Reader’s Links for February 9, 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

103 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 9, 2021”

  1. Tehran Protests to Belgium over Iranian Envoy’s Bomb Plot Case
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2795236/tehran-protests-belgium-over-iranian-envoys-bomb-plot-case

    “Iran on Tuesday summoned Belgium’s ambassador in Tehran over the conviction of an Iranian diplomat in a Belgian court on charges of planning to bomb an exiled opposition rally near Paris, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

    On Thursday, Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in the European Union since Iran’s 1979 revolution.

    Belgian prosecution lawyers and civil parties to the prosecution said Assadi was found guilty of attempted terrorism over the 2018 plot, which was foiled by German, French and Belgian police.

    “The Antwerp Court ruling violates international law and ignores Belgium’s obligations to the Republic of Iran, therefore Iran does not recognize it in any way,” IRNA quoted an Iranian foreign ministry official as telling the ambassador.

    Three other Iranians were jailed for 15, 17 and 18 years in the trial for their role as accomplices.”

  2. Houthis Threaten Christians in Yemen with Same Fate as Priest Detained for 4 Years
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2795051/houthis-threaten-christians-yemen-same-fate-priest-detained-4-years

    “Christians in Yemen have become the latest targets of the Iran-backed Houthi militias’ oppression. Jews and Baha’is have long been oppressed by the militias.

    Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that priest Musheer Khulaidi, 50, has been held by the militias’ intelligence detention center for four years.

    The numbers of Jews in Yemen have been dwindling with the Houthis insisting on deporting the last two remaining families from Sanaa. The militias have already expelled the leaders of the Baha’i sect, while 19 others are standing trial in spite of an amnesty they received last year following four years of trials.

    Sources in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis have specifically been targeting Yemeni Christians, arresting several, including Khulaidi, who has been tortured in jail. Houthi intelligence has also been investigating other figures to determine their religious beliefs.

    The majority of Yemeni Christians have already fled the country…”

  3. Iraq Hangs 5 Men Convicted of Terrorism, Sources Say
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2795261/iraq-hangs-5-men-convicted-terrorism-sources-say

    “Iraq on Tuesday hanged five people convicted of terrorism charges, local security officials said according to Reuters.

    All those executed at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah were Iraqi nationals, said one source who attended.

    A second security source who is part of a team in charge of handing over bodies to their relatives confirmed the details.

    The sources gave no details of the crimes that the men had been convicted of.

    Another Iraqi man, convicted of murder, was also hanged on Tuesday, the sources said.

    Iraq has put hundreds of suspected extremists on trial and carried out several mass executions since defeating ISIS fighters in a US-backed military campaign in 2014-2017.

    On Nov. 16, Iraq hanged 21 convicted terrorists and murderers, including people involved in two suicide attacks that killed dozens of people in a northern town.

    Human rights groups have accused authorities in Baghdad and other Iraqi regions of inconsistencies in the judicial process and flawed trials leading to unfair convictions. Iraq says its trials are fair.”

  4. New app Clubhouse becomes free speech haven in Turkey amid Bogazici protests
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-clubhouse-bogazici-protests-free-speech

    “When Turkish police surrounded Bogazici University earlier this month, it issued a warning. Remove the blockade on the rector’s office or face arrest. It looked like the end was near – yet people all over the country had their eyes peeled on the demonstrations, looking for more information than traditional media could give them.

    That’s when Clubhouse came in.

    Students have been protesting for around a month against the appointment of ruling party loyalist Melih Bulu as rector by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling it undemocratic, since Bulu is the first rector to be appointed from outside a university since a military coup in 1980.

    While protesters have used YouTube, Twitter and other social media platforms, they have also begun using something novel to disseminate their messages: new audio-only social media app Clubhouse…”

  5. Saudi Arabia says regional states must be part of Iran nuclear talks
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-says-regional-states-must-be-part-iran-nuclear-talks

    “The Saudi government has called for regional countries to be part of any negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme, demanding that the international community confront what it called Tehran’s aggression.

    In a lengthy statement released after a virtual cabinet meeting headed by King Salman on Tuesday, Riyadh also condemned Yemen’s Houthi rebels and welcomed Washington’s commitment to the kingdom’s security. However, it failed to comment on the US decision to end logistics support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen.

