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.
“Trump set to retaliate after China expels U.S. journalists for ‘racist’ report”
by Bill Gertz – February 19, 2020
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/19/wall-street-journal-reporters-expelled-china-racis/
The China Report
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9yulQ-A1jGXfQ4UMkNbsSg/videos
Right-wing terror attack in Hanau, Germany. 9 people shot in shisha lounges, all Kurds it seems. Suspect, Tobias Rathjen, and one other person found dead in home:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/19/shooting-germany-hanau-dead-several-people-shisha-near-frankfurt
He left a confession/manifesto of sorts. He’s claimed to be an incel, at the same time celibacy was by choice? Looks like he was paranoid as well:
https://twitter.com/PeterRNeumann/status/1230402281666949123
In German:
https://www.bild.de/news/2020/news/hanau-schuesse-tote-tatverdaechtiger-68909822.bild.html
One of his videos backed up here:
If you read his Manifesto, you can clearly see that this guy wasn’t a “Extreme Right Winger” as the Media likes to spin it now to fit their Narrative.
This guy was a complete Nutcase.
Here’s the Manifest.
https://teamheimatcom.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/skript__mit_bilder_.pdf
What the Media is and has been doing reminds me strongly of the words from Sefton Delmer who said (in reference to the German people);
“Reeducation needs careful tending, like an English lawn.
Even one moment of negligence, and the weeds crop up again ~
those indestructible weeds of historical truth.”
he also said;
“Accuracy first,” I used to tell the writers. “We must never lie by accident, or through slovenliness, only deliberately!”
The AFD need to throw Merkels accusations straight back at her, blame her for inciting violence with her open borders.
Thanks for the pdf. I read a screenshot of the first page earlier today, the rest was scrubbed from the internet entirely. Even from wayback machine etc, the authorities are probably afraid of copycats.
But I don’t think he’ll have many followers. Yes, as you wrote, a nutcase. From the looks of it (I only skipped through the document) he’s been delusional since a very young age. It’s sad, really, this maybe could have been prevented.
The guy was certainly a racist, but not involved with Bloold & Honor or anything like that.
Video already taken down, here’s part of it, together with eyewintess statements etc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkn11fhILNM
Statement from one of the of the wounded. Despite the German title, he speaks turkish or kurdish. No subtitles, unfortunately:
europravda –‘Racism is a poison’: Angela Merkel reacts to Hanau shisha bar murders
europravda –‘Hanau shootings: Far-right motive suspected after nine people killed in shisha bar attacks
europravda –Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
europravda –Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks- 2
Deutsche PravdaGermany: Shooting near Frankfurt leaves 11 dead
CNN goes to scene of shooting in Hanau, Germany
France Pravda- Following Hanau, a look back at Germany’s history with far-right ideologies
As prosecutors look at the shooting in Hanau and analyse the rise of the far-right, we take a look back at Germany’s history with far-right politics.
DAILY MAIL – German terrorist’s nine victims – including pregnant mother – all had migrant backgrounds and ‘were shot with a Glock 17 pistol he’d bought legally online’, police reveal as they probe whether he had an accomplice
Nine people killed in a terror attack in the German town of Hanau all had migrant backgrounds, authorities say
Dead thought to include a 35-year-old pregnant woman, and two young Turkish men working at a shisha bar
Police have described shooting as a far-right terror attack and named the killer as 43-year-old Tobias Rathjen
Investigators say he was not known to police and are probing whether he had an accomplice or outside help
It is thought he bought the murder weapon – a Glock 17 pistol – legally online and also owned two other guns
[…]a far-right terror attack
[…]a far-right conspiracy theorist
[…]Bilal Gokce, Sedat Gurbuz, Agr? Eleskirtli and Bulgarian citizen Kolayan Velkov, 32, were also named by Turkish media as being among the victims.
Other victims identified in social media posts include Bosnian-born Hamza Kutovic, 20, and Polish Roma mother-of-two called Mercedes who worked in one of the bars.
[…]a banner reading: ‘Racism and fascism kill everywhere’
[…] Vigils were held in Hanau, Frankfurt and Berlin to pay tribute to those killed
[…]uploaded a manifesto online before carrying out his attacks detailing his belief in ethnic cleansing, mind control and that the government was following him
[…]a vigil with a message of solidarity
[…]People placed candles, flowers and signs against racism
[…]’We have to nip it in the bud if the Nazi party is coming back,’
[…]Why this hatred of foreigners? We all get along here.’
[…]Alizadeh said that the racists ‘should just go away’.
[…]Rathjen was obsessed by aliens, mind control, Satanic sacrifice and believed he was under government surveillance – which he blamed on his inability to get a girlfriend.
[…]Rathjen wrote a letter to Berlin’s chief prosecutor in November last year, complaining that he was being spied on by a secret German intelligence service and urging them to stop.
[…]Rathjen also advocated ethnic cleansing, vowing to wipe out entire countries including Israel, most of the Middle East, some Asian nations, North Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Germans who he considered to be ‘impure’,
[…]The rise of the AfD’s political movement has been mirrored in a rise of far-right extremism that included two high-profile attacks last year.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8025353/German-terrorists-nine-shisha-bar-victims-migrant-backgrounds-police-reveal.html
Germany: Hanau shooter had “deeply racist ethos” – Federal Attorney General
German Federal Attorney General Peter Frank released a statement in Karlsruhe on Thursday regarding the deadly shootings in Hanau that left 11 dead, saying that the perpetrator had “confused thoughts and absurd conspiracy theories, but above all exhibiting a deeply racist ethos.”
Peter Frank said that “nine persons with a migrant background were shot. Six further persons were injured, from those, one seriously,” in the attack that took place late on Wednesday night.
He added that the police found a firearm next to the body of the suspect and his mother, who had been “evidently shot” at the perpetrator’s home.
“On the homepage of the suspected perpetrator, he had video messages, and a kind of manifesto set up,” said Frank.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation will lead the next stage of the investigation with the support of the Hesse State Police Department and will be looking at “whether there are or have been affiliates or supporters,” both domestically and internationally.
Germany: ‘There is much more hated than is said in public’ – Hanau locals react to shootings
After the deadly gunfire incident on Wednesday evening, the residents of Hanau expressed, on Thursday, their shock and called for the hatred phenomena to be countered.
Hanau residents reacted to the deadly shootings that took place in the city on Wednesday night, and claimed the lives of 11 people, on Thursday.
“I feel so bad,” said Swetlana a Hanau resident and she warned that “there’s a lot more hatred, and a lot more in the background,” and found it a disaster that children and adolescents “are really being treated here in Germany like children coming from the third world.”
Another resident of Hanau Suleyman Doga said that politicians should be “asked about Nazis.”
