Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/19/2014

I had originally collected 300 news items from while I was gone, to be used for last night’s news feed, and had planned to post them (late). But it was too much for the software — it broke the system. So that post had to be discarded, unfortunately.

The most interesting item from tonight’s news is that Abu Hamza was convicted of terrorism in New York, and may face a life sentence.

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

Thanks to Fjordman, 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
» Banking Deaths: Why JPMorgan Stands Out
» Combatting the Crunch: ECB Plans Negative Rate on Bank Deposits
 
USA
» Abu Hamza Trial: London Cleric Found Guilty on Terror Charges by US Jury
» American Cancer Society, Komen Foundation Deny Link Between Bras and Breast Cancer
» Cisco CEO Sends Letter to Obama Complaining About NSA Surveillance
» Feinstein: Republicans’ Select Committee on Benghazi is a ‘Lynch Mob’
» Firsthand Impressions of Martial Law Ghost Town (Video)
» NSA Spying is a Power Grab
» Rogue Government Prepares for Heated Conflict, Historical Cycles Point to Coming Clash
» Ron Paul: Tax Reform is Useless Without Spending Reform
» U.S. Seen as Weak, Untrustworthy Around the World, Cheney Says
» Use of License Plate Photo Databases is Raising Privacy Concerns
» Victoria Nuland Accused of Meeting With Neofascists in Washington
 
Europe and the EU
» Britain Has Heard Enough of ‘Appalling’ UKIP, Says Cameron: Prime Minister Launches Scathing Attack on Rival Party’s ‘Politics of Anger’
» Denmark: The High Cost of Crime
» European Aviation Firms Airbus, Dassault, Alenia Poised to Produce Military Drones
» France’s Strauss-Kahn to Sue Over Cannes Sex Addict Film
» France: DSK to Sue Over Cannes Sex Scandal Film
» Germany Urges Restraint Ahead of Erdogan’s Planned Speech in Cologne
» Germany: Files Uncovered: Nazi Veterans Created Illegal Army
» Ireland: A Daugher Seeks Justice: The IRA and the Search for Truth
» Italian MEP: ‘Bilderberg is the Root of All Evil’
» Rubik’s Cube Invention: Google Celebrates Toy Puzzle’s 40th Anniversary With Interactive (And Addictive) Doodle
» Spain: a Legal Tug-of-War Over the Ownership of Córdoba’s Mezquita Cathedral
» Sweden: Defence Minister Disappointed by Swiss “No”
» Sweden: Husby a Year After the Riots: Frustration and Resilience
» Talks Break Down on Norway’s EU Funding
» UK: ‘Trojan Horse’ Teacher Breaks Into Girl’s Phone
» UK: £500,000 Dream Home Bulldozed Because it Was Built 6ft Too High
» UK: Ed Miliband Should Say Nigel Farage is Racist, Black Labour MP Says
» UK: Less Time for ‘Hitler and the Henrys’ In History a-Level
» UK: Lee Rigby Memorial: ‘All I Want is to Know My Son Will Not be Forgotten’
» UK: Son Banned From Visiting Mother in Hospital After Complaining About Standard of Care
» UK: Sir Nicholas Winton, Who Saved Hundreds of Children From Nazis, Turns 105
» UK: Tube Driver Suspended After Angering Colleague by Putting Up a Picture of the Queen in Office
» Vatican Bank Audit Finds 202 Suspicious Deals in 2013
 
Balkans
» Balkan Floods Raise Health Concerns and Threaten Power Supplies
 
North Africa
» Libya Crisis Deepens as Renegade Former General Gains Control of Airbase
» Libyan Special Forces Unit Joins Rogue General Haftar
» Woman Who Moved to Tunisia to Marry Facebook Lover is Broke and Wants to Move Back to Britain With Him
 
Middle East
» Iraq PM Maliki Expected to Take Third Term
» Netherlands: Diplomatic Moves to Smooth Over Saudi Arabia Wilders Sticker Row
» Saudi Bans Dutch Companies From Future Projects for Insulting Islam
» Turkish Mine Disaster: Erdogan Faces Fall-Out From Soma Tragedy
» Why Does Christian Persecution Get Worse in Every Country the U.S. “Liberates”?
 
Russia
» In the Kremlin’s Grip: Fears Grow Over Bulgaria’s Russian Dependence
» Loved and Hated: Can Tymoshenko Still Lead Ukraine?
» Russian Lawmakers Want to Impose Criminal Penalties on Those Conducting GMO Business
» Strategist Warns of New Russian Threat: “It Would be the Greatest Blackout in American History”
» Unprotected in the East: NATO Appears Toothless in NATO Crisis
» US, NATO Dismiss Reports of Russian Pull-Back From Ukraine Border Region
 
South Asia
» GMOs and the Suicide Epidemic Affecting Indian Farmers
» Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah Says Was ‘Not Suicidal’, Claims Brother-in-Law
» Thailand Army Declares Martial Law
 
Far East
» China: Tiananmen Square: A Dangerous Memory
» Chinese Tycoon Agrees to Buy Norway Land
» Confessions of a Chinese Web Informer
» PLA Troops Descend on China-Vietnam Border
» Russia’s “Holy Grail” Gas Deal With China Now “Only One Digit Away”
» U.S. Charges China With Cyber-Spying on American Firms
» US Accuses China of Cyber-Espionage on American Companies
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Sudanese Christian Woman Reportedly Shackled While Awaiting Death Sentence
 
Immigration
» Left Scrambles to Defend Release of Criminal Illegals
 
Culture Wars
» Nintendo Promises to Push Gay Agenda on Children (Video)
» Political Correctness Makes Race and Genetics Taboo in the West, Which is Why China is Winning
» University Shuts Down Women’s Center After ‘How to be a Lesbian’ Controversy
 

Banking Deaths: Why JPMorgan Stands Out

In the past six months, five current workers and two former workers of JPMorgan Chase have died under unusual circumstances. Adding to the tragedy, all seven were in their late 20s or 30s and three of the deaths involved alleged falls from buildings — a rare form of death even during the height of the financial crisis in 2008.

