Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/28/2014

40% of Italians want to dump the euro and return to the lira as their national currency. Also, more than four million Italians couldn’t afford food in 2013 and had to rely on one or more food assistance programs. It’s not clear whether these two facts are connected.

In other news, Russian President Vladimir Putin called up President Obama to discuss a U.S.-proposed negotiated solution to end the crisis in the Crimea.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Italy’s Five-Year Bonds Drop to New Low
» More Then Four Million Italians Couldn’t Afford Food in 2013
» Over 40% of Italians Want Out of the Euro, Poll Says
» The Fourteen Year Recession
» The Real Inflation Fear: US Food Prices Are Up 19% in 2014
 
USA
» A Case for Voter ID
» A Planet Past Pluto? Astronomers Redefine the Solar System’s Edge
» Albuquerque PD Accused of Murdering Another Man in Cold Blood
» Americans’ Brains Being Fried by Cell Towers
» Anti-Gun CA Senator Leland Yee Charged With Gun Running
» Billboard That Says ‘Jesus is Muslim’ Upsets Some Groups
» Caroline Glick: Campus Brownshirts on the March
» Chairman of the Port Authority Resigns, Christie Says
» Contaminated Ground Water in and Around All Military Bases Inside the United States and at US Bases Abroad is Making People Sick and Ruining Lives on a Massive Scale.
» Deputies: Owner Sprayed “Go Back to China” At Her Own Coffee Shop
» G.M. Expands Recall by 824,000 Cars in the United States
» Idaho Family Terrorized by Midnight Paramilitary Raid
» Media Continue Cover-Up of Marijuana-Induced Mental Illness
» Seeds of Monster Black Holes Were Surprisingly Big
» The White House is Defeating the U.S. Military
 
Europe and the EU
» EU Verdict Rekindles Internet Censorship Debate
» Former Norwegian Premier Stoltenberg Likely New NATO Chief
» France: Sheep Storm Paris Louvre in Farmers Protest
» France’s Far-Right Poises to Take Avignon
» Ireland: Outrage as Judge Claims: ‘Muslims Feel They Can Beat Their Wives’
» Italy: Turin Housing Authority Managers Arrested for Corruption
» Italy: Berlusconi Spends Too Long at Home, Says Former Minister
» Italy Guilty of ‘Systematic Irregularities’ Over EU Cash
» Italy: Trial Requested for Ex-Vatican Bank General Manager
» Man Sentenced to 6 Years in Erasmus Rape Case
» NATO Names Stoltenberg Next Chief
» NATO Appoints Anti-War Protester as Next Secretary General
» Obama Warns Against Cutting Too Much Defence Spending
» Pope Francis Breaks Tradition and Stuns Thousands With Bold Move
» Spain: Most Violent “Student” Protestors in Madrid Not Students at All
» Sweden: Man, 23, Jailed for Raping 92-Year-Old Woman
» Sweden: ‘We Need Emojis With Muslim Headscarves’
» UK: BBC Panorama to Air Episode About Mayor of Tower Hamlets on Monday
» UK: Conservative Party Youth Wing Allies With Turkish Islamist Counterparts
» UK: Calls for Inquiry as Figures Show 27% of London’s Prisoners Are Muslim
» UK: Police Warn South Woodford Mosque About Syria and ‘Radicalisation’ Danger
» UK: Police Ready for Mosque Protest in Sunderland
» UK: Terrorism Prevention List ‘Withers on Vine’ Amid Political and Media Fallout
» UK: Teenager’s Hand Left ‘Hanging by a Thread’ Following Axe Attack on London High Street
» Vatican Astronomers Ramp up Their Search for “Brother Extraterrestrial”
» Visco Warns Rigidity in Business, Unions Hinder Italy
» Why Sweden Should Cherish Pupils Who Blocked Sweden Democrat
 
Mediterranean Union
» EU-Morocco: Particularly Dynamic Relations as Most EU Recommendations Followed
 
North Africa
» Beloved Libyan Poet Murdered in Benghazi
 
Middle East
» 18 Killed, 45 Wounded in Iraq’s Violence
» Arabs No Longer Take Obama Administration Seriously
» Bipartisan Capitulation on Iranian Nukes
» Muslims Behead Hundreds of People, And Feed Their Corpses to Dogs
» Shocking Images Show Syrian Thief Blindfolded and Crucified by Terrorist Group Linked to a British Suicide Bomber
» Turkey: Storm Over Erdogan, YouTube Also Blocked
 
Russia
» Germany Against Imposition of Sanctions on Russia
» Nicaragua Recognizes Incorporation of Crimea Into Russia
» Nigel Farage is Right: It Was the EU, Not Russia, Which Provoked the Ukraine Crisis
» Putin Thanks Fernández De Kirchner for Words on Crimea
» Putin Seeks Diplomatic Solution to Crimea Crisis, White House Says
» Russian Rocket Crashes in Kazakhstan
» Russian Officials Dump iPads Over Spy Fears
 
South Asia
» Afghanistan: Taliban Suicide Squad Attacks Foreigners in Kabul Guest House
» India’s Communist Party Against Modi, A Nazi Who Lies to the People
» Indian Supreme Court Accepts Italy’s Marines Petition
 
Far East
» ‘Dear Leader Kim Jong-un’ Cut All the Rage After North Korea Outlaws Every Other Hairstyle for Men
» Japan: Yokohama Tourism Site for Muslims
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Three Million People Displaced in Nigeria
 
Immigration
» Biden: ‘11 Million Undocumented Aliens Are Already Americans in My View’
» Democrats Look to Force Vote on Amnesty
» Diana West: “A Nation’s Attempt to Survive Isn’t Racism”
» Immigration Crackdown Made US ‘Nasty Britain’, Says Osborne’s Father-in-Law
» Report: Obama Uses Asylum as De Facto Amnesty
» Visa Rules Creating Nasty Feeling About UK, Warns Peer
 

Italy’s Five-Year Bonds Drop to New Low

Fall below 2% mark for first time

(ANSA) — Rome, March 28 — The average interest rate on Italy’s five-year State bond dropped below the 2% mark for the first time at an auction on Friday with three billion euros’ worth being snapped up at an all-time low of 1.88%.

The interest rate at a similar auction in February was 2.14%.

The interest rate also fell on 10-year BTP bonds. The Treasury sold 3.75 billion euros’ worth at an average rate of 3.29% down from 3.42% at February’s auction.

Italy’s borrowing costs have been falling since Premier Matteo Renzi unseated his Democratic Party colleague Enrico Letta last month and took the helm of government promising to revive the economy and reform the country’s slow and expensive political system.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

More Then Four Million Italians Couldn’t Afford Food in 2013

A 1.3 million increase since 2010, says Coldiretti

(ANSA) — Rome, March 25 — At least 4.1 million Italians relied on some form of food assistance in 2013, a 10% increase over the previous year and a 47% increase over 2010, a report from Coldiretti farmers’ association says.

This adds up to 1,304,871 more people asking for food aid over the past three years, Coldiretti said citing data from AGEA, a government agency that deals with agriculture.

