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.
Sweden to Send Foreign Criminals Abroad Due to Overcrowded Prisons (sputniknews, Mar 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202003181078607051-sweden-to-send-foreign-criminals-abroad-due-to-overcrowded-prisons/
“The situation in the Swedish penitentiary system has been described as “serious”, with hundreds of inmates sharing rooms and bunk beds, and hundreds of convicts standing in line to serve their sentences. Incidentally, about 30 percent of inmates are foreigners.
To alleviate the ballooning problem of overcrowded prisons, Sweden plans to send more foreign nationals to their respective home countries to serve their sentences there.
The government has proposed a legislative change to facilitate the transfer of convicts to other countries.
“The prisons are overcrowded, so it is reasonable that more of those who are not Swedish citizens actually serve their prison sentences in their home countries”, Interior Minister Mikael Damberg of the ruling Social Democrat party told national broadcaster SVT.
He stressed the urgency for the Prison and Probation Service and the courts to speed up the process. According to the proposed changes, in cases where the convicted person consented to be transferred to another country, it should no longer be possible to appeal the decision.
The proposed change is rooted, among other things, in the EU’s rules on the enforcement of prison sentences that came into force in 2015.
“We see that today there are about 400 EU citizens from countries outside the Nordic countries in Swedish prisons. Many of them could have been transferred to their home countries and serve their sentences there”, Mikael Damberg said.
According to Damberg, the situation with concluded agreements that allow for prisoner transfer is gradually improving.
“We have historically had problems with some countries, but for instance Romania has improved the conditions in its prisons so that it is now fully possible to transfer there. We also have a running collaboration with Poland and Lithuania so that they will also accept shorter prison terms, so we see that it is going in the right direction”, Mikael Damberg said.
The situation in Swedish prisons has previously been described as serious, with hundreds of inmates sharing rooms and bunk beds and further hundreds of convicts standing in line to serve their sentences.
“This is a serious situation, and there has been an increased influx of clients over the last two years. For a long time we had a declining client inflow, but now we have a new situation where we need to increase our capacity”, Lennart Palmgren of the Prison and Probation Service told Swedish Radio.
According to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, a total 4,393 of inmates were registered in the country’s jails as of 1 October 2018. Some 1,319 or about 30 percent of them lacked Swedish citizenship.”
I’m sure the countries where the prison trash are from are anxious to have them back and pay for them.
https://greatgameindia.com/secret-history-of-coronavirus-bioweapon/
Curious.
http://www.maritimebulletin.net/2020/03/09/mega-yacht-belonging-to-saudi-prince-capsized-in-repair-yard-no-injures/
Oops
The jumpin’ jihadis! Boko Haram does interpretative dance.
https://twitter.com/Bassim_AMG/status/1237149065588224001
Shekau with a new dance choreography responds to the US DOJ on the recent bounty of $7m on his head with a 26min video where he speaks of faith and jihad mandated by God. He spoke in Arabic and later hausa.
Some funny remixes:
https://twitter.com/CalibreObscura/status/1237360316423589888
The offer is 7 years old, however:
https://guardian.ng/news/fact-check-us-offered-7-million-for-info-on-boko-haram-leader-shekau-in-2013/
spot silver: https://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html
gold: https://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
Some explanation on the behavior of precious metals and economies:
https://goldswitzerland.com/the-demise-of-the-financial-system-is-imminent/
Timelines are impossible to know, but acceleration is always felt.
Magyar M1-
-hours wait for cars transiting Hungary from Romania and Austria
-EU to close borders for 30 days for non-EU travellers
-47 Hungarians now have virus
-virus now spreading locally
-Stay home unless you must work or get food
-It will be very hard on Hungarian economy
-Exports and imports will suffer greatly
-fearmongering Leftist newspapers looking for donations because no one is buying their papers
Suspect in Chechen’s murder left France for Caucasus: prosecutor
A man suspected of murdering a Chechen opposition leader in France a month ago returned immediately after the gruesome stabbing to Russia’s restive north Caucasus region, prosecutors said Tuesday.
https://www.expatica.com/be/uncategorized/suspect-in-chechens-murder-left-france-for-caucasus-prosecutor-143723/
Stabbed 135 times, the body of Imran Aliev, 44, was found in a hotel room in the northern French city of Lille on January 30.
The “prime suspect,” who is believed to have stayed at Aliev’s home in Belgium on the preceding days, was born in Russia and apparently lives in Chechnya, just like Aliev, the Lille prosecutor’s office said.
Belgium granted Aliev political refugee status in 2012, sources close to the case said. Prosecutors have not released the name of the suspected murderer.
“On the day of the events, having quickly left France, he flew to Berlin to travel to Moscow the day after,” the office said in a statement.
“From there, he boarded an internal flight for Mineralnye Vody, an airport in Russia’s North Caucasus,” about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Chechen border, the statement said.
“For the time being, he has not faced any questioning,” the prosecutor’s office said. “Judicial and police cooperation from concerned European countries have already been sought.”
Aliev had arrived in Lille from neighbouring Belgium on the night of January 29 to January 30 along with another man who was also travelling on a Russian passport. They both checked into a hotel room in front of the Lille-Flandres train station.
