Contributor’s links for Aug. 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 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

97 Replies to “Contributor’s links for Aug. 26, 2019”

  1. Refusing Entry to Foreign Nationals: How Common Is It?

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: How unusual was Israel’s refusal to allow Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to enter Israel to engage in hostile political activity? Not very, based on a comparison with the UK.

    Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are both first-term Democrat members of Congress. They are also both Muslims, inveterate Israel-bashers, and vocal supporters of BDS. Omar was born in Somalia; Tlaib is of Palestinian origin.

    The pair had been planning to visit the Palestinian Authority on a purported “delegation to Palestine.” Israel refused to allow Omar entry, and granted Tlaib permission to enter on condition that she restrict her visit to family matters. Tlaib rejected those terms and will not be visiting.

    Israel’s decision to bar Omar entirely and restrict Tlaib’s movements has aroused great interest and provoked much outrage. But how unusual was it?

    A look at the visa policy of the EU, which claims to be committed to equal and fair treatment, demonstrates how selective and discriminatory states can be when it comes to letting people in.

    Nationals of only 62 countries and territories holding ordinary passports may enter the EU’s Schengen Area without visas. (This is the area in which free movement is allowed within the EU.)

    https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/barring-foreign-nationals/

  2. “DiGenova Blasts CNN for Hiring ex-FBI Official Andrew McCabe”
    Conservative Citizen – August 26, 2019

  3. Fired FBI official McCabe faces possible indictment: report

    Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton on whether former FBI official Andrew McCabe will be indicted.

  4. France: Indigenous chieftain ‘contented’ with Macron’s commitment to Amazon at G7

    The Chieftain of the Kayapo people and environmental activist Raoni Metukitre said he feels ‘contented’ with French President Emmanuel Macron’s commitment to safeguarding the Amazon at a press conference in Bidart on Sunday.

    Kayapo was invited as a surprise guest by Macron to the G7 summit in nearby Biarritz to discuss the ongoing Amazon wildfires.

    “I believe Macron’s attitude was positive, I feel contented with his opinion that we take care of the forest and nature. I believe his commitment to taking care of the Amazon will be fulfilled,” Kayapo said.

    Kayapo went on to accuse the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the agriculture industry to ‘set fire to the Amazon’ because of his support for their activities.

    Earlier on Monday, the G7 countries agreed to launch a global initiative to conserve the rainforest and fund an aid package of $20m (£16m) to assist those countries affected by the Amazon wildfires

    According to satellite data form Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research 73,000 fires have been recorded so far this year in the Amazon, an 84 percent increase as compared to the same period last year.

    • Why Everything They Say About The Amazon, Including That It’s The “Lungs Of The World,” Is Wrong

      The increase in fires burning in Brazil set off a storm of international outrage last week. Celebrities, environmentalists, and political leaders blame Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, for destroying the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, which they say is the “lungs of the world.”

      Singers and actors including Madonna and Jaden Smith shared photos on social media that were seen by tens of millions of people. “The lungs of the Earth are in flames,” said actor Leonardo DiCaprio. “The Amazon Rainforest produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen,” tweeted soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. “The Amazon rain forest — the lungs which produce 20% of our planet’s oxygen — is on fire,” tweeted French President Emanuel Macron.

      And yet the photos weren’t actually of the fires and many weren’t even of the Amazon. The photo Ronaldo shared was taken in southern Brazil, far from the Amazon, in 2013. The photo that DiCaprio and Macron shared is over 20 years old. The photo Madonna and Smith shared is over 30. Some celebrities shared photos from Montana, India, and Sweden.

      To their credit, CNN and New York Times debunked the photos and other misinformation about the fires. “Deforestation is neither new nor limited to one nation,” explained CNN. “These fires were not caused by climate change,” noted The Times.

      But both publications repeated the claim that the Amazon is the “lungs” of the world. “The Amazon remains a net source of oxygen today,” said CNN. “The Amazon is often referred to as Earth’s ‘lungs,’ because its vast forests release oxygen and store carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas that is a major cause of global warming,” claimed The New York Times.

