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government, many Iraqi army deserters among them. A seven-year veteran of the Iraqi army who sought refuge in Erbil agreed to talk to VICE News about what happened on the condition that we withhold his identity.

Kurds Fight for Control of Kirkuk: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 3)

VICE News-June 23, 2014 7:07

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHqdbShxPJ8&list=PLw613M86o5o4JICWHCJsmzLy4NVtWKu8z&index=3

Up until a week ago, the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq was one of the most hotly contested areas in the country, with a mishmash of Kurds, Arabs, and Turkomans, who all had strong claims to the land. Now that the Iraqi army has fled and ISIS has been repelled, the Kurds are fully in control, and hope to integrate the city into the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

Despite a large Kurdish presence in Kirkuk, this still might not be so easy. The Arab and Turkoman populations have long resisted Kurdish rule, and the large amount of oil nearby — which all of these groups want a fair share of — will only complicate matters further.

The Kurds, however, insist that control over the city is more a matter of dignity. Beginning in the 1960s and continuing throughout Saddam Hussein's rule, many Kurds in the area were forced off the land during an Arabization process, which sought to change the demographics of the city. Poor Arabs were offered land, houses, and money to move to the city and take over formerly Kurdish lands.

During the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, Kurdish forces and American soldiers took the city from the Baathist party. But the Kurdish forces mostly withdrew, and the city was not annexed to the KRG.

Since then Kirkuk has been under a sort of coalition rule, though it is still considered a disputed territory. Kurds have sought to implement Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which would allow the people of Kirkuk to vote on whether or not the city should join the KRG or remain part of Iraq. But this vote has been delayed numerous times.

As recently as 2012, the Iraqi army and the Kurdish fighters, know as Peshmerga, engaged in a standoff that at times seemed like it could break out into conflict. For now though, the Kurds are firmly in control — though south of the city, sporadic attacks continue.

VICE News spoke with Falah Mustafa Bakir, the head of foreign relations for the KRG, who said that the Kurds have no intention of giving up their control of Kirkuk.

Clashes Continue as Frontline Tension Escalates: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 4)

VICE News-June 26, 2014 10:31

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZWKGl37xY&list=PLw613M86o5o4JICWHCJsmzLy4NVtWKu8z&index=4

As the Kurds move further into Iraq's disputed territories, not everyone is thrilled. In towns closer to Baghdad with higher Arab populations, like Jalawla and Sadiya, they have encountered fierce resistance from militant Sunni groups. While Kurdish peshmerga forces have been welcomed in many areas, they've needed to fight to enter others.

In our fourth dispatch amid the escalating crisis in Iraq, VICE News embedded with the peshmerga as they struggle to maintain control over their land, as tension in Iraq heightens between its main ethnic and religious factions.

We also spoke with a Sunni tribal leader in Kirkuk about the recent Kurdish takeover and the strategic importance of the city, and with Kurdish soldiers about why they volunteered to fight — and how they are successfully fending off advances from ISIS and the Iraqi Shiite military nearby.

Iraq's ISIS Crisis Puts Long Disputed Oil-Rich Kirkuk Back Into Kurdish Hands: http://bit.ly/1mhFnXl

Christian City Under Siege: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 5) 

VICE NEWS-June 27, 2014 6:39

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPRLb0XJIzY&list=PLw613M86o5o4JICWHCJsmzLy4NVtWKu8z&index=5

Earlier this week, ISIS began an assault on the historically Assyrian Christian city of Qaraqosh in the northern Nineveh province, just east of Mosul. Kurdish peshmerga forces moved into the city to fortify it against a barrage of mortar shells. The city, though not officially located in the Kurdistan Regional Government, has become one of the disputed areas, as the Iraqi government has abandoned it and ISIS is vying for control.

Dozens of mortar rounds landed on the outskirts of the city Wednesday night, causing tens of thousands of residents to flee towards Erbil. Assyrian Christians from Mosul had previously fled the ISIS takeover and were seeking sanctuary in Qaraqosh and in the nearby Christian city of Bartella.

