Reader’s Links for April 21, 2022

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

43 Replies to “Reader’s Links for April 21, 2022”

  1. Confused, disoriented and suffering from some form of mass-line mentacide (https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/menticide) imposed by malevolent, dark forces practiced in psychological warfare. The inability to see what is real and instead see what someone else wants you to see. American genius Stephen Coughlin is a national treasure–nay–a treasure of Western civilization because of his Herculean efforts to make sense of it all. Coughlin is able to articulate what we feel is going on around us. But his voice is very deep and in the very soup it describes, so it takes effort to hear.

    Now imagine the irony when such confusion is personified by one man. It shows we don’t only get the leader we deserve, but we get the man we are. Tucker:

    https://youtu.be/fC2rRw_Z7HE

  2. city news -MONTREAL – Protesting OSM concert with Russian pianist

    “Simply unethical,” describes Iryna Khomenko a protester, outside the home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, this after OSM plans to go ahead with a concert featuring Russian pianist, Daniil Trifonov.

  3. Germany, Spain and Portugal leaders urge French voters to choose Macron over Le Pen in 24 April polls

    In a column, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez and Portuguese PM António Costa wrote that Sunday’s vote is ‘critical for France and all and every one of us in Europe’

    Paris: Just days before France’s crucial presidential runoff vote, the center-left leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal urged French voters Thursday to choose “CENTRIST” President Emmanuel Macron over far-right nationalist rival Marine Le Pen.

    And in another sign of the wide international influence the result of Sunday’s French presidential vote will have, imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny also spoke up a day earlier, urging French voters to back Macron and alleging that Le Pen is too closely linked to Russian authorities.

    Le Pen has faced scrutiny before over a 9 million euro ($9.7 million) loan that her party received in 2014 from the First Czech-Russian Bank and her 2017 visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the French presidential runoff that year.

    In a column published Thursday in several European newspapers, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa wrote that Sunday’s vote is “critical for France and all and every one of us in Europe.”

    “It’s the election between a democratic candidate who believes that France’s strength broadens in a powerful and autonomous European Union and an extreme-right candidate who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and democracy, values based on the French ideas of Enlightenment,” the joint comment said without mentioning Macron or Le Pen by name.

    Social Democrat Scholz and Socialists Sánchez and Costa wrote that Europe “is facing a change of era” due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that “populists and the extreme right” are viewing Putin “as an ideological and political model, replicating his chauvinist ideas.”

    “They have echoed his attacks on minorities and diversity and his goal of nationalist uniformity,” they said, according to the article in Spain’s leading newspaper El País. “We must not forget that, no matter how much those politicians are now trying to distance themselves from the Russian aggressor.”

    The column ended by appealing to unity to “maintain prosperity and well-being” in Europe: “That’s why we need France to be on our side,” the leaders wrote.

    Macron is not taking any chances by being complacent, even with polling data for his camp in recent days that show a stabilized lead against his rival.

    On Thursday, he was visiting with voters in the multicultural suburb of Paris of Saint Denis. Le Pen is speaking with voters in Arras ahead of her final rally there.

    The two rivals clashed bitterly in Wednesday’s televised debate.

    Macron argued that the loan Le Pen’s party received in 2014 from a Czech-Russian bank made her unsuitable to deal with Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine. He also said her plans to ban Muslim women in France from wearing headscarves in public would trigger “civil war” in the country that has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

    Le Pen, in turn, sought to appeal to voters struggling with surging prices amid the fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which she criticized. She said bringing down the cost of living would be her priority if elected as France’s first woman president.

    https://www.firstpost.com/world/germany-spain-and-portugal-leaders-urge-french-to-choose-macron-over-le-pen-in-24-april-presidential-polls-10584981.html

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    • A clash of worldviews: What’s shaping the Macron-Le Pen presidential stand-off?

      Older voters who prefer the status quo, or young dissatisfied ones – who is more motivated?

      …Yet, despite the similarities in their objectives, Mélenchon has called on his backers not to give Le Pen a single vote in the second round. His longstanding view is that Le Pen – who is against Macron’s Covid mandates and has come out against Macron’s position of arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine – must be opposed at all costs…. An estimated 52% of Mélenchon voters either plan to abstain or cast a blank ballot in the final round.

