Reader’s Links for February 19, 2020

Daily Links Post graphic

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

99 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 19, 2020”

  1. Turkey Probes Judges Who Acquitted Businessman, Drawing European Ire
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2139741/turkey-probes-judges-who-acquitted-businessman-drawing-european-ire

    “The body overseeing Turkish judges and prosecutors has launched an investigation into three judges who acquitted philanthropist businessman Osman Kavala and eight other activists of terrorism charges, Turkey’s state media reported on Wednesday.

    The move by the parliament- and government-appointed Council of Judges and Prosecutors came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke out against the defendants’ acquittals over their alleged role in mass anti-government protests that erupted in 2013, casting a shadow over the independence of the judiciary.

    The panel of three judges on Tuesday cleared Kavala and eight of his co-defendants of terror-related charges and ruled for the release of the businessman, jailed for 840 days. As his supporters awaited his release, however, prosecutors ordered Kavala detained again, this time for his alleged ties to a 2016 failed coup attempt.

    The state-run Anadolu Agency said the three judges would be investigated over possible “flaws” in their judgement.

    Kavala’s re-arrest sparked criticism from the European Union and the Council of Europe.

    Erdogan however, denounced “attempts to acquit” Kavala and urged respect for the new detention warrant…”

  2. Finland to Probe Foreign Minister Over Syria Repatriations Legality
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2139546/finland-probe-foreign-minister-over-syria-repatriations-legality

    “Finland’s constitutional committee said on Wednesday it has asked the Prosecutor General to investigate the legality of Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto’s push to repatriate Finnish children from a camp in Syria and his handling of one director at his ministry.

    The center-left government said in December it would seek to repatriate the children of Finnish mothers who traveled to Syria to join ISIS and who are now being held at the al-Hol displacement camp controlled by Kurds in northeastern Syria.

    But prior to that, Haavisto of the Green Party had sought to repatriate more than 30 such children but faced criticism from the opposition as well as from the Centre Party, an ally in the five-party ruling coalition.

    As conditions at the camp deteriorated in December, media reported that Haavisto grew impatient with one ministry director who opposed his plan for speedy repatriations without an official government decision on the matter.

    Parliament’s constitutional committee on Wednesday asked the Prosecutor General to investigate whether or not Haavisto had exceeded his powers in trying to reassign the director to other work.

    “When the minister had already taken the tasks related to al-Hol away from the director, why was it necessary to continue preparing his reallocation to other duties?” the chairwoman of the constitutional committee, Johanna Ojala-Niemela, told reporters.

    If the Prosecutor General decides Haavisto overstepped his powers, the minister may have to resign, potentially destabilizing the five-party coalition.

    The coalition has had a rocky first year in office with its first leader, Prime Minister Antti Rinne of the Social Democrats, forced to resign in December after six months in office due to widespread strikes and internal divisions within the government.

    The coalition limped on after Rinne was quickly replaced by Sanna Marin – the world’s youngest prime minister.

    Marin quickly forged a compromise in which the government decided that each repatriation from al-Hol should be judged on its own merits, leaving the door open for some mothers to be repatriated with their children if necessary – a key dispute within the coalition.

    The coalition remains fragile, however, mainly due to the nationalist Finns Party riding high in the polls since soon after last April’s parliamentary election in which it came second by a tight margin to the Social Democrats, who took 17.7% of the vote.

    So far the government has confirmed the repatriation of two children from al-Hol.”

  3. Turkey Arrests Ex-ISIS Commander Responsible for Executing Prisoners
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2139361/turkey-arrests-ex-isis-commander-responsible-executing-prisoners

    “Anti-terror Turkish forces in the northwestern city of Bursa have arrested a former Syrian ISIS commander and three others militants, who were all executioners and worked in intelligence missions.

    The ISIS commander, Abu Taki al-Shamy, 50, is thought to have played a prominent role in the group’s execution videos and was working in Bursa as a gas repairman.

    Police shared a video of his arrest on Monday, showing him in his work outfit.

    He has been living in Turkey for three years and was described by the state-run Anadolu Agency as working for a senior ISIS leader in the Deir Ezzor region of eastern Syria, a former stronghold of the extremist group.

    Shamy seems to be the same man shooting a civilian on the back of the head in a video released on social media a few years ago.

    After he was apprehended, Turkish security services arrested three others in Bursa over ISIS links. Two of them worked on executions, and the third was part of the ISIS terrorist intelligence.

    Turkey launched a security campaign against ISIS militants after several attacks rocked the country in 2015, leaving more than 300 people dead.

    The campaign has intensified since the beginning of 2017 after the New Year’s Eve attack at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, in which dozens of foreigners were killed.

