Contributor’s links for Aug. 14, 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

83 Replies to “Contributor’s links for Aug. 14, 2019”

  1. Dinosaurs that roamed the Earth 250 million years ago knew a world with five times more carbon dioxide than is present on Earth today, researchers say, and new techniques for estimating the amount of carbon dioxide on prehistoric Earth may help scientists predict how Earth’s climate may change in the future.

    The findings are detailed in a recent paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    During the Jurassic Period, dinosaurs — ranging from the plant-eating Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus to the meat-craving Ceratosaurus and Megalosaurus — ruled the world. During this time, the Earth’s interior was not standing still; rather, the supercontinent Pangaea had started to split into two smaller landmasses, called Laurasia and Gondwana.

    https://www.livescience.com/44330-jurassic-dinosaur-carbon-dioxide.html

  2. A man in Florida was taken into custody after he allegedly threatened to stab elementary school children on the first day of school.

    The 22-year-old with a history of mental disorders was taken in for evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act after he reportedly planned an attack on a Tampa elementary school because of its American flag-themed painting, according to WTVT-TV.

    The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office issued a bulletin marked as “situational awareness” and “law enforcement sensitive” on Monday describing the plan by Andrew Ivan Aman to “stab as many children as possible” at Bellamy Elementary School.

    “If adults get in the way, he planned to stab them as well,” the memo stated, noting that Aman allegedly had concealed a kitchen knife in a bag to use in his attack.

    He reportedly targeted the Tampa school because of his hatred of America and “the school’s ‘obnoxious pride in America’ as illustrated by the large American flag mural on the front of the building,” the memo stated.

    https://www.bizpacreview.com/2019/08/14/man-threatens-stabbing-spree-on-elementary-kids-because-of-schools-obnoxious-pride-in-america-785571

  3. What Democrats Say Happens At The Border Vs. What Actually Happens

    The Daily Caller spoke to people living on the border of Mexico who say there is a serious humanitarian crisis which Democratic candidates running for president all refuse to address.

    Many of those who lived on the Arizona border told us their stories. Watch to see the difference between what those who live on the border say, compared to what the 2020 presidential candidates are saying.

    https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/14/people-live-border-mexico-2020-democrats/

  4. El Paso Shooter’s Extreme Environmentalism Deserves Condemnation


    Throughout the document race hatred is interspersed with vitriol against so-called corporate greed and technological change and an embrace of radical environmentalism. His own words reveal how much he had been indoctrinated with the belief that human actions were destroying the planet and that extreme measures were required to save us from ourselves. In reading the document, it could be argued that his perverse environmentalism forms the basis for his racism and anti-immigration views.

    CARTOONS | GARY VARVEL
    VIEW CARTOON
    “The American lifestyle affords our citizens an incredible quality of life,” wrote the killer. “However, our lifestyle is destroying the environment of our country. The decimation of the environment is creating a massive burden for future generations.”

    “Y’all are just too stubborn to change your lifestyle. So the next logical step is to decrease the number of people in America using resources. If we can get rid of enough people, then our way of life can become more sustainable.”

    https://townhall.com/columnists/gregorywrightstone/2019/08/13/el-paso-shooters-extreme-environmentalism-deserves-condemnation-n2551582

  5. China’s Huawei Technologies, the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker, covertly planned to sell its smartphones in the United States disguised as non-Huawei devices, according to U.S. officials.

    U.S. intelligence agencies learned of the plans last month and alerted senior policymakers.

    According to the officials, the Shenzhen, China-based company planned to ship a large number of its smartphones to Mexico where the smartphones would be re-labeled and shipped into the United States.

    As non-Huawei devices, there would be no prohibition on selling them in the United States.

    The phones, however, could be identified as Huawei devices by examining their electronic components that can be traced to the Chinese telecom.

    No other details of the secret smartphone operation could be learned.

    Huawei’s U.S. affiliate did not return emails seeking comment.

    The scheme to disguise Huawei smartphones appears to be the latest effort by the company to penetrate the U.S. market.

