Reader’s Links for Aug. 6, 2020

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

109 Replies to “Reader’s Links for Aug. 6, 2020”

  1. Top Mueller prosecutor urges DOJ officials to resist Barr investigations

    One of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s top prosecutors urged Justice Department officials to consider refusing to cooperate with two investigations overseen by Attorney General William Barr.

    Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department official who was known as Mueller’s “pit bull” during the Russia investigation, struck a sense of urgency in a New York Times op-ed on Wednesday, noting that there are 90 days until an election contest that will pit President Trump against former Vice President Joe Biden.

    He wrote, along with former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman, that U.S. Attorney John Durham’s criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation and U.S. Attorney John Bash’s investigation into “unmasking” requests by Obama administration officials targeting Trump associates show Barr is poised to “trample” written policy that no action be influenced by politics and an unwritten norm urging officials to defer publicly charging or taking any other overt investigative steps or disclosures that could affect a coming election.

    “Justice Department employees,” they wrote, “in meeting their ethical and legal obligations, should be well advised not to participate in any such effort.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/top-mueller-prosecutor-urges-doj-officials-to-resist-barr-investigations

  2. President Trump Cracks Open Obamagate, Admits He’s Seen Durham’s ‘Breathtaking’ Investigation Findings

    Millions of Americans have been waiting, impatiently, for AG Barr and Durham to finish their investigation.

    Durham was assigned to investigate the Obama administration’s Russia probe—and the wiretapping of Trump’s campaign.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1290767420366479367

    https://thepatriotjournal.com/obamagate-trump-durham-investigation/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=gjwhg

  3. Taqiyya. if you read the Canadian Leader of the Hibtz-ut-Tharir, the off shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood hoods, Imam Mazin AbduL-Adhim Facebook page, it says he was born in Canada, from Iraq.

    All American voters should know that the Muslim Brotherhood hoods say. “ NON-MUSLIMS ( that is you, you dirty Kafir) have absolutely no right to seize the reigns of power in any part of God’s earth nor to direct the collective affairs of human beings according to their own misconceived doctrines. if they do, the believers would be under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge them from political power and make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life”.

    DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY MUSLIMS.

    The Qur’an 8:12. “Allah will terrorize unbelievers; Muslim should behead them”.

    47:4. “ Behead and slaughter the unbelievers, take others captive“.

    2:91 “Fight and kill unbelievers until religion is Allah’s”.

    8:39 “ Fight unbelievers until Islam reigns supreme”.

    9:29 Fight and subjugate the Jews and Christians”.

    5:33. “ Crucify or amputate the hands and feet of those who make war against Allah and Mohammed “.

    In God we trust.

  4. cspan broadcast
    NY Atty General Letitia James asks that the NRA be dissolved due to fraud, waste, corruption committed by four officers. The consequences of the accusations make board members into tax evaders.

    This strikes me as odd because US non-profits have no obligation to be frugal. Perhaps New York State has different regulations.

    The Press Questions seem to come from a state of shock: Is there a precedent for dissolving a charity? Would charities in Conservative states now come under increased scrutiny? Is not further victimizing NRA donors to dissolve their organization?

    • France emergency: Armed man surrenders to police after six-hour stand off – hostages freed (express, Aug 6, 2020)
      https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1319609/france-news-le-havre-bank-hostage-situation-armed-man-police

      “A TENSE six-hour siege at a bank in the city centre of Le Havre, France, has ended with an armed man surrendering to police after releasing the last of six hostages – with a bomb squad on the scene.

      The 34-year-old man, whom police said was armed with a handgun, is believed to have Islamist ties and to be on a security agency watchlist, two senior police union officials in direct contact with officers involved in the operation said. He initially seized six hostages in the BRED bank branch located on Boulevard de Strasbourg shortly after 5pm local time, before releasing them all one by one. The man is understood to have made several demands and police are in negotiations, with elite tactical police officers being deployed and a bomb squad dispatched, a police source said.

      Witnesses said no weapons were used as the man was arrested…”

    • Australians who take bribes from the PRC need to be prosecuted as enemy agents. (By uncompromised courts, hopefully.)

      An Aussie friend who moderates a Zionist blog says it’s more free-wheeling and sneaky than our own system. (Here agents-of-influence operate mainly from within lobbys and PACs.)

