Reader’s Links for November 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

101 Replies to “Reader’s Links for November 14, 2019”

  1. Deval Patrick Fired State Officials To Protect Rapist Ex-Brother-In-Law From Registering As Sex Offender
    NOVEMBER 14, 2019 By Tristan Justice
    The Democratic presidential primary’s freshest face, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick fired leaders of the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry in 2014 for trying to register Patrick’s brother in-law for a 1993 California rape conviction.

    Earlier this year, Bernard Sigh, Patrick’s ex-brother in-law was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping his ex-wife in a 2017 attack, three years after the head of the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board rose the issue of registering Sigh as a sex offender to Patrick for a prior spousal rape conviction in California. In response, Patrick sacked the official in an effort to avoid having a family member register as a sex offender, calling it a “family matter,” and therefore “marital” rape, according to Stanford Professor Michele Dauber.

    https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/14/deval-patrick-fired-state-officials-to-protect-rapist-brother-from-registering-as-sex-offender/

    Deval Patrick, Former Mass. Governor, Announces Presidential Campaign
    One more Democrat joins the pool, can we get another before Friday?

    By Nate Ashworth -November 14, 20191
    With former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg still teetering on a decision to join the race, at least one late-entrant has decided to give it a go. Former Massachusets Governor Deval Patrick has decided to join the Democratic primary and formally announce his intention to run for president.

    You may be asking yourself why would Patrick decide at this late stage to announce a run in a primary that began back in the Spring? That’s a great question, and Patrick does give us some kind of an answer:

    https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2019/11/deval-patrick-former-mass-governor-announces-presidential-campaign/

  2. Exclusive: Jailed Mexican Cartel Boss Leading Kidnapping Ring from Inside Prison
    Los ZetasBreitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles
    CARTEL CHRONICLES14 Nov 2019313
    2:50
    MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – A lieutenant from a faction of Los Zetas Cartel is considered responsible for orchestrating kidnapping and extortion schemes from inside a Mexican border state prison. The boss and his henchmen are also terrorizing citrus farmers in central Tamaulipas.

    Known by the nickname “El Pariente,” Roberto Garcia Tinajero is currently one of the leading members of the “Vieja Escuela” faction of Los Zetas and is currently being held at a prison in Nuevo Leon. Breitbart Texas learned from law enforcement sources in both Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas that El Pariente is also targeting citrus farmers on behalf of the Vieja Escuela. His gunmen demand hefty fees from growers under threats of violence.

    https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/11/14/exclusive-los-zetas-cartel-lieutenant-orders-kidnappings-from-inside-mexican-border-state-prison/

  3. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that European Union member states are not allowed to kick asylum seekers out of asylum homes even if they have been violent in the past.

    The ruling comes after a case involving an Afghan migrant in Belgium who had been involved in a fight between other migrants in an asylum home and was kicked out of the home for 15 days, during which he lived on the streets of Brussels or with his friends, Kronen Zeitung reports.

    The ECJ ruled that the decision to remove the Afghan, even if just temporarily, was a violation of EU law and that a 2013 regulation on refugees banned such penalities for offences, even if they were violent.

    The court went on to say that basic needs for asylum seekers must be met, “permanently and without interruption,” and said it was not good enough that the asylum home gave the migrant a list of homeless shelters he could visit.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/11/14/eu-court-illegal-to-throw-violent-migrants-out-of-asylum-homes/

  4. Pelosi Says President Trump Has to Show the Impeachment Committee Proof of Innocence (VIDEO)

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday morning said President Trump has to show the impeachment committee he is innocent.

    It is clear that the Democrats already believe Trump is guilty and they are now trying to sell the public on impeachment with their Soviet-style show trials.

    Pelosi also lied to reporters and said that President Trump admitted to ‘bribing Ukraine.’

