Reader’s Links on February 11, 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

87 Replies to “Reader’s Links on February 11, 2021”

  1. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-law-of-merited-impossibility/

    The Law Of Merited Impossibility is an epistemological construct governing the paradoxical way overclass opinion makers frame the discourse about the clash between religious liberty and gay civil rights. It is best summed up by the phrase, “It’s a complete absurdity to believe that Christians will suffer a single thing from the expansion of gay rights, and boy, do they deserve what they’re going to get.”

    For example, this recent news from Canada:
    Canadian law deans are harbouring an “anti-religious bias” in their bid to block a prominent evangelical university from opening the country’s first Christian law school, according to supporters of the school, which has students and faculty follow a strict moral code.

    In a letter publicized this week, the Canadian Council of Law Deans took aim at Trinity Western University’s “community covenant” — a code of conduct that includes a pledge to remain “abstinen[t] from sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness between a man and a woman.”

    Bill Flanagan, president of the council of deans, said this covenant discriminates against gay, lesbian and bisexual students and that discrimination is “fundamentally incompatible” with the core values of Canadian law schools and of an equal society.

    The LMI File is now open. I suspect it will fill up pretty fast
    (WTH is an LMI file?)

    • Living Memory Imprint.(LMI).

      Happens in developmental stages, and forms sexuality, culture and religion. Body, mind and soul – overlaid with a cloth of righteousness.

      It got so bad that in the first century (CE) people were sent in pairs to unhypnotize the remaining few.

      The Roman Empire put a stop to this when Political Christianity became layered onto the next generation. This war was won they were told.

    • “— a code of conduct that includes a pledge to remain “abstinen[t] from sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness between a man and a woman.””

      Read with sanity, this means, “do not fornicate with the opposite sex. Get on with your studies during this period of heat, (by newly being away from home) and then have a good life.

      Read by self-identified Sexuals this means, “do not have recreation-sex with anyone else but cis-genders. This is clearly unfair.”

      We all know in the government control of Useful Idiot Land, ‘a woman is not an adult female,’ anyway. So there is no exclusion.

      However, to treat another human being as sacred, now that is hateful and offensive.

      For in Communism , islam and Sexidumpty – when out of favor – humans are disposable.
      https://www.buzzfeed.com/tracyclayton/stop-calling-women-females

  2. I was discussing the subject of anxiety and the common taking of herbal medicine when my listener blurted out:

    ‘When Lee Rigby was slaughtered in the street, I cried and got scared. Later that evening someone knocked at my door and then I heard key-scraping at the keyhole. I called the Police and described what was happening, (thinking evangelical muslims were house-calling), and peed my pants. Just then, my single mother son called out. I apologized to the Police…’ ‘Those murders, should be killed she added.’

    I spoke about any new member in a gang are only sent out to commit crimes in order that they have a common bond with the hood.

    I tried to explain that as Communists dissappear people, muslims make public spectacles of unrestrained barbarism. Both use terror to violate the fight-flight response of the mind, and then use such people for future compliance. I said Rome had many more slaves than citizens, ruled from whips and lynching: excruciating crucifixions.

    Now she said suffered from panic attacks with feelings brought on by association.

    Truthfully, she can cure this.

    1. The broad and easy way, is to submit and become a musselma. And magically all her fear will be gone. Submit to the devil you know and be on their side. Fear gone.

    2. The narrow way takes forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. To first repent of taking pills in order to fix it yourself, and face your fears through the stillness of meditation. In the observation of thoughts and distractions, she would let each of them go by with acknowledgement, and move slowly deeper into awareness to find the alarm finally uncovered, to relive the event in her memory just as real as imagined, to add her calm response to it to forgive the actors and herself, and apologize to them as she had wanted to kill them. Playing god. For as she judged, she was judged, and now they follow her everywhere in her thoughts waiting to happen.

    And this conversation ended there. She’s a Catholic and her cup is full. Those guilts and traumas are in the way to reach the real islamic imprint growing greater inside her.

    Pills that will need to get stronger. The Chinese gamble their lives away. muslims pray their lives away. Sexuals… well it says it on the can.

    They all hate the Son of Man.