      And it’s precisely this abstention, blank, or undeclared vote where this election could play out …

      Will French people over the age of 65 who view Macron’s conventional approach be more motivated to go vote in order to maintain the status quo at any cost, despite disappointment with the general direction of the country? Or will younger, working-class voters mobilize to seize the right to try something new with the only chance they’ll have to do so for the next five years?

      https://www.rt.com/news/554232-macron-lepen-presidential-elections/

  4. ctv – Zelenskyy gets John F. Kennedy award for defending democracy

    BOSTON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is among five people named Thursday as recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for acting to protect democracy.

    Zelenskyy was chosen because of the way he has “marshaled the spirit, patriotism and untiring sacrifice of the Ukrainian people in a life-or-death fight for their country,” as Russia pours in troops and assaults cities and towns, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation said.

    The foundation said four U.S. officials were chosen for standing up for free and fair elections, as the system is challenged in ways it has never been before.

    They are: Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Fulton County, Georgia, elections worker Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.

    Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the awards May 22 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. The award was created by the family of the late president to honor public figures who risk their careers by embracing unpopular positions for the greater good, and is named after Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage.”

    “There is no more important issue facing our country, and the world, today than the fight for democracy,” Kennedy said in a statement. “The war in Ukraine has shown the world that we can’t take freedom for granted, and the courage of our elected officials in the U.S. reminds us that as citizens we each have a responsibility to protect our democracy and exercise our fundamental right to vote.”

    Cheney chaired the Republican House Conference before being ousted from her post last year because of her unrelenting criticism of former President Donald Trump and statements blaming him for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

    The foundation said Cheney “broke with most in her party, urged fidelity to the Constitution, and stood her ground with honor and conviction,” and that she has remained a “consistent and courageous voice in defence of democracy.”

    Michigan was one of the battleground states where Trump allies demanded further review of the 2020 election. Benson defended the certification of the results.

    Protestors showed up at her home one evening in December 2020, angry about what they incorrectly said was voter fraud leading to Trump’s loss. The foundation said Benson defended the will of Michigan voters, repeatedly refused to back down from fulfilling the duties of her office and continues to speak out about the risks to free and fair elections.

    Bowers, a Republican, broke ranks with many in his party in December 2020 when he rejected a request from Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani for the Arizona Legislature to step in and replace electors legally pledged for Joe Biden with others who would support Trump.

    The foundation said Bowers made a “decision of conscience,” for which he endured persistent harassment and intimidation tactics from Trump supporters, and he acted again to protect the integrity of Arizona elections by stopping a wide-ranging election bill that would eliminate nearly all forms of early voting and require ballots to be counted by hand, though Republicans are still trying to pass these changes.

    Moss has worked for the Fulton County elections department since 2012 and supervised the absentee ballot operation during the 2020 election. Trump allies falsely claimed she engaged in ballot fraud. The foundation said “despite the onslaught of random, undeserved and malicious attacks,” Moss continues to do the “hard and unseen work to run our democracy.”

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/zelenskyy-gets-john-f-kennedy-award-for-defending-democracy-1.5870378

    • It fits. Kennedy was the epitome of corruption.
      …free and fair elections…
      JFK’s daddy stole the election for him. With union bosses thugs, Mayor Daley of Chicago, and the Mafia.

      Prez. Z has outlawed 11 opposition parties, taken their leaders as political prisoners. Closed down all media that’s not cheerleading for him.
      (The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald remain captives of the Camelot Myth™.)

    • Zelensky Suspends Democracy-Goes Full-Blown Nationalist Over Victor Medvechuk

      If an election were held in Ukraine today, Victor Medvechuk would stomp Volodymyr Zelensky by a larger margin than the 70%+ Zelensky beat Poroshenko by.

      Until Victor Medvechuk became a political rival, he and Zelensky were friends. Medvechuk gave Zelensky’s career in show business a start early on.

      His great crime is believing Ukraine should remain neutral and concentrate on its own development. For this, Zelensky offered Russia a prisoner exchange or Medvechuk. This is unparalleled in history. A president of a country offering his political rival to a foreign country so he doesn’t have to face him in an election?
      […]
      Zelensky recently got rid of all his opposition in the next election by illegalizing 11 political parties and nationalizing media to the point that if a foreign journalist writes something his administration doesn’t like, it’s an eight year prison term for writing the facts.

      https://creativedestructionmedia.com/opinion/2022/04/14/zelensky-suspends-democracy-goes-full-blown-nationalist-over-victor-medvechuk/

  5. Yellen says new $500 million is ‘only the beginning’ of Ukraine aid

    WASHINGTON — The United States is providing an additional $500 million in financial assistance to Ukraine to help the beleaguered country sustain salaries, pensions and other government programs while it fends off Russia’s invasion.