    The frequency of these campaigns increased after the country’s Operation Peace Spring, which was launched in northeastern Syria last October and aims to eliminate what Turkey says are threats from the Syrian Kurdish YPG and ISIS militants, and enable the return of Syrian refugees after the formation of a “safe zone” in the area.

    During the four-year campaign, Turkish anti-terrorist forces have arrested more than 5,000 ISIS militants, the majority of whom were foreigners, and deported about 3,000, while hundreds remained in prisons inside Turkey.

    The interior ministry announced on Tuesday that it deported a German terrorist as part of a plan to deport ISIS militants to their countries of origin.

    The number of those deported since the campaign’s launch in November 2019 has amounted to about 120 foreigners and their families.

    Among those deported were nationals from the United States, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Britain, Morocco, Kosovo, and France.”

  4. Serbia Arrests 5 Suspected Migrant Smugglers Led by Syrian
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2139726/serbia-arrests-5-suspected-migrant-smugglers-led-syrian

    “Serbian authorities have arrested five suspected people smugglers charged with helping over 140 migrants try to reach neighboring Bosnia by crossing the Drina River in boats, the prosecutor’s office said Wednesday.

    The group had been smuggling migrants in buses since November from the Serbian capital of Belgrade to the border town of Ljubovija before sending them in boats over the Drina River, which runs between the two countries, the prosecutors’ statement said.

    No details were released about the migrants.

    The group was led by a Syrian national and is believed to have been paid some 17,000 euros ($18,000) for their activities. Authorities are searching for one more suspect, reported The Associated Press.

    Thousands of people fleeing war and poverty have been stuck in Serbia and other Balkan countries while trying to reach Western Europe. Once in Bosnia, migrants try to cross into Croatia, a member of the European Union.”

  5. Turkish activists slam Google for financially rewarding pro-government media group
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/google-funding-turkey

    “Turkish media activists criticised Google after it announced it was awarding one of the country’s largest pro-government media conglomerates with funding for a journalism project.

    The Demiroren Group was announced as the only Turkish applicant selected by Google’s journalism innovation fund earlier this week, after the Google News Initiative (GNI) updated its website.

    Demiroren is the owner of the most widely watched and read media outlets in the country, including the Hurriyet newspaper, CNN Turk, Milliyet and Kanal D.

    Although the specific amount of funding wasn’t made public, the GNI said the project with Demiroren would aim to increase ad revenue and “detect the entities a reader is interested in, and recommend news regarding the same person, company or place they are reading about, in real-time”.

    The GNI, which was first launched in 2018, is funding projects that inject new ideas into the news industry with 70 percent funding for projects costing as much as $150,000.

    According to its website, project proposals should be aimed at “increasing revenue from readers, including subscriptions, membership programs, contributions and/or new digital products and services.”

    Still, Demiroren has repeatedly been criticised over its links to the government, with an alleged phone conversation leaked in 2014 showing the influence Ankara wields over the massive media conglomerate.

    In the recording, then prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan could be heard scolding the conglomerate’s then chairman, Erdogan Demiroren, over a news story and asking for those responsible to be fired.

    During the conversation, Demiroren could also be heard crying.

    Google’s announcement drew scorn on social media, with activists denouncing the move as being “chosen poorly” and legitimising state-aligned media…”

  6. Report: Yemen’s Houthis developing deadlier, more accurate drones
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200219-report-yemens-houthis-developing-deadlier-more-accurate-drones/

    “According to a paper released today by UK-based think tank Conflict Armament Research (CAR), the Houthi movement of Yemen are using and developing increasingly lethal and accurate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones.

    The paper, entitled “Evolution of UAVs employed by Houthi forces in Yemen”, documented nine UAVs and one UAV engine, retrieved by the UAE forces operating in Yemen.

    It found that whilst the Houthi-led forces have been using earlier variants of drones linked to Iran such as the Qasef-1 in “kamikaze” style attacks, more recently they have sought to modify them by fitting them with improvised fragmentation charges (including nuts and bolts), which are initiated in flight and directed at soft targets, including exposed personnel located below. An example of this, was the 10 January 2019 attack on the Al-Anad air base, when a presumed Qasef-1 detonated in the sky during a military parade, killing six people and wounding many others.

    “It’s not just an evolution in their technology, but their ability to reach targets beyond the conflict,” said Jonah Leff, director of operations at CAR.

    A small component inside the drones targeting the Saudi Aramco oil installations last year were also found to be in the arsenal of the Houthis which also matched those recovered in downed Iranian drones in Afghanistan and Iraq. These findings echo reports by the UN that its experts saw a similar gyroscope from an Iranian drone obtained by US forces in Afghanistan and in a shipment of cruise missiles sized in the Arabian Sea destined for Yemen. Some instruments are also similar to those found in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that Bahraini forces captured from militant factions in Bahrain.

