Reader’s Links for February 6, 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

127 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 6, 2020”

  4. Yemen: Humanitarian Assistance to be Reduced over Houthi Obstruction
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2118746/yemen-humanitarian-assistance-be-reduced-over-houthi-obstruction

    “A humanitarian aid operation in Yemen will be scaled-down next month in Houthi-controlled northern areas, because donors and aid workers say they can no longer ensure that food for millions of people is reaching those who need it.

    Aid agency sources told Reuters Houthi insurgents in northern Yemen were obstructing efforts to get food and other help to those in need, to an extent that is no longer tolerable.

    “The operating environment in north Yemen has deteriorated so dramatically in recent months that humanitarians can no longer manage the risks associated with delivering assistance at the volume we currently are,” a senior UN official said.

    Unless things improve, humanitarians and donors will have “no choice” but to reduce assistance, the official said, according to Reuters. This would include curtailing some food aid overseen by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which feeds more than 12 million Yemenis a month, 80 percent of them in Houthi areas.

    The Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (SCMCHA), a Houthi body formed in November to oversee aid, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment…”

  5. Muslims improperly placed on no-fly list urge US Supreme Court to allow lawsuit
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/muslims-improperly-placed-no-fly-list-urge-us-supreme-court-allow-lawsuit

    “Four Muslim men who claim the FBI put them on a no-fly list in retaliation for refusing to spy on other Muslims have urged the US Supreme Court to affirm a ruling that they can sue the agents responsible.

    According to court papers, Muhammad Tanvir, the lead plaintiff, said FBI agents approached him at his workplace in February 2007 to ask him about an acquaintance.

    Tanvir said he knew nothing useful and over the next three years declined repeated requests to serve as an informant during his visits to Pakistan.

    Tanvir, who’s a permanent resident of the US, would regularly visit Pakistan where his wife and family reside.

    The New York resident, who said he’s never been charged with a crime, claimed that the agents placed him on a no-fly list in 2010 in an attempt to coerce him.

    The no-fly list is a secret roster that allows US authorities to stop people from boarding commercial aircraft because of terrorism concerns.

    Tanvir and three other co-plaintiffs said that they refused the request because informing on fellow Muslims and going into mosques under false pretenses would violate their religious beliefs.

    “No one should be harassed and forced to spy on their religious community,” Tanvir said in a statement late on Wednesday.

    “The FBI agents knew I was vulnerable and that I needed to fly to see my family.

    “This kind of harassment shouldn’t go unaccounted for – I am continuing in this fight because I want to make sure that others don’t go through what I went through.”

    ‘Trample on Muslim rights’
    In a statement, the Center for Constitutional Rights said the Supreme Court was being asked to consider whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) allows the men to sue FBI agents for damages for the harm they suffered as a result of being on the list.

    “Broad protection for religious freedom is part of the founding mythology of this country, and Congress clearly intended to provide that with RFRA,” said Center for Constitutional Rights senior managing attorney Shayana Kadidal.

    “If the court decides to cut off that last judicial mechanism for accountability, it will send a clear message to the FBI and other agencies that they can trample on the rights of the Muslim community with impunity.

    “Under the current administration, it is more crucial than ever that courts provide a check on religiously motivated abuses like these.”

    A federal appeals court in New York found in 2018 that the men could seek damages under RFRA, a 1993 law that forbids the federal government from imposing “substantial burdens” on religious exercise without a compelling reason.”

  6. Shia Muslims and minorities ‘ruthlessly’ targeted by Saudi terrorism court
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/shia-muslims-targeted-saudi-arabia-terrorism-court

    “Saudi authorities are using a counter-terrorism court as a weapon to systematically silence peaceful opposition in the country, according to a new report by Amnesty International.

    The rights group said the kingdom is using the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) to prosecute mainly Shia Muslims and minorities on charges that often equate peaceful political activities with terrorism.

    Since 2011, more than 100 Shia Muslims have been brought before the court, Amnesty said in the report released on Thursday.

    The charges used in court proceedings range from “disobeying the ruler”, “questioning the integrity of officials and the judicial system” to “inciting disorder” and “forming an unlicensed organisation”.

    The rights group reviewed eight SCC trials of 68 Shia Muslims who were prosecuted for taking part in anti-government protests, and 27 individuals prosecuted for peaceful human rights activism.