    “The cabinet renewed the kingdom’s demand for the international community to shoulder its responsibility towards the aggressive practices of the Iranian regime… including threatening the security and stability of Arab states and interfering in their affairs and supporting armed groups,” the statement, published by official Saudi press agency SPA, said.

    “And it stresses the importance that the countries most affected by Iranian threats must be a party to any international negotiations about Iran’s nuclear programme and behaviors that threaten the security of the region.”

    The statement comes weeks into the administration of US President Joe Biden, who had vowed to revive the Iran nuclear deal that was nixed by his predecessor, Donald Trump…”

  6. Algeria: army accuses local and foreign groups of destabilising country
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210209-algeria-army-accuses-local-and-foreign-groups-of-destabilising-country/

    “An editorial in this month’s issue of Algeria’s Army Magazine has accused local and foreign groups, of trying to target and destabilise the country. The editorial doesn’t name any of the groups alleged to be involved.

    The army warned that unnamed foreign parties are acting contrary to diplomatic norms. “The new Algeria,” it insisted, “rejects any tutelage or impositions from any party or any foreign interference.”

    Under the headline “New Algeria, a visible reality”, the editorial said that the military establishment is fulfilling its duty to the people of “the homeland” with sincerity and dedication.

    “The commitment to fulfil the covenant of the righteous martyrs requires, on the second anniversary of the peaceful popular protests that started on 22 February 2019, to place the interest of Algeria above everything,” said the anonymous article.

    Unnamed “hostile parties” started moving under the instructions of “malicious parties with vile intentions” to push the country into chaos and shuffle the cards in a way that would serve their interests and dishonest purposes, the editorial explained. “This is within a scheme aimed primarily at striking the credibility of the People’s National Armed Forces.”

    These warnings come at a time when many have called on social media for the resumption of the protest movement as the second anniversary of the 22 February popular uprising approaches.

    The 22 February Initiative, a civilian coalition which includes dozens of Algerian activists, civilian elites, and political activists, announced earlier its readiness for what was described as the inevitable and strong return of the peaceful protest marches.”

  7. Biden administration plans to continue to seek extradition of WikiLeaks’ Assange: official
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-assange/biden-administration-plans-to-continue-to-seek-extradition-of-wikileaks-assange-official-idUSKBN2A92T4

    “President Joe Biden’s administration plans to continue to seek to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the United Kingdom to the United States to face hacking conspiracy charges, the U.S. Justice Department said…”

  8. Turkey-US ties won’t go anywhere unless YPG problem is resolved: Defense minister
    https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-us-ties-wont-go-anywhere-unless-ypg-problem-is-resolved-defense-minister-162280

    “Ties between Turkey and the United States will hardly improve if the latter does not halt its cooperation with the YPG in Syria, the Turkish defense minister has said, adding that Washington’s claims that the PKK and the YPG are two different organizations have nothing to do with the reality.

    “The most sensitive issue in our ties with the U.S. is this country’s support to the YPG, which is the PKK’s offshoot in Syria,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told daily Hürriyet in an interview published on Feb. 9.

    Turkey recognizes the YPG as a terrorist organization and underlines that it is the affiliate of the PKK on Syrian territories. The PKK is designated as a terror organization by Turkey, the European Union and the U.S.

    Washington has long been in cooperation with the YPG, under the name of the SDF, as its local partner in the fight against ISIL. Turkey is concerned that the U.S. support to the YPG will pave the way for the terror organization to seek a greater autonomy in northeastern Syrian territories.

    “We expect them to see the realities concerning the YPG. If we cannot find a solution [to this problem], then we won’t go anywhere in ties with the U.S. One thing is certain: The YPG is receiving instructions from the PKK,” Akar stated.

    Washington’s claims that the YPG has no any affiliation with the PKK are baseless, the minister said, adding it would be impossible to think that the American intelligence is not aware of the link between the PKK and the YPG.

    US should cooperate with Turkey

    Upon questions, Akar reiterated that the YPG’s attacks against civilians in Afrin and in the northeastern Syria have recently increased and Ankara was sure that the majority of these assaults were carried out by the YPG. He stressed that only a few of them were conducted by ISIL.

    “Americans tell us that they cooperate with the YPG in a bid to fight DAESH. And we told them to cooperate with us and not the YPG in their fight against DAESH. We told them hundreds of times that we were ready to cooperate to provide peace and comfort there,” he said, using an Arabic acronym of ISIL.

