Reader’s Links for January 18, 2021

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

94 Replies to “Reader’s Links for January 18, 2021”

  1. It’s come to this: Cancel culture demands Harvard rescind degrees of Trump officials, allies – Liberty Unyielding
    Ben Bowles Ben Bowles is a freelance writer and regular contributor to “Liberty Unyielding.”
    3 minutes

    It’s come to this: Cancel culture demands Harvard rescind degrees of Trump officials, allies

    Harvard University

    Give the cancel culturists credit. Not content to limit their destruction to statues and other likenesses of notable Americans of the past — think George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln — they are now looking to rewrite the histories of living Americans. (RELATED: Macaulay Culkin supports calls to have Trump cameo edited out of ‘Home Alone 2’)

    A petition being circulated at Harvard University seeks to rescind the degrees of “over a dozen Harvard graduates [who] worked hard to spread the disinformation and mistrust that created last Wednesday’s insurrection.” The document names names including White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas). An even longer list of “graduates who have gone on to lead, advise, and staff the Trump administration” appears in the Harvard Crimson, the school student newspaper.

    Harvard Letter 2021 by FOX Business

    George Washington University Law Prof. Jonathan Turley notes that the witch hunt to ferret out white supremacists is not limited to this latest effort, writing:

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/01/18/its-come-to-this-cancel-culture-demands-harvard-rescind-degrees-of-trump-officials-allies/

  2. Report: Russia Sponsored Syrian-Israeli Meeting on Removing Iranian Forces

    https://www.jewishpress.com/news/middle-east/syria/report-russia-sponsored-syrian-israeli-meeting-on-removing-iranian-forces/2021/01/18/
    ………..
    Interesting … another of those “Russia the neutral mediator” plays that Putin loves.

    Israel may have to rely on Russia in the UN if – G-d forbid – a Pretender Regime is installed. Russia just putting out friendly feelers right now.

  3. Twitter suspends GOP rep for questioning results of Ga. Senate runoff – Liberty Unyielding
    LU Staff
    3-4 minutes

    Twitter suspends GOP rep for questioning results of Ga. Senate runoff

    Marjorie Taylor Greene (Image: YouTube screen grab)

    Last week, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania asserted that claiming the 2020 election in his state was rigged was against the law. “This idea that … Pennsylvania was ‘rigged’ or that we were ‘trying to steal the election’ — that’s a lie,” said Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, adding, “And you do not have the right, that is not protected speech.”

    Now it appears that another branch of the government — social media — has even more Draconian laws. The New York Post reports:

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/01/18/twitter-suspends-gop-rep-for-questioning-results-of-ga-senate-runoff/

  4. A Peaceful Transition of Power By Force: What Are the Odds?
    People’s Pundit Daily – Stream live 2 hours ago

  5. Nigeria Army Retakes Military Base in Borno From ISWAP Jihadists
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/01/18/nigeria-army-retakes-base-jihadists/

    “Nigerian troops regained control of a military base in the northeast hours after it was seized by jihadists, sources told AFP on Sunday.

    Jihadists aligned with the Islamic State militant group captured the base in Borno state on Saturday, after launching raids earlier in the week.

    Officials blamed the violence on Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a group that split from Boko Haram in 2016.

    The army has claimed some success recently, destroying at least one of the group’s camps located on islands in Lake Chad, on the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad.

    An army statement Saturday evening said its troops along with the air force had “effectively destroyed seven Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists’ gun trucks” and killed several of the fighters. “The troops are still engaged in pursuit of the fleeing terrorists,” the statement added.

    Sources told AFP on Sunday that the army had regained control of the base and the jihadists had left Marte, the town where the base is located.

    However, the barracks were completely burnt and the jihadists made off with weaponry and vehicles.

    Seven soldiers were killed during the fighting and eight others captured, sources said.”

  6. Yemen Clashes Near Hodeida Kill 150 in a Week: Military Sources
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/01/18/yemen-hodeida-clashes-kill-150/

    “Some 150 Yemeni pro-government soldiers and Houthi rebels have been killed in a week of fighting south of the strategic port city of Hodeida, military sources said Monday.

