Reader’s Links for December 26, 2018

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

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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

124 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 26, 2018”

  1. Canada Urges Citizens to Exercise ‘High Degree of Caution’ in Morocco (moroccoworldnews, Dec 26, 2018)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/12/261637/canada-terrorism-morocco/

    “Canada updated its travel advisory for Morocco on December 20, three days after authorities found the bodies of two Scandinavian tourists near Mount Toubkal in the Atlas Mountains.

    Canada advised citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution in Morocco due to the threat of terrorism.”

    “There is a threat of terrorism in Morocco, and attacks have targeted foreigners,” wrote the Canadian government, referring to the case of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, of Norway…”

  2. Spain’s Civil Guard Arrest 3 People on Board a ‘Go-Fast’ Boat (moroccoworldnews, Dec 26, 2018)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/12/261657/spain-drug-morocco/

    “Video footage taken by Spanish Civil Guard agents shows the dramatic chase of high-speed-boat with four drug traffickers on board.

    Spanish law enforcement had to use a helicopter and two other boats to continue the pursuit, which came to an end in Costa Del Sol, southern Spain.

    Spanish authorities arrested two Moroccans and a Spaniard, all in their thirties. The driver of the boat, however, managed to escape.

    The four individuals are believed to be members of a drug trafficking network that smuggles cannabis from Morocco to Malaga.”

  3. Spain Denies Citizenship To Moroccan Man Over ‘Lack of Integration’ (moroccoworldnews, Dec 26, 2018)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/12/261666/spain-denies-citizenship-moroccan-man/

    “Spain has once again denied citizenship to a Moroccan resident for “fundamental institutional and cultural ignorance,” and for only maintaining relationships with people from his own culture.

    The man was born in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in Northern Morocco and lived for 13 years in Spain.

    The Spanish Chamber for Contentious at the Spanish National Court reasoned that the Moroccan man who live with his wife and children “does not have sufficient knowledge of the rights and duties of the Spanish people,” reported Spanish outlet El Faro de Ceuta on Tuesday.

    The appellant “is not sufficiently integrated into Spanish society, does not know with rigor the rights and duties of Spaniards and everything related to the essential structure of the Nation,” the court said according to the same source.

    This is not the first time that the country has refused to grant citizenship to a Moroccan over similar reasons.

    In August, the National Court’s Chamber said that it did not give citizenship to a Moroccan resident because he did not know the president of Catalonia or the typical dance of the region.”

  4. Most paedophiles in UK are of Pakistani origin, says Sajid Javid (tribune, Dec 26, 2018)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1875140/9-pedophiles-uk-pakistani-origin-says-uk-home-secretary/

    “UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Wednesday said that a high-proportion of men involved in gang-based child exploitation in the country are of Pakistani descent, according to The BBC.

    Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Today, Javid – who has Pakistani heritage – said that ignoring the ethnicity of abusers gives “oxygen” to extremists.

    The home secretary had faced backlash for a tweet earlier this year referring to “sick Asian paedophiles”.

    He said he wanted officials researching the causes of gang-based exploitation to leave “no stone unturned”.

    Asked by the British-Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie, who was guest-editing the programme, whether he was concerned that his comments may have fuelled hate crimes, he said he was “very much aware of the need for politicians to be careful with their language”.

    Grooming gangs have recently been convicted in Huddersfield, Oxford, and Rotherham.

    “There could be – I’m not saying that there are – there could be some cultural reasons from the communities that these men came from that could lead to this kind of behaviour,” Javid said.

    The home secretary has called for research into the “characteristics and contexts” of gangs abusing children, arguing that ignoring issues such as ethnicity is more likely to fuel the far-right.

    “When I’m asking my officials to go away and do research to look into the causes of gang-based child exploitation, then I want them to leave no stone unturned and to look at everything,” he added.

    “For me to rule something out just because it would be considered sensitive would be wrong,” he said.

