Reader’s Links for December 22, 2018

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About Eeyore

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

161 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 22, 2018”

  1. Saudi Arabia ‘on its way to become a nuclear power’ (saudigazette, Dec 22, 2018)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/550770/SAUDI-ARABIA/Saudi-Arabia-on-its-way-to-become-a-nuclear-power

    “Saudi Arabia’s population has grown from 4 million in 1960 to over 31 million in 2016. It is the main electricity consumer and producer in the Gulf region, with 345 trillion watts of gross production in 2016, of which 41 percent was produced from oil and 59 percent from gas. The electricity consumption in the country continues to grow substantially — by 8 to 10 percent annually, compared with less than 1 percent in Europe.

    Faced with surging energy demand for economic growth, Saudi Arabia is turning to nuclear power to diversify its electricity-generating mix and therefore reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. The Kingdom plans to build two large nuclear power reactors as part of a program of delivering as many as 16 nuclear power plants over the next 20 to 25 years at a cost of more than $80 billion. It has projected 17 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity by 2032 to provide 15 percent of the power then, along with more than 40 GW of solar capacity. Plans for small reactors for desalination are also well advanced.

    Hamid Al-Saqqaf, director of independent production projects at Saudi Electricity Company, points out: “Introducing nuclear power into the national energy mix is a sovereign decision in every country, according to its needs. In Saudi Arabia, this decision was already made in advance. The Kingdom has a continuously elevating demand on electricity.

    “In 2015, we had about 62,000 megawatts in demand, and even though there currently seems to be a decrease in the amount of load, yet the growing demand for energy requires the introduction of nuclear energy as a means to achieve the base-load. As you might know, the operating costs for nuclear power is much less than the one produced from fossil fuel. The console of nuclear fuel produces more energy and at a lower price.”

    The move toward nuclear power falls in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, in which diversification of economy and energy from hydrocarbons is implied.

    In 2010, a Saudi royal decree said that the development of atomic energy was essential to meet the Kingdom’s growing requirements for energy. Saudi Arabia is currently in the process of selecting a company for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the country. There are five finalists from five countries — the US, China, Russia, France and South Korea — that the Kingdom invited last year to bid on a project to build the two units. A preferred bidder in the competitive dialogue is expected to be chosen in 2019.

    Rosatom plans to outfit the Saudi nuclear power plant (NPP) project with the world’s first operational Generation 3+ reactor technology, known as the VVER-1200. The reactor is known for the most advanced safety systems, which fully complies with international security standards and post-Fukusima safety requirements.

    As a part of its integrated offer, Rosatom is ready to supply the Saudi nuclear power project with nuclear fuel throughout its operational lifetime and ensure decent level of Saudi industry involvement and complex human resource development, in addition to growing public acceptance of nuclear power. Nuclear power plant deployment is always very beneficial and, obviously, it will be so for Kingdom.

    Nuclear power gives a boost for local economy enhancement by highly-qualified personnel development and gains new competences to local industry, previously focused mainly on the fossil fuel sector.

    Russia is the pioneer in peaceful use of nuclear energy: the first commercial NPP went into operation in 1954. Strong with more than 70 years long expertise in this sphere, nowadays Russia is the world innovation leader in nuclear technologies and holds the first place for the largest portfolio of foreign construction projects (36 NPP Units in 12 countries as diverse as Finland and China, India and Hungary, Egypt and Bangladesh).

    “In October 2017, Rosatom and King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy signed the Program for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. Due to investments into nuclear and based on the international expertise and decades-long innovation experience, Saudi Arabia will profit from the stable, clean and environmentally secure energy source at affordable tariffs,” commented Saeed Al-Shahrani, a Saudi expert in renewable energy. — SG”

  2. Libya complains of arms cargo from Turkey, joint investigation launched (reuters, Dec 22, 2018)
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-turkey/libya-complains-of-arms-cargo-from-turkey-joint-investigation-launched-idUSKCN1OL0G3

    “Libya and Turkey agreed on Saturday to open an urgent joint investigation into a consignment of arms which arrived from Turkey and was seized at a port near Tripoli this week, the UN-backed Libyan government said.

