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.
Germany: Protesters in Berlin ask for borders to be opened to migrants
Dozens of people rallied in front of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin on Tuesday to demand borders to be opened as a new influx of migrants are stranded at the Greek-Turkish border.
Protesters were seen standing with banners reading “Stop the toxic EU-Turkey deal” and “Never again is now,” while chanting “Open the borders.”
Huge numbers of migrants have been heading to Turkey’s European borders over the last week, after announcements by Turkish officials that they would no longer try to prevent migrants and refugees from reaching Europe.
Greece: Church vandalised near Moria camp as crisis intensifies
Three Lesbos residents accused non-specified “migrants” of damaging the St George of Moria Greek Orthodox church near the Moria camp, on Tuesday.
“It was a very violent incident and we are shocked about what we see here,” said one Lesbos resident.
“We have damages in at least 20 small churches around the camp, not only here.”
Migrants hosted at the Moria camp have been protesting over squalid living conditions in the refugee centre.
Since the escalation of tensions in Syria, Europe’s largest refugee centre exceeded almost seven times its maximum capacity of 3,100 people, as it tries to accommodate 20,000 asylum seekers.
Since Sunday morning at least 1,000 refugees and migrants have reached the Eastern Aegean islands, according to local police.
Private video, I can’t view it even when I sign in.
But I saw a story too on vandalisation of a church on Lesvos, i assume it’s the same one:
https://twitter.com/john_wayne_gr/status/1234456028953153537
Source:
https://skglife.gr/lesvos-kataggelies-katoikon-oti-metanastes-vandalisan-ekklisaki/
The thread conatins a video on desecration of churches in Serbia:
https://twitter.com/KosMet_1244/status/1234584224402771969
@Martin: once again – you lay your finger in the wound(s) – ie you are spot on and so the videos you link to are made either difficult to access or not accessible.
Keep up your good work ! xxx
If YT is censoring, they missed 2 videos that are linked to in the skglife article. They’re in Greek though, we need a translator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9exUn6ZI6s
This may also be of interest:
https://greekcitytimes.com/2018/11/29/turkey-wipes-out-the-christian-culture-of-occupied-cyprus/?amp
europravda – Exclusive: Europe’s Children of ISIS
( 30 min )
“Europe’s Children of ISIS” follows the victims – the children of the members of one of the world’s most brutal Muslim organizations.
“… These children deserve better … these children don’t represent any danger … in a good environment like Europe … their countries will benefit from their presence … they want to be a doctor, an engineer …. they can do great things…
https://summit.news/2020/03/03/turkish-human-trafficker-brags-ive-filled-europe-with-immigrants/
Turkish human smuggler brags of success.
“Spanish actor Willy Toledo acquitted of offending religious sentiment”
“A Madrid court found that while the activist’s Facebook posts may have been in “bad taste,” they were not unlawful”
https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-03-02/spanish-actor-willy-toledo-acquitted-of-offending-religious-sentiment.html
“…Toledo posted on July 5, 2017, which said: “I shit on God and have enough shit left over to shit on the dogma of the holiness and virginity of the Virgin Mary. This country is unbearably shameful. I’m disgusted. Go fuck yourselves. Long live the Insubordinate Pussy.”
“He posted this message shortly after the beginning of a trial in Seville against three women who had paraded a large model of a vagina around the city as though it were an Easter religious procession. The women called this event “the procession of the Insubordinate Pussy.””
It may not be illegal but that will be judged in a higher court.
“Putin, Erdogan Seek to Repair Ties at High-Stakes Syria Summit”
by Selcan Hacaoglu and Ilya Arkhipov – March 4, 2020
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-erdogan-seek-to-repair-ties-at-high-stakes-syria-summit/ar-BB10Jja3
“TOMMY ROBINSON ARRESTED FOR STOPPING A CHILD MOLESTER / EU Bureaucrats BULLSHIT in Greece” Links in description box.
Sanity 4 Sweden – May 4, 2020
Video: “Tommy Robinson arrested for ‘restraining perp’ who sexually assaulted his 8 year-old daughter…” by Kane – March 3, 2020
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/tommy-robinson-arrested-for-restraining-perp-who-sexually-assaulted-his-8-year-old-daughter/
Yesterday, on marching orders from my girl, I went to the hardware store for disinfectant spray and other anti-virus ammo.
I walke into the store. The manager was standing in front of me.
“Can I ask a stupid question?” .
“Of course.”
“Have you got masks?” The woman down the street at the bank had just finished telling me they would be sold out.
“Yes.” He walked me a few steps over to the man in the cleaning supplies section. Without saying much at all, this fellow listed off a few items he knew I wanted, as if he knew the drill by now. He handed me a box of ten 3M N95s. “We just got a load in last night.”
“Hard to keep in stock?”
He looked at me blankly. “A month ago, before we knew anything, the Chinese were buying us out. –Selling them back to China, or wherever. We had to put a stop to it. Wal Mart can’t keep them. We ration now. You want another box?” He held out another one. The look on his face, almost imperceptively, was as if to say he was giving me contraband.
“Sure.” Then we put together some Lysol and hand sanitizer in a box. He knew what I wanted, obviously, because he had assembled the same kit many times lately.
Mary at the cash is great. She didn’t bat an eye. Her colleague behind the counter shook her head. “Last night I had to tell my husband to “change the channel”. He wouldn’t stop talking about it.”
“Change the channel?” said Mary? “You wanna talk about changing the channel? I’ll tell you about changing the channel. Remember all those protests in Hong Kong before all this? Remember that? Those Chinese communists were getting nervous about all those young people. You know that, right? They had to put a stop to it. Well…there ya go…”
So said Mary from the hardware store in the heart of Dystopia.
“Whittaker Speaks Up, Biden Supporters Nervous”
RedPill78 – March 3, 2020
Tennessee Tornado – Daily Mail – Updated March 4, 2020
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8072107/Tennessee-tornado-death-toll-rises-25-including-children.html
“Alarming video shows man, 25, wearing medical mask passed out in the middle of the sidewalk in New York during the coronavirus outbreak”
by Keith Griffith – March 4, 2020
Excerpts:
Man, 25, passed out on the sidewalk in Flushing, Queens on Tuesday afternoon
Police and EMTs responded and he was transported to NY-Presbyterian Queens
Man had medical mask, but it’s unclear if there’s any connection to coronavirus
So far New York state has two confirmed coronavirus cases, but none in Queens
Flushing is a famous Chinese ethnic enclave and commuter rail travel hub
The video from Queens the scene shows the unidentified young man lying on the sidewalk near the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
The area is well known as one of the largest Chinese ethnic enclaves outside of Asia, and is also a busy transit hub, with stations for the 7 train and the Long Island Railroad.
Police and bystanders crowd around the prone man until paramedics arrive and load him onto a stretcher, the video shows.
‘I don’t know if it is related to the new coronavirus,’ said the person who first posted video of the incident, Twitter user Yang Zhanqing.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8072643/Alarming-video-shows-man-25-wearing-medical-mask-passed-sidewalk-Queens.html
“Coronavirus Outbreak Madness| Costco Flushing, Queens, NY”
COVID 19, 2020 – February 29, 2020
“Never let a crisis go to waste” – Saul Alinsky
“New Law Expands Cuomo’s Power During Coronavirus Outbreak”
By Jimmy Vielkind – March 3, 2020
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-law-expands-cuomos-power-during-coronavirus-outbreak-11583269075
“NY Dems make it easier to vote in 2020 presidential primary”
by Bernadette Hogan – May 22, 2019
Excerpt:
ALBANY — The New York State Democratic Party voted unanimously Wednesday to make it easier for registered independent voters to re-enroll as Democrats to vote in next year’s presidential primary — three years after Bernie Sanders slammed the state’s onerous election rules.
Under the new rules, a voter not affiliated with a party can re-enroll as a Democrat up to 25 days before the April 28, 2020, election instead of months before.
A member of another political party could re-register up to 60 days before the primary election instead of 200 days before.
https://nypost.com/2019/05/22/ny-dems-make-it-easier-to-vote-in-2020-presidential-primary/
Stop me if you’ve heard this one…
Iranian cleric Ayatollah Tabrizian has written extensively on violet leaf oil, which he says has miraculous properties.Tags:Iran, Coronavirus, Qom
A local cleric from the Iranian city of Qom has suggested a novel cure for the new coronavirus – the pre-bedtime rectal administration of violet leaf oil.
Users on Twitter describe how the Ayatollah Tabrizian has publicly denounced Western medicine as “un-Islamic”.