Iraq's Assyrian Christians are some of the earliest converts to Christianity and are indigenous to the Nineveh plains. Of recent, they have suffered massacres and persecution owing to the instability sowed by the American invasion in 2003. Qaraqosh has always seen as a safe haven, especially for those periodically fleeing violence in Mosul, such as in 2008.

While the attack continued, VICE News was caught in a miles long traffic jam as many residents fled in fear with nothing but the clothes on their back. Peshmerga forces, fearing car bombs and hidden insurgents, meticulously combed through the traffic, and set up tense checkpoints, causing further chaos. We also travelled to the abandoned city of Qaraqosh to speak with residents who have remained there despite the attacks. They tell us why they've decided to stay and protect their city.

[Warph]

Report: ISIS Beheading Children In Iraq

Reports out of Iraq say that rebel group ISIS, which has been systematically taking over city after city through the Middle Eastern country, is apparently beheading children.

*******************************

Note: Graphic photos.... Click only if you can handle the disturbing images.  I know I can't! http://www.catholic.org/news/international/middle_east/story.php?id=56339

********************************

News of ISIS beheading children comes from a variety of sources, with an interview on CNN bringing the news to light.

In his CNN interview, businessman Mark Arabo tells the reporter of the horrors unfolding in the nation.

"There is a park in Mosul, where [ISIS] they actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick and have them in the park,' he explained. 'More children are getting beheaded, mothers are getting raped and killed, and fathers are being hung.'"

Opposing Views posted more on comments made by Arabo, who said ISIS beheading children was not the only crimes taking place in Iraq, but Christians were being targeted, as well.

"According to Arabo, ISIS is marking the homes of many of those who have fled with 'death stamps.' This means that if any of these people return to their homes, ISIS will kill them on sight.

"'This is a crime against humanity,' Arabo stated. 'This is much broader than a community or a state. This is crime against humanity. They are doing the most horrendous, the most heart-breaking crimes that you can think of.'

"He continued, 'Christian holocaust is in our midst. This should never be happening in 2014.'"

The Gospel Herald is reporting Arabo as saying that 95 percent of Christians in Iraq have so far fled the country and about 5 percent have converted to Islam.

"Just last week, the ISIS bombed a church that was 1,800 years old, and have bombed 6 churches so far.

"While France is leading the way in offering asylum, Arabo is calling on the US and the United Nations to recognnize that this is a genocide and do more to address this crisis.

"'This living nightmare is not going away,' he said, 'but it is only getting worse.'

"'The world cannot turn a blind eye.'"

ISIS beheading children and others, while initially unbelievable, seem to be backed by photos that have popped up on the internet (via Catholic Online) though they have not been independently verified. You can view the photos here, but you have been warned they the photos are extremely graphic and disturbing.

The conflict in Iraq continues as the world is still on edge over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

[Warph]

Obama Administration Spent Thousands On Strippers, Boxing Tickets
In Failed Sting On Border Patrol Agent

The case against a border patrol agent gets dismissed
after his lawyer claims multi-agency corruption
task force entrapped his client.

U.S. Border Patrol agent in Roma, Texas

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration abandoned a corruption case against an Arizona border patrol agent after his attorney accused federal agents of entrapping his client, and spending federal dollars on strippers, plane tickets, and tickets to a Manny Pacquiao fight as part of their investigation.

A federal judge dismissed money-laundering and corruption charges against Customs and Border Protection agent Lauro Tobias Tuesday in response to dismissal motions from both the Department of Justice and Tobias' attorney, which were filed within hours of each other July 25.

Tobias, a 10-year veteran of the CBP who also served in the Air Force for two decades, was arrested in March 2013 after he took a trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas for a drug deal — 6 kilograms of cocaine were exchanged with unnamed persons for $100,000. Tobias was paid $4,000 for working as security during the deal, based on court documents.