    In all cases, Amnesty concluded that the trials were grossly unfair. Some of the defendants were sentenced to death.

    Fifty-two out of the 95 people are currently serving prison sentences of as many as 30 years, it said.

    “The Saudi government exploits the SCC to create a false aura of legality around its abuse of the counter-terror law to silence its critics,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement.

    One of the most sinister aspects of the court is its unquestioning reliance on torture-tainted “confessions”, Amnesty said.

    Several Shias, including young men tried for “crimes” they were accused of committing as minors, are now at imminent risk of execution following unfair trials before the court, the report added.

    Morayef said that the judicial process was “tainted with human rights abuses” – from the denial of legal representation to detention, to convictions based on confessions obtained by means of torture.

    “The presumption of innocence is not part of the Saudi Arabian judicial system,” Taha al-Hajji, a lawyer who has represented many defendants before the SCC, told Amnesty.

    ‘Ruthless suppression’
    Saudi Arabia has embarked on a country-wide crackdown on dissent in a bid to weed out critics of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    Riyadh carried out a mass execution of 37 men last April, the majority of whom were tortured or signed forced confessions while detained, rights groups say. Thirty-two of them were from the kingdom’s Shia minority.

    In the first 10 months of 2019, the government beheaded 164 people, surpassing the previous record set in 2015, according to an October tally by the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights.

    “Our research gives the lie to the shiny new reformist image Saudi Arabia is trying to cultivate, exposing how the Government uses a court like the Specialised Criminal Court in the ruthless suppression of those who are courageous enough to voice opposition, defend human rights or call for meaningful reforms,” Morayef said.

    The rights group called for the release of all prisoners of conscience and to initiate reforms in the SCC and also called for investigations into the allegations of torture in Saudi prisons.

    “If the King and Crown Prince want to show they are serious about reforms, they should as a first step immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience,” Morayef said.”

  9. Saudi launches first women’s military wing
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200206-saudi-launches-first-womens-military-wing/

    “Saudi Arabia launched its first military wing for women in the country’s armed forces this week marking what many believe is another milestone in the ambitious Vision 2030 modernisation programme spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

    Opening the job market to Saudi women is seen as a major step towards reforming the highly conservative kingdom. Since the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016, every sector from aviation security to passport controller has started employing female staff.

    The news of the launch of the women’s military wing was reported by Reema Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States. “The first women’s wing in Saudi Arabia’s Armed Forces has been inaugurated,” she wrote on tweet…”

  10. Amnesty: Saudi secret counter-terror court used to supress dissent
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200206-amnesty-saudi-secret-counter-terror-court-used-to-supress-dissent/

    “Saudi Arabia has been found to be using a secret court established for the purpose of judging counter-terrorism cases to imprison and detain critics and dissidents within the country.

    In a report released today, the UK-based human rights organisation Amnesty International discovered that the Specialised Criminal Court has been holding numerous secret proceedings in which trials were identified as “a mockery of justice” with the judges being “willing accomplices” in the suppression of any citizen who spoke up or criticised the government and its actions.

    Reportedly set up in 2008 to pass judgements on terrorism cases, the court began holding trials for critics of the authorities in 2011 backed up by the justification of vague and broadly-worded counter-terrorism laws. Such laws allegedly criminalise insulting King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman…”

  11. IMF: Gulf’s financial wealth could be over in 15 years
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200206-imf-gulfs-financial-wealth-could-be-over-in-15-years/

    “The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday Gulf Arab states — some of the world’s richest countries — could see their financial wealth depleted in the next 15 years amid lower hydrocarbon revenues if they don’t step up fiscal reforms, Reuters reports.

    The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – whose net financial wealth the IMF estimates at $2 trillion – accounts for over one fifth of global oil supply, but economies in the region have been hit hard by a drop in oil prices in 2014 and 2015.

    While lower crude prices have put pressure on governments to generate non-oil revenues and fix their finances, “the effect of lower hydrocarbon revenue is yet to be fully offset,” the IMF said in a report.

    “At the current fiscal stance, the region’s existing financial wealth could be depleted in the next 15 years,” it said.

    The Washington-based international crisis lender said global oil demand could peak by around 2040 or much sooner in case of a stronger regulatory push for environmental protection and energy efficiency.

