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.
Egypt-UAE military reinforcements for Libya’s Haftar forces
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191231-egyptian-emirati-military-reinforcements-for-haftar-forces/
“Well-informed sources revealed that military reinforcements have arrived from Egypt and the UAE to the forces of the retired Libyan general, Khalifa Haftar, who has been leading an army operation to storm the capital, Tripoli.
The sources confirmed the arrival of three Emirati military cargo planes to one of the airbases in eastern Libya, one of which was carrying militants coming from an Emirati naval base in the Horn of Africa.
Haftar’s forces have been using mercenaries from several countries, especially from Sudan, Chad and Russia, in their war to storm Tripoli.
Two other planes, which arrived through Egyptian airspace, were carrying a massive shipment of weapons and armoured vehicles, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed…”
Turkey, Libya foil plot in the East Mediterranean, says Erdogan
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191231-turkey-libya-foil-plot-in-the-east-mediterranean-says-erdogan/
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the country has succeeded in foiling plots to exclude it from participating in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
In his address to the nation today, Erdogan stated: “The project to exclude Turkey from the Mediterranean has been foiled with the latest steps we have taken.”
“With support to the legitimate Tripoli government, Turkey will ensure implementation of all elements of agreements with Libya,” referring to Ankara’s recent relations with the UN-backed Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the city of Tripoli which is repelling attacks by its rival Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA)…”
Houthis: Third Saudi coalition spy drone downed within 24 hours
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191231-houthis-third-saudi-coalition-spy-drone-downed-within-24-hours/
“It was reported yesterday that a spy drone belonging to the Saudi-led coalition was shot down by the Yemen armed forces allied with the Houthi movement, the third such vessel shot down in less than 24 hours, according to the Houthi run Al-Masirah.
“Air defences managed, thanks to God, to shoot down a Phantom spy drone in the At-Tina area of Hayran district, Hajjah,” Yemeni military spokesman Brigadier Yahya Saree said.
The latest downed drone “belongs to the Sudanese forces and was shot down this morning with an undisclosed missile while carrying out hostilities.”…”
Kuwait: 20 month term for insulting US,UK envoys on Instagram
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191231-kuwait-20-month-term-for-insulting-usuk-envoys-on-instagram/
“A Kuwaiti court has sentenced an expatriate to 20 months in prison and a fine of 1,000 Kuwaiti dinars ($3,300) for misusing his phone and insulting the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) ambassadors, Al-Rai reported yesterday.
The defendant will also be deported after serving his sentence, legal sources said. He was convicted of “taking hostile action against the USA and UK,” according to the paper.
The sources pointed out that the man, whose nationality was not identified, had criticised the foreign diplomats through a post on Instagram. No “threatening phrases” were used in the social media post, they added…”
Water increasingly used as weapon in Middle East conflicts this decade
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/12/31/water-used-as-weapon-in-middle-east-conflicts
“Violence linked to water has significantly increased over the past decade, with militants in the Middle East weaponising the vital resource by targeting civilian water supplies, according to a watchdog.
Incidents of water-related violence across the world have more than doubled in the last 10 years compared with previous decades, a comprehensive database maintaned by the US-based Pacific Institute shows.
The ever more common scarcity of clean water supplies is stoking intercommunal violence and conflict in many parts of the world, particularly those affected by population growth and extreme weather caused by the climate crisis.
“As water becomes more scarce, because it’s such a critical resource, people will do whatever they can do meet their basic needs,” Peter Gleick, the founding president of the Pacific Institute, told The Guardian on Tuesday.
The database, begun in the 1980s, keeps track of instances where water was a trigger for fighting, used as a weapon of war or was disrupted by conflict.
It has noted an uptick in both conflicts linked to access to water and attacks on civilian water supplies, Gleick said.
“There have been a very large number of attacks in recent years in Yemen but also in Syria and Iraq, where it’s clear that in direct violation of international law, civilian water infrastructure has been intentionally targeted, relentlessly,” he said.
For example, a 2012 attack on a water pipeline in Aleppo left some 3 million people without a supply fresh water. The Syrian regime has repeatedly been accused of targeting bombing pumping stations and water-distribution networks.
Both the Islamic State group and Al-Nusra Front, an extremist group formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda and now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have been accused of attacking and poisoning civilian water supplies in Syria.
Other areas particularly exposed to water-associated violence over the past decade are Iraq, Yemen and Africa’s Sahel region. India has also witnessed increased intercommunal violence over water disputes. The country witnessed one of its worst droughts in decades this year.
