Contributor’s links for Sept. 6, 2019

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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

111 Replies to “Contributor’s links for Sept. 6, 2019”

  1. Afghanistan: Taliban launch ‘massive’ assault on key Farah city (thedefensepost, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/09/06/afghanistan-taliban-farah-offensive/

    “The Taliban launched an offensive Friday, September 6 against a key city in western Afghanistan, officials said, the latest in a surge of attacks as the U.S. pushes for a deal that would allow it to begin withdrawing troops.

    Dozens of Taliban fighters assaulted Farah city, the capital of Farah province, early in the day and seized an Afghan army recruitment center, Farooq Barakzai, the spokesperson for Farah’s provincial governor, told AFP.

    Taliban spokesperson Qari Yousuf Ahmadi meanwhile said a “massive operation” was under way in the province.

    Afghan forces, with U.S. support, were able to push the fighters back a few hours later, Farah police spokesperson Mohibullah Mohib said.

    “Helicopters with the cooperation of [U.S.] troops have launched air strikes and bombarded the Taliban positions in Farah city,” he told AFP.

    “The Taliban have been pushed back from the city but fighting is ongoing on the outskirts.”

    He said 10 Taliban fighters had been killed, along with one paramilitary Afghan police officer.

    The remote poppy-growing region that borders Iran has been the scene of intense fighting in recent years, and there have long been fears that its capital is vulnerable.

    In May last year, the Taliban made a major attempt to capture Farah city but were eventually driven back by Afghan and US forces.

    The Taliban have been stepping up operations in recent days even as they negotiate with Washington for a deal that would see the U.S. pull troops from Afghanistan in return for various security guarantees.

    U.S. Army Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesperson for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, said on Friday that American assistance to Afghan forces was ongoing.

    “We continue to support our ANDSF partners as they thwart the Taliban’s attack on Farah,” he told AFP, using the abbreviation for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

    On Saturday, the Taliban attempted to seize the provincial capital of Kunduz in the north and sporadic fighting continued on the outskirts all week.

    And on Sunday, they launched an operation in the city of Pul-e Khumri, the capital of neighboring Baghlan province.

    The capital Kabul too has been rocked by back-to-back bombings this week that have claimed dozens of lives.”

  3. Burkina Faso soldier killed in Soum ambush (thedefensepost, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/09/06/burkina-faso-soldier-killed-diomsogui-soum/

    “A Burkina Faso soldier and five assailants were killed in an ambush on an army patrol in Soum province on Thursday, September 5, security sources said, as the country grapples an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency.

    A source told AFP that a military patrol was ambushed in Diomsogui in the Kelbo department of Soum province in the Sahel region.

    “One soldier was killed and two others wounded in the attack,” the source said. “In response, five assailants were shot dead and the rest of the armed group was routed.”

    A large cache of weapons was also recovered, a second source added…”

  4. Mali: Former rebels and militia fighters abducted from bus in Mopti region (thedefensepost, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/09/06/mali-fighters-abducted-douentza-gao/

    “Armed men abducted 22 members of a military unit comprising mainly Tuareg ex-rebels and former members of armed pro-government groups in violence-wracked Mali, the driver of their bus said on Friday.

    The group were set to be incorporated into the Armed Forces of Mali (FAMa) as part of a major overhaul designed to make them more representative of the population, notably in the northern and central regions hit by Islamist insurgency.

    They were abducted on Wednesday, September 4, the driver said, and no details on their fate had emerged by Friday afternoon.

    The driver said the group had been heading for the city of Gao, the largest in the north, when they were abducted between Douentza and Hombori, an area of the central Mopti region that is prone to attacks…”

  7. Turkey Successfully Test Fires Next-Generation Missile with Penetrating Warhead (tasnimnews, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/09/06/2091624/turkey-successfully-test-fires-next-generation-missile-with-penetrating-warhead

    “Turkey’s first domestically-made cruise missile capable of destroying concrete bunkers and fortifications, successfully completed its test firing, Science and Industry Minister Mustafa Varank announced…”

  8. Western Media Coverage of Muslims More Negative than Other Minority Groups: Study (tasnimnews, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/09/06/2091503/western-media-coverage-of-muslims-more-negative-than-other-minority-groups-study

    “A study by The Media Portrayals of Minorities Project Lab at Vermont’s Middlebury College has revealed that news coverage about Muslims in the US media is far more negative when compared to other minorities’ representation”

  10. 3,000 Saudis evacuated from Florida ahead of Dorian (saudigazette, Sep 6, 2019)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/576578/SAUDI-ARABIA/3000-Saudis-evacuated-from-Florida-ahead-of-Dorian

    “Majed Abul Ula, the head of the Saudi Affairs Department at the Kingdom’s Consulate in Houston, has revealed that 3,000 Saudi citizens present in the State of Florida have been evacuated ahead of the Hurricane Dorian, which could likely barrel into Florida…”

  11. In divided Iraq, ‘electronic armies’ threaten activists, media (saudigazette, Sep 6, 2019)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/576592/World/Mena/In-divided-Iraq-electronic-armies-threaten-activists-media

    “Iraqi journalists, activists and researchers are facing a wave of accusations and threats by shadowy online groups they suspect are linked to powerful pro-Iran factions.