Tobias has maintained he did not know the trip was for a drug deal, and that he was assured the exchange was legal.

But, based on court documents, the drug deal wasn't real: Everyone involved, aside from Tobias, appears to have been a part of a federal task force that has been attempting, with little success, to root out corruption within the Border Patrol along the Arizona-Mexico border.

It's unclear why the Justice Department abruptly asked for the dismissal the same day as Tobias' attorney filed his motion.

Justice Department spokesman Cosme Lopez declined to comment on the case, which was the culmination of a multi-year investigation of the Lukeville Port of Entry border crossing by the Southern Arizona Corruption Task Force. The task force is made up of agents from Border Patrol, FBI, Justice Department, IRS, and other federal agencies. The dismissal of the case raises questions about the money and time invested in the task force, which has pursued rooting out systemic corruption on the border since 2010.

According to documents filed with the court, Tobias claimed the federal task force put the fake drug deal into play, as well as supplying the money, drugs, and agents for the various parts in the alleged conspiracy.

Both the defense and prosecutors asked for a dismissal, which U.S. District Court Judge Cindy Jorgenson granted Monday with prejudice, just over 14 months after the FBI announced Tobias' arrest.

Tobias' attorney, Steven West, argued in an interview with BuzzFeed that federal agents tried to turn Tobias bad in order to use him as mole in the border station. "They couldn't get close to the so-called 'suspect corrupt people,'" he said. "I think they took a 90-degree turn."

More at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/obama-administration-spent-federal-money-on-strippers-fight

[Warph]

30K Illegal Alien "Minors" To Attend U.S. Schools Around The Country

(When some have gray hair, that might be a clue that they are not "minors")

Via Breitbart:
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/09/Some-30k-Unaccompanied-Minors-to-Attend-Public-US-Schools-This-Year

HOUSTON, Texas — The feds have released more than 30,000 unaccompanied minors, all of whom entered the U.S. illegally, in various states around the nation. Assuming that most of these children will not be immediately deported, U.S. public schools be will forced to accommodate them.

A total of 30,340 unaccompanied minors–almost all of whom are from Central America–had been released to foster homes around the country as of July 7.

The cost of educating these migrants in U.S. schools will likely not be cheap; Texas Education Agency General Counsel David Anderson pointed out that due to factors such as cultural differences and language barriers, it will likely be more expensive to educate the immigrant children than it is to educate students who are U.S. citizens.

[Warph]

Ted Cruz: Obuma Is An "Absentee President" Who Should
"Spend Less Time On The Golf Course"

(Why, Teddy Boy?  What's going on right now that could possibly be more important than playing a few a**holes?)

Via ABC News:
    While President Obama was on the golf course in Martha's Vineyard, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was at the Iowa State Fair criticizing the president's foreign policy and saying he should "spend less time on the golf course."

    Asked whether he thought Obama should be vacationing in Martha's Vineyard right now, Cruz accused Obama of being "an absentee president," noting that he did not visit the border last month when he was in the state of Texas.

    "I think the president should actually stand up and do his job as commander in chief, should spend less time on the golf course and more time doing the job to which he was elected," Cruz told reporters after his speech at the Des Moines Register soapbox.

    Cruz said airstrikes could be effective in Iraq, but said Obama has yet to detail a strategy for combating ISIS.

    "I am glad the president is finally demonstrating some leadership, taking the threat from ISIS seriously, but unfortunately, he's following the pattern that has characterized his foreign policy from the beginning of this tenure which he has laid out no clearly defined objective that we're trying to accomplish that is key to defending U.S. national security," Cruz said.

    "Airstrikes could well make sense to degrade the lethality of ISIS if they are directed towards accomplishing a concrete defined military objective that furthers U.S. national security interests," Cruz said.

    "What is missing right now is the commander in chief laying out a strategic vision, here is what we're trying to accomplish so everyone will know when it's accomplished and here's why it furthers U.S. national security interests," he said. "That only comes from the president, and unfortunately right now President Obama's not providing that leadership."

