Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

The European Union Times


Posted: 29 Sep 2014 03:25 PM PDT


Bigger than the Islamic State threat, Iran and its nuclear program yet again haunted Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at the UN General Assembly. The Israeli PM also has photo-proof with him of Hamas using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
“Make no mistake, ISIS (Islamic State) must be defeated. But to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war,” Netanyahu said at the UN headquarters in New York.
“Iran’s nuclear military capabilities must be fully dismantled,” he added.
As for Tehran’s recent “charm offensive” for the West, its true purpose is to see the international sanctions lifted “and remove the obstacles to Iran’s path to the [nuclear] bomb,” the prime minister stressed.
Netanyahu called Iran’s concern about the spread of terrorism, earlier voiced by President Hassan Rouhani, from the same lectern “one of history’s greatest displays of doubletalk.”
He also slammed the countries, which now fully back US-led airstrikes against ISIS, but used to criticize Israel for their war against Hamas in Palestine.
The PM stressed that Islamic radicals from ISIS and Hamas share the same task “of imposing militant Islam on the world.”
“Hamas’s immediate goal is to destroy Israel, but it has a broader objective. When it comes to its ultimate goals, Hamas is ISIS, and ISIS is Hamas,” he said.
According to Netanyahu, the 50-day operation in Gaza this summer, which saw 2,100 Palestinians, mainly civilians, killed and some 18,000 homes destroyed, was Israel’s war against “global militant Islam.”
The head of the Israeli government put the blame for civilian casualties on Hamas, which, he said, committed “the real war crimes” by using ordinary civilians as human shields.
He refuted claims by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who accused Israel of conducting a “war of genocide” in Gaza in his UN address at the weekend.
Netanyahu believes that Israel can’t be accused of genocide as it gave advance warnings to Palestinians before shelling neighborhoods in the densely populated Gaza area.
Israel “was doing everything to minimize civilian casualties. Hamas was doing everything to maximize civilian casualties” by placing its rocket launchers in homes, schools and children’s playgrounds, he said.
The PM also blasted the UN Human Right Council, which sends “a clear message to terrorists to use civilians as human shields” by condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The Human Right Council “turns the war upside down” and is deserved to be called the “Terrorist Rights Council,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister also said that such common challenges like nuclear Iran and militant Islam provide a historic opportunity for Israel’s relations with the leading nations in the Arab world.
According to Netanyahu, Palestine can be reached though good relations with Arab world, but not the other way around as many thought before.
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Posted: 29 Sep 2014 02:55 PM PDT


As a US-led coalition continues to strike ISIL strongholds inside Syria, President Barack Obama says “we are not going to stabilize” the country under President Bashar al-Assad.
In an interview aired Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes” program, Obama acknowledged the contradictory nature of his Syria strategy.”I recognize the contradiction in a contradictory land and a contradictory circumstance.”
The US president explained that the military campaign against the ISIL terror network and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups was also helping the Syrian government.
Many militants who were initially trained and armed by the US and some of its Arab allies to fight the government of President Assad later joined the ISIL terrorist organization.
Obama has authorized airstrikes against ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria, but has repeatedly ruled out American boots on the ground in a combat role, a promise many experts say might soon be broken.
The administration hopes that local forces, comprised of “moderate” militants in Syria and military forces and Kurdish fighters in Iraq, would lead the ground offensive against ISIL, and recapture the lost territory.
As part of that strategy, the US Congress approved a plan earlier this month for the Pentagon to begin arming and equipping 5,000 so-called moderate insurgents in Syria.
Pentagon leaders have said a force of up to 15,000 trained militants was required in Syria to take on both ISIL and the Assad government.
In Iraq, the US has deployed about 1,600 troops to bolster security for American diplomats and facilities there and “advise” Iraqi government forces fighting the ISIL militants.
Earlier on Sunday, House Speaker John Boehner said the United States may have “no choice” but to send American troops to combat if the current strategy failed.
Obama said Sunday that the coalition’s military campaign had “a strong chance for success in Iraq” but added that Syria was “a more challenging situation.”
The president also admitted that the US intelligence had “underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.”
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Posted: 29 Sep 2014 02:34 PM PDT

