Germany (catch all, incl. terrorism)

[Azor]

Certainly the M.O. of this attack is curious and it would be premature to attribute this to Islamists. Note that until the December atrocity in Berlin, far-right political violence directed at foreigners in general, and Muslims specifically, was far worse in Germany (from 2001 on) than Islamist terrorism in Germany.

In fact, until the end of last year, Germany was the only Western country in which anti-Muslim violence was worse than Islamist violence; in contrast to the U.S., France, Spain, U.K., Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Australia and Canada.

Whereas the suggestions of false flags in the U.S. and the growing list of fake hate crimes stand in contrast with the evidence of political violence, it would not surprise me if the Borussia Dortmund attack was in fact a false flag perpetrated by anti-Muslim Germans.

We will see...

[OUTLAW 09]

Certainly the M.O. of this attack is curious and it would be premature to attribute this to Islamists. Note that until the December atrocity in Berlin, far-right political violence directed at foreigners in general, and Muslims specifically, was far worse in Germany (from 2001 on) than Islamist terrorism in Germany.

In fact, until the end of last year, Germany was the only Western country in which anti-Muslim violence was worse than Islamist violence; in contrast to the U.S., France, Spain, U.K., Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Australia and Canada.

Whereas the suggestions of false flags in the U.S. and the growing list of fake hate crimes stand in contrast with the evidence of political violence, it would not surprise me if the Borussia Dortmund attack was in fact a false flag perpetrated by anti-Muslim Germans.

We will see...

Allegedly 5 claims in total: 3 Islamist; 1 far-left; 1 far-right.

Important not to jump to *any* conclusions at this stage.

IS might surprise us yet.....but the wording of the IS claims was way way off.....

[Azor]

NO the German government has not openly and privately admitted that all refugees are migrants and not refugees...

I said “most” not “all” and was mistakenly referring to Frans Timmerman, although Thomas de Maziere seems to share Timmerman's view. Yet on balance of the migration flows and rejected asylum applications from 2014 through 2016, more than 50% of the migrants would be economic migrants from the Balkans and Africa, and not refugees. Within the “refugee” pool, I take a dim view of Afghans and Iraqis, as most of those countries are not warzones; by contrast, almost no place is truly safe in Syria.

Yet even from Syria, a number of the “refugees” include middle and upper-middle class Alawis, Christians and Druze fleeing conscription in the NDF. Does the average Syrian in the refugee camps of Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, or living in rebel-held areas have USD $3,000+? I doubt it. How can a fighting-age male Alawi with Shabiha connections fleeing conscription in the NDF truly compare to a Sunni Arab of the Civil Defense who responds first to the Russo-Syrian shelling, bombing and gassing? Even the Kurds of Rojava are far more secure than the Sunni Arabs.

In 2015, 1,092,000 migrants arrived in Germany. Only 44% (447,000) filed asylum applications and 12% “disappeared” (130,000). Of these asylum applications, only 59% (283,000) were processed, of which 50% (141,000) were recognized and 50% (142,000) were rejected i.e. economic migrants. A further 300,000 migrants arrived in Germany in 2016...

Of the 550,000 migrants whose asylum applications were rejected in Germany from 2014 to 2016, only 25% 138,000 have been deported or left. But what of the 412,000 rejected migrants who refuse to leave? The 279,000 migrants who have not yet filed? The 130,000 “missing” migrants? At least 1% of the resident German population is illegal.

RE: Syria Thread

By the way, the entire discussion of Germany’s border and immigration policies only came up because I asserted that Merkel is enabling Assad by allowing him to transfer the undesirable or restive part of his population to the European Union, and Germany in particular. Yet instead of addressing that point, we have now ventured into arguing over the postwar deportation of Germans and Merkel’s policies. Most of your comments after my last reply were focused on Trump rather than Syria, despite the fact that Trump is not a major actor in the Syrian Civil War, save for rapping Assad across the knuckles once.

[OUTLAW 09]

I said “most” not “all” and was mistakenly referring to Frans Timmerman, although Thomas de Maziere seems to share Timmerman's view. Yet on balance of the migration flows and rejected asylum applications from 2014 through 2016, more than 50% of the migrants would be economic migrants from the Balkans and Africa, and not refugees. Within the “refugee” pool, I take a dim view of Afghans and Iraqis, as most of those countries are not warzones; by contrast, almost no place is truly safe in Syria.