The emergency services entered the room around 1030 GMT on January 30 and discovered Aliev’s body.
Aliev had gained a following as a video blogger at times critical of the Chechen leadership under its strongman ruler Ramzan Kadyrov.
Suspicion immediately emerged that the killing was a political assassination and could be the latest in a series of suspected moves against troublesome figures living in exile in Europe and critical of the Kremlin or Russia’s regional leaders.
Weeks ago a prominent exiled Chechen blogger based in Europe, who goes by the name of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, had claimed that the suspect, whom he even identified by name, had returned to Russia and was safely back in Chechnya.
Stabbed 135 times
Sounds like a crime of passion.
Stunned world grapples with ‘once-in-100-year’ coronavirus battle
SYDNEY/BEIJING (Reuters) – Hundreds of millions of people worldwide were adjusting on Wednesday to once-in-a-generation measures to battle the coronavirus crisis that is not only killing the old and vulnerable but also threatening prolonged economic misery.
The fast-spreading disease that jumped from animals to humans in China has now infected about 200,000 people and caused nearly 8,500 deaths in 164 nations, triggering emergency lockdowns and injections of cash unseen since World War Two.
https://www.oann.com/stunned-world-grapples-with-once-in-100-year-coronavirus-battle/
Hundreds Gather in Southern Indian City to Protest Against Citizenship Law – Video (sputniknews, Mar 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/asia/202003181078608624-hundreds-gather-in-southern-indian-city-to-protest-against-citizenship-law—video/
“Ever since the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed in parliament in December 2019, there have been protests in the country, as opponents of the law claim that it is against the secular nature of the Indian Constitution and discriminates against the Muslim community.
Hundreds of anti-Citizenship law protesters gathered outside Madras High Court demanding resolutions against the amended law which grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim six religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India before 2015.
The protestors include non-political Islamic organisation Tamil Nadu Towheed Jamath members.
The move defies the government’s request to not hold gatherings or protests in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak which has claimed three lives with 150 positive cases across the country.
In a video shared by Indian news agency ANI, several hundred people can be seen blocking the road outside the Madras High Court despite heavy policing.
Towheed Jamath, the organisation which allegedly conducted bomb blasts in Sri Lanka last April, has been leading the protests against the Citizenship Law (CAA) across Tamil Nadu state.
According to the protesters, they want the Tamil Nadu government to pass a resolution which states that the CAA will not be implemented in the State.
Enacted in December 2019, the CAA grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, and Parsi illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
The law, however, sparked violent protests across India for allegedly discriminating against Muslims, who form a 200-million-strong minority in the secular country.
The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that no Indian citizen would be affected by the law as it “seeks to grant citizenship, not snatch it”.”
Iran ‘Will Continue to Respond’ to Soleimani’s Murder as Iraqi Militia Rockets Rain Down on US Bases (sputniknews, Mar 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202003181078611126-iran-will-continue-to-respond-to-soleimanis-murder-as-iraqi-militia-rockets-rain-down-on-us-bases/
“The US assassinated Qasem Soleimani, long-time commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force military unit, in January, prompting Iran to launch a massed rocket strike on a pair of US bases in Iraq, and leading Iraq-based militias to carry out sporadic strikes on American bases and the US Embassy Green Zone in Baghdad.
Iran will continue to respond to the January 3 assassination of Commander Soleimani, President Hassan Rouhani has warned, one day after a coalition base holding NATO troops came under rocket fire.
“The Americans assassinated our great commander. We have responded to that terrorist act and will respond to it,” Rouhani said in a televised address Wednesday.
Rouhani also commented on the economic situation in the country amid the tough US sanctions against his nation, stressing that Iran’s enemies “have not been able to subjugate Iran through economic pressure.”
Rouhani did not clarify what he had in mind regarding Iran’s “response” to Soleimani’s assassination.
Rockets Rain Down on Coalition Bases
On Tuesday, the Besmaya military base outside Baghdad, Iraq hosting foreign troops came under rocket fire, with the installation said to host Spanish forces. Earlier, a barrage of at least 33 rockets was fired at Camp Taji, another base outside the Iraqi capital hosting coalition forcess, with the attack believed to have been carried out by local Shia militias. No US or coalition casualties were reported in either attack.
US forces and their allies stationed in Iraq have been facing sporadic rocket fire on their bases, and the Baghdad Green zone embassy complex for over two months since Soleimani’s assassination at Baghdad’s airport by a US drone strike on January 3. On March 11, a rocket attack on Camp Taji killed two US servicemen and a Briton.
Last Thursday, US warplanes struck five weapons storage facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian and Iraqi-government allied Shia militia group which helped push Daesh (ISIS)* out of Iraq between 2014 and 2017. The US accused the group of attacking US forces in northern Iraq late last year, and for the deadly March 11 attack. Iraqi President Barham Salih slammed Washington over the unauthorized strikes, calling them a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty. On Monday, the US State Department warned that the US would “not tolerate attacks” against its forces, and would “take additional action as necessary in self-defence” in Iraq if they continued.
Iran launched dozens of missiles at two US bases in Baghdad on January 8, with over 100 US troops diagnosed with brain injuries of various severity as a result of the strikes. Iran warned its Iraqi allies about the impending strikes ahead of time.
