YEMEN: What Does The Word Starvation Mean To You?

The Republic of Yemen is under siege, the people are starving to death, and they are running out of time.

By its very definition, starvation is a process. Our bodies are not like vehicles which promptly shut down when they are out of gasoline. Starvation is defined as a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake needed to maintain human life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and inevitably – death.

What Does The Word Starvation Mean? The answer to this question lies in a series of evolved physiological and metabolic defenses that work to keep a person alive for as long as possible in the event they do not have access to food. Just because a person is starving does not mean they have become helpless. What follows is an explanation of how a person’s body fights to keep them alive and active.

When we experience prolonged low-energy intake and as long as water is available, our bodies enter into a series of metabolic modes. Basically, a person’s body is buying them some time to give them a chance to find some food. Despite the cause, starvation takes about the same course and consists of three phases. The events of the first two phases happen even during fairly short periods of dieting or fasting. The third phase happens only in prolonged starvation and will end in the person’s death.

The First Phase of Starvation:

During the first stage of starvation, blood glucose levels are maintained through the production of glucose from proteins, glycogen and fats.
At first, glycogen is broken down into glucose. Only enough glycogen; however, is stored in the person’s liver to last a few hours. After that period of time, blood glucose levels are maintained by the breakdown of fats and proteins.
Fats are decomposed into glycerol and fatty acids. Fatty acids can be used as a source of energy, particularly by skeletal muscle, thereby decreasing the use of glucose by tissues other than the brain.
Glycerol may be used to make a small amount of glucose. Some amino acids might be used directly for energy.

The Second Phase of Starvation:

In the second phase, which might last for several weeks, fats are the main energy source.
A person’s liver metabolizes fatty acids into ketone bodies that can be used as a source of energy.
After approximately a week without food, a person’s brain starts to use ketone bodies, as well as glucose, for sources of energy. Proteins not essential for survival are used first.

The Third Phase of Starvation:

The third phase of starvation starts when a person’s fat reserves are depleted and there is a switch to proteins as the major source of the person’s energy. Muscles, the largest source of protein in the body, are quickly depleted. At the end of this phase, proteins – essential for cellular functions, are broken down and cell function degenerates. Along with loss of weight, symptoms of starvation include:
- Apathy
- Withdrawal
- Listlessness
- Increased susceptibility to disease
Additional signs of starvation may include flaky skin, changes in hair color and massive edema in the lower limbs and abdomen, causing the person’s abdomen to seem bloated. During the process of starvation, the ability of the human body to consume volumes of food also decreases.
The process of starvation also results in dehydration and dehydration.

Few people die directly from starvation because they usually die of an infectious disease first.

Starvation and Death:

Starvation wreaks havoc on a person’s immune system, largely on account of an extreme deficiency of minerals and vitamins.
Some people will become weak and perish of immune-related diseases during starvation. Eventually, the person’s body will run out of options. Fats, glucose, muscle mass and tissue are finite resources that will eventually be spent and the person will die. The end-stage of starvation usually brings with it one of two different diseases – kwashiorkor and marasmus.
Marasmus happens due to extreme energy deficiency, often from inadequate amounts of calories and protein. The person’s body weight reaches dangerously low levels and infections are common. Kwashiorkor is a related disease that affects children who are protein-energy deficient and might result in edema and an enlarged and fatty liver, resulting in the distending of the children’s bellies, providing the illusion that children who are starving are well-fed.
When the person’s death finally arrives, its most immediate cause is by cardiac arrhythmia or a heart attack brought on by either extreme tissue degradation brought about by autophagy, or severe electrolyte imbalances. [01]

**People can die of starvation in as little as three-weeks, or as long as seventy days.**

Effects of Starvation:

Starvation affects many systems. Most changes are completely reversible as weight is regained and these include psychological symptoms.

Metabolic and endocrine effects: these are changes that are adaptive and are about trying to conserve body mass. Growth rate is slowed and puberty will be delayed. Physical activity is often initially reduced but there can be symptoms of hyperactivity in some. Cortisol and insulin secretion are both altered. Muscle starts to brake down to use as an energy source. As starvation precedes losses of electrolytes such as calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium occur. There will be marked loss of calcium from bones. Overall muscle, liver and gut all shrink very rapidly. Shrinkage in the gastrointestinal tract means feelings of fullness even after only little amounts of food are eaten. Later on kidneys and heart may also lose mass.
Cardiovascular changes: with weight loss a patient can become bradycardic and arrhythmia’s are sometimes seen particularly where there is low potassium. Cardiac arrest occasionally occurs.
Low Sodium, low Potassium and sometimes low levels of other elements such as calcium magnesium are sometimes seen.
Skeletal changes: osteoporosis is frequently seen. Due to lack of calcium and vitamin D particularly. Low oestrogen levels also play a part. There can be growth retardation before full stature is reached. A milder form of bone thinning is osteopaenia. Fractures can occur as a result.
Body temperature: cold intolerance and very low body temperature or hypothermia can occur.
Haematological: anaemia can occur adding to weakness and tiredness. White cell counts are also impaired and immune deficiency states can result. Occasionally low platelet concentrations can lead to clotting problems.
Dermatological: skin may become dry or discoloured. Excess hair growth on the face, arms and down the back is often seen..
Renal, liver and pancreatic function: in advanced stages these three systems can all be impaired.
Neuro-psychiatric: cognition is slowed, concentration is impaired and thinking becomes very restricted with states of depression and anxiety.
Muscle changes: in advanced stages of starvation there can be severe muscle weakness.

Heart and Circulation:

With weight loss the heart rate slows below its normal rate of 60 to 70 beats per minute. There are sometimes dangerous changes in the electrical activity of the heart as seen on a cardiogram.
Heart affects are more dangerous if there are also abnormalities in the body chemistry, particularly low potassium. The most serious consequence is cardiac arrest.
The blood pressure is low and this can be associated with fainting, especially with changes in posture.

Bones:

Bones become thin due to lack of nutrients particularly calcium and vitamin D. Low oestrogen levels also play a part.
If starvation starts in adolescence before full stature is reached there can be growth retardation.
The milder form of bone thinning is called osteopaenia and the more severe state is osteoporosis. These conditions can lead to fractures after quite minor injuries.

Kidneys, Liver and Pancreas:

In advanced starvation there can be abnormalities in the function of all these organs.

Body Temperature:

Because of poor insulation when patients are underweight there is cold intolerance.
There is also poor circulation to the feet and hands which can cause a painful condition called Raynaud’s phenomenon.
Very low body temperature or hypothermia is potentially fatal. It can cause further slowing of heart rate and abnormal contractions.

Blood Cells:

There can be reduced manufacture of haemoglobin, the oxygen carrying chemical in the red blood cells. This is anaemia which causes weakness and tiredness.
Production of white blood cells is also impaired in anorexia nervosa and this will weaken the body’s defenses to infections.
The blood platelet concentrations may be low. Platelets are important in the formation of clots and in rare cases there is the possibility of a bleeding tendency when the platelets are low.

Skin:

Skin may be dry or blotchy or have an unhealthy grey or yellow coloration. Sometimes, excess hair grows on the face, arms and down the back. This is a fine downy hair called lanugo.

Endocrine System:

In starvation states the ovaries and pituitary produce very low amounts of female sex hormones leading to loss of periods and infertility if not reversed. The equivalent hormone changes also occur in male patients.
There are also reduced levels of thyroid hormones. Blood cortisol, the stress hormone, can be high and this may contribute to thinning of the bones. [02]

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North Korea Summit: What Exactly Is Trump Selling?

America’s Salesman in Charge Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un signed a one-page joint statement at a dramatic ceremony in Singapore early this morning affirming their “unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”

The signed document, which came after a historic first meeting between Trump and Kim, does not detail the steps North Korea will take to denuclearize or how the U.S. might verify that process. The president described it as the first step in a longer negotiation process.

“We’ve gotten a lot,” Trump said. “All I can say, they want to make a deal.”

Trump said he talked up North Korea’s real estate and beachside hotel opportunities with Kim.

What is in the agreement?

In it, the U.S. agrees to offer some unspecified “security guarantees” for Pyongyang in exchange for an “unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The U.S. and North Korea agreed to establish new diplomatic relations in an effort to build “a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”
The U.S. will halt or suspend military exercises in South Korea: “I think it’s tremendously provocative,” Trump said of “war games,” promising U.S. taxpayers they will save a “tremendous amount of money” if they end.
The U.S. and North Korea agreed to commit to recovering, identifying and repatriating the remains of soldiers killed in the Korean War.

What is not in the agreement?

A timetable for denuclearization. “It does take a long time to pull off complete denuclearization, scientifically,” Trump said. “You have to wait certain periods of time…but once you start the process it’s pretty much over, you can’t use them, and that will happen soon.”
Details about how verification will take place. Trump vaguely said a mix of U.S. government personnel and independent inspectors would make up a verification team.
The future for 29,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
Marking an official end to the Korean War.
The release of Japanese political prisoners. “I brought it up, they’re going to be working on it,” Trump said. “They didn’t put it down in the document but they will be working on it.”
North Korea’s atrocious record on human rights.

So, do you think Kim is just toying with Trump?

Not sure?

Watch the video that recently aired on History Channel, North Korea Dark Secrets, and ask yourself that question.

In my opinion, of course he is.

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YEMEN: Interview With Founder of Mona Relief Humanitarian Aid

Question: Describe your background in Yemen. For example, do you have family there? Where are you from? What were you doing before the war began? How old are you?

Answer: I am Fatik Abdullah al-Rodaini, a Yemeni Journalist and humanitarian worker based in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a. I am a 40-year father of six kids and a husband to a great wife that helps me on all my projects. I have a whole family in Sanaa, a mother, sisters and brothers as well. I have a BA degree in mass media from the mass media faculty, Sanaa University.

I am the founder and CEO of Yemen organization for Humanitarian Relief and Development (MONA Relief). The organization was established in May 2015 as a Sanaa-based Non-governmental organization.

Before working as a humanitarian, I worked as a translator at the office of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi during 2014-2014. Prior to this job, I worked as the editor of the news website of late president Ali Abdullah Saleh at Yemen’s News Agency Saba during 2007-2012. I started to work with Saba in 1996.

Question: How did you begin your relief efforts?

Fatik: I started working as a humanitarian after the Saudi-led coalition launched a bombing campaign in Yemen in March 2015. I could not stay home or watching while my country was in need of all of us. When the humanitarian situation started to deteriorate because of ongoing war and blockade, I decided to do something to help affected people. My humanitarian work has been focused on saving lives of IDPs and most vulnerable people in Amanat Al-Asimah “Sanaa the capital”, Sanaa the governorate, Amran, Saada, Hodeida, Marib, Dhamar, Mahwit and Hajjah.

Question: What do you do each day and week as part of MonaRelief? Where in Yemen do you work?

Fatik: I am the CEO of MonaRelief and have two main tasks, the office task is focused on daily and weekly communications with donors, international and local aid agencies and people that come to my office and ask for help. I also attend meetings of the UN and international organizations to discuss the situation and coordinate activities in Yemen. Moreover, I network with local organizations and support individual aid initiatives.