The 2013 data showed that 303,485 people attended soup kitchens and 3,764,765 people received food packages.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Over 40% of Italians Want Out of the Euro, Poll Says

Grillo’s base leads drive to ditch single currency

(ANSA) — Rome, March 28 — Some 43% of Italians are in favor of leaving the euro currency, new poll results showed Friday. According to a study by the Ixè institute for Italian broadcaster Rai3, just over half, or 54%, of Italians wish to retain the single currency. The poll showed 70% of voters in the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) of Beppe Grillo wanted out of the euro, while 56% from the center-right Forza Italia party of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi felt the same way. Only 28% of the center-left Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi agreed with returning to the Italian lira. Pollsters contacted 1,000 people for the study, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. Euroskepticism is expected to be a major driver at May European Parliament elections, where anti-euro parties are expected to do well.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

The Fourteen Year Recession

When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

“A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men … [W]e have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world — no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.”- Woodrow Wilson

When you ponder the implications of allowing a small group of powerful wealthy unaccountable men to control the currency of a nation over the last one hundred years, you understand why our public education system sucks. You understand why the government created Common Core curriculum teaches children that 3 x 4 = 13, as long as you feel good about your answer. George Carlin was right. The owners of this country (bankers, billionaires, corporate titans, politicians) want more for themselves and less for everyone else. They want an educational system that creates ignorant, obedient, vacuous, obese dullards who question nothing, consume mass quantities of corporate processed fast food, gaze at iGadgets, are easily susceptible to media propaganda and compliant to government regulations and directives. They don’t want highly educated, critical thinking, civil minded, well informed, questioning citizens understanding how badly they have been screwed over the last century. I’m sorry to say, your owners are winning in a landslide.

[Comment: Read it all.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Real Inflation Fear: US Food Prices Are Up 19% in 2014

We are sure the weather is to blame but what happens when pent-up demand (from a frosty east coast emerging from its hibernation) bumps up against a drought-stricken west coast unable to plant to meet that demand? The spot price (not futures speculation-driven) of US Foodstuffs is the best performing asset in 2014 — up a staggering 19%…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

A Case for Voter ID

So, why are they so afraid of voter ID? Maybe because Liberals couldn’t win elections without rampant voter fraud? Consider: A recent investigation by New York City’s Department of Investigations had its undercover agents show up at polls pretending to be people who had moved, were incarcerated or deceased. According to the report, they were allowed to vote 97 percent of the time. In another investigative report, a large number of non-citizens were registered to vote in Florida, and a 2012 Pew Poll reported at least 1.8 million deceased voters are registered to vote across the U.S.

True the Vote, an organization which claims to be in the IRS’ crosshairs says that back in 2012 more than 24 million voter registrations were invalid; more than 2.75 million people were registered to vote in more than one state; various counties in Indiana and Ohio had more registered voters than residents; 160 counties in 19 states had over 100 percent voter registration; and the Democrat Party of Florida and the National Council of La Raza were under investigation for alleged voter registration fraud.

Recent news from the Philadelphia Inquirer potentially exposes a much darker side to the voter ID issue. The March 17 investigative report, “Kane Shut Down Sting That Snared Philadelphia Officials,” stated that four area Democrat legislators allegedly took “multiple bribes ranging from a few hundred dollars to thousands in cash and Tiffany jewelry…in exchange for votes or contracts, including opposition to Pennsylvania’s proposed voter ID law.” Republicans were also offered bribes, but did not bite. Despite what the Inquirer described as solid evidence, the state’s new Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, “secretly dropped the case in 2013” — without as much as a peep from AG Eric Holder.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

A Planet Past Pluto? Astronomers Redefine the Solar System’s Edge

Our little corner of the universe just got a little more crowded.

Scientists at the Carnegie Carnegie Institution for Science announced Wednesday the discovery of a new cosmic neighbor — a distant dwarf planet named 2012 VP113 that was found spinning in the depths of space well past Pluto. Its existence suggests there may be another actual planet out there, they said, a rogue giant ten times bigger than Earth orbiting in the distant blackness.

One thing is clear: Astronomers will have to rethink the cosmic limits of our solar system.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Albuquerque PD Accused of Murdering Another Man in Cold Blood

Neighbors dispute police chief’s claim that man fired at police

A mere nine days after essentially executing a homeless man for illegally camping in the Sandia foothills, police in Albuquerque are again being accused of murdering someone in cold blood.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Americans’ Brains Being Fried by Cell Towers

New scientific evidence reveals shocking extent of electropollution damage

(NaturalNews) Exposure to cell phone towers alters brain function in alarming ways, causing a lack of concentration, irritability, difficulty sleeping and lack of appetite. That’s the conclusion of a new study just published by the British Medical Journal.(1)

The study, authored by Professor Enrique A Navarro, concluded that the severity of such symptoms directly correlated to cell tower exposure levels. In other words, the closer a person lives to a cell tower, the greater the severity of their symptoms. This was true regardless of race, income level and other demographics.

Cell towers, of course, broadcast and receive electromagnetic switching signals. Human biology — and the brain in particular — relies on electro-biochemical pathways for healthy function. Many scientists have long suspected that chronic exposure to low levels of EMF pollution (electropollution) may interfere with healthy functioning of the brain and body. This latest research adds yet more support to that alarming idea.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Anti-Gun CA Senator Leland Yee Charged With Gun Running

It what would surely place his likeness prominently on the Mt. Rushmore of hypocrisy if the allegations are proven in a court of law, famously anti-gun California state Senator Leland Yee has been charged with, in addition to bribery and public corruption…yes…gun running. Specifically conspiring with known organized crime lord Kwok Cheung “Shrimp Boy” Chow to illegally import firearms and sell them without a license . . .

The affidavit charges that the $2 million worth of weapons to have been secreted into the country from the Philippines included rocket launchers and machine guns, some of which Yee himself had fired while on Mindanao. A portion of the weapons Yee conspired to bring into the U.S. through New Jersey were to have been forwarded on to North Africa via Sicily.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Billboard That Says ‘Jesus is Muslim’ Upsets Some Groups

A group plans to protest a North Side billboard that says “Jesus is Muslim.” The billboard, placed by the Ask a Muslim organization, suggests that passersby “seek the truth,” and lists the group’s website.

Members of several Christian churches say they will pray, preach sing and carry signs below the billboard on Cleveland Avenue. “Jesus isn’t Muslim. To insinuate that he is, is a lie, an absurdity,” said the Rev. Bill Dunfee, pastor of New Beginnings Ministries in Warsaw in Coshocton County…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: Campus Brownshirts on the March

Jill Schneiderman is an unlikely warrior for Jewish rights. A professor of Earth sciences at Vassar College and a lesbian activist, Schneiderman’s political passions put her smack in the middle of the far-Left academic mainstream.

At least they did until she decided to organize a student trip to Israel to study water issues.

To get a sense of just how far to the Left Schneiderman is, when her initiative ran into trouble, she contacted fanatic anti-Israel activist Phillip Weiss to ask for his support.

Hers was not going to be a ZOA student mission to Israel.

Scheiderman needed help, because when the Vassar chapter of the anti-Semitic hate group, Students for Justice in Palestine, got wind of her initiative, their members began picketing her pre-trip seminar. They stood outside the classroom and pressured students to drop the class…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Chairman of the Port Authority Resigns, Christie Says

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey announced on Friday that the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson, has resigned, the latest fallout from the scandal surrounding the closing of several traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge.

Mr. Christie said he had discussed the matter with Mr. Samson and they agreed that new leadership was an essential part of reforming the multibillion dollar agency. Mr. Samson’s resignation is effective immediately.

Mr. Christie made the announcement at his first news conference in nearly three months.

[Return to headlines]
 

Contaminated Ground Water in and Around All Military Bases Inside the United States and at US Bases Abroad is Making People Sick and Ruining Lives on a Massive Scale.

