Reader’s links, January 17, 2020

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Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

128 Replies to “Reader’s links, January 17, 2020”

  2. South Tyrol: Muslim brutally kills his girlfriend — His father claims: “She was not worthy of him”

    The Higher Regional Court has confirmed the first-instance verdict against Rabih Badr. The Moroccan, who is held responsible for the brutal murder of his girlfriend Marianne Obrist, is to be imprisoned for 30 years.The cruelty of the crime was decisive for the court’s decision, reports the broadcaster Rai Südtirol. The 39-year-old Marianne Obrist died violently in August 2017 in her apartment in Milland near Brixen.According to Judge Michaeler, her partner at the time had beaten her first with a stick, then with a baseball bat ” like a stray dog”. Badr is said to have stabbed the 39-year-old woman with a knife finally. The 34-year-old’s lawyers had announced an appeal against the prison sentence. According to Michaeler, the motive was not jealousy, but the complete control Badr wanted to exercise over Marianne Obrist.Although there are no indications of relations with other men, Rabih Badr’s father continues to denounce the alleged adultery of Marianne Obrist and protects his son. “This is his fault, he must be punished. But the punishment must not be excessive”, he demands in an interview with broadcaster Rai.”There was a problem between him and Marianne, namely the problem of adultery. She was not faithful to him, he dedicated his whole life to her, but Marianne was not worthy of him”.
    More:
    https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2020/01/south-tyrol-muslim-brutally-kills-his.html

    • If you look at the citizenship of those on board the targeted flight, they all reside in ‘weak’ countries. I’m certain had there been Russians, Americans, Chinese, Turks… onboard, the flight would have reached its destination.

  7. Real-life Jabba the Hutt caught!

    ISIS ‘mufti’ weighing 300 lbs captured by Iraqi SWAT
    Shifa al-Nima was accused of ordering destruction of heritage sites in Mosul, he was so fat during capture he had to be put in back of truck
    https://www.jpost.com/OMG/ISIS-mufti-weighing-300-lbs-captured-by-Iraqi-SWAT-614449
    A massively obese ISIS “mufti” was pulled from his hiding place by elite Iraqi SWAT team members in a raid on Thursday. He is considered one of the biggest captures in recent months. Photos show the tremendously large man was too large to fit in a police car and had to put in the back of a police vehicle, wedged between a mounted machine gun and the back of the lorry. He was carted off to prison.
    Shifa al-Nima was nabbed by the SWAT regiment of the Nineveh police command in Mosul district in northern Iraq according to Iraq’s security media cell. Iraq has continued to fight ISIS even amid months of protests and recent US-Iran tensions in the country. The US-led coalition suspended anti-ISIS operations earlier this month but has recently tried to restart them.
    According the Iraqi police this “mufti” was a well known preacher who spread extremism in mosques against security forces and incited on behalf of ISIS.
    “He is considered one of the foremost leaders of ISIS and was responsible for issuing fatwas that led to the murder of scholars and clerics,” Iraqi police said.
    Nima also issued the fatwa to bomb the tomb of the Prophet Yunus in Mosul, an ancient cultural site. He was arrested in the Mansur neighborhood in western Mosul, the so-called “right side” of the city due to it being on the right bank of the Tigris river.
    Locals in Mosul have terrible memories of the “mufti,” who they say was a strong supporter of destroying Mosul’s heritage.
    Photos posted online show that the ISIS member had become massively obese in hiding, weighing several hundred pounds. It was unclear how he was removed from his hiding place and many online mocked his weight saying he must have been hiding in a bakery.
    Photos from his time as a mufti under ISIS show him smiling and relaxing. His name is sometimes given as “Shia Naemah,” or Shifa bin Ali al-Nima’a or Abu Abdul Bari.
    ISIS continues to have a presence in Iraq, but it has been unable to launch major operations. Nevertheless, it has many sleeper cells and also has members living in caves and hideouts in rural areas of Iraq, preparing for a resurgence.

  10. Magyar M1-
    In his Friday morning radio interview Orban said he wants to start a European Christian coalition of countries against the EU because Muslims and Christians don’t mix.

  12. Arrested protesters mainly of good character, says Hong Kong Bar Assoc. chief Philip Dykes.

    • Ayatollah Khamenei delivers speech during Friday prayers in Tehran

      Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set to deliver a speech during Friday prayers in Tehran on Friday, January 17. It’s the first such event for him in 8 years.

    • Iran’s supreme leader says revenge missile attacks on U.S. shows “hand of Allah”

      Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran’s missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq showed it had divine support in delivering a “slap on the face” to a “bullying” world power.

