Russia Accuses Kyiv Of Ignoring Peace Deal | The Bakraoui brothers: from common crime to Isis | Common criminals who turned to terrorism
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Ukraine's government of failing to implement the Minsk cease-fire agreement.
Police tracked suspects after finding tell-tale signs during raids on Isis safe houses
Police tracked suspects after finding tell-tale signs during raids on Isis safe houses
Опасность терроризма в США by golosamerikius
Теракты в Брюсселе привели к введению повышенных мер безопасности в США. Для опасений есть все основания: террористические ячейки и террорсты-одиночки активны и многочисленны.
The security failures revealed by Sister Megan Rice at the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tennessee were legion, rooted in complacency and poor training. We must have a culture committed to continuous improvement. If people are to create an excellent security culture, they must be trained and certified as competent.
Numerically Small Peoples of the North an Ever Bigger Problem for Moscow by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, March 23 – When people in Moscow or the West talk about “nationality problems” in Russia, they typically focus on ethnic groups which, because of their large size, activism or political utility, have the status of republics or other state formations like the Tatars, the Buryats or the Chechens.
But one of the most serious nationality problems for Moscow today involves the large number small groups lacking that status but having another one: the numerically small indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia, and the Far East, groups who despite their size are increasingly a problem because of the natural resources in the places where they live.
In some ways, this is a problem of Moscow’s own making: it has created a status which at least in principle gives these peoples greater ability to defend themselves against the demands of the state and of those who want to develop the natural resources and now finds itself forced to move against groups it had earlier employed as advertisements of its solicitousness.
Two new articles highlight these tensions: one by Moscow State University ethnographer Dmitry Funk who talks about the ways in which this status has evolved and is now being used (postnauka.ru/video/61494) and a second in “Novaya gazeta” about Moscow’s heavy-handed use of the foreign agent law to move against these groups (novayagazeta.ru/society/72260.html).
Russians have long referred to the peoples of the North, but the category “numerically small indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East” arose at the beginning of the Soviet period and included some 50 different peoples, most of whom were engaged in traditional economic activity the Bolsheviks viewed as distinct and primitive, Funk says.
For most of the Soviet period, this group of peoples was considered “a special accounting category” more than one whose members should be given special privileges, and by the 1960s and 1970s, it had a stable membership of 26 peoples, who although they suffered from alcoholism and other social diseases were viewed as being on course to assimilate to Russians.
But at the end of the 1980s, Funk continues, “it suddently turned out that [these] 26 peoples had not fallen asleep, forgotten their languages, lost their cultures, and even if something had happened, they nonetheless wanted to restore, reconstruct and use them in their contemporary life.”
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Moscow scholar says, this category took on “a second life: in it were included certain peoples of Southern Siberia and thus there were now not 26 but 30 [such] peopes. [And] then gradually in the course of the 1990s and early 2000s, this group expanded and expanded and today it includes on the order of 40-45 ethnic groups.”
To qualify for membership, a people had to number fewer than 50,000, “be located on the territory of its ancestors, be involved in traditional economic activities, and maintain its traditional culture and language,” the Moscow ethnographer says. It is not enough to have a self-designator, “but you must consider yourself a separate people.”
The situation is complicated, and appended to Funk’s article is a discussion (http://postnauka.ru/faq/10578) of the problems Russian scholars and officials have had in defining national minorities, indigenous peoples, and related issues, problems that are inherently controversial politically.
Funk gives the case of the Altays as an example of such problems. The Altays as a group “are not included in the list of numerically small indigenous peoples. And for a long time in Soviet ethnography and Soviet scholarship it was considered that they were a single people, formed to be sure of various groups but having become a single socialist nationality.”
But at the end of Soviet times, “it turned out that whose who were listed as Altays still remembered that they were not completely Altays.” And “thus appeared on the map of the Altay Republic and on the ethnographic map new ethnic groups: the Chelkans, the Tubalars, the Kumandins, the genuinely Altays, and the Telegits.”
Some of these groups were successful in being classified as part of the numerically small indigenous peoples of the North, Funk says, despite the fact that officials in the Altay Republic “very much feared” that that state formation would be suppressed and they lose their jobs if all these peoples declared their identities as separate from the titular one.
