Reader’s Links for June 3, 2020

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

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

134 Replies to “Reader’s Links for June 3, 2020”

  3. Muslim Eid causes dramatic increase of Corona infections in Germany

    As is well known, among our left-wing politicians, there is a Sugar Feast greeting contest at the same time every year when Ramadan comes to an end.

    But this year, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas & Co. should probably have been a bit more restrained. Because now it turns out that following private celebrations for the Muslim Sugar Feast in Göttingen, several hundred people had to be quarantined. There are 230 people in the city and district and 140 in the rest of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, Radio rst reports.The number of people infected is currently said to be around 80. However, this number could increase, as test results are still pending.
    https://medforthblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/muslim-eid-causes-dramatic-increase-of-corona-infections-in-germany/

  4. India Starts Work on Emergency Landing Airstrip in Kashmir Amid Border Stand-off with China (sputniknews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202006031079505435-india-starts-work-on-emergency-landing-airstripin-kashmir-amid-border-stand-off-with-china/

    “As the skirmish continues between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) over the former building defence infrastructure in eastern Ladakh, New Delhi has started work on an airstrip in Kashmir for fighter jets to make emergency landings in war-like situations.

    Under India’s Transport Ministry’s project to develop a highway-turned-runway for the emergency landing of planes, work has been started to construct a 3.5km-long airstrip along National Highway 44 in southern Kashmir.

    The airstrip is reportedly being constructed on the Srinagar-Banihal highway in the Bijbehara area of southern Kashmir.

    Apart from the development of the airstrip, the Road Organisation has started works on 17 highways along China’s border. These highways will have weapons storage dumps, landing lights, fuel, and firefighting equipment.

    While the sources confirmed the commencement of work for the airstrips, the officials refused to link it with the current border tension with China and stated the decision was made in June last year. India’s Ministry for Road Transport identified 29 highways for the construction of airstrips, out of which only 13 were found feasible to be constructed.

    Meanwhile, following clashes between the Indian Army and China’s People Liberation Army, Beijing asked India to adopt a cautious and restrained attitude towards infrastructure development in border areas, as there are disputes over demarcation.

    India has been constructing a total of 61 roads ranging from Arunachal Pradesh to Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir that will provide all-weather connectivity to civilians of border areas and troops.

    Back in 2017, the two Asian giants were engaged in a 73-day stand-off at Doklam. The two countries share a loosely demarcated 4,000 km border, which remains a matter of conflict between the neighbours.”

    • Are the Indians sending a message to China or is the situation really that tense?

      • Again, can’t read too much into these things.
        They go on all the time, but don’t reach international significance. We happen to be paying more attention to regional sources these days.

        Both Xi and Modi use skirmishes – even just stories or gestures – to distract the populace and generate patriotism. Local media always play them up because they’re made for media. Russia is playing us by passing them along.

        China will remain India’s biggest trading partner. Regions within India, anyway. India is HUGE – border wars are compartmentalized. The 2017 incident had no effect on business relationships. (Something to remember, regarding ever-neutral, corrupt India as a reliable ally.)

        Russia’s always interested because India’s a major market for their weapons. (They go Israeli for top-of-the-line.) China also sells them weapons, even when they’re at war!

        Inscrutable.

  5. Three Terrorists Killed, One Indian Military Person Injured in Ongoing Encounter in Pulwama, Kashmir (sputniknews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/military/202006031079504662-three-terrorists-killed-one-indian-military-person-injured-in-ongoing-encounter-in-pulwama-kashmir/

    “Last week, the Indian intelligence agency alerted security personnel about an increase in infiltration attempts in Kashmir from the Pakistani side. Since April of this year, Indian security forces have killed over 50 militants in the Kashmir Valley.

    In an intense encounter on Wednesday morning, Indian security forces killed at least three militants allegedly from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) group in the Astan Mohalla Kangan area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Police said that they have recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the site of the firefight.

    The police along with the Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force launched a cordon and search operation in Astan Mohalla in the early morning hours. However, during the intense firefight, one Indian serviceman was injured.

    On Tuesday, two militants were killed in the Tral area of Pulwama, while the Indian Army experienced major success on Monday when they eliminated 13 militants in the Mendhar and Rajauri sector along the Line of Control. These suspected terrorists were said to be trying to sneak across the border.

    In 2020, Indian forces have so far eliminated over 100 suspected terrorists including Hizb-ul-chief Riyaz Naikoo.

