Reader’s Links for October 30, 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

133 Replies to “Reader’s Links for October 30, 2020”

  1. reuters – The Muslim terrorist carried a koran

    […]Chief anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said the suspect in Thursday’s attack was a Tunisian man born in 1999 who had arrived in Europe on Sept. 20 in Lampedusa, the Italian island off Tunisia that is the main landing point for migrants from Africa.

    A Tunisian security source and a French police source named the suspect as Brahim Aouissaoui.

    Ricard told a news conference in Nice that the man had entered the city by train early on Thursday morning and made his way to the church, where he stabbed and killed the 55-year-old sexton and beheaded a 60-year-old woman.

    He also stabbed a 44-year-old woman who fled to a nearby cafe where she raised the alarm before dying, Ricard said. Police then arrived and confronted the attacker, still shouting “Allahu Akbar”, and shot and wounded him.

    “On the attacker we found a Koran and two telephones, the knife of the crime – 30cm with a cutting edge of 17cm. We also found a bag left by the attacker. Next to this bag were two knives that were not used in the attack,” Ricard said.

    The suspect is in hospital in critical condition, he said.

    […]U.S. President Donald Trump voiced sympathy for the people of France after the attack. “America stands with our oldest Ally in this fight. These Radical Islamic terrorist attacks must stop immediately. No country, France or otherwise can long put up with it!” Trump said in a Twitter post.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-security-nice/one-person-killed-after-knife-attack-in-french-city-of-nice-media-idUSKBN27E17D

    =======================================================
    Nice: le directeur de la police municipale raconte l’attaque au couteau

    • Trudeau : “The criminals, the terrorists, the cold-blooded murderers who perpetrated these attacks do not represent Islam,”

      “They do not get to define Muslims in France, in Canada or anywhere around the world.”

      • Read the Qur’an Justine.

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

        8:39
        Fight the unbelievers until Islam reigns supreme.

        8:60
        Make war against enemies of Allah.

        9:29
        Fight and subjugat the Jews and Christians.

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

        5:17
        Christians – believers in divinity of Christ – are unbelievers

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

      • News flash for Justine Trudeau: How little you know or how intertwined you are. “They do get to define what Muslims are in France, Canada and the rest of the world.“

        New York Mosques to Protest Macron’s Blatant Disrespect of the Prophet

        “The French President is directly provoking the Muslim World in his support of offensive and vulgar depictions of the beloved Prophet Muhammad “the Maglis Ash- Shura, or leaders Council or Islamic Leadership Council, of NY said in a news release.
        “The Muslim world will not tolerate such a blatant disrespect of the Prophet Muhammad and stands in solidarity with their French Muslim brothers and sisters”.

        Protest is planned for Sunday.

        • Does CAIR describe themselves as Muslim Americans or American Muslims, I think we know the answer.

          Nihad Awad is not happy with Macron or President Trump.

  2. Libya: Anti-Macron protesters gather in Tripoli

    Protesters gathered in Tripoli’s Martyr’s Square, on Thursday, to demonstrate against French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent comments on Islam, which have sparked a series of protests both in France and internationally, with some calling for a boycott of French goods.

    Protesters held banners and signs reading “Respect the Prophet Mohammed” and “The Prophet is untouchable”. An Anti-Macron banner can also be seen hanging from the Red Castle Museum, which is located on the square.

  3. Crowds gathered in Berlin, Germany, chanting “God is Great” – to protest President Macron

  4. France: Far-right group holds demo outside Nice church after attack

    Generation Identitaire, a French identitarian movement associated with the far-right held a demonstration in front of Notre-Dame cathedral church after three people died in a knife attack inside the church earlier on Thursday.

    The group of protesters waived flags and sang the French national anthem to commemorate the victims of the attack.

    A large presence of police in riot gear were seen, but no incidents were reported at the gathering.

    • At 37:19 Tucker’s guest brings up an important point, dems did NOT want us to raicley identify people from the mid-east…. and NOW…….

      stupid auttocucumber…….

  5. I like to sing. I sing in the car and in the shower. I don’t have a very good singing voice, though, and my kids roll their eyes and cover their ears when I start up. Yes, it’s bad. Sometimes it cracks and does a sort of yodel like a drunken Austrian. (Apologies to all drunken Austrians.) The kids have learned to turn up the radio when we’re driving to give me the hint to shut up. That’s when I turn into Ethel Merman singing There’s No Business Like Show Business, or whatever it was she sang. I just belt it out. No grizzled (or gristled) imps are going to shut this guy down. Nope. Nada. Negatory. This is MY voice. It may not sound great, but it’s honest and it’s my own. I hope its honesty makes up for its lack of talent.

    Hmm. Voices. Like that weed growing out of that crack in the sidewalk, you wonder how it got there, let alone survives. Did you know that the violin was supposed to emulate the human voice? There is not a more personal instrument than one’s voice. It carries in it every emotion and mood, inflection and reflection of every thought. It cannot be separated from the individual even in a choir. When my boy sings in a choir of fifty I still hear his voice loud and clear. Our voices are even more unique to us than our finger prints. I wish I could sing like Tom Jones, and not like Ethel Merman, but thems the breaks, as they say. As least I have a voice. Where would I be without it? I’d be a mute listening to a radio blasting garbage, drowning in other people’s voices that make no sense to me. Like rap music. Now there’s a crime against humanity. But I don’t want to shut it down. I can just change the station.

    If I didn’t have a voice I wouldn’t be here, either. Sure, I could possibly find another place to speak my mind, but something about Vlad’s recipe of strict adherence to principles and civility makes this place work for me. Clearly, I’m not alone. VTB is a little amplifier for a few meek voices in an ocean of noise. Especially on the eve of the most important election in the history of humanity.

    With all of the cancel culture out there, and all of the high-tech monkey business that I don’t understand attacking and deplatforming conservative voices, it’s a wonder VTB survives. I say this to myself. (Depending on my mood I even turn up the radio on myself from time to time. See? VTB gives me a chance to make up a stupid new word like autodeplatform!) VTB doesn’t have funding drives asking for money even though, just like the rest of us, his expenses are going up.