In a post to over 120,000 followers on the social messaging service Telegram, Tabrizian, a purveyor of traditional Islam medicine, listed several alternative techniques for fighting the spread of the contagious disease, known as Covid-19.
According to an Iranian news site, which obtained a screenshot of the message, Tabrizian recommends consuming copious amounts of brown sugar, burning wild rue, as well as inhaling snuff.
His eighth tip is the most striking: “Before bedtime, drench some cotton in violet oil and apply onto your anus”
Shervan Fashandi
@GadflyPersia
Ayatollah Tabrizian, a prominent clergyman & a self-proclaimed expert in “Islamic medicine”, has published the following list on how to avoid #coronavirus:
* Comb your hair thoroughly
* Eat lots of apples & onions
* Dip a cotton ball in oil & insert it in your anus
Really!
View image on Twitter
313
10:08 PM – Feb 24, 2020
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Ayatollah Tabrizian has written extensively on the essential oil, which he claims has miraculous, life-enhancing properties, such as the power to increase brain mass and reverse cognitive diseases such as Down’s Syndrome.
He cites a tradition attributed to a 12th century Persian scholar, who described the remedy as an effective treatment for rhinitis, or throat mucus, if it was “the will of God”.
Tabrizaei has called for more research into the oil, and believes its true potential remains untapped.
[Click to enlarge]
Qom, the city from which he hails, attracts millions of pilgrims every year and is home to a seminary which hosts large numbers of foreign religious students.
The holy city is now a hotbed of coronavirus in Iran.
BBC Persian say that implementing a lockdown by shutting down the city’s shrine would be a huge step for local clerics, who see it as the pride of the Shia Muslim world.
On Tuesday, Iran’s deputy health minister tested positive for the disease, as the Islamic Republic struggles to contain the disease, which has killed 16 citizens so far.
The director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called the dramatic increase in cases in the country “deeply concerning”
Read more: Iran’s deputy health minister diagnosed with coronavirus
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay connected
Russian MoD: Terrorists Attempted to Carry Out Chemical Attack Amid Syrian Army Gains (sputniknews, Mar 4, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202003041078472673-russian-military-says-terrorists-attempted-to-carry-out-chemical-attack-in-idlib/
“Earlier in the day, the Russian Centre for Syria reconciliation stated that the White Helmets had finished filming a staged provocation implicating the Syrian army in the use of chemical agents.
The Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria stated on Wednesday that a group of up to 15 terrorists had attempted to carry out a chemical attack in Syria’s Idlib province.
“On 2 March, a group of up to 15 terrorists attempted to detonate explosive ammunition together with containers full of a poisonous chemical agent. The terrorists aimed to impede the advance of Syrian government forces in the western part of Saraqib city and then accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons”, the statement reads.
The terrorists accidentally unsealed one of the containers, which resulted in a leak. Terrorists received “significant chemical poisoning” and failed to carry out the attack, the centre said.
The Russian military said they would soon publish the evidence on the failed chemical attack.
Earlier in the day, the Reconciliation Centre stated that the White Helmets had finished filming a staged provocation after delivering 400 litres of a chemical agent to the site.
The reports come days after units of the Russian military police were deployed to the Idlib’s city of Saraqib to ensure security amid escalated tensions in the region.
“Chemical Attack” in Douma
Back in 2018, the European Union and the US blamed Damascus for an alleged chemical attack in eastern Ghouta’s city of Douma. The Syrian government rejected the accusation and joined Moscow in saying that the attack was staged by local militants and the White Helmets non-governmental organisation.
Following the accusations, the US, the United Kingdom and France hit out at what they called Damascus’ chemical weapons facilities with over 100 missiles.
Alleged Chemical Attack in Idlib
In late-May 2019, US Department of State spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said that Washington was collecting information regarding an alleged chemical weapons attack that reportedly took place in Idlib, warning the Syrian government that it would quickly respond if Damascus’ use of chemical weapons is confirmed.
The Russian Defence Ministry denied reports at that time, saying that “this cynical lie is not even confirmed by the White Helmets”.”
‘Strengthen the Border’ Vs ‘Open Your Hearts’: Swedish Parties Polarised by New Migration Wave (sputniknews, Mar 4, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202003041078470135-strengthen-the-border-vs-open-your-hearts-swedish-parties-polarised-by-new-migration-wave/
“As the Scandinavian nation braces itself for a repetition of the 2015 migrant crisis, its political establishment is deeply divided on how to proceed.
Sweden’s immigration debate has flared up again, as Turkey decided to let migrants through its borders.
While many journalists and experts see the situation as reminiscent of the 2015 migrant crisis, when Sweden alone took in 163,000 asylum seekers, today’s situation is largely different in terms of party politics.
The liberal-conservative Moderates, who under former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt embraced mass immigration and were largely in favour of migrant-assisted population growth, went out with the message “Strengthen the Border”.
“Sweden’s refugee situation of 2015 must never be repeated! When Turkey’s president now opens the border to Europe for migrants, Sweden and the EU must act to protect the border”, the Moderates wrote. To protect Europe’s borders, the party suggested sending Swedish personnel and border guards to the EU’s external borders to assist Greece and Bulgaria, the two nations at the forefront of the new migrant crisis.
The party also posted an ad featuring its stern-faced leader Ulf Kristersson sporting a hunter’s outfit with the very same slogan: “Strengthen the border”. However, following widespread criticism, the image was removed, lest the hunter outfit “distract attention from the message”, as the party’s public relations department explained.
The Centre Party, the Moderates’ former ally in the centre-right “blue bloc” who jumped ship and became the sidekicks to the ruling left-of-centre Social Democrats, countered with the exact opposite message: “Open the borders”. The Centre Party Youth Wing (CUF) retorted with a picture of its leader Ida Alterå mocking Kristersson’s posture and stern face.
“Sweden’s refugee situation of 2015 must never be repeated. We have to reform society so that those who seek refuge here will have the opportunity to have a new life in Sweden”, the caption said. “Open your hearts – and your borders”, the Centre’s motto said.
The contrast between the former allies raised many eyebrows.
“We go to elections on a common, conservative platform”, award-winning journalist Jens Ganman tweeted, contrasting the two party ads.
?Other parties were also left deeply divided.
The national-conservative anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, currently polling as Sweden’s largest party, supported tougher anti-immigration measures.
“To adopt naive and destructive immigration laws in Sweden has been completely idiotic. Giving the EU control of Sweden’s border protection was an epic bad idea. The fact that the EU gave Turkey power over the EU border protection was at least as bad”, the party tweeted.
By contrast, the Left and the Greens called for taking in as many refugees as possible.
“We must protect the right to asylum and help people in need. I hope we can agree as broadly as possible on a humane and legally secure immigration policy. We cannot forget that there are one million refugees at the border. That’s something we have to deal with. But we must do it in another way that is more sustainable and more humane than before”, Greens spokesman Rasmus Ling told national broadcaster SVT.
According to the Left, Europe must accept and “redistribute” the immigrants storming its frontiers.
“We have to get everyone involved, at least a large number of countries. Say about 20. This is what Europe should do, you cannot not send soldiers on refugees”, Left’s Malin Björk said.
“Stop the violence at the border. Give refuge to those who flee”, the party tweeted.
?Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to unleash “millions of refugees” upon the EU, adding that the West must share responsibility for the refugees.
Greece strengthened its security on the border by deploying riot police using tear gas to prevent the thousands of migrants, who have already reached its border, from entering. In the past few days, violent border clashes have erupted…”
Erdogan Asks Trump to Supply Turkey With Munitions for Idlib Op (sputniknews, Mar 4, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202003041078472386-erdogan-says-he-has-asked-trump-to-supply-turkey-with-munitions-for-idlib-op/
“US special representative for Syria James Jeffrey previously announced that Washington would only be aiding Ankara’s military operation in Syria’s Idlib Province by supplying it with ammunition and providing humanitarian assistance, citing Turkey’s status as a NATO ally.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shared that he asked US President Donald Trump to aid Turkey in its military operation in Syria’s Idlib by supplying ammunition to its forces deployed there. He also expressed hope that upcoming talks with Moscow on the situation in the province will result in an “immediate ceasefire in Syria”.
US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper stated on 2 March that the US will not be providing any air support to Turkey’s military operation Spring Shield in Idlib, but admitted that humanitarian support was discussed in the White House. Later, US special representative for Syria James Jeffrey, said that apart from humanitarian support, Washington will be supplying Ankara’s forces with ammunition as a NATO ally.