    Huawei in 2008 was forced to give up a bid to buy the U.S. telecommunications company 3Com over national security concerns. Two years later, Huawei was pressured to abandon a bid to buy the U.S. server technology company 3Leaf.

    https://freebeacon.com/national-security/huawei-covertly-to-sell-smartphones-in-u-s/

  6. Worship, fasting, religious holidays, as well as dietary and clothing requirements form part of Islamic practice for many Muslims. Such religious practices are legally protected in Canada.

    According to the National Council of Canadian Muslims, a non-profit group largely funded by Canadian tax-payers, the purpose of accommodation is not to provide special treatment for some individuals or groups. Please read on.

    Daily prayers are a central practice of the Islamic faith. To that end, Islam prescribes prayer five times daily. Because the prayer times follow the trajectory of the earth’s sun, the daily prayer times shift throughout the calendar year and are impacted by Daylight Savings Time. Typically, the Dhuhr and Asr prayers fall within regular school hours.

    Did you know? Many public and private schools across Canada designate an empty room, classroom or meeting room as a meditation / interfaith prayer area for use by students that need to pray during the day. Conclusion? Religion and education do not exist as individual solos within Canada’s public education system. Islamic practises are now integrated into our PUBLIC institutions. What happened to the separation of “church and state” within society?

    https://capforcanada.com/islamic-canadian-organizations-demand-school-privileges-for-muslim-students/

    In other words, both leaders of Canada’s 2 main parties have visibly and publicaly submitted to Islamists.

  7. ISIS publishes images of ISWAP attack on Nigeria military base in Borno (thedefensepost, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/08/14/nigeria-iswap-images-borno-gubio/

    “Islamic State on Wednesday published a series of images that it said were from an attack in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state.

    The images included one of a large group of fighters in at least seven technical vehicles, battle scenes, at least two purportedly captured vehicles, ammunition, and, unusually, one artillery piece…”

  8. Al-Shabaab attacks Somalia army base near Mogadishu (thedefensepost, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/08/14/al-shabaab-attacks-somalia-army-base-near-mogadishu/

    “An army base in southern Somalia was struck by car bombs and gunfire on Wednesday, a military official and witnesses said, in an attack claimed by the al-Shabaab militant group.

    The attack in Awdheegle, about 70 km (43 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, also killed a Somali reporter embedded with the army, a journalist federation said.

    General Yusuf Rageh, commander of the Somali infantry regiments, said the assailants struck with vehicle bombs before gunmen surged forward.

    “After the blasts they tried to attack the army defenses but were defeated. We are still pursuing them. Some soldiers sustained minor injuries from blast shrapnel but nothing major,” he told reporters in Awdheegle.

    The Shabaab, a jihadist group that controls swathes of Somali countryside, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they launched two car bombs and “killed many soldiers.”

    It is not unusual for the government and the Shabaab to offer differing accounts of casualties from attacks…”

  9. Female suicide bomber kills Chad soldier and five others in Kaiga-Kindjiria (thedefensepost, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/08/14/chad-female-suicide-bomber-kaiga-kindjiria-iswap/

    “A female suicide bomber killed six people after blowing herself up in western Chad early Wednesday, August 14, a senior army officer said, in an attack attributed to a faction of Boko Haram.

    “Six people died, including a soldier,” in the attack in Kaiga-Kindji district, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    A number of people were also injured, the officer said.

    A local NGO confirmed the account.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

    Kaiga-Kindji lies in Lac province, which abuts the vast Lake Chad – a region shared by Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.

    The jihadist group known as Boko Haram began its bloody insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but it has since spread into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military response.

    More than 27,000 people have been killed and two million others displaced, sparking a dire humanitarian crisis in the region. The U.S. assesses that Boko Haram and ISWAP have been responsible for over 35,000 deaths since 2011…”

  10. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper seemed to celebrate the idea of white people no longer constituting the majority of those in the United States.

    “The idea that, you know, whites will not be the majority, I mean, that’s — it’s an exciting transformation of the country, it’s an exciting evolution and you know, progress of our country in many different ways,” he said.

    He made those comments while interviewing Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, who has openly advocated for more open immigration policies.

    After Cooper noted that white supremacists opposed the demographic change, Ramos argued that white nationalists were basically helpless against it.