    Vladtepesblog is the manifestation of, I imagine, one man’s voice fashioned to enable the voices of others. Now that’s a neat trick. It said enough about idealism and selflessness to get my attention way back when I stumbled into this place. And way back, when VTB began, communism and Islam were not on the forefront of our every day lives like they are today. It was a different time, and VTB was far ahead of the curve back then. I can only imagine how hard Eeyore has to run to stay ahead of the curve, now. It must be almost impossible. It is also becoming almost impossible to have a voice in this crazy mixed-up world of 7.5 billion people, and it seems to me having a voice is as basic as things get. Even a dog gets to bark once in a while.

    There are two things I noticed we all have in common this morning. Driving to work I looked up and saw the most incredible full moon. It was like something out of a movie, but it was real. This is something we all can see no matter where in the world we are. The other thing we have in common is this little blog on which to “sing”, so to speak. This is the antithesis of collectivisation.

    I think I will be buying a few VTB crosses this year to help him stay on the air.

    Here’s me annoying the kids in the car:
    https://youtu.be/PIiQMsDQ0Uo

    Ok, ok, that’s not really me. Here I am for real with my real voice, singing an expression of my true most introverted self. This one’s for Chairman Mao, the asshole:

    https://youtu.be/TwUrpBtFOSg

    • Johnny, you bring a smile to my face. Musical instruments can talk, I like to listen to Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms cranked. The guitar talks back.

      As for Vlad’s crosses, they make a wonderful gift. I give them to men and women. Just a plain little black dress and a Vlad cross makes a statement.

      Keep on the sunny side and keep on singing. A test of how good or bad your voice is, when you see a group of cows, get out and sing, see if they come running, recently I tried it with a bull, he loved me. Lol

  6. Teen Shot Dead After Attack on Policeman in Russia’s Tatarstan, Authorities Say (sputniknews, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/russia/202010301080924535-teen-shot-dead-after-attack-on-policeman-in-russias-tatarstan-authorities-say/

    “A criminal proceeding on the attempt to commit a terrorist attack has been initiated in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan after a teenager attacked the police officer, the Investigative Committee of Russia said on Friday.

    “The criminal proceedings have been initiated under Russia’s Criminal Code’s articles “Attempt to Commit a Terrorist Act” and “Attempt on the Life of an Official of a Law Enforcement Agency,” the police said.

    Earlier, the republic’s branch of the Interior Ministry reported that in Tatarstan’s Kukmorsky District two policemen shot a young man, who had thrown two Molotov cocktails on the police parking lot and resisted arrest after stabbing a policeman with a knife.

    According to the investigation committee, a 16-year-old teenager attempted to set fire to the police officer’s building in the Kukmorsky district of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan early on Friday.

    During the arrest, the young man stabbed the policeman with a knife at least three times. A police officer in the area fired warning shots after which he shot and killed the attacker, who died before an ambulance arrived.”

  7. Trump Warns Biden Will ‘Open Floodgate to Radical Islamic Terrorism’ Should He Win Election (sputniknews, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/us/202010301080928228-trump-warns-biden-will-open-floodgate-to-radical-islamic-terrorism-should-he-win-election/

    “One of the first things Trump did after being sworn in as president was to introduce travel bans on several countries, mainly Muslim nations, in an attempt to prevent the arrival of radicalised Islamic terrorists in the country.

    President Donald Trump has warned his supporters at a rally in Florida that should Democratic opponent Joe Biden become the next president, he will open the way for Islamic terrorists to enter the US.

    “Biden wants to terminate our travel bans and surge refugees from the most dangerous places in the world. He will open the floodgate to radical Islamic terrorism”, Trump said.

    POTUS claims that Biden would seek to abolish the travel bans he introduced at the start of his presidency in 2017, thus making the US vulnerable to attacks akin to the ones that recently shook France. Trump specifically referred to the beheading of a French teacher two weeks ago and the most recent attack in Nice, perpetrated by a Tunisian migrant, extending his regards to French President Emmanuel Macron.

    “Our hearts are with the people of France. America stands with our oldest ally in this fight. These radical Islamic terrorist attacks must stop immediately. No country, France or otherwise, can long put up with it”, the president said.

    Trump went on to say that under “the Biden plan” the US will “suffer horrifying attacks” similar to those experienced by France on a regular basis. POTUS even knocked on the wood of his podium at the rally in a superstitious attempt to prevent such a scenario from turning into reality…”

    • He will do what Justine is doing to Canada. Thousands of homeless people across Canada, Justine says we have no money for our Veterans, Veterans, the heroes that Imam Mazin Abdul-Adhim calls war criminals.
      (Not classed as hate speech when a Muslim says it). M-103, M-103, M-103.
      Justine plans on bringing in 350,000 migrants in 2021, Even though the majority of Canadians are opposed.

  8. Qatar: Officials behind women exams referred to prosecutors (abcnews, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/qatar-officials-women-exams-referred-prosecutors-73920190

    “Qatar said Friday it referred officials at its international airport to prosecutors for possible charges after women aboard Qatar Airways flights faced forced vaginal examinations following the discovery of an abandoned newborn baby.

    The statement comes as the Australian government has expressed outrage and union workers have threatened not to service Qatar Airways aircraft in Sydney over the Oct. 2 incident. Australia also represents a crucial route for Qatar Airways, the state-owned long-haul carrier based at Hamad International Airport in Doha.

    In a statement, Qatar’s Government Communication Office described the abandoning of the baby as the “attempted murder” of the child.

    “The subsequent procedures taken by the authorities at the airport, including examining a number of female passengers, revealed that standard procedures were violated,” the statement said. “Those responsible for these violations and illegal actions have been referred to the Public Prosecution Office.”

    The statement did not elaborate or identify who had given the order to conduct the exams. It said an investigation by Qatari authorities continued and that Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, the country’s prime minister and interior minister, offered his country’s “sincerest apology” to the women forced to undergo the exams.

    “What took place is wholly inconsistent with Qatar’s culture and values,” the statement said. “Qatar is fully committed to the safety and security of all travelers.”

    Sheikh Khalid later wrote on Twitter: “I assure you that we will hold those responsible for these acts to account.”

