Reader’s Links for April 6, 2020

Daily Links Post graphic

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

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

95 Replies to “Reader’s Links for April 6, 2020”

  1. As the USA readers complete census2020 forms, please do consider listing ethnicity as American, rather tha say Irish or Samoan etc

  2. Sudan finalizes deal with USS Cole victims’ families
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/04/06/sudan-uss-cole-bombing-settlement/

    “Sudan’s justice ministry said Monday it has finalized a settlement with families of the victims of the USS Cole bombing, ending long-running litigation in U.S. courts.

    Khartoum agreed in February to compensate the families of 17 American sailors who were killed in a suicide bombing targeting their navy destroyer in Yemen’s Aden harbor in 2000, an attack that was later claimed by Al-Qaeda.

    A U.S. court held Sudan responsible for the attack and ordered compensation, finding that the bombers were trained in the country.

    In March 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the ruling on procedural grounds.

    On Monday, Sudan’s justice ministry said it had submitted on Friday a petition alongside families who pursued the case with the relevant U.S. court to end pending lawsuits against Sudan regarding the USS Cole.

    “The settlement procedures have now been completed in such a way that would permanently scrap lawsuits,” the ministry said in a statement.

    The ministry did not give further details on the deal or the amount of compensation.

    Khartoum has always denied the charges but by agreeing to a settlement, Sudan has fulfilled a key condition set by the United States to remove it from Washington’s state sponsors of terrorism list.

    Sudan has been on Washington’s blacklist since 1993 over its alleged support of Islamist groups, a designation that impeded foreign investment.

    The country hosted al-Qaeda’s late leader Osama Bin Laden from 1992 until 1996.

    Since the ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir last April, Sudan has been in talks with the U.S. over its removal from the blacklist in a bid to revive the country’s ailing economy.

    Sudan’s justice ministry said the settlement “clearly states that Sudan was not responsible for the attack of the USS Cole … [the deal] was only to serve Sudan’s strategic interest.””

  3. US targets al-Shabaab with 3 airstrikes near Mubaraak, Somalia
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/04/06/somalia-mubaraak-shabaab-airstrike/

    “The U.S. conducted three airstrikes targeting al-Shabaab militants in the Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia on Sunday, 5 April, Africa Command said on Monday.

    The strikes, which AFRICOM said killed eight al-Shabaab militants and no civilians, occurred on Sunday, April 5 near the town of Mubaraak.

    The U.S. military has increased its targeted strikes against al-Shabaab since 2014, part of a campaign to beat back the militant organization and prop up forces of Somalia’s federal government, which is based in Mogadishu.

    U.S. Special Operations Forces and Turkish troops are training Somali National Army forces under the federal government.

    The African Union has contributed some 20,000 troops to the fight under the banner of a peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM, or African Union Mission in Somalia.

    Al-Shabaab, an Islamist movement with close ties to al-Qaeda, has sought to overthrow the Somali government for more than a decade. AMISOM drove the militants from Mogadishu in 2011, but al-Shabaab still launches deadly attacks on civilians and security personnel in the capital and control swaths of Somalia’s rural south.

    So far SNA forces have had little success securing rural territories outside the capital.

    AFRICOM commander Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend has defended the campaign’s slow progress against criticism, saying he does not consider the mission to be a case of “whack-a-mole.”

    The command has also been accused of obfuscating its civilian casualties assessment process. AFRICOM has admitted responsibility for one incident of civilian casualties in 13 years of airstrikes on the continent.

    In a shift, AFRICOM said last month it will begin issuing quarterly reports on civilian casualty allegations and internal assessments by the end of April.

    Amnesty International released a report last week with further evidence a February U.S. airstrike in the town of Jilib killed a teenage girl and wounded her two sisters and grandmother, in an incident first reported by The Defense Post.”