In an interview on the Joyce Riley Show today (3/26/14) Steve House revealed weaponized chemicals including agent orange are buried at military bases in South Korea, Japan and all over the United States.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Deputies: Owner Sprayed “Go Back to China” At Her Own Coffee Shop

Authorities said the owner of a coffee stand who claimed someone spray-painted “Go back to China” outside her business and set part of her shop on fire carried out the crime herself.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office had originally investigated the incident as a hate crime and arson on January 21. Deputies, however, arrested Coffee Break owner Jennifer Na on Friday.

Investigators said surveillance video showed Na with a gas can in hand. She was reportedly also seen reaching up to unplug her surveillance cameras before the crime occurred. On Wednesday, investigators told Na about the video.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

G.M. Expands Recall by 824,000 Cars in the United States

General Motors on Friday said it was expanding its ignition-switch recall to include an additional 824,000 small cars in the United States that may have been previously repaired with defective switches.

G.M. was already recalling 1.6 million older-model vehicles worldwide to replace switches that could accidentally be jostled and cut off engine power and deactivate air bags.

On Friday, the company said it would now also recall Chevrolet Cobalts and other cars from the 2008 model year and afterward.

[Return to headlines]
 

Idaho Family Terrorized by Midnight Paramilitary Raid

David and Connie Johnson were asleep when they heard a noise Connie later described as the “walls caving in.” Seconds later their front door was forced open and two armored strangers burst into the two-room apartment the middle-aged couple share with their adult son, Aaron.

Several other assailants were clustered behind the two who had forced open the door. One of them was a female holding a leash that barely restrained a large, snarling dog. One of the intruders pointed as assault rifle at David’s head and threatened to shoot him. Another invader, a female, bellowed, “Put your hands up! This dog will bite you!”

David was seized and shackled. Connie and Aaron were also dragged from their home. Neighbors who were drawn by the commotion poked their heads out and were ordered to go back into their rooms.

At no point in this encounter did the intruders identify themselves as police officers.

Two minutes later, the SWAT team that had terrorized the Johnsons arrested the Johnsons’ neighbor, Bill Gerst, who had been accused by a woman of threatening her. Gerst was forced to crawl on his belly toward the officers in order to be handcuffed.

“What’s going on?” Gerst repeatedly asked, plaintively explaining that there was nobody else in his apartment.

Gerst persisted in trying to find out why the cops had laid siege to his home.

“You shut your mouth!” one of the raiders snapped.

The police later told the Johnsons that they were dealing with a “homicide in progress.” No firearm, and no evidence of any criminal activity, was found during the February 21, 2013 raid.

According to a lawsuit filed by the Johnson family, “The information used to justify the no-warrant raid on Mr. Gerst’s apartment was shaky and legally suspect.” Specifically, it was a hearsay allegation made by someone who knew a woman named Hilda Valle, who is described in the suit as “a petty criminal who had reported to police that she had argued with Mr. Gerst and that he had threatened her with violence.”

Gerst is a young black man. The police had his description, but they didn’t have his address. David Johnson is a middle-aged white man. This distinction was so obvious that it wouldn’t have been missed even by the typical police officer within a few seconds of the door breach.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Media Continue Cover-Up of Marijuana-Induced Mental Illness

When The Baltimore Sun ran an editorial about the Maryland mall shooter, who killed two people and then himself, the newspaper said that mental health problems need to be identified sooner. But it failed to breathe a word about killer Darion Aguilar’s admitted marijuana use. Dr. Christine Miller, a semi-retired molecular neuroscientist living in Maryland, was not too surprised by the omission. She says the liberal media tend to ignore the relationship between marijuana and mental illness.

“I know that the editors are aware of the marijuana-psychosis connection because I have corresponded in the past with one of their journalists who was unable to get them interested in a story on the topic,” she told Accuracy in Media. “They did publish one letter I wrote to their local Towson Times affiliate.”

Miller has researched the cause of schizophrenia for many years, and is working to stave off marijuana legalization in Maryland. “Though none of my work involved the study of marijuana use, I became aware of the growing body of literature showing its association with the onset of schizophrenia, and I now regard those numerous reports as the most well-replicated finding in schizophrenia research,” she says.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Seeds of Monster Black Holes Were Surprisingly Big

The gigantic black holes that lurk at the hearts of galaxies were apparently born big.

“We still don’t know how the monstrous black holes that reside in galaxy centers formed,” lead author Shobita Satyapal, of George Mason University in Virginia, said in a statement. “But finding big black holes in tiny galaxies shows us that big black holes must somehow have been created in the early universe, before galaxies collided with other galaxies.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The White House is Defeating the U.S. Military

I began March with a look at the way President Obama is undermining the U.S. military and did not think I would have to return to this topic for a while. I was wrong.

A March 25 article in The Washington Times was titled “Obama to Kill Navy’s Tomahawk, Hellfire Missile Programs in Budget Decimation” and on March 21, The Wall Street Journal published a commentary, “America’s Incredible Shrinking Navy.” When you add those to The New York Times February 23 article, “Pentagon Plans to Shrink Army to Pre-World War II Level”, you’ve got sufficient reason to begin to realize something very ominous is occurring.

This concerned is heightened by the way dozens of high ranking officers are, in the view of some observers, being purged. A number of retired generals are speaking out about it. One of them, retired Army Major General Paul Vallely has charged that Obama is “intentionally weakening and gutting our military and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged.” Retired Army Major General Patrick Brady agrees saying, “There is no doubt he is intent on emasculating the military and will fire anyone who disagrees with him.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

EU Verdict Rekindles Internet Censorship Debate

The European Court of Justice has approved measures to block access to illegal Internet sites. The verdict has been welcomed by some while others fear a second round of heated debate over online freedom.

Konstantin von Notz, Germany’s Green party spokesman on Internet policy, warns that blocking access to websites could be the first step towards Internet censorship, and points to recent events in Turkey. “This verdict is coming right at a time when practically the whole world is discussing, which has been sharply condemned in all countries governed by the rule of law.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Former Norwegian Premier Stoltenberg Likely New NATO Chief

Berlusconi’s foreign minister overlooked

(ANSA) — Rome, March 28 — Former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg will likely be the new NATO chief, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said Friday. Italy had been supporting former Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini in his bid to succeed former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO secretary-general, whose term ends on July 31. “I’ve spoke with Frattini. He understands and agrees with the decision,” Mogherini told a press conference. She added that Italy contributed to the “unanimous decision to elect Jens Stoltenberg. The official announcement could be made today”. Frattini served under three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France: Sheep Storm Paris Louvre in Farmers Protest

A flock of sheep are turned loose in the Louvre gallery in Paris as French farmers protest against reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy

It was more je ne sais baa than quoi at the Louvre museum this morning as a flock of sheep and their farmers stormed the Paris landmark…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

France’s Far-Right Poises to Take Avignon

Front National candidate Philippe Lottiaux set for shock win in the city which was once the fiefdom of centre-right UMP

Philippe Lottiaux loves to perform stand-up comedy in his spare time. He is also hoping to become the far-Right Front National’s first mayor of Avignon in Sunday’s municipal elections — a serious ambition, as the party took the lead in the first round of voting last week.

The medieval southern city, famed for its arts festival and historically a fiefdom of centre-right Union for a Popular Movement, is an unlikely place for the party once regarded by most French voters as beyond the pale to be within sight of an election victory.