    The government released the statement following talks in Tripoli between Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

    The statement quoted Cavusoglu as saying Ankara rejected such actions “which do not represent the policy or approach of the Turkish state”.

    The weapons were seized by customs on Tuesday in Khoms port, just over 100 km (62 miles) east of Tripoli.

    The consignment sent from Turkey contained 3,000 Turkish-made pistols, as well as some other pistols, hunting rifles and ammunition, Benghazi’s Benina airport customs services said on their official Facebook account.

    A day earlier a cargo of 2.5 million Turkish-made bullets was seized at the same port, the same source said.

    The UN mission in Libya has condemned the shipment of arms to Libya as “extremely disconcerting.”

    The UN last June extended an arms embargo on Libya for another year.

    The oil-rich country plunged into chaos nearly eight years after a NATO-backed uprising that toppled former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

    The country has been divided between rival governments and military factions based in the east and west of the country since 2014, causing political deadlock and an economic crisis.”

  3. Egypt parliament condemns EU parliament for ‘double standards’ and ‘bias’ after rights criticism (ahram, Dec 22, 2018)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/320538/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-parliament-condemns-EU-parliament-for-double.aspx

    “A statement issued by Egypt’s parliament has “strongly condemned” a decision taken by the European Parliament on 13 December, accusing it of interfering in the internal affairs of Egypt.

    The EU decision “used unreliable reports and politicised and biased sources to deal with some aspects of the situation of human rights in Egypt,” said the statement by Egypt’s House of Representatives.

    “Instead the European Parliament should do more to contain rampant violations of basic rights and freedoms in the European continent, stem the tide of racism, tackle hate speech and growing anti-Muslim sentiments in European communities, not to mention the slow procedures of justice and inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees which the UN sharply criticised and blamed the European governments for the proliferation of these practices.”

    The EU parliament’s decision “also raises questions about the integrity and objectivity of the European Parliament, and let us stress that Egypt’s parliament rejects any interference in the internal affairs of Egypt, particularly as the style of issuing decisions by the European Parliament was based on selected sources.”

    “We reject that the European Parliament extends its purview to make itself a judge deciding on the fate of peoples, politicising the issue of human rights, and exploiting this to exert pressure as the double standard policies have become clear to all.”

    The statement, however, indicated that “Egypt does not care so much about the European Parliament’s decision, but it thinks that it might impact its possible partnership with the European Union, which aims to meet challenges facing the region.”

    On 14 December, the European Parliament issued a decision which criticised what it called “the violations and discriminatory practices of the blockading countries against Qatari citizens,” which also included calling on the Egyptian authorities to release Qatari citizens Ola El-Qaradawi and her husband, who were arrested without charge.

    In a meeting held by the Egypt parliament’s human rights committee on Saturday, chairman Alaa Abed said Ola El-Qaradawi and her husband were arrested in June 2017 under permission from the general prosecution.

    “Both El-Qaradawi and her husband face charges of funding terrorism,” said Abed.

    Wael Abu Eita, a representative of the Ministry of Justice, told the committee that Ola El-Qaradawi, the daughter of Islamist cleric Youssef El-Qaradawi, and her Egyptian husband were arrested upon the approval of the Supreme State Security Prosecution in case no.316/2017 and that both face charges of funding terrorism and cooperating with the terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood.

    “The two are being accused of receiving the instructions of the leaders of the group abroad to send them to its terrorist operatives inside Egypt,” said Abu Eita, adding that “the daughter of El-Qaradawi underwent medical check-ups twice and they showed that she is in a stable healthy condition, and the same is true of her husband Hussam El-Din Ali Khalaf.”

    “The registers of prisons also do not show that Ola El-Qaradawi was on strike, or that she claimed that she is a Qatari citizen.”

    Ambassador Wael Nasreddin, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ department of human rights, also indicated that Egypt’s embassy in Brussels has received several “European messages” about Ola El-Qaradawi and her husband.”