According to Funk, “everything turned out fine” but only because in Russia “there is no direct correlation between the titular ethnic group and the status of the formation in which it lives. That can be a republic, an autonomous district or something else.”
There are good reasons why small ethnic groups should want to be on this list, the Moscow scholar points out. They not only acquire special benefits and subsidies, but they also acquire an enhanced ability to defend themselves and their way of life against outsiders, one far greater than the ethnic Russians who live among them and may live in much the same way.
“If you aren’t included in this list,” he continues, “then you will be dealt with in the same way the authorities deal with all other citizens of the Russian Federation. Then you will not have additional levers to defend the territory on which you and your ancestors lived, hunted, caught fish, and carried out your traditional way of life.”
Moreover, “if you do not have the chance to defend this land in this additional way, they various kinds of complex life situations can occur” as “it is no secret that the territories where the small indigenous peoples of the North life are rich in natural resources” including but not limited to “gold, uranium, mercury, oil, gas and coal.”
And “if you are not in this list … then you will find it much more complicated to defend your land and rights to the way of life you want to lead. This is important to preserve your culture because if you do not have a territory where you live in a compact way, then it will be very difficult to guarantee that your children will study their native language and maintain traditional values.”
Of course, Funk says, “this does not mean that the people will disappear,” but it does mean that those who don’t get on the list will be at far greater risk of losing their language and national distinctiveness. Indeed, “throughout Siberia, an enormous number of the peoples of the North have already lost their languages, but this doesn’t mean they don’t speak any language.”
In some places, they are acquiring the language of larger groups nearby such as Sakha; but in many, it means they are going over to Russian. “Nevertheless,” Funk continues, “people are preserving their ethnic identity, want it to develop into the future, and being on the list [of numerically small indigenous peoples] gives them this opportunity.”
The Moscow ethnographer concludes his discussion by noting that there has been one development that few anticipated: in many cases, members of the younger generation of such people speak Russian rather than their national languages and do not engage in traditional economic activities. But they still identify as members of these groups, especially if they are on the list.
What has appeared, Funk suggests, may perhaps best be called “a stratum identity,” much like the ones that existed in tsarist times. The current government of the Russian Federation must take this development into account as it deals both with the individual peoples of the region and with the combined membership of this category.
But as Tatyana Britskaya, who covers the Far North for Moscow’s “Novaya gazeta” newspaper, points out, the current Russian government seems to be far more inclined to try to suppress any activism by these groups lest they get in the way of its economic exploitation of the lands on which they live than to take their concerns into account.
The Moscow journalist describes the way in which the Russian justice ministry has declared the Batani Foundation for the Development of the Numerically Small Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East a foreign agent even though it has not investigated the group and even though the group has received no foreign funding.
Pavel Sulyandziga, the foundation’s head, says he learned about this action from the website of the justice ministry which declared that officials had decided that his group is a foreign agent within the meaning of Russian law on the basis of “an investigation carried out” by the justice ministry.”
He suggests that this Moscow action reflects clashes between the interests of Russian companies seeking to develop the North and the interests of the peoples of the North. “The root of the contradiction is the issue of strengthening the rights of numerically small indigenous peoples” to engage in their traditional forms of economic activity.
Moscow has moved against other groups linking together the numerically small peoples of the North before with the justice ministry declaring that the association of 41 of these peoples was in violation of the law. Sulyandziga said he had not been able to reverse that decision, but the association nonetheless a year later “renewed its activities.”
“Now,” Britskaya says, the activist intends to challenge the inclusion of his foundation in the list of foreign agents in court – as soon as he “receives official notification” that it is on that list from the Russian justice ministry.
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Есть ли в России экономический кризис?
Ссылка на источник - http://www.svoboda.org/media/video/27631273.html
Ссылка на источник - http://www.svoboda.org/media/video/27631273.html
Newsweek |
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 NPR |
Russia accuses Ukraine of ignoring peace deal
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Assad forces close in on Islamic State at Palmyraby Kareem Shaheen in Beirut
Amid intense fighting between Syrian troops and militants, accusations of Russian airstrikes against civilians continue
Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad and backed by Russian airstrikes are fighting Islamic State militants close to the historic city of Palmyra, a campaign that if successful would be a major symbolic victory for government troops.
