Critical Observer

U.K. DEPLOYS HMS RICHMOND TO STOP MIGRANT SMUGGLING

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjB8F0NZJk4q7s9QFoLEUV1NcLmUHk1ySAU_ODt9-_QjPjj0yL0shlIlwySXzH6s-9ekHopiSacA3dwUaGfafUGt1CedtcwCQrczYAtEh6Vfgbkd1Un8j_WQo_I6LSZJ6ZA4I3ypiwYzM/s1600/00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjB8F0NZJk4q7s9QFoLEUV1NcLmUHk1ySAU_ODt9-_QjPjj0yL0shlIlwySXzH6s-9ekHopiSacA3dwUaGfafUGt1CedtcwCQrczYAtEh6Vfgbkd1Un8j_WQo_I6LSZJ6ZA4I3ypiwYzM/s640/00000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 5px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Boarding and seizing boats suspected to be involved with smuggling migrants</i></span></h2>
The U.K. Royal Navy's warship HMS Richmond has joined the EU's Mediterranean mission to crack down on migrant smuggling in the region.<br />
<br />
The vessel was awarded powers to stop and detain migrant smugglers, as reports come of armed attacks on asylum seekers traveling by sea from the Middle East to Europe.<br />
<br />
Richmond is lawfully able to conduct enforcement action on the high seas, including boarding and seizing boats suspected to be involved with smuggling migrants. U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon says the ship's mission demonstrates's the U.K. commitment to the EU's operations in the area.<br />
<br />
"These new powers are an important step forward. We will now be able to board the boats and detain the smugglers," Fallon said in a statement. "Sending HMS Richmond to join HMS Enterprise in the Mediterranean shows Britain's determination to tackle this trade in human misery at source. We'll hit the traffickers hard."<br />
<br />
A FRONTEX liaison officer will be on board to advise the crew on legal issues, such as identification, collection, and preservation of evidence. The ship was used for a rescue mission, which recovered over 350 migrants in September.

U.K. DEPLOYS HMS RICHMOND TO STOP MIGRANT SMUGGLING

Boarding and seizing boats suspected to be involved with smuggling migrants The U.K. Royal Navy's warship HMS Richmond has joined t...

Read Article »

