Reader’s Links for December 4, 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

105 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 4, 2019”

  1. Turkey Announces Plans to Conduct Further Hydrocarbon Drilling Off Cyprus Coast (sputniknews, Dec 4, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201912041077484513-turkey-announces-plans-to-conduct-further-hydrocarbon-drilling-off-cyprus-coast/

    “Turkey on Wednesday unveiled plans to conduct further oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, after signing a memorandum of understanding with Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) last week, just days after the Greek Prime Minister condemned gas drilling off the coast of Cyprus.

    “As with other areas, the companies that we will grant licenses to will start oil and gas exploration and production studies in maritime jurisdictions within the scope of this agreement,” Fatih Donmez, Turkish energy and natural resources minister stated, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.

    Donmez recalled that Turkey has already conducted drilling at four sites off the coast of Cyprus, and a fifth site is currently being explored. Turkey stresses that all agreements concerning hydrocarbon drilling in the Mediterranean correspond with UN laws.

    On 27 November, Turkey and the GNA signed two agreements, one of which determines a portion of Turkey’s maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean. The new maritime border established by the agreement runs through a zone in the Mediterranean that Greece and Cyprus claim as theirs.

    On Monday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis condemned Turkish hydrocarbon drilling off the coast of Cyprus, arguing that it undermined European Union efforts to embrace renewable energy sources. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias announced on Tuesday that the Greek prime minister will have talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ongoing NATO summit in London regarding these disagreements.

    Egypt, Cyprus and Greece have urged Turkey to abandon explanatory gas drilling off the Cyprus coast after Ankara announced it had sent the Yavuz drillship to an area where Greek Cypriot authorities had already awarded exploration rights to European companies. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to continue drilling off the coast of Cyprus.”

  2. 120 Bangladeshi Terrorists Arrested in India, Says Indian Home Minister (sputniknews, Dec 4, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/asia/201912041077483257-120-bangladeshi-terrorists-arrested-in-india-says-indian-home-minister/

    “There has been growing fear that Bangladeshi terror groups are spreading their tentacles into India with intelligence agencies warning of a possible threat from Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.

    Amid concerns over increasing activities of Bangladeshi terror groups in India, Federal Minister G Kishan Reddy told Parliament on Wednesday that nearly 120 terrorists from Bangladesh had been arrested in India in the last five years.

    Almost half that number came from the north-eastern state Assam, which shares a border with Bangladesh.

    “As per available information, security forces arrested a total of 120 terrorists belonging to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in the country during the past five years,” Reddy said, replying to a written question in the Upper House of the Parliament.
    India’s Ministry of Home Affairs declared JBM a banned terrorist outfit, responding to intelligence inputs that the unit plans to set up permanent bases along the border.

    In October, Indian intelligence agency NIA said that JBM was trying to increase presence in the country and that an anti-probe terror agency had shared a list of 125 suspects.

    Reddy pointed out that the issues related to terrorism were being raised with Bangladesh bilaterally, under security cooperation between the countries. “Sharing intelligence inputs between agencies concerned is an on-going process,” he said.

    According to Intelligence inputs, the terror outfit, which operates from Bangladesh, is establishing a base close to India’s eastern border in West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura.

    The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India has been raising concerns over the rising number of infiltrators, citing it as a security concern. The NIA claims that JBM was involved in two major bomb blasts in 2014 and 2018.

    This is being cited as a reason behind the government’s National Register of Citizens of India – a supreme court of India-monitored exercise to identify genuine citizens of the country and extradite infiltrators from Assam.”

  3. CBC – Trudeau’s vacation costs RCMP more than $56,000

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s vacation to the Aga Khan’s private island will cost the RCMP more than $56,000. The costs include meals, accommodations and jet ski rentals, CBC News has learned.

    To read more: https://www.cbc.ca/1.5382374

  4. Morocco and Spain arrest 4 suspected ISIS supporters in joint raids
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/12/04/morocco-spain-isis-arrests/

    “Moroccan police said Wednesday, December 4, that they had disrupted a jihadist cell and arrested three suspected supporters of Islamic State, in a joint operation with Spain.

