U.S. building $100 million drone base in central Niger

     DAKAR (Reuters) -- The United States military said on Friday it is building a $100 million temporary base for surveillance drones in Agadez, central Niger, to help the West African country combat militant groups and protect its borders.

     Niger, a security ally of the West, is grappling simultaneously with incursions from jihadist group Boko Haram across its southern border with Nigeria as well as roaming al Qaeda-linked groups in its vast desert spaces.

     Security sources have also expressed concern about a possible southern influx of Islamic State fighters into Niger and Chad from Libya where they are retreating from Libyan forces.

    "At the request of, and in close coordination with, the Government of Niger, United States Africa Command is establishing a temporary, expeditionary cooperative security location in Agadez, Niger," said a U.S. Africa Command spokesperson in an emailed response to Reuters.

    "Agadez is an ideal, central location to enable ISR collection (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to face the security threat across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin region," she said.          The $100 million covered initial costs for construction, fuel and equipment.

     Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou was re-elected in March having promised to boost security in the poor, semi-arid state. However, the southern region of Diffa, which borders the Boko Haram stronghold in northeastern Nigeria, is still in a state of emergency and subject to regular attacks.

     Government officials in Niger were not immediately available for comment on Friday.

     The United States first said it was considering establishing a drone facility adjacent to an existing Agadez airbase in 2014.

    It already has forces in Niger's capital Niamey and will eventually relocate them to Agadez, the U.S. Africa Command spokesperson added. Intelligence gathered by the drones will be shared with other partners in the region such as Nigeria, Chad, Mali among others, she said.

     Agadez is also a major transit point for African migrants seeking a northwards path towards Europe.

     The new facility is the latest example of the United States' deepening military ties with the fragile Sahel region, a semi-arid band stretching from Senegal to Sudan.

     In May, it signed a defense deal with Senegal to ease the deployment of troops to the country.

     France also has strong military ties with Niger, including a base in northern Niger, and has 3,500 troops spread across the Sahel combating Islamist fighters.

Russia Ups the Ante with more warplanes in Syria

Russian SU-34's

     MOSCOW/BEIRUT -- As ceasefire talks falter Russia is sending more warplanes to Syria reports a Russian newspaper on Friday.

     Fighting continued to intensify a week into a new Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to capture rebel-held eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.

     Moscow and Assad spurned a U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire agreed to this month and launched attacks on rebel-held areas in Aleppo in potentially the most decisive battle in the Syrian civil war.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone for a third straight day, with the top Russian diplomat saying Moscow was ready to consider more ways to normalize the situation in Aleppo.

     But Lavrov criticized Washington's failure to separate moderate rebel groups from those the Russians call terrorists, which had allowed forces led by the group formerly known as the Nusra front to violate the U.S.-Russian truce agreed on Sept. 9.

     The United States made clear on Friday that it would not, at least for now, carry through on the threat it made on Wednesday to halt the diplomacy if Russia did not take immediate steps to halt the violence.

     "This is on life support, but it's not flat-lined yet," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. "We have seen enough that we don't want to definitively close the door yet."

     In a 40-minute discussion with Syrians, diplomats and others on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York last week, Kerry said the administration had failed to make any threat of military force that give him leverage with Russia.

     "I think you're looking at three people, four people in the administration who have all argued for use of force, and I lost the argument," Kerry told the group, according to a recording of the session obtained by The New York Times.

     Western countries accuse Russia of war crimes, saying it has targeted civilians, hospitals and aid deliveries in recent days to crush the will of 250,000 people trapped inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war.

     Moscow and Damascus say they have targeted only militants.

     Russia joined the war a year ago, tipping the balance of power in favour of Assad, who is also supported by Iranian ground forces and Shi'ite militia from Lebanon and Iraq.

     The Kremlin said on Friday there was no time frame for its military operation in Syria. The main result of Russian air strikes over the past year is that "neither Islamic State, nor al Qaeda nor the Nusra Front are now sitting in Damascus", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

     Russia's Izvestia newspaper reported that a group of Su-24 and Su-34 warplanes had arrived at Syria's Hmeymim base.

