Reader’s Links for July 3, 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

75 Replies to “Reader’s Links for July 3, 2020”

  1. ISIL suspects caught in two provinces
    https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/isil-suspects-caught-in-two-provinces-156230

    “A suspect, apprehended in Turkey’s central province of Kayseri, was detained on July 2.

    In an operation by the provincial gendarmerie, Abdullah G., claimed to be a ISIL member, was detained.

    After routine health checks, the suspect was sent to the local courthouse.

    Meanwhile, in Turkey’s northwestern Bolu province, three suspects of Syrian origin were caught.

    Legal process about the three suspects caught by the provincial security forces in an anti-terror operation on June 29 was completed on July 3.

    After health checks, Abdurrahman Alahmad (28), Qasim Hammud (27), and Halid Al Asmar (26) were arrested and sent to prison.

    One runaway suspect is still being searched by the police, sources said…”

  2. 5 arrests in migrant fake wedding scam
    https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2020/07/03/5-arrests-in-migrant-fake-wedding-scam_40959fe0-d2ba-454d-8cf2-ed9f77e66bfa.html

    “Italian police on Friday arrested five people in a suspected fake immigrant wedding scam based in Milan.

    Some 78 people were placed under investigation.

    Police said the alleged gang set up bogus marriages for migrants.

    The gang also fraudulently got them to pass Italian language tests in order to favour the clandestine immigration, police said. (ANSA).”

  3. Tunisian man brutally beaten at Jesolo
    https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2020/07/03/tunisian-man-brutally-beaten-at-jesolo_062dd3dd-ad96-4bb2-acb5-e2bc6446d4ad.html

    “A 38-year-old Tunisian man was brutally beaten by three 30-year-old Italians at the beach resort of Jesolo near Venice Thursday night and is now fighting for his life.

    The three young men, from Jesolo, do not have criminal records, police said.

    They have been charged with aggravated assault and grievous bodily harm at the moment but the charges may become attempted murder, or murder if their victim dies.

    It was not immediately clear what had caused the assault.

    The Tunisian was admitted to a Mestre hospital in critical condition.”

  4. Turkey sentences 2 former heads of Amnesty International
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2020/07/03/turkey-sentences-2-former-heads-of-amnesty-international_ff5538cd-3c21-475d-b211-e47f5a785231.html

    “An Istanbul court on Friday sentenced 4 human rights activists in the ‘Buyukada trial’, including two heads of Amnesty International in the country.

    Six years and three months in jail were given to former chair of the organization, Taner KIlic, and two years and one month for ”supporting a terrorist organization” to Idil Eser, former country director, as well as two other activists.

    The other 7 defendants were acquitted.

    The prosecution had asked that 6 of the defendants be sentenced, including Kilic and Eser, and for the acquittal of the other 5, including 2 foreigners: Germany’s Peter Steudtner and Sweden’s Ali Gharavi.

    The sentence arrived at the end of the hearing on Friday.

    Kilic was released in August 2018 after 14 months in custody after his arrest along with the other activists, part of the so-called ‘Istanbul 10’, for a 2017 meeting on the island of Buyukada that magistrates have deemed to have been subversive in nature.

    All of the defendants pleaded not guilty.

    The former Amnesty International director commented by saying that the trials aim to silence those charged and to make it clear to all society that those defending human rights and telling the truth do so at their own peril.”

  5. Aid ship declares emergency after 6 migrants attempt suicide
    https://www.dw.com/en/aid-ship-declares-emergency-after-6-migrants-attempt-suicide/a-54044341

    “One person attempted to hang himself while others tried to jump into open waters. The Ocean Viking has been stuck south of Sicily after requests to dock at seven ports rejected or ignored.

    A migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea declared a state of emergency on Friday after six passengers attempted suicide and fights broke out on board.

    The situation on board the Ocean Viking was growing increasingly desperate after being rejected or having docking requests ignored from seven ports in Italy and Malta despite carrying 180 migrants, operator SOS Mediterranee said in a statement.

    “After seven requests for a Place of Safety to the relevant maritime authorities within the past week and six suicide attempts by survivors within 24 hours, the Ocean Viking has declared a State of Emergency.” the group wrote.

    Early on Friday, one person tried to hang himself, while others exhibit “signs of extreme mental fatigue, depression and acute agitation which has erupted into several physical fights among the survivors on deck,” SOS Mediterranee said.

    The organization said two migrants jumped overboard in an apparent suicide attempt, before being rescued, and that three others were stopped before they jumped.

    Two other passengers had begun a hunger strike, the group said.

    More than a week at sea

    The migrants were rescued from unseaworthy vessels in the central Mediterranean in four operations between June 25 and June 30. The first rescue took place in international waters where the jurisdictions of Italy and Malta overlap and the other two took place in Malta’s search and rescue area, SOS Mediterranee said.

    The people rescued include a pregnant woman and 25 children, 17 of whom are traveling without guardians or relatives.

    SOS Mediterranee renewed calls for a safe harbor, saying it was worried that “in addition to the acute psychological distress several of the survivors find themselves in, the deteriorating weather conditions pose an even greater threat to the lives of those who might try to reach shore by jumping off” the Ocean Viking.