Increased water scarcity over the last few decades has also been identified as one of the routes of major conflicts in Iraq and Sudan.
Severe drought and inceased competition over land and resources are key causes of tribal conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where state arming and training of Arab tribes escalated the violence into a war that killed around 300,000 people and displaced 3 million.
Darfur also represents a key case for the future prosecution of conflict actors targeting civilian water resources.
The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictment of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir includes charges of the contamination of wells and water pumps by regime-backed forces.
Drought and increased flooding in South Sudan has also caused heightened resource competition and exacerbated existing tribal conflicts.
Local conflicts will continue to grow in intensity and freqency as drought and water scarcity increase, researchers say. Water scarcity and stress also has the potential to start larger conflicts in the future.
Middle Eastern countries form a majority of those currently facing extremely high water stress, the World Resources Institute’s 2019 Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas said.
Qatar faces the highest water stress in the world, with Lebanon not far behind, according to the report.
Fellow Gulf states Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all ranked in the top ten, respectively facing the 7th, 8th and 10th highest levels of water stress.
In between Lebanon and Kuwait came Israel, Iran, Jordan and Libya.
Already conflict-stricken nations including Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq were ranked among the countries facing high water stress.
Experts say rising wet bulb temperatures – an index which reflects the combined effects of heat and humidity – could render parts of the Middle East practically uninhabitable during the summer within the next 50 years.”
Sudanese government closes ten ‘unauthorised’ Islamic-themed channels
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/12/31/sudanese-government-closes-ten-unauthorised-islamic-themed-channels
“The Sudanese government on Monday announced the closure of ten “Islamic-focused” TV channels, including one headed by the hardline Islamist cleric, Abdelhayy Youssef.
In a formal statement, the Sudanese ministry for culture and information relayed its decision to “dismantle” the major broadcaster, Alandalous Media Production and Distribution, owner of Islamic-themed Tayba TV, for operating over ten “unauthorised” TV channels.
The ministry added that the decision was made in line with the regulations of the national broadcasting authority and its 2019 constitution, which state that television and network broadcasting is a “national concern”.
The mass closure encompassed channel broadcasting in a variety of regional languages, including Hausa, Swahili, Tigre and English. All aimed to communicate an “Islamic message to Africa”, according to Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language site.
Taybe TV is run by prominent Islamist cleric Abdelhay Youssef, known widely for his fiery speeches and outspoken support for ousted Islamist ruler Omar Al-Bashir.
Local media reports have accused Youssef of maintaining ties with Al-Qaeda and providing financial assistance for the training of fighters of the Islamic State group in Libya…”
Arab League warns against deployment of foreign fighters in Libya
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security-arabs/arab-league-warns-against-deployment-of-foreign-fighters-in-libya-idUSKBN1YZ15O
“The Arab League urged the warring sides in Libya on Tuesday not to do anything that might enable the deployment of foreign fighters in the North African country and worsen its conflict.
The Arab League’s council, its top body, met in Cairo after Egypt called for an emergency meeting on Libya, where eastern-based forces led by military commander Khalifa Haftar are trying to seize the capital Tripoli.
Turkey has said it will seek parliamentary support for sending troops to Libya, and senior Turkish sources have said Ankara is also considering sending allied Syrian fighters as part of the deployment.
Egypt is one of Haftar’s foremost foreign backers. Turkey supports the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.
A statement issued by the Arab League’s council warned of “the gravity of taking any unilateral steps … in a manner that allows foreign military interventions and contributes to the escalation and prolongation of the conflict”.
“Regional interventions that help among other things in facilitating the transfer of foreign extremist fighters from other regional conflict zones to Libya” should be prevented, it said.
Egypt has been flexing its diplomatic muscles since Turkey signed two accords with the Tripoli government last month, one on security and military cooperation and the other on boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean.
Both sides in Libya have received foreign air support, mainly through drones, and Russian military contractors have been deployed on the front line to help Haftar’s forces in recent months, diplomats and analysts say.”
U.S. deploying 750 soldiers after protest at U.S. Embassy in Iraq: Pentagon chief
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-usa-military/u-s-deploying-750-soldiers-after-protest-at-u-s-embassy-in-iraq-pentagon-chief-idUSKBN1Z01GR
“The United States is immediately deploying about 750 soldiers to the Middle East in response to the violent protests at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday.