    • The problem causing the difference in reports is Xi isn’t use to dealing with a citizenry that demands reports from their national leaders and who are (supposedly) capable of voting that leader and his party out of power.

      We are working to ensure that the latter can still occur and the Dems are working to ensure that it can’t.

    • The left has been pushing the idea that Russia is our main enemy for 4 years, they are now standing up to Russia in an attempt to make Biden look strong. They think this is safe since Russia is a distant third on the list of external enemies.

  3. Terrorists Preparing Militants for Attacks in Russia During Crowded Events, Sources Say (sputniknews, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://sputniknews.com/russia/202102111082042390-terrorists-preparing-militants-for-attacks-in-russia-during-crowded-events-sources-say/

    “Militants of Hyat Tahrir Ash Sham (a terrorist organization, banned in Russia) are preparing people to carry out attacks in Russian cities during crowded events, law enforcement sources told Sputnik.

    According to the sources, the recruits are either from Russia or from neighboring countries.

    MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW”

  4. MI6 Recruiting Foreign Born Spies to Increase ‘Diversity’ (breitbart, Feb 10, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/10/mi6-admits-recruiting-foreign-born-spies-for-first-time-to-increase-diversity/

    “The United Kingdom’s equivalent to the CIA has admitted that it has begun recruiting foreign-born spies for the first time in a supposed bid to increase “diversity”.

    The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6, will officially expand its recruitment of candidates to those born outside of the UK, however, they will still require to have a British passport.

    A source within Whitehall told The Times on Wednesday that the overseas spy agency wants to have access to the “biggest talent pool”.

    “If you narrow the criteria to a British national you will end up with lots of people who are British and educated at red-brick universities. We want a diversification of thought, a diverse workforce, not people who all think in similar ways.

    “It is about having a good mix of minds. But also, by having different nationalities from different backgrounds, we can be more effective at spying,” the source said.

    The new rules may require that dual citizenship candidates forgo their non-British citizenship.

    MI6 will still require that candidates have at least one parent with “substantial ties to the UK” or is or was a British citizen…”

    • ROFL! Diversity strikes!
      Can you imagine the headline?
      MI6 operative with 20 years service found to be Iranian spy. Motive not understood.

      • Paki-Afghan direct access to 5-Eyes.
        ChiComs double-check reports from their own operatives in the UK.
        They’ll feed “barium tests” through 5-Eyes Australia, determine who’s leaking what to whom.

  5. Greek Far-Left Anarchists Storm News Agency To Support Terrorist Killer (breitbart, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/11/greek-far-left-anarchists-storm-news-agency-support-terrorist/

    “A group of anarchists stormed the Greek state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency in support of an imprisoned far-left terrorist currently on a hunger strike.

    The extremists stormed the building housing the news agency in Athens on Tuesday while carrying a flare. They threw flyers around the offices and hung a banner from the balcony, then fleeing before Greek police arrived.

    Theodoros Livanios, Greece’s Minister of State, criticised the extremists’ actions and urged his political opponents to do so, as well, Ekathimerini reports.

    According to the newspaper, the action was in support of convicted terrorist Dimitris Koufodinas, who has been on hunger strike in prison since January.

    The former hitman for the notorious far-left Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N) was previously convicted and sentenced to multiple life sentences for murders spanning from 1975 to 2000.

    He has been undertaking a hunger strike after demanding to be transferred away from a maximum-security prison where he is currently being held.

    The storming of the news agency comes just days after far-left anarchists set fire to the office of the ruling New Democracy Party in the Athens suburb of Nea Filadelfeia.

    Greek Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Georgiadis condemned the attack, saying: “The miserable thugs of the Far Left burned the offices of our [local branch] with Molotov cocktails in Nea Filadelfeia.”

    Greek talk show programme Zougla published on its website a statement of responsibility from the group, which declared that the attack was in support of Koufontinas and his hunger strike.

    “For our part, we have a duty to support our partner by all means. If the demands are not met immediately, the attacks will be intensified both [in intensity and in frequency]. The pillars and crutches of urban democracy have material substance,” the group said.”

  6. ‘Woke Ignorance’: School Cancels Winston Churchill, J.K. Rowling for ‘Intolerance’ (breitbart, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/11/english-school-cancels-j-k-rowling-churchill-for-intolerance/

    “A secondary school in England has removed the names of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and British wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill from school houses after teenage students branded the famous Brits as “intolerant”.