But opposition activists from the city, which fell to Isis control nearly a year ago, accused Russian forces of indiscriminate bombing of civilians and destruction of homes and infrastructure.
Continue reading...On The Scene: Brussels Bombings Aftermathby webdesk@voanews.com (Heather Murdock)
Heather Murdock reports from Brussels, Belgium one day after the terror attacks that targeted the airport and a subway station which killed 34 people.
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- Fellow Russian Servicemen Report Death of 6th Russian Soldier in Syria; Widow DeniesLIVE UPDATES: Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) reports that fellow servicemen...
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Wall Street Journal (subscription) |
More Banks Steer Clear of Russia's Bond Sale
Wall Street Journal (subscription) The Russian government is struggling to find major global banks to help it sell $3 billion worth of sovereign bonds, putting into question Moscow's return to capital markets after a near three-year absence. Many European banks have ruled themselves out ... and more » |
Three Rules of Kremlin Power by By MAXIM TRUDOLYUBOV
Stalin and Putin follow the same playbook for being a successful autocrat.
Tatarstan’s Efforts to Help Gagauz De-Russify Outrage Some in Moscow by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, March 23 – In an article entitled “Incompetence or Betrayal? Gagauzia Learns to De-Russify from Tatarstan,” Ivan Shilov calls attention to and expresses outrage over the latest effort of the Kazan Tatars to provide leadership for fellow Turkic groups not only in Russia but in former Soviet republics like Moldova (http://regnum.ru/news/polit/2100106.html).
The Regnum commentator is especially angry about Tatarstan’s role with the 100,000 Gagauz given than Moscow has long counted on this ethnically Turkic but predominantly Russian Orthodox and Russian-speaking group to bring pressure, along with Transdniestria on Chisinau.
But his words also reflect the anger of many in the Russian capital about Tatarstan’s efforts to reach out to other Turkic groups not only inside the Russian Federation but across the entire post-Soviet space and its unwillingness to break ties with Turkey, despite Moscow’s insistence that Kazan do so.
Indeed, some Russian writers are now pointing to Tatarstan as an example of Turkey’s successful use of “soft power” inside Russia and demanding that Moscow take a harder line against it, even though doing so could provoke a new rise of nationalism among the Tatars. (On this, seeruskline.ru/analitika/2016/03/23/vliyanie_turcii_v_tatarstane_faktor_myagkoj_sily/).
To some extent, Moscow has only itself to blame. Not only did it promote Tatarstan as a link and model for the Crimean Tatars after the annexation of that Ukrainian peninsula, but it has generally welcomed Kazan’s support for cultural activities in other Turkic republics in Russia (nazaccent.ru/content/19675-tatarstan-podderzhit-razvitie-tatarskoj-kultury-v.html).
But Shilov’s article suggests that many in Moscow are outraged by cooperation between Kazan and Komrat and especially by the comments of participants in meetings between them in Kazan last week (nazaccent.ru/content/19772-v-kazani-projdut-dni-gagauzskoj-kultury.html, and
According to Shilov, “the authorities of Gagauzia intend to study and introduce in the autonmy the experience of Tatarstan on ‘the preservation and development of native language’ and ‘the realization of bilingualism.’”
Rimma Ratnikova, head of Tatarstan’s State Council, told the Gagauz visitors that their two peoples have much in common because “at one and the same time we passed through the same historical path of the upsurge of national self-consciousness and the preservation of traditions, language and culture.”
The Gagauz leaders visiting Kazan, Shilov continues, were “particularly interested in the issue of the preservation and development of the native language.” Gagauzia currently has three state languages – Russian, Gagauz and Moldovan – but government work is conducted almost exclusively in Russia. Some Gagauz would like to change that.
Shilov says that “practically 100 percent of the population” of Gagauzia speaks Russian, although he acknowledges that 92.3 percent of the Gagauz living in Moldova declared in the 2004 Moldovan census that they consider Gagauz their native language.
What is striking, he adds, is that the supposedly “’pro-Russian’” Gagauz leadership is suddenly promoting the Gagauz language at the expense of Russian and doing so with the help of the Tatars. In this, Shilov says, the Gagauz are pursuing precisely the line that “Russophobes from Chisinau” favor.