    The physical examinations of passengers bound for Sydney and nine other unnamed destinations triggered outrage in Australia. The government denounced the searches as inappropriate and beyond circumstances in which the women could give free and informed consent. Rights activists say such exams conducted under duress amount to sexual assault.

    Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne on Friday described Qatar’s actions after the incident as “consistent with our expectations for contrition, accountability and determination to avoid any repeat of this disturbing episode.”

    “The preliminary investigation of Qatar into this incident has shown illegal actions occurred,” she said in a statement. “It is an important step that these offenses have been referred to the Public Prosecution Office.”

    In Qatar, like much of the Middle East, sex and childbirth outside of marriage are criminalized. Migrant workers in the past have hidden pregnancies and tried to travel abroad to give birth, and others have abandoned their babies anonymously to avoid imprisonment.

    Qatar, a small, energy-rich state on the Arabian Peninsula, will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.”

  9. Sweden charges 2 over Chechen critic hammer assault (abcnews, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sweden-charges-chechen-critic-hammer-assault-73921054

    “The Swedish domestic security agency said two individuals have been charged with attempted murder and accessory to attempted murder in a February hammer attack on a blogger and critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

    The agency, known as SAPO, said in a statement issued Thursday that “the attack is suspected to be linked to a regime in another country, the Russian republic of Chechnya.”

    The agency, known as SAPO, didn’t name the individuals but Sweden’s TT news agency reported that the two suspects are Russian nationals — a man and a woman — who allegedly assaulted Tumso Abdurachmanov on Feb. 26 in his home in Gavle, about 170 kilometers (106 miles miles) north of Stockholm.

    Abdurachmanov was assaulted with a hammer by a man who told the Chechen he came from Moscow, TT said. He survived the attack.

    SAPO said that “the fact that another regime is suspected of being linked to an attempted murder in Sweden is an example of how intelligence activities have changed.”

    “It is, of course, very serious that another regime is suspected of being linked to the attempted murder of an individual in Sweden, a person who has sought refuge here after having been threatened by the regime in his home country,” said Daniel Stenling, head of SAPO’s counter-intelligence unit, in a statement.

    Moscow has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars, and he has run the predominantly Muslim region as his personal fiefdom, relying on feared security forces to enforce his rule and quash dissent. International human rights groups have accused Chechen authorities of abductions, torture and killings of their opponents.

    The Chechen leader rejected allegations of his involvement in attacks on his critics abroad, claiming that they were performed by foreign spies to compromise him and tarnish Russia’s image.”

  10. Tens of thousands protest in Bangladesh over French cartoons (abcnews, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/tens-thousands-protest-bangladesh-french-cartoons-73923230

    “Tens of thousands of Muslims marched in Bangladesh’s capital on Friday to protest the French president’s support of secular laws allowing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, burning effigies of him and calling for a boycott of French products.

    Protests were also reported across the country after Friday’s weekly Muslim prayers.

    In Dhaka, tens of thousands of people from more than a dozen Islamist parties and groups poured into the streets near the Baitul Mokarram national mosque demanding that Bangladesh sever relations with France. Some carried banners reading “Say no to Islamphobia” and “Boycott French products.”

    Barbed-wire fences were installed near the mosque as hundreds of police in riot gear cordoned off the processions.

    The protesters carried effigies of President Emmanuel Macron and then burned them.

    “I ask the government to remove the French Embassy from this country immediately. Otherwise, in the face of the movement, no one favoring France will be able to stay in power,” Abu Taher Jihadi al Kashemi, a leader of the marches, told the protesters.

    France is an important aid provider and trading partner for Bangladesh.

    Protests began in the Muslim-majority country earlier this week, with pressure growing on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to officially denounce France. Hasina, who has yet to officially comment, follows a policy of balanced diplomatic ties with Muslim and Western nations.

    The Islamist parties support the introduction of Islamic Shariah law in Bangladesh, which is governed by a legal system largely based on British common law.

    Muslim-majority countries across the world have been outraged by Macron’s refusal to condemn the publication or display of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In Islam, any depiction of the prophet is prohibited. The issue has come to light again in recent days following the gruesome beheading near Paris of a French teacher who showed caricatures of the prophet in class. An 18-year-old Chechen refugee who carried out the attack was later shot dead by police.

    The teacher, Samuel Paty, has been heralded as a symbol of France’s staunch secular ideals and its rejection of religious intrusion in public spheres. Macron and members of his government have vowed to continue supporting such caricatures as protected under freedom of expression.

    A series of attacks that French authorities have attributed to Muslim extremism has followed. On Thursday, a knife-wielding Tunisian man carrying a copy of the Quran killed three people at a church in the Mediterranean city of Nice.

    Muslim politicians and religious scholars have condemned such caricatures as a form of hate speech and view them as sacrilegious and insulting to Islam.”

  11. Malaysia’s Mahathir Claims Victimhood: ‘Disgusted’ French Attack Remarks ‘Taken out of Context’ (breitbart, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/10/30/malaysias-mahathir-claims-victimhood-disgusted-french-attack-remarks-taken-out-of-context/

    “Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad attacked his critics Friday, saying he is “disgusted” his comments on attacks by Islamic extremists in France were taken out of context to harm him and “stir hatred for Muslims.” He cautioned the time has come for the French to “teach their people to respect other people’s feelings.”…”

  12. Vatican Cardinal Calls for Battle Against ‘Monstrous’ Islamism (breitbart, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2020/10/30/vatican-cardinal-calls-for-battle-against-monstrous-islamism/

    “Vatican Cardinal Robert Sarah denounced Islamism Thursday following a lethal terror attack in a French church, calling it a “monstrous fanaticism.”

    “Islamism is a monstrous fanaticism which must be battled with force and determination,” wrote the Guinean cardinal, who leads the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship, invoking his own experience as an African.

    “It will not stop its war. Unfortunately, we Africans know this only too well,” the cardinal wrote on Twitter. “The barbarians are always the enemies of peace.”

    “The West, today France, must understand this. Let us pray,” he said.

