Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/20/2014

The Islamic State is recruiting young Turkish men in the suburbs of Istanbul, and having some success. The new recruits come mainly from poverty-stricken neighborhoods where drug addiction and alienation are rife.

In other news, French police arrested six people on terror-related offenses in the Lyon area. Those arrested are suspected of recruiting young women for ISIS in Syria.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, RR, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» Controversial Anti-Islam Adverts to Run on New York Buses
» Eradicating Poverty Will Defeat Extremists: John Kerry
» Father of ‘Jihadi John’ Weeps as He Admits He and Osama Bin Laden Plotted 1998 US Embassy Bombings That Killed 224 People
» Mosque Plans in Lackawanna Put on Hold
 
Europe and the EU
» Belgian Authorities Prevent Terrorist Attack in European Commission Headquarters: Reports
» British Muslims Shouldn’t Feel Obliged to Speak Out Against ISIS Atrocities
» Czech Republic Extends Mission of Fighters in Iceland
» Denmark: Government to Crack Down on Extremism and Radicalisation
» Ebola Vaccine Developed in Italy Has 10-Month Effectiveness
» EU Will Benefit From Scottish Vote Says Italy
» Fitto ‘Shocked’ Over Rossi’s New Role in Forza Italia
» France: Six Held Over Plans to Recruit Women Fighters
» Hunt for Jihadi John Leads to London Suburb: British Terrorist ‘Has Been Identified and Comes From South London Suburb’
» Italy: Cassation Court Upholds Convictions of Two Neo-Fascists
» Italy: ‘Napolitano Can’t Take Issue With My Film’ Says Guzzanti
» Italy: ISTAT Gets Ig-Nobel Prize for Prostitution in GDP
» Italy: ‘You Defend Ideologies Not People’ Renzi Tells Unions-Update
» Italy: Terrorism: 40 Kurds Investigated in Milan
» Italy: Northern League Protest by Bringing Gelato to Senate
» Italy: Renzi Asked to Relaunch Sicily Strait Bridge Construction
» NATO Conference in Lithuania to Highlight Readiness Action Plan
» Persecuted Muslims Build First Irish Mosque in Galway
» Scots Vote for ‘Stronger and United Europe’ Says Barroso
» Scottish Referendum: Now England Must Rediscover Its Patriotism
» The Left Cannot be an Anti-English Movement
» Too Many Local Administrative Bodies, Says Italian Premier
» UK: Mosque Plan for Former Vet Surgery in Plymouth
» UK: New Abuse Shocker! Sheffield Hit by ‘Endemic’ Asian Gang Child Sex Shame
» UK: Protestors Tell Qatar — Stop Funding Hamas or Quit the World Cup
» UK: Rotherham Director of Children’s Services Quits in Wake of Abuse Scandal
» We Must Remember Antisemitism is Far From the Whole UK Jewish Experience
 
Balkans
» Tourist-Scaring Roosters on Croatian Island Spark Polemics
 
Middle East
» Exclusive: ISIS Starts Recruiting in Istanbul’s Vulnerable Suburbs
» Iraq: ‘Free British Hostages’ Say Family of ISIL Poster Girl
» Kurdish YPG Kills 18 is Fighters in Northern Syria
» Massive Syrian Kurds Enter Turkey Fleeing is Attack
» Obama’s “Strategy” and the Ensuing Non-Coalition
» U.S. Says Training Syrian Rebels to Take Months
» Yemeni Shiite Rebels Agree on a Ceasefire
 
South Asia
» Protestant Pastors Convicted of “Attempted Proselytising” In Bhutan
 
Far East
» Half of Chinese Billionaires Plans to Flee Their Country Within Five Years
» Hong Kong: Pro-Beijing Official Compares Striking Students to Triad Gangs
» Twin Explosions Rock S. Philippine Province
 
Australia — Pacific
» Heated Clashes at Mosque Protest at Maroochydore
» Janine Mohamed on the 2,212 Indigenous Nurses and Midwives in Australia
» Terror Laws Go Far Enough: Police, Asio
» Ugly Scenes at Sunshine Coast Mosque Protest
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Kenya: ‘I Was Looking at His Face. He Looked at Me and He Fired’: Westgate Victim Describes Terror Attack That Killed His Wife
 
Immigration
» Denmark Tightens Asylum Laws Citing Syrian Influx
 

Controversial Anti-Islam Adverts to Run on New York Buses

Buses and subway stations to carry anti-Islamic adverts bearing picture of James Foley shortly before he was murdered by Isil extremists

Anti-Islamic adverts are to appear on New York buses next week, funded by a pro-Israel group with a history of provocative campaigns.

One features an image of James Foley, the American journalist, flanked by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremist taken from the video of his murder and the slogan: “Yesterday’s moderate is today’s headline.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Eradicating Poverty Will Defeat Extremists: John Kerry

Top US diplomat John Kerry on Friday made a passionate plea to wipe out poverty and improve health and education as the most powerful antidote to the “toxic” beliefs of extremists.

“Whether it’s ISIL or Boko Haram or Al-Shebab, their ideology does not include a plan to build a nation,” Kerry said, addressing a forum dedicated to global development.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Father of ‘Jihadi John’ Weeps as He Admits He and Osama Bin Laden Plotted 1998 US Embassy Bombings That Killed 224 People

The father of the ISIS militant suspected of being ‘Jihadi John’ today wept as he admitted plotting with Osama bin Laden to blow up U.S. embassies.

Adel Abdul Bary, 54, pleaded guilty to charges of making a threat to use an explosive device and conspiracy to murder Americans at Manhattan federal court.

His charges were in relation to the 1998 plot to bomb two U.S. embassies in Africa, which left 224 people dead, including 12 Americans.

The Egyptian lawyer, whose son, British rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, is suspected of beheading three hostages on video in Syria, made the guilty pleas in a bid to greatly reduce his sentence.