Yet even from Syria, a number of the “refugees” include middle and upper-middle class Alawis, Christians and Druze fleeing conscription in the NDF. Does the average Syrian in the refugee camps of Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, or living in rebel-held areas have USD $3,000+? I doubt it. How can a fighting-age male Alawi with Shabiha connections fleeing conscription in the NDF truly compare to a Sunni Arab of the Civil Defense who responds first to the Russo-Syrian shelling, bombing and gassing? Even the Kurds of Rojava are far more secure than the Sunni Arabs.

In 2015, 1,092,000 migrants arrived in Germany. Only 44% (447,000) filed asylum applications and 12% “disappeared” (130,000). Of these asylum applications, only 59% (283,000) were processed, of which 50% (141,000) were recognized and 50% (142,000) were rejected i.e. economic migrants. A further 300,000 migrants arrived in Germany in 2016...

Of the 550,000 migrants whose asylum applications were rejected in Germany from 2014 to 2016, only 25% 138,000 have been deported or left. But what of the 412,000 rejected migrants who refuse to leave? The 279,000 migrants who have not yet filed? The 130,000 “missing” migrants? At least 1% of the resident German population is illegal.

RE: Syria Thread

By the way, the entire discussion of Germany’s border and immigration policies only came up because I asserted that Merkel is enabling Assad by allowing him to transfer the undesirable or restive part of his population to the European Union, and Germany in particular. Yet instead of addressing that point, we have now ventured into arguing over the postwar deportation of Germans and Merkel’s policies. Most of your comments after my last reply were focused on Trump rather than Syria, despite the fact that Trump is not a major actor in the Syrian Civil War, save for rapping Assad across the knuckles once.

Merkel enabled Assad's forced refugee flows?? I thought it was starvation...ethnic cleansing..constant cluster munitions, naplam and bunjerbusters driving IDPs and refugees??

Really.....

Trump is now a serious contender for his Syrian failed policies...actually he is worse than Obama as he has virtually no idea what to do other than continue Obama's agenda.....

Outside of a politically at home motivated TLAM strike what else has he actually done...increasing SOF but Raqqa is bogged down as well....

REMEMBER we are talking about "the Donald"...the same one who stated "I will eradicate IS/AQ from the face of the earth and do it immediately"...well 100 days in and outside of TLAMs what else has he done??

BUT WAIT...now he is in NKs face....AND Syria....??

He remains me of a 12 year old with ADAH on Ritalin....who cannot figure out how to use the TV remote.....

[Azor]

Allegedly 5 claims in total: 3 Islamist; 1 far-left; 1 far-right.

Important not to jump to *any* conclusions at this stage.

IS might surprise us yet.....but the wording of the IS claims was way way off.....

Yes, and the fact is that Germany does have a very anti-Muslim and very violent far-right fringe.

[OUTLAW 09]

BTW..traditionally a violent far right with deep ties to first KBG and now FSB...that dates back to the early 70s.....

Evidence pointing to right wing extremists responsible while trying to make it look like work of Islamic terrorism.

Explosives came from a recent well conducted theft on a German military base that had the explosives under solid physical control...

[davidbfpo]

From the BBC:

Police in Germany have charged a man suspected of being behind an attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus.Rather than having links to radical Islamism, he was a market trader hoping to make money if the price of shares in the team fell, prosecutors say.
(Later) ....the 28-year-old, who has German and Russian nationality, had been charged with attempted murder, setting off explosions and causing serious physical injury.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39664212

The investigation had some help by the suspect, he used the hotel's web connection to place a trade option and was in a room overlooking the scene.

Now was his motive really financial or was this a "false flag" action trying to implicate jihadists or others? No doubt one day local reporters will provide a more in-depth explanation.

[OUTLAW 09]

Originally posted on the SWJ thread on Gerasimov.....

NOTICE this Russian criminal tie in to the recent IED bombing of the BVb bus....and Russian spetsnaz and eastern Ukraine.

My sources are saying he definitely was Russian trained Spetnaz...experienced in eastern Ukraine having arrived in Germany in the last year and has a residence permit as do many Russian expats living in Germany....