Despite a threat by the director of the Avignon Festival to move it elsewhere if the city falls under the control of the Front National, the charismatic Mr Lottiaux has won many fans, including some who have never voted for the party before.

A graduate of the same elite colleges as most other French politicians, Mr Lottiaux, 47, admits that until he moved to Avignon in November, he had only visited the city to attend the festival. He was parachuted in as part of a strategy by Marine Le Pen, the National Front’s leader, to field fresh faces to appeal to voters disillusioned with the two main political parties…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ireland: Outrage as Judge Claims: ‘Muslims Feel They Can Beat Their Wives’

A judge has caused outrage after saying he thinks “Muslims feel they can actually beat their wives” during the trial of a Somali man accused of burglary at his former wife’s house…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Turin Housing Authority Managers Arrested for Corruption

‘Traded contracts for favors’

(ANSA) — Turin, March 25 — Police in the northern Italian city of Turin arrested 10 managers and employees of the local housing authority (ATC) on Tuesday for allegedly trading public maintenance contracts for favors. ATC managers Marco Buronzo and Carlo Liberati were put behind bars while the rest were placed under house arrest. Police said the investigation began late last year, and initially targeted five people.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Berlusconi Spends Too Long at Home, Says Former Minister

(AGI) Rome, March 23 — Silvio Berlusconi was wounded by an unjust sentence and has become a shut-in, “comforted by a select few people”, said former minister Claudio Scajola. Asked by Sky’s Maria Latella whether the Forza Italia party is suffering from the existence of the so-called ‘inner circle’, Scajola replied: “I know Maria Rosaria Rossi and Francesca Pascale [Berlusconi’s girlfriend, ed.]. Rossi is very bright and is brilliant, but I only met Pascale while she handled Neapolitan politics. Right now, Berlusconi’s suffering from an unjust sentence is prevalent”.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Guilty of ‘Systematic Irregularities’ Over EU Cash

Court of Justice upholds decision to cut Puglia funding

(ANSA) — Brussels, March 28 — The European Court of Justice said Friday that Italy was guilty of “systematic irregularities” in the handling of EU funding, as it upheld a 2009 decision by the European Commission to cut support from its Regional Development Fund for Puglia by 80 billion euros. “The serious shortcomings showed by the Italian authorities in the management and control of the use of EU funds are such as to lead to systematic irregularities,” the court said in its ruling.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Trial Requested for Ex-Vatican Bank General Manager

Cipriani’s former deputy also cited

(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, March 28 — Rome prosecutors on Friday requested that the former general manager of the Vatican Bank, Paolo Cipriani, be sent to trial for allegedly breaking Italy’s laws against money laundering. They also requested Cipriani’s former deputy, Massimo Tulli, be indicted. The case is related to a probe that in 2010 led to the freezing of 23 million euros over two cash transfers involving the bank that were deemed suspicious.

Earlier on Friday a Rome judge upheld a request from prosecutors for a probe into the former head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, to be shelved.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Man Sentenced to 6 Years in Erasmus Rape Case

by Michael Torfs

A court in Ghent imposed a 6-year prison sentence on a 41-year-old man from Iran for raping a Finnish Erasmus student in Ghent. The suspect could be identified via DNA research. The 6-year sentence is heavier than what the public prosecutor had demanded.

The facts took place in the night from 18 to 19 October last year, in the Overpoort area where many students go out (archive picture: Ghent’s historical centre). The victim, a 23-year-old exchange student from Finland, was pushed into a porch by a 41-year-old man, who sexually assaulted and raped her. When a passer-by intervened, the man fled. However, his hasty escape did not stop him from snatching the girl’s mobile phone.

Detectives eventually managed to identify him through DNA research. Despite this, the man kept denying the facts. He claimed he was drunk that night and that he couldn’t remember anything. However, he could not explain how it was possible that traces of his DNA were found on the victim’s underwear.

The judicial authorities had proposed a 5-year-sentence, but the court eventually imposed 6 years. Moreover, after serving his sentence, the man will be followed by a sentence implementation court for 10 years. The court is considering him as “extremely dangerous” because he doesn’t recognise his mental problem.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

NATO Names Stoltenberg Next Chief

Norway’s ex-PM Jens Stoltenberg has been appointed Nato’s next secretary general, replacing Denmark’s Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He will take over as leader of the 28-nation military alliance in October, when Mr Rasmussen steps down after a Nato summit in Wales. Mr Rasmussen has headed Nato for the past five years.

Mr Stoltenberg was prime minister of Norway at the time of Anders Breivik’s bomb and gun attacks in 2011.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

NATO Appoints Anti-War Protester as Next Secretary General

Nato has appointed Jens Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian prime minister leader who once opposed the transatlantic alliance, to lead it when Anders Fogh Rasmussen, its current secretary general, steps down later this year.

In his youth Mr Stoltenberg, now 55, objected both to Nato and the European Community, two organisations that he eventually came to support, and as a long-haired teenager he threw stones at the US embassy in 1973 after Washington’s bombardment of Haiphong in North Vietnam.

Mr Stoltenberg’s dignified response to the terror attacks that killed 77 people in July 2011 made him an internationally recognised figure. At the memorial service for the victims of Right-wing fanatic Anders Breivik his promise to combat the atrocity with “more democracy, more openness, and more humanity” helped salve the country’s wounds.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Warns Against Cutting Too Much Defence Spending

Funding gap widening between U.S. NATO allies in Europe

(See related) (ANSA) — Rome, March 27 — United States President Barack Obama warned Europe against cutting too much from defence budgets Thursday, saying that the gap between spending by the US and NATO allies in Europe is too wide.

That gap “has become too significant,” and instead, everyone must take their share of the joint defence burden, Obama said following bilateral meetings with Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, who had previously given notice that he intended to trim Italy’s budget for defence.

Renzi has raised the possibility of cutting defence spending, including the multi-billion euro budget for the F-35 fighter jet program that has been trimmed once before, and possibly selling some 385 military barracks.

For now, spending on the F-35 has been frozen, pending a parliamentary review of military spending.

Obama suggested he could understand government efforts to trim costs, but if countries are serious about their role in NATO, “there is a certain commitment countries must have”.

The Italian government’s Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets’ budget is currently about 11.8 billion euros over 45 years, beginning in 2015.

In 2012, Italy announced plans to cut its order to 90 from the 131 fight jets originally agreed in 2002, saving the country some five billion euros at that time.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Francis Breaks Tradition and Stuns Thousands With Bold Move

Pope Francis stunned parishioners, faith leaders and his own master of ceremonies Friday when he broke protocol to do something wholly unexpected: he bowed down in front of the crowd at St. Peter’s Basilica and confessed his sins to an ordinary priest, Reuters reported.

Typically, the pope goes to confession in private, so his decision was a departure from the past.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Most Violent “Student” Protestors in Madrid Not Students at All

The more than 50 people who were arrested Thursday in connection with student protests against education cuts have all been released, the police confirmed. Of them, only eight were enrolled at Madrid’s Complutense University, where most arrests took place, while the rest were members of extreme left groups who had infiltrated the event.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Man, 23, Jailed for Raping 92-Year-Old Woman

A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to prison for five years and six months for raping a 92-year-old woman on Christmas Eve last year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: ‘We Need Emojis With Muslim Headscarves’

A Swedish art professor has applauded Apple’s promise to diversify its emoticon options, including figures wearing religious headgear such as the hijab.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: BBC Panorama to Air Episode About Mayor of Tower Hamlets on Monday

EXCLUSIVE: The mayor of Tower Hamlets will be the subject of an episode of BBC Panorama on Monday that takes a critical look at his time in office. The programme will air at prime time on BBC One and promises to stir up much controversy ahead of the Mayoral elections in May.