  4. Spain: Illegal migrants return illegally to Morocco
    https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/04/spain-illegal-migrants-return-illegally-to-morocco/
    A group of approximately 100 Moroccan migrants who had been living illegally in Europe returned illegally to Morocco from Spain by inflatable boat last week to escape the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    The young migrants each paid 60,000 Moroccan dirhams (approximately 5,500 euros) to get back to Morocco, according to a report at the French portal Fdesouche, which was in turn based on an article by the Moroccan newspaper Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

    As they were crossing the Mediterranean, their boats were caught by large waves and they were trapped at sea for an entire day, according to the authorities in Larache, on the Moroccan coast. They were rescued by a smuggler from Kenitra who brought them to a beach near Douar Akla for 300,000 dirhams (approximately 27,000 euros).

    https://twitter.com/V_of_Europe/status/1244512193242071040

    The migrants were fearful of being arrested, however, so they “disappeared into the wild” as soon as they landed on the beach. The local police launched a manhunt to track them down as they were concerned that the men might be bringing the coronavirus into Morocco. They were able to locate some of the men, some of whom were hiding in unexpected places. One was found asleep in a traditional clay oven, according to police reports.

    Spain currently has the second-highest number of known cases of coronavirus infection in Europe after Italy, and the highest number of deaths. Like many nations, Spain has also seen an explosion in unemployment as a result of the crisis, which is also impacting migrant workers. This may be driving some migrants in Europe to return to where they came from by the same perilous route they took to get there.
    This should come as welcome news to Spain’s Right-wing populist Vox party, which has been calling for more stringent measures to be taken to prevent illegal immigrants from entering Spain from North Africa, including the construction of a wall for that purpose, as previously reported by Voice of Europe.

  5. Al-Maliki: Houthis pushing illegal immigrants to cross into Kingdom
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/591569/SAUDI-ARABIA/Al-Maliki-Houthis-pushing-illegal-immigrants-to-cross-into-Kingdom

    “Col. Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesman of the Arab Coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen, said that Houthi militias are forcing illegal immigrants to migrate to Saudi Arabia. “The Iranian-backed militias are trying to exploit the global situation in light of the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic,” he said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

    Al-Maliki drew attention to the reports of the International Organization for Migration that showed that the number of illegal immigrants from the Horn of Africa countries has exceeded 200,000 people, pointing out that the Houthi militias are trying to confuse the Saudi border security forces by using the illegal immigrants. “The Houthi militias are pushing illegal immigrants gathered in Saada by shooting at them so as to push them to the borders of Saudi Arabia,” the spokesman said. He added the security authorities in the Kingdom are dealing with the waves of illegal immigrants in accordance with the humanitarian principles.”

  6. Houthis: Liberation of Yemen’s Marib a matter of time
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200406-houthis-liberation-of-yemens-marib-a-matter-of-time/

    “A leading member of the Houthi movement yesterday announced that he expects the liberation of Marib province to be achieved soon.

    Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti is the Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council and member of the AnsarAllah Political Bureau and stated on his Facebook page that “the liberation of Marib has become a matter of time”.

    Al-Bukhaiti also discussed allegations of the failed attempts of the Saudis in offering financial incentives in order to win over the tribes of Marib. “We salute Marib tribes for rejecting Saudi financial temptations, confirming that their blood is not for sale,” he said.

    He also advised people from Marib who have been fighting as mercenaries on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition to align themselves with the Houthi-allied Yemeni military, saying: “Those who polluted themselves with these funds, we call on them to correct their position in coordination with Mujahideen [the army and popular committees].”…”

  7. Yemen: Houthis kill 6 in shelling of female section of Taiz prison
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200406-yemen-houthis-kill-6-in-shelling-of-female-section-of-taiz-prison/

    “At least six female inmates have died and a further 15 have been injured in the Yemeni city of Taiz after the Houthis shelled a prison, Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni reported yesterday.

