Contributor’s links for September 13 , 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

100 Replies to “Contributor’s links for September 13 , 2019”

    • “Luckily” (that’s how we must see it) the girl wasn’t standing on a platform in front of an arriving train, a death zone in Merkel’s Germoney..

  3. The AfD has distributed free medication in the Lower Saxony fake “parliament” against “national dulling” (stupefaction of the people) in the package size of 18 dragées. A calculated coup? The left hyperventilate that this is a “hidden reference to Adolf Hitler” to “fish on the right margin”. The party should finally be “monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution”. The person responsible for the action asserts that he did not know anything about this silly “symbolism”. https://www.noz.de/deutschland-welt/niedersachsen/artikel/1867805/cdu-mann-nacke-halte-die-niedersaechsische-afd-fuer-rechtsextrem

    Imagine, it would have been 2 times 9 tablets, so even more cryptic, but in total still 18 tablets! Can you avoid the 18, like the 13th seat in airplanes or the 13th floor in skyscrapers? If your children turn 18, you’ll have to reformulate it as “17 plus 1 years” or “19 minus 1 year”. But you can also say “50 minus 32 years”. Soon there will be at least 60 ways to describe the number 18, after all there are at least 60 sexes according to left madness.

    • Today is even Friday the 13th. That can only have been Hitler’s
      intention. We should say “Saturday the 14th minus one day”.

  5. UK WWII cemetery in the Netherlands vandalized. Graffiti includes a swastika, the claim that MH17 was a false flag, “UK + NED bloodside”, a reference to HAARP.
    No prizes for guessing what demographic was behind this:

    Swastika painted on Mierlo WWII cemetery chapel, graves vandalized
    https://nltimes.nl/2019/09/13/swastika-painted-mierlo-wwii-cemetery-chapel-graves-vandalized

    More photos, and a video (all in Dutch):
    https://www.nu.nl/binnenland/5992135/britse-oorlogbegraafplaats-in-mierlo-beklad-door-onbekende-daders.html
    https://www.ed.nl/geldrop-mierlo-nuenen/oorlogsbegraafplaats-in-mierlo-weer-beklad-hakenkruis-op-kapel-er-is-veel-schade-aangericht~a910a3d6/?referrer=https://www.nu.nl/binnenland/5992135/britse-oorlogbegraafplaats-in-mierlo-beklad-door-onbekende-daders.html

  8. Norwegian Prof Publishes Book on ‘Feminist Islam’ (sputniknews, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/society/201909131076792954-norwegian-prof-publishes-book-on-feminist-islam/

    “A University of Stavanger associate professor has argued that Islam and feminism are not only quite compatible, but actually share a strong historic affiliation.

    Norwegian scholar of religion and associate professor at the University of Stavanger Marianne Hafnor Bøe has surprised the public by presenting an array of “feminist interpretations of Islam” in her new book.

    The book purports to present a feminist perspective on Islam and its scriptures, highlighting “both historical trends and current trends of feminism in Islam, as they emerge in different ways and various places such as Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the US, and Norway”. “Feminism in Islam” deals with relations between the sexes, female leadership, and issues related to female sexuality.

    By Bøe’s own admission, she has been indirectly working with these topics for many years. Since she admittedly received a lot of inquiries from readers and students, she decided that there was a need for an introductory book that highlights feminist interpretations of the Quran and Islam.

    “People are simply not very familiar with Islam, despite decades of immigration and cultural exchange. The knowledge here in Norway is more limited to the cultural baggage that comes from the majority Muslim countries, and not so much to the religion and theology itself”, Bøe told the news outlet Utrop. According to her, many of the feminist views are closer to the religion itself than so-called secular Muslim thought.

    According to Bøe, while Islam is known for gender-discriminatory customs, its religious practice contains a plethora of variations.

    “Islamic religious practice and theology can be interpreted to justify both gender discrimination and gender equality. We find examples of both”, Bøe explained.

    By her own admission, the goal is to reflect the diversity of Islam that includes various forms of feminism and gender equality.

    Marianne Hafnor Bøe is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Stavanger and has written research articles on halal dating among young Norwegian Muslims, women’s activism in Iran and Sudan and feminist approaches to Sharia law. Her book “Feminsm and Islam” will be out in October.

    A 2017 study estimated that Islam has 1.8 billion adherents, or close to a quarter of the world’s population. Norway’s own Islamic community has grown exponentially over the past few decades and is now estimated to constitute 5.7 percent of the country’s population of 5.2 million.

    In a comprehensive 2017 poll, 97 percent of Norwegian Muslims said they were fully in favour of gender equality. At the same time, close to one-third of the respondents claimed it was important to follow sharia, which left analysts perplexed.”

  9. Germany: Refugee aid worker murdered – a Moroccan is the prime suspect+++
    Carefully, firefighters uncover roof tiles to retrieve a gruesome finding. Under the roof, squeezed into a shed under the sloping roof, lies the body of a woman. She was murdered, the newspaper BILD reports.On August 27, relatives had reported the tenant (61 y.o) of the penthouse missing.Last week the police searched the apartment in Hanover’s Ahlem district for the first time, but found only the woman’s starved cat there.Wednesday at 3.30 p.m. then the second search. Immediately after opening the door, the officers were struck by a biting smell of decay. Smells of decay were emanating from the roof of the building where the investigators discovered the body. It is not yet clear whether it really is the missing person.In order not to cover up any traces, the fire brigade recovered the dead using a turntable ladder. She was taken to forensic medicine. The Homicide Unit ” Roof ” follows a first trace: The missing woman is said to have given German language courses for refugees on a voluntary basis.According to newspaper BILD, a 32-year-old man from Morocco is the prime suspect in the investigation. So far the police did not want to comment on possible suspects.
    More:
    https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2019/09/germany-refugee-aid-worker-murdered.html