    Last week, India’s top military officer Lt Gen BS Raju claimed that all suspected terrorist camps and around 15 launch pads in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PoK) “are full”. The official had claimed that there may be an increase in infiltration attempts from across the border this summer to “replenish the diminishing terrorist cadres in Jammu and Kashmir”.”

  6. ‘Grave Method Error’ as Foreign-Born Excluded From Swedish School Test for Better Results (sputniknews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202006031079504819-grave-method-error-as-foreign-born-excluded-from-swedish-school-test-for-better-results/

    “Excluding a large chunk of foreign-born students from the scholastic PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test in violation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s regulation allowed Sweden to perform better than the average, a report has found.

    While Sweden upped its performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from “well below average” to “above average”, its success may be based on false numbers that give an inaccurate picture of reality, a review by the newspaper Expressen has concluded.

    A large number of foreign-born pupils were wrongly removed from the PISA sample, in violation of the OECD’s official regulations, Expressen reported, having surveyed data from the National Agency for Education, the Swedish Migration Agency, and Statistics Sweden. Even Swedish-born pupils with weak language skills were also removed.

    According to Expressen, Sweden removed a larger proportion of students due to lack of language skills than there were 15-year-old new arrivals at the time of the exam.

    Had the foreign-born pupils not been wrongly sorted out and the rules had been followed correctly, Sweden’s PISA result would have looked considerably worse, the review concluded.

    “There seem to be grave method errors here that systematically improved the average”, Magnus Henrekson, a professor at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics, told Expressen. “This is extremely serious, especially as the PISA results have in practice been used as a measure both of how Swedish schools stand in comparison with other countries and how it develops over time”, Henrekson said.

    The latest PISA survey from December 2019 was hailed as a huge success for Swedish schools, as Swedish students performed better than the OECD average in mathematics, science, and reading comprehension. Education Minister Anna Ekström called it a “message of strength” that the improvement was attained despite a large number of new arrivals.

    Previously, the National Agency for Education voiced suspicions that Sweden had excluded too many foreign-born pupils from participating in PISA. In December 2019, a few days after the PISA result was presented, the authority pointed out that there were too few foreign-born students in the sample.

    In the recent result of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests 15-year-olds’ scholastic success in reading, mathematics, and science in 79 countries around the globe, Sweden upped its performance from “well below average” to “above average”.

    Between PISA 2009 and 2018, the proportion of students with a foreign background increased from 12 to 20 percent, and the OECD itself estimated that Sweden’s improvement would have been even greater if the schools’ demographics had not changed, the newspaper Dagens Samhälle reported.”

    • TIME – Unmasked Coronavirus Deniers Crowd Italian Piazza to Protest Health Measures Amid Pandemic They Claim ‘Never Existed’

      Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in Rome shunning masks to protest against the Italian government’s measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

      Members of a marginal political movement created last year by a retired Carabinieri general have emerged as a virus-denial camp in Italy, the first Western country to be hit by the global pandemic.

      The leader of the so-called Orange Vests told the protest crowd assembled in the Piazza del Popolo on Tuesday that children shouldn’t be made to wear masks and he threatened to ‘’slap’’ anyone who did.

      Antonio Pappalardo added that he refuses to wear a mask himself and said: ‘’These lungs mine. I will take care of my lungs. Breathing is sacred.’’

      The people packing the square didn’t adhere to social-distancing guidelines set by the government.

      Pappalardo portrayed such containment measures as an infringement of freedom. Other speakers at the protest asserted that the pandemic ‘’never existed’’ and alleged that politicians had played it up to enhance their own powers.

      Italy went into a nationwide lockdown in early March. The country enters a new phase in emerging from the virus emergency with the opening of regional and external borders on Wednesday.

      https://time.com/5846672/italy-orange-vest-protest/

    • Italy: “Orange vest” protesters demand government’s resignation at Rome rally

      The new anti-governmental and conspiracy theorist movement making waves in Italy, known as the ‘Orange vests’ met in the famous Piazza del Popolo in Rome on Wednesday. Led by ex-police general Antonio Pappalardo, the protesters demanded that the Italian government be disbanded and that Italy leave the Euro and return to the Lira.

      Protests popped up throughout the country but the most important one was taking place in the capital. “The Italian people, gathered today by the grace of God in the Piazza del Popolo, will decide, and this is the focal point, to invite the Conte government to resign immediately,” roared Pappalardo to a cheering crowd.

      Footage caught the crowd chanting the national anthem, some members were doing a Roman salute while singing, others had placards pushing the 5G conspiracy theory.