Indeed, the Regnum commentator notes, some in the Moldovan capital routinely criticize the Gagauz because they say that “the Gagauz autonomy is hardly ‘Gagauz’ given that people there speak Russian, educate their children in Russian and on the whole are oriented toward Russia.”
Shilov concludes his commentary by noting that Irina Vlakh, the bashkan (head) of Gagauzia was elected to that post “with the active support of the Kremlin and its ‘reliable’ Moldovan ‘partners’” and brought in many people from Chisinau to run things in Komrat. Now, however, she or at least some of her subordinates appear prepared to go in a different direction -- and with Tatarstan’s help.
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A senior Russian military officer has said Russia has a special forces unit in Syria carrying out reconnaissance and "other special tasks."
Bosnian Serb leader during 1992-95 war is accused of genocide
US Job Seekers With Criminal Past Don’t Want to Be Boxed Inby webdesk@voanews.com (Carolyn Presutti)
The miniature yellow truck whirls around on the concrete, polished shiny by its wide wheels. Wade Tate grabs the steering wheel with both hands, glances behind him and maneuvers the truck backward, then abruptly forward, as its oversized fork scoops up a heavy box. He programs it to lift: up, up, up, to the second level of shelving, where he gently places the box between two other boxes of differing size. For more than half of his life, Wade Tate couldn't even drive a car. That's because he was behind bars, serving a 25-year sentence after pleading guilty for two murders. "Everything I learned in prison, the trades I took, helped me to hold down a job like I'm doing today," says Tate. For three weeks after he was released, Tate applied for numerous jobs but never got called back. "My goal was to get a job,” but with a criminal record, he said, “it is hard to get one." The application box Many U.S. job seekers face application forms that ask whether they have ever been convicted of a crime and require them to check a “yes” or “no” box. Checking "yes" immediately excludes applicants from some jobs. But an international movement by civil rights and prison reform organizations is urging employers to "ban the box." Activists are pressuring municipal and state governments to reform the system. Just over 20 states now have some rules deleting the question from private or public applications. An applicant who passes that first round of winnowing still faces additional screening. Employers can ask the question in an interview and also conduct background checks. A main proponent of “ban the box” legislation is Maurice Emsellem, program director of the National Employment Law Project. "I think there is overwhelming support for rolling back all the damage that was done over the last couple of decades related to mass incarceration," says Emsellem. "The box has opened up a broader conversation about hiring commitments and policy reforms regarding former felons." The Obama administration gave the effort a boost last November when it asked Congress to "ban the box" on federal hiring applications as part of a larger initiative on "rehabilitation and reintegration of the formerly incarcerated." White House figures show 600,000 people are released annually from federal and state prisons. Getting their lives on track includes adjusting to family and neighborhood structures and supporting themselves financially. Having the 'conversation' But the “ban the box” movement has its critics. The National Federation of Independent Business opposes a ban for several reasons. Mozloom says his organization is against banning the box for several reasons. One is practicality. Because they operate small businesses, "our members don't have a human resources department. They are the HR department,” says communications director Jack Mozloom. “The owners advertise the jobs, pull the applications, schedule the interviews and conduct them. The ability to ask criminal records on an application saves time and money, which they don't have." His members have nothing against giving prospective employees a second chance, Mozloom says. But, "ban the box prevents the conversation from happening in the first place." The initial hiring application form for Kelly Generator & Equipment of Owings, Maryland, is in line with what "ban the box" advocates seek. It doesn’t include a question about a criminal background. But owner John Kelly doesn't want to see the rules encroach any further. Kelly says it’s bad business practice to keep information from a potential employer. He says a high level of trust – among him, his employees and their co-workers – has contributed to his company's success. "You know, I would hate to hire a comptroller or somebody for the comptroller position who had gone to jail for embezzlement,” he says. “For me to not know that before I hire him and then have him in a position [with] a fiduciary duty, I mean, that's just ludicrous for us not to be allowed to know that.” Kelly says that individuals cannot erase their past and that the truth must come out before a hiring decision is made. And, to make a proper decision, managers need as much information as possible. He doesn’t want the government to limit the ability to hire the best people for each position. Getting the chance Forklift operator Tate finished 14 weeks of classes through HopeWorks, a faith-based nonprofit that matches ex-felons with employers who will not view their criminal record as a deterrent. HopeWorks found Tate his job with DSI Warehouse of metropolitan Memphis, Tennessee. Ronnie Martin started the company and has hired several ex-convicts. "I think felons have to prove to themselves that they can handle the job. If they prove it to themselves, then they will prove it to me," says Martin as he helps load a box onto a truck. "I'd hate for someone to check my past too closely." Says ex-offender Tate, "If we don't ever get the chance, they [the employers] don't know how hard we will work."
