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.
3 New Confirmed Coronavirus Cases In India; One Tested Positive In Noida & 2 In Bengaluru
US hits back after Chinese regime blames them for bringing coronavirus to China | China in Focus
The Blind Spot of the Left
Quarantined With Kaitlin
US Air Force Flew Half a Million Coronavirus Test Swabs From Italy to Tennessee
Similar missions to distribute COVID-19 test kits are expected in coming days.
UPDATE 2:30 PM: This story has been updated to include comments from Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman and Air Force Brig. Gen. Dr. Paul Friedrichs, the Joint Staff surgeon.
The U.S. Air Force quietly flew 500,000 swabs for COVID-19 testing kits from Italy to Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, Defense One has learned.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman confirmed the shipment on board an Air National Guard aircraft. The plane carried “swabs” that are used in the COVID-19 testing process, he said during a Wednesday afternoon briefing at the Pentagon.
“There’s multiple parts to testing,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Dr. Paul Friedrichs, the Joint Staff surgeon, said at the same briefing. “The first is the swabs that are used to collect the sample from the individual who’s being tested, then there’s a liquid … that you put the swab into. That’s what composed what we brought over from Italy.”
These types of swabs are made by companies in the U.S. and overseas, he said.
“This is a great example of how nations are working together to ensure that we’re meeting the global demand,” Friedrichs said.
Gen. Dave Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, confirmed that military cargo planes were moving coronavirus testing kits, but did not give specific details during a Wednesday briefing at the Pentagon. The general acknowledged that “we’ve just made a pretty significant movement into Memphis.”
The mission was flown by a C-17 cargo plane using the call “Reach 911,” which landed early Tuesday morning at Memphis International Airport, a major FedEx hub. Shipping the kits to Memphis allows them to be quickly transferred to commercial aircraft and distributed around the country, according to people familiar with the mission.
A photo posted to Instagram on Tuesday shows a C-17 filled with pallets loaded with the test kits, captioned by a user who said he was part of the air crew. The user who posted the picture has since deleted it, but Defense One has verified its authenticity.
Goldfein acknowledged the Air Force is “moving test kits all in support of Homeland Security [and] Health and Human Services to make sure that we’re meeting the demands that they have.”
While Goldfein did give specific details of the flight, sources, social media posts and public flight tracking data gave a glimpse into the mission, which began early Monday afternoon at Aviano Air Base in Italy and ended just after 1 a.m. local time in Memphis.
Similar missions are expected in the coming days as the military ramps up its support for pandemic-response efforts.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/03/us-air-force-flew-half-million-coronavirus-test-kits-italy-tennessee/163879/
“Baltimore Mayor Begs Residents To Stop Shooting Each Other So Hospital Beds Can Be Used For Coronavirus Patients”
https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/03/18/we-need-those-beds-baltimore-mayor-urges-people-to-put-down-guns-after-violence-continues-during-covid-19-pandemic/
“Baltimore Declares Coronavirus State Of Emergency; Mayor Urges End To Violence To Free Up Hospital B” WJZ – March 18, 2020
Coronavirus: How China Spun Criticism Into “Racism”
Coronavirus in the Middle East: Unlearned Lessons and Missed Opportunities
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: There is little indication that Middle Eastern rulers are learning any lessons from the devastating coronavirus. Nor is there any suggestion that they are willing to see the pandemic as an opportunity to negotiate new social contracts at a time when the virus has temporarily taken the wind out of the sails out of mass anti-government protests.
Iran has become the poster child of what happens when the public distrusts a government that has a track record of being untransparent from the outset of a crisis, limits freedom of expression that often creates early warning systems that could have enabled authorities to take timely, preemptive measures to avert or limit the damage, and is perceived as corrupt.
Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei found himself forced last week to bring in the military to clear the streets after Iranians, already struggling under the impact of harsh US economic sanctions, refused to adhere to public health warnings regarding large gatherings, social distancing, and advice to stay at home.
Khamenei assigned the task to the regular armed forces after the Revolutionary Guards Corps failed to persuade Iranians to heed government advice regarding the epidemic, which, as of this writing, has infected some 14,000 people and caused 724 deaths and turned Iran into one of the world’s hardest-hit countries.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/coronavirus-middle-east/
US believes Russia killed Turkish soldiers, considers aid to Turkey: Pompeo
We believe Russia has killed dozens of Turkish military personnel in Syria,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Reuters late Tuesday.
“The United States will consider additional help to Turkey,” he added.
Turkey launched Operation Spring Shield on Feb. 27 after at least 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike in Idlib province and after repeated violations of previous cease-fires.
Under a 2018 deal with Russia, the Turkish troops were in Idlib to protect civilians from attacks by the regime and terrorist groups.
Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria’s war, agreed on March 5 to halt military activity in the northwestern Idlib region after an escalation of violence displaced nearly a million people and brought the two sides close to confrontation.
The deal addresses Turkey’s main concerns, stopping a flow of refugees and preventing the deaths of more Turkish soldiers on the ground.
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/us-believes-russia-killed-turkish-soldiers-considers-aid-to-turkey-pompeo
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Pompeo says Russia responsible for Turkish soldiers’ deaths
The United States for the first time Tuesday held Russia responsible for the deaths of dozens of Turkish troops in Syria as it vowed accountability.
An airstrike last month in the Idlib region killed 34 Turkish soldiers, although Ankara blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and reached a new ceasefire deal with Moscow.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, announcing new sanctions on Syrian officials, placed blame on Russia, which along with Iran has backed Assad in his bloody quest to crush rebels.
“We believe Russia has killed dozens of Turkish military personnel in the course of their military operation,” Pompeo told reporters, without naming a specific incident.
“We stand with our NATO ally Turkey and will consider additional measures that support Turkey at the end of the violence,” he said.
Analysts widely doubted that Assad’s rundown air force could effectively hit Turkish forces but until now the United States had steered clear of blaming Russia, mindful of official statements by Ankara.
After the killings, Turkey killed dozens of Syrian government troops as retaliation but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to Moscow to negotiate a ceasefire with his counterpart Vladimir Putin that includes joint Russian-Turkish patrols.
Idlib has been the last major battleground between Assad’s forces against jihadists and their rebel allies, who are backed by Turkey.
The offensive launched in December caused a new humanitarian crisis in Syria’s brutal nine-year civil war with close to one million people fleeing in the dead of winter.
Pompeo announced new sanctions against Syrian Defense Minister Ali Ayoub, accusing him of destroying an earlier truce through the offensive.
“His deliberate actions since December 2019 have prevented a ceasefire from taking hold inside Syria,” Pompeo said.
Under the sanctions, any US assets of Ayoub are frozen and the United States can prosecute anyone for financial transactions with him.
US officials had earlier pointed to the deaths of Turkish troops as proof that Ankara should be cautious about building relations with Russia.