      “We invite them to form a new government, a new provisional government in which there must be people from this movement, and of all the spontaneous popular movements, to form the new electoral law and by October to go and elect a new Parliament printing a new national currency,” stated Pappalardo.

      Pappalardo then decided to hold a vote among his supporters regarding whether Italy should leave the Euro and start printing their own currency. The whole crowd voted in favour and chanted “Lira, Lira, Lira,” referring to the Italian national currency that was in use before the Euro.

      Pappalardo then signed a document stating these requests that he and a delegation from the group took to the Quirinale and Palazzo Chigi to present to the government.

  9. Greece on brink: Huge row erupts as thousands set to be forced on streets in brutal move (express, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1290762/Greece-news-eu-latest-refugee-crisis-coronavirus-united-nations-un-humanitarian-crisis-spt

    “GREECE is on the brink of another humanitarian crisis after thousands of refugees were faced with the horror prospect of being forced out of their temporary accommodation.

    New rules from the Greek government came into play at the beginning of this week which meant for around 8,500 refugees their rights to stay in temporary homes had expired. The UN issued a stark warning about what faces those refugees who have now been left without shelter while Athens claims it had no other option but to enforce the legislation. Initially, refugees across Greece were offered apartments as part of the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation (ESTIA) project.

    But with it no longer in operation, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) claimed more than 9,000 could now be affected by the change and left to fend for themselves.

    Defending the move, Manos Logothetis, the secretary of the Greek asylum service, said that it is vital the temporary accommodation changes were issued to ease pressure on the other 30,000 refugees currently on the country’s idyllic islands.

    According to Euronews, he added: “It is normal that those who have been in Greece for longer can leave their place.

    “There must be a limit, and the refugees integrate and find a job.”

    Greece is currently in the depths of a devastating tug of war between Turkey and the EU over refugees, who are seeking asylum on the nation’s islands.

    Earlier this year, Turkey made the bombshell move to allow migrants to travel over to Greece – in direct opposition to an agreement it had in place with the EU over allowing refugees into the bloc.

    Turkey’s reluctance to continue with the deal came as a result of Brussels’ flawed approach over where the refugees would be rehomed afterwards.

    In March, Express.co.uk revealed that around 38,000 people had made the arduous journey to Greece, many thousands of them young children.

    But with the new legislation taking effect, Boris Cheshirkov, the UNHCR’s spokesman in Athens, condemned the move.

    He said: “Refugees will have to leave this form of assistance without effective access to Greek social services.

    “In theory, they are entitled to assistance but in reality for those who do not speak the language, navigating the Greek bureaucracy can be extremely difficult.”

    Reports say that some of those forced out of the accommodation are young, single parents, many who have been traumatised by their time in Greece or their previous lives.

    This has resulted in them being unable to begin to learn Greek fully, Mr Chesirkov continued.

    He added: “We need to see credible programs that are effectively allowing people to stand on their own feet before they’re leaving on such short notice.”

    The Greek press has also been critical of the legislation, claiming it could spark a humanitarian crisis on the islands.

    Efsyn, the national newspaper in Greece, said it could be “devastating and not just for refugees”.

    But Athens’ city council claimed it was working to find new shelters for those forced out, while ensuring they had basic necessities to survive.”

    A statement from the UNHCR concluded: “UNHCR has continuously raised its concerns that recognised refugees are expected to leave assistance but they do not have effective access to social benefits and support.

    “Many of those affected are vulnerable, including but not only most staying in ESTIA accommodation. Their effective inclusion in national systems offering services and for cash or in-kind support has not been possible so far.

    “The situation is aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “The risk of tensions is also increasing, and many people may be unable or unwilling to comply with the decision to leave their accommodation.

    “UNHCR has been urging a phased approach for refugees to leave assistance and a higher threshold to support vulnerable people who cannot leave their assistance at this stage in combination with other quick impact interventions to cover their basic needs.””

  10. Another 100 migrants reach Britain today on seven more boats as total reaches 1,830 this year already – nearly the same as for the whole of 2019 (dailymail, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8383509/Migrants-arrive-Dover-seven-boats-cross-English-Channel.html

    “Around 100 migrants have reached Britain today, pushing the number of arrivals close to the total seen throughout the whole of 2019.

    A group of 12 people are thought to have landed at Samphire Hoe beach near Dover, Kent this morning.

    It means the crossings today could take the number of migrants to have reached Britain already this year to 1,830.

    It is thought there are up to eight vessels involved in what are the first crossings of the month.

    The dawn operation this morning saw several small boats nearly 12 miles off the coast of Dover on the French-British sea border.

