Reader’s Links, Aug. 19, 2018

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

119 Replies to “Reader’s Links, Aug. 19, 2018”

  1. 140 Saudi-led forces killed in Yemen in 48 hours (irna, Aug 19, 2018)
    http://www.irna.ir/en/News/83005430

    “Tehran, Aug 19, IRNA – According to Yemeni sources, at least 140 forces affiliated with Saudi-led coalition were killed in a conflict with Yemeni army and popular committees during the past 48 hours…”

    • The disclaimer at the end of the video: ‘I have lots of muslim friends who do not push their religion on me’ (just as they pass on her information to their lots of friends who do).

      Those who crawl on all fours stay on all fours.

      RIP

      • The only “muslim” friends I have are ALL apostates and hate islam with a ferocity that is incredible. AFAIAC a muslim by definition cannot be a fiend to any infidel. No matter how “enlightened” they appear to be as soon as sharia concepts are threatened, down come the muslim shutters.

        • It would be like an ex-Communist having Communists as friends or Useful Idiot© Socialists as aquaintances. Unable to talk about meaningful and controversial topics in case of offending them, to clamp your mind from any new exposure so as not to blurt it out, self-censorship, and the inevitable of getting yourself powder-poisoned by such low branches.

          Ex-Communists, ex-muslims and ex-Christians, are great – if they don’t dive straight back into the Next Big Thing hypnosis. To get out of what your head got into. Is this so hard?

  2. http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2018/08/south-africa-goes-zimbabwe.html
    Communists and Africans never care about the body count so long as their Swiss bank accounts are safe……
    “Initially, the ANC, which is partnered with the South African Communist Party, had claimed that seizing land would not violate the law. Now it’s actually going to change the South African constitution.
    “It has become pertinently clear that our people want the constitution to be more explicit about expropriation of land without compensation,” President Ramaphosa announced.
    When your only rule is mob rule by ANC thugs, it doesn’t really matter what a piece of paper says.
    “We will accelerate our land redistribution programme not only to redress a grave historical injustice, but also to bring more producers into the agricultural sector and to make more land available for cultivation,” Ramaphosa claimed in his State of the Nation address.
    Zimbabwe had already made great strides in improving agriculture through land seizures.
    Land was stolen from the farmers who knew how to work it and handed out to politically connected thugs. Soon the former “bread basket” of Southern Africa was starving. Black groups pleaded with the white farmers to remain. Rural Zimbabwe died. Hyperinflation made the currency worthless. A trillion dollars might not be enough to buy one egg. A former food exporter was forced to rely on food aid.
    “If white settlers just took the land from us without paying for it,” Mugabe had declared, “we can, in a similar way, just take it from them without paying for it.”
    Ramaphosa’s rhetoric is an echo of one of Africa’s worst racist strongmen. Land seizures won’t bring South African land into “full use”, as he claims. It will mean productive land falling into the hands of ANC thugs who will be too corrupt, incompetent and greedy to do the hard work of working the land.
    South Africa’s agricultural sector will go the way of Zimbabwe.
    Cyril Ramaphosa is one of South Africa’s richest men and has an estimated net worth of $550 million. How did a socialist student activist make a mint? The answer is an inevitable as it is unsurprising.
    South Africa’s agricultural sector has been steadily in decline. Farms used to provide millions of jobs. Now they offer less than a million. Wheat planting has fallen to a third. Cotton to a tenth. A country that once exported wheat, is now importing millions of tons while its agriculture sector fails.
    The decline of South Africa’s agriculture has gone hand in hand with what it euphemistically calls its land reforms. White farmers have been murdered or driven off their land. But land seizures, legal and illegal, with compensation or with a hatchet, haven’t made South African agriculture more productive.
    Instead South Africa is becoming increasingly dependent on agricultural imports to feed its people.
    Like Zimbabwe, South Africa is due to revisit the same implacable economic consequences of land seizures that took the Soviet Union down the road to famine and terror. Toward its end, the USSR, despite possessing territories that had once bulged with rich harvests, had gone deep into debt to buy food from the United States. The African National Congress’ Communist roots are taking South Africa down the same path as its fallen Communist masters. And with the same miserable results.

    • Once the shooting part of the South African Genocide starts the body count is going to be high, the Blacks may win but they will pay a horrible price to achieve their victory.

  3. “Political Islam, not Religious Islam”
    Political Islam – Published on August 16, 2018

  4. A little comment in wiki:
    “Total Russian casualties at the Battle of Sandepu were 1,781 killed, 9,395 wounded and 1,065 MIA per modern Soviet sources,[8] although other sources put the toll at over 20,000 men.[9] Japanese casualties totaled around 9,000 with only 2,000 killed.[4]

    As the battle ended in a tactical stalemate, neither side claimed victory. In Russia, the Marxists used the newspaper controversy created by Gripenberg, and by Kuropatkin’s incompetence in previous battles, to drum up more support in their campaign against the government.”
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sandepu

    This tactic of The Left for criticism, pessimism, and fear; has not changed and can never will because of the mindset of their instigators. To dominate the fake-feminized, is just as easy to dominate the fake-masculinized and simply depends from which respective childhood-dysfunctional paranoias they came from: Sociopaths or Psychopaths. Mother-enablers or Mother-dominators.
    The Feminists rise above Marxism and Islam, knowing that exactly the same spirit is in them both. Two forms of the fatherless-bastard child. ‘And it is Good to feed off them.’