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/pelosi-says-president-trump-has-to-show-the-impeachment-committee-proof-of-innocence-video/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily

    Richard: No he doesn’t, the US legal system is set up so the Government has to prove the accused is guilty, “innocent until proven guilty” not the other way around. Her statement is just another assault on the rule of law.

  5. NO POLITICAL SYSTEM OR MATERIAL POWER SHOULD PUT HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF PREACHING ISLAM. IT SHOULD LEAVE EVERY INDIVIDUAL FREE TO ACCEPT OR REJECT IT,AND IF SOMEONE WANTS TO ACCEPT, IT SHOULD NOT PREVENT HIM OR FIGHT AGAINST HIM. IF SOMEONE DOES THIS IT IS THE DUTY OF ISLAM TO FIGHT HIM UNTIL EITHER HE IS KILLED OR UNTIL HE DECLARES HIS SUBMISSION.

    A very interesting read is SUBMISSION The Danger Of Political Islam to Canada with a warning to America by Thomas Quiggan, Tahiti Gora, Saied Shoaaib, Jonathon Cotler and Rick Gill

  6. Rouhani Warns of Turning Fight Against Corruption into Internal Disputes
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1991521/rouhani-warns-turning-fight-against-corruption-internal-disputes

    “Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that the fight against corruption has been causing internal disagreements, but at the same time, went back on harsh criticism against the judiciary, implicitly attributing his recent positions to the upcoming parliamentary elections.

    He also pointing out that his talk about the disappearance of two billion dollars “is not new.”

    During the weekly cabinet meeting at the government headquarters, Rouhani talked about the exchange of criticism between him and his opponents.

    He underlined the need to “maintain unity and calm in the country”, indirectly hinting at angry reactions by the judiciary and conservatives, whom he had accused of lack of transparency in dealing with corruption cases.

    The Iranian president also called for equality for all in the fight against corruption.

    “I wish we had seen all the parties, groups, ideas and anyone who committed corruption appearing in courts, but we saw some who get covered while others are being tried,” he noted.

    Despite Rouhani’s decision to soften his criticism, senior Iranian government officials on Wednesday insisted on attacking the judiciary in its dealing with corruption.

    “The fight against corruption must be transparent and reassuring, and must include everyone,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rubaie told reporters on Wednesday.

    “Information about corruption cases that the president talked about was handed over to the judiciary,” state-run news agency ISNA quoted the Iranian president’s assistant for legal affairs, Laya Junaidi, as saying.

    “There has been no tangible progress in pursuing corruption,” she added.”

  7. Libyan Activists Refuse to Hand Over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to ICC
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1991346/libyan-activists-refuse-hand-over-saif-al-islam-gaddafi-icc

    “Libyan parties have rejected the trial of Saif al-Islam, son of late Muammar al-Gaddafi, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Libya’s representative at the court, Ahmed al-Jehani, agreed to bring him to The Hague.

    Saif al-Islam is wanted on charges relating to the attempt to suppress the revolution that ousted his father in 2011.

    Jehani announced before the tribunal, the approval of Tripoli’s government the request to hand over Gaddafi’s son to ICC for trial on “war crimes.”

    Political leader of the Libyan National Struggle Front (LNSF) Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam indicated that the go-ahead of Libya’s representative is not any different than the demands of some Libyans asking NATO to attack their country. He said this constitutes a “betrayal” that the country still suffers from.

    Gaddaf al-Dam, who is Saif al-Islam’s cousin, added that this has divided Libyans into two camps – the first representing Gaddafi’s defense team. The second constituted of Justice Minister Mohamed Lamloum of the Government of National Accord and al- Jehani, who insisted on handing over a Libyan citizen to the ICC.

    Lamloum responded to Gaddafi’s defense team by saying even if some of the crimes attributed to Saif al-Islam were covered by the amnesty law, the conditions for granting him an amnesty were not present.

    He added that the law stipulates a written pledge to apologize, reconciliation with the victim, and pardon from relatives of the victims, which Saif al-Islam did not get.