    Border Force and RNLI ships picked them up and took them to Dover harbour for processing.

    Some of those who arrived at Dover this morning were young men, including one wearing a face mask and life jacket.

    There were 741 arrivals in May, a record for a single month.

    Some 1,359 migrants have completed the journey since lockdown began in March.

    The crossings today will push the year’s total close to the 1,890 who arrived on small boats throughout the whole of 2019.

    It comes amid a surge in crossings, with more than 1,600 migrants having reached the UK already this year.

    Almost half of this year’s arrivals have been since the start of lockdown in Britain, with a record 145 on VE Day.

    Just 6 per cent this year have been returned to France.

    This comes after the Home Secretary instructed Border Force chiefs to examine whether they have legal authority to turn migrant boats around in the Channel – and send them back to France.

    If it proves impossible to achieve under current law, she is said to be drawing up plans for specific new legislation allowing UK patrol boats to turn back migrant vessels.

    At present, the border patrol cutters are only allowed to intervene when they see a migrant vessel in danger.

    If new laws are required to turn back vessels at sea, the way it will work will inevitably be tied into the UK’s final Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

    The maritime measures being pursued by the Home Office are thought to be conditional on securing the support of the French Government, which Mrs Patel has already raised with her French counterpart Christophe Castaner.

    The Home Office is also understood to be looking at simplifying and streamlining the schemes which govern how asylum seekers are housed across the country.

    Currently, some of the schemes involve local authorities volunteering to accept asylum seekers – such as the project for unaccompanied children who have claimed refugee status.”

  11. Far-Left Antifa Anarchists Take Credit for Setting French MP’s Car on Fire (breitbart, Jun 2, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/06/02/far-left-antifa-anarchists-take-credit-setting-french-mps-car-fire/

    “The far-left anarchist group “Attaque” has taken credit for an attack on the vehicle of an MP belonging to French President Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! (LREM/Republic on the Move).

    The arson attack took place outside the home of French MP Eric Alauzet in the city of Besançon and saw his car set on fire, with the blaze spreading to other vehicles parked next to it belonging to his neighbours.

    Alauzet said he was “revolted” by the incident and said the attack had come after at least a year of constant harassment.

    “I have been subjected to constant aggression for a year, I have been insulted on social networks, received threatening, anonymous letters,” he said and added it was clear the group wanted to intimidate him, France Bleu reports.

    The anarchist group took credit for the attack on Saturday morning and put out a statement saying: “Fire on all authority! For freedom.”

    Etienne Manteaux, the prosecutor of the Republic of Besançon, said that an investigation had been opened and investigators of the judicial police were handling the case.

    Several local politicians came out in support of Alauzet including Republican Ludovic Fagaut and populist National Rally (RN) member Jacques Ricciardetti, who said: “Violence, intimidation, plunging [France] into chaos. What about the dissolution of anarchist and far-left groups?”

    The arson attack comes as far-left Antifa extremism has intensified across France in recent weeks. In Paris, investigators discovered an alleged bomb factory headquarters of the group, arresting several extremists for building explosives…”

  12. Syria activists: After 3 months, Russian strikes hit Idlib (abcnews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syrian-activists-report-russian-airstrikes-idlib-province-71038826

    “Russian warplanes carried out early Wednesday the first airstrikes in three months on the last remaining rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria, opposition activists said. There was no immediate word on any casualties.

    The airstrikes, along with ground bombardment over the past few days, have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes to safer areas further north, the activists said. The strikes on and near Idlib province were the first to be conducted by Russian planes since a truce brought relative calm to the volatile region in early March, they said.

    The truce, brokered by Turkey and Russia, halted a terrifying three-month air and ground campaign that had killed hundreds and sent 1 million people fleeing toward the Turkish border…”

  13. Turkey: officers disperse anti-police brutality protest (abcnews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-officers-disperse-anti-police-brutality-protest-71039027

    “Police in Istanbul have dispersed a small group of demonstrators who gathered in the Turkish city to denounce police violence and to stand in solidarity with protesters in the United States. At least 29 demonstrators were detained, Turkey’s state-run agency reported.

    Anadolu Agency said riot police broke up the demonstration in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district late Tuesday after the group of about 50 activists ignored calls to disperse.

    Some of the anti-police violence activists were seen carrying a poster of George Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck while the handcuffed black man called out that he couldn’t breathe.

    Floyd’s death on May 25 sparked protests that spread across the U.S. and beyond.

    Turkish authorities frequently impose bans on public demonstrations or gatherings on security grounds. Human rights groups often accuse police of using disproportionate force to break up demonstrations.”