    Parties, armed groups and even officials in Iraq benefit from legions of supporters dubbed “electronic armies,” which take to social media to anonymously sing their praises or mock their detractors.

    These online rivalries now appear to have been fanned by months of rising tensions pitting Iran against the US and Israel.

    This summer, suspicious explosions hit five camps and arms depots run by Iraq’s Hashed Al-Shaabi, a network of mostly Shiite armed factions linked to Iran.

    The Hashed was quick to blame Israel and the United States, but also said it suspected “agents” of the two countries contributed to the attacks.

    That accusation was followed by an online campaign accusing a broad range of Iraqi nationals of “collaborating” with Israel and the US.

    One graphic shared by an Arabic-language page named “Don’t Tread on Us” accused 14 Iraqis of de facto supporting a policy of “normalization with Israel.”

    Shared on social media, it named figures such as journalist Joumana Mumtaz and blogger Ali Wajih.

    In response, Wajih penned a rare open letter to Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, Hashed chief Faleh Fayyadh and his powerful deputy Abu Mehdi Al-Muhandis.

    “For years, a group of us journalists and bloggers has faced incitements to murder by people and pages that may be close to the Hashed, or directly linked to it,” he wrote.

    Allegations they were “agents” or seeking normalization with Israel, Wajih said, were “empty and silly”.

    Iraqis have long been opposed to Israel because of its occupation of Palestinian land.

    Baghdad has however developed close ties with Washington since the American-led invasion that toppled ex-dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

    Despite that, Washington’s bitter rival Tehran also holds considerable sway in Iraq’s political scene and within the Hashed.

    In recent months, anti-Israel and anti-US rhetoric has been on the rise as Iraqis feel increasingly squeezed by the war of words between the two sides.

    Some Iraqi factions have used the purported Israeli strikes to relaunch calls for US troops to leave Iraq.

    Just last week, many of the same figures lashed out against US-funded Al-Hurra TV for a documentary alleging corruption among Iraq’s religious bodies, both Sunni and Shiite.

    Perceptions Iraq was being “attacked” by Israel and America were “broadened to include critical and independent Iraqi voices, who have been maligned as agents in a broader plot,” said Fanar Haddad, an Iraq expert at the National University of Singapore.

    “In this way, entrenched domestic interests and rivalries have been folded into the ongoing tensions between the Iran-led axis of resistance and the United States, Israel and their allies in the region,” he said.

    Omar Al-Shaher, a journalist named in the graphic, said there was “not a shred of proof” to back up the claims.

    “These days, it’s more dangerous than ever to have your name associated with the Israeli camp,” he said.

    Historian Omar Mohammad, who documented atrocities in Mosul under the Islamic State group, said he suspected the new accusations came “as a result of the recent (purported) Israeli airstrikes and US-Iranian tensions.”

    Mohammad said the graphic’s sleek production meant he was “absolutely” taking its threats seriously.

    “It is institutional and professional. Seems there is a team specialized in dehumanizing us,” Mohammad said from outside Iraq.

    Media rights groups are worried such incitement could lead to real violence.

    “The sensitivity of the Palestinian question in the region means that accusing someone of working with Israel is tantamount to calling for their killing,” said the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory.

    On Thursday, monitor and rights group Iraqi Media House called for better protection of journalists.

    “The phenomenon of electronic armies has reached dangerous levels, issuing threats including incitement to violence and hatred,” it said.

    “We are surprised by the authorities’ continued silence so far, including the judiciary, in a clear abandonment of its responsibilities when it comes to electronic crimes.” — AFP”

  14. Taliban ‘praise Almighty Allah’ for US withdrawal plans (alaraby, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/9/6/taliban-praise-almighty-allah-for-us-withdrawal-plans

    “Taliban loyalists are cheering the prospect of a deal with the US that after 18 years of gruelling conflict will see “defeated” American “invaders” finally go home.
    While details of the deal have not been announced, it is widely expected the Pentagon will slash its troop presence in Afghanistan in return for various Taliban commitments.

    AFP spoke to several Taliban fighters and supporters in and around Kandahar – the southern Afghan province that is the birthplace of the Islamist movement and a key stronghold.

