Reader’s Links for December 24, 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

59 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 24, 2020”

  1. “What we have to fight for is the necessary security for the existence and increase of our race and people, the subsistence of its children and the maintenance of our racial stock unmixed, the freedom and independence of the Fatherland so that our people may be enabled to fulfill the mission assigned to it by the Creator.”
    (Change a few nouns, and it can fit into any center-of-the-universe tribe).

    The dog eat dog worlds of Heavenly association:
    https://www.learnreligions.com/adolf-hitler-on-god-quotes-248193

  2. Ethiopian Military Reportedly Kills 42 People Involved in Deadly Benishangul-Gumuz Attack (sputniknews, Dec 24, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/africa/202012241081557090-ethiopia-deploys-forces-to-benishangul-gumuz-region-after-gunmen-kill-over-100-people-in-area/

    “Earlier, more than 100 civilians were killed as a result of a series of attacks by militants in Benishangul-Gumuz, a state in western Ethiopia.

    Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that forces had been deployed to the Benishangul-Gumuz region amid the attack.

    “The massacre of civilians in Benishangul-Gumuz region is very tragic,” Abiy Ahmed said on Twitter. “The government, to solve the root causes of the problem, has deployed a necessary force.”

    Ethiopia has arrested five senior local officials in connection with security in Benishangul-Gumuz region, according to the state news agency.

    Meanwhile, according to Fana TV, the military has killed 42 people involved in the attack on civilians in Benishangul-Gumuz region.

    On Tuesday, over 100 civilians were killed as a result of a series of attacks by militants in Ethiopia’s western state of Benishangul-Gumuz, an area where numerous ethnic groups live.
    The attackers reportedly targeted members of the Amhara community.

    Ethnic and religious conflicts among Ethiopians, which have led to the mass killing and displacements of citizens, are widespread across the country, especially in the so-called Metekel zone in the Benishangul-Gumuz region.

    According to the authorities, all conflicts across the country have been triggered by the activities of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party of the northern Tigray province that is in opposition to the Ethiopian government.

    In early November, the Ethiopian government launched a military operation in Tigray, accusing the TLFP of attacking a local military base to hijack weapons and arm anti-government militia. The government later claimed to have finished the operation with the capture of the region’s capital, Mekelle.”

  3. Deportees From Sweden Refuse Covid Testing to Avoid Expulsion (sputniknews, Dec 24, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202012241081556569-deportees-from-sweden-refuse-covid-testing-to-avoid-expulsion/

    “According to Swedish law, forcible testing is not allowed, which renders deportation technically unenforceable, as many of the destination countries require a negative Covid test. How long the “refuseniks” will remain in custody, remains unclear.

    Migrants with deportation orders have adopted the practice of refusing Covid-19 tests in the Swedish Migration Board’s detention centres, utilising a loophole in Swedish laws, the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported.

    The underlying reason is that many countries require a negative Covid test from the deportees. They include Afghanistan, one of the most frequent destinations for deportation from Sweden.

    In Sweden, there are no compulsory tests. The vast majority of Afghans who have been sentenced to deportation for crimes committed or due to their application turned down now therefore refuse the Covid-19 tests to postpone their deportation, Svenska Dagbladet reported.

    Those who already taken the test disavow its results, claiming that they have been deceived or forced into taking it, thus demanding that it should be considered invalid. They, too, are allowed to stay, due to inability to carry out the deportation decision.

    According to Border Police Chief Patrik Engström, this practice of refusal means that deportations to Afghanistan have in principle stopped. Forcible expulsion is possible, but you cannot coerce anyone take a test.

    The “refuseniks” who are in custody will remain there for the time being. It is unclear how long they will be kept locked up if they continue to refuse tests and their expulsion remains technically unenforceable.

    Of the several dozen Afghans slated for deportation to their home country last week, only 7 agreed to be tested for Covid-19, which means elevated costs for chartered aircraft.

    The Border Police are now discussing whether any deportations of more than one person at a time should be carried out to any country at all as long as the pandemic is raging.

    At well over 70,000 people, the Afghan diaspora ranks among Sweden’s largest and has grown steeply since the migrant crisis of 2015. In 2015, over 23,000 Afghans labelled as “unaccompanied children” sought asylum in Sweden, followed by another 2,000 in the first half of 2016. Many of them lacked identity documents, which raised hot discussions about their age.