    “The Houthi rebels launched indiscriminate mortar shelling over the western swathes of the city this evening,” Rashad Al Akhali, deputy governor of Taiz province, told the National.

    Six people died and 28 were injured in the shelling, Information Minister Muammar Iriani announced on Twitter…”

  8. Tripoli hospital under fire as continued shelling defies coronavirus
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security/tripoli-hospital-under-fire-as-continued-shelling-defies-coronavirus-idUSKBN21O2SZ

    “Projectiles struck the grounds of a hospital in Tripoli on Monday in an area held by the internationally recognized government near a frontline, residents said, even as Libya struggled to prepare for an outbreak of the coronavirus.

    The residents said they heard loud blasts and then saw black smoke rising from the area around the hospital during a day of heavy mutual bombardment by Libya’s warring sides.

    The local council of Abu Salim district said the hospital had been targeted by rockets fired by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar, which has been attempting to capture Tripoli for a year.

    Abu Salim council posted photographs showing damaged cars in the hospital grounds and said five people had been injured in the attack. A local aid group said six of the hospital’s patients had been evacuated.

    Libya’s health infrastructure has been badly reduced by years of chaos and conflict since the 2011 uprising against strongman Muammar Gaddafi, and aid agencies have warned it is poorly prepared to withstand a major coronavirus outbreak.

    Libya has confirmed 18 cases of the virus so far, but despite the pleas of the United Nations for a ceasefire, the conflict has escalated sharply over the past two weeks.”

  9. Coronavirus: Two UAE-based Indians in trouble over Islamophobic messages
    https://gulfnews.com/uae/coronavirus-two-uae-based-indians-in-trouble-over-islamophobic-messages-1.70818204

    “An Indian manager in Abu Dhabi is in trouble for demeaning Islam on social media and hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims.

    Mitesh. a financial manager at an Abu Dhabi-based firm, could face legal action over his Islamophobic Facebook post which uses graphic images to show how a “jihadi coronavirus suicide spitter” (sic) could “cause 2,000 deaths compared to 20 by a jihadi bomber detonating a belt rigged with explosives”.

    The post is a malicious reference to videos falsely claiming to show members of a Muslim missionary group in India spitting on police.

    Mitesh’s post has sparked outrage on social media with many demanding his immediate dismissal and arrest.

    Shortly after Gulf News brought the post to the attention of his employer, the company’s legal representative said they have launched a probe into the matter. “We are examining the case. Strict legal action pursuant to UAE laws will be taken against the man if our investigation reveals that it was he who put up that post. He will be sacked. We have a zero-tolerance policy,” the company’s legal representative said.

    Go to Pakistan
    Last week, a visiting Indian job seeker was told to go to Pakistan by his fellow countryman S. Bhandari, who owns an event management company in the UAE. Shamshad Alam, 42, from Maharashtra, India, told Gulf News he had barely shared his CV with Bhandari on WhatsApp when he messaged back saying ‘Go back to Pakistan’.

    “I am aghast. How can someone be so insensitive?,” said Alam. “When I confronted him, he abused me and threatened to report me to police,” added Alam who has since lodged a complaint with Dubai Police. The WhatsApp exchange between Alam and Bhadari has also gone viral on social media.

    Phone calls made to Bhandari by Gulf News remained unanswered over two days while an email sent to him elicited no response.

    Strict laws
    The UAE outlaws all religious or racial discrimination under a legislation passed in 2015.

    The anti-discrimination/anti-hatred law prohibits all acts “that stoke religious hatred and/or which insult religion through any form of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or via online media.”

    The legislation mainly aims to fight “discrimination against individuals or groups based on religion, caste, doctrine, race, color or ethnic origin.”

    Post at your own peril
    Here is the list of those who have paid heavily for their social media posts after Gulf News reported about them:

    March 2020: Indian chef Trilok Singh who worked at a restaurant in Dubai is fired for making an online threat to rape Delhi-based law student Swati Khanna over her views on the controversial Citizen Amendment Act.