    Three men were detained in Morocco’s northern Nador region “in coordination with Spanish national police,” while the head of the group was “arrested simultaneously” near Madrid, a statement by Moroccan anti-terror police said.

    The suspects, aged between 24 and 39, followed Islamic State group propaganda and organized meetings to “plan terrorist operations in response to repeated calls from ISIS leaders,” the statement said.

    Spanish police said a man was arrested in Guadalajara northeast of Madrid.

    He is accused of organizing meetings with other radical Islamists around the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Morocco’s north coast and being in contact with jihadists in Syria and Mali, Spanish police said.

    The operation also netted electronic equipment, mobile phones, balaclavas and extremist literature, Moroccan anti-terror police said.

    Morocco was long spared from jihadist violence, until last year when two Scandinavian tourists were beheaded by ISIS supporters in the High Atlas mountains.

    Three men convicted of the murders were sentenced to death, a penalty that has not been implemented in Morocco since 1993.

    Moroccan authorities often highlight their anti-terror efforts and their coordination with partners in Europe, particularly Spain.”

  5. Ireland to charge ex-Defence Forces member Lisa Smith with joining ISIS
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/12/04/ireland-lisa-smith-isis/

    “Irish police said they would charge a former member of the armed services, Lisa Smith, with terrorism offenses for traveling to join Islamic State in Syria.

    Smith will appear in a Dublin court later on Wednesday, December 4.

    A Dublin court on Wednesday, December 4 charged Smith with terrorist activity under the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act of 2005. She was refused bail and remanded into custody.
    The law was designed to prosecute members of Irish republican groups but amended in 2005 to include membership in foreign terrorist organizations, and Smith is the first person in Ireland to be prosecuted under the expanded legislation.
    Smith, 38, was arrested by members of An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police force, after arriving at Dublin airport on a flight from Turkey on Sunday. She had been held in Ain Issa camp in northeast Syria before it was attacked in October after Turkey launched an incursion into the region.

    Her two-year-old daughter is with relatives, according to the police and a spokesperson for the family, Peter Fitzpatrick, a Teachta Dála, member of the Irish parliament, for Smith’s constituency of Louth.

    A former member of the Defence Forces, Smith denies taking part in violence during her time with ISIS. Her solicitor Darragh Mackin sought on Monday to distinguish between Smith’s traveling to live in ISIS-held territory with direct involvement in the terrorist group’s activities there…”

  7. 5 Afghans and Japanese aid worker killed in Jalalabad attack
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/12/04/afghanistan-japanese-aid-worker-killed-jalalabad/

    “Five Afghans and a Japanese aid worker were killed Wednesday, December 4 in an attack in Jalalabad city in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials said.

    The attack comes as humanitarian groups remain on high alert just days after an American aid worker for the United Nations was killed in a bombing in Kabul.

    Tetsu Nakamura, a doctor who heads Peace Japan Medical Services, known as Peshawar Kai in Japanese, was targeted by gunmen while in a vehicle in Jalalabad.

    “Dr. Nakamura was wounded and his three security guards, a driver and another colleague were killed,” Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesperson for Nangarhar’s governor, told AFP. Nakamura later died from his injuries, Khogyani said.

    Nakamura is well known in Japan for his aid work, which dates back decades…”

  9. 24 Relatives of Bosnian Militants Return Home From Syria
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2021031/24-relatives-bosnian-militants-return-home-syria

    “Wives and children of former extremist insurgents in Syria who are Bosnian citizens will return home to Bosnia this weekend, its presidency chairman Zeljko Komsic said on Wednesday.

    Hundreds of Bosnian citizens are believed to have left Europe to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and many are now in detention camps waiting to be handed over to their countries of origin.

    “This week the return of 24 citizens of Bosnia is expected…, namely women and children of former fighters in Syria…This is a humane act, these are our people who stayed there,” Komsic told reporters during a visit to Slovenia.

    He said some children coming back were orphans, and that Bosnian authorities had done security checks on all returnees.

    In October, Bosnia’s security minister said the country was preparing to take back and try nine of its nationals suspected of fighting for ISIS
    in Syria.

    Their return was postponed after Turkey launched a military incursion into northeast Syria to fight Kurdish militia.