  14. Bus strikes roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan; 9 killed (abcnews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bus-strikes-roadside-bomb-southern-afghanistan-killed-71039028

    “A roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday killed nine passengers travelling on a bus through Kandahar province, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.

    Another five passengers were wounded in the explosion, said the spokesman, Bashir Ahmadi. The passengers were all civilians travelling from one district to another when the bus hit the bomb.

    He said this was the third roadside bombing since a brief cease-fire declared by the Taliban for a major Muslim holiday had ended last month. The Taliban have not claimed responsibility for any of those attacks but they did say they carried out one attack on Afghan forces since the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

    The truce was not officially extended but neither of the warring sides appears to want a return to an all-out fighting.

    On Tuesday night, a bomb exploded inside a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing two people, including the mosque’s prayer leader, and wounding eight others.

    Also Tuesday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a deadly roadside bombing over the weekend that hit a bus belonging to a local TV station in Kabul, killing at least seven civilians, including a woman and several children.”

  15. Burkina Faso’s food woes deepen as extremists expand reach (abcnews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/burkina-fasos-food-woes-deepen-extremists-expand-reach-71038020

    “Islamic extremists chased Adama Drabo and his family from their land in western Burkina Faso, forcing them to abandon a year’s worth of crops.

    Now that food is rotting in storage in the village, too dangerous for him to retrieve, even as the family is forced to survive on meager government rations. Drabo already has lost his 20-year-old son, who was killed by a roadside bomb.

    “Security is getting worse, and this year we won’t be able to cultivate and it will be a big problem,” he said. His future looks bleak if he and his family cannot return to their land.

    Violence linked to jihadists has spread from Burkina Faso’s north to its western breadbasket in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, pushing thousands like Drabo to hunger and threatening to cut off food for millions more in the country on the edge of the Sahara Desert. The fertile land produces large amounts of rice and maize, according to the government.

    Humanitarian groups are concerned that the coronavirus pandemic could exacerbate an already dire situation in Burkina Faso, one of the most impoverished countries in the world.

    “If production goes down in this area and if movement restrictions due to the coronavirus drive up food prices in the markets, it could push numbers of severely vulnerable people to double or triple,” said Julia Wanjiru, communications coordinator for the Sahel and West Africa Club, an intergovernmental economic group.

    Food insecurity already affects 2 million people in Burkina Faso, according to the latest report from its government and aid groups. Coronavirus is also spreading, with 884 reported cases and 53 deaths as of Monday.

    While the government has lifted restrictions on movement between cities, its borders with Mali, Niger and Ivory Coast remain closed, making the importation of food more expensive.

    The small town of Tougan is sheltering nearly 6,000 displaced people with new arrivals daily, according to Lassina Sougue, who directs the government’s humanitarian response in Sourou province. The situation is similar in some other small towns.

    He said the communities are resilient and showing solidarity. But on a recent trip to Boucle Du Mouhoun, at least a dozen people coming from three different provinces all said they were worried about food and access to their land.

    Anticipating a food crisis, the United States has doubled this year’s funding to World Food Program for Burkina Faso, to $21 million and is set to announce an additional $7 million in the coming weeks, according to an official with close knowledge of the situation. The official was not authorized to talk to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Boucle du Mouhoun has seen five roadside bomb attacks this year, compared with two in all of 2019, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, which collects and analyzes such information.

    There also are fears that the attacks are becoming more sophisticated because of training by foreign jihadists. A high-ranking foreign security official said extremists from Syria and Libya came to Burkina Faso in January and showed local jihadists how to make remote-controlled bombs. The security official was not authorized to speak to journalists and thus spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Some security analysts think the increase in violence is an extremist strategy to cut off the country’s food supply and deepen grievances against the government.

    “It’s logical and disturbing that armed groups target the region responsible for the largest cereal production in the country,” said Christian Poonwah, director of Safer Access Consulting, an international security company in the capital, Ouagadougou.

    “If prices for grains rise because production was compromised, it could have severe repercussions for public perception of the government and play directly in their (the extremists’) favor.”

    Reports of jihadists burning granaries and looting food warehouses at schools in the region are rising, he said.

    Other experts think violence is escalating because jihadists are being squeezed out of the border areas between Mali and Burkina Faso by international and regional military operations.

    They appear to be using Boucle du Mouhoun as a bridge to expand operations southwest toward coastal countries like Ivory Coast, where attacks also have increased this year, said Flore Berger, a Sahel research analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

    The crisis in Burkina Faso already has displaced about 850,000 people, leaving many sustenance farmers unable to feed their families.