    Those who repented from running away, to have faced and forgiven the Bitch in these two respective super-femaled or super-maled forms, will understand this:

    “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
    https://biblehub.com/john/15-15.htm

    You do not worship a friend. Period. Noble cultures greet strangers by saying “Howdy friend,” “whatcha mate,” “g’day cobber” And if they ignore you, it’s still a very nice day.

    Evil ones say, “Hi Comrade,” “Hi Boss” and “peace be upon you.” If you ignore them, you will bring down the very reverse upon yourself. For one is a handshake the other is a grip before they let you go. A curse easily readly available should you transgress and thereby belittle a willing-slave. For they were only demanding affirmation. To acknowledge them back as greater.

    And the gateway to both these dark kingdoms are the coat-tail Christians. These paths of least resistance. “We are just like you!” To be dhimmis in all Socialist and Islamic States to this very day.

  5. Trump Blasts Social Media ‘Censorship’: ‘Discriminating Against Republican/Conservative Voices’

    President Trump on Saturday issued a tweet-storm following the removal of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his InfoWars shows from most major social media platforms earlier this month.

    “Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices,” the president wrote in the first of several tweets. “Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen.”

    The president did not indicate what steps his administration might take to prevent private companies from setting up and enforcing terms of service that have allowed them to discipline or shut down accounts for reported abuses.

    https://www.thewrap.com/trump-social-media-discriminating-republican-conservative-voices/

  6. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: I ‘fully admit’ our bias is ‘more left-leaning

    Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said on Saturday that he “fully admit[s]” Twitter employees share a largely left-leaning bias after facing accusations that conservatives are discriminated against on the social media platform.

    In an interview that aired Saturday on CNN, Dorsey said his company has a responsibility to be open about its political viewpoints, but to operate without bias when applying content policies to users.

    “We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is…is more left-leaning,” Dorsey says.

    “But the real question behind the question is, are we doing something according to political ideology or viewpoints? And we are not. Period,” he added.

    http://thehill.com/policy/technology/402495-twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-i-fully-admit-our-bias-is-more-left-leaning

  7. Bill Maher criticizes social media bans: ‘Alex Jones gets to speak’

    HBO talk-show host Bill Maher spoke out in defense of controversial right-wing host Alex Jones after Jones was suspended from several social media platforms, saying that everyone has a right to free speech.

    Maher, noting that Jones has “told crazy lies” about him, said on his HBO show Friday that “if you’re a liberal, you’re supposed to be for free speech.”

    “That’s free speech for the speech you hate. That’s what free speech means. We’re losing the thread of the concepts that are important to this country,” he continued.

    http://thehill.com/policy/technology/technology/402450-bill-maher-on-social-media-bans-alex-jones-gets-to-speak

  8. Erdogan vows Turkey will not be cowed by US

    Ankara (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Saturday that his country would not be cowed by the United States, his latest broadside in the bitter feud between Ankara and Washington.

    The two NATO members are at odds over Turkey’s detention of an American pastor, which has triggered a trade row and sent the local currency the lira into a tailspin.

    “We will not surrender to those who present themselves as a strategic partner while at the same time trying to make us a strategic target,” Erdogan said at a congress of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

    “Some people threaten us with economy, sanctions, foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and inflation. We know your shenanigans and we will defy you.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/erdogan-vows-turkey-not-cowed-us-131200921.html

  9. Venezuela on edge as Maduro unveils raft of economic reforms

    Caracas (AFP) – Uncertainty reigned in Venezuela on Saturday after President Nicolas Maduro unveiled a major economic reform plan aimed at halting the spiraling hyperinflation that has thrown the oil-rich, cash-poor South American country into chaos.

    Ahead of a major currency overhaul on Monday, when Caracas will start issuing new banknotes after slashing five zeroes off the crippled bolivar, Maduro detailed other measures he hopes will pull Venezuela out of crisis.

    Those measures — revealed in a speech to the nation late Friday — include a massive minimum wage hike, the fifth so far this year.

    But analysts say the radical overhaul could only serve to make matters worse.

    “There will be a lot of confusion in the next few days, for consumers and the private sector,” said the director of the Ecoanalitica consultancy, Asdrubal Oliveros.

    “It’s a chaotic scenario.”

    – ‘Pure lie!’ –

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-edge-maduro-unveils-raft-economic-reforms-160712910.html

  10. South Africa farm seizure: Terrified white farmers plot escape as crackdown looms
    A RECORD number of white South African farmers have put their land up for sale amid fears the ruling party is considering confiscating properties bigger than 25,000 acres.

    Tensions among the country’s white farming community have been rising since the election of Cyril Ramaphosa assumed office earlier this year and committed his African National Congress (ANC) to land expropriation.

    And ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe sparked panic last week when he said: “You shouldn’t own more than 25,000 acres of land.

    “Therefore if you own more it should be taken without compensation.

    “People who are privileged never give away privilege as a matter of a gift.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1005178/South-Africa-white-farm-seizure-farmers-ANC

  11. Empty hotels, idle boats: What happens when a Pacific island upsets China

    KOROR, Palau (Reuters) – Empty hotel rooms, idle tour boats and shuttered travel agencies reveal widening fissures in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which is caught in an escalating diplomatic tug-of-war between China and Taiwan.

    Late last year, China effectively banned tour groups to the idyllic tropical archipelago, branding it an illegal destination due to its lack of diplomatic status.

