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France warns the entire European project is in ‘very grave danger’

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EU leaders consider two-year suspension of Schengen rules

Leaders will consider emergency measures to reintroduce internal borders at meeting on Monday, as France warns the entire European project is in ‘very grave danger’

TelegraphUK: The Schengen system of free movement could be suspended for two years under emergency measures to be discussed by European ministers on Monday, as the French Prime Minister warned the crisis could bring down the entire European Union.

Manuel Valls said that the “very idea of Europe” will be torn apart until the flows of migrants expected to surge in spring are turned away.

On Monday, interior ministers from the EU will meet in Amsterdam to discuss emergency measures to allow states to reintroduce national border controls for two years.

The powers are allowed under the Schengen rules, but would amount to an unprecedented abandonment of the 30-year old agreement that allows passport-free travel across 26 states.

The measure could be brought in from May, when a six-month period of passport checks introduced by Germany expires. The European Commission would have to agree that there are “persistent serious deficiencies” in the Schengen zone’s external border to activate it.

“This possibility exists, it is there and the Commission is prepared to use it if need be,” said Natasha Bertaud, a spokesman for Jean-Claude Juncker.

Greece has been blamed by states for failing to identify and register hundreds of thousands of people flowing over its borders.

Other states that have introduced emergency controls are Sweden, Austria, France, Denmark and Norway, which is not in the EU but is in Schengen.

“We’re not currently in that situation,” Ms Bertaud added. “But interior ministers will on Monday in Amsterdam have the opportunity to discuss and it’s on the agenda what steps should be taken or will need to be taken once we near the end of the maximum period in May.”

Theresa May, the British Home Secretary, will attend the meeting.

in numbers

European refugee crisis

Pic: Action Press/REX Shutterstock

1 million

Refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe via illegal routes

38 percent

Proportion of migrants who are from Syria

1,200,000

Syrian refugees being housed in Lebanon – a country 100 times smaller than Europe

One in five

Proportion of people in Lebanon who are refugees

1 in 122

According to the head of the UN refugee agency, one in 122 people is a refugee

1.2 percent

Proportion of migrants who land in Italy and Greece, then get as far as Calais

100,000

Illegal migrants were stopped from entering Britain by UK Border Force officials in 2015

15 per cent

Proportion of female refugees from Syria who are pregnant in Turkey

Data as of November 2015

In a further blow, Mr Valls said that France would keep its state of emergency, which has included border checks, until the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant network is destroyed.

“It is a total and global war that we are facing with terrorism,” he said.

He warned that without proper border controls to turn away refugees, the 60-year old European project could disintegrate.

“It’s Europe that could die, not the Schengen area. If Europe can’t protect its own borders, it’s the very idea of Europe that could be thrown into doubt. It could disappear, of course – the European project, not Europe itself, not our values, but the concept we have of Europe, that the founding fathers had of Europe.

Migrants help children go over a fence as refugees waits to cross the Slovenian-Austrian border in Sentilj, Slovenia

“Yes, that is in very grave danger. That’s why you need border guards, border controls on the external borders of the European Union.”

He said Europe must tell refugees that they cannot expect to reach Europe.

“We cannot say or accept that all refugees can be welcomed in Europe,”

“Germany is faced with a major challenge. We need to help Germany. But the first message we need to send now is with the greatest of firmness is to say that we will not welcome all the refugees in Europe. Because a message that says come, you will be welcome, provokes major shifts,” he told the BBC.

Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Prime Minister, said that a fence should be erected on the Macedonian and Bulgarian borders with Greece to curb the inflow of migrants into Europe.

Stefan Lofven, the Swedish Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister, and Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, have each in the past week said that leaders have until March to save the Schengen zone.

Jean-Claude Juncker has warned that is the Schengen zone dies then the euro and the single market could follow.

The Schengen Agreement

What is it?

An agreement, signed in 1985 in the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, to remove border checks within Europe. It means anyone, regardless of nationality, can move freely between member states without showing a passport or visa

Who is a member?

Not the UK. But most EU states are in, as are Switzerland, Iceland and Norway. In total, 26 countries comprising 400 million people

Why is it under strain?

Terrorists and mass migration. Police checks have been brought in on the Italian border at the request of Bavaria, amid a wave of non-EU migrants attempting to reach Germany. Angela Merkel warns the system will be pulled apart unless countries share asylum seekers. And Belgium wants more ID checks on trains in the wake of the Thalys train terrorist attack

Are checks legal?