    “All GCC countries have recognized the lasting nature of their challenge … However, the expected speed and size of these consolidations in most countries may not be sufficient to stabilize their wealth.”

    Gulf states have for decades used their energy wealth to provide millions of citizens with government jobs, part of a social contract by rulers that rewards political acquiescence and educational attainment with employment for life.

    But high-paying public sector jobs that demand little of workers have translated into low productivity and an entitlement culture, as well as rising costs as populations grow.

    Budgets are stretched further by hefty state spending on subsidies, social services and generous state pensions.

    GCC governments have only gradually introduced austerity measures to avoid social discontent, such as the introduction of a value added tax (VAT) in some GCC countries. But most continue to struggle to balance fiscal consolidation and growth.

    The IMF said the introduction of VAT and excise taxes was positive: “There is significant potential to build on this progress.”

    “As the region transitions toward a non-hydrocarbon economy, moving from wide-ranging fees toward fewer broad-based taxes, for example, could provide much-needed revenue diversification.”

    Kuwait – which has one of the world’s biggest sovereign funds – could need some $180 billion in financing over the next six years in the absence of more drastic fiscal measures, the IMF said last month.

    Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy and the world’s largest crude exporter, expects a deficit of $50 billion this year, up from $35 billion in 2019.”

  12. Turkey’s deputy FM: Islamophobia threatens Turkish citizens in Europe
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200206-turkeys-deputy-fm-islamophobia-threatens-turkish-citizens-in-europe/

    “Rising Islamophobia and xenophobia in Western Europe threatens the safety of Turkish citizens living there, the country’s deputy foreign minister said, Anadolu reports.

    Yavuz Selim Kiran made the remarks during a session of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee in Ankara on Thursday.

    The minister urged to take the diplomatic route in addressing such concerns. “We should deal with this problem strategically,” he said.

    Approximately, 5 million Turks live in European countries.

    Last December, Germany’s integration minister had expressed similar concerns over Islamophobia, warning that it posed a “real danger” to social cohesion.

    Presenting the annual government report on the state of integration in the capital Berlin, Annette Widmann-Mauz said: “Right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism, and hostility towards Muslims are a very real danger that we have to combat in a consequent and sustainable manner.”

    Germany has witnessed growing anti-Muslim hate crimes in recent years sparked by hate propaganda by far-right parties.

    In 2018, more than 100 mosques and religious institutions were attacked by far-right extremists.

    Police recorded 813 hate crimes against Muslims last year, including verbal insults, threatening letters, and physical attacks which led to at least 54 Muslims being wounded.”

  13. Migrants in Serbia protest for passage to Hungary and EU
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-serbia/migrants-in-serbia-protest-for-passage-to-hungary-and-eu-idUSKBN2002MI

    “Dozens of migrants, trapped in Serbia, set out in freezing and windy weather on Thursday to walk about ten kilometers to the Hungarian border, demanding free and secure passage toward Western Europe, police said.

    The protest in the northern city of Subotica, just outside European Union member state Hungary, came after migrants’ attempt to force their way through a border checkpoint last month.

    The Serbian police were seen following the group along the road connecting Subotica and the nearby Horgos border crossing.

    “We want to work, we want a better life for our children,” Amira from Syria said.

    “I am from Damascus city and they’re shooting bombs. What else can we do?”

    Serbia was a focal point for migrants in 2015 and 2016, when hundreds of thousands fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and Asia traveled up through the Balkans to reach wealthy Western Europe.

    Although the Balkan route was closed off in 2016, there are currently over 6,000 migrants from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan in Serbia’s government-operated camps.”

  14. HRW Calls on Morocco to Release ‘Freedom of Speech’ Convicts
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/02/293018/hrw-calls-on-morocco-to-release-freedom-of-speech-convicts/

    “Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for Moroccan authorities to immediately free activists, artists, and other citizens who are serving prison terms as punishment for comments made online.

    “Moroccan authorities have, since September 2019, arrested and prosecuted at least 10 activists, artists, or other citizens who did nothing but peacefully express critical opinions via Facebook posts, YouTube videos, or rap songs,” the international NGO stated yesterday.

    “The authorities should immediately free those who are being detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression and drop the charges.”

    The charges include showing a “lack of due respect for the king,” “defaming state institutions,” and “offending public officials.”

    The imprisoned Moroccans in question were all prosecuted under the Penal Code rather than the Press and Publications Code, HRW continued.