Doga found that the punishments by the court are not strong enough and claimed that this incident “normal” due to the fact that “in every corner there is the possibility of everyone to find whatever weapons they want.”
Germany: Candlelight vigil held for Hanau shooting victims in Berlin
A Candlelight vigil for the victims of the deadly Hanau shootings was held in the German capital city of Berlin on Thursday evening at the city’s iconic landmark, the Brandenburg Gate.
Mourners can be seen placing flowers, messages, and candles at the vigil, while other prayed next to it.
Free Democratic Party Leader Christian Lindner was also present at the vigil, and can be seen placing a candle there.
europravda – Hanau terrorism: German prosecutors investigate the suspect’s online profile
Migrants in the German civil service sell residence permits
The German authorities have been infiltrated, in many ways. On the one hand, by civil servants from different backgrounds, who have long since stopped caring about everything. They are demotivated and are waiting for their pensions – or for the next political change. On the other hand, by multicultural criminals who simply take everything they are offered on a silver plate: For example, formally legal residence permits that fetch a high price on the black market.
In Berlin, a 36-year-old Bosnian employee of the municipal office has now been arrested, who in addition to being a citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina also holds a German passport. She is accused of having sold residence permits for 5000 euros each. Police found 28,000 euros in cash in her apartment. A 43-year-old Pakistani who is suspected of being the head of the gang that traded in residence permits was also arrested. According to a press release by the police, the accused are suspected in at least seven cases of having “jointly and collaboratively manipulated and organised passports on behalf of foreign ‘clients’ in such a way that previously stolen blank residence permits could be provided with pseudo-legal residence permits by the accused employee of the municipal office”. The residence permits in question here allow the holder to stay in Germany for an unlimited period of time. They are the first step towards the acquisition of German citizenship, which the holder can apply for after a few years.
According to a report in the newspaper “Welt”, the Berlin administration alone has so far been missing about 20,000 blank residence permits.
Rather reluctantly, the Berlin Senate had admitted the loss of the documents in July 2019 in response to a request by the AfD faction, stating that 1,500 copies of the papers that have disappeared since 2017 had been seized by the police in recent years. “A further 330 documents have so far been found in the case of (attempted) illegal entry and other abusive uses in the Federal territory,” the Senate’s statement states.
More:
https://medforth.blog/2020/02/20/migrants-in-the-german-civil-service-sell-residence-permits/
Interesting, given ordinary German efficiency. Just “slipping through the cracks” is highly unlikely. A policy of “looking the other way” is a better fit.
China’s COVID-19 death toll surpasses 2,100, no. of confirmed cases reaches 74,185
ARIRANG NEWS [FULL]: 36 new COVID-19 patients confirmed in S. Korea
China’s COVID-19 death toll surpasses 2,100, no. of confirmed cases reaches 74,185
Political War Over ‘Hindu Terror Row’ Escalates | Newstrack
Hindu Americans say tardish Pakis dress up as Hindus and blow things up. That’s “Hindu Terror”.
It’s a routine tactic of Paki’s ISI. They always make sure MB-friendly Western media gets a heads-up.
1,600 internet trolls deployed to suppress coronavirus info; Soldiers get body temperature measured
Inmate Murdered In Belmarsh Jail, Where WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Is Being Held (sputniknews, Feb 20, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/uk/202002201078359387-inmate-murdered-in-belmarsh-jail-where-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-is-being-held/
South Bend residents warn Americans against voting for Buttigieg
Residents of South Bend, Indiana, are warning Americans not to vote for the city’s former Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Some have said Buttigieg did nothing about crime in the city while others noted there were a record number of homicides during his time as mayor. FBI data showed violent crimes rose from 622 to more than 1,000 during his time in office.
A South Bend city council member claimed Buttigieg was difficult to work with and did not address the struggles of the local black community.
“It was very difficult to get across to him, and also to his administration, how African Americans were living in South Bend,” stated Henry Davis Jr. “You’re talking about double digit unemployment, a very high poverty rate of over 40 percent, high crime, schools closing.”
The former mayor has also come under fire for South Bend’s homeless problem and for claiming economic wins in the city, which some said were the result of statewide initiatives.
https://www.oann.com/south-bend-residents-warn-americans-against-voting-for-buttigieg/
Pickup Truck Bomb Explodes in Central Damascus – Reports (sputniknews, Feb 20, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202002201078360487-pickup-truck-explodes-in-damascus-syria—reports/
Russian Su-24 Planes Strike Pro-Turkish Terrorists, Allowing Syrian Army to Repel Attacks (sputniknews, Feb 20, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202002201078360375-syrian-arab-army-units-repel-terrorist-attacks-in-idlib—sana-reporter-/
“According to the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria, pro-Turkish militants, with the support of the Turkish artillery, broke through the defences of the Syrian army in the areas of Qminas and Nayrab.
Russian Su-24 aircraft have conducted airstrikes against pro-Turkish terrorists, which allowed the Syrian troops to repel all attacks successfully, the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria said in a statement.
“The Syrian troops destroyed one tank, six infantry fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks containing large-calibre weapons”, the message said.
The Centre also added that four Syrian servicemen were injured by Turkish artillery. The organisation went on to say that Turkey halted shelling against Syrian government troops as soon as Russia notified Ankara that it had detected the Turkish artillery fire.
In the meantime, the Turkish Defence Ministry reported that two Turkish servicemen were killed, while five others were injured in an air attack in Syria’s Idlib…”
Russian Su-24 Planes Strike Pro-Turkish Terrorists, Allowing Syrian Army to Repel Attacks (sputniknews, Feb 20, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202002201078360646-russian-su-24-planes-strike-pro-turkish-terrorists-allowing-syrian-army-to-repel-attacks/
Russian plane worth £7m shot down by Turkish-backed forces as military offensive launched (express, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1244917/Russia-news-Putin-military-plane-shot-down-Turkey-Syria-latest
“A RUSSIAN reconnaissance plane has been shot down above the war-torn Syrian province of Idlib as a Turkish-backed operation against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad gets underway…”
Turkey says 2 of its soldiers killed in airstrike in Syria (abcnews, Feb 20, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-unhappy-ankara-moscow-talks-syria-offensive-69095076
” Two Turkish soldiers were killed Thursday by an airstrike in northwestern Syria, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry, following a large-scale attack by Ankara-backed opposition forces that targeted Syrian government troops.
The deaths brought to 15 the number of Turkish soldiers killed in clashes this month amid a crushing offensive by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces aimed at recapturing opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province.
Intent on halting the advance, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had vowed on Feb. 12 to take military action “everywhere in Syria” if another Turkish soldier was killed or wounded.
