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.
CNN – How Fox News is hurting our country
Fox News is by far the outlet that most Republicans trust for their news, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.
But is that trust misplaced?
From completely ignoring impeachment to consistently providing uncritical and even glowing coverage of President Donald Trump by hosts like Sean Hannity.
Chris Cillizza explains how this lopsided information-gathering system is hurting American politics.
AFP – Is India becoming a Hindu nation?
( 8 min )
On 11 December 2019, India’s Parliament approved a controversial law, making it easier for persecuted religious minorities from three neighbouring countries to obtain citizenship, but not if they are Muslim.
Since the vote, hundreds of thousands have rallied across the country challenging the bill.
This legislation is the latest in a series of moves by the government that have stoked fears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to remould the world’s largest democracy as a Hindu nation.
Indonesia’s Aceh unveils new female flogging squad
Banda Aceh (Indonesia) (AFP) – The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and then unleashes a flurry of lashes — proving herself as the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
The new recruit initially needed some coaxing to punish the offender — an unmarried woman caught in a hotel room with a man.
Such behaviour constitutes a morality crime in Aceh, the only region in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic law — known as Sharia. Those found guilty of breaches are often publicly whipped with a rattan cane.
But despite her reticence, she persevered and delivered her first flogging.
“I think she did a good job. Her technique was nice,” Banda Aceh Sharia police chief investigator Zakwan, who uses one name, told AFP.
The controversial punishment enrages rights activists and generates heated media debate, as well as amongst politicians.
Indonesia’s president has issued a call for the public floggings to stop but he has little say over what happens in Aceh, a deeply conservative region on Sumatra island.
Unlike the rest of the nation, Aceh follows religious law as part of a 2005 autonomy deal agreed with the central government that ended a decades-long separatist insurgency.
Here, public whipping remains a common punishment for scores of offenders for a range of charges including gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.
But the job has always been done by men. Until now.
– ‘No mercy’ –
More and more women are being charged for morality crimes such as public affection or premarital sex, experts say, as greater internet access and globalisation bring clashes with local cultural and religious norms.
Enforcement too has increased and now Aceh says it’s trying to follow Islamic law, which calls for women to whip female perpetrators. This is already what happens in neighbouring Malaysia.
But convincing women to participate has been no easy task, and it’s taken years to assemble the first female squad, according to Safriadi, who heads provincial capital Banda Aceh’s Sharia Implementation Unit.
Eight women — all Sharia officers — agreed to be floggers and were trained in the appropriate technique and advised how to limit injury.
Previously, a dozen men performed all the whippings in the city for an unspecified fee.
For security reasons, Aceh officials declined to let AFP speak with the floggers, who are outfitted in cloth masks and loose fitting brown uniforms to hide their identities.
“We train them to make sure they’re physically fit and teach them how to do a proper whipping,” Zakwan said.
But the secret for any whipping is getting past the mental hurdle of lashing fellow citizens.
For that, you need to look to Allah, Zakwan said.
“It’s kind of an indoctrination that we give to them so they have a better understanding of their role — have no mercy for those who violate Allah’s law’, he added.
– ‘Too lenient’ –
Aceh officials insist caning deters crime, with patrols often scouring public places and establishments — or acting on tip-offs — to monitor behaviour.
Sharia police in Banda Aceh, a city of some 220,000 people, are on the streets round-the-clock in three shifts.
On a recent patrol, a couple sitting close to each other on the beach escaped with a reprimand.
But a group of men and women spotted at a coffee shop around 3:00 am weren’t so lucky and were arrested on suspicion of breaking strict codes about unmarried men and women interacting.
“This shows that we never sleep looking for violations of Sharia (Islamic law),” Safriadi said.
From behind bars, one of the men said that there was nothing romantic happening at the coffee shop.
“We don’t even know the women and were sitting at different tables,” he told AFP.
The women were later released with a reprimand as were the men, but police said the trio may be charged for a new offence, after it was determined they were gay.
Same-sex relations can earn residents a whipping in front of jeering crowds, which can number in the hundreds.
“Sharia in Aceh is still lenient,” said resident Saiful Tengkuh.
“Aceh needs harsher punishments like stoning, not just whipping. Someone committing adultery should be stoned 100 times,” he added.
– ‘Don’t do it again’ –
Aceh, home to about 5 million people, once mulled beheading for serious crimes, but the central government ruled it out.
This summer, it made headlines over a fatwa, or religious edict, against online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and opposing a national women’s football league because it didn’t have a stadium where only female players, match officials and spectators would be present.
But whipping is often what gets Aceh in the news — unwanted attention local officials say is Islamophobic.
Advocates say many people caught breaking religious law choose whipping as an efficient, if painful, way to avoid a stiff jail term.
But this rough justice can take a toll.
Floggings can be so severe that people pass out or are hospitalised, with the most serious crimes — including gay sex and having a relations with a minor — earning as many as 150 lashes.
