Contributor’s links for July 4, 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 must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

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

101 Replies to “Contributor’s links for July 4, 2019”

  1. Yemeni Houthis Use Drones to Attack Military Sites at Saudi Jizan Airport – Report (sputniknews, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201907041076150098-yemeni-houthis-use-drones-to-attack-military-sites-at-saudi-jizan-airport—report/

    “Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels on Thursday launched another attack on Saudi Arabia’s Jizan airport. The Houthi faction in Yemen is claiming that they are targeting military sites, Reuters reported, citing the Houthi-run Almasirah TV channel.

    There has been no confirmation of the attack from Riyadh, according to Reuters.

    On Tuesday Yemen’s armed Houthi faction claimed that they had attacked Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport. Following their statement the Saudi-led coalition confirmed the attack, noting that 9 people had been hurt.

    On 12 June, the Saudi-led coalition confirmed that 26 people had been injured as a result of a missile attack carried out by the Houthis against Abha Airport in Saudi Arabia.

    The Saudi-led coalition has been engaged in the civil war in Yemen since March 2015, when it began carrying out airstrikes against the Houthi armed rebels at the request of Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

    The conflict has resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.”

  2. Gotta Love It: Trump Admin Telling Ag Dept Employees, Move to Kansas City or Quit

    This is why I love President Donald Trump. He is moving the Department of Agriculture out of Washington and into Kansas City and he has told AG employees in the beltway if they don’t want to move into flyover country, they can quit.

    I dearly love this thing, I have to say.

    The idea that these pampered, swamp dwellers are all upset that their jobs are moving to what they consider is a dreaded, boring, Midwestern Kansas City locale is simply too delicious to ignore.

    Trending: Hate-Filled Liberals Turn Memorial Hashtag for Dead Baseball Player Into Attack on Trump

    These whiney leftists working for the AG Dept. have been handed a letter with two check boxes on it. One box says “yes, I will move to Kansas City,” and the other says “no, I will not accept the transfer.”

    https://godfatherpolitics.com/gotta-love-it-trump-admin-telling-ag-dept-employees-move-to-kansas-city-or-quit/

    • KC is a Dem dominated city but there are enough Repubs and conservatives that they will have talk to the enemy on a regular basis. An added benefit is that by the time the Dems regain control and can move the offices to DC the people will be enjoying the higher standard of living they can now afford and a lot won’t want to move back to DC.

  3. Germany: A Shocking Degree of Self-Censorship

    by Judith Bergman
    July 4, 2019 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14362/germany-self-censorship

    A new survey on self-censorship in Germany has shown that Germans censor their own speech to an astounding degree. Asked whether it is “possible to express oneself freely in public” a mere 18% answered yes. By contrast, 59% of Germans said that in their circle of friends and acquaintances they express themselves freely.

    “Nearly two-thirds of citizens are convinced that ‘today one has to be very careful on which topics one expresses oneself’, because there are many unwritten laws about what opinions are acceptable and admissible” according to the survey, conducted by Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach for the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

    “The refugee issue is one of the most sensitive topics for the vast majority of respondents, followed by statements of opinion on Muslims and Islam,” it stated. By contrast, “The situation is different when it comes to topics such as climate protection, equal rights, unemployment or child rearing, about which one can express oneself frankly, according to the overwhelming majority”. As an example, 71% of Germans say, according to the survey, that one can only comment on the refugee issue “with caution”.

    Among the topics considered taboo, a significant development has occurred over roughly the past two decades. In 1996, only 16% of Germans felt that patriotism was a sensitive issue. Today that figure has risen to 41%.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14362/germany-self-censorship

  4. Democrats Now Actively Assisting Illegal Immigration, Campaign In Mexico

  5. Iran Urges Closer Military Ties with Iraq (tasnimnews, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/07/04/2046566/iran-urges-closer-military-ties-with-iraq

    “Defense Minister of Iran Brigadier General Amir Hatami called for the expansion of military and defense ties between Tehran and Baghdad, describing support for Iraq as a principled policy of the Islamic Republic.

    In a telephone conversation with his new Iraqi counterpart, General Hatami congratulated Najah Hassan Ali Al-Shammari on taking the post.