Turkey has defied warnings from its NATO alliance and was kicked out of the US F-35 program after it went ahead and bought the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, although it has not activated it.
https://www.france24.com/en/20200317-pompeo-says-russia-responsible-for-turkish-soldiers-deaths
Watch: Dutch Health Minister Collapses at Podium During Parliament Debate on Coronavirus (breitbart, Mar 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/18/watch-dutch-health-minister-collapses-at-podium-during-parliament-debate-on-coronavirus/
“A debate on coronavirus was adjourned mid-session Wednesday afternoon after the Dutch minister for medical care collapsed while standing at the dispatch box.
An address to the floor by right-wing populist and Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders was interrupted Wednesday when Bruno Bruins, the minister for medical care in the Dutch government who is one of the leaders of the nation’s coronavirus response collapsed at his desk. Bruins was helped to his feet by parliamentary ushers and government colleagues before walking from the chamber, the debate on coronavirus was then suspended until later Wednesday evening.
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that while it is not clear what caused government minister Bruins to collapse while standing at the front of the parliamentary chamber and whether he has been infected with coronavirus, he and others had been working “day and night” in the face of the health crisis, so simple exhaustion may be an element
The newspaper reports Bruins has now retired to bed for rest and to eat.
In a statement released Wednesday evening through his Twitter account, Bruno Bruins said an “intensive” few weeks had caused him to become exhausted and that he was going to his home to rest before returning to work on Thursday, intending to “fight coronavirus as well as possible”.
The debate had been on the Netherland’s response to the coronavirus, and to what extent the country could handle a shutdown of months or even years to weather the storm.
Populist leader Mr Wilders had criticised the government for not going far enough with its responses, accusing the leadership of “playing Russian roulette” with the lives of the public by not shutting the country down harder and faster.
The Freedom Party leader is calling for an immediate and full lockdown.”
The Left Exploits a Pandemic
Never letting a crisis go to waste.
March 18, 2020
Joseph Klein
Americans are trying to cope as best they can with the devastating coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their everyday lives. Some have turned to prayer. Last week, President Trump declared Sunday March 15th a “National Day of Prayer for All Americans Affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic and for our National Response Efforts.” What was Islamist Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s response? She retweeted anti-gun activist David Hogg’s disgusting rant, which said in part: “F**k a National day of prayer.” Then she tried to walk back what she had done with this lame explanation: “My retweet was not to be an attack on prayer. It was to bring attention to the need for meaningful action to combat this public health crisis.” Evidently, in Tlaib’s warped mind, cursing a National Day of Prayer for Americans of all faiths is an effective way of bringing attention to a crisis that all Americans and their elected leaders are facing with all hands on deck.
For leftists, the coronavirus crisis provides them with the perfect opportunity to infect America with their own viruses of radicalization and hate. Denver city councilwoman Candi CdeBaca, a self-professed democratic socialist, went so far as to tweet her “solidarity” with another leftist Trump-hater’s twisted post, which said, “For the record, if I do get the coronavirus I’m attending every MAGA rally I can.”
https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/left-exploits-covid-19-pandemic-joseph-klein
Because of the Coronavirus, Borders Suddenly Matter
New York State even establishes internal borders.
There is a Yiddish expression that translated states, “Man makes plans and God laughs.” In other words, for all of the hubris of the human species, things do not always go as planned. Circumstances beyond human control can easily obliterate the best laid plans.
Scientists currently believe that the mighty dinosaurs that inhabited the earth for millions of years were suddenly rendered extinct when an asteroid slammed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula, roughly 65 million years ago.
Literally overnight the world changed and the mighty dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the earth. Some disappeared entirely and others, it is believed, morphed into other creatures such as birds.
https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/because-coronavirus-borders-suddenly-matter-michael-cutler
Soros-Funded Group to Spend Millions Attacking President Trump Over Coronavirus
March 17, 2020
Daniel Greenfield
Sure, that money could help actual affected people, but during an economic crisis and a pandemic, the Democrats will use big donor money to smear President Trump and undermine the administration. How patriotic of them.
And mostly it’s an opportunity
Germany halts refugee intake programme with Turkey as borders close
The Interior Ministry has halted the programmes on refugee resettlement “due to the restrictions on travel.”
Germany has suspended its refugee intake programmes, including a deal with Turkey, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, as the European Union shut its borders to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The Interior Ministry has halted the programmes on refugee resettlement “due to the restrictions on travel,” said the spokesman, adding that they will resume “when possible.”
Tuesday’s meeting
Turkish, German, British and French leaders on Tuesday discussed the Syria crisis and refugee issue as well as joint action against coronavirus in a video conference.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also discussed methods of humanitarian aid to Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.
“We found opportunity to extensively evaluate many topics ranging from fight against coronavirus and the humanitarian situation in [Syria’s] Idlib, to solutions to Syria crisis, matter of asylum seekers and Turkey-EU relations at the summit,” Erdogan said on Twitter following the summit.
“In this difficult process that we pass through at the regional and global level, we will operate diplomacy and cooperation mechanisms more actively, and we will resolutely continue our efforts to resolve problems as soon as possible,” he added.
Germany promises assistance
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Merkel said, “Germany has earmarked €25 million plus €100 million for humanitarian assistance, and this must now quickly reach to the people, ” she said, referring to millions of displaced Syrians who moved near Turkish border due to intense attacks by the Assad regime in recent months.
“We have expressed our willingness to offer more financial support if necessary,” she said, adding that they were also aware of Ankara’s expectations for upgrading the EU-Turkey Customs Union.
The European Union has called on Turkey to stop refugees and migrants, from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Africa as well as Syria, trying to cross the border.
Greece has used tear gas and water cannons against the refugees and migrants, and both countries have sent troops or security forces to the border.
Ankara has accused Greek forces of shooting dead four refugees at the border, a claim Athens denies.
https://www.trtworld.com/europe/germany-halts-refugee-intake-programme-with-turkey-as-borders-close-34679
BREAKING: Italian Health Ministry Confirms ONLY TWELVE or 3% of Coronavirus Fatalities in Study Did Not Have Other Serious Health Complications
Since early March Italy became the epicenter of of the coronavirus epidemic
As of Wednesday morning there have been 31,506 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy and 2,503 deaths.
But new data from the Italian government shows that the people dying from the coronavirus are either the elderly or have other complications.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/breaking-italian-health-ministry-confirms-only-twelve-coronavirus-fatalities-did-not-have-other-serious-health-complications/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
Coronavirus likely puts a halt to deportations from Germany
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, on March 12 a German charter deportation flight landed in Kabul. It may have been the last such flight for now,given the virus’ spread and ensuing global aviation shutdown.
Deutsche Welle’s questions to the German Interior Ministry were clearly formulated:
1) Will the Interior Ministry suspend collective deportation flights to Afghanistan due to the coronavirus pandemic?
2) If yes, for what reason and for how long?