Esper said in a statement he had authorized the deployment of an infantry battalion from the Immediate Response Force (IRF) of the 82nd Airborne Division. Apart from the immediate deployment, additional forces from the IRF are prepared to deploy over the next several days, he said.”
Pakistan to pay religious seminary teachers as part of reforms
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/pakistan-to-pay-religious-seminary-teachers-as-part-of-reforms-1.68747471
“Pakistan’s government has announced plans to register religious seminaries, and pay trained teachers at these seminaries, as part of its Madrasa Reforms Programme.
All seminary teachers who teach contemporary subjects would receive their salaries from the government, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood told a press conference.
The government has also introduced a new stream of matriculate education, called Matric Tech, he said.
The World Bank has agreed to pay US$450 million (Dh1.65 billion) for the reform project, the minister said, adding there were between 32,000 and 35,000 seminaries — of which 3,000 would be registered in the first year.
The registration of seminaries would be completed in four years, and the Director General of Religious Education (DGRE) will pay Rs17,000 (Dh403) a month in salaries and stipends to registered seminary teachers who teach contemporary education.
The press conference was held in the wake of a meeting of ministers for education from all the provinces with the federal minister.
In the preceding meeting all the education ministers discussed issues relating to streamlining the religious seminaries that are otherwise seen as nurseries for hardliners in the country.
They discussed their curriculum and decided that all 29 educational boards in the country would announce higher secondary school certificate results by August 15 so that students could have enough time to apply for admission to the universities of their choice.
The minister said it was decided that every seminary would appoint two teachers of its own choice to impart contemporary formal education to students.
The minister also said the federal government would help seminaries open bank accounts besides resolving the issues regarding visa for foreigners interested in enrolling there.
The minister said the federal government was neither opposed to the provincial autonomy guaranteed by 18th Constitutional Amendment nor would it interfere with it.
“Education will continue to be a provincial subject as guaranteed in the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The federal and the provincial governments are jointly working on education reforms, especially uniform curriculum, so decisions and moves in that respect will be acceptable to all,” he said.
The minister said uniform national curriculum, an indication of national spirit, would bring about an education system, which met the country’s current and future needs.
He said a uniform academic calendar had been put in place across the country, while all education boards had been asked to announce the results of intermediate exams by August 15, while the universities had been bound by their regulator, Higher Education Commission (HEC), to offer admissions only after September 15.
The minister said the centre had developed a comprehensive programme to enrol the out-of-school children and improve educational standards in provinces.”
13 Moroccan Migrants Heading for Europe End Up in Cote D’Ivoire
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/12/290178/moroccan-migrants-europe-cote-divoire/
“The Moroccan embassy in Cote D’Ivoire released a statement to announce that it intervened after police in the country arrested 13 young undocumented Moroccan migrants who thought they had reached Europe.
The group of Moroccans, however, were surprised to find themselves still in Africa after authorities in Cote D’Ivoire arrested them on December 27 for entering the country without documentation.
The Moroccan embassy in Cote D’Ivoire said that the Moroccan nationals arrived on Thursday, December 26 on board a ship from Casablanca, thinking that the ship was heading for Europe.
The embassy added that Morocco’s ambassador to Abidjan, Abdelmalek Kettani, ordered consular affairs staff to “identify the people concerned” and to ensure their safety and provide support…”
Pakistan saw 31% reduction in terrorism in 2019, report
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2127740/1-pakistan-saw-31-reduction-terrorism-2019-report/
“Pakistan saw a nearly 31 per cent reduction in terror and counter-terror related fatalities over the past year, according to data compiled and released by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).
In its annual report, released on Monday, the think-tank said that during the year, a 30.71 per cent drop in fatalities was observed in 2019, down from 980 last year to 679 this year.
Even though they have been merged, but the report noted that if Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa (K-P) and the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) are counted as separate regions, then Balochistan emerges as the region most affected by militancy and insurgency with 226 fatalities this year. This, however, still presents a drop of 44.2 per cent in fatalities, down from 405 fatalities in 2018.
After Balochistan, the largest drop in fatalities was seen in the newly merged tribal districts (NMTDs) with a change of 39 per cent, from 192 recorded last year to 117 this year…”
BREITBART – Medical Societies Provide Cover for Transgender Industry’s Propaganda
Radical LGBTQ organizations and the transgender drug and surgical industry are obtaining name-brand support from the nation’s large medical and mental health societies who provide cover for their experimentation on children who suffer from gender dysphoria.
Just as the abortion industry used Obamacare and medical societies such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to spread a narrative that abortion is “health care,” the transgender industry has similarly sought to protect its highly lucrative business of puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and body-mutilating surgery for children and adolescents.
Attorney and researcher Jane Robbins recently examined the relationship between the transgender industry and medical associations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Endocrine Society, at Townhall.
Robbins noted AAP has partnered with the radical Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — known for its bullying and coercive attacks in order to force acceptance of the LGBTQ lifestyle.
“But do the views of HRC and AAP leadership align with those of AAP’s over 65,000 physician members?” Robbins asked. “We don’t know, because the pro-experimentation policies were passed without input from those members.”
She explained that AAP’s positions statements are drafted by a small committee and then voted on by a board of directors consisting of about a dozen members.
“The broader membership has no direct input into the statement and would generally learn of it only after it’s issued,” Robbins said. “So the only thing the AAP policy tells us is that less than 0.05 percent of the pediatricians who are still members of AAP believe in experimenting medically on gender-confused children.”
Robbins points to the mental health practitioners who have condemned AAP for its cave to the groups seeking to convince more parents and children the transgender lifestyle is normal.
In September 2018, for example, Dr. Susan Bradley, a child psychiatrist who founded the Toronto Gender Identity Clinic, told National Review she is “deeply concerned that AAP’s guidance has gotten so far ahead of the current knowledge base about gender dysphoric children.”
Bradley added:
We know from multiple studies that around 80 percent of gender dysphoric children will desist from their cross-sex identification in childhood to identify with their natal sex. Most of these will grow up to be gay or lesbian; a substantial minority have also been diagnosed with autism.
Yet the AAP guidance incorrectly dismisses these studies as flawed and outdated. There is no professional consensus on medical treatment of gender-dysphoric children and young adolescents.
Similarly, Robbins noted the Endocrine Society, which approves of puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones for gender-confused children, admits that 68 percent of its transgender guidelines are of “very low” or “low” quality.
“In fact, none are supported by high-quality evidence,” she observed. “The Society thus admits the scientific evidence for its recommendations is weak at best. Yet physicians across the country are using these guidelines to justify horrendous interventions that cannot be undone.”
The Pediatric Endocrine Society has gone as far as to claim “gender-affirming care,” such as puberty-blocking drugs, are a “reversible treatment that decreases the distress of having the ‘wrong’ puberty.”
Seeking cover, the Society touted “the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the largest academic organization of pediatricians in the US, has released a Policy Statement supporting the approach to gender-affirming care” that is consistent with that of the Society.
The group added that “gender-affirming care” includes allowing a child or adolescent “to explore their gender identity freely, and in some circumstances allow for a social transition (change of name, pronouns, attire).”
The Society stated such “gender-affirming care” may include “puberty suppression once puberty has started.”
“This is a reversible treatment that decreases the distress of having the ‘wrong’ puberty,” the organization claimed. “This treatment alone does not cause infertility.”
However, in November, California-based endocrinologist Dr. Michael Laidlaw told Breitbart News organizations such as the Pediatric Endocrine Society “have created an institutionalized childhood pathway towards sterility.”
“Why would organizations, that are ostensibly out to help children, actually harm them in a most profound way?” he asked, and then explained the progression of how medical societies have been infiltrated by radical transgender activists with “one of the most insidious child sterilization programs ever devised”:
It’s really critical to understand that our medical organizations beginning with the Endocrine Society and moving on to the Pediatric Endocrine Society and American Academy of Pediatricians, that with respect to this topic they have been taken over by the most radical elements. These radical trans activists were involved in writing the Endocrine Society guidelines in 2009 and 2017. These are low to no quality evidence guidelines, and anyone can read for themselves the poor evidence they have for these treatments for children and adolescents.
Laidlaw cited a study in which the majority of children prescribed puberty blockers went on to cross- or wrong-sex hormones, and the majority of these went on to sex reassignment surgery.
“All of those who started on blockers and went to cross-sex hormones are infertile,” he said. “Those who had gonads removed are sterilized.”
He said this path begins at the earliest phase of social transition, when the child is “affirmed” in dressing as the opposite sex and changing his or her name.
“Social transition has the psychological effect of convincing the child that they are in the wrong body,” he explained. “The puberty blockers are a drug-induced model of not only blocking essential aspects of development, but also solidifying the belief that they must take wrong-sex hormones to escape from their situation.”