German police on Friday arrested the suspected perpetrator of a bomb attack on Borussia Dortmund's team bus, the public prosecutor's office said, indicating his motive was financial and not terror-related.
Police commandos working on behalf of the federal prosecutor's office "have#arrested a 28-year-old German-Russian national, Sergej W.," a statement said.

It said the suspect was hoping to profit from a drop in the football team's#share price as a result of the attack.

REMEMBER if a Russian can prove even a 1/100th of an ounce of Jew heritage they get an automatic residence permit and that has led to a massive counterfeit program inside Russia cranking out such documents...which are actually very good and the Russia government has refused to assist German BKA to find the source...

NOTE while he might have been the potential firer of the three IEDs there is per sources of mine no indication he physically built the actual IEDs nor emplaced them...

So while he was obviously shorting the stock of BVB and potentially the individual that detonated the IEDS and the "fall man"....Germans are on the hunt for the bomb maker....who evidently thoroughly understood how to emplace the three IEDs in order to cover the entire length of the bus..meaning he has had experience in real IED emplacements... and understood how to judge distances of travelling buses....

[OUTLAW 09]

Added by Moderator

This post has been copied from the Manchester (UK) bomb attack thread and has been edited slightly:

What is interesting about this particular attack...the UK slams down an info wall and yet on the Berlin truck attack killing just ten less and having the same number of injured the German authorities were open and forthcoming with all information...or in the Paris attacks all information was flowing as fast as the authorities would actually allow it.

One thing French, German and Brussels authorities have learned..open up all channels of communications to the public and ask for as much help as they can provide...videos...photos...tweets..observations etc....

The failures around the German truck attacker are even played out in public and thus the public has no feeling that the government is not trying to coverup mistakes and is in fact learning from their own mistakes....something the UK is not doing right now....

Example..German investigators had learned about the trucker attacker being involved in drug sales as a finance mechanism....they raided six locations inside Berlin yesterday rolling up 10 major drug dealers and 6 of them were high value jihadist targets....

Ever since that Dec attack German authorities have been raiding and raiding and raiding and arresting along the way....after the London car attack yes you saw some activity but not to the levels seen in Brussels, Paris and Berlin....

Very interesting article on German counter-terrorism system and jihadists....

Excellent, detailed work by @janraudszus ~> The Jihadist terrorist threat and German Counter-terrorism http://www.capesic.cat/en/2017/05/25...er-terrorism/#

Germany has long maintained that to fight any terrorist problem it is strictly an intel service and police fight.....and long term.....AND I seriously doubt there is any western nation state that has been hit with terror attacks that openly debates the failures by police and security services as does Germany...

In some ways this quite public debate allows the public to understand that the police and security services are admitting if they failed and are learning from their mistakes and allows for the public to feel that their security concerns are being taken seriously....

[OUTLAW 09]

Well worth reading this interview by the Economist....
http://www.economist.com/blogs/kaffe...ermany?zid=307

So although it is long, I am publishing the transcript of our conversation.

Among Mr Ischinger’s most striking points were his arguments that:
Germany is increasingly open to military action
Brexit makes EU defence integration easier
Germany’s deployments in Afghanistan, Mali and Lithuania mark a real turning point
NATO’s 2%-of-GDP target for defence spending is not sufficient on its own
The 2% should be replaced with a 3% target encompassing defence, foreign policy and aid
Mr Trump’s statements make it harder for European leaders to contribute more to NATO
Germany should not contemplate its own nuclear weapon
Mr Macron’s election is an “enormous and unique” opportunity to relaunch the Franco-German partnership as a model for the whole EU
The Kohl-Mitterrand era of co-operation (in the 1980s) can be (partly) revived, starting with joint military procurement
Mr Macron understands Germany “perfectly”
Germany and France should consider a rewrite of the Elysée Treaty in 2018, codifying the alliance between the two countries
Germany should consider backing EU majority voting on foreign and security affairs
Germany and France might eventually share nuclear weapons and an army, but only in the very long term#
Notions of Germany as the new leader of the liberal world are “totally unhelpful”
Russia’s current belligerence towards the West may not last
Germany and the West must keep the door open to Mr Putin
Europe and Canada cannot reform their relationship with Russia without America
Mrs Merkel’s patience and Russian language skills give her unique advantages in talks with Mr Putin
Germany must “engage, engage, engage” with Mr Trump
Mr Trump has “good and experienced pros” in his team but “believes in unpredictability as a negotiating strategy”

[Azor]

From Der Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/international/...a-1153592.html

But I thought that spying "among friends, that isn't done"? Well, what of it, Angie?

