Reader’s Links for October 14, 2019

Daily Links Post graphic

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

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

83 Replies to “Reader’s Links for October 14, 2019”

  1. This one is 3 years old (Jan 8, 2016) but might have been made today.

    Is Society Collapsing?

  2. Denmark to strip foreign fighters of Danish citizenship
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191014-denmark-to-strip-foreign-fighters-of-danish-citizenship/

    “Denmark will fast-track legislation allowing people with dual citizenship who have gone abroad to fight for militant groups like Daesh to be stripped of their Danish nationality, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday, according to a report by Reuters.

    European states are trying to accelerate a plan to shift thousands of foreign Daesh militants out of Syrian prison camps and into Iraq, as a fresh conflict in Syria has raised the risk of militants escaping or returning home.

    “There is a risk that the Kurdish-controlled IS[Daesh]-camps in the border area will collapse and that foreign warriors with Danish citizenship will move towards Denmark,” Frederiksen said in a statement.

    Authorities believe at least 158 people from Denmark have joined militant groups in Syria or Iraq since 2012, about 27 of whom remain in the conflict zone. Twelve of these are believed to be imprisoned.

    All 27 are Danish nationals but it is unclear how many also have citizenship of another country…”

  3. U.S. Urges Immediate Cease-Fire in Syria as It Sanctions Turkey
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-14/u-s-sanctions-turkey-after-trump-opened-way-for-move-into-syria?

    “The Trump administration called on Turkey for “an immediate cease-fire” in Syria on Monday as it announced sanctions on three senior Turkish officials and sharply increased tariffs on steel in response to the military operation launched by Ankara last week.

    Vice President Mike Pence, speaking to reporters, said that he would lead a delegation to Turkey at President Donald Trump’s request in an effort to stop the military advance. Pence said the U.S. wanted the two sides to negotiate a long-term peace, but he didn’t call for Turkey to pull out of Syria.

    “President Trump made it very clear that the United States is going to continue to take actions against Turkey’s economy until they bring the violence to an end,” Pence said. “We want an immediate ceasefire and we want to begin negotiations between Turkey and Syrian defense forces.”

    Trump, who signed an executive order imposing the sanctions on Monday, spoke with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in the day, Pence said.

    The penalties would raise steel tariffs on Turkey back to 50%, the level before a reduction in May, and the U.S. would halt negotiations over a $100 billion trade pact, Trump said in a statement. The administration also sanctioned the Turkish ministers of defense, energy and the interior, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

    Experts on sanctions say the administration could have imposed restrictions last week if they had wanted to, and that Trump’s talk of future sanctions is more messaging to satisfy frustrated lawmakers who may have a veto-proof majority to pass legislation and force the president’s hand.

    Indeed, the efforts fell short of what many lawmakers considered a strong enough response.

    Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said: “We appreciate the administration’s planned sanctions, but it does not go far enough to punish Turkey for its egregious offenses in Syria.” He added that he plans to continue pushing for steeper penalties.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been working with Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and Trump ally, to pass legislation that would put harsh restrictions on the country.

    “I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path,” Trump said in the statement.

    “If they knew what they wanted to do, they would have done it already,” said Brian O’Toole, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who previously worked in the Treasury Department’s sanctions unit. He called Trump’s announcement “weak” and expects Congress to pass tougher legislation.

    The announcement is an effort to contain the damage from Trump’s decision to stand aside if Turkey entered northern Syria, essentially giving Erdogan a green light to carry out the operation. Erdogan says the offensive is necessary to push back Kurdish militants and resettle refugees, but the rapid advance into Syria has drawn international condemnation and accusations of war crimes.

    Steel Tariffs
    Last year, Trump increased steel tariffs on Turkish imports and then cut them in May to 25%. Despite that reduction, imports from Turkey to the U.S. haven’t recovered. U.S. imports of Turkish steel touched 12,749 metric tons in August, down 88% from the same month a year ago, according to Census Bureau data. Turkey accounted for 1.1% of all U.S. steel imports so far this year.

