3189-ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? | View Thread

From a failed attempt to clear the Calais jungle to the appalling situation at the Greek-Macedonian border, the EU crumbles under the strain of a massive refugee crisis. Even the Kafkaesque Brussels Eurocrat construct admits it – off the record, because official EU must always project a mythical image of unity: “We are on the edge of an abyss”.

Across the EU and amidst Russian intellectual elites, scenarios proliferate on the imminent collapse of Western civilization, as a huge number of refugees cannot be properly assimilated. In Russia, this process is examined with extreme concern because it happens not far from Russia’s western borderlands, and involves what the Kremlin traditionally defines as our partners.

But what if this European slow motion debacle was not enacted as a Mad Max dystopia, but rather brought about by a tsunami of Muslims ultimately displaced by Western-engineered wars?

Behold Fortress Europe
It was only six months ago that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government took a huge gamble in adopting a so-called “humanitarian” refugee policy; call it the civilized face of the otherwise politically tainted R2P (responsibility to protect) concept, which was ruthlessly manipulated for the invasion and destruction of Libya.

Six months later, we have swarms of refugees stranded all along the Balkan Route – and progressively encircled/trapped by strict border controls, the disappearance of social benefits, creeping fences and walls, and the practical extermination of the Schengen accords. The Merkel gambit is over; Fortress Europe is back with a vengeance.

Can you hear the sound of a basket of myths crumbling? Here are a few. The notion of “European solidarity” – not to mention egality and fraternity. The notion that EU members would accept a sensible, harmonious, proportional distribution of refugees. The notion that Europe would not reject, deport and repatriate people fleeing from war zones. The notion that Turkey would protect the EU from the crisis.

The Balkan Route, for all practical purposes, is now sealed off to refugees while Ankara, for its part, is slowly building a wall along stretches of the Turkish-Syrian border – not as much to really contain them (after all Ankara must keep open the Jihadi highway), but as a propaganda coup.

Germany’s humanitarian refugee policy is in tatters and corroded by self-doubt; only two weeks ago Chancellor Merkel was wondering whether she should pursue «our European-Turkish approach» or whether the EU should order the absolute sealing off of the Greek-Macedonian border, pure and simple.

And that leads us close to the heart of the matter – which is of course Turkey.

The majority of German conservative politicos want Merkel to seal off German borders to refugees, while Merkel still believes in the Hand of Providence; help from «European partners» – which won’t come – and most of all from Ankara.

And that’s exactly where Turkey’s Sultan Erdogan wants her to be; as a supplicant, not as the leader of the number one European economic power.

Ankara’s power play
One of the key myths of the whole refugee crisis is that Erdogan’s AKP government is doing all it can to contain it.

Nonsense. The crisis itself was engineered by Ankara in 2015 – when refugees were released from their holding camps in Turkey under threat that they would not be cared for anymore. The refugee flood was not a «spontaneous» creation, as Syrians, Iraqis and/or Afghans suddenly decided to flee to the EU; it was directly instigated by Ankara. And Erdogan from the start was already contemplating the Big Prize; to bribe the EU, especially Merkel, to pay – at least 3 billion euros – so most refuges remain not on Turkish soil, but on one of his own neo-Ottoman sub-plots; a «safe zone» to be built inside Syrian territory.

Extra evidence pointing to Ankara’s plotting is the fact that Turkey has not increased patrols on its Mediterranean coast – the departure point for scores of refuges to try their luck by boat on their way to safety of the Greek islands. The priority for Ankara was to close the Turkish-Syrian border. Not really «close» it, as safe passage remains guaranteed for selected «moderate rebels».

The Warsaw-based European border control agency Frontex is absolutely convinced that the Turkey-EU refugee power play will continue. Diplomatically, Frontex’s director Fabrice Leggeriadvances that Turkey has to make it more difficult for the migrant smugglers.

Yet that won’t happen. And Germany – and the EU as a whole – will continue to be hostages of Ankara’s political maneuvering.

A EU-Turkey summit was held in November 2015. At the time, Erdogan promised there would be more security in the Aegean coast and more raids on migrant smugglers. Too little, too late. Turkey’s Aegean coast is 2,800 kilometers long. Ankara does not have the resources to police it properly.

