Reader’s Links for March 10, 2020

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Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

91 Replies to “Reader’s Links for March 10, 2020”

  1. Iran is undermining global efforts in combating corona — Cabinet
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/590704/SAUDI-ARABIA/Iran-is-undermining-global-efforts-in-combating-corona-Cabinet

    “The Council of Ministers on Tuesday slammed Iran for its irresponsible behavior in handling coronavirus cases and thus undermining international efforts to combat the virus.

    “Iran bears direct responsibility for the outbreak of corona infection,” said the weekly session of the Cabinet, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.

    Minister of Commerce and Acting Minister of Media Majed Al-Qasabi said in a statement to Saudi Press Agency following the session that the Cabinet condemned Iran’s irresponsible behavior of facilitating the entry of Saudi citizens to its territory without stamping their passports at the time when new coronavirus is spreading.

    “This is dangerous to health and thus posing a threat to human safety and undermines international efforts to combat the virus,” the statement said…”

  2. ‘Racist’: Saudi Aramco accused of humiliating foreign worker amid coronavirus panic
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-foreign-worker-saudi-aramco-humiliated

    “Images of a foreign worker walking around the halls of Saudi oil company Aramco and wearing a large hand santiser dispenser have been condemned as racist and exploitative.

    According to several photos that went viral late on Tuesday, a worker wearing a mask and a box that dispenses hand sanitiser can be seen approaching staff in the lobby and outside perimeter of one of the oil behemoth’s buildings.

    Although the image was not geo-tagged, the interior of one of the building’s resembled Aramco’s offices in Dhahran…”

  3. Coronavirus: Turkey reports first case of COVID-19
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-turkey-first-case-virus

    “Turkey has reported its first case of coronavirus as the illness continues to spread across the Middle East and North Africa.

    Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters late on Tuesday that the virus had been detected in a male citizen who had contracted the disease – officially known as COVID-19 – while in Europe.

    The patient has since been isolated and his family members have quarantined, Koca said.

    The minister warned citizens against unnecessary travel abroad and urged them to follow all methods of protection against the coronavirus announced by the ministry.

    “We should limit human touch, travel abroad as little as possible, self-quarantine ourselves, and take special care of the elderly,” Koca said.

    He added that one 86-year-old American woman tested positive for the virus did not visit Turkey, but simply passed through an airport.

    While the Middle East has been severly impacted by the outbreak, Turkey remains largely unaffected by the disease.

    Iran remains the epicentre of the virus in the region, with authorities reporting 54 deaths on Tuesday alone…”

  4. EXCLUSIVE: Second member of key Saudi council arrested in MBS purge
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-second-member-key-saudi-council-arrested-mbs-purge

    “A second member of the Bayaa, or Allegiance Council, which determines the succession to the Saudi throne, was arrested on Saturday as part of a purge of senior princes launched last week by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Middle East Eye has learned.

    The arrested prince is Mohammed bin Saad Al Saud, the son of Saad bin Abdulaziz, the late brother of King Salman.

    His apprehension followed that of Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the younger brother of King Salman, as well as his son Nayef bin Ahmed, and Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince.

    At least 20 princes in total have been arrested since Friday.

    Well placed sources have also told MEE that Mansour al-Shalhoub, the director of Ahmed’s private office, is under arrest.

    A third member of the Bayaa, Saud bin Nayef, the elder brother of Mohammed bin Nayef and the father of the interior minister, was taken in for questioning but later released. Saud is governor of the Eastern Province.

    On Sunday, MEE revealed the crown prince’s plan to install himself as king while his father is still alive, and to do this by forcing Salman’s abdication before Saudi Arabia hosts the G20 summit in November in Riyadh.

    Such a move would require the endorsement of the Bayaa.

    The pattern of arrests confirms what MEE has reported from sources aware of the crown prince’s plan: that the Bayaa, not an alleged coup plot, is the focus of the latest wave of arrests.

    The role of the Bayaa in Mohammed bin Salman’s scheme is two-fold.