    “It is very strange that these messages consider them Qatari citizens, or that Ola El-Qaradawi has dual Egyptian-Qatari nationality, in order to show that Egypt is dealing with Qatari citizens in an arbitrary way,” said Nasreddin, adding that “we alerted the attention of the Europeans to the danger of interfering into the internal affairs of justice because this is a crime in line with the Egyptian constitution.”

    “The Europeans should understand that the prosecution-general is an independent entity and not a part of the government, as they always like to show,” said Nasreddin.

    Nasreddin indicated that Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not obliged to send a written answer to the European Parliament or any other European institutions on the situation of human rights in Egypt.

    “We are just obliged to do this with the UN,” said Nasreddin, adding that “Egypt’s embassy in Brussels has received messages from deputy chairman of the European Parliament and head of this parliament’s human rights committee, asking that Ola El-Qaradawi be either referred to trial or released at one.”

    “This is a complete interference into the internal affairs of justice in Egypt,” said Nasreddin, adding that “Ola El-Qaradwi and her husband are Egyptians citizens and they are under legal arrest pending trial on terrorism charges.””

    • Qatar is paying its pets to murder Egyptians in Sinai and Jews in Israel. Orchestrating terrorist attacks and promoting the cause of mass murderers.

      The Euros are puppets for this poisonous spider that thinks it’s a country. Legitimizing terrorist entities like Hezbollah and the MB. Poor choice, craven dhimmis. You can’t even reproduce, you’re so pathetic.

      Egypt is a poor but proud nation.
      It will endure when the synthetic entity that calls itself the EU is nothing more than a footnote in history.

  4. Man arrested for killing two women, alleged lovers in Kohistan (tribune, Dec 22, 2018)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1872511/1-two-women-alleged-lovers-killed-name-honour

    “The police on Saturday arrested the accused involved in the murder of two women and as many men in the name of honour in a remote mountainous district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

    Aziz Rehmat Ali was arrested by Kohistan’s Lotar town police, which recovered the murder weapon from his possession. It is not clear whether he used a pistol or a rifle to kill his two female cousins and their alleged lovers.

    The two ill-fated couples had been killed in the name of honour in Kohistan on Friday night…”/

  5. NGO staffer booked for ‘sexually harassing’ minor girls in Attock (tribune, Dec 22, 2018)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1872588/1-ngo-staffer-booked-sexually-harassing-minor-girls-attock/

    “Police have taken into custody the administrator of a local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Attock for allegedly sexually harassing minor girls.

    Syed Abrar Shah, the suspect, was arrested after uncle of one of his victims approached authorities with a complaint in this regard.

    Local police rescued at least 16 children, aged between 4 to 16 years, as well as, three female workers during a late night raid at Shah’s NGO.

    The children and NGO workers confirmed that Shah would sexually harass them…”

  6. Subversive phase of hybrid war initiated against Pakistan, says army chief (tribune, Dec 22, 2018)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1872500/1-subversive-phase-hybrid-war-initiated-pakistan-coas/

    “Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bawja cautioned on Saturday that the subversive phase of the unannounced war against Pakistan has been initiated by the country’s enemies even as efforts are made to tackle the terrorism and sabotage phase.

    Reiterating the armed forces’ resolve to maintain peace in the country, the army chief regretted that the youth of the nation is being targetted by a hybrid campaign – at times by protagonists who are “our own people”.

    “Mostly misguided by ambitions, blinded by hate, ethnicity or religion or simply overawed by social media onslaught, some of our own boys and girls readily fall victim to such dangerous or hostile narratives,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted General Qamar as saying at the passing out parade of the 110th Midshipmen and 19th Short Service Course held at Naval Academy in Karachi.

    Referring to hybrid warfare, the army chief said information and modern technology has changed the nature of warfare now being waged and has tilted the balance in favour of those nations that have embraced the change readily.

    “But frankly speaking, even that will not be sufficient as the ever-increasing threat of hybrid war, to which we are subjected to, will need a totally new approach and change of traditional mindset.”

    Advising future military leaders to prepare themselves for the threats they will face, Gen Qamar added that they should be able to gauge the enemy’s latest moves and be ready to respond even when a ‘surgical strike’ exists only in the enemy’s imagination or when threats appear in cyberspace and not the traditional battlefield or threaten the “country’s ideological frontiers”.