According to the New York City Department of Health, there were just 93 deaths resulting from leaps from buildings in Manhattan and boroughs during 2008 — a time when century old iconic Wall Street firms collapsed and terminated tens of thousands of workers. Those 93 deaths represented just .000011625 of the City’s population of 8 million. JPMorgan’s global workforce population is just 260,000.

No other major Wall Street bank comes close in terms of young worker deaths over the past six months. Of equal concern, since December, the early deaths related to JPMorgan have been coming at a rate of one or two a month — almost like clockwork…

The series of strange deaths has brought unwelcome attention to the fact that mega banks like JPMorgan Chase are allowed to secretly collect life insurance proceeds on the lives of their employees, and former employees, without disclosing the amounts to the families, or the public, or their shareholders. (Other corporations are likewise engaged in this practice.) The payments are a closely guarded secret between the companies and the insurers who collect the lucrative premiums.

[Comment: Recommended reading. Very suspicious deaths.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Combatting the Crunch: ECB Plans Negative Rate on Bank Deposits

When it meets on June 6, SPIEGEL has learned, the European Central Bank may implement a negative interest rate for financial institutions seeking to park their money at the Frankfurt powerhouse. The move is aimed at spurring loans.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Abu Hamza Trial: London Cleric Found Guilty on Terror Charges by US Jury

Abu Hamza, the radical hook-handed cleric, has been found guilty on terrorism charges by a New York court. A jury delivered their verdicts in 11 criminal counts, including assisting Yemeni militants who took a group of Western tourists hostage in 1998.

The jury also returned a guilty verdict on charges of sending followers to Oregon to establish a training camp and to Afghanistan to assist al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

He now faces a possible life sentence in the federal “supermax” high-security prison in Colorado that already houses several other convicted terrorists. A judge will sentence him at a later date.

The jury of eight women and four men delivered their verdicts on the second day of deliberation after a five-week trial in a federal courtroom just a few blocks from the scene of the World Trade Centre attacks on Sept 11, 2001.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

American Cancer Society, Komen Foundation Deny Link Between Bras and Breast Cancer

(NaturalNews) Would you believe that two of the nation’s most prominent cancer organizations are completely disinterested in a common wardrobe practice that studies suggest could be a leading cause of breast cancer in women? Wearing bras, says the book Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, appears to be a common trigger of this harrowing disease, yet the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Susan G. Komen Foundation continue to deny any link between the two.

Authors Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer, husband and wife medical anthropologists, have conducted extensive research into the link between bras and breast cancer. They are convinced that the lymphatic constriction imposed by wearing bras prevents women’s bodies from effectively clearing out toxins and other waste, leading to an accumulation of these cancer-causing substances. Bras can also cut off circulatory flow within the body, leading to other health problems.

“[B]ecause lymphatic vessels are very thin, they are extremely sensitive to pressure and are easily compressed,” the Singers are quoted as saying, noting that the perpetual use of bras over the course of several decades can eventually lead to cancer. “Less oxygen and fewer nutrients are delivered to the cells, while waste products are not flushed away.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cisco CEO Sends Letter to Obama Complaining About NSA Surveillance

Re/code, a tech news website, posted a letter on Sunday sent by Cisco CEO John Chambers to President Obama.

In the letter sent May 15 Chambers implores Obama to curtail NSA surveillance. The letter followed new revelations by Edward Snowden alleging NSA technicians intercept Cisco computers and equipment manufactured by other companies and covertly install surveillance software on the machines.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Feinstein: Republicans’ Select Committee on Benghazi is a ‘Lynch Mob’

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) defended her committee’s oversight of the CIA on Sunday, but at the same time, she called the House select committee on Benghazi a “lynch mob.”…

Feinstein says she believes all questions about the Benghazi attack and its aftermath have been answered “to the satisfaction of the Intelligence Committee,” which she chairs.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Firsthand Impressions of Martial Law Ghost Town (Video)

Infowars reporters tell what they saw and how it felt to walk through a completely deserted city that looked like it had been depopulated with a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack. Why is the military developing war tactics against domestic targets?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NSA Spying is a Power Grab

Top security experts — including the highest-level government officials and the top university experts — say that mass surveillance actually increases terrorism and hurts security.

They say that our government failed to stop the Boston bombing because they were too busy spying on millions of innocent Americans instead of focusing on actual bad guys.

Moreover, high-level NSA executive Bill Binney — who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information — made it easy for the NSA to catch bad guys without spying on innocent Americans … all while strengthening America against security breaches.

(Binney is a 32-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a “legend” within the agency. Binney was the senior technical director within the agency and managed thousands of NSA employees. Binney has been interviewed by virtually all of the mainstream media, including CBS, ABC, CNN, New York Times, USA Today, Fox News, PBS and many others.)

Binney’s system automatically encrypted information about Americans … but that information could be decrypted if a judge ordered that a specific American was a bad guy or was connected with a bad guy.