      In his first Friday prayers sermon in eight years, the Supreme Leader also told thousands of Iranians who chanted “Death to America” that European states could not be trusted after they launched a nuclear agreement dispute mechanism.

      Khamenei used his rare appearance at the weekly prayers to deliver a fiery address in which he insisted Iran would not bow to U.S. pressure after months of crushing sanctions and a series of recent crises — from the killing of a top Iranian general to the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane.

    • CNN – Why Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading Friday prayers is significant

      comments on the YT page

  14. Trump effect’ takes over Iran as regime starts covering country with American and Israeli flags

    Probably the most overlooked aspect of the “flags on the sidewalk” phenomenon in Iran is that, as the regime paints those flags everywhere, hoping Iranians will step on them, it is basically symbolizing its – the regime’s – effective “occupation” by its obsession with the Great Satan and the Little Satan.

    Not focusing on that point is as it should be, of course. The nobility and honor of Iranians who refuse to tread on the foreign flags are what is most important. Americans and Israelis are awed to see such courageous signs of goodwill and respect. I know I speak for many when I say we wish we had more direct ways to convey our reciprocal admiration and support to the Iranian people

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/01/17/trump-effect-takes-over-iran-as-regime-starts-covering-country-with-american-and-israeli-flags/

  15. A senior member of populist Matteo Salvini’s League has warned the leftist government of potential “chaos” if it pursues plans to grant amnesty to around 700,000 illegal migrants.

    Riccardo Molinari, League (Lega) leader in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, warned that “the government wants to bring us back to chaos” after Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese stated that the government was reviewing possible regularisation, or amnesty, for illegals, Il Giornale reports.

    “The intention of the Government and the Ministry of the Interior is to evaluate the issues put on the agenda that I recalled in the introduction, in the more general framework of an overall review of the various provisions that affect migration policies and the condition of the foreigners in Italy,” Lamorgese said.

    She went on to add that the government “has undertaken to evaluate the opportunity to launch a provision that, in view of the immediate availability of an employment contract, allows the regularisation of irregular foreign nationals already present in Italy, providing, at the time of signing the contract, the payment of a flat-rate contribution by the employer and the issue of a residence permit for the worker”.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/17/salvinis-party-warns-against-potential-amnesty-700k-illegal-migrants/

  16. British Treasury Expands Hezbollah Asset Freeze (sputniknews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/uk/202001171078061858-british-treasury-expands-hezbollah-asset-freeze/

    “The UK government approved the measure following a heated conflict between the United States and Islamic Republic of Iran, which led to the Trump Administration’s targeted assassination a high-profile Iranian military general in early January.

    The UK Treasurer’s Office of Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, it announced on Friday.

    Justification for designating the Lebanon-based organisation was cited under the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Act 2010 (TAFA), with the group’s assets set to be frozen as of Thursday, OFSI wrote.

    Changes to the UK’s General Notice of Final Designation on Terrorism and Terrorist Financing were taken as HM Treasury had only designated Hezbollah’s military wing to asset freezing under UK government law…”

  17. Washington Imposing Sanctions on Top Iranian General – US Special Representative Brian Hook (sputniknews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202001171078063603-washington-imposing-sanctions-on-iranian-general/

    “Hundreds of students gathered in Tehran on 11 January to honour those killed in the Ukraine International Airlines plane crash in Iran. The gathering, which was not approved by the Iranian authorities, resulted in a rally demanding the resignation and prosecution of those responsible for the downing of the airplane.

    The US Department of State has imposed sanctions on an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) general, according to US Special Representative Brian Hook. The sanctions were imposed over a “crackdown” on protests, Hook said.

    “The United States is listing IRGC Brigadier General Hassan Shavapour under Section 7031c, visa sanctions”, Hook told reporters. “General Shavapour committed gross violations of human rights against protesters at the press briefing. He oversaw the massacre of 148 helpless Iranians in the Mashar region last November”.
    Hook also stated that the more Iran threatens the world, the more isolated it will become, responding to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks.

    The statement comes after Khamenei announced that the day Tehran struck US bases in Iraq in response to the killing of the country’s top military commander Qasem Soleimani was “a day of God”, adding that the killing of the general was a “disgrace” to the American administration. He also said that the attack showed the “terrorist nature” of Washington.

    Earlier in January, Khamenei reportedly assembled an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security immediately after he was informed about the catastrophic mistake of the country’s air defence forces, which mistakenly shot down a passenger plane.

    Khamenei has confirmed that the cause of the incident and the findings of an investigation into it will be released in a transparent and honest manner once the meeting is over, according to media reports.