    Under Bosnia’s criminal code, citizens who leave to fight in foreign wars must be prosecuted under terrorism charges.

    Bosnia’s state court has tried and convicted 46 people who returned from Syria or Iraq over the past few years.

    ISIS lost its last territorial foothold in Syria in March of this year and many of its militants are now believed to be in Kurdish-run prisons in northern Syria.”

  11. US considers sending 14,000 more troops to Middle East: Report
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-considers-sending-14000-more-troops-middle-east-report

    “The United States is weighing sending as many as 14,000 more troops to the Middle East amid a perceived threat from Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

    Such a deployment would include “dozens” more ships and double the number of troops added to the US force in the region since the beginning of this year, the Journal said, citing unidentified US officials.

    A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the report to the AFP news agency…”

    • Like MEEye knows.
      hahhahhahhah

      Follow the bouncing unnamed sources from the WSJ to AFP till you’ve triggered a laptop warrier.
      ~ weighing, perceived, citing unidentified ~
      “Dozens” – no, make it 14,000 – why not?

  12. US hands ‘Hezbollah operative’ 40-year jail term
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191204-us-hands-hezbollah-operative-40-year-jail-term/

    “A “Hezbollah operative” who had taken refuge in the US following the destruction of his family home by Israel during the 2006 conflict with the militant group in Lebanon, has been handed a 40-year sentence by an American judge for carrying out “covert terrorist activities” on behalf of the organisation.

    The Department of Justice yesterday announced that 35-year-old Ali Kourani was sentenced on charges relating to “terrorism, sanctions, and immigration convictions arising from Kourani’s illicit work as an operative for the Islamic Jihad Organization, [Hezbollah’s] external attack-planning component”.

    Kourani was found guilty of serving as an “operative of Hizballah in order to help the foreign terrorist organization prepare for potential future attacks against the United States.” Evidence provided during the trial in May showed that Kourani “searched for suppliers who could provide weapons for such attacks, identified people who could be recruited or targeted for violence, and gathered information about and conducted surveillance of potential targets within our country”.

    The jury in Manhattan federal courtroom were informed that “Kourani was recruited, trained and deployed by Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization to plan and execute acts of terrorism in the United States.” US Attorney Berman explained that “Kourani’s chilling mission was to help procure weapons and gather intelligence about potential targets in the U.S. for future Hizballah terrorist attacks”. Some of the targets Kourani surveilled are said to include the JFK Airport and law enforcement facilities in New York City, including the federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan….”

  13. Up to 57 dead after migrant boat sinks off Mauritanian coast: U.N. agency
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-africa/up-to-57-dead-after-migrant-boat-sinks-off-mauritanian-coast-u-n-agency-idUSKBN1Y82YT

    “Up to 57 people have died after a ship from Gambia carrying around 150 migrants sank off the coast of Mauritania on Wednesday, the U.N. migration agency said.

    The perilous sea passage from West Africa to Europe was once a major route for migrants seeking jobs and prosperity. This incident is one of the deadliest since attempts became scarcer when Spain stepped up patrols in the mid-2000s.

    “Mauritanian authorities say up to 57 people are dead after a vessel carrying migrants sank off its coast today,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Twitter.

    “Survivors told IOM staff the vessel left The Gambia last Wednesday with at least 150 people aboard.”

    The Mauritanian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Although home to some of the continent’s fastest-growing economies, West Africa is struggling to generate enough jobs for its mushrooming young population. As a result, migrants continue to tackle treacherous routes to get to Europe.”

  15. US warship seizes suspected Iran missile parts set for Yemen
    https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/us-warship-seizes-suspected-iran-missile-parts-set-for-yemen-1.1575491430983

    “A US Navy warship has seized a “significant cache” of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen, US officials said Wednesday, marking the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war there.

    The seizure from a small boat by the US Navy and a US Coast Guard boarding team happened last Wednesday in the northern Arabian Sea, and the weapons have been linked to Iran.

    Officials said the incident illustrates the continuing illegal smuggling of weapons to Houthi rebels and comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were meeting, with Iran as the main topic.

    The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive military mission.

