Reader’s Links for October 13, 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

101 Replies to “Reader’s Links for October 13, 2020”

    • Erdogan is pushing the question is how long will it take for Putin to push back and how hard will he push?

      Then will NATO back Erdogan, I doubt it but given the number of Turks and other Moslems in Europe they may decide to provide some help.

      Then what will Trump do, we know that Biden or Harris would set and dither for a long time before they went against either Putin or Erdogan. Given the amount of time until the election both Putin and Erodgan are probably waiting to see how the election goes and if there is much chaos after the voting and during the counting.

      • Putin doesn’t care all that much for Armenia or Armenians. He boosts himself on the cheap by hosting futile “peace” talks. He’s been “mediating” for years now in Syria; it’s the statesman image he likes.

        This isn’t a NATO issue.
        It's global - Egypt and India aren't NATO either, but they're in this too.
        The EU expresses diplomatic displeasure, maybe they’ll escort a ship or two along the Greek coast.

        The filthy Turk flying off in so many directions isn’t pursuing a strategy for military success. Every other week it’s the circuit of Libya, Greece, Jerusalem, Kurds, Pakis, now Azeris.

        He continues to hype a fanatic base that’s increasingly global. He’s got massive media reach on his own, plus Qatar’s huge in-house vehicles, and MB allies everywhere. Not the least of which include the WaPo, CNN, NYT, BBC. Big time allies in the Pentagon, Congress, and within the Brennan-faction of the intelligence community.

        Messy, frozen conflicts. The global hegemon has declared itself OUT of the endless war business. The filthy Turk is an opportunistic bully taking advantage of the strange, new world disorder. It’s a heady trip.

  1. Swedes Scoff at Stats that Murders in Europe Have Been ‘Steadily Declining Since the 15th Century’ (sputniknews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202010131080754334-swedes-scoff-at-stats-that-murders-in-europe-have-been-steadily-declining-since-the-15th-century/

    “A recent National Security Survey by the Crime Prevention Council (Brå) reported that a record number of Swedes have been exposed to crimes such as threats, assault, and robbery. Perceived insecurity in the Scandinavian country has also reached record levels.

    A feature by Swedish national broadcaster SVT about recent research which contends that the prevalence of of murder has been falling steadily since the 15th century, has triggered a strong reaction among Swedes amid what many perceive to be a wave of violent crime.

    Citing research by Cambridge professor Manuel Eisner, SVT stated that the risk of being murdered in Europe has fallen sharply over the past centuries, suggesting that today’s people live in “one of the most peaceful periods ever”.

    According to criminology professor Manuel Eisner, Europe used to be a much more dangerous place in the past. Eisner has mapped European homicide statistics from the 13th to the 21st century, a job that took him ten years to compile. By his own admission, he went through court records, prison records and cash registers.

    “Every hundred years, the murder rate was halved,” Eisner told SVT. He attributed this dynamic to the more pronounced role of the state, increased literacy and better self-control.

    However, many questioned the relevance of the research and interpreted the findings as an attempt to relativise violence in today’s society.

    “A desperate attempt to relativize the violence that has escalated over the past 10 years. Well done”, one reader commented.

    “800 years ago, didn’t they die of major infections? Any assault could be fatal due to non-existent medical care. But it is clear, the purpose is to show that the recent years’ explosion of violence in Sweden is really just business as usual, so it does not matter,” another one tweeted.

    ?“It is really 1984 re-enacted in today’s Sweden. Jesus!” another one mused.

    ?“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics,” another one said, quoting a saying popularised by Mark Twain and attributed to British PM Benjamin Disraeli.

    Many called it “political propaganda” and “East German TV” and some wryly pointed out that the number of dinosaurs has also decreased, compared with 65 million years ago.

    However, others argued that the research held water, attributing the progress to “the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and – of course – capitalism & the liberal democratic society, which brought about economic prosperity surpassing everything seen before”.

    One of the reasons the feature sparked such strong reactions was a recent National Security Survey by the Crime Prevention Council (Brå) that reported a record number of Swedes who have been exposed to crimes such as threats, assault, and robbery.

    Some 9.2 percent of the respondents admitted to having been exposed to threats sometime in 2019, 3.6 percent stated that they had been subjected to assault, and 1.5 percent to robbery. These are the highest figures on record in Sweden.

    The survey also recorded an increase in perceived insecurity, with men mostly worried about being robbed and women worried about sexual assault. Overall, the proportion of those who are concerned about crime in society has increased to nearly half of the population at 47 percent, another record high.”

    • Professor: 2019 Worst Year for Homicides in France in Recent History (breitbart, Sep 1, 2020)
      https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/09/01/professor-2019-worst-year-homicides-france-recent-history/

      “French professor of Criminology Alain Bauer has claimed that 2019 has been the worst year for homicides and attempted homicides in recent French history.

      Bauer, who serves as a professor of Criminology at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, said that France has seen a surge in the homicide rate in the last decade compared to a steady decline from the previous 500 years.