    Students at the Seaford Head School in East Sussex claimed Sir Winston — the man generally credited with marshalling the efforts to defeat the Nazis and routinely thought of as one of the greatest Britons ever– was a “figure who promoted racism and inequality, unfairly imprisoning and torturing many”. The school claimed that honouring him would go against the school’s policy against “intolerance and discrimination”.

    The teenagers also took aim at J.K. Rowling, saying per The Telegraph: “We no longer think that JK Rowling is a suitable representative, because of her recent words about the trans community.”

    The houses on the campus named after Nelson Mandela and Florence Nightengale escaped from the woke purge, however, and will remain unchanged.

    The pressure from the students successfully forced the administrators at the school to remove the names from the houses, which will be renamed following a student body vote.

    A spokeswoman for the school said: “The Student Leadership group decided to consult on the names of the four houses with a view to re-introducing house names that are rooted in the local community. This exercise involves all of the student body.”…”

  7. Former Belgian Pro-Sharia Islam Party Candidate Sentenced over Death Threats (breitbart, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/11/former-belgian-islam-party-candidate-sentenced-death-threats/

    “A former municipal elections candidate in Belgium who stood for the pro-sharia Islam party has been sentenced after a court found him guilty of making death threats.

    Philippe Latteur had dropped out of the 2018 race in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert because he could not acquire enough signatures to get on the ballot. Several other candidates had reported Latteur had threatened them, and police charged him with writing threats, cyber-harassment, and carrying a prohibited weapon.

    On Monday, the Brussels Criminal Court handed down a judgement of 240 hours of community service, a 4,000 euro fine, and a ten-year ban on political activity, broadcaster RTBF reports. Should the 54-year-old fail to complete his community service, he could be imprisoned for one year…”

  8. Pakistan successfully test fires surface-to-surface missile (abcnews, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-successfully-test-fires-surface-surface-missile-75823066

    “Pakistan’s military on Thursday successfully test-fired a short range surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of hitting land and sea targets with “high precision” up to 490 kilometers (about 280 miles) away, the military said.

    In a statement, it said the Babur cruise missile was “launched from a state-of-the-art Multi Tube Missile Launch Vehicle.”

    According to the statement, Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and the country’s military leadership congratulated scientists and engineers over successful launch of the missile.

    Pakistan’s nuclear and missile program is primarily aimed at countering threats from neighboring India, which also routinely conducts missile tests.

    Both nations have nuclear arms and have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. The disputed Himalayan region is split between them and claimed by both.”

  9. 3 Turkish soldiers killed in clashes in northern Iraq (abcnews, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkish-soldiers-killed-clashes-northern-iraq-75822273

    “Three Turkish soldiers were killed in a new Turkish military offensive against a Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.

    Two of soldiers were killed Wednesday in a clash that erupted in northern Iraq’s Gara region on the first day of the latest Turkish operation, the ministry said. Another soldier died of his wounds on Thursday.

    The military said Turkish jets retaliated by striking targets of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Gara.

    There was no immediate comment from the militant group on the clashes.

    Turkey has carried out numerous cross-border ground and aerial offensives against the PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq.

    The group began an insurgency against Turkey in the mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984 and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people. The PKK is considered to be a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.”

  10. The vision thing: Handy guide to the biggest earthquake in human affairs in 2,000 years – Liberty Unyielding
    J.E. Dyer
    24-30 minutes

    The vision thing: Handy guide to the biggest earthquake in human affairs in 2,000 years

    Detail: Lithograph of the Battle of Fort McHenry, War of 1812. The caption reads “A VIEW of the BOMBARDMENT of Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, by the British fleet taken from the Observatory under the Command of Admirals Cochrane & Cockburn on the morning of the 13th of Sept 1814 which lasted 24 hours & thrown from 1500 to 1800 shells in the Night attempted to land by forcing a passage up the ferry branch but were repulsed with great loss.” Wikipedia/Public Domain

    One of the chief things making it difficult for people who want to rescue America from her current disastrous course is a flawed, incomplete perspective on what the reality around us is, and where it’s going.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/02/10/the-vision-thing-handy-guide-to-the-biggest-earthquake-in-human-affairs-in-2000-years/

  11. UK SNOW: RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -22.9C IN SCOTLAND – THE LOWEST FOR 26 YEARS – 1 min 1 sec
    [Global Warming…Sorry! Climate Change]

  12. CBC – COVID-19 variant 1st ID’d in U.K. will ‘sweep’ world, scientist says

    A top British scientist says the coronavirus variant first identified in the United Kingdom is spreading much faster than the original virus.