  16. Hong Kongers troubled by unrest look for new homes abroad
    Clare Jim, Sonali Paul, Evan Duggan

    7 Min Read

    HONG KONG/MELBOURNE/VANCOUVER (Reuters) – As protests in Hong Kong stretch from summer into autumn with little sign of resolution, a surge in migration applications suggests more locals are making plans to leave the special administrative region.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-migration-analysis/hong-kongers-troubled-by-unrest-look-for-new-homes-abroad-idUSKCN1VY04T

    • Hong Kong protesters take to the hills, as leader pledges housing reform

      HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters took to the hills to form flashlight-carrying human chains on Friday, using the Mid-Autumn Festival as a backdrop for the latest in more than three months of demonstrations that have sometimes flared into violence.

      The peaceful protests, on a day when families traditionally gather to gaze at the moon and eat mooncakes while children swing colourful lanterns from the end of sticks, came after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam promised to focus on housing and jobs to try to end the unrest.
      Report Ad

      Lam, who said she caused “unforgivable havoc” by igniting the crisis and would quit if she had the choice, said in a Facebook post her government would increase the supply of housing in the Chinese-ruled city.

      “Housing and people’s livelihoods are the main priorities,

      https://www.oann.com/hong-kong-leader-to-prioritize-housing-livelihoods-to-appease-protesters/

  17. France: Murder and Attempted Murder up 79 Per Cent in 10 Years (breitbart, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/13/france-murder-attempted-murder-79-percent-10-years/

    “Figures from the French judicial police reveal that the number of murders and attempted murders in the country has dramatically increased over the last ten years.

    The statistics reveal that in 2009 France saw 1,767 victims of homicide and attempted homicide but that number jumped significantly to 3,168 by 2018 with professor of criminology Alain Bauer warning of the growing trend of violence, Le Figaro reports.

    “Homicide is, by definition, the criterion for recognising violence in a society,” Bauer said and added: “A deep movement back to physical violence is happening, especially in the West.”

    Frédéric Lagache of the police union Alliance Police Nationale agreed, saying: “Violence is democratising. Law enforcement is no longer scary. Today, for nothing, for a look, it turns to fists. Pulling out a gun has become commonplace.”

    Cities across France have seen a rise in violence, particularly surrounding the activities of criminal gangs in places like Marseille where a gang war that started at the beginning of 2019 has claimed the lives of nine people so far.

    In the span of just one week, France saw an attempted murder in L’Hay-les-Roses on September 2nd, a convicted criminal in Asnieres-sur-Seine shot dead on the 3rd, a suspected drug trafficker in Toulouse shot dead on the 4th, and another man shot dead the same night in Clermont-Ferrand.

    Last month, France’s Ministry of the Interior noted that murders had jumped by 16 per cent from May 1st to July 1st compared to the previous three-month period.

    Many of the 248 murders that took place during the three-month period are thought to be connected to gang-related activity including a shooting incident in Ollioules that saw a tourist killed as well.

    Random acts of violence, known in France as “violences gratuites”, have also become a major issue with a report from 2018 claiming that the country sees as many as 777 such random attacks per day.”

  18. Orban: New Austrian Govt Should Reject Political Islam (breitbart, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/13/orban-new-austrian-govt-should-reject-political-islam/

    “Following a meeting with populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Norbert Hofer, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he hopes the next Austrian government would reject political Islam.

    The meeting comes only weeks before Austria heads to the polls for a snap election and marks the first meeting between Prime Minister Orbán and Mr Hofer since the latter became the leader of the FPÖ in June.

    At a press conference in Budapest, Orbán noted that Austria was important to Hungary and a strategic ally, Hungary’s Híradó reports.

    He also went on to say that he and the Hungarian government did not want to interfere with the Austrian election saying: “It is up to the Austrian citizens to decide on Austria.”

    “We are committed to co-operation, we agree that both countries are important for the other country, Austria remains extremely important for Hungary,” Orbán said and remarked on the cooperation with the FPÖ while they were part of the previous coalition.

    The Hungarian leader went as far as wishing the FPÖ election success and added that he hoped they would once again join the governing coalition.

    Mr Hofer joined Orbán in stating that defending Austria and Europe against Islamism was important and spoke of the close economic cooperation between the two countries.

    The meeting is the first major foreign event for Hofer since becoming FPÖ leader in June following the Ibiza scandal that forced the previous leader Heinz-Christian Strache, who has also spoken out against Islamism, to resign both as FPÖ leader and as vice-chancellor of Austria.

    The knock-on effect of the scandal led to the resignation of all FPÖ ministers from the cabinet and ultimately to the downfall of Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) leader Sebastian Kurz as Austrian chancellor.

    The national election is set for Sunday, September 29th, and current polling shows Kurz’s ÖVP with a clear lead with 34 per cent and the FPÖ in third place, nearly tied with the Social Democrats.”

  20. As Indonesia fires rage, schools and airport forced to close (abcnews, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesia-fires-rage-schools-airport-forced-close-65587742

    “Indonesian authorities closed an airport on Sumatra island on Friday due to poor visibility caused by smoke from raging fires burning through peatland, while schools in several provinces and in neighboring Malaysia closed due to the hazardous haze.