The field task: I am the leader of my field crews. I visit cities and areas to distribute and supervise the delivery of aid to the needy people. I also assess where, how, why and to whom aid must be given, besides supervising the performance of the field crews in order to guarantee everything is done in a good way.

You can find more information about our work on our website monareliefye.org; our twitter account @monarelief or @monareliefye; Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/monareliefarbaic, and Flickr http://www.flickr.com/monareliefyemen.

Question: What is your mission with MonaRelief? What other organizations do you work with?

Fatik: My mission to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis and contribute to efforts aimed at serving my people.

Question: Is there a story from your work that stays with you? Why?

Fatik: Yes. The story of a mother and her eight blind sons and daughter who fled the unabated battles between the Saudi-backed forces and Houthi-Saleh forces in the Nihem district in the governorate of Sanaa. This mother and her blind kids fled to the capital where they had no supporter until our organization visited and started to help them. They traveled at night from a mountain to another until they arrived in the capital. The mother is the only supporter of her kids. The war was the worst nightmare to them. It destroyed their farm which they used to live on and the house they used to live in. The father is suffering from a mental illness. She is a great woman. She did not give up.

Question: How has the blockade affected your work? Are the goods that make it through actually helping people living in Yemen?

Fatik: The blockade has affected my work largely. It has been preventing my organization from receiving aid cargoes “mostly food, clothes and medicines” and financial aid sent by foreign donors. We have been unable to receive financial aid through our bank accounts because Yemen was sanctioned and money transfers into it suspended.

Question: What do you want people outside of Yemen to know about life on the ground there? What is the international community getting wrong about Yemen?

Fatik: In a few words, foreigners need to know that Yemen is facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and that all basic services are on the brink of total collapse. People in Yemen are dying from hunger and disease outbreaks while people outside Yemen either do not know about us or are just watching.

Question: What can or should other countries do to help?

Fatik: Other countries must do their best to end the war here. This is the first thing every one should think about. Then other countries should mobilize efforts to contain the humanitarian catastrophe and disease outbreaks. Well, media in foreign countries should write more about Yemen professionally.

Question: You work in very difficult situations and with topics that are difficult, what keeps you motivated?

Fatik: My country and people need me. I want to keep the smile on children’s faces. I want to save lives of those who have lost their supporters and hope. I can do something for the needy people and this is what keeps me motivated.

Question: Where do you find hope? What does hope mean to you?

Fatik: I find hope in providing more support to those who need it. At the moment, hope is everything.

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Girls Freed From Isis And Refugee Children Falling Into Coma Like Sleep

An increasing number of women and children fleeing war and ISIS captivity are exhibiting lethargy and apathy with resemblance to depressive stupor or catatonia, in connection to traumatic events and reaction patterns involving “apathic introversion” or Resignation Syndrome (RS), along with other symptoms interpreted to be psychosomatic have been reported.

Numerous phenomena resembling RS have been reported by physicians and anthropologists across contexts, cultures and time periods suggesting a common psychosomatic mechanism. Acute as well as prolonged death ensuing real or magical threat of death is known from cultures on most continents. “Epidemics” of dying in war and captivity where no hope remains has been described. (Kihlbom, 2013).

Nostalgia has been examined in relation to deterioration, apathy and dying. (Johannisson, 2001). The concentration camp term “muselmann” denoted those void of all hope exhibiting resignation behavior (Kertész, 1998) claimed to sustain for weeks without nutrition in a state of “archaic autohypnosis”. (Kihlbom, 2013).

Resignation, apathy and eventually death in response to severe unavoidable threat is a consistent finding throughout history and across cultures.

RS designates a long-standing disorder predominately affecting psychologically traumatized children and adolescents in the midst of a strenuous and lengthy migration process. Typically a depressive onset is followed by gradual withdrawal progressing via stupor into a state that prompts tube feeding and is characterized by failure to respond even to painful stimuli. The patient is seemingly unconscious. Recovery ensues within months to years and is claimed to be dependent on the restoration of hope to the family.

Descriptions of disorders resembling RS can be found in the literature and the condition is unlikely novel. Nevertheless, the magnitude and geographical distribution stand out. Several hundred cases have been reported exclusively in Sweden in the past decade prompting the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare to recognize RS as a separate diagnostic entity.

From January 1st 2003 to April 31st 2005, 424 cases were reported (Hessle and Ahmadi, 2006) and out of the 6547 asylum applications submitted for children (0–17 years) in Sweden in 2004 (Von Folsach and Montgomery, 2006), 2.8% were thus diagnosed. No cases reported from other countries, the phenomenon appears unique to Sweden. [Source]

**The Swedish word uppgivenhetssyndrom sounds like what it is: a syndrome in which kids have given up on life.**

In Sweden: Several hundred children and adolescents have literally checked out of the world for months or years. They go to bed and don’t get up.

They’re unable to move, eat, drink, speak or respond. All of the victims of the disorder, sometimes called resignation syndrome, have been youngsters seeking asylum after a traumatic migration, mostly from former Soviet and Yugoslav states. And all of them live in Sweden.

**Rachel Aviv, a staff writer at The New Yorker, described these children in the April 3, 2017, article “The Trauma of Facing Deportation.“ [Read the full article on pdf – p. 68]**

Excerpts from an NPR interview with Aviv:

The children go into these coma like states when their families are notified that they will be deported. The only known cure is for their families to receive residency permits allowing them to stay in Sweden. It’s not a sudden, magical reawakening when family members read the approved residency permit in the non-responsive child’s presence. Somehow, the information gets through. While there are no long-term follow-up studies, Aviv says, over a period of days, weeks, sometimes a few months, the child begins to eat, move, react and come back to the world.

[Aviv] I first read about it in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. Because I was reading about it in an academic article, I didn’t think to doubt it. But when I met the two girls I wrote about, it felt very strange. There was a sense of unreality. There was a disconnect between how young and healthy, even beautiful, they looked. They looked like they were sleeping. It was a sickening feeling to know that they were in that position for years. People make comparisons to bears hibernating. But humans don’t hibernate. It felt surreal.

[NPR] The two sisters you wrote about were Roma, from Kosovo. The older sister lost her ability to walk within 24 hours of the family’s application for residency being turned down. Her younger sister is also “bedridden and unresponsive.“

[Aviv] They were lying in bed. Their doctors were manipulating their bodies, and the girls did not show any signs that they were aware that there were people around them. When I met them, one of the girls had been in that state for two years, the other one only for a few months. When the doctor shined a flashlight on the girls’ eyes, the one who had been sick the longest, she just sort of stared directly at the doctor as if she didn’t even notice that someone was opening her eyelid.

I met a boy that I didn’t write about. He lived in a hotel. He and his mother had received a residency permit already. He had been apathetic for about two years [while the family waited and worried that they would be deported]. Even though his family had received the residency permit about three months before, the only progress he had made was to open his eyes. He was sitting up, but he could not hold his head up on his own. We’d be talking — his family, his doctors — and suddenly I’d remember that he was in the room.

It was almost as if there was a mannequin in the room that I kept forgetting about. He didn’t seem to be there mentally. That was concerning. He should have been recovering by then. His doctors were hopeful that he’d get better, but there have been almost no follow-up studies about what happens to these children.

[NPR] You did write extensively about Georgi from the Russian province of North Ossetia, who went to bed and stayed there when his family’s permit was denied in 2015. In late May, 2016, Georgi’s family received another letter from the Migration Board. Their neighbor Ellina Zapolskaia translated it:

‘The Migration Board finds no reason to question what is stated about Georgi’s health,’ she read out loud. ‘He is therefore considered to be in need of a safe and stable environment and living conditions in order to recuperate.’

What was his recovery like?

[Aviv] I would never have known that he was sick. He looked and acted completely normal. But even with complete recovery, some of these children have missed two years of their lives, and that’s a big deal.

[NPR] Is it possible that the children who went into these coma like states knew of the syndrome? And if so, might they have been unintentionally showing symptoms as a way of saving their families from deportation?

[Aviv] I think everyone acknowledges that there’s a degree of psychological contagion. Georgi had a family friend with the condition; the two sisters had a cousin; and the boy in the hotel saw at least three other children in the hotel with the syndrome. It’s a little like the way anorexia emerged in the U.S. at a moment in time when people were preoccupied with body image and the media were emphasizing thinness.

The illness borrows from the culture, and suddenly you have all these people who are starving themselves and doctors began diagnosing anorexia. It’s hard to pinpoint what the mechanism would be for children to develop resignation syndrome. It seems to have become a culturally permissible way of expressing one’s despair.

In Mosul: Women and children freed from sexual slavery to ISIS are also falling into coma like state of deep sleep.

Iraqi civilians flee the Islamic State controlled Old City of west Mosul on June 23, 2017. Image via Getty. — Iraqi civilians flee the Islamic State controlled Old City of west Mosul on *June 23, 2017*. (*Photo: Getty*).

Since the operation to take back Mosul, Iraq began last year, approximately 180 women, girls and children from the Yezidi ethnic minority who were captured in 2014 by the Islamic State, or Isis, have been liberated, according to Iraq’s Bureau for the Rescue of Abductees.

The girls are “very tired,” “unconscious” and “in severe shock and psychological upset,” said Dr. Nagham Nawzat Hasan, a Yazidi gynecologist who has treated over 1,000 of the rape victims.

“We thought the first cases were difficult,” Hasan said. “But those after the liberation of Mosul, they are very difficult.”

The shock expresses itself in women and girls who sleep for days on end, seemingly unable to wake up, said Hussein Qaidi, the director of the abductee rescue bureau.

“Ninety per cent of the women coming out are like this,” he said, for at least part of the time after their return.

Souhayla, a 16-year-old girl who escaped the Islamic State after three years of captivity, at her uncle’s home in Shariya Camp, Iraq. Credit Alex Potter for The New York Times — *Souhayla,* a 16-year-old girl who escaped the Islamic State jihadist fighters after *three years* of captivity, at her uncle’s home in *Shariya Camp*, Iraq. (*Credit: Alex Potter for The New York Times*).

Souhayla is just 16-years-old. She was captured at the tender age of 13. She now lay on her side, on a mattress on the floor, unable to hold up her head. Her uncle props her up to drink water, but she can barely swallow. Her voice is so weak, he places his ear directly over her mouth to hear her.

Her uncle described her condition as “shock.” He invited reporters to Souhayla’s bedside so they could document what the terror group’s system of sexual abuse had done to his niece.

“This is what they have done to our people,” said Khalid Taalo, her uncle.

**The girl walked out of the most destroyed section of Mosul this month, freed after three years of captivity and serial rape when her Isis captor was killed in an airstrike.**

Both Souhayla and her family asked that she be identified as well as photographed, in an effort to shed light on their community’s suffering. Her uncle posted her image on Facebook immediately after her release describing what Isis had done to her.

For over a year, Taalo said, he had known his niece’s location, as well as the name of the fighter holding her. He enlisted the help of a smuggler who at great risk photographed Souhayla through the window of the house where she was being held and sent the images to her family.

But it was too perilous to try a rescue.

Souhayla escaped on July 9th [2017], two days after an airstrike collapsed a wall in the building where she was being held, Killing another Yazidi girl who had been held alongside her, including the captor who had been abusing them, her uncle said.

At that point, she was strong enough to clamber through the rubble and make her way to the first Iraqi checkpoint.