    As China extends its influence across the Pacific, Palau is one of Taipei’s 18 remaining allies worldwide and is under pressure to switch allegiances, officials and business people there say.

    “There is an ongoing discussion about China weaponizing tourism,” said Jeffrey Barabe, owner of Palau Central Hotel and Palau Carolines Resort in Koror. “Some believe that the dollars were allowed to flow in and now they are pulling it back to try and get Palau to establish ties diplomatically.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pacific-china-palau-insight/empty-hotels-idle-boats-what-happens-when-a-pacific-island-upsets-china-idUSKBN1L4036

  12. Manafort trial Day 14: Jury ‘scared’ as it heads home without a verdict

    Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing said the ongoing deliberations favor his client.

    Paul Manafort’s trial will stretch into a fourth week, as jurors headed home Friday without reaching a verdict for the second straight day and the judge overseeing the case alluded to “threats” the jury may be receiving.

    “I had no idea this case would incite this emotion,” U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III said in an open court hearing, responding to a motion from seven news organizations, including POLITICO, seeking access to sealed materials related to the trial that would have publicly identified the jurors.

    https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/17/manafort-verdict-latest-news-updates-783089

  13. CNN Accused of Intimidating Paul Manafort Jury

    CNN is being accused of attempting to intimidate the Paul Manafort jury after the far-left cable channel (and six other anti-Trump outlets) requested the jurors’ names and home addresses.

    Manafort, who worked for a short time as President Trump’s campaign chairman during the 2016 presidential election, has been charged by special counsel Robert Mueller with various financial crimes, none of which have anything to do with Trump or the campaign.

    Manafort’s fate now sits with the jury, and after two days of deliberations, anti-Trump media outlets like CNN are becoming concerned Manafort could be acquitted, which would be a major blow to Mueller’s credibility and his ability to remove Trump from office — an outcome the establishment media are desperate to orchestrate.

    And so, on Thursday, CNN, along with six other far-left media outlets (the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, the New York Times, NBC, and the AP) sued for the release of the names and home addresses of all of the Manafort jurors, a move that is both disturbing and almost unprecedented.

    https://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2018/08/18/cnn-accused-intimidating-paul-manafort-jury/

    • Judge Overseeing Manafort Trial Says Jury Is ‘Scared’ Going Home

      The judge overseeing the Paul Manafort trial warns the jury is “scared” as they head home failing to reach a verdict for the second day in a row.

      Judge T.S. Ellis made the remarks Friday, saying the jury may be receiving threats and refused to release the names of the 12 jurors.

      Ellis went on to say he was not aware the case would create such a stir and leave jurors feeling “threatened” as they left the courtroom.

      President Trump weighed in on the case Friday but did not say whether he thought Manafort was guilty or not.

      Manafort faces 18 counts of fraud and banking-related charges.

      http://www.oann.com/judge-overseeing-manafort-trial-says-jury-is-scared-going-home/

    • CNN: Doxxing for me, but not for thee
      By Jerome Woehrle August 18, 2018

      Some media entities subject members of the public to doxxing that endangers their safety, then hypocritically object when members of the public doxx them in a fashion unlikely to do any harm. Red State gives a recent example:

      Yesterday, CNN and other media organizations attempted what can only be described as an exercise in jury intimidation. A motion was filed with the District Judge T.S. Ellis asking him to release the name and addresses of the jurors [in the Paul Manafort trial]. Why this information was requested becomes much more curious when one considers that a) the media can’t talk to the jurors until after they are released from duty, b) that maybe the jurors would object to their private information being released, c) and the fact that the jury had just asked Judge Ellis for the meaning of “reasonable doubt.”

      Judge Ellis, who is presiding over the Manafort trial, has himself received death threats, perhaps as a result of skeptical questions he aimed at prosecutors during the trial.

      When CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski defended its doxxing of the jurors, members of the public gave CNN a taste of its own medicine: They posted Kaczynski’s own address. He responded by whining to Twitter “about people tweeting addresses associated with me.” Ironically, Kaczynski is the CNN reporter “who doxxed a Reddit user who made the GIF of President Trump wrestling CNN.”

      https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/08/18/cnn-doxxing-for-me-but-not-for-thee/

  14. ‘I regret nothing’: Neo-Nazis march through Berlin with police protection

    BERLIN — Hundreds of neo-Nazis waving flags with the colors of the German Reich are marching through central Berlin, protected from counter-protesters by police in riot gear.

    Berlin police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said officers had to physically remove some left-wing demonstrators who had staged sit-down protests along the route of Saturday’s march.

    He added that stones and bottles were thrown at some of the far-right protesters, but couldn’t immediately say how many people were injured.

    The far-right protesters wore white shirts to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the death of high-ranking Nazi official Rudolf Hess and carried banners with slogans such as “I regret nothing.”

    Hess, who received a life sentence at the Nuremberg trials for his role in planning World War II, died on Aug. 17, 1987.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/19/neo-nazis-march-through-berlin-police-protection/

    Hundreds of neo-Nazis, including a Hitler lookalike, march in Berlin
    Police remove left-wing demonstrators who stage protests along route, throwing stones and bottles

    BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of neo-Nazis waving flags with the colors of the German Reich marched through central Berlin Saturday, protected from counter-protesters by police in riot gear.