    DETAILS TO FOLLOW”

  18. American Puppets: Khamenei Slams E3 Position on Nuclear Deal, Says They’re Serving US Interest (sputniknews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001171078059882-iranian-attack-on-us-forces-in-iraq-in-response-to-solemani-killing-was-a-day-of-god-khamenei/

    “On 8 January, Iran targeted two American facilities in Iraq, the Ayn al-Asad Air Base and in Erbil in retaliation for the killing of IRGC Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike several days earlier.

    Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the day Tehran targeted US facilities in Iraq in response to the killing of the country’s top military commander Qasem Soleimani was “a day of God”, Reuters reported.

    “The fact that Iran has the power to give such a slap to a world power shows the hand of God”, Khamenei said while referring to the airstrikes against US military facilities.

    The Iranian supreme leader’s remarks were made as Khamenei led Friday prayers in Tehran, the first time he has done so since 2012. His comments were reportedly accompanied by chants of “Death to America!”

    Khamenei said that Quds Force Commander Soleimani was “the most powerful” commander in the region’s “resistance front”, and is being mourned by millions of supporters in Iran and thousands in Iraq.

    He also noted that the killing of Soleimani was a “disgrace” to the American administration, showing the “terrorist nature” of the US, while also calling Donald Trump a “clown”, who only pretended to support the Iranian people.

    Nevertheless, the supreme leader underlined that Iran’s attack on the US military facilities last week was a “blow to America’s image”, as quoted by AP.

    Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Elite Quds Force
    During his address in Tehran, Khamenei also called the IRGC’s Quds Force a “humanitarian organisation with human values” and assured that its fighters were “without borders”.

    Khamenei said that the IRGC was maintaining the country’s security and that Tehran’s enemies used the Ukrainian Boeing 737 incident to “weaken” the military organisation. He also maintained that the tragedy was “used” by the nation’s adversaries to “overshadow” the grief surrounding the death of Soleimani.

    Iran Nuclear Deal
    Khamenei also commented on the recent developments regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, criticising France, Britain, and Germany for triggering a dispute resolution mechanism and saying that European partners were only “serving” US interests.

    “The Europeans have shown they are puppets of the US”, Ayatollah Khamenei was quoted as saying. “They are waiting to see the Iranians brought to their knees”.
    The European parties to the JCPOA cannot be trusted, Iran’s supreme leader concluded.

    On 14 January, France, Great Britain, and Germany, known as the E3, confirmed that they had launched the Iran nuclear deal dispute mechanism, created in order to deal with possible violations of the JCPOA, concluded by Iran, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany in 2015.

    The deal was to have Iran considerably limit its nuclear programme and eliminate its stockpile of medium- and low-enriched uranium in exchange for the removal of international sanctions. However, the US unilaterally pulled out of the treaty in 2018, while also imposing energy and banking sanctions on Iran, thus prompting Tehran to begin gradually reducing its JCPOA obligations. Following the developments, Iran continued calling on European signatories to the treaty to honour their obligations and shield Tehran from US sanctions, but to no avail.

    Following the assassination of Soleimani, Iran announced on 5 January that it would no longer comply with the remaining obligations under the deal and from now on would start enriching uranium based on its technical needs.

    The death of Iran’s military commander was followed by Tehran’s retaliatory attacks on the US military facilities at the Ayn al-Asad Air Base and a facility in Erbil in Iraq on 8 January. Just a few hours after Iran’s airstrikes, a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed near Tehran that was initially blamed on a technical malfunction. Later Iranian officials confirmed that the nation’s military had unintentionally shot down the plane while awaiting Washington’s response to its earlier attacks, which was followed by a wave of unauthorised protests in Tehran. “

  19. UK: Tommy Robinson arrives at court for hearing in football banning order case

    Former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson arrived at the Luton Magistrates Court for a hearing on Friday, as he potentially faces a ban from all football games in the UK and abroad after allegedly punching a man outside a match in June.

    According to reports, video footage of the alleged assault has been accepted as evidence in the case.

    Footage shows Robinson arriving, and then later leaving court.

    “I’m in court today over an allegation where a football supporter was aggressive and made threats towards me when I was with my wife. I’m a man, I’m not going to apologise for being a man. If I walk through this town with my wife and someone threatens violence against me, then they end up picking themselves up from the floor as well,” said the former EDL leader.

    Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, allegedly punched another man outside the Nations League semi-final game between England and Netherlands in the Portuguese city of Guimaraes in June. Robinson says he acted in self-defence.

