The new Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt seems to be bad news for international investors. Moody’s has cut Egypt’s credit rating again, estimating that there is a 40% chance that the country will default on its debts within five years.
In other Egyptian news, dozens of student protesters were injured in a clash with security police, who forcibly ended their sit-in at a university in Cairo.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, McR, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Commission Asks for €11 Billion to Cover EU Budget Hole
An extra €11.2 billion is needed to cover unpaid bills from 2012 as well as payments due for 2013, the European Commission said Wednesday. Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski tabled an amending budget saying that it is not possible to delay payments, which include €9 billion for cohesion policies, any more.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Crisis in France: Hollande Failing to Handle Unemployment
France has long had a chronic problem with unemployment, but the current jobless rate is especially dismal. The government has introduced several employment programs, but they’re not taking effect quickly enough to convince the country things will get better.
Ten months after the election of French President Francois Hollande, the number of people registered as unemployed is nearing the national record set in 1997, at just below 3.2 million. Nearly 2 million have been searching for work for more than a year, and every month an additional 80,000 people lose their claim to unemployment benefits, often falling into poverty.
Unemployment is 10.8 percent higher than last year — a harsh blow to Hollande, who promised during his campaign to curb the crisis on the job market. Instead, the jobless rate has steadily risen, bringing to memory a statement made in 1993 by Hollande’s predecessor and fellow Socialist, Francois Mitterrand: “Against unemployment, we’ve tried everything.”
In anticipation of catastrophic new reports on the labor market, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the National Assembly on Tuesday that one “has never done enough against unemployment,” calling for “a general mobilization” to create jobs in the public and private sectors.
The government has taken a number of measures to combat youth unemployment, such as generous subsidies to companies that hire employees between 16 and 25 for at least one year. The plan was to create 100,000 “contracts for the future” in 2013, but so far only 15,000 people have benefited from the program.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
D’Estaing: Eurozone Should Shut Its Doors After Poland
BRUSSELS — Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing has said the eurozone should stop enlarging after Poland joins in order to create a “hard core” in the EU.
The 87-year-old politician, who also helped draft the EU’s defunct constitution, later reborn as the Lisbon Treaty, spoke in an interview in the Polish edition of Newsweek magazine published on Monday (25 March).
He said: “I think the process of accepting new countries to the eurozone should be frozen. We cannot afford another comedy like the one we have today with Cyprus, which was accepted into the euro-area unnecessarily. But there is an exception to this rule and this is Poland. You support further European integration and you have an economy based on solid foundations.”
He noted that the 27-member EU is going in a different direction to the 17-member eurozone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Have the Banksters Finally Gone Too Far?
Banksters and politicians in America (and elsewhere) are looking at Cyprus and the Eurozone and licking their chops in anticipation.
Isn’t the reason you put your money in a bank to keep it safe?
That’s what I was always told, at any rate. Banks have those big vault-thingys with massive thick steel doors and bars and locks, so they’re much safer than a sock filled with cash stuffed into the mattress, right?
In Europe these days…apparently not.
First there was the flap in Cyprus, where savings accounts were raided (let’s not mince words here — call it what you will, the accounts were frozen and then raided, just as certainly as if a gun had been held to their owner’s heads), and now this article from the Telegraph of London, which reports that the eurozone has plans to do the same thing elsewhere, at need.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch chairman of the Eurozone recently told the Financial Times and Reuters that the theft from Cyprian depositors was going to serve as the template for dealing with future banking crisis in the future.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Households Hit Hardest by Euro Crisis
EC study says number of those suffering up 15%
(ANSA) — Brussels, March 26 — Italy suffered the brunt of the eurozone debt crisis in 2012, a European Commission report said Tuesday as a series of studies were issued on the good — but mostly the bad — about the recession-plagued Italian economy. “Economic stress had repercussions in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Spain and especially Italy, where the number of those in economic difficulty rose by 15%,” said the EC in its report on employment in Europe. The study also stressed that Italy lagged behind the rest of Europe in productivity, “down 2.8% in the last quarter of 2012, following an even bigger 3% drop in the previous quarter”.
“Italy is also the country, among the largest in Europe, where unemployment in the last quarter of 2012 underwent the fastest climb at 0.5%, followed by Poland at 0.3%, Spain and France both at 0.1%,” the study said.
Meanwhile the Italian government said that unemployment is getting worse in Italy but lower borrowing costs have reduced interest payments on the public debt. Details from the government’s most recent economic and finance report, including updated economic forecasts, were released in advance of its final submission to Parliament before April 10. The report, known as the DEF, projects that by next year, the Italian jobless rate will rise as high as 11.8%, above earlier estimates of 11.4% and the rate of 11.7% recorded in January. Unemployment has been climbing dramatically: in 2012, Italy’s national unemployment rate was 10.7%, up from 8.4% in 2011. However, the outgoing government of Premier Mario Monti says it has saved 5.3 billion euros in interest costs by boosting international confidence in the Italian economy. Interest payments on Italian government bonds will amount of 83.9 billion euros in 2013, below earlier estimates that 2013 interest costs would hit 89.2 billion euros, according to the document. That’s also below the 86.7 billion euros paid in interest on Italian paper in 2012. But given that the uncertainty surrounding the next Italian government and the outlook for the economy, interest rates are again rising and that means Italian payments will jump to 90.3 billion euros in 2014, according to the new estimates. No government has yet been established following general elections one month ago. Pier Liugi Bersani, leader of the Democratic Party, has been given until Thursday to try to pull together a national government, since no one party gained a majority in the two houses of Parliament. The DEF also includes the Monti government’s plan to pay over two years about 40 billion euros’ worth of bills to Italian public administration suppliers, even though this will boost the country’s deficit. Monti maintains that the European Commission is not opposed to the notion, even though it could boost the deficit beyond levels previously agreed to by EU states. His government argues that the payments will provide much-needed economic stimulus to Italy’s recession-hit economy, although it would raise Italy’s 2013 budget deficit to 2.9%. The Italian government has been working with the EC to try to make the payments, while remaining in line with deficit regulations. Meanwhile, the new economic estimates say that the tax burden on Italians will reach 44.4%, slightly below previous forecasts of 45.3% — both well above the 2011 average of 42.6%. Reflecting the country’s ageing population, pension spending is forecast to reach 5.7 billion euros this year, 16.2% of Italy’s GDP. That represents a small increase from the 15.9% of GDP in 2012 spending, but the proportion is expected to remain stable in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Luxembourg Defends Its Banking Model
The Luxembourg government in a communique out Wednesday said it is “worried” by recent comments by Eurogroup chief Dijsselbloem that oversized banking sectors, as in Cyprus, should be restructured. It said its banks are “an important point of entry for investments in the eurozone” and that they are “efficiently” supervised.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Moody’s Predicts 40% Chance of Egypt Default in 5 Years
By Daniel Greenfield
Islamism is apparently how you spell bad investment.
Moody’s cut Egypt’s credit rating on Thursday, citing unsettled political conditions and public finances, which it said raised the chance of a default within five years to nearly 40 percent.
The Egyptian economy has been in crisis since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, with Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s cash-strapped government grappling with sliding currency reserves, dwindling tourism, a soaring budget deficit and a wave of often violent street protests.
Moody’s cut the country’s credit rating by one notch from B3 to Caa1, which it said meant it now sees nearly a 10 percent chance of Egypt defaulting on its debt over the next year, and slightly less than a 40 percent chance of a default within five years.
It was Moody’s sixth downgrade of Egypt since January 2011, at the height of the uprising that toppled Mubarak soon after.
“Egypt’s fiscal position is very worrying, the deficit has been widening since the start of the fiscal year… This has been exacerbated by rising subsidy expenditure,” said Jason Turvey, assistant economist at Capital Economics in London.
“It’s hard to say how much the downgrades really matter because, after all, Egypt is already considered at junk status,” said Turvey.
The Arab Spring is also at junk status.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Doubts Gather Over EU Report on Cyprus Money Laundering
With just four days to go before the EU-demanded report on anti-money laundering compliance in Cyprus falls due, the Cypriot central bank has still not hired a private auditing firm to look at banks. The survey is to look at Cypriot banks only, leaving out Cypriot-based branches of Russian lenders.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Confidence in the Euro Plunges
Confidence in the euro among Dutch consumers has plunged to 32%, according to a new poll for television current affairs show EenVandaag. In September 2012, 43% had confidence in the European currency.
Two thirds of the 13,000 people polled said they are concerned about the consequences of the euro crisis for the Netherlands.
In the light of events in Cyprus, six out of 10 support the decision by Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the Eurogroup to pass on more risk to banks, shareholders and major savers.
And half of those polled think people with more than €100,000 in savings should contribute to the cost of rescuing their bank.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenian PM Rules Out International Aid
Premier says comparison with Cyprus inappropriate
(ANSAmed) — LJUBLJANA, MARCH 27 — Slovenia does not need international aid to ward off the crisis and will manage its banking sectors problems on its own, said Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek on Wednesday. The newly-sworn in premier was responding to questions by members of parliament following international press reports that Slovenia may be the next eurozone country to ask for assistance from the troika after Cyprus. “Slovenia is able to resolve the situation on its own,” Bratusek said, noting that his government, which was sworn in last week, would be giving priority status to getting the baking sector back on its feet. “The finance minister is working day and night,” added the premier, saying that Minister Uros Cufer is an expert on banking systems with a great deal of experience in the sector. “Bank deposits in Slovenia are safe and guaranteed by the State, and the panic is entirely unwarranted,” he said, reiterating that any comparison with Cyprus was inappropriate.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Suspicious Transactions: Cypriot Parliament Investigating Capital Flight
Banks have been closed and accounts frozen in Cyprus recently. Nevertheless, large amounts were moved out of the country’s crippled financial institutions on the eve of the bailout package. Lawmakers are suspicious and are investigating both the government and the Cypriot central bank.
Panicos Demetriades looked dead tired as he opened the press conference on Tuesday afternoon on the fourth floor of the Cypriot central bank. The questions and answers flew back and forth for 90 minutes, with Finance Minister Michalis Sarris doing his best to back up the central bank head. Outside, the mountains slowly receded from view behind into a haze, while inside journalists became increasingly restive. When the session ended, many were left wondering why Demetriades had invited them in the first place. He had virtually nothing new to say.
Many interpreted the press conference as a symbolic exercise. Central bank head Demetriades, they felt, sought to stage a show of strength to counter the pressure that has been heaped on his shoulders in recent days. For one, he announced earlier this week, without consulting the Cypriot government first, that small banks in the country would open their doors again on Tuesday, in contrast to the island-nation’s two largest financial institutions Laiki and Bank of Cyprus. The result was a massive protest from the smaller banks and a reversal. The banks stayed closed. For the moment, the opening date is set for Thursday, and many fear that a flood of angry customers could overwhelm the sector.
Then, on Monday, the central bank announced that it was installing financial manager Dinos Christofides as a special consultant to the Bank of Cyprus as it prepares to take on assets from Laiki, which is to be liquidated. The deployment of Christofides is legitimate, but it triggered widespread concerns that the Bank of Cyprus too may soon be broken up. Demetriades was accused of not doing enough to explain the steps he was taking, thus intensifying investor anxiety.
Most of all, though, the central bank head has been harshly criticized due to the suspicious capital flight from Laiki and the Bank of Cyprus, the two institutions that have been hit hardest by the Cypriot banking crisis. There are indications that large sums flowed out of the two banks just before the first bailout package was signed in the early morning hours of March 16. At the end of January, some 40 percent of all savings held in Cypriot accounts were on the books of those two banks. Since then, however, much of it has been transferred elsewhere, despite orders from the central bank that accounts at the two institutions be frozen.