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This month has seen President Vladimir Putin announcing the withdrawal of the “main part” of the Russian military deployment in Syria and confirming the deaths of five servicemen during the campaign that began on September 30, with the death of another reported independently. But while the Kremlin is presenting this as “mission accomplished,” the military operation is continuing in Syria, albeit more quietly, and the death toll continues to rise.
On March 17, three days after Putin announced the withdrawal, ISIS claimed to have killed five Russian soldiers over two days near Palmyra in eastern Homs. The group released a video, showing the body of one man and his equipment, and also published a photo of another corpse.
The equipment seen in the video includes a Kalashnikov AK-74M, festooned with tactical rail accessories and equipped with a thermal imaging system and suppressor.
Armaments Research Services (ARES) notes one particular piece of hardware that indicates the man was part of a Russian special forces team.
This is an MIB multi-function munition – a weapon adopted by the Russian military as recently as 2007 and associated with special operations forces. It can be deployed as either a hand grenade or a landmine, capable of deploying its own tripwires.
The metal detector, pull cord and several packets of Celox anti-coagulant agent would all be useful tools for a fighter out on reconnaissance missions in territory littered with IEDs and mines.
The Amaq News Agency, a semi-official press outlet for ISIS, while referring to the dead man in the video as an “adviser,” claimed that four Russian soldiers had been killed in a separate incident in the same area.
Amaq published a photo of one dead man and images purportedly taken from the cellphone of one of the dead Russians.
The deceased is clearly recognizable as one of the men seen in the photos. But while they are armed with Russian-made equipment and pose with the traditional insignia of Russian military intelligence, it can not be said for sure which unit these men served with. The distinctive bat emblem of Russia’s spetsnaz (special forces) was officially withdrawn in 2002 and, while still regularly used informally by such troops, it is also widely displayed by fighters outside the military intelligence directorate. The dead man is seen wearing the telnyashka or striped t-shirt of the Russian airborne forces (VDV), but once again, this item can be purchased elsewhere.
Could the men seen in the pictures be mercenaries instead of Russian spetsnaz? Such forces are indeed known to have fought on the side of the Assad regime, most notoriously Russia’s Slavonic Corps outfit which deployed to this same area in 2013.
Russian mercenaries, working for the Slavonic Corps, fighting in Syria | VK
Dr Igor Sutyagin, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told The Interpreter that it would be impossible to distinguish fighters from Russian private military contractors from other insignia-less special forces units. This is because unlike Western PMCs, these Russian companies are organised “to participate in combat operations” rather than provide security assistance. Kitted out by the Russian military and deployed as combat fighters like any others, they allow the Kremlin a degree of plausible deniability as they lack the usual paper trail of unit numbers and permanent home bases. This is especially useful if casualties are incurred.
That at least two Russian fighters have been killed in the Palmyra area in recent days should not be a surprise.
Russia has been building up a military presence in this area for a while now and, despite the “draw-down” is now working with the Syrian regime to mount what is only the second major offensive action against ISIS of the Russian intervention, the first being airstrikes in support of Syrian regime forces relieving the besieged Kweres airbase east of Aleppo.
Back in February, CNN filmed Russian troops with BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers, T-90 tanks, 152 mm howitzers and Kamaz artillery tractors on the front line near Palmyra.
On March 9, Kamel Saqr, a Syrian journalist, reported significant movements of Russian forces towards Palmyra, including armor and artillery.