    Parties loyal to Gaddafi rejected the representative’s approval describing it as a “humiliation to the Libyan people.”

    Libyan lawyer Khalid al-Ghuwail told Asharq Al-Awsat that the case is not legal because the prosecution decision was made following a memorandum issued by the Security Council, and therefore this case is political and doesn’t have a legal basis.

    Ghuwail said the case was based on false accusations, given that Saif al-Islam did not hold any position under the previous regime and was a civil society activist.

    In July 2015, a Tripoli court sentenced Saif al-Islam to death for his role in suppressing the Libyan uprising that toppled his father’s regime. He is facing the same charges by the ICC.

    In 2017, an armed battalion in the western city of Zintan released Saif al-Islam, who has not been seen in a public since then. ICC General Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda predicted in a recent report that he would be in Zintan.”

  8. Yemen’s Houthis Transform Civilian Lands to Cemeteries
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1991376/yemens-houthis-transform-civilian-lands-cemeteries

    “Houthi militias are creating dozens of graveyards designated for the dozens killed in the battle waged against the internationally-recognized government and state institutions in Yemen. Most these cemeteries are marked land plots in coup-held areas.

    Local sources in the capital Sanaa, Ibb, Dhamar, Amran, Mahwit and Saada, speaking under the condition of anonymity, revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the militias have recently created scores of new graves in these governorates due to the increasing number of deaths caused in clashes with the national army.

    Sources also pointed out Houthi militiamen used force to seize and transform privately-owned land plots that belong to Yemenis living outside. Some of the land also belongs to the Islamic Awqaf authority.

    The surface area of each new cemetery is estimated at one kilometer square. According to the internationally-recognized government, Houthis directly control 75 percent of land plots in areas they hold.

    Local residents in some areas under the control of the group have complained that militia supervisors have continued to loot their land and their families at gunpoint.

    Activists in Sanaa revealed that they received information confirming the group has established hundreds of cemeteries so far.

    Activists and those with knowledge of the matter said that Dhamar alone is hosting more than 30 new graveyards established by Houthis.

    In addition, Yemeni local sources revealed that within three years the insurgents created more than 16 cemeteries in Sanaa alone, distributed over 10 directorates.”

    • Yemen is Egypt’s Vietnam, like Afghanistan is for ordinary Russians.
      Miserable, costly wars. Nightmare losses of people.

    • “The visit comes within the framework of important regional developments, including the Israeli AGGRESSION on the Gaza Strip, the Turkish intervention in Syria, and the unrest in Libya, Yemen and Iraq.”
      …….
      So much for that brave, new world of “moderate” Arabs and Israel, partners for a brighter regional future.

      They’re reconciling with Iran because they figure PTrump is an isolationist. It’s either the MB-wing of the U.S. Congress sucking up to the Turk and Qatar, or the Rand Paul libertarian/isolationists.

      They’ll use Russia and China as leverage for their dealings with us. They’re cultivating those relationships in flashy visits and big-ticket business deals.

      This hudna may last until Saudi has its own nuclear arsenal. Either we sell them the technology, or they get it elsewhere. The Kingdom’s not all that stable. Who inherits the nukes they leave behind?

  9. UK police arrest terror suspect at Heathrow Airport
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191114-uk-police-arrest-terror-suspect-at-heathrow-airport/

    “British police on Thursday said a 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences upon his arrival at the Heathrow Airport, Anadolu Agency reports.

    “Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command have today, 14 November, arrested a man on suspicion of terrorism offences,” a statement from the Metropolitan Police said.

    The man was arrested “after arriving at Heathrow airport on an inbound flight to the UK from Turkey,” and “the arrest is Syria-related,” according to the statement.

    The man was arrested on “suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts” and he will remain in police custody, it said.

    Earlier, Turkey had said it was deporting a UK citizen who was under their custody for being a member of terrorist organization Daesh.

