Contributor’s links post for April 26, 2019

Daily Links Post graphic

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We muse use it while we can.

About Eeyore

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

140 Replies to “Contributor’s links post for April 26, 2019”

  1. Rosenstein slams Obama administration for choosing ‘not to publicize full story’ of Russia hacking

    Beleaguered Justice Department No. 2 Rod Rosenstein raised eyebrows Thursday night with a private speech in which he took a swipe at the Obama administration and slammed ex-FBI boss James Comey.

    Rosenstein, the U.S. deputy attorney general who supervised the Mueller investigation, spoke out publically for the first time since the report was released, criticizing the Obama administration’s real-time reaction to Russian hacking and its decision “not publicize the full story” to the American people.

    Rosenstein, who was speaking in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, defended his handling of the probe and criticized former officials in the process. He also called out former FBI Director James Comey for alerting Congress about the investigation into Russian collusion at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rosenstein-slams-obama-administration-for-choosing-not-to-publicize-full-story-of-russia-hacking

    The rats are leaving the sinking ship and trying to shift the blame to the other rats.

  2. Trump Announces Withdrawal From U.N. Small Arms Treaty — Signs Doc in Front of NRA, Tosses Pen Into Crowd (VIDEO)

    During his speech at the annual NRA convention Friday, President Trump officially signed the order to withdraw the USA from the United Nations “small arms treaty.”

    “Under my Administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone. We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedoms. And that is why my Administration will never ratify the UN Arms Trade Treaty” he announced to the raucous crowd.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1121846225827958784

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/04/president-trump-announces-withdrawal-from-u-n-small-arms-treaty-video/?utm_source=TGPemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:553016019&utm_campaign=Auto%20Send%20from%20The%20Gateway%20Pundit%20on%20April%2026,%202019%20at%2003:06:06%20PM

      • The radical left is going to scream and hunt for a safe place.

        The radical left is going to scream and hunt for a safe space.

        There, fixed that.

  3. Mark Joseph Unveils the Power of Storytelling in the Culture War
    How leftist media portrayals shaped an entire generation — and how we can fight back.
    April 26, 2019
    Frontpagemag.com

    At the recent West Coast Retreat at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes (April 5-7, 2019), Hollywood Producer Mark Joseph unveils the power of storytelling in the culture war and how media portrayals shaped an entire generation. Don’t miss the video and transcript below!

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273579/mark-joseph-unveils-power-storytelling-culture-war-frontpagemagcom

    • Great catch, Richard. Although a bit lengthy, the “Diamond Formation” strategy is a key data point. That Joseph then connects it to pop culture is a real masterstroke.

      Consensus science (e.g., The Great Warmening™), boy bands, fad diets, race baiting, identity politics, “critical analysis”, and an Olympic-sized cesspool of partisan dirty tricks all milk this scheme like the farm’s last cow.

      Witness how minority groups like LGBTQ and Afro-Americans leverage a mere presence of 5%–10% with Muslims at a microscopic 1% nevertheless NEVERTHELESS ALTERING FEDERAL POLICY AND LAW. This is called a TrannyTyranny of the Minority” and the Founding Fathers were rightfully leery of it.

      A late friend of mine predicted that public toleration for homosexuals flaunting their decadent lifestyles would reach its breaking point with the advent of Gay Divorce Court. I predict that he’d be glad he never lived to see that day. This yob was utterly gobsmacked at how America spent weeks off the rails in national train-wreck mode because of a DOA, gold-digging, overdosed, pill popper named, Anna Nicole Smith. It’s doubtful he’d see much in the way of improvement since then.

      How many decades did America spend singing from memory Socialist anthems like “Joe Hill” and “We Shall Overcome”? How deeply are those Communist memes implanted into generations of US voters? Bezmenov’s words haunt us from the grave.

  4. “Trump: This was a coup. Like a third world country”
    Jack Posobiec – April 25, 2019 – Twitter
    https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1121613501527658496

    That’s what General (Ret) McInerney said. It was an attempted coup.

