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Islamic Violence Kills 1,500 In 30 Countries In November

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In the month of November, Islamic violence in 30 countries took the lives of over 1,455 people and critically injured 1,706. The record, kept by watch group The Religion of Peace, has been maintained since the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center in 2001.

Several attacks took place every day of the month in the countries of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, and Yemen.

TROP editor Glen Roberts noted on his webpage that in light of the spotlight on Islamic violence following the attacks in Paris last month and California this month, although anti-Muslim attacks have risen in Western countries, still just one Muslim has been killed by a targeted hate crime in America since the September 9/11 attacks. In the same amount of time, Islamic terrorists have killed 73 people in 33 attacks in the U.S., not including Islamic honor killings within the country.

Read more: Islamic terrorists have committed 25,000 separate violent acts worldwide that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths in last 15 years

The tallies do not include honor killings or deaths that result from motivations other than religious attacks, although honor killings are recorded by TROP. The numbers are also expected to be low compared with actual deaths and injuries because TROP can only count attacks that are reported, and is not able to count deaths that occur some time after an attack has taken place.

Roberts has written extensively on the subject of Muslims and the violence associated with the Muslim population as compared with other populations. He has stated that no Muslim should be harmed, harassed, stereotyped or treated any differently anywhere in the world solely on account of their status as a Muslim, but that the consequences of ideas associated with the ideology and culture of Islam should be recognized.

“The recent attacks are growing proof that Muslim migration is an unnecessary risk,” Roberts told us. “There is no benefit to Westerners that outweighs the inevitable security costs, cultural strain and sporadic loss of life.”

Third Protest At Chinese Embassy Calling For Release Of North Korean Refugees Detained In China

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Human rights group No Chain will be leading another protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, December 1st. The protest, which like the last two will continue the theme of “Free the Vietnam 9!” will take place between noon and 1 p.m.

The ongoing protests, Henry Song, No Chain’s North American director, said, “continue to highlight and bring attention to the nine North Korean refugees recently arrested by Vietnam and handed over to the Chinese authorities, and who are believed to be held in a detention facility in Tumen, China.”

Previously, the group issued a letter of protest to the PRC, and Tuesday another letter urging the Chinese government to not repatriate the ‘Vietnam 9’ will be delivered to the embassy, Song told us.

Read more: “No Chain” Protest To Face Chinese Embassy

This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to TheSpeaker.co and No Chain.

“No Chain” Protest To Face Chinese Embassy

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Another protest organized by No Chain will take place in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., Tuesday Nov. 24, between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., the NGO announced Monday.

The Tuesday protest will “continue to highlight and bring attention to the nine North Korean refugees recently arrested by Vietnam and handed over to the Chinese authorities, and who are believed to be held in a detention facility in Tumen, China,” according to No Chain’s North American director, Henry Song.

A letter urging the Chinese government to not repatriate the “Vietnam 9” will also be delivered to the PRC Embassy in Washington, Song stated.

Nine North Korean refugees who crossed the China-Vietnam border into Vietnam were arrested by Vietnamese authorities and handed over to Chinese police authorities in late October.  According to the latest media reports, the 9 are being held in a detention facility in Tumen, Jilin Province, awaiting repatriation to North Korea.

“It is absolutely reprehensible that the Vietnamese authorities arrested and handed over the North Korean refugees to the Chinese police,” said Song, “and now all eyes are on the Chinese authorities if they will continue their illegal and immoral act of forcibly repatriating the 9 North Korean refugees back to North Korea, in violation of their own responsibilities as a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.  Citizens, activists, and North Korean defectors will come out and show their concern and support for the refugees, and urge the Chinese government to not repatriate them but allow them to go to South Korea.”

This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to TheSpeaker.co and No Chain.

World Terrorist Group Kill Numbers Ranked

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According to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index by the Institute for Economics and Peace, five Islamic groups topped the list of the deadliest forces on earth deemed “terrorist.”

Islamic group Boko Haram, which operates mainly in Nigeria, but also in Cameroon and Chad, killed the most people in 2014: 7,512 — up 300 percent from 2013.

Islamic group Islamic State killed slightly less — 6,073 — in its Middle East conquests in 2014.

Islamic group Taliban took 3,477 lives the same year in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Islamic group Fulani Militants killed 1,229 in the Central African Republic, up from less than one hundred in 2013.

Islamic group Al-Shabaab — a group affiliated with al-Qa’ida — killed 1,021 people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia in 2014.

The Institute for Economics and Peace noted a rise in militant attacks globally — up 80 percent in one year and up 900 percent since 2000. In 2014 there were a total 32,658 deaths due to militancy, compared with 2000’s 3,329.

