Reader’s Links for February 29, 2020

Posted on by

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

123 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 29, 2020”

  2. US, Taleban sign historic troop withdrawal deal in Doha
    https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/us-taleban-arrive-at-doha-ceremony-to-sign-deal-on-afghan-future

    “The United States signed a deal with Taleban insurgents on Saturday (Feb 29) that could pave the way towards a full withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Afghanistan and represent a step towards ending the 18-year-war in the nation.

    But while the agreement creates a path for the United States to gradually pull out of its longest war, many expect the talks to come between the Afghan sides may be much more complicated.

    The deal was signed in the Qatari capital Doha by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taleban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on hand to witness the ceremony.

    US Defence Secretary Mark Esper called the accord a good step but just the beginning.

    “Achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan will require patience and compromise among all parties,” said Esper, who met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul where they announced a joint declaration in parallel to the US-Taleban accord.

    The United States said it is committed to reducing the number of its troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 – from the current 13,000 – within 135 days of signing the deal, and working with its allies to proportionally reduce the number of coalition forces in Afghanistan over that period, if the Taleban adhere to their commitments.

    A full withdrawal of all US and coalition forces would occur within 14 months of the deal getting signed, if the Taleban hold up their end of the deal, the joint statement said.

    “We are working to finally end America’s longest war and bring our troops back home,” said USPresident Donald Trump in a White House statement.

    The accord represents a chance to make good on a longstanding promise to get troops out, as he seeks re-election in November. But security experts have also called it a foreign policy gamble that would give the Taleban international legitimacy.

    Ghani said he hoped the Doha deal paves the way towards lasting peace, telling a news conference in Kabul: “The nation is looking forward to a full ceasefire.”

    The Afghan government said it stood ready to negotiate and conclude a ceasefire with the Taleban, and it affirmed its support for the phased withdrawal of US and coalition forces subject to the Taleban’s fulfilment of its commitments.

    It also said that it remained committed to preventing militant groups from using its soil to threaten the security of the United States, its allies and other countries.

    Separately, Nato pledged to adjust the coalition troop levels in the first phase too, bringing down Nato’s numbers to about 12,000 from roughly 16,000 troops at present.

    “We went in together in 2001, we are going to adjust (troop levels) together and when the time is right, we are going to leave together, but we are only going to leave when conditions are right,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who was in Kabul on Saturday, told reporters.

    Hours before the deal, the Taleban ordered all its fighters in Afghanistan “to refrain from any kind of attack… for the happiness of the nation.”

    “The biggest thing is that we hope the US remain committed to their promises during the negotiation and peace deal,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the hardline Islamist group.

    For millions of Afghans, the deal represents some hope for an end to years of bloodshed.

    “Peace is extremely simple and my country deserves it. Today is the day when maybe we will see a positive change,” said Javed Hassan, 38, a schoolteacher living on the outskirts of Afghan capital, Kabul.

    Hassan’s children were killed in a bomb blast carried out by the Taleban in 2018. Since then, he has been writing letters to world leaders urging them to end the Afghan war.

    The war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, began when the United States launched attacks on Afghanistan just weeks after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington by the Afghanistan-based Al-Qaeda militant group.

    Washington accused the Taleban of harbouring Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, and with its allies ousted the group from power. But the Taleban has remained a potent force and currently controls about 40 per cent of Afghan territory.

    The next step will be for negotiators to work out an agreement for comprehensive ceasefire and the future governance of the country.

    Officials and experts say this will pose serious challenges as the Afghan government has until now been sidelined.

    Even before getting to talks with the Taleban, Afghanistan’s two main political rivals – Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah – must settle a dispute over which officials, opposition members and activists should negotiate with the insurgents.

    Under the deal, the Taleban wants 5,000 fighters to be released from Afghan-run jails, but it is not clear whether the Afghan government will agree.

    Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib said in an interview with Tolo news channel that the Afghan government made no commitment to release 5,000 prisoners by March 10, a date stipulated in the deal.

    Mohib also said the deal lacked clarity about the Taleban’s ties with Pakistan.

    Afghanistan routinely accuses neighbouring Pakistan of supporting Taleban militants. Pakistan denies doing so and in turn accuses Afghanistan of supporting militants fighting the Pakistani government.

