Critical Observer

ISIS HIDING AMONG REFUGEES ENTERING EUROPE

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-lhsP0DNJ9f5dDJzVO6ve2F3HdpFoX7fDHp1eubSRfy-_wf_TyYOltSS8Uj1CVsjJVMM_2qxKsaJbwrhx0Nfdv0hasZr_2KbuErSk7T5NxhzvTxBNN6Uo5YxFmInTEEb8FIy-FuXbgw/s1600/00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-lhsP0DNJ9f5dDJzVO6ve2F3HdpFoX7fDHp1eubSRfy-_wf_TyYOltSS8Uj1CVsjJVMM_2qxKsaJbwrhx0Nfdv0hasZr_2KbuErSk7T5NxhzvTxBNN6Uo5YxFmInTEEb8FIy-FuXbgw/s640/00000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While people in Europe and the US scrabble around on the floor of malls fighting each other over an insane desire to spend money on stuff they don’t need, thousands of ISIS terrorists are sneaking into European countries disguised as refugees, according to a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3335489/ISIS-radicals-planning-terror-attacks-Europe-entering-continent-hidden-migrants-says-German-police-chief.html" style="background-color: transparent; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">senior police chief in Germany.</a></span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hans-Georg Maasen, a federal police chief, has said that jihadists from Iraq and Syria are exploiting the migrant crisis, and Europe’s open borders to infiltrate and plot ‘combat missions’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Maasen told reporters that police in Germany are tracking up to 8,000 ‘combat-hardened professional’ Islamic extremists in Germany alone, adding that his department receives multiple ‘fairly concrete tips’ of planned terrorist activity every week now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;">The claims dovetail with news that German special forces have</span><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/26/europe/germany-berlin-terror-plot-arrests/index.html?sr=twCNN112715germany-berlin-terror-plot-arrests0120AMStoryLink&linkId=19092649" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">arrested two men</a><span style="font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;">in a Berlin raid accused of plotting “a significant criminal act against state security.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The men were arrested as police swooped upon an Islamic cultural center, in the Britz section of Berlin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Early reports in German media suggest that one of the men is Syrian and the other a Tunisian.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Police noted that “a suspected dangerous object” was discovered in a vehicle linked to the suspects. Residents in the area were evacuated while the threat was neutralized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last week German authorities were <a href="http://www.infowars.com/report-german-government-covered-up-terror-attack-at-soccer-stadium/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">accused of covering up an attempted terrorist attack</a> on a Soccer stadium, following a tip off from French intelligence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Germany has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34927170" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">vowed to step up military action</a> in Syria, to support France following the Paris attacks two weeks ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The German military will deploy Tornado Jets, which it claims will largely be for reconnaissance purposes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sources from the German parliament have also suggested that a warship will be deployed to support the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, an army satellite will be placed over Syria, and an Airbus refuelling plane will be sent to help the bombing campaign.</span></div>
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ISIS HIDING AMONG REFUGEES ENTERING EUROPE

While people in Europe and the US scrabble around on the floor of malls fighting each other over an insane desire to spend money on stu...

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OBAMA BYPASSING COURTS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: xx-large; line-height: 1.1;">Obama opening borders with dictatorial actions</i></h5>
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President Obama, a key member of Soros’ activist circle has been quietly pursuing a four-option plan to allow work permits to illegals.</h5>
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OBAMA BYPASSING COURTS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Obama opening borders with dictatorial actions President Obama, a key member of Soros’ activist circle has been quietly pursuing a four...