Many offenders have fled the area out of shame or because customers deserted their businesses. Few are keen to discuss their experience.
For women, arrest for even a minor violation can lead to victimisation, including sexual harassment and rape during arrest, according to research by the Network for Civil Society Concerned with Sharia.
Reporting these assaults without proof can even open up victims to flogging for making a false accusation, it added.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned such punishments as “barbaric”, “inhumane”, and tantamount to torture.
But Aceh officials insist they’re “far more lenient” than ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia and some other Muslim nations.
“We’re not aiming to hurt people by whipping them,” Safriadi said.
“The most important thing is the shaming effect on violators and spectators so they don’t do it again.”
https://news.yahoo.com/indonesias-aceh-unveils-female-flogging-squad-043001415.html
Sweden Sending Doctors To South Africa to Train in Bullet Wound Trauma Treatment (breitbart, Jan 28, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/28/swedish-region-sends-surgeons-to-south-africa-to-learn-bullet-wound-treatments/
“Beginning in 2021, the Västra Götaland region in Sweden will start to send its surgeons to South Africa in order to better learn how to treat knife and gunshot wounds.
The programme, which will see surgeons travel down to the city of Johannesburg for three months at a time will allow the Swedish surgeons to garner more experience with gunshot wounds due to the frequency of violent crime in the city, broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.
Ragnar Ang, the chief physician at Sahlgrenska’s trauma care unit, has himself worked at a South African hospital in the past and said it would give surgeons the chance to treat more patients in a few months with such injuries than they would normally have in a year in Sweden.
According to the NGO Gun Free South Africa, around 23 people are murdered with firearms every day across the country.
“We are a workforce that they can take advantage of. So there are a few extra hands for them free of charge,” he added. The programme is set to start in the spring of next year.
In recent years, Sweden has seen a high level of shootings across the country with fatal shootings remaining high for the last several years.
Swedish Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson commented on the phenomenon last July, saying that the level of gun violence was “extreme for a country that is not at war.”
The comments echoed those of Swedish police specialist Gunnar Appelgren who had made a similar statement only months prior.
Swedish Security Service (Säpo) Anders Thornberg also warned that Swedes should not expect the problem of gun violence to go away any time soon stating that he predicted the current level could continue for another decade.
In an interview with Finnish broadcaster Yle earlier this month, Thornberg said that the violence, which is largely due to criminal gang activity, remains high despite the country’s prisons being full.
“Prisons are full in Sweden, detention centres are full, institutions are full, SiS institutions for minors are full. Yet, there are about the same number of shootings, even though the police take more weapons and drugs than we ever did,” he said.”
Asylum Seeker Child Rape Grooming Gang Kept Secret by Scottish Police (breitbart, Jan 28, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/28/asylum-seeker-grooming-gang-kept-secret-scotland-police/
“A large grooming gang of asylum seekers was kept secret by police in Scotland despite victimising at least 44 young girls.
Glasgow police shut down a child rape gang whose 55 members were all either “asylum seekers or naturalised asylum seekers”, but did not reveal the existence of the group or the operation to shut it down to the public.
While the operation took place in 2016, it is only becoming public knowledge now, reports The Scottish Sun, which note a briefing document from Police Scotland that reveals the members of the gang were from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Kurdistan, Morocco, and Turkey
A report conducted by Detective Inspector Sarah Taylor from the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit found that of the suspects, only 14 had been deported, with 22 remaining in Glasgow. A further eight were believed to be still living in the United Kingdom, with just one in prison and one further individual pending deportation.
The report details the scale at which the grooming gang operated, with one victim believed to have been abused by 28 different members of the group, and another being linked to 23 men within the gang.
As to why the investigation into the grooming gang was hidden from the public, a police source told the newspaper: “We need to be very clear that we always carefully consider when and what information to release in relation to ongoing investigations to protect vulnerable victims and the integrity of the inquiry.”
DI Taylor claimed that the police used “all investigative opportunities to pursue all known offenders including involvement in current criminality”.
Breitbart London has previously reported on the scourge of child rape gangs reaching Glasgow, where paedophile gangs target poorer, white children. A relative of a grooming victim said at the time that the situation is “really is just our worst nightmare, it’s this Rochdale and Rotherham-type stuff but it’s happening here in Glasgow in a big way.”
“Nobody seems to be doing anything to stop it, all the girls have been made to believe these men are their boyfriends,” they lamented.
“It’s white females they are hitting on, aged 14 to 19,” he concluded.
Earlier this month, Breitbart London reported that police forces in Manchester and Rotherham ignored “Asian” grooming gangs for fear of appearing racist.”