Police are allowed to make targeted ‘security’ checks on the border, and states can impose border controls in an emergency or for major events for up to 30 days. But permanent, systematic checks on passports are forbidden

What does the European Union say?

Jean Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, says the system is non-negotiable, irreversible, and the EU’s greatest achievement

What do Eurosceptics say?

“Schengen has now hit the buffers of the real world and is falling apart,” says Nigel Farage, Ukip leader

 

Austria announced on Wednesday that it planned to limit the number of people allowed to apply for asylum to 1.5 percent of its population over the next four years, or 37,500.

The move piles more pressure on Angela Merkel, who is facing intense demands from her conservative allies to follow suit.

EU border agency Frontex said on Friday some 108,000 migrants arrived in December in Greece.

That compares to 150,000 arrivals in November and puts the total for Greece and Italy at 1.04 million in 2015, or five times as many as in 2014, Frontex said.

Crossings have slowed due to the cold weather, and are expected to surge when the spring returns.

DHS is Not Deporting Visa Overstays

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The numbers are staggering but just for the time period of 2015, 482,000 are residing in the United States illegally. This number is clearly worse than those numbers coming in from the southern border.

DHS admits it’s not deporting most visa overstays

WashingtonExaminer: A pair of Department of Homeland Security officials told the Senate Wednesday that the government does not search for most of the people who overstay their temporary visas, a day after DHS said that nearly 500,000 people were still in the U.S. after having overstayed their visas last year.

“I didn’t mean to imply that we’re actually out monitoring them,” Craig Healy, an assistant director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., during Senate Judiciary subcommittee panel. Healy said that they review the universe of people who overstayed their visas and “prioritize” the deportation of people who went on to commit other crimes.

Their exchange came at the outset of a hearing on the federal government’s failure to implement a biometric system to track entries into and exits from the country, as required by a 2004 law. A Customs and Border Patrol official said the program couldn’t be implemented without causing “gridlock” at U.S. airports, a response that failed to allay bipartisan concern that the lack of this system is an ongoing national security threat.

“The biometric exit system is still not off the ground and that is unfortunate, very unfortunate, because it is a matter of national security,” New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader-in-waiting, said during the hearing.

John Wagner, deputy assistant commissioner of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, said the program couldn’t be implemented without causing two-hour delays when boarding airplanes. “It’s the placement of the technology and how you collect it to ensure that the person actually departed the United States,” Wagner said. “There’s no zone to do that.”

These answers frustrated Democratic lawmakers who otherwise disagree with Sessions and other immigration hawks the issue of border security and deportations. “It’s hard for me to envision that we can’t figure out where to get a space to do this at an airport or seaport,” said Senator Al Franken, D-Minn. “If you can’t solve it in 11 or 12 years, how can we know it will ever be solved?”

DHS’s report saying hundreds of thousands of people remained in the United States after having overstayed their visas drew complaints from both parties, but Sessions in particular.

“That is a population of individuals that is larger than any city in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina,” Sessions said. Healy replied that about 3,000 of the people who had overstayed their visas were under investigation, a statistic Sessions cited to argue that President Obama’s team has made no effort to implement the system or to deport people who overstay their visas, as long as those people “keep their nose clean” and do nothing to draw the attention of law enforcement or counterterrorism officials.

He said the lack of a biometric exit system was part of a broader failure by the Obama administration to implement federal immigration law.

“Our executive branch is on strike against the will of the American people,” Sessions said. “Simply put, there is no border at all if we don’t enforce our visa rules.”

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Hold on, there is more…

Administration eases visa rules for travelers visiting terror hotspots

FNC: The Obama administration on Thursday eased visa rules for certain European travelers who have visited terror hotspots in the Middle East and Africa, triggering a backlash from congressional lawmakers who sought the restrictions for security reasons.

Moments after the announcement, two key Republicans declared the administration is “blatantly breaking the law” – a law that President Obama signed – by implementing the changes.

“This is not a difference of opinion over statutory interpretation, it is a clear contradiction of the law and the agreement we reached with the White House,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., author of the bill, said in a statement.

The revised requirements announced Thursday pertain to changes passed by Congress in the Visa Waiver Program.