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LIBYA THREATENS TO SEND ADDITIONAL MIGRANTS TO EUROPE

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The spokesman for Libya’s General National Congress has threatened to flood Europe with hundreds of thousands of additional illegal migrants if the European Union does not recognize it as the official government of the north African country.</h5>
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“To be honest, I have advised my government many times already that we should hire boats and send them to Europe,” said <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/11970313/Libya-warns-it-could-flood-Europe-with-migrants-if-EU-does-not-recognise-new-Islamist-government.html" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #025ab4; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Jamal Zubia</a>, a foreign media spokesman for the Congress. “We are protecting the gates of Europe, yet Europe does not recognize us and does not want to recognize us. So why should we stop the migrants here?”</div>
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It is estimated 170,00 migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Senegal, Sudan, Somalia and other Sub-Saharan African countries crossed from Libya to Italy last year.</div>
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1,800 migrants have lost their lives at sea so far this year. In 2014, nearly 5,000 Africans perished at sea or in remote deserts or mountains.</div>
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Libya has long been considered a transit country for sub-Saharan Africans. The number of migrants wishing to cross the Mediterranean into Europe increased significantly after US and NATO-backed Islamists killed Libyan leader Gaddafi.</div>
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Libya is now considered a failed state. The internationally recognized government of the country has battled the Islamic State, Majlis al-Shura, Ansar al-Sharia and other groups since the fall of the Gaddafi regime. Earlier this year ISIS captured Sirte, the hometown of Gaddafi.</div>
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The Islamic State has threatened hijrah—jihad by emigration—and says it will flood Europe with 500,000 African Muslims.</div>
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Earlier this year the <a href="http://www.independentsentinel.com/isis-threatens-to-flood-europe-and-elsewhere-as-libyan-refugees/" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #025ab4; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Quilliam Foundation</a> said it discovered a document written by an Islamic State propagandist going by the alias Abu Arhim al-Libim.</div>
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The document, titled “Libya: The Strategic Gateway for the Islamic State,” explains how jihadists can reach “southern Crusader states… with ease by even a rudimentary boat.”</div>
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LIBYA THREATENS TO SEND ADDITIONAL MIGRANTS TO EUROPE

The spokesman for Libya’s General National Congress has threatened to flood Europe with hundreds of thousands of additional illegal mig...

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U.K. DEPLOYS HMS RICHMOND TO STOP MIGRANT SMUGGLING

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<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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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"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 />
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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...

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CROATIA OVERWHELMED BY VOLUME OF MIGRANTS CROSSING FROM SERBIA

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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 />
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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 />
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“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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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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...

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EU WILL COLLAPSE AMID REFUGEE CRISIS - ECONOMIST

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The current refugee crisis is putting the EU’s fundamental principles on the line and may become the beginning of the end of the 28-nation association, Citigroup’s chief economist warned.<br />
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“The refugee crisis is undermining the EU’s fundamental principle of free cross-border movement within the Union… This is effectively throwing the EU’s very future in question,” Willem Buiter, global chief economist at Citigroup, told RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.<br />
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He said that even though some countries were introducing temporary entry bans in a bid to tackle “a huge humanitarian crisis, they may eventually become permanent not only for the  migrants but for EU residents as well.”<br />
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“This may signal the beginning of the end, the stakes are extremely high,” he warned.<br />
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Willem Buiter believes that the current refugee crisis could shift European policy towards “radicalization, xenophobia and nationalism,” which would have an immediate negative effect on their economies.<br />
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“Western Europe is much better off than the East European countries as it is more experienced in dealing with immigration-related issues which are a real problem for countries like Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, which  have never had to deal with massive inflows of migrants.  This is a big challenge to them,” Buiter said.<br />
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However, if they manage to handle this problem, it will make the EU stronger,” he added.<br />
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by Sputnik News

EU WILL COLLAPSE AMID REFUGEE CRISIS - ECONOMIST

The current refugee crisis is putting the EU’s fundamental principles on the line and may become the beginning of the end of the 28-natio...