When her family drove to pick her up, she ran to embrace them.

“I ran to her and she ran to me and we started crying and then we started laughing as well,” said Taalo, the brother of Souhayla’s father, who remains missing after the Isis took over their hometown. “We stayed like that holding each other, and we kept crying and laughing, until we fell to the ground.”

But within hours, she stopped speaking, he said.

By the time they reached the camp where her mother and extended family had found refuge after the Islamic State overran their village, Souhayla slipped into what appeared to be unconsciousness.

The doctors who examined her have prescribed antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. She also shows signs of malnutrition.

Neither explain her extreme symptoms, said her family and one of the doctors who examined her.

“I’m happy to be home,” she whispered with difficulty into her uncle’s ear, in response to a reporter’s question, “but I’m sick.”

Souhayla eating dinner in her uncle_s tent, a white bandage covering an IV site and a scar from her effort to slit her wrist during her captivity. Credit Alex Potter for The New York Times. — *Souhayla* eating dinner in her uncle’s tent, a white bandage covering an IV site and a scar from her effort to slit her wrist during her captivity. (*Credit: Alex Potter for The New York Times*).

Isis had been ruling Mosul for two months in 2014 when the group’s leaders set their sights on Sinjar, a 60-mile-long, yellow massif to the north. Its foothills and mountain villages have long been the bedrock of life for the Yazidi, a tiny minority who account for less than two percent of Iraq’s population of 38 million.

The centuries-old religion of the Yazidi revolves around worship of a single God, who in turn created seven sacred angels. These beliefs led the Isis to label the Yazidi as polytheists, a perilous category in the terrorist group’s nomenclature.

Relying on a little-known and mostly defunct corpus of Islamic law, the Isis argued that the minority’s religious standing rendered them eligible for enslavement.

On August 3, 2014, convoys of fighters sped up the escarpment, fanning out across the adjoining valleys. Among the first towns they passed on their way up the mountain was Til Qasab, with its low-slung concrete buildings surrounded by plains of blond grass.

That’s where Souhayla, then 13-years-old, lived.

A total of 6,470 Yazidis on the mountain were abducted, according to Iraqi officials, including Souhayla. Three years later, 3,410 remain in captivity or unaccounted for, Qaidi of the abductee rescue bureau said.

For the first two years of her captivity, Souhayla was forced through the Islamic State’s system of sexual slavery, raped by a total of seven men, she said.

When the push for Mosul began, she was moved progressively deeper into the area hardest hit by the conflict, as security forces squeezed the terrorist group into a sliver of land near the Tigris River. The area was pummeled by artillery, airstrikes and car bombs, and strafed by helicopter-gunship fire.

As Isis began losing its grip on the city, Souhayla’s captor cut her hair short, like a boy’s. She understood he was planning to try to slip past Iraqi security forces, disguised as a refugee, and take her with him, her uncle said.

Taalo now spends his days nursing his niece back to health. To sit up, she grasped one of the metal ribs holding up her family’s tent and pulled herself into a sitting position, as her uncle pushed from behind. But soon her strength was sapped, and she flopped back down.

He used a wash cloth to dab her forehead, as she lay in his lap. Her mouth fell open and her eyes rolled back.

After her escape, almost two weeks passed before she was able to stand for more than a few minutes, her legs unsteady.

Yazidi Girls: Iraqi officials say recent female escapees are also showing an unusual degree of indoctrination (I would refer to as brainwashing).

Commonly found in the Sinjar mountains, the Yazidi account for less than two percent of Iraq's population of 38 million Getty — Commonly found in the Sinjar mountains, the Yazidi account for less than *two percent* of Iraq’s population of *38 million*. (*Photo: Getty*).

Two Yazidi sisters, ages 20 and 26, arrived at the Hamam Ali refugee camp, where they drew the attention of camp officials because they wore face-covering niqabs and refused to take them off, despite the fact that Yazidi women do not cover their faces.

They described the Isis fighters who raped them as their “husbands” and as “martyrs,” said Muntajab Ibraheem, a camp official and director of the Iraqi Salvation Humanitarian Organization.

In their arms were the three toddlers they had given birth to in captivity, the children of their rapists. But they refused to nurse them, said the smuggler sent by their family to fetch them. He and camp officials filled out paperwork so that the children could be given to the state, he said.

A video recorded on the smuggler’s phone shows what happened when the sisters saw their family for the first time after their return. Their relatives rushed to embrace the gaunt women. They cried.

Their mother, distraught, stepped behind the tent, trying to steady herself.

A day after the video was taken, reporters went to see the women, and they could no longer stand. They lay on mattresses inside the plastic walls of their tent.

Family members said that except for a few brief moments, the women have not awakened since then, over a week ago. [Source]

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Canada 150th: PM Trudeau Recognizes Canadian Diversity In Speech

Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau brought a youthful exuberance to our country’s 150th Birthday party on Parliament Hill, July 1st, 2017.

His message: It doesn’t matter how you got here, because once you arrive, and can proudly say, “I am Canadian“, you will more than likely be welcomed into communities with open arms, and maybe a fresh-baked pie. I know it sounds awfully idealistic, but we are still an old-fashioned nation in many ways.

We remember our roots, and are grateful for our freedoms and privileges. We also recognize that without migrants and refugees, there would be no Canada. In fact, North America would still be solely occupied by its native inhabitants, if Europeans had not “migrated” here in the first place. Speaking for myself, I am only second generation Canadian, as both sets of my grandparents migrated, one side from France, the other from Scotland.

On that note, here is Prime Minister Trudeau’s full speech from Parliament Hill on July 1, 2017.

You can also enjoy the spectacular fireworks show on Parliament Hill, put to some snappy swing music.

Go here to watch Canada’s 150th big birthday bash fireworks extraordinaire!

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YEMEN: Genocide By Starvation – Even Russia Calls A Spade A Spade!

On the 13th of this month, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova spoke out on the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, while pointing out that Western apathy and U.S. involvement in Yemen is an hypocrisy of both their values and accusations of war crimes in Aleppo – when they are killing civilians and bombing hospitals in Northern Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

I have to agree with her. The following is her press release.

Once again, we must return to the humanitarian situation in Yemen. The situation there has become even more catastrophic following the latest escalation in combat. These alarming conclusions have been backed up at the briefing by United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O’ Brien at the UN Security Council on March 10. He painted a shocking picture of the state of affairs, characterising Yemen as the “largest humanitarian crisis in the world.”

Combat between the sides of the conflict in Yemen, with direct involvement by the Saudi-led coalition,

have already killed at least 7,500 people since March 2015, according to the most conservative estimates,
with more than 40,000 wounded.
Around 19 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.
More than 7 million people, mostly children, are malnourished.
Two million Yemenis have been internally displaced, 62,000 of them in just the last six weeks.
Many of these people are unable to find shelter and are living in the open.
This does not include the tens of thousands of refugees.
More than 48,000 people from the coastal town of Mocha have fled in just the last two months since coalition forces began their offensive.

Coalition aircraft caused another bloody episode when, on March 10, they were reported to have bombed a market in the town of Khokha, killing dozens and wounding dozens more.

Plans to launch an offensive against Yemen’s biggest port, Hodeida, are especially worrying. Combat in this region will not only cause mass flight of the population, but will essentially cut the capital, Sana’a, off from food and humanitarian aid supply routes. There is no need to say what disastrous consequences this would have.

Airstrikes continue causing tremendous damage to Yemen’s civilian infrastructure. Schools, hospitals and transport facilities have been destroyed. Arbitrary air blockades and obstacles to shipping make it extremely difficult to get food and fuel supplies into the country. Medicines are in acutely short supply, which means that many Yemenis are dying of what are curable diseases today. The north of the country is in a catastrophic situation, with no cash supply. Public sector workers have not been paid in more than six months.

Terrorists from ISIS and Al-Qaeda are capitalising on this chaos, bolstering their strongholds in Yemen, mostly in the south of the country, and even further complicating the humanitarian situation.

But Western media and NGOs pay little attention to this situation, and indeed pass it over in silence. The West shows no interest in it within its various international forums, in strong contrast to its hyper-active position on Syria.

The Russian Embassy in Sana’a is making active efforts to facilitate the work of the UN humanitarian team in Yemen, headed by Jamie McGoldrick. It was with our effort that a secretariat was set up to ensure coordination between the UN personnel and the de-facto authorities in the capital, above all in the interests of ensuring the population’s unhindered access to humanitarian aid.

We call for an immediate cessation of all use of force, no matter the justifications for combat. It is our firm belief that the Yemeni conflict cannot be resolved by military means. The parties must return to the negotiating table, with the aid of UN Special Envoy Ismail Ahmed, with the aim of reaching a lasting ceasefire and finding a political solution to the conflict. [01]

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POTUS: What Do Trump And Kent Univ. Shooting Have In Common?

With the Trump Administration in power an indisputable fact rings true – that history will repeat itself – often in the most terrifying violence and unspeakable inhumanity – we will find the cycle never-ending.

And “Mark my words,” the Trump era will go down in history as some of the darkest days on American soil. Mr Trump’s revival of “America First” slogan is overt racism, which he doesn’t even attempt to disguise.

Klu-Klux-Klan parade down the street of an American city. (Photo: Rob S.‏ @RobPulseNews).

Trump’s newly embraced “Christian Ideals” are about to launch another era of age-old self-righteousness, and impunity of crimes against humanity, not seen since the Spanish Inquisition; or in modern times, the Hitler Administration; and as cycles often will, this one increases in cruelty each time it rears its ugly head.

This time, that ugly head is attached to the body of a one, Mr. Donald J. Trump of New York, New York. Current profession, President of the United States of America. His previous positions include: TV reality show host and realtor; and is infamous for being a loud and angry person, and recently announcing he is also a proud womanizer.

But never has anyone accused “The Donald” of being a politician. So, “Believe me,” this will not end well.

In light of Mr. Trump’s highly controversial Executive Orders, I decided to make a documentary providing a historically accurate account of the May 4, 1970 Kent State University massacre of students – as a cautionary reminder of the danger hovering over America and its constitution under the radicalized Trump Administration.

Trump Administration is heading down a path of deep-seeded resistance to his anti-human rights policies, which will only fuel more heated protests – pitting National Guard against their fellow citizens.

On March 6th America’s 45th president, Mr. Donald Trump, declared that he knows what is best for the country, and starting handing out Executive Orders like candy on Halloween.

Although it is well-known that the majority of terrorist attacks on civilians inside their country are committed by white, male U.S. citizens. Despite that important fact, Mr. Trump has used buzz words and hype, such as “9/11” and “keep America safe from foreign enemies,” to convince the masses that “Trump knows best.”

**The following is one of his first radicalized proclamations titled: “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.“**

(Listen to the White House spokesperson discuss this Executive Order on our Politics Radio Channel).

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and to protect the Nation from terrorist activities by foreign nationals admitted to the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy and Purpose. (a) It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks, including those committed by foreign nationals. The screening and vetting protocols and procedures associated with the visa-issuance process and the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) play a crucial role in detecting foreign nationals who may commit, aid, or support acts of terrorism and in preventing those individuals from entering the United States. It is therefore the policy of the United States to improve the screening and vetting protocols and procedures associated with the visa-issuance process and the USRAP.