    ‘The new variant has swept the country. It’s going to sweep the world,’ said Sharon Peacock of the COVID-19 Genomics U.K. consortium.

    • CBC – The anxiety and appeal of wearing masks during the pandemic

      Having trouble recognizing people in a mask? It’s not just you, research shows that even after months of pandemic mask-wearing, they still mess up the brain’s ability to identify faces.

      But the good news is, it might be making some people seem more attractive.

    • Germany: Lockdown extended to at least March 7 amid COVID variant concerns – Merkel

      Angela Merkel on Wednesday announced the continuation of current COVID-19 restrictions until at least March 7 at a press conference in Berlin.

      The Chancellor said it would help assess the spread of mutations, “therefore the time period between now and the middle of March where experts say the mutations could get the upper hand over the current strain, this time period is of essential importance for us to continue to reduce our incidence numbers, we must also be very cautious.”

      Merkel also laid out what would constitute a situation where further reopening steps could be considered, “the next step towards reopening would be in the case of a stable incidence number of 35 infections per 100,000 people. This next step would be the reopening of businesses, with a limit of one customer per 20 square metres, including the reopening of museums and galleries and those body and close contact businesses.”

      Merkel stated that the news was in light of, “the development which none of us could have forseen in the past year, namely one or more mutations of the viruses developing.” Germany enforced a quarantine requirment for travellers from high risk countries on November 8 2020. New Zealand did so in March 2020, they have a seven day average of two cases.

      + comments on the YT page

  13. CBC – How the Black Lives Matter movement sparked global support

    Activist, scholar and artist Syrus Marcus Ware talks to CBC host Asha Tomlinson about how the death of George Floyd has sparked worldwide protests and support.

  14. Follow the Edmonton route of terror taken in a U-Haul by Abdulahi Hasan Sharif

    Abdulahi Sharif led Edmonton Police on a six minute route of terror from a road block near Concordia College through downtown.

    He struck down four pedestrians with a U-Haul truck before police upended the truck in front of the Matrix hotel.

  15. Three Syrians arrested in Denmark and Germany over ‘attack plot’

    German and Danish police have arrested three Syrian men accused of planning an attack with several kilogrammes of explosive chemicals, prosecutors said Thursday.

    The men aged 33, 36 and 40 are charged with planning a serious act of violence endangering the state, according to prosecutors in the town of Naumburg in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state.

    “In January of this year, they are alleged to have been involved in the purchase of several kilogrammes of chemicals that can be used to manufacture explosive devices,” they said.

    Two of the suspects were arrested in Denmark, where the chemicals were also seized, while the third was arrested in the German state of Hesse.

    Police also seized 10 kilogrammes of gunpowder and fuses at an address in the town of Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt, the prosecutors said.

    The three men are brothers, according to a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly, which also said police found an Islamic State flag at the Dessau address.

    The chemicals — sulphur and aluminium powder — had been ordered by the 33-year-old from Denmark to be delivered to the address of his 36-year-old brother in Dessau, Der Spiegel said.

    The 36-year-old was not found at his address but the two younger brothers were later arrested in Denmark, where police also found more IS propaganda, it said.

    People with ties to IS have committed several violent attacks in Germany in recent years, with the worst a ramming attack at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12.

    Since 2013, the number of Islamists considered dangerous in Germany has increased fivefold to 615, according to security services.

    https://www.thelocal.dk/20210211/three-syrians-arrested-in-denmark-and-germany-over-attack-plot

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

    Denmark, Germany hold 8 on terror charges, unclear if linked

    BERLIN (AP) – German and Danish authorities said Thursday they have arrested three Syrian men on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, and later five more terrorism-linked arrests were announced in Denmark.

