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Germany

Germany Warns Of ISIS Infiltration, Recruitment Of Refugees

Top German security officials say criminals and violent Islamists are using the asylum crisis to recruit refugees. They especially target minors traveling alone.

Refugees in Dresden, Germany
Refugees in Dresden, Germany
Stefan Aust, Michael Behrendt, Manuel Bewarder and Claus Christian Malzahn*

BERLIN — Germany's top domestic security official is warning that ISIS is actively recruiting among the new waves of refugees arriving in the country.

Hans-Georg Maaßen, president of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told Die Welt that Islamist terror groups are busy trying to recruit refugees, especially young men who have traveled without their families and are looking for people to connect with.

"We have counted about 300 direct approaches," Maaßen says. "And we do think that the real number is a lot higher than the reported cases we know of. We especially worry about the many unaccompanied minors. The recruitment process holds an enormous potential for radicalization."

Radical elements in mosques and Arabic-speaking criminal networks also see the potential in connecting with refugees, he said, "especially young and physically strong men."

Maaßen further warns that the ISIS terror group is using the flood of refugees to infiltrate combatants. "ISIS is planning on attacking Germany and German values," he told Die Welt. German cities have been named in the same context as Paris, London and Brussels.

André Schulz, head of the Federation of German Detective Officers (BDK), says that there are thousands of immigrants in Germany whose origins are unknown. "We don't know where they came from and where they are right now," Shulz says. He characterizes that situation as unacceptable for a constitutional state.

"The assumption of some politicians that it's highly unlikely that ISIS combatants would enter the country by mixing in with refugees is simply naïve," Shulz said.

German authorities are currently looking for dangerous Islamists who have disappeared — among them 76 violent individuals with outstanding arrest warrants. In 2015, approximately 150 Islamists left Germany to return to Iraq or Syria. Over the years, 800 departures have been counted. Among them, approximately 130 are dead, 80 of them killed in fighting last year. About 70 have actively participated in battles or have gone through some sort of a military training.

*This is an abbreviated version of the original article.

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Economy

Lex Tusk? How Poland’s Controversial "Russian Influence" Law Will Subvert Democracy

The new “lex Tusk” includes language about companies and their management. But is this likely to be a fair investigation into breaking sanctions on Russia, or a political witch-hunt in the business sphere?

Photo of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Piotr Miaczynski, Leszek Kostrzewski

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Poland’s new Commission for investigating Russian influence, which President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Monday, will be able to summon representatives of any company for inquiry. It has sparked a major controversy in Polish politics, as political opponents of the government warn that the Commission has been given near absolute power to investigate and punish any citizen, business or organization.

And opposition politicians are expected to be high on the list of would-be suspects, starting with Donald Tusk, who is challenging the ruling PiS government to return to the presidency next fall. For that reason, it has been sardonically dubbed: Lex Tusk.

University of Warsaw law professor Michal Romanowski notes that the interests of any firm can be considered favorable to Russia. “These are instruments which the likes of Putin and Orban would not be ashamed of," Romanowski said.

The law on the Commission for examining Russian influences has "atomic" prerogatives sewn into it. Nine members of the Commission with the rank of secretary of state will be able to summon virtually anyone, with the powers of severe punishment.

Under the new law, these Commissioners will become arbiters of nearly absolute power, and will be able to use the resources of nearly any organ of the state, including the secret services, in order to demand access to every available document. They will be able to prosecute people for acts which were not prohibited at the time they were committed.

Their prerogatives are broader than that of the President or the Prime Minister, wider than those of any court. And there is virtually no oversight over their actions.

Nobody can feel safe. This includes companies, their management, lawyers, journalists, and trade unionists.

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