Father and son: Bary (right), whose son, British rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary (left), is suspected of being ‘Jihadi John’, made the guilty pleas in a bid to greatly reduce his sentence, but the deal was put on hold

But U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan put the deal on hold, saying he wanted to hear further arguments before dropping more serious terrorism charges that carry a possible life sentence.

Today, Bary, who allegedly carried out the plot from a London cell of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, shook his head and wept as he admitted that he had essentially acted as an al-Qaida spokesman following the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

He told the judge he had contacted the media to claim responsibility for the attacks and later put reporters in touch with al-Qaida leaders bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

‘I arranged to transmit messages from media personnel to my co-conspirators, al-Zawahiri and bin Laden,’ he said, reading from a statement.

Wiping his eyes with tissues, he added: ‘I agreed with others … to kill American citizens anywhere in the world — either civilian or military,’ according to the New York Post.

Bary, who earlier told the judge he was facing treatment for depression, is charged with 213 counts of premeditated murder for the Nairobi bombing and 11 more for the attack in Dar es Salaam…

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Mosque Plans in Lackawanna Put on Hold

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. — Plans for a mosque in the City of Lackawanna were sent back to the drawing board Thursday night at a meeting.The mosque would allow Lackawanna’s Muslim community a place for prayer and a community center, but according to the city, the current building plans do not allow for enough parking spaces…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian Authorities Prevent Terrorist Attack in European Commission Headquarters: Reports

MOSCOW, September 21 (RIA Novosti) — Belgian authorities have detained two people, who planned a terrorist attack in European Commission Headquarters in Brussels, Agence France-Presse has reported citing the local media.

According to Belgian daily L’Echo, the country’s authorities have been conducting a number of preventive operations in recent months against the extremism in the region and have arrested several people suspected of links with jihadists.

A source told L’Echo that about 400 Belgian citizens are involved in the Syrian conflict fighting on the side of the extremists, and approximately 90 people have returned home.

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

British Muslims Shouldn’t Feel Obliged to Speak Out Against ISIS Atrocities

By Remona Aly

In Europe, Britain leads the way in religious tolerance. But that could easily change — and prejudice seems to grow by the day

“All Muslims out of the UK!” This was the welcome note that greeted my brother, sticky-taped to the front door of his new home in south-east London. It is just one among many incidents that take place across the country daily, some of which are reported to the Tell Mama (Measuring Anti Muslim Attacks) project. In June it received notice of 56 instances of anti-Muslim prejudice, both online and offline — a noticeable spike that was caused, they believe, by the Rotherham abuse scandal…

[Reader comment by BoxerSays on 19 September 2014.]

“But expecting Muslims to constantly be engaged in a rhetoric of apology is absurd.”

No, we’re not expecting constant engagement, just the bare minimum of engagement. Please edit your article to remove your accusation of this expectation being a form of “Islamophobia” — that is an extremely offensive statement.

“integration is not the issue here. It is bigotry and prejudice”

??? Bigotry and prejudice can only occur as a lack of integration. The Muslim community can begin the integration process by embracing one of the key values that Britishness has at its core: freedom of speech. It is unthinkable to me that you would expect integration to come from one direction only, and this is the problem people have.

You say: “it makes no sense to expect Muslims to apologise for crimes they played no part in”. Of course not. But if you identify as Muslim and British and Isis is comprised of Muslims who have a problem with the British, don’t you think you would be very well-placed, not to apologise for the crimes, but to act as a mouthpiece for your fellow British citizens?

“ I still firmly believe Britain is leading the way in Europe in its religious tolerance and inclusivity”

Disingenuous ending as you very, very clearly don’t.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Republic Extends Mission of Fighters in Iceland

PRAGUE, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — Czech Chamber of Deputies approved on Friday the prolongation of Czech fighters’ mission in Iceland from five to nine weeks in connection with the crisis in Ukraine, said Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky.

The extension of the mission has already been approved by Czech Senate in July. Four supersonic Jas-39 Gripen fighters and 75 soldiers are to participate in the operation to protect Iceland’s airspace from October to December 2014…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Government to Crack Down on Extremism and Radicalisation

The social minister, Manu Sareen, and the justice minister, Karen Hækkerup, will today unveil the government’s new action plan concerning the prevention of radicalisation and extremism.

The action plan will strengthen preventative measures on all fronts and tighten legislation to stem the rising number of young people travelling to take part in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq on behalf of the Islamic State (IS).

“We must break the food chain to the extremist environments and do everything we can to get in early in order to prevent people becoming radicalised,” Sareen said in a press release.

“The consequences of extremist recruitment are massive. At the moment we see that young people are being killed in Syria or are returning deeply radicalised, presenting a security risk for our society.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Vaccine Developed in Italy Has 10-Month Effectiveness

First phase of human testing already announced

(ANSA) — Rome, September 8 — A vaccine against the Ebola virus developed in Italy has proven to be effective for up to ten months in monkeys, science journal Nature reported.

The vaccine was developed by a team of American and Italian researchers at the IBRM Science Park in Pomezia, just south of Rome.

The first phase of human testing of the vaccine has already been announced, and the vaccine is one of two that the World Health Organization is relying on to help fight the current deadly outbreak in West Africa.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU Will Benefit From Scottish Vote Says Italy

‘Enhance diversity, No to fragmentation’ says Renzi

(ANSA) — Rome, September 19 — The Italian government on Friday said Scotland’s No to independence from the UK would boost the EU. “The Italian government, also in its capacity as duty president of the EU, hails the result of the vote democratically expressed by the Scottish people,” the premier’s office said. “The EU will certainly benefit from a renewed commitment of the United Kingdom to strengthening our common action. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said the vote should encourage countries “to enhance diversity while saying no to fragmentation.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Fitto ‘Shocked’ Over Rossi’s New Role in Forza Italia

Chamber of Deputies PM questions senator’s credentials

(ANSA) — Rome, September 12 — Leading Forza Italia (FI) MP Raffaele Fitto and one-time confidant of leader Silvio Berlusconi on Friday criticised the increasingly influential role being played by new treasurer Mariarosaria Rossi in the conservative party.