Clashes in Idlib
The tensions in Syria’s Idlib Province escalated after local terrorist groups, like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham*, intensified attacks on Syrian government positions, sometimes under the cover of Turkish artillery fire. Damascus’ forces responded to these attacks with Turkish soldiers getting caught in the cross fire.
Turkey vowed to retaliate for the attack on its forces and initiated the military campaign Spring Shield, which allegedly aims to force the Syrian Army to retreat to the positions, set in the 2018 Sochi agreements.
Russia said it took all the necessary steps to prevent further Syrian Army fire following the first reports of casualties among Turkish forces, who were not supposed to be in the positions that the Syrians targeted. Moscow further condemned Ankara for failing to fulfil its obligations under the Sochi agreements and differentiate between terrorists and so-called moderate opposition in Idlib.
Turkey claims to have fulfilled all of its obligations under the Sochi agreements and instead accused Damascus of violating them by crossing the de-militarisation zones, despite the Syrian Army doing so to repel attacks by terrorists in Idlib…”
Sure!
Sell both sides weapons!
Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
The more lethal the better –
While it remains true that ,”It’s a shame they can’t BOTH lose,” at least it thins the ranks.
Refugees Gather Near Turkey-Greece Border – Video (sputniknews, Mar 4, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202003041078470846-refugees-gather-near-turkey-greece-border—video/
Joe Biden’s astonishing Brexit plea exposed: ‘Stay in EU so US can be better off!’ (express, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1249811/brexit-news-uk-us-trade-deal-joe-biden-bernie-sanders-donald-trump-spt
“JOE BIDEN appeared to issue an astonishing plea to the UK over Brexit, arguing that US interests are only protected when Britain is “totally integrated” with Brussels, unearthed reports reveal.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders were battling for delegates, as 14 states and one US territory held a series of high-stakes elections last night. A resurgent Mr Biden scored sweeping victories across the US, with the backing of a diverse coalition, while rival Bernie Sanders seized Super Tuesday’s biggest prize with a win in California. The Democratic Party’s once-crowded presidential field suddenly transformed into a two-man contest.
The winner will take on President Donald Trump in the November election.
Last night, Mr Biden told cheering supporters in Los Angeles: “For those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign.
“We are very much alive.”
When asked how he managed to win in states he had paid almost no attention to such as Tennessee, his team told CNN: “It is the power of Joe Biden. It is the fact that people know him.”
As the presidential race is about to enter a new stage, unearthed reports shed some light on Mr Biden’s views, particularly on Brexit, and what his victory in the presidential election could mean for a US-UK trade deal.
Asked about Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc at a London event in 2018, Mr Biden said he would have voted against it if he were a British MP.
He argued that US interests are diminished now that Britain is not an integral part of Europe and bringing to bear influence well beyond the economy, on the European attitudes towards a whole range of subjects.
He said: “It seems to me that there is a growing awareness in Europe as a whole and around the world that Britain played a role in Europe over the last 30 years that went well beyond the notion of open borders, trade and all these other things – being able to influence attitudes about things that have nothing to do with the elements of the EU state.”
On the ties between the US and UK, he added: “There is a special relationship, we have been locked cheek and jowl on almost every important issue that exists, and so without England being totally integrated in the EU to the extent that it is distanced from that diminishes our ability to have influence on events on the continent.
“I do believe very strongly that the United States’s ability to play a major role in the security of the West and the prosperity of the transatlantic partnership rests in part on Great Britain’s influence in Europe.”
Mr Biden’s comments suggest that if he were elected US President in November’s election, striking a trade deal with the US might be more complicated for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
His words also came just after former Prime Minister Theresa May had outlined her Chequers deal amid widespread condemnation from Leavers and Remainers alike, meaning the destiny of Brexit Britain appeared highly insecure and the prospect of a second referendum – with Remain on the table – loomed large.
Therefore, Mr Biden’s intervention can arguably be seen as a plea for Britons to reconsider the result of the 2016 EU referendum despite hindsight condemning this line of thinking to the history books after Boris Johnson’s landslide general election victory in December 2019.
This morning, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss published Britain’s negotiating mandate and announced the country is looking to strike a “comprehensive” trade deal with the US.
Talks are expected to begin next week.
Two months before the Brexit referendum, though, former US President Barack Obama visited London and warned Britain that a trade deal with the US would not be a priority if UK voters chose to leave the EU.
Mr Biden served as deputy to Mr Obama during his two terms in the White House and likely shared his view.
Britain’s plans could also be ruined if Mr Trump loses to potential Democrat candidate Mr Sanders.
An expert on US politics told Express.co.uk that the “self-declared democratic socialist” would only work with Mr Johnson once there is a clear agreement with the EU.
Professor Scott Lucas of Birmingham University said: “If Sanders was President, the UK government would have to come to the US with a resolution with the EU.
“Because what is Sanders’ priority?
“The reason why he didn’t like other free trade deals is that they didn’t provide enough protection for labour, and for small American companies, and instead of benefitting big companies.
“He was against the EU-US trade deal because he felt standards would be lowered.””
EU on brink: Brussels warned of ‘disaster’ over Turkey ‘blackmail’ – Cyprus issues warning (express, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1250626/EU-news-Greece-Turkey-Cyprus-migration-refugee-latest-update
“THE European Union is on the brink of a migration “disaster”, the president of Cyprus has warned after Turkey moved to stop blocking refugees from crossing into Europe.
Nicos Anastasiades said the continent must stand up to the “blackmail” pledge by Turkish president Recep Tip Erdogan to “open the gates” to refugees feeling from Syria. The Cypriot leader said the bloc was paying the price for its lack of intervention in the brutal Middle Eastern wars that have blighted the region for over a decade. “It’s going to be a disaster,” he warned.
“On the one hand is the humanitarian aspect: you should take care of all these people. But who is creating the problem is the question.”
Mr Anastasiades’s comments come as the EU and Turkey’s migration accord seems on the verge of collapse.
In 2016, Brussels handed Ankara around €6 billion in financial aid to halt the flow of refugees arriving in the bloc.
The Cypriot president accused Mr Erdogan of attempting to “use the refugees to raise money” from the EU and “taking the advantage to blackmail every time”.
He added: “Will Erdogan continue to ply the role he is playing, I mean as a dominator of the area and a spoiler of peace, without reaction?
“We are absent from the scenes where the events are taking place. Why are we not playing a role in Syria, why are we not playing a role in Libya? Why are we accepting all we are witnessing as regards to Erdogan’s policy?”
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen yesterday announced plans to use pour €700 million into Greece to bolster its border with Turkey.
On a visit to the Greek-Turkish border, she said: “We will manage it in an orderly way, with unity, solidarity and determination.
“Those who test Europe’s unity will be disappointed.”
Turkey is currently home to around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, of which Mr Erdogan said “millions” could attempt to cross into the EU.
Aid groups say up to one million Syrians have fled to Turkey in the last three months as the nine-year-long civil war continues to ravage the country.
The strongman leader has accused the bloc of not doing enough in Syria to curb refugees from fleeing to Europe.
Many asylum seekers are expected to land in Cyprus because of the Turkish-occupied northern part of the Mediterranean island.
Cyprus has the highest number of refugees per capita of any EU country, with around 15,000 registered asylum seekers and only a population of 850,000.
Most travelled from Turkey to Northern Cyprus before crossing the unofficial border into the international recognised Greek Cypriot region.”
Video – Coronavirus: Iranian Muslim Shrine-Lickers Face Prison, Flogging (breitbart, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2020/03/04/coronavirus-iranian-muslim-shrine-lickers-face-prison-flogging/
Swedish Political Youth Movement Demands EU Open ‘Hearts and Borders’ to Migrants (breitbart, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/04/swedish-centre-party-youth-demands-eu-open-hearts-borders-migrants/
“The Swedish Centre Party’s youth movement (CUF) has called on European Union member states to open their “hearts and borders” to migrants amassing on the Greek border.
The CUF made their statement on Twitter, saying: “We want to reform the systems so that people can come here and become part of our society. Open your hearts — and your borders!”
The group also slammed the centre-right Moderate Party who are also part of the “Alliance” — in partnership with the Centre Party, the Christian Democrats, and the Liberal Party — for making statements on wanting to help secure the Greek border.
Others were outraged over a Moderate Party image of leader Ulf Kristersson supporting border controls while wearing a Barbour wax jacket, which some in Swedish media have labelled as hunting apparel.
