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.
Turkey, Qatar, Libya’s GNA Agree to Establish Turkish Naval Base in Misrata – Reports (sputniknews, Aug 17, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202008171080199629-turkey-qatar-libyas-gna-agree-to-establish-turkish-naval-base-in-misurata-reports/
“Turkey, Qatar, and Libya’s Government of National Accord signed an agreement to establish a Turkish naval base in the Libyan city of Misrata, the Al-Arabiya TV channel reported citing sources.
Turkish and Qatari defence ministers Hulusi Akar and Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah arrived in Tripoli on Monday. The ministers held meetings with the leaders of the Government, Libya’s High Council of State, as well as the Government’s Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha.
According to Al Arabiya’s sources, the agreement envisions “the creation of a trilateral military coordination centre in the city of Misrata, as well as the creation of training centres and headquarters for GNA militants in Doha”.
In July, Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, Hulusi Akar, and Fathi Bashagha held negotiations on the situation in Libya in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Previously, Turkey provided military support to the Government of National Accord after Ankara and Tripoli signed a military cooperation pact. In response, the Libyan National Army leader Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar vowed to oppose the Turkish forces and accused Ankara of meddling in Libyan internal affairs.
As of today, Libya is divided between two main centres of power — an elected parliament in the country’s east, supported by the Libyan National Army, and the UN-backed Government of National Accord in the west, headed by Fayez Sarraj.”
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Andy Ngô
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GRAPHIC: With the streets in downtown Portland occupied by BLM & antifa rioters, a man crashed his car. The mob pulled him out & beat him senseless in front of the passenger. He’s bleeding & unconscious. No police. Video by
@livesmattershow
. #PortlandRiots
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1295235403847368704
Martin Walsh
August 17, 2020
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President Donald Trump announced last week that he had canceled the Jacksonville component of the Republican National Convention as coronavirus cases spiked across Florida.
The president then suggested that he may accept the Republican nomination at the White House — and Speaker Nancy Pelosi freaked out over the idea.
Now, Trump’s team is ramming ahead with plans to give his Republican National Convention acceptance speech at the White House on August 27.
“I’ll probably be giving my speech at the White House because it is a great place. It’s a place that makes me feel good, it makes the country feel good,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post.
The president said he will likely deliver the speech on one of the White House lawns and may even have some supporters attend.
“We could have quite a group of people. It’s very big, a very big lawn,” he said. “We could have a big group of people.”
https://conservativebrief.com/trump-reveals-where-hell-give-rnc-acceptance-speech-pelosi-vows-to-him-24612/?utm_source=CB&utm_medium=Martin
Iran Was Paying Bounties On US Troops In Afghanistan. Trump Killed The Man Responsible
AUGUST 17, 2020 By Tristan Justice
U.S. intelligence agencies reported Monday that the Iranian regime paid bounties to a Taliban-backed Haqqani terrorist network to execute at least six attacks on U.S. military installations in Afghanistan, according to CNN.
The intelligence community identified the link between Iran and the terrorist group in December after an attack on the Bagram Air Force Base killed two civilians and injured more than 70 others, CNN reported.
Two Trump administration officials speaking to CNN said the bounties were the catalyst for the White House decision to take out Iranian Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani by drone in January ,who Trump suggested was plotting subsequent assaults on U.S. forces in the region.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/17/iran-was-paying-bounties-on-us-troops-in-afghanistan-trump-killed-the-man-responsible/#.Xzq0r7QsIQQ.twitter
STUDY: 150 TIMES More Negative News on Trump than Biden
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2020/08/17/study-150-times-more-negative-news-trump-biden
Millie Weaver SECRET Indictment – Lawyer Explains – Viva Frei Vlawg
Teenager, 18, is fighting for life after being repeatedly stabbed next to a railway crossing in north east London during brawl with three men (dailymail, Aug 18, 2020)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8638677/Teenager-18-fighting-life-repeatedly-stabbed-railway-crossing.html
“An 18-year-old is fighting for his life in hospital after he was repeatedly stabbed next to a railway crossing in north east London during a fight with three men.
The teenager was found with life threatening stab injuries on Larkshall Road, Chingford, following reports of a fight with three other men near Highams Park Overground station at around 2.30am today.
Another 18-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of affray.
Detective Inspector Daniel Thompson, leading the investigation said: ‘A young man is currently in hospital fighting for his life as a result of this attack…”
fighting for his life
No, hospital staff are doing their job.
“Fighting for life” is illegal in Londonistan.
Try defending your people. If necessary, fight for them:
https://twitter.com/TheMossadIL/status/1295677960574435329
Israel’s Krav Maga: The World’s Deadliest Martial Art?
UK Medical School Agrees to ‘De-Colonise Curriculum’ (breitbart, Aug 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/18/uk-medical-school-de-colonise-curriculum/
“The University of Bristol’s Medical School has outlined measures the institution will take to “de-colonise the curriculum”.
One of the UK’s top medical schools, Bristol announced it will be taking a range of actions including educating students on medicine’s ‘racist’ history, according to a report by the BBC.
These include the use of new textbooks which demonstrate clinical signs in people with a variety of different skin tones, “training on spotting unconscious bias and helping students and staff more confidently report and act on racism” and “setting up an anti-racism taskforce to promote an environment that actively opposes racism”, the public broadcaster reports.
Dr Joseph Hartland, who is working to implement the changes at Bristol’s Medical School, said: “Historically medical education was designed and written by white middle-class men, and so there is an inherent racism in medicine that means it exists to serve white patients above all others.”
Eva Larkai, President of BME Medics at the university, said it was important for students and staff to learn about “problematic ideologies of that past” and to reflect on “colonial history” so that “we can examine and reflect on our unconscious biases”.
“If the new generation of doctors are not being equipped to adequately care for the multi-ethnic population we see here in the UK and across the world, we are doing the patients a disservice,” she told the BBC.
Previously, demands for UK universities to “de-colonise” course content — by replacing white thinkers and writers on the curriculum with people from the Global South — were centred around humanities subjects such as English literature, history, philosophy and history of art.
But there have been major efforts underway in recent years to extend so-called de-colonisation to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects as well as medicine.
These include University College London’s (UCL) Decolonising the Medical Curriculum (DtMC), a project which discusses ideas such as that “the 18th-century European Enlightenment … privileged and rewarded experiment at the expense of empathetic healing”.
‘The result was a professionalisation of medicine which excluded specific practitioners – such as the female midwife or folk healer – and with them, their own healing practices,’ complains Dr Lindsay Porter in a lecture on the project’s website.
The goal of de-colonising medicine, according to an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) is “to enable students (and faculty) from minority groups, including from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds to feel less marginalised by traditionally white, male euro-centric content”.
Writing in Unherd last month, theologian and poet Nigel Biggar lamented that “the case for ‘decolonising’ universities makes no sense, empirically or historically, yet it’s winning over institutions of rational debate”.
“What is more, a ‘Eurocentric’ bias in British education is surely justified. Britain is not Anywhere. It is located in north-west Europe, has a particular history, and has developed particular institutions and traditions,” the Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford pointed out.”
Vast Majority of Men Prosecuted for Buying Sex in Swedish City are Foreign-Born (breitbart, Aug 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/18/vast-majority-of-men-prosecuted-for-buying-sex-in-swedish-city-are-foreign-born/
“Since the beginning of 2019, the Swedish city of Uppsala has prosecuted 23 people, all men, for soliciting prostitutes and the statistics reveal that 78 per cent are foreign-born.
Stina Holmberg, who works at the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra), stated that she was not surprised that foreigners were over-represented in cases of soliciting prostitutes in the city.
“If you look at suspects of crimes in Sweden, it is about twice as common that people born abroad are suspected of crimes. So you don’t know if these figures really reflect an actual over-representation when it comes to buying sex,” Holberg said.