The central bank now stands accused of not doing enough to control the movement of capital. Transfers for humanitarian aid were permitted which, while certainly an acceptable exception, opened a loophole for abuse. Many are also furious that the bank allowed “special payments,” the definition of which was never adequately established.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
World’s First Bitcoin ATM is Announced — First Location: Cyprus
[Editor’s Note: The following post is by TDV Editor-in-Chief, Jeff Berwick]
While European politicos negotiate in Brussels, deciding the fate of other people’s money in Cyprus, the free market has already moved in to help Cypriots get access to their money via other means…
Banks have been closed for the last week in Cyprus and if they do re-open on Tuesday, it has now been announced that daily withdrawal limits at ATMs will be 100 euros per day.
As the Cypriot Drama unfolds before our very eyes, I began pondering what tangible solutions there are to bank holidays and bank runs. What could I do to help in Cyprus and all other countries (like Spain, Greece and Italy) for which, as we have predicted at TDV, bank closures are coming? The answer wasn’t hard to come up with. If these people had simply bought bitcoins with their savings, not only would they currently have 100% access to their funds, but also they would have enjoyed a parabolic move to the upside over past months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Congressman Vows to End TSA Screening
Congressman John Mica, a consistent critic of the TSA, who has pushed for airports to ditch the agency and replace it with private security screeners, has set about his biggest step to date to end the Federal agency’s rule throughout the nation’s airports.
Mica, who now heads up a subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, intends to introduce legislation to return all security authority in airports to private companies. He also says he is determined to push for up to half a dozen hearings this year alone to get it done.
“I’m telling you, whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or if there are a few independents left, people have had it right up to their eyebrows with TSA,” Mica said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “It’s not a partisan issue.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DHS Excuses for Buying So Much Ammo Don’t Add Up
Talk show host Mark Levin, a lawyer who served in several posts during the Reagan administration and who is no conspiracy theorist, had this to say about DHS’ extraordinary purchases:
To provide some perspective, experts estimate that at the peak of the Iraq war American troops were firing around 5.5 million rounds per month. At that rate, the [Department of Homeland Security] is armed now for a 24-year Iraq war. … I’m going to tell you what I think is going on. I don’t think domestic insurrection. Law enforcement and national security agencies, they play out multiple scenarios. … I’ll tell you what I think they’re simulating: the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence, looting, killing in the streets, because that’s what happens when an economy collapses. I suspect that just in case our fiscal situation, our monetary situation, collapses, and following it the civil society collapses, that is the rule of law, they want to be prepared. I know why the government’s arming up: It’s not because there’s going to be an insurrection; it’s because our society is unraveling.
Jeff Knox, director of The Firearms Coalition, notes that there are currently between 135,000 and 145,000 armed federal law enforcement officers. If you divide up the ammunition DHS is purchasing among all of them, that comes to nearly 14,000 rounds each.
Are you getting an idea now how implausible the department’s explanations are regarding plans for massive ammunition purchases in the coming years? And what about the assault rifles and MRAPs?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Plans to Spend $100 Million on Ammo; Quarter-Billion New Rounds Also Slated for DHS
WND recently reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has purchased well over a billion rounds of ammunition over the past year.
The magnitude of the federal government’s ammunition buildup has been making headlines over the last few weeks, as members of the military, police departments and consumers are finding shelves bare when they want to buy ammunition.
Alarms over the situation have developed just as the Obama administration is pushing hard on its agenda of gun control.
But the full impact may not yet have developed, as WND has uncovered plans by the FBI to spend up to $100 million over five years on millions of rounds for its machine guns and pistols.
According to a solicitation revised and released March 25 that WND discovered during routine database research, the FBI is gathering this ammo “to be carried and fired [by FBI Special Agents] in defense of life” as well as for training purposes.
The ammunition includes a combination of field-ready Glock 9mm rounds as well as reduced-lead training ammo. Weapons specifically listed in the Statement of Work, or SOW, are Glock Model 17, Glock Model 19, Glock Model 26, SIG Sauer P226, SIG Sauer P228, Heckler and Koch MP5 9mm submachine gun (K, A2, A3, SF and SD versions).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Free’ Breast Implants While Patients Starve
Saga of ‘distressed’ flat-chested woman a preview of Obamacare?
In addition to the breast implants, the NHS has also spent £25,000 — about $3,700 — on a sex-change operation for a 19-year-old male diagnosed with “gender identity disorder.”
The funding priorities are under fire as the British government reveals widespread cases of starvation, malnutrition and neglect at hospitals.
Earlier this month, the London Daily Mail reported government figures showing as many as 1,165 people starved to death in NHS hospitals over the past four years.
The paper cited critics who say “nurses are too busy to feed patients and often food and drink are placed out of reach of vulnerable people.”
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show 43 patients starved to death and 291 died in a state of severe malnutrition in 2011. The government said 5,558 patients were discharged while suffering from malnutrition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Robo-Reporters to Replace Mainstream Journalists?
The mainstream media is now so glib, unquestioning and intellectually castrated that robo-reporters could soon replace real journalists — without anyone noticing.
Computer algorithms are already being used to manufacture news stories about earthquakes and other data-rich issues and this same process could soon be employed for sports games and eventually more complicated news stories — rendering many journalists obsolete.
Human editors would probably still be needed to check stories before publication, but the actual process of writing articles could be handed over completely to artificially intelligent software programs.
The Vancouver Sun reports today that the Los Angeles Times is already using robo-reporters for some of its content, thanks to a computer program developed by the newspaper’s digital editor Ken Schwencke.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rosa Korie Explains Why Public Must Awaken to Agenda 21 (Video)
Rosa Koire, ASA, is the executive director of the Post Sustainability Institute. She is a forensic commercial real estate appraiser specializing in eminent domain valuation.
Her nearly 30 years of experience analyzing land use and property value enabled her to recognize the planning revolution sweeping the country.
While fighting to stop a huge redevelopment project in her city she researched the corporate, political, and financial interests behind it and found UN Agenda 21.
Impacting every aspect of our lives, UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is a corporate manipulation using the Green Mask of environmental concern to forward a globalist plan.Rosa speaks across the nation and is a regular blogger on her website: www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Who is Thomas Nagel and why are so many of his fellow academics condemning him?
Last fall, a few days before Halloween and about a month after the publication of Mind and Cosmos, the controversial new book by the philosopher Thomas Nagel, several of the world’s leading philosophers gathered with a group of cutting-edge scientists in the conference room of a charming inn in the Berkshires…
Nagel’s tone is measured and tentative, but there’s no disguising the book’s renegade quality. There are flashes of exasperation and dismissive impatience. What’s exhilarating is that the source of Nagel’s exasperation is, so to speak, his own tribe: the “secular theoretical establishment and the contemporary enlightened culture which it dominates.” The establishment today, he says, is devoted beyond all reason to a “dominant scientific naturalism, heavily dependent on Darwinian explanations of practically everything, and armed to the teeth against attacks from religion.” I’m sure Nagel would recoil at the phrase, but Mind and Cosmos is a work of philosophical populism, defending our everyday understanding from the highly implausible worldview of a secular clerisy. His working assumption is, in today’s intellectual climate, radical: If the materialist, neo-Darwinian orthodoxy contradicts common sense, then this is a mark against the orthodoxy, not against common sense. When a chain of reasoning leads us to deny the obvious, we should double-check the chain of reasoning before we give up on the obvious.
Nagel follows the materialist chain of reasoning all the way into the cul de sac where it inevitably winds up. Nagel’s touchier critics have accused him of launching an assault on science, when really it is an assault on the nonscientific uses to which materialism has been put…
In a dazzling six-part tour de force rebutting Nagel’s critics, the philosopher Edward Feser provided a good analogy to describe the basic materialist error — the attempt to stretch materialism from a working assumption into a comprehensive explanation of the world. Feser suggests a parody of materialist reasoning: “1. Metal detectors have had far greater success in finding coins and other metallic objects in more places than any other method has. 2. Therefore we have good reason to think that metal detectors can reveal to us everything that can be revealed” about metallic objects…
A materialist who lived his life according to his professed convictions — understanding himself to have no moral agency, seeing his friends and family as genetically determined robots — wouldn’t just be a materialist: He’d be a psychopath.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. University Evacuated Over Bomb Threat
HOUSTON, March 26 (Xinhua) — A university in the U.S. state of Texas on Tuesday evacuated its campus due to an anonymous bomb threat. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) closed its campus at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) after officials received word of a bomb threat. The campus reopened at 7 p.m. Tuesday (0000 GMT Wednesday) after campus police searched all buildings, the school said in a statement…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) The USDA “census of agriculture” is a government-run farm surveillance program designed to register and inventory detailed private data on farm assets, operations and personnel. A census form is mailed to each farmer in the United States, accompanied by threats of compliance and a warning that farmers who do not comply will be visited in person by government agents.
These agricultural census forms — see a link to a scanned copy below — demands farmers reveal the following information, all of which is compiled into a vast government database:…
[…]
Most Americans don’t yet realize that President Obama has already signed an executive order declaring government ownership and control over all farms, food, livestock, seeds, farm equipment and more. I’ve covered that news in full detail here: (www.naturalnews.com/035301_Obama_executive_orders_food_supply.html)
[Comment: End goal: control the food and you control the people. It is so communists can determine how much they can force the farmer to produce for the state.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Doctors and medical professionals at the Veterans Affairs are handing out dangerous tranquilizers such as Xanax and Valium to military service members diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder though they have been repeatedly advised not to do so because of the potential the drugs could cause more harm than good.
According to a report in NextGov.com, the VA is prescribing tranquilizers to more than 30 percent of veterans with PTSD, though clinical practice guidelines issued in 2010 by the VA’s National Center for PTSD, among others, has warned against it.
Under the guidelines, which also apply to the Department of Defense, warned providers against using benzodiazepine to manage the condition because of “the lack of efficacy data and growing evidence for the potential risk of harm,” the center said in the March edition of quarterly research publication.
Basically, let’s addict them, then take the pills away and see what happens.
[Comment: It is almost as if the end goal is to mentally destabalize vets so much that it becomes a pretext from removing their 2nd amendment rights.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
World War Z Trailer: Martial Law Conditioning
During the first few seconds of the latest World War Z trailer, a young girl asks, “Daddy, what’s martial law?” as it is announced on a TV in the background.
Once again it’s proven that Alex Jones can read the globalists like an open book, explaining the movie’s true intention months in advance as a propaganda vehicle to push a tyrannical one-world dictatorship hiding behind a U.N. mask.
After reading the book, Alex and his staff put together a video breaking down the classic modes of propaganda used in the story to acclimate large audiences on the proper way to move themselves into the system in case of a bio attack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Moderate Muslims Support Bill to Strip Treasonous Dual Nationals of Citizenship
OTTAWA — Moderate Muslim groups expressed their unwavering support for a bill that would strip dual nationals of Canadian citizenship if they are convicted of treason…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Atlas of History’s Greatest Military Victories, By Jeremy Harwood — Review
by Nigel Jones
Final proof — if any were needed — that Englishmen are not made of the same mettle as their rough, tough ancestors is provided on the website of the Towton Battlefield Society, who have cancelled their annual re-enactment of England’s bloodiest battle this Sunday ‘for safety’s sake…’ on the grounds that the battlefield has been waterlogged by this year’s unremitting wet weather…
One red thread that runs through the book is the persistence of an east-west struggle in the history of conflict. From Marathon, Salamis and Thermopylae through the turning back of the Moors at Tours, the fall of Constantinople, and Christendom’s great naval revenge at Lepanto, down to the modern and contemporary battles of Tsushima, Inchon, Dien Bien Phu, the Six-Day War and Saddam’s wars, the story has been, in one form or another, one of Occident pitched against Orient…
Atlas of History’s Greatest Military Victories by Jeremy Harwood is published by Icon Books (£12.99) Nigel Jones guides battlefield tours with historicaltrips.com
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Authorities in Malta Investigating Kidnap, Rape of Italian
Woman assaulted in capital Valletta
(ANSA) — Malta, March 26 — A young Italian woman is in hospital after she was sexually assaulted by a group of men on the streets of the Maltese capital Valletta, police said Tuesday.