    On Thursday morning, a Muslim man entered the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice armed with a knife, and proceeded to kill three people, including the church sacristan. Shouting “Allahu akbar” as he attacked his victims, the assailant was eventually apprehended by French police and is now in the hospital with gunshot wounds sustained during the encounter.
    France’s national antiterrorist prosecution announced the opening of an investigation for “assassination and attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and “criminal terrorist association,” French media reported.

    The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, wrote on Twitter that all indications are that the incident was, in fact, a terrorist attack.

    For his part, Pope Francis also expressed his closeness to the Catholic community of Nice, joining “in mourning after the attack which sowed death in a place of prayer and consolation.”

    “I pray for the victims, for their families and for the beloved French people, so that they can respond to evil with good,” he also wrote on Twitter.

    On Thursday, the pontiff sent a telegram to the Catholic bishop of Nice, saying he condemned “in the most forceful way such violent acts of terror.””

  13. Man Sentenced to Six Months for Endorsing Murder of French Teacher (breitbart, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/30/man-sentenced-six-months-endorsing-murder-french-teacher/

    “A 42-year-old man in the French commune of Colmar is the latest to be sentenced by a court for praising or making apologies for the terrorist beheading of teacher Samuel Paty.

    The unidentified man was handed a sentence of six months in prison on Monday for his comments, which he made to his probation officer on Thursday the 22nd of October and led to his arrest the next day.

    According to a report from broadcaster Francebleu, the 42-year-old had told the probation officer that he “wanted to kill himself by committing an attack himself” and stated that he endorsed the murder of Mr Paty.

    He then, according to the probation officer, went on the claim that 18-year-old Chechen refugee and Islamic radical Abdoullakh Anzorov, the man who beheaded Paty in the street, was actually a victim.

    The incident comes just days after another man, an inmate at a jail in Amiens, was sentenced to eight months in prison for similar comments praising the terrorist attack to fellow inmates.

    The 43-year-old had spoken positively of the Chechen terrorist, saying: “It’s good for him, he (the terrorist) did the job well, don’t touch my religion, my prophet.” While he later claimed to have acted “foolishly” and apologised in court, a judge convicted him.

    Paty was murdered after he showed students the Mohammed cartoons published by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Since his murder, other teachers have received death threats, as well.

    According to the prosecutor of the Republic of Vannes (Morbihan), François Touron, teachers in his department received death threat emails explicitly referencing the killing of Paty and asked for a ransom of 100 bitcoin (£987,033/$1,286,797) or teachers would suffer the same fate.

    In a suburb of Lyon, a mayor was placed under police protection after threats to behead him were painted on walls in his area just days after Paty’s murder.”

  14. France Sends Frigate to Patrol Tense East Mediterranean (breitbart, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2020/10/30/france-despatches-frigate-to-patrol-tense-east-mediterranean/

    “Aboard a French frigate in the eastern Mediterranean (AFP) — Deep in the bowels of a French frigate cruising the tense eastern Mediterranean waters, a dozen men and women scan radar screens through the dark.

    Among the red squares showing the positions of vessels at sea, two Turkish exploration ships stand out, the Oruc Reis and Barbaros.

    For three months, the stealth vessel La Fayette has patrolled the strategic area off the Syrian, Greek and Cypriot coasts.

    The 170-strong crew are on high alert, with geopolitical tensions at boiling point since the discovery of huge gas deposits and Athens and Greece in dispute over their maritime borders.

    France has since August deployed more assets in the eastern Mediterranean, known as “Medor” to the navy, amid a war of words over Turkish incursions into Greek and Cypriot waters.

    With President Emmanuel Macron pledging “non-negotiable solidarity” for Greece and Cyprus, Paris needs to follow events in the region closely — as well as communicate clear messages to all involved.

    La Fayette took part in August manoeuvres with Greece, Cyprus and Italy to show a united European front against Ankara.

    “Our primary mission is to observe everything that happens, to offer our chiefs and the political authorities our own understanding of the situation,” said the ship’s group operations leader, Lieutenant Mathieu.

    He oversees central operations, the CO or nerve centre, a dark space to monitor classified information where access is strictly limited.

    Data is gathered from surface and aerial radars as well as an infrared camera that follows vessels “of interest” night and day, including submarines that surface.

    These instruments of war detect the enemy’s electromagnetic footprints and complement radar to give La Fayette a detailed overview of the eastern Mediterranean basin…”

  15. US Arrests Five In China’s ‘Operation Fox Hunt’ Plot; Seamus Bruner Explains Hunter Biden Emails

  16. Man lynched in Bangladesh for alleged Quran desecration: Police

    Man beaten to death and his body torched in northern Bangladesh after villagers accuse him of desecrating holy books kept in a mosque.

    Hundreds of people in a Bangladeshi town have beaten and lynched a man who had allegedly desecrated the Muslim holy book, police said.

    The crowd on Thursday seized two men who had been in official custody after they were accused of stepping on a Quran in the main mosque of Burimari in Lalmonirhat district, more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) northwest of the capital, Dhaka.

    “They beat one man to death and then burnt the body,” district police chief Abida Sultana told the AFP news agency.

    Sultana said the two men told the imam at the mosque that hardline fighters might have stored illegal arms inside the building, the DPA news agency reported.

    The two men then tried to search for the weapons on a shelf where the Quran and Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) were kept, in a way the imam found disrespectful to the holy books.

    An altercation followed and the locals initially confined the two men to a room.

    Several hundred people then rushed to the scene in the night and took away one of the men to a nearby area where they beat him and set his body on fire, said the officer.

    Police recovered the charred body of the man, local government official Abu Newaz Nishat said.

    The footage of the attack went viral on social media shortly after the incident.

    The 35-year-old victim was reportedly struggling with psychological problems after he recently lost his job as a librarian at a college in neighbouring Rangpur district, Nishat said.

    Police did not find any weapons at the mosque and the second man was taken into protective custody by the police.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/30/man-lynched-in-bangladesh-for-alleged-quran-desecration-police

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

  17. Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: No bilateral talks between diplomats during Geneva | Nagorno Karabakh

  18. France Knife Attack: India stands with France against terrorism, says Indian PM Modi | World News

  19. Jerusalem-born man gets US passport listing ‘Israel’ as birthplace

    The US decision to allow the labelling of Jerusalem as part of Israel in official US documents is a falsification of the city’s history and identity, Hanan Ashrawi said, slamming the move as an ‘attempt to erase Palestinians’

    A Jerusalem-born American citizen on Friday became the first to receive a US passport listing “Israel” as his place of birth.