    Hailing Iraq as a friend of Iran with age-old religious, social and civilizational commonalities, the Iranian minister expressed the hope for the enhancement of military and defense cooperation between the two neighbors during Al-Shammari’s tenure.

    Supporting the Iraqi government and nation is a principled policy of the Islamic Republic, General Hatami noted, adding, “We consider Iraq’s security, stability and progress as being in the interests of the region, and have always defended it.”

    Stressing the need for closer consultations between Tehran and Baghdad on the bilateral and regional issues, the defense minister invited his Iraqi counterpart to pay a visit to Iran…”

  6. 3 French Women Arrested in Turkey for ISIS Links (aawsat, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1797776/3-french-women-arrested-turkey-isis-links

    “Three French citizens suspected of ISIS membership were detained along with nine children as they tried to enter Turkey from Syria, Turkish media reported Thursday.

    Turkish authorities stopped the three women, sought by Interpol and identified by their initials JC, CA and MD, in the border province of Kilis, according to state news agency Anadolu.

    A security source told AFP that JC referred to Jennifer Clain, niece of the brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain, who claimed responsibility on behalf of ISIS for the attacks that hit the Bataclan nightclub and other Paris locations in November 2015.

    She is also married to Kevin Gonot, a French citizen sentenced to death in Iraq last May for his role in the terrorist organization.

    Anadolu said 12 people had been arrested and were being transferred to immigration authorities awaiting their expulsion from Turkey.

    In the first years after the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Turkey was the main point of entry for foreign militants seeking to join extremist groups.

    Accused of turning a blind eye to the problem, Ankara later tightened border controls and began widespread arrests and extraditions, especially after a spate of devastating terrorist attacks in Turkey.”

  7. HRW Says Iraq Gov’t Detains Thousands in Degrading Conditions (aawsat, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1798081/hrw-says-iraq-govt-detains-thousands-degrading-conditions

    “A leading international human rights organization criticized the Iraqi government Thursday for holding thousands of prisoners, including children, in degrading and “inhuman” conditions.

    Human Rights Watch cited extreme overcrowding in three pretrial detention facilities in northern Iraq’s Nineveh province where prisoners are held mostly on terrorism charges. In a statement Thursday, it says the three centers have a combined maximum capacity of 2,500 people and are holding about 4,500 detainees. Of that number, 1,300 had been tried and convicted and should have been transferred to Baghdad prisons, it said, citing a senior Iraqi penitentiary expert who requested anonymity.

    “Iraq has a duty to ensure that detainees are housed decently, in line with international standards,” said Lama Fakih, acting Middle East director at HRW, calling on the government to urgently rebuild and rehabilitate its detention facilities.

    Iraq is holding huge numbers of detainees on suspicion of ties to the ISIS group. The country declared victory against IS in December 2017 after three years of bloody battles that killed tens of thousands and left Iraqi cities in ruins, and is grappling with a massive legacy from the fight. That includes thousands of detainees, including children, who are being sentenced in rushed trials.

    HRW said prisoners and detainees often have no space to lie down or sit comfortably, and prison authorities do not provide mattresses because there is no room for them in the cells, citing photos and other evidence shared by the expert.

    The accusations are in line with Associated Press reporting from northern Iraq. AP journalists visiting a facility just outside the city of Mosul last year saw more than 100 prisoners packed into a dark room, lined up shoulder to shoulder on the floor. There was no electricity or ventilation, despite daytime temperatures well over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius).

    Meanwhile, an international charity on Thursday said more than 300,000 residents of Mosul are still displaced and unable to go back home, two years since the end of the military operation to retake the city from ISIS.

    “It’s a disgrace that after two years, thousands of families and children still have to live in displacement camps and in abysmal conditions because their neighborhoods are still in ruins,” said Rishana Haniffa, the Iraq country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

    “In spite of the world’s attention two years ago, Mosul’s displaced population has all but been forgotten,” she said.

    Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged in the city during the conflict, and reconstruction has yet to take off. The loss of ID cards and other documents providing identities is also one of the main obstacles for thousands of families wanting to return, it said.

    Ali Abbas, director general of the Department of Displaced, said there are currently 152 camps in Iraq for which the ministry provides food, electricity, schooling, and financial aid for those wishing to return to their homes.