“It’s shocking that Berlusconi allows Senator Rossi to distribute, check, issue or recall licences granting permission to stay in the party”, said Fitto, an FI MP since 2006.

Fitto criticized Rossi’s credentials in her new role and said, “Neither Senator Rossi nor anyone else has the credentials or technical, juridical, legal or political legitimacy to hypothesize things like (Fitto’s possible demotion)”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France: Six Held Over Plans to Recruit Women Fighters

French police yesterday arrested a sixth person in a round-up of those suspected of recruiting young women to join Islamist fighters in Syria.

The armed man was detained at Vaulx-en-Velin in the Lyon region after he had escaped police in raids earlier this week, said Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister. Four men and one woman were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings in other suburbs of Lyon.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hunt for Jihadi John Leads to London Suburb: British Terrorist ‘Has Been Identified and Comes From South London Suburb’

The British terrorist known as Jihadi John, who has beheaded three Western hostages on camera, has been identified and comes from a South London suburb, according to a source close to the investigation.

Shocking Islamic State (IS) videos have shown the man executing American journalists James Foley, 40, and Steven Sotloff, 31, as well as British aid worker, David Haines, 44.

International revulsion after the scenes were posted on the internet sparked a massive manhunt by British and American security services and the investigation has now focused on a district about ten miles from Central London.

A team of more than a dozen US investigators from an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force flew to the UK, where they are working with MI5 and anti-terrorist officers from the Metropolitan Police Force to identify the man.

It is believed family members of Jihadi John have been interviewed by Met officers and an FBI agent.

The source said Jihadi John was known to the security services even before he went to Syria, but had been regarded as a ‘low-level player’..

It is believed he did know some of the terrorists convicted in the 2006 ‘liquid bomb’ plot to blow up ten airliners bound from the UK to the US in mid-flight over the Atlantic.

The Metropolitan Police refused to comment…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Cassation Court Upholds Convictions of Two Neo-Fascists

‘Threat to democracy from far-right intolerance still with us’

(ANSA) — Rome, September 12 — Italy’s supreme Cassation Court on Friday upheld the convictions of two neo-Fascist sympathisers for making the Fascist salute and shouting Fascist slogans during a far-right rally.

The perpetrators were prosecuted under a 1952 banning the Fascist party and making promoting Fascist ideology a crime punishable with up to four years in prison. “The obligation to protect democratic institutions has not eroded with time, as shown by frequent episodes denoting intolerance for democratic values and lack of respect for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities,” the court wrote.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ‘Napolitano Can’t Take Issue With My Film’ Says Guzzanti

Satirist defends movie on alleged State corruption

(see related)(ANSA) — Venice, September 3 — Italy’s president can have no issue with parts of her film that deal with his alleged pressure on behalf of a former minister while he was under investigation for Mob ties, director Sabina Guzzanti said Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival.

President Giorgio Napolitano allegedly intervened on behalf of former interior minister and current Senator Nicola Mancino, who stands accused of perjury in an ongoing State-Mafia trial in Sicily.

Mancino has been charged along with 11 other people in relation to alleged negotiations between the State and Cosa Nostra to stop a series of bomb attacks in the early 1990s that claimed the lives of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992, among others.

“Napolitano cannot take issue. Every word about him in my film has been checked over 1,678 times,” Guzzanti told reporters after the screening of her movie satire La Trattattiva (The Negotiation).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ISTAT Gets Ig-Nobel Prize for Prostitution in GDP

Bari university snags another for ‘painkilling’ power of art

(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 19 — Istat’s lead role in the European statistics agencies’ drive to include prostitution, drugs and other crime in GDP has earned it an Ig Nobel Prize.

Italy got another of the annual spoof awards for weird science from Harvard’s Annals of Improbable Research, for a Bari university team’s measurement of the “painkilling” power of art.

The Ig Nobels, which are handed out by Nobel prizewinners, are awarded to science that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think.

Istat won the economics prize for “proudly taking the lead in fulfilling the European Union mandate for each country to increase the official size of its national economy by including revenues from prostitution, illegal drug sales, smuggling, and all other unlawful financial transactions between willing participants”. Bari university’s Marina de Tommaso, Michele Sardaro, and Paolo Livrea won the arts prize for “measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty painting, while being shot (in the hand) by a powerful laser beam”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ‘You Defend Ideologies Not People’ Renzi Tells Unions-Update

‘We defend the rights of those who have none’ says premier

(ANSA) — Rome, September 19 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Friday berated unions protesting his proposed labor reform. “Where were you in the years that produced the greatest injustice, (the divide) between those who do and don’t have jobs, between those with permanent and temp contracts?” Renzi said. “You only thought about waging ideological battles, and not about people’s real problems”. His government, said Renzi, wants to defend the rights of those who have none.

“We will defend them with serious, concrete measures,” the premier said. “We don’t want Thatcher’s labor market, but a just one, with equal rights for all citizens,” he said after CGIL labor federation chief Susanna Camusso earlier accused him of espousing Thatcherite views on labour reform.

His Jobs Act bill, said Renzi, seeks redress for all those that have been neglected over the years.

“We’re thinking of the ones with temp contracts, who are condemned to a lifetime with no job security, a situation the unions have contributed to by worrying only about the rights of some and not all,” Renzi said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Terrorism: 40 Kurds Investigated in Milan

Inquiry over, funds collected for violent Pkk actions

(ANSAmed) — MILAN, SEPTEMBER 19 — Forty people of Kurdish origin, resident in Lombardy, Tuscany and Lazio have been investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Milan, reportedly for international terrorism charges.

The inquiry has recently been closed and the Kurds are accused of having collected funds to finance the Pkk’s violent actions in Turkey.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Northern League Protest by Bringing Gelato to Senate

Referencing recent Economist cover, against 1,000-day programme

(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Regionalist Northern League party members brought gelato to the Senate Tuesday in protest over Italian Premier Matteo Renzi’s presentation of his 1,000-day reform programme.