    “If I had ignored it, or been seen to ignore it, that is exactly what I think extremists would like to see in this country. It would give them oxygen and I refuse to do that,” he said…”

  5. Tribal jirga asks US to compensate for losses (tribune, Dec 27, 2018)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1875430/1-tribal-jirga-asks-us-compensate-losses/

    “After the US announcement to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan, the tribal elders from the Khyber district have demanded that Washington not only compensate them for using their routes as lines of communication but also pay blood money for the people who lost their lives during this 17 year war.

    Maliks – notables who are part of Fata grand alliance – held a meeting or grand Jirga at the district’s Jamrud Sports Complex on Wednesday to discuss the issues of the people of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) which was merged earlier this year with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

    The participants welcomed the US decision to partially withdraw troops from Afghanistan but demanded that those who have lost their lives and properties while providing the US and allied forces transportation facilities and dumping sites in Khyber should be compensated…”

    • After the US announcement to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan, the tribal elders from the Khyber district have demanded that Washington not only compensate them for using their routes as lines of communication but also pay blood money for the people who lost their lives during this 17 year war.

      One word: Jizya.

        • Delivered with a MOAB.
          …….
          Afghanistan is Taliban writ large. And Pakistan ISI is fully integrated with Taliban, al-Qaida, and the rest of the tribal jihadi entities. Paki-Afghani are linked by close kinship ties.

          Ferengi can’t deal with any of them without accommodating the others. And that can’t be done.

          The boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan is a cartographer’s squiggle. India’s borders aren’t much better.
          ………
          The UK drew up a quick and dirty scheme for Partition of the Subcontinent. An enduring mess. For which the Home Islands are paying the price, possibly extinction of their historic identity.

          When I was a child, I remember a particularly chilling prophecy:

          That the dissolution of the Empire, undertaken in haste and without due diligence, was a sin. Punishment would be visited upon the British unto the fourth generation.

          That an Empire upon which the sun never set would be so reduced, the British would no longer be the masters of their tiny speck in the ocean.

  6. 76 irregular migrants held across Turkey (AA, Dec 26, 2018)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/76-irregular-migrants-held-across-turkey/1349182

    “A total of 76 irregular migrants were held across Turkey, security sources said on Wednesday.

    In the northwestern province of Kirklareli, gendarmerie forces received a tip that two groups of migrants were preparing to illegally cross to Bulgaria, said a security source who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

    At least 19 Afghan nationals were caught in the village of Karamesutlu and near the Derekoy border gate.

    In the southern border province of Gaziantep, security forces stopped a vehicle carrying seven Syrians who had come to Turkey illegally.

    In the Aegean Izmir province, a night watchmen in the Konak district held 50 irregular migrants — including women and children — when they stopped a suspicious vehicle.

    The migrants were mostly African nationals.

    All the migrants held were sent to regional immigration departments.

    Turkey has been the main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.”

  7. World Hijab Day encourages women to voice their choice (AA, Dec 26, 2018)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/world-hijab-day-encourages-women-to-voice-their-choice/1349116

    “World Hijab Day is all set to launch its 2019 campaign on Wednesday, aiming to encourage women to “voice their choice” of wearing the hijab, according to the founder of the annual event.

    “#FreeInHijab is the much needed hashtag for our current global situation where women in hijab are labeled by media as oppressed and symbolically imprisoned,” Nazma Khan told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview ahead of the campaign launch.

    “Through this hashtag, women are encouraged to voice their choice of wearing the hijab; thus dispelling common misconceptions,” Khan added.

    World Hijab Day, created in 2013 to encourage women of all religions and backgrounds to wear the hijab in support of Muslim women.

    It is celebrated worldwide every year on Feb. 1.

    In 2017, World Hijab Day became a nonprofit organization, with a mission to fight discrimination against Muslim women through awareness and education, according to its official webpage.

    She said 2019’s motto for the day is “Breaking Stereotypes, Shattering Boundaries”, while the campaign also includes “promoting World Hijab Day both online and offline globally”.

    Khan said her motive behind the creation of the day was the hardships she faced due to her hijab when growing up in New York City.

    “I was constantly bullied in middle school and high school. Discrimination took on a different height after 9/11,” she said, recalling the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S.