      I was curious to hear what one of the world’s leading Amazon forest experts, Dan Nepstad, had to say about the “lungs” claim.

      “It’s bullshit,” he said. “There’s no science behind that. The Amazon produces a lot of oxygen but it uses the same amount of oxygen through respiration so it’s a wash.”

      Plants use respiration to convert nutrients from the soil into energy. They use photosynthesis to convert light into chemical energy, which can later be used in respiration.

      What about The New York Times claim that “If enough rain forest is lost and can’t be restored, the area will become savanna, which doesn’t store as much carbon, meaning a reduction in the planet’s ‘lung capacity’”?

      Also not true, said Nepstad, who was a lead author of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. “The Amazon produces a lot of oxygen, but so do soy farms and [cattle] pastures.”

      Some people will no doubt wave away the “lungs” myth as nit-picking. The broader point is that there is an increase in fires in Brazil and something should be done about it.

      But the “lungs” myth is just the tip of the iceberg. Consider that CNN ran a long segment with the banner, “Fires Burning at Record Rate in Amazon Forest” while a leading climate reporter claimed, “The current fires are without precedent in the past 20,000 years.”

      While the number of fires in 2019 is indeed 80% higher than in 2018, it’s just 7% higher than the average over the last 10 years ago, Nepstad said.

      One of Brazil’s leading environmental journalists agrees that media coverage of the fires has been misleading. “It was under [Workers Party President] Lula and [Environment Secretary] Marina Silva (2003-2008) that Brazil had the highest incidence of burning,” Leonardo Coutinho told me over email. “But neither Lula nor Marina was accused of putting the Amazon at risk.”

      Coutinho’s perspective was shaped by reporting on the ground in the Amazon for Veja, Brazil’s leading news magazine, for nearly a decade. By contrast, many of the correspondents reporting on the fires have been doing so from the cosmopolitan cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, which are 2,500 miles and four hours by jet plane away.

      “What is happening in the Amazon is not exceptional,” said Coutinho. “Take a look at Google web searches search for ‘Amazon’ and ‘Amazon Forest’ over time. Global public opinion was not as interested in the ‘Amazon tragedy’ when the situation was undeniably worse. The present moment does not justify global hysteria.”

      And while fires in Brazil have increased, there is no evidence that Amazon forest fires have.

      “What hurts me most is the bare idea of the millions of Notre-Dames, high cathedrals of terrestrial biodiversity, burning to the ground,” a Brazilian journalist wrote in the New York Times.

      But the Amazon forest’s high cathedrals aren’t doing that. “I saw the photo Macron and Di Caprio tweeted,” said Nepstad, “but you don’t see forests burning like that in the Amazon.”

      Amazon forest fires are hidden by the tree canopy and only increase during drought years. “We don’t know if there are any more forest fires this year than in past years, which tells me there probably isn’t,” Nepstad said. “I’ve been working on studying those fires for 25 years and our [on-the-ground] networks are tracking this.”

      What increased by 7% in 2019 are the fires of dry scrub and trees cut down for cattle ranching as a strategy to gain ownership of land.

      Against the picture painted of an Amazon forest on the verge of disappearing, a full 80% remains standing. Half of the Amazon is protected against deforestation under federal law.

      “Few stories in the first wave of media coverage mentioned the dramatic drop in deforestation in Brazil in the 2000s,” noted former New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin, who wrote a 1990 book, The Burning Season, about the Amazon, and is now Founding Director, Initiative on Communication & Sustainability at The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

      Deforestation declined a whopping 70% from 2004 to 2012. It has risen modestly since then but remains at one-quarter its 2004 peak. And just 3% of the Amazon is suitable for soy farming.

      Both Nepstad and Coutinho say the real threat is from accidental forest fires in drought years, which climate change could worsen. “The most serious threat to the Amazon forest is the severe events that make the forests vulnerable to fire. That’s where we can get a downward spiral between fire and drought and more fire.”

