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.
Trey Gowdy: Comey has lost his mind
Chaffetz on FISA abuse scandal: Some people need to be in ‘handcuffs’
Switzerland: Erdogan accuses some of caring more about oil than refugees
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed countries concerned with protecting Syrian oil fields more than human beings while speaking at the first UN Global Refugee Forum in Geneva on Tuesday, saying “none of the efforts made to protect the oil fields were mobilized for the safety and security of children in Syria.”
“Many Western countries approach the refugee influx issue from a security and stability perspective based on interests alone. Some of the countries were inclined to believe that barbed wires could keep the refugee influx out of the continent and of course that was wrong and we have witnessed shameful methods ending with the deflating of the dinghies boats in the Mediterranean and they did really sink the boats and buried those people in the waters,” The Turkish President said during his speech.
“Unfortunately none of the efforts spared to protect the oil fields were mobilized to protect the safety of the children escaping barrel bombs in Syria,” he added.
Making reference to the so-called “safe zone” in Northern Syria, Erdogan claimed that it has facilitated the voluntary repatriation of 371 thousand Syrians. He added that “If we would be able to make the project that I’ve mentioned before real, I believe that this number will reach 1 million”
The UN Global Refugee Forum kicked off on December 16 at United Nations headquarters in Geneva with the stated objective of translating the principle of international responsibility-sharing into concrete action.
Switzerland: Germany to increase resettlement refugee places next year – Maas
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas criticised the world for not doing enough to tackle the refugee crisis at the Global Refugee Forum at United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday.
Maas condemned the international community for “not finding solutions for the long-term crises and conflicts” that cause the refugee situation.
“The poorest currently carry the heaviest load. Nine out of the 10 biggest [leading] host communities are countries of low and middle income. The only industrialised country in this group is Germany. Just 20 percent of the world’s 193 states are in any way meaningfully involved in tending to over 70 million globally displaced people,” he added.
Germany vowed to “increase its number of resettlement places next year, once again and this is a trend that we want to continue in the future.”
He said that only 25 countries support the resettlement scheme.
Germany: Federal authorities to boost numbers to combat rightwing extremism – Seehofer
German federal authorities will boost their staff numbers in an attempt to combat rightwing extremism, said German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer in Berlin on Tuesday.
Seehofer also announced that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Criminal Police will be boosted with 300 additional staff each, that will specifically target right-wing extremism.
“Half of the politically motivated assaults has its roots in the right wing. I can only point out that after that ugly blood trail starting with NSU to Halle, we have repeatedly pointed out that Germany has at least 12,000 right wing extremists that are willing to resort to violence,” he added.
Head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Thomas Haldenwang commented on the youth wing of the AfD, saying “as I see it, an integral part of this party are the wings. AfD representatives themselves call the wing a part in the centre of the party, with a strong influence. Approximately a third of the party members can be associated with the wing. We treat the wing as a suspect case and I can openly say that it becomes more and more extremist. Our observations of the recent months support that,” as he answered a question originally directed to Seehofer. The interior ministry dodged the question referring to possible legal consequences of categorising the entire AfD as right-wing.
Indonesia to deploy 200,000 security personnel to thwart Christmas attacks
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/12/17/indonesia-deter-christmas-terror-attacks/
“Muslim-majority Indonesia will deploy nearly 200,000 security personnel nationwide ahead of Christmas to guard against potential terror attacks, police said Tuesday, December 17.
The Southeast Asian archipelago of 260 million has significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists who have been targeted by radical Islamist groups.
On Tuesday, authorities said some 192,000 police and military personnel would be deployed to secure Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations across the country – including in easternmost Papua, a predominantly Christian region.
The deployment, which comes after a recent spate of attacks, is more than the 167,000 personnel deployed last year.
“As many as 10,000 personnel will be deployed in Jakarta” alone, said National Police spokesperson Argo Yuwono.
“Based on intelligence data, there are potential risks … so we’re taking preventive measures but we are also ready to take proactive action,” he added.
Many past attacks in Indonesia, which has dozens of groups loyal to Islamic State’s violent ideology, have been against police and other state symbols.
