Reader’s Links for September 25, 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

117 Replies to “Reader’s Links for September 25, 2020”

  1. bloomberg -7 Things to Know About Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s Supreme Court Pick

    President Donald Trump has told associates he’ll nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could cement conservative control of the judiciary just weeks before Election Day.

    If confirmed by the Senate, Barrett, 48, would become the third justice appointed to the nine-member high court by Trump. An Indiana-based federal appeals court judge, Barrett is known to be a devout Catholic with fervent anti-abortion views.

    Trump plans to announce Barrett’s nomination at a White House ceremony on Saturday, though he could yet change his mind, the people cautioned. A bitter clash will follow in the Senate, where Republicans have vowed to use their majority to rapidly push through a confirmation vote before the Nov. 3 election.

    The people familiar with Trump’s decision asked not to be identified because he hasn’t announced it himself.

    The plan has angered Democrats, who have called Republicans hypocrites. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to consider Barack Obama’s nomination to fill a vacant seat in the 2016 election year, saying voters first deserved the chance to select the next president.

    McConnell says his precedent shouldn’t apply when the same party controls both the Senate and White House.

    There’s little Democrats can do to delay a vote on Barrett, an acolyte and former clerk for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who was once the high court’s conservative standard-bearer. And her appointment, which could solidify the court’s rightward shift for a generation, will undoubtedly play a dominant role in the final weeks of the presidential election.

    Democratic candidate Joe Biden has said the winner of the presidential contest should fill Ginsburg’s seat.

    Meanwhile, the White House has been preparing for the nomination fight. Officials are leaning against assigning a so-called “sherpa” for Barrett’s nomination — often a former senator who shepherds the nominee through the confirmation process, including private meetings with senators.

    Having managed two successful nominations already, senior White House officials feel they’re experienced enough that a sherpa won’t be necessary, according to two people familiar with internal deliberations.

    Aides believe White House Counsel Pat Cipollone can lean on Senate relationships built during Trump’s impeachment earlier this year and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is a former congressman who maintains friendships on the Hill.

    Former Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire was sherpa for Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, and former Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona served in the role for Brett Kavanaugh.

    • The ‘youngest’ justice. I love that. She will be there for a long time unless the ‘Mob’ gets her. I read that she was also very close to RBGinsburg. That would give Trump a way out if Dems try to contest her.

  2. from 3 days ago:
    Charlie Hebdo: French magazine’s head of HR ‘forced out of home’
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54251389
    Charlie Hebdo magazine’s head of HR has left her home because of “precise and detailed threats” to her security guards, French media report.
    Marika Bret said her guards, who have protected her for almost five years, received the threats on 14 September.
    She blamed “an unreal level of hatred around Charlie Hebdo”.
    The magazine was the target of a deadly terror attack in January 2015, in which 12 people were killed, after publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
    The attacks began a wave of jihadist strikes across France.
    Earlier this month the magazine republished the controversial cartoons, ahead of 14 people going on trial accused of assisting the two gunmen in that attack.
    [..]

  3. Two men are accused of ‘Netflix-worthy terror plot’ to bomb the White House and Trump Tower in support of ISIS
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8772611/Two-men-arrested-allegedly-planning-Netflix-worthy-terrorist-attack-Trump-Tower.html
    Kristopher Matthews from South Carolina allegedly begun plotting last year
    In April Jaylyn Molina from Texas joined in his chats on an encrypted network
    The pair allegedly planned a series of ISIS-inspired attacks on U.S. sites including the White House in Washington DC and Trump Tower in New York
    They were both arrested on Monday and charged with supporting terrorism
    [..]

  4. Pope Francis Attacks Personal Possession of Firearms in Message to United Nations
    https://www.newswars.com/pope-francis-attacks-personal-possession-of-firearms-in-message-to-united-nations/

    “Pope Francis assailed the personal possession of firearms in a statement to the United Nations on the organization’s 75th anniversary.

    In a statement published Friday lauding the agenda of the unelected global government, Francis bashed the “perverse logic” he claims links “possession of weaponry” to security.