The gelato was referencing a recent cover story in Britain’s The Economist, which focused on the serious problems within the eurozone economy. On the cover, Renzi was pictured eating an ice cream aboard a sinking boat along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, with European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi bailing out the boat.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi Asked to Relaunch Sicily Strait Bridge Construction

Salini willing to renounce penalties to restart project

(ANSA) — Milan, September 19 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi may consider restarting the stalled construction of a suspension bridge linking Sicily to the Italian mainland, Salini Impregilo CEO Pietro Salini said Friday.

“I wish and hope that Renzi will reopen the dossier” of the long-planned bridge across the Messina Straits, Salini said.

Salini said he discussed the possibility with the premier and informed him that Salini Impregilo engineering concern is willing to renounce the penalty compensation it is due in theory for state delays in implementing the contract to build the bridge.

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged to build the bridge to end Sicily’s isolation but the project was scrapped by Mario Monti’s technocrat government in 2012.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

NATO Conference in Lithuania to Highlight Readiness Action Plan

VILNIUS, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) — Discussions on the NATO’s Readiness Action Plan will be high on agenda of the bloc’s ongoing Military Committee conference held in Vilnius, Lithuania, the committee chairman said Saturday.

“We will start by reviewing the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the implications for the Alliance’s future relationship with Russia and NATO’s military posture,” said Knud Bartels, chairman of the committee, at the conference…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Persecuted Muslims Build First Irish Mosque in Galway

Adhmadiyya Muslim leader urges imams in Ireland to ‘speak out’ against Islamic State

When Imam Ibrahim Noonan began celebrating the Qu’ran in a housing estate in Galway, his hope was that the temporary mosque in Wellpark would be replaced by a permanent structure.

Now, four years after foundation stones were laid on a site opposite Ballybrit racecourse, there’s a new minaret on the city skyline — marking the Ahmadiyya Muslim community’s first Irish house of prayer…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Scots Vote for ‘Stronger and United Europe’ Says Barroso

EC chief welcomes No to independence

(ANSA) — Brussels, September 19 — The Scottish No to independence from the UK was a vote in favour of a “united, open and stronger” Europe, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Scottish Referendum: Now England Must Rediscover Its Patriotism

by David Starkey

The Union has had a narrow escape — but at the price of constitutional chaos. We must now revive our identity south of the border

How did it come to this? How were all three national party leaders caught so unaware? How were they so panicked and so ill-advised to throw concession after concession, like meat to ravening wolves? To beg, to plead and finally to surrender negotiations — for that is what they had become — to that great tin Moloch, Gordon Brown — a man without office, without mandate and without ideas, other than to try to bribe the Scots with English gold? That worked in 1707; it worked again on Thursday night. But only just and at the price of constitutional chaos throughout the whole Union. How did it come to this?…

Things have been made much worse by what George Orwell identified as the peculiar self-loathing of the English Left. “England,” he wrote, “is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality.”…

[Reader comment by JohnDevries on 20 September 2014.]

How can Britain discover its patriotic voice when its EU policy to wipe out patriotism and nationalism and the government is and has flooded the country with foreigners trying to kill us, who don´t like us or Britain and are forming no go areas all over the country?

How can Britain be patriotic when newspapers such as the Telegraph regularly censor comment and the news so as to present a false situation.

Banned from Alex Salmon’s press conference yesterday the Telegraph really had its nose put out of joint. It would appear its diminishing readers are not the only ones not to trust it with the news.

[Reader reply to JohnDevries by Pip.]

The DT has morphed into just another progressive ‘Common Purpose’ mouthpiece of the Liberal Left Establishment and as such is destined to fail one day soon, just like the BBC and Guardian, smart people begrudge paying to be lied to.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

The Left Cannot be an Anti-English Movement

by Nick Cohen

During the referendum campaign nothing astonished me and Labour campaigners more than left wing English intellectuals embracing Scottish nationalism. It was not that they did not have the right to speak: but that they had so little regard for traditional left wing concerns about the welfare of the Scottish working class…

[Reader comment by Aethelflaed on 19 September 2014.]

What are you jibbering about you little twerp; just replace English with Muslim and then circulate that around your lefty mates — you wouldn’t last two minutes; did you mention the word hypocrite? Today’s Left stinks with the vileness of gangrene, it needs cutting out of the system

For your information, the English, Scottish and Welsh as well, in the past have done more than most in the world to get rid of slavery. And as for imperialism, world trade would not be able to work today without the ‘systems’ put in place by the British Empire.

You really are disgusting.

[Reader comment by Blindsideflanker on 19 September 2014.]

‘Appearance’, ‘impression’ ‘cannot be’ etc, no, the left are a racist anti English movement, fact. Why they institutionally hate the English I don’t know, but hate them they do, there is no getting around this.

Just look at your article, you have nothing good to say about the English, no it seems your argument is that the left have to hold their noses and pretend to get along with the English, All peoples have their prejudices, but these the lefties are happy to look beyond , if they ever notice them, and have no problem supporting their causes. Its only the English where you start with the hurdle of these prejudices.

So Mr Cohen please don’t insult us with your lefty superior contempt for English people, for we hold you and your political movement in contempt, and until you can answer the question I posed the other day of ‘why are the left a racist anti English movement?’ I don’t think the left have any right to soil our doorstep or get included in any English debate

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Too Many Local Administrative Bodies, Says Italian Premier

(AGI) Settimo Torinese, Turin, Sept 17 — Italy has too many municipal administrative bodies, said Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. “Eight thousand … are too many and should be trimmed by at least an eighth,” he said on a visit to a L’Oreal plant in Settimo Torinese. “It is important to differentiate between municipal bodies that perform well and those that are used as ‘political parking lots’ and do not perform.”