    Reasonable solution to S-400 impasse

    Another major problem between the two allies is Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400 air defense systems from Russia despite the strong opposition of the U.S. The Trump administration had imposed sanctions on Turkey and the new administration under President Joe Biden has warned more punitive actions may follow in the coming period.

    When recalled whether Turkey can use the S-400s in the same way Greece has been doing with regard to its Russian-made S-300s, Akar said, “Yes, it’s possible. But it is not limited to the S-300s in Crete. Many former Warsaw Pact countries in Europe who have joined the NATO do still possess weapon systems from the Soviet era. These weapons are kept within the NATO system. We told them: We are open to negotiating the model being implemented for the S-300s in Crete.”

    NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has reaffirmed that any talks between Turkey and the U.S. to this end can take place under the NATO roof, but Washington has opposed to it, Akar said.

    “In the meantime, we should also see the commercial dimension of the U.S. position concerning the S-400s. Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400s from Russia opens a way for the other countries, too. They want to stop the acquisition of these systems by other countries for commercial purposes, too,” he suggested.

    The S-300s deployed in Crete Island had been purchased by the Greek Cyprus in late 1990s. Greece had approved to deploy them in their territories after Turkey’s strong reaction to the Greek Cypriot acquisition of the systems. Greece does not keep the systems operational. It tested the systems once in the past years.

    When recalled this, Akar said: “There is nothing like that we will always use them. These systems are made operational depending on the threat assessment. It’s us who decide on this.””

  9. Turkey slams social network companies for ‘arbitrary decisions’
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/politics/turkey-slams-social-network-companies-for-arbitrary-decisions/2139153

    “Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman on Tuesday slammed social networking companies for “acting like public authority with arbitrary decisions”.

    “Social media is starting to turn into a mechanism that fights with the national will, sovereignty, and law. This would bring digital fascism and dictatorship,” Omer Celik told reporters at AK Party headquarters in the capital Ankara.

    “Social media companies have emerged as freedom channels, but they act as a public authority with subjective, arbitrary decisions,” he said, referring to the recent restriction of Twitter posts of Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli about the protests against the appointment of Bogazici University rector.

    Earlier, Soylu and Bahceli slammed the censorship by Twitter for blocking theirTurkey’s ruling party slams social network companies for ‘arbitrary decisions’ posts.

    The protests erupted in Istanbul against the recent appointment of Melih Bulu as Bogazici University’s new rector, with a group of students calling for his resignation.

    Demonstrations intensified when two Bogazici University students were remanded in custody by a Turkish court for displaying a painting allegedly offensive to Islamic values on university grounds.

    Last Tuesday, Soylu said nearly 80 of those recently arrested amid ongoing protests are members of far-left terror groups, including the DHKP/C and TKP-ML.

    Noting that Bogazici University is one of Turkey’s “greatest achievements,” Celik said that focusing on the healthy functioning of educational life there should be the most important concern of everyone from now on.

    He underlined that the rector of Bogazici University has been appointed “with the same method” as in other universities across the country.”

  10. Germany: Hate speech, threats against politicians rise
    https://www.dw.com/en/germany-hate-speech-threats-against-politicians-rise/a-56512214

    “There was an increase in abuse against politicians across Germany in 2020, new figures show, with extremists more and more willing to resort to violence. Regional and local-level politicians are particularly vulnerable.

    Statistics released to DW on Monday show that verbal abuse and violence targeting politicians are on the rise in Germany.

    Compiled by the Interior Ministry late last year in response to a parliamentary information request from the the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the unpublished report counted 1,534 crimes against politicians, party members and party property in 2020, a 9% increase on the year before.

    The crimes overwhelmingly involved verbal abuse, slander, threats and hate speech, as well as property damage such as graffiti and arson attacks on party offices. There was also a handful of cases of physical assault.

    The AfD was hit by the most attacks, with 694 cases, almost all property damage and verbal abuse, followed by Angela Merkel’s conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), with 231, and the Greens, with 206. The Interior Ministry attributed 544 crimes to actors with a left-wing motive and 393 to the right wing, and reported that 532 could not be attributed. Four incidents were put down to a “foreign ideology” and the rest were aimed at small parties not represented in the German parliament.