    “We need to dismantle the perverse logic that links personal and national security to the possession of weaponry,” the Bishop of Rome tweeted. “This logic serves only to increase the profits of the arms industry, while fostering a climate of distrust and fear between persons and peoples.”

    The Pontiff’s anti-gun remarks fall in line with the United Nations’ agenda to eradicate personal firearm ownership throughout the globe, a goal symbolized by a “Knotted Gun” statue that sits in front of the UN’s New York City headquarters.

    Elsewhere in his address, Francis called on nations to forgive the debt of smaller poorer nations amid the coronavirus pandemic…”

  5. 124 illegal immigrants rescued off Libyan coast
    http://www.dailyfinland.fi/worldwide/18006/124-illegal-immigrants-rescued-off-Libyan-coast

    “The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that 124 illegal immigrants have been rescued off Libya’s western coast, reported Xinhua.

    “A total of 124 refugees and immigrants were intercepted or rescued yesterday (Thursday) by the Libyan Coast Guard aboard a rubber boat off Libya,” UNHCR said in a statement.

    “UNHCR and its medical partner, the International Rescue Committee, provided humanitarian assistance and medical care to survivors, who embarked from Al Khums (in western Libya). Survivors were from Mali, Ghana and Sudan,” it added.

    The UNHCR estimated that more than 8,300 migrants have been returned to Libya so far.

    Following the 2011 fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s government, Libya has been plagued by a state of insecurity and chaos that prompts thousands of illegal immigrants to attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea toward Europe.

    Many illegal immigrants, who were either rescued at sea or arrested by authorities, remain detained in overcrowded reception centers in Libya despite repeated international calls to close those centers.”

  6. Turkey jails Australia’s first Daesh bride
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200925-turkey-jails-australias-first-daesh-bride/

    “Australia’s first Daesh bride, Zehra Duman, who left Melbourne to join the terrorist group has been jailed in Turkey for three years after fleeing a Syrian refugee camp with her two young children, Daily Mail Australia reports.

    The 26-year-old was sentenced this week after being found guilty of recruiting brides to join Daesh and for disseminating the propaganda of the terrorist group on social media.

    Her four-year-old son and one-year-old daughter are being held at a child protection centre in the Turkish border province of Sanliurfa where they have been since 17 July, according to a document from the local Family Labour and Social Services Provincial Directorate.

    According to SBS News, Duman’s mother Ozlem Coskun, who lives in Melbourne, said her daughter had sent word to her in mid-2017 that she wanted to try to escape Syria and return to Australia.

    In 2019, Coskun pleaded for the Australian government to bring her daughter and two grandchildren back home, saying she would take care of the children…”

  7. Amnesty International: Haftar militia expels 5,000 refugees
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200925-amnesty-international-haftar-militia-expels-5000-refugees/

    “According to a report by Amnesty International, the militia of General Khalifa Haftar has forcibly expelled more than 5,000 refugees in 2020.

    This was detailed in a lengthy report supported by testimonies of Libyan migrants and refugees, one day after the European Commission (EC) announced a new pact to control illegal immigration into European countries.

    The London-based organisation stated in the report: “The eastern forces have forcibly expelled more than 5,000 refugees in 2020, without due legal process or the opportunity to challenge the deportation.”

    The organisation explained that Haftar’s forces justified the forced deportation by alleging that refugees carry contagious diseases. However, no details were given regarding the exact destination of the displaced individuals…”

  8. Chad says troops killed 20 Boko Haram fighters, freed hostages
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/10/385911/World/Africa/Chad-says-troops-killed–Boko-Haram-fighters,-free.aspx

    “Chadian soldiers killed 20 Boko Haram jihadists and freed 12 civilians, including nine children, kidnapped in the Lake Chad area where several countries’ borders meet, the government said Friday.

    The jihadist group, which originated in Nigeria in 2009, has established bases on islets dotting Lake Chad, a vast swampy expanse on the border between Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

    It has stepped up attacks in the area in recent months.