The woman said she was kidnapped while she was walking late Sunday night, by four men driving a grey vehicle.
She was later left near a factory where workers found her and called emergency for help.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Big Brother in Holland: 200,000 Surveillance Cameras Are Watching You
At least 200,000 surveillance cameras are monitoring public spaces and buildings in the Netherlands, most of which are owned by private firms, according to new research.
The research was carried out by news website Sargasso.nl and news agency ANP using freedom of information legislation and shows the Netherlands has one security camera for every 82 inhabitants.
Most cameras — an estimated 180,000 — have been placed by companies and wealthy individuals. Next on the list are public transport companies with 17,500 cameras, many of which have been installed in buses and trams.
The police and local councils have installed 2,700 surveillance cameras, mainly in popular nightlife areas. The transport ministry has 1,700 cameras along the road network and Schiphol has 1,400 to monitor comings and goings in and around the airport complex.
‘In many cases, you can ask yourself if the cameras are really necessary,’ Gerrit-Jan Zwenne, a Leiden University professor, told webite nu.nl. Zwenne thinks the use of surveillance cameras is over-rated as a crime prevention tool.
‘All those images need to be looked at. Automation is increasing, but that is certainly not always the best solution,’ he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia: At the End of the EU Obstacle Course
Jutarnji List Zagreb
The news has been confirmed: after more than 10 years of negotiations, the Croats are set to join the EU on July 1. Convinced that they had been burned by previous enlargements, the EU’s 27 members were even more strict with Zagreb than they were with other countries which recently joined the Union.
Augustin Palokaj
More than 20 years ago, Germany was the first of the European Union’s member states [there were only 12 at the time] to recognise the Croatian independence. Berlin even threatened to do so unilaterally, if the EU was unable to reach a consensus. However, today Germany is among the last, if not the last, of the EU states to ratify the Treaty of Accession 2011, which will validate Croatia’s entry into the EU.
This is not the end of a love story between Germany and Croatia, nor is it revenge for our World Cup quarter-final victory in 1998. Germany is currently at the head of a group of states that are sceptical about future enlargement, because the government in Berlin is unhappy about the situation in certain countries that have recently joined the Union.
Mistakes were made
With support from the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland, it takes the view that, for political reasons, the EU can no longer afford to overlook the rules for the basic functioning of the Union, that is to say: the rule of law and the drive to fight corruption and organised crime. For this group of states, there can be no compromise on respect for either of these. Germany has even proposed to subject all of the countries of the Union, whether they be recent or long standing members, to supervision from Brussels, which will have the option of imposing sanctions in the form of denial of access to certain funds….
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Campaigners File Petition for Anti-EU Referendum
A Dutch citizens’ initiative has obtained enough signatures to force parliament to hold a debate on whether there should be referendums on handing over more powers the EU. The six-week drive obtained 56,000 signatures, reports DutchNews.nl. The move mirrors UK plans to hold a referendum on EU powers in 2017.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: ‘Fagin’ of Paris ‘Masterminded City’s Biggest Ever Child Pickpocketing Ring’
A modern day “Fagin” masterminded the biggest child pickpocketing ring ever seen in Paris, with up to 500 young girls threatened with beatings or even rape unless they stole £250 a day, a French court heard.
Fehim Hamidovic, 60, a Bosnian whose lawyers described him as a “good grandfather”, was accused of running a Dickensian gang of young Roma girls as young as 12 who were forced to steal cash and valuables from tourists — mainly Asian — or face cigarette burns or even more brutal abuse. At the time the ring was dismantled in 2010, police estimated it was responsible for 75 per cent of all thefts in the Paris metro…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
France: Soldier Held in Hunt for Merah Accomplices
A serving French soldier was arrested on Wednesday for questioning in connection with a hunt for accomplices of Mohamed Merah, the Islamist gunman who killed seven people in southwestern France last year.
The soldier was picked up at his barracks in the southern town of Castres on Wednesday morning, police sources said. His arrest follows the detention for questioning late Tuesday of two other men.
Three of Merah’s victims were French paratroopers, whom he said he had targeted because of France’s involvement in the NATO intervention in Afghanistan.
He subsequently killed a rabbi and three Jewish schoolchildren before being shot dead by police in a siege of his flat in Toulouse.
Detectives looking into the case are convinced that Merah, who had travelled to Pakistan in 2011, could not have acted alone and fear accomplices still at large could represent a security threat.
To date, the only person charged with helping him is his brother Abdelkader Merah, who has been in custody since last year but denies involvement in the killings.
Five other people have been detained and interrogated by police as part of the probe but they were all released without charge.
Since Merah’s death, it has emerged that he had been known to France’s security services for several years and it has become clear the threat he posed was disastrously under-estimated by agents who had contact with him.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
An Eastern European ‘Fagin’ who is accused of masterminding one of the biggest child pick-pocketing rings in history appears in a French court today.
Fehim Hamidovic, a grandfather from Bosnia, allegedly earned more than £1million a year — much of it coming from British tourists — which he spent on holiday homes, luxury cars and high-rolling casino trips.
He is said to have controlled a network of up to 500 young girls on the streets of Paris, whom he threatened with beatings, cigarette burns to the face and even rape if they failed to steal at least £250 every day.
Hamidovic, 60, apparently told his gang of Roma gypsies from countries like Romania and Bulgaria to concentrate on Asians, who were considered particularly easy targets, and also stole from Britons visiting the French capital.
When the criminal ring was dismantled in 2010, police said it was responsible for around 75 per cent of all thefts in the Paris metro system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nicholas Spice
In one of the European galleries at the British Museum, there’s a bronze medal of Erasmus made in Antwerp in 1519 by the artist Quentin Metsys. A portrait of Erasmus in profile is on the front of the medal. On the reverse, the smiling bust of Terminus, the Roman god of boundaries, and the words ‘concedo nulli’ — ‘I yield to no one.’ It’s said that Erasmus kept a figurine of the god Terminus on his desk. He wrote: ‘Out of a profane god I have made myself a symbol exhorting decency in life. For death is the real terminus that yields to no one.’
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Terzi Says His Conscience Told Him to Step Down Over Marines
Ex-foreign minister explains his resignation on Facebook
(ANSA) — Rome, March 27 — Former foreign minister Giulio Terzi said he resigned in parliament because his conscience could not support the government’s decision to return two marines to India to face homicide charges.
In a post on his Facebook page late Wednesday, Terzi added that he resigned publicly in parliament due to his commitment to democracy. Parliament, as the ultimate seat of democracy, would be the correct place to resign, he explained.
The decision, he added, was not driven by any “personal” initiative, Terzi said.
“I did what I believed in, answering only to my conscience”.
Earlier in the day, outgoing Premier Mario Monti faced questions in both houses of parliament about the Terzi’s resignation and the decision to send the two marines back to India.
Terzi has said that he stepped down because he did not agree with the Monti government’s decision to return the pair to India where they stand accused of killing two fishermen while on anti-piracy duty a year ago.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S Accuse Bersani of Repeating Old Rhetoric
‘We’ve heard the same things for 20 years,’ says Lombardi
(see related story) (ANSA) — Rome, March 27 — The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) accused centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani of regurgitating old rhetoric when he appealed for its representatives to back a “government of change” led by him on Wednesday.
“We’ve been hearing these things for 20 years,” said Roberta Lombardi, the M5S’s House whip.
“While you were speaking it seemed to me that I was listening to a transmission of (political talk show) Ballaro’. “I’ve been voting for 20 years and hearing the same things and they are never put into practice”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S Slams Door on ‘Whoring Father’ Bersani’s Govt Bid
Grillo also insults Berlusconi, Monti, hopes dwindle for admin
(By Paul Virgo) (ANSA) — Rome, March 27 — The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) slammed the door on Pier Luigi Bersani’s hopes of winning its support for a centre left-led government on Wednesday.
M5S leader Beppe Grillo reiterated his movement’s position that it will never back a government formed by the established parties by describing Bersani and other members of Italy’s political elite, including ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi and outgoing Premier Mario Monti, as “whoremongering fathers”.
“They are those who are most responsible for robbing the young generations,” Grillo said on his blog, which in 2009 gave birth to the Internet-based M5S.
“Now is the time for the fatherless to send them home, one way or another. Time is on their side,” added the comedian-turned-politician, whose movement holds the balance of power in parliament after capturing a huge protest vote in last month’s inconclusive general election.
It was another blow to Bersani’s slender hopes of breaking Italy’s political deadlock. He has to report back to President Giorgio Napolitano before the end of the week after being given a mandate to form a government “certain” of winning a confidence vote in parliament last week.
Bersani, whose centre-left alliance came first in the election but failed to win a working majority in the Senate, has ruled out forming a grand coalition with three-time premier Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party.
So his efforts have focused on trying to reach out to the M5S with eight-point platform that reflects many of the movement’s policies.
These include cuts to the number of parliamentarians and other measures to reduce the cost of politics, the recognition of same-sex unions and the introduction of a universal system of unemployment benefits.
Grillo has knocked back the overtures as he considers Bersani’s Democratic Party (PD) part of a corrupt, malfunctioning system that he wants to sweep away.
The M5S’s whips in the Senate and the House had reiterated this position earlier in the day in a meeting with Bersani.
M5S Senate whip Vito Crimi said the movement would vote against giving confidence to a Bersani government.
Crimi also ruled out the possibility the movement would abandon the floor of the Upper House to bring down the quorum for the confidence vote and possibly enable Bersani’s centre left to prevail with its slender relative majority. He added that there was no chance of a government proposed by Bersani winning a confidence vote with the help of rebel M5S lawmakers. The centre left managed to get its candidate, former national anti-Mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso, elected Senate Speaker earlier this month after some M5S members in the Upper House defied party orders and voted for him. In the talks, which were transmitted on the Internet in a first and picked up by TV networks at the insistence of the M5S in the name of transparency, stressed that Italy needed a government.
He also said the M5S did not have a monopoly on wanting change. “I start from a premise — yes to a government, OK to governability, but without change there can be no government,” Bersani told M5S representatives. “You are leading players in this change, but you are not the only players. My party feels this need (for change). “I will not form a government that has no possibility of making changes in front of it…
“There’s a need to give a government to this country. I ask responsibility from those who are close to us. I ask the parties who want to have more autonomy not to prevent us in this path”.
Roberta Lombardi, the M5S’s House whip, said Bersani was simply regurgitating old rhetoric. “We’ve been hearing these things for 20 years,” said Lombardi. “While you were speaking it seemed to me that I was listening to a transmission of (political talk show) Ballaro’.
“I’ve been voting for 20 years and hearing the same things and they are never put into practice”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Monti Says Italy Faced BRICS ‘Measures’ Over Marines Row
Premier insists economic interests not a factor
(ANSA) — Rome, March 27 — Outgoing Premier Mario Monti said Wednesday that Italy had faced “measures” from India and fellow BRICS countries as a consequence for choosing not to return two Italian marines to India to be tried for homicide. “We had word from Foreign Undersecretary Staffan De Mistura that the possibility of measures being taken against Italy were being considered,” Monti told the Senate Wednesday. BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is an influential association of emerging national economies. Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone were sent back to face trial in India on Friday in a U-turn after Rome had said they would not return after being allowed to come home to vote.