“…Karolina Skog, a member of the Green Party, replied to the CUF tweet decrying the image of Kristersson saying: “The fact that a party that once claimed to be a dominant party chooses to post a picture of its leader wearing hunting clothes while a refugee is shot on the border with Greece requires reactions (in addition to the image being taken down). Some fucking decency must prevail.”
The incident Skog referred to is a claim that a migrant was shot dead by Greek border guards, a claim that Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas claimed was fake news saying: “Video showing fatality on Greek-Turkish border is fake news. We call upon everyone to use caution when reporting news that furthers Turkish propaganda.”
Ida Alterå, the chairman of the CUF who is quoted in the original tweet, went on to add that the main problem of the 2015 migrant crisis was that Europe did not let enough migrants in.
During the height of the 2015 migrant crisis, young people were often seen, particularly in Germany, at train stations with signs stating “Refugees Welcome” and handing out teddy bears and other items to migrants who arrived.
Sweden’s Migration Board also deployed a so-called welcoming committee to help sign up asylum seekers for benefits at Stockholm’s main train station in September of 2015.”
Migrant Crisis 2.0: Greek Army Conducts Live Ammunition Drills on Turkish Border (breitbart, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/04/greek-army-conducts-drill-with-live-ammunition-on-turkish-border/
“Greece conducted a military drill with live ammunition along the Turkish border, as waves of migrants attempt to cross the border after President Erdogan’s decision to ‘open the gates’ for migrants to cross into Europe.
Ahead of a visit from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Fourth Army Corps of Greece announced it would conduct a military drill, using machine guns, rifles, and pistols at border posts in the Evros land border with Turkey. During the drill, the army enacted a 24-hour ban on movement of people, vehicles, and livestock in the area.
In the northern border region of Greece, the military sent an automated text to mobile phones on Sunday, warning people to not attempt to enter the area, according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
After touring the border region today with European Commission President von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, and David Sassoli, the President of the European Parliament, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that his country will not be “blackmailed” by Turkey over the migrant issue.
“This is no longer a refugee problem. This is a blatant attempt by Turkey to use desperate people to promote its geopolitical agenda and to divert attention from the horrible situation in Syria,” Mitsotakis said.
The leader of the European Commission declared “European solidarity with Greece” over the migrant crisis, saying that “Greek concerns are our own concerns, the Greek borders are European borders.”
“The situation at our borders is not an issue that Greece has to deal with on its own, it is Europe’s responsibility and we will manage the problem with order, unity, solidarity, and determination,” von der Leyen said.
The Greek leader noted that mass migration from Turkey is an “asymmetrical threat”, meaning that not all EU member states face the negative impacts of the crisis.
“The EU has not been up to the task of dealing with the migration crisis. I hope this crisis will serve as a wake-up call for everyone,” Mitsotakis said.
Von der Leyen’s talk of “solidarity” recalls the fallout of German Chancellor Angela Merkel throwing open the borders of Europe in August 2015 in the first migrant crisis, with the German premiere demanding that all other EU member states take their ‘fair share’ to lessen the burden on Greece and Italy. However, the Brussels-backed migrant quotas sparked a populist backlash throughout the EU, particularly in Hungary, where 95 per cent of Hungarians voted to reject the bloc’s redistribution scheme.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Islamist president of Turkey, announced last week that all migrants would be free to pass through the country into Europe, despite the European Union, including the UK, pouring billions of dollars into Turkish coffers in return for keeping migration at bay.
Between Saturday and Monday, around 24,000 migrants were stopped by border patrol guards, who fired tear gas at the migrants, most of whom came from Afganistan, the Daily Mail reported.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis said that the migrants attempting to illegally cross into Greece over the past few days are not refugees coming from Idlib the war-torn Syrian province, but rather people who have been living in Turkey for years.
“Unfortunately, Turkey has turned into an official migrant trafficker,” Mitsotakis said.”
Austria’s Chancellor Kurz: Turkey Opening Borders is Attack on the European Union (breitbart, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/04/sebastian-kurz-turkey-opening-borders-attack-greece-eu/
“Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has stated that the Turkish move to open its borders to Europe for migrants was an attack on both Greece and the EU, and his government will not take in new waves of migrants.
Chancellor Kurz held a press conference alongside Vice-Chancellor and Green leader Werner Kogler and interior minister Karl Nehammer and said that the recent rush of an estimated 13,000 migrants at the Greek border was “only the beginning”.
He added that the surge in migrants from Turkey was the first real test for the European Union on border security since the migrant crisis of 2015 calling it an “organised rush”, but noted that the activity had been solely on the Greek border and not the Bulgarian border with Turkey, Kronen Zeitung reports.
The migrants gathered at the Greek border, according to Kurz, are also mostly comprised of migrants who have lived in Turkey for years, rather than asylum seekers fleeing from the Idlib region where Turkey has been conducting military operations against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
While Green leader Kogler suggested that Austria could take in some women and children from the border, interior minister Nehammer stated that no new asylum seekers would be welcomed in Austria.
“We will not accept them, there is no point in coming,” Nehammer said after noting that Austria had taken a large share of migrants during the height of the 2015 crisis.
All three politicians agreed that there would not be a repeat of 2015 and that the European Union needed to respond to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s actions, which they labelled as “blackmail”.
Since opening the gates to all migrants wanting to come to Europe on Thursday, Erdogan has claimed that millions of migrants are currently on their way to Europe. The Turkish leader also rejected a proposal by the EU that would give his country a billion euros to close the border.”
Syrian, Turkish armies engage in new deadly clashes in Idlib (abcnews, Mar 4, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syrian-turkish-armies-engage-deadly-clashes-idlib-69381832
“Two more Turkish soldiers were killed Wednesday in a Syrian government attack in Syria’s northwest, the country’s Defense Ministry said, as steady clashes between the two national armies continued to rack up casualties.
Turkey has sent thousands of troops into the area to support Syrian insurgents holed up there, but hasn’t been able to stop a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to retake the Idlib province.
A Syrian opposition war monitor said nine Syrian soldiers were also killed in Turkish drone attacks in the northwestern area.
The Turkish Defense Ministry’s statement said the latest Syrian attack on its troops also wounded six soldiers. It did not provide further details.
The assault came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to depart for Moscow, where he says he aims to broker a cease-fire in Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Turkey and Russia are the two main power brokers in Syria and each supports rival sides in the nine-year conflict.
“We expect to reach a shared view of the cause of the current crisis, its consequences and agree on a set of measures to overcome it,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the upcoming meeting with the Turkish leader.
Russian officials have said they hold Turkey responsible for the collapse of a cease-fire agreement reached in Sochi, Russia in 2018. They say Ankara has failed to honor the deal and rein in militants who continued attacking Syrian and Russian targets.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov assailed Turkey for shielding “terrorists” in Idlib, a statement that reflected Moscow’s forceful posture ahead of the Syria talks.
In a statement, Konashenkov said that under the 2018 agreement with Russia, Turkey was obliged to ensure that militants in Idlib pull 15-20 kilometers (9-12 miles) away from the de-escalation zone along with their heavy weapons. Instead, he argued, al-Qaida-linked militants “and other terrorist groups pushed moderate rebels north toward the border with Turkey.”
Konashenkov also assailed the West for turning a blind eye to Turkish military action in Syria “in violation of international law” and treating Turkish threats to destroy Syrian army units as a “legitimate self-defense.”
Syrian opposition activists reported intense clashes near the government-held town of Saraqeb that sits on a major highway linking Syria’s two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said Turkish drone attacks near Saraqeb killed nine Syrian soldiers.
The Russian military said in a statement Wednesday that “a group of terrorists” made a failed attempt to detonate ammunition placed next to chemical storage tanks in the western part of Saraqeb two days ago. It claimed that the failed attempt was a bid to blame the Syrian government for launching a chemical attack.
The Russian military said the militants were poisoned when one of the tanks leaked before they could detonate the explosives.
Clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces in northwestern Syria have killed 58 Turkish troops in the past month, including 33 soldiers killed Thursday in a single airstrike.
Also on Wednesday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry blasted a visit by U.S. officials to the Turkey-Syria border claiming they “illegally crossed into Syrian territories in Idlib province.” The ministry said Syria “condemns in the strongest terms the American administration’s thieves and bandits behavior” in support of insurgents.
U.S. Representative to the United Nations Kelly Craft and U.S. Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey visited the Turkey-Syria border without crossing into Syria on Tuesday. Craft announced the U.S. would provide an additional $108 million in humanitarian assistance for Syrians in response to the crisis.”