So smuggling on a massive scale proceeds unabated. Smuggling rings with the right contacts – within Turkish police and AKP-related politicians – only need to pay roughly 3,000 euros for each group of refugees to clear the border and hit the sea.

In parallel, Ankara is clearly at war in Southeast Anatolia against the PKK Kurds. This is the number one priority, not smuggling of refugees, not to mention fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu could not be more straight to the point when he visited Berlin late last year: the Erdogan/Davutoglu Plan A is to annihilate the PKK Kurds. There is no Plan B.

Chaos, created then applauded
No one in Brussels will do it. So Frau Merkel ultimately would have to be the only EU leader to confront Erdogan and read him the riot act. It’s not only a matter of politely requesting Ankara to reduce refugee numbers. It’s to order him to do so; question him on why he released them en masse in the first place last year; and withhold any future financial rescue package, including the building of refugee camps inside Syrian territory.

The stark fact is that the whole refugee crisis – an existential crisis for Europe – is being used by Ankara as a bargaining chip for an elaborate extortion racket. Erdogan wants a tsunami of EU cash; and he wants a tsunami of concessions regarding Turkey’s negotiations for accession to the EU.

Meanwhile, there’s no concerted EU refugee policy to be seen. Not even a balancing act between humanitarian concerns and deterrence, altruism and realpolitik. No EU political leader will confront the responsibility of NATO’s wars (with petrodollar GCC support) crafting the whole crisis. The absolute majority of refugees are Syrians, Afghans and Africans who depart the continent via NATO-destroyed Libya.

Polls consistently show that a majority of EU citizens don’t want to welcome refugees anymore. As Belgium-based Jean Bricmont, author of Humanitarian Imperialism has correctly stressed, EU citizens who were never consulted on the issue of refugees and who are constantly asked to make sacrifices because ‘there is no money’ understandably do not accept this moral discourse anymore.

Bricmont is among the very few in Europe to connect the dots: The same people who encouraged ‘humanitarian’ interventions and ‘support’ for armed insurrections abroad, that have led to perpetual wars, generating a constant flow of refugees, are now demanding that the population of our countries ‘welcome the refugees’. They first generate chaos there, then they applaud chaos here.

Well, that’s the whole logic of the Empire of Chaos in a nutshell.

This piece first appeared at Strategic Culture Foundation.