    January 2020: Indian expat Jayant Gokhale draws flak for asking Keralite job seeker Abdulla SS to joining protestors in Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi.

    March 2019: Indian safety and security officer at Transguard Group in Dubai is sacked and deported for posting a comment on Facebook celebrating the terror attacks on New Zealand mosques.

    June 2018: Rigging supervisor at an Abu Dhabi firm is fired for threatening to kill Kerala chief minister in a facebook video.

    June: 2018 JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai terminates contract with Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar after he puts up a post on twitter saying that followers of Islam had “terrorised” Hindus for 2,000 years.

    April 2017: 33-year-old Indian is sacked for sending offensive Facebook messages to Indian journalist Rana Ayyub.

    What is Islamophobia?
    Islamophobia is an exaggerated fear, hatred, and hostility toward Islam and Muslims that is perpetuated by negative stereotypes resulting in bias, discrimination, and the marginalization and exclusion of Muslims from social, political, and civic life.”

  10. Another AfD politician’s car set on fire in Berlin
    https://www.dw.com/en/another-afd-politicians-car-set-on-fire-in-berlin/a-53040589

    “For the at least the third time since March, a vehicle belonging to a member of the far-right German political party appears to have been torched on purpose. The AfD says it is the victim of far-left “violence.”

    A car belonging to a member of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party was set on fire early Monday morning in Berlin’s Schöneberg neighborhood, the party said in a statement.

    Berlin police have not released information on who set the fire, but confirmed that the incident was being treated as an act of “arson with a possible political motive.”

    Frank Hansel, chief whip for the AfD in the local parliament for the Berlin city-state, shared a photo of his burned-out Jaguar on Twitter.

    “What’s really bad is that people are almost getting used to this leftist orgy of violence, and so nothing follows from the CDU, the SPD, or the FDP,” Hansel wrote, tagging the three mainstream parties, some of whose members had spoken out against earlier similar instances.

    As two nearby vehicles were damaged, Hansel added that “the middle class is also being attacked here.”

    The case is being investigated by the department of Germany’s investigative police force tasked with dealing with crimes that appear to be politically motivated.

    Series of attacks?

    Since March, there have been several acts of vandalism and destruction of property belonging to AfD officials.

    On Monday, the AfD parliamentary group leader in Berlin, Georg Pazderski, called the incident the “next repulsive act in a series that doesn’t want to end.”

    On March 2, a vehicle belonging to Tino Chrupalla, the AfD’s co-chairman, was set on fire outside Chrupalla’s home in Saxony.Following Monday’s incident, Chrupalla tweeted in response: “Once again, and AfD politician’s car is ablaze. Good that Frank Hansel was not hurt. This series of arson attacks shows how much our democracy is at risk.”

    On March 10, a car belonging to an AfD politician in Berlin was set ablaze. In a separate incident the same day, windows at an AfD politician’s house were broken with stones, and “Antifa” was spray-painted on the wall, according to Berlin police. Antifa is the short form for “anti-fascist” in the German language, and the word has become a catchall term for various far-left groups and organizations in Germany, often with very loose organizational structures or affiliations to each another.

    Following the arson attack in March on Chrupalla’s car, Saxony’s state premier Michael Kretschmer, from Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), condemned acts of violence or vandalism against politicians.

    “One action leads to another and we need to break this circle of violence,” Kretschmer said. However, he added that violence could also include verbal attacks, saying that “the AfD has made large contributions to this over the years.””

  11. Hundreds of migrants still sleeping rough in Paris region amid coronavirus
    https://www.france24.com/en/20200406-focus-hundreds-of-migrants-still-sleeping-rough-in-paris-region-amid-covid-19

    “Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures in place in France, hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers are still sleeping rough in the Paris region. Local NGOs are providing help as best as they can. FRANCE 24’s Eléonore Vanel, Armelle Caux and Nadia Massih report.