Terrorist attacks were up everywhere last year. While 80 percent of deaths took place in five countries — Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria — countries in which over 500 terrorist attacks took place within the year rose 120 percent. Sixty-seven countries experienced at least one terrorist attack resulting in death in 2014.

Many Western countries experienced terrorist attacks in 2014, including Canada, France, Austria, Australia and Belgium, but most of these killings were ascribed in the report to “lone wolf” attacks — contrasted against “Islamic fundamentalism.” The group cited right wing extremism, nationalism, anti-government elements, and other types of of political extremism and supremacism for these attacks. However, attacks numbers were relatively low in Western countries and all countries without an ongoing armed conflict.

Thai Human Trafficking Head Fleeing

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After half a year pursuing human traffickers in Thailand’s southern border provinces, Maj. Gen. Paween Pongsiri is reported to be leaving not only the national police force, but also the country.

Paween went public with fears the associates of criminals he had arrested during his shelved investigation would come after him. 

Unverifiable accounts also rumored that Paween had implicated a top military official in illegal activity, despite having received warnings about doing so, and had been removed from his post for this reason.

Police Chief Chakthip Chaijinda has accepted Paween’s resignation. The chief said he believed the officer had weighed his decision.

Police officials did not confirm whether Paween was fleeing Thailand, saying that even if he was taking his family elsewhere, it may only be for a vacation.

By James Haleavy

CNA Makes Recommendations For US Asia-Pacific Rebalance

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The Center for Climate and Security, in partnership with the Carnegie Mellon University Civil and Environmental Engineering Program, the Center for New American Security, and the University of Oxford released the report, “The U.S. Asia-Pacific Rebalance, National Security, and Climate Change,” Tuesday.

Dr. Leo Goff, program manager of the CNA Military Advisory Board, and Nilanthi Samaranayake, research analyst at CNA, coauthored the chapter, “Climate Change, Migration, and a Security Framework for the U.S. Asia-Pacific Rebalance.”

The authors concluded, “Working both bilaterally and through multinational organizations, the U.S. must apply sound migration principles, employ a migration security framework, and adopt best practices to find acceptable and perhaps even beneficial solutions to make migration a successful adaption rather than a source of conflict and strife.”

“While migration can be an acceptable and often beneficial response to a changing environment, security experts warn that mass migration has serious security risks,” the report had it.

“Mass migration can overrun existing social systems; result in exploitation of migrants; and in the extreme, result in conflict as cultures clash or nations take actions to forcibly prevent entry or settlement of refugees. As part of its rebalance and establishing a new security posture in Asia, the United States must work closely with partner nations and take a proactive approach to finding acceptable solutions to inevitable climate change induced migration.”

Following that logic, the report recommended a focus on South and Southeast Asia for migrants — the diverse region between India and the Maldives. The area was selected because of its climate change vulnerabilities and increasing ties to the U.S, as well as security and military considerations.

The report stressed planning ahead: “[F]ailure to plan or adapt … could lead to sudden onslaught of mass migration, which carries the greatest risk, not only for governments, but for migrants.”

By Whitney Doll

Evidence Of Chinese Torture Presented To UN

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“They would pour boiling hot water on us” — Free Tibet submits torture evidence as China reviewed at UN Director meets Committee Against Torture

Campaign group Free Tibet and its research partner Tibet Watch provided oral evidence to the United Nations’ Committee Against Torture Monday, following up their written submission detailing the continued use of torture across Tibet. The groups’ report “Torture in Tibet” contains graphic testimonies from torture survivors, records deaths in custody as a result of torture and details how Tibetan prisoners continue to face degradation, abuse and mental and physical torture.

The submission and presentation form part of the Committee Against Torture’s (CAT) review of China’s compliance with the International Convention Against Torture which the PRC ratified in 1988. China was last reviewed by the committee in 2008, when it found torture across China and Tibet to be “widespread” and “routine” and expressed “great concern” about reported torture and state violence in Tibet.

“Torture in Tibet” (co-authored with Tibetan political prisoner association Gu Chu Sum) records the testimony of Gonpo Thinley, jailed following the 2008 Uprising in Tibet:

“They tortured us using electric batons, metallic water pipes and handcuffs. If our answers didn’t satisfy the interrogator, they would pour boiling hot water on us. They also tied both hands up on the ceiling and beat us on our feet with batons. We were hanging above the ground. Sometimes they also used electric batons in our mouth, which caused us to lose consciousness. During cold days or winter, we were put in cold water.”

A monk who wished to remain anonymous reported:

“They made us stand up in the sun for hours, even for the whole day following every interrogation, because we didn’t say anything. One of my friends was tied to the flagpole in the centre of the government campus for two days and two nights without food and water. They shoved me down over pieces of broken glass spread on the ground and beat me a lot with batons after I’d refused to confess. They said we were like animals because we said nothing in between beatings.”