    “We plan to deploy this direct aid to Ukraine as soon as possible, to be used on the most urgent needs,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday. “We know this is only the beginning of what Ukraine will need to rebuild.”

    The new funding is on top of $500 million in economic aid that President Joe Biden unveiled in March.

    […]Yellen said she was talking to her counterparts about ensuring adequate food supplies around the globe and preparing for the possibility of new pandemics in the future.

    “COVID-19,” she said, “will not be our last global health emergency.”

    https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/yellen-says-new-500-million-is-only-the-beginning-of-ukraine-aid/

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

    Associated Press – Biden announces heavy artillery, other weapons for Ukraine

    Joe Biden pledged an additional $1.3 billion Thursday for new weapons and economic assistance to help Ukraine in its strong but increasingly difficult battle against the Russian invasion, andhe promised to seek much more from Congress to keep the guns, ammunition and cash flowing.

    The latest military aid, Biden said, will be sent “directly to the front lines of freedom.”

    “Putin is banking on us losing interest,” Biden said. The Russian president is betting that “Western unity will crack … and once again we’re going to prove him wrong.”

    The new package includes $800 million in military aid for much-needed heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and drones for the escalating battle in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It builds on roughly $2.6 billion in military assistance that Biden previously approved.

    There’s also a fresh $500 million in direct economic assistance to Ukraine for government salaries, pensions and other programs. That raises the total U.S. economic support to $1 billion since Russia’s invasion began nearly two months ago.

    Biden underscored a need for the United States and Western allies to remain resolved in their support for Ukraine amid signs that Americans may becoming more wary of the war.

    https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-biden-announces-new-military-aid-e78a7db76215a84f86586bb56122cd04
    ===============================

    bloomberg – Yellen Sees Efforts to Get Russia to Pay for Rebuilding Ukraine

    Unsure of authority to seize Russian central banks assets

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she expected Russia to help pay for rebuilding war-ravaged Ukraine, but stopped short of endorsing the use of frozen Russian assets for that purpose.

    “The rebuilding costs, ultimately, in Ukraine are going to be enormous,” Yellen said at a press conference in Washington Thursday. “And certainly looking to Russia — one way or another — to help provide some of what’s necessary for Ukraine to build is something I think we ought to be pursuing.”

    Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the U.S. and European allies froze about half of the $640 billion in foreign-exchange reserves owned by Russia’s central bank. Yellen was asked whether that might be tapped.

    The Treasury chief said it was unclear whether Russian assets could be seized without authorization from Congress, and it wasn’t a step the U.S. would take without consulting its allies.

    “That is a very significant step, and it’s one we would carefully need to think through the consequences of before undertaking it. I wouldn’t want to do so lightly,” Yellen said.

    China Warning

    American allies and partners would “need to feel comfortable with and be supportive of” such a move, she added.

    The Kiev School of Economics has estimated that damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure in the war had reached $80 billion as of April 11. It put total economic losses to Ukraine at $564 billion to $600 billion.

    Yellen also repeated her stern words for China a week after warning Beijing its own international economic integration could be in jeopardy if it failed to heed the call for “resolute action on Russia.”

    She said she wasn’t making any specific proposals, but said now is the time to stand up for the institutions and values of the global economic system.

    “Not only the United States but many countries want to see China show that it understands the threats the global system faces because of China’s behavior and to show their own adherence to and appreciation of the values of that system,” she said.

    “We’d be less trustful of China” if Beijing doesn’t cooperate, she said.

    That loss of trust, she added, could play out as countries reconsider their trading networks and supply chains.

    Warns China again to show commitment to global economic system

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-21/yellen-sees-efforts-to-get-russia-to-pay-for-ukraine-rebuilding

  6. Zelensky Says Ukraine Needs $7 Bn A Month To Make Up For Economic Losses

    Ukraine needs $7 billion a month to function amid the devastating “economic losses” inflicted by Russia, Zelensky said Thursday.