In an earlier address to the House, Monti insisted that economic interests did not influence the decision. Monti was speaking before both chambers of parliament after Giulio Terzi abruptly resigned as foreign minister on Tuesday, saying he had not been consulted and did not agree with the government’s decision to return the pair, accused of killing two fishermen while on anti-piracy duty.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: PVV Will Largely Ignore Next Year’s Local Elections to ‘Consolidate’
Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration PVV will only compete in next year’s local elections in The Hague and Almere.
Almere and The Hague were the only cities where the PVV contested the last local elections in March 2010.
The party took 21% of the vote in Almere and became the biggest party on the city council. In The Hague the party was the second biggest, with 17% of the vote. However, a string of local councillors have left the party since being elected, mainly due to differences with the party’s style of operation.
Wilders said that ‘after a couple of years of strong growth, the organisation wants to consolidate’. Instead he is planning to focus on the European elections in 2014 and the provincial vote in 2015.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Machete Thieves Target Dozing Metro Users
Police in Madrid have caught four pickpocketing pests who preyed on sleeping underground passengers and threatened them with machetes when challenged.
The thieves used the same modus operandi every morning between six and eight: using a penknife, they ripped the trouser pockets, handbags and jackets of Madrid Metro passengers who had fallen asleep or were distracted.
If they got caught, the crafty quartet would intimidate their victims with a variety of weapons, online daily Madrid Diario reported.
Police arrested the suspects in the early hours of last Saturday after being alerted by a passenger who woke up from his slumber while he was being robbed.
When the man confronted the men who’d stolen his wallet and mobile, they took out two massive machetes and hit him over the head.
Madrid Metro’s mobile brigade caught a glimpse of what was happening when the train stopped at Aluche station.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘This is Working’: Portugal, 12 Years After Decriminalizing Drugs
Twelve years ago, Portugal eliminated criminal penalties for drug users. Since then, those caught with small amounts of marijuana, cocaine or heroin go unindicted and possession is a misdemeanor on par with illegal parking. Experts are pleased with the results.
Before he got involved in the global war on drugs, João Goulão was a family physician with his own practice in Faro, on Portugal’s Algarve coast. Arriving in his small office in Lisbon, the 58-year-old tosses his jacket aside, leaving his shirt collar crooked. He looks a little tired from the many trips he’s taken lately — the world wants to know exactly how the experiment in Portugal is going. Goulão is no longer able to accept all the invitations he receives. He adds his latest piece of mail to the mountain of papers on his desk.
From this office, where the air conditioning stopped working this morning, Goulão keeps watch over one of the world’s largest experiments in drug policy.
One gram of heroin, two grams of cocaine, 25 grams of marijuana leaves or five grams of hashish: These are the drug quantities one can legally purchase and possess in Portugal, carrying them through the streets of Lisbon in a pants pocket, say, without fear of repercussion. MDMA — the active ingredient in ecstasy — and amphetamines — including speed and meth — can also be possessed in amounts up to one gram. That’s roughly enough of each of these drugs to last 10 days.
These are the amounts listed in a table appended to Portugal’s Law 30/2000. Goulão participated in creating this law, which has put his country at the forefront of experimental approaches to drug control. Portugal paved a new path when it decided to decriminalize drugs of all kinds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content. ** ]
A burglar has been jailed for a minimum of 27 years today for killing a brave street cleaner who tried to stop him with his broom.
Piotr Mikiewicz, 40, was stabbed through his heart as he tackled Roger Buckingham, who was trying to flee a house with a stolen laptop.
Buckingham, 31, of Shepherd’s Bush, west London, was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey and jailed for life.
Buckingham had claimed the death was ‘a terrible accident’ but the jury took only four hours to convict him of murder.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Miliband Has Confirmed What We All Knew: He Could Never be Labour Leader
by Benedict Brogan
In my office I have one of those life-sized cut outs of David Miliband holding a banana that I borrowed from the Tory press office in Manchester back in 2008. He’s followed me from the Burma Road to Telegraph Towers and I’m quite attached to him. What do I do now?
[…]
[JP note: Opportunity for a competition perhaps? — winner for best suggestion gets a Wallace & Gromit mug.]
[Reader comment by siriusb on 27 March 2013 at about 10 am.]
FAB David! Thunderbirds are go!
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Miliband’s Flight From the Commons is a Sign of the Times
by Paul Goodman
The House of Commons has transformed itself over the past 25 years, with increasing speed, from a chamber of citizen legislators, who were funded by private interests, to one of professional politicians, who are financed by the taxpayer. I believe this is a change for the worse, and the complaint that “they’re all the same” — that we’re governed by an identikit political class — has much to do with the decline of the Conservative Party and the rise of UKIP, not to mention the fall in voter turnout…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: *** Disturbing content ***]
A choirmaster who sexually abused a vulnerable young pupil will be released in less than three years.
Michael Brewer, 68, was yesterday jailed for six years for indecently assaulting Frances Andrade more than three decades ago.
Mrs Andrade, a 48-year-old mother of four, killed herself days after being subjected to a torrid cross-examination during the trial of Brewer and his ex-wife, Kay.
But despite branding Brewer ‘a predatory sex offender’ who subjected Mrs Andrade to ‘depraved’ and sometimes daily abuse when she was 14 and 15, Judge Martin Rudland said he could not impose a longer sentence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Admits Child Abduction and Sex Offence
A man has today (Tuesday, March 26th) admitted three offences of child abduction and one of sexual activity with a child. Mohammed Imran Amjad, 26, of Halifax Road, Brierfield pleaded guilty to the offences on a girl who was aged between 13 and 15 at the time. The offences occurred approximately between April and September 2010 at an address on Sackville Street, Brierfield.
The guilty pleas came part way through a trial at Manchester Crown Court. Amjad had initially denied the charges. He was acquitted on direction of the judge of other charges of rape and aid, abet, counsel or procure rape, encouraging or assisting an offence and witness intimidation. Sentencing was adjourned until April 26th.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sex Abusers Walking the Streets of Rochdale Due to Failure to Use Witness Evidence
Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk went on record weeks ago saying police were failing sex abuse victims and the police angrily dismissed his allegation. However, a former senior Greater Manchester Police officer is now saying the same. Former Det Con Margaret Oliver says men alleged to be part of a child-grooming ring in Rochdale were never brought to justice because the evidence of teenage victims was not pursued. DC Oliver was the witness manager assigned to two victims and says when she learned the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had decided not to call the girls as a witness, she felt ashamed of her part in a process that won the girls’ trust only to betray it…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tower Hamlets: The Met’s New Phone-Hacking?
by Andrew Gilligan
Older readers will remember how that brilliantly successful organisation, the Metropolitan Police, satisfied itself that no widespread phone-hacking could possibly have occurred at the News of the World. They simply refused to investigate seriously, doing just enough to enable them to claim that they had looked into it but failing to follow obvious leads and neglecting to interview key witnesses.
It looks like something similar is now happening in respect of persistent allegations of postal vote fraud in Tower Hamlets, run by the extremist-linked mayor, Lutfur Rahman (above). At every major election in the borough in the last eight years, including before Lutfur took power, well-documented allegations of fraud have been made by very large numbers of people: many journalists (including me) and dozens of councillors from all parties (including some who now support Rahman). I myself have spoken on the record to plenty of victims, all named in my various stories. The response of the police has nearly always been the same — inadequate investigations followed by a clean bill of health.
Today the Electoral Commission publishes its report into the dozens of allegations of postal vote fraud and irregularity, some made by me, at the April 19 2012 byelection in Tower Hamlets’ Spitalfields ward, only a fortnight before the mayoral election in May. And the pattern of previous inadequate investigation appears to be repeating itself. The byelection was narrowly won by Lutfur’s candidate (and former election agent and paid Tower Hall adviser) Gulam Robbani, a man with close connections to Lutfur’s extremist backers at the East London Mosque and no stranger to questionable paperwork (Freedom of Information requests show that Robbani appears to have massively overcharged the taxpayer for his Town Hall services.)
[…]
[Reader comment by colinharrow on 27 March 2013 at about 9:30 am.]
Last night at 8.00 pm BBC 4 radio’s so-called investigative programme “File on Four” ran a 45 minute programme about victims of the Rochdale child grooming gang and how they had been “let down” by police who’d originally refused to believe the girls’ stories. One girl who’d been serially raped was even accused of being a pimp for the gang…
This deliberate refusal by the BBC to identify Muslims as the abusers of young girls in Rochdale is no different to that of the police’s refusal to investigate abuses of the electoral system by Muslims in Tower Hamlets. Both are examples of how so-called anti-racism has mutated into a devastating and debilitating sickness that is now affecting the whole of British society. And the fact that both the police and the BBC are complicit in it is absolutely deplorable. […]
[Reader comment by raydance on 27 March 2013 at about 9 am.]
Andrew Gilligan is the only contemporary journalist who is really worthy of the name.
[Reader comment by anneallan on 27 March 2013 at 4:39 am.]
Diversity, diversity,
There’s nothing like diversity.
It leads to voting practices
With results that are perversity.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing content ** ]
Two drunken yobs have escaped jail after an apparent blunder by the courts despite having left their victim blinded in one eye.
Craig Swainson clenched his fists with delight and grinned when he was spared prison for the late-night street attack.
A judge said he was being forced to pass a lenient sentence because the other yob was wrongly dealt with by a youth court.
Victim Sean Moss suffered horrific facial fractures when he was knocked to the ground and kicked in the centre of Darlington, County Durham.
The father-of-two, a self-employed tiler, told in a victim impact statement how the drunken attack has ruined his life.
Mr Moss has regained some sight in his left eye but may never be able to see properly again, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The court was told that he has been registered disabled and unable to continue working since the brutal attack in August.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing content ***]
These never before seen colour pictures show the liberation of Dachau, the first of the thousands of concentration camps that sprang up across Germany after the Nazis swept into power.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Miserable French Should Put the Accent on English
by Tim Stanley
Our Gallic neighbours are miserable and pessimistic because they can’t cope with the modern world
For years we Britons were told that the French had it better than us. We were sold a myth of better weather, finer food and streets flowing with cheap wine. While the British were supposed to be sexless puritans chained to our desks, the French — we thought — had wedded their natural joie de vivre with the best elements of socialism: a 35-hour working week, strikes for extra days off and summer holidays that seem to last longer than the summer itself. Sure, the British might have a slightly higher average wage, but the French know how to have fun.