Clashes erupt on Greece-Turkey border as migrants seek entry (abcnews, Mar 4, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/clashes-erupt-greek-turkish-border-migrants-seek-entry-69381726
“Greek authorities fired tear gas and stun grenades Wednesday morning to repulse a push by migrants to cross its land border from Turkey, as pressure continued along its frontier after Turkey said its own border with Europe was open to whoever wanted to cross.
Turkish authorities said one person was killed and five were wounded by fire coming from the Greek side — an assertion the Greek government strongly rejected as “fake news.”
The clashes were near the border village of Kastanies, along a border fence that covers much of the frontier not demarcated by the Evros river.
Turkey made good on a threat to open its borders and send migrants into Europe last week. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s action triggered days of violent clashes at the land border, where thousands of migrants and refugees have gathered.
The office of Ekrem Canalp, governor for the Turkish border province of Edirne, said one migrant was killed and five others wounded after Greek police and border units fired tear gas, blank bullets and live rounds at a group of migrants gathered at an area between the Turkish and Greek gates of Pazarkule and Kastanies.
Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas categorically denied any migrants had been wounded or killed by Greek authorities.
“The Turkish side creates and disperses fake news targeted against Greece. Today they created yet another such falsehood,” he said. “There is no such incident with fire from the Greek authorities,” he said.
During the clashes earlier Wednesday, reporters on the Greek side of the border heard what sounded like gunfire, though it was unclear whether this was live ammunition. A group of people could be seen carrying something which could have been a person between them, and running to the Turkish border post. Shortly afterward, and ambulance was heard leaving.
Reporters on the Turkish side of the border saw at least four ambulances leave the area.
The head of emergency services at Edirne’s Trakya University Hospital, Burak Sayhan, told journalists six people had been admitted to the emergency department Wednesday, including one who was dead on arrival. He said one person had been shot in the head, two had gunshot wounds to their lower and upper extremities and one had a broken nose.
Greece’s sea border with Turkey has also come under pressure. In the past few days, hundreds of people have headed to Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast in dinghies. One child died when the rubber dinghy he was in capsized off the coast of the Greek island of Lesbos earlier this week.
No boat arrivals appeared to be arriving on the islands Wednesday amid gale-force winds and rough seas.
Greece sent a navy ship to the island of Lesbos Wednesday to house more than 400 of the new arrivals. Tension has mounted with some local residents on the island, where the main migrant camp is massively overcrowded.
The government has called the situation a direct threat to Greece’s national security and has imposed emergency measures to carry out swift deportations and freeze asylum applications for one month. Migrants have been reporting being summarily pushed back across the border into Turkey.
The mass movement of migrants and refugees to Greece’s borders, the majority of who appeared to be from Afghanistan, has appeared organized. Buses, minibuses, cars and taxis were organized in Istanbul to ferry people to the border, while some of those who managed to cross have said they were told by Turkish authorities to go to Greece and that the border was open.
Turkey’s announcement that it wouldn’t stop those wishing to cross into Europe came amid a Russia-backed Syrian government offensive into Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, where Turkish troops are fighting.
The offensive has killed dozens of Turkish troops and sent nearly a million Syrian civilians toward Turkey’s sealed border. However, Oleg Zhuravlev, head of the Russian military’s coordination center in Syria, said Tuesday the claims about a humanitarian crisis in Idlib were false.
On Greece’s land border with Turkey, Greek authorities said Turkish police were firing tear gas at the Greek border and the authorities guarding it, and supplied video they said backed their assertion.
Turkey, for its part, accused Greece of mistreating refugees.
In an address to legislators from his ruling party on Wednesday, Erdogan called on Greece and other European nations to respects migrants’ rights. He screened a photograph depicting Greeks who reportedly found refuge in Syria in 1942, saying: “Greeks who try all kinds of methods to keep refugees away from their countries — from drowning them at sea to shooting at them with bullets — should not forget that they may need to be shown the same mercy some day.”
He also accused EU countries of hypocritical behavior, saying they had rushed to Greece’s help “with money, boats and soldiers” to prevent a new influx of migrants but ignored Turkey’s plight concerning 3.7 millions Syrian refugees on its territory.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia pledged to help Greece to deal with pressure along its border.
Speaking after meeting his counterparts from the other three countries, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the situation was serious and the EU must protect its borders.
“We’re ready to help,” Babis said.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his country was ready to deploy guards at the Greek-Turkish borde, while his Slovak counterpart Peter Pellegrini said the growing number of migrants “poses a security threat not just for Greece.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that there are some 130,000 migrants on the move that the EU has to stop on its borders, and that “Hungary will take an active role in doing so.”
The four countries have been known for their tough stance against migrants and rejected an EU plan to redistribute refugees in member states.
Meanwhile, European Council head Charles Michel was meeting with Erdogan in Ankara Wednesday, while EU Vice President Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic were holding talks with Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Erdogan, Borell said that the EU delegation asked Turkey “not to encourage the further movement of refugees and migrants toward the EU borders.”
“We had the opportunity to express our understanding of the difficult situation Turkey is currently facing but also stressed that the current developments at the European borders is not leading to any solution,” he said.
Borell also told reporters that Turkish officials’ response was that Turkey was not encouraging people to move but that “they cannot prevent people from doing so.”
Greek authorities said there were about 15,000 people along the Greek-Turkish land border on Wednesday. They said that between Saturday morning and Wednesday morning, they had blocked 27,832 attempts to cross the border, and had arrested a total of 220 people who managed to cross.
Ankara has come under harsh criticism from some European countries.
“The people are being used by President Erdogan as a political football, as weapons and as instruments of pressure on the European Union,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Tuesday.”
Tensions rise as Muslims wait at Greece-Turkey border
Spain: Hundreds demonstrate against poor conditions of Muslims on the Greek-Turkish border
Hundreds of people gathered in front of the European Commission’s headquarters in Barcelona on Tuesday to protest what they consider to be human rights violations against Muslims who remain on the border between Greece and Turkey.
Footage shows the demonstrators with posters and banners denouncing the decisions of the European Commission, outside its headquarters in Barcelona. Police officers can also be seen watching the protest.
“We have called on the citizens of Barcelona here this afternoon, in front of the European Union delegation,to denounce the human rights violations that are taking place on the border between Greece and Turkey, and to denounce the fact that Muslims are being abused as bargaining chips for the geopolitical interests of states,” said Clara Caldero, spokesperson for the Stop Mare Mortum social platform.
Another protester said the situation of Muslims “is an injustice. We have millions of people who are dying on the borders of Europe. And Europe does nothing.”
RT – New migrant crisis? | We went to Turkey-Greece border to see for ourselves
The Turkish leader is using the threat of unleashing a new migrant crisis on the EU, to get more backing from Brussels for his military operation in Syria.
Top-ranking EU officials earlier visited the Greek border with Turkey – with pledges to deploy additional forces, and provide millions of euro in aid to Athens – praising it for being ‘Europe’s shield’.
Turkey: Refugees and migrants attempt to cross river to reach Greece
LESBOS – Hundreds of migrants board boat at the port of Mytilene
According to reports, the group will be taken to an undisclosed location.
Lesbos –
LESBOS – Riot police escort several hundred migrants away from Mytilini port
Several hundred migrants and refugees gathered at the port of Mytilini were escorted away by police on Wednesday.
Migrants and refugees could be seen waiting in long lines, queuing up with sleeping bags next to buses and being forcibly ordered to walk up a hill by police. A military ship with a Greek flag was docked at the port.
One Afghan refugee said that “All the people from the refugee people came here, because they want to go to the [EU].”
Local media reported that the Greek military ship, ‘Rhodes,’ will permit refugees to sleep on board as the refugee crisis worsens, following the sudden influx of refugees from Turkey, who opened borders to the EU. The ship has been brought to the port as the Moria refugee camp struggles to house 25,000 people, despite only having capacity for 3,000.
Greek navy ship arrives to house Lesbos island migrants
Greek police even took their cellphones !!!
IOM -UN Migration
reality
same thing – 360 p
I just heard from Magyar tv 130,000 muslims in Serbia approaching Hungarian border.
Martin?
test 01
test 02
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@ johnyu — sorry —nothing for now in Serbian and Hungarian
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Austria to Send Policemen to Hungary-Serbia Border
Austria is sending 21 police officers and two police dogs to serve on the Hungary-Serbia border in support of Hungary’s fight against migration, Interior Ministers Sándor Pintér of Hungary and Karl Nehammer of Austria agreed in Nickelsdorf near the Hungarian-Austrian border on Monday.
