Reader’s Links for June 30, 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

115 Replies to “Reader’s Links for June 30, 2020”

  1. Iran Hands Death Sentence to Admin of Counterrevolutionary Website
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/06/30/2296838/iran-hands-death-sentence-to-admin-of-counterrevolutionary-website

    “Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaeili said Ruhollah Zam, the administrator of the Amad News counterrevolutionary website and Telegram channel, has been sentenced to death after being convicted of Efsad-e Fel-Arz (spreading corruption on earth).
    The Judiciary’s spokesman made the announcement at a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday, adding that the verdict is not final and can be appealed.

    Amad News was known for disseminating incriminating content against the Islamic Establishment, insulting the sanctities of Iranian Muslims, and publishing fake news in order to drive a wedge between the Iranian people and government.

    Iran arrested Zam in 2019 following a complicated intelligence operation by the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization, which involved deceiving intelligence services of some Western countries especially France, under whose guidance and protection Zam was operating.”

  2. Iran to Bahrain: Regional Security Cannot Be Guaranteed by Obedience to US
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/06/30/2296788/iran-to-bahrain-regional-security-cannot-be-guaranteed-by-obedience-to-us

    “Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected a recent joint statement by the US and Bahrain on the extension of a UN arms ban on Tehran, saying that regional security cannot be guaranteed by being “obedient” to the US.

    Regional security cannot be purchased from outside and will not be guaranteed by being “obedient” to the US, Seyed Abbas Mousavi said on Tuesday.

    The remarks came after the US and Bahrain held talks on Monday and released a joint statement, calling for the extension of the UN arms embargo on Iran.

    “In recognizing the grave threat posed by Iranian arms transfers in the region broadly and in Bahrain specifically, the United States and Bahrain call upon the United Nations Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran before it expires. The embargo is an important tool to counter Iran’s proliferation of arms to proxies. It promotes greater regional stability and holds Iran accountable for its actions,” the statement read.

    The Iranian spokesman further said voicing support for the extension of the arms ban by the countries which has been killing Yemeni women and children by American weapons for more than five years now is just another “bitter irony”.

    Slamming certain regional countries for blindly following the US which itself is the manifestation of “oppression” and “injustice” in the world, Mousavi said, “The only way to create stability and security in the region is to change hostile behaviors and move towards regional cooperation”.

    As one of the achievements of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, endorsed by the Resolution 2231, the UN’s arms embargo against the Islamic Republic of Iran is to be lifted by October 2020. However, the US is trying to prevent the removal of the arms embargo, even though it is no longer a JCPOA partner after it withdrew from the deal in 2018 and re-imposed the nuclear sanctions against Iran that had been lifted as per the accord.”

  3. Iran Capable of Inflicting More Defeats on Enemy: IRGC Chief
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/06/30/2297022/iran-capable-of-inflicting-more-defeats-on-enemy-irgc-chief

    “Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami highlighted Iran’s victories over the global arrogance and said the country can inflict more defeats on enemies.

    “Under the sanctions and problems the enemies have created for US, we have managed to defeat the global arrogance led by the US,” Major General Salami said during a visit to Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences in Tehran on Tuesday.

    “Today, when they are facing fundamental problems, we can inflict more serial defeats on them.”

    He further hailed the self-sacrifices and efforts made by Iran’s medical staff and health professionals in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, saying they disappointed the enemies who were expecting to see the country to be brought to its knees in the face of the disease.

    The senior commander highlighted the failure and incompetence of health systems in many Western countries in dealing with COVID-19 and said the warriors of the Iranian health system, however, achieved great successes in the fight against the pandemic.”

  4. Syrian boy raped and tortured in Lebanon
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200630-syrian-boy-raped-and-tortured-in-lebanon/

    “Three Lebanese youths, one of them the son of a senior Hezbollah official, filmed their torture and rape of a 13-year-old Syrian boy in Sohmor, a small town in the Beka’a Valley, Aram news website reported on Monday. The video went viral on social media.

    According to Aram, the three youths caught the boy when he tried to escape several times. They abused him sexually, verbally and physically. Another Lebanese website said that the three youths are well known in the area where they committed the crime.

    Lebanese and Syrians alike are angry about the incident and have used social media to express their feelings. They have called on the Lebanese authorities to arrest and punish the perpetrators.

    The victim of the assault works in a shop to help supplement his family’s income. His mother has run another small shop since her divorce from the boy’s father. She called upon human rights NGOs working with children to look into the assault on her son.

    The Lebanese authorities have not commented on the video, even though it was made public more than three day ago. Aram has claimed that Hezbollah is putting pressure on the mother not to file a complaint against those alleged to be responsible for the attack.”

  5. Macron accuses Turkey of ‘criminal’ role in Libya
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200630-macron-accuses-turkey-of-criminal-role-in-libya/

    “French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Turkey of “criminal responsibility” in the conflict in Libya.

    This is another round in France’s criticism of Ankara’s support for Libya’s Government of National Accord.

    Speaking to reporters yesterday after holding talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel near Berlin, Macron said that Turkey had “massively re-imported jihadist fighters from Syria” into Libya while increasing its own military presence in the country. He accused Turkey of ignoring the UN arms embargo.