    There are also questions about whether Taleban fighters loyal to hardline Islamist splinter groups will be willing to adhere to the reduction in violence agreement.”

  3. The Second Drone Age
    How Turkey Defied the U.S. and Became a Killer Drone Power
    https://theintercept.com/2019/05/14/turkey-second-drone-age/
    Turkey now rivals the U.S. and the U.K. as the world’s most prolific user of killer drones, according to a review by The Intercept of reported lethal drone strikes worldwide. (Other countries that have reportedly killed people with drone-launched weapons include Israel, Iraq, and Iran.) The technology has been used by Turkey against ISIS in Syria and along Turkey’s border with Iraq and Iran, where ever-present Turkish drones have turned the tide in a decades-old counter-insurgency against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
    While the U.S. was the foremost operator of armed, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the world for more than a decade, launching the first drone attack in 2001, today more than a dozen countries possess this technology. The U.K., Israel, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, and Turkey have all used armed UAVs to kill targets since 2015. Efforts by Washington to control proliferation through restrictions on drone exports have failed to slow down a global race to acquire the technology. Meanwhile, the U.S. has set a precedent of impunity by carrying out hundreds of strikes that have killed civilians over the last decade. [..]

  4. europravda – French government passes retirement reform without vote

    French prime minister Édouard Philippe used special powers in the National Assembly to end debate on the controversial retirement reform program.

    • France bypasses parliament to enact pension reform

      Macron government enrages opposition by forcing through controversial law by decree

      The French government has decided to push through its controversial pension reforms by decree, overriding parliament and provoking outrage from an opposition that had put forward more than 40,000 amendments to the law.

      The pension reform law — which aims to bring together the country’s 42 different profession-specific plans into one points-based system — had already sparked the longest public transport strike in France’s history before making it to parliament.

      The project is the flagship economic policy for the second half of president Emmanuel Macron’s term in office, and has become the biggest challenge to his government since the gilets jaunes street protests which kicked off in late 2018. The decision by the government also comes ahead of important local elections next month.

      “I have decided to invoke the government’s responsibility on the bill to create a universal retirement system, not to put an end to debate but to end this period of non-debate,” said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in an unexpected announcement to parliament on Saturday evening.

      […]
      Resorting to the rarely used constitutional instrument to pass the law after weeks of debate has galvanised the opposition, who accuse Mr Macron of undermining the French social contract by cutting back the benefits of public sector workers. 

      […]

      https://www.ft.com/content/e83c5d6e-5b31-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4

  6. German Court Rejects Attempt to Enshrine Sharia Law

    by Soeren Kern
    February 29, 2020 at 5:00 am

    Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms of Muslims can be curtailed if public displays of religiosity — in this case wearing Islamic headscarves in German courtrooms — endanger the ideological and religious neutrality of the state.

    The court’s landmark ruling effectively smashes a backdoor effort to enshrine Sharia law into the German legal system.

    The case involves a 38-year-old German-Moroccan law student who was born in Frankfurt and customarily wears a headscarf in public. In January 2017, she began legal training in the German state of Hesse, where the law bans any expression of religion in its courtrooms for judges, lawyers and legal trainees.

    According to the law, legal trainees (Rechtsreferendar) are allowed to wear a headscarf — except when they are performing certain official tasks in which they serve as representatives of the judiciary or the state. This means, for instance, that trainee lawyers are not allowed to wear a headscarf when presiding over a hearing, taking evidence or representing the public prosecution office.

    The complainant filed a lawsuit claiming that the headscarf ban interfered with her right to freedom of religion. She argued that she was being forced to choose between performing the intended tasks or fulfilling a religious clothing requirement that she considers imperative.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15658/german-court-rejects-attempt-to-enshrine-sharia

  8. Hezbollah Members Among those Killed in Syria’s Saraqeb
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2155606/hezbollah-members-among-those-killed-syria%E2%80%99s-saraqeb

    “Turkish ground and air strikes on Syrian regime forces and their allies in northwest Syria’s Idlib have killed 48 pro-Damascus soldiers, including Hezbollah members, in the past 24 hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday.

    Among those killed in the strategic eastern Idlib city of Saraqeb are 12 members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and two of its commanders, the Observatory said.

    But a commander in the regional alliance backing the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, said that the Turkish strikes on northwest Syria late on Friday killed nine Hezbollah members and wounded 30 others.