But after 9/11, the NSA instead switched to the current system which conducts mass surveillance on all Americans. Specifically, the system rolled out by the NSA after 9/11 used Binney’s system … but stripped out all of the encryption which would have protected Americans’ privacy absent a court order.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Rogue Government Prepares for Heated Conflict, Historical Cycles Point to Coming Clash

Establishment behaving like a crazed psychopath that knows he is about to be brought to justice

A string of scandals involving the federal government is further demonstrating the illegitimacy and hypocrisy of the power structure. Historical cycles point to massive upheaval.

Ordinary Americans are being targeted while known terrorists are escorted through security. Kidnappers, rapists, and murderers are being released from prison; an action sanctioned by the President of the United States. The BATF allows guns to find their way to Mexican drug lords, while the federal government is fighting to disarm American citizens. Mega-banks launder billions of dollars worth of drug money. No, this isn’t a dystopic nightmare; This is our present day reality that we all must face.

The establishment is behaving like a crazed psychopath that knows he is about to be brought to justice. Nearly every agency of government has acquired some form of armaments in the past several years. Police departments across the country are getting mine resistant vehicles. Homeland Security is acquiring billions of rounds of ammunition. The Department of Agriculture recently requested body armor as well as sub machine guns. Many other instruments of war have been stored and deployed.

To an outside observer watching these trends, a grim picture is being painted. Each case in and of itself may not add up to much, but when all of the data points are pulled together we can begin to see a pattern of deliberate action.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ron Paul: Tax Reform is Useless Without Spending Reform

Tax reformers also stray from sound economics when they endorse a tax system that is designed to direct consumption and savings. I share the concern that the current tax system distorts people’s behavior by discouraging savings. However, the solution is not for the government to create a tax code that punishes consumption in order to encourage savings. A truly efficient market is one where individuals are completely free to determine how to allocate their incomes between consumption and savings. No politician or bureaucrat can know the proper allocation of savings and investment that meets the needs of every individual, and government policies designed to cause individuals to devote more of their income to savings than they otherwise would distorts the market just as much as policies that encourage excess consumption.

The Republican tax plan adopts what is called “dynamic scoring.” Dynamic scoring is designed to recognize that tax cuts, by incentivizing work and investment, can increase revenue to the government. This is the argument of the famous Laffer curve. It has always seemed odd to me that a supposed free-market economist would argue for tax cuts on the grounds that it would enrich the state’s coffers. After all, the more money the state has the greater its ability to violate our liberties. Does this mean that those concerned with liberty should vote against tax cuts? Of course not; the solution is to make sure tax cuts are big enough that they cost the government revenue.

Sadly, politicians in Washington refuse to consider any tax plan that would decrease government revenue. This is because the prevalent attitude in DC favors protecting the welfare-warfare state over protecting our liberties.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Seen as Weak, Untrustworthy Around the World, Cheney Says

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that the president’s perceived weakness around the world has convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin that now is the time to try to piece some of the Soviet Union back together.

“There has developed during the Obama administration a sense ,I think, from others that we have a weak government,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “He’s demonstrated repeatedly he can be pushed around, if you will, by the Putins.”

Mr. Cheney also said the president has handled the situation in Syria poorly, and that, during a recent trip to the area, many complained about President Obama’s repeated promises of help only to watch him do nothing.

“They hold up the Syrian example as a classic case of U.S. can’t be trusted,” he said. “The Syrian situation has significantly undermined our credibility in the region.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Use of License Plate Photo Databases is Raising Privacy Concerns

A growing number of cameras — hundreds around Los Angeles, thousands nationwide — are engaged in a simple pursuit: Taking pictures of license plates.

The digital photos, automatically snapped by cameras mounted on cars and street poles and then tagged with time and location, are transmitted to massive databases running on remote computer servers. Cops can then search those databases to track the past whereabouts of drivers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Victoria Nuland Accused of Meeting With Neofascists in Washington

In an interview with Bloomberg News Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted that Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland had meetings with the Ukrainian neofascist group Right Sector in Washington DC. The Right Sector has been involved in numerous killings including the burning of pro-Russian supporters in Odessa.

“The other thing to which I wanted to get response from Washington was these reports about the secret visit of the Right Sector coordinator (Andrei) Artyomenko to Washington for alleged meetings with Victoria Nuland. And we want answers to these questions because it’s too serious to manipulate events in Europe across the Atlantic. It’s not a remote-control game. It’s very serious for us.” Lavrov said.

Whether Nuland met with Artyomenko or any other representative of the Right Sector to help with fundraising and support is unknown. What is known is that the US is supporting the gang in Kiev’s “interim government” which includes Svoboda an openly neofascist party which aligns itself historically and currently with the principles of Hitler’s Nazi party.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Britain Has Heard Enough of ‘Appalling’ UKIP, Says Cameron: Prime Minister Launches Scathing Attack on Rival Party’s ‘Politics of Anger’

David Cameron ferociously condemned Ukip last night saying voters had heard enough of its ‘appalling’ views.

In the closing days of campaigning for European and local elections, the Prime Minister said Ukip represented the ‘politics of anger’.

Decent, hardworking people who were tempted to vote for the anti-European party should think again, he said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: The High Cost of Crime

Jeppe Kofod, Socialdemokraterne’s head candidate in the upcoming European elections, believes the cost of imprisoning foreign nationals should be borne by their home countries. Danish prisons are currently overflowing with foreigners, and it is estimated they cost over 200 million kroner a year to house and feed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

European Aviation Firms Airbus, Dassault, Alenia Poised to Produce Military Drones

Europe’s leading aviation companies have teamed up to develop and produce drones for military purposes in a drive to become independent of US technology. But governments have to decide about the drone’s capabilities.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France’s Strauss-Kahn to Sue Over Cannes Sex Addict Film

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has instructed lawyers to sue the makers of a movie in which veteran French star Gerard Depardieu plays a sex addict who commits a sexual assault on a hotel maid, his lawyer said on Monday.