    Repost: Interview begins @ 14:24
    “ACT 4-15-19 meeting with Gen.McInerney”
    ACT ClevelandChapter – Published on April 17, 2019
    14:24 – Tonight’s Guests: General (Ret) Thomas McInerney
    Jim Simpson, Pockets of Resistance

  5. Why Leftists Resent Your Tears for Notre Dame de Paris
    Leftist “concern” for the poor and the environment are merely masks for their envy.
    April 26, 2019
    Danusha Goska

    “16-Year-Old Activist Demands EU Parliament Act On Climate Change As Quickly As Notre-Dame” Forbes April 18, 2019. “Why Black People Are Giving The Reaction to The Notre Dame Fire The Side-Eye … The Money Raised So Expeditiously Shows an Irony When Compared to Tragedies in Our Diaspora” The Grio April 17, 2019. “‘Its burning feels like an act of liberation’ … the cathedral has been viewed by some as a stodgy reminder of ‘the old city — the embodiment of the Paris of stone and faith – just as the Eiffel Tower exemplifies the Paris of modernity, joie de vivre and change'” Rolling Stone April 16, 2019. “In just a few hours today, 650 million euros was donated to rebuild Notre Dame … this is what they call white privilege.” South Africa-based journalist Simon Allison. “Privilege Flares in Notre Dame Fire” The Guardian April 18, 2019.

    My mother was born in Slovakia in a house that her father, a shepherd, built by hand. We visited her village in the 1970s. Even then Aunt Bora lived in the traditional house type: one “black room” that had a fire; one “light room” with no fire, and no heat. Bora had raised eleven children in that house. Above Bora’s bed hung a portrait of the Madonna and child. We praised its beauty. Bora jumped on the bed and began to take it down to give it to us. My mother had to fight off this gift. Bora offered us slivovice, low-cost, kerosene-flavored firewater. Other relatives served more expensive Bulgarian champagne. These relatives were members of the Communist Party. Bora knew that she suffered economic penalties because of her piety, “But I will never abandon the Catholic Church.”

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273535/why-leftists-resent-your-tears-notre-dame-de-paris-danusha-goska

  6. How Turkey’s Democracy Went From Insanity to ‘Beyond Insanity’

    by Burak Bekdil
    April 26, 2019 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14139/turkey-democracy-insanity

    In the country he has ruled since 2002, 80% of the minorities cannot openly express themselves on social media, and a good 35% say they are subjected to hate speech on the same platform. His top ulama [Islamic scholars] once issued a fatwa that read: “… a father kissing his daughter with lust or caressing her with desire has no effect on the man’s marriage”.

    Between August 2014, when he was elected president of Turkey, and April 2016 he sued at least 1,845 people for insulting him, thereby winning the title of “the world’s most insulted president”.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an once accused Western Europe of “intolerance that spreads like the plague,” and described Belarus, which Western countries describe as a dictatorship, as “a country in which people with different roots live in peace”.

    When Turkey, officially, was the world’s biggest jailer of journalists Erdo?an’s Islamist party drafted a bill that would release about 3,000 men who married children, including men who raped them.

    In December 2016, Alperen, an often violent youth group who enthusiastically support Erdo?an, celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Turkey by holding a man dressed as Santa Claus at gunpoint. A headline in an Islamist newspaper (also pro-Erdo?an) read, “This is our last warning, DO NOT celebrate.”

  7. ‘Political Islam’ wants to ‘secede’ from France – French President Macron

    Islam is political. He’s just getting the memo now? Sharia law is supremacist and supreme over man-made law, governing the entire Muslims worldwide. It is the law of Allah and it is the mandate of the ummah to impose it. Everywhere. Of course they want an islamic State — in France and every other country they immigrate to. Muslims are the only immigration group that comes to a country with its own ready-made model of society it believes to be superior. And they impose it — in the schools, in the workplace, in the marketplace of ideas, and with violence. Each component critical to the end result — the islamization of the country.

    https://gellerreport.com/2019/04/political-islam-islamic-state-france.html/

  8. EXCLUSIVE: Jewish Couple in Paris Brutally Beaten by Muslim Gang in Their Own Home
    By Pamela Geller – on April 25, 2019

    My French source has spoken directly with the victims, who are the last of the remaining Jews living in Aubervilliers. They live in the projects — they are is the only Jews in the building. The Muslim gang of four saw the *mezuzah on the door and stormed in. The Jewish couple were brutally beaten and robbed. Seine-Saint-Denis is increasingly a Muslim no-go zone. Once home to a thriving Jewish community, Seine-Saint-Denis has been ethnically cleansed. The victims have decided to leave France and make aliyah (emigrate to Israel).

    https://gellerreport.com/2019/04/jewish-couple-beaten-muslim-home-invaders.html/

  9. Yemen Fires 5 Homegrown Ballistic Missiles at Saudi-Led Forces (tasnimnews, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/04/26/1997739/yemen-fires-5-homegrown-ballistic-missiles-at-saudi-led-forces

    “The forces of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees attacked positions of the Saudi-led coalition and its mercenaries, deploying its drones and firing five domestically made ballistic missiles, local reports said.