      The EU dumped Oz and NZ abruptly. They had to find alternate markets, make unpalatable compromises.

      In Oz the halal cartel took control, exporting mainly to Malaysia and Indonesia. East Asia jumped in, neocolonial exploitation. China controls vital infrastructure, can turn things off and on.

  5. China: another virus spreads; Trump praises Arizona on virus; Facebook, Twitter remove Trump’s posts

    • Pay close attention to this one, China can’t survive as a major power on its internal economy, it needs exports to the rest of the world and the Wuhan Virus combined with the actions of the CCP has done grave damage to the CCPs export economy.

    • The filthy Turk as the new Putin deserves more pointed analysis. (Of course a more assertive piece wouldn’t be published by the CFR or the ECFR.)

      Russia was little more than a limp rag by the time the Soviets passed it to Putin. He’s applied martial arts tactics to geopolitics, the scrawny kid getting less-nimble opponents to trip over themselves and each other.

      How he boosted himself in the Mideast at nearly no cost, raised his profile as ours slouched – that’s a case study in Machiavelli meets Sun Tsu.

      The filthy Turk and his Qatari/MB sponsors mastered Soviet dezinformatsiya. Red/pink territory was defenseless.

  6. Those responsible for modern antisemitism must also be held accountable
    https://www.jpost.com/opinion/those-responsible-for-modern-antisemitism-must-also-be-held-accountable-637373
    [..]
    One of the most outrageous incidents emerged last week in America’s City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. Rodney Muhammad, president of the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] Philadelphia chapter, posted to Facebook what clearly was a blatantly antisemitic image that he used to suggest Jews are trying to silence prominent blacks, who themselves have been criticized for their own antisemitic comments and posts.
    The image Muhammad chose to post with photos of rapper Ice Cube, football star DeSean Jackson, and actor Nick Cannon was a caricature of a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke on the sleeve of an arm pressing down on a mass of people. It included a quote – “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize,” often misattributed to Voltaire – that has been used by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
    Jewish outrage was immediate. But in Philadelphia the reaction also was swift and firm from Mayor Jim Kenney, who is Catholic, City Council President Darrell Clarke, who is black, and many other elected officials.
    “We cannot allow attacks on the Jewish community to be met with the sanction of silence,” declared Pennsylvania State Senator Sharif Street. His comments are important because, like Muhammad, Sen. Street is a Black Muslim.
    City Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier, who also is black, said Muhammad “has repeatedly displayed his lack of compassion and understanding of the dangers of antisemitism.
    “The idea that a civil rights leader would not just share [an] antisemitic message, but then refuse to take ownership of it and apologize, it’s not just disappointing, it’s completely unacceptable,” she said.
    Muhammad asserted that he was not aware of the meaning of the image he had selected and posted.
    “I later learned that not only was the quote I used misattributed to the philosopher Francois Voltaire, but in fact, the quote and image had been used previously by white supremacists. I immediately removed both the quote and the offensive images. It was never my intention to offend anyone or cause any hurt,” said Muhammad in a statement.
    The NAACP Philadelphia president did not apologize in the statement he issued twice over two days in an apparent effort to quell the public condemnations of him and his post. And his original post, widely circulated in the media and in online conversations, cannot be totally removed. It is still there, tied to Muhammad and his organization.
    Muhammad’s meek explanation did not mollify the growing calls among Pennsylvania officials, such as Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney-General Josh Shapiro, and some in Philadelphia’s black and Jewish communities, including my organization, AJC, for Muhammad’s resignation.
    While the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference strongly condemned “denigrating statements regarding people of the Jewish faith” and denounced Muhammad’s meme, it did not reprimand him. It passed the buck to NAACP national leadership, which at this writing has yet to utter a word on the matter. Silence is complicity.
    In fact, Muhammad’s insensitivity toward, or plain dislike of Jews, has been evident for a long time. The Mosque No. 12 he heads is affiliated with Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam. Muhammad, originally from Chicago, home to NOI headquarters, is a disciple of Farrakhan.
    On his mosque’s Facebook page is a video of Farrakhan speaking to an adoring audience in which he criticizes anyone who apologizes to Jews. “I don’t have anything to apologize for,” says Farrakhan, adding that he told Jesse Jackson not to apologize for calling New York City “hymietown” in 1984. “The Jews are the most unforgiving white people you are ever going to meet,” says Farrakhan.