    “The response to such onslaughts or threats cannot always be kinetic in nature,” said the army chief, adding that a superior narrative needs to be propagated to deal with attacks in the cognitive domain.

    On the occasion, the army chief also reiterated that Pakistan is trying hard to achieve lasting peace in Afghanistan and lauded the government’s efforts of achieving peace between Pakistan and India.

    Addressing the new officers, the army chief said “your behaviour must be exemplary at all times” as one lapse may lead to embarrassment for the whole unit. Therefore, he cautioned cadets “to be mindful on social media”.

    Speaking on leadership, he said that the “armed forces are meant to lead”. “You will be required to lead your troops into the battlefield with full zeal and confidence,” he said, adding that their values shall be echoed by those who follow.

    He lauded the sacrifices of the armed forces and law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) for “paying the ultimate price with their blood” in order to restore peace and order.

    The army chief was invited as the chief guest at the passing out parade. Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi and former naval chiefs also attended the ceremony. A large number of serving and retired officers and families of passing-out officers were also present on the occasion.

    Gen Qamar reviewed the parade and gave away prizes to distinguished performers. He felicitated the young officers for their achievements and commended female cadets for their participation. “It signifies their resolve to excel and compete with men in almost every field,” he said.”

  7. Nigerian daily rates Erdogan muslim personality of 2018 (AA, Dec 22, 2018)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/nigerian-daily-rates-erdogan-muslim-personality-of-2018/1346206

    “A Nigerian Islamic newspaper rated Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan ‘Global Muslim Personality of 2018’, praising the leader for standing up for the rights of Muslims worldwide

    Rasheed Abubakar, the publisher of the Muslim News Nigeria, said the choice of Erdogan as the winner of the Global Muslim Personality award was “undisputable” going by the influence and power he wields – both within the Muslim world and in the international community.

    Erdogan also has a large number of supporters among Nigerian Muslims, Abubakar added.

    “Erdogan is famously referred to as the Amir-ul-Mu’mineen (the Leader of the Believers) for his consistent advocacy for the voiceless and defenseless Muslims all over the world, despite the campaign of calumny by distractors in the global media,” Abubakar said.

    He said Erdogan took the initiative and accused Israel of “willful murder” of Palestinians despite the entire Muslim world kept silent.

    “This same man has on several occasions called on the Muslim world to protect the Rohingya and Uighur Muslims against the government of their countries in Myanmar and China.

    “He didn’t just talk or shout to cover-up, he walked the talk by providing humanitarian assistance for millions of oppressed Muslims,” he added.

    Abubakar said the criteria for picking the winners include their overall positive campaign on the rights of Muslims worldwide.

    Erdogan emerged on top of the ratings that included other influential Muslim figures like Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar (2nd); Malaysian leader Mahathir Bin Mohamad (3rd); renowned Muslim cleric Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi (4th); and the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman (5th).”

  8. French prosecutors want 14 tried over Charlie Hebdo attacks: sources (thelocal, Dec 22, 2018)
    https://www.thelocal.fr/20181222/french-prosecutors-want-14-tried-over-charlie-hebdo-attacks-sources

    “French prosecutors are calling for 14 people to be tried in connection with the January 2015 jihadist attacks including the massacre at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, judicial sources said Friday.

    It will be up to anti-terrorist judges to decide whether all 14 are tried.

    The decision comes nearly four years after brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly killed 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015.

    The next day a policewoman was killed just outside Paris, while another gunman took hostages at a Jewish supermarket, four of whom were killed.

    All the attackers were killed in separate shootouts with police.

    Authorities said the attackers had claimed allegiance to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State militant group.

    Those likely to face trial are accused of “complicity” in assisting the attackers, including providing them with weapons.

    Another man, French national Peter Cherif, an associate of the Kouachi brothers, was arrested in Djibouti on December 16, French officials said Friday.

    The Djibouti presidency confirmed the arrest, describing Cherif, 36, as “a suspected international terrorist”.

    Cherif was expected to be extradited from Djibouti. He has not yet been indicted in connection with the Charlie Hebdo attack.”

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