    “Human rights organizations know that the level of support from the United Nations in this regard has not been on the level we aspire to,” he said, rejecting the criticism.”

  8. Rights group: 3,185 extrajudicial killings in Egypt since 2013 (memo, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190704-rights-group-3185-extrajudicial-killings-in-egypt-since-2013/

    “The Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR) said as many as 3,185 civilians have been killed by Egyptian security forces outside the frame of law since 3 July 2013.

    The group explained in a report that the victims included 2,194 people who were killed during the Egyptian security forces’ attacks on peaceful gatherings, most notably the dispersal of two sit-ins in the Rabaa and Al-Nahda squares on 14 August 2013, and 766 people who had died in detention centres, including 122 people who died as a result of torture, 516 people who died as a result of medical negligence, 37 due to overcrowding and poor conditions in detention and 91 people due to corruption of the detention facilities’ administrations.

    “In the six years since July 3, 2013, in Egypt, the human rights situation has been continually declining in an unprecedented manner. Security forces have practiced all forms of violations under the climate of complete impunity,” the UK-based body said in its report titled “Six Years of Impunity”.

    The report questioned the causes of death of the late President Mohamed Morsi last month, and whether he was poisoned, criticising authorities for forcing his family to bury him quickly without allowing them to perform the necessary autopsy.

    The organisation reported that for six years, the Egyptian regime used arbitrary arrests to suppress opposition.

    “According to quantitative monitoring of arbitrary arrests in Egypt, there is an estimated figure of 63,032 people who have been arbitrarily detained since July 3, including 691 women and 1,161 minors,” it said.”

  9. UAE building up huge militia army ‘to undermine Yemen government’ (alaraby, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/7/4/uae-building-up-militia-army-to-undermine-yemen-government

    “On the back of reports the UAE is dramatically scaling down its military presence in Yemen – where it has been embroiled in a bloody conflict against Houthi rebels for almost four years – sources claim that Abu Dhabi is now building up a huge militia force to sustain military efforts on the ground.

    Another aim of the militia army will be to undermine the authority of the internationally-recognised government led by Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, The New Arab’s Arabic-language daily reported.

    The UAE, a vital ally in the Saudi-led coalition waging the conflict in Yemen, is already pulling troops and equipment from near the port of Aden and the Red Sea coast area, in order to focus security efforts closer to home, where tensions between Iran and the US remain jittery after a series of tanker attacks, one of which was carried out in an Emirati port.

    Military and government sources in Yemen have revealed to The New Arab’s Arabic-language service that the UAE have been funding and equipping militias belonging to the secessionist Southern Transitional Council in order to install pro-Emirati factions in areas seized from Houthi control.

    The UAE, who supported the establishment of the Southern Transitional Council in 2017, has led a drive to form dozens of military brigades and several military hubs across southern Yemen in recent months.

    These initiatives have angered the Hadi government who see this as an attempt by Abu Dhabi to usurp control from the legitimate Yemeni leadership.

    The newly established brigades have been concentrated in areas that formerly surrounded the North-South Yemen border prior to its unification in 1990, including the provinces of Lahj, Aden, Dhali, Abyan and Yafa.

    Sources close to the Southern Transitional Council leadership revealed that the UAE directed them to form a parallel army to that of the Hadi government, consisting of between 25 and 35 brigades based in southern Yemen, which it fully supports and readily arms.

    Each brigade consists of around 1,500 troops, meaning the militia army may be 52,000-strong.

    In context, government forces are said to number around 200,000, however many suspect these figures are inflated.

    Abu Dhabi has also entrusted a team of Emirati officers and members of the Transitional Council to head up the efforts in southern Yemen, according to the sources.

    The militia brigades have been ordered to take control of the southern provinces and their resources, in order to secure former border areas while expelling government forces from these areas.

    The support from the UAE comes in the form of hundreds of armoured vehicles and machinery, as well as military training centres. Sources from the Hadi leadership also accused the Emiratis of spreading negative propaganda about the internationally-recognised government.

    Sources in the Hadi government also complained that the UAE has set up so-called “commando brigades” of militia fighters that have taken over the fighting and leadership on the front lines, in an attempt to push government forces out and leave them with no role in the conflict.