On Monday, the US military told media that the coalition would be “re-positioning troops from a few smaller bases” in Iraq, attributing the withdrawal to the Daesh’s defeat, and not the constant rocket attacks on coalition bases.”
Slovenia: Arrested illegal migrants showing coronavirus symptoms
https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/03/slovenia-arrested-illegal-migrants-showing-coronavirus-symptoms/
Seven illegal migrants who were detained in Slovenia on Monday are showing signs of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection.
The migrants were captured by police near the Croatian border, in the vicinity of ??Ilirska Bistrica. They were travelling in two taxis.
The migrants had fevers and showed other signs consistent with coronavirus infection. They were swabbed, and the results will be known tonight.
Sandi Curk, the head of the regional civil defense headquarters, reported that the migrants are being held in a facility in Postojna, where they will be separated from other migrants, according to an article at the Nova24TV website.
Coronavirus infections have also been detected in recent days by six volunteer paramedics from Postojna and Pivka who have been assisting with border control along the Slovene-Italian border. 250 Red Cross volunteers are currently working at the border, and another 800 are being held in reserve.
On Monday, Slovenia reported that they have conducted 6,712 COVID-19 tests and that 253 came back positive. One patient has died thus far, and two others are in intensive care.
The link between immigration and the coronavirus epidemic has been emphasized by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. On Friday, Orbán said that “we are fighting a two-front war. One front is called migration, and the other one belongs to the coronavirus,” as previously reported by Voice of Europe.
US Imposes New Iran-Linked Sanctions on Seven Entities (sputniknews, Mar 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/world/202003181078613111-us-imposes-new-iran-linked-sanctions-on-seven-entities/
“This comes after the US on Tuesday sanctioned nine entities in South Africa, Hong Kong, China, as well as three Iranian nationals over their involvement in the sale of Iranian petrochemical products.
The US has issued new Iranian-linked petrochemical sanctions on seven entities, a statement by the Department of State says.
The sanctions target Hong Kong-based Mcfly Plastic Hk Ltd, Saturn Oasis Co, Sea Charming Shipping Company Ltd; South Africa’s SPI International Proprietary Ltd And Main Street 1095; and Chinese companies Dalian Golden Sun Import & Export Co. Ltd., Tianyi International (Dalian) Co. Ltd. and Aoxing Ship Management (Shanghai) Ltd, according to the statement.
Iranian entity Armed Forces Social Security Investment Company is also on the list, the statement added.
MORE TO FOLLOW”
BOSNIA
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/trump-says-the-us-will-close-the-border-with-canada-to-non-essential-traffic.html
Canada-U.S. border closed except for trade.
Justine just announced Roxham Rd. is still open, BUT they will have to be in isolated for 2 weeks and then He gave his tweeky little smile. I loathe this Soros puppet.
MEMRI – Iranian Scholar: COVID19 Came to Iran through Chinese Students at State-Funded Al-Mustafa University
Sheikh Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, a Sunni Islamic scholar based in Zehdan, Iran, said in a video that was uploaded to abdolhamid.net on March 13, 2020 that COVID-19 came to Qom, Iran and subsequently spread to the rest of the country through Chinese students of religion at the state-funded Al-Mustafa International University, a Shiite institution where he said Sunnis are being brainwashed and which he said does things that are inconsistent with the Islamic Revolution’s goals of unifying the Islamic nation.
He also said that some students at Al-Mustafa International University are forbidden from returning to their countries of origin.
More PM explanation:
https://www.peakprosperity.com/whats-causing-the-gold-silver-sell-off/
Ingraham: What we still don’t know about coronavirus pandemic
Turkey Accused of ‘Fanning Flames’ of Europe Coronavirus Crisis by Pushing Migrants to Border (breitbart, Mar 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/18/turkey-accused-fanning-flames-europe-coronavirus-crisis-pushing-migrants-border/
“Turkey has been accused of “Fanning the flames of Europe’s coronavirus crisis” by crowding migrants onto its frontier with Greece.
Seth J Frantzman, a U.S.-born academic and Middle East affairs analyst with The Jerusalem Post, said that the Turkish government had “sought to distract from its losses in [the Syrian province of] Idlib by creating a migrant crisis on the Greek border”, abetted by Turkish media pushing “populist messages of Turkish troops aiming rifles at Greece and Turkish drones flying over the border“.
Dr Frantzman warned that Turkey’s “denial of health care” to migrants — an accusation he sources to Human Rights Watch — had taken on “added dimensions amid the coronavirus pandemic”, particularly given a previous admission by Turkish officials that preventing the virus’s spread through migrant encampments was “Mission: Impossible”.
Turkey, Frantzman said, was “shoehorning refugees into Europe at a time when Europe is suffering a pandemic” and encouraging them to “gather in crowds” to try and storm the border at a time when people the world over are being urged to practise social distancing — while taking drastic measures to protect its own borders.
Unlike countries like the United Kingdom, Turkey has made extensive use of travel bans to try and slow the spread of the virus — only a handful of cases have been officially confirmed in the country — with flights from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain halted on top of previous bans on China, South Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Italy.