      Today, 18 – 20% of the Amazon forest remains at risk of being deforested.

      “I don’t like the international narrative right now because it’s polarizing and divisive,” said Nepstad. “Bolsonaro has said some ridiculous things and none of them are excusable but there’s also a big consensus against accidental fire and we have to tap into that.”

      “Imagine you are told [under the federal Forest Code] that you can only use half of your land and then being told you can only use 20%,” Nepstad said. “There was a bait and switch and the farmers are really frustrated. These are people who love to hunt and fish and be on land and should be allies but we lost them.”

      Nepstad said that the restrictions cost farmers $10 billion in foregone profits and forest restoration. “There was an Amazon Fund set up in 2010 with $1 billion from Norwegian and German governments but none of it ever made its way to the large and medium-sized farmers,” says Nepstad.

      Both the international pressure and the government’s over-reaction is increasing resentment among the very people in Brazil environmentalists need to win over in order to save the Amazon: forests and ranchers.

      “Macron’s tweet had the same impact on Bolsonaro’s base as Hillary calling Trump’s base deplorable,” said Nepstad. “There’s outrage at Macron in Brazil. The Brazilians want to know why California gets all this sympathy for its forest fires and while Brazil gets all this finger-pointing.”

      “I don’t mind the media frenzy as long as it leaves something positive,” said Nepstad, but it has instead forced the Brazilian government to over-react. “Sending in the army is not the way to go because it’s not all illegal actors. People forget that there are legitimate reasons for small farmers to use controlled burns to knock back insects and pests.”

      The reaction from foreign media, global celebrities, and NGOs in Brazil stems from a romantic anti-capitalism common among urban elites, say Nepstad and Coutinho. “There’s a lot of hatred of agribusiness,” said Nepstad. “I’ve had colleagues say, ‘Soy beans aren’t food.’ I said, ‘What does your kid eat? Milk, chicken, eggs? That’s all soy protein fed to poultry.’”

      Others may have political motives. “Brazilian farmers want to extend [the free trade agreement] EU-Mercosur but Macron is inclined to shut it down because the French farm sector doesn’t want more Brazilian food products coming into the country,” Nepstad explained.

      Despite climate change, deforestation, and widespread and misleading coverage of the situation, Nepstad hasn’t given up hope. The Amazon emergency should lead the conservation community to repair its relationship with farmers and seek more pragmatic solutions, he said.

      “Agribusiness is 25% of Brazil’s GDP and it’s what got the country through the recession,” said Nepstad. “When soy farming comes into a landscape, the number of fires goes down. Little towns get money for schools, GDP rises, and inequality declines. This is not a sector to beat up on, it’s one to find common ground with.”

      Nepstad argued that it would be a no-brainer for governments around the world to support Earth Alliance (Aliança da Terra), a fire detection and prevention network he co-founded which is comprised of 600 volunteers, mostly indigenous people, and farmers.

      “For $2 million a year we could control the fires and stop the Amazon die-back,” said Nepstad. “We have 600 people who have received top-notch training by US fire jumpers but now need trucks with the right gear so they can clear fire breaks through the forest and start a backfire to burn up the fuel in the pathway of the fire.”

      For such pragmatism to take hold among divergent interests, the news media will need to improve its future coverage of the issue.

      “One of the grand challenges facing newsrooms covering complicated emergent, enduring issues like tropical deforestation,” said journalist Revkin, “is finding ways to engage readers without histrionics. The alternative is ever more whiplash journalism — which is the recipe for reader disengagement.”

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/08/26/why-everything-they-say-about-the-amazon-including-that-its-the-lungs-of-the-world-is-wrong/

  5. BBC News – India Jains: Why are these youngsters renouncing the world?

    Hundreds of young people belonging to India’s Jain community have begun renouncing the material world to become monks who always walk barefoot, eat only what they receive as alms and never bathe or use modern technology.