    The future of the so-called Afghan children has long remained a bone of contention for the Swedish political establishment, with numerous interest groups, supported by left-wing parties, actively lobbying for total amnesty.”

  4. Questions raised over Toronto Police’s investigation in activist Karima Baloch death | WION News

  5. Human rights lawyer detained, family threatened; Leading US firms house CCP units: leaked database

  6. owa Dem seeking House intervention in lost election was on payroll of 2 Chinese firms
    Jonathan Garber
    4-5 minutes

    Iowa Democrat Rita Hart was on the payroll of two Chinese companies while running to represent the state’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives, a financial disclosure shows.

    Hart received $3,180 from Confucius International Education Group and $2,135 from Pangaea International Academy, both of which have ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The payments were discovered by Accuracy in Media when it was investigating a Federal Election Commission complaint against Hart.

    Confucius International Education Group (CIEG), based in Qingdao, China, is funded by Chinese state-run leasing company Far East Horizon, which has ties to the Youth Communist League.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/iowa-democrat-rita-hart-china-payrolls

  7. African Migrant Shipwreck off Tunisia Leaves at Least 20 Dead (breitbart, Dec 24, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2020/12/24/african-migrant-shipwreck-tunisia-leaves-least-20-dead/

    “At least 20 African migrants drowned Thursday when a dinghy carrying about 45 people sank off the coast of Tunisia.

    The small boat was attempting to cross the Strait of Sicily on Christmas Eve day to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa, a common point of arrival for African migrants attempting to enter Europe, according to Mohamed Zekri, spokesman for the Tunisian Defense Ministry.

    The Tunisian Coast Guard rescued five people who are in serious condition and was still searching for about 20 more who were still unaccounted for. A Coast Guard spokesman in Sfax, Ali al-Ayari, confirmed the migrants were all from sub-Saharan Africa.

    The official also noted that the dinghy sank about six miles off the coast of Sfax, a port city that has become a popular departure point for African migrants looking to get to Europe.

    On the same morning of December 24, nongovernmental organization Alarm Phone, which monitors migrant boats in the Mediterranean, reported that a craft fleeing Libya and carrying 65 people, including several children, was in trouble, adrift between the Tunisian Kerkennah islands and Lampedusa.

    The boat eventually reached Malta and was awaiting rescue.

    In noting news of the Tunisian shipwreck, Alarm Phone blamed the tragedy not on unscrupulous human traffickers, but on Europe. “Europe’s borders kill,” it said in a tweet.”

  8. Turkey’s central bank raises interest rate to 17% (abcnews, Dec 24, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-central-bank-raises-interest-rate-17-74894092

    “Turkey’s central bank raised the benchmark interest rate on Thursday for a second time in a row under its new chief.

    The bank announced after its Monetary Policy Committee meeting that it was raising the one-week repo rate — the rate by which it lends to commercial banks — by 200 basis points to 17%. The decision follows the November hike of 475 basis points.

    A bank statement said the hike was enacted “to implement a strong monetary tightening, in order to eliminate risks to the inflation outlook, contain inflation expectations and restore the disinflation process as soon as possible.”

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ousted the previous central bank chief in November, after the lira dipped to record lows and appointed Naci Agbal, a former finance minister, to the post.

    The former chief, Murat Uysal, had reduced interest rates from 2018 highs, in line with Erdogan’s aversion to high rates.

    Markets have responded positively to Agbal and his promise for more orthodox, tighter policy. The lira has strengthened against the dollar since then, following a months-long plunge due to concerns over the management of the economy and central bank reserves, the COVID-19 pandemic and diplomatic tensions…”

  9. The ‘Squad’ fires warning shot by shunning Pelosi on key party-line vote
    by Emily Brooks, Political Reporter | | December 22, 2020 02:28 PM
    4 minutes

    Members of the left-wing “Squad” went against Nancy Pelosi in what is usually a party-line rule vote, sending a message about their ability to flex power in a way that could challenge the House speaker in the new Congress.

    Before the House voted on a massive coronavirus aid package that was bundled with a fiscal 2021 government spending measure on Monday, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar attempted to block the bill from coming to the floor for debate. The group was protesting the leadership’s refusal to provide the standard 72 hours to review nearly 6,000 pages of legislation before it was considered on the House floor.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/squad-warning-shot-shun-pelosi

  10. Michigan AG threatens sanctions against lawyers who attempted to overturn election
    Chris Pandolfo
    4-5 minutes

    Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel will seek sanctions against attorney Sidney Powell and other lawyers she says made “intentional misrepresentations” in filing lawsuits to challenge the results of the Michigan presidential election.