Turkey has also closed down its border with Georgia and restricted travel from Azerbaijan, among other measures, and is seeking to evacuate residents of the client state of Northern Cyprus — an unrecognised state carved off the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus after Turkey invaded and illegally occupied the island nation’s north in 1974 — from the European mainland.
The Turkish government, Frantzman observed, is implementing these stringent border control measures — in addition to stopping more Syrians from entering its territory at the border wall it has built along its southern frontier with their homeland — “while encouraging Syrians to leave for Europe and opening the border for Greece just so they will leave”.
Franzman said he believes the “cynical” strategy is aimed at destabilising the European Union and coercing its leaders to “give Turkey more money so it will close the border” — but that, in the meantime, “the situation on the border with Turkey and Greece now may fan the flames of the virus.”
A cargo ship carrying almost 200 migrants, thought to have set sail from Turkey, ran aground on a Greek island near Athens on the morning of March 16th.”
Hey, that’s Seth!
Greek Island Migrant Camps Put on Lockdown over Coronavirus (breitbart, Mar 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/18/greek-island-migrant-camps-put-lockdown-coronavirus/
“Migrant reception centres on several Greek islands have been put under a two-week lockdown this week in order to mitigate the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
The lockdown will apply to all visitors and volunteers as well as the staff of organisations and NGOs working with migrants. Services at the reception centres, such as schools and other facilities, will also be shut down.
The Greek migration ministry announced the measures on Tuesday, according to a report from newspaper Kathimerini, and migrants will be told not to leave the reception centres, while sanitation is expected to be increased throughout the camps.
The lockdown comes just a week after the island of Lesbos, which hosts the notorious Moria migrant camp, saw its first confirmed case of coronavirus. The Moria migrant camp also saw a major fire earlier this week that led to the death of a six-year-old child.
NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called on the Greek government to evacuate the migrants from the islands instead of locking them down, arguing that the poor sanitary conditions of the overcrowded camps were perfect conditions for the spread of the virus.
Dr Hilde Vochten, MSF’s Greek Medical Coordinator, commented on the situation saying: “In some parts of Moria camp, there is just one water tap for every 1,300 people and no soap available. Families of five or six have to sleep in spaces of no more than three square metres.”
“It would be impossible to contain an outbreak,” Dr Vochten said.
“Given the lack of adequate sanitation services and the severely limited medical care, the risk of the virus spreading amongst the inhabitants of the camps in Greece is extremely high once they have been exposed,” the NGO added.
Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the gates to Europe in late February, over 50,000 migrants have attempted to cross the land border into Greece, while hundreds have attempted to land on Greek islands.”
Greece to restrict migrant camp movements in virus measure
Greek police use tear gas on migrants at Turkish border (abcnews, Mar 18, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greek-police-tear-gas-migrants-turkish-border-69659603
“Clashes broke out on Greece’s border with Turkey before dawn Wednesday, after about 500 migrants attempted to break down a border fence and enter Greece.
Greek police said they used tear gas to repel the push south of the Kastanies border crossing. They said Turkish authorities also fired tear gas at the Greek border. The clashes began at 2 a.m. and lasted for roughly two hours.
An estimated 2,000 migrants are still camped out on the Greek-Turkish border, weeks after Turkey declared its borders to Europe open and encouraged migrants and refugees living in the country to try crossing into European Union member Greece.
Tens of thousands of people headed to the frontier despite Greece’s insistence that its eastern border, which is also the EU’s external border, was shut. The move came after months of threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would allow millions of refugees into Europe unless the EU provided more support for refugee care in Turkey.
The EU says it is adhering to a 2016 deal with Turkey under which it provides billions of euros in funds in return for Turkey caring for more than 3.5 million refugees from neighboring Syria.
The violence on the border came hours after Erdogan held a four-way video conference with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain to discuss the migrants crisis.
A statement from Erdogan’s office said the four leaders also discussed ways of resolving the Syria conflict and providing humanitarian aid in Syria’s troubled Idlib province. It didn’t immediately provide further details.
Tuesday’s teleconference between Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was arranged after the European leaders cancelled plans to travel to Istanbul due to the coronavirus crisis.
The violence at the Greek-Turkish border has added to concerns in Athens over the high number of migrants arrivals from Turkey — at a rough average of 100 per day on the Greek islands so far this year — adding to severe overcrowding at refugee camps there.
Greek authorities Wednesday imposed movement restrictions, lasting for at least one month, at the island camps as part of public safety measures for the coronavirus pandemic.
Migrants on Lesbos and four other islands will only be allowed to visit towns on the islands in small groups and for limited periods, the Migration Affairs Ministry said. The ministry said it was also speeding up plans to build detention facilities on the islands.
No infections have been confirmed at any of the camps, though the extent of testing at those sites remains unclear.
More than 9,300 people have reached Greece — mostly arriving on the eastern islands — from Turkey so far this year, although the rate has slowed over the past week.”
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH – Greek Police Detain, Assault, Rob and Strip Asylum Seekers at Border
Greek security forces and plain-clothed men at Turkey’s land border have detained, assaulted, robbed and stripped asylum seekers and migrants before forcing them back to Turkey without letting them seek protection in Greece.
The European Union should hold Greece accountable if it fails to guarantee the right to seek asylum and should press them to investigate and prosecute abusive officials, while working with the EU to relocate asylum seekers entering from Turkey throughout the EU.