The multiple front offensive has triggered the biggest single wave of fleeing civilians in Syria’s nine-year war, displacing nearly 1 million people who have rushed toward the Turkish border and are now sheltering in tents or sleeping rough in harsh winter weather.
Thursday’s deaths came after opposition fighters shelled Syrian government forces and entered the village of Nairab, which Assad’s forces had captured Feb. 3. The Turkish Anadolu agency said the fighters destroyed a Syrian tank and armored personnel carrier and seized a second tank.
The Russian military said the militants had launched a massive offensive on Syrian positions near Nairab, under the cover of Turkish artillery, adding that four Syrian soldiers were wounded in the shelling.
“The militants’ actions were supported by the Turkish artillery fire, which allowed the militants to break through the Syrian army’s defenses,” it said.
The military added that at the Syrian military’s request, Russian Su-24 bombers then struck the militants to prevent them from advancing and allowing Syrian government forces to “successfully repel all attacks.”
It was not immediately clear whether it was the Russian airstrikes that killed the two Turkish soldiers…”
graphic – dead Syrian soldiers
“Freedom fighters ”
Make sure BOTH sides are armed to the teeth.
Turkish Forces and Syrian Rebels Attack Regime Positions in Idlib
Syrian Arab Army Units Repel Terrorist Attacks in Idlib – SANA Reporter (sputniknews, Feb 20, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202002201078360375-syrian-arab-army-units-repel-terrorist-attacks-in-idlib—sana-reporter-/
“Syrian Arab Army units have repelled terrorist attacks on the Nayrab axis in the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria, SANA reported on Thursday.
Fierce fighting was reported close to the northwestern city of Saraqib, according to Sham FM radio. Government forces have air cover and are fighting back with artillery fire.
The government continues the military operation to oust jihadists from parts of the region bordering Turkey, which has observation posts there.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Syrian troops on Monday to pull away from Turkish positions or face swift military action. His Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, vowed to continue the offensive.
The situation in the Idlib Province of Syria has escalated recently after Syrian forces shelled a Turkish observation point on 3 February prompting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to threaten a military operation in Idlib at “any minute”.
In 2017, Russia, Turkey, and Iran created four de-escalation zones in Syria during their talks in the Kazakh capital Astana (now named Nur-Sultan). Three out of four zones are controlled by the Syrian government. However, Damascus does not exercise control over the fourth zone, located in Idlib Province and a portion of Latakia, Hama, and Aleppo provinces. A major part of the area is controlled by al-Nusra jihadists.
In September 2018, Moscow and Ankara agreed in Sochi to establish a demilitarised zone in Idlib where more than a dozen forces are stationed.”
China releases water from dams to ease Mekong River drought, promises more help
VIENTIANE/BANGKOK (Reuters) – China on Thursday said it was helping its downstream neighbors cope with a prolonged drought by releasing more water from its dams on the Mekong River, adding it would consider sharing information on hydrology to provide further assistance in the future.
The statement came as a new economic report predicted that the building of dams to harness hydropower on the Mekong River would reshape the economies of five countries along the waterway, fuelling long-term inflation and dependence on China.
https://www.oann.com/china-releases-water-from-dams-to-ease-mekong-river-drought-promises-more-help/
Macron demands EU members pay MORE cash as he accuses them of giving up on ambitions (express, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1245049/Emmanuel-Macron-EU-Summit-Brexit-European-Union-budget-Charles-Michel-latest
“EMMANUEL MACRON demanded EU member states agree to pay more into the common budget as he accused the EU27 of giving up on “ambitious” plans for the future…”
Burisma consultant linked to Hunter Biden approached top State Dept. official to arrange Ukraine meeting
A Democratic consultant working for Burisma Holdings and connected to Hunter Biden approached Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken at an event for a liberal think tank in June 2016 to arrange a meeting to discuss “troubling events” in Ukraine, State Department emails reveal.
At the time, Sally Painter, a consultant for Blue Star Strategies, was working for Burisma to quash investigations into corruption at the Ukrainian energy company. She was reportedly put in touch with Burisma through Biden, who joined the firm as a director in April 2014.
Biden and Painter shared a connection as directors of the Truman National Security Project, which featured Blinken as a speaker at its annual national security conference June 24, 2016. Painter moderated a panel discussion later in the day entitled “Navigating the Political Appointment Process.”
Trending: Bloomie redux: Correct pronoun for transgender people is ‘it’
Painter still serves on the board of the Truman Project. Biden left the organization in March 2019, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/02/19/burisma-consultant-linked-to-hunter-biden-approached-top-state-dept-official-to-arrange-ukraine-meeting/
Nottingham stabbing: Murder probe launched as 17-year-old boy killed at shopping centre (express, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1244826/Nottingham-stabbing-latest-police-death-Castle-Retail-Park-Radford
“A MURDER investigation has been launched after a 17-year-old boy was fatally stabbed outside a retail park in Nottingham.
Police were called to Castle Retail Park in Radford shorty after 7pm on Wednesday evening following reports of a “serious assault”. Emergency services rushed to the scene to provide medical treatment but the teenager was pronounced dead a short time after.
The family of the victim have been informed and are being supported by specially-trained police family liaison officers.
Formal identification has not yet taken place.
Nottinghamshire Police has arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of murder…”
Researcher Discusses China’s Biological Warfare Program
Three reasons Richard Grenell is an excellent choice for DNI
By J.E. Dyer February 19, 2020
Wednesday evening, President Trump tweeted a widely expected announcement. He’s naming Ambassador Richard Grenell, currently the U.S. ambassador to Germany, to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/02/19/three-reasons-richard-grenell-is-an-excellent-choice-for-dni/
The rise of Trump’s new pro-Israel and anti-Iran intel director – analysis
Richard Grenell took the lead in Europe by highlighting Iran’s genocidal antisemitism targeting Israel.
https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/The-rise-of-Trumps-new-pro-Israel-and-anti-Iran-intel-director-Analysis-618248
Video: Iran’s Salami Warns ‘Impotent’ Israel Now in Range of Iranian Attack (breitbart, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2020/02/20/video-irans-salami-warns-impotent-israel-now-in-range-of-iranian-attack/
“All of “impotent” Israel’s military positions are now within range of Iranian attack, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, Major General Hossein Salami, warned Tuesday.
Speaking with Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen TV, Salami cautioned Israel regarding what he called its “acts of mischief, ” adding Iran’s goals revolve around the expulsion of the U.S. from the Middle East and the collapse and annihilation of the Jewish state, which he referred to as the “center of evil.”
“The whole [of the] positions occupied by the Israeli regime are within the range of the IRGC’s fire,” said Salami, adding “the source of such fire is not confined to Iran alone.”
“We give a warning to Israelis to care about their acts of mischief. They are far smaller than the Americans, much smaller and much more impotent by our calculations,” said the increasingly strident Salami.