    The Yemeni forces on Thursday evening mounted artillery and drone attacks on the vehicles and facilities of the Saudi Army in the kingdom’s southwestern province of Jizan, the Arabic-language al-Masirah TV reported.

    The operation was carried out several hours after another drone attack on a command center of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s coastal city of Aden.

    In another operation on the same day, the missile command of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees hit gatherings of the Saudi-backed mercenaries with 5 ballistic missiles dubbed “Zelzal-1” in in Asir border region.

    The attacks against the Saudi-led forces came in retaliation for the continued massacre of civilians and destruction of Yemen’s infrastructure by the coalition led by the Riyadh regime…”

  10. Syrians Make up 39 Percent of over 330,000 Refugees in Europe (aawsat, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1696396/syrians-make-39-percent-over-330000-refugees-europe

    “The European Union (EU) granted protection status to nearly 333,355 asylum-seekers in 2018, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

    The largest group of beneficiaries of protection status were Syria with 29 percent of the total number of persons granted protection status in the EU Member States, followed by citizens of Afghanistan with 16 percent and Iraqis with 7 percent. Of all the Syrians refugees in EU, almost 70 percent were recorded in Germany.

    In 2018, the highest number of persons granted protection status was 139,600 registered in Germany, ahead of Italy and France, of which each received a third of what Germany took in.

    Germany accepted 43 percent of all asylum-seekers’ application, which is a little above EU’s average of 37 percent.

    Between 2015 and 2016, the number of refugees and asylum seekers increased rapidly as war in Syria erupted and crisis flared in the region. However, numbers went down since then when Syrian asylum-seekers granted protection reached about 173,000 and Afghanis 100,000 and Iraqis about 64,000.

    Figures published earlier in December showed that over 60,500 applications for international protection lodged throughout the EU, with October being the month with the most claims so far. Despite this peak, applications lodged since the start of the year have remained lower than in 2017.

    The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) noted that October’s increase was reflected in all the main citizenships of origin of applicants. Applications by these Syrians, Afghanis and Iraqis all increased in October compared to September, by 12 percent for Syrians, 20 percent for Afghanis and 13 percent for Iraqis.

    In October, 3,170 Iranian citizens lodged applications for asylum, which is the highest number since the height of the migration crisis between September 2015 and 2016.

    Open refugee cases of Iranians awaiting decisions further increased to 14,503, the highest number recorded since November 2017. In total, about 35 percent of all Iranian applicants received international protection.

    As for Turkey, about 2,880 applications were lodged in October 2018, with an increase of 9 percent compared to the previous month. Based on available data, the majority of Turkish applicants is likely to have arrived in the EU during the summer.”

  11. Saudi Arabia Asserts Mutual respect, Non-interference in Internal Affairs of Other Countries (aawsat, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1696241/saudi-arabia-asserts-mutual-respect-non-interference-internal-affairs-other

    “Saudi Arabia asserted that principles of multilateralism, diplomacy, mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries were all well-established principles in Saudi Arabia’s international relations, based on the Kingdom’s Islamic faith and commitment to the three pillars of the UN Charter, namely sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights, according to UN Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi.

    Mouallimi was speaking at a special session of the UN General Assembly in New York to mark the first official International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace.

    During his speech at the UN headquarters, Mouallimi stressed the principles of tolerance in the Islamic faith, stressing that the need for tolerance and peace among nations had never been more crucial.