      “The only reliable indicator since 1539 (and the creation of the civil registry by the ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts) is homicide mortality. It shows a collapse of homicide violence for five centuries… and a strong recovery over the past decade,” he told Le Parisien.

      “2019 was the worst year in terms of homicides, attempts (which are just failed homicides), wilful assault resulting in death, and settling scores, in France’s recent history,” Bauer added.

      Professor Bauer claimed that the rising levels of violence in France, particularly gang violence, come as the state has eroded its own ability to combat it.

      “Ten years ago, criminal organisations were afraid of security services’ power in France. Today, they dare to challenge it. But this crumbling is not the most worrying,” he said and added: “It is the inability to deal with ordinary, daily, and repetitive violence.”

      “The interconnection between high-level and low-level violence is taking place and risks tipping the country into an unprecedented violent process, including through a citizens’ revolt to compensate for the withdrawal of the state” in peacekeeping measures, he said.

      So-called “vulnerable neighbourhoods” across France have seen violence and rioting since the start of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Police have even allegedly told some residents to sort out their own problems or move house.

      When asked his greatest fears for the future, Bauer explained: “On the one hand, community militias to protect neighbourhoods, businesses; and on the other hand, attempts by drug traffickers or religious separatists to seize territories. Territorial recapture requires a return of trust between the state and citizens.”

      “From the Yellow Vests to the refusal to comply with the wearing of masks, attacks on firefighters, doctors, nurses, local elected officials, etc, we can see how the social relationship has deteriorated. Violence becomes a normal part of life, due to the lack of recognised institutions people can trust,” he added.”

  2. Germany Warns Ankara Against ‘Provocation’ in East Med as Turkish Survey Ship Sets Sail (sputniknews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202010131080754505-germany-warns-ankara-against-provocation-in-east-med-as-turkish-survey-ship-sets-sail/

    “German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Turkey to refrain from “provocation” in the eastern Mediterranean, while signalling support for Cyprus and Greece in the gas drilling dispute, according to his Thursday comments, quoted by Reuters.

    “Ankara must end the interplay between detente and provocation if the government is interested in talks – as it has repeatedly affirmed,” Maas said shortly before boarding a plane heading to Cyprus and Greece.

    The official called on Turkey to refrain from resuming gas exploration in territory to which Greece claims exclusive economic rights and remain open to negotiations…”

  3. Armenia Launches Criminal Case Over Azerbaijan’s Alleged Use of Mercenaries in Karabakh Conflict (sputniknews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202010131080754915-armenia-launches-criminal-case-over-azerbaijans-alleged-use-of-mercenaries-in-karabakh-conflict/

    “A criminal case into acts of international terrorism has been launched by Armenian prosecutors over the alleged presence of foreign mercenaries in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Tuesday.

    “Based on the information about the recruitment and use of foreign mercenaries by Azerbaijan since the first days of the aggressive war, the Armenian central military prosecutor’s office has launched a criminal case into international terrorism,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a press release.

    Azerbaijan has “forced the mercenaries to continue the military action against the Republic of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] in the Horadiz area amid the declared ceasefire,” the press release stated.

    The Armenian prosecutor’s office also said it has information the mercenaries partook in the attacks on the Hadrut city as a result of which “houses were burnt, civilian people were brutally killed and servicemen of the Artsakh Defence Army died.”

    “As defined by international legal acts, the entire toolkit of cooperation and mutual legal assistance with states concerned is currently being used to fully solve this crime and bring those responsible to justice,” the press release read.

    The fighting on the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh started on September 27. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been accusing each other of starting the firing, as civilian settlements in the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic came under heavy artillery fire…”

    • ‘Turkey is the one that brought Muslim militants and terrorists into Azerbaijan’ – Sarkissian

      In an exclusive interview, RT speaks with Armenian President Armen Sarkissian to discuss the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, alleged involvement of Turkish ‘proxies’, and other related subjects.

    • Over 600 Turkish and Israeli rocket-propelled grenades found in Stepanakert – Armenian gov.

      Munitions were spotted stuck in the streets of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region’s capital city of Stepanakert on Monday, as the Armenian government reported about hundreds of safely disposed of munitions.

      The sapper groups of the Nagorno-Karabakh EMERCOM department have found 673 Turkish and Israeli rocket-propelled grenades in Stepanakert alone, the Monday report of the Armenian government’s unified information centre says.

      “The sappers transported the unexploded ordnance outside the capital for safe disposal,” it adds. Nevertheless, a number of rockets still can be seen on the roads and on the balconies amid the ceasefire.

      Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a Russian-brokered ceasefire from midday (local time; 08:00 GMT) on October 10, and plan to start negotiations over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

      On Sunday Armenian Foreign Ministry accused Baku of “shelling the city of Stepanakert and other civilian settlements” and violating the ceasefire agreement.