    It wasn’t immediately clear why Trump contended that a new executive order was needed to impose the sanctions.

    The president also said he would halt trade negotiations with Turkey, which Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced in a speech in Ankara last month. The deal was to include the furniture, marble, autos and civil aviation industries…”

  4. Nigerian police rescue 67 from ‘inhuman’ conditions at Islamic ‘school’
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-captives/nigerian-police-rescue-67-from-inhuman-conditions-at-islamic-school-idUSKBN1WT2ET

    “Police in northern Nigeria rescued nearly 70 men and boys from a second purported Islamic school where they were shackled and subjected to “inhuman and degrading treatments.”

    The raid in Katsina, the northwestern home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, came less a month after about 300 men and boys were freed from another supposed Islamic school in neighboring Kaduna state where they were allegedly tortured and sexually abused.

    “In the course of investigation, sixty-seven persons from the ages of 7 to 40 years were found shackled with chains,” Katsina police spokesman Sanusi Buba said in a statement. “Victims were also found to have been subjected to various inhuman and degrading treatments.”

    The raid occurred on October 12 in Sabon Garin in the Daura local government area of Katsina state. Police issued a statement on Monday and said they were working to reunite the victims with their families.

    Police arrested one man, 78-year-old Mallam Bello Abdullahi Umar, for running what they called an “illegal detention/remand home.”

    Lawai Musa, a trader who lived near the center, told Reuters by phone that families sent unruly men and boys there believing it was an Islamic teaching facility that would straighten them out and teach them Islamic beliefs.

    “The way he is treating the children is un-Islamic” he said. “We are not happy, they were treated illegally.”

    Islamic schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria. Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a local organization, estimates about 10 million children attend them.

    In June, President Buhari, himself a Muslim, said the government planned to ban the schools, but would not do so immediately. After the incident in Kaduna, the president issued a statement calling on traditional authorities to work with government to expose “unwanted cultural practices that amount to the abuse of children.”

    Buhari’s office declined to immediately comment on the Katsina raid, saying it would issue a statement after a full briefing from police.

    “The command enjoins parents to desist from taking their children/wards to illegal, unauthorized or unapproved remand/rehabilitation centers,” the police statement said.”

  5. Germany unwilling to take back Daesh fighters
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/germany-unwilling-to-take-back-daesh-fighters/1613749

    “Germany on Monday ruled out taking back all of its Daesh fighters currently held in prisons in northern Syria, despite criticism and pressure by the U.S. and Turkish leaders.

    Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, an Interior Ministry spokesman told reporters that the government has three criteria on the issue of repatriation of Daesh fighters.

    “First of all, there won’t be a blanket acceptance, each case will be examined individually,” Steve Alter stressed.

    “Secondly, the identity of the person that we are expected to take back has to be proved beyond a doubt,” he continued.

    “Thirdly, anyone taken back should not pose a threat to our society,” he added.

    U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on Germany and other European countries to take back their nationals after more than 800 foreign terrorist fighters were captured in Syria.

    Among those held in prisons in northern Syria, at least 60 Daesh fighters traveled to the region from Germany and around 40 of them had German passports, according to the local media.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also criticized European countries like Germany for opposing Turkey’s current anti-terror operation in northern Syria while refusing to repatriate Daesh fighters from their countries who had fueled the terror threat.

    Critics of the operation claimed Daesh prisoners could escape in the fog of war, while Turkey said it would make sure such prisoners were not released.

    Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

    Ankara wants to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates River of the terrorist PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD/YPG.

    In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

    More than 300 people have been killed in Daesh-claimed attacks in Turkey, where the terrorist group has targeted civilians in suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and gunfire. Turkish security forces have been engaged in a long-running campaign to thwart the Daesh threat.”