He posted a photograph of a Russian R-166-0.5 signals vehicle on the move:
Two days before ISIS made their claims, Russian war pornographer Aleksandr Pushin, who specializes in drone videos from the battlefields of Syria, uploaded video of a purported ISIS attack, reportedly near Palmyra:
These forces have been pressed into action, with intense air strikes on ISIS-held Palmyra, supporting advances by regime and Iraqi Shia militia fighters on the ground.
On March 22, the Palmyra Revolution Coordination group, made up of activists opposing both the Assad regime and ISIS, released a statement claiming that Russian air strikes had devastated both residential areas and the nearby ruins of the ancient city.
According to the group, Russian jets destroyed a mosque and continue to use cluster munitions. They also report the use of Scud missiles, most likely by Syrian regime forces.
The indiscriminate nature of the Russian bombardment is testified to by reports from staunchly pro-regime sources that 17 regime soldiers were killed by a Russian missile on Monday in a “friendly fire” incident.
Russian state media is now citing Syrian military sources as saying that the regime has regained control over the ancient area of the city, while the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that regime forces are within two kilometers of the site. Yevgeny Poddubny, a star propagandist for Russian state television, tweeted at 13:44 GMT:
Translation: Battle continues in the immediate vicinity of Palmyra, the Syrian Arab Army has not yet entered the town. We’re following on the scene.
The recapture of the ancient city of Palmyra would be a huge propaganda boon for both the Assad regime and the Kremlin. The destruction of Palmyra’s historic artifacts by ISIS has been one of the most striking symbols of the group’s barbarity (perhaps even more so in some corners than their cruelty to the captives). Having already declared a victory of sorts, Putin could then claim the title of the defender of history.
But there are greater strategic factors that make the capture of Palmyra so vital for the regime.
The town sits in a sparsely-inhabited stretch of desert, on the road between Damascus, to the southwest, and Deir ez-Zor, and ultimately Iraq, to the east. It was on this very road that ISIS first advanced into Syria from Iraq in 2014. With almost no nearby population centers and open terrain, ISIS can move forces to within 200 kilometers of the capital without observation. The regime therefore sees retaking the town as key to ensuring the security of Damascus and Homs.
In addition, Palmyra is surrounded by some of Syria’s most productive gas fields, and serves as the hub for the vast majority of Syria’s gas production.
Fields in the area were expected to eventually produce 9 million cubic meters of crude gas per day. These included the Arak, Dubayat, Hail, Hayan, Jihar, al-Mahr, Najib, Sukhneh, and Abi Rabah fields, which according to a former industry insider have collectively been producing half of Syria’s output of natural raw and liquid petroleum gas. Palmyra is also the transit point for pipelines carrying gas from important fields in Hasakah and Deir Ezzor provinces in northeastern and eastern Syria respectively.
It is these security and economic concerns that drive the regime offensive on Palmyra, rather than a renewed commitment to fighting ISIS, just as the Russian “Slavonic Corps” mercenaries were deployed here in 2013
While Russian jets and helicopters have stepped up attacks on ISIS in Palmyra, they still ignore the terrorist group in the south, where ISIS has recently been the advance against Syria opposition fighters in the Daraa province, as they have throughout almost all of the air campaign.
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Obama: Defeating Islamic State is 'Top Priority'by webdesk@voanews.com (William Gallo)
President Barack Obama says destroying Islamic State is his "top priority," a day after the extremist group claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack that killed 31 people in Belgium. Speaking in Argentina, Obama also vowed to do "whatever is necessary to support our friend and ally Belgium in bringing to justice those who are responsible" for the attack. "This is yet another reminder that the world must unite, we must be together, regardless of nationality, or race, or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism," Obama said. "My top priority is to defeat ISIL and eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that has been taking place around the world." The group said it carried out Tuesday's bombings on the airport and Brussels metro in revenge for Belgium's role in the coalition fighting Islamic State. WATCH: President Obama's statement on Islamic State Since 2014, the coalition has been carrying out a campaign of airstrikes and raids on extremist targets in Syria and Iraq, as well as other Middle East and North African countries. Republican presidential candidates say the Brussels bombings, the latest in a series of IS-claimed attacks, are the latest evidence the White House is not doing enough to wipe out the group. Frontrunner Donald Trump explicitly advocated the use of torture in order to stop such attacks. Texas Senator Ted Cruz reiterated his call to "carpet bomb" IS and said law enforcement should "patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods." The comments drew sharp criticism from a wide array of political leaders, as well as from American Muslims, who say they are being unfairly singled out for something they have nothing to do with. Obama on Wednesday slammed the comments as "un-American," and "counterproductive," and defended American Muslims as "extraordinarily successful, patriotic, (and) integrated." "Their children are our children’s friends, going to the same schools, they are our colleagues in our workplaces, they are our men and women in uniform, fighting for our freedom," Obama said. "And so any approach that would single them out or target them for discrimination is not only wrong and un-American but it would be counterproductive because it would reduce the strength, the antibodies that we have to resist terrorism," he added. Obama, who just completed a landmark visit to communist-led Cuba, said he has seen firsthand the devastating effects of overbearing government surveillance. "I just left a country that engages in that neighborhood surveillance, which by the way the father of Senator Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free, the notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. It is contrary to who we are and it is not going to help us defeat ISIL," he said.