Lying Adam Schiff Wants to Control AI-Based Video Analytics Technology After Gateway Pundit Used this Technology to Connect Him to a Ukrainian Arms Dealer
Lying Adam Schiff doesn’t care about the US Constitution. He proved it by providing the garbage impeachment indictment to the US Senate. Now he wants to control AI and facial recognition technology after we caught his connections with a Ukrainian arms dealer by using this technology.
This past week Lying Adam Schiff, the US Representative from California who is running the garbage impeachment sham from the House tweeted that he now wants to control facial recognition technology:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/lying-adam-schiff-wants-to-control-ai-based-video-analytics-technology-after-gateway-pundit-used-this-technology-to-connect-him-to-a-ukrainian-arms-dealer/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
SHOCKER: Anti-Gun Trauma Surgeon Behind Fake Death Threat Connected to Clintons, Biden, Pelosi and Other Top Democrats
Another day and another lie from a top anti-gun Democrat on the left.
As previously reported, Dr. Joseph Sakran tweeted a fake death threat and then panicked after hundreds of Twitter users exposed his hate hoax this week so he deleted his fake ‘death threat’ tweets then made up a bizarre story claiming the police told him to delete his tweets. Come to find out that he is an anti-gun activist connected to the Clintons, Biden, Pelosi and other top Democrats
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/shocker-anti-gun-trauma-surgeon-behind-fake-death-threat-connected-to-clintons-biden-pelosi-and-other-top-democrats/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
CHINA UPDATE: Hong Kong Closes Schools Till March! — Food Shortages in Affected and Barricaded Areas
Barriers are in place around China, preventing individuals from traveling the country as is customary during the Chinese New Year. Food shortages are being reported as the year of the rat starts on a terrible note.
Chinese citizens in the cities impacted because of the coronavirus are feeling the impact of the virus whether they are infected or not. Many shopping centers across China are running out of food:
As we noted yesterday, the individuals living in smaller villages who have fields to grow crops are the lucky ones. They can live off of their bags or rice and dried food for a couple of months. The people in the big cities however are at risk already, as the stores are beginning to run out of foodstuffs.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/china-update-hong-kong-closes-schools-till-march-food-shortages-in-affected-and-barricaded-areas/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
PICS – Zimbabwe
1.-
https://varlamov.ru/3768692.html
2.-
https://varlamov.ru/3767473.html
3.-
https://varlamov.ru/3766385.html
A Clinton-Soros Connection: Who Pulls Hillary’s Strings?
If rumors are true about Hillary’s “death list…”
The last thing you’d ever want to do would be to get on her bad side.
Unless you wield as much power as she does, it seems like getting on the Clintons’ bad side or having information that could expose the family’s corruption will get you suicided just like Jeffrey Epstein.
If she has the power to take out a billionaire in federal prison…
She could have the ability to take out anyone she wants.
Now…
Mark Zuckerberg—a computer programmer that runs one of the biggest social media companies on the planet—probably has nothing to worry about from Hillary Clinton.
The keyword there is PROBABLY…
https://freedomwire.com/a-clinton-soros-connection-who-pulls-hillarys-strings/?utm_source=FRW-Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Daily-Article-Traffic
Gulf Security: China Envisions Continued US Military Lead
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Notwithstanding the mounting rivalry between the world’s two largest economies, China does not appear to aspire to supplant the American role in Gulf security any time soon.
The details of the first-ever joint Chinese-Russian-Iranian naval exercise signals that closer Chinese military ties with a host of Middle Eastern nations does not translate into Chinese aspirations for a greater role in regional security any time soon.
If anything, the exercise, coupled with notional Chinese support for proposals for a multilateral security approach in the Gulf, suggests that China envisions a continued US lead in Gulf security despite mounting rivalry between the world’s two largest economies.
That is the message China is sending by playing down the significance of the exercise and hinting that it would only contribute non-combat forces.
China’s participation is expected to involve its anti-piracy fleet, which is already in Somali waters to protect commercial vessels, as well as peacekeeping and humanitarian relief personnel rather than specially dispatched units of the People’s Liberation Army.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/gulf-security-china/
Classified Report Reveals 150 Islamist No-Go Zones in France
The wall of silence is cracking.
Five years ago, Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the socialist boss of Paris, threatened to sue FOX News for reporting on the existence of no-go zones: territories in France under Islamist control.
“When we’re insulted, and when we’ve had an image, then I think we’ll have to sue, I think we’ll have to go to court, in order to have these words removed,” she told CNN.
There was no lawsuit, but FOX News issued repeated apologies, with hosts “correcting” experts like Steve Emerson and Jessie Jane Duff who actually knew what they were talking about.
Two years later, Pamela Geller came under attack from the media for discussing French no-go zones.
The media had mocked Emerson and Geller as Americans who didn’t know anything about France.
https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/01/classified-report-reveals-150-islamist-no-go-zones-daniel-greenfield
7.7 Mag Earthquake Hits Caribbean – Shaking Felt in Miami – Tsunami Warning Issued For Cuba, Jamaica and Cayman Islands
A massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit the sea just south of Cuba on Tuesday, prompting a tsunami warning for Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
The quake was felt in Miami, prompting people to evacuate from buildings.