  6. Migrant drowns off Belgium while trying to swim to UK (gulfnews, Aug 26, 2019)
    https://gulfnews.com/world/europe/migrant-drowns-off-belgium-while-trying-to-swim-to-uk-1.1566860551824

    “The body of an Iraqi migrant who tried to swim across the Channel from France to Britain has been found off Belgium’s coast, Belgian authorities said Monday.

    The 48-year-old was discovered on Friday near the seaside resort of Zeebrugge, wearing a makeshift life jacket made of empty plastic bottles and carrying a small bag with his identity papers, the prosecutor’s office in Bruges said.

    “It’s the first time we’ve found the body of a migrant,” Carl Decaluwe, the governor of western Flanders province where Zeebrugge is located, told AFP Monday.

    Officials believe the man drowned while trying to swim from a beach in northern France to Britain. Currents are thought to have transported his body to Belgian waters.

    He was found drifting near a wind farm some 30 kilometres off Zeebrugge, the Belgian news agency Belga reported.

    He had attempted the swim after failing to obtain asylum in Germany, according to the agency.

    Eight days before the Iraqi’s body was found, a Belgian sailor had spotted a man wearing a belt made of empty plastic bottles crying for help in waters off the French coast of Dunkirk.

    The sailor had informed French maritime authorities of the August 18 incident, saying he had tried to save the man, but he was swept away by a current.

    Migrants are taking ever greater risks to reach Britain from France, which has taken an uncompromising approach towards so-called economic migrants who come to Europe in search of a better life in contrast with those fleeing war or persecution.

    Since January, some 1,450 migrants have been rescued either by British or French coastguards, more than double the number who attempted to cross the busy shipping channel in the whole of 2018, according to official French figures released Monday.”

  7. Greek police raid Athens squats, arrest migrants (ahram, Aug 26, 2019)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/344503/World/International/Greek-police-raid-Athens-squats,-arrest-migrants.aspx

    “More than 140 people, mainly migrants, were arrested in dawn raids on Athens squats Monday as part of a major crackdown, police said.

    Dozens of officers cleared four squats occupied for several weeks, mainly by refugees and migrants, in the Exarcheia district of Athens.

    Athens prosecutors authorised the raids after complaints filed by the owners of the buildings being squatted.

    A police source said 143 people, some without papers, had been picked up. Most were from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Iraq.

    There were 57 men and 51 women in the group, and the rest were children, the source added.

    The new conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has vowed to bring “order” to the district, promising regular police patrols.

    Two Greeks and a Frenchman were detained for disturbing the peace.

    The Exarcheia neighbourhood has frequently been the site of clashes between anarchists and police, particularly since 2008, when a police officer shot dead a teenager, sparking days of rioting.

    The new mayor of Athens, who was sworn in on Sunday, has pledged to make security his top priority.

    Costas Bakoyannis has accused the previous leftist government of having taken a soft line against vandalism carried out by some anarchist groups.”

  8. Spain to Remove Barbed Wire from Ceuta, Melilla Borders by End of Year (mwn, Aug 26, 2019)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/08/281169/spain-barbed-wire-borders/

    “The Spanish Ministry of Interior has announced a deadline for the removal of barbed wire from Ceuta and Melilla border. According to El País, the barbed wire surrounding the fences separating Morocco from the two Spanish enclaves should be removed before the end of the year.

    In January 2019, the Spanish government announced its intention to remove the famous fences that “put people’s lives in danger, instead of preventing assaults on the borders”, reports El Mundo.

    Some weeks later, the Spanish government explained that they would replace the barbed wire with another material, ensuring security without harming anyone. The Spanish Ministry of Interior also announced that they would raise the fences, making them reach 10 meters.

    According to El Mundo, Ministry of Interior will devote a EUR 32.7 million budget to the improvement of the infrastructures and security systems in the crossing borders of Ceuta and Melilla. The plans include changing surveillance cameras and implementing a facial recognition system, among other modifications.

    Official data from Spanish authorities recorded that 3,344 unaccompanied minors from the MENA region arrived in Ceuta in 2018. 3,302 of the unaccompanied minors were boys and 42 were girls, many of whom came from the neighboring cities of Tetouan and Tangier in northern Morocco.