    • the rebel — Tommy Robinson is winning the world’s leading FREE SPEECH PRIZE — and Rebel News is going!

  23. ISIS terror: Radicalised brides vow to bring up Jihadi children in sick social media ISIS (express, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1229554/ISIS-latest-news-terror-Islam-us-terror-attacks-syria-islamic-state-updates-latest

    “A GANG of sick ISIS brides have uploaded despicable posts online, vowing to raise their own children as Jihadi fighters.

    The women show off on their social media accounts and ask viewers to follow them, as they look to spread their hateful propaganda.The brides talk about their camp conditions while putting their hands out, asking the viewers for money.

    It was a different story back in 2014.

    Back then, during ISIS’ height, the brides would often post on social media, showing off their luxury lives.

    However the women are living in what appears to be infamous ISIS bride Shamima Begum’s camp.

    They appear to have access to the internet – and maintain their extremist religious beliefs.

    One of the women explains via Facebook that has just saved enough money to afford her to leave the “hands of oppression.”

    She said via The Sun: ”I was a sister who was inside the camp less than a week ago.

    “Allaah saved me from the hands and oppression of these dirty PKK doggs[sic]…I came out after multiple months of begging and saving everyone I’ve met.

    “Now I’m outside and relaxed. No worrie[sic] about Kuffar storming inside taking my phone or money.”

    A comment on the post says, “Did they let you free?” to which she responds: “no I paid smuggler sis.”

    Other members of the group speak of the freezing conditions in which they live and the items which they are not allowed in the camp.

    These include phones, blankets, new tents, and even umbrellas.

    These include phones, blankets, new tents, and even umbrellas.

    A campmate said: “We bypassed the security of the West and I’m expected to abide by the rules of an uneducated illiterate fool…”

    Another said: “They think we’re going to make a nuclear bomb or something.

    Another groaned: ”They have lost the plot. they want us to die…I ask to destroy them and their plot against the Muslims”.

    ISIS found themselves presiding over the camp after their Turkey sect made their invasion back in October, killing babies and burning guards as they went.

    It is reported that the women of ISIS al-Hisbah were the masterminds behind the terror.

    They ordered the attacks, which included dismembering bodies.

    News surfaced, too, that children were being brainwashed into this particualr sick ideology.

    In the camp, there are 80,000 residents.

    This includes 10,100 foreign citizens and 18 British women and children.

    The Sun Online reported last year that guards and even innocent aid workers were being targeted by the gang of women in the camp.

    Some of the ghastly pictures showed a guard stabbed in the back by a female who’s part of the regime.”

  24. Passenger, 32, who phoned in bomb threats to delay his Gatwick easyJet flight because he was running late to see his fiancee in Marrakesh is jailed for 16 months (dailymail, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7899647/easyJet-passenger-jailed-16-months-phoning-bomb-threat.html

    “An easyJet passenger who caused a bomb scare on his own flight because he was running late and feared he would miss it was today jailed for 16 months.

    Rashidul Islam, 32, of Brent, North London, anonymously called police 45 minutes before his flight from Gatwick Airport was due to take off, warning: ‘Someone may have a bomb on the plane, you need to delay the flight’.

    The hoaxer made two further threats in the following minutes last year – causing crew on the 5.40pm flight to Marrakesh to be evacuated and all 147 passengers to be checked again by security.

    Luggage also had to be removed and rescreened, resulting in a three-hour delay at Britain’s second busiest airport on May 4 during a bank holiday weekend, which is thought to have cost the Luton-based airline about £30,000.

    Islam, who was flying to Morocco to visit his fiancée, made the bomb hoax after faced travel disruption en route to the airport from Cricklewood, North London.

    After being arrested, Islam told police he had panicked about missing his flight because he would not be able to afford another ticket…”

  26. Iran’s Attack on Iraq Shows How Precise Missiles Have Become

    Satellite photographs of Ain al-Asad, an air base in western Iraq currently used by American forces, showed the aftermath of an Iranian ballistic-missile strike on Jan. 8.

    They were pictures of precision. The missiles scored six direct hits against evacuated aircraft hangars.

    “The most important takeaway from Iran’s strike is just how precise their short-range ballistic missiles were,” says Vipin Narang of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    “The accuracy revolution is real….This has huge implications for modern conflict.”