  6. Greek island migrant camps on verge of collapse – Oxfam (ansamed, Oct 14, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2019/10/14/oxfam-warns-greek-island-migrant-camps-on-verge-of-collapse_9f2eb00f-d785-4f99-9797-7f2bb15c450b.html

    “Over 18,000 people, mostly Syrian and Afghan families, arrived on Greek islands between August and September.

    The number is double that of the previous year and marks the highest point since 2016. The migrants are in addition to the over 35,000 that were pushed back by the Greek and Turkish authorities along the Aegean Sea route. The number were included in Oxfam’s latest report.

    The charity organization warned that the situation is close to collapse. In the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, which has a maximum capacity of 3,000, there are currently over 13,000 people. Some 42% are between the ages of 7 and 12, including almost 1,000 children and youths who arrived alone, forced to survive in ”inhuman conditions”.

    The head of the Italian branch of Oxfam, Riccardo Sansone, said that ”on Lesbos alone between August and September, some 8,500 people arrived on an island with a population of 85,000 inhabitants: an average of 140 per day”. He added that ”with the arrival of the winter, almost half the people are forced to live in unofficial areas around the hotspot, in improvised tents or under the open air” in unhealthy conditions, given that there is a single shower for 230 people and a toilet for 100 in the area near the camp.

    The Oxfam representative said that it is necessary to ”get over the effects created by the disastrous accord between the EU and Turkey in countries of first arrival like Greece through an effective redistribution mechanism for asylum seekers among member states and not only on a voluntary basis. We must also take into consideration that over 45,000 migrants arrived in Greece in 2019, more than the number in Italy, Spain and Malta.””

  7. Copenhagen hand grenade explosion linked to gang conflict (thelocal, Oct 14, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.dk/20191014/copenhagen-hand-grenade-explosion-linked-to-gang-conflict

    “The latest explosion in Copenhagen, a hand grenade detonation in the early hours of Monday, is linked to a conflict between organized crime groups, police have said.

    An explosion at a shisha bar in Amager near Copenhagen is connected to gang conflict, Copenhagen police said on Monday morning.

    The explosion is thought to have been caused by a hand grenade, police stated in a press message released just before 8am.

    “This is unfortunately the latest in a series of explosions which we have seen in Copenhagen this year. We are taking it very seriously,” police inspector Torben Svarrer said in the statement.

    The explosion occurred at the shisha (hookah) bar on Amager’s main shopping street, Amagerbrogade, at around 2:46am on Monday. Police and ammunitions disposal were subsequently present at the scene.

    A total of 13 explosions have occurred in and around Copenhagen since February, with several related to gang crime, according to police.

    “There is fortunately no sign that anyone was hurt by this small explosion,” Svarrer said in regard to the latest incident.

    The building itself suffered broken windows, but damage was otherwise minor.

    Police called for anyone who may have witnesses anything suspicious before or after the shisha café explosion to get in contact.

    “We know from witnesses that a car drove quickly away from the scene shortly after the explosion, but we are interested in speaking with anyone who may have seen something in the area between 2am and 3am,” Svarrer said.

    The government last week announced a major beefing up of security, including public surveillance and border checks, linked to the recent spate of organized crime-linked violence.”

  8. NIGERIA – Police closes down religious centre with 360 chained inmates in Daura

    A religious centre with 360 chained and maltreated inmates has been discovered and shut down in Daura, Katsina state by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). The police said on Monday, October 14, that the discovery was made at the Sabon Garin area of Daura.

    Vanguard reports that the commissioner of police in the state, Sanusi Buba, explained that the centre had been in operation for at least 40 years. According to him, the lid was blown open when some children escaped from the centre and raised an alarm concerning their experiences.

    The commissioner said when policemen stormed the place, they discovered six rooms with over 40 inmates each dehumanised and chained.

    The police said some of the inmates were found in chains and handcuffs before they were rescued. “We would mount surveillance to fish out such culprits subjecting children to servitude,” the commissioner said.