(b) On January 27, 2017, to implement this policy, I issued Executive Order 13769 (Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States).

(i) Among other actions, Executive Order 13769 suspended for 90 days the entry of certain aliens from seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. These are countries that had already been identified as presenting heightened concerns about terrorism and travel to the United States. Specifically, the suspension applied to countries referred to in, or designated under, section 217(a)(12) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12), in which Congress restricted use of the Visa Waiver Program for nationals of, and aliens recently present in, (A) Iraq or Syria, (B) any country designated by the Secretary of State as a state sponsor of terrorism (currently Iran, Syria, and Sudan), and (C) any other country designated as a country of concern by the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence. In 2016, the Secretary of Homeland Security designated Libya, Somalia, and Yemen as additional countries of concern for travel purposes, based on consideration of three statutory factors related to terrorism and national security: “(I) whether the presence of an alien in the country or area increases the likelihood that the alien is a credible threat to the national security of the United States; (II) whether a foreign terrorist organization has a significant presence in the country or area; and (III) whether the country or area is a safe haven for terrorists.” 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12)(D)(ii). Additionally, Members of Congress have expressed concerns about screening and vetting procedures following recent terrorist attacks in this country and in Europe.

(ii) In ordering the temporary suspension of entry described in subsection (b)(i) of this section, I exercised my authority under Article II of the Constitution and under section 212(f) of the INA, which provides in relevant part: “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.” 8 U.S.C. 1182(f). Under these authorities, I determined that, for a brief period of 90 days, while existing screening and vetting procedures were under review, the entry into the United States of certain aliens from the seven identified countries — each afflicted by terrorism in a manner that compromised the ability of the United States to rely on normal decision-making procedures about travel to the United States — would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. Nonetheless, I permitted the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to grant case-by-case waivers when they determined that it was in the national interest to do so.

(iii) Executive Order 13769 also suspended the USRAP for 120 days. Terrorist groups have sought to infiltrate several nations through refugee programs. Accordingly, I temporarily suspended the USRAP pending a review of our procedures for screening and vetting refugees. Nonetheless, I permitted the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to jointly grant case-by-case waivers when they determined that it was in the national interest to do so.

(iv) Executive Order 13769 did not provide a basis for discriminating for or against members of any particular religion. While that order allowed for prioritization of refugee claims from members of persecuted religious minority groups, that priority applied to refugees from every nation, including those in which Islam is a minority religion, and it applied to minority sects within a religion. That order was not motivated by animus toward any religion, but was instead intended to protect the ability of religious minorities — whoever they are and wherever they reside — to avail themselves of the USRAP in light of their particular challenges and circumstances.

(c) The implementation of Executive Order 13769 has been delayed by litigation. Most significantly, enforcement of critical provisions of that order has been temporarily halted by court orders that apply nationwide and extend even to foreign nationals with no prior or substantial connection to the United States. On February 9, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to stay or narrow one such order pending the outcome of further judicial proceedings, while noting that the “political branches are far better equipped to make appropriate distinctions” about who should be covered by a suspension of entry or of refugee admissions.

(d) Nationals from the countries previously identified under section 217(a)(12) of the INA warrant additional scrutiny in connection with our immigration policies because the conditions in these countries present heightened threats. Each of these countries is a state sponsor of terrorism, has been significantly compromised by terrorist organizations, or contains active conflict zones. Any of these circumstances diminishes the foreign government’s willingness or ability to share or validate important information about individuals seeking to travel to the United States. Moreover, the significant presence in each of these countries of terrorist organizations, their members, and others exposed to those organizations increases the chance that conditions will be exploited to enable terrorist operatives or sympathizers to travel to the United States. Finally, once foreign nationals from these countries are admitted to the United States, it is often difficult to remove them, because many of these countries typically delay issuing, or refuse to issue, travel documents.

(e) The following are brief descriptions, taken in part from the Department of State’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2015 (June 2016), of some of the conditions in six of the previously designated countries that demonstrate why their nationals continue to present heightened risks to the security of the United States:

(i) Iran. Iran has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984 and continues to support various terrorist groups, including Hizballah, Hamas, and terrorist groups in Iraq. Iran has also been linked to support for al-Qa’ida and has permitted al-Qa’ida to transport funds and fighters through Iran to Syria and South Asia. Iran does not cooperate with the United States in counterterrorism efforts.

(ii) Libya. Libya is an active combat zone, with hostilities between the internationally recognized government and its rivals. In many parts of the country, security and law enforcement functions are provided by armed militias rather than state institutions. Violent extremist groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), have exploited these conditions to expand their presence in the country. The Libyan government provides some cooperation with the United States’ counterterrorism efforts, but it is unable to secure thousands of miles of its land and maritime borders, enabling the illicit flow of weapons, migrants, and foreign terrorist fighters. The United States Embassy in Libya suspended its operations in 2014.

(iii) Somalia. Portions of Somalia have been terrorist safe havens. Al-Shabaab, an al-Qa’ida-affiliated terrorist group, has operated in the country for years and continues to plan and mount operations within Somalia and in neighboring countries. Somalia has porous borders, and most countries do not recognize Somali identity documents. The Somali government cooperates with the United States in some counterterrorism operations but does not have the capacity to sustain military pressure on or to investigate suspected terrorists.

(iv) Sudan. Sudan has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993 because of its support for international terrorist groups, including Hizballah and Hamas. Historically, Sudan provided safe havens for al-Qa’ida and other terrorist groups to meet and train. Although Sudan’s support to al-Qa’ida has ceased and it provides some cooperation with the United States’ counterterrorism efforts, elements of core al-Qa’ida and ISIS-linked terrorist groups remain active in the country.

(v) Syria. Syria has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1979. The Syrian government is engaged in an ongoing military conflict against ISIS and others for control of portions of the country. At the same time, Syria continues to support other terrorist groups. It has allowed or encouraged extremists to pass through its territory to enter Iraq. ISIS continues to attract foreign fighters to Syria and to use its base in Syria to plot or encourage attacks around the globe, including in the United States. The United States Embassy in Syria suspended its operations in 2012. Syria does not cooperate with the United States’ counterterrorism efforts.

(vi) Yemen. Yemen is the site of an ongoing conflict between the incumbent government and the Houthi-led opposition. Both ISIS and a second group, al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), have exploited this conflict to expand their presence in Yemen and to carry out hundreds of attacks. Weapons and other materials smuggled across Yemen’s porous borders are used to finance AQAP and other terrorist activities. In 2015, the United States Embassy in Yemen suspended its operations, and embassy staff were relocated out of the country. Yemen has been supportive of, but has not been able to cooperate fully with, the United States in counterterrorism efforts.

(f) In light of the conditions in these six countries, until the assessment of current screening and vetting procedures required by section 2 of this order is completed, the risk of erroneously permitting entry of a national of one of these countries who intends to commit terrorist acts or otherwise harm the national security of the United States is unacceptably high. Accordingly, while that assessment is ongoing, I am imposing a temporary pause on the entry of nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, subject to categorical exceptions and case-by-case waivers, as described in section 3 of this order.

(g) Iraq presents a special case. Portions of Iraq remain active combat zones. Since 2014, ISIS has had dominant influence over significant territory in northern and central Iraq. Although that influence has been significantly reduced due to the efforts and sacrifices of the Iraqi government and armed forces, working along with a United States-led coalition, the ongoing conflict has impacted the Iraqi government’s capacity to secure its borders and to identify fraudulent travel documents. Nevertheless, the close cooperative relationship between the United States and the democratically elected Iraqi government, the strong United States diplomatic presence in Iraq, the significant presence of United States forces in Iraq, and Iraq’s commitment to combat ISIS justify different treatment for Iraq. In particular, those Iraqi government forces that have fought to regain more than half of the territory previously dominated by ISIS have shown steadfast determination and earned enduring respect as they battle an armed group that is the common enemy of Iraq and the United States. In addition, since Executive Order 13769 was issued, the Iraqi government has expressly undertaken steps to enhance travel documentation, information sharing, and the return of Iraqi nationals subject to final orders of removal. Decisions about issuance of visas or granting admission to Iraqi nationals should be subjected to additional scrutiny to determine if applicants have connections with ISIS or other terrorist organizations, or otherwise pose a risk to either national security or public safety.

(h) Recent history shows that some of those who have entered the United States through our immigration system have proved to be threats to our national security. Since 2001, hundreds of persons born abroad have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in the United States. They have included not just persons who came here legally on visas but also individuals who first entered the country as refugees. For example, in January 2013, two Iraqi nationals admitted to the United States as refugees in 2009 were sentenced to 40 years and to life in prison, respectively, for multiple terrorism-related offenses. And in October 2014, a native of Somalia who had been brought to the United States as a child refugee and later became a naturalized United States citizen was sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction as part of a plot to detonate a bomb at a crowded Christmas-tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. The Attorney General has reported to me that more than 300 persons who entered the United States as refugees are currently the subjects of counterterrorism investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(i) Given the foregoing, the entry into the United States of foreign nationals who may commit, aid, or support acts of terrorism remains a matter of grave concern. In light of the Ninth Circuit’s observation that the political branches are better suited to determine the appropriate scope of any suspensions than are the courts, and in order to avoid spending additional time pursuing litigation, I am revoking Executive Order 13769 and replacing it with this order, which expressly excludes from the suspensions categories of aliens that have prompted judicial concerns and which clarifies or refines the approach to certain other issues or categories of affected aliens.

Sec. 2. Temporary Suspension of Entry for Nationals of Countries of Particular Concern During Review Period. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, shall conduct a worldwide review to identify whether, and if so what, additional information will be needed from each foreign country to adjudicate an application by a national of that country for a visa, admission, or other benefit under the INA (adjudications) in order to determine that the individual is not a security or public-safety threat. The Secretary of Homeland Security may conclude that certain information is needed from particular countries even if it is not needed from every country.

(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the President a report on the results of the worldwide review described in subsection (a) of this section, including the Secretary of Homeland Security’s determination of the information needed from each country for adjudications and a list of countries that do not provide adequate information, within 20 days of the effective date of this order. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide a copy of the report to the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence.

(c) To temporarily reduce investigative burdens on relevant agencies during the review period described in subsection (a) of this section, to ensure the proper review and maximum utilization of available resources for the screening and vetting of foreign nationals, to ensure that adequate standards are established to prevent infiltration by foreign terrorists, and in light of the national security concerns referenced in section 1 of this order, I hereby proclaim, pursuant to sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), that the unrestricted entry into the United States of nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. I therefore direct that the entry into the United States of nationals of those six countries be suspended for 90 days from the effective date of this order, subject to the limitations, waivers, and exceptions set forth in sections 3 and 12 of this order.

(d) Upon submission of the report described in subsection (b) of this section regarding the information needed from each country for adjudications, the Secretary of State shall request that all foreign governments that do not supply such information regarding their nationals begin providing it within 50 days of notification.

(e) After the period described in subsection (d) of this section expires, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, shall submit to the President a list of countries recommended for inclusion in a Presidential proclamation that would prohibit the entry of appropriate categories of foreign nationals of countries that have not provided the information requested until they do so or until the Secretary of Homeland Security certifies that the country has an adequate plan to do so, or has adequately shared information through other means. The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, or the Secretary of Homeland Security may also submit to the President the names of additional countries for which any of them recommends other lawful restrictions or limitations deemed necessary for the security or welfare of the United States.