    ‘Islamic values’

    Mohammad Manzoor Hussaini, who previously fought for the Taliban, was until two years ago hiding out in Pakistan but returned to Kandahar as the group’s influence strengthened.

    All Afghans want is a peace founded on “Islamic values”, he said, using the same stock phrase the Taliban have used in talks with the United States.

    The term is seen as contentious because it is open to broad interpretation, and the Taliban are known for pushing some of the most extreme views of the Islamic faith, including an almost total denial of all freedoms for women.

    “Afghans wish for peace, moreover they want a dignified peace based on Islamic values, and peace among all Afghans,” Hussaini said.

    “Afghans should trust each other, and should be honest to each other, and should not pay attention to any foreigners”.

    But if things are handled poorly, the war could go on for another 20 years and spread to other countries too, Hussaini warned.

    Leaving with ‘shame’

    Hafiz Mohammad Wali, a gardener from the Shahjoy District of Zabul province, which neighbours Kandahar, was delighted at news that a deal is likely to see the US military draw down its forces.

    “For nearly 20 years, we have been hoping for this news, to see the Americans leave Afghanistan with shame,” he said.

    “People now are praying for peace in the country. We have fought a lot, and the fighting still continues today.”

    Like most of the Taliban supporters AFP spoke to, Wali worried about whether the group would be able to make a separate agreement with the Afghan government.

    “Our main concern is how the Taliban and the Afghan government make peace,” he said.

    “Afghans have been fighting with each other for years in the villages and districts. Will they sit together? This is not just my concern, but other villagers are also worried about it.”

    Until now, the Taliban have refused to talk to the administration of President Ashraf Ghani, whom they view as a US stooge.

    The upcoming withdrawal deal with the Taliban is expected to require “intra-Afghan” talks between the insurgents and Kabul.

    ‘Defeated’ America

    Mullah Gul Agha, a Taliban commander from the Marja district of Helmand province, another insurgent stronghold, said Afghans would never accept foreigners as their “masters”.

    “The Afghans have been fighting invaders for decades, once it was the Russians, today it is the Americans and the British,” Agha said.

    “With the Help of Almighty Allah, we have defeated them again.”

    The toll the war has taken on the US military – more than 2,400 US troops killed in combat and thousands more with horrendous wounds – would make America think twice before invading other countries, he said.

    “Afghans accept a poor, humble life, but never anybody as their masters,” he said.

    Both sides ‘tired’

    Mullah Rauf, who was once a Taliban commander in the central province of Ghazni, was optimistic peace might finally come to Afghanistan after 18 years of conflict.

    “Both sides in this war are tired,” he said.

    “I am very happy America is leaving, because they didn’t give Afghans anything but war and destruction, and thousands of Afghans were killed… If Afghans join hands, they can prevent more destruction and bloodshed.””

  18. Anti-Erdogan rap video ‘I can’t keep quiet’ goes viral (ansamed, Sep 6, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/culture/2019/09/06/anti-erdogan-rap-video-i-cant-keep-quiet-goes-viral_bdf27f67-be82-4b55-9cdb-2b27be0b4d22.html

    “A rap video titled “Susamam”, “I can’t keep quiet”, protesting the Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone viral in Turkey, having garnered more than three million views as of Friday, just one day after its release on YouTube.

    The 15-minute video showcases about 20 musicians sharing their points of view on the country in light of the events of recent years.

    The rap’s title quickly became one of the most-shared hashtags on social media, sparking intense debates.

    It touches on topics such as the arrest of government opponents, including activists and journalists.

    The rap’s lyrics include phrases such as: “Now I’ll think twice before tweeting. I find myself scared of my country’s police. If one night they send me to jail for no reason, you won’t find a journalist to write about it because they’re all in prison”.

    On Friday Canan Kaftancioglu, the leader in Istanbul for opposition party CHP, was sentenced to nine years, eight months in jail for tweets she posted between 2012 and 2017, some of which were related to the Gezi Park protests.”

  21. Morocco puts brakes on migrant flow as Spain and EU pay out (thelocal, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.es/20190906/morocco-puts-brakes-on-migrant-flow-as-spain-and-eu-pay-out

    “The number of migrants arriving by sea in Spain has plunged with Morocco stopping boat departures since signing lucrative agreements with Madrid and Brussels, experts say.
    So far this year 15,683 migrants have arrived by sea, 45 percent down on the first eight months of 2018, according to Spanish interior ministry figures.

    Spain became the main entry point for migrants seeking a better life in Europe in 2018 after Italy closed its ports and Greece began sending migrants back to Turkey under a 2016 agreement with the European Union (EU).