When EU officials go to Greece to hold it accountable I hope the police strip them bare, take their Euros, and boot their arses into Turkey.
Suspected Jemaah Islamiyah leader on trial in Indonesia (abcnews, Mar 18, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-jemaah-islamiyah-leader-trial-indonesia-69660842
“The suspected leader of Indonesia’s al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network went on trial Wednesday on charges of terrorism that could result in a death sentence.
Prosecutors told the East Jakarta District Court that Para Wijayanto became leader of the banned organization in 2009. The group was blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Wijayanto and his wife were arrested last July by counterterrorism police at a hotel in the Jakarta satellite city of Bekasi, following the arrest of nine people believed to be members of his group who had returned from fighting in Iraq and Syria.
The nine other suspects were tried separately in the same court on Wednesday.
“The defendant and his friends have been involved in an evil conspiracy to commit terrorist crimes,” prosecutor Ade Solehudin said. “They made preparations, plans and provided assistance for terrorist attacks.”
Solehudin said Wijayanto, a civil engineer who received military training at a jihadi camp in the southern Philippines in 2000, also was involved in sectarian conflict in Poso, a hotbed of Islamic militancy on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.
In the indictment, Solehudin said that since 2013, Wijayanto has recruited and trained members of Jemaah Islamiyah’s military wing, sending some to Syria to fight with the al-Qaida-affiliated group Jabhat al-Nusra. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted.
Police said Wijayanto, who has eluded capture since 2003, was involved in the making of bombs used in a series of attacks including a 2004 bombing at the Australian Embassy that killed nine.
Wijayanto became leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, replacing another militant, Zarkasih, who was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to 15 years in prison, police said.
A court banned Jemaah Islamiyah in 2008, and the group was weakened by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesia’s counterterrorism police with U.S. and Australian support. A new threat has emerged in recent years inspired by Islamic State group attacks abroad.
The country’s last major militant attack was in May 2018, when two families carried out suicide bombings in Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya, killing a dozen people including two young girls whose parents had involved them in one of the attacks. Police said the father of the girls was the leader of a militant Jemaah Anshorut Daulah cell.
A radical cleric who founded that group, Aman Abdurrahman, was sentenced to death in 2018 for inciting attacks including a 2016 suicide bombing at a Starbucks in Jakarta.
After the charges against Wijayanto were read, the panel of three judges adjourned the trial until April 1, when the defense will respond.”
4 soldiers, 7 militants killed in shootout in NW Pakistan (abcnews, Mar 18, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/soldiers-militants-killed-shootout-nw-pakistan-69664795
“Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in a former Taliban stronghold bordering Afghanistan on Wednesday, triggering a shootout that killed four soldiers and seven militants, the military said.
In a statement, the military said a member of the raiding team, which was acting on intelligence it received, was also wounded in the exchange of fire near the town of Dattakhel in the district of North Waziristan. Security forces later seized a cache of weapons and guns, it said.
The military provided no further details but police and intelligence officials said the suspects belonged to a Pakistani militant group and were planning to carry out attacks.
North Waziristan served as the Pakistan Taliban headquarters until 2017 after security forces in a series of operations dismantled their network and killed, arrested or evicted scores of them. Also targeted were al-Qaida members and those sheltering them.
Residents say a large number of civilians were also killed in those military operations.
The Pakistani government and the military claim they cleared the region of militants but violence has continued. That has spread fear among residents in North Waziristan that the military might carry out more operations in the region.”
Fox Business – Oil prices could fall below zero: Analyst
Crude surplus could overwhelm global storage
Plunging oil prices could be headed a lot lower – possibly below zero, according to one Wall Street analyst.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, fell by more than 10 percent Wednesday to near $24 a barrel, a level last seen in April 2002.
“Oil prices can go negative,” wrote Paul Sankey, managing director at Mizuho Securities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the U.S. and global economy to a standstill by prompting “shelter in place” orders, social distancing between people and the cancellation of non-essential travel. The sharp slowdown in economic activity has curtailed the need for oil.
If that weren’t enough, Saudi Arabia recently slashed oil prices and raised output after Russia refused to join OPEC in deepening production cuts.
Oil is a 100 million barrel-per-day market, but Sankey says it’s possible that the economic fallout from the pandemic could zap demand, creating a 20 million barrel-per-day surplus.
He says the “physical reality” of the market is that oil is pumped out of the ground and has to be consumed or stored. When the cost of storage goes high enough — or space runs out — companies might pay customers to take it.
For now, President Trump has ordered the Department of Energy to take advantage of low prices by stepping into the market and buying oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The reserve can build at 2 million barrels per day, meaning that it has four months until it’s at capacity, Sankey said.
By then, he added, high-cost oil from the Bakken shale formation in the U.S. or bitumen from the Canadian oil sands, “prices negatively because it exceeds needs” and requires storage, Sankey wrote. “Negative prices are simply a higher cost of storage than market.”
Sankey isn’t the only one on Wall Street who is sounding the alarm about the coming flood of oil.
Excess supply from OPEC and Russia, coupled with crumbling demand “are leading to concerns about a surplus that could overwhelm global storage,” wrote Francisco Blanch, a commodity strategist at Bank of America.