In February, the three Tibet organisations submitted an initial joint report to CAT, providing case studies of tortured prisoners and those at risk of torture and detailing breaches of the Convention’s requirements. The committee subsequently raised these issues and cases with China as part of the preliminaries to the review. China’s delegation will be questioned by the committee on Tuesday and CAT’s final report will be issued early in 2016.

Free Tibet and Tibet Watch director Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren said:

“In their responses so far, China would have us believe that there is no torture in Tibet and our evidence is false. Today we will be urging the Committee Against Torture to press for answers on the questions China would rather avoid. If the Committee’s past performance is anything to go by then tomorrow we’ll see China squirm under international scrutiny and be asked to account for the Tibetans who have been convicted on the basis of confessions extracted by supposedly illegal torture and those who have left Chinese prisons either dead or permanently injured by years of torture and abuse.”

By Alistair Currie

Paris Attacked At Bataclan And Other Locations

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Coordinated attacks struck Paris Friday night, leaving over 150 dead from gunshots and explosions. After a hostage situation began at the Bataclan Theatre, French police and military laid siege, killing at least three terrorists. Others died by bombs strapped to their bodies.

French President Francois Hollande ordered a national state of emergency, including the closure of the countries borders (not yet fully implemented at time of this report). Paris offices, schools, museums, libraries, sports halls, swimming pools and markets will be closed, but airports, flights and trains will continue service.

Before the attacks began, it was just another Friday night in the European city.

Shooting erupted in at least four locations. Within minutes, dozens were confirmed dead, and a group of terrorists took hostages at the Bataclan Theatre. Police and military raided this group, neutralizing them. Several terrorists were killed at this location after killing 100 others. Eye-witnesses reported one attacker shouted “Allah Akbar” before opening fire, while another spoke of French military action in Syria before escaping through a fire exit. The attackers were not disguised in ski masks, reportedly.

Paris was left in confusion and turmoil as the first curfew was enacted since the German occupation last century.

1,500 additional French soldiers were mobilized in the city.

The death count currently sits at over 150, making it the largest attack in France since WWII. France was already on heightened security after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January which killed 12 and injured 11.  Since that time, France has reported neutralizing at least five Islamist terrorist attacks, and it is widely reported that French citizens were expecting this attack.

Hollande traveled to the Bataclan within hours of the attacks, and an announcement was made that he would remain in France rather than attend the upcoming G20 meeting in Turkey.

“We wanted to be here, among all those who saw these atrocious things, to say that we will lead the fight and it will be merciless,” the French president told the nation from the location of the night’s deadliest scene.

Ombudsman Answers Breivik’s Charges Of “Inhumane” Prison Treatment

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Norway’s parliamentary ombudsman has visited the prison in which political mass killer Anders Breivik has been locked up since 2012, and reported Wednesday that the conditions of the prison could represent inhumane treatment as alleged by Breivik in his lawsuit against the Norwegian State.

Breivik has brought suit against his country for what he says are violations of his human rights as guaranteed under the European Convention of Human Rights — specifically the articles dealing with torture, infringements of private and family life, correspondence, and the right to marry.

Ombudsman Aage Thor Falkanger presented his report of the prison:

“The regimen in the very high security unit imposes very strict conditions on inmates’ freedom of movement and their possibility to have contact with other people.

“This, and the fact that in reality there is an extremely limited number of inmates in the very high security unit, means that this regimen represents an elevated risk of inhumane treatment,” Falkanger reported.

The ombudsman made several recommendations to reduce the risks of inhumane treatment, including more interaction with guards and inmates and a review of handcuff use.

In 2012, Breivik was convicted in the 2011 killings of 77 people — mostly family members of a political party with which Breivik was aggrieved due to their immigration policies. Breivik prepared for his attack far in advance and wrote a 1,518 manifesto detailing his history and beliefs, as well as his motivation.

Will Italy Bomb Iraq?

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Italy is ready to air strike regions of Iraq that are critical to the fight on terrorism, Corriere della Sera reported on the 6th of October.

The Italian newspaper claimed that the possibility of engaging in bombardment was taken into consideration by the central government in Rome after receiving a formal request sent by the Iraqi. The air strike, according to official sources, has not yet taken place.

The announcement created a wave of protests across all Italy’s political parties. Despite several requests for explanation inside and outside the Italian parliament expressed over the course of the past month, the situation remains unclear.