“Welcome to New York” by Abel Ferrara, which had a private screening on the sidelines of the Cannes film festival at the weekend and has been on pay-per-view in France, is billed as a piece of fiction and comes with a legal disclaimer.

But Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer said the film was defamatory in that its subject matter was similar to the accusations leveled against Strauss-Kahn, who quit the Washington-based International Monetary Fund in 2011 after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: DSK to Sue Over Cannes Sex Scandal Film

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief who was forced to resign after a New York hotel maid accused him of rape, is suing a US filmmaker whose latest film draws its inspirations from the much-publicized scandal, DSK’s lawyers said Monday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Urges Restraint Ahead of Erdogan’s Planned Speech in Cologne

The German government has urged Turkey’s prime minister to exercise restraint when he visits the country on the weekend. This followed calls from some German politicians for Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cancel his visit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Files Uncovered: Nazi Veterans Created Illegal Army

Newly discovered documents show that in the years after World War II, former members of the Nazi Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS formed a secret army to protect the country from the Soviets. The illegal project could have sparked a major scandal at the time.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ireland: A Daugher Seeks Justice: The IRA and the Search for Truth

In 1972, about a dozen masked IRA gunmen kidnapped and killed Helen McKendry’s mother for helping a dying Englishman. Now she wants the man she thinks is responsible — Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams — to pay for his alleged crime.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian MEP: ‘Bilderberg is the Root of All Evil’

As the secretive group gears up for its annual confab in Copenhagen next week, Italian Member of the European Parliament Mario Borghezio has slammed the Bilderberg group as being “the root of all evil,” blaming the organization for Italy’s economic crisis.

Borghezio, who is a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament and a prominent Italian politician, appears in a video in which he denounces Bilderberg as “the root of all evil that afflicts Italy,” blaming the group for causing unemployment, poverty, and high taxes…

Counter to cliche’s peddled by the mainstream media that Bilderberg merely represents a “talking shop,” there are innumerable examples of the clandestine group formulating the consensus for policy which is implemented soon after.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Rubik’s Cube Invention: Google Celebrates Toy Puzzle’s 40th Anniversary With Interactive (And Addictive) Doodle

IF YOU ARE among the relatively few who can solve a Rubik’s Cube in mere seconds, then you are one of the lucky ones. And if you can resist the call of the tint-spinning toy, then you, too, can consider yourself fortunate.

On Monday, the tech titan presents a playable (and shareable) Doodle to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Rubik’s Cube, which was created by Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor Erno Rubik in the spring of 1974, when he spent weeks trying to solve his own invention.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: a Legal Tug-of-War Over the Ownership of Córdoba’s Mezquita Cathedral

Córdoba’s Mezquita cathedral has become one of the most visible symbols of the battle that citizen groups are waging against the privileges of the Catholic Church. And the Spanish government has just positioned itself on the side of the latter in this particular fight.

The Mezquita is one of the world’s most stunning examples of Moorish architecture. It was built as a mosque in 987, but was converted into a Catholic cathedral in 1236. With its mixture of columns, arches and chapels, it remains one of the Andalusian city’s biggest tourist attractions, and reflects Spain’s Christian and Islamic past. But a legal tug-of-war has now emerged over its ownership.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Defence Minister Disappointed by Swiss “No”

Swedish defence minister Karin Enström regrets the results of the Swiss referendum. But the Green party wants the deal cut short.

“It is unfortunate, we’ve seen great advantages from the cooperation with Switzerland, and this cooperation would have been beneficial for both Switzerland and Sweden.”

Despite the Swiss no, nothing has changed with regards to Sweden’s need to continue development on Jas Gripen over the course of the next decade, Enström stresses.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Husby a Year After the Riots: Frustration and Resilience

For a week in May last year, the international media spotlight was on the small Stockholm suburb of Husby as riots raged there. A year on, Radio Sweden asks locals what, if anything, has changed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Talks Break Down on Norway’s EU Funding

Talks in Brussels over Norway’s contribution to the European Union broke up without a conclusion on Friday after Norwegian negotiators declared that the gap between Norway’s view and the amount that European Union officials are demanding was too large to be bridged.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Trojan Horse’ Teacher Breaks Into Girl’s Phone

by Andrew Gilligan

Parent complains to police over school’s action to uncover ‘forbidden’ relationship with a fellow 16-year-old pupil

A teacher at one of the Birmingham state schools allegedly taken over by Muslim radicals in the so-called “Trojan Horse” plot has been reported to police after he broke into a female pupil’s mobile telephone to prove she was having a “forbidden” relationship with a boy…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: £500,000 Dream Home Bulldozed Because it Was Built 6ft Too High

The four-bedroom house, in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, was flattened in just a day after it was built 6ft higher, 9ft longer and 4ft wider than originally applied for.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Ed Miliband Should Say Nigel Farage is Racist, Black Labour MP Says

Black Labour MP David Lammy says that Ed Miliband is being ‘pedantic’ and ‘unhelpful’ by failing to call Nigel Farage a racist