      Azeri President Ilham Aliev in turn stated it was Yerevan who “blatantly violated the ceasefire regime and launched a missile attack on innocent residents in the city of Ganja.”

      Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh disputed region broke out on September 27 when sides of the conflict exchanged fire. It’s been the heaviest clashes in the region since the 1994 ceasefire, with both sides blaming each other for the escalation amid rising casualty figures.

    • BBC – Nagorno-Karabakh: Civilians and churches under fire –

      Half the population of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh have been displaced by fighting.

      On both sides of the conflict, Armenian and Azeri civilians have been killed.

      Within hours of a temporary truce agreed in Moscow, fresh shelling was reported by both Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.

      This is not a religious war, but many Armenians are sheltering in churches and fear they may be shelled.

    • Israeli Drones in the Skies Over Nagorno Karabakh

      The “All Seeing Eye” from Above

      We are waiting for permission to go to the frontline.

      An artillery battle is underway. They strike from both sides for several hours almost non-stop.

      In this war too, the artillery was the main weapon. And the enemy is looking everywhere for their locations to strike. Our positions are also constantly on the move. I sit in the car and wait. I try to describe the sound of the drone, but I can’t.

      For seven days I’ve heard the drone’s sound in different settlements of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, in different parts of the line of contact. But now I try to describe the sound of the drone sitting in the car, but it does not work. It is a bit like a bee buzzing, but it is an intelligence gatherer. It cares about nothing. It has nothing to lose. It respects no rules. It destroys the chosen target at the cost of its own life.

      The “eye” looking down from above, the drone, sees everything on the ground, draws all the details and transmits them to the control center. This data is then analyzed, becoming tactical coordinates.

      In a southern stretch, near our positions, such a drone was hovering above us. We could all see. It was as if it was standing still and buzzing. It was calm, probably observing that there were no suitable weapons below to hit him. A group of volunteers started firing at the drone. It tilted slightly to one side and began to rise, then became invisible, but the sound was audible. There were two main players in this war in the first week: their drones and our artillery.

      Israel and Turkey are the main suppliers of drones to Azerbaijan. One of the details of an Israeli drone shot down in the territory of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic reads “Made in Germany” (see photo).

      I urge my German counterparts to investigate how German-made parts, falling into the hands of Israeli private companies, have been used as deadly “kamikazes” to destroy civilian settlements and kill civilians.

      Everyone is talking about Israeli drones here – the military, civilians. In the towns people know that after drones appear in the sky, they start shelling and rocketing these places with different weapons.

      Buildings and infrastructure were destroyed in Stepanakert, Hadrut and Shushi. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces started using Israeli drones against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in 2016, during the April attack.

      “As a result of preventive measures taken by the Defense Army, twenty unmanned aerial vehicles were shut down from April 2 to April 30, 2016,” NKR Defense Army spokesman Senor Hasratyan wrote on his Facebook page in June.

      “We first shot down an Israeli drone in 2011. Over the past ten months, our armed forces have shot down three Israeli-made drones, two of which are Orbiter-3s and the last hit is an Orbiter-4,” the NKR Defense Minister Jalal Harutyunyan said in an interview with Hetq in August. Jalal Harutyunyan.

      On September 27, the Azerbaijani army launched a large-scale offensive using Israeli “kamikazes.”

      To date, Armenia has not officially sent any protest note to Israel in this regard.

      But on October 1, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan said that given the supply of weapons from Israel to Azerbaijan, Armenia had decided to recall Armenia’s Ambassador to Israel Armen Smbatyan for consultations.

      Smbatyan was appointed Armenia’s Ambassador to Israel in 2018. The Armenian Embassy in Tel Aviv started functioning at the end of this summer (before that the embassy was housed in Yerevan).

      The embassy was officially supposed to open at the beginning of this year, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus epidemic and has not happened yet.

      https://hetq.am/en/article/122697

      ====================================================

      Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Israel under diplomatic fire over arms to Azerbaijan

    • Azerbaijan using Israeli “kamikaze drones” in Nagorno-Karabakh clashes

      […]60% of Azerbaijan’s arms procurement comes from Israel, while a large portion of Israel’s oil supply comes from Azerbaijan.

      Over the last several days an “air train” of cargo planes affiliated with the Azeri ministry of defense departed for Israel. According to flight radar apps, the cargo planes stopped at Ovda airbase in souther Israel before departing for Azerbaijan.

      […]The Haro drones, nicknamed “kamikaze” as the drone is itself a munition rather than carrying armed explosives, are manufactured by Israel’s state owned Israel Aerospace Industries ( IAI).

      […]

      https://www.globaldefensecorp.com/2020/10/13/azerbaijan-using-israeli-kamikaze-drones-in-nagorno-karabakh-clashes/

      ===================================================
      Armen Sarkissian on RT

      FULL interview in English

      ( 40 min 14 )

  4. Uber driver terrorist who attacked Buckingham Palace police with 42-inch sword and plotted gay Pride attack received £300,000 in legal aid (dailymail, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8834299/Uber-driver-terrorist-300-000-legal-aid.html

    “An extremist who planned to massacre victims in terror attacks across London benefited from nearly £300,000 in legal aid, it has emerged today.