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Moscow Losing Ideological War against Islamists, Russian Experts Say by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, March 23 – Moscow has been relatively successful in fighting Islamist radicalism by the use of force, but it has been much less so in the ideological sphere, often committing mistakes that give its opponents an opening which they have eagerly seized to promote their ideas.
Perhaps the most horrific of these unintended mistakes, one Russian commentator says, was Vladimir Putin’s decision to exclude all holy books, including the Koran, from being examined as sources of extremism. That has made some Russian judges reluctant to examine materials that contain citations to the Koran.
And their reluctance, one analyst says, has the Islamists celebrating. “’Finally,’” they openly declare, “we have been given the chance to freely disseminate everything that we want. Allah protects us and the Koran preserves us from the judges of the Russian Federation’” (ridus.ru/news/215348).
But if that is the most egregious failure on the ideological front, it is far from the only one the Russian authorities are committing, according to Moscow commentator Yekaterina Trofimova, who on the basis of consultations with Russian experts points to a large number of others.
The Russian government’s support for immigration from Central Asia has allowed Islamist radicals from there to seize control of many of the mosques in Russian cities and transform them into recruiting centers for ISIS and other radical groups, according to Aleksey Grishin, head of the Religion and Society Center.
Moreover, he says, the Russian authorities have compounded this error by seeking the help of these mosques to adapt the migrants to Russian conditions. Thus, the Russian state itself is sending Muslims to Islamist recruiters and appears oblivious to the consequences of its own blindness.
Moreover, when it cracks down on migrants, it also fails, according to Georgy Fedorov, a member of the Russian Social Chamber. To the extent that its targets remain in Russia, they form underground mosques that are inherently radical; and to the extent they return home, they become a source of instability in their own countries.
Indeed, as a result of Russian government policies in this regard and the economic recession at the present time, Russia has been transformed from “an importer of Islamist extremism” into an exporter, something the Central Asian countries recognize even if Moscow does not.
Indeed, the governments in that region have concluded, Fedorov continues, that “the main path to Syria for these migrants passes through Russia” because that is where those who are now fighting for the Islamic State were first exposed to Islamist messages. They thus threaten Russia’s allies and Russia itself.
But the threat of Islamist extremism is not restricted to migrants, Trofimova continues. Galina Khriziyeva, a researcher at the Russian Institute for Strategic Research (RISI), says that it has domestic sources as well given Moscow’s failure to support official Muslim hierarchies, despite being asked, and the lack of the authority of those institutions relative to ones controlled by the extremists.
One of the reasons that Moscow has failed to understand this, Khriziyeva says, is that it is addressing the problem too narrowly. The issue is no longer that of recruitment for the Islamic state, although that continues, but rather “the formation of a new system of convictions” among Muslims who have concluded that they have the opportunity to seize power in Russia too.
As a result, Trofimova says, ever more mosques and soon some of the Muslim spiritual directorates (MSDs) have become centers of extremism without Moscow taking note. Indeed, according to Grishin, the center isn’t even in the position to provide advice to local officials on how to cope with such extremist actions.