    However, Al Monitor quoted Fernando Carvajal, a former member of the UN Panel of Experts who reviewed the report, saying he was “highly doubtful Iran would give Houthis latest-generation technology”.

    “This would give [Saudi Arabia] and the US access to Iranian technology since Houthi drones tend to crash” over the border, “risking the possibility that it could end up in American or Saudi hands,” he added.

    The report acknowledges that the Houthi forces have developed locally manufactured drones, relying on some internationally produced technology, “the bulk of evidence gathered from Houthi UAVs recovered by UAE forces, and documented by CAR, reveals that a number of UAV components are identical to components and parts that proliferate elsewhere in the region.”

    The recent downing of a Saudi Tornado fighter jet and the capture of the two pilots, caused by an “advanced surface-to-air missile” has also caused concern among the coalition which relies overwhelmingly on superior air power. “This is definitely a cause for alarm for the coalition,” Becca Wasser, a policy analyst at the US-based RAND Corporation, told AFP.

    The document was funded in part by the UAE, a joint-leader of the Arab coalition which militarily intervened in Yemen in 2015 following the ousting of the President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in an attempt to reinstate him and to overthrow the Houthi-led National Salvation Government (NSG) based in the capital Sanaa. At the end of last year, the NSG and Iran signed a military cooperation deal, the first formal agreement of its kind between the two parties.”

  7. Hezbollah’s Nasrallah mocked over calls to boycott US goods in Lebanon
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200219-hezbollahs-nasrallah-mocked-over-calls-to-boycott-us-goods-in-lebanon/

    “Lebanese people have flocked to social media to mock Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, after he called for a boycott of US goods and products in a speech on Sunday.

    Calling the boycott “part of the battle” against US President Donald Trump’s Middle East plan, Nasrallah added, “if we do not want to boycott all goods, we choose some companies, and this is a form of confrontation”.

    Pro-Hezbollah social media accounts later published lists of US products under the title “economic boycott is alertness and jihad”…”

  8. Police Say 8 Killed in Shootings in the German City of Hanau
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-19/police-report-several-people-shot-to-death-in-german-city

    “Eight people were killed in shootings in the German city of Hanau on Wednesday evening, authorities said. Two hookah lounges reportedly were targeted.

    Authorities were searching for the perpetrators early Thursday, three hours after the shootings which took place at about 10 p.m. (2100 GMT).

    A short police statement gave no information on the victims. It said the motive is not immediately clear.

    Police said a dark vehicle was seen leaving the scene of the first shooting, and another shooting was reported at a second site.

    Regional public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk said, without citing sources, that an attack took place in a hookah lounge in the center of the city. It said witnesses reported hearing eight or nine shots and seeing at least one person lying on the ground.

    The perpetrator or perpetrators then apparently went to another part of the city, where shots were fired in another hookah lounge, the broadcaster said.

    Hanau is in southwestern Germany, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Frankfurt. It has about 100,000 inhabitants.”

  9. Former French Official: Arabic is Universal Language, National Treasure
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/02/294077/former-french-official-arabic-is-universal-language-national-treasure/

    “Former French Minister of Culture Jack Lang defended the teaching of the Arabic language in French schools, describing it as a “national treasure.”

    The statement comes after French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled France’s strategy to combat “Islamic separatism.”

    Under the plan, France will no longer provide classes in other languages, including the Arabic language, in a bid to stop using educational programs from other countries, the Connexion reported.

    The circular refers to “ELCO” or the Teaching of the Language of Culture and Origin program that seeks to promote the integration of children of immigrant origin.

    The ELCO covers nine countries, including Morocco, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, Serbia, Tunisia, Algeria, and Turkey.

    France now seeks to abolish the teaching of the other languages and cultures of origin starting the new school year in September 2020…”

  10. Turkey: Parliament head slams Macron over Islamophobia
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/turkey-parliament-head-slams-macron-over-islamophobia/1738490

    “Turkey’s parliament speaker on Wednesday slammed French President Emmanuel Macron’s Islamophobic remarks.

    “Macron’s remarks on struggling with Islamic separatism are example of crude Islamophobia,” Mustafa Sentop said in a tweet.

    “France should first confront its racist and massacrist history,” he said, referring to its colonialist past.

    Sentop’s remarks came after Macron said he will end the system in which foreign countries send Muslim preachers to France — in a crackdown on what he called “separatism”.

    He said the government has asked the country’s Muslim body to train preachers in France and in the French language to prevent the spread of what he called political Islam.”

