Syrian Refugees Allowed in Russia, Not So Much

Posted on May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 by Denise Simon

There are some refugees in Russia yet is seems the process is highly controlled and with stipulated boundaries and conditions.

There are currently about 12,000 Syrian refugees in Russia, according to the Federal Migration Service, only 2,000 of whom have so far received legal residency papers. Human rights activists say the bureaucratic logjam is unacceptable and point out that most of the Ukrainian refugees also lack legal documentation.

“There is no policy on refugees in our state,” says Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the Committee for Civil Assistance, a nongovernmental organization that works with migrants. “When large numbers of Ukrainians started coming here, they were at first met with kindness. But soon all official interest in them disappeared.”

Russia already has a huge and largely underground population of Muslim migrant workers, mostly from former-Soviet central Asia. Experts say that any Syrian refugees who have made it to Moscow are probably blending in with that group.

But that could change. A summary of press reports in the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda suggests that increasing numbers of savvy Syrians are entering Russia on student or tourist visas, hopping on the train to Murmansk, and then heading directly to Norway’s single border crossing with Russia.

Fewer than 200 people have been so far recorded using this unique method of escape, to Russia’s far north by train and into Norway, often by bicycle from nearby Murmansk, high above the Arctic Circle.

The paper says that local taxi drivers are charging over $1,000 for the two-hour drive, while the price of bicycles has soared. Much more here from CS Monitor.

Syrians Have No Chance Of Asylum In Russia

A Russian solicitor working with Syrian refugees tells Sky News there are “unwritten rules” preventing them gaining asylum status.

Sky News has discovered the extraordinary lengths to which Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration is going to keep out Syrian asylum seekers.

Russia has granted two Syrians full asylum status since the conflict began in 2011.

In comparison, Germany is currently accepting about 35,000 people per month.

Makhachkala, the biggest city in the Russian state of Dagestan, is a chaotic spot – with half-built apartment blocks and partly paved roads fanning out, spaghetti-like, from the western edge of the Caspian Sea.

Makhachkala, the biggest city in Dagestan, is a chaotic spot

Among the 600,000 people who live here, there is just one man – a solicitor called Shamil Magemadov – who is willing to work with refugees.

“That’s surprising, I know,” says the 37-year-old.

“Syrians who come here (seeking asylum) share the same religion as the residents, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.”

As Makhachkala goes, so does the rest of Russia.

It may be the principal military backer of the Syrian regime but that does not mean Russia is willing to accept its citizens fleeing war and terror.

We joined Mr Magemadov as he made his way to the local lock-up where five Syrian asylum seekers are being held indefinitely.

They have all applied for refugee status but lack the proper paperwork permitting them to stay.

As a consequence, each one has spent more than a year behind bars – and human rights groups believe there are Syrians in similar circumstances sitting in just about every detention centre in the country.

“They are very depressed,” said Mr Magemadov, when I asked about their mental state.

“They have been in there a long time and they don’t know if they’re ever getting out.”

The detention centre where the five men are being held

What is clear is that these men have no chance of getting asylum.

Nonetheless, the ‘Makhachkala 5’ did leave the detention complex in February, when Russian migration officials tried to secretly deport them back to Syria.

A decision, says Mr Magemadov, that could have cost them their lives.

When he got wind of what was going on, he immediately tried to block it at the European Court of Human Rights.

“They were waiting at Moscow airport (to be deported) and I filed a petition to the court,” he said.

“We had no time to lose. If the court sided with me after the government put them on the plane, we knew we would never get them back.”

Sky News has learned that such deportations are common.

According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and other civil society groups operating in Russia, at least 18 Syrians have been sent back directly to Syria, contravening the 1951 Refugee Convention (of which Russia is a signatory) and the Russian Constitution.

Sky News has been told the total number of Syrians deported is “almost certainly far higher” but this number represents those cases they have heard about and can confirm.

The lives of the five men in Makhachkala may have been saved but they told us they have little, or nothing, to live for.

Zacharia Berri, from Aleppo in Syria, has spent almost a year inside and during that time, he has twice tried to take his own life.

The second attempt was made in February, just before Russian migration officials tried to take them all to the airport.

In a message recorded on a telephone inside the detention centre, Mr Berri told Sky News: “I don’t want to go to Syria, I oppose the regime.

“I am a wanted man. The security services are waiting for me to send me to the army. I don’t want to go.”