Mais non! It all turns out to be a lie perpetrated by the French tourist board and its Europhile fellow travellers on the British Left. Professor Claudia Senik from the Paris School of Economics has written a bombshell of an article for The Local magazine which argues that a) the French are miserable and b) the only way to shake off their ennui is to become more like the British. She takes evidence of unhappiness from a BVA-Gallup International survey carried out in 2011 that found that the French are the most pessimistic types in the world — even more glum than people living in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan…
[JP note: See also http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9941044/Clockwork-Orange-France-a-savage-nation-book-claims.html ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia Seeks Permanent Solution for Kosovo: President
BELGRADE, March 26 (Xinhua) — Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on Tuesday said his country was negotiating with the hope of reaching a permanent solution with Kosovo, reported Radio Television Serbia (RTS). “Serbia needs and offers full cooperation with EULEX” to achieve a lasting solution, said Nikolic after meeting with Bernd Borchardt, head of the EULEX mission in Kosovo…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
France: Anna Lindh Forum 2013, Civil Society to Gather in Marseille
Youth leaders and policymakers for intercultural dialogue
(ANSAmed) — ROME — The Anna Lindh Mediterranean Forum 2013 is set to take place April 4-7 in Marseille, the European Capital of Culture 2013. The event will mark the largest civil society gathering since the Arab uprisings, with over 1,000 people expected to make their way to Marseille to support intercultural dialogue and citizenship in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
The forum brings together youth leaders, civil society organisations, influential policymakers and intercultural experts from across the Euro-Mediterranean region. Held every three years by the Anna Lindh Foundation, it aims to provide an innovative and participative space for debate, networking and good practice exchange on intercultural dialogue initiatives.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Activists Barred From World Social Forum — Authorities Turn Back 96 at Border With Tunisia
Tunis — Algerian authorities illegally restricted rights to free movement when they barred 96 Algerian civil society activists from travelling to Tunisia, without giving any reason. Border officials stopped the activists on March 25 as they were about to enter Tunisia, where they intended to attend the World Social Forum. The forum, a global gathering of approximately 50,000 activists on areas such as human rights and the environment, runs from March 26 to March 30, 2013…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Mosque Officials Accuse Brotherhood of Attack
Officials at the Belal bin Rabah Islamic complex in Moqattam condemned the storming of its mosque during clashes nearby on Friday. According to an administrative board statement on Monday, Islamists were behind the attack trance amid fierce fighting around the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters. Gamal Sharaf, a member of the board of directors, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that mosque staff was unable to disperse the crowd on its own. The board also condemned acts of violence, thuggery and involving places of worship in political conflicts…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Kidnap Victims Told: ‘You’re Going to Die Now’
An Israeli man who was kidnapped with a Norwegian companion by armed Bedouin in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula last week has arrived home, telling reporters that they had been threatened with death.
“They set a trap for us with two jeeps that stopped us,” Israeli Arab Amir Omar Hassan told reporters on his arrival late Tuesday at Ben Gurion airport.
“About ten armed men got out and threw us in the back of the jeeps,” he said in remarks broadcast Wednesday by Israeli radio stations. “They said shut up, you’re going to die now.”
Hassan, 23, was greeted at the airport by family then taken to his home to Nazareth.
Haaretz daily quoted him as saying that he and 31-year-old Norwegian Ingvild Selvik Ask, who had asked to share his taxi, were abducted on Thursday as they travelled from the Red Sea resort of Taba, on the border with Israel, to the coastal town of Dahab further south.
They were set free early on Tuesday thanks to the efforts of Bedouin tribesmen, said an Egyptian security official cited by state news agency MENA.
The Norwegian foreign ministry confirmed the release of Ask, a paediatrician.
“We are relieved and happy that the situation has unravelled,” spokeswoman Ragnhild Imerslund told AFP in Oslo. “She was apparently treated well and is in good shape.”
A spate of hostage takings, which usually last for no longer than 48 hours, broke out in the restive Sinai after an uprising forced out president Hosni Mubarak in early 2011 and battered his security services.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tens of Egyptian Students Injured in Clashes With Security Force
CAIRO, March 26 (Xinhua) — Tens of protesting students of an Egyptian private university were injured Tuesday in clashes with the security men who attempted to end their sit-in by force, official news agency MENA reported. Students of Misr International University and security men exchanged stone throwing, cartouche and sometimes fire extinguishers that lead to the injuries…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Israel’s Energy Independence Begins Sunday, March 31st
On New Year’s Day we posted on 2013 as a momentous year for Israel- the start of its energy independence. We drew attention to both off shore natural gas production and on-shore oil shale tests. This coming Sunday, March 31, 2013 the gas from the Tamar offshore platform begins to flow. Globes, Israel’s Business Arena noted the start of Israel’s energy independence and a potential game changer in the geo-resource politics of the world energy markets. . . In our conclusion to the January 1, 2013 post we drew attention to the implications of the Tamar offshore natural gas production and the IEI/Genie oil shale pilot tests in 2013; The Tamar partners starting production of offshore natural gas in 2013 should boost the prospects of the IEI/Genie Energy pilot test and the future of oil shale development in the Shefla Basin. The combination of offshore natural gas production coupled with on-shore oil shale extraction is a geo-political game changer for Israel and the world energy markets. These developments in late 2012 marked the beginning of Israel’s long sought energy independence further enhancing the country’s economic growth and stability. A comment left on the January 1, 2013 post by “John Galt” said: So, make money on Israeli energy and thumb your nose at the Muslim countries that expected Israel to grovel and pay for their oil. Paybacks are hell.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
The Meaning and Consequences of Israel’s Apology to Turkey
US President Barack Obama was on the line when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish protesters aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010.
For those who don’t remember, the Mavi Marmara was a Turkish ship that set sail in a bid to break Israel’s lawful maritime blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza’s coastline. When Israeli naval commandos boarded the ship to interdict it, passengers on deck attacked them — in breach of international maritime law. Soldiers were stabbed, bludgeoned and thrown overboard. In a misguided attempt to show the good faith of Israeli actions, the naval commandos were sent aboard the ship armed with paintball guns. As a consequence, the soldiers were hard-pressed to defend themselves. In the hand-to-hand combat that ensued, nine of the Turkish attackers were killed.
The Mavi Marmara was an eminently predictable fight.. The Turkish group that hired the boat was an al-Qaeda-affiliated Turkish NGO named IHH. In 1999, the Turkish government was so wary of IHH that it barred the group from participating in relief efforts following a devastating earthquake.
IHH’s fortunes shifted with the rise of its fellow Islamists in the AKP Justice and Development Party led by Recep Tayip Erdogan. The AKP won the 2002 elections and has since been reelected twice…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
ENI Will Not Halt Cyprus Projects Despite Turkish Reaction
Suspension of joint projects, CEO sorry but will move forward
(ANSAmed) — ROME — Eni has no intention of stopping its operations in Cyprus, said the group’s CEO Paolo Scaroni on Wednesday. He said that he was sorry about the Turkish government’s reaction, after Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz announced the suspension of projects in collaboration with Eni due to the group’s offshore exploration in Cypriot waters. However, Scaroni said he was confident an agreement would be reached in the interests of both parties involved.
The CEO noted that the Eni project for the Samsung Ceyhan pipeline to transport oil from the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea with Turkey was for all practical purposes “dormant” anyway. “The project,” Scaroni said on the sidelines of an Eni-Enel press conference, “will go forward only if Bosporus crossings become costlier and contingent on other factors.” As concerns South Stream, which would cross Turkish waters, Scaroni noted that Gazprom — and not Eni — is the main operator.
He expressed the hope that relations with Turkey would return to their “previous excellent level — including with Minister Yildiuz, who I have met with at least twenty times”. On the issue of Cyprus, Scaroni said that Enì’s future does not depend on the island. “It is just one of the many activities we are involved in. I hope it produces results”.
Eni announced in January it had signed an agreement with the government of Nicosia for the exploration and exploitation of three gas reserves off the island’s coast together with Korean group Kogas. Since 1974 urkey has occupied with its troops the northern part of Cyprus, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is only recognized by Ankara. The Turkish government objects to Nicosia’s right to manage on its own the energy resources off the island and has threatened to suspend its cooperation with international oil groups signing agreements with the Cypriot cabinet.
US company Noble Energy, which is in charge of exploring one of the fields’ areas, indicated two years ago it had estimated reserves of some 230 billion cubic metres worth 100 billion euros. Turkey in the past few days has warned Cyprus not to use gas reserves as a guarantee to overcome its current financial crisis.
Eni sells natural gas from Russia to Turkey, transported through the Blue Stream gas pipeline. It also sells lubricant oil and additives. Through Snamprogetti it also provided engineering expertise for the expansion of units of the petrochemicals complex of Yarimca. It also worked on the construction of the hydrocracking plant of the Aliaga refinery (Izmir) and the unicracking plant of the Izmit refinery.
Snamprogetti also took part in the construction of the gas pipeline which carries Russian gas to Bulgaria and Turkey through the Sea of Marmara. Saipem then realized the underwater gas pipeline Blue Stream which connects Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea. It also contributed to the construction of the Turkish part of the oil pipeline Kirkuk (Iraq)-Ceyhan (Turkey). Finally, it operates in Turkey under the Versalis Eni label to market basic chemical products — olefins and aromatic — plastic materials — polystyrene and polyethylene — elastomer — SBR and special rubber — and cleaning products.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islamists, Secular Rebels Battle in Syria Over Nusra Front’s Call for Islamic State
TAL ABYAD, Syria — Two Syrian rebel groups — one seeking an elected civil government, the other favoring the establishment of a religious state — are battling each other in the city of Tal Abyad, on the border with Turkey, in a sign of the tensions that are likely to rule this country if the government of President Bashar Assad falls…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Israel to Pay Turkey Tens of Millions Over Flotilla Deaths
Israel will transfer tens of millions of dollars to a humanitarian fund set up by the Turkish government to compensate for the deaths of nine Turkish activists aboard a flotilla bound for Gaza in 2010.
In the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology Friday to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the deaths of nine Turkish activists aboard the 2010 Gaza flotilla, the two countries have set the wheels in motion to pay compensation over the deaths, with Israel set to pay out as much as tens of millions of dollars, according to sources in Turkey.
High-level diplomatic contact between the two countries began on Monday when Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni over the establishment of a joint committee that will formulate the terms of Israel’s agreement to pay compensation.
The vice prime minister of Turkey, Bulent Arinc, told journalists on Monday that both sides agreed to establish a joint high-level committee over the coming days to discuss the details of the compensation transfer.
Beyond the technical and legal questions over the compensation payments, the waiver of the legal claims and the extent of the blockade on Gaza, the Palestinian issue — rather than the Syrian one — will continue to be the focus of future relations between the two countries. The Turkish foreign minister made it clear during Tuesday’s Arab League summit in Doha that Turkey will continue to stand with the Palestinian people and will act in order to end Israeli occupation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Quds Underground Nuclear Development Facility Revealed in Iran
Reza Kahlili has disclosed in a new report the existence of a massive underground nuclear development facility located 15 miles northwest of Fordow near Qom. Kahlili had previously disclosed that the Fordow facility may have been disabled in an alleged January 21st blast with casualties of Iranian and North Korean scientists. This new underground nuclear complex is surrounded by a large quantity of Shahab 3 missiles in reinforced silos and may contain sufficient stockpiles of enriched fissile uranium and plutonium for possible assembly of nuclear devices. Moreover, in addition to advanced enrichment facilities, there are allegations that a separate facility is engaged in development of nuclear warheads for intercontinental ballistic missiles. From satellite photos the Quds secret facility appears to be under military control.. . If assessments of these US intelligence and national security experts cited by Kahlili are correct then the Islamic regime may have already crossed the red lines of breakout capability that might enable assembly of nuclear devices far in advance of the mid-2014 time frame forecasted by the WSJ op-ed authors, Messrs. Albright, Dubowitz and Kittrie. Perhaps that may explain the differences between the clocks for Iranâ€(tm)s nuclear weapons development of Israeli PM Netanyahu versus President Obama. If the former is the case then the effectiveness of prevailing sanctions is past. Further P5+1 discussions with the Islamic regime will only play into Iran own schedule for revealing its nuclear cards.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Insurgents Demand UN Seat. Arab League, Yes to Weapons
Opposition asks Nato to use Patriots, Brussels refuses
(by Claudio Accogli) (ANSAmed) — ROME — Syria’s opposition is demanding a seat at the United Nations and has obtained Damascus’ place within the Arab League, which meanwhile gave a green light to its members to provide weapons to rebels. However, Nato refused to use Patriot missile batteries in Turkey to defend rebel-held areas in northern Syria from Bashar al-Assad’s air raids. The summit in Doha opened with the emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, officially inviting Moaz al Khatib to take the seat which used to belong to Damascus. The Arab League then agreed to provide rebels with weapon. ‘Arab countries have the right to arm the opposition’, said the summit’s resolution, which called on the international community to support the organization’s stance and recognize the Coalition of oppositions as the ‘only legitimate representative’ of the Syrian people.