    The US has consistently accused Iran of illegally smuggling arms to Houthi rebels battling the Yemeni government and has seized smaller and less sophisticated weapons in transit.

    According to officials, the USS Forrest Sherman was conducting routine maritime operations when sailors noticed a small wooden boat that was not displaying a country flag. The Navy and Coast Guard personnel stopped, boarded the boat for inspection and found the weapons.

    Officials did not provide the exact number of missiles or parts but did describe it as a significant cache. They said the small boat was towed into port, and the people on the boat were transferred to the Yemeni Coast Guard. The weapons are still on board the US ship.

    Smuggling weapons into Yemen is a violation of a UN Security Council resolution.”

  16. Two men sentenced to jail in high-profile femicide case
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/two-men-sentenced-to-jail-in-high-profile-femicide-149442

    “An Ankara court on Dec. 4 reached a verdict in the high-profile case of the murder of 23-year-old university student ?ule Çet, according to local media reports.

    The court has convicted suspect Ça?atay Aksu to life sentence and 12 years and six months of imprisonment on charges of “deliberate killing,” “aggravated sexual assault” and “deprivation of liberty.” The other suspect, Berk Akand, received 18 years and nine months of jail time over “being an accessory to murder,” “aggravated sexual assault” and “deprivation of liberty.”

    The final hearing of Çet’s femicide took place at the Ankara 31st Heavy Penal Court.

    After the verdict, Umur Y?ld?r?m, one of Çet family’s lawyers, said that Aksu received good conduct time with regards to Article 62 of the Turkish Criminal Law. The said article stipulates that “in case of existence of the discretionary matters of mitigation extenuating the punishment in favor of the offender, the offender is sentenced to life imprisonment instead of heavy life imprisonment; or 25 years imprisonment instead of life imprisonment.”

    Y?ld?r?m also said that Çet’s lawyers will appeal to the verdict because the aggravated life sentence prosecutors sought turned into life sentence…”

  17. Ballerina, another woman, murdered in Turkey
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ballerina-another-woman-murdered-in-turkey-149437

    “A 20-year-old university student and ballerina, Ceren Özdemir, was stabbed to death on her way back home from a ballet class on Dec. 3 in the Alt?nordu district of the Black Sea province of Ordu.

    Özdemir was attended by paramedics after the murder, while the attacker fled the scene.

    Özdemir was taken to Ordu University Training and Research Hospital but died after surgery.

    Police launched an investigation into the murder and collected security camera footage from surrounding workplaces.

    Police are trying to identify the attacker, according to local reports…”

  18. Pakistani man gets life for killing daughter
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/12/04/pakistani-man-gets-life-for-killing-daughter_40e76065-29b0-4d2e-9add-47f3e9b890de.html

    “A 45-year-old Pakistani man got life in jail Wednesday for murdering his 19-year-old daughter in February 2018.

    Muhammad Riaz was also convicted of sexual violence and domestic abuse.

    He beat Azka Riaz, broke her jaw and left her lying in the street on the evening of February 24 2018, when a car ran her over.

    She died near Macerata in Marche.”

  19. Migrants: alert on rights violations at French border
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2019/12/04/migrants-alert-on-rights-violations-at-french-border_19ba7a31-a573-44a9-aa4b-f9766a4c3efb.html

    “Several associations and NGOs have called for a parliamentary investigative commission to document migrant rights violations at the French border, during demonstrations held in “border cities” like Menton and Calais.

    “Several violations of the fundamental rights of migrants have been made at the border”, the organizations said. The violations included “the absence of any sanitary or social measure, the destruction of beds and cover, obstacles to asylum applications, the lack of protection for isolated minors, systematic refoulements, brutal behavior, the persecution of volunteers”, denounced five NGOS – Amnesty International, La Cimade, Médecins du Monde, Doctors without Borders (Msf) and Secours Catholique.

    The organizations asked French lawmakers to create an investigative commission to “strengthen and complete these observations and in particular to propose concrete measures so that the fundamental rights of exiled people are respected”.

    Demonstrations are scheduled on Wednesday in five ‘border cities’: Brianon, Calais, Dunkerque, Hendaye and Menton.”