    Later on Friday, the organization asked for the medical evacuation for 44 Tunisians, Moroccans and Egyptians showing signs of “acute psychological distress” on the boat, which is south of Sicily.

    100,000 crossings

    In 2019, more than 100,000 migrants tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea. More than 1,200 of those people died trying, according to the International Organization for Migration. The favorable weather conditions of summer may encourage more people to attempt the dangerous crossing.

    Italy and Malta claim that private rescue boats encourage human traffickers in Libya to keep launching boats, and have taken a hard line towards them.

    Having borne the brunt of the ship arrivals, they have demanded that fellow EU Member States take in a higher share of the arrivals, but these calls have made very slow progress.”

  6. Turkey challenges allies and enemies alike in quest for ‘larger role on world stage’
    https://www.france24.com/en/20200703-turkey-challenges-allies-and-enemies-alike-in-quest-for-larger-role-on-world-stage

    “Turkish foreign policy has recently taken a hawkish turn in the Middle East and North Africa. From a diplomatic row with NATO ally France over a Libyan arms embargo to the deployment of special forces in northern Iraq, Ankara seems newly willing to challenge allies and enemies alike in its pursuit of a larger role on the world stage.

    Even by the standards of recent years, June 2020 was a very active month in Turkish foreign policy. It quickly became clear that Turkey’s military and technological support for the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya had given it the upper hand in its struggle against rebel commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army.

    Chaos had reigned in Libya since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Haftar launched a bold offensive on the capital Tripoli in April 2019 with the backing of Russia, Egypt and the UAE. While France officially supports the internationally recognised government in Tripoli, Paris has been accused of supporting Haftar politically, having previously given him military assistance to fight Islamist militants.

    Ankara demonstrated its growing confidence in its Libyan strategy on June 20, when it demanded that Haftar’s forces pull out of Sirte, a pivotal city linking the east and west of Libya – before lambasting NATO ally France, accusing it of “jeopardising” the Western alliance’s security by supporting Haftar’s forces.

    ‘Geopolitical competition’ with France

    Franco-Turkish relations soured further the following week, when French President Emmanuel Macron told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he was playing a “dangerous game” in sending arms, aerial support and allied fighters from Syria to boost the GNA – warning that France “won’t tolerate” such actions.

    But Turkey’s support – with the provision of drones proving particularly effective – eventually shifted the dynamic in the GNA’s favour.

    “Libya is part of a bunch of interlinking stories,” said Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey specialist, associate professor at St. Lawrence University and senior non-resident fellow at the Project on Middle Eastern Democracy. “Turkey clearly sees itself as being able to play a larger role on the world stage; it sees its Western allies as not necessarily supporting of that, and has been willing to play hardball to assert what it sees as its national interest.”

    “From a Turkish standpoint, this represents a role that it has much right to as any other state, and which it has the capacity to play,” Eissenstat continued.

    Turkey wants to “fortify its position as a regional power and increase its geopolitical footprint in the Middle East and North Africa region”, added Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Ankara bureau. “This in turn leads to geopolitical competition with some countries, as is the case with France.”

    Ankara’s relations with its NATO allies hit another low on June 10, when Turkish naval boats conducted radar-targeting – indicating that a missile strike may be incoming – on a French warship trying to approach a Turkish civilian ship suspected of contravening a NATO arms embargo on Libya. According to a French defence official, the Courbet frigate was “lit up” three times by Turkish radar.

    France called for NATO allies to discuss Turkey’s “aggressive” role in Libya a few days later. NATO subsequently launched an investigation into the incident.

    Animosity between Ankara and Paris intensified on July 1, when France announced that it was suspending its involvement in NATO’s Sea Guardian operation in the Mediterranean enforcing the Libyan arms embargo.

    Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has dismissed France’s claims and demanded an apology from France for “anti-Turkish actions”, alleging that France “has not told the truth to the EU or NATO”.

    EU foreign ministers will meet at France’s request to discuss relations with Turkey on July 13. Adding the intrigue of espionage to the diplomatic slanging match, Ankara’s ambassador to France on Thursday confirmed reports that four Turkish nationals had been arrested for spying for the French foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE (Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure).

    Unprecedented deployment in Iraq

    Turkey’s successful backing of Libya’s GNA may be Ankara’s most surprising geopolitical win recently. But Erdogan’s government also surprised many observers in June with an unprecedented deployment in northern Iraq against Kurdish forces.

    Since 1984, Kurdish militant group the PKK – considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey as well as the EU, UK and US – has waged a series of armed rebellions against the Turkish state. Like his Kemalist predecessors and antagonists, Erdogan sees the PKK as an existential threat to Turkey’s territorial integrity.

    This motivated the Turkish military’s first-ever deployment of ground forces on Iraqi soil on June 17, attacking PKK targets in the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Accusing the Baghdad government and Kurdish executive of failing to deal with PKK fighters – who allegedly use the area as a base for attacks on Turkey – Ankara sent in commando forces alongside warplanes, attack helicopters and drones after an intense artillery bombardment.