    “I think this is a historic and criminal responsibility for a country which claims to be a member of NATO,” said Macron. He added that Turkey’s foreign policy within Libya is “unacceptable” and called on Ankara to “urgently clarify” its position. Turkey does not simply “claim” to be a member of NATO; it actually joined the organisation in 1952…”

  6. Two ‘extremely dangerous’ terrorists killed in North Sinai shootout: Ministry
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/373270/Egypt/Politics-/Two-extremely-dangerous-terrorists-killed-in-North.aspx

    “Two “extremely dangerous” terrorists have been killed by Egyptian security forces in a shootout in North Sinai, Egypt’s interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The two terrorists, who were attempting to gather information about security checkpoints in the area as part of a plot to launch a series of attacks, were killed after they fired shots at police who were attempting to apprehend them, according to the statement.

    The ministry said that police retrieved from the scene two automatic rifles, ammunition, and a weapon that was stolen by the suspects in an earlier attack on a policeman in August 2017 in North Sinai’s Bir Al-Abd.

    The interior ministry said it acted upon information gathered by its National Security Bureau that terrorists were scouting North Sinai’s Galbana area in preparation for carrying out attacks against army and police personnel on the seventh anniversary of the 30 June Revolution.

    Egypt has been conducting Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 for the past two years to combat takfiri elements in Norh Sinai.”

  7. France and Sahel leaders tout progress in anti-jihad campaign
    https://www.france24.com/en/20200630-live-france-and-sahel-leaders-hold-summit-on-anti-jihad-campaign

    “French President Emmanuel Macron joined leaders from five West African countries on Tuesday to take stock of a new strategy to intensify the fight against jihadist insurgents in the Sahel.

    Meeting in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, the presidents reviewed a campaign that they rebooted in January after a string of reversals.

    Since then, the jihadists have continued to carry out almost daily attacks, but they are also under mounting pressure, losing a key leader to a French raid and fighting internally, according to security sources.

    The allies have “shifted the dynamic” in the Sahel, Macron told reporters after the talks, adding that “victory is possible thanks to the efforts supplied over the past six months”.

    Earlier, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani said there had been “significant progress” in the fight against jihadists, though cautioning that the advances were “insufficient in the face of mounting challenges”.

    He added: “Violent extremisim in all its forms continues to hit several zones… and is expanding in a worrying manner.”

    France hosted a summit in January to help secure a stronger public commitment from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger at a time of deepening concern in France after it lost 13 troops in a helicopter crash.

    The insurgency kicked off in northern Mali in 2012, during a rebellion by Tuareg separatists that was overtaken by jihadists. Despite thousands of UN and French troops, the conflict spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, stirring feuds between ethnic groups and triggering fears for states further south.

    Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes and the economies of the three countries, already among the poorest in the world, have been grievously damaged.

    Macron arrived for a one-day round trip from Europe for the summit, with representatives from the UN, African Union and European Union in attendance. The leaders of Germany, Spain and Italy joined the talks by video link.

    The meeting marked the first time that Sahel allies have gathered physically since the start of the coronavirus crisis.

    ‘Three-border region’

    One priority was to assess affairs in the “three-border region”, a hotspot of jihadism where the frontiers of Burkina, Niger and Mali converge.

    France, which added 500 troops to its Sahel mission after the summit in the French town of Pau, is co-leading the campaign in this region, targeting an Islamic State-affiliated group led by Abou Walid al-Sahraoui.

    Earlier this month, French forces in northern Mali, helped by a US drone, killed Abdelmalek Droukdel, the head of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

    And in a new development, jihadists respectively linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group have clashed several times since the start of the year in Mali and Burkina Faso, after long steering clear of one another, according to security experts.

    Despite this, problems in the Sahel run deep.

    Local armies are poorly equipped and underfunded, rights groups say troops are to blame for hundreds of killings and other abuses of civilians, and in some areas the presence of government has evaporated.

    Staunch French ally Chad has yet to fulfil a promise to send troops to the three-border region, and a much-trumpeted initiative to create a joint 5,000-man G5 Sahel force is making poor progress.

    In Mali, anger at insecurity has fuelled discontent over coronavirus restrictions and the outcome of elections, creating a political crisis for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

    Both Burkina and Niger are due to hold presidential elections by year’s end, fuelling concerns about the outcome.

    Macron stressed the need “to do more in terms of the return of the state”, particularly “in Mali, in Burkina, in a context that we know is very complex”.

    In response to lobbying from France, a group of European special forces called Takuba, numbering 310 men, is mustering to help Malian troops.

    And on Monday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the 13,000-troop MINUSMA peacekeeping force in Mali for another year, to June 30, 2021.”

  8. If true, good news. If not true, then it bears refuting.
    If it gets taken down, let’s assume it is true.
    https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson
    http://archive.is/https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1277773122301804546
    Alex Berenson on Twitter: “Wondering what’s really happening in Texas? Here’s the email, from a senior executive at a Texas ER chain that sees thousands of patients a month. He went on the record – a brave move. I’m going to let him speak for himself. (Two tweets of screenshots. Worth reading to the end.) https://t.co/4xuBdTIFIc” / Twitter