When he worked in the Presidential Administration, Grishin says, “governors telephoned and asked how to respond in this or that situation” regarding Islamist activists. But neither he nor his colleagues had a well-developed set of advice to give them; and the extremists exploited that lack as well.
Just how bad things are as far as the official response to Islamist radicalism is shown by the following story, Grishin continues. One official who visited a summer camp for Muslim youth told him that the young people attending were told that “Muslims must love their motherland.”
That was true, the Moscow expert says; but if one listened to the tape, one heard that “’Muslims must love their motherland only if their motherland doesn’t persecute Islam.’” To another question, “must a citizen defend his motherland?’ The response was “’he must, but he must understand that where citizenship and faith are concerned, faith must take priority.’”
That is not a message, Grishin suggests, that the Russian state can afford to allow Islamists to deliver.
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Belgian newspaper says cab firm sent smaller car to pick up the bombers than the one ordered
At least one of the people named in the Brussels attack had been deported by Turkey with indications that he was a jihadist.
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Rolling Stones on YouTube Invite Cubans to Free Concertby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
The Rolling Stones are welcoming Cubans to their free concert on Friday with Mick Jagger speaking Spanish in a video on YouTube, though few are likely to see it, given Cuba's scant Internet penetration. "We have played in many incredible places but this concert in Havana is going to be a historic event for us," Jagger said in a voice over while the Stones' song, "Jumping' Jack Flash" plays to snippets of concert video. "We hope it will be for you, too." Less than one-third of Cubans have access to the Internet, with only 3.4 percent of homes connected to either the Internet or a local Cuban Intranet, according to U.N. data. The Stones added Cuba to the end of a Latin American tour, becoming the first major international rock stars to play in the island nation. The outdoor concert at a sports complex was postponed five days because of the 48-hour visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, who departed Cuba on Tuesday. The band have brought in 61 shipping containers with an estimated 500 tons of equipment, such as a stage, speakers, lights and video screens, the production manager, Dale Skjerseth, told reporters on Sunday. A crew of 140 Stones employees and at least 80 Cubans have set up on grounds including a football field and adjoining baseball fields with room for hundreds of thousands of spectators who are invited to arrive for free on a first-come, first-serve basis.
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Giant Arch to Block Chernobyl Radiation for Next 100 Yearsby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
In the middle of a vast exclusion zone in northern Ukraine, the world's largest land-based moving structure has been built to prevent deadly radiation spewing from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site for the next 100 years. On April 26, 1986, a botched test at the Soviet nuclear plant sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up. A concrete sarcophagus was hastily built over the site of the stricken reactor to contain the worst of the radiation, but a more permanent solution has been in the works since late 2010. Easily visible from kilometers away, the 30,000 ton 'New Safe Confinement' arch will be pulled slowly over the site later this year to create a steel-clad casement to block radiation and allow the remains of the reactor to be dismantled safely. "We've already gone through a number of very risky stages.... We always have fears, we are people, but there is nothing technical left that is a challenge," said Vince Novak, the Nuclear Safety Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EBRD has managed the funding of the arch, which has cost around 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) and involved donations from more than 40 governments. Even with the new structure, the surrounding zone, which at 2,600 square kilometers (1,000 square miles) is roughly the size of Luxembourg, will remain largely uninhabitable and closed to unsanctioned visitors. Nature has been quick to reclaim the area's abandoned infrastructure. Trees sprout from the rusted roofs of apartment blocks in the ghost town of Prypyat, built to house Chernobyl power plant workers. Stray shoes and family photos still fixed to bedroom walls show the speed with which families were evacuated. The upcoming 30th anniversary of the disaster has shone a new light on the long-term human impact of the worst nuclear meltdown in history. The official short-term death toll from the accident was 31 but many more people died of radiation-related illnesses such as cancer. The total death toll and long-term health effects remain a subject of intense debate. On Wednesday, Ukrainians who were involved in the cleanup of Chernobyl - the so-called "liquidators" - protested in central Kyiv to demand the government acknowledge their sacrifice with improved social benefits. "Thirty years ago, when we were young, we were saving the whole Earth from a nuclear explosion. And now no one needs us. Absolutely no one," said one of the protesters, former liquidator Lidia Kerentseva.
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A continent that was once a model is now ridiculed as weak, divided and nearing a breakup.
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