    The statistics were released a week after Holger Münch, the chief of the Federal Criminal Police, told Der Spiegel magazine that the agency had seen an increase of threats against politicians, virologists and journalists during the coronavirus pandemic.

    AfD Bundestag member Martin Hess, who made the information request, said the figures proved that left-wing extremists posed the biggest threat to political parties, especially his…”

  11. Five people detained after French teen’s anti-Muslim rant sparks death threats
    https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210209-five-people-detained-after-french-teen-s-anti-muslim-rant-sparks-death-threats

    “French police Tuesday arrested five people in connection with death threats made against a teenager for her expletive-laden online rants against Islam which sparked a new debate over freedom of speech in the country, prosecutors said.

    The five were being held on suspicion of cyber-harassment and issuing death threats following an investigation by France’s national task force for the fight against online hate speech, they told AFP.

    The case of Mila — who received a slew of death threats for calling Islam “a shitty religion” among other things — has revived debates in France about freedom of speech.

    The furore kicked off in January 2020 with an Instagram post that prompted Mila’s family to be put under police protection.

    An investigation was launched by prosecutors in the city of Vienne in southeastern France in November after Mila posted another tirade, this time on the TikTok platform.

    The probe was then handed to the national task force which was better able to coordinate the search for suspects across several French regions, leading to the arrests of the five who are aged between 18 and 29…”

  12. Belgium: Buses diverted from Brussels migrant quarter over violence threat
    https://rmx.news/article/article/belgium-buses-diverted-from-brussels-migrant-quarter-over-violence-threat

    “The Brussels transport company MIVB will change its route in Molenbeek, a neighborhood known for its heavy migrant population, after buses were pelted with stones several times.

    According to STIB bus branch, the safety of its drivers could no longer be guaranteed, which logically justified the decision, reports Brussels-based French-language Belgian news portal La Dernière Heure (DH).

    The route change concerns line 89 of the STIB, which runs through the center of Molenbeek in Brussels. Bus drivers there have been victims of violence numerous times in recent weeks. That is why STIB has decided to divert the buses and no longer serve a number of stops in Molenbeek, with the change affecting four stops between Delacroix and Ribaucourt.

    “Several incidents took place in the center of the city,” said STIB spokesman Cindy Arents to DH. “There are tensions in this district and, moreover, many cars regularly park at the bus stops, so that the buses cannot pass there.” The safety of STIB personnel could no longer be guaranteed, it still presents a threat, which forced them to take this measure.

    Molenbeek, one of the 19 municipalities within the Belgian capital, has some 97,000 inhabitants of which almost 40 percent are Belgian Moroccan Muslim and youth unemployment in the district is also 40 percent. Molenbeek gained international fame in 2015 as a base for the Islamist terrorists who perpetrated attacks in France and Belgium. Then Molenbeek mayor, liberal politician Françoise Schepmans, described it as “a breeding ground for violence”.

    Recently, data released by the Belgian government showed that ethnic Belgians had become a minority in the capital of Brussels, pointing to rapid demographic change in the multicultural city.”

  13. RT – Who’s next? | Twitter permanently bans Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft

    The founder and editor of the right-wing Gateway Pundit website has been permanently banned from Twitter, leaving the liberal left “thrilled” and conservatives wondering who will be silenced next.

    The @gatewaypundit Twitter handle belonging to Jim Hoft with more than 375,000 followers was abruptly banned on Saturday night.

    “The account was permanently suspended for repeated violations of our civic integrity policy,” a Twitter spokesperson confirmed in a brief statement.

    Twitter did not clarify which violation was the last straw, as the account seemed to be not very active recently.

    The conservative publication itself has long faced criticism from the left for pushing “lies” and “conspiracies.”

  14. Rape Gang Victim Names 18 Abusers, Police Charge Nobody in 8 Years, Lose Interview Tapes
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/09/rape-gang-victim-names-18-abusers-police-charge-nobody-8-years-lose-interview-tapes/

    “The victim of a Pakistani rape gang in Walsall, England, gave police the identities of 18 abusers in 2013 but no-one was ever charged and officers lost 30 hours of her interview tapes, prior to reopening the investigation in 2019.

    “Hannah”, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is from a Pakistani heritage Muslim family. Her cousins began to abuse her after they took a recording of her smoking a cigarette and blackmailed her, aged ten, into performing sexual activities or else they would tell her strict Muslim parents.