Ed Miliband should admit that Nigel Farage is a racist who has made “deeply nasty” comments and is “stirring up” prejudice and discrimination, a Labour MP has said. Mr Farage has been heavily criticised for saying during a radio interview last week that people should feel “uncomfortable” if Romanian immigrants move in next door…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Less Time for ‘Hitler and the Henrys’ In History a-Level

The OCR exam board announces plans to focus on the history of Islam and reduce the amount of lesson time devoted to the Tudors and the Second World War as part of a reform of history A-levels

Pupils will study a broad range of African and Asian history as part of a new history A-level designed to move “beyond Hitler and the Henrys”, it was announced today. One of Britain’s biggest exam boards said courses being taught from 2015 would focus on issues such as the development of the Middle East from the early 20th century to the Arab Spring…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Lee Rigby Memorial: ‘All I Want is to Know My Son Will Not be Forgotten’

It was cold-blooded, brutal and shocked the nation. But one year on from his murder, Lee Rigby is still without a memorial. Andrew Gilligan visits Woolwich to find out why

What happened on Artillery Place in Woolwich on May 22 2013 was unique in British military history. Many British soldiers have died in battle. Many have been killed by terrorists. But only one has been deliberately knocked unconscious by a car and then, in the phrase of the trial judge, “butchered” in the London suburbs in the middle of the Wednesday lunch-hour, as the perpetrators gloried in what they had done…

[Reader comment by eric_the_scot on 17 May 2014.]

Had the situation been reversed they would have been bulldozing the area to erect a mosque, endless amounts of money would be found ( by the same people refusing to build a memorial for Rigby), politicians such as Jack Straw would be up in arms demanding a memorial, the muslim council of Britain would be incandescent, Ms Charkribarti would be in tears, Dame Helena Kennedy would be outraged, the BBC would be claiming only racists could oppose such a memorial, hordes of ‘equality’ groups would be claiming muslim ‘persecution’. Instead we have one solitary journalist fighting a lonely battle.

Yes, I understand how it all works now,

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Son Banned From Visiting Mother in Hospital After Complaining About Standard of Care

George Simpson, 62, has been embroiled in an escalating row with staff over the care of his mother Morag, 85, at the Ferryfield House hospital, Edinburgh.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Sir Nicholas Winton, Who Saved Hundreds of Children From Nazis, Turns 105

On the eve of the Second World War, a 29-year-old British stockbroker by the name of Nicholas Winton, went to extraordinary lengths to save 669 mostly Czech Jewish children by getting them out of Nazi-occupied Bohemia and Moravia. Learning of the plight of the children and their families, Winton organised the so-called kindertransport which left from Prague’s main station, travelling through Nazi Germany to Holland and finally to Great Britain, where the children were taken in by adoptive families. They were saved from the Holocaust but many never saw their real parents again. This Monday, Sir Nicholas turns 105; Radio Prague has more on the man and his remarkable life.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tube Driver Suspended After Angering Colleague by Putting Up a Picture of the Queen in Office

A Tube driver who put up a poster of the Queen at work has been suspended after a colleague accused him of creating a ‘hostile’ environment.

London Underground has removed the framed A4 image and another picture on a desk from an Essex depot while they investigate the complaint, it has been revealed today.

The suspended driver’s union today criticised the ‘bizarre’ suspension and want it reversed.

But the Central Line worker who complained said the issue was also about wider allegations of bullying and intimidation.

The A4 picture of the Queen and a smaller portrait were removed on Friday, after a year on display.

It is understood that the two drivers had repeatedly clashed over the images because they had ‘vastly differing political allegiances’, a source told the Evening Standard.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Bank Audit Finds 202 Suspicious Deals in 2013

The Vatican bank’s stepped-up internal monitoring has led to a sharp rise in suspicious transaction reports — from just six in 2012 to 202 in 2013 and collaboration with foreign financial authorities has increased sharply.

“It means that the reporting system starts working, is working,” Rene Bruelhart, director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, a supervisory body, said as he presented its 2013 report on Monday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Balkan Floods Raise Health Concerns and Threaten Power Supplies

People in Serbia and Bosnia are struggling to deal with the record floods which have inundated vast areas and cut power supplies. There is increasing concern about health problems because of contaminated water.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Libya Crisis Deepens as Renegade Former General Gains Control of Airbase

Libya’s fragile government faced a spreading armed rebellion on Monday when an air force base in the east of the country joined up with a renegade former general who is pledged to fighting Islamist militants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Libyan Special Forces Unit Joins Rogue General Haftar

The commander of the Libyan army’s special forces says his troops are joining forces with renegade general Khalifa Haftar, who has vowed to rid the country of militant Islamists and eradicate “terrorism.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Who Moved to Tunisia to Marry Facebook Lover is Broke and Wants to Move Back to Britain With Him

Deborah Chniti, 43, left Stoke-on-Trent in 2012 to marry Ala, 27, but now wants to return with him to the UK because she is broke.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq PM Maliki Expected to Take Third Term

Iraq’s incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has emerged as the biggest winner in the country’s first parliamentary elections since US troops withdrew in 2011, preliminary results showed Monday.

According Iraq’s electoral commission, Maliki won 92 out of 328 parliamentary seats, far more than his two main Shi’ite rivals, the movement of Muqtada Sadr and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, who won a combined 57 seats.

The results dealt a blow to Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish rivals seeking to prevent him serving a third term, though the premier still needs to approach other groups in order to secure a broader majority coalition inside parliament to form a government.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Diplomatic Moves to Smooth Over Saudi Arabia Wilders Sticker Row

Foreign minister Frans Timmermans is to visit Saudi-Arabia soon in an effort to calm Saudi anger about the anti-Islam sticker devised by Geert Wilders.