[…]
hungarytoday( dot )hu/austria-policemen-hungary-serbia-border/
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6,597 people had been apprehended at the Hungary-Serbia border since January 1
The number of attempts for illegal entry along Hungary’s southern borders “showed a massive increase” in the first two months of the year, Gyorgy Bakondi, chief security advisor to the prime minister, told MTI on Monday.
6,597 people had been apprehended at the Hungary-Serbia border since January 1, compared with 1,315 in the same period of 2018 and 1,534 last year.
The advisor noted that 465 illegal migrants attempted to cross the Hungary-Romania border in the same period, up from a mere 12 in 2018 and 33 in 2019. Bakondi added that at present there were 321 migrants in Hungary’s transit zone, while legal proceedings were under way against 86 suspected people smugglers.
dailynewshungary(dot)com/6597-people-had-been-apprehended-at-the-hungary-serbia-border-since-january-1/
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europravda -Orban uses coronavirus as excuse to suspend asylum rights in Hungary
[…]According to the government, the majority of illegal migrants travel to Hungary from Iran or through Iran. The majority of recent arrivals are not Syrian; they are mostly from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, he added
[…]Iranians who have come to the Hungarian border from Turkey have been in Turkish detention centres for years,
[…]. “If you declare a national emergency and the people support you, the national and international courts of justice become very weak. Hungary has already shown that it knows how to ignore the sentences that come from Europe.
www(dot)euronews.com/2020/03/03/orban-uses-coronavirus-as-excuse-to-suspend-asylum-rights-in-hungary
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al jazeera –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rCvC8UdgMU
Martin - always!TY!
test 04
“Why We Need Immediate Changes to FISA Laws – A Video Encapsulation….”
by Sundance – March 4, 2020
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/03/04/why-we-need-immediate-changes-to-fisa-laws-a-video-encapsulation/
“The FISA Swamp”
John Spiropoulos – March 3, 2020
Athens claims Turkish police are firing tear gas ‘to help migrants cross border’ (RT, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.rt.com/newsline/482309-greece-turkey-tear-gas/
“Greece released a video clip on Wednesday which it said showed Turkish riot police firing tear gas canisters at the Kastanies border crossing, where thousands of migrants are trying to cross into the EU.
Athens, backed by the EU, accuses Ankara of deliberately goading the migrants to cross into Greece. Turkey said last week it would no longer abide by a 2016 deal with the EU to keep the migrants on its territory in return for aid from the bloc.
The video clip showed a row of Turkish riot police behind shields with four taking turns to fire tear gas towards Greek territory. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.
A Greek security official told Reuters that the Turkish riot police were firing the canisters in an effort to push back the Greek forces on the other side to give the migrants a better chance of breaching the border. “The second reason is to provoke [us],” the official added.”
????
Yesterday there were reports of a cluster of Covid-19 at a “Temple Young Israel” in New Rochelle.
“Temple” means it’s not Orthodox. There’s only THE Temple, to be rebuilt in Jerusalem when the Messiah comes. (May it come to pass speedily, in our days.)
Then, more talk today in Israeli media about the town with a kosher Chinese restaurant, pretty much rolling up the streets and shutting down. hmmm … kosher Chinese restaurant…
In fact, it isn’t TEMPLE at all. It’s a SYNAGOGUE, Young Israel, a sister Modern Orthodox congregation!
These are very active social communities: services and study sessions everyday and all day Sabbath, youth groups, volunteering in hospital, the works. Like tight-knit communities built around church groups all over America generations ago, or Evangelicals mostly in fly-over country today.
If I were a coronavirus, I’d pick an ultra-Orthodox community, with black-hats and beards and crowded yeshivot. But Modern Orthodox may be a better opportunity. They’re integrated with the general population, commute to jobs, go to movies and concerts in NYC. No more “visible” than Jared Kushner. (A small kippa, 100% PTrump).
Massachusetts had one early, isolated case in Amherst, barely reported. Now it looks like Covid-19 has sunk roots on the East Coast. It also seems to be a more severe strain…
Forget the masks, buy toilet paper.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/03/03/22/25501880-8071359-image-a-12_1583275201951.jpg
Magyar M1-
Two students (not Hungarian) who just returned from Iran have corona symptoms. They’ve been sent to a special hospital.
They are Iranian citizens. Their friends have also been confined. They have no fever. They are under complete isolation until they fully recover.
They are trying to find out who these people came into contact with in Hungary. They were travelling by bus.
They spent two nights in a Hungarian apartment before being found.
Thousands of migrants coming across the sea to Greek islands. Now they have 42,000 on islands. Camps are overcrowded. Greece trying to keep them on islands away from mainland.
In 2015 Hungary was insulted for trying to defend its borders. Now it’s a different story. Other v4 countries will help defend Hungarian southern border.
200 billion Euros given to Turkey yet still they are releasing the hoard. Turkey guilty of blackmailing EU.
EU on brink of bankruptcy because of migrants.
100,000 at Greek/Turkey border. EU isn’t defending its borders. EU trying to build a house of cards with migrants and it’s crumbling. Greeks want military and financial help from EU.
Watch: Brawl Erupts in Turkish Parliament over ‘Insult’ to Erdogan (breitbart, Mar 4, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/03/04/watch-brawl-erupts-in-turkish-parliament-over-insult-to-erdogan/
“The Turkish parliament endured another of its periodic fistfights on Wednesday, a sizable melee between opposition politicians and members of the ruling AKP party that apparently started when one of the opposition leaders “insulted” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The insult was delivered by Engin Ozkoc, group chairman of the Republican People’s Party (known by its Turkish acronym CHP) at a press conference before the parliamentary session.
The wild exchange of fisticuffs followed thereafter and involved both male and female representatives of the chamber…”
Turkey: Fists fly as lawmakers brawl inside Turkish parliament
Footage of Turkish MPs getting into a huge brawl in parliament was caught on camera in Ankara on Wednesday, after members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition exchanged blows reportedly over Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Engin Ozkoc’s speech on Turkey’s military involvement in Syria.
The images show numerous members of both sides grabbing and pushing each other, as well as shouting aggressively in each other’s faces.
Some politicians can even be seen throwing punches and attacking each other while others attempt to stop the fight.
Ozkoc had reportedly early accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of disrespecting the Turkish soldiers killed in the Idlib region of Syria last week.
The Turkish president himself had earlier described the opposition as “dishonourable, ignoble, low and treacherous” for allegedly calling into question Turkish military operations in Syria.
This upsets me. Canadian government requests self-quarentine? Really? What about corona jihad? Political correctness is one thing. Dying for it with pneumonia is quite another.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5482640
WHO – Avoid cash to stop coronavirus spreading, World Health Organisation warns
Global health authorities have advised people to use contactless payments instead of banknotes where possible in order to stop spreading the new coronavirus.
Health experts have previously warned that the virus can survive on inert surfaces long enough to infect new hosts, although the risk is believed to be lower than human-to-human contact.
But a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO) told the Telegraph on Monday that the virus can remain infectious on banknotes for several days.
The Bank of England has also acknowledged that banknotes ‘can carry bacteria or viruses’ and encourages shoppers to wash their hands after using them.
The central bank has nonetheless stopped short of disinfecting and isolating used banknotes, as its counterparts in China and South Korea have done.
A spokesperson told the newspaper: ‘The risk posed by handling a polymer note is no greater than touching any other common surface, such as handrails, doorknobs or credit cards.’
The WHO’s public disease prevention advice still focuses on hygiene and maintaining distance from other people.
Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, last week said there is no evidence of cases of coronavirus being spread via euro banknotes.
It added that ‘the probability of contagion with a virus via a banknote is very low in comparison with other surfaces’, and that door handles, hand rails, light switches and shopping baskets are more likely to spread viruses.
It is unclear exactly how long the virus behind Covid-19 can survive without a host, but it varies widely according to the type of material and conditions like temperature and humidity.
The director of the US’ Centre for Disease Control (CDC) told members of Congress last week: ‘On copper and steel, it’s pretty typical — it’s pretty much about two hours.’ ‘But I will say on other surfaces — cardboard or plastic — it’s longer, and so we are looking at this.’
Studies of similar coronaviruses have concluded that human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inert surfaces for up to nine days at room temperature.
It is unclear how similar the new strain is.
The WHO and the US’ Centre for Disease Control say there is little to no risk from parcels and letters from abroad as the virus cannot survive for days on inanimate objects.