    That is an increase from Kiev’s previous estimate of $5 billion in monthly needs, and Zelensky told the leaders of the IMF and World Bank via video link, the “Russian military are aimed at destroying all objects in Ukraine that can serve as an economic base for life. That includes railroad stations, food warehouses, oil, refineries.”

    https://www.barrons.com/news/zelensky-says-ukraine-needs-7-bn-a-month-to-make-up-for-economic-losses-01650567306

    ====================================
    Ukraine Needs $7 Billion Per Month For Economic Recovery, Says Zelensky

    Ukraine President Zelenskiy also urged all countries immediately to break up relations with Russia..

    Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukraine needs $7 billion per month to make up for economic losses caused by Russia’s invasion of his country.

    Zelensky, in a virtual address to a World Bank forum, said the global community needed to exclude Russia immediately from international financial institutions, and urged all countries immediately to break up relations with Moscow.

    He said the Russian blockade of Black Sea ports has blocked Ukrainian exports, impacting world food safety.

    https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ukraine-needs-7-billion-per-month-for-economic-recovery-volodymyr-zelensky-says-2909061

    • If the U.S. admits it doesn’t know where the weapons go, how does it know where the money goes?

      • Remember Obama’s Fast and Furious? I would love to know how that program was intended to work. I think they were trying to start a war with US border services by equipping drug cartels.

  7. Mark Zuckerberg barred from Russia
    The Facebook mogul is among 29 US politicians, executives and media figures blacklisted by Moscow

    [Lotsa tech honchos]
    Moscow also sanctioned US politicians and their spouses, starting with Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klein, State Department spokesman Ned Price, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Christopher W. Grady, and the deputy health secretary, listed as “Richard/Rachel Levine.”

    [plus spouses of politicos]
    Bringing up the rear are media personalities the Foreign Ministry accused of “shaping the Russophobic agenda.” These include ABC host George Stephanopoulos, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, CNN analyst Bianna Golodryga, […] along with two experts from the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center think tanks.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/554283-zuckerberg-sanctioned/

  8. Syrian fighters ready to join next phase of Ukraine war

    Syria and Russia’s close ties throughout the last years could be reaping fruit for Moscow as Russian-trained Syrian soldiers are signing up to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine; While the effect this has is miniscule so far, the Middle-Eastern devotees could play a significant role if Putin turns up the intensity

    https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hynyhc5v5
    ………
    Zvi Bar’el,
    Why IranWants the Revolutionary Guards Removed from the U.S. Terror List

    More than 4,000 Iranian doctors applied for emigration permits over the past year. They were joined by thousands of others with professions – such as plumbers, carpenters and even barbers – who can no longer make a living given the huge spike in prices and the devaluation of the Iranian rial. Yet Iran’s revenues from oil exports jumped 40% over the past 12 months.

    The budget of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps doubled compared to last year and currently stands at $22 billion. In comparison, only $8 billion was allocated to the regular army, even though the IRGC constitutes only 10% of the entire armed forces in Iran.

    The IRGC also controls civilian and military production lines, fuel terminals, and airports. According to Western estimates, it controls more than half of Iran’s economy, directly employing 200,000 civilians and providing work for 1 million contractors and subcontractors. This is why Iran is so adamant that the IRGC be removed from the U.S. list of designated terror organizations.

    Zvi Bar’el, Ha’aretz. Relayed from a blog. no link.

  9. Amb. Dore Gold:
    Laser Game-Changers in Middle Eastern Warfare

    Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, commenting on the latest Israeli anti-missile laser test, said: “energy-based weapons with a powerful laser are, in my opinion, a very significant game-changer.”
    The Soviet Scud missiles supplied to Egypt just before the Yom Kippur War in 1973 offered assured penetrability of Israel’s air space. From then on, Israel had to find a way to neutralize the ballistic missiles of its adversaries.

    The introduction of a new generation anti-missile system based on lasers could provide Israel with a more cost-effective solution than the Iron Dome, whose Tamir interceptors each cost $80,000. The cost of each laser shot is less than $5.00.

    Today, rockets and ballistic missiles are being employed by Iranian proxy forces like Hizbullah, Hamas, and the Houthis in Yemen. The Houthis have also fired armed drones at the heart of Riyadh and at Abu Dhabi.

    There is a collective interest among Israel and the Gulf states to deny Iranian allies the ability to hit their most sensitive infrastructures.

    The Abraham Accords have created new regional possibilities for marrying up Israeli technology with the financial power of the Arab Gulf states. This is the real game-changer that is emerging now.

    https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-704727