    Similar precision was on display in an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities on Sep. 14.
    https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/01/16/irans-attack-on-iraq-shows-how-precise-missiles-have-become#click=https://t.co/IAxxd8cgI1
    ……..
    For more about the strike on Abqaiq, Saudi in September:
    Saudi Arabia’s Black September
    https://jiss.org.il/en/rubin-saudi-arabias-black-september/

  27. Who Cares about the Iranian People?

    While the peoples under the rule of the Islamic regime in Iran are showing unprecedented courage and resolve in their effort to get rid of their oppressor and gain their freedom, Europe ignores them, continuing to support the reactionary and destabilizing Islamic regime. Reuters’ report about the killing of 1,500 demonstrators and the injuring and arrests of thousands also made no impression on the EU.

    How come the liberal democracies, who pretend to hold the moral high ground, are ready to be complicit in this repression? How come there is no outcry from the noble guardians of human rights about the ongoing slaughter of innocent people trying to have their voices heard and their vote count in free and democratic elections?

    https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/who-cares-about-the-iranian-people/

  28. Greta Thunberg tells world leaders “You haven’t seen the last of us”

    she marched with hundreds of people in the western Swiss city of Laussane ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos

    + comments on the YT page

  29. Tommy Robinson is winning the world’s leading FREE SPEECH PRIZE — and Rebel News is going!

  30. Libya’s rival military commander seeks support in Greece (abcnews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/libyas-rival-military-commander-seeks-support-greece-68348302

    “The commander of forces fighting the U.N.-supported government in Libya visited Athens Friday in a bid to counter Turkey’s support for his opponents, ahead of a weekend summit on Libya in Berlin.

    Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s surprise trip to Greece came two days before the Berlin summit, which aims to halt the conflict in oil-rich Libya that is being fueled by competing international support for the warring sides.

    Separately, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be attending the meeting in Germany.

    Turkey, which has promised to send troops to back Libya’s government against Hifter’s offensive, is at odds with Greece over oil-and-gas drilling rights in the East Mediterranean…”

  31. Locust outbreak, most serious in 25 years, hits East Africa (abcnews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/locust-outbreak-25-years-hits-east-africa-68350861

    “The most serious outbreak of locusts in 25 years is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, authorities say. Unusual climate conditions are partly to blame.

    The locust swarms hang like shimmering dark clouds on the horizon in some places. Roughly the length of a finger, the insects fly together by the millions and are devouring crops and forcing people in some areas to bodily wade through them. Near the Kenyan town of Isiolo on Thursday, one young camel herder swung a stick at them, with little effect. Others tried to shout them away.

    An “extremely dangerous increase” in locust swarm activity has been reported in Kenya, the East African regional body reported this week. One swarm measured 60 kilometers (37 miles) long by 40 kilometers (25 miles) wide in the country’s northeast, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development said in a statement.

    “A typical desert locust swarm can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer,” it said. “Swarms migrate with the wind and can cover 100 to 150 kilometers in a day. An average swarm can destroy as much food crops in a day as is sufficient to feed 2,500 people.”

    The outbreak of desert locusts, considered the most dangerous locust species, also has affected parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea and IGAD warns that parts of South Sudan and Uganda could be next.

    The outbreak is making the region’s bad food security situation worse, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has warned. Hundreds of thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed.

    Already millions of people cope with the constant risk of drought or flooding, as well as deadly unrest in Ethiopia, extremist attacks in Somalia and lingering fighting in South Sudan as it emerges from civil war.

    The further increase in locust swarms could last until June as favorable breeding conditions continue, IGAD said, helped along by unusually heavy flooding in parts of the region in recent weeks.

    Major locust outbreaks can be devastating. A major one between 2003 and 2005 cost more than $500 million to control across 20 countries in northern Africa, the FAO has said, with more than $2.5 billion in harvest losses.

    To help prevent and control outbreaks, authorities analyze satellite images, stockpile pesticides and conduct aerial spraying. In Ethiopia, officials said they have deployed four small planes to help fight the invasion.

    But one approach backfired in Kenya in recent days when the agriculture minister asked people to post photos on social media of suspected locusts, or “nzige” in Swahili.

    A mocking series of images of warthogs, cats, lizards and other beasts followed, with pleas for help in identifying them, and the appeal was ended.”

  32. EU border chief says migrant entries from Turkey on the rise (abcnews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-border-chief-migrant-entries-turkey-rise-68351451

    “The number of migrants entering Europe from Turkey rose significantly last year as people fleeing strife in Syria and Afghanistan flooded into the country and then set out for Greece, the head of the European Union’s border agency said Friday.

    More than 82,000 migrants tried to enter Europe without authorization in 2019, an increase of 46% over the previous year, Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri said in Brussels.