    Legit.ng earlier reported that the police in Kaduna recently discovered a house containing over 300 people chained in their arms and legs in Rigasa community, Igabi local government area of the state.

    The police said some of the people found in the house are from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries.

    https://www.legit.ng/1266435-police-closes-religious-centre-360-chained-inmates-daura.html

    =========================================
    Nigerian police rescue hundreds from another ‘torture house’

    KANO, Nigeria: Police in northern Nigeria said on Monday they rescued over 300 young men from an Islamic boarding school where they were chained and sexually abused, the second such operation in a month.

    A police team raided the school in Daura in Katsina state after some students escaped from their hostel on Sunday and poured into the streets in protest.

    Katsina police chief Sanusi Buba told reporters in Daura that the young men were chained and tortured.

    “We learnt that the inmates here are over 300 and because of the inhuman treatments they are being subjected to they revolted yesterday (Sunday),” he said.

    “Some of the inmates escaped while…about 60 of them stayed back,” he said, with most of them found in chains.

    Buba said the school was established by 78-year-old Muslim cleric, Bello Mai Almajirai, 40 years ago. He later transferred management of the school to his son.

    He said the school enrolled students brought by their families to learn the Koran and be treated for drug adduction and other ailments.

    Daura which lies 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the state capital and near the border with Niger, is the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The students are from “various parts of Nigeria“, including Katsina state and neighbouring Niger Republic, said the police chief.

    According to Buba, the abused inmates were “subjected to inhuman conditions,” with some of the students revealing that they were sodomised by their teachers.

    Police will liaise with the state government to establish the identities of the young men and contact their families to return them home, he said.

    Buba promised to arrest the proprietor and his teachers who managed to escape during the raid but will “face the full wrath of the law.”

    Last month, police in nearby Kaduna state, freed more than 300 male students from a similar boarding school where they were chained, tortured and sexually abused.

    A high rate of drug use and lack of rehabilitation facilities in northern Nigeria are forcing parents to enrol their children in informal reformatory Islamic schools where they are subjected to abuses.–AFP

    https://www.nst.com.my/world/2019/10/529987/nigerian-police-rescue-hundreds-another-torture-house

  9. EU breaks promise of safe passage for 50,000 refugees (DW, Oct 14, 2019)
    https://www.dw.com/en/eu-breaks-promise-of-safe-passage-for-50000-refugees/a-50803664

    “The EU has delivered only three-quarters of a two-year program due to be completed by the end of October. Among those left in limbo are people evacuated from Libya on a promise of resettlement in Europe.

    European governments, including the German government, have failed to deliver on a pledge to admit 50,000 refugees by this month, DW has learned.

    The European Union launched the resettlement program two years ago with a deadline of October 31, 2019. But only 37,520 people have arrived in Europe under the program so far.

    A spokesperson for the European Commission has admitted the target will not be reached by the end of October.

    Among those affected are the thousands of migrants detained in camps in Libya. UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, said European countries’ slow progress in fulfilling their promises was one of the factors holding up the evacuation of people facing violence amid the lawlessness and civil war.

    Dimitris Avramopoulos, the outgoing EU migration commissioner, said he was “hopeful” that the remaining pledges could be fulfilled by the end of the year.

    “I both commend and continue calling on member states to step up their efforts and to make sure they deliver on their pledges as quickly as possible,” Avramopoulos told DW.

    Search for safety

    Mariam, originally from Sudan, was evacuated from Libya by UNHCR and is now waiting in neighboring Niger to be resettled.

    She told DW reporter Mariel Müller about the attack in Libya that led her to flee the country.

    “I went out to go to a shop,” she said. “Three men grabbed me and forced me into a car. They raped me, right there on the street, then just threw me out onto the road.”

    Mariam now lives in a temporary shelter in a UNHCR refugee camp in the desert.

    She is no longer afraid of attacks, but fears for her future as she waits for resettlement — and an end to her search for safety. “I’m tired. I’m very tired,” she said.