Join the debate on Facebook

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). His latest book is Empire of Chaos. He may be reached atpepeasia@yahoo.com.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/8/2016 10:57:36 AM
	Russia calls North Korea strike threats 'totally unacceptable' 18 hours ago Undated photo released on March 4, 2016 shows a test-fire of a new large-caliber rocket at an undisclosed location in North Korea (AFP Photo/) Related Stories N. Korea threatens nuclear strikes over South-US military drills AFP N. Korea threatens pre-emptive nuclear strike on South, US AFP North Korea again threatens nuke strikes on US, South Korea Associated Press N. Korea, on defense after sanctions, makes nuclear threat Associated Press N. Korea, on defensive after sanctions, makes nuclear threat Associated Press La ciencia revela una crema antiarrugas mejor que LifeCell Sponsored  The Russian foreign ministry on Monday condemned as "totally unacceptable" North Korea's threats to launch pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States, and appealed to all sides to show restraint. North Korea's threat of "indiscriminate" strikes came just hours before South Korea and the US began annual, large-scale military drills, which usually provoke a hardline response from Pyongyang. "We consider the public statements (by North Korea) threatening its adversaries with 'pre-emptive nuclear strikes' to be completely unacceptable," the ministry said in a statement. "Pyongyang must realise that in doing so, North Korea is definitively turning its back on the international community and creating a legal basis for the use of military force against it," the ministry said. It added that Russia urged all sides to "exercise caution and restraint" to prevent the tensions from escalating into an armed conflict. The situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over new UN sanctions imposed in response. Russia -- which enjoys friendly ties with the reclusive Stalinist regime -- had on Friday already voiced "deep concern" after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered that his country's nuclear arsenal be readied for pre-emptive use at any time.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/8/2016 1:39:35 PM
	Jailed Palestinians' wives caught between pride, struggle By Hossam Ezzedine17 hours ago Khalida Muslih, the wife of Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Muslih, talks to journalists at her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani) View Gallery Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - When he was sentenced to life by Israel a decade ago in a murder case, Ahed Abu Golmi offered to divorce his wife so she could live freely, but she refused. "I love Ahed and we are still connected," said Wafa, who has taken care of their son and daughter alone since her husband went to jail. More than 7,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, with around 600 serving life sentences, including Golmi, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club rights group. The prisoners are often glorified in Palestinian society as heroes of the "resistance", but their wives are less noticed, often left to care for families alone. Women who indeed choose to divorce often do so quietly, with the subject seen as taboo. Khalida Muslih, 39, said she had no second thoughts in deciding what course to take when her husband Mohammed was given nine life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis. View gallery Wafa Abu Golmi pictured at her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani) According to her, being the wife of a prisoner serving time for attacking Israelis is something to be proud of, and she will never change her mind. When her husband was sentenced in 2002, only a year and a half after they were married, she ululated in joy. "All these years I have never regretted a thing," said Muslih, whose son was just four months old when his father was jailed. "I was proud to be the wife of a fighter, even if that meant depriving myself of many things and breaking my heart." - Hopes of prisoner swap - View gallery Khalida Muslih, the wife of Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Muslih, shows a portrait of her jailed hus … At one point, she went 12 years without being able to speak to him, but after a long legal battle, she was given the right to visit her husband. Now she can speak to him by telephone -- with a panel of bulletproof glass between them. Muslih says she maintains the "indestructible hope" that they will one day be reunited through a prisoner exchange. She prides herself on taking care of the family home that she and relatives of her husband rebuilt after it was destroyed by the Israelis in retaliation for her husband's attacks. She now works in a telecommunications company and takes care of her son. "Whenever I look at him, I tell myself that he lacks a father at his side," she said. As a result, "I am a mother, father, brother and sister to my son." It was for that very same reason that Abu Golmi, who was sentenced to life for taking part in the murder of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001, suggested to his wife that they divorce. Wafa rejected the offer, but says she knows "many women who divorced when their husbands were given life sentences". "Some did it because their husbands demanded it, others asked for it themselves," she said. Some Palestinian wives have come up with extreme ways of enlarging their families while their husbands are behind bars. Semen has been secretly smuggled out of prison in unclear circumstances to allow women to have more children, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club. It says that 35 babies have been born that way after more than 60 such clandestine transfers.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/8/2016 1:49:28 PM