    However, in April 2019, Spanish news outlet ABC reported that Spanish authorities noticed a 52% decline in the number of irregular migrants from April 2018 to 2019. Successful irregular migration attempts from Ceuta and Melilla crossing borders also decreased, from 1,085 in 2018 to only 226 in 2019.”

  9. Turkish Cyprus hails ‘Turkey’s resolute stance in E Med’ (hdn, Aug 26, 2019)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-cyprus-hails-turkeys-resolute-stance-in-e-med-146058

    “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is in cooperation with Turkey in furthering the national interests of the TRNC in the eastern Mediterranean, the country’s prime minister said on Aug. 25.

    Speaking at a conference in Turkey’s central province of Konya, TRNC Prime Minister Ersin Tatar stressed that it would do its best for the continuation of Turkey’s status as guarantor power on the island.

    Tatar underlined that it was “out of question” to remove Turkish guarantor power from the TRNC.

    “Turkey’s resolute stance and support in the eastern Mediterranean gives us strength,” said Tatar, referring to Turkey’s activities in the region.

    The Greek side violated international law as well as the rights of Turkish Cypriots by making agreements with other states on searching for resources, he added.

    Noting that Turkey has the longest shoreline to the eastern Mediterranean, he said that neither Ankara’s rights nor the those of the TRNC- which stem from international law- could be ignored.

    Turkey has consistently contested the Greek Cypriot administration’s unilateral drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also has rights to the resources in the area.

    Since spring this year, Ankara has sent two drilling vessels- Fatih and most recently Yavuz- to the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting the right of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) to the resources of the region.

    Turkey’s first seismic vessel, the Barbaros Hayrettin Pa?a, bought from Norway in 2013, has been conducting exploration in the Mediterranean since April 2017.

    Athens and Greek Cypriots have opposed the move, threatening to arrest the ships’ crews and enlisting EU leaders to join their criticism.

    In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus’ annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the TRNC was founded.

    The decades since then have seen several attempts to resolve the dispute, all ending in failure. The latest one, held with the participation of the guarantor countries-Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. – ended in 2017 in Switzerland.”

  10. Turkey helps Somali youth to realize dreams (aa, Aug 26, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/life/turkey-helps-somali-youth-to-realize-dreams/1565358

    “Turkey is becoming a favorite destination for many Somali youth, to pursue higher education in order to realize their dreams.

    Muhammed Ahmed, who graduated in medicine from Antalya University located in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, had fancied to study in Turkey since childhood.

    Speaking to Anadolu Agency, young Somali doctor said his dreams became reality, when he qualified to seek admission at Antalya University in 2013.

    Ahmed, who graduated in 2017 is now practicing at a private hospital.

    He says Turkey had enticed him with its advancements in education, health and economy.

    Looking forward to study further, Ahmed wants to become a cardiovascular surgeon specialist.

    “Turkey is a shining Muslim country. Normally, when we talk about Muslim countries, first thing that comes to mind is underdevelopment and a weak economy. But Turkey is a contrast,” he said.

    He said Turkey also had a well developed pharmaceutical industry.

    Further, he said the hospitality of Turks was unmatched and they made Turkey a beautiful country for foreigners.

    Highlighting historic ties between Turkey and Somalia, young doctor said his country was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. He said people still remember the empire with love.

    “In my neighborhood in Somalia, people still drink water from a well dug by Ottoman rulers, hundreds years ago. The water in this well is coming from the nearby mountains. This is a marvelous engineering skill,” he said.

    After the Ottoman Empire, Somalia became a British colony.”

  11. ‘Sultan Alp Arslan opened gates of Anatolia to Turks’ (aa, Aug 26, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/culture/sultan-alp-arslan-opened-gates-of-anatolia-to-turks/1565366

    “Sultan Alp Arslan (the Lion-Hearted), who opened the gates of Anatolia to Turks in 1071 by defeating the Byzantine army, is remembered for his heroism and war strategies, Turkish historians said.