CROATIA OVERWHELMED BY VOLUME OF MIGRANTS CROSSING FROM SERBIA

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-EdhDDTHO2fc8PToNnRhIZB4EF63jWCnPmwwrIilcjD_1B1SqUDxKH4_Dj4d-5r4Uu9r8rk3AETM-fF9pcgN657VQLrkwQWtSPE6FzJpRj3Ue-6EB8Ru07rJvQc7LlW-NYs-GVO4WHsM/s1600/00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-EdhDDTHO2fc8PToNnRhIZB4EF63jWCnPmwwrIilcjD_1B1SqUDxKH4_Dj4d-5r4Uu9r8rk3AETM-fF9pcgN657VQLrkwQWtSPE6FzJpRj3Ue-6EB8Ru07rJvQc7LlW-NYs-GVO4WHsM/s640/00000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
On Wednesday, there were just a few tyre prints marking the the dusty farm-track that leads between Sid, the last town in Serbia, and Tovarnik, the first little village in Croatia. But by Thursday afternoon, every inch of it was scored with footprints. From little kids’ feet to big size 12s – what had been a placid surface just 24 hours earlier was now being ploughed in plumes of dust by an exodus of refugees.<br />
<br />
Few better symbolised their desperation and determination than Mokhtar Allouf, a 23-year-old Syrian who could barely walk as he crossed over the bit of farmland that marks the Croatian border, and into the European Union. Shortly afterwards, he tugged up his shirt to reveal the cause of his limp. Between his shoulder-blades was the scar from when a Syrian soldier stabbed him with a bayonet in the spine during protests in Homs in 2011. Allouf was left paralysed for six months and four years on, he can only stagger.<br />
<br />
“We Syrians are very strong and we will keep coming, we will keeping looking for safety,” Allouf said, leaning on the shoulder of his friend Ahmed. “Even if we have to walk there like this.”<br />
<br />
This farm track was the latest frontier of the biggest refugee crisis Europe has seen in seven decades. After the slow-motion car crash of the summer, which saw the crucible of the crisis gradually move from the Greek islands through the Balkans to Germany, events are now on fast-forward, with flashpoints changing on a daily basis.<br />
<br />
On Wednesday, the bottleneck was at Horgoš on Serbia’s border with Hungary, where Hungarian police fired teargas at crowds of refugees who tried to rush a border gate when they suddenly found their northward procession blocked. But by Thursday, after Serbian officials bussed thousands of people from its Hungarian border to its Croatian one, the flashpoint had moved 120 miles south west.<br />
<br />
At first things seemed to go smoothly. People were dropped off easily enough in Sid. Then they walked through the cauldron of the late Balkans summer, and through a series of pancake-flat corn fields to find waiting trains and coaches, amid an initially warm series of media statements from Croatia’s prime minister.<br />
<br />
But in Tovarnik, as the news spread that Croatia was open, and more than 5,000 people piled over the border, matters quickly unravelled. The government had not prepared enough transport for such a huge volume of people, nor enough water, and there were too few officials to provide information and direction to newcomers who had little idea of where they were.<br />
<br />
Tempers soon frayed and, in the uncertainty and heat, hundreds of refugees rushed past police lines in a desperate effort to grab the few available places onboard trains heading north to Zagreb and Slovenia. A day after chaos unfolded at the gates of Hungary, refugees were experiencing new traumas within the gates of Croatia.<br />
<br />
It was a scene that once again underscored the inability of European governments to comprehend and prepare for the continent’s biggest wave of mass migration since the second world war. On Wednesday, Croatia’s prime minister, Zoran Milanović, had optimistically declared the country was “ready to accept and direct those people”. But by Thursday, his government had discovered that this crisis is beyond what any single country can deal with on an unplanned, unilateral basis – even with the best of intentions.<br />
<br />
Less than 24 hours after Milanović’s charitable declaration, interior minister Ranko Ostrojić backtracked. “Croatia will not be able to receive more people,” Ostrojić said, claiming that an earlier promise to create a human corridor to Slovenia was in fact only a pledge to provide a much shorter passage to Zagreb, the Croatian capital.<br />
<br />
There was another reason for refugees to be worried: land-mines. Croatia has about 500 square kilometres of unexploded landmines spread across its territory, a leftover from the Balkan wars in the 90s. Around two square kilometres line the Serbo-Croat border, said Miljenko Vahtarić, assistant director at the Croatia Mine Action centre. They are clearly marked, and they lie some way from Sid but as thousands now scramble for the Croatian border, said Vahtarić, “there is always the possibility that somebody could enter these suspected hazardous areas and get wounded or even killed”.<br />
<br />
In the face of such uncertainty, a smattering of refugees remained camped on the Hungarian border. Kawa, a 30-year-old agricultural engineer from north-eastern Syria, reckoned it was better to wait it out at the gates of Hungary until he got word that the Croatian route worked. “After Croatia is Slovenia,” Kawa said. “And we don’t know what Slovenia will do.”<br />
<br />
But most simply shrugged: whatever happens, the road ahead is less dangerous than the places they have come from. Nowar Daoud, a 23-year-old archaeology student from Hasaka, north-east Syria, was one of the last to catch a bus from the Serbian border to Croatia. “We just have to have faith,” Daoud said shortly before he set off. “We’ll go and find out what’s happening. Maybe we can cross, maybe we can’t. We live in hope.”<br />
<br />
As in every conversation on this refugee route, Daoud and his friends said that ultimately nothing will stop people fleeing the horrors of war. Halaz Shekhmous, an 18-year-old high school student travelling with Daoud and her brothers, summed things up: “We’re not afraid of anything because after Daesh” – the Arab slang term for Islamic State – “nothing scares us.”<br />
<br />
Far away to the south, just after he crossed the dusty path that leads into Croatia, 40-year-old Amjad el-Omairi lifted up his shirt to make the same point. There on both his flanks were two foot-long scars, the result he said of a car bomb in Iraq. “I just want peace,” said Omairi, the owner of a lingerie shop. “And I’ll keep going even if I have to cross another sea to find it.”<br />
<br />
by Patrick Kingsley of The Guardian<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983720" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488736684.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants force their way through police lines at Tovarnik station to board a train bound for Zagreb (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983720" height="852" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488736684.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants force their way through police lines at Tovarnik station to board a train bound for Zagreb (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983718" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488736686.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants force their way through police lines at Tovarnik station to board a train bound for Zagreb. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983718" height="852" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488736686.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
(Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983716" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488736430.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="A man hold a child up as scuffle break out with police forming a cordon to direct migrants and refugees onto board buses at the train station in the city of Tovarnik (-/AFP/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983716" height="914" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488736430.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
A man hold a child up as scuffle break out with police forming a cordon to direct migrants and refugees onto board buses at the train station in the city of Tovarnik (-/AFP/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/ap_ap-photo1096-wi.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="AP Photo" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1983650" height="849" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/ap_ap-photo1096-wi.jpg" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a></div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983638" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735628.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants walk down the motorway toward buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983638" height="951" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735628.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants walk down the motorway toward buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983636" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735616.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants queue for buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary. (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983636" height="864" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735616.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants queue for buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary. (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983632" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735640.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants queue for buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983632" height="949" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735640.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
(Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983630" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735596.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants board a bus which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary" class="size-full wp-image-1983630" height="896" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735596.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants board a bus which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983628" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735606.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants walk down the motorway toward buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983628" height="868" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735606.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants walk down the motorway toward buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983624" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735626.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants wash themselves the morning after yesterday's clashes with police at the border crossing with Hungary (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983624" height="971" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735626.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants wash themselves the morning after yesterday’s clashes with police at the border crossing with Hungary (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983622" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735644.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants queue for buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary. (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983622" height="856" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488735644.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants queue for buses which will take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary. (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983620" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488732418.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants wait under the sun at a railway station, near the official border crossing between Serbia and Croatia. (ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983620" height="852" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488732418.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants wait under the sun at a railway station, near the official border crossing between Serbia and Croatia. (ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983618" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488732502.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants queue for buses to take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983618" height="853" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488732502.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants queue for buses to take them to Croatia at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983616" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488732498.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Red Cross workers give out water as migrants and refugees wait under the sun at a railway station, near the official border crossing between Serbia and Croatia. (ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983616" height="844" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488732498.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Red Cross workers give out water as migrants and refugees wait under the sun at a railway station, near the official border crossing between Serbia and Croatia. (ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/Getty Images)</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1983614" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1290px;">
<a href="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488731872.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Migrants walk on railway tracks towards the train station of Tovarnik (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)" class="size-full wp-image-1983614" height="830" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/GettyImages-488731872.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1280" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-top: 0.8075em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
Migrants walk on railway tracks towards the train station of Tovarnik (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)</div>
</div>