    It was not immediately clear whether all eight arrests were linked.

    Klaus Tewes, spokesman for federal prosecutors in the eastern German town of Naumburg, said a warrant was issued for the three men, aged 33, 36 and 40, last weekend on charges of preparing a serious act of violence.

    They’re alleged to have purchased several kilograms (pounds) of chemicals in January that could be used to manufacture explosives.

    A search of a residence linked to the suspects in the city of Dessau-Rosslau, between Naumburg and Berlin, turned up 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of black powder, and fuses.

    Two of the suspects were arrested in Denmark, where more chemicals were seized. The third was arrested in Germany near Frankfurt. None of their names were given.

    Tewes would not give further details, and federal police, whose agents made the arrest in Germany, declined to comment.

    Der Spiegel magazine reported that the three men were brothers, and that one of the two arrested in Denmark had been registered in Dessau. In addition to the chemicals, Spiegel reported that authorities found a homemade flag of the Islamic State extremist group in their search of the residence there.

    In a separate statement Thursday afternoon, Danish authorities said that in addition to the two Syrians five more suspects had been arrestedsince the weekend. Their identities and nationalities were not made public.

    The Danish Security and Intelligence Service said in a statement that all had been taken into custody from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8 on the island of Zealand, where Copenhagen sits.

    They are suspected of “having planned one or more terrorist attacks or participated in attempted terrorism,” the statement said.

    It was not immediately clear whether all were suspected of involvement in the same alleged terror plot or in different ones.

    In a statement, the agency said the seven are suspected “of having acquired ingredients and components for the manufacture of explosives, as well as weapons, or having participated in this.”

    https://www.kob.com/news/3-arrested-in-germany-denmark-in-alleged-attack-plot/6009460/?cat=645

  16. CBC – Riot footage shown at Trump trial ‘shook a lot of people,’ says columnist

    Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen says never-before-seen video evidence presented at former president Donald Trump’s impeachment trial may not be enough to convict him, but may force Republicans to re-evaluate Trump’s future in the party.

    + comments on the YT page

    • Deutsche Pravda – Vaccinations between health and geo-politics

      The COVID-19 immunisation drive is expected to be largest in world history, and that too, within a relatively short time.

      Gaps may arise, and divisions emerge, as the world is getting “bifurcated” according to their vaccine providers, in an “East vs West” kind of equation.

      The inactivated vaccine platform used by Sinovac, Sinopharm, Sputnik V and Bharat Biotech means they are more “stable”, i.e. they don’t need super-cooling, and therefore can offer hope for the underdeveloped parts of the world.

      Chinese, Russian and Indian-made vaccines have proven attractive to lower and middle income countries, especially the ones who lack the capacity to sustain an ultra-freezing chain needed by mRNA vaccines.”

    • CNN – British Muslims and Hindus fight vaccine hesitancy

      The UK’s Vaccination Program is moving at breakneck speed but vaccine disinformation and online conspiracy theories still pose a threat particularly among people of color who are disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

    • Deutsche Pravda -The race for COVID vaccines: Rich against poor?

      ( 26 min )

      In the race to decide who gets COVID vaccines, what is the right strategy?

  17. ‘Different standards for Capitol hill and R-Day violence’, India’s IT Minister takes on Twitter

    • Is China going to send troops to Burma?

      They are going to do all they can to secure rights to build a Naval Port somewhere near Rangoon. This will give them a base on the India side of the Malacca Straits and any Sosus line India has built to track Chinese Subs. They would need troops to protect the port and possibly to protect the port during construction.

      • It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion anyway.
        MB-aligned media, weaponized Bengali squatters, tardish domination of the UN –
        A UNSC veto is imperative.

  18. the first couple of minutes of the video are black screen

    McFiles Impeachment, BOA, Memes, and Insanity

  19. Texas Official Announces Legislation to ‘Protect’ National Anthem in Wake of NBA Controversy
    By Zachary Stieber
    February 11, 2021 Updated: February 11, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    A top Texas official on Wednesday said he would push for state legislators to pass a bill that would require events receiving public funding to play the national anthem.

    Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who also serves as president of the state Senate, announced the effort after one of the state’s professional basketball teams revealed it stopped playing the anthem before games, breaking with an American tradition.

    The act is known as the Star-Spangled Protection Act, or Senate Bill 4.

    “It is hard to believe this could happen in Texas, but Mark Cuban’s actions of yesterday made it clear that we must specify that in Texas we play the national anthem before all major events,” Patrick said in a statement.

    “In this time when so many things divide us, sports are one thing that bring us together—right, left, black, white, and brown. This legislation already enjoys broad support. I am certain it will pass, and the Star-Spangled Banner will not be threatened in the Lone Star State again.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-official-announces-legislation-to-protect-national-anthem-in-wake-of-nba-controversy_3693335.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-02-11-2

  20. Actress Gina Carano Removed From ‘The Mandalorian’ Following Instagram Post
    By Lorenz Duchamps
    February 11, 2021 Updated: February 11, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    Actress Gina Carano is stripped from her role in the TV series “The Mandalorian” following a controversial social media post, according to a statement from the television production company Lucasfilm that is a subsidiary to Walt Disney Studios.

    “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson wrote in the statement.

    “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable,” the company spokesperson continued.

    Carano has been criticized on social media after she shared a post on Instagram—that has since been removed—comparing the persecution of Jews during Nazi Germany toward current hate toward people with different political views.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/actress-gina-carano-removed-from-the-mandalorian-following-instagram-post_3693518.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-02-11-2

  21. Rockets from Afghanistan kill boy in Pakistan, wound 7 (abcnews, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rockets-afghanistan-kill-boy-pakistan-wound-75831359

    “Rockets fired by militants inside Afghanistan killed a five-year-old boy and wounded seven other children in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, the military said.

    The attack took place in Bajur, a former tribal region that was also once a Taliban stronghold, it added in a statement, providing no further details. Bajur served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban and other militants until a few years ago, when the army said it cleared the area of insurgents.

    However, similar cross-border attacks continue in Bajur.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile) internationally recognized border known as the Durand Line, which was drawn in the 19th century when the British dominated South Asia. Kabul has never recognized the boundary. The two sides also often accuse each other of turning a blind eye to militants operating along the porous frontier.”

  22. Gunmen kill 5 Afghan police escorting UN convoy near Kabul
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gunmen-kill-afghan-police-escorting-convoy-kabul-75830792

    “Attackers killed five Afghan policemen escorting a U.N. convoy on the main highway heading east from Kabul before escaping, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on Thursday.

    No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Afghanistan has seen a nationwide spike in bombings, targeted killings, and violence on the battlefield as peace negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government have stalled.

    UNAMA said the U.N. family in Afghanistan mourns the loss of the Directorate of Protection Service troops in the Surobi district, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of the capital.

    “No U.N. personnel were hurt, or vehicle effected in an attack which hit a DPS directorate of protection forces vehicle that was escorting a UN convoy,” it said in a tweet.

    The U.N. convey came under fire in the Tang-e Habreshim area, killing a driver whose vehicle then veered off the road into a river, leaving four other occupants dead as well, said an official who was not authorized to speak with media.

    The Islamic State group’s local affiliate has claimed responsibility for some recent attacks, but many go unclaimed. The government often blames the Taliban, but the group mostly denies responsibility.

    In a separate incident in northern Faryab province, unknown gunmen shot and wounded Qatbuddin Kohi, a local reporter and journalist union leader, said provincial police chief spokesman Karim Yuresh.

    Kohi is in good condition, he said, adding that police have launched an investigation. Afghanistan has also seen a wave of attacks in recent months against journalists, human rights activists and civil society members. The international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has called the country one of the world’s deadliest for journalists.”

  23. Threatened French teacher offered top-level state protection (abcnews, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/threatened-french-teacher-offered-top-level-state-protection-75830794

    “French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Thursday a state school teacher who allegedly received death threats after writing an open letter on the threat of radical Islam to teachers has been offered the highest level of state protection.

    Didier Lemaire had already been under some degree of police protection in the Yvelines area, southwest of Paris.

    On Thursday, Darmanin said the highest level of protection — usually accorded to high-profile politicians — was offered to him. It could include a driver and one or more personal bodyguards. The minister did not specify whether the teacher had accepted the offer.