Authorities routinely arrest suspected ISIS-linked militants ahead of alleged planned attacks…”
Iran Surprises Enemies in Decision-Making, Defense Minister Says
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/12/17/2162010/iran-surprises-enemies-in-decision-making-defense-minister-says
“Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said the Islamic Republic has gained such a high level of defense power that it surprises the enemies in their decision-making…”
Turkey Detains Nearly 200 over Gulen Links
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/12/17/2162249/turkey-detains-nearly-200-over-gulen-links
“Turkish police on Tuesday detained 181 people suspected of ties to a group blamed for a 2016 coup attempt, the Ankara public prosecutor’s office said.
The detentions came after the capital’s public prosecutor issued arrest warrants for 260 suspects accused of using the encrypted ByLock messaging application which authorities believe was used to coordinate the coup bid.
Another 18 suspects, including 10 doctors, were sought in a second probe.
Officers have so far detained 171 people in Ankara and another 10 suspects elsewhere, the office said without giving details, AFP reported.
Tens of thousands have been arrested over alleged ties to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who Ankara says ordered the failed coup. Gulen denies this.
Since the failed overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, authorities have also sacked or suspended over 140,000 public sector workers over suspected links to Gulen.”
UK Navy Chief Says Iran Remains Threat to Marine Navigation in Gulf
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2040046/uk-navy-chief-says-iran-remains-threat-marine-navigation-gulf
“Iran’s threat to British shipping in the Gulf “hasn’t gone away”, said head of the Royal Navy Admiral Tony Radakin.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, he described the Iran Revolutionary Guards’ capture of the British-flagged tanker the Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz in July as “aggressive” and “outrageous”.
He stressed that London was working on de-escalating tension with Iran following the incident.
At the same time, however, the navy would maintain a heightened military presence in the Gulf, he said…”
Erdogan: US, Russia Have Not Complied with Understandings on East Euphrates Region
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2040111/erdogan-us-russia-have-not-complied-understandings-east-euphrates-region
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again hinted at the possibility of resuming Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria, east of the Euphrates River.
He said the United States and Russia have not complied with the understandings reached to remove the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and establish a safe zone on Turkey’s southern borders.
Operation Peace Spring was launched in October 9 to eliminate Kurdish factions from northern Syria, east of the Euphrates River.
Erdogan said both parties could not expel members of the YPG, designated by Ankara as a terrorist organization, from northern Syria…”
Aramco Acquires 17% of South Korean Hyundai Oilbank
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2040466/aramco-acquires-17-south-korean-hyundai-oilbank
“Saudi Aramco has completed, through its subsidiary Aramco Overseas Company B.V. (AOC), the acquisition of 17% of Hyundai Oilbank from Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, for approximately US$1.2 billion.
The completion follows receipt of all necessary regulatory consents and approvals.
The investment in South Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank supports Saudi Aramco’s Downstream growth strategy of expanding its global footprint in key markets in profitable integrated refining, chemicals and marketing businesses which enable Saudi Aramco to place crude oil and leverage its trading capabilities.
Hyundai Oilbank is a private oil refining company established in 1964. The Daesan Complex, where Hyundai Oilbank’s major facilities are located, is a fully integrated refining plant with a processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
The business portfolio of Hyundai Oilbank and its five subsidiaries includes oil refining, base oil, petrochemicals and a network of gas stations.”
New law directs US intelligence chief to reveal who ordered Khashoggi murder
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/khashoggi-murder-law-requiring-us-spy-chief-reveal-information-passes-congress
France’s prosecutor demands Al-Assad’s uncle imprisonment
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191218-frances-prosecutor-demands-al-assads-uncle-imprisonment/
“Representatives of the French prosecution demanded a four-year prison sentence and a fine of 10 million Euros ($11 million) against the uncle of the Syrian regime’s president, Bashar Al-Assad, for “unlawful gains,” in addition to confiscating his property, which was seized during the investigation, reported the French media.
Prosecutors accused the Syrian Minister of Defence and former Vice President Rifaat Al-Assad, at the beginning of his trial on Monday, of embezzling the funds of the Syrian state to build a real estate empire worth about 90 million Euros in France alone, extending to Britain, particularly in Gibraltar, and Spain, where he owns more than 500 properties valued at $691 million, which have been confiscated in 2017, according to Al-Quds Al-Arabi.