CROATIA OVERWHELMED BY VOLUME OF MIGRANTS CROSSING FROM SERBIA

On Wednesday, there were just a few tyre prints marking the the dusty farm-track that leads between Sid, the last town in Serbia, and Tov...

Read Article »

HOLLAND DOESN'T WANT UKRAINE IN THE E.U. SAYS ACTIVIST GROUP

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCp8_pFrFaWXms4aIMfQCP1um-WXXJ5LkCcmVz-ylzwZbAKAA9HXLWIhqgITe5ZqNHrdPYhupk78qtFyWsJm20wlp1yK7ABd3R4KgJvIuCPQdkOb6v8uh9SYZfnW9ROdKSS3MTJa9eP98/s1600/00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCp8_pFrFaWXms4aIMfQCP1um-WXXJ5LkCcmVz-ylzwZbAKAA9HXLWIhqgITe5ZqNHrdPYhupk78qtFyWsJm20wlp1yK7ABd3R4KgJvIuCPQdkOb6v8uh9SYZfnW9ROdKSS3MTJa9eP98/s640/00000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
An initiative launched by a Dutch activist group and online blog rallying Dutch citizens to support a referendum on the EU's association agreement with Ukraine is gaining force; the local public poll results show that 73% of the Dutch think that it will eventually result in Ukraine's accession into the Union…and don't want this to happen.<br />
<br />
Geenstijl (No Style), an activist blog, has called on Dutch citizens to sign an appeal for a referendum on the EU's association agreement with Ukraine.<br />
<br />
The activists are benefitting from a new democratic tool in the Netherlands which allows citizens to call for a popular referendum on a recently adopted law or treaty.<br />
<br />
They have already gathered 150,000 out of the 300,000 needed to be able to submit it to the Electoral Council by September 28.<br />
<br />
The reason why they want to vote on Ukraine is the criticism of how the EU handled Russia's conflict with Ukraine and of the EU-Ukraine treaty, which they regard as “provocative and a threat to the welfare and well-being of us and the Ukrainians”.<br />
<br />
The group says that if the union opens borders with the country, which is currently at war, it will mean “open borders with a war zone”.<br />
<br />
Additionally, the agreement was one of the main reasons for the dispute with Russia and the civil war that broke out in the east of Ukraine.<br />
<br />
“The fact that [President] Putin’s attitude towards us is adverse, does not mean that Kiev has become a friend to us,” the local media quotes the activists as saying.<br />
<br />
“We are sending money to Ukraine, but the government seems to have no control over the situation. In such an atmosphere any reforms are doomed to fail, and without the reforms there is no sense in the association agreement.”<br />
<br />
However even if the campaign succeeds and a majority votes No in a referendum, the result will be non-binding for the country’s authorities who could still keep it in force.<br />
<br />
by Sputnik News

HOLLAND DOESN'T WANT UKRAINE IN THE E.U. SAYS ACTIVIST GROUP

An initiative launched by a Dutch activist group and online blog rallying Dutch citizens to support a referendum on the EU's associat...