    Lemaire, a philosophy teacher, said he received death threats after he wrote an open letter saying the state did not do enough to protect teacher Samuel Paty.

    Paty was beheaded last October by 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, after he showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on freedom of expression. Anzorov was shot dead by police shortly after.

    French prosecutors are investigating the alleged threats against Lemaire.”

  24. Spokesman: Muslim youth kills Ahmadi physician in Pakistan
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spokesman-muslim-youth-kills-ahmadi-physician-pakistan-75831775

    “A Pakistani Muslim youth shot and killed an Ahmadi homeopathic doctor at his clinic in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, the police and a spokesman for the minority group said.

    The attacker on Dr. Abdul Qadir, 65, was immediately caught by residents and handed over to the local police.

    Saleem Uddin, a spokesman for Ahmadi community, released a statement condemning the attack and saying that members of their community were being constantly targeted because of their faith.

    Raiz Khan, a police official, said they were still questioning the man who shot and killed the physician. The motive behind the killing was still not known.

    The Ahmadi faith was established on the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, whose followers believe he was the messiah that was promised by the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistan’s parliament declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974. An Ahmadi can get 10 years in prison for claiming to be a Muslim.

    Since then, members of the community have repeatedly been targeted by Islamic extremists in the Muslim-majority nation.”

  25. Denmark, Germany hold 8 on terror charges, unclear if linked (abcnews, Feb 11, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/arrested-germany-denmark-alleged-attack-plot-75828386

    “German and Danish authorities said Thursday they have arrested three Syrian men on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, and later five more terrorism-linked arrests were announced in Denmark.

    It was not immediately clear whether all eight arrests were linked.

    Klaus Tewes, spokesman for federal prosecutors in the eastern German town of Naumburg, said a warrant was issued for the three men, aged 33, 36 and 40, last weekend on charges of preparing a serious act of violence.

    They’re alleged to have purchased several kilograms (pounds) of chemicals in January that could be used to manufacture explosives.

    A search of a residence linked to the suspects in the city of Dessau-Rosslau, between Naumburg and Berlin, turned up 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of black powder, and fuses.

    Two of the suspects were arrested in Denmark, where more chemicals were seized. The third was arrested in Germany near Frankfurt. None of their names were given.

    Tewes would not give further details, and federal police, whose agents made the arrest in Germany, declined to comment.

    Der Spiegel magazine reported that the three men were brothers, and that one of the two arrested in Denmark had been registered in Dessau. In addition to the chemicals, Spiegel reported that authorities found a homemade flag of the Islamic State extremist group in their search of the residence there.

    In a separate statement Thursday afternoon, Danish authorities said that in addition to the two Syrians five more suspects had been arrested since the weekend. Their identities and nationalities were not made public.

    The Danish Security and Intelligence Service said in a statement that all had been taken into custody from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8 on the island of Zealand, where Copenhagen sits.

    They are suspected of “having planned one or more terrorist attacks or participated in attempted terrorism,” the statement said.

    It was not immediately clear whether all were suspected of involvement in the same alleged terror plot or in different ones.

    In a statement, the agency said the seven are suspected “of having acquired ingredients and components for the manufacture of explosives, as well as weapons, or having participated in this.””

  26. Democrats Strip GOP Amendments in Passing Budget Resolution
    By Masooma Haq
    February 11, 2021 Updated: February 11, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    After passing a handful of GOP amendments to the Democrat-led budget resolution, many of them were canceled in a last-minute effort led by Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

    Among the amendments that were canceled were bills that prevent illegal immigrants from getting the $1,400 relief checks, a bill to prohibit the halting of the Keystone XL Pipeline project, and a third that opposes a fracking ban.

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said recently that the Democrat’s reversal on the key amendments shows they do not want to work in a bipartisan manner.

    “But—amazingly enough—at the end of the night, the very same Senate Democrats who’d sought to appear moderate by supporting those three things turned around and voted in lockstep to strip them out. Our colleagues who said they supported these changes voted to strip them right back out at the end of the night. That’s about as Washington D.C. as it gets,” McConnell said.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/democrats-strip-gop-amendments-in-passing-budget-resolution_3692508.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-02-11-3