    These were also recorded, leading to a cycle of blackmail and abuse over a period of seven years, broken only when she fled her family entirely as a result of her father attempting to subject her to a forced marriage, BirminghamLive reports. The newspaper notes police are now being accused of failing Hannah after losing 30 hours of interview tapes and failing to pursue the investigation.

    Hannah came forward about her abuse after fleeing her family and revealing something of what had happened to her to a counsellor at a refuge.

    “I ended up talking to her and said that from a young age my cousins were blackmailing me’… but she listened to what had happened and [said] ‘It wasn’t blackmail, it was sexual abuse,” she said.

    When she did finally go to the police, she provided them with many names of both abusers and other victims.

    Hannah said the abuse took place at school, at a local park, and in alleyways around Walsall. She said she also knew of other girls who were “plied with vodka… and got raped behind the church by these guys”.

    Hannah gave West Midlands Police details of houses, hotels, and even a public library where the abuse took place — but after arresting nine males who gave no-comment interviews, nothing happened, with the force dropping the case in 2015.

    Rape gangs — or “grooming gangs”, as they are often termed in the mainstream media — are generally comprised of Muslims of South Asian heritage, and their victims are generally non-Muslims; typically white working-class girls but often Sikh and Hindu girls, too.

    It is increasingly believed that there are more Muslim victims of these gangs than is often reported, however, with “Westernised” girls, in particular, being targeted and cowed by taboos around shame and “honour”.

    “Any form of sexual intercourse is going to bring shame on your family. Even rape,” Hannah explained.

    “That’s basically your fault in a Muslim person’s eye, you’ve brought that shame upon yourself.

    “But it’s not just shame for me, it’s shame then for my family.”

    “I’m frustrated, I just feel that the police are taking the **** out of me. They should be communicating with me, they should be talking to me,” complained Hannah, who managed to get the police to reopen the investigation only in late 2019, after pressure from third parties over failings in the original investigation.

    They have, according to BirminghamLive, lost dozens of hours of her original recorded interviews.

    “I feel after all this time they should give me a little bit of information and they’re giving me nothing. Since 2015/6 I’ve given the police 15 names of girls I believe were probably abused by the same gang,” Hannah said. She claimed police had told her that officers outright discounted one particular potential victim because she was known to the force and not considered “credible”.

    Such attitudes by police to victims have been cited as a major contributing factor to grooming gangs going uninvestigated for so long, with disadvantaged victims on the edge of society seen as unreliable witnesses or even complicit in their own abuse.

    West Midlands Police insist they are “reviewing that first enquiry to see if we can identify more suspects and are in the process of trying to retrieve footage that was recorded in the original interviews” and that they “always strive to put victims at the heart of all our investigations in Public Protection and will be led by what the victim want” — completely contrary to Hannah’s account of how she has been treated.

    “This is a very complex case and we are making progress, though the impact of COVID has presented challenges,” wheedled Detective Superintendent Anastasia Miller on behalf of the force’s Public Protection Unit.

    In 19 months they have managed just two voluntary interviews with suspects.

    The Conservative government has been weak on so-called grooming gangs since the mainstream media finally began reporting on the scandal of large-scale child sexual exploitation of mostly white working-class by groups of mostly Muslim men of South Asian heritage.

    Promises to deport offenders and, after removing their British citizenship, dual national offenders, have gone unfulfilled, with some victims finding they are now running into their abusers in public again.

    Supposedly long sentences have also been exposed as shockingly weak, with rape gang ringleaders the public were told would be locked up for decades being released after just a few years — such as Ahdel Ali, who was freed after serving just eight years of a supposedly 26-year-term, due to the headline figure being an aggregation of multiple sentences to be served concurrently, with the fact that most criminals only have to serve half their “prison” terms in custody before being automatically released on licence in Britain not taken into account.

    Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has styled herself as tough on crime, illegal immigration, and foreign criminals even as crime rises, illegal immigration increases, and deportations fall dramatically, struggled even to get a promised Home Office report on the ethnicity of grooming gangs published — and when it did come out it represented a huge step backwards from previous probes, such as the Alexis Jay report.

    The Home Office report claimed that no conclusions about the ethnic background of rape gang members could really be drawn, in part because the state does not bother, still, to collect reliable statistics on the ethnicity of the predators and their victims in a systematic manner.