3) If not, why not?
The written response from the Interior Ministry in Berlin avoids a clear definition, but the tendency is clear. In all likelihood, there will be a general suspension of deportations from Germany due to the coronavirus pandemic — even if, as yet, no one is officially speaking of a moratorium on such deportations.
“The global situation in connection with the coronavirus is very dynamic. Numerous countries have already refused to allow the entrance of foreign nationals or have limited admission to a few specific exceptions. Naturally, repatriations are also impacted by these effects on global passenger traffic,” said the response.
EU border agency pays for collective deportations
Politically speaking, the deportation of rejected asylum-seekers is a highly sensitive topic in Germany. Right-wing extremist politicians use the issue to stir up antipathy against refugees and migrants by demanding a more frequent and Draconian application of the laws. There are currently more than 24,300 Afghans living in Germany who are required to leave the country because their asylum applications have been rejected.
The last German deportation flight to Kabul landed in the early morning hours of March 12 in the Afghan capital. On board the charter plane was 39 deported Afghan men, including 22 who had been convicted of a criminal offense. 94 German security officers — at least two police officers for each deportee — accompanied the flight.
The European border protection agency Frontex bears the costs for national collective deportations by charter flight, which at last report cost the agency €342,000 ($376,000) per flight.
Logistical teamwork for collective deportations
The collective deportation to Kabul on March 12 was preceded by a larger logistical effort. The 39 Afghan men affected had to be brought together from all over Germany, in this case at Halle-Leipzig airport in the country’s east. They were brought from nine German states: Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
The roundup thus required intensive travel and logistical planning in the middle of the coronavirus crisis. In its statement to DW, the Interior Ministry indicated that such transportation logistics cannot currently be sustained: “Given the priority protection tasks of the state police and the federal police for the population in connection with preventing the regional spread of the coronavirus, further restrictions on return measures may occur.”
An appeal from Kabul
In the meantime, the German government is warning German nationals and residents against taking any domestic or foreign trips, and the Foreign Office has issued a worldwide travel warning. Both federal and state police forces have to take on other tasks including border controls. Germany, in cooperation with other EU leaders, has now implemented entry bans and is concentrating on bringing Germans stranded abroad back home.
The Afghan refugee ministry had already made a written appeal to Germany and other European countries last week to suspend the deportations, Deputy Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Dr. Alema told DW from Kabul: “As more than 10,000 migrants return to Afghanistan every day due to the strong outbreak of coronavirus in Iran, the ministry is busy looking after these returnees and has no capacity to look after those deported from European countries.” Some countries — such as the UK, Denmark and Finland — have already acted to stop such deportations, she said.
Just over 40% of all asylum applications by Afghan nationals are currently approved in Germany. The country’s 16 states make decisions individually, at the state rather than federal level, on such deportations. Bavaria is the state that has deported the most Afghans to date: Of the 361 Afghans deported in 2019, 216 came from Bavaria. The city-state of Bremen has so far been the only state not to have participated in a collective deportation.
But now the coronavirus pandemic seems to be able to do what the ongoing protests by European human rights defenders have failed to do: prevent people seeking asylum from being deported to a war zone. According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 civilians have been killed or wounded in Afghanistan in the past ten years; last year alone there were more than 10,000 civilians killed or wounded.
The recent agreement between the United States and the Taliban has not yet led to a nationwide cease-fire. Germany resumed deportations to Afghanistan in December 2016 and since then has deported 907 Afghans, ALL MEN , on 33 charter flights.
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-likely-puts-a-halt-to-deportations-from-germany/a-52820722
U.S. government, tech industry discussing ways to harness location data to combat coronavirus
WASHINGTON – The U.S. government is in active talks with Facebook, Google and a wide array of tech companies and health experts about how they can use location data gleaned from Americans’ phones to combat the novel coronavirus, including tracking whether people are keeping one another at safe distances to stem the outbreak.
Public-health experts are interested in the possibility that private-sector companies could compile the data in anonymous, aggregated form, which they could then use to map the spread of the infection, according to three people familiar with the effort, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the project is in its early stages.
Analyzing trends in smartphone owners’ whereabouts could prove to be a powerful tool for health authorities looking to track coronavirus, which has infected more than 180,000 people globally. But it’s also an approach that could leave some Americans uncomfortable, depending on how it’s implemented, given the sensitivity when it comes to details of their daily whereabouts. Multiple sources stressed that – if they proceed – they are not building a government database.
In recent interviews, Facebook executives said the U.S. government is particularly interested in understanding patterns of people’s movements, which can be derived through data the company collects from users who allow it. The tech giant in the past has provided this information to researchers in the form of statistics, which in the case of coronavirus, could help officials predict the next hotspot or decide where to allocate overstretched health resources.
Google also confirmed late Tuesday it had been in conversations with government officials, tech giants and health experts about ways to tap its trove of location data, particularly any insights it can derive from its popular maps app.
“We’re exploring ways that aggregated anonymized location information could help in the fight against COVID-19. One example could be helping health authorities determine the impact of social distancing, similar to the way we show popular restaurant times and traffic patterns in Google Maps,” spokesman Johnny Luu said in a statement, stressing any such partnership “would not involve sharing data about any individual’s location, movement, or contacts.”
At the White House, an official at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the government is “encouraged by American technology companies looking to leverage aggregated, anonymized data to glean key insights for covid-19 modeling efforts.”
The official added those insights might “help public health officials, researchers, and scientists improve their understanding of the spread of covid-19 and transmission of the disease.”
A task force created by tech executives, entrepreneurs and investors presented a range of ideas around disease mapping and telehealth to the White House during a private meeting Sunday. The discussions included representatives from tech giants, including Apple and Google; investors led by the New York-based firm Hangar and well-known Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway; public-health leaders from Harvard University; and smaller telehealth startups like Ro, two sources said.
“We are still in the process of collecting ideas, recommendations, and proposed actions from task-force members, which we intend to present to the White House in the coming days,” said Josh Mendelsohn, the managing partner at Hangar, who helped organize the effort.
Many of those involved either did not respond or declined comment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to a request for comment.
Apple said late Tuesday that it has only worked on issues related to telehealth and distance learning, stressing that it doesn’t collect iPhone users’ location data.
The early, unprecedented collaboration between Washington and Silicon Valley reflects the urgent, nationwide scramble to stop a deadly malady that has shuttered businesses, skewered the stock market, sent students home from school and now threatens to overwhelm the U.S. medical system with patients in need of critical care.
Over the past week, White House officials led by Michael Kratsios, the country’s chief technology officer, have convened a series of meetings to leverage the tech expertise of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, IBM and other technology leaders. The government has encouraged social-media sites to take a more aggressive approach to thwart coronavirus conspiracy theories, The Post has reported, responding to concerns that foreign misinformation might be stoking panic about the outbreak. And the Trump administration has explored partnering with the tech industry to improve telework and telehealth offerings for millions of Americans.