    He explained that the key factors in working towards harmony were: establishing the values of multilateralism, spreading the culture of acceptance of others, and promoting peace and dialogue among different societies and civilizations…”

  12. Turkey Orders Detention of 210 Military Personnel over Links to Gulen (aawsat, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1696311/turkey-orders-detention-210-military-personnel-over-links-gulen

    “Istanbul prosecutors ordered the detention of 210 military personnel over suspected links to the network blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed 2016 military coup, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said on Friday.

    It said the suspects from the air, marine and land forces, as well as the gendarmerie and coast guard, included five colonels, seven lieutenant colonels, 14 majors, and 33 captains.

    They were suspected of being supporters of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Turkish authorities of masterminding the failed putsch three years ago. Gulen has denied any role.

    The prosecutor’s office said it believed the number of Gulen supporters who remained unidentified within the military was greater than those who took part in the coup attempt, and the network still posed the greatest threat to Turkey’s constitutional order.

    Turkey says Gulen’s network had infiltrated its military, judiciary and state institutions.

    The military personnel being sought on Friday were identified by listening to recordings of conversations held on pay phones across Turkey, the prosecutor said.

    Ankara’s Western allies have criticized the crackdown, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s critics accusing him of using the putsch as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkish authorities say the measures are necessary to combat threats to national security.

    About 250 people were killed in the failed putsch.

    More than 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial since the coup and widespread arrests are still routine. Authorities have suspended or sacked 150,000 civil servants and military personnel.

    Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.

    Separately, state-owned Anadolu agency reported that the Ankara chief prosecutor ordered the detention of 41 people believed to be members of the network. They were suspected of obtaining the questions to a police school exam in 2009, to help their members join the force.”

  13. Libya’s Haftar accumulates $25bn of debt funding military (memo, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190426-libyas-haftar-accumulates-25bn-of-debt-funding-military/

    “Libyan General Khalifa Haftar has racked up some $25 billion of debt funding his self-styled army, through a mix of unofficial bonds, Russia-printed cash and deposits from eastern banks, according to Reuters.

    Haftar has built up his Libyan National Army (LNA) with the help of the UAE and Egypt supplying heavy gear such helicopters. It also enjoys the support of Saudi Arabia, Russia and France, despite the UN recognising the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) as the legitimate authority in the country.

    The controversial Libyan general has also built a parallel banking system, headquartered in the eastern capital Benghazi. However, diplomats and banking sources say that those sources of support might be closing, as the Tripoli-based central bank, which controls the country’s energy revenues, has taken steps to curtail the operations of banks in the east.

    Those banks have in recent months struggled to meet minimum deposit requirements, which could give the Tripoli central bank allied to Presidential Council head Fayez Al-Sarraj an excuse to shut off access to hard currency.

    “There is a looming banking crisis that could undermine eastern authorities’ ability to fund themselves in the near future,” said Claudia Gazzini, senior Libya analyst at International Crisis Group. “The crisis was already in the making before the war broke out.”…”

  14. Saudi Arabia releases Indonesian maids sentenced to death for ‘witchcraft’ (memo, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190426-saudi-arabia-releases-indonesian-maids-sentenced-to-death-for-witchcraft/

    “Saudi Arabia has released two Indonesian domestic workers who were sentenced to death for practicing “witchcraft” against their employers. The Director for citizen protection and legal aid at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said on Wednesday that the two women, Sumartini and Warnah, had been released after serving 10 years in prison.

    Iqbal explained that a court in Riyadh sentenced the two workers to death in 2009 but the sentence was commuted earlier this year after a decade of negotiations between Jakarta and the Kingdom…”

  15. Exclusive: Sri Lankan ex-defense chief Gotabaya says he will run for president, tackle radical Islam (reuters, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-blasts-gotabaya-exclusive/exclusive-sri-lankan-ex-defense-chief-gotabaya-says-he-will-run-for-president-tackle-radical-islam-idUSKCN1S21UF

    “Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens…”

    • So long as Micron wanders through life without a toe tag, it’s physically impossible to imagine that Occasional-Cortex is in danger of being unseated. Neither display the slightest reason for their immense popularity, unless lack of reason has become an acceptable explanation.

      Red Cortez is living proof that popular acclaim, like Crighton’s consensus science, is worth less than last week’s cat litter.

      There’s an old journalistic joke about a southern Senator telling some young cub reporter, “Son, I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name right.

      Here in Clown World, there isn’t any joking about the fact that there no longer is any such thing as bad publicity.