According to a report from Nyheter Idag, Sweden’s Equality Minister Åsa Lindhagen — a member os the Green Party (MP) — expressed little concern that migrants were vastly over-represented in the statistics claiming that the common factor was that all those accused were men.
“It is very important that we constantly work with norms and values, both for people who were born in Sweden and also people who we welcome here. But what unites those who buy sex, it’s that they are men and that they have a bad view of women,” Lindhagen said.
While Sweden is well-known as a progressive liberal country on many issues, the country has an unusually dim view of prostitution and the current government has made it clear that it fully intends to fight both prostitution as well as people trafficking activities linked to it.
“There are forces arguing for the legalisation of prostitution. But regardless of whether it is legal or not, prostitution always means that vulnerable people are forced to live under inhumane conditions,” an opinion article co-authored by former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström stated last year.
“That’s why France and Sweden have a clear position of rejecting any notion of prostitution as a form of work. We do not accept, and will fight the use of, the term ‘sex work’,” the article added.”
People Smugglers Using Facebook To Advertise Fake ‘Cruises’ To Europe (breitbart, Aug 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/18/people-smugglers-using-facebook-to-advertise-fake-cruises-to-europe/
“People smugglers in Turkey are allegedly advertising their services under the guise of fake “cruises” on social media platform Facebook, offering to ship migrants to Italy for €5,500.
The journeys are advertised as a three to four day trip aboard a yacht from Turkey to the Sicilian coast on a Facebook page labelled “The Road to Europe” with adults paying the full price, half price for children between four and ten and children under three given a free trip.
According to a report from Italian newspaper Il Giornale, the smugglers also offer a passage from Serbia to Austria, advertised as a €4,000 “camping trip.” Another trip by sea is offered for migrants ot the Greek island of Rhodes for a substantially cheaper €2,100.
The newspaper also claims that the smugglers offer forged passports and visas for any country migrants which to visit, costing €9,000 for European visas and €11,000 for the United Kingdom. The smugglers also offer fake drivers licences and other photo ID cards for between 500 and 800 euros.
In previous years, people smugglers have offered similar “all-inclusive” packages for migrants with enough cash to afford them.
In 2019, investigators described the “first-class” smuggling trend that cost as much as 10,000 euros per person. In 2017, a man from Cameroon living in Morocco claimed that smugglers were offering similar packages to reach Spain.
“Think about it, with several hundreds of refugees you can earn more than a million euros in one day,” the man said.
Facebook has also been used in the past by people smugglers as a way to advertise their services, many of which have been described as “travel agencies” by the smugglers.
The activity of smugglers on Facebook and it’s encrypted messaging service Whatsapp has been noted and criticised by the UN International Organisation for Migration, which called for the social media giant to do more to combat the issue in 2018.”
Rioters in Mali Detain Several Ministers and Senior Officers Amid Reports of Mutiny (sputniknews, Aug 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/africa/202008181080204880-rioters-in-mali-detain-several-ministers-and-senior-officers-amid-reports-of-mutiny/
“Earlier in the day, several western embassies in Mali reported a mutiny at an army base in Kati outside the capital Bamako.
Rioters in Mali have detained several ministers and senior officers and taken them to an unknown location, our sources said.
MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW”
Unrest in the Netherlands keep spreading.
Unrest in Amersfoort and Utrecht; one arrest
https://nltimes.nl/2020/08/18/unrest-amersfoort-utrecht-one-arrest
The municipalities of Amersfoort and Utrecht implemented emergency decrees due to unrest in the cities overnight. The decrees gave police officers more powers to intervene – to send people away or arrest them. One person was arrested in Amersfoort, RTL Nieuws reports.
Posts on social media alerted the police that there may be unrest in Utrecht overnight, a police spokesperson said to RTL. Young people gathered in the Zuilen, Hoograven and Ondiep neighborhoods and the riot police were eventually deployed.
The police were pelted with fireworks and stones, the municipality of Utrecht said on Twitter. Emergency decrees were issued due to these serious disturbances.
Disturbances spread to more cities as ‘bored’ youngsters clash with police
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/08/disturbances-spread-to-more-cities-as-bored-youngsters-clash-with-police/
[..]
The Telegraaf, meanwhile, quotes experts as saying that decades of policy involving coaches, drinking tea and youth clubs has only made the situation worse. Researcher and writer Paul Andersson Toussaint told the paper that the youngsters are not worried about being arrested. ‘Law and order must be re-introduced,’ he said. ‘Talking does not help and the soft Dutch approach of talking and involving community leaders has to stop. You have to draw the line and say “to here but no further”. The criminal macho culture has to go. There is nothing racist about that.’
VIDEO brawl starts at 0:35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BkNqa2vx04
Title says Schilderswijk, Utrecht, should be Kanaleneiland, Utrecht (bus stop 29 visible in video).
Netherlands’ MINKS are infected with CHI-na coronavirus:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 Update (363): Animal, Denmark (North Jutland) Netherlands (North Brabant, Limburg) Mink, Spread
https://promedmail.org/promed-post/?id=7687830
Mod. Comment:
“In view of the high susceptibility of this species to infection, although mostly subclinical, active surveillance in farmed minks is warranted.
“Information on the COVID-19 situation in minks is of particular importance in China, one of the 2 leading mink producers, globally (the other one is Denmark). Since infections could have taken place in any point in time, this would require the surveillance to be serological.”
….
CHI-na is the world’s largest mink farmer. So that kills off another revenue-generating product for the PRC.
China is in an economic crisis that is going to get worse, their economy is an export economy, when the West, South America and the rich Far Eastern Nations don’t import China can’t export. Now their pet virus has shut off another of their revenue sources. The Businesses they own in the rest of the world are suffering along with all other businesses in the Covid locked down world. This is creating a lot of internal political pressure on XI by his enemies in the CCP and by the Chinese people as they suffer under the growing list of catastrophes afflicting that region.
China is fighting a total war against the rest of the world and so far the war has been pretty much a draw. The world is watching to see what the greatly lowered yearly revenue combined with massive increases in food prices will do to China. Remember the CCP is ordering clean plates, no left overs and lower calorie intact to off set the lower food levels in China.
Turkish, Greek Hackers Reportedly Declare Cyberwar Amid Gas Drilling Tensions (sputniknews, Aug 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/science/202008181080204147-turkish-greek-hackers-reportedly-declare-cyberwar-amid-gas-drilling-tensions/
“Traditionally cool relations between the NATO allies broke down into open hostility last week after Turkey began drilling for gas in an area Greece says is part of its exclusive economic zone. Ankara resumed drilling after Athens and Cairo sealed an agreement designating large areas of oil and gas-rich parts of the Mediterranean as theirs.
Turkish hackers are suspected to have launched a cyberwarfare campaign, targeting the website of the Greek region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace on Tuesday by uploading a photo of the Oruc Reis, the Turkish ship engaging in exploration for hydrocarbon reserves in waters claimed by Greece, on its front page, Greek media have reported.
A message accompanying the photo reportedly read: “We have an army that loves death and martyrdom as much as you love the world. #BlueHomeland,” with ‘Blue Homeland’ referring to Turkey’s maritime claims to energy-rich areas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The website has since gone down, and remained unavailable as of 1 pm local time Tuesday.
The reported Turkish hack on the regional government’s website follows a similar attack by a group calling themselves the “RootAyyildiz” (Turkish for ‘RootStar&Crescent’) on the website of the Greek Ministry of Labour, with that attack similarly featuring a message related to the Oruc Reis. “Every attack You Make to Oruc Reis Will Have an Answer on the Internet,” the message warned.
Hackers also reportedly broke into the website of the 424th General Military Training Hospital, where a photo of the Oruc Reis appeared once again.
Last week, AnonymousGreece claimed responsibility for attacks on at least two Turkish government websites, leaving a message on one of them demanding that Turkey “Stop violating our laws and international laws by illegally sending ships, aircrafts, submarines and drones” and “stop using humans as hybrid weapons on our borders.”