The relationship hasn’t been without its hiccups: On Friday, President Donald Trump announced Google would be developing a website so Americans could learn how to get tested for coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19. That differed from the initial statements from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which had indicated it planned a more limited offering targeting residents of California. Ultimately, though, Google said soon after it would unveil a website to provide information for U.S. patients nationwide.
On Monday, White House leaders, tech experts and health officials struck a more unified note, unveiling a portal for about 29,000 research papers on coronavirus. The portal allows the tech industry’s artificial-intelligence tools – which can scan and analyze data en masse – to process the papers rapidly to uncover new insights about the global malady.
“Decisive action from America’s science and technology enterprise is critical to prevent, detect, treat, and develop solutions to covid-19,” Kratsios said in a statement.
The new efforts by Washington and Silicon Valley arrived the same week that dozens of engineers, executives and epidemiologists issued an open letter, calling on companies to take a greater stand against coronavirus. Specifically, they encouraged Apple and Google to adopt “privacy preserving” features that might enable authorities to help doctors determine people who were in contact with a patient that later tested positive for coronavirus.
“Technology companies have taken important steps already, such as closing offices in affected areas or showing custom search results in place of user generated content. But we believe there is a lot more that Silicon Valley can do to assist with large scale mitigation,” they wrote.
Smartphones regularly transmit their locations to wireless carriers and often to major tech companies, including Google and Facebook, to make some of their services work. The makers of apps that deliver weather reports, hail rides or help people find a coffee shop also frequently collect location information, and some sell it to firms that mine the data for business insights and opportunities.
Privacy advocates typically look skeptically on such commercial uses of location data, calling for stricter laws governing its use. Recent news about Israel’s plans to use location data to help track the coronavirus similarly sparked intense discussions about the legal and ethical implications of deploying such data to thwart the spread of disease and get medical help to infected people.
“The balance between privacy and pandemic policy is a delicate one,” tweeted Al Gidari, director of privacy at the Stanford University law school’s Center for Internet and Society, last week. “The problem here is that this is not a law school exam. Technology can save lives, but if the implementation unreasonably threatens privacy, more lives may be at risk.”
The issues are all the more sensitive for Silicon Valley because the companies faced a severe backlash in 2013, following disclosures about the role of tech company data in surveillance by the National Security Agency, made public by agency contractor Edward Snowden. Relationships between tech companies and government officials were severely strained for years after and have improved gradually.
“Privacy is the first to go when there are national security issues,” said Ashkan Soltani, a former Federal Trade Commission chief technologist and a journalist who covered the Snowden revelations.
In seeking to battle coronavirus, the U.S. government is not seeking to collect and maintain a database of Americans’ whereabouts, sources cautioned. Rather, U.S. officials have asked whether companies’ vast stores of geolocation data might help epidemiologists find trends, including vulnerable populations, or identify areas at risk, such as hospitals under strain, two people said.
Facebook is already working with health researchers and nonprofits in several countries to provide anonymized and aggregated statistics about people’s movements through a project called disease-prevention maps.
Facebook populates its maps with the aid of its users, who have given the company permission to collect their location – harnessed via their smartphones – while its app runs in the background. Those locations are then aggregated and anonymized by Facebook engineers, who can calculate the likelihood people in one city or town are likely to visit another area, potentially spreading the outbreak there.
The most granular data Facebook provides can locate a person to within about a third of a mile, Facebook officials say. The tech giant does not provide any data about individuals movement, aggregated or otherwise, with governments for disease tracking, the company says.
“You’re trying to predict the probability that a group of people in Prince George’s County (in suburban Maryland) might interact with a group of people from D.C.,” said Laura McGorman, who leads the project. Such a prediction could offer clues for how infections might travel.
McGorman said government officials, including those in California, are also interested in seeing whether people are practicing social distancing and whether it is an effective strategy. She said engineers had labored over the past 48 hours to help authorities with their requests.
She said the project is in the early phases because it is challenging to map real-time location data streaming in from smartphones against analog information coming in from hospitals and cities. “It is very humbling because we have one piece of the puzzle that we can offer but there are so many other inputs in understanding how disease will spread.”
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/u-s-government-tech-industry-discussing-ways-to-harness-location-data-to-combat-coronavirus/
Merkel addresses the nation on increasing coronavirus threat – ENGLISH
( 13 min )
Ansprache Bundeskanzlerin Merkel bezüglich Corona [Volle Länge – Untertitel]
Coronavirus Comes for Europe
by Guy Millière
March 18, 2020 at 5:00 am
Italy’s healthcare system is in a state of almost total collapse. As of today, 31,506 people in Italy have been infected with the coronavirus; of which 2,503 people have died. The numbers continue to grow. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Doctors have to choose which sick person to save and which sick person not to save.
The country has almost completely shut down. Many businesses are running in slow motion or have stopped. Prisoners are staging uprisings. Millions of people have been ordered to stay home and are allowed out only briefly to buy food. Most shops are shut. All public gatherings are prohibited, even funerals. Big cities look like ghost towns.
No other Western country has been so severely affected by the pandemic as Italy. Why?
First, Italy has an aging population. The median age of Italians is 47.3 years; one in four Italians is over 65. In addition, the country’s birth rate is extremely low: 1.29 children per woman. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy was a dying country. Sadly, the virus has accelerated the process.
Second, the authorities and medical personnel apparently underestimated the danger. Although the Italian government had suspended flights for days from China and Hong Kong from January 31, Italian doctors were saying that the illness was just a “bad flu”. On March 9, an epidemiologist, Silvia Stringhini, wrote: “The media are reassuring, the politicians are reassuring, while there’s little to be reassured of”.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15752/coronavirus-comes-for-europe
Get a copy of this book and read it, Unrestricted Warfare: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=unrestricted+warfare&ia=shopping This was published a couple of years before 9/11 by a couple of Chinese Colonels and is mainly for internal Chinese use. A lot of the book is written to play on the Chinese superstitions and make the Chinese people think the war will be won because they have the makdate fo heaven to win the war.
Yes the war is on but watch the videos with Gordon Chang talking about the economic problems in China, there are others on the NTD network, Epoch Times and Zooming in with Simone Gao. There are others but those are the ones that srping to mind. The economic problems in China that existed before the Chicom flu hit are now several orders of magnitude greater. Combine these with the Swine Flu and the Bird Flu that is re-emerging in China and in the Philippines and you see a blue print for a major economic collapse in China. A collapse that may cause the CCP to lose control of China and re-introduce a time of the Warlords controling small sections of China and fighting to control larger sections.
The economic collapse will run around the world and will probably touch off civil wars in all industrialized nations. These are what you need to worry about because even if the CCP doesn’t lose control of China they will be hurt to the extent that they won’t be able to project power. We are seeing the opening signs of the economic problems in the price war on crude oil and the way the price of Gold and Silver are acting.