    He said on Saturday that the strikes targeted Hezbollah headquarters near Saraqeb, using smart missiles and drones.

    According to the monitor, Syrian regime and Russian warplanes continued airstrikes on Saturday on Saraqeb, a focal point of intensified fighting in recent days between Turkish-backed fighters and Damascus.

    The opposition fighters retook the city from government forces Thursday, cutting off a key highway just days after the regime reopened it for the first time since 2012.”

  10. South Yemen gunmen prevent ship from offloading fuel in Aden
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200229-south-yemen-gunmen-prevent-ship-from-offloading-fuel-in-aden/

    “Yemeni gunmen entered on Saturday a port in the southern city of Aden and prevented a tanker from offloading a diesel cargo because the importing company is affiliated with the government, a Reuters cameraman reported.

    The gunmen belong to the separatist Southern Transitional Council, according to comments made in the port by their leader, who identified himself as Abu Hammam.

    He accused the Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi of profiteering from the fuel trade by excluding other importers and demanded that another ship be allowed to offload fuel in Aden.

    The southern separatists in Yemen pulled out in January of committees implementing a November agreement to end a power struggle in the south with the forces of Hadi.

    The conflict weakened a Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that ousted Hadi’s government from the capital, Sanaa, in the north in late 2014.”

  11. Libya: GNA targets Haftar forces near Tripoli
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200229-libya-gna-targets-haftar-forces-near-tripoli/

    “Libya’s UN-recognized government on Saturday said it struck multiple targets of warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces south of the capital Tripoli, Anadolu reports.

    In a statement, the Government of National Accord (GNA) said 11 targets of Haftar’s forces were bombed.

    It said the offensive was in retaliation to attacks by Haftar’s forces on civilian settlements in Tripoli and the Mitiga International Airport.

    The GNA said Haftar’s forces had launched more than 60 rockets at the capital, 25 of which targeted the airport.

    In a statement earlier this week, the GNA Health Ministry said 21 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 31 injured in attacks by Haftar’s militias from Jan 9. to Feb. 20.

    Since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: Haftar in eastern Libya, supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the GNA in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

    The GNA has been under attack by Haftar’s forces since last April, with more than 1,000 lives lost in the violence.”

  12. Austria hints at border closures in echo of Europe’s last migration crisis
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200229-austria-hints-at-border-closures-in-echo-of-europes-last-migration-crisis/

    “Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz hinted on Saturday that borders could be closed across the Balkans in response to a rush of migrants towards Greece from Turkey, echoing action taken during Europe’s 2015-16 migration crisis, Reuters reports.

    Greek police fired teargas to push back hundreds of migrants gathered on the border with Turkey on Saturday, as a crisis over Syria shifted onto the European Union’s doorstep.

    Ankara says it will no longer contain hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers after an air strike on Idlib in northwestern Syria killed 33 Turkish soldiers.

    “We are in constant contact with our partners in the EU and along the western Balkan route. Should the protection of the EU’s external borders not succeed, then Austria will protect its borders,” Kurz, a critic of Turkey’s government and a hawk on illegal immigration, said in a statement.

    His comments hinted at a response similar to that of 2016 when he was foreign minister and Austria coordinated a series of border closures in Balkan countries between it and Greece to block a new wave of arrivals.

    Kurz won power in 2017 after taking a hard line on immigration, pledging to prevent a repeat of 2015’s influx, in which Austria took in the equivalent of about 1% of its population in asylum seekers. He formed a government at the time with the far right, which had a similar stance on the issue.

    That conservative-far right coalition collapsed amid scandal in May and he now shares power with the left-wing Greens, though his government has maintained much of the previous coalition’s stance on immigration.

    “A situation like 2015 must absolutely not be repeated. Our aim must be to protect the EU’s external borders properly, to stop illegal migrants there and not to wave them through,” Kurz said.

    Austria was ready to send extra police to countries on the border, he said, apparently referring to Greece and Bulgaria.”

  14. Egypt’s Al-Azhar urges India to renounce religious and racial discrimination
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/364371/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-AlAzhar-urges-India-to-renounce-religious-a.aspx

    “Egypt’s Al-Azhar issued a statement on Saturday expressing its deep concern about the wave of sectarian violence India has been witnessing in the past week because of the country’s new citizenship law.