    Mohiussunnath Chowdhury hatched plots to target popular attractions, including Madame Tussauds, the Pride parade and an open-top sightseeing bus.

    In December 2018, Chowdhury was released from prison after being found not guilty of attacking police officers with a Samurai sword outside Buckingham Palace in 2017.

    But just months after he was released from custody, he was arrested three days before the Pride parade in summer 2019 after he unknowingly revealed his jihadist plans to undercover police officers.

    In February this year the 29-year-old, who was said to be driven by ‘dreams of martyrdom’, was convicted of planning terror attacks and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years in July.

    Chowdhury also dismissed his praise of the Charlie Hebdo shootings and the murder of soldier Lee Rigby as ‘jihadi banter’.

    In August 2017, Chowdhury drove towards Buckingham Palace before slashing two unarmed officers with a sword while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’.

    He was cleared of terrorism offences in December 2018 after he claimed he was depressed and wanted police to kill him.

    In January 2019, when he posted disturbing messages online and bought an imitation Glock firearm, counter terrorism police, with the assistance of the security services, began investigating him.

    The former Uber driver from Luton was convicted in February and jailed for life in July.

    He was also sentenced to three years for sharing an ISIS propaganda video and seven years for possessing a knife attack terror manual.

    His sentences will run concurrently – meaning he will serve a total of at least 25 years.

    It has since emerged that Chowdhury benefited from £284,125 in legal aid between 2017 and 2020.

    Some £165,217 of this was paid in solicitors’ fees and the remaining £118,907 paid for a barrister, according to figures obtained from the Ministry of Justice’s Legal Aid Agency.

    Legal aid can help meet the costs of legal advice, family mediation and representation in a court or tribunal.

    Legal Aid Agency notes that without legal representation defendants could argue their trial was unfair and convictions could be quashed…”

  5. Labour MP Declares Free Speech Does Not Include Freedom to ‘Generally Offend’ (breitbart, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/13/labour-mp-declares-free-speech-does-not-include-freedom-generally-offend/

    “Labour’s shadow government minister for legal aid, Karl Turner MP, has said that freedom of speech does not include the freedom to “generally offend.”

    Turner, a self-proclaimed “#LeftyLawyer”, issued his remarkable statement in response to Brexit campaigner turned conservative commentator Darren Grimes defending himself against London police investigating him over an interview in which one of his guests said something offensive.

    “Freedom of speech Darren doesn’t afford people the freedom to make racist remarks or generally offend,” the politician declared in a now-deleted tweet, adding: “I shall say nothing further given that you say [the Metropolitan Police] are investigating a complaint.”

    The backlash against the lawyer MP was swift and extensive, ranging from members of the public to Members of Parliament.

    “Freedom of speech *precisely* involves the freedom to offend. This is the whole point, from Charlie Hebdo to Voltaire to Rushdie,” responded Simon Clarke, the Conservative MP for Middlesborough South and East Cleveland.

    “Of course everyone has the right to freedom of expression, Simon. But that doesn’t mean freedom from the consequences from what they have said,” Turner shot back — somewhat alarmingly, given the context of Clarke’s reference to the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

    “As I understand it, the Police are investigating complaints. And it is right that they should investigate racist behaviour,” Turner insisted.

    The Labour MP spent much of the day issuing similar, effectively copy-and-pasting similar responses to multiple accounts, as more and more people including the (in)famously forthright Ricky Gervais weighed in on the controversy — but had little success.

    “My great-grandfather had the right to freedom of expression. That he was shot by the government for using it is neither her[e] nor there, apparently,” remarked college lecturer Yuan Yi Zhu acidly, in response to Turner’s claim that freedom of expression “doesn’t mean freedom from the consequences” of exercising it.

    The Labour MP did seem to row back on his original position somewhat after deleting his original tweet: “With Freedom of Speech comes the right to be offensive,” he conceded.

    “But it DOES NOT bring with it the right to commit criminal offences,” he added — rendering his concession meaningless if not nonsensical, given the alleged “criminal offences” in question involve broadcasting illegal speech.

    It is also questionable whether freedom of speech in Britain, such as it is in Britain, really does include “the right to be offensive”, given people such as YouTube comic Markus ‘Count Dankula’ Meechan have indeed been convicted for causing “gross offence”.”

  6. Restaurant Removes ‘Racist’ Xi Jinping ‘Bat Man’ Art After Woke Backlash (breitbart, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/13/restaurant-removes-racist-xi-jinping-bat-man-art/

    “A portrait of Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping cast as ‘BAT MAN’ has been removed from a Swedish restaurant after users on social media complained that the satirical jab at Xi’s role in the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus was racist…”

  7. Leftist Politician Claims Swedish City Govt Too White (breitbart, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/13/leftist-politician-claims-swedish-city-govt-too-white/

    “A municipal politician for the Left Party in the Swedish city of Umeå has claimed the local city council is too white due to restrictions put in place during the coronavirus pandemic.