On how the CDC became a Progressive project and failed:
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-cdc-was-fighting-racism-and-obesity.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+FromNyToIsraelSultanRevealsTheStoriesBehindTheNews+(from+NY+to+Israel+Sultan+Reveals+The+Stories+Behind+the+News)&m=1
Most people don’t realize the extent that Obama politicized every department and section of the US government and staffed them with people he considered politically reliable. The mess is starting to shake out and at times kinetically (the Haney murder among others) but there are still a lot of the
patrioticpolitically unreliable people still around who are going to remain true to their oaths to protect the Constitution no mattter what their current jobs are. They are spread all around the nation but there are large numbers of them in fly over country and the vast majority of them are armed. They can fly over us but they don’t have the ability to roll over us.Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Won’t Accept Bernie Loss, Joe Biden Goes No Malarkey With Worker!
Iran Summons Hungary’s Envoy over Mistreatment of Students
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/03/18/2226064/iran-summons-hungary-s-envoy-over-mistreatment-of-students
“Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Hungary’s ambassador in protest at the improper treatment of Iranian students infected with the coronavirus in Budapest.
The Foreign Ministry called in Hungary’s ambassador to Tehran, Zoltan Varga-Haszonits, on Tuesday.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi notified the envoy of the Iranian government’s protest against the unconventional behavior by police and the medical staff of Szent Laszlo Hospital in the city of Budapest towards the Iranian university students who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Araqchi also slammed as unacceptable the Hungarian government’s decision to expel 15 Iranian university students that were suspected cases of coronavirus, and asked the ambassador to inform the Hungarian authorities about the Islamic Republic of Iran’s call for reconsidering the decision.
It was also emphasized that the government of Hungary is responsible for providing the Iranian students in the European country with appropriate accommodation and health and medical services, according to the Foreign Ministry’s website.
For his part, the Hungarian ambassador gave a report of the latest status of spread of coronavirus in Hungary and the government’s measures to handle the crisis, and promised to convey the Iranian government’s request to his country as soon as possible.
The Hungarian ambassador to Tehran has been invited by the Director General of Europe at the Iranian Foreign Ministry twice over the past two weeks in connection with the recent incidents.
Currently, around 2,500 Iranian students are studying in the universities of Hungary.
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy in Budapest is in close contact with the Iranian students and also with the Hungarian officials to make sure that the university students are in good health and the situation of their living accommodations and education is all right.”
Iran Exports Triple despite Coronavirus Epidemic
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/03/18/2226383/iran-exports-triple-despite-coronavirus-epidemic
“The total volume of Iranian exports over the past month has tripled despite the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, the spokesman for the Customs Office said.
From the beginning of the Iranian month of Esfand (February 20), more than 7.073 million tons of goods, valued at $2.237 billion, have been exported mainly via the country’s sea borders, Seyed Ruhollah Latifi said on Wednesday.
During the first 25 days of this month, the volume of imports amounted to 2.45 million tons, worth $3.063 billion, he added.
The spokesman went on to say that although there have been some ups and downs in Iran’s border trade with Turkey and Iraq during this period, the exports have tripled in terms of tonnage.
Earlier this week, the latest data released by the country’s Customs Office showed the total value of Iran’s trade transactions with foreign countries during the first 11 months of the current Iranian year (March 2019 – March 2020) has neared $80 billion.
Iran’s foreign trade during the first 11 months of the current Iranian year reached $78 billion, $38bln of which were exports and about $40bln were imports, the Customs Office announced.
In the 11-month period, the non-oil exports reached over 125 million tons in terms of weight, indicating 17.61% increase compared to the same period last year.
Over the past 11 months, Iran imported about $40 billion worth of goods, weighing 32 million tons, the report said.
First detected in Wuhan city in central China in December, the coronavirus has spread to more than 140 countries.
More than 200,000 have been infected globally, according to the WHO. Of those, about 80,000 have recovered.
In Iran, medical staffs in all 31 provinces have been working tirelessly over the past weeks to contain the virus.”
Iran to Become Self-Sufficient in Producing Health Supplies Soon: Official
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/03/18/2226517/iran-to-become-self-sufficient-in-producing-health-supplies-soon-official
“The head of the Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam Khomeini underlined the organization’s efforts to contain the coronavirus epidemic in Iran and said the country will be self-sufficient in producing health supplies in two months…”
16 March 2020 Belgium: Middle Eastern immigrant people smugglers who put 19 migrants on a rickety boat to cross the Channel arrested
https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/03/belgium-middle-eastern-immigrant-people-smugglers-who-put-19-migrants-on-a-rickety-boat-to-cross-the-channel-
arrested/
16 March 2020 Belgium: Surgical masks ordered for migrants but not Belgians; Turkish mask supplier defrauds government
https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/03/belgium-surgical-masks-ordered-for-migrants-but-not-belgians-turkish-mask-supplier-defrauds-government/
Yemeni Troops Seize Major Military Camp in Ma’rib
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/03/18/2226262/yemeni-troops-seize-major-military-camp-in-ma-rib
“Yemeni troops established full control over Kofel camp in the Sirwah district, which lies about 120 kilometers east of the capital Sana’a, after dealing a major blow to militants loyal to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi…”
Iran Sets Up Project to Produce Molybdenum-99
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/03/18/2226492/iran-sets-up-project-to-produce-molybdenum-99
“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran launched a national project to produce molybdenum-99, a radioisotope used to make radiopharmaceuticals…”
Houthi Court Orders Execution of 17 Govt. Military Leaders, Including Yemen VP
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2186491/houthi-court-orders-execution-17-govt-military-leaders-including-yemen-vp
“A Houthi-run court in Sanaa issued 17 execution orders against legitimate government military leaders among which was General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the vice president of Yemen, and Defense Minister Mohammed Ali Al-Maqdashi.
The court rulings follow a host of other orders in which the Iran-backed militias indicted 35 Yemeni lawmakers and called for their execution and the confiscation of all their assets.
In other news, the Houthis kidnapped seven school principals in Sanaa and took them to an unknown destination.
Educational sources in Sanaa confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi militants, led by Nabil Al-Kamim and Muhammad Shujaa, arrested on Monday Professor Sabah Al-Qara’i, the principal of the Al-Shaheed Al-Samawi School, and Professor Amal Al-Qayadi, the principal of the Mayo School, in addition to five other school directors.
The government deplored the abduction and said that the act is part of a chain of a terror intimidation against the women in Yemen.
Speaker of the Arab Parliament Dr. Mishaal bin Fahm Al-Salami, labeling it an inhumane crime, also condemned the kidnap and held Houthis responsible for the safety of the principals.
In a statement, Al-Salami affirmed his categorical rejection of the terrorist acts carried out by the Houthi militias against Yemeni civilians and civil institutions, stressing that these acts represent flagrant violations of international laws, conventions and norms, as well as the United Nations resolutions and international treaties.