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-anderson-cooper-exciting-white-people-minority-america

    This brought back a memory. I grew up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. In the 1960’s, the country was almost 100% white, with the exception of Gypsies (Roma), who self-isolated from the greater society as much as they could, while living parasitically off the society. It was so white, that when I saw a black man, I mistook him for The Devil.

    But… in the mid 70’s, there started a new thing where Cubans were being brought there on ‘work exchange programs’. And interracial breeding was really quite encouraged.

    As I attended a language school, I (as well as my classmates) were taken to meet with one such delegation when I was 11 years old, because we could linguistically interact with them. One of these guys grabbed me and started kissing me – and the chaperone just turned away, I had to get away from him myself.

    The strangest thing was that the other girls in my group were so envious that I was the one to have been kissed, that that creep went on and kissed every one of them – with their permission. They demanded it, in a way.

    THAT is how well groomed they were to be accommodating to our socialist comrades from Cuba… I guess as an Aspie, I was less vulnerable to the grooming, being 100% socially clueless.

    Well, the first mixed-race babies were beginning to be born 9 months after the first ‘exchange’ group – and were greatly celebrated as perfect communist/socialist outreach.

    I wonder if that policy is related to the glorification of interracial children now…

    Because – and I read this story about a year and a half ago, so, sorry, I do not have a link. It was about a young woman, early 20’s, whose father was white and mother was not. She had expressed support for freedom of speech in front of her mother: and her mother yelled at her: ‘That’s you white-half talking!’

    • P.s. In mid 80’s, in Canada, I had a very Commie English teacher. When we came across a short story about inter-racial children, he strongly insisted that all the races have to mix, and that the sooner we got on with it the better: and therefore, that mixed-race children were more desirable than white children.

      I challenged him on this.

      I said that valuing a child on the basis of race – pure, mixed, or whatever – making a value call on the very basis of race, was deeply racist.

      He was shocked: that thought had never occurred to him.

      We had a bit if an exchange, and to his credit, he admitted I was right.

      But it did not change the way he taught that story to the next class…

  11. Syrian Faction Shoots Down Regime Warplane in Idlib (aawsat, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1856931/syrian-faction-shoots-down-regime-warplane-idlib

    “Fighters shot down a Syrian regime warplane in the opposition stronghold of Idlib province on Wednesday, opposition sources and a war monitor said.

    A pilot who ejected from the plane was captured by the Tahrir al-Sham group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on the war using a network of sources. Syrian state media made no initial mention of such an incident.

    An AFP correspondent saw smoke rising in the south of Idlib province above the debris of the plane, with its wing bearing the Syrian flag…”

  12. New Turkish Military Base in Qatar Set to Be Inaugurated in Autumn (aawsat, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1856936/new-turkish-military-base-qatar-set-be-inaugurated-autumn

    “A new Turkish military base will be inaugurated in Qatar in autumn, revealed Hurriyet daily news Wednesday.

    Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to attend the opening ceremony.

    The writer of the report, Hande Firat traveled to Doha to visit the Tariq bin Ziyad base where Turkish soldiers have been deployed since October 2015.

    The military base in Qatar is getting bigger. A new base has been built near the Tariq bin Ziyad military base, said Hurriyet.

    The number of soldiers will increase, added Fande without disclosing their numbers out of consideration of “Turkey’s interests and security”.

    “I can say that it will reach a drastic figure. Qatar also attaches a great deal of importance to this military base,” she revealed.

    Turkish soldiers were deployed to the said military base in October 2015. Ankara and Doha formed a higher strategic committee that same year in order to bolster their relations.

    Qatar had also resorted to Turkish security support after the 2017 economic and diplomatic boycott by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.

    Ankara has since boosted its presence at the Qatari base that can host some 3,000 soldiers.”

  13. Wednesday on CNN’s “Newsroom,” 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said mandatory buybacks of assault rifles with the threat of criminal prosecution was a “strong” idea.

    Poppy Harlow said, “So on the assault weapons issue, you have talked openly about being in favor of an assault weapons ban. I’m interested if you are supportive of a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons. It was brought up first by Eric Swalwell, who was running for president in your party. Cory Booker has talked about that. Some are gone as far as to say not only should it be a mandatory buyback of assault rifles, but there should be criminal prosecution for those who don’t sell them back. Is that something you support?