According to translation provided by the the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Salami boasted the Israelis have Muslim enemies from Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia just across the border from them.
Salami warned Israel’s walls, fences, and “war-weary soldiers” will not be able to protect it and that it cannot rely on American support.
In addition, the general said Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have “dug their graves” with their policy in the Islamic world and that they will be buried along with these policies.
This is not the first time the veteran commander has isseud blood curdling threats against Israel.
As Breitbart News reported, last September he said Iran has special “hidden” military powers it is ready to unleash at any moment on an unsuspecting world.
Salami offered no evidence to back his claim of magic powers of military persuasion.
Also on Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed “wealthy Zionists” control the United States.
America has reached the “peak of arrogance” and is controlled by “corporate owners,” which makes it a “manifestation of oppression, abhorred by the world,” Khamenei claimed on social media.”
German Media Accuses Populist of Calling for Coup at PEGIDA 200th Rally (breitbart, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/19/german-media-accuses-populist-calling-coup-pegida-rally/
“The German anti-Islamisation PEGIDA movement celebrated its 200th rally on Monday with German media accusing Alternative for Germany (AfD) firebrand Björn Höcke of calling for a coup during the event.
The rally took place in Dresden on Monday evening and saw the controversial AfD Thuringia region leader invited to speak as an estimated 2,500 counter-demonstrators took to the streets backed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Deutsche Welle reports.
According to newspaper Berliner Zeitung, however, during his speech, Mr Höcke is said to have called “for a coup” with the paper quoting him as saying: “The rule of the used up parties and elites must be replaced and we will replace them. The country is upside down.
We have to put it back on its feet, we have to put the bottom down again. We will fight this fight together and win together.”
Höcke went on to ridicule the counter-protesters, labelling them “the victims of the German educational catastrophe”.
The alleged call for a coup was disputed by German conservative newspaper Junge Freiheit which claimed that the Berlin-based paper had fabricated the entire quote along with claims that Hocke had labelled the counter-protesters as “mentally ill”.
Mr Hocke has made headlines in Germany recently when he and the Thuringia AfD helped to oust Left Party Minister-President Bodo Ramelow by joining forces with the CDU and electing Free Democrat Thomas Kemmerich to the post.
After a massive backlash from other political parties and the far left, Kemmerich announced his resignation as minister-president just 24 hours later.
Both a reaction to the growing Islamisation of Germany and the 2015 migrant crisis, the PEGIDA movement once boasted up to 10,000 participants in its weekly Monday evening meetings.
Despite being a peaceful protest movement, its leader and founder Lutz Bachmann, who also spoke on Monday, was forced to flee Germany in the latter half of 2016 due to targeted attacks on himself and his family, moving to the Spanish Canary islands. Bachmann was banned from the UK in 2018.
Bachmann was also taken to court and found guilty of hate speech offences in May of 2016 and made to pay a 9,600 euro fine.”
Bosnian Minister Warns 100,000 Migrants Heading For European Union in Coming Weeks (breitbart, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/20/bosnian-minister-warns-100k-strong-migrant-wave-heading-eu/
“Bosnian security minister Fahrudin Radoncic has claimed that as many as 100,000 migrants could be heading from Greece to Western Europe in the coming weeks.
Radonic stated that the Bosnian border would be unable to handle a wave of migrants stating, “Our border is very permeable. We don’t have enough [guards] or material resources.”
The Bosnian minister went on to add that the situation in the migrant camps within Bosnia is becoming worse by the day as the already overcrowded camps receive even more migrants, Austrian tabloid Kronen Zeitung reports.
“We are missing at least 1,200 border guards. In practice, it currently looks like a police officer has to monitor 25 kilometres of the border. That is impossible!” he said.
The Vucjak migrant camp, located near the Croatian border, was slammed by various groups for its harsh conditions and was cleared in December when the Bosnian government transferred the migrants to another area near Sarajevo.
Prior to the evacuation of the camp, NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) labelled the camp a “dangerous and inhumane place”.
Peter Ven der Auweraert, a regional coordinator for International Organization for Migration (IOM), also made similar predictions to Minister Radonic in December, stating that when the weather in the area improves, “some people will start moving”.
“The reality is, as you know, that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a pure transit country,” he said.
In Greece, where most of the migrants that travel the Balkan route first enter Europe, the government also forecast a surge in new arrivals.
Manos Logothetis, the government commissioner for the initial reception of refugees, predicted that Greece could see as many as 100,000 new migrants in 2020.
Other areas of the Balkan route have also seen increased activity, such as the border between Serbia and Hungary where, in January alone, 3,400 migrants have made attempts to cross the fortified border fence.”
Bosnian Serb leader calls for dissolution of Bosnia (abcnews, Feb 20, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bosnian-serb-leader-calls-dissolution-bosnia-69097566
“The Bosnian Serb leader on Thursday renewed calls for Bosnia’s dissolution and pledged to block decision-making in the country’s institutions, a move slammed by Western envoys as a challenge to the U.S.-sponsored peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s civil war.
Milorad Dodik said after a meeting of the Bosnian Serb leaders in a Sarajevo suburb that the crisis in Bosnia “will disappear only when Bosnia disappears.”
The U.S.-brokered Dayton peace agreement has divided Bosnia into two entities, the Serb republic and the Muslim-Croat federation. All the decisions on the state level have to be reached by consensus of the three ethnic groups, and if one votes against, the decisions are blocked.
Tensions increased in Bosnia earlier this month when the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that unclaimed agricultural land is the property of the central Bosnian state rather than the Serb mini state, contradicting a Bosnian Serb law.
Lawmakers in the Bosnian Serb mini-statehave given a 60-day deadline for the court to revoke its decision and reform itself by kicking out three foreign judges that the Serbs claim are biased against them.
The pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader has reiterated his calls for secession of the Bosnian Serb lands so they could join neighboring Serbia — the plan by Serb nationalists that triggered the 1992-95 war that left at least 100,000 dead and millions homeless.
“Goodbye Bosnia, welcome (Bosnian Serb) exit,” Dodik, who is also the Serb member of Bosnia’s joint presidency, said earlier this week.
A tweet issued by the U.S. Embassy after a meeting Wednesday between Ambassador Eric Nelson and Dodik said the U.S. “expects nothing less than full respect of the Dayton Accords and the territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Bosnia.
Dodik, who has been under U.S. travel and property sanctions because of his secessionist stands, accused the U.S. of “leading anti-Serb policies.”
“I’m not threatening anyone,” he said Thursday. “We are just demanding our rights and no one has the right to impose any solutions, not even Americans.”
The U.S., the European Union and four Western European countries have denounced the Bosnian Serb blockade.