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

UK: Mosque Plan for Former Vet Surgery in Plymouth

A FORMER veterinary surgery in Plymouth could be turned into a mosque and cultural centre if planning permission for the scheme is granted.

The Salahuddin Trust, based in London, has applied for permission to change the use of the former PDSA surgery in Durnford Street, Stonehouse…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: New Abuse Shocker! Sheffield Hit by ‘Endemic’ Asian Gang Child Sex Shame

ANOTHER teenage sex abuse scandal has been revealed by a whistleblower.

Asian men have been targeting young girls in Sheffield, says a former care home worker.

But she kept quiet because she feared she would be branded a racist if she spoke out.

Ruth, using a fake name, who worked in the city from 2002 to 2004, said: “Occasionally some of the care workers would go around in cars, which put us at great risk, but we were so desperate and frustrated with the lack of anything being done for the girls. It was endemic, totally endemic throughout.

“I wish I had said something at the time but if I had I would have probably been labelled a racist. I think the whole system completely and utterly failed the girls.”

The news follows horrific revelations from Rotherham, just five miles from Sheffield, of 1,400 children being sexually abused by groups of mainly Pakistani men.

South Yorkshire Police yesterday confirmed there were currently 173 live investigations into child exploitation in Sheffield.

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Protestors Tell Qatar — Stop Funding Hamas or Quit the World Cup

PROTESTERS claim Qatar should stop funding terror group Hamas or be banned from hosting the World Cup

Lobbyists from Sussex Friends of Israel (SFI) and Israeli Forum Task Force (IFTF), wore provocative orange boiler suits to surround the Qatar embassy in London yesterday, ahead of a rally tomorrow.

They claim Qatar is funding Hamas to arm them with weapons when they should be giving cash to rebuild Gaza for the future…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Rotherham Director of Children’s Services Quits in Wake of Abuse Scandal

Joyce Thacker’s is latest in a series of resignations following Jay report that revealed scale of child sex abuse in Rotherham

Joyce Thacker, who has been the subject of criticism following the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal, is to leave her job as Rotherham council’s director of children’s services “by mutual agreement, with immediate effect”, the authority said on Friday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

We Must Remember Antisemitism is Far From the Whole UK Jewish Experience

By Giles Fraser

We must continue to remind ourselves of our antisemitic past. But the story we don’t remind ourselves about often enough is our history of philosemitism

As the UK’s Jewish community settles down to its Rosh Hashanah celebrations next week, many will be dipping their apples in honey in anticipation of a sweet new year. And let’s hope it is. Because, for many, this has been a time of increased anxiety with much talk of the sleeping giant of antisemitism rearing its ugly head once again…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Tourist-Scaring Roosters on Croatian Island Spark Polemics

Two elderly poultry-raisers refuse to back down

(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, SEPTEMBER 2 — A group of hoteliers in the village of Stomorska has for years been trying to get two octogenarian sisters to get rid of their roosters, as their incessant crowing drive tourists away from the village, reports the newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija. The mayor of the village, on the Croatian island of Solta not far from the port of Split, is said to have ignored a petition submitted two years ago to prohibit the raising of roosters near the tourist village, and thus the accommodation owners have taken the matter to the national media. The owner of a tourism agency tells that the approximately dozen roosters normally begin crowing around three in the morning and continue until the late afternoon.

“The first day,” he said, “tourists see the irony in it, but when they realize that they won’t be able to get the rest they came here for, almost all of them cancel their reservations and leave Stomorska.” The owners of the roosters, two octogenarian sisters who raise the roosters as a hobby, have thus far refused to get rid of the animals or to move the chicken house during the summer, even after being fined. They claim the complaints are “pure envy” on the part of the other villagers. Others support the keeping of rural traditions on the island. “I don’t understand all this uproar for a couple of roosters — that have since the beginning of time crowed in the morning. We certainly can’t let a few tourists stop life on our island,” said the president of their neighborhood, openly at odds with the mayor, who is said to be drafting an ordinance to ban the raising of the animals during the tourist season. Tourism on Croatia’s Adriatic coast is one of the main drivers of its economy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive: ISIS Starts Recruiting in Istanbul’s Vulnerable Suburbs

Last week at a Nato summit in Wales, US President Barack Obama said Turkey was part of a “core coalition” to fight Isis. However, Deniz and other victims of Isis recruitment question their government’s willingness or ability to tackle the terrorist organisation’s infiltration of Turkey. They speak of their frustration at police inaction and of their powerlessness to retrieve their loved ones. In her extended family alone, Deniz says, 15 people — including five children — have gone to live under Isis rule or fight in its ranks in recent months.

Her story is echoed by others in Istanbul, who describe an organised recruiting network operating online and through religious study groups, targeting young men from Sunni Muslim districts plagued by poverty and drug addiction. One family, whose son joined Isis, says that he was among 19 young men from their neighbourhood alone who left for Syria recently, with at least four others planning to join them soon.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: ‘Free British Hostages’ Say Family of ISIL Poster Girl

Family of jailed Pakistani scientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui, whose release has been demanded by Islamic State terrorists, has pleaded with the group to spare the lives of British hostages

The family of the jailed Pakistani scientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui, whose release has been demanded by Islamic State terrorists, has pleaded with them to spare the lives of two British hostages and set them free.

Her sister, Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, told The Telegraph that Aafia would be “distraught” if she knew innocent people were being kidnapped and murdered “in her name”, and appealed to them to “show mercy” to the British aid worker Alan Henning, journalist John Cantlie and other detainees they have threatened to kill. “They should all be freed,” she said on Friday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Kurdish YPG Kills 18 is Fighters in Northern Syria

DAMASCUS, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) — A total of 18 fighters of the Islamic State (IS) terror group were killed overnight during clashes with Kurdish militias in northern Syria, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.