    Speaking to reporters Tuesday, the attorney general said she also intends to pursue court costs and fees and to file complaints with the attorney grievance commission, the Detroit News reported. She will join the City of Detroit and an attorney for Wayne County voter Robert Davis in seeking sanctions against the lawyers representing Republicans in cases seeking to overturn the state election.

    President Donald Trump lost Michigan to President-elect Joe Biden by 154,000 votes. In the wake of the election, Powell and others made allegations of widespread voter fraud, and several lawsuits were filed that sought to prove those allegations in court and prevent the election from being certified. Those efforts were unsuccessful.

    https://www.theblaze.com/news/michigan-ag-sanctions-lawyers-overturn-election-?utm_source=theblaze-dailyAM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__AM%202020-12-24&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Daily%20AM

  11. Jihad at Christmas: “Coldly Kill Them with Hate and Rage”
    Richard Kemp
    9-11 minutes

    Pictured: Police stand at the site of a truck-ramming terrorist attack at a Christmas market on December 19, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

    This month, Islamic State terrorists released a “religious” song for Christmas, “Coldly Kill Them With Hate and Rage”. Taking the form of Islamic religious chant, the song, according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute, exhorts jihadists everywhere to murder non-Muslims, “pagans, atheists and polytheists”, from “West Africa all the way to east Asia… through air, land and sea”. Published on Telegram, the post includes the hashtag #MerryChristmas and a photograph of a Christmas tree with dynamite attached.

    Christmas is an attractive time for jihadists for three unattractive reasons. First and foremost, they are fighting a religious war and by far their numerically greatest enemies are Christians whose most prominent festival is Christmas. Second, large crowds joining festive events and filling shopping centres present a target-rich environment. Third, publicity: mass murder at this time of year guarantees additional outrage among Western countries and Christian communities everywhere. The Islamic State song enjoins its followers to “make their media cry and broadcast”. The propaganda value is particularly powerful for jihadists intent on recruiting and motivating fighters and funders for their cause and creating division between communities aimed at inciting vengeance attacks against their fellow Muslims.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16872/jihad-christmas

    • I personally prefer Oh Holy Night, but the religion of peace have their version of a Christmas song.

      Coldly kill them with hate and rage
      Coldly kill them with hate and rage
      They fought Islam day and night
      Vengeance fill the hearts and minds

      Coldly kill them with hate and rage
      Stab them, shoot them or a blast
      make their media cry, and broadcast
      The Khilafah ( the Caliphate, I.e. ISIS)

      Coldly kill them with hate and rage
      Raid them, to destroy their might
      It’s an order just to remind
      For you’re here after eye insight

      Coldly kill them with hate and rage
      We will keep on fighting for our den ( religion)
      Pagans, atheists and murtadeen (polytheists)
      Earn in Jannah (Paradise) a high degree, with your maidens under a tree

      It’s our only routine
      Coldly kill them with hate and rage
      The war did not even start
      Make sure you’re doing your part
      Aim your rifle right at their heart
      Coldly kill them with hate and rage.

      WARNING
      Do not be singing this song in Canada, after all we have M-103 our hate speech motion, so be forewarned.

      MERRY CHRISTMAS to all.

  12. Lawmakers on Both Sides Block Changes to CCP Virus Bill
    By Bowen Xiao
    December 24, 2020 Updated: December 24, 2020
    biggersmaller Print

    There were multiple attempts on Thursday from both Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives to amend the pandemic aid and government spending package, after President Donald Trump’s surprise demand for more stimulus money for U.S. citizens.

    One of Trump’s requests was to increase direct payments to Americans from $600 to $2,000 per person, which Democrats attempted to approve on Thursday. Republicans who opposed the higher amount blocked that effort.

    Republicans then moved to change the amount of foreign aid included in the package, but Democrats ended up blocking that request as well. Trump, in his announcement, had objected to the millions in foreign aid. The House then adjourned for the day.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/lawmakers-on-both-sides-block-changes-to-ccp-virus-bill_3631614.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-24-1

  13. CCP Virus Variant in UK Spreads Over 50 Percent Faster: Study
    By Simon Veazey
    4-5 minutes

    The new strain of the CCP virus that emerged in the UK spreads over 50 percent faster and could make up nine out of 10 cases in the southeast of England by mid-January, according to a preliminary study.