“For any new attacks we will attack back to targets as well,” the message warned, with the text accompanies by a skull painted in the colours of the Greek flag and an image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stylized to look like Adolf Hitler and the text “Erdogan Terrorist and Killer.”
Maritime Tensions
Tensions between Greece and Turkey escalated dramatically this month after the Oruc Reis began its drilling activities in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Antalya and west of Cyprus in maritime territories claimed by Greece.
Ankara began the drilling just days after Greece and Egypt signed a maritime agreement designating large swathes of potentially oil and gas-rich areas of the eastern Mediterranean as part of their own exclusive economic zones on August 6. Athens and Cairo struck the deal months after Ankara and the Turkish-backed Libyan government in Tripoli signed their own contentious exclusive economic zone agreement cutting through Crete and other Greek islands. Both sides have since dismissed one another’s agreements as “illegitimate” and “illegal.”
On Friday, a group of US lawmakers came together to urge the Trump administration and the European Union to jointly impose sanctions against key sectors of the Turkish economy if it doesn’t stop its drilling activities. On Sunday, Brussels urged Ankara to halt its drilling activities “immediately and to engage fully in good faith in a broad dialogue with the European Union.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Saturday that Turkey would “never bow to banditry on our continental shelf,” and “not back down against the language of sanctions and threats.”
The spike in political tensions has also led to an escalation of military tensions between the NATO allies. On Saturday, Greek media reported that Turkish submarines had intensified operations off the Greek coast of the Aegean Sea, with Greece’s military deploying anti-submarine warfare sonars to hunt for the subs.
Last Wednesday, a pair of Greek and Turkish frigates reportedly ‘touched’ one another in an incident which took place near the Oruc Reis, with warships from both naval powers continuing to heavily patrol the area.”
Muslim YouTubers Announce Plans to Slaughter Apostates
Ali Dawah recently told the Apostate Prophet that, in a Muslim state, ex-Muslims will be executed.
Adam Saleh and Mohammed Hijab seemed to applaud Dawah’s threat.
How long will people in the West continue to deny that Islam promotes the death penalty for apostates, when popular Muslim YouTubers are openly declaring their intention to kill anyone who leaves their religion?
David Wood discusses the issue.
Hillary Clinton: Joe Biden Should Rejoin Iran Deal for the Sake of US Interests (sputniknews, Aug 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/world/202008181080205264-hillary-clinton-joe-biden-should-rejoin-iran-deal-for-the-sake-of-us-interests/
“The Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden intends to negotiate a new deal with Iran after Donald Trump withdrew from the existing one. Biden’s advisor said that a Biden administration would keep Trump’s sanctions in place until Iran returns to compliance.
Hillary Clinton believes that the United States should rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, rather than kill it outright as Donald Trump has tried to do.
“I think it would be in the United States’ interest to rejoin the Iran agreement, just as it would be to rejoin the [Paris] climate agreement,” the former secretary of state said during an Atlantic Council Front Page event broadcast on Monday.
She added that Washington should also attempt to “put that lid back” on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme – which Iran says doesn’t exist.
Clinton conceded that Iran might not be “receptive” to any new limits on its nuclear ambitions, though neither does it want to have US sanctions in place.
Joe Biden last year promised to rejoin the original deal, saying he would find a way to “strengthen and extend it”. The idea is strongly opposed by Israel.
Biden’s foreign policy advisor, Antony Blinken, said this May that Iran “would have to come back into full compliance with its obligations under the existing agreement.
He added that a Biden administration would then lift the sanctions but would use that “as a platform” to forge a new accord.
Donald Trump quit the hard-fought 2015 agreement, which lifted international sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme and intensive inspections, in May 2018, after intense lobbying from Israel.
The US claimed, despite no evidence from international inspectors and objections from Iran, that the Islamic Republic had continued to develop nuclear weapons in violation of the deal. He unleashed crippling economic sanctions, prompting Iran to lift all limits on uranium enrichment, effectively ending its commitments.
As the 18 October deadline approaches for the lifting of the United Nations’ arms sales embargo on Iran, the Trump administration has tried to extend the ban via a Security Council vote, which turned into a humiliating defeat for the US.
Trump then threatened to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism, which allows any participant of the agreement to renew United Nations sanctions. The idea has found no support among other world powers, and experts have questioned the legal grounds for such a move given that the US has withdrawn from the pact. Trump vowed to use the provision as early as this week, potentially setting up a diplomatic crisis at the Security Council.”
Yucki Tara’s mother is Lin, Shanon’s is Kathy.
Shannon is awake and coherent, he has had an MRE and they are waiting for the results to be read.
Tara is very grateful about your wanting to pray for them.
I’m praying, but the Mi Sheberach is super-charged liturgy, goes straight to the Source.
In the Orthodox tradition it’s men (or boys over 13) who read Torah in minyan (at least 10 men). I put in the “order” so my Russki can do it for us.
You can read about it here:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mi-sheberakh-may-the-one-who-blessed/
Thank You very much, he is awake now and they are saying he probably won’t suffer any permanent damage but he will have to start taking some meds. He hates taking meds, maybe this will teach him to use them.
Thank-G-d.
I have ZERO sympathy for people who won’t take meds appropriately. You tell him to behave!
“Oh, that’s nice,” I said. My father’s helper had brought him a wheel chair, of sorts. It was lighter than a regular wheelchair and not self-propelled. Just something to help get him outside more often.
“Sthree-hun-der-ed dolla,” she said in her thick Hungarian accent.
“Ok,” I said. “”I’ll get you the money.”
“Eighty per-cent you write-off for insurance,” she said.
“Eighty percent? That’s pretty good,” I said. “But come to think of it, he doesn’t have insurance.”
The ensuing conversation went on a little too long. We went back and forth over how it was possible my father was not insured in any way. We tried to figure out how this expense could be rebated. It cast light on the incorrect assumption that in Dystopia’s socialist paradise everyone is covered for everything everywhere. They are not. The same element of surprise is sprung on pharmacists or opticians when you say you’re not covered for those eight-hundred dollar eye glasses, or that hundred-dollar medication. The self-employed are not covered for anything beyond what is listed by the province. My father, who just turned 93 two days after his doppelganger, George Soros, turned 90, was self-employed since the early 60’s. He has paid more in taxes than most people will earn in a lifetime, yet, no help with a wheelchair until he files for the next tax year. Only then will he see a reduction of some smaller percentage than what insurance kicks back. At 93, however, every day is a gift, if you get the drift, so with help like that he may as well kiss his money good-bye. Neither his caretaker, nor her husband, found this reality handicapped-accessible, so to speak.
“It is AB-surd,” she concluded.
Maybe so, but this is the reward socialism gives to old pioneers. I won’t belabour with his details. I will say only that the person who never asked for a dime from anyone, who paid the system without ever a thought to “play” the system, who literally built the country, and who even now asks for nothing, likely will get no help from government for this wheelchair.
“I’m his insurance,” I said to end the topic of this discussion.
There is much today that resonates as being absurd. In fact absurdity seems to be giving irony a run for its money as the universe’s most common element.
“…wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate…”
Ok, so there is plenty going on that fits this description, we will all agree on this to an extent. However only the red-pilled will see the reasonableness of absurdity when it, along with its components, are built by hand in a communist firehose factory. Many things become less crazy in this light of intentional division. Things that we never before imagined in our craziest dreams such as universal incomes, defunding police, ten-thousand sexes, health care for illegal aliens, or the scientism of climate change and pandemics, just to name a few, are being imposed from above.
I tell myself this cannot go on forever. Either we defeat the commies or else we drink the Kool-Aid. Living the purgatory of the dissident life will be pretty darn tough with the technology available arrayed against us. As a white male maybe even more so.
Uh-oh. There’s that caving for pickles again. Hmm. Wonder if I’m pregnant.
Every time I get an idea to write something the idea gets kneecapped. Reality trumps whatever my imagination is up
Keep practicing Hungarian.