    On September 17, Boko Haram fighters raided a village in the restive zone and kidnapped the civilians, Communications Minister and government spokesman Cherif Mahamat Zene told AFP.

    The army pursued the raiders and attacked them on Thursday in Barkalam, near the Nigerian border, he said, “killing 15 terrorists” and “freeing 12 civilians.”

    A little later, there was another encounter at Bilabrim in which five Boko Haram fighters were killed and two Chadian soldiers were wounded.

    The Chadian army launched an offensive against Boko Haram in April after the deaths of some 100 soldiers in an attack by the group on one of its bases.

    President Idriss Deby then claimed to have pushed the jihadists out.

    But attacks have continued despite the military operation.

    In Chad’s Lake Province, more than 360,000 people have fled their homes to avoid attacks and also flooding, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

    The president admitted in early August that “Boko Haram would still do a lot of damage” in Chad.

    Boko Haram’s insurgency has killed more than 36,000 people and displaced more than two million from their homes.

    The violence has since spread to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.”

  9. Morocco’s Royal Navy Foils Dangerous Migration Attempts in Mediterranean
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/09/320791/moroccos-royal-navy-foils-dangerous-migration-attempts-in-mediterranean/

    “Morocco’s Royal Navy foiled several nighttime irregular migration attempts from September 21-24 in the Mediterranean.

    Patrols by coastguards from the Royal Navy enabled them to locate and assist 284 candidates for irregular migration, a military source told Morocco’s state media on Thursday.

    The migrants, mostly sub-Saharans, were aboard different inflatable boats and other means of sea transport, including inner tubes.

    Coastguards helped the individuals by transferring them to national ports across Morocco after they received the necessary health care.

    The source did not indicate if the would-be irregular migrants will face legal action…”

  10. India spreading Islamophobia, PM Imran tells UNGA
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2265561/india-spreading-islamophobia-pm-imran-tells-unga

    “Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday urged the United Nations to take the lead in preventing global conflicts as it remained the best legitimate avenue for collective action, managing international conflicts, fostering peace and security, promoting equitable development and addressing global problems.

    Addressing the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 75th session, Imran highlighted Pakistan’s efforts for peace in the region and beyond, successful handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, endeavours to root out the menace of money laundering, while simultaneously cautioning the world against the rising Islamophobia.

    In his address via a video link, Imran demanded justice for the Kashmiris and the Palestinians and warned against the increased threat of nuclear war, highlighted the threats posed to mankind due to climate change and the rise of authoritarian regimes, saying: “We must come together to prevent such a catastrophe.”

    The prime minister also spoke about the state-sponsored Islamophobia in India, saying the reason behind it “is the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] ideology that rules India today”. He said, “I want to make it clear that any attempt by the fascist totalitarian RSS-led Indian government to aggress against Pakistan will be met by a nation that will fight for its freedom to the end.”

    Describing Kashmir as a “nuclear flashpoint”, Imran made it clear that “there will be no durable peace and stability in South Asia until the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is resolved” on the basis of international legitimacy.

    Imran argued that the UN Security Council (UNSC) must prevent a disastrous conflict and secure the implementation of its own resolutions, as it did in the case of East Timor. The UNSC had considered the situation in Jammu and Kashmir three times in the past year, he said, adding that it must take appropriate enforcement actions and it must also take steps to protect the Kashmiris from an impending genocide by India.

    Imran said that Pakistan had always called for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute. To this end, he added, India must rescind the measures it had instituted since August 5, 2019, end its military siege and other gross human rights violations, and agree to “resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and, of course, the wishes of the people of Kashmir”.

    Emphasising that the brave Kashmiris would never submit to Indian occupation and oppression, Imran said that the government and the people of Pakistan were committed to standing by and supporting their Kashmiri brothers and sisters in the legitimate struggle for their right to self-determination.

    Imran urged the international community to investigate the grave human rights violations and prosecute the Indian civil and military personnel involved in state terrorism and serious crimes against humanity, being perpetrated with complete impunity.