In December, Wilders placed a sticker on the door of his parliamentary office. It reads, in Arabic, ‘Islam is a lie, Mohammed is a criminal, the Koran is poison.’ The sticker is a deliberate take-off of the Saudi Arabian flag.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Bans Dutch Companies From Future Projects for Insulting Islam

RIYADH, May 16 (Xinhua) — The Saudi Chambers of Commerce Council has received a letter of an order from the government to ban Dutch companies from implementing any future project for insulting the country and Islam, according to Al Eqtisadia newspaper on Friday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Mine Disaster: Erdogan Faces Fall-Out From Soma Tragedy

Across Turkey, the grief sparked by the recent mining disaster in Soma is spiralling into anti-government outrage. Prime Minister Erdogan could end up paying for his insensitive response to the tragedy if he decides to run for president in August.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why Does Christian Persecution Get Worse in Every Country the U.S. “Liberates”?

When the U.S. military “liberates” a nation, shouldn’t it result in more liberty, freedom and peace for the people living there? Instead, we find just the opposite. In fact, in every single case since 9/11, when the U.S. military has “liberated” a nation it has resulted in the persecution of Christians in that country becoming much worse.

In areas where we spent hundreds of billions of dollars and where thousands of precious American lives were sacrificed, churches are regularly being bombed, Christians are being brutally beheaded, and laws have been passed to make it illegal for a Muslim to convert to Christianity. If we were not even able to provide the most basic of liberties and freedoms to the people living in those nations, what in the world did we actually accomplish by “liberating” them?…

In Syria, the Obama administration is shamelessly allying with radical al-Qaeda jihadists in a desperate attempt to overthrow the Assad regime.

As these jihadists torture, behead and even crucify Christian believers, the mainstream media in the United States is virtually silent about it.

Why is the media being so quiet?

Well, because exposing what is going on would make the Obama administration look bad.

Those carrying out this persecution of Christians in Syria are being directly funded and aided by the governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia. For much more on what is going on in Syria, please see my previous article entitled “Why Is The Media Silent About The Crucifixion Of Christians By Radical Jihadists?”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

In the Kremlin’s Grip: Fears Grow Over Bulgaria’s Russian Dependence

Bulgaria’s close energy ties to Russia are causing concern among European officials — they worry Moscow will use Sofia as a beachhead for its interests and drive a wedge between EU member states.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Loved and Hated: Can Tymoshenko Still Lead Ukraine?

Few figures in Ukraine are more divisive than Yulia Tymoshenko. Some see her as a martyr while others consider her to be part of the corrupt system. Now she wants to become president, but can she succeed?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Lawmakers Want to Impose Criminal Penalties on Those Conducting GMO Business

In an act of lucidity and light that our own country should somewhat imitate, Russian lawmakers are considering equating GMO-related activities to a terrorist act or death threat, a criminal act that Russia says deserves the punishment which killers and creators of mass ecological and human genocide deserve.

A Russian newspaper, Izvestia, writes that criminal liability will be imposed on any act that involves producing, selling, or transporting genetically modified organisms, if Russian lawmakers get their way.

A bill supporting this ideaology was submitted to the Russian State Duma lower parliament house by the Duma agrarian committee as well as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) (who claimed the parliament’s bill was too mild.) Those initiating the bill suggest that criminal responsibility should be applicable to companies and government officials, but not to farmers who were convinced that GMOs were safe to grow. They believe individuals should only undergo disciplinary action, and not criminal charges.

The bill would also heavily fine companies for distorting or concealing information about the environmental impacts of GMOs. If this bill were to pass in the US, I’m sure Monsanto would go broke paying all the fines they would be subject to. They’ve paid off scientists and entire institutions, as well as our own FDA and EPA to conceal evidence about both health and environmental damage that GMOs cause.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Strategist Warns of New Russian Threat: “It Would be the Greatest Blackout in American History”

The Obama administration has already begun implementing sanctions against Russian politicians and business interests, but rather than leading to a compromise the controversial geo-political maneuvers may be further fueling the fire. According to Marin Katusa, Chief Resource Strategist at Casey Research, Russia’s control of valuable domestic resources puts them in a unique strategic position against the United States and gives them significant leverage should they choose to implement sanctions of their own. The country is rich in oil and gas, an advantage they have used time and again in negotiations with Europe by simply threatening to shut down gas pipelines if their demands weren’t met. But something most people don’t realize is that the Russians also dominate the rare earth metals sector, namely the mining of uranium.

If Russia were to restrict the export of that uranium, explains Katusa, life as we know it in the United States could come to an abrupt halt.

If that happened America’s lights would go out. It would be the greatest blackout in American history…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Unprotected in the East: NATO Appears Toothless in NATO Crisis

If Russia were to engage in military aggression in the Baltics, NATO would be unable to defend the region using conventional means. An internal report highlights weaknesses in the alliance.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

US, NATO Dismiss Reports of Russian Pull-Back From Ukraine Border Region

The United States and NATO say there is no indication that Russian troops have moved away from the border with Ukraine. This follows reports that President Vladimir Putin had ordered Russian soldiers to pull back.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

GMOs and the Suicide Epidemic Affecting Indian Farmers

(NaturalNews) For years, it was little spoken of within the country’s own borders, but India is suffering from an escalating suicide epidemic that is gaining attention both internationally and in a new book by Seattle University journalism professor Sonora Jha. Entitled Foreign, the fiction piece tells the very real story of the tens of thousands of farmer suicides that occur annually in India, many of which are brought about by genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and associated crop technologies.