Not that you’d cut and run, but a nucleus of “govt-in-exile” and train-&-equip abroad is invaluable when TSHF.
You have the incredible good fortune to have as an option the country that elected Mr. Orban.
There will probably be many governments in exile before this mess is over, they and military units composed of exiles from the nations you are fighting are another historical action that is probably coming.
I knew several Poles in Germany, they have been part of the Free Polish Army and the commies wanted them dead so they couldn’t go home. Good men with a very proud history, I hope their kids and Grandchildren made it back to Poland. Their forefathers earned that right for them.
IFF they avoided brainwashing in Germany.
Surprising so many of those who lived under communism – and their children – have fallen to the leftist propaganda. Children of Refusniks who vote demonrat!
(Of course not Orthodox Jews, though. That’s already in-your-face, literally in D cities.)
Police in Germany Arrest Suspected Syrian Militant Near Berlin (breitbart, Aug 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/18/police-in-germany-arrest-suspected-syrian-militant-near-berlin/
“German authorities arrested a Syrian national Tuesday on suspicion he was a member of two militant groups that fought against the government of President Bashar Assad during the early stages of the conflict in Syria.
The suspect, named only as Khaled A. for privacy reasons, was arrested in the city of Potsdam, just southwest of Berlin, on allegations of membership in a terrorist organization, war crimes and weapons violations, prosecutors said in a statement.
A. is suspected of having been a member of Ahrar al-Tabqa from January to August 2013, documenting the eviction of civilians to house fellow militants. The group – one of many rebel groups that emerged during the Syria conflict – was based in the northern town of Tabqa.
He is accused of later joining the larger Ahrar al-Sham and acting as one of their spokespeople until at least October 2013.
Both groups sought to overthrow the Syrian government and replace it with an Islamist system. They are deemed “foreign terrorist organizations” by Germany.
Prosecutors did not state whether the suspect was among hundreds of thousands of Syrians who sought asylum in Germany from 2015 onward.”
UK: Alleged Jihadi Terror Plotter Tells Court ISIS ‘Created by America’ to ‘Increase Islamophobia’ (breitbart, Aug 18, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/18/uk-alleged-jihadi-terror-plotter-tells-court-isis-created-by-america/
“An alleged Islamist terror plotter has told an English court he viewed terrorist videos only as “research” and that the Islamic State was fabricated by the U.S. to encourage Islamophobia.
26-year-old Hisham Muhammad, who is alleged to have been modifying a drone to drop a “harmful device” and planning an armed “lone wolf attack”, possibly against members of the military or police officers, said of the Islamic State: “I don’t believe it exists, I believe it was created by America. I believe it was created by America to take away the rights of Muslims.”
“I have long held the suspicion as a devout Muslim that much of the material about Islamic State is misrepresented or exaggerated in order to increase Islamophobia, especially in countries like the UK where there is a desire to restrict Muslim immigration,” Muhammed said, according to a Bury Times court report, adding that there needs to be “a lot more research” on the terror organisation.
Prosecutor Anne Whyte QC told the court Muhammed had watched scores of extremist videos including “nasheed” chants, covering such themes as “jihadis speaking of holy war” and including such lyrics as “by the knife of horror we cut their necks”.
“You are not conducting research, you are motivating yourself,” Whyte said of Muhammed, who also performed web searches on suicide belts and machetes.
“It’s not true, it’s not true”, he responded.
The Whitfield resident, who viewed extremist material “umpteen” times, according to Whyte, said he did not support the songs’ sentiments, and merely “liked the tune”.
“I listen to gangster rap but I don’t support it,” he claimed by way of explanation.
The trial continues.”
WeChat Ban: What Is Trump’s Real Goal?
God help Canada. Freeland is next Finance Minister – lol She did such an outstanding job firing the common peoplekind and hiring her close friends and giving them a raise when she took her reign at Reuters and why did she leave? What are her qualifications?
https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/intervista/2020/08/11/news/soros_l_europa_piu_fragile_degli_usa_i_vostri_nemici_sono_i_populisti_all_interno_e_la_cina_all_esterno_-264430601/
Original above, ZH version below. “extremists” are comprised of those who refuse to believe 2 + 2 = 5.
https://www.https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/intervista/2020/08/11/news/soros_l_europa_piu_fragile_degli_usa_i_vostri_nemici_sono_i_populisti_all_interno_e_la_cina_all_esterno_-264430601/zerohedge.com/geopolitical/soros-warns-europe-beware-leaders-within
‘We need to prevent vaccine nationalism’, says WHO chief
During a briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus indicates he ‘sent a letter to every member State encouraging them to join the COVAX Facility’, as ‘we need to prevent vaccine nationalism’.
COVID Killed Her Dad: “His Only Preexisting Condition Was Trusting Donald Trump.”
sky news – UK sees 100,000 sign up for COVID-19 vaccine tests
More Britons are being urged to contribute to future vaccine candidate trials after an initial 100,000 volunteers signed up.
Those who add themselves to the registry can be contacted by researchers organising large-scale clinical trials of coronavirus vaccines.
Coronavirus vaccine trial to begin this week in Palm Beach County
Australians will get ‘early access’ to Oxford Uni vaccine
Oxford University’s Sarah Gilbert on Potential Vaccine Side Effects
Professor Sarah Gilbert, who leads the Oxford University vaccine team, discusses potential side effects.
“A small number of participants do have a short lived fever within the first 48 hours.
We’re not seeing anything unexpected.”
VICE News – Inside Idaho’s Ban on Trans Women in Sports
House Bill 500, also known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, applies to student-athletes playing in K-12 sports and at the collegiate level, no matter if the university is public or private.
The law would prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in school athletics in alignment with their gender identity.
In sport, there’s no ‘Race category,’ even though, clearly, some ethicities through natural selection mostly win in certain categories. And so, as we obviously don’t declare ‘all white men can’t jump,’ why then declare all women can’t?
Is it because the body-frame is so different? Then dense-boned people should not compete in swimming either, because they are always going to lose.
So invent a sport like everyone else. You’ve simply held back half the world from achieving greatness. Even the Blind have Goalball and not soccer. Is chess gender-biased?
The English invented football. Do you see them crying that other countries always beat them? They still have-a-go. Every four years. Always their manager’s fault.
So there is no ‘fairness’ in sport. There are only winners. The fastest person in the world is the fastest and women will catch up. The disabled category is fun and laudible. So are the pensioner and child categories. But women wanted their own exclusive ‘equal’ inter-group. Whereas, basketball previously became netball, and baseball became rounders. Using all the advantage of being female. Is there there a claim there is nothing they can do better, if the men join in? Then the sport has not been invented yet. So many body forms.
And therefore, onto this world stage, the best of what humans can do, will enter the LGTBQ, unmolested, to fit in to any sport they wanted.
And all the bitching will cease. And mediocrity, no.longer held up as something good. And humans will swim upwardly in the pool of evolution once again.
(Disclaimer: believe in equality, and do not watch “women’s” sports and wished the talented ones would join men’s teams to which they are presently denied).
Because, it is what it is.
https://youtu.be/ir37NGym5Uw
O.K. Here’s an easy fix. Remember when little squirts like Borg and Crackin’ Row use to play tennis? Wonderful finess and guile. Then they gave them power rackets and only those on steroids won. Single handenly destroyed the game from talent. Go back to the Cambridge Vintage and you won’t believe it is so good to watch.
https://youtu.be/UnwYdF8a5ws
World still in ‘early stage of pandemic’ – Neil Ferguson
[…]The leading epidemiologist added: “So far less than 10% of the world’s population have been infected and we are still at a very early stage of the pandemic.
[…]Professor Ferguson added: “For future pandemics we need to be scaling up testing and surveillance not just at borders, but countries need to be looking systematically for cases they’ve missed in terms of border controls and looking for evidence of sustained transmission in their populations.