    • Florid jew-hate in the West should trigger an alarm like a sudden spike in fever in the age of coronavirus.
      Jews are ALWAYS the first.
      ALWAYS.
      But NEVER the last.

      • I have followed Louis Eugene Walcott for years. He is a hate filled excuse of a man. I am sure when he looks in the mirror he says “I hate you too”. He has said Adolf Hitler was a great man.
        The scary part Is he has a large following, which make me wonder just how man children were dropped on their heads. It takes a great thinker, lol, to follow a “man” who says “White people are subhumans created by an ancient African scientist “.

  7. Egypt and Greece Sign Agreement on Exclusive Economic Zone
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2433486/egypt-and-greece-sign-agreement-exclusive-economic-zone

    “Egypt and Greece signed an agreement on Thursday designating an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean between the two countries, an area containing promising oil and gas reserves, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.

    Shoukry made the announcement at a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in Cairo.

    “This agreement allows both countries to move forward in maximizing the utilization of the resources available in the exclusive economic zone, especially promising oil and gas reserves,” Shoukry said.

    In Greece, diplomats said the deal effectively nullified an accord between Turkey and the Government of National Accord in Libya.

    Last year, those two parties agreed to maritime boundaries in a deal Egypt and Greece decried as illegal and a violation of international law. Greece maintains it infringed on its continental shelf and specifically that off the island of Crete.

    “The agreement with Egypt is within the framework of international law,” Dendias said.

    “It is the absolute opposite of the illegal, void and legally unfounded memorandum of understanding that was signed between Turkey and Tripoli. Following the signing of this agreement, the non-existent Turkish-Libyan memorandum has ended up where it belonged from the beginning: in the trash can.”

    His statement came hours after Greece said it is ready to start exploratory talks on the demarcation of maritime zones with Turkey as soon as this month.

    Tensions were already high between Greece and Turkey over the exploration of energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean. The NATO members are also at odds over a range of issues from overflights in the Aegean Sea to maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean and ethnically divided Cyprus.

    Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the exclusive zone designated in the agreement falls in the area of Turkey’s continental shelf. It said Ankara considers the agreement null and void, adding that the deal also violates Libya’s maritime rights.

    In June, Greece and Italy signed an agreement on maritime boundaries, establishing an exclusive economic zone between the two countries.

    Earlier this month, Egypt said that part of a seismic survey planned by Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean potentially encroached on waters where Cairo claims exclusive rights.

    Egypt hopes to become a regional energy hub with the rapid growth in Egypt’s natural gas supplies. It formed with other countries the so-called Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, which aims to develop the region’s gas market.

    Turkey is not a member of the forum, which also includes Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Italy and Jordan.”

  8. Dutch Politician Rails Against ‘Self-Islamization’ Over Asylum Process Video
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/08/314327/dutch-politician-rails-against-self-islamization-over-asylum-process-video/

    “Dutch politician and notorious Islamophobe Geert Wilders has demanded time in parliament to debate a government immigration video that he claims to promote “self-Islamization” of the Dutch state. Wilders leads the marginal Dutch political party PVV, one of the anti-immigration parties that started European anti-immigration populism that has since evolved into an increasingly mainstream phenomenon.

    Wilders is currently the subject of a court case for stating the Netherlands needs “less Moroccans” in a 2014 public speech. The Dutch politician was sentenced for promoting discrimination and insulting an ethnic group in 2016 but received no punishment from the court. He is currently appealing the decision, with the prosecutors demanding an additional fine of €5,000.

    Self-Islamization video
    His party demanded the Dutch government explain their motivations for producing what he has dubbed a “propaganda-video” aimed at actively attracting refugees. The move is just one of many offensive statements aimed at creating resentment against immigrants, with a particular focus on Muslim immigration.

    Wilders first tweeted about the video on August 3, claiming the video was made to actively attract foreign immigration. But Wilders’ criticism of the video was anything but timely, as it turned out the video was made four years ago. The video, titled “welcome in the Netherlands” is a short animation written by 12 young refugees as part of a project subsidized by a Dutch charity and the Ministry of Justice.