    Berlin police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said officers had to physically remove some left-wing demonstrators who had staged sit-down protests along the route of Saturday’s march.

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-of-neo-nazis-march-in-berlin-protected-by-police/

  15. Baghdad gun shops thrive after Iraqi rethink on arms control

    BAGHDAD (Reuters) – In the middle of Baghdad’s busy commercial neighborhood of Karrada, where most retail outlets sell home appliances, shoppers can now also buy handguns and semi-automatic rifles legally for the first time in decades.

    After the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, illegal weapons trade flourished across the country. Looted guns from ransacked police stations and military bases were sold in streets and public areas to residents seeking to protect themselves in a state that was largely lawless.

    The authorities have since been battling to curb illegal weapon sales and the government has stepped up efforts to control gun ownership through regulation.

    The latest initiative came into force this summer and allows citizens to own and carry handguns, semi-automatic rifles and other assault weapons after obtaining official authorization and an identity card that also details the individual’s weapons.

    Previously, gun sales were restricted to firearms for hunting and sport.

    http://www.oann.com/baghdad-gun-shops-thrive-after-iraqi-rethink-on-arms-control/

  16. Press complains its freedoms are being suppressed, yet persists in avoiding stories that hurt Dems
    By Ben Bowles August 18, 2018

    The New York Times long ago devised a clever “out” by making its motto “All the news that’s fit to print.” With the decision on what’s “fit” resting with its publisher’s and editorial staff’s shoulders, it can freely pursue its leftist agenda by deciding that stories that are harmful to Democrats’ health are not newsworthy.

    The Times, of course, is not the only member of the legacy media that is complaining it is on the current administration’s enemies list. Three hundred newspapers published editorials this week lamenting Donald Trump’s “attack on the free press.”

    But that phrase free press cuts both ways. With the freedom to publish whatever they want, news outlets are also duty-bound to report all the news irrespective of whether it comports with their ideological worldview. That the media have been delinquent in fulfilling this obligation can be seen in their coverage of two current stories — or lack thereof.

    One of the stories is Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s remark on Wednesday that “America was never great.” NewsBusters’s Curtis Houck notes that of the three major networks, NBC and CBS were slow to report the story — both waited a day and even then limited their coverage to 37-second news brief on the comment — while ABC has yet to report it.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/08/18/press-complains-its-freedoms-are-being-suppressed-yet-persists-in-avoiding-stories-that-hurt-dems/

  17. Mueller claims Papadopoulos hindered Russia probe, recommends jail, fine
    By Daily Caller News Foundation August 18, 2018

    Special Counsel Robert Mueller is asking a federal judge to sentence George Papadopoulos to up to six months in jail and is accusing the former Trump campaign adviser of impeding the government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by lying to the FBI during an interview in early 2017.

    “The defendant’s crime was serious and caused damage to the government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election,” Mueller wrote in a court filing submitted late Friday to a judge in Washington, D.C.

    “The government respectfully submits that a sentence of incarceration, within the applicable Guidelines range of 0 to 6 months’ imprisonment, and a $9,500 fine are warranted and appropriate,” the document reads.

    Papadopoulos, 30, pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2017 to lying to the FBI about the timing and extent of his contacts with a Maltese professor and two Russian nationals while he worked on the Trump campaign. According to Mueller, Papadopoulos lied more than a dozen times about the contacts with the professor, Joseph Mifsud.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/08/18/mueller-claims-george-papadopoulos-hindered-russia-probe-recommends-up-to-six-months-in-jail/

  18. ‘Black-clad’ Individuals Set Populist Sweden Democrat Election Kiosk On Fire (breitbart, Aug 19, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/08/19/black-clad-individuals-set-populist-sweden-democrat-election-kiosk-on-fire/

    “A number of unidentified “black-clad” individuals are said to have burned down an election tent kiosk belonging to the populist Sweden Democrats party in the city of Gothenburg.

    Police say they believe around ten individuals were involved in the attack with Peter Adlersson of the Western Regional Police saying a preliminary investigation into the incident has been initiated, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports…”

  19. Belgian Bishop Violently Assaulted and Robbed by ‘Foreign Men’ (breitbart, Aug 19, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/08/19/belgian-bishop-violently-assaulted-and-robbed-by-foreign-men/

    “Belgian Roman Catholic Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville was assaulted earlier this week by “foreign men” during a home invasion, according to the diocese of Liège.

    The thieves broke into the bishop’s residence either late at night on Tuesday or early on Wednesday morning through a window on the ground floor leading into a lavatory. After entering the building the men, who were all masked, physically assaulted the bishop along with his godson who was also present in the home, Belgian magazine Le Vif reports.

    According to a statement released by the diocese, the men threatened the bishop and demanded cash, thinking that all of the money from the entire bishopric would be located there…”

  20. Suicide Bomber Blows Himself in Afghanistan Madrasa – Reports (sputniknews, Aug 19, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/asia/201808191067315871-afghanistan-suicide-bomb/

    “An explosion has hit the Afghan city of Jalalabad in the province of Nangarhar, TOLO news reported, citing local authorities.

    According to TOLO news, a suicide bomber blew himself in a madrasa at around 4:30 local time (12:00 GMT). No immediate information about casualties is available at the moment.

    The media reported that a group of soldiers had pursued several suspected militants, after which one of them blew himself up. Four of them have been arrested, the media stated.