Stopping wildlife food markets could reduce risk of another pandemic
[…]One of the big risk factors for emerging viral diseases is human interaction with wildlife – in particular killing wildlife for food – such as at game-markets in Africa and Asia, Professor Ferguson said.
“By stopping those we could reduce the risk but not completely”, Professor Ferguson said.
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/201953/world-still-early-stage-pandemic-neil/
Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson on Virus Transmission & 2020 Projections
MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis Founding Director Neil Ferguson shares projections for increased Covid-19 spread, a vaccine timeline and distribution.
Professor Neil Ferguson, who is based at Imperial College in London, is one of the architects of the UK government’s stay-at-home strategy
Government scientist Neil Ferguson resigned after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover.
How new technology for a COVID-19 vaccine works
It’s midday and research technicians here have just had a delivery of blood.
It has just been taken from participants on Imperial College’s COVID-19 trial.
The Imperial team is being led by infectious diseases specialist Professor Robin Shattock.
The team has already vaccinated 120 healthy volunteers and is now embarked on vaccinating another 200.
According to Shattock, if the promising results continue, there will be a trial of thousands later in the year.
Pandemics and the challenges of sustaining peace – UN Chief to the Security Council
DAILY MAIL – Asian Brits are up to FIVE times more likely to catch coronavirus than white people, official data reveals
ONS revealed seven out of 1,510 Brits identifying as Asian swabbed positive for Covid-19 — around 0.46%
For comparison, the rate was 0.12 per cent for white people, according to the ONS report released today
Experts concluded the risk was slightly higher and that Asians were 4.8 times more likely to test positive
The data – from the last eight weeks in England – also revealed single people were more likely to test positive
Asian people are up to five times more likely to catch the coronavirus than white people, according to data from a government-run surveillance scheme.
An Office for National Statistics (ONS) report released today revealed seven out of 1,510 Brits identifying as Asian swabbed positive for Covid-19 — a rate of around 0.46 per cent. For comparison, the rate was 0.12 per cent for white people. The ONS concluded the risk was slightly higher than the percentage difference and that Asians were 4.8 times more likely to test positive.
No cases were diagnosed in any other ethnic groups in England between June 8 and August 2, which is when the data relates to. But the body claimed black Britons were twice as likely to be diagnosed, based on older figures.
Results of antibody tests — which tell if someone has had the disease in the past — showed a similar discrepancy between ethnicity, with just 4.8 per cent of white people testing positive for the substances. In comparison, the rate was around 10.8 per cent for Asians and 9.5 per cent for Black Britons.
Numerous reports have found black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people in Britain face a higher risk of dying if they catch coronavirus than white people.
[…]
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8638869/Asian-Brits-FIVE-times-likely-catch-coronavirus-white-people.html
Will you willingly take a vaccine from Bill Gates?
https://twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1295813140916183040
Delta-Delta-Tango, you s.o.b.
Nigel Farage investigates: The migrant crisis hits Priti Patel’s backyard.
In my latest video, I expose that arrivals are being housed at a hotel in Priti Patel’s very own constituency of Witham. This is deeply embarrassing for a Home Secretary that claims she will solve the crisis. How can we take her seriously?
Who are their contacts?
You may be refused permission to enter the UK (if you are not a British citizen), or fined if you do not to provide your contact details or do not self-isolate, unless you arrive in the UK from an exempt country.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk
Travel restrictions by country
https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions
AUG 15 2020 – ITALY – Naples’ Cathedral
Ritual Hindu dances and prayers to celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary –
https://twitter.com/RadioSavana/status/1294703516964061186
A prelude to getting the adnan in church.
Then no church. Then…
…la-illya-bla-blah
moh-mad-rusul-tra-la
… and why not “Ashura” and then “Eid al adha” on the main altar ?
that would really be ecumenical
Would turn-about be fair play?
(Though these Hindus probably should avoid mosque dancing. Choir boys, ditto.)Massachusetts: Masks at Home, 24/7
MEMRI – Thailand-Based Islamic Scholar: The People behind the Beirut Explosion Control the Entire World
On August 5, 2020, Illinois Islamic scholar Sheikh Omar Baloch uploaded to his YouTube channel an interview with U.S.-born Islamic scholar Dr. Omar Zaid.
Dr. Zaid said that the “usual suspects” who are behind the recent explosion in Beirut, Lebanon are criminals who control everybody on the planet by threat of blackmail, by threat of an “Epstein event,” or by means of a suitcase nuclear device hidden in major cities, which he said has been a method these people have employed for decades.
Dr. Zaid said that the Zionists and the British Empire are controlled by “high-degree Satanic magi.”
He elaborated that the Zionists took over the world under the auspices of the Illuminati and of world bankers who come from pre-Flood bloodlines and who are possessed by Satan and his chief demons.
In addition, Dr. Zaid said that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is a “High Priest member” of the Jewish Sanhedrin, and that his followers move in unison in order to achieve the goal of incarnating their messiah, who Dr. Zaid said will be the Antichrist.
Furthermore, Dr. Zaid said that the Jewish intelligentsia serve the cause of evil while Muslims are so ignorant that they will get vaccines even though they are dangerous and that they will wear face masks even though COVID-19 is a lie.
According to his website, Dr. Omar Zaid is a retired emergency room physician from Pennsylvania who converted to Islam from Christianity in 2004 and has dedicated his life to researching the “occult societies” behind the present “World dis-Order.”
What Happened to Joe Biden?
The Bidening: Take The Test November 3rd
Joe Biden In His Own Words
DAILY MAIL – EXCLUSIVE: ‘Would you mind giving it a crack?’ Bill Clinton leans back and smiles while receiving neck massage from Epstein victim, 22, in never-before-seen photos during trip on pedophile’s plane to Africa in 2002 – as he addresses Dem convention TONIGHT
Bill Clinton is seen enjoying a neck massage from a Jeffrey Epstein victim in never-before-seen photographs obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com
The pictures are an ill-timed reminder of Clinton’s links to Epstein as the former President, 72, prepares to endorse Joe Biden tonight at the Democratic Convention.
Clinton is seen sitting comfortably and laughing as Chauntae Davies, then a 22-year-old massage therapist, rubs her hands into his shoulders
The images show Clinton, then 56, leaning back while Davies kneels on a chair behind him, and in a second image, he seems to be smiling in relief
The former President had complained of a stiff neck after falling asleep on Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ while on a humanitarian trip to Africa in 2002
Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell encouraged Davies to give Clinton a massage while the group was refueling at a small airport in Portugal
Maxwell, 58, was arrested in July and is currently in prison on charges in connection to Epstein’s sex trafficking ring
After Maxwell’s insistence, Clinton asked Davies: ‘Would you mind giving it a crack?’
Davies said Clinton was a ‘complete gentleman’ on the trip and ‘saw absolutely no foul play involving him’
Clinton’s office previously issued a statement in regards to his travels on the plane and denied knowing anything about the financier’s crimes
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8639501/Bill-Clinton-smiles-receiving-neck-massage-Jeffrey-Epstein-victim.html
Millie Weaver ARRESTED Just Before Releasing Documentary Now We Know Why
Here’s a list of corporations funding the ‘defund the police’ movement
By Daily Caller News Foundation August 18, 2020
Dozens of corporations from around the world have collectively donated millions of dollars to left-wing organizations that advocate for defunding America’s police departments, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found. (RELATED: What ‘defund police’ really means; or, time to take the training wheels off of our political thinking)
Companies including Microsoft, Intel and Airbnb have donated to Black Lives Matter Global Network and Color of Change, both of which want to defund police departments across the country. (RELATED: These Celebrities Are Funding The ‘Defund The Police’ Movement)
Color of Change is leading a national petition campaign demanding elected officials “defund the police, and invest in communities now!”