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PAPERS BEING SOLD TO ISIS TERRORISTS SNEAKING INTO EUROPE

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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">ISIS fighters and economic migrants are able to buy Syrian identity documents that allow them to hide among refugees travelling to Europe with frightening ease, an investigation by MailOnline can reveal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Our reporter was able to buy a Syrian passport, identity card and driving licence from a fraudster in a Turkish border town this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The genuine documents were stolen from Syria when they were blank. The forger added our reporter's picture and gave him the identity of a Syrian man from Aleppo killed last year.</span></div>
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<img alt="Easy: Our reporter was able to acquire the $2,000 haul of documents within just four days from criminals. Above are Syrian passport, driving licence and identity card" class="blkBorder img-share" height="447" id="i-f4637034a61552da" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/16/15/2C622BED00000578-3235320-image-a-1_1442413844251.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></div>
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Easy: Our reporter was able to acquire the $2,000 haul of documents within just four days from criminals. Above are Syrian passport, driving licence and identity card</div>
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<img alt="Fake identity: The documents are all genuinely made - having been plundered by Syrian opposition forces including ISIS - as they overran offices held by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad" class="blkBorder img-share" height="408" id="i-ecab64aa36200819" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/16/15/2C622D8900000578-3235320-image-a-8_1442415427377.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></div>
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Fake identity: The documents are all genuinely made - having been plundered by Syrian opposition forces including ISIS - as they overran offices held by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad</div>
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<img alt="Dead man walking: The passport was in the name of a real man who had died in the Syrian city of Aleppo" class="blkBorder img-share" height="889" id="i-279636822856e9c6" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/16/15/2C622B7000000578-3235320-image-a-3_1442413903661.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></div>
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Dead man walking: The passport was in the name of a real man who had died in the Syrian city of Aleppo</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The documents, on sale for around $2,000, would help an asylum claim in Europe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The forger who sold us the papers, said that they are being used by ISIS fanatics to travel undetected across borders into Europe hidden among tens of thousands of genuine refugees fleeing the terror and destruction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Once in Europe they can set up sleeper cells or live freely under a new identity without facing the consequences of their brutal past actions. </span></div>
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ISIS fighters are among the people going to Europe in this way. They are going to Europe to wait for the right time to become a fighter for ISIS again </div>
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Forger </div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">As the forger chillingly put it: 'ISIS fighters are among the people going to Europe in this way. They are going to wait for the right time to become a fighter for ISIS again.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The revelation comes as Lebanon warned two in every 100 Syrian migrants smuggled into Europe are ISIS-trained fanatics, with most travelling overland through Turkey to Greece.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The extremist group is sending trained jihadists 'under cover' to attack targets in the west, Lebanese Education Minister Elias Bousaab told British Prime Minister David Cameron during his visit to the country on Monday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'ISIS will not stop at the border with Lebanon, before you know it ISIS will be in Europe,' Mr Bousaab claimed. </span></div>
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<img alt="Terror: The forger told MailOnline that ISIS fighters are buying the passports so they can sneak back into Europe to plan attacks or escape Syria without having to face the consequences of the crimes they committed" class="blkBorder img-share" height="380" id="i-9027db985b747eca" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/15/14/2C3DA40B00000578-3235320-image-a-5_1442324184379.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></div>
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Terror: The forger told MailOnline that ISIS fighters are buying the passports so they can sneak back into Europe to plan attacks or escape Syria without having to face the consequences of the crimes they committed</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The bogus papers are also being used by economic migrants from other Middle Eastern states who know that a Syrian asylum claim will be met with more sympathy following the civil war which has so far forced an estimated four million people to flee. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The recent death of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy pictured after he was washed up on a Turkish shore, has heightened demands for countries to take in Syrian refugees and propelled their plight to the top of the international agenda.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Germany alone is expected to take in a million Syrians this year and is putting other European nations under pressure to sign up to a quota system.  </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The forger told MailOnline: 'Everyone wants to be Syrian now – because now everyone welcomes Syrians'  </span></div>