    This explosion has taken place amid a series of attacks around the country, with the security situation in the war-torn state remaining extremely tense. Daesh*, who began actively operating in Afghanistan four years ago, has continued its operations. The central government has been locked in a struggle against various militant groups, including its decades-long adversary – the Taliban* radical movement.

    One Afghan General, Laal Jan Zaheer, has claimed that there are 77,000 Taliban fighters in the country, an apparent surge in the group’s strength…”

  21. Iran Mulls ‘Solutions’ to Sell Oil Bypassing US Sanctions (sputniknews, Aug 19, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/business/201808191067317614-tehran-oil-us-sanctions-eu-legislation/

    “The EU previously pledged to resist US sanctions on Tehran by implementing legislation allowing European businesses not to comply with restrictive US measures against the Islamic Republic, introduced after Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

    Iran’s Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has expressed hope that “European countries can meet their commitments” under the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

    “But even if they cannot, we are seeking solutions to sell our oil and transfer its revenues,” Jahangiri was quoted by Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA as saying.

    The statement came as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned the EU against paying lip-service to its maintaining oil and banking ties with Tehran after the upcoming introduction of the second phase of anti-Iranian sanctions by Washington.

    “Iran can respond to Europe’s political will when it is accompanied by practical measures. Europeans say the JCPOA is a security achievement for them. Naturally, each country must invest and pay the price for its security. We must see them paying this price in the coming months,” Zarif emphasized…”

    • Will Myanmar become a conduit for Iranian crude into China?

      On June 1, sometime between the US withdrawal from the JCPOA in early May, and its demand in late June that Asian buyers fully halt Iranian oil purchases, PetroChina snuck in a shipment of Iranian crude through Myanmar to its Yunnan Petrochemical refinery in southern China.…

      …China has made it clear it will continue to import Iranian barrels, and using a BRI project to do so will give the US ammunition to criticize BRI openly, potentially leaving the host country open to US reprisals.

      BRI has not been particularly polarizing so far, and its participants have included US allies. Oil and gas pipelines are magnets for controversy, however…

      [T]he China-Myanmar pipeline [might] become a conduit for Iranian crude, even if it is for just one refinery, which if fully utilized will account for nearly a third of China’s intake of Iranian crude.…

      The Myanmar-China pipeline runs from Mady Island, near the town of Kyaukpyu in Rakhine state, and connects with China’s domestic pipeline to Kunming city in Yunnan province. It is fed by a deepwater VLCC terminal and tank storage farm, and was negotiated with the former military government of Myanmar. State-owned Chinese media now call it a “pioneer project” of BRI.

      https://hedgeaccordingly.com/2018/08/will-myanmar-become-a-conduit-for-iranian-crude-into-china/
      [website loads slowly]
      ……….
      Myanmar shares a long coast with China, has to remain “friendly”. Though it would often prefer to buy quality stuff from other suppliers, it frequently defers to Big Brother’s marketing pressure.

      Shouts of “Rohingya” hurl Burma to China’s clutches.

      What’s considered most urgent within this little Buddhist nation is the protective veto China wields in the UN Security Council. The OIC-dominated UN has driven punitive actions for spurious “humanitarian causes” before. Syria looks to Russia, Israel to the U.S. China seems to be Burma’s only option.

      This “Rohingya” invention has oily fingerprints. The {OIC/Soros/CIA/+?} seek to control the strategic transit route that bypasses the Sundra Strait, that can serve as an alternative to a vulnerable global choke point. It also shortens China’s shipping route from the ME by connecting the Bay of Bengal to Yunnan Province.

      Look at the timing of the “Rohingya crisis”.

      The port infrastructure has been more than 10 years in the making. Burma’s been plagued by tard trouble for over 30 years. Why “Rohingya” the world now? Just in the last half-dozen years, as this oil pipeline becomes operational?

      Wherever rapidly reproducing Muslims settle in countries that are not majority Muslim, they generate violent political separatist movements. Apex predators use them as they see fit, at a time of their choosing.

      How does a swelling population become a “genocide”?

      Expect increased Islamic terrorist attacks that result in repression, surging refugee flows, and lurid reports of concomitant atrocities. That’ll be an index to the swelling heft of the global ummah.
      ________
      [*] The term “genocide” is as abused as “racism”, see the UN definition. http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/adviser/pdf/

  22. TERROR SHOCK: France BEGS UK to help battle jihadis, then BILLS us £2MILLION (express, Aug 19, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1005479/UK-Defence-news-jihadis-france-terrorists-Mali-Nato-islamic-terror-EU-Gavin-Williamson

    “FRANCE begged Britain for military help to battle jihadi terrorists – and then billed the UK £2million.

    Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was reportedly “livid” after the French tried to charge the Ministry of Defence for flying out equipment and kit to Africa.

    The UK sent Chinook helicopters and around 100 British troops to jihadi hotspot Mali to back French forces fighting Islamist terrorists last month.

    According to The Sun, Mr Wiliamson threatened to ground our army choppers when the French tried to bill the MoD.

    A source told the paper: “We could not believe it. They begged for help, we give it and then they want to charge us for keeping the mission running.

    “The French can’t fight their own wars – now they won’t even help those who help them.

    “It sent Williamson livid – he threatened to ground the whole fleet.”

    After the British troops arrived in Mali, the UK is said to have asked for equipment to be flown out on French planes.

    But the French reportedly told British officials they would need to pay the transport costs.

    The UK is said to have used an EU-pooled transport system instead of paying the £2million bill.