    They also say the UAE pays the salaries of the militia brigades in Saudi riyals, in order to persuade Yemeni citizens to join their ranks over those of the government.

    The Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in 2015 when President Hadi fled into Saudi exile as the rebels closed in on his last remaining territory in and around second city Aden.

    Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.

    It has triggered what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 24 million Yemenis – more than two-thirds of the population – in need of aid.”

  10. Turkish foundation takes over FETÖ school in Ethiopia (hdn, Jul 4, 2019)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-foundation-takes-over-feto-school-in-ethiopia-144679

    “A school linked to FETÖ was handed over to the Turkish public education body in Ethiopia on July 3.

    Turkey’s Maarif Foundation took over the school from FETÖ, the group behind the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey, in the eastern Harar province of Ethiopia.

    The school provides all levels of education from kindergarten to high school and was established under the name so-called Rainbow Association.

    “We hope that the school will be helpful for Ethiopia and the people of Harar,” Cihad Demirli, member of the Board of Trustees of the Maarif Foundation, told Anadolu Agency.

    Demirli added that the school would facilitate the peoples of Turkey and Ethiopia getting to know each other better.

    He expressed pleasure at having taken over the school after efforts lasting two years.

    Demirli said the group was working on taking over other FETO-linked schools across Ethiopia…”

  11. OIC warns of hate speech against Muslims in Sri Lanka (aa, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/oic-warns-of-hate-speech-against-muslims-in-sri-lanka/1523112

    “The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has warned of an increase in anti-Muslim incidents in Sri Lanka.

    “OIC has been monitoring closely the situation of Muslims in Sri Lanka,” the group of 57 member-states said in a statement released late on Wednesday.

    The Jeddah-based group voiced its concerns over the “rise in incidents of intimidation, anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate speech promulgated by certain groups in the country.”

    It also renewed its call on the Sri Lanka authorities “to counter firmly the spread of rhetoric of hatred and intolerance, while ensuring the security and safety of the Muslim community in that country,”

    The OIC also reiterated its “firm stance against terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations,” stressing that “terrorism has no religion and that no community should be held responsible for the actions of extremists.”

    Muslims in Sri Lanka, who constitutes 9.2% of population, have faced severe hate attacks after nine suicide bombers carried out a series of blasts against some churches and hotels on April 21, killing over 250 people and injuring another 500.

    A day after the attacks, the Sri Lankan authorities declared a two-months state of emergency.”

  12. Man attacked by asylum seeker dies in hospital (ansa, Jul 4, 2019)
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/07/04/man-attacked-by-asylum-seeker-dies-in-hospital_07e009f9-b7af-4c92-9135-772ec0f32acf.html

    “A 52-year-old Neapolitan tobacconist who was punched in the face by a Nigerian asylum seeker on the Naples metro on June 9 has died in hospital of his injuries, sources said Thursday.

    The man, Ulderico Esposito, had been rushed to hospital in serious condition.

    The attack took place at the Chiaiano underground station. The 36-year-old migrant was arrested on charges of grievous bodily harm.

    Police said the charges would now be upped to voluntary manslaughter.
    An autopsy will be performed on Esposito’s body.”

  13. Libya mulling freeing all migrants (ansamed, Jul 4, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/libya/2019/07/04/libya-mulling-freeing-all-migrants_ae810b08-4694-4870-834c-aa6ea8338dc8.html

    “Libya is weighing freeing all migrants from detention centres after the massacre at Tajoura Wednesday, because their safety can no longer be guaranteed, Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said Thursday.

    The United Nations has called for an independent inquiry into the bombing of the Libyan migrant detention centre that left at least 44 dead and more than 130 severely injured, describing the attack as “a war crime and odious bloody carnage”.

    The detention centre east of Tripoli was housing more than 610 people when it was hit by two airstrikes.

    Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Italian interior minister, Matteo Salvini, blamed the bombing on the air force of eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on the Libyan capital months ago.”