    Wilders claimed the video was propaganda produced to increase immigration and funded by the Dutch government. The fact that the video was subtitled in Arabic appeared to be enough for the notorious populist to conclude the video would lead to the “Islamification” of the Netherlands, where less than 5% of the population is Islamic.

    Problematic trend
    On August 1, Wilders visited Hungary where he praised the country by saying it had “very few mosques, no hijabs on the street, no socialists or fake liberals and no Moroccan street terror.” He called traditional Islamic practices on Eid al-Adha “sick Islamic barbarism.” He has repeatedly posted imagery of the Islamic prophet and routinely labels Palestinians as “terrorists.”

    While Wilders’ party has had little political success in recent years, his rhetoric has infected Dutch politics. Mainstream politicians have been making increasingly problematic statements in order to appease and attract anti-immigration voters.

    With economic opportunities for working-class Dutch people eroding and public services being gradually reduced, anti-immigration rhetoric has become a convenient tool used by Dutch politicians to avert responsibility.”

  9. Turkey rescues more than 200 asylum seekers in Aegean
    https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-rescues-more-than-200-asylum-seekers-in-aegean-157166

    “Turkey rescued 202 asylum seekers on Aug. 5 after their boats were pushed back by Greek Coast Guard personnel into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, according to security sources.

    In two rescue operations, the Turkish Coast Guard separately rescued 74 and 46 asylum seekers who set off for the Greek island of Lesbos off the coast of Ayval?k district in the northwestern Turkish province of Balikesir.

    In two more rescue operations, 42 and 40 asylum seekers were separately rescued off the coast of Dikili and Karaburun district in Turkey’s western Izmir province.

    They were aboard rubber boats that were pushed back to Turkish territorial waters by the Greek Coast Guard, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

    The asylum seekers, including women and children, were taken to the Turkish shore and given food, drinks and medical aid.

    Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross to Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

    Earlier this year, Turkey opened its gates for asylum seekers wanting to cross to Europe, accusing the European Union of failing to keep its promises under a 2016 migrant deal.

    Turkey has decried Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying that in addition to breaking the law, it endangers their lives.”

  10. Turkish forces ‘neutralize’ 3 PKK terrorists in N.Iraq
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-forces-neutralize-3-pkk-terrorists-in-niraq/1933648

    “Turkish security forces “neutralized” three more PKK terrorists as part of the ongoing Operation Claw-Tiger in northern Iraq, the National Defense Ministry said on Twitter Thursday.

    Turkish authorities use the term “neutralized” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

    Turkey’s operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were launched in mid-June to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and borders by neutralizing the threat of PKK, and other terrorist groups, who often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border attacks.

    In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.”

  11. Ex-Saudi spy accuses crown prince of trying to assassinate him
    https://www.france24.com/en/20200806-ex-saudi-spy-accuses-crown-prince-of-trying-to-assassinate-him

    “A former senior Saudi intelligence official said in a US lawsuit Thursday that the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tried to have him assassinated in 2018, just weeks after dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Turkey.

    Saad Aljabri said Prince Mohammed sent a “hit squad” to Canada, where he lives in exile, to kill and dismember him in the same way that Khashoggi was murdered allegedly by the prince’s agents in Istanbul in October 2018.

    “To fulfil his murderous desire, Defendant bin Salman has personally orchestrated an attempted extrajudicial killing of Dr. Saad, an attempt that remains ongoing to this day,” Aljabri charged in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington.

    Aljabri said that Prince Mohammed wants him dead because he is close to rival prince and former Saudi security chief Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and because he has intimate knowledge of Prince Mohammed’s activities that would sour the close relationship between Washington and Riyadh.

    “Dr. Saad is uniquely positioned to existentially threaten Defendant bin Salman’s standing with the US government. That is why Defendant bin Salman wants him dead,” the suit said.

    Aljabri was already abroad in June 2017 when Prince Mohammed seized power in the palace, removing Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince and placing him under house arrest.

    After his children in Riyadh were hit with travel restrictions, Aljabri refused entreaties to return, fearing he would meet the same fate as Prince Nayef, and moved to Canada where a son lives.

    Since then Riyadh tried unsuccessfully to use Interpol to gain custody of him. And he says they sent a team of agents to the United States to track him down.