(f) At any point after the submission of the list described in subsection (e) of this section, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, may submit to the President the names of any additional countries recommended for similar treatment, as well as the names of any countries that they recommend should be removed from the scope of a proclamation described in subsection (e) of this section.

(g) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the President a joint report on the progress in implementing this order within 60 days of the effective date of this order, a second report within 90 days of the effective date of this order, a third report within 120 days of the effective date of this order, and a fourth report within 150 days of the effective date of this order.

Sec. 3. Scope and Implementation of Suspension.

(a) Scope. Subject to the exceptions set forth in subsection (b) of this section and any waiver under subsection (c) of this section, the suspension of entry pursuant to section 2 of this order shall apply only to foreign nationals of the designated countries who:

(i) are outside the United States on the effective date of this order;

(ii) did not have a valid visa at 5:00 p.m., eastern standard time on January 27, 2017; and

(iii) do not have a valid visa on the effective date of this order.

(b) Exceptions. The suspension of entry pursuant to section 2 of this order shall not apply to:

(i) any lawful permanent resident of the United States;

(ii) any foreign national who is admitted to or paroled into the United States on or after the effective date of this order;

(iii) any foreign national who has a document other than a visa, valid on the effective date of this order or issued on any date thereafter, that permits him or her to travel to the United States and seek entry or admission, such as an advance parole document;

(iv) any dual national of a country designated under section 2 of this order when the individual is traveling on a passport issued by a non-designated country;

(v) any foreign national traveling on a diplomatic or diplomatic-type visa, North Atlantic Treaty Organization visa, C-2 visa for travel to the United Nations, or G-1, G-2, G-3, or G-4 visa; or

(vi) any foreign national who has been granted asylum; any refugee who has already been admitted to the United States; or any individual who has been granted withholding of removal, advance parole, or protection under the Convention Against Torture.

(c) Waivers. Notwithstanding the suspension of entry pursuant to section 2 of this order, a consular officer, or, as appropriate, the Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or the Commissioner’s delegee, may, in the consular officer’s or the CBP official’s discretion, decide on a case-by-case basis to authorize the issuance of a visa to, or to permit the entry of, a foreign national for whom entry is otherwise suspended if the foreign national has demonstrated to the officer’s satisfaction that denying entry during the suspension period would cause undue hardship, and that his or her entry would not pose a threat to national security and would be in the national interest. Unless otherwise specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security, any waiver issued by a consular officer as part of the visa issuance process will be effective both for the issuance of a visa and any subsequent entry on that visa, but will leave all other requirements for admission or entry unchanged. Case-by-case waivers could be appropriate in circumstances such as the following:

(i) the foreign national has previously been admitted to the United States for a continuous period of work, study, or other long-term activity, is outside the United States on the effective date of this order, seeks to reenter the United States to resume that activity, and the denial of reentry during the suspension period would impair that activity;

(ii) the foreign national has previously established significant contacts with the United States but is outside the United States on the effective date of this order for work, study, or other lawful activity;

(iii) the foreign national seeks to enter the United States for significant business or professional obligations and the denial of entry during the suspension period would impair those obligations;

(iv) the foreign national seeks to enter the United States to visit or reside with a close family member (e.g., a spouse, child, or parent) who is a United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, or alien lawfully admitted on a valid nonimmigrant visa, and the denial of entry during the suspension period would cause undue hardship;

(v)the foreign national is an infant, a young child or adoptee, an individual needing urgent medical care, or someone whose entry is otherwise justified by the special circumstances of the case;

(vi) the foreign national has been employed by, or on behalf of, the United States Government (or is an eligible dependent of such an employee) and the employee can document that he or she has provided faithful and valuable service to the United States Government;

(vii) the foreign national is traveling for purposes related to an international organization designated under the International Organizations Immunities Act (IOIA), 22 U.S.C. 288 et seq., traveling for purposes of conducting meetings or business with the United States Government, or traveling to conduct business on behalf of an international organization not designated under the IOIA;

(viii) the foreign national is a landed Canadian immigrant who applies for a visa at a location within Canada; or

(ix) the foreign national is traveling as a United States Government-sponsored exchange visitor.

Sec. 4. Additional Inquiries Related to Nationals of Iraq. An application by any Iraqi national for a visa, admission, or other immigration benefit should be subjected to thorough review, including, as appropriate, consultation with a designee of the Secretary of Defense and use of the additional information that has been obtained in the context of the close U.S.-Iraqi security partnership, since Executive Order 13769 was issued, concerning individuals suspected of ties to ISIS or other terrorist organizations and individuals coming from territories controlled or formerly controlled by ISIS. Such review shall include consideration of whether the applicant has connections with ISIS or other terrorist organizations or with territory that is or has been under the dominant influence of ISIS, as well as any other information bearing on whether the applicant may be a threat to commit acts of terrorism or otherwise threaten the national security or public safety of the United States.

Sec. 5. Implementing Uniform Screening and Vetting Standards for All Immigration Programs. (a) The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence shall implement a program, as part of the process for adjudications, to identify individuals who seek to enter the United States on a fraudulent basis, who support terrorism, violent extremism, acts of violence toward any group or class of people within the United States, or who present a risk of causing harm subsequent to their entry. This program shall include the development of a uniform baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures, such as in-person interviews; a database of identity documents proffered by applicants to ensure that duplicate documents are not used by multiple applicants; amended application forms that include questions aimed at identifying fraudulent answers and malicious intent; a mechanism to ensure that applicants are who they claim to be; a mechanism to assess whether applicants may commit, aid, or support any kind of violent, criminal, or terrorist acts after entering the United States; and any other appropriate means for ensuring the proper collection of all information necessary for a rigorous evaluation of all grounds of inadmissibility or grounds for the denial of other immigration benefits.

(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the President an initial report on the progress of the program described in subsection (a) of this section within 60 days of the effective date of this order, a second report within 100 days of the effective date of this order, and a third report within 200 days of the effective date of this order.

Sec. 6. Realignment of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for Fiscal Year 2017. (a) The Secretary of State shall suspend travel of refugees into the United States under the USRAP, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall suspend decisions on applications for refugee status, for 120 days after the effective date of this order, subject to waivers pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. During the 120-day period, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Homeland Security and in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall review the USRAP application and adjudication processes to determine what additional procedures should be used to ensure that individuals seeking admission as refugees do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the United States, and shall implement such additional procedures. The suspension described in this subsection shall not apply to refugee applicants who, before the effective date of this order, have been formally scheduled for transit by the Department of State. The Secretary of State shall resume travel of refugees into the United States under the USRAP 120 days after the effective date of this order, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall resume making decisions on applications for refugee status only for stateless persons and nationals of countries for which the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence have jointly determined that the additional procedures implemented pursuant to this subsection are adequate to ensure the security and welfare of the United States.

(b) Pursuant to section 212(f) of the INA, I hereby proclaim that the entry of more than 50,000 refugees in fiscal year 2017 would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and thus suspend any entries in excess of that number until such time as I determine that additional entries would be in the national interest.

(c) Notwithstanding the temporary suspension imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security may jointly determine to admit individuals to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in their discretion, but only so long as they determine that the entry of such individuals as refugees is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States, including in circumstances such as the following: the individual’s entry would enable the United States to conform its conduct to a preexisting international agreement or arrangement, or the denial of entry would cause undue hardship.

(d) It is the policy of the executive branch that, to the extent permitted by law and as practicable, State and local jurisdictions be granted a role in the process of determining the placement or settlement in their jurisdictions of aliens eligible to be admitted to the United States as refugees. To that end, the Secretary of State shall examine existing law to determine the extent to which, consistent with applicable law, State and local jurisdictions may have greater involvement in the process of determining the placement or resettlement of refugees in their jurisdictions, and shall devise a proposal to lawfully promote such involvement.

Sec. 7. Rescission of Exercise of Authority Relating to the Terrorism Grounds of Inadmissibility. The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, in consultation with the Attorney General, consider rescinding the exercises of authority permitted by section 212(d)(3)(B) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(3)(B), relating to the terrorism grounds of inadmissibility, as well as any related implementing directives or guidance.

Sec. 8. Expedited Completion of the Biometric Entry-Exit Tracking System. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall expedite the completion and implementation of a biometric entry exit tracking system for in-scope travelers to the United States, as recommended by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the President periodic reports on the progress of the directive set forth in subsection (a) of this section. The initial report shall be submitted within 100 days of the effective date of this order, a second report shall be submitted within 200 days of the effective date of this order, and a third report shall be submitted within 365 days of the effective date of this order. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit further reports every 180 days thereafter until the system is fully deployed and operational.

Sec. 9. Visa Interview Security. (a) The Secretary of State shall immediately suspend the Visa Interview Waiver Program and ensure compliance with section 222 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1202, which requires that all individuals seeking a nonimmigrant visa undergo an in-person interview, subject to specific statutory exceptions. This suspension shall not apply to any foreign national traveling on a diplomatic or diplomatic-type visa, North Atlantic Treaty Organization visa, C-2 visa for travel to the United Nations, or G-1, G-2, G-3, or G-4 visa; traveling for purposes related to an international organization designated under the IOIA; or traveling for purposes of conducting meetings or business with the United States Government.

(b) To the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of State shall immediately expand the Consular Fellows Program, including by substantially increasing the number of Fellows, lengthening or making permanent the period of service, and making language training at the Foreign Service Institute available to Fellows for assignment to posts outside of their area of core linguistic ability, to ensure that nonimmigrant visa-interview wait times are not unduly affected.

Sec. 10. Visa Validity Reciprocity. The Secretary of State shall review all nonimmigrant visa reciprocity agreements and arrangements to ensure that they are, with respect to each visa classification, truly reciprocal insofar as practicable with respect to validity period and fees, as required by sections 221(c) and 281 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1201(c) and 1351, and other treatment. If another country does not treat United States nationals seeking nonimmigrant visas in a truly reciprocal manner, the Secretary of State shall adjust the visa validity period, fee schedule, or other treatment to match the treatment of United States nationals by that foreign country, to the extent practicable.

Sec. 11. Transparency and Data Collection. (a) To be more transparent with the American people and to implement more effectively policies and practices that serve the national interest, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall, consistent with applicable law and national security, collect and make publicly available the following information:

(i) information regarding the number of foreign nationals in the United States who have been charged with terrorism-related offenses while in the United States; convicted of terrorism-related offenses while in the United States; or removed from the United States based on terrorism-related activity, affiliation with or provision of material support to a terrorism-related organization, or any other national-security-related reasons;

(ii) information regarding the number of foreign nationals in the United States who have been radicalized after entry into the United States and who have engaged in terrorism-related acts, or who have provided material support to terrorism-related organizations in countries that pose a threat to the United States;

(iii) information regarding the number and types of acts of gender-based violence against women, including so-called “honor killings,” in the United States by foreign nationals; and

(iv) any other information relevant to public safety and security as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General, including information on the immigration status of foreign nationals charged with major offenses.

(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall release the initial report under subsection (a) of this section within 180 days of the effective date of this order and shall include information for the period from September 11, 2001, until the date of the initial report. Subsequent reports shall be issued every 180 days thereafter and reflect the period since the previous report.