    India’s new law grants citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants only coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan before 2015.

    Al-Azhar called for the prevalence of the values of citizenship and the inclusion of all, and the rejection of all forms of religious and racial discrimination.

    Egypt’s top religious institution expressed its confidence in India’s ability to resolve the crisis once the culture of dialogue and the principles of coexistence prevailed.

    Al-Azhar pointed out in its statement that Muslims in India are the second largest group of Muslims globally, and that they have been an important part of what India’s history.

    Al-Azhar brought to attention its statement issued last December in which it warned against the consequences of excluding Muslims from the new Indian citizenship law.

    It said that the new law was an unexpected blow since India “has always been an example of religious pluralism and acceptance of the other.”

    Earlier last week riots broke out in the Indian capital New Delhi. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims left at least 40 dead and hundreds injured.

    For months tensions had been building between Hindus and Muslims protesting against the citizenship law and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies. However, this wave of violence exploded last Sunday on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India.

    Egypt’s Al-Azhar extended its condolences to the families of the victims, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.”

  15. Pakistan PM seeks int’l intervention in India violence
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/pakistan-pm-seeks-intl-intervention-in-india-violence/1750035

    “Pakistan’s prime minister on Saturday urged the international community to intervene and stop the ongoing “carnage of Muslims” in India.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Imran Khan said India’s “state-sponsored terror” could lead to radicalization of 200 million Indian Muslims.

    At least 42 people, mostly Muslims, were killed and over 200 others injured in days-long violence in New Delhi, following protests against a controversial citizenship law. The riots coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump visiting the South Asian country for the first time.

    Demanding an international response to stop the violence, Khan said: “I have been predicting that unless the international community intervenes these developments will have disastrous consequences not only for the region but eventually for the world also.”

    On Friday, Khan recalled the 2002 Gujarat riots in India, saying the situation was similar in Delhi.

    “As I have [been] stating repeatedly, Modi’s Hindu Supremacist agenda is akin to the Nazi pogrom of Jews in the 1930s while the major powers appeased Hitler. Modi conducted pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat as CM & now we are seeing the same in New Delhi,” he tweeted.

    The recent communal violence in the Indian capital has triggered worldwide condemnation with Muslim bloc, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), terming it “anti-Muslim violence.”

    Groups in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia have also sought immediate relief for Muslims living in Delhi.

    In a statement yesterday, Indonesian Minister of Religion Affairs Fachrul Razi urged India to protect its minority population, and not harm humanitarian values over differences in faith.”

  16. More than 47,000 migrants leaving Turkey
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/more-than-47-000-migrants-leaving-turkey/1750216

    “The number of migrants leaving Turkey via its northwestern border province of Edirne reached 47,113, the country’s interior minister said late Saturday.

    Suleyman Soylu said on Twitter that figure was registered as of 11.50 p.m. local time (2050GMT).

    Turkish officials announced Friday they would no longer try to stop irregular migrants from reaching Europe.

    The decision was made after 34 Turkish soldiers were martyred by regime forces in Idlib, Syria.

    Turkish soldiers are working to protect local civilians under a 2018 deal with Russia under which acts of aggression are prohibited in the region.

    Thousands of irregular migrants have since flocked to Edirne in an attempt to make their way into Europe.

    Turkey already hosts some 3.7 million migrants from Syria alone, more than any other country in the world.

    It has repeatedly complained that Europe has failed to keep its promises to help migrants and stem further migrant waves.”

  17. Wounded migrants on Greek border hospitalized in Turkey
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/wounded-migrants-on-greek-border-hospitalized-in-turkey/1749921

    “Migrants wounded in pepper spray attacks by Greece border security were hospitalized in Edirne, a Turkish province bordering Greece and Bulgaria.

    Greek security forces continue to attack irregular migrants waiting between Turkey’s Pazarkule and Greece’s Kastanies border gates with pepper sprays and sound bombs.

    Three migrants, including a child, were wounded in the attack. They were transferred to a hospital in Edirne.

    Irregular migrants mildly wounded were treated on the site by paramedics.

    Late Thursday, at least 34 Turkish soldiers were martyred and dozens of others injured in an airstrike by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, just across Turkey’s southern border.

    Turkish officials announced Friday that they would no longer try to stop irregular migrants from reaching Europe.