For his part, Rifaat Al-Assad, who has been absent from the trial due to medical reasons, denied the charges. Thus, even though the defendant’s lawyer submitted documents, proving that his client received donations amounting to about $25 million between 1984 and 2010, the investigators recorded transfers worth only $ 10 million from a Gulf country.
Six years ago, the French anti-corruption association Sherpa filed a complaint against Rifaat Al-Assad for purchasing property using illegal resources and embezzling public funds to get French judiciary to appoint a judge to investigate the case.
The judicial investigation showed that Bashar Al-Assad’s uncle acquired, through companies based in tax havens, significant real estate properties in France in the early 1980s, as he owned forty-two palaces in Paris, a horse farm near the French capital, offices in Lyon and other features, reported Al Jazeera Net.
It is worth mentioning that Rifaat Al-Assad, who has been under investigation in France since 2014, is a former leader of the Syrian regime and commander of the Defence Companies, a special force, which was instrumental during the bloody attack on the city of Hama in central Syria in 1982 and the notorious Tadmor Prison massacre. However, he was forced to leave Syria in 1984 and lived between Britain and France following a failed coup he led against his brother, Hafez Al-Assad, who ruled the country from 1971 until his death in 2000.”
Millions of Muslim refugees could flee India: PM Imran
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2119521/3-pm-imran-arrives-geneva-co-convene-global-refugee-forum/
“Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that millions of Muslims could flee India due to the curfew in the Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK) and India’s new citizenship law, creating “a refugee crisis that would dwarf other crises”.
Addressing the Global Forum on Refugees in Geneva, he said, “We are worried there not only could be a refugee crisis, we are worried it could lead to a conflict between two nuclear-armed countries.”
“Our country will not be able to accommodate more refugees,” he added, urging the world to “step in now”…”
Turkey names its celestial objects ‘Anadolu’ and ‘Göktürk’
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-names-its-celestial-objects-anadolu-and-gokturk-149962
“Turkey has chosen the names for a far-flung planet and its local star, said a Turkish astronomer on Dec. 17.
In June, Turkey got the naming rights to the star known as WASP-52 as well as its exoplanet, WASP-52-B, under a campaign by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Turkey named the star Anadolu (Anatolia, the Turkish heartland) and the exoplanet Göktürk (Sky Turk, also the name of a groundbreaking medieval Turkish khanate), according to ?brahim Küçük, head of the Turkish Astronomical Society…”
Russia, Syrian regime start joint exercise in Med Sea
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-syrian-regime-start-joint-exercise-in-med-sea-149951
“Russia and the Syrian regime started a joint military exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean, TASS Russian News Agency reported on Dec. 17.
According to the TASS, the exercises involve Russian surface ships and aircraft from the Khmeimim air base, as well as Syrian Navy missile boats and mine warfare vessels.
Speaking to the Russian media, Rear Adm. Alexander Yuldashev said Russian warships and fighter jets from Khmeimim, a base in coastal Syria, and Syrian regime minesweepers are taking part in the exercise.
Yuldashev said the joint maneuvers will include artillery fire along with practice fighting illegal armed groups and drones.
There was no information on the duration of the exercise, the number of personnel, or the number of vessels or fighter jets.
Since 2015, Russia has had warships at the Tartus naval base and fighter jets at the Khmeimim air base.”
Turkey Repatriates Moroccan National Over ISIS-Links
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/12/289134/turkey-moroccan-national-isis-links/
“Turkey has deported a terror suspect back to Morocco as part of its strategy to repatriate all suspects with terror links to their countries of origin.
Anadolu Agency reported on Monday, December 16, that the Turkish Ministry of Interior announced the deportation of a Moroccan national as part of Turkey’s “efforts to repatriate foreign terrorist fighters.”
Turkey, according to the agency, said that some European countries resisted its strategy to send ISIS members back to their countries of origin.
“It will nevertheless press forward,” the news outlet added.
The Turkish government deported 7,500 members with links to ISIS to their countries, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said…”
Arab Researchers Would Rather Emigrate West
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/12/289142/arab-researchers-would-rather-emigrate-west/
“Researchers in the Arab region are convinced that the only solution to the many obstacles they face is to leave.
In an online survey conducted by Al- Fanar Media, 91% of the 650 researchers who participated admitted that they would like to work elsewhere.
Nearly all of the respondents said that they would leave their home country for a research post abroad.