    The study (pdf), by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, used mathematical modeling to project the spread of the new strain in the southeast quarter of the country where it is already beginning to dominate.

    “We estimate the transmission rate of this variant is 50-74 percent higher than existing variants,” said study author Dr. Nick Davies.

    Echoing comments made by government scientists, he said that the study provided “no clear evidence it leads to higher rates of hospitalisation or death.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/ccp-virus-variant-in-uk-spreads-over-50-percent-faster-study_3631533.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-24-1

  14. The Real Stakes of the War on Christmas – Frontpagemag
    Bruce Thornton
    8-10 minutes

    If only Americans would “listen to the science” and stop believing in “superstitions.”

    Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

    This year the annual attacks on Christmas went beyond complaints about holiday salutations or public creches. Blue-state governors and mayors like California’s Gavin Newsom and government clerks like Anthony Fauci have issued diktats forbidding even private celebrations of Christmas by more than one family at a time. These orders follow on this year’s lockdown protocols that made liquor stores, pot dispensaries, and violent protests “essential,” while church services were verboten.

    These assaults on faith illustrate how far secularism has infiltrated our culture. And although in some states the Supreme Court has struck down such restrictions on the First Amendment’s freedoms of religion and assembly, this tactical victory will not stop the strategic advances being made by those who want to remove God from public life in order to monopolize the authority to tell us how we should live and what we should believe.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/real-stakes-war-christmas-bruce-thornton/

  15. The Sovietization of Amerika’s Most Populous State – Frontpagemag
    Dennis Prager
    5-7 minutes

    A country split into divided states of either liberty or contempt for liberty.

    I am writing this column upon returning home to California after five days in Florida. For the first time since my first trip to Los Angeles in 1974 and moving there two years later, I dreaded going to California.

    That first trip, as a 25-year-old New Yorker, I experienced the palpable excitement looking at the American Airlines flight board at JFK airport and seeing “Los Angeles.” For most Americans, the very name “California” elicited excitement, wonder, even envy of Californians, and most of all … freedom. While America always represented freedom, within America, California exemplified freedom most of all.

  16. With Politicians Like These, Who Needs the Joker?

    It’s not the virus, but politicians, who’ve devastated the world.
    Thu Dec 24, 2020 Bosch Fawstin

    I was thinking about criminals like New York’s Cuomo and California’s Newsom, and how they now feel that they can do whatever the hell they want, to be as irrational as they want, and do what they forbid others to do, and that led me to think about super villains in comic books, and how they threaten to shut down cities, to everyone’s fear, and I drew up this cartoon. Even the mad Joker thinks that these politicians are crazy, as shutting down cities is his thing. These politicians of ours are now in the habit of doing whatever they want, no matter how destructive it is to Americans.

    And I haven’t forgotten the leftists in politics and media who always fear-monger over impending government shutdowns, with sob stories about how government workers would suffer, which was a Complete Lie, as only about 17% of government is shutdown during government “shutdowns”, and most government workers are paid during them. It further damns the politicians and media who are all for private sector shutdowns, even though the consequences are devastating for business owners, as thousands of businesses have been pummeled out of existence over unnecessary shutdowns. If Walmart and other large stores can remain open through a pandemic, with many people coming in and out, then NO smaller business, with less people, should have ever been shut down.

    At this point, I think many angry Americans are good and ready for a truly necessary shutdown that we can all get behind, and that’s a massive government shutdown.

    Cartoon at site

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/politicians-these-who-needs-joker-bosch-fawstin/

  17. Pelosi and Schumer Agree to Trump’s Demand for $2,000 Stimulus Checks
    By Ivan Pentchoukov
    3-4 minutes

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) signaled that they are open to increasing the amount for the stimulus checks after President Donald Trump threatened to veto the COVID relief bill unless the direct payment was increased to $2,000 per individual.

    “Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks. At last, the President has agreed to $2,000—Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it!” Pelosi wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

    “We spent months trying to secure $2,000 checks but Republicans blocked it. Trump needs to sign the bill to help people and keep the government open and we’re glad to pass more aid Americans need. Maybe Trump can finally make himself useful and get Republicans not to block it again,” Schumer wrote on Twitter shortly after Pelosi issued her message.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/pelosi-and-schumer-agree-to-trumps-demand-for-2000-stimulus-checks_3629856.html?utm_source=CCPVirusNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-12-23

  18. (Richard: This makes sense if you step back and remember Iran wants chaos in the US, this is one way to ensure it.)

