When a Leftist Pope gets between a rock and a hard place (laugh of the day)

09/10/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Or more specifically when he gets between the Muslims and the Buddhists in Burma.

Scratching his head: How can two “peaceful” religions be killing each other?

Burmese monks — See my report on the recent violence here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/08/29/as-violence-in-burma-escalates-us-resettling-more-rohingya-muslims/

See Pope in a pickle by George Neumayr at American Spectator (hat tip: Judy).

(Before you go on with your laugh, you need to know that the Buddhists do not recognize the label ‘Rohingya’ because they think the Muslims in Burma (aka Myanmar) are simply Bangladeshi Muslims who moved into Burma illegally and deserve no special label. I’ve followed the issue for ten years and have a huge archive, Rohingya Reports, here. The latest outbreak of violence that began in 2012 resulted from a brutal rape and murder of a Buddhist girl by a gang of Muslims, something the media never mentions! You also need to know that the US has admitted thousands of Rohingya to America, most of them arriving in recent years.)

American Spectator:

In late August, the New York Times reported on a controversy only a pope like Francis would bother to court. Like many of his fellow Jesuits, Pope Francis exudes enthusiasm for every religion except his own. Out of this hyper-ecumenism has come a torrent of flaky tributes to what his predecessors would have called “false religions” and silly trips to remote countries with almost no Catholics. The Times reported on one such upcoming trip to Myanmar/Burma: “Pope’s Planned Visit to Myanmar Risks Stoking Religious Tensions.”

Screenshot (827) — Pope to Burma in November—watch for it! Should be fun!

The tensions to which the article refers don’t involve Catholics. There aren’t enough of them around to start a fight. The article refers to the fighting between Muslims and Buddhists. The latter group evidently finds the pope’s Islamophilia annoying and wants him to keep his nose out of their business. In February, Pope Francis rebuked Burma’s Buddhists for mistreating Muslims from Bangladesh who call themselves the Rohingya: “They have been suffering, they are being tortured and killed, simply because they uphold their Muslim faith.”

[….]

Besides, talking about his “Rohingya brothers” gives him a break from the difficult work of having to explain away jihad. Here is an opportunity, as Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister pointed out, where he can defend Muslims in the role of the persecuted instead of the persecuting. But the problem, as Magister notes, is that it also puts him in the awkward position of criticizing Buddhism, another religion that he is inclined to cast as impeccably peaceful. Maybe he can find a way to blame the tensions on Catholics, whose numbers in Burma’s dioceses have swelled to the point where they can fit into the back of a mini-van.

The Times gingerly approaches this squabbling among two groups of religionists it normally wants to protect and sanitize. The Times is also loath to criticize an interfering liberal pope. But even from its elliptical reporting one gets the sense that the Buddhists would prefer that the pope virtue-signal somewhere else…

This is a must read for those of you who love irony (and how dumb Leftist drivel gets them in trouble).

Continue here.

German election 3 weeks away; magazine says 60 Syrian terrorists in the country

09/05/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news….

From Deutsche Welle:

Almost 60 former fighters from a Syrian militia group linked to al Qaeda came to Germany posing as refugees, German news weekly Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

Merkel-Migrants-640x480 — We will find out on September 24th whether there is hope for Germany, or not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_2017

The former fighters are thought to have been members of the Owais al-Qorani Brigade and to have fought on various sides of the Syrian war.

Spiegel reports the group began the war on the side of the rebel Free Syrian Army before switching to the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front. [Wasn’t the Free Syrian Army Senator John McCain’s pals?—ed]

[….]

The Spiegel report, citing security agencies, said the group’s members had participated in “numerous massacres of captured civilians and Syrian soldiers.” At least 300 people were killed in such massacres.

German security agencies have reportedly set up a special task force to investigate the group’s members in Germany.

Some 25 former fighters are being investigated, but another 30 unconfirmed members are believed to be in the country, the magazine reported.

More here.

My complete archive on the ‘Invasion of Europe’ is here.

Reuters: Muslims at the Haj are worried about Donald Trump and his policies

09/03/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..but, not a word about the responsibility of Muslims to rein-in their terrorist element.

Screenshot (808) — These Haj Muslims seem to think our concern about Muslim migration is completely lacking in any rational calculation. Don’t miss Raheem Kassam’s good report on Islamic terrorism attacks in ‘welcoming’ Europe and how more Americans need to wake up. http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/09/02/kassam-america-get-some-perspective/

(And, here they are in Saudi Arabia which will never let them stay and become citizens of that Muslim country!)

Victims, always victims!

Reuters:

MECCA/RIYADH (Reuters) – Even at Islam’s holiest sites and during the most sacred time of year for Muslims, some people cannot stop talking about Donald Trump.

Among one group of American, Canadian and British pilgrims in Mecca this week for the annual haj, the U.S. president and policies they say target Muslims and immigrants are a regular conversation topic.

“People are irritated, angry, somber, a little bit worried,” said Yasir Qadhi, an Islamic scholar who traveled from Tennessee for his fourteenth pilgrimage.

Haj — Gee, no mention of the fact that Saudi Arabia won’t let any of these millions of Muslim ‘pilgrims’ stay in their Muslim country!

“No one that I know is happy at the current circumstances or the current administration. No one, not a single person in this entire gathering.”

As a candidate, Trump proposed barring Muslims from entering the United States. In office, he ordered temporary bans on people from several Muslim-majority countries, which have been blocked by courts that ruled they were discriminatory.

His administration has denied any intention of religious discrimination in the travel ban, saying it is intended purely as a national security measure.

But sharp rhetoric about the threat posed by “radical Islam” which was a central part of his campaign has also drawn accusations he risks alienating more than three million Americans who practise Islam peacefully. [So where are the peaceful Muslims standing up at the Haj to to speak against and discourage the violent ones?—ed]

Many American Muslims say his stance has fueled an atmosphere in which some may feel they can voice prejudices or attack Muslims without fear of retribution.