    “This was mainly due to the situation in Syria, but also instability in Afghanistan, and changing policies towards Afghan nationals by Iranian and Pakistani authorities,” Leggeri told reporters. He refused to blame the Turkish coast guard, saying it is “working well” to intercept people who leave.

    The EU agreed in 2016 to give Turkey up to 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in Syrian refugee aid money and other incentives to persuade the government in Ankara to stop migrants leaving for Greece. But since last summer, Greece’s eastern islands have struggled to ease severe overcrowding at refugee camps.

    Frontex said the number of arrivals last year was the highest since the EU-Turkey deal came into force.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his country cannot shoulder the burden of hosting 3.6 million Syrian refugees alone and has in the past threatened to “open the gates” for migrants to head for Europe. He is seeking more EU money and the Europeans appear likely to acquiesce.

    Ankara also sought EU political and financial help in setting up a safe area in northern Syria, where people fleeing the conflict could take refuge or be sent to from Turkey, but the Europeans are reluctant to get involved.”

  33. Bangladesh says once-submerged island ready for Rohingya (abcnews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bangladesh-submerged-island-ready-rohingya-68345858

    “A Bangladeshi island regularly submerged by monsoon rains is ready to house 100,000 Rohingya refugees, but no date has been announced to relocate people from the crowded and squalid camps where they’ve lived for years, officials said Thursday.

    Flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals and mosques have been built on Bhasan Char, or floating island, in the Bay of Bengal, officials said.

    “Bhasan Char is ready for habitation. Everything has been put in place,” Bangladesh refugee, relief and repatriation commissioner Mahbub Alam Talukder told The Associated Press.

    The island is built to accommodate 100,000 people, just a fraction of the million Rohingya Muslims who have fled waves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar.

    About 700,000 people came after August 2017, when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar began a harsh crackdown against Rohingya in response to an attack by insurgents. Global rights groups and the U.N. called the campaign ethnic cleansing involving rapes, killings and torching of thousands of homes.

    Foreign media have not been permitted to visit the island.

    Saleh Noman, a Bangladeshi freelance journalist who recently visited, described a community emerging there.

    “I saw a market with about 10 grocery shops and roadside tea stalls. Some were selling fish and vegetables,” he said. “All is set there with a solar power system and water supply lines.”

    Bangladesh is a low-lying delta nation. The island, 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the mainland, surfaced only 20 years ago and was never inhabited.

    The Bangladesh navy has been implementing a multimillion-dollar plan to bolster the swampy island, which is submerged for months during annual monsoon season.

    International aid agencies and the United Nations have vehemently opposed the relocation plan since it was first proposed in 2015, expressing fear that a big storm could overwhelm the island and endanger thousands of lives.

    Mostofa Mohamamd Sazzad Hossain, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangladesh, said Thursday the agency isn’t ready to endorse the relocation and is waiting for a chance to visit the island after a November trip was canceled.

    “The U.N. has emphasized the importance of undertaking independent and thorough technical and protection assessments that consider safety, sustainability, and protection issues prior to any relocation taking into place. The assessment process should include onsite visits to Bhasan Char,” Hossain said.

    The current refugee camps near the beach town of Cox’s Bazar are overcrowded and unhygienic. Disease and organized crime are rampant. Education is limited and refugees aren’t allowed to work.

    Still, most Rohingya are unwilling to return to Myanmar due to safety concerns. Government officials didn’t have an estimate of how many refugees would be willing to be relocated to the island.

    On Thursday, two Bangladeshi contractors involved with development of the island described construction there. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

    “We have built quality infrastructure. Bangladeshi villages have never seen such good work. This is like a modern township project,” one contractor said.

    “We have built multifamily concrete homes, hospitals, mosques, schools, playgrounds and roads. There are solar-power facilities, a water supply system. We constructed raised concrete buildings that could be used as cyclone shelters. Many trees have been planted,” he said.

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly told the U.N. and other international partners that her administration will consult them before making a final decision on the relocation, and that no refugees will be forced to move.

    Bangladesh attempted to start sending refugees back to Myanmar under a bilateral framework last November, but no one was willing to go.

    The Rohingya are not recognized as citizens in Myanmar, rendering them stateless, and face other forms of state-sanctioned discrimination.

    A U.N.-sponsored investigation in 2018 recommended the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for the violence perpetrated against the Rohingya.

    Myanmar is defending itself in the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands, after the West African nation of Gambia brought a case backed by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, Canada and the Netherlands.

    Gambia in its submission said there was a “serious and imminent risk of genocide recurring” and called for emergency measures to prevent Myanmar from committing any further atrocities or erasing any evidence. The court is expected to deliver a decision on Jan. 23 on what measures should be imposed.