Lawmakers had sought new restrictions to tighten up the program – which allows visa-free travel for residents of eligible countries — in order to prevent Europeans who have joined ISIS from entering the United States. Under the newly passed Visa Waiver Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, nationals of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Sudan as well as other travelers who have visited those countries since Mar. 1, 2011 now must apply for a visa in order to travel to the U.S.

The administration implemented those changes Thursday — but with some changes of its own.

Under the revised requirements, some Europeans who have traveled to those four countries in the last five years may still be allowed to travel to the United States without obtaining a visa if they meet certain criteria.

The administration announced it will use its waiver authority — granted to it in the legislation — to give waivers to travelers who traveled to the terror hotspots as journalists, for work with humanitarian agencies or on behalf of international organizations, regional organizations and sub-national governments on official duty.

Further, an additional waiver was announced for people who have traveled to Iran “for legitimate business-related purposes” since the conclusion of the Iran nuclear deal in July. The administration offers waivers for individuals who have traveled to Iraq for business as well.

Republicans reacted angrily to the waivers, saying the Obama administration had exploited the limited authority and has compromised national security.

“President Obama and his administration’s decision to abuse their limited waiver authority and allow scores of people who have traveled to or are dual nationals of countries like Iraq and Syria flies in the face of reason and congressional intent,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement.

“The Obama Administration is essentially rewriting the law by blowing wide open a small window of discretion that Congress gave it for law enforcement and national security reasons,” Goodlatte said.

Under the visa program itself, citizens of 38 countries, mostly in Europe, are generally allowed to travel to the United States without applying for a visa. But they still have to submit biographical information to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA.

The Homeland Security Department said waivers for some ESTA applicants will be granted on a “case-by-case” basis. Those travelers who are denied visa-free travel can still apply for visa through a U.S. embassy in their home country.

The new restrictions had previously been criticized by the Iranian government which suggested the U.S. might be violating the nuclear deal by penalizing legitimate business travel to the country.

Airlifting Italian Goats into Afghanistan?

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Lawmakers to Pentagon: Goats, Carpets and Jewelry Helped Afghanistan How?

At a Senate hearing this week, lawmakers questioned whether a Pentagon business task force had accomplished anything worthwhile.

ProPublica: Is it true that rare Italian goats were airlifted to Afghanistan?

Did Defense Department employees go to carpet tradeshows in Europe? How about on jewelry-related trips to India?

These might seem like unusual questions for the Pentagon, but lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday were trying to figure out how, exactly, a task force spent about $638 million on economic development in Afghanistan.

And more importantly, as Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., put it: “Was it worth it?”

The readiness subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee didn’t get many answers.

“That’s the big question, and it’s the right one,” was all Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, could offer.

During two hours of questioning, he provided few specifics, allowing, “It’s a little early to say” whether the now-defunct Task Force for Business and Stability Operations had been successful.

The task force — a “very unusual animal” McKeon called it — was led by civilian business experts and aimed to develop the Afghan economy by jumpstarting the private sector.

The committee called the hearing after the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, published several damning reports about wasteful spending by the task force. It operated mostly outside the traditional bounds of government bureaucracy — and, SIGAR said, without much oversight.

John Sopko, the inspector general, testified that, so far, his agency has found that the Pentagon’s task force had a “scattershot approach to economic development” and there was no “credible evidence showing” that its efforts worked.

The task force was initially launched in Iraq before moving to Afghanistan in 2010. But even in Iraq, it was beset with problems, Sopko told the subcommittee. These issues were detailed in at least three official reports. The Pentagon and task force members should have learned from their experience in Iraq, he said, but they repeated the same mistakes.

His conclusions echo a yearlong ProPublica investigation into Afghanistan reconstruction that found a widespread failure to apply lessons from Iraq was in part to blame for upwards of $17 billion in waste.

McKeon put up little defense of the task force beyond disputing SIGAR’s estimated $43 million cost of a controversial natural gas station and claims that his office had been uncooperative.

He said he was “skeptical that the Department of Defense is the natural home” for economic development efforts.

Lawmakers agreed. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the ranking minority member on the subcommittee, said it was a job better suited for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

McKeon said his office was struggling to come up with answers about the task force’s activities, because it shut down in March and most of its employees left the Defense Department — an argument the lawmakers found unpersuasive.

McKeon was unable to answer even the most basic questions about how all the money was spent.