The killing of the IS fighters is part of the ongoing battles between the terror group and the Kurdish militias of People’s Protection Unites (YPG) in the surroundings of the predominantly Kurdish city of Ain al-Arab in the northern province of Aleppo, bordering Turkey…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Massive Syrian Kurds Enter Turkey Fleeing is Attack

ANKARA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) — Some 45,000 Syrian Kurds fleeing IS attack on the border region entered Sanliurfa and Gaziantep provinces in southeastern Turkey on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Saturday.

Kurtulmus told reporters in Ankara “Turkey had been ready for an even worse-case scenario, a flow of up to 100,000 people,” saying that “after Turkey opened the border gates, 45,000 Syrian Kurds entered through eight checkpoints, just across (the border) from Kobani. We accommodated them in the newly-built tents near the border.”

Syrian Kurds have been massing since Thursday on the other side of the border as the IS militants seized dozens of villages in strong attacks as they close in on the strategic Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known to the Kurds as Kobani…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Obama’s “Strategy” and the Ensuing Non-Coalition

by Srdja Trifkovic

French aircraft are in action against ISIS. Britain is flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq. Several other countries — Arab ones included — say they are willing to support the air campaign. None seem interested in pledging any ground troops, however.

“Well, you will hear from Secretary Kerry on this over the coming days. And what he has said is that others have suggested that they’re willing to do that. But we’re not looking for that right now,” Chief of Staff Denis McDonough waffled on “Meet the Press” last Sunday, September 14. “We’re trying to put together the specifics of what we expect from each of the members,” he added, which is one way of saying the United States is finding it hard to persuade other countries to provide ground forces — something the self-designed leader of the “coalition” is unwilling to do. Also on “Meet the Press” James Baker noted that the biggest problem “of course, is who are our, quote, ‘partners on the ground’ that the president referred to in his speech. And I don’t know where they come from.” Let it be noted that Baker put forth an ad-hoc strategic plan that was, in fact, far better than the one outlined by Obama. He suggested joining forces with China, Russia, Iran, Syria and others, following a non-UN-sponsored international conference of genuine international leaders.

There are no “partners on the ground” for now, and those that the Administration wants to groom for the role are worse than none: McDonough conceded that ground troops are needed, “that’s why we want this program to train the [Syrian] opposition that’s currently pending in Congress.” In my curtain-raiser on President Obama’s much-heralded speech of September 10, posted two days before he delivered it (“Obama’s Non-Strategy”), I warned that he — disastrously — still counts on the non-existent “moderate rebels” in Syria to come on board, and still refuses to talk to Bashar al-Assad, whose army is the only viable force capable of confronting the IS now and for many years to come. In short, “he has no plan to systematically degrade the IS capabilities, no means to shrink the territory that they control, and certainly no strategy to defeat them.”

Obama’s address to the nation on September 10 confirmed all of the above, but it also contained numerous non sequiturs, falsehoods, and delusional assertions that need to be addressed one by one. (The President’s words are in italics.)

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Says Training Syrian Rebels to Take Months

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — The Obama administration said on Friday that it would take months to vet and train Syrian rebels to make them ready for battle against the Islamic State (IS) fighters.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice said the administration will move as fast as it “reasonably can” after Congress approved President Barack Obama’s plan to train and arm vetted Syrian rebels.

“But this is something that will take many months,” she said at a White House daily news briefing.

“It is not something that one should expect will yield rapid and immediate fruit,” Rice said, adding, “This is a serious training program, and we’re serious about vetting those that we will be training and equipping.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Yemeni Shiite Rebels Agree on a Ceasefire

Forty people dead in 24 hours in clashes with Sunnis

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, SEPTMBER 19 — Rebel Yemeni Shiites, locked in battle with rival Sunnis close to the the Yemeni capital Sanaa, have agreed on a ceasefire, al Arabiya reported on Friday, quoting Shiite sources. There are no further details on the ceasefire which was brokered by Un negotiator Jamal Benomar. The clashes have caused some 40 deaths in the last 24 hours.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Protestant Pastors Convicted of “Attempted Proselytising” In Bhutan

The two were sentenced for engaging in “unauthorised fundraising” and organising a meeting for the purpose of worship “without the necessary permits”. The authorities repeatedly changed the charges during the trial. There is no substantial evidence of guilt. This story is but another example of religious freedom violation and persecution of the Christian minority.

Thimphu (AsiaNews/EDA) — A Bhutanese court sentenced two Protestant clergymen to several years in prison for engaging in “unauthorised fundraising” and organising a meeting for the purpose of worship “without the necessary permits.” The court made its ruling on 10 September in Dorokha, Samtse District, near the Indo-Bhutanese border, in the extreme south of the country.

According to reports from Eglise d’Asie (EDA), 30-year-old Rev Tandin (Tendin) Wangyal (Yangwal), a married father of three, will have to serve a sentence of four years. He ended up in the dock after receiving financial aid “from Christian organisations abroad” (just over US$ 11,000), which, according to the prosecution, were needed to carry out “Christian proselytising.”

At the same time, Rev B Thap, better known by his nickname of Lobzang, 56, will serve two years and four months (the sentence was suspended and he was released on bail) for helping Rev Wangyal arrange a meeting “without authorisation.”

The interior minister defended the convictions, claiming that the two had violated the Penal Code of Bhutan. However, during three hearings, the indictment was repeatedly changed and there is no substantial evidence to support the prosecution’s allegations.

The two men were arrested on 5 March as they were taking a sick child to a hospital. They had arrived the previous evening in a village in the south (Khapdani) to prepare a three-day seminar at the request of a group of local Christians, about thirty in all.

They were scheduled to make a presentation in the evening of 4 March, during the ceremony of laying the first stone of the future home of one of the local Christians.

At the time of the arrest, police seized computers, cell phones and a projector.

The two clergymen deny any wrongdoing and have ten days to appeal in court in Samtse.

In 2006, the government of Bhutan began to promote formal democracy after centuries of absolute monarchy that forbade the practice of religions other than Buddhism.

Adopted in 2008, the new Constitution recognises — at least formally — religious freedom for all Bhutanese, so long as they report it to the appropriate authorities.