He warns the demand destruction caused by COVID-19 and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia could cause inventories to swell by 900 million barrels in the second quarter alone. He estimates the world currently has about 1.5 billion barrels of available storage.
Blanch’s worst-case scenario isn’t as dire as Sankey’s.
“In a severe scenario, if the market struggles to find a home for surplus barrels, then oil prices might have to trade down into the teens,” he wrote.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/oil-price-could-fall-below-zero-analyst
China, Philippines detects bird flu outbreak
In the shadow of the coronavirus outbreak, a deadly disease has emerged in chickens in a Chinese province near the epicenter of the outbreak.
China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs reported an animal outbreak of the often fatal H5N1 bird flu in thousands of chickens in the Hunan province, which borders the Hubei province to the south.
“The farm has 7,850 chickens, and 4,500 of the chickens have died from the contagion. Local authorities have culled 17,828 poultry after the outbreak,” a statement by China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said.
Likewise, Philippines has detected an outbreak of avian flu in a northern province after tests showed the presence of the highly infectious H5N6 subtype of the influenza A virus in a quail farm, the country’s farm minister said on Monday (March 16).
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the bird flu virus, the same strain that hit some local poultry farms in 2017, was detected in Jaen municipality in Nueva Ecija province, where about 1,500 quails had died on one farm alone.
A total of 12,000 quails have been destroyed and buried to prevent further infections, Dar said, citing field reports
“We are on top of the situation,” he said.
However, the outbreak is a cause for concern because this avian flu has a 60% mortality rate among infected humans, according to WHO. Additionally, the H5N1 bird flu can cause severe respiratory illness, including pneumonia, and neurological changes such as an altered mental state and seizures.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/578491/china-philippines-detects-bird-flu-outbreak/
This is real bad.
Coronavirus: Turkey to close borders with Greece, Bulgaria
ISTANBUL (AFP) – Turkey will close its rail and land border with Greece and Bulgaria from midnight over the new coronavirus fear, after Ankara opened the gates for refugees heading to Europe.
“The land and rail border gates will be closed to exits and entries from 2100 GMT today (Wednesday)”as ordered by a circular issued by the interior ministry, the private Dogan news agency reported. (That is 5am on Thursday, Singapore time)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month re-opened Turkish border gates for refugees trying to reach Europe, which sparked a row with the European Union, as well as Greece.
Thousands of migrants massed on the Turkish-Greek border gate, with skirmishes breaking out with the Greek police firing tear gas to bar their entry while refugees responded by hurling stones.
Ankara wants to update the 2016 migrant deal with Brussels, saying most of the Turkish demands were far from being met.
Erdogan on Tuesday discussed the issue with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain, in a video call.
Turkey has so far had one death from coronavirus and a total of 98 cases.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/coronavirus-turkey-to-close-borders-with-greece-bulgaria
Looks like it is spreading all over the Mideast, I wonder how many o f our enemies it will do enoujgh damage to to shut them up for a while?
Germany: We could see ’10 million cases in two or three months’ – disease control agency
President of Robert Koch Institute Lothar Wieler stated as many as 10 million people in Germany alone could become infected with coronavirus in the next few months if preventive measures aren’t fully implemented by everyone.
“If we don’t manage to implement the measures and reduce our social contacts sustainably and effectively, we could see as much as 10 million cases in two or three months,” he warned during a press conference on Wednesday.
The Robert Koch Institute said there were 8,198 confirmed cases in the country, an increase of 1,042 from the day before. “The total incidence per 100,000 inhabitants is 9.9, meaning we have exponential growth. To make it clear. We’re at the beginning of an epidemic that will continue to affect our country for many weeks and months,” Wieler added.
According to the latest reports by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), at least 196,000 people have been infected by the COVID-19 worldwide and over 7,500 people have died. There have currently been 9,877 cases confirmed in Germany with at least 26 deaths.
China to provide EU ‘two million surgical masks’ to help fight COVID-19: EU Commission
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announces that China will provide “two million surgical masks and 50,000 testing kits” to help the European Union cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2020-03-18/gold-and-silver-prices-fall-despite-bullion-shortages-and-rising-premiums
Clear description of PM dynamics.
Trudeau is letting a flight from Shanghai land in Vancouver today, Wed 18th of March:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/CES597
Undercover Video Exposes China’s Human Rights Abuse of Forced Organ Harvesting From Prisoners of Conscience
https://www.ntd.com/undercover-video-exposes-chinas-human-rights-abuse-of-forced-organ-harvesting-from-prisoners-of-conscience_445457.html
“4-year-old’s coronavirus symptoms worsen after taking ibuprofen”
by Kate Sheehy – March 17, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/03/17/4-year-olds-coronavirus-symptoms-worsen-after-taking-ibuprofen/
“World Health Organization backs call to avoid ibuprofen for coronavirus”
by Donna Rachel Edmunds – March 18, 2020
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/World-Health-Organization-backs-call-to-avoid-ibuprofen-for-coronavirus-621408
Late to the game, I just watched the first episode of Westworld.
What struck me was the original movie took the perspective of the male joyriders. The squirt who wanted to be marshall, the glutton who wanted to be king, the playboy who wanted to be god’s gift.. and then the Everyman who got caught up and seduced to partake, to only discover this was all a nightmare.