    Fluctuating visibility that at times was just 300 meters (yards) forced airlines to postpone flights to the main airport in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, airport official Yogi Prasetyo said. Poor visibility also caused delays at an airport in Dumai, another city in Riau.

    Worsening haze caused more schools in Riau and Jambi provinces to close, education officials said. Health offices in both provinces said more than 300,000 people have suffered respiratory illnesses since the haze began, and officials said more people have been seeking medical help in recent weeks.

    Nearly every year, Indonesian forest fires spread health-damaging haze across the country and into neighboring Malaysia and Singapore. The fires are often started by smallholders and plantation owners to clear land for planting.

    Some schools in Malaysia’s central Selangor state shut on Friday, affecting 45,000 students, after air pollution levels spiked, the state Education Department said. Earlier this week, hundreds of schools were shut for a day in eastern Sarawak state, which neighbors Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province where more than 25,000 hectares (60,000 acres) of land were deliberately burned.

    Officials have said Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad would write to Indonesian President Joko Widodo to press for urgent action to tackle the cross-border haze.

    Indonesian Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar sparked anger this week by disputing that the smoke was coming from Indonesia, noting that hotspots were also detected in Malaysia’s Sarawak state.

    “I think there was incorrect information, because the Indonesian government is trying systematically to solve this as well as possible,” Bakar told reporters in Jakarta.

    Malaysian Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin responded immediately, telling Indonesia “not to be in denial.” She cited data from the ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Center that showed the haze impacting parts of Malaysia originated in Indonesia.

    Many areas of Indonesia are prone to rapid burning because of the draining of swampy peatland forests for pulp wood and palm oil plantations.

    The Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency said Friday there were more than 5,000 hotspots nationwide, including on Sumatra and Borneo islands, leading to very poor air quality in six provinces with a combined population of more than 23 million. The provinces have declared a state of emergency.

    It said more than 40 helicopters have dropped about 240 million liters (63 million gallons) of water and more than 160,000 kilograms (350,000 pounds) of salt for cloud seeding as part of the firefighting efforts.

    Indonesian authorities have deployed more than 9,000 people to fight the fires, which have razed more than 328,700 hectares (812,000 acres) of land across the nation, with more than half in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

    Malaysia’s government has banned open burning and conducted cloud-seeding in Sarawak on Thursday to induce rain to clear the choking haze.

    Record Indonesian forest fires in 2015 spread haze across a swath of Southeast Asia, and according to a study by Harvard and Columbia universities, hastened 100,000 deaths.”

  21. Turkey’s ex-prime minister resigns from Erdogan’s party (abcnews, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-prime-minister-resigns-erdogans-party-65589657

    “Former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has announced his resignation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party and plans to form a new political movement.

    Davutoglu resigned on Friday, days after the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, began proceedings to expel him and three former legislators from the party for breach of discipline.

    The politician served as foreign minister between 2009 and 2014 and later as prime minister until 2016, when he was sacked by Erdogan and replaced by Binali Yildirim.

    He has recently been critical of Erdogan’s policies, especially concerning freedom of expression.

    Davutoglu is the second key AKP figure to resign from the party after Ali Babacan — a former deputy prime minister and economy minister, who in July also announced plans for a new party.”

  22. Scarred by Libya abuse, migrants hope for new life in Europe (abcnews, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/scarred-libya-abuse-migrants-hope-life-europe-65590498

    “It was Mouctar Diallo’s fifth attempt to reach Europe by sea. His previous four tries had been foiled by gangs on speedboats who returned him to Libya where he was detained and beaten.

    This time, the 28-year-old from Guinea and 49 other sub-Saharan Africans were determined not to let anything stop them.

    “Even if the water is not good, we said ‘today we will go to Europe, or we die,'” Diallo recalled.

    And so they departed from Zuwara, Libya, on a blue inflatable plastic boat in a bid to make it across the Mediterranean Sea.

    About 26 kilometers (16 miles) into their journey a fishing boat approached and offered to help. But Diallo was suspicious. He had been warned that fishermen, just like the criminal gangs, were known to return rescued migrants to Libyan traffickers in exchange for money.

    Then, a large red boat approached. The migrants recognized it from social media: It was the Ocean Viking, a Norwegian-flagged ship jointly operated by humanitarian groups SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders. Everyone was brought on board.

    “First I started crying. I was so happy. I said ‘yes! This time my life has changed,'” Diallo told an Associated Press journalist aboard the ship. “It was my fifth try, my last chance. I preferred to die than go back to Libya. I was so happy I can’t even talk about it. I will never forget that day.”

    The rescue happened on Sept. 8 — Diallo’s birthday. He is now among dozens of migrants on the ship, waiting for a European country to give them permission to disembark. They pass their time doing laundry or playing chess with plastic bottle caps. Sometimes they sing and dance.

    The ship rejected an offer to disembark in Libya. After having a shower and putting on clean clothes donated by the charities, Diallo showed why. He has knife and bullet wounds on his legs and marks on the top of his skull that his hair has yet to cover. He said they are traces of the violence that migrants are subjected to while held by smugglers in Libya, a country wracked by internal conflict.

    “Every day they beat you,” said Diallo, whose nickname is “the general” because of all his warlike scars.

    Other migrants had similar stories. Of a dozen people who agreed to speak to the AP, every single one said they were beaten, abused or raped in Libya.

    In recent years, European Union countries have scaled back their own rescue operations in the central Mediterranean and handed over responsibility to the EU-funded Libyan coast guard. That has helped sharply reduce migrant arrivals in Italy in the past two years. The U.N. refugee agency says this year more than 6,000 migrants were intercepted at sea by the EU-funded Libyan coast guard and brought back to the North African country.

    Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, advocacy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said that while the EU is celebrating a drop in irregular migration, as well as deaths at sea, “what they don’t tell you is what is happening to the people who are stuck in Libya.”

    Migrants are held longer by traffickers “who are realizing that the way to make money is not necessarily by crossing the Mediterranean but by extorting people and their families,” she said.

    Diallo decided to leave his village in Guinea after seeing how some families were lifted out of poverty by relatives who had gone to Europe. Families who used to have nothing were now building houses thanks to money sent from Europe. So, he wanted to give his family the same, and pay for the school of his younger brother and sister.

    Diallo used to work in construction, making bricks, but he doesn’t know where he will end up or what he will be doing. He just wants to make it to Europe, find work and earn money. Going back to Guinea, where 55% of people live in poverty according to the U.N., is not an option, Diallo said. Not after he’s come this far.

    But he’s warned countrymen who are thinking about entering Europe irregularly about taking the route through Libya.

    “They don’t even consider us humans in Libya,” he said. “They rape men, they rape women; they do everything there. They do whatever. Only God can help us.””

  23. ‘War is imposed on us by US’: Taliban speaks out after peace negotiations cut off

    Talks with the Taliban to put an end to the longest of America’s forever wars were killed off by the US last week. The Afghan militant movement is prepared to fight a hundred more years, its chief negotiator told RT.

    “The war was imposed on us. It is American soldiers who are in Afghanistan. It’s not our mujahedeen in Washington”- Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai / head of Taliban delegation

  25. Shia Muslims flagellate themselves during Ashura Holy day celebration

    Shia Muslims around the world consider Ashura as a sad Holy day as back in 680 Imam Hussein – the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad – was killed in the battle of Karbala.

    Apart from memorial services and mourning processions, many worshipers participate in flagellation when they use special swords or chains with blades called ‘zanjeer.’

    Some of them believe that taking part in Ashura washes away their sins.

  26. Indonesians pray for rain as forest fires rage on Sumatra island

    Indonesians pray for rain as forest fires rage on Sumatra island with the number of blazes in the country’s rainforests jumping sharply and spreading smog across Southeast Asia as well as adding to concerns about the impact of increasing wildfire outbreaks worldwide on global warming.

  28. China
    Pursuant to the decision of the State Commission for Development and Reforms and the State Tax Administration, the parameter regarding tax payment reliability (timeliness, size, compliance with declarations, as well as deliberate and unintentional breach of tax liability)is included in the Social Credibility System. Information on tax reliability will be available on the nationwide system network. People and companies that regularly settle accounts with the tax authorities can count not only on the diploma, but also on the privilege of being able to serve first, without any queuing at offices, public transport ticket offices and other such places. The Social Credibility System extends objectively but also tightens subjectively. Soon, every aspect of life will be assessed…… Foreign residents are not covered by this system. But it’s only a matter of time.
    http://chiny24.com/news/tydzien-za-wielkim-murem-36-19

  29. MEMRI:
    Jordanian Journalist: Muslims Are The True Victims Of 9/11 – Since Then, Six Million Muslims Have Been Killed In Wars Against Them Launched By The West

    To mark the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, columnist for the Jordanian Al-Dustour daily Ismail Al-Sharif, a previous CEO of the paper, wrote that the Muslims are the real victims of the attacks. Since September 11, 2001, he claimed, “no fewer than six million Muslims” have been killed in direct and indirect crimes and wars launched against Muslims by the West.

    https://www.memri.org/reports/jordanian-journalist-muslims-are-true-victims-911-–-then-six-million-muslims-have-been

    6 million. A number that resonates.

  30. China’s corporate social credit system spooks European companies

    China’s system of collating “reputation” scores for both individuals and companies in a monumental database has been in the offing for years but European companies aren’t ready, says a new report.
    European companies operating in China need to ramp up their preparations for the intensification of the Communist Party’s social credit system, a report from the EU Chamber of Commerce in China has warned.

    China’s “national reputation” system of so-called social credit has been mooted for its population for several years.

    Back in April, regulations released by the Communist Party’s Central Committee outlined a vision of a database for companies that would include information on “registration, administrative licenses, administrative penalties, ‘blacklists,’ tax payments, social security payments, utilities bills, storage and logistics.”

    With Beijing hoping to have such a database largely operational by 2020, many European companies are in for a shock unless they get their act together, said Jörg Wuttke, the EU Chamber of Commerce president.

    “The corporate social credit system could mean life or death for individual companies,” he said. “The overwhelming absence of preparation by the European business community is deeply concerning.”

    Preparing to get whacked

    While the impending step-up in scrutiny is likely to catch some companies off guard, it is not necessarily a surprising development, given that, when China published the road map for the social credit system in 2014, it made clear that corporations would be part of it.

    “It applies to Chinese companies already anyway, so, from the Chinese government’s perspective, there is no reason why foreign companies should be exempt,” Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, told DW over the phone.
    He believes that the extent to which such a system affects companies’ plans in China will ultimately depend on the wider relationship between China and the West, and that commercial interests will come first until that relationship fundamentally changes.

    “If you are a multinational or a foreign company operating in China, you already accept all kinds of restrictions that you would not accept in any other country,” he said. “Therefore, if you have a sufficiently good reason to be in China, you are not going to be deterred simply by the social credit system being introduced.”

    Highlighting recent examples of western companies modifying their behavior to gain favor in China, he said: “You are talking about a general environment where international airlines change their descriptions of Taiwan because of pressure from the Chinese government.