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Everyone wants to be Syrian now – because now everyone welcomes Syrians. There are Palestinians, Egyptians, Iraqis, people from all over the Arab world who are pretending to be Syrian so they can have a new life in Europe </div>
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Forger </div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The passport book MailOnline acquired is genuine, made from a batch seized from one of the many Syrian government offices captured by advancing opposition forces.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The forger explained that the militias fighting the forces of Assad make a beeline for government offices when they over-run a town. They know the value of the documents there and steal the passports, papers and even the printers that are used to create identity cards and driving licences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'I don't know which town this passport came from because it has happened many times,' he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Fighters – from the Free Syrian Army, Al Nusra, ISIS or whatever – they know the value of these documents. They take them and they give them to us. They ask us to make new identities for them and their families so they can travel outside Syria.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'We do this for them and they leave us some of the books so we can sell them. There are many people – Syrian people – who have lost their passports and identity cards because of the chaos of the war. They want new documents to help them in Europe.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">He went on: 'Everyone wants to be Syrian now – because now everyone welcomes Syrians. There are Palestinians, Egyptians, Iraqis, people from all over the Arab world who are pretending to be Syrian so they can have a new life in Europe.</span></div>
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<img alt="Claims: The forger told MailOnline that 'everyone wants to be Syrian now – because now everyone welcomes Syrians. There are Palestinians, Egyptians, Iraqis, people from all over the Arab world pretending to be Syrian so they can have a new life in Europe'. Pictured are migrants at Salzburg station, Austria on Tuesday" class="blkBorder img-share" height="432" id="i-6040e789d022fa55" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/16/16/2C60B3CC00000578-3235320-Claims_The_forger_told_MailOnline_Everyone_wants_to_be_Syrian_no-m-10_1442415812412.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></div>
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Claims: The forger told MailOnline that 'everyone wants to be Syrian now – because now everyone welcomes Syrians. There are Palestinians, Egyptians, Iraqis, people from all over the Arab world pretending to be Syrian so they can have a new life in Europe'. Pictured are migrants at Salzburg station, Austria on Tuesday</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'ISIS fighters are among the people going to Europe in this way. They are going to wait for the right time to become a fighter for ISIS again.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Alarm bells began to ring as to the scale of the problem earlier this month when German customs officers seized packages containing a large number of blank Syrian passports. The packages contained both genuine and fake passport books. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Frontex, the EU border agency, has reported an increase in the seizure of Syrian passports for sale although they admit they as yet have no idea of the size of the problem. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'The latest figures confirm that document fraud is on the rise,' a spokesman told MailOnline. 'Imposters use another person's documents taking advantage of their physical resemblance to the original holders, as often difficult to identify.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Research studies show that the extent of the problem is much wider than can be assessed from the number of revealed cases.</span></div>
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There is little doubt that evil jihadists will be keen to exploit the present refugee crisis to infiltrate their way into Europe and the UK. In the present chaos fake passports provide almost perfect cover </div>
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Tory MP Philip Hollobone </div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'[Syrian passports] are found in the hands of Iraqis and Palestinians. There is also a rising phenomenon of migrants from Algeria, Egypt or Morocco claiming falsely to be of Syrian nationality.' </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The blue passport book is printed with the words Syrian Arab Republic in Arabic, English and French on the cover. It bears a Syrian coat of arms – an eagle holding a shield of the national flag and a scroll with an inscription in Arabic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The 48-page booklet has a bar code and serial number.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The passport states in Arabic, English and French that the photograph is the image of a 48-year-old Christian man called Jak Abdullah Fraam who was born in 1967 in Aleppo. It states that his father is called Mishail and his mother Lena.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The document gives the holder permission, from the Syrian government, to travel to countries in the Middle East, Europe, North America, African and South America. However Syrians need visas to enter almost every country apart from Sudan and Lebanon. Other Syrian passports have restrictions on which country the bearer can travel to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The identity card bears the official government seal and is printed using machinery captured by opposition forces and handed over to master forgers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The Syrian coast of arms is embossed into the card. An image of the Syrian coat of arms sits underneath the photograph. There is a watermark-style image on the right-hand corner and on the back of the ID card.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The international driving licence was issued by the Traffic Police Department of the Syrian Ministry of Interior. It bears the official stamp of the Chief of Governorate Police.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">These three documents together provide almost irrefutable evidence of a life in Syria before the war and would support a claim for asylum in Europe. </span></div>