“Unilateral withdrawal from institutions, or blockages of decision-making within them, are unacceptable and counterproductive from any side and would only undermine the very improvements and progress that citizens wish to see,” a joint statement said.
“Decisions of the (Bosnian) Constitutional Court, as decisions of any Constitutional Court in any country, are final and binding, and must be implemented,” the statement said.”
Sky News Man stabbed at mosque in London’s Regent’s Park
An elderly man has been stabbed at a mosque in central London during afternoon prayers
A knifeman is reported to have stormed into Regent’s Park Mosque this afternoon and allegedly attacked a man in his 70s while he was carrying out the call to prayer.
DAILY MAIL – ‘Knifeman who regularly worshipped at Regent’s Park mosque stabs Muslim crier in his 70s in the shoulder’ during the afternoon call to prayer – as police rule out terrorism
[…]One witness said the suspect was a regular in the mosque
[…]Religious leaders from all spheres tweeted their condolences this afternoon and the Archbishop of Canterbury said: ‘My sympathy is with those in shock after the stabbing at the London Central Mosque.
[…]Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: ‘I’m deeply saddened to hear of the attack at the London Central Mosque.
‘It’s so awful that this should happen, especially in a place of worship. My thoughts are with the victim and all those affected.’
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has tweeted his concern after the stabbing and said he was ‘deeply concerned by the incident’.
‘Every Londoner is entitled to feel safe in their place of worship & I want to reassure London’s communities that acts of violence in our city will not be tolerated.
[…] ‘A 29-year-old man, who is believed to have been attending prayers, was arrested inside the mosque on suspicion of attempted murder. He has been taken into custody at a central London police station. The incident is not being treated as terror-related at this time.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8025455/Horror-knifeman-runs-Regents-Park-mosque-stabs-man.html
UK: Eyewitness recalls London mosque stabbing that injured one
“An unknown individual, not known to us, like, a white European background, attacked the muezzin, the guy who does the call to prayer,” said former head of London Central Mosque PR, Ayaz Ahmad, who has been attending the mosque for around 10 years.
Ahmed described how the perpetrator stabbed the muezzin once in the neck before “the worshippers directly behind him held him down to the ground, ’til the police came.”
Ahmad insisted that the suspect is not known to the mosque and that he “saw him yesterday for the first time. Someone said they saw him a couple of months ago, but I’ve never seen him here myself.”
Islamic Cultural Centre Director General Dr Ahmad Al-Dubayan was not there during the attack, but said he doesn’t “know anything about the identity of this person, or what the motivation is.
The muezzin is a friend of everybody.” He highlighted that it was the muezzin who was stabbed, not the Imam, as per other media outlets.
The police have arrested the suspect, while the man injured was taken to hospital and is reportedly in good condition.
Channel 4 – London Central Mosque Attack: man arrested as worshipper stabbed
Last night’s shooting put Muslim communities across Europe on high alert for possible copy-cat attacks.
Sky News Knife attacker had prayed at mosque before
MEMRI British Islamist ‘Abu Haleema’: Islam Was Sent to Be Made Superior over All Other Religions
A British Islamist known as “Abu Haleema” said in a video that was uploaded to the Internet on December 10, 2019 that the Prophet Muhammad had praised one of his companions for reciting poetry about how to the infidels, the tidings of Islam are a “strike that removes the head from the shoulders.”
Abu Haleema said that Allah sent Islam so that it could be made superior to all other religions and systems of government, and he accused Muslims who used to speak about openly practicing Islam but who no longer practice it openly of being polytheists whom Allah will slowly expose.
In a video that was uploaded to the Internet on February 4, 2020, Abu Haleema said that Allah had said He would strike terror into the hearts of the infidels because they illegitimately commit polytheism and associate partners with Allah.
He also said that Allah gave Muslims the authority to make takfir on tyrants and anyone who commits polytheism, and he emphasized that Muslims are obligated to do so even if those polytheists claim to be Muslims.
In addition, Abu Haleema said he makes takfir on those who talk about Jihad for the sake of Allah but who do not truly know the creed of Islam.
Things are heating up in Syria:
Video shows US military vehicle running a Russian military truck off the road in Syria
https://taskandpurpose.com/us-russia-convoy-syria-video
US says Russia violating ‘de-confliction’ in eastern Syria
There is a pattern of Russian harassment of US forces, leading to increased tensions between the two.
https://www.jpost.com//Middle-East/US-says-Russia-violating-de-confliction-in-eastern-Syria-618243
Ep. 1185 Another Disastrous Night for the Hapless Dems – The Dan Bongino Show®
The Dem Debate Foreshadowed the Party’s Collapse
February 20, 2020
Daniel Greenfield
The only relevant question asked at the Democrat debate was the one about whether Bernie’s opponents would commit to accepting defeat at the convention.
As the specter of a brokered convention approaches, Warren and Biden have collapsed, and a string of third-tier candidates is battling for their moment in the sun. It’s a small string, considering the sheer mediocrity of Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Bloomberg, who is only on those stage because of his willingness to hold catered rallies and spend half a billion dollars to buy his podium.
No one won this thing. Everyone revealed their weakness. Most aren’t new.
Warren is a screeching panderer who answered every question by trying to appeal to the black voters she will never have. Klobuchar is equally awkward and inauthentic, the prom queen assuring everyone she loves them in front of the camera. Buttigieg is just as fake, but at least better at playing the role of a sincere human being than Klobuchar. He ought to run for mayor of some small college town in an election that nobody bothered voting for. The tin-eared platitudes won’t take him to the White House.
https://cms.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/02/dem-debate-foreshadowed-partys-collapse-daniel-greenfield
Three Cardinals Call for Relocation of Lesbos Refugees Across Europe (breitbart, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2020/02/20/three-cardinals-call-for-relocation-of-lesbos-refugees-across-europe/
“Three prominent cardinals have launched an appeal to European church leaders to help relocate refugees presently in camps on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Cardinals Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, head of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE); Michael Czerny, SJ, Undersecretary of the Vatican’s Migrant office; and Konrad Krajewski, the papal Almoner, have written a letter to the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union asking for assistance to refugees.
Citing Pope Francis’ 2015 appeal to European parishes and religious houses to host a refugee family, the cardinals state that welcoming migrants has become a “Christian duty” and urge their brother bishops to create a welcoming environment “in each of the member countries of the European Union.”
The cardinals also propose that the national Bishops’ Conferences should “agree on a project for a humanitarian corridor from Lesbos and other first reception camps in Greece, in collaboration with their individual governments.”
The Church in European Union should not “remain indifferent” to the plight of migrants and refugees but should help restore hope to these persons, the latter declares.