Since 1995, explains Jha in a recent editorial for The New York Times (NYT), more than 290,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide. A combination of factors that include escalating debt and perpetual poverty are largely to blame for this, but these factors are predicated upon many decades’ worth of agricultural policy that encouraged the adoption of biotechnology to increase crop yields, a concept that has never actually worked.

As we previously reported, untold thousands of Indian farmers have been lied to over the years by the likes of Monsanto, which promised them vastly improved crop yields and fewer losses if they only agreed to purchase patented seeds and expensive equipment. Many of these farmers took the plunge, incurring vast amounts of debt in the process, only to discover that GMOs do not produce higher yields and actually enslave farmers under the servitude of multinational corporations.

With nobody in their own government willing to back them up, hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers ended up losing everything as a result, causing many of them to see no way out other than taking their own lives. And now with upcoming elections set to take place, there is a groundswell of opposition to the prevailing status quo that let all this happen.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah Says Was ‘Not Suicidal’, Claims Brother-in-Law

The pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 pilot was “not suicidal” according to his brother-in-law, who added the man was a victim of inaccurate and speculative reporting.

53-year-old Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah “had a good life,” Asuad Khan told ABC News, adding suicide is not the reason the plane veered off course.

Mr Shah went missing along with 238 other crew members and passengers on board flight MH370 on 8 March, when the aircraft disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Thailand Army Declares Martial Law

Thailand’s military has declared martial law. The surprise announcement follows months of civil unrest over political corruption, which has led to deadly clashes both with police and government supporters.

In a televised statement on Tuesday, Thailand’s army announced it had invoked martial law. It also denied that the move was a coup d’etat. “The invocation of martial law is not a coup…(it is to) keep peace and order,” the military statement said.

Unrest has gripped Thailand for roughly six months, sparked by public outrage over corruption allegations against the country’s former prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. Critics accused her of acting as a proxy for her exiled brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Earlier this month, the Thai Constitutional Court found her guilty of nepotism, forcing her resignation. She also faces impeachment over a failed rice subsidy scheme, which cost Bangkok billions.

Despite her removal from office, tensions have not eased in the southeast Asian country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China: Tiananmen Square: A Dangerous Memory

As the 25th anniversary of the crackdown on student-led protests in Tiananmen Square crackdown approaches, Chinese authorities have stepped up efforts to silence dissent by detaining lawyers, activists and journalists.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Tycoon Agrees to Buy Norway Land

The Chinese property billionaire blocked from buying a huge chunk of Iceland is reportedly close to buying up a 100 hectares of the scenic Lyngen coastline.

Huang Nubo, a Communist party member who spent ten years working in the country’s propaganda ministry, on Thursday agreed to buy the site, which has already received planning permission for a series of villas, from Ola OK Giæver Jr, a local landowner, pilot and businessman.

“I can promise you a new era for Lyngen municipality. I trust that Huang Nubo will create huge and positive financial ripples throughout the north of Norway,” Giæver jr said. “There is not a better capitalist than Huang.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Confessions of a Chinese Web Informer

According to official estimates, 2 million people in China are employed as “web opinion analysts”. This small army of internet sleuths is tasked with sifting through web users’ posts for any sign of unrest, and reporting back to government officials. FRANCE 24 spoke to a former analyst, who recently quit, disenchanted with his work.

Unlike the shadowy “50-cent party” — men and women who are rumoured to be paid 0.5 yuan for every comment they post online praising the authorities — the job of web opinion analyst is recognised by the state. Certification courses were even launched last year, to some fanfare. These five-day courses were organised by the People’s Daily, which is the mouthpiece of the communist party, and the Ministry of Human Resources.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

PLA Troops Descend on China-Vietnam Border

Citizens evacuate over fears of “imminent military conflict”

Beijing may be considering a military response to anti-China protests that have erupted in Vietnam over the last two weeks, with reports of an “endless stream” of PLA troops, tanks, missile launchers and other heavy artillery heading to Pingxiang city, where the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979 began.

The protests were sparked by China’s attempt to place a huge state-owned oil rig inside Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on May 2, a move Vietnam treated as an illegal act of provocation. The deployment of the rig was accompanied by 80 ships including 7 PLA warships which were confronted by Vietnamese forces. Chinese ships used water cannons and rammed the Vietnamese ships, fueling a dispute that has raged ever since with violent anti-China riots leading to the death of 21 protesters.

After Beijing sent two planes and five ships to evacuate Chinese citizens from Vietnam last week, assets of a very different nature are heading to the border region as reports emerge of PLA troops in full combat gear on their way to Pingxiang city.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Russia’s “Holy Grail” Gas Deal With China Now “Only One Digit Away”

We have previously profiled the “holy grail” gas deal between Russia and China on several occasions, and noted last week how it is expected to be signed this week — pending some final price negotiations. It appears that was spot on as Reuters reports, Russian state-run Gazprom said it was still “one digit” away from finalising a 30-year gas supply deal with Beijing which is expected to crown Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China next week. On the heels of Russia’s de-dollarization meetings, the coming week appears a crucial one for the history books of the US Dollar as reserve currency (or will China leverage Russia’s need to diversify from Europe and stall the deal once again?)

As we have discussed in detail, Russia has been in talks with China to supply it with 38 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year for more than a decade but the deal has been postponed repeatedly over price disagreements. And as Reuters reports, last week, state China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said that it and Gazprom had reached an agreement to sign a contract during Putin’s visit but that the two sides had yet to iron out price differences.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Charges China With Cyber-Spying on American Firms

The Justice Department has filed criminal charges against several Chinese government officials, accusing them of stealing American trade secrets through cyber espionage, according to U.S. officials familiar with the case.