  14. IN DEPTH: What’s behind the rise in gang violence across Sweden? (thelocal, Jul 4, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.se/20190704/in-depth-whats-behind-the-rise-in-gang-violence-across-sweden

    “Honour, debts, and prestige are serving as the pretext for an increasing number of deadly shootings that challenge the ideals of equality and social harmony on which modern Sweden was built.

    “You strengthen your own gang by eliminating an external threat and you gain prestige,” Eddy Paver, a reformed former member of a biker gang, told AFP.

    Paver was long willing to pay the ultimate price in order to “belong” to a criminal gang which required absolute loyalty from its members. “It’s about strengthening the sense of community and showing who’s the toughest,” the 47-year-old former convict explained.

    Last year more than 300 shootings resulted in 45 deaths and 135 injuries in Sweden.

    While the overall homicide rate remains one of the lowest in the world, with one per 100,000 inhabitants according to police statistics, deadly shootings have been steadily rising and last year reached record levels. 2019 is also on track to create another unwanted record. In Stockholm the first six months of the year have seen as many killings as the whole of 2018.

    Most of the shooters and victims are unemployed young men with immigrant backgrounds, under 30 years of age, living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and often without a high school diploma.

    “If you don’t feel like you belong anywhere, you’re struggling with the language (Swedish), and you see these guys who sell drugs, they have gold chains, they drive fancy cars, they get to sleep with the girls. It’s not hard to find your way there,” said Paver.

    ‘Vulnerable areas’

    Like in other Europeans cities, you find many of Sweden’s struggling housing projects at the end of metro lines. Other designated “vulnerable areas,” with elevated levels of violence, are found in inner cities, as in Malmö in the south.

    Buildings are generally in good condition, schools properly equipped and streets clean, but social issues, unemployment and a high proportion of foreign-born inhabitants often facing extra challenges lead to segregation, school drop-outs and drug trafficking.

    “Some shootings are connected to the trade of narcotics, internal conflicts or when someone has been cheated out of money… But many times it can be about honour. You can get screwed over by someone in the same gang, fights over cliques or girlfriends. The level justifying a retaliation is quite low,” Gunnar Appelgren, police commissioner in Stockholm, told AFP.

    “Gangs have no institutional recourse to resolve conflicts… The motive for settling a score is not always important. It’s about saving face,” said Torbjorn Forkby, a Professor of Social Sciences at Linnaeus University.

    The most badly affected areas are the capital Stockholm, and Malmö and Gothenburg, but violence has also started to spread to medium-sized cities.

    The weapon of choice for gangs are Kalashnikov automatic rifles. Imported from the Balkans, they are available for between 2,500 and 3,500 euros (around $2,800 to $3,950), although they become “more expensive in the event of an open conflict,” according to Appelgren.

    Sweden’s gang members have also been using grenades and explosives to settle their scores. On June 7th a bomb placed in a bicycle shed destroyed the facades of two residential buildings, causing damages to over 200 apartments in the city of Linköping, a two-hour drive south of Stockholm. Miraculously it caused no serious injuries.

    ‘Tearing apart society’

    Some efforts by authorities have helped reduce local tensions. The city of Malmö has adopted the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) programme, implemented in Boston in the 1990s though its impact is still uncertain.

    The right-wing and far-right opposition have been critical of Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s “laxity” in responding to the shootings. They have been calling in particular for the abolition of a prison penalty “discount” when it comes to the incarceration of people under 21 years of age.

    “This violence is tearing apart society as we know it and the country we want Sweden to be,” conservative MP Johan Forssell said during a recent debate on gangs in parliament.

    The government for its part has said that a repressive response is not enough and has called for a joint mobilization of civil society and law enforcement.

    “The shootings and gang crime can only be uprooted if police efforts are combined with a strong social sector and a good school,” PM Lofven told the parliament last month.

    Eddy Paver, who now works at a drug rehab centre, also believes that a mere judicial response would be insufficient.

    “You can’t punish away the problem. Penalties for possession of illegal weapons have already been heightened and that hasn’t helped. You have to start earlier, what we need is life training in school, teaching kids what’s right and wrong”.

    By Gaël Branchereau with Camille Bas-Wohlert in Malmö”

  15. “Trump hosts a Fourth of July ‘Salute to America’ celebration”
    Fox News – Streamed live 5 hours ago