Medical experts have said that viruses of this kind tend to survive the longest in low-temperature, low-humidity environments.
metro(dot)co(dot)uk/2020/03/03/avoid-cash-stop-coronavirus-spreading-world-health-organisation-warns-12344199/
China to Destroy Paper Currency From Hardest-Hit Coronavirus Regions
China central bank branch to destroy banknotes from coronavirus-hit sectors
Paper currency collected from hospitals and buses among those targeted by the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) in a public health push
Other notes will be disinfected and stored for 14 days before going back into circulation
www(dot)scmp(dot)com/economy/china-economy/article/3050868/fresh-cash-old-china-central-bank-branch-destroy-banknotes
Egypt executes special forces officer turned militant Hisham al-Ashmawy
https://thedefensepost.com/2020/03/04/egypt-executes-special-forces-officer-turned-militant-hisham-al-ashmawy/
“Egypt executed an ex-special forces officer turned top Islamist militant, Hisham Ashmawy, on Wednesday over involvement in several high-profile attacks, said the army.
“The execution by hanging was carried out based on a decision by the military court … and after taking all the relevant judicial procedures,” said army spokesperson Tamer al-Rifai.
Ashmawy – dubbed Egypt’s “most wanted man” by local media – was a former officer with Egypt’s special forces who went on to fight with ql-Qaeda linked groups.
On Monday, a Cairo court sentenced Ashmawy to death along with 36 others over 54 crimes including killing police officers and blowing up several security installations.
Born in 1978 or 1979, Ashwamy joined the Egyptian Armed Forces as a young man and rose to join the elite unit, but was dismissed in 2012 over his hardening religious views.
Ashmawy was convicted last November by a military court over his role in 14 crimes including the 2014 killing of 22 soldiers in a border post attack, and a 2013 assassination attempt on a former interior minister, who survived the attack.
He was also found guilty of having led the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis Islamist militant group in the turbulent Sinai region.
Ashmawy broke with the organization after it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in November 2014.
Other charges against him included infiltrating to Libyan territories and forming an al-Qaeda aligned militant group, al-Mourabitoun, there.
In October 2018, the self-styled Libyan National Army under leader Khalifa Haftar captured Ashmawy in the eastern city of Derna. He was extradited to Egypt in May.
Egypt has for years been fighting a hardened insurgency in North Sinai that escalated after the army’s 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
In February 2018, the army and police launched a nationwide operation against militants focused on North Sinai that is ongoing.”
Two Iranian corona cases in Hungary confirmed:
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/coronavirus-hungary-confirms-first-two-cases-both-iranian-students-pm-orban-says
US military linguist in Iraq charged with leaking informant identities to Hezbollah
https://thedefensepost.com/2020/03/04/us-linguist-hezbollah-mariam-thompson/
“A U.S. military translator who was based in Iraq was charged on Wednesday, March 4, in Washington federal court with passing the names of U.S. informants to people linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Department of Justice said Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was a contract linguist with a “top secret” security clearance who began working with U.S. Special Forces in Erbil, Iraq in mid-December.
It said that one day after the December 29 U.S. airstrikes on installations of the Iraqi Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah, Thompson began accessing U.S. military computer files with the identities of U.S. sources and information they had provided.
Thompson was arrested on February 27, and investigators concluded that she passed the information on the informants to a Lebanese national whom she had “a romantic interest in,” according to the charges.
Investigators on February 19 found a warning note written in Arabic hidden under Thompson’s mattress. The note was intended for the target and contained names of U.S. assets and classified military information, the Justice Department said.
The Lebanese national is related to a Lebanese government official and “has apparent connections to Hezbollah,” the statement said.
Thompson also allegedly provided her Lebanese contact with information on how U.S. intelligence assets were gathering their information.
“Thompson accessed dozens of files concerning human intelligence sources, including true names, personal identification data, background information, and photographs of the human assets, as well as operational cables detailing information the assets provided to the United States government,” the Justice Department said.
Thompson was charged with transmitting national defense information to representatives of a foreign government, the maximum penalty for which is life imprisonment.
A representative for Thompson was not immediately available for comment.”
Rouhani Dismisses US Offer of Help with Coronavirus Fight
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/03/04/2216905/rouhani-dismisses-us-offer-of-help-with-coronavirus-fight
Arab Coalition Foils Terrorist Attack on Oil Tanker off Yemen Coast
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2162711/arab-coalition-foils-terrorist-attack-oil-tanker-yemen-coast
“The Saudi-led Arab coalition announced Wednesday that it had foiled a terrorist attack against an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Yemen, reported the Saudi Press Agency.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said the incident took place some 90 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s Nishtun port on Tuesday, while the tanker was sailing towards the Gulf of Aden.
Four explosives-laden vessels then approached the tanker in an attempt attack it.
He explained that the vessels were being controlled remotely.
Malki condemned the attack, saying it posed a threat to global energy and trade and marine routes. He sounded the alarm on the terrorist threats in straits stretching from the southern Red Sea, through Bab al-Mandeb, the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Hormuz Strait.
He stressed that the joint coalition command will continue to implement the necessary measures to neutralize and destroy any marine threat in its area of operations, calling on international partners to unite efforts to confront them.”
Canada Urges Iran to Give Access to Downed Airliner’s Black Boxes
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2162966/canada-urges-iran-give-access-downed-airliners-black-boxes
“Iran must give access to the black boxes from a Ukrainian airliner shot down by an Iranian missile in early January, Canada’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
“We do expect and we demand… from Iran to give access to the black boxes without any further delay,” Francois-Philippe Champagne said during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart in Kiev.
Champagne stressed that it has been more than 30 days since the accident killing all 176 on board, and that Iran will “undermine the international law” if it chooses to keep the recorders.
“We have questions and we expect Iran to provide answers,” the minister said.
“We hope that Iran will choose the way of transparency.”
The Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8.
Tehran admitted several days later it had accidentally shot down the airliner during a confrontation with the United States — Iran had launched missiles at US forces in Iraq in response to the killing of top general Qassem Soleimani on January 3.
The victims were mostly Iranian and Canadian citizens, as well as a Ukrainian crew.
Ukraine and Canada have repeatedly pressed Tehran to hand over the black box flight recorders to Kiev or Paris, but they remain in Iran.”
Houthis Launch Sectarian Killing Spree in Jawf Province
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2162351/houthis-launch-sectarian-killing-spree-jawf-province
“Houthi coup militias have launched a sectarian-based killing spree against civilians in the Yemeni city of Al-Hazm, located in the country’s northern Jawf province. The Iran-backed Houthis had taken over the city recently.
Sources, speaking under the conditions of anonymity, confirmed that clashes between pro-government forces and Houthis are ongoing in Al-Hazm and the rest of Jawf province.
“The National Army is spearheading fierce battles to liberate Al-Hazm from Houthi hold,” sources said.
“Houthi militias continue the campaign of abuse of citizens in the city of Al-Hazm, and they carry out a campaign of kidnappings of citizens and bombing the homes of military leaders, civilians, and anti-revolutionaries fighting in the ranks of the Yemeni national army,” sources added, confirming that Houthis executed three civilians for refusing to cooperate.
On the other hand, Militia shelling, which continued on villages and populated communities in the countryside of Al-Tahita district, south of Al-Hodeidah governorate left a civilian dead and caused property damage…”
4 March 2020 Greta Thunberg embarrasses EU by savaging bloc’s new climate law
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/04/greta-thunberg-embarrasses-eu-savaging-blocs-new-climate-law/
Greta Thunberg attacked the EU’s new law to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 as a “surrender” on Wednesday, humiliating the European Commission on the day the flagship legislation was launched.
The 17-year-old activist was invited to Brussels as the commission put forward a bill to make the target legally binding on its member states. The climate law is central to the European Green Deal, which includes a €100 billion package to help fossil fuel-dependent regions move to cleaner technologies.
Ms Thunberg savaged the law as unenforceable and unambitious, and accused the EU – which styles itself as global frontrunner on climate action – of a lack of leadership.
She said it had a less than 50 per cent chance of limiting the global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees celsius, a goal of the Paris…
Counter-terrorism programmes are violating human rights, UN expert says
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/counter-terrorism-programmes-prevent-cve-violate-human-rights-un
“Counter-extremism programmes, including those in the United Kingdom and the United States, are contributing to human rights violations, according to a United Nations expert.