	US strike kills at least 150 Shebab fighters in Somalia By Thomas Watkins, Laurent Barthelemy10 hours ago Islamist fighters loyal to Somalia's Shebab group perform military drills at a village in Lower Shabelle region, outside Mogadishu (AFP Photo/Mustafa Abdi) View Gallery Washington (AFP) - An American air strike on a Shebab training camp in Somalia killed more than 150 fighters planning an imminent attack on forces from the United States and its regional allies, the Pentagon said Monday. Related Stories US Airstrikes in Somalia Kill 150 Al-Shabaab Fighters ABC News [$$] U.S. Attack Hits Militant Training Camp in Somalia The Wall Street Journal Pentagon: US drone strike hits training camp in Somalia Associated Press Somali Islamists confirm U.S. strike, say casualties exaggerated Reuters US strikes hit Somalia training camp; drone report previewed Associated Press Wall Street Furious Over New Trading Algorithm Ultimate4Trading Sponsored  While the US military regularly conducts operations targeting the Al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Somalia, Saturday's raid had a greater toll than all previous such US strikes combined. The raids, which began in 2003, had killed between 113 and 136 militants prior to the latest operation, according to the New America foundation. Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the strike on Camp Raso killed fighters as they were completing "training for a large-scale attack." Warplanes and unmanned drones were used in the strike, about 120 miles (195 kilometers) north of Mogadishu. "We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and (African Union) forces," Davis said, noting that as many as 200 fighters had been using the camp. The US military has a small and secretive presence in Somalia, with a defense official estimating the current number of American troops in the country on an advise-and-assist mission at 150. View gallery US air strike on Shebab training camp in Somalia (AFP Photo/-) After a relative calm in the Somali capital, the Shebab have ramped up attacks in recent months, taking advantage of the apathy of the African Union's AMISOM mission and the weakness of Somalia's central government. Davis said the group had neared the completion of specialist training to conduct "offensive operations," declining to provide further details on the assault the fighters were allegedly planning. "Their removal will degrade al-Shebab's ability to meet the group's objectives in Somalia, which includes recruiting new members, establishing bases and planning attacks on US and AMISOM forces there," he said. The training camp had been under surveillance for some time ahead of the strike. "There was a sense that the operational phase was about to happen," Davis said. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the strike was carried out in "self defense," but he did not provide any detail on the threat the fighters may have posed. View gallery Somali soldiers and residents stand near cars and buildings wrecked in an attack claimed by the Al-Q … - Attacks on the rise - Shebab fighters have claimed responsibility for a string of recent attacks, including a twin bombing at a busy restaurant in the Somali city of Baidoa last month. Also Monday, six people were wounded when a laptop bomb exploded at an airport in Somalia, police said, the second such attack in recent weeks targeting passenger aircraft. The bomb exploded at a checkpoint in the small central town of Beledweyne, some 200 miles (325 kilometers) north of the capital Mogadishu, where last month Shebab insurgents claimed responsibility for a bomb attack which ripped a hole in a passenger plane shortly after takeoff. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest blast, which took place at a checking area where security screening is carried out before cargo and bags are loaded onto planes. On January 15, Shebab fighters overran a military outpost in El-Adde, southern Somalia, manned by up to 200 Kenyan soldiers deployed as part of the African Union peace-enforcement mission, AMISOM. Kenya has refused to say how many of its soldiers were killed in the attack. Shebab fighters are targeting AMISOM because in the absence of a functioning national army. The 22,000-strong force is the only protector of the internationally backed government the jihadists are committed to overthrowing. - More transparency on US strikes? - President Barack Obama's administration promised to publish in the coming weeks a casualty count from the air raids it has conducted since he took office in 2009. The toll is due to list both combatants and civilians the US believes were killed. Critics have condemned the lack of transparency on these raids, often taking place in unstable countries inhospitable to US forces like Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, where the United States is not officially at war.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/8/2016 2:23:34 PM
	MARCH 3, 2016 Europe’s Slow Motion Debacle by PEPE ESCOBAR From a failed attempt to clear the Calais jungle to the appalling situation at the Greek-Macedonian border, the EU crumbles under the strain of a massive refugee crisis. Even the Kafkaesque Brussels Eurocrat construct admits it – off the record, because official EU must always project a mythical image of unity: “We are on the edge of an abyss”. Across the EU and amidst Russian intellectual elites, scenarios proliferate on the imminent collapse of Western civilization, as a huge number of refugees cannot be properly assimilated. In Russia, this process is examined with extreme concern because it happens not far from Russia’s western borderlands, and involves what the Kremlin traditionally defines as our partners. But what if this European slow motion debacle was not enacted as a Mad Max dystopia, but rather brought about by a tsunami of Muslims ultimately displaced by Western-engineered wars? Behold Fortress Europe It was only six months ago that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government took a huge gamble in adopting a so-called “humanitarian” refugee policy; call it the civilized face of the otherwise politically tainted R2P (responsibility to protect) concept, which was ruthlessly manipulated for the invasion and destruction of Libya. Six months later, we have swarms of refugees stranded all along the Balkan Route – and progressively encircled/trapped by strict border controls, the disappearance of social benefits, creeping fences and walls, and the practical extermination of the Schengen accords. The Merkel gambit is over; Fortress Europe is back with a vengeance. Can you hear the sound of a basket