    “The objective of this brutal campaign is to impose what the RSS-BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] regime has itself called the ‘Final Solution’ for Jammu and Kashmir,” he noted. “To this end, the military siege is being followed by moves to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory.”

    Imran told the general assembly that it was an attempt to obliterate the distinct Kashmiri identity in order to affect the outcome of a plebiscite envisaged in the Security Council resolutions. “This action is in violation of the UN Charter, council resolutions and international law, particularly the 4th Geneva Convention. Changing demographic structure of occupied territory is a war crime,” he said.

    For over 72 years, he highlighted, India had illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir against the wishes of the Kashmiri people, and in blatant violation of the resolutions of the Security Council and indeed its own commitments to the people of Kashmir.

    Urging the UN secretary general to take the lead in preventing global conflicts, Prime Minister Imran said that the secretary general should convene summit-level meetings to address regional hotspots and resolve outstanding disputes.

    “The United Nations should be made fully responsive to the challenges of our times. A comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council, is essential to promote greater democracy, accountability, transparency and efficiency,” he added.

    “According to respected Prof Noam Chomsky, mankind is at an even greater risk than it was before the first and second world wars in the last century and this is because of the increased threat of nuclear war, climate change, and sadly the rise of authoritarian regimes,” he said. He emphasised that the driving force in international relations must be cooperation.

    Islamophobia

    “The [coronavirus] pandemic was an opportunity to bring humanity together,” Imran said, but unfortunately, he added, it had instead fanned nationalism, increased global tensions, and given rise to racial and religious hatred and violence against vulnerable minorities in several places.

    “These trends have also accentuated ‘Islamophobia’. Muslims continue to be targeted with impunity in many countries. Our shrines are being destroyed; our Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) insulted; the Holy Quran burnt – and all this in the name of freedom of speech,” he said.

    “Incidents in Europe, including republication of blasphemous sketches by Charlie Hebdo, are recent examples,” he said, stressing that this wilful provocations and incitement to hate and violence must be outlawed universally.

    “This assembly should declare an ‘International Day to Combat Islamophobia’ and build a coalition to fight this scourge – scourge that splits humanity,” he demanded.

    RSS ideology

    In his speech, Imran said that India was the only country in the world today where state-sponsored Islamophobia prevailed because of its RSS ideology. “The secularism of [Mahatma] Gandhi and [Jawaharlal] Nehru has been replaced by the dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra by subjugating, even cleansing India’s 200 million Muslims and other minorities.”

    In 1992, the prime minister recalled, the RSS destroyed the Babri Mosque; in 2002, some 2,000 Muslims were slaughtered in Gujarat, and this was under the watch of Chief Minister [Narendra] Modi; and in 2007, over 50 Muslims were burnt alive by RSS arsonists aboard the Samjhota Express.

    In Assam, he maintained, around two million Muslims faced the prospects of being arbitrarily stripped of their nationality through the adoption of discriminatory laws, adding that there were reports of large concentration camps being filled with by Muslim Indian citizens.

    “Muslims were falsely blamed, vilified and victimised for spreading the coronavirus. They were denied medical attention on many occasions, their businesses were boycotted,” he said. “Cow vigilantes attack and kill Muslims with impunity.” Last February, he continued, Muslims faced targeted killings, with police complicity in New Delhi.

    The Hindutva ideology was to marginalise almost 300 million human beings – Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. “This is unprecedented in the history and this does not augur well for the future of India as we all know that marginalisation of human beings leads to their radicalisation,” he said.

    Peace in Afghanistan

    Imran said that Pakistan’s desire for peace in the region was a manifestation of its efforts to promote a political solution in Afghanistan. “I have consistently maintained over the past two decades that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan,” he said. “The only way forward was and is a political settlement which involves the full spectrum of Afghanistan’s political actors.”

    Pakistan fully facilitated the process that culminated in the US-Taliban peace agreement on February 29, 2020, he said.

    He added that Pakistan had fulfilled its part of the responsibility and now the Afghan leaders “must seize this historic opportunity” to achieve reconciliation and restore peace in their war-torn country.