For $10 a month, residents of New Orleans suburb can hook home cameras up to law enforcement surveillance grid just like in the USSR… at least this is optional and not mandatory, for now…
Police in Louisiana are urging residents to add surveillance camera security systems to their homes and then to hand over control of those systems to law enforcement, an effort they claim will help make neighborhoods safer.
Part of a sprawling surveillance strategy dubbed “Project NOLA,” citizens’ security cameras would be integrated with footage shot from other law enforcement cameras already installed around the St. Bernard Parish area near New Orleans, and would give the sheriff’s department the ability to tap into those cameras at a moment’s notice.
“All you have to do is, you can go to a map and click on an icon for that camera in that area and pull up that camera and it’ll give us a live feed from that area,” St. Bernard Sheriff Jimm Pohlmann told CBS affiliateWAFB, adding that access to cameras on private property would eliminate the need for police to visit homes in person. “I think the more cameras out there, the more successful the program will be.”
Started by former New Orleans police officer Bryan Lagarde, who now owns a digital surveillance wholesale company, Project NOLA is reportedly “the largest networked HD city-wide crime camera system in America,” according to their website, and currently has access to more than 1,000 cameras around New Orleans.
A $10 monthly fee is required for residents interested in granting police access to their existing home camera systems, but those who don’t yet have cameras can purchase entire kits from the officer’s business for $295. For another $150, you can also get those cameras professionally installed.
“This is great for NOPD,” writes Jules Bentley for AntiGravity Magazine, “firstly because they don’t have to pay for any of this, the costs are borne by the home or business owner and the increasingly grant-funded Project NOLA nonprofit and secondly because private cameras can do things the government’s not allowed to.” Like shirk pesky privacy or constitutional issues.
A network consultant also told Bentley that increasing the number of surveillance devices could compromise NOLA’s intended mission.
“With increasing transmission and storage of data come increasing risks to the security and soundness of the data and the network on which it travels… The larger and more complex a storage and transmission service is, the more points of vulnerability are multiplied as well as the cost and personnel needs,” the consultant said.
When asked if people’s home cameras could also be vulnerable to hacking, the consultant told Bentley, “That’s not a subject I’m comfortable getting specific about… Let’s just say any system is only as smart as its administrators. I’d say the intended functionality, Bryan [Lagarde] surrounded by monitors like Batman in The Dark Knight, is already weird enough.”
There’s also the fact that footage shot by homeowners’ cameras would be subject to Lagarde’s discretion. “Legally binding assurances of due process, security, and accountability: Project NOLA has none of these in place,” writes Bentley. “All the data from all the Project NOLA cameras and all decisions about who sees what rest entirely in the hands of Lagarde.”
One resident told WAFB he sees how the cameras could help police “keep law and order,” but he also raised concerns over the Big Brother-style intrusion and questioned whether police could possibly misuse their new powers.
“I’m all for it if it’s all for the good, but things do get abused,” said Mereaux resident Christian Delosryes.
Sheriff Pohlmann pledged, however, that police would never look at footage unless they needed to.
“We’re not gonna sit there and monitor it unless something happens in that area or we have reports of suspicious activity going on in that area,” Sheriff Pohlmann said.
Indeed, a surveillance camera system in the hands of a former police officer who operates with minimal accountability and who reports directly to law enforcement agencies should give New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish residents cause for concern.
        