    The Turkish military has been emboldened by its improved technological capabilities, Unluhisarcikli suggested: “These campaigns have become more proactive and effective thanks to the new abilities the Turkish army has gained, particularly with the use of armed drones.”

    Yet Syria – where Ankara has given support to its allies since the civil war started in 2011 – remains the theatre in which Turkey is best known for striking Kurdish forces. Upon starting its direct military involvement there in 2016, Turkey launched the first in a series of attacks on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a Kurdish group that allied with Western powers in the fight against the Islamic State group but which Ankara says is tied to the PKK.

    Turkey’s latest and most audacious Syrian offensive was a victorious October 2019 campaign that saw its military carve out a 20-mile-deep “safe zone” seized from the SDF along the border – much to the chagrin of European powers. Turkey said it was creating an area for some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in the country, but critics accused Ankara of ethnic cleansing as tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians fled their homes.

    A Damoclean sword over Europe?

    Erdogan responded to European indignation by holding a sword of Damocles over the continent’s head. After a chorus of protestations from the old continent decrying the offensive – including Macron’s demand that Ankara “put a stop to it as soon as possible” – the Turkish president said on October 10: “Hey EU, wake up. I say it again: If you try to frame our operation as an invasion, our task is simple – we will open the doors and send 3.6 million migrants to you.”

    Analysts noted at the time that Erdogan’s reaction exemplified the lack of leverage the EU has over Turkey.

    Macron expressed his exasperation with Erdogan the same day: When a reporter asked him for his views on the Turkish president’s menacing rhetoric, he said he had “nothing more” to add to his previous comments.

    As the evolving Libyan situation took testy bilateral exchanges to a full-blown Franco-Turkish diplomatic confrontation, Macron made a broader point about the Western alliance. The French president doubled down on his 2019 proclamation in The Economist that NATO is experiencing a “brain death”, saying that the Mediterranean naval incident between the two NATO allies constitutes “the best example of it”.

    “Turkey has been the proverbial thorn in NATO’s side for years now,” said Reilly Barry, a Turkey researcher at Harvard University. She said that Erdogan’s 2017 announcement that Turkey would purchase an S-400 air-defence system from Russia – motivated, in part, by a desire to “exert independence apart from the West” – remains the “greatest low point in the historic alliance”. Barry predicted that activating the missiles will “likely trigger sanctions from the US and other NATO members”.

    But while Erdogan’s migrant threat gives him a trump card over European powers, it seems he can ill afford to antagonise the United States. American sanctions may reveal the limits of his gift for playing hardball – given Turkey’s economic vulnerability and US dominance of the world’s financial sector.

    Turkey’s currency debt crisis reached a critical point in August of 2018 after Washington imposed sanctions on Turkish officials in response to the detention of an American pastor.

    The coronavirus crisis further exposed persistent economic troubles – high debt and rapidly depleting foreign currency reserves – when the Turkish lira plunged to a record low against the dollar in May.

    Barry said that in light of all this, “whether Turkish engagement in the Middle East is economically stable largely depends on the status of US-Turkey relations”.”

  7. Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) detains two Iraqis financing ISIS
    https://rmx.news/article/article/polish-internal-security-agency-abw-detains-two-iraqis-financing-isis

    “Two Iraqi citizens were detained at the request of the prosecutor’s office for organized crime and corruption. They were accused of sending funds to the Islamic State (ISIS).

    The Iraqis had lived in Poland for a long time and conducted their operations mainly in Lower Silesia and Wroc?aw. They also often travelled abroad in Europe.

    The operation to stop the Iraqis was carried out in Warsaw by ABW officers. The men were detained due to a bank transfer they made to an account identified as one belonging to ISIS.

    According to information obtained by RMF.FM radio journalists, the men did not pose a direct threat other than financing ISIS…”

  8. Demo against St. Louis couple who pulled gun

    Hundreds of people staged a demonstration near the home of a Missouri couple who pointed guns at protesters last week during a protest against the city’s mayor Lyda Krewson

    • Letter from neighbors condemns Central West End couple

      ST. LOUIS — A group of more than three dozen people who live in the private neighborhood where a couple brandished guns at protesters Sunday night released an open letter Wednesday condemning the couple.

      An open letter from the neighbors of Westmoreland Place and its adjoining street, Portland Place, said the actions of the couple Sunday night did not represent their historic neighborhood.

      One of the neighbors who signed the letter confirmed Thursday that the letter was authentic.

      “Some of us choose to speak up following the horrific event that transpired on Sunday evening near our homes. As the undersigned, we condemn the behavior of anyone who uses threats of violence, especially through the brandishing of firearms, to disrupt peaceful protest, whether it be in this neighborhood or anywhere in the United States,” the letter reads.

      The letter, which is signed by 38 people from 24 different households, says they chose to live in the neighborhood in part because of the “sincerity, empathy and neighborliness” most of the residents show.

    • This is a cult.
      Maybe they’d could cast out their devils in an old-fashioned, Christian revival. Volunteer missionaries?
      A communal embrace of the Light, show them the light that dwells within. Forgiveness, grace, love.

      I don’t know much about these things.
      Where is Perfectchild?