    A festering wound

    Palestine remains a ‘festering wound’, Prime Minister Imran reminded the world. He said that a just and lasting settlement was indispensable, for the Middle East, and the whole world. He told the UNGA that the illegal annexations of the Palestinian territories, the building of illegal settlements and the imposition of inhuman living conditions on the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza, could not bring peace to a troubled region.

    “Pakistan continues to support a two-state solution in line with the UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. Within the internationally agreed parameters, they are; pre-1967 borders, and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of a united, contiguous and independent Palestinian state.”

    Covid pandemic

    On successfully flattening the Covid-19 curve in Pakistan, Imran told the international community that initially his government’s “smart lockdown” policy was heavily criticised, but the government not only managed to control the virus and stabilise the economy, but also protected the poorest segment of the society from the worst fallout of the lockdown.

    “In our interconnected world, no-one is safe unless everyone is safe,” he said, adding that locking down to control the pandemic triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression in the last century. “This has hit the poorest countries the hardest as well as the poor in all the countries.”

    “Today, Pakistan’s response is cited among the success stories in controlling and responding to the pandemic,” Imran said. “However, we are still not out of the woods, like no country is out of the woods today.”

    Global framework

    On the crisis emerging out of the pandemic, Imran described debt relief as one of the best ways to create fiscal space for developing countries.

    Reminding the UNGA of his ‘Global Initiative on Debt Relief’, he said, the IMF had estimated that developing countries would need over $2.5 trillion to respond and recover from the crisis. Therefore, he added, the official debt suspension would need to be extended and expanded.

    Calling for additional debt relief measures, he said, development banks should ensure adequate financial inflows and the rich countries which generated over $10 trillion to finance their own response and recovery, should support the creation of at least $500 billion in new Special Drawing Rights for the developing world.

    “If this phenomenon is unaddressed, it will continue to accentuate the inequality between the rich and the poor nations, and will eventually spark a far bigger global crisis than the present migration issue poses,” he warned.

    On the menace of money laundering, he said, the rich states cannot hold forth on human rights and justice when they provide sanctuary to money launderers and their looted wealth. He called upon the assembly to take the lead in efforts “to build a global framework to stem the illicit financial flows and ensure speedy repatriation of stolen wealth”.

    Climate Change

    Referring to the unprecedented fires in Australia, Siberia, California, Brazil and record flooding in various parts of the world; highest temperatures, even in the Arctic Circle, Imran reiterated that the threat posed to mankind due to climate change should “make us all worried for our future generations”.

    “Commitments made through the Paris Agreement must be fulfilled, in particular the commitment to mobilise $100 billion annually as climate finance,” he said. Pakistan’s contribution to carbon emissions is minimal, he said, but it is one of those countries most-affected by the climate change. Yet, he said: “We have decided to take the lead as we consider addressing climate change a universal responsibility.”

    At the outset, Imran highlighted his government’s efforts to fundamentally transform Pakistan into a ‘Naya Pakistan’, which is to be modelled on the principles of the State of Madina, established by our Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

    He said that he envisioned a just and humane society where all government policies were directed at lifting the citizens out of poverty and creating a just and equitable dispensation. “To achieve this goal, we need to have peace and stability,” he said. “Thus, our foreign policy aims to have peace with our neighbours and settle disputes through dialogue.”

    Meanwhile, the Indian delegate at the general assembly in New York, comprising a junior diplomat named Mijito Vinito, walked out of the hall when Prime Minister Imran started his speech, India’s Hindustan Times reported.”

  11. Man kills daughter-in-law for honour
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2265536/man-kills-daughter-in-law-for-honour

    “A woman was shot dead by her father-in-law for honour in a village near Sehwan, Jamshoro district, on Thursday.

    The suspect, Gulsher Channa later surrendered himself to the police along with the weapon used in the crime.

    Sehwan SHO Muhammad Ali Khaskheli said Channa killed his daughter-in-law, 24-years-old Faiza, because he suspected her of having an extramarital affair with a man who reportedly, escaped from the village to save his life. Faiza’s husband works in Saudi Arabia and she had an eight-month-old child.