Trending: Dems warn of delays in social security checks if mail bill not passed: Just one problem
“Policing is a violent institution that must end,” Color of Change President Rashad Robinson said after the Minneapolis City Council voted to “dismantle” its police department. “We imagine a country where there is enough money to educate our children, care for our sick and feed those who are financially unstable,” Robinson continued. “Defunding the police allows for this vision.”
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/08/18/heres-a-list-of-corporations-funding-the-defund-the-police-movement/
What ‘defund police’ really means; or, time to take the training wheels off of our political thinking
By J.E. Dyer August 18, 2020
President Trump made brief remarks at a stop in Wisconsin on Monday, as the Democratic National Convention kicked off “in Milwaukee.” “Milwaukee” is in scare quotes because, due to COVID-19, there’s no actual, traditional convention happening in Milwaukee this week.
The Republican convention will be a little more traditional in Charlotte, N.C. next week, as the delegates will gather there rather than doing the convention business remotely. Nevertheless, both conventions are bowing to limitations imposed by the virus this year. The festive atmosphere of a mass gathering, the parties, the numerous sideline events, the attendance of PACs and the media and the state party dignitaries – all have gone by the wayside in 2020.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/08/18/what-defund-police-really-means-or-time-to-take-the-training-wheels-off-of-our-political-thinking/
Mali Mutiny Leaders Say President, Prime Minister Arrested (sputniknews, Aug 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/africa/202008181080207711-mali-mutiny-leaders-say-president-prime-minister-arrested/
“Earlier Tuesday, reports coming out of the landlocked West African nation said that multiple government officials and senior army officers had been detained in the capital Bamako and the nearby Kati military base, with unrest said to have been sparked by soldiers’ financial grievances.
Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga have been arrested by the leader of mutinying troops, a military source has confirmed to Sputnik.
Earlier, the purported leader of the mutineers told AFP that “we can tell you that the president and the prime minister are under our control,” adding that they were being held at Keita’s residence in Bamako.
However, another military official said Keita and Maiga were in an armoured vehicle on route to the Kati base.
The mutiny by Malian military units began earlier Tuesday, with sources telling Sputnik that rebels had arrested a number of ministers and high-ranking officers, with the mutiny thought to be related to servicemen’s financial grievances. Local media has reported that four military officials were responsible for organizing the mutiny. The government issued a statement signed by Maiga calling for dialogue with the mutineers.
Eyewitnesses told Sputnik that civilians have also taken to the streets of Bamako amid a lack of a security presence, with gunfire occasionally heard, and rebel soldiers firing shots in the direction of the president’s residence.
“Mass demonstrations [are taking place] in the capital of Bamako amid a lack of security agencies. Demonstrators demand President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s resignation. Rebel soldiers are walking in the streets, greeting crowds of demonstrators on Independence Square in the downtown,” one person said.
A Russian foreign ministry source told Sputnik that Moscow was ‘closely following events’, and checking on reports that rebels had arrested the president.
A spokesman for United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the UN chief was following the situation “very closely.”
“The Secretary-General calls on all Malians to preserve the integrity of the country’s democratic institutions, and we affirm that together with ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States], the African Union, the European Union and other partners, the United Nations will continue to accompany Malians in their efforts to consolidate peace and democracy,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the mutiny, with an Elysee source telling Reuters that Macron had spoken to Mali’s president and the leaders of Ivory Coast, Senegal and Niger about the situation in the country.
The United States and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have also condemned the events.
Tuesday’s unrest comes in the wake of the ongoing political crisis in the West African nation, with supporters of the opposition ‘June 5 Movement’ taking to the streets to demand Keita’s resignation starting earlier this summer. Clashes July 11-12 between protesters and security forces led to the deaths of 11 people, with over 120 reported injured. The opposition accuses Keita of failing to deal with corruption and restore security in the country amid escalating jihadist and inter-communal violence, and has criticized controversial legislative elections in late March, which were reportedly accompanied by kidnappings and death threats against observers and local officials.
29 Malian troops were killed in a terrorist attack in the country’s northeast in March, with 20 others killed at the Sokolo military camp in the country’s center in January. The situation in Mali was destablized in 2012 after Tuareg militants seized areas in the country’s north, with the conflict escalating further due to the presence of local Islamists, the ongoing civil war in neighbouring Libya, and French intervention. In February, France announced plans to send an additional 600 troops to West Africa to join the 4,500 troops already there to fight terrorists in the Sahara and Sahel regions.”
Seth Frantzman:
Kuwait’s anti-Israel rhetoric in spotlight after UAE deal
On the surface there’s no reason why Kuwait, the kingdom at the end of the Persian Gulf, would be a leading critic of Israel.
Not only does it have no historical connection to Israel, either positive or negative, it is also far away from the Jewish state.
However, in the wake of the UAE decision to normalize relations with Israel, Kuwait has appeared to be the coldest toward Israel of all states in the Gulf.
Kuwait has indicated it would be the last country to normalize relations with Israel…
Kuwait knows that its position between Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran is precarious, and wants to preserve its neutrality on some issues.… It seeks to be more like Jordan in its affairs, a monarchy but one that does not want to have as active a role in the tectonic shifts in the region between Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/kuwaits-anti-israel-rhetoric-in-spotlight-after-uae-deal-639039
1963 Kuwait Slavery Convention ratified
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_abolition_of_slavery_and_serfdom#cite_ref-key_150-1
Nov. 2019
Tech giants including Instagram and Google ‘are hosting online slave markets where domestic workers are being bought and sold for less than £3,000 through apps’
Children as young as 16 are being trafficked into Kuwait and sold as maids
The maids are traded on online marketplaces by unscrupulous dealers
Ordinary couples also trade their domestic staff online sometimes for a profit
Purchasers are advised to keep the maid’s passport and confiscate her phone
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7640673/Online-slave-markets-use-tech-giants-sell-domestic-staff-Kuwait.html
Palestinians to boycott Dubai Expo world fair over ties with Israel
https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-to-boycott-dubai-expo-world-fair-over-ties-with-israel/
……
Peace to Jews and Arabs
Flag of IsraelFlag of United Arab EmiratesFlag of BahrainFlag of Saudi ArabiaFolded hands
@UAE_YOT2019
“Palestine canceled its pavilion at Expo Dubai Dubai 2020”
https://twitter.com/UAE_YOT2019/status/1295476952690839557
Russian General Killed, Two Troops Injured in Roadside Blast in Syria (sputniknews, Aug 18, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202008181080207189-russian-general-killed-two-troops-injured-in-roadside-blast-in-syria/
“The incident was said to have taken place in Deir ez-Zor province, northeastern Syria.
A Russian major-general was killed and two troops were injured in Syria Tuesday after vehicles they were traveling in were hit by an improvised explosive device (IED), the Russian Ministry of Defence has announced.
The blast was said to have taken place near the At-Taim oil field, about 15 km outside the city of Deir ez-Zor, with the Russian convoy said to have been hit while returning from a humanitarian action.
“As a result of the explosion, three Russian servicemen were injured. During evacuation and while receiving medical assistant, a senior Russian military advisor with the rank of major-general died from the serious injuries sustained,” the MoD said.
The military said the IED involved was placed on the side of the road along which the Russian convoy was traveling.
The family of the senior officer will receive all possible assistance and support, according to the MoD, with the major-general to be awarded posthumously for his service.
The Russian ground contingent in Syria consists of Military Police forces, whose mission includes separating Turkish and Syrian forces in the country’s north, assisting in humanitarian aid deliveries, and occasionally, helping Syrian Army forces destroy terrorist remnants.
This includes forces operating in Deir ez-Zor province. On Saturday, Russian forces deployed a mobile water treatment plant in Deir ez-Zor city. On August 6, the Russian military reported “an aggravation of the situation in the areas of the province of Deir ez-Zor” outside the control of the Syrian government owing to poor conditions in US-occupied areas of the province.
On Monday, Syrian and US forces engaged in a skirmish in neighbouring Hasakah province, with the incident leaving one Syrian soldier dead and two others injured.
Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor contain the vast majority of Syria’s energy resources, which the Syrian government considers vital for its efforts to rebuild the country. In addition to Syrian Army and Russian forces (which are deployed in accordance with international law), US troops and Turkish-backed militias also operate in the area, as do the remnants of Daesh (ISIS)* and other terrorist groups, with the concentration of these forces in close proximity leading to regular confrontations, some of them violent.
Over 120 Russian servicemen have been killed in operations in Syria since Russia began its anti-terrorist operation in the country in September 2015.
* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.”
This could be a very big deal.
Qalaat Al Mudiq @QalaatAlMudiq
E. #Syria: along with the #Russia|n Major General, the #NDF commander for #Mayadin sector was also killed when their convoy was hit by a roadside IED planted by #ISIS. 6 more soldiers slain & 3 wounded (incl. Russians).
#Russia|n Major General Gladkikh was killed today by an #ISIS mine/IED in #DeirEzzor desert. He’s the highest ranking officer killed to date in #Syria.
https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/1295745273998839810
Babak Taghvaee -@BabakTaghvaee
·6h
Today, #Turkey backed & #AlQaeda affiliated #HTS terrorist group used surface-to-air missiles (recently received from #Turkey) to shoot-down what they call a #Russian drone in North of #Idlib, #Syria! But it has now turned-out they have shot-down a #USAF’s MQ-9 Reaper UCAV!
That’s how we can easily identify wreckage of the downed drone as a MQ-9 Reaper armed drone of #USAF!
https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee/status/1295797933749817345
Russian general killed, two servicemen wounded in Syria explosion
An improvised roadside bomb exploded 15 km from the city of Deir ez-Zor when a Russian military convoy was returning to its base after a humanitarian mission
https://tass.com/emergencies/1191115
Politics slows flow of US COVID-19 funds to local public health
[…] Since the pandemic began, Congress has set aside trillions of dollars to ease the crisis. A joint Kaiser Health News and Associated Press investigation finds that many communities with big outbreaks have spent little of that federal money on local public health departments for work such as testing and contact tracing. Others, like in Minnesota, were slow to do so.…
“States and localities have only spent about a fourth of the money we already sent them in the springtime,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. Congressional Democrats’ efforts to get more money for states, he said, “aren’t based on math. They aren’t based on the pandemic.…”
KHN and the AP requested detailed spending breakdowns and … received responses from 23 states and 62 cities and counties. Those entities dedicated 23% of their spending from the fund through June to public health and 7% to public health and safety payroll.
An additional 22% was transferred to local governments, some of which will eventually pass it down to health departments. The rest went to other priorities, such as distance learning.
So little money has flowed to some local health departments for many reasons: Bureaucracy has bogged things down, politics have crept into the process, and understaffed departments have struggled to take time away from critical needs to navigate the red tape required to justify asking for extra dollars.
https://apnews.com/33228796a8a66a50546c9e3ddacfef1b
Seth Frantzman:
Turkey threatens Biden, tells US it will ‘pay price’ for criticism
“The days of ordering Turkey around are over. But if you still think you can, be our guest. You will pay the price.”
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/turkey-threatens-biden-tells-us-it-will-pay-price-for-criticism-638948
One of dozens of arrests during the unrest in the Netherlands. This one is in Amersfoort:
Ghislaine Maxwell ‘is taken off suicide watch and wants to be moved out of solitary confinement at hell-hole Brooklyn jail’
Ghislaine Maxwell is complaining about conditions inside the ‘hell-hole’ Brooklyn jail where she is being kept ahead of her sex crimes trial.
The 58-year-old British socialite was recently taken off suicide watch, but is being subjected to multiple searches each day and is under constant watch of the guards, her lawyers said.
The searches and surveillance should be stopped, her lawyers said, while requesting that she be be taken out of solitary confinement and placed in with other prisoners.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8614925/Ghislaine-Maxwell-moans-conditions-hell-hole-Brooklyn-jail.html
No Obstacle to Development of Strategic Arms in Iran: Defense Minister
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/08/18/2330367/no-obstacle-to-development-of-strategic-arms-in-iran-defense-minister
“Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami gave an assurance that Tehran faces no infrastructural hurdle in manufacturing strategic weapons inside the country.
In a meeting with members of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Tuesday, Brigadier General Hatami said the Defense Ministry does not face any problem in the production of strategic weapons and products, thanks to various infrastructures inside the country.
He also noted that the Defense Ministry has successfully carried out the strategies to strengthen national security and maintain the deterrent power in cooperation with the Parliament.
Highlighting the abundant capacities and infrastructures available at the Defense Ministry for supplying the defense needs, the general said the Defense Ministry is prepared to help the country’s economic and civilian sectors with the surplus of its defense technologies and knowledge.
He further pointed to the great role that parliamentary support plays in preserving and boosting the Defense Ministry’s efforts to ensure security and national power, proposing that special funds for the defense-related research studies will help the country attain emerging technologies and respond to the threats, according to the Iranian government’s official website.
Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense, and that Iran’s defense capabilities will be never subject to negotiations.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has also called for efforts to maintain and boost Iran’s defense capabilities, hitting back at the enemies for disputing the country’s missile program.
“Without a moment of hesitation, the country must move to acquire whatever is necessary for defense, even if the whole world is opposed to it,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in February 2018.”
Rutherford County Schools Tell Parents Not to Monitor Their Child’s Virtual Classrooms
Parents of students who attend Rutherford County Schools (RCS) must agree not to monitor their child’s online classroom sessions.
Officials at all county schools are asking parents to sign forms agreeing not to watch these virtual classes.
The Tennessee Star received a copy of such a form this week.
“RCS strives to present these opportunities in a secure format that protects student privacy to the greatest extent possible, however because these meetings will occur virtually RCS is limited in its ability to fully control certain factors such as non-student observers that may be present in the home of a student participating in the virtual meeting,” according to the form.
“RCS strongly discourages non student observation of online meetings due to the potential of confidential information about a student being revealed.”
The form asks parents for their signature and warns that “violation of this agreement may result in RCS removing my child from the virtual meeting.”
RCS spokesman James Evans addressed the matter in an email to The Star this week.
https://tennesseestar.com/2020/08/15/rutherford-county-schools-tell-parents-not-to-monitor-their-childs-virtual-classrooms/
That’s odd.…
German Sentences Member of Kurdish PKK Group to Prison
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2455316/german-sentences-member-kurdish-pkk-group-prison
“A court in western Germany has convicted a 60-year-old Turkish citizen of membership in the banned Kurdish militant group PKK.
The dpa news agency reported Tuesday that the Koblenz regional court sentenced the man, whose name wasn’t released, to two years and six months imprisonment for “membership in a foreign terrorist organization.”
Prosecutors accused the defendant, who lives in Germany, of organizing propaganda campaigns and soliciting donations for the PKK.
The group, whose acronym stands for Kurdistan Workers´ Party, began an insurgency against Turkey in the mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984 and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.”
UN Tribunal: Main Defendant in Hariri Killing Was Hezbollah Member
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2455211/un-tribunal-main-defendant-hariri-killing-was-hezbollah-member
“The main defendant in the trial of four men charged with conspiracy to kill former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was a member of Hezbollah and used a cell phone critical in the attack, Reuters quoted judges at a UN-backed tribunal as saying on Tuesday.
As an hours-long reading of the verdict got underway, judges said they were “satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt” that the evidence showed that Salim Jamil Ayyash possessed “one of six mobiles used by the assassination team.”
The judges were yet to rule on Ayyash’s guilt or innocence on charges including committing a terrorist attack and homicide.
“The evidence also established that Mr. Ayyash had affiliation with Hezbollah,” said Judge Micheline Braidy, reading a summary of the 2,600-page verdict.
The three other defendants are also alleged members of the Iran-backed Shiite Muslim group.