  11. 3 militants killed in Kashmir gunfight: Police
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/3-militants-killed-in-kashmir-gunfight-police/1738894

    “Indian forces have killed three militants in Kashmir’s southern district of Pulwama, the police chief in the region said on Wednesday.

    “On a credible input, a cordon & search operation was launched jointly by police, CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] & Army in Sherabad area of Tral in Awantipora. During the search operation, the hiding terrorists opened fire. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter,” Dilbag Singh said.

    Terming the encounter as one of the successful operations, Singh said Jahangir Ahmad Wani, one of the slain militants, had a “terror crime records since 2018” and was operating as commander of proscribed militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in the area.

    “He was involved in planning and executing several terror attacks in the area,” the police chief said.

    Giving details about anti-militancy operations in the valley, Vijay Kumar, inspector general of police (Kashmir Zone), said a total of 23 militants have been killed in 10 anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir since the start of the current year.

    Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Civil Society (JKCCS), a human rights group operating in the region, has compiled 35 killings — including that of five civilians, 19 militants and 11 armed forces — since beginning of 2020, according to one of the group’s members.

    To a question about upcoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to India next week and fears of possible militant activities, the police chief said: “There are some apprehensions, like always. Militants are still present in good numbers, [but] we hope the visit passes off peacefully, we have security arrangements in place.”

    Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

    Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars — in 1948, 1965 and 1971 — two of them over Kashmir.

    Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

    According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.”

  12. Another week, another migrant tragedy in Greece
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/analysis/2019/11/19/another-week-another-migrant-tragedy-in-greece_a5f8fb74-4f24-4588-9c82-45b5a0241cce.html

    “The ongoing refugee crisis in Greece continues to lurch from one tragedy to the next with the death of a nine-month old baby at the notoriously overcrowded Moria reception center on the island of Lesvos the latest in a long line of black pages in what continues to be an extremely sad story.

    The Greek arm of NGO organization Meicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) confirmed at the weekend that a baby had died a few days ago in hospital after being admitted with severe dehydration. Despite receiving emergency care in hospital, the infant did not survive.

    “The MSF team has confirmed the information with the hospital.

    We are overwhelmed by this new tragedy,” said a statement by eicins Sans Frontieres via their Twitter account…”

  13. Tucker: Bloomberg shouldn’t be on the debate stage

    Michael Bloomberg receives preferential treatment by the DNC.

  14. I know wiki is dubious and manipulative. This is why I called it a mythical example. I do find it interesting, though, that Jewish scholars cited therein also find food for thought in the genetic sands of time worthy enough for argument. I also think that readers here, for the most part, know that Wiki has to be taken with a rock of salt much like ZeroHedge. There’s everything to be suspicious of in so many sources, and there isn’t a more fastidious shopper in the free market of ideas at VTB than you, Yucki. You are a paragon of strength in this regard. The danger, however, comes when the likes of ZeroHedge is dismissed as propagandist, or anti-Semitic (both true) but yet offer, for example, credible data on, say, the utterly bogus corporate entity that is Tesla. Tesla may as well be a .Com outfit skyrocketing in value in 2000 just before the crash. Yet, the critical mass of planet-saving, virtue-signalling automatons who buy into it will get little truth from MSM. Shun ZH in this example and we all lose. In fact I would go so far as to say ZH really is an ideologically untethered balloon without any moral center of gravity, given all its contradictory postings.

    • This comment is in reply to Yucki way up at the first comment of this day. Guess I goofed by posting it here.

    • “The Devil will you a thousand truths to sell you one lie”.

      I think this is true. But if you learn to discriminate truth from falsehood WOW do we ever get the better end of that deal. So yes, if you have the ability to reason and fact check then these sources are worth it for that exact reason.

      My personal issue with ZH, not a policy thing for the site or anything, just a personal issue, is that they post stories from foreign news that they make up out of whole cloth without citing a source. The time and effort it has taken me to track down the story from which they invented the one they published, and then get the original one translated to see if it was true makes it not worth the effort from the point of view of a team of volunteers trying to bring people what they don’t get from our own Government-media complex.

      Not that CBC doesn’t do that, they sure as hell do as does the NYT. But I don’t generally rely on them as a source of anything other than propaganda, and its already English for the most part.

      • Their skill in inventing data and manipulating it to serve a specific agenda is too good to be anything other than Russian.

        But it’s the world view that’s insidious. Those “thousand truths” are selected to illustrate what they want you to believe are *trends*. Always in the direction that’s consistent with Russian long-term objectives.

        It’s a good index of things that should arouse your suspicions. Any pet cause, any politician they promote – you’ve got to wonder why. What’s the Russian angle?