Jewish Russian Telegraph

Where Were Feds When Tsarnaev Crossed The Border?

Volokh Conspiracy:

There’s been considerable speculation about how the government handled Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s return from Russia. Before Tsarnaev’s return, both the FBI and the CIA had suggested that Tsarnaev belonged in the government’s classified terrorist database, and according to some reports an alert for Tsarnaev was entered into the DHS border system. Yet according to Secretary Napolitano  these systems “pinged” when Tsarnaev left the country but not when he returned six months later.

The lack of a ping upon Tsarnaev’s return to the United States suggests a gap in US border defenses.  In general, the outbound “ping” is not a big deal.  It tells us that a terror risk is leaving the country, more a matter for celebration than suspicion.  We don’t usually inspect or question departing passengers, so it would have taken a pretty unusual notice to earn Tsarnaev much scrutiny on departure.

But his return should have been different.  He was entering the country, and at the border the government’s authority to stop travelers, to question them, and to search their luggage, including their electronics, is at its zenith.  If we have any doubts about the intentions of a returning green-card holder, this is the time and place to question him.

When the FBI paid a visit to Tsarnaev’s home, Tsarnaev had complete control of the interview.  He could throw the agents out whenever he chose, and he could certainly refuse to let them look at his computer and phone.  At the border, though, he can’t.  We could have learned a lot more about Tsarnaev’s journey into radicalism there.  For example, the FBI’s preliminary investigation included checking to see if Tsarnaev had posted on certain radical Islamist websites, but it couldn’t know what he might have downloaded, and it’s not clear that the FBI had any way to tell what he might have posted under a pseudonym.  Again, the government had its best chance of discovering those things by conducting a secondary inspection of Tsarnaev when he returned from Russia.

So why didn’t it? [more]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Leviev, Mirilashvili Sells Stock VKontakte

Globes:

Leviev and his partner Vyacheslav Mirilashvili have sold their stakes in the Russian social network they founded, VKontakte, to United Capital Partners.

18 April 13 11:27, Globes' correspondent

Lev Leviev and his partner Vyacheslav (Yitzhak) Mirilashvili have sold their stakes in the Russian social network they founded, VKontakte, to United Capital Partners (UCP) for an undisclosed amount. Leviev owned 8% of VKontakte, and Mirilashvili owned 40%.

VKontakte is the Russian answer to Facebook with 150 million users. Russian internet group Mail.Ru, co-owned by Russia's richest man Alisher Usmanov, owns 39.9% of the company, reportedly at a company value of $1.5 billion, and has been trying to increase its stake.

In 2012 Mail.Ru handed VKontakte's CEO Pavel Durov, who owns 12% of the company, the voting rights to its stake, creating a partnership with effective majority control, but then said it still wanted to own a larger stake.

According to "East-West Digital News", a leading English-language resource on Russian digital industries and related venture activity, VKontakte CEO Durov has been accused of having secretly collaborated with FSB, giving away users’ personal data to the secret service and also blocking some users who supported the political opposition. [more]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Hi-tech Museum In Moscow Tells The Story of Missing Jews

Russia Beyond The Headlines:

The Jewish Museum and Center of Tolerance in Moscow. Source: Anna Shiller

The first thing you do after entering the new Jewish Museum is put on a pair of 3D glasses.

Words pop out at your eyes.

"Who are the Jews?"

"Where did we come from?"

These are the questions that the subsequent animated movie seeks to answer.

The movie tells the story of Noah's ark. Water sprays.

A plague happens in Egypt. Locusts fall from the sky. "Gnats" whip at the feet of every seat.

The Romans sack Jerusalem. Arrows fly straight into you. The seats vibrate.

The film ends after the Romans finally expel the Jews from Jerusalem, and thus some of them migrate to Russian territory.

That is the introduction to the new $50 million museum that seeks to tell the oft-supressed history of the Jews in Russia, which once numbered at about 5 million but are now officially at 150,000, though the number may be higher.

The rest of the museum is of a much more serious tone than the Disney World-like introduction, but equally high-tech.

via rbth.ru

posted by: jrtelegraph

ADL in Numbers: 3% of Press Releases Deal With Islamists; Abe Foxman Gets 10.75% Raise

$688,280. For doing nothing. Not a bad racquet.

JRT:

A year a ago a news made rounds about the work that is being done (or not) by ADL. Here is what Charles Jacobs wrote in his column in the Jewish Advocate:

Only 3 percent of ADL’s press releases focus on Islamic extremism and Arab anti-Semitism.  Only another 5 percent deal with domestic and international terrorism. By contrast, fighting for causes unrelated to Jewish defense accounts for 31 percent of ADL’s press release output. [link]

What has changed since that publication? ADL boss, Abraham Foxman, got a 10.75% raise. He is pulling in right now cool $688,280.  Not bad at all for doing nothing. Keep this in mind when you you are going to get hit by ADL's ubuqitous solicitations.

posted by: jrtelegraph

Screening of The Territory, by Dmitriy Khavin

JRT News:

 

The Territory, 2012, 42 minutes.

Russian, Hebrew, Arabic with English subtitles.

Produced and directed by Dmitriy Khavin.

Tuesday Jan 15, 7:30-9:00pm, JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave at 76th Street. Entry $10. US Premier.

http://www.jccmanhattan.org/programs-amp-events-for-adults?page=cat-content&progID=27190#/EGRDMI00W3

The Territory is an intimate look into the lives of Israelis from the former 

Soviet Union who made their new home in the West Bank settlements.  