    The first would be to declare that King Salman, who has dementia, is no longer capable of carrying out his duties as king. The council could also – or additionally – lend its authority to a process in which the king abdicated voluntarily.

    When it does so, the crown prince would become king.

    As MEE reported when Prince Ahmed left his home in London with the assurances of M16 and the CIA that he would not be arrested on his return to Saudi Arabia, his aim was to block his nephew’s ascension to the throne constitutionally by using the powers vested in the Bayaa to do so.

    The council’s second role is to approve a new crown prince, ostensibly from three candidates offered by the new king. Removing all the dissenting voices from it is thus key to Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to take the throne…”

  5. Saudi-backed Yemen forces hit back at Houthi gains
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200310-saudi-backed-yemen-forces-hit-back-at-houthi-gains/

    “The Saudi-backed forces fighting on behalf of exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi yesterday carried out a counter-offensive in the northern Al-Jawf province in an attempt to reverse recent gains made by the joint-forces of the Yemeni army and the Houthi movement.

    Supported by Saudi air-power, Hadi’s troops have reportedly retaken the Khub and Sha’af districts and, in the process, opened a road linking the areas with the Islah-stronghold province of Marib…”

  6. Germany to try suspected Assad aides on torture charges
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/3/10/germany-to-try-suspected-assad-aides-on-torture-charges

    “A German court announced on Tuesday that the world’s first criminal torture trial by suspected agents of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime will begin on 23 April.

    The Higher Regional Court in the German city of Koblenz said it will apply the principle of universal jurisdiction, in a move that is sending an important signal to survivors and those affected by the Assad regime’s system of mass oppression of suspected dissidents.

    Germany has already issued arrest warrants for regime officials and aides who have helped the Assad regime carry out the mass torture on civilians.

    The main defendant has been identified as Anwar R., a former official at the Syrian reigme’s General Intelligence Directorate and head of the notorious Al-Khatib prison.

    Investigations surrounding the Al-Khatib prison shows, Anwar R. is charged with being an accomplice responsible for torturing at least 4,000 people – including the use of rape – and murdering 58 people.

    In February 2019, Anwar R, along with accomplice Eyad A, were arrested in Berlin…”

  7. Exclusive: Afghan government to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners from jails – decree
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-taliban-prisoners-decree/exclusive-afghan-government-to-release-1500-taliban-prisoners-from-jails-decree-idUSKBN20X30W

    “Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is set to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners in coming days to pave the way for direct talks with the insurgent group aimed at ending the 18-year-long war in Afghanistan, according to a copy of the decree seen by Reuters…”

  8. Syria:Egyptian intelligence chief in Damascus against Turkey
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/libya/2020/03/10/syriaegyptian-intelligence-chief-in-damascus-against-turkey_0a53e3dd-9d28-4c9f-b7d8-2b38b57026cf.html

    “The head of Egypt’s security services, General Abbas Kamel, recently travelled to Damascus to meet with his Syrian counterpart, Ali Mamluk, as part of joint Egyptian-Syrian efforts to fight Turkish influence in the eastern Mediterranean and, in particular, Libya, Syrian government-run media outlets reported. According to the media, Kamel’s visit to Damascus took place last week, before Russian President Vladimir Putin reached an agreement in Moscow with his Turkish counterpart Tayyep Recep Erdogan, to divide up the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib.

    The media recalled that Kamel and Mamluk already met twice over the past two years in Cairo and that cooperation between the two countries has strengthened over the past few years against Ankara.

    Egypt supports Libyan troops led by General Khalifa Haftar, and the Syrian government, an ally of Russia, has established formal diplomatic relations with the cabinet led by Haftar against the government of Fayyez Sarraj supported, among others, by Turkey.