    The move came just days before the US election, in which President Donald Trump has promoted his steadfast support of the Jewish state, a key cause for his evangelical Christian base.

    “I’m humbled and honoured to receive this passport,” said 18-year-old Menachem Zivitofsky during a ceremony at the US embassy.

    Until now, Americans born in the city had simply “Jerusalem” listed in their passports, without specifying the country.

    Israel seized control of East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, in moves never recognised by the international community.

    Israel considers the city its undivided capital, but Palestinians see the mostly Arab eastern part of Jerusalem, including the Old City with its holy sites, as the illegally occupied capital of their future state.

    In his first year in office, Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and later moved the US embassy there — putting the United States at odds with virtually every other country.

    Zivitofsky has “waited a long time for this moment to come”, said US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman while presenting the passport. “Today… you have a nation of birth — the state of Israel.”

    The US had announced on Thursday that Jerusalem-born American citizens could now elect to list Israel as their place of birth on their passports, but said the default would remain “Jerusalem”.

    Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi slammed the move as an “attempt to erase Palestinians”.

    “The US State Department’s new decision to allow the labelling of Jerusalem as part of Israel in official US documents is a falsification of the city’s history and identity,” Ashrawi said in a statement on Friday.

    Until now, international consensus had been to list Jerusalem as “undefined” on official documents.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/389632/World/Region/Jerusalemborn-man-gets-US-passport-listing-Israel-.aspx

    • A long time coming…
      “Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky was born in Jerusalem on October 17, 2002, shortly after the enactment of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. When both requests to list Israel as the birthplace on Menachem’s passport were denied (first as “Jerusalem, Israel,” then as simply “Israel”), parents Ari and Naomi Zivotofsky filed suit against the State Department (then headed by Hillary Clinton).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zivotofsky_v._Kerry

      From the posting here english.ahram.org.eg: “Israel seized control of East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, in moves never recognised by the international community.”

      Actually, Jordanian reinforcements fled their defence of Jerusalem in 1967, surprising Israeli generals so they could liberate the territory that Jordan had seized in 1948, expelling its Jewish inhabitants to leave on foot, carrying their belongings supervised by Jordanian soldiers.
      https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/12/06/world/06Jerusalem21/06Jerusalem21-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp Jews leaving a section of Jerusalem’s Old City in 1948.
      https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/world/middleeast/jerusalem-history-peace-deal.html ” eastern half, including the Old City, was occupied by Jordan.”

    • https://www.timesofisrael.com/be-ready-to-break-into-the-old-city/ Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin informed the General Staff on Saturday night, June 3, 1967, of the decision to launch a pre-emptive strike against Egypt in 36 hours, pending cabinet approval. Every effort would be made to keep the Jordanian front quiet.

      One of the first visitors to leave town was PLO leader Ahmed Shukeiry, who for the past three days had been whipping crowds into war hysteria…. Radio Cairo was reporting spectacular gains against Israel in the air and on the ground. As if in confirmation, Kol Yisrael made no claims at all. Hundreds of young men were flooding police stations in Arab Jerusalem to ask for arms. …

      Stopping by Central Command headquarters on his way to Jerusalem, Col. Gur learned that his mission would not be defensive after all. “Mount Scopus is in danger,” Gen. Uzi Narkiss, the front commander, told him. “Your job is to link up with it. But remember the Old City. Bear right toward the Rockefeller Museum and be ready to break into the Old City.”

      Kapusta was a legendary scout…Learning of the shelling on the Jordanian front, he decided to have a go at the Jordanians if it was too late to get at the Egyptians. Obtaining road clearance from Southern Command, the unit set out for Jerusalem an hour before sunset.

      The Israelis were now in control of all southern Jerusalem after having beaten off the attack at Government House and seized Sur Bahir. At [Jordanian brigadier] Ata Ali’s forward command post, reports were coming in of officers deserting. … By 11 PM, the flares and explosions [from the direction of the Jericho road] had faded away. Amman called shortly afterwards to report that the relief column had been attacked from the air and wiped out. Shaken, Ata Ali asked for reinforcements from the Hebron area to the south and from Ramallah to the north. He was told that both areas were braced for an Israeli attack and that no troops could be spared.

      director of tourism for Jordanian Jerusalem [and British Army veteran]. Hazim Khalidi urged him to tell Amman that he could not hold out for long and that another relief column must be dispatched by forced march along a secondary route to avoid the Israeli planes.

      For King Hussein, the last illusion was dispelled at dawn on Tuesday when Gen. Riad presented him with a clear assessment of the situation. The general had finally understood that the reports he had been getting from his own headquarters in Cairo about Egyptian successes were fantasy. He may also have been informed of Gen. Hod’s report on Israel Radio of the destruction of the Arab air forces. There were three options, Riad told Hussein. The king could press for an immediate cease fire through diplomatic channels. He could order a pullout from the West Bank that would be completed by dusk. Or he could fight on. If the choice was to fight on, the army would be destroyed by the following day.

      Pressing his ear against the iron gate of his courtyard, [Hebrew translator] Hamdi Nubani heard a single word on the street outside sounding thin in the June dawn: “Hitpazair.” Hurrying back to the basement where his family and neighbors were huddled, he said: “They’re speaking Hebrew. Someone said ‘spread out’.” The soldiers were not, as many hoped, Iraqi troops come to save Arab Jerusalem.

      At 3 AM, Ata Ali entered Governor Khatib’s office in the Department of Religious Endowments (Wakf) adjacent to the Temple Mount. There was no electricity and the two men sat in darkness that was relieved periodically by the light from falling flares. They could hear the amplified sound of Israeli psychological warfare teams outside the walls urging residents to hang out white flags. Ata Ali’s report to the governor was blunt. “The battle for Jerusalem is lost.” The brigades in Ramallah and Hebron had been ordered to retreat. All his officers had deserted except for Major Kraishan and a lieutenant. The troops were demoralized and exhausted and could not be controlled without their officers. In the circumstances, said the brigadier, he had no option but to retreat in order to save his men.