He called on the UN, as well as the human rights and women’s rights organizations, to take immediate and urgent action to release the abductees and to compel the Houthi militia stop targeting civilian installations.
He stressed that the Arab Parliament stands by the Yemeni people and supports the Yemeni government in achieving security and stability in their country.
The abduction comes days after the publishing of international and local human rights reports in which crimes and violations by Houthi militias against women in Yemen were condemned.
Rights Radar had documented more than 16,000 violations against women committed by the Houthis since their capture of Sanaa in 2014.”
New armed group threatens attacks on US interests in Iraq
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-revolutionary-league-threatens-US-interests
“A previously unknown armed group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base over the weekend and threatened to continue rocket attacks against US interests if American forces do not leave the country.
The group, calling themselves the Revolutionary League and using imagery similar to the Lebanese Hezbollah and other armed groups in Iraq, released their second video statement on Wednesday describing the attacks on Camp Taji and the Basmaya base as a “simple message” to the Americans.
In the video, a masked man holding an AK-47 rifle with the Iraqi flag as a backdrop says his group’s “victorious, blooming, full of pride and dignity arsenal” had many more “long-range weapons that can punish you in the land of your spoiled child Israel”.
“According to all this, we advise Mr Trump and the friends of all who were killed earlier – Sergeant Marshal Roberts and Juan Mendez from Aviation Regiment 227 in Fort Hood Texas – to leave vertically, before we force them to leave horizontally,” he said.
Following the assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis in January by a US air strike, Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah made a similar threat, saying US troops have “arrived vertically, and will return horizontally”, in a suggestion that American soldiers will exit the region in coffins.
US Air Force Staff Sergeant Marshal Roberts and US Army Specialist Juan Miguel Mendez were both killed on 11 March after rockets struck the Taji air base 20 miles north of Baghdad.
The attack also killed a British soldier, Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon, a 26-year-old reservist with the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry.
The Revolutionary League initially claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video on Sunday.
Rockets also struck Basmaya base south of Baghdad early Tuesday morning, causing no injuries. Later that evening, another set of rockets landed near the capital’s high-security Green Zone, in which embassies including the US mission are located.
Attacks on US forces
A variety of armed groups in Iraq have been threatening escalation against US interests in the country since the assassinations of Soleimani and Mohandis.
Washington had previously placed blame for the rocket attacks on Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group regarded as a terrorist organisation by the US.
The group, like many other paramilitary units, is a member of Hashd al-Shaabi, a set of irregular units that receive funding from the Iraqi state.
Sources in the US-led coalition on Tuesday said they would be redeploying hundreds of troops from bases in Iraq, sending some of them outside the country, but denied it was in response to the rocket attacks.
Writing on Twitter, analyst Sajad Jiyad suggested the Revolutionary League had been created to put distance between the state-backed Hashd al-Shaabi and the attacks.
“This group may contain current or former [Hashd] members, but more likely not,” he wrote.
“The aim is to carry out an asymmetric campaign against the US independent of the other groups, avoiding pressure on the PMF [Hashd] and creating space and plausible deniability.””
Turkish news network TRT registers as foreign agent in US
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkish-news-netowrk-trt-registers-foreign-agent-us
“Turkish state broadcaster TRT has registered as a foreign agent in the United States, becoming the latest foreign government-linked news outlet to be listed under the same registration as lobbyists and PR firms working for foreign governments.
In a filing dated 12 March and first reported by Al Monitor on Tuesday, the network, which has offices in Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, says it is involved in “the preparation and dissemination of informational materials through the TRT World Channel”.
The document lists TRT’s Washington bureau chief, Tuncay Yurekli, as the only agent at the network.
TRT, which says it has a global presence and reaches 80 percent of countries around the world, said in the filing that its journalism does not differ from the work of other news outlets.
“Turkish Radio-Television Corporation performs news gathering and reporting activities like those performed by other news and broadcast organizations that are not controlled by foreign governments – Turkish Radio-Television Corporation engages a team of highly qualified professional journalists, editors and producers who are responsible for producing certain TRT World programs,” the filing reads.
The network often provides rosy coverage of the Turkish government and has earned the praise of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but it also covers news from around the world, including the US.
The Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), which was passed during the Second World War to counter Nazi propaganda, requires lobbyists and PR firms working for foreign governments to disclose their activities with the Justice Department.
Push to disclose foreign agents
In recent years, there has been a push to get publicly funded foreign outlets to register under FARA. In 2017, Russia’s RT registered as a foreign agent after mounting anger over Moscow’s alleged interference in US elections.
Being registered as a foreign agent requires news outlets to share information about their budgets and staffing with the US government.
The Qatari-funded Al Jazeera network has also faced calls to register under FARA. Republican Senator Ted Cruz repeatedly led calls to force the network to be listed as a foreign agent over the past three years.
But free press advocates have rejected the push to cast US-based journalists as foreign agents.
Alexandra Ellerbeck, North America programme coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based watchdog, told MEE in 2018 after a push by Cruz to list Al Jazeera under FARA that the efforts against the network were “troubling”.
“The calls to use FARA against media companies have been incredibly inconsistent, and we’re always uncomfortable with the government being able to decide what is journalism and what is propaganda,” Ellerbeck said at the time.
“When you apply that into a context where it seems that policymakers are cherry-picking individual cases – often with little rhyme or reason – I think that’s concerning, and it also sets a bad example globally.””
Turkey closes border gates with Greece, Bulgaria
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200318-turkey-closes-border-gates-with-greece-bulgaria/
“Turkey closed its borders with Greece and Bulgaria on Wednesday as part of measures against the novel coronavirus, Anadolu reports.
Passengers will not be allowed to enter or leave through the Pazarkule and Ipsala border gates and Uzunkopru railway border gate to Greece, as well as Derekoy, Hamzabeyli and Kapikule gates to Bulgaria, according to information obtained by Anadolu Agency.
Entrance through the country’s ports was also mutually suspended with both the Greek mainland and islands…”
Libyan capital sees renewed clashes
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200318-libyan-capital-sees-renewed-clashes/
“Clashes renewed in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday between UN-recognized government forces and militias of renegade commander Khalifa Haftar, Anadolu reports.
The violence erupted in Ramla axis in southern Tripoli when the Government of National Accord (GNA) began to reinforce their forces in the area, a spokesman for the GNA forces said.
He said clashes were still raging on in the area.
No information was yet available about casualties…”
Germany temporarily stops refugee intake programs
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200318-germany-temporarily-stops-refugee-intake-programs/
“Germany on Wednesday announced it has suspended its refugee resettlement programs due to the coronavirus outbreak and travel restrictions imposed to stem its spread, Anadolu reports.