    “You are talking about hotel chains like Marriott doing the same,” referring to the hotel group recently changing its description of Taiwan on its website under pressure from Beijing.

    “You are talking about Cathay Pacific losing its chief executive in Hong Kong because of pressure from the Chinese government. And they are still operating in China. So you are already seeing very major multinationals willing to pay a significant price for operating in China. I don’t think the social credit system in itself is going to change that.”

    As for whether China will choose to expel European companies from the country, he believes that it will again depend on the government’s own strategic interests with regard to that company’s specific operations.
    If a particular European company is providing vital technology or products that the Chinese need in the process of decoupling from the Americans, I think they will probably get away with a lot of things that would otherwise have earned them poor social credit.

    “But if it is a European company manufacturing things which the Chinese themselves are perfectly capable of manufacturing and they get poor social credit…they will be whacked,” he said.

    Orwellian or alright?

    Nonetheless, one of the authors of the Chamber of Commerce report told the news agency Reuters that the system could become a “surgical instrument” for forcing companies to meet China’s political aims.

    “It is a very, very potent instrument of regulating, controlling and steering companies in a targeted way,” Björn Conrad, CEO of the consulting firm Sinolytics, told reporters. Companies “cannot decide between legal and illegal anymore. You have to decide where you want to be on the good and bad scale,” he said.

    According to the Chamber’s information, Beijing will judge companies using around 30 ratings touching on almost every aspect of their business, from tax and customs compliance to environmental protection.Negative ratings could mean penalties ranging from small fines, to exclusion from subsidies, to outright blacklisting. As well as that, a foreign company could suffer as a result of the poor record of one of its domestic Chinese suppliers.
    According to Tsang, from the government’s perspective, using such a system ultimately comes back to their central goal of having control.

    “This is clearly what Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party under him wants,” he said. “It is a Leninist system and a Leninist system is about control. There is no reason why they would not see it in those terms.”

    Yet he also said the system does not have to be seen in exclusively negative terms if it leads to some form of enhanced corporate social responsibility in China,

    “In big corporations, whether they are in China, or overseas in the US, UK or in Germany, they do not on their own always maintain the highest standards of corporate responsibility. So trying to make them do that is not necessarily in itself a bad thing,” he said. “The problem with that in China is that corporate social responsibility is defined by the Communist Party and not by society at large.”

    Conscious uncoupling

    The report comes at a particularly sensitive time for Sino-Western relations, given the deepening trade conflict with the US and the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. There is the also the deepening rifts over technological development and intellectual property.

    Tsang says a “general decoupling” is taking place between the US and China and that as that process deepens, third countries will be expected to “pick a side”. As that happens, companies may be forced to do likewise.

    But for now, he believes corporate success remains the primary concern for many large overseas companies operating in China, rather than any alignment to a Chinese or Western perspective in the wider political context.

    “If they think they are going to have the largest market in China, I don’t see them standing on a moral principle and forsaking a business opportunity,” he said.
    https://www.dw.com/en/chinas-corporate-social-credit-system-spooks-european-companies/a-50200050

  34. Swedish Municipality to Investigate True Costs of Asylum Migration (breitbart, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/13/swedish-municipality-investigate-true-costs-asylum-migration/

    “The Swedish municipality of Härjedalen will be investigating the true costs of asylum and migration as other local governments face financial crises.

    The investigation was announced by the local Centre Party politician Anders Häggkvist who said it was important to investigate the matter “so that we can discuss it in an open way”, Nyheter Idag reports.

    The proposal, which was originally tabled by Olle Larsson of the Eurosceptic Independent Rural Party, comes after a local report that showed the municipality had spent 900,000 SEK ($92,987/£75,442) on minor migrants in the last financial statement.

    The costs are high for the municipality which has just 10,000 residents but is just part of the costs for asylum seekers which includes six HVB asylum homes, one of which remains empty, and around 50 apartments leased by the municipal housing company.

    Social Democrat Lars-Gunnar Nordlander, who serves as deputy municipal councillor and chairman of the social committee, said migrants were a resource for the area.

    The investigation comes after several other local governments in Sweden that took large numbers of asylum seekers since 2015 have raised alarm over looming financial crises as migrants with low education and language skills remain on welfare benefits and are unable to join the labour force.

    Since August, three municipalities have voiced concerns over their financial futures including Bengtsfors which petitioned the national Swedish government for money in order to avoid potential bankruptcy.

    Filipstad complained not only of the low educational backgrounds of the asylum seekers now residing in the municipality but also of an added problem of native Swedes leaving the area and greatly weakening the already strained tax base.

    Claes Hultgren, the local municipal manager, spoke of the issues with new migrants saying: “In this group, unemployment and dependency are very high, while education levels are very low. This group runs the risk of ending in an eternal alienation that is already heavily burdening the municipal economy.””

  35. Horrific moment a gang targeting drunk people for their cellphones viciously beats, stomps on and strips a man before hitting him with a potted plant and riding over him with a bicycle
    On August 3, a gang of 12 teens and young men attacked and robbed a man near Target Field in Minneapolis
    Surveillance video from the scene shows assailants punching, kicking and repeatedly jumping on victim after removing his pants
    At one point, one suspected gang member rides over victim’s chest with a bike
    A similar attack targeting drunk people took place on August 29, leaving a victim unconscious
    Police conducted a three-day bust and arrested 16 suspects between ages 13-25, half of them juveniles

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7456963/Videos-shows-gang-beat-stomp-ride-man-bike.html

  36. Erdogan Adviser Hammers Saudis for ‘Favoring Europeans and Non-Muslims’ over Turkey (breitbart, Sep 13, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/09/13/erdogan-adviser-hammers-saudis-favoring-europeans-non-muslims-turkey/

    “Yasin Aktay, a senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party, fumed at Saudi Arabia on Thursday for allegedly “favoring the Europeans and non-Muslims” over Turkey and Islamic countries because the Saudis do not appear to support Turkish claims on Cyprus.