      Shortly before first light, Ata Ali led several hundred soldiers out of the Old City and started trekking to Jericho. After Ata Ali left his office, [Governor] Khatib sat down, unable to talk. His advisor, Khalidi, fearing that the governor would suffer a heart attack, gave him sedatives. Khatib said he wanted to be left alone for 15 minutes and asked Khalidi to meanwhile act on his behalf. Outside the building, 100 distraught civilians, many of them armed, were demanding to know why the troops were pulling out. “Men cannot be forced to fight,” Khalidi told them.

      Excerpted from the revised, EBook edition of “The Battle for Jerusalem: an unintended conquest that echoes still,” by Abraham Rabinovich.

  20. DAILY MAIL – Welcome to Europe: Smiling Tunisian terrorist poses for photo on the day he arrived in Italy on a migrant boat – just a month before he beheaded a woman and killed two more Catholics in church massacre in France

    Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, seen smiling in a photo taken in Italian port city of Bari, as he entered mainland Europe
    Picture taken October 8, as he was taken off a Covid quarantine ship
    , where he talked about going to France
    Next day Aoussaoui was released by Italian authorities, and it is thought he made his way to Paris on the train
    Less than three weeks later he arrived in Nice, entered the Notre Dame basilica, and slaughtered three people
    47-year-old who had contact with Aoussaoui day before the attack has been arrested and is being questioned
    Attack came after President Macron defended publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8896593/Nice-terror-attack-Jihadist-seen-smiling-photo-taken-entered-Europe.html

  21. NBC News – How a fake persona laid the groundwork for a Hunter Biden conspiracy deluge

    A 64-page document that was later disseminated by close associates of President Donald Trump appears to be the work of a fake “intelligence firm.”

    One month before a purported leak of files from Hunter Biden’s laptop, a fake “intelligence” document about him went viral on the right-wing internet, asserting an elaborate conspiracy theory involving former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and business in China.

    The document, a 64-page composition that was later disseminated by close associates of President Donald Trump, appears to be the work of a fake “intelligence firm” called Typhoon Investigations, according to researchers and public documents.

    The author of the document, a self-identified Swiss security analyst named Martin Aspen, is a fabricated identity, according to analysis by disinformation researchers, who also concluded that Aspen’s profile picture was created with an artificial intelligence face generator. The intelligence firm that Aspen lists as his previous employer said that no one by that name had ever worked for the company and that no one by that name lives in Switzerland, according to public records and social media searches.

    One of the original posters of the document, a blogger and professor named Christopher Balding, took credit for writing parts of it when asked about it and said Aspen does not exist.

    Despite the document’s questionable authorship and anonymous sourcing, its claims that Hunter Biden has a problematic connection to the Communist Party of China have been used by people who oppose the Chinese government, as well as by far-right influencers, to baselessly accuse candidate Joe Biden of being beholden to the Chinese government.

    The document and its spread have become part of a wider effort to smear Hunter Biden and weaken Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, which moved from the fringes of the internet to more mainstream conservative news outlets.

    n unverified leak of documents — including salacious pictures from what President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and a Delaware Apple repair store owner claimed to be Hunter Biden’s hard drive — were published in the New York Post on Oct. 14. Associates close to Trump, including Giuliani and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, have promised more blockbuster leaks and secrets, which have yet to materialize.

    The fake intelligence document, however, preceded the leak by months, and it helped lay the groundwork among right-wing media for what would become a failed October surprise: a viral pile-on of conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden.

    Behind Typhoon

    The Typhoon Investigations document was first posted in September to Intelligence Quarterly, an anonymous blog “dedicated to collecting important daily news,” according to its “about” section. Historical domain records show the blog was registered to Albert Marko, a self-described political and economic adviser, who also lists the blog on his Twitter bio. When asked about the provenance of the document, Marko said he received it from Balding.

    Balding, previously an associate professor at Fulbright University Vietnam who studied the Chinese economy and financial markets, posted the document on his blog on Oct. 22, seven weeks after it was initially published.

    “I had really not wanted to do this but roughly 2 months ago I was handed a report about Biden activities in China the press has simply refused to cover. I want to strongly emphasize I did not write the report but I know who did,” Balding said in an email.

    Balding later claimed to NBC News that he wrote some of the document.

    “I authored small parts of the report and was involved in report preparation and review. As a researcher, and due to the understandable worry about foreign disinformation, it was paramount that the report document activity from acknowledged and public sources,” Balding said. “Great care was taken to document, cite, and retain information so that acknowledged facts could be placed in the public domain.”

    Balding said Aspen is “an entirely fictional individual created solely for the purpose of releasing this report.” Balding did not name the document’s main author, saying “the primary author of the report, due to personal and professional risks, requires anonymity.”

    Balding claimed that the document was commissioned by Apple Daily, a Hong Kong-based tabloid that is frequently critical of the Chinese government. A spokesperson for Apple Daily confirmed it had worked with Balding on the document.

    In addition to posting the document to his blog, Balding also promoted it in far-right media, appearing on Bannon’s podcast and on “China Unscripted,” a podcast produced by The Epoch Times, a pro-Trump media outlet opposed to the Chinese government.

    Balding, an American who taught economics at China’s Peking University HSBC Business School until 2018, is often critical of the Chinese government. He made news this year as a source uncovering a global bulk data collection operation by the Chinese company Shenzhen Zhenhua Data Technology.

    Blog posts highlighting the most salacious parts of the document, including articles from the Intelligence Quarterly Blog, Revolver News and Balding’s blog, received 70,000 public interactions — which includes reactions, comments and shares — across Facebook, Twitter and Reddit, according to the social media analysis tool BuzzSumo.

    Balding’s blog was the primary driver of virality in conservative and conspiracy communities. The report itself was shared across Facebook and Twitter around 5,000 times, according to BuzzSumo, and more than 80 sites linked back to the blog, which was shared more than 25,000 times on Facebook and Twitter. Hyperpartisan and conspiracy sites like ZeroHedge and WorldNetDaily led the pack.