    No specific measures to address the weakness of the sentencing, the failure to secure deportations, or the lack of useful data have yet been announced.”

  15. ‘Pure Mafia Methods’: Pro-Migration Leftist Protestors Target Swedish Politicians’ Homes
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/09/pure-mafia-methods-pro-migration-leftist-protestors-target-swedish-politicians-homes/

    “Several Swedish politicians in the municipality of Sundbyberg have made reports to their local police after far-left pro-migrant activists allegedly turned up at their homes to demand migrants be allowed to stay in the area.

    Local politicians belonging to the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Centre Party, said that members of the far-left activist group came to their homes to pressure them to allow migrants to stay in the area despite their apartment contracts being temporary.

    Peter Schilling, chairman of the municipal board and a Social Democrat, called the tactics used by the protesters as “pure mafia methods,” newspaper Aftonbladet reports.

    A press release from several local politicians stated, “No one has been injured, but several found these visits very unpleasant and that the purpose was to be intimidated. The events have been reported to the police.”

    According to Schilling, the campaign to pressure the government to allow the migrants to stay in the area has been going on for months. Newly-arrived migrants are typically given two-year apartment contracts before they are expected to move elsewhere.

    “When refugees come to a municipality, we guarantee housing for two years. In Sundbyberg we have said that we give families with children four years to find a home. During these two years you get a temporary contract, and lots of help from social services, housing coaches and the like,” Schilling said.

    The leftist group wrote a response to the allegations of intimidation saying, “Our intention was never to intimidate or threaten them. In addition, we believe that it must be [compared] to the discomfort experienced on a daily basis by the evicted tenants.”

    Since the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, several Swedish municipalities have reported financial problems due to the large numbers of migrants they have provided for in terms of housing and social assistance.

    In 2019, the municipality of Bengtsfors stated that it was looking for government aid to avoid possible bankruptcy due to the costs associated with migrants and the fact many were unemployed and not contributing to the tax base.”

  16. ‘It Never Stops’: Nearly 300 Illegal Boat Migrants Land in UK After Brexit
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/09/it-never-stops-nearly-300-illegal-boat-migrants-land-uk-after-brexit/

    “Nearly 300 illegal migrants have successfully landed in the United Kingdom after crossing the English Channel from France this year, despite the Brexit promise to ‘take back control’ of the country’s borders.

    Over the weekend, the UK’s Border Force brought ashore five small rubber boats carrying a total of 92 illegals. Authorities in France prevented an additional 92 migrants from crossing the Channel.

    An analysis of English Channel crossings has found that 285 illegal aliens have landed on British shores since the official departure from the European Union, the Daily Mail reported.

    The Minister for Immigration Compliance Chris Philp said: “The Government continues to undertake substantial measures to tackle this unacceptable problem of illegal migration.

    “In January we introduced new rules which mean we can treat asylum claims as inadmissible if they have travelled through safe countries to get to the UK.

    “These crossings are illegal which is why we are pursuing the criminals behind these crossings, returning migrants who have no right to stay in the UK to safe countries and will continue to do everything we can to make this route unviable.”

    Last week, Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the government intends to publish a policy paper within the next two weeks, outlining plans to crack down on the illegal people smuggling trade that facilitates the “plague” of illegal crossings.

    Patel said that later this year, the government would seek to pass a Sovereign Borders Bill which will place limitations on “litigious” human rights claimants trying to skirt deportation.

    Alleged asylum seekers will also be required to present all their refugee qualifications at the outset of their application, rather than adding last-minute claims as a basis for additional legal challenges.

    The home secretary also is reportedly considering lowering the bar for foreign criminals to be deported, with those serving six-month prison sentences being subject to removal from the country for the first time.

    It is unclear how this will be implemented, however, as the British government has so far failed to secure a deal with the European Union — or indeed any individual member state — on the matter of deportations.

    Last year, the number of deportations carried out by the Home Office fell by over 4,000 over the previous year, representing a 79 per cent drop. Officials blamed the coronavirus crisis for the dramatic decline.

    The government has also failed to demonstrate any willingness to take the unilateral step of simply immediately returning migrants caught at sea, like the wildly successful Operation Sovereign Borders strategy adopted in Australia under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

    In 2020, over 8,400 illegal migrants were recorded to have crossed the English Channel from France, over four times as many as came the year before.”