    Aktay’s ire was drawn by Saudi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf’s visit to Cyprus on Wednesday for a meeting with its president, Nicos Anastasiades. Al-Assaf said Saudi Arabia wishes to develop better relations with Cyprus “on all fronts.” The Cypriot government declared the first state visit by a top Saudi official as “historic.”

    Al-Assaf held a press conference with Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides in which he declared Saudi support for “the legitimacy and sovereignty of Cyprus” and said Saudi Arabia “stands with our ally, the Cypriot president, against Turkey’s illegal activities in the Mediterranean.”

    This was a reference to Turkey’s efforts to grab undersea oil and gas deposits around Cyprus. The European Union has sanctioned Turkey for illegally drilling in a gigantic oil field discovered by American explorers a few years ago. In 2018, Turkey sent warships to drive off Italian ships contracted by the Cypriots to explore the oil field.

    The good news is that Turkey agrees with Saudi Arabia that Cyprus should be recognized as a sovereign nation. The bad news is that they disagree over which part of the island should enjoy that status. The island has been bitterly divided since the 1970s.

    The Turks occupy the northern part of Cypress and refer to that area as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a (not very) independent entity with an exclusive economic zone that just happens to cover most of those valuable offshore oil and gas resources. Turkey is the only country that formally recognizes this northern republic as a sovereign entity.

    The European Union regards the entire island as an independent sovereign Republic of Cyprus administered by Greece. The European Union granted the Republic of Cyprus membership 15 years ago. Turkey’s quest to obtain full EU membership has been less successful, in part because of the confrontation over Cyprus.

    The Turkish government has said it will continue drilling in the Cyprus undersea fields “with determination and without change” until the Greek Cypriot government agrees to a cooperation plan proposed by the Turkish Cypriots.

    Turkish President Erdogan’s adviser Yasin Aktay erupted during an interview with Turkish state media on Thursday when the topic of the Saudi visit to Cyprus came up.

    “What does the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia benefit from this visit and establishing this relationship with Southern Cyprus, the Roum, which Turkey does not recognize?” he exclaimed, using a somewhat derogatory term for Greek Cypriots.

    “Saudi Arabia should not have recognized this country but as a Muslim country and as part of the Organization of Islamic Countries, we were waiting and wishing for them to recognize the state of Turkish Cyprus, which is a Muslim country. They take the Europeans, the Roum and the non-Muslims as friends of theirs but are moving away from Muslims. This is surprising,” Aktay continued.

    “This visit to the Roum and this challenge to Turkey from this policy is not worthy of the Kingdom to do so. They should take a more rational stance and should realize that Turkey is not an enemy to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Turkey wants to advise her as a true brother and friend to establish justice,” he said.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced on Thursday that the once-popular Cyprus resort town of Varosha will be reopened soon after 45 years of being fenced off and occupied by Turkish troops. Cavusoglu said Turkey plans to open a consulate in the area.

    The 40,000 Greek Cypriots who formerly lived and worked in Varosha were driven out by invading Turkish forces in 1974 and the resort has been a “ghost town” ever since. The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in 1984 that stipulated only the original inhabitants of Varosha can resettle there.

    Cavusoglu added that no one can prevent Turkey from drilling in the Cypriot oil fields and said Turkey is prepared to “defend” all of its claims on the island and surrounding area.

    The Greek Cypriot government condemned Cavusoglu’s comments “in the most categorical way” and said it would use “all political and diplomatic means to address these statements.” Cypriot President Anastasiades said he regarded Turkey’s plans for Varosha as a deliberate provocation and is considering asking the U.N. Security Council to intervene.”

  37. Last Friday, French firefighters were violently attacked by a group of thugs in what was the second incident of its kind in less than two weeks.

    While responding to an incident in the commune of Cavaillon, firefighters in the department of Vaucluse were lured to an area at around 11:45 pm after a group of suspects set fire to a garbage can. According to BMFT, once the firefighters had arrived at the scene, a group attacked them with petanque balls and Molotov cocktails.

    Although none of the emergency service responders were injured during the attack, Commander David Durupt, the head of the Cavaillon Fire Department, said that the attack was deliberate.

    https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/09/france-firefighters-attacked-with-molotov-cocktails/

  38. RCMP intel director charged in major case was top adviser to former force head: sources
    A director general of an intelligence unit within the RCMP has been arrested and charged, Global News has confirmed.

    Cameron Ortis is facing seven charges dating back to 2015 under both the Criminal Code and the Security of Information Act.
    A statement from the RCMP confirmed those charges “stem from activities alleged to have occurred during his tenure as an RCMP employee.”

    Sources with knowledge of national security investigations described Ortis as former RCMP Comm. Bob Paulson’s most elite adviser on issues related to national security and sensitive investigations, and likely the only civilian to ever achieve the position of director general of intelligence, with control over RCMP counter-intelligence operations.

    Ortis is described as an Ottawa intellectual and an academic that was seen as arrogant by some in Canada’s national security establishment.