    Thirteen days after Khashoggi’s murder on 2 October 2018, a team from what Aljabri called in the lawsuit Prince Mohammed’s “personal mercenary group, the Tiger Squad,” arrived in Canada.

    The team, he claimed, included forensic specialists and equipment similar to the group that dismembered Khashoggi’s body, which was never found.

    He said Canadian security became suspicious and disrupted the plot, but that efforts to kill him continue, and that Prince Mohammed obtained a religious fatwa, or command, for his death from clerics.

    In March his two children in Saudi Arabia were taken away and haven’t been heard from.

    The suit against Prince Mohammed plus 12 named and another 11 unidentified people was filed as a claim of attempted extrajudicial killing under the Torture Victim Protection Act.

    Aljabri asked the court for unspecified damages for “severe emotional distress,” anxiety and hypertension, and other ailments, and punitive damages against the defendants as well.

    He also asked the court to declare that the defendants violated the “law of nations” under the Alien Tort Statute.

    “This court can begin the process of holding defendant bin Salman and his agents accountable for their actions,” the suit said.

    Contacted by AFP, the Saudi Embassy in Washington indicated it did not have a comment on the suit at the moment.”

    • DAILY MAIL _ Saudi ruler sent ‘Tiger Squad’ of 50 hitmen to Canada to assassinate rival prince’s top spy two weeks after Khashoggi murder and kidnapped his children – but contract killers were caught at border with ‘bags of forensic tools’, lawsuit says

      Saad Aljabri, a former top Saudi intelligence official, filed suit on Thursday
      He accuses Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, of trying to assassinate him
      Aljabri has been living in exile in Toronto since MBS took power in 2017
      He alleges MBS sent ‘Tiger Squad’ of hit men to kill him using ‘forensic tools’
      Lawsuit alleges Canadian authorities thwarted plot at border checkpoint
      Aljabri alleges MBS had his two children kidnapped in Saudi Arabia to ‘lure’ him
      Alleged plot was thwarted less than two weeks after killing of Jamal Khashoggi
      Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist and critic of MBS’ style of rule
      In October 2018, he was killed while visiting Saudi consulate in Istanbul
      CIA believes MBS ordered Khashoggi killing and covered up crown prince’s role

      more :

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8601593/Saudi-Crown-Prince-sent-hit-men-Canada-assassinate-spy-arrested-children.html

      • bin Nayef was CIA Brennan’s man. All the MB-mouthpieces will jump on this now that old King Salman has one foot in the grave. Let’s see how much mileage they get from TIGER-SQUAD hype. The more lurid, the better.

        I heard they market tested the “bone-saw” keyword in pitching the Khashoggi info-op. It hit the gong.

  12. China sentences Canadian to death over drug charge
    https://www.france24.com/en/20200806-china-sentences-canadian-to-death-over-drug-charge

    “A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian national to death on Thursday in a ruling that could further inflame tensions between China and Canada.

    The Guangzhou Intermediate Court said in a statement it had handed Xu Weihong a death sentence for manufacturing drugs, and said all his personal property would be confiscated.

    According to China’s state-run Global Times, Xu had bought raw materials and tools for drug production in October 2016 and worked with an accomplice, Wen Guanxiong, to make ketamine.

    The drugs were made in Wen’s home and stored in Xu’s residence in Guangzhou, with public security officers seizing over 120 kilogrammes of ketamine from the pair, the report added.

    The ruling comes after China sentenced two other Canadians to death on drug trafficking charges last year, and as tensions soar between the two countries on a number of fronts including the arrest of top Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

    Beijing has also detained two Canadian nationals, including a former diplomat, on spying charges, in a move widely considered retaliation for Meng’s arrest in Canada.

    The United States wants Meng extradited to face trial on charges related to the Chinese telecom equipment maker’s alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran.

    On Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing that “Chinese judicial organs handle all criminals of different nationalities according to law”.

    Referring to the latest case involving Xu, Wang added: “I don’t think this should have any impact on China-Canada relations.”

    – ‘Profoundly concerned’ –

    Canada is “profoundly concerned” about Xu Weihong’s death sentence, Canadian Foreign Minister Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Thursday.

    “We oppose the death penalty at every step of the way,” Champagne said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

    “We have said it time and time and time again to the Chinese government and will continue to do that,” he said.

    Champagne told the CBC that consular officials were following Xu’s case closely and were present at the sentencing.