Posted: 29 Sep 2014 02:29 PM PDT


Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for an investigation into the killing of seven civilians by US airstrikes in northwestern Syria as part of an alleged military campaign against ISIL Takfiris.
“The reported killing of at least seven civilians in strikes in which there may have been no legitimate military target nearby raises concerns that the strikes were unlawful under the laws of war and should be investigated,” the international non-governmental organization stated on Sunday.
It added, “The US government should investigate credible allegations of violations of the laws of war, such the strikes on Kafr Deryan, and publish its findings.”
Residents of the Syrian village of Kafr Deryan in Idlib Province have told the HRW that a series of missiles pounded a compound used by members of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, including a weapons depot, just outside the village last week.
The locals further noted that missiles struck two homes in Kafr Deryan moments later.
According to witnesses, who cited the casualties by name, there were no al-Nusra facilities or property inside the village.
On September 22, Pentagon spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, said in a statement that the US army and “partner nation forces are undertaking military action against…terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles.”
Since earlier this week, the US and its allies have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The airstrikes are an extension of the US-led aerial campaign against ISIL positions in Iraq.
Washington has been supporting militants operating against the government in Syria since March 2011. Many ISIL terrorists have reportedly received training by the CIA in Jordan and Turkey.
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Posted: 29 Sep 2014 02:20 PM PDT
A U.S Air Force KC-10 Extender refuels an F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft prior to strike operations in Syria, Sept. 26, 2014. These aircraft were part of a strike package that was engaging ISIL targets in Syria.
US-led coalition airstrikes destroyed grain silos and other targets in parts of northern and eastern Syria dominated by Islamic State, killing civilians while only wounding ISIS fighters, according to an organization monitoring war in Syria.
The overnight bombings hit mills and grain storage facilities in Manbij, a militant-held town in northern Syria. Coalition forces possibly mistook the structures for Islamic State holdings, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Monday.
The US military responded to the claims later Monday morning, according to Reuters, saying that Islamic State vehicles were adjacent to the grain storage facility, and that there is no evidence of civilian casualties.
The United States and Arab allies have conducted airstrikes against Islamic State and other jihadist groups in Syria since last week, and in Iraq since last month. The stated goal of the coalition’s bombing campaign is to cripple Islamic State operations, including bases, combat forces, and supply lines. Islamic State, an Al-Qaeda splinter group that reportedly has as many as 30,000 fighters in the region, has come to control large areas of Syria and northern Iraq since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011. The group is also known as ISIS or ISIL.
The destruction of grain silos in Manbij only killed civilians, said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, which claims to have a network of sources throughout Syria.
“These were the workers at the silos. They provide food for the people,” he said Monday. Abdulrahman could not offer an exact casualty count.
The airstrikes “destroyed the food that was stored there,” he added, according to AP. Neither Reuters nor AP could immediately verify his claims. The Britain-based Observatory was founded in 2006 and is chiefly opposed to President Bashar Assad’s government in Syria.


Manbij is between the divided city of Aleppo to the west and the northern border town of Kobani, near Turkey, which is controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces. In the pursuit of Kobani, Islamic State offensives have forced tens of thousands of Kurds to seek refuge elsewhere.
The Syrian army – which is not officially allied with the US-led coalition but is aided by any aggression against mutual foes Islamic State – also conducted air raids in Aleppo province Sunday night, hitting spots east of Aleppo city with barrel bombs and other ordnance, the Observatory said. Syrian forces also targeted the western city of Hama.
The US-led bombing campaign also hit an Islamic State controlled gas plant in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, wounding many of the group’s members, according to the Observatory. The airstrikes targeted Kuniko gas plant that feeds a power station in Homs that supplies electricity to several provinces and powers oil field generators, the Observatory said.
The United States and allies have said revenue-generating oil facilities held by Islamic State are a priority in the bombing campaign.
The US and coalition forces also bombed areas of Hasaka city in the northeast, as well as areas outside of the northern city of Raqqa, a main territorial stronghold for Islamic State.
The coalition against Islamic State includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan. Many European countries also are involved with efforts to strike Islamic State group in Iraq, including France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and Britain.
If the Observatory’s sources are correct about civilian casualties in Manbij, that would add to the 19 civilians the Observatory has reported have been killed by coalition bombings, according to AP.
A U.S Air Force KC-10 Extender refuels an F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft prior to strike operations in Syria, Sept. 26, 2014. These aircraft were part of a strike package that was engaging ISIL targets in Syria.
Human Rights Watch said Sunday that it confirmed with local residents the deaths of at least seven civilians – two women and five children – from a US missile strike on September 23 in the town of Kafr Derian, of Idlib province. The group said two men were also killed in the strike, but that they many have been extremist fighters.
“The United States and its allies in Syria should be taking all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians,” said Nadim Houry, the deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch.
“The US government should investigate possible unlawful strikes that killed civilians, publicly report on them, and commit to appropriate redress measures in case of wrongdoing.”
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 17:11