It follows a year-long investigation into Lutfur Rahman’s tenure as mayor since his election in 2010, and focuses on the use of public funds, the state of democratic accountability, and the role of religion under his administration…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Conservative Party Youth Wing Allies With Turkish Islamist Counterparts

The Conservative Party’s youth-wing ‘Conservative Future’ yesterday announced that it was now officially affiliated to Turkey’s Islamist political party in government, the AK Party (AKP)…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Calls for Inquiry as Figures Show 27% of London’s Prisoners Are Muslim

More than a quarter of London’s prison population are Muslims, prompting urgent calls for an inquiry into what is happening in the justice system.

Official figures have revealed that record levels of Muslim people are serving jail sentences and that the numbers are still growing. Across England and Wales the proportion has risen from eight per cent a decade ago to 14 per cent now.

In London, the figure is an “astonishing” 27 per cent, which is more than double the 12 per cent of the capital’s population who are Muslim. In two prisons, Feltham and Isis, a third of the inmates were Muslim.

The data was obtained by Sadiq Khan, the lawyer and shadow justice secretary who is himself a Muslim. He told the Evening Standard that an inquiry was vital to explain why the increase is happening.

“What’s really worrying is the rise, year after year, in the number of Muslims behind bars,” he said, adding: “We need to know why that’s the case if we’re to stop this rising further, reduce crime and prevent people needlessly becoming victims.”

Half of the top 10 prisons with the highest Muslim populations are in London, including Belmarsh, where the percentage has risen since 2010 from 19 to 29 per cent, Brixton (24 per cent), Pentonville (28 per cent), Thameside (25 per cent) and Wormwood Scrubs (27 per cent)…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Police Warn South Woodford Mosque About Syria and ‘Radicalisation’ Danger

Mothers were warned of the dangers of their children joining the conflict in Syria by New Scotland Yard on Thursday (27). Det Sgt Ann Dubois visited South Woodford Mosque, in Mulberry Way, to warn of the potential risks of “radicalisation” British men and women faced by travelling to fight in the war-torn country…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Police Ready for Mosque Protest in Sunderland

POLICE have promised residents that it will be ‘business as usual’ tomorrow despite plans for a demo by far-right protestors. Extremist groups are planning a demonstration at the site of a new mosque in St Marks Road in Millfield, with around 100 people expected to attend. It is the latest in a series of protests against the new religious centre, and anti-fascist groups are again planning a counter-protest…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Terrorism Prevention List ‘Withers on Vine’ Amid Political and Media Fallout

Watchdog says ending of power to relocate suspects away from home areas, plus embarassing high profile abscondments, has seen system overlooked

There are no longer any terror suspects subjected to special prevention and investigation measures after the system which replaced control orders has been allowed to wither on the vine.

Theresa May, the home secretary, has confirmed to MPs that there is currently nobody subject to a terrorism prevention and investigation measures notice (Tpim) with the last one allowed to lapse on February 10…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Teenager’s Hand Left ‘Hanging by a Thread’ Following Axe Attack on London High Street

A teenager was left with his hand “hanging by a thread” following a brutal axe attack on a busy London high street.

The 18-year-old, who was also armed with a machete, was attacked by another youth brandishing a hatchet in Upper Street, Islington, at 6pm on Thursday, the London Evening Standard reported. Another teenager, also 18, suffered stab wounds in the attack, which took place in front of dozens of shoppers and diners…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Astronomers Ramp up Their Search for “Brother Extraterrestrial”

Why in the world is the Vatican searching for extraterrestrial life? Does the Catholic hierarchy know something about alien life that the rest of us do not? Why is the largest religious organization on the planet spending so much time and energy looking for “brother extraterrestrial”?

Earlier this month, the Vatican Observatory cosponsored a major conference on extraterrestrial life that brought together 200 of the leading astrobiologists in the world. One of the organizers stated that one of the goals of the conference was to figure out “how we can find life among the stars within the next two decades”. Certainly it would not be unusual for a group of astronomers and astrobiologists to get together and discuss such things. But why is the Vatican seemingly obsessed with this stuff? As you will see below, there are some high profile Vatican astronomers that seem quite confident that “something” is out there. In fact, one has stated that once it is revealed, “everything we think we know” may have to “be thrown out”…

“Funes, who runs the observatory that is based south of Rome and in Arizona, held out the possibility that the human race might actually be the “lost sheep” of the universe. There could be other beings “who remained in full friendship with their creator,” he said.”

Wow.

So Funes is actually suggesting that when we do encounter extraterrestrial beings, they may not have fallen into sin like humanity has.

The implications of this are staggering. Just check out what researcher Tom Horn recently had to say about this:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Visco Warns Rigidity in Business, Unions Hinder Italy

Economic stagnation serious problem, warns central bank governor

(ANSA) — Rome, March 28 — Rigidity in Italian business, labour and the bureaucracy are all serious problems weighing down the national economy, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco warned Friday.

That’s creating a significant problem for growth, leading to economic stagnation, Visco added in comments at a conference at Rome’s LUISS university, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of economist Guido Carli.

Visco noted that Carli, who also served as governor of the central bank from 1960 to 1975, raised similar concerns about bureaucratic barriers to growth at a time when Italy was struggling with the price inflation that shook much of the world during the 1970s. “Rigidity in legislation, bureaucracy, corporations, and unions are always the principal hindrance to development in our country,” said Visco. The consequences today “are different from those that were manifested in the 1970s; at that time it was inflation, today, it is stagnation”.

Susanna Camusso, secretary-general of Italy’s biggest trade union CGIL, said that it seemed Visco was “repeating the same recipes that have already failed”.

Raffaele Bonanni, secretary-general of the CISL union, dismissed Visco’s words as “nonsense”. Meanwhile, Visco urged continued structural reforms in the Italy economy, adding that early signs of economic recovery are encouraging but need to be supported.

“Only by tackling the structural problems that had put the brakes on the Italian economy even before the current crisis…will it be possible to return on the path of a strong and lasting recovery,” he said.

Italy’s gross domestic product fell by an average of 1.9% last year, but began to recover in the third-quarter and agencies including the IMF forecast growth of 0.6% this year, rising to 1.1% in 2015. GDP fell 2.4% in 2012, according to revised data from national statistical agency Istat.

To boost growth, Premier Matteo Renzi has been announcing a wide range of economic and labour market reforms, including public-spending cuts to free up cash to finance income tax cuts for low-income earners, spending on social programs, and a multibillion euro repayment of bills owed by government to business.

Renzi has also pledged reforms to the Italy’s electoral system and has begun the legislative process of eliminating an entire layer of government at the provincial level.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Why Sweden Should Cherish Pupils Who Blocked Sweden Democrat

A national newspaper has slammed a group of students who prevented a young Sweden Democrat from speaking at their school. But really we should be proud they took a stand, argues contributor Ruben Brunsveld.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU-Morocco: Particularly Dynamic Relations as Most EU Recommendations Followed

Relations between the EU and Morocco have been particularly dynamic during 2013 and most of the recommendations of the previous report have been implemented, according to a progress report released today by the European Commission as part of the 2014 ENP package, which takes stock of the progress of EU-Morocco relations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Beloved Libyan Poet Murdered in Benghazi

Benghazi — In the early days of the Libyan revolution, poet Atef Al-Arafi gave inspirational readings in Benghazi. On Monday (March 24th), he died there in a hail of bullets.

