Reader’s Links for September 18, 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

96 Replies to “Reader’s Links for September 18, 2020”

  1. To all my friends here at VTB,
    Shana Tova!
    May you all be inscribed for happiness and health in this Year 5781.
    As ever,
    Yucki, YankeeKafir

    • Happy Rosh Hashanah to you too.
      Many family and friends gather to wish in the New Year sweetened with honey and love.
      This anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.

  2. Kurdish Attack Kills Two Turkish Soldiers in Northern Iraq
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2514981/kurdish-attack-kills-two-turkish-soldiers-northern-iraq

    “Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another was wounded after Kurdish fighters fired rockets at a military base in northern Iraq, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

    Turkey has regularly attacked the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based.

    The ministry said “harassment fire” by rocket launchers on Thursday killed the two troops at one of Turkey’s bases in neighboring Iraq…”

  3. Turkey to Fight ‘Propaganda and Perception Operations’
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2515861/turkey-fight-propaganda-and-perception-operations

    “Turkey’s Presidency said on Friday it had formed a new department to fight attempts at “manipulation and disinformation” targeting the country.

    The unit’s tasks include strategic communications and crisis management during times of natural disaster, emergency and war, as well as identifying “psychological operations, propaganda and perception operations waged against Turkey”, it said.

    President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party, which has ruled Turkey for 18 years, frequently criticizes foreign media but has come under criticism for its treatment of journalists at home.

    The media watchdog International Press Institute said last year more than 120 journalists were being held in Turkey’s jails and the situation had not improved since the lifting of a two-year state of emergency following a failed 2016 coup.

    Hundreds of journalists had faced prosecution since the coup, mainly on terrorism-related charges, the IPI said.

    Many Turks have also been charged over social media posts insulting Erdogan or his ministers, or for criticism related to Turkey’s military operations in Syria and Iraq and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.”

  4. Proof Joe Biden’s Goal is to Destroy The Gun Industry – Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act

  5. Iraq calls on EU to remove from terrorist funding list
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200918-iraq-calls-on-eu-to-remove-from-terrorist-funding-list/

    “The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, yesterday renewed calls for the European Commission to remove the Gulf state from the list of high-risk third countries for money laundering and terrorist financing.

    According to a statement by the Foreign Ministry, the minister met with Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.

    The officials discussed the meetings of the Joint Commission for Human Rights and Democracy that were held days earlier.

    According to the statement, the Iraqi minister confirmed his country’s commitment to the principle of “respecting the sovereignty of countries and not interfering in their internal affairs”, and expressed at the same time “his categorical refusal that Iraq becomes a battlefield for competing parties or a starting point for attacking any other country.”

    The statement also pointed out that “the two sides discussed the issue of removing Iraq from the European Commission’s list of high-risk third countries for money laundering and terrorist financing.””

  6. Retired Military Leaders Endorse Trump – Cite Foreign and Domestic Threats

    As anonymous sources impugn President Trump’s views on the military, 235 retired generals and admirals have just publicly endorsed Trump as “the proven leader to confront” the dangers facing America at home and abroad. Amidst the ongoing violent riots and anti-police rage across the country, their emphasis on domestic threats to America is particularly significant.

    The sheer volume of former flag and general officers endorsing Trump makes the seventy-three former Republican national security officials who recently came out against President Trump, pale in comparison. It should also give pause to any Republicans who may have been swayed by those Never-Trumpers’ endorsement of Joe Biden.

    https://americanactionnews.com/military/2020/09/15/retired-military-leaders-endorse-trump-cite-foreign-and-domestic-threats-rs-pc/

  7. French MPs Leave Meeting Over Student Wearing Hijab, Stir Controversy
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/09/319276/french-mps-leave-meeting-over-student-wearing-hijab-stir-controversy/

    “Several French MPs left a parliament meeting on Thursday due to the participation of a woman wearing hijab, a Muslim headscarf.

    Maryam Pougetoux, who wore hijab, is a French student union leader and took part in a parliamentary inquiry to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on youth and children.

    The student was surprised to see several French lawmakers exiting the meeting and creating controversy on Thursday.

    “As a member of parliament who is a feminist and protector of women’s rights, committed to republican values and secularism, I cannot accept the participation of a person wearing a headscarf to our meeting,” politician and member of the French National Assembly Anne-Christine Lang wrote on Twitter.

    “A UNEF speaker interviewed by the National Assembly presented herself in a hijab,” MP from the French Republicans party Pierre-Henri Dumont wrote.

    He said that with a lack of reaction from the LREM president, he and other colleagues left the room to protest the “deliberate communitarian act.”

    LREM President Sandrine Morch emphasized that no rule prevents the student’s wearing of a religious symbol in the meeting, after which the MPs exited.

    Nadine Morano, a former minister from Sarkozy’s government, supported the move of protestation saying, “they were right. But she is the one who should have needed to leave the room.”