    Impoverished Yemen is mired in a devastating conflict between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces backed by Saudi Arabia that has left tens of thousands dead and sparked a dire humanitarian crisis.

    The latest clashes in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida are the most violent since a truce negotiated in the area by the UN came into force in 2018.

    The rebels, who hold Hodeida, have attacked to the south of the city where pro-government forces maintain positions, pro-government military sources said.

    “The toll for losses on the two sides has reached around 150 dead and 260 wounded,” an official of the pro-government forces told AFP. The toll was confirmed by a local official on the rebel side.

    The clashes had so far not resulted in any territorial gains for the rebels, residents said.

    After fierce fighting on Saturday and Sunday, the intensity of clashes cooled early Monday.

    Pro-government forces have suffered 27 fatalities and killed 44 rebels in countering “several assaults” by the rebels, two other pro-government sources said.

    Medics and rescue workers said that military fatalities on the two sides had reached a total of 70 between Saturday and Sunday…”

  7. Iran, Turkey Ink 3 Railroad Deals
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2021/01/18/2435065/iran-turkey-ink-3-railroad-deals

    “Iran and Turkey have signed three new agreements on railroad transport, the managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways said.

    Saeed Rasouli said the three agreements are aimed at maximizing the capacity of railroad travels and freight services between the two neighbors.

    He also noted that Tehran and Ankara have agreed to strengthen an east-west corridor that links China to Turkey through Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran…”

  8. ISIS Landmines Kill 10 Russia-backed Fighters in Syria’s Homs
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2749156/isis-landmines-kill-10-russia-backed-fighters-syria%E2%80%99s-homs

    “Ten Russia-backed fighters were killed when ISIS landmines exploded in al-Tayba area in al-Sukhna, in Syria’s eastern Homs countryside near the administrative border with the Deir Ezzor province.

    Meanwhile, Russian warplanes carried out on Sunday 40 airstrikes targeting ISIS positions in Aleppo, Hama and Raqqa.

    The Russia-backed forces launched a security campaign in the deserts of Deir Ezzor and Homs, where forces from the al-Quds Brigade, 5th Corps and National Defense militias continue to comb the area from Kabajib and al-Shoula to al-Sukhna, in an attempt to secure the Deir Ezzor-Homs road.

    ISIS has recently increased its attacks against regime forces, killing and injuring dozens…”

  9. Seven UN Members Lose Right to Vote over Unpaid Dues
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2749696/seven-un-members-lose-right-vote-over-unpaid-dues

    “Seven countries including Iran have lost their right to vote in the UN General Assembly because of unpaid dues, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday.

    The UN charter calls for such a voting rights suspension for countries whose arrears equal or surpass the amount of the contributions due from them to UN coffers in the previous two years.

    The other six countries are Niger, Libya, the Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, Guterres said in a letter to the president of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir of Turkey.

    The letter spells out an amount each country can pay, short of their total debt, to recover their right to vote.

    Iran, for instance, needs to pay at least $16.2 million.

    The UN’s budget is around $3.2 billion per year. The budget for peacekeeping operations is separate and totals around $6.5 billion.”

  10. Incoming Biden official calls for reversal of Houthi terror designation
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-biden-houthi-sullivan-reversal-terror-designation

    “The outgoing Trump administration’s decision to classify Yemen’s Houthi rebels as terrorists will only cause more suffering for the people of that war-torn nation, Joe Biden’s nominee for national security advisor said Saturday.

    The rebels control much of Yemen and have faced a military offensive led by Saudi Arabia, with millions in Yemen depending on aid to survive.

    Designating the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, a terrorist group is expected to halt many transactions with Houthi authorities, including bank transfers, payments for medical personnel and for food and fuel, due to fears of US prosecution.

    “Houthi commanders need to be held accountable, but designating the whole organisation will only inflict more suffering on Yemeni people and impede diplomacy critical to end the war,” Biden’s pick for national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, tweeted.