    France’s anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane mission to Africa’s Sahel region was launched in August, 2014.

    The operation is targeting Islamist extremists in Mali, Chad and Niger…”

  23. BREAKING: London stabbing as man knifed in the street in Mayfair (express, Aug 19, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1005487/London-news-crime-stabbing-mayfair-dover-street-w1

    “POLICE were called to Mayfair in central London following reports a man was stabbed in Dover Street in broad daylight as the spate of horror knife crime in the capital continues to rage on.

    The 27-year-old man, who has not been named, took himself to a London hospital following the early morning attack in the plush shopping district.

    The victim suffered no life-threatening injuries.

    A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: “Police were called on Sunday 19 August at 6.30am to a central London hospital after a man attended suffering from stab injuries.

    “The man, aged 27, is currently receiving treatment and his injuries are not being treated as life threatening…”

  24. DAILY MAIL – ‘We don’t want to be rescued’: Moment Tunisian migrants turn down being picked up by charity boat in the Mediterranean and vow to continue to the Italian island of Lampedusa

    The vessel was carrying 11 people without life jackets, nine men and two children
    The youngsters were suffering from exposure, but all were in good health
    Crew on the charity boat Aquarius handed out life jackets, food and water

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6063459/Tunisian-migrants-turn-rescue-Mediterranean-continue-Italian-island-Lampedusa.html

  25. The Rise of Chinese Eurasianism

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Chinese Eurasianism, which – if the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is successful – will give Beijing new foreign policy tools to use against Washington, could prove more threatening to the US in the long run than the USSR was during the Cold War.

    Many powers throughout history have tried to bring large parts of the Eurasian landmass into their folds. The Achaemenid Empire in antiquity, the Mongols and Tamerlane in the Middle Ages, and many others worked prodigiously to create a unified Eurasian space. After their military successes, though, the invaders could not offer any clear economic or cultural benefit to the various Eurasian peoples. The result was more or less rapid disintegration of their conquests.

    The Russians of the 16th century, on the other hand, embarked on a project wherein they gradually built an empire with a clear philosophical vision of its role in world history. A strong Russian military was backed up by relatively attractive economic incentives for the peoples of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and parts of Eastern Europe.

    One of the ideologies underpinning the Russian drive to dominate Eurasia was Eurasianism, a concept that emerged as a philosophical movement in the 1920s. There are multiple definitions of Eurasianism, but the most prominent sees Russia as neither a European nor an Asian culture but as a perfect mixture of the two. The Eurasian doctrine implied a specific geographic and philosophical identity for Russia.

    https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/china-eurasianism/

    • The Chinese vision overshadowing the Russian vision is good for the west, this will force Russia to ally with the US against China. We will have to keep a close eye on Russia but it is better to have them as semi reliable allies then as enemies.

  26. Police intervene as right-wing protesters face off with counter-demonstrators in Seattle

    Counter-protesters gathered in front of Seattle’s City Hall, Saturday, to face off against right-wing participants of a rally called ‘Liberty or Death.’

    The rally and counter protest were both relatively peaceful, except for a few minor confrontations.

    One man was injured from the far-right rally. Three people were arrested, according to local media reports.

  27. Deep State
    COURT DOCS: Parameters FINALLY Set in Mueller Investigation

    As of July 31, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller has finally been reigned in by a District Judge for the United States District court for the District of Columbia.

    Usually, a Special Counsel is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In this case – which is the first of it’s kind in U.S. history – the Special Counsel was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions has recused himself from matters related to the Russian “collusion” investigation, since President Donald J. Trump is the subject of the investigation.

    Since this is a case of first impression, there have not been any guidelines regarding the parameters of Mueller’s investigation, causing frustration among President Donald J. Trump, American citizens, and even federal judges.

    Mueller has been allowed to run amuck, which he certainly has been doing. Not a single indictment supposedly related to the investigation has had anything to do with the alleged “collusion.”

    https://bigleaguepolitics.com/court-docs-parameters-finally-set-in-mueller-investigation/

  28. USA: Right-wing rally for ‘free speech’ met by antifa protesters in Boston

    Right-wing activists held a ‘Free Speech Anniversary March’ in Boston on Saturday, to protest against ‘far-left violence’ and to celebrate the first amendment of the US constitution.

    • andrew bostom John Brennan’s Useful Idiocy For Stalinism and Sharia

      Five years before the October, 1917 Bolshevik Revolution would begin to impose Communist totalitarianism on Russia, Henry C. Vedder, observed in his 1912 study of Socialism, that the Marxist Social Labor Federation of Britain had adopted Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” [Capital] as their infallible authority, “an article of faith from which they will permit no dissent, on pain of excommunication.” Vedder, a Professor of Church History at the Upland, Pennsylvania Crozer Theological Seminary, added that this British Marxist organization rejected the orthodoxy of its own votaries unless they professed as their creed, “There is no God, and Karl Marx is his prophet” — mirroring the Islamic declaration of faith, or “shahada”. The late doyen of Islamic studies, Bernard Lewis, underscored how this summation of the Communist creed captured the “real affinity” between totalitarian Communism, and Islam, in a 1954 essay.