“I was sitting at my desk in Aventura, I felt motion similar to feeling light-headed,” said one person who felt his building shake, but didn’t want to be identified. He told CBSMiami.com, “It didn’t stop, and my coworker asked if the building was moving. It lasted for another 20 seconds as we walked toward the stairwell.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/7-7-mag-earthquake-hits-caribbean-shaking-felt-in-miami-tsunami-warning-issued-for-cuba-jamaica-and-cayman-islands/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
Something made me recall a science show I saw in maybe the early 90’s. USSR 1979 Anthrax plume
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/anthrax-genome-reveals-secrets-about-soviet-bioweapons-accident
“The Soviet Union at first blamed contaminated meat from an animal outbreak.
“Bad meat does not go in straight lines 50 kilometers long, but wind can do that,” says Meselson, whose wife and fellow team member Jeanne Guillemin wrote a book about the investigation.
Russian pathologists who investigated the outbreak as it was occurring had collected the samples [and hidden them for future unbiased investigation–my recollection NOVA broadcast interview] and later shared them with Meselson during his trip to the Soviet Union.
Apparently, scientists in Sverdlovsk [secretly] prevented this [rapid laboratory mutation research] from happening, Keim says: “I think that the Soviets were meticulous in maintaining master spore stocks and avoiding extensive lab growth.”
Wuhan residents chant ‘Keep it up, Wuhan’ out of their windows to boost morale
Hong Kong increases measures to contain spread of Wuhan coronavirus
Coronavirus death toll rises to 106 with China taking strict measures
apan flies citizens home from virus-hit Wuhan
Deadly Chinese Virus Spreads to the US. How Did It Happen?
Pentagon Working on Radical New ‘Lego’ Style Fighting System
Wuhan virus: Singapore imposes entry and visa restrictions for people from Hubei
More than two dozen people quarantined in Danang, Vietnam to be tested for Wuhan coronavirus
Duterte had 500 Chinese tourists turn around at the airport, fly straight back.
An economic hit he decided the Philippines could absorb. Better than massively increased risk of infection, anyway.
The Vietnamese response seems craven in comparison, but that’s reflective of the satellite condition.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-property-survivalists-feature-trf/homesteaders-catastrophists-run-for-the-hills-to-flee-u-s-uncertainty-idUSKBN1ZQ0V7
Trends
PT’s proposed peace plan:
https://www.ksl.com/article/46710173/the-latest-turkey-rejects-us-annexation-plan
“Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases”
The United States Department of Justice – January 28, 2020
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/harvard-university-professor-and-two-chinese-nationals-charged-three-separate-china-related
More Kung Flu. Chicoms denying CDC info:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-curbs-travel-hong-kong-sends-6000-medics-hubei-death-toll-soars
In Macron’s France, police shoot firemen (posted this in wrong place).
Fireman probably hit by a flashball at 0:30
https://twitter.com/NiemandsKnegt/status/1222184180160831490
Also around 0:30 here:
https://twitter.com/NiemandsKnegt/status/1222184960439787520
Riot cops use their shields and nightsticks:
https://twitter.com/NiemandsKnegt/status/1222176251684839428
Found these videos in a dutch-language article, which also has a recorded livestream of the event, and some nice photos. Firemen as the Joker!?
https://www.geenstijl.nl/5151674/livestream-hulpverlenersoorlog-in-parijs/
Proof that “grooming” is not an “asian” problem, it’s a muslim problem:
Scotland Gets Representation in Grooming Gangs
Major Arab states support, Turkey rejects deal of the century
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200129-major-arab-states-support-turkey-rejects-deal-of-the-century/
“Major Arab states announced their support for the US President Donald Trump’s deal fo the century, while Tukey described it as “annexation plan aiming at usurping Palestinian lands and killing two-state solution.”
UAE mass media reported that the country had backed the deal and described it as an opportunity to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
“The only way to guarantee a lasting solution is to reach an agreement between all concerned parties,” noting that the “plan announced today offers an important starting point for a return to negotiations within a US-led international framework.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian foreign ministry commented on the deal in a statement published on Facebook that Cairo “appreciates the continuous efforts exerted by the US administration to achieve a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian issue.”
It urged the Israelis and the Palestinians to look for a solution “that satisfies the aspirations of both peoples to achieve a comprehensive and just peace.”Commenting on the deal, the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a statement that his country “supports every genuine effort aimed at achieving just and comprehensive peace that people will accept.”
Anadolu reported Turkish foreign ministry saying: “This is an annexation plan aiming at usurping Palestinian lands and killing the two-state solution,” stressing the Palestinian people and lands cannot be purchased.