Along with the letter, the cardinals sent the bishops a text titled “Guidelines on the procedure for the transfer of asylum seekers and refugees from Greece to a European country,” which furnishes technical information on how to go about a continent-wide project of relocation.
Last December, Luxembourg’s progressive cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich forcefully denounced the exploitation of migrants in Greece and the shameful inaction of Europeans to help.
In his address, Cardinal Hollerich chastised his fellow Europeans for not coming to the aid of those living in refugee camps on the Greek island of Lesbos, which he personally visited last May at the pope’s urging.
“There are definitely children there that will vanish and be forced into child prostitution,” said the Jesuit cardinal. “There are children there who will be taught to steal. Others will be raped and assaulted. This is gruesome.”
“This is not happening far from Luxembourg in some place where we cannot help,” he continued. “This is happening in Greece — in Europe and in the European Union. We must be fiercely ashamed that we have not done anything to help.”
The cardinal has also voiced his opinion that the political inaction on the Mediterranean migrant crisis is due to “fear of right-wing parties.”
“I find it outrageous that we’re letting people drown in the Mediterranean; that our hearts have become so hard; that politics no longer dares to act for fear of right-wing parties,” Hollerich said.
Noted for his environmental activism, the cardinal said that many of those migrating to Europe are being forced out of their countries by global warming.
In the age of global warming, Hollerich declared, there is a new form of migrants who are no longer “economic refugees” but “climate refugees,” escaping the effects of extreme weather.
Hollerich has showcased his own environmentally friendly lifestyle, declaring that he buys fair-trade coffee instead of Nespresso, no longer uses plastic bottles, and has swapped out his diesel car for a hybrid one.
“We bishops have to change our lifestyle, and if we older people succeed in doing it, then the younger ones can do it too,” he said. “But if I cannot change my own lifestyle, how can I say to young people to do so?”
In his own Christmas blessing in December, Pope Francis also underscored the plight of migrants, addressing the topic of immigration three different times in an 865-word message.
Modern migration is the product of injustice, the pope stated, insisting that migrants often find their efforts impeded by “walls of indifference.”
May the Son of God protect and sustain all those who, due to injustices “are forced to emigrate in the hope of a secure life,” the pontiff said in his Urbi et Orbi blessing.”
Farage: Govt Must Make Controlling Immigration Its Top Priority (breitbart, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/20/farage-govt-must-control-immigration-top-priority/
“Nigel Farage has said that the Conservative government must use its new immigration policy to reduce migration or it will fail to live up to its Brexit pledge of ‘taking back control’….”
Macron Vows to Fight ‘Islamist Separatism’ with New Reforms (breitbart, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/20/macron-vows-fight-islamist-separatism-reforms/
“French President Emmanuel Macron has declared his government will fight against “Islamist separatism” with reforms including ending residency for foreign imams.
The French leader made his proposals at a speech in the city of Mulhouse this week saying that he wanted to see an end to “detached imams” sent by other countries like Algeria, Turkey, and elsewhere to French mosques.
Macron said that he encouraged a greater number of imams to be trained within France to replace the foreign imams, of which there are around 300 known to be operating in the country.
In total, France has around 1,800 imams and a much greater number of volunteers working at the estimated 2,500 places of Muslim worship across the country, France24 reports.
Macron also spoke about secular republican values saying: “In the Republic, we cannot accept that someone refuses to shake a woman’s hand because she is a woman; in the Republic, we cannot accept that someone refuses to be treated or educated by a woman; in the Republic, one cannot accept dropping out of school; in the Republic, one cannot demand certificates of virginity to marry.”
“In the Republic, one must never accept that the laws of religion can be superior to the laws of the Republic, it’s that simple,” he added.
“Political Islam has no place,” Macron said and went on to add: “Islamist separatism is incompatible with freedom and equality, incompatible with the indivisibility of the Republic and the necessary unity of the nation.”
The speech comes in the run-up to the national municipal elections set to take place next month. Some have expressed concerns over Islamist parties such as Union of French Muslim Democrats (UDFM) gaining a foothold in certain areas.
A recently leaked report from the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) claimed that there were as many as 150 areas of the country largely under the control of radical Islamists.
The speech comes just under a year after Macron declared that as “Act II” of his five-year presidency he would tackle the problem of political Islam.”
Macron bids for votes with pledge to fight French Islamic separatism
Paris will clamp down on imams from Muslim countries that arrive in France to push worshipers into violating the law, the country’s President Emmanuel Macron said, warning Turkey it can’t “feed separatism” on French soil.
How about Algeria? Tunisia? the Sahel?
Prayer Leader Stabbed at London Central Mosque, One Arrested (breitbart, Feb 20, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/20/prayer-leader-stabbed-at-london-central-mosque-one-arrested/
“A man in his 70s was stabbed inside London Central Mosque Thursday afternoon, receiving non-life threatening injuries in the attack. Police said the stabbing was not terror-related.
London’s Metropolitan Police were called to the London Central Mosque at Regent’s Park on Thursday afternoon where a man in his 70s, reported to have been a Muezzin — prayer leader — was stabbed by a member of the congregation who police said was “believed to have been attending prayers”.
Officers arrested a 29-year-old man at the scene for attempted murder. The injuries sustained by the victim are not thought to be life-threatening.
A witness of the attack whose comments were reported by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph said that while the attacker had been seen at the mosque in recent days, he wasn’t a long-term regular. Ayaz Ahmad said: “He has been noticed around the place for a couple of days. This is a central mosque, people come to pray if they’re on holiday. You get a lot of new faces.
“This guy was not a regular, I’ve never seen him here in 10 years.”
Photographs circulated on social media show a bearded man wearing a red top but no shoes or socks being arrested by officers. London’s Metropolitan Police said in an update “Detectives investigating the incident do not believe it to be terror-related.”…”
LIVE FROM HONG KONG: Over 75,000 Infected with Coronavirus – As Deaths Increase China Is Anxious to Get Its Economy Back on Track
As the number of individuals infected with the coronavirus increases we still know little about the virus. China is anxious to get its economy moving again but risks a more serious outbreak if they move too fast.
John Hopkins reports today that the number of cases continues to increase to now over 75,000 world wide. Meanwhile, CNN reported yesterday:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/live-from-hong-kong-over-75000-infected-with-coronavirus-as-deaths-increase-china-is-anxious-to-get-its-economy-back-on-track/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
Study Finds Most Journalists Are Further Left Politically Than Bernie Sanders
Anyone who has watched their coverage of Trump over the last few years knows this. They are not even trying to hide it anymore.
But the truth is more shocking than you know.
Most of these people are further left than Bernie Sanders, the most far left political figure of our time.
Hot Air reports:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/study-finds-most-journalists-are-further-left-politically-than-bernie-sanders/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
(Richard: Here is one about the true number of deaths in China.)