      If this pisses you off, go piss on the grave of Ron “Ginsu Knife” Popeil. Taking a page from Edward Bernays’ playbook, Ronco essentially invented the concept of “perceived value”. They did this by squandering insane portions of their corporate budget on advertising in ways that would end in an elevator shaft at any Fortune 500 company.

      In the day of thousand dollar-per-second network advertising, an hour-long “infomercial” automatically implied that the product must be of, and be a, fantastic value because it merited such a long and expensive TV ad. That this snoozer ran during dead-air at three in morning on UHF wasn’t allowed to interfere with rush ordering the latest zircon encrusted turnip twaddler.

      Is your group all here? Then the Trowel will wag you through to your Clown World table now—at Jack-in-the-Box (Hint: Avoid Jack’s secret sauce). On the menu is a nothing burger laced with the merciless insanity peppers of Quetzlzacatenango.

      Where it once was a sign of prestige and genuine worth to become renowned, nowadays a brief moment of fame is like an asshole, everybody has one. Spend longer in the spotlight than Warhol’s prescribed fifteen minutes and you can bet that someone’s holding down the “Like” key in Basefook’s algorithm lab.

      The swapping of bad publicity for fifteen minutes of being “Famous for being Famous” (see: Philben, Le Corbusier, Koons, Pollock inter alia) allows perceived value to decompose even further into simple presence. It’s like an electronics store where all of the screens are showing the same video clip over and over again.

      This shit-for-brains Sortarican commie wannabe appears on so many screens at once that, like Ronco, it creates a sense of importance where none exists, belongs, or is even merited.

      I will give Cousens credit for conjuring up a real “Goldilocks” balance of not too much fact, not too little farce, and just the right amount of wry humor and sneering delight at the endless comedy gold handed to her by otherwise dead-earnest Leftists. She is definitely not an acquired taste.

  16. Spain Arrests Suspect for Alleged Links with Terrorist Arrested in Morocco (moroccoworldnews, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/04/271495/spain-terrorist-counter-terrorism-morocco/

    “Spanish police have arrested another terrorist suspect on account of his alleged relation with a terrorist stopped last week in a joint Moroccan-Spanish counterterrorism operation.

    Spanish news outlet El Pais said that police are investigating whether the new suspect has contacted other terror suspects or acted as a “lone wolf,” a term security specialists use for terrorists with no links to established terror cells or organizations.

    El Pais added that the police released the young suspect on parole.

    Last week, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior announced that the national police and the Spanish and Moroccan intelligence services “carried out an anti-terrorist operation, which resulted in the arrest in Morocco of an alleged jihadist who planned to carry out an attack in Seville.”

    Euro News reported that the first suspect was planning to carry out an attack during Easter celebrations in Seville.

    Spain is one of the countries that share strong security cooperation with Morocco. The Spanish government has long lauded its partnership with Morocco, especially on matters of anti-terrorism and de-radicalization.

    Following last week’ joint operation, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said that the counterterrorism cooperation with Morocco was “ an example to follow for other countries.”

    Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita echoed his Spanish counterpart’s sentiment, acknowledging that the security cooperation between Morocco and Spain is “exemplary.””

  17. US must end threatening language: Turkey (hurriyetdailynews, Apr 26, 2019)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-says-trying-to-convince-us-to-allow-iranian-oil-imports-142949

    “Threats from the United States will not stop Turkey from purchasing Russian-made S-400 air missile defense systems, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said. The U.S. has threatened to stop the delivery of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets to Turkey if the government moves forward with the purchase from Russia.

    “The fact that the United States expresses the issue of the F-35 as a threat, by all means, is not favorable and does not correspond to our alliance relations,” Aksoy told reporters on April 26.

    Turkish officials have been telling their U.S. counterparts that linking the F-35 sale to Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400s is a fallacy.

    “We carry out our payments regularly, our pilots are receiving training [in the U.S.], and we will not back down from this,” Aksoy said.

    Regarding U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s remarks about Turkey on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington earlier this month, Aksoy said: “We see that the U.S. administration has restarted the use of threatening language, but we’ve seen it before it; does not work.”

    Pence had said Turkey’s purchase of the S-400s could potentially pose a risk to NATO.