    Global News’ early source information indicates that Ortis’ expertise in computers and cyberspace, the level of sensitive high-tech information he would have access to as a long-time government advisor, as well as his connections to East Asia and China, are some of the areas that could have concerned this multi-pronged national security information.

    As a civilian member of the RCMP’s strategic intelligence unit, Ortis had a lynchpin role that gave him unparalleled access to operation intelligence, according to a source.
    At times, he worked extensively with FINTRAC, and once focused on Somalia, one of the countries that has attracted Canadian extremists to fight in the terrorist group Al-Shabab, the source said.

    The source described him as professional and competent.
    Ortis is charged with:

    Section 14(1) of the Security of Information Act
    Section 22(1)(b) of the Security of Information Act
    Section 22(1)(e) of the Security of Information Act
    Section 122 of the Criminal Code
    Section 342.1(1) of the Criminal Code

    Those charges relate specifically with unauthorized leaking of sensitive operational information and breach of trust, as well as unauthorized use of a computer.

    The other counts refer to “obtaining, retaining or gaining access” to information and possessing a device “useful for concealing the content of information or surreptitiously communicating, obtaining or retaining information.”

    Two of the charges are based on a section of the Security of Information Act that relates to preparatory acts towards “communications to a foreign entity.”

    He faces up to 33 years imprisonment if convicted……
    https://globalnews.ca/news/5899146/senior-rcmp-arrested-charged/

  39. After Receiving a Scathing Letter From Senators, Facebook Doubles Down on Anti-Christian Censorship

    Facebook is claiming without merit that LiveAction is fake news.

    Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Braun issued a scathing letter to Facebook on Wednesday, calling them out for their anti-Christian censorship against the pro-life activists at LiveAction.

    “Your company, like Twitter, Google, Pinterest and so many of the other major social media firms in Silicon Valley, has repeatedly been presented with evidence of bias against those with conservative viewpoints, especially on the issue of abortion,” states the letter, which is addressed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

    The Senators and the primary victim of Facebook’s censorship campaign, Live Action President Lila Rose, demanded that the social media provider reverse their arbitrary distinction of “fake news” and issue an apology.

    https://bigleaguepolitics.com/after-receiving-a-scathing-letter-from-senators-facebook-doubles-down-on-anti-christian-censorship/

  40. Urban guerilla in Bretagne, France. “Youth” set fires, ambush first responders:
    http://freewestmedia.com/2019/09/12/french-firefighters-police-and-gendarmes-assaulted-in-same-evening/

    No injuries were reported on Tuesday evening in the neighbourhood of Kermoysan, in Quimper, (Finistère), but “several dozen individuals assaulted firefighters intervening to extinguish fires of vehicles and trash voluntarily lit,” said the prefecture of Finistère in a statement. Cars and garbage bins were set alight, while projectiles were launched at police officers by black and Arab youths.

    It was the beginning of an evening of violence when the police and gendarmes were called on site to secure the action of firefighters that had become the targets of violence. “Fortunately, no injuries were noted among the emergency services and security,” said the prefecture.

    According to several sources, the violence erupted with the arrest of a migrant youth driving a motorcycle without a helmet. “It has angered the youths of the neighbourhood who take revenge by setting fires,” lamented a local resident. But before the arson attacks, a face-to-face meeting between police and young people had taken place.

    The police instructed inhabitants to stay indoors when the violence broke out.

    The director of public security of Finistère, Nelly Jauneau-Poirier, told France Bleu Breizh Izel that the violence may have occurred “probably following our intervention in halting street races, some time after we had the vehicle fires”. On Wednesday morning, the police announced that they had not arrested anyone.

  41. SPIKED: THIS ROTTEN PARLIAMENT
    audio – 29 minutes 7 seconds
    Parliament, legal challenges and No Deal. Brendan O’Neill, Ella Whelan and Fraser Myers discuss the week in Brexit.

  42. Urban guerilla in France, Pt II.

    French police targeted by mortar fire
    http://freewestmedia.com/2019/09/09/french-police-targeted-by-mortar-fire/

    While pursuing a car loaded with narcotics, on Sunday, September 8 in Grigny (Essonne), three police officers were targeted by mortar fire.

    As reported by LCI, the officials opened fire at least eight times in return in Essonne, a French department in the region of Île-de-France.

    It all started with an ordinary car inspection. The police asked the driver, who had committed a number of traffic violations, to stop. He refused to obey and fled, before abandoning his vehicle that had hit a concrete block.

    When the officers approached the car, they were targeted by a dozen individuals who pelted them with rocks, before receiving mortar fire. A reinforcement patrol arrived on the spot and one of the police officers used an LBD and his service weapon to try to fight back against the urban guerrillas.

    He was hit by mortar fire that has now resulted in him having hearing problems and several burns to his forearms. In the car which was being checked, the investigators found six platelets of cannabis resin.

    “It’s a real weapon [the mortar, ed]. It is a tube in which they put fireworks, big caliber, and the individuals light these fireworks in the direction of our colleagues. It is devastating,” Olivier Michelet, departmental secretary in Essonne from the SGP Police Unit, told BFMTV.

    The use of this light artillery weapon was already spotted in July, in the same city, during an altercation between police and inhabitants, according to BFMTV. The police are worried about the lack of staff in this ultra-sensitive migrant neighbourhood.

    In one year alone, a hundred officials left the department for only twenty replacements.
    [..]
    The facts took place in the night from Sunday to Monday, around two o’clock in the morning, when the area was in the grip of violence. Molotov cocktails were thrown directly at police accomodation. No injuries were reported but the vehicles parked in front of the building had broken windows.