    Gillibrand said, “I think we should ban assault weapons as well as large magazines. As part of passing that ban, do a buyback program across the country so that those who own them can be compensated for the money they spent. But I think both of those ideas are strong.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/08/14/gillibrand-prosecuting-gun-owners-who-dont-turn-arms-over-to-feds-a-strong-idea/

  14. Syria opposition confirms ‘Iranian forces alongside regime in Idlib’ (memo, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190814-syria-opposition-confirms-iranian-forces-alongside-regime-in-idlib/

    “Syrian opposition forces have confirmed earlier reports that Iranian forces and militias are fighting alongside Syrian regime forces, Shaam Network reported yesterday. The media outlet is linked to the opposition in Syria.

    The network discovered the Iranian involvement in certain areas like southern Idlib, northern Hama and eastern Latakia – all in the north-west of the country – while monitoring the regime’s activities in Idlib province. The sources reported that the Iranian forces and militias have not always been involved in the fighting in that part of the country. They were not present at the beginning of the regime’s assault on Idlib in April this year, for example, nor were they involved in the conflict while they were deployed to the west of Aleppo.

    Their presence on the battlefield, therefore, has been a more recent development. Iranian militias are believed to have arrived in the area recently to participate in military operations launched by the regime and Russia against opposition forces in the countryside around Idlib and Hama.

    The revelations of Iranian military involvement against opposition forces confirms opposition reports last month that Russia was using Iranian forces to fight in the north-west, and comes amid a renewed effort in the campaign in that part of Syria over the weekend. Regime forces helped by the Russians have been waging an all-out air and land assault on Idlib province since April; the attacks are ongoing…”

  15. 147 migrants trapped aboard Spanish charity ship for nearly two weeks (memo, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190815-147-migrants-trapped-aboard-spanish-charity-ship-for-nearly-two-weeks/

    “About 147 migrants have been stranded aboard a ship run by a non-governmental Spanish charity organisation in the Mediterranean for nearly two weeks. Both Italy and Malta refused to allow migrant ships dock at their ports.

    Only one family was allowed to disembark in Italy late on Tuesday for having a child, but the rest of the migrants remained on board of the “Open Arms.”…”

  16. VIDEO: Egyptian Media Group releases ‘Fraud,’ documentary on ‘Muslim Brotherhood terrorist history’ (ahram, Aug 14, 2019)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/343772/Egypt/Politics-/VIDEO-Egyptian-Media-Group-releases-%E2%80%98Fraud,-docume.aspx

    “The Egyptian Media Group (EMG) has produced a documentary titled ‘Fraud’ on the “history of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood,” the group said Wednesday.

    According to EMG, the 45-minute documentary “reveals the Brotherhood’s tactics in creating violence and then repudiating it.”

    The documentary will include appearances by National Council for Human Rights member Hafez Abu Seada and National Council to Combat Terrorism member Khaled Okasha, as well as Saeed Sadek, professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo.

    It will be broadcast by state TV’s Channel 1 at 2:30pm and Channel 2 at 8pm. Nile TV International will also broadcast the documentary in English translation after the news bulletin at 5pm.

    The release of the documentary 14 August marks the sixth anniversary of the dispersal of Islamist sit-in camps at Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda squares in 2013 following the ouster of late Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in the wake of nationwide protests.

    Hundreds died in the dispersals, followed by a spread of reprisal violence nationwide.”

  17. OIC expresses concern over India’s denial of Kashmiris’ religious rights (dawn, Aug 14, 2019)
    https://www.dawn.com/news/1499510/oic-expresses-concern-over-indias-denial-of-kashmiris-religious-rights

    “The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday expressed concern over the curtailment of religious freedoms of Muslims in Indian-occupied Kashmir, terming it a “serious violation of international human rights law”…”

  18. TAR lifts NGO migrant rescue ship entry ban irking Salvini (ansa, Aug 14, 2019)
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/08/14/tar-lifts-ngo-migrant-rescue-ship-entry-ban-irking-salvini_353a7d8b-5ea3-46be-b4ee-db0ebecefb3e.html

    “The regional administrative court (TAR) of Lazio on Wednesday lifted a ban on NGO migrant rescue ship Open Arms entering Italian waters, sparking the ire of Interior Minister and anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini whois enforcing a closed ports policy.