The Pentagon, for the most part, had records for how money was spent by industry sector, but not necessarily for how support costs broke down for all the individual projects, he said. (Although, those goats? The task force spent $6 million bringing in nine blond ones from Italy and building a farm in an attempt to launch a thriving cashmere industry, according to SIGAR. This project hasn’t been evaluated yet for effectiveness.)

Questioning at the hearing didn’t get any easier from there, and, McKeon had, at times, an almost painful lack of information. Clearly uncomfortable and stuck with a limited script, he reiterated several times that he hadn’t been in charge of the task force, since he only took over the job in 2014.

Ayotte, who chairs the subcommittee, asked if there were metrics to judge the projects.

“I haven’t seen metrics,” McKeon said.

Then Ayotte asked why the task force eschewed living on a military base and opted instead for private villas and security that cost $150 million — a decision that ate up nearly 24 percent of all the money spent?

“We’re still digging” for an answer on that, McKeon said, but he added that he thought those arrangements were necessary to show businesses that they could operate safely in Afghanistan.

So, Ayotte asked, did any contracts result “because we spent $150 million on villas?”

“I wouldn’t make that claim,” McKeon said.

Later in the hearing, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the entire concept behind the villas defied common sense. The need to spend millions on security just to keep employees safe couldn’t possibly entice businesses to set up shop.

“Do you see the fallacy of the logic there?” she asked.

The subcommittee asked SIGAR to do a full financial audit of all the task force activities since the Pentagon could provide so few details.

The senators were also concerned with how the Pentagon stonewalled SIGAR’s inquiries on the task force.

SIGAR and the Pentagon had been in a public tiff over access to records and the Pentagon’s insistence that documents be reviewed in a special “reading room.” Despite claiming the reading room was required to safeguard information in general, the Pentagon only restricted task force documents in that way.

But ahead of the hearing, the Pentagon reversed course and handed over a 100-gigabyte hard drive last week that it said contained all the task force information SIGAR had requested.

However, Sopko said “the data provided is substantially inadequate” and forensic accountants are examining it to see if anything was manipulated. McKeon said he was committed to providing SIGAR with all they needed.

Much of the hearing was spent bickering about the actual cost of the compressed natural gas station, which has few customers and is barely being used. Part of the problem: The average Afghan would have to spend more than a year’s salary to convert a car to run on compressed gas.

McKeon did not defend the gas station as a concept, but rather the reported cost.

Last year, SIGAR said it cost $43 million, including $30 million on overhead. This week the Pentagon disputed that number, saying the real cost was under $10 million.

The question comes down to overhead cost, which the Pentagon has been unable to accurately calculate because of poor recordkeeping, Sopko said. He defended SIGAR, saying it reported the best number it had at the time, which came from the Pentagon itself and hadn’t been disputed by the Defense Department until the day before the hearing.

It was unclear by the end of the hearing how much the gas station actually cost or whether anyone would be able to make that determination.

McCaskill had little patience for the cost debate.

“I don’t care if it was $2.9 million or $200 million,” she said. The project was “dumb on its face.”

She said she wanted to know who had “made the brilliant decision that this was a good idea to put a natural gas station in Afghanistan,” so she could “find out what the person was on that day.”

Saudi Document Enumerates 58 Iranian Violations of International Law

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Via IMRA: The Saudi Foreign Ministry yesterday presented a document that it says includes Iranian violations of international laws and a record of acts committed by Tehran such as spreading sedition, unrest and turmoil in the region in order to undermine its security and stability since the beginning of the revolution in 1979.

The document mentioned the “Iranian regime’s record of supporting terrorism and extremism in the region and the world” which amounted to 58 Iranian violations of international laws and norms.

An official source at the Saudi Foreign Ministry said that the Kingdom has exercised a policy of constraint during this period despite it and other countries in the region suffering from Iran’s hostile policies.

The source explained that these Iranian policies are based on what is stated in the introduction of the Iranian constitution and the instructions of Khomeini upon which Iranian foreign policy is based; the principle of exporting the revolution in flagrant violation of the sovereignty of countries and interference in their internal affairs in the name of “supporting vulnerable and helpless people”.