Yet Der Spiegel has clearly violated sections 90A, 164, 185, 186 and 187 of the StGB with this article, by clearly engaging in:

• Insult
• Malicious gossip
• Defamation
• Disparagement of the state
• Incitement of popular hatred

Perhaps Angie can censor Der Spiegel and get her friends at Google, Facebook and Twitter to help out?

Introduction:

The chapter is only a few pages long, but it addresses a potentially explosive suspicion: Did Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, spy on its most important partner, the United States, in the past?

For Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, the answer is clear. The BND has never spied on the United States, members of both the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their government coalition partner, the center-left Social Democrats, are fond of saying, quoting former BND President Gerhard Schindler. And if it was true, then it was only a "coincidental capture" of data, that has since been deleted.

After three years of work, the German parliament committee of inquiry investigating NSA spying on Germany will release its final report next week. It will also contain a chapter drafted by the coalition on "findings about EU and NATO partners." The committee, the draft version of the report states, had no doubts about the statements made about the U.S.

But it should.

Documents that SPIEGEL has been able to review show that the BND, until a few years ago, actually had considerable interest in the United States as a target of espionage. The document states that just under 4,000 search terms, or selectors, were directed against American targets between 1998 and 2006. It is unknown whether they continued to be used after those dates.

[OUTLAW 09]

From Der Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/international/...a-1153592.html

But I thought that spying "among friends, that isn't done"? Well, what of it, Angie?

Yet Der Spiegel has clearly violated sections 90A, 164, 185, 186 and 187 of the StGB with this article, by clearly engaging in:

• Insult
• Malicious gossip
• Defamation
• Disparagement of the state
• Incitement of popular hatred

Perhaps Angie can censor Der Spiegel and get her friends at Google, Facebook and Twitter to help out?

Introduction:

Interesting comment in that it does not reflect that all NATO member ICs which includes the USG ICs all 17 of them....ALL "spy" on each other.....

This type of "spying" while not intended to actively recruit employees of those governments is considered to be normal...why it is designed to fill the gap on exactly what their decision makers are up to so the the "spying" country can adjust accordingly their FP or if they are in a FP decision cycle.....

BUT watch US reactions when say Mossad actively recruits a US Jewish citizen to reveal highly classified materials ie Pollack....

BUT if one knows the Cold War days the BND was never really trusted by US and UK and other NATO partners due to the closeness of the GDR, the Stasi and KGB....not because the Germans provided "bad" information when intel sharing.....

BTW..right now Germany is one of the leading intel services providing extensive HUMINT and SIGINT to the USG ICs on Trump and company.

WHEN using the German law paras be sure to mention that until a State prosecutor states and files an actual court case using one of those paras...it is only words, more words and more confusion....

BTW...notice that while you highlight this article the Steel Dossier on Trump which was raw HUMINT reporting never seems to get to the level of solid low level spying thus has creditability as 80% was verified....and is disregarded by many for that exact reason...low level raw HUMINT...

[OUTLAW 09]

Germany warns Turks not to bring security officials who face U.S. warrants
https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany...ts-1498490404#

OR they could be actually arrested by Europol under US warrants....

[OUTLAW 09]

New Rules for SIGINT Collection in Germany: A Look at the Recent Reform
By Thorsten Wetzling
Friday, June 23, 2017, 3:00 PM

https://lawfareblog.com/new-rules-si...-recent-reform

[OUTLAW 09]

Berlin: McDonald's restaurant evacuated after gas cylinder with attached detonator was found.
http://www.bild.de/regional/berlin/p...=de.bild.html#

[Azor]

Interesting comment in that it does not reflect that all NATO member ICs which includes the USG ICs all 17 of them...ALL "spy" on each other...

Nevertheless, this state of affairs did little to assauge the U.S. with regard to Pollard, or Germany et al with regard to the NSA. I didn't realize that the U.S. had 17 intelligence communities; I had understood that it had a single intelligence community comprised of 17 agencies

This type of "spying" while not intended to actively recruit employees of those governments is considered to be normal...why it is designed to fill the gap on exactly what their decision makers are up to so the the "spying" country can adjust accordingly their FP or if they are in a FP decision cycle...