Italy joined the coalition against terrorism in the Middle East leaded by the U.S. but never took part in any military action. Italian forces contributed with recon missions and logistics. After the formal request, Italy prepared and deployed four jet fighters and one air-refueling aircraft to Kuwait ready to strike.

The president of the Defence Commission of the Senate, Nicola Latorre, declared that the request had formally been made by the official government in Iraq, but no decision was taken yet.

The opposition to the center-left government expressed its dissent calling for a parliamentary interrogation on the matter, claiming that considering an act of war without the consent of the nation would be considered a lack of respect of popular sovereignty.

The Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle) declared that it was unacceptable to apprehend from the press that Italy in considering to change the rules of engagement in Iraq. They also restated that dropping bombs on so-called “terrorists” won’t actually solve the problem, but it will create even more resentment toward the West and will eventually be the cause of even more violence.

Many commentators on the political scene observed that it is important for Italy to engage in such war actions against terrorism so it can eventually have a say on issues which directly concern the nation. The stability of the region of North Africa has a direct impact on the mass-migration fluxes that have directly effected Italy over the past four years.

By Cesare Baccheschi

Liberal Party Promises On Environment Highlighted

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Canada’s new prime minister Justin Trudeau was sworn into office Wednesday along with his new federal cabinet, including new Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna.

Canadian climate and energy think tank Clean Energy Canada, which is based at British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University, welcomed the new environment minister and highlighted the key points the Liberal Party had committed to so far in their promised “real change” environment policy, including:

  • Invest $100 million more per year in the growth and development of cleantech companies.
  • Work with the private sector to unlock venture capital.
  • Shift subsidies from fossil fuels to ‘new and clean technology’.
  • Support energy efficiency and electric vehicles.
  • Create a $2 billion fund to support projects that would cut carbon emissions.
  • Work with the provinces to put a price on carbon pollution and ensure more renewable, clean electricity is being produced.

Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada, made the following statement on the swearing-in of McKenna and the other new cabinet ministers:

“We congratulate Canada’s new prime minister and federal cabinet ministers, and we applaud the federal government’s commitment to take a new approach on climate change and clean energy.”

Smith mentioned the upcoming climate change negotiations in Paris and said, “We welcome this government’s efforts to restore Canada’s stature as a constructive voice in the upcoming global climate talks, and to collaborate with the provinces and territories to reduce carbon pollution here at home. Including climate change in Minister McKenna’s title signals how high a priority climate action is to our new federal government.

“Canada has vast, untapped clean energy potential and developing these resources is both a key climate solution and important economic opportunity. As the economic opportunities and environmental benefits related to clean energy span regions and sectors, realizing this potential requires an integrated, whole-government approach.”

By Sid Douglas

Brits Polled On China And Tibet

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A YouGov poll commissioned by campaign group Free Tibet on the eve of the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping has found that 69% of respondents agree with the Dalai Lama’s comment that UK policy towards China is about “money, money, money.” Just 8% disagreed with the Tibetan spiritual leader’s full statement, made in an interview in September: “Money, money, money. That’s what this is about. Where is morality?”

The poll also shows that seven in ten (69%) believe that protecting human rights in Tibet is more important than or as important as maintaining good trade relations with China. Only 14% considered human rights in Tibet to be less important than trade relations.

The poll arrives amidst widespread concern that the UK is unwilling to risk provoking Beijing’s ire with public support for Tibet or human rights. No members of the government met the Dalai Lama on his trip to the UK this September and on his recent trip to China, Chancellor George Osborne refused to be drawn on human rights in public statements, winning praise from Chinese state media for “not finding fault over the human rights issue.” Instead, Mr Osborne declared that it was Britain’s goal to be China’s “best partner in the West.”

Free Tibet director Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren said:

“Just last week in a meeting at the Foreign Office, Free Tibet was told that commercial interests do not drive UK policy on China. Our poll confirms just how few people outside Whitehall find that claim credible. The UK has sunk so low in its desperation to curry favour with Beijing that David Cameron isn’t so much rolling out the red carpet as lying under it.

“British policy on Tibet and human rights in China is shameful. Human rights defenders in Tibet and China are paying with their lives and freedom for standing up to China’s government while this government is unwilling to stand up to Beijing at all. The Dalai Lama asked ‘where is morality?’. Right now, it isn’t found in Downing St and the British people know it.”

Tibet campaigners will be staging demonstrations throughout Xi Jinping’s visit, including at Downing St on 21 October as Xi meets Mr Cameron. The will carry a large banner saying Cameron: has China bought your silence? Speak out on Tibet. A digital “advan” will also follow the president in London, carrying a Tibetan flag and a separate image of David Cameron gagged by a Chinese flag, saying Warning: Chinese president in town. Don’t mention Tibet or human rights.

By Alistair Currie