    The decision was announced by the Spanish NGO.

    It said it was now heading for the closest safe port to safeguard the rights of the 147 migrants on board who have been on board for 13 days since being picked up off Libya.

    The TAR cited in its ruling the “situation of exceptional gravity and urgency” aboard the ship after viewing medical and psychological reports.

    Premier Giuseppe Conte wrote a letter to Salvini Wednesday morning urging him to let minors from the Open Arms land.

    Salvini reacted by saying he would sign an order banning the Open Arms from landing its migrants in Italy.

    “In the next few hours I will sign my No because I don’t want to be an accomplice of migrant traffickers,” he said.

    “Tell me if it isn’t a strange country where a a Spanish ship in Maltese waters can resort to an administrative court to ask to land in Italy.

    “There is a plan to go backwards in time and reopen Italian ports, to turn our country into Europe’s refugee camp.

    “But I’m not going back in time”.

    Salvini also said no to a possible “unnatural pact” between former ally the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) to reopen Italy’s ports to NGO migrant rescue ships.

    “We will be careful over the coming days that an unnatural alliance is not created in Rome, a couple against nature between the PD and the 5 Stars, between (ex-premier and former PD leader Matteo) Renzi and (M5S founder and comic Beppe) Grillo, to reopen Italian ports,” he said.

    “We will try to oppose with all energy we have in our bodies so that decent people arrive in Italy, but we can send back home the too many criminals that the Left has allowed in”.

    Salvini sparked a government crisis last week by filing a no confidence motion in Conte after a dramatic split with the M5S on votes on a highspeed rail line between Turin and Lyon.”

  19. Expert to ANSA, foreign fighters return challenge to Balkans (ansamed, Aug 14, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/kosovo/2019/08/14/expert-to-ansa-foreign-fighters-return-challenge-to-balkans_c195cb41-04a3-4b95-b5df-ae62f8c917f7.html

    “The Western Balkans is the area in Europe with the highest concentration of returned foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq, where they fought for the Islamic state, and Europe should help the region to cope with this long-term challenge, Adrian Shtuni, CEO of Shtuni Consulting LLC and one of the main experts on terrorism and violent extremism in the Balkans told ANSA. Do you think the EU should do more to help the countries in the Balkans countries to cope with the returns of foreign fighters? One of the key findings of my research is that the Western Balkans currently is the region with the highest concentration of returnees from Syria and Iraq in Europe. The official number is about 460 individuals. The concentration is even higher if we zoom in at country level. Kosovo has 134 returnees per million.

    North Macedonia has 42 per million. To put these numbers in perspective, the UK has 6 returnees of “national security concern” per million, Germany and France about 4 per million.

    Italy has only 12 reported returnees (0.2 per million) in total.

    The numbers paint a clear picture of the size of the national security and social challenges facing the Western Balkans.

    This is a long-term challenge that becomes even more daunting when considering the insufficient financial resources, capacities, and specialized expertise available in the Western Balkans. The need for assistance is abundantly clear, especially considering that 500 other nationals of the Western Balkan countries are still in Syria and Iraq, mostly held in Kurdish prisons and camps, waiting to be repatriated. Their eventual return is bound to intensify the challenge. The EU and its specialized agencies would do well to consider any assistance rendered to the Western Balkans for the purpose of addressing this challenge less as “help to the Balkans” and more as a strategic investment in the EU’s own security. Do you think that returnees from Syria and Iraq pose a serious security risk for the Balkans and for Europe? That’s the million-dollar question. Unfortunately, there is no “one-size-fits-all” response. Returnees from Syria and Iraq associated in one way or another, actively or passively, with a terrorist organization like the Islamic State represent a potential national security risk by default. Yet, it is important to make a distinction between general security “risk” (or danger) and security “threat.” While the potential national security risk by returnees is not debatable, whether or not they represent an actual threat, and what level of threat, will have to be determined through professional assessments of each individual. This assessment is a complex, time consuming, and costly process that requires continued monitoring and evaluation of returnees.