Damascus, which was suspended from the Arab League a year ago, has slammed the opposition’s membership within the organization as ‘illegal and unreasonable’. During his speech Khatib, the outgoing leader of the Coalition, condemned once again the international community for ‘doing nothing’ to stop the bloodshed in Syria where 70,000 people have already died, according to UN figures. In a surprise move, Khatib then asked Nato to use Patriot missiles deployed in Turkey to defend rebel-held areas.
‘We have no intention of intervening in Syria’, responded an official of the Atlantic Alliance while the Turkish press said such an hypothesis would be a declaration of war by Ankara to Damascus.
Khatib also asked that the opposition be granted Syria’s UN seat, but this option also appears to have little plausibility.
Becoming a member of the League was however a great result achieved by the Sunni imam and his resignation as Coalition chief announced on Sunday should be refused, according to reports in the Arab press. ‘It will not be accepted’, said a Coalition spokesperson.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Subject to Terrorism Backed by Regional, Arab Countries: President
DAMASCUS, March 27 (Xinhua) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country has been subject to a two-year-old terrorism plot backed by Arab, regional and Western countries, adding that the political solution can’t succeed without drying up the sources of terrorism, according to the state-media. The president’s remarks came in a letter addressing the summit of the BRICS countries on Wednesday, in which he called on those countries to work together in order to stop the violence in Syria and to make the political solution a success…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: ‘Up to 100’ British Muslims Fighting in War
Up to 100 British Muslims are fighting in Syria’s civil war amid fears some could return home to carry out terrorist attacks, senior intelligence chiefs disclosed yesterday.
There are “hundreds” of Europeans now fighting in Syria, some of whom are with groups linked to al Qaeda, the Home Office told MPs. The British-born jihadis are said to have joined the fight with Jabhat al-Nusra, the country’s most militant al-Qaeda gang. The fighters have come from range of ethnic backgrounds include young Asians, converts to Islam and men from north African backgrounds. Some are said to have fought in conflicts elsewhere while others waging war for the first time. Officials warned of the risk to Britain and other European nations posed by foreign fighters now gaining military experience in Syria…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: ENI Projects Halted Due to Exploration in Cyprus
Over dispute on territorial waters
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — The Turkish government has decided to suspend projects started with Eni over the participation of the Italian oil group in an exploration project of gas reserves off Cyprus, which Ankara opposes in a dispute on territorial waters. The announcement was made Wednesday by Energy Minister Taner Yildiz.
Eni announced in January it had signed an agreement with the government of Nicosia for the exploration and exploitation of three gas reserves off the island’s coast together with Korean group Kogas. Since 1974 urkey has occupied with its troops the northern part of Cyprus, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is only recognized by Ankara. The Turkish government objects to Nicosia’s right to manage on its own the energy resources off the island and has threatened to suspend its cooperation with international oil groups signing agreements with the Cypriot cabinet.
US company Noble Energy, which is in charge of exploring one of the fields’ areas, indicated two years ago it had estimated reserves of some 230 billion cubic metres worth 100 billion euros. Turkey in the past few days has warned Cyprus not to use gas reserves as a guarantee to overcome its current financial crisis.
Eni sells natural gas from Russia to Turkey, transported through the Blue Stream gas pipeline. It also sells lubricant oil and additives.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christians across the Middle East and North Africa are now being persecuted and tortured as a result of the western-backed “Arab Spring” that has allowed extremist Muslims to seize power and impose a sectarian crackdown.
Whereas Christians were relatively free to practice their faith and preach under the rule of leaders like Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi and Bashar Al-Assad, the new regimes that have emerged in Egypt, Libya and now Syria have made the subjugation of Christians a centerpiece of their agenda.
A new report out of Egypt reveals how, “Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case of violent persecution that experts fear will only get worse.”
This is merely the latest of innumerable examples where Coptic Christians have been ordered by the country’s new Muslim Brotherhood rulers to accept radical Islam or face death.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yemeni Court Sentences 10 Al-Qaida Members to Imprisonment
SANAA, March 26 (Xinhua) — A Yemeni security court on Tuesday sentenced 10 al-Qaida members to imprisonment for joining the terror network and plotting attacks against local targets in 2010- 2012, state-run Saba news agency reported. The court in the capital Sanaa handed down prison terms ranging from four to 10 years against the terrorists, who were also charged with fighting alongside al-Qaida militants in the southern province of Abyan in 2011…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
As Russia Proves, Democracy Isn’t Just About Elections
In a hugely insightful post for openDemocracy, Ivan Krastev has an interesting question for us: “…who is more democratic, Russia or China?” He admits that this is bit like asking “who is more feminine, Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger?” Nevertheless, the question is a useful one…
Describing where the two countries are now, Krastev sums it up beautifully: “Broadly speaking, the Russians are faking democracy while the Chinese are faking Communism.”
Indeed, in many respects, the Chinese system is more democratic — or more ‘open’ — than its Russian counterpart
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
2 Wounded in Restive S. Thailand
BANGKOK, March 27 (Xinhua) — Two people were shot and wounded in an ambush in restive southern province of Pattani, Nation Chanel online reported Wednesday. A man and his sister were shot and seriously wounded by assumed insurgents in Pattani’s Mayo district on Tuesday night, police said. They were identified as Sulaima Nawae, 21, and his younger sister Nuraida Nawae, 14, according to police. Witnesses said the two were travelling on a motorcycle on the local road in Ban Budon village of Mayo district when gunmen hiding in roadside forest fired on them. The attackers then fled…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
5 Police Officers Killed in Bomb Attack in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — Eight suicide bombers stormed the headquarters of a special unit of the Afghan police in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Tuesday morning, killing five officers and wounding four…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
52 Taliban Insurgents Killed in Afghan Operations: Gov’t
KABUL, March 27 (Xinhua) — Up to 52 Taliban insurgents have been killed and 45 wounded in cleanup operations in different Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday morning. “Afghan National Police (ANP) in partnership with army and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted several cleanup operations in Logar, Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar, Kunduz, Kapisa, Paktika, Paktiya, Helmand and Nimroz provinces over the past 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates. “As a result 52 armed Taliban were killed, 45 wounded and 21 other armed Taliban were arrested,” the statement said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Australia Withdraws Afghanistan Troops
At least 1,000 soldiers to be home by end of 2013 as security in Uruzgan province is handed over to Afghans
Australia has announced two-thirds of its troops in Afghanistan will be home by the end of the 2013 when the international military base at Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province closes.
The defence minister, Stephen Smith, said at least 1,000 of the 1,550 Australian troops in Afghanistan would be withdrawn by the end of the year…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hindu Extremists Unleash More Violence, An Easter Without Peace for Christians in India
In March, Hindu fundamentalists and police demolished a church in Chhattisgarh. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) calls for protection for the Holy Week celebrations.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Even at Lent, while preparing for Easter, Christians in some parts of India are victims of aggression and violence, denounces Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), pointing to attacks that took place in March in Chhattisgarh and Kerala. “This — said the Christian leader launching an appeal to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) — is the most important week of the year: the Christian minorities should have greater protection and security.”
On March 13 in Gadia (Jagdalpur district , Chhattisgarh), a group of Hindu fundamentalists accompanied by administrative personnel and police demolished a church, claiming it had been built illegally. The local community tried to intervene, but the group physically and verbally attacked the Christians, not sparing women and children. Before demolishing the church, the Hindu radicals and officials destroyed Bibles, musical instruments and pews, and then desecrated other sacred objects.
A few days earlier, on March 10, hundreds of Hindu extremists attacked a prayer service of the Brethren Assembly Church, in the village of Chirayinkeezzh (Trivandrum district , Kerala), beating those present with wooden sticks. One Christian suffered serious head injuries. The Hindus attacked the community accusing it of practicing forced conversions.
“This anti-Christian sentiment — warned Sajan George — bodes ill for a peaceful and solemn religious celebration of the Lords Pasch. GCIC appeals for enhanced protection from the administration, to enable the Christian citizens of Secular India exercise their Consitutionally guaranteed Religious Freedom. It is most unfortunate, that the administration which is duty bound to protect the citizens -themselves cohort with the extremists to unleash violence minority community”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Burnt in Fresh Myanmar Riots
YANGON — A rampaging mob set fire to a mosque and homes in a central Myanmar town, a police official said Wednesday, the latest outbreak of violence in communal unrest that has left at least 40 people dead. Communal riots in have spread closer to the main city Yangon, police said. The United States warned against travelling to parts of the country in the wake of unrest that has left 40 dead. A police official said Wednesday a mosque was torched in Nattalin town, 150km north of Yangon. A Nattalin resident said police were overwhelmed as a mob arrived in the town, setting fire to the mosque before leaving…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK Soldier Killed in Afghanistan
A soldier from the 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire) has been killed in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has announced.
The soldier was serving in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand Province when he was injured in an attack by insurgents on Monday. In a statement the MoD said he had been flown to hospital for treatment “where, sadly, he succumbed to his wounds”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Is China More Democratic Than Russia?
On paper, Russia’s political system is an impressive reproduction of Western representative democracy, while the Chinese system remains an unreconstructed autocracy. The reality of the situation is much more complex, says Ivan Krastev.
Asking the question, ‘who is more democratic, Russia or China’? is in some ways like asking the question ‘who is more feminine, Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger’? We can spend some time comparing bicep sizes, and we can speculate about their gentle souls, but Russia and China are essentially two non-democracies. The average Chinese or Russian may today be wealthier and freer than any time before, but neither country can satisfy a minimalist definition of democracy, i.e. competitive elections with uncertain outcomes…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Possible Japanese Shrine Fragment Washes Up in Oregon
A curved piece of wood, painted red, removed from a beach in Oregon may be a piece of a shrine set to sea by the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
The debris has not yet been confirmed as originating from the tsunami, but the chief public relations officer of the Association of Shinto Shrines told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) that the wood appears to be part of a torii, a gate over the entrance of a Shinto shrine.
If so, the driftwood would hardly be the first object to make its way across the Pacific in the two years since the tsunami hit, killing more than 15,000 people. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has confirmed 21 pieces of debris from the tsunami on Pacific isles and the North American coastline. These confirmed pieces include docks, boats and other objects with serial numbers or identifying marks.
Meanwhile, the agency has received reports of more than 1,000 more pieces of debris that may be tsunami-related, and materials such as housing insulation have shown up in larger-than-usual quantities in Alaska and Hawaii. Debris from Japan is a constant visitor to North American shores, so most of the items will likely never be definitively linked to the tsunami, though scientists suspect they are related.
The Japanese government estimates that the March 2011 tsunami pulled some 5 million tons of rubble into the Pacific. Most of that debris sank off the coast of Japan, but approximately 1.5 million tons moved farther out to sea. No one knows how much is still drifting.