    After the promise of a big reveal one day earlier, the document was also posted on the extremist forum 8kun by Q, the anonymous account behind the QAnon conspiracy theory movement.

    On Twitter, the document was pushed by influencers in the QAnon community, as well as by Dinggang Wang, an anti-Chinese government YouTube personality who works for Guo Wengui, a billionaire who fled China amid accusations of bribery and other crimes. Republican Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, tweeted the document to his 2.3 million followers.

    ‘Immediately suspicious’

    The document gained attention from disinformation researchers in part because of the image of the document’s author.

    Elise Thomas, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, first spotted telltale signs of a fake photo when she went searching for Typhoon Investigations’ Aspen on the web. Thomas found a Twitter account for Aspen named @TyphoonInvesti1, which had posted a link to Typhoon’s WordPress page that contained the document on Aug. 15.

    The profile picture for Aspen immediately showed signs of being a computer-generated image that can be created by computers and even some websites. Aspen’s ears were asymmetrical, for one, but his left eye is what gave away that he did not really exist. Aspen’s left iris juts out and appears to form a second pupil, a somewhat frequent error with computer-generated faces.

    “The most obvious tell was the irregular shape of the irises,” Thomas said. “The profile picture looks pretty convincing in the Twitter thumbnail, but when I popped it up into full view I was immediately suspicious.”

    Thomas then consulted with Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at the analytics company Graphika, who noted the other telltale sign of a computer-generated face.

    “One of the things he and his team have figured out is that if you layer a lot of these images over the top of one another, the eyes align,” Thomas said. “He did that with this image, and the eyes matched up.”

    Other parts of Aspen’s identity were clearly stolen from disparate parts of the web. Aspen’s Facebook page was created in August, and it featured only two pictures, both from his “new house,” which were tracked back to reviews on the travel website Tripadvisor. The logo for Typhoon Investigations was lifted from the Taiwan Fact-Checking Center, a digital literacy nonprofit.

    Aspen claimed on his LinkedIn profile to have worked for a company called Swiss Security Solutions from 2016 to 2020. Swiss Security Solutions denied having ever employed anyone named Aspen, and it said it had found fake accounts for two other people pretending to have worked for the company.

    “Martin Aspen was never a freelancer or worker of the Swiss Security Solutions. We do not know this person. According to our Due Diligence Software, this person does not exist in Switzerland,” Swiss Security Solutions Chairman Bojan Ilic said, adding that the company has reported the profile to LinkedIn.

    Fake faces

    Computer-generated faces have become a staple of large-scale disinformation operations in the run-up to the election. In December, Facebook took down a network of fake accounts using computer-created faces tied to The Epoch Times. Facebook removed over 600 accounts tied to the operation, which pushed pro-Trump messages and even served as moderators of some Facebook groups. Stephen Gregory, publisher of the U.S. editions of The Epoch Times, has denied any connection to the accounts.

    Last month, Facebook removed another batch of computer-generated profiles originating in China and the Philippines, some of which made anti-Trump posts.

    Renee DiResta, a researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory, said computer-created identities are becoming common for disinformation campaigns, in part because they are easy to create.

    DiResta, who helped examine a ring of AI-generated faces tied to the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA last month, said computer-generated profile pictures can be used to “build an army of fake people” to artificially support a cause or to make “disinformation operations harder to discover.”

    “One of the things that investigators look at to understand the narrative that is spreading is whether the accounts are authentic, whether they’re real,” DiResta said. “If they were to use a stock photo, it confirms something dishonest is likely happening. By using an AI-generated face, you’re guaranteeing you won’t find that person elsewhere on the internet.”

    CORRECTION (Oct 30, 2020. 11:19 a.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misstated Christopher Balding’s position at Fulbright University Vietnam. As of Thursday afternoon, the university had listed him as being currently employed, but later put out a statement saying he was a former professor. He is no longer an employee of the university as of Sept. 10, 2020

    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/how-fake-persona-laid-groundwork-hunter-biden-conspiracy-deluge-n1245387

  22. Portuguese Bishop Blames European ‘Prejudices’ for Islamist Terror Attack in France (breitbart, Oct 30, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2020/10/30/portuguese-bishop-blames-european-prejudices-for-islamist-terror-attack-in-france/

    “The bishop of Porto in Portugal, Manuel Linda, said Friday that Thursday’s lethal Islamist terror attack in Nice, France, was not due to Islamic animosity toward Christians but to European prejudice.

    “Yesterday’s attack on the cathedral in Nice is not Islam’s fight against Christianity,” Bishop Linda wrote on Twitter. “It is the result of the prejudices of those Europeans who not only do not foster intercultural and interreligious dialogue but are always at the ready to accuse religions.”

    On Thursday morning, a 21-year-old Tunisian immigrant named named Brahim Issaoui entered the basilica of Notre Dame in Nice, France, brandishing a knife with a six-inch blade along with a copy of the Quran. He proceeded to stab three people to death, one of whom he attempted to decapitate with the blade.

    According to eyewitnesses, Issaoui repeated “Allahu akbar” (Allah is greater) over and over during the attack.

    The reaction of the Portuguese bishop was diametrically opposed to that of Vatican Cardinal Robert Sarah, who denounced Islamism Thursday following the Nice terror attack, calling it a “monstrous fanaticism.”

    “Islamism is a monstrous fanaticism which must be battled with force and determination,” tweeted Cardinal Sarah, who heads up the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship.

    “It will not stop its war. Unfortunately, we Africans know this only too well,” wrote the cardinal, who hails from Guinea, an African nation where 85 percent of the population is Muslim. “The barbarians are always the enemies of peace.”

    “The West, today France, must understand this. Let us pray,” he said.”

  23. The laptop and the FBI investigation: The most interesting timeline you will see in 2020
    By J.E. Dyer October 30, 2020

    The laptop and the FBI investigation: The most interesting timeline you will see in 2020
    By J.E. Dyer October 30, 2020

    The opener is a report from James Rosen, now an independent journalist with Sinclair. The Department of Justice confirmed on Thursday that when the FBI subpoenaed the Hunter Biden laptop in December 2019, there was a related and ongoing FBI investigation in progress.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/10/30/the-laptop-and-the-fbi-investigation-the-most-interesting-timeline-you-will-see-in-2020/

  24. A new world order needs new relations and Japan wants Russia on its side to take on China

    • Rudi tells Chris Farrell what is going on and says that if Biden wins the Dems will go after both of them.