Judges said they had however found no evidence that the leadership of Hezbollah or the Syrian government had played a part in the attack that left 21 others dead. Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the Feb. 14, 2005 bombing.
The verdict comes as the Lebanese people are still reeling from the aftermath of a huge explosion in Beirut that killed 178 people this month and from a devastating economic meltdown.
Hariri, a Sunni Muslim billionaire, had close ties with the United States, Western, and Sunni Gulf Arab allies, and was seen as a threat to Iranian and Syrian influence in Lebanon. He led efforts to rebuild Beirut following the 1975-1990 civil war.
“The trial chamber is of the view that Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate Mr. Hariri and his political allies, however, there is no evidence that the Hezbollah leadership had any involvement in Mr. Hariri’s murder and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement,” Judge David Re said earlier.
POLARISED COUNTRY
Hariri’s assassination plunged Lebanon into what was then its worst crisis since the war, setting the stage for years of confrontation between rival political forces.
Even before judges began reading their 2,600 page verdict into Hariri’s killing, Lebanon’s an-Nahar daily ran a headline: ‘International Justice Defeats Intimidation’.
The paper published a caricature of Hariri’s face looking at a mushroom cloud over the devastated city, with a caption: “May you also (get justice)”, referring to an investigation that could unveil the cause of the blast.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday he was not concerned with the trial and that if any members of the group were convicted, it would stand by their innocence.
Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV and the pro-Damascus Al Mayadeen channel did not cover the trial, which other broadcasters in Lebanon were airing live.
Beirut tour guide Nada Nammour, 54, speaking before the reading of the verdict began, said the 2005 bombing was a crime that should be punished. “Lebanon needs to see law and justice.”
The verdict in The Hague may further polarise a divided country and complicate a tumultuous situation after the Aug. 4 blast at Beirut port, where authorities say ammonium nitrate stored unsafely detonated, fuelling public outrage and leading to the government’s resignation.
Hariri’s killing removed a powerful Sunni leader and allowed the further political expansion of Shiite power led by Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon.
JUSTICE 15 YEARS ON
The judgment had initially been expected earlier this month, but was delayed after the port explosion.
The investigation and trial in absentia of the four alleged Hezbollah members has taken 15 years and cost roughly $1 billion. It could result in a guilty verdict and later sentencing of up to life imprisonment, or acquittal.
DNA evidence showed that the blast that killed Hariri was carried out by a male suicide bomber who was never identified.
Prosecutors used cell phone records to argue the men on trial — Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Assad Hassan Sabra and Hussein Hassan Oneissi — carefully monitored Hariri’s movements in the months leading up to the attack to time it and to put forward a fake claim of responsibility as a diversion.
Court-appointed lawyers said there is no physical evidence linking the four to the crime and they should be acquitted.
Hariri’s son Saad, who took his father’s mantle and has served as premier three times, has said he was not seeking revenge, but that justice must prevail.
Some Lebanese say they are now more concerned with finding out the truth behind the Beirut port blast.
“I do want to know what the verdict is … but what matters now is who did this (port blast) to us because this touched more people,” said Francois, a volunteer helping victims in a ruined district.”
Saudi Arabia Calls for ‘Punishing Hezbollah Terrorists’ after Hariri Verdict
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2455631/saudi-arabia-calls-%E2%80%98punishing-hezbollah-terrorists%E2%80%99-after-hariri-verdict
“The Saudi Foreign Minister welcomed on Tuesday the verdict announced by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon that was looking into the 2005 assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The ministry said: “The Saudi government believes that the verdict revealed the truth and is the beginning of achieving justice by pursuing, arresting and punishing the perpetrators.”
The court on Tuesday convicted a Hezbollah member in the 2005 Beirut assassination, which also killed 21 others.
“The Saudi government by calling for punishing Hezbollah and its terrorist members, stresses the need to protect Lebanon, the region and world from the terrorist practices of this party, which is a proxy of the Iranian regime,” continued the ministry statement.
It added that Hezbollah has been found complicit in terrorist crimes throughout the world, and the Hariri assassination “was but one of them and one that had the greatest impact on the security and stability of Lebanon”
“The Kingdom is eager to see Lebanon enjoy security and peace by ending the phenomenon of the possession of arms outside the authority of the state,” it added.
It called for strengthening the Lebanese state “for the sake of all Lebanese without exception.”
“The brotherly Lebanese people deserve stability in their nation, development in their economy and security that eliminates terrorism,” it stressed.”
Russian Jets Bomb Opposition-Held Idlib in Syria
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2455596/russian-jets-bomb-opposition-held-idlib-syria
“Jets believed to be Russian bombed several towns in opposition-held northwestern Syria in a new flare-up of violence since a Turkish-Russian deal that halted major fighting nearly six months ago, witnesses said.
War planes flying at high altitude, which tracking centers said were Russian Sukhoi jets, dropped bombs on the Harbanoush and Sheikh Bahr Nahr areas where makeshift camps house tens of thousands of displaced families.
“There were over 20 raids we have monitored by Russian jets stationed in Hmeimim air base,” said Abdullah Sawan, a volunteer plane spotter whose network covers the Russian air base in the western coastal province of Latakia…”
Egypt’s Parliament Approves Maritime Deal with Greece
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2455556/egypt%E2%80%99s-parliament-approves-maritime-deal-greece
“Egypt’s parliament on Tuesday approved a maritime deal setting the country’s Mediterranean Sea boundary with Greece and demarcating an exclusive economic zone for oil and gas drilling rights, the state-run news agency reported.
The deal, signed earlier this month, angered Turkey, which vowed to resume its disputed oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Egyptian-Greek move was widely seen as a response to a disputed agreement between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) that spiked tensions in the East Mediterranean region…”
Greece: EU Must Step up Response to Turkey’s ‘Aggression’
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2455621/greece-eu-must-step-response-turkeys-aggression
“The European Union must step up its response to Turkey’s escalating “aggression” in the eastern Mediterranean because it’s directed against the entire 27-member EU and not just some member nations, Greece’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias criticized Turkey’s deployment of warships to support a Turkish research vessel engaged in an “illegal” hydrocarbons search in waters where EU members Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights.
“The escalation of Turkey’s aggression is directed against the European Union and consequently, it follows that Europe’s response must also be stepped up in order to counter it,” Dendias said after talks with Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is expected to present to the foreign ministers of the bloc’s 27 member nations later this month a list of options for new possible sanctions against Turkey, he said.
The issue will again be taken up when the leaders of the seven Mediterranean countries in the EU meet in September and then at a full EU leaders’ summit.
Turkey’s actions are “an escalation and an unacceptable militarization” that “betray the dead-end nature of its own choices,” Dendias said.
Greece has deployed its own warships to the area between Cyprus and the island of Crete where Turkey restarted prospecting for oil and gas this month. The Greek and Turkish navies have been shadowing each other in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship for over a week.
Greece and Cyprus say Turkey’s moves breach international law and flout repeated EU and US calls to cease and desist. Turkey says it won’t stop defending its rights and those breakaway Turkish Cypriots to hydrocarbon deposits in the region.
Christodoulides said EU members agree that the unfolding developments in the eastern Mediterranean will determine the future of EU-Turkey relations. He renewed an EU-supported call to Ankara to negotiate a maritime border deal with the Cypriot government.
Turkey doesn’t recognize ethnically divided Cyprus as a state and claims 44% of the Mediterranean island nation’s exclusive economic zone as its own. Another sizable chunk of that zone is claimed by a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the island’s north that only Turkey recognizes.
Christodoulides said Cyprus supports a “carrot and stick” approach to the EU’s relations with Turkey, one in which cooperation is counterbalanced by “a substantive reaction” when EU principles are violated.
Both Dendias and Christodoulides underscored a willingness to open a dialogue with Turkey to serve the regional cooperation interests of all involved.
“We’re always in favor of dialogue, but dialogue can’t take place if it isn’t in line with international law, the law of the sea and good neighborly relations,” Dendias said.”