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<img alt="Warning: As British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Syrian refugees in camps in Lebanon this week,  a minister warned two in every 100 Syrian migrants smuggled into Europe are ISIS-trained fanatics" class="blkBorder img-share" height="422" id="i-da83b8b8233af8b1" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/15/14/2C4D7B1D00000578-3235320-image-a-4_1442323940594.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></div>
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Warning: As British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Syrian refugees in camps in Lebanon this week,  a minister warned two in every 100 Syrian migrants smuggled into Europe are ISIS-trained fanatics</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The manufacture of passports and identity documents by forgers began innocently following the collapse of Assad's Syrian regime, when many citizens lost their official papers in the chaos and society broke down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">But this 'public service' has been hijacked by unscrupulous criminals who will sell anyone the documents to claim they are Syrian.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'At first it was a way to keep normal life going,' a Syrian with knowledge of the practice of creating new passports told MailOnline.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'When someone got married they needed a certificate. When a baby was born they needed a certificate. When someone wanted to go abroad they needed a passport. But in much of the country there was no government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'However, the people who had worked for the government, local people in each town or city liberated from the regime, were still there.</span></div>
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The extent of the problem is much wider than can be assessed from the number of revealed cases </div>
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EU border agency Frontex </div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'They understood that p</span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">eople needed documents, so they helped them and got a bit of money for themselves. But now there are people who are only interested in the money. They don't care who they sell a passport to - even if they are terrorists.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Former Scotland Yard detective, and passport and identity fraud expert, Tom Craig, told MailOnline that the passport and other documents would be enough to get someone into the EU.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'While there are some discrepancies the passport is good enough to get someone into Greece or Italy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'It appears to be an old style passport rather than a modern one. The booklet appears genuine and so does the paper.' </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">It took just four days for MailOnline investigators to buy the haul in Turkey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Publishing precise details of the operation would put the lives of Syrian and Turkish investigators in danger, but in essence it was surprisingly easy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The reporter sent a photograph via social media to the forger in Syria, who made the documents and then smuggled the documents over the porous border and dropped off for collection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Home Affairs committee told MailOnline the revelations were 'deeply disturbing'.</span></div>
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Concern: Tory MP Philip Hollobone told MailOnline that 'there is little doubt that evil jihadists will be keen to exploit the present refugee crisis to infiltrate their way into Europe and the UK' </div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">He said: 'The ease with which a fake Syrian identity card has been obtained so easily is deeply disturbing. It is essential that all countries need to obtain the necessary equipment to check the validity of these documents. This represents a huge problem that needs to be addressed immediately.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Philip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, said the MailOnline investigation had brought a serious security to light.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">He said: 'I would like to congratulate MailOnline for your work in exposing this very serious security issue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'There is little doubt that evil jihadists will be keen to exploit the present refugee crisis to infiltrate their way into Europe and the UK. In the present chaos fake passports provide almost perfect cover.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'The UK Border Force will need to be extra vigilant to separate genuine refugees from ISIS operatives.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley, said: 'This is a very worrying development and highlights why we need to properly control our borders and not get so get so overwhelmed by a compassionate desire to help people that we let down our guard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'There are many people who want to exploit our generosity and the Government must not let it happen.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">MailOnline has contacted the Turkish authorities to inform them of the scam.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">By Nick Fagge - On The Syria Border For The MailOnline</span></span></div>