    Kamal Hossain, Bangladesh’s top government official in Cox’s Bazar, said Thursday that discussions attempting to convince refugee families to move to the island are continuing. “We are ready. This is a continuous process,” he said.”

  34. Pakistani court hands down 55-year sentences to 86 Islamists (abcnews, Jan 17, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-court-hands-55-year-sentences-86-islamists-68347693

    “A Pakistani court has sentenced 86 members of a radical Islamist party to 55-year prison terms each for taking part in violent rallies in 2018 over the acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case, a party official said Friday.

    The verdicts, unusually harsh for Pakistan, were announced late Thursday night by the court in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad. The trial had lasted for over a year. Pir Ejaz Ashrafi, a senior leader of the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, said the sentences would be appealed.

    Among those sentenced was Ameer Hussain Rizvi, the brother of firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi who heads the party.

    “ Justice has not been done,” Ashrafi told The Associated Press. “We will challenge the verdicts.”

    The 86 were charged with damaging public property, beating people up and disrupting normal life by staging sit-ins against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi earlier that year.

    Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 and sentenced to death on charges of insulting Islam. Her case stemmed from a quarrel with fellow farm workers who refused to drink from the same water container used by a Christian. She consistently denied the charges against her.

    The country’s Supreme Court overturned her conviction in 2018 but after hard-line Islamists staged nationwide rallies against the ruling, authorities continued to hold her in protective custody before she was allowed to leave for Canada last year to reunite with her family there.

    Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often used to settle scores or intimidate followers of minority religions, including Shiite Muslims. A charge of insulting Islam can bring the death penalty, and the mere accusation of blasphemy is sometimes enough to whip up vengeful mobs, even if courts acquit defendants.

    In two related cases, Salman Taseer, the governor of eastern Punjab province, was shot and killed by one of his bodyguards in 2011 for defending Bibi. His assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was celebrated as a martyr by hard-liners following his execution, with millions visiting a shrine erected in his honor near Islamabad. Later in 2011, Pakistan’s minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated, also after demanding justice for Bibi.

    Last year, authorities arrested Rizvi for leading incendiary rallies. He was later freed on bail on medical grounds pending trial.

    Last month, in the Pakistani city of Multan, a court convicted Junaid Hafeez, a Muslim professor, of blasphemy, sentencing him to death for allegedly spreading anti-Islamic ideas. He was held for six years awaiting trial and spent most of that time in solitary confinement.

    A prominent Pakistani lawyer, A.K. Dogar, criticized Thursday’s verdicts, saying they were mostly symbolic and that none of those convicted would spend more than 25 years in prison at the most, which is equivalent to a life sentence under Pakistani law. Dogar was not involved in the case of the sentenced Tehreek-e-Labbaik members.

    “Imprisonments given by judges of more than 25 years are mostly symbolic,” he said. “The convicted person only spends a maximum 25 years in prison.””

  35. Nuremberg-II?
    JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER: THE ISIS BUREAU OF JUSTICE AND GRIEVANCES

    From the “Conclusion and Implications for Accountability”:

    Ultimately… ISIS may have adopted the Syrian Government’s system of repression Grievances and control which it claimed to reject. For example, the Syrian Security Sector illusively operated above many ministries and other sectors of the Syrian Government to consolidate control and power in itself.…

    As foreign ISIS fighters are returned to their home countries, war crimes units should prioritize, as part of their prosecutorial strategy, the investigation of individuals who worked with the Bureau of Justice and Grievances. To this end, SJAC is compiling the names of Bureau members found within the documents to help further such accountability efforts.
    https://syriaaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2020.01.14_ISIS_EN_PDF.pdf

  37. Very interesting article at Mises

    In 1971, thanks to profligate spending on both war and domestic welfare programs, the US could no longer maintain a set global price for gold in line with the Bretton Woods system established in 1944 …by 1974 the enormous flood of dollars from the US into top-oil-exporter Saudi Arabia suggested a solution – the Saudis would receive protection from geopolitical enemies, and the US would get a new place to unload large amounts of government debt.

    https://mises.org/wire/huge-debt-got-us-hooked-petrodollars-%E2%80%94-and-saudi-arabia

  38. shocking !!
    Promises by Hamas to Stop Rocket Fire on Israel Do Not Hold for Long

    On Jan. 15, Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted two rockets fired from Gaza and another two fell in open areas. Israel believes the rockets were launched by Islamic Jihad, but held Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from Gaza.