BUT watch US reactions when say Mossad actively recruits a US Jewish citizen to reveal highly classified materials ie Pollack....

BUT if one knows the Cold War days the BND was never really trusted by US and UK and other NATO partners due to the closeness of the GDR, the Stasi and KGB...not because the Germans provided "bad" information when intel sharing...

BTW..right now Germany is one of the leading intel services providing extensive HUMINT and SIGINT to the USG ICs on Trump and company.

WHEN using the German law paras be sure to mention that until a State prosecutor states and files an actual court case using one of those paras...it is only words, more words and more confusion....

BTW...notice that while you highlight this article the Steel Dossier on Trump which was raw HUMINT reporting never seems to get to the level of solid low level spying thus has creditability as 80% was verified....and is disregarded by many for that exact reason...low level raw HUMINT...

Oh, the record seems to be broken again...More cut and paste from other threads. I had thought that MI6 and the EIB were assisting the U.S. IC?

You really must have a thing for Angie, given your adulation of her. Unfortunately, discussing Germany and the EU with you is akin to discussing Assad and Syria with the "Syrian Electronic Army".

[Azor]

From Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge...-idUSKBN19P1MY

According to Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz or BfV):

We must expect further attacks by individuals or terror groups...Islamist terrorism is the biggest challenge facing the BfV and we see it as one of the biggest threats facing the internal security of Germany

• The BfV's annual report for 2016 claimed that there are 24,400 Islamists in Germany, including 9,700 Salafists (increased to 10,100 for 2017) and 10,000 members of the Turkish Islamist Milliu Gorus movement
  
  
• The report indicated the hundreds of jihadists had entered Germany over the past two years among the 1 million+ migrants
  
  
• Maassen estimated that 930 people had left Germany to fight with Islamic State in Syria or Iraq, of whom about 20 percent were women, and of which an estimated 145 of the total people had since died,
  
  
• Interior Minister de Maiziere noted that the BfV was monitoring 680 potential Islamist threats, most of which were Salafist-influenced

[OUTLAW 09]

From Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge...-idUSKBN19P1MY

According to Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz or BfV):

• The BfV's annual report for 2016 claimed that there are 24,400 Islamists in Germany, including 9,700 Salafists (increased to 10,100 for 2017) and 10,000 members of the Turkish Islamist Milliu Gorus movement
  
  
• The report indicated the hundreds of jihadists had entered Germany over the past two years among the 1 million+ migrants
  
  
• Maassen estimated that 930 people had left Germany to fight with Islamic State in Syria or Iraq, of whom about 20 percent were women, and of which an estimated 145 of the total people had since died,
  
  
• Interior Minister de Maiziere noted that the BfV was monitoring 680 potential Islamist threats, most of which were Salafist-influenced

In the same report and largely overlooked is the figure of 18,000 ultra rightists of which 12,000 are seen as ready to use violence...with a strong increase in ultra right violent acts in this year.....far more than anything from jihadists.....

Interestingly is the number of ultra leftists.....which has remained steady with attacks from the ultra left actually decreasing....

Part of the problem is that while German security is constantly watching jihadists it is losing the oversight of ultra right and left....

[OUTLAW 09]

Germany warns about increased spy activity of Russia & China as well as Turkey & Iran before G20
http://qha.com.ua/en/politics/espion...e-g20/141227/#

[Azor]

In the same report and largely overlooked is the figure of 18,000 ultra rightists of which 12,000 are seen as ready to use violence...with a strong increase in ultra right violent acts in this year.....far more than anything from jihadists.....

Interestingly is the number of ultra leftists.....which has remained steady with attacks from the ultra left actually decreasing....

Part of the problem is that while German security is constantly watching jihadists it is losing the oversight of ultra right and left....

Germany warns about increased spy activity of Russia & China as well as Turkey & Iran before G20

The head of the BfV, Maassen, stated that Islamist terrorism is the BfV's "biggest challenge", not right-wing or left-wing terrorism, or foreign intelligence operations such as Russia's active measures. As head of the BfV since 2012, Maassen would know.