The source added that Iran’s foreign policy depended on the recruitment of militias in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, and that it also depended on Iran’s support of terrorism through the provision of safe havens in its country, planting terrorist cells in a number of Arab countries and even being involved in terrorist bombings and the assassinations of opponents abroad. The source also enumerated “the continuing Iranian violations on diplomatic missions and attempts to assassinate foreign diplomats”.

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Closing the Deal: Images from Iran Negotiations and Implementation Day

By: Glen Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to London, U.K., and Vienna, Austria, from January 14–16, 2016, as he worked to resolve final sticking points on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a July 2015 multilateral agreement ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program remains exclusively peaceful.

At the same time, he was deeply involved in parallel negotiations to secure the release of Americans unjustly held in Iran.

After meeting in London with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair about issues in the Middle East, the Secretary flew to Vienna on the morning of January 16 for a final round of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and others involved in the conversations.

Toting a shopping bag and a copy of his draft remarks, Secretary Kerry walked to his plane at London Stansted Airport. (State Department Photo)

En route to Vienna, Secretary Kerry called Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter about the pending transfer by the Swiss Air Force of U.S. nationals who were being unjustly held in Iran. (State Department Photo)

The first thing Secretary Kerry saw at Vienna International Airport as he emerged from his Air Force jet was an Iran Air jetliner parked across the tarmac. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry drove directly to the Palais Coburg Hotel in Vienna, where the Iranian delegation was staying, and where the two sides held marathon negotiations in July that led to the JCPOA. The Secretary met first with Ambassador Stephen Mull, U.S. Lead Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Implementation, and other advisers from the State and Energy departments and the White House. (State Department Photo)

A half-hour later, Secretary Kerry and his team sat down with Foreign Minister Zarif in the Coburg’s Blue Salon, where the two sides did most of their negotiating last July. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry and Ambassador Mull then called International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano, to discuss the agency’s work in drafting a report examining whether Iran had met the requirements in the JCPOA to qualify for sanctions relief from the international community. (State Department Photo)

Over a late lunch of salad and spaghetti, Secretary Kerry joined State Department Chief of Staff Jon Finer as he participated in a call briefing reporters about the day’s developments. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry also chatted with State Department Senior Adviser Marie Harf, who handled communications duties for the Iran talks, during a lull in the meetings. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif occupied nearby rooms at the Palais Coburg, which meant that on different occasions, each man showed up at the other’s room, seeking an impromptu meeting. This occurred in Zarif’s quarters. (State Department Photo)

As Secretary Kerry returned a phone call, Chief of Staff Finer spoke with State Department Speechwriter Stephanie Epner, who worked through multiple drafts of the Secretary’s final comments as negotiations evolved. (State Department Photo)

As deliberations on final preparations for Implementation Day continued into the evening, Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif walked down one floor for an unscheduled visit with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini. They surprised an EU staffer by knocking on the door and asking to speak to her boss.
(State Department Photo)

Later in the evening, Secretary Kerry and Chief of Staff Finer split a pizza between calls. (State Department Photo)

At 8:51 p.m., the talks moved into their decisive phase: Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif spoke in a quiet lobby, before returning to the Secretary’s room for a final huddle with other ministers. (State Department Photo)

At 8:54 p.m., High Representative Mogherini (in person, third from left) and French Foreign Minister Fabius (by phone) joined the meeting in Secretary Kerry’s room to work through final details. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry spoke first, before placing the call on speakerphone so the other two ministers could speak with Foreign Minister Fabius. (State Department Photo)

High Representative Mogherini, representing the European Union, offered a wording suggestion as the ministers read through the final joint statement. At 9:22 p.m., the group reached agreement, setting in motion the final implementation of the JCPOA. (State Department Photo)

In return for Iran implementing a series of steps to constrain its nuclear program as outlined in the JCPOA, the United States agreed to lift nuclear-related sanctions. Secretary Kerry had to sign a series of waivers and certificates to provide for this sanction relief. (State Department Photo)

After finalizing the agreement and making good on the promise of sanctions relief, Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif headed to the Vienna International Center, a U.N. complex where the international media awaited, for press statements about the day’s activities. But before they began speaking, the Secretary asked the foreign minister to personally intervene to resolve a miscommunication about whether the wife and mother of detained American Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter, would be allowed to leave Tehran with their husband and son.
(State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry paid a courtesy call on IAEA Director General Amano and his staff while visiting the Vienna International Center, thanking them for the Agency’s work in issuing their JCPOA compliance report, and encouraging them to uphold the strict inspection regime spelled out in the July 2015 agreement. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry walked to the podium to deliver his statement to the international media. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry delivering his statement. (State Department Photo)