“Atef went to his car after playing in a football match,” said eyewitness Mohamed Moussa, an 18-year-old student. “Shops were open and the street was full of people. Cars stopped, and 12 masked men got out with their Kalashnikovs.”

The young witness continued describing the scene. “Two of them stepped forward and called Atef,” Mousaa said. “When he turned around, they strafed him with bullets. Atef fell to the ground reciting the Shahada. Then the gang drove away.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

18 Killed, 45 Wounded in Iraq’s Violence

BAGHDAD, March 27 (Xinhua) — At least 18 people were killed and 45 others wounded in violent attacks and clashes across Iraq on Thursday, police said. A car bomb attack near a market in Baghdad’s northern district of Adhamiya killed five people and wounded 21 others. The blast also damaged several shops and cars nearby.

A sticky bomb and a roadside bomb exploded Thursday evening in the district of Amiriya in western Baghdad, killing four people and injuring nine others…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Arabs No Longer Take Obama Administration Seriously

by Khaled Abu Toameh

The communiqué issued by Arab heads of state at the end of their summit in Kuwait this week shows that the Arab countries do not hold the Obama Administration in high regard or even take it seriously.

The Arab leaders also proved once again that they do not care much about their own people, including the Palestinians.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bipartisan Capitulation on Iranian Nukes

by Andrew Bostom

One of the major themes of my new book, Iran’s Final Solution for Israel, is the abject failure of imagination regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran, which transcends the political and ideological Republican/Democratic party, and Right/Left, divides.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the craven capitulation to Obama administration demands that Congress “butt out” of the “P5 +1” sham agreement process which has provided dangerous U.S. and international validation of Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

As reported by Al-Monitor yesterday (3/27/14), House lawmakers are crafting a “bipartisan” bill targeting Iran’s jihad-terror “proxy” Hezbollah, having acquiesced to the Obama administration’s demand not to address Iran’s relentless pursuit of nuclear capabilities, whose ultimate goal has long been acknowledged to be the production of nuclear weapons. The Hezbollah-limited focus, though allegedly “in the works for several months,” in reality represented bipartisan subservience to Obama administration wishes, gaining momentum,…

           — Hat tip: Andy Bostom [Return to headlines]
 

Muslims Behead Hundreds of People, And Feed Their Corpses to Dogs

Shoebat.com has just received a message from our Middle East contact Sister Hatune Dogan, an Eastern Orthodox nun we partnered with to rescue Christians in Syria and Iraq. In this correspondence she has described horrific details on what Muslims are currently committing against Christians, which she has received from surviving Christians who have fled the torrent of violence in Syria.

While attending to persecuted Christians from Syria Sister Dogan received a story from one Christian survivor named Abd Alluhud, who has become psychology ruined from seeing such cruelty, in which Muslims beheaded hundreds of victims, and left their corpses to be consumed by dogs.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Shocking Images Show Syrian Thief Blindfolded and Crucified by Terrorist Group Linked to a British Suicide Bomber

Blindfolded, shot in the head and strung up on a crucifix for all to see, the body of a suspected murderer is paraded in a town square for people to take pictures on mobile phones. The man was accused of ‘purposefully killing a Muslim to take his money’ in a Sharia court set up by terror cell The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria who have overrun the city of Raqqa, northern Syria.

Such a crime, according to Sharia doctrine, is punishable by death, but how he should be executed is less specific. In this man’s case, he was blindfolded and led from the court to the city’s centre and shot in the head at point-blank range. His lifeless body was then tied to wooden cross on a makeshift stage and left in the sun for all to see…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: Storm Over Erdogan, YouTube Also Blocked

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MARCH 28 — Tensions are high two days ahead of crucial administrative elections on Sunday in Turkey, where Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday ordered a block on YouTube after doing the same to Twitter last Friday. The move came after burning new revelations on plans for “provoked” military intervention in Syria.

For days the opposition has accused Erdogan, who is mired in corruption scandals, of seeking a military “adventure” in Syria to distract voters’ attention from Turkish bribes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Against Imposition of Sanctions on Russia

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the crisis around Ukraine should be resolved by political means without imposing economic sanctions on Russia.

Merkel said in Berlin on Wednesday after talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye that the West “has not reached a stage that implies the imposition of economic sanctions” on Moscow.

“And I hope we will be able to avoid it,” she said. “I am not interested in escalation. On the contrary, I am working on de-escalation of the situation.”

German experts say economic sanctions against Russia that Western countries could impose for Russia’s position on the situation in Ukraine and Crimea would negatively affect Germany’s economy.

The German-Russian trade in 2013 totaled 76 billion euros; some 6,000 German companies do business with Russian enterprises; the overall volume of their investment totals 20 billion euros. Some 300,000 jobs in Germany depend on the country’s economic relations with Russia.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Nicaragua Recognizes Incorporation of Crimea Into Russia

Nicaragua has recognized the incorporation of Crimea into Russia, Nicaraguan Ambassador to Russia Luis Molina Quadra said at a meeting with Ivan Melnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Communist Party’s Central Committee and First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, on Thursday.

“The ambassador noted that his country unconditionally recognizes the will expressed by the Crimean people. For his part, Ivan Melnikov told him about the situation in Ukraine and about the Crimean referendum,” Melnikov’s spokesman Pavel Shcherbakov said after the meeting on Thursday.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Nigel Farage is Right: It Was the EU, Not Russia, Which Provoked the Ukraine Crisis

by James Delingpole

Nigel Farage has accused the European Union of having “blood on its hands” over the Ukraine. Does that sound over the top? Well it might if you’ve been taking your cue from much of the media this last month. Mostly it has been following the line that Putin is a warmongering bully whose incursion into the Crimea was entirely unprovoked…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Putin Thanks Fernández De Kirchner for Words on Crimea

MOSCOW, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked his Argentine counterpart, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, for her recent words on the situation in the Crimean Peninsula and what she views as the blatant hypocrisy of the West.

Last week, Argentina’s leader was on an official state visit to Paris, and made the comments on the situation in Eastern Europe while meeting with French President François Hollande.

Fernández de Kirchner felt it prudent to make her opinion known on the issue as France is one of Europe’s, and indeed the world’s, powerful and influential nations, and La Presidenta told Hollande that she does not support the diplomatic decisions taken by his nation. While France has not directly involved itself in the dispute, it does support the US’ initiative to ban Russia from the G8 group.

“You cannot have this double standard,” she said, “where many of these Western powers respect the territorial integrity of one nation but not another.”

“We can either live in a world governed by legal, international treaties which will decide how issues are solved, or we can continue with the trend of making these decisions without respect and unlawfully, simply changing the rules to suit the most powerful or the most convenient situation,” Fernández de Kirchner said in the French capital.

“It is in this conviction of international laws with which Argentina votes, both in its internal policies and at the United Nations Security Council,” she said, citing the international body that is called upon to make decisions on geopolitical disputes.

Fernández de Kirchner has reasons to make these statements as she calls the decisions on Crimea by most of the West as hypocritical, along with those made on Kosovo, Palestine and other hotspots. Of course, her own nation’s dispute with Great Britain over the Malvinas/Falkland Islands plays a large role in her declarations.