Russian Airborne Forces hold joint exercise in Egypt

     Moscow(TASS) --- The Russian Defence Ministry has announce that Russian Airborne Troops will be holding their first ever joint exercise in Africa this month. The exercise will be conducted in Egypt with the Egyptian military and consist of the destruction of illegal armed formations in the desert. The two countries hope to develop a common approach to the issues of interaction in joint actions. There will be observers from over 30 countries monitoring the exercise.

Massive rejection of EU refugee quota’s in Hungarian referendum

     BUDAPEST – The results were staggering and there’s no way Brussels can interpret it any other way then a clear rejection of their quotas. Even though the referendum is not binding to Brussels they’ll clearly know that Hungarians are pissed.

     On Sunday some 3.249 million Hungarians turned out to the polls which is larger that the total that voted in joining the EU (3.056 million) back in 2004. With Hungary’s Prime Minister leading the charge, the people voted 98.3 percent NO rejecting Brussels quotas.

     Sadly the National Election Office said only 40 percent of around 8.26 million eligible people had cast a valid vote. This is less than the 50 percent needed to legitimize the result in the eyes of Brussels. Final results are expected next week.

     Opposition parties naturally pounced on the results saying it would do nothing and only undermine Hungary’s ability to bargain in the issue. Leftist opposition party DK have as usual called for Prime Minister Orban to step down. Regardless of the turnout the results give Brussels a clear message and that’s no to the flood of illegal immigrants.

Hungary's Muslims caught in the middle of Sundays referendum

     Budapest - As Hungary prepares for Sunday’s referendum on EU refugee quotas some local Hungarian Muslims are complaining about an increase of hatred directed towards them. They’ve been assaulted, knocked off bikes and sworn at. Prime Minister Viktor Orban is backing a "No" vote and his government have plastered lampposts and billboards nationwide with posters linking immigration with terrorism and crime. Sadly with the dictatorial powers of Brussels they can and will impose the quota whether Hungary likes it or not. Naturally left wing groups like Amnesty International are hard at work trying to push the YES side but they’re expected to be fighting a loosing battle as the NO side is far ahead in the polls. At least they can say no and thumb their noses at Brussels.

     Hungary has to look after Hungary and can’t be the dumping ground for all these refugees. While I feel sorry for the thousands of local Hungarian born Muslims that are swept up in this issue they have to expect it when their country is being flooded with 10’s of thousands of illegal Muslim refugee. Those numbers in a country of under 10 million people can weaken or destroy the cultural fabric of the nation.

Bulgaria bans Islamic veil

     Sofia – The Bulgarian Parliament joined a growing number of other EU countries in banning the burqa in public. The law specifically bans the wearing in public clothing that partially or completely covers the face referring to the burqa or the more common niqab. Punishment for wearing it in public will be a fine of 200 leva (103 euros), rising to 1,500 leva for repeat offences. Bulgaria does have a centuries-old Muslim community dating back to the Ottoman occupation but for the most part they generally wear just a simple scarf to cover their hair. With all the illegal refugees pouring into Europe Bulgaria has started to see more and more Muslims wearing the burqa. Some towns had already enacted local legislation prohibiting its wearing but the central government felt it was time to enact a nationwide ban. The Turkish minority opposition party MDL voted against the ban. Left wing groups like Amnesty International have criticized the ban.

     Elsewhere in Europe a recent poll has shown Britons are strongly in favour of banning the burqa. France and Belgium have both banned the burqa or niqab and Switzerland's lower house this week narrowly approved a draft bill on a nationwide ban. In August Germany's interior minister came out in favour of a partial ban. A poll published earlier this month showed Britons to be strongly in favour of a burqa ban.

One more example of the litany of anti-Trump censorship on the Main Stream Media

     In Howell, New Jersey a retired police officer helped rescue a 4-month old baby left locked inside a sweltering car. The networks including CNN picked up on the story calling him heroic. When they first aired an interview with him he happened to be wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. The next time CNN aired the interview they deliberately blurred out the the logo. Heavens forbid CNN that a Trump supporter could actually be a hero. I guess it doesn’t fit in with the “Clinton” News Networks political propaganda spin.  

First interview

Second interview