We have obtained this picture of the 24-year-old after he tried to slash his left wrist two months ago.

Zacharia Berri tried to slash his left wrist

Sky News also received this picture, in the past few days, of another inmate called Rebar Kasar.

The young Syrian has taken a chunk out of his own arm because, after 14 months inside he says he is “going insane”.

Rebar Kasar says he is “going insane”

Aleppo native Sabri Koro has spent 16 months inside and told us it has been particularly difficult because he has a Russian wife and child who he is not allowed to see.

Migration officials rejected his asylum request on the basis that he has failed to provide his family with “manly and fatherly care”.

The registration of his marriage, which took place after he had been detained, was proof, said officials, of paternal negligence.

Sabri Koro and his wife Kalimat Kouro

Mr Magemadov chuckles when the subject of the migration service’s ‘rejection notices’ is raised.

The Russian migration service uses – and reuses – the same templates when issuing these rejections, telling failed applicants they are “in no more danger than other citizens living (in Syria)”.

The country is safe, add the templates, because the regime is “in control of about 50% of the territory”.

For the troubled-looking refugee lawyer, in the sprawling city of Makhachkala, the arrests and detentions, the deportations and the rejection slips, are simple proof of an unacknowledged yet active government policy.

“I think there are unwritten rules regarding Syrians,” he said.

“Why do citizens of Ukraine get asylum without problems (in Russia), but citizens of Syria do not?”

EU New Industry: Billions in Immigrant Smuggling

Posted on May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 by Denise Simon

EUROPOL: ‘The fasted growing criminal market in Europe’ netted $6.6 billion in 2015

BusinessInsider: People-smuggling gangs netted up to 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) last year, most of it from the traffic of migrants into Europe, the European Union’s police agency Europol said in a report issued on Monday.

Labeling people-smuggling as the “fastest growing criminal market in Europe”, the report said: “This turnover (of 6 billion euros) is set to double or triple if the scale of the current migration crisis persists in the upcoming year.”

Europol and police forces in countries in Europe and beyond have identified more than 12,000 suspects active in gangs involved in smuggling in migrants since 2015.

Gangs, whose members come from countries including Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq and Kosovo, are engaged in a huge range of criminal activities including document forgery and official bribery, the report said.

So-called “hotspots” where gang activities is concentrated include cities along the Balkan route from the Middle East, such as Istanbul, Izmir, Athens and Budapest, as well as major continental hubs like Berlin, Calais, Zeebrugge and Frankfurt.

But Europol said there was little evidence that “terrorist suspects” were making use of migrant smuggling networks to enter the continent on a significant scale.

“Far less than 0.01 percent of terrorist suspects have had migrant links,” said Europol director Rob Wainwright at a news conference.

About one million migrants reached Europe last year, most of them fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, the agency said in a report issued as it set up a new center to coordinate the Europe-wide fight against the smugglers.

The European Migrant Smuggling Centre, which will be based at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague, will help police forces in and outside Europe share intelligence and will help with rapid deployment of emergency police forces as new migrant routes emerge.

Read the full report here. migrant_smuggling__europol_report_2016

Irregular migrants travelling to the EU primarily originate from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq as well as from Senegal, Somalia, Niger, Morocco and other African countries. In addition to these nationalities, there is also a continuous flow of irregular migrants from Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam, albeit to a lesser extent.

Within the EU, the preferred destination countries of these migrants are Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

A migrant’s journey takes them from their country of origin through a number of transit countries to their eventual country of destination. Migrant smugglers and other criminals offer a wide variety of often highly priced services throughout this journey. These facilitation services include the provision of transportation, accommodation and fraudulent documents. In many cases, irregular migrants are forced to pay for these services by means of illegal labour.

Smuggling hotspots are located along the main migration routes and attract migrant smuggling networks. These hotspots may be favourably located along routes where most migrants travel or may feature easy access to transport infrastructures used for illegal facilitation activities.

In and outside the EU, more than 230 locations where illegal facilitation or migrant smuggling take place have been identified. The main criminal hotspots for migrant smuggling outside the EU are Amman, Algiers, Beirut, Benghazi, Cairo, Casablanca, Istanbul, Izmir, Misrata, Oran, and Tripoli.

The main criminal hotspots for intra-EU movements include Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Calais, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hoek van Holland, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris, Passau, Rome, Stockholm, Tornio, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Warsaw, and Zeebrugge.