In recent years, some Hindu temples have been built. However, even now Christians cannot build churches or schools, publish Bibles or celebrate Mass in public. In fact, Christians are still considered an “avant-garde of the West” and are often perceived as a threat to “Bhutan’s national identity,” which is closely associated with Buddhism. In case of conversion, a person may even lose their citizenship.

Worship is limited to the private sphere and foreign missionaries are not allowed. There are no Christian cemeteries or sections in existing cemeteries for Christians to bury their loved ones.

According to official statistics, which date back to 2005, 75 per cent of Bhutan’s population of approximately 700,000 people is Buddhist, 22 per cent are Hindu, mostly of Nepali origin, whilst the rest are divided between Christians and other religions.

According to local Protestant sources, Christians number about 20,000, including several hundreds of Catholics. However, these numbers are difficult to validate.

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

Half of Chinese Billionaires Plans to Flee Their Country Within Five Years

A survey looks at people with more than $ 1.5 billion in assets and found that 47 per cent of Chinese respondents want to leave, mostly to Hong Kong and Canada. Many of the super-rich in Singapore and Britain want to do the same.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — Around half of China’s super-rich want to move to another country within the next five years to find better education and job opportunities for their children, a preferable economic climate and greater security, as well as better health care and social services, this according to a Barclays survey that looked at more than 2,000 high net worth individuals — those with more than US$1.5 billion in total net assets.

High net worth individuals from mainland China were the most eager to move, with 47 per cent saying they planned to leave in the next five years, compared to 23 per cent of Singaporeans, 20 per cent of British respondents and 16 per cent of Hongkongers. American and Indian billionaires are the most attached to their homelands, with only 6 and 5 per cent saying they wanted to leave.

However, “The reality is that most ultra-high net worth individuals in China are probably making money in China right now,” said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at London brokerage Knight Frank LLP. “So, for business reasons, they need to be relatively close. That might prevent some of them going further afield.”

Reasons cited for wanting to leave include better educational and employment opportunities for children overseas (78 per cent), preferable economic climate and greater security (73 per cent), and better health care and social services (18 per cent).

Around 30 per cent of Chinese respondents said Hong Kong was their top destination, followed by Canada at 23 per cent.

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

Hong Kong: Pro-Beijing Official Compares Striking Students to Triad Gangs

Wong Kwan-yu, a member of pro-Beijing Alliance for Peace and Democracy, threatens a campaign of slander and denunciations against those who boycott classes for true democracy in Hong Kong. He compares protesters to criminal gangs. For Occupy Central founder Benny Tai, the struggle is just beginning; more demonstrations in favour of universal suffrage will take place.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — Pro-democracy students who organise class boycotts would be like “triad gangs” should they “eventually incite students to participate in illegal acts,” said Wong Kwan-yu, a member of the Alliance for Peace and Democracy and president of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers.

For this reason, the alliance said on Monday that it was setting up a system for the public to report on class boycotts in secondary schools, threatening to make public the names of schools if it received multiple “verified” reports.

After Beijing said it would not allow a democratic vote for the post of chief executive in 2017, the Occupy central movement announced a “new ear” of civil disobedience in the former British colony.

In view of this, schools have now become a new battleground in the fight for universal suffrage and democracy in in Hong Kong. Indeed, students were among the first to respond, announcing a class boycott for the week starting on 22 September.

Wong said that the alliance would try to stop the strike. It slammed boycott organisers, saying that it would set up a hotline to allow the public to report on anti-Beijing class boycotts.

What is more, “There is no difference from triad gangs if the class boycott campaigners [. . .] eventually incite[d] students to participate in illegal acts,” he said.

Such threats do not seem to be scaring off pro-democracy advocates. Occupy Central founder Benny Tai Benny Tai Yiu-ting said that a sit-in protest would go ahead to ensure Hong Kong lawmakers veto Beijing’s restrictive reform model.

He hinted that the protest might not be the movement’s first. “In this new era,” he explained, “we may have an alternative system in building up the democratic capacity of Hong Kong people”.

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

Twin Explosions Rock S. Philippine Province

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) — Two explosions by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants occurred simultaneously Friday night in Lamitan City in southern Philippine province of Basilan.

Unidentified suspects reportedly planted the improvised explosive devices (IED) in two wooden power line poles in the sub- village of Lagasan and Kulay Bato Village after 9 p.m. Friday.

No one was hurt from the powerful explosions that tore the wooden poles, said Lamitan City Police commander Gean Gallardo…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Heated Clashes at Mosque Protest at Maroochydore

AN anti-mosque protest on the Sunshine Coast has turned ugly this morning as verbal clashes erupted between anti-Islamists and students supporting freedom of religion.

About 500 people turned up in Church Street, Maroochydore, where a property is planned to be turned into a place of worship for Muslims. Most of the crowd carried placards against Islam and chanted “No Mosque here” but a smaller group waved banners opposing “Bigotry” and offering “Free Hugs”.

Amid a strong police presence, the protest immediately turned ugly and personal when the anti-mosque crowd turned on the uni students, hurling abuse and singling out individuals.

Senior citizens, tradies and mums and dads with banner warning “Islam is plotting our destruction” and “Islam affects the community” screamed at young women carrying posters that read “No to hate, Yes to Freedom of Religion”.

“You’re so stupid,” screamed one woman to a girl whose poster read “No Bigotry.”

There was no organisation to the protest, with attendees milling around in groups and looking for opportunities for a verbal stoush…

[Reader comment by lachlan on 20 September 2014.]

We would not be afforded the same grace if the roles were reversed, we would not even be able to protest …. Australians are waking up. Do-gooder Leftys are fighting a losing battle.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Janine Mohamed on the 2,212 Indigenous Nurses and Midwives in Australia

‘Nurses and midwives are innately caring people and I believe this came naturally for me as a nurse because of my cultural heritage’

Each week, a new guest hosts the @IndigenousX twitter account to discuss topics of interest as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. In partnership with IndigenousX, we’re inviting its weekly host to tell us about who they are, what issues they’re passionate about, and what they have in store for us during their upcoming week.