    The legal process continues to repatriate foreign terrorists to their home countries, the Turkey’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

    A foreign terrorist fighter of British nationality was sent back to London, while seven from Germany were sent to Berlin, according to a ministry statement.

    The issue of handling of Daesh members and their families detained in Syria — including foreign members of the terror group — has been controversial, with Turkey arguing foreign-born terrorists should be repatriated to their countries of origin.

    Ankara has said that it will send Daesh members back to their countries, but several European countries have refused, saying the terrorists were denationalized.”

  10. Syrian regime troops deploy along Turkish border as Russian airstrikes kill more children
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/11/14/syrian-regime-troops-deploy-along-turkish-border

    “Syrian regime forces started deploying on Thursday in areas close to the Turkish border in the country’s northeast as part of an agreement reached between Russia and Turkey, regime media reported.

    News agency SANA said troops were deploying between the towns of Jawadiyeh and Malkiyeh, also known as Derik, while regime TV said border guards will be positioned at six points near to the frontier.

    The deployment is part of a cease-fire deal brokered by Moscow last month along much of the northeastern border that seeks to clear the area of the Kurdish fighters who were key US allies in the fight against the Islamic State group. Since the agreement was reached, Russia and Turkey began joint patrols along a narrower strip directly on the Turkish-Syrian border…”

  11. Pakistan to be bridge-builder now, not ally in any foreign war: PM (gulfnews, Nov 14, 2019)
    https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/pakistan-to-be-bridge-builder-now-not-ally-in-any-foreign-war-pm-1.67830981

    “Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said Pakistan would no more join any alliance for any other country’s war rather play the role of a “reconciliator or bridge-builder”.

    “Pakistan has learnt lessons from its foreign policy of last four decades and we will not fight someone else’s war,” the prime minister said addressing the concluding session…”

  12. Pakistan tops in Facebook content censorship
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2099802/8-pakistan-tops-facebook-content-censorship/

    “Facebook restricted access to over 5,000 pages, posts and other content in Pakistan between January and June 2019 – the highest in the world – followed by Mexico with 4,727 content restrictions, the social media giant said in a report released on Wednesday.

    According to the Facebook Transparency Report, the amount of content it restricted access to in Pakistan increased by over 30% during the reporting period – 5,690 items as compared to 4,174 from the second half of 2018.

    Giving a breakdown of the content restricted in the country, Facebook said it had restricted 5,376 posts, 128 pages and groups, six profiles and two comments.

    On Instagram, the photo and video-oriented social network owned by Facebook, a total of 178 items were restricted within Pakistan – 171 posts and seven profiles.

    Facebook said it restricted access in Pakistan to items reported by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for “allegedly violating local laws prohibiting blasphemy, anti-judiciary content, defamation, and condemnation of the country’s independence”.

    “Upon a routine review of our actions, we determined that we restricted access to 17 items in error during this period, including 11 items that should have been deleted for violating the Community Standards and six items on which we should have taken no action. We have corrected these mistakes,” it said in its report.

    Requests for user data

    Meanwhile, the social media giant said government demands for user data in Pakistan also rose by 5.3% – from 1,752 in the second half of 2018 to 1,849 in the January-June 2019 period – a record high.

    The authorities requested Facebook to provide data for 2,594 users. Of the total requests, 175 were emergency requests whereas 1,674 were processed legally.

    While Facebook complied with 51% of the requests, the platform said it responds to government requests for data in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service.

    “Each and every request we receive is carefully reviewed for legal sufficiency and we may reject or require greater specificity on requests that appear overly broad or vague,” it said.

    The detailed report also showed that government demands for user information hit a new high led by the US. Overall request by governments for Facebook user data rose 16% to 128,617 in the first half of this year.

    “Of the total volume, the US continues to submit the largest number of requests, followed by India, the UK, Germany and France,” the report stated.