    “I walked into a room that before the pandemic used to contain a broader representation, but which was now completely white,” Left Party politician Nasteho Osman Lander said of an August 31st meeting she attended.

    According to Osman Lander, the number of participating members in the council had been reduced to 35 in order to help prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. However, parties were still free to choose who participates in the gatherings, Nyheter Idag reports.

    “It is in the interests of those in power to strengthen the structures that consolidate the place of white (mainly) men in the hierarchy,” Osman Lander said.

    “There are no words that can describe the feeling that filled my heart, but grief may do. I will not stand by when racism is taking more and more space in our democratic spaces. I will take up the debate, safeguard the equal value of all people, and my right to life,” she added.

    In recent years, Sweden has seen a sizable shift in demographics with mass migration driving population growth in the country. At least 20 per cent of Sweden’s residents, two million people, are said to have been born abroad.

    Due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak this year, Sweden saw the lowest population growth in 15 years as many countries have put in place travel restrictions.

    Nasteho Osman Lander’s comments also come after the European Union has criticised its institutions for being “too white”.

    A European Commission report from this month stated that while ethnic minorities make up around ten per cent of the population in EU member states, they do not constitute ten per cent of the staff of the European institutions.

    The European Commission vowed to investigate the matter and set possible ethnic quotas for future hiring.”

  8. German population slightly lower as virus hits immigration (abcnews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-population-slightly-lower-virus-hits-immigration-73581188

    “Germany’s population has contracted slightly for the first time in nearly a decade because immigration shrank as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, official data showed Tuesday.

    Some 83.1 million people lived in Germany at the end of June, with the population declining by 40,000, or 0.05%, in the year’s first half, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

    The last decline was in the second half of 2010. Since then, the population had increased steadily — most sharply in the second half of 2015, when the influx of migrants to Europe caused an increase of 717,000 people.

    The statistics office pointed to a sharp decline in net immigration starting in March, when the pandemic hit Europe, and lasting through May — a period that accounted for a population decline of 59,000. Most countries shut down public life and many, including Germany, largely shut their borders. In June, the country’s population grew by 4,000, still much lower than the 14,000 seen a year earlier.

    Preliminary figures showed net immigration of 74,000 in the year’s first half, compared with 167,000 a year earlier. The number of deaths was 112,000 higher than the number of births, with the difference widening from 105,000 a year earlier.

    The statistics office said delayed registration of new arrivals and departures because of office shutdowns may also play a part in the figures.”

  9. US forces hit Taliban with airstrikes in Helmand province (abcnews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-forces-hit-taliban-air-strikes-helmand-73564504

    “American forces carried out several airstrikes in support of Afghan security forces under attack by the Taliban in southern Helmand province, a spokesperson for the U.S. military in Afghanistan said Monday.

    Col. Sonny Leggett said the recent Taliban attacks in Helmand are “not consistent” with a U.S.-Taliban deal signed in February and undermine ongoing intra-Afghan peace talks. He said the airstrikes do not violate the February deal.

    The Taliban “need to immediately stop their offensive actions in Helmand Province and reduce their violence around the country,” Leggett said in a statement on Twitter, quoting Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

    Leggett said that U.S. forces have and will continue to provide support in defense of Afghan national security forces under attack by the Taliban.

    The announcement of U.S. strikes came after a gunbattle on Monday was reported in and around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.

    Witnesses reported sporadic shooting in the city and said some residents fled from the districts of Nad Ali and Nawa because of the fighting.

    Omer Zwak, spokesperson for the provincial governor in Helmand, said Taliban fighters had started their coordinated attacks in different parts of the province over the past week and that these had intensified over the weekend.

    “The Taliban have destroyed several bridges over the main highway, so the highway is closed right now and no one can travel,” said Zwak.

    Representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban are holding intra-Afghan negotiations in Qatar, a Gulf country where the Taliban have had a political office for many years. The negotiations are meant to end the country’s decades-long war.”

  10. Reported death toll in Armenia-Azerbaijan clashes about 600 (abcnews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/reported-death-toll-armenia-azerbaijan-clashes-600-73582930

    “The reported death toll in clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has reached about 600, with officials reporting more military and civilian deaths as the fighting continues despite a cease-fire announced over the weekend.

    Nagorno-Karabakh military officials said Tuesday that 16 more of their servicemen have been killed in fighting, bringinhe total number of dead among military members to 532 since Sept. 27, when the fighting started. Azerbaijan hasn’t disclosed its military losses, and the overall toll is likely to be much higher with both sides regularly claiming to have inflicted significant military casualties on one another.