Sec. 12. Enforcement. (a) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consult with appropriate domestic and international partners, including countries and organizations, to ensure efficient, effective, and appropriate implementation of the actions directed in this order.

(b) In implementing this order, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including, as appropriate, those providing an opportunity for individuals to claim a fear of persecution or torture, such as the credible fear determination for aliens covered by section 235(b)(1)(A) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(A).

(c) No immigrant or nonimmigrant visa issued before the effective date of this order shall be revoked pursuant to this order.

(d) Any individual whose visa was marked revoked or marked canceled as a result of Executive Order 13769 shall be entitled to a travel document confirming that the individual is permitted to travel to the United States and seek entry. Any prior cancellation or revocation of a visa that was solely pursuant to Executive Order 13769 shall not be the basis of inadmissibility for any future determination about entry or admissibility.

(e) This order shall not apply to an individual who has been granted asylum, to a refugee who has already been admitted to the United States, or to an individual granted withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture. Nothing in this order shall be construed to limit the ability of an individual to seek asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture, consistent with the laws of the United States.

Sec. 13. Revocation. Executive Order 13769 of January 27, 2017, is revoked as of the effective date of this order.

Sec. 14. Effective Date. This order is effective at 12:01 a.m., eastern daylight time on March 16, 2017.

Sec. 15. Severability. (a) If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its other provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

(b) If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid because of the lack of certain procedural requirements, the relevant executive branch officials shall implement those procedural requirements.

Sec. 16. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

End of Executive Order.

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(Updated 3.12.17) TURKEY: EU Nations Block Pro-Erdogan Rallies, Ban Turk Officials

Updated on March 12th: Hundreds of protesters gathered near the Dutch Embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara, despite the street where it is located being sealed off by police. Demonstrators waved Turkish and Ottoman flags, shouted anti-Dutch slogans and some threw eggs, according to state-run TRT Television.

Mr. Ed Husain, a political reporter and author, tweeted images from the protest held Saturday.

Terrorists roam freely in Europe.
PKK gatherings protected by police.
Innocent Dutch-Turkish protestors treated this way last night: pic.twitter.com/swM6HdEKRW

— Ed Husain (@Ed_Husain) March 12, 2017

Clearly outraged by his plane being refused landing clearance, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Cavusoglu tweeted the following messages, among several other remarks, all directed at the Netherlands’ government.

We did not send our people to the Netherlands to become their captives.

— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) March 11, 2017

Replied questions of the media in #Metz. We underline once again: An apology from the Netherlands is not enough. pic.twitter.com/NLfpTJGKBS

— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) March 12, 2017

After his rejection by Dutch officials, Turkey’s foreign minister made his way to Metz, France, where he was welcomed by Pro-Erdogan counterparts and supporters.

Arrived in the Metz, France to have a meeting with our Consuls General and to gather with our citizens. pic.twitter.com/zdwWUT3urF

— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) March 11, 2017

End Update.

The Netherlands has withdrawn permission for a plane carrying Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu to land in the country to speak at a rally supporting expanded powers for current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In response, the Turkish President compared the Dutch government to “Nazis” when addressing a rally of supporters in Istanbul – only days after using the same label against the German government over rally cancellations.

Turkish authorities have sealed off the Dutch embassy and consulate, citing security reasons, sources at Turkey’s foreign ministry have said. Turkey closed off the residences of the Dutch ambassador, the head of the embassy and the consul general as tensions between the NATO partners escalated.

Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister. — Mr. Mark Rutte, *Dutch Prime Minister*.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister, called the remarks “crazy” at a campaign event.

“I understand they’re angry, but this of course was way out of line,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Dutch government said the move was taken because of “risks to public order and security” caused by the proposed visit by Mevlut Cavusoglu to Rotterdam on Saturday, March 11th.

“The Dutch government does not have any opposition to gatherings in our country to inform them about it. But these gatherings are not allowed to contribute to tensions in our society and everyone who wants to hold a gathering is obliged to follow instructions of those in authority, so that public order and safety can be guaranteed.”

Speaking at Istanbul’s airport, he said the Dutch are trying to prevent Turkish officials from meeting voters in Europe, adding: “So they cancelled it due to security concerns, what, so is the minister a terrorist? We will give them the response they deserve.”

It was the latest of a series of prohibitions on campaigning in Europe by Turkish leaders drumming up support among the country’s expat voters, including several in Germany. Turkey summoned the Dutch charge d’affaires to the foreign ministry in Ankara as the dispute continued on Saturday. It came just days before the Netherlands goes to the polls in parliamentary elections on March 15th.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu — Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu, *Turkey Foreign Minister.*

With tensions growing between the EU and Turkey, Mr. Cavusoglu repeated threats to cancel agreements including last year’s deal to stem the flow of refugees to Greece if the bloc failed to carry out promised visa liberalization for Turks. He said Turkey would present a final text to the bloc on progress of the deal “and either it will all be cancelled, including the visa liberalization and migrant deal, or it will all be implemented.”

At least four German local authorities have withdrawn permission for pro-Erdogan campaign events, as well as areas of Austria and Switzerland. Allies of the Turkish President are targeting more than a million Turkish voters living in Europe who will be eligible to cast a ballot in the vote on April 16, 2017. The referendum could see Turkey’s parliamentary system replaced with an executive presidency using constitutional amendments that have alarmed human rights groups.

Germany’s refusals have sparked a diplomatic row seeing Angela Merkel’s government repeatedly compared to Nazis by Mr. Erdogan and his ministers. All cancellations have cited safety and administrative issues, but have been linked to concern over a post-coup crackdown seeing thousands of people detained in Turkey, including a Die Welt journalist who was jailed on terror charges after reporting on government corruption. [01]

Journalist Deniz Yücel, along with four others, have been jailed pending trial on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organisation and inciting the public to violence.

Authorities initially detained Deniz Yücel, a correspondent for Die Welt newspaper, earlier this year on the 14th of February after he reported on emails that a hacker collective claims they obtained from the private account of Mr. Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s energy minister – and the son-in-law of Turkey’s president, Mr. Erdoğan.

On Monday, an Istanbul court ordered Deniz Yücel, a dual citizen of Turkey and Germany, to be jailed pending trial, Reuters reports. He is the first German reporter to be held in a widespread crackdown that has followed last year’s failed July 15th coup in Turkey.

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Yemen: Our Children Are Suffering Under Saudi Arabia’s Cruelty

Yemeni children are suffering.

The war destroyed anachronisms, and every corner of Yemen by ferocious and barbarity indiscriminate air strikes that has killed everything.
The war has destroyed the beauty of monuments, civilizations, schools, hospitals and mosques.
That wasn’t enough for them, so they did an economic unjust air, land, and sea siege, and obstruction of commercial movement.
They prevented convoys of medical aids.
They shut down airports to prevent migrants, and travel for medical treatment.
It is a psychological war by deployment of discord between the sons of the same homeland to disrupt the national Yemeni unit.
The Saudi attack on Yemen broke the whole human and war rights – without mercy – the attack broke all boundaries of religions, humanitarian laws, and international norms.
The war destroyed, killed, displace people, created famine, and broke the people’s right to life.
With a savage, dead heart!!

They didn’t care about the childhood.
They didn’t care about the innocent children.
The whole world knows these crimes.
The world knows about the blood-root massacres.
Our children now are homeless – without out any hope that they used to have before.
They have no houses anymore, and look for somewhere to live in.
The children’s situation is really tragic, and breaks our hearts.
The streets are their houses now.
They try to find food – with naked bodies in this hoarfrost.
You may find them searching for firewood to get warmth, or you might see them carrying receptacles to get some water from far distances.
They live in destruction, while the other children in the world live happily !!

Curable diseases threaten their lives, especially with the inability to have treatment.
Some kids waiting in dialysis and chemical therapy queues die before the remedy.
Many kids get injured by bombs.
There are those who lost their families.
It’s hard for a little kid to live in such world without home, family or care.
You can see the calamitous in their eyes.
You find them carrying out worries by themselves.
It’s really big humanitarian calamity !!

They need psychological and incorporeal support, subvention, and health care.
It’s the whole world’s duty to face this situation in order to stop our children’s suffering.
The enemy continues the crimes – since no one opposes.
We have to deal with this wretched situation that our children live in.
We have to stop their suffering.
We all know that they are pure, white hearts – try to reset children’s smile, and to medicate the deep hurt that still bleeds.
It’s a bad situation for innocent childhood !!

The Peace will return in my country Yemen.
We will hear, and see blissfulness in every corners of Yemen.
With victory close, with god willing, we believe on god to cease our misery, and to stop this savagery attack.
We will overcome all obstacles, because God is with us.
God will never disheartens us – for he is merciful.
YEMEN – the country of Faith AND Wisdom – will win !!

Written by a civilian living inside war-torn Sana’a, Yemen, and a volunteer at Your Ability Organization.

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KSA: Saudi “So-Called” Royals Are Still Killing Yemen’s Children

And now - a country with more than 10,000 people killed in the ensuing violence, over 10,000 more died of starvation under the blockade of humanitarian aid and supplies - the Middle East’s poorest nation, Yemen is reduced to the brink of famine. — Click photo to enlarge. (Photo Credit: Yemen Post Newspaper @yemenpostnews)

This report takes a look at how 20 months of the Saudi-led airstrikes, relentlessly bombing Yemen, has reduced a country to rubble, and forever destroyed the lives of the people who survive these deadly airstrikes on civilians.

The attacking Saudi-coalition has been fighting to restore Saudi-backed President Mansour Hadi to power since March of last year, after the Houthi gained control of their county’s capital Sana’a, and Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, where he remains in exile.

And now – a country with more than 10,000 people killed in the ensuing violence, over 10,000 more died of starvation under the blockade of humanitarian aid and supplies – the Middle East’s poorest nation, Yemen is reduced to the brink of famine.

Over 7.4 million children are suffering the brunt of the conflict in myriad ways; including chronic diseases. malnutrition, loss of home and parents, loss of education; then there is resulting infliction’s of trauma caused by the violence thrust upon them at such a young age; and tens of thousands more maimed and disabled for life – in a country with no means to care for them. Adding to their hardship are the groups recruiting children to fight as soldiers.

Over 7.4 million children are suffering the brunt of the conflict in myriad ways; including chronic malnutrition, loss of home and parents, loss of education; then there is resulting infliction's of trauma caused by the violence thrust upon them at such a young age; and tens of thousands more maimed and disabled for life - in a country with no means to care for them. Adding to their hardship are the groups recruiting children to fight as soldiers. — Click photo to enlarge. (Photo Credit: Yemen Post Newspaper @yemenpostnews)

Human rights groups have accused the Saudi-led coalition of indiscriminately bombing civilians and systematically committing human rights violations, which Riyadh has denied. To no avail, activists and lawmakers have urged the United States and other Western countries to stop supplying fighter jets, bombs and other weaponry to Saudi Arabia.

Last month the world temporarily expressed outrage at the Saudi’s when over one hundred and forty (140) men, women and children were killed, and at least 525 others injured, some critically, and according to several reports, the death toll has risen, after their air force targeted a funeral hall in Sana’a. Watch our report.

ITV News was at the scene and shown remnants of a bomb, which a Yemeni military official has claimed was from a US-made Mark 82.