    Seni Lzouma, 41, fled the north after his village was attacked by gunmen. For nearly a year, he’s been asking local authorities to help him find land in Kossi province, where he lives with wife and three children.

    “The community leaders said all the farms and all of the land in town was occupied,” he said, pointing to a patch of land beside the small house that the family is renting.

    He’s been trying without success to grow food from the sandy soil.”

  16. Sweden admits it DID get it wrong on coronavirus: Expert behind country’s refusal to enter lockdown says he would have imposed tougher restrictions ‘if we knew what we know now’
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8383293/Sweden-admits-DID-wrong-coronavirus.html
    Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist, has admitted he made the wrong call on the country’s coronavirus lockdown for the first time
    Tegnell admits too many people have died after he shunned mandatory rules
    He now believes Sweden should have taken harsher measures to stop the spread
    But he says he still would not have gone as far as other European countries did
    [..]

    Also see
    https://www.ladbible.com/news/news-swedish-scientist-admits-he-got-it-wrong-over-lockdown-decision-20200603

    https://dnyuz.com/2020/06/03/swedish-epidemiologist-admits-to-flaws-in-countrys-coronavirus-response/

  17. US Should Sanction the CCP to Support Hongkongers | CCP Virus | COVID-19 | Coronavirus | Epoch News

  18. Whistleblower doctor’s widow reportedly pressured by CCP; Wuhan mass virus testing results released

  21. US protesters defy curfews as demonstrations over George Floyd’s death enter 8th straight day

  24. Communist China Using George Floyd Protests for Propaganda—KT McFarland | American Thought Leaders

  25. Trump Promises To Protect Country; US Riots’ “Above and Below” Tactics | Crossroads | Joshua Philipp

  26. Hong Kong Entrepreneur Takes Stance Against Chinese Communist Party |CCP Virus |COVID-19 |Epoch News

  30. THE LYING ABOUT DONALD TRUMP IS NOW COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL
    This is how the national media are intended to operate in the Trump era. If they can’t find something wrong with him, they make it up. Eddie Scarry
    https://nypost.com/2020/06/02/the-lying-about-donald-trump-is-now-completely-out-of-control/

    MEDIA FALSELY CLAIMED VIOLENT RIOTS WERE PEACEFUL AND THAT TEAR GAS WAS USED AGAINST RIOTERS
    The entire narrative the media glommed onto in lockstep was that Trump was a monster who tear-gassed peaceful protesters to do something meaningless. None of that was true. But it took a day of reporting to get the truth out, long after the lie took hold. At times it seems as if there is nothing that many in the media won’t lie about to accomplish their political goals. In related news, despite or perhaps because of the media hysteria, polls show overwhelming majorities of Americans support the use of the National Guard and the military to bring peace to the cities the media claim aren’t being targeted by violent riots. Mollie Ziegler Hemmingway
    https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/02/media-falsely-claimed-violent-riots-were-peaceful-and-that-tear-gas-was-used-against-rioters/

    SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ON ACCOMPANYING PRESIDENT TRUMP TO ST JOHN’S CHURCH
    video – 7 mins 26 secs
    Secretary Esper: “I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.” Secretary Esper also addresses news reports regarding his knowledge of events on Monday evening while accompanying President Trump to St. John’s Church.

  32. IRAN – LIVE: Students in Tehran protest in solidarity with George Floyd

    Ruptly is live from Tehran on Wednesday, June 3, as students protest in front of the Swiss embassy in solidarity with George Floyd in the wake of massive protests across the US and other countries.

  33. Sen. Josh Hawley Questions Former Deputy AG Rosenstein Over Crossfire Hurricane Investigation

  40. Rescued migrants stranded on chartered Maltese tourist boats (abcnews, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rescue-migrants-stranded-chartered-maltese-pleasure-boats-71041474

    “More than 400 migrants are living aboard pleasure cruise vessels bobbing in the sea off Malta, many of them for weeks now. But for them, it’s no pleasure, only uncertainty over their fate and they aren’t cruising anywhere.

    Rescued from human traffickers’ unseaworthy boats in several operations in the central Mediterranean since late April, the migrants, along with the Maltese government, are waiting for European Union countries to offer to take them in. So far, only France has stepped forward, pledging to accept some of the asylum-seekers.

    France is one of a handful of EU countries which agreed last year to share the burden of caring for migrants rescued at sea by Malta and Italy.