    Islamophobia intensified recently in France, especially surrounding the move earlier this month of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which decided to re-print deeply controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad…”

  8. Sahrawi NGO Decries Enslavement of Women in Algeria’s Tindouf Camps
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/09/319345/sahrawi-ngo-decries-enslavement-of-women-in-algerias-tindouf-camps/

    “At the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), a Sahrawi NGO called attention to the enslavement of women on Algerian soil, in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps.

    The Sahara Center for Studies and Research on Development and Human Rights shed light on the issue on Wednesday within the framework of a UNHRC discussion on slavery.

    The president of the NGO, Shaibata Mrabih Rabou, argued that women in the Tindouf camps suffer “serious violence and practices of slavery degrading their dignity,” according to Morocco’s state media.

    “Slavery has become a general and common phenomenon in these camps, according to many international human rights agencies,” he stressed.

    Various reports and testimonies, Rabou continued, have exposed that “women in these camps live in a kind of slavery and servitude, and pay exorbitant taxes while supporting, in silence, all forms of deprivation.”

    The mistreatment and abuse of women living in the Tindouf camps include “rape, forced childbirth, and detention against their will,” Rabou said.

    Some mothers have seen “their children deported at a young age without their consent, to other countries where they are subjected to brainwashing and ideological supervision contrary to their religion and their culture,” he continued.

    Despite UN resolutions and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women prohibiting these practices, “Algeria and the armed militias of the Polisario continue to denigrate the most basic rights of women in flagrant violation of international law.”

    The human rights expert appealed to the UNHRC and the international community “to put an end to the violations of women’s rights in these camps where the culture of impunity reigns.”…”

  9. Bank manager shot dead outside branch
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2264509/bank-manager-shot-dead-outside-branch

    “ISLAMABAD: The manager of a private bank’s branch, Syed Raza Naqvi, was killed by unidentified men at Koral Chowk on Thursday.

    Witnesses told Koral police that the assailants were following him and as he approached his office, two armed men riding a motorcycle came close and shot him point blank and fled.

    The victim was rushed to Pims where he succumbed to his injuries.

    IGP Aamir Zulfiqar has constituted two teams under the supervision of Operations DIG Waqaruddin Syed to probe the incident and arrest the culprits.”

  10. Turkish court remands 29 FETO terror suspects
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkish-court-remands-29-feto-terror-suspects/1978046

    “A Turkish court on Friday remanded in custody 29 people, including active-duty soldiers, over their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, according to a judicial source.

    The move came after 83 suspects were arrested in two separate operations carried out by police and gendarmerie forces, out of warrants for 97 suspects issued by Istanbul prosecutors, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

    The 29 suspects were remanded for being members of an armed terrorist group, while 29 other suspects were released under judicial control.

    A total of 51 suspects were released.

    Two other suspects were not arrested due to having contracted the novel coronavirus. Three of the suspects are still under arrest.

    The police continue the hunt for the remaining 12 suspects.

    FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

    Turkey also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.”

  11. Hungary and Czechia refuse to accept migrants from Moria but agree to donate aid
    https://rmx.news/article/article/hungary-and-czechia-refuse-to-accept-migrants-from-moria-but-agree-to-donate-aid

    “Czechia and Hungary are donating aid to the Moria migrant camp in Greece after a fire set by migrants destroyed almost the entire camp, leaving nearly 12,500 people temporarily homeless.

    Both countries indicate they are willing to help financially but will not take any migrants in, which has been consistent with the migration stance of both countries over the years. In June of this year, both countries signed a letter to the European Commission, along with five other European nations, rejecting further migrant quotas in the European Union.

    Czechia will give Greece almost €97,420 (2.6 million korunas) and Hungary will offer €60,000 to help with the destroyed Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesbos.

    Hungarian MEP Hidvéghi Balázs wrote on social media that Hungary would donate money where it is needed but indicated that these tragedies should never happen in the first place. The Hungarian government has urged more effective external border security of the European Union, arguing that it would prevent tragedies such as drowning incidents and disasters like the one at Moria, as it would disincentivize migrants from making the journey to Europe in the first place….”

  12. (Richard: This sets a very big cat among the pigeons, If Trump nominates a Conservative and the Republican Senate confirms that nomination it gives a 5 conservative, one waffling Justice and 3 liberal Justices. This would mean that the conservatives/constructionists can reverse a lot of the Judicial activism of the past and prevent it for the foreseeable future. The left is going to go crazy over the idea of Trump nominating another Justice and will turn even more violent. We already have Dems in the House talking about impeaching every Judge Trump has nominated if the Dems gain control of both houses of Congress.)

    Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg DEAD at 87

    Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died of metastatic pancreatic cancer the Associated Press is reporting.

    Ginsburg reportedly passed away from complications from pancreatic cancer.

    https://trumptrainnews.com/2020/09/18/supreme-court-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-dead-at-87/

  13. Trump says Wrays testimony on antifa bothered him

    President Donald Trump says he is bothered by FBI Director Chris Wray’s testimony this week that antifa is an ideology, not an organization.

  14. Moon of Alabama – New Documents Reveal Secret British Efforts To Arm, Assist And Propagandize ‘Moderate Rebels’ In Syria

    In November 2018 some anonymous people published a number of documents that had been liberated from a clandestine British propaganda organization, the Integrity Initiative.