Read Article »

MOLDOVA ANTI-GOVT PROTEST IN 8TH DAY; DEMAND PROBE INTO MISSING $1.5B

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRw_l4YUl-9aj0wxuTqvBIWG7_uzmteigcEHbBhBBgD3ups59NjLX39FmI_8tcRMx4EPtvmCZX4m-Qim4E3_wGj46t5VI2CO4SUPnL57K2Z7pr4r2eVsU4Ugn4lHk2hXQTVoSJbIMN0A/s1600/00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRw_l4YUl-9aj0wxuTqvBIWG7_uzmteigcEHbBhBBgD3ups59NjLX39FmI_8tcRMx4EPtvmCZX4m-Qim4E3_wGj46t5VI2CO4SUPnL57K2Z7pr4r2eVsU4Ugn4lHk2hXQTVoSJbIMN0A/s640/00000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Some 20,000 people are protesting against Moldova’s government for the eighth straight day, demanding a probe into the estimated $1.5 billion that disappeared from three Moldovan banks.<br />
<br />
Speaking Romanian and Russian, protesters in Chisinau, the capital, on Sunday demanded the resignation of the president, the general prosecutor, the national bank governor and others. They also want an early election and to form a new political party.<br />
<br />
The anti-government protest started Sept. 6 when tens of thousands rallied in a pedestrian square. A few hundred protesters remain camped out in the square.<br />
<br />
The money disappeared from the state-owned Savings Bank, the Social Bank and Unibank before Moldova's parliamentary election last November. The banks were put under the National Bank of Moldova's administration in December and the losses covered by state reserves.<br />
<br />
Article from: FOX News

MOLDOVA ANTI-GOVT PROTEST IN 8TH DAY; DEMAND PROBE INTO MISSING $1.5B

Some 20,000 people are protesting against Moldova’s government for the eighth straight day, demanding a probe into the estimated $1.5 bil...

Read Article »

ANTI-MIGRANT PROTESTS IN EUROPE; THOUSANDS ATTEND DEMONSTRATIONS

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxjhHE-Y2dCxxRuR58AUm4eIrQ3xmqwgEnZaBCMKKLLZNGCEYNyLFo6Ik339oLoXjnDLqOzy3WmbjUlnxg5o-xgg9aLI49sSFv9TcueXN-1SmH_6aUl-_d5whnTeVFeD10d_cE9YCS7M/s1600/00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxjhHE-Y2dCxxRuR58AUm4eIrQ3xmqwgEnZaBCMKKLLZNGCEYNyLFo6Ik339oLoXjnDLqOzy3WmbjUlnxg5o-xgg9aLI49sSFv9TcueXN-1SmH_6aUl-_d5whnTeVFeD10d_cE9YCS7M/s640/00000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Thousands of people joined anti-migrant protests in three eastern European capitals on Saturday after leaders from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia opposed an EU scheme to fix refugee quotas.<br />
<br />
In the Polish capital Warsaw, nearly 5,000 people, many chanting anti-Islamic slogans, marched through the city, an AFP correspondent said. “Islam will be the death of Europe”, one of the banners said.<br />
<br />
Organisers claimed the demonstration drew 10,000 people but police refused to confirm the figure.<br />
<br />
“We’re here so that the government hears our voice and abandons any plans to welcome Muslims,” shouted one of the organisers after starting the march with prayers which identified the participants as Roman Catholics.<br />
<br />
Members of far-right fringe parties and football supporters chanted “Poles against migrants” and “Migrants today, terrorists tomorrow”.<br />
<br />
Another thousand or so joined a “Welcome refugees” rally in favour of hosting migrants in Poland, a strongly Catholic EU member state which has a population of 38 million and has seen hardly any newcomers arriving, despite Europe experiencing its biggest movement of people since World War II.<br />
<br />
‘My duty’<br />
<br />
“I became a refugee when I had to flee Warsaw as the Germans invaded during the war,” 80-year-old Danuta Chomiak told AFP as she marched with the crowd. “I have a duty to be here today.”<br />
<br />
Around 1,500 anti-migrant protestors also rallied in the Slovak capital Bratislava, some holding up banners reading: “You’re not welcome here so go home”, an AFP correspondent said.<br />
<br />
Another said: “Multiculturalism is a utopia, don’t open the borders”.<br />
<br />
The rally was organised by the far-right “Our Slovakia” party, led by Marian Kotleba.<br />
<br />
Unlike neighbouring Austria and Hungary, Slovakia  — a eurozone member of 5.4 million people — has seen few migrant arrivals this summer.<br />
<br />
Police in the Czech capital Prague said some 800 people protested against the arrival of refugees and migrants, holding up banners saying: “Send them back!” and “Protect the borders”.<br />
<br />
Demonstrators called on the Czech government to resign and for a withdrawal from the European Union which it joined in 2004.<br />
<br />
Elsewhere another 200 people staged a counter-demonstration in support of welcoming refugees in the Czech Republic, which has a population of 10.5 million and has seen few new arrivals in recent months.<br />
<br />
All poorer members of the EU, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on Friday ruled out accepting refugees under a compulsory quota system outlined by the European Commission, rejecting German pleas for European solidarity in tackling the crisis.<br />
<br />
The European Union’s 28 interior ministers are to meet on Monday to discuss a the EC plan which involves a quota system for distributing 160,000 refugees around the bloc. – AFP