      Both groups [i.e., adherents of Islam or Communism] profess a totalitarian doctrine, with complete and final answers to all questions on heaven and earth; the answers are different in every respect, alike only in their finality and completeness, and in the contrast they offer with the eternal questioning of Western man. Both groups offer to their members and followers the agreeable sensation of belonging to a community of believers, who are always right, as against an outer world of unbelievers, who are always wrong. Both offer an exhilarating feeling of mission, of purpose, of being engaged in a collective adventure to accelerate the historically inevitable victory of the true faith over the infidel evil-doers. The traditional Islamic division of the world into the House of Islam and the House of War, two necessarily opposed groups, of which- the first has the collective obligation of perpetual struggle against the second, also has obvious parallels in the Communist view of world affairs…The call to a Communist Jihad, a Holy War for the faith—a new faith, but against the self-same Western Christian enemy…

      No one dominating our immediate attention deficit disordered news cycle better epitomizes this totalitarian ideological convergence of Communism and Islam than ex-CIA director, John Brennan.

      John Brennan has admitted casting his 1976 POTUS vote for Communist Party (CP) of the USA leader Gus Hall. An ardent, unrepentant Stalin acolyte, who maintained the CPUSA as “a bastion of Stalinist orthodoxy for four decades,” Gus Hall, circa 1976, was virulently anti-American, and an overt champion of the “liberating” hegemonic Soviet Communist terror state under Communist dictator (and Hall’s “Comrade”) Brezhnev. Hall articulated these views in a 1975 “Report to the 21st Convention of the Communist Party”:

      Détente is not an agreement to accept, or to turn one’s head from oppression by [US] imperialism anywhere. Comrade Leonid Brezhnev made this clear in a public statement here when he stated: ‘The Soviet Union’s support for all national liberation struggles and movements is non-negotiable.’

      Consistent with this 1976 vote for American Stalinist Gus Hall as POTUS, John Brennan, in his 1980 University of Texas MS thesis, adopted the moral relativism one associates with the Communist movement. Brennan declared “absolute human rights do not exist,” rendering “[human rights] analysis subject to innumerable conditional criticisms,” rejecting free speech and Western liberty as universal values, and rationalizing both Soviet Communist, and Egyptian Muslim authoritarian-theocratic totalitarianism. He proffered this unsettling apologetic for the appalling human rights record of the Brezhnev era Soviet Union (although Brennan refrained from labeling the Soviet dictator “Comrade Leonid Brezhnev”):

      Can human rights violations in the Soviet Union be as easily justified in terms of the preservation of the communist ideology? Unfortunately (looking at events from a democratic perspective), yes. Since the absolute status of human rights has been denied, the justification for the violation of any of those rights has to be pursued from a particular ideological perspective. Leonid Brezhnev could justify human rights violations in the Soviet Union as a necessary part of the preservation of the communist ideological system.

      Regarding Egypt, during the Anwar Sadat era, Brennan asked rhetorically,

      [W]ould the ability to demonstrate effectively increase human rights and democracy in Egypt?

      He responded to his own query,

      In the light of the political environment, probably not. At the present stage of political development in Egypt widespread open opposition to the administration would be beyond the capacity of the system to handle.

      Brennan then provided what was tantamount to a mealy mouthed apologetic for Egyptian human rights abuses:

      Can the human rights violations in Egypt be justified from a democratic perspective? There can be no objective answer to this question because it depends on what one considers to be a threat to democracy in Egypt. Whether or not public demonstrations in Egypt actually threaten the existence of democracy in Egypt is uncertain.

      Ignoring Islam’s antithetical concept of freedom as hurriyya—perfect slavery to Allah’s Sharia—Brennan’s thesis also argued that freedom “cannot be labeled as a Western idea,” and “is very much a part of Islamic culture.” Hurriyya, “freedom,” is—as Ibn Arabi (d. 1240) the lionized “Greatest Sufi Master,” expressed it—“perfect slavery.” This conception, moreover, is not merely confined to the Sufis’ perhaps metaphorical understanding of the relationship between Allah the “master” and his human “slaves.” Following Islamic law (Sharia) slavishly throughout one’s life was paramount to hurriyya, “freedom.” This earlier more concrete characterization of hurriyya’s metaphysical meaning, whose essence Ibn Arabi reiterated, was pronounced by the Sufi scholar al-Qushayri (d. 1072/74).

      Let it be known to you that the real meaning of freedom lies in the perfection of slavery. If the slavery of a human being in relation to Allah is a true one, his freedom is relieved from the yoke of changes. Anyone who imagines that it may be granted to a human being to give up his slavery for a moment and disregard the commands and prohibitions of the religious law while possessing discretion and responsibility, has divested himself of Islam. Allah said to his Prophet: “Worship until certainty comes to you.” (Koran 15:99). As agreed upon by the [Koranic] commentators, “certainty” here means the end (of life).