    The same group or person who revealed the Integrity Initiative papers has now released several dozens of documents about another ‘Strategic Communication’ campaign run by the British Foreign Office.

    The current release reveals a number of train and assist missions for ‘Syrian rebels’ as well as propaganda operations run in Syria and globally on behalf of the British government.

    […]newly released documents about British operations in Syria are accessible under:

    freenet(dot)space/read-blog/275_op-hmg-trojan-horse-from-integrity-initiative-to-covert-ops-around-the-globe-par(dot)html

    freenet(dot)space/read-blog/276_op-hmg-trojan-horse-from-integrity-initiative-to-covert-ops-around-the-globe-par(dot)html

    They reveal what an immense effort was and is waged to fill the information space with pro-rebel/pro-Islamist propaganda.

    The documents are not about the ‘White Helmets’ which were a separate British run Strategic Communication campaign financed by various governments.

    While the operations described in the new documents were coordinated with U.S. efforts they do not reference the CIA run campaigns in Syria which included similar efforts at a cost of $1 billion per year.

    www(dot)moonofalabama(dot)org/2020/09/new-documents-reveal-secret-british-efforts-to-arm-assist-and-propagandize-moderate-rebels-in-syria(dot)html

    • NBC News – Pentagon sending troops to Syria after clashes between U.S., Russian military

      The troops are meant to discourage Russians from crossing into the eastern area where U.S., coalition, and Syrian Democratic Forces operate, say officials.

      WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is deploying a small number of U.S. troops to Syria after a series of escalating encounters between the U.S. and Russian militaries, according to three U.S. defense officials.

      The troops and vehicles will serve as a show of presence to discourage the Russian military from crossing into the eastern security area where U.S., coalition, and Syrian Democratic Forces operate, the officials said.

      The additional troops will include six Bradley Fighting Vehicles and fewer than 100 soldiers operating in northeast Syria on a 90-day deployment.

      A U.S. official said, “These actions and reinforcements are a clear signal to Russia to adhere to mutual de-confliction processes and for Russia and other parties to avoid unprofessional, unsafe and provocative actions in northeast Syria.”

      While U.S. military and Russian forces have come in contact at checkpoints and along highway M4 in Syria throughout 2020, on Aug. 17 U.S. and Syrian Democratic Forces came under small arms fire after passing through a checkpoint near Tal al-Zahab, Syria. The U.S. and SDF had permission from the pro-Syrian regime forces manning the checkpoint, but then began to take fire from unidentified forces nearby. The U.S. and SDF returned fire and did not suffer any casualties. U.S. officials said the small arms fire likely came from Syrian and Russian forces.

      The most serious incident this year occurred several days later, when seven U.S. soldiers were injured when Russia military vehicles sideswiped a U.S. military vehicle in northeast Syria. Three U.S. officials said the Russian vehicles intentionally collided with the Americans and then several Russian helicopters flew low and fast over the scene, which one official said was “extremely provocative.” The Russian vehicles were outside of their agreed-upon operating area without notice, the officials said.

      U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Bill Urban characterized their actions as “deliberately provocative and aggressive.”

      In an exclusive interview with NBC News, the commander of U.S. Central Command decried the Russian misbehavior and lack of professionalism on the ground, saying it “got us into a dangerous situation where a Russian ground patrol actually came into the eastern Syria security area, an area they were not authorized to be in.”

      “We’re very lucky that our guys on the ground were able to keep that from turning into a larger incident,” said Gen. Frank McKenzie. “That was a concerning moment. And had it gone another way, we might have been in trouble there and they might have been in trouble, too.”

      The encounter was the most provocative between the U.S. and Russia in Syria since February 2018, when hundreds of heavily-armed Russian private military contractors, equipped with tanks and artillery, attacked joint an area where both U.S. and Syrian Democratic Forces were operating. The U.S. flew in AC-130 gunships and other attack aircraft to stop the assault, killing as many as 300 of the Russian mercenaries, all believed to be working for the Wagner Group, a private Russian military contractor.

      McKenzie said the U.S. continues to conduct security patrols with the SDF but the Syrian partners are actually carrying out the majority of the tactical operations and actual fighting. “Those patrols are always conducted with out SDF partners. You’ll never see a U.S. element out there moving alone, it will always have SDF affiliated with it when they move.”

      “The op tempo is pretty high up there and they’re pretty active,” he said.

      The decision to add more troops to Syria comes after the Trump administration announced it would withdraw nearly half of the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming weeks. The U.S. will drawdown from about 5,200 in Iraq to about 3,000 by the end of September, and from 8,600 in Afghanistan to about 4,500 by the November election.

      “We constantly evaluate and re-evaluate the tactical position and we make adjustments to posture designed to give the troops on the ground what they need to be better protected as they carry out their mission,” McKenzie said. “Therefore, our forces in Syria, we believe that we give them what they need to execute the missions that they’ve got and we pay keen attention to force protection as they do that.”

      https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/pentagon-sending-troops-syria-after-clashes-between-u-s-russian-n1240319