“The Malvinas has always belonged to Argentina, the same way that Crimea also belonged to the Soviet Union until it was given to Ukraine,” she claimed. “Thus, Crimea rightfully belongs to Russia, historically and through the referendum,” added Fernández de Kirchner, referring to the act which revealed a nearly-unanimous majority wished to separate and join Russia.

Indeed, the Crimean Peninsula belonged to the Russian Socialist Republic (within the Soviet Union) until 1954 when the USSR’s President, Nikita Khrushchev who hailed from eastern Ukraine himself, transferred the region to Ukraine through the Supreme Soviet Council without the proper constitutional authority as the amendment that allowed this action was added a week after the transfer.

Regarding the referendum, Fernández de Kirchner said that “the great powers, most notably the United Kingdom and the United States, have placed no value on the votes cast in Crimea, a region historically Russian and just minutes away from the official border.”

“However, those same powers have enthusiastically spoken in favor of the Kelpers’ referendum, which is completely worthless. If there is no value to the Crimean referendum, how can there be so much value to a ‘referendum’ held in a colony more than 13,000 kilometers from London?” she asked.

The Argentine President was referring to the referendum held by the inhabitants of the Malvinas/Falklands in March of 2013, where 99.8% voted to remain part of Great Britain. Argentina claims that the people there are the descendants of colonial occupiers implanted by Britain and rejects the referendum.

For his part, Vladimir Putin phoned Fernández de Kirchner to thank her and her nation for their support in regard to Crimea, or what Russia calls the Russian Republic of Crimea.

“The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, communicated this morning at 10:00 (Buenos Aires time) via telephone with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The call was asked for by the Russian Embassy in Buenos Aires several days ago and manifested at a date and time suitable for both figures. They spoke on the issue of Ukraine and Putin recognized Argentina’s stance on the question of Crimea,” read a statement prepared by the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

It continued: “Mr. Putin stressed the importance of Argentina’s stance to be included in the debate on the issue and the double standards of various nations in relation to the laws and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

The Foreign Ministry of Argentina followed in their President’s words, finishing their statement by saying that “the Argentine President and the Republic of Argentina is firm in our stance that we seek peaceful solutions to conflicts through bilateral dialogue, and the ineffectiveness of sanctions imposed on Russia and its figures only impede constructive dialogue.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the call, as well, succinctly stating that “the communication between the respective leaders of Russia and Argentina accentuates the importance of the taking into account of national, historical and cultural traditions of peoples around the world.”

Yurii Diudin, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Argentina, understandably disagreed with the opinions of both Putin and Fernández de Kirchner. “We do not recognize and will never recognize the forced annexation of Ukrainian territory, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, by the Russian Federation, and are surprised and baffled by President Fernández de Kirchner’s statements.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Putin Seeks Diplomatic Solution to Crimea Crisis, White House Says

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Obama on Friday to discuss a proposal by Mr. Obama for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine and the two leaders agreed that diplomats for both should meet soon to discuss it, the White House said.

[Return to headlines]
 

Russian Rocket Crashes in Kazakhstan

ASTANA, March 28 (Xinhua) — A weather rocket launched from Russia’s Kapustin Yar launching field crashed in Kazakhstan’s western region, according to government reports. The incident happened early in the morning on March 27, between 1 and 2 a.m., a government source said. The rocket fell less than one kilometer away from a local village named Shungai with no casualties reported…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Officials Dump iPads Over Spy Fears

Russian government officials have swapped their iPads for Samsung tablets to ensure tighter security, the telecoms minister told news agencies on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Afghanistan: Taliban Suicide Squad Attacks Foreigners in Kabul Guest House

Afghan girl killed as gunmen storm building in latest attack on capital just a week before presidential elections

A Taliban suicide squad attacked a guest house used by an American charity in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday afternoon, detonating a car bomb before launching a ferocious firefight. Four foreign workers with Roots of Peace, which clears minefields, were trapped inside the building before security forces recaptured the site from gunmen…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

India’s Communist Party Against Modi, A Nazi Who Lies to the People

The Communist Party of India releases data underscoring Gujarat’s sham development under a prime ministerial candidate running for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The state’s much vaunted development “is based on cheap labour and its exploitation, very low expenditure on consumption, very high malnutrition, very high school dropout rates and very low expenditure on education and healthcare”.

New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The so-called Gujarat model of economic development free of ethnic and religious tensions is a “big lie”, a mantra of Nazi propaganda by Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), this according to two promiment members of Communist Party of India (CPI-Marxist), Brinda Karat, the first woman elected to the Politburo, and Arun Mehta, CPM secretary in Gujarat.

The two CPI-M leaders spoke yesterday at the launch of two booklets based on National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data.

Titled Defeat BJP Defend Secularism and No To The Gujarat Model, the two studies try to explain how the election campaign by three-time Gujarat Chief Minister Modi and current BJP prime ministerial candidate rests on groundless claims.

NSSO data show that, contrary to widespread belief, the state’s much vaunted wealth and development do not exist.

“The so-called Gujarat model is based on cheap labour and its exploitation, very low expenditure on consumption, very high malnutrition, very high school dropout rates and very low expenditure on education and healthcare,” Brinda Karat explained.

In fact, on the issue of development, she noted that according to NSSO records, 90 per cent of people in rural areas of Gujarat spent only 75 rupees (US$ 1.25) per day on food and essentials.

The state’s dropout rate was as high as 58 per cent, whilst the employment rate grew by 0.4 per cent, far less than the national average.

In other words, for her, “The so-called Gujarat model is only for the corporates and not the people”.

For his part, Arun Mehta demolished one of Modi’s propaganda myths, namely that everyone has power all day long across the state.

In reality, “In rural Gujarat, power supply is not [available] for more than six hours,” he said, and “121,000 applications for power connection” have been “pending for five years”.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Indian Supreme Court Accepts Italy’s Marines Petition

Suspends proceedings, while looks at petition against NIA

(By Paul Virgo) (ANSA) — New Delhi, March 28 — India’s Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider an appeal against NIA anti-terrorism prosecutors handling the case of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012. The top court suspended the start of a trial at a special court and said it will look at Italy’s petition in a hearing in four weeks. In the petition, Italy also requested that marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone be allowed to return home and that the whole case be dropped.

The 50-page appeal petition argues that allowing the NIA to probe the case is not valid because their jurisdiction only extends to certain laws, such as suppression of piracy, which do not apply to the Italian sailors.

Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and reportedly opening fire on their fishing trawler.

The incident occurred while the marines were guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of the southern Indian state of Kerala in February 2012.

The two marines have been living and working at the Italian embassy in India pending charges.

Rome has protested a long series of delays in the case, which has caused a deep diplomatic schism between the countries.

It successfully fought to ensure New Delhi take the death penalty off the table and drop the application of a severe anti-terrorism, anti-piracy law, which it said would have equated Italy with a terrorist state.

Rome is seeking international arbitration in the case, which it argues is not India’s jurisdiction as the incident took place outside the country’s territorial waters.

It also says the marines should be exempt from prosecution in India because they are servicemen who were working on an anti-piracy mission.

Premier Matteo Renzi on his appointment last month called the case “absurd and shocking”.

He said on Thursday that he had called on United States President Barack Obama to support Italy over the marines during a meeting between the leaders in Rome.

“The position of the Italian government is unchanged in staunchly claiming Italian jurisdiction over the affair and asking for the immediate return of our military personnel to Italy,” read an government statement released after the Indian Supreme court agreed to consider the petition.