      Fast forward to July 2010, as I described in an oped (entitled aptly, “Witless For the Defense”) emphasizing the dangerous absurdity—and considering his 1980 MS thesis, three decades long tenacity—of Brennan’s uninformed Islamophilia. While then serving as the Obama administration’s chief counterterrorism adviser, I noted how Mr. Brennan,

      vociferously advocates an exclusive, bowdlerized definition of jihad in the public discourse as “to purify oneself or one’s community,” lest the tender sensibilities of Muslims be offended. He further claims that, somehow, self-described jihadists “have truly just distorted the whole concept” of jihad. But it is Mr. Brennan who, irrespective of whatever flimsy, ahistorical rationale he provides, thoroughly misrepresents jihad – a living, bellicose Islamic institution that dates from the advent of the Muslim creed almost 14 centuries ago. The dangerous absurdity of Mr. Brennan’s jihad denial is self-evident…Alexis de Tocqueville, upon returning from America, where he famously analyzed and celebrated America’s nascent democracy, studied Islamic doctrine, which included an 1838 assessment of the Koran, in preparation for his visits to Algeria (in 1841 and 1846) while serving as a French parliamentarian. Tocqueville concluded: “Jihad, Holy war, is an obligation for all believers. … The state of war is the natural state with regard to infidels … [T]hese doctrines of which the practical outcome is obvious are found on every page and in almost every word of the Koran … The violent tendencies of the Koran are so striking that I cannot understand how any man with good sense could miss them.”

      John Brennan’s useful idiocy for Stalinism and Sharia comports well with his central role in helping to orchestrate the manufactured “Trump-Russia collusion” faux narrative, which has evolved into a seditious, full-blown attempted putsch.

      https://www.andrewbostom.org/2018/08/john-brennans-useful-idiocy-for-stalinism-and-sharia/

  29. Germany: Tensions at anti-AfD demonstration in Wiesbaden

    Tensions flared and minor scuffles broke out at a demonstration against the Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) in Wiesbaden on Sunday, after two AfD politicians exchanged harsh words with demonstrators.

    Robert Lambrou, leader of the AfD in Hessen, and Klaus Herrman, Faction Chairman for Wetteraukreis, jostled with the crowds before being jeered out of the demonstration to chants of “Nazis out”.

  30. A university is outfitting living spaces with thousands of Echo Dots

    Soon, Saint Louis University students won’t be able to avoid Amazon’s near ubiquitous smart speakers. The university announced this week a plan to outfit living spaces with 2,300 Echo Dots. The devices are set to be deployed by the time classes start, later this month.

    SLU is quick to note that it’s “the first college or university in the country to bring Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, managed by Alexa for Business, into every student residence hall room and student apartment on campus.” It’s certainly not the first to adopt Amazon’s smart speakers, but it’s among the largest scale for this sort of deployment.

    While the product has become a mainstay in plenty of American homes, it does seem like an odd choice dorms and student campus. SLU has worked with Alexa for Business to create 100 custom questions, including, “What time does the library close tonight?” and “Where is the registrar’s office?”

    Then, of course, there are the privacy concerns of having little cloud connected recording devices populating the school’s living spaces. SLU is attempting to get out in front of that here. The company addressed those issues on a privacy page, writing,

    Because of our use of the Amazon Alexa for Business (A4B) platform, your Echo Dot is managed by a central system dedicated to SLU. This system is not tied to individual accounts and does not maintain any personal information for any of our users, so all use currently is anonymous. Additionally, neither Alexa nor the Alexa for Business management system maintains recordings of any questions that are asked.

    The school notes that students can also mute the microphone. Students can’t technically opt-out, but they can unplug the product and shove it in a drawer, turning it in at the end of the year. Just don’t use it as a hockey puck, because that’ll cost you.

    https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/19/a-university-is-outfitting-living-spaces-with-thousands-of-echo-dots/

  31. UK: One-third of London Arrests Foreign Nationals, Police Detain Over 3,000 Foreigners a Week UK-wide (breitbart, Aug 19, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/08/19/police-overseas-nationals-arrested-uk/

    “Police in Britain arrested more than 3,000 foreign nationals each week on average last year, according to new figures which revealed the share of overseas suspects rose to make up one in five people detained.

    Internal police data obtained by the Mail on Sunday showed the proportion of foreign suspects rose from 16 percent of arrests in 2015/16 to 19 percent in 2016/17 — when 172,732 of 931,155 individuals arrested were people from abroad.

    Officers were arresting around 3,320 aliens each week, according to the figures, which were reported by the Mail after police chiefs warned crime tourism poses a growing threat to Britain as a result of “mass migration”, “globalisation” and ease of international travel.

    The ACRO Criminal Records Office data, which was collated from the records of police forces across the country, showed that foreign nationals comprised as many as a third of all suspects detained in London last year…”

  32. Indonesian kindergarten, under auspices of Indo military march for “Jihad with the Messenger of Allah to increase the Faith”

    I want to be clear up front.

    The Indonesian military command has apologised for this.

    But it happened and no one stopped it.

    The children had prepared for Merdeka – Indonesia’s Independence Day, 18 August 2018.

    The ‘uniforms’ and props were already stored in the kindergarten.

    This is East Java, about 100Ks from Surabaya, Indonesia’s 2nd largest city.

    http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2018/08/indonesian-kindergarten-under-auspices-of-indo-military-march-for-jihad-with-the-messenger-of-allah-.html

  33. Germany: Anti-migrant protest hits Cottbus as academic year begins

    Scores of anti-migrant protesters gathered in the eastern city of Cottbus, Brandenburg, on Sunday afternoon, where they held a demonstration marking the start of the German school year.

    • ARD Exclusiv im Ersten: Wer ist das Volk?

      Auch ein halbes Jahr, nachdem Gewalttaten syrischer Flüchtlinge in Cottbus für Aufruhr sorgten, kommt die Stadt nicht zur Ruhe.

      Cottbus ist heute gespalten.

      Die einen setzen auf Integration.

      Die anderen auf eine rechte Widerstandsbewegung.

      Eine Reportage von Kontraste.