    – Diplomatic tensions –

    Diplomatic relations between Canada and China have deteriorated over China’s arrests and Meng’s case, damaging trade between both countries.

    Canadian pleas for clemency for its citizens previously sentenced on drug charges, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg and Fan Wei, have so far not been successful.

    Meanwhile, in June, Beijing formally charged the other pair of detained Canadians — ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — for spying, in a move that came just weeks after a key ruling in the Meng case.

    A Canadian judge had ruled that proceedings to extradite her to the United States will go ahead.

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed disappointment with the formal charges in June, renewing calls for their release.

    Monthly consular visits for Kovrig and Spavor have been suspended since the coronavirus outbreak started in China as well, sparking concerns over their health.

    Although China’s foreign ministry insisted the pair were in good health, people familiar with the matter have told AFP they endured hours of interrogation and in the first six months of detention were forced to sleep with the lights on.

    China keeps data secret about the number of death sentences it carries out every year.

    But according to Amnesty International, China is the world’s top executioner, with thousands believed to be killed each year.”

  13. North African YouTubers advise on how to get to Europe and America
    https://rmx.news/article/article/north-african-youtubers-advise-on-how-to-get-to-europe-and-america

    “According to The Economist magazine, North African migrants have long shared advice on how to get to Europe or America illegally. On YouTube, they offer an idyllic picture of life at the opposite end of the road, which has already encouraged hundreds of thousands of North Africans to become illegal migrants.

    The Economist pays particular attention to the form of the videos. Compared with the dross of north Africa’s state broadcasters, it makes riveting viewing, the magazine writes, pointing out that every episode with tips for potential migrants filmed on a mobile phone and regularly posted on YouTube is full of suspension.

    In one of the videos, for example, a video blogger cuts his way through the rainforest, sails on a wooden canoe, flirts with women, eventually getting to Panama, one of the ten countries he illegally entered while traveling to the United States.

    One of these so-called vloggers, Zouhir Bounou, who calls himself Zizou, has become a star in his home country of Morocco, showing how fun illegal travel to a foreign country is, and enticing a whole new generation to do the same.

    Zizou entertains his audience mainly by telling it about wild parties on the beach and fights with the police in the countries he enters.

    “I’m helping North Africans break the barrier of fear and fulfill their dream of traveling to the West,” says Murad Mzouri, who used to sell clothes in Morocco. Now, he is of the most popular vloggers whose every video hits about a million views.

    The vlogs full of useful information for potential migrants share, for example, the coordinates for crossing the Turkish-Greek border, the usual amount of money necessary for bribing, names of lawyers helping migrants with paperwork or charities that provide the best shelters.

    According to The Economist, the videos also advise people on how to arrange a fake wedding, where to obtain a fake employment contract, or how to avoid deportation.

    “Say that you are not of legal age, that you are a Libyan, and that you are looking for your father,” says one of the vloggers.

    The comment section under the videos is also quite useful as it is easy to find phone numbers of people smugglers. However, the vloggers warn of the smugglers and instead encourage their viewers to buy a ticket to Turkey. From there, people are advised to continue to Greece on foot. For Moroccans heading for Spain, a jet ski is a recommended means of transportation.

    As The Economist points out, many vloggers have a university degree and so do their followers. Moreover, the videos they make are very profitable. Mzouri is said to earn $2,000 a month from advertising and product placement in his vlogs.

    Besides, North African vlogs have one major advantage. Western authorities can understand standard Arabic quite well to find information shared by migrants from countries such as Syria on social networks. However, the North African dialects are too much of a problem for them, explained immigration specialist Matt Herbert.”

  14. 100 migrants attempt violent entry from Serbia to Hungary
    https://rmx.news/article/article/100-migrants-attempt-violent-entry-from-serbia-to-hungary

    “A group of some 100 migrants attempted to forcefully cross the border from Serbia to Hungary on the night of June 5, southern Hungarian news portal delmagyar.hu reports.

    “Almost 100 migrants gathered on the Serbian side of the border, in a small forest near Röszke [border crossing with Serbia] an August 5,” Csongrád County Police said in a report published on the National Police website. “The migrants attempted to [simultaneously] breach the border illegally and enter Hungary.”