    “Every day, I would face different challenges just walking on the street; I was chased, spat on, surrounded by goons, called a terrorist, Osama bin Laden, etc,” she said, adding that it was “devastating” and she did not want anyone else to go through the same thing.

    “Therefore, I thought to myself, if I could invite sisters from all faiths and backgrounds to walk in my shoes just for a day, perhaps things would change,” she said, and thus, Khan came up with the idea of World Hijab Day.

    She said women wearing hijab for one day in solidarity would give an idea of the things hijabi women face on a daily basis.

    “Perhaps, this one-day experience will make them see the hijab in a different light,” she added.

    Khan said there were many milestones in the past five years and one of them was the recognition of the day by New York state in 2017.

    The same year, the House of Commons of the U.K. hosted an event marking the day, where Prime Minister Theresa May also attended, she added.

    In 2018, the Scottish Parliament also hosted a three-day exhibition to mark the day, and the Philippines also took steps to declare Feb. 1 as national hijab day.

    “With the aforementioned recognitions by government bodies, our movement is continuously working towards reducing gender discrimination,” Khan said.

    On accusations of spreading an ideology of political Islam, Khan said: “There’s no politics involved in a movement which tries to bring awareness about women who are being unfairly targeted simply because they choose to wear the hijab. It’s simply awareness.”

    Stating that it was a nonprofit and volunteer-based organization, Khan said since the beginning of the campaign, “they have seen positive changes in many people’s lives”.

    “We have seen non-Muslim mothers accept their Muslim daughters by experiencing what they go through by donning the hijab for a day,” she said, adding people from different walks of life stand in solidarity with their “hijabi peers” for one day.

    “Stories like this go on, and it only takes one day. And this is to remind anyone that wants to change the world, that it only takes one day,” Khan noted.

    She said the day “serves as a reminder to be a Muslim who has responsibilities for the betterment of the society at large.””

  8. Germany mulls introducing ‘mosque tax’ for Muslims (DW, Dec 26, 2018)
    https://www.dw.com/en/germany-mulls-introducing-mosque-tax-for-muslims/a-46866041

    “The idea, similar to Germany’s church tax, would aim to make mosques independent of foreign donors. Germany’s government and progressive Muslim leaders have supported the idea.

    Lawmakers from Germany’s grand coalition government said on Wednesday that they were considering introducing a “mosque tax” for German Muslims, similar to the church taxes that German Christians pay.

    Thorsten Frei, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) told Die Welt daily that a mosque tax was “an important step” that would allow “Islam in Germany to emancipate itself from foreign states.”

    In Germany, church taxes are collected from practicing Catholics and Protestants in order to fund church activities. They are collected by the state and then transferred to religious authorities.

    Mosque founder supports tax

    In the absence of a similar tax, mosques in Germany are reliant upon donations, raising concerns about possible financing by foreign organizations and governments, which has sometimes prompted questions about the promotion of fundamentalist ideologies. For example, there has been growing concern about the influence of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), an arm of the Turkish government based in Germany.

    Officials estimates report that there are between 4.4 and 4.7 million Muslims living in Germany, but those figures include people whose families are Muslim by tradition and the number of practicing Muslims could be much lower.

    A lawmaker from Germany’s other ruling party, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), agreed that a mosque tax could help Islam in Germany become more independent. The SPD’s domestic policy chief Burkhard Lischka agreed that it was a topic “worthy of discussion.”

    The founder of a progressive Berlin mosque, Seyran Ates, supported the idea when asked by Die Welt, saying “in the future everything that the community needs to could be paid for by its members themselves.”

    Several European countries, including Austria, Sweden, and Italy, also use church taxes to fund Catholic and Protestant institutions. It has also been criticized for being compulsory for practicing Christians and, as it is collected by the government, for blurring the lines between church and state.”

  9. Rachel Corrie receiving US college credit for an ISM assignment in Palestine; quietly filmed by her mentors moments before a tank ran over her.

    • Rachel Corrie receiving US college credit for an ISM assignment in Palestine; quietly filmed by her mentors moments before a tank ran over her.