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Interior Ministry spokesman Steve Alter said the ministry temporarily stopped all of the refugee resettlement programs, including a major program as part of the 2016 EU-Turkey refugee agreement, to accept Syrian refugees from Turkey.
Alter said recent travel restrictions, and difficulties faced with partners such as the UN Refugee Agency and International Organization for Migration (IOM) in recent weeks, made it necessary to temporarily stop those programs.
As part of the agreement, Germany has accepted more than 6,000 Syrian refugees from Turkey since 2016.
Germany also had various other resettlement programs to take in refugees from the Middle East countries.”
Crisis between Sudan and Turkey over coronavirus
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200318-crisis-between-sudan-and-turkey-over-coronavirus/
“The outbreak of the coronavirus continues to ignite crises between countries. Similar to the ongoing crisis between China – the source of the virus – and the US, tension between Sudan and Turkey has also been escalating due to the coronavirus.
Discord began when the Sudanese authorities refused to allow a Turkish Airlines plane to land at one of its airports, as part of the measures Khartoum is taking to counter the spread of coronavirus.
Turkish Airporthaber stated that the Sudanese authorities did not allow the Turkish Airlines plane to land, forcing it to return to Istanbul.
Turkish newspaper Zaman reported that Turkish police intervened to force 37 Sudanese passengers to vacate flight TK680 and disembark at Istanbul airport, despite their insistence to return to their country, which had earlier refused to receive the plane.
The newspaper confirmed that the crew of the airplane asked the airport authorities to force the passengers to leave the plane.
The coronavirus has caused the cancellation of many flights around the world, and has forced airlines to suspend most scheduled journeys.
On Monday evening, the Sudanese government declared a state of health emergency in the country, and closed all border crossings as part of the measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.”
Army officer, three soldiers martyred in North Waziristan operation
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2178820/1-army-officer-among-four-soldiers-martyred-north-waziristan-operation/
“An officer and three soldiers of Pakistan Army were martyred during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) near Datta Khel in North Waziristan District on Wednesday, a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
“As soon as troops cordoned the area, terrorists opened fire to flee from the hideout. Seven terrorists were also killed during the operation,” the military’s media wing said.
“In intense exchange of fire, four security forces personnel embraced shahadat [martyrdom] including an officer, while one soldier got injured. A large cache of arms, ammunition & IEDs recovered from hideout during clearance,” it added.
According to the ISPR, security forces personnel who embraced martyrdom include, Lieutenant Agha Muqadas Ali Khan, age 26 years resident of Lahore; Lance Havaldar Qamar Nadeem, age 36 years, resident of Layyah; Sepoy Muhammad Qasim, age 24 years, resident of Layyah, Sepoy Tauseef, age 23 years resident of Narowal.
A day earlier, an army soldier was martyred after Indian forces resorted to unprovoked fire in the Shahkot sector along the Line of Control (LoC).
“Indian Army troops resorted to unprovoked fire in Shahkot sector along LOC with heavy weapons,” according to ISPR.
“During the exchange of fire, one brave soldier Sepoy Wajid Ali, age 20 years, resident of District Dadu, valiantly responding to Indian ceasefire violation (CFV) embraced shahadat.””
Turkey ‘neutralizes’ 4 YPG/PKK terrorists in N. Syria
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey-neutralizes-4-ypg-pkk-terrorists-in-n-syria/1770257
“The Turkish army “neutralized” four YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria after they came under the harassing fire of terrorists in areas of the country’s cross-border anti-terror operations, said the National Defense Ministry on Wednesday.
The harassing fires came in the areas where Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Peace Spring, the ministry said on Twitter.
It further affirmed that anti-terror operations will continue resolutely.
Turkish authorities generally use the word “neutralized” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.
Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful operations across its border into northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor, enable peaceful settlement by locals, and protect civilians from attacks: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.”
Syria: ‘Idlib, 1.5 million children without school’
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2020/03/18/syria-idlib-1.5-million-children-without-school_368baf2f-ee9e-4a78-a4df-c6e4d37f0bea.html
“A reported 1.5 million Syrian children risk to remain without an education in the war-torn northwestern region of Idlib, Save the Children said on Wednesday. The international organization works with local partners in the area of Idlib.
The area has been at the center of an offensive carried out by Russian and Syrian government troops against armed groups backed by Turkey since December. The UN has documented the displacement in three months of one million civilians, including 600,000 children and 200,000 women.
Over the three-month period, Save the Children said Wednesday, 217 schools were damaged or abandoned due to bombings and attacks, with an average of two schools a day. According to the international organization, over half of schools in Idlib – 570 out of 1,062 – have been damaged, destroyed or are located in areas that are too dangerous for children. Moreover, in the first two months of 2020, at least 30 children were killed and over 550,00 people were forced to leave their homes.”
Coronavirus likely puts a halt to deportations from Germany
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-likely-puts-a-halt-to-deportations-from-germany/a-52820722
“Despite the coronavirus pandemic, on March 12 a German charter deportation flight landed in Kabul. It may have been the last such flight for now, given the virus’ spread and ensuing global aviation shutdown.
Deutsche Welle’s questions to the German Interior Ministry were clearly formulated:
1) Will the Interior Ministry suspend collective deportation flights to Afghanistan due to the coronavirus pandemic?
2) If yes, for what reason and for how long?
3) If not, why not?
The written response from the Interior Ministry in Berlin avoids a clear definition, but the tendency is clear. In all likelihood, there will be a general suspension of deportations from Germany due to the coronavirus pandemic — even if, as yet, no one is officially speaking of a moratorium on such deportations…”
MSF: Moria refugee camp ‘an ideal breeding ground for a rapid spread’ of coronavirus
https://www.dw.com/en/msf-moria-refugee-camp-an-ideal-breeding-ground-for-a-rapid-spread-of-coronavirus/a-52824830
“The aid agency Doctors Without Borders is extremely concerned about the threat that the new coronavirus presents to the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. DW spoke with MSF’s Florian Westphal.
Greek officials are shutting camps for displaced people nationwide to visitors for two weeks in an effort to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Florian Westphal is the chairman of the German branch of Doctors Without Borders. He spoke with DW about fears that the coronavirus might spread in the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.
How big is your fear that the coronavirus could wreak even more havoc in the Moria camp?
Florian Westphal: We’re extremely concerned about the threat the coronavirus presents to the more than 20,000 people living in the Moria camp at the moment. This is a camp that was designed for 3,000 people. So it is more than six times over capacity, and many people are living very cramped together. Some five- to six-person families are living on 3 square meters (32 square feet). That’s a catastrophic situation regarding water and sanitation. Unfortunately, this is an ideal breeding ground for a rapid spread of the virus.
What is your biggest fear?
Our biggest fear is that the people are simply not in the position to take the precautions they need to take: In some areas of the camp, there is one water station for up to 1,300 people. The conditions are very cramped. There’s no soap; it’s impossible for the people to take the most basic hygienic precautions. And that’s what’s worrying because that means they cannot do anything to stop the spread of the virus if it were to arrive in the camp.