    Azerbaijani authorities said 42 civilians have been killed on their side in over two weeks. Nagorno-Karabakh human rights ombudsman Artak Beglaryan late Monday reported at least 31 civilian deaths in the breakaway region. Hundreds more have been wounded.

    The recent fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces broke out on Sept. 27. More than two weeks of deadly clashes marked the biggest escalation of a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

    Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of attacks amid appeals from the around the globe to end the hostilities and start peace talks.

    Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers signed a cease-fire deal last week. The truce that took effect Saturday was brokered by Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia. But Moscow also has cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan and seeks to mediate in the conflict.

    The truce, however, has been immediately challenged with both Armenia and Azerbaijan accusing each other of continued attacks in violation of the agreement.

    On Tuesday, Azerbaijani officials have once again accused Armenian forces of shelling some of its regions, and Nagorno-Karabakh officials said Azerbaijan launched “large-scale military operations” along the front line.

    Russia and the European Union have urged both sides to observe the cease-fire.”

    • Around 50 minutes Brad is talking about 30 containers of small arms ammo that has been traced back to the Chinese and was supposedly prestationed for antifa to use in case Trump wins.

      As Brad says this fits with what antifa has been doing.

      It also fits the urban guerilla plan that antifa is following.

      China would want violence and chaos in the US to give them a free hand in the India, South China Sea and Indian Ocean region. Erodgan and Putin would want it because it gives them a free hand in the Middle East. I think Putin is smart enough to cover his tracks if he is involved in furnishing weapons and ammo to antifa. Erdogan is so arrogant he might not even try to cover his tracks and Xi thinks he has the whip hand on the world, or wants us to think he does.

      • Putin is also very, very budget-conscious.
        But he does spend lavishly on media. Lots and lots of people all over the world are watching the US riots through saturation, Russian-sponsored coverage. They’re not getting it through CNN, that’s for sure.

  11. the conservativew tree house – CBS Obtains 94-Page Outline Showing FBI and Chris Steele Collaborative Use of Media Reporting…

    CBS News Catherine Herridge has obtained a 94-page spread sheet (pdf here) showing dates of media reports, dates of Steele reports on the same material, and the FBI effort to verify or validate the circular process. In essence this is evidence of the process we initially shared almost three years ago; only now we know the names.

    Former SSCI staffer Dan Jones, former Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson, and Simpson’s crew at Fusion-GPS, pitched and planted phony Trump-Russia evidence with the media and simultaneously gave those fake points to Chris Steele to supplement the dossier. Using the same method of Ezra Klein’s “JournOList” replication, Dan Jones and Fusion-GPS paid the journalists to run the stories.

    …”media reports on FBI reports of media reports”…

    Steele then used the same information from Jones and Fusion in his Dossier and cited the planted media reports; as evidence to substantiate. The Dossier is then provided to the FBI. The journalists then provide *indulgences* to the FBI as part of the collaboration.

    The FBI, specifically Lisa Page, Peter Strzok and public information office Mike Kortan, then leak the outcomes of the FBI Dossier investigative processes to the same media that have reported on the originating material. It is all a big circle of planting and laundering the same originating false material; aka a “wrap up smear.”

    on this page :

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/10/12/cbs-obtains-94-page-outline-showing-fbi-and-chris-steele-collaborative-use-of-media-reporting/

  12. Something positive

    Trump supporters sing new “MAGA” version of the Village People’s YMCA

    Young man. Walk away from the hate.
    We’re all human and we don’t segregate.
    Just like women help make America great
    We’re all in this together.
    MAGA

    Our colours are red, white and blue
    they stand for every one of you.
    Together, here’s what we’re gonna do,
    We’re gonna make America great.
    MAGA

  13. October 13, 2020
    Did an ‘Islamophobe’ discover America?
    By Raymond Ibrahim
    Christopher Columbus — that “genocidal madman and racist,” as he’s better known among the “woke” crowd, many of whom have targeted his monuments — is back in the news, this time for his alleged “Islamophobia.”

    In “Was Columbus’ Voyage to the ‘New World’ Driven by Islamophobia?,” an article published by Slate on October 12, 2020, author Rebecca Onion asked author Alan Mikhail, “Is it possible to use the word Islamophobia to describe the way Columbus, Isabella, Ferdinand, and other Christian Europeans felt at this time?”

    Mikhail’s response was somewhat equivocal:

    It’s very tricky, the answer to this question. The idea is that there’s a thread of anti-Muslim sentiment from this period, and maybe even before, to today. In some ways you can draw a throughline. But I don’t want to buy into a story about some kind of eternal “clash of civilizations,” because there are plenty of examples of Christian Europeans and Muslims having quite positive interactions at the same time I’m talking about: the sharing of ideas, the exchange of goods, diplomatic relationships, fighting on the same side of wars against other enemies. And that’s part of the book, too — to point out that the Ottoman Empire has been part of “our history.”

    So what’s the real story of Christopher Columbus and the Islam question?