While some residents move to  the settlements looking for cheaper housing, 

others are motivated by Zionist ideology; and all are influenced by their

past experience of being an oppressed minority in the Soviet Union.  

The film is an exploration of questions of identity, religion and conflict.

Dmitriy Khavin began his film career at the Odessa Film Studios in Ukraine. Since 1992 he has lived in the US, 

where he works as a director, editor and cinematographer. 

fb event: https://www.facebook.com/events/495174163860929

posted by: jrtelegraph

Yury Dorn, Jewish Community Leader On Trial In Minsk, Belarus

By RFE/RL's Belarus Service

December 10, 2012

MINSK -- The chairman of the Judaic Religious Association of Belarus, Yury Dorn, has gone on trial for alleged bribe-taking.

Dorn was arrested in March for allegedly accepting $13,000 for arranging the lease of non-residential property owned by his association.

On the first day of trial on December 10, prosecutors said that Dorn is also charged with tax evasion, forgery, abuse of office, and the illegal destruction of documents.

Dorn has also been accused of illegally disassembling a historic building in western Belarus and exporting it to the United States.

The building belonged to The Hafetz Haim, a leader of the Jewish community of Poland and Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It took two hours for the prosecutor to read out the official charges.

via www.rferl.org

posted by: jrtelegraph

GOP Is Talking About John Kerry, Dreaming Of Scott Brown

Boston Herald:

GOP scheming for Scott’s return

By Kimberly Atkins  |   Monday, December 3, 2012  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Columnists

WASHINGTON — Dear Massachusetts Democratic Party: Those Washington Republicans are trying to pick a fight with you.

Don’t misinterpret all the love that GOP senators such as John McCain and a growing line of others have been throwing at U.S. Sen. John Kerry lately. It’s not just because they’d rather eat nails than confirm U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice — now taking heat over her Benghazi remarks — as secretary of state. It’s because, with Democrat Elizabeth Warren headed to Washington, D.C., and Scott Brown headed home, the GOP would really like a Bay State Senate race do-over.

I’m not suggesting that Kerry’s Republican Senate colleagues don’t genuinely respect him or that they don’t believe that he’d make a good Secretary of Whatever. They do. But even more, they’d love to see Brown and his barn coat back in Washington as they fight against the prospect of Democrats achieving a Senate supermajority in upcoming years.

Yet, the names that are being batted around as potential Democratic candidates for Kerry’s open seat are about as fresh as the few remaining Hostess Twinkies on the shelf at the local Stop & Shop.

What the Dems need is to take a cue from Brown, who seemed to emerge from nowhere in 2009 — the perfect time to ride a wave of voter discontent right to the nation’s capital. The party needs a candidate who can capitalize on gains it made in the last election and get voters to the polls. And with all due respect to the current and former members of the Bay State congressional delegation, that person’s last name isn’t Capuano or Lynch or Markey or Meehan, no matter how large their piles of campaign cash.

Why? Scott Brown can beat them. Don’t let 2012 fool you — Brown is still popular among voters. They may not have liked the campaign he ran against Elizabeth Warren, but with favorability numbers well above the 50-percent mark he’s still the frontrunner. And Republicans know it. [Read more]

Senator Brown has many very strong friendships in communities across the state. His honesty, down to earth humor, and unique ability to level with people are rare gifts for a politician. Here he is sharing a happy moment with Ary Rotman and Greg Margoolin, co-founders of the Russian Jewish Community Foundation, at a gala in 2012.

posted by: jrtelegraph 

Chanukah By The Lubavitcher Rebbe

Happy and Joyful Chanukah Dear Readers!

Here is Chanukah by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He makes a powerful statement at the end of the clip:

 

For observance guide go here.

posted by: jrtelegraph 

Freedom Alert: U.N. Is Coming After Americans' Guns

As the story below notes Obama administration is working in U.N. with Syria and Iran on the problem of small arms. Meanwhile Syria is preparing to use chemical weapons, and Iran is developing nuclear weapons with the explosive force three times stronger than Hiroshima.

Thank you, Mr. President. We feel really safe on your watch.

Washington Times:

The United Nations is pushing gun control on a global scale, and President Obama is on board. Just a few hours after re-election was assured, the president’s representative cast a vote for the Arms Trade Treaty at a U.N. committee meeting. The loosely drafted agreement doesn’t go after guns directly, but the language enables activist judges to get creative in restricting Americans’ exercise of their Second Amendment rights. A final General Assembly decision on the treaty is expected in March, and House Republicans are locked and loaded to stop it. [Read the rest]

posted by: jrtelegraph 

Likud’s Feiglin Leads Minyan On Temple Mount

JTA:

Likud’s Feiglin leads minyan on Temple Mount

December 5, 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Likud Party activist Moshe Feiglin reportedly led a prayer service on the Temple Mount, without incident.

Israel's Channel 10 aired a video of Feiglin, head of the Likud's Jewish Leadership faction, leading a minyan there on Monday.

Jews generally are not permitted to pray or bring any ritual objects to the Temple Mount, which is considered Judaism's holiest site, in order to avoid confrontation with Muslim worshipers at the Al-Aksa Mosque.

Feiglin, who was placed in the realistic 14th spot on the Likud's Knesset list after the recent primary vote, has called for the building of a new Temple on the site. He visits the Temple Mount once a month on the 19th of the Hebrew month and brings guests with him.

Feiglin was arrested in October for praying on the Temple Mount “in violation of the customs of the site,” according to Israel Police, a charge he denied. He also refused to agree to a restraining order against his visiting the site. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph