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.
Anti-Muslim’ law protests continue as India marks New Year
“Stay strong India!!! Muslims have 150 countries to go to, Hindus have only India: Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani”
Ann Corcoran – December 26, 2019 – Twitter
https://twitter.com/RefugeeWatcher/status/1210175184491008000
Indian pundit cites msm hypocracy:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.freepressjournal.in/amp/story/india%252Fany-howls-please-bjp-leader-swamy-incites-anti-caa-protestors-claims-hungarian-pm-wants-to-reject-muslim-refugees
WATCH: High school set on fire in Germany by shouting “Allah”
A gang of “young men”, who, according to the video, are predominantly migrants from Turkish or Arabic cultures, had smashed the windows of the Albert-Schweitzer High School in Wolfsburg’s Westhagen district and ignited fireworks in the classrooms, triggering the fire alarm. When police and firefighters arrived, they threw illegal firecrackers at them and fired rockets and fireworks ammunition from alarm guns into the classrooms. The firecrackers exploded through the destroyed windows directly in the classroom amongst the firefighters. Fortunately, the rescuers were not injured. Police officers from Braunschweig and Gifhorn were called in to assist, with whose assistance the situation could finally be brought under control. Four of the rioters, aged between 18 and 23, resisted arrest and had to be handcuffed. Three alarm guns with attachments for shooting fireworks ammunition were seized. These pistols were weapons requiring a permit, which may not be used on public roads and squares.
More:
https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2020/01/watch-high-school-set-on-fire-by.html
Populist Leader Tops Confidence Poll in Sweden for First Time (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/02/populist-leader-tops-confidence-poll-in-sweden-for-first-time/
“Swedish populist leader Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats (SD), is now tied with Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch-Thor as the party leader with the most confidence of Swedish voters.
The survey, conducted by polling firm Novus, is the best result ever for the SD leader showing him tied with Ms Busch-Thor at 31 per cent, and three points ahead of second-place winner and leader of the Left Party Jonas Sjöstedt, broadcaster SVT reports.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, the leader of the Social Democrats, has seen a steep decline in confidence among voters according to the survey, dropping six percentages points to 23 percent, putting him in 4th place.
Löfven commented on the results blaming the sharp increase in bombings, the high number of shootings and gang-related violence in 2019 saying, “It is not so strange with the situation we have had in the autumn with far too many shootings and too many blasts. There is a worry and there is anger.”…”
France: Hundreds of Cars Torched and Police Attacked Over New Year’s (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/02/france-hundreds-of-cars-torched-and-police-attacked-over-new-years/
“Hundreds of cars were set on fire across French cities on New Year’s Eve, with some cities seeing an even larger number of cars burned than the previous year.
Police arrested at least 400 people across France on New Year’s Eve, according to the French Interior Ministry. A total of 100,000 police were deployed, with one source claiming that the level of violence on the night was relatively calm compared to previous years, Le Parisien reports.
Although the general violence was allegedly less than previous years, a 27-year-old man in Haguenau was killed in an accident involving fireworks.
Car burnings have become common across France over New Year’s Eve in recent years, with at least 220 cars set on fire in the city of Strasbourg alone. The city also saw two incidents in which firefighters were ambushed and attacked.
Thierry Carbiener, president of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service, said that the firefighters were attacked by youths armed with iron bars and metal ladders describing them as “ultra-violent, in organised bands”.
“We are dealing with very mobile groups that light fires for the sole purpose of seeing the firefighters and the police arrive and confront them. We have reached a milestone: they no longer target vehicles but men. They act to hurt them,” he added. Around 40 people were arrested in Strasbourg during the night.
In Besançon, 127 cars were set on fire and a 100 other cars damaged during the night along with a major fire at an underground car park in an industrial area that took 140 firefighters hours to get under control.
France was not the only country to see a large number of arrests and cars burned over New Year’s Eve. In neighbouring Belgium, the city of Brussels saw 180 people arrested and around a dozen vehicles burned.
The arrests come after Brussels police announced they would be escorting all firefighters during New Year’s Eve due to attacks on emergency services personnel in previous years.”
Car fires all over the place around and during NYE in the Netherlands:
7 cars burning under a flat, explosion at 0m08. Residents had to be evacuated through windows by the fire dept. 12 wounded, 3 of them badly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvTfy2o4mps
This car had fireworks stored in it, so it exploded:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFNxhsb5ykk
A father and his 4yo son got stuck in an elevator and died in a fire caused by fireworks. The mother and daughter were injured:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/01/man-and-child-4-die-in-fire-as-the-netherlands-celebrates-the-new-year/
Some more car fires:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvsfW9xfmq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poxQpz_yvwA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXdFqI1QpJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyOj4zPXR48
I also read an open letter from a cop who was on duty in the west of Amsterdam, a muslim area. He reports seeing burning vehicles, a house fire (firworks shot through an open window), burning trashcans and underground recycling stations. Busstops and facade of a shop blown up with improvised explosives. Flares aimed at, and improvised explosives thrown at the patrol car, and at passing cyclists. People running around with jerrycans, looking for an opportunity to set christmas trees on fire.
Playground set on fire, backup had to be called in and a human chain of officers had to be formed to keep the “locals” from interfering and attacking firemen.
The fire dept was overburdened and refused to come and put out isolated car fires, they were too busy with fires that posed a risk to surrounding houses and vehicles.
The cop called it anarchy and legalized warfare. Facebook post, incl photos and a video, in Dutch:
https://www.facebook.com/mark.achterbergh/posts/10221863551364188
IS claims attack on Russian police that killed 1 officer (abcnews, Jan 2, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/claims-attack-russian-police-killed-officer-68026895
“The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for an attack on a police post in southern Russia.
Russian officials say one police officer was killed and three were injured when two men attacked a police post in Magas, the capital of the republic of Ingushetia, on Tuesday.
News reports said the attackers hit one police officer with their car and stabbed three others.
One of the attackers was killed when police opened fire and the other was wounded.
Ingushetia is in the northern Caucasus region, where police and Islamic militants have clashed.
A statement on an IS-affiliated website Thursday claimed two police were killed and did not mention attacker casualties.”
Putonghua-speaking woman accosted as Hong Kong protesters accuse her of taking photos
Hong Kong New Year’s Day march cut short, descends into chaos
New Year’s Eve protests in Hong Kong
The Best Way To Start The New Year
Hong Kong police pepperspray pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui at protest
Anti-CAA Stir: 1500 FB And Twitter Accounts From TN Under Police Scanner
Bloomberg on Texas Church Shooting: Only Cops should have guns and decide when to shoot
The EMASCULATION Of BOYS | Ep 120
#MoveToFrance
Is Impeachment of Trump Backfiring Already?
Rep. Al Green: The ‘genesis’ of Trump’s impeachment began when he was ‘running for office’
One of the most vocal pro-impeachment Democratic voices on Capitol Hill said the “genesis” of President Trump’s impeachment began long before the Ukraine scandal.
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, one of the first lawmakers to push for Trump’s impeachment, appeared on MSNBC on Monday and was confronted about the president, and how his allies have weaponized Green’s outspokenness against Democrats.
“Political expediency and insincerity — those are two charges that have been leveled against Democrats during this entire affair, particularly since September when the formal impeachment inquiry started, and you play a starring role in those charges,” MSNBC host Chris Hayes said to Green.
“The argument goes like this of House Republicans and Trump and his allies: the Democrats wanted to impeach Donald Trump from day one, they cast about looking for a set of facts that they could plausibly use to do it, and all of it was pretextual and reverse-engineered to get to this point, and Exhibit One: Congressman Al Green, who [has] been calling for the man’s impeachment for two years now,” Hayes said. “What’s your response to that charge?”
https://www.foxnews.com/media/rep-al-green-genesis-trump-impeachment-running-for-office
Anarchy in Brussels, Belgium during NYE. In French:
https://www.7sur7.be/faits-divers/les-images-hallucinantes-des-debordements-a-bruxelles-pendant-la-nuit-du-reveillon~a04f5826/
Check out the video, guns fired at 0m34. Also arson, molotov cocktails, taunting police, vandalizing a security camera. Note the subtitles in arabic, and the slang.
The video comes from snapchat, an account named Mugii .10. I found an alleged link to that account, but it’s private. There’s a YT account with the same name though, and it shows the theft of a security camera during NYE. I’m pretty sure it’s the same guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl0h6z_5xDk
Belgium also saw its share of car fires, this one was in Waasmunster. With video, article in Dutch:
https://www.hln.be/in-de-buurt/waasmunster/vandalen-steken-auto-in-brand-op-carpoolparking-waasmunster~ab3109cc/
Also in Belgium, a mare died from heart attack due to heavy fireworks in Hoeselt:
https://www.hln.be/in-de-buurt/hoeselt/26-jarige-merrie-overleden-na-vuurwerknacht-haar-vriendje-wijkt-niet-van-haar-zijde~a0717a6c/
A wallaby died in Herenthout due to fireworks going off a few meters away:
https://www.hln.be/in-de-buurt/herenthout/wallaby-sterft-na-afschieten-vuurwerk-vlak-naast-weiland-helemaal-niets-tegen-vuurwerk-maar-waarom-net-naast-al-onze-dieren~a18dce1b/
BELGIUM BRUSSELS
One of the interviewees says it’s like this everywhere in europe. He’s kind of right, but Brussels is definitely one of the shittier shitholes.
1:31 a stabbing, damn! The voice-over doesn’t sound very impressed though.
Census Test Proves Asking About Citizenship Doesn’t Scare Hispanics
The Supreme Court struck down the citizenship question, not because of the arguments leftists made, but because of the Trump administration’s repeated own goals.
Lyman Stone
By Lyman Stone
January 1, 2020
This week, the Census Bureau released the results of its formal test of the once-proposed, and now prevented, census citizenship question. The results are a striking rebuke to a recent leftist orthodoxy: Adding a citizenship question to a test-run of the census had no statistically significant effect on overall response rates. Even in the communities most sensitive to the question, such as neighborhoods with many Hispanics, response rates dropped only slightly.
To understand why this report is significant, step back to March 2018, when Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the 2020 census would include a question about citizenship status. Leftists were immediately outraged, seeing the addition as a racist conspiracy.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/01/census-test-proves-asking-about-citizenship-doesnt-scare-hispanics/
A Condescending Anti-Gun Argument
By Daniel Payne
January 1, 2020 6:30 AM
Bernie Sanders Breaks 2020 Dem Quarterly Fundraising Record with $34.5 Million Haul
The Dangers of Elite Groupthink
Boris Johnson’s Victory and the Political Realignment Shaking Western Democracies
This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism—January 1
Sponsored Content
Man Peels Back Flooring And Makes…
by Upbeat News
This Will Be Our Year
The End of the Soft-Power Delusion
Impeachment Fallouts
The Left’s ‘New’ Frontier Is Old: Reviving the ERA
How Not to Argue with Bill Barr
Texas’s Concealed-Carry Law Prevented Mass Murder
Census Estimates Show California, New York Losing House Seats to Demographic Change
Trump’s Impeachment and the Varieties of Presidential Corruption
Governor Cuomo’s Fervent Opposition to Trump
Study: FDA Failed to Improve Opioid Oversight Despite Known Deficiencies
Politics & Policy
A Condescending Anti-Gun Argument
By Daniel Payne
January 1, 2020 6:30 AM
Pistol at a rally in support of an open-carry gun law in Romulus, Mich., in 2014. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)
Tom Nichols can’t think of good reasons that people would carry guns and take an interest in gun policy. That’s telling.
My friend and former colleague Tom Nichols has been going on one of his regularly scheduled Twitter anti-gun rants over the past few days. In his latest, he slammed the “spread of gun worship” among conservatives. That Nichols’s opinions on the subject, which resemble a progressive 17-year-old’s knowledge of American gun culture, get a lot of attention from anti-gun types tells you something about the anti-gun movement: that it, too, has very limited experience with guns and the people who own them.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/tom-nichols-anti-gun-argument-condescending/
Funeral procession in Ede, the Netherlands pelted with fireworks by “youth”. In Dutch:
https://www.hln.be/nieuws/buitenland/nederlandse-rouwstoet-bekogeld-met-vuurwerk-de-rillingen-lopen-over-je-rug~a1f6056e/
The article mentions other “unrest” during NYE in Ede: 7 cars burned, police and firemen pelted with fireworks. The place is known for problems with its muslim community (car fires, stonings etc).
Car fire from 4:32, a group of 30 “youths” are responsible, also for vandalism and shooting flares at firemen.
Hundreds arrested in Hong Kong in New Year’s Day protests: police
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police arrested about 400 people in New Year’s Day protests after what started as a peaceful pro-democracy march of tens of thousands spiraled into chaotic scenes with police firing tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The arrests take the total to about 7,000 since protests in the city escalated in June over a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China, and will highlight the apparent absence of any progress towards ending the unrest.
The tension on Wednesday rose after some arrests were made in the Wan Chai bar district near a branch of global banking group HSBC , which has been the target of protester anger in recent weeks.
https://www.oann.com/hundreds-arrested-in-hong-kong-in-new-years-day-protests-police/
FRANCE STRASBOURG – Dozens of cars burned during New Year’s Eve mayhem in Strasbourg, France
Numerous vehicles were burnt as they had been set on fire in Strasbourg on New Year’s Eve, as footage from Wednesday shows.
STRASBOURG
STRASBOURG
STRASBOURG
LYON
More winning: Trump’s National Security Adviser quietly slashes Obama-bloated NSC staff
By J.E. Dyer January 2, 2020
One of the beauties of this move is that it’s a decision about how to use the Executive Office of the President (EOP) that is entirely within the president’s discretion – which is why Obama got away with bloating the National Security Council staff up in the first place.
The Washington Times reports that President Trump’s National Security Adviser, Robert C. O’Brien (successor to John Bolton), is “downsizing sharply” the NSC staff from its high count under Obama, which at one point reached as many as 450 people. This report, on the last day of 2019, is good news for the first day of 2020.
The good news is about more than the fact that cutting the staff will move a lot of people out of the White House complex, where some of them – “Obama holdovers” – have served a cottage industry of “leaking” to the media. It’s even more about accountability and good government, neither of which was served by moving policy-making positions onto the NSC staff and putting people in the NSC positions who (during Obama’s tenure) reportedly had trouble even qualifying for security clearances.
Many of the personnel involved will be transferred from the NSC staff back to their sponsoring departments:
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/01/02/more-winning-trumps-national-security-adviser-quietly-slashes-obama-bloated-nsc-staff/
Big Oil’s monster decade reveals why energy experts are not very good at making predictions
By Daily Caller News Foundation January 1, 2020
Energy analysts argued in 2010 that coal would still be a top fuel source by 2020 and that Americans would still be dependent on oil imports at the end of the decade — those projections didn’t pan out.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected in 2010 that the U.S. would be producing about six million barrels of oil a day by 2019, not the 12 million barrels of oil a day it actually produced. The EIA made other forecasts that year that did not ultimately come to fruition.
The EIA projected oil prices would hover around $100 a barrel in 2019 instead of $60 a barrel, where oil prices are currently pegged. The agency was also apparently unable to see into the future and observe how hydraulic fracturing would affect gas production over the past decade.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/01/01/big-oils-monster-decade-reveals-why-energy-experts-are-not-very-good-at-making-predictions/
Israel and Iran Have Been Waging a Secret War – German Media (sputniknews, Jan 2, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001021077921645-israel-iran-waging-secret-cyber-war-german-media/
“In 2019, a “war of words” in the Middle East came close to a “war of weapons” over attacks on Saudi and Iranian vessels, drone assaults on Saudi state oil company facilities – for which Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility, and the downing of a US surveillance drone. However, the tensions are allegedly not limited to visible activities.
The US and, especially, Israel are waging a secret battle against Iran, the German broadcaster n-tv reports, citing security specialists. Amid this “shadow war”, the US is said to be acting covertly with Israeli intelligence in carrying out operations in response to attacks allegedly sponsored by Iran.
The report says that Washington and Tel Aviv declared a “cyberware” war on Tehran and its allies more than a decade ago. As former intelligence officer of the Israel Defence Forces’ 8200 reconnaissance unit Roy Barzilay told the outlet, US President Donald Trump reacted to this summer’s attacks, which Washington and its allies have blamed on Iran, by ordering “to use a cyber attack to shut down the Iranian missile system and its intelligence agencies’ computers”.
“This doesn’t follow the usual rules of war and can have far-reaching effects”, he says, suggesting that while an air strike is seen as a declaration of war, “a cyber attack from a computer worm, virus, or Trojan can do significant damage without the immediate pretext of an actual physical war”.
N-tv points out that this was preceded by years of building up cyber armaments. Attacks of this kind have reportedly been around for more than a decade, mainly for espionage purposes, but also with the potential for physical destruction. The broadcaster cites experts who believe that the US’ National Security Agency and the Israeli unit 8200 launched the first major cyber offensive with the Stuxnet computer worm in 2010, when hundreds of centrifuges in a uranium enrichment plant in the Iranian city of Natanz were disabled.
“With its sophisticated attack and defence tools, Israel is one of the world’s leading nations in cyber warfare. Its soldiers are the eyes and ears of the country”, Barzilay concluded.
He compared the new battlefield to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, pointing out that Stuxnet opened a “Pandora’s Box”, as since then major powers, including the US and Russia, have vastly improved their offensive cyber warfare skills and could paralyse an entire country today. Non-state groups, including terrorists, are also said to be able to use cyberattacks as a weapon.
“Cyber attacks are no longer rare. The war with digital means is part of the world we live in now”, He said, pointing at attacks on physical infrastructure.
Israeli Cyber Weapon
Barzilay’s reconnaissance unit 8200 was founded in 1952 and has since developed into a much more professional body, says Colonel Omri Hoffmann, tasked with recruiting skilled personnel. According to him, it is divided into several departments and bases so that the teams do not know the tasks of the others.
Unit 8200 is said to spy on enemy states and terrorists, something which is considered a “passive cyber attack”. The so-called “active cyber attacks” are said to be carried out to change or impair the resources of opposing military facilities or even whole economic sectors. As n-tv notes, in 2017 information gathered by the unit helped prevent an attack on an airport in Australia, as several Daesh* supporters were arrested before it could take place.
However, “cyber warfare” has become a serious threat to Israel’s vital civil and military infrastructure as well, François-Bernard Huyghe of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs IRIS told the broadcaster.
“To respond, Jerusalem had to revise certain aspects of its security concept to ensure cyber superiority as an inseparable part of its military doctrine”, he explained.
Iran’s Cyber Warfare Power
Tehran is said to be retaliating against the Israeli cyber efforts, according to the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, which referred to Iran as “one of the leading cyber warfare nations”.
“Tehran tries to attack Israeli computers – which belong both to civilian population and to the military or intelligence agencies – day and night, constantly sending Trojans”, intelligence expert Jossi Melman claimed, outlining the risks for Tel Aviv’s highly digitalised supply networks for energy, water, communication, and transport, as well as its economy.
He said that the Islamic Republic has well-developed infrastructure with both defensive and offensive cyber capabilities and targets not only Israel, but also Saudi Arabia and the US.
“Iran also helps its allies, like Lebanese Hezbollah, with technology and knowledge. But Israel is also highly developed in this area. The unit 8200 is involved in most operations – like in Gaza or Syria – with intelligence reporting and helps combat soldiers in the tactical, operational and strategic area”, Melman says.
Escalating Tensions in the Middle East
Relations between the US, which supports Israel, and Iran went downhill following Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal, which stipulated lifting sanctions against Tehran in exchange for guarantees that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Tensions peaked in 2019, after four commercial vessels, including two Saudi Arabian oil tankers, were attacked in waters off the UAE’s Fujairah in May. In June, two foreign-flagged oil tankers were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz. While the cause of the incident remains unknown, the US and its allies have blamed Iran, which has denied any involvement.
A US surveillance drone was later downed over the Strait of Hormuz and then, in September, drone attacks launched on the facilities of Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, Saudi Aramco, further fuelled the standoff. Even though Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility for the attacks, the United States once again blamed Iran, as did France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Tensions flared up again during the winter, as the US carried out what it called “defensive strikes” against the pro-Iranian militia Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria.
US aircraft attacked five facilities in response to Friday’s attack on a base near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk in which a US soldier was killed and four others injured. The Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of allegedly Iran-backed Shia militias in Iraq that includes Kata’ib Hezbollah, said that 25 fighters were killed and 51 others injured in the US attack.
Afterwards, protestors stormed the American Embassy in Baghdad. Washington accused the Islamic Republic of orchestrating the attack on the embassy, claiming that Tehran would be held fully responsible for any damage caused to the facility by pro-Iranian protestors. Iran denied the allegations, urging the US to abandon its “destructive policies” in the Middle East.”
Turkey’s Parliament Passes Bill on Troop Deployment in Libya (sputniknews, Jan 2, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001021077922593-turkeys-parliament-passes-bill-on-troop-deployment-in-libya—report/
“Previously, Ankara and the UN-recognised Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) presiding in Tripoli signed an agreement on military cooperation in November 2019.
The Turkish parliament has passed a bill giving a green light to the deployment of Turkish troops in Libya after discussions were held on 2 January. 325 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion, while only 184 rejected it.
“A Libya whose legal government is under threat can spread instability to Turkey. Those who shy away from taking steps on grounds that there is a risk will throw our children into a greater danger”, said Ismet Yilmaz, a member of the governing AKP party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The decision was met with condemnation from Egypt, which opposes Ankara’s decision to send troops to the civil war-torn country.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his American counterpart Donald Trump discussed Libya in a telephone call, with both stressing “the importance of diplomacy in resolving regional issues”, the office of the Turkish president reported soon after the troop deployment bill was passed.
Turkey’s Support for GNA
The bill was introduced after the country signed an agreement on military cooperation in 2019 with the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, with the latter requesting military assistance from Turkey.
Tripoli has been under siege by General Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control most of the eastern part of the country, but is not recognised by the UN, unlike the GNA. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay earlier said that Ankara would send “the necessary number [of troops]” when needed, but added that it wouldn’t be necessary if the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Haftar, halts its offensive against Tripoli.
Country Divided by Civil War
Libya has been divided between several groups fighting for power ever since its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was killed in 2011 as a result of an attack by opposition forces backed by Western countries. The UN-supported GNA, which controls the west of the country, and the LNA are the two biggest forces in the country.
The LNA’s leader, General Khalifa Haftar, announced his offensive against Tripoli in April 2019, vowing to clear it of “terrorists”, referring to the GNA, in just two weeks. His attack on the GNA’s capital, however, stalled and has so far been unsuccessful in gaining ground in the city.”
Turkey: Parliament passes bill to deploy troops to Libya
In an emergency session held in Ankara on Thursday, the Turkish Parliament approved a motion to deploy Turkish troops to Libya for one year.
The parliament passed the bill with 325 votes against 184 to send troops to Libya to back the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).
“I wish this motion would be beneficial from almighty god,” announced Speaker of the Grand National Assembly Mustafa Sentop.
Turkish President had first announced the possibility of a military deployment to Libya during a surprise visit to Tripoli on December 25.
On November 27, Libya’s GNA and Turkey signed a military and security cooperation agreement, mapping out a maritime boundary between both countries in the Mediterranean, close to the Greek island of Crete, leading the Greek authorities to expel Libyan Ambassador Mohamed Younis A.B. Menfi from Greece.
zero hedge – Libyan Rebels Shoot Down Turkish Plane Moments After Ankara Approves Sending Troops
A mere hours after Turkey’s parliament in an emergency session voted to authorize its military to send troops to war-torn Libya in order to stave off advancing pro-Haftar forces on the capital, there are new reports rebel forces have downed a Turkish warplane south of Tripoli.
Benghazi-based General Khalifa Haftar had already long ago essentially declared he would enforce a No Fly Zone for all foreign aircraft, especially Turkish aircraft.
Sky News Arabia was the first to report Thursday: “Based on our sources, the Libyan army shoots down Turkish plane to the south of the capital Tripoli.”
And in a statement immediately after the Turkish aircraft downing of what appears to be a UAV drone, a spokesman for Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), said according to Sky News:
We reject the existence of any foreign power in Libya no matter what.
Though details are as yet unclear, if confirmed it would be the second Turkish military aircraft within three weeks brought down by the LNA, after a drone was shot down on Dec.14.
The timing is clearly meant to send a message given earlier in the day Turkish lawmakers approved a controversial motion (325 to 184) at an emergency session to grant a one-year mandate for troop deployment to fight advancing Haftar forces.
The LNA has lately been successful in imposing its no-fly zone in Ain Zara axis, south of Tripoli, according to local sources.
Turkish media reports have lately confirmed rumors that Turkey has already established a drone base in a Tripoli suburb to bolster air support to the GNA government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/libyan-rebels-shoot-down-turkish-plane-moments-after-ankara-approves-sending-troops
*\o/*
Number of Migrants Trying to Cross English Channel up 400% over 2018 (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/02/number-migrants-trying-cross-english-channel-up-400-over-2018/
“The number of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel rose by nearly 400 per cent in 2019.
In 2019 the number of migrants attempting to enter the UK illegally by crossing the English Channel surged to 2,358, quadrupling the number of 2018, which saw 586 people attempting the perilous sea journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
French authorities report that 261 migrant filled boats, which are typically undersized, overloaded and ill-equipped to deal with the heavily trafficked and icy waters of the channel, attempted to make the crossing, leading to four deaths last year, reports The Guardian.
Of the total, some 1,892 migrants successfully reached British shores last year, according to The Standard. The figure is twice as many as the year prior, many of whom were brought to Dover by UK Border Force.
The news comes after 43 migrants from Iraq, Iran, and Afganistan were brought to Dover after attempting to cross in three small boats.
Last week, Breitbart London reported that a former immigration chief blamed the surge in migrant crossings on increased border patrols on the channel.
“The more Border Force cutters there are in the Channel the more attractive it is for those setting sail in small boats. They know they will be picked up and taken to the UK. For them that is mission accomplished,” said David Wood, former immigration enforcement at the Home Office.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said that in response to the surge of illegal migrants, the government will look into how to speed up the deportation process, possibly to be modelled on Australia’s uncompromising system which saw a steep decline in illegal migration under the Commonwealth’s “stop the boats” policy.
“When there is an incentive, people will find ways to get here, whether it is in lorries, small boats or any other means. If they know they are going to be promptly returned they will stop coming,” a Home Office spokesman told The Telegraph.
In 2018 under the leadership of former Prime Minister Theresa May, the UK agreed to pay France £44.5 million to install border fencing and surveillance systems at Calais and other French ports where migrants set sail from. The United Kingdom had previously paid £100 million to France to increase border security.
In October, Breitbart London reported that French police are allegedly actively assisting migrants to avoid detection by UK Border Force, telling them when and when not to attempt to cross the channel, according to a people smuggler.”
Professor: Sweden’s Society May Be ‘Dissolving’ Due To Mass Migration (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/02/professor-sweden-society-dissolving-due-to-mass-migration/
“Swedish political science professor Tommy Möller has warned that the unprecedented mass migration into Sweden in the last decade could unravel the country’s “democratic welfare society.”
Professor Möller, who teaches at Stockholm University, has claimed that political stability in Sweden has been greatly affected by mass migration, stating that it could be relegated to a museum in an op-ed published by Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri.
“No matter what happens, no one can deny that our society has undergone significant changes as a result of the extensive immigration, and these demographic changes will permeate Swedish politics for the foreseeable future,” Moller said and highlighted the rise of the anti-mass migration Sweden Democrats (SD) who have topped recent opinion polls.
“Problems in health care and school, the municipalities’ increased costs for supply support, housing shortages and, not least, the accelerating gang crime – all of these are problems and some of them have been linked by SD with immigration,” he said.
Mass migration has been linked to several of those issues such as in the southern city of Malmo where the vast majority of shooting suspects in a Swedish media report released earlier this year were from migrant backgrounds.
Municipalities who took in large shares of asylum seekers and migrants since the height of the 2015 migrant crisis have also seen financial difficulties, such as the municipality of Bengtsfors which claimed it risked bankruptcy earlier this year.
The professor went on to add that polarization and cultural conflicts were on the rise, warning, “Unless the integration of the newly arrived succeeds better, in the long run, the social putty that makes a democratic welfare society of our kind possible risks being torn apart.”
“Unfortunately, the interpersonal trust that is a prerequisite for a large-scale society to function has decreased in Sweden in recent years,” Moller said and added, “Gaps between people, whether economic or cultural, create a distance in terms of experience and values.””
PARIS – JAN 02 2020 – French police fire tear gas on anti-pension reform protesters
JAN 02 2020 – SPAIN – GRANADA – DÍA DE LA TOMA –
Commemoration of the Reconquista
Actos de la Toma de Granada 2019
“BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Obama’s Assistant Defense Secretary, Evelyn Farkas, Pictured in Ukraine in Burisma Outfit with Shady Atlantic Council”
by Joe Hoft – January 2, 2020
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/breaking-exclusive-obamas-assistant-defense-secretary-evelyn-farkas-pictured-in-ukraine-in-burisma-outfit-with-shady-atlantic-council/
From today’s CSPAN AM broadcast:
1) Caller, a USA military psychologist – “Hate crime” is not a helpful term. In fact, psychopaths and murderers may not be experiencing much emotion, let alone hate.
(I can’t recall if the self-identified psychologist was retired.)
2) Guest, on climate – Even the Pope, our vicar of God, feels that we need to fix this. Don’t bring religion into this.
(Something like that — it could have been funny.)
“So ?@QUBelfast? has made the most corrupt politician of modern times #HillaryClinton chancellor. Turn a blind eye to the untold carnage she brought to Middle East, her bleached server, her 33,000 deleted emails. Says all you need know about academia here #FISAGate #WWG1WGA”
Gemma O’Doherty – January 2, 2020 – Twitter
https://twitter.com/gemmaod1/status/1212751026866012160
“Hillary Clinton appointed Chancellor at Queen’s”
RTÉ – January 2, 2020
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0102/1103954-hillary-clinton-queens/
“Bye! Bye! Ireland: Eleven Syrian refugee families arrive in Ireland https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/1230/1103611-refugee-relocation/ … via @rte”
Ann Corcoran – January 1, 2020 – Twitter
https://twitter.com/RefugeeWatcher/status/1212509893409886208
The Irish Patriot
https://www.irishpatriots.com/
“The Irish Patriot delivers speech in the EU Parliament!”
The Irish Patriot – December 13, 2019
North Korean TV broadcasts video of Kim on horseback in winter snows
Iraqi counter-terrorism forces deployed in front of the US embassy
Iraq: Sit-in camp set up across US embassy one day after protesters’ withdrawal
Protesters set up camp outside Baghdad’s Babylon Rotana hotel on Tigris River embankment across the US Embassy on Thursday one day after they had withdrawn from areas surrounding the US mission in the Iraqi capital.
Mostly consisted of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) members, protesters held a council for members of Kataib Hezbollah militia killed during US airstrikes late December.
The camp will reportedly stay in its place until Iraqi parliament passes legislation demanding US troops withdrawal from the Iraqi soil.
On Tuesday, protesters angry about US airstrikes on the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in Iraq and Syria managed to storm the US embassy building and set parts of the premises ablaze.
The Pentagon said that about 750 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division would be sent to the Middle East and that additional troops could be deployed over the coming days.
Deliberate disinfo. Crafted for Western garbage media. This is enemy propaganda.
“Sit-in”. Cute. These are IRAN’s political toadies.
Just as the “protesters” were militias under the local IRGC franchise, the PMF. Paid soldiers, detailed to storm the U.S. diplomatic compound. (In fact the gates were opened for them by the politicians in this clip. The “storming” was staged.)
The REAL protestors were SHOT DEAD by these same vicious shitte militias. Genuine Iraqi youngsters. Few covered those protests, the massacres ongoing since October. Hundreds murdered, tens of thousands injured.
Now we have sweet-looking old men, a theatrical performance. Clerics and coopted pols, loyal to the chief Twisted-Raghead Khamenei, videoed as a peaceful “sit-in”.
That’s peddling the lies that sold us the ‘Iran Deal’.
Amb. Dore Gold: The Turkish-Libyan Maritime Agreement and the Struggle over the Mediterranean
Link to article version:
The Turkish-Libyan Maritime Agreement and the Struggle over the Mediterranean
https://jcpa.org/video/the-turkish-libyan-maritime-agreement-and-the-struggle-over-the-mediterranean/
……
Qwiki review of this history:
The Ottomans are back – meaning?
Tracing regional dynamics over the last century is vital to understanding the combustible situation today.
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/The-Ottomans-are-back-what-does-that-mean-for-Israel-612789
Why President Trump is keeping the promise made at San Remo in 1920
Why the conclusions of a 1978 US State Department memorandum have been repudiated.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Why-President-Trump-is-keeping-the-promise-made-at-San-Remo-in-1920-612785
Son of Labour Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott Charged Over Violent Offences Against Police, NHS Staff (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/02/son-of-labour-shadow-home-secretary-diane-abbott-charged-over-violent-offences-against-police-nhs-staff/
“Labour’s hard-left candidate for Home Secretary Diane Abbott’s privately educated son has appeared in court over a raft of charges including allegedly assaulting staff at London hospitals and exposing himself over the course of 2019.
James Abbott-Thompson was granted bail at the hearing at Wood Green crown court on Tuesday after the court heard about 11 separate charges related to attacks and other alleged offences which are said to have taken place between July and Christmas 2019.
The former civil servant, who had served as a diplomat with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after joining the government department as a graduate from Cambridge University is accused of several assaults, some of which were against members of the emergency services which in British law can carry harsher penalties.
Among the charges Abbott-Thompson will be tried on during the case are assaulting two police officers in July 2019, assaulting a doctor in August 2019, beating a nurse and engaging in “racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage” in November 2019, assaulting a police officer the following day in November, and assaulting a therapist in December 2019. These new charges follow others laid against Mr Abbott-Thompson in December 2019 when he was accused of biting a police officer at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
Abbott-Thompson’s defence lawyer said his client intended to plead not guilty to the charges, reports The Times.
James Abbott-Thompson’s mother, Labour’s Diane Abbott is the shadow foreign secretary, one of the most senior positions for opposition parties and would be responsible for law and order, and policing should Labour win a general election. If convicted, a criminal son could be politically embarrassing for Ms Abbott.
The assaults are not the first time James Abbott-Thompson has caught the headlines. As a child, he was sent to a private school by Diane Abbott, a move which was seen as deeply hypocritical given Labour’s hard-line opposition to private education and criticism of senior Conservative figures for having gone to private schools.
She attempted to defend the decision by explaining “West Indian mothers will go to the wall for their children”, which caused a racist storm as the statement suggested mothers of other ethnicities cared less about their children.”
(Richard: I would advice the people who answer the ad to not try and take any firearms in the US.)
United Nations Seeks ‘Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration’ Officers in New York
The United Nations has a lot of job openings listed on their UN Careers website. Among the job listings is this one: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration officers who will work under the UN’s Department of Peace Operations throughout the world. Including, apparently, in the United States.
The job listing for the position mentions a duty station as the UN’s New York City headquarters.
click through for the rest of the article
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/united-nations-seeks-disarmament-demobilization-and-reintegration-officer-in-new-york/?utm_source=wideopen&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wos_daily&utm_content=%5B%5Brssitem_title%5D%5D
Greece: Israel, Cyprus and Greece sign deal to build EastMed gas pipeline
Israel, Greece and Cyprus signed a deal in Athens on Thursday that will allow for the construction of the EastMed underwater gas pipeline.
The pipeline will supply natural gas from Israel and Cyprus to Europe via Greece.
“This is the culmination of a new geopolitical relationship and partnership between Greece, Israel and Cyprus. It has been happening for many years now and we’re trying to shape a new energy hub in the eastern Mediterranean,” said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The deal was signed by the energy ministers of the three countries at a ceremony attended by the countries’ prime ministers.
Orthodox Jews Open Carry AR Rifles After Anti-Semitic Attacks
Some members of the Jewish community have armed themselves in light of recent anti-Semitic attacks.
Some members of New York’s Orthodox Jewish community were seen open carrying AR rifles at a community event on Sunday, a day after a man attacked a rabbi’s home with a machete, sending five people to the hospital with injuries.
Another attack occurred in Jersey City earlier this month at a Jewish grocery where where four people were killed.
The two attacks specifically targeting New York City’s Jewish community appear to have motivated some members of the community to arm themselves in self-defense
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/orthodox-jews-open-carry-ar-rifles-after-anti-semitic-attacks/
(Richard: It looks like Josh Hawley is becoming a raising start in the Republican Party.)
Missouri Senator Hawley to Introduce MEASURE TO DISMISS Pelosi’s Slapdash Impeachment on Monday
BREAKING — Missouri Senator Hawley to Introduce MEASURE TO DISMISS Pelosi’s Slapdash Impeachment on Monday
Jim Hoft by Jim Hoft January 2, 2020 44 Comments
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Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced today if Democrats DO NOT deliver their articles of impeachment to the US Senate as is required he will introduce a measure on Monday to dismiss Pelosi’s slapdash articles of impeachment on Monday January 6th.
Nancy Pelosi is now on notice.
She has three days to decide.
Senator Hawley, the former Attorney General in Missouri, tweeted this warning out on Thursday.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/breaking-missouri-senator-hawley-to-introduce-measure-to-dismiss-pelosis-slapdash-impeachment-on-monday/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
“Iran Annihilates Any Aggresseror and the US Is Aware of This” – Commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Threatens US
The leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps threatened the United States on Thursday. This followed Tuesday and Wednesday’s Iranian-backed proxy groups’ attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/iran-annihilates-any-aggresseror-and-the-us-is-aware-of-this-commander-of-iranian-revolutionary-guards-corps-threatens-us/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
Why Does Biden Keep Doing This to Children? Creepy Grandpa Joe Whispers in Little Girl’s Ear at Rally (VIDEO)
Why does Biden keep doing this to young children?
Creepy grandpa Joe focused on a young girl at one of his rallies this week, leaned down near her face and whispered in her ear.
Democrat front runner Joe Biden leaned down and got right into this little girl’s personal space and whispered in her ear – twice – for a total of about 8 seconds.
Read more
What is Joe Biden saying to this little girl that he can’t just tell her out in the open without getting so close and whispering in her ear like a creep??
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/why-does-biden-keep-doing-this-to-children-creepy-grandpa-joe-whispers-in-little-girls-ear-at-rally-video/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
Richard: It is a twitter video and a series of photos showing him with little kids. That may is real creepy.
Hunter Biden’s Blood Mine
Chinese company in which Hunter Biden invested may profit from brutal crackdown at African mine
The Chinese company in which Hunter Biden held a stake invested in a Congolese mine that was the site of gross human rights abuses and at least one death.
Biden, son of Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, joined the board of Chinese investment firm BHR in 2013, while his father served as vice president. He purchased a 10 percent stake in the company in 2017 and maintained that stake even after he resigned from the board in October. Among BHR’s investments was the largest cobalt and copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Tenke Fungurume mine, where the Congolese military in June executed a brutal crackdown on illegal mining viewed as a threat to the mine’s bottom line. Since then, the military has torched houses and cracked down on dissent in the region—actions that drew the condemnation of human rights groups.
“Given the long history of excessive use of force by the Congolese army and its lack of appropriate training in managing public order, the DRC government must immediately withdraw its armed forces from the mines to avert unlawful killings,” Amnesty International spokeswoman Sarah Jackson said in a statement.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/hunter-bidens-blood-mine/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=914bf4ff33-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_02_03_12_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-914bf4ff33-46289497&utm_source=RC+Investigations+Today&utm_campaign=88bccb1275-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d042379c8d-88bccb1275-85695671&mc_cid=88bccb1275&mc_eid=c4a952ab77
DAR has the world’s largest reserves of cobalt.
They use small children to mine it.
Quite a bargain for the Chicoms.
And the Bidens get part of the money.
REPORT: Embassy Attack Leader Invited to Obama White House
12/31/2019 12:00 AM Source: AAN by: AAN Staff
Throughout much of Tuesday, the media has either inadvertently or willingly provided cover for Iran in the face of a Shiite militia attempting to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
The pro-Iran attack comes in response to U.S. airstrikes against Kataib Hezbollah (KH), an Iranian proxy group that had recently killed an American citizen.
Twenty-five KH fighters died in the bombings.
https://americanactionnews.com/articles/report-embassy-attack-leader-invited-to-obama-white-house?kagcode=kag
Virginia gun store says firearms, ammunition, and magazines flying off shelves with upswing in cash purchases
“This is the largest Christmas and November, December that we’ve had, basically, since Trump has come on board. The only other person that was a better salesman right now is when we had President Obama,” said Jerry Rapp, owner of SpecDive Tactical, in Alexandria, comparing the administrations of President Trump and his White House predecessor, Barack Obama.
“Every time [Obama] turned around he was going to ban something or make something illegal. But even that isn’t even close to the amount of sales we’re selling right now of magazines, of guns, of every kind of gun from pistol, rifle, shotguns, to AR platforms” and ammunition, Rapp told the Washington Examiner. “We can’t keep it in stock.”
Since Democrats took the majorities of both chambers in Virginia’s state legislature after big wins in the November elections, gun control proposals that include bans on “assault-style” weapons, restrictions on magazine capacity, universal background checks, and restrictions to one gun a month purchases have all been brought forth.
Source: Washington Examiner
https://gundynamics.com/articles/virginia-gun-store-says-firearms-ammunition-and-magazines-flying-off-shelves-with-upswing-in-cash-purchases?utm_source=deployer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=20200102211453