    Facebook received 50,741 requests from the US for information regarding 82,461 accounts, with roughly two-thirds of those done in a way prohibiting the social network from letting users know about inquiries, the report showed.

    India made 22,684 requests on details of 33,324 users, the United Kingdom submitted 7,721 requests for 10,550 user’s data, Germany 7,302 requests on 9,800 users, and the French government made 5,782 official inquiries for data of 6,961 Facebook accounts.”

  13. Nigerian trafficking, prostitution gang busted
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/11/14/nigerian-trafficking-prostitution-gang-busted_870f0456-c198-4945-8cf5-5d0c9a492e83.html

    “Italian police on Thursday busted a Nigerian trafficking and prostitution gang that recruited women and girls in Nigeria and sent them to work on the streets of Rome via Libya, judicial sources said.

    The victims were brought to Libya by truck or bus and then across the Mediterranean on boats, police said.

    Once they disembarked they left various migrant reception centres to travel to female pimps called ‘ghost mommies’ who sent them onto the Rome streets.

    The accused, who allegedly used voodoo to threaten the trafficking victims and force them into prostitution, have been charged with pimping and slavery.

    In all 11 people have been arrested, police said.

    They have also been charged with exploitation of clandestine immigration.

    The Nigerian mafia in Italy runs prostitutes across the country.

    Women and girls are often lured with the promise of a better life and then threatened using voodoo to sell their bodies for sex.”

  14. CBC – Grieving family reunites Syrian refugees

    After a young Canadian man died in Japan, his family channelled their grief and the money they raised to bring his body back to reunite a Syrian refugee family in Canada.

  15. 81 inmates face trial over prison riot
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/11/14/81-inmates-face-trial-over-prison-riot_5111a175-fec6-4643-a0be-d20f38082e85.html

    “Prosecutors on Thursday requested the indictment of 81 inmates of Trento prison for a riot there on December 22 last year. Most of the incriminated inmates are Tunisian but there are also Moroccans, Albanians and Italians. The riot erupted after the suicide of a 32-year-old Tunisian inmate.”

  16. Six Glock-17 pistols stolen from building where Swedish PM works
    https://www.thelocal.se/20191114/six-pistols-stolen-from-building-where-swedens-pm-works

    “Six Glock-17 pistols and 300 dumdum bullets have been stolen from the building that houses the offices of Sweden’s prime minister, to the embarrassment of the country’s government.

    “They don’t want this to come out, it’s all being hushed up,” a source told Dagens Juridik, Sweden’s leading legal newspaper, which broke the story.

    The weapons and the ammunition were kept in a weapons cabinet in the Rosenbad building, next to Stockholm’s Royal Palace. They were intended to be handed out to the buildings security guards in the event of a major security incident, such as a terror threat or attack.

    But when it were moved during the current renovation of the building, the arms cache disappeared. Securitas, the company responsible for the building’s security and for the weapons cabinet, has so far not been able to find them, despite an extensive search.

    “Someone has probably managed to get them out of the building,” Dagens Juridik’s source said. “The weapons are supposed to be signed out by whoever has them. No one knows how someone got inside the cabinet and took them.”

    The source said the disappearance of the dumdum bullets, which expand on impact to make a large wound, was perhaps more worrying than that of the pistols themselves.

    “It’s ammunition which is created to do as much damage as possible,” the source said…”

  17. zero hedge – Soros Demands Fox News Ban “Ludicrous” Trump Ally Joe DiGenova

    The president of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations demanded that Fox News ban former federal prosecutor and Trump ally Joe diGenova for claiming that the Hungarian-American billionaire “controls a very large part of the career foreign service of the United States State Department.”

    In response to diGenova’s comments, Open Society president Eric Wemple said in a Friday letter to Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott that diGenova’s comments are “beyond fiction” and “beyond ludicrous.”