    After the previous rocket attacks from Gaza on Dec. 25, Hamas conveyed a message to Israel via Egypt, saying the firing had been carried out by rogue activists and promising to take action so that such “missteps” would not recur. But the Hamas pledge of calm lasted only three weeks. The IDF’s response on Hamas targets stemmed from an assessment that Hamas was complicit in the launches – whether by turning a blind eye or being involved.

    All Hamas promises do not hold for long. After every launch, they come up with an excuse to mitigate their responsibility. In October, Hamas even blamed a rocket launch at Beersheba on a lightning strike that triggered the launcher.

    https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/israel-gaza-strip-palestinians-iran-hamas-ismail-haniyeh.html

  41. PUTTING THE FAT IN FATWA Monstrous 40-STONE ISIS fanatic dubbed ‘Jabba the Jihadi’ is arrested sparking stream of internet memes

    A MASSIVE 40-stone jihadi dubbed “Jabba the Jihadi” has been nicked by Iraqi forces— sparking a stream of hilarious internet memes.

    Hate preacher Abu Abdul Bari had to be loaded onto a flatbed truck after he was nabbed in his Mosul bolthole by Iraqi security forces.

    Cops said he was an ISIS member who issued fatwas leading to the execution of a number of scholars and clerics, as well as the bombing of a mosque.

    Macer Gifford, a Brit who fought against the death cult in Syria, tweeted: “I’m delighted to say that the Islamic State’s very own Jabba the Hutt has been captured in Mosul.

    “Responsible for the execution of men, women and children. This animal raped and murdered.”

    Referring to the obvious problems the authorities might face carrying out the country’s death penalty, he added: “Good luck hanging him Iraq.”

    Brit activist Maajid Nawaz, chairman of the anti-extremism think tank Quilliam, also shared images of Bari’s arrest.

    He wrote: “He was so overweight, maybe from remaining sedentary in his hiding place, that he had to be taken by police in the back of a pick-up truck.”

    ‘PUTTING THE FAT IN FATWA’
    Maajid added: “Most religious justifications provided to ISIS for enslaving, raping, torturing, ethnic cleansing & massacring Iraqis, Syrians & others are from this paltry beast who can’t even stand on his own two legs.

    “Cue: Jabba the Hut jokes.”

    Other Twitter users lined up to poke fun at the portly terror boss.

    One said: “He can’t outrun the law, or anyone else for that matter.”

    Many shared photos of the slug-like Star Wars villain Jabba, while others posted videos of Austin Powers baddie Fat Bastard.

    https://www.the-sun.com/news/268806/monstrous-40-stone-isis-jihadi-dubbed-jabba-the-hutt-is-arrested-sparking-stream-of-internet-memes/

  47. Warren Asked Obama to Exonerate Ethel Rosenberg

    Clearing the name of a traitor was a priority for the Democratic presidential candidate.

    Radical U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who could be the next Commander-in-Chief, asked then-President Barack Obama in his final days in office to formally exonerate Soviet atomic spy Ethel Rosenberg, according to media reports.

    This was a not a request for a mere presidential pardon, which the Department of Justice cautions does “not erase or expunge the record” of the conviction, but a request that history be rewritten.

    Warren, now a leading contender for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, sent a letter dated Jan. 10, 2017, on behalf of one of Rosenberg’s sons.

    “I am writing on behalf of my constituent, Robert Meeropol, and his family to request that you provide a thorough review of their request that you issue a proclamation exonerating his mother, Ethel Rosenberg. Ms. Rosenberg was executed by the United States for conspiracy to commit espionage in 1953.”

    https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/01/warren-asked-obama-exonerate-ethel-rosenberg-matthew-vadum

  48. (Richard: This is an interesting article, please click through and read the entire article.)

    Antifa: “We Aren’t Just a Black-clad Group of Rabble-Rousers… Funded by George Soros.”
    January 17, 2020
    Daniel Greenfield

    Politics in America is going to some strange places. The conservative movement is fracturing between classical liberals and authoritarians, and the Left is fracturing between Sanders supporters who want to gulag you now and Warren supporters who want to wait 6-8 years.

    And then there’s this rare moment of recognition by an Antifa faction that maybe it wants to retain the right to bear arms.

  50. ‘Submitting to my husband like it’s 1959′: Why I became a #TradWife
    #TradWives is a growing movement of women who promote ultra-traditional gender roles.

    Search the hashtag ‘#tradwife’ on social media and you’ll see images of cooked dinners and freshly-baked cakes with captions like, “A woman’s place is in the home” or “Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman”.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-51113371/submitting-to-my-husband-like-it-s-1959-why-i-became-a-tradwife