ANTI-MIGRANT PROTESTS IN EUROPE; THOUSANDS ATTEND DEMONSTRATIONS

Thousands of people joined anti-migrant protests in three eastern European capitals on Saturday after leaders from the Czech Republic, Po...

Read Article »

ISIS TERRORISTS POSING AS MIGRANTS IN CRISIS

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3GfedLsLQFkmGIpcgzOolLoulblGnDJUDP33H_F6lmckNycmm9ccaVwJVjYcEbI7XFMgteAOk5OMVl1eiqNGHGSpMt5hRGrE3Jt21SXIrC0Qe06Y6ws-gHNU7A7tO58JsYJzkyvHA1VM/s1600/00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3GfedLsLQFkmGIpcgzOolLoulblGnDJUDP33H_F6lmckNycmm9ccaVwJVjYcEbI7XFMgteAOk5OMVl1eiqNGHGSpMt5hRGrE3Jt21SXIrC0Qe06Y6ws-gHNU7A7tO58JsYJzkyvHA1VM/s640/00000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
While the US is looking back at the 14 year anniversary of what is widely accepted as the biggest terrorist event in modern US history, in Europe it is time to look forward to what may be the advent of domestic “terrorism” in the coming months, whether real or false flagged.<br />
<br />
Earlier this week, one of our contributors Erico Tavares pointed out something disturbing, namely that in Europe’s perpetual search for “crises” on which to capitalize in its relentless encroachment to a European superstate, the current migrant crisis may be a blessing in disguise (assuming, of course, it wasn’t premeditated from day one as others have suggested).<br />
<br />
Why blessing? Because just like the US Patriot Act which allowed a massive expansion of the US government apparatus while obliterating civil and privacy rights (highlighted earlier today), confirmed a decade later by Edward Snowden, was a regulation in search of a terrorist event, so Europe’s next superstate expansion will require a comparable anti-terrorism “rush” in which the population voluntarily hands Europe’s supra-government even more rights to centrally-plan as it sees fit.<br />
<br />
Which means that as part of the refugee crisis in which tens of thousands of innocent Syrians have been displaced and seeking European asylum, it was only a matter of time before one or more was “found” to be ISIS terrorists in order to perpetuate the fear and crisis narrative. A crisis which Brussels would never go to waste.<br />
<br />
That time has arrived following a report by German RTL and carried by NewObserver that “an ISIS terrorist posing as an “asylum seeker” has been arrested by German police in a “refugee” center in Stuttgart, and German customs officers have seized boxes containing Syrian passports being smuggled into Europe.”<br />
<br />
So it begins.<br />
<br />
According to RTL, the terrorist is a 21-year-old Moroccan using a “false identity” who had registered as an asylum seeker in the district of Ludwigsburg. He was identified after police linked him to a European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish authorities. He is accused of recruiting fighters for ISIS, where he acted as a contact person for fighters who wanted to travel to Syria or Iraq.<br />
<br />
This arrest of the alleged bogus “asylum seeker” comes at the same time that a German finance ministry spokesman said that “boxes” of fake Syrian passports, destined for sale and distribution to the hordes of nonwhite invaders seeking to settle in Europe as bogus “war refugees,” had been seized.”<br />
<br />
That news, carried in a report by the German Tagespiegel newspaper, also revealed that 10,000 fake Syrian passports were seized by police in Bulgaria, on their way to Germany.<br />
<br />
The finance ministry official said both genuine and forged passports were in the packets intercepted in the post. Possession of these passports is a vital part of claiming “asylum” as “war refugees.”<br />
The Tagespiegel also revealed that the fake Syrian passports are being sold for about $1,500 each—and the fact that many of the “refugees” can afford to buy multiple passports is yet another indication of the bogus nature of their claims to be “asylum seekers.”<br />
<br />
Significantly, the Tagespiegel article continued, “It is not only Syrians who are interested in Syrian passports. Refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan want to become Syrian in order to secure their recognition as asylum seekers in Western Europe. According to press reports, nine out of ten refugees who came from Macedonia to Serbia claimed they were Syrians.”<br />
<br />
Setting the expectations was the head of the EU frontier police, Fabrice Leggeri, who in a recent interview with the Europe 1 TV station said that the trade in fake Syrian passports originated in Turkey. “There are people who are now in Turkey, buying false Syrian passports because they have obviously realized that it is a windfall since Syrians get asylum in all Member States in the European Union,” he said. “People who use false Syrian passports often speak in Arabic. They may originate in North Africa or the Middle East, but have the profile of economic migrants.”<br />
<br />
And then just to ratchet the fear factor, earlier this week Hungary’s most watched national TV channel, M1, reported Tuesday that at least two “terrorists” were uncovered via photographs on social media after entering Europe as refugees.<br />
<br />
“Islamist terrorists, disguised as refugees, have showed up in Europe. [The] pictures were uploaded on various social networks to show that terrorists are now present in most European cities. Many, who are now illegal immigrants, fought alongside Islamic State before,” the report said.<br />
<br />
The Hungarian channel broadcasted collections of photographs of the two men from social media. The first set depicted two individuals with weapons and the second set showed them smiling as they arrived in Europe.<br />
<br />
A breach in the “terrorism has arrived” narrative emerged it was revealed that the man claimed to be an Islamic State militant had previously given aninterview to AP, saying that he was a former Syrian rebel commander. “The AP reported that his name was Laith Al Saleh, 30, and he “led a 700-strong rebel unit in Syria’s civil war.” The news agency’s photos taken on August 15 showed Al Saleh among other refugees waiting to board an Athens-bound ferry on the Greek island of Kos.”<br />
<br />
And then it gets awkward: AP reported that he was a member of the Free Syrian Army, which is fighting against the Syrian government forces of President Bashar Assad, as well as against terrorist groups in the region.<br />
<br />
Actually, the US-funded and supported FSA’s only purpose was the same as that of ISIS – to crush the Syrian army and overthrow the elected president so Qatar can break Gazprom’s monopoly on European gas imports.<br />
<br />
But now the second key role of ISIS is also starting to emerge: the terrorist bogeyman that ravages Europe and scares the living daylight out of people who beg the government to implement an even more strict government apparatus in order to protect them from refugees ISIS terrorists.<br />
<br />
But ignore the facts, and focus on the propaganda, which as RT further adds is in full crisis mode: A recent article in the UK Express Daily claimed that IS “smuggled thousands of covert jihadists into Europe.” It cited a January BuzzFeed interview with an IS operative who said the militants have already sent some 4,000 fighters into Europe under guise of refugees.<br />
<br />
These speculations have not been confirmed by Western security officials, although that’s only temporary: as the need to ratchet up the fear factor grows, expect more such reports of asylum seekers who have penetrated deep inside Europe, and whose intentions are to terrorize the public. Expect a few explosions throw in for good effect.<br />
<br />
Certainly expect a version of Europe’a Patriot Act to emerge over the next year, when the old continent has its own “September 11” moment, one which will provide the unelected Brussels bureaucrats with even more authoritarian power.<br />
<br />
And since everyone knows by now “not to let a crisis go to waste” the one thing Europe needs is a visceral, tangible crisis, ideally with chilling explosions and innocent casualties. We expect one will be provided on short notice.

ISIS TERRORISTS POSING AS MIGRANTS IN CRISIS

While the US is looking back at the 14 year anniversary of what is widely accepted as the biggest terrorist event in modern US history, i...

Read Article »