Oregon has seen its fair share of debris, including an enormous dock covered in sea life that washed up near Newport, Ore., in June 2012. This month alone, several small boats suspected to be tsunami debris washed up onshore, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The boats were taken to landfills.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Central Africa: Kony Hunt Still on After CAR Coup
Kampala — The search for the Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the rainforests of the Central African Republic (CAR) will continue despite the ouster of President François Bozizé by rebel group Séléka, officials say…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Namibia: Angula in a Catch-22 Situation
DEFENCE Minister Nahas Angula has come out in defence of his stance on the ‘children of the liberation struggle’ and to clarify why he feels that the plight of the group should be looked at in a humane manner given their historic background. In an interview this week on the controversial topic, Angula said he found himself “between a rock and a hard place” on the question of the struggle children.While he was bound by the collective responsibility decision-making of government and Swapo, at the same time he had to declare his “interests” as patron of the Namibia Exile Kids Association (Neka)…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: As ‘Anguwan Rogo’ Brings Together Muslims, Christians in Jos
Jos — Since the Jos crisis of 7th September, 2001, Christians living in Muslim dominated communities have fled such areas; the situation has been the same for Muslims who have lived among Christians for years. The once brotherly, sisterly and neighbourly love that had bound the people irrespective of tribal or religious differences had been severed. However, 12 years down the road, Anguwan rogo, one of the communities with a stunning controversial reputation among the Christian communities has opened its doors to Christian youths from various parts of Jos city. Daily Trust was also told that Muslim youths will converge on Kabong, exclusively habited by Christians at the moment…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: MEND Threatens ‘Hell’ Over Okah’s Jail as Keyamo Condemns Judgement
The armed militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, on Tuesday condemned the 24-year jail term passed on its leader, Henry Okah, by the South African High Court over charges that he masterminded a series of terrorism incidents, including the October 1, 2010 twin bombings in Abuja. The group threatened ‘hell’ over the conviction of Mr. Okah…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina Says UN Must ‘Wear Down’ Britain Over Falkland Islands
Argentina’s foreign minister on Tuesday called on UN leader Ban Ki-Moon to “wear down” British resistance to talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
Hector Timerman, called the referendum earlier this month “illegal” and said it is “truly deplorable” that Britain has rejected 40 resolutions by the UN Decolonisation Committee calling for negotiations between the two countries on sovereignty. Mr Timerman and the foreign ministers of Uruguay and Cuba met the UN secretary general to back the Argentine case for sovereignty over the islands. Mr Ban has offered his “good offices” to try to end the dispute. Britain insists however that there can be no talks on the islands, known as the Malvinas by Argentina, without the accord of the islanders…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Seven Bodies Placed in Plastic Chairs in Mexico
The bodies of seven men have been found in plastic chairs placed along the side of a street in Mexico.
The seven bodies in the chairs in Michoacan had bullet wounds and had been placed individually in the sitting position near a roundabout in the city of Uruapan. The Attorney General’s Office did not provide a motive for the killings. Seven other people, including three federal agents were also killing in neighbouring Guerrero…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
1-in-5 Migrants Heads to Britain: 566,000 End Up in UK in Just a Year
THE scale of immigration to Britain was exposed last night after it was revealed one-in-five people moving to and around the EU comes here.
Figures released by the European Commission showed that 566,000 migrants arrived in Britain in 2011 alone, the latest available statistic.
It is the highest number in Europe and represents almost 20 per cent of migration from outside and inside the European Union.
Britain is still most popular for those travelling from beyond Europe. And the UK is second only to Germany for migration within the EU.
The shocking league table from Eurostat, the statistical arm of the European Commission, will increase calls for Britain to regain full control of its borders by leaving the EU — a crusade led by the Daily Express.
Ministers have measures in place to radically cut non-European migration. But EU rules ban Britain from shutting out those from elsewhere in Europe.
Nigel Farage has said there’s nothing David Cameron can do about the influx of migrants to the UK
The UK is clearly the one of the favourite ports of call for migration from within the EU
Nigel Farage
The figures will also fuel pressure on ministers to stand up to Brussels to ensure the UK’s welfare and health systems do not draw ever more migrants to this country.
Yesterday’s Daily Express revealed how the European Commission is scrutinising David Cameron’s latest immigration crackdown to restrict certain benefits to migrants to ensure it does not break their rules.
UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said last night: “The statistical evidence is clear. The UK is clearly the one of the favourite ports of call for migration from within the EU. According to the EU, almost half of the 4.8 million people living here who were born elsewhere came from other EU countries.
“That is a city twice the size of Birmingham. And whatever Mr Cameron says, while we remain in the EU, there is absolutely nothing he can do about it.”
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It’s destination Britain
Shock border shake-up ‘will bring little change’
Conservative MP Andrew Turner said last night that more recent figures had revealed that Coalition is succeeding to cut net immigration.
But he said the EU statistics were “alarming”. He added: “These levels are quite unsustainable. It shows that the Prime Minister’s drive to curb benefit levels for non-UK residents is desperately needed.
“We must stop being the easy touch of Europe.”
The table published in Brussels showed that around three million people migrated — defined as moving for at least a year — to one of the EU’s 27 member states in 2011. Of these, an estimated 1.7 million came from outside Europe and around 1.3 million lived in another EU country.
The UK’s 2011 total of 566,044 migrants was Europe’s highest and represented about 18 per cent of the EU total, although it was down from 591,000 in 2010.
It was followed by Germany with 489,422, Spain on 457,649 and Italy with 385,793. All four accounted for some 60 per cent of all immigrants.
Some included people returning to their own countries, including some 78,500 UK nationals.
Britain had the second highest number of migrants — 174,000 — from other EU states and the most — 313,500 — from outside Europe. But the UK also had the second highest number after Spain of people leaving — nearly 351,000.
The UK had the fourth largest number of foreign residents with 4.8 million. Of these 2.3 million were EU citizens and 2.4 million were from elsewhere. And Britain had Europe’s fourth highest population growth rate at more than five per 1,000 people in 2011 with a total figure rising from 62.5 million at the start of 2011 to nearly 63 million 12 months later.
Last night a Home Office spokesman said: “These figures date back to 2011. Since then we have been working to cut net migration from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament and our tough new rules are already taking effect with overall net migration down by a third.”
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Italy and EU Less of a Draw, Immigrants Go Home
Over 1,000 assisted voluntary repatriations expected in 2013
(ANSAmed) — ROME — The economic crisis has made Italy and other European countries less attractive to immigrants, especially those whose countries of origin are experiencing economic growth rates much higher than those in Italy. As a result, the number of foreigners opting for assisted voluntary repatriation — an option established by an EU directive and adopted by Italy — has risen: from 228 in 2009 to an estimated over 1,000 in 2013. Since 2009, Assisted Voluntary Repatriation (AVR) has been co-funded by the European Repatriation Fund and the Italian Interior ministry and implemented through a system of projects selected every year which not only carry out the actual return but aim to consolidate a national network — called the Rete RIRVA — to promote more information to immigrants and personnel training. The personnel are mostly social workers who ensure that the return is safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable.
Currently 330 organizations including the Italian Refugee Council (CIR) and Oxfam belong to the RIRVA network. A call center and an internet site have been set up and a guide for those working in the sector has been published. A nationwide campaign is set to start with a television spot, informational brochures and web-based information.
The project was due to end in June 2013, but during a meeting on Wednesday Maurilia Bove, from the interior ministry’s Department of Civil Liberties and Immigration, said that by the end of the day on Thursday an announcement would be made for the internet project, which will allow the work done thus far to continue. “Job opportunities are decreasing in Italy while they are rising in their countries of origin,” said CIR director Christopher Hein, “and this leads to a reduction in the number of foreigners arriving and an increase in those leaving (at least 35,000 in 2012), even though the public opinion and the political scene have not taken note of it. However, this is happening even in other European countries in better shape than we are. Turkey has a 6% growth rate while Germany’s is around 1%, a gap which is leading many Turkish immigrants to go back to their own countries.” Hein added that “in 2015 and 2016 enterprises will have to go in search of workers. Many Italians are already going back to trades that had previously been left to immigrants, such as that of caregivers. When the crisis ends, we will realize that we don’t have enough workers.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Immigrants Recaptured After Fleeing Trapani Facility
(AGI) Trapani — About seven of fifteen immigrants who fled a Trapani facility on Tuesday have now been recaptured following a robbery.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Reinfeldt Slams Cameron Over Immigration Stance
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Tuesday criticized his British counterpart David Cameron for his plans to restrict migrants’ rights to social benefits.
“I think it’s unfortunate,” Reinfeldt told TT news agency when asked about the initiative Cameron announced on Monday.
“I believe in a Europe that should be open, where we have free movement, and where we instead ask ourselves how people who come here can get work more easily,” he said.
Speaking to Sveriges Radio (SR), Reinfeldt also pointed out that Sweden, when it opened its borders to greater immigration from Bulgaria and Romania, saw no major influx of people seeking to abuse the country’s generous welfare system and benefits.
“We didn’t see this big social tourism that everyone warned us about, and it might be wise to share that experience with others,” Reinfeldt said.
Reinfeldt’s criticism of Cameron was echoed by Christian Democrat party leader and Social Affairs Minister Göran Hägglund.
“I think it’s a terrible way to express oneself. I think his speech is very, very, unfortunate,” Hägglund told SR.
Specifically, Hägglund took issue with how Cameron “pitted us against them” when speaking of migrants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: 23 Immigrants Rescued From Storm
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 27 — Twenty three immigrants aboard three boats were rescued on Wednesday morning off the coast of Tarifa, Cadiz, during a storm. At around 7.30 am local time Civil Guards, police and Red Cross boats initially rescued two boats and subsequently a third one carrying would-be immigrants.
The immigrants, including women and children, were brought to the port of Tarifa.
Another 23 migrants were rescued on Tuesday. They were travelling on three dinghies and attempting to reach Spain through the Strait of Gibraltar.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turks in Germany Are a Time Bomb
“The Turks in Germany are a time bomb, at least the majority of them”. This is the statement with which Peter Cohen, an American visiting professor at Munich University, concludes his recent study in Germany.
Three million Turks live already in Germany already, while 2.5 million of them have German nationality, and the majority of them are conservative Muslims.
Are they integrated in the German society? Not really.
The majority of them speak broken German, especially the elderly.
“They don’t want to integrate in the German society,” says Hartmut, who doesn’t want to be identified for fear of reprisals by violent Turks. “They even hate to be called ‘migrants’. They feel very Turkish. They happen to be in Germany as the elderly generation in the 1960s had been recruited to work in the car and coal industries. Now, culturally the majority of Turks, even the young, here in Germany feel very Turkish. “ Adds Hartmut, who is a social scientist at a German university.
Professor Cohen subscribes to what Hartmut says about Turkish migration, “In the USA, for instance, migrants usually integrate in the American society, latest when the second generation is there. My survey indicate that the majority of Turks insist on keeping their Turkish identity and their cultural heritage. They feel at home in the Turkish culture.”
Very few Turks in Germany have a regular job; about 20%. The other 80% live on the so-called Hartz IV (state social benefits). 70% of their children have no GCSE; they left school before they finished their basic education.
“They cannot find a job? That is not true. There are jobs out there. But they prefer to live on state benefits and lead an easy life. Why should they work? Further, the German social benefit system doesn’t encourage them or force them to accept any job.” Says Hartmut.
Hartmut also said, “Some of those who live on state benefits have very often a part-time job of which neither the Job Center nor the Finance Office are aware of.
According to the German state benefit system, every adult citizen who possesses the German nationality, unemployed and cannot find an appropriate job, is entitled to get monthly 482 € ($627). Additionally, parents get for each child under 18 years old, 200 € ($261), plus all their monthly expenditures in terms of rent, heating, power, health insurance, and public transport.
“Amazingly enough some Turks who live on the generous state benefits can afford to buy a house or an apartment and drive luxurious cars like Mercedes or BMW.” Says Klaus, a landlord whose tenants are a case in point.