A report submitted to the Human Rights Council on Wednesday said religious groups, minorities and civil society actors in particular have been victims of rights violations and targeting under the guise of countering “extremism.”
Special rapporteur Fionnuala Ní Aolain said any programme that relies on teachers, social workers and health-care staff to report signs of radicalisation should be scrapped.
“The negative impact cannot be overstated,” her report read. Such measures break the “fragile trust” between communities and public services.
The report also found that many counter-extremism practices result in “overselection and overreporting” on discriminatory grounds.
Muslim communities have repeatedly claimed they have been disproportionately targeted by the UK’s Prevent programme, as well as the Countering Violent Extremism Task Force in the US.
“Violations of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities are being enabled by ‘deradicalisation’ policies and practice,” the report said.
The report added that many countries engaged in counter-extremism efforts have policies that are not based on scientific research and could instead be “counter-productive”.
States engaged in counter-terrorism efforts should ensure “that policies and programmes aimed at preventing violent extremism are evidence-based and scientifically sound” and do not stifle peaceful political dissidence, criticism, non-violent protest or freedom of religion, it said.
Many post-9/11 programmes have resulted in polarising rhetoric that leads to a “with us or with the terrorists” mentality that has “led to the targeting of civil society members who question the legitimacy of the counter-terrorism measures”, the report said.
The UK’s Prevent programme has for years sparked widespread criticism among rights groups and Muslim advocacy organisations.
Last month, the British government said it would appoint an independent reviewer of its Prevent strategy through an open and transparent process, after human rights campaigners threatened it with further legal action.
The UK made similar promises last year, committing to commission an independent review of Prevent in parliamentary legislation.
Still, in December the Home Office was forced to drop its appointed reviewer, Lord Carlile, following a legal challenge by Rights Watch (UK) over his past advocacy for Prevent.
This time, the Government Legal Department said that the reviewer for the forthcoming review would be appointed “through full and open competition”.”
Turkish journalists arrested after reporting intel agent’s death in Libya
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/activists-and-politicians-slam-arrest-turkish-journalists-over-libya-mit-officer-report
“Media rights activists have condemned the detention of two journalists in Turkey after they reported that an intelligence agent was among the Turkish soldiers killed in operations in Libya.
Baris Terkoglu, news director for OdaTV, was detained in the early hours of Tuesday morning upon the orders of the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s office.
Hulya Kilinc, the reporter who wrote the story, was reportedly detained on Wednesday…”
Yemeni rights group accuses Saudi-led coalition of killing detainees
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200304-yemeni-rights-group-accuses-saudi-led-coalition-of-killing-detainees/
“The Mothers of Abductees Association in Yemen accused the Saudi-led military coalition on Tuesday of killing 210 detainees since the start of its military intervention in the country five years ago.
“Two hundred and ten civilians were abducted and then killed in coalition air strikes on Houthi prisons and detention centres,” the Association explained in a public statement. “No attention was paid to the lives of these innocent civilians, without investigation or accountability.”
The statement added: “For five consecutive years, our sons were kidnapped, forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained behind bars without legal justification. They were civilians who were taken from their homes, streets and public places because of their opinions, political affiliations or their intellectual and religious beliefs”.
According to the statement, since 2015, the Houthis have abducted and forcibly disappeared 1,839 civilians in 244 official prisons and detention centres.”
Migrants injured after Greek border forces open fire
Wounded man carried off at2m10
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/vg/video-gallery/migrants-injured-after-greek-border-forces-open-fire-/0
Video emerges of migrants being shot, injured & in one case killed on Turkish/Greek border.
The video is graphic.
The Turkish governor says the shots were fired by Greek border guards. 6 injured – 3 in legs/feet, 1 in groin, 1 in leg, 1 in chest – he later died.
https://twitter.com/Stone_SkyNews/status/1235154227812499456
Greek Government Spokesperson @SteliosPetsas: The Turkish side creates and disperses fake news targeted against Greece. Today they created yet another such falsehood, with injured migrants and one dead supposedly by Greek fire. I categorically deny it.
https://twitter.com/govgr/status/1235159908653445120
Article with video:
https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/03/greece-migrant-crisis-is-an-attack-by-turkey-on-the-eu-austria
https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/03/greece-migrant-crisis-is-an-attack-by-turkey-on-the-eu-austria
Yemen’s Houthi government approves plans to confront Saudi coalition in south, east
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200304-yemens-houthi-government-approves-plans-to-confront-saudi-coalition-in-south-east/
“On Monday, the Houthi-affiliated Supreme Political Council (SPC) and the National Salvation Government (NSG) held a meeting to discuss plans to expand operations in the southern and eastern fronts in the conflict against the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition…”
US lifts embargo on 157 Sudan institutions
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200304-us-lifts-embargo-on-157-sudan-institutions/
“The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has lifted sanctions against 157 Sudanese institutions, Sudan Central Bank’s governor said on Wednesday, Anadolu reports.
“We received a letter from OFAC confirming that the executive orders of 13067 and 13412 that were issued in October 2017 has become effective and that is ending the embargo on Sudan officially,” the statement by Badur Aldin Abdul Rahim confirmed.
Accordingly, Rahim said, Sudanese institutions have been delisted from the US sanctions.
He, however, added that a few individuals and institutions related to the Darfur act were still under the economic embargo.
“But that would not have any effect on banking transactions with Sudan,” the statement read.
Sudan was placed on the US list of countries sponsoring terrorism in 1993 on accusations of supporting terrorist groups.
In 1997, Washington imposed economic sanctions on Khartoum and tightened them a year later after attacks against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
In 2007, the US imposed further sanctions after the outbreak of conflict in the western Darfur province.
Later in October 2017, the administration of former President Barack Obama lifted some of the economic sanctions, but left the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (DPAA) and the terrorism list designation.
Last month, the northeast African nation announced reaching a settlement with the families of those killed in the 2000 USS Cole bombing in order to be removed from the US terror listing.
The bombing was an attack on USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, on October 12, 2000, when it was being refueled in Yemen’s Aden harbor. Some 17 US Navy sailors were killed and 39 injured in the incident.”
EU border crisis is ‘Erdogan’s violence’, says Manfred Weber
Russia reinforces Syria before Putin-Erdogan talks – flight and shipping data
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-russia/russia-reinforces-syria-before-putin-erdogan-talks-flight-and-shipping-data-idUSKBN20R2QP
“Russia is racing to reinforce its troops in Syria by sea and air before talks between the Russian and Turkish leaders in Moscow on Thursday, flight data and shipping movements show…”
Turkey prepares human rights case over Greece’s treatment of migrants
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-turkey-eu/turkey-prepares-human-rights-case-over-greeces-treatment-of-migrants-idUSKBN20R2UP
“Turkey said on Wednesday it was preparing a case in the European Court of Human Rights over Greece’s treatment of migrants, and added the EU has so far made no concrete offer to deal with thousands trying to enter the bloc.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday as hundreds of Turkey-based migrants again tried to cross into Greece, prompting riot police on both sides of the border to fire tear gas and trade blame.
Ankara earlier on Wednesday accused Greek forces of shooting dead a migrant and injuring others – claims Athens rejected and said Turkish police helped migrants illegally cross into its territory.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on broadcaster CNN Turk that officials are “making preparations” to apply to the ECHR over Greece’s interventions with the migrants. The families of two people who died have authorized Ankara to do so.
He said that more than 135,000 people had so far passed from Turkey’s border province of Edirne into Greece since late last week, citing what he called daily police observation.
The number was higher than other estimates.
The war of words between Athens and Ankara has escalated since last week when Turkey decided to no longer abide a 2016 deal with the European Union to halt illegal migration flows to Europe in return for billions of euros in aid.
Since then, more than 10,000 migrants from Afghanistan, Syria and other countries have been trying to breach the border.
Turkey, locked in a military conflict with Moscow and Damascus in Syria’s Idlib region, fears another wave of Syrian refugees after already hosting some 3.6 million. It wants the EU to more forcefully back it in Syria and deliver more funds.
Ibrahim Kalin, Turkey’s presidential spokesman, told reporters in Ankara that Michel made “no concrete proposition” on migrants to the EU in talks with Erdogan but added: “We hope they somehow formulate this plan soon and get it to us so we can quickly realize it in the event we reach agreement.”
He said Turkey does not consider its decision to encourage migrants to cross over into the EU as “political blackmail” as some European officials have said.
“It is a double standard that the European Union can mobilize hundreds of millions of euros to Greece within days, but uses bureaucracy as an excuse when it comes to Turkey,” Kalin added.”