The ministry stressed, according to Anadolu, that Jerusalem is a redline, adding: “We will always stand by the brotherly people of Palestine. We will continue to work for an independent Palestine within Palestinian lands.”It is worth noting that representatives of the UAE, Oman and Bahrain attended Trump’s announcement of the deal.
However, Saudi Arabia’S King Salman bin Abdul Aziz stressed to the PA President Mahmoud Abbas that his Kingdom’s stance towards the Palestinian cause is “still unchanged.” Trump has revealed previously that the Kingdom is one of the main contributors of the economic part of the deal.”
Saudi bans gender segregation
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200128-saudi-bans-gender-segregation/
“Cafes, diners and restaurants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are set to be taken down in conjunction with a new law prohibiting the previously obligatory public segregation of men and women.
As part of the reforms enforced by King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, women will no longer be required to enter public dining areas through separate doors. Instead, gender segregation would now be an issue of choice made by the customers and owners themselves.
“It’s optional,” the Saudi news agency Arab News quoted the General Manager of Public Relations and Media at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs Naif Al-Otaibi as saying. “We did not specify the number of entry points, so the investor is free to have multiple entry points and segregate (males from females) in their restaurant.”
One organisation that has sincerely welcomed the reform is the AlShaya Group which operates chains such as Starbucks and the Cheesecake Factory within the kingdom, stating that it is aiming to end the gender segregation in the stores that it operates, including those which were opened before the rule was established.
As the organisation told the news agency: “We at Alshaya are planning to transform the old stores’ designs following the new desegregation law, but that will take place over the course of the next two years.”
According to an employee at a Starbucks outlet with segregation infrastructure, contractors have been making visits to plan remodelling and reconstruction work within the chains, with the aim of removing the wall that separates the male section from the families’ section as well as removing related signs.
While there are many who are pleased with the new law and reform, there are also many who are uncomfortable with it.
A 35-year-old father of four named Al-Amin Mahmoud, for example, recalled his experience when not being able to take his family to certain restaurants due to their lack of a separate family section. “I respect that decision, but I did not feel comfortable. I knew that the decision had been implemented. However, for me, having grown up in a conservative family and society, it does not suit me.”
This new law comes over a month after gender segregated signs were banned at the entrances to restaurants, and is part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s recent social reforms that he has enforced as part of the “modernisation” of the kingdom and the opening up of the country to foreign investment and tourists visiting for purposes other than pilgrimage and religious reasons.
Amongst the laws that have been enforced are those such as foreign unmarried couples being able to stay in hotel rooms together, free-mixing in public areas now being allowed, the abaya no longer having to be worn, and the increase in concerts and entertainment events throughout the kingdom. The move has upset many among its conservative society and the scholarly class, with arrests of critics – even scholars – being carried out by authorities for speaking up.”
Saudi warns of dire consequence if US withdraws from Iraq
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200128-saudi-warns-of-dire-consequence-if-us-withdraws-from-iraq/
“Saudi Arabi has issued a striking warning over the return of Daesh if the US withdraws its troops from Iraq. In an interview with CNN yesterday, the country’s Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud said the American presence in the region played a crucial role in defeating the terrorist group and was key to preventing its resurgence in the region.
“The US has proven time and again to be a reliable ally of the Kingdom, and this is also the case with the Trump administration,” Bin Farhan told CNN. “We work very well with President Trump and with the State Department and the Pentagon and we coordinate on issues of regional security,” he said.
Regarding Daesh, Bin Farhan insisted that a US withdrawal could increase the risk of its return. “We believe that the defeat of ISIS was very much based on the contribution of the international coalition, including the US,” he said referring to the terror group with other widely used acronym.
“We think that while ISIS is geographically defeated, they continue to pose a threat and it’s very important that the international community continue to support the Iraqi forces to remain vigilant and the American presence is of importance,” he added.
There are said to be around 3,000 US troops currently stationed in the kingdom. It’s estimated that Saudi has paid the US roughly $500 million in compensation for the costs associated with stationing American forces in its territory. President Donald Trump, however, has boasted that he managed to extract $1 billion in return for deploying US troops.
The presence of American troops in the region is vital to the kingdom’s security. Facing threats on three fronts, US security umbrella is thought to be more critical now than ever before.
Riyadh has been locked in a stalemate with Houthis in Yemen, in a brutal conflict that was expected to last only a few months; it is at the centre of a dangerous escalation of tension with regional rival Iran.
Simultaneously, the royals in Riyadh, with the aid of the UAE, have cast a wide net over potential threats to their rule, moved to crush calls for reform and democracy, domestically and across the region.
Given Saudi’s estimation that the US is the primary guarantor of security in the region, Riyadh is very likely to have met calls for American troops to be withdrawn from Iraq, following the assassination of Iranian General Qassim Soleimani, with deep concern.