The hotspots channel migratory flows, act as pull factors and have grown exponentially in the last years. Migrants gather in hotspots where they know they will have access to services during their travel to their preferred destination.

During their journeys, migrants often stop over in urban or semi-urban areas to work illegally in order to pay their debts to the migrant smugglers or to save money for the next leg of their journey.

Russia’s 3 new divisions to counter NATO

Posted on May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 by Denise Simon

Russia to add three new military divisions to counter NATO: agencies

Reuters: Russia will add three new military divisions to counter the growing strength of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Russian agencies quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying on Wednesday.

The divisions, which will be deployed along Russia’s western and southern borders, will be formed by the end of the year, the Interfax news agency reported.

“The Ministry of Defence has adopted a series of measures to counter the growing capacity of NATO forces in close proximity to the Russian borders,” it cited Shoigu as saying.

Russia Says It Is Creating Three New Divisions to Counter NATO Moves

Western officials have said the alliance will send about 4,000 troops to Poland and the Baltics

WSJ: MOSCOW—Russia is creating three new divisions to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s planned expansion along its eastern flank, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday, in a move that comes amid rising tensions in the region.

Moscow has threatened it will respond to NATO plans to boost its troops’ presence along its border with Russia. Western officials said last week the alliance will send four battalions—about 4,000 troops—to Poland and the ex-Soviet Baltic countries.

“The Defense Ministry is taking a series of measures to counter the expansion of NATO forces in direct proximity to the Russian border,” Mr. Shoigu said at a ministry meeting shown on state television.

The Pentagon has said new NATO troop deployments are in response to Russia’s “provocative” military exercises along its borders with alliance members. Russia says its exercises are partly a result of the increased NATO presence.

The announcements of troop increases at the border follow incidents that have raised concerns about a potential crisis in the Baltics. Russian warplanes intercepted a U.S. Navy destroyer and Air Force plane last month.

According to the U.S. account, Russian warplanes and a military helicopter repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook, flying to within 75 feet of the warship as it carried out operations on the Baltic Sea.

Alexander Golts, a Russian military analyst and visiting researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, said such incidents would continue until Russian President Vladimir Putin believed Washington was treating Moscow on an equal basis.

An aircraft believed to be a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 passes over the bow of the USS Donald Cook during a patrol in the Baltic Sea. The U.S. alleges that Russian planes repeatedly buzzed the Donald Cook, passing close by the ship in a deliberate and aggressive manner. Photo: Zuma Press

“The West cannot ignore Russia. If they try to ignore Russia, they will undertake more and more risky missions,” said Mr. Golts, who said Russia and NATO need to figure out a way to communicate to avoid accidents. “What is needed is more mechanisms to make sure such incidents don’t have disastrous consequences.”

In a news conference in Mons, Belgium, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance’s planned troop buildup in the Baltic States wouldn’t have happened if Russia had not used force against Ukraine in 2014. Mr. Stoltenberg said he had seen reports about Russia’s additional military buildup “close to NATO’s borders.”

“This is part of a broader picture and pattern we have seen for many years now,” Mr. Stoltenberg said.

NATO’s planned deployment, he continued, was a reaction to a more assertive Russia that has demonstrated the will to change borders with force.

“What we do is defensive,” he said. “We do that because we need to send a clear signal that we stand together, we have a credible defense and deterrence. And we will continue to respond.”

Mr. Stoltenberg confirmed the alliance was contemplating a battalion-sized presence in several Eastern European countries. He said a final decision on the military presence will be made at the Warsaw summit in July. But he said the troops will be multinational, “sending a clear signal [that] if you attack one country you attack the whole alliance.”

Russia has already spent billions of dollars to reform its military and modernize its arms industry, though an economic crisis brought about by lower oil prices as well as U.S. and EU sanctions has slowed some plans. Mr. Putin has promised to spend more than 21 trillion rubles, or more than $300 billion, to revamp Russia’s fighting forces by the end of the decade.

Three divisions would represent around 30,000 troops, but military analysts said it was unclear whether or not the units would be created from scratch or from existing formations in those regions.

Two divisions in Russia’s western military district are likely intended to directly counter increased NATO troop numbers in the Baltics and Poland, while an additional division in the south will increase troop presence along the border with Ukraine, Mr. Golts said.

Mr. Shoigu said work had already started to build up the units’ new headquarters.

Moscow is planning to increase the number of its armed forces by 10,000 this year as the military pushes to turn the armed forces into a one-million-man fighting force.