[Warph]

Women Stoned To Death By ISIS For Adultery

(But ISIS raping the women doesn't count as "adultery" for the ISIS males.
Funny how terrorists are illogical like that)

    BEIRUT (AP) — A cleric read the verdict before the truck came and dumped a large pile of stones near the municipal garden. Jihadi fighters then brought in the woman, clad head to toe in black, and put her in a small hole in the ground. When residents gathered, the fighters told them to carry out the sentence: Stoning to death for the alleged adulteress.

    None in the crowd stepped forward, said a witness to the event in a northern Syrian city. So the jihadi fighters, mostly foreign extremists, did it themselves, pelting Faddah Ahmad with stones until her body was dragged away.

    "Even when she was hit with stones she did not scream or move," said an opposition activist who said he witnessed the stoning near the football stadium and the Bajaa garden in the city of Raqqa, the main Syrian stronghold of the Islamic State group.

    The July 18 stoning was the second in a span of 24 hours. A day earlier, 26-year-old Shamseh Abdullah was killed in a similar way in the nearby town of Tabqa by Islamic State fighters. Both were accused of having sex outside marriage.

[Warph]

 

Networks Won't Call ISIS "Terrorists"

(Apparently the guys beheading children are just "rebels" and "militants.")

Via Newsbusters:
    The Big Three networks steered clear of labeling the Islamist group ISIS "terrorists" on their evening newscasts on Friday. Instead, ABC's World News and CBS Evening News labeled the genocidal radicals "militants." NBC Nightly News used the more benign "rebels" in their coverage of the group's latest attacks on the Kurdish part of Iraq.

    The closest that a journalist at ABC, CBS, or NBC got to using the "terrorist" label was Scott Pelley's teaser at the very top of CBS Evening News:

    SCOTT PELLEY (teaser): Tonight, back in battle: The President orders U.S. warplanes to attack Sunni Muslim extremists in northern Iraq to stop a campaign of terror. But he makes Americans this promise:

    PRESIDENT BARACK OBUMA: I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq.

    Brian Williams introduced correspondent Jim Miklaszewski's report on NBC Nightly News by noting that "a violent group called ISIS has swept across Iraq. They have civilians and religious minorities on the run, and threatened with death." Miklaszewski twice referred to ISIS as "rebels" during the segment. He did include a clip of President Obama using the "terrorist" label in reference to the group:

    JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: ...In his nationwide address Thursday night, President Obama said the airstrikes are necessary to protect American lives at the U.S. consulate in Erbil.

    PRESIDENT BARACK OBUMA: I've directed our military to take targeted strikes against ISIL terrorist convoys should they move toward the city.

    MIKLASZEWSKI: The airstrikes are also aimed at supporting Kurdish Peshmerga fighters – U.S. allies overrun by ISIS rebels this week. President Obama cautioned, however, any U.S. airstrikes would be limited. Critics accuse the President of playing domestic politics, and that limited airstrikes will do little to stop the relentless advance of ISIS rebels.

    The NBC journalist later underlined that "ISIS...has seized a large section of east and northern Iraq, with unspeakable brutality that includes mass executions and beheadings."

[Warph]

Egyptian Court Dissolves Banned Muslim Brotherhood's Political Arm

(And Obuma set to increase funding to the Muslim Brotherhood)

Via Haaretz
    Egypt's administrative court dissolved Saturday the political party of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets liquidated, the state news agency reported.

    The decision against the Freedom and Justice Party comes after a recommendation by the court's advisory panel that noted the party's leaders had already been accused, and in some cases convicted, of murder and inciting violence.

    The recommendation added that the police investigation stated the party headquarters and offices were used to store weapons.

    The Middle East news agency said the decision is final.

    The court decision is part of a wider crackdown against the group and its members that landed thousands in jail, including a many sentenced to death on charges of inciting violence.