Following the death of Soleimani, the Iraqi parliament voted on a resolution calling on the Americans to pull their troops from the country. Iraqis have also expressed outrage at America’s presence with a series of protests demanding the withdrawal of US troops.”
This is MB-spun fecal matter pretending to represent Saudi govt feelings. Smeared onto CNN, which laps it up, as usual.
CIA chief ‘behind Soleimani’s assassination’ killed in downed plane in Afghanistan
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200128-cia-chief-behind-soleimanis-assassination-killed-in-downed-plane-in-afghanistan/
“Russian intelligence sources have claimed that Michael D’Andrea, head of CIA operations in Iran and who orchestrated the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US spy plane downed yesterday in Ghazni, Afghanistan.
The plane with US Air Force markings reportedly served as the CIA’s mobile command for D’Andrea, who earnt several nicknames including: Ayatollah Mike, the Dark Prince, and the Undertaker. He is one of the most prominent CIA figures in the region, appointed head of the agency’s Iran Mission Centre in 2017. Under his leadership, the agency was perceived to take a more “aggressive stance toward Iran”.
The Taliban claimed to have shot down the plane but have yet to provide evidence, whilst the US has denied the claim but has acknowledged the loss of a Bombardier E-11A plane in central Afghanistan. Graphic images online have already circulated purportedly showing some of the charred remains of those on board.
Afghan authorities initially claimed the plane was a state-owned airline, but this was denied by the company, Ariana. Helicopters have been brought down before by the Taliban, but they are not believed to have the capabilities required to bring down a high-flying aircraft.
An exiled Iranian journalist who has written previously for the hard-line Javan daily newspaper suggested the IRGC was involved, tweeting: “The American Gulfstream plane was downed in Afghanistan by the Taliban. They say that intelligence officers were on board. This report has not yet been confirmed, but if it is, it is possible that the issue of Iran will also emerge in this case.”
Another Iranian journalist who writes for Mashregh newspaper, described as having close links to IRGC, tweeted not long after the news broke out: “We will attack them on the same level as they are attacking us.”
Soleimani’s successor as head of the IRGC’s Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, has established ties in Afghanistan going back to the 1980s. Additionally, the chief commander of the IRGC, General Hossein Salami, warned that no American military commanders will be safe if the US administration continues to threaten Iranian commanders.
D’Andrea, who is reportedly a convert to Islam, doing so in order to marry his Muslim wife, who is from a wealthy family from the Mauritius of Gujarati origins, having met on his first overseas assignment in East Africa, one of the senior directors of her family’s company Curumjee Group, has been speculated to provide cover for CIA operations.
He also oversaw hundreds of drone strikes, which according to The New York Times “killed thousands of Islamist militants and hundreds of civilians”. D’andrea is credited with being the mastermind behind the CIA’s notorious “signature strike” used to kill people based on their behaviour, not identity, subsequently used to determine someone’s guilt or likelihood of being a terrorist.
He was central to the post-9/11 interrogation programme and ran the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. Assassinations and torture were central to his approach. He also oversaw the hunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and was involved in the assassination of Hezbollah member Imad Mughniyah in Damascus, Syria.”
poo
Amnesty slams ‘heavy prison sentences’ for Kuwait’s stateless Bidoon activists
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/1/28/amnesty-slams-heavy-prison-sentences-for-kuwaits-stateless-activists
“A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday sentenced three protesters to between 10 years and life in prison after they had demanded greater rights for stateless Arabs, Amnesty International said.
The rights group said 15 men, including a leading rights activist, were arrested in a crackdown in July last year following peaceful demonstrations by members of the stateless Bidoon group.
They faced a number of charges including participation in unauthorised demonstrations, spreading false news and state security offences, it added.
“A Kuwaiti criminal court today handed prison sentences of between life and 10 years in prison to three men from the stateless bidoon community, including one in his absence, for their peaceful activism,” the London-based group said.
“The court acquitted one man, released the 12 remaining men on a pledge of good conduct for two years, and the additional condition of bail payment of 1,000 Kuwaiti dinars ($3,300) each for five of them,” including rights activist Abdulhakim al-Fadhli.
The sentences were “yet another illustration of the Kuwaiti authorities’ refusal to recognise the rights of the Bidoon,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.
“These men should be commended for peacefully rallying and speaking out for their rights against Kuwait’s discrimination of the Bidoon,” she said…”
Official: UAE’s first nuclear unit ready for start-up
https://gulfnews.com/uae/official-uaes-first-nuclear-unit-ready-for-start-up-1.69325168
“The UAE nuclear power plant’s first reactor is ready to start operations, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) said on Tuesday.
Nawah Energy Company, an operator and subsidiary of Enec, which is responsible for developing and managing nuclear energy in the UAE, said tests by an independent body concluded that unit 1 of Barakah, in the Abu Dhabi desert, is ready to generate energy.
Nawah has been readying operational activities ahead of its first nuclear fuel assembly load into Unit 1 within 10 days to two weeks.