More young adults in psychological distress who ultimately identified as transgender and then “detransitioned” are speaking out about the harms that came to them through experimentation with the trans lifestyle.
Chiara Canaan, 22, a founder of the Pique Resilience Project with three other young women who experienced Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD), identified as a “trans man” when she was 16, but then detransitioned at 19.
Writing at the Velvet Chronicle, Canaan said she latched onto the trans community on social media in high school after ending a lesbian relationship:
My immersion into this online space kicked off a period in which I very quickly developed intense social and body dysphoria. I became convinced that I was a boy trapped in the body of a girl, and that the only way forward was for me to begin a medical transition. I began to envision myself as a straight guy (rather than a gay girl), which alleviated a large amount of the discomfort I felt with my sexuality.
I begged my mother to let me take testosterone and wanted to schedule “top surgery” (a double mastectomy) right away. My mother wouldn’t allow it, but she voiced support for me to be as “gender-non-conforming” as I pleased. Our relationship remained rocky until I graduated high school at seventeen and traveled to another state for a nine-month internship on a horse farm. While working there, I had limited internet access, which shifted my focus; I started paying attention to other things going on in my life. This shift, coupled with the emotional maturity I gained during that time, allowed me to return home and take a step back—to question the narratives I’d been exposed to online.
Canaan wrote she would have “greatly regretted medical transition” and is now “immensely grateful my mother knew better.”
Also of great importance is the fact that Canaan has exited her trans experience with greater psychological insight because of her time away and her introspection. She also is aware that detransitioners have been “silenced” by the media.
“Identifying as a ‘trans man’ set me back years in accepting my own sexuality,” she explained. “In the interest of young people’s ongoing health and self-image, we need to acknowledge that there is an epidemic affecting kids at an alarming rate. Medical transition isn’t a frivolous, easily-reversed experiment; it is a significant undertaking.”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/31/medical-societies-provide-cover-for-transgender-industrys-propaganda/
Turkey arrests 13 suspects for planning terror attacks
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey-arrests-13-suspects-for-planning-terror-attacks/1688748
“Turkish police have arrested 13 foreign national suspects allegedly planning terror attacks targeting New Year’s celebrations on behalf of Daesh/ISIS, said security sources on Tuesday.
Early this morning anti-terror police units carried out raids at the addresses of suspects in the capital Ankara, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
While police arrested five suspects during the raids, another suspect was rounded up later as part of the ongoing operation.
Each of the suspects was allegedly planning a separate terror attack targeting celebrations, it added.
The suspects were found to be linked to the terrorist group Daesh/ISIS in conflict zones of Syria and Iraq.
On social media, the suspects allegedly shared images of executions and armed training given to young children from the terror group’s website, according to the sources.
Police found a number of organizational documents of the terror group during searches at the addresses.
The sources also said the operation was ongoing and the number of detentions could rise.
Separately, police arrested one foreign national suspect in the southwestern Burdur province and six in Hatay, a southern province bordering Syria.
Turkey recognized Daesh/ISIS as a terrorist organization in 2013.
Since then, the country has been attacked by Daesh/ISIS terrorists numerous times, including 10 suicide bombings, seven bombings and four armed attacks which killed 315 people and injured hundreds.
In response, Turkey has launched military and police operations inside the country and abroad.”
Switzerland to roll out stricter language rules for foreigners
https://www.thelocal.ch/20191231/stricter-language-requirements-for-foreigners-in-switzerland
“If you are not conversant in one of Switzerland’s three national languages, you may lose your right to stay in the country under new rules to be rolled out from January.
A slew of new laws and regulations will come into effect in Switzerland in 2020.
Among them is one that may impact the lives of many foreigners here: proficiency in German, French, or Italian languages will be required in order to have work and residency permits renewed or extended.
Staring on January 1st, B and C permit holders will be required to obtain official certificates from a government-accredited institution to prove that they have sufficient language skills to communicate with ease in at least one of the Swiss national languages.
Exceptions will be made for those whose native language is German, French or Italian, as well as foreigners who have completed primary school in one of the three languages, even if the school was outside Switzerland.
Those who fail to comply with these rules will face some serious consequences: C permit holders could lose their permanent residency status and have their permit downgraded to B, meaning that they would only be able to stay in Switzerland for one year.
And B permit holders may lose their right to live in Switzerland altogether.
The new language requirements are part of the revised Swiss Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration, which was enacted on January 1st, 2019.”