    But that arrangement often yielded pledges that weren’t fully met, and that was before COVID-19 containment measures in Europe made movement of peoples across borders even more complicated.

    On Wednesday, SOS Mediterranee, a European humanitarian group which has operated rescue boats in the Mediterranean Sea, lamented that the migrants being held on the chartered tourist boats were being used as political pawns.

    “Instead of disembarking them in a safe place, as international law requires, the persons rescued at sea get used for political negotiations with member states of the European Union, which, despite the urgency of the situation, haven’t proposed a coordinated solution for their transfer,” the group said in a statement.

    On Tuesday, some of the migrants could be seen walking on deck. Their laundry hung from improvised clothes lines. Maltese armed forces, arrayed in boats, keep watch on the four vessels usually used for pleasure excursions to ferry tourists to the tiny Mediterranean island nation’s attractions, like the blue grotto and beaches accessible by sea. The small flotilla of tourist boats is about 23 kilometers (14 miles) off shore.

    With Malta under COVID-19 containment measures, its ports have been closed, and the four tourist cruise boats can’t operate for business now. But this week, Malta announced that on July 1 it re-opens to tourism. The government is paying several thousand euros a day to charter the boats from a Maltese company.

    At a news conference Monday to outline the July 1 travel rules, Prime Minister Robert Abela was asked about the migrants’ fate. Abela described the situation as unfortunate. He noted that while Malta reopens its airport on July 1, its ports stay closed for now as part of coronavirus containment rules.

    Malta has registered 620 known cases of COVID-19. About 50 of those infections were suffered by migrants in one of its reception centers on land. With that one under quarantine and others full in late April, Malta decided to charter private vessels, in this case from a tourist pleasure craft company, to house the migrants.

    The numbers of migrants kept at sea swelled last week to past 400, with the latest sea rescue on May 27.

    Abela said this week he hoped a European solution will be found for these migrants as well in case of future rescues of migrants from boats launched by Libya-based traffickers. The migrants flee conflict and poverty, with many of them coming from sub-Saharan Africa. Migrants who embark on the dangerous journeys because of economic reasons usually see their asylum bids denied.

    Two weeks ago, the U.N. Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration said it was “unacceptable to leave people at sea longer than necessary, especially under difficult and unsuitable conditions.” The organizations noted that 21 people, mostly families and children, had been evacuated and brought ashore to Malta earlier in May.

    Early in the standoff at sea, Maltese Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo said that since 2005, other EU countries had taken what he called a “miserly 8% of all those who were saved and brought to Malta.””

  41. A suspected member of the Antifa anarchist movement that has been undermining peaceful protests and inciting riots has been arrested in Pennsylvania- after his mommy and daddy turned him in.

    20-year-old Brian Bartels is accused of inciting violent protests in Pittsburgh on Saturday, and was effectively handed over to the authorities by his parents.

    During the riots, Bartels was sporting all-black and his face was covered, a signature style for Antifa members in recent years.

    https://www.thebright.com/antifa-suspect-who-incited-riot-gets-turned-over-to-police-by-his-parents/

  42. Iran, Russia, China, Turkey Celebrating ‘Collapse’ of the U.S. (breitbart, Jun 3, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2020/06/03/iran-russia-china-turkey-celebrating-collapse-of-the-u-s-report/

    “Iran, Russia, China, and Turkey are celebrating the “collapse” of the U.S., the Jerusalem Post reported, with the aim of furthering their own economic interests and engaging in an Middle East arms race.

    Authoritarian regimes are gloating over the bedlam unfolding in the U.S., the newspaper said, citing several examples from their respective state-run media.

    According to the analysis, these regimes have been biding their time to see the end of the U.S. as a global superpower.

    The US became the world’s most powerful country, a global hegemonic superpower, after the Soviet Union and its client states fell apart in 1989. However, Russia, China, Iran and increasingly Turkey have all awaited the period when the world would become multi-polar again. They have sought to work more closely together, and they have sat frequently at global forums that the US does not attend.

    To coordinate efforts against the US, these countries all have state media that is well funded, such as RT, TRT, Iran’s Tasnim and Fars News and numerous Chinese media outlets. The policies of these countries are to slowly undermine the US and wait for moments of US weakness to push their agendas.

    “Thank God things that happen in America do not happen in [Russia],” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said according to Russia’s TASS media.

    Russian senator Aleksey Pushkov wrote on Twitter the U.S. is crumbling, citing its withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria as proof.

    Pushkov also tweeted the crisis faced by the U.S. by the coronavirus pandemic and its inability to send aid to its European allies during the peak of the pandemic there further demonstrated its demise.