    The UNHCR camps in Niger are now full to capacity with people waiting to be resettled, meaning it cannot evacuate more people to the country from Libya.

    Germany among states that didn’t deliver

    Germany was one of the countries leading the EU resettlement initiative. Last year, Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly promised to accept 10,200 people under the program. A spokesperson for the country’s Interior Ministry told DW that just 4,800 had arrived so far. He said that the delay in forming a government after German elections in 2017 had led to “complex organizational preparations” for the refugees’ arrival being pushed back.

    Sweden, by contrast, has already made good on its promise, resettling 8,750 refugees, as has Britain, which took in 7,800. France, the Netherlands and Finland have resettled at least 80% of the numbers they pledged.

    Belgium and Ireland have met around half of their pledges. Belgium said it had suspended resettlements because of an increase in asylum applications from people already in the country. Ireland said it expected to resettle the remaining 537 people it had promised by the end of the year.

    Portugal resettled around a third of its quota but also said it would meet its pledge by December 31, which the EU has set as an extended deadline for the program.

    Luxembourg has not resettled a single person despite pledging 200 places. The country’s Foreign Ministry said it was planning to accept 50 people from Niger this month.

    DW requested figures from the governments of the 20 countries that had pledged resettlement places, and received answers from 17. Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta, which pledged 163 places between them, did not respond.

    Resettlement in context

    The resettlement program is supposed to offer a safe route for some of the most vulnerable people fleeing conflict zones such as Syria and Libya. It is intended as an additional option to the right of asylum.

    Resettlement means refugees registered with the UNHCR in a country that is not able to accommodate them, such as Niger, can be offered a safe and legal route to another country that has agreed to host them.

    The numbers of refugees who arrive in Europe under resettlement programs are relatively small compared to the numbers making irregular journeys and applying for asylum after they arrive. They also dwindle in comparison to the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

    Aid agencies nonetheless say the resettlement system is an important tool for protecting those in greatest need.

    Under the EU program, host countries receive a payment of €10,000 ($11,000) for each person they resettle, to assist with integration efforts.

    The United States and Canada also offer resettlement, though President Donald Trump has dramatically cut the numbers of places offered by the United States.

    Charlie Yaxley, a spokesperson for UNHCR, said: “Resettlement is not happening fast enough. We need resettlement for the most urgent cases, such as children, survivors of rape and torture, elderly and disabled people.”

    Shifting attitudes

    EU Commissioner Avramopoulos’ term in office ends on October 31, so the task of coordinating any future EU resettlement program will fall to his successor Margaritis Schinas, who has been at the center of controversy even before starting his job.

    Schinas has been appointed under the new title of commissioner “for Protecting our European Way of Life” — a name which critics said mimicked the rhetoric of far-right populists, who claim immigration threatens European values.

    Many political parties across Europe have made immigration an election campaign issue, taking a lead from populist parties and the far-right.

    Media coverage has also contributed to a picture of immigrants as the cause of violent crime and strain on public services.

    Leonie Jegen, a migration expert at Germany’s Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut, said resettlement was a divisive issue among EU countries.

    “Resettlement is something that is not completely off the political agenda, but discourse around refugees has shifted in a negative direction in recent years,” she said.

    Public support

    Despite that backdrop, data suggests the majority of EU citizens continue to support taking in refugees.

    A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 10 EU countries in spring 2018 found that 77% said they support taking in refugees from countries where people are fleeing violence and war.

    The aid organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) has called for the EU to meet its resettlement promises and pledge a further 250,000 places within the next five years. IRC argues that wealthy European states are well capable of accommodating these numbers, which would still only represent 17% of the people in need of resettlement worldwide.

    Lena Donner, an IRC policy adviser, said: “Each delay means additional time for vulnerable people spent in limbo and additional time lost for the EU to demonstrate that it is serious about supporting its partners and sharing the global responsibility for protecting refugees.”