PAPERS BEING SOLD TO ISIS TERRORISTS SNEAKING INTO EUROPE

ISIS fighters and economic migrants are able to buy Syrian identity documents that allow them to hide among refugees travelling to Europe w...

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HUNGARY SEALS BORDER & DETAINS MIGRANTS, DECLARES EMERGENCY

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Declaring a state of emergency, Hungary sealed off its southern border with Serbia on Tuesday and detained those trying to enter illegally, aiming to shut down the flow of migrants pouring in. Chaos ensued at the border, as hundreds of migrants piled up in a no man's land, and Serbian officials reacted with outrage.<br />
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Stuck for an unknown amount of time on a strip of road between the two countries' checkpoints, those fleeing violence in their homelands pitched tents and settled in. But frustrations were on the rise. As a police helicopter hovered above, migrants chanted "Open the border!" and shouted insults at Hungarian riot police. Some refused food and water in protest.<br />
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With a razor-wire fence completed along the Serbian border, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Hungary now also plans to extend the fence for "a reasonable distance" along its border with Romania.<br />
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Both Serbian and Romanian governments decried Hungary's moves.<br />
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"Raising a fence between two EU member states who are strategic partners is not a fair gesture from a political point of view, according to the European spirit," Romania's Foreign Ministry said.<br />
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Serbia's foreign minister declared it was "unacceptable" that migrants were being sent back from Hungary while more and more were arriving from Macedonia and Greece.<br />
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"(Serbia) wants to be part of the solution, not collateral damage. There will have to be talks in the coming days with Brussels and other countries," Ivica Dacic said in Prague.<br />
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The turmoil at the Hungarian-Serbian border came a day after the 28-nation bloc failed to come up with a united immigration policy at a contentious meeting in Brussels. The ministers did agree to share responsibility for 40,000 people seeking refuge in overwhelmed Italy and Greece and spoke hopefully of reaching an eventual deal — next month or by the end of the year — on which EU nations would take 120,000 more refugees, including some from Hungary.<br />
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austria called Tuesday for a special European Union summit next week to discuss the continent's immigration crisis.<br />
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Hungary, however, was not pinning its hopes on any action soon from Brussels or its neighbors. Tuesday's state of emergency in two southern regions gave authorities greater powers to deal with the crisis, allowing them to shut down roads and speed up asylum court cases.<br />
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In the last few months, Hungary has become a major bottleneck and entry point into the European Union for migrants, many of them war refugees from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, however, has insisted that most arriving are economic migrants seeking a better life, not war refugees entitled to protection — a view sharply at odds with other EU nations, including Germany.<br />
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The new laws that took effect at midnight in Hungary now make it a crime to cross or damage a 4-meter (13-foot) razor-wire fence the government has built along the southern border with Serbia and also includes longer prison terms for convicted human traffickers.<br />
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"Due to the situation caused by mass migration, the Hungarian government declares a state of crisis," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told reporters in the southern city of Szeged. "We are very clear on this: Illegal border crossing is a crime."<br />
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Technically, parliament must still approve the deployment of the military, expected next week, but Associated Press reporters at the border have seen heavily armed military personnel with vehicles and dogs for days.<br />
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Gyorgy Bakondi, homeland security adviser to Orban, said authorities caught 155 people trying to cross into the country illegally. They got across by damaging the fence, are now in police custody and are being charged with committing offenses under the new laws. Authorities are quickly repairing the fence.<br />
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Hungarian officials also closed several of the seven border crossings with Serbia on Tuesday morning after deploying a train car covered with razor wire to close one of them. Two crossings were still open for regular traffic.<br />
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Chaos enveloped the main border crossing near Roszke, Hungary, as the Hungarians opened a tiny office in a metal container to process people and crowds pressed to squeeze inside. About 20 managed to get in, but thousands remained outside.<br />
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Another group of migrants blocked the main highway connecting Serbia and Hungary, saying they were refusing food and water until they are allowed to cross into Hungary. "No food, no water until open border," read one sign in English held up by a migrant.<br />
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Elsewhere along the migration route from the Middle East into Europe, asylum-seekers were considering what path to take into Europe with Hungary's border closed and Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands reintroducing border controls in recent days to manage the largest refugee crisis Europe has seen since World War II.<br />
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Abolfazl Ebrahimi, a 17-year-old Afghan who was in Athens on Tuesday, said his group plans to pass through Croatia now that Hungary's border is closed.<br />
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"I thought that European people are kind and they will give us rights, but I don't think so (anymore) because the borders between Germany and Austria are closed, and Serbia and Hungary are closed too," he said, speaking at Victoria Square in central Athens.<br />
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Those who managed to make it into Hungary on Monday were grateful to be boarding buses for Austria.<br />
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Zakariah Sharfo, a mechanic from the Syrian city of Aleppo, said he couldn't understand the new hard-line Hungarian laws.<br />
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"Those who leave their country are fleeing because of the pressures of war," he said. "To escape death for a better life and to escape the pressures in our country. No one would leave their country without a good reason."<br />
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Migrants had rushed to beat the Hungarian deadline. A record 9,380 migrants entered Hungary on Monday, beating the previous record of 5,809 set just a day earlier.<br />
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Some 200,000 migrants have entered Hungary so far in 2015, nearly all by walking across the southern border with Serbia. Almost all, however, are on their way to Germany or other wealthy Western European nations.

HUNGARY SEALS BORDER & DETAINS MIGRANTS, DECLARES EMERGENCY

Declaring a state of emergency, Hungary sealed off its southern border with Serbia on Tuesday and detained those trying to enter illegall...

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