    Pushkov noted “America has been on a ‘hysterical’ tirade against China and now faces an internal schism and racial rebellion,” the report said.

    Iran’s state-run Tasnim news wire republished Pushkov’s words. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, meanwhile, argued it was stronger than ever and resisting the “pharaonic, dictatorial, terrorist United States.”

    Turkey’s state-run media is publishing articles claiming that U.S. corporations are “looting” black communities. “Turkey supports the protests, but suppresses dissent at home – just like China, Iran and Russia. TRT highlights police brutality in the US even though it never critiques police brutality in Turkey,” the article said.

    Turkey and Iran have attempted to undermine the U.S. through religious means, the report said, with the goal of defeating Western systems and paving the way for political Islam.

    These regimes aim to leverage the twin crises facing the U.S. to advance in an arms and geopolitical race.

    Ankara, despite being a nominal U.S. ally, has signed deals to acquire Russia’s S-400 anti-missile defense system and has also flooded Libya with weapons and Syrian mercenaries, the report noted. Iran, for its part, has sent tankers to Venezuela. Russia has sent warplanes to Libya and Syria.

    “Turkey is designing a new fighter jet that Russia’s media heralds as a possible replacement for the F-16. Russia is pushing its defense systems, and Turkey wants to work with Iran, Malaysia and Pakistan to improve economic relations and expand its role in the Mediterranean,” the report said.

    “The big four – China, Russia, Turkey and Iran – are poised to exploit and emerge stronger. Where once George Bush Sr. spoke of a new world order, now these countries want to bury that U.S. world order amid the chaos,” it concluded.”

  43. United States Attorney General William Barr just appointed a third US Attorney to examine another branch of the massive and ever-growing SpyGate scandal.

    Before we get to John Bash (US Attorney for the Western District of Texas) and what he’s been tasked by the Attorney General to investigate, let’s recap the other two investigations being led by US Attorneys that we already knew about:

    https://uncoverdc.com/2020/06/02/barr-appoints-third-us-attorney-to-investigate-spygate/

  45. Joe Biden Caught Lying in a Church | Top Biden Gaffes of the Week

  46. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration moved Wednesday to block Chinese airlines from flying to the U.S. in an escalation of trade and travel tensions between the two countries.

    The Transportation Department said it would suspend passenger flights of four Chinese airlines to and from the United States starting June 16.

    The decision was a response to China’s failure to let United Airlines and Delta Air Lines resume flights this week to China, which were suspended earlier this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic that started in China’s Wuhan province.

    The Transportation Department said that China was violating an agreement between the two countries covering flights by each other’s airlines.

    https://apnews.com/6646c80e313ada6c6bd2bee200508a16

  47. BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:40 P.M.) – The Austrian Parliament made the decision this week to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

    This move officially bans the Lebanese organization’s political wing from operating inside the central European nation.

    The Israeli Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision of the Austrian Parliament to take additional punitive measures against Hezbollah.

    “This is an important decision,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said, “I call on the Austrian government to adopt its parliament decision and join Britain, Germany and the Netherlands by declaring Hezbollah a terrorist organization.”

    https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/austrian-parliament-designates-hezbollah-as-terrorist-entity-israel-applauds-decision/

  49. Biden, China endorse far-left looters to take down U.S. government

    OAN Newsroom
    UPDATED 8:13 AM PT — Wednesday, June 3, 2020

    Joe Biden and Mainland China appear to share the same message when addressing the latest waves of riots and looting across the U.S.

    One America’s Kristian Rouz looks into the matter.

  50. The campaign plan for the war in the streets: Prior orchestration and targeting the police
    By J.E. Dyer June 3, 2020

    As the media escort us through the days of riots and pillaging in America’s major cities, it’s essential to keep in mind that the mainstream media are trying to shift the focus toward partisan themes, and away from what truly helps us see and assess what’s going on.

    If you went solely by mainstream media themes over the last 24 hours, you’d think that what mattered was a media-fostered sense of outrage about President Trump’s “photo op” at the church on Lafayette Square.

    But if you want to focus on what makes a difference to the outcome of the current crisis, and whether it can be gotten under control, it is imperative to look at other things.

    One is a hopeful sign that we can reasonably expect to see develop further. The sign is simply this: there was less apparent looting and mayhem on Tuesday night in major cities east of the Great Plains

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/06/03/the-campaign-plan-for-the-war-in-the-streets-prior-orchestration-and-targeting-the-police/