of myths crumbling? Here are a few. The notion of “European solidarity” – not to mention egality and fraternity. The notion that EU members would accept a sensible, harmonious, proportional distribution of refugees. The notion that Europe would not reject, deport and repatriate people fleeing from war zones. The notion that Turkey would protect the EU from the crisis. The Balkan Route, for all practical purposes, is now sealed off to refugees while Ankara, for its part, is slowly building a wall along stretches of the Turkish-Syrian border – not as much to really contain them (after all Ankara must keep open the Jihadi highway), but as a propaganda coup. Germany’s humanitarian refugee policy is in tatters and corroded by self-doubt; only two weeks ago Chancellor Merkel was wondering whether she should pursue «our European-Turkish approach» or whether the EU should order the absolute sealing off of the Greek-Macedonian border, pure and simple. And that leads us close to the heart of the matter – which is of course Turkey. The majority of German conservative politicos want Merkel to seal off German borders to refugees, while Merkel still believes in the Hand of Providence; help from «European partners» – which won’t come – and most of all from Ankara. And that’s exactly where Turkey’s Sultan Erdogan wants her to be; as a supplicant, not as the leader of the number one European economic power. Ankara’s power play One of the key myths of the whole refugee crisis is that Erdogan’s AKP government is doing all it can to contain it. Nonsense. The crisis itself was engineered by Ankara in 2015 – when refugees were released from their holding camps in Turkey under threat that they would not be cared for anymore. The refugee flood was not a «spontaneous» creation, as Syrians, Iraqis and/or Afghans suddenly decided to flee to the EU; it was directly instigated by Ankara. And Erdogan from the start was already contemplating the Big Prize; to bribe the EU, especially Merkel, to pay – at least 3 billion euros – so most refuges remain not on Turkish soil, but on one of his own neo-Ottoman sub-plots; a «safe zone» to be built inside Syrian territory. Extra evidence pointing to Ankara’s plotting is the fact that Turkey has not increased patrols on its Mediterranean coast – the departure point for scores of refuges to try their luck by boat on their way to safety of the Greek islands. The priority for Ankara was to close the Turkish-Syrian border. Not really «close» it, as safe passage remains guaranteed for selected «moderate rebels». The Warsaw-based European border control agency Frontex is absolutely convinced that the Turkey-EU refugee power play will continue. Diplomatically, Frontex’s director Fabrice Leggeriadvances that Turkey has to make it more difficult for the migrant smugglers. Yet that won’t happen. And Germany – and the EU as a whole – will continue to be hostages of Ankara’s political maneuvering. A EU-Turkey summit was held in November 2015. At the time, Erdogan promised there would be more security in the Aegean coast and more raids on migrant smugglers. Too little, too late. Turkey’s Aegean coast is 2,800 kilometers long. Ankara does not have the resources to police it properly. So smuggling on a massive scale proceeds unabated. Smuggling rings with the right contacts – within Turkish police and AKP-related politicians – only need to pay roughly 3,000 euros for each group of refugees to clear the border and hit the sea. In parallel, Ankara is clearly at war in Southeast Anatolia against the PKK Kurds. This is the number one priority, not smuggling of refugees, not to mention fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu could not be more straight to the point when he visited Berlin late last year: the Erdogan/Davutoglu Plan A is to annihilate the PKK Kurds. There is no Plan B. Chaos, created then applauded No one in Brussels will do it. So Frau Merkel ultimately would have to be the only EU leader to confront Erdogan and read him the riot act. It’s not only a matter of politely requesting Ankara to reduce refugee numbers. It’s to order him to do so; question him on why he released them en masse in the first place last year; and withhold any future financial rescue package, including the building of refugee camps inside Syrian territory. The stark fact is that the whole refugee crisis – an existential crisis for Europe – is being used by Ankara as a bargaining chip for an elaborate extortion racket. Erdogan wants a tsunami of EU cash; and he wants a tsunami of concessions regarding Turkey’s negotiations for accession to the EU. Meanwhile, there’s no concerted EU refugee policy to be seen. Not even a balancing act between humanitarian concerns and deterrence, altruism and realpolitik. No EU political leader will confront the responsibility of NATO’s wars (with petrodollar GCC support) crafting the whole crisis. The absolute majority of refugees are Syrians, Afghans and Africans who depart the continent via NATO-destroyed Libya. Polls consistently show that a majority of EU citizens don’t want to welcome refugees anymore. As Belgium-based Jean Bricmont, author of Humanitarian Imperialism has correctly stressed, EU citizens who were never consulted on the issue of refugees and who are constantly asked to make sacrifices because ‘there is no money’ understandably do not accept this moral discourse anymore. Bricmont is among the very few in Europe to connect the dots: The same people who encouraged ‘humanitarian’ interventions and ‘support’ for armed insurrections abroad, that have led to perpetual wars, generating a constant flow of refugees, are now demanding that the population of our countries ‘welcome the refugees’. They first generate chaos there, then they applaud chaos here. Well, that’s the whole logic of the Empire of Chaos in a nutshell. This piece first appeared at Strategic Culture Foundation. Join the debate on Facebook Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). His latest book is Empire of Chaos. He may be reached atpepeasia@yahoo.com. More articles by:PEPE ESCOBAR
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

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Europe’s Slow Motion Debacle

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