Carter’s Ultimatum to Russia

Posted on May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 by Denise Simon

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter blasted what the U.S. and its allies see as Russian aggression in Europe, saying Tuesday that Moscow is “going backward in time” with warlike actions that compel an American military buildup on NATO’s eastern flank.

“We do not seek to make Russia an enemy,” Carter said at a ceremony to install a new head of the military’s U.S. European Command and top NATO commander in Europe. “But make no mistake: We will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us,” he said.

Carter’s remarks reflect U.S. aggravation with Moscow on multiple fronts, including its intervention in eastern Ukraine, its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and what Carter called Russian efforts to intimidate its Baltic neighbors — countries the United States is treaty-bound to defend because they are NATO members.

Carter said the “most disturbing” Russian rhetoric was about using nuclear weapons.

“Moscow’s nuclear saber-rattling raises troubling questions about Russia’s leaders’ commitment to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons, and whether they respect the profound caution that nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to brandishing nuclear weapons,” he said.

The end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was thought to have virtually ended the prospect of nuclear conflict with Moscow. But the speeches at Tuesday’s change-of-command ceremony emphasized the possibility of history repeating itself, or at least ending a period of warmer U.S.-Russian relations.

Senior White House officials said the U.S. and its partners were shifting into a new phase focused on military deterrence to Moscow. Additional NATO forces that will rotate through countries on Russia’s eastern flank will be enough to defend NATO countries if Russia were to attack, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

To that end, the U.S. plans to add a third U.S. Army combat brigade in Europe in the coming year as part of a $3.4 billion initiative, Carter said. On Monday, he said NATO is considering establishing a continuous rotation of up to 4,000 troops in the Baltic states and possibly Poland.

That force, which could include some U.S. troops, is among options expected to be considered at a NATO defense meeting in June. U.S. officials said they were encouraging other NATO members to commit troops to the force as well.

But U.S. attempts to control or direct Russia haven’t fared well. The U.S has been unable to end Russia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine and support for separatist rebels. And Washington is desperately seeking Moscow’s help to enforce a cease-fire in Syria between the Russian-backed government and Western-supported rebels, and eventually usher President Bashar Assad out of power.

On both fronts, the United States has been running into brick walls with the Russians.

U.S. officials said that they had “explicitly compartmentalized” the various issues the U.S. is discussing with Russia. Yet it’s unlikely that Russia’s government sees it that way.

The U.S. and NATO have sought to avoid provoking Moscow more than necessary, such as opting against opening new bases or permanently stationing troops in the Baltic countries. The Kremlin has raised concerns that permanent basing would violate a 1997 NATO-Russia agreement that prohibits permanent basing “in the current and foreseeable security environment,” and senior U.S. officials said that NATO had decided to abide by those provisions.

Carter said he regretted the deterioration in relations with Moscow.

“We haven’t had to prioritize deterrence on NATO’s eastern flank for the past 25 years, but while I wish it were otherwise, now we have to,” he said at an outdoor ceremony, speaking from a podium framed by birch trees and drenched in sunshine.

Carter emphasized his hope that Russia will abandon what he called its confrontational approach.

“The United States will continue to hold out the possibility that Russia will assume the role of a constructive partner moving forward, not isolated and going backward in time as it appears to be today,” he said. “Much of the progress we’ve made together since the end of the Cold War, we accomplished with Russia. Let me repeat that. Not in spite of Russia, not against Russia, not without Russia, but with it.”

Related: Operation Atlantic Resolve

Carter made no mention of two post-Cold War developments that many believe prompted, at least in part, Russia’s turn away from the West, namely, the expansion of NATO to Russia’s very doorstep and U.S. placement of missile defenses in Europe.

“We’ll keep the door open for Russia,” he said. But it’s up to the Kremlin to decide.”

Army Gen. Curtis “Mike” Scaparrotti was installed Tuesday as head of U.S. European Command and the top NATO commander in Europe. Scaparrotti most recently commanded U.S. and allied troops in South Korea and has commanded troops in Afghanistan. He succeeds Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who has pointedly and repeatedly warned that NATO must better prepare for an adversarial relationship with Russia.

5 Years and the CIA Tweeted, But Obama Admin Still Wrong

Posted on May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 by Denise Simon

Over the weekend, the CIA tweeted about the Usama bin Ladin raid…..emulating events of 5 years ago. Several media outlets wrote pieces saying how weird it was while others were more critical. The CIA twitter feed was full of people even more hostile.