    Arslan became the second ruler of the Great Seljuk Empire in April 27, 1064.

    His victory on Aug. 26, 1071 on the plain of Manzikert (Malazgirt), what is now Mus in eastern Turkey, accelerated the decline of the Byzantine Empire and led to more Turks settling in the region, paving the way for both the Ottoman Empire and the modern Republic of Turkey.

    Arslan was the greatest sovereign in Seljuk Turkish history, said Mustafa Alican, an expert in medieval history at Mus Alparslan University.

    “The Battle of Manzikert was a defensive war in which the Seljuk Turks aimed to protect themselves and the Islamic world against the Byzantines,” he added.

    “Sultan Alp Arslan achieved a great victory on the plain of Manzikert and captured a Byzantine Emperor — who is Romanus IV Diogenes — for the first time in history,” Alican said.

    Alican underlined the Byzantine Empire recognized a subordination to the Seljuk Turks in the Manzikert agreement which was signed after the battle.

    Rahmi Tekin, a history professor at the Van Yuzuncu Yil University, said Arslan was a unique commander fighting for the unity of the Islamic world.

    He added that Arslan was one of the most important figures in history with his statesmanship and quick decision-making.”

  12. 21,000 migrants arrived in Bosnia this year so far (ansamed, Aug 26, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2019/08/26/21000-migrants-arrived-in-bosnia-this-year-so-far_2a184e6a-8baa-4b36-ba2d-800674002f8a.html

    “Some 21,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina since the beginning of the year, resulting in logistical and social problems created by the growing flow into the country. ”In the first seven months of the year, the number of migrants who entered the country was more than that seen the entire year before,” said Nermin Kljajic, interior minister of the Unsko-Sanski canton, the region in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina on the border with Croatia, where most of the migrants arrive. Local media quoted Kljajic as saying that most of the migrants are Afghans, Pakistanis or Moroccans aiming to continue towards western EU countries.

    All reception centers are full and thousands of refugees are sleeping in makeshift lodgings or on the streets. Kljajic said that the situation is getting worse every day and that there are growing problems concerning food and medical supplies and that the local population is frequently staging protests after theft and crimes allegedly committed by migrants that do not find a spot in reception facilities.”

  13. EU ruling overturns 138 Danish family reunification rejections (thelocal, Aug 26, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.dk/20190826/eu-ruling-overturns-138-danish-family-reunification-rejections

    “An EU ruling that a now-scrapped Danish immigration rule was illegal could lead to the reopening of 138 cases involving Turkish applicants for family reunification.

    In cases dating back to 2003, Denmark rejected applications for residency on the basis of family reunification for Turkish citizens due to a now-defunct rule known as the ‘association’ or ‘attachment’ clause (tilknytningskravet) which formed part of Danish immigration law until last year.

    The clause enabled family reunification to be rejected on the grounds that the couple had a closer connection to the source country of the applicant than to Denmark.

    But the use of an ‘attachment clause’ in this way is illegal, according to a June ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

    Since the 1960s, Turkey has had an agreement in place with the EU which provides for it to be treated as if it was a member state in relation to certain areas. It is this agreement—the Ankara Agreement—that was infringed by the Danish family reunification decisions.

    Family reunification can be applied for by persons who are partners or immediate family members of individuals already resident in Denmark.

    A legal assessment by Denmark’s immigration and justice ministries has now concluded that 138 partners of Turkish people resident in Denmark, whose family reunification applications were rejected from 2011 onwards, are entitled to have those cases reopened, Minister for Immigration and Integration Mattias Tesfaye confirmed in a parliamentary notification on Monday.

    Politicians had expressed concern that up to 8,000 cases could have been reopened as a result of the CJEU ruling, Ritzau writes.

    But that was not the conclusion of the legal assessment by the Danish ministries, which found that the impact of the ruling is limited to Turkish citizens encompassed by the Ankara Agreement.