Tell us about who you are, where you are from, and what you do.

I am Janine Mohamed, a proud Narrunga Kaurna woman from Point Pearce in South Australia…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Terror Laws Go Far Enough: Police, Asio

AUSTRALIA’S police and spies say the government’s plans to toughen anti-terrorism laws go far enough and they don’t want any extra powers.

POLICE have only just used an existing power to detain people without charge, for the first time since it was introduced in 2005.

Three of the 15 people arrested in Sydney and Brisbane in raids this week and then released on Friday afternoon, were held under these preventative detention orders, reports suggest…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ugly Scenes at Sunshine Coast Mosque Protest

Police had to keep anti mosque protesters and supporters apart at an emotion-charged rally on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

More than 500 people — about 80% of them against the Islamic mosque — converged on land near the Stella Maris Catholic Church to protest the mosque plan.

Supporters of the mosque sang iconic Australian tunes, prompting outrage from a few of the anti mosque movement…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Kenya: ‘I Was Looking at His Face. He Looked at Me and He Fired’: Westgate Victim Describes Terror Attack That Killed His Wife

Niall Saville, who looked in the face of of the young Westgate Mall attacker who shot and killed his wife, describes his ordeal ahead of the anniversary of the attack

A British man whose wife was murdered in Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre massacre has told for the first time of their ordeal as Islamist militants unleashed the mayhem that ended with 71 people dead, and of the moment he realised his wife’s life was ebbing away.

Niall Saville, now 36, had been sitting with his South Korean wife, Moon Hee Kang, 38, in a hamburger restaurant facing the street when the attack began with a grenade explosion at 12.30pm, followed by heavy gunfire, one year ago today.

Mr Saville, a development economist, dived into the restaurant, then realised his wife was not behind him. “I saw her crawling on the ground, clearly in a lot of pain, her legs looked very bloodied,” he recalled.

Despite sheltering beside a metal counter, the couple soon found themselves being stalked by one of the four gunmen from the al-Shabaab militant group, linked to al-Qaeda, who were purportedly sent to avenge Kenya’s military incursion into neighbouring Somalia…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark Tightens Asylum Laws Citing Syrian Influx

Saying that most refugee applicants “are not individually persecuted”, the justice minister introduced a new one-year resident permit that can be extended for another two years.

Denmark said on Friday it would introduce a new, temporary type of residence permit for asylum seekers fleeing civil wars such as the Syrian conflict after a huge surge in the number of applications.

The new asylum solution came on the same day the government unveiled a new plan for stemming the flow of Danish extremist fighters to Syria and Iraq.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/20/2014

  1. GLOBAL IDIOCY?

    Why did not 87% of Swedish voters oppose the ongoing destructive mass immigration?

    “Stupidity resercher warns for a dumb middle class! Performing nothing, making no sense at their work. A swelling class of taxpayer-funded administrators, communicators, coaches, strategists and inspectors require salary and status but neigher can nor want to create something of value.”

    The immigration industrial complex of NewSweden is … not small.
    http://korta.nu/WELCOME-TO-SE

    Mats Alvesson, management and organization researcher at the School of Economics, Lund University; conducts research on functional stupidity and recently published the book” The Triumph of Emptiness.

    http://youtu.be/M1QZ7iBhl5c

    http://www.propel.stir.ac.uk/downloads/MatsAlvesson.pdf
    – – – – – – – – –

    Has the Swede’s FUNCTIONAL STUPIDITY finally attracted attention by pundits?

    This in most cases acquired, maybe not yet – in the shadow of immigration – hereditary, intelligence and character deficiency, induced through institutional parenting of young (½-6) children, through poor schooling, substandard university education and through the general social community dynamics etc., is constantly growing and more and more (politically) disabling. I and others have persistently been nagging about and warning of this disorder – apparently now – finally, it seems to get noticed – even in the Wolodarski Daily News.

    http://korta.nu/FUNKTIONELL-STUPIDITY

  2. @Scottish Referendum: Now England Must Rediscover Its Patriotism

    David Starkey more or less says English nationalism good, Scottish nationalism bad and therefor must be crushed, slight contradiction in that thinking where he can be an Englishman but the Scots have the self-loathing Vassal role of being North British. No surprise the Americans revolted and they were merely a Colony not an old sovereign nation of peoples.

    Think the average Englishman is just as puzzled as the average Scotsman as to why Westminster is so eager to retain dependent and rebellious Scotland.

    • I saw Dr Starkey’s* article, and if I can be impartial (being part Scots, but mostly English) that’s not how I read it. No offence intended, Jolie, but do I detect a slight chip on your shoulder?

      *Can’t resist a name-drop; I was at Kendal Grammar School with David Starkey, about four years his junior; even then, he was the star of the Debating Society, and a great future was predicted for him.

  3. @Mark H,

    No! Respect Dr Starkey’s intellect, England desperately needs thinkers on his level to make their contribution, shame he never fully entered the political arena.

    But England’s self-loathing and failure to assert a distinct national identity is not the fault of the Scots asserting their sovereign will but of the English repressing theirs in the constitutional carbuncle of Westminster.

    Westminster’s tendency is the centralisation of power and that is not only to the detriment of the Scots but also the English.

    No chip on the shoulder English hater here, that is an invention of yellow journalism to incite violence and sully the Independence debate.

    • Point taken, Jolie; I was likely aiming at the wrong target- some Scots nationalists, like other descendants of victims of colonialism, seem unable to put it behind them. We should indeed be united against Westminster, and indeed Brussels.

      • Having observed the Love Bombing of the Scots referendum should the powers that be (whom ever they are) at Westminster be minded to stay in the EU then the English EU secessionists will face a formidable foe in a IN/OUT referendum.

Comments are closed.