This is expected to happen in the first quarter of the year, after Nawah receives an operating licence from the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), the UAE’ independent nuclear regulator.
Once the fuel assemblies are loaded into the reactor, Nawah will begin the start-up sequence for Power Ascension Testing, where operators will safely raise power generation levels over eight to 10 months prior to commercial operation at the beginning of 2021…”
Egypt signs two gas exploration deals in Mediterranean worth $332 mln with ExxonMobil
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/362384/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-signs-two-gas-exploration-deals-in-Mediterra.aspx
“Egypt signed on Tuesday two deals with major US oil company ExxonMobil to explore for oil and gas in the Mediterranean region with a minimum investment of $332 million, the petroleum ministry said on Tuesday.
The first agreement is for exploring the North East Amiriya offshore block, with a minimum investment of $220 million for the drilling of four wells, the ministry said in a statement sent to Ahram Online.
The second deal will involve the drilling of three wells in the North Maracea block, with a minimum investment of $112 million.
The ministry said the agreements with Exxon Mobil bring the total number of deals with investors to 82 since 2014, with a total minimum investment of around $16 billion for the drilling of 340 wells.
Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla, who witnessed the signing, said the return of the US company to the exploration business in Egypt after a long hiatus work marks a major success for the petroleum sector. ExxonMobil has for decades been a major distributer of fuel and car oils in Egypt.
The 2015 discovery by Italy’s Eni of the massive Mediterranean gas field Zohr, which holds an estimated reserve of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, has significantly boosted Egypt’s energy sector and its production of natural gas.
Egypt announced in 2018 that it had achieved self-sufficiency in natural gas after the increase in production at recently discovered gas fields.”
At least 8,600 Pakistani prisoners repatriated from overseas prisons
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2145750/1-least-8600-pakistani-prisoners-repatriated-overseas-prisons/
“At least 8,600 Pakistani prisoners, languishing in overseas prisons, have been released and repatriated after efforts made by Prime Minister Khan.
The largest number of prisoners were repatriated from countries in the Middle East. From Saudi Arabia, 2,020 prisoners were freed, 3,023 from the United Arab Emirates, 668 from Iraq, 106 from Qatar, 113 from Kuwait and around 1,500 prisoners were freed from Malaysian jails.
Meanwhile, the government also sent two special aircraft to Malaysia for bringing the Pakistani prisoners back home.
The fate of thousands of Pakistanis locked up in prisons across the Middle East remains a sensitive issue in Pakistan.
Huge numbers of Pakistanis travel to the Middle East every year, with many working on construction sites or as domestic helpers. The remittances they send back are vital for Pakistan’s economy.
Earlier this month, Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqi had said during a weekly media briefing in Islamabad that the Pakistani embassy was in touch with the Saudi authorities over the release of the prisoners from Saudi prisons.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the release of about 2,100 Pakistani prisoners from the kingdom’s prisons during a high-profile visit to Islamabad in February last year.”
‘Act of terrorism’: Gas pipeline blown up near Rahim Yar Khan
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2145897/1-act-terrorism-gas-pipeline-blown-near-rahim-yar-khan/
“Suspected militants blew up a major gas pipeline near Sindh-Punjab border, disrupting gas supply to many areas, an official said on Tuesday.
The explosion caused major damage to the pipeline near Rahim Yar Khan district that supplies gas to Punjab from Sindh.
The pipeline, which was exploded using a time device, is an act of terrorism, Sohail Gulzar, a senior official at the Sui Northern Gas Company Limited (SNGPL), told reporters.
The explosion — latest in a series of similar incidents in recent past — took place on late Monday night, he added.
The company, he said, was awaiting security agencies’ clearance to begin the repair work…”
Ankara urges EU to reconsider its enlargement policy
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ankara-urges-eu-to-reconsider-its-enlargement-policy-151470
“Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has written a letter to officials in Europe on the European Union’s new enlargement policy.
The letter was sent to EU high representative Josep Borrell, Oliver Varhelyi, commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, and Gordan Grlic-Radman, Croatia’s minister of foreign and European affairs.
Croatia holds the presidency of the EU Council until July 2020.
In the letter, Çavu?o?lu stressed the importance of conducting the expansion process in a credible, sustainable, fair and flexible manner, highlighting Turkey’s accession process to the EU.
The letter drew attention to the importance of the method that is followed during the accession negotiations to the EU and the regional and global role that the EU wants to play in the future.
Çavu?o?lu also said in the letter that when Turkey’s negotiations for accession to the EU, which began 2005, are considered, it can be said that the political obstacles faced by candidate countries during accession negotiations harmed the credibility of the accession process.
The letter said the accession negotiations should be carried out based on the common interests of the EU rather than the national interests of some member states.
The letter also drew attention to the importance of Turkey’s membership in the EU.