    First, some context: In 1453, when Columbus was 2 years old, the Turks captured Constantinople, an event that rocked Christendom. Less than 40 years later, Ferdinand and Isabella captured the last bastion of Islam in Spain, Granada, an event that “produced an extraordinary effect throughout the Christian world and was viewed as a fitting revenge for the fall of Constantinople thirty-nine years earlier.” Even so, and although “what Constantinople was to the Ottoman sultan, Granada was to Ferdinand and Isabella,” the war with Islam was hardly over from Spain’s perspective.

    No sooner was Granada conquered than the two monarchs funded the ambitious voyage of Columbus in an effort to launch “a final and definite Crusade against Islam by way of the Indies” (which culminated in the incidental founding of the New World). Many Europeans were convinced that if only they could reach the peoples east of Islam — who, if not Christian, were at least “not as yet infected by the Mahometan plague,” to quote Pope Nicholas — together, they could crush Islam between them. (The plan was centuries old and connected to the legend of Prester John, a supposedly great Christian monarch reigning in the East who would one day march westward and avenge Christendom by destroying Islam.)

    All this comes out clearly in Columbus’s own letters: in one, he refers to Ferdinand and Isabella as “enemies of the wretched sect of Mohammet” who are “resolve[d] to send me to the regions of the Indies, to see” how the people thereof can help in the war effort. In another letter, written to the monarchs after he reached the New World, Columbus offers to raise an army “for the war and conquest of Jerusalem.”

    Nor were Spain and Columbus the first to implement this strategy. Once Portugal was cleared of Islam in 1249, its military orders launched into Muslim Africa. “The great and overriding motivation behind [Prince] Henry the Navigator [b. 1394]’s explosive energy and expansive intellect was the simple desire to take the cross — to carry the crusading sword over to Africa and thus to open a new chapter in Christendom’s holy war against Islam.” He launched all those discovery voyages because “he sought to know if there were in those parts any Christian princes” who “would aid him against the enemies of the faith.”

    Does all this make Columbus and by extension Ferdinand and Isabella — not to mention the whole of Christendom — “Islamophobes,” as Slate seems intent on publishing?

    The answer is yes — but not in the way that word is used today. While the Greek word phobos has always meant “fear,” its usage today implies “irrational fear.” However, considering that, for nearly a thousand years before Columbus, Islam had repeatedly attacked Christendom to the point of swallowing up three quarters of its original territory, including for centuries Spain; that Islam’s latest iteration, in the guise of the Ottoman Turks, was just then devastating the Balkans and Mediterranean; and that, even centuries after Columbus, Islam was still terrorizing the West — marching on Vienna with 200,000 jihadis in 1683 and provoking America into its first war as a nation — the very suggestion that historic Christian fears of Islam were “irrational” is itself the height of irrationalism.

    • Call it Christo-phobia just as likely. Sephardim were in Hispania Romana centuries before Jesus was born. From that perspective – a WOKE perspective – the celebrated Reconquista looked more like imperialist ethnic cleansing.

      We were desperate to find safe havens. The Edict of Expulsion for Jews was 1492. (On Tisha b’Av, in fact, the 9th day of the Hebrew month on Av, the day both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed.)

      Was Columbus Jewish?
      https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/destination-the-new-world/

      Probably not. But certainly we were part of his team of astronomers, navigators, and financiers.

  14. CBC – Masks made mandatory outdoors in N.B. COVID-19 hotspots

    New Brunswick has mandated the wearing of masks in some outdoor public spaces in the two zones experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.

    Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell talks to The National’s Andrew Chang about taking the extraordinary move after COVID-19 cases shot up in only eight days.

    • CBC -COVID-19: The potential fallout from Thanksgiving weekend

      Infectious disease specialists discuss what could happen with the COVID-19 pandemic from the Thanksgiving weekend depending on how Canadians celebrated.

      They also talk about some new information about COVID-19 transmission on surfaces.

  15. Humanitarian crisis feared as Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire buckles

    YEREVAN/BAKU (Reuters) – Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other on Tuesday of violating a ceasefire agreed three days ago to quell fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, drawing warnings from international groups of a humanitarian crisis in the region.

    The Russia-brokered truce is buckling despite mounting calls from world powers to halt the fighting, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Minsk Group security watchdog among those urging greater commitment to the ceasefire terms.

    https://www.oann.com/nagorno-karabakh-truce-buckles-as-both-sides-allege-violations/

  16. French Government Expresses Support to Country’s Police Units Over Recent Attacks (sputniknews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202010131080758799-french-government-expresses-support-to-countrys-police-units-over-recent-attacks/

    “French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Tuesday expressed support to police departments across the country, which have been subjected to a series of attacks in recent weeks, including one on a police station with fireworks on Sunday and a shooting on Wednesday that left two policemen injured.