Undercover Investigation Indicates Coronavirus Death Toll in Wuhan Much Higher Than Official Number
In Nantong City, a family forcibly taken away by people in protective suits #Coronavirus
Should Ex-Felons Be Allowed to Vote? | America Uncovered
China’s Huawei Operates Like a Criminal Racket, Says a Top Trump Adviser
I wonder if China’s new & improved Bible includes the 8th Commandment?
Video:”Dancing With the Devil: China Remaking Bible So It’s Compatible With Socialism”
by Selwyn Duke – January 28, 2020
https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/item/34749-dancing-with-the-devil-china-remaking-bible-so-it-s-compatible-with-socialism
“8. Do Not Steal”
PragerU – December 1, 2014
Keep This and You’ll Keep Them All
There is one commandment that, if followed by all of humanity, would instantly create a peaceful world: Do not steal. The Eighth Commandment implicitly prohibits murder (stealing a life), slavery (stealing a person’s freedom), adultery (stealing a spouse), humiliation (stealing dignity), and so many other sins laid out in the Bible. If there is one Commandment that summarizes the other nine, this one is it.
I don’t know…
I’d just as soon take them as given. Seems a little presumptuous to offer an abridged version.
“BREAKING: Judge Amy Berman Jackson Sentences Roger Stone to 3 Years, 4 Months in Prison, $20,000 Fine – Still Under Gag Order!”
by Cristina Laila – February 20, 2020
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/developing-judge-amy-berman-jackson-signals-she-may-not-go-easy-on-roger-stone-floats-6-year-prison-sentence/
WOW: Elizabeth Warren Says Communism Will Work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=151&v=ehzmCbgIGmc&feature=emb_logo
Also, most media cut away from the clip before she says it.
Why Obama May Be Terrified by Trump Commuting Blagojevich’s Sentence
https://archive.fo/7AWqL#selection-1255.0-1255.68
Ilhan Omar DID marry her brother and said she would ‘do what she had to do to get him “papers” to keep him in U.S.’, reveals Somali community leader
Ilhan Omar told friends years ago that the man who went on to become her second husband was in fact her brother, DailyMail.com can confirm
Abdihakim Osman is the first person to go on record to speak of how Omar said she wanted to get her brother papers so he could stay in the United States
It has long been rumored that Omar and Ahmed Elmi are siblings, but because of a lack of paperwork in war-torn Somalia, proof has never been uncovered
Osman said: ‘She said she needed to get papers for her brother to go to school. We all thought she was just getting papers to allow him to stay in this country’
Omar was married to her second husband Elmi in 2009 by a Christian minister – although she is Muslim
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8013283/Ilhan-Omar-DID-marry-brother-reveals-Somali-community-leader.html
Note: the news is there is a corroborating witness now.
“Coronavirus: how Diamond Princess cruise ship became a ‘super spreading’ site” by John Power – February 13, 2020
Excerpt:
How did the outbreak start?
While the exact source of the outbreak on the Diamond Princess is yet to be determined, it is suspected to be linked to a 80-year-old man from Hong Kong who had recently made a brief visit to mainland China.
The man boarded the ship on January 20 in Yokohama before disembarking five days later in Hong Kong, where he tested positive for the virus after seeking medical attention for symptoms including a cough.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3050517/coronavirus-how-diamond-princess-cruise-ship-became
It is suspected to be linked to a 80-year-old man from Hong Kong who had recently made a brief visit to mainland China?
Isn’t it possible that the 80-year-old man was virus free before he boarded the Diamond Princess and that he was infected on the ship?
Chinese Embassy in Japan confirm 14 Chinese nationals? among Diamond Princess cases, two from mainland China.
“Chinese Embassy in Japan confirms 14 Chinese nationals among Diamond Princess cases.” CGTN – February 14, 2020
The Chinese Embassy in Japan has confirmed that there are 14 Chinese among the coronavirus cases aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Two of them are from the Chinese mainland, 11 from Hong Kong and one from Taiwan.
“Live: First batch of Chinese nationals aboard Diamond Princess arrives in Hong Kong”
CGTN – Streamed live 22 hours ago
WuFlu Live
https://covid19info.live/
“Coronavirus Update: Russia Bans all Chinese Travel, Iran Cases, Math Doesn’t Add Up” Styxh – February 20, 2020
He mentioned the Soviet anthrax accident:
Anthrax genome reveals secrets about a Soviet bioweapons accident
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/anthrax-genome-reveals-secrets-about-soviet-bioweapons-accident
Iran might do a selective cull.
Probably take out their close contacts, a pre-emptive cull.
Saudi coalition airstrikes in Yemen kill 31, including 19 children, UNICEF says
https://thedefensepost.com/2020/02/20/saudi-coalition-airstrikes-in-yemen-kill-31-including-19-children-unicef-says/
“Nineteen children were among at least 31 civilians killed in airstrikes on rebel-held northern Yemen last week, the United Nations said on Thursday, February 20.
“UNICEF is sad to confirm that the recent attack in Al-Jawf, north of Yemen, on February 15, took the lives of 19 children (eight boys and 11 girls) and injured another 18 (nine boys and another nine girls),” the U.N. children’s agency said in a statement.
“It was an attack on a civilian populated area where children were in the vicinity,” UNICEF regional communications chief Juliette Touma told AFP.
Saturday’s airstrikes came after the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed to have shot down an aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government.
The rebels reported multiple coalition airstrikes where the plane went down, while the coalition conceded the “possibility of collateral damage” during a “search and rescue operation” at the site of the jet crash, which left the fate of its crew uncertain.
UNICEF urged the warring sides to put an end to the conflict, adding that the “worrying escalation of violence over the past few weeks is a harsh reminder that children in Yemen continue to carry the heaviest burden of the conflict.”
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the war in 2015, shortly after the rebels seized control of the capital Sana’a.
Since then, tens of thousands of people – mostly civilians – have been killed and many more displaced in what the U.N. has called the worst humanitarian crisis.
The coalition has been widely criticized for the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign, which has prompted some Western governments to cut arms deliveries to the countries taking part.
The coalition said last week it would put on trial military personnel suspected of being behind deadly airstrikes on Yemeni civilians.”
Another Migrant ‘Ghost Boat’ in Mediterranean
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2141506/another-migrant-%E2%80%98ghost-boat%E2%80%99-mediterranean
“A rubber dinghy packed with 91 migrants that set out from Libyan shores in hopes of reaching Europe has apparently gone missing in the Mediterranean, the UN refugee agency said Thursday.