It’s the first time the United States has brought cyber espionage charges against a state actor.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

US Accuses China of Cyber-Espionage on American Companies

The United States has indicted five Chinese military officials on cyber-espionage charges. The individuals are accused of hacking into six US companies and stealing trade secrets, the Justice Department said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sudanese Christian Woman Reportedly Shackled While Awaiting Death Sentence

The pregnant Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith has been spending her days shackled in prison, according to her husband.

Meriam Ibrahim, 26, who is eight months pregnant, was sentenced to death last Thursday after being convicted of apostasy. The court in Khartoum delayed carrying out the ruling until Ibrahim gives birth and nurses her newborn.

In the interim, she has been spending her days bound with shackles on her legs according to her husband, U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, a Christian, who was able to visit his wife for the first time on Monday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Left Scrambles to Defend Release of Criminal Illegals

Houston immigration attorney Raed Gonzalez claims the controversy surrounding the Obama administration’s release of tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens is just a “publicity stunt” generated by the authors of a book documenting the case for impeaching Obama.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Nintendo Promises to Push Gay Agenda on Children (Video)

The push to introduce homosexual marriage in video game content is part of an aggressive agenda to normalize and force cultural acceptance of a lifestyle many Americans oppose on religious and moral grounds. The progressive left has politicized the same-sex movement and has fashioned the forced acceptance of the gay lifestyle into a civil rights movement. Indoctrinating children is key to the movement and this is why video game content is targeted.

“Children, like soft wax, are very malleable,” Soviet propaganda during the Stalinist period declared. “We must rescue children from the harmful influence of the family… We must nationalize them. From the earliest days of their little lives, they must find themselves under the beneficent influence of Communist schools.”

In much the same way the progressivist left believes children must be nationalized and rescued from reactionary Judeo-Christian ethics. In order to normalize what was previously considered aberration behavior, the left is pushing the gay agenda into avenues of mass media, television, cinema and video games.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Political Correctness Makes Race and Genetics Taboo in the West, Which is Why China is Winning

Most scientists will tell you that race has no biological basis—it is, in academic-speak, a “social construct.” But a new book by distinguished journalist Nicholas Wade challenges that assumption, concluding that race is real and human social behaviour is subject to natural selection just like everything else.

For over a decade, it has been Chinese academics, unencumbered by political correctness, who have embarked upon the race-based research enabled by genomics. The Chinese particularly enjoy IQ-versus-race league tables, because they invariably come out on top. That sort of research makes Westerners squeamish, to put it mildly—which is why today, most research into the genomics of race is still carried out at the Beijing Genomics Institute. By and large, the subject is un-fundable in the West.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

University Shuts Down Women’s Center After ‘How to be a Lesbian’ Controversy

Controversy flared in March when it was reported that the University of South Carolina Upstate (USCU) Center for Women’s & Gender Studies would host Leigh Hendrix’s one-woman show, “How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less.” Now, USCU officials have announced that the Center for Women’s & Gender Studies will be closed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

6 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/19/2014

  1. The UK has had enough of Lib/Lab/Con who between them have provoked the politics of anger that Cameron is whingeing about. Everyone I am in touch with will be voting UKIP. Who can blame them?

  2. Race is taboo in the west because the western politicians are deprived of any basic value or principle. They don’t defend and idea or prevent any vice. Race is taboo because that helps the DARING LIARS to destroy their own countries and what is left of so-called western culture. During world wars it was lawful to execute any deserted soldier, coward fighters, traitors . . . Those soldiers martyred themselves for Daring LIARS to give away their countries on a silver plate to Caliphatists. The irony of life is that those martyrs of European wars can’t come back to life spit in the face of DARING LIARS and then execute them. Traitors are still being voted into office by sheeple after 50 years of treasonous action of importing Caliphate INVADERS.

  3. Hi Mark H, Am I still vague? I thought I expressed what I feel. You know we learn by
    induction. What do you think I feel about Cameron’s speech after Rigby was murdered in Woolwich. Or Hellen Clark of New Zealand who, after a few thousand muslims arrived in her country – declared proudly and enthusiastically that New Zealand wasn’t a Christian country any more. How do I feel when billions of dollars are paid to muslims to feed us cruelly-killed halal meats. How do I feel when Germany could not stand 1 million Jews but today Germany is doing away with itself by tolerating 9 million Turks, and counting. Millions of other similar examples are being covered not to be seen in the west and result in educating the public about Islam. It was only yesterday that Britain had no room for the Catholics or Irish, but today Britain has room for any lunatic muslim coming from any corner of the land of Islam.

  4. Der Spiegel’s article quoted here by Fjordman should only be read in the presence of someone who served in the European Theater, preferably in G2, during the Second World War—unless one might fear he could laugh himself to death. On the other hand, the comments are telling: Germans feared Soviet invasion enough to overlook fairly overt plans to deal with an attempt by Tovarishch Stalin to complete all that he attempted to achieve during the last declared war.

    Events proved their anxiety unnecessary: if one reads Edvard Radzinsky’s bio of Stalin, one wonders if Stalin didn’t suffer a most condign fate: a new American rat poison known as coumarin, if used to cure humans, or warfarin, if used to kill rats. (The name warfarin is remarkable because its root, WARF, is an acronym for the University of Wisconsin’s Agricultural Research Facility.)

    Pleasant dreams…

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