    FBI links Iran to online hit list targeting top officials who’ve refuted Trump’s election fraud claims
    Ellen Nakashima, Amy Gardner, Aaron Davis 1 day ago
    VIRUS TODAY: Relief bill in limbo, California hits 2M cases
    US Congress fails to agree to boost stimulus checks
    The Washington Post logo FBI links Iran to online hit list targeting top officials who’ve refuted Trump’s election fraud claims

    The FBI has concluded that Iran was behind online efforts earlier this month to incite lethal violence against the bureau’s director, a former top U.S. cyber expert and multiple state elections officials who have refuted claims of widespread voter fraud promoted by President Trump and his allies, federal and state officials said Tuesday.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fbi-links-iran-to-online-hit-list-targeting-top-officials-whove-refuted-trumps-election-fraud-claims/ar-BB1c9KhM?li=BBnb7Kz&utm_source=RC+Investigations+Today&utm_campaign=7dd123300a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d042379c8d-7dd123300a-85695671&mc_cid=7dd123300a&mc_eid=c4a952ab77

    • Iran swims in the same raw sewage as the WaPo and the rest of the enemedia. Echoing talking points of dubious FBI spokes-holes.

  19. Not the Turkish Army but either one of Meral Aksener and Canan Kaftancioglu will overthrow Erdogan

    • This channel is a primary source on Indian (Modi-majority India) attitude. Current affairs as myth, just as Bollywood treats Indian history as epic poetry.

      Soap operas framed as topical geopolitics: a cast of characters playing familiar roles in ever-changing adventures; high drama that resolves in ways that satisfy the audience. The themes are consistent and genuine, the stories may not be. “Facts” in politics are always selective truth; they’re transient, thus not all that important.

      Who cares whether or not the filthy Turk faces real political threats – he doesn’t, he neutralizes every shadow of opposition – but it’s fun to think of him sweating over a couple of female politicos.

      It’ll be interesting to watch minor characters evolve. Iran, Saudi, Israel?

  20. Gravitas: Japan’s Deputy Defence Minister: China and WHO needs to tell us what’s going on

  21. Iran Builds Up Air Defense Systems Near Nuclear Sites Over Possible US Strikes, Reports Claim
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202012241081564274-iran-builds-up-air-defense-systems-near-nuclear-sites-over-possible-us-strikes-reports-claim/

    “Iran is strengthening air defense systems located near its nuclear facilities as a precaution against possible US missile strikes, the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper reported on Thursday, citing informed sources from Iran…”

  22. Seven Troops, 11 ‘Terrorists’ Killed in Niger Ahead of Vote
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/12/24/troops-terrorists-killed-niger/

    “Seven troops and 11 suspected jihadists have died in clashes in a troubled western region of Niger ahead of elections this weekend, the defense ministry said Thursday.

    An army patrol in the Taroun area in the Tillaberi region was ambushed early Monday morning by “heavily armed terrorists” traveling aboard motorbikes and other vehicles, it said in a statement, using a term that typically denotes jihadists.

    The country, the poorest in the world by the benchmark of the UN’s Human Development Index, is to stage presidential and legislative elections on Sunday.

    The statement said seven troops died and two others and a civilian were injured, while 11 attackers were killed, seven of them after the army launched a “spontaneous riposte.”

    “Motorbikes and weapons were seized. Followup operations are under way in the area,” it said.

    Tillaberi is located in the so-called tri-border area, a jihadist-plagued zone where the porous borders of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso converge.

    Travel by motorbike has been banned there since January in a bid to prevent incursions by highly mobile jihadists riding on two wheels…”

  23. Era of ‘Economic War’ against Iran Over: President Rouhani
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/12/24/2417256/era-of-economic-war-against-iran-over-president-rouhani

    “Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the era of the US-led “economic war” on the Islamic Republic has come to an end.

    “Once the US ends the sanctions, it would in fact (be) an end to its crimes (against the Iranian nation),” Rouhani said on Thursday while opening several Oil Ministry projects via video links.

    He added that the launch of such economic plans is a major blow to arrogant powers as they have always been seeking to shutter businesses in Iran.

    The era of “economic war” against Iran has ended as the one who waged this war is in the last days of his political life, Rouhani further said in an apparent reference to outgoing US President Donald Trump.