    “It is impossible to accept this expression regarding our country. The U.S. should understand that it will not get any result through impositions,” Aksoy said.

    The spokesperson also noted that Washington has yet to respond a proposal by Ankara to form a technical committee to discuss U.S. concerns that S-400s on Turkish soil could jeopardize the security of F-35s flying in Turkish airspace.

    Tensions between the U.S. and Turkey have reached a fever pitch in recent months as Turkey prepares to receive the Russian air missile system that Washington says threatens Turkey’s participation in the F-35 fighter jet program and which could trigger congressional sanctions.

    Ankara has proposed creating a work group to assess the impact of the S-400 on NATO systems. Turkey and the U.S. continue talks for the former to purchase U.S. made Patriot air missile defense systems, the spokesperson said. He confirmed that Turkey has received new proposals from Washington on that alternative.

    Turkey also continues talks with the U.S. for a safe zone in northern Syria, Aksoy said. Turkey’s priorities for that effort are that the zone be under the control of Turkey, the YPG/PYD leave the region and that the zone has a depth of nearly 20 miles (32 km).

    Turkey tries to convince the US for Iranian oil

    Ankara is trying to convince the United States to allow refiner Tüpra? to continue purchasing crude oil from Iran despite ongoing sanctions, Aksoy said.

    “Tüpra? follows the issue closely. The refinery is especially suitable for Iranian oil. We’re trying to convince the U.S. side. Our negotiations continue,” he stated.

    The U.S. decision to end sanctions waivers damages regional cooperation and Turkey’s trade relations, Aksoy said.

    Last year, Washington announced sanctions against buyers of Iranian oil, granting eight countries, including Turkey, waivers for six months. It said on April 22 it will not renew those waivers and demanded that buyers stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions. Iran is one of the biggest oil suppliers for Turkey, which is almost completely reliant on imports to meet its energy needs.

    Aksoy blames French for role in “massacring” Turks

    Pushing back on France’s decision to commemorate the deaths of Armenians in 1915, Aksoy blasted the country for its role in “massacring” the Turks a century ago by arming Armenians.

    “We will not forget [French President Emmanuel] Macron’s declaring April 24 as a day for commemoration [for the so-called Armenian genocide],” Aksoy said. France held its first national day of commemoration on April 24.”

  18. Border Crisis: Worst in American History—Former Border Patrol Chief, Mark Morgan

  19. Over 350 irregular migrants held across Turkey (aa, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/over-350-irregular-migrants-held-across-turkey/1463675

    “At least 353 irregular migrants were held across Turkey on Friday, according to security sources.

    Some 166 irregular migrants were held by gendarmerie forces in the northwestern province of Edirne — bordering Greece and Bulgaria — a source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

    In the northwestern province of Tekirdag, gendarmerie forces held 25 irregular migrants.

    In Balikesir, another northwestern province, 29 irregular migrants in a rubber boat were held by the Turkish Coast Guard.

    Additionally, 44 migrants who were preparing to cross to Greece were held by gendarmerie forces in the Aegean Izmir province.

    Some 47 irregular migrants in a rubber boat were held by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of the Aegean Aydin province.

    In Mugla, another Aegean province, the Turkish Coast Guard held 42 Syrian migrants in two separate operations.

    All the migrants were later referred to provincial migration directorates.

    Turkey has been the main route for refugees trying to cross to Europe, especially since 2011, the beginning of the Syrian civil war.

    Some 268,000 irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018, according to the Interior Ministry. “

  20. Man dies in blaze at migrant ‘ghetto’ near Foggia (ansa, Apr 26, 2019)
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/04/26/man-dies-in-blaze-at-migrant-ghetto-near-foggia_1b9c862d-5ada-4139-bd6a-b8a7c1afc238.html

    “A 26-year-old Gambian man died overnight when a fire broke out in a shack in a shanty-town migrant ‘ghetto’ at Borgo Mezzanone, near the southern city of Foggia. The man’s charred body was found after firefighters put out the blaze.

    Until recently he was a resident at the CARA reception centre for asylum seekers at Borgo Mezzanone, but his request for asylum was rejected a few months ago.

    There have been several similar cases of migrants dying in fires at such camps.
    Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Friday that the latest death vindicated his policy of clearing illegal camps and phasing out the CARA centres.