The participants said that the lack of funding is the primary reason for the yearning to emigrate. According to the survey, 84% of researchers said that they have to use their own funding for their research.
Moreover, access to research is limited as almost half of the researchers said they do not have an internet connection at home labs, conferences and opportunities to collaborate internationally are limited, and they do not have free access to academic journals.
Not only is funding an issue, but gaining permission for research from institutions or the government is nearly impossible to achieve in a timely manner. Social researchers also revealed that it could take months or years to get research approved by the government.
Mefi Alrasheedi, an assistant professor of business administration at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia said in the survey: “Administrative work drains the academic’s time and takes them away from their research work, especially work of a complex nature, amid a lack of sufficiently qualified human resources.”
Even when researchers do get approval from institutions or the government, their exploration is overseen. Forty-three% of the surveyed researchers noted that corruption, lack of administrative support, and bureaucracy control their creative thinking and diminishes their academic freedom.
In trying to win a promotion to improve salaries, some participants complained that more and more researchers in the Arab region try to increase the number of studies published rather than focusing on the quality of their research.
Adding to that issue, 55% of participants responded that women face a particularly challenging course in becoming as successful as male researchers in Arab countries.
Rana Dajani, a molecular biologist, said in the survey: “Many are stuck inside a loop of wanting to be promoted and getting a better salary, and that’s it. The objective becomes promotion, not doing science, so they do the bare minimum to get promoted.”
The idea of researchers emigrating does not sit well among Arab countries that want to build “knowledge economies” or instill a competitive atmosphere between universities, says Abdelhamid Nechad, an economist at the Higher School of Commerce and Business in Casablanca in response to the survey.
The survey concluded that any researcher with a good idea and devotion to science itself will emigrate West instead.
Morocco is no exception
According to a report conducted by the Moroccan National Council in 2018, “underpayment and difficult working conditions are the factors making more and more Moroccan doctors consider emigration.”
In the same study, an anonymous Moroccan doctor complained about the feeling that his profession is not respected in Morocco by stating, “For those who do not have the means to open a private office or find a job in the private sector, going to France or Germany remains the only way to ensure a guaranteed future.”
In seeking professional respect, most Moroccan professionals emigrate to France, says the Arab Weekly. The report adds that every year, thousands of doctors and engineers emigrate in the hopes of finding a place that provides better living conditions, social status, and the academic rights that are lacking in Morocco.
In a report recently released by Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, the main cause of stress for Moroccan employees is the lack of financial and social security. Around 84% of employees said that a retirement plan is necessary, and 66% would like to change their job for a better salary.
Income is the main reason for deciding to stay in the same city or look for opportunities elsewhere for 43% of employees.
Additionally, Said Amzazi, Morocco’s Minister of Education, said that educated people also leave because of technological transformations and the appeal of international laboratories. He acknowledged that Morocco does not provide incentives to attract educated Moroccans across the world.
In response to the latest survey, Nechad said that the Kingdom itself “should raise the salaries of researchers and offer them more career opportunities.””
Austria court strikes down law aimed at cutting benefits for immigrants
https://www.thelocal.at/20191217/austria-court-strikes-down-law-to-cut-benefits-for-immigrants
“Austria’s constitutional court on Tuesday overturned key provisions of a law passed by the previous right-wing coalition government, including benefit cuts aimed at immigrants.
In its judgement the court said that the requirement in the law for claimants to prove proficiency in German or English was unconstitutional.
The law had foreseen a cut of 300 euros ($334) in benefits — from the normal minimum of 863 euros — for those with insufficient German or English.
The court similarly found against a provision which curtailed payments to families the more children they had, saying it “disadvantaged families with multiple children in a way which is not objectively justifiable and unconstitutional”.
The cuts could lead to “the necessary living conditions for families with multiple children not being guaranteed”, the court said.
Church groups and anti-poverty groups had criticised the measures when the previous government put them forward last year.
That administration was a coalition of the centre-right People’s Party (OeVP) and far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), both of which had made a crackdown on immigration one of their key messages.
That government collapsed in May over a corruption scandal that engulfed the FPOe and led to new elections in September.
The OeVP is currently negotiating with the Greens to form a new coalition.
Tuesday’s decision comes only days after the constitutional court struck down another law passed by the OeVP-FPOe government, which would have enabled surveillance of encrypted messages.”