Senior News Editor Paul Tyson, who is also in Sana’a, said a morgue attendant told him they have “no room for bodies“, and that he saw body parts being removed from the ruins of the funeral hall.

The Yemen government claimed the Saudi-led coalition had dropped rockets on mourners who had gathered to honour the father of the government’s interior minister, who died on Friday – but the coalition air command initially denied any involvement. In his report, Paul Tyson said “important tribal leaders” were reportedly among the dead and injured.

**Since then the Saudis have released a statement claiming it was the actions of one person – who will “fall on his sword“.**

Human rights groups have requested an independent investigation be carried out, but the Saudi Royals have refused.

The U.S. said it will review its support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, said a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson.

“US security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check,” said NSC spokesman Ned Price in a statement. “In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led Coalition.”

About sixty-percent (60%) of the children killed in Yemen since March 15, 2015, were the victims of airstrikes. So I ask again, how many more dead children will it take to put the Saudi Royals back on the United Nations’ Blacklist for killing children?

Back in June of this year – the same day UN Nations informed the Saudi’s they had been placed on a blacklist for maiming and killing children in Yemen – ten children were killed, and 28 more children were injured in a Saudi-coalition airstrike that targeted a school.

The children were taking exams inside their classrooms in Haydan, an enclave of the city of Saada. Gruesome images of their burnt and dismembered bodies immediately emerged on social-media sites. [01]

It is yet to be seen if the U.S. will proceed with its sale of $1.5 billion more in weapons and military advisory support to Saudi Arabia.

Yet, even in light of such an unthinkable act of violence toward children, when the Saudi Royals threw a temper tantrum and threatened to withdraw critical funding from UN programs – the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon released a statement saying he had remove them from the blacklist after “undue pressure.”

The conflict began early last year, when President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned and fled to the southern city of Aden after Houthi consolidated their hold on Sana’a. So the Saudis and their allies decided to attack Yemen and restore their choice for Yemen’s president – Hadi to power.

The Houthis are currently fighting for the return of their former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Saudi invasion of Yemen – under the pretense of restoring their government, and fighting terrorists – it is a despicable hoax, and in my opinion, the Saudi “Royals” are reprehensible beasts who have no place in decent society.

According to The Telegraph, “Army units still loyal to Mr Saleh have backed the Houthi offensive after Mr Saleh switched sides and turned on the internationally recognised Saudi-backed government that replaced him three years ago.” [02]

However, former president Saleh remains a powerful presence in his country, and maintains military and political muscle.

As for the Saudis, they have revealed their deep disregard for international law and human life, and their disrespect towards the United Nations, and like wolves in sheep’s clothing, they are devouring anyone in their path to satisfy their instinct to dominate.

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Updated: Donald Trumped All Of The Naysayers – I Called It

Much to the angst of some, and triumph of others – reality TV personality, business man, and son of Fred Trump, a successful New York City real estate developer – Donald J. trump has won his way into the presidential suite of every hotel worldwide. Good for you Donald!

I will explanation why – I won the U.S. election bet with my dear Canadian friend.

I said, “Trump can win.”

He said, “No way.” (p.s. I am owed an awesome foot massage!)

You see, I trust in Western democracy, and that is how I knew Donald Trump could win the election.

The U.S. president is selected by the majority vote – not by the most informed, and not by the smartest voters – but by the majority.

I equally trust in the majority of American voters being led by mainstream media, their unique idolization of people famous for … basically just having their face on flat screens and theater marquees, lastly their well deserved distrust of politicians – heck – I might have voted for Donald just to have a last laugh on the politicians who must now work for President Trump for the next four years. Ha! Jokes on you!

I share my observations and opinion as a Canadian woman whom married an American at age 18, and proceeded to live, raise children, work and travel throughout the United States for most of my adult life.

My reaction when it was announced that Donald Trump won. — **My reaction when it was announced that Donald Trump won!**

Watch the hilarious reactions from Americans, hollywood celebrities and late night talk show hosts.

P.S. Dear Donald Trump, Curse you for making me remove your folder out of the cartoon files, and into the world news folders. The topper being that you are now tagged as “POTUS” and not just “Racists or Sexist”.

Read my article: Mission Make Hillary President – Is Trump A Loose Cannon?

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CDN: Now Second Largest Exporter Of Weapons Used Against Civilians

**Does this look like a jeep to you?**

Even on the rugged, back roads of Canada – THAT is NOT a JEEP! Back in 2014, the Harper government shook hands on a $15-billion deal to sell, what Trudeau later referred to as “lightly armed jeeps,” to Saudi Arabia. However, Ken Epps of Project Ploughshares, an anti-war group that tracks arms sales, said the LAV weaponry shows how lethal this Canadian deal really is.

Videos, dated from 2012 and 2015, show Saudi authorities using LAVs (not Canadian-made) against Shia citizens in the “Wahhabi-State of Arabia“.

A still image from a video supplied by Saudi human-rights activists shows armoured vehicles being used against Shia Muslim dissidents. The footage casts doubt on Ottawa’s assurances that the delivery of Canadian-made LAVs would not endanger Saudi civilians. (European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights) — **A still image from a video** supplied by Saudi human-rights activists shows armoured vehicles being used against Shia Muslim dissidents. The footage casts doubt on Ottawa’s assurances that the delivery of Canadian-made LAVs would *not* endanger Saudi civilians. (Credit: European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights).

“Such vehicles, far from simple troop carriers, are capable of major destruction, and given the ongoing deplorable human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, there is great risk that they will be used against civilians opposed to the Saudi government. This is why the new Canadian government should be reconsidering the Saudi contract,” Mr. Epps said.

During the 2015 election campaign, Mr. Trudeau played down the strategic nature of the sale, saying General Dynamics was merely exporting jeeps. Mr. Trudeau went on to characterize the sale as a private contract involving a manufacturing company – omitting Ottawa’s crucial role.

The gun subcontract is at the heart of growing controversy in Belgium, where critics are questioning the wisdom of selling weapons to Saudi Arabia – and citing the CMI-General Dynamics deal.

Many NGO groups are concerned the Saudis will use them to not only crush “dissent” at home, but use them against civilians in Yemen. In which case – would put Canada in violation of its own arms-trading rules – and in light of recent events in Yemen, possibly international law governing export of weapons to countries committing war crimes.

5.2 Billion Dollars. trudeau turns into dr evil — **15 Billion Dollars…**

Regardless of worldwide outrage of the reprehensible Saudi war crimes against women and children in Yemen, and innumerable human rights crimes against their own citizens – the Trudeau government has approved the export permits for the lethal vehicles anyway.

And from where I am sitting, it looks as though the Liberals had every intention of giving this Saudi weapons deal the government’s stamp of approval even before they won the election, evident by the vote MP Dion gave before he was given the job of actually signing the export papers – which he did – shortly after the Liberals moved into the Parliament building.

Minister of Foreign Affairs - Stéphane Maurice Dion PC MP — **Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs – Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP.**

Although the number of vehicles included is blacked-out, according to The Globe and Mail a French municipal official has said the transaction CMI, a subcontractor, is involved with concerns about 700 vehicles.

What do the Saudis get from this deal?

Canada's Upgraded Light Armoured Vehicle. — **Unveiling of Canada’s Upgraded Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV).**

Some information has leaked out in Belgium, where one broadcast journalist called CMI’s work for the Canadian maker of armoured vehicles the “contract of the century” for the firm, which is based in Seraing, Belgium. Local media say it would be worth €3.2-billion ($4.9-billion) and last more than 15 years.

In 2015, CMI announced it had bought a military base in northeastern France to be transformed into a campus to train the Saudis on the LAV weaponry.

The Globe and Mail report continued by saying: CMI, which manufactures turrets and cannons, announced in 2014 that it had signed a large contract with a “Canadian vehicle manufacturer” to supply two gun systems, including a medium-caliber weapon and the Cockerill CT-CV 105 HP, which it advertises as a “high-pressure gun with an advanced autoloader to deliver high lethality at very light weight,” one with the capacity to fire 105-mm shells and a heavy-armour-penetrating missile. CMI did not name the Canadian company.

In France, where CMI’s campus is located, a local municipal official said CMI is doing work for General Dynamics and its armoured vehicle contract with Saudi Arabia. In an interview, Jean-Philippe Vautrin, president of the Communauté de Communes du pays de Commercy, said CMI will start training the Saudis on the turrets and cannons in 2017, using simulators on the campus site but also a nearby artillery range.

He said the Saudis will learn how to operate the wheeled portion of the LAVs on Canadian soil. [01]

Do the Saudis have the vehicles yet?

General Dynamics is still gathering the materials needed to make the vehicles, but export permits were issued in April, 2016, for an unspecified number of them, according to a secret Global Affairs Canada memo released by the Justice Department.

What could the Saudis possibly need 700 armed tanks for?

Attacks on Saudi civilians – even reasonable doubt that the Saudis would use the LAVs for purposes not stated in their military statement, and if those other purposes include crimes against their own citizens – should have raised red flags under Canada’s weapons export rules – which forbid weapons shipments “unless it can be demonstrated there is no reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population” by the buyer.

**And what about the attacks on Yemeni civilians and the use of internationally banned cluster bombs?**

Saudi war crimes – go far beyond casting a serious, reasonable doubt – when reliable reports give evidence of 10,000 Yemeni civilians killed in Saudi airstrikes in just over one year, and over half the dead were children; and another 10,000 children have suffered an excruciating death by starvation, due to the Saudi military-enforced block on food, medicine and humanitarian aid, and those numbers rise exponentially every day.

SERIOUSLY?

How many DEAD CHILDREN will it take to declare Saudi Royals’ egotistical and violent bombing of Yemeni civilians exactly what it is – a GENOCIDE.

American Weapon Sales.

The U.S. is responsible for nearly 33% of worldwide exports – by far the top arms exporter on the planet – but which countries does the U.S. sell the most weapons to?

Saudi Arabia was the top recipient of American-made arms from 2011-2015, followed closely by the United Arab Emirates, according to research compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which has been analyzing international arms transfers since 1968.

Experts believe the Middle East will remain a top destination for weapons for some time – it currently accounts for about 40% of U.S. arms exports. The American exports include everything from small arms to fighter jet aircraft and tanks, to Patriot Missile batteries.

While most of the top importers use their own money to buy arms from the U.S., the U.S. also provides some countries with grants and loans — separate from the arms sales — to buy defense equipment from American manufacturers, as part of a program called Foreign Military Financing.

The State Department’s 2017 budget request includes approximately $5.7 billion for Foreign Military Financing. In the proposed budget, the top five recipients of American foreign military financing:

Israel: $3.1 billion
Egypt: $1.3 billion
Jordan: $350 million
Pakistan: $265 million
Iraq: $150 million

While Israel is supposed to spend this money on U.S. arms, some of that country’s most expensive purchases, like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, have yet to be delivered and are therefore not reflected in SIPRI’s statistics.

While the Middle East tops the list, funding for African armies in 2017 will more than double from last year, likely a consequence of increased terrorist activity in places like Mali, Somalia, and Nigeria.

If the federal Liberals are loathe to cancel Canada’s controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia, it may have something do with a trend published by Jane’s Defence Weekly.