    The designation is set to come into force on 19 January, the eve of the inauguration of Biden, whose aides had hoped to mount a fresh push to end Yemen’s six-year war.

    It is also seen as complicating the incoming US leader’s promised efforts to restart diplomacy with Iran, which has links to the Houthis.

    The terrorist classification has drawn criticism from the United Nations, aid groups, the European Union and many others over fears it will exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

    “What is the likely humanitarian impact? The answer is a large-scale famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years,” Mark Lowcock, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said Thursday.

    Lowcock said exemptions to allow aid agencies to deliver supplies, as suggested by Washington, would not be sufficient to avoid a famine, adding “what would prevent it? A reversal of the decision.”

    The Trump administration’s decision has had a mixed reception in Yemen, with some supporters of Saudi-backed President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi accusing UN officials opposed to the terrorism designation of taking the side of the Houthis, while others have raised fears that the move would only make the situation worse for the country’s already struggling population.”

  11. Turkey will not deport journalist Mohammad Mosaed to Iran, sources say
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-iran-journalist-mohammad-mosaed-not-deport

    “Turkey will not hand Iranian journalist Mohammad Mosaed back to Tehran after illegally crossing the border, and will keep him in a deportation centre until his application for international protection is resolved, Turkish security sources have told Middle East Eye.

    On Monday, press freedom watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Mosaed had contacted the group the day before after being detained by Turkish police.

    Mosaed had just crossed into Turkey from Iran near the eastern city of Van, and the CPJ issued a statement warning that his life could be in danger if he was deported.

    MEE’s sources said Mosaed was detained after he called the emergency services on Sunday and asked for help because he was about to freeze to death.

    “We simply won’t deport him, because there is capital punishment in Iran and he is a journalist, not a mobster,” a Turkish security source said…”

  12. Tunisia arrests more than 600 after three days of unrest
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/tunisia-600-arrested-three-days-unrest

    “Tunisian authorities arrested more than 600 people during a recent bout of social unrest sparked by the country’s economic crisis, which has been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Interior ministry spokesman Khaled Hayouni said on Monday that 632 people had been arrested, notably “groups of people between the ages of 15, 20 and 25 who burned tyres and bins to block the movement of security forces” during protests.

    Meanwhile, Amnesty International said the majority of those arrested were minors aged between 14 and 15.

    Monday marked the third consecutive night of protests, mostly by young people in working-class districts of several cities. ..”

  13. Yemen: UN envoy accused of working to legitimise ‘Houthi coup’
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210118-yemen-un-envoy-accused-of-working-to-legitimise-houthi-coup/

    “The Undersecretary of Yemen’s Information Ministry accused UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths on Sunday of working to legitimise the “Houthi coup” in the country, Russia Today has reported.

    “The UN envoy is trying to promote a distorted peace and seeks to deflect the UN role aimed at implementing Security Council resolutions,” said Fayyad Al-Nu’man. He added that Griffiths has been unable, for more than two years, to extract from the Houthis even one recognition of his mission which is to implement international decisions. “The only success that Griffiths has achieved is that he seeks with all his powers to legitimise a terrorist group’s coup against a UN member state.”

    The Yemeni official said the envoy’s deviation from his role to find real mechanisms to implement UN resolutions on Yemen places question marks on his suspicious course in providing free services to the Houthis. This, said Al-Nu’man, allows them to continue committing war crimes against the Yemenis. He stressed that the government and the Arab coalition must deal carefully with the envoy’s proposals.

    Griffiths was appointed as UN special envoy to Yemen In early 2018. However, over the past two years he has not been able to make any real progress towards ending the six-year war.”

  14. French Muslim leaders approve charter for Macron’s religious reforms
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210118-french-muslim-leaders-approve-charter-for-macrons-religious-reforms/

    “French Muslim leaders approved a “charter of principles” on Saturday as part of President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to eradicate so-called “Islamist separatism” in the country. The charter was drawn up, at Macron’s urging, by the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) after the gruesome murder of a schoolteacher who showed satirical cartoons of Prophet Muhammad to students.