Kamal (46 years old) and his wife Shadia (42 years old) have ten children under 18 and live on Hartz IV (the German social benefit system). They have a monthly net income of about 3000 €. In addition, all their spending on rent, health care, transport, heating, etc. are paid by the state.
Kamal never worked or had a regular job, never finished school, and never learned a profession. Now he claims that he is “ill.” Klaus, the landlord of Kamal says, “The man is fit.” He even confessed to Klaus that he lies when he says he is ill. “He told me once, ‘Why should I work if I can live well without/’“ Klaus quotes Kamal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Loses Latest Bid to Deport Radical Cleric Abu Qatada
Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada won an appeal Wednesday against a British order to deport him to Jordan, where he has been convicted in absentia on terrorism charges, on the grounds that evidence against him may have been obtained by torture.
A radical Muslim cleric thwarted another effort by Britain to have him deported to Jordan after a court accepted arguments Wednesday that he would face testimony obtained by torture.
Britain wants to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan, where he was convicted in absentia for terror plots in 1999 and 2000. Successive British governments have been trying since 2001 to remove the Islamist cleric, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman.
But the man described by prosecutors as a key al-Qaida operative in Europe, with ties to the late Osama bin Laden, has successfully fought deportation in British and European courts — and it is not over yet. The British government pledged to fight on, despite the loss in the Court of Appeal.
“This is not the end of the road, and the government remains determined to deport Abu Qatada,” Britain’s Home Office said in a statement. “We will consider this judgment carefully and plan to seek leave to appeal.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Government Defeated Again in Battle to Kick Out Hate Preacher Abu Qatada
Hate preacher Abu Qatada may never leave Britain after Home Secretary Theresa May lost the latest battle to kick him out.
Judges at the Court of Appeal admitted he is ‘regarded as a very dangerous person’ but said his human rights would be breached if he was deported to face terror charges in Jordan.
It leaves the government’s plans to remove Qatada in disarray with few options left after a decade-long legal fight. The Home Office desperately insisted: ‘This is not the end of the road.’
He has so far received more than £500,000 in legal aid in his decade-long legal battle against the Government, which wants to deport him to his native Jordan where he is wanted on charges of terrorism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Majority of Justices Skeptical of Federal Ban on Benefits to Same-Sex Spouses
A majority of the justices on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, as the Supreme Court took up the volatile issue of same-sex marriage for a second day.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, widely considered the swing vote on the divided court, joined the four liberals in posing skeptical questions to a lawyer defending the law, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for the purposes of more than 1,000 federal laws and programs.
“The question is whether or not the federal government under a federalism system has the authority to regulate marriage,” Justice Kennedy said during oral arguments, suggesting that the question should be left to the states. He disagreed with the contention that the federal law simply created a single definition for federal purposes, noting that same-sex couples are not treated the same as other married couples. “It’s not really uniformity,” he said.
| [Return to headlines] |
Two female reporters for NBC News have come out of the closet not only to publicly announce their homosexuality, but also to say they’re expecting a baby.
Jenna Wolfe, a newscaster on the weekend “Today” show, made the announcement Wednesday.
“My girlfriend, Stephanie Gosk, and I are expecting a baby girl the end of August,” Wolfe, 39, wrote in the debut post for her new pregnancy blog…
The lesbian couple began discussing starting a family and after deciding Wolfe would carry the child, she underwent artificial insemination with an anonymous donor.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Lesbian Pastor Quits Over ‘Exclusionary’ Church
Norway’s first woman pastor to enter into a same-sex civil union will quit her ministry to protest against the discrimination gays and lesbians face within the Lutheran Church, she said in an interview published Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Real Bullies: The Homosexuality-is-Normal Movement
Homosexual activists attempt to humiliate and politically destroy anyone who dares even criticize their agenda. Meanwhile, the MSM (mainstream media) casts us who believe marriage should remain between one man and one woman as the aggressors, hate-filled villains.
Have the Homosexuality-is-Normal Movement stolen our kids? Despicably, while we were not looking, homosexual activists sneaked their agenda in the back doors of our elementary schools indoctrinating our kids early. Unquestionably, lack of access to your child for indoctrination contributes to the Left’s hatred for home schools and their relentless attempts to close them down.
Here is another example of homosexual activists’ in-your-face aggressive indoctrination of our kids. A Massachusetts charter school, grades 7-12, will host a production of the play, “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,” a retelling of the biblical story of Genesis with gay characters. Keep in mind, folks, America schools have a cow when a kid brings a Bible or wears a t-shirt with religious, patriotic or U.S. Military images. And yet, this school gleefully hosts a play which blasphemes Christianity while promoting homosexuality.
Our forty-year-old son and twenty-year-old granddaughter support homosexual marriage. Their attitude is, “what’s the big deal, it is only fair that gays be allowed to marry”. America’s youths are parroting the liberal’s argument that opposition to same sex marriage is discriminatory and bigoted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rush: Churches Could be Forced to Marry ‘Gays’
Next step possible if Supreme Court gives green light
If the U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriages across America, then churches could be forced to perform homosexual weddings, even if they oppose the idea on religious grounds.
That’s according to radio host Rush Limbaugh, who thinks there’s a good chance of it happening.
“The Catholic Church can be forced to give away abortifacients and birth-control pills. Why can’t the Church be forced to marry gay couples who want the sacrament? Any church,” Limbaugh said on his top-rated program Wednesday afternoon.
“I think it’s a pretty safe bet that that kind of thing will happen. Among militant leftists, attacking organized religion is part of the political agenda, whether gay or not.”
Limbaugh continued: “If you had to roll the dice on it, you say, ‘Yeah that’ll be the next phase.’ When it becomes legal and a church refuses to do it, don’t go some place that will, sue the people that won’t. That’s just a political philosophy of people on the left.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boys and girls at an Alabama elementary school will still get to hunt for eggs — but they can’t call them ‘Easter Eggs’ have the principal banished the word for the sake of religious diversity.
“We had in the past a parent to question us about some of the things we do here at school,” said Heritage Elementary School principal Lydia Davenport. “So we’re just trying to make sure we respect and honor everybody’s differences.”
Television station WHNT reported that teachers were informed that no activities related to or centered around any religious holiday would be allowed — in the interest of religious diversity.
“Kids love the bunny and we just make sure we don’t say ‘the Easter Bunny’ so that we don’t infringe on the rights of others because people relate the Easter bunny to religion,” she told the television station. “ A bunny is a bunny and a rabbit is a rabbit.”
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Student Told to ‘Stomp’ Jesus Now Receives Apology
What is going on at Florida Atlantic University? The university has come under fire for its handling of one of its students. The student protested a class assignment in which he was told to stomp on a piece of paper with the word “Jesus” written on it. He refused. And what was the first course of action by the university? To go after the professor? No… it was to attack the student.
As noted at BizPac Review, the controversy arose when FAU student Ryan Rotela was given an assignment in his intercultural communications class. When Rotela said that the task offended his religious beliefs, rather than reprimand the teacher, the school went after Rotela.
“The charges leveled against Rotela by Associate Dean Rozalia Williams included violating the student code of conduct, acts of verbal, written or physical abuse, and threats, intimidation, harassment, coercion or other conduct that threaten the health, safety or welfare of any person.
“In the interim, you may not attend class or contact any of the students involved in this matter — verbally or electronically — or by any other means,” Williams wrote.
However, those actions have backfired, and now the university is backpedaling.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.” -Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the House
Did you know that in many schools across the country, you were required to pass Bible courses before you could graduate high school? All the way up until 1962, prayer was the norm for virtually every school in America and the Ten Commandments were posted in school hallways. The obvious fruit was safety and security, as well as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In 1980, the Ten Commandments were taken out of the schools in the case Stone v. Graham. The Court made the following statement:
“If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments… [which] is not a permissible … objective.”
Cases such as this one can be linked to the quick downward spiral of American freedom, for freedom cannot exist without morality.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We Will be Judged by Our Silence
What we are seeing today in the fight for “equal rights” by homosexual activists is the culmination of an agenda that was set in motion more than a half-century ago. Before you can fully understand and appreciate what is taking place today, you must first understand that you are being lied to, hoodwinked and manipulated into the erroneous belief that the issue is about “civil rights” or “equal rights.” It’s not. It’s a deliberate perversion of the moral integrity of our society to advance a much larger and more nefarious agenda. The Progressive homosexual agenda
The Progressive homosexual agenda is a tool of those who are seeking the destruction of America. The activists hypnotized by the illusion of equal rights are nothing more than pawns duped into believing they are fighting for tolerance and inclusion, while the end game scenario leaves no room at the proverbial table for them. What is taking place today is the systematic destruction of a nation from within, and is insidious in nature and effectiveness by its simplicity. It is a tactic that uses the pretext of tolerance to break down our cultural standards of morality. You might be surprised to learn that presenting homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy” was identified as one of the goals of the Communist agenda for the takeover of America as read into the United States Congressional record on January 10, 1963 by Rep. A. S. Herlong of Florida. Of course, the mere mention of such an inconvenient truth will earn you the title of conspiracy nut within the corporate media.
If that premise is so far-fetched, one must ask how a mere 3.8% of the U.S. population who identify themselves as homosexuals, bisexuals and “transgendered” are able to wage such an effective campaign to redefine the morality of our nation. And even that number is arguably generous as it includes all natures of behavior that do not fit within the definition of traditional heterosexual behavior. So, how is it possible that such a small percentage of our population is able to polarize a nation?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brand New GMO Food Can Rewire Your Body: More Evil Coming
It’s already bad. Very bad. For the past 25 years, the biotech Dr. Frankensteins have been inserting DNA into food crops.
The widespread dangers of this technique have been exposed. People all over the world, including many scientists and farmers, are up in arms about it.
Countries have banned GMO crops or insisted on labeling.
Now, though, the game is changing, and it’ll make things even more unpredictable. The threat is ominous and drastic, to say the least.
GM Watch reports the latest GMO innovation: designed food plants that make new double-stranded (ds) RNA. What does the RNA do? It can silence a gene. It can activate a gene that was silent.
If you imagine the gene structure as a board covered with light bulbs, in the course of living some genes light up (activation) and some genes go dark (silent) at different times. This new designed RNA can change that process. No one knows how.
No one knows because no safety studies have been done. If you have genes lighting up and going dark in unpredictable ways, the functions of a plant or a body can change randomly…
GM Watch states there is published evidence that the designer RNA can move from the plants into the bodies of people who eat the plants, outlasting cooking and digestion, and winding up in the bloodstream.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by John Lanchester
The writer Neal Stephenson, in response to a question about his own fame or lack of it, came up with a usefully precise and clarifying answer
[…]
The crucial contributing factor to this condition, which involves being both incredibly, outlandishly famous by serious-writer standards while also being unknown to the general reader, is the fact that Stephenson works in the area of SF and fantasy writing. For reasons I’ve never seen explained or even thoroughly engaged with, there seems to be an unbridgeable crevasse between the SF/fantasy audience and the wider literate public. People who don’t usually read, say, thrillers or military history or popular science will read, say, Gone Girl or Berlin or Bad Pharma. But people who don’t read fantasy just simply, permanently, 100 per cent don’t read fantasy…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
No surprise that the real-life Fagin in Paris was not a Jew, like the fictional one, but a muslim.
I wonder when homosexuals will realise they, like people of colour are being used ??
Here’s mine: more about the mosque in Cambridge, England. Councillors seem not to care about the nuisance and threats to the mosque’s neighbours, but what about the child protection needs of the children in its madrassa?
http://300wordtheses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/cambridge-mosque-madrassa-and-child.html