    Others, such as ADL President Jonathan Greenblatt, suggested diGenova was using an ‘anti-Semitic trope’ against Soros, who is Jewish.

    As The Hill’s John Solomon reported in March, in 2016 Obama administration officials sought to suppress a Ukrainian corruption probe into an NGO bankrolled by both the US government and Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros.

    When Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office tried to investigate an alleged misallocation of $4.4 million in US funds, which was supposed to go toward anti-corruption initiatives, US embassy officials came down hard to shut down the investigation altogether. “We ran right into a buzzsaw and we got bloodied,” a senior Ukrainian official told The Hill.

    Notably, former State Department official George Kent (One of the Democrats’ star witnesses in Wednesday’s public impeachment hearings), recommended in April 2016 that Ukraine stop investigating a Soros-funded entity in Ukraine, AntAC.

    “The investigation into the Anti-Corruption Action Center (sic), based on the assistance they have received from us, is similarly misplaced,” wrote Kent.

    While the 2016 presidential race was raging in America, Ukrainian prosecutors ran into some unexpectedly strong headwinds as they pursued an investigation into the activities of a nonprofit in their homeland known as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC).

    The focus on AntAC — whose youthful street activists famously wore “Ukraine F*&k Corruption” T-shirts — was part of a larger probe by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office into whether $4.4 million in U.S. funds to fight corruption inside the former Soviet republic had been improperly diverted.

    The prosecutors soon would learn the resistance they faced was blowing directly from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, where the Obama administration took the rare step of trying to press the Ukrainian government to back off its investigation of both the U.S. aid and the group. -The Hill

    DiGenova, an attorney for Solomon, may be included in a batch of communications that a federal judge ordered the State Department to hand over regarding Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s communications with top department officials.

    The judge ruled that the department had 30 days to turn over the documents, but that both parties needed to meet to narrow the scope of American Oversight’s request.

    The State Department is agreeing to search for records related to external communications between Giuliani, his associates Victoria Toensing and Joseph diGenova and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, according to the status report released Wednesday.

    The report says that “to the extent responsive records exist” the State Department will “process and produce” the documents “with appropriate redactions” by Nov. 22.

    The department has also agreed to process communications between Giuliani and some of Pompeo’s advisers, including including State Department counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl and former senior adviser Michael McKinley. -The Hill

    The State Department search for records will include a review of emails, text messages, calendar entries and messaging platforms – as well as any correspondence regarding Giuliani, Toensing or diGenova’s plans to travel to Ukraine or encourage the country’s government to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who have been accused of corruption.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/soros-demands-fox-news-ban-trump-ally-joe-digenova

  18. Erdogan’s AKP basks in glow of think tank financed by influential family, DW finds
    https://www.dw.com/en/erdogans-akp-basks-in-glow-of-think-tank-financed-by-influential-family-dw-finds/a-51258757

    “A Turkish think tank financed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle is a megaphone supporting government policies, DW has found. One of its controversial studies spends 30 pages denouncing DW journalists.

    “The long arm of international media organizations in Turkey” is the title of a study by the Turkish Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) published in July. The study takes aim at foreign journalists, such as ones from Deutsche Welle, BBC and the Voice of America, publishing their CVs along with false or fudged information about their lives. SETA is known to be close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). But there are some members of the public — particularly in Turkey — who want to know where the think tank gets its funding.

    Influential funders

    According to German government information, SETA receives significant financing from the Albayrak family, opposition Left party lawmaker Ulla Jelpke was told following a government information request, which DW has seen.

    The family is one of the most influential in Turkey. Sadik Albayrak is an old friend of Erdogan’s and has long been a part of the president’s most inner circle. As is his youngest son, Berat, who is married to Erdogan’s daughter and is currently Turkey’s finance minister. Ties to SETA are personal as well since Serhat Albayrak, who for years ran the company that owned the government-friendly Sabah media group, is also the foundation’s head.

    SETA declined to comment on the source of its funding.