    “This tragedy confirms that the big settlements of foreigners, both legal and illegal ones, which we inherited from the (previous governments of the) left, are a problem,” he said.

    “It is our duty to restore security, law and order by continuing with the checks, the clearances and the gradual emptying of them”.”

  21. Senegalese man asks pope and president for help after fire (ansamed, Apr 26, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2019/04/26/senegalese-man-asks-pope-and-president-for-help-after-fire_0c1e7b0c-758d-4c43-a692-5b214d26087f.html

    “A Senegalese man who lost his friend in a fire in the Borgo Mezzanone migrant shantytown in southern Italy pleaded Friday for help from the pope and the Italian president.

    ”Today a friend of mine has died. I have already lost two of my friends amid the flames,” Muhammed Mboob, the 21-year-old Senegalese man, told reporters.

    Distraught by the death on Friday morning of a migrant that was his friend in the shantytown, called on ”the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis to help us”. ”We cannot live like this anymore,” he said. ”We want to work. We do not come to Italy to do anything bad. We ask that you help us with documents, because we cannot live and die like this.” ”Yesterday evening I was with him. I was with my brother,” he said, still under shock. ”Today I woke up and without even washing my face I ran here between the shacks because I knew he was dead.”

    The 26-year-old Gambian man who died in a fire that broke out over the night in a shanty of the illegal makeshift housing a few kilometers from Foggia had been hosted until recently in a center for asylum seekers next to the shantytown. The young man had become irregularly present in Italian territory a few months ago after his asylum request was rejected. Investigators will have to ascertain whether the young man died in his sleep due to smoke inhalation or from other causes. The Gambian was found lying on the floor, almost entirely carbonized in a shack mainly made of metal sheets and wood. An autopsy is likely to be carried out in the coming days to determine the cause of death.”

  22. Germany and Italy top in unaccompanied minor migrants (ansamed, Apr 26, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2019/04/26/germany-and-italy-top-in-unaccompanied-minor-migrants_0944c788-fbfe-4b0a-9e09-e28f1892207c.html

    “Some 19,740 unaccompanied young migrants requested asylum in the EU in 2018. Of them, four out of ten filed a request in Germany (4,085; 21% of the total) or Italy (3,885; 20%), the main destinations in 2018.

    The two countries that in 2018 were the main destination also experienced the sharpest drops compared with 2017: there were 6,120 fewer requests in Italy (-61%) and 5,000 fewer in Germany (-55%), according to Eurostat figures.

    The total number of unaccompanied minors who requested asylum in the EU in 2018 dropped by over a third compared with 2017, when they were 31,395.

    This marked a return to a level lower than that in 2014 (23,100), a year in which there was an initial increase compared with 2008-2013. In addition to Germany and Italy, the EU countries that received the most asylum requests from unaccompanied minors were the UK (2,900; 15%) and Greece (2,600; 13%). The two countries also saw an increase on 2017.

    In particular, the UK received 700 more requests (+30%) and Greece 200 (+8%).
    Unaccompanied minors accounted for 10% of the overall number of asylum seekers under age 18 in the EU.

    Most came from Afghanistan (16%), Eritrea (10%), Pakistan (7%) and Syria (7%).
    Most were males (86%) and three-quarters of the total are held to be between 16 and 17 years old”

  23. NHS doctor and UK pharmacist who became Nazi-style torturers for ISIS: Team of vile medics took organs from prisoners and gave them to wounded terrorists (dailymail, Apr 26, 2019)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6965169/NHS-doctor-UK-pharmacist-Nazi-style-torturers-ISIS.html

    “Two British health workers who sneaked into Islamic State territory carried out ‘Nazi-style’ medical experiments on prisoners, Syrian witnesses claim.

    Issam Abuanza, 40, a former NHS doctor who left behind his wife and two children in Sheffield when he travelled to Syria in 2014, was appointed the terror group’s ‘health minister’, the British Government believes.

    Abuanza, now thought to be hiding in caves near the village of Baghouz, carried out such brutal torture on his victims that even IS fighters opposed it.

    He appointed Mohammad Anwar Miah, also 40, a former pharmacist from Birmingham, who helped him remove organs from detained prisoners, the Syrian witnesses claim.

    The body parts were either transplanted into injured jihadis, passed on to middle men who sold them on the black market to fund terror, or put in the cells of prisoners to frighten them, it is alleged.