      Ecktually, it was an armored Israeli bulldozer. I know that “tank” sounds so much more warlike, nasty, and brutal but there you have it. Also, I would be ever-so-grateful if the lot of you called her “Saint Pancake”. The term “prime dupe” doesn’t even begin to describe Corrie’s level of weapons-grade stupidity (hat tip: Rasmussen).

  10. Macron’s ex-bodyguard tours Africa with diplomatic passport issued after beating protester

    French President Emmanuel Macron’s former aide Alexandre Benalla has been traveling on a diplomatic passport for several months, said to have been issued weeks after he sparked scandal when he was caught beating a protester.

    Alexandre Benalla has used a diplomatic passport to travel to a number of African countries and Israel in recent weeks.

    The revelation was reported by Mediapart and contradicts the French government’s recent claims that Benalla is not “an official or official emissary,” of the French Republic.

    The former deputy chief of staff to Macron gained notoriety after he was seen beating protesters while wearing a police armband during demonstrations in Paris on May 1. He was eventually fired in July after embarrassing the government, which is accused of attempting to cover up the story.

    The passport was reportedly issued on May 24, 2018 and expires on 19 September 2022. It is a diplomatic passport, which allows the holder to easily pass through borders and gives legal immunity from prosecution in other countries.

    Just weeks before the French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Chad to visit troops on December 22, Benalla had already arrived in the country on a private jet and met with the President Idriss Déby and his brother Oumar Déby, who is head of the Directorate-General of Strategic Reserves which handles arms deals, Le Monde reports.

    Upon Macon’s arrival in Chad, he was forced to clarify to President Idriss Déby that Benalla is not a French official. “Only the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the diplomatic adviser to the President, Philippe Etienne, and Franck Paris, the president’s Africa adviser, are representing the head of state,” he said.

    Benalla said in a statement that he was in Chad to accompany “a foreign economic delegation in the framework of investments,” and that all expenses were paid by the delegation head. Le Monde reports this was Franco-Israeli businessman Philippe Hababou Solomon, who specializes in private diplomacy in Africa for governments.

    https://www.rt.com/news/447539-benalla-diplomatic-passport-chad/
    ==========================================
    BBC- Alexandre Benalla: Row over sacked Macron aide’s Africa trip

    A sacked aide to French President Emmanuel Macron has been officially rebuked for a business trip to Chad.

    It emerged this week that Alexandre Benalla had met Chad’s leader, three weeks before Mr Macron paid a Christmas visit to troops stationed there.

    The Elysée has responded by warning Mr Benalla against claiming “any link with or tacit support from the presidency”.

    In July Mr Benalla, then a top security aide, was sacked after a video emerged of him beating up protesters in Paris.

    He has issued a statement insisting his trip to Chad was part of a “foreign business delegation”.

    Who is Benalla?

    The 27-year-old is being investigated for assault and “usurping the functions of a police officer” over the incident, which took place during May Day demonstrations.

    After working for Mr Macron during his presidential campaign, he rose through the ranks of the Elysée where he continued working for the new president.

    Although he was given a two-week suspension for his part in the May Day incident, he was still playing a key security role in July.

    When France’s World Cup-winning footballers returned from Russia it was Alexandre Benalla who stood at the front of the team bus as it made its way to the Elysée palace.

    He was fired days later and appeared before the French Senate in September, admitting he often carried a Glock pistol as part of his job.

    What has happened now?

    The latest controversy centres on a trip which, according to Le Monde newspaper, took Mr Benalla first to Cameroon, and then to Chad. Mr Benalla is said have discussed business deals in both countries.

    In Chad he is alleged to have met President Idriss Deby and his brother who, the newspaper says, is in charge of military procurements.

    Le Monde says Mr Benalla has in recent months been working for a French-Israeli businessman with interests in Africa.

    The two men had already travelled together to the Republic of Congo in October, the paper reports.

    The Elysée reacted to Mr Benalla’s December visit to Chad with a strongly worded letter of warning.

    “With regard to your current personal activities, we ask you to ensure they are conducted with strict respect for the confidentiality and ethical responsibilities of your time in this office,” wrote Patrick Strzoda, the director of Mr Macron’s office.