    “I want to reiterate all my feelings of comfort, support and courage to law enforcement, who have recently experienced very shocking assaults. I will receive this afternoon the unions of the @Policenationale [National Police] and the President of the Republic [Emmanuel Macron] will receive them this Thursday,” Darmanin tweeted.

    Two policemen in disguise were shot last Wednesday in Paris’ northwest suburb of Herblay by three individuals, one of whom surrendered to law enforcement officers last Friday. While the condition of the police officer who sustained the worst injuries is stable, he remains in a coma. The suspect for the attack was questioned by prosecutors.

    The Sunday assault by an armed mob in the Paris suburb of Champigny-Sur-Marne included some 40 perpetrators who attacked the police unit with fireworks and metal bars.

    There were no casualties but police officers were incited to gather in Paris to protest over the lack of security while performing their duties.

    The attacks come following a summer uptick in worldwide protests against police brutality and racism that started in the US, where African American man George Floyd was killed while in police custody in the city of Minneapolis on 25 May. France has also been among the countries rocked by mass demonstrations in major cities, evoking, in particular, the controversial death of a 24-year-old Malian-French man, Adama Traore, who was apprehended by police in a manner similar to Floyd before dying.”

  17. At Least 12 Malian Soldiers Killed as Militants Attack Security Checkpoint, Army Says (sputniknews, Oct 13, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/africa/202010131080758780-at-least-12-malian-soldiers-killed-as-militants-attack-security-checkpoint-army-says/

    “At least 12 Malian army soldiers were killed as a result of attacks conducted by militants in the central region of Mopti, the Malian Armed Forces command (FAM) said on Tuesday.

    The first attack took place overnight Tuesday when militants attacked a FAM checkpoint in Mopti, leaving nine soldiers killed.

    In the morning, a detachment that was sent to assist the attacked checkpoint was itself ambushed. Three soldiers were killed and 10 others injured while several more count missing.

    The clashes resulted in the elimination of nine militants, the army said. FAM added that all figures are preliminary at this point.”

  18. Turkey, Not Trump, Threatens NATO and Europe
    by Vahaken Mouradian

    f all the forms of eschatology we’ve heard regarding next month’s presidential election — that what is at stake is democracy, or civilization, or all life on planet Earth — the European plea must be the most absurd. Allies speculate with qualm and quiver (as reported by Voice of America, the New York Times, and Business Insider) that a second-term Trump might say no to NATO. Susan Glasser, in the New Yorker, recalls the sonorous applause Joe Biden received after announcing to the attendees of the 2019 Munich Security Conference that “we will be back,” referring presumably to Clinton- and Obama-era liberal internationalists.

    Let’s set aside the question of whether the decision to abandon the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is within presidential purview (and the fact that U.S.–European relations didn’t begin in 1949). The fact is that NATO — even if not obsolete — has an innate and fatal flaw with which Joe, too, must contend. It is not threatened by a world leader skeptical of its continued relevance; it is rent from within by one who embraces it, operates fully under its cover, and has no intention of leaving.

    One of President Trump’s great diplomatic challenges — and whose media coverage was unforgivably scanty — was posed by his NATO counterpart, Turkish

    https://spectator.org/trump-nato-turkey/

  19. CIA director is covering something up in Russiagate emails: Grassley

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA., on Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court hearing, upcoming elections, and the Russia probe.

  20. FACTS: PRESENTED WITHOUT COMMENT
    TOTAL US DEATHS (ALL CAUSES)
    YEAR TOTAL DEATHS US DEATHS/MONTH REF
    2020 2,838,000* 236,000 CDC DATA CDC DATA
    2019 2,855,000 238,000 CDC DATA
    2018 2,839,205 237,000 CDC DATA
    2017 2,813,503 234,000 CDC DATA
    *Averaged for 12 months
    Total Reported COVID-19 Coronavirus Deaths Oct. 1, 2020 207,008
    (÷ 9 months = +23,000/month). Source: PatientCareOnline.com
    https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/10/no_author/771239-2/

  21. A TERRIBLE THING happened to me this morning.

    I opened my T.V., the Amy-Barrett Commission on FNN showed up for a split second, it disappeared, and the screen went all blue with a message from Bell asking me to download the Covid app. To return to channel, press Select.

    I had no idea what to do, I couldn’t find Select and I don’t know the channel for FNN. So, I called Bell Tech Support and they rebooted from their end. I didn’t mince words when denouncing this Covid app on our TV screen, going as far as cutting off our program viewing, it shouldn’t be there and I never want to see it again.

    I spoke of seniors who live alone and who aren’t tech-savvy. Many will probably be stuck with a blue screen until rescued.

  22. India & China’s Joint Statement On Ladakh Faceoff: Military Level Dialogue Positive & Constructive

  23. India & China’s Joint Statement On Ladakh Faceoff: Military Level Dialogue Positive & Constructive
    21,647 views
    •Oct 13, 2020

  24. Gravitas: Malaysia’s political turmoil: Anwar Ibrahim meets King in a push to become Prime Minister