The inflatable boat carrying mostly African migrants departed from al-Qarbouli, 50 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli on Feb. 8, said Osman Haroun, whose cousin was on board. He hasn’t heard from the 27-year-old Mohamed Idris, or his 10 other friends also on the boat, since.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of this happening,” Haroun told The Associated Press by phone from the western coastal district of Zawiya, where he has lived with his family since fleeing the conflict-ridden Darfur region of Sudan in 2016.
“Those who set out you usually hear from within a few hours … no one has even seen the boat’s remains.”
Alarm Phone, a crisis hotline for migrants in need of rescue at sea, drew attention Thursday to what it called “an invisible shipwreck,” urging Libyan, Maltese and Italian authorities to share information about the day’s rescue missions.
It said a black rubber boat with 91 people on board, reportedly hailing from Sudan, Niger, Iran and Mali, called the hotline in distress at 3:30 a.m. Feb. 9. The passengers managed to share their GPS coordinates minutes later, which put them in international waters north of Libya.
Alarm Phone passed the SOS to Italian and Maltese authorities and to the Libyan coast guard, which took five hours to respond to the urgent request, and said it dispatched two ships to search for the missing vessel, without providing evidence.
Alarm Phone lost contact with the boat over two hours later, when it heard people panicking, saying the engine had failed. Migrants were slipping into the sea, they told the hotline, as water flooded the shrinking dinghy.
“For sure something bad has happened,” said Haroun.
The International Organization for Migration cross-checked search and rescue records from Italy, Malta, Libya and the non-governmental Aita Mari rescue ship, but could not match the missing migrant boat with any recent interceptions or rescues.
Frontex, the EU border agency, said it deployed a plane to search for the missing boat.
The IOM tally of “ghost boats” lost in the Mediterranean Sea has been rising. Last year, the agency documented seven disappeared vessels carrying 417 people, a four-fold increase from the year before.”
Swiss Indict Qatar’s Al-Khelaifi, Ex-FIFA Number 2 in Bribery Case
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2141276/swiss-indict-qatar%E2%80%99s-al-khelaifi-ex-fifa-number-2-bribery-case
“The boss of Qatari television channel BeIN Sports, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and FIFA’s disgraced former secretary general Jerome Valcke have been indicted in Switzerland for corruption in the attribution of football broadcasting rights…”
Turkey requests US conduct aerial patrols near Idlib as Assad’s forces close in
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-requests-us-aerial-patrols-near-idlib-intimidate-syrian-regime
“Turkey has asked the US to conduct aerial patrols in its airspace bordering the Syrian province of Idlib to show support for Ankara’s ongoing military operations against forces loyal to Damascus, a Turkish official told Middle East Eye.
The latest request came earlier this month in meetings with US Special Envoy James Jeffrey in Ankara, where Turkish officials also asked Washington for two batteries of Patriot missile systems to shield the border area from possible air attacks, the official told MEE on condition of anonymity.
Since then, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with US President Donald Trump, but the White House has not given any indications that it would provide tangible support for Turkey’s operations along its southern border…”
Tribes in Yemen’s Mahrah province fear Saudi annexation
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200220-tribes-in-yemens-mahrah-province-fear-saudi-annexation/
“A group of tribal activists opposed to the military presence of Saudi forces in Yemen’s eastern province of Mahrah have called on the local tribes to liberate the province from Saudi occupation.
According to Uprising Today, the deputy head of the Sit-In Committee of Mahrah, Sheikh Abboud Qamsiyat, told Al Jazeera that the Saudi occupation forces have more than 1,800 tanks, and have established dozens of military checkpoints. Yesterday, the Saudis deployed dozens of military vehicles to the province, known for maintaining its autonomy fiercely.
Qamsiyat explained that Riyadh is seeking to extend its oil pipeline through Yemeni territory in Mahrah in order to reach the Arabian Sea, as the Kingdom currently does not have direct access. Furthermore, the activist leader claimed, the Saudis aim to displace the local population and eventually annex the province as an emirate. “The Saudi escalation in Mahrah was an attempt to make up for its military losses at the border and on the eastern front of Sanaa,” he added…”
Amnesty International condemns UAE crimes against its people
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200220-amnesty-international-condemns-uae-crimes-against-its-people/
“Amnesty International has released a report accusing the UAE of practising arbitrary detention campaigns, torture and enforced disappearance against citizens and residents while imposing restrictions on freedom of expression.
This came in an in-depth report published by the organization on its website, today, Tuesday, on the situation of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa in 2019.
Arbitrary detention and torture
The organization said that it had documented many cases in which “the rights of detainees in the UAE were violated and the state security apparatus was responsible for most of these breaches.”
Amnesty International stated that “people were arrested in the UAE without the issuance of an arrest warrant against them, held incommunicado for weeks or months, and subjected to torture or other types of abuse.”
The report stated that “the UAE authorities continued to arbitrarily arrest and prosecute peaceful dissidents, and suppress any source of criticism to the government,” noting that “dozens of prisoners of conscience are still held in extremely poor conditions.”
Involved in “war crimes” and supporting Haftar
On the other hand, the international human rights organization condemned the continued participation of the UAE in the Saudi-led Coalition to fight the Houthi movement in Yemen.
The report indicated that “the Coalition was involved in committing war crimes and other serious violations of international law,” and that Abu Dhabi had supplied warring militias in Yemen with weapons and military equipment.
Since March 2015, an Arab military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, in which the UAE has participated, has supported government forces against the Iran backed-Houthis, who control several Yemeni provinces including the capital, Sanaa, since September 2014.
In addition to Yemen, “the UAE has been supporting the forces of Khalifa Haftar, who committed serious violations of international law in Libya,” according to the organization.
Amnesty International pointed out that “the UAE provided Haftar forces with weapons and carried out air raids in its favour using drones, in violation of the United Nations arms embargo in Libya.”
The Haftar forces, stationed in the east, are fighting the legitimate government over the capital, Tripoli, and have launched a continuous military operation since 4 April 2019 to control it, amid ongoing international efforts to implement a permanent ceasefire and a resume to negotiations.
Violation of migrant rights
On the other hand, the human rights organization stated that the continuous arrival of expatriates to the UAE under what is known as the “kafala” system (sponsorship system) is allowing further exploitation and human rights violations.
The organization added: “Foreign workers do not obtain government housing, health care, or any other services, as they depend on their wages to obtain basic services.”
The report conveyed that “the wages of foreign workers are low compared to the costly standard of living in the UAE, which undermines their right to have access to just and favourable work conditions, and to an adequate standard of living.”
The organization pointed out that the UAE refuses to grant citizenship to approximately 15,000 individuals who were born within its borders and do not hold any other nationality, which makes them stateless and deprived of many services provided by the state to its citizens.
It is noted that there has been no immediate comment from the UAE on what Amnesty International reported in its annual report.”