  25. Gravitas: China’s military aggression boosts demand for American weapons
    1,029 views
    •Oct 30, 2020

  26. Deported Parents Decline to be Reunited With Their Children

    We’ve heard a lot from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Democrats about the awful separation of children and parents when caught trying to enter into the United States, illegally.

    “545 families have been separated because of the Trump administration”.

    Joe Biden called it “criminal” during the debate last week.

    President Trump said they were trying very hard to find the parents and reunited the children.

    Surely they have been able to locate some of the parents by now, right?

    Well, they have.

    https://insidescooppolitics.com/archives/3003

  27. Knifeman shot dead in Avignon part of far-right group & made nazi-salute after waving handgun at passersby
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13052711/knifeman-avignon-guard-stabbed-saudi-terror/
    A KNIFEMAN shot dead in the French city of Avignon was part of a far-right group and made a Nazi-salute after waving a handgun at passersby, cops said.
    Police in the French city confirmed that the suspect was part of the Identarian Movement – a notoriously Islamophobic and anti-Muslim group with members all over Europe.
    It has a youth group called Generation Identity which operates in countries including France and Britain.
    A local police spokesman said: “He was nothing to do with Islam, and had not been shouting out religious slogans.
    “He refused to drop his weapon, and a flash-ball shot failed to stop him, so he was shot with live ammunition.
    “The suspect’s identity has now been confirmed and he was a member of the Identarian Movement.”
    The source said the man made a Nazi salute before being shot, and wore an Identarian Movement T-shirt, and carried a membership card.
    It was initially reported by French media this morning that a man had shouted “Allahu Akbar”, before he was killed – though this was refuted by local police.
    No other casualties were reported.

  28. 27 Oct 2020 Leaked papers outline UK govt’s secret training & PR op for Syrian militants projected to cost MILLIONS
    https://www.rt.com/uk/504673-leaks-uk-pr-syria/
    A swath of what appear to be secret Foreign & Commonwealth Office documents outline a multimillion-pound British effort to train rebel fighters in Syria via private companies, knowing but brushing off the risk of jihadist hijack.
    The documents released by the hacktivist collective Anonymous appear to expose a variety of covert actions undertaken by the UK government against the Syrian state over many years.
    The overriding objective behind them all, the papers suggest, was to destabilise the government of Bashar Assad, convince Syrians, Western citizens, foreign governments, and international bodies that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was a legitimate alternative, and flood media the world over with pro-opposition propaganda.
    The dimensions of the assorted information warfare operations implied in the papers, some of which have been detailed by Grayzone Project, were vast. In a representative example, “social enterprise” firm ARK, founded by veteran Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) operative Alistair Harris, “rebranded” the Syrian Military Council, “softening the Free Syrian Army’s image” in order to “distinguish it from extremist armed opposition groups and establish the image of a functioning, inclusive, disciplined and professional military body.”
    At least one cog in this cloak and dagger connivance was overtly militant in nature. At some point before August 2016, the FCO released a ‘statement of requirements’ for private contractors to run a programme to provide “training, equipment, and other forms of support” to the FSA’s ‘Southern Front’ coalition, to “foster a negotiated political transition, support moderate structures and groups in opposition held areas of Syria, counter violent extremism and prevent the establishment of a terrorist safe-haven.”
    Under its clandestine auspices, up to 600 belligerents were to be trained every year, to an indeterminate total – the endeavour was dubbed MAO B-FOR (Moderate Armed Opposition Border Force Capability Project), and forecast to cost the FCO £15,767,599.
    B-FOR’s ‘statement of requirements’ document sets out in succinct detail Whitehall’s objectives in pursuing the project.
    “The aim… is to generate pressure on the Assad regime and on extremists, in the south the country… If MAO border groups are better able to secure and maintain control of specific areas of responsibility across liberated near-border communities along Syria’s southern border with Jordan… the MAO will demonstrate its tangible value to the local and international community as an effective security actor… This will reinforce perceptions that there is a credible and effective moderate opposition able to provide support for an alternative pathway to political transition,” the project tender states.
    In practical terms, fighters in “international borders under MAO control” and “areas bordering MAO control under the control of another entity or under no control” – the Jordan-Syria border being the FCO’s “current priority area” – were intended to be “better able to control their AOR [areas of responsibility] through effective use of relevant tactics, operations, equipment, infrastructure, and ability to react to a changing tactical situation.”
    To this end, the UK government provided a “dedicated training site” in Jordan “at no cost” to project contractors. The site is situated 45 minutes from the Jordanian capital, Amman, according to an annotated Google Earth snapshot found among the leaked papers. The 600-acre expanse comprised “accommodation, ablution, dining, classrooms, driving track, outside rural environment areas, and open space for equipment storage solutions.” In particular, trainees were to be tutored in the effective use of AK-47s, PK machine guns, and pistols, with 175 fighters able to be accommodated on-site at a time, four weeks the maximum period they could be tutored there continuously.
    [..]

  29. How a killer was let into Europe: Islamist was allowed to leave Italian Covid quarantine after arriving from Tunisia on a smuggler’s boat and free to enter France by train with no checks
    Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, the Nice terror attacker, arrived in Europe via Lampedusa where he landed on Sep. 20
    Having been smuggled there, he was placed in coronavirus quarantine – first on the island, and then on a ship
    The quarantine ship sailed from Lamepdusa to Bari, where the migrants were disembarked on October 8
    Aoussaoui was handed a deportation order, but freed by Italian officials – who are under pressure to explain
    From there he travelled by train to France, skirting around border checks that could have seen him stopped
    It is thought he then spent several weeks in Paris, before catching a train to Nice on the morning of the attack
    Once in Nice, he made his way to the Notre Dame church where he launched his attack, killing three people
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8896593/Nice-terror-attack-Jihadist-seen-smiling-photo-taken-entered-Europe.html
    [..]