According to the EU’s current enlargement policy, 35 separate accession negotiations are opened for candidate countries. When candidate countries succeed in the negotiations or commit to realizing all the necessary reforms, they are accepted to the union as a full member.
The member countries can then take full advantage of the union, including European programs, science grants and the right of its citizens to move freely in EU countries without a visa.
In November last year, France offered new methods and rules to accept candidate countries into the union.
According to this plan, candidate countries will be examined in seven steps. They will be expected to realize the reforms in a seven-step process and will not be able to pass the next step before completing the previous one.
When the candidate countries pass the next step, they will be able to access some advantages of the EU but will not be an EU member until they complete all the steps.
The seven steps are listed as the following; rule of law and fundamental rights, education and research, employment and social affairs, financial affairs, the single market, agriculture and fisheries, foreign affairs, “others”.
Some candidate countries are upset over this offer because they think that France is changing the rules after the game has started and there will not be any guarantees that the rules will not change again.
This statement brought about new discussions on the union’s enlargement policy.
The EU Commission is expected to publish a work in February that will draw up the new methods of the policy.”
Turkish court sentences three over killing stray dogs
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-court-sentences-three-over-killing-stray-dogs-151480
“Three men on Jan. 27 were sentenced to 10 years in prison apiece for poisoning stray dogs in capital Ankara.
The Heavy Penal Court No. 5 in Ankara also imposed a punitive fine of 15,000 Turkish Liras (nearly $2,524) on each defendant.
The decision was welcomed by animal activists watching the trial.
The indictment said the defendants killed 16 dogs in Ankara with chicken meat dipped in pesticide.
On. April 12, 16 stray dogs found dead by poisoning in a park in Bat?kent suburb of Yenimahalle district.
The footage showing the dogs in agony as locals rushed to the scene caused a public uproar throughout Turkey.
An investigation found that the dogs, which were being fed by locals in the park, died due to eating poison-added chicken meat thrown out from a white automobile.
Often described as a haven for stray animals, especially for cats roaming free in its cities, Turkey occasionally faces incidents of violence, cruelty and abuse against animals.
A number of videos and images showing individuals beating, torturing stray dogs and cats, emerged in the last couple of years, has triggered widespread public outcry.
Animal activists have long campaigned for violence against animals to be defined as a crime instead of misconduct, in addition to aggravated penalties.
Existing laws only impose fines for crimes against animals.
Amid mounting pressure from the public, the Turkish government had hastily announced a new ministerial bill for animal rights, which was sent to parliament in April 2018, and vowed to prioritize it ahead of the June 24 elections last year.
One-and-a-half year on, the legislation is still yet to be adopted.
Those who dare to torture animals will receive four months to three years in prison, according to the new bill.
If the perpetrator violates the freedoms of multiple animals in the same instance, his or her sentence will be increased by one-and-a-half times, rising from six months to four-and-a-half years in jail, according to the draft.”
Open Arms rescues 158 migrants at sea
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2020/01/28/open-arms-rescues-158-migrants-at-sea_0cc29a15-7f4a-4296-9aeb-15efbfe6a732.html
“Spanish NGO run rescue ship Open Arms has rescued 158 migrants at sea in two separate operations in less than 12 hours, it said Tuesday.
On Monday night 56 people were picked up in international waters, it said.
A further 102 were rescued off the Libyan coast on Tuesday morning.
“On board the Open Arms there are now 158 shipwrecked people saved from a likely death,” it said in a tweet.
“We are the only humanitarians ship in the area,” it said.
Almost 500 people are now seeking a safe port, Open Arms said.
It was referring also to migrants rescued in the last few days by two other NGO-run rescue ships, the Ocean Viking and the Alan Kurdi.
On Tuesday the Ocean Viking, with 100 aboard, was assigned Taranto in Puglia as a safe port.
Most migrants trying to make it to Italy set off from wartorn Libya.
The renewal of an accord with the Libyan coast guard to pull back migrants to its shores is threatened by the ongoing conflict.
Human rights groups have described conditions in many Libyan migrant detention centres as resembling concentration camps.”
This is interesting about the Kung Flu:
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/man-behind-global-coronavirus-pandemic
Hey! See my comment earlier today about the 1979 “spoiled meat” Soviet explanation for what turned out to be a windward pattern of Anthrax infection and death.
https://vladtepesblog.com/2020/01/28/readers-links-for-january-28-2020/comment-page-2/#comment-520299
https://archive.is/8uDBg archived translation of position description at bat virus immunity lab
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plague/sverdlovsk/ The Soviet government claimed the deaths were caused by intestinal anthrax from tainted meat, a story some influential American scientists found believable.
On the other hand — since the position description is still afloat —
Perhaps their system was hacked and an anti-CCP person stuck that there.
“Often incompetence looks like malice.” or vice versa
They think you’re a joke
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuzfmxSvnD0
Martin!You sent me to CNN!
~gasp~