    Following it, thousands of irregular migrants flocked to Edirne to make their way to Europe.

    Turkey already hosts nearly four million migrants from Syria alone, more than any other country.

    It has complained that Europe has failed to keep promises to help migrants and stem further migrant waves.”

  18. Migrant family crossing to Greece stranded on island
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/migrant-family-crossing-to-greece-stranded-on-island/1749735

    “A migrant family trying to cross to Greece from Edirne, a northwestern Turkish border province, has been stranded on an island in the middle of Meric River.

    Hundreds of irregular migrants hoping to cross to Europe from Turkey are trying sea vessels and land vehicles in order to make the trip.

    In one of the border villages on Friday, scores of irregular migrants swam or took boats in order to cross to Greece.

    One of these families’ boat deflated in the middle of the river.

    The family of nine, including small children, climbed to an island, hoping to inflate the boat again.

    In the meantime, security forces in Greece fire guns and use sound bombs to prevent the refugees from entering Greece.

    Late Thursday, at least 33 Turkish soldiers were martyred and dozens of others injured in an airstrike by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, just across Turkey’s southern border.

    Turkish officials announced Friday that they would no longer try to stop irregular migrants from reaching Europe.

    Following it, thousands of irregular migrants flocked to Edirne to make their way to Europe.

    Turkey already hosts some 3.7 million migrants from Syria alone, more than any other country.

    It has complained that Europe has failed to keep promises to help migrants and stem further migrant waves.”

  20. Germany’s Seehofer touts expert panel on Islamophobia after Hanau killings
    https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-seehofer-touts-expert-panel-on-islamophobia-after-hanau-killings/a-52590640

    “An expert group to tackle Islamophobia in Germany has been floated by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s interior minister. The move follows a racist multiple shooting last week and precedes an integration summit in Berlin.

    Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced on Saturday the creation of an “independent expert group on Islamophobia” (Muslimfeindlichkeit), saying it would emulate current ministerial panels on anti-Semitism and Antiziganism, meaning hostility toward Jewish and Roma communities.

    His call follows a charge on Thursday by a federal migrant network that Germany exercises “massive structural discrimination” and “structural racism” towards 19 million of its residents or 23% of the population who are statistically seen as having “migrant backgrounds” but who are long at home in the republic.

    The Interior Ministry said the new panel would convene for years and make recommendations on how to tackle anti-Muslim hatred and the marginalization of Muslims amid persistent far-right intimidation.

    Beyond Seehofer’s planned expert group on Islamophobia, the deputy chairperson of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) Serpil Midyalti told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government should appoint a racism commissioner, equipped with sufficient resources.

    A lone gunman’s mass fatal shooting of nine people of foreign descent in Hanau near Frankfurt on February 19 was “an attack on fellow citizens and friends; an attack on our joint values that concerns us all together,” Seehofer said.

    The former Bavarian premier, who until 2018 regularly said “Islam does not belong to Germany” and long criticized Merkel’s open society-based migration stance, said Saturday he would “intensify” dialog with migrant organizations.

    On Monday, Merkel is set to host the 11th in a series of national integration summits — vexed over the years by dissenting views — which will include an array of organizations dealing with migration and integration.

    “Ensuring the security of everyone in Germany is our top priority,” said Merkel on Saturday in her weekly video message, having previously denounced the Hanau attack as exhibiting the “poison” of racism and hatred in Germany.

    On Thursday, Germany’s BKMO network of more than 60 migrant-related organizations published an open letter to Merkel, highlighting the societal impact of the Hanau attack as well as the far-right power play in the eastern state of Thuringia and the recent discovery by police of an extremist group.

    “19 million people are in school, training, the labor and housing market, exposed in part to massive structural discrimination practices, as data from the federal anti-discrimination office proves,” wrote the BKMO Thursday.

    The network went on to criticize Merkel’s coalition, comprised of her center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister-party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the SPD, of ruining trust among affected resident foreigners in Germany.

    Referring to the government’s 2018 coalition agreement, the BKMO said the chapter on migration and integration read like a bid to “capture” the votes of millions of supporters of the opposition far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

    “We urge you personally to turn your attention at long last to the quarter of [German] society that is not represented” to halt racism’s toxic effects, said the BKMO, adding that Merkel also serves as chancellor for the 23% of people in Germany who have immigrant backgrounds.”