    A ten-man medical team headed by Abuanza also allegedly carried out chemical tests on prisoners, it is claimed.

    The exact nature of the chemicals are unknown.

    The allegations are at odds with Miah’s account of his years with the group, which he gave to the Daily Mail from northern Syria just weeks ago.

    This newspaper has since been able to piece together an extraordinary alternative account of the pair’s lives inside the brutal terrorist organisation.

    Details of their alleged roles come from activist group Sound and Picture, whose members lived under the jihadis’ rule and closely followed their activities.

    Western intelligence has corroborated some of the claims. Abuanza deserted his family in 2014 after ranting about the NHS, saying doctors were treated like beggars in Britain. He told overseas graduates sitting tests for their English language and clinical skills that they would need anti-psychotic drugs to work in the NHS. In one chilling online post, he said he wished that a Jordanian pilot burnt alive in a cage by Islamic State had taken longer to die.

    Miah, who renamed himself Abu Obayda al-Britani once he joined IS, left Birmingham in September 2014 to sneak into territory held by the terror group.

    In his first newspaper interview in February, he told the Mail he never swore allegiance to the group and had gone there, illegally, for ‘humanitarian work’.

    He said he lived in the town of Mayadin in eastern Syria under IS rule for four years, and claimed to have met no other British citizens and to have treated only civilians.

    He said he worked there as an assistant orthopaedic surgeon, learning from a book as he went. But Sound and Picture claims he met Abuanza in Mayadin in 2015 and they became close.

    Both men shared the nickname Abu Obayda.

    They worked in a hospital in the town, called ‘Alteb Alhadith’ in Arabic, and it was there that Abuanza allowed Miah to perform surgery on civilians, it is claimed. That year, Abuanza was made IS’s health minister.

    Aghiad al-Kheder, co-founder of Sound and Picture, said: ‘Islamic State needed to show that it was a government not a radical group and so it appointed a minister for everything.

    ‘Issam was minister for health which meant he was responsible for everything health related.’ He said Abuanza developed a reputation for his cruel techniques, adding: ‘Issam first chose Mohammed Anwar – he needed someone to help.’

    Mr al-Kheder said they both went to work at the ‘Pharmex Hospital’ in the city of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria in February 2016.

    ‘Anwar was involved in the transfer of human organs from the prisoners to members of IS and the human organ trade that was conducted by IS,’ he claimed.

    Later that year they returned to Mayadin, where Abuanza allegedly headed a team of nine others, including Miah as well as a Jordanian doctor, two Iraqis and five Syrians.

    According to witnesses, the group performed medical experiments on prisoners, transferred organs from prisoners to wounded jihadis, and were involved in the organ trade.

    Mr al-Kheder said one IS member described the methods of medical torture as ‘Nazi-style’ and that they were considered even by fighters as ‘brutal’.

    He added: ‘They experimented with torture and with chemical materials but we are not sure for what purposes.

    ‘They used the materials on the prisoners.’

    He also claimed the group put prisoners in an empty room and left them with dismembered bodies as a method of torture.

    Mr al-Kheder said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi visited the Mayadin hospital in 2017 when he was injured…”

  24. Police: man intentionally drove into pedestrians

    California authorities say an Iraqi war veteran deliberately drove into a group of pedestrians because he thought some of them were Muslims.

    Isaiah Peoples faces eight counts of attempted murder

  25. US Evacuates Children of US Gov’t Personnel From Sri Lanka (sputniknews, Apr 27, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/us/201904271074505935-us-evacuates-children-us-governmanet-personnel-sri-lanka/

    “The US Department of State ordered the departure of all school-age family members of US government employees from Sri Lanka as it issued a Level 3 Travel Advisory for American citizens when visiting the country.

    “On April 26, 2019, the Department of State ordered the departure of all school-age family members of US government employees in Kindergarten through 12th grade. The Department also authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency US government employees and family members”, the statement reads.

    The department highlighted that the US government has limited ability to provide emergency services to US citizens in Sri Lanka due to the security environment.

    “Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, hospitals, and other public areas”, the statement reads.

    The Level 3 Travel Advisory recommends American citizens reconsider traveling to a country “due to serious risks to safety and security.”…”