    ‘Malicious lobby’

    After seeing details about the source of the foundation’s funding, Jelpke said the time has come to pay closer attention to the think tank.

    “SETA is not a harmless economic institution but a malicious lobby and denunciation organization for the Erdogan regime,” she told DW. “It pillories supposed and real critics of the regime outside of the country and declares open season on them to Turkish-nationalist agents, trolls and strongmen. This organization with the closest of ties to the top of the AKP needs to be stopped.”

    Details provided in the federal information request show the German government was aware of the personal relationships between the Turkish regime and SETA. The government pointed out that one of Erdogan’s consultants and spokespeople, Ibrahim Kalin, and the Turkish president’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, formerly worked for SETA.

    Links to Germany?

    The head of the foundation’s office in Berlin, Zafer Mese, used to work as a research associate with a focus on foreign and security policy for the parliamentary group of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union.

    Some of the questions posed in Jelpke’s information request went unanswered, including whether SETA has ties to the German government or if the government has made use of the foundation’s services. Berlin also did not clearly address whether SETA is subject to government surveillance, saying instead that it either did not have the information or, for the well-being of the country, could not publish it.

    “Hundreds of people are being denounced and open season has been declared on them,” Jelpke said. “And the government is not willing to provide information about the possible dangers this quasi-intelligence service poses or possible investigations into it. Not even members of the Bundestag have access to this information.”

    Targeting journalists

    The questionable study dedicates roughly 30 pages to DW, some of which reads like an indictment and attacks 15 DW journalists. The study rebukes the journalists for their publications and posts on Twitter. Just one tweet from a journalist reflecting the view of the opposition party is enough for the study to imply there is evidence the two are in cahoots. Much of the information appears to be presumptively gleaned from the internet.

    In 2013, the Turkish government declared SETA a nonprofit organization and not subject to taxes, said Utku Cakirozer, a journalist and member of parliament from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Ankara needs the foundation because it creates the perception of an independent view on government policies, he added.”

  19. German court rules refugee chaperones aid smugglers
    https://www.dw.com/en/german-court-rules-refugee-chaperones-aid-smugglers/a-51258847

    “A refugee who was told by a smuggler to look after several women and children during the perilous journey to Europe also committed a crime, the court ruled. “The defendant is both victim and perpetrator,” the judge said.

    Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled on Thursday that asylum-seekers asked by people smugglers to look after other refugees have also committed a crime.

    The court rejected an appeal by an Afghan refugee who was given a 1.5 year suspended sentence for aiding and abetting smuggling foreigners into the country, which resulted in death for those involved.

    What happened?

    The man was asked by a human trafficker who helped him reach Turkey to look after two Afghan women and their four children during their journey to Europe over the Mediterranean Sea and to serve as their contact person.

    He helped transport the women’s belongings and bought food for them. He was not given any financial benefit, and had to pay the smuggler money like everyone else for a spot on the boat.

    During the trip in January 2016, however, the overcrowded rubber dinghy they were traveling on capsized, sending all 60 passengers overboard.

    At least 35 people drowned — including the two women and their children. The Afghan man was rescued along with 23 others by the Greek Coast Guard.

    What was said in court?

    During a previous case in the lower court, the man admitted that there was a potential benefit for him to travel within the European Union if he was accompanying women and children.

    The lawyer representing the Afghan refugee argued that his client did nothing more than try to help other people who were in a difficult situation.

    Still, because he agreed to the smuggler’s request to help the women and children — and because he followed through on it — the Afghan refugee ended up helping the smuggler, the court ruled.

    Presiding judge Jürgen Schäfer described the case as tragic and noted that the man’s offense was a more minor instance of aiding traffickers.

    “The defendant is both victim and perpetrator,” he said.”

  20. BREITBART – Lindsey Graham Blocks Recognition of Armenian Genocide After Meeting with Turkey’s Erdogan

    Hours after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Wednesday blocked a resolution that would have condemned the Armenian genocide of 1915.