    Morocco’s 2016 Press and Publications Code does not punish speech offenses with prison terms.

    However, HRW argues that Moroccan authorities use the Penal Code to impose prison terms on citizens for a range of nonviolent speech offenses.

    “An increasing number of Moroccans are taking to social media to express bold political opinions, including about the king, as is their right,” said the communications director for the Middle East and North Africa at HRW, Ahmed Benchemsi.

    “As self-censorship erodes, the authorities have stepped in to frantically try to reinstate the red lines.”…”

  15. Court verdicts in cases against Hafiz Saeed on Saturday
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2151527/1-court-verdicts-cases-hafiz-saeed-saturday/

    “An anti-terrorism court in Lahore will announce its verdicts in two terror financing cases against Hafiz Saeed, the head of the proscribed outfit Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), on Saturday.

    Judge Arshad Bhutta on Thursday reserved the verdicts in both the cases.

    The court had indicted the JuD chief and three of his associates, Hafiz Abdul Salam bin Mohammad, Mohammad Ashraf and Prof Zafar Iqbal, on terror financing charges on December 11 last year in a case filed by the Counter Terrorism Department.

    Saeed and Prof Zafar Iqbal were later indicted in a similar case on December 20.
    The state was represented by Deputy Prosecutor General Abdul Rauf Watto and the statements of 23 witnesses were recorded during the proceedings.

    According to Watto, the JuD chief ran militant charities and collected illegal funds.

    On July 3 last year, 13 top leaders of the banned outfit, including its chief Hafiz Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases of terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

    Saeed was later arrested by the CTD on July 17 while he was travelling between Gujranwala and Lahore.

    The CTD, which registered the cases in five cities of Punjab, declared that the JuD was financing terrorism from the massive funds collected through non-profit organisations and trusts including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, Muaz Bin Jabal Trust, etc.

    The organisations were banned in April as the CTD during detailed investigations found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership, accused of financing terrorism by building huge assets/properties from the collected funds in Pakistan.

    Finally, 23 FIRs were registered against JuD leaders at the CTD police stations of Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad and Sargodha on July 1 and 2.

    Besides the top two JuD leaders, Zafar Iqbal, Ameer Hamza, Mohammad Yahya Aziz, Mohammad Naeem, Mohsin Bilal, Abdul Raqeeb, Dr Ahmad Daud, Dr Muhammad Ayub, Abdullah Ubaid,

    Mohammad Ali and Abdul Ghaffar were also booked in the cases.
    The CTD took some months to collect evidence against the banned organisations regarding terror financing and assets/properties which had already been seized by the state.

    The action against the JuD came in the wake of pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which has placed Pakistan on its “grey list” of countries with inadequate controls over money laundering and terrorism financing.

    The CTD said the investigation into the finances of proscribed organisations, the JuD, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation were launched in connection with the implementation of UN sanctions against these designated entities and persons under the directives of the National Security Committee in its meeting on January 1 this year chaired by PM Imran Khan for implementing the National Action Plan.”

  17. Syrians must leave Lebanon, says president Aoun
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2020/02/06/syrians-must-leave-lebanon-says-president-aoun_8768a30b-38a1-444e-90bc-ea91dc916740.html

    “Lebanese president Michel Aoun on Thursday reiterated that it is necessary to repatriate as soon as possible most of the Syrian refugees who fled to the country during the ongoing conflict since 2011. Reports were from Syrian media, which noted that the head of state had inserted a reference to the issue of repatriating Syrians in a ministerial statement approved by the government Thursday morning in Beirut. Aoun said that most areas in Syria had been made ”peaceful” by the Russian and government offensives in western Syria. Lebanon, which has a population of just under four million people, hosts about a million Syrians, mostly on the edges of cities or in makeshift refugee camps.”

  27. Iowa Dems release ‘100 percent’ of caucus vote totals showing Buttigieg ahead, amid calls for recanvass

    The Iowa Democratic Party announced that 100 percent of precincts were finally reporting results late Thursday night — 72 hours after the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses concluded on Monday, and after numerous irregularities led the head of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to call for a complete recanvass.