A moral story.
This movie however, starts with Deloris, the girl living in the perfect world to meet newcomers… who will get to learn this is not. But we discover she is the oldest of all the robots (this Origin story of the Female), and that she has done everything in this universe and been re-patched and fitted to better than new, (The MarySue).
From the male-gaze of wary morality; to the femaled-gaze of instant identity.
Such are consumers in State-Educated Westernworld.
OK. Obviously something not worthy of binge-watching, but just enough for one a day.
Yesterday’s viewing took to today’s episode 2.
Here our John-Reese-rescued Everyman arrives, told that he will find his real identity by losing his timidity by pushing through the limit, that pain is reality (for self-harm-a-salvation viewers), to become as brave as being someone else.
The Witches, our perspective, watching from the Whorehouse. At these dopes.
Meanwhile, there is a maze, a way out from the labyrinth, for (one these robots?) to shoot and maim to find. And the other machine, just woke up on the operating table using a reverse sleep-cue – from hypnosis – that she stumbled upon.
What should be really really awesome, the human-condition replicated, is made as banal as cucking the boss.
…coronavirus joke…
Covid-19?
No, I ordered Covid-14 with Covid-47.
OK.
Just flick to the end.
https://youtu.be/0PKCx4bMs6s
WHO chief says COVID-19 ‘enemy against humanity’
the gateway pundit – CBS News Reporter Weijia Jiang Accuses Unnamed White House Official of Calling the Wuhan Coronavirus the ‘Kung Flu’
on this page :
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/cbs-news-reporter-weijia-jiang-accuses-unnamed-white-house-official-of-calling-the-wuhan-coronavirus-the-kung-flu/
========================================
Trump AGAIN defends saying ‘Chinese virus,’ is asked about WH official using term ‘Kung Flu’
Kellyanne Conway confronted over WH official allegedly using term ‘Kung Flu’: ‘Tell us who it was’
Coronavirus: How China Spun Criticism Into “Racism”
Hard Truths About Socialism People Often Miss—Morgan Zegers [CPAC 2020] | American Thought Leader
Turkey Accused of ‘Fanning Flames’ of Europe Coronavirus Crisis by Pushing Migrants to Border (breitbart, Mar 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/18/turkey-accused-fanning-flames-europe-coronavirus-crisis-pushing-migrants-border/#comment-4838105441
“Turkey has been accused of “Fanning the flames of Europe’s coronavirus crisis” by crowding migrants onto its frontier with Greece.
Seth J Frantzman, a U.S.-born academic and Middle East affairs analyst with The Jerusalem Post, said that the Turkish government had “sought to distract from its losses in [the Syrian province of] Idlib by creating a migrant crisis on the Greek border”, abetted by Turkish media pushing “populist messages of Turkish troops aiming rifles at Greece and Turkish drones flying over the border“.
Dr Frantzman warned that Turkey’s “denial of health care” to migrants — an accusation he sources to Human Rights Watch — had taken on “added dimensions amid the coronavirus pandemic”, particularly given a previous admission by Turkish officials that preventing the virus’s spread through migrant encampments was “Mission: Impossible”.
Turkey, Frantzman said, was “shoehorning refugees into Europe at a time when Europe is suffering a pandemic” and encouraging them to “gather in crowds” to try and storm the border at a time when people the world over are being urged to practise social distancing — while taking drastic measures to protect its own borders.
Unlike countries like the United Kingdom, Turkey has made extensive use of travel bans to try and slow the spread of the virus — only a handful of cases have been officially confirmed in the country — with flights from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain halted on top of previous bans on China, South Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Italy.
Turkey has also closed down its border with Georgia and restricted travel from Azerbaijan, among other measures, and is seeking to evacuate residents of the client state of Northern Cyprus — an unrecognised state carved off the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus after Turkey invaded and illegally occupied the island nation’s north in 1974 — from the European mainland.
The Turkish government, Frantzman observed, is implementing these stringent border control measures — in addition to stopping more Syrians from entering its territory at the border wall it has built along its southern frontier with their homeland — “while encouraging Syrians to leave for Europe and opening the border for Greece just so they will leave”.
Franzman said he believes the “cynical” strategy is aimed at destabilising the European Union and coercing its leaders to “give Turkey more money so it will close the border” — but that, in the meantime, “the situation on the border with Turkey and Greece now may fan the flames of the virus.”
A cargo ship carrying almost 200 migrants, thought to have set sail from Turkey, ran aground on a Greek island near Athens on the morning of March 16th.”
Wuhan woman diagnosis, treatment refused | NTD
Leaked Greek Diplomatic Letter Warns of Major Provocation by Turkey (breibart, Mar 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/18/leaked-greek-diplomatic-letter-warns-of-major-provocation-by-turkey/
“A leaked diplomatic letter from the Greek government to several of its embassies has claimed that the Turkish government is looking to use the coronavirus outbreak as cover for a major provocation on the border.
The letter was sent by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to embassies in the United States, Germany, France, and the UK. It stated that intelligence officials had determined there was a high likelihood of a Turkish provocation along the border.