    The document enshrines French secular values within the practice of Islam in France and ties signatories to upholding state values, including the rejection of extremist Islamist ideals and the recognition of equality between the sexes. It also rejects political Islam, known as Islamism, and defines adherents of the latter as followers of Salafism or Wahhabism, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tablighi Jamaat movement.

    The terms of the charter say that imams must commit to accepting equality of the sexes and teaching followers that “certain cultural practices do not stem from Islam”, reported the Times. Such cultural practices, it pointed out, include female genital mutilation, forced marriage and the use of so-called virginity certificates.

    Signatories to the charter should “condemn all forms of racism, discrimination and hatred”, including anti-Semitism, homophobia and misogyny. Mosques, the text warns, “are not created for the spreading of nationalist speech defending foreign regimes.”

    CFCM President Mohammed Moussaoui said on Twitter yesterday: “This charter reaffirms the compatibility of the Muslim faith with the principles of the republic, including secularism, and the commitment of French Muslims to their complete citizenship. It will be shared with imams and regional Muslim leaders with a view to the widest possible consultation and membership.”

    The document was apparently drafted in six weeks, after Macron urged the CFCM leadership to produce something declaring French Muslims’ commitment to the state’s secular values. The push came after Macron claimed that Islam is a religion “experiencing a crisis across the world.”

    Macron’s government is pushing through legislation to combat Islamist radicalism and tighten laws on religious education and issues such as polygamy. It has also cracked down on mosques and closed nine Muslim places of worship in recent weeks.

    Tensions between the government and Muslim countries have flared in recent months, after Macron’s controversial comments about Islam. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described his French counterpart as “a burden on France” in December after urging citizens to boycott French goods. Anti-Macron protests were also held in Pakistan and several Arab states late last year in response to the French leader’s remarks.”

  15. Pakistan Army surpasses Israel, Canada to become 10th most powerful in world
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2280441/pakistan-army-surpasses-israel-canada-to-become-10th-most-powerful-in-world

    “Pakistan Army has been ranked the 10th most powerful in the world out of 133 countries on the Global Firepower index 2021, according to data released by the group on its official website.

    The list by Global Firepower (GFP) relies on more than 50 factors to determine a nation’s PowerIndex (‘PwrIndx’) score with categories ranging from military might and financials to logistical capability and geography.

    In the annual GFP review of 2021, Pakistan Armed Forces scored 0.2083 with 0.000 being the perfect score in the list. With a huge jump of five places leaving behind Israel, Canada, Iran and Indonesia in the process, Pakistan is the only country in the top 15 which improved its ranking.

    Currently, the country dedicates $7 billion from its annual budget for defence purposes.

    The United States military was ranked the most powerful armed force in the world, closely followed by Russia and China. India retained the fourth slot while Angola, Bulgaria and Syria declined in the ranking.

    Turkey, Italy, Egypt, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Australia were also among prominent militaries which were beaten by Pakistan military in the rankings.”

  16. German police detain 23 illegal migrants, hand them over Czechia
    https://rmx.news/article/article/german-police-detain-23-migrants-hand-them-over-czechia

    “German police discovered 23 migrants in three vans they stopped near the town of Selb near the border with the Czech Republic. Twenty men and three women were “crammed into a very small space,” the DPA news agency reported. All migrants and three smugglers were handed over to the Czech Republic.

    Police checked the vans on Friday on the A93 motorway between the towns of Selb and Rehau, which lie five and ten kilometers, respectively, from the Czech town of Aš. According to the German police, migrants and their smugglers were from Moldova. Two smugglers had a criminal record in Germany for theft.

    In addition to the people, the police also found work clothes and a forged Romanian ID and driver’s licenses in the vans.

    According to police, the trio of smugglers brought 23 people to Germany via Poland and Czechia. All 26 people were handed over by the federal police to the Czech authorities. According to the DPA agency, three men aged 20, 33, and 38 will be charged with trafficking in the Czech Republic.”