Reporters listen as Secretary Kerry delivers his statement. (State Department Photo)

After rushing back the airport to avoid exceeding the allowable workday for his Air Force flight crew, Secretary Kerry placed one more call from his cabin to Foreign Minister Zarif to help resolve the situation related to Rezaian and his family members. (State Department Photo)

Following a nearly 10-hour flight, Secretary Kerry invited his traveling press corps back to his cabin after their plane landed at 3 a.m. at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland. He spent nearly a half-hour reflecting on and answering questions about the prior day’s developments. (State Department Photo)

All photos were taken by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Communications Glen Johnson, Secretary Kerry’s traveling photographer, and are courtesy of the U.S. Department of State.

 

Obama is a Shia?

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While the world burns and there is a major war between the Shia and the Sunnis, given all the Obama love for Iran, I said to myself he must be a Shia or least a Shia loyalist. Low and behold this below…..What the heck?

 

Top Dubai Policeman Says Obama has “Shia Roots”: The Internet Laughs Back // Global Voices Online » Iran

Barack and Michelle Obama photoshopped in Islamic attire in front of the Imam Redha shrine, in Mashhad, Iran, a revered Shia site. The text, in Persian, reads “Very soon..” Image source unknown

The Internet has been in stitches ever since Dubai’s deputy chief of police Dhahi Khalfan announced on Twitter that US President Barack Obama has “Shia roots” and is likely to visit Shia religious centres in Iran soon.

The tweets, seen by many as reeking with Shia-phobia, were made following the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran, agreed upon during the nuclear negotiations between Iran, the P5+1 and the United States in July.

In his words, Khalfan tweets:

أوباما الذي يعود لأصول شيعية انتخب لتقريب وجهات النظر بين إيران وأمريكا لإيقاف برنامج إيران النووي العسكري.نجحت الخطة .

— ضاحي خلفان تميم (@Dhahi_Khalfan) January 19, 2016

Obama, who has Shia roots, was elected to bridge the gap between Iran and the US to stop Iran’s military nuclear programme. Mission accomplished.

In another tweet, he adds:

من المتوقع أن يزور أوباما قم ومشهد وكبرى الحسينيات في إيران. !!

— ضاحي خلفان تميم (@Dhahi_Khalfan) January 19, 2016

It is expected that Obama visits Qom, Mashhad and all the big Shia religious congregation halls

Many responded to Khalfan with mockery. AIfie shares this photograph with Khalfan:

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@Dhahi_Khalfan pic.twitter.com/QQOCao84fw

— Alfie (@AIfie_Twit) January 19, 2016

Faisal Alhbabi asks:

@Dhahi_Khalfan انت كيف صرت رئيس شرطة دبي وهذا فكرك

— FAISAl (@faisalalhbabi) January 19, 2016

How did you become chief of police when this is the level of your thinking?

And Abbas Zahri shares this photograph of a Photoshopped Obama performing Shia rituals mourning the death of one of their Imams:

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معك حق والدليل هذه الصورة @POTUS @BarackObama @Dhahi_Khalfan pic.twitter.com/WtPb8t7ZYE

— عباس زهري (@zahri_abbas) January 19, 2016

You are right and this is proof!

More photoshopped pictures follow. Ammar Ali shares another doctored photograph of the US president, this time performing in a Shia mourning ritual, associated with Ashura:

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صورة له و هو يقري لطمية ف حسينية @Dhahi_Khalfan pic.twitter.com/ZZfKd1BFkw

— عمّــــاار عليّ (@ammar_ali94) January 19, 2016

This is a photograph of him mourning in a Hussainiya

A Hussainiya is a Shia congregation centre, used for gatherings to mark Shia rituals.

Hussain M shares this photograph of Obama, saying its a leaked photograph from a religious learning centre in Qom, the epicentre of Shia learning in Iran:

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@Dhahi_Khalfan صور مسربة لاوباما عند تخرجه من حوزة قم في ايران . pic.twitter.com/fBgNy9NJJZ

— hossien m. (@69mansourM) January 20, 2016

 

Here’s a leaked photograph of Obama after his graduation from a Shia learning centre on Qom, Iran

Iranians have documented different reactions to Obama’s relationship with Shia Islam. One Iranian blogger posted a picture from a November 2015 anti-U.S. rally in Tehran. Here protesters carried pictures of Obama, where his likeness is compared to that of Shemr, a villainous figure in Shia Islam.