    Deradicalization is not an easily measurable process. The first goal would be to get returnees, and those coming out of prisons after serving time for terrorist activities, to disengage from violent extremism. Children, from the humanitarian point of view, are victims, because they did not decide to go or be born in Syria and Iraq.

    Nevertheless, from a security stand point, it is not possible to ignore the fact that some of these children have received military training in terrorist camps, have been heavily indoctrinated, have sometimes participated in armed combat and possibly in the execution of prisoners. There are numerous Islamic State propaganda films showing training camps for the children of the mujahideen, or the “cubs of the Caliphate.” Dealing with these children is going to be a long-term challenge. Likewise, the point of view that women have mostly been victims that have gone to Syria against their will, or were manipulated by their spouses, is a generalization that is not supported by evidence. You wrote about the dissemination of jihadi propaganda through social media in the Western Balkans. Is that still an ongoing phenomenon and how dangerous is that in a long term perspective? While recently there has been a drop in jihadi propaganda output in Western Balkan’s languages, “social media jihadis” consistently continue to target audiences in the Western Balkans, disseminate the ideology and propaganda of terrorist organizations like ISIS and al Qa’ ida, and incite terrorist violence. In a way this should not come as a surprise as the foreign fighters are only the more visible manifestation of a larger jihadist problem in the Western Balkans that includes those who though committed to the cause, may have never traveled to Syria and Iraq to wage armed jihad. Much like elsewhere, they generally have become less defiant in their language compared to previous years and have largely migrated from the more popular social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter to less conspicuous ones that provide more anonymity and end-to-end encryption. This makes the task of law enforcement agencies in charge of monitoring these clusters of “social media jihadis” harder. In sum online dissemination of jihadi propaganda is an ongoing phenomenon in the Western Balkans. The fact that the jihadist presence online is less visible relative to a few years ago is not necessarily an indicator of less commitment by local radicals to the cause. While the territorial defeat of the Caliphate may have dampened the enthusiasm of would-be jihadis to fight abroad the number of recently foiled terrorist attacks and terrorism-related arrests across the Balkans are indicative of ongoing terrorist activities in the region.”

  20. Unrest among migrants on rescue ship stranded off Italian coast (thelocal, aug 14, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.it/20190814/unrest-among-migrants-on-rescue-ship-stranded-off-italian-coast

    “There are fears of violence breaking out among traumatised and anxious migrants on board a rescue ship as Italy, Spain, and Malta refuse entry to their ports.

    Fights may break out at any moment among migrants stranded on a rescue ship off the coast of Italy, the founder of the charity which operates the boat warned on Wednesday.

    “We could have a fight within a half-hour with a serious injury, or worse, someone could die on board due to violence,” Proactiva Open Arms founder Oscar Camps told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.
    “It would be a tragedy, it would be unforgivable.”

    The 19 crew members on the Open Arms, which is sailing off the coast of Italy’s southern Lampedusa island with 147 migrants who were plucked from boats in the Mediterranean this month, are finding it harder to contain tensions on board, he added.

    Many of the migrants, mainly from Africa, are suffering from “very high levels of post-traumatic stress” and anxiety over their future.

    They must share just two bathrooms and a living space of only 180 square metres (2,000 square feet), Camps said.

    “There are arguments over a spot in the shade, over a spot in the sun, arguments over food, arguments over the queue to use the bathroom,” he said.

    Weather conditions, which have worsened in recent days with high waves, have increased tensions since many passengers suffer from seasickness and are vomiting, Camps said.

    “You have to remember that they suffered torture, violence, abuse of all types, slavery” on their way to Europe, he added.

    Some migrants have started hunger strikes and Proactiva Open Arms has had to send in a team of psychologists and cultural mediators to try to restore order among the passengers who are from about a dozen different countries, Camps said.

    “They have been on board for a long time… they can’t call their loved ones to tell them they are alive, there are fathers, children. They have absolutely no idea what will happen, this generates a lot of anxiety.”

    Two babies were evacuated by helicopter from the ship to Malta on Wednesday for health reasons, Camps said.

    Both Malta and Italy have refused permission for the boat to dock and unload all the migrants.

    Spain on Tuesday dismissed a request from the ship’s captain to take in the 31 minors on board the Open Arms, arguing that he did not have the legal authority to make an asylum request for them.”