    County police added that the migrant “behaved aggressively” towards the servicemen guarding the frontier, hurled stones at them and some of them displayed “indecent, obscene behaviour”, without detailing what that exactly meant. Some 30 migrants also climbed the razor wire fence installed along the border.

    This was not the first violent border crossing attempt from Serbia into Hungary: on January 28, a group of 71 migrants made a similar attempt in the same region, at four different locations, and in one place, they even tore down the barbed wire fence. Four of them made it into Hungary, but by midday all four had been apprehended. During that incident border guards also had to fire several warning shots.

    György Bakondi, domestic security advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has in the past weeks said repeatedly that migrationary pressure is mounting in Europe and this time around the illegal entry attempts pose a double danger as there is an increased chance that many migrants are infected with the coronavirus.

    Brigadier-general József Dakos, chief of the southern Csongrád County Police, recently said that so far this year police and the national guard prevented almost 6,000 migrants from illegally entering the country.”

  15. Daesh ‘Exploited’ COVID-19 Restrictions, Ramped Up Attacks in Iraq – IG Report
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202008061080088573-daesh-exploited-covid-19-restrictions-ramped-up-attacks-in-iraq—ig-report-/

    “Daesh forces stepped up attacks in Iraq during the holy month of Ramadan while also managing to exploit COVID-19 restrictions that have impacted Iraqi security forces, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and US-led coalition forces, according to a new report issued from the US Department of Defense Inspector General’s Office.

    Citing intelligence from Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), the report summary, dated July 31, 2020, and released publicly on Tuesday, asserted that Daesh militants have “conducted a surge of attacks during Ramadan and exploited restrictions placed on security forces due to COVID-19 to conduct more attacks.”

    Ramadan began this year on the evening of April 24 and ended on the evening of May 23.

    “Partner forces in both countries carried out operations against [Daesh] during the quarter, but due to COVID-19, the Coalition provided much of its support and training virtually,” the IG report revealed.

    “Some researchers and analysts raised concerns that [Daesh] could exploit any reduction in pressure on the group, and assessed that [Daesh] could make gains if underlying conditions, such as ineffective government and sectarian tensions, are not addressed.”

    Furthermore, concerns were raised in the report regarding the possible escape of thousands of Daesh prisoners being held in SDF-guarded detention centers. CJTF-OIR said the detainees present “an enduring and ever-increasing risk to mission.”

    Sputnik recently reported on research from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization which warned that terrorists view imprisonment “as an opportunity” to reconvene and plot new attacks.

    “Imprisoned recruiters learn psychology to become better recruiters, for example, while imprisoned ideologues learn Islamic and jihadist history to become better ideologues,” the UK-based, non-governmental think tank’s study claimed.

    At the same time, CJTF-OIR pushed back against recent reports of Daesh making a comeback in Iraq and Syria, asserting that the militants were unable to sustain their “higher level of activity” in the countries.

    “[Daesh] is not resurging,” the joint task force claimed.
    Additionally, the US’ Defense Intelligence Agency noted in the IG report that claims of Daesh-linked attacks in Syria have declined from April through June when compared to the previous quarter of the year.

    The full report, as well as a summary of it, is currently available for download at the bottom of the IG’s news release.

    World Politics Review reported on June 4 that Daesh had been “ramping up a campaign of violence in rural parts of Iraq,” and some 108 attacks linked to Daesh forces had been carried out in the country since April.

    Lt. Gen. Pat White, commander of CJTF-OIR, attempted to make sense of the increase in Daesh activity in the region and told CNN on a May 8 phone call that the majority of the attacks were carried out to get “resources.”

    He said that militants at that time were “kidnapping for ransom” and engaging in similar acts that would get them “smaller amounts of money.”

    “They are lacking in financing, they’re lacking in fighters, and they are lacking in support by the populace in most areas, and so this is all a part of their grand scheme to try to pull fighters and sympathizers underneath their cause, and they continue to fail,” he asserted.”

  16. 1. FIRES
    Last week ISIS released a news video through the group’s Al Hayat Media Center on multiple websites and platforms calling for attacks using vehicles, knives, and by committing ARSON.
    The video specifically encouraged committing arson, including wildfires and setting fires to agriculture due to the economic damage caused by mass fires and ease in committing the attacks.
    Links to the video were spread on many sites and directly on an ISIS website.