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#Obama depicted as Shemr, the most evil figure in history for #Shia followers today’s anti-US rallies pic.twitter.com/tGO8zPvkFb

— potkin azarmehr (@potkazar) November 4, 2015

Other Iranians who shared the news on their social media illustrated their amusement at such far fetched theories. One Iranian-American blogger, Holly Dagress, attached the news to the hashtag #ShiaScare.

Dubai’s ex-police chief says US President Barack #Obama is of Shia origin due to #IranDeal #ShiaScare https://t.co/TuZJ6DK9t5

— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) January 20, 2016

Mohsen Milani, an Iranian academic based in the United States shared the news with a laughing emoji.

Ex head of Dubai Police Khalfan:#Obama is of #Shia origin elected to bring #Iran & US closer. https://t.co/TZQEwkBdGB via @DrAbbasKadhim

— Mohsen Milani (@MohsenMilani) January 20, 2016

Various conspiracy theories have circulated about Obama’s Shia background in the past. During the 2008 elections, Iran’s state run newspapers ran unsubstantiated claims about Obama’s Shia past and connections to southwestern Iran. In June 2015, Iraqi member of parliament Taha al-Lahibi released a YouTube video explaining Obama’s Shia background to be part of the conspiracy of Iran’s Shia forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq, alongside the evolving nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States.

These theories are typically commented on by Iranians on social media with ridicule. In response to the al-Lahibi conspiracy, one Iranian Twitter user @sobhan348 sarcastically exclaims the nuclear negotiations were turning Obama into a Shia.

مذاکره با ایران اوباما را شیعه کرد! +فیلم http://t.co/T7XUdNPjJS

— علمی مذهبی کوثر (@sobhan348) June 10, 2015

Nuclear negotiations with Iran have made Obama into a Shia! +film

Dubai’s deputy chief of police’s statements come after the United Arab Emirates backed Saudi Arabia in the recent conflict with Iran that led the two nations to end diplomatic ties. In reaction, the Emirates downgraded their relationship by reducing the number of diplomats in Iran and recalling its ambassador. They have not severed ties however, due to a long history of trade with Iran.

Written by Amira Al HussainiWritten by Mahsa Alimardani

Obama is of Shi’ite origin: Dubai former police chief

EgyptIndependent: US President Barack Obama is of Shi’ite origin, according to former Dubai police chief and current head of the General Security for the Emirate of Dubai, Dahi Khalfan, who is known for his controversial tweets.
“Obama, who has a Shi’ite origin, was elected to converge between the points of views of Iran and the US to stop the Iranian nuclear military project. The plan succeeded,” Khalfan wrote in a series of tweets on his account Tuesday.
He added: “The US elections are led by undercover hands that achieve Israel’s security in the first place. Bravo sons of Zion!”
“In Anthroposophy, people study how to ward off danger, and this is what the sons of Zion did after studying the nature of Iranians. They brought them someone of a Shi’ite Kenyan origin. Bravo!”
Khalfan continued: “Will Obama visit Iran before leaving presidency?” “(Hassan) Rouhani could invite Obama to visit Iran”.
Khalfan pointed out that he was expecting Obama’s moves toward the Iranian nuclear project since the first day he was sworn in.
Khalfan was Dubai’s police chief until late 2013. He has 1.24 million followers on Twitter and over 65,000 tweets.
He caused diplomatic tensions between Egypt and the UAE back in 2013 when he attacked toppled President Mohamed Morsi on Twitter, after which Egypt’s Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador of the UAE to demand a “clarification from the United Arab Emirates about statements that do not go along with the nature of the special relationship between the two countries,” according to Reuters.
Khalfan wrote on Twitter after Morsi won the presidential bid: “An unfortunate choice. The repercussions of this choice will not be light for poor ordinary people.”
Khalfan also said that Morsi would “come to the UAE crawling to request pardon and forgiveness,” adding that the UAE would not receive him on a red carpet. He accused Morsi of winning the presidential elections with the aid of Iran.
In July 2013, he accused the Muslim Brotherhood of posing a greater threat to Arabs than Israel.