    Promising days are awaiting the Iranian people, the president said, noting this can be achieved through political unity and under the guidance of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei…”

  24. Wife of Jailed Kurdish Leader Hails European Release Ruling, Demands Turkish Reforms
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2701631/wife-jailed-kurdish-leader-hails-european-release-ruling-demands-turkish

    “The wife of detained Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas said on Thursday she expected Turkey to comply with a call from Europe’s top rights court to free him, but that the country’s overall legal system still needed to be fixed.

    The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday that Selahattin Demirtas, former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), must be freed immediately.

    The court said Turkey’s justification for his detention longer than four years on terrorism-related offences was a pretext for limiting political debate – a ruling dismissed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    “The issue is not only about Selahattin. The whole judicial system needs to be fixed,” Basak Demirtas told Reuters…”

  25. Iran says US approved funds transfer to buy COVID vaccines
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201224-iran-says-us-approved-funds-transfer-to-buy-covid-vaccines/

    “Iran has won US approval to transfer funds for coronavirus vaccines from overseas, the central bank chief said on Thursday, as its daily death toll fell to a three-month low, Reuters reports.

    Central Bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said an Iranian bank had received approval from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to transfer the money to a Swiss bank to pay for the vaccines.

    “They (Americans) have put sanctions on all our banks. They accepted this one case under the pressure of world public opinion,” Hemmati told state TV.

    Hemmati said Iran would pay around $244 million for initial imports of 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, a multi-agency group dedicated to assuring fair access to vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.

    Iranian officials have said repeatedly that US sanctions were preventing them from making payments to COVAX, to which some 190 economies have signed up…”

  26. Afghan women’s rights activist shot dead
    https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/12/24/afghan-womens-rights-activist-shot-dead

    “Gunmen on motorbike shot dead a women’s rights activist and her brother north of Afghanistan’s capital on Thursday, officials said, as a wave of assassinations ravages the violence-wracked country.

    Freshta Kohistani, aged 29, was the second activist to be killed in two days after a prominent pro-democracy advocate was gunned down in Kabul on Wednesday.

    Their murders follow a similar pattern seen in recent weeks, in which prominent Afghans have died in targeted killings in broad daylight, several of them in the capital.

    “Unknown gunmen on motorbike assassinated Freshta Kohistani in Kohistan district of Kapisa province,” interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian told reporters.

    Kapisa provincial governor Abdul Latif Murad told AFP that the shooting had taken place near Kohistani’s home and that her brother was also killed in the attack.

    Kohistani had enjoyed a relatively large following on social media, and regularly organized civil society events in Kabul calling for women’s rights. She was married and had one child.

    Days before her death, she wrote on Facebook that she had asked for protection from the authorities after receiving threats.

    She had also condemned the ongoing wave of assassinations of journalists and other prominent figures…”

  27. Wisdom, science seen in Islamic civilisation
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2277048/wisdom-science-seen-in-islamic-civilisation

    “A two-day global Al-Farabi Forum concluded on Tuesday with national and international experts emphasising on regaining the golden age of Islam by excelling in science, technology and innovation.

    The event, organised by COMSTECH and the government of Kazakhstan, was inaugurated by President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday.

    In the concluding session of the forum, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Rector Dr Galimkair Mutanov said that the most important task for humanity in this world is to recognise the Creator who made him conscious, adding that wisdom and science are reflected in Islamic civilisation. “Unfortunately, the golden age of Islamic scientific glory is not appreciated today,” he lamented.

    Dr Mutanov informed that the reason behind the decline of Islamic societies is the distance from faith. “Islamic countries have lost education and science while extremism is increasing,” he noted, suggesting that we should pay special attention to the golden age of Islam and define the issues raised in Islamic philosophy in relation to religion and science.

    His address was followed by an hour-long panel discussion on factors responsible for the current decline of science, technology, philosophy and economy in the Muslim world with Dr Ehsan Masood from the United Kingdom, Dr Syed Nomanul Haq, Dr Ghazna Khalid and Dr Iqbal Choudhary while Dr Khurshid Hasnain moderated the session.”

    • “Donald Trump Vlog: Contesting Election Results – December 22, 2020” Factbase Videos – December 23, 2020

    • Video #2 “ELECTION STEAL – General Exposes REAL Vote Fraud”
      The New American Video – November 11, 2020