    Additionally, the assessment found that the CJEU judgement can only affect retrospective cases and will not impact current immigration rules.”

  14. Updated: Woman dies in Malmö shooting (thelocal, Aug 26, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.se/20190826/woman-and-child-taken-to-hospital-after-malm-shooting

    “A woman in her 30s has died after a shooting near Ribersborg, a popular beach park in Malmö.

    The woman was taken to hospital after the shooting on Sergels väg in Malmö shortly before 10am.

    At 1.18pm police said she had died from her injuries.

    Another two people who were also taken to hospital, reportedly including a young child, were not injured.

    “This is one of the most serious crimes there is so we are deploying all of our resources to investigate it, and also sending officers to speak to people near the scene of the attack who might be disturbed by what has happened,” Calle Persson from the Malmö police told The Local earlier in the day.

    “The area has been cordoned off, we are waiting for criminal technical investigators, and we will send several sniffer dogs who are trained to find discarded weapons, bullets, and empty cartridges.”

    According to witnesses interviewed by the Kvällsposten newspaper, several masked attackers had fired off between eight and ten shots before escaping through the gardens of a nearby apartment building. “It sounded like two different weapons,” the witness said.

    One witness told the newspaper that the woman had been carrying a baby at the time that she was hit by a bullet. The man she was with then went into shock, screaming that the child “needed its mother”.

    There were no suspects identified by noon on Monday, but a video emerged showing a black-clad person running from the scene, gun in hand.

    Regional newspaper Sydsvenskan reports that one of the theories being investigated by police is that the father of the woman’s child was the intended target. The man is said to have a criminal past in both Sweden and Denmark and has served time in prison.”

  15. Police in western German state to reveal nationality in all crimes (DW, Aug 26, 2019)
    https://www.dw.com/en/police-in-western-german-state-to-reveal-nationality-in-all-crimes/a-50177056

    “Police in North Rhine-Westphalia will now name every crime suspect’s nationality — and not just in crimes where it’s considered relevant. It’s a sensitive topic against the background of recent immigration to Germany.

    The police in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) will start providing the nationalities of all suspects in press communications when it is determinable beyond any doubt, the state Interior Ministry announced in Düsseldorf on Monday.

    The decree outlining the police’s communication policies is currently being reworked, the ministry added.

    The policy on revealing a suspect’s nationality varies from state to state across Germany. In many states, the nationality is revealed only when it is deemed relevant to the nature of the crime committed, such as when it serves as a motivating factor.

    Nationality and crime: A balancing act?

    NRW’s Interior Minister, Herbet Reul, said the change was part of a push for more transparency.

    “We will state the nationalities of all suspects that we know for sure — naturally also those of German suspects,” he said. “I am convinced that this transparency is the best means against clumsy deception.”

    The practice of determining whether the nationality of suspects is pertinent to a crime often causes controversy in Germany. The aim of withholding nationality is to avoid discrimination against minorities by categorically linking crimes to country of origin rather than to a specific individual and his or her particular circumstances.

    Recently, Germany’s interior minister, Horst Seehofer, warned the public not to draw premature conclusions after it was revealed that the suspect arrested in the death of an 8-year-old boy at Frankfurt’s train station was an Eritrean national.

    However, some have accused German police and media of purposefully withholding nationality in cases where foreign nationals are involved as a method to dampen criticism of Angela Merkel’s immigration policy, which saw over one million refugees enter Germany in 2015.

    One particularly significant case was the mass sexual harassment of women in the NRW city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve 2015. The suspects that were later identified were found to be primarily of North African origin. The event led to accusations that the police and German media had initially covered up the nationality of the suspects involved.

    Media decides seperately

    According to guidelines from the German Press Association, the publication of a suspect’s in the media must be grounded in public interest. Serious crimes such as murder or terrorism fall into this category.

    German Press Association spokesman Volker Stennei welcomed the police’s decision to name nationality in all cases but said that the decision to publish the nationality in media reports rests with each individual editorial department.”