    As reported over the last few hours by several Syrian sources in Syria, Russia and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are close to Iran and have supported since 2012 the Syrian government in the ongoing war, have started to recruit Syrian civilians to deploy in Libya in order to provide ”logistical” support to Haftar’s troops in their siege against Tripoli. (ANSAmed)”

  9. German president: ‘Raise your voice’ against hate and violence
    https://www.dw.com/en/german-president-raise-your-voice-against-hate-and-violence/a-52710481

    “German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has appealed to the “silent majority” of Germans to be “loud in the face of hate and violence.” Germany has seen an increased number of hate crimes in recent years.

    German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier identified a “massive problem with hate and violence” in Germany at a discussion event on Tuesday in the eastern state of Saxony.

    Steinmeier appealed to what he called the people of the “silent majority,” who want to live in peace with one another and stand against violence.

    “But these people — the majority — need to learn to be loud,” the president said in an appeal to assembled citizens. “Raise your voices against hate and violence.”

    The comments come as the number of far-right and racially motivated hate crimes in Germany are on the rise, for example when a racist shooter killed 11 people in Hanau in February.

    ‘No one can be silent’

    “There is a climate of indignation and disinhibition, of degradation and rabble-rousing — a climate that we can no longer accept,” he said.

    “No one can say any more that it does not affect them. And no one can be silent,” he added.

    The remarks were made in the eastern city of Zwickau at a state discussion event called “Together against Hate and Violence,” where local politicians, researchers and representatives of other authorities spoke and debated.

    Local politicians are especially often the victims of attack. One survey showed that one third of German mayors had been subject to verbal or physical abuse.

    After the discussion, Steinmeier joined other representatives in attending a ceremony in Zwickau at a memorial for victims of the “National Socialism Underground,” or NSU, a far-right terror cell responsible for killing nine people between 2000 and 2007.”

  11. Is Hezbollah leader Nasrallah infected with the coronavirus?

    Arabic media are buzzing, saying that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is infected with the coronavirus – and is ill.

    Lebanese journalist Maria Malouf tweeted in Arabic, “Media circulated that # Hassan_ Nasrallah was infected with the Corona virus after receiving a high-level delegation coming from Tehran, weeks before the World Bank delegation visited Lebanon. There is an absolute blackout on the health of Hassan Nasrallah after a visit to [Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali ] Larijani at the head of a delegation, which later turned out to have someone infected with the virus.”

    Nasrallah has not been seen for a couple of weeks.

    I see no independent confirmation of this; all the news reports are quoting Malouf’s tweet. And Malouf is an opponent of Hezbollah.

    Still, it is a tantalizing rumor. If Nasrallah would die, it would be nearly as big a blow to Iran as Qasem Soleimani’s death was.
    http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2020/03/is-hezbollah-leader-nasrallah-infected.html

  12. The Moderator at Promed comments on the CDC cases-in-us report:

    “There is an epidemic curve by date of onset of illness…
    The major increase in reported cases started between 17-20 Feb 2020, and is continuing. As with other locations around the world, the countries seem to go through a “seek and ye shall find” stage after recognizing there is ongoing local transmission.

    “If you look at the tables of case counts and type of transmission in the WHO situation update, there are countries that are frozen in “imported cases”, in many instances testing travellers from outside of their countries, before they recognize they have ongoing transmission in the country.

    “That situation somewhat applies in the USA, where testing was restricted to individuals coming from China or had known epidemiologic links to other confirmed cases. Once a clinically compatible case without identifiable epidemiologic links to other cases was identified, the rush to test based on clinical grounds rather than epidemiologic grounds started, and states are seeking and finding cases.…

    “Conclusion: the number of cases will probably continue to rise at a rapid rate, just reflecting the identification of cases once the suspected case definition for testing was changed. A result of a change from “don’t look and it isn’t there” to “seek and ye shall find.”

    https://promedmail.org/promed-post/?id=7070560

    • [ If our actions–such as getting vaccinated–save even one life, we do them. Instead of looking at the death rate of coronavirus, look at how your actions can prevent even one death.]

      Rav Asher Weiss – Coronavirus in Halacha

      • and do not endanger your family if someone else can help
        and we need to preserve normal society and commerce
        and we need to cooperate with each other and authorities in reducing size of gatherings