What do you hear from your staff on the ground? Are there any precautions yet?
Our colleagues on the ground report that there is apparently discussion around a sort of an emergency rescue plan, or a crisis response plan, but we don’t know what that would look like yet. Generally at Moria, medical care is totally insufficient. There are not enough medics in the camp. We have no idea for the time being how that could be resolved.
From your perspective, does the Greek government have proper emergency planning for the Moria camp yet?
We have heard that they do. And we’ve certainly started talking with them about that. But the latest information I have doesn’t really indicate that there have been very concrete plans as to what they would do if — say in the next couple of hours — we have a confirmed case. That is just something we have to assume and live with as a risk.
Do you think the coronavirus might already have arrived and just not been tested for yet?
That’s always a possibility. We know that one local Greek woman has tested positive. In this crisis, because of this threat, there is only one solution, I think: The European Union must now do everything possible to evacuate these people as quickly as possible. The Moria camp on Lesbos is not a place where you can handle a potential corona threat, and the action needs to come now.
What advice is your staff passing on to the residents of the Moria camp?
It is difficult. We all know the advice about how we should protect ourselves against the spread of the virus. But how can you do that there? We tell people “keep a safe distance, wash your hands frequently, use disinfectant,” but these things are not available in the Moria camp. That’s why people need to be evacuated. That’s the only solution and the only way to handle the risk.
In Germany, we hear that elderly people and those with chronic respiratory infections are the most vulnerable. Who is most vulnerable in the camp?
Many people there are very vulnerable anyway. There are very sick children there who are suffering from chronic diseases such as epilepsy or diabetes. Others have severe mental health issues, and we have adults, too, who have been traumatized — through violence in their countries of origin or while fleeing to Greece. So it is difficult to predict. But, in principle, all these people are extremely vulnerable to yet another health threat.
You run a hospital outside the Moria camp. What is your biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge right now is the one that it’s always been, which is that we’re dealing with a crisis, especially a mental health crisis, that we’ve rarely seen before anywhere in the world. Children are committing self-harm, young children are talking about suicide. They stop eating, stop speaking. We can treat them for the moment at the hospital, but then they always have to go back to where they came from, and that makes them sick. That problem was there before the corona threat, but this threat on top of it is making our work even more difficult.
There is a shortage of water in the camp. So how can people wash their hands and adhere to basic hygiene?
The lack of water in the Moria camp is really dramatic. You have to remember it is located in the wild, in an olive grove. In some parts of the camp, people have built shelters from plastic sheeting. Up to 1,300 people are using a single source of water. Sanitation is a huge problem. Up to 160 people on average are having to use one toilet. That is unhygienic. Protecting yourself against the corona virus is almost impossible in these conditions.
What would you say to people who wonder why their countries should provide refuge to people currently on Lesbos if the island has become a breeding ground for the virus?
The people of Lesbos are just as entitled to our care, health care and our help as anyone is in Germany, anyone walking down a Berlin street. These people are in extreme need: They are human beings. For a continent that keeps claiming that it is so committed to humanitarian values, the simple fact that, for years now at Moria, the EU has been basically walking all over these humanitarian values — that is not an excuse for inaction. The obligation to act is the same as it would be for everyone else who is threatened by this virus .
What does the EU need to do?
Our main demand to the European Union is very clear: You must start now to evacuate these people from Moria. Moria is not a place where they can be treated and protected against a possible outbreak of the coronavirus.”
French police fine over 4000 people for violating coronavirus home confinement order
https://www.france24.com/en/20200318-france-coronavirus-lockdown-violation-attestation-epidemic-christophe-castaner-public-health
“French police handed out over 4,000 fines Wednesday to people found violating an order to stay at home, on the first full day of a lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
“Since this morning, we have begun procedures and 4,095 people were booked (for violating the rules),” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told TF1 television.
“The fine was 35 euros ($38) yesterday, and now from today is 135 euros and it can go up to 375 euros. It should be a factor that dissuades people,” he added.
From midday on Tuesday, people in France have been confined to their homes apart from essential trips, for which they must sign a document stating where they are going.
“Our aim to is to protect the French. The best way to protect lives is to stay at home,” he said.
Asked about the fact the many French across the country were still taking walks or jogging, Castaner said this was permitted so long as people went outside alone.
Announcing the lockdown on Monday, President Emmanuel Macron said exercise was permitted, in contrast to the even tighter measures in Italy and Spain.
“People are not going to stay cooped up, especially those who are not going to work, for the next fortnight. But please avoid doing it in a group,” Castaner said.
“This is discipline and a civic mentality. If needed we will be rigorous and will sanction people,” he warned.
Asked to comment on a group of three French shown in a TF1 report doing meditation and yoga on a beach, he said this was okay but they should not sit so close together.
“Most of the French have been responsible and have changed their behaviour. But there are a minority behaving in a dangerous way,” he added.
France is scrambling to contain the outbreak that has killed over 260 and infected more than 9,100 in the country.
On Wednesday, French defence minister Florence Parly said the army would hand over five million surgical masks from its own stockpiles to the health ministry.
The move comes after complaints of severe shortages for hospital and medical staff at the frontline of the fight against .”
IRAN – SHIRAZ
IRAN – QAZVIN
IRAN – QOM
IRAN – QOM
MSNBC – Richard Engel: Refugees ‘Most Vulnerable’ Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
MSNBC – Richard Engel: It’s ‘Easy To Scapegoat’ Foreigners Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
“This is a virus that came from the territory of China but came from bats.
This is a bat virus, not a China virus.
It doesn’t speak Chinese.
It doesn’t target Chinese people.
It targets human beings who happen to touch their eyes, nose or mouth.”
Axios has compiled a timeline of the earliest weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in China, highlighting when the cover-up started and ended — and showing how, during that time, the virus already started spreading around the world, including to the United States.
Why it matters: A study published in March indicated that if Chinese authorities had acted three weeks earlier than they did, the number of coronavirus cases could have been reduced by 95% and its geographic spread limited.
This timeline, compiled from information reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the South China Morning Post and other sources, shows that China’s cover-up and the delay in serious measures to contain the virus lasted about three weeks.
https://www.axios.com/timeline-the-early-days-of-chinas-coronavirus-outbreak-and-cover-up-ee65211a-afb6-4641-97b8-353718a5faab.html
Note: while this is interesting, it is essential to note that the analysis is deeply flawed by the current ‘fog of war’. Perhaps the cases could have been eliminated, perhaps the spread could have been slowed down/more controlled…perhaps, perhaps, perhaps!
Still, countering the CCP propaganda that China’s response was brave, heroic and genius and has ‘protected’ the world needs to be countered.
No, not by false reports: but it needs to be challenged and countered.
While flawed, there is a grain of truth here.