The contents of the letter, which was obtained and released by German tabloid Bild, was allegedly authenticated by a senior official who told the newspaper: “Our secret services informed us that Turkey could now cause a ‘dramatic incident’ in the midst of the corona chaos. They could try to take advantage of the situation. We had to warn our embassies to take action.”
The letter also instructed the embassies to contact the governments of the countries in which they are located and inform local media as to the potential of Turkish aggression along the border.
Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the gates to Europe late last month, over 50,000 migrants have attempted to illegally cross the border into Greece.
The Greek government has made repeated accusations that the Turkish government has been bussing in migrants to the area and at least one Turkish border official admitted to Swedish media that he had been instructed to help migrants cross into Greece.
“We have checked that everything has gone well and that the smugglers do not charge too much. We also have intelligence about where and when it is safe to get over,” the soldier told newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Greece has also claimed that Turkish officials have helped arm migrants along the land border by the Evros river with tear gas. Greek authorities recently deployed large fans to push back tear gas attacks in the direction of Turkey.”
Could China have a Second Outbreak?
Old Man Begging for Over-the-Counter Cold Medicine
Countries in SE Asia, Latin America report increasing number of COVID-19 cases
Over 80 new COVID-19 cases reported from nursing hospitals in Daegu
COVID-19: All Singaporeans returning from overseas must serve 14-day stay-home notice
Andy Ngo
@MrAndyNgo
A prominent Bernie Sanders campaigner, donor & antifa supporter is calling for immediate terror attacks on law enforcement. Yusuf Naqvi (@yusufneedsarest
), a Chicago-based attorney, urged others to use guns in carrying out the attacks.
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1240091558906454016
COVID-19: Could Singapore be headed for a 3-digit rise in new cases daily?
Sri Lanka cardinal seeks UN probe on China’s Coronavirus
The head of Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic Church Sunday alleged that the highly contagious Coronavirus may be man-made and wanted those responsible prosecuted for “genocide.”
Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith addressing the faithful during a closed-door Sunday mass said the United Nations should initiate an international investigation into the origin of COVID-19 which he said was causing death and destruction.
He said a “rich and powerful nation” was behind the virus, but stopped short of naming names. However, his remarks, both in Sinhala and English, were on the lines of the Chinese foreign ministry claim on Friday that the US military was behind it.
Ranjith said the virus was not the creation of poor people. “It is the work of a rich and powerful nation,” he said adding that the fall out of the spread of the virus amounted to genocide.
He accused rich nations of trying to interfere with nature and causing long term harm to mankind.
“Some of these viruses that we are talking about are the product of unscrupulous aimless experimentation,” he said. “We have to say that we must stop this kind of experimentation that results in the loss of life and cause pain and suffering to humanity.”
“This is also a type of genocide that people practice on one another, whoever is responsible, these people have to be found out and they should be punished according to international law.”
The Cardinal did not offer any evidence for his suggestion that the virus may have been produced in a laboratory, but insisted that there should be a UN-backed international investigation.
The church had suspended all masses for a period of two weeks to bolster the government’s efforts to try and contain the spread of the virus as Sri Lanka reported a doubling of infected cases to 11 on Saturday.
Official figures show that there were 133 suspected COVID-19 cases at state hospitals while 1,700 were under quarantine at state-run facilities. Another 4,400 people were under self-quarantine at their respective homes.
During the televised sermon, Ranjith blamed man’s greed for material improvements for the spread of the disease.
“When man tries to change the laws that God has imbibed in nature and in human nature, then what happens is a grotesque kind of result. And we know that in several areas of this world, researchers of all types, for various reasons is engaging in research that will destroy possibly human life.”
On March 12, a Chinese official suggested that the US army may have brought the deadly coronavirus into China, without providing any evidence to support his eyebrow-raising claim.
Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman, made the assertion on Twitter late Thursday, echoing similar conspiracy theories proliferating on Chinese social media that blame the US for the pandemic.
The head of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said himself that the source of the virus was wild animals sold at a market in the central city of Wuhan. (COLOMBO, March 15, 2020)
https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-cardinal-seeks-un-probe-on-chinas-coronavirus-58814/
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Sri Lankan cardinal calls for UN genocide investigation into coronavirus
The head of Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic Church called on the United Nations to immediately conduct a probe into the COVID-19 coronavirus, claiming that it is a man-made illness and those responsible should be prosecuted for “genocide”.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith claimed that the coronavirus is “the work of a rich and powerful nation”, though declined to name any particular countries.
“Some of these viruses that we are talking about are the product of unscrupulous aimless experimentation,” he said. “We have to say that we must stop this kind of experimentation that results in the loss of life and cause pain and suffering to humanity.”
The archbishop, an ethnic Sinhalese who has a long history of supporting hardline Sinhala Buddhist figures and the Rajapaksa clan, and has repeatedly rejected an international probe into the massacre of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan military.
He has previously stated that the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has rejected resolutions on accountability for atrocities in Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, calling “such efforts by western powers is an insult on the intelligence of the people of Sri Lanka”. Ranjith has also denied allegations of war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military that Tamil bishops made to US officials in previous years.
https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/sri-lankan-cardinal-calls-un-genocide-investigation-coronavirus
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Coronavirus: First Human Trial Of Vaccine Begins In US