    The dead body was shifted to Syed Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical Sciences for postmortem.

    The incident’s FIR has not been lodged so far. Police have detained three more family members of the suspect for interrogation.”

  12. Turkey’s US envoy slams WSJ editorial board’s op-ed
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/turkeys-us-envoy-slams-wsj-editorial-boards-op-ed/1986079

    “Turkey’s US envoy on Friday disputed allegations by the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board that Turkey and Greece could go to war because of a maritime dispute.

    Serdar Kilic said the narrative of the Sept. 10 article, “Showdown in the Mediterranean,” is covered with excruciating oversimplification and “the truth is far more complicated.”

    “Turkey is not the aggressor here, but the one constantly struggling against those who aim to disregard and undermine her natural rights,” Kilic wrote in an opinion piece in the newspaper, adding that Greece and Greek Cyprus’s actions in the Eastern Mediterranean should be taken into due account.

    He accused the two sides of declaring exclusive economic zones, issuing drilling licenses, attempting to seize revenue or forming multilateral initiatives in total disregard for Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots’ rights have led to prevailing tensions.

    “Attempts toward excluding Turkey, which has the longest coastline in the region, are ill-advised and unacceptable,” said Kilic and he vowed Turkey will firmly defend her legitimate sovereign rights in the region.

    The newspaper’s editorial board said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s confrontation with Greece because of maritime claims could be resolved through diplomacy.

    “The question is whether Mr. Erdogan wants to negotiate or simply assert Turkish power,” the board said. “Military conflict between Greece and Turkey remains an unlikely but real possibility.”

    Kilic said Turkey is not infringing on anyone else’s share and will not let anyone infringe on her legitimate fair share.

    “Regional peace and stability necessitate the international community (and the U.S.) to act impartially,” he said.

    Greece, with France’s support, has disputed Turkey’s energy exploration, trying to box in Turkish maritime territory based on small islands near the Turkish coast.

    Turkey has sent drill ships with a military escort to explore for energy on its continental shelf, saying that Ankara and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also have rights in the region.

    To reduce tensions, Turkey has called for dialogue to ensure fair sharing of the region’s resources.”

  13. Hungary is the least accepting of migrants after North Macedonia
    https://rmx.news/article/article/hungary-is-the-least-accepting-of-migrants-after-north-macedonia

    “Hungary comes in second place after North Macedonia as the least accepting country in the world for migrants, according to the second Migration Acceptance Index compiled by polling institute Gallup in 2019.

    The first index was compiled in 2016 and has shown that in three years global attitude toward migrants has sunk dramatically in some cases, the agency said in a recent press release.

    “Since Gallup’s first measure of people’s acceptance of migrants in 2016 and 2017, and the signing of the Global Compact on Migration in 2018, people’s acceptance of migrants has declined globally, and people are even further apart in some countries than they were before” the institute said. “These divides underscore the challenges that remain as the world, and the future of migration policy, both try to find their footing in the post-COVID-19-pandemic world.”

    The index – with migration acceptance measured on a scale of 1 to 10 where the higher the number the more accepting the nation – has declined to 5.21 from 5.34.

    Most of the decline was on account of Latin American countries – primarily among them Peru, Ecuador and Colombia – where the acceptance index has dropped more than two full points in the face of the huge wave of migrants from Venezuela, fleeing a collapsing nation.

    “Initially, many of the migrants and refugees were welcomed in these countries, but public sentiment started to turn against them as their economies, and their health, education and social assistance programs buckled under the strain,” Gallup said.

    The three countries least accepting of migrants in the world are North Macedonia, Hungary and Serbia.

    At the other end of the scale, the most accepting countries are Canada, Iceland and New Zealand, all with scores above eight, with the United States sixth with an index of 7.95.

    Gallup created the Migrant Acceptance Index in 2016, after the 2015 European migration crisis as a means to gauge public opinion on migration.”