    Graham stated he blocked the resolution because he did not want the Senate to “sugarcoat history or try to rewrite it.” Whatever its other merits or drawbacks might be, condemning the Armenian genocide would seem to be the opposite of sugarcoating history. Graham’s office did not respond to a request from Fox News for elaboration of the senator’s thinking.

    “The United States foreign policy must reflect an honest accounting of human rights abuses, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide. We cannot turn our backs on the Armenian victims of genocide,” Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said when proposing the resolution.

    Graham added from the Senate floor that after meeting with Trump and Erdogan “about the problems we face in Syria by the military incursion by Turkey,” he hoped “Turkey and Armenia can come together and deal with this problem.”

    The U.S. House of Representatives passed an unprecedented resolution, on a vote of 405 to 11, recognizing the Armenian genocide on October 29.

    Erdogan’s Islamist government quickly condemned it, stating it was “devoid of any historical or legal basis” and a “meaningless political step” intended as a sop to “the Armenian lobby and anti-Turkey groups.”

    Erdogan himself called it “worthless” and the “biggest insult” to the people of Turkey because their Muslim faith prohibits genocide. He added that the United States, a country “whose history is full of the stain of genocide and slavery,” had no right to “lecture Turkey.”

    Speaking from Maryland on Wednesday, Erdogan said he believed “the Senate will act prudently and will not repeat the mistake the House of Representatives made.”

    “The U.S. Senate should not surrender to the black propaganda initiated by Armenian terrorist organizations that martyred many of our citizens, most of them diplomats and their family members, in the 1970s and 1980s,” Erdogan said, referring to groups like the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG), which carried out bombings and assassinations during the time period he specified.

    Turkey’s position is essentially that the Armenians were killed while rebelling against the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish government insists the death toll was only a fraction of the 1.5 million victims commonly cited, and it disputes the most gruesome accounts of atrocities such as torture and mass executions of women and children.

    Although Erdogan on Wednesday said the U.S. Congress should “refrain from taking a political stand on a matter that historians should decide,” not many historians outside of Turkey support the Turkish version of what happened to the Armenians. A good deal of the debate revolves around whether the Ottoman Empire was deliberately trying to exterminate the entire Armenian population.

    Some of the representatives who voted against the House resolution acknowledged the grim reality of the genocide but were reluctant to jeopardize the fragile U.S. strategic relationship with Turkey, especially with large numbers of American troops stationed there. Graham alluded to this reasoning when he said his objection to the Senate resolution was “not because of the past but because of the future.”

    Turkey’s preferred resolution to the genocide question is a vague proposal to set up a “joint historical commission” with Armenia. Although their relations with Turkey have improved a little in recent years, the Armenians have been cool to this idea, believing Turkey would use a joint commission to impose its version of history.

    https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/11/14/lindsey-graham-blocks-recognition-armenian-genocide-after-meeting-turkeys-erdogan/

  21. Exclusive: Inside Libya’s notorious Gernada prison, home to radical Islamists
    https://www.france24.com/en/20191114-exclusive-inside-libya-s-notorious-gernada-prison-home-to-radical-islamists

    “In the fourth of FRANCE 24’s special reports from Libya, Eric de Laverne and Wissam Charaf take us on a tour inside the notorious Gernada prison.

    Located 250 kilometres north east of Benghazi, this high security prison is home to several hundred radical Islamist fighters. They were mainly caught between 2014 and 2019 in a focussed campaign on the east of Libya.

    Many are accused of belonging to the Islamic State group and have already spent years waiting for their trial.

    For the first time, forces loyal to General Khalifar Haftar, who run the facility, have opened the prison’s door to foreign media.

    “We lock them up to stop the gangrene from reaching the rest of our country,” says prison governor General Jalal Abdel Akim. “We have to stop their brutal attacks against our society.””