“The government will continue to take all international actions to help achieve both these goals as soon as possible”. The Italian government’s special envoy on the case Staffan de Mistura has argued that if the marines must face trial, it should be in Italy.

De Mistura said this week that if a trial starts in India, Italy will snub the proceedings.

Italy has won the backing of the European Union, which has said the case endangers international anti-piracy operations. Rome is also trying to get the United Nations involved.

This month a spokesman for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she was “worried about the respect of human rights” given the length of time the pair have been kept in India.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

‘Dear Leader Kim Jong-un’ Cut All the Rage After North Korea Outlaws Every Other Hairstyle for Men

The “Dear Leader Kim Jong-un” cut has become all the rage in North Korea now that the communist nation has reportedly made every other hairstyle illegal.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Japan: Yokohama Tourism Site for Muslims

The Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau (YCVB announced on March 28 that the Muslim Tourist Information site within the English version of the official Yokohama Visitors’ Guide website is gaining favorable responses from Muslims in Southeast Asia…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Three Million People Displaced in Nigeria

The Islamic militant insurgency in three north eastern Nigerian states where emergency rule was declared last year, continues to have its toll on residents of the region, resulting in the displacement of three million people since January 2014.

Similarly, no fewer than 1,000 Nigerians were killed in the Boko Haram insurgency in the region in three months. Borno State has the highest figure of 1,304,393 persons, Adamawa, 1,086,126 and Yobe, 771, 368; with most of the affected people being women, children and the aged…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Biden: ‘11 Million Undocumented Aliens Are Already Americans in My View’

(CNSNews.com) — Vice President Joe Biden, in a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 2014 Legislative Summit, on Thursday said the 11 million illegal aliens in the United States “are already Americans.”

“Eleven million people living in the shadows I believed are already American citizens,” Biden said. “These people are just waiting, waiting for a chance to be able to contribute fully, and by that standard, 11 million undocumented aliens are already Americans in my view.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Democrats Look to Force Vote on Amnesty

House Democrats on Wednesday introduced a petition to force a vote on the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate last year but stalled in the GOP-controlled House.

The so-called discharge petition, if successful, would force the chamber to vote on legislation Republican leaders have said they have no intention of bringing up, preferring a piecemeal approach to the contentious issue. A majority of the House, or 218 members, would have to support the petition in order to force a vote, which is unlikely even by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s own estimation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Diana West: “A Nation’s Attempt to Survive Isn’t Racism”

It may surprise some Americans to learn that almost one-quarter of the people living in Switzerland are foreigners. Even so, just over 50 percent voted last month to cap immigration, which, unchecked, could leave indigenous Swiss a minority in 50 years. Newsweek’s headline over the story was typical: “Switzerland’s Sudden Fear of Immigrants.”

Fear. Immigrants. The German publication Spiegel Online wrote also about “scaremongering.” The enlightened reader’s thought-bubble is now supposed to register the word “racism.” But was it really “fear of immigrants” — read: “racism” — that drove sufficient numbers of Swiss to the polls to check their own demographic extinction as a recognizable culture and nation-state? Or was it a nearly anachronistic instinct to survive as a recognizable culture and nation-state?

I see it as the instinct to survive — and applaud the Swiss for deciding to limit the influx of Europeans, Slavs, Muslims, Africans and others, whose demographic waves are otherwise sure to transform indigenous Swiss culture into a global multiculture. I also envy them for mustering this basic vital sign, this narrow-edged popular will to control their own borders. It is something that has all but flat-lined in America, where capping immigration — let alone halting it to attempt some measure of assimilation and economic resuscitation — is not even a part of the political debate.

Why isn’t it? In the U.S., the foreign-born population is now estimated to be around 13 percent, and it’s rising every year. This poses truly existential problems, particularly since the concept of “melting” into American culture was junked long ago — along with “American” culture. Meanwhile, that overall percentage, a little more than one in 10, masks the greater density and impact of foreign-born populations in the states and cities where immigrants and illegal aliens congregate.

Take California, a state where waves of mainly Mexican arrivals (legal and illegal) have turned the population 38 percent Hispanic/Latino. In Los Angeles County, the figure jumps to 48 percent. The next largest ethnic group is non-Hispanic white: 27 percent — almost down to one in four. In 1960, not long before I was born in L.A., non-Hispanic whites were 82 percent of the county. What we are looking at is population replacement — and it has taken place well inside the span of one lifetime.

Such population replacement is under way everywhere non-assimilable blocs become entrenched — with or without “amnesty.” But We, the People, have never voted for it. It just happens, forced or enabled from above. It could be that a majority of us want to disappear in a global multiculture — or, in the case of states like California, into an enclave-pocked Mexican monoculture. But that’s not why we have borders and immigration laws. Tragically, we also have a political class and presidents who lawlessly refuse to enforce these laws, making a mockery of our borders, not to mention the democratic process. This makes a mockery of our nationhood, too. It looks like a means to an end — the end of that nationhood.

           — Hat tip: Diana West [Return to headlines]
 

Immigration Crackdown Made US ‘Nasty Britain’, Says Osborne’s Father-in-Law

Lord Howell, a former energy minister and George Osborne’s father-in-law, says gifted immigrants regard the country as ‘nasty Britain’

A senior Conservative peer has launched a stinging attack on the Government’s immigration policy, saying visa restrictions were creating a “nasty Britain feeling” among foreign students and businesses.

Lord Howell, a former energy minister and George Oborne’s father-in-law, said businesses are being put off from coming to the UK because of a “tangle of regulation” while students are close to “despair” at the restrictions imposed on them.” The policies are creating a “blot” on Britain’s reputation, he said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Report: Obama Uses Asylum as De Facto Amnesty

As soon as the primary season is over, the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill is looking for ways to pass an amnesty bill for illegal aliens.

Among the pitches the GOP leaders will make is that they trust the Obama administration to keep its word in relation to new measures to secure the border and enforce immigration laws. But, a new report on the state of the political asylum program casts serious doubts that anyone should trust this White House.

The report is an to analysis released March 26 by the Center for Immigration Studies. The Obama administration has hijacked the process for granting political asylum, so that it no longer functions as a legitimate check on fraudulent and unworthy cases.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Visa Rules Creating Nasty Feeling About UK, Warns Peer

The UK’s visa rules are creating a “nasty” impression of the country and leaving many people “in despair”, a Conservative peer has said.

Lord Howell, who is Chancellor George Osborne’s father-in-law, said the UK had a “fantastic story” to tell about its educational and cultural assets. But visitors and foreign students were put off by a “jungle of regulations”. Vince Cable and Boris Johnson have warned that tighter immigration controls could damage the economy…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

3 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/28/2014

  1. The disproportionate percentage of muslims in British prisons reflects the belief of those persons that only sharia law needs to be obeyed and that the British state- or the EU- do not have the right to legislate for muslims. My advice to the British government is to build more prisons. They will need them.

  2. Quote:
    A senior Conservative peer has launched a stinging attack on the Government’s immigration policy, saying visa restrictions were creating a “nasty Britain feeling” among foreign students and businesses.
    end

    Who would you rather hear “nasty Britain” from– foreigners or your own citizens?
    You have a vested interest in staying in the good graces of your own “senior Conservative.”
    If I were Jesse now, I’d say, bitch!

    • Lord Howell had a point: excluding qualified immigrants who will make a positive contribution is cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

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