Perhaps none of these people including media took a deeper look at the possible reason as to why the CIA hosted this session. Could it be that the CIA hosted this event to flush out who was participating globally, where they are and to investigate their affiliation or sympathy with terror groups? Of course. Sheesh….I ‘get-it’.

Does anyone realize that al Qaeda is not on the run, has not been decimated much less defeated?

Replaced as the preeminent global jihadist power by the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda nonetheless remains a potent force and dangerous threat, experts say.

With last year’s Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris and a wave of shootings in West Africa, Al-Qaeda has shown it can still carry out its trademark spectacular attacks.

And in Syria and Yemen its militants have seized on chaos to take control of significant territory, even presenting themselves as an alternative to the brutality of IS rule.

Writing for French news website Atlantico in early April, former intelligence officer Alain Rodier said that while IS may have stolen the spotlight, Al-Qaeda may be in a better long-term position.

By rushing to declare its caliphate and establish its rule, IS has made itself an easier target, with thousands of its supporters killed in air strikes launched by a US-led coalition and by Russia.

Its harsh rule has also alienated potential supporters, while groups like Al-Nusra have instead sought to work with local forces in areas under their control.

“The death of Al-Qaeda’s founding father in no way meant the end of his progeny,” Rodier wrote. “This jihad will last for decades.” More here from Dubai (AFP).

In 2011, when Barack Obama ordered all….all military out of Iraq, the country was stable and sovereign and could self govern. Yeah, right. Then Obama’s National Security Advisor, John Brennan, now the Director of the CIA stated that al Qaeda’s goal for a global caliphate was an absurd notion. Really?

Are you still unsure as to how the Obama strategy or rather lack of strategy was concocted?

“Our strategy is…shaped by a deeper understanding of al Qaeda’s goals, strategy, and tactics,” Brennan claimed. “I’m not talking about al Qaeda’s grandiose vision of global domination through a violent Islamic caliphate. That vision is absurd, and we are not going to organize our counterterrorism policies against a feckless delusion that is never going to happen. We are not going to elevate these thugs and their murderous aspirations into something larger than they are.”

Sure recently Islamic State has suffered some territorial setbacks as well as financial setbacks, that is a great thing. However, Islamic State just imposed it’s will in the highly protected and fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

The Green Zone, surrounded by thick blast walls topped with razor wire, is off-limits to most Iraqis because of security procedures that require multiple checks and specific documentation to enter. It has long been the focus of al-Sadr’s criticism that the government is detached from the people.

Supporters of al-Sadr have been holding demonstrations and sit-ins for months to demand an overhaul of the political system put in place by the U.S. following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Last summer, demonstrations demanding better government services mobilized millions across Iraq and pressured Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to submit his first package of reform proposals. However, months of stalled progress followed, and in recent months al-Sadr’s well-organized supporters took over the protest movement.

Despite the subdued end to the latest protest, Iraqi officials fear the precedent set by the Green Zone breach will continue to undermine the country’s security.

Earlier on Sunday, car bombs in the southern city of Samawah killed 31 people and wounded at least 52. A police officer said two parked cars filled with explosives were detonated within minutes of each other around midday, the first near government offices and the second at an open-air bus station less than a mile away. On Saturday, an ISIS-claimed bombing in a market filled with Shiite civilians in Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others.

Further, al Qaeda is recruiting heavily in Syria those Islamic State fighters leaving the terror battlefield. While recently, there is a major debate underway about the Obama administration releasing the 28 pages about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the 9/11 attack, John Brennan said recently that those documents are full of misinformation and assumed facts now proven to be false. Either way, they need to be declassified, but there will be consequences for going that. However Brennan could be somewhat correct given the trove of documents recovered from the bin Ladin compound. Some of those documents have been declassified and is know at the ‘bookshelf’.

Declassified Material – March 1, 2016 (113 items)

Declassified Material – May 20, 2015 (103 items)

Publicly Available U.S. Government Documents (75 items)

English Language Books (39 items)

Material Published by Violent Extremists & Terror Groups (35 items)

Materials Regarding France (19 items)

Media Articles (33 items)

Other Religious Documents (11 items)

Think Tank & Other Studies (40 items)

Software & Technical Manuals (30 items)

Other Miscellaneous Documents (14 items)

Documents Probably Used by Other Compound Residents