    On March 24, hundreds of migrants who had been living in a makeshift camp in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers were moved to hotels and sports centres, as part of the region’s fight against COVID-19.

    “There were tents everywhere, stretching across the whole area. The tents were touching each other, it wasn’t hygienic,” said Christian Reboul from Doctors of the World, an NGO that had been sounding the alarm for weeks about the lack of proper sanitation conditions at the site.

    In total, 732 migrants were evacuated from the Aubervilliers camp, but there are still several hundred, perhaps even thousands, on the streets. Volunteers from NGOs such as Utopia 56 are doing their best to find them and help them find suitable accommodation – including a parish church.

    But not everyone ends up in shelters, so the volunteers are also conducting nightly rounds to see who needs help. We followed them as they distributed meals to homeless asylum seekers. Having noted the location of around 90 people on the streets, they’ll now send the details to local government to try to encourage them to open more emergency accommodation.”

  12. Coronavirus hate crime: Police investigation launched after stranger coughs at blind woman
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1265862/Coronavirus-hate-crime-police-investigation-launched-blind-woman-cough-Wilthshire-latest

    “WILTSHIRE Police have launched an investigation after a stranger coughed in a blind woman’s face while she was out for a walk.

    The incident is being treated as a hate crime. Wiltshire Police says the victim was walking with her guide dog when she was cruelly coughed at by someone nearby.

    The blind woman in her 50s was walking with her guide dog on Saturday evening when she was approached by the stranger.

    The incident took place on Halifax Road in the town of Melksham on the River Avon.

    Her dog alerted her to someone close by, and she shouted out for them to keep back – in order to maintain social distancing rules during the coronavirus lockdown

    However, instead of stepping back, the person approached her and coughed in her face.

    The woman said she could feel the person’s breath against her cheek, police said.

    Sergeant David Hambly, who is investigating the incident, said the person’s behaviour was “completely unacceptable” during times like this.

    He said: “We are treating this as an incident of hate crime”.

    “Due to the current climate, the victim felt especially anxious and shocked by this person’s actions and immediately went home and washed her face and hands.

    The woman said she could feel the person’s breath against her cheek, police said.

    Sergeant David Hambly, who is investigating the incident, said the person’s behaviour was “completely unacceptable” during times like this.

    He said: “We are treating this as an incident of hate crime”.

    “Due to the current climate, the victim felt especially anxious and shocked by this person’s actions and immediately went home and washed her face and hands.

    “If so, you may have captured footage of the suspect so please do call us.”

    The news comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to intensive care after testing positive for coronavirus almost two weeks ago.

    The news has thrown the government into disarray and caused even more worry to arise from the pandemic.

    With there currently being no known cure for COVID-19, many have been wondering what treatment the Prime Minister will be getting in intensive care.

    Experts have now spoken out about the kind of treatment patients get in intensive care.

    Urgent care doctor Kishan Rees has given an update on how the Prime Minister is likely to be doing on Monday night.

    Speaking to Sky News, he said: “Judging by how he gave the instruction to Dominic Raab, it doesn’t sound like he has been intubated… which is obviously a good thing, and we wish him well.

    “I think he will be on an intensive care unit because that allows for a far higher degree of monitoring in terms of the body’s physiology and there’s also one-to-one nursing.

    “There’s a very close eye from a medical point of view and they can really monitor his observations – his temperature, his blood pressure, his heart rate and his oxygen saturation.”

    On why the Prime Minister’s illness worsened, Mr Rees said: “Some people have a flu-like illness for five to seven days and then they get completely better.

    “…The second stage of this disease in some people that get it can involve a really severe auto-immune reaction, something called cytokine storm – basically the body’s natural defences are overwhelmed and the body shuts down with multi-organ failure.”

    However, doctor Rees pointed out that the Prime Minister’s case does not sound as severe as this.”