    According to the Paris daily, this is the sixth time in three years that the building was attacked because it is near immigrant housing and on the ground floor. Quoted by Le Parisien, the Alliance police union says that “all these events show that the department of Essonne is a difficult department where violence is constantly present. What happened to the Ulis is the symbol. Attacking a police station is a serious act. Fortunately there were enough colleagues to deal with it this time. Because these rioters are focused and organised. But what will happen in the future?”.

    In July already the union warned that “the department was desperately short of staff to oppose these urban guerrilla scenes”.

    The mayor of the city says that these acts are “lamentable” but understandable because “there is a small gang for which it has become a tradition to attack the police station”. No individual was arrested after the fact in July however.

    On Sunday, July 14, the police had feared hydrochloric acid attacks because sales of the product had exploded before the weekend. Two shops in Essonne “had their stock of hydrochloric acid completely exhausted”.

  44. Iranian Tanker Fiasco Exposes Britain’s Muddled Thinking

    by Con Coughlin
    September 13, 2019 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14877/iran-britain-shipping-seizure

    The sorry saga of the Iranian oil tanker that was originally seized by Britain before making its way to Syria to unload its cargo in breach of EU sanctions highlights the confusion that lies at the heart of the British government’s policy towards Tehran.

    The Iranian-registered tanker, which at the time sailed under the name Grace One, was seized by British Royal Marines in early July off the coast of Gibraltar on suspicion that it was delivering its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of oil to Syria, a clear violation of EU sanctions that are in place against the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

    Iran responded two weeks later by seizing the British-registered tanker Stena Impero as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, thereby causing deep embarrassment for the government of then British Prime Minister Theresa May, which had failed to put adequate measures in place to protect British shipping from any act of Iranian retaliation.

    The ensuing diplomatic stand-off between London and Tehran eventually resulted in Britain agreeing to release the Grace One, but only after the British authorities received written assurances from Iran that the oil would not be delivered to Syria.

    Now it appears that Iran has deliberately misled the British government about its intentions after satellite photographs revealed the ship, which has now been renamed the Adrian Darya 1, is in Syria, where its $130 million oil cargo has been handed over to the Assad regime.

  45. Will There Be a New Russian-Chinese Security Architecture in the Gulf?

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Russia, backed by China, is hoping to exploit mounting doubts in the Persian Gulf about the reliability of the US as the region’s sole security guarantor. It is proposing a radical overhaul of the security architecture in the area, which is home to massive oil and gas reserves and some of the world’s most strategic waterways.

    Chinese backing for Russia’s proposed collective security concept, which would replace the Gulf’s US defense umbrella and position Russia as a power broker alongside the US, comes amid heightened tensions as a result of tit-for-tat tanker seizures and a beefed-up US and British military presence in Gulf waters.

    In early August, Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized an alleged Iraqi tanker in the Gulf. Iran said the vessel was smuggling oil to an unidentified Arab country.

    The taking of the Iraqi ship followed the Iranian seizure of the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero. The seizure was in response to the impounding off Gibraltar of an Iranian tanker suspected of breaching EU sanctions against Syria.

    The Russian proposal entails the creation of a “counter-terrorism coalition (of) all stakeholders” that would be the motor for the resolution of conflicts across the region and promote mutual security guarantees. It would involve the removal of the “permanent deployment of troops of extra-regional states in the territories of states of the Gulf” – a reference to US, British, and French forces.

  47. A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with a hate crime in connection to an attack on a 63-year-old Jewish man in a Brooklyn park, police said Thursday.

    Interested in New York?
    Add New York as an interest to stay up to date on the latest New York news, video, and analysis from ABC News.
    New YorkAdd Interest
    Oniel Gilbourne, of Brooklyn, was charged with assault as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon following the Aug. 27 attack on the man, whose name was not released, according to the New York City Police Department. Gilbourne was hospitalized after his arrest, but police did not say why or where.

    https://abcnews.go.com/US/brooklyn-man-charged-hate-crime-attack-63-year/story?id=65575885

  48. ‘Historic milestone’: Senate Republicans confirm 150th judge during Trump presidency
    by John Gage
    | September 12, 2019 05:48 PM

    Print this article
    The Senate confirmed President Trump’s 150th judicial nominee, continuing his and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s goal of shaping a more conservative judiciary.

    A total of 152 judges have been confirmed since the beginning of Trump’s presidency, as of Wednesday.

    “This is a historic milestone,” Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said in a statement Wednesday. “These conservative judicial appointments will impact our nation for years to come.”

    Graham, 64, said the Judiciary Committee plans on continuing to “push through highly qualified, conservative judges.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/historic-milestone-senate-republicans-confirm-150th-judge-during-trump-presidency

  49. DOJ may release ‘important’ documents ahead of FISA abuse report
    by Daniel Chaitin
    & Jerry Dunleavy
    | September 12, 2019 09:55 PM

    Print this article
    The Justice Department may release a tranche of documents before the public gets a chance to see the DOJ inspector general’s report on alleged government surveillance abuses.

    The Hill’s John Solomon told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday his sources are telling him that “important” records could be released sometime this month.

    “To get how bad the situation is, you need those documents to be declassified,” the investigative reporter said. “We’ve been talking about those buckets for a long time. I am hearing that the Justice Department is nearing a decision to release 10 or 12 of the most important documents before the … IG report comes out, that will allow all of us to see how bad it was before we see the IG’s conclusions. I think that could happen later this month.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-may-release-important-documents-ahead-of-fisa-abuse-report