    The state party’s numbers showed that Pete Buttigieg would be awarded 564.012 SDEs, or state delegate equivalents, while Bernie Sanders would receive 562.497 SDEs. Sanders held a sizeable popular vote lead, though, and finished ahead of Buttigieg by a 43,671 to 37,557 vote margin. He fell behind in delegates due to Iowa’s unusual voting system that gave different delegate weights to different precincts.

    After the “second alignment” — meaning the popular vote after the elimination of candidates who received less than 15 percent of the vote in the first round of caucusing — Sanders was still ahead of Buttigieg, 45,826 votes to 43,195.

    Nevertheless, as the results posted, Buttigieg was speaking on-stage at a CNN town hall, and anchor Chris Cuomo suggested the former South Bend, Ind., mayor had won the caucuses.

    “That is fantastic news,” Buttigieg said. “We are looking to New Hampshire and beyond.”

    But Sanders, minutes earlier and throughout the day, had said he won the race, considering his popular vote advantage.

    The disastrous caucuses drew mockery from President Trump earlier in the day, as he openly suggested in the East Room of the White House that Democrats could not be trusted to run the nation’s health care system if they couldn’t even count votes in a timely and reliable manner.

    Whoops! We couldn’t access this Tweet.

    Elizabeth Warren finished with 387 SDEs, Joe Biden with 341, Amy Klobuchar with 264, and Andrew Yang with 22. By popular vote, Warren had 32,533 votes after the first round of caucusing and 34,771 after the second; Biden had 26,384 after round one and 23,691 after round two; and Klobuchar had 22,469 after round one and 21,181 after round two. Yang plummeted from 8,821 in the first round to 1,780 in the second.

    Those numbers were catastrophic for Biden, who has run his campaign on the notion that he’s the most electable candidate. For other candidates, the confusion threatened to overshadow the typical media-driven momentum boost that results from a strong Iowa performance.

    At the same time, it remained unclear whether the results would stand, or whether there could be more changes. DNC head Tom Perez earlier Thursday called for a recanvass of the results of the Iowa caucuses, saying it was needed to “assure public confidence” after three days of apparent technical issues, vote-counting irregularities and delays.

    “Enough is enough,” Perez wrote on Twitter.

    Meanwhile, The Associated Press said Thursday it was unable to declare a winner of the Democrats’ Iowa caucuses.

    “The Associated Press calls a race when there is a clear indication of a winner. Because of a tight margin between former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders and the irregularities in this year’s caucus process, it is not possible to determine a winner at this point,” wrote Sally Buzbee, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.

    The caucus crisis was an embarrassing twist after months of promoting Iowa as a chance for Democrats to find some clarity in a jumbled 2020 field. Instead, after a buildup that featured seven rounds of debates, nearly $1 billion spent nationwide and a year of political jockeying, caucus day ended with no winner and no official results.

    Campaigning in New Hampshire, Sanders called the Iowa Democratic Party’s management of the caucuses a “screw-up” that has been “extremely unfair” to the candidates and their supporters.

    “We’ve got enough of Iowa,” he said later Thursday at a CNN town hall, just before Buttigieg spoke. “I think we should move onto New Hampshire.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/iowa-democrat-final-caucus-vote-totals-buttigieg-sanders

  28. India: Chilkur Balaji Temple holds special prayers to ward off Coronavirus

    Over 2,000 worshipers attended a special prayer at the Chilkur Balaji Temple in Hyderabad on Thursday, believed to ward off the deadly Coronavirus.

    The prayer, Apamarjana Puja, was offered to the Hindu deity Vishnu. During the prayer, priests recited a few slokas from the Apamarjana Stotram and Sudarshana Ashtakam.

    It is believed that these slokas (poetic forms or songs) purify a person’s body and mind, thus helping them get rid of all illnesses.

    The priests recited the slokas for 45 minutes and later sprinkled the holy ‘Ganga Jal’ water from the Ganges river, over the worshippers.

    The head priest in the temple, C.J. Rangarajan, said that “today is also emergency situation, not only at Chilkur, the Vatican has prayed. In Malaysia, there are Masjids [Mosques] which are offering special prayers.”

    The Chilkur Balaji temple has performed similar prayers in the past against the economic crisis and the agrarian crisis that led to a jump in farmer suicides, as well as during the swine flu epidemic.

    According to the head priest Rangarajan, the temple, which is one of the oldest temples in Hyderabad, has been receiving a lot of requests from devotees to conduct special prayers against the Coronavirus.