    In a later public statement, Mr Strzoda said of the former aide: “He is not a formal or informal envoy of the presidency. If he claimed to be, that would be false.”

    How has Benalla reacted?

    The former aide responded by saying he was “shocked” by the “irresponsible suggestions coming from the Elysée” and insisted he had never represented himself as anything other than a private investor.

    Maintaining he had been wronged with defamatory and slanderous accusations, Mr Benalla said some members of the president’s entourage were trying to wreck his private and professional life. “I won’t stay silent any longer,” he said.

    In a separate, unconfirmed report on Thursday, the Mediapart investigative website said that in recent months Mr Benalla had been travelling on a diplomatic passport issued in May.

    A French foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed that two diplomatic passports had been issued to Mr Benalla and that it had asked him to return them after his dismissal in July.

    “Any use of these passports since would have been despite the commitments made by the interested party,” the spokeswoman told AFP news agency.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46694207

    ===========================================

  11. RT – Vienna church attack: 5 injured in suspected robbery by 2 assailants

    Austrian’s capital has been rocked by an unprecedentedly brazen burglary, after two suspects stormed a monastery church in the northern part of Vienna and robbed it, leaving about a dozen monks injured.

    The crime occurred in broad daylight; the perpetrators broke into the Church of Maria Immaculata in Vienna’s district of Floridsdorf around 13:30 local time (12:30 GMT), police said in a statement.

    The robbery lasted for hours, they reported, adding that police have also found “tied and [in some instances] heavily injured” monks only three hours later.

    In a follow-up statement, the police said that at least one of the attackers “demanded valuables and cash” from the monks. The investigators also said they are not treating the incident as a terrorist attack while also admitting that the exact motives behind the robbery are “still unclear.”

    Police have confirmed that five people, all of them monks, were injured in the attack. One monk suffered serious injuries. A 68-year-old monk was at the premises of the church when the robbers broke in. They threatened the man with a firearm and forced him to lie on the ground.

    The perpetrators then hit him and trampled upon him, inflicting serious head injuries, the Austrian Kronen Zeitung reports. Four more monks, who arrived at the church later, were also attacked and injured, police spokesman Harald Soeroes told Kronen Zeitung.

    The suspects are still on the run, their identities unknown. Soeroes described one of the suspects as a 5.9-feet tall man with dark hair. “Both men speak German and have a foreign accent,” the police spokesman said.

    https://www.rt.com/news/447541-vienna-church-attack-injured/

  12. ‘Suspicious package’ triggers evacuation of Strasbourg main train station

    Strasbourg railway station locked down, passengers evacuated

    The main railway station in Strasbourg, France was shut down and all the passengers were evacuated after a bomb threat was received earlier tonight. Strasbourg has been on high alert after a terror attack on a Christmas market earlier this month.

    Police received a message that an explosive device was present at the station around 6:15 pm on Thursday, local media reported. The station was quickly locked down and the passengers evacuated.

    French police have called onto the public “not give in to panic” and not to broadcast or relay false information.

    “Ordnance disposal teams are on hand to remove the suspicious package and traffic will gradually resume after their intervention,” the police said.

    Strasbourg has been on edge since the December 11 attack on the Christmas market, which killed five and wounded 12 people.

    https://www.eturbonews.com/241647/suspicious-package-triggers-evacuation-of-strasbourg-main-train-station
    ===================================================
    Strasbourg train station evacuated due to ‘suspicious package’

    A bomb threat has prompted the evacuation of the main railway station in Strasbourg, France. The city has been on high alert after an attack on a Christmas market earlier in December.

    Police received a message that an explosive device was present at the station around 6:15 pm on Thursday, local media reported. The station was quickly locked down and the passengers evacuated.

    French police have called onto the public “not give in to panic” and not to broadcast or relay false information.

    “Ordnance disposal teams are on hand to remove the suspicious package and traffic will gradually resume after their intervention,” the police said.

    https://www.rt.com/news/447547-strasbourg-train-station-evacuated-bomb-threat/