    But that is no longer the case. The most used migrant sea route to Europe is once again from the eastern Mediterranean to Greece, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.

    Moroccan authorities are stopping boats from setting sail to Spain “whereas before they let them leave”, said Jose Encinas of the AUGC Guardia Civil police association in the southern region of Andalusia where most migrants
    land.

    A migration expert at an international organisation, who asked not to be named, said: “Moroccan maritime police have deployed means at strategic spots, especially in the north” to curb migrant departures to Spain.

    ‘Migration card’

    Eduard Soler, a North Africa geopolitics specialist at Barcelona think tank CIDOB said “Morocco has realised that the migration card is a very effective pressure tool”.

    “Times when bilateral relations between Morocco and Spain were difficult have coincided with a rise in (migrant) arrivals in Spain and when they have improved there was a dramatic drop (in arrivals),” he added.

    The arrival of migrant ships in Spain had soared in the six months before Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took power in June 2018.

    He promptly dispatched ministers to Rabat before visiting the Moroccan capital himself in November for talks with King Mohammed VI.

    A state visit followed in February 2019 by Spain’s King Felipe VI abd 11 bilateral agreements were signed covering energy to cultural cooperation.

    “There was then a radical drop in the number of migrant arrivals. This does not seem like chance. Morocco decided to change its policy” said Soler.

    The number of migrant arrivals by sea fell to 936 in February 2019 from 4,104 in the previous month, IOM figures show.

    “When Morocco wants more money, it opens the tap of immigration and when it receives money, it closes it,” said Encinas.

    Spain in August approved €32 million ($35 million) to help Morocco control illegal migration.

    In July, Madrid authorised spending €26 million to supply Morocco’s interior ministry with vehicles.

    EU money

    A renegotiated fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union– which was approved by the European Parliament in February on the eve of King Felipe’s state visit — has also warmed ties between Brussels and Rabat.

    On a visit to Morocco on Wednesday, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska hailed the “police cooperation” between the two countries which had led to a “significant decrease” in migrant arrivals.

    Within the EU, Madrid continues to highlight “Morocco’s crucial importance as a strategic partner for migration and other issues,” he added.

    The EU gave Morocco €140 million last year to help manage migration.

    “And that seems little,” Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said last week, before adding Europe should do more for Morocco.

    While Madrid praises its cooperation with Rabat, human rights groups accuse Morocco of forcibly preventing migrants form boarding boats to Spain.”

  22. Former immigration minister Støjberg to face renewed scrutiny in official inquiry (thelocal, Sep 6, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.dk/20190906/former-immigration-minister-stjberg-to-face-renewed-scrutiny-in-official-inquiry

    “A majority in the Danish parliament is to back an inquiry into an illegal directive issued by former Minister for Immigration and Integration Inger Støjberg.

    The inquiry will revolve around a 2016 directive issued by Støjberg while minister. The directive ordered authorities to forcibly separate, without individual case assessment, married couples given asylum in Denmark, provided one of the couple was under 18 years old.

    The directive was later found to be illegal and Støjberg faced a series of testing parliamentary hearings over it.

    “We have agreed to set down a commission which will investigate this course of events whereby an illegal directive was given but where it has been unusually difficult to gain a clear picture of what happened,” Karina Lorentzen, justice spokesperson with the Socialist People’s Party, told Ritzau.

    Earlier this week, Støjberg announced she would stand for selection as the new deputy leader of the Liberal (Venstre) party.

    The controversy from her time as immigration minister had already threatened to resurface, given a new, left-wing parliamentary majority became potentially capable of commissioning an inquiry following the change of government after the June 5th general election.

    Støjberg, the only candidate for the deputy leader role, maintained during three parliamentary hearings in 2017 that she did not intentionally issue an illegal directive.

    “It is important to investigate and get to the bottom of this issue because it is important for our democracy. If a minister intentionally circumvented the law, then we have a serious problem,” Red-Green Alliance justice spokesperson Rosa Lund said.

    A so-called mandate or kommissorium, precisely setting out the task of the inquiry, must be produced before it can begin.

    The members of the inquiry will be selected by justice minister Nick Hækkerup.

    On Thursday, Støjberg told Ritzau in a written comment that any investigation initiated by the parliament was “out of (her) hands”.

    “I have already explained the course of events relating to the intervention against child brides in several consultations and hundreds of responses in parliament, and there was also an investigation by the (parliamentary) ombudsman” the former minister wrote.

    “If there’s another investigation, I will naturally answer all questions again in relation to that,” she added.”

  27. The present Governor is a Democrat and according to a friend the Illinois Government has been raising the property tax on farms owned by Republicans. Many of them are selling out and moving to Missouri to buy new farms.