‘STOP ATTACKING ISLAM’

Reuters apparently didn’t find anyone to speak up against their own terrorist element, but they found this guy!

Baha al-Deen, a pilgrim from ex-Soviet Georgia, said any labeling of Muslims as terrorists should stop.

“God gave us minds and tongues so we can understand each other and talk about our problems,” he said. “Otherwise we will fight like animals.”

Oh, that is going to inspire communication—NOT!

More here.

As violence in Burma escalates, US resettling more Rohingya Muslims

08/29/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t want to have to write a book (although I have written 201 posts on the topic at my Rohingya Reports category), so I’ll be brief with the background.

Burma is a Buddhist country and they want to keep it that way (I’m not judging them, you may). So as a result, the US has for years been taking tens of thousands of ‘refugees’ representing Burmese minority religions. The largest numbers have been Christians.

So when I saw this latest news about an uptick in violence between the Buddhists and Muslims (Rohingya) by the Associated Press (story below), I had a check of the number of Burmese being admitted to the US and how many are Muslims.

This isn’t just a story about far away Burma, this effects you—Americans—too!

The important takeaway from the numbers is that we brought no Rohingya to America in the first year I wrote RRW (2007), but I see that this year (2017) just over a quarter of the ‘refugees’ admitted from Burma are Muslim according to Wrapsnet.

The AP story references the 2012 riots between the Rohingya and Buddhists. I saw the reports as they were coming in and the media shamefully never mentions that the fuse was lit that year when a Buddhist girl was raped and murdered by a gang of Muslim criminals.

Here are the facts about Rohingya resettlement to America:

In FY2008: We admitted 18,139 Burmese ‘refugees’ to America. The vast majority were Christians. None were Muslim.

I then checked numbers for FY2012: We admitted 14,160 ‘refugees’ from Burma and only 759 were Muslims (5%). After that year the numbers have steadily risen.

This year, so far in FY2017, we have admitted 4,803 Burmese and 1,269 are listed as Muslim (26%).

Here is the AP story which should be entitled, ‘Rohingya insurgent group takes responsibility for latest violence.’ Instead that news is 19 paragraphs down in the story.

burmese monks UNHCR — A picture worth a thousand words—UN High Commissioner for Refugees supports terror group. At least one portion of the red type says: NGOs get out! Politically correct they are not! https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/25/rohingya-militants-blamed-as-attack-on-myanmar-border-kills-12

Violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state has driven thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims fleeing toward Bangladesh for safety, along with a smaller exodus of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.

A majority of the country’s estimated 1 million Rohingya live in the northern part of Rakhine state, where Rohingya insurgents launched coordinated attacks last week against police posts, setting off allegedly brutal retaliation by government forces.

Human rights groups and advocates for the Rohingya say the army retaliated by burning down villages and shooting civilians. The government blames Rohingya insurgents for the violence, including the arson.

[….]

Tension has long been high between the Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists, leading to bloody rioting in 2012.

Most of the violence since last week seems to be directed at Rohingya villages, but Rakhine Buddhists, feeling unsafe after the upsurge in fighting, are moving south to the state’s capital, Sittwe, where Buddhists are a majority and have greater security.

[….]

A Rohingya insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA, took responsibility for last week’s attacks on more than 25 locations, saying they were in defense of Rohingya communities.

More here.

Sure hope DHS is doing some “extreme vetting” on the Rohingya arriving in your towns and cities.

Finland seeing asylum seekers convert to Christianity after first application rejection….

08/27/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….and authorities are scratching their heads and wondering if it’s for real. Really!

I’m thinking they need to be reading Bill Warner’s books!

Finland, of course, is where we saw a recent Islamic terror knife attack, here.

From New China News:

HELSINKI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — Asylum seekers of Islamic background have increasingly switched to Christianity in Finland, officials have said.

436E0B3A00000578-4812326-Suspect_Abderrahman_Mechkah_an_18_year_old_asylum_seeker_from_Mo-a-19_1503398445251 — Eighteen year old Moroccan was arrested for the deadly knife attack on women. He was a failed asylum seeker who had not left the country. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4812326/Asylum-seeker-18-admits-killing-two-women-Finland.html?ITO=1490

Kari Kiesilainen, a head of section at the Ministry of Justice, told national broadcaster Yle this week that the number of converts has come as a surprise.

He did not give exact figures, but said the situation caused delays in application assessment as often an oral hearing may have to be arranged in the administrative courts.

This year Finnish authorities have rejected more applications than they accepted. Some 2,692 applications led to a status for “international protection”, whereas 2,847 were rejected. The rejected applicants can either leave the country or file a complaint to the administrative courts, otherwise they are subject to forced deportation.

New strategy!

Yle reported that a change of religion has been mostly claimed when the first application is dismissed and the applicant files a complaint.

[….]

Now, the question is, what are the real motives of the converts? Do they really want to get rid of their old religion or just want to increase the chances of staying?

While the civil servants are to shoulder the responsibility to figure out the reality, specialists from the national Evangelic Lutheran Church believe the new converts often take a personal risk in their decision and have usually considered their options carefully.

Marja Laihia, a specialist for immigrant services at the Central Administration of the Finnish Evangelic Lutheran Church, reminded that refugees arrive in an environment of religious freedom, which is new to them.

Talking to Xinhua, she said arrivals have mostly lived in countries were Islam is enforced, either by the state or at least by the extended families. “Now they are in a country where they can choose on their own,” she said. [Funny! Why then didn’t they choose on the first application?—ed]

More here.

See my Finland file, here. And, previous ‘Invasion of Europe’ posts are here.