According to the magazine, Canada has become the world’s second-largest exporter of arms to the Middle East, behind the United States.

The last time Jane’s surveyed arms exports, Canada was in sixth place on Middle East exports, but the country leapfrogged Britain, France, Germany and Russia into second place, with US $2.7 billion in sales in 2015, Jane’s reports.

That comes amid a growing frenzy of military spending by Middle Eastern countries that has made the region the top arms importer and Saudi Arabia the world’s single largest buyer of foreign weapons.

“The combined value of Saudi Arabia and the [United Arab Emirates’] defence imports is more than all of Western Europe’s defence imports combined.

“The U.S., Canada, France and the U.K. are the main exporters of defence equipment to the Middle East and beneficiaries of this spending boom.

“The global defence trade market has never seen an increase as large as the one we saw between 2014 and 2015.”
said Jane’s senior analyst, Ben Moores.

Worldwide, the defense trade reached a record high of US $65 billion in 2015, Jane’s reports. Canada remained the sixth-largest arms exporter, the same rank as in 2015 and up from 10th place in 2013 and 2014.

“The global defence trade market has never seen an increase as large as the one we saw between 2014 and 2015,” Moores said.

The Jane’s report comes amid ongoing controversy about the federal Liberal government’s decision to proceed with a $15-billion defense contract with Saudi Arabia signed by the previous Conservative government in February 2014.

The $15-billion contract for a fleet of armoured vehicles is expected to create 3,000 jobs at General Dynamics Land Systems in southern Ontario. The deal will add at least $1 billion to Canada’s arms exports numbers over the next decade. [02]

Though polls show that only one-fifth of Canadians back the arms deal — and roughly half oppose it — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in April that honouring the Saudi arms deal is a matter of principle.

“The principle at play here is that Canada’s word needs to mean something in the international community,” Trudeau said at the time.

I bet you are as disheartened as I am to learn that Canada has become the second largest supplier of military goods to the Middle East – mostly from the sordid $15 billion deal to supply Saudi Arabia with light armoured combat vehicles (or LAVs).

In fact, researchers at IHS Jane’s Defence told The Globe and Mail that “Canada has never ranked so highly among all arms-exporting countries.”

How did this happen?

How did Canada get mixed up in the dark underbelly of the global arms industry, sending billions of dollars’ worth of light armoured vehicles to the despots in Saudi Arabia?

Armoured vehicles, made right here in Canada and shipped under an earlier contract, were used to suppress peaceful pro-democracy protesters in neighbouring Bahrain, and now are taking part in bloody attacks in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition had been blacklisted by the UN for the unconscionable number of children killed by its airstrikes.

This new arms deal, to sell even more LAVs to Saudi Arabia over the next decade, contradicts everything we stand for. Our middle-power nation is known around the world for inventing peacekeeping, for banning landmines, for rejecting George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq and his Star Wars missile defence system.

These are values that you and I share, and together, we have steadfastly upheld and promoted them. That’s why I am counting on your support, once again. Like you, I am not prepared to let the arms dealers win.

It was almost a year ago that millions of Canadians voted for historic change – finally ridding Canada of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

The Defence Lobby – that powerful network of corporations (mostly U.S.-headquartered), politicians, academics and media pundits – all fueled by billions of dollars in military spending – has been working overtime to push the Trudeau government to make more dubious arms deals, and even to abandon their promise to kill the Harper plan to buy the obscenely overpriced and under-performing F-35 stealth fighter.

Under new transparency rules, the Liberal government released the 2014 and 2015 Reports on Canada’s Military Exports and, unbelievably, they reveal that Middle Eastern tyrants like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are not the only questionable recipients of Canadian-made weapons. In fact, Algeria, Thailand (after the military coup), Peru and Colombia are also recipients, despite their dreadful human rights records.

Canadian companies have also been accused of UN sanctions-busting, through banned weapons sales to Libya and South Sudan.

What is happening to the Canada I grew up in?

We have just come through a veritable “decade of darkness” characterized by reckless military spending, disastrous foreign wars, and Cold War sabre-rattling.

We can clearly see the terrible results. The Defence Lobby, and the arch Conservative think tanks they fund, have become so deeply entrenched in the Canadian body politic and they have such a stranglehold on government that the Liberals seem powerless (or unwilling) to escape their clutches.

The ball is in your court Prime Minister Trudeau. Are you going to turn a blind eye to Saudi’s inhumane treatment and killing of women and children, while dragging Canada into their disregard for the right to life in Yemen – a grievous crime surmounting to genocide? If Canada proceeds to arm their invasion of Yemen with sniper guns and lethal tanks, your term as Prime Minister will leave permanent blood stains on our country’s reputation as peacekeepers and defenders of mankind’s humanity.

Regimes like Saudi Arabia and Israel have swept justice under the carpet, setting a standard of “new rules” of war, and what constitutes a human rights violation, or warrants U.N. sanctions – all played out for the world to watch by way of social media and television. Perhaps that is the most disturbing injustice – every nation is watching – yet, no one is willing to take a stand, and stop the killing, and put out an international arrest warrant for the Saudi royals, and certain Israeli rulers, for their violent war crimes against children, and unimaginable cruelty against innocent civilians of all ages.

Meanwhile… Saudi royals continue to throw money, or threaten to stop throwing money at the United Nations. And Israel, well the Jews survived Nazi Germany genocide, so that immediately grants them impunity – consequently Madam Justice has been bought, blackmailed, and bullied.

The Republic of Yemen is under siege, the people are starving to death, and they are running out of time.

Few people die directly from starvation because they usually die of an infectious disease first.

Starvation and Death:

People can die of starvation in as little as three-weeks, or as long as seventy days.

Effects of Starvation:

Please help Mona Relief deliver life-saving food baskets! Go to our GoFundMe campaign page to donate today – where your money is quickly used to deliver humanitarian aid inside Yemen.

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Watch Daily News at Alistair Reign Channels on YouTube.

Watch rare films and TV series in our Documentaries section.

Watch Daily News at Alistair Reign Channels on YouTube.

Watch Daily News at Alistair Reign Channel on YouTube.

Resignation, apathy and eventually death in response to severe unavoidable threat is a consistent finding throughout history and across cultures.

The Swedish word uppgivenhetssyndrom sounds like what it is: a syndrome in which kids have given up on life.

In Sweden: Several hundred children and adolescents have literally checked out of the world for months or years. They go to bed and don’t get up.

Rachel Aviv, a staff writer at The New Yorker, described these children in the April 3, 2017, article “The Trauma of Facing Deportation.“ [Read the full article on pdf – p. 68]

Excerpts from an NPR interview with Aviv:

[NPR] The two sisters you wrote about were Roma, from Kosovo. The older sister lost her ability to walk within 24 hours of the family’s application for residency being turned down. Her younger sister is also “bedridden and unresponsive.“

In Mosul: Women and children freed from sexual slavery to ISIS are also falling into coma like state of deep sleep.

Women rescued in the first two years after Isis overran their ancestral homeland came home with infections, broken limbs and suicidal thoughts.

But now, after three years of captivity, women are far more damaged, displaying extraordinary signs of psychological injury.

The girl walked out of the most destroyed section of Mosul this month, freed after three years of captivity and serial rape when her Isis captor was killed in an airstrike.

Yazidi Girls: Iraqi officials say recent female escapees are also showing an unusual degree of indoctrination (I would refer to as brainwashing).

Watch Daily News at Alistair Reign Channel on YouTube.

Watch Daily News at Alistair Reign Channel on YouTube.

I have to agree with her. The following is her press release.

Terrorists from ISIS and Al-Qaeda are capitalising on this chaos, bolstering their strongholds in Yemen, mostly in the south of the country, and even further complicating the humanitarian situation.

But Western media and NGOs pay little attention to this situation, and indeed pass it over in silence. The West shows no interest in it within its various international forums, in strong contrast to its hyper-active position on Syria.

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The following is one of his first radicalized proclamations titled: “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.“

(Listen to the White House spokesperson discuss this Executive Order on our Politics Radio Channel).

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Journalist Deniz Yücel, along with four others, have been jailed pending trial on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organisation and inciting the public to violence.

Watch Daily News at Alistair Reign Channel on YouTube.

Yemeni children are suffering.

Watch Daily News at Alistair Reign Channel on YouTube.

And now – a country with more than 10,000 people killed in the ensuing violence, over 10,000 more died of starvation under the blockade of humanitarian aid and supplies – the Middle East’s poorest nation, Yemen is reduced to the brink of famine.

Since then the Saudis have released a statement claiming it was the actions of one person – who will “fall on his sword“.

Human rights groups have requested an independent investigation be carried out, but the Saudi Royals have refused.

“US security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check,” said NSC spokesman Ned Price in a statement. “In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led Coalition.”

About sixty-percent (60%) of the children killed in Yemen since March 15, 2015, were the victims of airstrikes. So I ask again, how many more dead children will it take to put the Saudi Royals back on the United Nations’ Blacklist for killing children?

We welcome comments and conversation. Scroll down page to use the comment box.

P.S. Dear Donald Trump, Curse you for making me remove your folder out of the cartoon files, and into the world news folders. The topper being that you are now tagged as “POTUS” and not just “Racists or Sexist”.

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Does this look like a jeep to you?

During the 2015 election campaign, Mr. Trudeau played down the strategic nature of the sale, saying General Dynamics was merely exporting jeeps. Mr. Trudeau went on to characterize the sale as a private contract involving a manufacturing company – omitting Ottawa’s crucial role.

Regardless of worldwide outrage of the reprehensible Saudi war crimes against women and children in Yemen, and innumerable human rights crimes against their own citizens – the Trudeau government has approved the export permits for the lethal vehicles anyway.

What do the Saudis get from this deal?

Do the Saudis have the vehicles yet?

What could the Saudis possibly need 700 armed tanks for?

And what about the attacks on Yemeni civilians and the use of internationally banned cluster bombs?

SERIOUSLY?

American Weapon Sales.

According to the magazine, Canada has become the world’s second-largest exporter of arms to the Middle East, behind the United States.

How did this happen?

What is happening to the Canada I grew up in?

Please send all inquiries or request to publish this article to Alistair.Reign@Gmail.com, thank you.

We welcome your feedback and conversation, use the comment box below. Your identity will not be shown.

**People can die of starvation in as little as three-weeks, or as long as seventy days.**

**The Swedish word uppgivenhetssyndrom sounds like what it is: a syndrome in which kids have given up on life.**

**Rachel Aviv, a staff writer at The New Yorker, described these children in the April 3, 2017, article “The Trauma of Facing Deportation.“ [Read the full article on pdf – p. 68]**

**Women rescued in the first two years after Isis overran their ancestral homeland came home with infections, broken limbs and suicidal thoughts.**

**But now, after three years of captivity, women are far more damaged, displaying extraordinary signs of psychological injury.**

**The girl walked out of the most destroyed section of Mosul this month, freed after three years of captivity and serial rape when her Isis captor was killed in an airstrike.**

**The following is one of his first radicalized proclamations titled: “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.“**

**Since then the Saudis have released a statement claiming it was the actions of one person – who will “fall on his sword“.**

**Does this look like a jeep to you?**

**And what about the attacks on Yemeni civilians and the use of internationally banned cluster bombs?**